Archive of Our Own

Mina's first year at UA High School was finally about to begin!

What an exciting time! She'd been working hard the entire past year just to prepare for the entrance exams–from staying up way too late perfecting her assignments to taking two extra classes after school, her marks were finally satisfactory enough to reach UA's recommended scores. And she didn't just focus on her grades–her fun Friday evenings normally spent with friends were instead sacrificed for hour-long workouts at the gym to strengthen her quirk. After a lot of training, she even managed to control the amount of acid she could produce at one time–although she didn't exactly have much control over her aim.

But that's why she was going to UA, right?

In the end, all of Mina's hard work paid off–she passed the exam! Her dream of attending her number one school was finally coming true!

"Make sure to stay in touch, okay, guys?" Mina said to her pals as they all left their shared school building for the last time, once entering as middle school students but now exiting as newly-graduated alumni.

"Oh, definitely!" The confident bright-eyed girl walking in the middle of the group was no longer the same quiet outcast Mina had met so long ago. Her eyes were filled with light as she gave Mina an endearing smile. "I'll have to come back to visit sometime. Moving to Nagoya is going to be a hard adjustment, but if it means that I'll one day be able to do what I love and help out other quirkless kids, then it'll be so worth it."

"And I'll be supporting you every step of the way over at UA!" Mina happily chirped, pulling the other girl into a sideways hug and taking a moment to appreciate just how amazing her friend was.

"Hey, don't forget about us!" The others in the group eagerly jumped at the two girls, and they all shared one last group hug together. When they all finally separated and went their own ways, Mina felt a lingering comfort in her chest.

We might not be together every day anymore, but I will always treasure our friendships.

Mina loved her friends. And it wasn't just her classmates from school--she'd met so many people over the course of her life that she couldn't even keep track of them all. The girl just couldn't help herself! She loved hearing about people's unique experiences and learning a thing or two from their perspective. She loved sharing similar interests and gushing about their favorite idols or anime characters or whatever topic was trending at the time. She loved hanging out as one big group, having a concrete plan for the day and ending up going way off-track not even a few minutes in.

And that's why Mina was even more excited to go to UA. Imagine how many new people she was destined to meet!

But no amount of friends could ever fill the void in her heart that was left when her dad passed away last May. Mina missed her father more than anything. Life felt empty without him there, especially after she realized that he would never see his daughter get accepted into her dream school.

Her father would always have a special place in her heart. But Mina knew that her dad would want her to have as much fun as she could at her new school–and obviously prioritize her studies, too. So Mina tried not to focus on his absence too much.

Thanks to her awesome new classmates, that wasn't as hard as she feared it would be.

Mina's expectations of UA were exceeded very early on–and that was saying something considering how high of a pedestal she always put UA on. She made friends the very first day she got there. There were so many cool people in her class! She was naturally drawn to the electric boy named Denki, whose dumbass energy complimented hers perfectly. A friend group including the two of them and a few others formed early on–a group that they soon dubbed the Bakusquad because the boy that inspired the name really needed some good friends to snap him out of his eternal grumpiness. Was it working? Who knew! Mina and Denki liked messing with him either way.

"I TOLD YOU TO STOP TOUCHING MY GRENADES!" Bakugou snapped, whipping his hand around to snatch the weapon out of Denki's hands. "You have no idea what you're doing!" Denki only responded by turning to Mina and rolling his eyes, and they both snickered.

Mina really liked the other girls in the class, too. There were only six of them total, so they had to stick together to fight against the perviness of some of the more intolerable boys in the class. Mina matched well with Hagakure, who could always make time for a good fangirling session with her. But she appreciated the serenity of Tsuyu and the adorableness of Uraraka too. And she couldn't forget about the lovely Jiro and Momo!

The girls were definitely the best people in the class. No bias there!

Life at UA was great. But it wasn't always easy–or safe. One day, Class 1-A traveled to an off-campus location known as the USJ. But what was meant to be a simple day of rescue training ended up being a villain attack! Like, actual, real villains! Mina had never been so scared in her whole life. And they barely made it out okay–if Iida hadn't been able to escape thanks to the help of Thirteen and Uraraka, they never would've found help in time. And if they never found help…oh, Mina didn't want to think about that.

But the teachers managed to chase away the bad guys. All Might saved them all just from his overpowering strength and ferocity. But Mina still had to watch Thirteen nearly die from the smoke villain's clever use of his quirk. The way her teacher's entire suit was damaged made Mina legitimately afraid that she wasn’t going to survive. Thankfully, they were able to find help in time, and Thirteen lived just fine. Although she needed a new suit after that day.

But the villains never returned. The teachers and UA staff promised that an attack like that would never happen again. But every student knew that there was something that the teachers weren't telling them. Almost like they weren't completely confident that they could keep their promise.

Did they even know how the attack happened?

Well, that wasn't Mina's concern. She was more worried about keeping up with her assignments and improving the accuracy of her acid shots!

Around two weeks before the first semester was over, it was announced that there would be a training camp lasting the entire summer break! Mina could barely contain her excitement! She would get to spend every day with her classmates in the best way possible–hanging out in the summer sun, having a sleepover every night, breaking out the party games, relaxing in the sauna with her favorite girls…

Then Aizawa added that the students could only go if they passed their final exams, and Mina realized that her attendance was in jeopardy.

Welp, I better start studying as soon as I get home.

That was no problem. The other Bakusquad members (the majority of them, at least) were struggling with their grades, too. They could get some studying done during their nightly Discord calls–if Denki could manage to put down Overwatch long enough to actually study.

"Your Overwatch addiction is seriously concerning at this point," Mina half-joked after the group finally convinced Denki not to join another match. "What happened to Fortnite?"

Denki scoffed. "Fortnite is cringe."

Mina knew exactly what to say to rile her friend up, so she said with a smirk, ” You're cringe."

Predictably, Denki became defensive, his ego threatened by the atrocity of being known as peak cringe. "No--you're cringe!"

