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2021-10-04
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2024-03-08
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Ignited Spark

Summary:

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, his childhood best friend Ochako Uraraka, and a new training partner in Itsuka Kendou, they will attend UA High and work to become the world's greatest heroes!

Arc 1 - Prologue (Chapters 1-2)
Arc 2 - Training for UA (Chapters 3-9)
Arc 3 - Attending UA (Chapters 10-13)
Arc 4 - USJ Invasion (Chapters 14-18)
Arc 5 - Prelude to Sports Festival (Chapters 19-24)
Arc 6 - The Sports Festival (Chapters 25-33)
Arc 7 - Clover Rising (Chapters 34-36)
Arc 8 - Heights Alliance (Chapter 37-42)

Now with a TV Tropes page! Thank you guys so much!

Chapter 1: A Day in the Life of the Midoriyas

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“Oh, we are gonna be so late, and it’s all your fault!”

Eri Midoriya let out a loud groan of exasperation as she heard Katsuma whining in front of her, hearing his worried mutterings and wheezing as they ran as fast as they could down the street, trying to avoid colliding with anyone and send them falling to the ground. While at one point it would’ve been laughable that two people of such small stature could knock people over, but they’d been training for ten months now - Eri could probably knock over a fully grown man if she wasn’t careful.

Behind her, Kota was grumbling about something or the other, probably his own complaints about the small girl in front of her. It was still pretty early in the morning, with the sun hanging in the wintery sky, but they couldn’t focus on that as they ran down the street towards school. As annoyed as Eri felt right now, she knew that Katsuma had a point - their middle school was still twenty minutes away on foot, so they couldn’t exactly walk at a leisurely pace. And - okay, it was probably her fault they were going to be late.

Still though, she thought that Katsuma was being a little dramatic.

“It’s not that big a deal!” She assured him as they moved around a man with a rhinoceros quirk, Kota apologizing for his friends as they barely avoided knocking him off balance. “Yes, training took a bit longer this morning, but -”

“You’re the one that wanted to do one more lap,” Kota grunted behind her as he raised a hand and brought it down on her head, making Eri yelp when she was chopped, "’one more five kilometer sprint across the beach’, I believe you said."

"It was good for us!"

"We were finished and ready to go! And now we’re going to have to sit through class all sweaty and gross!"

"Kota, one more lap wasn't going to kill us, the entrance exam is -"

"- literally in two months. I know that you’re anxious, Eri, but -"

“I’m not anxious! You’re just not taking this as seriously as I am!”

"Guuys ...!" Katsuma groaned ahead of them, stopping by the red light and hopping up and down anxiously, while Eri and Kota glared at each other and huffed as they crossed their arms and turned their gazes away from each other. "If we're late again the teacher's going to give us detention, and Mahoro will get our dad to ground me forever!"

"Okay, just cool down, Kats!” Eri tried to assure him. “If we're late, you can just blame me. Mahoro never gets angry at me."

"To your face," Katsuma muttered, while Kota snorted and Eri rolled her eyes. "Oh, god, I forgot that I borrowed Satsuki’s textbook! She’ll never let this go if I can't give it back to her before first bell, she's probably going to slap me with her tongue and -"

“Remember,” Kota smirked, “just blame Eri.”

"Okay, yes, fine, you guys can blame me!" Eri threw up her hands in exasperation, "It's my fault, I made you run longer than I should've, I'm projecting my anxiety on you guys! Blame all your problems on the dumbo!"

“Okay, I will.”

“Kota, I swear to god -!”

"That all you got, you hero trash?!"

SMASH

The three teenagers jumped at the sound of something breaking, and the sudden sound of several people screaming. Quick to look around and not noticing the light going green, they saw, coming from around the corner of the market, a large crowd of people screaming and running for the hills, as what looked like black leather whips chased after them, attempting to drag them back into the market. 

They saw one of the tendrils grab at one woman’s ankle and barely miss, the woman letting out several tearful gasps as she ran away, and then the tendrils turned their attention to the crowd beginning to gather up, grabbing at women’s purses and trying to drag men further into the market while reaching into their pockets. The three teenagers were then aware of the sound of feet running around quickly, as though someone was running around very fast.

"Oh, jeez," Kota groaned, shaking his head as he watched the crowd bat away the tendrils but not do anything else but watch, "looks like a robbery gone bad."

"Crap," Katsuma winced as a woman was dragged further into the market back by one of the tentacles, only being stopped by a few of the civilians grabbing her and stopping her from being dragged away, "I guess we should call the police? We can -"

"Wait." Kota suddenly felt himself freeze up, feeling his eyes narrow as he looked at the smaller boy. "Crime in process."

"... a really good chance of people getting hurt." Katsuma's own eyes widened in horror.

"Chances of seeing a hero swing by are pretty high."

“She’s a complete and utter dumbass.”

Both boys paling in horror and frustration, they turned to look for the small white haired girl that would've been standing right behind them - but as predicted, she had completely vanished. Feeling their eyes widening in exasperation, they whipped their gazes back to the gathering crowd, knowing exactly what they were about to see as they saw Eri barging into the crowd, already trying to hop up to see what was going on.

"Are you fucking kidding me, you dumbass?!"

"Eri!"

The boys cursed after her, but still turned right around and quickly ran behind her, not trusting Eri to be smart and stay in the crowd - they remembered the many times that she jumped in to shout down villains or distract them, usually having to drag her away for the heroes to arrive and clean up after her. The last time that happened, she had been grounded to hell and back, but it was clear that it wasn’t a lesson that she had learned at all. And now, Kota was currently cursing her out under his breath, frustrated that his best friend was such an utter dumbass, while Katsuma let out a small groan of exasperation, and knowing that Mahoro and Satsuki were going to kill him.

Still, they were quick to catch up with the horned girl, pushing past several people to get to her. Thankfully Eri hadn’t jumped in, but she was standing up on her tippie-toes to see what was going on, mostly due to her short stature. Kota let out a small growl at the utter density of his best friend, but felt himself act automatically, grabbing her by the scruff of her school uniform and lifting her up somewhat so she could see. It was pretty much routine for them now that Kota, the tallest of the trio, would lift Eri, the smallest of the trio, up to see whatever she wanted, and thanks to their training from the last few months he was a lot stronger, so it was easier to lift the much smaller girl. Katsuma, meanwhile, let out a worried hum at the late time but still stood up on his own tippie-toes to see what was going on.

The small plaza had pretty much been emptied due to the fight that had just broken out, except for about seven people moving around. The first and most obvious was the hero in red and blue being slammed right out the window of the jewelry store, making people scream at the sound of broken glass as the hero hit the ground hard and rolled away, groaning when he hit his head and making the crowd wince. Coming out right after him, several people wearing black long coats and leather laughed and cowed around, which indicated to Eri, Kota and Katsuma that they were villains - rather loud ones, at that.

From the looks of the group, the first man who came out, the biggest guy with four tendrils of what looked like leather coming out of his stomach was the muscle of the group, grabbing the fallen hero and giving him a harsh squeeze, laughing in a mocking manner. From behind him came two twins, laughing and high fiving as they put two duffel bags full of jewelry around their shoulders, running around in circles at surprising speed - meaning that they were the getaway. Another two villains came out with their own bags filled with money and jewels, so they were just thugs. And finally, a woman with long red hair came out last, smirking down at the hero and looking around haughtily - which probably meant that she was the leader.

Eri was pretty sure that she was right about these villains - after all, she lived with three parents who knew the ins and outs of being a hero, they knew their stuff so she was pretty sure she did too.

"You done, little hero?" The leader of the villains sneered at the hero on the ground, hearing him whimper as he tried to keep his broken arm off the ground, and she went over to deliver another kick to his side, making the hero groan as he flopped onto the ground. "Or are you gonna be like every other hero we've come across today, and get yourself absolutely fucked?!"

"We own this town!" One of the speed twins shouted, hooting into the air. "Anyone else wanna mess with us?!"

"Come on you pieces of shit! Who wants to fuck with us?!"

"Oh, jeez," Kota grunted, adjusting his hat and shaking his head while Eri studied them carefully, "talk about overconfidence - they’re acting like they just took down Bakugou."

“Huh … and I think that’s a newcomer,” Eri noted, looking worried about the hero on the ground and glancing around, “he definitely should’ve waited for backup - he needs help.”

"What do we do?" Katsuma asked in a small voice, glancing around. "I think someone’s already called the police, but they’re probably going to get away before they arrive if they got the two speedsters to help them out. What - ?"

"We won't have to do anything."

The boys blinked, and looked up at the horned girl being dangled in the air by Kota. To hear her say that they didn’t need to jump in and do anything was more surprising than anything they’d heard today - it was as though she’d been killed and replaced by an imposter. At least they recognized the confident smirk on her face as she looked at the villains gloating and shouting into the air - she usually wore that smirk when she was confident that she was right.

"When I left for the sleepover last night,” She felt herself begin to shiver, not from the cold but from excitement, “I remember Dad saying that he was going to be patrolling around these parts.”

The other two boys felt their eyes widen as they realized what she was talking about, glancing back quickly at the cowing villains as they menacingly moved towards the hero to beat him down some more, just to prove their toughness -

- and then they suddenly heard the clap of thunder.

The villains blinked, hearing the familiar sound of something loud rumbling in the distance, and glanced at the sky, expecting to see dark clouds begin to gather - and seeing no cloud in sight. They wrinkled their brows in confusion, wondering where the thunder was coming from if there wasn’t a cloud in the sky - and then felt their eyes widen in realization when they heard another clap of thunder, and this time not from the sky. Instead, they heard it coming from somewhere in the city.

"No," the woman whispered, looking left and right rapidly, "no, no, no, no, no!"

"God damn it!" The tendril villain was quick to spread the black tentacles around the small gang, everyone on edge. "Keep your damn eyes up! He'll be here any second!"

"Why?! Why couldn't it have been fucking Grape Juice?!"

"Just hope he doesn't bring the other bitch with him!"

The crowd had gone from nervous spectating to loud muttering, everyone practically vibrating with excitement as the sounds of thunder got louder and louder, indicating that the hero was coming closer and closer. The villains, who had smugly beaten down any hero in their path before, were now on the verge of either surrendering or running away, with only the ringleader looking somewhat determined as she tried to listen for the thunder, trying to figure out what angle he would be coming from. Eri, Kota and Katsuma exchanged grins as they heard the sound of electricity coming closer, knowing exactly who was coming to kick these villains’ asses from here to Kanagawa.

Suddenly, the thunderclaps sounded as though they were coming from the other side of the plaza, and everyone turned as they saw, far down the street, a flash of green lightning coming from around the corner, and standing on one of the light posts, glaring at the villains, was a hero in a green, white, black and red uniform.

"Oh, fu -!"

Before the villains could panic any more than they already were, in the blink of an eye, the hero suddenly leapt off the post, and a streak of lightning blasted down the street in the blink of an eye, above the cars and the crowd being backed up in the corner, and shot straight towards the villains. The biggest of the villains, who had been slowly backing away as though on the verge of shoving past the crowd and running for the hills, let out a shout of pain as, from within the lightning, another streak of electricity flashed out and struck him directly in the chest.

“Vivian!” The tendril villain shouted, and the leader of the villains whipped around in horror as her henchman was sent flying across the plaza before hitting the ground with a loud thud, groaning in pain as his shirt burned away from the strike. Not enough to kill him, of course, but enough to make him feel numb and stiff, unable to fight on.Letting out a small gasp, Vivian was quick to look around as the living lightning bolt flickered around them.

"Guys, circle up!" She commanded, the minion beside her extending his tendrils around her waist. "Don't let him -"

Another shot of lightning blasted out before she could finish her sentence, and the only other thug who was still looking around desperately for the hero was sent flying, letting out a tiny scream as he was thrown over straight above the crowd, everyone looking up after him as he flailed through the air, and came down hard in a snowbank, blinking woozily. 

Now, Vivian and her goons could only slowly back up in terror as the green lightning began flashing all around them, the formerly confident villains not sure where the next blow would come from or if the hero would decide to take them all out at once. Within the crowd, Eri, Kota and Katsuma cheered amongst the crowd, excited to see the pro hero pick off the formerly smug villains one by one.

However, before the villains could wince or try to figure out a way to escape, the green flash of lightning stopped flickering around them, slowing to a stop, and, floating in the air, the pro hero in the green, black and red costume floated in the air. Everyone watched as he looked at the crowd with a slightly confused look, before his eyes widened and his mouth, which would have normally been a large, assuring smile, thinned into a line.

"Eri! Kota! Katsuma!"

The three teenagers jumped a bit, and groaned when they heard the pro hero address them directly, Kota slowly lowering Eri back to the ground (and privately thankful, too, his arm was starting to feel sore from holding her up for so long). They looked up guiltily towards the pro hero flying above them, who had crossed his arms and continued to look down at them in disappointment and maybe a tinge of amusement. The villains who had backed up in panic glanced between the hero and the three teenagers, blinking in confusion as the lightning hero turned to his daughter and her two best friends while shaking his head.

"What did I tell you guys about coming to fights?" Izuku Midoriya asked in a cold voice, evidently already knowing the answer.

"Uh ... don't?" Eri asked innocently, while Kota suppressed a snort despite himself and Katsuma studied his feet with a look of incredible guilt on his face.

"You’d be correct." Izuku nodded slowly, narrowing his eyes. "And where are you right now?"

"... walking to school?" Eri tried, giving him a cute smile in hopes to appeal to his softer side. "That we didn't know there'd be a fight near?"

"Isn't your school in the completely opposite direction of here?" Izuku shook his head at her, while the crowd laughed and cheered as Eri flashed him an innocent smile. It was such a recurring sight for fans of the pro hero, seeing the kind green haired hero with one of the most powerful quirks in Japan, scolding his small, white haired daughter. It had immediately endeared him to the public, seeing this tall man with the power to control one of the most destructive elements on Earth get into arguments with a little girl half his size, that paparazzi usually avoided going after Eri out of respect to the pro hero (that, and the last time one tried her mom had crushed his camera and threatened to end his career).

"Hey! Spark!" One bystander called out, interrupting the scolding and making Izuku turn to look at the young man as he pointed. "Those villains made a break for it."

Izuku jolted, blinking in shock, and quickly looked around, seeing the woman leading her four henchmen away as fast as they could, booking it down the street. 

"Oh, crap! Looks like those twins have a speed quirk. Well, at least that'll be easy to catch up to, I just need to hurry." 

With that quickly assessed, he was quick to look back at Eri, pointing at her while she tried and failed to suppress her laughter. "This is not over, young lady. We’re talking about this tonight."

"Yeah, yeah," Eri nodded, then remembered something, and felt herself pout as she called up to her dad. "By the way, one of those assholes called Mom a bitch."

He looked like he was going to scold her for the language, but paused when he heard what one of the villains called his wife, and scowled.

"Which one?"

"Does it matter?"

"No, it does not." In another flash of lightning, with the formerly intimidated crowd now cheering their heads off, Izuku took off, but his voice carried over the sound of the loud explosion of sound. "But when they hear about this, you are so grounded!"

Once he was gone, Eri let out a small sigh, smiling at where her dad vanished with such obvious affection Kota couldn’t help but roll his eyes, although he had his own reluctant smile on his face - at least, until Katsuma grabbed both of their arms and began to roughly drag them away, making both of them yelp. He was almost as small as Eri, so it was always surprising to feel how strong he’d become thanks to Izuku’s training.

"Ow, Kats!"

"Dude, what -?!"

"Guys! School!"

"Huh? Oh, shit!"

"Whoops!"


As he flew down the street after the fleeing villains, Izuku let out a small sigh at his daughter's idiocy (although he knew he couldn't really talk since he wasn't much better when he was her age), but before he could lose himself, he shook his head and quickly refocused. He had heard sirens coming when he left, meaning that the injured hero that had been on the ground would be looked after, as well as the two villains he had taken care of already. He knew that his lightning bolts had incapacitated them, meaning that it would take a while for them to get back up - and by the time they did, the police would be there.

But he couldn’t focus on that now, quickly turning his gaze to hone in on the remaining four villains as they fled as fast as they could. He was quick to analyze the villains’ quirks with a quick glance - the two twins whose quirks were being used to rush them down the busy street, the tendril villain wrapping his tentacles around them to keep them together, and the villain in the middle, the obvious leader of the pack holding what little money they had left.

Good. This’ll be easy, Izuku smiled as he upped his ante a bit. Ten percent of his power would be what he needed to catch up.

"I'd slow to a stop right about now!" He shouted loud enough to catch Vivian's attention, making her turn and let out a squeak when she saw him flip off another lamp post, throwing his arm back and letting lightning curl around his gauntlet, preparing to shoot out a blast to slow them down.

"Left!" She screeched at her minions, and the two twins quickly changed their direction, going a sharp left. Izuku watched in shock as they turned towards a small crowd, hearing the sound of several civilians screaming as they were forced to dive out of the way of the rampaging villains. The twins ran as fast as they could, so anxious to get away from the pro hero they didn’t notice a young mother with her baby standing in the way. The mother felt herself stand stock still, a deer in the headlights as she and her child were about to be trampled - 

- only for Izuku to quickly zap down, grabbing her and the baby quickly and securely, and sliding both of them out of the way. Once he was sure that they were out of the way of the two twins with no regard to the safety of the civilians, Izuku let out a small grunt, and kicked out, moving his metallic boot in front of one of the twin’s legs.

“AAH!”

With a scream, the twin that he tripped was sent flying out of the tendril villain’s grasp, eyes widening in horror as he flailed in the air towards the ground very fast, but Izuku was quicker, grabbing him by the back of his shirt and jerking him back before he could become a smear on the road. From the way the twin in his grasp slackened once he had a firm hold on him, Izuku could tell that he had fainted in fear - and a good thing too, as he had glanced backwards and saw a police officer accompanying a hero towards him, meaning that this guy would be taken care of.

If he cared that his brother had been captured, the remaining twin didn’t show it - instead of slowing down or even looking back, the other twin only increased his speed, dragging Vivian and the tendril villain with him down the alley, Izuku glancing down and spotting the support items on Vivian and the tendril villain’s shoes that would’ve made it easier on them to be carried around. Izuku grunted, putting the unconscious villain on the ground none too gently, and then helped the woman up to her feet, smiling weakly at her crying and gratitude.

"I wish I could stay, but -" He gestured with his head towards the fleeing villains, giving her a dorky grin, and turned so that he could quickly blast back down the alley after them. 

He knew that if he could take care of the other twin, then Vivian and the other villain would be easy to take down after that. They'd probably want to give up - he figured that the only reason that they weren’t in police cars now was due to the fact that they thought there was a chance to escape. From what he had seen earlier, they stuck with attacking heroes they could group up on, and avoiding heroes that could move around them and hit back hard. 

Not to mention the support items on their feet - he had a feeling he knew where those came from, and who supplied them.

As he streaked through the air after them, Izuku narrowed his eyes, staring at them as they shifted and moved through the cars, trying to get away from him as fast as they could. They weren’t being careful, and it wouldn’t take long for them to hurt someone. He needed to -

"Hey, are you busy right now?"

Izuku blinked at the voice that suddenly spoke in his ear, realizing who was speaking through his coms - and felt a small smile grace his face.

"A little bit," He grunted as hopped up and blasted off another building to continue to build up his momentum, waving to a few bystanders as they watched him soar by after the villains, "got a trio of villains trying to run away from me. They got one speedster and two tagalongs, and it’s not going to be long until they end up running someone over."

"Huh. And where's that?"

"Hold on a sec - kinda hard to keep track of street names when I’m flying at - oh, okay, they just got into Chuo City, coming from the - west, I think."

"Oh! I'm there right now. Near Shinkamejima Bridge."

"Huh,” Izuku smirked, hopping off another lamppost and shooting off after them, “well, they don't seem to want to slow down to talk to me. Would you mind helping me bring them to a safe stop?"

"Why, not at all, Deku - I think I can see you now anyway, I'll be waiting."

Izuku grinned at that, and threw his hand back, feeling lightning curling in his hand again, and this time got the chance to fling it directly at them. The speed villain squeaked when a bolt of lightning narrowly missed his head, and quickly jerked himself and his two buddies down the way, heading towards the bridge. Smirking when he realized that his plan to move them towards her worked, Izuku stopped blasting out at them and became content with just following them, soaring above them and watching as the two villains the speedster was dragging along turned to look at him with obvious panic in his eyes.

"Oh man - oh, man, Vivian, what do we do?!" The tendril villain asked in a whiny voice. "Vortex said to use the support gear only in case of emergency! I thought we were just going to be robbing and beating people up, not run into fucking Spark!"

"I know ..." Vivian growled, glaring at the hero following them.

“Vivan, what do we -?!”

“Shut the fuck up!” She screamed, raising a hand to smack him. “I’m thinking!”

She took a moment to look up at Izuku, and then felt herself blink. He was no longer attacking them - the shot of lightning at the twin had been a warning shot, she realized - which probably meant that he was being careful now, trying not to hit anyone. 

Which meant … that was their advantage.

"Oneneki! Take us to the farmer’s market!"

"Vivian?!" The tendril villain looked around at his leader as she felt herself smirk.

"Bastard back there won't want to risk innocent people getting hurt - so we take some hostages and -"

"Oh, crap! Vivian!" The villain with the speed quirk screeched, looking in the sky. The other two villains wrinkled their brows at the call, looking up at where their partner was looking - and felt their eyes widen as a large shadow fell over them.

The villains were so distracted by the lightning hero chasing them across town, being almost on top of them, they didn't notice that they had run in the direction of a heroine floating a large boulder above them, smirking as she moved to press her fingers together. Vivian only had time to regret all of her life decisions as the heroine in the black and white jumpsuit pressed her fingers together, and deactivated her quirk on herself and the boulder - and then moved to kick down, using her boots to kick the boulder down so that it soared to the ground where the villains were about to step.

The twin let out a scream as he tried to move out of the way in time - but that was only his undoing. They managed to dodge the boulder, thankfully, but in that instance he slowed down - and Izuku struck out, throwing lightning to hit the twin directly in the back. And that was how the three villains were sent sailing through the air, letting out screams as they were thrown over the side and falling directly into the water, landing with a large splash.

Letting out a small grunt, Izuku adjusted himself so that he didn’t run into his help. Feeling himself smile as he turned his lightning down to a mere 5%, he grinned up at Ochako Uraraka as she landed on the sidewalk with a small grunt, moving to grab the boulder and float it again so she could throw it back into the lake where she had found it. By that time, the villains had swam back to shore, but were too exhausted and tired to even try to fight back as the police surrounded them with quirk suppressing cuffs, flopping onto the stone ground and coughing up water.

Once she got the rock dropped back into the water, Ochako turned around to give Izuku a smirk as he landed on the ground with a small huff, smiling up at one of his wives - he hadn’t seen her since yesterday morning, so getting an unexpected team up was more than welcome.

"Sorry about the interruption," she teased lightly, and Izuku chuckled as he jogged over to her, "but I saw you chasing them all over town from where I was patrolling, so I decided to lend a hand. It was a little sad seeing them outrun a hero who's supposed to be an expert on speed."

"Okay, you can’t really blame me for this one, I had a weak start," Izuku shrugged good naturedly, smiling down at her as he brought her in for a side hug. Over the years, he'd grown to be around Todoroki's height, and it always gave him a lot of pleasure to rest his chin on the top of her head - it still annoyed her when he teased her about it. "I saw Eri at the scene of the crime, and I had to scold her while these guys got a head start."

"Eri? At a crime scene?" Ochako blinked, then felt herself scowl. "Oh, my god, she’s worse than you. She is so grounded."

"That's what I said. Oh, and by the way -" He pointed at the feet of the villains he was chasing. “- look at their feet.”

“Huh … more support items. We should let -”

“Yep, I was just about to text her. I’m on top of things.”

“That’s surprising!” Ochako giggled. “You, on top of things - I’m shocked.”

“It occasionally happens. I have my moments.”

“Oh, I believe that.”

Before they could exchange any more witty back and forths, probably with a lot more shots from Ochako than Izuku (hey, he could get her if he took a few minutes to think up comebacks), they were suddenly swarmed by reporters and paparazzi, the large crowd practically salivating at the opportunity of interviewing two members of Japan's most revered hero teams. Izuku, realizing that he didn't really have an out for this one (last time, he yelled that he had to save a baby from a tree and flew out as fast as he could, making him the laughing stock of the household for weeks), let out a small sigh as he turned to address the crowd with a stiff smile, having never gotten used to interviews even after practicing at school for years -  but Ochako suddenly grabbed the back of his jacket, and pressed all five fingers against his back. 

Izuku blinked in surprise as the two suddenly began floating up, blinking as his wife held him as though he were some stray kitten, grabbing the hood he wore and pulling it up.

"We'll be right back, everyone."  Ochako smiled at the reporters, gesturing with her head towards Izuku. "We’ve just got something to talk about real quick. Official hero nonsense."

The crowd let out several teasing 'oohs' and laughter, some gossipers screaming that Izuku must obviously be in the doghouse, which made both heroes roll their eyes. Still, Izuku did nothing to resist as Ochako floated him up to the roof of the nearby building, not really bothered by the height as she dragged him over - it had been a long time since he'd been afraid of heights, plus having flown around for years while practicing with Ochako gave him a much stronger stomach for this kind of stuff.

Once they were out of sight of the large crowd, Ochako released her quirk and both fell to the rooftop, away from the photographers and yelling gossipers and cheering crowds. Izuku let out a small sigh of relief as he walked over to sit down on a vent, taking this chance now that he had slowed down at last to reach down and remove one of his boots - he felt a stone rolling around in there for the last few minutes, and hadn't had the time to get it out due to the high speed chase. Once he unsealed the metal boot with rubber lined on the inside (he needed to thank Melissa for that recent upgrade - it was much softer on his poor foot), he let out a small chuckle and glanced up at his wife as she played with her headgear.

"Honestly, thanks for that, I thought I was going to be swallowed up in reporters all by myself, we know what happens when I’m  -"

He faltered, however, when Ochako finally slid her own visor up to her forehead, her brown hair being pushed up along with it, and turned around to fix him with a sharp glare, feeling his words die in his throat.

Oh, no. He did something wrong. She wouldn't be giving him the Danger Pout (as trademarked by his mom) if he hadn't. She put her hands down on her hips as she continued to glare daggers at him, seeing him wilt even though he didn’t know what he had done wrong yet.

"So," she started, and Izuku gulped in nervousness at the seriousness of her voice. "You didn't come home at all last night."

"Erk." Izuku couldn't help but wince. 

Oh. Oh, yeah. That.

"We have an agreement, Izu," Ochako reminded him, her pout getting dangerously more adorable by the minute - a clear sign that she wasn't in a happy mood. "You only get one night a week where you can pull an all-nighter. And you used that up Monday when you were visiting Musutafu. So why didn't you come home last night? Where were you?"

Izuku stuttered, staring up in fear at his wife as she walked over to stand directly in front of him, the Danger Pout in full force and leaving him unable to focus at all in between her pure anger and the utterly adorable look on her face - and then he let out a small sigh of defeat.

"I - I'm sorry, Ocha," Izuku shook his head, leaning forward and glancing at the ground. "Kacchan dragged me out to find some criminal who got away with three billion yen last night. It ended up becoming a chase around the city - he had some kind of teleporting quirk, he kept slipping away. Anyway, by the time we were done, it was like - four in the morning, and ..." he shook his head, feeling his eyes start to mist, "... and I ended up sleeping on the couch in the office. I’m sorry, I - I should’ve texted you."

Ochako continued to study her husband with narrow eyes as he physically wilted under her gaze, before she let out her own sigh too, and crossed her arms, glancing away.

"I get it," she conceded in a low voice, "I do understand, you were too tired to get home. But Izu ..." she knelt down in front of him, reaching out to cup his cheek and raise his face to meet her eyes, making him see the worry and concern written all over her own face. "All three of us agreed - only one day a week to overexert ourselves. We don't wanna get into the habit of overworking ourselves. That's what Toshi did, and look how that turned out for him. I love him like my own dad, but it's true."

"I know," Izuku muttered, and Ochako finally gave him a soft smile.

"Just ... at least let me know if you're not gonna make it home, okay? I was pretty worried about you - I was half tempted to get dressed and go out looking for you, Mina ended up having to talk me out of it when she told me that Eijirou told her that Katsuki said you were fine."

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, then tried to smile at her again. "I'm - like I said, I'm sorry, Ocha. You're right, I should've at least called you to let you know where I was."

"Jeez," Ochako giggled, bringing up her other hand to cup his cheek, rubbing his freckles, "You're not the one with the quirk that tells you when danger's coming from a mile away, and somehow you're the one who's always overexerting yourself. Why am I not surprised?"

Izuku couldn't help but chuckle at that, seeing Ochako give him a warmer smile, and leaned in to kiss her on the lips, Ochako immediately reciprocating and wrapping her arms around his neck. They disconnected, but she couldn't help but lean back in to kiss the corner of his lips, and then his cheek, her husband laughing a bit at the ticklish sensations. 

She was very tempted to continue kissing him, but restrained herself - the last time they got a little frisky, some paparazzi with a camera quirk (not the one they knew, fortunately for him) caught a picture of them making out behind some alley, and they became the gossip of hero talk shows for a month, having to put up with a lecture from Tenya about fraternizing on the job, their wife's teasings, and Eri's surprisingly harsh judgement for a ten year old.

Still ... he did promise to spend the night with her, and he didn't. That earned her the right to toy with him a little.

"Well," She left out a small huff as she stood back up, wanting to bring his mood up a bit more by teasing him, "I guess since you are sorry about it, I can forgive you. It's just a shame, really - you missed out on what got delivered last night."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, watching her lift her arms over her head and stretch out some kinks. "What'd I miss?"

"Well," Ochako lowered her arms and put a finger to her mouth, smirking down at him, "you know how Eri was staying over at Mahoro's so she could train with Katsumi and Kota this morning? It was just supposed to be you and me?"

"Uh ... yeah?" Izuku nodded slowly, a bit confused, and Ochako's smirk widened.

"Well ... the package I ordered a week ago came in, and I was gonna show it off to you."

Izuku blinked a bit, and glanced to the ground as he tried to remember what she ordered recently, trying to remember if it was some coffee machine they broke or some bed sheets - and then it hit him. Izuku's jaw dropped, whipping his gaze up to his wife as she ran her hands down her jumpsuit, knowing exactly what she was doing as she saw him connect the dots, and tried not to burst into laughter as he stood up abruptly from the vent, hopping on one foot to prevent the other bootless one from touching the snow on the roof as he blushed bright red.

"You - the - the -"

"Yep. The lingerie," Ochako teased, continuing to run her hands along her body, knowing cheekily that it was making him blush deeper and deeper. "The black one. Y'know, the form fitting one. I tried it on, and while I don't usually compliment myself when it comes to stuff like that ... hoo boy, did I look good."

"You - I -"

"It clung to every curve," she continued on in a musky voice, loving the despair on Izuku's face as she went into more and more detail, "it was so much shorter than I expected, only going down to the top of my thighs - and a lot more see-through. Not gonna lie, I've never felt sexier. And you, Mr. Big Superhero, missed me wearing that so you could hang out with Kacchan."

Izuku sputtered, staring at her as though she had just said that she had burned his All Might collection, before he sagged over, hunching his shoulders as he stared at the ground in disappointment. She couldn't help herself from laughing now, doubling over in giggles at how obviously sad he was that he missed out on the only night he could spend with one of his wives while their daughter wasn't home.

"I hate you," he grumbled, pouting. "I hate you so much."

"No, you don't! You loooove me," Ochako teased, walking over and wrapping her arm around his shoulders. Izuku replied by scooping her up, lifting her off her feet while she squealed a bit, laughing. Even Izuku couldn't help but laugh with her as he spun her around, almost tripping as he did it on one foot, before he dipped her and kissed her cheek. Giggling, Ochako reached out at an awkward angle to grab his boot, letting him put her down and put it on while she glanced over the balcony, hearing the reporters and paparazzi calling their names.

"Think it's about time we head down there," she sighed, sliding her visor back down as Izuku sealed the boot shut. "Oh, crud, I think I see Juko News over in the corner - who do you think they'll accuse you of having an affair with this time? Last time it was Tsuyu, and I think the time before that it was Mina."

"Maybe Momo this time," Izuku sighed, patting his boot and nodding in satisfaction as it automatically sealed shut, "I went out to lunch with her and Shouto last week, and I think someone snapped our picture when he went to the bathroom." He paused, and then asked, in a defeated tone, “Are you sure there aren’t any patrols we need to do right now? Can’t we just say we have an orphanage to build?”

“Deku,” Ochako giggled, “we can’t avoid the press forever. It sucks, but we gotta deal with them.”

“I guess,” Izuku pouted, and then shook his head and tried to fix his best smile on his face, turning to his wife. “How do I look?”

“Like you're constipated.” Ochako bluntly stated, letting out a snort when he visibly deflated. “Well, I guess we better get down there and be our usual, charming selves. And figure out who we’re apparently having affairs with. After you, Spark."

"Oh, no, Uravity," Izuku grinned at her, "after -"

BEEP BEEP

Both of them blinked when Izuku's phone went off in his pocket. She gave him a sideways look at carrying his phone while flinging electricity around, and he merely stuck his tongue out at her as he pulled it from his pocket, opening it and checking the text that was just sent to him:

 

WIFE #2

hey

i’m downtown right now, our boy’s been busy

can you two come and help me wrap up?

txt tsukauchi

i'll love you forever

 

"She's back?" Ochako gasped, feeling a smile spread across her face as she leaned on her husband's shoulder to read the message better. "She's downtown?"

"I think so," Izuku nodded, feeling himself smile in both happiness and relief, "and she just gave us an excuse not to talk to the press. I love her so much."

"That's goddamn right. I'm going to kiss her stupid."

Both heroes chuckling, they waved guiltily to the crowd as they pointed away, and Ochako was quick to wrap her arm around Izuku's shoulder. As they'd done a thousand times, Izuku felt himself begin to float along with her, and pointed his hand to the ground to shoot a bolt of lightning, planning to fire them straight downtown to where their wife had just sent her GPS location while ignoring the disappointed groans of the reporters down below.

"So," Izuku smirked as they took off, "are you gonna give her the pout too? 

"We at least knew in advance she'd probably be gone for three weeks." Ochako shook her head. “She kept us updated, unlike a certain someone.”

"One night, Ocha, versus three weeks."

"... okay, yes, Deku, I'm going to give her the pout."

"Great."

"After we cuddle."

"Of course."

"And make out."

"Oh, yeah, obviously."


Vortex.

A villain touting himself as the next big villain of Japan. And for good reason, as well. A villain with the power to unleash devastating shockwaves on the ground once he touches his palm to it. Since he’d arrived in Japan four weeks ago, he had brought down three buildings with civilians in them, to devastating effect. He was an awful, inhumane monster. 

And the worst part? He was smart, and why he was an actual serious threat. He was intelligent enough to build support items, donating them to villains in the making while making them promise to support him on his ‘noble’ quest to become Japan’s new premier villain. He never stayed in one place at once, constantly on the move, leaving vague clues to throw off whoever was following him while arming thugs. He'd attack a building in Nagoya one day, and then the next, show up in Kyoto. He was difficult to track, and impossible to even fight.

Not that that stopped Itsuka Kendou from trying, the now twenty-three year old pro heroine letting out a small sigh as she stood on the rooftop opposite an abandoned warehouse, leaning against the wall just out of sight that no one would look up and see her. Behind her were a squad of police officers dressed up in riot gear, muttering to confirm details before her back up arrived, and she moved in. The small port that Vortex had set up in had been completely evacuated, workers standing outside the yellow lines set up by other pro heroes as quietly as they could. 

Itsuka blew some hair out of her face from the wind, and raised a hand to block the rising sun in the distance. She'd been tracking Vortex for the last three weeks, trying to pick up his trail. Ordinarily, this would've been the responsibility of all three members of her team, due to the power of Vortex's quirk, but she had insisted she be allowed to investigate on her own, due to being the only one to properly get in a fight with the villain and see his face. Izuku and Ochako had protested, but she managed to convince them that she’d take care of him and be back in no time.

Which … made her finally finding him three weeks later a little bad. Forget that, pretty bad. Ochako was going to kick this guy’s ass and then hers right afterwards.

While she had said that it was due to her being the only hero to fight him, there had been another reason, one that she didn’t like in the least - the fact that, from what she found in his other bases around the country, that he had taken a particular liking to her and Ochako. As in, finding shrines dedicated to both of them, and papers that looked … very wet.

It was enough to make her shudder in disgust even now.

"Battle Fist," the commanding officer behind her requested her attention, causing her to turn around while pressed to the brick wall, "I've received confirmation from Tsukauchi - Uravity and Spark are on their way." 

Itsuka nodded at that, unable to suppress a small smile despite herself, "Honestly, I'm a bit afraid of what'll happen when Uravity catches sight of me, but for now I'm just going to appreciate that they're coming. Do you have an ETA?”

"I'm afraid not," The officer shook his head, "but they're on the way."

Itsuka nodded, understanding, and quickly turned back around to look at the warehouse. If they wanted to do this successfully, and make sure the villain didn't escape, they'd have to be patient. Itsuka couldn't afford any other escapes from Vortex - the longer he was free, the more likely more corpses would be added to his already 'impressive' resume, and the more villains that would be armed with his weapons. And waiting a few more minutes for Izuku and Ochako to arrive would lessen Vortex's chances of walking out of here without handcuffs on his wrists.

So she would be patient, Itsuka sighed - and truth be told, a part of her wanted to wait just so she could have her partners behind her to back her up. She hated flying solo, it was always so lonely. 

They only really had to wait two more minutes for the two heroes to show up, Itsuka taking up some time to confirm with the other squad helping evacuate the port’s workers to wait for a bit. There had been a small gust of wind, blowing Itsuka's now long ponytail about, and she smiled as she turned to see the two heroes land with a grunt on the rooftop, dusting themselves off slightly before looking up.

All three of them knew that they'd have to remain professional in front of the police officers, but their eyes told a different story. Izuku's eyes plainly told her the relief and happiness he felt finally seeing her after three weeks, and Itsuka was sure to give him the same look, biting down her small smile. Ochako's, of course, was similar, although her cheeks puffing slightly indicated to Itsuka that she was in big trouble once this was over - which she didn't mind at all, Ochako usually made it a point to kiss her before she got started with the yelling. 

All in all, however, the husband and his two wives were plainly happy to see each other.

"Welcome to the party, you two," Itsuka smiled at them as she leaned back up from where she had been hiding, offering a hand as a fist bump. Both Izuku and Ochako shook their heads at her dorkiness, but still offered fist bumps, although Ochako's was slightly harder than Izuku's.

"It's nice to be here," Izuku chuckled, although he quickly got his act together again and became more professional as he joined his wife near the wall. "Anyway, this is your operation, right? Or will it be a team thing?"

"To make sure things don't get overly complicated, I'll stay in command for now. I’ve got Lizardy and Rocketti working ground control, they’ll be helping the other squad of police officers with the evacuations while we move in. Which means you two are my backup."

"Does that sound like a complaint I hear?" Ochako joked, joining their small circle while the police officers whistled awkwardly. "I thought you wanted the help."

"Oh, yeah - you two are pretty much all I need right now. I was hoping for someone quick, and you both are definitely quick. So," Itsuka leaned back so Izuku and Ochako could have their own peek at the warehouse, pressing herself against the wall Ochako so that the gravity heroine could lean down and take a look, "what do you guys know of Vortex?"

"Just what we heard from you and the news, and from what Detective Tsukauchi briefed us on a few minutes ago," Izuku shook his head, frowning. "Although I ran into a few of the villains he helped supply some support items with this morning, so I think I get what he’s doing. Nice to finally see how far behind Melissa’s inventions the rest of America’s villains are."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded her head, also peeking out like her wife, "he's a foreign weapons dealer. He heard about all of our accomplishments over the last few years and thought he'd get his chance to swing by Japan to be the top dog. Apparently there's a lot of competition in America for who's the true big villain, and since the heroes there started to really come down on them, he'd figure he'd practice his Japanese and start causing trouble here."

"And Shockwave ..." Ochako trailed off, and Itsuka saw the wheels in her head turning. "It's powerful enough to knock down a building."

"The only silver lining of that, it's his biggest attack," Itsuka sighed, frowning, "so he can't bring down the warehouse on our heads immediately when we go in, or he'll risk being too tired to move out of the way. Bad news, though, he isn't like other villains who want the glory of killing top heroes, he knows when to fold. If he thinks he's at a disadvantage, he'll run. And he's really good at running."

"In that case," Izuku pursed his lips, "if he saw you or me coming after him, he'll try to escape as fast as he can."

"Yeah," Itsuka agreed, "which is why I have a plan."

"Okay," Izuku nodded, turning to her while the police officers stood at attention behind him. "Since you have experience with this guy, I'll leave the planning up to you. What do you have in mind?"

"Well," She suddenly had a look of disgust on her face, "I didn’t mention this to either of you, but he's made it pretty clear through his little love letters what he thinks of me - and Ochako. Our boy in there can get pretty distracted by pretty women, and apparently he thinks that the two of us are the prettiest he’s ever seen."

"... okay, screw the plan,” Izuku grunted, while Ochako looked like she was about to be sick, “I’m just going in there and kicking his ass.”

"Oh, we will," Itsuka chuckled, lightly patting his cheek, "but before we do that, we need to make sure he's all nice and distracted so we can cut off his escape attempts."

"And how do we do that?"

Itsuka smirked, and glanced over at Ochako. The brunette girl blinked for a moment, glancing between her husband and wife, and then caught on, letting out a small sigh.

"... you both are going to owe me mochi right after this."

“Sounds good to me, hon.”


Five minutes later, Ochako grumbled as she walked towards the warehouse, shaking her head. She knew that Izuku was running across the rooftops, unpowered since hearing the sound of thunder on a cloudless day would let the villain know he was here, while Itsuka floated above the warehouse, planning to slam through the roof. Ochako, meanwhile, wasn’t nearly as stealthy, walking up towards the large doors and intending to pull them right open. Thanks to a tip from a worker, they knew that Vortex would be working on something in there, and would be caught off guard if one of the objects of his lust waltzed right in.

Neither Izuku or Itsuka didn't want to send Ochako in there by herself, but if Vortex saw Spark or Battle Fist coming at him, he'd hightail it fast. Sending Ochako, who was commonly mistaken as the 'weakest' member of their team, would make the villain drop his guard and leave him open to an ambush.

Besides, Itsuka grimaced, it was like she said earlier. Vortex had made his attraction to her and Ochako, and his hatred of Izuku, quite clear. Seeing Ochako coming after him would definitely keep him distracted.

Grunting, Ochako opened the door to the warehouse, and stepped in. She glanced around at the hanging hooks, forklifts and excavators parked on the other side of the large warehouse, and various hammers, screwdrivers and crowbars scattered along the floor. But her attention was drawn to the man standing near a table in the center of the warehouse, holding a screwdriver as he played with some kind of purple and silver object on the wooden surface.

At the sound of the door opening, the man turned, and caught sight of Ochako standing there, silhouetted by the sun.

"Ah!" Vortex gasped, smiling widely. "The gorgeous Uravity, at long last. When on Earth did you get here?"

Ochako merely stood there, glaring at him. To his credit, he definitely would have been handsome if it weren't for several long scars dragging down his face, as well as his mangey hair and beard as though he hadn't bathed in weeks. He had a long coat on, accompanied by two pulsing metallic gauntlets slapped onto his wrists, probably to help him with his quirk. Ochako let out a small breath, but managed to keep her cool as she walked properly into the warehouse.

"I received a tip," she said flatly, glaring at the villain as he gave her a look she didn't like at all, "that there were sounds of machinery and something getting charged going on in here. And lo and behold, here you are."

"Here I am," Vortex smirked, leaning back with a swagger that made her roll her eyes. "the one and only Vortex. Now then, Uravity - actually, do you mind if I call you Ochako?"

"Yes," Ochako snapped, "I do mind."

"Well, Ochako," Vortex ignored that, making her eyebrow twitch and hearing Izuku grumble over the line, "I've been having a fun time playing around with your wife for the last few weeks - but there's something that I've been wondering, and she hasn't really helped me find an answer, so I was hoping that you could help me out."

"That right."

"That is right," Vortex nodded, letting his smirk slide off his face. "Spark."

Ochako could practically feel her partners roll their eyes over the line.

"You three are pretty famous," Vortex shook his head, "for all your little threesomes and the such. Two beautiful women, gorgeous and willing to flaunt it -" Ochako shuddered when she felt his eyes trail down her, "- and you're letting Mr. Mediocre drag you down."

Ochako felt her eyes narrow more. Itsuka was right - this guy was easily distracted by women. He couldn't even tell how close she was to whooping his ass. "I'm not really sure where you're going with this. Are you telling me to trade up with my husband?"

"Why not?" He sniggered. "You and Itsuka - you can do so much better."

"Sorry," Ochako said, her voice turning sweet, "but I'm pretty sure I can't."

"Nothing wrong with trying, baby."

"Oh, I wouldn't even if I wanted to. See - he's pretty much perfect already."

Vortex raised a skeptical eyebrow. "That right? What can he do that I can't?"

"Well, for one," Ochako smirked, seeing a small blur outside the window and knowing it was time, "you can't burst down walls."

Vortex blinked.

And then the wall exploded.

BOOM!

Vortex was quick to whip around, eyes widening when he saw Izuku explode through the wall and glaring a hole through his head. Letting out a growl, Vortex raised his hand, intending to unleash a shockwave and dig deep down to escape through the sewers - 

- when there was an explosion above them as the roof caved in, and a line of Black Whip shot down to wrap around his arm. His eyes widened with glee, Vortex quickly whipped his gaze up to the ceiling.

"Ah! My other love is here too!" Vortex laughed, looking up to where the line had come from and seeing Itsuka floating above him with a glare. "Now we can all talk, like adults, about the obvious mistakes you two are making with this little parasite!"

With that, he used his unrestrained hand to slam down onto the ground, unleashing a wave of his quirk. Luckily Izuku and Ochako were quick enough to jump up, grunting when they were hit by the aftereffects of his quirk but not sent flying like he intended. Vortex was quicker, though, throwing his hand up towards Itsuka and activating the gauntlet he wore around his wrist with the press of a button, and felt his quirk explode out of him without touching the floor. Itsuka let out a gasp as she was hit by the wave of energy that sent her flying through the air, Black Whip momentarily vanishing and freeing the villain’s arm.

Laughing with glee, Vortex whipped around and shot another blast of his quirk at Izuku, but the green-haired hero was much quicker, being sure to throw his palms up and feel his quirk activate, spreading up his arms and into the gauntlet. With a loud BOOM, lightning shot out of Izuku’s palms and straight towards Vortex, the villain’s eyes widening as he quickly dived out of the way, grunting as he hit the floor, and the lightning hit the other side of the warehouse. Letting out a small curse, Izuku leapt out of the way as Vortex shot another blast of his quirk at him, rolling through the air and towards Ochako.

As they’d practiced a hundred times, Ochako brushed her hand against her husband’s arm, and floated him up. With his gravity vanished, Izuku let out a growl as he shot back out towards Vortex, flipping through the air and bringing his iron covered boot down against his arm. Out of instinct, Vortex threw his arm up to block the hit, which was exactly what Izuku had wanted - with a crunch, his boot smashed through the material of the support item and shattered it.

Growling, Vortex threw out a punch that connected with Izuku’s side, making him grunt when Vortex applied Shockwave to the hit and sent him flying away, but Ochako was quicker, letting out a yell as she grabbed his wrist tightly. Vortex was about to turn around to flirt a bit more with the gravity heroine, but he felt his eyes widen as she ripped him through the air and threw him as hard as she could across the warehouse, slamming against the excavator.

Letting out a snarl, Vortex grabbed the vehicle tightly to prevent himself from flying away, and glanced at the ceiling - his support item had sent her several hundred feet into the air, but he could tell that Itsuka was flying back down at alarming speed, which meant that he needed to stop one of the two coming at him, and get out of here as fast as he could. With a grimace, Vortex raised the arm he still had a gauntlet on, and pointed it straight at Ochako as he fired. Unluckily for her, Ochako wasn’t able to get out of the way in time, letting out a yell as she was sent flying back by the hit.

"Ochako!" Izuku gasped as his wife was sent flying, Ochako letting out a yelp as she was slammed across another machine, but luckily Itsuka had arrived just in time, feeling her eyes widen as she quickly flew down to catch Ochako before she could hit her head on any of the hanging hooks around the ceiling.

With a grunt, Vortex managed to get himself to get himself rightened up, glaring at the two heroines as he pointed his hand at the ground, intending to blow it up and escape.

"Look what you made me do," he complained in a growl, "I've been trying to be charming, but then you two just go ahead and -"

WACK

Vortex yelled as a hard fist struck him, breaking his elbow and making his entire arm feel numb as though he had been electrified - which, he realized with horror, was probably what happened. Whipping around, he tried to shove his gauntlet-covered hand into Izuku’s chest, wanting to liquify his organs, but he became distracted when Izuku grabbed the gauntlet and pointed it away from him, the green-haired hero glaring a hole into the villain’s head. And Vortex could feel another glare drilling into the back of his head as well.

It shouldn’t be surprising, of course - he just hurt one of the members of Japan’s most powerful hero team. He’d probably be lucky if he would be walking out of here alive.

Growling, Vortex struck out with his other hand, wanting to take advantage of Izuku holding on to him while weightless to throw his hand against the hero’s face and make his brain soup, but Izuku was quicker, grabbing his other wrist and holding it away from him. Grunting, Vortex attempted to rip himself free, but Izuku held on tight, being sure to bore a hole into his head with the heat of his glare.

"You're not worthy of either of them!" Vortex yelled, feeling whatever patience he had finally vanish as he snarled right into Izuku’s face. "You're nothing but a boring, plain looking moron! You're not worth Itsuka and Ochako's time!"

"Oh, trust me buddy," Izuku glared into his eyes, "I've done this song and dance a lot of times. They'll kill me if I get insecure about something so trivial after all this time."

"You aren't worth -!"

"If I'm going to be taking relationship advice, Vortex, it's definitely not going to be from you." Izuku growled. "You hurt my wife. I don't exactly take kindly to that."

"Neither do I," A voice said behind him, and Vortex felt his eyes widen as he felt a hand wrap around the back of his neck. Ordinarily he would be pleased that one of his loves was holding him, but he had a feeling that he was in a lot of trouble now.

Izuku smirked, and finally let go of Vortex’s wrists, letting him float there. There was a part of Vortex that was screaming at him to get out of Itsuka’s grip right now, but for some reason he stared in frozen shock as he looked up, seeing the large hole in the roof where Itsuka had entered and feeling his eyes widen when he heard Itsuka let out a huff -

- and then she promptly let him go.

Letting out a loud scream of terror, Vortex flailed as he rose menacingly towards the hole in the ceiling, realizing that he was about two seconds from being lifted very high into the sky with no way to come down without breaking all the bones in his body. With a loud, panicked grunt, he reached out and barely managed to grab a piece of the roof, holding on for dear life as the rest of his body rose out of the warehouse, letting out a fearful scream as he glanced down at the blue sky that waited for him if he let go.

For a moment, Izuku watched as Vortex flailed in the air, trying desperately to keep a hold on his piece of the roof, before he turned back to see Ochako walking over to Itsuka, the brown haired girl waving off Itsuka’s anxious questions and assuring her that she was fine. Which was good - if Vortex had actually injured her, then he would’ve flown up to make sure the villain regretted it. Dearly.

… okay, that line of thought was going to dark places, Izuku, he shook his head. Calm down a bit, they were both fine. It was over and done with.

Soon, the two women joined Izuku, the lightning hero wrapping his arms around both their shoulders, and for a few moments they watched Vortex panic and flail in the air with a look of indifference, hearing the sound of the police squad behind them come in and gawk at what they found.

"So," Ochako smirked, "I should probably let him down, right?"

"Probably," Itsuka sniggered, "if he lets go he's going up, up and away."

"I mean," Ochako glanced to the side while Izuku snorted at her look of conflict, which of course made Vortex panic more and start screaming at her to let him down, "he did perv out on us. Pretty creepy."

"Oh, that's just the tip of the iceberg.” Itsuka shook her head, frowning. “You don't wanna know what I found in his old bases."

"Ew."

"Yeah. So I think Mr. Number One Villain up there can figure out his own way down."

"I agree."

"Guys," Izuku shook his head, smirking, "as adorably evil as you two are being right now, I kinda want to just hand him over to the police and go about my day."

"Ah," Ochako pouted, "you're no fun."

"I'm not fun for wanting to make out with my hot wife? And my other hot wife?" Izuku chuckled, going a bit redder, “And then maybe watching both my hot wives make out?”

"..."

"..."

"Okay, okay, release."

"-aaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH!"

THUMP

"Oof. That's gonna leave a mark."


About ten minutes later, Vortex was dragged into the maiden by several police officers, growling under his breath and gritting his teeth as he was placed inside. From the looks of things, his infatuation with Itsuka and Ochako had come to a tragic end, mostly due to him growling about skinning them alive and wearing them as jackets, which didn’t really get anyone’s sympathy when they shoved him into the metallic capsule to place inside the police van to be taken to the new Tartarus.

Meanwhile, the police pushed the media away from the docks, stating it was too dangerous for them to be around since the attack on Vortex’s hideout had damaged the pier somewhat, so they would have to ask their questions outside the port. Setsuna and Pony, who had handled the evacuation of the dock’s workers, had taken one look at the throuple getting cozy next to each other and rolled their eyes, agreeing to take questions from the reporters while they properly had a reunion. Izuku had thanked both of them sincerely, promising to buy them dinner at some point ("Ha!" Setsuna cackled. "Free dinner! Hanta'll be crawling all over that!") and continued to lean against the back wall of the alley as the police moved the rest of the media away to ask questions to Setsuna and Pony.

The reason he was leaning on the wall just outside the alley, by the way, was because he was on the lookout for any reporters that may have snuck by. They didn't need to interrupt Itsuka and Ochako making out literally right beside him, Izuku chuckling and going a bit red as he looked around the empty port while Itsuka slumped against the wall, hugging Ochako close to her and looking a bit red around the cheeks as well. Once he was sure that no one was going to interrupt them, Izuku let out a small chuckle as he looked back on his wives, rolling his eyes at how enthusiastically Ochako was kissing their wife’s neck.

"So Ocha," He joked, "when does the scolding begin?"

"Mm? Scolding?" Itsuka asked absently, letting Ochako cuddle into her shoulder while she kissed the top of her head. "Who's getting scolded? What'd you do this time?"

"I didn’t - well, I did get scolded earlier actually," Izuku chuckled self-consciously, "but it's actually you this time."

"I wasn't aware that I did anything worth scolding," Itsuka giggled, letting Ochako hug her a bit tighter as she wrapped her arms around her wife. "I've kinda been working non-stop for the last three weeks, and it just got wrapped up ten minutes ago. I’m going to need a breather before I can get yelled at."

"Huh, that's funny," Izuku snorted, "because that's exactly why you're getting yelled at."

"What, about - ow!" Itsuka winced as Ochako suddenly tightened her grip around the orange-haired woman, squeezing the life out of her while Itsuka panicked and patted her back, feeling her eyes begin to bulge out of her sockets like a stress toy. 

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Don't break my back, woman, I need to - ow!"

"Three weeks!" Ochako whined, looking up and giving Itsuka the Danger Pout while she winced at the sight - it was clear neither Izuku or Itsuka were immune to the adorableness. "We don't see you for three whole weeks, only phone calls, and you don't think that deserves a scolding?!"

"I - okay," The orange-haired heroine winced, moving down to kiss her forehead like she knew Ochako liked, "I admit - OW! Chako, you’re breaking my ribs!"

"Oh, no, you aren't being cute now! You can't get out of -"

"Er - honey?" Izuku asked innocently, smiling.

"Yes?" Two voices asked, one a bit tense and the other strained as the life was squeezed out of her.

"Sorry, I’m talking to Ocha."

"Yes, hon?"

"I think it's my turn to make out with Itsuka now." Izuku chuckled nervously, tapping at his watch while Ochako narrowed her eyes. “I know that you wanna scold her, but I kinda missed her. Can you wait ten minutes to yell at our stupid wife?”

“Deku, you’re literally no better than her.”

“But I already got scolded this morning!”

Letting out a huff, Ochako shook her head but still backed away, fixing Itsuka with a glare while the orange-haired girl chuckled weakly and rubbed her ribs. Still, the brown haired girl had no problems moving back to let Izuku take her spot, moving to where he had been standing while Izuku wrapped his arms around Itsuka to bring her into a hug. While they embraced, Ochako gave Itsuka another pout while leaning against the wall.

"You got ten minutes to think up an excuse, Suka," She warned, “and then I’m going to need an answer.”

"I ... will think … of something ..." Itsuka absently said, already being kissed stupid by Izuku.

Ochako merely huffed and went on watch duty, looking out as Setsuna and Pony detailed what had happened to the crowd, and the bus to Tartarus left with Vortex, intending to keep him there until a boat came to take him back across the ocean to prison. Thankfully, it didn't take long for the police to send the reporters packing and letting Setsuna and Pony head on to their own agency, which meant that Ochako had some time to look around the port before turning back to her husband and wife. Thankfully by that time, Izuku had given her all the kisses he needed, stepping back and leaving Itsuka with a dazed grin on her face.

Although, the smile faded when she glanced around and saw Ochako fixing her with a much more subtle pout, which made her sigh softly and straighten up off the wall, scratching her cheek.

"I ... don't really have an excuse for being gone for three weeks, Chako." She admitted, fixing up her uniform after Izuku made it a bit messy during their make out. "It was just - I don't know. It’s not like it was anything similar, but hearing Vortex taunting us about how he’d be in charge of the criminal underworld … it just … brought up a few bad memories. I’m sorry.”

Both Izuku and Ochako shared a glance, feeling their faces soften at her confession - they certainly understood that particular mindset, after all. It was one that even Ochako had a hard time getting rid of, even years later when all of their old enemies were either dead or in prison. So, feeling a bit guilty about giving her the Pout, both of them moved forward to wrap their arms around Itsuka and draw her in, the orange-haired girl feeling herself smile softly as her husband and wife enveloped her in a hug.

"I get it," Ochako sighed, kissing her cheek, "I do get it, Suka - but we were worried, you know? I know you called every day, but we need to see you. Eri missed you too."

"Yeah," Izuku said softly, kissing her hair, "I know that it's hard - with One for All and everything, you think you have a responsibility - but it's like I’ve told you a hundred times before, you're supposed to lean on us. Not go off by yourself and take on all the big evil villains in Japan."

"I feel like I'm supposed to call you out on hypocrisy or something, but I don't exactly have the moral superiority to," Itsuka giggled, nuzzling against both their shoulders. "You're both right - I'm just being stupid. I swear, no more big evil bad guys unless you two are there with me to help. Honestly, I probably should’ve let you two help out in the first place - we took care of him in like five minutes, that’s three weeks of my life I’m never getting back."

"I won't argue that," Ochako laughed, and together, the three began moving out of the alley, wrapping their arms around each other and breathing in the cold air. "So, now that Vortex is down for the count - now what?"

"Well, since he's off to Tartarus, and eventually back to America," Itsuka shrugged as they exited the alley, strolling down the pier towards the road, "I'm currently out of evil supervillains to hunt down and arrest. Guess it's back to doing patrols with you two, fighting muggers and helping with any crisis that comes our way."

"That's ..." Izuku raised an eyebrow, looking at the orange-haired woman as Ochako nuzzled her shoulder, "... not a complaint, is it?"

"Nope!" Itsuka grinned. "That's what I love doing. Chasing Vortex ... god, it's taken years off my life. I'll be more than happy to get back to some form of normality." 

"Normality, huh ..." Izuku sighed, feeling a soft smile grace his face as they walked towards the city to get on with their day - and then he heard his phone go off in his pocket again. 

Both Itsuka and Ochako fixed him with looks as he pulled it out of his pocket ("He's going to short that thing out with his quirk one day, I swear to god," Ochako muttered), and checked the caller - and let out a small noise.

"Oh! Oh, man," he shook his head, and glanced apologetically at his wives. "It's Mom. I should probably take this."

Both Itsuka and Ochako brightened up at the mention of their mother-in-law, and nodded as Izuku answered the call and brought the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Mom!"

"..."

"Port of Tokyo? Yeah, that was us - Suka chased one of her leads there, she asked us to come and help her take care of it."

"..."

"Yeah, we're fine! No injuries - well, Ochako got thrown around some, but she's okay, we double checked her all over."

"..."

"Yep, she's not going anywhere, Itsuka’s back. She’s already got her scolding."

"Hi, Mom!" Itsuka called, giggling when she heard Inko calling out greetings as well.

"Yeah, she's okay. We were about to -"

"..."

"Oh, yeah, dinner tomorrow night would be great! If you want, we can invite -"

"..."

"Yeah, that was who I was thinking too. Okay, so I guess we'll see you then!"

"..."

"Yep, I'll give the girls your love. See you tomorrow night, Mom."

"..."

"Love you too. Bye!"

With that, Izuku ended the phone call, turning back to his wives with a large grin.

"Mom wants to have dinner tomorrow night. I don't think we mind hosting?"

"Not at all!" Ochako cheered. "I can't wait."

"Yeah, I thought I'd offer - Eri'll be grounded anyway, it’s not like she can slink away to hang out with Mahoro and Satsuki."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked. "What’d she do now?"

"Oh yeah, I caught her at a villain sighting this morning. Away from school."

"Oh, my god. Pretty soon no one’s going to ask if she’s adopted, because she’s going to give us grey hair to match hers. I need coffee."

"We'll stop by Sato's," Ochako nodded happily, "then we can go home so Izu can have his nap."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around. "A nap?"

"Deku, you slept in the office. On that uncomfortable couch, probably. You need to sleep on an actual bed."

"Wait, what? Why was Izu sleeping in the office?"

"Oh, Bakugou dragged him around all night to catch a villain. He went to bed at, like - four."

"And you guys say I'm a workaholic."


Several hours later, as the sun set in the Tokyo skyline, they heard the front door quietly squeak open.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blinked, glancing around at the sound of the door quietly opening, and hearing hushed voices as it gently closed. They were seated at the kitchen table, two boxes of pizza on the counter, and had been enjoying sitting down and talking a bit about what Izuku and Ochako had been doing for the last three weeks when they heard the sound of their front door opening, and then the sound of their daughter whispering.

"Okay," she said in a quiet voice, "the light's on, so just go right upstairs and I’ll be right there. Hopefully it's just Dad home, so we can -"

"Not just Dad," Ochako called in her ‘mom’ voice, and all three of them smiled when they heard Eri squeak. "How about you come here for a sec, Eri? And Kota and Katsuma too, since I'm pretty sure that's who you’re trying to sneak in."

There was a small silence in the home, with the three adults hearing a low grumble, before Eri walked into the kitchen, pouting and scratching her cheek as she put down her backpack, Katsuma and Kota following her in while wincing themselves at Izuku and Ochako giving them small waves. However, Eri's pout didn't last for long when she spotted Itsuka sitting at the table, wrapped up in a blanket with her cup of black coffee and smiling at her, making Eri's jaw drop briefly before a wide smile replaced it.

"Mom!" She squealed, running over to embrace her mother, while Itsuka laughed and wrapped her own arms around Eri and hugged back just as tightly. Both Izuku and Ochako watched with smiles as the two hugged, while Kota rolled his eyes and Katsuma teared up at the heartwarming reunion. "Mom, you big jerk! You don't leave for three weeks and -!"

"Not come home," Itsuka giggled, shaking her head, "I already heard it from your mom and dad. Consider me scolded."

Eri only squeezed a bit tighter before finally letting go and moving back a bit, blinking tears out of her eyes while Itsuka kissed her horn. While they hugged again, Izuku pointed out the second box of pizza to the three teenagers, mentioning that he figured that they would be around tonight anyway, and soon everyone was sitting at the table, eating in and laughing as Izuku and Ochako chatted with their daughter's friends, Eri taking a few minutes to cuddle with Itsuka.

"So you guys were running late this morning?" Izuku asked, wrinkling his brow in concern. "I told you guys - six laps in the morning, and no more after that."

"We know," Kota sighed, shaking his head and grumping, "but the entrance exam is in two months. Eri figured one more wouldn't hurt, and ... I'll be real, I thought so too, that’s why I ended up agreeing."

"We ended up getting detention," Katsuma slumped his shoulders, pouting. "Mahoro texted me that I'm grounded forever."

"I'll have Kacchan talk to Mahoro," Izuku chuckled good naturedly, "I'm not sure if you guys were aware of this, but she wasn't the perfect student herself when he was training her for the entrance exam. Plus, since she's his intern she can't exactly talk back. Anyway - I’m sorry, you guys, I should’ve been there this morning to watch you. I ended up getting distracted by a villain late last night, I was napping in the office. And don’t worry - I’ll head out to the beach with you guys tomorrow since it’s your day off. The entrance exam is in two months, that’s plenty of time to get you guys ready."

"But speaking of this morning," Ochako suddenly said, making Eri freeze when she heard the coldness in her mom's voice, "Deku said that he caught you three watching villains instead of going to school."

"... uh." Eri gulped, slowly moving back from Itsuka while her orange-haired mom gave her a skeptical look. "That - that has an explanation."

"Well, I’ll be happy to hear it." Ochako smirked.

"Uh - I, um -" Eri gulped, glancing at her friends and feeling betrayed when they suddenly focused on their pizza as though it were a complicated math equation they needed to memorize, leaving her to the mercy of her parents. "- uh - Dad did it as a kid and he’s a terrible role model?"

"Your dad was also stupid for doing it as a kid," Ochako shook her head, "and I had to drag him away from all of them. That doesn't mean you get to be stupid too, Eri. Just because your dad jumped off bridges, doesn't mean you get to."

"Wait -" Katsuma's eyes widened, "- did you jump off bridges, Deku?"

"It was one time," Izuku sighed, shaking his head while pouting, "and she's never let it go."

"Anyway," Itsuka rolled her eyes while Ochako stuck her tongue out at her husband, "I'm with Chako. Last time this happened, you ran into a gunfight with Aunt Momo and Aunt Mina. I thought Momo of all people yelling at you would've been enough, but apparently not. This means I'm leaving you to your mom's mercy."

“I, uh -” Eri chuckled nervously, going a bit red while Kota and Katsuma glanced between each other, Kota smirking and Katsuma gulping, “you, uh - you guys wouldn’t wanna ruin a good night now that Mom is back? Right? Mom? Dad?”

“You’re talking like I’ve never scolded you,” Itsuka snorted, leaning back in her seat while Izuku and Ochako’s smiles got colder. “I’m just gonna sit back and enjoy the show for once.”

“Uh - uh - uh - b-but Kota and Kats are here! You can’t scold me in front of them!”

“Kota, Katsuma?” Ochako asked sweetly, “Can you two please cover your ears? We have to shout at our daughter.”

“I mean,” Itsuka smirked, “as fun as it would be to hear you shout at her, we could punish her in a different way.”

“Hm? What do you have in mind?” Ochako looked around while Eri went paler and paler - her moms teaming up only spelt bad news, with Izuku also trying to suppress a snort as he sat back and enjoyed the show.

“We could tell her our plans for tonight, after she goes to bed.”

For a moment, Eri stared in confusion between her moms, their grins widening as they turned to look at their daughter, and Izuku let out a small ‘oof’ as he stood up to gather the dishes, giving an apologetic look to Kota and Katsuma as they looked confused - but then Eri got it. Her red eyes widened and a look of complete and utter horror spread across her face as she suddenly sat up.

“N-no,” She muttered, shaking her head rapidly, “n-no, don’t - don’t talk about that -”

“Why not?” Itsuka asked in a dramatic voice, flopping in her seat and holding her mug close to her chest. “It’s been three weeks since I’ve seen my husband and my wife - several cold, lonely nights …”

“Shut up! Please, shut up!”

“Not being able to be held … or cuddled … or kissed ... ” Itsuka continued to pout, unable to stop her small grin as she glanced at her panicking daughter, “... why shouldn’t I have a night with them? Or talk about it, Eri? It’s not like -”

“You’re my parents! You don’t talk about - about -”

“About what, Eri?” Ochako joined in, enjoying this punishment even more than the one she had planned as Eri grabbed two fistfuls of her hair while Katsuma and Kota finally caught on, going red and very quickly covering their ears. “Why shouldn’t we talk about what we’re going to do once you go to bed tonight? I thought you were a big girl, going up against several big time villains, you of all people should know that we -”

“No! No, no, no, no, no!” Eri groaned, covering her ears and falling to her knees while the boys behind her went redder. “Please stop talking about s - about s - se - you know!”

“Hm?” Ochako sipped on her drink, grinning widely. “What’s that? Are you telling us not to talk about our sex lives, Eri?”

“Nooooo!” Eri whined. "Please! I'll never look at another villain again, please just shut up!"

The adults finally allowed themselves to laugh at Eri hitting her head against the table, and relented in teasing their daughter, with the added bonus of grounding her, which their daughter agreed to immediately it meant that her moms would shut up about having sex. 

After that, as Izuku put their cutlery and plates in the sink, everyone had a good time talking about their days, with Izuku and Ochako unable to stop themselves from laughing about Katsuma getting smacked upside the head by Tsuyu's younger sister. Eventually, though, it was about time that Kota and Katsuma went home before the buses stopped running, although Izuku and Itsuka did offer them alternative means of transportation.

"Guys, I can always fly you home, it’s not a big -"

"No thanks," Kota shook his head at Itsuka’s offer, shuddering, "no need to puke up my dinner like last time, I’m good."

"Thank you for your offers," Katsuma gave both Izuku and Itsuka a small bow, "but you guys are already in your pajamas, we wouldn’t want to make you get dressed again just to drop us off across the city."

Itsuka pouted at that, but shook her head and sighed. "Fine. But I’m still going to hug you guys."

"Oh, no, I - ooph!"

"Let go of me, Itsuka!" Kota struggled in her tight grasp, going a bit red as Itsuka hugged both boys at the same time and found themselves unable to get out due to how freakishly strong she was, while Eri and Ochako giggled behind them.

"Kota's in his 'girls suck' phase," Eri teased, "never mind him."

"Shut up, Eri, girls don’t suck. It’s just you that sucks."

With that, the three teenagers disappeared out the door and into the night, Eri wanting to talk to the two boys about their plans tomorrow after training before they walked off to their bus stops. Itsuka chuckled as they walked down the snowy driveway towards the sidewalk, and closed the front door to prevent the cold wintery air from entering the home. She let out a small yawn as she stretched her arms above her head.

"I don't know about you two," She stretched, "and it was fun to poke fun at Eri, but I don't think I'm up to half of what we were suggesting tonight. How about we pop in a movie aaaand ..."

She trailed off, of course, because the moment she entered the kitchen she caught sight of her husband and wife standing at the window, against the wall so that they could hide out of sight. She blinked when she saw how anxious and excited they looked, as though they were waiting for whoever was going to be nominated for number one hero (even though that hadn't been a thing in a long time), and Izuku was slowly raising a hand to his lower lip to tug at it, making it clear that he was on the verge of mutter mode.

"Uh ..." Itsuka wrinkled her brow. "What're you doing?"

“Shh!” Izuku and Ochako shushed her, continuing to stare out the window. Itsuka let out a tired groan at their evasiveness, and moved forwards so she could take a peek, leaning a bit above Ochako and tickling her with her ponytail as she peeked out the window.

They watched as Eri, Kota and Katsuma stopped underneath the light of the street lamp, obviously about to part ways. Kota's face had turned weirdly blank, a bit redder than the cold air would've permitted, and Katsuma seemed nervous for some reason.

“So … what’s going on?”

“Just - shush for a second,” Ochako quietly said to her, staring intently at the trio as Eri talked to them about something.

“Wait for it,” Izuku muttered, looking extremely nervous, “wait for it …”

And then, just as Itsuka was about to ask again, Eri suddenly leaned over and gave Kota a kiss to the lips. Ituska’s eyes blew open, mouth dropping at her little girl suddenly kissing a guy out of nowhere, and let out a small sputter.

“Wha - since when were they -?!”

“Shhh!” Ochako shushed her again, continuing to stare intensely as Kota backed up with a blush on his cheeks.

“Okay,” Izuku muttered, looking about five seconds from freaking out himself as his gaze slowly moved towards the other smaller boy, “that was Kota. And now …”

For another few seconds, they looked as Eri addressed Katsuma, who was also a bit red and muttering something - and then Eri leaned in to kiss him as well. 

Inside, the two adults leapt back from their hiding spot at the window to freak out while Itsuka’s jaw hit the ground, grabbing at the wall and pressing her face against the window in utter shock.

“I knew it!” Ochako pumped her fists in the air as she danced around the kitchen. “I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!”

“They’re all dating,” Izuku slowly realized, collapsing into his seat at the table with a look of shock and horror on his face, “our daughter has two boyfriends.”

“I knew it!”

“That’s - oh my god, now Kota and Katsuma are kissing,” Itsuka groaned lowly, slumping down against the transparant glass and staring out the window in shock. “Since when was this a thing?! What did I miss while I was gone?!”

"I saw her kiss Kota last week," Izuku said blankly, staring at the kitchen table, "and - and then Ochako caught her kissing Katsuma a few days ago. We - we thought that -"

"Oh, god, we're terrible influences on our daughter." Itsuka muttered, moving to the table and slumping on Izuku. "She sees us being lovey dovey with each other all the time, and - that must have meant that she had no problem - no problem just -"

"Guys!" Ochako hopped up and down, much happier than her partners as they quietly held each other while she celebrated, "This is great! Oh, I gotta text the girls, they’re going to freak out!"

"Oh, god, now we gotta give her the talk," Itsuka bemoaned, "times fucking two! She’s got two boyfriends, that’s even worse than us, at least we were too busy with villains to -"

The sound of the front door opening up again, however, was what shook everyone out of their funk, realizing that Eri probably wouldn't take it very well if she found out they were snooping on her. The white-haired girl entered the kitchen once again, her cheeks a bit red but a large smile on her face, and looked up to see Izuku innocently whistling while sitting at the table and reading one of his journals, Itsuka scrubbing at their plates with so much aggression it was like they did something to offend her, and Ochako was staring at her phone with a strange intensity.

"... what?" Eri asked, immediately crossing her arms and glaring at them with suspicion.

"Nothing!" All three of her parents squeaked.

Thankfully, they managed to distract Eri from her suspicions by asking her to dry the dishes with Itsuka, leading to them finally quieting down for the evening. While they washed the dishes, Ochako and Itsuka apologized for embarrassing Eri in front of her friends, but made sure to emphasize how important it was that Eri didn’t get hurt before she even applied for UA. The horned girl did understand, and hugged both of her moms while Izuku sat back in his seat and blinked tears out of his eyes, ever the crybaby even into adulthood.

Once the dishes were finished, Izuku suggested a little movie night to celebrate Itsuka coming home, which was happily approved by all three ladies of the house as they didn’t need to get to the beach until late tomorrow morning, so Eri could stay up a little bit. Once the girls were comfortable on the couch with their bowls of popcorn and a large blanket wrapped around them, Izuku returned from the kitchen, turning off the light to cast them into darkness as he turned on their large screen TV - 

- and then a sudden bolt of pain shot through his leg, making him gasp as he stumbled a bit and grabbed the chair beside the couch to steady himself.

"Deku?" Ochako quickly looked around, eyes widening when she saw him reach down to grab his leg with a grimace. "Are you okay?!"

“I - yeah, I’m okay, just - ow,” Izuku hissed, glancing down at his leg in confusion - until he suddenly blinked, and then let out a small smile as a sheepish grin came to his face.

“Izuku?” Itsuka asked in a worried voice as Eri also sat up. “What is it?”

“I, uh - I think I overdid it this morning while chasing those villains,” He chuckled, going a bit red while Ochako gave him a pointed look. “I think I put too much juice into my legs when I was jumping off buildings. Sorry, guys.”

“It’s okay,” Ochako said, although she still looked a bit worried, which prompted him to give her a soft smile.

“Ocha,” he said in a quiet voice, “I’m okay. Honestly. I just overdid it a little bit.”

Ochako looked up into his face, as though trying to see if he was lying - but once she saw the open honestly on his face, she let out a small sigh and smiled at him.

“Okay,” she nodded, “but you’re cuddling with us on the couch, mister, with your foot up on the table. No complaints.”

“I wouldn’t even if I wanted to,” Izuku chuckled, and moved around so that he could sit down. Eri was quick to hop off the couch, letting Izuku take her spot, and sat in between his legs as he stretched his leg onto the coffee table. He felt himself smile and lowered his hand to pat his daughter’s hair, and they started up the movie as Ochako and Itsuka cuddled into his sides, both of them taking his hands and slowly closing their eyes as they started watching their movie to relax for the evening.

Eventually, the pain faded from his leg, but Izuku felt his smile fade as he looked back down at it, feeling himself start to frown. He hadn’t even realized that he had overdone it this morning - it had probably been when the one speedster twin nearly ran over that mother and her child. He had acted without thinking, moving as fast as he could to get them out of the way in time before they got trampled.

Still, he couldn’t help but pout at himself. It had been a long time since his quirk had hurt him.

A very, very long time ...


The playground was on fire. Rain poured down from the sky, soaking everyone. Children were screaming, their parents yelling for them to get away from him.

His hands were numb. Kacchan was laying on his back, a red, bloody wound on his chest from where he had been hit.

His mom was running to him from where she had been blasted away, her own arm having the same red wound as Kacchan’s as she cried out for him, trying to make sure that he was okay. The brown haired girl that had just moved in a day ago stared at him in shock as though she couldn’t even believe what she had seen, as her own parents knelt beside her to make sure that she was okay, and to instinctively shield her away from him.

And Izuku, on his knees, stared at his hands in horror at what he did, rain beating down on him and soaking him to the bone.

This power ... his quirk ...

... it was ...

... terrifying.

Notes:

Alright, time to strap in - this is going to be a long one.

And this was Chapter 1 in a brand new story! Honestly, if you guys have read any of my previous works, you knew that this kind of story was inevitable, as I have a great love for Izuocha, and a great fondness for Itsuka, I decided to combine the two into this story. I have big plans for this fic, and I hope that you guys are excited!

As you guys may have guessed based off the tags above, this will be a retelling of My Hero Academia with a few tweaks and differences along the way. This fic was inspired by a lot of stories, to be honest - hopefully, I'll be able to put enough of a spin on it to let it remain entertaining! Just as small forewarning, the M rating is on this fic because, from what I've planned so far, it's going to get kinda violent later on, so don't mind it for now! And you know - the smut tag. You know.

And lastly, be sure to check out the inspirations of this fic above! They're all fantastic stories that deserve to be read!

Thank you guys for the read, and I hope to see you next time in the first part of our origin story!

Chapter 2: Spark

Summary:

Feeling miserable as his quirk fails to manifest, Izuku has an encounter with a new neighbour that changes his perspective on many things - and a day that he will never forget, for better or worse.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There were two days from his childhood that Izuku Midoriya remembered with crystal clarity.

The first was when he met one of the loves of his life.

And the second was when he made the worst mistake of his life, and suffered the consequences of it every day since.

Because he and Katsuki Bakugou lived in the same neighbourhood, they had known each other since they were children. Katsuki had been the type that could do anything he tried his hand at, like reading and writing, skipping rocks and going on adventures. Katsuki became well known as a rascal that led the group of childhood kids, their parents usually too busy to look after them, which allowed Katsuki to go on any adventure he wanted - and it was always his adventure. Usually his friends only moved right behind him, happy to follow him around wherever he went, which only inflated Katsuki’s ego even more.

Izuku, for his part, had always been happy to be a part of the group, always scrambling after Katsuki and their friends to whatever adventure the blonde boy wanted to go on. Izuku and Katsuki had known each other the longest - their moms had been friends in college, so they’d technically grown up together. Katsuki may have been dismissive of Izuku, usually making fun of him whenever he couldn’t do something, but allowed him to hang around. 

Good or bad aside, Katsuki had been full of confidence, and there was a part of Izuku that had found that cool.

But ... after both of their quirks manifested ... it accelerated Katsuki down the wrong path.

It had been a warm summer day, in the middle of the forest Katsuki frequently liked to hang around so he could catch bugs and boss his friends around. Izuku’s feet were now wet, standing in that little creek as he held his hand out to Katsuki. Izuku could feel his heart begin to calm down after it had been beating pretty fast - his friend had slipped on the log they had been crossing as a group, and had fallen straight into the water. He had been worried, so Izuku had quickly climbed down the hill, trying his best not to slip and fall in himself, so he could get to Katsuki and make sure he was okay while Tsubasa and Yubi asked if he was okay from the log.

Once he had gotten into the water, Izuku had made his way over to Katsuki, relieved that he saw him sitting up and giving a thumbs up to their friends above them, and had offered his hand to help him up.

But ... Katsuki didn’t accept it. He was staring blankly at him, as though the blonde boy wasn't sure what exactly he was looking at.

Izuku felt his brow furrow in worry, seeing Katsuki staring at him with an expression of ... was that shock on his face? Wait, did he hurt himself when he fell into the creak? Feeling concerned for his best friend, Izuku leaned in slightly. 

"Are you okay, Kacchan? Can you stand up? It would've been bad if you hit your head."

For a few more moments, Katsuki stared at him - and then he gritted his teeth, a look of rage shadowing his face, and then threw his hand up to slap Izuku's offering hand away. The green-haired boy let out a startled gasp as Katsuki climbed to his feet by himself, letting out a small growl of anger without even looking at him as he pushed past Izuku. 

Izuku watched in concern as Katsuki stormed out of the creak towards their friends, the two boys above them glaring at Izuku due to him messing up somehow, and followed the blonde boy away as soon as he got to the top of the hill.

"G-guys, wait!" Izuku cried out to them, quickly moving out of the creak and wincing at the water in his shoes and soaking his socks, and climbed up the hill as quickly as he could so that he could run after them. Neither of the three boys looked back at him, not even Katsuki as he stormed down the path back to their neighborhood while continuing to grit his teeth, and the boys ignored his requests for them to wait or slow down. 

Soon enough, they had arrived back at the park, where Katsuki finally stopped and let out a deep breath as Izuku caught up, panting a bit and feeling worried, unaware that Katsuki's hands started smoking.

"Kacchan, are you - ah!"

That last cry, however, was due to Katsuki suddenly whirling around, eyes filled with rage and contempt, and thrust his hands out at the green-haired boy. Izuku let out a squeak of terror and pain as a blast of fire hit him right in the face, making him scramble back blinded and tripping on his own feet. Tsubasa and Yubi let out sniggers when Izuku fell down hard flat on his back, staring up at Katsuki in shock and with tears beginning to build in his eyes as the blonde boy glared down at him.

"I didn't need your help!" He yelled, balling his fists in anger. "I was fine! You're nothing but a worthless Deku, so screw off!"

Once he was finished yelling that at him, Katsuki whirled around, gesturing to the two boys to follow him, and the three of them left Izuku in the dust, moving around the playground to continue to hang out. The green haired boy, meanwhile, stared briefly in shock at Katsuki, feeling tears in his eyes, and then quickly shook his head, sniffling, and rolled over onto his hands and knees to get back up.

Obviously he had done something wrong, Izuku realized as he let out a sad sigh and sat up on his knees, staring at the ground in sadness. This was the second time recently that Katsuki had lashed out at him, and he knew that he must have done something that had upset his friend. The first time had been when he had been talking too much about heroes, and Katsuki had used his quirk to blow an explosion in his face and shut him up, making the boy cry from the surprise and making the other kids in their kindergarten class laugh at him. But he had understood why Katsuki had done that - he knew he could be annoying when he muttered, everyone told him that.

It was just … he wished he could do something that made Katsuki like him. It had been a while since they’d hung out by themselves, talking about All Might and excitedly talking about becoming heroes - so maybe ...

… maybe it was because his quirk still hadn't come in yet, Izuku thought with a small frown. Katsuki probably kept pushing him around because he didn't have his quirk unlike everyone else, but maybe when it manifested, he would be a little nicer? It'd be cool to play with quirks with his friends, blowing fire out of his mouth like his dad or floating things around like his mom, that'd be really cool. 

It was just … he didn’t know when it was going to come in. He and his mommy had gone to the doctor’s a week ago, and while he didn't say anything that could indicate that Izuku's quirk wasn't going to come at all, there was something in the doctor's voice that made Izuku afraid in that office, and went home to cry himself to sleep.

He just hoped that Katsuki could forgive him for being annoying, Izuku sniffed as he sat there in the dirt. He didn't mean to be annoying, or a jerk - he just needed to figure out what he did, and then apologize to him. Maybe he should just go home to ask his mom what he could’ve done, she was super smart when it came to stuff like that. Or maybe he just needed to find something to distract him, and -

- and that was when Izuku suddenly blinked, realizing something that made his eyes widen. His dad wouldn't be home yet - he was still at work, and he said to his mom last night that he was going to do something before coming home. And even then, he usually waited until after dinner to go into his office and work.

So that meant … 

Maybe ... maybe I can go home and watch All Might! Izuku thought with a small gasp. Feeling himself reinvigorated once again, he was quick to crawl back to his feet and start running towards his apartment, a wide smile on his face as he wiped some of the dirt Katsuki’s explosion had knocked onto his face. He knew that his dad was okay with him using his computer to watch videos, as long as after dinner Izuku wasn’t on it so he could work a little bit more. With that in mind, and knowing that dinner was only about an hour away, Izuku hurried his pace to get back to the apartment.

He was unaware, of course, of the fact that there was someone looking right at him as he hurried away. A small girl in an oversized sweater and shorts, standing near an older woman with the same brown hair. The little girl's eyes followed the boy as he ran away back home, and then flickered back to the group of bullies around the jungle gym as they looked awed at something Katsuki was holding in his hands, and she was unable to stop herself from frowning slightly at them.

"Ochako?" 

The small girl jumped, looking around at her mother holding up the box and looking down at her, even though her eyes were still closed as she gave her a small smile. "You okay?"

"M-mm! I'm okay, mommy."

"Okay. I'm just gonna run over to the truck to give this to your dad, so you just stay here for now, okay? I’ll just be walking over and coming back. Or maybe you can go over and play with those boys?"

The little girl glanced at the mean boys who had shoved the smaller boy down, and wrung her hands slightly. But still ...

"Mommy," She asked, looking up at her mom as the older woman looked back around at her daughter, "what does D-Dek-" She struggled to try to pronounce the word for a moment, having only heard it when the blonde boy was shouting and feeling confused, before she finally got out, in a small, quiet mutter, "-Deku mean?"

"Hm? Did you say 'dekiru'?" Her mom looked curiously down at her, wondering where she had heard that word, but then smiled. "Well, Ochako, it's a Japanese saying - it means 'you can do it!'."

The little girl blinked at that, and then looked back around, seeing the back of the green haired boy as he turned into the apartment her family was moving into, and felt a strange curiosity overcome her as her mom turned back around to give the box to her dad, who had been coming out of the elevator with the moving cart.

"... Deku."


"Mom!"

Inko Midoriya had been cleaning the dishes when she heard the sound of tiny barefooted feet running on the hardwood floor, and felt herself smile a bit. From the excited tone of the high pitched voice behind her, she could tell easily what her little son wanted. 

Turning to look around as she cleaned the dishes, she saw her four year old son skid to a stop at the door, having gotten back from hanging out with his friends about ten minutes ago and going into his room to get changed. She tried hard not to laugh as she saw him almost trip over his own feet before regaining his balance, and quickly running over to her at the sink while holding his favorite All Might toy in his grasp.

"Mom!" He began hopping up and down in his excitement, looking pleadingly up at her with those big cute eyes she couldn't even hope to resist. "The computer! Please!"

"Again?" She giggled, knowing exactly what he wanted and turning to turn off the sink, leaving the plates under the warm water as she turned around to give her son a teasing smile. "I swear, this is the third day in a row you’ve wanted to watch that video, Izuku. I think your dad got you addicted."

"Please, Mom! Please?" He turned on the puppy eyes even more, making her giggle.

"Okay, okay," She nodded while smiling, "I give. Go jump in the chair and I'll be right in to load it up."

Letting out a cheer, Izuku turned around and quickly ran back to the spare room where Hisashi had set up his office at home - he usually used it if he forgot to do something at work (he was honestly so forgetful, she was surprised that he remembered their anniversary), but he had been more than happy to let Izuku stay in there to play with his toys. That, and using the computer at his chair to look up his favourite video in the world. 

Inko let out a small sigh as she dried her hands on the dishcloth she hung on the oven door, and walked down the hall towards where she could already hear her son rocking back and forth in the chair.

Entering the den, she glanced at the walls that Hisashi let Izuku hang up two All Might posters on, and let out a small chuckle. Her husband might be indulging their son a little too much - the pain of having a hero fanboy for a husband was that he would encourage his son when he showed the same interest. Well, not that it mattered, she guessed as she moved to the desk, seeing her son already rocking back and forth in excitement - her husband and their son were cute when they went on their hero sprees.

"Hurry!"

"Jeez," She giggled endearingly as she opened up the explorer, clicked on the bookmarked tab, and scrolled down the list of work websites her husband used until she found the video at the bottom of the page, "you've probably added ten thousand views just by yourself, Izuku. It's too scary for your mom, I can't even watch it."

This didn't seem to be a problem for Izuku, who immediately leaned forward with a big, goofy smile on his face as the video started up. Shaking her head slightly at her little boy while giggling more, Inko walked over to the door to get back to the dishes and eventually get started on supper, trusting her son to know how to replay the video to watch it another ten thousand times today. As she moved towards the door, she smiled when she heard the now all too familiar voices coming from the video her son loved so much, having heard it so much she could easily mouth along.

"Can you see it? He's already saved a hundred people, and it hasn't even been ten minutes! It’s insane!"

"HA HA HA HA HA HA!"

"He's laughing?!"

"HA HA HA HA HA!"

Now she could hear Izuku's excited noises, and was unable to stop her smile widening slightly as she glanced over at the large computer screen, seeing the now all too familiar image of the gigantic man with the weird hair antennas, carrying half a dozen people on his back while posing dramatically for the camera.

" It's fine now! Why, you ask? Because I am here !"

"He's so cool!" Izuku exclaimed, throwing up the fist he was holding his All Might toy with up into the air and staring at it with a look of inspiration. "Once I get my quirk, I wanna be just like him!"

At that last sentence from her son, however, Inko felt her smile fall, turning to look at the floor with a frown on her face as Izuku let out a loud, bombastic laugh, clearly trying to imitate his hero but not quite having the baritone for it. Letting out a small sigh, Inko slipped out the door, leaving Izuku to go back on his All Might binge while closing the door behind her.

As the door quietly shut, Inko walked back down the hall towards the kitchen, letting out a small sigh as she walked over to get the rest of the dishes washed so she could get started on supper. As she reached the kitchen, however, she heard the sound of the lock jingling a bit, bringing a small smile to her face as she walked back over to the sink, turning back on the water so she could start scrubbing. As she picked up the next plate to wash, she heard the sound of someone taking off their shoes at the front door, before walking down the hall, and turned her head to see her husband walking into the kitchen, looking tired and his suit a bit wrinkled, but still smiling at the sight of her.

"You look even more exhausted than usual," Inko teased, and Hisashi let out a small laugh as he walked over to her, giving her a one-armed hug from behind and kissing the top of her head, which was pretty easy for him to do as he was a head taller than her. "I was starting to think that they were making you work overtime tonight, I was about to call and ask when you were coming home.”

"Heh, I wish I had to work overtime, they at least pay me when I do that," Hisashi chuckled, shaking his head and letting go of his wife so he could move back to the table and put down his briefcase, his smile falling from his lips. “I was actually over at the Bakugous this whole time - we got catching up before I brought up Katsuki.”

“Ah." Inko faltered a bit when she heard that, looking around at her husband and seeing the exhausted look on her husband's face as he sat down in his chair. "I ... I’m guessing that it didn’t go very well, did it?"

"About as well as it could have gone," He shook his head and glanced away with a frown. "I told Mitsuki and Masaru what we caught him doing, and they said they'd talk to Katsuki about it."

"Oh, dear," Inko hummed, turning off the sink again so she could turn around to face her husband. "That ... doesn't sound positive."

"Probably because it's not positive," Hisashi shook his head, raising a hand to scratch his dark hair. "I just ... I don't get it, Inko. I know that Izuku and Katsuki weren't exactly - okay, they're friends, but it’s not like I wasn’t a stupid kid like him when I was his age. I wouldn’t be using my quirk on my friends, I at least know that.”

“Mm-hm …”

“When I was around his age, I was a bossy brat around my friends myself! I ordered my friends around a lot, I was a little shit. But if someone harassed my friends, the kids I knew since I was a baby - I’d square up to them in a second. Because my friends were mine! They came to my house all the time, they played with me, they were basically my brothers! I bossed them around, yeah, but I protected them. I may not have liked all the kids I hung around, but they were my friends. But Katsuki - he doesn’t see any problem with using his quirk on Izuku, and that worries me! When is it going to lead him to beating Izuku up, or throwing him around? When does it become flatout bullying?!”

Inko slowly nodded, letting her husband rant and get it out of his system, and sighed as she dried her hands on the cloth, letting Hisashi let out a sigh as he put his forehead into his hand, obviously having a headache about this.

"I want to say kids will be kids," Inko shook her head as she walked over to the table, putting her hand on her husband’s shoulder and letting Hisashi lean against her, "but I'd be lying if I said that if Katsuki was our kid, I wouldn't be giving him a kick to the butt if someone’s parents called me to say that they caught him beating up another kid."

"Heh," Hisashi chuckled despite his bad mood, "I guess that's my wife, huh? One of us has to be the professional butt kicker, and the only fight I’ve gotten in in my life, I was the one who ended up with a bloody nose."

"Yeah, and I’m the one who punched out Kuso Panchi in middle school," Inko giggled, leaning over to kiss his forehead, "so I guess we’ll leave all the butt-kicking to me. Anyway, do you think Mitsuki will get through to him? Katsuki, I mean."

"I … honestly don't know," Hisashi sighed as he glanced away again, "I say this as her friend, but I think she can be a bit too soft on Katsuki sometimes. She knows to put her foot down, but they’re so much alike sometimes I’m not sure if she understands."

Inko pursed her lips at that, glancing down at the table for a second as he rubbed her hip, before Hisashi shook his head and glanced up at her, seeing her own frown and raising his eyebrow.

"Okay," he said softly, "so that was what's been bothering me. What's up with you?"

"H-huh?" Inko jumped a bit, looking back down at him in surprise. “What - what do you mean?”

"You have your worried face on. And believe it or not, you usually have your worried face on when you’re - and this may come as a shock to you - worried." Hisashi laughed at his own stupid joke while Inko rolled her eyes and lightly hit his shoulder, making Hisashi fake a mortal injury while she giggled despite herself.

“Seriously though,” Hisashi got serious again, leaning forward, “what’s up?”

Inko paused for a second, glancing down at the table as she thought, before she let out a small sigh and sat down in the seat opposite of him, pursing her lips as she folded her hands together.

"It's ... about Izuku," she muttered.

"Of course."

"It's just - I know we’ve talked about it a lot, but it’s just - he hasn't manifested his quirk yet," She explained herself in a low voice as though afraid Izuku would overhear her, tapping her fingers together as she stared sadly down at the hardwood table, "and - and I'm just worried. All the other kindergartners have started developing their quirks except for him, and ... I just want to make sure that he's fine. The doctor didn’t say anything when we visited him last week, but I know that he’s starting to think that it won’t come in."

Hisashi pursed his lips at that reminder, feeling his own stomach lurch, but shook his head and leaned forward, moving his hand to slide across the table and onto hers, getting her attention and causing her to look up at him, seeing an understanding smile on his face.

"Inko," He said softly, "I understand why you’re worried. I mean, I’m also wondering what’s going on too, but … come on, it isn’t like it’s going to change anything if - you know - Izuku ends up not developing a quirk, right?”

"Of course not," She said immediately, shaking her head.

"I just think that we need to be a little more patient," He smiled, deciding to try and lighten the mood a bit, "and pray that our boy doesn't end up setting our apartment on fire when he sneezes."

"Or float the table," Inko challenged, back, smirking a bit while Hisashi shook his head and chuckled, but then he suddenly blinked, realizing something that he had forgotten to tell her.

"Oh! I just remembered - do you remember how we thought we heard stuff being moved around next door last night?"

"Er … yes?"

"Well," Hisashi leaned back with a small smile, "that's because there was stuff being moved around. I decided to take the elevator when I came back from the Bakugous and saw them using the big elevator. We have next door neighbours now."

"Is that right?" Inko gasped, leaning forward with a smile on her face. "Do they seem nice?"

"Oh, yeah," He chuckled, nodding, “I think we’ll get along with them. It’s a husband, wife and a daughter, who’s about Izuku's age. Their move in date was yesterday, so they were moving some stuff in the apartment last night after work before getting everything else today. I got to talking to them, and they told me that they were thinking of enrolling their daughter to the same kindergarten Izuku’s attending. I figured you wouldn’t mind, but I did invite them over to dinner tomorrow night. Just being good, welcoming neighbors, you know?"

"I do know! And yes, I don't mind," Inko giggled, standing up to get back to the counter with a new bounce in her step at the news, "I think it's good that we're trying to be good neighbours. Who knows, maybe Izuku and their daughter can become friends!"

"Oh, please Inko," Hisashi laughed a bit, reading her mind, "we don't need to have our new neighbour hate Izuku. You know how dads get around their daughter's first boyfriend."

"I'm not the one saying that," Inko teased with a grin.

"You're implying it, though. How about you wait until the kids actually meet before you start setting them up for a childhood friend romance?"

"Okay, mister smart guy, whatever you say. I’ll keep my thoughts to myself, and you can go ask our son what he wants for supper."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and say katsudon. Always, always katsudon. What's wrong with just regular udon?"


"Huh?" Izuku asked, feeling himself shrink a little.

"They're just going to come over and say hello," Inko explained as she put on her bracelet, dressed up in her nice dress and doing up her hair in a bun, "and then eat a little dinner with us! It'll be nice to meet our new neighbours, won't it?"

At the moment, Izuku was standing in the doorway of his parents' room in a red t-shirt and shorts, watching her get ready for something he wasn’t aware was happening until a few minutes ago. He could hear his dad humming in the kitchen as he put on his suit jacket from work, the sound of his dad muttering how dumb he looked audible even from here, but Izuku remembered his mom telling his dad that he didn’t have another suit other than his work one.

But that wasn’t on Izuku’s mind as he felt himself begin to shake slightly.

"They're ... new people?"

"Mm-hm! A little family like ours, Izuku - a mommy and a daddy, and a daughter too! Apparently she's your age, so when she's here you two can have a little fun! You have so many toys, I’m sure she’d love to play with them with you."

Inko said that in an overly excited voice, as though trying to hype him up for meeting new people like it would make him excited as well - but then she glanced over at her son after slipping on her bracelet, and felt herself falter. Izuku himself didn’t look excited to meet a new friend, or to meet new people at all - in fact, he was shrinking into himself, fidgeting slightly while small tears began to pool in his eyes, which of course made Inko suddenly start tearing up without warning - a curse on the Midoriya family, if one of them started crying, the other wouldn’t be far behind.

"Izuku?" She asked in a soft voice, feeling concern edge into her voice. "What is it?"

"Nothing," He muttered, turning away as though unable to look at his mother all of a sudden.

"Honey ..." Inko was quick to move over to her tiny son, kneeling down so that they could be face-to-face, and raised her hand to his cheek. Genty turning his face back to look at her, feeling herself tear up slightly at the obviously scared and conflicted look on his face, she leaned in slightly. "... what’s wrong?"

"..."

"Izuku ...?"

"... what if they don't like me?" He quietly muttered, glancing away. "Because I don't have a quirk?"

Inko let out a soft gasp at that, staring at her son in shock while feeling her tears begin to pool in her own eyes as he stared at the floor. She felt her heart thud in her chest, but quickly shook off her shock so she could comfort her son, wondering where on earth he had gotten that thought from.

"Izuku," She asked quietly, seeing Izuku staring at the floor again, "what do you mean? Of course they’d like you even without a quirk, why would you think that?"

"Kacchan,” He muttered, making Inko’s expression fall, “he … I messed up yesterday. He - he slipped off a log and fell into a creak, and I - I tried to make sure he was okay, but I think I just annoyed him. I don’t know what I did, but I think it’s because I don’t have a quirk - I don’t think he likes me anymore because I’m so weak.”

"Oh, Izuku ..."

"So what if these people don't like me either?" He looked up at his mom, tears beginning to leak out of his eyes and onto his cheeks. "Because I’m weak?"

"Honey, no, you’re not weak," Inko felt her own tears begin to leak down her cheeks - damn her weak eye ducts - and quickly brought her son in for a hug, letting him wrap his tiny arms around her neck while he sniffled, "and they won’t hate you because you don’t have your quirk yet. Please don’t think that, that’s not it at all. I'm sure any day now, your quirk will manifest, and it’ll be awesome. And I swear to you, Izuku, whatever made Kacchan mad at you yesterday, I assure you that it's not your fault - you're the sweetest, most pure little boy I've ever met. You’re not annoying, you’re not weak - you’re amazing."

Izuku only sniffed at that, to which Inko moved away from him to smile at him as he continued to study the floor.

"Tell you what," She said softly, "our new neighbours are going to come over to eat with us for a little bit so we can meet them, but if you don't want to talk to them, that's okay."

"R-really?"

"Really. You just need to stay by me and be polite if they talk to you. But I don’t think that’s going to be an issue, because I’m sure that they'll love you. Like I said, they have a little daughter too - someone your age. I think that she'd love to be your friend, but if you just wanna hang out with me until they’re gone, that’ll be okay."

Izuku didn't seem sure about that, still staring down at the floor looking more than a little unsure, but before he could say anything, Hisashi poked his head in, giving the two a smile as he knocked on the door to get their attention.

"Inko," He said softly to his wife, seeing her looking up at him as Izuku looked around, wiping his eyes, "I checked on dinner and it looked almost ready. The neighbors said that they would be here at around six thirty, so I set the timer for another five minutes."

"Oh, thank you, Hisashi," Inko smiled, also grabbing a handkerchief from her pocket to wipe Izuku’s face, and then standing up and kissing her son on the top of his head, "I'll just check on that now."

She hurried out the door of her bedroom to the kitchen, leaving Izuku continuing to look unsure about how the evening’s events would unfold. At least, until he felt his dad's hand pat his head and made him look around, seeing his dad smiling kindly down at him.

"Scared to meet new people, huh?" He asked, kneeling down so that he and his son could be at the same level. “Heard some of that while I was coming around the corner.”

"... mm-hm."

"Well," Hisashi smiled, keeping his hand in his son's hair, "how about we make a deal, young man? Tell you what - I think tonight’s going to go really well, and our neighbors are going to be absolutely charmed by you, but if it doesn’t, after they leave, you and I can kick back and watch some All Might videos before bed. You don’t have school tomorrow, so we can pull up one of his interviews and watch it with some popcorn.”

"... All Might videos?" Izuku asked in a small murmur, looking slightly hopeful while his dad grinned, knowing that he got his son hook, line and sinker.

"All Might videos, popcorn, and maybe we can sneak a little chocolate once your mom goes to bed. And you can even stay up a little later too, since it's the weekend. No moms will be allowed, it’ll just be a boy’s night."

"Um -" Izuku looked a bit more calm at that - hearing that his dad wanted to watch some All Mgiht videos with him did bring his mood up somewhat. That was, until ...

DING DONG

Izuku squeaked in shock at the sound of the doorbell, realizing who that would be, while Hisashi looked around at the sound as well, smiling a little bit as he realized their visitors were there. However, before he could say anything to assure his son, Izuku quickly zipped out of the room, making the father blink in confusion at the spot his son was supposed to be suddenly vacant, and looked around as though Izuku had vanished into thin air. 

Getting up from where he had been kneeling, Hisashi looked out into the hall leading to the kitchen, and saw Izuku immediately hiding behind his mother’s dress as Inko looked down in confusion, and then back up at Hisashi.

“Huh.” Hisashi sagged a bit, “Knew it couldn't be that easy.”

Shaking his head somewhat, Hisashi stretched slightly and straightened up, sharing a small smile with his wife as he turned on his heel to walk to the front door. Taking a deep breath and trying to make sure that his smile was at least a bit confident (okay, he'll admit, he was just as nervous as his son), Hisashi opened the door wide, and gave the visitors grins as he caught sight of them. 

"Hello! Please, come in."

"Ha, glad you invited us over!" Hiding behind Inko, Izuku winced slightly - the man's voice was much louder than he had been expecting, sounding very enthusiastic. Peeking out from behind Inko's leg, Izuku found himself gulping at the sight that befell him - height wise, the man coming in through the door wasn’t that much taller than his dad, maybe an inch or so, but weight wise? His dad looked kind of like a twig, even though he was pretty big himself. He looked really strong, not All Might strong but strong enough that he could pick up his dad easily and throw him around. Seeing that, of course, did make Izuku feel a lot more nervous, but then his eyes trailed up to his face, and felt himself blink. He looked very large and imposing, but his face was a lot more relaxed, and looked … really nice. He had an assuring grin on his face that showed all of his teeth, dirty blonde short hair, and some stubble on his face like his dad’s. He was wearing a blue dress shirt and jeans, and looked really relaxed, shaking his dad’s hand before turning to his mom and smiling.

Behind him, meanwhile, came a much shorter woman, standing around his mom’s height and shorter than his dad. She was a lot shorter than the man coming in, only coming up to his chin, but she had a warm smile on her face that did make Izuku feel a little better, peeking out from behind his mom as she strolled in. Her eyes were weirdly closed, making Izuku wonder how exactly she could see when she bowed to Inko and straightened back up. She had two blush stickers on her cheeks, and her face was slightly round, with long brown hair falling down to her shoulders. She wore a nice dress with a white frilly shirt over it, and carried a small container in her hands.

"It's nice to see you both again," Hisashi said politely, sinking into a polite bow, but the man let out a loud laugh and shook his head, reaching down to slap Izuku's dad's shoulder good-naturedly.

"No need tah get all polite on us," He said in an enthusiastic voice, not noticing Hisashi's wince at the unexpected hit - looked like someone didn’t know their own strength - and Izuku blinked at the odd accent in his voice, "but yeah, it's nice tah see ya again, Mr. Midoriya."

"That's right," The woman said sweetly, no accent at all as she bowed to him, "no need to treat us any differently than you would your other neighbors. Still, thank you for inviting us into your home. I hope that we get along."

"I hope so too," Hisashi chuckled, raising himself back up and moving back so that Inko could step forward, Izuku still nervously hiding behind her leg despite the new people looking at least a little nicer than what he had been scared off. "This is my wife, Inko, and the little guy hiding behind her leg is our son, Izuku. Forgive him, he's a little nervous around new people."

"It's nice to meetcha, Mrs. Midoriya," The large man grinned, and both adults bowed briefly to Inko while she smiled a bit nervously. "Th' name's Taiyo Uraraka, and this is mah wife Miwa."

"Thank you for welcoming us into your home," Miwa repeated with a smile, and then turned to look at Izuku, who had peaked out and squeaked when she looked at him, despite her eyes being closed, "and this must be Izuku."

Izuku glanced away awkwardly, letting out a quiet hum of shyness, although the brown-haired woman didn’t seem to mind at all.

"Well," She giggled a little bit, and then moved her own dress away from her leg, and Izuku suddenly heard an even higher pitched squeak than his own, "since we're still doing introductions, this is our daughter, Ochako. Forgive her, but it seems that your son isn't the only one that’s a nervous to meet new people."

Feeling himself shake a bit more, Izuku peaked out again from behind his mother’s leg - and then blinked.

Standing behind her mom, and looking just as nervous as he was, was a little girl even shorter than he was. She wore a pair of overalls over a white t-shirt with the number ‘13’, with a pair of pink shoes on her feet. She had brown hair like her mom, although hers was a bit shorter, and also had the same blush stickers and pair of round, brown eyes that glanced at the three strangers before her before she quickly looked back to the floor. She was also holding something plushie, white and black in her hands, and let out a small noise when Inko looked at her with a smile and quickly hid back behind her mom’s leg.

"Well, it's nice to see that we have two shy kids here," Hisashi joked, relieved when Taiyo chuckled, and moved back to gesture in the direction of the kitchen, "but please, come in! Dinner's almost ready."

"Why, thank ya!" Taiyo nodded happily, more than pleased to hear anything about food, and accepted Hisashi's invitation to come into the apartment. Inko glanced down at Izuku again, who was glancing between her and the little girl hiding behind Miwa, and gave him a small smile as she leaned down slightly.

"Let’s go eat, Izuku. Do you wanna sit in between me and your dad?" She asked softly, and the boy hesitated, glancing at the little girl again as Miwa bent down to talk to her as well, before he let out a small noise of affirmation and reached up to take her hand.

Soon enough, after Miwa talked to Ochako and got confirmation for the little girl to sit between her and her own dad, the six neighbours moved into the kitchen, the Urarakas looking a little more impressed about the dinner being laid out then perhaps appropriate, while Ochako looked around the living room and blinked at the size of the TV, and then everyone sat down at the kitchen table to get started on dinner. As his mom had suggested, Izuku chose to sit in between his parents while Ochako did the same on the other side of the table, the two children glancing at each other only once, making eye contact, and then quickly looking away while their parents smiled ruefully. 

Soon enough, everyone was seated at the table and began to dig into Inko's dinner, the adults immediately beginning to make some smalltalk to get to know each other better.

"So Mr. Midoriya," Miwa asked politely, splitting her chopsticks apart, "what do you do for a living?"

"’Hisashi’ is fine," Izuku's dad said airily, smiling at her and Taiyo as he picked up a bowl of rice, "and I work for a tech company selling computer parts. It’s not the most glamorous job in the world, but it pays the bills. There are periods when I have to move overseas to do some work, but thankfully you managed to catch me at a time when I could commute from home. And yourselves?"

"We run a consh-truction compnee," Taiyo explained through a mouthful of food, swallowing and grimacing slightly when his wife gave him an unamused look, "Sorry - a construction company. We gotta job here in Mustafu a few months ago, and we decided that it migh' be better to move here in the big city rather than stay in Mie. More opportunities, ya know, and saves us money not having to travel all over Japan lookin’ for work."

"Oh?" Inko looked curious and a bit concerned, using her chopsticks to bring some sushi to Izuku’s plate, "is there not a lot of construction jobs near Mie?"

"Not as much as we'd like," Taiyo admitted with a small frown while Miwa shook her head, "ever since heroes became popular a few decades ago, competition in construction's become somethin' fierce. The Urarakas have been a construction company for years and we love doin’ it, which is why it’s such a shame that there’ve been times we haven't been able ta get jobs for months at a time."

"Oh, no!"

"Well, hopefully that changes here," Miwa tried to remain positive, smiling a bit as she brought some teriyaki to herself, while Ochako looked at it with a little shock (she wasn’t used to eating a lot of meat besides baloney), "since Musutafu is pretty much filled to the brim with heroes, there’s lots of needs for construction after fights with villains. We're hoping we can find more potential ventures since we’re so close to UA Academy."

"Well," Hisashi grimaced slightly, obviously sympathetic to them, "if you guys ever need help, please don't hesitate to come to us, alright? We try to look out for our neighbours, even if we’re not all that well off."

"Thank you for your offer," Miwa bowed slightly in her seat, before balling her fist and giving them a smile, "but we're tough! We always get by, right, Ochako?"

The little girl jumped a bit when she was addressed by her mom, obviously still a little shy and unable to hide behind her mom’s leg anymore, but nodded all the same and returned to her tempura. Izuku himself still felt a little shy when he wasn’t able to hide behind his own mom, and gulped when he noticed the Uraraka patriarch turning to him with a grin on his face.

"So Izuku," Taiyo softened his voice a little bit - he knew how loud and enthusiastic he could be, and since he still looked nervous he didn’t want to startle Izuku with how loud he could usually be and wanting to make sure the kid felt relaxed, "I’ve been thinkin’ - and I think I know where I’ve seen ya before."

"H-huh?" Izuku felt a bit startled at that, looking at the older man in shock while Hisashi and Inko blinked in confusion.

"Yeah! I'm thinkin' that I saw you yesterday while we were movin’ our stuff upstairs - with those boys in the park," He nodded approvingly, bringing a piece of teriyaki to his mouth and giving a wink to the young boy, "goin' off on adventures and gettin' into trouble, huh? I saw you guys headin' into the forest."

"N-no!" Izuku quickly defended himself with a squeak, going a bit red while Inko shook her head and Hisashi chuckled despite himself, "I - I just - um - we - uh -"

The Urarakas watched as Izuku tried to fumble through an explanation, while Ochako stole another glance at him and then returned to her food with a small frown, remembering what had happened when they had gotten back from the forest and thinking to herself that it hadn’t looked like an adventure. Finally, the boy managed to stumble to a stop, and then looked back down at his plate.

“We were playing heroes." He quietly said while studying his rice.

"Heroes, huh?" Taiyo grinned, nodding in approval as he sat back in his seat and warmly studied the boy, "so, you wanna be a hero when yer all grown up?"

"Mm-hm." Izuku quickly nodded, unaware of Ochako blinking and glancing at him again as he went a bit red at the attention. “I, uh - I wanna be a hero like A-All Might.”

"All Might, huh? Sometimes he causes some property damage. In that case, why don’t we just wait til yer all grown up, and you can use our construction company to - ow!"

"Dear ..." Miwa shook her head while poking her husband in the side, having to reach above Ochako’s head to do so.

"I was just jokin'!"

Hisashi and Inko at least laughed at the large man cowering over his tiny wife, and then Inko turned to her son, who gulped when he realized she was giving him a slightly unamused look. 

“The forest, huh?” She raised her eyebrow while Izuku went stiff, “The one that doesn’t allow trespassers? You went in there?”

“Um -” Izuku gulped, going a bit red from Inko giving him an unamused look - and then he pointed at Hisashi. “Dad wants to eat chocolate later tonight when you go to bed.”

Hisashi choked on his drink while Taiyo laughed loudly, and Miwa had to suppress a giggle.

After the Midoriya patriarch got over the shock and betrayal of his son throwing him under the bus while his wife gave him a death glare, dinner after that went quite pleasantly. Inko and Miwa got along very well, talking about the sights Musutafu had to offer, while Taiyo and Hisashi talked more about their careers and any good drinking spots that Hisashi knew thanks to after work parties. While the adults happily talked amongst each other, Izuku and Ochako stayed quiet, eating their food and subtly stealing glances at each other, shaking a little bit while they did so and immediately looking away when they thought they were going to get caught. Not a word was passed between them - but the adults could tell that there was a part of both children that wanted to talk to the other, but shyness was preventing them from doing so. Which wasn’t too big a deal - they just needed to stretch out their visit so they could overcome that barrier.

As soon as dinner was finished, Hisashi and Taiyo volunteered to do dishes as Inko and Miwa talked some more at the table, and soon enough the Midoriyas and Urarakas began to talk the evening away as they got to know each other. Izuku was still a little nervous around the new people, but Taiyo seemed to be very warm and joking around him, patting him on the head and giving him a big smile when the boy didn’t shy away, and Miwa was sweet to him, complimenting him on his shirt as she opened the container she brought and gave him a brownie - which was surprisingly good. So they definitely weren’t that bad. Not at all.

After he returned from the bathroom about an hour after dinner, Izuku glanced out the front door hanging open, seeing his dad and Taiyo leaning against the railing with beers in their hands, chatting and laughing about something or the other. Turning slightly, he saw his mom and Miwa talking on the couch about the neighborhood and where it would be safe for Ochako to play. Taking a small breath, Izuku stood a bit by himself near the wall, glancing between Miwa and Taiyo.

They were … definitely different that what he had been used to with his own mom and dad, but he knew that they were really nice. He liked them. He was staring to feel a bit more comfortable around them, thinking about maybe walking over to Miwa and asking for another brownie, it had been really good -

- and then he felt someone tugging at his shirt.

Surprised, Izuku looked around, and found himself surprised to see Ochako standing behind him, looking shy and a little scared as she turned her gaze to the floor, holding the white and black thing with both hands.

"Um ..." She said in a low voice, quiet enough that Izuku almost couldn’t hear her, "... do you know where my daddy is? I can’t find him."

Izuku blinked at that, and then gulped, feeling shyness overcoming him as well as he also looked at the ground, unable to look at the small girl.

"Yeah," He quickly nodded, and pointed behind him, "he's outside with my dad."

Ochako glanced around at the open door, seeing her father leaning against the railing and laughing, and then nodded, a little relieved to see where he went after she had lost track of him - she had gone exploring and ended up in their parents’ room, quickly coming back when she realized where she was - but then falling silent again as she realized that she had no idea what to say to the boy directly in front of her. 

Izuku felt the same way, gulping nervously at the girl in front of him, and glanced down at his feet to avoid eye contact -

- and then his eyes trailed to what Ochako was holding, and felt them widen a little bit as he actually got a good look at it, and felt himself recognize it.

"Um ..." Izuku gulped nervously, glancing down at the small plushie in her hand, and asked, in a quiet, timid voice as his heart beat wildly in his chest from anxiety, "... is ... is that Thirteen?"

Ochako blinked at that, turning her gaze from the floor to the green-haired boy for a second in brief shock, and then looked down at the plushie she was holding in her hand. She felt herself shake a little bit in nervousness, but she still nodded timidly, unable to look up at him as Izuku got a better look at the toy in her hand.

"She's, um ... she's really cool," Izuku told her, feeling a small smile come to his face but still exercising caution when talking about heroes with her. He was ready to back off in case he annoyed her, remembering what happened when Katsuki had enough of him talking about heroes, so he had learned not to go into it all that much. “My, uh … my dad showed me a video of her stopping a building from falling on people. It was really cool, she did it in about ten seconds.”

"... really?" The little girl's voice came out small, as though afraid that he was messing with her, but there was something in there like curiosity that made Izuku feel a little braver.

"R-really!" Izuku nodded quickly, feeling some of his fear at talking to new people subside at long last as he looked at the smaller girl studying her feet. "It was - it was really awesome! She used her quirk to suck up a building that was falling onto the street, she absorbed it in seconds! Afterwards she took a big picture with everyone and she gave a big thumbs up with - with the thumb she used to break down the building. It was really cool!"

Ochako hummed at that, looking unsure but definitely interested as she held the Thirteen plushie closer to her chest. Izuku knew that he was shaking again, but this time it wasn’t out of nervousness or anxiety. Well, yes, there was still some nervousness, but this was something different. The way Ochako had looked up at him ... it made him feel weird, but a good weird. 

She wasn't looking at him like the other people in his class did, like he was the quirkless weirdo. She definitely was still wary of him, but ...

... she looked interested in what he had to say. And that made Izuku's heart race.

"She's - she's really awesome!" He told her a bit, trying not to come across as the quirkless nerd this time, but as someone who knew what he was talking about. "I've - I've watched her video a hundred times!"

"Mm ..." Ochako glanced down at her Thirteen plushie again, as though trying to imagine what he had told her, like the little toy was responsible for sucking up a building - and then suddenly Izuku had an idea.

"I - I can show you the video if you want!"

That, at least, suddenly caught Ochako's attention, making the brown haired girl look up again, staring at him fully in the face at long last. There was a bit of surprise, and hope, on her face, that made Izuku suddenly want to drag her to his dad's office to show the video - but then he remembered he had no idea how to find it on the computer, he couldn't type or read yet! How could he find it if he didn’t even know how to type ‘Thirteen’?!

That meant ...

"Mom!" He turned to hurry over to the two mothers on the couch, seeing Inko blink at the sudden energy in her son's voice as she looked down at him. "I wanna show - um -” He faltered at that, unsure about how exactly to pronounce her name, but then shook his head, “- I wanna show her the video of Thirteen I watched a few days ago! Can I?"

Inko faltered at that, sitting up a bit - usually they had a rule about Izuku not being allowed on the computer after dinnertime, it got him too energetic - but then she glanced at the small girl behind him. 

While she was studying her feet and tapping her fingers together, there was a small look of hope on Ochako’s face, as though she really did want to see the video, and that prompted a smile to grace Inko's face as she sat up, turning her gaze to her son and nodding.

"Of course, sweetie - if it's only the one," She allowed for once, making Izuku brighten up and Ochako glance up at the older woman as Miwa also gave her daughter and the green-haired boy an approving nod. "So the Thirteen video? Was that the one where she saved that building, or are you thinking of another one?"

"Y-yeah, that one. I wanna show O-Ocha-Och-" Izuku stopped what he was saying for a moment, and tried to pronounce Ochako's name. The little girl stared at him for a moment with an unknowing look on her face as he struggled, and Miwa was unable to suppress a small laugh at his cuteness - god, she hoped her daughter became friends with him, she could watch his cuteness all day - and moved off the couch to kneel beside the boy while Inko gave the brown-haired little girl a comforting smile.

"How about ... ‘Occhan’?" She suggested, giving Izuku a kind smile as he looked up at her in surprise, "I know that her name can be pretty hard to pronounce - but since I have a feeling that you two are going to be good friends, why not ‘Occhan’ until you learn how to pronounce her name?"

"Um ... okay," Izuku nodded, blushing a bit as he looked down again.

"And of course, you guys can watch a video," Miwa also smiled at her daughter - she was still acting shy, but Miwa could tell that Ochako was curious to watch whatever video Izuku wanted to show her. “As long as it’s the one - we’ll have to go soon, just so we can get Occhan to bed.”

After Inko got up to get two wine glasses out of the cabinet for later (one glass of wine for the road, since the men got to drink why not them?), the women led the two children by their hands into Hisashi's office, Inko turning on the computer and giving her son an expectant look as she lifted him up into the leather chair.

"One video," She smiled knowingly, already on to her son, "and then that's it. Agreed?"

"Mm-hm!" Izuku nodded.

"Alright," Inko turned back to the computer, pulling up Yap!Tube and putting her hands on the keyboard, "so it was a Thirteen video, right?"

"Yeah," Izuku sat up in the chair, and Inko smiled when she saw Ochako peeking up at the computer screen from behind it in curiosity. "It was the one where - oh! That one, Mom!"

"Alrighty, that one," She giggled, and clicked on the video and put it on pause before it could autoplay, "but before you guys watch it, why doesn't Ochako get in the chair, too? So you both can see."

Izuku paused at that, and looked around to glance at the little girl. Ochako herself seemed a bit nervous about sitting beside him, but her eyes then moved to the screen showing Thirteen posing with a few civilians, and evidently, her curiosity overcame her nervousness. 

Gulping a bit, Ochako approached the big chair, and Izuku gulped as well as he scooted over a little bit, looking a bit shy again, and the little girl let out a small grunt as she crawled into the seat beside him, eventually sitting down and looking over at the screen. Both Inko and Miwa had a hard time trying not to coo at them - it looked adorable, seeing their two children sitting side by side in the large chair, but there was no need to embarrass them, especially since this was the closet they had been to each other all night.

"Okay," Inko turned back to the screen to play the video, "you guys can watch this, and we'll be out in the living room. Just call us if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay, Mom!" Izuku quickly nodded, while Ochako hummed beside him watching the screen.

Inko smiled, and clicked the play button on the screen, standing up properly to leave the office with Miwa so they could get their glasses of wine.

Soon enough, though, both children forgot the brief awkwardness of sitting right beside each other, watching the video of a building threatening to collapse after some hero had been blasted into it, the hero in question sliding down and hitting the ground with a grunt before hopping up to charge against the villain who had thrown him. The hero, of course, didn’t notice the groan of the building behind him, and several civilians looked up in horror as it began to collapse, creaking as it began falling down onto the street. 

Ochako found her eyes glued to the screen, holding her cheap Thirteen plushie close to her chest, as she stared at the scene of people screaming and running to get out of the way, suddenly finding herself nervous watching this and tempted to hold up the Thirteen plushie to her face to hide while Izuku bounced a little bit in the seat - until a puffy, white space suit suddenly ran into frame, running straight in front of the collapsing building in her yellow boots. Izuku had seen this a lot of times, knowing that she would be flipping open one of her suction cups on her finger to point at the collapsing building and suck it into her black hole, with the building being abandoned so she could go all out. He instead glanced to his left to see if Ochako was watching the screen - 

- and then felt himself blink when he saw the look on her face.

The awkward, sort of frightened look on the girl's face she had been wearing all night, being shy in front of strangers ... it had completely vanished. Instead, her face filled with wonder as she watched the hero on the screen absorb the building into her thumb, feeling her jaw drop at the sight of her hero in action. Izuku, instead of looking back at the screen to watch the awesomeness instead stared in wonder for a moment as he saw Ochako leaned slightly forward, watching how amazing Thirteen looked in action.

And then the video ended as Thirteen posed with the civilians she had saved while the big villain was arrested in the background, giving a big thumbs up, and the video ended, giving them the option to look at other videos.

For a moment, neither child spoke - and then Ochako let out a squeal, making Izuku jump a little.

"That was awesome!" She pumped her fists in the air, her shyness completely forgotten as she smiled widely and shocked Izuku. "I've never actually seen Thirteen in action before! She saved those people so quickly!"

Izuku stared at her in shock as she turned to look at him, practically bouncing in the seat as she gave him a wide smile. "Can we watch that again?!"

For one moment, Izuku was taken aback, staring at the little girl as her shyness evaporated and overwhelmed him with her sudden energy - and then he felt his own shyness fade away quickly, and he beamed back at her just as brightly.

"Yeah!"

Back in the living room, Hisashi and Taiyo came back into the apartment just as Inko and Miwa finished their glasses of wine, chuckling a bit as they finished their beers, and the four adults knew that it was about time for the Urarakas to get back home, seeing as Ochako needed to go to bed soon, and Hisashi knew that he had promised to watch All Might videos with Izuku once they left, and his son really couldn’t stay up that late. So they were standing up now, taking a chance to let the Urarakas put back on their jackets before they went to fetch their children.

"How about I go get the kids," Hisashi offered, taking a moment to put his and Taiyo's beer bottles on the counter to recycle later as he turned towards the hall leading to his office, "and Inko can wrap up some leftovers for later?"

“Ah, mighty kind of ya, but it’s okay if you can’t -”

"I got a lot of toys in my room!"

Hisashi blinked at the sudden enthusiastic voice coming from his office, and glanced around in curiosity- and then yelped and quickly moved back so Izuku and Ochako could run past him and not collide into his legs. The sound of their little feet padding through the apartment drew the attention of every adult in the room, looking around to see the wide and excited smiles on the two children’s faces, looking happier than they had all night. Quickly, they ran into Izuku’s room and pulled the door closed, only letting the adults hear the sound of them talking excitedly in his room.

For one moment the apartment was silent, all four adults staring in shock at what they just saw, until Hisashi cleared his throat.

"Er -" He stuttered briefly, before shaking his head and turning to the other man, "- I'm actually feeling up for another beer if you want, Taiyo. Maybe two or three, just so they have a little time for - for Izuku to show Ochako all his toys, he’s got an awful lot."

"Uh - yeah!" Taiyo nodded quickly, catching on and taking off his coat again. "Maybe four, just to be safe. To show you what you're in for if we ever go drinkin' together."

“That sounds fine to me!”

"A-and I have some baby pictures to show you, Miwa!" Inko also added in, almost tearing up at the sight of her son finally breaking through his awkwardness, and hopping up to grab the wine bottle again. "Izuku was so adorable as a child, I'd love to show you!"

"And - and I can grab Ochako's baby pictures from next door!" Miwa hopped to her feet as well to run next door quickly, beaming. "I have to show you the picture of her getting scared by a spider crawling on her arm, it’s absolutely precious!"

While the parents came up with multiple reasons to delay the Urarakas leaving for a few more hours, Izuku and Ochako sat down in the middle of his room, Izuku quickly dragging some of his All Might toys from underneath his bed to show the little girl. Their initial shyness and awkwardness was long forgotten, Izuku almost going overboard to show his new friend all of his things now that he knew she was interested, and Ochako taking a look at all of them with wide eyes and obvious amazement as she gently took whatever toy was offered to her, inspecting it while sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"This is my favourite All Might toy!" Izuku showed her the action figure of the buff man in the red, blue, white and yellow costume with the blue cape. "It's based on his Silver Age costume by - um - David - Shield! David Shield! That’s what my dad told me."

"Ooooh," Ochako put down her Thirteen plushie to take the action figure from Izuku's hands, holding it up and looking at it in awe. "It's really cool!"

"My dad bought it for me for my birthday," Izuku smiled, putting his hands in his lap while Ochako moved one of the arms of the toy, "he said that his favorite hero is Big Red Dot, but he’s okay with me liking All Might the most. He put up all the All Might posters in his office, my mom called him a nerd.”

"Your dad likes heroes ..." Ochako smiled a bit, glancing down at her Thirteen plushie beside her and picking it up again, holding both toys in her hands, "my mommy got me my Thirteen plushie because I always liked how cool she looked, she got it for my birthday. My -" She suddenly faltered, and then glanced down a bit at the Thirteen toy, feeling her smile fall a bit when comparing the two toys in her hands.

Glancing at it now ... the Thirteen toy was a bit flayed, some stuffing coming out from a hole on the side, and it didn't look that impressive next to the cool All Might toy in her hand. Before she could say anything about it, though, Izuku suddenly reached out and grabbed the leg for the plushie, dragging it a bit closer. Ochako blinked, and let it go so that Izuku could hold Thirteen in both of his hands, smiling softly at it before looking up at her.

"It's really cool," He told her, seeing her look surprised when comparing it to the sleek All Might toy in her hand, "she's an amazing rescue hero! I think between All Might and her, I wanna be a hero like both of them! Someone who saves everyone with a smile."

"So you do wanna be a hero?" Ochako asked, putting the All Might toy down as Izuku looked up at her again. “That’s what you said during supper.”

"Yeah! It's my dream!" He nodded enthusiastically, excited to share it with her - but then his own smile faded as he glanced down. "It's just ..."

"Huh?” Ochako blinked, scooting a bit closer, “It's just what?"

“I’m … I’m actually quirkless right now,” Izuku admitted, feeling his smile slide off his face as he glanced away. He didn’t want to be made fun of by her like everyone else, but honestly he felt like he should tell her before he embarrassed himself like he did in front of Katsuki when he had told him about wanting to be a hero.

“My quirk hasn’t come in yet, even though everyone else in my class has theirs. They all make fun of me for wanting to be a hero, even though I don’t have any powers yet.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It’s … it’s why they call me ‘Deku’.”

Ochako blinked at that, scooting closer again as Izuku stared glumly at the floor, moving Thirteen’s arm thoughtlessly. "'Deku'? Is that - that's what that weird loud boy called you back in the park, isn't it?"

"I - huh?" Izuku blinked, looking up at the girl in front of him in shock. "How do you -"

"I ... I was standing near my daddy's truck," She admitted, going a bit red as she glanced away to look at another one of his All Might toys, "and I saw you guys coming back from the forest. I saw him shove you down and call you a ... a ..."

"... a useless Deku." Izuku finished for her, nodding with small tears in his eyes. Ochako, feeling concerned, held out his All Might toy, thinking that he might need it to comfort him, and he took it back while giving her back her Thirteen plushie. Soon both children held their toys tightly to them, with Ochako staring at Izuku while he looked down at his toy in sadness.

"It's ... it's how Kacchan pronounces my name," He explained, feeling himself tear up, "he's really good at reading, the teacher said so. Kacchan says that he can read the letters in my name as 'Deku'. He says that it's someone who can't do anything. And he’s right. I can’t do anything"

Izuku continued to stare down at his All Might toy, knowing that he probably just pushed Ochako away with this, and ready for her to make fun of him like everyone else did - but then she shook her head and leaned forward.

"But that's not true!" She balled her fists tightly together, sounding absolutely certain as she stared at him. "Deku means 'you can do it'! My mom says so!"

That, of course, caused Izuku to blink, staring down at the All Might toy for a second before quickly looking back up at the little girl sitting beside him on the floor. "H-huh?"

"I asked my mommy what 'Deku' meant yesterday," Ochako explained, sounding like she was more sure than anything about this, "and she said it means 'you can do it'. If that's what Kacchan says it is, that’s mean! And not true at all!"

She paused at that, and then, in a small voice, asked, "Is Kacchan the boy who pushed you down at the park? I saw that from my daddy's truck, he looked like a big jerk."

"Uh - uh, y-yeah, that was Kacchan, but - but it wasn't his fault,” Izuku shook his friend, going a bit pale as he tried to defend his friend, “I was annoying him and did something wrong, and -"

"Friends shouldn't push friends," Ochako insisted, looking sadly at him as she looked away. "That's what my mommy always tells me when one of the girls from my old school pushed me. Friends don't hurt friends."

Izuku stared at that, taken briefly aback, and then let out a weak little laugh and glanced back down to the All Might toy in his hand, shaking his head slightly.

"Kacchan - I just annoy him," He explained, "he's not mean, I'm just being a pest. Even if I get my quirk, he’ll probably still be cooler than me."

"You're not a pest, though!" Ochako protested, looking a little bit emotional herself as she reached out and grabbed his hand with one pinky up. "And you're already really cool!"

"No, I'm not ..."

"Yes you are! You have so many cool toys!" She looked around, eyes brightening somewhat. "All your posters are cool! You know so much about Thirteen and All Might! You're way cooler than Kacchan!"

"I - no, I'm - I'm just - I'm just Deku."

"Fine!" Ochako balled her fists again, feeling stubborn while Izuku continued to look sadly at the floor. "But Deku means 'you can do it'! I'll call you that just to remind you!"

"H-huh?"

"Deku means 'you can do it', so that means you can do it!" 

“I -”

“That’s that! That’s what Deku means! You can do it, not that stupid thing Kacchan says it means!”

Izuku was taken aback by that, staring at the girl in front of him in slight wonder as she put down her fists, and felt tears in his eyes again, although this time he quickly wiped them away, glancing away. Ochako felt herself unclench her fist, and glanced away as well.

For a few seconds they were silent, until Ochako let out a small sigh.

"Can ... can I tell you something?"

"Huh?” Izuku blinked, looking back up when she looked a bit sad, “Uh - yeah?"

"I wanna be a hero too," She admitted, going a bit red again as Izuku perked up at that information, his eyes widening. "I wanna be like Thirteen, who can make everyone feel safe and happy. I wanted to help my daddy at his construction company, when I'm big and strong, and I can help him and Mommy with our money problems ... but he said that I should follow my dream. He said that if I wanna be a hero, I - I should be a hero. And … and that’s what I’m gonna do.”

"Huh ..." Izuku gasped quietly.

"My quirk would be really good to help him, though," She pouted, moving all five of her fingers onto her plushie, and letting it go. Izuku watched with wonder as the toy, instead of falling to the floor, glew pink briefly before it began to float up, looking up with wide eyes as she sent it floating to the ceiling, "it'd be really good if I trained it to float all of his stuff, but he says that I should use it to help people."

"Wow ..." Izuku stared after the toy, and then blinked when Ochako put her fingers together, and the toy came falling back to earth, hitting Ochako on the head on the way down, which only made her frown a little more as she adjusted herself where she sat on the floor, putting her hands down on her feet as she frowned.

"My mommy and daddy work so hard," Now it was her turn to tear up a little bit, "but they're always so tired. It always makes me sad whenever I see how sleepy they are whenever they get back from work, and always try to smile for me. But ... but when I saw how happy they were when we saw a hero beat up a villain one time, how ... how happy everyone looked ..." She hunched over, staring at her feet, "... it made me really happy. So I - I wanna be like that - a hero that can make people happy. But more than that, I wanna make my mommy and daddy happy."

Izuku stared at her for a moment, seeing how down and sad she looked, and let out a small grunt as he sat up on his knees, looking at her with a small soft look on his face.

"That ..." He hesitated for a moment, glancing down at the All Might toy and the Thirteen toy laying side by side with each other, and then sighed a little bit. "That ... that sounds really cool, Occhan. Being a hero to - to make everyone happy - that's the kind of hero I wanna be too. Someone who can make other people smile, and - and make sure they're okay after something scary."

"Then ..." Ochako hesitated, but then shyly stole a glance at him, "... then we can be heroes together."

"H-huh? But I'm -"

"It doesn't matter if you're quirkless!" She shook her head, turning around and looking at him stubbornly with a look of determination on her round face. "As long as you want to be a hero, we'll figure it out! So let's be heroes together!"

Izuku felt himself lose his breath at that - staring at the small girl looking so determined at him, as though she knew that they would be heroes. It was ... honestly, he never heard something like that before. Not from Katsuki, not from his classmates, not even from his mom and dad, who always avoided answering him when he asked if he could be a hero. 

Hearing that from the small girl in front of him ... he couldn't help but tear up, sniffling and raising a hand to his eyes. Before Ochako could panic and ask if he was okay, however, there was a small knock at the door, getting both children's attention.

"Izuku? Ochako?" Inko's voice said, sounding regretful, "It's time for Ochako to go home, now - it's almost her bedtime."

