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Sorahiko lay on the ground, the world spinning around above him, making him worry he was going to lose his breakfast. He closed his eyes waiting for his head to feel like it was no longer on a merry-go-round. When their class arrived to compete at the Sports Festival Stadium minutes before, who would have thought the first challenge his classmates and himself would have to deal with would occur right after stepping off the bus. Sorahiko and a couple of his fellow classmates, all first-year hero course students, tore after some petty criminal who had stolen a lockbox of money from one of the festival’s concession stands.
Sorahiko was the fastest in the group. His quirk, Jet, gave him greatly enhanced speed by expelling bursts of air from his feet. It didn’t take him long to catch up to the thief. Of course, he had no idea said thief had some sort of supercharged pummeling quirk that left Sorahiko a battered mess on the ground. Although he was hugging the lockbox to his chest, so it wasn’t a complete loss. He heard the voices of his classmates race past him in pursuit of the escaping criminal.
Eyes still closed, Sorahiko willed the vertigo to stop.
“Need some help?” he heard a voice ring above him.
“Not much you can do at this point,” Sorahiko mumbled in a grouchy tone. “My classmates ran after the thief so hopefully they’ll catch him.” He was a bit embarrassed at his compromised state, too, which added to his petulant mood.
He heard soft, melodic laughter. “I’m not talking about going after the criminal. I’m talking about you. You look like you could use a hand.”
Sorahiko dared to open his eyes and luckily his world was still now and no longer spinning. Standing above him was a girl with long blonde hair, dark grey eyes, and a dazzling smile that lit up her delicate, heart-shaped face. She offered her hand to help him up.
He sighed as he took her hand, feeling a bit foolish that he, a pro-hero-in-training, needed rescuing or help. As she pulled him up, he was surprised at her strength. He glanced at her, noticing she was wearing a one-piece unitard of some sort so she was most likely a hero. Or a civilian with very bad taste in daily attire he thought.
As he righted himself, he felt like he had been put through the wringer, his torso and his upper arms sore from being attacked. He noticed his forehead above his right eye also twinged with pain. Sorahiko reflexively brought his hand to his face where he was hurt and when he brought it away his eyes widened with surprise by the smear of blood painting his hand. His knees became weak, and he felt his body buckle.
“Woah, there!” He felt the blonde quickly at his side, grabbing him by his upper arm and elbow, and supporting his body with hers so he didn’t fall back to the ground. “Maybe you should sit down for a bit until you’re no longer dizzy. You might have a concussion.”
His pride getting the better of him, Sorahiko replied, his irritation showing, “I’m fine. I need to get to the infirmary so they can patch me up. I’m supposed to compete in the Sports Festival today.”
“Not with a gash like that on your forehead. You’ll need a lot of stitches to close it up.”
“I don’t have time for that. Round one is starting soon. I’ll just throw some bandaids on it and get it stitched up later,” Sorahiko said impatiently and took a step hoping he was steady enough to walk and not slip to the ground again; he didn’t want to look foolish in front of the blonde girl. He also didn’t want to fall and knock himself out.
She walked closely next to him, still supporting him by his elbow. Sorahiko took a few tentative steps and even though he felt weak and sick to his stomach he kept walking.
“You’re quite the stubborn one. You’ll either make a very good hero. Or a very bad one,” she laughed softly. She let go of his arm but walked VERY close to him. He was a bit irritated she was hovering over him not trusting his ability to stay upright, but at the same time he didn’t mind her walking so close to him. He could smell her perfume, lavender and some other flower. It suits her he thought to himself and then he thought it was a strange thing for him to think in that moment. Maybe he did have a concussion.
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but bleeding wounds automatically disqualify you from competing.”
Sorahiko sighed with frustration. “Of course…” he knew that rule, he just wasn’t thinking straight. He blamed the blow to the head. Or maybe the proximity of the helpful blonde that he couldn’t keep from stealing glimpses of as they walked slowly back to the stadium. She was very pretty and had an air of confidence that he felt came from intelligence and competence instead of arrogance. She also exuded kindness that he couldn’t help but be affected by. That even in his currently disappointed state of missing out on his first sports festival, he still felt a warmness at the center of his chest that spread throughout the rest of him.
“Well, luckily you’re a first-year, so you’ll have two more opportunities to shine. And I bet you will, considering how intent you were going after that criminal,” her voice rang with sincerity so he could tell she wasn’t teasing him.
