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Wednesday, 12th of February, 08:24 AM. Mikumo's Dorm Room Balcony.

This was a disaster. A complete, utter disaster, and Mikumo wanted to slice himself, dice himself, burn himself to ashes with his flamethrower, and use himself as seasoning for Kaminari's next meal.

This was terrible, this was horrible, this was any other synonym for those words under the sun! He so desperately wanted to track Shigaraki down right then and there just so he could get a bench thrown at his head.

Mikumo took a deep breath, trying to calm his erratic nerves and organise his panicked thoughts as he stared at the bouquet of flowers on his balcony railing, sitting in a vase duct taped to the fence, full of water, as the flowers inside of it wilted.

This was not good, that much was clear. He tried to remember what Shiozaki told him the day before, while he was pre-ordering them.

"And unfortunately, we won't be open on Valentine's Day. The owner is going through a divorce right now, and Valentine's Day was her and her husband's wedding anniversary, so she just wants to eat ice cream and cry in her apartment on that day, heaven bless her soul."

"So when am I supposed to pick up the flowers?"

"You can just take them today. Don't worry, these kinds of bouquets are easy to take care of, so they'll be fresh for your partner on Valentine's Day. All you need to do is regularly change out their water, and make sure to trim the stems every now and again. By the way, make sure not to put them in direct sunlight, that'll dehydrate them."

Mikumo probably should've remembered that last part. Now that he thought about it, he most likely shouldn't have put the flowers under the sunniest spot on his balcony, or drowned them in water. And there he was, praising himself for how good he was at taking care of plants. God, he had been hanging around too many idiots, and they were clearly rubbing off on him.

But he couldn't just wallow in his self-pity all damn day! He had to fix this! For Katsuki!

And to the internet, he went!

Choosing to ignore the excruciating pain being inflicted on him in every little movement, Mikumo pulled out his phone and started looking up solutions.

One website told him that he should cut off all decomposing parts; this tactic was out of the question since he would just have to get rid of the whole thing.

Another one said that he should try to take away the moisture in the flowers, by removing the main source of water. He then ripped the vase from the confinements of the duct tape, previously securing it on the fence of his balcony, and pouring the water down the sink of his dorm bathroom, and then tossed the flowers in the sink too.

He watched the flowers carefully for a moment as they laid in the sink.

. . .

This wasn't doing anything!

On another website, it said he should try to trim the stems with gardening shears. Well, he didn't exactly have those, but he supposed scissors would be fine, right?

He quickly grabbed the pair of pink scissors from his desk and started to snipe away at the stems, making sure to do it at an angle, just like the website said. He proceeded to do this for the next couple of minutes until he realised something.

He... cut them too short.

He internally facepalmed at his own stupidity, staring down at the now minuscule stems of the flowers. 'I think I just made it worse.'

But this was okay! He... could fix this! Definitely!

He read some more of the suggestions and found another one he could try — steaming. He could use the steam of a boiling kettle to rehydrate the flowers without disturbing the stems, or something like that!

Mikumo rushed over to the dormitory kitchen area, stubby bouquet of flowers in hand, as he hurriedly turned on the kettle and waited for it to finish. He then raised the bouquet over the kettle's spout, not paying any attention to the steam burning his hand. Luckily, homeroom was almost about to start, so his class must've already been there, making him the only one in the dormi-

He froze in place as heterochromatic eyes locked onto his.

He watched as Todoroki watched him in the act, mortified as he stared at Mikumo, and then at the kettle.

Todoroki didn't speak, nor move, just simply stared at the kettle in Mikumo's hand.

Oh, right. He forgot about Todoroki's... parental issues.

"Uh-" Mikumo moved very slowly, putting down the kettle as quietly as he could. "Th-this is all a dreammm~ I was never hereeee~ you saw nothingggg~" He then slowly walked away from the paralysed Todoroki, and then rushed back over to his dorm.

That was... not how he wanted that to go.

But he could worry about Todoroki later! At the time, he needed to worry about reviving that damn plant!

He searched for more solutions on Google, which told him to gradually rehydrate the plants, and then soak them in lukewarm water. Eh, they were probably dehydrated enough already!

He tossed the flowers back into the sink of his bathroom, and turned on the faucet. He (im)patiently watched the water run into the sink, pooling underneath the clearly dead flowers.

Mikumo sighed, turning off the faucet.

This was not working whatsoever.

He couldn't be bothered to take the water-boarded, dead flowers out of the sink, so he left them there in his bathroom, and walked out. Mikumo then slumped into his bed, resting his aching body as he stared at the ceiling, guilt washing over him.

"I'm sorry, Katsuki..."