A Summer Stroll

The last of summer drifts lazily through the air. Although the humidity has been carried away by typhoon after typhoon, the heat has remained. Today, the skies are mostly cloudless and shockingly blue. The winds are still. The sounds of city life are cut through by the chirping tsuku-tsuku-bōshi songs from just out of sight.

That's Meimuna opalifera, Nyoro Hoge quizzes to herself. She tips the metal water bottle she's carrying back and rattles some more ice chips under her tongue as a reward. Due to the way her quirk works, Hoge's skin heat shields her body. On hot days like this, she still matches the ambient temperature perfectly, leaving her feeling feverish. The moment she got off school grounds, she was already stripping off layers and undoing buttons, every spare bit of clothing bulging her day bag. The fastidious class rep of Shiketsu's 1-D is looking uncharacteristically sloppy. She even has her glasses carefully put away in their case. Anything to get a little more exposed skin.

Of course, Inigo is being weird about it. But not the way she wants him to be. He holds his smartphone out at arm's length to try and catch both of them in a selfie, but the photo software is only detecting his face and keeps automatically ruining the focal length. The blond boy in a red tie keeps lifting his device out to take the shot, grinning enthusiastically at the lens, then dropping the expression when he brings it close again and searches through the settings.

"I thought I fixed this before?"
"Is it really this important," Christopher Cain asks from Inigo's right. With Chris is Orochi, who is acting as his escort for the day.
"Of course it is," Inigo replies seriously, but with a smile. "My long withdrawal from my beloved Hoge has finally broken! This is a day to remember!"
"It's only a walk to your apartment," says Hoge. Her eyes are half-lidded, as much from the lazy feeling in the heat as from how badly she can see right now.
"And then?" Inigo grins salaciously at her, bobbing his eyebrows up and down.

Hoge presses the cold steel water bottle to his cheek to calm him down.
"Baka. Then I go home."

Orochi leans forward a bit to look passed the boys and re-join the conversation.
"Is that even safe? It breaks the rules. We're paired up for a reason."
Hoge has let her mask slip. She's overworked from her marathon study sessions lately and wants to lounge in this weather. She lazily shrugs and watches the path.
"It's fine. I don't live that far from him and no one will notice me anyway."

"Not likely!," crows Inigo. "Even if they don't know where it's coming from, everyone you pass will be overwhelmed by the presence of your beauty!"
"Eh?" When she's in a weird mood like this, Hoge is immune to Inigo's cheesier lines. "Where'd you get something like that?"
"The Call of the Sticky Autumn. It's about vampire girls but the stories are always calling them fa-"
"Another ero-VN?" Hoge quickly interrupts him.
"It's not H!" Inigo scratches the back of his head and looks at the shape of a passing cloud.

Christopher shakes his head. On Chris's shoulder, Inigo's little green dragon construct Gigan also shakes his tiny head. Then Christopher turns towards Orochi.
"It doesn't matter much anyway. We're breaking the rules just letting them be this close right now."
Hoge rattles out some more ice. The line-slope equation can be used in equivalency problems to identify... "I'm not breaking any rules. Orochi is escorting you, Inigo is escorting me. We just need to use the same street for now. Coincidence."
"Ha," says Inigo. "That's not even the biggest rule we're bending today. Shiketsu's ban on dating is a much bigger deal."

Hoge's nosiness revives her. She looks at Inigo with her eyes fully open and her eyebrows raised. She holds the bottle in front of her mouth so the others can't see her chewing ice. "Ooh? Who's dating," Hoge asks with all the tones of a seasoned gossip.
Inigo furrows his brow back at her. Gigan pitterpats on all his legs on Chris's shoulder in sudden agitation, skittering left and right in sinuous moves. The dragon makes a sudden leap and glides on to Inigo's shoulder, but doesn't make it in time to stop his master from speaking.
"What? Huh? We are!"

Hoge looks like she's been hit. "Huuuh? You and Orochi?" Tears start to well up in her eyes.
If anything, Inigo manages to look even more confused. "No!"
Hoge looks into the middle distance as her eyebrows knit together. "You and ...Chris?" Gigan slaps his little face and falls backwards off Inigo. The dragon recovers mid-fall and flies into a hover position near his master's head.
"No, beautiful, you and me!"

Hoge's face rapidly shifts between several mingled emotions. She settles finally on a blank poker face.
"We're not dating." Then she leans forward and looks in the direction of Christopher and Orochi. Christopher looks so uncomfortable he might explode. Orochi is grinning like a cheshire cat. "We're not dating."

Now it's Inigo's turn to look struck. "What do you mean we're not dating? We're holding hands right now!"
He lifts his left hand up like he's presenting a prize fighter. Hoge's right hand has had her fingers interlaced with his for nearly the whole walk.
"That's not dating," Hoge says rapidly.
"We've gone out to eat! We've had late night visits to the park!"
"That's not dating," repeats Hoge flatly.
Inigo's on a roll. Gigan's given up and listlessly circles in the air. "We've slept together in your bed!"
Hoge's calm facade breaks in an instant. Ice cracks loudly in her clamped teeth. She coughs on some bits and struggles to get the words out. "That's not--!"

