What was this feeling. She wasn't tired, she hadn't even been moving her body that much. Was it happiness that he was so thrilled with the katana she had made for him? Perhaps partly, but that wasn't the whole story. She had felt happy and validated when others liked her weapons in the past, but not like this. Not like she was with Enma. This desire to see him every day, to text him even just to send pictures of what she was doing, or to wish him a goodnight's sleep. To have him call her by her first name. She was experiencing a lot of new things she wasn't emotionally equipped to deal with, but maybe with his help... Enma would understand what it was like, right? She thought she heard a sound, something like a burp come from him earlier, but she wrote it off as just being her imagination. He had been on her mind a lot lately, a lot more than she thought any one person could think about another.

When she requested for him to call her by her first name her heart was racing, almost as if she had activated her quirk, but she wasn't clad in armor. Her defenses were down, she felt more vulnerable than ever before. She blinked her eyes when he stepped closer. She was surprised, but she didn't back away. If anything, her eyes locked with the sea of roses she saw in his, leaving her enchanted once more. Her heart skipped a beat then and there. He not only wanted to call her Masao, but requested she use his first name too. Did she have the strength? The courage? She was blushing like mad and had no way to hide it now.

''En-...'' She wanted to see him too! Not just for training, not just for business! Casually, all the time. She wanted to hang out and not worry about what they were doing. She wanted to learn more about him, even the little details or the mundane stuff. She needed to know Enma Arashi. Her eyes drifted downwards as she noticed the imprint radiating from his chest, but only for a split second. His reaction, his face of fear. Was he hurting? Concern filled her eyes. ''Are you okay?'' She reached out, carefully putting a hand on his shoulder if he would allow it. ''I... Enma.'' Saying his name felt like an honor, a privilege. Her heart was beating so loudly she could barely hear herself think. ''Enma, I'd like to see you more often too...'' She trailed off, her face lighting up again as she wasn't sure what to say. Between his reaction and the scars on his body her concern grew again. ''Would you like me to escort you to the infirmary?'' She spoke a lot softer now, for fear of startling him.

Her name had never sounded good to her ears. Not since she first learned to respond to it and not for the majority of her life.

But when Enma said it, it made her indescribably happy.

enma

She smirked when Ylva told her she was wrong, and still called her Andy to make it worse. ''You must forgive me, Riis-san, I don't make a habit out of committing your deplorable behavior to memory.'' Rather than completely spiteful, her comment this time was more meant as a jab back at her roommate. What Ylva said next caught her completely by surprise. ''I-I... I haven't the faintest what you are insinuating. Nothing is getting in my way.'' Despite her trying to save it, the red hot embarrassment on her face said it all. How could Ylva know? They saw each other less and less after the Sports Festival and she thought that no one...

Oh, Misaki.

Clearing her throat she tried to clear her mind of Enma. ''Well, suit yourself.'' She straightened her back and turned a bit away from Ylva. ''Then I will do the same.'' Not that her own power was anywhere near as versatile as Ylva's, so what could she possibly expand on? Well, all she could do was follow that feeling, that new, unknown strangeness her quirk sent through her body when she used it. Commit to the feeling and see where it lead.

When your quirk is just manifesting shining armor and nothing else, the sensation of manifesting it and wearing it becomes an automatic part of daily life, as much as putting on shoes and not consciously registering the feeling of walking around in footwear. That was exactly why she had noticed something was off. For the first time in years, since the very genesis of her power manifesting something had changed. Closing her eyes and reaching a hand out to nothing Masao focused on that feeling, following it, chasing it inside her. The flash of light that normally only appeared for a moment when she first put on her armor appeared again, this time manifesting as a glow on her fingertips, stretching back to cover her entire hand. Opening her eyes, Masao stared at it with a mixture of awe and confusion.

Ylva Riis

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‘‘Do not worry, Bee-san. I will see to it that you do not get hurt.’’ She smirked, knowing that she would need to guard from Nat’s kicks in such a way that she only hit the softer parts of her armor. Just as she had suspected, Nat seemed a lot more in her element doing kick-based attacks. Which led her to her current conclusion. ‘‘I see. Your instructors are quite observant.’’ As she indicated for Nat to follow her back over to the weapon rack she also fetched her a bottle of water and handed it to her.

‘‘These are two prototype builds I have made for my newest inventions.’’ She handed Nat what just looked to be a sword hilt without a blade. However, once Nat found the mechanism on the side of it a retractable blade would shoot out of the top, making it appear as a regular sword. ‘‘With this one I experimented with retractable blades for not only convenience’s sake, but to delve into the realm of creating hidden weapons.’’ Next she picked up a prototype katana and handed it to Nat. ‘‘Swing this one at a training dummy, then engage the mechanism the same way that you did for the other prototype.’’ She would wait for Nat to do as instructed. The katana would cut like normal at first, striking the dummy like one would expect a sword to. However, once the mechanism was activated the blade turned dull, and turned into a blunt weapon from a sharp weapon.

‘‘The reason I am showing you these prototypes is because I have a proposition. What you need is not a battle axe, or a sword. I think boots would be much more beneficial to you. Boots that you can use not only as weapons, but as tools.’’ She deactivated her armor. ‘‘My proposition is this: I can combine the sharp to blunt and retractable blades feature and implement them in a pair of boots.’’

nat

Nat was a quiet person, which made her a lot easier to not only help, but also deal with.

