Chapter Text
Shiritsu Middle School was the premier private school in the Musutafu area. Which of course meant that, for Himiko, any little slipup would spell doom.
So she had to be nice, and normal, and cute! The most perfect girl ever, with a good social standing and friends and certainly no weird, perverse desires. Only such a girl would be fit to be in the Toga family.
If she was exhausted, it was only because she was in an elite school with such an advanced curriculum. If she rarely ate anything, she was simply a girl watching her figure. If she only hung out with her friends at school, well, more of the previous. The only exception she made to that was when Yaoyorozu, a second-year, would hold multi-topic study sessions that were open to any grade at her house.
Initially, Himiko had written them off as she did any other activity—yet another place where she'd have to watch herself that would make her worse, not better. But her friends had talked over lunch about the sessions, and said they didn't feel awkward despite it being a (then) first year's place, and that Yaoyorozu was very kind and had actually helped them with their material, too. So, to not be the only one not in the know and thus weird, Himiko got permission to go to one.
She certainly did get some help with schoolwork, but that wasn't what made Himiko keep going. Yaoyorozu herself was so sweet and helpful, not to mention cute! Shiritsu was a private school, which meant generally rich kids only, but Yaoyorozu was in a league of her own on that department. Sometimes she'd say or do something that would confuse the others, and then she'd realize and she'd blush, and the red would look so beautiful on her face, she wondered what Yaoyorozu'd look like if she was covered in it—
Bad Himiko! Blood Is Bad!! She shook off the thoughts of that glorious red and let her mind drift back to Yaoyorozu. Himiko's grades did actually improve for the rest of her second year with Yaoyorozu's help, but this year Himiko's been so tired and her thoughts had gotten even worse, she's been barely keeping steady.
Still, she'd go to Yaoyorozu's sessions even if she flunked out of school. Every moment with her was special.