Perfection Is in the Eye of the Beholder. College!AU. Mina/Tzuyu.

Myoui Mina. Myoui Mina. Myoui Mina.

The name swirls and swirls in Tzuyu’s head until it no longer makes sense. In the first place, none of this made any sense.

She was supposed to move to Japan, study hard, get a degree, and land a nice, cushy job back in Taiwan that would make her life a comfortable one. Along the way, she would either date a boy from her friend circle in Taiwan, or be introduced to a suitable candidate for marriage. That is what her parents want from her and for Tzuyu, tall, pretty, and smart, it really isn’t that hard.

But Myoui Mina makes it hard for her to even think straight, much less follow her parents’ wishes.

She would love to know her parents’ reaction if they ever find out that she’s driving herself crazy over a Japanese girl. (A Japanese girl, not even Taiwanese! And a Japanese girl, not a boy!)

In hindsight, Tzuyu can see why she fell for Myoui Mina. The girl is a master of all trades, brains and beauty combined into one ethereal being. One of the most sought-after girls in college, she is that girl—straight As honours track, looks that have both boys and girls tripping over themselves, grace and elegance that comes with years of experience as a ballerina. Despite how outstanding and obviously exceptional she is, she seems to be oblivious to it all. Hardworking and modest, she never hesitates to help other coursemates, be it academics or miscellaneous things.

(Yes, Myoui Mina is perfect. Anyone who says otherwise can go jump off a roof. Their opinion is obviously insignificant.)

But it is also Mina’s supposed perfection that intimidates Tzuyu, no matter how attracted she is to her. While Tzuyu knows that she is pretty, she knows she isn’t as pretty as Mina. Or as smart. Or as kind. Or as perfect. Mina is as unreachable as the stars and Tzuyu should really find someone else to be attracted to. Her stupid brain must be dysfunctional because it is hard enough to be attracted to a girl—to be attracted to a perfect girl is probably the most difficult problem her brain has come up with.

That is why her stupid brain comes up with the most ingenious idea to help her get over her hopeless crush on Myoui Mina—finding Mina’s flaws. It is an absolute fool proof plan, unless Mina is really perfect and that would mean Tzuyu is doomed to pine after the girl for the rest of her life. It definitely will not be simple to carry out the plan, but she must if she wants to live easy for the rest of her college years—and for the rest of her life because then she can get over Myoui Mina and find a boy to marry and have Taiwanese babies. (Although on second thought, interethnic babies are adorable too.)

She can do this. Mina is only human after all.

1.) Tone-deaf

Mina could be terrible at singing. It’s not out of the question. The girl is an excellent dancer but maybe she chose to dance because she could not sing. As Tzuyu scratches down the possibility of Mina being tone-deaf in her notebook with a pencil, she nods to herself. She is definitely a step closer to getting over her dumb crush. Closing her notebook as she finishes writing, she stands, exiting the university library and passing by one of the tutorial rooms.

Just as she is about to exit the hallway to go for one of her classes, she hears someone singing in one of the rooms. Tzuyu swears that she is hearing the voice of a choir of angels and she has not heard singing this good since her senior Jihyo—and Jihyo is really good, if not, the best at singing. Curiosity gets the better of her and she finds herself retracing her steps, managing to locate the source of the music.

She pushes the door open slightly and her breath catches when she sees Myoui Mina in the room, singing along to the accompaniment of a guitar. Jihyo is strumming the guitar lightly and Mina is leaning against the front desk, hands clasped in front of her as she sings along. (Why has Jihyo conveniently left out how good Mina is at singing in all their conversations?)

Mina looks so beautiful—the sunlight is framing her face in a warm glow and her eyes are closed, entirely immersed in the music. Tzuyu can listen to her voice forever and she would never complain.

Well, .

1.) Tone-deaf

///

After some snooping around and countless people weirdly eyeing her, she manages to find out what could possibly be a flaw of Mina’s. Research states that while Mina is the nicest person around, she does not exactly have the best sense of humour, often cracking cold jokes that garner polite laughter.