Ochako frowned at that, glancing over at the boy as he wiped his eyes again, but still let out a small, sad sigh as she crawled to her feet, picking up her Thirteen plushie from the floor. She had been scared to come here, but now she was disappointed that she had to leave. As soon as Izuku also got up from his spot, Ochako walked over and opened the door with both of her hands, walking out into the hall and seeing Hisashi and her dad still talking, but with her dad putting his coat over his shoulders and smiling at her, and her mom holding her baby album underneath her arm, walking over to pat her head.

"Did you have fun?" Her mom asked with a smile, and was satisfied when Ochako nodded.

Soon enough, the two families faced each other at the door, Ochako holding her mom's hand while Izuku stood between his parents holding his All Might toy, and looking unsurely at her as her parents said their farewells.

"Well, that was a great dinner!" Taiyo smiled at them both, bowing slightly. "We'll have to do this again at some point, we can do the cookin' next time."

"Of course!" Inko beamed. "It was our pleasure to have you come over."

"And as for you two," Miwa bent down to put her hand on Ochako's head, "I'm glad that you got along! Maybe tomorrow you two can go to that park and meet up to play, wouldn't that sound great?"

"That would!" Inko agreed. "I can swing around to watch Ochako if you'd like."

"Oh, why don’t we go together! We can go for a walk while they play. Now, Ochako, what would you like to say?"

Ochako squirmed a little bit, feeling some of her shyness returning, but still looked up at the two Midoriyas and muttered, "T-thank you for having us."

"You're welcome, sweetheart," Hisashi smiled down at her, "now you have a nice night, okay?"

Ochako nodded, glancing down at her shoes, and then turned with her parents to leave the apartment and return to their own -

"W-wait!"

The Urarakas paused at the small outcry, and looked back around. Izuku had stepped forward, blushing a little bit at the sudden attention on him from not just their nextdoor neighbours, but his mom and dad as well, but still took a deep breath as he began walking forward. 

Ochako blinked as Izuku walked up to her, holding his All Might toy closely to his chest - and then held it out.

"Here," Izuku extended his arms to hold out the toy to her. "I want you to have this."

"Huh?" Ochako stared down at the toy being offered to her as the adults around Izuku blinked in surprise, and then she looked back up at him in shock. "But - but this is your favourite toy!"

"I know," Izuku nodded, and tried his best to smile at her even though he was very red from embarrassment, "but I want you to have it, because - because you're my friend."

Ochako faltered at that, glancing down at the cool All Might toy in her hand - one that her parents wouldn't be able to afford - and then, timidly, wrapped her hand around the plastic figure. Taking it out of his hand and bringing it to her, she looked down at it, studying the toy in her hand carefully, and then brought it to hold beside her Thirteen plushie, glancing up at Izuku and giving him a small smile that he returned.

Above them, Inko was tearing up while Taiyo gave the smaller boy a grin, and Miwa snapped a quick picture with her flip phone.

Alas, the good times couldn't last forever, and Ochako had to go home to brush her teeth and get to bed, while Izuku had a few videos to watch with his dad before his own bedtime. As both children happily waved bye to each other and ran to their rooms to get into their pajamas, the Urarakas watching Ochako as she ran next door to open the door and go inside, the four adults sighed as they turned with grins to each other.

"Well," Hisashi chuckled, softly closing the door behind him and Inko and stepping into the night air, "I guess that was a rousing success after all."

"You got that right," Taiyo grinned, raising his hand to shake Hisashi's. "I was thinkin' that it was touch and go there for a sec, but looks like they're gonna get along jus' fine."

"Indeed!" Miwa clapped her hands happily, "It looks like they'll become friends after all."

"That's good," Hisashi nodded, his smile falling a bit, "we - well, we admit, Inko and I were a bit nervous about Izuku being a bit too shy, but it looks like she managed to crack through his armor and get to the little guy. It’s not every day he gives up his favorite toy."

"Yeah," Taiyo frowned somewhat, crossing his arms, "if I’m bein' honest, you guys weren't the only ones feelin' a bit nervous there. Ochako's ... she's had a hard time makin' friends at her old school. We think it's mostly due to us - no little kid really wants to spend time with a little girl who plays with a flayed Thirteen plushie  - kids are cruel like that, they picked on her. So seein' her getting along with Izuku ... I guess what we're sayin' ..."

"We're grateful," Miwa finished for him, smiling at the couple.

"Well ..." Hisashi's own smile fell, and he sighed as he leaned against the door frame, "... I apologize for bringing down the mood even more, but Taiyo, you mentioned earlier about Izuku hanging out with boys earlier today. Was one of them some blonde kid? His quirk lets him explode stuff?"

"Hm ... yeah," The Uraraka patriarch nodded, "I saw 'em heading out to the forest when I pulled up with our truck."

"And I suggested Ochako go play with them while we unpacked the truck," Miwa remembered, "but she seemed a bit fidgety, and didn’t want to go over. I had thought it was just because she was shy, but ..."

"Well," Hisashi frowned, "I guess we should consider ourselves lucky Ochako didn't head over. The blonde boy - that's Katsuki. Inko and I ... we think that he's started bullying Izuku."

Both Taiyo and Miwa looked shocked at that - the thought of the small boy that had endeared himself to them through his befriending their daughter and giving her his favorite toy being bullied, it hurt them. 

However, before they could make their thoughts about that known (Taiyo probably with a bit of swearing mixed in), they heard the door behind them twist open, and Izuku poked his head out of the door, looking excited.

"Dad! You said we could watch All Might videos!"

"Hm? Oh, I know, I know," Hisashi smiled good naturedly, waving his hand, "and I'll be in -"

"Mommy, I'm ready to be tucked in bed!"

The adults turned to see Ochako poking her head out their door, dressed in her pajamas and holding both the Thirteen plushie and the All Might action figure in her hand. Once she noticed the Midoriyas' door open, though, she looked around and saw Izuku also poking his head out, the boy looking surprised to see her as well. The Midoriyas and the Urarakas couldn't help but laugh a little bit.

"Looks like we gotta take care of our kids," Taiyo chuckled. "Ochako, why don't you wish your friend goodnight again?"

Ochako blushed a little bit, but glanced at Izuku again and gave him a small smile, giving him a wave, "G-goodnight."

"Y-yeah," Izuku smiled back and waved back, "g-goodnight."

The adults grinned at the utter adorableness, and the Urarakas went to their door and wished the other family goodnight, the children blushing a bit but still waving to each other. With a small chuckle, Hisashi closed the door to his own apartment and locked the door, heading into the living room where Izuku was hurrying to the TV.

"So mister," Hisashi grunted as he sat down on the couch, hearing Inko heading into their room to take off her earrings, "I'm assuming meeting our new neighbours wasn't as bad as you were afraid it would be, right?"

"Mm-mm," Izuku shook his head, moving to bend down and grab his dad’s laptop, wanting to bring it to him so he could pull up the All Might videos they were going to watch together, "they were nice."

"Weren't they? And Ochako was a sweetheart too, right?" Hisashi leaned forward, a teasing grin on his face when he saw his son’s cheeks go a little red at the mention of the little girl, "You know, you two were acting mighty comfortable around each other once you got over your shyness. And so soon after meeting each other as well!"

"Um - er -"

“But I guess that can wait,” His teasing grin turned suddenly serious, giving his son a pout, “why don’t we talk about how easy it was for you to throw me under the bus at dinner, young man, over our little chocolate deal? I’m thinking that -”

ZAP

"Ow!" Izuku cried out, whipping his hand back from the laptop and it tightly. Hisashi blinked as well in shock - that sound of electricity zapping had been surprisingly loud, making him jump up from his spot on the couch to hurry over to Izuku, thinking that he must’ve just gotten electrocuted.

"Izuku?" He quickly knelt down, looking at his son in concern, "Are you okay?"

"I'm - I'm okay, dad," Izuku shook his head, staring at his finger with a small pout and a bit of confusion, "just - I think I shocked myself."


It had rained that day.

The moment she had woken up, Ochako hopped out of bed, holding the All Might toy closely to her with a wide smile, and hurried on to the bathroom. She remembered what Inko had said last night, about going to the park with Izuku to play, and she had a hard time going to sleep last night from her excitement, but now that she was awake she knew she had to get ready to go and play with her new friend. 

Truth be told ... she had been really nervous to go to a new person's house, especially one who's better off than her family (she had been really impressed by the big TV and the computer, especially in comparison to the box TV her daddy had and the laptop her parents shared), but once she had gotten over her shyness in front of Izuku, she had found herself having a lot of fun. Not a lot of her classmates from her last kindergarten liked her very much - calling her 'poor girl' and trying to steal her Thirteen doll just so they could play keep away - so the fact that he had liked her at once made her excited for what they could do today.

After brushing her teeth, hurrying past her dad as he yawned widely to go to the bathroom so he could pee, Ochako hurried back into the kitchen, where her mom was pouring a bowl of cereal.

"What's your hurry?" She giggled when Ochako hugged her leg in greeting, and then hurried over to the table to eat. "You woke up two minutes ago and you're suddenly switching your gravity quirk for a super speed quirk."

"I wanna get to the park!" She smiled up at her mom excitedly as she put the bowl in front of her daughter. "Deku might be waiting for me!"

"Deku?" Her mother blinked. "Are you talking about Izuku?"

"Yeah!" She nodded quickly, smiling up at her. "I'm gonna call him that from now on! You said that it means 'you can do it', so I'm gonna remind him about that every day!"

Miwa faltered at that - she thought her daughter said 'dekiru' - but only sighed and glanced away, smiling a bit softly as she gave her daughter a spoon. Whatever floated her daughter's boat, and as long as it doesn't hurt Izuku's feelings.

“Okay,” She glanced out the window and furrowed her brow at the dark clouds gathering, “it looks like it’s going to rain, but we’ll see if we can meet up with the Midoriyas down there. All else fails, we can all go to their apartment to play, and that’ll be just as fine, right?”

“Yeah!”

After Ochako finished her breakfast and hurried to get dressed, Miwa put on her coat and went with her outside outside the apartment, telling her to be a bit quieter since Taiyo was still getting up and could be grouchy in the mornings, the two women having seen the large man lumbering into the kitchen while scratching his stomach to get some coffee. After getting out onto the breezeway, Miwa pointed out to the park near the apartment building, and then gave her a soft look.

"Are you sure you wanna go now?" She asked in a worried tone, "We can always go and knock on their door, they might not be down there yet. And I’m not sure if I should let you go off by yourself just yet ..."

"Mm-mm!" Ochako shook her head, balling her fists. "I'm a big girl! Besides, Deku might already be waiting for me!"

Miwa looked a bit unsure, but then sighed and gave her a small smile.

"All right," She nodded, "but only because it's right there, and I'm going to be watching you from up here to make sure you don't get in trouble. Your dad and I will be down there soon with Inko.”

"Okay!"

With that, Ochako turned to hurry down the stairs, being careful to take it one at a time and holding the All Might toy safely to her to prevent herself from dropping it, and hurried to the park near the apartment buildings. Remembering what her mom said to her several times back when they were living in Mie, she made sure to look both ways before crossing the street to the park. Once she stood near the playground, she looked around to see her mom waving to her with Inko, while Ochako waved back happily. Knowing that she made it safely and that her mom and dad would be there soon, she turned around and walked into the playground, ignoring the dark clouds swirling above her.

Letting out a small hum, Ochako walked to the swing, looking around for her friend but not finding him anywhere - which meant that he must still be at the apartment, she realized, but she shook her head a bit while smiling. She could wait for a little bit, she knew that they were coming. Reaching the swing, she hopped up into it and looked down at the All Might toy in her hand, smiling down at it.

The toy was really cool, unlike anything she had played with before, but even so she was careful with it, holding onto it carefully and making sure that she didn’t accidentally break it. It was a gift from her friend, so she had to protect it and make sure that it was taken care of. Her mommy and daddy emphasized that she had to take care of things that she thought was important, and this was -

"Eh? What's that?"

Ochako jumped a bit at the unfamiliar voice, looking up - and then she felt herself go stiff at who had just looked around at her.

Staring at her was a blonde boy in a blue shirt, with ash-blonde hair that spiked up all around, and a weird look on his face that she didn't like at all as she looked at the toy. Beside the boy was a slightly more overweight kid, with a buzzcut and squinted eyes, but his red bat-like wings made him look even bigger, and on the right was another boy with a blue baseball cap moved backwards on his head, with a wide smile and squinted eyes. She could see a pair of adults talking a little aways from the park, but her attention went to the three boys as they approached her, circling around her and surrounding the little girl on the swing.

But they weren't looking at her. They were looking at the toy in her hand.

"Ain't that Deku's?" The winged kid pointed, making Ochako gulp a bit when Katsuki strolled over to look at it while Ochako held it to her chest.

"Yeah, it is, I can see his stupid name written on All Might's boot," Katsuki pointed it out, making Ochako gulp when his red eyes raised to hers. "Where'd you get that? It belongs to Deku - did you take it from him?"

"Uh -"

"She must've!" Yubi laughed. "How else would she have gotten it?"

The boys laughed at that, and Ochako got off the swing, glancing around for a way to escape. She never really liked mean kids, and she knew that these boys had pushed down Izuku yesterday. She wanted to run back to the apartment and wait for her parents, but before she could move, Katsuki moved forward and snatched the All Might toy from her gasp.

"H-hey!" She gasped, looking around at him as he turned the toy around to look at the boot.

"Yeah, this is Deku's," Katsuki huffed, lifting his arm to lift the toy out of Ochako's grasp as she hopped up for it. "I'll just be taking this off your hands now."

"G-give it back!"

"Or what?" Katsuki smirked while Tsubasa and Yubi laughed. "What're you going to do?"

"I'll -" Ochako struggled to think of a response, and then shook her head and stomped her foot in frustration while the three boys laughed. “You’re being mean! You need to be careful or you’re going to break it!”

“Who cares!” The boy in the baseball cap laughed. “It’s just Deku’s, no one cares if worthless Deku’s things get broke.”

“I care! And that’s not what it means!”

“Huh?” Katsuki blinked, looking down at her while still holding the toy above their heads, Ochako hopping to try and grab it. “That is what it means. Deku means ‘someone who can’t do anything’.”

“No it doesn’t!” She yelled, “It means ‘you can do it’!”

Katsuki stared at her for a moment, taken aback - and then he frowned, giving her a small glare as he tightened his grip on the toy. Before she could hop up to grab it again, the blonde boy suddenly turned away from her, smirking a bit, and threw the toy. 

Ochako let out a gasp of terror as the toy soared through the air, going up but then quickly going down to the dirt ground, but before she could think to run after it, Katsuki threw his hand into her face, his hands popping with mini-explosions as he grinned widely.

BOOM!

Ochako let out a cry as Katsuki blew one of his explosions in her face - nothing too bad, but something that made her back up in panic, tripping on her feet and falling hard onto her butt. Tsubasa and Yubi laughed harder when she collapsed with tears in her eyes, but Katsuki found himself blinking again when, instead of crying and running off, or looking up at him in terror like the other kids he shoved down did, she instead turned her attention to Izuku's toy laying on the ground, eyes widening in fear, and quickly scrambled to her feet to run over for it.

Which only made Katsuki angrier - she wasn’t reacting like the other kids, and that made him feel disrespected. And he didn’t like being disrespected.

"Hey!" He snapped, reaching out and shoving her from behind, making her stumble and collapse onto the dirt again.

But Ochako couldn't care, not when she finally properly saw the toy - or what had happened to it. Letting out a small gasp, Ochako crawled over to the All Might toy her friend had given her, his favorite toy, and felt herself tear up again as she saw the arm had broken off. Lifting the two pieces of plastic up, she felt herself begin to cry in earnest as she hugged the toy to her chest, which only made Katsuki more annoyed as he began storming up to her, flanked by Yubi and Tsubasa.

"Stop paying attention to Deku's stupid toy," He growled, "and look at -"

"Kacchan!"

The boys and Ochako jumped a bit at the voice that suddenly spoke up, and they all turned. Ochako looked up from where she had been shoved, tears in her eyes, to see Izuku staring at the scene in shock, looking from his childhood friend to the friend he just met yesterday, and felt tears begin to build in his own eyes.

"I - what are you doing?" He gasped, staring at where Ochako was lying while the skies continued to darken above them.

"Oh, it's just you, Deku," Katsuki said dismissively, looking back around at Ochako as sat up on her knees, staring at the items in her hand and tearing up at Izuku's favorite toy being broken, "just go away, I'm doing something here."

"But - why did you push her down?"

"She was being annoying. So I'm going to teach her a lesson."

Izuku glanced up, seeing Mitsuki and Masaru walking back to their car when they had realized it was giong to rain; and then looked around, seeing his mom and Taiyo and Miwa coming around the block, not seeing what was happening yet. 

That meant ... there would be no one to help Ochako if Katsuki beat her up. No one to prevent her from getting -

- no.

No, there was someone.

She said that 'Deku' meant 'you could do it'.

And that was what he did, running forward and skidding to a stop in front of the fallen girl. Katsuki, Yubi and Tsubasa faltered to a stop from their marching up to Ochako, staring at Izuku as he raised his arms to block the brown haired girl from their line of sight.

"Y-you're being mean, Kacchan," Izuku said through his own tears as Ochako laid on the ground, looking up at him, "c-can't you see she's crying?"

The little girl stared up at him for a moment, taken aback as he shook, clearly terrified, but did not back down as small drops of rain began to splatter against the ground.

"If you keep doing this," Izuku brought up his fists while looking absolutely terrified. "I'll - I'll - I'll never forgive you!"

The three boys were clearly taken aback, staring at Izuku in befuddlement as he stood up to them for once. Katsuki's parents, meanwhile, finally glanced around to see the situation, Mitsuki's eyes widening a fraction and closing the car door sharply, intending to go over and reprimand her son. Inko and the Urarakas also saw what was happening, feeling their eyes widen, and Inko quickly began to hurry over, intending to scoop Izuku out of the way and hopefully block Katsuki from hurting Ochako.

But the three boys then felt grins cross their faces when they realized what they could do now that Izuku was actually standing up to them.

"Even though you're quirkless," Katsuki smirked, while Tsubasa spread his wings menacingly and Yubi extended his fingers while looking menacingly at both young children, and then brought his fists together to create a small explosion, "you're pretending to be a hero, Deku?"

Izuku flinched back, raising his hands to defend Ochako in case Katsuki moved around him -

- and then he suddenly hurt, as though they had been given a shock.

"Ow!" Izuku hissed, closing his eyes briefly in pain - it felt last night, when he had touched his dad’s computer and it had given him a shock. As he felt his hands unintentionally tense up, he was suddenly aware that the sound of Katsuki's footsteps moving closer suddenly stopped again.

"What's -" Yubi gasped, "- what's Deku doing?!"

"His hands are weird!"

Izuku felt himself falter at that - his hands were weird? Reluctantly, Izuku opened his eyes, seeing Katsuki staring at the green-haired boy’s hands in surprise and a bit of anger, and Tsubasa and Yubi backing away slowly, their own eyes widening.

Feeling confused, Izuku glanced down - and felt his own eyes widen.

In his hands ... moving his wrists so he could look at his palms, he could see flickers of electricity curling around his hand and fingers. Izuku raised his hands to stare at them in shock, seeing the small sparks escaping from the green electricity making his hands tingle and shake. From behind him, Ochako looked up again and felt her own jaw drop at the sight of the electricity beginning to shimmer down Izuku’s arms and circle his entire arm and shoulder, making the small boy stare in wonder.

Is this ... Izuku realized, feeling himself shake slightly, … is this my quirk?

"How are you doing that?!" Katsuki demanded, making Izuku jump and look up at the sight of Katsuki's smirk completely vanishing, and the surprise being replaced by rage. "What the hell is that, Deku?!"

"I - I don't -"

Katsuki didn't seem to care, however, letting out a small growl and pulling his hands back. Flickers of flames appeared in his hands, making Izuku take a tentative step back as he realized that his friend was about to charge at him.

"Kacchan!" Yubi took another step back, while Tsubasa stayed flying in the air.

"Doesn't matter that you can make your hands spark," Katsuki narrowed his eyes in anger, unsure about why he was angry but not backing down, "I'm still better than you!"

With that, Katsuki lunged forward, making Ochako squeak in terror at the explosion beginning to blast out of his hand - 

- and then Izuku, acting on instinct, threw up his hands.

What happened next, Izuku remembered with crystal clarity. No matter how much he wished he could forget, he remembered every tiny detail.

One moment Izuku had thrown his hands up and pointed them out, Katsuki throwing his own hand out to blast him in the face with an explosion, like he had done twice before. Inko running as quickly as she could to try and stop whatever was about to happen, while Ochako sat up behind him and held the toy to her chest.

The next, the entire playground was either on fire, or evaporated.

Izuku had raised his hands to defend himself and Ochako from his friend, and he felt something within him lurch. With a sudden zap, the electricity that had been tingling his arms and hands suddenly straightened out, and shot outwards through his palms. Izuku let out a small scream of pain as he felt his arms go instantly numb from the pain as two large bolts of lightning blasted out of his palms in a loud explosion of sound. Inko, who had been running to Izuku and held out her hand to stop it, let out a cry of pain as her own arm was struck by one of the outpores of electricity, leaving a harsh red mark on her arm as she fell back, barely being caught by Taiyo and Miwa in time.

One of the bolts of lightning, meanwhile, went straight over Katsuki's head, zigzagging above the bullies - and striking the plastic playset behind them. And without warning, the entire playground exploded into a bolt of fire, the explosion powerful enough to send Yubi and Tsubasa flying with small screams of their own, landing down hard on the dirt ground, feeling their arms snap when they landed on them at weird angles and making them scream in pain from their broken arms.

And Katsuki, who had momentarily frozen in the air when he realized exactly what was going to happen, felt his eyes widen when the other bolt of lightning from Izuku's palm slammed directly into his chest.

All of a sudden, the small blonde boy was aware of nothing but a jolting, excruciating pain. He felt his eyes widen even more as it seemed that his vision was filled with nothing but white light, surrounding him like a bubble as the lightning struck his chest and exited through his feet, burning holes into his shoes. He felt as though everything had turned to slow motion - Izuku staring at him in shock and horror, the brown-haired girl he had kicked around looking at Katsuki in fear. 

But then the pain somehow intensified even more, and Katsuki felt himself lose consciousness as he was blasted back by the lightning, a loud explosion of sound temporarily deafening him as he skidded across the ground and eventually came to a stop on his back, his eyes rolled into the back of his head as he laid prone and unmoving.

And then the rain began to fall. And fall hard.

Izuku ... stared. Blinking slowly, as though he didn't really understand what had happened in the last two seconds. Very slowly, Izuku looked around at his mother, seeing her sit up and wince in pain at a harsh red mark on her arm, looking back up at Izuku and staring at him in horror, which made the little boy shake a little bit. 

He turned his gaze back around to the two boys laying on their sides, screaming and wailing as they clutched their broken arms and heard the harsh ringing in their ears from the explosion. He then looked over at the playground, startled to see it melting into a lump, the smell of burning plastic filling his nostrils.

And then he turned and looked at Katsuki, and he felt his breath escape him.

Katsuki ... lying on his back, his dark blue shirt burned away and slightly on fire, exposing a harsh red burn on his chest. Seeing his parents skid to a stop and drop to their knees, hurriedly patting out the flames in a panic as Mitsuki tried to hold him up with obvious panic. Seeing Katsuki groan lowly, tears of pain coming escaping his eyes as he stared blankly up into the dark sky. One of his shoes burned, sporting dark roundish spots near the singed areas, and coin-sized burns that were deep enough to put his finger inside of.

And then Izuku fell to his knees, staring in horror at what he just did, before turning his gaze downward to his hands. 

He couldn't hear anything over the ringing in his ears. He couldn't hear the screams of the other children, hearing the sound of Tsubasa and Yubi’s parents yelling for them to get away from him or they'd be hit by lightning again. 

He didn't notice Taiyo and Miwa sprinting as fast as they could towards their daughter, eyes widened in terror. 

He didn't notice Inko getting up and quickly moving to kneel beside him, to shield him away from everyone while wincing in pain from the burn on her arm. 

He didn't notice Ochako staring at him from behind, feeling her eyes widen as her parents moved to embrace her and make sure that she was okay.

All Izuku could do ...

... was stare at his hands, seeing the last flickers of lightning fade away and the sparking of his palms finally cease.

And as Izuku let out a small sob, and closed his eyes tightly as his mother embraced him, the reality of what he just did settled in.


"Dr. Tsubasa, thank you for coming on such short notice. I know that you normally don't do house calls, but Izuku, we couldn’t -"

"Oh, it's no problem at all, ma'am! This is such a rare occurrence for me, I had to come as soon as I could. And your arm seems to be healing up fine as well, other than the fact that it'll have to be wrapped up for a few days, of course. Now, where is your son?"

"He's ... he's in his room. He hasn't left it since the - since the incident a few days ago - the - the other students in his class - they - he's - he's not been letting anyone in."

"Hmmm ... well, I'll let you know that Katsuki Bakugou is going to be just fine. His chest and arm where he was hit by the lightning bolt will scar, of course, but other than that he is physically fine. His parents don't blame you or Izuku for the incident as well - although I'm sure you already knew that, since Mrs. Bakugou mentioned to me that you are friends."

"I - yes, I - they said that they knew it was an accident. But - but the other boys' families - they're talking about suing -"

"Oh, no need to worry about that, ma'am ... one of the boys involved in the incident was actually my grandson. I can convince my son and the family of the other boy that it was merely an accident, no need to worry about that."

"Mm ..."

"Now, onto why I am here - Izuku's quirk."

"I - yes, I - I apologize, I'm not sure how this is possible. When - when we visited you last week, you said that - that by the time he was four -"

"- that he would normally manifest a version of either your or your husband's quirks, or a combination of the two. I am aware. However, this is an instance that took even me aback - but it does have a scientific explanation!"

"O-oh ...?"

"From what I have gathered, from your email and your phone call, Izuku has managed to manifest an ability that does not take after yours or Hisashi's side of the family. It's a rare occurrence, but one that I believe has happened here. There's several medical names for this, but we commonly refer to it as a 'mutation'.”

“I - I see.”

“Instead of gaining a version of your attraction quirk, a version of your husband's fire breathing quirk, or a combination of the two, Izuku has instead developed an entirely new ability different from both yours and Hisashi’s. From what I have gathered, your son's quirk gives him the ability to generate lightning from his hands - or perhaps, his entire body, but I can’t be sure without quirk tests."

"Lightning ..."

"Indeed! I don't have the specifics of how powerful it is or how it works, but it's clear that Izuku's quirk can be dangerous if not used correctly, if yesterday's demonstration is anything to say. I would like to examine the boy and figure things out, if you would -"

"A-actually - I - I'm sorry, doctor, but I can't get Izuku to come out of his room at all. I - I don't think he'd like to see anyone right now. May - may I put a rain check on that?"

"Hm ... very well. But please, if anything else happens, let me know, and I'll be happy to give Izuku an examination."

"Thank you, Dr. Tsubasa. Again, I’m sorry for having you come out all this way."

The front door opened and closed again, with him hearing the sound of the doctor's footsteps fading away as he left. There was another minute of silence before he heard his mom let out a tired sigh, and then, after a few more steps closer to his room, Izuku heard her knock softly on his door.

"Izuku?" She asked quietly, "Can you please open the door, sweetie?"

"..."

"Sweetie? Can you hear me?"

Izuku sniffled, and rolled over on his bed, keeping himself hidden in his bedsheets.

"Okay … it’s okay, sweetie. I'm going to make some katsudon and leave it in front of your door. Just promise to eat it, okay, honey? I love you."

Soon, the sound of her footsteps walking back to the kitchen filled Izuku's ears, and he quietly put his face in his pillows, feeling tears begin to prickle in his eyes as he hid in the dark room.

It had been two days since he had destroyed the playground outside their apartment. Once they had gotten over the shock of what he did to Kacchan, Tsubasa and Yubi, the Urarakas had called ambulances to come help them, seeing as Izuku had injured Tsubasa and Yubi, and knocked Katsuki unconscious with the direct lightning bolt to the chest. Tsubasa and Yubi's parents, meanwhile, had screamed accusations at Inko and Izuku, threatening to sue them for breaking their children's arms, while Mitsuki only held Katsuki to her, not saying anything and staring blankly at nothing. 

Thankfully, everyone had reached the hospital in time before anything else could happen, and the doctors confirmed that Katsuki would be fine after they had a look at his chest, other than having a bad scar on his upper chest and arm from where Izuku had hit him, and had also wrapped up Inko's arm in a cast and prescribed to her a healing cream to help with the electrical burn.

Izuku, however, was a different story. He had sat there in the small hospital chair, completely and utterly vacant as he stared at his hands blankly. He didn't even notice the Urarakas trying to comfort him, didn't notice Ochako looking worriedly at him while holding the broken All Might toy in her hands. All he could look at, once she had come out, was his mom’s arm in a cast, and knowing that it was him that had hurt her.

And then he had school the next day. And there was Tsubasa and Yubi, arms wrapped in their own casts telling their classmates what had happened, pointing straight at Izuku in terror. And that was when Izuku was no longer called quirkless. Now he was called something worse.

“I heard he stopped Katsuki’s heart!”

“He did! He wasn’t breathing until the doctors brought him back to life!”

“Deku killed him?!”

“Just blasted him with lightning! I heard he laughed when he did it!”

“Freak!”

“Monster!”

“Get back, or he’ll electrocute you too!”

“Villain!”

“All Might should come and bring him to jail!”

… a villain.

To them, Izuku was a villain.

Once he had gotten home from school, Izuku had immediately bolted to his room in tears, ignoring Inko’s look of shock and hurt at the sight of him, and slammed the door shut and locked it, crawling into his bed to sob his heart out. He ignored his mom and dad knocking on the door and asking to be let in - he knew that his dad had a key for all the rooms so he could come in if he wanted to, but it seemed like he hadn't pulled it out yet, not wanting to freak his son out.

Which was good. It prevented them from seeing him huddled in the corner of his bed, laying on his side and sniffling miserably.

He ... he had hurt Katsuki and his mom. He hurt Yubi and Tsubasa. He scared Ochako. He destroyed the playground.

He hurt people.

Shivering, Izuku glanced at his hands again, feeling tears pool in his eyes. Before that awful day, he had wanted a quirk more than anything in the world. He wanted a quirk so he could fit in and feel normal. And when it finally manifested, he had used it to put his friends and his mom in the hospital.

He thought he'd be able to breathe fire, or float things. Not ... not electrocute people. Not hit Katsuki directly in the chest and - and wound him. Not destroy the playground and reduce it to a pile of burnt, horribly smelling plastic. Not scare his new friend so badly that he couldn't even look at her without feeling shame.

It had been on the news, he had seen it when his dad came home that night and turned on the TV before changing the channel - a reporter telling the camera about a quirk accident that destroyed a playground and put people in the hospital. He hadn't heard his or his mom's names, but it didn't matter. Tsubasa and Yubi had told everyone the moment they got to their classroom. Now they knew exactly what he was.

They - they called him a villain.

And he knew what people said happened to villains. What All Might said about villains in the interviews he and his dad would watch together.

And, Izuku thought with a small sob as he curled into himself, he wouldn't even be able to deny it.

Villains used their quirks to hurt people.

So he was … he was a villain. 


KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

Ochako gulped a bit as her dad knocked on the door of the Midoriyas, the large man standing back a bit so that if someone did answer, they didn't swing the door open and hit him in the face. Rain gently poured outside the apartment, but luckily they were covered by the roof of the breezeway to prevent them from getting wet. 

Ochako herself held the All Might toy gently in her hand, staring down sadly at the one-armed hero as he gave her a frozen grin, but then the door opened up in front of her and made her quickly look up at who had answered her dad’s knock.

"Oh," Inko gasped, and Ochako felt herself falter at the sight of her - the green-haired woman normally looked kind and energetic, but there were purple marks under her eyes and her arm wrapped in a cast that made Ochako sad to look at, a reminder of what had happened a few days ago. "Hello! We weren't aware that you were coming over."

"Yeah, uh - we thought we'd see how Izuku was doin'." Taiyo gave her a kind look, Miwa nodding as well as she held out a small cake for Hisashi to accept when he had also come to inspect who was knocking at the door. 

“How is he?” Miwa asked, looking a bit sad, “Is he doing okay?”

"We ... honestly, we don't know," Hisashi shook his head, looking equally as tired as he took the cake from Miwa with a small smile, "he's locked himself in his room since he came back from school the other day. We’ve - we let him be by himself for a little bit."

"Oh, dear," Miwa worried, raising a hand to her cheek while Taiyo looked solemnly on. "Is - is he -?"

"He's - well, we leave food outside his door, and he eats it when he's sure we're not looking. And he runs to the bathroom when he needs to, and then right back into his room. I've been tempted to use the spare key to unlock his door and talk to him, but ..." Hisashi hesitated for a moment, and then sighed, "... but I don't want to upset him anymore than he already is."

Inko nodded at that, looking obviously saddened, but then shook her head and gave their neighbours a smile.

"W-well, in any case," She stood back, "please, come in! I see you made - you made us a cake."

"Yes, we - we did! It’s chocolate."

“Oh! How - how delicious! And - and how did Ochako’s interview at the preschool go?”

“G-great! She got in! So that means she’ll probably be in the same class as Izuku.”

The Urarakas were accepted into the Midoriya household while making small talk, hurrying inside as rain continued to pour outside, and Ochako slowly followed them in. As soon as the front door closed behind her, she turned her gaze to the closed door with Izuku’s name on the All Might nameplate hanging off it. That was what she continued to stare at as she took off her wet shoes with her parents, putting them near the door with the Midoriyas’ shoes. 

As her parents walked with Hisashi and Inko to the kitchen, talking with a serious voice that made her a little sad, instead of following them, Ochako took a few tiny steps forward towards Izuku’s closed door, staring at it.

She felt ... honestly, Ochako couldn't help but feel guilty, tears welling in her eyes. She glanced back down at the toy in her hand, sniffing a little bit at the place where All Might's arm was supposed to be. In the confusion of Izuku awakening his quirk, she had lost it at the playground, and when she had gone back to look for it, she wasn’t able to due to the yellow tape preventing her from looking for it, kind looking police officers guiding her back to her apartment while she cried. 

Now Izuku's favorite toy would forever be broken, only a day after he gave it to her. Only one day after he trusted her with it, and she got it broken because she couldn’t stand up to that mean jerk.

She let out another small sniff, raising her hand to wipe her eyes with her sweater, ignoring how it was too big and fell over her hands. Feeling herself shake a little bit, but knowing that Izuku deserved an apology from her for letting his favorite toy be broken, she raised a tiny fist to knock softly on the door.

"Deku?" She asked in a quiet voice, hoping that the sound of her voice would be enough to make him unlock the door, but there was no answer. Sniffing again, she took a tentative step back, not sure what to do now that she couldn’t just go in to ask for his forgiveness - but then suddenly became aware of someone calling her name.

"Ochako?" She turned to see Hisashi standing at the end of the hall, looking at her in concern. Before she could say anything, though, he glanced down at the toy in her hand, and blinked.

“That’s Izuku’s toy, isn’t it?” He walked forward, grunting as he got down on his knees so they could be at eye level. Once he glanced down at it, Ochako sniffled again, feeling guilty.

“I broke it,” She admitted miserably, bringing it back to her best to hug it, “I broke his favorite toy.”

“Sweetie …” Hisashi gave her a sympathetic look, patting her back in comfort - and then glanced at the door. Taking a few seconds to weigh his options, the older man let out a sigh, and grunted again as he stood back up. Ochako looked up at him as he reached into his pocket, glancing down at her with a small smile, and brought out a key to show her.

"This'll be our little secret," He told her in a hushed voice, giving her a small smile and wink.

With that, Hisashi inserted the key into the doorknob, gave it a twist, and unlocked the door. Giving her a small pat on the head, Hisashi then turned on his heel to walk back down the hall to get supper ready for everyone, leaving Ochako standing unsurely beside the large door. 

But before she could doubt herself, she heard Izuku shuffling around in his room, and despite how scared she felt at the moment, she felt her body move for her, and quickly moved to grab the door handle, twisting and pushing it open with both hands.

The room was very dark, a lot darker than she had thought it would be, making her squirm a little bit - she still slept with her nightlight on, so seeing how scary this room looked with the only light coming from the hallway outside made her feel scared. But she could see enough of the room, looking around and finally spotting Izuku - or the Izuku sized lump on the bed. 

He was curled up in his blankets, obviously wrapped up in the fetal position, and even from where she was standing at the front of the door, she could hear his muffled crying.

Feeling her heart break a little, Ochako tentatively walked into the room, holding her hands together and looking worried at the lump as she held the All Might toy carefully. Once she was at the foot of the bed, Ochako stared at where Izuku's head would be, and then leaned in a little bit, raising her hand to poke the lump.

"... Deku?" She asked quietly, shaking a little bit when she heard Izuku's crying a little better, as though she had just made him feel worse by touching him. "Are you -?"

"Go away!" He sobbed, and quickly rolled back over, making Ochako jump a little bit as she heard him a little better now that his head wasn't pressed against the pillow.

"Huh?" She blinked, feeling tears in her eyes again as she stared at him in shock. "G-go away? I - why?"

"I hurt people," He said miserably, "I - I hurt Kacchan. I hurt my mom! I'm a villain! Only villains hurt people with their quirks!"

"N-no, Deku ..."

"I'm a villain! I'm - I'm dangerous," He sniffled miserably, pulling his blanket back up over his head. "If you touch me, you're going to get electrocuted. Go away, Occhan."

For one moment, Ochako stared at him, feeling herself blink as she stared at the little bit of green hair poking out of the blanket. She thought she would feel worse, or feel more miserable, or sad that she couldn’t apologize for breaking his favorite toy.

Instead, she felt angry.

"Please ... please leave me -"

"No!"

Izuku jumped a bit at the sudden shout behind him, but before he could react, or turn to see what was going on, Ochako suddenly leapt, the All Might toy falling to the end of the bed where it landed on its front. He let out a yelp as she jumped onto the bed, making it squeak a bit from her weight suddenly landing on it, and grabbed at the blanket to pull it down from around Izuku’s head, letting Izuku get a good look at the big pout on her face as she grabbed the comforter and began pulling it away roughly.

"No! You're my friend!" She insisted, pulling the blanket away despite Izuku's weak attempts to stop her. "You said so! So I’m not leaving you alone!"

"What -!" Izuku tried to resist, suddenly growing frustrated, and sat up so that he could get a better grip on the blanket. 

And thus began their struggle as they tried pulling the blanket to and away from Izuku, making both of them grunt and shout as Hisashi, Inko, Taiyo and Miwa quickly poked their heads in with wide eyes, not exactly sure what was going on or why their children were fighting.

"You're not scary! You're not a villain! You're my friend and you're not going to electrocute me!"

"Yes, I am!"

"No, you're not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Am too!"

"Are not!"

"Should we, uh ..." Hisashi glanced at the Urarakas as they also studied the scene of their children fighting over a blanket, "... should we break them up?"

"I wouldn't if I were you," Taiyo shook his head, wincing in reminiscence as he raised his thick arm, showing grooves in his skin that looked like teeth, "our little girl's a biter when she’s angry."

Conceding that, the four adults turned back to watch as Izuku and Ochako struggled with the blanket on the bed. Thankfully it didn't seem that they were interested in hurting each other, just playing tug-of-war with the blanket to get Izuku to come out from underneath, but still both kids put up a hell of a fight, struggling and straining against each other, until at last Ochako got the blanket off of the boy and threw it away.

And with that, Ochako moved forward to hug Izuku tightly, making him freeze where he sat, looking completely taken aback until his face morphed into terror, and he tried to shove her off him.

"O-Occhan, let me go! I'll electrocute you!"

"No, you won't!" She shook her head, holding on tighter. "Friends don't hurt friends, Mommy told me so! You won't hurt me, Deku."

"I - I hurt Kacchan! He's my friend, and I hurt him!"

"He was hurting me! He hurt me, and you turned up and stopped him! That's what a hero does!"

Thankfully, that was what made Izuku finally pause, allowing Ochako to tighten her hug around him, although she could feel him shaking in her embrace.

"That big jerk broke your All Might toy," She said miserably, "and I’m so sorry. You gave me that toy and I got it broken. I wasn’t able to stop him, but then you came in and saved me! Your quirk might be scary, but I know you aren't scary! You're awesome! I know that you aren't going to hurt me."

"But ..."

"We're friends, aren't we?" Ochako asked in a small voice, her large brown eyes tearing up again. "You said we could be friends."

Izuku hesitated again, feeling his own tears beginning to leak from his eyes, and shuddered a bit as he put his head down on the little girl's shoulder. He didn’t look up, but he knew that his mom and dad entered the room, being followed by Miwa and Taiyo, but for now all he could concentrate on was how tightly Ochako held him, as though she was afraid that he was going to disappear if she let him go.

"But ... but my quirk ... it's ..."

"Izuku," Inko said softly, making the little boy finally look up at his mom, seeing her tear up when his eyes automatically moved to her arm and making him whimper at the sight, "no one is angry at you for what happened. I'm not angry at you for what happened. And locking yourself in your room isn't going to make things any better."

"But - but Mom -"

"Izuku, no one's angry."

"And - and you said you'd be a hero!" Ochako reminded him. "A - a hero that makes people smile! You said that!"

"I ..."

"So let's be heroes together!" Ochako insisted, hugging him again while Inko and Hisashi sat on the bed, and Taiyo and Miwa stood over him as the boy cried into Ochako's shoulder, hesitantly bringing his arms around her as well in need of comfort as the adults around them smiled.


But he didn't say it back.

Izuku wasn't an idiot, even then. He knew ... he knew how dangerous he was. He hurt Katsuki enough to put him in the hospital. He destroyed the playground. He broke Tsubasa and Yubi's arms. He hurt his own mom. Everyone in his class thought he was a villain.

That meant that his power was dangerous. It was scary. It wasn't something he could control.

His quirk was dangerous. So he couldn’t use it ever again.

And if he couldn’t use his quirk, he couldn’t become a hero.

And that was the day Izuku Midoriya, even as a young boy, decided that his dreams of being a hero could never be.

Notes:

First Chapter: Let's show you guys a confident Izuku!
Second Chapter: Let's completely and totally destroy Izuku's confidence

And that was Chapter 2! And the showcasing of how exactly our fic will deviate from canon! This is my first opportunity to do a 'Izuku has a Quirk' fic and I wanted to get it as angsty and horrible as I could lol. And now you guys should see the parts that I was inspired by: From 'Neither a Bird or a Plane, It's Deku!' with Izuku's accident with Katsuki, from GTR and Izuku and Ochako's updated relationship. We'll be seeing how 'Young Midoriya' inspired this fic soon enough lol

And our first deviation from the fic is set up - Izuku's lightning quirk! I watched several videos of lightning striking things, thought 'holy shit that's terrifying' and then the second thought was 'wait what if Izuku did that?' and now here we are. Going forward, I know I'm going to be inspired by inFAMOUS's awesome lightning gameplay, with maybe a hint of Zenitsu from Demon Slayer, and I know I'm going to have fun exploring Izuku's quirk!

Also, our second deviation from canon: Izuku and Ochako being childhood friends! This is a concept I've always wanted to explore, after looking at fanart from Destiny Hoodie on Tumblr:

Look at 'em. Look how cute they are. And as you guys may have guessed, this is going to be putting a new spin on their dynamic, as well as their dynamic with Katsuki. And I cannot wait!

... also as a side note, writing four year old characteres is freaking hard XD

Thank you guys so much for reading! Coming up next, what could only be described as the day that changed Izuku's life! I think you guys know what'll be happening then.

See you then!

Chapter 3: Izuku Midoriya: Origin

Summary:

As self doubt and horrible memories of that day at the playground plague Izuku throughout the years, he finds himself having one of the most eventful days of his life when a pro hero emerges from a sewer manhole to give life advise.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MOR-"

Beep

With a small groan of tiredness, a fourteen year old Izuku Midoriya blindly threw his hand out, hoping that luck was on his side and he could turn off his alarm clock in one hit, and let out a sigh of relief that it only took him two more tries after the initial miss to hit the snooze button. Once his hand pressed down on top of the alarm and pressed the button on the top, the All Might alarm clock on his bedside table went silent, and Izuku let out another groan as he flopped back down, face first, into his pillow.

He wished he could just roll back over and fall back asleep, the allure of sleeping in tempting him - he had made the mistake of getting distracted last night when two new heroes debuted right after he brushed his teeth, making him sit down at his desk, his notebook flipped open to a new page, and getting to work writing any details he noticed watching their interviews and footage of them fighting villains, until it was finally one o’clock in the morning and he panicked, shutting off his desk lamp hastily and quickly going to bed. Alas, as tempting as it was to close his eyes and go back to sleep, he remembered what had happened the last time he almost slept in, and he would rather Taiyo not have to come over and shake him awake (an act that Izuku suspected his neighbor enjoyed immensely), so he let out another tired groan as he raised his head from his soft pillow and grumpily opened his eyes.

Seeing small streaks of sunlight begin to push gently into his window, and looking at his alarm clock, Izuku managed to rub some of the gunk out of his eyes to see that it was currently six thirty two. Letting out an open mouthed yawn, Izuku raised himself from where he had been sleeping, face down on his sheets, and moved his legs to put his feet down on the ground, slowly lifting himself up and wobbling as he smacked his lips, disliking the current taste in his mouth as he forced himself to begin moving.

As tired as he was, he knew he had to get ready soon - Ochako tended to swing by around seven-ish, once she was sure her parents were back from the night shift, so he needed to shower and be ready to go by the time she got here. Besides, he could already hear his mom moving around the kitchen, meaning that she was probably getting breakfast ready.

Tucking his school uniform underneath his arm to change in the bathroom, Izuku opened his door and walked out of his room towards the bathroom, his eyes continuing to feel heavy as he slumbered forward like a zombie. Wincing at the bright light of the bathroom as he laid out a towel, Izuku got out of his pajamas, turned on the shower, and waited for it to heat up enough to step in. Once he stepped under the warm water, Izuku sighed a bit as he enjoyed a hot shower right and early in the morning, hoping that this would be enough to wake him up and get him ready for the day.

Once he finally stepped out of the shower, having managed to clean himself up, Izuku brushed his teeth and got dressed into his school uniform, putting on the black gakuran uniform and buttoning up the yellow buttons of his shirt. As he did so, however, he glanced at his reflection in the mirror, wincing slightly at the purple marks under his eyes, and then trailed down to his hands. Feeling his face fall, Izuku opened them, showing the red electrical scars on his palms and fingers. Taking a moment to stare at them, Izuku let out another soft sigh, and shook his head, putting his hands down to turn around and head back out of the bathroom and into the apartment.

As he opened the door, he could make out the sound of his mom chatting with someone in a low voice, meaning that she must’ve arrived while he was showering, and quickly hurried his pace.

Entering the kitchen, Izuku let out a sigh of relief at the smell of bread already being toasted, seeing his mom buttering it at the kitchen counter while humming, giving him a smile once he stepped around the corner. And sitting at the table, resting her head on her arms and letting out a groan of tiredness, was Ochako, looking just as exhausted as he felt. Izuku had to stifle a small laugh at her appearance - her hair hadn’t been combed yet, meaning that it was sticking up in places while she pouted at him, her brown eyes narrowing at his suppressed laughter.

“Shut up,” She mumbled, making Izuku chuckle some as he took the seat next to her.

"Good morning, Izuku!" Inko happily greeted her son, moving around the counter to put both plates of toast down for the two middle schoolers, "You know, I was just telling Ochako about how I still heard you up and about at one in the morning last night - although I’m sure you have a perfectly good explanation for that.”

For his part, Izuku winced a bit, feeling Ochako giving him a skeptical look while Inko’s smile was a lot more stiff than usual, which made him sigh as he hunched over his breakfast.

"Er - sorry, Mom," He apologized, accepting his plate from her and trying not to glance at the compression sleeve she wore on her upper arm to cover her own burn, "I was, uh - I was going to bed last night when two new heroes debuted, and I - I lost track of time. There aren't really any better excuses than that, I just - you know, one minute it was ten and the next it was one. I’m sorry.”

Inko shook her head, but still patted his hair and moved away to get started on some of the dishes she hadn’t washed last night.

"Huh," Ochako smirked a bit, lifting the toast to her mouth while giving Izuku a side-ways look, "I was gonna say, Deku, I was thinking you were looking like crap. More so than usual.”

"Says the person who hasn't combed their hair yet," Izuku shot back good-naturedly, also beginning to dig into his breakfast.

"I was going to wait until we walked to school!" She defended herself, not wasting anymore time and taking a bite of her toast coated with peanut butter, "Mah perensh only ‘ame 'ome den mimush ago."

"... I'm sorry, what was that?"

"Mm - shrry -'' Ochako made sure to swallow her food, blushing a bit in embarrassment, "- I said, my parents only came back from the night shift like - ten minutes ago. I've been up since five getting my lunch and theirs ready for when they wake up later."

"Do you know how it went?" He inquired, feeling concerned as he took a bite of his own breakfast, "The job last night, I mean - Miwa had been worried about it before they left."

"I'm assuming it went pretty well," Ochako smiled a bit, "they came back happy, at least. Just ... you know … dead tired."

Izuku hummed at that, and raised his own toast to his mouth to start eating. Admittedly he had felt concerned for Taiyo and Miwa when they left for the job last night - usually pulling an all nighter was good for business, using their crew to take down sets for hero interviews and the such (the kind of job that Inko had encouraged them to try, knowing that they could make some side money rather than compete with other construction crews over hero cleanup), but it always resulted in them coming home exhausted, and it was always a sad sight to see. Izuku knew that it weighed Ochako down as well, although she said nothing - it was good for business and made them money, so she pushed down her feelings over seeing them staggering to bed absolutely exhausted and quietly talked about it to Izuku if she needed to.

But at least they made money last night, and that meant that everyone was probably going to be in a good mood for dinner tonight - at least they would have some energy.

"Anyway," Inko reminded them as she passed by the table to gather up their plates, pausing to smooth out the pointed parts of Ochako’s hair, "if you two were going to be leaving early, you’d better think about going soon - I’m not sure when traffic is going to pick up."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked in confusion, looking around at his best friend as she nodded and stuffed the rest of her breakfast into her mouth, picking up the other slice to eat on the way and letting Inko pick it up to go wash. “We’re leaving early? Is there something we have to do at school?”

“I do, at least,” She said as soon as she gulped down the mouthful of toast, picking up her backpack from beside her chair, “I just gotta drop off my high school application list, I told my homeroom teacher I’d give it to her before class started, and I’d rather not have an audience for that, y’know?”

“Oh,” Izuku’s eyes widened a bit, imitating her and standing up, grabbing his yellow backpack from where he had left it on the table last night and lifting it up. “You picked out what high school you wanted to go to?”

"Yep! I got kinda distracted by all those tests last week, but I have my main pick decided," Ochako nodded, smiling to herself as she held her backpack with both hands. "UA."

Once she had said the name of the school, she had turned away to slip her backpack over her shoulders, careful to mind the toast in her hand - so she didn’t notice Izuku’s face fall at the mention of UA, glancing back down at the table briefly before he let out a small sigh and stood up as well. He knew that his mom caught the look on his face, due to the way her own face fell and she put Ochako’s plate down on the counter, but he was quick to shake his head and replace the frown with a small smile as he turned to look at his best friend.

"W-well anyway, I might as well come with you too - I can find something to do before class starts, I might just sit at my desk and write in my notebook.”

Ochako smiled at that, albeit figuring that he would want to come with her rather than walking to school by himself. They both waved bye to Inko as the woman got to work on the dishes, thanking her for making them breakfast, and together, they trooped out the front door, closing it quietly.

Once Izuku was sure the door was closed behind them, Izuku not bothering to lock it since Inko would probably be going over to the Urarakas to check on them in a bit, they both turned in the breezeway, making their way over to the elevator to head downstairs -

"Hol' up now, kids."

Both Izuku and Ochako jumped at the sound of the deep, tired voice coming from the Uraraka's door, and both looked around, Ochako’s eyes widening in indignation, to see Taiyo poking his head out. Izuku winced in sympathy at the sight of the older man - he looked absolutely exhausted, swaying back and forth, eyes bleary and suppressing a yawn, as though he were about five seconds from keeling backwards and passing out on the floor.

"D-Daddy!" Ochako gasped, looking up in shock and a bit of anger at her father. "You're supposed to be sleeping right now! You’ve been up all night!"

"I know, I know," Taiyo shook his head, "and I’m gonna go back to bed righ’ after this, but I - *yawn* - I forgot that I got somethin' for Izuku last night. Here ya go, kiddo."

Blinking in confusion and a bit of curiosity, Izuku reached out to take the piece of paper from Ochako's dad while she fumed beside him, the Danger Pout in full force today as though she were trying to force her father to sleep with a glare, but he couldn’t focus on that when Izuku unfolded the piece of paper to look at the contents, and let out a small gasp of surprise and delight.

"This is -!"

"Fat Gum's autograph," Taiyo nodded, satisfied by the huge smile on Izuku's face. "Got a chance to grab it last night while we were takin' down, though’ I’d get it to give it to ya. Happy early birthday, kid."

"Thank you, Taiyo!"

"Yeah, yeah, thank you so much," Ochako pouted, "now close the door and go back to sleep!"

"Okay, okay, I'm goin’," Taiyo chuckled, turning back around and closing the door, "have a - *yawn* - have a good day at school, kids. See you tonight."

The two middle school students waved to the Uraraka patriarch as he shut the door behind him with his own wave, while Ochako pouted and crossed her arms in anger.

"Seriously," She huffed in indignation, "he staggers into the apartment all exhausted and barely able to look where he's going because he can't keep his eyes open, and he just gets up to give you a stupid autograph."

"I thought you’ve made it pretty clear that you think your dad's kind of an idiot?" Izuku was too busy smiling at the autograph given to him to really pay much attention as they walked down the hall to wait for the elevator, Ochako pressing the button a bit harder than she usually would. "That's what you're always saying, anyway."

"Yeah! But it always makes me angry when I remember how much of an idiot he is!"

Chuckling a bit, Izuku let her fume and darkly mutter herself into silence between her eating the other slice of toast as they stepped into the arriving elevator, Izuku pressing the button to the lower floor while she continued to grump under her breath at her father. It was a pretty occurring sight for Izuku, seeing Ochako grumble and growl about her parents putting their health aside in favor of helping others - while casually ignoring whenever she did the exact same. To her, it wasn't the same, since she was young and stupid while they were older and should've known better.

Of course, Izuku was really no better in that department, not really having any moral superiority to call her out - in the ten years they've known each other, Izuku knew that he had a hard time staying out of trouble himself, and it was usually Ochako's job to drag him out of it. There had been times that she understood, like when Izuku, despite every part of him telling not to, tried to step in between a bully and his victim (usually she scared them off, although the bullied kid never bothered to thank them); and then there were times she definitely did not, like when Izuku had jumped off a bridge to get a kid's toy that he had dropped, and Ochako had happily waved the little boy and his toy away before turning around and pretty much screaming every curse word she knew at the very wet and embarrassed boy, before dragging him by the collar back home so that his mom could properly ground him.

But that was what Ochako signed on for, she had admitted to him - ever since that day at the park, the two had become inseparable best friends, it being possible to count the days they didn’t hang out together on one hand. It didn't matter that everyone in school mocked Izuku and called him a villain for what he had done to Katsuki, Tsubasa and Yubi that day, and referred to her as his accomplice - when Izuku dared to even mutter the possibility that she'd be able to gain more friends if she didn't spend time with him, Ochako usually responded by giving him a headnuggie and patiently explaining that she wouldn't want to be friends with them even if they didn't make fun of her. 

Besides that, though, their friendship only grew stronger as the years went on - no pointless arguments, fights, or fun poking could ever shake that.

Although, as Ochako suddenly remembered, frowning as they stepped out of the elevator and across the parking lot to begin moving down the street towards school, ignoring the playground beside them as they always did so Izuku didn’t have to think about it, there was another problem that seemed to be arising that she really couldn’t push aside.

"So," Ochako started in a quiet voice, drawing Izuku's attention to her as she turned her gaze to the pavement, "what, um ... sorry Deku, but I just remembered that I haven't heard you say anything about your applications for high school either. Do - do you have anywhere in mind?"

"O-oh," Izuku faltered at that question, glancing away and knowing what Ochako was probably about to ask. "I, uh ... well ... I didn't have anything picked out just yet ..."

"A-ah." She nodded, glancing away as they walked down the street, passing by a few people on their way to work.

"I was, uh ..." Izuku glanced away, trying to think of an answer that would satisfy her - and then his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I ... I'm not gonna lie, Occhan, I don't really know."

"You don't - like, you don't know what you wanna do?" Ochako looked around at him, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders as she saw her best friend sigh and shake his head.

"Yeah ... it's just ... I don't know," He glanced away again, "nothing really ... appeals to me, you know? I guess I could attend any high school, for whatever long term careers - like what my dad does, or learning how to sell things, I could probably easily do that and make a lot of money - my grades are pretty good, so I shouldn’t be worried about any entrance exams.”

“Is that right …”

“Yeah,” He nodded, raising a hand to thank a driver for letting them cross the street. “The problem is … well … I don’t know, I could probably easily do a lot of those jobs, but I’m not - I don’t know - not a lot of those careers the teachers recommended really appeal to me, you know? Honestly, I’m kinda weighing the pros and cons of just asking Taiyo and Miwa for a job after high school, I’m sure they’d employ me.”

"Oh, don't even try, Deku," Ochako giggled a bit, "my dad would probably find a way to trick you into working for him for free - it's happened before, you know."

"You're never gonna let that go, are you?" Izuku chuckled despite himself as they stopped their walking to wait for the light to turn green.

"Deku, you helped him put up a brick wall for an entire afternoon, and he had to be the one to remind you that he needed to pay you! And you still turned down the money!"

"Honestly, Miwa’s never scared me like that ever," He shuddered a bit at the memory of the warm woman’s sudden coldness when he turned down the payment, "I think she was actually going to throw me across the living room if I didn't take the money."

Ochako shook her head and smiled as the light turned green, and continued to move across the street, knowing that they were about ten minutes away from school. 

Still though … she knew that their nice waltz down memory lane distracted them from what they had been really talking about, and something that she needed to say to him. With a soft sigh, she opened her mouth to continue what they had been talking about, about what he was going to do once high school finally came around for both of them -

- and that was the time something else distracted them, that drove the conversation entirely from their minds.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!"

Both middle school students jumped about a mile high at the sound of a loud bellow of rage and panic, quickly looking around in shock at the sound of the voice. They could make out a crowd of people also looking around in alarm, and moving down the street to take a look at whoever or whatever was shouting, and they could already see a crowd starting to form.

Ochako blinked for a moment, watching as several people raised their phones to record whatever was going on - and then felt her eyebrow twitch when hse heard Izuku shuffling a bit behind her. She wasn’t too surprised when she turned around to see Izuku fidgeting, a curious look on his face as he glanced at her nervously.

"... you wanna go over there to see what’s going on, don't you?"

"It - it might be a villain! And - and if it is, heroes will probably show up to stop them!" He excitedly told her, clearly a bit hopeful - and then his face fell. 

"Oh, wait ... wait, we can’t, you have to go to school early. Crap, sorry Occhan, I -"

"Deku," She giggled, tapping his forehead with her finger, "we've still got loads of time to get there - school doesn't start for another hour and a bit. We got time to go over and see what’s going on. C’mon!"

Sure she would’ve probably liked to have gotten to school extra early to avoid any of her bullies trying to start stuff with her, as they always did at Aldera Junior High, but it was worth it to see Izuku's face brightening up in happiness - she usually had to be the one to drag Izuku away from hero and villain fights, seeing as he was the one who really liked to get up and close to the action for his notes, but she couldn't resist the puppy eyes. 

With both of them laughing a bit, they were quick to jog across the street to join the people moving around the corner to join the crowd in whatever was going on, careful not to drop any of their stuff as Izuku pulled his notebook out of nowhere, getting ready to write all the notes he could about what they were about to see. It didn't take long for them to round the corner, coming across the massive crowd gathering and staring up at the train tracks - and looking up, it didn't take very long to figure out why.

"Whoa - that's a big villain!" Izuku gasped, while Ochako let out a tiny sigh and shook her head slightly at the sight of the giant villain on the traintracks.

"Figures it was a guy with a gigantification quirk, that yell was freaking loud. That's going to delay the train for so many people - thank god we walk to school. So Deku, do you wanna -"

"Let's move closer!" Izuku excitedly interrupted her, making Ochako giggle and shake her head again. "I think I see Death Arms and Backdraft at the front, they must be handling the crowd!"

Letting out a small sigh but indulging her best friend, Ochako followed Izuku closely as they moved forwards to join the crowd, looking for a way to get closer to the front and observe the action. They saw their small opening in the mass of people, and crept forward, thankful that they were small enough not to disturb anyone as they snuck in.

"Man, turning into a monster's an amazing quirk," One observer in a suit shook his head ruefully, "what'd he do?"

"He stole someone's bag and went out of control when he was cornered by the heroes." The man beside him explained as Izuku and Ochako slid into the crowd, trying to get to the front to watch the action better.

"A quirk like that, and he's just a purse snatcher. What a shame."

Thankfully for the two students, it didn't take long for them to get to the front of the crowd, dodging in front of people calling into work and apologizing for the delay, and soon enough they got a better look at the fight that was beginning to unfold in front of them, and the new heroes rushing onto the scene to take care of him. Izuku began pretty much quivering with excitement as they watched the heroes move around the villain on top of the tracks, wondering who would be making the first move as Death Arms threw away a piece of metal that the villain had knocked down, and Backdraft kept the crowd back - and then a shadow fell across them.

"You can do it, Kamui!" A gaggle of women fangirled as a man in a blue suit and wooden arms, legs and a helmet leapt over the crowd and began racing towards the monster on the tracks.

"He's literally made of wood," Ochako groaned as she ducked through a few people, shaking her head, "how does he have fangirls?"

"He's an up and coming hero!" Izuku responded, finally getting to the front while she rolled her eyes. “I’m sure that all the newcomers have loads of fangirls. Although … actually, don’t ask me how he has fangirls, I don’t know.”

“Hm,” Ochako thought for a moment, smirking, “probably has to do with him being as hard as wood all the time, right, Deku?”

“...”

“...”

“... don’t wait for a response to that, because I’m not gonna give you one.” Izuku said in a deadpan voice, letting Ochako giggle to herself as he raised his notebook to his face, preparing to write notes on what he was about to observe.

As they reached the front of the crowd, they watched as the giant villain let out a defiant roar and threw his arm out to smash the acrobatic hero to pieces, but luckily Kamui Woods saw it coming from a mile away, leaping out of the way by wrapping one of his wooden arms around a pole to whirl around and out of the giant's range.

“GET AWAY!” The villain bellowed in rage, making Ochako wince a bit.

“So loud …”

“Wow, look at that!” Izuku gasped, watching the fight eagerly as Kamui extended his arm to wrap around a trainpost, spinning him away from the villain. “No wonder everyone calls him a young and talented rising star!”

"Heh, I know that look from anywhere," A man observing the sight beside Izuku chuckled, the two teenagers looking around at the man with the stars on his head as he gave them a cheeky grin and pointed at the green-haired boy. "You're a fanboy, aren't ya?"

"Uh ... well ..." Izuku sheepishly blushed, glancing away while Ochako giggled beside him and nodded.

"Yes, he is. A big one, too."

"Guh - Occhan!"

Sticking her tongue out at him while he pouted at her, Ochako's gaze returned to the fight, seeing Kamui running up the villain's arm and throwing out another arm to wrap around the villain’s neck, and when the villain instinctively threw up his arm to block the blow and threw it back, Kamui was carried along with him, eventually letting go and landing on the roof of the train's stop, glaring at the villain as though he had murdered hundreds rather than just holding up traffic, and saying something that couldn't be heard from the loud crowd.

"Oh! Here it comes!" Izuku gasped excitedly, pointing as Kamui threw out his arm, the wood bending and extending into several large branches. 

“Show us something flashy, tree-man!” The star-man called out.

"PRE-EMPTIVE BINDING LACQUERED CHAIN PRISON!" Kamui shouted, throwing out the branches to wrap around the villain as he threw an arm up -

"CANYON CANNON!"

BAM

Izuku and Ochako blinked in shock. The star-man beside them blinked in shock. Kamui blinked in shock. The entire crowd blinked in shock.

As the villain was sent falling onto the evacuated street from his spot on the train tracks, groaning after being kicked hard in the face unexpectedly, the giant woman who had just completely and utterly stolen Kamui's thunder rose up from where she had landed, smirking a bit as she bent herself into an angle.

"Here it is, here it is, here it is," The men behind them muttered, making Ochako groan in exasperation and raise a hand to hold over her eyes at the sound of several camera shutters going off.

"Today is the day of my debut!" The new heroine smiled provocatively, winking. "My name is Mt. Lady. A pleasure to make your ass -quaintence."

Ochako groaned louder while Izuku chuckled a bit despite himself, shaking his head as Mt. Lady winked and flaunted for the cameras - which only made the brown-haired girl look around at him with a glare, making him balk.

"It - it was a good pun!"

"That pun was atrocious, Deku." Ochako deadpanned as more cameramen began snapping pictures with disturbing speeds as the men in the crowd smiled stupidly at the gigantic heroine while the women didn’t look very impressed.

“Oh, and your ‘hard’ pun wasn’t?”

“My pun was clever! ‘Ass -quaintence’ took ten years off my lifespan.”

As Izuku raised his notebook to continue taking new notes of the debuting hero, Ochako returned her gaze to the scene before them, seeing Mt. Lady wave to the cheering crowd in happiness, eagerly soaking up the attention as she shrunk down to her regular size. She almost swore that she saw a shit-eating grin briefly appear on the blonde woman's face before it transformed back into a grateful smile, while Kamui Woods sank to his hands and knees from where he had gotten his victory stolen from him above them, staring down in despair as the villain was swiftly apprehended by the police, and strapped into capture gear to be taken away.

Taking the time to check her phone as the crowd began to disperse, Ochako let out a sigh of relief at the time - the fight had wrapped up pretty quickly, which meant that they still had plenty of time to get to school, knowing that it wouldn’t take long for her best friend to wrap up as Izuku continued to write in his notebook, staring at the small crater that the villain had landed in.

"She looks like she'll be popular, and it is an amazing quirk," Izuku muttered as he scribbled, making Ochako shake her head but grin a bit as she moved her backpack around her shoulder to look for something to drink, only to sigh in disappointment when she spotted a few empty bottles at the bottom of her bag, "but thinking about the damage to the city that'll go in hand with a gigantification quirk, its use might be limited? No, whether or not she could control the size should probably be taken into account as well."

"I'd hate to have a quirk like that," Ochako shook her head as she watched Mt. Lady give an interview a bit away from the crater, "it seems useful, but -"

"Hey, wait, you takin' notes over there?" The star-man suddenly cut in with a grin, pointing at Izuku again in a teasing manner as the two teenagers looked around. "You wanna be a hero, huh? That's great! You can do it!"

He had said that in a tone that indicated approval, flashing the boy before him a thumbs up as he closed his eyes - but he didn't have a good look at his face, not noticing Izuku's curious and intrigued look immediately fall. Ochako herself felt herself falter when she saw the face, wincing slightly at the reminder of what she had been thinking of this morning while Izuku stared ahead blankly for a moment - and then he let out a quiet sigh.

"... thank you, sir," Izuku muttered, glancing away while Ochako gave him a worried look.

With that, Izuku closed the notebook, glancing at Ochako and trying his best to smile at her as he gestured with his head.

“C-come on, Occhan - we gotta get to school.”

“Huh? O-oh, right.”

With that, the two students bowed to the star-man while he waved them off, wanting to get back to his store before anyone realized he was gone, and together, Izuku and Ochako began moving back down the street towards school. This, however, was in silence, with Ochako flashing her best friend a worried look as he put his notebook back into his yellow backpack, his previous good mood completely evaporated - and she knew exactly why.

It had been years since that day at the playground, and even then, Izuku hadn't used his quirk at all. All that she knew about it was that his hands would occasionally spark against his will if he felt some strong emotion or felt spooked, and that was usually when he would close his hands tightly, or put them in his pockets and hurry away. She didn’t have to know him well to know what he thought of his quirk - which always made her feel sad.

She wasn't really informed or all knowing about what people considered heroic quirks, and what exactly heroes look for when taking on sidekicks, but even someone like her knew that electric types were pretty rare in heroics, and highly desired. If Izuku became a hero someday, he'd probably become pretty popular, since his quirk had a lot of destructive force and was something to be reckoned for. 

But that was the problem.

Izuku made it clear throughout the years that he wasn't going to be a hero. That was something he had made clear from the beginning of their friendship - he didn't mind helping her improve her quirk, going with her to her dad’s construction yard and giving her helpful tips when she tried to lift something, or spotting her when she used her quirk for practice on something beyond her limit, and held her hair back when she inevitably hurled from going over her weight capacity. 

He fully supported her, and liked to nerd out over heroes. He loved heroes.

It was just ... whenever the topic of him becoming a hero came up ...

... he always shut it down. Laughing awkwardly and denying that he wanted to be one while trying to change the subject.

And it always hurt Ochako, she frowned as they walked down the street towards the school - because she knew exactly how he could go from loving everything heroes one moment, and awkwardly glancing away from them the next. Their talk this morning about Izuku not knowing what he wanted to do in the future, she had held her tongue, but she knew what career he clearly wanted, and knew that bringing it up would only result in him shutting it down and walking sadly down the road - like he was doing right now.

He was terrified of his quirk, and what it could do. Ever since that day at the park, injuring four people and putting them in the hospital, and being mocked by their classmates, calling him a villain -

- he hadn't used it since.

And that meant that he tried as hard as he could to deny that he wanted to be a hero. Despite how obvious it was to her that he wanted to be one more than anything.


"Alright," The teacher in the front sighed as he returned to the podium at the front of the class, not caring if his students were still talking and laughing amongst themselves, "since you're all third years, it's time for you to seriously think about your futures."

Izuku let out a small sigh as he sat back down at his desk, hearing everyone finally start to quiet down as their teacher walked to the front of the room with a weary sigh. He had just returned from lunch, having hung out with Ochako at their spot on the roof that they usually ate, until the first bell had rung and they had to hurry to their classes. It was admittedly a bit harder this year, Izuku thought glumly, being sorted into different classes for their last year, but Izuku put up with it knowing that the moment the bell rung she was going to hurry over as quickly as she could, not wanting to be left alone in the mass of unfriendly faces that would surround her.

And since he didn't want to be either, he knew he could put up with it and patiently wait for her at the end of the day.

"I've gotten back nearly all the handouts I passed out last week for your future plans," The teacher slumped over his podium, staring down at the stack of papers that he had gotten back this morning before school started, "and you know what they all have in common?"

There was a long pause in the classroom, where everyone stared up at their droll teacher as he stared down at the stack of forms - and then without warning, he suddenly swept his arm back, sending all of their handouts flying up into the air, completely nonchalant with a large and doopy grin on his face.

"You all plan to go for the hero course!"

Everyone let out a loud cheer, and as one, the entire class activated their quirks as though waiting for the chance to begin showing off what they had no matter how freaky it looked or how disruptive it was. Izuku let out a tiny sigh as he slumped forward onto his desk, trying not to be hit by the girl beside him with her hand transformed into fire, and studied the wooden surface as everyone laughed and cheered about how they would all become heroes. 

No one bothered to notice that Izuku was one of the two boys in the class not using their quirks at the moment - although Izuku’s was simply because he didn’t want to use it. The blonde boy sitting a desk to the right in front of him, however, probably had a much different reason as to why he wasn’t showing off to the rest of the class.

"Yes, yes, you all have such wonderful quirks!" The teacher laughed a bit at the enthusiastic response. "But using your powers while we’re at school is against the rules! Come on now, let’s quiet down a bit!"

"Oi, teach!" 

Everyone blinked at the sudden voice that interrupted their teacher, and looked around to see the blonde boy smirking and putting his feet up onto his desk. Izuku let out a tiny sigh and closed his eyes when he saw Katsuki’s confident grin, leaning back in his chair and basking in the sudden attention on him.

"Don't go lumping us all in the same group,” He sneered, rolling his arm slightly, “I'm not going to be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects!"

And as par the course, a few angry voices began yelling at him.

"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"

"Yeah!"

"Shut your pie hole!"

"You all should shut up like the worthless extras you are!" Katsuki cackled, a shit-eating grin on his face as he leaned his chair back on two legs.

"Oh, that’s right.” Their teacher remembered, reaching up into the air and somehow snagging Katsuki’s application, reading it over to look over his preferred high schools and only finding the one, “I’d almost forgotten, Bakugou - you put your only option as UA High.”

"UA?!" One of the students gasped out.

"Wait, the national school?!"

"That was in the top 0.2.% this year, you know!"

"Their acceptance rate is also really low, too!"

"That's exactly why you guys are just extras!" Katsuki sneered confidently, and suddenly leapt up without warning. Izuku blinked a bit and looked up from where he had hunched over on his desk as Katsuki jumped onto his own, and stood up straight so everyone’s eye was on him as he pointed straight at his chest. “I aced the mock exam! I'm the only one who could possibly get into UA! I'll be the one to finally surpass All Might and become the top hero!"

Throwing his fist into the air, Katsuki went off on his tangent about how he would be the most successful and rich hero in the world, while Izuku looked at his old friend with a weary look, and everyone stared up at him in awe. Honestly, Izuku had heard this all before, and let out a small sigh as he continued to hunch over on his desk, waiting for him to be done so that class could finally get back to work.

"My name will be inscribed on the list of top earners! The story of my success starts here, as the only one in this nowhere school that makes it to UA!"

"Hm," The teacher suddenly remembered again, flipping his clipboard to confirm, "actually, I believe Uraraka from 3B also was applying for UA as well."

While Katsuki froze in place on top of his desk with a twitch in his eye at the mention of the girl he hated the most, his thunder somewhat stolen, the other students in the class glanced amongst each other while Izuku sat up a bit, feeling a sudden spike of worry when he heard the sound of snorts and giggles.

"Uraraka? The villain sympathizer is applying for UA?"

"I mean ... her quirk is kinda handy ..."

“Yeah, for floating garbage! Seriously, I saw her practicing one time, she was puking her insides out by the end of it.”

"Yeah, no way she's passing the exam."

"She’ll probably get crushed by -"

"She'll get in!"

The class's muttering and sniggering about Ochako ceased almost entirely the moment Izuku spoke up, making everyone look around at the green-haired boy standing up at his desk and looking a bit cross at the people who doubted his best friend’s abilities.

However, the moment Izuku realized that he said that out loud, and realized that the attention was now entirely on him, Izuku let out a small squeak, and quickly sat back down, already knowing where this was about to go and slowly closing his eyes. As he glanced back down at his desk, he let out a tiny shudder at the sound of his classmates beginning to mutter again, this time about him as Katuski looked around at him from where he had been standing on his desk and giving him a glare.

"Heh, of course the villain would stick up for his groupie."

"Yeah, not surprising at all. I bet he’ll be cheering her on while he electrocutes someone in an alley somewhere"

"Ha! They’ll both fail and drop out of school, giving them the perfect excuse to go around and hurt people.”

"Murder a few more people for looking at them weird."

"Put them in the hospital!"

"Deku and Round Face! The scourges of the underworld!"

While the class laughed at him, Izuku shrank back into his seat, already regretting opening his mouth. He couldn’t just shrink down and pretend he didn’t say anything, however, due to the fact that a shadow had suddenly fallen over him, and Izuku barely had any time to look up before Katsuki’s balled fist came down hard on his desk. Letting out a yelp, Izuku threw himself back in his seat, nearly toppling over and shivering at the sight of his former friend's heated gaze, not even bothering to hide the obvious disgust on his face at the sight of the green-haired boy.

"Deku," Katsuki growled while glaring at him right in the eye, leaning forward and watching as Izuku squirmed a bit in nervousness, “your little round faced bitch isn't going to UA. You're going to be making sure she doesn’t, right?"

"I -” Izuku faltered, feeling a bit of indignation return to him as he tried to sit forward again, “- Kacchan -"

"Do you get me?" Katsuki leaned in, gritting his teeth and making Izuku subtly shake as he heard the telltale sign of his hands letting out tiny puffs of fire, "After all the shit you put me through, I at least deserve my spotlight, don’t I? And I think we both know that I'm not going to be sharing it with her. You understand me?"

"Alright, alright," The teacher said in a dismissive tone from the front, not sounding all that concerned over the fact that his favorite student was blatantly threatening the loser of the school, "let's settle down, I have to get classes resumed."

Katsuki took another second to glare into Izuku’s eyes before straightening up.

“Convince her, Deku,” He spat, “or I will. And you won’t like how I do it.”

Throwing Izuku one last dirty look, Katsuki turned around and returned to his desk, picking up the chair that he had knocked to the ground when he had jumped onto the wooden surface, and retook his seat. Izuku let out another shaky sigh as he managed to sit forward again, trying hard to ignore the sniggers and whispers of his classmates as they threw more smirks and sneers at him, before class finally resumed. Thankfully, most of their gazes eventually moved away from the green-haired boy, letting him lean against his desk and sigh again.

As one could easily predict, the relationship between Izuku and Katsuki did not improve after he returned from the hospital after what had happened that day on the playground. In fact … well, it got worse than Izuku could probably imagine. Strangely, Katsuki didn’t join in on all of the new bullying material, never referring to him as a villain like the rest of his friends, but he did have a reaction when Izuku had told them, in a way to defend himself, that he didn’t want to be a hero or a villain. That … definitely got a reaction out of Katsuki.

From there, he treated Izuku with utter scorn and disgust, still referring to him as Deku and talking down on him whenever he could, although he didn’t go out of his way to do so like when they were younger. Izuku really didn’t know why, or why Katsuki would be so upset that Izuku didn’t want to be a hero despite his insistence he would be the only one from this school that would become one - but at the end of the day, it didn’t really matter. The damage was done, Katsuki would shove Izuku aside if the situation demanded it, would probably get in his face and growl at him on his bad days, and would send him a glowering glare whenever Izuku went on one of his hero sprees (which was only really in the presence of Ochako - without her, the other classmates mocking him would quickly put an end to his tangents).

Speaking of Ochako, Katsuki’s treatment of Izuku really only made whatever fragile relationship between them worse. Izuku was pretty sure that Katsuki was the only person in the world that Ochako hated with a passion, and it didn’t matter how many times Izuku tried to play peacemaker, it was clear that it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. They’d gotten off to a bad start before Izuku’s quirk manifested, and after that the animosity only grew - Ochako did her best to ignore his entire existence while only acknowledging him when Katsuki tried to push Izuku around, while the blonde boy gritted his teeth every time she stood up to him and called him out on his bullshit.

Izuku, of course, learned very quickly that he shouldn’t be the one to mend bridges with the two of them - Katsuki made what he thought of Ochako and Izuku clear, and Ochako made it clear that she would rather die than become friends with him. So Izuku dropped the case pretty quickly.

Although … if he was telling the truth, he couldn’t be too upset with Ochako. While it wasn’t as bad as Izuku’s situation, she still dealt with her own fairshare of bullies, mocking her as Izuku’s groupie, and she put up with it a lot better than Izuku usually did. Instead, she devoted her attention into defending Izuku, threatening to float people into the sky when they mocked or threatened him, and had done so since she enrolled in the same preschool as he and Katsuki. And Izuku in turn tried his best to defend her as well - not a lot of people were really scared of him, after all, despite how they mocked him and called him a villain.

It was probably because they knew that he wouldn’t dare use his quirk against any of them - knowing that he was too scared of it to even consider it, and giving them more ammunition for the onslaught of bullying and mockery while Katsuki ignored his existence when it affected him or he was in a bad mood.

Those were the dark and depressing thoughts that Izuku dwelled on for the rest of the school day, absently writing down notes on what the teacher was putting on the black board in his dull monologue that put everyone to sleep, until at long last the final bell rung, signifying the end of the day. As everyone got up to either go home, get to their clubs, or study, Izuku sighed as he closed his school notebook, taking a moment to close his eyes - and then jumped when the teacher addressed him directly.

"Midoriya," The teacher said in a cold voice, addressing the green haired boy in a manner different from what he would use with other students, “you’re the only one who hasn’t handed in their  handout for their future plans. Get it to me by tomorrow morning, no excuses.”

"O-oh, uh - y-yes, sir!"

Shaking his head while giving him a dirty look, the teacher walked out, letting Izuku sigh a bit and slump back down on the desk. He stared blankly at nothing for a moment, before finally sighing and reaching into his backpack to pull out his hero analysis, flipping it onto the page he left off on this morning and getting back to work, unaware of Katsuki standing near the door to the classroom and waiting with his two latest cronies, glaring at Izuku and crossing his arms.

Try as he might to take his mind off of things, however, Izuku couldn’t help but frown as he put the tip of his pencil down on his notebook. He didn’t lie to Ochako this morning - he really had no idea what he was going to do once high school rolled around, or what he even wanted to go for. Nothing he had seen or done research for really appealed to him - he saw applications for schools that could theoretically teach him a lot, but nothing really piqued his interest. 

He supposed that, if he really ran out of options, he could go to a school that specialized in teaching, learn how to become the type of teacher that specializes in helping kids with their quirks - his hero analysis might help him there. Or maybe he could take after his dad and land a job that went overseas - that made plenty of money. Or he could go into IT, or - well, it wasn’t really ideal, but he could become a customer service representative, work a desk job for the rest of his life. Heck, he had joked about it earlier, but he knew that if he asked Taiyo and Miwa, they wouldn’t hesitate to give him a job with their construction company.

It was just ...

Izuku couldn’t help but feel his frown deepen, letting out a small sigh as he finished sketching Mt. Lady’s picture, having looked up her costume on his phone and absently doodled it. As much as he tried to put down those feelings every day, no matter how much he tried to deny it to Ochako, no matter how many times he tried to crush that dream himself … heroes seemed to just call to him.

He studied them, drew them, kept up on all the new debuts and interviews, and had been more excited than anyone when Ochako wanted to become one, supporting her one hundred percent and going with her all the time to practice her quirk. He felt drawn to them … but he knew, no matter how much he might’ve wanted or dreamed, he knew that he couldn’t be one. Not with the destructive quirk he had, the one that his classmates and the entire school called villainous.

The power to control lightning and blast it out of his hands - and destroy anything it hit. He wasn’t fooled, of course, knowing that deep down this was just a … just a quirk, but he couldn’t help but feel afraid of it, and what would happen if what happened at the playground happened again. 

Since that horrible day he hurt Katsuki and his mom, he hadn't used his quirk at all, and tried to pretend like it just flat out didn't even exist. It was difficult, of course - quirks were a part of one’s body, it couldn’t just be turned off no matter how much he wished it could. There were times that some static electricity came out a bit stronger from him and shocked people, or when there were times that he got angry and couldn’t stop a few sparks from emerging from his hands - and in both of those instances, he would panic and immediately stuff his hands in his pockets, apologizing and running off to whoever saw his quirk. Ochako had frequently told him that it was okay, and encouraged him to try and practice with his own quirk when they went to her family’s construction lot and used her quirk to practice on some of the things there, but he always refused - no need for him to risk a repeat accident, especially with Ochako, Taiyo and Miwa there to get hurt.

The park beside his house, the one he had melted down and destroyed by accident, hadn’t been rebuilt at all by the city since there, only being wrapped up in yellow tape and forbidden for anyone to go on it - and Izuku was fine with that. He was fine with a large, physical reminder of why he shouldn’t become a hero right outside his door every day as a reminder.

And just as he let out another sigh and tried to refocus, trying to take his mind off of his funk, he heard the sound of footsteps running down the hall towards his class.

Everyone who was still lingering in the classroom, chatting and laughing amongst themselves, were very quick to aim looks of scorn and distaste at the door as the footsteps stopped outside the back door, and then Ochako threw open the door, immediately snapping her gaze to Izuku still sitting at his desk and smiling widely. It was a smile that was returned by Izuku, who leaned back in his seat as she entered the classroom - and his bad mood from the entire afternoon faded away. It really only took one smile from her that brightened his day up.

"Hi!" She greeted her best friend, walking into the classroom and ignoring the pointed glares, mutterings and sniggering from the other students. "Sorry that I’m running a little late, Deku, I had to finish up some homework and hand it in. What're you doing?"

"I was just adding Mt. Lady's addition to my hero analysis," He smiled up at her as he closed his phone and put it back down on his desk, letting her look over his shoulder at what he was doing as he put his pencil back in his bag, "if you just wanna give me a minute, I can finish up her page and we can go -"

"Hey," Ochako suddenly interrupted him, Izuku blinking at the sudden seriousness in her voice as her smile faded from her face and she pointed at a paragraph on the page. "What's this about 'sexiness'?"

"Eek!" Izuku squeaked, jumping a bit.

"Deku," Ochako turned her suddenly cold gaze back to him, narrowing her eyes somewhat suspiciously, "I thought you were just writing about her quirk this morning - does this mean that you were checking her out with all those other perverts?"

"N-no! O-Occhan, you got it all wrong! That’s not it at all!" Izuku quickly waved his hands in protest, going very red very fast. "I'm just - it's important to note specific heroes that can use their looks for b-better brand deals! I swear, Occhan, you know that I'd never put something like that in my notebooks. Some heroes like - like her might have brand deals and will act as models - you know, like Midnight."

"You’re trying to assure me weren’t thinking of anything perverted, and you decide to use Midnight as an example?” Ochako raised an eyebrow while Izuku winced.

"Er ... yeaaaah ... she’s ... not a good example to use, is she?"

"Nope," She giggled at that at least, leaning against his shoulder and giving him a teasing grin, "not at all. And I get it, Deku, you aren’t thinking anything perverted - I'm just pulling your leg. I swear, ever since I found your little Pussycat magazine underneath your mattress, you've been so defensive."

"W-we do not mention the Pussycat magazine!" Izuku’s panicked face continued to burn while Ochako sniggered. "That was - that was for research! I - I was reading the articles!"

“Articles, huh?”

“Y-yes!”

“Oh, Deku, you act like I was born yesterday. One day, I’m gonna find out which one of the Pussycats you’re -”

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Round Face?"

Both teenagers stopped their little back and forth at the sound of the gruff voice right behind them, and looked around, Ochako rolling her eyes, to see Katsuki storming up to them, flanked by Yubi and the latest lackey to attach himself to the blonde boy like a parasite. Izuku felt himself gulp a bit as he automatically stood up, wanting to avoid conflict with his old friend as much as possible as Ochako leaned against his desk and fixed Katsuki with a glare.

“What do you want?”

“I heard you're applying to UA," Katsuki grunted as he stopped just short of her, glaring down at the brunette girl while she refused to back down - thanks to them hitting puberty pretty recently, he had a growth spurt, standing a good head over top her as he looked down on her.

"I am," Ochako crossed her arms, making what she thought of the boy and what he was going to say clear as she continued to lean against Izuku's desk. "Why do you care?"

"I wanna know,” Katsuki’s glare intensified as he crossed his arms, “why the fuck you’re doing that? You know what I’ve fucking said before - I'm the only one who's going to get in there from here. That's going to be a part of my origin story - 'the first student from his school to get into UA'."

Ignoring Ochako rolling her eyes pointedly, Katsuki leaned against his own desk while his two cronies smirked at them, flanking him although it was completely unnecessary. "Most top first-string heroes have stories about them from their school days. I want the shine of being able to be called the only student to make it into UA from this mediocre city junior high school. I mean," He was unable to suppress his own smirk at his abilities, "I am a perfectionist. I want them to realize that I'm legit, the next big thing. And that's not just ego talking, I know I'm that good."

Ego, Izuku and Ochako thought internally, with Ochako almost rolling her eyes into the back of her skull.

Total ego, Katsuki's cronies were unable to stop themselves from thinking.

"But that's not important," Katsuki lifted himself off the desk, moving to stand right in front of Ochako and sneering down at her, while Ochako continued to fix her with a glare. "I wanna give you a little advice, Round Cheeks -" 

He suddenly leaned in, dropping his smirk and giving her a cold glare to show how serious he was.

"- don’t even think of applying to UA. Or else.”

Ochako said nothing to that at first, continuing to glare up at Katsuki as he waited for a response or any kind of confirmation that she was magically going to do what he said - and then she answered, with a smirk on her face, "Sounding kind of anxious there, Kacchan - scared I'll make it in and ruin your perfectly good backstory?"

"Don't - call me - Kacchan." He growled between gritted teeth, clenching his fists and letting some smoke rise up from his fists to intimidate her. "Or I'm going to wipe that fucking smirk off your face and give you something to cry about."

"K-Kacchan!" Izuku finally managed to squeak out, unable to take it anymore and trying to separate them before a fight inevitably broke out, raising his hands, "Come on, you’ve made your point, you don't have to -"

"What about you, nerd?" Katsuki turned his attention over to the green haired boy, ignoring Ochako as she clenched her own fists, probably ready to fight in case this turned ugly. “You’ve got something to say to your little bestie here, don’t you? Remember? What we discussed.”

"I - what?" Izuku blinked, taken aback.

"I told you to discourage her, didn't I?" Katsuki knew that he had Izuku trapped here, putting his hands back in his pockets and smirking again as he glanced at Ochako’s reaction out of the corner of her eye. "So go ahead. Tell her she shouldn't apply for UA. Go on."

Ochako blinked at that, and looked around at Izuku. The boy stood frozen for a second, unable to respond, while Katsuki subtly leaned in.

“Come on, Deku,” He taunted, “tell Occhan here that she shouldn’t apply for UA. Shouldn’t be too hard for you to come up with an excuse why she shouldn’t do it, right? Since you gave up a long time ago. C’mon, quitter, say something.”

Izuku continued to stare blankly at Katsuki, a silence settling in the classroom as they were the last ones there - until he sagged down, staring at his feet while his mouth thinned into a wobbly line, tears beginning to build in his eyes. While Ochako's face fell as well, Katsuki snorted and adjusted his bag on his shoulder, feeling like he’d made his point, turning around to leave with his friends while they sneered at the two students.

"Come on," Katsuki's latest 'friend' snorted, smirking at the boy shaking a bit, "you could at least say something back."

"Oh, don't be like that," Yubi snarked, "he's pathetic. I bet he wishes he was still quirkless."

Izuku continued to study the ground as his hands subtly shook, not looking at anyone as Katsuki stood by the door, pausing for a moment to look over his shoulder at the green-haired boy.

"You know, I'm glad that you probably won't apply for UA, Deku," Katsuki scoffed, turning back to the door, feeling his smirk fall and glaring at nothing, "not that you would get in anyway. A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

With that, Katsuki moved through the door, letting his cronies laugh at them while shutting it behind them. For a moment, Izuku continued to stare at the floor, shaking a bit while clenching his fists and unable to look up at his best friend as they stayed silent for a moment. He had no idea what he could say to her at the moment, seeing her also staring at the floor while guilt coursed through him.

And then Ochako sighed, making him quickly look up at her as she shook her head, and tried to give him a shaky smile.

"C'mon, Deku, let's - let's go home. Mama and Daddy were supposed to make supper tonight, we should get back to your apartment so I can help."

"O-oh, uh - r-right," Izuku nodded quickly, glancing away and moving to gather up his stuff. Ochako waited patiently as he put his notebooks and pencils into his backpack, and soon, they left the classroom, the last ones to leave as they walked down the hall, down the stairs, and out of the junior high while any stragglers giggled and pointed and muttered at them.

During their walk out of the school, neither of them spoke to the other, instead silently moving down the street towards their path back home. Neither of them looked at the other, instead staring at the pavement as they made their way back to the apartment.

And then, when the silence got too unbearable for him to take, Izuku let out a shuddering breath, feeling himself tear up again as he wrung his hands together.

"... I'm sorry, Occhan."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, feeling herself jolt out of her own bad mood as she looked around at her best friend. "S-sorry? For what?"

"For - for not standing up for you," He said miserably, looking away again as they moved down the sidewalk, "Kacchan - earlier when everyone had heard you were applying to UA, he told me to discourage you, and - and I wasn't going to, you - you know. But - but I should've stood up to him for you then. I - I froze up. I'm -"

"No, no, Deku, it's okay!" She assured him quickly, reaching up to hold his shoulder one pinkie up to calm him down, "I get it, I'm not angry at you for that. Not at all! I know that you weren't going to turn on me like that. Of course not!"

"I know," He muttered, "but I still should've …"

"Deku," She interrupted him, giving him a pointed look, "I'm not angry at you. I'm more angry at him than anything, okay? I just -" She let out her own shuddered breath, and looked away, scowling, "- I'm really tired of him, y'know? How he always tries to get under our skin."

"I know," He nodded, still looking downcast as they walked into the tunnel they always used, "it's just ... I should've stuck up for you. He was right, I was being a coward."

Before he could walk any further and continue that line of thought, though, he faltered when Ochako suddenly reached down and grabbed his hand, bringing him to a stop and making him look around in surprise, seeing the look of hurt on his best friend’s face, before it was replaced by absolute certainty.

"Deku, you aren't a coward." She made sure to emphasize what she was saying, staring up at him while squeezing his hand. "You - you not - you not using your quirk doesn’t make you a coward. You’re freaking awesome. I don’t care how many times I have to beat that into your head, but it’s true. We both know that he was just trying to get a rise out of you, because - because he’s never gotten what he wanted.”

Turning her glare back down to the sidewalk, she continued to lead him down the tunnel slowly. “He’s mad that he never got a round two to prove that he’s better than you. He just wants to - to prove that he could beat you after what happened at - at the playground that day. He thinks you’re a coward because he’s never got the chance to hurt you again. Just - don’t listen to him, okay? You aren’t a coward because you don’t want to fight him.”

“I …” Izuku hesitated again when she turned back to fix him with a pout, and he let out a small sigh as he nodded and smiled a little bit, squeezing her hand back, “... okay, Occhan, I - okay.”

“Good,” She smiled at that, giving his hand one more squeeze as she finally let it go, both of them beginning to move towards the exit of the tunnel, until Ochako glanced back at Izuku’s face and let out a tiny sigh as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

"... hey, Deku?"

"Yeah?"

"I was -" Ochako faltered for a moment, not really sure how to phrase this as she turned her gaze back to the ground, letting out a sigh. "- I was just … wondering ..."

"Er ... yeah?" Izuku looked around at her, confused.

"... your plan for the future," She muttered, "you're - you're sure you don't know what you wanna do?"

Izuku faltered at that, looking back around at his best friend as they slowed to a stop near the end of the tunnel, not paying much attention to anyone but each other - and being completely unaware of the sound of something moving out of the sewer cover behind them.

"I ... er ... why do you ask?"

"I just ..." She paused again, continuing to study the ground, and then let out a small shudder, trying to summon her courage, and finally just asked, "... Deku, are you sure you don't wanna apply for a hero school? Not - not even UA, just - anywhere?"

Izuku's breath caught in his throat at this question, staring down at his best friend as she unsurely glanced back up at him, knowing how sensitive this topic was. For a moment, Izuku continued to stare at her, trying to think of something to answer with that would leave her satisfied - and then he let out a small sigh and turned away, glumly staring at the ground while adjusting his backpack on his shoulders.

"Occhan, I -" Izuku hesitated again, and then, in a small, defeated tone as he absently pulled out his notebook, not even noticing as he did it, "- I told you, I - I don't want to be a hero."

"I - I know that," Ochako was quick to assure him, even though both of them knew that he was lying through his teeth, "and I won't - I'm not going to pressure you into doing something you - you don't wanna do. It's just - you know, I was thinking, and - and if we do end up having to go to different high schools, we -"

"Well, well, well … what do we have here?"

Izuku and Ochako immediately froze, staring blankly at each other at the sound of a voice behind them - and not a friendly one at that. It sounded warbled, sinister and … wobbly. As though it were gargling on something.

Slowly, they both turned their heads to look over their shoulders - and felt themselves shudder, eyes widening in horror. Staring down at them was what could only be described as a giant blob of green, mud-like liquid. It towered over them easily, its back almost reaching the roof of the tunnel as the mass shifted before them, and then a pair of big, yellowish eyes emerged to glare down at them, a wide grin of sharp teeth appearing from the mass to smile evilly down at the two teenagers as they stared up at him in terror.

"A medium sized invisibility cloak ..." He grinned sinisterly down at them, the grin growing wider, "... yeah ... you'll make the perfect skinsuit for me to hide in!"

With that, the sludge villain charged towards them, laughing mockingly as he leapt at them. Ochako stared up in horror as the villain spread his arms, intending to open his mouth wide and devour her whole -

- but before he could envelop her, Izuku acted without thinking, letting out a yell as he shoved Ochako away, allowing the green sludge to slam into him and completely cover him. 

“Ah!” Ochako cried out, slamming down against the ground hard and hitting her shoulder against the tunnel’s wall, noticing out of the corner of her eye as Izuku’s notebook hit the ground and flipped open to a random page. Letting out another groan, Ochako managed to get up onto her hands and knees, knowing that she was getting her leggings and school uniform dirty, and then became aware of the sound of someone … gagging.

She was quick to look back around to where Izuku was - and then she felt her eyes widen once again in horror.

"Don't worry," The sludge villain falsely assured Izuku as he pushed a tendril of slime into the boy's mouth, Izuku's eyes widening in pain and terror as the villain attempted to shove himself down his throat, "I'm just going to take over your body. Calm down, calm down, it's only gonna hurt for about forty-five more seconds. You'll be feeling a lot better soon."

The brown haired girl on the ground continued to stare up in utter horror at the scene before her, seeing the sharp mouth of the villain continue to snigger and mock Izuku as he shoved more and more of his fluids into his mouth and blocked his nose, laughing in a mocking tone as Izuku tried to grab at the sludge, unable to form a grasp and trying as hard as he could to breathe through the layer of slime blocking his nose and mouth.

"You can't grab me," The villain taunted with a sneer, "I'm made of fluid! Ah, thanks so much for your help, kid. And hey, for what it's worth - I don't agree with what you said before. You're my hero."

"Let him go," Ochako whispered, taking one more moment to stare at the horrifying scene before her - and then she completely snapped, leaping to her feet and sprinting straight towards the villain, slipping her backpack off her shoulders to use as a weapon as she screamed, “LET HIM GO!”

Instead of being intimidated by the small girl before him, however, the sludge villain only laughed as her pink backpack sank into his body, and he threw out a tendril. Slamming straight into Ochako’s stomach and chest, the girl let out a shout as she was thrown off her feet and slammed by the tentacle into the wall, crying out in pain as she hit the concrete wall.

Izuku’s eyes, which had been watering in pain and terror, immediately snapped to her the moment he heard her crying out, feeling them widen under the mass of sludge that was forcing itself down his throat, and felt himself shudder in terror as Ochako was pinned to the wall.

"Oh, don't worry, sweetie, this'll only take a few more seconds," The sludge villain sneered, and then studied her with a sudden interest.

"Hey ... actually ... now that I’m looking at you, you’re actually pretty, aren’t you? Hm … maybe instead of boring and plain here ..."

As Ochako strained against the substance, kicking out and groaning in pain, Izuku stared in horror at what the sludge villain was implying - and then felt his fists clench.

"I didn't think that he of all people would come to this city. So I'll wrap this guy up quickly, take you somewhere private ... and then I can do a little switching up, can’t I …?"

Izuku knew that he should be more worried about how he couldn’t breathe, that the air in his lungs had left a long time ago, replaced by the unpleasant slime pushing down his throat. He knew that his strength was leaving him, that he might even be dying, that he should be worrying about that. He knew that.

But the moment the sludge villain had turned his gaze to his best friend, Izuku felt a tight anger in his chest, and clenched his fists tight, ignoring the tears in his eyes as he glared at the sludge villain trying to kill him.

Not her. Not her. Not her!

Unknown to the three of them, a spark emerged from Izuku, a flicker of electricity running up his arm - 

BAM

Before anyone else could make a move, however, the manhole cover that the sludge villain had emerged from was suddenly sent flying into the air, colliding hard with the ceiling before coming down to crash against the ground, drawing the attention of the three other occupants of the tunnel. The sludge villain peaked over his shoulder with a smirk, before quickly snapping up, whipping around with wide, horrified eyes. Izuku could only squint as someone else rose up from the manhole, and Ochako stole a small glance out of the corner of her eyes - 

- before her eyes widened, and she whipped her head around as she let out a small gasp at the appearance of a large man with two tufts of blonde hair that stuck up above his head.

"Have no fear, young ones, you're safe," The man holding the bag of groceries assured them, stomping his foot down hard on the ground and raising the dust from the concrete, before moving into a crouched position, grinning widely at the villain in challenge. "Because I am here!"

With a panicked shout, the sludge villain abandoned his formerly smug attitude and flung out the hand not holding Ochako down to strike All Might directly in the face, but the pro hero was even quicker, ducking underneath with the same brave smile on his face as he charged forward towards the villain with his two hostages. Ochako watched in awe as the villain tried one last feeble attack, only for All Might to dodge the second strike and wound his fist back.

“TEXAAAAAS… SMASH!”

Throwing his fist forward, All Might struck out, and Ochako felt her hair, and even some of the skin on her face, blow back from the sudden hard torrent of wind slamming straight into the sludge villain, making him strain in pain and horror as the blast of wind struck him dead centre.

“Wind ... pressure?! I can’t… hold… together!”

With a small explosion of green mud, the sludge villain blew completely apart, the fluid body completely and utterly scattered, and both Izuku and Ochako were freed from his grasp as the two middle school students were sent flying out of the tunnel. Ochako let out a squeak of shock as she realized that she was about to slam face first down into the ground, squeezing her eyes shut and getting ready for the pain, and hoping she didn’t break her nose -

- that was, until a massive arm suddenly wrapped around her waist, stopping her from kissing the ground and holding her up into the air.

"Ah! Easy there, young miss - I can't exactly have you hit the pavement, now can I?"

Letting out a humored laugh at that, All Might straightened up, grinning down at Ochako as she strained her neck to look around and up at the pro hero, eyes wide and jaw dropped. She could see Izuku draped over All Might's shoulder as the pro hero held both of them up, having absolutely no problem apparently holding the weight of two middle school students while he casually strolled out of the tunnel and back onto the street, Ochako wincing somewhat when they stepped into the sunlight but too busy being completely and utter flabbergasted at what was happening.

"Y-you're - you - you - you're - you're -"

"All Might!" The pro hero grinned at her, and Ochako could have sworn that sunlight was shining off his teeth, giving them an apparent shine. "Are you alright, young lady? Did he do anything to hurt you?"

"N-no, I’m fine, but - I - Deku!" Ochako gasped, remembering what had been happening and quickly looking up at her best friend still draped over the pro hero’s shoulder. "He - that villain was - he was trying to possess him! Is he okay?!"

"Hmmm ..." All Might was sure to put Ochako back down on her feet, letting her back up some as he knelt down to gently lay the prone boy against the pavement. Ochako felt tears build in her eyes in fear and panic as she immediately went down to her knees, staring in horror as Izuku remained unconscious in the middle of the street. Thankfully he was still breathing, his chest moving up and down while he had his eyes closed.

"He seems to be alright, albeit passed out," All Might straightened up a bit, picking up Izuku's discarded notebook and flipping the pages open, looking at them with interest. Ochako wasn't quite assured by that, however, bending over to shake Izuku’s shoulders and pretty much threatening to cry tears of terror at the sight of her best friend unconscious on the ground.

“Aren’t - aren’t you going to do something?!”

“Of course I am, young miss! But before I can, I need to make sure the villain won’t try to escape - I’ve been chasing him all afternoon, he’s a slippery one! Once I’m certain he won’t be able to escape, I’ll quickly attend to your friend.”

Before she could say anything to that, All Might reached into his grocery bag with one hand, having put the notebook down safely beside Izuku's head, and pulled out the bottles of soda that he apparently bought, grinning widely.

"Young miss!" He held out the pop bottle. "Would you like a drink of this?"

"H-huh?!" Ochako looked down at the offered beverage in bewilderment. "I - what? But - but why?"

"I need something to seal this villain away - and I do not want to be too wasteful! I would have to dump the contents of this bottle in order to imprison him, and -"

"W-wait, you'd just - you'd dump a bottle of perfectly good soda?!" Ochako gasped in horror, the frugal creature that lived in her brain depending on coupons screeching to the high heavens as she stared up at the Symbol of Peace as though he had crawled out of a sewer - which, technically, he did. 

"You - you didn't even take a sip! N-no, don't dump it, I - hold on! I have a few empty water bottles in my bag, I can - I can fill them up with your soda."

"Ah, excellent! I was going to say, that'd be an awful waste of my 1000 yen! Ha, ha, ha!"

As Ochako scrambled to grab her pink backpack from where it had landed, the sludge villain behind them let out a small groan, trying hard to resemble his bits and pieces and refocus. He knew that he was in serious trouble right now - the Symbol of Peace, who had been chasing him for the last hour, had finally caught up to him and was about ten seconds from being apprehended. He was still feeling fuzzy from the blast of wind, but he knew he had to get out of there and back into the sewers immediately.

Letting out a small grunt of terror, he began summoning his body parts over to his head, desperate to form some kind of escape route and maybe crawl into the manhole that All Might had emerged from to try and slip away -

- until a large hand grabbed his head, making the sludge villain freeze as his large eye glanced up at the pro hero before him.

"My apologies for the delay - I had to empty out what we’re going to consider your transportation to the police." All Might laughed a bit, and the sludge villain shivered at the almost sadistic look in the Symbol of Peace's dark eyes as he lowered the two empty bottles of soda. "Now, then - while I’m getting you in here, why don't you tell me about what you were about to do with these young children?"

While the sludge villain tried to stammer out an explanation as All Might put him into the uncomfortably small bottles, Ochako gulped a bit as she put down the six empty water bottles she had been carrying around in her backpack, now filled to the brim with the soda All Might had bought, and returned her gaze to Izuku. 

Now that - whatever that was that just happened - was out of the way, she could concentrate on the fact that her best friend still hadn't regained consciousness at all. Feeling herself shake, Ochako moved to kneel down on the ground, not caring if she got her leggings dirty, as she looked over Izuku, checking for any injuries and relieved when she found none, just a bit of sludge around his mouth which she wiped away with her sleeve.

"Deku ..." She asked quietly, gently taking his shoulders and giving him a small shake to try and wake him up. It didn't do much good, however, as he continued to quietly slumber.

Before she could think of what to do here to wake him up, however, she heard a small laugh and the sound of footsteps on the asphalt approaching the two teenagers again.

"My apologies for the delay, but I’ve managed to seal him completely away!" All Might chuckled at his rhyme, patting his pockets where he had the sludge villain stuffed into the not-so-empty pop bottles. "Now then - your young friend."

"Er - y-yeah," Ochako nodded quickly, glancing at the six water bottles and pointing to them. "And - and you can take back your drinks now, I’m sorry for -"

"Oh, no, I insist you keep them, young lady!" All Might gently assured her, smiling down at the brown haired girl as she tried to protest. "I'm going to be having my hands full with our little sludge friend here anyway, and I know that you definitely won't waste them. And no need to fight me on this, I can simply go buy some more later - you don't exactly have to worry about soda drinks when you're the Number One Hero! Ah, but we're getting distracted now. Let's tend to your friend now."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded quickly, deciding to drop the matter of who exactly owned the drinks now as she returned her gaze to Izuku. "He's - he's breathing, but - but I can't wake him up."

"Ah, not to worry! I know what to do in these types of situations."

"Y-you do?" Shaking a bit, Ochako looked up hopefully as All Might began to bend down as well, aiming his dark but assuring stare to the young man unconscious on the ground.

"Stand back, young miss!" He gave her a small grin as he bent over, lowering a hand, "I know the perfect way to rouse your friend."

Ochako watched as All Might reached down to Izuku's face, wondering briefly if he knew some kind of technique to help him wake up - and then blinked when All Might, without a moment of hesitation, began lightly patting his cheek in a gentle but insistent manner.

PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT PAT

"Hey! Hey! He- oh."

Before she could wonder how on earth the Symbol of Peace thought slapping a kid awake was a good idea, Ochako let out a small gasp as Izuku let out a tiny groan, evidently wondering what was tapping on his face and speaking in a subdued but enthusiastic voice, and slowly opened his eyes. Staring up at the sky for a moment, he turned his gaze see Ochako hovering above him, seeing her face filling with both relief and terror as tears leaked out of her eyes.

"D-Deku! Are you okay?! Can you breathe?!"

"I -" Izuku tried to say, and then coughed, feeling some of the sludge that had been shoved down his throat earlier spit out. As Ochako reached into her bag to grab her handkerchief and wipe away the sludge on his chin, while also trying to wipe her own eyes away now that she knew he was okay, the hand that had been smacking his cheek stopped and moved away, making him wrinkle his brow in confusion and turn his head -

- to see All Might himself smiling down at him, dark eyes widening in relief and delight when he saw that he had been successfully roused, and quickly moved his hand from where he had been smacking Izuku's cheek to give him a salute in greeting.

"Thank goodness! I was starting to think that we had lost you there."

For exactly one moment, Izuku stared up in confusion at the hero standing above him while Ochako bent over to inspect him, trying to see if there were some injuries she hadn’t seen before upon a closer look. And then he realized exactly who he was looking up at.

"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" As quickly as he could, he moved back, making Ochako jump a bit in surprise and whirl around as Izuku scrambled down the road, continuing to stare up at the pro hero in surprise, awe and horror as All Might leaned back up to straighten his back, putting his hands on his hips as he gave the screaming fanboy and his very confused friend assuring grins.

"I'm glad you're okay!" All Might nodded happily. "Sorry about getting you both caught up in my heroing. I don't usually make mistakes like this," He shrugged, and then raised a hand to his head to chuckle at himself, "but I was in high spirits on my day off in a new city! Ha, ha, ha!"

Izuku, meanwhile, continued to melt into a puddle of fanboy shock and awe at the sight of his hero, not minding Ochako as she crawled after him and closely inspected him as he had his meltdown.

"Still! You two were a great help! Thank you!" With enthusiasm, All Might grabbed the two bottles of sludge villain from his pockets, threw them briefly in the air and let them spin before catching them, and dramatically held both bottles up, smiling widely. "I've safely captured the villain!"

For a few more seconds, Izuku stared up at him in shock while Ochako wiped his mouth again with her handkerchief, the boy not even noticing his best friend fretting around him - and then he let out a small gasp.

"A - an autograph," He stammered, quickly moving to check his pockets for his notebook. "I - I have to - where should I - where did I -"

"D-Deku." Ochako gulped, realizing that he was slowly transitioning into a panic attack and pointing out to the discarded notebook on the ground beside them - All Might had put it there when he had been helping her pour the soda into her water bottles. Thankfully, Izuku spotted it without having her tell him, nodding quickly.

"P-please sign my notebook!" Izuku grabbed the book from where it had been laying beside his head, ripping it open to a random page - and then screaming again when he saw the large 'ALL MIGHT' already signed in large English letters on two pages with his own squiggly picture. "Ah! He already did!"

"When did he have time to do that?" Ochako wondered out loud in wonder, but was soon distracted when Izuku sprung up onto his feet like a springboard, and began bowing so quickly and fast he looked like he was blurring in the air.

"AAAAAH! T-thank you very much!" He shrieked. "This will be a heirloom! A family treasure passed down for generations to come!"

Ochako rolled her eyes in exasperation while All Might flashed another grin and a thumbs up.

"Well, now that I know you two are alright," All Might patted the bottles of sludge as he put them back into his pockets, "I need to take this guy to the police. You two stay out of trouble now! And see you again on the other side of the screen!"

"O-of course, sir!" Ochako immediately hopped up from where she had been kneeling so that she could sink into her own bow while Izuku continued to stare in awe, his eyes never leaving the back of his hero as the Number One bent over to stretch, getting ready to jump. "Thank you so much!"

"W-wait, you're -" Izuku stuttered, "you're - you're already leaving?"

"Of course - pros are constantly fighting time as well as enemies!"

For some reason, Izuku faltered when he realized that All Might was leaving, not noticing Ochako as she continued to bow in thanks to the hero in front of them for saving them. There was a part of him that told him that it made sense, that All Might couldn’t exactly stay around and hang out when he had a villain he needed to bring to the police - but there was another part of him that was making him hesitate.

"You know, I'm glad that you probably won't apply for UA, Deku - not that you would get in anyway. A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

Remembering Katsuki’s words made him shake a bit, staring at the pro hero as he bent down to stretch - and then he felt himself shudder.

He told Ochako that he didn’t want to become a pro hero, but …

… but maybe … 

"Well, then -" All Might grinned a bit as he took a deep breath - and then, using his strength to jump up, launched himself into the air, causing a large gust of wind that knocked Ochako's hair back and made her take a few steps backwards as he flew into the air. "I'm counting on your continued suppoooooort!"

“W-wow, he’s really fast,” Ochako laughed a bit breathlessly, feeling a bit excited and gleeful at the thought of seeing her best friend geeking out about meeting his favorite hero. “So Deku, you wanna hear about how he got that villain into … those … bottles …?”

The reason she trailed off, of course, was due to the fact that all of a sudden, her best friend was nowhere in sight. Blinking in confusion, Ochako looked left and right, wondering where on earth he could have possibly gone - and then she stopped.

Slowly, she returned her eyes to the sky, seeing the pro hero flying away above her - and to her horror, seeing someone wrapped tightly around All Might’s leg as he soared into the blue sky. Someone very, very familiar.

"D-" Ochako choked on her own words briefly, eyes bulging out of her sockets as she stared at the unusual sight flying away from her, until, raising her hands to grab fistfuls of her hair, screamed at the top of her voice: "DEKU!"

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" All Might panicked as well at the sight of the young man clinging to his leg, and immediately reached down to dislodge the arms he had wrapped around the pro hero’s leg, grunting in surprise at the tight grip the boy had on him. "Let go of me! Your fanaticism is too much!"

"N-no way!" Izuku protested as best he could, his face flapping around at the wind blowing directly into it, giving him a demented and distorted appearance. "We're flying! If I let go now, I'll die!"

All Might froze for a moment at that protest, blinking, and then fidgeted a bit in embarrassment. "Er - right. That's a good point."

"I - have -" Izuku tried to say through his blubbering, feeling his eyes begin to sting from the skin around them being pushed back. "- a lot of things - I want to - ask you directly! P-please, you're my - my favourite - hero -"

"Okay, okay!" All Might nodded quickly, "I got it, so close your eyes and mouth! You're freaking me out, kid!"

Managing to get control of himself, Izuku did as All Might instructed and closed his eyes and mouth, throwing his head down to embrace the leg that was currently the only thing preventing him from falling to his death, as the reality of what he just did finally settled in and made him stiffen up. At least All Might helped out by grabbing the back of his school uniform to prevent him from slipping off, letting out a small sigh as he began looking around for a place to land -

- and unknown to Izuku, raised a hand to cough a bit, wincing at the taste of blood in his mouth.

"... shit."


With a loud crash that sounded throughout the neighborhood, All Might landed hard on the top of an apartment building, not even one minute after the pro hero had initially taken off. Thanking every god above, Izuku slowly slid off of his hero’s leg, and fell to his knees, grabbing his legs tightly while trying to summon his soul back into his body from where he had left it on the ground.

"T-that - that was terrifying ..."

"Good grief," All Might huffed, shaking his head in disapproval as he put his fists down on his hips, "that was utterly reckless, young man. I would encourage you never to do something dangerous like that again! Now then, if you knock on the door for a little bit, someone will let you in so you can go back down to the street. I am seriously out of time, so I have to get going."

Izuku jolted at that last little proclamation, looking up in panic as All Might waved at him behind his shoulder as he walked away. "W-wait, I still -"

"I'm sorry, but I have to go!"

"B-but -!"

"- I told you, I - I don't want to be a hero."

Suddenly remembering what he had said only a few minutes ago, Izuku felt himself falter, his hand left outstretched as he stared at the back of his hero, and the words that had been plaguing his mind for years came bubbling to the surface.

“Get back, or he’ll electrocute you too!”

“Villain!”

He felt his hand slowly lower back to his side.

"I don't have the specifics of how powerful it is or how it works, but it's clear that Izuku's quirk can be dangerous if not used correctly, if yesterday's demonstration is anything to say."

"I hurt people. I - I hurt Kacchan. I hurt my mom! I'm a villain! Only villains hurt people with their quirks!"

He felt his eyes begin to mist up.

“... a school for heroes doesn't take cowards.”

"He's pathetic. I bet he wishes he was still quirkless."

But as All Might reached the edge of the rooftop, putting his hand on the railing in order to launch himself over and take off again, Izuku remembered Ochako’s words, from all those years ago when he was huddled in his bed, traumatized by what he had done and the little girl had embraced him.

"And - and you said you'd be a hero! A - a hero that makes people smile! You said that! So let's be heroes together!"

He felt himself let out a shuddered breath - and then he spoke up.

"Even if my quirk is dangerous - can I still become a hero?!"

That, thankfully, made All Might pause, standing at the railing and resting his hand on it as he stared ahead.

"I ..." Izuku muttered, tears welling in his eyes, "... I hurt people with my quirk the first time I ever used it ... and ... and because of that, I vowed to never use it again ... but ..." 

Squeezing his eyes shut, he asked, in as loud a voice as he could, "... is it possible to become a hero with the quirk of a villain?!"

Izuku didn't know, since he had his eyes squeezed shut getting himself ready for a denial from the pro hero that he could be a hero, but All Might stayed at his spot on the rooftop, staring off into the city. The pro hero quietly mulled over what was just asked of him, and slowly turned his head to look at the boy he had just dropped off, who he had passed off as a kid he had just saved and got a little enthusiastic - and looked at him in a new light, a bit curious.

"The quirk of a villain ...?" He repeated quietly, about to look around properly and ask for a little more information from Izuku -

- but then a sudden shot of pain streaked through him.

Letting out a small gasp, All Might felt himself lose some of his strength, eyes widening and the smile wiped from his face as he realized what was happening, steam beginning to rise off of him.

"Oh, no ..." He grunted, grabbing his shirt tightly with one hand, "... not now ... shit ... goddammit ..."

Not noticing All Might's sudden predicament, Izuku stole a small glance at the ground, letting out a small sigh.

"I - I realize that you probably don't really care about something like this," He admitted, "I - I'm pretty sure you've come across a lot of people with quirks that - that can be dangerous if they’re not used correctly ... but I just ..." 

Letting out another sigh, he felt his shoulders slump, "... when I was a kid ... my quirk developed a bit later than the other kids in my class, and - and it was a mutation, not like - not anything like my parents’ quirks. I can - I can throw lightning from my hands," He paused to raise up his palms, staring at the scarred palms dejectedly, "and when one of my friends lunged at me one day, wanting to hurt me and another friend of mine, I - I lashed out, and I used it to destroy a playground. And - and because I wasn’t careful and used my quirk without thinking, I put him in the hospital, with a few other of our friends. And I - I hurt my mom."

Wringing his hands together and glancing away, Izuku continued to explain in a quiet voice. "The kids at my school … they always make fun of me, and - and call me a villain, or accuse me of getting ready to go on a massacre. The only one who sticks up for me is Occhan - t-the girl we were just with. And I ... I always feel so bad when she does stand up for me, because … because I know that if she didn’t always stand up for me, she’d be … she’d probably have better friends, or she’d be able to go to school without them mocking her. But - but she believes that I - I can become a hero with this quirk no matter how scared I am of it.

"And there's a part of me ... there’s a part of me that can’t deny that I’m drawn to heroes no matter how much I try to deny it, or try to downplay it," He was unable to stop the soft smile from crossing his face. "That's why I ... I don't know ..." He shook his head slightly, looking a bit more cheered up as he tried to hype himself up a bit, "... I think saving people is cool. It's what I - what I thought for a long time. Saving people with a fearless smile ... deep down, that's what I want to do. No matter what I tell myself to dissuade it. I want to save people - just like yooooooooooooooooou ..."

The reason he faltered, however, was due to the fact that he finally looked back up at the pro hero before him, finally summoning the courage to glance up and gauge his reaction - and All Might was gone.

In his place was …

“... huh?” Izuku stared at the man before him for one moment - and then his eyes bulged out of his head, and screamed out, “WHAT THE HECK?!”

Standing exactly where All Might had been a minute ago was a very, very skinny man, wincing slightly and glancing away with a cringed expression. He had long, thin limbs, a sharp, angular face with a chin that looked like it could stab people, and blue eyes staring away with dark scalea. He was wearing the same white shirt and green jeans that All Might had been wearing, but they were baggy, as though meant for someone twice his weight. 

But … but the long blonde hair, wearing the same clothes that looked like … like they were supposed to be …

That meant ... wait, did that mean ...

"Wha -?! Who -?! You -?! Huh?!" Izuku threw himself back, staring in horror and shock at the emancipated man before him. "Y-you - you - you deflated?! Wait - you - are you a fake?!" In terror, he pointed an accusing finger at the man before him, denial immediately settling in. "You're so skinny!"

Letting out a small sigh of exasperation, the man before him straightened up, trying to look seriously at the young man before him (even though inside he was also freaking out a bit at his secret being outed), and said, "I assure you, young man, I am All Mighbluuugh!"

Izuku let out another high-pitched scream at the blood that suddenly burst out of the man’s mouth, while All Might cringed a bit more while hastily covering it up with his large hand. "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Letting out another sigh, All Might raised a hand to wipe at his mouth, in order to get the blood cleared away so the green-haired boy would finally calm down. "You know how guys at the pool are constantly flexing and posturing to show off their abs and stuff? It's kinda similar to that."

"No way ...!" Izuku protested, feeling like his entire world was shattering as he weakly pumped one of his fists. "You - you're - All Might is ... he's fearless ... he saves everyone with a - a fearless smile ...!"

All Might stared at him for a moment, lowering his hand from his mouth as he quietly debated something with himself - and then let out one more sigh, putting his hand behind him on the railing and guided himself slowly to the ground to have a seat - honestly, he was kind of exhausted.

"A fearless smile, huh?" He quietly repeated, shaking his head slightly as he glanced back up at the middle schooler before him. "Now that you've seen me in this form, young man, I'll have to ask that you keep it to yourself. Don't write about it online, don’t tell your friends - er, sorry, I mean your friend - ugh, sorry about that, kid, that was insensitive.”

“Uh -” Izuku stammered, still having his mind blown as All Might shook his head.

“Anyway, I'm trusting you to keep your mouth quiet about what I'm about to show you."

Izuku faltered at that, staring at the emancipated man as All Might reached down to pull his shirt up - and then Izuku gasped, and quickly moved his hands to his mouth, feeling revolted at what he was seeing.

"Not pretty to look at, right?" All Might asked as he showed the large, gnarly scar on his left side, a huge closed up hole that spread across his torso like a spider-web. "It's an injury I got from a villain about five years ago. Half of my respiratory organs were destroyed in the blow, and I lost my entire stomach. The reason I look like this is because I became emaciated from all the surgeries and their after effects. Truth is, kid ..."

Letting out another defeated sigh, All Might let the shirt drop back down, covering the scar as he looked to the ground himself, "... I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day. And then I’m stuck like this until I recover enough strength to buff up again."

"What ...?" Izuku gasped, feeling himself tear up slightly at this. "That - that can't be true. Five years ago - w-wait, was that - was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?"

"You know your stuff," All Might chuckled despite himself, "but no. A punk like that couldn't land a hit like this. This fight ... it wasn't made public to the world, because I wanted to make sure it wasn't." With a small frown, All Might turned his gaze back to Izuku. "I will save people with a fearless smile. You got that right. The Symbol of Peace cannot be daunted by evil. People everywhere have to think that I’m never afraid, but honestly … I smile to trick the fear inside me. It’s just a brave face I put on when the pressure’s high. After all … this job isn’t easy.”

Izuku couldn’t help but hang on every word All Might said, feeling his eyes widen and tears build up as his hero, the man with the fearless smile, admitted that he was just as afraid as anyone else when it came to heroics.

"Pro heroes are always risking their lives," All Might explained, frowning, "so normally, young man, I'd be telling you to not pursue this career. But I don’t think that’s what you’re asking here, is it?”

“I -”

“You said that you have a lightning quirk, right? One that lets you generate electricity.”

“I -” Izuku stammered, and then quickly nodded. “- y-yes.”

“That sounds pretty powerful,” All Might gave him, giving him a serious look, “I imagine that with that ability, and proper training, you could become a great hero.”

Izuku felt his breath leave him at that, staring at All Might in shock as he felt a bit of hope begin to rise in his chest -

“But I don’t think that’s the answer you really want.”

And that hope was immediately dashed when All Might said that, the pro hero letting out a small grunt as he began to rise to his feet, bracing himself against the railing. Izuku faltered, staring at All Might in confusion as he continued to stare at him seriously.

“You are able to become a hero with your power … I have a feeling that you already knew that.” He said shortly, “You know that you can become a hero with your power. Anyone could become a hero with your quirk. It doesn’t matter how destructive or evil you think it is, you could probably easily slide into the Top 10 rankings, if you train your quirk well enough and become popular. But if I’m being honest? What you need from me, young man, isn’t assurance.”

With another sigh, All Might moved away from where he had sat and left Izuku standing there, moving to the roof access door of the apartment and testing the doorknob. Satisfied when he felt it twist and opening it up, he looked back at Izuku, giving him a stern, albeit understanding look as the boy looked at him in confusion and a bit of emotion.

“I don’t think the question you need to ask is ‘can I become a hero’.” He explained as he stepped through the door, “I think the question you should be asking is, ‘should I become a hero?’. And that, young man, is a question only you yourself can answer.”

With that, All Might moved through the door, and quietly closed it behind him, leaving Izuku alone on the rooftop.

For a moment, the green-haired boy stared blankly at the spot that All Might had been in, slowly mulling over what the pro hero had explained to him - and then he felt himself sag, letting out a small sigh as he turned his gaze to the ground again and quietly unclenched his fists, which he had no idea he had even squeezed closed.

Before he could even think about what All Might had told him, however, he suddenly became dimly aware of the feeling of his phone buzzing in his pocket - something, he realized, that had been going on for the last few minutes, unnoticed due to the shocking revelation of All Might’s weakness he had unwittingly stumbled upon. Wrinkling his brow somewhat in confusion, Izuku numbly reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone and glancing at the screen -

- and immediately cringed.

 

OCCHAN

DEKU

DEKU ANSWER THE GODDAMN PHONE

DEKU I WILL HUNT YOU DOWN AND KICK YOUR ASS

DEKU

 

Unable to stop himself from gulping a bit in nervousness, it was only then that Izuku remembered the state he had been in when he had last seen his best friend - clinging to the leg of a pro hero that had just jumped in the air. Realizing that he should probably give her a call before she kept her word and hunted him down, he quickly dialed her number and pressed the green button before raising it to his ear, bracing himself for the cursing.

It didn't even ring once before she answered the phone.

"Izuku Midoriya, I am going to murder you!"

"Eek!" Izuku squeaked a bit, jumping as Ochako’s venomous voice filled his ear, but soon settled down and sighed - he probably - no, definitely deserved that. But before he could say anything to defend himself, Ochako went on a tangent, and as a construction worker’s daughter, she had a very colorful vocabulary to get through before he would be able to get a word in, so he sighed and subjected himself to what was probably going to be an entire minute of uncomfortableness.

"You dumbass, fucking piece of shit, garbage! Ya fuckin' green-haired asshole! Ya piece ‘a shit, mutterin', microscopic, rot-brained, fuckin' -"

Oh, and there went her nice voice, Izuku slowly nodded, realizing that she just slipped into her Mie accent. That meant she was really angry.

"- ya fuckwit, goddamn -"

"Mm-hm."

"- piece a' human excrement, shitty-faced, dickheaded, shit fer brains -"

"Yeah."

"- DENSE MOTHERFUCKER!"

"..."

"..."

"... Occhan? Are you still there?"

"Yeah. I was just takin’ a breath, I think I got everythin’ out of my system.”

At the very least, she sounded a little calmer, although her voice was still frosty as she addressed him. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I - I'm okay. I ..." Izuku glanced around, realizing he was on the roof of a building, and sighed a bit, "... I don't know where I am, All Might dropped me off on some rooftop before he ... before he took off. I - I'll have to get back down to street level before I text you the street name."

"Okay - okay, fine, you do that. But the moment you find out where you are, text me. I'll come find you, and then I’m going to wring your neck."

"I - yeah, okay, Occhan. I - sorry."

"... Deku, are you okay?" Izuku blinked when he heard her frosty voice suddenly vanish, replaced by a quiet and concerned inquiry. “You sound …”

"I - I'm fine," He sighed again, unable to stop a soft smile from gracing his lips, "I’ll see you soon."

Hearing her make an affirmative noise, Izuku lowered the phone from his ear, pressing the red button and disconnecting the call, and then letting out a small, defeated sigh. He didn’t even notice the loud roar of an explosion in the distance, but for now, all he could think about was what All Might had asked him, repeating them in his mind over and over as he slowly turned towards the roof access door, opening it, and stepping through to begin going down the stairs back to the street.

“I don’t think the question you need to ask is ‘can I become a hero’. I think the question you should be asking is, ‘should I become a hero?’.”

Honestly … for a few seconds, Izuku had to seriously think about what All Might was exactly talking about and what he meant. He wasn’t sure what exactly the difference was supposed to be between ‘can I be a hero’ and ‘should I be a hero’. But, slowly but surely, the small gears in Izuku’s mind began to turn, and he found himself frowning.

All Might … even with the shocking revelation he had explained to him, it was the last few words that he couldn’t get out of his mind. And Izuku knew why.

Because deep down, he knew that All Might was right.

For years, Izuku had been so afraid of his quirk, he squashed his childhood dreams of becoming a hero. He had pushed aside every small insistence or recommendation of him entering the hero business, always weakly laughing off Ochako’s quiet questions and Taiyo and Miwa and his mother’s suggestions. But the truth was … 

… yes, he wanted to be a hero. He wanted to be a hero more than anything, Izuku sighed to himself as he finally made it down the stairs and moved towards the door leading out to the street. Keeping track of heroes and their special moves, writing about new debuts late at night, analyzing their quirks and how they could improve them, eagerly helping Ochako train her own quirk so that she could become a hero … deep down, he knew that this was the life he wanted, more than anything.

What All Might had been trying to say … it was obvious, Izuku thought as he spotted a street sign, taking out his phone to text Ochako. The pro hero had pointed out that Izuku knew that he could become a hero with his quirk, no matter how dangerous it was - and he had been right. Electricity quirks in the hero business were rare, and hard to master, but if he tried hard, he could become successful.

But … All Might had been right. He knew that already. It was just … it wasn’t a question of ‘can I?’. It was a question of ‘should I?’.

And …

… and he didn’t know.

Izuku felt himself tear up slightly as he roughly wiped it away, texting Ochako the street name and then beginning to aimlessly walk. Should he become a hero? His quirk was dangerous. It was destructive. The one time he had meant to use it - even though he didn’t know what was happening - it had horrifying consequences. He had been plagued with nightmares for years of electrocuting Katsuki and his mom. He had nightmares of accidentally shocking Ochako, sending her falling through the skies unconscious towards the ground. He had nightmares that he would eventually get angry enough that he wouldn’t care anymore, go inside his school and …

… and that was why he thought he shouldn’t become a hero, he realized.

He didn’t trust himself. He didn’t trust his quirk. He was scared of it, so how could he use it without those horrible thoughts?

How could he -

"Oof!"

Izuku let out a small gasp as he unintentionally walked into someone standing on the street, blinking in shock as he took a few steps back. Realizing what he did, he let out a small gulp as he quickly bowed in apology.

“I - I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to -”

“Why aren’t the heroes doing anything?”

Stuttering to a stop, Izuku felt his apology fade away, due to the fact that, upon glancing up, the man he had bumped into hadn’t even looked at him at all, as though Izuku hadn’t even bumped into him. Or - you know, even acknowledged his presence. Instead, the man was looking anxious, trying to peek over the head of …

… wait, what? There was a whole crowd here, looking into a plaza that Izuku hadn’t realized he even walked towards. Wrinkling his brow in confusion and curiosity, his previously glum thoughts fading to the back of his mind, Izuku moved around the crowd to stand on his tippy-toes, trying to see what exactly everyone was looking at -

- and then he felt his eyes widen.

It was … it was the sludge villain! Izuku let out a shocked gasp at the sight of the amorphous form of the villain that had been choking him to death only twenty minutes ago, laughing evilly as he towered over the heroes. Izuku felt himself shiver when he caught the sight of a hand in the mass of sludge, flailing around before being dragged back into the fluid. Flames surrounded him from all sides, and he threw a hand forward, an explosion of fire ripping away from it and slamming into another building. Izuku could make out Kamui Woods, Death Arms and Backdraft attempting to hold back the fire and rescue any civilians left behind, but doing absolutely nothing to halt the villain at all, letting him add to the damage by throwing out another explosion to strike at one of the stores.

And the crowd was beginning to murmur amongst themselves.

“Why aren’t they doing anything?” One of the civilians grumbled, “He’s got a hostage - just jump in and save him.”

“Overheard that they can’t even fight him! There’s no hero on the scene that can take care of it. They’re waiting for another hero with a more suitable quirk!”

“Oh, come on, really?! That thing is busting up my shop! No way my insurance covers that!”

As the crowd continued to mutter and the three heroes on the ground backed up to join the cops holding them back, however, Izuku only continued to stare at the villain, confusion and terror beating in his heart.

How ... how did he get away from All Might?! That should have been impossible, there was no way All Might would have lost him! He had put the villain in those bottles, and put them in his -

- in his -

- his pockets.

In the pant leg that Izuku had ...

... oh, no.

Izuku felt what little breath he had completely leave his lungs, staring horrified at the villain as he threw another blast of fire at another building, making the crowd gasp and scream in terror. This was … this was all his fault. If he hadn’t grabbed onto All Might’s leg … to ask that stupid question … then … then the villain would have been apprehended. And … and he wouldn’t be here. Causing carnage and destroying everything in sight, with no one to stop him. And - 

- and the heroes were waiting for a hero with a suitable quirk to arrive. The reason they weren’t fighting the villain right now - it had to do with their quirks being a bad matchup with this villain. Someone like All Might would …

 "... I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day. And then I’m stuck like this until I recover enough strength to buff up again."

… oh god.

All Might was out of time. That was what he - that’s what he implied, right? That he used up those - those precious three hours. Because of Izuku, All Might didn’t have the strength to stop the sludge villain. That meant …

“Why aren’t the heroes doing anything to help the hostage?” One of the spectators grumbled.

“God, it’s not like anyone’s stopping them from just jumping out there. Just screw the kid and take down the villain.”

“Heh, no way. That’s bad publicity.”

Izuku felt his heart quicken at that factoid, that so many people were already writing off the hostage that he had taken. Izuku felt himself shudder, raising a hand to his mouth. The memory of the pain, the way he couldn’t breathe as the villain shoved itself down his throat … did that mean someone else was experiencing that right now? Bearing that - that horrible suffocation? He felt his breath come out jittered as the crowd continued to murmur. He thought he would’ve died after a few seconds of that, and there was someone suffering through that right before his eyes?

“Hey, actually … wasn’t that the villain All Might was chasing around earlier?”

“All Might?! No way. He’s here?”

“Yeah, saw him chasing that guy downtown before they went down into the sewers.”

“Seriously?! Then this guy got away from All Might?!”

As the crowd continued to turn on the heroes both present and absent, Izuku squeezed his eyes shut briefly, looking down at the ground in despair. There was a part of him that wanted to take the blame, shout to the heavens that this was all his fault, but his mouth was shut tight, as though unable to open even if he tried. He wanted to accept the blame, tell them that it was his fault All Might couldn’t stop this guy, that he couldn’t stop this villain. And the hostage …

… no. No, someone would have to come, Izuku rationalized as he looked back at the sludge villain. Someone not perfect, but someone with a more suitable quirk. Someone that would help.

Someone. Anyone.

Izuku stared at the villain, wincing when the arm of the hostage began sinking into the sludge.

Anyone …

The villain’s head turned to sneer at the heroes gathered around, and Izuku got a better view of the hostage writhing within him. He felt tears continue to build in his eyes at the sight of - 

- wait.

That blonde, spiky hair.

The explosions around him, created by the villain.

The red eyes, looking around pleadingly.

That ... that was ...

... and then Izuku moved.

Only that it wasn't just his feet that moved.

It took surprisingly little effort to shove his way through the crowd, bursting out at the front and ducking underneath Death Arm’s extended hand, bursting out of the gathered crowd and barrelling straight towards the villain, letting out a few squeaks of terror as he sprinted past the heroes, not hearing their shocked gasps, nor the sound of the crowd screaming in shock at what was happening.

"You idiot!" Death Arms barked, throwing out a hand but not moving from his spot. "Stop! Stop!"

