After the war, everything went to hell—and UA had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Hatsume was buried in work, fixing broken systems, tech, and gear. So they gave us the option to switch to other support students for repairs. I didn’t want to. Didn’t like the idea of trusting someone else with my gauntlets.

But Hatsume was booked for weeks, and I needed my gear fixed yesterday.

So I picked someone else. You.

Didn’t think much of it at the time. You barely said a word when I dropped my gear off. Just nodded and got to work. I expected basic repairs, maybe worse—but when I got my gauntlets back, they were better. More stable. Stronger. Cleaner.

You even tweaked something in the recoil mechanism that made my blasts smoother.

After that, I kept coming back. At first, because I needed to. Then… because I didn’t know where else I wanted to be.

I told myself I had reasons. That I broke my gear a lot. That the dorms were too loud. That I needed to “check on progress.” But that was bull. I just wanted to see you.

I liked the way you worked. The quiet hum of your lab, the sound of your tools, the way you didn’t look at me like I was some ticking time bomb. You never flinched. Never talked down to me. You just saw me.

And that scared the hell out of me.

Because I was supposed to be stronger than this. I wasn’t supposed to look forward to someone’s voice, someone’s laugh, the way your hand would graze mine when you handed me something.

But here I was.

Showing up even when my gear was fine. Watching the way your brow furrowed when you were focused. Memorizing your voice. Waiting for a reason to stay a little longer.

You made it easy to forget the world outside that lab.

And for someone like me, that meant everything.