Timaeus

Maybe you admire her?

Riko glanced off to the side, a little hesitant to speak.

Riko

…Yes. I do. She is, at least, much more worth talking to than you people.

Timaeus

What’s that supposed to mean?!

Riko

She doesn’t have any supernatural talent, but she got into the reserve course on a full scholarship… Do you have any idea how difficult that is to manage?

Timaeus

Huh… now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone getting a scholarship to attend the reserve course.

Riko

Exactly. Hope’s Peak gets their money from rich people sending their brats to the school at full tuition cost. The tests you have to pass for that scholarship are harder than the entry exams they give their Ultimate students.

Timaeus

Really? I had no idea…

She scoffed and glanced down at her nails.

Riko

Well, you wouldn’t, would you? Your talent gets you anything you want. She worked her way up to the top, and I admire that kind of dedication and work ethic. You people could stand to learn from her.

Timaeus

You make it sound like we don’t work at all!

Riko

Well, do you, really? How much do you push yourself when the school isn’t breathing down your neck?

Timaeus

I-I’ve got all sorts of side projects! Like, um, developing a more efficient but backwards-compatible library catalog record format, and I still do some restoration work on edge cases for the Beinecke–

Riko

Is that the best you can do?

Timaeus

Oh, you’re one of those people, aren’t you?! I’ll have you know organization of information and preservation of culture is critical to the growth and advancement of society–

Riko

You sound like my literature professor.

Timaeus

Oh that might’ve been my dad actually– but so what?! The point is, maybe we're not all building spaceships or whatever, but that doesn't mean we're wasting our time!

Why are engineering students always like this?

Riko

…You misunderstand me. Perhaps you are not unproductive, but there are many students at this school who coast through classes and squander their talents on selfish things, no?

Timaeus

I mean… I guess so, but you can’t just assume that–

Riko

I have no patience for those people. I spend my time only with those who prove themselves worth the effort.

She turned away from me.

Riko

And you have yet to convince me. We’ve spent long enough on this pointless small talk. Goodbye, Timaeus.

…And that was it. She just… left. Of course I wasn’t expecting us to immediately become the best of friends, but the rejection still stung.

What the heck was her problem? Maybe there’s a side to her that I’m missing, if Yusra at least tolerates spending time with her… although I had a suspicion that being someone Riko looked up to could be even more stressful than being someone she looked down on.

I did learn something about Riko’s priorities, though, and I suppose those were admirable– innovation, hard work, and striving to exceed expectations, both in academia and out of it. But did she have to phrase it in the most insufferable way possible?

…Ah well, maybe she’d innovate and pace around the far side of the hallway next time.