“You mean that criminal that still got away from me,” Sorahiko grumbled.
“And a good thing, too. If you would have turned him in, you would have also gotten arrested for vigilantism.” He couldn’t help but give her a sideways glance. He saw a smirk appear on her face, yet she still looked so pleasant somehow even with the smug expression.
“Hmmmm,” Sorahiko responded not sure what to say back.
“I would have taken you to be a bit more wise with your decisions considering your aesthetic,” she said, her voice ringing with amusement.
“Huh?” His voice sounded coarse and inarticulate next to the blonde’s choice of words.
“You have quite a lot of grey hairs for someone your age. I guess that doesn’t denote wisdom in your case.”
He felt the ends of his mouth curl up into a smile. He couldn’t help but enjoy her playful banter even if it was at his expense. It was a genetic trait, all the men in his family prematurely greyed. He’d be completely silver-headed by the time he was 20. He heard his classmates running up behind him.
“Hey, Torino! You got the lockbox!”
Oh yeah. He had totally forgotten about the box he was carrying in his right hand, tucked between his elbow and his side.
“Damn… you got beat up pretty badly…” Okamoto, one of his classmates said, as he walked in step beside him.
“Would you mind returning the lockbox to the concession stand it was taken from? I’m going to walk Torino to the infirmary, to make sure he actually gets patched up,” the blonde said, addressing Okamoto.
“I… uh… sure,” Okamoto said. Sorahiko handed the metal box to his classmate. “Sounds like she’s got you figured out, man,” Okamoto laughed, another joke at Sorahiko’s expense. Okamoto then turned to the blonde, his face lighting up with what Sorahiko figured was the golden opportunity for his friend to insult him in front of their pretty guest. “This guy is impossible. He’s aloof. Stubborn. And grouchy as hell. It will be a miracle if he gets any offers from hero agencies. Better put on a good show today, Torino, because it’s the only leg you have to stand on.” The blonde smiled good-naturedly at Okamoto like the two were old friends having a laugh, and Sorahiko let out an exasperated sigh sounding like a bull ready to charge. Okamoto playfully punched him on the shoulder, and he tried not to flinch because it hurt after the beating he had gotten earlier. He stared daggers at Okamoto and before he could say something salty back, the blonde interrupted him.
“You better hurry, the festival starts in a few minutes,” she said. Okamoto nodded and ran ahead with his other classmates.
Sorahiko was disappointed he was going to miss out on competing but maybe he could hang out with the pretty possibly pro-hero that was being very attentive toward him.
“Well, even though you were, y’know… breaking the law, it was nice of you guys to get the money back for that booth. I’m sure they will be very appreciative.” Sorahiko looked up into the blonde’s eyes and he couldn’t help but blush at her kind words. He had never had a reaction like that before, to someone’s simple compliment.
Sorahiko decided he needed to move beyond his default setting of grouchy and disinterested. “I didn’t catch your name earlier.”
“Because I didn’t say it,” she smiled at him but didn’t say anything else. They were nearing the stadium and the blonde flashed a pass on a lanyard she wore around her neck to an officer that was standing guard near the entrance. He let them both pass.
They entered the building and started walking down a long hallway that ran along the one section of the stadium; it was mainly empty for now, but once the first year started competing it would be filled with injured students.
The blonde quit walking suddenly and turned to face him. “This wing leads to the infirmary. It’s further down the hall. May I ask you a favor?” He searched her face, committing it to memory. He was going to do everything in his power to find out who she was. He noticed she was a little bit taller than he was now that they were no longer walking. Which meant she was pretty tall for a girl, Sorahiko was 5’8’’ last time he checked and still growing. His gaze finally settled on her eyes. They were dark and endless, a stark contrast next to her bright smile and her sunshine hair. It made her mysterious, yet at the same time he felt like he had known her his whole life.
“Uh… yeah. What do you want?” he asked sounding cranky, which was what he always sounded like, but he wished he had used more care in his tone.
“May I kiss you?” she said in such an easy way, like she was asking him what time it was.
“Um…” Sorahiko broke out in a sweat. The more he had looked at her the last several minutes the more he realized she was the prettiest girl he had ever seen. And she wanted to kiss him. Some first-year UA nobody. Yep. He definitely had a concussion. He was hearing things and hallucinating. But on the small chance he wasn’t, he decided to answer her. “Yes,” he uttered softly, the word sounding more like a question than an answer.
