Chapter 20

                                    

                                          
   Kyoka was a great girl. 
                          
   Even after their breakup, Denki's opinion of her hasn't changed  much. He can't say that he was crazy about her from the get go, but he  can at least say that when he did fall for her, he fell hard and he fell  fast, and he can also say that it's mostly his fault that things fell  apart in the first place. As for whether or not that were deeply in  love...he still isn't sure about that, least of all Kyoka's feelings on  the matter. 
                          
   She liked him first, though he's sure she'd never admit that.  They were just barely acquainted through work, and he was way too dense  to pick up on the fact that, by teasing him and playfully insulting him,  she was flirting. At first, he couldn't even tell if she genuinely  hated him, or if that was just what being friends with her was like, but  between Mina and Minoru both goading him about it, he eventually  decided to take the plunge and ask her out. 
                          
   And, lo and behold, she had been flirting with him all along,  and was starting to wonder if he would ever learn how to take a hint.  Things went quickly from there, and even though they had to hide their  relationship at work, that did nothing to slow things down. Denki fell  hard for Kyoka, to the point that there were times that he considered  looking for another job so that he could take things more seriously, so  that maybe they could discuss spending their lives together. 
                          
   He isn't sure exactly when he fucked up, but at some point,  because they were not taking things more seriously, he stopped taking  them seriously altogether. It did not come on suddenly, but he barely  noticed the slow decline until it         felt       that he had suddenly lost his connection with her. And the less  effort he put into their relationship, the worse it became for Kyoka,  until everything blew up. 
                          
   It was a rough breakup and she spared him no insult, but he  knows, at the end of the day, that it was his fault for losing her, and  that maybe he always would have lost her. She's a great girl, and he's  not so sure that he could ever be the kind of guy she needs. 
                          
   Eijiro is a great guy, but very different from Kyoka. He and  Denki were fast friends, and he has always felt like he could rely on  Eijiro for any kind of help. Denki hadn't ever considered the  possibility of being into guys before, and yet, what happens between him  and Eijiro feels somehow natural, until, before he realizes it, he's  dating a coworker yet again. 
                          
   Eijiro is a great guy, and Kyoka is a great girl, and Denki  hopes that he's learned enough from the latter to not screw it up with  the former. 
                          
   ~X~ 
                          
   Shoto thinks he might want to go on a date with Momo. 
                          
   Definitely not something that someone in his position should be  thinking, but he finds himself thinking it all the same. He starts  thinking about this when he asks her about her promotion and talks about  having a work party to celebrate it, when she asks him what he wants to  do. There's no way she meant something one on one, because she's  professional, she would understand that he wasn't asking that, but now... 
                          
   When he thinks about her asking what he wants to do, he wishes  that he could have replied by asking her to do something with him  outside of work, alone. He wishes he could have asked her on a date,  which he has         never       done before, and he shouldn't want with an employee to begin with. 
                          
   If he did pursue it, he wouldn't be the first. As oblivious as  he may be, he hears things, so even if he can't tell at a first glance  what's going on in the personal lives of his employees, he still hears  things. He hears about Denki and Kyoka, more in the aftermath, once it's  already said and done, and he hears about Toru and Rikido- or was it  Toru and Mashirao? It isn't supposed to happen, but even when he hears  things, he doesn't pass the information on to Aizawa, because it never  really seems to effect work all that much. 
                          
   Still, even if he's willing to allow others to get away with it,  breaking that rule himself is an entirely different matter, one that  could ruin a pretty good job if it were to get out to the wrong people.  Whether he         needs       this job or not does not change the fact that he wants it, and  that he's proud of it. He doesn't want to let things end here, but, at  the same time, his interest in Momo is impossible to ignore. 
                          
   So what will he do about it, then? 
                          
   ~X~ 
                          
   Tsuyu can't say that she's the best with people, though she  always tries. She likes to think she's good at reading people, and that  she is a good friend, but as for talking to people and getting to know  them, she knows that she can sometimes have a hard time, especially with  how blunt and almost bland she seems at first. 
                          
   But she doesn't have any trouble getting close to Fumikage when  they start working together, which is funny, considering he isn't the  best with people either, and is a little bit of a loner. He works in the  stock room, whereas she works on the sales floor, but there's a morning  where she's called in to help with stock because someone else is out  sick, and the two of them start talking and don't really start, and  Kyoka comments that this is the most she's heard Fumikage say in a  single shift. Tsuyu doesn't mention that she doesn't normally talk this  much either. 
                          
   From that point on, the two of them are fast friends, though  their shifts don't overlap very often and they don't seem to have much  in common on the surface. She's sure that one thing they must have in  common, though, is that they are most likely equally clueless when it  comes to matters of romance. It's easier for her to notice it in others  than it is for him, but as for her own relationships...well, she has a  hard time being sure about that. 
                          
   If Fumikage likes her, if she likes him, if the two of them are  going to end of dating, or if the two of them are just unlikely friends,  she doubts either of them will be able to figure it out easily. But  even while they continue to be clueless about their own situation, they  can easily recognize the cluelessness of two of their friends, and talk  about how they could tease Mezo and Minoru, but that they don't want to  give the two of them any clues because that might make it easier for  them. 
                          
   She isn't sure if she and Fumikage are going to get together, or  if they're just friends who enjoy talking about a number of things, but  he's one of her best friends at work, so she is sure she will be happy  with either outcome.