Chapter 38 Because I don't know what to name this

"Ugh, it's valentines day"

Plopping down into my usual seat at the cafeteria, I dump my lunch in front of me, mullions of muddled thoughts rebounding in my head, and today they are exceptionally agitating. It's all I can do to silently eat my sandwich, trying and failing to disregard the stray excitements and try to overtake my own. A sudden giddiness mixes with my displeasure, giving rise to a feeling of sickness with the terrible combination, only serving to make me feel less enthusiastic about today. I don't have much of a problem with Valentine's day, I love it even, or I loved it a great deal until I started attending school. I have learned that on these days kids are feeling the effect of romance and whatever puppy love they have going on in their lives and those feelings affect me like any other, only, it makes me sick. Now I'm sounding bitter and against love when in actuality I just can't handle that much giddiness and have to ignore the constant butterflies I would get from someone else. Some girl can't stop thinking about this one boy she is completely head over heels in love with. I'd say it's more a crush than anything. Another boy is struck with both conflict and joy when he thinks about one of his club members, not sure how to feel exactly; since the recipient of his admiration is a boy instead of a girl.

"You don't like Valentine's day?" Eijiro wonders, holding a bar of chocolate almost hesitantly and now I feel bad for making him feel anxious about giving me a gift.

"I do, I just can't stand the thoughts and emotions of the others on this day" I clarify to alleviate his worries and watch as he sighs, now happily offering me the chocolate he was so hesitant about just a moment later. His movement has his neckless peeping out from under his uniform, the silver gleam of it catching my attention and bringing a smile to my face. It's always nice to see him wearing it, especially nice when he treats it like the greatest treasure. Mina and I had gotten him a necklace and armband for his birthday in October, the little thing dangling from it is a little rock that I carefully carved to look like an R for riot. Mina purchased the neckless and armband and I did the carving. I found it was far harder than I had expected and ended with numerous cuts on my hand and fingers, regardless, the gift is something he seems to cherish greatly.

"My moms helped me make it" he explains as he slides the bar of chocolate towards me with this sweet toothy smile.

"Isn't he the sweetest?" Mina coos, her bar already half-eaten instead of the lunch she has spread before her. Her words have Eijiro laughing bashfully as his cheeks color pink.

"Hmm" yes he is, very sweet. I accept his gift with thanks, carefully storing it in my bag, sighing at the sight of the others I have amassed. "I have so much already"

"Really? I didn't know you had admirers" Mina perks with stars in her eyes. "You sly dog"

"Calm down" I wave her off. "Most of it is from the team" I explain, my teammates were more than happy to share gifts amongst each other and I got a bar from essentially everyone.

I think I'll make brownies with all of these.

"Most of them, so what about the others" Mina wiggles her brows with a knowing look and I roll my eyes.

Turns out, once I started interacting with my classmates and their preceding impression of me changed, a good few of them started to admire me for one reason or another. To be so blatantly aware of someone's feelings for me is somewhat odd, maybe a bit mortifying when I would hear their thoughts about me, or feel the happy emotions that come from me talking to them or just being around them.

"It looks like I'm likable enough," I say shrugging. "Some boy confessed to me this morning, a girl later in the day, had to turn them down. Do you know how hard it is to turn someone down? I didn't want to hurt their feelings"

Mina tittered at my expense, definitely holding back a laugh under that grin. She takes great pleasure in my dilemma with other people, enjoying the fact that I barely know how to function around people I'm not that familiar with.

"Did you bring anything for anyone?" She asks soon, curious.

"Well yes, I did, why wouldn't I?" I gifted my team with their own personalized chocolates which promptly earned me many thanks and cheers and somehow Konichi lifted me onto his shoulders. That guy is something else. "I'm not heartless, you know"

"Sometimes you are," Mina says bluntly.

"Name one time"

"You dangled Eijiro over your roof," she said casually and Eijiro give me a very pointed look.

"We were playing heroes and villains, you guys made the mistake of making me the villain, I get very into character" it's not my fault I ended up the villain, they should've known better.

"You seemed to have enjoyed scaring the life out of me," Eijiro says accusingly.

"I was the villain, I was supposed to enjoy it"

The both of them looked very skeptical but didn't bother expressing their doubts. Mina finally eats her lunch and Eijiro enjoys the juice box I had offered him today. A little thank you for helping me carry my backpack today since I was also walking with my soccer ball.

"Here" scouring through my bag I gather the little cartons I had so carefully packed this morning, each a symbolizing color of pink and red and both of them having something that made me think of them. For Eijiro it was the sharp teeth drawn unto the little box, I even added some gills. As for Mina I gave her box the raccoon eyes and added the bandit cloth around her eyes.

She never liked when people called her raccoon eyes as it had been used as an insult and she had told me that when I made a joke about it. But one day she just said that it's okay if I refer to her in that manner because she knew it was more of an endearing nickname rather than an insult.

Once someone dared call her that with this stupid grin on his face.

I'm not ashamed to say that I sent him to the infirmary.