She leaned toward him, and he felt his whole body flush hotly. Before he could think about what was happening in that moment, his mind muddled by her looming presence, he felt the press of soft lips on his cheek and the scent of lavender and gardenias enveloped him briefly. Then she was standing in front of him smiling. He felt a little faint, which wasn’t surprising to him considering what just happened.
“Promise me you’ll go on to the infirmary.” She raised a blonde eyebrow at him and the expression somehow exuded a bit of combativeness like she wouldn’t take “no” for an answer. With that, he realized she wasn’t someone he would want to cross or disappoint. He didn’t know if it was possible, but he fell for her even harder at that moment.
Sorahiko crossed an ‘x’ over his chest, trying to keep his hand and finger from trembling. “Cross my heart.”
She nodded at him, pacified by his response. “They’ll clean you up down the hall. They have pretty good coffee, too, so make sure to get some before heading back. You seem a little woozy.” She smiled at him, the expression coy, yet somehow good-natured and sweet at the same time.
As she turned to leave the building, Sorahiko’s brain started to properly function again. “Wait, please tell me your name!” he called after her before she went through the door.
“Shuzenji.” She grinned at him now. “Good luck, Torino.” And like that, the girl of his dreams he never knew he always wanted was gone. He at least knew her name now.
Sorahiko went to the infirmary. If it had been anyone else who had ordered him to go, he would have snuck away and returned to the stands. He didn’t want to let Shuzenji down which was a weird feeling to have for someone he had just met.
As he sat in triage and the nurse cleaned his wound, he looked at Sorahiko quizzically. “There’s no wound. Not even a scratch.”
He couldn’t help but look at the nurse like he was an idiot. “There’s a huge gash. Do you need your eyes checked?”
The nurse rolled his eyes. “Maybe you hit your head harder than you think. I’m going to send you to the hospital to get an MRI.”
“Actually… yeah, nevermind. I’m feelin’ great. I’m gonna leave now…” Sorahiko left the infirmary quickly, grabbing a complimentary coffee. He gulped it down as he headed to the bathroom. He looked at himself in the mirror and saw there was no gash. Not even a scratch. This made absolutely no sense, but Sorahiko wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. He could think about the logistics of how the gash disappeared later. He dampened some paper towels, wiped the last remnants of dried blood from his face and hand, and ran as quickly as he could to the first-year starting ground.
A couple of minutes later he surprised his friends when he joined them. “Man… they fixed you up in time so you can compete!” Harada, one of his classmates, said as he patted him on the back.
Okamoto gave Sorahiko a sly smile. The two had become close enough friends that he knew what that smile was about. Sorahiko couldn’t help but grin back and puff out his chest a bit.
“So you like her, huh?” Okamoto asked.
“What’s not to like?” He couldn’t say he was completely and totally smitten. On cloud nine. Head over heels. All of those other cliched sayings he promised himself he’d never feel for anyone.
“She’s very pretty. I’m kinda jealous I wasn’t the one who got pummeled.”
Shuzenji was pretty. But she was so much more than that. For just the several minutes he was in her presence he could only describe her as absolutely amazing and perfect in every way. He wondered what her quirk was now. What was her first name? Did she go to UA when she was in school? He had so many questions.
“She kissed me,” Sorahiko blurted out, his pride overtaking his mouth.
Okamoto laughed. “Of course she kissed you, that’s how she heals people, idiot. That gash on your forehead is completely gone.”
“What?” Sorahiko’s heart plummeted to his feet.
“That was Recovery Girl. She’s a third year in the Hero course at UA.”
Sorahiko’s jaw dropped. Of course. Recovery Girl. He knew about the pro-hero-in-training and all about how her quirk worked since she was one of the most popular hero students at UA. But she wore a helmet with a visor that covered half of her face (part of her hero costume) when she participated in hero-related things so he had no idea what she looked like until that day. And if he had passed her in the hallways or at the cafeteria, Sorahiko was so self-absorbed in his own little world he would not have paid her much attention. But now…
Halcyon, a UA teacher, began to explain the objective for the first part of the Sports Festival. Sorahiko had to get his head in the game. He had plenty of time to think about Shuzenji after the Festival, and he would have plenty of opportunities to see her since she attended UA. And even though the kiss she gave him was just to heal his wound, she had kindly done it so he could participate.
And that idea seemed to unlock something inside him he wasn’t very familiar with. The feeling buoyed him up even more for the challenge in front of him along with his tenaciousness and determination. It was the feeling of pure happiness.