"Guys, can we please actually start studying," Sero quickly interjected, reminding Mina that there were more people on the call besides her and Denki. "It's already midnight and we still haven't done anything."

Pouting a bit, Denki didn't argue back. "Fine."

Thus continued their studying sessions.

Even with finals quickly approaching, the teachers still had regular assignments for the students. There was one particular class led by Midnight that was significant– extremely significant, actually. And it wasn't because of the actual class.

Mina was grouped up with Jiro, Koda, and Aoyama. They all had to come up with a way to rescue a bunch of people stranded on a crashing airplane thousands of feet in the air without any power or outside technology.

Dangit, I wish Denki was in our group.

Mina wasn't sure how to answer the question. How the heck was her acid supposed to help? And how could Jiro’s Earphone Jack quirk hear anything when they were stuck way up in the air?

Mina couldn't think of anything. And it seemed like nobody else in the group was coming up with an answer, either.

…Well, not Jiro or Koda, at least.

"Mesdames et messieurs, I have the solution you need."

It was Aoyama. Out of everyone in the group, Mina didn't expect him to be the one to come up with an answer. His grades weren't exactly stellar based on the midterm results, and it wasn't like he showed any signs of being extremely intelligent outside of his grades, either.

But then again, what did Mina know about Aoyama?

When Jiro only acted doubtful, Mina raised a hand to stop her. "Wait, let him talk. What were you thinking, Aoyama?"

Mina was shocked at how intricate Aoyama's answer was. Jiro would use her quirk to send soundwaves in a morse code pattern to the surface. Koda would call over a passing bird and hand it a written SOS message to deliver to someone on the ground. Mina would disintegrate everything on the plane that prevented the passengers from freely moving around and, once that was done, comfort the stressed passengers so they weren't panicking as much.

…Aoyama could even note Mina's empathetic side?

Of course Mina's first response was to praise Aoyama for how well-thought-out his plan was. Perhaps that boy was smarter than he let on! But his answer got her thinking…what else did she not know about Aoyama?

As the group finished up their notes and waited for Midnight's next instructions, Mina glanced curiously at Aoyama. The blond-haired boy was resting in his favorite pose–staring off in the distance with his head set comfortably in his hands.

Mina had always been mystified by Aoyama. He was flamboyant and eccentric–always making sure to leave an impact whenever he talked. But if Mina were being honest, as much as Aoyama tried to stand out, she often overlooked him. It was like he was so weird that it made him forgettable.

…Did that even make sense?

Even so, his thoughtful answer that day made Mina realize that she hadn't spent that much time getting to know Aoyama at all. But it wasn't like they never interacted before--in fact, Aoyama was one of the first people she met at UA since they were on the same team during their very first training session. She remembered how he started speaking in a different language (that she later realized was French) and how she was afraid that he didn't speak Japanese at all. Thankfully he reverted back to Japanese right after, and her fears were instantly quenched.

But that was the only time they talked. And they didn't even talk that much during the match. Or after it.

I need to make more of an effort to talk to him. He's the only person here I don't know anything about.

Maybe during the training camp. We'll probably have a lot of free time to chat then.

After the presentations were over, it was finally time for lunch! Mina was super excited to hang out with the Bakusquad–not only did she love hanging out with them in general, but they could also talk about their bowling trip planned for the next day. Ever since the birth of the Bakusquad, Kirishima had been constantly bringing up how much fun it would be if they all went bowling together, but it wasn't until now that the plans were actually set in stone. Even Hagakure was tagging along. It was going to be so much fun!

As Mina followed her friends to the entrance of the room, she noticed Aoyama patiently sitting in his seat. Remembering how pleasantly surprised she was at his idea from earlier, she decided that maybe she should mention it–because who doesn't like a compliment every now and then? So she stopped in front of his desk and greeted, "Hey Aoyama!"

Oddly enough, Aoyama seemed a little startled. It looked like he had been setting up his lunch, his hands paused in the middle of opening his lunchbox like Mina had just pressed the pause button on a TV remote.

Oh, he must eat his lunch here. That's why I've never seen him in the cafeteria.

"I just wanted to say that I was really impressed by your plan from earlier!" she praised. "I didn't expect that amazing idea to come from you!"

Aoyama still looked a bit taken aback, only staring at his classmate with a dumbfounded expression. In the short silence that followed, Mina noticed something.

There was nobody else in the room.

Aoyama was eating lunch…on his own.

Had he been eating his lunch by himself that entire time?

Mina frowned at him. "You eat here every day, don't you?"

Aoyama had finally recovered from his surprise. His trademark sparkles once again returning, he straightened up a bit and exclaimed, "Oui, of course! This is my personal lunchroom!"

"...But you're eating alone."

Now Mina was becoming concerned. The more she thought about it, the more she realized she had completely glossed over something:

Did Aoyama have any friends?

She had always assumed that he did since he was fairly social and wasn't afraid to speak up, but now that she actually thought about it, Aoyama never really hung out with anyone. It was like he was just…there. And when he did talk, it was like he was talking to people, not with people. Almost like he was speaking to an audience that wouldn't listen.

How did Mina not notice that until now?!

Aoyama was quiet for a moment, lowering his gaze so he could focus on brushing the white cloth he had spread over his desk. "It's part of my diet. Lunch Rush's cuisine makes my tummy hurt."

Oh, that was true. Aoyama's quirk gave him bad stomach aches. It wasn't far-fetched to imagine that he needed to eat the right diet too. So maybe Aoyama had a point–

Wait. Mina had an idea.

"That doesn't mean you have to eat alone, though!" Becoming excited from how wonderful her plan was, Mina eagerly turned towards the exit in hopes of seeing her other friends. "How about you eat with–"

But the Bakusquad was gone. It was just Mina and Aoyama now. But that was fine–they could catch up to the others soon enough. So Mina turned back to Aoyama. "Oh, they left already. But I was thinking that maybe you could eat with me and the Bakusquad! And you don't even have to touch Lunch Rush's food if you don't want to! You can bring your lunch and eat it there!"

So you don't have to eat by yourself anymore.