As the attention of the sludge villain immediately snapped to Izuku, his eyes widening in recognition and glee as he stretched an arm back, intending to blast Izuku back, the boy kept his eyes on Katsuki as the bully looked weakly at him - and then Izuku felt his arms tense.

Sparks popped out of his palms, tingling and numbing his arms, but Izuku didn’t notice. Fear and terror slammed in his heart, but he didn’t even notice it as he threw his hands backwards towards the ground, feeling the familiar sting and pain of lightning beginning to pour down his arms, ready to fire. It didn’t matter that this was only the second time he would have actually used his quirk, Izuku knew it well. And at the moment, Izuku didn’t care, locking his eyes on Katsuki’s wide eyes staring at him in shock.

Get him out of there! Izuku screamed at himself. Save him!

And without warning, the lightning in his palms blasted out, striking the ground just behind Izuku as he ran in a loud explosion of sound and light that made the heroes and civilians watching wince in pain.

Izuku felt his feet leave the ground as he was pushed up into the air, letting out a small shriek of panic as he was sent flying towards the sludge villain, his backpack ripping off his shoulders from the force and speed, and sending his things flying everywhere. The villain, instead of striking out and swatting him out of the air, recoiled in surprise as Izuku blasted through the air towards him, his hand outstretched as he grabbed onto Katsuki’s free hand and pulled.

However, Katsuki was stuck pretty deep within the sludge, so Izuku strained as hard as he could as he landed on the sludge villain, one foot sinking in as he tried to pull his former friend free.

"You - you little -!" The sludge villain growled, getting over his shock at what Izuku had done, and threw an arm back, its palm beginning to smoke from the explosion he was about to unleash. "Die!"

Izuku’s eyes widened at the realization of what was about to happen - and then without hesitation, he threw his arm forward, pointing palm up at the sludge villain’s face as his arm tingled.

BOOM

The sludge villain let out a shriek of pain as the blast of lightning from Izuku’s palm slammed directly into his eye, throwing his head back and roaring to the heavens as it smoked and shocked him. That, at least, distracted him from keeping a hold on Katsuki, releasing his face and letting the blonde boy cough in pain and relief.

“Kacchan!” Izuku yelled, “Grab my hand!”

“Why are - *cough* - why are you here?!” Katsuki demanded, completely confused and taken aback by what the loser of his class was even doing.

“I don’t know!” Izuku shook his head, grabbing Katsuki’s wrist and pulling as hard as he could. “I - my legs - they moved on their own! I just -”

Before he could do anything else, however, the sludge around Katsuki’s face surged, and Izuku panicked as the blonde boy was once again enveloped by the villain, trying to shove the sludge down Katsuki’s throat.

"You - you little shit!" The sludge villain bellowed in rage, his eye still burning from Izuku’s lightning strike as he threw his arm out again, glaring down at the suddenly frozen boy. “I’m going to kill you, and wear your pathetic little meatsuit like a coat! Do you hear me?!”

“He’ll die in vain!” Death Arms shouted, finally moving forward with the rest of the heroes and stretching out an arm. “Is he suicidal?!”

Izuku let out a small gasp as the arm threw itself down, intending to strike Izuku dead and make him nothing more than a smear on the side of a building, and with nowhere to go and one foot stuck in the villain, Izuku knew he couldn’t run. Squeezing his eyes shut, Izuku threw his arms up, feeling them continue to spark and tremble with electricity - 

- but then a muscular arm intercepted the sludge villain’s attack, making sure the sludge wrapped around it and diverted the explosion. Izuku flinched at the loud explosion behind him - but felt himself blink when he realized that it didn’t hit him.

"Now, now," A familiar voice drawed, making Izuku's eyes widen, "I believe we've already had this discussion, haven’t we?"

Izuku's gaze whipped back up, and he let out a gasp at the sight that greeted him. Standing overtop him was All Might, smiling widely although there was a noticeable shaking, and preventing the sludge villain from striking him as he protected Izuku from him.

"A-All Might ..." Izuku’s eyes widened, remembering their conversation. "But ...?"

"I really am pathetic," The pro hero shook his head at himself. "Someone recently kicked me in the butt for not living up to my own ideals ... and even now, I struggle!"

With a fierce grunt, he ripped his arm free of the sludge villain’s grasp, and reached out to grab the back of Katsuki’s school uniform. 

"Pros are always risking their lives!" All Might proclaimed, throwing his other arm back and ignoring the blood escaping his mouth. “That’s the true test of a hero!”

"Damn you, All Might ...!"

"DETROIT ... SMASH!"

Admittedly, what happened after that, Izuku had no idea.

One moment All Might had thrown his fist forward, unleashing a blast of wind that completely eviscerated the sludge villain and freed Katsuki from its grasp - and the next he was staring blankly up at the sky, wincing a bit when drops of rain appeared out of nowhere to shower them.

Letting out a small groan, Izuku tried to raise a hand to rub his eyes, but winced at the sudden pain in his palms, making him gasp out. Letting out a small groan, Izuku rolled onto his sides, and blinked at the sight of All Might standing proudly, raising a fist into the sky as the crowd cheered for him. There was a shuffling near him, and Izuku looked around to see Katsuki managing to sit up, groaning lowly as he coughed up some sludge from before. 

Grunting, Izuku managed to sit up, wincing again as he put his palms on the ground to help him up, and then glanced at them - and then froze at the sight of red lines on his palms, suddenly remembering what he had done.

He … he used his quirk. For the second time in his life he used his quirk on purpose. And it - did he use it to save Katsuki?

… no. No, he - he only used it to blast his way to the sludge villain, and - and then blast him in the eye. He … All Might saved them. He overcame the pain and saved the two boys. Izuku felt himself frown as he stared down at his palms.

He didn’t … he didn’t do anything.

It didn’t take too long for the other pro heroes to gather around, scooping up the remains of the sludge villain that All Might had blasted apart into trash bags to escort off to prison, and All Might found himself distracted by the onslaught of reporters that came out of nowhere to interview him, the pro hero laughing bombastically as he answered all of their questions. And every so often, the Number One Hero would glance behind his shoulder, looking at Izuku on the ground staring at his palms, and wincing as the two heroes above him read him the riot act. 

"You utter idiot!" Kamui Woods reprimanded him, glowering down at him as he crossed his wooden arms across his chest. "There has to be a limit to how rash you can be!"

"There was absolutely no reason for you to put yourself in danger!" Death Arms snarled. "All Might was clearly on the way! You needlessly put yourself at risk of death, and for what?! A little attention?!"

"N-no, sir," Izuku mumbled, continuing to stare at his hands while Katsuki glowered beside him, being praised for absolutely no reason by the one hero in the white spandex and yellow cape, ignoring the three reporters circling around him - and no one being aware of a brown haired girl pushing her way through the cheering crowd, unable to take the sight of her best friend being scolded anymore, and running over.

"Even if you thought your quirk would give you an advantage, you were clearly in over your head! I’m thinking that some legal action should be -"

"Stop it!"

Izuku jolted at the familiar voice above him, but before he could look up, a pair of arms wrapped around his shoulders. Looking around, Izuku blinked at the sight of Ochako, the girl glowering and meeting Death Arms’ glare tit-for-tat as she held her best friend close.

“I heard the people in tha' crowd! He was th’ only one who did anythin’ while you were standin’ around!” She snarled, her Mie accent out in full force today. “He wen’ and did yer job while you stood there and whined, until All Might showed up and stole yer thunder! So stop crappin’ on him and leave ‘im the fuck alone!”

"Now listen here, young lady," Death Arms crossed his arms, or did the best he could with his black and yellow striped wrist-guards, "you don't get to -"

"While I don’t quite share the language, I do believe she has a point."

The group that had been getting ready for a fight jumped a bit and looked around as All Might strolled forward, raising one hand to put a pause to the reporters’ questions so that he could smile at the group on the ground, not noticing Katsuki’s eyes snap to him as he addressed Kamui and Death Arms.

"I believe that you both have made your point," He evenly said to the two heroes, "the boy has been reprimanded. No need to drag this out now! I believe that this young man has learned his lesson."

"Perhaps," Kamui said frostily, "but now that you’re here, All Might, the boy should also apologize to you for -"

"An apology is not necessary," All Might held up his hand to shush his junior, giving Izuku and Ochako an assuring grin, "I'm just relieved that everything turned out alright - or ‘All Might’, I should say! Ha, ha, ha! You two can head home now."

Izuku stared up at All Might for a moment, seeing him give the young boy an assuring nod, but he was soon distracted by Ochako tugging on his sleeve. Being pulled to his feet by his best friend, Izuku did nothing to resist Ochako as she gently took his wrist, careful of his hand since it was still somewhat tingling with electricity and sparks, and began to pull him away from the pro heroes, leaving Katsuki on the ground glaring after them.

Thankfully, All Might grabbed the attention of the reporters again, preventing them from going after the two middle-school students to ask questions, and letting the green-haired boy leave the plaza. As they walked away, Ochako pulled out her cell phone to call home and explain what had happened, and Izuku didn’t even think to grab his things that had been thrown from him when he had launched himself at the sludge villain, as they moved around the corner and out of sight.

Of course, no one noticed, or were aware, of the man leaning against the wall of the plaza, studying the scene carefully before raising a phone to his ear as he hid away from the pro heroes.

"Hey."

...

"Already on the news, huh? Yeah, I’m there right now - no one can see me, though. I saw the fight too, the boss was right. The sludge guy was talking out of his ass, All Might wiped the floor with him.”

...

"Yeah, I'm on my way back now before anyone spots me. Tell the leader we gotta start recruiting again."

...

"Sounds good. Heh, you can tell the boss I saw something funny at the fight, none of those reporters were talkin’ about it - some kid broke off from the crowd to get in a fight with old Sludgie. Actually put up a decent show before All Might stepped in. Used a quirk similar to the one the boss's bein' refitted with."

...

"Yep. Save a cigar for me."


... oh, god, this was awkward.

Izuku couldn’t help but gulp a bit as he walked down the road with Ochako towards home, his hands, thankfully no longer sparking, secured in his pockets as the sun began to set in the distance. He stayed quiet as he stole glances at his best friend - although his attempts to meet her eyes were entirely one-sided.

For one, Ochako was moving a bit quicker than he was, pretty much a step ahead of him and walking much faster than her best friend. Secondly, she hadn’t looked back at him at all since they had left the square, leaving behind All Might and the reporters. They had been halfway back to the apartment when Izuku realized that he didn’t have his backpack or any of his things, making him shrink up a bit as he realized he left his notebooks behind, but he decided not to bring it up when Ochako had hung up her phone call to the Midoriya’s explaining what had happened.

Mostly, he could only really concentrate on the coldness emulating from his best friend, and how she wasn’t looking back at him at all.

"Uh ..." Izuku coughed quietly, glancing away awkwardly, "... so ... you, uh ... were you in the crowd earlier? Did, uh - did you see what happened?"

"..."

"... n-no, probably not, I - I probably would've seen you. You - you must've heard what happened, though?"

"..."

"... er. Uh … Occh-"

"Deku!"

Izuku and Ochako faltered in their step at the sound of the rough voice behind them, and they both looked around. Running straight towards them was Katsuki, panting a bit as he skidded to a stop just a few feet away from them, taking a few moments to catch his breath as he glared at Izuku. Ochako, meanwhile, only slightly turned her head, fixing the blonde boy with a cold glare as though unvocally daring him to do anything.

"I ..." Izuku blinked, taken aback by Katsuki’s appearance, and turned around to give him a concerned look, "Kaccha-"

"I never asked for your help! And you didn't help me!" Katsuki suddenly barked, clenching his fists and snarling at the boy. Ochako only raised an eyebrow at him, while Izuku blinked again in surprise.

"You got that?! I was fine by myself! I don't need you looking down on me all the time!" Katsuki ranted, shaking a bit in rage. "You get one good hit on me when we were kids and you think you're better than me?! Fuck off! I owe you jack shit!"

He whipped back around, storming down the road with an awkward walk, and yelling over his shoulder, "Don't look down on me, you damned nerd!"

Izuku felt himself sweat a little bit, chuckling weakly while Ochako slowly turned her head to look back down the road, not looking back.

"I, uh ... I guess that happened," He said in a small voice, looking back around at Ochako as she started walking back down the path, as though there hadn’t been an interruption.

However, there was something in the way she walked, and didn’t look back at Izuku at all, that finally made him break, jogging forward a bit to grab her wrist and bring her to a stop.

"Occhan, are you angry at me?"

At that question, Ochako finally slowed to a stop, staring straight ahead while Izuku stared at the back of her head. For a moment they were silent, with Izuku feeling his heart hammer in his chest and a slight pain from his numb hands holding her wrist - and then Ochako let out a soft sigh.

"... kinda."

Izuku winced at that - it always did hurt to hear his closest (and let’s be honest, only) friend admit that she was angry at him. However, before he could apologize, she looked around, and he felt himself tear up at the look of anger, frustration and sadness on her face - an expression she must’ve had since they left the plaza ten minutes ago.

“You … I’m not gonna lie, you scared the hell out of me today, Deku,” She admitted quietly, glancing at the ground as she slowly slid her wrist out of his grasp and letting him stand back. “First we get attacked by that sludge villain, and - and I had to watch him try to shove himself down your throat. Then I had to watch you latch yourself to All Might’s leg when he took off - I thought you were going to fall off and - and then I had to find out that you got in a fight with that exact same villain!”

"I ... I know." Izuku nodded, looking down as Ochako got herself more and more worked up.

“And this isn’t even the first time! Sure, it was - this time was definitely the worst, but I always have to drag you away from this kind of stuff!” She turned fully around, giving him a look of anger and desperation as she tried her hardest to explain this. “Watching villain fights and heroes being thrown around while you take notes, and - and -!”

Izuku felt a bit hurt at that, glancing down at his feet in guilt while his best friend continued to rant.

"And you just -!" For the second time that day, Ochako raised her hands to her hair, grabbing two fistfuls and looking thunderous for a moment - and then she let out a sigh, glancing away while lowering her hands, and muttered, “... Deku, you scared the hell out of me. I thought that I was - there were times today that I thought I was going to have to watch you die.”

"..."

"And I -" She shook her head, and glanced up at him, making him falter at the sight of tears in her eyes, "- I'm not an idiot, Deku. I know that I can't convince you - I can't convince you to apply for UA if you don't want to. I know your reasons, and I - I understand them, and I respect them. But Deku, if we go to different high schools … I can’t watch over you anymore.”

“H-huh?”

“Deku, I don’t - I know I was complaining about it just now, but I don’t mind when you go - when you want to go watch hero and villain fights, and - and take notes. But if we … if we go to different high schools …” She sniffled, glancing away again, “... then I can’t make sure you don’t get hurt. And … and today was just a reminder of that. That - that if you’re on your own when this kind of thing happens …” She raised a hand to wipe away a tear, “... then I can’t stop you from getting hurt.”

Oh … oh, boy. That hit him like a blow in the stomach. Izuku felt his gaze lower to the ground again, tears stinging his eyes at the reminder that, yes, it was more than likely that they weren’t going to be able to spend much time together once high school started next year. Ochako was training to be a pro hero - there was no way that she could be distracted from the hard work load. And … and he knew that she was right.

This time next year … she might not be able to look after him anymore.

For a moment, the two of them were silent, not looking at each other while they silently teared up, and then Ochako took a deep breath.

"... okay. Time for a hug."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back up at her as she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You scared me to death today. That means I deserve a hug, at least."

"I ..." Izuku hesitated, and then sighed and nodded, unable to stop himself from smiling softly, "... okay."

With that confirmed, Ochako walked over, putting her backpack down on the ground, and throwing her arms around his neck. Izuku blinked a bit in surprise at how she latched onto him, going a bit red despite himself - of course, they’d hugged plenty of times over the years, since Ochako was a very physically affectionate person that expressed herself through hugs and the such, but there was something … different about this hug that made his cheeks feel a bit hot.

But still, he knew that he had frightened her with his various acts of stupidity today, so that at least meant that he needed to make up for it. And that he did, wrapping his arms around her back and squeezing back gently.

"I am sorry," He muttered into her shoulder, hearing Ochako take a deep breath with his hands on her back, and feeling her shake a bit.

"I know," She whispered, "and ... yeah. I know."

They stood like that for about a minute, holding each other while gently swaying, until Ochako finally separated from him, finally smiling a little bit, and moved to pick back up her backpack so that they could go home.

"Look," she said quietly to him as they started walking again, this time side by side, "I ... I'm sorry for losing my temper with you."

"It's not like I didn't deserve it," Izuku gently shook his head, "I was, uh - I’ll be honest, I don't know what today even was."

"W-well, in any case," She grimaced slightly, "it's just - you need to be more careful, okay? I know that today was freaking nuts, but - but I don't want a repeat of that - at least, not without me being there to back you up."

"I know," Izuku nodded, feeling a bit downcast at the reminder, "and ... yeah. I know that us - us hanging out together once high school starts ..."

Ochako winced at that little reminder, although she shook her head and put her arm around his shoulder, drawing him in to give him a one armed hug.

"Let's ... let's not think about it right now," She muttered, continuing to walk forward towards the apartment, "let's just go home and unwind from today, okay? We got a whole year before we even have to worry about that sort of thing."

"I ... okay."

Izuku let out a soft sigh, but still smiled and wrapped his arm around her waist, returning the hug while she smiled gently back. He felt a bit thankful that she had managed to get over her anger at him, although it had been well deserved - but at least she was smiling again, so that was all that mattered.

Of course, if he had thought Ochako’s reaction to his idiocy was bad, he hadn’t thought of his own mother’s reaction.

"IZUKUUUUUU!"

Izuku let out a squeak five minutes later, due to the fact that the moment he opened his apartment door, Inko immediately launched herself on him, grabbing him in a tight hug and squeezing the life out of him. His eyes bulged out of his head like a stress toy while she sobbed loudly, with Ochako blinking but recovering from her shock quickly, shaking her head while Izuku weakly patted his mom’s shoulder. Behind Inko, Taiyo and Miwa were also giving the boy the ‘disappointed parents’ look, making him wince at the sight of the wet patches on their clothing from where Inko had been obviously crying on them when Ochako had called home to tell them what had happened.

"I was so worried!" Inko sobbed, not noticing her son’s predicament as Izuku continued to weakly pat her shoulder in order to get free from her bone-breaking embrace. "What on earth were you thinking?! It was bad enough to hear that you got attacked by a villain by Ochako, but then to hear that you went and jumped in a fight?! What were you thinking?!"

"M-Mom! I - I can't - I can't breathe!"

"Oh!" Inko gasped in shock, and immediately let him go, letting Izuku take a deep breath and cough for a bit as she instead grabbed his arms, "I'm so sorry, Izuku - I'm just -"

"I know," He nodded a bit in guilt, letting out a defeated sigh and moving to hold his mom's unscarred arm, giving her an apologetic look, "and - and I'm sorry for worrying you. I really am. I just ... I moved without thinking. I know that’s not really an excuse, but ..."

Inko stared up at him for a moment, and then sighed, wiping her eyes and glancing down.

"Well - well, at least you're okay," She managed to say, letting out another shuddered breath, "you are, aren't you? Or do we need to -"

"N-no, I'm fine," He assured her, "just - kinda shaken up. I'm ... grounded though, aren't I?"

“Oh, of course you are,” Inko couldn’t help but giggle at that, seeing her son wince a bit while Taiyo and Miwa shook their heads, “just for the week. I’m sure Ochako won’t mind giving you the silent treatment until the weekend.”

“Nope,” Ochako shook her head, smiling a bit at Izuku’s look of betrayal, “I’ll just keep him company during breakfast and lunch, and after that he’s on his own.”

“Great,” Izuku grumbled, “betrayed by my best friend. Again.”

“You need to let that go, Deku.”

“You poured wine on the carpet and blamed me. I’m never letting that go.”

“We were eight!”

The small group laughed a bit at the back and forth, and Inko sighed as she finally stepped back, wiping her eyes again.

“W-well, anyway,” She gestured with her head towards the inside of the apartment, “I’m sure you both had a long day, so let’s go inside and -”

"Pardon me, young man."

The group blinked at the sound of a deep voice on their right, and turned to look around - and while the Urarakas and Inko blinked in surprise, Izuku felt his eyes bulge out of his head once again, this time without the assistance of his mother’s hug.

“I’m sorry to interrupt you this evening,” All Might sheepishly chuckled as he approached them in his emancipated form, holding a familiar yellow backpack in both of his hands, “but I had been at the scene of the - well, the villain fight, and saw that your son threw this at the villain, scattering his things. Due to the heroes yelling at him right afterwards, he didn’t have time to collect his stuff, so - er, I had thought to get his notebooks and everything. You don’t need to worry, young man, everything’s inside.”

Feeling himself shake, Izuku hesitantly reached out to the offered backpack, glancing down and feeling its familiar weight. While Ochako looked up at the man with an unreadable look of confusion, Inko managed to get over her shock of the man appearing before them.

“O-oh, that’s - that’s kind of you, sir,” She said kindly to the tall man before them, aware of Taiyo and Miwa being taken aback by his unhealthy appearance, “Izuku, you can - you can say thank you, can’t you?”

“Oh! Uh -” Izuku gasped, and quickly moved to bow. “- t-thank you, All M- uh, I-I mean, sir.”

“It’s no problem,” All Might shook his head, raising a hand to rub through his hair. “Although … there was something I was - er -”

Izuku blinked, and glanced back up to see All Might awkwardly glancing at the others, before shaking his head and trying his best to smile.

“Young man, as - as repayment for gathering your things, do you mind walking me back down to my vehicle? I’m just down in the parking lot,” He gestured with his hand towards the railing, where his truck presumably was, and coughed a bit. “I know that you probably would like a chance to unwind and relax, but, uh - well, I’m honestly feeling a bit, uh -”

“O-oh!” Inko suddenly gasped, catching something that Izuku must not have. “I - yes, Izuku, why don’t you help - er -”

“Yagi, ma’am.” All Might bowed a bit, unaware of the small woman’s eyes going to the blood on his chin from where he had coughed.

“Y-yes - Izuku, why don’t you help Mr. Yagi to his truck, he must - well, it’d be good manners for him coming all this way to give back your backpack.”

“Uh - er - right,” Izuku nodded stiffly, and All Might sagged a bit in relief. Once Taiyo and Miwa gave the blonde man a polite nod, and together, Izuku and All Might turned around to begin walking down the breezeway towards the elevator, while Ochako continued to look after All Might with a confused look on her face.

“Oh, dear, did you see the blood on his chin when he coughed?” Inko fretted, raising a hand to her cheek, “He must be sick. That poor man … should we have invited him in?”

“I’m not sure,” Miwa shook her head, looking after them herself, “but should we be sending Izuku off with him like that? We don’t really know him, after all.”

“Don’ worry, dear,” Taiyo put his hand on her shoulder, “that guy’s a twig. All else fails, I can take ‘im.”

While Miwa elbowed her husband in the ribs while Inko shook her head at the Uraraka patriarch, Ochako continued to watch as Izuku and the stranger stopped at the elevator, not talking at all while they waited for it to arrive while Inko, Miwa and Taiyo stepped back into the Midoriya apartment to get supper ready, with Miwa taking her daughter’s backpack from her to put down.

Ochako wasn’t worried - well, that would be a lie, she was a little worried. But she knew that Izuku wouldn’t just waltz off with a stranger - he might’ve done a few dumb things today, but if he thought he was in trouble, he’d run back in and get her or her dad. She chose to pointedly ignore all the times she had to drag him away from danger, and just - trust him on this.

She knew at the end of the day, as much as she didn’t like it, her dad had a point - this Yagi guy was just a twig. If he caused trouble, Ochako sighed as she began to step through the door, Izuku could probably take him, seeing as Izuku was an able-bodied teenager, and he was just a tall thin guy in a white, baggy t-shirt and oversized green jeans and -  

- wait.

Wait.

Wait a goddamn minute.

Blinking, Ochako’s eyes widened, and she quickly looked back out the door for the man who brought Izuku his backpack - but he was already gone down the elevator with him. She suddenly panicked, trying to remember what exactly he had been wearing as she tried to peek over the railing to see if he was down there, and make a comparison in her mind - but before she could, she heard her mom calling for her.

“Ochako? Why do you have six water bottles full of pop in your backpack?”

“H-huh?” Ochako looked quickly around, realizing what she was talking about and stammering. “Uh - w-well - er - you see - uh -”

Continuing to stammer as she rushed back in the apartment, Ochako felt the mental dots that she had been connecting between the skinny man and the pro hero that had saved them today be pushed to the back of her mind - for now.

Meanwhile, downstairs, Izuku gulped as he followed All Might out of the elevator, walking a bit stiffly as the pro hero led him out of the apartment and towards the parking lot. Looking up at the tall man, Izuku cleared his throat a little, suddenly feeling a bit shy.

“Er … All Might?”

“Yes, young man?” All Might asked as he glanced behind him.

“Are you, uh … are you okay? You said that - er - that you only had three hours, right? That must’ve -”

“It did take a lot out of me,” All Might answered for him, but gave him an assuring smile, “but yes, young man, I’m alright. Well - you know, as fine as I can be, considering. I would’ve put this off for a bit, but there was something I needed to follow up with you on, and it couldn’t really wait.”

“I -” Izuku started, but then faltered, realizing something. “- wait, were you following Occhan and me? How - how did you know where I lived?”

“Well … a guess, mostly, and … perhaps a little following,” All Might admitted, looking sheepish as he scratched his hair, “let me tell you, it was hard to lose those reporters, but it’s fine! I stand for justice, not soundbites!”

Izuku at least chuckled a bit at that, “W-well, I was just surprised, that’s all. I think I would’ve noticed someone in a truck following us, but -”

“Oh, no, young man, I didn’t drive here,” All Might laughed, “I jumped! I let go of my form once I caught sight of you and followed you all back.”

“I - wait, you don’t have a truck here?”

“Nope! I have a truck, but it’s at home.”

“Then - then how are you going to get home?”

There was a pause while All Might stared blankly ahead, and Izuku gulped a bit when he realized that All Might had accidentally stranded himself, before the Symbol of Peace sighed a bit.

“I … suppose I’m going to have to call a taxi,” He shook his head, but then his smile fell. “But that can wait until later - we’re here.”

Izuku faltered, looking around to where All Might had led him - and then felt himself freeze as All Might lifted the yellow police tape up to go into the playground, feeling himself stop in his tracks and his eyes widened a bit as All Might walked towards a bench.

"Once I had some time to myself after getting away from those reporters, and managed to find you," All Might explained as he moved into the playground, noticing out of the corner of his eye as Izuku stood stiffly behind the yellow line but deciding not to point it out, "I decided to do a bit of research on my phone. And I found out about this from an old news report several years ago," He gestured with his hand to the melted playground, looking back at the young man behind him, "about an incident where a child lashed out with his recently developed quirk, injuring four people and putting them in the hospital."

Izuku's gaze fell to the ground, while All Might gave him a sympathetic look.

"It didn't take a detective to figure out that between what you told me and where you live, young man, that that child was you."

"..."

"..."

"... yeah," He muttered, still staring at the ground, "it was me."

All Might nodded a bit, and put his hands in his pockets, sighing.

"I ... believe that I owe you an apology," He admitted, "I had told you on that rooftop that every quirk can be used to become a great hero, and that you already knew the answer to the question you asked. I had dismissed you because I thought you were asking me if it was possible to become a hero with your power, and I told you that you needed to answer that yourself.”

“I - no, you - you don’t need to apologize, All Might.” Izuku shook his head, feeling some tears in his eyes yet again, “you - you were right. I - I already knew that answer to the question. I was just … I wanted some gratification. I was just -”

“Young man, I wasn’t finished.”

Izuku faltered, glancing back up at the tall man before him as All Might approached him yet again.

“At that square today, when no other hero acted, you did. When everyone was hesitating to jump in to save that boy, including myself - and yes, young man, I really was a part of that crowd - you leapt in without a second thought. You told me you were afraid of your power, but in that moment you acted without hesitation, to try and save that boy’s life. And had I not intervened, you were willing to give your life to save another.”

All Might slowed to a stop before him, staring down at the boy and looking more serious than Izuku ever expected out of the man with the fearless smile. “I’ll … admit that when I was following you back to your home after I got away from those reporters, I caught what that boy said to you. That boy … he wasn’t exactly what you would call a friend, was he?”

“... no, All Might,” Izuku muttered. “He was … he was the boy I injured here. The one I hurt. Everything he said - it was right.”

“He wasn’t your friend,” All Might glanced to the ground, “and yet, you still jumped in to save him. Even when I was hesitating. And I shouldn’t be hesitating to go beyond my own limits. I told you the traits that make a great champion, and even I have a hard time following my own ideals.”

“O-oh no, All Might, please!” Izuku protested as he waved his hands, looking a bit stricken for a moment, “I just - you don’t have to say that, I was the one who messed up. I shouldn’t have -”

“Young man, you did not mess up,” All Might shook his head, moving around to sit down at the bench near the entrance of the closed park, letting Izuku stay behind the yellow line, “You did what many top heroes have done when they began their careers - your body moved before you could think.”

Izuku felt his breath catch in his throat, staring down at his hero as the older man looked up at him, smiling gently as he leaned forward a bit to look into Izuku’s eyes.

"On the rooftop this afternoon," He reminded the young man, "you asked me if you could be ‘a hero with the quirk of a villain’. You told me that everyone, except your family and your best friend, believes you have the quirk of a villain. And from how you spoke, and how you looked at your hands after you used it today, you believe that as well.”

“...”

“Well, young man, I believe that's hogwash. Quirks cannot make you good or evil," He leaned back on the bench, "that is for you to decide."

"H-huh?"

"Power is power. It's neither good nor evil, wrong nor right. It's simply power." All Might explained patiently. "What matters most of all is intent and action. What you do with the power you are gifted, that determines whether or not you - not your power, you - are bad or good. And from what I saw of it today? Your quirk is not bad, because you yourself are not bad. Your quirk is dangerous, yes, it is destructive. I won’t lie about that. But should you learn to harness it? Grow from it? Use it? You could become a hero."

Izuku stared at All Might blankly for a moment, feeling his breath catch in his throat - and then he looked down, feeling tears sting his eyes.

“Young man, I said today that the question shouldn’t be ‘can I’, it should be ‘should I’,” All Might raised an eyebrow, “because I believe, sincerely, that under the right training, you can be a hero. So I am going to ask you, here and now, young man - should you be a hero?”

For a moment, Izuku stared at All Might, continuing to tear up as he glanced down at his shoes, feeling his tears begin to flow down his cheeks. He remembered what he had thought this afternoon after the pro hero had left him on that rooftop, about how terrified he was of his quirk if he chose to experiment with it, of who he could hurt if he wasn’t careful … and yet, he felt his eyes close.

“I …”

“...”

“... yes.” Izuku cried, turning away a bit as he trembled, “I … I want to be a hero, All Might.”

All Might smiled gently, leaning forward again to reach out and pat Izuku’s arm.

“In that case, young man, that’s what you should be. A hero.”

For a few minutes, All Might let Izuku quietly cry to himself, giving the green-haired boy a chance to calm down as he shivered and shook. Finally, Izuku raised a hand to wipe his eyes, and looked back up at the pro hero seated on the bench, trying his best to give him a good smile through the tears and snot on his face.

“I … thank you, All Might. I - thank you.”

“For what?” All Might chuckled good-naturedly, patting his arm again, “You answered the question yourself, young man - I just gave you a few pokes so you could get there. There’s no need to thank me for that.”

Izuku let out a small laugh at that, wiping his eyes and straightening up - 

"Even if you thought your quirk would give you an advantage, you were clearly in over your head!”

Izuku faltered at the memory of what Kamui Woods had said, and then blinked. With that reminder, Izuku remembered something important, and felt himself sag a bit, the smile on his face slowly fading away as All Might blinked up at him.

“Young man?”

“I … thank you, All Might, for - for saying that I should be a hero. I - I really needed to hear that. It’s just …”

“Hm?” All Might wrinkled his brow, leaning forward again, “What is it?”

“... today, at the plaza,” He muttered, “I just … I just jumped into that fight to save Kacchan, but I - I failed. I only managed to get over to him and grab him, but - but that villain was going to kill me. I know how to blast out, but it - it hurt me.” He took his hands out of his pockets, staring at the red lines from earlier today and years ago and frowned, “I have no idea how my quirk even works, and I - if you hadn’t stepped in, I probably would be dead. There’s - there’s no way I can safely practice my quirk anywhere. I - I want to be a hero, but I have no idea how to use my quirk safely.”

All Might stayed silent at that for a moment, realizing Izuku just made a pretty good point - he had the firepower, of course, but no experience with it. If Izuku wanted to become a hero, he couldn’t just blast himself around and shoot people with no way to tone it down. He needed practice, someone to guide him, someone to - 

- to -  

- damn. 

All Might realized what needed to happen, and let out a small sigh as he stood up from the bench. This was going to make things complicated, even more so with Mirai continuing to blow up his phone demanding him to reconsider his choice - but he knew that he couldn’t just leave this young man out to dry. He needed guidance, a safe place to practice his quirk - and more than that, from what he described earlier today, an environment with someone there to support him.

And he had all three of those things.

So he didn’t really have much choice, did he?

“... young man,” All Might said in a low voice, nodding to himself, “I have a proposition for you.”

“H-huh?” Izuku blinked, looking back up and seeing All Might scratch the back of his neck.

“You don’t understand how your quirk works,” All Might summed up, “and you were moving because you wanted to save that boy today, not because you knew how.”

“I … yeah?”

“Well … I admit, young man, I do see a part of myself in you,” All Might admitted, making Izuku squeak and quickly glance away as his face went a bit red, “I … also had trouble with harnessing my quirk when I was a young man. I was actually around your age when it first … manifested.”

“Wh - really?” Izuku gasped, looking up at the pro hero in shock.

“It’s true! It was because of the guidance of my own master that I was able to perfect my quirk … and become the hero I am today. And …” All Might sighed, realizing that once he said this there would be no going back, and shook his head as he straightened up, “... and I would like to offer you the same opportunity, young man.”

“...”

“...”

"... eh?" Izuku felt his eyes widen in shock, taking a step backwards as his face went pale, "Are - are you - are you saying that you want to train me?!"

“I … well, I suppose I am!” All Might laughed a bit, wiping a bit of blood from the corner of his mouth as he looked down on the green-haired boy. “I admit, young man, you have potential, and a lot of it. But you’re right as well. You were able to shoot electricity out of your hands, but you don’t show a lot of control over where you aim and how much energy you pour out. You’re right that training your quirk can be dangerous, to you and other people around you.”

Izuku winced at that - but before he could apologize, All Might shook his head.

“So in that instance - it would be foolish of me to simply leave you on your own!” He shook his head, crossing his arms proudly. “Young man, with your permission, I would like to train you on how to use your quirk! Before you say anything, though, know this - I am not going to be babying you. This will be extremely difficult, and I won’t just be training your quirk - I will be training you. I’ll be having you follow a tough schedule, and it’ll be difficult to have a life outside it.”

Izuku faltered at that, seeing All Might grimacing slightly.

"I apologize, but it’s the same schedule my own master had me follow, and look where I am now - er, not currently, but - you know. But anyway, if you want to learn how to control your quirk, know the ins and outs of your abilities, and learn how to master it … I think that what I have in mind for you would serve you well. But again, it’s entirely up to you! So what do you say?”

Izuku stared up at All Might for a moment, still feeling some of his tears from earlier return in his eyes as he realized that this wasn’t a dream, and All Might really was offering to train him … and then quickly raised his hand to roughly wipe his eyes. 

This was - he had no reason to even be hesitating now. All Might had encouraged him, and was giving him an opportunity to master his quirk. He knew that, if he really did want to become a hero, it would need to be trained, and he knew that it was dangerous - so why would he turn down the opportunity to have the world's greatest hero oversee its training? There was absolutely no reason to turn him down!

Wiping the rest of his tears away with his sleeve, Izuku took a deep breath to steady himself, and then, feeling determination flow through him, nodded.

"I'll accept your help!"

"Absolutely no hesitation," All Might smirked to himself. "I thought so. Now then, I do have something cooked up, but I still need to put the finishing touches on it. For now, let’s exchange contact information, young man, and I’ll text you when - actually,” He realized, blinking a bit, “perhaps introductions are necessary before that.”

Raising his hand for a handshake, All Might grinned down at the middle-school student, “My name is Toshinori Yagi, young man. If you want, you can still call me All Might.”

“I -” Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then returned the grin as best he could as he took his idol's hand, pumping it up and down. “I-Izuku Midoriya, sir.”

"Well then, Young Midoriya,” All Might nodded, “let's get along."

“Y-yes sir!”

“Good! Now then - I think it’s time I called my taxi. You should get back inside, I imagine your mother’s wondering where you went.”

“I - ah! You’re right! Crap!”

Once contact information was quickly exchanged and All Might promised to text him once he had something concrete planned (and Izuku’s grounding was over), the two men parted, with All Might walking him back to the parking lot and letting Izuku run back upstairs, waving to him before turning around and walking away from the apartment. Thankfully, Inko and the Urarakas were more relieved that Izuku was okay, and Taiyo admitted that he had watched the two at the playground debating with himself to storm down and beat the skinny man to a pulp if things got out of hand, although Miwa did poke him in the funny bone for admitting that out loud. Still, Izuku was relieved that everything seemed to finally calm down, although Ochako did send him a small, concerned look.

Once Izuku had washed up, dinner got properly started, with Izuku confused why they were drinking pop out of water bottles but not questioning it as they dug in, instead telling his mom and the Urarakas about his day before the incident, with Taiyo shaking his head at Izuku distracting himself while going to school with a hero and villain fight while Miwa frowned when Ochako told them about their confrontation with Katsuki. Once their dinner was finished, and the adults stepped up to wash the dishes, Izuku headed into his room, pulling out the piece of paper from his backpack given back to him by All Might with a determined look in his eyes, and grabbed a pencil.

As he wrote down the name on the piece of paper, he suddenly heard the sound of knocking on his door, and looked around to see Ochako poking her head in.

“Hey, Deku,” She said quietly, “I was just wondering if I could talk to you real quick about that guy -” She faltered, however, when she saw what Izuku was doing, and wrinkled her brow. 

“Hey, what’s - what’s that?”

“Hm?” Izuku glanced back down, and then nodded, looking back up to give her a smile. “It’s, uh - it’s my high school application form. I’ve made my decision.”

“Wha - really?” Ochako gasped, blinking a bit. The small pit of worry in her stomach that had started forming this morning about this suddenly clenched, and she felt herself shrink a bit as she stepped into her best friend’s room. “I - uh - t-that’s great! It’s - it’s great that you finally made a decision.”

“Yeah,” Izuku nodded, “lifting the piece of paper up, “and it’s going to be my only option. I’m not worried, though, I’m pretty sure I can get in.”

“W-well, let’s have a look!” Ochako tried to maintain her smile, walking over to look over his shoulder, “I - I guess I should know where -”

It was then that she caught a glimpse of the name of the high school Izuku wanted to go to, however, and she felt herself blink at what she saw.

TOP SELECTION: UA High School

There was about ten seconds of silence, with Izuku waiting for Ochako’s reaction expectantly. Finally, Ochako slowly turned her gaze from the paper to Izuku, blinking a bit in shock, and he finally gave her a more natural grin.

“I … honestly, thank you, Occhan. You never - you never doubted me, and - and you were right. It just … you know, took me a bit of a kick in the butt to get there.” He raised his hand to pat her shoulder, “You aren’t getting rid of me that easily.”

There was another pause - and then Ochako practically launched herself at him, making him yelp as she pretty much tackled him out of his chair in a hug and sent them both falling to the floor. The adults, blinking at the sudden crash, walked over to his room to peek in, shaking their heads at the sight of their children rolling around onto their backs, clutching the back of their heads and groaning in pain - but the smiles they sent to each other more than made up for that.


It had taken All Might three days to contact Izuku again, and the boy had been grateful it came right at the end of his grounding. He had been with Ochako at school, eating lunch on the roof while she did homework, when the pro hero had texted him a time and location, and advised him to wear a tracksuit for training. Izuku had gulped at the early hour and the distance from his house (from the looks of things, it was about an hour away on foot), but still sent the pro hero an enthusiastic text back, more than ready to begin training with the Number One Hero.

Once Sunday morning finally rolled around, with no school to look forward to, Izuku left the apartment early in the morning at 5:00 am, with a map on his phone and a sweatsuit on, to walk to the beach where the pro hero was waiting. It admittedly took a while and he only got lost once, but he managed to make it to Dagobah Municipal Beach Park in time, seeing All Might pulling up with his truck, the only car in the parking lot. Jogging over, Izuku saw All Might park and exit the vehicle in his shrunken form, wearing a loose dark t-shirt and track pants. Izuku glanced over at the beach itself, and gulped at the literal mountains of garbage that covered the entire beach, not a trace of sand in sight.

That's ... a lot of trash.

"Good morning, Young Midoriya!" All Might waved to him as he approached, being sure to lock his truck with his key, "I hope that you found this place okay?"

"Er - yeah, I did, I just - well, I got turned around once or twice, but - but here I am,” Izuku chuckled, glancing at the garbage again before looking back to the pro hero before him. "Er ... so All Might, um ... what exactly are we doing here? Is this where we're training?"

"You would be correct!" He nodded, moving to go around to the back of the truck to open the tailgate, with a curious Izuku following him. "This will be our primary location for training, Young Midoriya. I do have a plan, so you don't need to worry! We can start by -"

"Wait - so I’m cleaning garbage?" Izuku looked interested at least, glancing into the truck bed and seeing several thick layers of rope. "As in - you know, cleaning up the beach? I'm cleaning up trash to - to train my body?"

"Correct," All Might nodded, leaning against the truck a bit and smiling knowingly, "I imagine it's not exactly what you had in mind?"

"Er - no, that's fine! Picking up trash can - you know - it can help me train my body, I know that," Izuku glanced at the nearest trashpile again, gulping a bit. "It's just ... I'm not sure how exactly this will help me train my quirk. My body, yeah, but -?"

"Ah, but this is only a part of it!" All Might assured him, reaching out to pat his shoulder. "Don't worry, Young Midoriya - I will be helping you to both train your body and use your quirk safely. But cleaning up trash is equally as important! I did some research on the internet yesterday, and I found out that the coast of this beach has been like this for years now."

"I, uh - yeah, I know," Izuku nodded, glancing around. "I think Occhan’s dad used to pass by here on the way to work a few years ago - he said that he always wanted to visit, but he never had the time. I guess that was before … you know … all this piled up.”

"Mm-hm. Because of the currents, objects tend to trend here a lot, and various dumpers take advantage of that to drop off their stuff, both legal and illegal." The pro hero shook his head. "Because of that, the local residents don't come here anymore, and this place became a junkyard. Which is a shame - I was told this used to be a popular spot."

"I-it was. I remember passing by here once on a trip with Occhan’s family - it looked really nice.”

"Well, as luck would have it, here we are again! You see, Young Midoriya, I've noticed a little trend over the last few years - heroes these days tend to be after all that showy stuff, catching flashy villains and such. Like Mt. Lady a few days ago - swooping in and taking out a villain as dramatically as she could to get everyone talking about her. Well, I know I’m one to talk about dramatics, but things were different before quirks. Originally, being a hero meant doing volunteer service, even if people called it boring. One cannot waver from those roots!"

"I see ..." Izuku realized, feeling a small smile come to his face, "so as part of my training, I'm going to be cleaning up the beach - helping out the environment."

"Partly! There's still a bit we need to cover for training all around, but part of it will include cleaning up this beach."

"Oh, wow!" Izuku looked around happily, balling his fists in excitement. "I can't wait to get started!"

"Now hold on a sec, Young Midoriya," All Might raised a hand, "we’re still waiting for -"

"But All Might, this is my first step towards being a hero!" Izuku looked around at the tall man, seeing All Might raise his eyebrow but looking down in intrigue at the boy. "I've done nothing but sit around and hope for something like this! If I'm going to get into UA, I need to get started at once!"

Ordinarily All Might would've insisted Izuku have a little patience - they were still waiting, after all, she wasn’t here yet - but there was something in Izuku's voice, the energy and enthusiasm to get started on something as potentially boring as garbage cleaning, that infected All Might. Without meaning to, the pro hero swelled up to his muscle form, returning Izuku's shaky grin with his own confident one.

"Ah, you convinced me, you no-good go-getter!" All Might laughed heartily. "Very well! We can get started right now. Grab those ropes from my truck! I'll show you how to wrap them around a fridge, and you can get started by pulling one across the beach to the parking lot!"

"I - okay! Sounds good!" Izuku nodded, feeling determined as he moved to grab the ropes from the truck. He knew, deep down, that this was probably going to be monumentally difficult, but he knew that he could handle it.

As it turned out, though, pulling a fridge across the beach turned out to be harder than he thought. Although to be fair, All Might didn't mention that he would be climbing on top of the fridge to add to the weight, making Izuku strain as he tried his hardest to pull the fridge even an inch across the junkyard with his eyes squeezed shut, using the ropes wrapped around him to pull as hard as he could as he tried to move the fridge - but alas, it was in vain.

"Hey, hey, hey!" All Might called out teasingly, "I don't know about you, but this is a pretty comfy fridge to sit on! Be pretty nice if it moved, though!"

With a yelp, Izuku felt his foot slip, and let out a shout as he flopped down onto the sandy ground face first, groaning.

"If you could move it even a little, it would be a lot easier," All Might called from his perch, making Izuku grumble. "People move these things every day you know, and that's without super strength!"

"W-well, yeah," He tried to get back up, putting his hands on the ground to lift himself up, "but it's a lot harder when there's an added 274 kilograms on it, right?"

"Oh, I actually lost weight! I'm down to only 255 kilograms. In this form, at least."

"Oh," Izuku groaned, "that's great."

"Well, don't let it get to you - as I mentioned earlier, this is only part of your training. This is actually for - ah!" All Might’s voice suddenly brightened up, making Izuku blink a bit when his voice got louder and more enthusiastic, "Speaking of that, there you are! I was just wondering when you'd get here."

Izuku felt himself jump a bit when he realized that All Might wasn’t talking to him anymore, and suddenly became aware of a second pair of feet approaching them. Looking around, he blinked at the sight of a pair of cyan running shoes coming to a stop before him, and he was quick to look up at the new arrival, a bit confused and taken aback by this unexpected third party but ready to say hello at the very least (awkward as he was, he knew his manners). But the moment he finally looked up at the newcomer’s face, he felt himself freeze in a mixture of surprise and horror.

That's - that's a girl. A very pretty - a very pretty girl!

The girl standing in front of him, looking down in a mixture of concern and confusion, looked at least as tall as him, dressed in a crop top that exposed her surprisingly toned stomach, and arms that, while still feminine looking, held a lot more muscle mass than his own thin and dangly ones. A training bracelet was on her right wrist, coloured black and white, and she wore a pair of shorts that went down to her mid-thigh, exposing her strong legs. Her orange hair was tied up in a ponytail on the left side of her head, bangs hanging off her forehead and some of her hair sticking up.

She was - Izuku felt himself go very red - she was very beautiful, teal eyes looking down at him with a slim face that held confusion at his presence, but at least she wasn’t looking at him as though he were trash. She was holding a black backpack in one hand, although she put it down once she saw him lying face down in the dirt.

"I - yeah, hello, All Might, but - hey, are you okay?" She knelt down beside him and Izuku froze up even more, blood pumping to his face as she slid the straps of rope off his shoulders, and offered him a hand to help him sit up. When he didn't respond at all, she glanced at his face in confusion, blinking.

"Are you okay?" she repeated, looking up at the hero standing up on the fridge with her brow wrinkled. "All Might, why were you making him drag that refrigerator? I - heck, why is he here? I thought you and I were going to get started on training this morning?"

"We are!" All Might nodded in confirmation, jumping down from the fridge with surprising ease and grace. "We were just passing the time to wait for you to get here - but just to clarify beforehand, Young Midoriya here will also be training with us. Not for the same reason as we discussed yesterday, Young Kendou, but there was a matter with his quirk that I couldn't leave alone. I'll explain more in a second."

Wrinkling her brow, the girl let out a sigh, and without thinking too much, raised her hand in the air. Before Izuku could unfreeze himself, he blinked as her hand suddenly began growing, bigger and bigger until it was large enough to wrap around his torso - which was exactly what she did, reaching down and wrapping her enlarged hand around him. 

Unable to stop himself from letting out a small yelp, Izuku felt himself be lifted off the ground as the girl stood up, and then put him down on his feet. Once she was sure he wasn't going to topple over, the girl let him go and shrunk her hand back down, and Izuku looked at her in surprise as All Might walked around him, putting his own large hand on her shoulder.

"This, Young Midoriya," All Might happily introduced the girl before him, "is Itsuka Kendou. My successor, and your training partner."

Notes:

I am baaaaack! At ... 32,000 words. Uh. Well. Er.

And this was Chapter 3! Sorry for the massive chapter I dumped on your doorstep, but there was really nowhere I could've cut this chapter off as a two-parter lol, and since it's all stuff we know anyway, I thought you could just take this as a big 'Episode 1' esque episode. Plus, we got lots of set ups and developments! The Izuku/Ochako-Katsuki rivalry! Izuku's insecurities! Ochako's worries and suspicions! Answering the question of just how All Might stuffed the sludge villain in those bottles! And at last, the third member of our OT3 introduced at the end!

I will say that I think I struggled a bit with Izuku's reasons to not become a hero, or at least how I presented them in the chapter. So just to sum up - Izuku's afraid of his quirk. He wants to become a hero, but his fear of his quirk is what holds him back. He knows he could become a hero with his quirk, but he's afraid to experiment. Etc. etc. We'll be looking more in depth at his insecurities in these forthcoming chapters, so I hope you guys are excited!

Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 4: Training Partner

Summary:

As we catch up to present time, Itsuka Kendou eagerly awaits for All Might's call to let her know where and when he will begin training her - but the Symbol of Peace may have a few surprises waiting for her when she arrives.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Indeed … the pictures of this place really didn’t do it justice.

Instead of being one of those that would take a good long look at Dagobah Beach and wince at the literal mountains of garbage that was spread across the sand, All Might nodded in satisfaction, carefully walking down the steps that led to the beach. In his emancipated form, no one really paid him any mind as he walked carefully through the landfill, looking around and making a mental checklist of everything that might be trouble.

A broken mirror … yes, that would need to be removed carefully so as they didn’t cut themselves on the glass. He could make out a few cars in there, thankfully more at the bottom of the piles so that if he had his successor cleaning the garbage it wouldn’t fall on her. A few dressers and cabinets … fridges, yes, she would need to be careful moving those … mattresses, those would be something light … tires to roll, or carry, or push … a few discarded and broken televisions … furniture … a few safes … hm, if he put down that locker, and put those tires and that pole together, he could have her use a makeshift weight bar and plates …

… yes. This was the place.

Letting out a relieved sigh, All Might wiped his brow, smiling. It had been a busy few weeks, what with hero work and the incident with Young Midoriya yesterday, but he’d finally found the time to come to the place he planned to train Young Kendou and Young Midoriya both, in order to inspect it and make sure there weren’t any potential dangers. He knew that in order to train Young Kendou, he needed to find a secure spot that would allow her to train all the muscles in her body, and a place for Young Midoriya to practice his quirk, and prevent anyone passing by from getting hurt - and this was it.

Still though, All Might knew that this wouldn’t be a walk in the park for either of them. He’d only really known Young Midoriya for an afternoon, but he knew that the boy had confidence issues out the wazoo. To have not used his quirk for years, out of complete and utter fear of it … the pro hero didn’t just have to train him to use it safely, he had to make sure that Izuku had the confidence to use his own abilities. As for Young Kendou, he knew that she was confident in her quirk, as simple as it was to use, and did have outside training - but this would be an entirely different kind of training that she wasn’t experienced in.

And to add on his training plan, he grimaced, with different sleep schedules and eating plans and the such …

… it would be tough for both of them.

And yet, All Might shook his head, he had the utmost confidence in both of them. He had known Young Midoriya for only an afternoon, but he could tell that the boy had the heart and soul of a hero, if he was willing to leap into a battle he couldn’t win to save a boy who treated him with disdain. And Young Kendou proved her worth as the next successor of One for All - while she did get in trouble with both the authorities and her parents, he had still been amazed, staring in that crowd as she emerged from the burning building, coughing up her lungs and puking into a trashcan, but waving aside the gratitude the children she saved gave her.

It had been then that All Might had realized his own weakness, he sighed - he had grown too used to his own shortcomings, that when he had run out of time that day, he had been powerless and pathetic, watching the flaming building burn - and yet Young Kendou had ran in, clearly out of her depth and punching a hole through the wall, and saved those children. It was then that All Might had realized who his successor should have been, and chased her down, introduced himself, and revealed his identity to her - as well as the truth behind his quirk, One for All.

Of course, she’d given him an earful when she realized he had just stood aside while she busted her butt saving heroes, but she had still accepted his offer to train her personally, and he had promised to be in contact with her when he had come up with a proper training plan.

Of course, there had been … criticisms of his choice, All Might grimaced as he remembered the phone call a week ago.

“You’re going to pass your power on to a girl who can only grow out her hands?!”

“She’s someone who wants to save people, no matter what. She showed bravery that day, and -”

“She can’t fulfill her duties with just her intentions! There are a number of other people far more suitable for One for All!”

“She is also -”

“All Might, you have to reconsider! Togata is ready!”

With a sigh, All Might patted the hood of a nearby abandoned car, frowning. Sir Nighteye meant well, he knew … but he always had his own reservations on how All Might would inevitably pass on his quirk. Young Togata was indeed a great hero, that was true … but Young Kendou had proven her own worth. And so, All Might had made up his mind.

Now though, he just needed to draft up a similar training plan for Young Midoriya. His presence would perhaps be a hiccup, but All Might simply couldn’t leave him helpless. He had the time, the place - and to build his confidence, a training partner to lift his spirits. All Might had no doubts that Young Kendou would be a welcome presence while Young Midoriya was training - she emulated warmth, comfort and confidence, and that would bounce well with Izuku’s lack of self-confidence.

They would make a good team.

Now all he needed to do was text Izuku and let him know to meet him early tomorrow morning at the beach, and then text Young Kendou to give him a call, so that he could explain where to go, she at least deserved to hear his voice after two weeks of radio silence. He needed to explain Young Midoriya’s presence here as well - 

- or maybe not? All Might felt himself smile a bit mischievously as he began walking back to the parking lot, rubbing his hands together. It’d be a nice surprise for the both of them - and a good way to introduce themselves to each other!

Very well, All Might thought to himself as he buffed up to his true form, I’ll keep it a surprise.


BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP -

BAM

Throwing out her arm, Itsuka Kendou managed to hit her alarm clock in one go, letting out a groan as she flopped her hand out to hit the top of the stupid machine beside her bed. Once silence was mercifully restored to her dark room, the orange-haired girl yawned as she rolled over onto her back, staring dully at the ceiling as though it were at fault for her being awake a lot earlier than she would like.

Alas, she knew that she should probably get up - she didn’t need to get headchopped by her grandpa so early in the morning, the last time that happened she had ended up with a headache as she walked to school.

Taking one last moment to enjoy the softness of her mattress, Itsuka yawned again as she threw off her comforter and moved to sit up, groaning a bit as she put her feet down on her hardwood floors, and let out a small hiss as she moved to stand up a bit too fast, lowering her hand to rub the bruise on her hip. Usually when she helped out at the dojo downstairs, she would occasionally get some hits in but nothing too bad, but little Tatsumi in the kids’ classes managed to get a particularly good hit in, and left quite the mark. She had managed to cover it up well (Tatsumi was kind of a crybaby, and didn’t like hurting other people), but once everyone had left, she had waddled up the stairs to the bathroom to complain and groan about it.

Unfortunately for her, Itsuka smiled a bit as she began to walk across her room, grabbing her school uniform to change in when she got in the bathroom, her grandpa didn’t have much sympathy - he was a strict teacher, after all, and he made it clear when she was a little kid training with him that he wouldn’t show her any favoritism, a promise that he’d kept for years now. Not that she was bothered by it, or would accept favoritism anyway - she wanted to be pushed hard, even when she was little, so her grandpa going easier on her than the other kids wouldn’t have been accepted in this house at all.

Opening her door, Itsuka yawned again as she stepped out of her room down the hall, rubbing her eyes and finally managing to get to the bathroom, where she could throw some water in her face before she headed into the kitchen for her morning coffee. Thankfully she had taken a shower before she went to bed last night to soothe the bruise, so she just needed to get rid of the awful taste in her mouth, get dressed, and manage to comb the absolute disaster that was her hair. 

Once she was dressed in her school uniform, and rinsed her mouth of toothpaste and spat into the sink, she glanced into the mirror, rolling her eyes at how messy her hair was now (although she really couldn’t fault anyone else but herself - she’d decided to grow it out for once instead of keeping it short like she always did), and grabbed her hairbrush from the counter as she turned around to walk out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, where her parents were already up and about and hopefully have already put on a pot of coffee.

“Well, well,” Hakushu Kendou said from the kitchen table, smiling a bit at the disheveled state his daughter was in, “look who’s decided to finally join us.”

“Coffee,” Itsuka grumbled in response, looking tiredly around the kitchen, “I need coffee.”

“There’s still some in the pot,” He chuckled, pointing to the oven top, and Itsuka sighed in relief as she moved to the counter, grabbing her coffee cup from the shelf and grabbing the pot from the top of the oven.

As she poured herself a glass of black coffee, Itsuka glanced back at her dad, and couldn’t help but giggle a bit as he flipped open his newspaper. He probably didn’t know this, but he had a bit of grease on his cheek from work yesterday, which he probably didn’t even notice since he had pretty much stumbled his way to his and her mom’s room last night and collapsed on his bed when she had come back from school, opting to take a nap instead of eating dinner with the rest of the family. She knew that he was pretty busy at the shop lately - since winter was pretty much over, everyone needed their snow tires off, so that meant that the repair shop would be busy for the next few weeks.

But that meant that they were getting some extra cash, so Itsuka knew that her dad didn’t mind the workload - getting some extra money meant that he could put some aside for car and motorcycle parts, which put a smile on Itsuka’s face.

Once she took a long drink of coffee, letting out a satisfied sigh as she felt some energy finally come to her, Itsuka was unable to stop herself from teasing her dad, “You know you got some black smudge on your cheek, Dad?” Hakushu blinked, raising his hand to his cheek while Itsuka passed by her mom cleaning some dishes, grabbing a bagel from the breadbox and pulling it apart. “Other cheek, Dad.”

“Huh? Oh, damn,” The bearded man grumbled, looking at his fingers and seeing the black grease, “that’s probably from the Tamashira’s car yesterday, they had an oil leak that splashed everywhere.”

“Has it been that busy?” Itsuka asked as she put her bagel in the toaster, taking a second to lean against the counter and take a sip of coffee.

“A bit more than usual, but I’m a tough guy, honey. I’ll survive a few weeks of hard work. Besides, we get a little extra cash,” Hakushu winked as he rose from the table to go wash his face, “I bet we can put some on the side and get you that helmet you keep looking at in your magazine.”

“You better not be talking about the bike just yet,” Itsuka’s mother, Tenohira, said from her spot near the sink, smirking a bit to herself as she shook her head, “don’t forget that you’re still grounded until tonight, Itsuka.”

“I know,” Itsuka groaned, flopping a bit on the counter while her mother dried her hands, walking over to take the comb out of Itsuka’s pocket where she had put it and beginning to smooth out her wavy and messy hair, “and I’ll be looking forward to doing something other than helping Grandpa downstairs or doing homework or studying.”

“Hm,” A third voice suddenly said from around the corner, sounding gruff and stern, “that sounds like a complaint.”

“It isn’t,” Itsuka was unable to stop herself from smiling as her grandfather walked into the kitchen, letting Hakushu pass by him to go to the bathroom and wash his face, “I just have other hobbies, Grandpa.”

“In that case,” Teko Kendou grunted as he sat down at the table, giving his granddaughter an unamused look, “you should avoid doing foolish things that would get you grounded, Itsuka. So you don’t have to spend time with your grandfather.”

“Dad, I thought you were going to sleep in today,” Tenohira pouted at her father as he slid the newspaper from his son-in-law’s spot towards him so he could read, “your first class is at noon, you didn’t have to get up early.”

“Bah,” Teko shook his head, opening the newspaper to scan the contents, “you know that I’m not one to sleep in any later than seven, daughter. Besides, you might’ve let Itsuka sleep in again, so I needed to be awake in case she needed to be woken up.”

“One day, I’m going to just unplug your alarm clock,” Itsuka’s mother shook her head, “and you can just sleep in.”

“Ha! I doubt that, daughter. I’ll just wake up by myself and yell at you.”

Tenohira clicked her tongue and let out a small grumble as she finished doing up Itsuka’s ponytail, putting it into the usual style on the side of her head, and Itsuka couldn’t help but giggle a bit as her mother returned to washing the dishes, hearing the sound of her bagel finally popping out of the toaster and feeling her stomach grumble.

She liked snarking and making fun of them, and occasionally got reprimanded by her grandpa, but Itsuka loved her family with all of her heart, and wouldn’t change anything about them. They fully supported her dreams of being a hero, even her grandpa, and had suggested that she attend a middle school that specializes in preparing its students to attend UA High - but Itsuka had turned that down, planning to get in on her own merits while attending Mustafa Private Middle School with her friends. 

She enjoyed going out and doing chores and the such with her mother, either grocery shopping or heading to the mall to buy clothes, or simply sitting at a park and eating out; while her father, they bonded over building her motorcycle in the garage downstairs, and he occasionally took his daughter to work with him to have her help out in the shop. Even her grandpa, despite his stern teachings and refusals of favouritism, trusted her enough to have her assist him in the dojo downstairs, especially around the younger students where she was the more approachable of them.

Although, speaking of the dojo …

“Grandpa, did you need my help after school today?” She asked as she took the two pieces of bagel out of the toaster, wincing a bit at the heat as she dropped them onto a plate set out by her mother, “There’s a test on Monday I kinda wanted to study for, and I wanted to get started tonight.”

“Hm. Shouldn’t you have begun studying for that in the last two weeks?” Teko eyed her over the top of his newspaper, making her giggle as she slid the plate of butter towards her, “Leaving studying until the last minute. Disgraceful, granddaughter, disgraceful.”

“I’d take your disappointment seriously,” Itsuka giggled, “if my grades weren’t in the nineties and above, and I wasn’t studying for other tests in the meantime.”

“Mm,” Teko slowly nodded, “indeed.”

“So, about tonight …?”

“No, Itsuka, I didn’t need your help at the dojo tonight,” Her grandfather shook his head as he flipped the page of his newspaper, nodding in thanks to Tenohira as she gave him his own cup of black coffee, “it’s not the usual crowd tonight anyway, the Nakamuras let me know last night that their daughter had a dentist appointment, so they won’t be in attendance.”

“Alright!” Itsuka nodded happily, finishing buttering up her bagel and wrapping it in her napkin, hurrying over to kiss Teko’s cheek, moving around her dad as he returned to the table with a relatively clean face (or as best he could - her dad never could be 100% clean). “In that case, I should probably be off - Set wanted to meet up early so we could do some last minute studying before the test today.”

“Sounds good, baby girl,” Hakushu chuckled as she gave him his own kiss on the cheek, “have a good day.”

“And remember,” Tenohira said from the counter, grabbing Itsuka’s plate to put in the dishwasher and giving her daughter a raised eyebrow, “if you pass by a burning building on your way, what are you going to do?”

Itsuka let out a small groan as she swung her backpack over her shoulders, but still answered, “Let the firefighters and heroes do their jobs.”

Tenohira giggled, “Good girl.” Giving her daughter a hug and kissing the top of her messy hair, she patted her daughter’s shoulder and let her go off, Itsuka hopping down the stairs and moving past both the garage door and the door that led to her grandpa’s dojo, and exited the house, closing the door behind her and starting her walk  to the train station, munching on her bagel while pouting a bit.

The burning building … okay, Itsuka shook her head a bit, she could see her parents’ frustration with her about doing that. It had been dangerous, nearly suicidal, and had gotten her a harsh talking to with the heroes that had arrived after she had gotten done saving the two children trapped in the building, and a swift grounding from her parents. But at the end of the day, she couldn’t bring herself to regret it at all. Not when it had led to a man approaching her, explaining his true identity, and telling her that her show of bravery and heroism had inspired him to offer her something she couldn’t dream of refusing.

Although …

Frowning, Itsuka munched on her breakfast as she grabbed her cellphone from her skirt, bringing it up and looking through her messages. All Might had said that when he had a plan to train her he would contact her, but that was over two weeks ago now, and there hadn’t been any contact from the pro hero since. She chalked it up to the Number One Hero being super busy, but even now, she was starting to feel a bit anxious.

If she was going to be trained for One for All, she’d kinda like to be updated on what was going on. But she shook her head and continued walking down the street, waving to a neighbor as she took another bite of her breakfast.

She just needed to be patient.


“Alright, you can now please put your pencils down,” The teacher at the front called to the class, patting her podium as she looked around the classroom, “it’s almost time for the lunch bell to ring, so the test is now over. Can the person in the back please collect all the papers in your row, and bring them to the front.”

With a sigh, Itsuka put down her pencil and slid her paper away from her, taking a second to rub her eyes as the person behind her took the test away. She was relieved that she finished the test about five minutes ago, and had used the spare time to double check all of her answers and catch any mistakes she might’ve made. Now she had no problem with the girl behind her bringing the test up to the teacher, confident that she passed with flying colours and taking a chance to lean back in her chair and crack her neck.

She really had no excuses for bombing this test, she chuckled to herself as she leaned forward in her seat, since studying was pretty much all she had time for the last week or so due to her grounding. Still, she would be relieved that once she got home tonight the punishment would be over, and she would be free to do more than just studying in her room, helping her grandfather in the dojo, and sleeping.

And waiting for All Might to finally get back to her. But again, like she had thought this morning, she just needed to be a little patient. From the sound of things, Itsuka needed additional training before anything major could happen, and she would rather not be given a quirk she was in no way prepared for. 

No, she could wait for the pro hero to get back to her, and in the meantime relax a little bit and work on her bike once all these tests were over.

“Excellent,” Her teacher tapped all twenty pieces of paper together in a neat pile, looking around the classroom with a smile, her antennas tapping together subconsciously,  “now you have one more math test on Monday, and then that’ll be it, and you can relax a little bit. Just be sure to study, and if you would like to take a mock entrance exam for your preferred high school, just find me at the teacher’s lounge and I’ll give you one for practice. Since I’ve already collected your career aptitude tests, I’ll know which one to give to -”

Before she could finish that, however, the bell above her head rang, making her shake her head and smile as her class obviously sagged in relief.

“Okay, okay, I get the message, go to lunch,” She laughed, beginning to walk out the door so she could return to the staff room for her own lunch, “and don’t forget that physical education’s next, so remember to head downstairs with your gym clothes!”

Letting out a sigh of relief, Itsuka stretched her arms above her head, being sure to crack her back somewhat as she reached down to her backpack to pull out her bento box to eat. As she placed the wooden box on the surface of her table, there was a small thump, and Itsuka smirked a bit at the sight of a familiar mop of messy green hair, its owner having face-planted on the surface of her desk and beginning to quietly groan.

“I’m assuming that the test didn’t go very well?” She guessed playfully as she bent back over to grab her chopsticks from her backpack.

“It went fine,” Setsuna Tokage grumbled, not sounding fine at all as she slowly shook her head, rubbing her forehead against the desk as she wrapped her arms around her head, “I’m not going to fail, at least. Thanks for the extra study this morning, Ken, or I’d actually be fucked.”

“Ouch,” Itsuka giggled a bit, “so not a failing grade, but close?”

“Probably,” Setsuna peaked up from underneath her messy hair, pouting at Itsuka’s teasing smirk, “I’m betting that I passed, but not by much. Of course, that doesn’t mean much to you, does it, Miss Perfect?”

“I’m not perfect,” The orange-haired girl shook her head, putting her chopsticks on the table so she could open her lunch, “I’m pretty sure that I got one or two questions wrong.”

“Ooh, look at you!” Setsuna teased as she finally sat up, smirking at her friend as she flipped her hair behind her shoulder, “Two questions wrong on a fifty-question test. Oh, what will your mother think?!”

"That I'm way too smart to be her daughter.” Itsuka giggled, “At least that’s what my dad always says.”

“I mean, you have your moments of stupidity,” Another voice said above them, sounding uninterested, and both girls turned to see Yui Kodai approaching them with her own lunch, using one hand to slide the chair away from the desk beside Itsuka’s and putting it beside them so that she could sit, “I can name a few.”

“Oh, my god,” Itsuka sighed, slumping her shoulders a bit as she shook her head, “you’re talking about the fire, aren’t you? It’s bad enough my parents keep bringing it up.”

“Do you regret running into a burning building?” Yui raised her eyebrow as she sat down, with Setsuna smirking at the orange-haired girl teasingly.

“I mean, I did save a few lives,” Itsuka shrugged, “so, uh … contrary to what I tell my parents, nope, I do not.”

“Then no,” Yui shook her head, “I’m probably never going to let it go.”

Rolling her eyes, Itsuka instead broke her chopsticks apart and muttering a quick “Thanks for this meal” before digging into her lunch, while Setsuna and Yui did the same beside and across from her, while shaking their heads as she pointed ignored their judgemental and amused gazes.

Still though, she gave them, she couldn’t exactly brush their opinions on her stupidity away - she knew that they had a point, and running into a blazing fire to save a few people was an incredibly idiotic thing to do, as her parents and Backdraft, who had arrived at the scene while she had been busy puking up her insides due to the smoke inhalation, had told her. It was just … what happened afterwards, receiving the words of encouragement from the most unlikely of sources and the offer she couldn’t get out of her head even weeks later, prevented her from truly regretting her actions.

She saved lives, and the most powerful hero in Japan gave the opportunity to save many more in ways she didn’t think was possible - so she could deal with having to help her grandpa for the last two weeks, sitting in her room doing nothing but study, and putting a pause on her bike maintenance.

... okay, admittedly, the bike thing was killing her, but her punishment was only until tonight. Then she could start working on her baby again.

“... also, I owe you a hundred yen, Yui,” Setsuna grumbled as she broke her chopsticks apart, scooping up some sushi as Itsuka continued to quietly think to herself and mourn the loss of time she could’ve spent on her bike, “Sento didn’t even recognize me yesterday.”

“Mm,” Yui nodded, smirking a little bit, “probably because your face wasn’t caked in makeup.”

“Yeah,” Setsuna pouted, “it sucks that I gotta give up the gyaru fashion, but I gotta start cleaning up my act. If either of you two tell anyone at UA that I was into that kind of stuff, by the way, I’ll never forgive you.”

“Oh, perish the thought,” Yui shook her head, “why give up perfectly good blackmail material?”

“Yeah,” Itsuka rejoined the conversation, smiling mischievously, “why should I give up the chance to have you buy me food? No way, your secret is safe with us.”

“Assholes. Anyway,” Setsuna popped some of her sushi into her mouth, glancing between her two friends, “once you aren’t grounded anymore Ken, do you guys wanna hit up the mall? There were a few dresses I wanted to try on and buy for the summer before we have to go all in on UA.”

“As much as I’d like to, I can’t,” Yui shook her head, tossing a slice of tomato into her mouth, “my dad has guests coming over tomorrow night for a dinner party, so I have to practice smiling in a mirror all tomorrow afternoon so I can make a good impression. Sorry.”

"Lame! What about you, Ken? Wanna go on a date?"

“As tempting as that sounds,” Itsuka chuckled, “my parents are letting me off the leash tonight, and I just wanna spend some time working on my bike tomorrow. So, I’ll pass. Next week though?”

“I’ll hold you to that,” Setsuna pointed her chopsticks at the orange-haired girl threateningly, “I wanna spend a little time shopping before I have to start studying for the recommendation entrance exam - and that’s going to take up all my fucking time.”

“That’s an exam, a practical and an interview, right?” Yui at least looked a bit curious - or, you know, as curious as she could with her blank state of a face, “I know UA will have us doing a practical and a written test, at least.”

“Yeah,” Setsuna nodded in confirmation, pouting a little bit, “I’m pretty sure I’ll stomp the two exams, I’m gonna start taking things seriously once summer break starts - it’s just the interview I’m nervous about, I hate not knowing what they’re gonna ask.”

“Don’t worry about it right now, girl,” Itsuka assured her, “you’ve got a whole year to get ready for it. We can do mock interviews for you to get yourself prepared if you want.”

“Aw, how sweet,” Setsuna smirked a bit, “I might take you up on that later - but honestly, right now I just want to have three months to enjoy my last year of middle school before I have to dedicate my entire life to studying.”

“You say that like we aren’t going to be busy training and studying either,” Itsuka giggled, “just be sure to remember us when you’re in the big leagues, alright?”

“Girl, it’s not my fault that fucking Majestic thinks that I’m hero material,” Setsuna put her hand on her chest in a mock arrogant tone that made Itsuka snort and Yui roll her eyes, “just like it isn’t Yui’s fault she’s got a literal army of guys that thinks she’s a goddess, I just roll with the punches.”

“For the last time, I don’t have a fanclub,” Yui shook her head as she continued to eat her lunch, while Setsuna gave her a doubtful look, and Itsuka rolled her eyes this time, “I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

“Girl, you don’t notice the pervs peeking at you from the bushes everytime you walk home from school?” Setsuna gave her a skeptical look. “I swear to god, I’ll just say that we’re dating just so they’d get off your back and actually get lives - although, they’d probably die of blood loss from all the nosebleeds we’d give them.”

“Tempting,” Yui smirked, “but I know I’m not your type.”

“Yeah,” Setsuna giggled, “you’re a tad too horny for me, and I’ve gotta concentrate on studying.”

“Me too,” Itsuka shook her head, blinking when she heard her phone chime in her pocket as she unscrewed her water bottle, “I swear, Yui, you can be a little more subtle about how much you check people out.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Yui shook her head, “I certainly did not look at your boobs when I came to sit down.”

“How kind of you to admit it,” Itsuka snarked, letting out a small hum while Setsuna chortled. As she began to drink her from water, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, wanting to check who was texting her as she eyes trailed down to the message she just received -

- and then her eyes positively bulged out of their sockets.

 

COACH

Good afternoon Young Kendou! At your earliest convenience, could you please give me a call?

 

"PFFFFTTTT - *cough* *cough* cough*!"

Both Setsuna and Yui jumped a bit and looked up to see Itsuka beginning to choke on her drink, grabbing her mouth in one hand and coughing roughly as she stumbled out of her chair and onto her feet, staring at her phone with widened eyes.

“Er … you good, girl?” Setsuna cocked her head a bit, staring up at her friend in confusion. “Is something -?”

“I - uh - I have to - *cough* - I have to go to the bathroom,” Itsuka managed to say through her ragged coughing, giving her best friends a weak smile as she pointed behind her at the door, “be - *cough* - be right back.”

Trying desperately to clear her throat, Itsuka quickly turned around to start heading out the door into the hall, hurrying around the desks and her classmates as she jogged out the open door. Behind her, Yui and Setsuna looked confusedly after her, before glancing at each other.

“You don’t think she got some boyfriend while we weren’t looking, do you?” Setsuna rolled her eyes a bit as she returned to her lunch.

“Unless she found some mysterious guy that could somehow charm her with black coffee and motorcycles,” Yui shook her head as she munched on another slice of tomato, “I sincerely doubt it.”

Outside her classroom, Itsuka finally managed to unblock her airway, clearing her throat and getting control of her coughing, and quickly began hurrying throughout the school  to find a safe place to call All Might. She’d been waiting for two weeks now for All Might to contact her about how he would be training her - and now that he had finally reached out, she hurried her pace as she tried to find somewhere private so that she could call him and get a few more details, more than eager to get some more information. She knew he had to set up a few things beforehand, and now she was more than a little excited to learn more.

Passing by Class 4 and waving to Mina, Itsuka made her way through the school, looking for an empty classroom to make the call. She knew some classrooms upstairs were empty during this time, so she could potentially sneak in there to call All Might, and hopefully not be overheard. She didn’t think anyone would keep quiet if she slipped up and accidentally said something that would indicate she was talking to All Might - either they’d think she was a liar or hound her to get his number

And as she really didn’t like either option, the more private she got to do this, the better.

Managing to get upstairs without anyone noticing, Itsuka went to the first classroom she saw, sliding the door open - 

- and got a good look at a black-haired kid slamming a rebar against his forehead as hard as he could, the sound of metal hitting something very solid echoing throughout the empty classroom as blood leaked out of his forehead.

Itsuka froze up briefly, thoughts of calling All Might fading entirely as the boy looked around at her at the sound of the door opening, also freezing up as he realized the position he had been caught in, slowly lowering the piece of metal back onto the empty podium and gulping nervously. As the two cautiously eyed each other, it was then that Itsuka blinked, realizing that he recognized the guy.

“Er …” Itsuka pointed weakly at him, staring at the boy in confusion and a bit of suspense, “... Kirishima, right? From … Class 1?”

“Uh … yeah,” The black haired boy gulped, glancing between her and the metal bar he had been slamming against his head, as though realizing the weirdness of what he had been doing, “I was, uh … I was training my quirk during the lunchbreak. Didn’t - didn’t realize anyone would be up here.”

“A-ah.”

“I’m - I’m not hitting myself on purpose or anything like that!” Eijirou tried to defend himself, and then blinked. “Wait, I - yes, I was hitting myself on purpose, but - but not to - you know -”

“O-oh, no, I get it,” Itsuka giggled awkwardly, pointing aimlessly behind her as she slowly backed out of the classroom, beginning to slide the door close while he held out a hand.

“I - uh - hold on -”

“Er - sorry for interrupting. I’ll, uh … I’ll get back to whatever I was doing. You keep doing … uh … whatever it was you were doing.”

With another awkward wave, Itsuka slowly slid the door shut, still not entirely sure what on earth she had walked in on, but turned right around to walk back down the stairs with a small sigh. She could hear Eijirou thumping his head against something pretty solid, although she couldn’t tell if it was the rebar, one of the desks or the blackboard. 

Probably would be better to leave him to … whatever that was.

It took a little more time, but Itsuka finally managed to find her own safe spot outside the school, waving to a few of her classmates eating outside as she made her way under a tree, glancing left and right one more time to make sure that there was no one nearby to overhear this phone call. Once she was sure no one was stalking her or watching her, Itsuka let out another sigh, tried to hype herself up by hopping up and down, trying to be as confident as she could. Once she felt a bit more encouraged, she dialed All Might’s phone number and brought it up to her ear, feeling herself shake a little bit.

Thankfully, the phone only rang only two times before she heard the phone call connect, making Itsuka straighten up. Although she got to see the hero’s dorky side while he had talked to her in his thin form, she was still honestly a little intimidated by him just due to the fact he was the Number One Hero.

"Ah, hello, Young Kendou!"

“H-hello, All Might,” Itsuka stammered a bit, gulping again as she glanced around one more time to make sure that absolutely no one was in sight or watching her as she walked a bit further away from the school, moving into the shadow of the tree, “sorry about - you know, not calling you back right away, I was - I was with friends, and I had to find somewhere private to call you.”

"That's quite alright, Young Kendou - as a matter of fact, I actually had to interrupt a hostage situation between my sending the text to you and your phone call, so this is excellent timing!”  

She suddenly became aware of the sound of smoke blowing off something, and she wrinkled her brow in concern at the sound of a series of hacking coughs, indicating to her that he just shrunk down to his depowered form, “Well, this at least gives me time to take a little break.”

“Er - yeah.” Itsuka coughed, still glancing around for anyone who might be eavesdropping and aware of how suspicious she might look, “So - so sir -”

“Oh, no, Young Kendou - there’s no need to refer to me as ‘sir’. All Might is fine! I told you last week, there’s no need to be so formal around me.”

“Uh -” Itsuka gulped again, “- right. All Might. So, uh - did - you mentioned when we last saw each other you were looking for somewhere to train me? Did - did you find a place?”

"That's correct!" All Might said in an enthusiastic voice over the phone, "My apologies for the radio silence the last two weeks, it's - well, it's been quite busy for me. I knew from your last text that you were going to be grounded by your family until today, so that gave me a good enough timeframe to find you a place for training."

"G-great!" Itsuka nodded quickly, unable to stop a small smile from gracing her face. "So, uh - so where will we be going? What’ll you have me do?"

"I'll be keeping that a secret for now - it's a bit too much to explain over the phone, and I imagine your lunch break will end soon. Just know that tomorrow morning at 5:00 am, I will meet with you at Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, and we'll go over more about what exactly we'll be doing to prepare you for One for All. Understood?"

"Y-yes, sir!" Itsuka immediately confirmed, balling her free fist, "I'm looking forward to it!"

"Fantastic! In that case, Young Kendou, I'll let you go for now. Have a good rest of your day, and I will see you tomorrow morning!"

"Y-you too! See you tomorrow!"

After exchanging goodbyes, Itsuka hung up her phone and put it back in her skirt pocket, taking a moment to glance around one more time to see if anyone was watching her - and once she was sure no one was looking, quickly hopped up and down while pumping her fists, smiling giddily. 

She had been excited for this ever since last week, when All Might had offered her the power of his quirk, One for All. She had been honoured that the hero had seen potential in her, and thought that she was worthy of becoming the next Symbol of Peace.

And tomorrow morning, she smiled widely as she began jogging back to class to eat the rest of her lunch, she was going to take the first step in her dream of becoming a pro hero.


"This, Young Midoriya, is Itsuka Kendou. My successor, and your training partner."

... or, alternatively, All Might could instead rip the rug right out from under her.

Itsuka sputtered at the same time the boy she was being introduced to did, the orange-haired girl immediately wheeling around to stare up at the pro hero in shock as he smiled proudly down at her. She hadn’t even been here for five minutes, having woken up at four in the morning so she could get the bus route and get here in time, and now here she was, staring at the boy across from her in shock and befuddlement as the gears in her mind squeaked to an absolute halt.

"I - what?" She stuttered, looking from Izuku to All Might so fast her ponytail flipped around to hit her in the face. "T-training partner? Wha - I - All Might, you never mentioned anything about training partners! I - what?!"

"S-successor?" Izuku said in a low voice, eyes locked on the girl standing in front of him while his face paled almost comically, taking a shocked step back. "She's - she's your successor? What? I - hold on a second, All Might, what?!"

"It's true!" All Might laughed, raising a hand to rub the back of his head. "I had thought of leaving it as a surprise, Young Kendou! Indeed, Young Midoriya will be joining us to train with his own quirk!"

All Might’s surprise, however, evidently didn’t go over very well, due to Itsuka rapidly looking back and forth between the two of them with an air of exasperation and befuddlement, while Izuku’s eyes continued to go rounder and rounder as he did the same between the two of them. It would’ve been comical, seeing how they conveniently looked away from each other when the other’s eyes fell to them, but All Might suddenly felt his smile stiffen when Itsuka’s look became a lot darker and colder with each passing moment.

"You ... you never mentioned anything about training partners," Itsuka repeated, her eyebrow beginning to twitch and making All Might sweat a bit as he took a cautious step back, having a feeling that he made a mistake of some kind as Itsuka’s fists slowly clenched. "I thought that - that you were going to -"

"Er - Young Kendou -?"

"- alright, let's start over," She groaned, raising a hand to hold over her eyes, "why exactly is - um -” Pausing for a second, Itsuka let out a sigh, and turned back to Izuku, “- I’m sorry, what was your name again?"

"H-huh?" Izuku sputtered for a moment when she looked at him, still a bit taken aback by the fact that All Might’s apparent successor was a girl his age - but then cleared his throat, glancing away and muttering, "uh - uh - M-Midoriya."

“Midoriya,” Itsuka nodded politely at him at least, then turning her gaze back to the pro hero before them with a frown, “right. I’m Kendou, by the way, it’s nice to meet you. So what is - er - Midoriya doing here, All Might?”

“Uh … on second thought, Young Kendou, you can go back to calling me ‘sir’, it seems so informal -”

“All Might,” Itsuka narrowed her eyes, not feeling very intimidated by the Number One Hero anymore, “explain.”

All Might sputtered a bit, evidently taken aback and feeling himself stiffen even more, while Izuku continued to stare at Itsuka in complete and utter shock, seeing her massage her forehead as though a headache was starting to come on. Honestly, she didn’t really have a problem - - okay, that would be untrue, she did have a problem with Izuku’s presence here, but not with the boy himself.

It was just - oh, good lord, it was way too early for this kind of thinking, she’d only been awake for about an hour and now All Might was pulling a complete stranger out of nowhere and saying that he would be training with her. She needed a bit more information, and a cup of coffee.

Scratch that, a lot of information, and a lot of coffee.

“Er - well - you see -” All Might nervously said, tapping his two index fingers together as the seven foot tall man cowered before the five and a half foot girl, before his shoulders sagged, “- I had thought - it would be a nice surprise for you two that - that you didn’t know and - and well -”

Itsuka let out another sigh, continuing to massage her forehead as she realized that All Might’s little surprise completely backfired in his face. And … honestly, her reaction probably wasn’t helping matters. There was really no need to get annoyed, she just … needed a bit more information before she could figure out what was going on.

So, after letting out one last sigh, she turned to look back at Izuku, trying to smile politely.

"Er ... so Midoriya," She tried again, "I'm not - uh - I'm not angry at you, by the way, but - can I ask why you're here with me? I'm just - I know that I'm here so that All Might can train me, but - but I'm not sure why you're here with me. I - I think All Might mentioned something about your quirk?"

“H-huh?” Izuku shook briefly, still kind of out of it due to the presence of the pretty girl who was apparently All Might’s successor, but when she had turned to address him, he tried his best to shake his head and try to get back into the right mindset - as in, one where he could probably communicate like a normal human being, not stuck in a state of pure shock. For her part, Itsuka at least patiently waited as he tried his best to gather his thoughts, while All Might continued to twirl his fingers guiltedly behind her, until finally, Izuku gulped and glanced away again.

“I, uh … I have some … some problems with controlling and using my quirk,” He explained in a quiet voice, at least loud enough for her to hear, “and - and when I met All Might a few days ago, he said that he would help me out, train me to figure out how to use it. He, uh … he told me it’d be here so I had a safe place to practice, and I didn’t hurt anyone, but - but he never mentioned that - that someone else would be here as well.”

It was here that Izuku hesitated again, glancing back at the orange-haired girl as she slowly nodded, putting her hands in her pockets as she listened, and then he let out a small sigh.

“I …” He paused again, and then looked back down at the ground, “... I can leave, if - if that’s what you want. You’re - he said that you’re his successor, that’s - that’s way more important t-than me learning how to use my quirk. I - I can get out of your hair.”

Itsuka couldn’t help but sputter again, blinking at the boy as he looked down at his shoes and seemed to be in the mindset that he had to go, and then he glanced up when he heard her groan, seeing her raise a hand to pinch the bridge of her nose.

“No, you - you don’t have to leave, I don’t mind if you’re here - it’s just - I - All Might!” She snapped, wheeling around while the pro hero defensively raised his hands. “This is your fault!”

"Er ... yes, it is," All Might sighed, slumping his shoulders and giving the two teenagers an apologetic look, "perhaps I should've been more transparent with the both of you."

"Not perhaps," Itsuka pouted, pointing a finger in his face, "definitely."

The pro hero gave the two of them a nod, pouting at the ground while obviously feeling guilty, while Itsuka scratched her hair and returned her gaze to Izuku.

"Midoriya, I don't mind if you're here," She was sure to make clear, making the boy blink in surprise and look back up at her, "it's just - well - uh -"

It was here, however, that Itsuka found herself hesitating, glancing unsurely back up at All Might as he straightened up. She knew the reasons that Izuku was here, of course - but she didn’t know how much he knew. Or what exactly she could say here that wouldn’t give anything obvious away about the true purpose of her training.

Thankfully, All Might seemed to pick up on her uncertainty, subtly shaking his head, and tried to regain the confident smile he always wore as though he hadn’t spent the last five minutes being reprimanded by a fourteen year old girl.

“W-well, in any case, we’ve gotten pretty distracted, haven’t we? Perhaps we should be getting back on track,” He managed to get both teenagers’ attention with that, pointing dramatically up in the air and grinning. “I explained this briefly to Young Midoriya when he arrived here this morning, but just so you know, Young Kendou …”

With that, All Might began to explain to Itsuka what exactly they were going to be doing at the beach, gesturing around at the mountains of garbage while instructing her on why it was so important to clear the beach, not only to improve her strength but also her ideals. While Itsuka patiently paid attention and listened, Izuku took a second to stand back for once, staring at the girl before him while trying to get his breath to calm down a little bit.

All Might’s successor … before today, if someone had suggested that the pro hero could even be surpassed, he probably would’ve rolled his eyes at the mere thought that he could be succeeded. But now that he was standing back and looking at the both of them, it did kind of make sense, he supposed - All Might obviously couldn’t be a hero forever, and from the scar he had shown Izuku a few days ago, he knew that All Might wasn’t exactly in the prime of his youth anymore. If he could only be a hero for a few hours a day, no matter how much it hurt Izuku to even think about it, retirement seemed to be on the horizon.

But this girl … she was his successor? Izuku couldn’t help but stare at her as she listened to All Might explaining things to her, although he knew how awkward he must’ve looked just staring at her. This must mean - she must be powerful, right? She had to be, if All Might was considering her as his successor as - as the Symbol of Peace, presumably. Hell, she must’ve been powerful enough for All Might to have a direct hand in training her - but what was her quirk? She grew her hand to pick him up, so - so was it some kind of transformation quirk? Kind of Mt Lady’s quirk, letting her grow?

And … and wouldn’t he just get in the way? Izuku felt his face fall at that thought, glancing away again. If All Might needed to train his successor - would he just be distracting him? Should he really be here?

"... and as I told Young Midoriya, one cannot waver from those roots!"

"Okay," Itsuka nodded slowly, raising a hand to her chin as she thought about what All Might told her, "so I'm going to be training my body by cleaning up the trash - since there's a bunch of different sized junk around, depending on their size and shape, I can exercise different parts of my body."

"That's right!" All Might nodded proudly, walking over to the fridge that he had been making Izuku drag and knocking on it with the back of his hand, not noticing that he left an imprint of his knuckles on the metal surface, "As your first step towards becoming a hero, you will restore the horizon for this entire section of the beach!"

"Still though ..." Itsuka glanced around again at the literal hills of trash piled up throughout the beach, gulping a bit nervously, “... it’s a lot of garbage. Like - god, this is probably going to take months to clean all up. Would I even be able to clean it all up before the start of next year?”

"Definitely, it won’t be a simple walk in the park, Young Kendou," All Might gave her that, smiling a bit cockily, "but you do want to go to UA, don't you?"

UA? Izuku blinked in surprise, looking back up as Itsuka turned back to the Symbol of Peace with a smile.

"Of course I do!" She nodded, balling one of her fists. "Graduating from UA is practically a requirement for becoming a great hero. I guess if all else fails, I can go to Shinketsu, but UA’s where I want to go - they’ve got the best hero teachers in Japan."

"And -" Izuku stuttered a bit, causing the other two to look around at him for the first time in a few minutes, as though they had forgotten he was there (which didn’t really help with his ‘maybe I shouldn’t be here after all’ stance), "- and it's the school you graduated from, right All Might?"

"Yes!" All Might flashed the green haired boy another thumbs up and grin, "UA has a reputation of training students who become top heroes! There's a reason, you two, our motto is 'Plus Ultra' - they expect their students to go beyond their limits to become heroes. And that, Young Kendou, is what you need to do here for the next ten months - going beyond your limits to clean this beach, to prepare you for - er - the entrance exam. Yes, the entrance exam. If you are to succeed, you will truly need to go beyond. Plus Ultra.”

"Right ..." Itsuka nodded slowly, still glancing around at the mountains of garbage with an unsure look, "... it's just ..."

"I am aware that it’s a lot for even one person," All Might teased her, grinning when Itsuka blushed a bit in embarrassment, "which is where Young Midoriya here comes in!”

“H-huh?” Izuku jumped a bit, feeling his eyes go wide as he looked up at the pro hero, “What - wait, what do you mean, All Might?”

“It means,” All Might grinned, “that you will also be handling the cleanup of this beach, young man, in addition to practicing your quirk.”

“Wait, what?” Izuku gasped, looking back around at Itsuka as she hung back a little, “But - shouldn’t it be - be K-Kendou who cleans up the beach? If it’s to prepare her to - to be your successor, I - would I just be in the way?”

“Nonsense, Young Midoriya!” All Might crossed his arms into an ‘X’ shape. “You wouldn’t be in the way - in fact, your presence here is a natural benefit. While you are correct that Young Kendou is my successor, we shouldn’t kid ourselves,” He let out a small laugh as he walked over and lifted up Izuku’s arm, showing how skinny it was as he poked his bicep in a teasing manner, “you’re not exactly Hercules.”

"You didn't need to point it out," Izuku grumbled, pouting a bit while Itsuka suppressed a small giggle.

“While training your quirk should be your top priority,” All Might continued to explain, letting go of Izuku’s arm and letting it flop back to his side, “it would be unwise to ignore how your body should also deserve the same amount of attention. Quirks are natural extensions of our body, and you will need to train yours to use your quirk correctly. The physically healthier you are, the better mindset you will be in. And I understand what you’re saying, young man - you’re worried about unnecessarily taking some of the weight off Young Kendou’s back and hindering her process.”

"Uh -" Izuku gulped, while Itsuka blinked.

“Well, you don’t need to worry about that! I have considered that possibility, and came up with this!” All Might suddenly reached into his back pocket, and brought out two rolled up stacks of paper, grinning proudly as he flattened them out and tapped the pages with his finger. “My ‘Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan’!”

Handing over both stacks of paper to Izuku and Itsuka, All Might continued to explain while they opened the booklets and read through the plan.

“These are training plans to help you both clean up the beach and practice your quirks at the same time. Young Midoriya, you may notice if you glance at Young Kendou’s copy that your plan doesn’t include as much cleaning - while we certainly will be training your body, clearing the entire beach will be her responsibility. There will be times where you two will need to work together, but I have considered that and made sure to adjust your plans accordingly. While she will be clearing the beach, you will be dedicated to practising the safe usages of your quirk - while I was looking around here yesterday, I noticed plenty of large objects that we can use as target practice, as well as other items that you can practice pouring small outputs of electricity on.”

"Jeez," Itsuka muttered as she flipped through the pages, grimacing slightly, "there's even a sleep plan in here - our days start at four in the morning."

"Indeed! I'll be having you both follow these plans in every aspect of your lives!" All Might suddenly leaned over so that he could be down at their level, raising his hand as though to whisper to the two students. "Truth be told, though, this is going to be a super hard schedule to follow. Do you two think you can handle it?"

Izuku and Itsuka paused at that, continuing to read through the paper while paling slightly - oh god, this was not going to be easy - and then Itsuka was unable to stop herself from letting out a small chuckle.

"Well," She shrugged, glancing back up at the pro hero, "I figured it was going to be tough anyway - so what the heck? Bring it on."

Izuku, who had also been thoroughly reading the papers while feeling very nervous at the utter hell that was awaiting him, glanced up at the orange-haired girl when she said that, seeing how confident she looked - although a closer look showed the small bead of sweat on her forehead, indicating her own nervousness.

With a small sigh, Izuku tried his best to grin, and nodded up at All Might.

"Y-yeah," He tried to say confidently, "I - I kinda figured I'd have to work hard, since I - I haven’t used my quirk in a long time, so - so let's do it!"

Grinning proudly at the two students before him, All Might patted both of their shoulders, and straightened his back to smile down at them.

"Ah, you two! You'll end up hyping me up if you're not careful," He chuckled, patting their shoulders again as he turned back to the fridge he had Izuku dragging him on. "Now then! If we're done with the introductions and explanations - I believe we can get started! Not with our proper exercise, of course, but a bit of a warmup so that you both know what to expect. We'll handle Young Midoriya first while -"

"Oh, god, you cannot be serious."

The three of them, huddled in the shadow cast by the mountain of garbage, jumped at the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming from behind them near the parking lot. Izuku and Itsuka quickly looked around, eyes widening at being caught red-handed with the Symbol of Peace, while All Might turned around to take a look at the sudden arrival - and then let out a small groan, raising himself up and accepting the fact that this wasn’t going to be pleasant.

Standing at the stairs leading up to the parking lot was a tall, lean but muscular man with sharp and elongated features. Izuku blinked at the simple plainness of the office clothes he wore - a plain white suit with gold buttons, a white dress shirt, and a red tie with white dots decorating it. His hair was smoothed to the left, dark green with three yellow streaks on the front. He wore a pair of triangular glasses, worn over his sharp yellow eyes.

Still though, Izuku couldn't help but gulp some as the stranger before them studied them - this man practically emulated a sense of authority and power, and he looked unnaturally stern as he slowly walked down the steps towards them, staring at Itsuka with a slight glare that made her feel suddenly nervous and take a step back, while All Might sighed behind them. There was also something familiar about him, Izuku thought as he stared up at the man - but where had he seen him from? The television, maybe?

"So it's true," The man shook his head, continuing to glare at Itsuka, "you really intend to train this girl."

"Of course," All Might's warm, assuring voice had completely vanished - Izuku and Itsuka gulped slightly at the sudden coldness as he addressed the man coming towards them, "I said what I said, Nighteye."

"Hm." The man, narrowing his eyes somewhat, leaned back up to his full height, making Izuku gulp again - he practically towered over the two middle schoolers, which didn't help when he turned his gaze to Izuku. "And who's this? Another potential competitor?"

"No," All Might sighed, raising his hand, "this is -"

"Oh, for god's sake, All Might, stop trying to maintain your form," The man interrupted him before he could defend himself, turning his gaze back to the pro hero with a look of scorn and disappointment, "this must be taking a lot of energy out of you - and you can't afford to waste anymore of that."

All Might gave the man another pointed glare, the smile on his face a lot frostier than what Izuku and Itsuka were used to, before sighing and doing as the man suggested and disappearing behind a puff of smoke, emerging in his emancipated form while coughing into his hand.

While Itsuka looked back at the pro hero in concern, as though she wanted to make sure he was okay, Izuku continued to stare at the stranger for a moment, feeling his brow wrinkle somewhat as he tried to put two and two together on where he had seen him before - and then he let out a small gasp, eyes widening.

"You're - you're Sir Nighteye," He realized, drawing the tall man's attention back to him as Izuku was unable to stop himself from pointing, "the - the hero who can - can see the future. But - why are you -"

"Yes, that's me," Nighteye pushed his glasses back up his nose, staring down at the boy with a frown, "and who are you?"

"I -"

"This," All Might coughed, drawing the attention of the two men again while Itsuka reached up to pat his shoulder to comfort him, "is Young Midoriya. Due to complications with his quirk, I agreed to help him out while I trained Young Kendou at the same time - I simply couldn't leave him out on his own. Young Midoriya, Young Kendou - this is Sir Nighteye. My former sidekick."

"H-huh?" Izuku's eyes widened again, whipping around, "Your sidekick?! I - I didn't know that you ever had a -"

"I am one of the very few heroes who worked directly with All Might," Nighteye interrupted him again, "I persuaded him a long time ago to let me work under him, until ... certain circumstances caused a rift, and we dissolved our partnership. Now I have my own agency with my own sidekicks. In any case," His eyes narrowed at Izuku again, making the boy gulp, "am I to understand that you're a side project?"

"Nighteye," All Might narrowed his eyes as well, already dreading where this was about to go but not wanting Izuku to get dragged into it, "don't even start. Just say why you're here - although I can probably guess."

"Yes, you can. Seeing as I am only here due to the conversations we’ve had in the last few weeks." Nighteye straightened his tie, turning his gaze back to Itsuka. The girl, who had been patting All Might’s shoulder when he had powered down, glanced back at the green-haired man before her, and made her shake a little bit while he studied her with obvious dislike, pulling his phone out of his pocket.

"As I’ve been trying to tell you," Nighteye stated in a cold voice, "you're making a mistake, All Might. I’ve told you, time and time again, I have been training Togata for years now for exactly this, and he's ready. You don't need this girl as your successor when I've already got one prepared."

Itsuka was unable to stop herself from wincing at that, glancing away while Izuku blinked and looked between the two heroes. All Might let out another sigh and leaned up to his full height, glaring down at Nighteye as he folded his arms.

"Sasaki, like I said on Wednesday, ultimately I am the one who -"

"All Might, you don't have much time left," Nighteye interrupted him yet again, and for the first time since he came here, Izuku picked up something other than anger and scorn in his voice - it kind of sounded like he was pleading, "and we both know that it'll take months for you to train this girl to -" He glanced at Izuku, seeing him look confusedly up at the both of them, and then sighed and shook his head, deciding not to finish that sentence just in case. "Togata has already proved himself - he stands heads and shoulders above his peers. Please, see reason for once and hear me out."

"And as I’ve told you," All Might refused to budge an inch, putting a hand down on Itsuka's shoulder when he saw her beginning to shrink away, "I have made my choice. The decision isn't yours to make, Mirai."

"Damn it, All Might!" Nighteye snapped, and his formerly cold and stoic expression faded away to show the anger and frustration on his face. "You don't have any more time! You’re down to mere hours of hero work, and the time is now to begin getting Togata ready! Please, please listen to me! Make Togata your successor, and then sit back and relax! That's what you deserve."

"Mirai," All Might shook his head while Itsuka and Izuku looked more and more confused by this conversation, although Izuku couldn’t help but notice Itsuka continuing to look a lot smaller and less confident than he’d seen her all morning and feeling something in his chest thump at the sight, "as I have said time and time again, I respect you, and Young Togata’s accomplishments. I agree with you that he has come a long way under your tutelage - he'll be a great hero, and I can offer you no higher praise for how you molded that boy into the hero he is today. But Young Kendou has the heart and soul of a hero - I have seen it myself. You don't know her well enough to -"

"Don't I?" Nighteye snipped at that, shaking his head and raising his phone so that he could read his little document out loud, adjusting his glasses. "Itsuka Kendou. Born September 9th, daughter of Tenohira and Hakushu Kendou. Mother is unemployed, father runs a mechanic shop in Chiba. Currently attends Mustafa Private Middle School. High grades throughout her years in school, annual school health checkups list her as healthy. Quirk is listed in the registry as Big Fist, which allows her to grow her hands to giant size - and that is it." Lowering the phone, Nighteye returned his glare to Itsuka, giving her a dirty look that Izuku didn’t like at all, “A transformation quirk - one that can be easily trained and used, without much difficulty."

"That's ... really invasive," Itsuka muttered, crept out.

“Nighteye,” All Might narrowed his eyes, “if you’re implying that Young Kendou hasn’t worked hard enough for One - to be my successor -”

“What I’m implying,” Nighteye put his phone back in his pocket, returning his gaze to the blonde man glowering at him, “is that your plan has holes in it, and you’ve chosen to simply going the easy route. For example, what exactly will she say when people question her on how all of a sudden, her quirk gave her super strength? How will she explain that her ‘Big Fist’ allows her to leap into the air with strength she never demonstrated before? With Togata, I already have written up a plausible explanation, one that will easily fool anyone who asks, and we can easily apply it to the quirk registry, even as outlandish as the explanation is - I have people working there that can help us update Togata’s file.”

“Nighteye …”

"I'm telling you, All Might, even Gran Torino -"

"Nighteye," All Might interrupted before the man could go any further, raising a hand and stopping Nighteye in his tracks, "I think we both know that nothing you say here will change my mind on my decision. Nothing. As potentially fun as it would be to go in circles with this argument as we have hundreds of times, I need to instruct Young Kendou on the training she will be doing." 

As Nighteye clenched his fists in frustration, All Might glanced at Izuku, seeing him looking back and forth between them, and then let out a small sigh, flashing him an apologetic look. 

My apologies, Young Midoriya … but I’ll make it up to you.

“If you do insist on staying … Young Midoriya here needs to practice his quirk,” Izuku quickly looked up at the pro hero as he put a hand back down on his shoulder, seeing the apologetic look that All Might flashed him briefly before turning his gaze back to his former sidekick, “and I wanted him to try and fire off one blast this morning so we know where to work. I had a wrecked car be put down on the beach, near the water - can I ask that you supervise him while I speak to Young Kendou?” All Might then was sure to narrow his eyes somewhat, “Or is Young Togata the only one who deserves your undivided attention?”

Nighteye gave him a good glare at him for that, although All Might’s own glare made it perfectly clear that he was going to be stubborn about this no matter what. Izuku and Itsuka glanced between the two pro heroes, feeling a bit nervous for a moment as they had a silent standoff - and then Nighteye sighed, straightening up and taking off his glasses to rub at his eyes, clearly frustrated with his friend.

"Very well." He nodded, turning towards Izuku. "This conversation is far from over, All Might - but I'll assist the boy while you play around."

Squeaking a bit, Izuku stood at attention, wondering if it was too late to back out of this - oh god, he didn’t sign on to be instructed by the pro that obviously disliked him! - but alas, Nighteye was already moving, walking around the mountain of garbage along a small path, and turned his glare back to Izuku when he didn’t move. Gulping, Izuku knew that it would probably be better just to do as All Might suggested, and he did agree that All Might needed to talk to Itsuka more than him, so he squared his shoulders and followed the tall, skinny man down the path towards whatever beach wasn’t covered in garbage.

Behind them, All Might let out a small sigh as he turned his gaze back to Itsuka - the girl had been quiet since Nighteye had arrived, but he knew that she had to be feeling more than a little discouraged thanks to Nighteye’s criticism of her. So All Might did the best he could to look assuring and confident as he walked back over to her, putting his hand down on her shoulder.

“Er … I’m sorry about Nighteye, Young Kendou,” He apologized, beginning to guide her over the nearest mountain of garbage, “he has … well, as you may have guessed, he has his own opinions on who should be the next yielder of One for All. But it’s as I said to him, it’s not his decision to make on who I pass it along to.”

“R-right,” Itsuka muttered, flipping her ponytail over her shoulder. All Might knew that she was still put down, giving her a concerned look as he continued to pat her shoulder, and saw her look back down to the American Dream Plan she had in her hands. Opening his mouth to begin talking to her about it, however, All Might was suddenly interrupted.

"Hey, All Might?"

"Er - yes, Young Kendou?"

“Who … exactly is Togata?”

All Might felt himself falter at that quiet inquiry, staring down at Itsuka as she finally looked back up at him, letting him see how put down and confused she looked - and he let out a small sigh, raising a hand to scratch at the back of his neck.

"Young Togata ... er, Mirio Togata ... he's a student in his second year at UA," He explained as they walked together, "the boy that Sir Nighteye had selected as - as my hypothetical successor."

"... oh," Itsuka nodded slowly, not looking very comforted by that as she glanced away, "and ... and that's who Nighteye wants to be -"

"Young Kendou," All Might slowed her down, placing his hand back on her shoulder to halt her movement, and when she stopped, he put his other hand on her other shoulder, making sure that she looked up at him when he said this, “I wasn’t lying to Nighteye - I do not regret choosing you as the next successor of One for All. He - Nighteye has his own opinions on how my quirk should be passed down, but at the end of the day, it’s not up to him. It’s up to me, and I believe that you are the right person to succeed me. Now let’s put that away for now, and go over what we’ll be doing for the next ten months. Okay?”

For a moment, Itsuka still looked obviously conflicted, glancing away to stare vacantly at one of the hills of garbage - and then she inhaled, and let out a quiet exhale as she shook her head.

“R-right,” She tried her best to smile, looking back up at the pro hero, “sorry, All Might, just - yeah. Yeah, you’re - you’re right. We need to go over - well, everything.”

“Alright,” All Might smiled kindly at her, and let go of her shoulders to lead her over to the nearest pile of garbage. He could hear the sound of Nighteye speaking to Izuku not far away, and felt a bit relieved that she and he could talk without any more interruptions.

“So,” He nodded, “to start, Young Kendou - due to the nature of your quirk, giving you enhanced strength in your hands and making it easy to carry a majority of the items here - I believe that in order to properly train your body, you’ll be moving garbage without the use of your quirk.”

"Okay ..." Itsuka slowly nodded, wrinkling her brow a bit, "... okay, yeah, that makes sense. I won’t be able to rely on my quirk to move any of this.”

"Only unless I say so," All Might brought his hand up to his chin, thinking for a moment, "I know that there are a few things hidden here that won’t just be moved by yourself - you’ll occasionally be given permission to use your quirk in special circumstances. And I know that there’ll be objects in here that will require both you and Young Midoriya to move it while working together.”

"Right," Itsuka nodded again, glancing to the ground, "Midoriya."

"... Young Kendou, I am sorry for just … springing a training partner on you," All Might sighed, scratching his cheek, "I thought it'd be a nice surprise, and -"

"Oh, n-no, I was serious, All Might, it's - it's okay," Itsuka shook her head, glancing to the side, "I meant what I said to him, I don’t mind if he’s here - and I understand his own reasons, this place would - you know, it’s good for practicing quirks. it's just ... well ..."

All Might studied her while she lost her words again, glancing away, but he could hear the unspoken question she was trying to ask him, and he reached out to pat her shoulder again.

“I know that you don’t know him,” He gave her, “but Young Midoriya is someone you can trust. I haven’t known him that long either, but during the time I met him, he showed me that he has the heart of a hero, and I believe that he’ll be just as much of a support to you as you will be to him. That I am certain of.”

Itsuka slowly nodded, and then she glanced uncertainly at him.

“... do you think,” She asked quietly, as though afraid of being overheard, “that we’ll eventually let him in on the … you know … the secret? Of what we’re really doing here?”

"..."

"..."

"... perhaps," All Might admitted, glancing away this time as he thought about it, “I didn’t lie to you when I said that One for All is a great burden to take on. And Young Midoriya - he has a lot on his plate already, and I believe that he being in an environment with you - someone who can support him - that would benefit both him and yourself. For now, though, I say that we keep the secret between us. But if he shows that he can be trusted - and for the record, I believe he can be - we can let him in on One for All’s secret.”

“Okay … okay, that sounds good,” Itsuka nodded in confirmation, and then couldn’t help but let out a small giggle, “I’m, uh … I’m not gonna lie, All Might, when I first came here and saw him, I thought that you were pulling the rug out from under me, and you were gonna make me compete with him for the quirk.”

“Wha - I would never do something like that, Young Kendou!” All Might protested, unable to stop his own laugh as he raised a hand to his hair, “Besides that -”

KRACK-BOOM

Both All Might and Itsuka yelped and jumped about a mile high at the sound of a large explosion on the other side of the hill. They could hear the sound of electricity surging and something very big being smashed across the beach, hearing the thud of something heavy slamming repeatedly against the ground as several objects splashed into the water, and one of the hills of garbage shook, items falling down every direction.

Without another word, All Might buffed up again, and hurried to where Izuku and Nighteye had vanished behind the hill of garbage, Itsuka right on his heels.


"Right then," Nighteye sighed as he took off his glasses again, this time so that he could rub the lenses with a cloth from his suit pocket, “so what seems to be the problem here?”

Izuku couldn’t help but gulp again as they walked down the small path towards the water of the beach. Sure enough, just as All Might had said, there was a wrecked car placed purposefully near the water with a target spray-canned on, moved so that it was parked horizontally and facing Izuku. He had the thought that All Might had purposefully given him a pretty big target to hit start, and felt a bit comforted by that - he was still unsure about how much attention from All Might he should be taking, seeing as he was actually training his successor here - but at that moment, it didn’t quite matter, since Nighteye was clearly waiting for a response from him.

Admittedly, Izuku was a bit nervous to be left alone with the lanky man. Nighteye was clearly not in a good mood, scowling at the car and turning his cold gaze to Izuku, as though he were angry that All Might had brushed him off and it was all Izuku’s fault. Still though, Izuku knew why he had been sent off with the former sidekick by All Might, and understood completely - he needed to talk to Itsuka privately, and really couldn’t do that if Nighteye was too busy breathing down his neck and criticizing him. So Izuku knew that this was probably the best course of action, having Nighteye supervise him.

It was just … 

… Izuku hadn’t liked what Nighteye had said about Itsuka. Honestly, he didn’t know her all that well - well, not at all, to be exact - but even he knew that Nighteye was saying that she wasn’t - she wasn’t good enough to be All Might’s successor. And that, for some reason, made Izuku feel annoyed and a bit crossed at Nighteye, for reasons he didn’t really know why. Hell, there was a part of him that wanted to speak up in Itsuka’s defense, but he knew that he didn’t know enough about her to really properly argue with the pro hero.

But … but he could think about that later. Right now, the bespectacled man was clearly waiting for a response from him, tapping his dress shoe against the sand out of impatience while Izuku tried to shake himself out of his thoughts.

“Er … well …” Izuku sighed, shaking his head and trying to refocus, but before he could speak up, Nigtheye crossed his arms.

“All Might mentioned that you have complications with your quirk,” He tapped his foot against the sand a bit more, staring down at the green-haired boy, “so give me a brief rundown.”

“Uh - right,” Izuku quickly nodded, feeling himself shake a bit, and then sighed as he raised a hand to run through his hair, “you see - uh - I had an - an accident when I first got my quirk, back when I was a kid, and - and I hadn’t used it since.”

“An accident?” Nighteye raised an eyebrow.

“Y-yeah. I - I hurt people.”

“Hm.” Nighteye slowly nodded, put his hands in his pockets, “And when was the last time you used your quirk?”

“Uh … a few days ago,” Izuku admitted, glancing down at the sand, “and - and I only used it to blast myself in the air, and - and shoot at a villain.”

“And the time after that?”

“... when I first developed it.”

“I see,” Nighteye raised an eyebrow, “so your problem is a lack of confidence, and a fear of your quirk.”

“Uh … yeah.”

“Alright then,” Nighteye crossed his arms, stepping back from Izuku and gesturing with his head towards the car, “then go.”

“H - wait, what?” Izuku blinked, looking around at the tall man as he stared down at him through his rectangular glasses. “Just - just go?”

“Yes. Use your quirk,” He narrowed his eyes, “if it’s a lack of confidence that’s the problem, then the only way you can overcome it is by getting used to using it. Is your quirk touched based, or a transformation-type?”

“N-no, it’s -” Izuku stuttered again, glancing between the pro hero and the car, “- it’s - it’s an emitter type quirk.”

“Good. Then go.”

"I -" Izuku hesitated, glancing down at his hands and seeing them begin to shake. "- I'm not sure if I should -"

“How am I supposed to instruct you on how to use your quirk if you don’t use it?” Nighteye asked in a haughty voice. “I currently have nothing to go on. Give me a demonstration of your quirk, and I’ll be able to see where you need to go from here.”

Izuku felt his gaze fall to the sand again, unable to stop his hands from shaking as he stared down at them, seeing the lines of red cracking, faded on his skin after such a long time of not using his quirk, and the small hints of white from using it a few days ago. Nighteye made it sound like using his quirk was so simple, and honestly, it probably was, but … if he was being honest … he was still afraid.

No, scratch that, very afraid.

"What are you waiting for?" Nighteye tapped his foot against the ground impatiently again, "Remember the times you used your quirk previously, draw on the emotions you used then, and use them to fire."

“I -” Izuku managed to stop himself from speaking again as he glanced back at the car, feeling his hands continue to shake uncontrollably - but still let out a deep breath, closed his eyes, and, trying to find his bravery, spread his legs somewhat to brace himself. Trying to calm down his shaking, Izuku slowly lifted his hands up in front of him and spread them, palms up, and let out a shuddering breath.

Trying to remember the feelings he had felt when he had previously used his quirk was pretty easy - which was the good news. The bad news was that those feelings weren’t exactly positive, he thought. Remembering a small Katsuki lunging at him at the playground, extending his own hands with explosions blasting out of them in order to hurt Izuku and get to Ochako. The brief moment that the sludge villain on Wednesday had threatened to drag Ochako away once he was done with Izuku. Him running to save Katsuki from that same villain.

That meant … Izuku had to concentrate on the fear he had felt.

The anger.

The panic.

But … but before he could, he suddenly remembered the limp form of a four-year old Katsuki on the ground, his shoe smoking and his shirt burning from where he had struck him. The sight of his mom’s burned arm from where he had accidentally lashed at her. The nightmares of him being unable to control his quirk, electrocuting everyone in sight. And …

… and he froze up.

Beside him, Nighteye raised an eyebrow when Izuku stiffened up, his hands continuing to be outstretched as panic obviously raced through him, evidenced by the look of fear frozen on his face. Letting out a small sigh, Nighteye shook his head, and quietly approached Izuku, being sure to walk silently so that he could sneak up on him. Once he was behind Izuku, and surely not in the crossfire, Nighteye stretched his hand up, taking a slow, deep breath - and then brought it down hard on his back.

It had been what he had previously done with Mirio when he had begun training him and the boy had been hesitant to use his quirk - smacking his back out of nowhere surprised the boy in order for him to activate his quirk without thinking, as though pressing on a flight-or-fight button. It had worked then, the boy falling through the floor and walking back up, naked and embarrassed with a very red faced intern from the office.

He intended to use the sudden hit as a surprise to jolt Izuku, and automatically fire off a blast of - whatever it was his quirk was.

It worked.

KRACK-BOOM

Nighteye leapt back in surprise and a bit of pain as a flicker of lightning hit him in the arm, jolting him and making him wince. Izuku gasped out as a large blast of green lightning exploded out of his palms, the boy leaping back automatically as the car was smashed by the bolt of lightning in the blink of an eye.

Immediately, the moment the lightning hit the car, it was sent flying, although they briefly couldn’t hear it due to the explosion of sound that followed the strike. Izuku’s jaw dropped as the force of the blow sent the car rolling across the beach, wincing and cringing at the loud crashes against the ground as it rolled across the sand - and then collided into another hill of garbage, resulting in another large explosion of sound as several objects were sent flying, either against the ground or into the water with loud splashes.

“Ah!” Izuku cried out in pain, waving his hands in pain and panic as they stung from the electrical shock, feeling them start to sting and burn. Holy crap, did that hurt! He quickly looked around for anything he could put his hands in to cool them down, spotting the water - and then Nighteye grabbed his shoulder when he took a staggered step towards the waves.

“Don’t put your hands in the water,” He instructed sternly, wincing a bit at the electrical shocks still running up the boy’s arm, “there’s still some - some leftover electricity, you’ll end up electrocuting yourself since you clearly don’t have an immunity to your own quirk. Wave your hands until you’ve calmed down.”

There was the sudden sound of footsteps on the sand behind them, and they both turned around to see All Might hurrying over in his true form, his dark gaze widening at the sight of the car catching on fire on the opposite end of the beach. Itsuka’s eyes were wide as well, but she still ran over with All Might to Izuku, seeing him in obvious pain.

She still didn’t really know him all that well, but she still felt worried for him as she looked at his hands, seeing that he was waving them around and wincing when she caught sight of a red burn mark on his palm.

"Young Midoriya, are you alright?" All Might asked, carefully putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder and avoiding being hit by some static shock.

"I - ow - yeah, I'm okay," Izuku managed to say while nodding, continuing to wave his hands in the air, "just - ow, that hurt."

"My apologies," Nighteye sighed, giving Izuku a small bow while he frowned at himself, "I wanted to give you a jolt in order to make you use your quirk without thinking. I had done it once with one of my other pupils - I hadn't thought through what might’ve happened there if you two didn’t have similar quirks."

"I - it's okay," Izuku shook his head, not looking at the lanky man as he finally stopped waving his hands, wincing in pain at the burn mark on his palm while All Might sighed.

"It looks like the electricity is pretty much gone now," He sighed, noticing as the last flickers of lightning finally faded away, and raised his hand to flick at the burning car wreck, "so let's go back to my truck. I have a towel and some water we can use to wrap around that burn."

Izuku nodded at that, and once All Might had flickered away the flames of the car to prevent a fire, the group moved back around the mountain of trash to get back to the parking lot. Unable to stop himself from looking back, Izuku felt himself frown at the sight of the car smashed into the hill, letting out a small sigh as he looked back down at his palm - and completely unaware of the fact that Itsuka was watching him, catching the disappointed look on his face and feeling strangely concerned for him.

Once they finally had left the trash heap and headed into the parking lot, All Might had Izuku sit in the passenger side of his truck, taking out a towel and a water bottle, and sprinkling the contents of the bottle into the thin fabric. As All Might tenderly wrapped it around his palm, the boy glanced up, seeing Itsuka standing nearby and looking a bit worried, a look that took him aback.

If he was to be honest, it had been such a long time since someone his age besides Ochako had given him a look that wasn’t angry or mocking, so he didn’t really know how to react to her. There was also the small fact that she was seriously pretty, which made it pretty hard to look at her in the face, now that he was over the shock that she was All Might’s successor. So he just settled on staring at the ground, or more accurately her shoes.

Before anyone could speak, however, Nighteye let out a small sigh as he hung up with whoever he was talking with for the last few minutes, getting everyone’s attention.

“I’d better be getting back to the office now,” He nodded slowly to himself, “Centipeder has a few reports for me to look over. Midoriya,” Izuku jumped a bit, and glanced back up at the bespectacled man as he lowered himself into a bow, “once again, I apologize for startling you, and ended up injuring you.”

“N-no, it’s okay,” Izuku shook his head, turning his hand over and frowning at the towel on his hand, “I figured … well, I knew that using my quirk was probably going to hurt, it did before, so - so I think I realized my problem.”

“Oh?”

“The outpour,” He slowly shook his head, “I’m unleashing everything I have in single blasts. I need to figure out how to control how much output I release when I shoot out. Which means that I need to find a way to lessen the force and outpour of my blasts, and that’ll mean that I have to begin practicing …”

Itsuka, All Might and Nighteye blinked as Izuku leaned forward, not looking at anyone as he tugged on his lower lip and began to quietly mutter to himself, an intense look in his eye that disturbed the three of them a bit as he began speaking a mile a minute, quick enough that they couldn’t really make out what he was saying.

“Well … in any case, I must be off,” Nighteye turned his gaze from Izuku to All Might, giving him a polite nod - and then looked down at Itsuka.

The orange-haired girl felt herself jolt a bit when she came under the pro hero’s stare, looking from where she had been staring in confusion and a bit of fear at Izuku to the bespectacled man. For a moment, Nighteye quietly studied her, and then let out a short sigh as he took off his glasses and wiped them again with his cloth.

“I must say, All Might,” He frowned, turning back to his former partner, “I am still disappointed in your choice of successors. At least he has potential.”

That, at least, jolted Izuku out of his thoughts, looking up at Nighteye in brief shock at his parting words as the pro hero turned on his heel to walk to his car and finally leave the beach - and then, he automatically turned his gaze to Itsuka, looking up at her face, and feeling his breath falter.

She blinked slowly at Nighteye’s last biting remark, and then let out a small sigh, turning her gaze back to the ground - but Izuku saw the clear hurt at yet another putdown from the pro hero. He felt himself sit up where he was sitting in All Might’s truck, and then looked at Nighteye’s retreating back, feeling himself frown and give an angered look at the former sidekick as he finally got into his car to leave, and he heard All Might let out another sigh.

"... Young Kendou, once again, I'm sorry about him," The Symbol of Peace shook his head as he briefly disappeared behind a familiar puff of smoke, and emerged in his emancipated form, coughing briefly before giving Itsuka an apologetic look, “he’s ridiculously stubborn. He’ll eventually come around, I promise.”

“Yeah,” Itsuka nodded, although she still looked pretty dejected, “yeah.”

“Well, in any case,” All Might patted Izuku’s shoulder again, “I’d better get going as well, just so I can get started with my patrol. Do either of you need a ride home?”

“No, I’m - I’m good, All Might,” Izuku shook his head, getting out of the truck and closing the door behind him as he patted the towel wrapped around his hand, “t-thank you for helping me out.”

“And … and I’ll be okay getting home too,” Itsuka sighed, straightening up and trying to put on a brave smile, “I can catch the bus if I hurry.”

“Alright then, All Might nodded at them both, and then moved around the truck so he could climb into the driver’s seat, “our training officially begins tomorrow morning, at 5:00 am sharp - we’ll drag some trash around until 7:00 to get you guys used to what I have planned, and then I’ll drive you both to school. I’ll see you both tomorrow, and if there’re any complications, just text me.”

It was with that All Might closed the door, turned the key in the ignition a few times to get the truck started, and then began driving out of the parking lot, waving to Izuku as the boy raised his hand in farewell and bowed slightly. As soon as the truck pulled away behind Nighteye’s car and vanished down the road, Izuku let out a small sigh, reaching into his pocket for his phone to check if there were any messages, and feeling relieved that no one was asking where he was just yet. He knew it would take a bit more time to get back, but he figured that he could jog back in time now that he knew the way, and could take a shower and check on his hand before -

- and then he became aware of shuffling behind him.

Blinking and looking around, Izuku jumped a bit when he realized that, in that brief moment, he had completely forgotten that Itsuka was still there, and still looking mildly put down now that All Might wasn’t around for her to fake a smile for. Although, she was quick to collect herself when she felt Izuku’s eyes briefly on her, and nodded politely to him as she gave him a weak smile.

"I, uh ... I guess this means that I'll be seeing you tomorrow, Midoriya," She said in an airy voice, beginning to walk away from him while pointing behind her shoulder, "I live over in the Chiba prefecture, so I'm gonna take off. I have a bus to catch."

“O-oh, uh - r-right,” Izuku quickly nodded, glancing back at the ground as she turned around to begin walking away - and then his eyes flickered back up to her.

The way her shoulders were slumped, taking a few slow steps away … it was clear that Nighteye’s words affected her, that was obvious. It was just … the way she slowly walked away, obviously put down, it …

… it reminded him of himself, of whenever Katsuki would insult him and make him feel like crap. He knew how awful he felt after that would happen … and it was clear that Itsuka was having similar emotions right now.

For a moment, Izuku stared after her … and then he straightened up.

"Hey, uh ... K-Kendou?"

He winced when he called out to her, feeling that he said her name too loud, but she at least faltered in her step when she heard her name, and looked back around, looking a bit surprised. Izuku felt himself freeze for a moment, feeling awkward and still a bit intimidated by her, what with being the successor of All Might himself and a very pretty girl - but he knew that there was no way he could just watch her go after Nighteye insulted her so much.

So, with a small sigh, he quickly glanced to the ground and spoke in a mutter.

"Don't ... uh ... don't listen to Nighteye, okay?"

He was still staring at the ground, so he was unaware of Itsuka blinking at that, wrinkling her brow somewhat while wincing at the morning sun shining in her eyes as she turned around to face him.

“I - huh?”

“He - he obvious has his - his own biases about how All Might should - you know - how he should pick his successor, however he does it,” Izuku frowned a bit, and then took a deep breath for bravery, “but I think - I think All Might made a good choice with you.”

For a few moments, the two teenagers were quiet, with Itsuka quietly mulling over Izuku’s words, and the green-haired boy continuing to stare at the ground while screwing up his eyes, waiting for the huffing or the insults, fearing that he just somehow crossed some line and she was about to make fun of him - but then he became aware of the sound of footsteps approaching him.

Shaking a bit, Izuku finally mustered the courage to open his eyes and look up - and he felt himself blink at the sight of Itsuka giving him an awkward smile, flipping her ponytail behind her shoulder while she chuckled.

“He, uh … he was kinda an asshole, wasn’t he?” She giggled despite herself, and Izuku let out his own hesitant chuckle. “At least to me, anyway. He ended up being pretty nice to you, though, once he got you hurt..”

“Uh … I guess not,” Izuku scratched the back of his head, unable to stop a small, sheepish smile from crossing his face, “he probably doesn’t see me as - as competition, though, so there’s that.”

“I suppose,” She shrugged, grimacing slightly. “Anyway, uh … sorry for - you know, being all moody. Usually this kind of stuff doesn’t get to me, but … you know, All Might saying that he wants me to be his successor, and then some guy comes out of nowhere and contradicts everything he says …”

“Y-yeah, I know,” Izuku nodded, biting his lip somewhat, “I … I know where you’re coming from.”

“That’s … anyway,” Itsuka shook her head, and gave him a more natural smile, one that took him off guard, “I … thank you, for - for saying that. Honestly, I … I really needed that.”

“You -” Izuku hesitated again, feeling himself shake and his cheeks go slightly red, but then took a deep breath and tried to give her his best, wobbly smile, “- you’re welcome.”

Itsuka smiled and nodded at that, and then sighed as she glanced away, back at the dump on the beach, “Well, I guess I don’t have any control over whether or not Nighteye thinks I’m good enough, so I’ll just - I don’t know, not care about what he thinks of me.”

"Y-yeah." Izuku nodded, and then hesitated, “I - I guess it helps that All Might’s in your corner, right?”

“I think he’s in both our corners,” Itsuka returned her gaze to him, giving him a comforting smile, “it seems like we’re in it for the long run.”

Izuku awkwardly hummed at that, and returned his gaze to the ground. For a few more moments, the two teenagers stood awkwardly in the parking lot, not exactly sure where to go from there - and then Itsuka chuckled.

"So, uh ..." She gave him a small smile when she saw him glance up at her, "... I guess this means that we'll be seeing a lot of each other from now on, huh?"

"Er ..." Izuku gulped, feeling his cheeks continue to glow red but nodding. "Y-yeah."

"In that case," She nodded slowly to herself, "I know that we really didn’t have much time to do this earlier, in between All Might being a doofus and Nighteye interrupting us - but I think we missed something."

Izuku wrinkled his brow at that, a bit confused as to what she meant - and then blinked when she extended her hand out, clearly indicating that she wanted to shake his hand.

“Let’s get along, Midoriya,” Itsuka said sweetly, “I have a feeling that we have ten months of hell ahead of us, so let’s do our best.”

Izuku faltered, staring down at her hand for a brief moment in shock - and then, with an awkward chuckle and a blush, reached out and took her hand, wincing a bit at her firm hold, but still pumping his arm up and down with hers.

“T-the same here, Kendou,” He gave her another shaky smile, “let’s - let’s get along.”

“I have a feeling we will.” Itsuka giggled, and then let go of his hand, gesturing with her hand. “Now, uh … I think I should probably get going so I don’t miss my bus.”

“O-oh! Y-yeah, you should - yeah.”

“Yeah,” She turned around, giving him another smile and flashing him the peace sign, “see you tomorrow morning, Midoriya.”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku smiled back at her, raising a hand to wave at her, “s-see you then.”

It was with that the two teenagers went their separate ways, Itsuka with a lighter heart now that he had comforted her and Izuku pumping his fist over the fact that he had successfully talked to a girl without spazzing out.

They, of course, had no idea what was in store during the next ten months, with more complications other than Sir Nighteye - moments of awkwardness, chance meetings, new heroes to meet, problems to encounter, and, of course, being unaware that they would soon be meeting a third member for their little group of aspiring heroes.

But at the very least, in that moment, Itsuka Kendou and Izuku Midoriya were more than happy to become training partners.

Notes:

Friendship!

And that was Chapter 4! And our proper introduction to the third protagonist of this story. I am excited to get to Itsuka's story throughout this fic - like Izuku and Ochako, her struggles aren't just going to be with heroes and villains and learning how to use One for All. This chapter was also meant to set up the foundations of Izuku and Itsuka's friendship, and next chapter will also be going a bit more into their developing relationship - as well as exploring more of Itsuka's home life and her family.

As such, I think we can consider this part 1 of Itsuka's introduction - we'll be going a bit more in depth with her next chapter, and expanding on her backstory, her family and her goals. I can't wait to get into the meat of this fic, and I hope that you guys are ready as well!

For now, that's all! Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 5: The Kendou Household

Summary:

As Izuku runs into his own doubts about his improvement and place at the beach, Itsuka comes to them with her own major problem, and All Might needs to take steps to solve this before he faces an enemy even the Symbol of Peace can't fight - the wrath of a stern grandfather.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright, let's see ..." The teacher droned on at his podium in front of the class, staring at his book in one hand and airily waving his piece of chalk in the other, "... with the sudden appearance of quirks, the Building Standards was revised, and the Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation ..."

God, he was so tired.

Usually, Izuku paid strict attention during class, not wanting to miss any little detail that may ruin his grades, but right now he had a very hard time concentrating. His eyes were currently half-open, unable to keep his mouth closed as he half paid attention to the teacher, swaying a bit in his seat as he fought to stay awake. He wanted to pay attention to the teacher, but his voice was droning on and on without any emotion, and to a half-asleep Izuku, it was hard to concentrate.

Instead, Izuku tried to shake himself out of his sleepy funk, and found his eyes drawn to his notebook on the desk, where he had written down the title ‘Proposed Independent Training Menu’. He could tell that his classmates were whispering and pointing at him, giggling amongst themselves, but he didn’t pay them any heed.

Like he said, he wanted to pay attention to class, but he couldn’t help but let his mind drift. For some reason, he thought of how hard it would be if he and Itsuka didn’t finish cleaning the dump and training his quirk until a week before the exam, so that meant that they currently only had two hundred and eight-eight days before they reached the deadline All Might had given them. Picking up his pen and beginning to scribble down his thoughts, taking into consideration how they would both need a sufficient recovery period after completing All Might’s training plan, he thought about how if he rested for about two days in between each exercise down at the beach, that would give him … about ninety-eight days of quirk training. He knew he had to split his training between cleaning the beach to improve his body, and training his quirk so that he could use it, so …

“... I can get in about five hours of additional training morning and night, so that would be … four hundred and ninety hours.” He muttered to himself, unaware that he was even speaking his thoughts out loud. “Also, the beach cleanup doesn’t work out any specific parts of the body. If I don’t work out my whole body equally, then there’s no way I’ll be able to make it in time. Bodybuilding to be able to adapt to any situation … literally intensive training to become a hero. All Might can’t stay and watch me practice my quirk the whole time, he needs to supervise Kendou more than me in addition to occasionally leaving the beach to do hero work. If I don’t do as much efficient independent training as I can, there’s no way I can catch up the way I am now. In any case, I’ll have to -”

"Oi, Midoriya!"

WHACK

Izuku let out a surprised yelp as a hard came down hard on the top of his head, smacking him down onto the top of his desk, and it was then that he realized he had been muttering his thoughts out loud. Gasping, Izuku raised both his bandaid-covered hands to cover his mouth, wide-eyed and going red as he looked around and saw his teacher giving him an exasperated look, while the rest of the class didn’t bother to cover up their laughter.

“Did your little run in with that villain make you go nuts?” The teacher smirked as his extended-hand returned to reattach to his wrist, shaking his head in exasperation. “No idea what you’re muttering about over there, but don’t be too presumptuous to think that you can get into UA while slacking off.”

Groaning a bit, Izuku returned his eyes to his desk, trying not to listen at the sound of the class giggling at him, or Katsuki giving him the stink-eye from his own seat ahead of him, although he didn’t join in the laughter or say anything like he usually would as he returned his gaze to the window, not listening to the whispers of Izuku already suffering a nervous breakdown.

Two weeks … it had been two weeks since he had begun his ten months of hell, and Izuku felt more exhausted than improved. Every day before school, waking up at 3:30 and getting ready for an hour-long trip to the junkyard, he would jog to Dagobah Beach, meeting up with All Might and Itsuka, and train until about an hour before school, in which All Might would drive them both to their schools, where Izuku would take a quick shower in the boy’s changing rooms to disguise the smell of garbage from his classmates (no need to give them more teasing material), and then, after school, he would run back to Dagobah to continue their training, until he would head home to eat, do any homework he needed to, and go to sleep. And then repeat until the weekend, in which they would spend the entire day at the junkyard cleaning and having Izuku practice his quirk.

And honestly … Izuku had never felt more tired. He had a hard time getting back to his house after their first real day of training, with All Might starting them off by having them do a long jog around the hills of garbage with heavy tires hanging by their shoulders. Izuku felt lucky that he hadn’t split open his chin when he had tripped and fallen on his face. And after that was clearing away a few lockers, which were super heavy and hard to drag. And then … the dreaded quirk practice, in which Izuku had tried to fire off a shot of lightning and … nothing came out, because he was too nervous and scared to.

Luckily, All Might hadn’t been judgemental, explaining that he knew Izuku probably wouldn’t be able to fire off a blast immediately (no Nighteyes around to scare him into doing it), and instead focused him on trying to fire off blasts while helping Itsuka clean up garbage.

Speaking of the orange-haired girl, Izuku frowned, she was handling the new schedule a lot better than he was. She jogged ahead of him at all times, not struggling nearly as hard as he did. Despite not using her quirk at all as per All Might’s instructions, she was able to lift heavier objects than he could, jog around and not trip while he would, and seemed to handle herself better during breaks, taking long drinks of water instead of him flopping down on the sand desperately trying to catch his breath. He knew it had to do with her being a lot more fit than he was, and able to handle the new training regiment better - but still, it made him insecure to see her obviously handle the plan better, and anytime they needed to work together to move something, he knew he was holding her back.

