CHAPTER 087(I'm The Prize)
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CHAPTER START---
"So Horizon," she calls out to him, causing him to look up from the messages Mei just sent him. "Since you're so gun-ho about people dating and following their passion for one another...what if, let's say, I liked you?"
The entire area falls silent, and Kendo almost flinches at the glare Momo was shooting at her, while Jiro was just staring with wide eyes...
"Hng!" Kendo tries and fails at keeping a straight face, flinching as a sharp jolt of pain shoots through her leg, casting an annoyed glance at Momo.
The girl had kicked her as if she was trying to break her shin below the table.
Horizon sighs, then looks over at Momo and Jiro, making it obvious that he knows exactly what's happening.
Both girls look at him in horror, realizing that he's known for a while about their feelings.
But they were completely mortified, petrified with fear and embarrassment, not wanting to react and make what was happening even more obvious.
He turns to Kendo, "well, in theory, if I knew someone had a crush on me I'd hope they come to their senses. My life is already filled with enough things pulling me in every direction, don't need to add romance to the mix."
"I see," Kendo leans forward, propping up her chin on her hand. "But what if I was too interested in you, that no matter how much of a jerk all my friends say you are, I just can't stop myself."
Those words hit Momo and Jiro like an arrow to the heart, having spent many conversations trying to convince themselves to just get over him.
"I feel like you're too smart for that," Horizon says. "Plus I'm not your type."
"Yeah that's true, I prefer passionate and direct guys who are actually kind and nice to people...definitely not you, mostly because of that last part, but can you please humor me?"
Horizon sighs, "fine, I guess we're doing this," he sits back in his chair and thinks for a moment. "Well, if a girl liked me I wouldn't mind, so long as she's actually cute."
"What's your definition of cute?"
"Eh, if she's not fat we can judge from there," he shrugs.
"What if it's her Quirk?"
"Then I'm sure she can find some guy out there that will accept her as she is...but I don't date fat girls."
"How can you say that?" Jiro asks. "You aren't supposed to body shame people, what kind of Hero are you?"
"This is being a hero," Horizon says jokingly. "Maybe if I shame them enough they'll hit the gym, see, I'm saving lives, protecting them from heart attacks."
Jiro is about to start an argument but Kendo interrupts, "ok what else."
"Well, it'd have to be casual if you and I started dating, hypothetically."
"Obviously hypothetically."
"And of course I'd have fun with other beautiful women," Horizon shrugs, and everyone looks at him with either confusion or disgust.
Kendo blinks a few times then comes to her senses, completely thrown for a loop by that last bit of information. "What do you mean?"
"What? I figured it's self-explanatory, you would be my girlfriend and I'd occasionally have fun with other women."
Kendo looks even more confused, her brain slowly frying as she tries to make sense of this, Momo and Jiro were completely frozen, and Jiro looked disgusted by the very idea.
All while the others were staring in bewilderment.
"Ok," Kendo snaps her fingers. "So you'd want an open relationship?"
"Yeah, but only on my side."
Kendo just looks even more confused. "But, how is that fair?"
"It's not," he says without missing a beat.
"B-but...what?" Kendo gives up trying to understand on her own. "Why?"
"Because, I'm Horizon," he sees everyone still looking at him confused, and judging by the look Jiro was giving him she probably wanted to stab him, but Momo didn't seem all that surprised the more she thought about it.
"Let me explain it like this, alright. So I'm impossibly rich, influential, powerful. World leaders have me on speed dial and are sending me emails every other day with offers of insane proportions to move to their countries.
They're willing to do some insane things if I ask. Not to mention I'm one of the single most powerful combatants in the world...all at 16.
Add this to the fact that eventually, I want to have a family of my own, and at that point, she'd have to do nothing but be beautiful, make some babies, not fuck other guys, and deal with the house stuff while I'm out performing the occasional miracle.
I'm literally a golden ticket to the easy life for any woman lucky enough to catch my eye.
I'm standing at the top of the world, I'm irreplaceable and peerless. And all of this for the low low price, of me getting to fuck whoever I want.
All while my girlfriend or wife or whatever is completely taken care of.
See I literally cannot be replaced, I'm the grand prize at the top of the top shelf.
Hmm, seems unfair to you?"
They all think about it for a moment, and it leaves a rancid taste in Kendo's mouth, but she can see his logic at least.
"Ok, that sort of makes sense, even if it's a bit weird..." Kendo says.
"Unless you're a king...or even better, Horizon," he says jokingly. "History is my blueprint on this."
"Ok, but what if a girl you like isn't ok with this?" Kendo asks.
"Tch, so what? I'm too good for any of them, plus beautiful women are everywhere in my world, she'd easily be replaced."
BAM!
Jiro slams her palms onto the table and jumps up to her feet, glaring down at Horizon with venom in her teary eyes.
"You! You! You sexist misogyni---"
SHAMBLES!