Yeah, Mina was definitely feeling a bit guilty.

She was expecting Aoyama to immediately fall in love with her idea. After all, who wouldn't want to hang out with a group as fun as the Bakusquad?

Well, Aoyama, apparently. The boy simply shook his head, putting his hands up in refusal. "Non non, I cannot do that. Merci beaucoup."

"Aoyama, you know I don't speak French!!" Now Mina was getting impatient. She wanted more than anything for Aoyama to get out of his lonesome "personal lunchroom." She started restlessly hopping in place. "Come on, just for one day!"

Aoyama's stare was filled with confusion. But he eventually refused again, turning away as he spoke. "Non, thank you, mademoiselle. I am staying here."

Come on, Aoyama! Stop making me feel like such a bad person for not noticing!

It was clear that Mina wasn't getting anywhere with her failed attempts of convincing. Aoyama was not budging, no matter how much Mina pushed him.

If pushing wasn't working, then maybe pulling would.

Hagakure had definitely been rubbing off on Mina too much. Hagakure liked getting physical, choosing to emphasize her words with an elbow nudge or a thump on the head. If Aoyama refused to see how beneficial it would be if he spent time with the others…then maybe Mina needed to get a bit physical, too.

"Fine. If you won't willingly go, then I'll drag you there myself."

Mina could see the alarm appear on Aoyama's face when she lunged for his arm, but she didn't care. She was just ripping the bandaid off–maybe it would be hard for Aoyama to go to the cafeteria (for whatever reason), but once he realized how much he enjoyed being around his classmates, he would never want to go back to that pathetic excuse of a cafeteria again. So she grabbed Aoyama's arm and yanked him to his feet without an ounce of empathy. "And then you won't want to eat all alone anymor–"

"PUTAIN!!"

Aoyama's sudden cry made Mina let go. The French boy doubled over in pain, clutching onto his forearm as if Mina had accidentally stuck a knife in it. Mina immediately felt bad, and she took an anxious step closer. "My god, Aoyama, I--I'm sorry, I didn't think I pulled that hard–"

Still leaning over, Aoyama barely lifted his head and said something about being just fine. But Mina quickly became distracted by something else–

"Oh my god--you're bleeding!!"

Aoyama looked almost as horrified as Mina was. His gray sleeve was quickly becoming stained by an ever-expanding splotch of red. Mina felt so bad–all she wanted to do was give Aoyama some company, but she only ended up hurting him.

Her intense guilt spurred her to help. "I'm so sorry, Aoyama–" She reached for his arm, desperately hoping that the injury she inflicted wasn't that bad. "Let me see if–"

"Non!!" Aoyama suddenly whipped his hand out of reach, hastily jumping backwards before Mina could do anything else. "It's fine!"

Aoyama's words were obviously just an attempt to make Mina feel less terrible about hurting him, but she still felt guilty–especially when he was clearly pretending like he wasn't in pain right then. "No it's not, Aoyama! Look: your whole sleeve will be bloody at this rate!"

Just one glance at his arm and Aoyama completely froze. His violet eyes were wider than Mina had ever seen them.

He looks really scared. He must not like seeing blood. I hope he doesn't pass out…then I'd feel really bad!

Now that Aoyama wasn't moving, Mina had an opportunity to inspect the injury. She once again reached for his arm. "I'm just gonna check if we need to get Recovery Girl or not, okay?"

Aoyama didn't move.

Mina wasn't really sure what to expect. Her rough handling of Aoyama's arm didn't seem like a good enough reason to warrant that much blood–or at least she didn't think so. But based on how bloody his shirt now looked, the wound was probably going to be pretty bad. So as Mina gently slid up his sleeve, she mentally prepared herself for whatever gory sight she was about to witness…

…What?

There was more than one injury on his arm, all of them running in straight lines parallel to each other.

Mina recognized it right away.

It was like her perception of Aoyama completely flipped just from that one image. Because the Aoyama she thought she knew would never do something like that.

For a while Mina couldn't find her words. Her eyes were glued on the scars, fear flooding her whole body as she truly began to understand just how much she had completely misunderstood her classmate. But after a while she found her voice again, and she quietly said, "Aoyama…"

Aoyama finally met her gaze after a while of looking straight at the ground, and she realized the fear she'd seen in his eyes wasn't because he didn't like seeing blood.

Not at all.

"…Did you do this to yourself?"

It was like those words completely changed Aoyama's attitude. In one sudden movement, he leaped backwards and pulled his sleeve back down, clearly too panicked to do anything but deflect and keep his distance. "Arrête!! That is my boundary you are crossing!"

Aoyama's hurting himself.

"There is nothing to overreact about, mademoiselle! No need to worry about me!"

And I didn't even notice it.

Then Aoyama's expression darkened, and he averted his gaze. "...Stop staring at me like that."

"Aoyama…why?" She took a cautious step towards her friend, and when he didn't try to back away, she took a few more until she was close enough to get a better look at his bloody sleeve. But he only pulled it closer to his body. "Why would you do this?"

Aoyama didn't answer, his only reaction being an uncomfortable frown Mina didn't know how to interpret.

"I thought you were happy," she continued, keeping her gaze focused on Aoyama even when he refused to make eye contact. "You always act so happy at school…I didn't know you felt so sad."

She could see the emotions stirring in Aoyama's eyes, but he snapped away before she could do anything else. He briskly returned to his seat and resumed unpacking his lunch as if everything were normal. Mina was afraid that he was just going to ignore her when he finally said in an eerily serious voice, "Like I said, it's nothing for you to worry about."

So Aoyama was trying to act like it wasn't a problem.

Mina had already heard that story before. The familiarity of his words made her upset, and she raced to the front of his desk, yelling, "How can I not worry?! You're cutting yourself! There's cuts all over your arm–and probably the other one, too! And that one is so bad it's bleeding through your shirt!"

Aoyama didn't look up, still wiping away the wrinkles on his tablecloth. "It's not that bad, Ashido."