She observed the student closely as she swung for the dummy, scribbling down a couple of notes before going back to the weapon rack and grabbing a slightly smaller axe. ''You were holding it correctly. There are multiple factors at play here.'' She pointed down at Nat's boots. ''For one, you want to make sure your feet are firmly planted into the ground. 'Grounding' is an essential rule of combat.'' She demonstrated by doing it herself. ''It may seem counterintuitive to consciously stop and digging your feet into the ground, but once you practice enough it becomes automatic. This will help you keep a better balance. You want to direct the axe, and you want to avoid the axe directing you.''

She handed Nat the smaller axe and offered to take the one she was holding. ''The other factor is much more simple, it could be that this one just isn't for your size and build. Knowing the right size and proportions of the weapon you want to wield is crucial. You can learn to wield bigger or smaller weapons, but you will have to learn it one step at a time. Usually, practicing with smaller models is a little easier. Try again, swing with this axe.''

This time she made sure to activate her armor and stay near Nat. Just in case there was any chance of her actually harming herself with a missed swing. This way Masao could more easily step in to save her. ''Let me know your thoughts afterwards. Not just on how it feels to wield that axe, but on axes in general. Do you have a fondness for them over other weapon types?''

nat

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For some reason his answer made her realize how big of a deal it was that she had basically given him a free pass to come and hang out here whenever he wanted. It didn't feel like a big deal to her. If anything, she just wanted to return the favor, and more importantly, for entirely selfish reasons she wanted to get to know him better. Enma wasn't just another customer to her, he wasn't just a fellow student either, he was someone she not only tolerated being around, but wanted to be around as much as she could. She wanted to say something in return, how it wasn't a big deal at all, and yet she found herself unable to answer, her face turning a little red as she smiled and returned his nod.

She was over the moon to see how satisfied he was with the sword. It was the only thing that kept her from staring at the art piece he had made of her. How long had he spent on it? When she thought about how he had spent his free time thinking about her, creating something so personal, it made her feel incredibly happy. ''There is no doubt in my heart- mind-'' she quickly corrected herself, feeling a little flustered. Wasn't it getting hot in here? ''-that you will take good care of it.'' How was the sword going to change in the hands of Enma? What journey would he take it on? What path was he going to carve? She could hardly wait to see the results. Every time she closed her eyes she still vividly saw the first time he used his quirk in front of her, a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors lighting up her world. ''It's perfect.'' She smiled, hardly able to let go of the scroll. A gift from Enma Arashi... How could she not treasure that with all her soul?

She appreciated the sentiment, to hear it coming from him was more important than to hear any words of validation or affirmation from her family. However, she knew deep down that it would take much more than these simple weapons to get her family to notice her and more critically, take her seriously. She took a deep breath as they got outside, taking in the fresh air and cold breeze that would help clear her head. She had been such a mess lately, unable to focus, blushing, finding her heart was racing even when she wasn't exercising. She put one hand on her hip and watched with admiration as Enma diced up a training dummy. One day she wanted to be that good too. To move with such precision and speed, so effortlessly. She was inspired to try harder because of him. To become someone who could make a difference, who could protect people.

What he said next resonated with her heart, instantly causing it to race faster again. The innocent joy on his face, the way he said her first name. She had unlocked a core memory today, a moment she was going to play on repeat while eating dinner, or texting him later today before going to bed. ''I-It's... I am overjoyed that you find it to your liking.'' She smiled, rubbing the back of her neck with her hand while her face lit up again. She couldn't believe her own luck, that she had met Enma, gotten to see his smile, such genuine and real joy... While she wanted to live in the moment, take it all in and enjoy every second with him, part of her couldn't help thinking, was there something she could do to get him to smile like that again?

''It will be sure to catch your opponents off-guard. No one expects a sharp blade to turn dull, but stay just as effective as it was before.'' All the more reason it was the perfect weapon for him. Anyone lesser than Enma Arashi would not know how to utilize such a weapon to its full potential, but she had faith in him after seeing him in action, after hearing him talk about his goals and dreams. Dreams she was going to help him turn into reality. Lining up her own strike more carefully than Enma, she made sure to take her time and rehearse the swing in her head, before striking the doll, drawing her sword and bringing out the blade just in time to cut a gash into its torso. Her sword was light and swift, but sturdy. It was the perfect weapon for someone like her who couldn't wield weighted swords without her quirk, and who needed a faster weapon to offset the weight of her armor.

As they continued to practice with their new weapons, Masao inspected the blade of her sword timidly before clicking the mechanism that let it retract. ''...Arashi-san.'' She started up slowly, not turning to face him. She wasn't even sure it was appropriate to bring this up, but she had already spoken so it was too late to back out now. ''I noticed you have been calling me by my first name.'' There it was again, her heartbeat. It was so loud it drowned out all other sounds. She finally turned to look at him, although she couldn't look for too long before she had to redirect her gaze to the ground or the tree line behind him. ''I have been thinking, since we train together... And... Maybe it would be easier...'' Oh no she was completely fumbling over her words. ''You can forego calling me Ando-san. If you want, please call me Masao.'' She finished with a bow, both to be formal, but also to hide her face and the mess of emotions that had taken hold of her.

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