Hoge jogs forward a bit and side-shuffles so she can look at her other two classmates. She doesn't, however, let go of Inigo's hand, and his arm is pulled to its full length. He has to lean forward to keep from stumbling. "He's being literal! It was a recovery nap! There was an emergency! I didn't even take his shoes off! I had to clean afterwards! Don't spread around weird rumors!" Her words warble in volume and clarity as her quirk shifts over and below her stress threshold.

Christopher puts his hands up like he's guarding himself and his mouth opens and shuts. Words are not coming to him. A pink blush is reaching his ears. Orochi bursts into laughter, holding on to her sides and pointing the sound straight up at the sky. Inigo picks up speed so he isn't being pulled along and tries to talk to Hoge again.

"Why are you so set on how you're not dating the hottest guy in our class? You know I love you, Hoge!"
Hoge's quirk Wasuremono falls over the tipping point. She begins to blend out of focus, only at the edges, and her face becomes harder to read. She lets her water bottle drop and it catches itself on the retractable cord hooked to her bag. She pulls on her loose undershirt a few to fan some wind against her sweaty skin. Her heart is drumming in her ears.

"B-baka! Even if we were allowed to d-date, you aren't the hottest guy in our class!" She's looking away from him. Away from everyone.
Inigo lets go of her hand to clutch at his chest and stumble around as if hit by an arrow. "Gkh!" He falls backwards and Gigan swiftly becomes a medical stretcher and catches him. In a second, he's back on his feet.

"What a wound! Who's hotter? It's not Bobby is it?"
"Imai-kun."
Christopher can finally speak again but all he does is sputter.
"I could see it," says Orochi, "but maybe not with the eye. At least not for me."
"The teammate advantage. But he's definitely not had more event flags, has he?"
Hoge wipes her hands on her rolled up skirt. "I don't know what that means."

Mostly in his own world, Inigo shakes his head. "I can't believe you think Imai is the hottest kid in class."
"I didn't say that," huffs Hoge.
"Now hold on," cuts in Christopher. His voice is breaking as he shakes a finger at Hoge. "Not even two minutes ago, you said that Imai was--"
"The hottest guy," Hoge interrupts again.
"Oooo!" Orochi's eyes are sparkling as she takes in all this sudden activity. She had no idea that the afternoon was going to get this lively. "So that means...?"
She lets the thought linger in the air but Inigo doesn't let it hang there long. "Ah! So it wasn't a joke, before! With Nene-senpai!"

Christopher is being left behind again. Wide-eyed, he looks left, to right, to left, to right, searching for any stable ground in this conversation where he can regain his sanity. Hoge is a fuzzy pink across the center of her face, and Inigo has enough practice to be certain she's not meeting anyone's eyes. Hoge lets her steps slow so she can be in line with everyone again, but it's a step or two further away from Inigo, and her right hand is curled in front of her chin.

"So who's the hottest pers-," Inigo can't help himself from asking.
"Kaylee." Hoge just blurts it out. It sounds like it's coming from out of a well, but the words are clear in the still air anyway.

At another time, Inigo might have made a joke like, She's fast! at such a quick response. But somehow it doesn't feel like a laughing matter to him at the moment. He mulls over the idea in his mind, picturing his girl stats journal in his mind's eye. It could make sense.
.
.
Hoge's still talking, but the words are becoming more and more impossible to make out. "I want her to p̸̪̼̼̮̺͙̯̅͛̎͌̌̎͝í̵̩͕͉̮͉̹̤̙̭̱̞͖̺̤͖͛͛̆̄̈́c̸̦͙̹̮̿k̶̙̫̭̩͖̀̀͂̾́̄̾̂͑̉͜͝͠ ̴̗̤̝̟̻̙̪̒͛̚m̷͇͓̪̄̈́̓̂͑ȩ̷̡̞̖̳͙̣͔̙̑́̓̏͊́̽̾̒͊̇̃̑̃ͅ ̴̡̭̓̋̽͐̏̌̓̓̐͜͝ú̵̻̖̝̮̩̺͕̲̩͉̬͖̦̔͋̇p̷̡̧͇̥̭̝̮̣̱͛̓̑́͘͘ͅ ̶̱͖͔̫̰̱̎̾̓̓͗̒̀͜ͅạ̵̳̤͓͕̝̩̺̤͙͖̤͔͓̝́"
.
.
Orochi gives a tilted nod and a smirk as she takes it in. "Again, not my first pick, but not wrong. But the guy and the girl are too different, don't you think, Nyoro-chan?"

Christopher has both hands pressed to his cheeks with his mouth hanging open. How did this get so far so quickly? His classmates are talking about girls? Hoge and Orochi are talking about girls? No, about his friend Kaylee? How does that damned cat play into this? Is it a communicable disease?

Hoge has to clear her throat a few times before she can get the words to come out. She sharpens a little, making it easier to see that her blushing has reached her chest. She pours wet ice chips into her hand and dumps it down her shirt. She clarifies even more.