"YES IT IS!" In her frustration, Mina grabbed the edge of the tablecloth and launched it across the room, making Aoyama flinch in astonishment. She lowered her head until he was forced to face her furious gaze. "Don't act like it's not a problem! Or are you trying to tell me that you're only planning on making it worse?!"

"Non, I never said that!" he cried back.

"Well how am I supposed to know!" Now Mina was so upset–both at Aoyama and herself–that she broke out into tears, the sudden reaction immediately alarming Aoyama. "You're such a fucking liar! You pretended like everything was fine, and now…now I don't know what you're going to do! What if you cut too deep one day and end up killing yourself? How am I supposed to deal with that?!"

"That's not going to happen!" Aoyama quickly said. "I'm…I'll make sure it doesn't."

Yeah, like I believe that.

Mina stayed silent for a moment, scrutinizing the boy in front of her. The way Aoyama was dismissively shooing her words away told Mina that he probably didn't give a crap about the cutting at all.

Surely someone in his life had to care.

Her gaze now hardened from her negative emotions, Mina simply asked, "Who knows?"

Aoyama only said, "Right now, just you."

The powerful anxiety that overcame Mina was too strong for her to control, her previous desire to keep her volume down now lost by the anger driving her words. "What do you mean, ' just you'? I'm the only person who knows?!"

It almost looked like Aoyama was afraid to answer. "...Oui."

"DON'T 'OUI' ME!" Mina would've thrown his lunchbox too if she weren't so distracted by her worry. "That's not okay, Aoyama! This isn't okay!"

Aoyama only kept on looking away.

Am I even getting to him?

At that point, Mina was too frustrated by Aoyama's lack of concern to try any harder. No amount of reasoning was going to change his lackadaisical attitude. Maybe it made more sense to stick to the basics–get his wound patched up first. So Mina gave up arguing and instead muttered, "We should go get Recovery Girl. She'll make it stop bleeding."

Unsurprisingly, Aoyama denied her request. "Non, I'm not doing that."

Aoyama was lucky that Mina wasn't in the middle of her raging anymore. "Good luck stopping the blood then."

And there it was: Aoyama's fake personality returned. Giving Mina the most irritating smirk she'd ever seen, he took out a white ball of medical wrap from his bag and presented it to her with a wink. "Pas de problème: I've got gauze!"

Mina was far too pissed off to care. Or maybe she knew she'd instantly wipe that conceited grin off of Aoyama's face when he heard what she had to say next. Ambling past the French boy and sitting smugly back into her seat, Mina said, "Fine by me. You'll just have to find a change of clothes yourself."

She was satisfied to see the way Aoyama's back immediately tensed up.

"You'd better hurry, too. Our classmates will be back aaaany minute now…"

Mina loved knowing how powerful of a position she was in right then. As Aoyama began to quietly panic, she said offhandedly, "...I do have an extra shirt and vest in my locker."

Mina relished every moment as Aoyama immediately turned back in his seat, his face incredibly pleading. "S'il vous plaît! Please!!"

Oh? Who's the cocky one now, Aoyama?

Mina narrowed her eyes at Aoyama, silently considering her options. Now was the perfect opportunity to make Aoyama do something he wouldn't normally do. He couldn't deflect his way out of this one.

Mina would have to choose wisely if she wanted to help him.

Mina pictured Aoyama eating alone in the classroom from earlier, and she wondered if Aoyama's self-harm was perhaps influenced by his lack of friends. Maybe he was lonely? Maybe he wanted to make friends but didn't know how to? That would explain why his interactions always felt so…odd.

Thankfully, Mina was an expert at setting up social situations.

She didn't want to share her idea just yet. Aoyama might try to find a way to worm himself out of it if he knew what he'd have to do. Not to mention, she still had to discuss the plan with a few others.

After her period of thinking was over, she said, "You have to do something for me, and I'll let you borrow my clothes. But you have to do it no matter what. Got it?"

Aoyama looked incredibly relieved. "Oui, oui!" he cried, eagerly nodding his head.

He's really desperate to keep this a secret.

That wasn't very reassuring.

But Mina was hopeful. Maybe Aoyama would stop hurting himself if he had some friends. Then Mina could finally convince him to eat in the cafeteria with everyone else, and his awful self-harm saga would be over. And even better, Mina would have a new friend!

As Mina delivered the clothes to Aoyama, she realized just how thankful she was for that day's events. Yeah, it sucked in the moment, but since it was finally over, she could really get to know Aoyama since she could see past his facade.

"I promise that I don't mind missing lunch because of you," Mina had said right before she headed back to the classrooms. "Because now I get to meet the real Aoyama!"

Aoyama's expression was a little more forced than what Mina was expecting, but he was probably just not used to their new level of friendship yet.

Just you wait, Aoyama--I'm gonna be your bestest friend!

The classroom was slowly filling up by the time Mina got back. She was afraid that the Bakusquad would take their good old time returning to the classroom like they normally did, but to Mina's luck, they returned relatively early today.

Better go talk to them before Aoyama gets back.

She casually threw herself into the conversation, leaning her elbow on Denki's shoulder and saying, "Hey, guys, do you mind if we move the bowling trip to tonight?"

Sero, Kirishima, and Denki all looked a little confused. "But we still have school tomorrow," Sero pointed out. "Wouldn't you rather go on Friday so we don't have to worry about staying up too late?"

"Mmmm…na," Mina finally said. "Let's do it tonight."

Fortunately, the boys didn't seem outright opposed. Denki shrugged his shoulders. "I mean, I wouldn't mind doing it tonight. Leaves me more time to play the new Persona tomorrow!"

"Yeah, let's do it tonight!" Kirishima excitedly agreed, the group's willingness to change plans so suddenly making Mina just as excited. "I'll let Bakugou know."

Sero nodded. "We should probably tell Hagakure too."

"Tell me what?" Hagakure popped into view, patiently waiting for an answer.

"We're bowling today instead of tomorrow," Mina said. "And also, I'm bringing Aoyama too."

"Oooh, how fun!!" Hagakure bounced on her toes, the other boys nodding alongside her.

