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Kyoka stared at him. Didn't dare blink: didn't dare risk that this figment of memory might vanish away like a boojum.
It couldn't be him standing by her. No, definately not. Because if this was he, then he'd gone from being a hamster of a young man in school, to this colt man here, small body with long long and slight limbs. Kyoka could hear her grandmother asking when was the last time he'd had anything to eat, even though his cheeks weren't sunken and his skin looked a healthy color.
For his part, he ducked his head and dusted himself off - clean before and after.
She figuratively stuck by his side when he tried to walk away. And kept staring, still disbelieving this was happening, but unable to pull away. All this time, nobody's known where you were, not hearing a word from you...and here I just bump into you?
"Please," he asked, his voice familiar enough for recognition; his fingers making faint "shoo, shoo, away" motions.
"Mineta?" Kyoka asked, blinking at last. "We all thought you were dead -"
"Good."
"- so where've you been?" trying to ignore the - contentment? acceptance? - in that one word answer of his. No, thats not true. "" Nobodys seen you for years. Just your balls. Like you'd freed yourself from them, and they went on to capture Stain and many others.
"No loss for them," Mineta muttered.
"Where were you?" Kyoka repeated.
"Nice seeing you. Bye," he tried saying, to no avail:
She jumped to stand in front of him, blocking his way.
Mineta stopped. Looked at her. And waited.
Not looking at me like I'm a piece of meat in a bikini. More like I'm a weed that'll be gone soon enough, or a bird he expects will take flight shortly. "I'm not moving," she informed him.
He shrugged.
Kyoka growled, "C'mon," grabbed his hand, and yanked him after her into a nearby cafe, all but shoving him into an empty chair. "Talk," she told him.
Another shrug. "What do you want?" he asked her.
"Where have you been?" she repeated.
"I got out of your way," Mineta said. "I got out of everyones' way. I got my behavior under control. And I confronted the truth about my hopes."
"You'd have been a great hero," Kyoka informed him. 'Out of the way'?
"I am a great hero," he replied in the same tone of voice he'd used to say goodbye earlier. "I forced myself to recognize that I'd never be as popular or sociable as you or any of my other classmates, that my Quirk wasn't suited to the limelight any more than the rest of me was."
The floodgates are starting to open, she saw. "So it was you who captured Stain for good?" Even Deku tried to round him up, but he didn't stay locked away. "That was awesome work."
"I did the job I gave myself," Mineta said with a dismissive shrug. "Now will you let me go?"
"I'm not forcing you to stay," Kyoka said, then realized she was still gripping his hand like it was a lifeline. "Sorry," letting go, but not pulling her hand away. "Why not come back in from the cold, let everyone congratulate you?"
"What I do, I don't do for applause or kudos," he said, not pulling his hand away either. "I'm content with how things are."
"What about your friends?"
Mineta looked at her, and she winced. "I was a horrible friend to those who tried to handle me like a friend. I was worse to people who tried to keep their distance from me."
"That was then. We're all different now that we're older," Kyoka said.
"Tell them I said Hi, if you wish. I haven't been able to think of anything else to say to anyone."
Now she felt a different wince. "I for one am glad you're okay, Mineta, even if you don't want to tell me what you're been up to."
"Thanks," he managed.
"Soooo...don't you want to know what happened to all our classmates? Who got married, who turned Pro, and -"
"If I knew, I wouldn't want to hear," Mineta said; "and if I don't know, I don't want to hear. All past."
"Don't make me hit you with a clue-by-four," Kyoka warned him.
He looked her dead in the eyes, and asked her, "Go for it."
"No," she said.
"Are we done here?"
I am five seconds away from plugging my ear jacks into your arm and force-feeding you the fact that we miss you and want to hear from you, you little... But Kyoka bit her lip and kept that to herself, and then said, "I suppose. You're on your way to something urgent? A hot date?" she asked him, half kidding.
"Urgent," he repeated, standing up. "It was nice to see you again. Bye," and he walked slowly to the door. As he opened the door, about to step into the rain (When did it start raining? she wondered), Mineta looked back, and nodded to her.
She stood up, not sure what else could be said. Or what would get through to him.
And she let him go, watching him disappear into the rain, fading into the shadows.