Your voice feels beautiful ~TodoBaku~

Chapter 2: open hours

Aizawa then went over to said strange boy, and stood with his back completely to me, shielding the seated one from my view. This coincidence pissed me off, and so I angrily turned to my Russia notes and started writing. By the time I looked back, the boy was hard at work himself, leading me to figure that Aizawa had just pulled him up on his lack of action. I really need to speak to him at some point, figure out what his deal is.

Eh, maybe next week
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Shoto Todoroki

Lunch. Possibly the most dreaded part of the day. Y'know, it's kinda hard asking someone to stop shoving your back when you're deaf and your hands are full. It makes for some very uncomfortable encounters with some very nasty people.

Sneaking my way through the bustling hall of the cafeteria, I spotted my friend/saviour/guardian angel/being of higher power Momo, and she flagged me down with her arm. Sitting across from her on an otherwise empty circular table, I lay my food down and signed "i hate children"

I saw her laugh, and she used her own hands to respond "Shoto, I've told you, stop talking down about yourself~"

"Shut up, I have an excuse"

"Being deaf is not an excuse for being an emo"

"I'm not an emo, I'm just tired. It's Friday, forgive the fatigue!"

"You told me you wanted a face tattoo like Kyoka!"

"IT'S COOL!" I dramatically signed, and she laughed again. I wished I could hear it, Momo seemed like the type to have a contagious laugh. She'd learned sign language to be able to talk to her grandmother, who was ardently against getting a hearing aid. She deemed them "too modern and fancy" in her words, hence Momo learning to sign after her hearing fully went. I myself had not been offered the chance to get a hearing aid, since doctors had determined that there was too much underdevelopment in my ear to fix, so there was nothing to be done. It was sad, but so was life so it's fine. I'm not an emo, Momo, I'm just depressive and lonely!

"You're right though, it is cool"

"You ever gonna ask her out~?" I signed with a cheeky smirk, and her face flushed red. She simply shook her head in response, and I rolled my eyes.

"What?"

"I like her, I want her around more"

"Then go ask her to hang out!"

"Momo, you are my mouth!"

"That is disgusting Shoto"

"It's true though! I can't talk to people, you can translate though!"

"Yes, but I won't always be here!"

"Goddamnit Momo, you're not my fucking mother!"

"Shoto! Don't use such filthy fucking language under my fucking roof!"

"Touché, bitch"

"Hey, don't call me-" Momo began signing, then stopped suddenly, her head turning slightly to my right. I turned as well, and saw another of the students from the class, the pink haired girl from the front row. Momo and her had a short conversation, before the colourful one turned to me, and said something. I looked directly over at Momo, and she signed "she asked your name"

"Have you told her?"

"No, I will though"

She turned away from me to address the girl once more, and I assumed she explained in the process that I was deaf, seeing as when the pink haired one spoke again, she looked directly at Momo, only turning to me once she'd finished. She wore a smile on her face, so I trusted her somewhat.

Momo then said "she asked if you were deaf or mute", to which I looked the visitor in the eye, and raised a hand to my ear, making an explosion-like motion with my hand as I pulled it away and flexed my fingers outwards, simplifying the explanation for her. The girl nodded, then turned to Momo, getting very animated with her hands as she spoke.

"She wants me to introduce her. M-I-N-A" she spelled out for me, and I nodded, trying to think of a name-sign. I made the letter p, then gently pressed my middle-finger against my lips, signing "pink"

Momo laughed at that, and conveyed it to Mina, who chuckled as well. The two girls had a short discussion then, Momo signing the occasional sentence to me to keep me involved. I then wanted to ask Mina something, so waved my arm to get Momo's attention.

"She's friends with the blond, right?"

"Which one...?"

"I don't know his name, just ask, please?"

Momo turned to Mina and asked her question. She looked as confused as Momo had, and turned to me to mime something. She first did the impression of someone very goofy, to which I shook my head, then pulled an angry face and shouted, or at least pretended to, I wasn't sure. That reminded me perfectly of the blond I meant, and so I nodded. Mina turned to Momo and spoke, and Momo signed the letters "B-A-K-U-G-O" to me. I thought even longer about what his name sign might be, before it finally came to me. I closed my knuckles and placed one hand over the other, flashing my fingers in and out a few times. Momo's laugh had Mina looking confused, and once my friend turned to clarify, all three of us were laughing.

"Bomb"
——————

I had lots of fun writing this. Even when he can't speak, Shoto is still a cheeky little shit-

Fact of the Day: since Russia is so massive, and most of the cities are in the west, it took about a month for word to get back to the Tsar that they'd lost the war to Japan in 1905 👀