"Since he's new to our group, you should make him feel extra special," Mina suggested with a wink. She was happy to see everyone in the group agree with her proposition.

This is exactly what Aoyama needs. The Bakusquad will make him feel like he's right at home!

Mina had never been so excited for a bowling trip before.

-

Aoyama eventually returned to the classroom–clean uniform and all. It was amusing how uncomfortable he looked when all Mina did was smile at him as he walked in.

…Well, it wasn't actually that amusing when you considered why he was so uncomfortable in the first place. But Mina would rather view it as amusing than sad.

Eventually, classes ended, and the big moment came: Mina would reveal her grand plan to Aoyama! Unable to hold back her excitement, she leaned over her desk to be right next to Aoyama's side. She barely noticed how badly she freaked out her friend. "Hey there! I sure hope you haven't forgotten about our little promise from earlier!"

Aoyama clearly wasn't as excited as she was considering how unenthusiastic he looked–but that was okay. Aoyama didn't know how much fun was in store for them that afternoon!

However, when Mina finally revealed the fun bowling excursion they were all going to, Aoyama didn't look any more optimistic than before–even after she dragged him over to the rest of the bowling gang and forced him to talk. It made her a little frustrated how he wasn't even trying to have fun. But maybe he just needed to get to the bowling alley to see just how amazing their evening was going to be!

Mina got a bit distracted when she first entered the bowling alley. Just looking at the iconic neon carpet brought her back to the days of playing arcade games with her family during her childhood. What a rush of nostalgia. But she couldn't lose her focus for too long–she had an Aoyama to cheer up!

If Mina had to be honest, she was not that good at bowling. She knew Denki was making a huge mistake when he suggested–no, demanded– that they should all play without the guardrails. That handicap was the only reason why Mina could knock over a pin in the first place! But Denki had also been riling up Bakugou the entire time on the bus, so of course Bakugou was in agreement–why would they ever play the easy way?

Because maybe you two aren't the only people playing?!

Boys could be so self-centered sometimes.

Turned out that Mina was not the only one who suffered without the handicap. Surprisingly, the one who brought up the bowling trip idea in the first place (Kirishima) was terrible at the sport himself. Sero and Hagakure weren't that better themselves.

But the person who was undoubtedly the worst was Aoyama.

"...Can someone please show him how to throw the ball in a straight line?" Denki had lowered his voice so only the students seated together could hear him, all of them watching uncomfortably as Aoyama proudly made a gutterball for the sixth time in a row. "I can't watch this anymore."

Sero couldn't even face the bowling rink at this point, the shortcomings of Aoyama too much for him to witness. He leaned slightly towards Mina and whispered, "Maybe it was a bad idea to bring him, Mina."

THAT FUCKING ASSHOLE.

Mina wasn't even listening to the others' comments. Her eyes were targeted on Aoyama, staring down at his back as if her furious gaze would make him catch on fire. She couldn't stand watching Aoyama miss every throw–and not because he was bad at bowling.

He was messing up on purpose.

The moment after Aoyama made his first throw, it became obvious that he wasn't taking the game seriously. Did he get some sick pleasure from being such a terrible sport? Or did he enjoy making Mina suffer?

But as the game continued, something began to dawn on her. There was a certain dynamic to the Bakusquad that Aoyama didn't seem to match. The Bakusquad loved being loud, making bad jokes, and being overall chaotic–and every time Aoyama was present, it became clear that he didn't belong at all. Mina thought that Aoyama's general love of talking would help him fit in, but Aoyama seemed more quiet and awkward than usual. Even Hagakure fit in better than he did.

…Maybe I made a mistake here.

Mina quietly watched as Aoyama once again returned to his seat, and she began to wonder if she made the right choice for her request for Aoyama. She thought he would love the Bakusquad…after all, she loved the Bakusquad with all of her heart.

…But I'm not Aoyama.

Oh. Right. She forgot that other people could have different opinions than her.

Great–not only did she ruin Aoyama's day (whose day was already ruined), but she'd also have to apologize for being so naive.

Fuck, I hope I didn't end up making him feel even worse.

Eventually, the game was over. Mina did surprisingly okay despite not having a guardrail to help her–but she quickly forgot about that when she caught Aoyama trying to slink away.

"Wait, Aoyama, where are you going?"

Aoyama stopped in place, reluctantly looking back at Mina's worried face. Predictably, he tried to deflect, exclaiming, "Ah, but I've got things to do! Ça alors!" But there was something in his expression that Mina normally wouldn't have noticed. He extended his stare a bit longer, an intentional look in his eye as his smile became tense.

Okay, okay, I get it: you want to leave.

Not before I talk to you though.

So Mina walked him out to the bus stop. She didn't wait to speak–as soon as she stepped out of the others' earshot, she officially apologized, explaining how she was wrong for assuming that Aoyama would enjoy the Bakusquad's company when he barely knew them.

"That's fine," Aoyama replied, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"But seriously, Aoyama, I hope you weren't expecting to fool anyone with that performance," Mina added, now amused. "Getting a gutterball every time? Do you really think we're that dumb?!"

Aoyama didn't answer, so they simply continued walking. When they finally reached the bus stop, Mina became apprehensive.

He's going home after this.

It was safe to say that after that crazy day, Mina did not understand a thing about Aoyama. So she felt like her anxiety right then was justified.

How am I supposed to know if he'll be okay being by himself? Especially after I just ruined his afternoon?

Thankfully, she came prepared. First she flat-out asked Aoyama if he was going to hurt himself that night, knowing exactly what his answer would be–or lack thereof.

"Can't even answer my question, huh…"

Mina had already thought through her next words. What was the best way to help someone who'd need assistance when she wasn't nearby?

Make herself easily accessible, of course.

So she gave Aoyama her number.