"I-it's not like that. Pretty or hot or cute, it's more about the personality. I l-like when... people take the lead. And... w-want. Things." She looks aside at Inigo, who looks like he's doing mental calculus. Gigan floats up slowly from behind his head and stares daggers at Hoge. His expression speaks of betrayal. She averts her eyes again.

Orochi's tails slither about so all of the girl's eyes can leer smugly at Hoge. "Is that so? So does that mean there's a prettiest and a cutest in the class?"
"Y-yes."
"Of both types?"
Hoge wipes her forehead. "Yes."
Orochi smiles so hugely that her eyes almost hide away. The chance for a bit of mischief is just too good.

"So who's the cutest girl in class?"
"Do we have to d-"
"Rep-chan, we're in too deep now."
Hoge lets out a squeak as her voice clenches.
"Who's the cutest girl?"
Hoge thinks about trying to pass off a mumble, but bites the bullet anyway.
"It's a tie. I don't like cute though. And if I tell you then they won't be friends with me."
Orochi rolls her eyes. She's sure of the answer now, anyway. Chris isn't, though, and tries to recover. "There's lots of cute-type girls, I guess. Right, Inigo?"
Inigo is still processing the conversation so far. He nods slowly, thoughtfully. He had a graph for this in his journal. Could it have influenced Hoge when he showed her?

"So cutest guy?"
Hoge scoffs. "Noah, obviously. He's like a puppy." Everyone shrugs and nods.

"Prettiest girl?"
Hoge closes her lips and bites them between her teeth. She looks at the ground and watches her feet as she walks. Her eyes flick over at Orochi who looks like a snake that's found a plump, sleepy mouse. Hoge looks at the trees. They're smears of brown and green without her glasses on.

"Hoge~" Orochi almost sings. Hoge dissolves into mist. Inigo lets out an exhale of surprise and Chris lets out one quick bark of a laugh. He's stuck between disbelief and bewilderment, and that feels a lot like humor.

The faint sound of someone yelling across the street makes it to everyone's ears. "Lots of competition! Last question!"

Orochi almost can't get it out because she's laughing too hard. She had no idea that someone who was hard to keep track of could have such funny reactions.
"Pr- pretty...! Prettiest g- hahah -guy?"

Hoge is too far gone. Even in the bright afternoon sunlight she's a shimmer and a smear. A bar of grey slides from the column of haze that marks the ashamed class rep, and Inigo feels a thumb and a finger pinch the corded bracelet he wears on his wrist. Hoge pulls his hand towards her insistently. Inigo raises his eyebrows first, then his whole expression shines like the sunrise. He hurries closer to Hoge and when his voice echoes in triumph, startled birds crowd away into the sky.

"I'll take it!"

Inigo and Hoge hold hands as they walk up to his front door. "Isn't it strange how so many kids at Shiketsu seem to like, well, to be like that?"
"Eh?"
"It's not normal to like both, is it?"
"Of course it's normal? It's in cartoons all the time. And Nene-senpai's like that, and sensei, and Yui-chan, and--"
Inigo snaps his head to the side to look at Hoge. "Sens-, no, wait, Yui?"
Hoge gives him a quizzical look. "Why are you acting weird? It's normal. I've seen it at the book store."
Inigo gives a shifty-eyed expression and clears his throat. "Anyway, so why won't you date me?"
"I would date you."
Relief and confusion bloom together in Inigo's chest. "Then how are we not dating? Because of a dumb rule?"
Hoge frowns at him while standing on the stoop outside Inigo's apartment building. "That has nothing to do with it. Just don't get me in trouble."
"Then why?"
Hoge tilts her head. "We just aren't doing dating things, though? Everything you talked about is what friends do."

Inigo takes a few moments to let that sink in. Girls are different, huh?
"So what's dating to you, then?"
"It's having special names, and being able to count on each other implicitly, and k-kissing, and taking e--," Hoge starts to blush and blur again as her breathing gets heavy. She started out looking at Inigo's eyes, then his lips, and now she's just looking at nothing at all in the middle distance as her imagination runs away with her. Before she can get much further, Gigan swoops in front of Hoge's mouth, turning most of his body into a black censor bar hanging in the air. His tiny face has an expression of focus, a dragon on a mission, and he swings a miniscule noise-maker around in each hand. It sounds like the racing wings of a fly, but it drowns out Hoge's retreating volume.

Hoge becomes suddenly flustered and hides her cheeks in her palms. She dances awkwardly from foot to foot and sidesteps around Inigo, who is trying to catch Gigan and failing. Walking backwards, she gives several apologetic bows and a stiff wave. Then she turns away and fishes out the smartphone and a pressure stylus from her bag and starts furiously tapping away at it. When she disappears towards the trains, Inigo gets a signal that a message arrived.

〇〇: Back to studying.
〇〇: Don't forget: day after the exam.
〇〇: (Don't fail. I need you to get a license.)
〇〇: cat emoji

Inigo pays all his attention to his phone as his thumbs type out the reply. He walks on auto-pilot back to his apartment. Gigan breathes a sigh of relief and swoops through the crack of the closing door at just the last second.

Edit Report
Pub: 12 Jun 2023 04:03 UTC
Edit: 12 Jun 2023 04:07 UTC
Views: 784