"Did he seem overly angry with you?"
Momo sighed, tucking her cell phone in-between her chin and her chest as she gazed into the mirror, brushing her silky dark hair. "No, Mother. It was just a warning is all."
Other teenagers might be inclined to not tell their parents about getting into trouble with their teacher, but Momo had been raised to let hers know about such things. Especially at a school like UA where they were often in danger.
"Well, I hope the curfew won't interfere with the gala this weekend. You will be attending, no matter what that school might say."
"That's going to be fine, Mother. As long as I get advanced permission, there's no issue. You won't need to stir up a storm with Principal Nezu or anything like that."
" Momo, darling… you are aware of the gala's theme, correct?"
"Father has struck a deal with another company to form a conglomerate."
"Honey, that's the REASON for the gala. The theme is that you bring a partner. Have you decided on who to bring?"
Momo blushed, nearly dropping the phone. She'd admittedly forgotten about that. "I… I don't know who I would feel comfortable asking about that…"
"One of your classmates, of course. Several of them have come to the house before, haven't they? Surely you are close with them."
"Well, I… I guess…"
"You can bring another girl who is a close friend, if that's easiest."
"Ah. Right." Momo's mind immediately jumped to Jiro, but it occurred to her that Jiro probably wouldn't enjoy a gala at all. Mina and Toru were too chaotic. That leaves Tsu or Ochaco. But which one of them do I ask?
" But also, Momo… don't be afraid to ask a boy. Surely there are some nice boys in your class."
"I thought you didn't approve of me dating."
"It's not necessarily a date, sweetheart."
"Oh yes, of course. Just a prestigious gala where we dress up nice, are classified as partners, and spend the evening together. Not a date at all."
"Lose the sass, young lady. You don't need to tell me who now, but do let me know by tomorrow. Whoever you're bringing will need to be added to the guest list and be given a table placement. Also, I assume you'll need to get permission for them to leave the dorm as well."
"Yes. Alright. I'll try and let you know tomorrow or even sooner if possible."
"Good. Goodbye, sweetie. Love you."
"Love you too, Mother."
Momo hung up and finished brushing her hair, setting her phone down by the sink. She supposed she could flip a coin between Ochaco and Tsu. Actually, let me toss Jiro in there as well. It's wrong to just assume that she won't want to go.
There were those randomizers on the Internet. She could put their three names in one and whichever came up, she could ask. If it turned out to be Jiro and the rocker girl said no, she could just flip a coin for the other two. Not hard. Simple.
A knock on the door roused her from her thoughts. "Coming," Momo sang, instinctively straightening out her long hair with her fingers a little.
She opened the door, and started in surprise. It wasn't the first person she'd expected to see… but not the last person, either.
Namikaze grinned sheepishly. "Hi. Sorry, am I interrupting anything?" His blue eyes seemed to briefly dance past her shoulder into her room, just for a flicker of a moment, before returning to her face.
Momo shook her head. "No, just a little surprised to see you is all."
"Oh, well…" he averted his eyes and coughed, as if he was embarrassed. "... I was just thinking, like… if you're going to tutor me… we should establish when that's going to start…"
She raised her eyebrows. "Right, of course! Come in! Do you have my contact information?" She went back toward the sink and picked up her phone. When she turned around, Namikaze had taken a few tentative steps into her room, looking around carefully.
"I don't have it," he told her plainly, giving her an enigmatic lavender gaze.
Momo blinked, feeling her cheeks burn a little. "R-right." She handed him her phone. "Just put yours in there. I'll shoot you a message."
"Okay." He added himself as a contact in her phone. While he did that, there was silence between them.
Momo rocked back and forth on her toes, unconsciously looking around the room to make sure she didn't have anything embarrassing in sight. Do I care about what Namikaze thinks of me? I do? Great.
He looked up and handed her the phone. "Thank you. Shouldn't we figure out a time for the first session now? N-not trying to be pushy or anything!" He waved his hands in denial. "But… while we're face-to-face…"
"Umm, y-yes…" that strand of hair fell in front of her face again, and she tucked it behind her ear. Why can't I look him in the eye? "I can help you out on Sunday afternoon, if that works for you. Do…do you go home on the weekends?"
Something dark passed over his expression. "Nah. Not usually."
"Alright. Th-that's good, then." She took a deep breath. "Namikaze, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly is it that you need help with?"
"Mainly math and English."
Right. That makes sense. Since Namikaze did a lot of nonfiction reading, he was much stronger in subjects like history and science.
"Well, isn't that convenient. Those are my strongest subjects." Momo smiled. "I'm sure we can work well together."
"Right. Yes." He coughed again. "Well, I'll be going now."
"... Alright."
He slowly and awkwardly turned and walked out of the room. Across the threshold, he threw one last blue glance her way. "... See you later, Yao-momo."
"... Bye…" she half-whispered. He took the liberty of closing the door behind himself.
Momo gulped, falling back onto her bed and sinking into it. That was unbearably awkward, but why? What's gotten into me? What's gotten into him?
Hopefully, the actual tutoring session wouldn't be like that.
Could he be just trying to get me to tutor him to get closer to me? … No, Namikaze isn't like that. I don't know him very well, but I know he wouldn't do that.
He does actually need help with something. But it's not all grades related. He's in pain about something else.
As class president, isn't it my duty to help my classmates?
But make a wrong move, and he could end up hating her. She didn't want that. In fact, she was terrified of it.
Why am I so worried about what he thinks of me? We both already agreed to accept the other's positive, admiring feelings as genuine.
Momo opened her laptop, and found herself going to the randomizing website.
The gala. Think about the gala. Don't think about Namikaze, she told herself.
In the input box, she typed KYOKA JIRO, TSUYU ASUI, and then OCHACO URARAKA.
Her mother's words flashed back to her. "Don't be afraid to ask a boy. I'm sure there are some nice boys in your class."
Her fingers seemed to move on their own. Haru Namikaze.
"It's fine," she mumbled to herself, mousing down to the RANDOMIZE button. "It's only a twenty-five percent chance. More than likely I'll just get to ask Ochaco or…"
The new page loaded. Sitting on her screen in big letters was Haru Namikaze.
Momo blinked, and then clapped her hand over her mouth, nearly letting out a squeak of shock.
He… no, I…
A blush spread over her entire face without her permission. She was asking him to the gala. The gods of randomizing Internet websites had spoken.
How… how on Earth am I going to do this…