At least the meal plan was going slightly better than the actual exercise, Izuku supposed. Taking All Might’s advice into consideration, Izuku introduced the meal plan to his mother with the excuse that he wanted to try eating healthier, and both she and Miwa were surprised but delighted to try making new dishes, and had a blast trying out new recipes. He knew that Ochako had been taken aback by how he was taking second and third helpings of every meal (that was Taiyo’s job, and the Uraraka patriarch had been disappointed that he had to give his second helpings to him), but if she had questions about what was going on, she kept them to herself.

But … that was now leading to a new problem.

Questions.

No one had asked him anything yet, but he knew that his mom and the Urarakas were wondering what was going on with him lately. He left every day at four in the morning, there was no way that they didn’t notice. He saw the looks that Inko and Miwa gave him when he arrived at home just as dinner started, hours after Ochako came home, and he knew that Taiyo seemed to be gearing up to have a talk with him - the last time that had happened, the older man had taken Izuku to talk privately, sitting down in some park and having a serious talk with him. The parental figures in his life knew that Izuku was coming home more exhausted every day, and it would only be a matter of time before they sat him down and asked what was up.

And he would … not be sure what to tell them.

And that wasn’t even including Ochako, Izuku thought with a wince as the teacher continued to drone on and on at the front of the class. Much to his sadness and guilt, they hadn’t been spending as much time together as they usually would. Since he had dedicated so much time to his new training regiment, that meant that they mostly hung out at lunch - he left early enough that she had to walk to school by herself, and they usually went their separate ways after school since he had to jog down to the beach. He usually told her that he needed to hang around to do a bit more work, and that she shouldn’t have to wait up for him, but he knew that Ochako was starting to see through his excuses.

It would only be a matter of time before she had enough of the games and outright asked him what the hell was going on, or began to poke her nose into what exactly he was doing - and he knew that the two of them were too close for him to be able to keep this secret forever.

But … honestly, Izuku had no idea how to even explain to her what he was doing - it wasn’t like he could just tell her that he was training with All Might and his successor, he needed to keep their secret. So whenever she quietly inquired what he was doing whenever they weren’t together, or why he couldn’t come home with her when they sat down to eat dinner, he just kind of … deflected the questions. Laughing awkwardly and glancing away while muttering something, or trying to change the topic.

But Ochako was smart, that was a fact he knew. She was figuring out that something was going on. And if his mom and her parents didn’t sit him down and ask what was going on, she would. 

Before he could think anything more about it, however, he was jolted out of his thoughts at the sound of the school bell ringing above them, and straightened up a bit as the class let out sighs of relief - it was the end of the day, which mean that he needed to get down to the beach. All Might had mentioned to them this morning, when he had dropped Izuku off, that they would be working on those lockers they had started moving last week off the beach and into the parking lot. And All Might made it clear that he understood that they couldn’t make it exactly on time due to various circumstances, but Izuku didn’t want to be late, needing to get changed into his gym clothes in the beach’s bathroom.

He might feel like he hasn’t improved at all since this started, but that didn’t mean that he could slack off. That meant that he needed to -

BAM

At the sound of the backdoor of the classroom slamming open with shocking violence, Izuku jumped and looked around to see, much to his surprise, Ochako standing there, her backpack over her shoulder and her gaze locked on him. She had an unusually large grin on her face as she blocked the way out of the classroom, prompting nearly the entire class to stare at her like she was a lunatic, while Katsuki moved out the door at the front behind the teacher, not bothering to look back at all.

Izuku only had a little time to wonder how on earth she got to his class so quickly, seeing as the bell only rang twenty seconds ago and her class was at the other end of the hall, before Ochako moved into the classroom right towards him.

“Hey, Deku!” She cheerfully greeted him, but Izuku felt like there was something off now as she stopped right at his desk, where he had been still sitting at and staring up at her. “Thought I’d run over and see what was up.”

“H-huh?” Izuku blankly stared up at her, before glancing around to see his classmates giving Ochako dirty looks and sniggering quietly as they moved out of the classroom. “Uh - er - n-nothing really - uh - not much is up, Occhan.”

“Oh, that’s good,” Ochako nodded, shifting her weight to one leg as she gave him a hopeful look, “in that case, do you wanna walk home together today? I was actually wondering if you could help me out with some math homework, there were a few equations I didn’t really get.”

Izuku froze at his desk, staring up at her and realizing what she was asking - to walk home with her instead of going to training (although there was no way she could possibly know that) - and quietly gulped as he stood up from his desk, letting out a small sigh.

“I’d, uh … I’d love to walk home with you, Occhan,” He quietly apologized, wincing when he saw her big grin falter, as though she already knew what he was about to say, “but there was something I actually needed to do, uh … by myself. Again. Today. I’m really sorry, but - but I’ll be back in time for dinner, so I can help you out with homework afterwards, I - I got my own stuff to do!”

Trying to smile weakly at her while ignoring the guilt slamming in his heart, Izuku moved around her, trying to get to the door without giving anything away - but then he felt a hand grab his sleeve, preventing him from moving forward.

Izuku blinked a moment, taken aback by what was holding him from completely leaving, and looked around. For a moment Ochako faced forward, not looking back at him at all - and then she turned, and Izuku felt his breath hitch at the sight of the large, obvious fake smile sliding off her face, and instead showing the sadness, confusion and insecurity that she felt.

It was enough to almost break Izuku, but he managed to stay strong. He knew he had to keep All Might and Itsuka’s secret.

“Deku,” Ochako said quietly, glancing around to make sure that they were completely alone in the classroom before looking back at her best friend, “is everything okay?”

“H-huh?” Izuku gulped, trying not to give anything away, “W-what do you mean, Occhan? I’m -”

“Deku, you look exhausted,” She cut to the chase, making him stiffen up even more, “like - the rings under your eyes have rings. You leave early every morning before I even wake up, and we never walk home together anymore. I only ever see you during lunch and dinner, and - and you’re always so tired and out of it, and -” She hesitated, and then moved to bring his hand up, careful not to float him as she stared at the bandaids wrapped around his fingers, “- and you’re obviously doing something, but you’re not telling me what’s going on.”

“I - uh -”

“Deku, did I do something?” She teared up a bit, the sight of which hitting him hard in the chest, “Do you not - did I -”

“N-no!” He immediately squeaked out - he had no idea what to even tell her, but he couldn’t let her think that she did anything wrong. Still though, he saw her wince a bit at his voice raising, and he gave her a quick, apologetic look. “S-sorry, Occhan, I - no, you - you didn’t do anything. I mean it! It’s just -”

At this, he faltered again, not even sure what he could say here to reassure her as she stared up at him, silently letting go of his hand so that it would go back down to his side. After a moment of silence, he let out a small sigh.

“- it’s just … there are things I have to do, on my own,” He quietly told her, praying that she didn’t catch on to his usual tells that he was lying, “and - and I’m not exactly sure what to -”

“What is it?” She inquired, making him falter again as she gave him a concerned look, “Deku, what’s going on?”

"I ..." Izuku hesitated again, and then glanced down at the floor, "... I don't ..."

For a moment, both of them were quiet, Izuku staring at the floor as he desperately tried to figure out a good reason for his absence and tiredness that didn’t come across as a complete lie, and Ochako quietly stared at him - and then she let out a small sigh, which brought his attention back to her and making him wince at the sight of her obviously dejected look, which hurt her more than any other face she made today.

“Okay, Deku,” She quietly muttered, “I get it. You don’t want to tell me, and - yeah. I understand. I’m sorry for bugging you about it.”

“I - Occhan -?”

“You probably have to go,” She sighed again, moving around him to the door while he stared after her, realizing that he made a big mistake, “I’ll - I’ll start heading home. And yeah, we can - we can do homework later tonight. I’ll - I’ll see you later.”

“Occhan, wait -” Izuku tried to stop her, raising his hand out to her, but before he could reach her, she was out the door and sliding it shut behind her. For a moment, Izuku hear the sound of her feet retreating away from the room, feeling small tears prickle at his eyes over the realization he hurt his best friend, and let out a small sigh as he bent over to grab his yellow backpack from beside his desk, slinging it over his shoulders as guilt ran through him.

He had … he had no idea what to do in order to fix this, Izuku thought miserably as he exited the classroom, beginning to head towards the entrance to the school. He knew that this had to hurt Ochako, his unexplained absences and obvious hesitation to tell her what was going on, after years of him telling her everything (and what he didn’t tell her, she would be able to easily guess). She knew that he was holding back on something, and wouldn’t believe him if he tried to tell her a lie.

There was a part of him, Izuku thought as he made his way down the stairs, that was tempted to just say screw it and tell her what was going on - but he couldn’t do that to All Might and Itsuka. As easy as it would be to tell her that he was training with the Symbol of Peace, that would be a violation of the trust the pro hero had put in him. But he couldn’t just … continue to deflect with her. It was inevitable that she was going to eventually get impatient with him and try to figure out what was going on, and eventually she might figure out where he was going and what he was doing.

Not only would that be a potential disaster for All Might and Itsuka, Izuku thought dejectedly as he moved out the doors of the school and into the warm spring air, it might -”

"Young Midoriya!"

Izuku blinked at the sound of a familiar deep voice calling his name, and quickly looked up, eyes widening. Sure enough, parked in front of the school was a familiar white truck, one that he had seen every day for the last two weeks either dropping him off or putting trash into, and leaning against it was All Might, in his weakened form of course. The skinny man in the baggy t-shirt and track pants gave him a grin and nod, raising his hand in greeting.

“All M -?” Izuku began to say, and then faltered when he realized where he was, looking around. Thankfully most of his classmates were either leaving, going to their clubs or hanging around, but none of them really paid much attention to the stranger at the front of the school. “- uh - uh, what are you doing here?”

“Well, I was actually doing things in the neighborhood - shopping, and all that -” All Might gestured with his head to a few grocery bags in the back of the truck, “and I thought that since I was here already, I could just pick you up for once and drive you to the beach.”

“R-really? But - what about my jog?”

“Well, we can figure that out in a bit,” All Might laughed, taking off his sunglasses to show the young boy his eyes, “how about it? We can get to the beach a bit earlier and go over a few quirk exercises I’ll be having you do eventually.”

Izuku felt himself be taken aback, staring up at the pro hero offering him a ride - and then he smiled, trying to push down his previous negative thoughts as he nodded enthusiastically. Heading to the beach might be able to take his mind off it for now, and later, when he was doing homework with Ochako, he could figure something out to tell her.

Quickly, Izuku moved to the other side of the truck, slipping off his backpack and putting it in the back as he climbed into the passenger’s seat. All Might also climbed in, grunting a bit as he had to duck his head so as not to hit it against the truck’s roof, and started up his truck, putting on his seat belt as they began to head off to the beach.

Of course, neither of them were aware of a pair of brown eyes watching them from her spot near the entrance of the school as they drove away.


"We’ve got a big problem."

Twenty minutes after school had let out, both Izuku and All Might looked up from where they had been chatting on the beach. They could see Itsuka walking down the steps from the parking lot, dressed in her gym clothes but with a noticeably sour look on her face as she moved towards them. Izuku felt his brow wrinkle at her expression - even two weeks later, he didn’t really know Itsuka all that well, but he knew that she usually had a pretty happy expression on her face, so this look of awkwardness and frustration took him aback.

“Young Kendou?” All Might stood up straight, a concerned smile on his face while Izuku also stood up from where he had been retrieving his water bottle from his backpack, “What do you mean? What’s wrong?”

“Well,” Itsuka scratched the back of her head, glancing away and grimacing slightly, “once lunch rolled around, I got a text from my mom asking to call home right away. I did, and my grandpa was on the other end of the line, and … well …”

Izuku and All Might shared a small glance between each other as the orange-haired girl trailed off, looking momentarily exhausted, as though the events of the last two weeks had finally caught up to her - and then she sighed.

“... he found the training plan on my desk.”

“...”

“...”

"..."

"... ah," All Might grimaced, slowly nodding in understanding. "I see."

“Yeah. Well … to pretty much sum it up, he doesn’t approve. At all.” She admitted, slumping her shoulders as she put down her own backpack. “He made it pretty clear that if I wanted to train to be a hero, I had to do it in the dojo where he can train me. I had to get back to class before I could properly defend it, but even if I did … well, anyway, so basically … uh …”

"He wants you to stop training with me," All Might guessed the rest of her explanation, crossing his arms and continuing to nod to himself, "and instead spend time training at your family's dojo."

"Yeah, pretty much."

Izuku felt himself wince in sympathy, standing off to the side while Itsuka glanced at the ground in defeat. Still, though …

“Is - it it possible to change his mind?” Izuku asked, drawing the orange-haired girl’s attention, “Or - or maybe convince him to let you stay here to train?”

"Me, convince him? Not a chance," She shook her head, shifting her weight to one leg while putting her hands on her hips, “he’s really old fashioned, and he’s also the - well, basically, he’s the patriarch of our family. What he says in our house goes. I could try to talk to him, and if this was anything smaller, he’d probably hear me out - but for this? One hundred percent he says no.”

“What - what about your parents?”

“They can definitely try, but more likely than not he gets the last word in the house. It’s a bit unfair, but honestly that’s how it usually goes.” She bit her lip. “Not to mention, if they had a look at the training plan … they’d probably side with him. I don’t think I can change his mind about this.”

All Might finally finished nodding, understanding the situation as he let out a sigh and went back down to his weakened form - he knew that this was a possibility, although he knew that it wouldn’t be easy getting out of this situation. Still though, the earlier this had to happen the better - it would be much more preferable than six months in, and interrupting them in the midst of training. Better right at the start than halfway through.

"Just to be sure I understand, Young Kendou," He coughed a bit as he powered down, still frowning at the situation but knowing that this was something they needed to resolve at once, "you're saying that you won't be able to change your grandfather's mind about making you train at his dojo."

"Pretty much."

"Hm. I guess in that case," All Might sighed, straightening up and wiping some blood from the side of his mouth, "I will have to give it a try."

There was a small silence in the junkyard at the pro hero’s proclamation, Izuku and Itsuka staying quiet as they absorbed that - and then the orange-haired girl blinked.

“Wait. Wait, what?” She quickly looked up at him, eyes widening, “You - wait a minute, you want to try convincing my grandpa to let me train here?”

“Well, we don’t have much choice, Young Kendou,” All Might shrugged, moving to lean against an abandoned car in the junkyard, “it’s important to have you train here, as it will be the best way for you to train for the - er - the entrance exam. And we can’t exactly do this under your grandfather’s nose - from how you described him to me before, I imagine he’s smart enough to know if you sneak out to do this anyway. And we can’t exactly let anyone know what we’re doing here, it’ll draw unnecessary attention.”

Izuku winced quietly at that, while Itsuka noticed out of the corner of her eye and glanced at him in confusion.

“So I suppose I have no choice but to try and convince him,” All Might continued, unaware of Izuku’s sudden shrinking, “and hope for the best.”

“That’s … definitely easier said than done,” Itsuka said weakly, already conceding defeat, “I love him, but my grandpa’s a stubborn bastard.”

“As am I,” All Might chuckled, shaking his head, “but I guess the hope that we can do this in secret’s not exactly possible anymore. You’ve told me about the relationships in your family before, Young Kendou - you’re all close. They’ll notice if you’re trying to sneak away and do something you were forbidden from doing, and that’ll just be a recipe for disaster. No, at this point, the correct course of action will be to be as upfront with them as possible, and try to reach a compromise.”

“Huh,” Itsuka wrinkled her brow, glancing up unsurely at the pro hero, “and … is that going to be you doing the convincing? Or - you know -” She made a small gesture to him “- All Might?”

“No, no, it’ll be in this form,” He chuckled, “even if this wasn’t going to happen, we would still need to keep my actual involvement as much a secret as possible. This,” He gestured to his currently weakened form, “is how I will present myself. Don’t worry, Young Kendou, I do have a story in mind.”

“Really?”

“Indeed. I’ll present myself as Toshinori Yagi,” He explained, shrugging a bit, “a - well, we’ll call me an employee at All Might’s hero agency. It’s a persona I’ve had for a few years now - it lets me sneak around and do things that All Might would usually have problems doing. I’ll have a story cooked up as well.”

Izuku slowly nodded at All Might’s explanation, watching as he and Itsuka formed a plan - and then he blinked as well.

Wait. He was having his own problems keeping this secret - he literally angsted about it for an entire afternoon today. Shouldn’t he -?

“... uh, All Might?” He nervously raised his hand, prompting the other two to look around at him, “Sorry to - you know, shove my way in here, but - but Kendou bringing that up made me realize - uh - that I might be facing a similar problem soon.”

“Hm?” All Might wrinkled his brow in concern. “Are you saying that your mother -?”

“N-no she hasn’t - she hasn’t said anything yet.” He assured the pro hero, although his own shoulders sagged now. “But I think she’s suspecting something’s going on. She and Miwa - er, her best friend, by the way, her and her family come to my apartment every day - but they’re noticing that I’m leaving earlier, and changing up my usual diet. They haven’t said anything, but -”

“But eventually, she’ll start to investigate,” All Might finished for him, nodding. “I understand, Young Midoriya. You said it’s just your mother, correct? What about your father?”

“He’s working overseas right now,” Izuku explained, “I’m not too sure when he’ll come home, but he mentioned in the last phone call that it may be in the next year or so, he’s got a pretty important position over in the American branch of the company he works for.”

The Symbol of Peace nodded, and turned to look at the ground. For about a minute, he kept quiet, staring at the ground while he raised a hand to his chin and pondered. Izuku and Itsuka watched him nervously as he obviously tried to think up a solution to both of their similar problems - and then he snapped his fingers, looking up with a determined expression.

"I've got it." He announced to the two of them. "Instead of handling this at two separate times, we’ll handle it all at once. And since tomorrow is Friday, that’ll be the opportune time to get them together. Young Kendou, I’d like you to call your parents, and ask if it’s possible for us to meet tomorrow night for dinner, so that I can apologize for the lack of communication between us, and I can personally go over the training plan and any problems they have with it. Young Midoriya, I’d also like you to go home tonight and speak to your mother in private. Explain the situation, and ask if it’s possible for the two of you to join us. You can also give her my phone number so that she can call me.”

“Wait - so you want a family dinner?” Itsuka asked, wrinkling her brow. “That’s the plan? To just sit down and discuss it with my family? And - and Midoriya’s mom?”

“Indeed,” All Might nodded, “this way, not only will we avoid a potential repeat of this situation with Mrs. Midoriya, we can convince them both at the same time and not run into this problem again. I’ll sit down with your parents and grandfather, and try to work something out.”

Nodding to himself, All Might got off the car he had been leaning on for the last few minutes, bringing out his phone to check on something while the two teenagers behind him stared after him in confusion. After a moment, Izuku and Itsuka shared a small glance, both of them unable to push down a feeling of skepticism pulsing through them.

"So, uh ..." Itsuka glanced back at the pro hero, and then Izuku, "... scale of one to ten - how likely is it that All Might manages to convince your mom to let him continue training you?"

"Uh ..." Izuku faltered, glancing away for a moment in thought, and then sighed in defeat, "... two. Or three. Scale of one to ten, probably a three. H-how about you? Scale of one to ten, how likely is it All Might convinces your grandpa?"

"Zero," Itsuka shook her head, already looking pretty defeated, "we are so screwed."


"..."

"..."

"... Mom, are you sure that you're okay with this?"

"I - well, I’d be lying if I said that I was a hundred percent alright with what you’ve been doing,” Inko admitted as they walked down the street together, sighing as she raised a hand to rub her eyes, “but I’ll at least hear him out.”

Izuku also let out a small sigh as he gave her a nod, looking back down to his phone to check the instructions. It was a day after Itsuka informed them of the problem with her grandpa, and right now the Midoriyas had just gotten off the train that traveled to the Chiba prefecture, about an hour after school but with enough time to make it to the Kendous for dinner. Izuku had followed the instructions that Itsuka had texted him earlier to get to her house (which still shook Izuku to the core, seeing as he somehow acquired a phone number from a girl that was not Ochako) and hoped that they would get there in time.

Once he had been picked up by his mom, they went home very quickly to get changed, Inko wearing a nice skirt and shirt while he wore a button-up shirt and jeans. Itsuka had mentioned in the text to keep their attire light - her mother planned to cook up a nice, relaxing dinner, and wanted things to be casual for both her and her family.

At the very least, it was a good sign that her grandfather had agreed to hear All Might out, or at the very least he wanted to swear at All Might personally, but either way, the pro hero had made sure that his pupils knew that he wouldn’t be leaving the Kendou household until he had approval to train her. And he also promised Izuku that he would convince Inko as well, or at least try to dodge if she hit him with her purse (which Izuku admitted was also a possibility).

As All Might had instructed, Izuku had returned home that night, waiting for dinner to be finished and the Urarakas to head home (he was concerned when Ochako instead chose to go home right after dinner instead of staying over to do homework, but he had pushed that to the back of his mind) before he came to his mother with the training plan and showed it to her. As expected, she was shocked beyond words, seeing the insane schedule All Might planned for her son, and agreed to meet with his ‘trainer’ the following night, explaining to Taiyo and Miwa that she and Izuku were going to be unavailable for dinner this morning during breakfast.

"Mom, I really am sorry I didn't show you the full training plan," He apologized again, twirling his thumbs together as they walked down the street, "it's just ..."

"Honey," Inko sighed again, shaking her head, "you shouldn't have hidden the rest of that plan from me."

"... I know, it’s just ..."

"If I had seen that plan sooner, I would've wanted to meet this trainer of yours at once." Inko told him in a small yet stern voice, in full on mother mode while he cringed and nodded weakly beside her, "You've been … training non-stop for two weeks now, and don't think Miwa and I didn't notice how tired you’ve been. We were about to have Taiyo take you for a walk and ask you if everything was okay! And now," She folded her hands together, eyes brimming with tears, "now I'm just - I’m sorry, Izuku, but I'm concerned."

"I know, Mom."

"If I had known what you were actually doing this whole time, I would've made sure you weren't doing anything that could get yourself hurt. And working at a … a junkyard, clearing away potentially dangerous things ... at risk of getting crushed or catching some disease if you scratched yourself on anything … and I know that you're pushing yourself too hard, sweetie. I need to make sure you're going to be okay."

Izuku nodded again, also feeling his eyes start to shimmer with tears as she patted his shoulder  - damn Midoriya tear ducts, if one of them started crying, it wouldn’t take long for the other one to cry too. Still, Inko let out another breath, and tried her best to smile, continuing to rub his shoulder as they walked down the street.

“But - but I know how important this is, and - and I’m so … I’m happy that you want to chase your dreams,” She said as they moved across the street, checking both ways for traffic before moving, “so I’ll sit down with your trainer, and the parents of this girl that you’ve been training with, and - and let him explain himself.”

“Okay,” Izuku nodded, sighing as he glanced away from his mom and saw the house that Itsuka had described to him, realizing that they were here and feeling suddenly nervous, “I’ll … yeah. And - and I really am -”

"Honey, you've apologized to me ten times already."

"S-sorry."

"Eleven times."

"S-"

"Ah! Young Midoriya!"

Izuku and Inko jumped a bit, the boy hearing the familiar deep voice of All Might, and both Midoriyas looked up to the front of the house - 

- and Izuku immediately winced.

Oh god, what was All Might wearing?

"I see that you've gotten here on time as well!" All Might waved to him as he stood outside the Kendou household in his weak form, smiling brightly at the pair of them. However, Izuku’s gaze fell to the suit that he was wearing, shrinking a bit at the sight of the ugly yellow pinstripe jacket and pants with a blue tie, looking several times too big for him - obviously a suit that he wore in his true form, and appropriated for this evening. In one hand he held a chocolate cake, obviously something to offer Itsuka’s mother as thanks for hosting.

“It’s good to see you, young man. I just arrived here about five minutes ago, and … I’ll be truthful, I’m not too sure where I’m supposed to go. This appears to be the door to the dojo.”

“Uh … yeah,” Izuku nodded quickly, glancing around as well and seeing All Might’s problem. Itsuka’s house was absolutely huge, a two story building with the dojo obviously on the bottom floor, due to the thin paper doors, stone path at the front of the household and the red pillars lining against the home. It didn’t look too out of place on this busy street, but Izuku could understand All Might’s predicament - he didn’t really know where to knock or how to get inside, or if Itsuka was supposed to find them and let them in. Or how she was supposed to know they were there.

He supposed all else fails, he could text her that they were here - actually, wait no, he couldn't, he blushed, that would require willpower he wasn't capable of.

“Oh,” Inko let out a small gasp behind him, staring up at the pro hero with her eyes widening, as though she had just recognized him, “you’re the man who brought Izuku’s backpack to him, a few weeks ago.”

“Yes, I am,” All Might bowed in greeting to her, before standing up straight and smiling down at her, “my apologies, ma’am, I didn’t get much time to properly introduce myself a few weeks ago. My name is Toshinori Yagi - it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

“Inko Midoriya,” She also bowed out of politeness, “and thank for taking on my son as an - er -”

“I’m not too sure what the correct term is either,” All Might chuckled, “but Young Izuku is an excellent student, in any case.”

“Yes,” Inko smiled, although they could see a slight frost there and in her tone, “I suppose my son would be, if he was following your … training plan thoroughly.”

All Might winced a bit at that, while Izuku cringed beside her, but thankfully, before either of them could do anything to appease Inko, they heard the sudden sound of a door opening on the other side of the building, and the sound of bare feet on the wooden porch. All three of them turned to see Itsuka poking her head out from the other side of the house, smiling at them as she folded her hands together.

“I saw you guys arrive through the window,” She explained with a small giggle, stepping from around the corner in a skirt and black t-shirt, “we actually have an entrance upstairs to our home around the dojo. If you guys want to come upstairs with me, I can let you in.”

Izuku and All Might quickly nodded, wanting to get out of the previous conversation with Inko as soon as possible, and moved to walk down the wooden porch to Itsuka. Inko, meanwhile, blinked at Itsuka’s sudden appearance, and Izuku wrinkled his brow a bit at the look his mother was sending him - it was a strange mixture of intrigue and conflict, and it just made him confused. Itsuka, meanwhile, felt the light drain from her eyes at the sight of All Might’s very bright suit, and let out a small sigh as she realized how utterly screwed the three of them were, quietly accepting the death of whatever optimism she had for this dinner.

Together, the four of them moved down the side of the house, showing a side-yard with an old swing and two wooden shinais propped against it, and Itsuka opened the side entrance to let them in, letting All Might and Inko move in first. As they entered the house, taking off their shoes at the front and walking past two doors, one of which Izuku presumed led to the dojo, they began moving up the stairs at the end of the hall, All Might and Inko going first and the two teenagers moving following them.

"God," Itsuka groaned in a low voice, only loud enough for Izuku to hear, "that is the ugliest suit I've ever seen. I thought he was going to dress casually."

Izuku could only chuckle weakly at that, shaking his head somewhat at All Might’s attire. "M-maybe that is casual wear for him."

Itsuka let out a small snort at that, but before they could say anything else, they made it to the top of the stairs, and she hurried forward so that she could open the door and lead them inside. Before she did, however, she let out a small wince, and looked back to their guests, smiling weakly.

“Uh … just to forewarn you guys,” She giggled, “this is about to get very loud.”

With that, she opened the door, Izuku wrinkling his brow in confusion as she moved inside. However, it didn’t take very long to realize what she was talking about.

“BARK BARK BARK BARK!”

“Gūdo!” Itsuka reprimanded as a large Bernese mountain dog hopped up onto Izuku, the green-haired boy yelping in surprise as the dog began barking right in his face. “Down, boy! Down! I should’ve put you in my room, down!”

Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her dog to calm down, Itsuka dragging him off Izuku by the collar and putting him down from where he had put his front paws on Izuku’s shoulders, but instead of continuing to bark loudly, he began to loudly sniff the guests, as though unsure of their motives. Izuku let out a small, relieved breath as he looked down at the dog sniffing his socks, and then moving around the other guests. Inko let out a small laugh as she bent forward to pet the dog’s head, while All Might chuckled as the dog sniffed him in suspicion.

“I’m sorry about Gūdo,” Itsuka apologized weakly, shaking her head at her dog’s actions, “I’m so used to him being around my friends whenever they visit, I forgot how loud he can be around guests.”

“He seems to be a good boy,” All Might chuckled, bending forward to pat the large dog’s head, “how old is he?”

“About two years old,” Itsuka giggled as she scratched her dog behind the ears as well, smirking when she felt his tail hitting her repeatedly against the leg as he wagged it, “I got him for my twelfth birthday as a puppy, and he’s been my silly boy ever since. Anyway, please come in!”

All of them nodding a bit, watching as Gūdo followed Itsuka further inside, Izuku, Inko and All Might stepped through the door and into her home. As the door shut behind him, Izuku looked around, blinking a bit at the sight. He knew that this home felt cozy and warm, not unlike Ochako’s apartment when he visited, but this was so different from their apartment that it kind of took him aback. They walked down the small hall into a kitchen, seeing a small table in the centre, and the counters, rather than being neat and tidy like he was used to in his own home, was cluttered with bread boxes, cleaning utensils, knives, and a windowsill covered in those little sun toys, bouncing around in the setting sunlight. And on the counter was a large pizza box, which, from the smell of it, was freshly made and just arrived.

He could also make out a living room and dining room connected to the kitchen, although the dining room’s doors were slid shut, and as All Might and Inko stepped into the kitchen to look around, he found his gaze moving towards the hall leading to the door that led downstairs, and blinked at the sight of a few pictures.

It was clear that, just like him and Ochako, Itsuka was an only child - she was the only young child he could see on the wall, seeing pictures of her holding a large karate trophy the size of her as she smiled dorkily at the camera. There were other pictures of her holding Gūdo, a recent family portrait of her with a man, a woman and an older man, and another picture of her with her arms wrapped around two other girls their age, one with green eyes a sharp grin (literally, due to her teeth) and the other with a stoic face, staring blankly into the camera.

However, before Izuku could look at more of the family pictures, he heard Itsuka calling out from her spot in the kitchen.

“Mom? Dad? Grandpa? Our guests are here, if you didn’t hear Gūdo barking.”

“Oh, I heard, sweetie.” The dining room door slid open, and Izuku blinked at the sight of a youthful looking woman coming into view, smiling at their guests as she held a large pot in her mitten-covered hands. It was clear to him, despite how young she looked, that this was Itsuka’s mother - she had a great resemblance to her daughter, with the same face, half-lidded eyes and smile. Her hair, however, was completely black instead of orange, done up in the same ponytail as Itsuka’s but on the other side of her head. She wore a bright sundress as she walked into the kitchen, holding the pot carefully in her hands and making sure she knew where the dog was so as not to disturb her - the dog was big enough to easily trip her, and she would rather not hit their guests with a super hot pot.

“I’m sorry for my rudeness,” She apologized to All Might and Inko as she set the pot down on the oven top, “I was just getting some of our dinner to the table, I completely lost track of the time while I was cooking.”

“O-oh, it’s no trouble!” Inko quickly said, smiling and bowing to the younger woman, “I - my name is Inko Midoriya, and this is my son, Izuku. Thank you for welcoming us into your home.”

“Hello,” Itsuka’s mother smiled, taking off the oven mitts and bowing to the smaller woman as well, “my name is Tenohira Kendou. Welcome to our home, and please, make yourselves comfortable. Oh, and this is my husband now - Hakushu, these are our guests.”

“Hey there!” From the living room, a man came from around the corner, and made Izuku gulp a bit. It seemed that, just like his dad and Taiyo, the husband of the Kendou family towered over everyone else - he was tall, with broad shoulders and muscular arms. He had a thick orange beard and messy hair, but there were at least crinkles around his eyes that indicated to Izuku that he smiled a lot, and he gave his guests a friendly grin as he raised a hand in greeting.

“The name’s Hakushu,” He introduced himself to Inko, wincing a bit as he scratched his cheek and saw some black marks on his fingers, “my apologies for being a little dirty, but I just got back from work about ten minutes ago and didn’t have much time to clean up.”

“O-oh, it’s no problem!” Inko continued to be polite, with Izuku smiling weakly at Hakushu’s wave to him and All Might standing back a bit, “Thank you so much for hosting.”

Hakushu and Tenohira smiled at that, moving to stand beside each other, but before anyone could say anything else, another voice from the living room spoke up - and this one, unlike the other two before them, didn’t have a trace of humour or kindness in it.

“So our guests have finally arrived.”

Izuku looked around, and felt himself stand up straight out of instinct at the sight of the older man coming into the kitchen to join them. Unlike everyone else in the room, he wore traditional Japanese clothing, a black hakama with a blue haori over his shoulders. Izuku suddenly understood what Itsuka said before about her grandfather being old fashioned - he would probably be the picture in the dictionary next to the definition of ‘traditional’. 

He was shorter than Hakushu and Tenohira, at least Itsuka and Izuku’s height, but Izuku still felt very intimidated by the man before them - he practically oozed sternness and coldness, looking from the Midoriyas to All Might, who had backed up so that the families could introduce themselves to each other, but soon shook himself out of being in the background to step forward.

“Hello, sir,” He bowed to the older man, obviously knowing who this was, “you must be Teko Kendou.”

“Mm,” Teko nodded, his face remaining stern, “and you are?”

“My name is Toshinori Yagi,” He introduced himself, rising so that he could bow to Itsuka’s parents as well as Izuku and Itsuka backed up, the orange-haired girl keeping her hand on her dog’s head, “I’m … well, it’s hard to define what work I do with All Might’s agency as a lot of it is confidential, but I suppose we could call me a talent scout. As your granddaughter mentioned last night, I am the one who has been training her and Young Izuku here.”

“Without my permission,” Teko noted, and the entire kitchen went a bit cold as an uncomfortable silence fell. All Might froze briefly, realizing that Itsuka was pretty much right when she said that this would be a hard battle, but luckily Tenohira managed to relieve some of the tension by clearing her throat.

“W-well, in any case, dinner is ready,” She smiled weakly around at their guests, before glancing at her daughter, “Er - Itsuka, since us parents don’t have much space in the dining room, we - we ordered pizza for you and - uh - Izuku here to share,” She smiled politely to the young man while he tried not to shrink up, Teko having turned his gaze to him and making Izuku shake a bit, “and - and you can let the grown ups talk. We left the pizza right there for you two, you can take Gūdo and make sure he doesn’t get too excited, you know how he can be around new people.”

Itsuka slowly nodded at that, understanding what she was really saying: 'Let us handle your grandfather, no need to make things more awkward, please take the dog so he doesn’t accidentally make things worse.’

"R-right, Mom," She agreed, turning to Izuku while clapping her hands, "in that case, let's go to myyyyyyy ..."

… room?

Go to her room.

Bring a - a boy she hasn’t even known for a month now to her room.

Bring a boy to her - her dirty, hasn’t been cleaned in a week because of how tired she’s been after training, motorcycle magazine covered, video games she borrowed from Setsuna and hadn’t returned yet thrown everywhere, room.

Bring him to -!

"... my garage," She managed to squeak out, hoping her face didn’t look as hot as it felt, "we can go to the garage."

Izuku wrinkled his brow in confusion at that, but he still quickly nodded.

As the adults moved into the dining room, with All Might gulping a bit under Teko’s cold glare, Itsuka picked up the large box of pizza, flashing an awkward smile at Izuku, and after calling for her dog to follow them, began heading out the door and back down the stairs, Gūdo leading them towards the garage for them to - hang out in? Izuku supposed that was what they were going to do - although that presented a bit of a problem for him, he realized with a shudder.

He was going to … hang out with Itsuka. Just - what were they supposed to do? Was it already too late to just sit in the corner by himself in the dining room? What on earth were they supposed to do?! Just - talk? Talk about what? Training? School? Anything his mind settled on? He was used to talking with Ochako, since they had similar hobbies and interests, but Itsuka was a complete mystery to him, even two weeks into their training. They didn’t really speak to each other, other than small talk about the weather and stuff. Maybe he could starve the awkwardness away by petting the dog the whole time? But wait, he didn’t know if Gūdo would like that, he might bite him or -

"Er ... Midoriya?"

Izuku felt his storming thoughts grind to a halt when Itsuka looked around at him, standing near one of the doors downstairs and giving him another awkward smile. It was then that Izuku realized that he had been muttering out loud, squeaking and raising one hand to cover his mouth while his face went bright red - but at least Itsuka giggled at that.

"Y’know ... if it makes you feel any better," She admitted, holding the box of pizza carefully as she awkwardly opened the door with her other hand, "I'm a bit nervous too."

“Uh -”

“And Gūdo won’t bite you. At least not a bad bite, more like a friendly nibble. He’s dumb, but he’s friendly.”

While he let out a small groan of humiliation, Itsuka opened the door of the garage, letting Gūdo go in first, and then stood back with it open. While he gulped and blushed even redder, Izuku still walked stiffly into the room, wincing a bit at the cool concrete beneath his socked feet, and let Itsuka step in after him while closing the heavy door behind them, flicking on a light to illuminate the cramped garage.

For the second time that evening, Izuku blinked at his surroundings. The entire garage was filled with tools and machinery, a workbench in the corner with various wrenches, pliers, hammers and ratchets covering it. The reason it was cramped, of course, was due to the half-built car parked in the centre of the garage, its hood popped up and displaying the half-built engine, and beside it was an equally half-finished motorcycle, not having any tires and a battery on the ground with wires poking out laying beside it.

Besides that, meanwhile, Izuku glanced around, seeing a freezer in one corner, a small couch beside it and a mini-fridge parked helpfully in the corner. There was also a dog house right beside the workbench, which Gūdo laid down in and poked his head out, chewing on a squeaky bone toy left beside his little home. It was a bit colder in here than in the house, but Izuku didn’t feel too discomforted.

"There are a few sodas in the minifridge," Itsuka gestured with her head towards the aforementioned fridge as she set the box of pizza down on the workbench, being careful to mind her dad's tools, "if you're thirsty, of course."

“Er - right,” Izuku nodded stiffly as Itsuka bent over to scratch her dog behind the ear, and moved forward to open it up. Glancing inside at the contents, Izuku moved aside one of the beers (probably for Itsuka’s dad when he worked in the garage) and grabbed two cans of soda for the both of them. Standing up straight and walking over to her, he gave one of the cans to Itsuka, who smiled at him and turned to flip open the box of pizza, glancing at the contents and letting out a content sigh.

“Looks like Mom went above and beyond and ordered the extra-large,” She chuckled, “I guess we really are gonna be here for a while.”

“Uh - uh-huh,” Izuku gulped a bit, glancing down at the pizza as steam rose into the air and hearing his stomach growl a bit - due to general nerves he’d skipped lunch today, and honestly this pizza looked really good.

“So, Midoriya - guests first?” Itsuka chuckled weakly, moving away towards one of the shelves, “I’ll grab us some paper plates and turn on the radio, you just, uh … you take your pick.”

It was pretty clear that both of them were feeling awkward, not exactly sure what to do now, but it was also clear that they wanted some food first before anything else. After accepting a paper plate from Itsuka, Izuku grabbed two pieces of pizza, chuckling a bit when Gūdo gave him a hopeful look and whine (“You’ve got food, you big baby,” Itsuka shook her head, still taking a piece of pepperoni off her slice to give to her silly boy), and he sat down on the couch when it was offered to him by the orange-haired girl, sinking into the cushions.

As Itsuka brought over a stool for her to sit on, both of them flashed each other awkward smiles again as they dug into their dinner. Izuku blinked a bit when he took a bite of his slice of pizza, chewing and feeling his eyes blow wide open.

"W-whoa," He muttered out loud, "this is really good."

“Isn’t it?” Itsuka giggled, drawing his attention to her and making him realize that he had said that out loud, “it’s our favourite pizza place - we usually get a box to share every month, when my mom doesn’t feel like cooking and my dad’s too tired from work.”

“H-huh …”

“W-what about you?” Itsuka tried to keep the conversation going, not wanting to lapse into awkward silence, “Does your family have a favourite pizza place too?”

“Uh … my mom tends to prefer cooking to ordering out,” Izuku shrugged, “but sometimes we do go out for ramen with - with our neighbours. But mostly, she likes to do a lot of the cooking at home.”

“T-that right …”

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded stiffly, seeing her glance away awkwardly, and he turned his gaze to the ceiling, where their families and All Might would probably be chatting over dinner right now. “Do you, uh … do you think it’s going to go well? Your grandpa and All Might, I mean.”

"I don't know," Itsuka also glanced up at the ceiling of the garage, grimacing slightly, "Grandpa's a stubborn guy, so All Might's gotta fight pretty hard right now."

"Y-yeah."

"Yeah."

"Heh."

"Heeeeh ..."

"..."

"...”

... oh no, it’s actually awkward now.

Both Izuku and Itsuka glanced away from each other, feeling uncomfortable as they tried desperately to find a way back to something even slightly resembling conversation, but finding none. Gūdo cocked his head from where he was sitting as he watched the two teenagers glance away from each other, with Itsuka desperately attempting to find a random topic to discuss that didn’t result in an hour of silence. As she went through the various topics in her mind, Izuku’s eyes moved around her garage, trying to look everywhere but directly at her, staring at the workbench, the car, and then moving to the motorcycle before moving away.

And then moving back.

Honestly, he’d never really seen a motorcycle up close before, but now that he was looking at this one … he wrinkled his brow as he sat forward and stared at it. It looked … kind of old, honestly. Not a knock against this one, of course, but some of the bikes he saw on hero advertisements and commercials on TV looked sleek and brand new, hidden by black plastic and the such, but this one was a mess of wires, metal bars and leather. It wasn’t even shaped like a modern bike, no back ports or anything.

It kinda looked like …

"You like my baby?"

“H-huh?” Izuku jumped a bit, knocked out of his thoughts and looked back at Itsuka for the first time in about a minute. The orange-haired girl was glancing between him and the motorcycle, but for some reason Izuku jumped to the first thing he thought of, glancing at Gūdo on the floor, and coughed.

“Uh - y-yeah. He’s a nice boy.”

“Oh, no,” Itsuka giggled, shaking her head and pointing at her dog, “that’s my boy. That,” She then pointed at the half-constructed bike on the floor, “that’s my baby.”

“O-oh,” Izuku gulped, blushing a bit at his mistake, but at least Itsuka seemed to find it more humorous than stupid, “s-so that’s your bike?”

"Mm-hmm. If I’m not training or doing homework, I’m in here getting her all fixed up," She giggled a bit, looking around at the motorcycle as she smiled fondly at it, "I've been working on her since I was - I don’t know, five? Six? She's my little passion project."

"H-huh ..." Izuku slowly nodded, glancing back at the bike and sitting forward a bit. "It ... it doesn't seem like it's new - er, at least, not anything modern."

“Ha! No, it definitely would not,” She shook her head, “my dad and I are really interested in vintage vehicles - you know, back from before quirks were a thing. We do all our shopping for parts for our projects on websites that specialize in finding vintage car and motorcycle parts - he works on his muscle car,” She gestured with her head towards the vehicle taking up a lot of space, “and I work on my bike.”

“But - but doesn’t that get expensive?” Izuku looked at the bike again in concern, “Ordering parts that were made over a hundred or so years ago …”

“You’d think so,” Itsuka shrugged, “and sometimes there’s some parts we need to save up on, but most of the time they range between … I don’t know, a hundred thousand, maybe two hundred thousand yen? There are definitely some parts that are expensive, but you’d be amazed at how many people just wanna get rid of old and broken parts, especially on vehicles that haven’t been used in a hundred years, or they just don’t know what the part’s actually worth. And hey, if it’s broken, I haven’t come across anything I haven’t been able to eventually fix, so I’ll take what I get no matter how pricey it can get.”

“Huh …” Izuku slowly nodded, raising his slice of pizza to his lips to take another bite while Gūdo yawned in his corner.

“Alright,” Itsuka suddenly clapped her hands, spinning back around on her stool and giving him an expectant smile, “so let’s hear your honest thoughts.”

“Wha -?” Izuku blinked, looking back up at her in confusion and taken aback by her little bounce in her seat.

"What do you think about my baby! Isn't she beautiful?"

"Uh -"

"Oh, and just to warn you," She smiled a bit mischievously, pointing a finger at him, "anything you say that isn't complete and utter praise gets you thrown out of the house. Literally."

"What?!" Izuku gasped, looking shocked and a bit scared as she began to use her quirk to ominously grow her hand. "R-really?!"

There was a good few seconds of tense silence as Itsuka gave him an unamused look, and he looked suddenly terrified - and then she giggled and shrunk her hand back down to normal size.

“No, I’m just kidding,” She chortled, shaking her head when he obviously sagged his shoulders in relief, “but I really am curious - what do you think about the bike?”

Now that he was reassured that she wasn’t going to throw him across the Chiba prefecture for insulting her bike, Izuku glanced down at the half-built and still under construction vehicle - and said, in a small voice, “Y-yeah. It’s - it’s nice.”

"Oh, c'mon," Itsuka snorted, "that's the most generic compliment in the book. 'Yeah, it's nice'. Come on, what do you like about it?"

"I - uh -" Izuku stuttered, glancing unsurely between her and the bike, and then once at the dog as Gūdo sat up and looked at him - and then, hearing his voice crack, said, "- it's ... very unfinished?"

For her part, at least, Itsuka stared at him blankly for a moment, while Izuku outwardly cringed at his stupid comment, ready for her to snark at him or tell him he was stupid like the other kids his age, besides Ochako, would - but then, instead, she began to laugh. Izuku blinked and looked up as she doubled over in a fit of giggles, careful not to let her paper plate slide off her lap as she laughed. Izuku let out a few nervous chuckles himself, although he could strangely begin to feel his stiff shoulders begin to relax as she giggled and snorted.

Her laugh was … it was really nice.

“Yeah, I guess you could say it’s pretty unfinished,” She finally managed to get control of her laughter, Gūdo wagging his tail in the corner as though he were as pleased to hear his owner’s laughter as Izuku was, “I’m definitely not going to be riding on it any time soon. I’m thinking that it’ll maybe take another year or so, and then my baby will be good for the road. Of course, I’ll have to get my motorcycle license too, and that’ll be a pain in the ass, but I’m a patient girl - I can wait a bit longer.”

“H-heh,” Izuku managed a weak chuckle.

“So anyway, that’s my hobby,” She leaned forward a bit again, feeling the awkwardness from earlier evaporate now that she felt a bit more relaxed, “how about you?”

“Huh?”

“Got any hobbies?” She asked, “I don’t think training with me and All Might is the only thing you look forward to doing.”

“Uh -” Izuku stopped a bit, blushing slightly, and glanced to the side, biting the inside of his lip, “- just - it’s kinda dumb.”

“You don’t have to tell me,” Itsuka shrugged, “but I’m just curious.”

“Oh, no, I - uh - it’s -” He stuttered to a stop, and then sighed and reached behind him. Itsuka wrinkled her brow a bit - and then raised it when he pulled a notebook completely out of nowhere, holding it out hesitantly for her to take. Blinking, Itsuka reached over and took the notebook from him, turning it so that she could read the name of the notebook.

“‘Hero Analysis for the Future’?” She read out loud, glancing down and blinking again, “‘Number 13’?”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku shuffled a bit, clearly embarrassed as she flipped the notebook open, looking surprised at the pictures of heroes and notes, “I, uh … my hobby is to write notes about heroes. It’s kinda weird, I know, but I -”

“Whoa, you’re really good at drawing,” Itsuka remarked out loud, flipping through the pages and looking at the pictures he drew while Izuku squeaked and went even redder at the comment, wrapping his arms around his head, “I don’t recognize half the heroes here … whoa, except this one,” She giggled a bit, staring at the picture of a man in a black bodysuit highlighted with electric imagery, two lightning-bolt shaped radio antenna over his ears, and a long red cape. “This is … isn’t this Elecplant? He’s an old hero - wasn’t he around before All Might’s time?”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku nodded, lowering his arms slightly, “I was doing a bit of a study into electric type heroes - y’know, because of my own quirk - and I decided to try and study some heroes that have been in the business for a few decades now.”

“So you went really far, huh? And an American hero to boot,” She chuckled, leaning back to give him back the notebook, “I only know him because I did an assignment last year on old heroes still in the hero business.”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku chuckled weakly, taking the notebook back and putting his plate of pizza beside him on the couch as Gūdo got up from his doghouse, walking over to the couch and resting beside it, in between Izuku and Itsuka, “I thought that maybe if I studied heroes like him, I could maybe learn some techniques to using my own. I know that my quirk isn’t exactly like normal electrical types - right now I can only output it through my hands, and without much control, so - uh,” He suddenly straightened up, realizing that he was about to slip into a mutter mode, and gulped, blushing, “Uh - s-sorry for just rambling, I was just -”

“It’s cool,” She shook her head, smiling a bit, “I mean, I did ask. Although it does kind of move around back to training, I guess. So, uh,” She leaned in, smiling a bit, “how’s it going for you? Training at the beach, I mean. I don’t really think we talk much between all the garbage we have to move, but I’m curious.”

She meant to ask him about his training as a way to move to another topic, wanting to keep this conversation flowing as much as possible and not falter into another awkward conversation - that, and wanting to try and unwind him a bit, she could tell he was still nervous - but she didn’t expect him to wince at that question, slowly lowering his gaze to the notebook in his lap and visibly deflating. She blinked in confusion as he let out a small sigh and raised his slice of pizza from beside him on the couch (Gūdo let out a small whine as his quiet attempts to eat Izuku’s food was foiled) and took a small nibble of it.

“Uh … Midoriya?” Itsuka wrinkled her brow, “are you okay?”

“H-huh?” Izuku glanced back up, blinking when he realized that she caught his suddenly sad look, and blushed again as he quickly zipped his gaze back down to his food. “O-oh, no, I’m - I’m fine, Kendou.”

“... yeah, no, I don’t believe that.”

“Wha -?” Izuku quickly looked up, seeing Itsuka adjusting herself on the stool and giving him a soft but understanding look.

“Midoriya, is something bothering you about training?” She decided to just ask bluntly, having her sudden thought confirmed when he squeaked out loud, “Is it me? I’m sorry if I’m doing something to make you uncomfortable -”

“O-oh, no, it’s - it’s not you!” Izuku immediately shook his head and hands, looking frantic for a moment as he tried to prevent a misunderstanding, “Not at all!”

“Then what is it? There’s obviously something wrong.”

“I …” Izuku trailed off, glancing away for a moment as though he found it hard to look at her, before he sighed and looked back down at his notebook, frowning a bit, “... can I ask you a … probably a stupid question, Kendou?”

Itsuka raised an eyebrow at that, but still nodded.

“Am I … am I just in the way?” He asked in a quiet voice, staring down at his feet while he leaned forward slightly. “Like - I don’t think I’m improving at all. I just - I trip on my own two feet every time I have to move something heavy, and - and you get done with All Might’s training a lot faster than me, and then you both have to wait while I catch up. And I just … I know that I’m not improving. I ache all over and I’m not doing any better with my quirk. I’m just - I’m afraid that I’m holding you and All Might back.”

A small silence fell in the garage again while Izuku stared at his feet, feeling bad for just kind of unloading all his problems on her, and tried to figure out how to apologize - and then he became aware of the sound of Itsuka getting up, letting out a small grunt as she started walking over. He glanced up to see her dragging the stool she had been sitting on a bit closer, wincing slightly at the seat squeaking against the concrete floor, and once it was a bit closer to the couch, sat back down with her food and drink, looking back at him with a small frown as she gave him a serious look.

“Midoriya,” She said in a small voice, putting her plate of pizza down beside his on the couch and leaning over to pat her dog’s head, “do you really think you’re just in the way?”

“I …” He hesitated, and then glanced back down, “... kind of. Yeah.”

“Well,” She shook her head, “I can confidently say that you’re wrong. You aren’t holding me or All Might back at all.”

“I - I don’t know -”

“Midoriya,” Itsuka interrupted him, sounding absolutely certain, “let me clarify something for you, okay? We both knew that this training plan was going to be absolute hell the moment we got those papers. Just because I’m moving a little quicker than you and don’t trip on my feet doesn’t mean I don’t feel it. Like - last week, when I had to drag that big locker by myself up the stairs to All Might’s truck? I came home after that and pretty much immediately collapsed, my back was hurting so much.” She giggled a bit at herself, shaking her head, “I had to put like - three heat pads on my back for the rest of the day, I was laying on my stomach for hours. Just because I don’t necessarily show it doesn’t mean I don’t feel it, y’know?”

"I -"

“You are improving,” She encouraged him, “it’s just going to take a while before it becomes obvious. That’s just how exercising is, Midoriya - it freaking sucks. The only reason I’m slightly handling it better than you is because I’ve been exercising since I was, like - five. And I’m not really showing it, but this isn’t exactly my usual training regiment either. Like,” She shook her head, smiling ruefully, “I’m used to going downstairs every day after school, and sparring with someone my age. I wasn’t exactly expecting to drag around several hundred pounds of garbage for the next ten months.”

“I … didn’t exactly imagine this either,” He admitted, unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit sheepishly, “I just … I knew that I wasn’t going to suddenly start lifting cars over my head, or become an instant expert of my quirk, but I just expected … something to change. But I’m still afraid of my quirk.”

"... you know," She said in a suddenly quiet voice, causing him to look up and see her small, unsure look as she adjusted herself in her seat, "you never really … I know that this isn’t really any of my business, but I don't really know the story behind your quirk. You don't have to tell me, of course, it's just ..."

“O-oh, no, I - I don’t mind,” He quickly shook his head and put his notebook back behind him, letting out a small sigh as he leaned forward again, “it’s just … no, I don't mind telling you. So, uh … pretty much … when I was a kid, I was a - a late bloomer. You know, those kids who don’t develop their quirks until after they were four years old. My quirk came after all my friends at the time, like - two or three months after my birthday. You - you know that it’s - it’s an - an electrical type quirk.”

“Yeah,” Itsuka nodded, also sitting back in her seat, “lightning. I think that’s what All Might called it.”

“Yeah,” Izuku grimaced, “lightning. W-well, the truth is - well, my quirk is actually a mutation.”

“A mutation?” Itsuka blinked.

“Yeah. The doctor explained it like - like instead of me developing one of my parents’ quirks, or a combination of them, I developed an entirely different type. It’s - it’s supposedly not common, but not impossible. I wasn’t too sure - the doctor was kinda weird when he explained it.”

“Okay …?”

“S-so anyway - when I eventually did develop my quirk, I was - I got into a fight with my childhood friend. He lunged and me, and - and I just reacted. I ended up destroying a playground, injured my mom, and - and injured Kacchan. He’s - he’s still got the scar,” He frowned, feeling his eyes mist up a bit as he pointed at his own chest, “everytime we all have to change for P.E., I see it. My mom’s also got a scar, but - but she hides it. And whenever I see either of them, I just - I get reminded of my stupid mistake, and I hate that they both have to carry those around for the rest of their lives. And only because it was my fault.”

Itsuka slowly nodded at his explanation, staring at him in pity.

“After I injured Kacchan …” He sighed, “... everything changed, for the worse. I wasn’t - I wasn’t Deku the quirkless loser anymore. I was Deku the villain. Deku the lightning maniac. Deku the attempted murder. Deku the -”

“Wait,” Itsuka suddenly interrupted, making him falter and look up to see her sitting up in her seat, eyes going slightly wider. “Are you saying - Midoriya, are you saying that - that people bully you?”

“...”

“Midoriya?”

“... sometimes,” He muttered, looking away with a bit of shame, “yeah. They don’t - they don’t hit me, they just - they just call me names and all that stuff.”

“Like - like this ‘Deku’ stuff?” Itsuka wrinkled her brow.

“Y-yeah. That was - that was Kacchan’s creation, back when we were kids,” He explained, folding his hands in his lap, “since he could read before all of us, he read the characters in my first name - ‘Izuku’ - as ‘Deku’. He said it meant I was ‘someone who couldn’t do anything’. And it - it stuck.”

Itsuka narrowed her eyes slightly, putting her hands on her knees. The more she heard about this ‘Kacchan’, the less she liked him.

“In - in any case, it’s - it’s just -” Izuku hesitated again, and sighed as he slumped his shoulders, “- my classmates just think - they called my quirk evil, and - and said I was a villain. And after a while, I just kinda … accepted it. I had an evil quirk.”

“Midoriya -”

“But I wanted to be a hero,” He continued on, stopping Itsuka’s brief interruption, “more than anything. But in my mind, I couldn’t be a hero with a villainous quirk. So I just - for years, I just shut down or deflected anything that would even hint that I wanted to be a hero.”

He frowned, feeling his eyes start to sting with tears again, “It took All Might himself to convince me that deep down, I wanted to be a hero. But even now, I still struggle with convincing myself that my quirk isn’t evil. I - I think that’s my biggest problem. I hate my quirk, and - and I can’t just brush aside all those negative thoughts about it.”

Once again, silence fell in the garage, while Izuku stared at his feet and Itsuka stared at him. Izuku shook his head briefly at himself - what the hell was he doing, just dumping all of this stupid stuff on her lap? He needed to say sorry to her about being so stupid - and was about to open his mouth to apologize - 

- and then he suddenly became aware of another weight falling on the small couch, beside him.

Furrowing his brow, he looked to his left - and froze up when he realized that Itsuka had just sat down beside him, giving him a sympathetic look as she also imitated him and leaned forward, resting her arms on her knees. Gūdo got up from his spot on the floor and walked over to rest his head in between her legs, prompting Itsuka to give him a few head rubs while still looking at Izuku.

“That …” She bit her lip, frowning as she looked back down at her dog, “... that’s awful, Midoriya. I’m - I’m really sorry you had to - that you have to put up with all that.”

“It’s - it’s okay,” He managed to squeak out, looking away while his face burned bright red again (soclosesoclosesoclose) , “I - I can handle it.”

“No,” She shook her head, giving him a small, sharp look that made him automatically zip his mouth closed, “it’s not okay, Midoriya. You getting bullied … called a villain … god, I can’t even begin to think about what you’ve had to put up with. This - this has been going on for years now?”

“... yeah,” He muttered, glancing down in shame.

“God …” Itsuka slowly shook her head, as though she couldn’t believe that the person in front of her could ever be bullied - and then her face turned stormy, “Not gonna lie, Midoriya, I’m half-tempted to show up to your school now, and beat up all your bullies.”

“I’m pretty sure you can’t take the entire school,” He blurted out, and then squeaked and quickly grabbed his mouth with one hand, realizing his mistake. “Oh, I’m - I’m sorry, I -”

“Midoriya, are you serious?” She quietly asked, looking back around and making him glance at her out of the corner of his eye, seeing how serious and - holy crap, she actually looked mad. “Is it the entire school that bullies you?”

“N-no, not - not everyone,” He quickly shook his head. “I - I do have friends - well - a friend.”

Itsuka slowly nodded, and then leaned back against the couch, unable to stop herself from letting out a small, sudden chuckle.

“I - wow, this conversation got really dark really fast,” She tried to joke, wanting to inject some lightness into the suddenly tense conversation, “Sorry about that, Midoriya, I just - I - I don’t like bullies.” She frowned again as she turned to stare into space, slowly petting her dog’s head. “Never have, never will.”

“I … don’t either,” He nodded in agreement, looking away, “it’s just …”

“Yeah,” She folded her hands together in her lap, “I get it. I - I think I actually get it now, Midoriya.”

“H-huh? Get what?”

“I was … okay, truthfully, I’ve been kind of curious about you,” She admitted, blushing a bit in embarrassment while chuckling, “I - I didn’t really know what your deal was, y’know? I’ve always been cool with you training with me, of course, but - but I wasn’t exactly sure why, you know? But now I think I do. Training on the beach, trying to use your quirk - All Might’s trying to help you rebuild your confidence, isn’t he?”

“I …” Izuku hesitated again, and then sighed, “... yeah.”

Itsuka slowly nodded, and got back up so that she could get some more pizza from the workbench, letting Gūdo move aside and rest his head on Izuku’s lap this time. While the boy hesitantly patted the dog’s head, Itsuka grabbed both of their plates from the couch and walked to the box of pizza, grabbing some new slices and bringing them back. Instead of retaking her seat on the stool, however, she stayed sitting beside him, which made him blush a bit as she settled back and crossed her legs, and raised her slice of pizza to take a bite out of.

“You know,” She smiled a bit as she slowly munched on her dinner, watching him as he picked up his pizza to make sure Gūdo didn’t pull a sneaky and take it, “you really do help me out when you’re there at the beach.”

“W-wait, what?” Izuku squeaked, going a bit red as she giggled and opened her can of soda.

“You really do!” She admitted freely, “And I’m not lying about that. You can say whatever you want about how you’re apparently too slow or you’re in the way, and I’ll just slap that down. If I was doing this stuff alone, with just All Might there to guide me, I’d probably work myself to exhaustion - but I meant what I said a few weeks ago, Midoriya,” She leaned forward to give him a small punch in the arm, not enough to hurt, and smiled when his blush burned redder, “I really appreciate that you comforted me after Nighteye spent his morning shit-talking me.”

“Of course I would,” Izuku quickly said, and then blushed a bit when he realized how fast he said that, but still looked around at her, “he - he was out of line.”

“Yeah. And I hope you know that I’ll step up to bat for you from now on too,” She raised an eyebrow, leaning back in her seat and taking a sip of her soda, “anytime one of those pricks from your school picks on you, just tell me and I’ll come beat them up in the parking lot.”

"I -" Izuku stuttered, taken aback by that promise of violence - one that he had heard before, and had to stop Ochako from committing once or twice - and then he let out a laugh, looking back around to chuckle a bit at that while he patted Gūdo’s head.

Itsuka smiled a bit at his giggle-snorts as well, chuckling alongside him as she took another bite out of her pizza. Still though, she kind of had a hard time looking away from him now, for some reason; she never really noticed before, but he usually wore an awkward look on his face, or a frown, or just a generally down look, which made sense now that she knew why. But now that she was looking at him laughing a bit, she couldn’t help but think …

… wow, she really liked it when he smiled.

Finally, Izuku managed to get control of his laughter, and looked back at her with a genuinely happy smile on his face.

“I - thank you, Kendou,” He chuckled, raising his own piece of pizza to munch on, “but if you were there to beat up all the people who were mean to me, that would mean my only friend is out of a job.”

“Oh, that’s right,” She blinked, remembering as well, “you did say that - that you did have a friend. So I guess I’m gonna steal their job, hub?”

Both of them giggled a bit as they took a moment to eat a bit more, and Itsuka asked, through her own mouthful of pizza, “So how long has your friend been working the hard job of beating up all your bullies?”

“Uh - since we were kids,” He shook his head, smiling ruefully, “and it’s less ‘beat up my bullies’ and more ‘threaten to float them into space’. I’m not sure if I should be flattered or concerned -”

“Flattered,” Itsuka laughed, “definitely flattered.”

“Er - honestly, yeah,” Izuku chuckled, “but yeah, I guess I don’t have much room to complain if she wasn’t to murder -”

“Wait,” Itsuka blinked, looking around at him “‘she’?”

“Uh - yeah?’

“Your - your only friend is a girl?”

"Yeah ...?"

Itsuka slowly blinked at that, looking completely taken aback - and then she laughed again, looking away for a bit while she had a small laughing fit. Izuku sputtered, taken aback himself and not really sure what she found funny about that while he slowly slid his pizza away from the dog, hearing the poor boy whining again.

"Sorry, just ..." Itsuka let out a few more giggles, smiling at his confused look, "... it’s not all that funny, but - I think we both know that you're not exactly ... well ... confident when it comes to the opposite sex."

Izuku sputtered again, looking indignant and opening his mouth to deny that while Itsuka raised an eyebrow, as though challenging him to even try and prove her wrong - and then he slumped his shoulders, looking sheepish.

"... that obvious, huh?"

“Very much,” She giggled, “but it just makes your only friend being a girl a surprise, that’s all. So? Tell me about her.”

“O-oh,” Izuku blinked, looking back around at her as she leaned in, obviously interested, “so, uh - yeah. So, um - Occhan.”

“‘Occhan’,” Itsuka’s teasing grin grew wider, “she’s got her own nickname and everything! You really are full of surprises tonight, Mr. Midoriya.”

“Y-yeah. It’s, uh - well, it’s a childhood nickname,” He explained, chuckling nervously despite himself, “she’s … I've known her since we were four, after my quirk developed. She was the only one who stuck by me since, and - and she’s been my only friend for years. Honestly, I - I really appreciate her. Do you remember how I mentioned that - that I would shut down any hints about me being a hero?”

"Uh-huh."

"Well, she was the one who always brought it up," He smiled fondly, laying back against the couch as he continued to scratch Gūdo behind the ears, and Itsuka leaned against the arm of the couch, "she wants to be a hero too - a rescue hero, just like Thirteen. Honestly, I - if she wasn't there with me at school, every day, I - I probably would be in a worse place now, or at least my - my mental state would be a lot worse. She's always there to pick me up, and ..."

He was about to go on about his best friend, smiling happily at the very thought of Ochako and how outgoing and kind she was - and then he suddenly thought of her face yesterday when he had lied to her.

How crestfallen, put down and sad she had looked.

While his own face fell at the thought, Itsuka blinked a bit, taken aback by how his happy look had slid away, replaced by a sad and guilty look.

“Uh … Midoriya?” She leaned forward again, feeling concerned, “Are you okay? You just -”

"Kendou, can I ask you something?"

Sputtering to a stop, Itsuka furrowed her brow at the sight of the seriousness on the boy’s face, but still nodded. “Of course, Midoriya. What’s up?”

“You, uh …” He hesitated for a moment, not sure how to phrase this, but then shaking his head and deciding to wing it, and asked, “... you have friends, right?”

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... okay, I should’ve taken more time to figure out how to phrase that question," He muttered to himself, going red again, and she giggled a bit.

"Yes, Midoriya, I have friends," She decided to humor him, "two very dear ones, actually, and a few people I like to talk with."

“O-okay. And - and what did you -” He gulped, trying to gather his thoughts, and then asked, “- what did you tell them you were doing while you - you know - you trained with All Might?”

Itsuka, meanwhile, couldn’t help but feel more and more confused by the minute - not really sure where this topic came from or where it was going - but she still let out a small sigh as she leaned back against the couch, letting Izuku take another hesitant bite of his dinner while she thought.

“Well …” She bit her lip, “... if we’re talking about who I specifically told was going on - well, I told a version of what I was doing to Yui and Set, they’re my best friends.”

"Uh-huh."

“Pretty much, I told them that I was going to be training super hard from now on,” She explained, “I didn’t tell them any details, of course, but I told them that I was gonna start working my butt off to get ready for the entrance exam, and probably wouldn’t have as much time to hang out with them as usual. I didn’t mention All Might, or you, or anything we were doing - pretty much a basic, watered down version of what we’re doing.”

She took a moment to sip on her soda again, looking at Izuku over the can, “Why? Did you tell your friend something similar?”

Izuku winced. And that was when Itsuka blinked.

“... wait a minute.” She leaned forward, putting two and two together and feeling her eyes widen. “What did you tell your friend about what you were doing?”

"W-well ... uh ..." Izuku stuttered, glancing away and blushing very red, “... I just …”

"... Midoriya, did you tell her?"

“...”

“...”

"... not ... exactly ..." He muttered, a look of shame and guilt crossing his face as he slumped down, "... I just ... I have no idea how to even explain it to her, and … yeah.”

There was yet another pointed silence in the garage, with Izuku staring at the ground again and Itsuka staring at him again. And then -

BONK!

"Ow!" Izuku yelped as Itsuka's hand, grown slightly thanks to her quirk, rose up and came down on the top of his head, giving him a good smack that made him reel away from her and Gūdo woof a bit at the sudden violence. She let out a tired sigh as she brought her hand down and shrunk it back to normal size, shaking her head at him.

“Sorry, Midoriya,” She apologized, “but that’s a really stupid thing you’ve done.”

"... yeah," He nodded a bit, rubbing the top of his head while frowning at himself, "I know."

“You have to tell her at least something,” She insisted, “if she’s been your friend since you were kids, there’s no way you’ll be able to hide something this big from her without at least giving her a version of what’s going on.”

“That’s the thing, though,” Izuku sighed, slumping his shoulders, “I just … I can’t just lie to her, she’ll know. She knows me better than anybody, if I try to tell her something obviously fake she’ll see right through it.”

“Does she think …” Itsuka hesitated, and then shook her head, “... do you think she suspects something’s going on?”

“Yeah,” He admitted at least, looking a bit ashamed, “I … she knows that I’m holding something back from her, she just doesn’t know what.”

“And you didn’t … have you considered talking to All Might about it?”

“I did, it’s just …” Izuku hesitated again, and then closed his eyes, “... I don’t want to lie to her.”

“I mean -”

“It’s not like I don’t know why,” He assured her, shaking his head, “I know how important it is to keep the secret of what’s going on at the beach. But she’s had my back for years now, and - and I owe her a lot. I’m just … I’m not comfortable with just lying to her, you know? But I know how important this is, but I know I can’t just brush her aside, and … and I just don’t know what to do.”

Itsuka slowly nodded at that, understanding where he was coming from as the boy lapsed into silence, looking disappointed in himself as he stared sadly down at his knees. She knew where he was coming from with not wanting to lie to his friend - she felt a bit uncomfortable with lying to Setsuna and Yui, but she knew where All Might was coming from. Learning that the Symbol of Peace was training your close friend wouldn’t exactly inspire one to remain silent.

She wondered if there was some easy way to fix this that neither of them were thinking about, maybe asking All Might for some advice on how to deal with the problem with this Occhan would benefit them both.

But that could maybe wait, she decided - she could see Izuku continuing to stare down at his knees, not even noticing Gūdo take his chance and trying to pull the paper plate of pizza off the green-haired boy’s lap. She let out a small sigh as she realized that her little bop to the head earlier and her little ‘you should’ve done more’ thing probably didn’t do his mood any favors, so she needed to somehow pick up his mood again, or at least take it off such a serious topic - 

- and then she got an idea.

An awful idea.

A wonderful, awful idea.

“Hm,” She decided to start with setting this up slowly, trying to stop a mischievous smile that wouldn’t look out of place on Setsuna from spreading across her face, “so I guess … you really like this Occhan, don’t you?”

“Of course I do,” Izuku nodded as though it were obvious, “she’s my best friend.”

“Your best friend in the world,” She raised an eyebrow, trying to stop a small smirk as she saw his brow wrinkle.

“Uh … yeah.”

“The childhood friend that you’ve known since you were … four, right?”

“Y-yeah.”

Itsuka slowly nodded, feeling a smirk finally break on her face as she leaned back. It appeared that it was here that Izuku thought something was up, glancing around at her and looking confused by the look on her face - the way she was smiling knowingly at him, crossing her arms across her chest and nodding at him.

“Uh … Kendou?” Izuku blinked a bit as he sat forward a bit, not sure what was going on.

“Yes?”

“W-what’s with that face?”

“What face?” Itsuka now had to consciously stop herself from laughing, biting her lip slightly. “I don’t have a face. We’re just talking about your childhood friend, who you’ve known since you were kids, who is also a girl. What face are you talking about?”

Izuku felt more and more lost, opening his mouth briefly to ask why she was talking about Ochako like that, as though she were a - 

- and then he realized it.

Childhood friend.

Known since they were kids.

A girl.

It was rather beautiful, Itsuka thought, seeing him go from confused and taken aback to completely blood-red in the face, his mouth dropping open with an audible click and beginning to gape at her like a goldfish as he finally understood what she was implying.

“I - oh no - she’s - not - you -”

“I mean,” She was unable to stop herself from laughing now, seeing him start to flail his hands everywhere, “it makes sense! Your best friend from childhood, who, as we have established many times, is a girl … and who I am assuming is a very pretty girl …”

“N-no, wait, Kendou, I -”

“... someone you need to keep a secret from but don’t want to, because it hurts to,” Itsuka continued to tease, laughter becoming louder when she saw him grabbing his hair in desperation, “someone who, from what you described, is your closest and dearest friend …”

“P-p-please -”

“Oh, yeah,” She nodded, “I’m guessing that you like -”

“Do not say it!” He protested, not wanting her to put that thought in his mind, and quickly brought his hands to his ears, attempting to block out her words entirely. Itsuka’s laughter only grew harder as she briefly pounded on the couch, her laughter echoing throughout the garage as Gūdo barked excitedly at his master’s laughter, and she leaned forward to try and take one of his hands away from his ear, her touch making him blush somehow even harder.

“Oh, Midoriyaaaa?” She said in a sing-song voice, “Whyyyyy are you so reeeed?”

“We - no!” He squeaked in a high-pitched voice, “She’s - no way - we’re only - we’re only friends! There’s no way she doesn’t -!”

“Oh, I wouldn’t bet on that,” Her smirk widened and her eyes shined with mirth, “two of you, known each other forever … you’re saying that there isn’t love in the -?”

"She doesn't -!"

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

At the sound of someone knocking on the garage door, Izuku and Itsuka jumped, looking around from where they had been sitting on the couch, Itsuka moving back to where she was sitting and Izuku hesitantly lowering his hands from his ears, still shaking from both the implication that Ochako liked him (as impossible as that would be, it still flustered him) and how Itsuka had been leaning in pretty close and touching his arm. As Gūdo let out several excited barks at the potential stranger, running to the door and hopping up to scratch at it, the door opened, and Itsuka’s father poked his head in, grinning.

“My apologies for interrupting your date,” He cheekily said, his grin widening when Izuku squeaked again and hid his face in his hands, and Itsuka rolled her eyes and snorted, “but we’ve just finished dinner upstairs. Mr. Yagi and your grandpa have come to an … well, we’ll call it an agreement.”

At that, both Izuku and Itsuka blinked, sitting up from their spots on the couch - honestly, they’d been down here and talking for so long, they’d almost forgotten why they were in the garage in the first place. However, the way Hakushu had said that they ‘came to an agreement’ did imply that things were okay (albeit the way he said ‘agreement’ didn’t inspire much confidence), and so both teenagers hopped up to follow him back upstairs where the rest of the adults were.

As they moved towards the door, Hakushu gave his daughter another teasing grin.

“So,” He stood back a bit, scratching the dog behind the ears while the teenagers moved past him into the warm house, “did you show him your bike?”

“Yeah,” She giggled, glancing back at Izuku with a teasing look in her eye, “he said that it looked ‘very unfinished’.”

Her father let out a laugh at that, while Izuku groaned behind them and shook his head in embarrassment.

Once they made it back upstairs, letting Gūdo run ahead so he could greet the strangers he hadn’t had time to properly greet, they headed into the living room, where the small party of adults had apparently moved to. Once they moved past the kitchen and into the living room, they saw Inko and Tenohira sitting on the couch together, holding cups of tea and chatting airily. All Might, meanwhile, opted to remain standing, looking a bit awkward and relieved to see his protegees back, while Teko continued to give him a cold stare as he tapped his foot against the floor, sitting in a chair across the room.

“Hey, you two,” Tenohira smiled up at the teenagers as they followed her husband into the room, “have fun down there?”

“Yes,” Itsuka nodded, smiling and giving her mother a snarky look, “we had a lot of fun during our exile to the cold, damp garage eating pizza, while you guys enjoyed the warm meal up here.”

“See!” Tenohira gestured to her daughter while smiling at Inko, the green-haired woman laughing a bit as Gūdo hopped up onto the sofa to sniff her. “It’s just like I said - see how mean she is to her parents. I bet Izuku doesn’t give you that kind of attitude.”

“He has his moments,” Inko giggled, petting the dog while Izuku chuckled sheepishly and blushed.

“In any case,” All Might coughed a bit, drawing the attention of everyone in the room back onto him, “we, uh … we had a very productive dinner, and we’ve managed to come to an agreement, Young Itsuka, Young Izuku.”

Both teenagers looked to their mentor as he straightened up, seeing him taking off his yellow jacket, much to Itsuka’s relief - now they could take him maybe a little more seriously. At the very least, he looked a lot more relieved than he did when he arrived to their house, although he was still kind of sweating nervously - which she really couldn’t blame him for, her grandpa could be very intimidating even when he wasn’t trying, she hated to be the one on the receiving end of his actual scorn.

“As we agreed,” He explained, “you two will continue to follow my training plan and come down to the beach to clear away the garbage, and practice your quirk, young man. As I’ve explained in detail to the adults in this room, it’s not only a good form of exercise, but it’ll also help the community by clearing away the trash littering the beach.”

Itsuka glanced at her grandpa at that, and saw him subtly nodding - while he himself wasn’t a hero, she knew Teko did care for the city he grew up and raised a family in, so appealing to his love for that would be a good way to get on his good side.

“Of course, now that your parents have educated me on how we could potential get into legal trouble in case someone comes around and accuses us of - well, doing something illegal,” All Might continued to explain, “I will be having my - er, I mean, All Might’s agency get an official documentation from Musutafu’s city hall, giving us permission to clear away the beach, so we can prevent you two from getting into potential trouble with pro heroes. I will also be coming back to your parents with weekly updates, as well as documents for them to sign that will confirm that All Might’s agency will handle any potential injuries that occur at Dagobah Beach.”

Izuku and Itsuka glanced at each other at that, and slowly nodded in agreement - it made sense, of course, their parents wanted to make sure they didn’t get into any potential trouble with the law, and wanted everything signed and accounted for. That at least made sense, and their schedule appeared to have not been affected in any major way.

"With that said," All Might winced a bit despite himself, "there were still a few compromises we had to make, so that the plan could be tweaked."

"Tweaked?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, "How so?"

“Starting next weekend,” Teko grumbled from his spot in the corner, making the two teenagers turn to see his grumpy stare, “once you two are done with the morning training at this beach, you will be returning here to train in the dojo. I will be the one overseeing that training for you both, and once that’s done, you will return to the junkyard to continue cleaning before you can go home. It will begin next week so that I can make official plans with the other customers who come here, but until then, assume that you will be here from lunch until four o’clock in the afternoon. I assume that neither of you have any complaints about that.”

Once again, Izuku glanced at Itsuka, and he gave the old man a nod once Itsuka gave him a small thumbs up. He glanced at All Might and saw him shrug a bit, in a ‘what can we do’ kind of way, but honestly, it seemed fair to Izuku. All Might would have free reign for five days of the week, and for weekends, they would only clean in the morning and evening, while the bulk of the day was spent at the dojo downstairs.

It made sense. While the training plan would have to be modified to fit that in, he was at least sure they could proceed on schedule.

"I - I don't have any complaints," He told the Kendou patriarch, feeling a bit relieved when Teko gave him a curt nod.

"Yeah, me neither," Itsuka shook her head, still giving her grandfather a curious look, "but will Midoriya be joining the usual classes? Usually those are a bit more advanced, especially if he’s a beginner."

"No," Teko shook his head, "I'll be shortening those classes to conclude before you both arrive at noon. This training, under Mr. Yagi's discretion, will be private."

"Er ... okay."

There was a small silence in the living room, until Tenohira realized that her father was done with intimidating All Might and Izuku, and clapped her hands.

“Well!” She said happily, drawing everyone’s attention to her. “Now that that’s settled, I think we can finally get to the part I’ve been looking forward to.”

“O-oh, yes!” Inko nodded in agreement, her eyes shining. “I brought them along just in case, so I’d be happy to have someone to share them with.”

As Tenohira hopped up to move to the cabinet near Teko, careful to mind Gūdo as he gave her a curious woof, Izuku and Itsuka mutually felt a sudden wave of foreboding overcome them, as Hakushu chuckled and came back to the living room with cups of tea for Teko and All Might, and watched as Inko reached into her purse to pull something out.

"Uh ... mom?" Izuku asked, gulping a bit and fighting down the sudden urge to run, "what're you -"

And then Inko pulled out the green book from her bag, making Izuku freeze up and widen his eyes in terror as he realized what exactly was going to happen right now.

“Now then,” Inko giggled as she put Izuku’s baby book in her lap, while her son froze in horror, “there are a few pictures of Izuku as a baby in here I wanted to show you, Mrs. Kendou, he was so adorable.”

“Oh, you can call me Tenohira,” Itsuka’s mother waved her hand, straightening up with Itsuka’s baby album and making her daughter pale comically, “and I’d love to see them! I can show you Itsuka’s own pictures as well, she was such a beautiful baby.”

“... Midoriya,” Itsuka squeaked out, slowly backing up, “let’s go back to the garage.”

“Y-yeah, let’s -”

“Oh, no, you two,” Hakushu chuckled from behind them, stopping their escape, “if we adults have to suffer through this, you two don’t get to escape.”

What then ensued was an hour of Inko and Tenohira showing each other the baby pictures of their children, cooing and giggling as they told each other stories from their respective child’s childhood, while Izuku and Itsuka melted into piles of embarrassment. Izuku ended up hunched over on the opposite couch with his head in his hands, while Itsuka quietly collapsed on the floor between the couch and the coffee table, not even noticing as Gūdo gave her an inquisitive sniff and licked her hair. 

Both teenagers groaned with each embarrassing story after another, while All Might and Hakushu chuckled and talked in their own corner as well, and Teko sat in his own chair in silence, slowly nodding at the stories his daughter told about his granddaughter, and occasionally flashing Izuku a suspicious glare.

Alas, much to Izuku and Itsuka’s relief, it was getting rather late, and it was about time for the Midoriyas to head home before they missed the last train. As Tenohira wrapped up some leftovers for them to take home, and Hakushu brought the pizza back upstairs to put in the fridge, the two families and All Might headed downstairs and into the yard, while Teko took this opportunity to quietly slip away and go to sleep, volunteering to keep Gūdo upstairs so he didn’t get excited outside. Both Izuku and Inko were sure to give him a pat on the head goodbye while he whined sadly at them, although Izuku was comforted that he would be seeing the big dog very soon.

“If I’m being completely honest, I’m not entirely sold on your training plan,” Hakushu admitted to All Might as the Symbol of Peace held the leftovers in one hand and shook Itsuka’s dad’s hand with the other, “but it seems like you know what you’re doing. For now, we’ll let this go on, but just know that if we see Itsuka getting run into the ground, we’ll step in.”

“I’m aware that my plan isn’t a hundred percent perfect,” All Might gave him, “but I’m convinced that your daughter and Young Midoriya will be successful, and the plan can always be adjusted if we run into any problems that need to be rectified immediately. In any case, are you both sure I can’t give you a ride home?” He turned to Izuku and Inko as the green-haired boy thanked Tenohira for having them, “It’s not terribly out of the way, and it’d get you home much quicker than the train.”

“Oh, no, we simply couldn’t impose,” Inko shook her head, smiling as she patted Izuku’s shoulder, her boy still slightly traumatized by the story of how he ran into a glass door now being revealed to the world, “and the train station isn't too far away, we’ll get there in time.”

“Alright … but still,” All Might shook his head, “I’ll walk you both to the station.”

“Oh, that’s kind of you,” Inko smiled sweetly, although there was still a hint of coldness in her eyes, “I’m just comforted now that you’ll be giving us updates on Izuku and Itsuka’s process instead of … whatever it was you were going to be doing.”

“Ahem,” All Might cleared his throat, gulping nervously at the cold looks from both the Midoriya and Kendou matriarchs, “yes, I’ll … yes, I’ll be sure to update you all weekly. And since Young Midoriya will be here during the weekend, I’ll be sure to give you all updates then, and give Young Izuku a lift home once we’re done on the beach.”

“And my offer stands, Inko!” Tenohira smiled at her as she also patted Itsuka’s shoulder, her daughter still numb to the world after the story of her getting scared of a man with a snake-head quirk as a child was revealed, “I’d love to do something with you on the weekend while our children are working.”

“I’ll have to get back to you, Tenohira, since I do tend to be busy,” Inko smiled sweetly at her, “but it does sound very pleasant.”

With that, a small silence fell in the enclosure, with Izuku and Itsuka glancing at each other - and then Tenohira cleared her throat, causing everyone to look at her.

“Er - well, in any case, thank you all for coming over for dinner,” She smiled sweetly, grabbing her husband’s shoulder and beginning to pull him inside, much to his confusion, “but we’d better get to cleaning the dishes. Itsuka, why don’t you bring our guests back to the front? You can see them off.”

“Uh - whu -?” Hakushu looked dumbfounded at his much smaller wife as she dragged him inside, and gave their parting guests a look of ‘I don’t know what I did but I think I did something wrong please help me’ as the door slid shut. Itsuka tried not to roll her eyes at what her mom was obviously doing, but tried her best to smile as she turned back to the Midoriyas and All Might.

"Er ... right," She clapped her hands together, "I'll bring you guys back to the front."

Exchanging awkward smiles, Itsuka began to lead their guests back to around the front of the building, clasping her hands behind her back as Inko gave her an interested look.

“So you're also applying for UA?” She asked in an intrigued voice, making Itsuka look around to see the older woman giving her a smile, “That’s what your mother told me during dinner.”

“Yeah,” Itsuka nodded, smiling back at her, “it’s always been my dream to attend there - once I settled on wanting to be a hero, I knew that was going to be the place for me.”

“It seems like I’m surrounded by aspiring heroes lately,” Inko laughed, “and since you were a child?”

“Yeah, since I was five … Mrs. Midoriya, are you sure you’re okay with all this?” Itsuka sighed a bit as her smile fell, glancing down at the wooden porch, “I know that this was pretty much sprung on you, and -”

“Dearie, I’ve had this conversation many times with Izuku in the last twenty four hours,” Inko laughed, while her son chuckled sheepishly beside her and looked away, “and … I will admit, when I first heard of this last night, I was against it. I didn’t want Izuku to get run into the ground, and I didn’t approve of where you would be training - but Mr. Yagi did raise several good points during dinner, saying that the place he had you training in was a safe place for my son to practice his quirk.”

Itsuka glanced at Izuku at that mention, seeing his shoulders sag a bit, and briefly brought her gaze to Inko’s compression sleeve she wore on her upper arm, remembering what he had said happened when he first manifested his quirk. She decided not to comment on it.

“And I do feel better,” Inko continued on, “knowing that All Might’s agency will sponsor you two during your training - I feel like All Might of all people can keep you both safe.”

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, glancing at All Might with a knowing look, "he'll keep us safe, I know that."

All Might let out an innocent whistle, glancing away while his successor rolled her eyes.

“Well, anyway,” Itsuka opened the small gate for them to step through to get back to the front of the building, stepping back, “I hope to see you again soon, Mrs. Midoriya - we didn’t really have much time to speak before your son and I were exiled to the garage.”

“I hope so too,” Inko smiled sweetly at her, patting her cheek - and then turned to begin pushing All Might through the gate, the Number One Hero sputtering as he was easily manhandled by a housewife.

“Now, Izuku, we’ll give you some time to say bye, alright?”

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at his mother as she pushed All Might easily through the gate, the scrawny man taken aback by how easy it was to push him around in his weakened form. Soon enough, both Izuku and Itsuka were left alone at the gate, glancing awkwardly at each other and chuckling a bit.

"So ..." Izuku trailed off, swinging his arms back and forth a bit aimlessly.

"Yeah," Itsuka giggled despite herself as she stepped back to lean against the wall of her house, "that was ... that was fun."

"Yeah, I - wait," Izuku blinked, looking around, "it was?"

"I mean, yeah," She shrugged, smiling a bit, "we didn't do much talking about me, but I got to learn a lot about you. I guess that means that next time, I'll be the topic of conversation. Like ..."

For a moment, Itsuka faltered, glancing away, and then she slowly nodded, looking back up and smiling at him.

“... tomorrow,” She decided, “we’re gonna be at the beach all day since it’s the weekend. Once lunchtime rolls around, we can bully All Might into going to buy us WcDonald’s.”

“WcDonald’s?” Izuku blinked, looking unsure. “Are you sure? I thought we weren’t supposed to - you know, eat things that are unhealthy.”

“We aren’t,” Itsuka smirked knowingly, “but you and I both need cheat days, Mr. Midoriya. And I think WcDonald’s for lunch tomorrow is perfect.”

“But - but didn’t we just eat pizza -” Izuku tried to say, but then faltered when Itsuka pouted at him and raised her hand to point at him, prompting him to wave his arms in defeat. “Okay, okay, WcDonald’s tomorrow.”

“Good,” Itsuka smiled, “and once we’ve got our unhealthy food, I’ll take one for the team and tell you all about my embarrassing middle-school memories. That’s the least I can do.”

"Oh, I ..." Izuku stuttered, glancing left and right, and blushed, "I - I don't know, you don’t have to do that. I’m sure that you’d rather talk to your friends about that rather than me -"

"I mean," Itsuka giggled a bit, stretching her arm out to give his shoulder a light punch, "I like to think we're friends."

"I don't -" Izuku was about to protest, going a bit red at what embarrassing stories she could potentially tell him - and then he froze up, blinking when what she just said finally registered. 

Itsuka also blinked a bit in confusion as Izuku quickly looked around at her, eyes widening and his jaw dropping slightly.

"Uh  ... Midoriya? Are you good?"

"You -" Izuku's eyes went a bit wider, and felt his cheeks become slightly rosier than usual, "- you consider me a friend?"

"Huh? Of course I do." Itsuka nodded, saying that easily and without much hesitation, although she did take a moment to glance at Inko and All Might waiting for Izuku in the distance, just to make sure they weren’t overheard. "I like to think we are, at least. I mean, I don't exactly do secret, hellish training with the Symbol of Peace as a coach with just about anyone. Of course we're friends, Midoriya."

"I ..." Izuku trailed off, continuing to stare at her in shock.

"So let's get some WcDonald’s tomorrow," She smiled, "and after we’re done humiliating me for a change, we can talk about what you'll tell Occhan about what's going on - I’ll be happy to sit down with you and figure out what you’re gonna tell her."

Izuku continued to stare at her for a few more moments, completely taken aback by her and her casual acceptance that they were friends - and then he let out a small breath, obviously willing himself to not tear up. Itsuka couldn’t help but giggle a bit, and then furrowed her brow when his face suddenly scrunched up, looking pretty ugly for a moment until he raised an arm to rub his face with, and then looked back at her with small tears in his eyes and a shaky smile as he lifted his fist up.

“Y-yeah,” He managed to say, “see you tomorrow morning.”

Itsuka grinned back at him, and raised her own fist to bump against his, “See you then, man. I’ll be sure to bring you a cup of coffee.”

“Uh … would that be black coffee? I noticed that you drank that.”

“Yep. Black coffee’s the shit.”

“Uh … that’s … kinda bitter for me.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we’ve got ten months ahead of us. I’ll get you hooked eventually.”

Both of them laughing a bit, they gave each other one last wave, and turned to walk away, Izuku to his mom and All Might waiting for him, and Itsuka moving to go back into her house - and unknown to each other, both sporting huge grins on their faces.


The next morning, bright and early, All Might gave his two protegees a grin as they ran down the steps towards him, looking far more energetic and happy than they would working here in the morning for the last two weeks .

"Hm," He gave them a teasing grin as he put both his hands on his hips, "you both appear to be in good moods."

Both Izuku and Itsuka, having gotten to the beach at the same time, exchanged a small glance and smile as they nodded, looking back up at the Symbol of Peace as he paced before them in his true form, having been evidently waiting for them to arrive. Indeed, Izuku’s heart had done a little somersault of happiness when he saw his new friend, and Itsuka in turn had been pretty happy to see him as well so bright and early in the morning, having greeted each other with a big high five before heading down the beach together to meet with their trainer.

"Now then," All Might clapped his hands, guiding them over to a couple of printers laying abandoned near the trash pile, "what we'll be starting with is focusing on moving these printers up to my truck. I'll leave you two to work together or separately to move them - I need to make a phone call to my office to get them working on a document from City Hall for us to work here, your mothers wanted me to bring them a copy this weekend during your first training with your grandfather, Young Kendou. After that, Young Midoriya, I'll have you practicing your quirk while Young Kendou works on getting the rest of those lockers up the hill. That sound good?"

"Yes, sir!" Both of them responded cheerfully, and All Might flashed them a grin and thumbs up as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, turning around to move around the hill for some privacy - the hero office probably didn’t need to hear two teenagers straining and struggling to move something in the background.

Once he was out of sight, Itsuka and Izuku both carefully surveyed the printers, debating how to go about moving them off the beach.

“Okay, so obviously,” She patted a large printer that obviously used to be in an office, “this one we’re gonna have to work together for, there’s no way either of us are gonna be able to move it if I’m not allowed to use my quirk. But these smaller ones, we can carry on our own.”

"Alright," Izuku nodded, letting out a small grunt as he lowered himself down to his knees to grab the nearest one. Above him, Itsuka raised an eyebrow.

"Remember - lift with your legs -"

"- not my back," He finished for her, nodding and grunting as he lifted up the heavy printer. “I’m not making that mistake ever again.”

"You got it?"

"I got it," He nodded at her, turning around and starting to head back up to the parking lot, letting out a few pants as he began moving up the stairs towards All Might's truck and letting Itsuka pick out which printer she wanted to grab first.

After about a minute of grunting and straining, Izuku let out a relieved sigh as he tossed the printer inside the hood of the white truck with a loud crash, raising a hand to wipe away his already sweaty forehead. Still though, he couldn’t help but smile as he looked back at the beach, seeing the sun begin to rise in the distance and shower him in golden light.

Honestly, he still had his doubts, both about his quirk and his own progress, but the fact that he now knew Itsuka was in his corner filled him with encouragement. Now that he knew he had someone to rely on, he felt like he could -

"Deku?"

… oh no.

At the sound of the soft voice on his right, Izuku immediately stiffened up. The warm, happy thoughts he had been thinking immediately drained away, replaced by a sudden cold in his heart as it began slamming against his chest.

Slowly, Izuku turned his head, eyes widening and body beginning to shake at the sight of a familiar brown-haired girl standing before him, wearing her old black, white and red tracksuit, and staring at him in confusion and surprise as she slowly approached him. Izuku continued to stare at her in horror as he realized that he had been caught completely and utterly red handed.

"Deku," Ochako blinked, looking at him in confusion and concern, "what are you doing?"

Notes:

*jolts awake in the middle of the night, bloodshot eyes widened* what if itsuka had a dog

And that was Chapter 5! We got a few events covered this chapter - such as Ochako and Izuku running into a major problem of not telling each other anything, Itsuka and Izuku actually taking steps to become genuine friends, only for them to be immediately murdered by their mothers showing off their baby pictures, and Ochako's about to be in for the shock of a lifetime! Many of you wondered how exactly Ochako would be fitting in to our little trio, and now I think we all know what's about to happen!

Also, because I wanted to lean in on Horikoshi's pun naming:
Tenohira (Te no hira): Hand
Hakushu: Applause (which you also do with your hands XD)

Thank you all for reading!

Chapter 6: A Trio is Formed

Summary:

As Izuku becomes more and more tired and refuses to tell her anything, Ochako struggles with the decision of whether or not to investigate whatever's going on - and questioning if she really wants to know what's going on.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Izuku was tired.

He was tired, and it didn’t take a genius to figure it out.

"You probably have to go," Ochako sighed quietly as she accepted that Izuku wasn’t going to talk to her. She had hurried over here right at the bell, wanting to get to Izuku before he left to - wherever it was he went after school now, wanting at least one chance to walk home with him and ask what he was doing - but it had completely backfired in her face. She had tried to be blunt, but Izuku had just deflected her questions and didn’t answer anything.

But she knew how to take a hint. She tried to get him to open up, and it was clear that he wasn’t going to talk to oher about whatever the hell he was doing on his own.

So …

“I’ll - I’ll start heading home.” She moved around him so that she could leave the now empty classroom, trying hard to keep the obvious sadness out of her voice and failing as she moved through the door, eyes downcast. “And yeah, we can - we can do homework later tonight. I’ll - I’ll see you later.”

“Occhan, wait -”

Without looking back, Ochako slid the door to Izuku’s classroom shut behind her, letting out another small sigh and not hearing his attempt to call her back as she began slowly walking down the hall. As she quietly moved towards the stairwell, she sniffled a bit and raised one hand to wipe at her face, reprimanding herself when she felt something wet there, and tried her hardest to straighten up and shake her head. She didn’t want any of her usual bullies to hang around and pick up on her bad mood - she wasn’t exactly violent, but if she was pushed hard enough she would probably punch someone in the face. Or say screw it and float them to the ceiling, and wait until she got home to release them to crash to the floor - but she really didn’t feel like going over her weight limit and puking today, so she wanted to do her best to avoid that.

Honestly … she had no idea what was even going on with Izuku, or why he was suddenly pulling away from her. One moment he told her that he was going to be attending UA with her after years of her asking him, with Ochako practically bouncing around her apartment in happiness while her parents tried vainly to get her to chill out … and the next, Izuku would be leaving the apartment before she was even awake, getting home hours after her, and only hanging out with her at school during lunch time, trying to hide his yawns from her while she pretended not to be looking at him in worry.

But she knew that there had to be something going on now - his shoulders were always hunched, there were heavy shadows under his eyes, and he had a hard time concentrating, both during class (thanks to all the gossiping and mockery she heard in the hall, to her fury) and at home, where he almost fell asleep at supper time. Not to mention the days where he looked like he was in pain, moving stiffly and sitting down carefully, and waving off her concerns with bad jokes and stilted laughter.

And today, he had bandaids on his fingers and hands. Actual physical evidence that there was something he was doing, and he wasn't telling her.

That wasn’t to mention that there was something changing in the apartment next door, either - Izuku had gone to his mom and asked for a completely new diet, one that had taken Ochako aback when she saw a new meal plan on the fridge. Now their dinners (let’s be honest, Ochako and her parents were over for dinner every day, it was her dinner too) consisted of salads and rice, plenty of vegetables and meat to eat all around. Not so much katsudon anymore, and more meats and veggies she didn’t even know the name of.

And he took seconds of everything now! She remembered the times she looked forward to dinner due to him not being able to finish because he’d give the rest to her, and now here he was taking third and fourth helpings of everything! Sure, her dad’s heartbroken expression when he wasn’t able to take his usual second helpings had been pretty funny the first time, but two weeks in, she couldn’t find much humor in it when she was more confused than anything.

Because there was something he was hiding from her, Ochako nodded slowly to herself as she began moving down the stairs. It was obvious, even without their interaction right now that pretty much confirmed it by his reaction. She knew all of his tells when he lied - his wince when he told her that there was something he needed to do by himself, which must’ve meant that he caught when her obviously fake smile faltered; the way he stuttered and couldn’t even think up a response at first when she cut to the chase and asked him what was wrong; his hurried insistence that it wasn’t her fault when she asked him that (which, to be honest, was something she shamefully did think of at one point); the way he couldn’t even look at her half the time, as though he were afraid of looking her in the eye and breaking; and the way he had deflected all her questions, repeating that he had to do stuff by himself and not finish his sentence before she left.

There was something he was hiding from her, from his mom, from her parents.

But that was the question, wasn’t it?

Did she have a right to know?

Ochako frowned quietly to herself as she made her way down the stairs, heading for the main door to the school and opening it. Sure, they were best friends and knew everything about each other, he or she couldn’t deny that. But … would it be right for her to just … poke her nose into this? She at least didn’t think so, she thought as she slowly made her way outside to the warm spring air. Izuku had his right to privacy, just like she did hers. If there was something he was doing by himself, and he didn’t want to tell her, she should probably respect that and leave him alone.

But …

… but the bruises under his eyes. The way he could barely stay awake now. The way his hands were wrapped up carefully, as though they were decorated in cuts. The way that he had been walking around a few times as though he were in pain, carefully trying to sit down so as not to hurt himself. The fact that they had spent every day together for the last ten years, and suddenly without him in the apartment, it felt ten times as lonely.

She was at war with herself - the part of her that didn’t want to overstep any boundaries and poke her nose into his business, fighting against the part of her that was worried for him and terrified he was doing something stupid. She wanted to think that he was off by himself training or something - as painful as that felt to think, meaning that he wasn’t training with her and didn’t want to break the news to her - but there was a feeling that both the ‘don’t bother Deku’ and the ‘bother Deku’ parts of her agreed on, was that she was feeling lonely and abandoned.

There was clearly something going on. But she didn’t want to risk Izuku getting angry at her and fully pulling away.

Ochako let out a small sigh as she began walking down the school’s stairs, beginning to slowly walk back to the apartment. By herself. Again.

She wished that this wasn’t the kind of problem she had no answer for. There was a dumb, immature part of her that wished that this was the kind of situation that had someone behind it and causing Izuku’s misery - someone like Katsuki, threatening Izuku to wake up and leave the apartment at four in the morning for some reason, hurting his hands for some sadistic pleasure, anything like that. That kind of thing, at the very least, she could directly confront and take care of it.

But this was so different, she shook her head as she slowly walked away, this wasn’t a case where there was someone she could float to space and solve all her problems. This was -

"Young Midoriya!"

At the sound of a deep and kind of familiar voice behind her calling out, Ochako jumped a bit, registering that they called the name of - Midoriya?

Deku?

Someone was calling for Deku? Who did that voice belong to?

Furrowing her brow, she looked around, surprised to see Izuku standing at the bottom of the school stairs and looking down at someone. He almost said something, but she watched as he managed to stop himself, glancing around (and somehow not spotting her, how he did that was anyone’s guess), and then hurried away, Ochako watching as he made his way towards - 

- towards - 

Ochako felt her eyes widen at the sight of a white pickup truck parked out front of her school, and standing in front of it, wearing a pair of sunglasses and a baggy t-shirt and track pants, was … was that guy! The - the tall, blonde, necromancer looking dude! She’d recognize his weird sharp triangle chin anywhere!

She let out a small gasp as she tried her best not to look inconspicuous, watching as Izuku stopped right in front of the guy. It - it really was that guy! The guy who brought Izuku his backpack after the sludge villain fight, who apparently chased them home afterwards to give it back to him, and who had been wearing too big clothes, like the kind he was wearing right now. The guy who had been wearing the same clothes as …

… as …

Ochako watched them carefully from her spot near the school, thankful that neither of them had noticed or looked her way as they chatted. Izuku clearly knew him, she surmised, since he was talking pretty happily to him, not as though he were a stranger. And the necromancer dude seemed pretty cool with him as well, making a few friendly gestures with his hands and taking off his sunglasses, showing off his blue pupils and the black sclera that made up his eyes.

She watched as Izuku happily climbed into the truck, with the man climbing into the driver’s seat, and then watched them pull away, making her slowly move from her hiding spot. She moved to the sidewalk, eyes never leaving the white truck as it drove off, feeling a headache start to form as she clenched her fists.

She really needed to be careful what she wished for. She wanted someone to be responsible for Izuku’s tiredness?

She just found a pretty good contender.


Ochako, sweetie,

Sorry for us not being there to greet you after school, but your father and I got a call to come work at the site. The Midoriyas are also going to be out until late, but Inko left you a meal in her fridge, you can get in with your key. We won't be back until very late, so be sure to lock up the apartment after ten, leave a note for us if you’re going to stay over on the Midoriya’s couch, and we'll see you tomorrow.

Love,

Mama

 

Letting out a small sigh, Ochako put the sticky note back down on the counter and glanced at their fridge, feeling a small frown come to her face as she absently drummed her fingers on the counter.

So not only were her parents out at work, but Izuku and Inko were also out. So that meant that she had the night to herself. Normally she’d probably head next door with the family’s laptop, watch some funny videos and laugh the night away until she had to come back and go to bed (her parents were relieved that Inko let them come over to use the internet - that would be one less bill they had to worry about, even though they always fought with Inko to help her pay her own), but for some reason, she didn’t feel happy to have either apartment to herself.

She just … felt lonely.

No, scratch that, Ochako pouted, she knew the reason why she wasn’t happy to be alone.

Izuku.

Shaking her head, Ochako turned around and began walking back down the hall and out the apartment, wanting to go next door to eat the dinner Inko had prepared for her a little earlier. Just like the last two weeks, Izuku hadn’t walked home with her, but at least she knew the reason this time - it was probably because of whatever it was he and Inko were doing tonight. That, and it was probably due to yesterday, where they ate dinner in silence, and she left immediately afterwards to do her homework, thinking of their little scene in his classroom earlier that day. But still, she couldn’t help but feel a little hurt that she had the entire night alone for once.

But there was one thing she couldn’t get out of her head, not since yesterday.

The tall, blonde guy that had picked Izuku up from school yesterday. The same guy that had brought him his backpack after what had happened with the sludge villain. The guy who had been wearing an oversized white shirt and green pants, the exact same as …

… All Might.

She wasn’t in denial, Ochako thought with a frown as she closed her apartment door behind her to head over to the Midoriyas. She knew what she was thinking was beyond silly. That somehow - in some way - this sketchy, skinny blonde guy and the goddamn Symbol of Peace were one and the same. But it had to be impossible, she shook her head as she used her spare key to unlock the Midoriyas’ door, completely and utterly impossible. There was no way that All Might, a huge, towering mass of muscle and big grins, was the withered, frail looking guy that brought Izuku his backpack, a guy that looked like he could’ve been sent flying by a strong gust of wind.

But … but the hair, even if they were in different styles. The eyes, the black sclera. The fact they were both giants - and if Ochako looked it up, she could probably figure out if they were the same height.

Ochako let out a tired groan as she walked into the Midoriya household, closing the door behind her and moving down the hall into the kitchen. As impossible as she thought it was, she couldn’t deny that … that evidence seemed to be suggesting that this weird bony guy was All Might.

But honestly, if he was All Might … it just raised more questions than ever.

If the skinny necromancer guy and All Might are the same person, then why was he picking up Izuku of all people after school? Was - was this the reason her best friend had been so absent recently? Being picked up by this guy to go do … whatever it is that he does? But if this guy was All Might, what on earth would he want with Izuku? And why was Izuku leaving so early in the morning?

God, and to think that she thought that this was going to be pretty simple from now on once Izuku had told her he intended to apply for UA, Ochako thought miserably as she took out the plate of food Inko had prepared for her from the fridge, unwrapping it and walking over to the microwave. She had thought that once they had affirmed that they were both attending UA, they would get together, talk a bit about a plan, and then start training together. That the next year would be fun, with her practicing her quirk and he his, and then working out. That’s what she thought would happen.

But now … now Izuku was pulling away from her, leaving the apartment early in the morning before she was even awake, and doing things by himself. He was distant at lunch, and didn’t even really talk much at dinner. It felt like …

… like she was losing her best friend.

No matter what, this tall, skinny necromancer dude was obviously involved, she thought as she pressed the button on the microwave, watching her food heat up. She couldn’t deny that. But as to how, she had no idea. She wasn’t sure if he was really All Might, but if he was … what could he be doing with Izuku? Could the Symbol of Peace be taking him around the city and - and maybe showing him the ropes? Or doing vigilante stuff with -

“No,” Ochako scoffed a bit out loud, shaking her head and getting that thought out of her head. No, no way that would be the case. If All Might was dragging some kid around doing hero work or making him do the work, the news would be on it like flies on a carcass. No way that was possible.

But … but still, Ochako felt conflicted. She knew Izuku was doing something, that this skinny dude was involved, but she had no idea if she should even ask. She remembered her thoughts from earlier, about how she didn’t want to poke her nose into his business and give him a reason to get angry at her - but she was worried, she was tired, and she was feeling more than a little stressed about this situation than necessary.

She didn’t want to do something to harm their friendship. But she didn’t want to stand on the sidelines and watch as he got himself into trouble.

So what should she -?

RIIIIING

She was knocked out of her angsting thoughts by the sound of the phone ringing behind her. Yelping a bit as the relative silence of the apartment was shattered, Ochako looked around, eyes widening a bit - and then jumped again as the microwave finished heating up her dinner, dinging and making her yelp again.

Cursing, Ochako first opened the microwave to take out the hot plate, wincing and cringing as she put it down on the counter and waving her hands in the air, and then hurried over as the phone continued to ring. She should probably check who was calling - maybe it was Inko trying to call home for some reason, or if not, she could at least make sure she knew who gave them a call and let Inko know when she got back, and she could call them back.

Wrinkling her brow, Ochako bent over to check the name display on the phone - and then felt a smile grace her face for the first time that day, and instead of moving backwards, reached out and grabbed the phone, lifting it up and bringing it to her ear.

"Hello, Midoriya residence?"

"Huh? Who is this? A thief?! What have you done with Inko and Izuku, you animal?!"

“I’ve stuffed them inside a closet,” Ochako giggled, leaning against the small desk the phone was kept on, “and now I’m searching your apartment, looking for that five thousand yen bill you have hidden somewhere. I’m gonna start with the work desk and go from there.”

“I knew I should’ve never shown you that bill,” Hisashi chuckled over the phone, and she heard the sound of him sitting down in a leather chair, “I should’ve known that you’d wait for the first opportunity you had to go snooping around for my money. No morals, Ochako, that’s your problem.”

“You shouldn’t make it so easy to steal from you, then. And I have plenty of morals! If I didn’t, I’d have gone through the secret stash of chocolate you keep in the fridge a long time ago - and it’s been tempting.”

“I have that stuff counted by the bar, Miss Uraraka, steal from it at your own peril.”

“I fear no man!”

“Ha! How are you, Ochako?”

“I’m good,” Ochako smiled a bit as she turned to lean against the wall - she’d known her neighbors long enough that Hisashi felt like an uncle to her, even if he’d scarcely been there over the years due to his work overseas. It was always nice to hear his voice, and whenever he did come home, he always treated her and Izuku to some ice cream, despite all of her protests and how he sometimes had to literally drag her out the door. “How are you, Hisashi?”

“I’m doing okay - work’s been torture all week, this is usually the season we see a big increase in part purchases, and we’ve had a few resignations over the last few weeks that I’ve had to take care of. Never a day of rest for Yaoyorozu Corporations. Anyway, how are you, Ochako? School been exciting, or is it the same old, same old?”

"It's ... been okay," At that, though, she felt her smile slip off her face, reminded of all her problems in these last few weeks, but she quickly shook her head. “Uh - anyway, sorry Hisashi, were you calling to talk to Mama Inko? She’s kind of out right now.”

"Really?" Hisashi at least sounded surprised, Ochako hearing the sound of him leaning back in his seat. "That's weird, usually she's at home at this time - are she and Izuku out?"

"Yeah, she and ... and Deku are out doing something. I'm … I’m not sure what they’re up to, though."

"Ah. Well, that's fine - I’ll never complain about getting a chance to talk to you. I guess I’ll have to call again sometime this weekend - I’m on my break now anyways.”

Ochako winced in guilt at that - she knew how expensive international phone calls were, and having to make two in two days wasn’t exactly something to brush off. Still though, she couldn’t help but glance at the floor, still troubled by her own problems now that they were back on her mind, and feeling herself frown - and then Hisashi cleared his throat.

“Uh … Ochako? You still there?”

“O-oh!” She squeaked, straightening up from her spot on the wall and blushing, “Y-yeah, Hisashi, I’m here. Sorry, just - I just got lost in my head a little bit. Heh, heh.”

“... Ochako, are you sure you’re okay?” Hisashi asked, Ochako wincing at the ‘concerned dad’ voice he was using now, “You sound pretty off. Is something going on?”

“O-oh, uh … no, just …”

“You know anything you tell me stays between us, right? It’s alright.”

Ochako faltered at that, staring off into space as she thought … and then she sighed again, and leaned back against the wall. Maybe … maybe airing out some of her thoughts would help her find a solution, maybe.

“... Hisashi, can I ask you something dumb?”

“Well, as Inko always says, I am the expert on dumb,” Hisashi joked, chuckling a bit, “so yeah, shoot, hon.”

"Okay ..." She hesitated once more, before letting out another sigh and began to explain what had been bothering her for the last few weeks.

To his credit, Hisashi was an attentive listener, humming and ‘uh-huh’-ing every so often as she explained Izuku’s odd behavior, his distance and her worries that he was doing something stupid, making a concerned ‘hm’ when he heard that. She did decide to leave out the part about Izuku meeting the necromancer-looking dude - no need to get Hisashi so worried he’d fly all the way back from America to sock a complete stranger in the face, that was expensive. She’d tell Inko about him first and let her make the decision to tell Hisashi, or beat this guy’s ass herself. But still, she managed to explain mostly everything to her neighbor.

“... and it’s obvious that Deku’s trying to hide how tired he is, he always makes these stupid jokes when I catch him falling asleep or looking exhausted,” She explained, biting her lip in worry somewhat, “but when I decided to just ask yesterday, he deflected the question and wouldn’t give me a straight answer. He - he never hides anything from me, so I’m just - I’m worried.”

“Yeah, that is strange, Ochako,” Hisashi agreed, sounding a bit more serious than usual over the line as they discussed his son, “and you’re saying that he’s not telling anyone? Not Inko, or your parents?”

“No … but Mama and Daddy did notice that he’s been acting weird too, I heard them talking about it last night after dinner.”

“Huh … and you’re saying that … you’re not sure if you should talk to him about it?”

“Yeah. I’m …” She paused again, and then sagged a bit from her spot on the wall, “... I’m not sure if it’s my place to talk to him about it.”

“Your place? What do you mean?”

“Like … like I shouldn’t do it.” She muttered, glancing back down to the floor. “It’s not my business, and - and I’d only be bothering him if I tried to shove my way into it. I want to wait until he comes to me to explain, like - like a good friend would, but - but I’m really worried about what he could be doing, Hisashi. I’m - I’m not saying he might be doing something dangerous, but I know that he’s doing something that’s making him exhausted, and he won’t tell me about it at all. I just … I don’t know what to do, and I don’t want to feel like I’m entitled to his secrets, but - but I feel like he’s drifting away from me. I don’t want to lose him, but - but I don’t want to start a fight with him if he doesn’t want to tell me anything. I don’t know what to do.”

There was a small silence in the apartment, with Ochako whipping her eyes somewhat and sniffling, taken aback slightly and unaware that she had even begun crying. For his part, Hisashi kept quiet for a moment, letting her have a chance to calm herself down while she was aware of the sound of him shifting in his seat over the line.

“I understand, Ochako,” He said in a kind voice when he heard her take a few calming breaths, “that sounds … well, it sounds pretty hard, Izuku not coming to you with his problems. And yeah, I understand where you’re coming from. I know that you don’t want to risk making Izuku upset by poking your nose into his business.”

"Yeah ..."

"... but isn't that the essence of a hero? Or however it was Izuku said it."

At first, Ochako continued to stare glumly at the floor, not really registering what Hisashi said - and then it clicked. She blinked, straightening up and looking around at the phone she held up to her ear in confusion.

“H-huh?”

"Yeah, it's - oh, what was it Izuku said that one time ... I know it was when we were watching TV ... Crimson Riot was saving someone trying to commit suicide - oh! Right! 'A hero's job is to meddle when you don't need to'."

“A hero’s job -” Ochako wrinkled her brow, standing up from where she had been leaning heavily against the wall, “- wait are you - are you telling me that I should poke my nose into Deku’s business?”

"Hm … y’know what? Yeah, I am. You have the official Hisashi Midoriya approval to kick in my son’s door and demand answers."

"But - but wouldn't he -"

"'Won't he be angry at me'?" Hisashi guessed for her, chuckling when he heard Ochako make an embarrassed noise at being so easy to predict, “Ochako, I want you to say that out loud, and think about my son being seriously angry at you. Go on.”

"'Won't he be' ..." Ochako started to repeat as instructed, and then faltered and wrinkled her brow. Now that she was saying it out loud - would Izuku actually be angry at her for this? Her? His best friend? Wouldn't he be -?

“... are you saying that I should just … ignore what my gut’s saying and find out what he’s been doing?”

"Yeah," Hisashi said simply, "you really should. Because you're worried about him, you think he's doing something stupid, and he's not telling anyone what it is, not just you. You know that if I was home while this was happening, I wouldn't be letting this fly. So I give you permission to act in my stead and discipline him as I would. Just be sure not to ground him for too long, he needs to keep his grades up, after all."

"... but won't he be … upset at me?"

"Maybe he will. I can’t deny that you two have had fights before. But I know my son," He explained, "and I know that if you decide to cut it out with the bullshit and just demand an answer, he'll tell you. He cares about you, honey - a little too much, but that’s friendship for you. You two have had each other's backs for years now, there's no way that he won't tell you if you just decide to stop playing games and ask him what's going on. You'll have to be really blunt and confident about it, but he'll break."

"I ..."

"Ochako, I know you care about him. You wouldn't be so conflicted right now if you didn't. So I'm saying to stop beating around the bush, drag my son to some wall and pin him up against it, and demand to know what he's been doing and punch him if he tries to escape."

Ochako stared blankly at nothing for a moment, slowly blinking and nodding her head as Hisashi’s advice echoed around in her mind - and then she let out a small, shuddered sigh as she finished nodding her head and looked up.

"... I think I understand what you're saying, Hisashi."

"Oh, good."

"I'm going to beat Deku’s ass."

"... okay, on the other hand, maybe you don’t need to go that far -"

Ochako giggled a bit despite herself, and Hisashi faltered and grumbled when he realized he’d been had by his neighbor’s kid. Secretly though, he was relieved that he heard her noticeably lighten up.

"I ... thank you, Hisashi. Seriously. I ... I think I know what I have to do now," She smiled a bit as she moved to lean against the desk again, hearing Hisashi chuckle over the line as he leaned back in his chair.

"You're welcome, sweetheart. Now then, I should probably let you go and eat dinner, my break is almost over and it looks like my meeting with some floor supervisors is coming up soon, so I should gather up my notes. Say hi to Inko and Izuku for me when you see them, okay? After you’re done beating Izuku’s ass, of course."

Ochako giggled a bit and nodded. "I will. Bye, Hisashi."

"Bye, Ochako."

Smiling a bit, Ochako put the phone back down, disconnecting the call with a small sigh as she straightened up. She took a moment to run her hands through her hair, and then nodded sharply, feeling determination start to finally fill her as she turned around.

She had changed her mind, she thought with a frown as she marched over to grab her plate of food from the counter, intending to eat it at once, wash her plate, and immediately return to her apartment so she could go straight to sleep, even though it was only five in the evening.

She wasn't going to be staying up late tonight watching stupid videos. She was going to get up early tomorrow.

Very, very early.


… this idea was a lot better when she was actually awake. Now she hated everything.

Three in the goddamn morning. That was how early Ochako woke up. She had gone to bed at five o’clock, tossed and turned for about an hour, finally went to sleep at six o’clock, slept for nine hours straight, and she still felt like she’d only gotten an hour’s sleep. She blinked bearlingly at the ceiling as the echo of her phone’s stupid alarm rung in her ears, having abruptly woken her up a whole lot earlier than she would’ve liked, and forcing her to wake up fully to turn it off in case it woke up her parents and forced them to investigate.

Luckily for her, she could hear her father continuing to snore loudly through the walls, and if he was asleep, her mom one hundred percent was as well. 

Despite every part of her pleading to go back to sleep, Ochako let out a grunt as she used her feet to kick the covers off her, slowly moving to sit up and smack her lips, disgruntled. The need to find out what Izuku was doing at four in the goddamn morning overrode her need for more sleep. So she hazily got to her feet, swaying a bit before getting her focus back, and walked, still half-asleep, to the bathroom so she could wash her face and get the awful taste out of her mouth, and then get dressed to follow Izuku when he left in about an hour.

Once she had thrown a handful of water into her face to properly jolt herself awake, and quickly brushed her teeth, she quietly snuck back into her room, sighing as she reached into her closet to find her old tracksuit and running shoes. She didn’t know what Izuku was up to, but whatever it was, she needed to follow him quickly, so she needed something light and easy to move around in. And since it was like … four in the morning, she didn’t think a skirt and tights would keep her very warm. Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to find her sweat suit - a black, white and red top and dark track pants that she could wear, along with a white t-shirt and her pink running shoes.

One quiet and quick trip out to the kitchen later, wincing as she took two cereal bars for her breakfast (she felt a bit guilty for taking them, but she knew she wasn’t going to be in the mood for a proper breakfast later), Ochako slipped on her running shoes and sat down next to the front door, sighing as she slowly opened up her first cereal bar to eat, careful not to make any noise. She had checked her phone and saw that it was still 3:50, meaning that Izuku still had ten minutes until he left - and she would be listening, and once he left, she’d be following.

Hopefully she wouldn’t fall asleep at her spot at the door - because not only would she miss her chance to follow him, it would be awkward to explain to her parents why they would find their daughter passed out against the door the first thing in the morning.

Still though, at least these last ten minutes gave her a little time to think about ... how exactly she was going to go about confronting him.

The thing was, she knew that she would follow Izuku and find out what he was doing - the problem was that she really didn’t know how exactly she was going to talk to him about it. Would she … no, she definitely had to talk to him about it, she couldn’t just check out what he was doing and move on with her day. But what would she say to him? What if she was angry? No, no way, she shook her head. She was worried for him, not angry at him. She wanted to make sure that she didn’t get angry at him - although if he was doing something dangerous, she’d give him a good smack on the head.

She tried to ignore her doubts - even though Hisashi talked her into doing something about it, she still was worried about how Izuku might react to her following him and trying to shove herself into his business. But how would she go about it, to make sure he doesn’t get angry at her? Would she talk to him alone? Tell her parents what was happening? Tell Inko? Would she -?

"Ochako?"

The brown-haired girl let out a squeak in terror at the low and tired voice coming from the end of the hall near the kitchen, and quickly snapped her head up as the light turned on, making her wince a bit at the brightness. Standing in the hall was her mom, rubbing one of her closed eyes and yawning widely as she observed the odd position she found her daughter in.

Curse Ochako and her stupid ‘careful what she wished for’ bullshit! First looking for a guy to punch two days ago, and now her mom finding her like this! What was her fucking luck?!

"M-Mama," Ochako gulped nervously, trying to act casual even as she sat on the doormat beside the shoe rack. "You, uh - why are you awake? Y-you should still be in bed -"

"So should you," Miwa noted in a tired voice, raising an eyebrow when her daughter noticeably winced, "so why are you sitting against the door?"

“I - uh -” Ochako froze up, not really sure what she could tell her mother to appease her as Miwa wrapped her robe a bit tighter around her and walked forwards, frowning down at the position she found her daughter in. There was another grunt around the corner, and Ochako sank her shoulders when her dad poked his head from where their bedroom was, yawning as well and wrinkling his brow, his hair almost as messy as his daughter’s.

"Why's Chipmunk makin' so much noise?" He managed to grumble out, looking confusedly down at his daughter as she shrank up, moving forward as Miwa also gave her a concerned look, "It's - *yawn* - it's four in tha mornin', why aren't we all asleep?"

"Daddy, I - uh -" Ochako faltered again, glancing between her parents as they observed her on the floor, trying hard to come up with a believable excuse so that they would just go back to bed - and then she sighed and slumped her shoulders, turning her gaze glumly to the floor.

"... I was gonna wait for Deku to leave today, and then follow him to wherever he's been going."

Taiyo and Miwa blinked at that, looking at each other with a bit of surprise while their daughter continued to study her feet. For a moment they were quiet, until, with a small sigh, Taiyo moved forward and nudged his daughter with his foot, prompting her to scoot over and give him a spot on the floor next to her, grunting as he lowered himself to sit down. Miwa likewise imitated her husband and sat on Ochako’s other side, the three of them getting comfy and letting Ochako eat the cereal bar she had opened, while Taiyo let out another yawn and gave his daughter an amused look.

"Finally ran outta patience, huh?" He chuckled a bit, shaking his head while his daughter blushed in embarrassment. "Well, Chipmunk, don’t feel too bad about it - I was abou' one day away from doin' the exact same thing you are. Had what I was gonna do planned out and everythin'."

"... really?'

"Really. I was gonna wait until he left, then jump in my truck, pull up beside him, and ask him, ‘oi, wan’ a lift?’. I’d get to watch him flail and go bright red and everythin.” Taiyo shook his head with an affectionate smile as he leaned against the door. “After tha’, I’d take ‘em to the usual park and sit ‘em down, and ask if everythin’ is okay. I take it you’re doin’ the same thing?”

“Kinda?” Ochako shook her head while Miwa smoothed out her messy hair, not even trying to fight off her mom’s soft hands patting down her messy brown locks, “I was … I was gonna follow him wherever he goes and just - you know - wing it.”

“Hm,” Miwa shook her head in amusement, leaning forward and kissing the side of her daughter’s head, “‘wing it’. Right.”

"I was!"

“Of course, sweetie. Just be sure not to punch him too hard, okay? You know how easily that boy bruises.”

“I wasn’t … I don’t wanna punch him,” Ochako muttered, going a bit red again as she wrapped her arms around her legs. “I’m just … I’m really worried. I just wanna see what he’s been doing and why he’s so tired all the time, and … and I just need to know what’s going on.”

“We understand where you’re coming from, dear,” Miwa smiled, leaning forward to kiss her cheek while Ochako grumbled in embarrassment, “and of course we’re worried about him, too. You two weren’t the only ones that were about to put your foot down - I was going to arrange a sleepover and go to bed on the couch in his apartment, and when he tried to leave I was going to stop him and tell him to tell me what was going on. I had the crocodile tears planned and everything.”

“Woof,” Taiyo chuckled while Ochako reluctantly giggled, “and I thought my plan was harsh. You know that boy hates seeing you cry, Miwa.”

“That was the point, darling,” Miwa giggled as well, “that boy won’t dare let me cry for too long, that’s my advantage.”

“Heh,” Ochako shook her head, smiling, “like you’re his mom.”

"Of course he’s your mom’s kid," Taiyo gave her a good-natured smile, wrapping his arm around his daughter and bringing her in for a side hug, "he's as good as, anyway. Same for me, that boy’s pretty much mah kid at this point. We're as concerned for ‘im as you are."

"... I know," Ochako muttered, her smile falling, "and ... and I just wanna make sure he's okay, and that he's not ... he's not doing something stupid. I know that this is - this is probably a big invasion of privacy, and - and that he might get angry at me for this -"

"Sweetie," Miwa shook her head, "he'd never get mad at you for this. He'll understand, I know it."

Ochako still looked unsure about that, about to open her mouth to ask if there was something they were all overlooking - 

- and then the three of them became aware of the sound of a door opening quietly next door.

At once, the three Urarakas snapped their gazes behind them as they heard the door quietly close again, and Ochako felt her heart begin to slam in her chest at the sound of feet walking past their door to the elevator. Before any more doubt could fill her heart or she could second guess anything else, however, her parents got back to their feet, smiling softly to each other, and grabbed her by the arms to drag her up to her feet.

Ochako let out a yelp at the sudden violence as Miwa kissed her cheek again and Taiyo ruffled her hair, and then her mom softly opened the door and let her husband push her out into the early morning.

"Just remember," Taiyo winked at her, "he bruises easily."

With that, the Urarakas closed the door on their daughter. Letting out small sighs, they leaned up against the door, chuckling a bit between each other as they closed their eyes - and then Miwa pouted, and pointed her hand directly in Taiyo’s face, making the man stutter.

“What was that about ‘he’s as good as our kid’?” She narrowed her eyes, aware of Taiyo rolling his own eyes, “I told you a hundred times, Taiyo, do not make Ochako see Izuku as a brother figure or family of any kind.”

“Good lord, Miwa, I’ve told ya a hundred times,” Taiyo chuckled as he locked the door behind Ochako, and followed his wife back into the kitchen, “yer too impatient. Ya just gotta wait, they’ll figure out they’re in love sooner or later.”

“Taiyo, Inko and I have been waiting for ten years now,” Miwa whined a little bit, moving to go open her purse and rummage around for her phone, “I ran out of patience at the seven year mark. I’m ready for at least a little development.”

Taiyo chuckled as he grabbed the brita filter from the fridge, taking a glass from the counter to pour himself some water. He glanced behind him at his wife as she spotted her purse with an ‘aha’, bending down to grab it - and Taiyo found his gaze wandering down. It was probably due to how early it was, but Taiyo felt himself smirk as he leaned against the counter, glass in his hand as he suddenly felt quite thirsty.

"So, we're both awake now."

"Yes, we are," Miwa agreed absently, still looking for her phone inside her purse.

"Four in the mornin’, no chance of us gettin' back to bed at this point."

"You'd be right about that."

"And our chipmunk's out and about. Probably won' be back for a few hours at least, knowin' how serious this conversation'll be."

"Mm-hm."

"So ... in tha’ case -"

"Only if you give me a massage first."

While Miwa tried not to smirk too much when she heard her husband groan and slump against the counter, Ochako felt herself freeze up slightly as she stood outside in the early morning air, shivering slightly - but the sound of feet shuffling away from her drew her attention. She knew Izuku was leaving - and now that she was out here and doing it, she could feel her doubts and fears start to die down. She needed to follow him to figure out what the hell was going on. So with a deep breath and pausing to slap her cheeks, Ochako squared her shoulders, and began moving down the breezeway after her best friend.

The plan was quite simple - keep her distance and follow her best friend to wherever it was he was going, and then confront him when they were there. She didn’t have to worry too much about him noticing her follow him - the boy was observant when it came to tiny details about heroes, but when she wanted to sneak around, he suddenly developed the awareness of a brick wall. It was a very easy plan, simple enough -

- which became a slight problem when they reached the bottom floor of the apartment, moving to the edge of the parking lot, and Izuku, unaware of Ochako watching him while hiding behind a car, took a deep breath and took off on a jog.

Ochako let out a sputter when she realized that he was moving a lot quicker than she expected, and then let out her own small groan as she smacked her cheeks again and, feeling determination course through her, took off after him in her own jog, careful not to let her footsteps sound too loud as she chased after her best friend.

And ... holy shit, it was times like these that she forgot how out of shape she was. Twenty minutes of chasing Izuku in the early morning left Ochako tired beyond all imagining, taking several shaky and gasping breaths as she stumbled after him. It was a good thing that Izuku seemed to be in his own little world, enjoying an early morning jog, or else he would've heard Ochako's loud haggard breathing and groaning behind him as the two of them ran as light began to slowly emerge in the sky. Ochako tried her hardest to keep up with his pace, even briefly pausing to use her quirk on her clothes and shoes - in the mindset that decreasing the pull of her clothes would help her run without gravity being a thing to affect her. 

Which ... really didn't help in the long run, Ochako grunted as she tripped over herself chasing him.

And then … an unknown time later, she lost him.

Ochako let out a tired whine as she stumbled to a stop in some neighborhood, quickly looking left and right while panting raggedly and gasping for air. Where did he -?! One minute she was looking down at the ground and trying not to trip on her own two feet, and the next he upped and vanished into thin air! Where the fuck did he go?!

Letting out a tired groan, she tried to calm down the hammering of her heart as she looked around for where her best friend ran off to, grumbling as the sky continued to light up, indicating that - god, had she really been chasing Izuku for an hour?! She left at four, when it was still pitch black, and now - now the sun was starting to rise in the distance, showering the neighborhood with -

- wait.

Where exactly is she?

Ochako couldn’t help but gulp a bit as she looked around, going slightly pale. She … had no idea where she was, or how she even got here. And - and she didn’t have her phone, or wallet, or - or anything! Fucking son of her ass! Oh, shittin’ fuck! Shit in her asshole! Fuckin' fuck fuck!

Letting out a small whimper, Ochako quickly shook her head and tried to get in control of herself, straightening up and trying to will her fear down as she pressed her fingers together, releasing her clothes from her quirk. She just needed to calm down, she reminded herself as she walked out onto the road, walking down the sidewalk past the cars that were already on the road and heading for work.

She needed to keep calm and look for a landmark. That was what her dad always told her in case she got lost, look for a landmark to figure out where you are and backtrack from there. Clearing her throat a bit, Ochako strolled down the road, trying not to gulp too much at the large body of water on her left - something that she usually didn’t walk past. No, she needed to stay calm and look for something that might give her an indication as to where the hell she was.

She continued on like that for about ten minutes, shaking a bit as she continued moving down the road looking for anything, anything that might give her some indication where she was and how to get home …

... and then she came upon a sign, reading it and blinking a bit in confusion.

"’Dagobah Municipal Beach Park’?" She read out loud, looking up from the sign to the large heaps of garbage that towered over her, wrinkling her brow. 

That does ... not look like a municipal beach anymore. It looked more like a trash yard that got gathered up and dumped onto the beach, more like.

Still though, she could see a single truck parked in the lot, so maybe someone was there and could give her instructions on how to get back in the general direction of her apartment. And if they were sketchy, Ochako squared her shoulders, she could handle them easily with her quirk.

Letting out a small sigh, she strolled down the empty parking lot towards the truck, looking around for anyone to call out to and talk to. As she neared the truck, however, she felt herself falter in her step somewhat, staring at the white pickup truck in confusion. There was … something familiar about it, making her blink and look at the vehicle obviously meant to move things around. Did that mean that there was someone here clearing up some of this garbage?

Before she could recognize it, however, she suddenly heard shuffling, and the sound of someone grunting as they moved up to the parking lot from the beach.

Gulping a bit and hoping that she looked somewhat presentable (which would’ve been tough seeing as she was currently covered in a layer of sweat from running for an hour), Ochako was about to call out a greeting, trying her best to smile -

- and then she froze in her tracks.

... Izuku?

Indeed, his face was currently hidden by a printer he was carrying on his shoulder, but there could be no mistake that it was her best friend, carefully walking up the steps of the beach and grunting as he held the large printer up in the air. She watched blankly as he made his way towards the truck, unaware of her presence, and threw it in, the large printer landing with a crash that made her jump a bit in surprise. She watched as he let out a satisfied and relieved sigh, wiping his brow with his sleeve, and turned back to look at the rising sun.

It was the look on his face, however, that took her aback the most. He looked content, he looked happy, he looked … he looked a lot more alive than he had in the last two weeks.

And … it was because of …

"Deku?"

The moment her nickname for him left her lips, Ochako winced - she hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but the utter confusion of watching him carrying a printer into this truck - the weird guy’s truck, she finally realized with her eyes widening - took her entirely aback. Still though, it was too late for her to hide, or let Izuku pretend that he was hearing things, because the moment she softly called his name, Izuku froze up.

She watched the warm, happy look he had on his face watching the sunrise immediately wipe away, replaced by nothing but fear and surprise. Slowly, he turned his head, and stiffened up even more as Ochako took a tentative and unsure step towards him.

Oh, god, she thought while her stomach felt like it was filling with lead, he looked so afraid of her right now.

"Deku, what are you doing?" She asked in a quiet voice, finally finding her courage to walk over and stand beside him. Up close, she saw him begin to sweat even more, a sure sign that his sweat glands, as usual, were overworking as he shrunk up.

"I - uh - O-Occhan. What -" He fumbled through his words, evidently trying to get over his surprise (and maybe fear) of seeing her here and refocus, "- it, uh - h-hi. What are - uh, what are you doing here?"

“I …” She hesitated again, glancing off to the side briefly and finding herself lost for words - but then she thought of all the times he had ditched her over the last two weeks, how tired he’d been, how pain-filled his steps were sometimes, and his deflection of her inquiries, and …

… and she realized she had enough of these games. And she wasn’t going to play them anymore.

"... I followed you here from home."

“W-what?!” Izuku balked, taking a step back as Ochako slowly nodded and steeled her heart, and turned back to him, eyes becoming determined as she balled her fists. “You - you followed me all this way? O-Occhan, why -?”

“Deku, what are you doing?” She decided to cut to business, ignoring how her heart hurt when he noticeably winced at the question. “Why are you - are you cleaning the beach? Is that what you’ve been doing?”

"I - uh -"

"Deku, what is going on?" She continued to press, seeing how much he was sweating and furrowing her brows as she gave him the Danger Pout, knowing that he’d be unable to withstand its adorable effects for long as he turned away from her, shielding his eyes as though she were the sun. "I - I hate that I have to pressure you into telling me something, but at this point, I don't think I have much of a choice."

"O-Occhan -"

"And - and I know that I'm not entitled to know," She shook her head, feeling guilt briefly break through her defenses before she managed to shove it down, "but Deku, you can’t pretend that you haven’t been running yourself into the ground, and - and it’s because of this?” She gestured around at the large mountains of garbage, biting her lip, “Deku, why are you cleaning this place up?”

"I - I uh - O-Och-”

"Look, you can just -"

"Sorry for the - ergh - worry for the wait!"

At the sound of an unfamiliar voice coming up from the beach, Ochako blinked a bit while Izuku went stiff as a statute, and equally as pale, and looked around - 

- and then she felt her eyes widen, and her mouth thin.

“I - okay, holy crap, hold on -” The orange-haired girl grunted as she carefully walked up the stairs, lifting the printer about the same size as Izuku’s up to her face so that she couldn’t properly see what was going on. As she carefully made her way to the truck, Izuku continued to comically pale, looking like all of the blood in his face was draining away, and quickly snapped his gaze to the ground as Ochako slowly turned her gaze from the struggling girl to her best friend, feeling the life drain out of her eyes and her mouth somehow thin even more into a comically straight line.

“And - there!” The new girl grunted as she threw the printer into the truck alongside Izuku’s, taking a moment to wipe her forehead as she grinned down at it. “Whew, that was a lot heavier than I thought it was going to be. So Midoriya, what I’m thinking is that instead of dumping the rest into the truck, we move the large one together first, so we can make some room for the rest so there’s actually space for them, and then we caaaaaan …”

The reason she trailed off, of course, was due to her finally looking around at the green-haired boy - and seeing Ochako standing right beside him, glaring a hole into his head while he raised his fingers to nervously tap together. The smile the orange-haired girl had been wearing completely slipped off her face, looking completely taken aback by the appearance of Ochako.