Aoyama was hesitant to take the slip of paper out of Mina's hands, but he eventually did. As soon as Mina felt the paper leave her hands, she let herself get caught up in her emotions, sticking her face into Aoyama's as she tried to make her desire to help as clear as possible:

"Alright, Aoyama: I know we don't really know each other that well. But I will do ANYTHING to help you. That's just what I do for my friends, okay? So please: if you need someone to talk to, reach out to me. I'm always available, even when you think I'm not." She softened her smile a bit. "I want to help you, Aoyama. I want to be your friend. But that can only happen if you let me."

Aoyama looked uncomfortable as usual. Maybe Mina's passion was scaring him, but she didn't care. Aoyama had to know how much she was willing to sacrifice for him.

I've done it before, and I'll do it again.

"By the way, I don't mind if you want to talk to someone else that's not me," she added, finally backing out of Aoyama's bubble as her emotions settled down. "I get that I can be a handful sometimes. I just don't want you hiding it again, because that's dumb."

Aoyama didn't say anything at first. After a few more moments of silence, Mina raised an eyebrow, but eventually Aoyama snapped back to the present and said, "Oui."

"See? You got this, Aoyama!" She gave him an affectionate fist-bump, complete with the brightest smile she could show off. "We'll get you better in no time!"

…If you actually want to stop hurting yourself.

But obviously he would want to stop, right? Why would anyone want to hurt themselves? Aoyama just needed to be in the right company, and he'd never want to do it again. And Mina was definitely the right company!

Before Mina headed back to the bowling alley, she peeked behind her, a playful spark in her eye. "Also, you can call me Mina."

And I'll start calling you Yuga too.

…Well, not yet. You're still kinda stand-offish with me. Maybe when you actually start accepting my loving acts of friendship.

When Mina reconvened with the remaining bowling group members, they were already busy in the arcade.

"Hey, I told you guys to wait for me for Mario Kart!" she yelled at the three seated boys as they finished their race.

Kirishima shamefully scratched the bottom of his chin. "Sorry, man: Kaminari already put his coins in, so we had to join right away!"

"Did you walk Aoyama out?" Hagakure asked, backing away from the boys after her spectating finally ended.

Mina nodded, reminded that there was more to her day than getting salty over missing a video game. "Yeah, he left."

"Bro…" Denki turned in his seat to face Mina. "I've never seen someone suck that bad at bowling. I know you wanted to be nice and all, but dang."

"Okay, Denki, you can stop saying that now," Mina said with a forced laugh. Denki was just trying to be funny, but the jokes were getting old.

But then she saw how confused everyone looked, and she realized that Denki wasn't joking.

"…You really think Aoyama was serious? You really think he was that bad?"

Denki tilted his head at her. "Yeah?"

"What, do you think he was trying to throw it into the gutter every time or something?" Hagakure asked, her voice puzzled. "Why would anyone want to deliberately fail like that? That's not fun!"

"Especially not Aoyama," Sero said. "He's always showing off how amazing he is. He's way too proud to admit how much he sucks."

"That Aoyama is quite the character!" Denki said with a chuckle.

Oh my god…they're completely serious.

No wonder nobody understood Aoyama. They didn't try to understand him in the first place. They just saw the image he tried to create, and they took the bait hook, line, and sinker.

Had Mina been this oblivious too?

Now upset, Mina turned away with a grimace spreading on her face. "You guys are so stupid."

"You show off his hidden potential, and I'll believe you," Denki plainly said. "But you know we're right. He flat-out sucks."

So fucking stupid.

Mina found it hard to enjoy the rest of her night.

When Mina got back home that evening, she didn't know what to do. She didn't want to worry about Aoyama all night, but how could she not? Mina wasn't sure what that boy was capable of–not to mention how she probably made him feel even worse.

I'm going to feel like the worst person ever if he walks in with more scars tomorrow.

But there was something about Aoyama that was bothering Mina–she still didn't fully understand why he was hurting himself.

Staring down at the Japanese literature worksheet she was obviously not absorbing, Mina tried to understand what Aoyama could possibly be sad about. Was it really because he had no friends? Because when Mina recalled their interactions from that day, she only remembered how she got the vibe that there was something that was specifically weighing Aoyama down.

I don't know…maybe I should ask him.

Maybe if Mina had been smart enough to ask for Aoyama's number instead of waiting for him to inevitably never text her back, she'd have an answer by now. Frustrated, she put her hands in her hair and groaned.

Ugh, I hate how much I can't help!

All she wanted to do was make things right again. Show Aoyama that there were other ways of getting through life besides resorting to self-destructive tendencies.

Well, she couldn't do anything about it then. All she could do was check her phone every so often to see if Aoyama messaged her.

Even though she knew deep down that he would never do it.

Sighing, Mina flipped her phone over, slid it away from her, and directed her attention back to her uncompleted homework.

She'd just have to check in with Aoyama tomorrow.

-

"WHAT'S UP EVERYONE!!"

It was a lovely Friday morning, and Mina had just arrived in the classroom! What a great morning–the weather was gorgeous, her breakfast tasted amazing, all of her classmates were smiling at her…

Yes, it was going to be a good day.

Of course her eyes were drawn to the person sitting in Seat 1. Aoyama was still, watching her enter with a smile that fit in with everyone else. Mina was happy to see that even after their encounter yesterday, he was still able to smile.

"Morning, Aoyama." She simply walked by, giving him an affectionate tap on the shoulder as she sat in her seat.

Mina couldn't start bugging him just yet–not when the classroom was so crowded. She had already decided that she was going to stay with Aoyama during lunch so his lonely lunchroom would be a party of two instead of a party of one. Then she could ask the question she was dying to know the answer to:

Had he hurt himself?

Knowing that he might try to lie (like he did yesterday when he claimed he wasn't in pain from his bleeding injury), Mina was going to check his arm too. She believed that it was good to establish proper communication and trust in their relationship–and that could only start if she knew he was 100% trustworthy. So if she saw the evidence that Aoyama was genuinely trying to get better, then she could stop checking his arm every day.

It was the best plan she could think of.

When it was time for lunch, Mina waited until people started to migrate to the cafeteria before claiming Ojiro's seat. She cheerfully brought along the cute little lunchbox she had packed that morning, complete with vegetable dumplings and a side of freshly-cut fruit. She was quite proud of how delicious it looked.

