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Kirumi’s greatest pride is her unwavering diligence. The ability to see things through is a quality to be admired, and one she demonstrated in spades. Her peers often poked fun at the lengths she was willing to go to fulfil a request, but their teasing was all in good fun and easily brushed off as inconsequential. Not even the… “mom friend” remarks, unfortunate as they were, were capable of cracking her impeccable poker face. So she smiled as they commended her efforts and balked at her workload - was sweeping the floor twice daily truly such a grand undertaking? - and continued with her ever-growing list of tasks.
Sometimes, however, she understood how her relentless focus caused… humorous situations.
Case in point: Scaling the east-facing wall of Hope’s Peak Academy, chasing down one rebellious Ouma Kokichi, lunch in hand.
She had known Ouma would be uncooperative. After five weeks of attending classes with him, Kirumi was nearly positive it was Ouma’s goal in life to be as inconvenient as possible. The efforts he would undergo to mess with people in the smallest of ways was almost admirable - his sheer tenacity could have rivaled her own. Kirumi would be impressed if it wasnt so. Damn. Annoying .
It started as most things did for Class 79-A; with Ouma doing something dumb. His target of the day had been Momota, or perhaps Harukawa - Kirumi had been cleaning the hallway outside the classroom when a clear thud had rung out, punctuated by the sharp silence that followed. She opened the door expecting a desk to have been knocked over or some other object to have broken, but was instead greeted by Momota’s trio standing in shock. Saihara was a mute shadow behind the other two and Harukawa’s expression was somewhere between caution and disbelief, but Momota stood closest to Ouma, who had - for some reason - collapsed to the floor.
Kirumi swept in, tuning out Momota’s stammers with practiced ease and resisting the urge to roll her eyes. If anyone was going to punch Ouma hard enough to knock him out it would be Harukawa, and she would have done so weeks ago. She knelt to examine his head for any injury and, finding none, lifted him into a proper carry. Waving off Momota’s concern - she had carried far heavier for clients before, escorting Ouma to the Nurse’s Office would be nothing - she exited into the school halls.
Tsumiki, the Ultimate Nurse, had greeted them in the Nurse’s Office and given Ouma a quick look-over. She came to the same conclusion as Kirumi, that being no major injuries, but suggested keeping an eye on Ouma over the next few days. This was about the time Ouma regained consciousness, and predictably he protested the very idea. He groaned and rolled his eyes as Tsumiki finished the check-up - though strangely did not make any moves to slip from her reach, Kirumi noted. Work completed and patient tended, Tsumiki sent them on their way. Kirumi promised to report anything of concern within the next two weeks, and turned to Ouma in order to suggest brief daily meetings at lunch. It would be the simplest and least obtrusive to both their schedules, and-
Ouma had already vanished from the hallway.
Which led to Kirumi’s current situation, considering the best way to leap from a fourth-floor window to the ledge of the fifth-floor window above it. Ouma was a white blur two stories higher than she, unencumbered by the two boxed lunches Kirumi had prepared. Today, at least, she had the sense to drop the broom and dustpan off in the closet before leaping out the window after him. She had managed, of course, but making things needlessly difficult was Ouma’s style, not her own.
One would think two days would be enough time for the Ultimate Maid to corner one bratty teenager and make sure his head wasn’t broken, but Ouma was a slippery bastard and Kirumi was beginning to potentially admit he might have a leg up on her.
Regardless, she pushed off and reached, grabbing the window ledge with one hand and pulling herself up with grace. She looked upwards to track Ouma’s progress, but he was nowhere to be seen. Either he had opened a window and climbed back inside the building, or he had made it to the roof already. Determination creasing her brow, Kirumi leapt for the next ledge, and then the next.
She pulled herself above the lip of the roof several minutes later, a few rough tears in her gloves the only evidence of her impromptu climbing. Ouma, on the other hand, had flopped down with an arm covering his eyes, inhaling air greedily - and overdramatically. Kirumi watched for a few moments, positive he would give up the farce at any moment and begin to run again. But no, the exaggerated breathing continued.
It was honestly becoming a tad difficult to watch.
How did one continue such harsh breathing for so long?
….She should probably call him on it before he passed out again.
Kirumi closed her eyes and shook her head slightly before making her way over to him, ignoring the eye peeking out as she opened the box on her lap. “While the gesture is appreciated, Ouma-san, it is entirely unnecessary.” His next inhale was, thankfully, normal.
“Not one of my best, huh?”
“Painfully transparent, in fact.”
She nudged the second box closer to him, but Ouma kept his face buried in his arm and made no move to sit up. Kirumi could not make out his expression, but there was a slowly growing weight in the air. If she did not know any better, she would call it hesitation; even still, she hesitates to believe Ouma Kokichi would decide to be serious.
“I don’t get you, y’know.”
Kirumi swallows, then sets her chopsticks down.
“I mean, really? Wouldn’t it’ve been wayyyyy easier to take the stairs up here and wait for me? You’re the one who likes efficiency and all that junk, I don’t get why you’d yeet yourself out a window for me.”
“...The point was to meet with you in the classroom, Ouma-san. Besides, I find it difficult to believe you would continue to climb up here if you knew I was waiting for you.”
“True, true.” In one swift motion he swings both arms behind him and pushes, crossing his legs and ending with his chin propped up on one hand. He glances at her out of the corner of his eye and Kirumi can almost visualize the twinkle. “Plus it’s not nearly as fun running up and down stairs all day!”
She allowed a small smile to grow across her face. “Indeed.”