Something Further than the Universe

Chapter XIII ~ Where Two Hearts Meet

"Ashido!" he hissed.

"What? I'm sorry, okay? Everyone already has plans anyway, and it's not that big of a deal."

He scratched the side of his cheek. "Well, it kinda is..."

She stopped dead in her tracks, curiously raising one eyebrow. "Of course it isn't. Why would it be?"

He looked away.

She understood. She had a sneaking suspicion that would be the reason.

"Oh, Midori. No one's gonna see it like that. Besides, we don't feel that way about each other."

Lies.

You are a liar, she told herself.

Would he even believe something so silly? Was she beginning to become transparent?

He looked again toward the floor, avoiding seeing eye-to-eye. "I know, but still." Then, knowing he wasn't going to win against someone so stubborn, he reconsidered. "Just... nevermind. You're right. We should probably go before it gets dark."

She lit up like a lantern. "Yup!" she said, smiling, the specks of gold in her eyes brighter than ever before, and she wondered: How could something so little make me so happy? How could I let him do this to me?

Leaving the dorms with him by her side, she knew the inevitable truth. With the way she was acting, she'd never be able to keep her feelings a secret forever.

~+~

"I probably should've worn more layers," Izuku said, sarcasm strong in his voice as his feet finally touched the sand. It was freezing outside, and by the time they'd turned onto Dagobah, the welcome sign withered away with rust, gray clouds had already begun rolling in. The forecast never said anything about rain. They didn't have an umbrella, or even a rain jacket—they weren't prepared for this.

Staring out at the water reminded Mina of the last time they were here. It wasn't just them back then. It was Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero too, and it wasn't too long before she realized how she felt, but she still had a little inkling at the time that she saw Izuku as more than a friend. Now, today, they were all alone. No one wanted to go to the beach on a weekend in the midst March, that was a fact.

She remembered him chasing after her, following in her footsteps, and the adrenaline rush that had finally awakened within her at that exact moment came back all at once in the here and now, coursing through her body like it did back then and giving her the confidence boost she'd always needed. It made her want to run, rule the world, tell Izuku exactly what she'd been hiding from him all this time. She knew it'd come back to her, but it was just a matter of when. And now here it was: This was the when, and it was back with a vengeance.

She took off the button-up part of her uniform. "Don't you remember the last time we were here?" she asked, smiling back at him, shimmying out of her top. She was left with only her shirt and skirt to cover her body, and, if it counted, her stockings, and although she felt a little exposed, she could undoubtedly say she didn't mind.

"Y-Yeah," he replied, cheeks hot with a red hue. "Training for that Quirk thingy Aizawa threw at us. I don't think he ever actually gave it a name." He tried his damndest to search for an excuse to keep talking so that he didn't have to look at her, but he couldn't find one. This was just like the last time—she was technically stripping down right in front of him, and she either didn't realize or, the more likely possibility, didn't care.

"So, what're you waiting for?" she said without ever taking her eyes off of him. "Take yours off, too."

He was clearly kind of uncomfortable, since, if put in the wrong context, what she was saying sounded a little inappropriate, whether she meant for it to be interpreted that way or not. But he followed through with it anyway, unbuttoning his jacket and letting it fall to the ground.