Izuku, meanwhile, continued to positively shrink at the cold stare Ochako was giving him while the orange-haired girl went equally pale.

"... uh ... h-hi!" She tried to squeak, finally drawing Ochako’s attention back to her and making her frown a bit - oh god, she was gorgeous, Ochako couldn’t help but think, and she looked so much more fit than she was - wait, where was this coming from? And why was her stomach feeling so full of lead right now? "I, uh ... I didn't see you there!"

"Yeah," Ochako curtly nodded, before returning her gaze to Izuku and making him pretty much shrivel up, "hi."

"Ah ... um …”

Ochako could tell that the orange-haired girl was completely caught off guard - and honestly, she got it, she sighed. She looked back around at the new girl, not too sure what to make of her glancing between Ochako and Izuku with a weird look on her face, as though she wasn’t sure about them, and decided to backtrack a bit.

“S-sorry for - I’m sorry for interrupting, uh … whatever this is,” She at least tried to give her an apologetic look while Izuku continued to look smaller and smaller by the minute, Ochako soon flickering her gaze to the ground, “I was just - I was following Deku from home, and - and I just wanted to know what you - what he was doing here. I’m not sure why he’s dumping printers in the back of this truck, and -”

"'Deku'?"

Ochako faltered when she heard that small mutter of Izuku’s nickname, and both she and Izuku looked up at the other girl - and Ochako couldn’t help but wrinkle her brow.

For a single moment, the orange-haired girl stared in shock at her, as though taken completely aback by what she just said - and then her face hardened. Ochako felt a bit confused when a look of aggression and disgust overcame the stranger’s face, looking at her like she was utter scum - but at that moment, she felt her confusion fade away, and replaced by annoyance. It was still early in the morning, hours before she was usually up, and getting glared at by a complete stranger didn’t exactly help her with her mood.

“What?”

"So I guess you're one of them, huh?" The girl crossed her arms, continuing to level a glare at Ochako. The brown-haired girl was taken briefly aback by the heat of the glare she was being given, but she felt her own resolve kick in, and returned the glare tit-for-tat, turning away from Izuku at last to face this stranger. They were both unaware of Izuku looking absolutely panicked and looking in between both girls as though he had been caught between two mountain lions, trying desperately to form his words but feeling unable to.

"I don't know what 'one of them' means," Ochako spat back, clenching her fists as the other girl scoffed, "and I don't know what you and Deku are doing here, but he's been acting really weird for the last two weeks, and I'm tired of him pretending he's fine. I’m asking for answers."

The girl narrowed her eyes even more, and uncrossed her arms.

"Midoriya," She said to Izuku while keeping her eyes locked on Ochako's, one heated glare meeting a cold one, "you remember what I said last night? About what happened whenever one of these pricks came after you? Well, I'm about to show you what happens to them from now on."

"Uh - wai- I - uh -"

"Prick, huh?" Ochako scoffed as well.

"Yeah," The girl’s eyes were filled with such obvious dislike that it made Ochako clench her jaw, seeing the muscular girl clenching her own fists, "prick. You. I got a lot of nicknames for people like you, but I'm settling on calling you a prick. We’ll escalate from there depending on how this conversation goes."

While Izuku sputtered, terrified at the misunderstanding manifesting right in front of him, it became clear that Ochako and this girl were beginning to square up - it was very early, and Ochako was feeling her own subdued anger over the last two weeks overcloud her rationality. She knew that there were a few things that she was missing here, but she was awake a lot earlier than she wanted, she was frustrated, and the way this girl was glaring at her made Ochako slap away any options to resolve this peacefully and settled on ‘fight’.

Izuku could only watch in horror as the two girls slowly approached each other, clearly looking for a fight as they cracked their knuckles, angry eyes never leaving each other.

"Alright," The orange-haired girl glared down at her - she was about Izuku's height, so Ochako’s forehead only came up to her mouth, but that just meant that if this turned ugly, Ochako could easily heatbutt her, "before this gets started, let's get one thing out of the way, shall we?"

"Shoot." Ochako crossed her arms as they stood right in front of each other, while Izuku slowly raised his hands to grasp two handfuls of his hair, comically horrified at what was about to happen as he desperately tried to correct the misunderstanding.

"You're never going to call him ‘Deku’ again."

"That right?” Ochako scoffed, not backing down as they got into each other’s faces. “And why's that?"

"You really gonna play dumb?" The girl growled as she raised a hand to poke her in the chest. "I know what that nickname means. What you people call him. You really think you can just call him that in front of me and not get punched in the mouth? You think you can bully him in front of me and not get the shit kicked out of you?"

... wait a minute.

At that last sentence, Ochako finally blinked, feeling some of her anger and the willingness to float this girl into the sun finally falter.

“Huh?”

"What the hell do you mean, 'huh'?" The girl was looking angrier and angrier by the moment while Izuku looked like he was slowly dying inside. "I know what you bullies call him - that stupid 'can't do anything' bullshit. Firstly, that's pretty fucking unclever - it’s literally preschool taunting, get some new material. Secondly, he's got an actual name - but you're gonna stick with Midoriya. If you ever call him that nickname again, I'm gonna throw you so hard into the ocean you'll have to be swimming back to shore for hours - assuming the sharks don’t get you first."

"Wait," Ochako said weakly, feeling the wind start to be taken out of her sails as she raised a weak hand, taking a step back, "I'm very lost."

"What?" The girl wrinkled her brow in anger, while Izuku shook in terror. "What could you be lost about? You called him by that stupid nickname, and he told me all about it last night. Come out here to bully him a few hours early, huh? And on your day off, too, no less. I thought you guys were assholes when Midoriya told me about you, but you gotta be really desperate if you can’t even wait for Monday to -"

"Kendou!" Izuku finally gasped out, getting his scrambled thoughts from Ochako’s sudden appearance, Itsuka’s interruption, and the two girls’ sudden willingness to throw down with each other organized so that he could actually speak, and ran forward to the two girls, raising his hands and looking frantic. "This isn't a bully! This is Occhan!"

For a few moments, the three of them were quiet in the parking lot, Ochako turning her gaze from the girl in front of her to Izuku as her mind promptly crashed, mouth dropping open like a goldfish over the fact that this apparent stranger knew her by her nickname. The girl’s look of intense anger slowly slipped off her face as well - and then she turned to look at Izuku as well, her eyes widening slightly.

"Huh?" She squeaked in confusion.

"This - this is Occhan," Izuku managed to get out, blushing bright red as he gestured to his best friend beside him, Ochako looking just as lost as the girl she was about to fight with as the two girls dumbly looked at him, "she - she calls me Deku, yeah, but - but the meaning for her is different. It's - it's a childhood thing, she - she means 'you can do it', she took it from the saying 'dekiru'. I call her ‘Occhan’ because that’s - that’s her name, and she - she calls me ‘Deku’ so I - I can associate that name with something good. T-that’s it."

There was another silence as the two girls turned their mutual stupefied gaze from the green-haired boy back to each other, Ochako.exe crashing and needing to reboot, and the orange-haired girl’s eyes widening even more as her jaw dropped.

"Oh, my god," The girl muttered, a flicker of red coming to her cheeks as she took a step back as well, getting out of Ochako’s face, "you're - oh, god, I - oh, shit, you're Occhan."

"Y-yeah," Ochako dumbly nodded, still not entirely sure what was going on anymore, "who ... are you?"

"I'm - oh, shit, this is embarrassing," The girl groaned, raising a hand to her eyes and turning away, hunching over slightly while Izuku went red, "I thought you - you were one of those bullies - but - I -" 

She managed to stop herself before she went off on a mutter spree of her own, and finally backed up so that she could lower herself into an apologetic bow to Ochako. 

"I - I am so sorry about - about threatening to throw you to the sharks. I thought you - you were one of the bullies Midoriya was telling me about."

"... who are you ...?"

"O-oh!" She gasped, quickly straightening up and throwing her ponytail behind her shoulder. "I'm - I'm Kendou. Itsuka Kendou. I've been training with Midoriya for the last two weeks."

There was a third and final silence in the parking lot - and Izuku and Itsuka immediately realized their mistake in her fluster when Ochako blinked.

“Training?” She said quietly, making Izuku stiffen up again and Itsuka raise her hand to her mouth when she let out a small yelp. “You’re … you’re training here?”

Slowly, she turned her gaze from Itsuka back to Izuku, seeing him begin to shake as his best friend’s face began to calm down - but it wasn’t a nice look that she was currently sporting. Instead it looked weirdly shaken, and she continued to blink rapidly.

"That's what you've been doing?" She asked him. "Training? With ... with Kendou here?"

"I - uh -" Izuku stuttered again for a moment, looking panicked and glancing around as though somehow hoping for an escape to this - but then a flash of guilt crossed his face. She watched as he slowly lowered his arms to his sides, his shoulders slumping, and then he muttered, “- yeah.” 

"That's ... that's the big mystery?" Ochako continued to ask in a quiet voice. "You've been training for the last two weeks? Here?"

"... yes."

"... you've been training ... without me?"

At that quiet question, Izuku winced, and finally looked back up - only to tear up at the look of hurt on Ochako’s face.

"I thought ..." She started to say, and then faltered, glancing back to the ground while Itsuka looked between the two of them, quickly closing her mouth and widening her eyes as she realized what was about to happen. "... I thought that you were ... you were doing something weird, or dangerous, and ... and wouldn't tell me about it. And I thought - I - I thought after you told me you wanted to go to UA too, we were - we were gonna work together."

"Occhan ..." Izuku continued to tear up, raising one hand to her as she took a step back.

"I just ..." She took a shuddering breath, turning away for a moment - and then she sharply shook her head, frowning at herself as she grimaced.

"... no, I ... I shouldn't have thought that. Honestly, I - I’m dumb,” She let out a weak and obviously fake laugh, “I should’ve realized that - that you were doing training. It - it makes so much sense. No crap you’re so tired, you’ve - you’ve been training. That makes so much sense.”

“Occhan …”

“It’s just - I - no, I’m - training together was just me assuming that was going to happen. That's - that would be selfish of me. Of course you - you would want to do independent training. I was just - I was just used to you coming with me to train my quirk, I thought it - it would be the other way around too. But no, I - I shouldn't have thought that."

"I - Occhan, please wait -"

“It’s okay, Deku,” She shook her head, turning around so she could hide her tears, “I - I shouldn’t have just thought we were training together. This is my fault. I get it, I - I do. It makes sense. You don’t want to train with me, I understand.”

"Wait, hold on -" Itsuka protested as Izuku continued to tear up, almost moving forward to take her shoulder as she began walking away, sniffling and making Izuku clench his fists, internally screaming at himself for how stupid he’d been for the last two weeks.

“No, no, it’s - it’s okay, I - I’m not trying to guilt you or anything, Deku, I should’ve realized. I - I’m sorry for interrupting you two, and - and for following you, Deku, I shouldn’t have done that. I’ll just - I’ll go home.”

"Occhan, wait -!"

“Deku, seriously, it’s -”

"I am here with donuts!"

At the sound of a very deep, happy and joyful voice coming from behind her, Ochako felt her step falter. It wasn’t due to a third voice coming out of nowhere that stopped her - it was because the voice was very, very familiar.

She turned, face still tearful and snot starting to come out of her nose, to see a tall, buff man strolling up the stairs from the beach with a large box of donuts in his hand, beaming happily as he imitated the other two and looked around at the garbage still on the beach - unaware of the three teenagers whipping around to look at him, Izuku and Itsuka feeling the color drain from their faces once again as they realized how complicated this was about to be, and Ochako felt her tears immediately stop flowing.

"Surprised?" All Might laughed a bit at his little tomfoolery, beginning to look around at his two apprentices. "I thought since you two had been doing so well, and since we pretty much dodged a bullet last night, I picked something up for you two to eat since you probably didn’t have much time this morning to eat a proper breakfast. So why don't we wash our hands in the bathroom sink, take a break, and we ... can ... get ... to ..."

The reason he faltered, of course, was because his gaze finally went to the two teenagers - and then snapped to the third unexpected one staring at him, Ochako feeling her eyes widen and her jaw drop. At once, All Might froze up, his smile not leaving his face but very noticeably stiffening up with the rest of him.

"Oh," All Might managed to say through his now gritted teeth, "shit."

Her hurt feelings of Izuku training without her and with a complete stranger completely faded away as she stared up at the pro hero before her, seeing him freezing completely up and stifling glancing at Izuku and Itsuka as though Ochako was holding a bomb - but it wasn’t his sudden appearance that made Ochako stand as still as a statue. No, nothing like that.

It was … it was the confirmation of what she’d been suspecting for weeks now.

"Er ... say, I know you!" All Might tried to salvage this as much as he could, despite how stiff and awkward the tall hero was. "You're - you're the young miss that Young Midoriya - er, I mean, this young man here, was with a few weeks ago. What're - uh - what are you both doing out here this early? With this - with this other young lady? You should know that during the weekend, students like you should sleep in a bit later so -"

"You're training Deku," Ochako said out loud, finally connecting the dots while the three of them cringed at the same time, “you’re the - you’re the one telling them to clean this beach.”

"I - uh -"

"You're the skinny dude," Ochako continued to have her slow burn meltdown, aware of All Might going even more stiff, mildly shaking a bit in terror of how much this tiny child knew, "the guy who - who brought Deku his backpack. You were wearing the same clothes as him that day, and - and they were too big on you. You're the guy who picked him up from school two days ago."

"Wait, you saw that?!" Izuku squeaked, while Itsuka turned a glare to the both of them for being apparently even bigger idiots than she previously thought.

"You're the skinny dude," Ochako slowly raised her hands to her hair, grabbing two fistfuls as her world was rocked, and Itsuka raised both of her hands to hold over her face, letting out a quiet groan as she slumped over, "you - the skinny dude is All Might."

"Uh, miss, I - please, I assure you -" All Might chuckled nervously, evidently losing his cool the longer this went on and desperately trying to figure out how to get out of this with his dignity intact. "- I am All Might, yes, but - er - the man you saw - he was a - a personal trainer that works with my agency. Yes, you must be - be mistaking me for Yagi."

There was a short pause in the parking lot, in which Ochako slowly closed her mouth and lowered her hands from her hair, and Izuku and Itsuka prayed that she somehow bought that weak excuse from the pro hero - 

- and then Ochako, without a trace of emotion in her voice, bluntly said, “Your height and eye color are exactly the same as his.”

All Might winced.

"Your hair color, length and texture are nearly identical, too."

Izuku let out a quiet groan.

"Your voices are also really similar."

Itsuka slapped a hand to her forehead.

“You two literally drive the same truck.”

All three of them slumped their shoulders.

"You're the freaky skinny guy, or I'm eating my foot."

Ochako watched without any amusement as the three of them slowly shrank, Izuku glancing at the ground in guilt, Itsuka turning her ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ expression to the sky, and All Might hunching his shoulders, looking quite silly holding the small box of donuts in both of his oversized hands - and then he sighed, and suddenly disappeared behind a puff of smoke.

“Well this is embarrassing,” He grunted, emerging from the smoke in his weakened form, and Ochako felt herself take a step backwards in shock at his sudden appearance. It was one thing to guess the truth, but seeing the tall, invincible hero suddenly become a weakened, thin and frail man took her aback. As he coughed up some blood, she felt a sudden wave of guilt pass through her, and quickly approached the man as he raised a hand to cover his mouth.

“I’m sorry -” She quietly apologized, patting his shoulder the best she could to comfort him - despite this being his weakened form, he was still quite tall, and she had to reach up - but to her surprise, the pro hero chuckled and patted her shoulder in turn with his free hand, having put down the box of donuts so he could grab a handkerchief from his pocket.

“No need to be sorry, young miss,” He smiled as he lowered his hand from his mouth, using the cloth in his other hand to wipe at his mouth, “in fact, I’m a bit impressed. Usually to reveal this form to someone, I have to give them an actual demonstration. I think you’re actually the first one who genuinely figured it out rather than having to make me show you. That’s a feat not even Young Midoriya or Young Kendou here had a chance to accomplish - those were cases of accidents or reveals on my part.”

"I don't know ..."

"Believe me, young miss, it is quite alright," All Might insisted, letting out a small sigh as he glanced around at his pupils, "well ... I suppose that you would like to know what exactly is going on here, miss …?”

"U-uh, Ochako Uraraka, sir.” She took a step back to give a quick bow, and then looked back up in obvious guilt and awkwardness. “And - and it's okay, I told Deku and - and Kendou here that I’m going to leave, I’m just poking my nose into your business. You really don't have to -"

"Nonsense," All Might waved his hand freely in the air, shrugging his shoulders when Itsuka and Izuku gave him a surprised look, "I suppose the cat's out of the bag now, so it’ll be much easier to just sit you down and explain what exactly we’re doing here."

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long for All Might to decide to just bring her up to speed on what they were doing at the beach - rather than make up a story on the spot, he instead gave her the same story that he told Izuku when the green-haired boy began training with Itsuka. Explaining that Itsuka was his successor took Ochako aback just as much as it had Izuku, although thankfully she had recovered a lot quicker than he had so All Might could continue to explain why Izuku was here as well. It was a relief that the moment All Might explained that he was helping Izuku train his quirk, the sad look that lingered on Ochako’s face since All Might had interrupted them in the parking lot had shattered completely, looking up at Izuku in realization and understanding as the boy continued to study the ground, obviously guilty about this technically being his fault.

As they sat down in the junkyard, Ochako sitting on an abandoned car while they surrounded her and ate the donuts (All Might passed on helping them eat through them, pointing out some dietary restrictions he had to abide by), Ochako slowly nodded as All Might finished his explanation, telling her about how they had to get permission to continue from both Inko and Itsuka’s parents, and soon they lapsed into silence.

Finally, Ochako let out a small sigh, raising a hand to her mouth to brush away some crumbs, and turned her gaze to Izuku, who continued to study the sand beneath his shoes.

“So … that’s why you couldn’t tell me?” She asked, “Because you were training with … with All Might’s successor?”

“... yeah,” He muttered, putting his hands in his pockets as he pouted at the ground, “but I … I should’ve told you something. I’m - I’m sorry.”

“Well … I’m not gonna lie, this isn’t exactly what I expected,” She was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit, “I knew you were doing something, I just - I never thought that it would be - something like this.”

As Izuku slowly nodded, Ochako felt a wave of guilt over her first interaction with All Might’s successor from earlier, and she let out a sigh as she hopped up off the truck, turning to Itsuka as the orange-haired girl watched her carefully, but she blinked when Ochako sank into a bow.

"I'm sorry, Kendou, about … you know, earlier," She apologized, glancing up at the orange-haired girl before her, "threatening to fight you and all that. I was just ... I know that I can't really excuse my behavior, but I was taking out some of my frustration on you, and ... and that wasn't cool of me."

"Hey, it's alright," Itsuka shrugged, giving her a weak smile as she waved her hand in the air, "honestly, I don’t exactly have any moral superiority here since I was five seconds from punching you too. I should've made sure I had all the facts before I - you know - got ready to fight you. I’m sorry, Uraraka, I'm normally not so confrontational."

"Really?" Ochako blinked, looking up at her while Itsuka gave her an awkward smile. “You seemed like you square up with … you know, bullies, every day.”

“I’ve had my moments,” Itsuka chuckled, but then grimaced, “it’s just … Midoriya told me the story behind the ‘Deku’ nickname, and when I heard you calling him that, I just …”

"Oh," Ochako gasped out, waving her hands in understanding, "oh, no, I get it, Kendou. Seriously."

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have ..."

"No, no, seriously, if anyone here’s at fault, it’s me." She shook her head, making Itsuka furrow her brow and All Might raise his eyebrow at their small argument about who exactly was at fault here. "I shouldn't have been so gung ho when I got here."

"I shouldn't have been so gung ho."

Both girls glanced at each other, feeling like they were going in circles while Izuku and All Might watched them - and then Itsuka giggled and sheepishly scratched the back of her head

"... how about we're both sorry about almost fighting, and call it even?"

"Yeah," Ochako laughed, "we can do that."

Izuku let out a small sigh of relief as the two girls shook hands, sharing a giggle - he had been afraid that they had a very bad first impression of each other and that would be how most of their interactions would go from now on, but he was thankful that they seemed to clear the bad air between them relatively easily. At least they weren’t going to be tearing each other’s heads off.

Although he couldn’t quite bask in the relative peace, seeing as Itsuka turned to him and gave him a small glare.

“You know,” She raised an eyebrow, “I hate to be all ‘I told you so’, but you really should’ve been a little more honest with her.”

"Erk."

"Yeah, Deku," Ochako couldn't help but laugh a bit, shaking her head at him as Itsuka crossed her arms with her own smirk, "you could've at least told me something."

“Oh, don’t even get me started with this guy,” Itsuka shook her head as well and turned her smirk to Ochako, seeing the brown-haired girl leaning back against the abandoned car, “I only just found out that he didn’t tell you anything about what we were doing last night. In fact, last night was the first time I learned you even existed.”

“Is that right?” Ochako raised her own eyebrow, looking back at Izuku with an unamused gaze while he shrunk again, and All Might did his best not to chuckle too loudly.

“That’s right. Actually, while we’re on this topic, there was something I wanted to confirm with you,” Itsuka joined Ochako in leaning against the abandoned car, both girls looking interestingly at each other while Izuku paled, realizing his mistake in getting these two introduced to each other, “just to make sure that Midoriya wasn’t underselling something he told me last night. Do you mind if I run something by you?”

"Oh no, go ahead." Ochako gave her a thumbs up.

"Cool. So we were talking about his social life last night, and he says that the entire school, with the exception of you, bullies him," Itsuka quickly brought her up to speed, seeing Ochako narrow her eyes somewhat, "and he told me that they don't hit him, they just call him names and the such. Is that true? The hitting part, I mean. I hate that they make fun of him, but I want to know if he was underselling the part about them beating him up."

"Hitting him?" Ochako repeated, glancing at Izuku while he gulped nervously, and then let out a small sigh. "Well ... it’s not all the time, but ..."

"I knew it!" Itsuka stomped her foot at once, whirling around and throwing a glare at Izuku while he squeaked. "Midoriya!"

"I - I don't -"

"It isn’t all the time," Ochako was quick to jump to Izuku’s defense, although she narrowed her eyes again, "but there have been a few instances where Bakugou or one of his cronies hit him to try and provoke him, or someone throws something at him. I tend to be the one to get in their faces for that, though."

"Bakugou?"

"Kacchan," Izuku muttered in a low voice, making Itsuka narrow her own eyes again.

"Ah. 'Kacchan'. Got it."

"You know about him?" Ochako asked, not sounding very pleased about where this conversation was going.

"I know the general story about him. I know enough about him that I hate his fucking guts."

"Oh, same!" The brown-haired girl nodded, getting fired up and balling her fists as Itsuka gave her an approving grin. "He's such a tool!"

"God, don't tell me he bullies you too?"

"Sometimes. Mostly because I get in his face and tell him to buzz off."

While the girls laughed and began to talk shit about Katsuki, Izuku thought that now was a safe time to finally look up at them, trying to gauge whether or not his best friend was going to throw him into space, or if his new friend was going to throw him to the sharks - and then he blinked when he got a good look at the two girls leaning against the abandoned car together.

Ochako ... honestly, he knew that due to her always sticking up for him and hanging out with him, she didn't have many friends outside of him. Okay, scratch that, he knew that, despite what Ochako always said, being friends with him really dragged down her social life. There were a bunch of girls that always shit-talked her, insulting her hair and the absence of makeup on her face, usually making insults that she couldn’t afford anything to make her pretty, and it always made him sad and angry to hear it. So seeing her chatting happily with Itsuka, both girls laughing together and mocking Katsuki - it did bring a small smile to his face, although guilt still coursed through him for his lying to Ochako earlier.

All Might himself seemed to enjoy the sight of them chatting as well, chuckling and walking over to stand with Izuku and watch them.

"It seems they're getting along," He hit Izuku’s shoulder lightly with the back of his hand, the boy chuckling a bit and glancing back at the two girls.

"Y-yeah," He nodded, still feeling a bit guilty for multiple reasons as he glanced up at the pro hero. "All Might, I really am sorry I - I wasn't careful enough with your secret, this is -"

"No, Young Midoriya, it's alright. I really meant what I said earlier - it seems that Young Uraraka here is far more clever than we gave her credit for," All Might shook his head, giving the brown-haired girl a fond smile, "there aren’t many people in the world that could the pieces together when it comes to my true form and my weakened form, and she is one of the very few to put the dots together with what little clues she had. I must say, I'm pretty impressed."

"Er - yeah. She’s - Occhan is amazing."

"Alright then," All Might clapped his hands together, getting Itsuka and Ochako's attention back on him as he walked forward and gave the brown-haired girl a serious look, "I hate to interrupt you both, but there are just a few things I need to get out of the way. I hope that I don't have to emphasize how important it is that you keep what happens here - my true form, and what exactly Young Kendou and Young Midoriya have been doing here - strictly to yourself."

"O-oh!" Ochako gasped, quickly nodding. "Of course, s-sir. I won't tell anyone."

"No need with the 'sir' stuff," Itsuka chuckled, giving her a small nudge as she gave her mentor a teasing look, "All Might isn't a 'sir'. 'No need to be so formal around me', I believe he said."

While the girls giggled together and All Might grumbled something about ‘no respect’, Izuku laughed stiffly, and glanced at his best friend again.

Sure, she was looking a lot happier than she did when she first arrived here, but Izuku still felt guilt coursing through him. Not to mention what she had said earlier about them training together. The way her hurt voice had stabbed him in the heart, and refused to stop ringing in his ears … Izuku let out a sigh as he straightened up, and took a second to shake himself out of his stupor.

"Uh ... Kendou, All Might," He muttered, going a bit red as all three of them turned to look at him in curiosity, "I’m sorry to interrupt, and I’m sorry if this seems rude, but can I ... can I talk to Occhan for a second? Alone?"

Both of them crinkled their brows a bit at this request, but Itsuka glanced back at Ochako to see her reaction. The brown-haired girl had blinked in surprise, but then she seemed to realize what he was asking, and stood up from the car, shuffling on her feet. Itsuka then picked up on what Izuku was subtly asking for - a chance to explain himself to his best friend.

Nodding quickly, Itsuka stood up and quickly took All Might by his scrawny arm, pulling him away while the pro hero sputtered a bit as he was dragged away from the two of them, but he seemed to catch on quickly and followed her back into the trash heap, giving the two best friends some much needed privacy.

Now that they were alone, Izuku let out a small sigh, and looked back around at Ochako. The smile had faded from her face, and she was quiet, slowly moving away from the abandoned car she had been leaning against, and for a moment, they were both silent as they looked each other in the eye. As Izuku wrung his hands together, he sighed and glanced back down at the ground.

“I …” He faltered for a brief moment, and then took a shuddered breath and quietly muttered, “... I’m sorry, Occhan.”

"Huh?" She looked up at him, surprised. "S-sorry?"

"Yeah. For worrying you," He explained, "and - and for keeping this from you. I knew that you were worried, but - but I never really considered how much this must’ve been hurting you. I’ve been a terrible friend to you, and - and I didn’t do anything to assure you even when I knew that you were being hurt by me. I’m - I’m so sorry.”

"N-no, Deku, it's okay!" Ochako tried to assure him, raising her hands to palate him as she took a step forward, "I - okay, I’ll admit I was a little hurt and angry about you keeping a secret, from me, but - but that was just me being stupid. And now that I know what you’re really doing here, it’s fine! I completely understand why you were keeping this a secret. You don’t have to -”

"I lied to you," He interrupted her quietly, making Ochako falter at the look of misery on his face, "I ... I tell you everything, but I hid this from you. I know I had my reasons, but ... but I hurt you."

"Deku, that's ..."

"I'm so sorry," He teared up, "I ... I hate that I hurt you, and ... I'm so sorry."

He continued to stare down at the sandy ground, not even sure what to say to his friend now that she knew what an idiot he was - and then he felt her hands gently take him by his biceps. He glanced up to see her giving him a kind smile, and before he knew it, she took another step forward and wrapped him up in a tight hug, putting her face down on his shoulder and squeezing her arms around him gently.

Izuku hesitated for only another moment, and then he sniffled and wrapped his arms around her waist, hugging her back and putting his head down on the top of hers - and unknowingly making Itsuka balk at the pair of them in the background, wondering how the hell he was suddenly touching a girl and not exploding into a blushing mess like when she touched him.

While they embraced each other, Ochako nuzzled into his shoulder.

“Deku, I swear that it’s okay now.”

"It's not, though," He shook his head, blinking tears out of his eyes.

“Well, you can say that it’s not fine however many times you want, and I’ll keep telling you that it’s okay.” She insisted, giving him another small squeeze, “Yeah, I was hurt by you keeping a secret from me, but that secret was that you were training with All Might’s freaking successor. That’s way more important than making sure you don’t hurt my feelings. I shouldn’t have just … if I really wanted to know what was going on, I shouldn’t have snuck around and followed you here, I should’ve given you time to come to me with an answer. This is way more important than you making sure I feel -”

"No," He shook his head, "I - I shouldn't have made you worry so much in the first place. This is my fault, Occhan, you don’t have to -"

"Deku," She was unable to stop herself from giggling, nuzzling into his shoulder again, "we keep going around in circles."

"... yeah," He chuckled half-heartedly despite himself, "yeah, I know."

“So in that case,” She lifted her head back from where she had rested it on his shoulder, looking up at him with a smile as he took a step back, continuing to keep their arms around each other, “how about we’re both sorry for keeping stuff from each other?”

“Okay … although my stuff is way bigger than your stuff -”

“Enough, Deku,” She gave him an unamused look, making him throw his hands up into the air in surrender and giving her a chance to giggle and step back from their hug. At least it seemed that he had calmed down, what with Izuku giving her a shaky but still happy smile as they stepped back from each other, letting Izuku wipe some of his tears away with the handkerchief from Ochako’s pocket (she forgot her wallet and phone, but she always carried something on hand for Izuku’s crying).

Once he was calmed down, though, Izuku felt his smile slip from his face, and he gave Ochako another guilty look.

"So ... you were expecting us to train together?" He asked in a quiet voice, and Ochako blinked in surprise at the small reminder of what she confessed before - and then she let out a weak chuckle, glancing away and raising a hand to rub against the side of her head.

"Kinda," She admitted sheepishly, going red, "I just kinda ... you know, I just assumed we would be working together for the entrance exam, but - but I didn't expect you'd have another training partner. But it’s okay!” She gave him a thumbs up, glancing around at the garbage, “Now that I’ve got a good look at this place, it’s really good that you’re training here - there's a lot of places here for you to practice your quirk. I’ll be okay training on my own, you don’t have to worry about me.”

"But ..." He trailed off, glancing uncertainly away from her as he clearly tried to figure out what to say here. Ochako tried to think of a way to assure him that she really was okay with him training here with someone else, and that she’ll be okay training on her own - and then he blinked.

She couldn’t help but blink in confusion in turn as Izuku straightened up, an idea clearly suddenly coming to him. He glanced at her, and then over to where All Might and Itsuka were waiting for them to finish up their conversation. And then back to her, and back to them. And then back to her, and back to them. During this time, she watched the gears in his head turning, looking somewhat conflicted and concerned, and then sure, and then determined as he nodded to himself, narrowing his eyes somewhat.

"Uh ... Deku?" Ochako asked, feeling confused by the look on his face, "What's -"

She didn't get time to finish her question, however, because then Izuku moved his hand down, not even thinking about it, and grabbed her hand in his, and began to pull her along with him. Ochako sputtered a bit and nearly tripped as she was dragged over to the other two waiting for them, but for some reason, his hand holding hers put an end to whatever thoughts she was having at the moment, feeling suddenly tongue-tied as he marched the two of them over to All Might, the pro hero looking a bit taken aback by the sudden seriousness on the green-haired boy’s face.

"Hey, um ..." Izuku said as he finally approached them, looking a bit intimidated for a moment but shaking his head, letting go of Ochako's hand while her face burned behind him, which made Itsuka glance between them with a smirk, "... I'm sorry for this, beforehand, but - but we were talking, and I was - I was wondering something."

"Er ... alright, Young Midoriya," All Might raised his eyebrow, while Itsuka glanced between the two of them a bit knowingly, "what is it?"

"I know that this isn't my place to ask this, but ..." Izuku hesitated, and took a moment to glance behind him at Ochako. She managed to fight down the weird blush that came to her face for some reason, and looked back at him in confusion and concern. That, however, seemed to steel his resolve, so he took a deep breath, and looked back at All Might and Itsuka with a determined look on his face.

"... I'd like Occhan to train here with us."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... sorry?" All Might blankly said.

"... huh?" Itsuka's eyes widened.

"... what?" Ochako blinked, and then she quickly shook her head, eyes widening as well as she waved her hands in the air. "O-oh, no, Deku, you don't -"

"All Might," He continued on, everyone seeing him start to sweat nervously as he tried to be as assertive as possible, and surprisingly not backing down, "Occhan is - she's also applying for UA next year, along with me and Kendou. I know that this would get really complicated with a third person training here, but she could also use some help getting ready for the entrance exam, the same as me.”

"Er - Young Midoriya -"

“And she’ll be able to keep the secret of what we’re doing here, the same as me. She’s super trustworthy, and can probably stay quiet even better than I can.”

“That’s … no offense, Midoriya, but that’s not saying much,” Itsuka pointed out weakly.

“And I - I know that I’m making - I’m making an unreasonable demand,” He admitted, blushing a bit while Ochako weakly pulled on his shoulder, trying to get him to stop, “and it’s not my place to ask you to accommodate us even more than you already have, but - but I know that Occhan can keep up with us, even if she’s two weeks behind. She’s been training her quirk since we were kids, and this would be a great place for her to work on it in a safe environment, the same as me. It’ll especially be good with you and Kendou here to spot her, since you both have strength-enhancement quirks.”

“Deku …” Ochako whined a bit, blushing bright red in embarrassment as Izuku went up to bat for her.

“She’s a hard worker, she won’t get in the way, and - and I just -” Izuku hesitated again, for a moment looking awkward and doubtful, before he shook himself out of it and quickly bent forward in a bow, “- please let her train here with us. Please.”

Once Izuku was done talking, there was a small silence in the junkyard, with All Might feeling a headache begin and Itsuka glanced between Izuku and Ochako - and then the pro hero let out a small sigh as he raised one hand to massage his forehead.

"Would you both excuse Young Kendou and myself for a moment?"

Izuku looked hopeful at that, and quickly nodded, and with that, the Symbol of Peace and Itsuka turned around so that they could go someplace private to talk. While Ochako immediately began whispering her protests to Izuku while the green-haired boy quietly argued back, All Might led Itsuka around the mountain of garbage for some privacy (both for them and the now arguing best friends). At last, they found a good enough spot, and All Might sighed as he looked around and gave her a weak smile.

"This has gotten very complicated very quickly, hasn’t it, Young Kendou?"

"Uh ... yeah, kinda," She shuffled on one foot awkwardly, glancing up at her mentor with an unsure look on her face, "so, uh ... what are you thinking, All Might? Should, uh - should we let Uraraka join us?"

"You're asking me that question?" All Might chuckled, unable to hide a smile as he put his hands in his pockets. "I was actually about to ask you that."

"... huh?"

"Young Kendou," All Might raised a hand to scratch his chin, grimacing slightly, "while I do have my own opinions on whether or not Young Uraraka should join us - Young Midoriya does have a point that this place, depending on her quirk, could be a good area for her to experiment with her quirk. And I think it would be pretty hypocritical of me to take on one student to train alongside you to practice his quirk, and deny another that same opportunity. Of course, this will probably impact us in a few significant ways, but I can’t deny that from what I’ve seen of her, both here and a few weeks ago when I met her, Uraraka is a fiery young woman, and she could fulfill a similar role as Young Midoriya in encouraging you. But ultimately, the decision to include her here will be up to you.”

"R-really? Are you sure?"

"Yes. You and I both know our true purpose for training you here," He leaned against an abandoned fridge, looking more serious than she was used to as he stared down at her, "to train you in order to use One for All. On the one hand, Young Uraraka's presence here may ... complicate things in the long run, if we have her work the Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan as well. We’ll have to figure out how to equally split the responsibilities of cleaning the beach between the three of you, and we also risk a third person potentially learning of One for All. On the other hand ..."

It was here, though, that All Might faltered, and glanced away. Itsuka blinked up in surprise at the sudden look of nostalgia and hurt on his face as he obviously thought of something, and was about to ask him what was the matter when he spoke again, but this time in a much quieter, more subdued voice.

"... on the other hand, my master also had those she trusted the secret of One for All to," He muttered, looking out across the ocean as he smiled gently, "and I myself had Nighteye and a friend on the police force that knows my secret. So it's ... not entirely out of the question that, in time, you can entrust the secret to Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka."

"I ..."

"But Young Kendou, as I said, the decision to include her in clearing this beach is ultimately up to you," He returned his gaze to her, smiling softly at her, "so I'll leave it in your very capable hands."

Itsuka faltered at that compliment, staring up at the pro hero as he waited for her answer - or at least was giving her time to think it over - and then she let out a small giggle as she reached up to lightly punch the pro hero’s shoulder.

“Oh, c’mon, coach, you’re gonna make me blush if you compliment me like that.” She laughed.

“And you’re gonna break my shoulder if you hit me too hard!” All Might chuckled, taking a moment to pat her head as well, and together, the two of them moved back around the mountain of garbage to meet with their two other guests.

It was kind of amusing, Itsuka smirked, to see Izuku and Ochako engaged in what looked like a very heated whisper argument, complete with Ochako throwing her hands in the air in frustration while Izuku made wild gestures with his hands, but thankfully (or not, it looked somewhat entertaining), both of them immediately snapped to attention when they noticed Itsuka and All Might returning, blushing a bit while Itsuka giggled.

"Are we interrupting something?"

"N-no," Ochako gulped, shooting Izuku a small pout as she started to move away and back to the stairs leading to the parking lot. "A-anyway, I’ve taken up enough of your time, so I should -"

"Hold on a second, Uraraka, there was something I wanted to ask you."

The brown-haired girl faltered in her step, and looked back up at Itsuka as she smiled at her, putting her hands in her pockets.

"What exactly is your quirk? Midoriya mentioned that this junkyard would be a good place for you to train, so I'm kinda curious."

"H-huh? Oh, I - my quirk is zero gravity," She explained quickly, blushing a bit as she reached out for a piece of scrap metal in the pile to properly demonstrate. They watched as she brushed all five of her fingers against the piece of metal, and raised their eyebrows when it began to float into the sky.

“Whoa … so you can float anything?”

“Not everything,” Ochako explained, pressing her fingers together to release the piece of metal to fall back to the ground with a thud, “I can only float up to three tons at the moment, and once I release my quirk on a heavier object, I can get nauseous.” Ochako then grimaced, glancing to the side and reluctantly admitting, “With that said, if I train my quirk, I could probably expand my weight limit to how much I can lift.”

"Yeah ... yeah, I can see where you're coming from, Midoriya," Itsuka nodded at him, crossing her arms, "this place would be perfect for that kind of training."

"And again, like I was telling Deku -" She was sure to shoot him a glare while he crossed his arms and pouted at her in turn, "- you guys don't need to accommodate me, I can just find another spot and train by myself and -"

"Yeah, no," Itsuka shook her head, interrupting her as she smirked at the brown-haired girl, "I'm totally fine with you training here, Uraraka. In fact, I want you to train here with us."

"I -" Ochako sputtered, shocked that they were apparently teaming up on her and looking left and right while Izuku flashed Itsuka a grateful smile. Once Itsuka gave him a thumbs up, Ochako groaned and slumped her shoulders, "- you guys don't need to -"

"We aren't pitying you," Itsuka made clear as she raised a finger to interrupt her, managing to shut Ochako right up, "and we're not throwing Midoriya a bone, or accommodating either of you. All Might says that at the end of the day, since we’re technically here to train me, it's up to me if you should train here or not, and I'm more than fine with adding you to our little team - making it a proper trio," She did grimace a bit at that, "but just to let you know before you make any decisions, it's gonna be tough."

"Er ... tough?" Ochako wrinkled her brow. "Tough how?"

Itsuka winced, and reached into her backpack for a copy of the Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan - after her grandpa found it, she made a habit of taking the full plan with her everywhere so no one stumbled upon it and got a heart attack. Handing it over to Ochako, Itsuka, Izuku and All Might let Ochako flip the training plan open to read, watching her face as it wrinkled in confusion, and then realization, and then paling in horror.

"Oh. Oh, wow," She muttered, gulping, "no wonder you've been so tired, Deku."

"Yeaaaah," Izuku slowly nodded, sheepishly scratching his hair, "that's ... yeah."

"Again, it's up to you," Itsuka tried hard not to look too hopeful, glancing between Izuku and All Might with a smirk, "but I'd love to have you here to train with us. On one hand, it means that it won’t be such a sausage party around here anymore, and on the other, it gives me plenty of opportunities to learn more embarrassing stories about Midoriya."

Izuku sputtered at that, but Ochako giggled a bit, closing the exercise plan and glancing off to the side for a moment, obviously thinking it over. After about a minute of them waiting for an answer, she let out another sigh and felt a smile appear on her face as she closed her eyes.

"... you guys aren't gonna let me say no to this, are you?"

"I might," Itsuka shrugged, "but Midoriya probably won't."

"I won't," Izuku shook his head, making Itsuka and Ochako roll their eyes, "I ... I'm serious, Occhan, I want you to be here and train with me. This place would be perfect for you, and ... and maybe if you're here, we can inspire each other. Like you've always inspired me."

Ochako slowly nodded at that while subtly blushing, still obviously thinking things over - and then she let out a laugh, and opened her eyes, straightening up to give her final answer.

"I guess ... if I have no choice ..." She glanced between the three of them, seeing them start to beam (and yes, that even included All Might), and knew that she couldn't possibly say no now, "... then I guess I'll be training here with you guys from now on."

"Great!" Itsuka moved forward at once, wrapping her arm around Ochako's shoulder, and without further ado began to pull her away, much to Ochako’s surprise, "In that case, we can get started right now. We've got a few printers to move up to the truck, and three heads are definitely better than one when it comes to moving the biggest one."

"... this sounds less like you want me to train here, and more like you want my help moving stuff."

"Nonsense, nonsense. C'mon, Midoriya, all three of us can move the printer right now. And then once lunch rolls around, we can bully All Might into going and buy us WcDonald's while you tell me all the embarrassing stories about Midoriya's childhood - Mrs. Midoriya had plenty of good stories, but I bet you have all the juicy ones."

"Sounds pretty good to me!" Ochako laughed, wrapping her own arm around Itsuka’s shoulder as the two girls laughed together.

As the two girls strolled away, bonding over how much they'll be teasing Izuku from now on, the green-haired boy let out a small sigh at how fast they seemed to become friends, but nonetheless felt happy that they were all going to be working together from now on, beaming in happiness as he quickly began jogging after them. Following the trio from behind, All Might let out an exasperated sigh as he pulled his phone back out of his pocket.

"I suppose I should call my office back," He shook his head, buffing back up to his true form, “and give them the heads up to print off a third copy of those documents for your parents to sign so that we have permission to work here. Once I have confirmation that they'll get three copies of those documents ready to sign, I'll drive you and Young Uraraka back home at the end of the day, and talk to her parents like I did with your mother and Young Kendou's. Hopefully it goes a lot better with them than it did last night.”

"..."

"... Young Midoriya, this is supposed to be the part where you assure me that her parents won't kill me."

"I ... honestly can't promise you that, All Might."

"... oh, boy."

Notes:


 

And that was Chapter 6, and finally, our trio is together at long last! We've had plenty of development in this chapter - from Ochako having doubts about confronting her best friend, to Izuku taking a stand for Ochako, to Itsuka and Ochako going from 'I must kill this stranger' to 'oh wait nvm' to 'hey you hate bakugou i hate bakugou too' to 'wow we're best friends now', and now are probably on the verge of 'hey let's make out', and All Might has a realization that he's going to have three sets of parents that want to scalp him.

For Ochako's part in this chapter, I will admit that there were a few parts that I struggled - namely, her reaction to Izuku training without her. I know that to some people it could seem that she was guilt-tripping Izuku for training with Itsuka, but I wanted to kind of set up Ochako's own arc, and namely an arc all three members of our little three-way polycule will have in this fic - namely feeling like a third-wheel, and that deep down she feels like isn't all that important. This won't be the last time Ochako feels like this, so hopefully I can get it across a bit better next time XD

Now, as we can predict, now that our little trio are together now, we can get started with training. Indeed ... I will go through every detail of their training. Every tiny little machination that put these three together as friends. Every little detail going into their romance. Chapters upon chapters will be spent on this one arc - actually, I'm kidding, we're about due for a small timeskip. Next chapter we'll be skipping around three months, so from late April in this chapter to mid July the next, so be ready for some shenanigans! And to those who gripe about how much time we'll lose through the bonding - this is a slow burn, ladies and gentlemen, but we can only go so slow before you're screaming at me to hurry up XD

Thank you guys so much for the read! Coming up next, training shenanigans, friendship bonding, and some mild fanservice. See you then!

Chapter 7: Foundation of a Squad

Summary:

As Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako train on the beach one hot summer day, they find themselves bombarded by a few surprising visitors - and Izuku continues to struggle with using his quirk, while All Might attempts to think up a possible answer.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

… okay, seriously, what the hell was she even doing here?

Huddled in the bushes, out of sight of anyone that might walk by on the sidewalk, Kaoruko Awata let out a tired sigh as she reached for her phone in her costume's pocket, grumbling. There were a few days that she disliked her costume - normally when she had to deal with guys who couldn't help but let their eyes wander, or when she got into a fight and remembered, oh yeah, she had absolutely no protection for her stomach and had to nurse deep purple bruises on her blue skin for days. 

But today was the rare time she hated her costume because of her environment. As in, having to deal with twigs and dirt and leaves and praying that there wasn't any poison ivy in here.

Still though, she had been given an assignment by Sir, and she couldn't let him down.

Finally managing to pull out her work phone, she angled it onto the side, subtly poking her hands out of the bush, and began to zoom in with the camera. Yep, just as Sir had told her - two students working on clearing off a beach filled to the brim with garbage, with a tall, skinny guy coaching them. What Sir didn't mention, however, was the presence of a third teenager working with them. Cocking her head slightly, Kaoruko zoomed in a bit closer with the phone's camera, waiting for the brown-haired girl to look in her direction, and then snapping a picture, pulling it back into the bush to double check and nodding in satisfaction that it was clear enough for Sir to make out a few details.

As she continued to snap a few more pictures of the beach and its current occupants, however, Kaoruko couldn't help but frown - normally she wouldn't question the orders her employer would give her, seeing as she was a bit too intimidated by him to even try, but she honestly had no idea what she was even doing here. She didn't know why Sir was so obsessed with what was going on here, three kids doing community service. There was a part of her that was crying on the inside - she'd went through high school, graduation, the gruelling and harsh competition that was sidekick applications, and then Sir's extremely strict and harsh interview, and finally achieved her dream - and now here she was, spying on a couple of kids from the bushes.

It wasn't like this was a villain operation, so what was the point of -

"This is a stupid idea, Set."

Trying to stop herself from yelping too loudly at the sound of a feminine, stoic voice coming up right beside her, Kaoruko quickly brought her head and hands back into the bush. Unfortunately for her, she ended up leaning back a bit too far and collapsed on her back with a small thud, shaking the bush. Fortunately for her, it seemed that whoever was passing by didn't notice at all, so maybe Kaoruko could count on some blessings today.

"I'm just saying, it'll be a nice surprise for Ken!" Another feminine voice, this one a bit deeper and crasser than the one before, responded enthusiastically. "Like, she sneaks around, pretends that she's some secret agent withholding important information - it'll be funny to sneak up on her, won't it?"

"While you do raise good points, and it probably would be funny to scare the shit out of her, there is one point that you aren't considering."

"What's that?"

"It isn't any of our damn business."

"I acknowledge that Ken is entitled to her secrets, and choose to ignore that fact. C'mon, Yui, it's not like Ken's going to beat us up if we swing by. Worse that could happen is that she tells us to go away, and we both know her, it won't be anything personal. If her coach doesn't want us to be here, then we'll apologize and leave."

"You also fail to consider that it's very hot out. I was having a nice day in my house's air conditioning before you broke down my door and dragged me out here. I started sweating literally the moment we stepped outside, so my hatred of you right now is incomprehensible."

"We can go to the beach right after this. Y'know, a different beach than trash city down there."

"Tempting."

"If we swing by my place before we go, I'll wear my two piece."

"You've sold me."

The two teenagers chatting and (maybe?) flirting finally began to fade away as they moved down the sidewalk, letting Kaoruko relax from the position she had frozen in within the bush, letting out a pathetic grunt as she flopped onto the dirty ground. Beginning to grumble, she tried to crawl out of the shrubbery, letting out several yelps of pain as she scraped herself against some stupid branch or thorn in the bush, and flinching when one particular branch swung up and smacked her in the face, making her feel thankful that she was wearing her gas mask so she didn't have to lose an eye.

Finally rolling out of the bush onto the ground, Kaoruko let out a small sigh as she stood up on shaky legs, brushing some leaves and dirt off of her body and glancing around. Now that she was out of that bush, she made plans to finally get back to the agency, so she could give a report of three kids cleaning garbage on a beach, hopefully in an energetic and preppy way so her boss wouldn't tie her up in a tickling machine, and then after that, she could go cry in the bathroom.

However, as she began to approach her bike, her phone suddenly began to buzz in her hand, indicating someone was calling her. Wrinkling her brow, Kaoruko raised the phone screen up to see who it was - and let out a small hiss, wincing.

Okay, Kao, she reminded herself, trying to hype herself up and pressing the green button as she raised it to her ear, remember, enthusiastic.

"Hello, Sir!"

"Bubble Girl," Nighteye's cold voice filled her ear, making her gulp a bit as she reached her bike - oh, boy, he sounded even grumpier than usual, "you left this morning for the assignment I gave you and haven't been in contact with us for a few hours."

"O-Of course, Sir," She straightened up, clearing her throat as she glanced around the parking lot, "I did run into a hold up at a local convenience store, and had to step in to help. I only just arrived at the beach twenty minutes ago."

"Hm … alright, I see that you did have that happen, I just received the paperwork details from the police in my email," Nighteye confirmed, which let Kaoruko breathe a sigh of relief as she heard the sound of keys being clicked on his keyboard, "so you're at the beach now?"

"I was just about to leave. I have the pictures you wanted me to take on the work phone, I was about to send them to you."

"Alright then. So what did you see? And remember what will happen if you give me your report without any enthusiasm."

Kaoruko gulped, briefly flashing back to horrible memories of being strapped to a machine with feathers tickling her armpits, sides and knees, and shuddered.

"R-right. Well, as - as you mentioned this morning before I left, Sir," She recited, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible so as not to earn her boss's ire, "The two teenagers have been working to clear away the garbage on the beach. I did arrive here pretty late, but from the looks on their faces and from how sweaty they are, they've been here for a while. Presumably, like you said, since five o'clock this morning. From what I can see, they've made quite a dent in clearing up the beach," She took a moment to glance back at the mountains of garbage still waiting to be cleared, gulping a bit again, "I've taken a few pictures of the beach for you to compare with the one you took three months ago for comparison."

"So they're making headway … anything else to note?"

"Yes, Sir. There's actually a third person working with them now." She heard her boss shift suddenly in his chair, a clear sign that she had said something that caught his interest. "From what I saw during my surveillance, she's also helping the two of them with cleaning up the garbage. From my spot, I watched them working separately and together to clear away the trash. They were running to get a few tires up the beach to the parking lot, and as I was leaving they were beginning to push a car across the beach."

"Describe the third person to me."

"Not much to describe, Sir," She admitted, remembering the girl she had taken a picture of, "brown hair, a bit smaller than the other two students, a tad bit plump. She was wearing workout clothes and has similar scratches and bruises as the other two. The three of them were quite friendly with each other, so based on body language, I believe this is not her first time on this beach. She also has some kind of gravity quirk, I watched her use it to lift up some garbage, but I wasn't able to see how it worked from my spot or if she did anything."

"So he's taken on yet another student …" She heard Nighteye mutter over the line, not sounding very happy with this new information. Gulping, Kaoruko debated whether or not to say anything else, or just remain quiet and not say a word and pray that she didn't have to get strapped into the tickle machine, less she give into her terror and tell him that she would be quitting the hero business and starting a new career in making bubble liquid. And then, she heard him sigh.

"... very well. Thank you, Bubble Girl, you can come back to the office and work on the paperwork from this morning's convenience store investigation. I'll be out when you get back."

"A-alright, Sir. Is there anything you need me to tell Centipeder when I get back?"

"No, I'll speak to him before I leave. I need to visit someone at once." She heard him sigh again, letting out an unhappy grunt. "This has gotten ridiculous. If I can't talk sense into him, then I'll just bring in someone else who will."

"Uh … Sir?"

"Never mind, Bubble Girl, I'm thinking out loud. You've done good work."

With that, Nighteye hung up on her, making the blue-skinned woman sigh as she slowly lowered the phone. Putting it in her pocket and putting one hand on her bike, she glanced down at her clothing, seeing the rips and tears in her black leggings, and scratches along her stomach and arms. And if she looked carefully, she realized that she had a big scratch on her gas mask.

Yep. She was starting to hate her job.


"Alright ... you two ready? We're not going to stop until we get this to the hill."

"H-hold on a sec, let me just adjust my grip … yeah, okay, I'm - I'm ready now."

"Yep! All ready to go."

"Okay ... on the count of three, Uraraka and I push, and Midoriya, you pull. One -"

"W-wait, is it 'one, two, push', or 'one, two, three' and then push?"

"... 'one, two, three' and then push."

"O-okay, just wanted to make sure."

"Uh … yeah, I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't sure either."

"Okay, okay, now that we've cleared that up, let's do this."

"Okay. One -"

"Two -

"Three -"

"- PUSH!" Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka all shouted at the same time, and began pushing the SUV as hard as they could. Thanks to All Might positioning them beforehand, Itsuka stood at the back, shoving against the trunk of the car with all her might as her feet sank into the sand; Ochako, standing near the open driver's door, pushed with her whole body to get the car moving, shoving herself forward as best she could while she let out a small whine; and Izuku, at the front of the car and grabbing the bumper, pulled with everything he had, straining as he prayed he didn't fall on his butt and get run over.

Much to their relief, the car began slowly moving as they worked together to move it, meaning that they didn't accidentally leave it in 'park' this time, but they couldn't really celebrate that due to how heavy the thing was, and the fact they were trying to move it uphill.

"That's right!" All Might called out encouragingly, pacing back and forth in his weakened form from his spot near the stairs. "Just get it to the hill!"

All three of them groaning in pain, the trio nonetheless worked together to get the car up the hill and towards the parking lot, going one step at a time as the sun shined mercilessly above them and drenched them in sweat from the heat. It had been three months since Itsuka, Izuku and Ochako had agreed to work together to clear off the beach, and …

… honestly, Itsuka was kind of nervous about the fact that everything was going surprisingly smoothly. Usually because the universe would swiftly kick them in the ass when they didn't expect it.

Indeed, ever since Ochako had joined them, they hadn't run into any other major complications in the last three months while working on the beach, with Itsuka being tasked by All Might to move the heaviest items they could find in the massive piles of trash. Ochako and All Might had sat together to make up her own training plan that day when she had arrived, with the two of them ending up heading to her and Izuku's apartment later that day to talk with her parents about a training plan. Thankfully, Inko had told Taiyo and Miwa where she had been the night before that and what she had talked about with All Might, so they did take it a lot better than the pro hero had expected when Ochako told them that she wanted to train with Izuku at the beach (although, when they had seen the training regiment All Might had prepared for her, Taiyo had nearly flipped the kitchen table and Miwa had given All Might an eerie smile that had haunted his dreams for weeks afterwards), and it was decided that Ochako would be taking on a similar training regiment as Izuku's, and she would be spending an equal amount of time training both her quirk and her body.

Izuku, meanwhile, spent half his day moving stuff out of the junkyard, and half the time trying to shoot out a bolt of lightning - but one of those objectives was going a lot better than the other. After a few weeks of tripping over himself and flopping against the ground, Izuku managed to finally start keeping pace with Itsuka, probably (and mostly) due to the fact that whenever Ochako looked around and saw him flopped on the ground, she'd yell out an encouraging "You can do it, Deku!" and he'd hop right up and start sprinting down the beach. As All Might had predicted, having Ochako on the beach to encourage Izuku benefited the boy greatly, with there being points that he had even outpaced Itsuka and beat her to the truck to dump off his trash. 

It wasn't just Ochako's presence that encouraged Izuku either - sometimes Itsuka would let a bit of frustration get to her, but the brown-haired girl's calming presence would sooth her and have her approach her problem from a different angle. Although it was pretty funny to see Ochako herself break down into a swearing, angry mess, which was something All Might nor Itsuka had any idea how to comfort ("You get used to it," Izuku had advised Itsuka while they watched Ochako throw a lead pipe into the sky while yelling profanities, "just let her get it out of her system, and for the love of all that is holy, don't offer her mochi during the rage, you'd think it'd calm her down but it only gets her angrier."). And of course, while Ochako wasn't immune to feeling frustrated or tired, one look from Izuku or an encouraging call from Itsuka would make her jump up, even more fiery than usual, and get back into training with increased vigour.

Although … as it was mentioned, Izuku was doing rather well with the physical training - but as for his quirk training … well, hopefully today will be different. 

This had been their life for the last three months, jogging up and down the beach while groaning in pain, training as hard as they could. Itsuka dragged refrigerators through the sand with ropes wrapped around her shoulders, Ochako floated garbage up the parking lot while trying hard not to puke her guts out, and Izuku tried as hard as he could to shoot off a bolt of lightning, and was unsuccessful.

With that said, though, while everything was proceeding smoothly, that didn't mean that things would be getting any easier.

Once spring had turned into summer, the days at the beach turned even more heinous and torturous due to the unrelenting heat. It wasn't just Ochako puking pretty much everyday anymore, although she at least had the excuse of it being due to her quirk. Itsuka was just thankful that she didn't really care to maintain some girly image around Izuku at this point of their training, seeing as one time last week, due to an intense heatwave they were training in the middle of, she didn't manage to reach the garbage can in time and threw up on the ground from dehydration. Thankfully, the sight of his successor's lunch making a reappearance so violently prompted All Might to let them take an extra long break that day and lay down in the water, while he went to the truck to get the mints, ginger ale and salted pretzels he bought for Ochako whenever she needed to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.

Due to a complete lack of rain, training was getting kind of dangerous, what with Izuku nearly getting his head taken off when he tried weight lifting and his sweaty palms meant the bar he had been lifting with weak arms came down on his neck, with All Might and Itsuka panicking and rushing over to help him; Ochako had fainted at one point due to the unrelenting heat and slammed face first down onto the ground; and Itsuka had slipped and pulled something in her back, prompting her to need a ride home from All Might so her her parents could lay her down on her bed all day long, groaning in pain and praying she didn't break anything.

And that wasn't even bringing into account the training the three of them were also going through with her grandpa, Itsuka shuddered as she shoved the truck with all her might - if she had any remaining doubt about her grandfather going easier on her than the other students, they had been promptly eviscerated by now. Every weekend, after working at the beach in the morning until eleven o’clock, at which time they’d have one hour to eat lunch, Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku would return home with the orange-haired girl right at twelve to head into the dojo downstairs, dressed in white gis, where Teko would put them through as much hell as All Might was, if not more so. At least All Might was pretty nice to them despite the pain he put them through - Itsuka's grandfather had no such kindness for the three of them.

Since Izuku and Ochako were amateurs, Teko would bark at them and scare the shit out of them with threats and harsh punishments when they failed, even having Itsuka demonstrate some techniques on them (she tried not to feel too bad whenever she had to judo flip Izuku to the floor, or punch Ochako hard enough in the stomach that she keeled over and tried not to vomit for the uptenth time that day). And that wasn't even counting the times he would teach them complex kicks and punches, and usually demonstrated on themselves, meaning that Izuku and Ochako weren't the only ones wincing and walking around with bruises - Itsuka had nursed a particularly good one in the side for a few days.

Say what she would about her grandpa, at least he wasn't a biased teacher. Nor a nice one.

At the very least, though, Ochako seemed to have taken a liking to the martial arts training; since the Kendou Dojo taught mixed martial arts, she was started with karate, and while she tended to get hit by Itsuka more than she got to hit her, she rolled with the punches pretty well, and had a strange fiery passion whenever she got to spar with her and Izuku, which had been explained to Itsuka by Izuku that his best friend had always been passionate about competitions. There had even been a point a month ago that she had gotten a good hit on Itsuka and sent the orange-haired girl flying into the wall so hard she almost had a concussion to deal with, with Itsuka having to explain to Setsuna and Yui that no, she didn't get concussed by a mugger when her best friends had seen the nasty bruise on her cheek.

As for Izuku, while he wasn't exactly on the level of Itsuka or Ochako, he did show a bit more improvement than when he had started - at least he could do more than five pushups now. Instead of Ochako's karate, he did take a surprising interest in taekwondo and kickboxing, with Teko emphasizing Izuku's training by having him frequently at a kickstand while teaching the young boy kicking drills and sentencing him to fifty pushups every time he failed.

So yes, training was hell, and she probably puked more times in the last three months than she had in her entire life, but at least they were improving.

And … honestly, the fact that Itsuka had Izuku and Ochako there really helped keep her spirits up. If she had to do this on her own, she probably would be utterly miserable right now, and she knew that the reason she always returned home in good spirits no matter what was because of her new friends' presence on the beach and in the dojo. It was thankful that, after their first rough encounter, Itsuka and Ochako became fast friends, the two girls sitting together whenever they had their lunch break and chatting about whatever was on their minds, while Izuku excitedly got to talk to All Might about the pro hero's adventures over the year, which the Symbol of Peace was more than happy to reminisce about.

As for Izuku, Itsuka always made sure to ask him about his day whenever they met after school, with Ochako giving him a hard glare if he underplayed some bad thing that had happened. Ever since finding out about his school life, Itsuka made a promise to herself to always be in his corner, like he had been in hers when Nighteye came stomping through on the day that they had met. She always made sure to greet him with a high-five, which never failed to put a smile on his face. At the very least, she was relieved that she no longer felt nervous whenever he turned on mutter mode, instead patiently listening with Ochako for the green-haired boy to finish his thoughts before she resumed the conversation.

"One, two, three!"

With Itsuka's call from the back, they continued to push the SUV forward, all of them groaning and straining against the heavy vehicle.

"One, two, three!"

"Almost there," Izuku grunted out loud, glancing down and seeing the large 'X' that All Might had drawn in the sand for them, and prayed that he didn't lose his footing and land hard on his butt.

"One, two, and ... three!"

With three loud grunts, they finally got the SUV directly over the 'X', right beside the hill leading up to the parking lot, and the moment they had it where they wanted, Ochako reached into the hot car for the stick, sweating even more from how intensely hot it was in the vehicle, and put it in park.

"And we're good," She managed to grunt, slipping on her feet and sliding out of the car and onto the ground, laying there in defeat. With a sigh, Itsuka leaned against the back of the car, panting raggedly, and Izuku imitated Ochako and sat down in the sand, laying down and staring with a bleary look up into the blue, cloudless sky.

"Wow," He managed to rasp out, hearing Ochako grumble as she turned her head to glance at him, too tired to even try to do it with dignity, "I think this was the first car we lugged around that didn't almost snap my spine in half."

"You say that now," Itsuka countered in an exhausted voice, flopping onto the ground beside Ochako on her hands and knees and trying to catch her breath, "but we still gotta get this thing up the hill."

"... ah, crap."

"Well, you'll cross that bridge when we get to it," All Might shook his head a bit at the three defeated teenagers on the ground, smiling a bit as he picked up the cooler from where he had put it in the sand and opened it, "I think this is a good spot for us to take a small break. Young Midoriya, before we get the car up the hill, we'll take a moment to have you practice firing off a shot of lightning, and Young Uraraka, I'll have you move the rest of the scrap from the pile over there. Young Kendou -"

"I'll grab the bench," Itsuka guessed, looking pleadingly up at the pro hero and weakly extending her hand and making pathetic grabbing motions, "I know, All Might. Water, please."

All Might chuckled at her desperation, but still placated her and gave her one of the water bottles from the cooler, before handing the other two to Ochako and Izuku. The three of them desperately unscrewed the caps from their bottles, and each took a very long, greedy drink of cold water, Itsuka not even minding some of it splashing down her t-shirt as she drank it all in one long gulp.

Once they were thankfully refreshed, the three teenagers sighed in relief, and finally managed to sit up from where they had been sprawled on the ground, wincing a bit and wiping their mouths and foreheads, while All Might wiped his own forehead a bit (jeez, it was hot out today), and grunted as he moved to take a seat beside them on the ground.

"So," Itsuka finally managed to catch her breath, leaning against the tire of the car they had just dragged across the beach, "is this going to be what our schedule's like for the rest of summer break?"

"Essentially," All Might nodded in confirmation, reaching into his back pocket to grab the papers he had been working on, opening them up and reading what he had been writing a few nights ago, "I'll have to modify our training regiment a little bit more now that your summer break has officially begun, and I'll have to confer with your grandfather a bit more, Young Kendou, before I make any final decisions. But I think that yes, for now this will be basically how we'll be going forward for the rest of the summer - a full day here every day until the weekend, where you'll do mornings here, and then return to the dojo to train."

"Yaaaaay."

"I don't suppose," Ochako tried to say in a joking manner, although they could pick up a faint pleading in her voice, "that we could convince you to let us sleep in another hour if we're talking about revising our schedules?"

"Really?" Itsuka teased a bit, nudging the brown-haired girl with her foot and smirking through the pain she was in. "Three months of this and you're still not used to getting up early?"

"I'm not a morning person!" Ochako defended herself, poking the orange-haired girl back with her own foot, making Itsuka let out a pathetic 'neyuh' noise as they nudged each other with their shoes. "I'm not a psychopath like you two, I can't just jump up immediately at the first alarm at four in the freaking morning, I need to, like - set three separate alarms so I can get up on time."

"That sounds more like a 'you' problem than an 'us' problem."

"Psychopath!"

"In any case," All Might chuckled in a good-natured way as the two girls stuck their tongues out at each other, shaking his head while Izuku smiled at his friends' antics, "as much as I wish I could let you three sleep in a bit longer, Young Uraraka, I don't want us to divert too far from our original plan now that we have a lot more spare time on our hands - and eventually, once summer break is done, we will be returning to the original plan."

"Booooo," Ochako groaned, flopping onto the sandy ground again and making Izuku and Itsuka snort.

"Basically," All Might shook his head and grinned at the brown-haired girl, "what I think we'll be doing is stretching out how much time we spend here Monday through Thursday, spending all our time here, but on the weekend, we can change things up so that you three can spend all day at the dojo with Mr. Kendou. I'm sure your grandfather would be more than happy to have you three train there all day at the dojo - I'm pretty sure the only reason we've been able to spend as much time on this beach is because he's been satisfied with training you primarily on the weekend."

"And what about the Fridays?" Izuku asked, finally managing to find his voice after drinking the last of his water with a small gasp and wiping his lip, "You didn't mention what we'd be doing then."

"Well," All Might grinned, "I'm sure Young Uraraka will be happy to hear that I'm considering giving you three that day off to recover every week. At least until we get back to our usual schedule."

"Yaaaay," Ochako dully cheered, a bit too tired to do it enthusiastically as she remained sprawled out on the ground.

"Are - are you sure we can afford to take a day off, though?" Izuku asked, feeling a bit worried as he leaned against the car and thinking back to what he'd been coming up with for the last few months in his journal, "It's just that - you know, we don't want to fall behind, and -"

"Midoriya," Itsuka chuckled, drawing his attention to her as she leaned forward from where she had been sitting against the tire of the SUV, "I don't know if you've noticed, but we've been kinda working here non-stop for the last three months. I think us having a single day off every week isn't going to kill us."

"And you must also consider," All Might raised a finger to follow up to her point, "that since the three of you started working on the beach, we've gotten a lot farther ahead than I originally had planned for this time. In fact, I'm a bit nervous that we're going to end up finishing long before the original day I thought we'd be done!"

"Erk." Ochako winced, looking up from where she had been laying down as she realized that was technically her fault. "Uh - sorry about throwing a wrench in your plan, All Might."

"No need to be, Young Uraraka - I'm certain that all three of you will be on track to finish before the entrance exam, and will achieve the results that we set out to. And remember, it's not just the practical you need to be worried about! You also need to study for the written exam as well."

The three of them nodded, understanding what All Might was saying - they'd already begun studying for the entrance exam, with Izuku and Ochako coming back from training every day to sit down in Izuku's room and read through text books of hero laws and the such, and Itsuka had made sure that she was also studying when she wasn't coming home exhausted or to work on her bike.

It was just … Izuku frowned a bit, rolling onto his side. He thought back to the independent training plan he had been writing up for the last few months, and had been trying to subtly follow. It was mostly jogs after dinner when everyone was asleep, and independent weight training, but he knew that it was necessary, due to his lack of progress with his quirk. What he couldn't do with his power, he'd have to make up for with additional physical training. Sure he was feeling more tired and exhausted than Itsuka and Ochako were, but thankfully they and All Might chalked it up to just him feeling tired as usual. He needed to continue to catch up to everyone after years of doing nothing, and how he had wasted three months of quirk training.

He'd just … keep it a secret for now. He wasn't sure exactly why, but he had a feeling that Ochako wouldn't like what he was doing.

"Anyway," All Might grinned at them, leaning back slightly and minding the wound on his stomach as he glanced between the three exhausted teenagers on the ground, and drawing Izuku's attention again, "now that we're on the topic of school - how has that been going for you all? How were your exams?"

"Pretty good," Ochako shrugged, finally managing to properly sit up as well and grunting slightly as she cracked her neck, "exams were pretty easy, but that's because Deku's pretty much been forcing me to study."

"I-it's just because your grades are - uh - actually, never mind."

"No, no, Midoriya," Itsuka smirked, watching with amusement as Ochako slowly turned towards Izuku, her expression turning cold, "go on. What are her grades like?"

"They - uh -" Izuku stammered, obviously trying to find a way out of the trap he just stumbled his way into. "- it's just - uh - er -"

"Careful what you say here, Deku," Ochako narrowed her eyes, "I can always just rip up the new notebook I got you for your birthday if you're thinking that my grades suck. That'll show you."

"I - I don't know how those two are related, but okay, I'll keep my mouth closed."

"Hm," Itsuka pouted, reaching around Ochako with her leg so she could poke Izuku, "I'm still mad about that, by the way."

"H-huh? Mad -? O-oh, yeah, my - my birthday. I really am sorry about that, Kendou."

"A heads up would've been great! From either of you!"

"In my defense, I've been really tired," Ochako shrugged guiltedly, glancing away awkwardly so she could avoid Itsuka's hard stare, "and I didn't even remember it was his birthday until we got home and there was a cake on the table. We had one slice and then immediately passed out."

"Huh," Itsuka raised an eyebrow, "how convenient."

"Kendou, we really are sorry!"

"Meh. Whatever," Itsuka turned away to pout, attempting to hide her smirk as Izuku and Ochako looked like they were trying to find a way to placate her, "I guess this just means that I'm rocking both of your worlds next year for your birthdays. July 15th, December 27th, mark your calendars. And speaking of that, remember: September 9th. Or I'm coming for both of you."

"We got it," Ochako quickly confirmed, "September 9th. Kendou's birthday. We'll remember."

"You'll remember her birthday and not equations we've gone over a hundred times," Izuku grumbled, and then realized he said that out loud and winced when Ochako whipped a glare at him, while Itsuka and All Might watched in amusement.

Before Izuku could find his way out of what was about to be a very brutal murder at the hands of his very sweet best friend, however, All Might's eyes trailed above them to the parking lot, still chuckling a bit - and then the laughter faded away, replaced by him straightening up and blinking a bit. This caught the attention of the three teenagers, with Izuku's panic, Ochako's coldness, and Itsuka's amusement fading away when the pro hero sat up with his brow wrinkled.

"Uh … All Might?" Ochako asked, feeling concerned, "What is it?"

"There's two teenage girls walking around in the parking lot."

"Huh? Really?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow as well as Izuku and Ochako shared a surprised glance, grunting as she managed to crawl up onto her knees, and looked up from her spot near the trunk of the SUV they had been pushing - 

- and then immediately letting out a loud squeak, her eyes widening and her face paling in horror, and immediately dipped back into cover.

Izuku, Ochako and All Might watched as obvious panic filled Itsuka's face, looking around at them with widened eyes and reddening cheeks.

"It's Set! And Yui!" She gasped quietly, speaking in a whisper as though the two girls in the parking lot could somehow hear them.

"Wha - wait, it's your friends?" Izuku blinked in surprise, looking around. He knew all about Setsuna and Yui from stories Itsuka told him and Ochako about her childhood and her days at school, but they had never actually met them. Izuku began to get up to look around the car as well, but as he managed to get to his feet, Itsuka reached out and grabbed his wrist, dragging him back down to the ground.

"Don't look, you dummy! They don't know we're here!"

"H-how do you know that?" Ochako asked in a whisper, not really sure why they were whispering but doing so to appease her friend as All Might also tilted his head somewhat. "They can probably see All Might since he's just sitting out in the open."

"I just - okay, I don't know that," Itsuka gave them, groaning as she sat down on her butt and put her face in her hands, "but it's possible they don't know we're here, and it's okay that All Might's already been seen because he already dresses like he's homeless, he looks like he'd fit right in."

All Might sputtered indignantly at that, whipping his gaze down to his oversized blue t-shirt and baggy jeans as though to defend his fashion - and then grumbling as he conceded her point.

"Oh, man," Itsuka groaned again, "I wasn't careful enough. Shit, shit, shit!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"I just - look, Set and Yui - they've been curious," She explained to the three of them, a bit muffled due to her hands over her mouth and her gaze locked on the ground, "about what exactly I've been doing here. Like - like I told them the story, and I thought it was good enough because they never really questioned it, but - but lately Set's wanted to come visit me while I was working for a while now, and - and I always told her that it's okay, that she doesn't want to swing by a junkyard."

"I-is that right …?" Izuku asked, his eyes trailing away from the orange-haired girl around the SUV absently … 

… and then, moving careful around the corner, came the disembodied head of a green-haired girl with sharp teeth and mischievous eyes, barely managing to hide her snickers as her eyes locked on Itsuka's back.

Izuku jumped a bit, his eyes widening at the jarring sight before him, and Ochako let out a small squeak of surprise while All Might raised his eyebrow, but before any of them could point out the appearance of a decapitated, floating head, a similarly disembodied hand came from around the corner to hold up to her lips, making an obvious shushing gesture. Automatically, Izuku, Ochako and All Might closed their mouths, weirded out by the floating decapitated head.

"Y-yeah, I - I haven't told them anything specific," Itsuka continued to explain, the only one unaware of the head slowly floating around her to get closer, "and - and it's not like they've been demanding answers or anything, or getting angry at me. It's just - it's just when Set gets curious about something, she can't just let it go. She wants all the details."

"R-really …?" Ochako glanced at the green-haired head of the girl, seeing it nod in agreement to Itsuka's statement and widening her smirk.

"Yeah … it's just … I don't know how they found us," Itsuka sighed, lowering her hands and tapping her fingers together as the girl's head floated right beside her, her mouth barely an inch from her ear, and looking delighted that the orange-haired girl hadn't noticed her at all, "I've been really careful with not telling them where I've been going, or my bus route, or - or anything like that. Is - is it possible that they might've followed me here?"

"Nah," The girl finally spoke directly in Itsuka's ear in a stage whisper, grinning widely at the genius of her prank, "I just asked your mom where you've been going."

"AAAAH -!"

BAM

"Ow!"

Both Izuku and Ochako winced as Itsuka jumped about a mile high, a shriek escaping her lips - and her elbow came straight up, slamming straight into the green-haired girl's nose with enough force to send it flying away, blood escaping her nostrils as the head slammed into the sand. They heard the sound of a body thumping against the ground around the car, accompanied by a surprised 'hm', and quickly, both of them jumped up to look around as Itsuka whipped around. 

Standing there was another girl, with dark hair and a comically straight face wearing a nice blue sundress, staring down at the headless body of a teenage girl in a white t-shirt and shorts, rolling around on the ground with its hands held up to where its nose would've been if there had been a head on its shoulders.

"Oh, crap - Set!" Itsuka gasped, leaping to her feet and running over to where the girl's head had landed, and winced when she saw blood leaking out of her nostrils. "Oh, man, I'm - I'm so sorry! I didn't - you just -"

"Nah, it's good, girl," Setsuna groaned, still looking a bit dazed and sounding stuffed up, "that was my fuck up. Can you just - ow, can you bring my head back to my body? Fucking ouch, I don't think you broke my nose, but it kinda feels like it."

"Y-yeah, of course, hold on a sec -"

It was with that that Izuku, Ochako and All Might moved around the car, blinking at the sight of Itsuka and this dark haired girl helping Setsuna's body sit up, and Itsuka put the head back on her neck. Once it was attached, Setsuna carefully climbed to her feet, letting out a small grunt as she held a hand over her mouth and reached for a handkerchief in her pocket to wipe away the blood on her face, and the other girl gave her friend an unamused look before turning back to Izuku, Ochako and the pro hero in disguise, sinking into a small bow.

"I'm sorry for our intrusion," She apologized on behalf of both of them, not really sounding all that sorry - or, you know, not sounding like anything, her voice being completely devoid of emotion - "Setsuna just wanted to surprise Itsuka, we didn't mean to interrupt anything."

"It's quite alright," All Might waved his hand good naturedly, relieved that he was in his weakened form unlike the last time a teenage girl came to this beach, "we were actually taking a small break when you arrived. So I assume you're both Young Kendou's friends?"

"Mm," She nodded in confirmation, straightening back up from her bow. "My name is Yui Kodai, and this is Setsuna Tokage."

"Hi!" The green-haired girl gave them a wave, finishing wiping away the blood and gingerly poking her nose as she gave them a smile. "And sorry about the prank, I just wanted to make Ken jump a bit. I forgot that she doesn't really do fight or flight, because she always chooses to fight."

"Don't try to sneak up on me, then," Itsuka shook her head, giving her best friend a pout as she pushed some of her hair out of her face, "a-anyway, what are you guys doing here?"

"Set just wanted to stop by to surprise you," Yui explained, glancing around at the mountains of garbage with a raised eyebrow, "normally I'd be satisfied with your explanation, but Setsuna wanted to poke her nose in your business and dragged me along for the ride. We're going to be headed to the beach after this - you know, a much cleaner one than here."

"Yeah, I get that," Itsuka grumbled, and then shook herself out of her little funk to take a step back and smile, gesturing to All Might. "Anyway, guys - this is my coach, Mr. Yagi. He's the one that's been supervising us while we clear away the garbage. He's also the one who came up with my training plan."

"Nice to meet you at last!" Setsuna happily greeted him while Yui gave him a polite nod, while All Might chuckled and raised his hand in greeting. "Ken complains about you all the time."

While All Might laughed loudly and Itsuka swatted Setsuna across the head, the orange-haired girl shook her head while blushing, already regretting the life choices she made that resulted in her best friends coming onto this beach, and turned to Izuku and Ochako, who had taken a step back so the orange-haired girl could do introductions.

"And this," She gestured to the two of them as Yui and Setsuna turned towards them, "is Midoriya and Uraraka, the training partners I told you guys about. Midoriya, Uraraka, this is Yui and Setsuna."

"H-hi!" Ochako tried to greet them cheerfully, wanting to look friendly and approachable instead of like she had been sprawled out in the sand a few minutes ago and gulping down water like she had been stranded in the desert. "I'm Uraraka. It's nice to meet you guys, Kendou's told us all about you two!"

"It's nice to meet you too!" Setsuna gave them another dorky wave, glancing over at Izuku as she did so. The green-haired boy also gave her a weak wave, chuckling a bit awkwardly despite himself and looking a bit red, which, unknown to him, made Setsuna's smirk widen and Yui give him a somewhat intrigued look. Both for completely opposite reasons, and neither of those reasons any good.

"So!" The green-haired girl clapped her hands together and rubbed them, glancing at Itsuka with a teasing smirk. "Before we move on, I suppose we should address the elephant in the room."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking around at her best friend in confusion. "Elephant? What elephant?"

"Girl," She raised her eyebrow somewhat, putting her hands down on her hips and gesturing with her head towards Izuku, "this guy literally has the same hair color as me."

"And she looks just like me," Yui pointed out as she gestured to Ochako, the brown-haired girl blinking somewhat in surprise while Izuku also looked taken aback.

"Wait, I do?" They both said at the same time.

"Yeah, man!" Setsuna moved forward quickly before any of them could register it, and Izuku went stiff as a statue when someone of the opposite gender that wasn't Ochako moved right up into his face. Itsuka looked around with widened eyes as Setsuna leaned against his shoulder, grabbing his other shoulder to force him to bend his knees and bring him down to her height. 

While Yui tilted her head somewhat looking at Ochako while the other girl also blinked a bit, both of them giving the other an unsure look, Setsuna grabbed a lock of her own messy hair and brought up to Izuku's, comparing them briefly before looking back to Itsuka with a teasing grin.

"Not exactly, but close enough!" Setsuna confirmed, shaking her head while Itsuka continued to stare blankly at the sight of her best friend clinging closely to Izuku, feeling her stomach twist in a knot but not quite sure why. "We both have green hair! And you're also hanging out with Yui's clone over there!"

"Do we look alike …?" Ochako wondered out loud, cocking her head somewhat as Yui studied her with equal curiosity, and then glanced at Izuku out of the corner of her eye. "Uh - Deku, what do you think?"

"H-huh?" Izuku jumped a bit at his best friend's question, still feeling like his face was burning as Setsuna continued to have her arm wrapped around his shoulders, the idea of personal space apparently foreign to her as she leaned in closely to look at his hair, frowning a bit. None of them were aware of Itsuka's mouth continuing to thin the longer Setsuna's face was in Izuku's, glancing down at how red Izuku's face was with a pout, and then letting out a small sigh as she raised a fist to her mouth and pointedly cleared her throat.

"Set, can you give Midoriya some breathing room? Please?"

"Hm?" The green-haired girl glanced over at her best friend out of the corner of her eyes, feeling an eyebrow raise again at the sight of a vein starting to subtly clench in Itsuka's forehead, and then glanced at Izuku, seeing him slowly but surely becoming a beet with how red his face was becoming. Realizing that, yeah, she had been pretty in his face for the last minute or so, Setsuna chuckled, patting his shoulder but still taking a step back - she had a feeling that Itsuka was about five seconds from physically making Setsuna move back, and she acknowledged internally that there were some lines that, for her safety, she probably shouldn't cross.

And from the intense look that her best friend was sending her, Izuku seemed to be a tree that's already been peed on.

"Ah, sorry about that, man," She laughed out loud, giving his shoulder one more pat because even though she knew her life was potentially in danger right now due to the glare Itsuka was starting to send her, she couldn't resist making Izuku continue to combust, and making the vein in Itsuka's forehead twitch, "shock overcame me, is all. But we've gotten distracted!"

With sudden, dramatic flair, Setsuna threw herself back and then pointed accusingly right into Itsuka's face, the orange-haired girl looking pretty unimpressed as Yui and Ochako looked over as well, finally getting over how weirdly similar they looked to each other.

"From what I have gathered," Setsuna said in her best dramatic voice, sounding heartbroken and furious, "from the looks of things, you've gone and replaced both your green-haired friend and your nice cute friend with another green-haired friend and another nice, cute friend!"

"H-huh? Cute?" Ochako blinked, her cheeks going a bit red at that compliment while Yui nodded in agreement, glancing down at the tank top she was wearing and giving another approving nod, subtly licking her lips.

"How could you do this to us?!" Setsuna pretended to despair, racing over and throwing herself into Itsuka's arms, her best friend sputtering a bit and automatically catching the dinosaur loving girl while letting out a reluctant giggle at her friend's overly dramatic reaction to this sudden but inevitable betrayal. "I should've known! We haven't hung out in weeks! I know I'm not exactly one to talk since I've been getting ready for UA too, but I should've known that you'd take advantage of the distance between us to slide into other people's DMs!"

"Mm," Yui nodded, also moving away from Ochako so she could hug Itsuka, making the orange-haired girl laugh out loud as her best friends clung to her, "you utter heathen. You've taken your two new training partners and replaced us with them. For shame, Itsuka, for shame."

"Yeah! How dare you break our fragile little hearts this way, Ken?! I thought we've been inseparable since we were kids, but now I have to deal with the fact that we're apparently replaceable in your heart!"

"Yes, it's true," Itsuka was unable to stop her smirk, wrapping her other arm around Yui's waist as she chortled, "I've been having a love affair behind both your backs. I'm cheating on you both. Just not with these two - I've actually been sleeping with the two heating pads I have in my house for months now."

"Wha - Jéan?!" Setsuna gasped dramatically, while Itsuke tried hard to contain her giggles as Setsuna gave her heat pads random names, "And - and Randalf?! Those bastards?!"

"Mm-hm. Yep. Jéan and Randalf. Sorry, you two, heat pads are my new best friends."

"For shame," Yui snarked, "I thought we had something special going on."

"I use them to relieve back pain. You two cause me mental pain."

While the three girls giggled amongst themselves, Izuku trying his best to get his red cheeks to calm down from having a girl directly in his face and Ochako trying to remember if she had a cousin she never met, All Might chuckled a bit at his students' antics but still cleared his throat from where he had been standing at the side, trying to get everyone's attention again. While Setsuna's dramatics had been funny, and All Might had debated running away when he caught sight of Itsuka's face when the green-haired girl had been hugging Izuku, they did need to get back to work, seeing as they still had a few things to do today.

Thankfully, at the sound of his clear 'ahem', it seemed to dawn on Setsuna and Yui that they were technically interrupting them, and hastily let go of Itsuka so they could step back - both to stop making such a scene, and also to take a breath of fresh air. After all, Itsuka didn't exactly smell like roses right now.

"Ah, uh - sorry about that, coach," Setsuna chuckled weakly, glancing around at the older man with red cheeks, "we didn't mean to take all the attention like that."

"It's alright, miss," All Might gave her a smile and thumbs up, "I just wanted to remind Young Kendou, Young Uraraka and Young Midoriya here that if we're going to be getting this car up the hill by the end of the day so I can call the tow company to come get it, we'll have to get our quirk exercises out of the way."

Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku jumped at that reminder - Setsuna and Yui's sudden appearances did distract them from the fact that they still had a few more hours of work to get through.

"Now then," All Might clapped his hands together, "Young Uraraka, you can head over to the lockers we were moving last night - I'll be having you float one while we wrap a few ropes around your shoulders, and I'll fill it up with a few pounds of scrap for you to carry it up to my truck. Young Midoriya, you can make your way to the usual spot, I'll be with you once I get Young Uraraka started."

He then turned to Itsuka, smiling, "As for you, Young Kendou, seeing as you will be the one pushing the SUV up the hill later, you'll be allowed to take a few more minutes to rest. In the meantime, why don't you take your friends up to the parking lot and under some shade?"

"Uh … right," Itsuka quickly nodded, not really liking the thought of her being able to relax while her friends worked but knowing that she did need to save some of her strength for later. Sticking her tongue out at Ochako when the brown-haired girl shook her head in a mockingly-disapproving way at her, Itsuka quickly took Setsuna and Yui's wrists, and started to head back up to the parking lot with her friends in tow. As they left, Ochako followed All Might over to the locker she would be floating, and Izuku let out a small sigh as he began moving around the mountain of garbage to the spot he would be practicing firing off a shot of his power.

Yep, Izuku frowned as he reached the familiar stretch of beach with the car on the other end, this was the part of his day that he had been looking forward to the least.

About five minutes later, as Izuku paced the small spot he tended to use to fire off a blast and looking through his journal, flipping through the pages detailing his independent training plan and wondering if it were possible to squeeze in his homework at dinner so he'd have a bit more time to train, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him and looked around to see All Might approaching him, carrying a fire extinguisher. That at least made sense to Izuku - since Itsuka's friends were still here, the pro hero shouldn't risk them seeing him in his true form, and should stick to the good old fashioned way to put out a fire. They'd learned their lesson with Ochako's first time coming to the beach, after all.

"Alright, Young Midoriya," All Might grunted as he put down the fire extinguisher, taking his place on the large tractor tire he usually used to sit down and watch, "now that we've got that all out of the way - whenever you're ready."

"I - right," Izuku nodded, sighing as he put his notebook away. As he always did, he turned to face the car he used as a target, spreading out his legs a bit, taking a deep breath, and raised his arms up, palms facing the car. Closing his eyes, Izuku took another breath, and then pointedly inhaled, and exhaled.

Three months full of failures and anxiety from this, he was determined to fire off a blast of lightning today.

From the rare times he used his quirk in the past (so pretty much only three times), Izuku knew the emotions he needed to draw from in order to shoot out a bolt of lightning. He needed to rely on fear, on panic, on adrenaline. He took another deep breath, trying to push away the terrifying mental images of a young Katsuki bloody and wounded on the ground.

Ignore the memories of the harsh burn on his mom's arm.

Ignore the memory of the pain he would go through when he fired off a blast.

He needed to push it all away, and focus on the fear and anger he felt whenever he used his quirk.

And yet …

… yet …

… nothing.

After about a minute of just standing there, hearing the sound of waves crashing against the beach and feeling All Might watching him, Izuku knew that it wasn't going to happen. Again.

Usually, he would react by dropping his arms dejectedly, opening his eyes and giving All Might a guilty look while explaining that he couldn't do it. But today, he couldn't help but feel frustrated.

All Might watched as Izuku dropped his arms down, turning away from the car and opening his eyes, letting the pro hero see the guilt and frustration he was feeling at the moment as he swung his arms around, obviously displeased by this lack of progress. At the very least, though, All Might understood, letting out a small grunt as he stood up from where he was sitting on the tire.

"Nothing again, huh?"

Izuku let out a small hum, biting his lip and turning away. At this, All Might raised an eyebrow - he had never really seen Izuku this frustrated, the only times he really saw him upset was when he was dehydrated and emotional, straining against something he couldn't move and giving it a small punch before the pro hero would tell him to take a small break and come back to it with a clearer head. This, though, was a bit new to him - he had seen Itsuka and Ochako angry before, and both of them were very scary when that happened, but he'd never seen Izuku this upset before.

"I just … I'm sorry, All Might," Izuku finally sighed as he turned to give the pro hero an apology, looking down at his shoes as he clenched his fists and scowled a bit, "I just - I don't get it. I don't - I don't know what's wrong with me, and why I can't - why I can't fire off a blast."

"It's alright, Young Midoriya," All Might assured him, walking forward and patting his shoulder in a reassuring way, "I'm not like I'm angry at you for not being able to -"

"It's not that!" Izuku suddenly snapped, stomping his foot and whipping his gaze up to glare at All Might, the pro hero blinking in surprise - but then Izuku immediately closed his mouth, his eyes widening as he realized that he had just shouted at his hero. It didn't take long for horror and shame at what he had done to appear on his face.

"I - I'm so sorry, All Might, I - I didn't mean to -"

"It's alright," All Might said again, giving the boy a smile as he gave his shoulder a squeeze, "I was actually beginning to wonder if you would ever give me the same kind of attitude Young Kendou and Young Uraraka give me. And it's alright to feel frustrated as well - I know I would be if three months went by and - well - there wasn't much progress."

There was a small pause, where All Might wondered briefly if he was unintentionally rubbing salt in the wound, but then Izuku let out a small sigh, nodding, and slowly turned to walk over to the tire All Might had been sitting on. The Symbol of Peace watched as Izuku sat down gingerly, hunching over and staring at his scarred hands in worry and a bit of anger.

"I just … I don't get it," He muttered, "I - I don't know what's wrong. I hate that I can study a hero for a few hours and know exactly how their quirk works, that - that I can work with Occhan and Kendou and know how they can experiment with theirs - but with mine, I'm always at a loss. I hate that can't just - get it."

All Might slowly nodded at that, walking over to take a seat beside the young man, hunching over as well as Izuku continued to stare at his hands and vent.

"It just - it doesn't make sense. I'm angry, I'm upset, I'm everything that I usually am when I use my quirk - I'm feeling all the emotions I would usually feel - and there isn't even a spark," Closing his hands into fists, Izuku let out a defeated sigh and looked away. "I just … I don't know what's wrong with me."

"Hm," All Might hummed, leaning forward as well as Izuku continued to stare dejectedly at his hands, "well, Young Midoriya, we both know that you … well, let's just say that you don't have good memories of your quirk. Which … may be why you're so hesitant to use your quirk, even when you want to."

"Huh?"

"I have put some thought into why you're not able to shoot out a bolt," All Might explained, cupping his pointy chin as he looked out to the waves, "and I believe that … well, you may have a mental block when it comes to your quirk. You associate your quirk with bad things, and thus you subconsciously limit yourself. The only times you've used your quirk is in extreme situations, or when you're too surprised to stop yourself - and we know that we can't exactly throw you at a villain, and we can't just surprise you into using your quirk forever, you'll have to eventually be able to use it yourself. When you try to use your quirk, you … well, you mentally stop yourself. I'm not quite sure why that's so, but I think that's what's happening."

"Then …" Izuku sighed again, taking a second to bite his lip and then looking up at his mentor desperately, "... then how do I get rid of that mental block? If - if I am subconsciously stopping myself from using my quirk, I need to get rid of it. How do I - how do I do that?"

"I …" All Might hesitated briefly, and then let out a small sigh as he sagged his shoulders. "... I'm afraid I don't quite know."

At that, both of them fell silent, Izuku glancing to the ground again in obvious defeat, and All Might grabbed a handful of his loose pants and squeezed in frustration.

Admittedly, there was something … well, familiar about this that kept poking in All Might's brain. Something about Izuku's situation reminded him of something, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He knew that Izuku … he needed help with getting over the mental barrier that years of being bullied, of being told that his quirk was villainous, had been put up in his mind. That would have to be the next step in using his quirk, and after they overcame that barrier, he would be able to better teach Izuku on how to use it.

Izuku … he needed to talk to someone, and not All Might, who would just try to give him a pep talk, and not Itsuka or Ochako. An outside source. Something … something along the lines of a therapist, he thought with a frown, but that would require a lot of secrecy and string-pulling, and he had a feeling that Izuku would object to something that would take up time he could use training. And that might also mean that there would be more people who knew what they were doing on this beach, and enough people knew already. Izuku's parents, Ochako's parents, Itsuka's parents and grandfather, Principal Nezu, Nighteye, and now Setsuna and Yui. All Might couldn't risk more people coming to this beach and finding out what they were really doing. And Izuku having to explain what he was doing to a therapist would be less than ideal.

No, what Young Midoriya needed was …

… was someone who could truly empathize with him. Someone who knew exactly what he was going through. Someone who wouldn't just suggest Izuku fire off a blast every day and hope that he would be able to do it. Someone Izuku could relate to.

Someone like …

… and then All Might blinked.

Of course. Of course! How could he have forgotten! There was someone who could talk to Izuku about this, and could give him advice. He had been pretty busy with work for the last few months, All Might hadn't thought to contact him outside of weekly texts, but - but he of all people knew the importance of secrecy. If Izuku needed to take the necessary step to get rid of this mental block … then he would be able to help him.

"Young Midoriya, I may have an idea."

"H-huh?" Izuku jolted out of his angsting to look around at All Might as the man got back up with a grunt. "An idea? About - about my quirk?"

"It'll take a bit of doing," All Might admitted, stretching his back slightly, "and I'll need to make a few phone calls and set up a meeting - but I believe that there's someone you can speak to who can help you out with your mental block."

"W-wait, really?" Izuku stood up as well, blinking in shock. "Who?"

"Someone … well, someone who has gone through something similar to you," All Might explained briefly, seeing Izuku's eyes widening again in shock and curiosity, "but it'll take a while to contact him, he's been pretty busy with work. But … well, let's put it aside for now," He shook his head before looking around, "we still have a full day of weight-lifting to do if we're going to get that car up the hill. Let's relieve Young Uraraka from her exercise and go retrieve Young Kendou."

Izuku looked like he wanted to question the pro hero further on this mystery person, but he knew that All Might had a point that they still had a lot to do today, so he followed the Symbol of Peace around the mountain of garbage to go retrieve his other training partners. He might not have liked how vague All Might was being, but at the very least, he seemed to know what he was doing.

While ignoring all the other times All Might had no idea what he was doing.


"Is, uh …" Setsuna looked uncertain for a moment, pointing behind the other two girls at the struggling Ochako coming up the stairs, "... is she good?"

Wrinkling her brow, Itsuka looked around to see Ochako slowly making her way over to the truck, taking several ragged breaths as she heaved a locker as big as she was over her shoulders, ropes wrapped around her to prevent it from floating off. Not that it would, anyway, seeing as it was filled to the brim with heavy scrap metal, which, combined with using her quirk, was probably why Ochako was struggling right now.

"Oh, geez, uh … Uraraka?" Itsuka called out to her, wincing a bit as Ochako stumbled over her feet, nearly falling and face planting on the asphalt. "Are you okay?"

"Mm' guhd," Ochako managed to get out, slurring and looking up with a tired but determined look on her face as she kept walking forward, "jus' gimme a sec, I'mma geh eht."

"Uh … right," Itsuka slowly nodded at whatever her training partner just said, "just yell if you think you're going to get crushed, and I'll come over and help you."

"Mm-hm."

Giving Ochako an unsure thumbs up, Itsuka turned back to her best friends, Setsuna and Yui also giving Ochako pitying looks as she tried her hardest not to die. As they stood under the tree to get out of the heat, however, Itsuka thought back to something Setsuna had said earlier, and subconsciously cleared her throat, drawing her friends' attention as the orange-haired girl suddenly felt an unexpected wave of guilt.

"Hey, uh … about something you said earlier, Set. I'm not - I wasn't - actually neglecting you guys, was I?" She asked unsurely, taking a step back so her friends didn't have to breathe in her stupid odor from working on a beach all day. "I know I've been spending a lot of time here recently, but I wasn't -"

"Oh, no, girl, I was just pulling your leg, I'm not actually mad about it." Setsuna giggled as she leaned against the tree, Yui nodding beside her. "We get that you've been pretty busy lately, and it's not like Yui and I have been just sitting around hanging out without you."

"Mm-mm," Yui shook her head, "I've been working on improving my quirk too. We don't mind that there hasn't been a lot of time for the three of us to hang out."

"It's just ... I didn't realize that we hadn't spent much time together lately," Itsuka muttered, going a bit red and absently petting her ponytail, "and - and I know you were joking, Set, but I'm not trying to - to replace you guys with Midoriya and Uraraka or anything like that, it's just -"

"Itsuka, like Set said, we're not actually mad about that," Yui reiterated, glancing back at Ochako as she slowly made her way over to the truck on the other end of the parking lot, "we just find it kind of funny. Uraraka honestly does look like me, doesn't she?"

"Er ... kinda?" Setsuna shrugged, also glancing back at the brown-haired girl skeptically, "I was just joking about her being your clone, Yui. There isn't, like, an obvious resemblance between you two, I just pointed out that you guys have pretty much the same hairstyle and body shape."

"Oh come on. She looks just like me."

"Um ... I guess so," Itsuka shrugged as well, not really seeing the resemblance between her best friend and her training partner either, while Yui shook her head exasperatedly.

"You're both ridiculous. I'm going to have to go home and recheck my entire family tree to make sure she's some long lost cousin of mine. You know, after I get her number."

"Why would you want her - oh, god," Setsuna scoffed, shaking her head as she realized what Yui was implying and smirking at the stoic girl, "you wanna hit on them both, don't you?"

"A tad bit," Yui freely admitted, while Setsuna laughed and Itsuka suddenly straightened her back, the blank stare that she had when Setsuna had been leaning on Izuku back on her face, "they're both hot. Uraraka's pretty sexy, and Midoriya's a bit awkward, and a nerd, but he's cute enough that I wanna fluster him a bit."

"Oh, girl, I feel that," Setsuna laughed again while leaning back against the tree, "he's a cutie, isn't he? A bit on the plain side, but not plain enough that I wouldn't wanna get up in his business and -"

"Okay, that's enough of this conversation," Itsuka interjected, with something in her voice that made both Setsuna and Yui smirk a bit ("Yep, definitely peed on," Setsuna muttered under her breath), "Yui, please don't flirt with Midoriya, you might actually make him explode. And leave Uraraka alone too, she might actually be a cousin of yours and you do not wanna flirt with family."

"Perhaps," Yui shrugged, "but if she's not my cousin, it's free real estate."

"You two, I swear to -"

"Ah, sorry about that!" A deep voice suddenly called, and the three of them turned to see All Might and Izuku returning from the beach, the disguised pro hero giving them a wave as he glanced over at Ochako dumping the garbage into the truck with a large crash, and the brown-haired girl let out a sigh of relief as she released her quirk, bending over to put her hands on her knees and pant raggedly. Itsuka watched her in concern for a moment, hoping that she wouldn't throw up and keeping her eyes on her face, seeing as the tank top she was wearing showed a small bit of cleavage - and then she wrinkled her brow as she suddenly felt suspicious, and looked around.

Yep, sure enough, Yui was staring unashamedly, tilting her head as she checked out Itsuka's training partner. Frowning and narrowing her eyes at her, Itsuka reached over and lightly punched Yui's shoulder to get her to knock it off, making the stoic girl pout and rub her arm as the other three joined them.

"Well," All Might chuckled as they finally joined the three girls under the shade, Ochako stumbling over and snatching the water bottle Izuku had been offering her out of his hand to greedily drink, "now that we've gotten our quirk training out of the way, it's about time we get that car up the hill so we can get it towed. Would you two like to stay and watch?"

"Thank you for the offer," Setsuna bowed again, while Itsuka groaned a bit at the reminder that they needed to get it up the hill and shot a glare at the SUV waiting for them, "but Yui and I were just stopping by, we didn't mean to stay this long. But now that we're here, could we actually ask you a favor, coach?"

"Oh?" All Might put his hands on his hips, smiling a bit at the nickname.

"See, I'm actually training to go to UA myself, through recommendations," She explained, tapping her fingers together while Izuku looked interested by that tidbit and Ochako wiped her sweaty forehead, "and next week I'm going to be going through a few exercises that's probably going to take up the rest of my time this summer. Since we won't be able to hang out much after I start since our schedules won't line up, I was wondering if Itsuka would be able to get a day off so we could have one last hurrah? It's completely up to you, of course, we don't want to inconvenience you."

"Hm," All Might thought for a moment, slowly nodding as he tapped his finger against his chin, "I will have to talk to Young Kendou's grandfather, of course, but … well, as I mentioned earlier, we are pretty far ahead in training. I don't see the harm in letting the three of them have one night off to relax this week."

Setsuna and Yui let out cheers, Setsuna enthusiastically and Yui stoically, while Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka breathed sighs of relief.

"In that case!" Setsuna pumped her fist, "We gotta do something fun, like a night out on the town, Ken. We can hit up the arcade, or go see a movie or something like that. And of course," She flashed a grin to Izuku and Ochako, "that invitation extends to you two as well."

"H-huh? Us?" Izuku blinked, while Ochako also looked up from where she had been hunched over in surprise, "O-oh, no, we - you guys don't have to do that, we shouldn't intrude on -"

"I mean, we can't exactly tell you guys not to intrude on us since that's pretty much what we just did," Yui shrugged, "and you two seem pretty cool. Well, cool enough to hang out with Itsuka, and she's supremely cool, so that means you two have to be awesome too."

"I mean …" Itsuka trailed off, smirking a bit while Izuku and Ochako rolled their eyes, which made her giggle while Setsuna and Yui shook their heads at her.

"In any case, you two are more than welcome to come hang out with us."

Setsuna nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah! And if we're making it a thing, we can invite a few more of our friends too! Like Mina, I know she'd love to come hang out with us for a night out on the town."

"Mina? As in Ashido?" Yui looked around at her. "Your ex?"

"You're willing to hang out with her after your breakup?" Itsuka asked in surprise.

"Okay, first of all," Setsuna smirked again as she raised one finger into the air, "our breakup was actually pretty amicable. She wanted something serious, and I didn't, so we talked it out and agreed to just be friends. Second of all, even if we broke up, she's still very sexy, and told me that if I ever wanted to hit her up and go to some club, she'd one hundred percent be down. And third of all, fuck y'all."

"That third point was unnecessary," Yui tilted her head while Izuku and Ochako laughed awkwardly behind them.

"Anyway," Itsuka shook her head, looking back to Izuku and Ochako with a smile, "if you guys feel like putting up with Setsuna and Yui a bit more, you're more than welcome to come hang out. Actually …" The orange-haired girl trailed off again, glancing down at her feet for a moment, before she smiled a bit wider, evidently having thought of something as she looked back around at her friends.

"Instead of a night out, why don't we do a night in?" She offered the group, "I know that my parents, Uraraka's parents, and Izuku's mom are actually going out for a group date this Saturday, and I'll have the house to myself - you know, besides my grandpa, but he usually turns in right after training anyway. Why don't we have a girls' night until my parents come back? My dad can give you two a ride home, and we can order pizza and watch movies."

"That sounds pretty good to me!" Setsuna clapped her hands while Yui nodded and Ochako tried to look as enthusiastic as she could although her heart did start beating a bit faster from nervousness - honestly, the words 'girls' night' did make her feel nervous, as she was only used to hanging out with Izuku and Itsuka, but she knew it would be unwise to turn down an opportunity to make more friends, and Setsuna and Yui seemed cool enough. To her side, Izuku smiled as well.

"Er - that sounds pretty fun," He gave a small thumbs up to the four girls, "I bet you guys are gonna have a great time."

"... us guys?" Setsuna repeated, quirking an eyebrow when he blinked. "Dude, you're a hundred percent going to be there too. In fact, I demand it."

"I - huh?" Izuku squeaked, going red and quickly wrapping his arms around his head. "I - oh, no, you guys don't - I don't have to -"

"Mm," Yui nodded as well, glancing up at his arms and giving an approving nod, "you're the guest of honor at our slumber party. You aren't allowed to skip out."

"O-oh, no, I'm - I'm flattered, but -"

He was about to try to protest, to convince them that they didn't have to accommodate him, that he was okay with just going home after training and having a night to himself, when he suddenly became aware of someone tugging on his shirt. He glanced over to see Ochako giving him a small glance, and Izuku was able to see the small hope and request in her eyes.

Slowly, Izuku lowered his arms from around his head, looking at her as she gave him a small, pleading look, and he realized what she was trying to say. Oh, god, of course she wanted him to be there - Setsuna and Yui seemed cool, but they were still pretty much strangers, and - and Ochako was in a similar boat as him, only having Itsuka as a friend to connect him to these two girls. She might want him there so she didn't feel too awkward.

In that case …

"I, uh …" Izuku cleared his throat, still a bit red but trying to take a deep breath, "I guess that … that if you insist …"

Setsuna grinned in victory while Yui nodded, although both girls raised their eyebrows at the small interaction between him and his best friend there, with Setsuna muttering something that sounded like 'wait how many people have peed on this tree', but Izuku figured that he must've misheard.

"Okay!" Ochako tried to cheer up again, pumping her fist as she smiled widely, "I guess that means we'll both be there! I'll take every opportunity to cuddle Gūdo as much as I can."

"Oi," Itsuka smirked a bit, "I certainly did not agree to that. He's my special boy, remember? It's bad enough you always arrive early to the dojo so you can pet him before we start."

"He's a good boy! The bestest boy! You can't blame me for wanting to arrive a little early to play with him!"

"A 'little early' is like - ten minutes before we start. You show up a whole ass hour before my grandpa's even ready for us. Anyway," Itsuka got back on track while Ochako stuck her tongue out at her again, "Midoriya, of course you're invited to our little party, there's no way we'll leave you out of it."

"I - I guess."

"Although," Her smile faltered, as though remembering something, "I guess that … it might get a little awkward if you're the only guy there with four girls. It's not like we don't talk about girly stuff, so I don't want you to feel excluded."

"In that case," Yui shrugged, "we find another guy to come hang out with us. Simple as that."

"And do you know another guy?" Itsuka crossed her arms while raising an eyebrow skeptically. "Because I sure as hell don't, and I'm pretty sure Setsuna doesn't either. It's not like we can just invite someone from our school to hang out either, I'm pretty sure they'd take that as an opportunity to try to hit on us."

Yui and Setsuna glanced at each other, both of them uncertain as Itsuka raised a pretty good point. They took a second to try and think of a guy that wouldn't hit on any of them or be gross, and at first, no one exactly came to mind - and then Setsuna blinked.

"Actually," She smirked a bit as she looked back over at Itsuka, "I think I would know a guy."


"S-seriously, Tokage, I don't know about this," Eijirou stammered as Setsuna and Yui continued to push him from behind down the street towards the Kendous' dojo, the taller boy taking hesitant steps as the girls behind him continued to shove him forward, "I don't really know Kendou, we - we only talked a few times, and - and I - I'm not sure -"

"Nonsense, nonsense," Setsuna tittered, continuing to push him forward, "I know you two definitely talked that one time a few months ago, you guys are practically buddy-buddy."

"... a few months ago? Did, uh … did she tell you what I was doing?"

"Uh … no?" Setsuna blinked, tilting her head and giving him a suspicious look while he went a bit red. "What were you doing?"

"N-nothing!" He quickly straightened up, no longer needing the girls to push him along as he began speed walking down the sidewalk towards the dojo, face turning redder and redder. Yui and Setsuna exchanged a skeptical look, and then shrugged - they supposed that would have to be something they interrogated him about later, or else they could just ask Itsuka if he was jerking off and she caught him. That might explain the reaction.

Indeed, the guy that Setsuna thought wouldn't be gross, or hit on any of them, was one Eijirou Kirishima. Itsuka had been right that their list of guys that they could trust to come hang out with them and not slobber all over Yui was pretty sparse, mostly because most of their friends were other girls and the majority of the guys at school were too busy ogling Yui to trust them. But then Setsuna had thought of Eijirou, who, in addition to having a reputation at school for standing up to bullies (to moderate or no success, but it's the thought that counted) showed utterly no interest in Yui, and decided to chance it and run over to his house, inform him that he was getting invited to hang out, and grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him along to the train station to meet with Yui.

It was a shame that Mina couldn't make it, seeing as she was on vacation right now with her family, but the pink girl made up for it by asking Setsuna if she wanted to go to the beach at some point when neither of them were busy so they could flaunt their stuff, which made Setsuna very happy and Yui very interested in what they meant by 'stuff', so the green-haired girl let it slide. So in the end, it would be her, Yui, Setsuna, Izuku, Ochako and Eijirou hanging out for a few hours into the night, while Itsuka's parents went out on their big group date with Ochako's parents and Inko, and Itsuka's grandfather would retreat to his room for the rest of the evening and pretend he didn't exist.

"Alrighty," Setsuna checked her phone again as they moved through the gate of Itsuka's home and towards the doors to the dojo, "it's nearly four o'clock, and Itsuka told me that's the time they're usually done. I already texted her earlier, she says we can just stroll right on in."

"So, uh ... this is a dojo, huh?" Eijirou looked up at the large building, gulping a bit in nervousness as he put his hands in his pockets.

"Mm," Yui nodded from behind him as she finished putting her short hair in a ponytail, "it belongs to Itsuka's grandfather, they live on the floor above it. It's actually the house he grew up in, and the house her mom grew up in too."

"Huh …"

"Well, since we got the okay to just walk in …" Setsuna nodded to herself, smirking to herself as she thought that now was the time for a dramatic but quiet entrance (she did not want to get bopped on the head by Grandpa Kendou's shinai again, thank you very much), and grabbed the two paper doors of the dojo to slide open.

As the three of them walked in, they were greeted by … quite the odd sight. Izuku was standing on one end of the dojo, obviously bracing himself to start running as he hopped up and down while wearing a gi, while on the other side of the dojo, Ochako and Itsuka bent down, cupping their hands while Teko stood behind them carrying a long wooden stick, easily taller than anyone here. Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou fell silent at the sight that greeted them, blinking a bit at Itsuka's odd hunched appearance, and stopped to watch.

"Now go!" Teko barked loudly as he held the stick with the wooden block hanging off of it in the air.

Letting out a small yell to hype himself up, Izuku began charging quickly across the dojo, determination etched on his face as he ran. Ahead of him, Itsuka and Ochako braced themselves, getting ready to support his weight as he approached them. The three teenagers at the door watched as Izuku, with surprising grace, hopped up, his bare feet landing in the girls' cupped hands, and with two identical grunts, Itsuka and Ochako threw Izuku up into the air, giving him enough take off for him to twirl in the air as he threw out his leg.

With another yell, Izuku kicked out, wanting to break the piece of wood dangling off the stick clean in two - 

- and completely missed, letting out a small yelp as he fell back down to earth and landed hard on his face, slamming down onto the wooden floor with a loud 'BAM'.

All four girls in the dojo cringed at the hard landing, while Eijirou hissed and let out a sympathetic, "Ooh, that's gotta hurt."

"Wrong! Yet again!" Teko threw the stick away to clatter against the ground, glaring down harshly at Izuku limp form as Itsuka and Ochako bent over worriedly to check that he was okay. "You hesitated the moment you were in the air! Again! Where did the confidence from the run up go?! Had we not been finished right now, you would be doing a hundred pushups to further emphasize your failure!"

"Yes, sir," came Izuku's muffled and weak groan from the floor, his tone laced in pain.

"Good grief," The dojo teacher growled, shaking his head in disappointment - and then he looked over at the entrance and saw Setsuna and Yui at the door, Eijirou slightly hiding behind them so the scary sensei wouldn't immediately notice him.

"Ah. Hello, Setsuna, Yui. I see you brought a stranger to my door."

"That we did, Grandpa Kendou!" Setsuna happily said, grabbing Eijirou by the arm and pulling him around to the front so Teko could better see him, Eijirou gulping nervously. "We're here for our little party tonight, and we brought Kirishima here so Midoriya doesn't feel too awkward, surrounded by a bunch of gossiping girls."

"Hm," Teko nodded a bit at that, crossing his arms across his gi. "Very well, then. I believe we are done for the day. Itsuka, we will be working on your core strength next week, it is still lacking. Uraraka, more judo flips while utilizing your quirk. Midoriya," He threw a glare down at the boy on the ground, seeing him sit up and rubbing his nose, "we'll be working on that kick until you can do it in your sleep."

"Yes, sir."

"Very good. I will be using the bath in my own room, so you three do not need to wait to shower. Please don't disturb me for the rest of the night."

With that, the old man walked over to the door that led upstairs, opening it and vanishing further into the house without another word. With that, the small trio by the door walked over to the small trio on the floor, with Ochako helping Izuku back up to his hands and knees and checking his nose to make sure he didn't break it when he landed. Once Izuku was back on his feet, the six teenagers glanced at each other, realizing that introductions needed to be made.

"Midoriya, Uraraka, this is Eijirou Kirishima," Itsuka introduced the black-haired student before them, the pointy-toothed guy raising a hand in greeting, "he's one of our classmates from over in Class 1. Kirishima, this is Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka," She gestured to the two teenagers in their white gis as they also gave him an awkward wave, Izuku while he cupped his sore nose, "they're my training partners while I'm getting ready for UA."

"Oh, cool, you guys are going for UA too?" Eijirou looked interested at that, giving them a grin as he put his hands back in his jean pockets. "I'm gonna be applying too. I never really thought about teaming up with other people to train, though."

"W-well, I thought it would've been nice since - y'know, I knew them and knew they were training," Itsuka chuckled, glancing around at the door that would lead upstairs, "sorry about - y'know, not thinking of inviting you too, Kirishima."

"Don't take it personally, man," Setsuna chuckled, "we got left out to dry too."

"Mm." Yui nodded in agreement. "I'm still reeling from the betrayal."

"Shut up, you two. Anyway, I know my parents left to go pick up Mr. and Mrs. Uraraka and Inko a few minutes ago, so we can get started with our showers - we kinda stink. Midoriya, Uraraka, it's up to you guys who can go first, I can wait - I shouldn't leave Setsuna unsupervised, she'll cause chaos if left unattended."

"Harsh! But true."

"O-oh no, you or Deku can go first," Ochako immediately offered before Izuku could even open his mouth, glancing off to the side with a familiar look on her face that Itsuka picked up on immediately, "I can wait until you both are done, it doesn't -"

"You just wanna pet Gūdo."

"He's the best boy."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, as long as I'm not in the shower when the pizza arrives, since I have to be the one to pay for it, we can go in whatever order we want."

"Er - anyway," Izuku chuckled awkwardly, looking around at the small group as they began making their way out of the dojo and up the stairs, Ochako running ahead of them so she could find Gūdo and cuddle the hell out of him, "I, uh - sorry if I'm a bit - a bit slow on the update, but I don't think anyone said what we would - what we'll all be doing tonight."

"I mean," Setsuna laughed, walking over and putting her arm on his shoulder, smirking when Izuku predictably froze up and Itsuka gave her another blank look with a vein beginning to pulse in her forehead (she knew she was playing with fire but she couldn't resist), "I'm not sure if we'll be doing it the whole time … but I definitely want to start with an activity with everyone here that involves a significant amount of smashing and screaming."

"... a-and … and what … what would that be?"


"GAME!"

"Fuck!" Setsuna growled as she tossed her controller aside, glaring at Itsuka as the orange-haired girl raised her hands into the air and basked in her victory. "You borrowed this game from me, how are you better at it than I am?!"

"It's not my fault you suck," Itsuka tittered as she leaned back on the couch, Ochako pouting at her from her spot on the floor as Gūdo let out a happy woof at her putting down the controller and scratching him behind his ears, "the odds are simply in my favor tonight."

"I hope you get hit in the face with a tire while you're working at the beach, and it breaks your nose."

"Oh, please, if anyone's going to get injured on that beach, out of the three of us, ninety percent of the time it's Midoriya."

Izuku sputtered at that, but still nodded reluctantly and conceded her point as he put down his own controller on the coffee table.

It had been about an hour since their little party started, and it had been spent playing video games on the large TV in the living room, with Itsuka bringing out the game station she had in her room for everyone to gather around on the furniture to play. After a round of Hero Cart that had everyone wanting to rip each other's heads off, they settled on playing a few rounds of Smash, everyone playing at once and shouting each other down as their characters squared up and knocked each other out of the arena. Ochako had been surprisingly competitive (surprising to Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou, of course, Izuku and Itsuka weren't that shocked) once she learned the controls, laughing loudly and yelling at Izuku to 'get dunked on' whenever she knocked his character out of the ring; Setsuna absolutely sucked at the game, and was a sore loser about it, evidenced by her attempts to push her sock-covered foot in Eijirou's face and distract him; and Yui had been silent but very deadly, narrowing her eyes whenever Izuku ended up fumbling into knocking her out of the ring and quietly vowing vengeance.

Still though, other than Itsuka threatening to throw Setsuna's head into the trash bin where it belonged, it had been quite fun playing video games and hanging out with her friends as they ate pizza and drank sodas.

"So you guys are from over near Shizuoka?" Eijirou looked interestingly at Izuku and Ochako as the six of them grabbed some more pizza from the box on the coffee table, deciding to take a break from video games and chat, "That's pretty cool, I've checked out a few gyms over there - it looks like a nice neighborhood!"

"Well, Deku's the one who was born and raised there," Ochako giggled a bit as she gestured with her head towards her best friend, both of them sitting on the floor while Gūdo rested his head on Ochako's lap, "I moved there from Mie when I was four."

"I'm in the same boat," Setsuna chuckled as she grabbed her third slice from the box, "born over in Saitama and moved here when I was six."

"Same," Yui nodded, "born in the Shimane prefecture, moved here when I was eight."

"Yeah," Itsuka chuckled, "Kirishima and I are the only Chiba babies here."

Everyone chuckled, and went back to eating some more pizza while they lapsed into a small silence. Soon, though, Izuku glanced back over at Eijirou as the black haired boy leaned back in his seat, and awkwardly, he cleared his throat.

"Uh - so Kirishima," He tried his best not to come across as too awkward as he leaned over, gulping a bit when Eijirou looked over at the sound of his name, "you said that you were applying for UA too?"

"Ha, that's right, man," Eijirou grinned, flashing him a thumbs up, "I always admired Crimson Riot, and - I don't know, I think being a hero's always been what I've wanted to do. Seems like the manliest way to live, you know?"

"Crimson Riot?" Izuku's eyebrows shot up in curiosity and a bit of excitement. "The Chivalrous Hero? I read up on him a while back! I watched a few of his interviews when I was - I think I was eight. Anyway, he always used that word, didn't he? 'Manly'."

"Yeah, man!" Eijirou grinned back, the four girls in the room glancing at each other with eyebrows raised as the two guys geeked out. "Honestly, Crimson Riot's one of the reasons I want to be a hero. Did you ever see the interview he gave that one time, the one where he talked about feeling fear when throwing himself into danger?"

"Yeah, I remember that one! He said something about - what was it - oh yeah, about what chivalry was to him!"

"Yeah! 'It's not about having confidence or knowing fear, I'm a hero, and that's why I protect people'!" Eijirou mimicked the bombastic hero, laughing a bit with Izuku while the four girls rolled their eyes. Still though, it didn't take long for Eijirou's face to sober up a bit, leaning forward in his seat. "Honestly, when I was deciding to apply for UA, I was feeling … I don't know, I was feeling pretty insecure about myself."

"Really?" Itsuka blinked at that, leaning forward in her seat as well. "That's surprising - you're usually so confident whenever you confront some bully. That's why I wasn't too surprised to hear that you were applying for UA."

"Yeah," Eijirou chuckled, "but honestly … well, it's kind of a long story, but I used to think that I was a coward. I was actually about to give up on trying for UA, but I ended up watching that interview, and … honestly, the part where he talked about feeling fear when putting his life on the line, and - and how he believes in living a life with no regrets … that's what I want to be. Someone who believes in living a life without any regrets."

Clenching his fist, he looked back up at Izuku, seeing the boy blinking a bit at this and Ochako looking impressed. "So I'm gonna leave behind the part of me that feels cowardly, and follow my dreams."

"Whoa," Ochako blinked, and then flashed him a smile and a thumbs up. "That's super cool! Really manly!"

"Isn't it?!" Eijirou wiped a tear from his eye, while Itsuka, Setsuna and Yui chuckled a bit - they knew from what they had seen of him in school how awesome he thought manly things were, so it was nice he found someone who thought the same in Ochako.

"Yeah, that … that really is cool," Izuku nodded, giving the other boy a smile, and then hesitantly reached towards his back pocket, "so Kirishima, do you mind if I ask you some questions about what your quirk is? I, uh, I like analyzing quirks as a hobby, but you can say no if you don't want to tell me."

"Nah, it's cool, man!" Eijirou grinned, putting down his slice of pizza and raising his arm up. The others watched as, with a sudden hardening noise, his forearm, wrist and hand suddenly stiffened, becoming rock-like and pointed as Izuku leaned forward.

"My quirk's called 'Hardening'," He explained, a bit weirded out by Izuku abruptly pulling a notebook out of nowhere and beginning to jot down notes but deciding not to point it out, "it's pretty much what it says on the lid, it lets me harden up my body. Few months ago, I could only really harden up my forearms and chest, and not even that much, but ever since I really started training I've been able to make myself harder, and now I'm trying to harden up other parts of my body."

He completely ignored Setsuna's increasingly quiet giggles, while Itsuka rolled her eyes again and Ochako tried her hardest to remain calm and polite while fighting down her own giggles.

"Anyway, it's nothing really flashy," Eijirou chuckled, deactivating his quirk and looking down at his hand while patting his wrist, "I bet when I train it up enough it'll be really strong, but honestly it doesn't look like much."

"I think it's really cool!" Izuku gushed, making Eijirou blink in surprise as the boy closed his notebook and beamed up at him. "It's definitely a quirk that could pass as a pro's! You'd be perfect for combat situations if you can train to harden up your entire body."

"H-huh, that right?" Eijirou let out another chuckle, obviously a little flattered by the compliment as he raised a hand to sheepishly scratch the back of his head. "But you also gotta think about popularity as a hero too. It's cool to be able to fight with my quirk, but I also gotta appeal to people, y'know?"

"That's right," Setsuna agreed with a laugh, finishing her crust and detaching her hand to grab another slice of pizza from the box, while drawing Izuku's attention to it at once with his eyes widening, "it's not just villains you gotta worry about, it's being liked by the public. Otherwise, you won't make it very far in the polls."

"S-so that's also a transformation quirk?" Izuku raised the notebook to his face again, pen in hand and making Ochako giggle a bit as she continued to pet Gūdo and Itsuka shook her head. "That's what I thought when I saw you at the beach."

"Yep! I guess it's my turn for the quirk interrogation," Setsuna chuckled as she reattached her hand to her wrist, smirking at Izuku as he readied his pen. "My quirk's called 'Lizard Tail Splitter'. It lets me split my body apart into thirty five pieces."

"R-really?" Izuku began to jot down notes while staring at her in fascination. "Is there any limits to that? Are you able to detach one of your limbs one at a time, or all at once? Can I see?"

"Sure!" Setsuna agreed happily, hopping up and putting down her slice of pizza before lifting her arms out, spreading her legs. The group watched as Setsuna slowly and dramatically split her body apart, making Izuku's eyes go wider as she detached her head, her upper torso, her waist, her arms, her forearms, her hands, her fingers, her legs, and her feet and toes, floating in the air like a weird parody of the Vitruvian Man.

"Kinda freaky, right?" She giggled a bit at Itsuka's squicked out reaction, which wasn't anything new to the green-haired girl, she always looked kind of grossed out when Setsuna detatched every part of her body, "I can move these pieces pretty freely, and as long as they aren't away from my body for too long, I can control them."

"But then what happens if they are away for too long?"

"I lose control of the body part," Setsuna explained as she began putting herself together, "and I have to regenerate the part. It's, uh … it's not really all that fun, that part - when I was a kid it took weeks, and it can get painful depending on the part that's separate."

"So how fast do you regenerate your body parts now?"

"Just a few hours, a day at most. And I have a limit to that too, so I can't split too many parts apart."

"That's really interesting," Izuku muttered, raising a hand to tug at his lip as he wrote, "with proper training, you could learn how to split yourself apart even more, and not just limit that to limbs … that's a really versatile quirk. A-and what about you, Kodai? What's your quirk? O-only if you want to say, of course."

"I can shrink stuff," Yui shrugged, demonstrating by grabbing her empty water bottle and beginning to shrink it, making Izuku and Ochako blink as the bottle shrunk to fit in the palm of her hand, and then she pressed her fingers together to regrow it. "I can also grow stuff, but not that big."

"Wow," Izuku's eyes practically sparkled, scribbling quickly in his notebook, "you guys have amazing quirks."

"A-ah, it's not that amazing," Eijirou chuckled sheepishly, blushing while Yui smirked a bit at the compliment and Setsuna tipped her water bottle to him with a grin, "I bet there's lots of people that have better quirks than I have. Y'know, people like All Might or Crimson Riot."

"All quirks are amazing!" Izuku insisted, putting his notebook down as Ochako leaned back in her seat beside him and Itsuka stood from her spot on the couch so she could go grab Gūdo his bone. "At least, I think so. I know that there's this big thing about heroes with powerful quirks being the only ones that can be successful and get far in the polls, but just because some quirks aren't capable of destroying buildings doesn't mean they aren't awesome in other ways."

"Well, thank you, Midoriya, for thinking so." Setsuna giggled, and then pointed to his notebook curiously. "So you just jolt down people's quirks in that book?"

"Er - not just that," Izuku seemed to realize how weird he must've looked for the last few minutes, blushing and dialing it back a little while Ochako smiled at him, "I also have notes about heroes in here, and uh … and other … sorry if I crept you guys out with my muttering."

"Nah, it's all good, fellow greenie."

"Mm. It's okay with me too."

"Yeah, man!" Eijirou grinned and leaned forward to take a closer look at the book. "So you got other heroes and their quirks written down in there? Like, as analysis?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling down at the notebook as Itsuka returned with Gūdo's squeaky toy, the dog barking excitedly and scrambling off Ochako's lap to wrestle it from his master, leaving the brown-haired girl reaching out tearfully to the dog while looking absolutely heartbroken, "I got a new notebook for my birthday, so I'm trying to finish writing up my notes in this notebook before I move onto that one."

"Really?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow, letting Gūdo take the toy from her and walking over to Izuku, kneeling down and looking down at the book, "I never really had a look at this - do you mind if I have a look?"

"O-oh, yeah, go ahead," Izuku blushed a bit but still handed her the notebook, Itsuka smiling as she sat down beside Izuku and Ochako and began flipping through the pages, looking impressed by the drawings, "I let Occhan read from my notebooks all the time, so I don't mind people looking."

"Notebooks? Plural?" Yui leaned back slightly. "That's a lot of analysis."

"Y-yeah, I've been writing since - since I was a kid," Izuku chuckled a bit while Ochako giggled and leaned back.

"The first ones were in crayon," She informed the other two girls, making them let out small 'awws' and Izuku turning even redder.

"Wha - Occhan! They didn't need to know that!"

"So," Setsuna smirked, while Itsuka closed the book and handed it back to Izuku with a small grin, "you two have known each other since you were kids?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, smiling, while Itsuka giggled a bit at Izuku's suddenly sitting up, as though he knew where this was going, "since we were four."

"Oooh, that means you got the juicy stories from Midoriya's childhood."

"Erk!"

"That I do!" Ochako also grinned, leaning forward while Izuku tried to reach out and cover her mouth, but Itsuka was quick to grab his wrists and hold them back, giggling sinisterly. "I've got all the deets."

"In that case, let's hear!"

"Occhan, please, don't!" Izuku begged, but alas, Ochako only let out a sinister giggle, about to open her mouth to begin telling everyone the horrific tales of his childhood, with Setsuna and Yui looking interested and Eijirou unsure if he should rescue Izuku from this or not, and the green-haired boy managed to free one of his hands from Itsuka's grasp, while still incredibly red in the face, and pointed dramatically at her. 

"You talk, I'll tell them about the mochi ice cream incident!"

"..."

"..."

"... you wouldn't." Ochako slowly turned to glare at him, beginning to pout as he continued to point his finger in her face.

"I can, and I will! Don't make me do it!"

"You wouldn't. You're too nice. You like me too much to embarrass me like that."

"Excuse me," Setsuna raised her hand, smirking widely, "mochi ice cream incident? Midoriya, do tell."

"Deku," Ochako's eyes flashed dangerously, "you breathe a word of what happened that day, I will float you into the stratmosphere."

"You don't talk, I don't talk!"

However, before this standoff could continue, and Izuku could threaten her with words and Ochako could threaten him with violence, they suddenly became aware of the sound of Izuku's phone chiming in his pocket. His eyes not leaving Ochako's, Izuku reached into his pocket, fetching the phone and glancing out of the corner of his eye at who was texting him - and then quickly turned his full attention to the celluar device, eyes widening.

"Oh. Uh -" He glanced between Ochako and Itsuka, gulping a bit as he lowered the phone, "- it's - uh - it's Coach."

Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked at that, glancing down at his phone in his hand - All Might was texting him? About what? The girls exchanged another glance, not really sure what All Might would be reaching out to Izuku about, and the orange-haired girl let out a small sigh as she let go of Izuku's other wrist, letting him sit back up as she started climbing to her feet.

"C'mon." She gestured with her head towards her training partners before looking back up at their other guests. "We'll be right back, guys, we just need to make sure Coach isn't texting us about anything serious."

With that, Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako got up to move out of the living room, flashing the other three the peace sign and smiles, and moved around the corner. Gūdo let out an inquisitive whine, and got up to follow the three of them out of the living room.

As they walked down the hall, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she led the other two away for some privacy. She didn't really want to lead them in there, but they clearly needed privacy - they didn't want to accidentally slip up on anything and let Setsuna or Yui or Eijirou know who they were really being trained by, and she didn't trust Izuku or Ochako enough to not slip up on saying All Might's name, so she reluctantly led them over to her room, opening the door and gesturing with her head.

"In here."

Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other, and walked into Itsuka's room.

As they walked through the door, Izuku glanced up, and felt his cheeks go red, realizing that this was the second girl's room that he had ever been in, besides Ochako's. It was actually quite different from what he was used to, now that he was thinking about it; Ochako's room was pretty bare, with a dresser, desk, bed and small desk to eat and sit at, and a little TV that Taiyo had bought her for her birthday a few years ago, which had driven the poor girl to tears when she had got it.

Itsuka's room, however, was a bit different. For one, there were several posters of motorcycles decorating the walls, of various types and models from both modern day and past. It was incredibly tidy, with the bed made and tucked in behind a few fluffy pillows. A large TV stand stood at the other end of the room, with a TV large enough to keep in their living room on top of it while having some video games and movies organized in neat piles beneath it. On the desk were a few notebooks and textbooks stacked properly and neatly.

It looked very nice - but Izuku didn't have long to admire it, since Itsuka closed the door behind her, apologizing to Gūdo as the dog whined about not being let in, and she sighed as she turned back to Izuku.

"Alright," She walked over to him, glancing down at the phone in his hand, "what did All Might send you?"

"H-huh? Oh, r-right," Izuku quickly nodded, gulping a bit as he unlocked his phone to check what their teacher had sent him. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, looked over his shoulder as he lifted the phone for them to read the message.

 

ALL MIGHT

Good evening, Young Midoriya! I hope you're enjoying your night off with the rest of your friends. I wanted to let you know that, in regards to our conversation a few days ago about your 'mental block' so to speak, I did manage to get in contact with the person to speak with you about it. As I said before, I believe that our first step to overcoming this block is to find someone that can empathize with you, and I think speaking to this man will be beneficial to you.

With that said, he has been pretty busy, so to accommodate him, you and I will be going out for coffee with him tomorrow morning. This will mean that Young Kendou and Young Uraraka will be going by themselves to the beach for a few hours until we return. I will, of course, text them instructions on what to do while we are out, and I believe that will keep them busy until we return at around lunchtime. With that, I'll be coming to pick you up from the Kendous tomorrow morning before you three leave for the bus, and you and I will be taking the train.

 

"Huh," Itsuka blinked, reading the message again to make sure she didn't miss anything, "so it'll just be me and Uraraka tomorrow."

"Wait," Ochako wrinkled her brow, looking up from the phone to her best friend, "'mental block'? What does that mean, Deku?"

"O-oh, uh -" Izuku cleared his throat, putting his phone back in his pocket to look around at his training partners, "- me and All Might were - we got to talking Wednesday, about - about my quirk, and he thinks that - that the reason I haven't been able to fire off a shot yet is because I'm - I'm mentally preventing myself from doing it."

"Really?" Ochako looked worried, folding her hands together. "Is - is there anything we can do about that?"

"I'm - I'm honestly not sure," Izuku admitted, frowning a bit as he glanced down at the floor, "but if - if All Might thinks that I should meet with this guy he's recommending, I probably should. I can't just - I need to overcome this stupid block."

"Right," Itsuka slowly nodded, giving him a small, worried look, and glanced at Ochako. The brown-haired girl was also frowning, giving Izuku a more openly concerned look as she opened her mouth to say something - but before she could speak, they heard Setsuna's voice calling for them.

"Hey, Ken? Sorry to interrupt, but Gūdo's chewing on something I don't think he should be chewing on."

"Agh," Itsuka groaned, shaking her head as she moved around Izuku to the door, "that fucking dog."

"He's the best boy."

"He's a menace."

As Itsuka moved out the door, calling for Gūdo, Izuku let out a weak chuckle, about to follow her out - but then he felt a hand reach out and grab his sleeve. Blinking, Izuku looked around to see Ochako continuing to give him a worried look.

"Deku," She said quietly, "are you sure you're okay?"

"H-huh?"

"I just …" She hesitated, and then glanced back down at the floor, "... after what happened a few months ago, when I started training, I - I promised myself that I would be more honest with you. I just - I want to make sure you're okay. I know that you've been really - you've been really frustrated with your quirk, and - and you've been really tired lately, I just - if there's something bothering you, you can tell me."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, feeling himself falter briefly. Thoughts of his independent training plan suddenly flashed in his mind - he hadn't brought it up to anyone, especially Ochako, but … but for that reason, he hesitated. He had only realized, after he had handed Itsuka his notebook earlier, that it was the one with the plan in it, and for a moment he had briefly panicked before Ochako had distracted him with trying to tell Setsuna and Yui stories of his childhood, but from the looks of things she hadn't seen it.

He knew that he shouldn't hide it from them, but …

"... Occhan, I'm - well, I can't say I'm fine," He sighed, giving her a small smile as he turned around to face her, "with this - this mental block and stuff - but I think I'm - I'm okay. I'll go see this - this guy All Might wants me to meet, and - and hopefully I can overcome this stupid block."

Ochako carefully looked into his eyes for a moment, and he was afraid that she would catch on to his hesitation - but then she sighed, and gave him a small smile.

