Chapter Text
“Yo, Sparkles? Why don’t you go grab us some coffee from that place across the street?” Suzuki grins while he scrolls through his phone.
Kyouka rolls her eyes. “I told you to stop calling me that, Suzuki.”
“C’mon Sparkles, we’ll give you some cash. You can even get a little something for yourself,” Fujioka chimes in. He stood up, slapping a couple bills into Kyouka’s hand.
“Don’t you need a bass player to practice? I can’t just leave in the middle of rehearsal, idiots.” Kyouka argues, sticking the money back out towards Fujioka.
Fujioka pushes her hand away, “Well, I guess we could just end practice early if you don’t feel like it.”
Kyouka stares him down for a few seconds, then turns around, cracking open the door.
“Fine, whatever.” She says, with her back turned. She pulls open the door and closes it behind her, with a little more force than necessary. It’s getting late in the evening, but she knows that this coffee shop stays open later than the other ones in town.
This coffee shop.
This coffee shop.
Shit.
She can’t go to this coffee shop because it’s the one with the little red umbrellas, and the one with the girl. The girl that she can’t help but stare at, and the girl she will absolutely freeze up and embarrass herself if she has to talk to.
This is pathetic, she thinks. As she stands outside the door pacing, she can hear the faint sounds of her bandmates talking inside. Kyouka puts her ear to the door, I bet they’re saying some stupid jokes. I’ll totally make fun of them for this.
Suzuki, Fujioka, Sato, and Aone’s loud voices filter through the door. They never did have any volume control, did they? Kyouka smiles.
“Dude, how are we still letting her pretend to be in our band?”
"I swear to god, chicks can’t take a fucking hint. I should just go out there and tell her straight that we don’t want to put up with her hissy shit anymore.”
“Nah man, I’ve finally got another bassist lined up. He’s this guy from Southern Tech. I mean, he’s never touched a bass before, but I’m sure he’s better than little Sparkles,”
“Fucking finally, dude.”
Oh, she thinks.
A year and a half ago, Kyouka was an ambitious freshman in college. She was alone in a new town, yearning for friends, and she decided it was time to look for them instead of holing up in her dorm room like a recluse. Besides, her roommate, Tokoyami, had some sort of ritual going on tonight with their friends, and Kyouka was not about to be in the middle of that.
So, Kyouka threw on her favorite outfit and some sparkly purple eyeliner. She’d taken down the information from a flier she found on the bulletin board in the coffee shop on Claremont. Or was it Clearmont? Kyouka thought.
Whatever, Kyouka decided. Tonight, she was going to make friends, she was sure of it. A punk show, here? This was her chance to finally get out there.
So, she hopped on her bike and followed the maps on her phone, walking through the doors to the venue with confidence she didn’t even know she had.
A tall man with dark hair was yelling, waving a bass guitar wildly to a furious-looking guy, “Dude, I’m sorry, just stay for this show, we have to–”
“No! I’m out of here, man.”
Kyouka stared, dumbfounded. I guess no show, then, she thinks. No! I found my confidence for this. I put on sparkly eyeliner!
Kyouka took a deep breath.
“Hey. You need a bassist?”
She stares blankly at the door, behind which was the band which she’d dedicated the past year of her life to. They were her closest friends, at least she thought so. But I guess that was all a big, fat, lie, she said to herself. She stares at the money crumpled up in her shaking fist, and she steps backwards.
She steps backwards.
She forgets that Suzuki’s porch has a step, and a step that she completely missed. Isn’t this so predictable, she thinks.
She hits the ground with a crash. Well, it feels more like the pavement is hitting her.
“What the hell? What was that?” She hears from inside.
Shit shit shit, her mind races. She has to get out of here because they are going to open the door, see her there and realize she has been standing outside the door this entire time. Which would mean they would realize how weird and desperate she is.
So, Jirou takes off in a run, kicking her feet against the concrete. She dodges a couple cars, loud car horns piercing her ears.
She ducks through the path between the stupid coffee shop and some building that she doesn’t remember the name of before skidding to a stop as she reaches a dock on the other side. Nowhere else to go.
Nowhere else to go. She spent a whole year dedicated to those guys. She was there for Suzuki when his girlfriend dumped him, she even bailed Aone out of jail when he spit on a cop. I can’t believe he was stupid enough to do that. She let out a small laugh to herself.
I can’t believe I was stupid enough to trust them. She dangles her legs off the dock, watching the little bugs hop across lily pads, still wet with the rain from the day before.
“Closing up for the day, Yaomomo?” Momo’s coworker, Midoriya, inquires as he dries off the freshly washed dishes.
“Yes. I am all set here. Tell your mother I say hello!” Momo replies as she wipes down the last window. As her view of the moonlit lake outside the window becomes clear, something, or someone , catches her eye.
A girl is sitting on the dock, staring down at the water. She looks sad, the girl, sitting there all alone. When Momo is sad, she makes her special tea that’s imported from Europe and sits with it for a while. It’s warm and filling, making her whole again when she’s feeling empty.
So, Momo makes tea for the girl sitting on the dock. She warms it up to the perfect temperature and puts the box of teabags back on the top shelf, where no one else but she can reach.
Momo opens the back door and walks out towards the girl. She keeps her eyes trained on the cup of tea, telling herself that it’s so it doesn’t spill, not because she is afraid of being judged by the moonlight girl.
Momo sets the mug on the dock, sitting down.
“Hello. It looked like you could use a tea. I always have tea when I feel like sitting on docks in the middle of the night.”
Moonlight girl looks up at her.
“I- yeah. You’re right.” She sniffles. It seems like she’s been crying.
“Momo. My name is Momo Yaoyorozu.” Momo doesn’t know what compels her to tell a complete stranger her name. But something about this girl, this girl sitting on a dock in the moonlight makes Momo want to get to know her.
“Kyouka. Kyouka Jirou.