บท 3: Slow, but surely
In the morning, Ibara had always tended the flowers at school. It might be because of her "Quirk," which was related to a so-called plant, but personally, it was because of her hobby.
Yet if someone asked how taking care of flowers began as her hobby, it started from how a flower had never talked about her. They were silent, but when she took care of them, they answered her, which made her think that a plant was a gift from the Lord.
"Excuse me, do you know the name of this flower?"
Ibara was slightly surprised before she turned around. She saw a short boy, looking genuinely curious at the flowers in front of him. "That's chamomile." It wasn't her first time seeing this boy, but somehow the atmosphere around this boy had changed, which made her curious.
"Chamomile? The one that is used for tea?" The boy asked curiously.
"Yes." Ibara nodded, "It might be flowers that can be seen everywhere, but it has a good flower language."
"Flower language? Is it like a rose which means "I love you"?" The boy looked at Ibara and still had this curious expression on her face.
"That's right." Ibara nodded and didn't think weird about his words since it was fairly uncommon for someone to learn about flowers in today's society.
"What's the flower language for the chamomile?"
"It's a strength in adversity."
"..."
The boy stared at the chamomile in front of him for a moment.
Ibara looked at him for a while since she could see his expression slightly change as if something inside his body had been lit up.
"...Thank you." The boy thanked Ibara from the bottom of his heart.
"No problem." Ibara shook her head gently.
"My name is Mineta Minoru. What's your name?" Mineta asked.
"My name is Shiozaki Ibara." Ibara answered honestly.
Suddenly, the sound of the ringing bell was heard.
Mineta looked at Ibara and asked, "Can I talk with you again, Shiozaki-san? I am curious about the flowers here."
"Sure." Ibara nodded gently.
"Thanks." Mineta smiled and asked, "Then, I will go back now. You should also go back too, Shiozaki-san. It won't be good if you're late."
"Thank you."
The two greeted each other before they walked toward their respective classes.
Mineta didn't offer to walk or invite her to walk together. Instead, he returned to his class directly, but his friends, Kota and Tanaka, suddenly came out from their hiding place and stared at him with a complex expression since they didn't expect him to really talk to Ibara.
"What?" Mineta asked blankly.
"No, I just didn't expect that you would really talk to Shiozaki-san." Kota shook his head.
"Still, that's all? Shouldn't you talk more with her or invite her or something?" Tanaka asked with a sigh, feeling that the conversation between Ibara and Mineta was quite unsatisfying.
Mineta stared at Tanaka and asked, "Tanaka, do you have a girlfriend?"
"...You dare to ask such a question to me." Tanaka was crying when Mineta asked him such a question.
Mineta wanted to pat Tanaka's shoulder, but in the end, he could only pat his leg.
"This is fine. We didn't know each other before, and frankly, my reputation isn't good. If I approached her like I was her best friend when we met for the first time, she would think of me as a weirdo. We have never talked, to begin with, nor do we know each other, so I want her to remember my name first. It was like building a house. I need to create the foundation first. In your case, you're asking me to build a ceiling when the foundation isn't even ready yet."
Tanaka and Kota were in a daze, and somehow, they felt that this guy had a demeanor of a master now.
"So you think you can take Shiozaki-san out?" Kota asked curiously.
"Not sure."
"Why?" Tanaka couldn't accept it since Mineta was like a master, and he planned to worship him as one, but why was Mineta not confident?
"Look at my face and height," Mineta said plainly.
"...." Tanaka and Kota.
Due to the "Quirk," many people were born with unique features, heights, and many others.
Frankly, Mineta knew that he was better since if he had a reptile face, it would be even harder for him to get a girlfriend. Yet it didn't mean the difficulty of his problem was lowered. Still, he believed that he could do it. Unless the woman was only interested in a handsome man since, by that, it was impossible for him to do anything.
Mineta looked at his system again and knew that he had to work hard, or it would be impossible to get all the good things from it.
He gently patted his soft cheeks together before he decided to work harder.
'I might not have a face and a height, but let me make you fall with my personality, experience, eloquence, wit, and strategy.'
Looking at Mineta, Kota and Tanaka looked at each other and nodded.
"Minetacchi, if you need our help, just ask."
"Yeah, Minetashi, we're your friends. Let us know if you need anything."
"...What's wrong with you two? You creep me out."
Mineta sighed before he returned to his class.
"Minetacchi!"
"Minetashi!"
The two fumed and thought they wouldn't let this guy borrow their legendary magazines next time.
---
The next day, Ibara thought to water the flowers at school, but then she happened to meet someone.
"Good morning, Shiozaki-san."
"Good morning, Mineta-san."
Ibara greeted Mineta back and thought that they had happened to meet each other.
However, everything was planned, and Mineta had been waiting for her and came out like it was a coincidence.
"Are you going to water the flowers?"
"Yes."
"Can I help you?" However, after Mineta asked this question, he showed a joking smile and said, "Still, I am so short, so I might not be able to hold the watering pot."
Ibara smiled and said, "No, you can hold the watering pot since it isn't that big."
"Really?"
"Yes, please follow me."
The two figures, tall and small, walked together next to each other.
Mineta had done some research on flowers last night, so he had many types of conversations that he could talk with her about, and he also added some jokes by giving an exaggerated reaction. He couldn't become a cool and serious character with his face, so he didn't bother to become one and just genuinely had fun with Ibara.
Frankly, he planned to buy a gardening skill from the system since it only cost 1,000 points for beginner mastery. However, he stopped his urge since it was faster for him to search for information on the internet, and it was wasteful to buy such a skill.
He had only 1,000 points and couldn't get any more points unless he got a girlfriend that could trigger his system.
Still, this was something that should be talked about later since what he needed to do was focus on this girl.
On the other hand, Ibara laughed when she heard his jokes and smiled when she talked with him.
They were mostly talking about flowers until he said, "But really, thank you for yesterday."
"I didn't do anything." Ibara shook her head since she didn't remember that she didn't do anything yesterday.
"No, you did a lot. By telling me the meaning of this flower." Mineta pointed at the chamomile in front of him and said, "You saved me." He took a deep breath and said, "You know, Shiozaki-san, we're in our third year of middle school, but I haven't found what I want to do, so your words meant a lot to me." He then looked as if he had realized something and quickly apologized. "Ah, sorry, Shiozaki-san. I am sorry for saying something like this."
The virtue of the people in this country was that they wouldn't try to bother other people.
While it was respectable, he felt it was cold, which made him sigh because of the deformity caused by society.
It was also the reason why he apologized before.
"No, it's alright." Ibara shook her head and told him that it was okay.
"Now that you mention it, what do you plan to do after you graduate from middle school?" Mineta asked curiously.
"Me?" Ibara hesitated for a bit before she resolutely said, "I plan to enter U.A. High School and become a hero."
"....."
Mineta was in a daze and didn't expect such a word to come from this girl's mouth.
'Hero?'
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