"Oh wow," says an amazed Eijiro when he opens his carton and next to him Mina can't stop smiling. When it comes to Mina she loves food as much as I do but has a thing for sweets, so naturally, that would be her reaction. "Is this cake?"

"Cake, fudgy brownies, chocolate-covered strawberries, chocolate hazelnut macarons, the classic chocolate chip cookie, and a simple chocolate bar" I list the food that could be found in the box.

"Did you make them yourself?" Mina wonders as she examines carefully. "I mean, I know you can cook, but I never thought you could make these things"

"I'm proud to say that I'm my mother's daughter," I say laughing. After all, my mother is the greatest cook I know, I've learned from the best.

"This makes my chocolate bar look like nothing," Eijiro says in good nature, already biting into one of his strawberries. "Thanks, you're the greatest"

"The bestest" Mina corrects, once more forgetting the actual lunch in front of her in favor of the pure diabetes I have brought for them. She's halfway through a cookie when she seems to remember something. She's digging in her bag a moment later, pulling out a little orange box with fox features to present to me. The grin she wears is one of pride. "From me to you"

I should've expected the fox. Looking at it, I realize we're just three people with something that reminds the other of some animal. Eijiro with his shark teeth, Mina with her raccoon eyes and me simply with the name, though Eijiro has said that I act like a fox sometimes.

Within the very specific box, there are an assortment of chocolate mostly white chocolate, and bars with hazelnuts within, my favorites.

"I am not the best when it comes to making these things, so I had my dad help me out. He's really good at it" she starts to say, leaning over the table to point out some of the ones that have little fox faces. "I tried my best with those, dad makes them look best though"

Well, that's quite the nice gesture, isn't it?

"It looks great" it really does, adorable really, all those little foxes. And I can spot the ones she made personally, they just have a certain Mina characteristic to them. There's a pink one that has raccoon eyes instead and another with shark features, heh, tiny details. "Lissa's gonna be so jealous"

Oh, I'm going to rub it in her face.

"Still down about today?" Eijiro asks now with a grin.

"Nope, that is until I get back to class and have to suffer the thoughts of my fellow students"

"It's good while it lasts," says Mina, ever the optimist.

~~~~~~~~

March rolls around, signaling the end of the last semester and the start of spring break. I'll be a third-year soon, only having to wait another school year to finally be able to shoot my shot at UA. I'm fairly excited for that time, curious to see what type of changes the school will be making to their exams. Recently, the students of the school have been under attack whenever they leave the school grounds, being targets of multiple villains. Many would wonder how the villains know which children are attending the hero course, while others; the ones who pay good attention, would blame it on the sports festival that is broadcasted live around the country and quite possibly the world. An event where every student's face, name, and quirk are revealed, and they act surprised when the kids and their families are targeted. Just the other day someone tried to kidnap a group of them, Israel has told me since he was a part of the group. Lucky for them, they're a good team and fought them off and since then they haven't been able to leave their dorms. A couple were injured during the last month and I just can't seem to understand how they let things like this happen. Those kids were just going about their day, probably going home to visit their family after spending so much time at the school and they get assaulted by random, yet powerful villains.

There were many complaints by adults, testifying that the school was to blame for revealing their faces and identities to the public, and frankly, they're not entirely wrong. I believe the school figured the kids would be well protected if they remained near the heroes, hence the dorms, but you've got to count that they will sometimes have to visit their families.

The school has shut down earlier than normal with nearly two weeks to spare before vacation. A phone call from Israel let me know that they're working on a couple of things, however, there are rumors that most of it won't come into play anytime soon.

Most of that had been on my mind lately and I can't seem to think of much else, even when I'm painfully backed into a corner by a very smug Rumi. She shows up now and then, always appearing for Morgan, but sometimes if we tempt her enough she'll spar with us.

I say spar, but it's just a game with her and the way she plays with us. Those muscles are no joke and the force behind those legs is nothing to mess with. I swear I could've shattered an arm had I not quickly mended the stone of the wall to my arm. It was something I did without much thought and I'm happy I did because the force with which she kicked me could have surely broken my arm. I was sent flying from the kick, harshly impacting the wall, gasping as the air is knocked out of my lungs.

Jesus, my poor back, and my arm, my poor arm.

Crumbling to the floor, my makeshift defensive glove breaks apart on the floor and I make a mental note to fix the wall I took this from.

"Rumi, you're too rough with my cousins, you'll seriously hurt them" Morgan scolds from the doorway, glaring at Rumi, who simply shrugs.

"She asked for it"

Yeah, I did.

"It's okay" I'll get hurt in real situations, hurt worse than I currently am, so I see no reason for Rumi not to treat me the way she does. It's good training and preparation. "I told her not to hold back too much"

"Then you're both idiots" Morgan groans. "You're going to get hurt"

"Good thing school's ended" I reply with a quick grin, slowly pushing myself up the wall to stand on my feet. Standing straight, I wince at the pain in my back and carefully shake my arm that had been throbbing with pain. Slowly, the crumbled stone returned to my arm, encasing it in a protective layer.

"Have I told you how much I like you, kid?" Rumi laughs. "You know how to take a beating"

"I'm quite the masochist, I know" the sarcasm is practically dripping off my lips and Rumi laughs even more.

I need a moment to prepare for the next round. For one, she always uses me as her punching bag. Second, she's in nothing but shorts and a sports bra and I could've died from that alone. Easily affected as I am, it took a while for me to get my mind straight and focus on the fight.

Heh, straight.

She stepped on me at some point.

I didn't mind.

I mean, I couldn't breathe and I was sure I would pass out.

Oh, but the things I felt.

Man, I'm truly a lost cause.

"Water" I mumble, reaching for the water bottle close by.

Once I'm sure I can take a hit and not die immediately, I signal to Rumi to begin again, already steeling myself from the pain I'm bound to feel.

I avoid being thrown across the room like a ragdoll by propelling myself into the air with a burst of wind, but that only saves me for a moment because Rumi jumps, and catches up to me so quickly I swear I actually felt fear for a moment. Still, she jumps, I use the wind to keep me up, so if I evade her, she'll descend to the ground and I'll remain up here. Regardless, she'll only jump up to me again and the second time around she will get me.

Heh.

When she's on the same level as me, I'm quick to manipulate the water from the bottle I had left open, splashing it in her face just to catch her off guard before I rush in for a headbutt, striking her hard enough to send her head back and quickly following with a punch from my armored hand, sending her back to the floor.

My head hurts, but that's okay.

"Ha!" I spiral in the air, for a moment too excited to control my movements. Dispelling the air - I plummet to the floor until I'm hovering just above a ball of air I had tried so hard to make and control. "I got you"

I'm traveling around her on my created ball of wind, understanding why Aang loved this thing.

My celebration is cut short when I'm grabbed by the ruff, crashing onto the floor with Rumi hanging over me, this fiendish look on her face and water dripping onto mine. I chuckle a bit nervously when I find I can't move from the way she's holding me and very much do not like that look on her face.

"That was dirty" she accuses. "Though a good plan seeing as it worked"

"Rumi" Morgan calls from the doorway, sounding a bit fed up. "Would you get off her"

She does, but only to turn me onto my stomach and force my hands to my back in a painful position, returning to linger above me.

"Rumi"

"What? We're sparring, anything counts here"

"What are you going to do to her?"

"Nothing much"

Nothing much she says.