Mina was aware of Aoyama's baffled stare as she continued to unbox her lunch. He didn't speak up until she stuck a dumpling into her mouth. "You're eating here?"

"Yes." She swallowed the food she was chewing so she wouldn't sound so impolite. "Or oui, as you would like to say."

She expected Aoyama to say something dumb like "you can't do that" or "non, I only eat alone", but he said nothing, only turning back to look down at his meal.

Well at least he knows that arguing is useless.

"I hope you don't mind my company," she casually said, "because I'm not leaving. You're stuck with me now. Sorry."

Again, Aoyama was silent. He mindlessly stirred the rice in front of him with his chopsticks.

Uh…

Maybe Mina should start asking her questions now.

"So, Aoyama…did you tell anyone?"

Aoyama knew what she was talking about. Confused, he furrowed his eyebrows before saying, "...Non?"

What a surprise. "Alrighty then." Mina beckoned at his arm by curling her finger a few times. "Sleeves up."

Aoyama was instantly alarmed, gawking at her like a startled animal. "What?!"

Why is he so surprised? Did he REALLY think I wouldn't bug him about this?

"I'm not gonna sit here and let you go back to your old habits." She gave him a tiny grin in hopes of easing his anxiety a bit. "You know me better than that. So just show me real quick and I'll leave you alone."

Her heart dropped when his only reaction was to turn away and frown.

That only meant one thing.

"You…you did it again, didn't you?"

A terrible combination of guilt and dread suddenly attacked Mina, but she tried not to let it affect her outer appearance. As Aoyama continued to stare at his food as if it were the most interesting thing in the world, Mina felt like it was time for her to ask the question that was gnawing away at her conscience:

"Was it my fault?"

Aoyama's frown only deepened.

Is that a yes?

She couldn't tell.

Now Mina was very concerned. How bad were his injuries? She cautiously reached for his arm with a warning of, "I'm checking now." Aoyama didn't respond, letting Mina drag his arm in her direction without attempting to fight back. Embracing herself for the sight she was about to see, Mina pulled his sleeve up.

The scratches were now covering his whole arm.

Aoyama…

The blow to her heart was devastating. She tried to cover up the sorrow in her voice, but it was too hard. "Why did you wrap this one up again…"

It was the cut Mina had accidentally opened up yesterday. That wound had been the deepest cut on his arm, so the fact that Aoyama had wrapped it up again was not a good sign…almost like he was trying to hide something.

Don't tell me…

Aoyama said nothing as she unwrapped the bandage.

Sure enough, the wound was worse.

Oh no.

Mina felt so awful. She was the reason why Aoyama felt shitty enough to hurt himself all over again after she'd forced him to go bowling yesterday. Now his arm was even more scarred.

"I--I'm sorry, Aoyama, I know I really messed up yesterday." She took her eyes off of his arm long enough to see his reaction. "I don't want you to feel so bad that you–"

Aoyama still hadn't moved. Only this time Mina realized that he actually couldn't move. He was too overcome with emotion, his expression strained as he clearly struggled to hold in his emotions.

Whatever was going on in his mind, it obviously wasn't good.

Maybe he needs a hug.

Mina didn't know why she didn't think of that before. Hugs from her friends always made her feel better–admittedly not by much, but it was at least better than saying a bunch of words Aoyama obviously wasn't listening to.

And she didn't know how else to make him feel better.

As Aoyama's gaze remained on the table, Mina silently got out of her desk, went over to his side, and crouched on the ground to reach his height.

"C'mere."

Then she hugged him.

Mina tried to be as delicate as she could when she wrapped her arms around Aoyama. She could tell that this was a heartfelt moment–one that she had to approach with as much tenderness as possible in order to actually reach him.

"It's okay, Aoyama," she gently consoled. "Everything is going to be–"

The events that transpired next were ones that she would never forget.

From the past two days of knowing Aoyama, Mina had felt like all of her words and actions were in vain. That boy was more closed off than anyone else she had ever known. And Mina had met a lot of people in her life.

The instant she hugged him was the moment where that all changed.

Aoyama completely broke down. And it wasn't just your average breakdown with a little crying, maybe a sniffle or two–no, he completely broke down, his entire body trembling from how hard he was sobbing. He helplessly clutched onto the back of Mina's shirt as if she were his very last hope of ever escaping whatever terrible feelings were plaguing him, the sheer desperation in the gesture completely astonishing Mina.

She was not expecting that.

At first Mina was completely taken aback, not even sure if she was interpreting the scene correctly. Then as she began hearing the tiny whimpers coming from her friend, she realized just how utterly wrong his reaction was.

Aoyama wasn't lonely. There was something bad going on with him.

Very, very bad.

Mina was an empath at heart–whatever strong emotions someone felt, she felt them also. So when the sudden wave of despair flooded her entire body, she was moved to tears. And before long, the powerful emotions left her sobbing just as hard as Aoyama.

"Aoyama–"

No.

"Yuga, I don't understand…"

Aoyama didn't react at all, not even trying to hide his loud sobs of sadness at this point.

It was awful.

Mina couldn't speak after that, too overwhelmed to even think of what to say. The two of them remained in their embrace for a while, not even trying to separate as they continued to cry in each others' arms.

It took a long time for even one of them to calm down. Surprisingly, it was Aoyama who stopped crying first. He held onto Mina for a little while longer until he finally let go, wiping his last tears away as he regained his composure.

Mina's mind was too fuddled by Aoyama’s heavy emotions for her to actually say anything at first. She could still feel the lingering despair in her chest, and it made it hard for her to stop crying.

He's been feeling like this the entire time.

Still sniffling, Aoyama turned away. "...Sorry."

"Don't apologize," Mina said back in a wobbly voice.