"Okay," She patted his shoulder, "let's go back to the party then, Deku."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... you tell them about the mochi ice cream incident, they'll never find your body."

"You tell them about the time I cried when we went to the circus, I will."

"That story will get out eventually, Deku."


Thankfully, other than having to watch Itsuka chase Gūdo around the house for about ten minutes before she managed to pry his mouth open to make sure he wasn't accidentally poisoning himself, their party went relatively well, considering. Once Itsuka had slapped Setsuna's fifth slice of pizza away from her, reprimanding her for not letting everyone else eat, they ended up watching a movie together in the living room, a horror movie that Yui had brought, which ended with Izuku and Ochako subtly clinging to each other while Itsuka tried hard not to jump too much at all the scares, and Setsuna and Yui had a ball of a time while Eijirou tried to nervously laugh his way through the movie.

Soon after the movie finished, though, Mr. and Mrs. Kendou returned home from the big date, and the older man confirmed that he would be giving three of their guests rides home - Izuku and Ochako had already made arrangements to stay over so Itsuka and Ochako could just travel to the beach together tomorrow morning, and the brown-haired girl didn't have to worry about staying up past her usual bedtime due to getting home via train, as they didn't want to disrupt their sleep schedule too much.

As they left, Eijirou gave Izuku a big high five, and convinced him to exchange his contact info with him, wanting to text him a bit more about the other heroes in his notebook since he was interested. This, of course, resulted in Izuku crying a literal geyser of tears, much to Eijirou, Setsuna and Yui's surprise and Itsuka and Ochako's predictability. At the very least, Setsuna and Yui also took a liking to Ochako and promised to text her a bit more over the summer.

Once they were off in Mr. Kendou's car, the trio brushed their teeth, got changed into their sleeping gear, and got ready for bed - they had to be awake early tomorrow, especially Izuku since All Might was going to swing by to pick him up. It was quickly decided that Ochako and Itsuka would be sleeping in the latter's room, while Izuku got the pullout couch, Izuku bowing in thanks to Tenohira when she had suggested it and brought out a few pillows and blankets for him to use. Although he did pale a bit when Itsuka cheekily mentioned that Gūdo tended to sleep outside of her room, so he would have to deal with the dog licking his face and disturbing his sleep. Both Izuku and Itsuka rolled their eyes when Ochako flashed him a jealous glare as the two girls departed for the orange-haired girl's room, leaving Izuku behind with the dog happily wagging his tail as he hopped up onto the couch Izuku was going to be sleeping on.

"Alrighty," Itsuka let out a sigh as she closed her bedroom door behind her, looking over and seeing Ochako standing awkwardly near the dresser, "so that's Midoriya and Gūdo taken care of, they'll have some fun. So I guess that just leaves us."

"Uh - yeah. Just - uh -" Ochako glanced around as well, gulping a bit as she looked back to the other girl, "- where am I going to sleep? Do you have a futon I could borrow?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking around at her in confusion, "I thought we were just going to share the bed."

There was a good ten seconds of silence at that, until both girls suddenly realized how Itsuka had phrased that, and they both felt their faces immediately go red.

"Uh - wait, I didn't - I didn't mean it like that," Itsuka quickly backtracked, glancing away while her cheeks suddenly felt very hot, "I just thought - usually when I do sleepovers with Yui and Set, we all share the same bed, but I wasn't thinking about -"

"O-oh, no, it's okay!" Ochako waved her hands so fast in the air it looked like they were blurring, feeling the stickers on her cheeks burn. "I just thought - usually Deku and I when we - when we stay over, we tend to - we don't -"

"N-no, it's okay, I'll grab you a futon -"

"No, the - I don't mind sharing the bed with -"

"It's okay, really -"

"- it's fine!"

After about another minute of Itsuka and Ochako talking over each other about how fine it was to share a bed/grab a futon for Ochako, the two girls stumbled to a stop, glancing uncertainly at each other with noticeably red faces and then back to the bed. After another pause, Itsuka let out a small sigh, and walked quickly over to her bed. Laying down on one side, she glanced back up at Ochako, and awkwardly patted the spot next to her.

Gulping, Ochako walked over stiff as a board, and before either of them knew it, they were laying down beside each other on the bed, awkwardly staring at the ceiling and avoiding looking at each other.

And then Itsuka snorted.

"Sorry," She giggled, raising a hand to hold over her mouth when Ochako glanced at her, "this got really weird."

"N-no, I'm just weird," Ochako giggled as well, shaking her head and raising her hands to rub her hot cheeks. "I've never really - you know, I've never had a sleepover with another girl before, this is kind of new for me."

"So you've only stayed over at Midoriya's?" Itsuka rolled onto her side to look interestedly at her friend. "I gotta say, I'm curious about who takes the futon and who takes the bed. I have a feeling he's the type of guy who wouldn't want you to sleep on the floor."

"No, he would not," Ochako shook her head, smiling ruefully, "usually we have to fight over who's sleeping in the bed. One time I didn't give him a choice, and I just laid on the futon and rolled over and went to bed. You wanna know what he did?"

"Oh, no."

"He slept on the floor! Just grabbed a pillow, laid down on the carpet, and glared at the ceiling. I've never come closer to kicking his ass."

"Oh, my god," Itsuka laughed, shaking her head, "what a stubborn guy."

"Yeah," Ochako shook her head, still smiling affectionately while thinking of her best friend, "he's a dummy sometimes."

"Anyway," Itsuka adjusted herself so she could lay down, giving Ochako an expectant smile, "what did you think of Setsuna and Yui? Were they cool?"

"Y-yeah, they're really nice," Ochako adjusted herself as well to lay down, "Setsuna's … well, she's very …"

"Loud?" Itsuka guessed, smirking. "Yeah, she's enthusiastic, I'll give her that. I've had to chop her neck a few times in the past so she'd shut up."

"Yeah … and … uh …" At that, Ochako faltered, and Itsuka glanced over to see her cheeks going a bit red. "... Kendou, can I ask a maybe dumb question about Yui?"

"... yeah?"

"I did, uh … I noticed that she was …"

"Oh, no," Itsuka suddenly got it, groaning and shaking her head, "she was checking you out, wasn't she?"

"... a little?"

"Damn it. Sorry, Uraraka, I forgot to tell you," She sighed as she sat up slightly, watching Ochako's face turn a bit redder, "she's a notorious pervert. Like, she checks out me and Set all the time, and sometimes she comments about it. I'm really sorry if she made you uncomfortable - if it makes you feel better, she never does anything, she just likes looking. I can talk to her about not doing that anymore if you don't like it."

"O-oh, no, it's - it's okay, I didn't mind," Ochako quickly assured her, her cheeks continuing to burn as she gave her an awkward smile, "it's just - you know, she wasn't really subtle about it."

"Heh. No, she is not. Don't worry about feeling signaled out, though - I know she was looking at Midoriya like that too, I caught her a few times," Itsuka grunted as she rolled over to grab her phone and set the alarm for the next morning, while also hiding her small scowl at remembering Yui looking at Izuku's arms and chest - and unaware of Ochako faltering at that, a similar frown crossing her face before both girls shook themselves out of whatever the hell that was and sat back.

From there, a small, comfortable silence fell as both girls rolled onto their backs and stared up at the ceiling. While Ochako closed her eyes and let out a small sigh, Itsuka's gaze flickered back to her, glancing down at her cute pajamas - a black tank top and pink pajama pants with little '13's everywhere. Letting out a small sigh, Itsuka rolled back onto her side.

"Hey, Uraraka?"

"Yeah?" Ochako's voice sounded a bit tired, as though she were starting to fall asleep, but she still opened her eyes and looked around at her.

"Back, uh … back a few hours ago, when All Might texted Midoriya. I heard, uh … well, I heard you asking Midoriya if he was okay." Ochako blinked at that, while Itsuka brought her hands together in apology. "I just - well, I was wondering if you thought there was something wrong. You know him better than I do, after all, so I just thought …"

For a moment Ochako looked surprised, but then she let out a small sigh and rolled back onto her side to face Itsuka.

"... maybe?" She muttered, glancing away and biting her lip. "I just … I've noticed that he's - he's been really tired lately."

"Huh … so déjà vu?"

"A bit," Ochako reluctantly giggled, "but - but I think I might just be imagining things, you know? It's not like I'm not exhausted every time we get back from the beach. It's just …"

"What?"

"... I overheard Mama Inko and my mom talking," She muttered, "and apparently, Deku's been going for late night runs. And he ordered some exercise gear."

Itsuka wrinkled her brow at that, sitting up slightly.

"Exercise gear? Like what?"

"Yeah - like weights and grip strength machines and that kind of stuff."

"Huh …" Itsuka glanced off to the side, thinking, "... I mean … it's not like it's weird for him to exercise outside of the beach, sometimes I do some weight lifting … but … if he's overworking himself …"

"H-huh? Overworking himself?"

"Yeah. Like - like All Might's training plan was designed with each of us in mind, and it adjusts all the time depending on what we've been doing," Itsuka explained, seeing Ochako narrow her eyes somewhat, "you know, to make sure we'll make it in time for me to take - I mean, for the entrance exam. If he hasn't been sticking to that plan … and if he's overdoing it …"

"Deku …" Ochako growled a bit, looking around at her door as though Izuku were standing there to witness her Danger Pout. Before she could get up, go to the living room and shake him awake to demand answers, however, Itsuka reached over and patted her wrist, drawing her attention back to the girl she was sharing a bed with.

"We can talk about it with him when he gets back to the beach tomorrow," She assured her, "no need to interrogate him right now, we'll lose a lot of sleep. Besides, it might be better to be gentle with him, y'know? We don't have to yell at him every time he messes up."

"... yeah," Ochako nodded, guilt starting to show on her face from her reaction, and laid back down. "Yeah, I - yeah. Sorry, Kendou, I just …"

She hesitated again, glancing down at her knees while Itsuka waited for her to finish talking, and then she let out a small, sheepish chuckle.

"... I worry about him," She admitted, "it's really stupid, I know, it's just … whenever I think of him being dumb and doing something stupid, or getting himself hurt, I … I just panic and do whatever I can to get him to stop."

"I get it," Itsuka smiled at her, laying back down and curling into herself, "you don't have to explain, Uraraka. It doesn't take a genius to see that you really care about him."

"Of course I do," Ochako giggled a bit as she also laid back down, going a bit red, "he's my best friend. And y'know, up until I met you, he was my - my only friend. I know that I can get kinda stupid and overprotective of him when he does stupid things, but I can't help it."

"Yeah," Itsuka grinned, "we know our boy is smart, but he can be really stupid. Like that one time he tugged on that table and almost got himself buried underneath all that garbage?"

"Oooh, don't even remind me," Ochako groaned, covering her face with her hands while she shook her head, "we tell him not to do it, and he does it anyway and almost gets himself killed! I gave him the silent treatment all night when we got home."

"Oh, god!" Itsuka chortled.

"I didn't even look at him!" Ochako laughed. "Like - whenever he tried to apologize I literally turned away from him."

"Good god, woman, that's brutal."

"Yeah, yeah," Ochako giggled, letting Itsuka swat her shoulder, "well, eventually I heard him out, he apologized, I hugged him, and that was that."

"You know, I'm envious," Itsuka pressed the side of her face into the pillow while the two girls giggled, "you get to hug him all the time and he hugs back just fine, but I just tap his shoulder and he goes so red I'm afraid he's going to pass out from all the blood rushing to his face."

"Yeah," Ochako laughed, also tucking her head into the pillow while they stared at each other, "Deku's a weirdo, isn't he?"

"That he is," Itsuka grinned, "our weirdo."

"Yeah."

For a moment they were content with staring at each other with soft smiles on their faces, laying on their sides for a moment - and then it drew on Itsuka that their faces were weirdly close. As in - wait a second, when did they get so close together? They were practically sharing a pillow at this point.

Clearing her throat, Itsuka chuckled awkwardly and rolled back up to sit up, looking over at the lamp beside the bed that was their only source of light in the room.

"W-well, anyway, we should, uh - we should get to sleep," She cleared her throat again while reaching for the lamp to turn it off, "we've got a big day ahead of us tomorrow."

"O-oh, yeah," Ochako suddenly picked up on the awkwardness as well, gulping a bit as she rolled back over so her back was to Itsuka as the light clicked off and cast them into darkness. "G-goodnight, Kendou."

"Goodnight, Uraraka."

It didn't take long for them to go to sleep, both of them laying on their sides with their backs to each other as they tried not to feel too weird, and before long they were both dozing off, the sound of two light snores filling the room as they forgot the awkwardness of them sharing a bed. No, the awkwardness part would come when they woke up the next morning. As it turned out, Itsuka completely forgot about the times she slept in the same bed as Setsuna and Yui, or with Gūdo, and how she apparently became … quite the cuddle bug when that happened.

So it was both of their surprises when Itsuka's alarm went off at 4:00 in the morning so they could start getting ready to head out to the beach, and both girls woke up to Itsuka having apparently rolled over and spooned Ochako in their sleep, with both girls going bright red when they realized the state they woke up in and awkwardly coughed as they both sat up, trying to giggle their embarrassment away.

Thankfully, at least, they forgot all about how they awkwardly woke up the moment they got out to the living room to rouse Izuku, only to be greeted by the most adorable sight either of them ever saw. Apparently, Izuku didn't mind Gūdo sleeping in the same room as him, as they walked out to the couch to find the green-haired boy cuddling the large dog as he slept, the mountain dog happily wagging his tail at the sight of his master and the other girl who loved to pet him. That meant Izuku got to wake up to Itsuka and Ochako snapping pictures of him and the dog on their phones, making him squeak and shrivel up in embarrassment, wrapping his arms around his head and rolling around in shame while Itsuka cooed over her dog and Ochako beamed at the picture of Izuku cuddling Gūdo, immediately making it her phone's wallpaper.

After that, they grabbed a light breakfast, getting dressed and refreshed in the bathroom, and by 4:35 they all moved outside into the morning air. It didn't take long for All Might to jog up to them in his true form, wishing them a good morning in a loud voice that made Itsuka hiss and shush him, much to his shame. Soon enough, Izuku and All Might walked off to the train station, with All Might suspiciously mum on where exactly they were going (although the large grin on his face made Izuku nervous), while Ochako and Itsuka got on their bus to head down to the beach.

Once they had arrived in the parking lot, Itsuka checked her phone, seeing All Might had texted her instructions for the both of them to follow until he and Izuku got back, and Ochako leaned over Itsuka's shoulder to read it.

"Okay," Itsuka mused as they walked into the parking lot, not looking up as the sun began to rise in the distance, "so we've gotta get the four fridges from down the way over to the parking lot, and All Might left us ropes to use. I guess … honestly, I don't wanna risk either of us getting crushed while All Might's not here, so we can work together on those."

"Mm-hm," Ochako nodded in agreement, "I'd rather not - y'know, get crushed and maybe die when All Might's not here to bail us out."

"Same. So in that case -"

"At last."

Both Itsuka and Ochako jumped at the sound of a man's voice just ahead of them, both of them whipping their gazes up in shock as they finally noticed the car that had been parked right near the entrance to the beach - but at the sight of the man leaning against it and watching them with a weary look, Itsuka felt her lips thin and her eyes widen.

"I was wondering when you were going to arrive," Nighteye narrowed his eyes as he sat up from where he had been leaning against his car, tapping his foot against the ground as he surveyed the two girls, "it's ten minutes after five."

"I - uh - N-Nighteye," Itsuka gulped a bit, feeling more than a little apprehensive at the sight of her biggest critic as Ochako gave the tall man an unsure glance. "What - uh - what are you doing here?"

"Where is All Might?" Nighteye ignored that question, looking around with a narrow glare. "And Midoriya?"

"They - uh - they're not here right now. They - they had something to do this morning, they - they won't be by until - until later."

"Hm," Nighteye closed his eyes, taking a moment to breathe through his nose, until he nodded curtly and opened them back up to glare at Itsuka.

"Very well. I wanted All Might to be here for this, but I suppose that's not an option right now."

"Uh … you wanted him to be here … for what, exactly?"

"Since All Might isn't here," Nighteye put his hands in his pockets, turning to give Itsuka a judgemental look that Ochako didn't like one bit, "I'll be the one instructing you today. I can assure you that he won't mind me taking over your training for one day."

"I - uh - I don't know -"

"With that in mind, there's someone I'd like you to meet."

"... uh … okay?" Itsuka gulped, slowly sliding her backpack off her shoulders while Ochako continued to look between her and Nighteye with narrowed eyes. "And … who is -"

"Ah, stop intimidating the girl so much, Nighteye."

Both girls jolted at the sound of another voice coming from behind the car - this one was much gruffer than Nighteye's, a bit weathered but still extremely tough sounding. They were a bit confused, though, as they looked around for the source of the new voice but saw no one - until they suddenly heard the sound of footsteps on the asphalt, accompanied by the sound of something wooden tapping against it. Almost as though someone was walking with a cane.

And around the corner of the car came someone that made Itsuka and Ochako both blink in confusion.

It was obviously a hero, of course, dressed in a white bodysuit, wearing a yellow cape, a belt with the letter 'G' inscribed on it, and very thick yellow gloves and boots with a black domino mask. What they didn't expect, however, was that the man wearing it would be very small and very old, walking carefully with a wooden cane. He was short, very short, only coming up to Itsuka's leg - but she gulped at the tough look on his face, looking a bit wrinkled with a trim beard lining his jaw.

"This," Nighteye introduced the two girls to the elderly hero, "is Gran Torino. He will be overseeing your training today."


... what.

What.

WHAT.

"No way," Izuku's jaw had dropped, staring up at the building in front of him with wide, bloodshot eyes as All Might chuckled beside him, clearly pleased with the young man's reaction. At the moment, they were standing in front of a large blue gate on the sidewalk, the sides of said gate lined with five large round holes that would probably shoot out a metal bar to keep intruders out, the sun gently shining in the distance behind them. 

For Izuku, however, his eyes were locked on the giant building standing before them - a large, glass building shaped into the letter 'H', with trees decorating the sides of the path before them. A brick path leading down to the building, with busts of various heroes' heads lined up before them, and three giant doors, red with gold trimmings that were decorated with the letters '1' '2' and '3', and above that, a gold logo that he knew all too well.

This ... this was ...

"... UA." Izuku breathed out, slowly melting down as he stared at the majestic sight before him, his hands raising to grab two fistfuls of his hair. "I - I'm at UA. This - this is UA."

"That it very much is!" All Might laughed bombastically, in his true form as he patted Izuku's back. "The school is currently on their summer break as well, but we can't go on campus without permission. While the hero students are currently off at camp and the other departments are on their summer break, there are still a few students on site, so we can't exactly go in and walk around. That goes double for me - I fear we'll get swarmed by fans if we even step one foot on campus."

"B-b-but," Izuku managed to stammer out, still feeling weak in the knees as he stared up at his dream school and trying to collect his jaw from where it had landed the ground, "then - then what are we doing here?"

"Well," All Might shuffled on his feet, putting his hands in his pockets, as he looked around "do you remember our conversation a few days ago, Young Midoriya, about how you were afraid of your quirk?"

Izuku numbly nodded.

"Well, it took me a little while to remember, but then I remembered that - well, I knew another young child that had difficulties mastering his quirk. I had the thought that perhaps, if you spoke with him for a bit, you could get some pointers from him about how to overcome this mental block."

"Y-Yeah …?"

"Indeed! Now then, I should probably text him and - ah! Well, speak of the devil, here he comes now."

Jolting a bit, Izuku quickly looked down from the large glass building before them at where All Might was gesturing to, and looked around. Coming out of one of the large doors at a light jog was a young man who didn't look that much older than Izuku did. He obviously wasn't a student - he wasn't wearing one of their uniforms, anyway, but he also wasn't wearing a hero costume. Instead he wore a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and red shoes not that different from Izuku's own pair as he made his way over to the two men standing at the gate. Izuku didn't really recognize him either - his hair was black with white roots, kind of giving Izuku the impression of a skunk.

"Well, well, well," All Might laughed as the young man finally approached them, slowing his jog to a stop as he gave the Symbol of Peace a smile, "I was actually about to text you that we had arrived!"

"Well, I was actually watching for you through the window," The man laughed, giving All Might an embarrassed grin, "Midnight-sensei was teasing me that I was like a kid waiting for Santa."

"Ha!"

"So," The man looked down at Izuku, giving him a small smile, "this is the student you were telling me about?"

"Indeed. Young Midoriya," All Might patted the boy's shoulder, "this is a former student of UA that had difficulty mastering his quirk in the past. Right now, he's currently working as a teaching assistant - and I believe he'll be a great help to us in order to overcome your mental block."

Izuku gulped a bit in nervousness, but still extended his hand out to the teaching assistant, wanting to make a good impression. The man grinned and accepted his hand, giving it a firm shake - but Izuku blinked when he glanced down and saw that he had taken his hand, but left his middle finger extended. As though he didn't want to touch Izuku with all four fingers.

"It's nice to meet you, Midoriya, I've heard about you from All Might." The young man smiled at him. "My name is Tenko Shimura."

Notes:

And that was Chapter 7! Whew, we got a lot of stuff done this chapter, didn't we? Training, Bubble Girl trauma, ship tease, quirk and mental stuff, Setsuna and Yui chaos, the foundation of a future squad, Izuku making a new friend with Kirishima which in no way will impact any future relationships (*glances uncertainly at Bakugou*), some more ship tease, a crotchety old man making an early appearance, and you guys finding out that the tag 'Alternate Universe - Canon' was NOT limited to our little trio.

Indeed, we've got a Hero!Tenko Shimura! This, of course, is going to have a few ramifications on the story, and I can't wait to get into it. "Wait!" I hear you all shout in shock. "If Shigaraki's a hero, then who's the villain?!" Well ... that is quite the question, isn't it? Y'all should've maybe paid a bit more attention to Chapter 3, huh? I gave y'all a hint about the villain and no one picked up on it. Tsk, tsk.

Seriously, though, we'll be spending our next chapter a bit more with Tenko, Gran Torino, some mild fanservice (that I said would be in this chapter, you know, like a liar) - and maybe a hint of who exactly our trio will be dealing with before our next timeskip. It won't be long until we finally get to the Entrance Exam, so I hope you're all excited!

With that, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 8: Shimuras and Butt Kicking

Summary:

Izuku receives some advise from an unlikely source, and now just needs to apply it to his training, while Itsuka gets a new sparring partner with Gran Torino - who's definitely not as soft as her usual sparring partners ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Oh, man.

Izuku really should've put more thought into what he wanted before he told the barista his order.

"Here is your order, gentlemen," She smiled at them as she put down three cups of coffee on the counter, "one Jamaican Blue Mountain, one Mocha Matari, and one straight black coffee, all ready for you."

"Thank you so much!" Tenko grinned as he picked up his coffee from the counter, taking a moment to slip some yen into the tip jar while All Might paid for all three of them. "I gotta say, Midoriya, I'm surprised that you drink something so strong."

"Uh … yeah," Izuku gave him a shaky smile as he picked up the cup of black coffee, trying not to sweat too much, "I, uh … I have a friend who drinks this stuff all the time. Kinda - kinda rubbed off on me."

That was pretty much a lie, Izuku gulped as he hesitantly raised the cup to his lips and took a sip, grateful that he had turned around and facing away from the other two as he made a face at the bitterness. He wasn't really a coffee drinker, preferring to drink some soda if he ever needed to get energized, and when the barista had asked for his order, he had panicked and tried to think of the first blend of coffee that came to mind - which had been the black coffee that Itsuka always drank like it was a religion.

Well, Izuku sighed as he took another sip and tried not to cringe too much at the strong taste, there wasn't much to be done about it now. At least Itsuka would be a little surprised at what he was drinking.

After they had gotten through introductions, Tenko had mentioned that he hadn't had any coffee since arriving to work due to a coworker dragging him into a meeting the moment he had arrived at the teacher's lounge to grab some information from him (he had been muttering at the time, so Izuku couldn't really hear, but he did hear something that sounded kind of like 'trigger', which had put a frown on All Might's face), so the pro hero decided to buy for them, leading them away from UA High to head back down the mountain. Izuku had been kind of reluctant to leave as he stared in awe at the school ("I'd poke fun, but I was the same way when I was his age," Tenko had chuckled), but eventually conceded and followed the two as they headed to a nearby coffee shop down the mountain that UA was on top of, All Might shrinking down to his weakened form so as not to draw any attention to them.

For the most part, both men chatted happily with each other, evidently having not seen each other in a while and wanting to catch up, while Izuku politely stood back and let them talk amongst themselves as he followed them down the mountain. According to Tenko, he had a meeting with the principal in about an hour, so he wouldn't be able to return to the beach with them, but at the very least, he had enough time to chat with him before he had to get back to work.

Honestly, it was taking every tiny bit of Izuku's willpower to not forget about the real reason they were there - to discuss his quirk - and interrogate the teaching assistant all about UA, what heroes were currently teaching there, if he could get Izuku some autographs, or if Tenko himself was a hero. He had to constantly remind himself all the way down the mountain, with UA gleaming in the sunlight behind him as though tempting him to run back and ogle it, that he wasn't there to indulge in fanboyism - he was there to get Tenko's advice to overcome the mental barrier that was preventing him from using his quirk. It wasn't exactly the appropriate time to ask the teaching assistant if he could get autographs for him from his colleagues.

Still though, Izuku couldn't help but pout as they stepped back outside, feeling cool wind blowing through his hair. The one time the temperature was nice and cool, and it had to be when he wasn't on the beach working. Well, he at least hoped Itsuka and Ochako were enjoying the nicer weather while they worked on All Might's instructions today.

"I must say, Young Tenko," All Might sighed as they left the coffee shop into the cool air, walking down the street towards the train station while he sipped from his cup, "I do regret not having a lot of time lately to see you in person since the semester started - I've been pretty busy with hero work and the such. I'm very sorry about that."

"It's okay, All Might," Tenko used his free hand to wave it in the air while using his other hand to drink his coffee, keeping one finger off the cup to prevent himself from using his quirk, "it's not like I've had a lot of free time either - I've had to shadow Thirteen-sensei and Aizawa-sensei for the last few months, and Aizawa's not exactly - uh - well, he's not exactly the best person to get teaching advice from. I've been so busy I keep forgetting to dye my hair again, you can start to see my roots."

"Hm," All Might slowly nodded at that, mentally making a note to not ask Aizawa for a lot of advice while reaching over to mess up Tenko's hair, making the young man laugh.

"And not to mention the whole thing with the second years," Tenko continued to explain, shuddering a bit at the memory, "Mirio's lucky that Nezu managed to talk down the HSPC from getting him arrested. I guess we have to thank the World Heroes Association for letting him off easy."

"Ah, yes … w-well, anyway," All Might cleared his throat, "how has Thirteen been? I know you and her have been doing some work at the USJ in the last few weeks, or at least that's what Nezu told me."

"Yeah, we have! And it's been going pretty well - we've actually installed a new Conflagration Zone, so we've got a new exercise the students can use where everything is pretty much on fire. It'll be great for their rescue exercises, as long as we use robots instead of students as the pretend-victims."

"Well, Young Kendou will be happy to hear that," All Might chuckled to himself, recalling the memory of the young girl puking her guts out into a trash can from smoke inhalation after running into a burning building.

As the two men continued to laugh and catch up, Izuku lagged behind a bit, glancing between the two of them. From what he had seen, Tenko seemed pretty familiar with All Might; they talked like they were friends who had known each other for years, he evidently knew about All Might's true form (which had been a shock for Izuku when All Might had casually shrunken down to his weakened form and Tenko showed no surprise), and they clearly had a pretty good relationship, seeing as All Might referred to him by his first name and messed up his hair. It was almost like All Might was his easygoing, fun uncle.

But … what exactly was their relationship? Did All Might mentor Tenko in the past like he was mentoring Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako right now? And he wanted Izuku to speak to Tenko about his quirk … did that mean Tenko used to be in Izuku's shoes? Metaphorically of course, Izuku thought, glancing down at the red shoes Tenko was wearing that looked disturbingly like his own pair he was wearing right now.

"Ah, well, anyway," All Might chuckled as he glanced behind him at the young boy following them, as though forgetting he was there, "I'm afraid we've gotten distracted, Young Tenko - we're here to discuss Young Midoriya's quirk, after all."

"O-oh, right," Tenko quickly nodded, getting back on track and looking around at Izuku as well, seeing him straighten up when he realized the attention was now on him, "so, uh, Midoriya - well, just so you know, I'm actually a teaching assistant at UA. I'm currently training so I can become a quirk guidance counselor."

"A - guidance counselor?" Izuku blinked at that, looking at the teacher as he sipped on his coffee, "Like - like you want to help out kids with understanding their quirks?"

"Kinda," Tenko shrugged, "well, yes and no. It's less for young children and more for … well, it's kind of similar to Hound Dog being a regular guidance counselor, but where he specializes in talking to the students about potential traumatic experiences they may go through during hero work, or if they just need someone to talk to, I want to act as someone who helps them out with complexes they may have with their quirk, or other quirk related drama."

"R-really … is that - wait," Izuku suddenly stopped in his tracks, looking up at Tenko in shock. "Hound Dog? He works at UA?"

"Yeah," Tenko chuckled, tapping his coffee cup with one of his fingers, "he's a really nice guy - well, unless you get him angry, and then he just starts barking and shaking you, completely forgets about human speech when he gets riled up. And by the way, just to warn you if you get into UA, don't ever use dog metaphors around him, like 'can't teach a dog new tricks' or 'throw me a bone' or any kind of those aphorisms - he takes them really personally."

"T-that's amazing!" Izuku balled his fists in excitement, the fragile restraint he had over his curiosity completely shattered now that he knew Tenko was willing to talk about his coworkers, "I knew Thirteen worked at UA, but not Hound Dog!"

"Yeah, it's really cool, isn't it?" Tenko gave the younger man his own knowing and fanboy-ish grin, "Honestly, I thought I would get used to it after being at UA for years at this point, but I'm still kind of awestruck every time I see Thirteen. She loves to tease me about it."

"W-wow! My best friend - she loves Thirteen, she's her favourite hero! Is she as nice as she is in her interviews?"

"Even nicer! Like, I usually don't use internet terms to describe people, but she's one hundred percent my 'mom friend'. She always makes sure I have my lunch before we head out to the USJ - she always does attendance with the students first, and then turns to me to make sure I have my food. It's gotten to the point where the students are asking me about my lunch before she does, it's super embarrassing!"

"Really?"

"Heh, yeah. You'd think I'd eventually get tired of it, but it always makes me laugh. Especially when I do forget it and she tries to turn the bus around to go back for it. Anyway, she's your best friend's favourite hero? I could get her autograph for her, if you want."

"W-would you?" Izuku gasped, imagining the look on Ochako's face if she was presented with Thirteen's autograph and smiling widely. "T-that would be great!"

"Sounds good!"

"Ahem," All Might pointedly cleared his throat, smiling at the two younger men's antics, "as entertaining as it is to watch you fanboys geeking out, we do need to have a conversation before you start heading back to UA, Young Tenko."

"Oh!" Tenko jumped a bit at the reminder, going red when he realized that they had indeed gotten sidetracked, and glanced back at Izuku as the green-haired boy also blushed a bit from embarrassment. "Y-yeah, All Might, you're right. So Midoriya, from - well, from what All Might's told me, you're having a problem with subconsciously repressing your quirk? You can't use your quirk because of a mental barrier?"

"Uh - yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, raising his coffee cup to his lips to take another sip and praying that he didn't make a face and burn his tongue with the hot liquid.

"So …" Tenko also took another drink from his coffee, "... is it a problem of it not acting correctly? Like - All Might told me you had an electric emitter quirk. Is it not firing properly? Or is it an instance of just not activating at all when you want it to?"

"The - the second one. It won't - it won't activate when I try to use it."

"It's very much akin to your previous situation, Young Tenko," All Might explained for the green-haired boy, "in that Young Midoriya is attempting to make conscious efforts to use his quirk, but due to … er … previous bad experiences he had using his quirk, it seems that he has subconsciously put up a mental barrier that stops himself from using it again."

"I see …" Tenko slowly nodded, looking back at Izuku with an empathetic look, "... so in that case … well, Midoriya, I know that you probably wouldn't want to share any specific details with me, but would you be comfortable with … you know, explaining what kind of bad experiences you've had with your quirk? Just so I can understand what specifically we're dealing with here."

Izuku gulped a bit in nervousness, but still nodded as he took another sip of coffee, trying not to scrunch his face up at the bitterness - after talking about what had happened that day at the playground with both All Might and Itsuka, he didn't have many problems with explaining to new people either. The two times he had to talk to them about it had thankfully helped Izuku at least come to terms with what had happened, although he definitely didn't like thinking about it. Well, in any case, Tenko probably did need more than a few vague answers to help him understand what was going on; he needed the full story.

So it was with that Izuku explained to Tenko all about the playground incident many years ago, with the three of them walking down the street towards the train station. Once they reached the building, as Izuku and Tenko took a seat on the bench outside so Izuku could explain more to teaching assistant about how his classmates constantly told him about his quirk being villainous, All Might noticed that neither of them were carrying lunches, and was quick to head over to a nearby stand to buy both of them bentos for later, when Tenko had to go back to work and Izuku got to get his lunch break back on the beach.

Once All Might had returned with both bentos in hand, carrying his coffee in his other hand, Izuku had finished up his story, letting Tenko sit quietly and hum as he raised a hand to his chin, tapping the mole on his lip.

"Okay," He nodded, continuing to give Izuku a sympathetic look, "I believe I understand. I'm really sorry to hear what you've had to go through, Midoriya - that sounds really tough."

"Y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, accepting the bento All Might was offering him as the pro hero sat down on his other side, letting Izuku sit between both men, "it's … yeah, it's definitely been a ride."

"So you accidentally hurt your childhood friend, and your mom," Tenko summarized, "and after that, due to everyone in your school calling you a villain, or saying that you have a villainous quirk … well, you've internalized that, and now you're struggling to use your quirk."

"Yeah."

"Huh … well, I know why you wanted us to speak, All Might," He chuckled a bit, patting the back of his hand with his fingers, "I guess I'm definitely the person to talk to in this kind of situation."

"I-is that right?" Izuku looked around at him, feeling a little intrigued, "D-did you, uh - did you go through something similar?"

At that question, though, Izuku immediately realized that he might have been asking something a bit personal - Tenko, who had been looking at him sympathetically, noticeably winced at the question, and All Might let out a small 'mmm'. Izuku felt himself pale as he realized that he might've just made a mistake and reminded the teaching assistant of something sensitive.

"Oh, uh - I'm - I'm sorry if I -"

"No, no, it's alright, Midoriya," Tenko shook his head, giving the younger boy a smile as he leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on his legs, "honestly, that's a fair question - I asked you about your past, so it'd be hypocritical if you couldn't ask about mine, wouldn't it?"

"Are you sure, Young Tenko?" All Might asked in a worried voice, leaning forward to look at him over Izuku's head, "It's - well, it's a lot, I'm not sure if you wanted to go into it right now."

"It's okay, All Might," Tenko nodded, putting his coffee cup down between his legs, "Midoriya asked, and I don't mind talking about it. It'll be something nice to tell my therapist when I go see him next Friday. So anyway, Midoriya … about me. I can understand why All Might wanted us to meet now - honestly, I can seriously relate to your story. When I was a kid, my quirk also came in pretty late - and it was a mutation as well. My dad had a flight quirk, my mom had a quirk that let her dislocate her bones willingly, and my sister had a version of my dad's quirk. Mine, however …" he let out a small sigh as he glanced down and opened his hand, staring at his palm, "... I had the ability to decay whatever I touched with all five fingers."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing down at the teaching assistant's hand as well with his eyes widening, "You could …?"

"Yeah," Tenko slowly nodded, "whatever I touch and hold onto just … disintegrates. Right now, I don't even need to hold on to something for very long, I can just tap something with all five fingers and it just - poof. Dust. That's why I can't touch anything with all five fingers, by the way - I do have a little subconscious control over my quirk, since I use it for rescue work, but not enough to just touch whatever I want. I discovered it when … when I …"

At that, though, Izuku glanced up at his face, and felt startled to see a few tears welling in Tenko's eyes, making him wipe them away with his sleeve before he took a shuddering breath.

"... Midoriya, I didn't … exactly have the happiest childhood," He admitted, "my home wasn't … the safest place. I can't really go into exactly what was wrong or we'd - y'know, be here all day, but … my dad didn't like heroes. He hated even thinking of them. And my sister and I … well … we always admired them, and we wanted to be heroes." 

"... oh," Izuku softly said, eyes widening in horror as he realized what Tenko was implying here.

"Yeah. Usually, my dad, uh … he would yell at me, he would drag me outside and lock me out for hours. But one day, I - well, something happened," Tenko said in a quiet voice while All Might stared at the ground, his lips thin, "and my dad finally raised his hand and hit me."

Izuku gasped at that, and Tenko shook his head.

"It was … it was chaos," He muttered, "my mom was screaming at my dad, my sister was crying, my grandparents were protesting, the dog was barking … but no one came to help me. They just watched as my dad hit me and locked me out of the house. I was huddled in the corner, crying my eyes out, hugging my dog …"

"No," Izuku whispered, horrified, "oh, no."

Tenko slowly nodded, raising his hand to rub his eyes. All Might reached around Izuku to hold the young man's shoulder, and Tenko smiled and patted his hand, with one finger up of course.

"I was scared, I was terrified. I … I only found this out later, but my mom confronted my dad. The … well, it was the last straw. She was going to take my sister and me, and leave the house my father built. He told my sister not to leave her room, and came outside to find me … and … saw what I'd done to Mon. He freaked out, hard. I had no idea what was going on, I just needed comfort, and I tried to run to him - but he just grabbed a weedwacker and hit me." He reached up to touch the scar on his lip, furrowing his brow. "I think it was just out of panic, and he realized what he'd done the moment he hit me, but … but I snapped."

Izuku stayed quiet, staring at the ground as Tenko also leaned forward, frowning.

"I … I killed my father." He quietly said. "My quirk spread around to the house, and … and it collapsed on the rest of my family. My sister … she was the only one they ended up finding in the wreckage."

At that, silence fell on the bench outside the train station. Izuku stared at the ground in horror as tears prickled in his eyes, and Tenko quietly studied his shoes. All Might looked between both of them seriously, as though wondering if he would have to placate Izuku over the teaching assistant. And then Tenko let out a small sigh.

"I don't blame you if you're uncomfortable with that, Midoriya," He said quietly, "it's … well, like All Might said, it's a lot to take in."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, and glanced back up at the dark haired-man, "... it's … you're right, it is a lot. But I'm - I'm really sorry to - to hear that happened to you."

"Yeah … well … in the past, I blamed myself for what happened." Tenko admitted, "I thought if I just … you know … didn't mention heroes at all, my dad wouldn't have locked me out, or hit me, and I wouldn't have …"

"Young Tenko, you are not to blame for your father's behavior," All Might made clear, his tone sounding a bit angry and comforting at the same time, "your father … he may have had his reasons to hate heroes, and he may not have had the best childhood either, but that does not mean he should have taken his anger and resentment of heroes out on his family."

Tenko slowly nodded at that, scratching his neck absently. "I … I know, All Might. I know that … at the end of the day, it was just … an accident. I just … you know, it's a bit hard to think about even now. There was a … a lot of resentment there, and not just for my father. It's … a lot of stuff that I've had to come to terms with over the years.

"In any case, Midoriya, after … that, I  … left my house. I ran away. I wandered the streets for days, covered in - you know, in blood. I couldn't even rationalize what I'd done for days after that, just that … I killed my family. I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted someone - anyone - to come help me. Save me. I couldn't even speak because of shock. But because of how I looked … I know that I scared people away, telling me that a hero or a police officer would find me and help me."

Izuku furrowed his brow at that, sitting back in his seat while Tenko slowly nodded at Izuku's conflicted look.

"The denser a population is, the more likely it is that when something bad happens, the population will leave it to the heroes to clear everything up. Maybe someone should've helped me, but … honestly, I don't blame them for being afraid of me."

"But - but that doesn't mean you should've been ignored," Izuku quietly countered, feeling a bit outraged on the teaching assistant's behalf, "I know - I know my mom or my neighbors wouldn't have left you there."

"Heh. Maybe," Tenko gave him, "but … anyway, after a while, I thought no one was going to come and help me. I thought that was my punishment for killing my family. That was … until All Might found me."

Izuku blinked, looking around at the pro hero as he nodded and also leaned forward in his seat.

"I had been giving out autographs after a villain fight," He explained, "when I had looked around and saw Young Tenko wandering down the street by myself. I ran over to him, saw the state he was in, and quickly brought him back to Might Tower in Roppongi, in order to get him cleaned up and find his family. It didn't take long for me to realize what was the matter - he refused to touch me at all, and winced at my own touch. So I was sure not to make him uncomfortable, gave him all the space he needed, and eventually, through a few therapy sessions conducted by someone we could trust … he opened up to what happened."

Now the frown on All Might's face deepened. "Very few people know this, Young Midoriya, but it was perhaps fate that I found Young Tenko that day. He is actually the grandson of my former master. Due to … circumstances, she had to give up her son, Young Tenko's father, because of a villain hunting her down, and she thought that, in order to protect him, it would be better to give him to the foster system. It … it wasn't an easy choice for her to make, of course, but … what's done is done. After I found out Young Tenko's identity, I, and a friend of my master's, tried to track down his father's house, and … well, we eventually found his sister. She had been rescued by a neighbor and brought to a hospital."

Tenko let out a small sigh, and leaned forward. "It took us a while, but we eventually reunited. I … well, my quirk when I used it on the house … it took her legs."

Izuku felt his mouth open in shock at that, but then quickly shut it. "Does - is she -?"

"She lives with me now," Tenko finally allowed a smile to grace his face. "She had to recover in the hospital for a few years, go through physical therapy and … you know, regular therapy. And then we both lived separately for a while, just because of our own issues, but we … we reconciled eventually. Now I have to leave my own apartment whenever her boyfriend comes over, but I guess I can deal with having to take - you know, three hour walks whenever she wants the apartment for herself."

Izuku let out a small chuckle while All Might laughed and Tenko smiled.

"In any case, Young Midoriya," All Might took over the explanation, "after we had found his sister, the friend of my master agreed to take Tenko in, and became his legal guardian. We both came to realize that Young Tenko, similar to your situation, had problems with using his quirk - and since he would refuse to even touch anything, we decided to have him train at UA. Since the school had several facilities that would be able to assist him, the teachers of UA at the time assisted Young Tenko in getting control of his quirk, and getting back his confidence. After several years of therapy, he told my teacher and I that he wanted to become a hero."

"My hero name is just 'Tenko', by the way," The teaching assistant laughed, "I'm not creative enough to come up with a good hero name, and I wanted to be approachable, so it was just my first name."

"Wow …" Izuku slowly nodded, leaning forward slightly as Tenko picked back up his coffee to take a drink, "... so … so even despite what your father did when you - you know - said that you wanted to be a hero, you wanted to become one anyway?"

"... well, if I'm being honest," Tenko gave him another embarrassed grin, "I went through training at UA not really - y'know, expecting to be a hero. I didn't even really get enrolled into the hero course until my final year, I underwent a … well, I guess we could call it a supplementary at risk course."

"A supplementary at risk course?" Izuku blinked in surprise. "I didn't know UA had one of those ..."

"Well, it's not really publicized," Tenko chuckled, "and it's pretty rare for people to get enrolled in that kind of course. We actually have a second year taking that course right now, but unlike me, she enrolled into the hero course immediately, and I entered the hero course in my third year. My plan all along, ever since I got taken in by Gran, was to become a quirk specialist teacher at UA - I just needed a hero license to help me out with that."

Izuku slowly nodded as Tenko leaned back in his seat.

"And honestly … well, like I said, I didn't initially want to be a hero when I started formally attending UA," He reminisced, "but it ended up calling to me. I liked saving people. I like teaching students. I was conflicted, but I talked with Hana, and she convinced me that I could do both. I could teach students that, even though my quirk is destructive, I use it to stop villains in as non-permanent and non-destructive a manner as possible. Because that's what a hero does. They save people."

Izuku blinked at that statement, watching as Tenko finished his coffee and tossed the now empty cup into the garbage bin beside the bench. They were quiet for a minute or so, with Izuku quietly taking in Tenko's story while All Might remained silent (and may have been subtly reaching up to wipe his eyes; talking about his master always made him emotional). Finally, Tenko let out a small sigh and stood up, giving the green-haired boy a grin.

"Well, we really got distracted by that," He laughed, "I'm sorry about taking over the conversation, so enough about me. Let's talk about your quirk, Midoriya."

"O-oh, right!" Izuku gasped, also jumping a little bit - Tenko's story had taken his mind off what they were even here to talk about in the first place, but luckily for him Tenko seemed to be more focused, getting off the bench so he could stand in front of Izuku and he lazily stretched his arms above his head.

"So," He reminded himself, "you're having a problem with using your quirk due to what happened in the past on that playground. But you did mention that there have been times that you've used it since then?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, "I've used it - well, I've used my quirk only three times. Once during the - the playground incident, the second when I was - when I was trying to save my friend Kacchan, and then the third time when Nighteye surprised me into using it."

"Okay …" Tenko slowly nodded, "... and you mentioned that during the times you have tried to use it but were unsuccessful, you were trying to draw on the emotions you had been feeling during those, uh - those stressful situations?"

"Y-yeah."

"And … well, what were you feeling? Or like - what was your emotional state during the times you used your quirk?"

"Uh … scared," Izuku admitted, going a bit red as he glanced down at his knees, "and - and panicked, and - I don't know - kind of angry. When - when Kacchan was captured by that villain, I just felt - I don't know, my body moved before I had a chance to think."

"And you also mentioned that when you do try to practice firing off a blast, you see the kid you injured and your mom?"

"Yeah."

"Hm," Tenko slowly nodded, "so when you practice using your quirk, you draw on anger, panic and - and adrenaline to try to fire off a blast of lightning, and nothing happens, right?"

"Y-yeah."

"Okay. Okay, Midoriya," Tenko slowly nodded, "in that case … well, from what I'm thinking, you try to use anger and panic to fire off a blast, but there's no way that's going to work."

"Uh ... alright …?"

"Y'see," Tenko put a hand down on his hip as he used the other one to scratch his chin absently, "naturally, there will be situations where you'll use your quirk in high adrenaline situations, or when you're surprised - but quirks are a natural part of your body. From what you've told me about it, you consider your quirk something you can only use when you feel tense or stressed, but quirks are basically just a superpowered body function. They manifest young, require training and education to understand and master. I think your problem is that … well, you told me that people have called your quirk villainous, and you internalized that. In your mind, your quirk is a villainous thing that you can only rely on in times of extreme danger."

Izuku's gaze lowered to the ground, frowning - but then Tenko chuckled.

"So instead of relying on anger, panic, and all those feelings, Midoriya," He explained, "the first step to using your quirk is to associate it with something positive."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back up at the teaching assistant. "What do you mean?"

"When I started training, and using my quirk," He explained, "I was in a similar boat. I associated my quirk with the death of my father, my mother, my grandparents. I associated it with the fact that my sister would never walk again. In order for me to move past that, I needed to associate my quirk with something positive. And the first step to doing that was imagining a scenario where I had no choice but to use my quirk." Tenko then began pacing, continuing to look down at Izuku as the boy gave him a confused look. "You mentioned before that you had a best friend, right? The one who loves Thirteen."

"Y-yeah - Occhan."

"Okay. Occhan. So, Midoriya, I want you to imagine what I'm about to describe to you," Tenko requested, "you're standing on one end of a stage, and this Occhan is on the other. Can you imagine that?"

Izuku slowly nodded, not really sure where the teaching assistant was going with this but still following along. He imagined what Tenko had described - him, standing on one end of a large stage, and Ochako waving at him on the other end. The goofy image was enough to make him smile a little.

"Now … now I know what you said about seeing the kid you hurt and your mom whenever you try to use your quirk. But when that happens, I want you to try to push those thoughts out of your head - and imagine this."

He stopped pacing around, and held out both of his hands.

"You're on one end of the stage, and this Occhan is on the other," He explained his hypothetical scenario, "and you're standing there. And then, behind Occhan, comes something big. Something large, and dark, and terrifying. Occhan has no time to run away from it."

At that, Izuku stiffened up a bit, looking up at Tenko as he gave the younger boy a serious look.

"And I'm not just talking like Occhan's about to be hurt. I'm talking like - they're about to die. And there's no way you can reach them in time," He explained, "you can run across the stage as fast as you can, you can yell out a warning - but you won't make it in time by foot. There's no way you can make it to save Occhan."

Izuku's stomach clenched at that, feeling his lips thin. Imagining Ochako staring at him in confusion, a dark, dark creature behind her threatening to eat her up. He imagined … well, he hated to admit it, but the first thing that had come to mind was the sludge villain, opening its large mouth to devour her whole. Memories of repugnant slime being pushed down his throat, no longer being able to breathe, the fruitless attempts to get out of it …

… and he imagined Ochako going through that. His fist clenched slightly.

"There's no way you'll make it in time. But there is one thing you can do. All you can do -" Tenko then pointed down to Izuku's hands, noticing the fist he had been making and nodding, "- is raise your hand and fire off a blast of lightning."

He wrung his hands together. "It's a tactic I learned when I was practising my quirk. Imagining my sister in danger, buried under our house, and the only way I could save her was by using my quirk without any problems. It took a little while to do, but … eventually, I imagined saving her, and then I was able to use my quirk. I think it's a tactic you can use as well."

Izuku stared down at his open palm, seeing the red lines of scars from his usage of his quirk from the past. He slowly nodded at Tenko's explanation, understanding what he was talking about … and then he let out a small sigh.

"... and what if I …" He muttered, suddenly feeling embarrassed as he stared down at his shoes, "... what if I'm afraid of hurting myself with my quirk?"

All Might frowned at that, reaching over to pat his shoulder, while Tenko nodded.

"No need to feel embarrassed about that, Midoriya - I understand," He gave the middle school student a small thumbs up, "it's something I used to be afraid of too - touching something, and fearing that my quirk would go out of control and hurt myself. But then I thought of a way to overcome that as well."

"R-really?" Izuku glanced up as Tenko smiled down at him.

"I imagined my sister holding my hand," He explained, demonstrating by raising his one hand, and then the other, interlacing his fingers, "you see, when we were kids, before I developed my quirk, my sister always held my hand whenever I was upset, and it always made me feel better. And when I was going through therapy, and was hesitating to use my quirk because I was afraid of it … it gave me an idea."

Unclasping his fingers, Tenko put his hands in his pockets, "I gave myself the idea to adopt the mentality of 'I won't hurt my sister if I use my quirk'. I made that mistake once, and I promised myself never to do it again. So when I use my quirk, I always imagine my big sister holding my hands. And because I would never hurt her, I try to control my quirk as best I can. So if I imagine not hurting my sister … I don't hurt myself. And I think that's a mindset you can benefit from as well, Midoriya. Imagine holding your friend's hands when you use your quirk … and in no time, I think you'll overcome this mental barrier."

Izuku slowly nodded in confirmation, thinking to himself. He looked back up to ask another question - but then the phone in Tenko's pocket dinged, indicating that he had gotten a message. The three men looked down as Tenko brought the phone out of his pocket to look at, reading the message on the screen, and then letting out a small gasp.

"Oh! Oh, man, I forgot I had to meet up with Mic before my meeting with Nezu," He groaned, raising a hand to smack against his forehead as he gave the two on the bench an apologetic look, "I'm really sorry, Midoriya, All Might, but I probably need to get back before he starts screaming for me, and we don't need to have him shatter all the windows again."

"Of course, Young Tenko, it's alright!" All Might assured him, standing up with a smile, "we've taken up enough of your time as it is."

"Ah, don't be like that," He chuckled, "I'm always happy to see you, All Might. Er - do you mind if I text you about that case we were talking about earlier? I know Tsukauchi's got it covered, but I'm kind of curious to see your own input."

"Of course! I was actually going to ask if I could get a copy of that report."

"And Midoriya," Tenko turned to Izuku with a smile, "if the exercises I told you don't really help, you can have All Might text me, and I can send a few more alternative exercises you can try to overcome this block on your quirk. I'm really sorry that I can't come with you to help directly."

"N-no, you've - you've really helped me out a lot already," Izuku hastily got up as well, extending his hand again as Tenko took it and gave it a shake, "T-thank you so much for talking to me, Mr. Shimura."

"Oh, Tenko's fine," The teaching assistant laughed, giving him a firm handshake, "and besides, it's the least I can do. This is what I want to do, after all - helping students out with their quirks. And if you do get into UA, please don't hesitate to reach out to me if you need more help, okay? That's my job."

"Indeed," All Might chuckled, patting Tenko's shoulder again, "and perhaps the next time you two meet, he can show you pictures of his apartment."

"Oh, come on, All Might …" Tenko whined a bit, going red.

"I'm just saying! You probably have lots of my merchandise that Young Midoriya would love to have a look at."

"Yeah, but he doesn't need to know that! It's bad enough Hana constantly makes fun of me for it!"

Izuku chuckled a bit awkwardly, internally praying that All Might never saw his room.

After a few more laughs, Tenko went on his way, giving Izuku and All Might a parting wave as he headed back towards UA for his meetings. Izuku waved back to the teaching assistant as he rounded the corner and went out of sight, before his hand fell and All Might looked back around at him.

"So … do you believe that helped, Young Midoriya?" He asked softly, "I know that must not have been what you were expecting, but …"

"Uh … no, it wasn't," Izuku sighed a bit, glancing down at his hands again before shaking his head, "but I guess … well, I guess there's only one way to find out if that helped, right? We just need to go back to the beach and try out the exercises he told me."

"Indeed. In that case, I suppose we should head back now," All Might chuckled, patting Izuku's shoulder, and together they turned to start heading into the train station, to buy their tickets to head back to the beach, "we'll be arriving an hour before we said we would be back, but I'm sure Young Kendou and Young Uraraka won't complain. I imagine they've kept themselves pretty busy in our absence."


Well, this was just great.

It had been five hours since she arrived at the beach, and this was the third time the tiny yellow human pinball had made Itsuka eat shit.

"Come on, that can't be all you got!" Gran Torino cackled as she slammed face down into the ground, letting out a muffled grunt of pain as she tried to roll back onto her side - but it was kind of hard to do that when Gran suddenly slammed down hard on her back, making her yelp in pain as he landed on her hard enough to slam her back into the ground. Thankfully, the moment he blasted off her again, driving her further into the sand, she quickly flipped back onto her side and rolled onto her feet, her hands growing back to full size again as she defensively raised them to block her face.

That, however, was a pretty stupid thing to do, seeing as Gran decided to take that opportunity to use her hands as launch pads as well. Slamming hard into her left hand and blasting off again, Itsuka gasping as she was thrown off balance. And then he streaked back in to punch her in the stomach, making her double over and wheeze - and then landing hard on her upper back when she leaned down, driving her down to slam her face against the ground - and hard.

Correction. Fourth time she ate shit.

"Oooh," Ochako groaned in sympathy from her spot beside the little ring they had made, biting her lip slightly in worry at the sight of her friend flopped on the ground and not moving to get up, instead rolling onto her side while holding her stomach. Nighteye, who had been standing a bit beside the brown-haired girl, let out an unimpressed hum and crossed his arms as he gave her a cold look, ignoring Ochako throwing a dirty look at him again.

"Giving up?" He asked curtly to Itsuka, hearing her groaning as she pressed her forehead against the sand. "You haven't been able to even scratch Torino. I believe it's time to call it quits."

"Kendou, are you okay?" Ochako called to her, barely resisting the urge to flip off the pro hero beside her as she took a hesitant step forward.

"Mmgh," Itsuka grunted back in response, unable to move her head off the ground but weakly putting her hands on the ground to lift herself up. She could taste iron in her mouth, and once she managed to raise her head she spat out some blood, wincing at the sight of red tinged in her saliva. Once she was sure she could support her weight on one arm, she raised her hand to press against her nose to make sure it wasn't as broken as it felt, feeling relieved that it wasn't too painful to touch - just a little numb.

As she got up onto her knees, she became aware of the sound of footsteps running towards her, and she felt relieved as Ochako sank to her knees, helping Itsuka sit up. It was clear that her training partner realized there was no way Itsuka was getting up on her own. Glancing up at her, she took note of the panicked and angry look on Ochako's face, unable to stop herself from chuckling a bit.

"Wow," She coughed, wiping her lip and trying to sound nonchalant, "this fucking sucks."

"Tell me about it," Ochako muttered, looking around to glare at Nighteye again as she helped Itsuka up onto her knees, "are you okay, Kendou? Er - well, maybe that's a dumb question."

"Maybe a little, but yeah, I'm - I'm fine. I've taken hits like this before, I'll be okay."

"That's good to know!" Both girls turned to see Gran stop bouncing around on the mountains of garbage before landing back on the ground, taking a moment to stretch out his leg, a confident grin on his face as he observed Itsuka. Nighteye, meanwhile, continued to lean against the abandoned car and give Itsuka a disappointed look.

"We've gone three rounds," Gran chuckled gruffly, "and you haven't even tapped me once! Nighteye mentioned you were raised in a dojo, but I'm starting to wonder what exactly they've been teaching you!"

Itsuka grumbled at that taunt, knowing Gran was just trying to rile her up, and let Ochako move her so she could sit down on her butt, glad that the brown-haired girl had the foresight to bring a water bottle with her for Itsuka to greedily drink from. 

This had been her life for the past five hours, ever since they had arrived on the beach and Nighteye introduced them to Gran Torino. It also didn't take long for him to be introduced as the man who taught All Might, who wanted to have a few rounds with Itsuka to see what she was made of as they went down to the beach and made an improvised ring for the old man and Itsuka to fight in. She had hesitantly agreed, mostly due to not trusting Nighteye's intentions but not wanting to look foolish in front of the man who had trained her own trainer, and assured Ochako that she would be okay sparring with him a few times until All Might got to the beach.

What then commenced was three utter curbstomps in Gran's favor, with the orange-haired girl not even able to land a hit as he bounced around like a manic pinball machine. Three fights that lasted over the course of five hours, and Itsuka's entire body felt like one giant bruise, and she wouldn't be surprised if she went home tonight and immediately had to lie down in an ice bath.

Honestly, she wouldn't be feeling so frustrated at the moment if she had gotten at least one hit in during the three fights they had - the skills she had mastered after years of hard work at the dojo was pretty much useless when her opponent was too fast for her to keep up with, and used that opportunity to hand her her ass. Ochako had been forced to stay on the sideline, wincing and watching her friend get the hell beat out of her by a cackling old man, while Nighteye made unimpressed comments on the side that made her want to throw hands with a guy twice her height.

"There's no need for this to go on anymore," He said as Itsuka took a heavy drink of water, being careful not to let the bottle touch the bruise starting to form near her mouth, "you've fought with her three times and she hasn't been able to touch you once. My point has been made, Torino."

"Has it?" Gran laughed as he straightened back up, cracking his fingers, "You had me spar with your pupil a few times before you called it - and he had the advantage of being hard to actually land a hit on. If Kendou here wants to have another go, I'd be more than happy to spar with her one more time."

"Torino," Nighteye got off the car to approach the small old man, looking annoyed, "it would prove absolutely nothing. You've sparred three times with Togata, and now you've sparred three times with Kendou. Togata was able to defeat you once, and Kendou has not. I was right to be concerned about her as All Might's successor, if she can't even give you a single scratch. Her quirk is simple enough that a toddler can master it, she's untrained and unremarkable, and I was hoping you would see that for yourself and help me make All Might see reason."

Ochako's glare intensified the longer Nighteye shittalked her friend, turning her head slowly in the direction of the thin man and clenching her fists tightly - if he didn't stop talking right this instant, the next fight wouldn't be between Itsuka and Gran. Thankfully, though, the older man scoffed a bit, and looked back up at Nighteye.

"You seem so sure about how the next match will go, but it hasn't happened yet," He noted, raising an eyebrow, "so let Kendou take a moment to rest before we get back to it. I'd rather do that than just write her off. Just because she hasn't been able to land a hit in yet doesn't mean she won't - I'm not invincible."

"Torino, can't you see -"

"- that All Might's making a mistake?"

Ochako and Itsuka blinked at the sudden change in the old man's tone - the somewhat cocky, sure of himself voice that he had been using for hours suddenly vanished, replaced by coldness and sternness. They turned to look at Gran, seeing him giving Nighteye an unimpressed look just as good as the one he had been giving Itsuka for hours, and then looked around at the orange-haired girl.

"Kid," He called to her, "if I give you a minute to get yourself together, would you be up for another round?"

"I -" Itsuka hesitated for a moment, while Ochako gave her a worried look - and then she nodded, raising her other hand to wipe some blood from her lip as she gave the old man a determined look, "- yes. I - I can go another round. Just - just give me a second."

"What would be the point?" Nighteye disdainfully asked, pushing his glasses up his nose while Ochako helped Itsuka sit back up. "Another fight will prove nothing. My point has already been proven - she's inadequate to be All Might's successor."

"You've already made up your mind on her," Gran shook his head, "I want to give her another chance."

NIghteye scoffed at that, but didn't argue anymore, instead turning on his heel to return to the spot he had been watching the fight while Gran continued to stretch. On the ground, the two girls glanced between the older men, while Ochako glared at Nighteye and bit her lip slightly as Itsuka sighed.

"What exactly is his problem with you?"

"Ah, well …" Itsuka hesitated to give her an answer to that, though - she knew exactly what Nighteye's problem with her was, but she wasn't exactly at liberty to say. As well, she couldn't help but feel a little distracted with how close Ochako was, and how she was pretty much leaning on her - normally Itsuka wouldn't mind such closeness with Ochako, the two girls usually having an arm around each other or jokingly hugging, but all it was doing right now was reminding her of how closely she had been wrapped around the brown-haired girl when they woke up that morning, and she couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed.

Thankfully, Ochako didn't seem to be thinking about that right now, continuing to throw Nighteye a dirty look while clenching her fist.

"Comes onto the beach and throws a human pinball at you," She growled, "and gets shocked when you don't fight well because he threw you off guard. What a dickhead."

The curse made Itsuka blink a bit, taking her out of her embarrassment to look up at her friend, and then she let out a small giggle. Ochako blinked, and looked around at Itsuka in confusion.

"Uh - what?"

"Nothing, nothing," She waved her hand, still giggling, "just - y'know, three months of working on a beach with you, and I'm always so shocked whenever you swear."

"Oh, come on," Ochako laughed a bit, "I'm not some innocent nice girl. I curse."

"Oh, I know that - still though, I have to stop myself from gasping whenever you go off on one of your tangents. I'm tempted to bring a swear jar for you to fill."

"Please, don't," Ochako shook her head, "I'll go flat broke in a week. You know, unless we use it for just you and Deku, and I get to keep the money. That way I can put it in my savings."

"Ha! Sure, why not. A quarter for every swear. By the end of this you should have a hundred yen or so."

"Hm - well, best get started. Shit, fuck, goddamn, balls, ass."

Itsuka let out a mock theatrical gasp, putting a hand to her chest, and both girls giggled together at their antics. Once they got control of themselves, Itsuka let Ochako help her back to her feet, the brown-haired girl glancing at the bruises forming on her face, chest and arms, and felt her small smile from their giggling fall as she gave her a concerned look.

"Kendou, are you sure you want to play along with this?"

"I mean, not really," Itsuka shrugged, still smiling as she wiped her lip again - oh thank God, the cut there wasn't bleeding anymore - "but there's no way I'm just going to prove Nighteye right by standing down. Besides, Gran Torino over there's been whooping my ass all morning long, and he's right, I haven't even gotten a hit in yet. I can't just let him get away scott-free, I have my pride after all."

"Still -"

"Hon," Itsuka turned to give her an understanding look, which stopped Ochako in her tracks when she looked around at her, "honestly, I know this is stupid, and I'm being dumb. I don't have to fight him if I don't want to, I know. But Nighteye's already swung by to ruin my day once, and I'm not going to let him do it again. So I'm going to head back in there and throw the human pinball over there to the moon."

"Ha!" Gran laughed from his spot, "I'd love to see that!"

Itsuka rolled her eyes a bit, but still looked up at her friend as she patted Ochako's arm. She still looked unsure, glancing between Itsuka and Gran, but still relented and nodded, letting Itsuka slip her arm out from where Ochako had been holding it over her shoulders, and took a step back once she was sure Itsuka wasn't going to fall flat on her face again.

"Okay," She slowly nodded, "but he makes one wrong move, and I'm running in."

"Heh," Itsuka chuckled, "well, I'll be glad if you didn't - I've seen your form at the dojo, odds are if you hop in you're gonna end up punching me instead."

"Careful, smartass, or I'm gonna text Deku and tell him not to bring you coffee."

"So cruel!" She laughed, although her eye did twitch a bit - she'd completely forgotten to make herself a batch of coffee to bring with her this morning, and she was kind of dying at the moment without her caffeine.

"Anyway," Ochako took a few steps back, standing near the edge of the small ring and close to the stairs leading up to the parking lot, "I'll be over here. Try not to get your ass kicked this time."

"What," Itsuka smirked as she looked back at her, "no kiss for good luck?"

"Oh, please, drama queen - wait," Ochako blinked a bit, also looking around with a slight blush, "do you actually want a -?"

Itsuka tilted her head slightly, her smirk widening at the tinge of red on her friend's cheeks, and Ochako caught on that she was messing with her, letting out a small snort as she flipped the orange-haired girl off. Letting out a small laugh, Itsuka took a moment to hop up and down again, looking back around at Gran Torino as he gave that weird wide smirk as he got himself ready - and then she let out a small sigh.

She let her hands grow back to their full size using her quirk, and she lifted up her fists to hold in front of her face, ready for the fight.

"Okay," She nodded, trying to feel determined as Gran lifted his arms in the air, "let's do -"

Before Itsuka could blink, however, Gran moved. One moment he was in front of her, with his arms raised up in the air in a stretch - and then he was behind her, kicking her right in the back and making her gasp out as she was shoved forward unexpectedly.

"Good! I've run out of patience!"

With a cackle, Gran leapt off of her and began bouncing around again. She quickly whipped her head back and forth, trying to keep track of the tiny old man as he zoomed around the garbage. Her hands, tense and ready to strike the moment she saw him, raised defensively as she tried to follow where he was moving, but before she could blink, she felt a pair of feet slam into her right palm and push her back a bit.

Gritting her teeth, Itsuka swung her right hand towards the ground, hoping that Gran would be carried with it - but the old man had already bounced off, and his fists slammed into her back, making her yell in pain as she was sent flying off her feet. Luckily she managed to recover in time, throwing her large hands to the ground to flip herself around and back onto her feet, panting a bit and raising her hands defensively.

"Oooh," Gran chuckled in an impressed tone, "you recover quick. But your defense -"

BAM

"- is sloppy!"

As Itsuka was thrown off her feet again, Gran cackled as he continued to bounce off the garbage. Itsuka quickly let out a quiet pant as she rolled onto her feet, keeping on her toes as she bounced left and right, trying to make out the yellow blur zooming around her. She knew that in this fight, speed was not on her side - and despite being a tiny old man, he hit like a truck. He wasn't going for large hits to her head, but to her back, her side, her stomach, her enlarged hands. He was using her as a springboard while inflicting minor damage.

But that was his strategy, Itsuka narrowed her eyes as she caught sight of the tiny old man landing hard on a nearby fridge, denting it as he bounced off again. Death by a thousand cuts. A single hit hurt but not too much, but he kept connecting every hit. Eventually her body would be too damaged, and it would give out on her if she took too much damage to properly fight back. It was the strategy Gran's been using, and he hasn't adjusted it in their last fights because it's always worked.

And she'd been trying to use her training and her grandpa's training, but it was clear that Gran could read her movements like a book. So ... she needed to change it up, be reckless. Catch the old man off guard.

As she grunted in pain from Gran slamming his boots into her back again, Itsuka quickly looked around and - yes! There he was!

This time, Itsuka didn't take her eyes off of him, raising her hands defensively. He was bouncing around, on the ground, off a fridge, off the car, to her left, off a TV - and now he was flying towards her enlarged hand, boots out.

Itsuka let him approach, letting him think that he was about to use her hand as a springboard - and then, the moment his boots were about to connect, her hand shrunk.

"Oh?" Gran raised an eyebrow in intrigue as his springboard suddenly vanished, and Itsuka let out a yell as her other hand came down over the pro hero, intending to grab him and slam the tiny old man into the ground - only for Gran to suddenly change trajectory, flipping his boots to land on her chest and bounce off.

As Itsuka gasped, air escaping her lungs, she felt him kick her in the back. Then the stomach. Then the back again. Then her face. Then her right leg.

The moment she hit the ground on her side, Itsuka let out a small growl, more than a little frustrated that her plan backfired - and then her gaze flicked up, and her eyes widened.

"Now then," Gran grunted as he landed on the same fridge he had bounced off of before, grinning as he shot back down towards her, "let's -"

Before he could even finish that threat, though, Itsuka suddenly scrambled to her feet, and let out a small yell as she slid underneath a car parked beside her. Scoffing, Gran bounced off the ground, then another dresser, and then flipping through the air until he was above the car his opponent was hiding under.

"Come now, you can't hide from me from under -!"

BAM

Gran's eyebrows shot up as the car was suddenly punched up into the air, right towards him. He could tell that Itsuka had enlarged her hands and used that strength to send it flying towards him - but this wasn't something he couldn't use to his advantage. With a grin, Gran slammed against the hood of the car, and bounced off it. Thanks to the force of his kick, the car was sent flying over Itsuka, being sent straight towards -

- and that was when Gran realized his mistake, eyes widening as the car was sent flying straight towards Ochako.

"Look out!"

Ochako let out a small gasp as she realized she didn't have time to dive out of the way of the car, feeling like a deer in the headlights as the car slammed once into the ground and bounced off right towards her, raising her hands over her face as car seemed posed to slam straight into her -

WHOOSH

She let out a squeak as a sudden burst of wind blasted right by her, knocking her down onto her back as she squeezed her eyes shut, ready to be crushed by the car - but after a few seconds, she suddenly realized that not only was she still alive, but the sounds of the car crashing down on the ground suddenly vanished. Feeling a bit confused, she squinted one eye open from her spot on the ground - and then both her eyes blew wide open as she realized who was currently lifting up the car and preventing it from collapsing on her.

"What …" All Might growled, straining as he lifted the car above the ground, and then tossed it aside into the closest mountain of garbage, where it collided with the ground with a loud crash that made everyone present jump a bit in surprise, "... is going on here?!"

As Ochako stared blankly ahead, slowly realizing that she had come very close to being crushed, she heard the sound of footsteps hurrying towards her, and looked around to see Izuku running as fast as he could towards her, eyes widened in panic as he made a beeline towards her. As All Might turned towards Nighteye and Gran, he skidded to a stop just before her, falling to his knees and grabbing her arm as he hastily put down his coffee cup.

"Occhan, are you okay?!"

"I - uh -"

Ochako continued to stare blankly ahead, the shock slowly fading away so she was aware of how hard her heart had been hammering, but still reached up to put her hand on Izuku's wrist to let him know she was okay. Hastily, Izuku helped Ochako sit up, the brown-haired girl suddenly aware of how much he was shaking and the tears that had started welling in his eyes, and made sure to pat his wrist to assure him. She heard the sound of footsteps running towards her again, and looked up to see Itsuka hurrying over, eyes wide and tears beginning to build as she collapsed on her knees before her.

"I - I'm so sorry, Uraraka," She stammered, "I didn't - I didn't know - I -"

"Do you do nothing right?!"

The three teenagers on the ground quickly looked around as Nighteye stormed up to Itsuka, looking angrier than they had ever seen him as he pointed an accusing finger down into her face. At the sight of the pro hero, Izuku's mouth thinned into a line, immediately understanding what was going on here.

"You almost killed her!" Nighteye barked, making Itsuka flinch. "You were reckless! How do you expect to be a hero when you don't even pay attention to your surroundings?!"

"I - I -"

"You could have gotten her killed!" He continued to reprimand her, ignoring Ochako coming out of her shock and beginning to look thunderously up at the pro hero, while Izuku clenched his fist and glared up as well. "You could have gotten her killed because of your sloppiness! You're inexperienced and incompetent! If you knew what was good for them -"

"Enough, Nighteye," Gran shook his head, jumping down from where he had landed on the garbage heap and raising a hand to the very angry looking All Might, silently requesting a moment to speak before the Symbol of Peace could smash both their heads together, "that wasn't her fault."

"How on earth was that not her -?!"

"Nighteye," Gran interrupted sharply, "shut up for once. I'm the one who sent the car flying towards Uraraka. That was my fault. Kendou," The orange-haired girl, with tears continuing to build in her eyes, looked around at the old man as he gave her a comforting look, "based on the trajectory of that car when you sent it up into the air, if I hadn't kicked it, it would've just come down on the garbage heap. I'm the one who kicked it in Uraraka's direction. That was an accident that I made, so don't blame yourself for this."

Nighteye, however, wasn't convinced, clenching his fists as he wheeled around at Itsuka. "But if she hadn't -!"

"You're biased," Gran narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Nighteye, the taller pro hero shutting his mouth and wheeling around as Gran scooped his cane up from where he had left it propped against a barrel and pointed it at him, "completely against her. You act like every step she takes is one step backwards, but I happen to remember your own protégé back in his first year - at the sports festival. 'The student who flashed the world', I believe the tabloids referred to him as."

While Ochako and Itsuka blinked at the weird nickname, Izuku felt his brow furrow, as though remembering something unusual, but he didn't have time to comment as Gran continued his reprimanding.

"Your protégé made an idiot of himself," The old man reminded Nighteye, "and yielded poor results at the sports festival. He didn't even make it to the third round. And not to mention that he was a sloppy student as well, as I recall when you sent me notes about him. And yet, you still gave him a chance, and took him on because you saw potential in him. The only reason Togata is the hero he is today is because you took a risk with him, and it paid off. Without you, he probably wouldn't be anywhere near ready to replace All Might."

"Where exactly are you going with this?" Nighteye said in a low voice, narrowing his eyes while All Might glowered at him.

"You're comparing a teenager who's had years of experience working with his quirk, a very complex quirk I might add, and someone that you trained personally," Gran tapped his cane against the ground, "with a middle-school student who hasn't had any experience and is just getting started. You act like this girl should already be at Togata's level, when at her age he couldn't even make his way through a wall. You've convinced yourself that she's inadequate, when you just haven't given her a chance."

"But -"

"You dragged me here to convince me that All Might was making a mistake in choosing his successor," Gran raised his eyebrow, "but he isn't. The girl definitely needs training, and experience out in the field, but she'll make a great hero. Because like you with Togata, All Might is giving her a chance to prove herself. I support her as his successor."

Nighteye sputtered at that, about to open his mouth again to protest that - but then All Might stepped forward, drawing everyone's attention to him. The three middle-school students on the ground couldn't see his face since his back was to him, but glancing over at Nighteye's expression was all they needed to know that he wasn't smiling at the moment.

"Mirai," All Might crossed his arms, "you and I are old friends. Despite our schism, I know that we always will be. I respect you. But I have made my decision, and you will need to respect it. With that said, you will not come to this beach to bother Young Kendou again. If I see you again and you're trying to pull this crap, I will be sending you away with much harsher words than I am right now. And if you even think of sending any of your sidekicks to spy for you, I will be recommending they find another agency to work at - one that won't waste their talents."

Nighteye stared at him for a few moments, his face falling slightly - for a moment, he looked genuinely hurt, and remorseful - but then he hardened his expression, and spun on his heel, moving away from the small ring that Itsuka and Gran had been sparring in. The three teenagers, All Might and Gran watched as he stormed his way up the stairs to the parking lot, evidently realizing that his presence at the beach wasn't wanted by anyone there.

As he left, All Might maintained his muscle form until his old friend was out of sight, and then let out a sigh and instantly deflated.

"Can someone please tell me what's been going on?" He managed to cough out as he waved away the steam blowing off him, wiping some blood from his lip as he looked down at Gran. "Sensei, what are you doing here?"

"Well," Gran leaned slightly on his cane, "a few days ago, Nighteye swung by my place, telling me about how you were making the biggest mistake of your life by handing - er, making someone that wasn't Togata your successor. He insisted I accompany him to the beach today to spar with the girl, and see how she compares with Togata."

"What on - and you agreed to that?"

"Well, can you blame me?" Gran chuckled, raising his cane to poke All Might in the chest, "I get one letter from you telling me that you selected your successor three months ago, and then absolutely nothing after that. I had to make sure Nighteye wasn't being his usual jackass self and that you weren't screwing anything up."

"By beating up my student?"

"Well, it worked on you, didn't it?"

All Might grumbled at that, shuddering at the memories of his own training with his teacher (or, as he remembered it, spending day after day getting the absolute shit kicked out of him), and then looked over at the car laying on its side against the hill of trash, "And that?"

"Well, that was a mistake on my part, I didn't lie about that," The old man admitted, scratching his beard sheepishly, "the girl caught me by surprise by sliding under it and punching it into the air, and I wasn't looking where I was kicking it. Didn't even realize it was heading for Uraraka until it was too late. Kendou," He called to the girl still kneeling on the ground and looking down with tears in her eyes, "I meant what I said to Nighteye, that wasn't your fault. It was mine. And Uraraka, I'm sorry about putting you in danger. I have no excuses."

"I-it's okay," Ochako shook her head, Izuku still holding onto her shoulder and arm as he tried to calm himself down.

"Are - are you sure?" He asked, still shaking a bit. "You - you were in serious trouble, Occhan, I didn't - if All Might didn't -"

"Deku, I swear, I'm okay. Just … just a bit in shock, that's all."

"I - Occhan, it's - it's okay if you -" Izuku stuttered, still evidently panicked, and let go of her shoulder to wipe at his eyes, his voice cracking a bit, "- you almost - you - I didn't -"

"Deku," She said in an assuring voice (a bit funny, she thought, that she was the one who nearly died and needed to comfort everyone else), "I'm okay. I swear."

As he tried to calm down, Ochako turned back towards Itsuka as she stared at the ground, Ochako noticing her own hand shaking.

"Kendou? Are you okay?"

"..."

"Kendou …?" Ochako wrinkled her brow in worry, while Izuku looked up from where he had his hand over his eyes.

"... I'm sorry," The orange-haired girl muttered, continuing to stare at the ground, "I'm - I'm so sorry, Uraraka."

"Wha - Kendou -"

"I didn't think that I was - I'm - I'm so sorry."

Ochako let out a small sigh, glancing around at Izuku. She could tell that her best friend was still in a bit of shock himself, his eyes a bit glazed over as he slowly tried to work himself out of shock, but she could feel him shaking, based on the hand that had been on hers for the last few minutes. Honestly, at any other time she'd find it kind of hilarious that she was the one who recovered the best towards her being almost crushed by a car, but now wasn't the time for jokes.

… or was it? She had to stand by and fume as Nighteye dragged Itsuka through the dirt all morning, and now everyone was obviously miserable. Maybe they needed a small pick-me-up before she got to comforting them. And they obviously needed to get out of this funk, so …

With a small sigh, Ochako sat up properly, raising one hand to push some of her hair out of her face - and then brought her hand up, and swiftly down on the top of Itsuka's head, giving her a small bop.

"Ow!" The orange-haired girl squeaked in surprise and pain, looking up in shock as Ochako brought her hand back up and tried hard not to giggle when Izuku jumped a bit and looked between both girls in surprise and a bit of fear, as though he had just walked straight into the path of two wild animals about to fight over a meal, "What the f-?!"

"Sorry," Ochako shook her head, "but you were both being really mopey, so I needed to do something to get your attention."

"And you decided to do that," Itsuka rubbed the offended spot while pouting a bit, "by trying to break my head open?"

"I mean, it's not like you haven't bopped me or Deku before. A few times, actually."

Itsuka opened her mouth to retort, and then paused, blinking, and let out a watery sigh as she reluctantly smiled. "Okay, you got me there."

Both girls giggled a bit while Izuku sighed in relief, and Ochako scooted a bit closer to Itsuka, Izuku taking his cue and letting go of her arm so she could kneel down beside her.

"Listen," She said with a small smile, "it was an accident, Kendou, and it wasn't your fault. I'm fine, I'm okay, All Might got here in time. Everyone's okay."

"I know, but …"

"Kendou," Ochako smirked a bit, raising her hands to put on her shoulders and making the orange-haired girl look up at her, "if you keep blaming yourself for this, I'm going to bop you on the head again. It was just a stupid accident. Not your fault."

Ituska pouted at her for the small threat, and then let out another sigh as she shook her head, raising herself slightly from where she had been leaning down.

"... you're sure you're okay?"

"Positive. And that's all I'm going to say about it today. I'm fine. I'm okay."

"... okay. Okay." Itsuka exhaled, raising a hand to try and wipe the tears from her eyes, "But I'm gonna be giving you a big hug right freaking now."

"That's more than fine with me," She giggled, letting Itsuka scrub some of the tears out of her eyes, and once she was done she sat up to wrap her arms around Ochako's neck, bringing her in for a tight hug. Ochako let out a small giggle and wrapped her own arms around Itsuka's midsection, resting her chin on her friend's shoulder as they embraced. Izuku sat back as well, keeping quiet so the girls could have their moment, with Itsuka clearly needing a little cuddle and Ochako more than happy to serve.

As Izuku reached over to the coffee cup he put down to comfort Ochako, however, Itsuka's still teary gaze flickered to it.

"Is that coffee?" She asked in a small voice, making Izuku blink.

"H-huh? Uh - yeah."

"What kind?"

"Er … well, I kinda panicked when the barista asked for my order, and I kinda just - uh - picked the first thing I thought of. It's, uh … it's black coffee."

"Mmm," She grunted a bit, unhooking one of her arms from around Ochako to reach out to him, making tiny grabbing motions, "can I have the rest?"

Izuku blinked at that, glancing down at the cup in his head and then back up to her, and then sighed. Well, he had been taking little sips of it, and it was probably cold now, but he didn't want to just waste All Might's money by tossing it away. So he reached out and gave her the cup.

"Er - just to warn you, it's probably -"

Alas, before Izuku could warn her about it being cold, Itsuka unwrapped herself from around Ochako with a sniff, letting her sit back, and raised the coffee cup to her lips to start chugging it down. If she minded that it was cold, she didn't show it, tilting her head up as she took it all in one go, and let out a small gasp as she finally drank it all in one gulp. Wiping her lip with the back of her hand, she tossed the empty cup into the trash can beside them as she sighed again and wiped her eyes one more time.

"Okay," She nodded, "okay, I feel a little better now. I wanna say I'm sorry again, Uraraka, but I have a feeling you'll just bop me on the head if I say it again."

"Honestly, yeah. Yeah, I will."

"Okay, okay, in that case," She smiled at last, "thank you, Uraraka."

The two girls shared another smile as Izuku sat back, letting out his own small sigh as he also grinned at them. He was happy that Ochako was okay, and Itsuka wasn't blaming himself for what happened. However, before any of them could say anything else, All Might walked over, joined by Gran Torino.

"Young Kendou," All Might sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and exhaling through his nose, "I really am sorry that you had to go through Nighteye's … well … Nighteye-ness. I swear, that is never going to happen again. If he turns back up here, or confronts you anywhere else, please text me and I'll come and deal with it."

"Yeah … yeah. Okay, All Might."

"With that said," He shook his head, frowning, "I'll be honest with you three, after what you two had to deal with this morning and what I walked in on, I'm not quite in the mood for training today. I think it'll be better to call it a half-day. Young Kendou, I encourage you to go home and unwind a bit, alright? Trust me, I know from experience that Gran Torino here doesn't pull his punches, so you should take some time to rest and recover. A hot bath works wonders, trust me. As for you, Young Uraraka and Young Midoriya, you both should -"

"W-wait a second, All Might!"

The pro hero faltered when Izuku suddenly spoke up in a voice a bit louder than what they were used to. Everyone turned to look at him as he sat up, and then blinked when he realized that he interrupted his mentor, squeaking and raising a hand to his mouth.

"Oh, uh - s-sorry, All Might -"

"No, it's fine, Young Midoriya," All Might chuckled, waving his hand, "what is it?"

"I just - uh -" Izuku hesitated, glancing down at his open hands, and then letting out a sigh as he looked back up at his coach. "- I - I understand that you want to send us home, and - and I won't complain about that. It's just - well - before we head home, I wanna give, uh - T-Tenko's advice a shot. At least once."

"Tenko?" Gran raised an eyebrow, glancing back up at All Might. "Is that where you were this morning?"

"Yes," All Might nodded, and scratched his cheek, "it's a long story, Sensei, but we were getting some advice from Young Tenko to help Young Midoriya overcome a - well, a mental barrier that's been interfering with his training. But Young Midoriya, are you sure you'd like to try it today? I wouldn't blame you for wanting to take the rest of the day off."

"I'm sure," Izuku immediately nodded, determination filling his face as he clenched a fist, "I'm already behind. At least - I want to do it at least once if I have to take the rest of today off. I've wasted enough time, I need to catch up at once."

The way he said that, unknown to Izuku, made Itsuka and Ochako blink as they looked up at where he had sat up, and then back at each other. The way he had said that … it reminded them of what they talked about last night before bed, about Izuku's weird behavior and their thought of what exactly he's been doing when they weren't on the beach - but for now, they kept their mouths shut. No need to bring it up in front of All Might, and if they had the rest of the day off, they would talk to him about it later.

"Well … if you're sure …" All Might tapped his foot once, obviously conflicted, but then let out a small sigh as he buffed back to his true form, "... very well, young man. We'll head over to the usual spot and give Young Tenko's advice a try. Young Kendou, Young Uraraka, if you two wanted to get going while we -"

"No," Itsuka shook her head at once, getting up alongside Ochako, "we'll be leaving together. We don't mind staying for a bit longer."

Izuku glanced between them, and smiled when the two girls gave him a thumbs up for encouragement. With that decided, the small group began to walk over to the usual spot Izuku would use to practice his quirk, with Gran intrigued enough to walk along with them to see what was going on.

Once they got down to the water, Izuku moved to his usual spot, glancing around as All Might sat down on the tire with Gran standing beside him. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, stood together, looking a bit intrigued and concerned by what Izuku was going to do now that he got this mysterious advice, and the boy glanced at All Might as the pro hero leaned back.

"Alright, Young Midoriya," He gestured to him, "whenever you're ready."

Izuku nodded in confirmation, and then looked back at his target, letting out a small sigh as he looked at the car parked in the sand, and raised his arms and spread his legs, closing his eyes.

Tenko had recommended not thinking of anger, fear, and aggression to use his quirk - that had been Izuku's mistake. Trying to draw on the emotions he had felt when he used his quirk before was a double-edged blade; sure, he was focusing on what he had felt then, but being afraid and angry didn't exactly help him out with trying to casually use his quirk. No, what Tenko had advised was to focus on something else. What Tenko had recommended. A scenario where the only way he could do anything was by using his quirk.

And that was …

For some reason, once he had managed to stuff down the thoughts of a young Katsuki injured on the ground, and the horrible scar on his mom's arm, he thought of something that happened … about only twenty minutes ago now. He remembered arriving at the beach, talking and laughing with All Might as the pro hero joked about Tenko's treasure horde of All Might merchandise, and as they had gotten to the stairs leading down to the beach, he had looked out to see - 

- to see Ochako about to be crushed by the car.

He hadn't had much time to react, and All Might had immediately buffed up and flew down to save her, but Izuku had frozen on the top stair. Seeing his best friend, his oldest friend, in such danger had made his stomach lurch violently, and - and for a moment, before Izuku had even thought, he had raised his hands. It was as if he had been trying to stop the car by sheer telekinetic force, but seeing her in danger had panicked him. And now …

… now he understood what Tenko had been telling him.

"There's no way you can make it to save Occhan. There's no way you'll make it in time. But there is one thing you can do. All you can do - is raise your hand and fire off a blast of lightning."

Imagining Ochako in danger … of being slammed into the dirt by that car … imagining raising his hands, shooting out a bolt of lightning to slam the car away … to protect her …

And then Izuku felt his palms and forearms tingling.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, and there, buzzing across both his arms, were flickered of green electricity, sparks shooting out of his palms as the lightning moved up to his shoulders, humming and flashing.

Itsuka and Ochako let out twin gasps of excitement, and All Might pumped his fist with a large grin while Gran raised an eyebrow, but they stayed silent as Izuku shook a bit in surprise at the sight of lightning on his arms. Still, the green-haired boy tried to concentrate as he looked back up at the car, raising his arms and trying to focus on firing off a shot as he took a deep breath - 

- but before he could fire, the electricity buffered, and then completely died off, leaving Izuku's arms bare as he blinked down at them.

"Oh," Ochako furrowed her brow, taken out of it - but at least Izuku wasn't upset about it.

"Okay!" He muttered excitedly, clenching his fists slightly, "Okay, okay, okay. That's - that's better than nothing."

"Indeed," All Might nodded, starting to get up from his seat with a wide and relieved smile on his face, "this is a great development, Young Midoriya - I'll have to let Young Tenko know that his advice was sound. Now then -"

"W-wait, let me - let me try again," Izuku quickly requested, trying not to sound too pleading as he looked around at his mentor, "I - I think I nearly had it, I know what I have to do. Just - just one more time."

All Might raised an eyebrow at that, but shrugged and nodded anyway, sitting back down on the tire while Gran tapped his cane against the sand. Itsuka and Ochako also glanced at each other, and hastily decided to cover their ears, just in case things got loud.

Taking another deep breath, Izuku raised his arms again, palms up, and closed his eyes tightly. This time, instead of Katsuki or his mom, he envisioned the look on Ochako's face as the car approached her, about to crush her, and inhaled, then exhaled. He imagined, when the car was overtop her, Ochako frozen under its shadow, he would raise his hands up, a bolt of lightning streaking out and smashing against the vehicle, sending it flying away from Ochako. He imagined saving Ochako's life as repayment for her friendship over the years.

He imagined saving Ochako.

He imagined saving her.

He … imagined … saving … Ochak-

BOOM

Izuku let out a gasp of surprise and pain as a bolt of lightning emerged out of his right palm, shooting out quickly and slamming against the car. As the loud bang made him jump, Izuku leapt back in surprise and shock as his eyes widened, realizing that he had done it. On the side, Itsuka and Ochako also jumped out of their skin from the sudden display of power (they had seen Izuku's arms flicker with lightning for a second before the bolt of lightning shot out), and All Might immediately leapt to his feet, aiming his hand and flicking his fingers together to send off a gust of wind that put out the fire that immediately started as the car rolled onto its side from the impact.

For a moment, everyone on the beach was quiet, wincing slightly at the loud ringing in their ears - and then they became aware of Izuku muttering something. Their attention turned to him as he stared at the ground, speaking quietly enough no one could pick up what he was saying - and then he suddenly threw his fist up into the air, looking around at his friends with a wide grin and visible excitement.

"I did it!" He cheered, jumping in celebration. Ochako was quickly infected by his happiness, cheering as well as she also threw her fists in the air, and Itsuka laughed as she gave Izuku an impressed round of applause. All Might laughed bombastically as well as he put his hands on his hips, obvious pride on his face, and Gran shook his head at their antics, although there was a hint of a smile on his face.

"Deku, this is great!" Ochako celebrated, "You did it!"

"Yeah," Itsuka giggled a bit, giving the happy boy a big grin, "you finally got it, Midoriya. You finally got to fff…ire."

Ochako blinked at that, hearing Itsuka suddenly trail off, and looked around to see the orange-haired girl's happy and proud look fading away, staring down at Izuku's chest. For some reason, realization and panic filled Itsuka's face - and then Ochako suddenly smelled smoke.

"Fire!" Itsuka cried as All Might blinked and looked around at Izuku as well. "Midoriya, you're on fire!"

"Huh?" Izuku's happy look faded, feeling confused - and then he felt something hot poke his chest. Glancing down, he let out a yelp of shock at the small licks of flame starting to spread across his shirt, probably from one of the sparks that had come off the lightning he just fired off. As Ochako gasped in horror at the sight, Izuku quickly batted at the flames, but before either girl could move forward to assist him, or All Might could flick some wind at him to blow away the flames, he turned right around, obviously in panic, and charged straight into the water.

The four on the beach watched in surprise and horror as Izuku continued to pat the shirt as he ran, until the water was up to his waist and he immediately dived into the water, the waves slamming straight into him and submerging him. It was thankful that Izuku's arms were no longer sparking with electricity, or they would've just watched him cook himself in the water.

"Deku!" Ochako called out to him, still panicked as Izuku poked his head out of the water with a loud gasp, managing to get back to his feet despite the strong waves pushing into him. "Are you okay?!"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine!" He shouted back, starting to waddle back to the shore, only to yelp again when another wave slammed into his back, carrying him face down back into the water. The girls watched as he trudged out of the ocean, coughing and spitting out some salt water with a grossed-out expression, and letting out a small, defeated sigh as he looked down at his wet clothes.

"Man," He groaned, "and just when I thought I could be happy that I actually used my quirk, I set myself on fire and now I really need a towel."

"Are you alright, Young Midoriya?" All Might asked, jogging over and plucking a piece of seaweed off his shoulder, throwing it back into the water, "I can go grab you the spare clothes you keep in my truck - I parked it on the sidewalk of the beach this morning before I flew over to meet with you at the Kendous."

"Y-yeah, thank you, All Might," Izuku nodded, shivering slightly as he glanced down at the wet white t-shirt with a few holes burned into it. He let out a small sigh - this was his favorite workout shirt, but he couldn't be too mad about it. Realizing that he should probably take off the wet shirt before he chafed, he grabbed the bottom of his t-shirt, not really putting much thought into it, and began to lift it up.

"Okay," Itsuka sighed as she and Ochako turned to watch All Might jogging towards his truck, moving slightly faster than they expected, and then turned to look back at Izuku, "so All Might'll grab you your spare clothes, and we caaaaaan …"

... oh.

As one might have predicted, Itsuka and Ochako both turned around to look at Izuku at the same time, to make sure he was okay and the fire hadn't left any burns - and got a good look at his bare chest and stomach as he struggled to get the wet shirt over his head. Itsuka's initial concerns about making sure he was okay trailed off as her eyes automatically went down, widening slightly and suddenly feeling a bit hot under the collar as her mouth zipped closed. Ochako, meanwhile, was the exact opposite as her mouth dropped open slightly, all of her pride over Izuku shooting off a blast of lightning and worries about him catching on fire blew away in her head like air escaping a balloon. 

Both girls momentarily enraptured by the sight before them, Ochako and Itsuka gulped as their faces suddenly felt quite hot, glancing down and seeing water dripping down from his ... okay, when the fuck did he get so well toned?! Ochako felt like she was screaming internally as she tried to wrap her head around the fact that the last time she had seen her childhood friend shirtless, it had been at the public pool when they were ten, and he had been thin as a noodle, and now he had - he had abs, her eyes kept trailing down towards his pelvis where trails of water dripped down his abs before it was absorbed in the waistband of his pants, and her mind was going to a very inconvenient place as her cheeks continued to feel uncomfortably hot.

As for Itsuka, she gulped as her gaze flickered up to his arms, feeling her own cheeks start going a bit red as she saw him unintentionally flex as he struggled to get the shirt over his head. For some reason, she was suddenly feeling very thirsty, grabbing the neck of her shirt and giving it a small tug as she realized how hot it was, even though there was still a cool wind blowing into her.

In summary, while Ochako was thinking 'whatthefuckwhatthefuckwhatthefuck' in an increasingly panicked tone, Itsuka reluctantly thought 'hamina hamina hamina hamina'.

"Okay," Izuku grunted as he finally managed to get the shirt over his head, holding it in his hands and unaware of Ochako's eyes being glued on his chest, and Itsuka's eyes tracing his toned biceps, "that was a lot more difficult to get off than I was thinking it would be. So, uh, I guess I'm heading up to the bathroom ...?"

He trailed off, however, when he finally looked up and realized that his training partners' attention was no longer on his face, and felt a bit confused - what were they looking at?

"Uh … guys?" He asked unsurely, glancing between the two girls while they soaked in the sight before them, but at the sound of his voice, they both came out of their trances. Ochako let out a weak noise that sounded like something between a squeak, a giggle and a grunt, and quickly glanced away, awkwardly coughing and looking anywhere but at her best friend; meanwhile, Itsuka straightened up, quickly clearing her throat and glancing away as well, looking around so Izuku didn't see how her entire head looked like it was on fire with how her cheeks matched a similar shade to her orange hair -

- and her eyes immediately met Gran's, who had been standing there in silence the entire time, and raised a knowing eyebrow with a smirk as she comically paled, realizing that the guy who had kicked the crap out of her all morning saw her openly ogling Izuku.

Oh god, Itsuka quietly thought with a quiet groan, if you're there, please smite me right fucking now.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for All Might to come back with dry clothes for Izuku ("I have returned with a change of clothes and a towel!"), letting him excuse himself to the bathroom to get changed into dry clothes, and giving Itsuka and Ochako a chance to calm down from … whatever the hell that was. Once Izuku came back, drying his hair with the towel and back in high spirits from his success, practically skipping across the beach in his happiness that he managed to fire off a blast of lightning, All Might formally excused the three of them, wanting to show Gran around the beach a bit to show him what they still needed to do.

As All Might and Gran walked off, and Izuku turned to lead the two girls back up to the parking lot, however, Ochako and Itsuka exchanged a small glance. It was apparent that they were both thinking of the same thing, and knowing that now was the perfect opportunity to bring it up, Itsuka cleared her throat.

"Hold on a sec, Midoriya."

"Hm?" Izuku looked back at her, still smiling. "What's up? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's, uh - everything's fine. It's just …" Itsuka hesitated again, and then sighed and decided that it would be better to do this now. Sitting down in the sand, she glanced up at the green-haired boy, and patted the spot next to her expectantly.

Izuku furrowed his brow in confusion, but still got the message, grunting as he sat down in the sand beside her. Ochako was quick to join them, and soon the three of them sat together in a small circle in the sand, enjoying the cool wind blowing through their hair.

"So … Midoriya," Itsuka began, wincing slightly as she tried to think on the fly how to go about this, "we're really happy that you've figured out what's going on with your quirk. It's great."

"Uh … okay?" Izuku was feeling more than a little confused now, glancing between them.

"It's just …" She hesitated again, glancing at Ochako, and then sighed, "... we just wanted to know if you were … well … okay, you know what, fuck it," She shook her head, looking up at Izuku, "is there something you've been doing?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, crossing his legs slightly as he glanced between Itsuka and Ochako. "What - what do you mean, Kendou?"

"..."

"..."

Both girls stayed quiet for a moment, and then exchanged a small look. As Itsuka slowly nodded at her, Ochako let out a small sigh, realizing that she would have to be the one to start this since she technically brought it up last night - and then took a deep breath. She remembered what Itsuka said last night, about being gentle instead of being interrogative, and nodded back to her friend as she turned back to Izuku.

"Deku," She said in a quiet voice, "you've been overworking yourself, haven't you?"

The girls got their answer pretty much instantaneously - the confused look on Izuku's face immediately faded away, his eyes widening slightly in panic, and he quickly straightened up, glancing away as though it were suddenly hard to look at them as he tried to will his face to look blank.

"I - uh - overworking? What do -"

"Deku," Ochako slumped over a bit, giving him a small pout - not the Danger Pout, but a more adorable, sad pout that she knew would break through his defenses easily, "I'm not dumb. I know you've been going out for runs when everyone was asleep."

Izuku winced at that.

"And ordering exercise equipment."

He turned his gaze towards the ground.

"We're not angry at you," She made clear for him, although that was only technically the truth - she was definitely angry when it had been brought up last night, but not so much anymore now that she was talking it out with him, "we just - we wanna make sure you aren't doing something dumb."

There was a small silence for the trio, the two girls watching Izuku as he continued to study the ground for a few moments, guilt written plainly on his face - and then he let out a small sigh, and slowly reached into his back pocket. Slowly, he pulled out his notebook, putting it in his lap before flipping it open to a specific page, and, after another moment of hesitation, he extended the notebook to Itsuka, offering for her to take it.

Wrinkling her brow, Itsuka accepted the notebook, turning it around so she and Ochako could read, and the first thing that caught their eye was the title:

'Proposed Independent Training Menu'.

… oh boy.

Feeling their lips thin into a straight line, Itsuka and Ochako leaned forward and began to read the page's contents, Ochako reading over Itsuka's shoulder. Izuku, waiting for them to finish reading the page before they would blow up on him, simply chose to sit there and wait for the inevitable explosion, closing his eyes and waiting as the two girls read the details of what he had been doing. 

Finally, Itsuka closed the book, and Izuku glanced away - he could feel Ochako staring at him, but he knew it wasn't a good look.

"Midoriya," Itsuka quietly said as she handed him back the notebook, "let me explain something to you, okay?"

Izuku said nothing.

"There's a reason why All Might is having us follow the AIm to Pass plan," She told him, "he specifically adjusted each of our plans with our developments in mind. And he adjusts it all the time to make sure that we're on the right track. What you're doing right now," She tapped the notebook in his lap, "isn't improving yourself. It's just adding more and more work. If you don't stick to the Aim to Pass plan, it's going to have the opposite effect of what you wanna do."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking up at them for the first time. Thankfully, neither of them looked angry, just worried and a bit sad on Ochako's part.

"If you keep doing this - adding more work, going for more runs, just overdoing it in general - it's going to actually cause more harm than good. The Aim to Pass is tailor made for each of us, ensuring that we're receiving plenty of rest and maximizing our growth," Itsuka continued to explain in a patient voice, "and if you deviate from the schedule, you're going to end up collapsing sooner or later. And then you're going to end up falling behind, because you'll need time to properly recover."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... oh," Izuku said in a small voice, glancing back down at the ground while Ochako sighed.

"Deku, why are you even doing this?" She quietly asked, leaning over Itsuka to look at her best friend. "We're doing such a good job here anyway, why would you put more work on your shoulders?"

Izuku stayed quiet for a moment, letting the two girls lean back slightly to give him some space, and then he sighed again.

"... I'm sorry," He muttered, "it's just … with my quirk development not doing so well … I thought that putting more work into improving my body would make up for it. But … but there was … maybe something else, too."

As the girls blinked at that, Izuku looked back up at them, biting his lip slightly, 

"I'm aware that … look, I'm not an idiot. I know that I've wasted years of my life being - I've wasted years of my life by denying that I wanted to be a hero. I know that everyone else that's applying for UA, including you guys, have been practicing with your quirks since we were kids. Tokage, Kodai, Kirishima, you guys. I've - I've got a big disadvantage here." He wiped his eyes at the sudden feeling of tears, unable to stop them from escaping his eyes. "I thought that improving in one part of my training would make up for the lack of development in the other. And I - look, I know that being a hero is enough. But I don't just wanna get into UA."

The girls watched as determination filled Izuku's face, clenching his fist slightly as tears continued to flow down his cheeks. "I wanna be like All Might - I wanna be the kind of hero you're going to be, Kendou, the kind of hero you already are. Someone who - who's fearless, who's inspiring. I want people to see my fearless smile and feel safe. And I know that today, I actually managed to use my quirk, but I don't wanna just stop there. I want to keep on trying with everything I've got, until I have what it takes to become that hero. I don't just want to be a hero - I want to be a great hero."

Both girls blinked at that, seeing how determined Izuku looked at them, and glanced between each other. Honestly, Itsuka was the one feeling a bit taken aback - hearing Izuku comparing her to All Might, telling her that he wanted to be like her … it made her heart skip a beat slightly, making her look back at Izuku with a small dusting of pink on her cheeks.

Before they could say anything, though, a large hand suddenly grabbed the back of Izuku's shirt, and the boy let out a loud yelp as he was unexpectedly lifted up into the air.

"You go-getter fanboy!" All Might boomed, grinning as Izuku looked around in shock at his mentor apparently having overheard everything as Gran shook his head behind him. "That fighting spirit is one of the things I like about you, young man! That heroic enthusiasm!"

"A-All Might!" Izuku yelped, going a bit red while Itsuka and Ochako let out surprised giggles from their spots on the ground. "D-did you hear what we were -?"

"Every word! When Young Kendou asked to talk, I decided to stay behind to listen." All Might grinned, lowering Izuku slightly as he put a hand on his hip and looked up at the sky dramatically, letting Izuku look sheepish as he dangled in the air like a cat being lifted up by the scruff. "With that said, Young Midoriya, she's right - we can't exactly rush things now. Overworking yourself will have disastrous effects on you instead of improving you." Suddenly All Might lifted Izuku back up so they were face to face again. "But I understand your feelings. Now that we know that you've overcome the mental barrier, leave it to this old man to adjust your plan!"

"B-but you're not that old, All Might …"

"Ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Itsuka and Ochako also laughed from the other two's silliness and their mentor's dumb laughter, and Gran shook his head.

"The girl's right, kid," He told Izuku, the boy glancing down at the old man as he tapped his cane against Izuku's leg, "overworking yourself isn't going to make up for your lack of practice with your quirk, it'll just exhaust you faster. Now that you've gotten a handle on it, or at least now that you've stepped in the right direction, you can focus your efforts on taming it."

"Uh … right," Izuku slowly nodded, still a little confused as to who exactly this old man was (he didn't recognize the costume, anyway, and judging by his age he was pretty old school, information to look up later) but at least a little comforted that he knew what he was talking about.

As Izuku was lowered back to the ground, Itsuka grabbed the notebook from where it had fallen, glancing at him as Izuku looked relieved that he was back on solid ground.

"Midoriya," She smiled at him as he looked around at the sound of his name, "I'm going to take this independent training menu out of your journal, okay? Just to make sure you don't think I'm ripping up your notes."

"I ... yeah, okay," He nodded, letting out a small sigh and taking this chance to wipe the tears off his cheek, smiling when Ochako reached over with her handkerchief to help him out. With his go ahead, Itsuka put the journal in her lap, flipped to the independent training menu page, and, after checking to make sure she wasn't going to rip out other notes on the other side of the page, carefully took the page out of the book. Once it had been removed safely from the book, Itsuka decided to have a bit of fun, folding it into a paper airplane, and with a grin, she held it up, and offered it to Izuku.

The boy hesitated for a minute, and then chuckled as he took the paper plane from her. Glancing around, Izuku aimed carefully for a garbage can, and threw it into the air. The three and All Might watched as the page sailed in the air, thanks to the wind, and then landed in the garbage can, Ochako leaning over Itsuka again to give Izuku a high-five for the shot.

"Now then!" All Might laughed, clapping his hands together as he grinned down at his students. "I believe I've excused you three for the day already. You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here! Although I would recommend you eventually go home, Young Kendou, and have that bath I recommended. It helps with the swelling, Sensei here doesn't hold back with his kicks."

"Careful, Toshinori, or you'll be the one I kick next."

While All Might winced and moved back a bit in fear, Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku got up, chuckling a bit at their mentor's reaction. Itsuka glanced down at Gran, and sighed a bit as she bent forwards in a bow, making the older hero look up at her in a bit of surprise.

"I know it wasn't exactly a nice first meeting," She said, and looked up slightly to smile down at him, "but thank you for sparring with me today, Gran Torino."

"Good to meet you, kid," Gran nodded in acknowledgement, "I don't imagine this will be the last time we see each other, but for now, just take the rest of the day off and try to relax. I imagine Toshinori here is going to be running you into the dirt tomorrow to make up for today."

"Er … yeah, probably," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head but smiling as she looked over at Izuku and Ochako. "Now then, you two - I don't know about you, but I'm freaking hungry, and in the mood for some fast food. I think we can move our cheat day to today, so let's go."

"R-right, sounds good!"

"... Kendou, you know I'm poor."

"I'll pay for you."

"No, you don't have to -"

"I nearly killed you with a car today, Uraraka. The least I can do is buy you food."

"... if I let you buy me food, will you shut up about the car?"

"That I will, ma'am!"

As the three teenagers made their way up the stairs to the parking lot, Ochako giving Itsuka a playful shove while Izuku laughed, happier than he had been in a while, All Might smiled softly behind them as he deflated back to his weakened form, coughing a bit as Gran scratched his cheek, the old man's eyes clearly on Itsuka as they left.

"So," All Might sighed, deciding to get it out of the way, "I might as well ask. What are your thoughts on Young Kendou?"

"She's a good kid," Gran gave her, "she's tough - I kicked her ass for hours and she never stayed down for long. That said, she's clearly inexperienced, and it's clear she hasn't gotten into a fight with an opponent outside her grandfather's dojo. So she had a hard time adapting on the fly."

"You know about her dojo?"

"Nighteye did his homework," Gran explained shortly, while All Might's frown deepened, "and you do know that he does have a good point about Togata. The boy is ready now, and Kendou isn't."

"That's -"

"But I also meant what I said," He interrupted his pupil before he could defend Itsuka, "Nighteye's biased, and he's trying to influence who you give One for All to. He might be in on the secret, but at the end of the day, it isn't his choice to make. And while Kendou's inexperienced, so was Togata. Things might've been different if you met him before you met her, but Nighteye's hung up on you rejecting his chosen one."

"Mm."

"Still," Gran tapped his cane, smirking a bit knowingly, "today did highlight the main difference between Togata and Kendou for me. I think things make sense now as to why you chose her."

"Er - sorry, sir?" All Might looked around, feeling confused by what exactly that meant, "I'm a bit confused - what are you talking about?"

"The girl," Gran tapped his cane on the ground, smiling a bit gruffly, "she reminds me of her."

"H-her, sir?"

"You know who I'm talking about, Toshinori."

There was a small silence between both men, watching the three teenagers laughing together as they moved out of sight, off to go get something to eat - and then All Might sighed.

"... she does remind me of Nana," He muttered, face turning a bit softer as he looked towards the ground, "no one knows this, but the day I met Young Kendou was pretty similar to the day I met Master."

"Oh?"

"Yes. You know the story of how I met Nana - running before my body had a chance to think. Young Kendou was the same way - while I had run out of time that day, standing there in a crowd and watching a building burn while I cursed myself for my uselessness, Young Kendou couldn't stand by while an apartment filled with children burned down. Both times, I ended up running after them both," He chuckled, "I ran after Nana to ask her about the possibility of a symbol for the people to rally behind - and I ran after Young Kendou to ask her to take that spot from me."

"Hm," Gran frowned at that, glancing away - and then All Might sighed again.

"Do you think … do you think Nana would have approved of her?"

"..."

"..."

"Heh," Gran tapped his cane against the ground again, looking up at the sky and taking a deep breath, "I think that's Nighteye's greatest disadvantage here. He's trying to compare Kendou to you ... and here we are, comparing her to Nana."

All Might slowly nodded, glancing down at the ground.

"In any case ... yes. Nana would have approved of whatever choice you made, Toshinori. I believe she would've liked Kendou."

All Might stared at the ground for a minute, and then turned away. For his part, Gran merely looked away, letting his former student have a moment to compose himself - even talking about Nana decades after her death was enough to make both men nostalgic for better times. Had it not been for them finding Tenko a few years back, the both of them probably wouldn't even be able to think about her without tears coming to their eyes.

Gran knew it was a betrayal, he grimaced a bit, taking care of Tenko after Nana made him promise not to look for Kotaro. He had stood with her on that building the day she had left her son in the care of a foster family, holding her while she sobbed her heart out, and gingerly agreed to her request not to look for her son in case she died to that bastard - but he knew that she would understand that this was different. There was no way All Might or Gran could have left Tenko. No way.

She would've understood.

Finally, All Might let out a shuddered breath, and nodded, trying to smile as he looked back at his mentor.

"Thank you, sensei," He looked down on the old man, "I know that I probably should've given you more updates about Young Kendou, so I'll keep you updated on when I give her One for All - I believe I'll be giving it to her much sooner than I originally had planned, but perhaps a few more spars with you will get her ready for the entrance exam."

"Ha! I sure as hell hope you keep me updated." Gran grinned - but then the smile on his face faltered. "But speaking of One for All, there's something we gotta talk about."

"Hm?" All Might blinked, looking down and feeling confused by the stern look on the older hero's face, "What's that?"

"The Midoriya kid. And Uraraka," Gran's eyes narrowed a bit, "are you going to tell them?"

All Might sputtered, briefly shocked, before he managed to shake his head a bit. "I - well, Young Kendou and I did discuss the possibility of letting them in on -"

"Possibility? Toshinori, at this point it's less a possibility and more of an inevitability."

"Huh?"

"You've got these three working together for months," Gran raised an eyebrow as he once again tapped his cane against the ground, "and they're going to know the ins and outs of each other's quirks by the end of it. And if they do get into UA together, it's not like they'll just drift apart, even if they're in separate classes - they're going to get to see Kendou using One for All sooner or later. They're going to put two and two together, and realize that something's going on."

As All Might winced, Gran shook his head, and began moving up the stairs to the parking lot, "You can debate it with yourself all you want, but from what I saw today, neither of those two are stupid. They'll figure out something's wrong, and question her about it. So let me ask you, Toshinori, would you rather those three suffer through a schism because you didn't let them know you're giving Kendou your quirk, or cut the shit and let them in on the secret?"

All Might stayed quiet for a while, glancing down at the ground as Gran waited for an answer. After a few moments, he let out a sigh.

"... I'm aware that Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka are clever. They will figure out something's amiss if Young Kendou can suddenly punch as hard as I can." He admitted. "I … honestly, I don't want to push the burden of keeping One for All's secret onto them … but I know you're right, sir. I can't pretend that this won't be a complication that we can easily avoid by just being honest."

Clenching his fist, he nodded to himself, "When Young Kendou finishes cleaning the beach, I'll bring in Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka on the secret of One for All. For their hard work and support of her, I owe them at least that."


Well, today was an absolute disaster.

With a weary sigh, Nighteye sat down in his office chair, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. He had just gotten back to the office after a long drive, walking past Bubble Girl as she rubbed cream on the scratches she'd gotten a few days ago from hiding in the bushes, complaining to Centipeder about itches, and had made his way up into his office to sit down and take a moment to reflect. He just didn't like what he was reflecting on.

He knew he crossed the line today - charging onto that beach and shittalking Itsuka was one thing, but making her fight Gran Torino and showing no sympathy was clearly one step too far. He knew that All Might now had a good reason to be angry with him - he was letting his own emotions cloud his judgment, making him desperate to convince the Symbol of Peace that he was making a mistake.

It was just …

Memories of what Nighteye had seen in his foresight quirk came to mind. Memories of All Might collapsed on the ground, a towering villain in shadow sneering down at him as he died a gruesome death. Foresight had never been wrong before … and now All Might was running out of time.

A new threat will rise soon, and All Might would be defenseless. Giving One for All to Mirio made sense, it did! But All Might insisted that it would be handed to Itsuka. He was -

His thoughts, however, were interrupted by the sound of his work phone ringing in his pocket. Wrinkling his brow, Nighteye grabbed the phone and lifted it up, checking the caller ID and raising an eyebrow as he answered it.

"Detective Tsukauchi."

"Good afternoon, Sir Nighteye," Came the detective's easygoing voice, "I was hoping I'd be able to talk with you about something."

"Ah," Nighteye quirked an eyebrow, "so this isn't a cordial call. It's business."

"Well, as much as I'd like to sit down and have some coffee," Naomasa chuckled a bit darkly, "I'm afraid what I'm calling about needs to be addressed pretty much immediately. Perhaps I'll take you up on it some other time."

"Hm. Well, perhaps another time. So? Did you call for advice?" Nighteye leaned back in his seat, "Or is this about a case?"

"A case. The underground network actually reached out to police late last night, and we came across a crime we'd like the Nighteye Agency to help investigate, as it did happen in your region."

"Oh?"

"Indeed. I take it you've heard of Trigger?"

Nighteye blinked at that name, staying still for a moment in his seat. The mere mention of that name was enough to get his undivided attention as he sat forward again, reaching to begin typing on his laptop as he held the phone between his ear and his shoulder.

"The quirk boosting drug? That Trigger?"

"The very same one. It's been on the black market for years now, ever since the start of its development by the Villain Factory. We apprehended its designers, but bootlegs and variants have been trafficked by various villains for years." Naomasa explained.

"Yes, yes … there've been several hero reports over the years detailing various versions of Trigger. None with the potency of the original, of course."

"Well," Naomasa sighed, "I'm afraid this isn't one of those cases."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah. Late last night a firefight between two rival gangs broke out in a warehouse. Police and heroes summoned to the scene got there a little too late, and we discovered that the gang occupying the warehouse was using it as a drug lab. From what we've seen … well, we haven't confirmed anything, but from what some forensics boys have told us, they managed to develop a variant of Trigger that closely resembles the original."

"Alright …"

"The bad news," Naomasa's voice was serious, "is that we believe the gang that invaded the warehouse took the Trigger that had already been developed. We only got a small amount to analyze, and confirm that it's the drug."

"And … how much was taken?"

"We're still looking into it, but we believe there was enough to fill an entire unit in the warehouse. So from what we're guessing ... they might have barrels full of the stuff."

Nighteye felt himself tense up at that thought, feeling his eyes go wide. That ... that was not good at all. One syringe full of Trigger was enough to make a subject's quirk go out of control … but someone having enough to potentially supply the entire criminal underworld ...

"Do you have any leads as to who might've taken the Trigger?"

"Maybe." Naomasa said in a grave voice, Nighteye hearing the sound of him leaning forward in his seat. "There wasn't anything to indicate who exactly attacked the drugmakers - the bodies we recovered wore the same hazmat suits, so we presume they all belonged to the gang that was attacked. But we had a look around, and there was a number written on the wall of the warehouse, beside who we presume was the leader of the gang they killed - it was written in his blood. We don't know if it's some form of calling card, or if it's a message."

"And …" Nighteye's eyes narrowed a bit, "... what was the number?"

"9."

Notes:


 

And that was Chapter 8! We got a few things addressed in this chapter - Tenko helped Izuku out with his quirk, we got a bit of ship tease for Ochako and Itsuka, Nighteye got put in his place, Gran gave some general advice, we got more ship tease - and a seeming confirmation as to the identity of our main villain. Indeed, a lot of you had good guesses, and correctly pegged Nine as the main antagonist. But whatever could he be up to with Trigger? Hm, well, we will have to trust he'll be a respectable citizen and hand it over to the proper authorities.

Also, if you guys got the reference about Hound Dog and dog aphorisms, you are people of culture who read the right fics XD it's a very subtle reference to Solidarity Among Students, Class 1-A Edition by Jetstream, and if you're a fan of chat fics, I'd recommend it. It's also where I got the name for Uraraka's dad, and I believe they got it from One for All and Eight for the Ninth by griffinguy24. Both fics very good, would recommend XD

Thank you guys for the read! I can confirm that next chapter will be our last one before the entrance exam, so I hope you guys are excited for another time skip, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 9: Last Minute Preparations

Summary:

As the final exam draws near, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka are experiencing a few insecurities that will be addressed by an unlikely source; All Might decides to reach out to an old friend for help; and the deuteragonist of this story is revealed.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Two months.

As of today, they only had two more months to get ready for the entrance exam.

Itsuka let out a small sigh as she bid goodbye to the warm water, and turned the dial of the shower all the way down, immediately beginning to shiver in the cool air. There was a part of her that thought her grandpa decided to spite them and turned off the heat inside the changing rooms so it was just as cold as it was outside, but she knew her grandpa wasn't that evil. With that said, he was still evil, she sighed as she stretched a bit and winced at the nasty bruise on her hip from training a half hour ago - evil, or maybe just a tad bit sadistic.

As she slowly made her way out of the shower towards the fluffy towel on the bench waiting for her, she heard Ochako continue to hum a song in the stall next to her, making her shake her head as she leaned over and knocked on the door to her friend's shower, smirking when she heard Ochako let out a surprised squeak.

"Sorry to interrupt your singing," She giggled when Ochako let out another embarrassed noise, "but we should probably get upstairs soon, so let's wrap it up, okay?"

"You, uh - you can hear me?"

"Mm-hm. What's the song, by the way? It's starting to bug me, I know that song from somewhere but I can't figure it out."

"Nothing! You shut up out there!"

Itsuka laughed at that, knowing that Ochako would probably need a few more minutes in the shower to hide and get over her embarrassment, and grabbed the towel on the bench, beginning to dry herself off and reaching for the hairdryer she had brought from the bathroom upstairs. 

Honestly, it was kind of weird to be using the shower in the downstairs dojo changing room instead of her own bathroom upstairs, but seeing as it was getting pretty close to five o'clock, their guests were going to be arriving soon, and she, Ochako and Izuku didn't exactly have time to take turns in the shower. So after their lesson today, they decided to just use the downstairs changing rooms - listening carefully, she couldn't hear the sound of another shower through the wall, so that must've meant that Izuku was already finished with his own shower.

It had been a pretty exhausting day in the dojo, Itsuka sighed as she used another towel to wrap up her hair while plugging the hairdryer into the wall. Teko, as though sensing that the three of them were close to finishing their cleanup of the beach, decided to up the intensity by having them run two hundred laps in the dojo, followed by two hundred pushups, followed by intense sparring. By the end of the lesson even Itsuka was staggering in exhaustion, having to watch Teko berate Izuku again and again if the boy even slightly fumbled in his step. She was kind of getting to the point where she was tempted to ask her grandfather what exactly his deal was with Izuku, because she had no idea why her grandfather seemed to hate him so much.

But she had to worry about that later - it was ten minutes till five o'clock, according to the time on the wall, and the rest of their guests would be there soon. Hopefully when they got upstairs she could sneak something quick to eat, the three of them had skipped lunch when getting back to her house and she was starving at the moment.

It had been eight months since they had started training together at the beach, and now they were only two months away from the entrance exam. Ever since Izuku had figured out how to use his quirk willingly (she'd say safely, but that was still a work in progress), they had dedicated their time into working harder than ever to make sure they were ready for UA - or One for All, in Itsuka's case. Months of hard work on the beach, ass-kickings in the dojo, and nights spent group studying in cafés with Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka working as a team to get ready for the exam. Thankfully, after the day Gran Torino spent his morning kicking the shit out of Itsuka, there weren't any other interruptions or major distractions; no one interrupting them on the beach, no Nighteyes hidden behind the garbage piles making discouraging comments, nothing to stop them from working as hard as they could to get ready for the end of February.

At least, until the day after Ochako's birthday, just about two days ago, when All Might had ended their session on the beach informing them regretfully that, due to a case sent to him, he would be travelling across Japan for the last two months of their training.

"It's not exactly something I can get into with you three," He explained when they had asked, "seeing as it's still an investigation, but they've asked me to come take a look at the scene of the crime to assist the police. Unfortunately, I won't be able to return until the end of February - perhaps not even until the day of the entrance exam."

With that in mind, All Might made arrangements with Gran Torino to step in as their supervisor in his place, but they could tell that their mentor was feeling pretty down about not being able to see their training through to the end due to this situation up north. Honestly, they were also sad that All Might wouldn't be there to see them finish cleaning the beach, but they understood that he had already put most of his time into their development, and he still had responsibilities as the number one hero.

Still … Itsuka couldn't help but gulp a bit in nervousness. Right at the start, it was implied that once the beach was finished, All Might was going to give her One for All. And if he wasn't going to be back in time, or he wouldn't return until around the entrance exam … that meant that she'd either be flying blind in the exam with a quirk that she didn't have any time to practice with, or she'd have to rely on her own quirk, something that she hadn't really trained with for the last few months, having dedicated all of her time into working on improving herself to receive One for All.

She … well, all else fails, she might be able to use her Big Fist in the entrance exam, but she wasn't confident in her quirk. She frowned as she paused her drying, wrapping the towel securely around her as she pulled the other towel out of her hair and turned on the hairdryer. She hadn't practised much with it, unlike Izuku and Ochako for the last few months, having all the time they needed to improve their quirks and how they used it. She hadn't even activated her quirk all that much, not counting the times she had to grow out her hand to pick Izuku off the ground, or doing as a joking intimidation kind of thing. She hadn't even used it in the dojo, meaning that she was very well practiced with all the martial arts her grandfather had taught her, but there was a difference fighting with her hands when they were as big as she was.

Right now … well, she had to trust that All Might got back in time to give her enough time to practice using One for All. Or else she would be in big trouble.

Before she could worry about that anymore than she already was, however, she heard a knock on the girls' locker room door.

"Itsuka," Her grandfather's sharp voice came from behind the door, "your mother would like you to know that dinner is almost ready. Please retrieve your father and Mr. Uraraka when you come upstairs, I have to clean up the dojo."

"Er - right, grandpa," She called to him, hearing Ochako's shower turn off behind her, "we're almost done in here, we'll grab them before we come upstairs."

At the current moment, it was New Year's Eve, and the Kendous had decided to make it an event by inviting not only the Midoriyas and Urarakas for dinner, but the Tokages and the Kodais and the Kirishimas as well (apparently after dropping Eijirou off after the slumber party in the summer, Hakushu and Eijirou’s mom had gotten to talking and became pretty fast friends). So while they had been busy in the dojo all afternoon, Inko, Miwa and Tenohira had been working in the kitchen upstairs to make an absolute feast - during their short break when she had run upstairs to get towels for everyone and her hairdryer for later, she had almost fainted at the heavenly smells coming out of the kitchen, and the only way to resist going into the kitchen to sneak some food was the mental image of her mother throwing her down the stairs if she tried.

So the upstairs floor was going to be pretty busy for the next few hours for their New Years celebration, until everyone but Izuku and Ochako went home - they figured that since they were going to be in the same place until late another time, they could do a repeat of the summer sleepover and go to the beach together in the morning. Thankfully All Might had given them permission to come a bit later than what they were used to due to knowing that they were going to be staying up a bit later than usual.

As the door to the stall behind her creaked open, Itsuka looked around to see Ochako wrapping a towel around her, shivering a bit as she shook some water from her hair.

"Do you think it's possible I can persuade my mom to let me stay in the shower for the rest of the night?" She grumbled as she tried to dry herself off, waltzing over to the pair of clothes her mom had brought downstairs for her earlier, "World is cold and unforgiving, shower is nice and warm."

"Maybe you could," Itsuka chuckled as she turned off the the hairdryer, glancing into the mirror and snorting at her frizzy hair, and reached over to grab her own clothes as well as her hairbrush, "but there's no food in the shower for you to eat, and I'm not going to help you out with that. I'll be too busy stuffing my own face."

"Phooey," Ochako pouted good-naturally, grabbing her sweater and unfolding it, "I could always get Deku to help, you know he wouldn't leave me hungry like you would."

"Uh … would he?" She looked around at her friend, smirking a bit, "I think that would require Midoriya going into a girls' changing room, and I don't think that's a challenge our boy's going to be able to overcome."

"... yeah," Ochako sighed, shaking her head as she brought her sweater over her head, "you're right, but I don't have to be happy about it."

"Well, anyway," Itsuka chortled, grabbing her dress and bringing it over her head, her voice becoming slightly muffled, "back up a bit - what was the song you were singing?"

"Oh, god, please, Kendou …"

"Da da da, da da da, da da da, da da da da da dada," She hummed, trying to think as she tried to match Ochako's singing from before and giggling when her friend headbutted the nearby wall in her embarrassment, "I know the song from somewhere, but I'm just not sure from where. Is it … uh …"

"Kendou, I will pay you to shut up," She pleaded.

"Empty promises! I know you have no money to pay me off."

Ochako giggled at that, flipping Itsuka off over her shoulder as they got changed into their 'having people over' clothing - Itsuka a dress and leggings with a dark cardigan, and Ochako in a skirt and sweater.

"So," Itsuka stretched a bit again, wincing and rubbing the bruise on her hip, "I don't think I asked you this when I was over at your place a few days ago, but has anyone in school been giving you shit lately? Y'know, before the winter break."

"Well ... not really," Ochako shrugged, zipping her sweater up, "I mean - they do shit-talk me whenever Deku or me go down the hall, but it's the usual stuff about me not being able to afford makeup and shit like that, and being Deku's villain sidekick. I learned to tune that stuff out years ago."

"Hm," Itsuka frowned, narrowing her eyes somewhat, "you need me to swing by and throw them across Shizuoka?"

Ochako giggled. "Is that a serious question, or a jokey one?"

"I'm currently fifty-fifty. Depends."

"Well, it's okay," She sighed as she looked around at her friend, seeing Itsuka zip up the back of her dress carefully, "like I said, I just tune them out, they're not exactly smart enough to come up with new material. Besides, if anyone's going to be kicking their asses, it's gonna be me."

"You sure? I'm pretty sure I can take them. Few hundred students vs me, I'd whoop ass."

"No," Ochako giggled, waving her hand, "you're good, but I don't think you can take on hundreds of people coming at you at the same time."

"Oh, come on, I think I'd be fine. I'll just use Big Fist to throw people away. Bakugou, though, I'm slamming him into the dirt."

"I'd love to see it!"

"Well, if what you said about him getting into UA being an inevitability, you will," Itsuka smirked as she slipped her cardigan over her shoulders, "once we're all at UA. I know what you said about him getting in pretty easily because of his quirk, so I'll bid my time and settle for beating his ass in front of hundreds of heroes at the sports festival. I'll be sure to grind his face into the ground while I'm at it."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, her smile suddenly faltering, "uh … yeah."

Itsuka felt herself blink at that, and looked around - that didn't really come off as enthusiastic. It actually kinda came out like … uncertainty? She looked over to see Ochako hunching over slightly, still staring at the wall as she slowly finished zipping up her sweater.

"Uh … Uraraka?"

"Hm?"

"What's up?" She tilted her head, finishing putting on her cardigan as she turned properly around. "That didn't sound too enthusiastic."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked a bit, as though realizing what she had said, and then let out a weak laugh as she waved her hand in the air and looked around at her friend. "O-oh, it's - it's nothing."

From the unimpressed look on Itsuka's face, however, it was clear that she hadn't bought that in the slightest. Letting her fake smile fall, Ochako let out a small sigh, and raised her hands to gingerly tie it up into a bun as she looked away.

"It's just …" She hesitated, and then slumped her shoulders a bit, "... I'm just kind of nervous."

"Nervous? About what?"

"UA," She admitted, "the - y'know, the entrance exam. It's just - I don't know, it's two months away now, and I'm really - I'm just anxious that I'm gonna mess up the moment we step over the start line."

"Uraraka …"

"I just - I'm not like you or Deku," She muttered, "my quirk's good for floating things, sure, but I'm not fast, I'm not strong, I'm not anything like that. You guys train to get muscles and that kind of thing, and I'm over here just floating stuff. I'm not cool like you guys are, and -"

"Hey," Itsuka suddenly interrupted that train of thought in a sharp voice, raising her hand as though to psychically stop Ochako's words, "none of that. You've been working just as hard as me and Midoriya, and you're freaking awesome. All three of us are gonna get into UA, and once we're there, we'll get to humiliate Bakugou together."

"I don't know, Kendou …"

"I know," She insisted, moving across the locker room and giving Ochako a hug from behind. Thankfully, after months of knowing each other, Ochako didn't show any discomfort in being hugged by her friend, merely leaning back a bit and patting Itsuka's arm. "I've had months to see how freaking badass you are, and I know that you're going to ace the shit out of the exam."

"I …" Ochako paused for a moment, glancing away - and Itsuka felt herself smirk as she poked her stomach, making Ochako squeak and look down.

"What the - what're you doing?"

"Feeling the abs," Itsuka chortled, smirking as Ochako hopped back in shock and a bit of embarrassment, "and they're rock hard! C'mon, Uraraka, I know our training regiment isn't the same, but you're still strong!"

"Oh, no, I'm not -"

Feeling even more teasing, Itsuka moved forward and gave a light punch to Ochako's stomach, making her fume a bit.

"C'mon, don't tell me you felt that."

"Of course I felt it, you punched me!" Ochako complained, and retaliated by lightly punching Itsuka's stomach right back. As the martial artist wheezed with laughter and a bit of pain, Ochako finally giggled and started landing light punches to Itsuka's arms and chest, which then prompted a small mock fight between the girls that eventually devolved into giggles as they gave each other another hug.

"Okay, okay," Itsuka tried to control her laughter while Ochako squeezed her waist tightly as payback for the punches, making her eyes bulge slightly, "but you get what I'm saying, right? Just because our regiments are exactly the same, it doesn't mean that you and I aren't still at the same level. You've kicked my ass right in this dojo for months, and I imagine that once we get into UA we're going to get to pound on each other a bit more. I get that you're anxious, and so am I. So is Midoriya. But I believe that we're getting into UA."

"... I guess," She sighed as she rested her chin on Itsuka's shoulder.

"No, no guessing," Itsuka moved back slightly to poke her cheek, "I know. You're going to ace the exam, all three of us are going to UA, and you'll flip off your entire class on your last day of middle school on the way out. I'll have Midoriya record it so I can watch it every time I have a bad day, so I'll feel better."

Despite herself, Ochako snorted a bit, shaking her head. "Okay, let's not go too far, I'm probably not gonna -"

Before she could finish that sentence, though, they suddenly became aware of the sound of the door to the boy's locker room opening, and then the sound of feet moving away from their locker room. Blinking, Itsuka and Ochako looked around in confusion - was someone standing outside the whole time? - but before they could investigate there was a small knock on the door.

"H-hey guys?" Izuku's voice came muffled from behind the door, "I've, uh - is everything going okay in there? I thought I heard you guys punching each other."

"Everything's good!" Itsuka called to him, smiling as she unwrapped her other arm from around Ochako and taking a step back. "Just got distracted by girl talk. We'll be out in a sec."

"... girl talk involves punching each other?"

"Yep, Deku!" Ochako called out with a giggle. "Emotional girl talk punctuated with a fist fight. We're just about done, so just a second!"

"Uh … okay."

The two girls exchanged another smile and giggle as they got back to getting ready, Itsuka checking her hair in the mirror and shaking her head at how frizzy it still was, and quietly accepting that she put enough effort into it, and Ochako finishing putting her own hair up in a neat bun. Soon enough, they were ready, and walked together outside the girls' locker room and back into the dojo.

Standing near the wall was Izuku, dressed up in his white dress-shirt and jeans, and checking his phone, pinching his lower lip as he read something at high speed - probably some hero development he'd missed during his time in the shower.

"Hey, Midoriya," Itsuka asked as she walked over, "did you see anything odd when you came out of the dressing room? We thought we heard something."

"Hm?" Izuku blinked, looking around as he got a look at them, his eyes trailing from Ochako over to Itsuka as he spoke. "Well, uh … I actually did see yoooooour …"

Both girls felt their brows furrow when Izuku's eyes had trailed over to Itsuka - or more specifically, the top of her head - and his voice faltered, eyes widening slightly and his mouth dropping, whatever he was about to say apparently lost.

"Uh … Midoriya?" Itsuka asked, feeling a tad bit awkward by his staring and weird silence. "You okay? What is it?"

"Your - your hair is down."

Blinking, Itsuka raised a hand to the top of her head, as though trying to confirm Izuku's statement. Indeed, instead of her usual ponytail, she had decided to just wear her hair down for the evening, the length of it falling a bit past her shoulders and down her back. Still though, she couldn't help but smirk a bit at the taken aback look on her friend's face, as though he had never seen her hair before.

"Have I seriously never had my hair down around you?" She snorted a bit, using her hand to flip some of it behind her shoulder while Izuku looked a bit embarrassed. "I mean, it's not that weird, Midoriya - believe it or not, my hair isn't permanently tied up in a ponytail."

"O-oh, no, I - I know that, just - you know -" Izuku stuttered for a moment, and then glanced away, going a bit red, "- it's a new look."

Itsuka giggled at that, while Ochako subconsciously reached up to touch her own hair tied up in a bun and frowned a little to herself, although she wasn't quite sure why.

"Well," Itsuka continued on, patting both her friends' shoulders as they started walking through the dojo to get to the door leading upstairs, looking over and seeing her grandpa putting away the broom that he'd been using to sweep, "you're right about it being a new look, Midoriya. This is actually the longest my hair's ever been, usually I keep it pretty short."

"R-really? How short is your hair usually?"

"Really short. Like - well, not like pixie-bob short hair, but never really growing below my jaw," She demonstrated by using her hand to chop at a certain spot in her hair, "I decided to try growing it out last year just to see what it would look like and - I don't know, I just find that I liked it better longer. It's a bit harder to take care of, but I like the ponytail."

"Uh … yeah," Izuku nodded while feeling a bit unsure, not really sure what to say to that as she slid the door open, and they stepped through into the hall. As Itsuka walked over to the garage door to knock on it, he looked around at Ochako, realizing that she had been a bit quiet since they had left the changing rooms. He was shocked to see a small, sad look on her face as she gingerly played with her hair.

"Uh … Occhan?"

"H-huh?" She blinked, coming out of her brief haze to look up at Izuku, seeing him tilt his head slightly as Itsuka poked her head into the garage.

"Are, uh … are you okay?" He asked. "You kinda, er, you've been kind of quiet. Is everything -?"