2.) Terrible sense of humour

This is especially hard to prove because this would involve talking to Mina herself and Tzuyu isn’t sure she can survive ten seconds of eye contact with Mina. That is why after one of their shared classes, she does not allow herself to dwell on how frightening the prospect is of talking to Mina. She stands, pushing her chair with the back of her knees, marching up to Mina.

And really, Tzuyu should have known better than to do that because apparently, she can’t even survive being near Mina for ten seconds, let alone hold a decent conversation.

“M-Mina,” she calls out, wanting to slap herself for stuttering like an idiot.

“Oh, Tzuyu, hi!” Mina greets, smiling kindly. “Do you need anything?”

“A joke,” she says but when Mina gives her a weird look, she flails around looking for excuses. “I’m trying to impress someone, and I heard you have good jokes!”

Mina looks confused, but she nods as if she understands anyway. She hums in contemplation for a moment before breaking out into a gummy smile.

“What do penguins eat for lunch?” she asks, grinning at Tzuyu.

Tzuyu only blinks, “Uh. Fishes?”

“Iceburg-ers!” Mina offers the answer enthusiastically. “Do you get it? Ice burgs, ice burgers!”

It is the worst joke Tzuyu has ever heard but Mina’s eyes are twinkling and she’s looking at Tzuyu like she expects laughter. So Tzuyu can only fake a laugh, nodding her head to show that she gets the joke.

Mina still has her gummy smile on and her eyes are crescent moons with how hard she is smiling at Tzuyu. She looks absolutely adorable with how proud she is of her (rather lacklustre, but don’t tell Mina) joke and how she was able to make Tzuyu laugh.

So Mina does have a terrible sense of humour but can it really count as a flaw if it makes her ten times cuter? (The answer is a no and Tzuyu knows how whipped she is.)

2.) Terrible sense of humour

///

Her plan is sinking like the titanic. Her crush, which is supposed to be buried ten feet under the ground, seems to be only growing bigger and bigger. She has no idea why she is sitting opposite Mina, having lunch together like they’re best of pals when really, the sweat gathering in her palms can fill the pacific ocean twice. She wanted to run away earlier when Mina asked to have lunch together but she could not find it in herself to say no to those pleading, puppy eyes and those pouty lips.

Just when all hope seems to be lost, Tzuyu watches in terror as Mina happily squirts large dollops of ketchup all over her egg rolls, drowning her food in the red condiment.

3.) Ketchup addiction?????

“Mina, are you okay?” Tzuyu asks, genuinely concerned for Mina’s well-being.

“Oh,” Mina blinks before the realization that she has got ketchup all over her food hits her.

The ketchup addict (?) flushes a deep red, the blush spreading all the way to the tips of her ears. She looks so sheepish, an embarrassed smile playing at her lips. She lowers her head a little, capturing her bottom lip between her teeth.

“I… love ketchup a lot,” Mina admits self-consciously, averting her eyes.

“I can see that,” Tzuyu comments, still half-amazed and half-terrified by the amount of ketchup Mina consumes.

“Is that a turn-off?” Mina asks, the corners of drooping sadly into a pout. “I know some people don’t like it when I do this.”

Mina sounds so sad that Tzuyu wants to wrap her into a hug and tell her she can have all the ketchup she wants. Tzuyu is willing to buy every ketchup bottle in the world for Mina just so she can be happy. Tzuyu just wants to see Mina happy.

“I like you,” she blurts.

All the alarms sound in her head when she realizes what she just said.

“No! I mean, I like it! I like that you like ketchup! But that’s not to say that I don’t like you! I like you! Uh- I mean, platonically? Yeah! As a friend! I like you as a friend!” Tzuyu trips and stumbles over her words and she can feel her cheeks growing hotter with every word.

She buries her face in her hands, utterly embarrassed by her accidental confession. She wants to dig a hole, preferably her own grave, so that she can