As Mina finally deescalated enough to stop her tears from falling so rapidly, she took a moment to process everything. In summary: she was concerned. So very concerned. Because she was never supposed to find out about Aoyama's true feelings. Her opening up Aoyama's wound was a total accident. What if she listened to him and never checked his injuries? What if she never dragged him to the cafeteria? What if she never stopped to compliment him in the first place?

Nobody would know how terribly sad he was.

Now becoming even more worried, Mina struggled not to break out into tears again.

For a while, they were both silent. In Mina's case, she was much too caught up in the completely unfitting image in front of her. She'd never seen Aoyama look so authentically sad before. Whatever just happened right then managed to wipe away his entire facade, leaving him tired and vulnerable. The very sight made Mina's heart ache.

I just don't understand.

But Mina wanted to understand. She wanted to know what was possibly making Aoyama feel so awful.

"Yuga…" Her words made Aoyama barely glance in her direction, his head pointed slightly downwards like he was ashamed of his actions. "What's going on?"

Mina was mistaken when she assumed that Aoyama was over his emotions. While he didn't immediately start crying again, she could see that he was pushing down the feeling she now recognized as despair all over again. His eyes were glued on the floor as he reluctantly said, "...I can't tell you."

Frustration grew in Mina, but she reminded herself to be as empathetic as possible. "Why can't you tell me?" she gently asked, attempting to meet his gaze. "You can tell me anything. I'm not going to judge you."

For some reason, Mina felt like she just made things worse. Aoyama's frown grew into a painful grimace, the boy still refusing to look up at her. "I can't."

As much as Mina wanted to take the empathetic approach, it was hard when Aoyama was being so stubbornly tight-lipped. Losing her patience, Mina snapped, "Well how am I supposed to help you then?"

Mina immediately regretted losing her cool like that. Aoyama's bottom lip quivered for a moment, his eyes glistening with more tears before he quietly choked, "You can't."

Those two words were simple, yet they were probably the most powerful, most hopeless words she'd ever heard her friend utter.

As Aoyama started crying all over again, Mina remembered her original tactic of not being so forceful with her words. Whatever problems that were on her friend's mind were obviously very personal and very important. There was no hope of her ever helping Aoyama if she couldn't even reach his emotional level. So Mina took a deep breath to remove herself from her frustration of not knowing anything and lowered her head to meet Aoyama's eyes. "Hey, forget the questions…can you just listen to me for a sec?"

Aoyama paused his crying long enough that he could nod his head at her.

Mina took a moment to gather her thoughts before starting. "I have no idea what's going on with you. I don't understand you at all, and now that I think I know you, I realize I actually know nothing about you." Passion flared up in Mina's chest as the words confidently left her mouth. "But you know what? None of that matters. Earlier today I said I wasn't going to leave you, right? I meant that, Yuga. You don't have to deal with this by yourself anymore. You don't have to hide it from me. Because I know you're not okay–and that's okay."

When Aoyama didn't respond right away, she caught his attention by holding her fist out. "We'll get through this together, alright?"

By that point, Mina was so used to Aoyama crying that it didn't even phase her when he burst into tears for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

I didn't know he could cry this much…

Aoyama had only acknowledged her invitation for a fistbump for less than a second, instead focusing on helplessly wiping his tears away. But she could tell that after trying for so long, her words had finally reached him. His sniffles were quieter and a lot less desperate, and his expression seemed a lot less…dead on the inside. Still rubbing his eyes, he said, "Thank you…that means a lot to me."

So you're really not going to tell me what's going on?

She wasn't about to say that when she might accidentally make him even more upset.

Even so, Mina was pleased to hear something positive come out of Aoyama's mouth. She redirected her unfulfilled fistbump by gently punching the side of Yuga's arm. "Of course, buddy."

-

The awful talk of the day was finally over, along with Mina's short window of seeing past Aoyama's bluff. After a few minutes of calming down their emotions, they were back to eating their meals in awkward silence. Being a natural despiser of awkward silences of all kinds (even after emotional breakdowns), Mina decided to liven up the mood by picking up a grape from her pile of fruit and saying, "Hey Aoyama, how do you say grape in French?"

Aoyama, who looked a little confused as to why she would even try to act like everything was normal, soon said in a quiet voice, "Raisin."

Mina wasn’t sure how their conversation would go after everything that happened, but her confusion made her want to ask more. "But this isn't a raisin," Mina said, furrowing her eyebrows at the tiny fruit. "That literally makes no sense."

Aoyama continued looking down at his food. "...Isn't a raisin just a wrinkly grape?"

"Huh. I guess you're right." Mina thoughtfully put the grape down, her gaze wandering to Aoyama. He still looked downcast  but Mina had a feeling that she was starting to cheer him up.

Maybe she should give it another try.

"Well, what about this?" she asked, this time holding up a strawberry.

Aoyama finally stopped staring at the table, instead regarding the fruit in between Mina’s chopsticks. "Fraise."

At the sound of his particular pronunciation, Mina stopped, her eyes wide with amazement. "How did you make that sound?"

Aoyama turned to her, his interest piqued. "What, the guttural R? You can just roll your tongue if it's too hard."

"Roll your tongue?" Mina asked in the most dramatic way possible. "The hell does that mean?"

"You just…" He thought for a moment as if he were trying to figure out the best way to explain it. "You have to relax your muscles first, and then you put your tongue on your back palate. And then you say it."

"Okay, let me try…" And in the most un-Frenchlike way possible, she repeated the word, attempting to copy Aoyama’s accent but sounding more like a gargling bird drowning in a lake.

At first Aoyama just gaped at her…then he burst out laughing.

"What?!" she asked indignantly, a smile forming on her face despite just being laughed at.

"Désolé, I just–" Aoyama couldn't contain his giggles, the boy struggling to come up with a proper sentence from how giddy he was becoming. "The way you said it, it sounds so–"

"Wow, Aoyama, you're so rude!" Mina scolded, giving him a few playful slaps on the arm. Even so, she couldn't hide her delight.

Maybe things don't have to be so bad.

Not always, at least.

Mina turned back to her food. “Now you have to tell me the French word for everything in front of me.”

Aoyama smiled. “D’accord.”