"O-oh, yeah, it's - everything's fine!" Ochako quickly said, laughing weakly as she waved her hands in the air. "Just - just a bit lost in my thoughts, Deku, no need to worry."

"Er … okay," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing up slightly and blinking. "O-oh, your hair's up."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded, glancing away as she subconsciously reached up to pat her brown hair tied up at the back of her head, "just … decided to wrap it up. It's still a bit wet from my shower."

"H-huh," Izuku nodded, glancing away as well, "it's, uh … yeah."

"Yeah."

Izuku and Ochako awkwardly glanced away, not really sure what they were feeling awkward about, while Itsuka turned from her spot near the door and raised her eyebrow, not exactly sure what the hell was even going on there. Thankfully for the three of them, right about then came the sound of the doorbell ringing, making them look around at the door as they heard the sound of shuffling and voices chatting.

"I think that's Set and Yui and Kirishima," Itsuka grinned, taking a moment to close the garage door after speaking to her father, and began walking over to the door, "Uraraka, can you go find Gūdo and pet him until everyone's upstairs? He gets really excited when there's a lot of people over, and I just wanna make sure he doesn't get too loud if he sees everyone coming in at once."

"Cuddle the dog?" Ochako nodded, a smile appearing on her face at the mention of her favourite animal on Earth. "I can do that."

"Pet the dog. Not cuddle the dog. I imagine there's other people who want to pet Gūdo and they won't be able to do that if you're nuzzled up to him all night."

"Too late!" Ochako immediately turned to charge up the stairs, taking them two at a time in order to find Gūdo and cuddle him to death. While Itsuka rolled her eyes and shook her head at her friend's antics, Izuku decided that it might be better for him to make sure that there was still a dog left for other people to pet, and quickly made his way up the stairs as Itsuka opened the door to let the rest of their guests in.

As he stepped through the door upstairs, the smell of food immediately hit him like a wave, making his stomach growl - he hadn't eaten anything since getting back from the beach that morning to train in the dojo, so at the moment he was starving. Making his way to the kitchen, he blinked at the sight of several bowls of various food, including rice, chicken and beef teriyaki, tempura, shrimp, sushi and Izuku could see Miwa finishing up a batch of mochi, which made Izuku wonder how Ochako didn't barrel in and eat one at once - maybe love of dog trumped love of mochi?

"Oh, Izuku!" Inko smiled at her son from her spot at the sink, helping Tenohira clean up some dishes they had used for their prep. "How was it down in the dojo today?"

"Er - it went alright," Izuku shrugged, smiling a bit as he went over and hugged his mom, which made Tenohira let out an 'aww' and Inko giggle a little bit, "Occhan totally kicked my butt in our spar today."

"That I did!" The aforementioned girl called from the living room, before presumably going back to petting Gūdo. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? Is it you? Is it you?"

"Woof!"

"It is you!"

Shaking his head a bit but smiling at his best friend's antics, Izuku moved to grab one of the bowls and plates from the counter to go put on the dining table, although both Inko and Miwa made noises to stop him.

"No, Izuku, we'll handle that!" Inko insisted, "You've had a busy day, so you can just go to the living room and relax a bit, supper's almost ready."

"O-oh, no, Mom, I can help set the table."

"Izuku, no! You've been working down in the dojo all day, so just go and lay down on the couch for a little bit, and while we get it all out on the table, we'll have Taiyo set up the kotatsu in Itsuka's room for you guys to use later."

"Seriously, Mom -" Izuku tried to insist, only for Tenohira to pull out a wet spatula from the soapy water and pointed it threateningly at him, making him gulp and automatically raise his hands in surrender. He was able to run in and fight sludge villains, but the wrath of a mom? No sirree. Thankfully, the sound of laughter from the hall came to his rescue before the three mothers worked together to force him to go relax instead of helping them set the table.

"C'mon, no need to threaten Midoriya now, hon," Hakushu entered the kitchen, grabbing a plate from the counter to bring to the dining room, "sure, he's been working all day, but you three ladies have as well. How about you leave the dishes for me and Taiyo to clean later, and you three can go relax? Once dinner starts -"

"Hey," Tenohira suddenly interrupted, making her husband stop in his tracks, "what's that in your hand, Hakushu?"

"And Taiyo," Miwa also looked down at the object in her own husband's hands, frowning, "what's that?"

Taiyo and Hakushu both gulped, glancing down at their beers in their hands, and looked nervously at both of their wives as they simultaneously crossed their arms, tapping their feet against the ground while Izuku gulped and sunk back, privately thankful that the two mothers' wrath was now directed at someone else.

"I thought we said something about not drinking until after dinner?" Tenohira glared at her husband as he froze, and Taiyo as well suddenly looked quite small as Miwa's eyes narrowed even more than they usually were.

"Er … well ..."

"Midoriya," Izuku jumped at the sound of a new voice, and looked around as Teko entered the kitchen, raising his eyebrow at the incoming slaughter as Inko also nervously backed up, "it appears that my foolish son-in-law is about to be murdered. Go into the living room while I help your mother set the table."

"I - uh - er - I don't know, sensei -"

"Midoriya," Itsuka's grandfather frowned at him, immediately making Izuku stiffen up, "go, or I will force you to do another hundred pushups before you can eat."

"R-right! Yes, sir!" Izuku quickly hurried out of the kitchen, not wanting to be murdered by the older man for daring to try and help, and not wanting to be caught in the incoming crossfire that would be Tenohira and Miwa murdering their husbands.

Once he entered the living room, he let out a small sigh of relief as he slid the door shut behind him. He looked over at Gūdo lying lazily on his back as Ochako tickled his stomach, his best friend giggling as she rubbed his furry stomach. Izuku let out a small chuckle, and walked over to kneel on the dog's over side, scratching his chin as his tail wagged happily.

"Y'know," He chuckled, "I'm honestly surprised you haven't tried to kidnap him yet."

"It's crossed my mind a few times," Ochako giggled as she relaxed against the couch, "but I'm too afraid of Kendou to try getting away with it. I'd be the first suspect she comes after, and she knows where I sleep. But maybe I can convince her to let me dog-sit sometime? Take care of Gūdo for the weekend?"

"Maybe," Izuku glanced up at her, seeing her smiling down at the fluffy boy, and grinned. "So, uh … are you feeling better?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking up at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Just, uh … downstairs, you seemed … like something was bothering you," He explained, feeling a bit embarrassed now that he was bringing it back up. "I just … I'm not sure if everything was okay."

"I …" Ochako paused, going a bit red - and then she let out a small sigh and smiled at Izuku. "... it wasn't anything, Deku. I'm serious, I just … well … I guess I have a lot on my mind right now. What with All M - I mean, Coach Yagi leaving and how we only got two months before the entrance exam."

"Oh, uh … yeah." Izuku nodded, feeling himself frown - he himself was feeling a bit intimidated by how close the exam was now. "Yeah … not a … not a lot of trash left to clean up now."

"No," She shook her head, "just a few more hills. I was talking to Kendou about it earlier this week during my birthday party - she thinks we have about a month's worth left to clear at the rate we're going. It might not even take that long if we work hard enough."

Izuku hummed at that, leaning back and absently scratching Gūdo's chin. Ochako glanced up at him, and let out a small sigh as she also adjusted herself in her spot.

"Deku," She asked carefully, "I - well, I know I'm nervous, and so is Kendou, but … but how are you feeling?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean -" She looked awkward for a moment, and then looked down as she muttered, "I mean … you know … with your quirk. Do you think - do you think it's going okay?"

Izuku blinked at that, staring at his best friend for a moment as she continued to absently scratch the dog's stomach - and then he let out a small sigh as he leaned back, sitting against the carpet and closing his eyes as he frowned, hearing Inko chatting with Teko as the two of them began moving the plates and bowls of food into the dining room.

"I … honestly don't know," He admitted, biting his lip slightly. "It - it's either or right now, Occhan."

"What do you mean?"

"I … well," He sighed again, "I don't think it's - y'know, that bad. I can use my quirk at will without any problems anymore, so I don't have to worry about - you know, not getting any points. It's just …"

"... the outpour." Ochako slowly nodded.

"Yeah. The outpour. I can summon lightning, I can blast it out, but I can't control how much I use," Izuku frowned at his hands, "it's either all of it, or none of it. And … and I know Gran Torino's going to come and help us train while All Might's away, but … but I'm honestly not sure what'll happen if the entrance exam rolls around and I still haven't figured out how to use it. I can probably take down one robot, but if using my full power hurts me too much … then I'll probably be done the moment I use my quirk."

"Did - did you try to ask All Might if you could talk to that Tenko guy again?"

"I did," He admitted glumly, "but he's also been pretty busy with his job and hero work. I just … I don't want to bother him anymore than I already have."

"Deku," Ochako softly said, leaning over Gūdo to look him in the eye, "I'm sure Tenko wouldn't think you're bothering him."

"I just - I don't know," He shook his head, hearing Teko reenter the living room as he walked from the kitchen to the dining room with plates and bowls of food, "I feel like that's all I've done over the last few months - just ask for help, not being able to figure out anything on my own. It's just - it's stupid. I can figure out other people's quirks in minutes, but the moment I try to figure out my own it's like it's this big enigma. I just …" He sighed again, opening his palm and staring at the old scars, "... I want to figure out what to do without asking for help for once."

Ochako felt her mouth thin at that, leaning forward a bit and about to try and refute that statement - she didn't see any shame in asking for help - but before she could even speak, the door to the kitchen slid open again, and both of them looked up at the sight of a shivering green-haired girl.

"Oh, thank god," Setsuna sighed in relief, shrugging her coat off to put on a nearby chair, and knelt down on the ground beside Izuku so she could bend over to lay on top of Gūdo, the dog looking up with his tongue hanging out of his mouth as her weight fell on him, "you're always so warm, Gūdo. I'm sure you'll be more than happy that I use you as a radiator. I trust you don't mind?"

"Woof!"

"I thought so."

"Don't mind the big baby," Yui stoically said as she walked into the living room as well, waving at Izuku and Ochako as she put her coat down beside Setsuna's and moved to sit down on the couch, "she's been whining for the last five minutes because our parents insisted on talking while we were all on the front porch."

"Is it that cold?" Ochako asked interestingly, looking around at the stoic girl as she leaned back in her seat. "We've been in the dojo all day, so we haven't been able to go outside at all."

"It's not as bad as she's complaining," Yui shrugged, "it's just a cold wind."

"Easy for you to say," Setsuna complained, careful not to crush the happy dog under her weight, "my stupid quirk means that I'm cold sensitive - I can't handle low temperature for very long, I feel so freaking sleepy right now."

"Is that right?" Izuku immediately whipped out his notebook, making the three girls roll their eyes as he began scribbling. "So is that a natural part of your own quirk?"

"Yeah. It's thanks to my quirk genes."

"Fascinating!"

"Yo, Mido-bro!" Eijirou came in next, laughing and squatting down next to so he could punch his shoulder. Izuku let out a small noise of surprise at the hit, but soon grinned and high-fived the other boy; it had been a little while since they had seen each other, not since November when they had gone fishing in a pond near downtown Musutafu, and he was happy to see him again.

"H-hey, Kirishima! How has your winter break been?"

"Busy!" He laughed as he sat down next to him, waving to Ochako as she bid him hello as well. "I've been doing non-stop training for the last few months, so I'm happy with taking a little break."

"Where's Kendou?" Ochako looked around, a bit confused when they didn't see their host anywhere - and then the door slid open one last time, making Izuku look around, and he and Ochako blinked in confusion when they saw Itsuka enter the room carefully - mostly due to the fact a little girl was clinging to her tightly, refusing to let go as Itsuka took careful steps towards the couch.

"Sera," Setsuna groaned as she sat up a bit, watching as Itsuka wobbled awkwardly into the room and tried not to trip over herself, "let Ken go already, she's not going to go anywhere and I'm sure she'll be happy to hang out with you without you clinging to her."

"Mm-mm," The little girl shook her head as Itsuka giggled and patted her green hair, "no."

"It's fine, Set," Itsuka grinned, managing to finally reach the couch and sit down beside Yui, "it's been a while since we've seen each other, hasn't it? I've been so busy lately, I haven't had any time to go visit my favourite dinosaur."

"We see each other at school all the time, Ken."

"Not you. Your sister."

"Ouch! But fair."

The little girl giggled at her sister being put down so brutally, and looked around at Ochako and Izuku, both middle-school students smiling at the tiny girl who looked like a miniature Setsuna, and she gave them a wide, toothy grin.

"This is my little sister, Sera," Setsuna introduced them, finally moving off of Gūdo so the dog could roll over and lay down more comfortably in Ochako's lap, the brown-haired girl happily hugging him to her, "she's a delight when she's not around me. Don't mind her, she's just never hidden that she prefers Ken over me."

"Because she's not dumb," Sera helpfully pointed out, making Itsuka huff and Izuku and Ochako smile at her adorableness, "and she doesn't wear weird makeup, and her hair doesn't turn into weird colours."

"Weird makeup?" Ochako raised an eyebrow in curiosity while Setsuna, unbeknownst to anyone, stiffened up and paled. "What does that -?"

"A-anyway!" Setsuna suddenly hopped back up, making everyone blink and look around at her as she tried to abruptly change the subject. "Now that we're here, we'd better start getting introductions out of the way. Midoriya, c'mon, I gotta introduce you to my parents."

"Uh … okay?" Izuku felt confused as Setsuna moved over to open the doors to the kitchen, the sound of several adult voices filling the room as Eijirou also looked around in confusion. "But why do I specifically have to -?"

"Mom! Dad! My secret twin brother's in here!"

"S-secret twin brother?"

"Issss that right?" An older woman's voice rang out, sounding teasing and curious, and from around the corner came a woman who was obviously Setsuna's mom. Izuku and Ochako blinked somewhat at the sight of her - she looked far more lizard-like than her daughter, with yellow sclera, green-slitted eyes, scales on her face and bare arms, and a forked tongue poking out of her mouth. Her eyes trailed over to Izuku, and her grin, which also contained a lot of sharp teeth, widened.

"Ah, yesss, there you are," She moved into the room, making Izuku gulp as she approached him and put her hands on her hips, observing him and nodding with a teasing grin, "Sssssetsuna's told ussss all about you. Yesss, I can sssee why you were calling him your brother, that hair'ssss very clossse to my own ssssshade of hair."

"Uh ... er ..." Izuku gulped, not really sure how to get himself out of this - and then another man poked his head out from around the corner, a bit scrawnier than his wife but looking just as mischievous.

"Ah! Our mysterious, missing son has finally made his appearance. Sera, this is your apparent secret brother!"

"Huh?" Sera blinked, looking around from where she had been hugging Itsuka to stare at Izuku in shock. "My brother?"

"Oh, no," Izuku whined a bit, glancing between the three smirking Tokages as he felt more than a little terrified, "there's three of them now."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded in sympathy while Eijirou patted the green-haired boy's shoulder, "yeah, they're where Set gets her stupidity from. I wanna say that you'll eventually get used to all the teasing … but I'd be lying."


All Might really wished he could've gone to the Kendou's tonight.

The moment the door to his office in Might Tower closed behind him, he let out a weary sigh as he shrunk down to his true, weakened form. Trying not to let his costume drag behind him, he walked over to his desk to take a seat in the comfortable leather chair. He'd just gotten back to his office for last minute preparations for his trip after two exhausting meetings - one with Nezu, who wanted All Might to get acquainted with the inner workings of UA before the Number One Hero was officially announced as a new teacher, and of course, the small, mouse-like principal had went on one of his long-winded tangents that ended up taking hours to get through.

At the very least, though, his meeting with Nezu had gone pleasantly enough. The other meeting with Naomasa … not so much.

Five months had passed, and no one, not the heroes or the police, were any closer to figuring out what exactly happened in the drug warehouse or where the barrels of Trigger had went. He had been quickly brought into the case by Naomasa - from what they had figured out despite their limited knowledge and the lack of witnesses, over twelve metal tuns, barrels the size of himself, had been taken from the warehouse and were now in the hands of someone they had no leads on.

A single syringe of Trigger was enough to make a quirk rampage out of control - and now this mysterious villain had enough Trigger to supply the entire criminal underworld for months.

He knew that a lot of heroes were nervous right now - Trigger, especially a batch comparable to the original creation, would be dangerous in the wrong hands, and since there hadn't been any reports of villains using the drug in the last few months, they were at a dead end. Naomasa had immediately launched a formal investigation with Officer Kaniyashiki and Detective Tanuma, two officers that had been involved in the initial Trigger outbreaks five years ago, and now they were summoning several of the Top 10 pro heroes, including himself, Hawks and Ryukyu, to Hokkaido where the initial crime had taken place, in order to try to find any other leads as to who took the trigger and what '9' was supposed to mean - since there hadn't been any other major crimes associated with other numbers in the last five months.

Which … admittedly presented a problem for All Might, since he wouldn't be able to supervise his students in their last two months leading up to the entrance exam if he was across the country. But he knew he couldn't just blow this off - it was serious, and required immediate attention. And Gran understood that, with Tenko having filled him in on the seriousness of the situation, so he readily agreed to supervise the three teenagers in his absence.

As he sat down heavily in his seat, rolling around to look outside the window at the nighttime skyline of Tokyo, All Might couldn't help but smile a bit in pride as he thought of his successor's endeavors on the beach. As he had predicted back in the summer, thanks to three people working on the beach instead of one, they would get done far earlier than he had expected. He wouldn't be surprised if Gran texted him at the end of January confirming that they had cleared off the entirety of the beach assigned to them. Over the last few months, Gran had come down to the beach a few more times to spar with Itsuka, and while she hadn't been able to defeat him at all, at least she took her losses well.

With that in mind, with Itsuka being the one moving most of the trash alongside Ochako, he knew that as of right now, she was more than ready for One for All. He knew that she was now prepared to take on the quirk without it blowing her to pieces, at least.

Speaking of Ochako, All Might let out a small laugh as he leaned back in his chair. If he were being honest, he hadn't seen her development and improvement coming at all. When they had first met when he had saved her and Izuku from the sludge villain, he knew that she had been a fiery young woman, but he couldn't help but be surprised at how hard she threw herself into improving her quirk and body. Over the last few months, she had worked on her quirk enough that she had increased her weight limit - instead of the three tons she was capable of before, she could now lift up to seven tons! And that was before she even entered UA, where she would increase it more! Not to mention the training at the Kendou dojo that she had taken a particular liking to - the one time when he had visited to watch his students spar, he had winced at how enthusiastic she was throwing Izuku around like a ragdoll, while Teko nodded in approval and Itsuka tried not to laugh too hard at the horrified look on All Might's face.

He may have inadvertently created a monster.

And last but not least, Izuku. All Might smiled a bit to himself at the thought of the young man. Tenko's advice had done him wonders - after their conversation, Izuku had figured out how to fire off a blast of lightning at will. While the first few days of practising had been pretty shaky, Izuku had worked hard to overcome the mental barrier, and soon had no problems firing off one blast of lightning every day. While it wasn't an easy task to do, due to the full power of his quirk injuring his hands every time he used it, at the very least he was doing much better than when he had started. And while he hadn't exactly taken to the training in the dojo like Itsuka and Ochako had, he showed improvement there as well.

It was just ...

All Might felt his smile fade from his face as he looked out the window, seeing the shining lights of Tokyo shine into his office. While Izuku's developments were nothing to scoff about, and he was definitely much better than he had been when he had started ... there was still one major problem they needed to address.

The output of his quirk.

Izuku knew how to fire his quirk, yes, and he knew enough about how it worked that he could enter the entrance exam and probably get good marks against the robots - but he still had a problem with controlling just how much power he released in one blast. He had no control over how much power he released - and that may present not just a problem in the exam. If Izuku got into UA, and his quirk continued to blast out at full power, they may run into the risk of getting other students hurt, and that would put a dent in Izuku's now recovering mentality. He'd just begun to get over injuring his friend and his mother, but if he ended up injuring his classmates as well, they may be sent back to square one.

It was difficult for Izuku to control how much power he blasted out, and since All Might was leaving for the last two months of his training, he might not have enough time to help Izuku find a solution before the entrance exam.

He briefly considered bringing Tenko back in to help Izuku out, but he knew that Tenko had his hands full with his own job, and there was no way he could deal with working at UA and heading out to the beach every day to help out Izuku in his absence. There was another part of him that considered sending Izuku to Nezu for a talk as well, as the principal would probably have his own ideas how to help him out - but All Might shuddered and shook his head. If Nezu got his paws on Izuku, he'd probably decide that turning Izuku into a logical, scheming monster took presidence over Izuku learning how to use his quirk. So having the principal step in would be the last resort.

No, what Izuku needed right now ... was a way to help him lessen how much power he released in a blast, to lessen the risks of him injuring himself or someone else. He needed something that would allow him to use his quirk safely. Something that would let him practice with his quirk without the risk of burning his hands every time he used it. He needed ...

... a support item.

All Might's eyes widened at that thought, sitting forward in his seat. That was it! Until Izuku figured out how to control the amount of power he put in his blasts, he needed some kind of stopper. A support item that he could figure out how to use easily. Something that ... perhaps ... a kind of support item that would let him pour electricity into it, and then fire out of. Something along those lines.

But … where exactly would he find one? All Might had no doubt that with his own fortune (something so large he didn't really bother to look at anymore, just knowing that he had it) he could find a support item that would suit Izuku's needs. But one so specific? And in so little time? Where could he -

- wait.

Wait a minute, he did know somewhere he could commission something so specific. Or more specifically, someone.

Sitting up straight as the answer came to him like a bolt out of the blue, All Might quickly rolled his chair back to his desk in order to type in his laptop, trying to look up the app that would show him the various time zones around the world, and hoping against hope that it wasn't too late to call. Thankfully, after looking up their time, he was relieved that it would be the afternoon over there, meaning that he wouldn't be bothering his old friend - he knew I-Island moved around the ocean frequently, so it was difficult to find out what time zone they were in at the moment.

One quick visit to FaceTime later, All Might dialed the number and sat back, hoping that he wasn't interrupting anything important. To his relief, it only took about two rings for his friend to pick up.

"Toshi!" David's large grin greeted him as soon as the call connected, All Might smiling as well as he waved. From what he could see, David was in his lab, the sun beginning to set in the distance behind him as he got up from his workbench. "This is a surprise! Usually you email me beforehand to let me know that you're gonna call."

"Yes, well ... forgive me if I'm interrupting anything, Dave, I just had a problem, and I figured that you were just the man for the job."

"Oh come on, Toshi, I'll never actually complain about you calling me out of the blue." David put something down on the bench as he picked up the laptop All Might was connected to, walking away from his workbench. All Might patiently waited until David put the laptop down on another desk, sitting in his own chair and scratching his goatee. "Anyway, I'm kind of flattered, Toshi - it's been years since you've reached out to me specifically for a problem. Something going on with one of your suits?"

"No, no, your suits are as great as ever," All Might chuckled, leaning back in his seat and brushing one of his bangs out of his eyes as he tugged on the loose costume he was currently wearing, "this is actually about someone else - someone I've been helping out."

At the curious look on David's face, All Might began to explain what he had been up to for the last few months. He was, of course, pretty careful telling him most of the details - he didn't want to alarm his old friend with the fact that he was making Itsuka his successor, nor giving any hints to the true nature of One for All due to All Might wanting to keep that secret close to his chest - he was still trying to figure out exactly when he was going to let Izuku and Ochako in on the secret themselves, mostly due to Gran's warning that they'll pick up on something strange with Itsuka eventually. Instead, he told a condensed version of what he was doing, helping three middle-school students get ready for the entrance exam for UA High School, and then bringing David up to speed on Izuku's predicament and the backstory on that.

By the time he was finished explaining everything, David was slowly nodding, taking off his glasses to wipe at a smudge on the lens.

"I see ..." He put his glasses back on, adjusting himself in his seat, "so you're thinking that a support item would help out this Midoriya kid?"

"Essentially," All Might nodded, "a support item that would ... well, honestly, I haven't put that much thought into it, I actually just thought of it a few minutes ago. I thought that if I could talk to you I could figure out what exactly we needed."

"Well," David raised his hand to cup his chin as he thought, "from what you've described … I think that a support item that would help him discharge the electricity in shorter bursts would be what this kid needs. Do you remember Elecplant, back when we were in college? His costume absorbs his quirk's electricity, and then releases it through his hands. And Electricka, one of the heroes over in Japan too - she has gauntlets that can convert her electricity into whips."

"Yes," All Might agreed, "I had those same thoughts as well, David. But Young Midoriya - well, his quirk isn't a typical electrical quirk."

"Oh?"

"That's right. Typically, electric-type quirks can charge electricity and emit it out of their entire body." He explained. "But his quirk isn't like that - I've had him practice it for months, and it's only ever emerged from his arms and hands at full power. He can't generate electricity, he can only fire out a blast of lightning from each of his hands."

"I see," David slowly nodded, biting his lip, "so the support item you're thinking of isn't a stereotypical electric support."

"Well," All Might shook his head, "I was just thinking … well, I'm not going to say that Young Midoriya will need a support item forever. Just until he learns how to use his quirk. You mentioned something about a support item that would let him charge his power and release it in shorter blasts, and … well, maybe that's the way to go about it. Do you think that's the best option right now?"

"Hm ... well, first of all, how much power is in a single bolt of lightning?"

"I'm ... admittedly not sure," He scratched his hair sheepishly, "but I figure it's about the same firepower as a regular bolt of lightning."

"In that case ..." David furrowed his brow, leaning over to type on his work computer to double check something, "... a single bolt of lightning would be ... around a billion volts."

"... ah." All Might weakly nodded, gulping a bit.

"That would take ... well, for a theoretical support item, that would take a ridiculous amount of power to contain without exploding. I don't think many of my own inventions would be able to withstand that, at least the ones I still have. I'm pretty sure this student of yours must have a body capable of summoning that amount of power without giving himself brain damage, seeing as a regular human being only has about 100 watts of electricity within them on average - pretty much enough to power a light bulb. At most, some humans have enough ability to output over 2,000 watts of power, if they were sprinting for instance - but that's just me googling, I'm no expert on electricity and biology."

Letting out a small sigh, David leaned back in his own chair, giving All Might an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry, Toshi, but right now I don't exactly have something like that. And even if I was, I'd have to start from scratch, and I don't think I'd be able to complete it by the end of this entrance exam - at least, nothing that we can safely rely on."

All Might slowly nodded, understanding that it was a long shot anyway, and opened his mouth to thank David anyway for thinking about it - when he saw David suddenly stop, his mouth briefly hanging open as a thought clearly came to him. Blinking a bit in confusion, All Might watched as David looked off to the side as though he had thought of something, which piqued All Might's attention.

"Dave? What is it?"

"Sorry, Toshi, just - I thought of something," Turning over to his other computer, David quickly typed something in and looked at the screen, blinking a bit as he read something over, and nodded to himself. Quickly, he stood up from his desk, and picked up the laptop he had been using to talk to All Might.

"I don't think I can make something from scratch that this Midoriya kid can use to help his quirk," He reiterated, giving the pro hero behind the screen a small smile, "but I just checked something Melissa had sent to my email, and I think she's been working on a project that kind of fits the description of what you need."

"Melissa?" All Might blinked, a smile forming on his face as he sat up. "She's been working on something?"

"Yeah! I'd send it to you to read, but I think it would just be easier to go and talk to her directly. She's been cooked up in her lab all day and she could use a break. I'd actually buff up if I were you, I'm sure she would love to chat with you for a bit."

"Of course!" Quickly, All Might buffed back up to his true form, smiling widely at the prospect of seeing his niece - it had been a while since they had talked directly and not through text or email, and speaking to her was worth a little strain, seeing as he was running on fumes already.

About a minute later, All Might watched as David walked through a pair of sliding doors, calling his daughter's name as the laptop was turned around. He got a good look at the slightly messy lab, going a bit pale at the amount of empty energy drink cans on the table, before the camera was finally aimed at the foot of a large mechanical device that looked almost like a generator. Once the camera was pointed at the floor, All Might had to suppress a chuckle at the sight of a pair of legs sticking out from under the machine, one foot tapping on the floor.

"Melissa?" David called to her, "Are you at a good place to take a break?"

"Uh - kinda?" A sweet voice came from under the machinery, her foot reaching over to try and drag a wrench under the device, "Why, is something going on?"

"Not much - I actually have Uncle Might on the line, he was wondering if he could speak with you."

"Huh? Uncle Might?!”

All Might's grin widened at the sudden excited gasp, and from underneath the machine slid out a young woman, face covered in dark grease and goggles wrapped securely around her eyes. Her long, wavy blonde hair was wrapped in a messy ponytail, and she was wearing a pair of overalls with an All Might t-shirt underneath. The pro hero himself leaned back in his seat with a laugh as Melissa pushed the goggles up to her forehead, reaching over to grab her glasses from the nearby desk so she could properly see.

"Uncle Might!" Melissa giggled excitedly as she leaned down beside where David was now sitting, both Shields smiling into the camera as the pro hero on the other end of the line let out a booming laugh. "Oh, gosh, it's been so long since I've actually seen you! How are you?"

"Quite well!" All Might clapped his hands together happily, and then gave the young woman a teasing grin as he wagged his finger. "I see that you've been keeping yourself quite busy, though - isn't it your winter break right now? I thought you'd be taking this chance to celebrate the new year with your friends."

"Nah," Melissa shook her head as she grabbed a clean cloth from the side, wiping at her face to get rid of some of the grease, "I've been keeping myself busy with my submission for this year's I-Expo. I'm working on a generator that can power the entire island in case of a massive blackout, one that improves on the ones we already have. I've only knocked out the power to the building twice already."

"You don't seem to be very ashamed of that, though. Ha, ha!"

"Well, I'm not foolish enough to think that I'm going to get the results I want during my first try," She shrugged sheepishly, "I just have to handle Papa yelling at me if I knock out the power before he can save his work."

David shook his head and narrowed his eyes slightly at the utter lack of guilt in his daughter's voice, but he still chuckled and decided to get back on track.

"Melissa," He explained, "Uncle Might was actually calling me about something specific, and I thought you could help him out."

"Oh? What's going on?"

"Well, right now he's training a middle-school student to take an entrance exam," David quickly brought her up to speed, "and he's having a problem with his quirk. It's an electrical type, but instead of generating power throughout his entire body, he can only release it through his hands. He can't control the output either, so he's unleashing literal bolts of lightning, which can injure himself and anyone he might hit."

"Is that right ...?" Melissa tilted her head a bit.

"From what Uncle Might was telling me, he wanted to get this student a support item that could store some of the power and unleash it in smaller blasts. Both to lessen the risks of injuries to other people and himself. I haven't been working on anything like that, but it reminded me of something you told me you were working on a few weeks ago - one of your projects."

Melissa wrinkled her brow in confusion, as though she were trying to remember what her dad was talking about - and then she blinked.

"Wait - do you mean -?"

"Yeah, the - I think you called it the gauntlet."

All Might raised his eyebrow in intrigue as Melissa quickly nodded, getting up from where she had been sitting beside her father, and moving across the lab towards her workbench.

"Yeah … yeah, hold on a second, Uncle!"

She reached her desk and began searching through her sketches and blueprints for whatever she and her dad were talking about, letting out a small 'oops' when she sent a few of the cans clanging to the floor. Just as All Might began to look around and gulped about how many empty pizza boxes were lined up against the wall, Melissa let out another small noise as she found what she was looking for, lifting up a blueprint to quickly read through it. Once she was finished, she nodded and hurried back over to her father, smiling widely.

"Uncle Might, I might have an answer for you."

"Is that right?" The pro hero sat forward, hopeful.

"I've actually been working on a new device in my spare time," Melissa explained as she sat back down next to David, both of them leaning in again, "I haven't thought up a name for it just yet, but I'm thinking of going with 'Full Gauntlet'. I've been designing it as a gift for you, Uncle Might - what I've been going for is a support item that would be strong enough to withstand three of your punches while it's wrapped around your wrist. Of course, I had considered that you really don't like using support items - this is more of a challenge for me to see if I could build a device that could keep up with you."

"Mm-hm …"

"But," She clapped her hands excitedly together, "from what you told me, this Midoriya person has problems with the output of his quirk. If I tweak the design, I can make it so instead of absorbing the shock of your full power, it can store some of the energy this person can pour out. So instead of firing off a blast with no restraint," She lifted her hand up as though to demonstrate, "I can design the Full Gauntlet to absorb the lightning, and let him discharge it safely."

"Huh ... and would you be able to create such a device? We will need it in a short amount of time."

"Hm …" Melissa leaned back, thinking, "if I put aside a few projects I've been thinking of starting, I can have it ready in about two months. Would that be okay?"

"It'd be cutting it a bit close," All Might grinned, "but that sounds perfect, Melissa. But I wouldn't want you to push all your projects to the side just to help me out."

"It's alright, Uncle Might," She smiled, "if it's to help you, I'm more than happy to put a pause on my projects. It sounds like this person really needs help figuring out his quirk, right? I can't let them down. And once I finish it, I'll have you give me his address and send the Full Gauntlet directly to him."

All Might slowly nodded, and felt himself smile. It wouldn't be perfect, of course, cutting it very close to the entrance exam - but it was better than nothing. He gave the two Shields a smile as he leaned back, nodding.

"Very well, Melissa," He grinned, "Young Midoriya is in your hands."


"Izu-nii-san," Sera asked as Izuku walked back into Itsuka's room with his plate of food, not noticing him going a bit red at the nickname, "did you bring me my juice box?"

"I, uh - I'm not actually your brother, Sera," He gulped a bit nervously, stopping at the door and hoping that he could prevent this misunderstanding from going any further than it already has, "I'm actually just …"

He faltered, however, when he saw the happy look fade from the little girl's face, replaced by a bit of hurt and tears beginning to well in her eyes. Feeling himself shake, he let out a tiny sigh, and walked over to the kotatsu everyone was seated under, and brought the grape juice box from his pocket and put it on the table next to her drawing books and crayons.

"Sorry," He muttered, "yes, here's your drink. I am your brother. Please don't cry."

"Yay!" She clapped her hands happily, immediately grabbing her drink so she could remove the straw from the plastic while Setsuna laughed.

"Yeah, sorry about that, Midoriya," She giggled from her spot on the bed - at least her top half, her waist and legs were currently relaxing under the kotatsu, "I told my parents about our hair looking pretty similar and they've been kind of obsessed with that for the last five months. On the plus side, it seems like your mom doesn't mind that you're getting adopted by us, so welcome to the family!"

"I - yeah. Hooray." Izuku slowly nodded unenthusiastically, putting his plate down on the table and sitting down. Indeed, his mom had been pretty amused by the Tokages' mock-tearful joy at finding their 'long-lost son', so he knew that tonight wasn't going to be the last time he heard this joke.

It had been just about an hour since all of the guests had arrived, and they all began their New Years' party. Very quickly, after the Tokages had teased him into a blushing, stuttering mess, Izuku had been introduced to the families of his other friends - Yui's dad, a single father who worked in real estate, ended being a little more timid than his stoic daughter but still rather polite, shaking his hand and complimenting Inko's cooking. Setsuna's parents, meanwhile, were clearly where the green-haired girl got her mischievous and teasing nature from, both of them assuring Sera that he was indeed their child as the little girl went into more and more shock, grabbing Izuku's hand and not letting go while his face burned in embarrassment. At least Eijirou's moms were pretty nice, albeit a bit loud and just as intense as their son was.

After Itsuka had rescued Gūdo from Ochako's clutches, the eighteen people had gathered around the dining table, with even Itsuka's grandfather joining them, and toasted to a new year. And right after that, Taiyo managed to escape his wife's unamused glare (Ochako predicted that it would be a couch night for him unless he got back into her good graces before they went home) to go set up the Kendous' kotatsu in Itsuka's room. It was clear that the house was more than a little filled up and the dining room didn't have enough room for everyone, so the teenagers and Sera were excused to eat their dinner in Itsuka's room, mostly so everyone wasn't too crowded.

"Oooh, I didn't know there was shrimp tempura," Setsuna looked eagerly at Izuku's plate, moving her upper body to hover over the table, "gimmie, Midoriya, I am in need."

"Set, Midoriya's just as exhausted as Uraraka and me," Itsuka groaned from where she had slumped on the table beside Sera, the little girl doodling in her book, "please let him eat in peace, you've traumatized him enough tonight."

"Fine, fine," Setsuna shook her head, settling her upper body down to lay at the back of Itsuka's bed, propping herself up on her elbows to watch everyone else sitting under the table, "I'm just being lazy, Midoriya, don't let me stop you. Enjoy your dinner."

"Wow," Eijirou blinked in surprise as Ochako continued to tell him about their hard day, moving slightly to the side to let Izuku slide his legs under the warm blankets, taking a moment to break his chopsticks in half, "that sounds … uh … pretty rough, Uraraka. You had to actually run two hundred laps?"

"Mm-hm," Ochako laid her head down on the surface of the table, "two hundred laps, and if you slow down even a little bit, Kendou-sensei would just come up behind you with a wooden stick and hit you in the back. I couldn't feel my legs by the time we were done, and then we had to do pushups. Like, two hundred of those too."

"Jeez," Eijirou winced in sympathy, "I guess I made the right call not applying to join his classes."

"Well, those aren't too bad," Itsuka looked around at him as she ate from her bowl of rice, a few pieces of food sticking to her lip and chin from how fast she had been eating, "the usual classes aren't as intense as ours, at least. We're training for UA, so my grandpa's not really giving us a break now that we're a month away."

"How is that going for you, Kirishima?" Izuku asked him as he took a bite of his own dinner, "I think you mentioned the last time we saw each other that you've managed to finally harden your entire body?"

"Hah, that's right, man!" Eijirou grinned, clenching his fist and activating his quirk, hardening up his entire arm as he flexed, "I'm good to go for the practical exam! I've heard that it's usually combat focused on robots, so I think I've got this one in the bag!"

"And what about the written part?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "You've been studying for that, right?"

She got her answer from how Eijirou noticeably winced, and Yui and Setsuna raised their eyebrows at him.

"Kirishima, you've gotta study too," Itsuka told him in a deadpanned voice, "it's cool if you ace the practical exam, but you've also gotta make sure you don't end up flunking the written exam. I got a feeling that UA's not going to enroll you only based on how well you can punch a robot in the face."

"Yeah … yeah," Eijirou slumped a bit, looking sheepish, "I get you, Kendou, I'll take some time to study too."

"Anyway," Yui looked around at Setsuna on the bed, relaxing back a little bit while playing footsies with her under the table, "speaking of UA, how is your costume development coming along?"

"Pretty good!" The green-haired girl clapped her hands together as she sat up, "I've already sent them some of my hair for them to use for the costume, they're going to start working on it Monday."

"Huh?" Izuku looked around at her, intrigued. "You're already making your costume? I thought UA covers that kind of expense after we've been enrolled."

"That's true," Setsuna's upper body floated off the bed and over the table, reaching for Yui's notebook while using her other hand to ruffle her little sister's hair, "but my costume's gotta be made of a different material for the sake of my quirk. I can split my body apart, but my clothes definitely can't. So my parents helped me get in contact with a costume company, and they agreed that, if I send them a bit of my DNA - like a few strands of my hair - they can design a costume for me that'll be lined with those fibers, and it'll split apart with me."

"Really …"

"Yeah, like - here, Yui helped design it," She flipped the notebook open to put down on the table, prompting Izuku and Ochako to look over the drawing. They leaned forward to have a look at the picture of Setsuna in a purple bodysuit, with fingerless gloves, two orange, three piece wrist-guards, and a black belt.

"All the parts are going to be encoded with my DNA so it'll split apart with me," Setsuna explained, "or else I'm gonna have to deal with the fact that I have to strip naked whenever I want to use my quirk - and I already know it's going to be a pain in the ass to get this thing on, I do not wanna know how hard it's gonna be to get it off."

Izuku gulped a bit and blushed at that specific thought, glancing away and sweating as she got a good look at his red face and giggled teasingly, while Itsuka and Ochako looked over at him with unamused gazes. Still though, he looked back down at the design and tried to calm down his embarrassment, wanting to get a bit more information about her costume.

"So, uh … so does your costume have to be skin tight for your quirk?

"Nah, it can be a thick material if I send them more of my hair," She there said hair behind her shoulder as she moved down to float her upper body beside him, grinning a bit, "I just want it to be skin tight."

"Uh … and … and why is that?"

"Because I am sexy," Setsuna smirked, "and I wanna show it."

"Hm," Yui nodded, "that you are, Setsuna. Very sexy."

While Izuku and Eijirou chuckled awkwardly while the green-haired boy's face burned bright red, Setsuna winking teasingly at him and making Ochako's frown deepen and Itsuka's eyes narrow even more, Yui took that moment to slide the notebook back to her and began flipping through the pages, eventually finding what she wanted and sliding the book back towards Izuku and Ochako. The two of them looked over and saw a new sketch being presented to them, a figure that was obviously meant to be Yui dressed in a red bodysuit with white trims, a weird looking hat with a metallic fin attached to the back of the strap, and a white skirt.

"I want to look cute," Yui explained in her usual deadpan voice, "so this is my costume.”

"Er … right," Izuku decided to ignore that first part in fear that so much blood would rush to his head tonight that he would pass out, and looked over the costume design. "I - well, I guess since your quirk is touch based just like Occhan's, you don't really need anything specific for your costume."

"Mm," She confirmed with a nod, "since my quirk is touch-based, I don't really need any support items, so I can do whatever I want with the design. And since I really like Ultraman, I decided to base my costume off my favorite anime."

"Careful, girl," Setsuna joked, "or Tsuburaya Productions is going to come after your ass and sue you to oblivion."

"It's a homage. If they're butthurt, that's their problem."

"Anyway," Itsuka shook her head at her friends' antics, sliding the notebook over from where Izuku and Ochako had been looking at and flipping through it to find the last sketch, "I also had Yui draw my own costume for me. I'm many things, but I'm definitely not an artist; best I can do is stick figures."

"Ooooh," Izuku bounced a bit, feeling excited as she opened the page she was looking for and slid it back over for him and Ochako to look at.

"Now then," She giggled, "for your viewing pleasure."

Both of them chuckling a bit, Izuku and Ochako bent over bent over to have a look at the drawing. Right away, they felt their smiles widen - it was such an 'Itsuka' design. It looked like something a martial artist would wear - a knee-length qipao, turquoise-colored with yellow highlights, and a double-breasted corset. Izuku also took note of the domino mask, wide enough to not impede her vision, and the pair of navy-blue boots. He glanced up at Itsuka and pointed at them questioningly, while she snorted and waved her hand.

"The support company I've been researching works on comfortable heeled boots for heroines," She explained, "so they'll be a lot more comfortable than they look."

"And, uh …" Izuku glanced back down at the picture, and went a bit red as he cleared his throat. "... I, uh … I don't see …"

"I'll be wearing short-shorts under the skirt, don't worry."

"Oh, thank god," He sighed in relief, while Ochako raised an eyebrow at him and looked back up at Itsuka.

"So you're doing heels too?" She asked.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded as she leaned back, "they'll be reinforced, and I know that I tend to use my fists more, but being able to land a pretty good kick's not something I'm just going to ignore. What about you, why are you putting heels in your costume? If you're floating yourself and return your gravity while you're up in the air, wouldn't that just mean -"

"- I get a broken ankle for my troubles?" Ochako finished for her, smiling a bit as she gave a pointed look at Izuku, who blushed a bit. "Deku said the same thing. I'm actually making a design that can break my falls in case I floated myself. The shoe sole is gonna be equipped with a cushion for absorbing shock, and the heel is actually just going to be a spring that's going to help soften the shock if I jump from a high distance and land on my feet."

"I mean, that makes sense," Setsuna shrugged, "plus, our costumes can't just be for practicality, they've gotta have a bit of appeal too. It's easier to get noticed if you look good instead of - y'know, like a walking and talking armory."

"Yeah. So anyway, the design for my costume is pretty much done, and we're going to submit it to the quirk registration during the month after the entrance exam. Like Deku said, if we do get in, UA will cover the design's expenses."

"Yeah …" Itsuka hummed, reaching around Ochako so she could scratch Gūdo's ears, the dog laying behind her and chewing on his squeaky toy, "... so Uraraka's got her design good and ready to go - how's yours going, Midoriya?"

"Oh, uh …" Izuku paused for a moment, scratching his cheeks sheepishly, and shrugged a bit, "... I'm … still working on it."

"That right?"

"Yeah. I've, uh … well, I've been doing a lot of research," He explained as he put down his chopsticks on the plate, feeling a bit awkward with everyone now looking over at him, "and I've found that a lot of electric-based heroes have costumes that help them generate electricity. My problem, though, is that my quirk isn't a typical electrical quirk. Typically, electric-type quirks can charge electricity and emit it out of their body, which lets the electrocute any villain they need to. But my quirk isn't like that, it tends to generate …"

Itsuka and Ochako watched as Izuku's voice went quieter and quieter and then faster and faster, and felt completely unsurprised when he began a mutter spree, reaching up to pinch his lower lip as he stared down at the table. Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou merely blinked, not really used to the odd sight as they exchanged a small glance, and watched as Itsuka reached over the table to poke Izuku's cheek, drawing his attention.

"H-huh?"

"Midoriya, we caught none of that," She giggled, "care to repeat?"

"Oh, uh - s-sorry," He blushed a bit, and shook his head. "Anyway, uh - basically, I'm having trouble with how much power I pour into my quirk when I use it. It's either all of my power, or nothing."

"Really?" Yui tilted her head, "That sounds like it could be dangerous."

"It is," Izuku nodded glumly, staring down at his hands, "every time I use my quirk it numbs the hell out of my hands, and … and I never really can use it more than once. I don't know, I … like I told Occhan earlier, I'm kind of frustrated that I can't figure out what's going on with my quirk."

"I mean … isn't that what UA's for?" Setsuna tried to comfort him. "It's not just teaching us how to be heroes, it's helping us try to understand our quirks."

"Well," He sighed, "I don't think UA can really help me out if I can't -"

"This is boring," Sera suddenly said, making the other middle-schoolers blink and look around at the little girl as she used a crayon to draw in her book, while looking over and seeing her sister's costume sketch, "can I draw in your costume, Setty?"

"No, you don't," Her older sister laughed, pulling the notebook away in case she got any ideas, "I don't think the boring government people will be okay with my hero costume being colored in crayon. But you know what, you're right, Sera, this conversation is super boring."

"Yeah," Sera nodded in agreement, "and you're not sexy, Setty. You're really ugly."

While Itsuka guffawed and Setsuna leaned over to flick her little sister's ear in annoyance, Izuku chuckled a bit as well at the little girl's bluntness, leaning back in his spot under the kotatsu - until Gūdo suddenly got up, whining as he used his paw to pat Izuku, making the boy blink and look over at the dog scratching him.

"Hm? What is it, boy?"

"Uh oh," Itsuka looked over at her dog as well, realizing what was bothering him as Gūdo turned in a circle and hurried towards the door, "I know what that means. Looks like someone's gotta use the bathroom."

"Huh?" Sera looked around, "Gūdo's gotta pee?"

"Pee and poop, maybe."

"Ew! That's gross!"

"Yep, super disgusting," Itsuka giggled, grunting as she started sliding out from under the warm table, "so if you'll all excuse me, I better go let him out so he can do his business."

"Do you want someone to come with?" Ochako offered, with Izuku also moving to get up just in case their friend needed some company, and unaware of Setsuna and Yui glancing between the two of them with raised eyebrows.

"I mean, I am just going to let my dog out so he can go to the bathroom," Itsuka pointed out with a small giggle, "but if you guys wanna get some fresh air, you can come with."

"I'll do that," Izuku nodded, moving out from under the table with his best friend to join Itsuka, "I could use some fresh air after being inside all day."

Itsuka nodded, and together, the trio moved out the door to leave the upper floor and head downstairs so they could let Gūdo outside for his small bathroom break. As the three of them moved out of sight, Eijirou watched them leave, and then cleared his throat awkwardly, looking around at the two other girls as Setsuna continued to pinch her sister's cheek while Yui patted her head.

"So, uh …" He cleared his throat again while feeling his cheeks go a bit red, glancing back at the open door, "... this is, uh … maybe a weird question, but … do you guys know what's … you know, going on with, uh …"

"Are you asking us if we know what's going on with those three?" Setsuna sighed, pouting a bit. "Because trust me, buddy - I got no fucking clue what's going on there."

"Setty! You said a bad word!"

"I did. And you're not gonna tell anyone, are you, squirt?"

"Mm-mm. For three cookies."

"Your ... sister knows how to blackmail?"

"Yes, she does. This little scoundrel. I'm so proud."

While Sera was rewarded for her blackmailing behavior, out at the front door, Itsuka looked around at the sound of the adults talking and laughing in the dining room, letting Gūdo scratch at the door for a moment - she could hear Taiyo and Hakushu laughing loudly about something while Setsuna's mom was saying something that sounded very teasing to Inko as the green-haired woman sputtered in embarrassment.

"Mom, Dad," She called to her parents as she zipped up her coat, "I'm gonna take Gūdo outside to use the bathroom. Midoriya and Uraraka are gonna come with me."

"Alright, sweetie! Just be sure to dress warm, it's chilly out."

"Sounds good!"

With that, Itsuka opened the front door to go downstairs, letting Gūdo charge ahead while the three teenagers followed him, Izuku and Ochako putting on their coats as they went. As Itsuka closed the door behind her, she let out a sigh as she followed them down the stairs, hearing Gūdo continue to whine as he tried to get outside. Sliding the door open, they all shivered in the cold air as they stepped outside, letting the dog run ahead to find a good place to do his business.

"Alright," Itsuka sighed as she slid the door shut, pulling the plastic bag from her pocket for whenever her dog was finished, "so we'll let him do his business, and once we're back inside I'll head to the closet and grab the futon for later, Uraraka."

"Awesome," Ochako nodded, shivering slightly and rubbing her hands together.

"Uh … the futon?" Izuku looked around curiously, imitating Ochako and rubbing his hands together to generate some warmth. "I thought the last time we stayed over, you guys just shared a bed?"

"Eh - well -" Ochako coughed, looking away and pretending her red cheeks were due to the cold while Itsuka likewise did the same, "- just - y'know, for - just so I don't take up much room, Deku. Y-you know how it is."

"Uh … right," Izuku slowly nodded, not really sure what that was about but deciding not to bug them about it as he took a small look around. While it was pretty cold out, there wasn't much snow on the ground anymore - it had snowed a little a few days ago on Ochako's birthday, where he, Inko, her parents, Itsuka and All Might had come to her apartment with gifts and cake (Ochako had pretty much cried when Itsuka gave her a Thirteen stuffed toy, and squeezed the life out of Izuku when he gave her an autograph from Thirteen herself, with the boy refusing to name his source but that not really mattering as Ochako was still ecstatic anyway). In any case, most of the snow had already melted, with there only being a few small hills left in the backyard with the wooden swing set and a few wooden shinais with obvious teeth marks propped up against the fence.

"So," Itsuka moved to sit down on the wooden porch, bringing her hood up to hide her face from the wind, "I never did hear your thoughts on my costume, Midoriya."

"H-huh? Your costume?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "we kinda got sidetracked with the talk about shoes, so it got dropped. So - what's your verdict?"

"Er - well - okay," He shrugged a bit awkwardly, moving to sit down beside her as Ochako also took a seat on the other side, all three of them huddled slightly together to combat the cold wind as Gūdo tried to find himself a good place to poop in pace, "so … a knee-length qipao?"

"Yeah," She nodded, leaning forward slightly, "see, I figured that with my quirk, I didn't need anything major to support me - thanks to my quirk, my arms are naturally strong enough to hold up the weight of my hands when they grow up to full size, and thanks to training on the beach I'm going to be pretty strong anyway. So yeah, no need for any kind of support items."

"Hm," Izuku slowly nodded, frowning a bit as he looked away - and then Itsuka raised an eyebrow and poked his shoulder.

"What's with the 'hm'?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked in confusion, looking around at her. "What do you mean?"

"You hummed. He hummed, right?"

"Yeah, he did," Ochako nodded in agreement, "what's up, Deku?"

"I … uh …" Izuku hesitated, glancing between the two girls as they gave him a curious look, and then he let out a small sigh as he felt his face turn red, although it probably wasn't from the cold, "... is it … is it okay to … to recommend modifications to your design?"

Itsuka blinked at that, sitting back a bit with a bit of interest, although Izuku seemed to interpret that look with something negative, as he quickly raised his hands to wave frantically in front of him.

"Y-you don't need to - to listen to me, of - of course, I just -"

"No, no, it's okay, Midoriya," Itsuka giggled, shaking her head, "if you have a thought about my costume, you can just tell me, you know? That is why I asked for your opinion."

"I - uh - well - it's just - I tried to give Occhan some advice as well," He explained sheepishly, while Ochako squeaked and went red, "and she floated me and ran out of the apartment."

"Is that right …?" Itsuka asked dryly, looking around at Ochako as she raised her hands as though to defend herself.

"He wanted me to have more padding," She tried her best to explain, "and eventually he wanted to trash the entire design and retry the design from scratch, after we'd already worked for hours on it. I had to flee and hide it while he calmed down, he was muttering a mile a minute, it was terrifying."

"Hm," Itsuka smirked, "well, unlike Miss Float-and-Run here -"

"Screw you, Kendou."

"I love you too. Anyway, Midoriya," She giggled as she looked around, letting Ochako pout and push her middle finger against Itsuka's face, although not enough to hurt as Itsuka likewise imitated her, Izuku smiling weakly at the sight of the two girls pushing their middle fingers against the sides of each other's faces, "it's a hundred percent okay for you to recommend some modifications. What did you have in mind?"

Izuku let out a small, awkward laugh, glancing down at his knees, but then he took a deep breath and adjusted himself.

"I … okay," He shook his head a bit, raising his hands to smack his cheeks and hopefully get some warmth going, "so … uh, I guess first of all … I wouldn't do heels."

"No?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, leaning back, "Why not?"

"Just because of - well, I'm - I'm not saying that the boots don't look nice, and I understand what you're going for," He clarified, "it's just - you really rely on combat, you know? It's just, those boots don't seem very - I mean - it looks like they could fly off if you kick hard enough."

"Hm … okay. So what do you think I should do about that?"

"Maybe, uh … maybe getting something sturdier? With laces."

"Laces. Like work boots?"

"K-kinda. Maybe not something as hard on your ankles, but - yeah."

"Okay," She slowly nodded, biting the corner of her lip, "okay, I'll keep that in mind, sure. Anything else, or are you just insulting my taste in shoes?"

"I'm not trying to - ugh, anyway," Izuku shook his head, not taking the bait as Ochako leaned back and enjoyed the show, "I'd - I'd also add in some elbow and knee pads."

"... okay, shit, why didn't I think of that?" Itsuka realized, raising a hand to smack against her forehead, "Okay, yes, elbow and knee pads, those definitely."

"And … uh, well, this is just me," He gulped a bit, blushing, "but maybe you could make the qipao just a bit longer, to reach your knees? And I'd also put in some more support for your stomach and chest, maybe some kind of protection? Like a kevlar vest?"

"Okay, okay …"

"I'd - well, I would advise keeping the general design of the qipao and the mask. And maybe … well, did you think of adding gloves? Or - well, I should probably ask if you even can wear gloves with your quirk."

"I mean, not really," She shrugged, "I think the best I would do is break the glove, and … well, I'd rather not do that. But I guess if I can get the same kind of material that Mt. Lady uses for her costume …"

"Y-yes!" Izuku nodded quickly, smiling. "Some protection for your knuckles and hands."

"Okay, okay … anything else?"

"Uh … no, I - I think that's everything,' He shook his head, suddenly feeling self-conscious as he leaned back, "I just - sorry, I - I know I pretty much tore your costume design apart -"

"Midoriya," Itsuka tapped his forehead, smiling sweetly, "I told you it's fine. You've actually given me a lot to think about. And … honestly, it's nice that you're looking out for me."

"I … are you sure?"

"A hundred percent," Itsuka smiled sweetly at him, "thank you."

Izuku tried his best to smile at that, while Itsuka continued to give him her sweeter smile. For a moment they stared at each other, temporarily forgetting the cold - 

- and then Ochako sneezed, causing both of them to jump briefly and surprise and look around at her as she squeaked and went bright red.

"I - uh - oh man, sorry, guys, I -" She stuttered, going bright red and shakingly raising her hands to her face. Both Itsuka and Izuku let out small noises of surprise as she began floating off the porch, groaning in embarrassment, and Izuku quickly reached up to grab her foot before she floated off into the sky in her humiliation, but before any of them could say anything, the door behind them slid open again, causing the trio to look around.

"Ah, you're all still out here," Teko nodded as he stepped out into the cold, looking around the backyard, "I would've thought the dog had already done his business."

"Er -" Itsuka blinked, realizing that they hadn't been looking at Gūdo for a few minutes, and looked around for her dog - and thankfully, she spotted him just as he finished awkwardly bending over, barking at Itsuka excitedly as she let out a small gasp.

"Ah, Gūdo, did you take a dump?" She asked in a sing-song voice as she hopped up from her spot and hurried over to clean up after him. "Yes, you did, yes you did, you gross doggy!"

As Itsuka cooed over her dog, her grandfather sighed as he walked down the porch, standing near one pillar and looking up into the sky as Izuku helped Ochako back to earth, seeing her press her fingers together to stop floating herself. As she settled back onto the porch, Izuku let out a small sigh of relief and sat back - unaware of the small look on Ochako's face, glancing between him and Itsuka with a small frown, although even she didn't know what exactly she was frowning about. 

It was a similar feeling to what she felt back in the dojo a few hours ago, when Izuku had complimented Itsuka's hair. It kind of felt like there was lead in her stomach - but what was this feeling? Why did she feel this way, like she was … what was this feeling?

However, before she could dwell on that a bit more, their sensei let out a small sigh, leaning against the pillar.

"So," He crossed his arms, "you both are nearing the end of your training."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking around in a bit of surprise at the older man. "Oh, uh - y-yeah. The entrance exam is in two months."

"Hm," He nodded, "and are you prepared?"

"Uh -" Izuku hesitated, and then let out a small sigh and leaned down, "- we - we think so, anyway."

"You think so? Or you know so?"

Both teenagers blinked at that, looking up at the older man as he turned his stare from the sky to them with a hardened expression.

"At this point, neither of you should be hesitating," He pointed out, "you have been training here and on the beach for eight months now, you should now be confident in your abilities. Or else I will feel that I have done nothing but waste my time and effort."

"I - er -" Ochako stuttered, while Teko fixed her with a look.

"Uraraka," He addressed her, "I overheard what you told Itsuka in the changing room today. About not being confident in yourself regarding the coming examination."

"Erk! You - you heard that?" Ochako blushed, while Itsuka, who had been heading onto the porch to throw the plastic bag in the trash can, looked surprised and looked around at her grandfather.

"Indeed. From what I overheard, you're anxious that you will fail before you even step over the finish line. You are comparing yourself to Itsuka and Midoriya here, and believing that you're inadequate."

Ochako bit her lip and stared down at her lap, while Izuku looked around at her in shock and concern.

"Do you believe that?"

"I …" Ochako hesitated, and then gave a small nod.

"Well then, put those foolish thoughts aside," Teko scoffed, "in fact, abandon them outright. You are more than capable of getting into UA. I would stake my reputation on that. I have trained you personally for the last eight months - I would tell you that I believe you would trip over yourself at the starting line. Be confident in yourself, Uraraka. You've come a long way, and you should be proud of your accomplishments. Take pride."

Ochako didn't answer that, continuing to stare at her knees while Teko turned his gaze to Izuku.

"Midoriya," He said directly to him, "I overheard what you were talking about in the living room as I was getting supper to the table. You're concerned about your quirk."

"I -" Izuku hesitated for a moment, taken aback, but then his shoulders sagged and he nodded. "Y-yes, sir."

"Mm. Concerned about how much power you're using," Teko slowly nodded, looking back up at the sky, "And you do not wish to impede on anyone else? That is what I heard. You do not wish to ask for anymore help, and to accomplish this on your own."

"Yes, sir"

"Hm. Do not be foolish."

"H-huh?" Izuku looked up, seeing Teko narrow his eyes somewhat.

"There is nothing shameful in asking for help," He made clear, "and I would consider you a fool if you believe so. The entire point of you learning under me is that I teach you more than just how to fight. I wish to teach you determination, discipline. There is nothing wrong with wanting to stand on your own, but even I admit that I need help sometimes - although you did not hear that from me. What I am getting at, you two, is that your fears are unfounded. Uraraka, you simply need to believe in yourself and your accomplishments, and Midoriya, do not be afraid of a hand extending to you. I believe both of you will succeed."

"But - are you sure?" Ochako said in a small voice. "We just - we've taken so much of your and - and Coach Yagi's time, we don't - we don't want to let either of you down.."

"Do not," Teko shook his head, "and do not believe you're taking advantage of us, either. You three have worked hard to get into UA on your own merit. Just because you had myself and Yagi assisting you, that doesn't mean that you should think that you're taking advantage of something. You three will get into UA not because we helped you, but because of your own accomplishments and improvements."

Izuku and Ochako blinked at that, taken aback by how much praise he was putting on them - maybe he was frustrated by how low their self-esteem was - and glanced over at Itsuka, who had been quiet for the last few minutes, to see if she had any reaction to this - 

- but then they felt themselves falter at the look on her face.

For some reason, she looked even more shocked than they were at what her grandfather said, her mouth dropping open slightly - and then it zipped closed, and her expression fell. Izuku and Ochako felt concerned when she glanced down to the ground, her lips thinning into a small frown, and they were about to ask if she was alright, but before they could do that, Teko sighed and stood up properly.

"In any case," He nodded, "it's cold. Come in soon. I will not accept you three becoming sick as an excuse to skip out on your training in this dojo. Gūdo, come."

"Woof!"

With that, the older man turned on his heel and made his way back into the house, followed by the happy, tail wagging dog as Teko opened the door and held it open for Gūdo to skip inside, and shut it behind the both of them, leaving them out in the cold air. Once silence fell on the porch again, Izuku and Ochako looked back as Itsuka slowly closed the garbage can outside the house, not looking at either of them.

"Our own accomplishments and merit." She muttered to herself.

"Uh … Kendou?" Ochako tilted her head a bit as she called for her friend softly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," She said in a quiet voice, looking around at them with a small, somewhat fake looking smile, "yeah, I'm - I'm fine, guys. Just … something my grandpa said kind of … yeah. I'm … there's something I'll have to ask All Might tomorrow before he leaves for his trip."

"Uh … right."

For a while, they were quiet again, until Itsuka let out another sigh.

"... so guys."

"Y-yeah?" Izuku looked around at her as she slowly walked back to her, sitting back down beside him and staring up at the sky. "What's up?"

"You know how we … we only have a few hills left to clean up on the beach?" She asked in that quiet voice, leaning back slightly as she studied the stars twinkling in the sky. "A few more weeks worth, I think All Might said yesterday."

"Er … yeah. What - what about it?"

"Wanna say fuck it and clean it all tomorrow?"

That made both Ochako and Izuku sputter in shock, looking around at her in surprise as Itsuka gently smiled to herself.

"There's not much left," She pointed out, "and we know All Might's letting us arrive later than when we usually would. But he never said anything about us arriving earlier than we usually do. Like … we can wait for everyone to leave, go to bed, and then leave at two in the morning instead of four."

"I - uh -" Ochako glanced around, and then back at her friend, "- isn't it - isn't it a lot to clean up?"

"It is." Itsuka gave her.

"And - and won't All Might be upset if we go over his head?" Izuku gulped nervously.

"He might," Itsuka nodded, still staring up at the sky.

"And … and you still want to do it?"

"Yeah," She grinned a bit, "yeah, I do. After all," She turned to look at the both of them at last, "Plus Ultra, right?”

She stayed quiet for a moment as she gauged their reactions. For a moment, Izuku and Ochako looked conflicted, glancing between each other and then back to her. And then she saw the corner of their lips begin to quirk up. She watched with her gentle smile turning more and more confident as they slowly nodded, beginning to grin as they looked between each other and then their training partner again.

"Okay," Izuku grinned, raising a fist for her to bump, "Plus Ultra."

"Plus Ultra!" Ochako cheered.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, tapping her fist against Izuku's and then Ochako's, "Plus Ultra."


"Whoa, whoa, whoa ... seriously?!"

At six o'clock the next day, All Might had woken up a bit earlier to travel from Tokyo to Musutafu, wanting to drive there for his last day before he had to go on his trip. He wanted to get there an hour before his students arrived, so he could go around and look at what they still had to do before the entrance exam. He'd even stopped by to buy his students breakfast, wanting to surprise them. With the entrance exam scheduled in two months, All Might had spent the entire drive back to the city coming up with plans on how they can use the rest of their time to clear off the beach, and giving his students enough time to recover before the exam.

What he hadn't expected to find, however, was a gigantic mountain of garbage in the parking lot, with Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako sitting on top of a car placed at the top and smiling smugly down at him (or at least Itsuka and Ochako were - Izuku was unable to fight down hie excited grin). They were all sweaty, dirty, tired and panting … but they grinned proudly down at what they had done, sitting comfortably on top of the mountain.

It didn't take long for All Might to put two and two together, his eyes widening, and running over to the stairs, the sun peaking out in the distance, and feeling his jaw drop at the sight of an entire beach completely and utterly cleaned off.

Feeling himself begin to shake, All Might took a shocked step backwards, eyes sweeping from one side of the beach to the other as though attempting to find any garbage that his students might have missed, and finding absolutely nothing.

"They - they even cleaned up outside of where I told them to!" All Might muttered to himself, his eyes wide and his entire body trembling from the shock. "Not a speck of dust left over ... two months before we were supposed to be done! Not a can, a bottle, not even a speck of dust left! Oh my ... oh my ... GOODNESS!"

As he unconsciously swelled up to his full size, his excited yell echoing throughout the beach, Itsuka and Ochako laughed giddily, high-fiving each other. Izuku himself bounced a bit in excitement as All Might wheeled around in his true form, his smile as wide as theirs as he put his hands on his hips and looked up at them.

"You three have been sneaking around, have you?" He teased, wagging a finger at them - although it wasn't hard to see how excited he was at the moment. "I thought you were going to have to work on this for the next month or so, and yet you've surprised me!"

"Well," Itsuka clapped her hands together, glancing away with a smirk, "we thought that if we put in a few hours of hard work this morning, we'd be able to get a little ahead of the curve. So? How's the beach look?"

"Pretty good, I'd say," All Might laughed proudly, gesturing with his hand for the three teenagers to climb down and talk to him. "This is … you three have gone beyond! My only regret was not being here to see your faces when you finished up! What a beautiful sight to be greeted by the moment the new year began."

As the trio hopped carefully down the trash mountain, wiping their foreheads as they managed to get back to solid ground, All Might approached them and put his hands on both Itsuka and Ochako's shoulders, with Izuku standing between them, and gave them a proud smile.

"Good work."

Truth be told, Izuku wasn't the only one who teared up at their mentor's praise. Itsuka had to pointedly glance away while wiping her eyes, and Ochako quickly looked down to the ground to hide her grin as the pro hero took a step back.

"Ah, what's this?" He teased. "I thought Young Midoriya was the only one around here with leaky eyes."

"I'm sleep-deprived," Itsuka weakly said, her voice a bit choked up, "I've been up since one in the morning. You see nothing."

"Ah, but I see everything! You surprised me, you entertainers! Teenagers sure are amazing!" He laughed again, and then reached into his pocket, taking his phone between his thumb and index finger and pulling it out. "Now then, take a look at this!"

The three teenagers glanced up as he flipped the phone around, showing them the photos he had searched for. The first one they saw was Izuku laying on the ground, scrawny and exhausted. A flick of the pro hero's finger later and the next picture was Itsuka, hunched over with her hands on her knees, and then the third photo was of Ochako, bent over a trashcan and puking up her guts while Izuku held back her hair.

"These are …" Izuku realized, while Ochako blushed a bit in embarrassment.

"These pictures," All Might explained, "were taken of each of you nine months ago, when we got started. When we started clearing away this beach, I think we can all agree that you three had a pretty rough start - even you, Young Kendou. But now look at you!"

He threw his hand down, making Izuku blink and look down as well - only to inhale sharply when he realized that All Might was gesturing to Itsuka's stomach, exposed thanks to her having her sweatshirt open and showing off her muscular stomach with her crop top, and then All Might gestured over to Ochako, making Izuku look around and see his best friend's now toned arms. Gulping, Izuku returned his gaze to the ground, feeling weirdly hot around the collar.

"Take pride in yourselves," All Might grinned. "You've not only done this city a great service by clearing the beach, you've worked hard, trained even harder, and now I fully believe you three are ready for the entrance exam! But let's not lower our guard just yet! The entrance exam is in two months, and that's not a lot of time, despite what we may believe. You still have the written exam to study for, and trust me when I say this, it's far from easy! As well, while our training on the beach has concluded, you still have the dojo to train in to keep your skills sharp!"

When the three teenagers nodded in confirmation, All Might chuckled and put his hands on his hips again. "But with that said, I believe the time has come for us to unwind a bit. You three need to recover from the intense training I've had you under for almost a year now, and with our new free time, you three have every opportunity to study for the exam."

With that out of the way, All Might then turned to Izuku. "Now then - for another development! Young Midoriya, I believe it'll be smart for you to continue frequenting this beach to fire off a blast of lightning. Gran is still available to come and monitor you. I know that you've had your concerns that you aren't able to control the output of your power - but I believe I've come across a temporary solution."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking up at the pro hero in surprise. "You did?"

"Indeed! I was brainstorming last night, and I think I came across the answer. I believe that a support item that can help you release the electricity you emit in smaller blasts is the solution for now until you learn how to properly control your quirk. I've contacted an old friend of mine, and he and his daughter have agreed to help build you a support item."

"I - oh," Izuku felt himself shrink a little, going a bit red. All Might reaching out to another friend to help him made him feel embarrassed, and he was about to open his mouth to assure All Might that it was okay, that he would figure something out - but then he stopped.

"There is nothing shameful in asking for help, and I would consider you a fool if you believe so."

Teko's words echoed in his mind, causing him to hesitate - and then he let out a small sigh, and tried his best to smile.

"I - okay, All Might," He nodded, "I'll - yes, I'll take all the help I can get."

"Excellent! Keep in mind that I only contacted them just last night, and they'll need some time to build the support item. She believes that she'll have it done in time for the entrance exam - I've given her your address, so it should be delivered to you with instructions."

With that said, All Might turned slightly to Itsuka, who straightened up a bit, and then cleared his throat.

"Now then, now that we're done, I'll be more than happy to take you three out for a proper breakfast to celebrate - but first, Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka, do you mind if I talk to Young Kendou alone for a bit? There's just something we have to cover before I head off on my assignment."

Izuku and Ochako glanced between each other, and then at Itsuka, who had taken a step back and given them an encouraging nod before they both agreed and began walking over to All Might's truck - it made sense, at least, All Might wanting to specifically talk to his successor about her accomplishment. 

As soon as they were alone, All Might turned to Itsuka, who was looking expectantly up at him.

"So, uh ..." She cleared her throat, "... I did it."

"Yes, you did," All Might chuckled, reaching out to pat her shoulder, "you've completed the Aim to Pass: American Dream Plan. After all of your hard work, you've gone further beyond what I had even thought was possible, Young Kendou. I am very proud of you!" Laughing, he patted her back a bit hard, making her stumble a bit, before moving to straighten up. "Now then! It's time for your award ceremony."

Raising his hand to one of the tufts on his hair, he pulled out a single long hair, and put his hand on his hip. "This is something I was once told: 'Something that you receive because you're lucky and something that you are given because you are recognized are different in essence.' Take that to heart. There is a difference between being lucky and deserving; one's an accident, the other, a reward. Never get the two confused. One for All is power that you earned because of your own valiant efforts."

Itsuka slowly nodded, looking at the hair he was beginning to offer her.

"Now then -"

"W-wait a second, All Might."

The pro hero felt himself falter when Itsuka took a step back, staring down at the hair with a slightly apprehensive look.

"This - this is how you give me One for All, right?" She tried to clarify, "You're - you're about to give it to me."

"Indeed," He nodded, "One for All is now yours. I know that this is a bad time to give it to you, seeing as I'm about to head across the country, but Gran Torino will be here to help coach you through using it. He'll be as good as, if not better than me to instruct you."

Itsuka stared at the hair for a moment, clearly thinking - and then took a slow, deep breath.

"Young Kendou?"

"... I don't want it."

Those four words were enough to take All Might completely off guard, his confident grin fading at once as he stared down at his successor in shock, taking a step back. Thankfully, Itsuka picked up on that reaction, and quickly waved her hands.

"I mean - I - shit, I said that wrong," She shook her head, looking a bit nervous, "what I mean, All Might, is - I don't want it yet."

"Yet?" All Might tilted his head in confusion. "Young Kendou, what do you mean?"

Itsuka gulped a bit at that question, but she still took another deep breath and tried her best to smile up at her mentor.

"Last night," She explained, "my grandpa was talking to Midoriya and Uraraka about the entrance exam. They were feeling ... y'know, a bit nervous about the exam, and he told them that ... that they'll get into UA not because you two have been helping us, but because of our own accomplishments and improvements. But I realized ... well ... that technically doesn't apply to me."

Looking down into her palm, she bit her lip. "I feel like ... taking One for All now, I'm going to have an advantage over them. They're going into the exam with their own quirk, and accomplishments, and you're going to literally give me another quirk to help me. I feel like ... taking One for All, and practicing with it for the next two months, I'm going to have an advantage over my friends - over Midoriya, over Uraraka, over Set and Yui and Kirishima and everyone there that's trying with their own power."

"Young Kendou -"

"I know that I'm being dumb," She smiled a bit in spite of herself, "but this is something I've thought of for a while, ever since Nighteye came down to this beach and told me to my face that I wasn't worthy. I don't want you to think all the effort you've put in me is for nothing, All Might, I do want One for All ... but I want to use the entrance exam as my final test."

All Might looked confused yet intrigued as she slowly nodded to herself.

"What I'm saying," Itsuka clenched her fist, looking up at All Might with a steeled gaze, "is that I want to get into UA just like Midoriya and Uraraka are, like Set and Yui and Kirishima are. I want to get in on my own merit. I want the entrance exam ... basically, I want this to be the way I prove that I've earned it."

All Might raised an eyebrow. "You mean ..."

"I want to get into UA," She clarified, "without using One for All. Just with my quirk. If I can do that ... if I can get into UA just using my own quirk ... then I think I'll be ready for One for All."

All Might studied his student for a moment, clearly unsure as to whether or not to agree to this - he fully believed that she had earned One for All, and wasn't sure why she wanted the entrance exam as her own final test for One for All - and yet, he couldn't help but smile at the determination in her gaze.

"... I don't think I'll be able to talk you into taking One for All now," He grinned, "can I?"

"Nope," She giggled, "I think you training me for eight months should let you know that I'm a lot more stubborn than you."

All Might at least agreed with that, throwing his head back and laughing as she laughed a bit at herself as well.

"Very well, Young Kendou! You've convinced me. You'll get into UA with your own quirk ... and when you get your results - which I know will be positive - then I will finally give you One for All."


Two months later, the day had come.

The sun rose in the early February morning. A sense of excitement and nervousness filled the air as the gate of UA beeped twice, and the large group of middle-school students from schools all around Japan, dressed warmly in their coats and looking around nervously, carefully walked through the gate, as though fearful it would suddenly close on them. But no, they managed to step through the gate, and walked up towards the large glass building shaped like an 'H'.

There was an air of nervousness and excitement throughout the school grounds - this was what several of the students moving up the path to the school to take the entrance exam dreamed of for years. Students nervous about writing their exams in order to enter the general course. Eccentric-looking students nervously hoping their inventions would be acceptable under the examiner's watchful eye. Pompous and important looking students striving to enter the business course and flaunt their stuff. And of course, several students hurrying towards the main door to the UA hero examination, hoping to sit down and take their written exam, before heading out on buses towards the facilities they would use for the practical exam - and that would determine if they would make the cut and get into the hero course.

Indeed, everyone was nervous, quiet and walking forward in determination …

… and wishing that the girl behind them would shut up.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! Look over there, Yuuyu, that boy's wearing a mask! Do you think it's because he's sick, or he's trying to look cool?"

"..."

"Ooh, the building's a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I wonder how many floors it has? I think it's fifteen, I just counted, but why would they need so many floors? And why are four buildings put together? I like that it looks like an 'H', but how many students are gonna be here? Why do we need so much room?"

"..."

"Plus, why do you think it has to be one big building when the campus is so big? Is it because they don't want to give up the 'H' building, or -"

"Nej," Yuuyu Haya groaned, looking back around at her friend as they strolled through the gate, trying to awkwardly avoid the pointed glares the other students were giving them, "I know you're really curious, and I love you, but you gotta keep it inside today."

"I can't!" Her best friend gushed, hopping up and down and looking around excitedly. "There's so much I want to know about everything! Look over there, a few people are getting on that bus, are we late? Maybe the practical exam comes before the written one? Or maybe they're the recommended students? That one boy has red hair and white hair, kinda like the Canadian flag! Does his quirk have something to do with syrup? Oooooh, look over there, Yuuyu! That pink girl has horns! Do you think they can come off? Or maybe they're a headband? Oh, look at that tree, I think I can see some leaves starting to bloom! Or maybe my eyes are weird. Maybe. Ooh, and that guy looks really tired! The purple haired guy! Do you think he's sleepy?"

Yuuyu cringed even more, shooting an apologetic look to the guy with stuck up purple hair giving an unamused look at the girl who wouldn't shut up, and weakly pulled her best friend along, face going even redder.

"Nej, seriously," She pleaded, "tone it down just a little bit. Everyone's gonna be gunning for you once the practical starts."

"Ooooooh, but I can't help it! This is a dream come true!" Her best friend bounced around excitedly, looking up at the sky as blue as her hair. Yuuyu let out a defeated sigh as the excitable girl ran ahead a bit, looking around at her best friend as she practically shivered with glee.

"This is going to be great!" Nejire Hadou balled one hand in an excited fist. "I can't wait to get to know everyone!"

Notes:

And that was Chapter 9, and our final chapter of the first arc! Lots has happened in this chapter - Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka having insecurities about themselves, set ups for future little character arcs. Setsuna now having an OC sister to remind her that she isn't shit whenever she steps out of line. All Might getting Izuku the Full Gauntlet from Melissa while I desperately try to make sense of what the hell I've written. Itsuka having one last interesting test before she gets One for All. And our now third biggest deviance, behind Itsuka and Ochako being introduced early and Tenko being a hero - Nejire Hadou herself being de-aged and now being a part of our core cast! I imagine that this will not impact our core relationship between Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka in any way, no sirree, no way how.

And now, as a final little snippet, I have finally found a picture that best describes Ochako's infamous Danger Pout. Behold, the one thing Izuku fears above all else:

Indeed, gaze upon her. She's adorably terrifying.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Coming up next, at very long last, the entrance exam! See you then!

Chapter 10: Starting Line

Summary:

The day has finally come, and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka have ran across the starting line to get into UA! Of course, not everything can run too smoothly, as they need to deal with bullies, homicidal robots ... and one girl that may cause a bit more trouble than others may have previously thought.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Hello, Izuku Midoriya,

I hope this letter and this package reaches you in time for the UA High School entrance exam at the end of February. My name is Melissa Shield, the daughter of an old friend of All Might's from the United States. Two months ago, All Might reached out to me in regards to commissioning a support item for you to use during the exam. I was more than happy to help out my uncle in regards to helping you control your quirk, and I have attached the completed item in this package!

I attached some schematics and more detailed explanations to this letter to kind of run through how it works, but to summarize it for you, I have designed what I refer to as a 'Full Gauntlet' for you to wear on your wrist. Since the device is made of nanomachines, you can attach the device to whichever your dominant hand is, and the support item will form on that hand. Once you've attached the bracelet I've sent with this package to your wrist during your exam, you can press the blue panel on the bracelet, and it'll transform into your support item. From the description All Might gave me, your quirk can let you charge up your arms before you fire off a blast, so I designed the Full Gauntlet to absorb the energy, and when you use your quirk, the Gauntlet will fire off the quirk. Please keep in mind, though, that it will only be for the one arm that you have the Gauntlet on; your other arm isn't protected, and will fire off a full blast if you're not careful!

Now, as one last note, and maybe as a small favor, I actually have a request! I've taken a particular interest in the development of this item over the last two months, and I would like to see if there's room for improvement. When you receive the gauntlet, if you press the blue panel twice, it can send me some feedback data so I can analyze the pros and cons of the device from my computer, and if I receive that data, I can assist you with improvements and upgrades if necessary. Plus, I can always make it look cooler if we do upgrades, so that's always a plus!

Thank you again, and break a leg with the entrance exam!

Sincerely,

Melissa Shield

 

"... I mean, it looks cool enough already!" Izuku let out a squee as he put the letter back down on the table and pickled up the small box, opening to find the device waiting for him. It looked like a red wristband with a blue cylinder in the middle, Izuku lifting it up with widened eyes as he put the box back on the table. He knew that he didn't have time to observe it, though, as he and Ochako needed to head out soon to get to the train that would get them to UA. Hastily, he quickly strapped the bracelet to his wrist, and brought his school uniform's sleeve back up to conceal it, reaching over to grab his yellow backpack on the chair beside him.

At the moment, it was currently 6:30 in the morning on the day that he and his best friend had been training for the last ten months for: Izuku and Ochako were about to leave the apartment to head towards UA, where the written exam would be taking place at 9:00. Both of them were desperately trying to conceal how nervous they actually felt, seeing as their parents were already anxious enough for them, and Izuku had almost cried in relief when he had come out from his shower to see this Melissa girl's package for him had arrived at what was literally the last minute. Of course, he did regret that he wouldn't be able to practice with it, and that he would have to test the Gauntlet out in the field, but if All Might's praise of Melissa over the phone was any indication, he could trust her not to blow off his arm.

"Alright, do ya have everythin'?" Taiyo asked Ochako as she wrapped her pink scarf around her neck, her brown coat and backpack already on, "Pens, paper, all tha' jazz?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Do you have your water bottle?" Miwa fretted around her daughter. "And your sweat suit for your exam? And your wristbands?"

"Mm-hm, Mama."

"And what abou' -"

"Mama, Daddy, we already made sure I had everything last night before I went to bed," She reminded them, giving her parents a sweet smile as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, "I'm all good and ready to go."

"Ah, still, Chipmunk," Taiyo ran a nervous hand through his hair, "you two sure I can' drive ya to UA? I don' have anythin' to do right now, it'd be okay."

"Daddy, it's way out of the way! We need to take the train at least once so we know the way and don't get lost on our first day. Deku, are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," He quickly nodded, pushing his arms through the straps of his backpack and looking around at Ochako standing at the door, "yeah, I'm - I'm ready to go whenever you are. I made sure I had everything last night too, so we can go if you're ready."

"Yeah! Let's get going."

"Alright," Inko nodded, although her voice was still worried as they put on their shoes, and she hurried over to kiss Izuku's cheek and hug Ochako, "but you just be careful, alright? Try not to get hurt."

"We won't, Mom."

"Don't worry, Mama Inko, we'll be fine."

With a few more assurances that they would be fine and declarations of love and confirmations that they would be careful, Izuku and Ochako were soon out the door, their backpacks filled with paper, pens, pencils and their sweat suits for when the practical exam finally began. Ochako had already texted Itsuka when they had woken up, and she had confirmed that she would meet the two of them at the UA gate to go into the school together - Yui was going to get a ride from her father a bit later, and Setsuna was already at the school, due to scheduling conflicts that meant the practical exam for the recommended students would take place on the same day as everyone else's. Which meant that all they had to do now was head towards the train station, board the train for UA, and meet up with Itsuka before going inside.

As the Midoriyas' door shut behind them, Izuku and Ochako took a moment to breathe in the morning air, and after twin deep breaths, began walking together down the breezeway in silence. They decided to take the stairs instead of the elevator - they were leaving early for the train, so they had a little time - and soon enough they were on the ground floor. They stepped out into the parking lot, taking a moment to pause and glance at each other - 

- and then Ochako snorted.

"Oh, god," She wheezed, bent over a little as she was suddenly overcome in nervous laughter, "I think I barely managed to keep myself together up there."

"I knooooow," Izuku groaned, looking up at the sky and suddenly feeling aware of how much he was shaking at the moment, "I think my mom could tell that I was about to pee my pants!"

"This is so nerve-wracking!" She threw her hands into the air, hopping up and down as she laughed a little crazily, "I think my heart's going to burst out of my freaking chest because of how hard it's beating!"

"W-well, we can't do anything about it now," Izuku sighed, smacking his cheeks some and trying his hardest to stop his shaking, "I've got the support item, so I - I should be fine."

"Talk about last minute!" Ochako shook her head as they started walking out of the apartment's parking lot and towards the sidewalk, but instead of their usual path to Aldera, they were headed in the opposite direction towards the train station. "If only it arrived a little bit sooner, you and I could've gone down to the beach so you could practice a bit."

"Honestly, I'm just more relieved that it arrived at all to be that bitter," He gulped, shaking back his sleeve to look at the bracelet on his right right, "From the letter Miss Shield sent me, it seems simple enough to use, but once we're on the train I can have a closer look at the schematics she sent to see if there's any last minute preparations that I need to make."

"Yeah, yeah, you should do that. And I'll … I don't know, fit in some last minute studying. Panic a little. Cry. Go puke in the bathroom."

"Uh … please don't puke, Occhan."

"Wait, so I can panic and cry but not puke? Totally unfair, Deku."

The two friends chuckled as they made their way down the sidewalk, Izuku taking a moment to pull out the letter from Melissa again to read through while Ochako pulled out her notebook, wanting a chance to read through it and mentally test herself. They made their way over to the train station, bought tickets to head towards north-ish Musutafu, and Ochako texted Itsuka to let her know they were on the way.

Once they were on the train, Izuku put away the schematics and note, and agreed to quiz Ochako to check that she had all the questions memorized and the quirk laws down to heart. He had been pretty impressed with her answering most of the questions correctly (the two she didn't get right, however, were enough to make Ochako doubt everything that happened in the last ten months and nearly sent her spiraling into a panic attack before Izuku managed to calm her down). Finally, the train pulled into the station, and Izuku and Ochako put their things away to walk the rest of the way on foot.

Once they were out of the train station and making their way down the sidewalk, they began moving up the mountain, where they could already see UA's main building shining in the early morning light, making Izuku shake a bit and Ochako gulp nervously. By the time they reached the midway point, they found a crowd of middle-school students heading in the same direction, and quickly hurried over to follow them. At last, they began walking along the familiar (to Izuku) beige walls of the UA barrier, and hurried over to the maingate, seeing a familiar girl with orange hair leaning against the wall and checking her phone.

"Hey!" Ochako called out to her, catching Itsuka's attention. Their friend looked up to see them hurrying towards her, and let out a sigh of relief as she slipped her phone back into her skirt pocket and stood up, giving her training partners a nervous grin as she adjusted the backpack on her shoulder. Izuku, meanwhile, tried not to blush too much at the sight of his friend in her seifuku - he'd never seen her wearing it before, and tried not to think to himself how good she looked in it.

"Okay," Itsuka smiled at them as they reached her, "okay, you guys are finally here, I can calm down a little now."

"Are you also having a nervous breakdown? I had mine on the train."

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe," She flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder aimlessly, "I couldn't even work on my bike last night to distract me, my hands were shaking too much. But now that you guys are here, I can try to relax a little before I go mess up everything I've been getting ready for for the last ten months."

"It'll - it'll be fine," Izuku shook his head a bit, trying to remain optimistic despite how hard his own heart was beating and how much he was shaking, "we'll - we'll be fine."

With a deep breath, Izuku smacked his cheeks again, glancing up at the tall building waiting for them, and took a brave step forward. Itsuka and Ochako likewise moved forward to flank him, imitating him and looking up at the large glass building shaped like an 'H'. With three nods, they began walking through the gate, Izuku staring forward while the girls adjusted their backpacks on their shoulders.

"Okay," He took another breath as the three of them began walking down the path, moving past the various busts of pro heroes lining edges of the sidewalk that led to the three giant doors, "this is it, this is it, this is it."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, gulping as she looked up at the large building.

"This is it, this is it, this is it."

"That it is," Ochako agreed.

"This is it, this is it, this is it."

By then the girls blinked, looking around at the boy that was in the middle of their little group. His eyes were locked on the building, but his face was eerily pale, and they could tell how obvious it was that he was shaking as he stared up at the school in a mixture of elation and terror as he muttered 'this is it, this is it, this is it' in a low, panicked voice.

"Oh great," Itsuka sighed, "we stepped one foot on the perimeter and we've already lost him."

"Honestly, we should've seen this coming," Ochako shook her head a bit, "but we do have to go inside to write the test, and he can't exactly be muttering 'this is it' the whole time."

"Agreed. You wanna grab one arm, and I'll grab the other, and we can give him a shake to snap him out of it?"

"Yeah, I think that's -"

"The fuck? You two seriously fucking showed up?"

Both Ochako and Izuku stopped in their tracks at the sound of a rough voice behind them, feeling themselves stiffen up while Izuku was snapped out of his terrified trance. Itsuka furrowed her brow a bit at the aggressiveness, and together, the three of them looked around and saw a familiar blonde boy stomping towards them, a glare leveled at Izuku and Ochako as he secured his scarf around his neck and the strap of his back over his shoulder.

"Fucking figures," Katsuki grunted, clenching his jaw slightly, "neither of you two didn't fucking listen to me. What the fuck, Deku, did you finally grow a fucking spine?"

"I - uh - h-hello, Kacchan," Izuku stammered a bit as he straightened up, gulping nervously as Ochako met his glare with one of her own and Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "I - I hope you're ready for the test! L-let's do our best!"

"Ha? You think I'm not ready?" Katsuki's face twisted into a sneer, stomping forward and shoving his way past Izuku. While Ochako caught Izuku before he stumbled to the ground, Itsuka continued to glare at him as the blonde boy huffed. "What, do you think I'm gonna fucking fail? That you two are somehow going to do better than me?"

"Bakugou, just go away," Ochako snapped at him, "we've gotta get to the exam, so we don't need you messing around and distracting us."

"Ha? I thought I told you what was gonna happen if you defied me?" He tilted his head, a sinister sneer on his face, "I guess I gotta remind you, Round Face -"

"So this is Bakugou?"

Katsuki felt his words die in his throat at the sound of a voice he didn't recognize, and looked around as Itsuka leaned her weight on one leg, crossing her arms and giving him a once over. Izuku felt himself pale in horror at what was about to happen while Ochako felt her annoyance fade into gleefulness - this was an interaction both of them knew was coming, and while Izuku felt terror, Ochako wished she had some popcorn.

"Huh? Who the fuck are you, extra?" Katsuki frowned as he also looked at Itsuka, seeing her looking at him from head to toe with a raised eyebrow.

"Wow … you know what, Uraraka, you were right," She slowly nodded, feeling herself smirk, "I thought you were slightly exaggerating things - but his small dick energy is off the charts."

Izuku squeaked. Ochako guffawed. Katsuki's eyes widened in anger.

"What the fuck did you just say to me, you fucking bitch?" He hissed, stomping right around to get in her face while her smirk widened.

"Oh? Didn't you hear me? I said that you've got a tiny dick. It's the vibe you're sending out, you walk around like you're compensating for something."

"Who the fuck do you think you're talking to?!" He demanded to know, his hands raising to show the small pops and crackles beginning to spark from his palms.

"I'm not quite sure, but I'm thinking that I'm currently talking with a, uh … well, pardon my French, but a pissy little bitch," Itsuka tilted her head, continuing to look confident as the blonde boy bared his teeth into a grimace.

"You're fucking dead."

"Am I? Are you really going to pick a fight with me here?" Itsuka shook her head. "I mean, I'm comfortable with leaving this as us shittalking each other, since that's what you're so eager to do, talking down to Midoriya and Uraraka, but if you wanna swing the first punch, go right ahead. Still, it'd be a bold move, picking a fight with another examinee in front of the school before you even took the test - I don't imagine the teachers would be too keen accept a guy who tries to blow up another student right at the front of the school, but again, if that's your strategy, I'd love to see how it plays out."

Thankfully, that comment made Katsuki falter, as though remembering where they were - students walking down the path were looking around at him and Itsuka in curiosity, raising their eyebrows some as though they were trying to recognize him. With a huff, Katsuki put down his hands, and roughly shoved his way past Itsuka, who didn't quite budge, to his frustration. As he stomped away, however, Itsuka called after him.

"Bakugou," The boy in question looked around with a glare, "in all seriousness - there's a lot I wanna say to you. But I've got a test to do right now. So, just so you know - you and I are going to be having a chat later."

Huffing, Katsuki turned back around and flipped her off behind his shoulder. Itsuka snorted at that, and looked around at Izuku and Ochako, who were staring at her in awe.

"Wow," She smirked, "you two were right - he's a little bastard. Now c'mon, let's go find our seats."

With that, she hooked her arms through Izuku and Ochako's, and began guiding them inside, a bounce in her step that hadn't been there this morning as they moved inside. Still though, she didn't notice Izuku and Ochako staring at her with sparkles in their eyes, as though thinking that what she had just done to Katsuki was the greatest thing that they had ever seen.

And unconsciously, without realizing it, also thinking that it was one of the hottest things they had ever seen.


About two hours later, the teacher at the front had called the time, and everyone put down their pens and pencils as the written test was completed. Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako flashed each other thumbs up, feeling confident in their results, and once everyone was allowed to leave, Eijirou was sure to run over to give Izuku a high-five while Yui likewise did the same with Itsuka and Ochako. Soon enough, they all headed over to a large auditorium for the practical exam orientation, chatting and whispering among themselves over the test they had just finished. From the sound of things, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were confident that they passed with flying colors, while Yui was indifferent and Eijirou wished he had taken Itsuka's advice more seriously and studied a bit harder.

Once they made it to the auditorium, the small group split up, with Itsuka, Yui and Eijirou making their way over to sit next to a girl with both pink hair and skin, who greeted Yui happily as she took her seat next to her, and Izuku and Ochako made their way to their own spots, where Katsuki was already sitting and shooting them a glare. Gulping, Izuku decided that he would take one for the team and prevent Ochako from sitting next to the guy she obviously hated, and took the seat right beside Katsuki while Ochako sat on his left. Katsuki merely huffed as he turned his glare back to the front of the auditorium as it filled up with students, his red eyes occasionally flickering to where Itsuka was chatting with Eijirou, the blonde boy giving her a look of obvious dislike that Ochako frowned at.

Soon enough, though, the doors to the auditorium closed, and darkness fell in the large room, with the whispers and quiet chatting immediately falling into silence. Dramatically, several floodlights above the stage at the front of the room flickered on, one at a time, and the gigantic screen suddenly turned on, flashing the logo of UA. Once they realized the orientation was about to begin, everyone straightened up and watched as a man with long blonde hair spiked up into a large tuff slid onto the stage, wearing a leather jacket with a large metal speaker around his neck, and posed dramatically with his back to the audience.

"For all you examinee listeners just tuning in, welcome to my show!" Whipping around, Present Mic threw out his arms dramatically, his large smile plain to see even from the back of the room as the speaker amplified his voice, letting everyone hear him as he belted out, "Everyone say 'hey'!"

He then turned his head and put his hand up to his ear, as though waiting to hear the crowd of nervous students cheer back at him - only to be greeted by nothing but complete and absolute silence.

"What a refined response," He chuckled a bit weakly, his arms shaking as he threw them up nonchalantly into the air, "I got shivers down my spine too, listeners! In that case, I'll quickly present to you all the low-down on how this exam'll go! ARE YOU READY?! YEAAAAAAAAAH!"

Once again, nothing but silence.

In his seat, Izuku bounced a bit, his hands raising to his mouth as he leaned as far forward in his seat as possible, Ochako snickering a bit at his reaction and grabbing the bottom of his shirt to prevent him from slipping off his seat. "It's the Voice Hero, Present Mic! We listen to him every week on the radio, this is incredible! The teachers at UA really are pro heroes!"

"Shut up," Katsuki growled.

"Now pay attention, listeners!" Present Mic threw out another hand, the screen behind him showing off a diagram of seven different boxes, each labeled with a different letter, "You examinees will be conducting a ten-minute mock urban battle at our replica city-districts! You can bring whatever you want with you, and after the presentation, you'll all head out to your specified battle centers that are labeled on your cards. We decided to mix you all up for some unpredictability, so your groups will be auto generated, with the classmates from your school being split up! Okay?!"

Another pointed silence fell.

"OKAY?!"

As they checked their cards, Katsuki leaned over to have a look at Izuku and Ochako's cards, his brow furrowing and his frown deepening.

"In other words," He grumbled, "they're splitting everyone up so you won't get the chance to work with your friends, huh?"

"Friends?" Ochako raised an eyebrow skeptically, "You have friends?"

Katsuki merely growled under his breath, looking back at his card.

"I - I think he's right, Occhan," Izuku muttered, looking between her card and his, "even though our examinee numbers are consecutive, we're being assigned to different battle centers. Look, I'm in Battle Center B, and you're in Battle Center C."

"Hm," Ochako bit her lip a bit worriedly, "maybe one of us will be able to work with Kendou, though. Depending on where she's sent."

Izuku nodded at that, glancing around to steal a small glance at Katsuki's card, who merely turned the card away from him and glowered at him. "Don't look at my card, I'll kill you." 

After a moment of glaring at him, Katsuki turned away, muttering in disappointment, "Damn, now I can't crush either of you."

Ochako merely huffed.

While their little 'conversation' happened, Present Mic continued on with the presentation, showing a screen of a pixelated version of him fighting off robots of different sizes, with 'points' being added to the screen as each robot went down, "We'll be sprinkling in a large number of 'villains' for you listeners to fight in each battle center! And they'll appear in three different varieties, with point values scaled according to difficulty! Using each of your individual quirks, dispatch and/or immobilize as many 'villains' as you can! Your goal, dear listeners, is to earn as many points as you can in the limited time we're giving you! And don't think about attacking any other competitors or any of that nasty anti-hero stuff, because that's against the rules! Capisce?!"

Ochako pointedly looked at Katsuki over that last comment, who pretended not to notice anything.

A few rows in front of them, a hand suddenly shot up as one of the students stood. "Excuse me! May I ask a question?"

"Go ahead!" Present Mic pointed directly at him, and a spotlight from the roof shone down on the boy who had stood up, a tall, broad boy with glasses and short dark blue hair, who held the information sheet on the villains that would be used in the exam.

"On this printout," He pointed at the card, "there are clearly four types of villains listed! And the presentation has only described three types of villain bots! If that is a misprint, such an error would be the height of embarrassment for a top-tier national academy of UA's caliber! The reason we are seated here today is because we seek guidance on the path to becoming model heroes! We cannot afford to be given inaccurate information."

"Boy, that guy is loud," Itsuka grimaced slightly, while Yui didn't pay him any attention due to her reading the sheet describing the villains.

"And as a side note -" The boy suddenly wheeled right around and pointed directly at Izuku. "You there! With the curly green hair!"

Izuku squeaked a bit as he suddenly became the center of attention, everyone else looking around at him when he was called out.

"You've been muttering this whole time!" The glasses guy glared at him, "You are a distraction. If you think UA is some pleasure jaunt, then you should leave this place at once for the sake of the other examinees that wish to seriously take this exam!"

Izuku sank into his chair, covering his face as everyone quietly giggled and let out a small, "Sorry."

Katsuki sniggered. Ochako fumed. The boy in glasses suddenly felt like there were two pairs of eyes glaring daggers at him, and merely ignored such a distracting feeling.

"Okay, okay, thanks for the segue, much appreciated, Examinee Number 7111!" Present Mic waved his hands to get the room's attention again, flashing the glasses guy a thumbs up. "The fourth type of villain you'll encounter is worth zero points! Let's call them 'area traps'! This guy is merely there to serve as an obstacle, so to speak. Have any of you ever played Super Mario Brothers before?! I guess it is rather retro. But anyway, do you remember those things that'd go 'thwomp' on you?! There's a thing like that in each arena! Their gimmick is that they rampage when crowded! There's exactly one in every battle center - an obstacle that'll go crah- zay in arrow spaces! It's not impossible to defeat, but there's no reason to defeat it, either! I'd recommend that you listeners try to avoid it!"

"Thank you so much!" The boy in glasses bowed, "Please excuse me for the interruption!"

"Apologize to Deku too," Ochako growled under her breath, "you freaking jerk."

"Nah, I agree with four eyes," Katsuki smirked, "shut the fuck up, Deku. I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks you need to do that."

Izuku tried not to shrink too much as Ochako turned her glare to the boy sitting beside him.

"So it's like obstacles you have to avoid in a video game," Yui muttered to herself, continuing to pat Itsuka's arm as she glared at the glasses guy. "The whole thing is starting to feel like a retro game."

"A really dumb retro game," Itsuka threw her ponytail behind her shoulder while Eijirou continued to frantically attempt to memorize the paper before him on her other side, "but I guess that's not a bad comparison. Just gotta get the most points to win."

"Well, that's about enough from me!" Present Mic dramatically waved his hands in the air. "I'll leave all you listeners with a presentation on the 'school precepts' of this academy of mine! As a certain general by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'a true hero never stops overcoming the misfortunes in life'. A nice little sound bite! Now let's move on to the main event! Go beyond!"

He threw his hands into the air as he screamed out, "PLUS ULTRA!" and behind him, the screen above the stage flashed the two words in a large, bold font.

"Now then, everyone, good luck! And may you all suffer gladly in the trials to come!"

As the lights turned back on and everyone got up to start heading outside to the buses that would take them to their examination sites. Izuku and Ochako quickly hopped up, moving down the steps towards where Itsuka and Yui were also standing up, Eijirou already hurrying away to join the crowd in going to get changed into their exercise gear.

"So, uh - where are you guys?"

"Battle Center C," Itsuka flashed her card, Ochako letting out a sigh of relief and giving her a fist bump.

"Battle Center D," Yui shrugged, "and I think Kirishima got sent to Battle Center F, I saw his and Ashido's cards. She's being sent to Battle Center E."

"Oh, man," Izuku groaned a bit, feeling his stomach clench, "looks like I'm on my own."

"Don't feel too bad, okay?" Itsuka patted his arm, while Ochako likewise gave him a sympathetic look, "You've got this. You've got the gauntlet, and you're a badass. I believe in you."

"Yeah, Deku," Ochako balled her fist, giving him an encouraging look, "it's time to go Plus Ultra."

Izuku hesitated for another moment, not really sure if he was as confident in himself as his training partners were - but then he let out a small sigh, nodding and trying his best to smile as he also straightened up, giving his friends a determined look as Yui turned to head off and get changed into her tracksuit.

"Yeah … yeah. Plus Ultra." He gave them both fist bumps. "I guess … well, I guess this means that I'll see you both on the other side."

"Yeah, you will," Itsuka grinned, "break a leg, Midoriya."

"Not literally, though." Ochako was quick to clarify.

"Heh, uh … well, don't worry. I'm sure the Gauntlet won't explode on me. I think. I hope."

"Oh, god, please don't put that thought into my head, Deku. Eesh."

"Okay, then let me retry that - don't blow up."

"I … will certainly try. Not to blow up, I mean."

"You aren't exactly filling me with confidence, Midoriya, but okay."

With that, the three of them promised to see each other after the exam, with Izuku wishing his friends good luck, and they hurried off to go get changed into their gym clothes, Izuku parting from his training partners with a wave. It didn't take long for him to slip into his green tracksuit, making sure that the support item was still secured to his wrist (on the other hand, it was a bit tight, making Izuku worry that he might have some difficulty taking it off afterwards), and soon enough he was boarding the bus that would head to Battle Center B, and where he would be doing his exam. 

The bus ride there was … well, pretty uncomfortable, what with Izuku being seated between two larger students that were acting quite boisterous and arrogant, who looked down at his smaller frame (or at least, smaller compared to them) and immediately started trying to psyche him out, amidst all the other taunts and boasts being thrown around the bus. Luckily, Izuku managed to drown them out, trying to remember the instructions Melissa had sent him during their ten minute drive to the fake city that they would be having their test in.

Once the self-driven bus slowed to a stop, and everyone got off the bus, Izuku let out a sigh as he stretched, looking up at the large gates that would lead into the fake city as he jumped up and down, trying to hype himself up. He looked around as everyone chatted and laughed, or else challenged each other and tried to brag about their abilities, as though trying to hype themselves up by describing the upcoming test as a cake walk.

Letting out another breath, Izuku rolled his right sleeve up, looking down at the bracelet on his wrist. Now was probably the time to activate it, he supposed, just to make sure that it worked. As he stared down at the red metallic bracelet, he let out another sigh, and reached down to press the button.

However, before he could touch it, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed his shoulder, making Izuku pause in his preparations and look around in confusion - 

- and then letting out a small squeak as he saw the bespectacled boy that had called him out grabbing his shoulder, standing a couple of inches taller than him and giving him a sharp glare.

He's here too?!

"There you are," The glasses guy nodded, not looking very pleased about that fact as he let go of Izuku's shoulder, "I thought that was you on the bus. I wanted to take this moment to further address you in regards to your relentless whispering back in the auditorium."

"I - huh?"

"It was inconsiderate," He crossed his arms, glaring down at Izuku, "your rapid whispers obstructed your fellow test takers. This exam is stressful enough, and having you add to that stress and potentially making other examinees miss out on any of the details of the exam is unbecoming of a hero. Are you not taking this test seriously? Or are you purposely sabotaging those of us that are here to take this test?"

"I - uh - I -" Izuku stuttered, going red as he was called out yet again by the taller student, and feeling himself shrivel up as other people looked around at him and started to snigger at the sight of him getting reprimanded, thinking that they had one less rival to worry about if he couldn't even defend himself - 

- and then another voice suddenly cut through the crowd.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, look at the drill thingy on your head! Is that your quirk?"

Both Izuku and the glasses guy looked around, confused, at the sound of a high-pitched voice speaking loudly - and then Izuku blinked again. Standing there was a girl about his height, pointing up another examinee's red and white hair. What stood out to Izuku, however, was the length and volume of the girl's own blue hair - it came down to her knees, twisting around itself at her waist and curving inwards around her legs.

How … how does someone make that happen? And with hair that thick?

"Or is your hair like that just because it looks cool?” She tilted her head somewhat, her finger raising to her chin in curiosity as the guy leaned slightly away from her, his face weirdly red. "And what's the thing you have on your arm? Is that a quirk, or a support item?"

"I - uh -"

"Oooh!" Her gaze suddenly flickered to someone else, and zoomed over to get in the face of a bald kid with scars on his head and arms, the guy's face freezing in shock as his cheeks turned a rosy hue, "Those are nice sunglasses! Are you wearing them because it's too bright out, or because they look cool? I think it's a pretty cloudy day, so it's not too sunny."

"Well - um -"

"Oh, but what about you? You've got a cool mask! So yellow!"

As she blabbered on, going from examinee to examinee and making curious questions, Izuku felt himself sweat a bit - she was very loud, and apparently had the attention span of a goldfish. He glanced over at the bespectacled boy, wondering if he would be going over to talk to her as well - he was going on and on about how Izuku was interrupting people's concentration when this girl existed - and the glasses guy let out a small sigh when he noticed that Izuku was giving him a pointed look.

"Yes, yes." He muttered, apparently not a hypocrite, and charged forward, throwing his hand out to the blue-haired girl, who looked around at him when he caught her attention. "Excuse me, miss! You're rudely disrupting the concentration of the other applicants! I will have to ask you to -"

"Ooh, you've got rocket feet!" She gasped, immediately leaning around him to have a look at the weird things on the back of his calves. The glasses guy immediately froze up when she experimentally touched one of the things on his leg with her finger, tapping it. "Ooh, but I guess it's less rocket feet and more rocket legs, I guess. Do they hurt? Can they come out?"

"I - miss, please!"

Izuku felt himself gulp a bit, wondering just what the hell was going on - and then the girl's gaze flicked up, and settled on him.

He let out a small squeak when he finally caught sight of her face, feeling his cheeks heat up a little bit and suddenly understanding the reactions from the other guys. He hadn't noticed when she had been bouncing around and having her back to him, but this girl was … holy wow, she was … well, there was no other word to describe it, she was beautiful. Her blue eyes twinkled with curiosity as she stared up at him, her mouth moving into a little 'o' shape, and her eyelashes batting a bit as she blinked. 

He was so taken aback by her, he didn't even register her moving. One moment she was awkwardly bending around the boy with glasses to look at his legs, and the next, she was right in his face. As in barely an inch away from him, in that if she moved even slightly closer, their noses would be touching.

"Ooh, what's this?" She asked curiously, looking down at his wrist and pointing curiously at the bracelet. "Is this a gizmo? A watch? It looks cool!"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, feeling his face burn hotter and hotter as she invaded his private bubble -

"OKAY, LET'S GO!"

Everyone in the crowd jumped at the loud voice blaring out of the speakers, and looked around, the blue haired girl turning away from Izuku to blink curiously. Standing up on the top of the observational tower was Present Mic, posing dramatically and playing with his mustache as he waved his arm to urge them onward.

"What's the matter, listeners? There are no coundowns in real fights. Run! Ruuuuun! Consider the baton tossed, the die cast, so go break a leg!"

Izuku was still taken aback, staring up at the tower in confusion and shock - and then he suddenly registered the sound of feet hurrying away on the pavement. Looking back down, he squeaked at the sight of the large crowd shoving their way through the gate and into the fake city, with some people flying away or likewise pushing each other aside.

"Oh, crap!" He gasped, immediately taking off after them, "I'm already behind!"

Still though, he tried to calm down his hammering heart and ignore how lead-filled his stomach felt, and sprinted as fast as he could through the gate. He knew Ochako and Itsuka were working hard now, to make sure that they didn't let All Might down - so he had to work hard as well. Quickly, he raised his right arm, glancing down at the device on his hand, and quickly pressed the blue panel, praying that it wasn't about to explode in his face.

The result was pretty much instantaneous. The moment his finger slid against the blue panel, it lit up in a bright blue color, and tiny hexagons began to rapidly spread across the red metal. Izuku squeaked as the red metal suddenly expanded, growing longer and larger as it wrapped around his forearm and hand, until it got up to his elbow. It then resolidified into a red gauntlet with a black strip on the knuckles and a small meter currently down in the red, making Izuku stare down at it in shock.

Okay … he internally squeed, … this is super cool!

Quickly, he picked up his pace and ran after the retreating crowd, hoping to find some robots to test out his new support item on as he tapped the blue button twice to record the data to send to Melissa - and was completely unaware of a pair of blue, curious eyes staring after him.


"START!"

With that signal, the giant doors of the fake city arena opened, and Itsuka and Ochako immediately began moving. They had been chatting lightly with each other during their wait, Itsuka taking several deep breaths while Ochako tapped her fingers nervously together, when the signal had been called and the doors immediately began opening. While some of the students looked around in confusion, Itsuka and Ochako led the way inside, sprinting beside each other as they entered the fake city.

"So what are we doing?" Itsuka looked around at her friend, glad to see her keeping pace with her, "Are we working together? Fighting the robots separately?"

"Let's stick together for now," Ochako confirmed, already on the lookout for villain bots, "I can scout a few robots for us to take down together!"

"Sounds good! Wanna give us a bird's eye view, then?"

"Yep!" Slapping a hand to her thigh, Ochako took off into the air, floating up while Itsuka kept her eyes locked on her as she slowed to a jog. Ochako reached out to grab the ledge of a nearby building, quickly swinging herself up to look around for any sign of their targets.

From up there, she knew that she'd have a better chance to scout out the villains' positions, and where she could guide Itsuka. Quickly, she scanned the city's streets, ignoring the yells of the other students as they began searching, and moved to the edge of the roof carefully so as not to float off into the sky. It didn't take long for her to glance down, and sure enough, there was a group of villain bots far enough away from the entrance that the other students were still a ways off from finding them.

Nodding in satisfaction, Ochako quickly moved back to where Itsuka was on the ground looking up at her, and pointed. She didn't want to alert any of the other students where there were some robots, and thankfully Itsuka got the message, turning around the corner and jogging down the alleyway, watching for Ochako as she jumped from roof to roof, guiding her friend over.

Finally, as Itsuka slid around the corner, she spotted what Ochako had been guiding her towards, and felt her grin widen. Eight villain bots, each with the number '3' on them, strolling through the empty street, although the sound of Ochako landing beside Itsuka after releasing her quirk and restoring her gravity caught their attention. She quickly glanced at Ochako, seeing the girl nod, and together, they charged the fake villains, Ochako keeping low on the ground and Itsuka growing out her hands.

Alright, She thought to herself, it's time to prove myself to All Might.

"Targets acquired," One robot beeped out as it registered the two girls' existence, before sinking into a challenging stance, "we'll kill you!"

As they charged towards them, however, they found themselves suddenly being floated into the air before they had a chance to attack. Ochako had slid underneath them and smacked her hands against two of the robots' sides, feeling her quirk take effect and relieved that she didn't feel that nauseous. Itsuka, meanwhile, leapt up into the air with a mighty shout, and punched the robot closest to her as hard as she could. Thanks to her quirk's natural strength, the metal crumbled like cardboard, although her hands stung from the blow as the robot was smashed into the ground.

"Kendou!" Ochako called, and with a grunt, she kicked the nearest floating robot towards her as it flailed in the air. Taking her cue, Itsuka grabbed the robot and planted her feet against the ground, and, thanks to the robot being lighter than it was supposed to, spun around to slam it against another charging villain bot. As the bot's gravity had been removed but not its mass, they smashed together and blew apart into tiny pieces.

Finally, once Ochako had floated the remaining three robots into the air and Itsuka balled her large fists together, swinging the joined hands towards the last robot, the brown-haired girl released her quirk, sending the three robots plummeting to smash against the ground just as Itsuka crushed the last robot against the side of the nearest building's wall. Taking a chance to breathe together, Itsuka and Ochako shared a glance, and nodded, immediately beginning to take off as a few students rounded the corner and were surprised to see that it had only been a minute and a half, and eight three-pointers had already been destroyed.

"Not bad, not bad," Itsuka grinned at Ochako, her training partner giggling and flashing her a thumbs up, "I think I can see a few two-pointers up ahead."

"Let's not keep them waiting, then!" Ochako laughed, and together, they charged ahead.


Thankfully, it didn't take long for Izuku to find a few robots to test the Full Gauntlet on.

He had skidded around the corner of a building and let out a gasp when he discovered four one-pointers rolling across the street, their mechanical heads glancing around before spotting him. He let out another noise when they immediately slouched into battle stances, and the one at the front of the group began charging him.

While his fight or flight instincts nearly convinced him to flee, he instead took a deep breath, trying to remember what Melissa's note said, and charged up his quirk. Flickers of green electricity began humming around his arms - and just as the lightning appeared on his right arm, it slowly began to move down into the Gauntlet. Izuku's eyes widened as the electricity speeped into the red metal, the meter on the support item zooming up from its spot in red all the way up to green, and the Gauntlet began humming with energy as he hesitantly raised his hand.

"Okay," He breathed, taking another deep breath as he deactivated his quirk's effects, but threw his arm out to point at the charging robot as he raised his hand palm up to point at him, "here goes!"

BOOM!

As soon as he willed the quirk to blast out of him, the Gauntlet did the rest of the work. Bolts of green electricity fired out and slammed directly into one of the one-pointers, causing it to explode … well … rather violently. Izuku squeaked as he threw his hands up to protect his face as it blew up, raining some shrapnel down onto him as he winced, but thankfully they weren't big enough pieces or sharp enough to hurt him.

For a moment, the robots stared blankly down at what Izuku had done to one of their brethren, and then back up to the boy in question. Izuku himself stared down at the gauntlet in shock, amazed; it hadn't hurt nearly as much as when he fired out a full bolt of lightning, maybe only stinging a little bit and making his hair stand up on end. And from the small meter installed in the Gauntlet, there was still some power left over for him to fire out.

That was when the three one-pointers changed into their battle stances.

"You murdered our brother," One beeped out in a menacing voice, "a curse upon your family, small green lightning man!"

With that, the first of the bots charged forwards, swinging its arm up to hit him. This was just about the time Izuku's training from the dojo kicked in, raising one hand to defend himself as the robot's arm scrapped against the Gauntlet, Izuku leaning to the side to avoid the blunt of the hit. He winced as sparks flew from where the one-pointer had hit the gauntlet, but he was okay! He was fine, and automatically, his hand balled into a fist as he spun around, feeling electricity hum in the gauntlet, and the robot looked up just in time for Izuku to complete the spin and backhand it with the back of the gauntlet, wincing as the head flew off and shattered against the ground.

"Villain Bot Serial Number 1678323!" One of the villain bots cried out as the headless robot collapsed on the ground. "He was about to be retired! Sent to the robot farm to frolic in the grass! Die, plain looking green person!"

Resisting the urge to apologize, Izuku leapt back as another arm slammed down, managing to hop out of the way as the other bot charged forward. Months of training with Itsuka and Ochako, horrible memories of Teko kicking him right in the face, flashed through his mind as lightning blasted out of the Gauntlet again, catching the robot charging after him directly in the chest and exploding.

Not wanting to waste this opportunity, Izuku charged forward before the last of the one-pointers could reach him, jumping onto one of the fallen villain bots as memories of the dojo came to him, envisioning the robot beneath him as Itsuka and Ochako's hands about to throw him into the air to kick the piece of wood on Teko's stick.

"Wrong! Yet again! You hesitated the moment you were in the air! Again! Where did the confidence from the run up go?!"

Don't hesitate, Izuku thought as lightning surged in the Gauntlet, don't hesitate, stay confident, stick the landing!

Leaping up into the air, Izuku threw his fist up, feeling the Gauntlet channel electricity, and with a yell, fell forwards towards the last of the robots, who looked up at Izuku just as he was about to throw his fist directly into the metal plate of its face.

"I never should have quit dental school."

BOOM!

With one last explosion, Izuku rolled against the ground, taking a chance to finally breathe as the four robots laid in piles of scrap metal, sparking and smoking slightly. Wincing, Izuku managed to get to his feet, only being slightly assured that they really were down, and looked quickly down at the Gauntlet. The small meter that indicated how much electricity was left in the device was down to red, so Izuku, feeling experimental, flared his quirk - and just like that, it zipped right back up to green, showing the support item as fully charged.

With a sigh of relief, Izuku looked around, relieved that his arm wasn't aching that much -

"Whoa, that was really cool!"

Letting out a startled yelp, Izuku quickly looked around - and then up, where the voice had come from. Floating up in the air was … her! The blue-haired girl who had gotten in his face! She was floating in the air with yellow swirls of energy coming out of her sneakers, while similar spirals of energy uncurled from her wrists and hands. Unfortunately for Izuku, she looked utterly delighted by what she had seen, quickly zooming down to look at him in the face while he squeaked and leaned back so she wasn't so … up in his business.

"That was awesome!" She praised, smiling widely. "I was kind of curious why you were running so far behind us, so I decided to float a little behind to make sure that you were okay, and then you activated that cool bracelet! It's really red! It actually really compliments your sweat suit, green and red go really well together! I like green myself, but like, pale mint green, not overly green. Not that there's anything wrong with that! I like your shade of hair! What kind of green is it? Not minty, I think, but maybe dark-green? Ooh, your eyes are green too! You're really green! But that's okay, because I'm really blue - I wish my quirk was blue just like me, instead of yellow!"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, going very red as she continued to float closer and closer - did she have no concept of personal space?! - and then quickly shook his head, trying to refocus. Was this girl intentionally trying to distract him? He only took out a few robots, he was nowhere close to being done. Quickly, he gave her a short bow.

"S-s-s-sorry," he managed to say, "but I - I have to - to get going."

Quickly, he turned on his heel and started running in the opposite direction - he had to be about two minutes into the exam, there must be more robots around for him to find. That was just about when he heard the sound of energy swirling behind him, and glanced around to see the blue-haired girl keeping pace, giving him a wide smile.

"I'll come with you!" She balled her fists excitedly. "I'm really curious! Where did you get that gauntlet? Did you make it? Are you smart? And I just realized, your quirk's green too! You're super green!"

"I - uh -" Izuku managed to sputter, completely and utterly taken aback - and then the girl raised her hand to point behind him, and shot out a spiraling blast of energy.

Izuku quickly whipped around, eyes widened as the robot that had snuck up on him was sent flying into a nearby wall by the surge of power, smashing into tiny pieces. Feeling himself shake a bit, he timidly looked back around at the girl as she acted as though nothing happened, looking excitedly at him.

"Well, c'mon, c'mon!" She waved her hands in the air, "Let's go find some more robots while we talk!"

Oh god, Izuku gulped as he continued moving forward, the girl launching another curious question at him, why do I feel like I'm getting into something I shouldn't be?


"In this practical exam," the high-pitched voice of the principal spoke up from his seat at the front of the group, "the examinees have not been informed of the number of villains or their locations."

In the large room filled with monitors, several heroes and teachers, some of those heroes affiliated with the school and some who were not, sat in their comfortable seats while watching the test in each center unfold. The screens frequently switched to different areas of the multiple arenas, letting the group of heroes have an uninterrupted view of the students as they reached the halfway point of the exam. Although some teachers wished the screens would stay on one camera for more than a few seconds - they weren't as observant as the principal and didn't have his ability to absorb information as quickly.

"Doesn't this year's group look promising?" Nezu asked happily as he sipped on his tea, nodding at the few murmurs of agreement echoing in the room. "They only have a very limited amount of time to cover a vast environment, so we can force them to find different methods to draw the bots out and defeat them. And my, we have had some creative ideas, haven't we?"

Flipping through several channels, he raised a paw to point at the young man with six arms on a rooftop, his hands transforming into eyes. "The ability to grasp the situation quickly and accurately." Flipping to another screen to show a young man in glasses sliding across the ground dramatically, "The ability to stick a dynamic entry without ever being late to the party." A new screen showing an orange-haired girl with large hands swatting away a robot that another girl with brown hair and pink cheeks had thrown to her to destroy, "The ability to put aside potential rivalries and work together to reach their goals." Another screen showing a blonde boy standing amongst the wreckage of robots, sneering, "And of course, pure combat ability, as always."

Relaxing in his seat, Nezu turned to Cementoss, who was leaning forward and rubbing his flat chin with one of his fingers, "These basic abilities needed to keep peace in the streets are turned into points in this test."

"I agree, Principal Nezu, this year's group looks very promising." One of the heroes from the back said, relaxing in her seat.

"Well, we can't know for sure that we've raked in a bumper crop this year just yet," Snipe grunted, leaning over and flipping up the glass protection for a large red button labeled 'Yaruki Switch', its sides decorated in yellow and black warning tape, "their true test is about to begin."

As he pressed the button, All Might nodded slowly as he leaned back in his seat, watching the screen depicting Itsuka and Ochako attacking another group of robots, and then leaned slightly over to mutter, "So I'm assuming it's the same kind of 'true test' you had to deal with in your entrance exam?"

"Yeah," Tenko nodded, wincing slightly as he munched on his bag of popcorn, "they're, uh … well, they might be screwed. Maybe."


"Batter up!" Ochako called, grabbing the tail of the two-pointer and floating it up into the air. Itsuka couldn't help but laugh a little bit - maybe this wasn't the time or place to be messing around, but she couldn't deny that it was very fun to let loose and blow up some robots with Ochako. The brown-haired girl evidently agreed, spinning in a circle before throwing the robot directly towards her. Itsuka jumped up into the air, raising her two large fists and clasping them together tightly, and once the robot was just about to hit her, she threw her fists down.

BOOM!

Exploding into tiny pieces of wire and metal, Itsuka landed on the ground with a grunt, grabbing one of the larger pieces of scrap and throwing it at a three-pointer trying to zoom away from her towards another student, who had been running forward to steal it away from her. While she ordinarily would've let the other student have it, Itsuka knew that she didn't have nearly enough points to just let it go, so she felt she had no choice but to throw the remains of the robot Ochako had thrown to her at the fleeing three-pointer, smashing them together against the wall of the building.

"FIVE MINUTES HAVE PASSED!"

"Oh, come on!" The student yelled at her as Itsuka's large hands crushed another three pointer, Ochako smashing another one-pointer behind her. "Leave some for the rest of us, you greedy bitch! You've probably already gotten loads of points!"

"Sorry, man!" She called over her shoulder as she ran off with Ochako. With that, the two girls made their way back down the street as the student flipped her off behind her shoulder and ran off to get another robot, only for it to be blown apart by a girl with earphone jacks coming out of her ears, and he proceeded to cuss her out too. So Itsuka wasn't feeling too sympathetic for him at the moment.

It had been about … well, according to the person who had just announced it, about five minutes since the exam had begun, so they were at the halfway point. Thankfully, they were on a roll at the moment - they'd used Ochako's quirk to float her up into the air, look around at that height for villain bots, and descend on them without any mercy. In the five minutes they had been working together, having each other's backs and defending each other from any surprise attacks, they had taken down several one-pointers, two-pointers and three-pointers.

It was just …

"What's your score now?" Itsuka looked at Ochako as they ran down the street, the orange-haired girl looking at her friend in worry - she was holding her stomach slightly, meaning that her quirk's side effects might be catching up with her after floating herself and the robots non-stop for the last five minutes, "I think I'm at thirty-one points now, how about you?"

"I think … twenty-eight points?" She shook her head. "It's still not enough to get cleared, though!"

"Yeah," Itsuka quickly nodded, squaring her shoulders, "but we're halfway through the exam now! We've still got some time to rack up a few more points! Do you think you can float yourself up into the air again, or should we start searching by ground?"

"Uh … give me a second," Ochako shook her head, wincing slightly, "I - I do feel a little queasy, so I'll just need some time before -"

And that was when the ground beneath their feet began to rumble.

Both girls let out twin squeaks of surprise as they lost their balance, almost tripping over and landing on their faces as the ground began to violently shake. Itsuka managed to grab a light post before she fell over, and Ochako managed to stabilize herself before she landed face down and broke her nose. As the crowd behind them also began yelping and letting out confused noises, the two training partners quickly looked around at each other, eyes wide and confused.

"W-what's going on?" Ochako looked around worriedly. "Earthquake?"

"Maybe? Or maybe this is also part of the -"

They had about one split second to warn them of what was coming - the sound of wires snapping, one after another - and then a few blocks down, a large explosion of dust and earth blasted into the air. Itsuka quickly grew out her hand to cover her head as the wave of dust slammed into them, hearing Ochako gag slightly as some got in her mouth, and the crowd behind them letting out yells and shouts of confusion.

Soon enough, though, she suddenly became aware of something … rolling? Something large was rolling towards them. Squinting her eyes, she slowly lowered the enlarged hand away from her face, looking up -

- and then her eyes blew way open.

"You've gotta be shitting me."

Coming right down the street, rolling on giant tires, came … Itsuka felt her head continue to rise up as color left her face. They'd found the fourth robot, alright - Present Mic had apparently forgotten to mention that this 'useless' robot was the size of a building itself, resting both its hands on the rooftops of the nearby empty apartments as it leaned forward, its eight eyes zooming in on the crowd. Itsuka and Ochako stared up at the gigantic robot staring down at them, while behind them the crowd of students let out a few gasps and screams.

"Holy crap," Ochako muttered, taking a scared step back, "isn't this thing -"


"- a little too big?" Izuku squeaked, shaking in terror.

Over in the other arena, he was having a similar reaction to the sudden appearance of a zero-pointer as his training partners. He'd spent the last five minutes running around and using the Full Gauntlet against the smaller robots until he got a good few points for himself - although he knew that it probably wasn't enough to get himself into the school. He'd also tried his best to ignore the beautiful girl floating beside him, asking question after question as she blasted a few bots out of the corner of her eye (which made him shake as well - was she even trying here?! How good was she?!), apparently not being deterred by his lack of responses now that she had an interest in him.

And once the five minute warning had been issued, with Present Mic dramatically screaming it into his microphone, thus emerged the zero-pointer with a violent rumble, rolling down the street and punching a building as hard as it could, sending debris flying everywhere.

"Oooooh, boy," The blue-haired girl's eyes were large and round as she stared up at the robot, "I think I get why this thing is zero points, now. Because it's 'OP'. Get it? 'OP'? Zero points? Over-powered?"

"I - uh - I -" Izuku stammered, staring up at the robot in horror - and then the girl poked his arm, managing to grab his attention as she gave him a somewhat serious look - or at least, a look more serious than the one she'd been wearing for the last five minutes.

"Seriously, though," She gestured towards the giant robot, "we should run."

"R-run!" Izuku quickly nodded in agreement as the zero-pointer threw its fist back. "Right! You're right! Let's -!"

BOOM

Much faster than he thought possible, the zero-pointer's fist came crashing down onto the street. Several people screamed as pieces of rubble rained down on them, apparently forgetting about their competition for smaller bots as they turned on their heels to hightail it out of there as fast as they could. As Izuku moved to cover his head and prevent any rubble from hitting him, the blue-haired girl looked around curiously as several contestants sprinted away as fast as they could away from the zero-pointer.

"Huh," She bit her lip lightly, while Izuku took another fearful step back, still staring up at the zero-pointer, "everyone's running away. Maybe they're going to go look for the other -"

"Help!"

Both Izuku and the blue-haired girl stopped in their tracks at the weak voice, freezing slightly, before they looked around together in shock. They - did they just - they imagined that, didn't they? They just imagined a voice calling for - 

- oh no.

There was … there was someone laying there on the ground, raising a weak hand to grasp fruitlessly in the air. It was clear that he had been knocked down hard, laying on his front as he tried to crawl away, wincing in obvious pain. None of the fleeing students came to help him, however - no one even paid heed to him, one of them even jumping over his fallen body in his efforts to get out of the way of the giant robot rolling menacingly down the street, smashing every building in its path.

Izuku froze only for a moment, staring at the small, plump-looking boy in horror - and then his feet moved before he had a chance to think, making the blue-haired girl's eyes widen in shock as he sprinted in the direction of the zero-pointer towards the fallen boy. This even grabbed the attention of a few other fleeing students, including one purple-haired boy looking surprised at what Izuku was doing, before shaking his head and continuing to flee - it wasn't like he could stay around and watch, he needed to find a smaller robot to get himself at least one point.

Thankfully, Izuku managed to get to the fallen boy quickly, skidding to a stop and kneeling down. The small round boy, gray hair sticking to his forehead, looked up in relief as Izuku leaned down, grabbing his arm to wrap around his shoulder.

"Are - are you okay? Can you stand?"

"I - I think so," The boy nodded, but once Izuku lifted him up and he put his right foot down, he let out a yelp of pain, buckling slightly and dragging Izuku slightly down with him. "Ah! My - I think I sprained my ankle."

"It's - it'll be okay! Come on, we need to get out of here!"

As quickly as he could, Izuku began to help the gray-haired boy down the street, but even he knew that it wouldn't take long for the zero-pointer to catch up. They were moving too slow, and the zero-pointer had an advantage that it was very, very big and they were very, very tiny. That meant that if they didn't move fast -

"Hey, hey! Is he okay?!"

"What is going on here?!"

Izuku quickly looked up, his eyes wide. The blue-haired girl who had been tagging along all exam floated down, looking worryingly at the gray-haired boy, and the glasses guy from before came sprinting down the street towards them, his eyes wide.

"Is he alright?!" The glasses guy skidded to a stop, his vitriol for Izuku apparently forgotten as he wrapped the gray-haired boy's arm around his own shoulder, helping Izuku lift him. "I noticed you two were moving slowly along! If we don't get out of here quickly, we may be run over by the zero-pointer!"

"He'll - he's got a broken ankle," Izuku explained shortly, sweating nervously as he looked back around at the zero-pointer looming over them, "But we won't make it, if this thing keeps smashing up the street behind us! We need to - we need to -"

He let out a small, frustrated grunt as he looked left and right rapidly, as though there was something there he could use to figure out how to get the injured boy out of here in one piece. He wasn't sure what they could even do here - and then he blinked.

What would All Might do?

If they couldn't get away from the robot in time … if it was going to crush them if it didn't have something to distract it …

"... it needs to be stopped." He muttered, looking back around at the robot punching another building and sending debris flying.

"What are you -?" The glasses guy started to ask, his brow furrowed, before letting out a small noise of surprise as Izuku slipped the gray-haired boy's arm off his shoulder, letting the other boy support his full weight.

"That thing needs to be stopped," Izuku explained, feeling himself shake a bit but looking back at the zero-pointer looming above them with a look of determination, "or it's going to just keep injuring people. You need to get - uh - sorry, what was your name?"

"S-Shoda."

"- Shoda out of here! I'll distract the zero-pointer while you guys make an escape!"

"You'll - but it's massive!" The glasses guy shouted in alarm, staring at Izuku as though he had gone insane. "There's no way you'll be able to stop it by yourself!"

"Then I'll help!" The blue-haired girl raised her hand helpfully. "My quirk's really good against giant people! Not that I've tested it. But anyhoo, if you need help, green guy, I'm your girl!"

"R-right," Izuku nodded, his fluster long gone as he looked back up at the robot, clenching the fist the Full Gauntlet was wrapped around as he addressed the boy in glasses. "Listen, uh - you need to get Shoda out of here. Just get him to safety! I'll cover you!"

The glasses guy stared at Izuku for another moment in shock, as though completely taken aback - and behind his glasses, a small twinkle of something appeared in his eyes, as though everything he had previously thought of Izuku was wrong. Still, he quickly nodded, turning to help Shoda move away from the damaged street, where the small crowd of bystanders was watching in shock as Izuku and the blue-haired girl stood together, staring down the zero-pointer."

"So," She clapped happily, looking around at Izuku, "I guess we're stopping this thing together! Can we stop it, though? Maybe that's the question I should ask first. Can we stop this thing?"

"I don't know," Izuku admitted, shaking his head slightly but feeling himself bend down into one of the fighting positions Teko had taught him, electricity humming around the Full Gauntlet, "but we're gonna have to try!"


"TWO MINUTES LEFT!"

"Is UA fucking shitting me?!"

Itsuka and Ochako ran as fast as they could down the street, eyes widened in horror as the zero-pointer rolled down the street after them, punching buildings out of its path as it followed the crowd of fleeing students. While those students ran ahead, Itsuka and Ochako lagged behind, slapping some charging one-pointers, two-pointers and three-pointers out of their path as they ran away.

"A giant fucking robot?!" Itsuka screamed in panic, looking briefly around in terror as the zero-pointer punched another building out of the way, "I thought it'd be slightly bigger than the other robots! Not bigger than my fucking house!"

"Shit!" Ochako squeaked as the ground rumbled again. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit!"

"Fuck!"

"Shitting fuck!"

The two girls continued to cuss out of terror as they exchanged a terrified glance, wondering what the hell they could even do here - the zero-pointer was gaining on them, and sooner or later it would throw something that would be big enough to hit them. Worse, the crowd was clearly in a panic, not running anywhere specific and just around, meaning that the smaller robots could group up on them and cause some serious injuries.

There were a few students ahead of them that were keeping their heads, at least - one silver-haired girl floated some bots that were chasing them away and tossed them aside, not hard enough to break them but enough to get them out of the way, and another guy with metallic skin was protecting a few panicking students from two three-pointers grouping up on them - but it wouldn't do any good if the zero-pointer caused any more chaos.

"Shit!" Itsuka shook her head. "If this keeps up, people could get hurt!"

"Yeah!" Ochako quickly nodded in agreement, "I think this street's an eventual deadend! If this keeps going, there's going to be chaos, and eventually this thing is going to break a building and bring it down on top of everyone!"

"..."

"..."

"... shit!" Itsuka cursed loudly. "Shitting fuck! Are we gonna have to fucking stop this thing?!"

"I think so!" Ochako shouted in anger. "Fuck!"

With that, the two girls skidded to a stop, turning around and staring up at the giant robot with anger and fear as Itsuka clenched her fist tightly, feeling more than a little pissed off at the giant hunk of metal.

"If I fail this test because of you," She shouted angrily at the zero-pointer, "I'm gonna fucking throw you into the sea!"

The giant robot let out a few, reverberating tones, making Itsuka's eyes widen in rage as she realized what exactly it had just done.

"Did you just fucking laugh at me?! You're fucking dead! Uraraka, float that piece of debris! The big one!"

"You got it!" Quickly, Ochako ran over to put both her hands on a particularly large piece of rubble, metal and concrete, feeling her stomach lurch but thankfully managing to keep her nausea down. Itsuka ran forward, grabbing the debris with her enlarged hands, and with a mighty shout, threw it as hard as she could at the zero-pointer as it looked around for something else to smash.

"Uraraka, release it!"

Ochako nodded in confirmation, pressing her fingers together again to release the piece of debris floating quickly up towards the zero-pointer. It hit its mark, slamming straight into the side of the zero-pointer's head and stopping the large robot in its tracks, temporarily freezing as it registered that it had just taken a hit.

"Yeah!" Ochako pumped her fist, while Itsuka laughed triumphantly. "Eat shit!"

