Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Daishi got more comfortable with the groupchat over the next few days. He wasn’t able to message them when he was training, and he tried not to message the groupchat during school hours so the High School Heroes didn’t go on their phones in class (though lunchtime was fair) (and maybe they went on their phones anyway. But it wasn’t Daishi’s fault). He was mainly active in the afternoon and evening, and all day on weekends.

The other members of the groupchat were active at various times, but Ichika was mainly active in the evening or night, after her school and part-time work was done.

Daishi never stayed up too late, but one night he was staying up with Goo to stargaze, and he got a text. It was a personal message, not sent to the groupchat.

Goo was too absorbed in looking at space (and probably thinking about home) to realize Daishi was on his phone.

Daishi took a picture, making sure not to get himself or Goo in it, and sent it to Ichika.

They talked for a bit about casual things before Ichika brought up something that was probably the main reason for her starting a conversation with Daishi specifically.

Ichika didn’t respond right away. Daishi expected the next message to be asking whether Daishi was single, but it was something completely different.

Ichika didn’t respond for a moment.

Daishi didn’t get a chance to reply as Goo said something. Daishi couldn’t understand Goo’s language, but he looked over.

“What is it?”

‘Who are you talking to?’ Goo signed.

“Ichika,” Daishi said, fingerspelling her name as he said it. “My friend.”

‘What are you talking about with Ichika?’

Daishi looked at his phone again.

“Just chatting, mostly. We talked about you a little bit. She asked if-“ Daishi stopped himself. He had never really had a conversation with Goo about gender, and he wasn’t sure this was the best time to do it.

‘She asked if what?’

“Er, uh, we didn’t talk about it much…” Daishi mumbled. Goo waited for him to explain. “Goo, do you have a gender?”

Goo stared at Daishi, and tilted their head, confused.

“Uh, gender is like, whether you’re a boy or a girl, or neither, or a combination- it’s kinda complicated. If you don’t know what I’m talking about you can just say no.”

Goo went quiet for a few minutes, staring up at the stars. Daishi waited, in case Goo was thinking of a response.

‘No. Or it’s just not important,’ they decided.

“Oh. Good to know,” Daishi said.

‘What’s your…’ Goo asked, not sure what the sign for ‘gender’ was.

“My gender? Male. I’m a guy. Ichika’s a girl.”

‘What’s the difference?’

“Uh…you can look it up when we get home,” Daishi decided, not wanting to answer that. Goo furrowed his eyebrows, but didn’t ask anything. “We should probably head back inside.”

‘Okay.’

They went back inside and got ready for bed, and Daishi checked his phone after ignoring it for a bit. There were messages from a couple minutes ago.

Daishi fell asleep and woke up to another text, sent a couple minutes before he woke up.

Daishi smiled.

Chapter Text

After talking to Ichika for a few weeks, Daishi wanted to meet her in person. He knew about the risk of meeting someone he met online, growing up with internet safety PSAs and the like, but he was sure Ichika wasn’t dangerous. He met her through a groupchat for heroes!

It took a bit of time for Ichika to reply, which was understandable.

Daishi didn't have an answer for that.

They decided on a date and time to meet up, and though it wasn’t a romantic date, Daishi found himself getting nervous. He messaged Jiro before arriving at the mall, though he didn’t know why.

Daishi didn’t say anything else, but as it got closer to the time he was supposed to meet Ichika, his phone buzzed and he got a message that didn’t have any other context.

Ichika showed up soon after. She had long hair that went to just above her shoulders, and was wearing a typical high school girl’s uniform.

“Hi,” Daishi greeted her.

“Hello,” Ichika said. Daishi wasn’t going to say anything about it, but he noticed that they both seemed nervous.

“Where should we go first?” They had arrived around lunchtime, so they could eat at the food court if nothing else.

Daishi wasn’t sure why he was nervous.

“Can we just grab a coffee and chat?”

“Sure.”

At the coffee shop, Daishi wasn’t sure what to order. Ichika gave a very specific order, and then it was Daishi’s turn to order.

“Uh…chocolate milk please?”

Ichika stopped herself from laughing as Daishi paid for the order. Daishi couldn’t stop himself from blushing.

The two of them seemed content to just relax and make awkward smalltalk over some drinks.

“Are there any stores you want to go to?” Daishi asked when they were done.

“Uh. Let’s just wander around for now…”

“Okay.”

They went through the mall, taking time to pause and window shop occasionally. They stayed together, and Daishi noticed Ichika kept glancing at a store, but never stopping to look or go inside.

“Do you wanna go to Claire’s?”

“Uh. No we don’t have to…”

“We can! If you want to…” Daishi smiled at Ichika. “Do you want to?”

“Mhm…”

“Then let’s go!” Daishi said, heading into the store. He had never been to the store, as he wasn’t a preteen or teenage girl, but he was interested in the stuff there.

Neither Ichika nor Daishi had pierced ears, so the selection of earrings wasn’t relevant to them, but Ichika took interest in other jewelry, especially necklaces.

One item she had particular interest in was a mood necklace that allegedly changed colours depending on the wearer’s mood. There were necklaces for different letters of the alphabet, so naturally Ichika gravitated towards the letter I necklace.

“Do you wanna buy it?” Daishi asked.

“Yeah. But…what if I wanna change my name someday?”

“Hm? Then you can buy another one. It’s not super expensive. Or you could change your name to something else that starts with the letter I.”

“True,” Ichika said. “Okay. I’ll buy it.”

They continued looking around the store for a bit, but didn’t end up buying anything else.

They left the store with Ichika very excited about their new necklace.

They didn’t end up going to many stores after, and definitely didn’t buy anything, but they both left the mall happy.

At the end of the day, Jiro texted Daishi (and presumably Ichika separately).

At about the same time, Daishi received a message from Ichika.