Breaking a promise

Chapter 31: Are we?

"Hey Midoriya, I hear you got yourself a girlfriend." Mirio said while sticking his head through a wall.
"Uh yeah I do. How did you find out?"
"Nejire told me; she heard about it from Mikasa."
"Well I'm not surprised; how have you been?"
"It's been good; just getting myself ready to go back to hero work studies!"
"Really that's awesome! Who are you going to work for?"
"I'm not sure, I might work for Endeavor but that's asking a lot."
"I did my most recent work study with him but it was challenging. Actually, I was thinking that you'd go for Ryuku since Nejire works for her and could put in a good word."
"Yeah I've been thinking about that too. Back to your girl...."
"What about her?"
"Nejire also mentioned that you had to fight her pretty hard recently. That must've been difficult."
"Yeah it was more than hard afterwards."
"But you two are still together and that's what matters."
"I know that, it just felt like our pain was..."
"You two shared the same feelings? You two must be really close."
"Yeah that's one way to put it."
"So what will you two do now?"
"I plan on taking her out somewhere special."
"Well I think that there is a festival coming up in a few weeks. You could consider taking her there."
"Wow really?! That's a great idea! Thanks!"
******
"Alright everyone, the assessments are in; I'll be handing out yours now," Mr. Aizawa said.
Midoriya looked at his and read some comments.
-"Good team coordination and looking out for each other."
-"very alert and adaptive to changing circumstances."
-"see Mr. Aizawa after class today."
He gulped at that last comment.
It had something to do with him and Kendo. No doubt about it; his reaction to seeing his girlfriend's state was likely noticed and concerning.
******
"Yes Mr. Aizawa?"
"Midoriya, I have some questions about your actions during the assessment pertaining to Kendo. You stopped fighting and didn't do anything else after coming upon her; I also have heard some talk from your classmates that you two are a couple. Is this true?"
Midoriya sighed and slowly responded.
"Yes sir, we have been dating for awhile now."
"So you stopped and didn't even capture her because you were her boyfriend?"
"She was really injured and I couldn't fully handle what I had done. I was in shock."
"Listen, as a pro hero, your going to run into encounters like that a lot. Maybe not with people that you know but with similar results. Something that you need to improve upon is not to stop what you are doing in a mission. People can't wait for you to get over what you experienced prior. Villains will jump at the moment when shock overwhelms you.
Do you understand?"
"Yessir. She and I agreed not to let each other get in the way of hero work prior to all of this."
"And yet you stopped afterwards. Don't stop again."
"Yessir!"
******
Meanwhile with Kendo....
Her performance assessment was less than satisfying. Although she had worked excellent as a team coordinator, the rest of her contributions were lagging, especially with combat. An exception was made given her sustained injuries though.
She sighed at the paper and put it away in her book bag as she left the classroom.
"Hey Kendo!" A voice called out.
She turned around and saw TetsuTetsu from behind.
"I....just wanted to talk to you for a moment about something," he continued.
"Err sure, what is it?"
"I know that you're seeing Midoriya and all but are you and I still friends? Like we can still chat and get together with others?"
"Of course! I wouldn't be okay any of this if I couldn't still be a friend."
"Okay......thanks." He said slowly.
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's all just been.....really surprising for me."
"What do you mean?"
"I'd rather not talk about it."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure."
"Okay then. Well I need to get going but let me know if you ever need to talk." She said.
"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind."
******
Back to Midoriya
He entered his dorm building and was quickly pulled aside by Iida.
"Midoriya, can I speak to you for a moment?" he asked.
"Yeah whats happening?"
"It's Uraraka, she's been acting down a lot lately and I think it has to do with your relationship with Kendo. You may want to talk to her and resolve this."
"Resolve it? How?"
"Talk it out."
"Uhm I guess I can try that."
"You can't try; you need to."
"Alright I'll go talk to her then."
"Good, let me know how it turns out."
******
He stood at her door; nervous and uneasy about what would happen, Midoriya knocked slowly at Uraraka's dorm.
There was no reply.
He waited a few moments before knocking again.
*Click!*
The door opened and she stood there looking exhausted in her school uniform.
"Oh hey Deku..." she said quietly.
"Um hi Uraraka, am I interrupting something?"
"No no, it's okay. What's up?"
He was slow to respond as he carefully chose his words. Upsetting his friend was not an option.
"I feel like I haven't been able to hangout with you as much lately and I'm sorry. I was-"
"Deku, is this about Kendo?" She said with a slight tear developing.
"No, it's about us. I wanted to make sure that we're still friends at least."
She was silent and at a loss for words. A sense of dread hung over.
"Deku, I think its best that we don't see each other as much. I don't want to get in between you and her."
"You're not! I still want to have you as my friend that I've known since we first started here."
She slowly closed the door and said nothing.
"Uraraka..."
He sighed with a tear of his own trickling down his face.