She's suddenly swapped for a leaf somewhere on campus.
"Sorry but I don't have any tolerance for crap like that," Horizon says. "She'll walk back in a minute or two..."
"Well, that could have gone a lot better," Kendo sighs as everyone tries to awkwardly pretend that didn't just happen.
"Yeah well, now you know what I'm all about..."
While the casual chatter began once more, and some people dove back into the pool, Momo sat at the edge of the pool staring at nothing in particular.
Taking in everything Horizon said moments ago.
Realizing that both she and Jiro were hesitant to say anything outright to Horizon. Partly because they were scared, and partly because they simply enjoyed things as they were, with the three of them being friends.
'If he even considers us friends and not just classmates,' Momo thinks.
But she will admit that part of her still wanted more, she'd never had a crush before, and being homeschooled she'd never even had a friend before. So they were both very important people to her.
Growing up in an environment where arranged business marriages weren't uncommon she understood exactly what Horizon meant.
'He's truly standing at the top of the world, so why would he ever settle for anything less...than everything...'
But her best friend, Kyoka Jiro, was raised in a much more...modern culture.
Momo can't help but frown as she looks at the water moving about as her friends swim. Realizing that it would be difficult to keep them both close to her if she ever moved forward with her crush, assuming she'd ever work up the courage.
And that Kyoka would never indulge her idea of how this could work out for all of them...
Eventually, Jiro silently walked back into the pool area and just sat beside Momo, still fuming mad.
Partly angry at Horizon, for even suggesting something that clashed with her worldview so heavily.
But far more enraged at herself...because she didn't completely hate the idea.
And both girls just sat in silence for a long while before forcing themselves to try and enjoy the rest of the day.
An hour later Eraser Head comes by and shuts down the fun, telling everyone their pool time was up.
And as everyone shuffles out of the pool area Horizon is still sitting at the table finalizing some things for his summer Hero plans.
"You know you could have handled that a lot better," Kendo says, staying behind a bit as everyone else heads to the showers.
"I prefer to be honest with what I want, besides, hopefully now they'll get over that crush they have."
"Why didn't you just tell them that you're not interested?"
"Because I wouldn't turn down some casual fun, but I figured they'd lose interest once they know what I'm all about."
"And you really never planned to just confront it?" Kendo takes a seat beside him.
"I was hoping they'd get over it over the next month. From tomorrow you'll all be going off to the training camp. No phone or contact with the outside world, including me, for a few weeks. Usually that'll kill a crush, right?"
"Right," Kendo smacks herself on the forehead. "Unless I make you give them something to think about all camp...damn it."
"Yup, you're a moron."
"Hey! I was trying to help my friends face their problems head-on."
"Seems to me like you were just meddling in things that don't concern you."
Kendo rolls her eyes at that, "well considering all the rants I've had to listen to about how great or how cool you are from them, I think it concerns me..."
"Well, in their defense, I am amazing."
"Ugh, whatever. What've you been researching here anyway?"
"Oh, by the time you get back from camp I should have already caught Stain," Horizon says as if it's no big deal.
"Stain! Seriously?!"
"He shouldn't be a problem, it's just another villain anyway."
Kendo is almost creeped out by how casual Horizon is about his target. "So you aren't doing this for revenge or anything?"
"Revenge? For what? Iida?"
"Yeah."
"Nope, he's just another name on the list, nothing more and nothing less."
"Well, I guess that's one way to look at it. Most people really don't like anyone that kills heroes, especially Tetsutetsu."
"Steel boy? Why?"
"Some villain killed his dad about a year ago, that's why he joined UA, to protect other people from things like that, just like his dad."
"Who was his dad?"
"Oh, he was the number 14 Pro Hero at the time, Chrome."
"Oh, I heard about that, unfortunate..." Horizon says, remembering when he killed Chrome on the roof during that fight at the start of this.
"Yeah, well anyway I should go change, and I need to go apologise to Momo and Jiro, I honestly expected that to go a lot better than it did."
"Good luck with that, I'm gonna check on my gear."
A few moments later.
SHAMBLES!
Horizon appears in Mei Hatsume's design studio, seeing the girl work on what appears to be the internal wiring of a piece of chest armor.
"Mei," he calls out, only to get ignored as she grunts in frustration at the noncompliant tech. "Mei!"
She pauses and turns around, glaring at him, "your new visors are on the table," she says harshly then points at the far table, a small metal case the size of a shoebox on it.
"Stressed out?" Horizon asks, a calm and amused tone in his voice.
Mei huffs, "yeah, this damn thing keeps burning out."
"Mmm, maybe you should relax a bit."
Mei takes a closer look at him, noticing that this time he didn't come in uniform or Hero Costume.
"You don't have a tie on, and I don't think I've got anything here that---"
"It'll be fine," Horizon says, walking over to the light switch and raising his finger to it. "Don't need a blindfold in the dark..."
END CHAPTER---