~~~~~~~~

"Are you okay?"

No Mina, I'm not okay, my everything aches after yesterday and I'm cursing Rumi for wanting retribution. She hunted me, that's the only way I can explain it and the irony makes me feel a bit better about the situation. She chased me through the house and yard, the one rule being to not be caught or else. I didn't want to know what that or else was so I ran like my life banked on it, using everything I knew to keep away from her, dodging her many reaches, sliding under furnishings, hurdling over anything in my way. I even ended up on the roof, almost plunging to my death had I not utilized the wind to send me flying through an open window and hurry to make another distance. I ran until I could hardly breathe, lungs and everything else burning. Then after she finally caught me, roughly grabbing me in a chokehold when I already struggled to breathe. That "or else" ended up being another sparring match, this time without the use of my quirk and I was abused. I'm a good fighter, a really good fighter with four styles under my belt, but Rumi has more experience and quickly put me in my place.

"I'm dying"

"You look like you are" Mina mused, hands finding my shoulders and quickly withdrawing when I wince. "What the hell happened to you?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

She goes quiet for a moment before she's holding me again, this time forcing me to roll over onto my back.

"Have you even left your bed today?" She wonders, reaching for Kurama when he plops on my chest and pulls a miserable whine from me.

"Yes, to get cleaned up and to eat" I reply, raising a single arm, even that hurts. "I'll just stay here for the rest of the day"

"Don't you need to apply some medicine or something?"

"Concerned?"I jest.

"Well, yeah, you're in pain" she presses a hand into my chest to get her point across. The simple thing sends pain straight up my back to my brain and I'm groaning

Damn you Rumi.

"Yeah fine, there's some ointment on my desk" Morgan had put it there for me, not having the time to apply it to my skin since she was in a rush. Alissa is somewhere in the house and I didn't want to get up to find her and Israel isn't here. If Mina's offering I'm not turning it down.

She's quick to get it, scrambling onto my bed soon and eyeing the bottle with recognition.

"I use this too, it really helps with pain"

That's some relief.

"Take off your shirt" Mina insists, already pushing my clothes up my stomach, though not making it far when I refuse to get up to assist. "Get up"

"It'll hurt, Mina" is my pathetic excuse.

"But I can't properly use the stuff if you don't take your shirt off," she says, carefully pulling me up to sit and pulling my shirt higher and higher until I'm forced to raise my arms. "You're a big baby"

"Whawha" moving to sit a bit more comfortably, I turn my back to Mina so she could get started. Since I'm already sitting there's no reason to hurt myself more by trying to lie back down.

"Still don't want to tell me why your hurting everywhere?" A cold substance touches my back, the unexpected feeling making me flinch until the warmth of Mina's hands soothe it away.

"I got beat up" the only words that can properly explain it.

I don't miss the way Mina coughs to hide a not-so-subtle laugh, I'm glad she finds amusement in my pain.