Slowly, the zero-pointer's head turned, its eight eyes turning to lock straight on the two girls. Both of their victorious grins slipped off their faces at once as they realized that they had evidently not thought this through.

"Shit!" Itsuka shouted as the zero-pointer wound its fist back, but Ochako was quicker, diving towards Itsuka and grabbing her waist with both hands. Their gravity vanishing, Ochako kicked off the ground just as the robot's giant fist barely missed them, slamming into the earth as they rose up into the sky.

The crowd, that had been fleeing away from the zero-pointer, realized that they were no longer being chased, and looked around to see it focusing on the two girls floating together in the air - 

- and then looked at the mass of robots that had gathered together to chase them.

"ONE MINUTE LEFT!"

And just like that, like a switch had been flipped, the crowd charged the robots, wanting to get some last minute points.

"Well, fuck!" Itsuka cursed at the sight of several one, two and three-pointers getting destroyed, clenching her fist. "This fucking fuck is going to make us fail the exam!"

"I'll complain about it if we survive!" Ochako shook her head, kicking off the wall of the building they were closest to as the zero-pointer's fist barely missed them. Itsuka took advantage of that to plant her feet on the zero-pointer's massive hand, looking around at its other fist and its head - and then she blinked.

"Uraraka, get us up to the face! I've got an idea to keep it off the other students!"

"Right!" Ochako readjusted herself to hook her arms under Itsuka's armpits, and briefly pressed her fingers together to release Itsuka before pressing her hand to herself again, feeling her stomach clench painfully but managing to ignore it for now. Once her weight had been returned, Itsuka began running up the robot's arm with Ochako floating on her like a lighter than air backpack, keeping her arms around Itsuka locked in place as she ran. The zero-pointer let out another reverberating noise as it reached with its other hand to grab her in its giant grasp, but luckily Itsuka managed to hop out of the way just in time.

"We're almost there!" She called behind her shoulder to Ochako, who was looking at her friend in panic.

"Do you actually have a plan, or are you improvising right now?!"

"Bit of both! I've got an idea, at least!"

"Better than nothing, I guess!"

Running up the arm, Itsuka climbed as best she could as the zero-pointer let out what could only be described as a mechanical growl, evidently annoyed by the two students crawling over it, and brought its fist back as Itsuka finally managed to reach its shoulder.

"Okay, uh … so what is the plan?!" Ochako shouted as Itsuka charged right up to the zero-pointer's head, moving across its shoulder as the giant robot wound its fist back.

"Get ready to float me! You'll know when!"

"R-right!"

Itsuka looked around and trailed the zero-pointer's fist as it wound all the way back, evidently ready to punch the two girls off its shoulder - and then her grin widened.

"You really are dumb as bricks, huh?" She muttered, feeling Ochako's hand press against her side as her gravity disappeared again, and the giant metal fist came swinging up with shocking speed towards where the two girls were - 

- and Itsuka slammed both her giant fists against the robot's shoulder, taking advantage of her loss of weight, to punch them straight up into the air as the zero-pointer's fist completely missed them - and slammed straight into the side of its head, smashing its face plate as the giant robot staggered.

Itsuka and Ochako let out twin screams of victory as the robot slammed itself into another building, taken completely off guard from the blow but clearly not destroyed as it tried to turn back around to face them -

"TEN MINUTES! TIME IS UP!"

With that, the entire battlefield went still. The zero-pointer, who had been trailing its eight eyes up to where the girls were floating, immediately deactivated, the red eyes flickering off and slumping forward a bit. On the ground, the remaining robots deactivated as well, shutting down and flopping onto their sides as the students looked wildly around, still a bit out of it. Around them, a few teachers and third-year students came running out from the empty buildings, immediately calling students over to check with them in case of any injuries.

In the air, Itsuka let out a sigh of relief, about to look back around at Ochako as the two girls clung to each other - and then faltered when she caught sight of the sick look on Ochako's face, her cheeks turning green as they puffed out. Realizing what was about to happen, Itsuka let out a small groan as she leaned as far away as possible as Ochako bent over and puked, her quirk's effects finally catching up with her.

"Oh, jeez," Itsuka gagged a bit at the smell, "I hope there's no one below us, or they're gonna get a nasty surprise."


"TWO MINUTES LEFT!"

Over at Battle Center B, Izuku wasn't having as much luck as his two training partners.

"Look at me!" He shouted, firing off two blasts of lightning from the Full Gauntlet at the zero-pointer, but they bounced harmlessly off its metallic shell, the robot continuing to smash everything in its path. That had been Izuku's life for the last few minutes, trying to get the zero-pointer to stop smashing things for five seconds and refocus on him, but it was a losing battle due to his lightning not having any effects.

Luckily, the blue-haired girl was having a little better luck - floating up into the air, she began blasting larger spirals of energy at the robot, which clearly annoyed it as it tried to swat at her, but thanks to her being pretty much the size of a fly to it, it didn't have much luck - but it didn't slow down, which made her pout as she floated back down to Izuku.

"No luck!" She complained. "My blasts aren't doing anything to it! It's probably because it's big and metal and robotic, my quirk works better on actual people!"

"Crap," Izuku muttered, shaking his head. They were at a loss - this wasn't working. The Full Gauntlet was supposed to make his blast smaller, not more powerful, and her quirk was alright against smaller robots, but against one that dwarfed her in size, she might as well have been tapping it. They were both at a disadvantage; they needed something more powerful to - 

- wait.

Izuku blinked, looking down at his hand - not the one that had the Gauntlet on it, his other, uncovered hand. The Full Gauntlet was sent to him to make sure he didn't need to fire out more powerful blasts - but it wasn't going to do it. If he was going to fire out a blast of lightning big enough to stagger this thing …

"Sorry, Miss Shield," Izuku muttered, pressing the button to the Gauntlet and shrinking it back down to its bracelet form. Hopefully she had enough data from the last eight minutes to satisfy her. With a small sigh, he looked around at the blue-haired girl, seeing her float there, and thought for a moment to himself.

He needed to fire at full blast - something that was going to hurt - but from this distance, he wasn't sure if he could even hit the zero-pointer. So that meant that he needed to get up in its face. So that meant … maybe …

"Uh - excuse me!" He called out to the blue-haired girl, seeing her look around at him in surprise. "Can - sorry, but can you carry me while you fly?"

"Hm … you know what, I don't know," She shrugged, looking quite curious about that question. "I've always offered to float Yuuyu around, but she never wanted to do it because she's afraid of heights - which is silly! I don't think you should be afraid of heights if you're going into the hero business, but maybe she can get over it if she -"

"A-anyway!" He quickly tried to get her back on track, not wanting her to get distracted, "I think I can stop the zero-pointer, but I'll need to get up in its face! I'm gonna need to -"

"Oh!" She gasped, clapping her hands together. "I get it! Okay, let's give it a try!"

With that, she floated around him, and Izuku raised his arms slightly, realizing he needed to be in a position to fire out with his hands. She wrapped her arms under his armpits, Izuku too focused on stopping the zero-pointer to even get flustered about it, and with a grunt, she lifted him up into the air, making Izuku let out  a small yelp as he was lifted off the ground and rose into the air. He'd been floated by Ochako's quirk before, many times, but that was when he didn't have any gravity - this was something new, with the girl holding onto him being the only reason he wasn't going to plummet back to the ground.

Immediately, he knew that this wasn't something the blue-haired girl was used to - she was audibly grunting, straining to support his entire weight, and she wasn't flying as quickly up as before, which meant that he must've been slowing her down. But still, they were moving, flying up into the air as the zero-pointer began following their slow ascent with its eyes, evidently finally focusing on them after its brief rampage.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku tried to shove away the images of an injured Katsuki and his mom's arm as he threw his hands back. This was going to hurt, and he had no idea if this was going to hurt the girl holding him up - but this wasn't the time to panic or fear. Glancing down he saw Shoda being carried away by the glasses guy, but they weren't out of the woods yet. Which meant that he needed to take one for the team.

Exhaling, Izuku glared at the zero-pointer staring at him, and threw both his hands forward, hands sparking and electricity surging, and yelled as loudly as he could:

"SMASH!"

Just as his cupped hands slammed together, two bolts of lightning combined together and shot out - but instead of wincing from the pain, Izuku focused. Instead of the lightning just blasting out of his hands, a long stream of green lightning, sparks flying out of his palms, shot the zero-pointer directly in the face. The blue-haired girl behind him wince and closed her eyes at the bright light as the zero-pointer stopped in its tracks, frozen in place as the large beam of energy melted out of the back of its head, and the crowds below watched in awe as Izuku blew a hole through its head.

And then, at last, Izuku couldn't take the pain anymore, throwing his hands back while tears of pain escaped his eyes from how much it hurt. The streams of lightning finally shorted out with a burst of power, making both teenagers floating in the air wince a bit, and Izuku opened his eyes - 

- to see a large hole burnt through the head of the zero-pointer, the entire robot frozen in place before an explosion blasted out of the side of its head. Both Izuku and the blue-haired girl watched as the zero-pointer staggered, evidently powering down by the way its limbs were falling limp, and explosions began blasting out of its body as whatever system was inside was overloaded by the amount of power Izuku shot into it.

Finally, it began to tilt over, before landing hard on its back, rumbling the ground underneath it and shattering the windows of the buildings it landed beside.

For a moment, Izuku watched with wide eyes as the metallic skeleton of the zero-pointer, now bursting into flames, collapsed into the street, slowly realizing that he had been the one who did that. And then -

"ONE MINUTE LEFT, LISTENERS!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, staring blankly ahead for a moment - and then he suddenly became aware of the fact that he was no longer being floated in place, held up by the girl behind him. Rather he was … he was …

"We're falling!" He shrieked as they began plummeting, looking around wildly at the girl who was supposed to be holding him up, and felt terrified at the exhausted and hazy look on the girl's face, her long blue hair beginning to fly upwards in the wind as they fell. "H-hey, are you okay?!"

"S-sorry …" She mumbled, eyes closing slightly, "... my stamina's … all bloopy …"

"Oh, crap!" Izuku quickly looked back down, panicking as the ground loomed closer and closer. Oh crap, were they seriously about to freaking die?! Was there no way out of this?! From what she said, her quirk must be taking some of her stamina, and it looked like she was all out of it! And even then, if she regained some of her strength, there was no guarantee that they'd get out of this in one piece! This meant that she couldn't just fly them out of this, and even then, with his weight, there was no way they'd be able to - that meant -! 

- that meant that it was up to him. But how? How could he -?! Wait! Wait, wait, wait! The Full Gauntlet!

Wincing in pain, Izuku quickly pressed the panel of the support item on his wrist, wincing as it grew around his burned skin from the large blasts of lightning. It wasn't perfect, but maybe if he - he could do it, maybe! So all he needed to do was point his hand at the ground and blast! Clenching his eyes shut slightly, Izuku activated his quirk, crying in pain as the lightning flickered over his injured arm and into the Gauntlet, and then pointed it at the ground as it came closer and closer.

"Okay …” he gritted his teeth, "... here goes …!"

BOOM!

A bolt of lightning blasted out of the Gauntlet, and slammed into the ground they were about to have a messy landing on. Letting out a yelp, Izuku felt his body jerk up, both him and the girl on his back being pushed up - and then back down.

Oh. Oh, crap, that didn't work!

Wincing, Izuku realized that there wasn't any way they were going to get out of this in one piece, so he screwed his eyes tight and moved to wrap his arms around the blue-haired girl protectively, turning so that he would take the blunt of the fall, gritting his teeth tightly as he prepared for a world of pain - 

- until something big and hairy slammed into both of them.

"Ah!" Izuku grunted, eyes snapping open as someone large wrapped his arms around them and knocked them completely off balance. It was only when he felt whoever had caught them land on the ground did he realize what had happened - someone large had jumped up to catch them, managing to tackle them before Izuku could fire off another useless blast, and had landed safely on the ground. 

But before Izuku could thank whoever had just caught them, he heard a low, menacing growl.

"Yooooou ..."

"Eh - huh?" Izuku felt confused, being lowered to lay on the ground, and he looked up to see a very angry dog-looking person glaring down at him, a bit of drool escaping the muzzle he wore - and then the man positively exploded.

"YOU - GRR - ALMOST - GRRRR - HURT - WHAT WE'RE HERE FOR! GRRR - GRRRRRR - GROWL - UNUSED TO - GRRRR -! AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Izuku stared blankly at the hero before him as he threw his head back and howled at the sky in his rage, the sound somehow managing to drown out Present Mic's call that ten minutes had passed and the test was done - and then, with a small 'ah', Izuku's head fell back, eyes rolling into the back of his head as he fainted. He had been so overwhelmed with what had happened, he didn't even notice the girl he still had his arms limply around sitting up, and looked down at him with a shocked and curious look.


"Well, well ... you two certainly had an exciting time out there, haven't you?"

Itsuka and Ochako both let out groans of pain and tiredness as the tiny old lady returned to her office with a new bed in tow, watching as Itsuka slumped against the bed Ochako had been laying on and Ochako herself flopping back into the slightly stiff pillow. They had been taken directly to the nurse's office after the exam had wrapped up the moment they touched back down to the ground - Recovery Girl had been stationed at Battle Center B, so the best they could do at the moment was wait for her to return, with Itsuka sporting uncomfortable bruises all over her body from where she and Ochako had landed on the ground, and Ochako trying not to puke her guts out again.

"Don't worry, honey," Recovery Girl comforted Ochako as the other bed was wheeled into the office, its covers pulled closed to give whoever was on the bed their privacy, "there's nothing shameful about your quirk's side effects. And your sick didn't land on anyone either, if that makes you feel better."

"Yeah," Ochako groaned, raising a hand to rub her forehead while her cheeks went red, "that's … yeah. That makes me feel way better."

"Just eat these," Recovery Girl gave her a few gummy bears, "they're infused with a bit of my quirk's power. It'll assist with healing any minor injuries that were sustained in the practical exam. I will have to use my quirk personally on this patient here - he accidentally fried his hands with his quirk, the poor dearie. That tends to happen with electrical quirks. My nurse will be here in just a second to check on you, I have to visit my office for a moment."

She slowly walked through the door and slid it shut, humming to herself as she left the small patients' room - and unaware of both Itsuka and Ochako blinking, sitting up in their seats and looking around at the third bed that had just arrived.

"Fried … his hands …?" Ochako muttered, feeling suspicious.

"... electric quirk …?" Itsuka's eyes narrowed.

For another moment, they both stared at the third bed - and then Itsuka reached out to grab the sheet that covered it, pulling it back to reveal Izuku laying on the bed, squeaking a bit in terror when he realized that they had caught him looking like a deer in the headlights.

For a moment the three of them quietly studied each other, Izuku nervously and Itsuka and Ochako with veins starting to throb in their foreheads as they glared at him. And then Itsuka muttered, in a low, dangerous voice, "You have five seconds to explain yourself."

Izuku gulped, and nodded. "Zero-pointer. Threatened people. Used my quirk. Hurt myself."

There was another few seconds of tense silence between the three training partners - and then Itsuka let out a sigh and sat back, raising a hand to rub her eyes.

"Shit," She muttered, "we can't reprimand you for doing that because that's why we're here too."

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, grunting as he sat up a bit and relaxed against the pillow now that he knew that he wasn't going to be in too serious trouble. "So - wait, you guys got in a fight with the zero-pointer in your area too?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded glumly, groaning as she sat up and popped one of the gummy bears into her mouth, "it was chasing everyone, and there was a riot, and … well, we kinda stepped in to distract it. Made it punch itself just as time ran out. What about you?"

"Wow …" Izuku blinked at that brief explanation, impressed by his friends' guile, "... that's … that's pretty cool, guys. I was, uh … kinda the same in my area. There was a guy that had been injured, and … and no one was helping him, so me and another girl kind of worked together, and we … uh … we blew up the zero-pointer."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I'm sorry," Itsuka slowly looked around at him, eyes widening into the size of dinner plates, "you blew it up?"

"Y-yeah." Izuku nodded, "I … well, I hadn't been doing anything to stop it, so I had her float me up so I could, uh … I could burn a hole through its head. We were fine afterwards, by the way!"

"... Good god." Itsuka slowly sat back while Ochako tried her best to pick up her jaw from the ground.

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, trying to sit up and wincing at the pain in his arms, "I just - I kind of passed out after we landed, so I …I don't really know how she is. I think she's fine, if she's - if she's not here, but - but I should've made sure. I - I didn't even get her name. I should -"

"Oh, no you don't!"

The three teenagers jumped at the sound of a teasing, youthful voice at the door, and quickly looked around as it slid open - and immediately, all three of them let out squeaks, blushing bright red at the sight of the young girl standing near the entrance.

Holy shit! Itsuka thought as she glanced away, wanting to give this girl at least a little privacy, that's way too much showing!

Firstly, it was obvious that this girl was the nurse that Recovery Girl had said would be in to check on them - mostly due to the white and red color scheme, and the paper hat with the medical cross on it planted carefully on her head. What they hadn't expected, however, was for the girl to be wearing … this particular outfit. As in, a white mini-skirt that showed off her upper thighs, red garters and stockings connecting to, due to the sound of creaking as she bent her knee a bit, what looked to be leather stockings while her feet had on a pair of bright red heels. Above that, she wore a pair of red leather gloves that ended above her elbow, a corset with a lot more belts and straps than a nurse's outfit really needed, and an open shirt that gave a hint of her cleavage. It was such a revealing outfit that even Itsuka, who was considered in their trio to be the one most in control of how embarrassed she could get, needed a second to look away. The outfit looked like something Midnight would wear to come help at a hospital.

The girl wearing it, meanwhile, looked to be about their age, maybe a year older, with ash-blonde hair tied into two messy buns on the side of her head. Her yellow eyes, the pupils kind of resembling a cat, scanned between the three of them, lingering on Ochako before settling on Izuku, and a wide smile appeared on her face, her canines looking more pointed and longer than the rest of her teeth, giving them the impression of a vampire.

"You just need to lay back and relax a bit," She pointed one finger at Izuku, smirking at the very red blush on his cheeks as he quickly averted his gaze, watching him sit up stiffly as she strolled into the room, "we pretty much had to drag you all the way back from the fake city, so you should take a moment to just lean against the pillows and breathe. So! In case you guys don't realize who I am, I'm your nurse, Toga - but you cuties can call me Himiko."

"I - uh - er -" Itsuka coughed a bit, glancing back at the older girl as she walked over to Izuku.

"So how's the pain?" She asked as she sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Izuku's raw and reddened arms with a small tsk, "That looked like it was going to be a nasty fall you were about to have there - lucky for you Hound Dog was there to catch you. Or maybe not, since he's been raving and barking in the teacher's lounge for the last ten minutes - I don't think I've seen him that mad since Midnight accidentally called him a good boy, he gets sensitive about stuff like that."

"U-u-uh," Izuku stammered for a second, keeping his eyes locked on the bed and trying to ignore the girl's revealing outfit as best he could, "s-so you're - you're t-t-the n-nurse?"

"That's right, cutie!" Himiko cheerfully giggled, getting up so she could walk over to the desk near the wall and bending over to fetch something. Izuku tried his hardest not to go supernova at the nickname, continuing to study the sheets like his life depended on it while Itsuka and Ochako tried to calm down their own secondhand embarrassment from this girl's revealing outfit. "I'm technically Recovery Girl's sidekick, in everything but name - she gets to heal the patients, and I make sure that their blood is still pumping."

"... ergh," Izuku weakly grunted, not exactly sure how to address that without bursting into flames.

"And oh, how I know many ways to get the blood pumping," The girl's teasing smirk widened even more somehow, looking around him as she lifted up a thermometer from the desk cabinet, tapping it against her own flushed face, "lots of nice, teasing, juicy ways to get every boy's heart thumping and sending blood all the way down to -"

WACK

As the cane shaped like a syringe slammed down on Himiko's head, the three teenagers jumped in surprise, not having heard Recovery Girl come back at all as the innuendo the fanged girl had been setting up got interrupted by the good smack to the top of her head. The three of them watched as Himiko immediately grabbed the top of her head while wincing in pain.

"Ow! Granny, what the f-?!"

"What are you wearing?!" Recovery Girl reprimanded her, poking Himiko in the side with her cane and causing her to let out another yelp of pain. "I told you time and time again not to wear revealing outfits here! Go get changed back into your gym clothes at once!"

"But I gotta get all the boys' hearts thumping!" Himiko protested in a childish voice, before looking around at Ochako and winking. "And the girls, if they're into that."

Ochako gulped and blushed, while Itsuka felt herself frown.

"I swear," Recovery Girl shook her head in disappointment, walking back over to Izuku as the boy tried to calm down his own blush, "I will feel no sympathy for you when Nezu eventually catches you in these kinds of outfits and puts you in detention. And you better not have been flirting with these children, or I will be sending you back to Midnight for lessons on how to control those 'rampaging hormones' you keep using as an excuse."

"I have not!" Himiko defended herself, looking away with a mock huff. "At least, not like how I regularly flirt with people."

"Don't mind Toga," Recovery Girl shook her head, reaching Izuku's bed and patting his hand, "she's harmless most of the time, she just likes to tease the patients. UA and her friends have done a good job in declawing her, but sometimes she likes to play around."

"Hell yeah, I do!"

"It - uh - it's - it's no problem," Izuku managed to say, sitting forward as Recovery Girl sat down in the chair beside his bed, "so - uh - Recovery Girl, uh - what exactly happens now?"

"Well, I'm going to heal you before you three get sent on your way," She adjusted herself in her seat as she explained, "at least you, sonnie. I've checked with Uraraka and Kendou here, and they'll have enough stamina to get themselves and you home, but I don't want to send you away with these injuries. So I'll just heal you up, double check everything, and you three will be cleared to go home."

"Right! Uh, right. That - that sounds good," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing around. "And … how are you going to heal me?"

"Oh, boy," Himiko giggled from her spot, sitting on the desk, "and you were the one complaining about me kissing the patients."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, blushing a bit at that implication as he looked around at Recovery Girl - and then paled when the old woman's lips suddenly puffed out, stretching away from her face, and shot out to slam against Izuku's cheek.

A minute of horrified screaming later, Izuku was all healed up, although thanks to her quirk he was absolutely exhausted. After double checking Ochako and Itsuka to make sure they weren't injured enough to need her quirk and good to go, Recovery Girl formally excused them, Ochako having the foresight to ask the nurse for her autograph for Izuku to enjoy later. As he stood up, staggering in exhaustion, Itsuka and Ochako wrapped his arms around their shoulders, half-carrying him out the door after thanking Recovery Girl again.

"Good luck with the results, cute kohai!" Himiko waved to them teasingly, eyes locked on Ochako as the brown-haired girl gulped at the look behind sent her way, "I hope you both get in - I think the three of us can have a lot of 'fun', if you catch my drift."

"..."

"... oh, and good luck to you too, Kendou."

As Itsuka moved both her training partners out the door, growling slightly under her breath while Ochako blushed and Izuku murmured, they were aware of the sound of a cane smacking against someone's head, and another loud yelp of pain.


The following week was, in summary, complete and absolute hell.

One long week, and no matter how many calls or texts they sent to him, All Might had seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. As well, due to the chaos of the last few minutes of all of their exams, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka couldn't quite remember how many points they had scored all together, so now they were all in the midst of three separate freak outs. Itsuka's was definitely the calmest freak out, simply sitting at her desk at school tense and feeling like her stomach was shrinking; Ochako's was the second most tense, unable to sleep at night as she rolled over and over in her sheets; and Izuku's was the most panicked, having a midlife crisis at the ripe old age of fifteen years old.

Not helping Izuku and Ochako's cases was Katsuki's own reaction to the exam - something he believed that he had completely and utterly owned. Several people interrogated him over what had happened at UA, which he passed as a joke of an exam that he effortlessly aced, and his belief that he had to have set a record.

"Honestly," He huffed a bit as he rested his feet on the desk, "I probably could've gotten more robots if the dumb zero-pointer didn't come out of nowhere. Still, I know I'm getting in, no fucking question about that."

"What about you, Deku?" Another student asked Izuku as the boy winced, seeing how everyone was smirking. "I bet you pissed your pants the moment the gates opened to let you in."

"I -" He muttered, going red and looking down at his desk, "- I did okay."

"Yeah fucking right!"

"I bet he ran to the nearest corner and hid!"

The entire class began to laugh - and then the door slammed open, making everyone look around to see that Ochako had arrived and was looking thunderous. She stomped into the classroom, grabbing Izuku's wrist, and began pulling him out the door, while the classmates jeered and sneered. Once they were at the door, Ochako turned to Izuku.

"Deku?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Get out your phone and start a video, please?"

"Uh … okay?" Izuku did as was requested, although he wasn't sure why, and held it up to show Ochako facing the class.

"Alright. When I do my thing, run. You'll know when to run."

"Uh … right."

Ochako nodded, looking around at the class as they all smirked and sneered at her, and took one deep breath - 

- and then promptly flipped them off, making everyone freeze with widened eyes and looks of outrage.

"Run Deku!"

"H-huh?! R-run?! Oh, r-right! Run!"

Thankfully, it was a Friday, so Izuku and Ochako didn't need to worry about the school's wrath at Ochako daring to give them the bird until Monday. That evening, after a slightly sullen dinner, Izuku and Ochako sat together on the couch in the Midoriya's apartment, blankly staring at the TV that was turned off as they absently exercised, Izuku with his grip strengthener and Ochako with a small weight.

It had been an okay dinner, with Izuku smiling blankly at his fish while the Urarakas and Inko had given him a worried look, and now here they were, staring at the TV as though their souls had been sucked out of their bodies while Taiyo and Miwa cleaned the dishes and Inko cleaned up behind the two desolate children.

"The, ah ... the results for the exam should be arriving today or tomorrow, right?" Inko asked them as she floated a book over to her with her quirk.

"Yeah."

"And - and Kendou's still waiting for hers as well, right? I know you three have been texting a bit."

"Yeah."

"J-jeez, I - I think it's amazing that you two even applied to UA!" She tried to get their spirits up, worried when Ochako continued to stare blankly at the wall while Izuku slumped his shoulders, "I just want you two to know that I'm proud of you!"

"Y-yeah!" Taiyo called from his spot near the sink, trying to give them a happy grin. "Ya both did us proud!"

"Yeah."

Pausing for a moment before nodding hesitantly, Inko decided to head out to go check the mail, slipping on her shoes while Taiyo and Miwa talked in a small mutter, glancing behind them at the heads of their children as Izuku and Ochako absently exercised. There was about two minutes of silence in the apartment, only broken by the sound of the sink running and the grip strengthener in Izuku's hand creaked as they sat there, stewing in their thoughts -

- and then the door to the apartment slammed open, which was then followed by the living room door being shoved open.

"Izu-Izu-Izu ...!" Inko scrambled on the ground, making everyone in the room look around in shock at her, "Ocha-Ocha-Ocha-Izu-Izu-Izu-Ocha-Ocha! They're here! They came!" With that, she lifted up two envelopes - both of them sealed with the logo of UA. "The results! From UA!"

Both Izuku and Ochako stared blankly at the letters for a moment, feeling their hearts skip a beat and their stomachs lurch uncomfortably at the sight of the two white envelopes. While Taiyo and Miwa slowly approached them from behind, staring at the letters waringly as well, as though they weren't the results from the test but more like bombs, Izuku and Ochako both remained quiet - until they both stood together, letting out shaky breaths, and approached Inko as she hastily stood up.

Together, they both took the envelopes from the smaller woman, turning them over to look at their names printed in neat handwriting.

Alright. The moment of truth.

Together, they both excused themselves to have a moment of privacy, stepping into Izuku's room to open the letters together. Inko, Taiyo and Miwa stood outside the hall, looking worriedly after them as they shut the door quietly behind them. Inside the room, Izuku adjusted his green robe over his shoulders, and he looked over at Ochako as she stood near his desk with the envelope in both her hands.

"So ... uh ..." He cleared his throat, gesturing with his own letter, "... who goes first?"

"I … I don't know. Maybe ..." Ochako bit her lip, and then glanced up at Izuku, "... at the same time?"

"... yeah," He slowly nodded, shaking a bit, "at the same time."

Both of them taking a deep breath, staring at each other in the eye as their hearts hammered in nervousness, they grabbed the ends of the envelope - they could tell that there was something tiny and metal inside along with the letter - and gave the envelopes a tug. The moment the paper ripped, from both envelops came tiny pieces of metal that were sent flying, landing on the desk with two tiny clinks. The two teenagers watched as the pieces of metal rolled onto their sides, making them both blink at them.

For a moment, they stared down at the weird pieces of metal, with wires and circuitry lining both sides, until Ochako had a slightly suspicious feeling. Moving forward, she moved the two pieces together and found that they fitted together in a full circle - and then the center of the tiny thing glowed, and a hologram popped up.

"Boo-yah!" All Might's face, shoved right into the camera, greeted them with a grin, "I am here as a projection!"

Both Izuku and Ochako let out noises of surprise, taking a step back as their mentor's face filled the screen.

"A-All Might?!" Izuku gasped. "W-wait, this - this is - isn't this from UA? Why are you -?!"

"I had to do some paperwork that took some time," All Might shrugged, apparently unaware that Izuku was talking, which suggested that this was something that was pre-recorded, "so I couldn't contact you two or Young Kendou." Clearing his throat, he sank into a small bow. "My apologies. The truth is, I actually came to Musutafu to work at UA!"

"Huh?!" Ochako gasped, while Izuku's jaw dropped to the ground. "You - he's actually teaching at UA?!"

As All Might gave a proud grin, however, a hand off camera came out and poked him, grabbing his attention. "Hm? What is it? Wrap it up? But there's something I have to talk to both of them about, and then Young Kendou - wait, I have to do how many of these things?"

All Might ... they both thought with an exasperated sigh.

"Alright, alright - okay." He straightened up, which made both students gulp nervously as they moved to share the computer chair, squeezing in to sit beside each other. "Now then - as you two may have guessed, since you had to connect the holographic device to receive this message, I am giving both of you your results at the same time. Now let's get down to business, I'm sure you two have been anxiously waiting for your results on the exam."

"Yeah ..." Ochako slowly nodded at that understatement, pouting.

"Now then, to get this out of the way, you two have both passed the written exam with flying colors! I am very proud to say that your studies between yourselves and with Young Kendou have paid off. You both should be proud of yourselves - one tends to forget that a hero's mind is just as important as their body, and you've both done a good job making sure that those minds of yours developed along with your body during your training. But I'm sure that you two aren't too interested in those results. So with that in mind, let's get to the meat of this exam, what you both have been looking forward to - the practical results!"

Gulping, they leaned in, Izuku's foot tapping against the ground nervously.

"To start - Young Midoriya," All Might turned to a golden monitor on the side, raising a remote and pressing the button, and replacing the logo of UA with a video recording. Both watched the video as Izuku ran through the streets, with the Full Gauntlet activated.

"To start, Young Midoriya - I am more than a little pleased that you paid attention to Melissa's instructions and used the Full Gauntlet to its full capabilities." All Might praised. "You also took advantage of Kendou-sensei's teachings to become a beast on the battlefield! While you did receive a distraction due to Young Hadou here -" The screen showed Izuku running along with the blue-haired girl floating behind him, Ochako blinking at the sight - "you showed no hesitation in making sure you got to where you needed to go and fighting off the robots with ease. Despite your shaky start, you made a good layaway."

Suddenly, the screen flickered, showing Ochako and Itsuka fighting off some robots, the sight of which made Izuku straighten up a bit in shock at how ferociously and efficiently they were fighting, and making a small blush appear on his cheeks as he watched them smash robots together.

"Young Uraraka, your decision to work with Young Kendou during the exam was an excellent strategy. Using your quirk to take the high ground and scout out the robots was ingenious as well. You two worked well together - neither of you hoarding the robots to yourself, as well as working together to make sure you were undisturbed. You both didn't even make sure one was disadvantaged over the other! No wonder you would get an impressive score.

"With that, I will be giving you your villain points now. Young Midoriya, you scored an amount of twenty villain points, and Young Uraraka, you scored an amount of twenty-eight villain points." The screen flickered back to All Might, who had put his hands on his hips. "Unfortunately, these scores would normally not be enough to guarantee that you passed the examination, especially you, Young Uraraka - sharing robots to face with Young Kendou did dampen how many villain points you earned. As such, normally, you both would not have passed ..."

Both Izuku and Ochako felt their hearts stop, staring blankly at the screen as All Might shot them down. They both let out shuddering breaths, Ochako turning away briefly to hide her face with her hands and Izuku feeling tears start to prickle in his eyes.

"... but fortunately, that wasn't all there was to the test."

Both Izuku and Ochako stopped their brief breakdowns before they even started, staring blankly at nothing - and then whipped around to see All Might chuckling with a cheeky smile and a wagging finger.

"My apologies, you two, for leading you on, but I'm also an entertainer, as well! I couldn't resist a little poke."

"All Might ..." Ochako growled, clenching her fists tightly while Izuku grabbed his face. "I am going to kick your ass the next time I see you!"

"You see, this test wasn't just graded on villain points alone! Which brings us ... to the end of both of your tests!"

Whirling around, All Might pointed his remote at the TV, and the screen was split in two. Both Izuku and Ochako gasped at the sight that greeted them - on one side, Izuku being lifted up by the blue-haired girl and firing a hole through the zero-pointer's head, and Ochako and Itsuka running along their zero-pointer's arm. But then the screen changed, and they saw ...

"Young Midoriya," All Might explained as they watched Izuku helping the gray-haired boy stand up, "you sacrificed your remaining time to save a student who had fallen. As you may now know, Hound Dog was on the scene to prevent any injuries from becoming fatal, but that doesn't change the fact that you stopped to help a fallen examinee, someone who could also count as a rival. What's more -" The screen shifted, showing the blue-haired girl and the glasses guy helping the two of them out, "- your actions inspired others to come to your aid. And even after that, you became determined to protect the other students - so much so that you took it upon yourself to stop the zero-pointer in its tracks, even at the cost of taking yourself out of the test."

Changing the screen, it now showed Itsuka and Ochako stopping to distract the zero-pointer with the large piece of debris.

"Young Uraraka, you and Young Kendou had no benefit stopping to distract the zero-pointer. But when you had saw the panic the crowd had gotten into, the danger that posed, you decided to take it upon yourselves to stop the zero-pointer from causing a riot. What's more, during your distraction, you both worked together to protect each other. Young Uraraka, you had the idea to float yourself and Young Kendou, to prevent yourselves from getting squashed underfoot. Like with Young Midoriya, there was a teacher on hand to prevent any serious injuries, and yet, you took it upon yourselves to calm the crowd by giving the zero-pointer someone to target, at the sacrifice of everyone else picking off the other robots on the ground."

Stepping in front of the screen showing Itsuka and Ochako floating in the sky, Itsuka patting Ochako's back as she puked, All Might nodded. "How can a hero course reject those who save others and do the right thing? After all, that's what makes a hero. And that's what my alma mater is all about, training those who would risk their lives for the greater good! And that is why we have rescue points! A panel of judges watching the exam, and awarding points for heroic acts beyond just fighting villains! Which would mean -!"

The screen suddenly flashed Izuku's name, and a quick scan of what it said resulted in Izuku leaping from his seat, his jaw dropped and his eyes widened as Ochako likewise did the same, her hands raising to cover her mouth in shock.

"Izuku Midoriya, with twenty villain points and forty five rescue points, in fifth place! Ochako Uraraka, with twenty eight villain points and forty eight rescue points, in third place! And just because I know both of you are curious - Itsuka Kendou, with thirty-four villain points and fifty-two rescue points, in first place! All three of you have passed. Congratulations. It is my honor and privilege to welcome you both to your hero academia!"

With that, the projection faded out, leaving Izuku and Ochako staring in stunned silence at the wall where All Might's face had been, a hand extended out to them, with the only light source being the desk lamp. And then they promptly exploded.

"AAAAAH!" Ochako screamed in validation, kicking the chair back as she ran across the room while pumping her fists in the air. Izuku didn't even try to stop himself from bursting into tears, grabbing his face and sobbing happily as Ochako sprinted in a circle across the room, careful not to knock over any of Izuku's All Might collection.

"We did it!"

"We did!"

Letting out two more cheers, Ochako ran towards him and launched herself at him in a hug, with Izuku able to catch her and spin her in a circle as they both laughed happily -

"Wha' the hell is goin' on, we heard you two scream an' -"

Both Izuku and Ochako froze in place as the door burst open, hearing Taiyo yelling something before he abruptly stopped. Confused, they both looked over to see Inko, Taiyo and Miwa standing in the door, staring at them in shock, while Inko moved her hands to her mouth and Miwa's eyes blew open. Furrowing their brows, the two teenagers looked back at each other, as though to wonder what they were frozen about - and then they realized what position they were in.

Izuku, picking up Ochako, her legs wrapped around his midsection and her hands tightly gripping his shoulders.

"You … you two are busy," Taiyo weakly laughed, slowly backing up and dragging his wife and Inko away, "we'll, uh - we'll come back -"

"WAIT, MOM, NO!"

"MAMA! DADDY! IT'S NOT - W-whoooa-!"

BAM

"Oh, crap, Occhan, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to drop - I - mean - oh, crap!"

"Shit, Chipmunk, you okay?!"

"Ochako!"

Thankfully, the two students were able to rectify the misunderstanding, and hugs and tears were shed the moment the adults found out their children passed the exam, Taiyo ruffling Izuku's hair while Inko tearfully hugged Ochako - although the children were confused as to why Miwa was looking so disappointed at the misunderstanding.


THE KENDOUSQUAD

 

MISS GRAVITY

I PASSED

 

LIZARD GIRL

SO DID I

 

ROCK HARD

ME TOO!

 

MISS GRAVITY

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

 

LIZARD GIRL

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

ROCK HARD

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

SHHHHHHHH

a

 

LIZARD GIRL

you're no fun

yui did you pass?!

 

SHHHHHHHH

that i did

got enough points to land me in the top 30

you people can't get rid of me that easily

 

YAOI HANDS

to my regret

 

SHHHHHHHH

you treat me so horrible itsuka

 and i like it ;)

 

YOU

uuuh

well

moving on

what class are you guys in?

occhan and i are in class 1a

 

LIZARD GIRL

me too!

ua's doing the four recommended students, two students for each class thingy

 

SHHHHHHHH

me too

1a

 

ROCK HARD

1a!

 

YAOI HANDS

1a lol

 

LIZARD GIRL

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

we're all in the same class

this is gonna rock

 

GRAVITY GIRL

but kendou!

you're in first place!

 

LIZARD GIRL

wait what

 

Izuku uploaded one picture

 

YOU

congrats kendou!

 

LIZARD GIRL

OH SHIT

KEN YOU MADLASS

 

YAOI HANDS

lol it's no big deal

i mean it's a pretty big deal, my grandpa actually cracked a smile when i showed him and my mom was actually crying

 

GRAVITY GIRL

wait, kendou-sensei smiled?

impossible

 

LIZARD GIRL

pics or it didn't happen

 

YAOI GIRL

ANYWAY

so i guess we're all going to school together come april lol

this is gonna be great

 

GRAVITY GIRL

it's gonna be awesome!

oh yeah kendou

before i forget

do you remember what we talked about on new years eve? in the locker room?

 

YAOI GIRL

uhhhh

yeah?

 

GRAVITY GIRL

well

it wasn't on my way out

but

 

Ochako uploaded one video: iflipofftheschool.MP4

 

YAOI HANDS

...

uraraka don't take this the wrong way but i love you more than life itself

 

GRAVITY GIRL

;)


... second place.

He only got fucking second place.

Eyes wide and his teeth barred, Katsuki slammed his hands on the desk, trembling in rage. He wanted to believe that his eyesight somehow got fucked up, but no. He was in second place with only eighty points. Eighty fucking points! How the fuck is he not at the fucking top?!

Scanning the list, he felt himself growl when he saw, right underneath his name, fucking Round Face behind him by only four fucking points. Four fucking points! And Shitty Deku was in fifth, at fucking sixty five points! How the fuck did they get that many points, let alone even getting in in the first place?! He was supposed to be the first student from his school to get to UA! His future plan's already been torn to pieces! And he wasn't even in first place to soothe that burn!

Shoving his chair back as he glared up at the hologram, his eyes zoomed back up to the top, feeling his hands grip the surface of his desk in a vice like grip. Who got fucking first? Who?! And then he found it, scanning the points and feeling himself shake in rage when it was only six fucking points ahead of him! Who the fuck was Itsuka K-

- Kendou.

" ... maybe one of us will be able to work with Kendou, though. Depending on where she's sent."

Round Face's whispered words back from the auditorium a week ago echoed in Katsuki's head as he slowly sat down at the desk, feeling his eyes widen. He remembered the bitch from out front of the school. The one who insulted him. Smirked at him with that fucking confident look. Taunted him and made him look weak. Outperformed him. Ruined his future plan. The one who was ...

... who was friends with Shitty Deku and Round Face.

"Kendou." He growled under his breath, feeling sparks and crackles appearing in his palms.

Notes:

And that was Chapter 10! Goodness gracious, a lot happened in this chapter lol - the entrance exam! Setting up Nejire, Himiko Toga, Katsuki's rivalry! And before y'all ask, no, Himiko isn't going to be a serious contender for Izuku and Ochako's feelings - she's just here for fun. Now, Nejire, on the other hand ...

And as you all may have noticed, this chapter got out a lot quicker than the last few! Which was not my intention, lol - I just kind of sat down, thought 'okay let's work on this' and then 16,000 words later I was done and staring blankly at the screen. It's amazing. Please don't expect this to be the norm, or I will fucking die.

Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

p.s. - pls don't hate me for my bad math in the examination results, i know they suck XD

Chapter 11: The Curious Miss Hadou

Summary:

As the first day of UA finally arrives, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka are in high spirits, ready to begin their high school adventures. But things aren't always so calm, as they have to deal with a girl a bit too excited to see Izuku, a bully with a bone to pick with all three of them, and an unexpected trial by fire that may result in one of them getting the boot ... and it's only been twenty minutes since they arrived.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The night after they had been sent their acceptance letters, Itsuka had texted the group chat she and her two training partners used in order to call an impromptu meeting at the beach. Thankfully, after a long day of everyone doting on her - her mom was probably still skipping around the house in her delight that her daughter not only got accepted into her dream school, she scored at the top of one of the hardest schools to enroll in - she finally managed to explain to her family that she needed to meet up with Izuku and Ochako, and slippped out of the house to catch the bus.

As she finally reached the beach, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she breathed in the evening air, jogging down the stairs onto the sand. Her shoes crunching in the sand, she walked a bit closer to the water, unable to stop herself from looking around the beach with pride - not a single piece of litter visible even two months after they finished cleaning, almost as though the citizens of Musutafu saw their efforts and decided to respect by keeping trash away from the beach from now on. Hell, if she looked over at the pier, she could make out a couple watching the waves as well, so seeing people enjoying the beach they had cleaned up put a smile on her face.

Itsuka returned her gaze up into the night sky, smiling at how many stars were visible amongst the clouds tonight. Getting the letter from UA after one long week of stress and mini-panic attacks had been the most heart-stopping moment of her life - her dad had carried it inside from the mailbox with the same air of someone carrying a bomb, her mom had scrubbed the plates from supper with a focused intensity, and when Itsuka had excused herself to head into her room for privacy, her grandfather had merely sat down and waited - although when she had looked closely, she could make out that his shoulders were tensed. Hell, even Gūdo had seemed to be nervous, letting out a small whine as he curled up outside her door and waited.

Honestly, Itsuka couldn't quite blame them for their nervousness - she had been shaking like a leaf herself, opening the letter carefully and pulling out the hologram device to see her results. So it was to her relief that All Might had appeared in the hologram, apologizing for his lack of communication over the last week or so, and told her with a wide smile that she had aced the exam! When she had run out of the room at full speed, barely managing to jump over Gūdo and not trip over him, her mom and dad had squeezed her in such a tight hug her eyes had almost popped out of her head.

And not only that, but All Might confirmed that Izuku and Ochako had passed as well, so there was her last little anxiety that thankfully got resolved. And they had also made it to the top five! Or top three in Ochako's case. Well, anyway, that didn't matter, since -

"Kendou!"

She jumped a bit at the sound of a familiar voice calling out her name, and looked around with a smile. Speaking of her training partners, there was Izuku and Ochako hurrying down the stairs to the beach, both of them dressed a bit warmly for the early March evening and looking really happy to see her, Izuku excited and Ochako beaming at her. Indeed, Itsuka felt her heart lighten at the sight of her friends - this long week waiting for the results, with none of them going to the beach or dojo, or meeting up at a cafe to study for the written exam, meant that this was the longest they haven't seen each other since they started working together on this very beach, and - okay, she'd admit it, she missed them.

Only a little bit. Not too much. Definitely not a lot.

"Hey!" She greeted them, giggling when Izuku skidded to a stop and nearly toppled over onto the ground, being saved by Ochako grabbing his shirt and making sure he didn't flop face first into the sand, "Thanks for meeting with me so soon, guys."

"Of course! Is - is everything okay?" Izuku looked a bit worried for a moment, glancing down at the phone in his hand and then back up to her, "You wanted to meet up with us so late - are you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, everything's fine! I mean -" Itsuka glanced at her phone to look at the message she had sent them, and blinked when she realized that it was … well … a little vague. Letting out a little chuckle, she raised a hand to scratch the back of her head sheepishly.

"- okay, I kinda see where you're coming from, Midoriya, sorry about that. Everything's okay, honest. I just … well, I wanted to see you guys. I've spent all day getting congratulated by everyone who came into the dojo for my grandpa's lessons now that we aren't gonna be doing those every weekend anymore, so I haven't been able to escape the house until now."

"I mean, I don't blame them for being excited," Ochako balled her fists excitedly, bouncing a bit as she beamed at her, "you scored first place! You're top of the class!"

"I mean, if we're being technical, I'm top of the class, excluding the recommended students," Itsuka shrugged, blushing a bit at the praise but still making sure to high-five Ochako when the brown-haired girl raised her hand to her, "but let's not forget that you scored third, Uraraka, that's awesome! The only reason I'm in first place was because I was working with the best partner I could've had. Uh - no offence, Midoriya."

"None taken, I completely agree," He chuckled, waving it off as he also looked out at the water with a soft smile. "Our acceptance letter kind of showed us what you two did in your exam - you guys were awesome together!"

"But Deku, you scored fifth place! And you did that all by yourself! That's even more awesome than us working together!"

"O-oh, no, I - I wasn't alone, Occhan. I had … uh … that girl," He blushed a bit over how little he knew about the girl who had helped him, and let out a sigh as he sagged his shoulders, looking a bit disappointed in himself.

"I just … I wish I had gotten her name before I passed out. Now I don't even know if she passed too. I - I hope so, at least. I don't ... I don't think I would've done so well if it wasn't for her."

Ochako and Itsuka glanced at each other, a bit taken aback by Izuku's sad face, and Itsuka smiled as she reached out to pat his shoulder.

"I'm sure she did, Midoriya," She comforted him, “whoever this girl was, I'm sure that she passed. I mean, from the sound of things, you teamed up with her for your whole exam, right? If you scored so high, odds are she might've too. Who knows, we might see her again one we start attending UA, and you can thank her for helping you out."

"I … guess so," Izuku sighed, shaking his head and trying to smile at her again. "Still … yeah, sorry for bringing the mood down, guys. We - we should be celebrating. Kendou, you actually beat Kacchan's score!"

"Oh, I noticed that," Itsuka grinned proudly and mischeviously, looking out at the water while Ochako giggled in glee, "what are the chances he's freaking out right now? Like, temper tantrum level, banging his fists against the ground kind of freaking out. Because that's the vibe I got from him."

"Oh, pretty high," Ochako freely admitted, while Izuku winced a bit and nodded reluctantly in agreement, "ooooh, he must be having a full on meltdown right now, you beat him by only six points!"

"Well, as funny as it is to think about how much he must be melting down right now," Itsuka shrugged sheepishly, "getting first place doesn't really say much unless I keep working as hard as I can to stay on top. This probably just means I'll be having lots people looking at me expectantly from now on - y'know, teachers and other students wanting to be my rival."

"I mean … wasn't that what was going to happen anyway? What with All Might making you his successor?"

"... oh, shit, I didn't even think about that," Itsuka groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head while Izuku and Ochako giggled a bit, "I just ... kinda assumed it'd always be on the down low that he taught us. I never actually considered that everyone'll eventually find out about that."

"I mean," Izuku shrugged, the small trio turning to start walking down the beach together, "I always figured that All Might would tell everyone he taught you, but he wouldn't say anything about training me or Occhan - n-not that we're bitter, or anything! I just always thought that you were the priority, and we were just two middle-school students that he wanted to help get ready for the entrance exam."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, putting her hands in her coat pockets, "no one's really going to be interested in two kids All Might trained to use their quirks when they also have you to compare us with - y'know, All Might's actual successor. Still though," She smirked over at Izuku, tapping his shoulder with hers, "you think we can put that on our resumes? Got told to clean a beach by All Might."

"Did a spring internship with All Might," Izuku chuckled as well, joining in her giggling, "put it in the 'other experiences' column, as a footnote."

"'Mr. Midoriya,'" Ochako imitated an older man's voice, "'it says here that you cleaned a beach during your last year of middle school. Could you elaborate on that'?"

"'W-well, I cleaned up a beach,'" He played along, smiling at Ochako's giggling, "'helped out my best friend and our mutual friend, and … hm, what else, uh … oh, and All Might supervised, but that's not a big deal, did you know I carried an entire bench around the beach? Now that was heavy.'"

While the two friends giggled and joked together, Itsuka leaned off slightly to the side, letting them be adorable beside her - but her smile had slipped off her face, looking away from Izuku and Ochako over to the water as she frowned to herself.

"No one's really going to be interested in two kids All Might trained to use their quirks when they also have you to compare us with - y'know, All Might's actual successor."

Honestly, that didn't sound very fair, Itsuka thought to herself as she put her hands in the pockets of her brown coat. She had reluctantly accepted that there was going to probably be a lot of attention on herself when she finally got to UA in a month or so, seeing as she scored first place in the exam, and like Ochako said, eventually everyone would find out that she was All Might's successor, thus bringing even more attention on her. But hearing that Izuku and Ochako would probably have to be put on the side, and the two of them willing to take a backseat for her … it didn't sit very right with her.

She didn't want her training partners to be cast off to the side while everyone paid more attention to her, she thought with a pout. Although ... to be honest, she never really considered what would happen once they did get into UA, a thought that made her stomach clench slightly - what would happen if, for some reason, they had to drift apart? There would be internships and exams and all that stuff that she might have to do without them - but would she even be able to do that? Of course she would, she shook her head, but ... but she probably wouldn't like it.

She'd much rather ...

"Uh - anyway," Izuku looked around a bit at her, which drew her attention and brought her out of her suddenly morbid thoughts, "do you know if All Might is going to meet up with us at any point, Kendou? I know that he said that he's been getting ready for - y'know, teaching at UA, apparently - but I thought that he would've tried to arrange a meeting with us before we start high school."

"Huh? Didn't he tell you in his video?" Itsuka blinked, looking over at Ochako as the brown-haired girl also looked confusedly at her. "He said in my acceptance letter that between getting ready to teach at UA, and the dumb investigation that made him miss out on the last two months of our training, he's probably not going to be able to actually see us in person until we get to UA. Which … sucks, but, y'know, what can we do? It is what it is."

"That's true," Ochako hummed, pouting slightly at the thought of her mentor as she put her hands in her pockets, swinging around to walk slightly in front of Izuku and Itsuka as she walked backwards to still look at them, "still, him and me are gonna have a few words once we actually see him in person again - he freakin' faked us out and made us think that we failed our exam during his message to us."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah! He was all, 'ooh, you three didn't score high enough to get in … if not for the rescue points’. Gave me a heart attack."

"Oh. Well, in that case, yeah, he's a dead man the next time we see him," Itsuka lightly agreed with her, making Ochako giggle and Izuku gulp nervously for their mentor, "but that'll come at a later time. Right now, we should be focusing on the positives."

"Uh … okay? And … what are the positives?"

"Well, how about the fact that in a month or so, we're all going to be in the same class?"

Ochako gasped, lighting up excitedly. "That's right! We don't have to see each other only on the weekend or after school anymore, we can hang out all the time!"

"Plus, we can meet up at the train station and walk to school together."

"T-that sounds great!" Izuku nodded happily, all three of them beaming at the thought of their school situation in a month or so. "We can hang out more often now, and we can also meet up with Tokage, Kodai and Kirishima now that we're going to see them more often! Just …"

The two girls blinked, looking around at Izuku as he faltered as a thought obviously came to him, and then he sighed and sagged his shoulders.

"... we'll also probably have to deal with Kacchan eventually, too. He's … probably not going to be very happy with any of us."

"Well, that's a bridge we can cross later," Itsuka shrugged, putting the thought aside as she moved to wrap her arms around both her friends' shoulders, Izuku blushing a bit at the contact and Ochako giggling as she wrapped her own arm around the pony-tailed girl's waist, "and I've already promised him that he and I are gonna be having a discussion eventually, anyway - and we all know that's gonna be a loud conversation. But I'm not going to worry about it right now - we passed the exam, we're going to UA, and we're going to be in the same class. I'm sure life's not going to be throwing us any more curveballs than it already has."


“…”

“…”

“… Deku -“

“No, Occhan.”

Ochako pouted, and returned her gaze to the window, fuming as Izuku scowled in the seat beside her. They sat in silence for a few more seconds, the train they were on rumbling on the track as people chatted around them, and then she let out a little whine and wheeled back around to Izuku, who had his arms crossed high on his upper chest, preventing her from reaching out and fixing the problem herself.

"It's just - grr, Deku, ties don't look like that! Just let me fix it!"

"This is how my dad does his ties!" Izuku defended himself, leaning away from Ochako as she tried to pry his hands away from the red tie of his new school uniform, "There's nothing wrong with it!"

"Deku, the knot's too big! The tail's bunched up too short as well! Just - Deku, stop swatting my hands, I can fix this!"

"There's nothing to be fixed!"

"Deku, it's either going to be me fixing your tie, or it's going to be Kendou, and if you're as sassy with her as you are with me, I'm not gonna defend you when she decides to choke you with it!"

Izuku merely pouted, pathetically fighting off Ochako's equally pathetic attempts to move his arms away so that she could fix his tie as the train began slowing down, heading into the train station where they would meet with Itsuka, Setsuna and Yui. After a long month of waiting at Aldera, their shellshocked and gape-mouthed classmates throwing them dirty looks at their success and Katsuki ignoring their very existence as he glared a hole into his desk, the time had come. Now, it was time for them to head to UA High School, this time as students. Izuku and Ochako had met outside their apartments in the morning after their parents had sent them out the door, both of them looking around beaming at each other and wanting to have a look at each other in their new school uniforms … only for Ochako's eyes to immediately trail down to his tie, and after that, they had spent the entire trip to the train station with Ochako being fended off by Izuku in her attempts to fix it.

Once they stepped off the train, Izuku vainly trying to bat her hands away from his neck again, they suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out to them.

“Yoo-hoo! Future classmates!"

Blinking and looking around, Izuku and Ochako saw Setsuna running over to them, a large smile on her face as she waved at them in a uniform the exact same as Ochako's, albeit without a pair of tights on her legs. Coming up behind her from another train was Itsuka and Yui, both girls looking around at their arriving friends with smiles (or a singular smile, in any case - Yui's eyes immediately flickered to Ochako's legs and let out an approving hum) as they hurried over towards them.

"Looking sharp, you two!" Setsuna giggled as she reached them, patting Ochako's shoulder and grinning up at Izuku, "I mean, we're all looking pretty kick ass right now, but you two especially. All of us in our cool skirts, and Midoriya being the only one here with pants. Not gonna lie, I'm a little jealous."

"Me too," Itsuka shook her head, smiling as she joined the small circle, shivering a bit, "it's still a little breezy, socks don't do much for bare legs. Honestly, Uraraka, you got the right idea for leggings, I should've thought of that."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, keeping his eyes up at the top of their heads - he'd already somewhat blushed at how nice Ochako looked in her new school uniform this morning, no way he'd be able to look down at Itsuka and Yui in that attire as well without bursting into flames - but he was soon distracted by Ochako grabbing his shoulder and pointing dramatically at his tie.

"Kendou, look at this!" She insisted, ignoring Izuku groaning tiredly as he realized that she really was going to drag their training partner into this. "There's no way that we can let him walk around like this, can we?"

Izuku rolled his eyes and threw his hands up in slight defeat, giving the arriving three girls a look at his tie. Itsuka stared at it for a moment, glancing around to Ochako as she gestured wildly to it - and then she sighed, her shoulders drooping slightly.

"Nope," She shook her head, walking over and swatting Izuku's hands aside to get to his tie, "we're making our high school debut, Midoriya, there's no chance I'm letting you walk into UA with a tie like that. Just give me a second, I'll fix it up.”

"Not you too - it's fine!"

"It's not fine, you look like a fashion disaster, just - let me - stop struggling -!"

"Kendou, c'mon, it's fine!"

"Let her do it, Deku!"

"Midoriya, I will kick your ass in the middle of this train station, move your arms!"

With that, the small group began walking out of the train station towards their high school, the walk to UA consisted of Yui and Setsuna leading them forward and glancing behind them occasionally to look at the trio bickering about Izuku's tie, the fashion disaster now having to deal with two girls fighting with him to take off the tie around his neck and fix it, with Izuku's arms somewhat getting pinned by Itsuka while Ochako worked to get the tie loosened. As they fought the hard fight, Setsuna checked her phone, and blinked when she saw that they had received a text message in the main group chat, opening it up to have a look.

"It's Kirishima," She informed Yui as the stoic girl looked around at her curiously, "he's wondering if he could meet up with us before we head into the school. Says he's got something to show us."

"Well, we're almost there anyway," Yui looked around, pointing at the tall main building of UA coming up in the distance as they moved up the hill, the cherry trees lining the path gently raining down pedals around them. From what they could see as they walked down the sidewalk, they could make out one red-haired student standing near the gate, checking his phone, but seeing as they had no idea who he was, they paid him no heed, instead looking around for Eijirou as Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako fought for control of the tie around his neck, Itsuka threatening to choke him out with it while Ochako pinned Izuku's arms to the side.

And then, once the sound of their voices reached the red-headed student, he looked around at them with a weak smile.

"Hey, guys!" He waved to them weakly, gulping a bit nervously.

The boy calling out to them made the group freeze in their tracks - Izuku barely fighting off Itsuka while Ochako pinned his arms, Yui leaning back to take a look at Setsuna's rear as the green-haired girl tucked some of her hair behind her ear - and slowly, they looked around at the boy with spiked up red hair, two tufts spiked up on either side of his forehead like horns, and a nervous grin on his face as he waited for their reaction.

"... huh?" Itsuka squeaked quietly.

"What in the ..." Ochako stared at him in surprise.

"Huh." Yui raised an eyebrow.

"That's, um ..." Izuku trailed off, not really sure what to make of this, "... wow."

"Dude!" Setsuna was the most vocally surprised, pointing up in shock. "What happened to your hair?!" Hurrying forward, she got up in Eijirou's face and stared up at his new hairstyle in delight. "Trying to look nice and spiffy for high school? It's a nice look! If I'd known, I'd have styled my hair too! Does Mina know about this?"

"Uh - y-yeah, I - I already met up with her, she's gone ahead to the classroom," Eijirou pointed weakly over his shoulder through the gate, and going red as everyone stared up at his new hairdo, "and just … uh … oh, come on, Tokage, don't tease me about it!"

"Oh, I'm not, bro!" Setsuna raised a finger to poke his hair experimentally, as though wanting to see if it was pointy enough to draw blood, "I mean it, it's a good look! Very eye-catching!"

"I -" Eijirou hesitated again, and then sighed and slumped forward a bit, running a hand through his hair, "- okay, look, you guys remember that time I told you that I was … y'know, that I thought that I was a coward? Back last summer?"

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blinked at that question, glancing between each other. Remembering back to the slumber party during the summer, Ochako looked around and nodded.

"Uh … yeah, Kirishima. I think you said that you - what was it - that you wanted to be someone who believes in living a life without any regrets?"

"Yeah," Eijirou nodded, straightening up slightly, "and … well, I think this is my first step towards not regretting anything anymore - y'know, trying to stand out instead of fading in the background. I'm gonna leave my old lame self behind. So … uh … I know you guys won't judge me over this, but … can you keep my dumb middle-school self on the downlow? At least for now, until I'm confident enough to tell people?"

The group paused, glancing between each other as Eijirou tried hard not to appear too desperate - and then Itsuka giggled, nodding and finally giving Izuku a break by letting go of his red tie to approach the now red-haired boy.

"Alright, Kirishima," She moved forward to punch his shoulder, "your secret is safe with us. As far as we know, you've always had red hair that looks like you put a fork in a light socket to get it that way."

"Hey!" Eijirou laughed a bit, clearly relieved as he punched her shoulder back. "This took a lot of effort, you know! I've been up since, like - three in the morning to get my hair this way!"

"Anyway," Itsuka turned to look back at their group, rolling her eyes as Izuku very subtly slid behind Eijirou and Setsuna as human shields, hiding so he would be out of reach of the two girls who had been fighting with him all the way up the mountain over his tie, "we'd better get moving, people - we don't wanna be late on our first day of school. Midoriya, I'll let you keep the tie that way today, but just so you know, this isn't over."

Izuku let out a small sigh of relief that he would be spared from getting choked for at least a bit, and took a moment to also compliment Eijirou's hair, which made the taller boy beam and give both him and Ochako fist bumps. Together, the group walked through the main gate, giggling slightly in glee as they pressed the student badges they got in the mail a few weeks ago against the scanner to get in, and they all moved up the path, walking past the various busts of pro heroes that were former students of the academy, and towards the large doors.

Granted, the small group only got lost once, which no one could really fault them for seeing as the main building was a large labyrinth of glass and doors to other classrooms, but after Itsuka had asked an upperclassmen for directions, they were soon on the right path, heading up to nearly the top floor and walking along the glass windows that showed off the city and ocean, and together, they began scanning the signs on the doors.

"1A … 1A …" Itsuka muttered to herself, reading each door sign they walked past as everyone nervously adjusted their bags, "... 1C … 1B … oh! Right here, 1A!"

"Huh," Yui looked up at the door as they stood in front of it, raising an eyebrow, "much … bigger than I thought it was going to be."

That was a bit of an understatement, the group thought to themselves as they looked up at the door that easily dwarfed them in size. It was as though the staff were expecting utter giants to attend the class - although maybe they were, depending on a student's quirk, so maybe it was for accessibility. Still, they couldn't think of any other comments to make about the door's size since they were more than a little relieved that they arrived before the bell, and the group nervously began prepping themselves about heading in - unaware of the sound of a pink-haired girl going into the door of Class 1B while loudly telling her friend to behave herself over in the sister class.

"So ..." Setsuna adjusted her backpack on her shoulders, trying to look confident but unable to fight down a slight wobble in her grin, "shall we go in?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, gulping a bit nervously as he adjusted his yellow backpack on his shoulders as well, "let's - let's just hope that we don't - you know - we don't have to deal with anything unpleasant."

While Yui, Setsuna and Eijirou looked confused at that, Ochako and Itsuka shared a small, knowing look as Izuku tried to hype himself up. They had a feeling that they both knew exactly who Izuku was thinking about - Katsuki, for reasons that should be obvious, and the obnoxious glasses guy who had called him out in front of literally all the examinees. Letting out her own sigh, Ochako tried to look encouraging, moving forward to pat her best friend's shoulder.

"Don't worry, Deku," She smiled comfortingly at him, deciding to just get this over with and reaching out to slide the door open, giving their small group a first look into the classroom they would be in for the next few years, "I'm sure that everything's going to be fine, and we won't be in the same classroom as -"

"Remove your foot from that desk!" The guy in glasses barked loudly, pointing.

"Eh?" Katsuki sneered back up at him, relaxing said foot on the desk he had taken even though his designated desk was over near the window.

Both Izuku and Itsuka paused at the sight of literally the only two people Izuku didn't really want to see in this classroom having a rather loud argument, with the guy in glasses yelling and pointing scandalously at the offending foot on the desk whie Katsuki smirked confidently, leaning back like he was the king of the castle. As Izuku smiled stiffly and Itsuka's shoulders drooped, they both looked around at Ochako, who likewise slumped forward in defeat and nodded glumly.

"Yeah, this one's on me." She accepted before either of her friends could point it out.

"Don't you think it's rude to the UA upperclassmen and the people who made this desk to have your foot up there so carelessly?!" The guy in glasses tried to argue, unaware of the arriving students and everyone already in the classroom watching the argument awkwardly. "Such an action is insulting to those who came before us, as well as the craftsmen of this desk!"

"Is it rude? Hm, let me think …" Katsuki snarked, leaning back with a mock-thoughtful gesture, "... no. As a matter of fact, I don't think so. What middle school are you from, you two-bit extra?"

"What?! 'Extra'?!" The glasses guy gasped, appalled as he raised one hand indignantly to his chest, "I'll have you know that I am from Somei Private Academy! I believe I've already introduced myself, but perhaps you didn't hear. Please, let us start over - my name is Tenya Iida."

"Somei?!" Katsuki's sneer widened in delight. "So you're a damn elite, huh? Think you're better than me? I'm gonna have fun blowing you to bits!"

"Blow me to bits?! You would threaten your fellow classmate?! What nerve! Do you really wish to become a hero?!"

While the two boys continued to bicker, the group at the door watched with less and less enthusiasm by the minute, Yui being the only one slightly positive as her eyebrow raised in intrigue the longer she looked at the glasses guy, who's name was apparently Tenya; Setsuna glanced between the arguing boys with a tired, already-over-today look; Izuku felt his shoulders sag and a weak smile come to his face at the fact that the two people who had a bone to pick with him were his classmates; Itsuka slowly massaged her forehead as though she had a headache already; Ejirou glanced between the two arguing boys in concern; and Ochako looked like she was about ten seconds from dropping out of her dream school and going literally anywhere else.

And then, from behind them, they heard someone gasp.

"It's you!"

Izuku blinked a bit, suddenly straightening up at the sound of running feet - that voice was familiar, he realized, looking around in curiousity. However, he didn't have much time to think about where he had heard the high-pitched, almost childish voice before, as someone had charged right towards him and slammed straight into him in a large hug, making him stagger away from the door with a yelp and almost lose his footing as someone very soft and very enthusiastic held on to him tight. Itsuka and Ochako jumped a bit at the noise slightly behind them, and looked around in confusion - only for their eyes to blow open in shock at the sight of a girl embracing Izuku tightly, the green-haired boy finally registering what was happening and freezing up in horror as his face exploded into a blush.

"It's you! It's really you!" The mysterious girl happily said, and finally moved her head off his shoulder. Izuku felt his eyes immediately flicker to the girl holding on tight to him, feeling himself tremble with the subtlety of a washing machine from the sudden hug as she backed up slightly - and then he stopped, feeling his eyes widen even more and his jaw drop.

"I-it's you!"

"Yeah!" The blue-haired girl nodded enthusiastically, her hands holding on tight to the back of his uniform as she gave him a joyous look. "It's me! And it's you! Gosh, I was really worried about you, you know! They took you away after you fainted! That was really scary! I wanted to make sure you were okay, but I completely forgot to get your phone number afterwards, and I didn't see you leave the school after the exam, and Yuuyu got tired of waiting and dragged me away. Ah, but if you were unconscious, I wouldn't have been able to get your contact info anyway. But I should've tagged along with you to the nurse's office to make sure you were okay, so that's probably on me ... oooh, but I'm just so happy to see that you passed, too!"

With that, she went back in for another tight hug, which made Izuku freeze up in horror again as something soft pressed against his chest. His hands stuck out stiffly out from behind her, feeling himself shake as he got a small whiff of her perfume from how closely she was clinging to him -  

- wait. Something … soft was pressing against his chest? They were practically chest-to-chest right now with how close she was to him, so that must've been her - 

- that was her -!

As Izuku looked ten seconds from fainting, all the blood in his body rushing up to his face with shocking speed, Itsuka and Ochako felt the life drain from their eyes from what they were looking at, Ochako slightly tilting her head with her mouth slowly closing into a thin line while Itsuka's one hand balled into a surprisingly tight fist, her fingernails digging into the skin of her palm as it began shaking.

"Er …" Setsuna coughed awkwardly a bit, drawing the blue-haired girl's attention as she lifted her head off Izuku's shoulder to look around at her in curiosity, "... what's up, girl? Who … exactly are you, and why are you clinging to Midoriya?"

"Ooh! Yeah, I should probably do introductions before I forget again!" Finally, mercifully, she let go of Izuku to back up a bit, the green-haired boy sighing a bit in relief as he tried to get in control of his blush, unaware of Itsuka and Ochako turning their lifeless eyes from him to the girl in their uniform as she curtsied a bit, "My name is Nejire Hadou! I guess this means that I'm going to be your classmate, since we're all in 1A! Or maybe some of you guys are in 1B, and you mistook the door? This is 1A, in that case, the door for Class 1B's over there! But when Yuuyu went into 1B, it looked kind of full, so you guys are all probably in 1A with me too. But wait," She suddenly blinked, her eyes trailing to the top of Setsuna's head and then back to Izuku, unconcerned about why exactly he had his arms wrapped around his very red face so tightly, "hey, hey, I just noticed, you two both have green hair! Are you siblings? Or maybe it's dyed, and you're doing a thing. Should I have dyed my own hair green? That would take a lot of effort, my hair's pretty big - I'd have had to start a few days ago to get it all the way green."

"Uh - heh," Setsuna chuckled a bit weakly at how fast the girl before them was talking, "you'd, uh - you wouldn't be the only one that noticed our hair being similar, but no, we're not siblings - we just both have green hair, complete coincidence."

"Wow!" Nejire nodded happily, unaware of Yui's eyes flickering down to her chest and nodding with satisfaction, as she wheeled around to Ochako, glancing down at her hands and blinking. "Ooh, and you look like you have cat beans for fingers!"

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked, taken abruptly out of - whatever the hell mood she was in when she had seen that hug - and looked down at her hand, turning it around to look at the pads on her fingers. Without warning, Nejire surged forward, grabbing Ochako's hand to take a closer look at her fingers in curiosity.

"Yeah, they look like tiny cat toes!" She noted, giggling a bit as she smiled at the taken aback Ochako, "I have a cat too, I love playing with her little fingers. But wait," Nejire's gaze flickered upwards, behind Ochako's shoulder, and her eyes widened, "you have green hair too!"

"Kero?"

The small group outside the door blinked a bit at the new voice - or ribbit - and looked around, realizing … oh.

Oh, great. They'd managed to catch the attention of the entire class with their little, not exactly quiet conversation. As in, every student currently seated was giving them a confused or bemused look, which made Izuku stiffen up at the sudden attention and Ochako going a bit red in embarrassment. 

Nejire, however, didn't seem to mind at all, seeing as she ran into the classroom without an ounce of shame and leaned against the desk of a green-haired girl with a strangely frog-like appearance, with a wide mouth, big dark eyes, and hair tied up into the shape of frog-legs.

"Ooooooh, you're a frog!" Nejire gasped, looking absolutely delighted, "What kind of frog are you? You're a tree frog, right? Not a toad!" Her gaze flickered around, catching sight of another boy. "And you've got a lightning bolt in your hair? Is that a natural thing, or did you dye it in to look cool? And wow, your ponytail is awesome! So much hair! I wish I could tie my hair up like that, but it's really long and heavy. And you! You keep glaring at me like you want me to shut up - but you were yelling a little bit earlier, I could hear you from down the hall, so I don't think you can say anything. Also, your hair's really pointy. Ooh, and you! You've got horns! And so do you! Can I touch them?"

"Hhhhhhuh." Itsuka tilted her head a little bit as Nejire zoomed around the classroom asking question after question, not entirely sure what to make of the energetic girl - she seemed more air-headed than anything - and moved aside so that Setsuna and Eijirou could walk into the room at long last. Not as embarrassed that she had been the centre of attention a few moments ago, Setsuna waved at Mina sitting at the front of the class in the desk beside her, the pink girl smiling up at her and then turning to wiggle her eyebrows at Eijirou's hair, the boy trying his best to ignore her teasing look as he made his way over to his desk. Suddenly, the attention of the trio turned to the glasses guy, who had straightened up at the sight of them.

Clearing his throat, Tenya began walking determinately towards Izuku, arms swinging around stiffly as he marched over. Blinking, and realizing that he was looking straight at the boy on either side of them, Itsuka and Ochako moved protectively in front of him, as though to act as his human shields in case the blue haired boy decided that in addition to insulting Katsuki (who, by the way, was giving the trio at the door the stink eye while Yui continued to stare up at Tenya in intrigue), he wanted to drag Izuku through the mud a bit more.

"Good morning!" He greeted them loudly, his eyes locked on Izuku as he marched over, "I am from Somei Private Academy. My name is -"

"I heard!" Izuku managed to squeak out, going a bit red when Tenya stopped in his tracks and looked taken aback by the interruption. "I'm, uh - I'm Izuku Midoriya. It's - it's nice to meet you, uh - I-Iida. I mean - er - formally, this time, we - we've already kind of met."

Tenya paused at that, not even minding Itsuka and Ochako giving him twin suspicious looks, and then put his hands down on his sides, giving him a serious look, "Midoriya. You perceived the true nature of that practical exam, didn't you?"

"I - huh?" Izuku tilted his head slightly in confusion, while Itsuka and Ochako blinked and exchanged an unsure glance.

Dramatically, Tenya chopped his hands into a weird gesture, a look of regret on his face, "You realized there was something more to that test. I had no idea … I completely misjudged you! I hate to admit it, but you are a far superior candidate, and student, to me. Please, accept my apologies for my harsh judgment of you during the orientation and at the test."

"Uh - er -" Izuku stammered a bit, feeling himself blush again in embarrassment while Itsuka and Ochako felt more than a little confused by the complete one-eighty this guy had apparently gone through since they had last seen him, "- I - I didn't - er - I didn't perceive anything, Iida, I - I promise! I swear, I didn't know anything about the r-rescue points until after the exam, please - please don't put yourself down. I - I couldn't have rescued Shoda without you showing up to help me, so I - I don't think I'm the better student."

Tenya looked surprised at that, but still nodded and gave him a smile. "Well, then, I must apologize for making that assumption! I will take your word for it. But regardless, your modesty only proves your worthiness!"

Izuku let out a weak laugh at that, but still gave the taller boy a wobbly smile as Itsuka and Ochako relaxed a bit to his sides - it appeared that Tenya wasn't actually a dick, he just had a bit of a stick up his ass. Once they had gotten past his stiffness, Izuku could see that he was really just a bit too earnest. Regardless, Izuku hesitantly stuck out his hand to offer to Tenya, who happily took it in a firm handshake.

"A-anyway, like - like I said, I'm Midoriya, and - and these are my friends." He gestured to the girls standing beside him. "This is Itsuka Kendou, and Ochako Uraraka, and Yui Kodai."

"A pleasure to meet you!" Tenya politely said as he likewise shook their hands, and then once Itsuka and Ochako introduced themselves to him, he moved to take Yui's hand as well. The stoic girl continued to stare blankly up at him, which made Tenya pause for a moment and feel slightly taken aback.

"Er … Kodai, was it? Are you feeling alright? You seem to be staring at me for some reason."

"Mm-hm." She nodded, and then slid her hand out of his grip and walked into the classroom, flipping her hair nonchalantly as Tenya looked at her in confusion. Itsuka and Setsuna, meanwhile, blinked at that action from their best friend, Setsuna turning in her seat to look after Yui as she moved down the rows to her designated seat. Itsuka wrinkled her brow a bit as she leaned in to look after the quiet girl, wondering what exactly the hell that was -

"If you're just here to make friends, then you should pack up your stuff now and go play somewhere else."

The trio standing at the door jumped a bit, Nejire pausing her interrogation of a student with a raven's head, and Tenya blinking his confusion at Yui's weird coldness, and everyone looked around to where the flat, deadpanned voice came from - and then looked down. Laying on the ground before them, on his side, was what appeared to be a giant yellow caterpillar - no, wait, that wasn't a giant bug, it was a sleeping bag, and inside it, zipped up all the way to his chin, was a pale man with long black hair, some serious scruff on his face, and looking so worn out Itsuka briefly thought for a moment that his blank stare meant that he passed out.

"Welcome to the hero course," He said in a droned voice, unzipping the bag a bit from the inside and bringing a jelly bag out of … somewhere to put in his mouth and immediately begin sucking on it.

What … Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka thought with a bit of terror, while Tenya gulped nervously … what is that thing?!

Slowly, the yellow caterpillar man stood up, and let out a small grunt as he zipped the bag down, revealing a slender man wearing a black, baggy t-shirt and pants, with a utility belt around his waist and a gray scarf wrapped securely around his neck and shoulders.

"It took you all nearly eight seconds to shut up. Time's a precious resource. You lot aren't very rational, are you?"

"Uh … rational?" Itsuka gulped a bit, watching as the man stepped out of the sleeping bag and held it loosely in his hand. "W-wait, are you - do you work here?"

"That's right," The man nodded, looking around at the students as they muttered quietly to themselves, letting out a tired sigh. "I'm your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Nice to meet you."

Homeroom teacher?! Seemed to be the collective thought of everyone in the classroom, staring at the worn out man in shock, but Nejire gasped, running around the desks to approach him in glee.

"Oooh! So you're our teacher!" She squealed, hopping up and down as she looked up at him. "Do you know the other teachers too, or are you new? I know Present Mic teaches here since he was the one who was in charge of our orientation, and I know Midnight teaches here since she was the one in my video telling me that I passed - or wait, maybe they're only spokesmen of UA? Is that a thing? Does UA use heroes to announce their thingies? Kinda like Shishido, he does promotions for shoes, I think I had a pair a year or so ago before they ripped, and … um … Uwabami! I know she did some modeling for a bra company, I bought a few! And now that I'm thinking about it …"

As the energetic girl babbled on, Itsuka gulped and took a step back. Honestly, kudos to Nejire for somehow making a man who already looked dead inside look like he was slowly decaying the longer this girl chatted aimlessly to him, and they watched as he raised a hand, making Nejire blink and pause her rambling.

"I'm only going to ask you this once - are you supposed to be in Class 1B?"

"Hm? No," Nejire shook her head, "Midnight in the letter said that I would be in Class 1A."

"Of course you are," Aizawa groaned, reaching into his bag and trying not to expel the blabbermouth before him right out of the gate (while making plans to immediately have her transferred over to 1B so he could hopefully get a little peace and quiet in this classroom), and then pulled out a PE uniform - a dark blue pair of pants with while vertical lines going up the legs, and a dark blue short-sleeve shirt with white lines that formed the letters 'U' and 'A' with red highlights. "In any case, this is sudden, but change into your gym clothes and head out onto the field. You all can find your own pairs inside your desks."

The students blinked at him, and with that, he turned on his heel and began walking down the hall and away from the classroom, leaving the students inside confused and uncertain about what exactly was going on.


"A ... quirk assessment test?" Itsuka repeated, feeling a bit confused.

"But - but what about the entrance ceremony?" Ochako asked, feeling more than a little concerned that they were missing it when they heard the bell distantly ring throughout the school grounds behind them. "And - and the orientation?"

"If you're aiming to become heroes," Aizawa said in his emotionless voice as he looked up at the cloudy sky, putting his hands in his pockets, "you won't have any time to waste on such leisurely events. UA's known for its freestyle educational system, and that applies to us teachers as well. If I say that you won't attend the entrance ceremony, then you won't. We have work to do."

The students weren't exactly sure what to think about that, Izuku glancing between Itsuka and Ochako in his confusion, Setsuna on Ochako's other side shuffling her feet, and even Tenya looking more than a little lost by the unfolding events. Indeed, instead of weird class exercises where they introduced themselves and gave one cool fact about themselves, instead they were standing outside a gym in a field beside the main building of UA, in a dirt field lined with white paint.

At the current moment, they were watching their apparent homeroom teacher stretching, staring up at the sky and trying his best to ignore Nejire's whispering questions to the other students, the already dead inside teacher looking like he was going to die again if she didn't shut up soon.

"You kids have been doing these kinds of tests since junior high, right?" He cracked his neck, grunting when they heard it pop, "Softball throwing, standing long job, fifty meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper body training, seated toe touch. Your standard, no-quirks allowed tests. This country still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the averages of these kinds of records, but it's irrational. The department of education is just procrastinating. Well, that can happen in your middle schools, but not at UA. Here, we can get proper answers.”

Itsuka, who was standing there quietly and listening to their teacher talk, quirked an eyebrow when Aizawa turned and pulled out a softball out of nowhere, tossing it up and down in the air once before his dark eyes turned to her.

"Kendou, you finished first in the entrance exam," He pointed out, throwing the ball up and down absently, "how far could you throw in middle school? Your best result."

"Middle school? Uh … I think it was about sixty-four feet."

"Alright, then. Try doing it with your quirk," Without warning, he tossed her the ball, making her squeak and move forward to catch it in both hands. "Do whatever you need to. Just don't leave the circle. Give it all you got."

With the teacher gesturing to the white circle drawn in paint in the dirt, Itsuka gulped at suddenly being put on the spot, feeling everyone's eyes on her, but still complied with his order and walked forward to stand in the ring. Once she was standing in the middle, she glanced behind her at Izuku and Ochako, both of them giving her a thumbs up while Setsuna winked at her and Yui nodded. Taking a deep breath, and not looking over at Katsuki watching her with a weird kind of dark attentiveness, Itsuka grew out her hand to its full size, pinching the ball between her two giant fingers as she looked up at the sky, hyping herself up.

"Okay …" She muttered, screwing one eye shut to aim as she threw her giant hand back in a pitcher's stance, "... here goes!"

With a grunt, she threw her giant hand forward, letting go of the ball between her fingers as it was sent flying through the air. Everyone in the crowd of students let out small gasps and 'oohs' as the ball was sent flying into the sky, a lot farther than sixty-four feet as it soared upwards in an arch, before eventually slowing its ascent and coming down, landing somewhere out on the campus and out of sight.

"Oh, crap," Itsuka realized with a start, wincing, "I didn't check to see if anyone was around before I threw it. Should I - uh - should I go get it?"

"It's fine," Aizawa paid half-attention, checking something on his phone, "it's got a remote device in it, it'll automatically come back. In any case, as Kendou just showed you all, it's important for you to know what your real limits are." Turning back to the crowd, he held up his phone, showing the apparent distance that Itsuka had thrown the ball was around five hundred and forty-eight meters, "That is the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you'll be."

"Whoa! That's awesome!" Eijirou balled his fist from where he was standing in the back of the group. "Five hundred and forty-eight meters, Kendou!"

"This looks really fun!" Mina gushed, hopping up and down as Itsuka hurried out of the circle and back to her spot between Izuku and Yui.

"So we can use our quirks in whatever way we want?" Another boy with weirdly shaped elbows grinned, looking around excitedly. "Man, the hero course is great!"

"Oh?" Aizawa tilted his head, "Awesome, you say? Fun, is it?"

The way he was repeating their words, however, made everyone in the crowd pause as he raised a hand to scratch his beard - and then, for the first time since they had met him about twenty minutes ago, his face shifted, and his usual deadpan look was replaced by a smile.

This was not the friendly kind of smile, however. It was the kind that made their blood freeze looking at it and realize that they were all in terrible danger.

"You're planning to become heroes after three years here," He raised an eyebrow, "and you expect it to be all fun and games? Right then. If this is going to be a game, might as well make it a penalty one. The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless - and then swiftly expelled."

That, of course, caused all the students gathered around to gasp and take a terrified step back as the teacher grinned wickedly. Expelled?! Just like that?! Not even twenty minutes after getting there?! Aizawa smirked and pushed his hair back, giving his class a good look at the utterly terrifying expression on his face.

"Us teachers are free to do whatever we want about the circumstances of our students," He revealed, looking utterly delighted by that fact, "so that means that your future at this school depends on how well you perform in the next few hours on these tests. Welcome to UA's hero course - for however long you all may be here."

"W-wait!" Another girl called from her spot near the back, having to step on the edge of her - hooves? - as she raised a frantic hand, looking terrified. "It's only the first day, teacher-san! I mean, even if it wasn't, isn't that unfair?!"

"Unfair?" Aizawa scoffed. "Natural disasters are unfair. Highway pileups are unfair. Rampaging villains is unfair. Calamity is always right around the corner, so I'd say Japan is full of unfair things. Heroes are the ones who are supposed to correct all that unfairness. If you were all hoping to spend your evenings hanging out at WcDonald's, well, I'm sorry that I'll have to be the one to tell you that's not going to happen. For the next three years, UA's going to run you through the wringer. That's what 'Plus Ultra' is. So use your strength to overcome it all."

As the teacher put his hands back in his pockets, waiting for his students to get over the terror of expulsion so they could get to work, the muttering students turned to look at each other.

"I suppose …" Tenya shook his head, having his own issues with what was about to happen but knowing better than the question those in a position of authority, "... if this is to be a trial by fire, and what it's like to be at the top, then we have no choice!"

"Heh," Katsuki huffed, rolling his shoulder while looking over at Itsuka with a smirk - looks like fate was on his side today, with these tests being a perfect opportunity to show up the bitch who showed him up.

"What fraught madness," The guy with the raven head shook his head with subtle drama, unknowingly drawing the attention of a girl with silver hair, "to determine our destinies in this academy with volatile competition."

"Alright," Aizawa shook his head, turning on his heel and beginning to walk away, "now that the demonstration is over, it's time for us to get started. We'll begin with the fifty meter dash."

As the students jumped, realizing that they were getting started immediately with no prep time, they quickly hurried to follow their teacher over to where they would be beginning their tests. There was a nervous energy in the air, some students anxious and hoping that they would be able to perform well enough to pass their unexpected trial by fire, as Tenya put it; some excited to compete a little bit, or else to show off their skills to their new classmates.

Izuku was … well, definitely the first thing. The 'anxious and hoping he would do well enough' thing. Mostly because he realized that he would immediately be at a disadvantage here.

"Deku?" Ochako asked softly, both of them walking with Itsuka and Yui as they moved right behind Aizawa. "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

"I - I'm fine, Occhan. It's just … er …" Izuku shook his head, stealing a nervous glance down at his wrist, "... I'm not really sure how well I'm going to do with these tests without … you know, the Full Gauntlet."

"Oh, shit!" Itsuka gasped a bit, looking down at his wrist to confirm that, yes, the red bracelet that helped Izuku control his quirk wasn't currently on his wrist. Izuku winced a bit - he had sent it off with the jumpsuit his mother had made for him to the support company to make his costume, so it was probably at UA right now - but not on his person at the moment, and there was no way Aizawa would let him run and go get it.

As Ochako also looked down in brief panic, Nejire looked curious, angling herself from where she had been walking behind the group to look at Izuku.

"Wait, do you need the bracelet thingy?" She asked, raising a finger to poke her cheek, "Y'know, I did notice that your arms were looking kind of cooked when you melted that giant robot's head, so do you need the gauntlet thing to help you out?"

"I, uh … yeah, Hadou," Izuku nodded, turning around to quickly explain it to her while not being aware of Aizawa slowing his walk some in front of them, "it's … well, it's a long story, but I've had a lot of difficulty controlling my quirk in the past. The Gauntlet's supposed to help me discharge my quirk in lesser blasts so it doesn't hurt me as much as it does firing at full blast. The only reason I had used my full power against the zero-pointer was because I didn't - y'know, I didn't have much choice, it was bearing down on us and neither of us were really doing anything to it. But honestly, even if I did have the Gauntlet right now … well, I'm not really sure how it's supposed to help me with these tests."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking around at him in question. "What do you mean, Midoriya?"

"The tests," Izuku sighed, scratching his cheek, "I'm not really sure how my quirk would even help me out here. I mean, maybe in the fifty meter dash, I could fire out two blasts behind me to propel myself, but if I didn't make it I'd have to get up and do it again, which would probably hurt my time. Upper body training and the seated toe touch are also out, there's no way I can apply my quirk to those tests anyway. Maybe with the softball throw when we get back to it, I could possibly …"

With a tug of his lower lip, Izuku devolved into yet another mutter spree, talking a mile a minute under his breath as he thought. Itsuka and Ochako nodded, long used to their friend's antics, and looked around to see Nejire blinking in surprise and a bit of confusion, looking around at Ochako and pointing at Izuku questioningly.

"You get used to it." Ochako assured her.

"You got used to it, it's still fucking creepy to everyone else," Katsuki growled, stomping past Izuku and elbowing him, which knocked Izuku out of his thoughts, "shut the fuck up, Deku."

"I - oh! S-sorry, Kacchan."

"No," Itsuka shook her head, giving Katsuki a glare while Ochako similarly gave him a heated, angry look, "Midoriya, you're fine. He wasn't bothering anyone, but you definitely bothered him by elbowing him."

"What the fuck ever," Katsuki scoffed, looking around at Itsuka with a scowl, "just remember to fucking watch me, Ponytail. I'm going to blow your score completely out of the water."

Itsuka looked confused and a bit annoyed by that, seeing Katsuki smirk as he moved on ahead in front of them. The small group was completely unaware of Aizawa glancing subtly back behind his shoulder, studying Katsuki's actions for the last few seconds, and then back to Izuku as the green-haired boy looked worried and patting Ochako's shoulder to calm her down.

Well, this was just great, the teacher thought as he looked back around, raising a hand to rub his eyes. He'd organized this little trial by fire as a way to test Izuku, to see if the boy was as utterly idiotic as he had been in the entrance exam. While the other teachers had been cheering and jumping up and down at the sight of a student straight up melting a hole through a zero-pointer's head, he had remained at the back, watching with narrowed eyes as the camera zoomed in on Izuku's arms - his raw, burned arms, the lightning in his arm having injured him as badly as it injured the zero-pointer.

He had shown no control over his quirk, abandoning his previous strategies and any other potential plan to brute force his way out of the situation. He had purposefully thrown away the support item that he had been using to just punch his way out.  He was a liability, someone who couldn't do anything without being injured, and thus, had no potential.

But hearing that Izuku purposefully used the Full Gauntlet to temper his quirk … having problems with control in the past … using this support item to prevent his quirk from hurting him … only throwing it away when he had no other option … Aizawa sighed, grabbing his bottle of eye-drops. He'd use this test to see what Izuku could do, and if he yielded poor results, he'd be expelled, no question. But knowing that he had forced the boy into a situation without the only way he could control his quirk safely, Aizawa frowned.

He'd have to wait and see what Izuku could come up with. If he did well, Aizawa would take the necessary steps to make sure Izuku got control of his quirk. If not … well, it wouldn't be his problem once the afternoon came around.

But those thoughts would come later - it was time to get started with the fifty meter dash, with the robot recorder at the end of the track ready to record their marks.

It was pretty clear once the test got started that there were a few students far more equipped to deal with this test than the others. For example, Tenya easily cleared the track with a burst of super speed in three point four seconds, the engines on the back of his legs immediately fascinating Izuku as he whipped out his notebook and began jotting down notes; Setsuna, her usual snarky and carefree personality surprisingly nowhere to be seen as she squared her shoulders in determination, got a slightly lesser score at four point twenty-three seconds by simply launching her upper torso through the air and past the line, which apparently counted according to Aizawa; and Katsuki shot his way through the air at four-point thirteen seconds, turning to smirk at Itsuka as she rolled her eyes. She, Izuku and Ochako, meanwhile, got similar marks at around sevenish seconds, their quirks not really equipped to deal with this test and instead relying on their own training from the beach, while Nejire had gotten distracted by a butterfly and floated across the line at nine seconds.

The second test after that was grip strength, a test that they entered the gym to collect the equipment for. Izuku and Ochako were satisfied with their results, and Nejire showed off her surprisingly tight grip that she eagerly showed them. Itsuka, meanwhile, ended up crushing hers in her hand, making her squeak in embarrassment and apologize to Aizawa, who merely shook his head and went on with his day. After their marks had been written down, they turned to watch the other student at work as well, Izuku watching as a boy with multiple arms squeezed tight at around five hundred and forty kilograms, and the girl with silver hair, who they overheard was named Reiko, glanced around as she lifted the grip strengthener with her quirk to make sure no one was watching, and then used her power to apply pressure to it.

After that was the long distance run, which everyone lined up to do at the same time, and once the robot had fired its shot into the air, everyone took off, either assisted with their quirks or running. Itsuka had thought that she made some pretty good layaway as she sprinted ahead, still behind Tenya as he ran ahead, Nejire flying around at shocking speed, and Katsuki firing off blast after blast to propel himself, which meant that she wouldn't get a high mark but pretty close to the top - and then she heard the sound of a horn behind her.

Blinking in confusion, Itsuka looked around, and felt her jaw drop at the sight of a scooter driving behind her, easily catching up. The girl on the bike, her black hair flying in the wind, drove up beside the orange-haired girl and got ready to put her foot to the pedal.

"You kidding?!" Itsuka gasped, which drew the attention of the girl on the scooter, "Where'd you get a bike from?!"

"I used my quirk to create it," She explained shortly as she pulled ahead, easily outstripping Tenya and Nejire as she moved past the finish line. Once Itsuka managed to get in fifth place, panting slightly, the girl with the spiky ponytail got off the scooter, approaching Itsuka with a small, cautious smile.

"I realize that it may not be entirely fair since everyone else was exerting themselves, but Aizawa-sensei did emphasize the use of quirks in these challenges."

"I mean, I'm not judging you," Itsuka giggled, managing to straighten up and pushing her bangs up off her sweaty forehead, "I might have used my quirk with the grip strength test - just don't ask why there's a broken one in the corner."

The girl laughed at that, and extended her hand. "My name is Momo Yaoyorozu. It's a pleasure to meet you, and I hope we get along."

"Kendou," Itsuka grinned, accepting her hand and giving it a shake, "and the same here, Yaoyorozu, I hope we get along."

"Oh!" Momo gasped. "So you're Kendou - the one who placed first in the entrance exam. The results had come along with my own letter of recommendation, and I was curious as to who placed first."

"Yeah, that's me," She smiled sheepishly, "just, uh … just got a bit lucky with the points, I - I didn't really expect to get first place."

Behind her, Katsuki huffed, which drew both girls' attention and made Itsuka's smile drop.

"You got something to say?"

"Nope," Katsuki shook his head, smirking a bit as he walked away, "you just clarified something I was thinking. Don't mind me, Ponytail. No wonder you aren't all that impressive now that I actually see you in action - you just got lucky."

As he stomped away, Itsuka glared after him, flipping her ponytail behind her shoulder in her own huff while Momo gave the pomeranian boy a confused look.

After the sprint was completed and everyone crossed the finish line, they moved on to the standing long jump, Itsuka felt her bad mood evaporate as she watched Ochako simply opt to float over the box, which made the class chuckle when that got her the highest score. Yui, meanwhile, hopped in, lost her balance, and, with her face not changing from its stoic expression, flopped straight onto her back with her feet in the air, being helped up by a sympathetic boy with a bandana wrapped around his head. After that came the repeated side steps, which Izuku, to his relief, had shown a surprising talent in, mostly thanks to Teko having made that exercise a punishment for him whenever he failed in the dojo - which he had done a lot, so he was well experienced. Setsuna, meanwhile, was still in her strange, determined mood, which made Itsuka look at her confusedly at how intense she was about these tests, and sighed - she'd ask about it later.

And then, finally, they returned to the white circle to perform the ball throw. While they lined up, Itsuka felt a bit confused, looking around at her teacher when he had picked up the white ball with the blue and gold band around it.

"I've already counted your example," He waved his hand without even looking at her, "you're fine, Kendou. Bakugou, you're up first."

"Finally," The boy in question grunted, smirking a bit as he stomped past Itsuka. Izuku and Ochako, standing on the side, blinked at the heated glare both of them exchanged, and glanced at each other worriedly. They knew that Katsuki wouldn't like their presence here, but for some reason he had been fixated on Itsuka all day long, barely acknowledging their existence. Normally they wouldn't really mind, but he was starting to give her some really dirty looks, as though he were fantasizing using his quirk to blow her up (which was an expression they'd seen more than once) and that worried them.

Soon, the class was watching as Katsuki wound himself up, stretching a bit as he looked up at the sky.

A little extra blast, he thought to himself as he smirked, just to show the bitch up a little more.

Throwing his hand back and shouting "DIE!" at the top of his lungs, he threw the ball as hard as he could, the explosion he unleashed to propel it upwards making everyone wince and back up a bit from the unexpected heat. They watched as the ball disappeared into the sky with a trail of fire escaping from behind it, going so far they couldn't make it out for a moment, before they saw a distant speck begin to fall back to earth.

Studying the phone in his hand, Aizawa droned out, "Seven hundred and five point two meters."

Pumping his fist and hearing the people behind him gasp and mutter a bit at the accomplishment, Katsuki stomped back out of the ring and back into the crowd, continuing to sneer at Itsuka as she gave him a look that clearly showed how unimpressed she was. Well, whatever, he smirked as he walked away from the ring, she could act all haughty, but he just showed her up. The more tests that went on, the clearer it was that the entrance exam was just her getting lucky and finding a few more robots to destroy than he did. He wasn't really sure what the fuck 'rescue points' were supposed to be, but that didn't matter now. He had all the time in the world to show these extras that he was number one.

His smirk did lessen slightly, however, when Ochako went right after him and just threw the ball into the air, where it went up, up and away, and scored herself the top marks of this test by having the result be literally just 'infinity'. But whatever, he expected that, and he kicked her ass in every other test. Nobody else got close to his mark - the annoying blue-haired bitch got up to six hundred meters, the weird horse girl stabbed her horn through the ball and sent it as far as she could, the weird gray-haired girl with her arms bent forward floated it out as far as she could, and the other ponytail girl just made a fucking cannon and shot it out - but no one reached his score.

Not until near the end.

"Midoriya," Aizawa gestured with his head, "you're up."

Gulping a bit, Izuku nodded, and quickly moved into the circle to take his turn. He could feel Katsuki's eyes on him, glancing around to see the blonde boy huffing and smirking as he crossed his arms, already certain that he was going to fail. Feeling himself shaken a bit, Izuku took a deep breath and picked up the ball, taking a moment to think to himself as everyone watched.

He knew that from the other tests, he wasn't doing too bad, but he hadn't done anything flashy enough to guarantee that he wasn't going to be the one in last place. Ochako had aced this test and the standing long jump, Itsuka had aced the grip strength test, and Tenya had aced the fifty meter dash. Nejire had also been scoring pretty high herself, and Setsuna and Yui had been doing a good job as well. That meant that it was now up to him to try to get an impressive mark, and that probably wouldn't happen with the last two tests - so it was here that he'd have to use his quirk.

Not only that, but he could feel Aizawa staring at him, and that made him feel more than just a little nervous. He had this weird feeling that the teacher had been watching him specifically throughout these tests, but they weren't good looks. Rather, it felt like he was being scrutinized, and that didn't bode very well for him - if he didn't do something impressive soon, he had a feeling that it would be his name at the bottom of whatever list the teacher was making on his phone at the moment.

"C'mon, Deku!" Ochako cheered from the crowd, which made Izuku start a bit and look around. He saw his best friend throwing her fists in the air for encouragement, Itsuka flashing him a thumbs up, and Momo, who was standing beside Itsuka, at least giving him a polite nod while Nejire likewise imitated Ochako and threw her hands in the air. Still, seeing his training partners encouraging him did make his heart lighten a little bit, and he sighed as he looked down at the hand he was holding the ball.

Turning his palm slightly, Izuku stared at the scars that had originated from using his quirk, making him gulp. It was probably obvious to everyone that he was purposefully holding back on using his quirk, which made him frown - he didn't want to come across as though he wasn't trying, but honestly, he was scared of blasting his arm apart. He was scared of hurting himself, like he had back in the entrance exam, with his arms burnt, his skin raw, his hands shaking -

- wait.

Izuku stared blankly down at his hand for a moment, and felt himself blink. Wait, the entrance exam - what was he thinking? What he had done in the entrance exam had been different! Sure, firing full blast hurt him, but - but the only reason he had been as injured as he had been was because he hadn't let off with the blast, and insisted on continuing to fire without any breaks. Back on the beach, he knew how to fire blasts of lightning quickly - sure, it would still really hurt, but it didn't damage him too much. So that meant …

Taking one last deep breath, Izuku moved the arm he held the ball in back as he stared up at the sky. He could feel everyone's eyes on him, including the teacher as he studied him closely, but Izuku couldn't concentrate on that - not when he had finally mustered up the courage to use his quirk. Feeling sparks pop out of his palm and electricity run down his arm, he stared determinedly ahead, unaware of Katsuki flinching slightly at the sight of his quirk activating (although the blonde boy immediately chastated when he realized what he had done), and then, Izuku began throwing the ball, concentrating on one blast.

Charging the electricity to the palm where the ball was his leaving his grasp, Izuku fired, letting out a yell as the blast of lightning shot out of his palm with violence, slamming straight into the ball and sending it straight up into the sky - and fast. Everyone in the crowd winced and covered their ears at the sudden explosion of sound, but their eyes still widened in amazement as the ball disappeared into the sky with a thin trail of smoke. Aizawa's eyes, however, hadn't followed the ball at all, instead locking on the arm Izuku had used his quirk with - and narrowing them slightly when he didn't see much damage, other than it looking slightly red and Izuku waving it around a little bit with a pained expression, but from the looks of things it only stung.

Turning his gaze down to the phone as the ball finally landed and stopped rolling, he nodded slightly, and turned to show the students Izuku's score: eight hundred and two meters.

"Holy crap!" The guy with the headband yelled, staring at where the ball had disappeared with wide eyes. "That's gotta be second place, right?! After the infinity score!"

"Ah, man, another electric quirk!" The guy with blonde hair and the black lightning bolt in his hair looked enthusiastic at least, "That's awesome! I gotta get some tips, I can't do that with my quirk!"

"Whooo!" Nejire hopped up and down, cheering.

"No way he's beating Uraraka's score," Eijirou balled his fist excitedly, "but holy hell, that was awesome, Mido-bro! You told me your quirk packed a punch but I had no freaking idea how much!"

"It looks like his arm is a bit swollen," Tenya noticed, humming a bit, "and with the entrance exam … indeed, that is a strange quirk."

Itsuka beamed proudly at her friend as she joined in the cheers of the crowd, laughing along with Ochako as Izuku turned back to them and smiled a bit bashfully, waving his arm back and forth slightly - and then Itsuka heard a breath escape someone to the right.

"What the hell," Katsuki muttered, staring at Izuku with his jaw dropped, a vein appearing in his forehead. Itsuka turned to look at him, her eyes narrowing slightly - was he really that surprised? - and then, before she could even blink, Katsuki suddenly bared his teeth, and small explosions escaped his palms.

"DEKU!" He suddenly shouted, and began sprinting towards Izuku, everyone in the crowd looking shocked as he charged at the confused boy still in the circle. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?! EXPLAIN NOW, SHITRAG!"

Izuku flinched, jumping back in terror as Itsuka and Ochako's eyes widened, realizing that Katsuki was going to attack him, and began running forward to stop him - hopefully by slamming him into the ground and punching him into unconsciousness - but before they could even step one foot forward, long straps of gray cloth suddenly shot out and wrapped themselves securely around Katsuki's upper body and face, stopping him in his tracks.

"What - the fuck -!" Katsuki gruned, looking around in rage at whoever dared to stop him from getting answers out of Izuku. "What the shit is this - this cloth?! I can't - it's -!"

"It's my special capture weapon." Aizawa shortly said, dragging Katsuki away from Izuku and glaring at him. The drowsiness the teacher had for the last few hours of the tests was gone - he was standing upright, his face angry as he pulled on the scarf. "It's made of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire. Now cut it out."

Katsuki growled, and tried to fire off another explosion to intimidate the teacher - this was the first time in his life a teacher was ordering him around instead of letting him do what he wanted, and he wouldn't stand for it. However, Aizawa's hair suddenly began standing upright, showing off a pair of red glowing eyes, and giving them all a look at a pair of yellow goggles around his neck. Suddenly, Katsuki's explosions evaporated in his palms, making him look down at his hands in shock.

"What the fuck - why can't I use my quirk?!"

"I erased it with my quirk," Aizawa snapped, continuing to glare unblinkingly at him, "jeez, making me use my quirk when I don't need to … I have a serious case of dry-eye, you know. Now stand down."

"Erased his quirk?" Izuku blinked, looking around at the teacher in shock - and then his gaze flickered down to the yellow goggles around Aizawa's neck, and he let out a gasp. "Wait … those goggles … erasing people's quirks just by looking at them … of course! You're the erasure hero, Eraserhead!"

While the rest of the class muttered to themselves over this shocking revelation (mostly along the lines of 'who the hell is that supposed to be'), Aizawa finally released Katsuki from the binding, the cloth returning to wrap around his neck, and his hair falling back down as he deactivated his quirk, although he gaze remained locked on Katsuki in case he tried anything. "This was a waste of time. Both of you get back in line so we can wrap this test up and prepare for the next event."

Izuku quickly nodded, glancing a bit worriedly at Katsuki as the blonde boy continued to glare menacingly at him, and then quickly headed back to the rest of the class, where Itsuka and Ochako quickly reached out to him and grabbed his arm, pulling him along as Katsuki turned his head slowly towards the former pebble in his path.

For some reason, the scars on his chest and arm from years ago were aching, but Katsuki pushed it out of his head, in favor of staring at Shitty Deku in rage. He'd completely discarded Izuku when he had shown up at UA this morning, instead focusing on Itsuka and becoming determined to show her up. And he hadn't even registered Round Face's existence, knowing that he could easily crush her. But Deku using his quirk … beating his score easily … it made him shake.

He'd only been beaten once in his life, and it was because Deku had pulled something out of his ass and sent him to the hospital. And now - now he had done it again. Taking a quirk Katsuki had been sure he was too batshit terrified of to even use, and beating his score.

The injuries Deku had given him … they were supposed to be a small hiccup on his path to be the greatest hero. Deku acting like a pathetic little dweep, as Round Face's little fanboy … that was all he was supposed to be. A pebble on the road that he was supposed to kick away, not even realizing he had done it.

And if Deku was capable of that … what about Round Face? Was she hiding shit up her sleeve?! What the fuck happened to those two?!


Thankfully, after the near fight, no other altercations took place. The rest of the tests were finished in the blink of an eye - Izuku's arm stung slightly, but not enough to hinder him as he did the sit-up test, Ochako holding his feet down as he eared one of the higher scores (Teko's punishments also included a lot of situps, so he, Ochako and Itsuka easily breezed through this test) and then stretched forward as best he could for the seated toe-touch, and finally, after a few stressful hours, all eight tests had been completed.

As soon as everyone was standing outside the large gym they had conducted their test at, Aizawa stood in front of them as they gathered around and waited anxiously for the results as he pressed a few buttons on the phone. They didn't doubt Aizawa's claim that he would expel the person who ended up in last place, but still … they could all feel their hearts hammering in their chests as Aizawa nodded to himself.

"Alright," He grunted, pressing another button on the phone, "moving along, it's time to show you all the results. Your total scores simply reflect your performance in each of the events, and explaining the process that I used to score you would be a waste of time, so all you're getting is the final rankings."

As he pressed the button, a large holographic board emerging from the phone, Aizawa blinked as though he remembered something. "Oh, and I was also lying about expelling the person in last place."

As the results of the test shined in the air, Aizawa looked up at the class, unable to suppress an absolute shit-eating grin at the sight of most of the students gathered around staring blankly at him, eyes as round as dinner plates and jaws dropping, while Momo nodded off to the side as though she had predicted this all along.

"That was a rational deception," He grinned, "meant to bring out the best in all of you in the tests."

"WHAAAAAAAAAAT?!"

"Well, of course it was a ruse," Momo shook her head slightly, putting her left hand on her hip as she looked over at Izuku and Ochako looking absolutely flabbergasted, while Itsuka dully stared at their teacher as she slumped forward, "it didn't take much to figure that out - I'm surprised the rest of you didn't figure that out. I'm sorry, I guess I probably should've said something."

"Yeah," Setsuna shook her head as she tried to catch her breath, looking up at her fellow recommended student with a small pout as a girl with earphone jacks for ears gave Momo a similar disgruntled look, "maybe you should've."

"Anyway," Aizawa huffed, turning to walk away as the students continued to either stare at him in shock or frantically checked the hologram for where they placed, "we're finished up here. We're now done for the day, and you're all formally excused. When you get changed, head back to the classroom and pick up a syllabus to read over before tomorrow morning. Things are going to get tougher tomorrow when your actual training begins, so make sure you're prepared."

With that, the tired teacher walked away from his class, staring ahead as the students behind him read the results of the tests, and where they had placed:

 

01. Momo Yaoyorozu

02. Katsuki Bakugou

03. Tenya Iida

04. Itsuka Kendou

05. Eijirou Kirishima

06. Mezo Shouji

07. Fumikage Tokoyami

08. Ochako Uraraka

09. Setsuna Tokage

10. Nejire Hadou

11. Izuku Midoriya

12. Mina Ashido

13. Tsuyu Asui

14. Hanta Sero

15. Pony Tsunotori

16. Denki Kaminari

17. Yui Kodai

18. Kyouka Jirou

19. Reiko Yanagi

20. Yosetsu Awase

 

Hopefully, seeing where they placed in the tests would mean that they thought a bit more about their shortcomings. He knew Yosetsu was going to at the very least, due to how the boy with the bandana around his forehead had collapsed right onto his butt in terror when he realized that had Aizawa been serious about the test, he'd be on a one-way trip out of the school. As for Midoriya -

"Aizawa, you big fat liar!"

Feeling his eyebrow twitch at the sound of a familiar, loud voice, Aizawa stopped and turned around to see the familiar ugly yellow suit of UA's latest inclusion to the staff, letting out a small huff as he faced the man who was honestly kind of a pain to look at.

"All Might," He nodded, "so you were watching, I thought I saw you poking your head from around the corner. Good to know that you don't mind wasting time. No talk shows to keep yourself distracted with today?"

"I could say the same thing about you wasting time, Aizawa," All Might smiled cheekily, leaning in slightly, "a 'rational deception'? April Fool's was over a week ago, and even then you're not exactly well known for being lighthearted. I had a look at the faculty's directory when I got here this morning - last year, you expelled an entire class of first years."

Aizawa merely raised an eyebrow.

"You mercilessly discard those you deem having zero prospects. But now you go back on your word? Let's not kid ourselves, this wasn't just a test for your students - it was one for Young Midoriya."

"Oh?" Aizawa smirked a bit, "Sounds like you've got me all figured out, All Might."

"You were after him specifically because of the entrance exam," All Might guessed, putting his hands on his hips, "because of the way he defeated the zero-pointer."

Aizawa huffed, and looked back to the ground, frowning a bit, "It's not the entire reason, but sure, whatever floats your boat. Perhaps I was using these tests as a way to check his potential."

"Is that so … and?"

"He doesn't have … no chance. That's all I can say. I expected him to be an idiot about using his quirk, but then he mentioned that he had trouble in the past controlling it. I considered confronting him and putting him on the spot if he used his full power on the ball throwing test, but he managed to think of a way out of that." Raising a hand to run through his mangy hair, he sighed. "If he had no prospects, he'd be on his way out the door right now. And it's not like he's out of danger just yet. I can kick out anyone whose chances drop below that mark at any time. It's not a cruel thing to end someone's half-baked dreams."

All Might chuckled weakly. "Right … let's … agree to disagree about that."

"Right. But just before I go, you have your first class tomorrow with that class." Aizawa looked back around at him, giving him a serious look, "I know it'll be recorded for us teachers to observe, but I want to give you a warning. Keep an eye on Bakugou."

"Young Bakugou?" All Might blinked, looking around at the retreating students who were unaware of the teachers conversing. He could make out Katsuki stomping away, not talking to anyone. "If I'm not mistaken … that's the one who got second place in the entrance exam."

"That's right. Eighty villain points and no rescue points."

"Yes … so is he a problem child?"

"Has the potential to be one," Aizawa shrugged, "I noticed him being confrontational and always looking at Kendou when he performed higher than her, so he's definitely competitive. That wouldn't be too bad in itself - we can't do anything to prevent our students from forming rivalries, as long as it's healthy and benefitial to both parties. But he rushed out onto the field after Midoriya outperformed him, and if I hadn't stepped in, he probably would've attacked him."

"Is that so?" All Might straightened up, looking back to Katsuki.

"Eighty villain points and no rescue points … it's a red flag." Aizawa shook his head. "Most kids would've scored at least one rescue point, even if it was an accident. If he didn't score even one, that means that Bakugou specifically went out of his way not to help anyone. I'm going to be keeping an eye on him, but I want you to do the same in your class. UA doesn't want the credit of raising a second Endeavor, and if I think he's going to drag down the rest of the class with him, he's out of here. I don't want to think of that possibility, but he's definitely going to need a reality check, and soon."

"Right. I will … well, I will keep an eye on Young Bakugou."

"Good. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go meet with the rat. I want to talk to him about getting Hadou transferred over to 1B by tomorrow."

"Hm? Hadou? Another troublemaker?"

"No, not a troublemaker. She just won't shut up. I'm already tempted to turn to alcoholism after spending a day with her, no chance I'm going to deal with her for the rest of the goddamn year."

All Might nodded unsurely, not really knowing what to say to that, and Aizawa began walking away again. With a small sigh, All Might glanced back at the retreating students. He could make out Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku walking together, the blue-haired girl who had assisted Izuku in his exam walking behind them and talking excitedly with them, and All Might sighed a bit.

Sorry, you three, All Might thought, but you haven't got any time to relax. The real test starts tomorrow ... and after that, Young Kendou, we'll need to have a talk at long last about One for All.


With a small sigh, Izuku picked up the yellow backpack and put it on the chair, opening it so he could slide the syllabus inside beside his notebooks. He gulped a bit as he glanced up, seeing Katsuki slam his own book into his bag on the desk in front of Izuku's, which made him shake as he realized he was going to have to sit behind his old friend for the rest of the year. Thankfully, Katsuki didn't seem to want to get into any other confrontations with Izuku today, closing his bag and stomping out of the classroom as everyone chatted with each other.

"Scary," Izuku heard someone mutter behind him, and looked around to see the girl with large horns coming from her head, brushy blonde hair, and large, doe-like eyes watching Katsuki cautiously as he moved out the door.

"Er - Kacchan's - well, he's not that bad," He tried to assure her, although he winced at how obvious that lie was, "he's just - well, he's just frustrated for some reason."

"Um … I guess so." She shrugged, but tried to give him a small, shaky smile, "O-oh, I'm Pony, by the way - Pony Tsunotori. I guess I'm sitting behind you from now on, Midoriya-san."

"Y-yeah," Izuku smiled at her in return, although he was a bit curious at the accent in her voice. "Er … sorry, but - are you a foreign student? Your accent's kind of …"

"Obvious? Shaky?" Pony giggled a bit, nodding. "Yeah, I'm a foreign exchange student - I was born in Japan, moved to America when I was a baby, and now I'm back here! I'm still kinda working on my Japanese - is it bad?"

"No! Not at all, it's really good!"

"Thank you!" She happily said in English, putting on her backpack and starting to walk out the door, her hooves clopping against the floor. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow, Midoriya-san!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku waved to her, "see you, Tsunotori."

As she left out the door, Izuku pulled his bag over his shoulders and looked around for Itsuka and Ochako as they finished putting away their own stuff as well. At the very least, those two were sitting close together - Ochako at the back of her row, and Itsuka sitting in the fourth row in front of Yui, beside Tenya, and behind Eijirou. He felt a little sad that he was the only one in their friend group not at the other side of the classroom, but there wasn't much he could do about it - that, and Pony at least seemed nice, and Momo was sitting behind her as well, and she was polite.

Smiling, Izuku waved to his training partners as they looked around at him, clearly waiting for him to walk home together with - 

- and then Nejire popped out of nowhere.

"Midoriya!" She happily greeted him as he let out a squeak, immediately backing up in terror (god, how did she get so close without him even noticing?!), and, seemingly oblivious of Izuku's embarrassment, began to inch closer as he leaned back, "Wasn't today really exciting?! I was kind of nervous about the tests, but I think we did pretty well! I was in tenth place, which wasn't really that bad, but it's not too good, y'know? Middle of the pack. I think I would've done a lot better if I hadn't been distracted by that butterfly in the first test, but it was so pretty! Very red and black and white. But anyway, are you busy? Are you going home? Are you gonna stick around?"

"I - I -" Izuku stammered, now leaning back against his desk as Nejire got in his face while not even noticing how red it was becoming - but thankfully, Itsuka pointedly cleared her throat behind them, catching Nejire's attention and making her look around curiously. Itsuka was doing her best to smile at the sight of Nejire practically leaning against her friend, which pretty much amounted to a very stiff upward pull of her lips while her eyes remained devoid of emotion and a vein throbbed in her forehead.

"You know, I'm sure that you're excited, Hadou," She tried to keep her voice even, although there was a subtle shake there, "but let's give Midoriya a little space, okay?"

"I guess!" Nejire threw her hands up, undeterred as she looked around at Ochako giving her a blank, dull stare, "But anyway, Midoriya, are you busy? Are you, are you, are you? I wanna introduce you to Yuuyu, she didn't believe me about a green-haired guy saving me from going 'splat' on the ground after we destroyed the giant robot! Not only that, but she's also got an electrical quirk, but not as super as yours, kind of -"

"W-wait, what?" Izuku blinked, looking around at Nejire as she hopped from one foot to the other. "An - an electric quirk? Your f-friend has one too?"

"Yep! Not as big and scary as yours, though, even though it's pretty cool too! Her electricity's shaped like arrows, I think she was talking about getting a bow support item! That'd be really cool, wouldn't it?"

"Y-yeah …" Izuku stood up a bit straighter, staring at Nejire as she adjusted her bookbag over her shoulder, since it had been flying around with all her bouncing. She had a friend who had an electric-type quirk as well. Maybe … well, maybe if he talked to this friend, he could get some tips for his own quirk, since he was still flying blind with his own. So …

"Er ... Hadou, uh ... that sounds great. Y-yeah, I'd - I'd love to meet your friend."

"Would you?! Great! Let's go!" Faster than any of them could even register, Nejire grabbed Izuku's hand, making him squeak and his face burst instantly into flames as she wrapped her fingers around his hand, and then yelped as she began pulling him right out the door, her grip surprisingly strong. Itsuka and Ochako stared blankly after the two of them as they moved out of the classroom, Itsuka's hands unknowingly clenching into tight fists, and then together, they quickly hurried out of the room after them, leaving behind a befuddled Setsuna, Eijirou and Yui.

"Oh, god," Setsuna sagged her shoulders while giggling reluctantly, "and we thought that this little situation was complicated before."

"Hm?" Momo blinked as she stood from her desk, looking around at her fellow recommended student in confusion, "What's complicated about that, Tokage? From what I saw, it just seems like Hadou is trying to become Midoriya's friend."

"Indeed!" Tenya brought his bag over his head to hang off his shoulder. "From what I have observed, it's clear that Hadou, albeit quite loudly, is simply attempting to befriend Midoriya. Why would you consider that complicated?"

"Oh," Yui shook her head, "oh, you sweet summer children."

Outside the class, Izuku continued to stammer as Nejire dragged him down the hall slightly, continuing to hold his hand as she stopped and stood up on her tiptoes, looking around. From what they saw, it was clear that their sister class had also been excused a bit earlier than it usually would, the students moving out of the classroom talking and laughing amongst each other in small groups. Finally, Nejire spotted who she was looking for, squealing and waving over to a girl with short, pink hair and earrings, a piercing also visibly in her nose.

"Yuuyu! Yuuyu, Yuuyu, Yuuyu!" Nejire happily called out to her, getting her friend's attention as she looked around and saw Nejire using her other hand to point at an embarrassed Izuku. "Look, look, it's the guy! The guy who saved me during the exam! He actually exists! I found him!"

"Hm," Yuuyu looked around at Izuku as he gave her an embarrassed wave, seeing how red he looked with Nejire holding his hand, and let out a small sigh as she walked over to her best friend, "Yeah, that's definitely him, Nej. You can let go of him now."

"Huh? Let go of him?" Nejire blinked, as though confused about what that was supposed to mean, so Yuuyu sighed again and moved forward, grabbing the hand Nejire had around Izuku's and managing to pry his hand free. As Izuku backed up in relief (and maybe a little regret) and Ochako and Itsuka finally managed to catch up, Yuuyu sighed a bit as she grabbed the back of Nejire's head, making the confused girl sink into a bow as Yuuyu likewise imitated her.

"I'm sorry about her," she apologized on behalf of both of them, "I figured that she would be a problem on the first day, but there wasn't much I could do about it since we've been separated into separate classes. My name's Yuuyu Haya, and - well - I guess since she's been clinging to you, you've already been introduced to Nejire."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded a bit, gulping and blushing as Nejire looked back up at him with a smile, "we've - uh - we've already met Hadou. Er, obviously. I'm - I'm Midoriya, and this is Kendou and Occhan - er, I mean, Uraraka. It's nice to meet you, Haya."

"Yeah, nice to meet you too," Yuuyu waved to the other two girls before turning her attention back to Izuku, "and - well, I guess I should probably thank you for looking after Nej during the entrance exam. I'm pretty sure you keeping her on track's the only reason she passed."

"O-oh, no, she - she did well enough on her own," Izuku tried to wave that off, gulping a bit, "but - but thank you, it - it wasn't a problem to help Hadou out. Anyway, uh - Haya, I think Hadou said something about you - you know - having an electric-based quirk?"

"Hm? Yeah, I do," She shrugged a bit, removing her hand from the back of Nejire's head so she could stand back up properly, "it's called 'Electric Arrow'. Lets me control electricity and discharge it from my hands in the shape of arrows."

"Interesting …" Izuku nodded, pulling out his notebook while Itsuka and Ochako rolled their eyes at how predictable he was, "... it's similar enough to mine that … Haya, do you mind if I ask you -"

"Kendou!"

The four girls and Izuku looked around at Itsuka's name being called out, and they saw Momo walking out of the door, followed by Setsuna, Yui, Eijirou and Tenya, the boy in glasses unsure as to why Yui insisted on looking away from him while flipping her hair nonchalantly, as though wondering what he had done to earn such coldness. Unbeknownst to any of them, Setsuna blinked at the sight of the students of 1B moving out, her eyes quickly scanning them, and then darkening as her shoulders slumped, frowning a bit.

"I hope that I'm not impeding you," Momo said, giving Itsuka a small smile, "but I had spoken with Tokage and Kodai when we were coming back from the tests, and I found out that you three are taking the train home. If you'd like, I do have a car waiting for me in front of the school, and you are more than welcome to get a ride back to your home, it's no trouble. Ah, and that also applies to you as well, Midoriya, Uraraka, Hadou, and … er …"

"Haya." Yuuyu gave her a wave.

"Haya! You're more than welcome if you would like a ride home."

"Oh, thanks for the offer, Yaoyorozu, but …" Itsuka hesitated, glancing around at the five of them gathered near the door to Class 1B, and then back to the other five people standing at the door, and let out a weak chuckle, "... I don't think you have room for all of us in your - er - car."

"Hm?" Momo blinked. "Oh, no, Kendou - space won't be a problem."

Everyone had been a bit confused by what that exactly meant - space wouldn't be a problem for ten people? - until they had gotten out to the front of the school, and they had all felt themselves pale comically at the sight of a long limoscene waiting for Momo, the strict looking chauffeur opening the door for Momo to step in, and the polite girl had enthusiastically invited them inside. Izuku had to help Ochako into the limo, seeing as stepping into a car so fancy was enough to make Ochako almost faint from shock. Once everyone was inside the limo, glancing around nervously at how fancy everything looked, the chauffeur got all of their addresses - Izuku and Ochako were heading back to their apartment in the Shizuoka prefecture, Itsuka, Yui, Eijirou and Setsuna going back to Chiba, Nejire and Yuuyu to Akita, and Tenya and Momo returning to Aichi, where Tenya was staying at an apartment owned by his family from Tokyo.

Once the limo started moving, everyone began conversing amongst themselves, hoping to get to know each other better now that they didn't have the stress of expulsion hanging over them. Momo sat between Itsuka and Setsuna, happily chatting with them about the recommended students' exam and commending Itsuka for scoring high enough to get first place; Eijirou and Ochako decided to chat a bit with Tenya, finding him less scary and more bumbling and super serious, while said boy didn't notice Yui sneaking glances at him occasionally; and Izuku talked to Yuuyu more about her quirk and how it worked, the pink-haired girl bemused but still willing to explain how exactly her quirk worked and giving him pointers, while Nejire bounced in her seat next to him and tried to find opportunities to ask more questions.

It was pretty loud in the car, sometimes people could make out what others were saying over the sound of noise … but it was alright, Izuku supposed as he glanced around, seeing Ochako and Itsuka happily talking with their classmates. Izuku honestly couldn't really recall when he had been surrounded by people his age that weren't making fun of him, that Ochako didn't have to stand up and defend him from bullies, that he felt somewhat safe in. He couldn't help but beam around, realizing that he and Ochako were now surrounded by several good people.

It had been a pretty hectic first day, but … he was at least grateful that they had gotten far enough to make some new friends.


Thankfully, their second day didn't start off as hectic and scary as their first, with no threats of expulsion and harsh training being given to them the moment they walked through the door. Once Aizawa had finished up with homeroom and excused himself, they had English, taught by Present Mic enthusiastically cheering them on in English while Pony was the only one easily writing down and speaking phrases while everyone else tried not to die of boredom.

At lunch time, Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako went with Nejire, Tenya, Yui and Momo to the lunchroom, while Setsuna stayed behind to have lunch with Mina in the classroom ("I can't just abandon my side-piece," she had winked while Mina laughed) and Eijirou decided to get to know a few other people, sitting with the kid named Denki and the other guy named Hanta in the classroom. At the cafeteria, they got treated to some top-notch food made by Lunch Rush himself, who Izuku fanboyed over excessively while Ochako and Itsuka had to drag him away so other people could get their food. After lunch came art history, with Midnight herself strutting through the doors provocatively and giggling at the blushes appearing on her students' faces at every innuendo that escaped her mouth, and after that, math, taught by Ectoplasm.

And finally, in the afternoon …

"IIIIIIII AAAAAAAAAAAAAM ..."

Izuku let out a small gasp at the familiar voice, smiling with big, bright eyes as he looked around at the door.

"... coming through the door like a normal person." All Might announced, definitely not doing that, what with his posing dramatically, his cape somehow blowing even though there wasn't any wind.

"Holy crap, it's actually All Might!" Denki shook in excitement.

"He really is a teacher!" Eijirou pumped a fist enthusiastically, watching as All Might moved towards the podium at the front of the class, "I know it got announced a few days ago, but it's way different than actually seeing him here!"

"That's a costume from the Silver Age, isn't it?" Tsuyu poked her lip curiously, not paying any mind to Nejire grabbing her shoulders from behind and shaking her in her excitement.

While All Might made his way to the front of the class, grinning widely at the sight of the students fanning over him, Itsuka and Ochako were trying their best not to giggle too loudly at his antics, far too used to him acting like a dork to take this as seriously as the rest of the class, while Izuku bounced a bit in his seat, smiling widely at their mentor's dramatic walking. So it wasn't too much different than how they all got along on the beach, except this time it was in the nice, air-conditioned classroom instead of on a hot summer day.

"Good afternoon, students!" All Might put his fists on his hips as he finally got behind the podium, looking around and grinning at how excited the students were to see him, "As you all may have guessed thanks to your schedules, I teach Hero Basic Training. The class that'll put you through all kinds of special training to mold you into the best heroes you can be! We'll be covering many subjects in this class, so you'd better be ready!" 

Suddenly whipping around, he posed dramatically, raising his fists in the air and hiking up one leg, while pretending not to notice Itsuka and Ochako's increasingly weakening attempts not to burst into laughter, "But there's no time to dilly-dally. Let's get right into it! Today's activity will be -" Turning back around, he flashed the kids a card with two words written in bold red writing: "- combat training!"

"Combat training?" Izuku gulped nervously.

"Combat training!" Katsuki grinned with a feral expression.

"And of course, if we're going to get started with hero work, to go with that will be - these!" Turning, All Might pointed to the far wall, and as if on cue, the walls began sliding open, revealing about twenty containers that, behind glass plains, a series of gray and black briefcases that had numbers on each of them rested.

"In accordance with the quirk registry, and the special request forms you all filled out before you were admitted to UA … costumes!"

His grin widened at the sight of the entire class getting pumped up, Eijirou jumping up with a cheer, and even Itsuka and Ochako calming down their sniggers so they could look excitedly at the briefcases.

"Now then, there's no time to lose! After you all get changed, come out in ranking order to Ground Beta! I'll meet you there!"

"Yes sir!" Came the collective voices of the classroom, hurrying over to open the glass containers to get at their briefcases, and All Might zipped out the door, hurrying ahead so he could get ready for the presentation. Everyone left the classroom in a hurry, more than a little excited to finally get into their hero costumes and flaunt their stuff, and the boys and girls separated into their change rooms so that they could get ready.

A few minutes later, Itsuka sighed as she clipped the vest together around her waist, looking at the mirror and making sure that everything was properly adjusted. Right now, she had on most of her stuff, the dark blue vest with gold highlights covering her turquoise qipao, her brown belt secured around her waist, and her elbow and knee pads clicked on. All she needed now was to put on the special gloves that reached her elbows, and her domino mask, and she'd be ready to go.

However, before she could reach for the gloves, she heard Ochako mumble embarrassedly beside her.

"Kendou," She said in a quiet, small voice, "I think I just remembered what we forgot to add in my notes to the support company."

"Hm?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, looking around, "What do you mean, Ura- oh, wow."

She immediately figured out what Ochako was talking about the moment she had looked around at her, seeing the girl shuffling a bit and her face going red. She wasn't wearing the two white wrist guards or her large boots yet, and had elected to just put on the jumpsuit. And that jumpsuit was … well … pretty snug around Ochako. As in, it was pretty much skintight, showing off Ochako's muscular yet plump body under the costume. Itsuka felt her cheeks go slightly red as Ochako scratched her face, her own face burning.

"It, uh … it isn't uncomfortable to move around in," She explained, sounding very quiet and very timid, "I can move just fine, it's just … uh …"

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, putting her gloves down so that she could approach and pat Ochako's shoulder, "I know what you mean, Uraraka. It's … well … at least it looks good on you?"

"It looks hella fine!" Setsuna catcalled from her own corner, the two girls looking around to see Setsuna having Mina zip up her costume from behind, grabbing her purple mask to put on. "Seriously, girl, you're lookin' good!"

"You can say that again!" Mina joined in, grinning as she looked around at Ochako. "Looks like we got a mini-amazon in here! Nice arms!"

"I - oh, n-no, you're - you're just saying that," Ochako shook her head, feeling more embarrassed by the minute as she covered her face in her hands, careful to stick up her pinkie, "I didn't even mean this to happen, I thought - I thought it would be a thicker material, I didn't know they defaulted to skintight if you don't clarify."

"It's okay, Uraraka! You look great!" Nejire complimented her from the side, both girls looking around to see her attaching two thick wrist guards around her forearms while absently using her quirk on her hair, twirling two locks into a spirally hornshape, "Like, we look like a pair of besties! Both of us are going for the skintight look! At least it's not latex, that'd be uncomfortable."

"I, uh … I guess you're right," Ochako sighed, turning back to the rest of her costume as Reiko beside her secured the kimoto around her waist, fluffing up the furred collar and raising up her mask to cover her nose and mouth, "it's just … not exactly what I had in mind."

"Well, look on the bright side," Kyouka shrugged as she put on her jacket, "it looks … kinda comfortable? At least you aren't just wearing that, you got all that support stuff as well."

"Indeed," Momo nodded, grabbing the zipper to her hero costume and pulling it up to cover the exposed part of her upper body, not aware of Yui leaning over a bit to look, "it's a very nice look, Uraraka, even if it wasn't exactly what you had in mind. And if all else fails, we'll eventually go through some costume redesign, so if you don't like it, you can change it in the future."

"Just don't wait too long," Itsuka helpfully pointed out, grabbing her mask to start tying around her face, "or else you might get seen in that getup and that'll be what everyone knows you for. Kinda like Midnight's first costume - you know, the one where she pretty much wore a belt and a coat and that was it."

"So comforting," Ochako groaned, grabbing her boots to put on, "thanks, Kendou."

"You're welcome."


Meanwhile, in the other changing room, Izuku sighed as he clicked the strap on his chest in place, taking a second to step back and look at himself in the mirror. He was relieved that the jumpsuit that his mother made for him fit, although he gulped a bit nervously at how dumb he looked with one sleeve ending at his elbow, which he remedied by turning on the Full Gauntlet, being sure to tap it twice for Melissa to look at later for its second run. 

The red belt around his waist fit perfectly, the elbow and knee pads weren't uncomfortable, the pair of red shoes that were modified with rubber for his quirk gave his toes a bit of wiggle room, and the white glove on his other hand without the Gauntlet fit nicely. As well, red straps lined with copper wrapped securely around his upper chest and biceps, and if he flexed a bit he found that it wasn't too tight, along with a pair of red shoulder guards. With a sigh, he grabbed the hood/mask part of his costume, a mask that obscured every part of his head except his eyes and mouth, and flipped it over his messy green hair, making sure no other strands got caught in the eyeholes, and sighed in relief that the ear-like protrusions on the top didn't flop over as he reached over towards the respirator he was going to wear over his lower face.

"Whoa, Midoriya, looking fancy!" He looked around at who had talked, seeing the kid named Denki giving him a thumbs up as he put on his own dark jacket. "Where'd you get the red glove? I'm not really sure if metal is supposed to go along with electricity, though."

"Er … usually it doesn't," Izuku chuckled weakly, glancing down at the support item on his wrist while the guys around him glanced around curiously, "but the Gauntlet was specifically designed with my quirk in mind. It absorbs the electricity I generate and lets me release it in smaller blasts so I don't hurt myself. That and, uh ... well, I'm not entirely sure how my quirk works, myself. I'm still trying to figure it out"

"Is that right?" Tenya put on his helmet from where he had been changing beside him, wearing a shining armor that looked somewhat familiar to Izuku, but not really sure where he recognized it from. "So that large blast of lightning from the entrance exam hurt you? That's extremely dangerous, Midoriya - are you sure that you should not have another one of these Gauntlets to support you?"

"W-well, it's not supposed to be something I use forever," Izuku explained with a bit of a blush behind his mask, "I'm supposed to use the Gauntlet until I learn how to lessen my quirk by myself without the use of support items."

"Well, it looks cool anyway!" Denki flashed him a dorky thumbs up. "I should probably take some pointers from you, Midoriya - you seem like you know what you're doing with your quirk. I'm kinda in the same boat as you, I'm still trying to figure mine out."

"A-ah," Izuku straightened up, looking at the blonde boy as he adjusted his collar - he'd forgotten that Denki's quirk was also an electric-type, which immediately grabbed Izuku's attention as he looked around at him, "so - so you also struggle with your quirk, Kaminari? Do you have any support gear to help you out?"

"Just this!" He pointed at the single, square-shaped earphone in his right ear, the design somewhat resembling a radio antenna. "Helps me pick up the radio waves around me!"

"... and … what about your quirk? Do you have any support for that?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna fire it out, see what happens! What could go wrong?"

There was a small silence in the changing room, everyone looking around at Denki as he flashed them all a goofy thumbs up - and then Yosetsu, standing off to the side wearing a burgundy bodysuit with a vest and white boots, let out a weak sigh.

"Just … try not to cook anyone, okay?" He patted Denki's shoulder, looking around at the other boys assembled in the changing room. "Anyway, should we get going? We don't want to keep All Might waiting."

"Right!" Eijirou punched his fists together, grinning around at everyone. "Let's go kick some ass!"

The boys agreed, and together, they started heading out of the room, Izuku hurrying to follow Tenya and Eijirou - and then a shoulder slammed into his, making Izuku yelp as he lost his footing and fell to the side. Thankfully, he fell towards Mezo, who was sure to catch him before he slammed against the ground.

"Out of my way, shitty Deku," Katsuki growled, stomping out the door after the group. Letting out a small sigh, Izuku straightened up, glancing up at the tall boy who had caught him with gratitude.

"T-thank you, Shouji."

"No problem, Midoriya," The tall, stoic boy nodded at him, "although I guess you should be careful. It seems like Bakugou has it out for you."

"I … guess you could say that," Izuku sighed, looking back around at the door where his old friend had vanished through - it seemed like Katsuki was more than a little excited for today's exercise, and had kept sending glares at Izuku while they had been getting changed, making it pretty clear that Katsuki was hoping that today's exercise would give him an excuse to take out his apparent aggression on his favorite chew toy. Hopefully, whatever All Might had in mind would keep Katsuki satisfied and away from Izuku.

Or Itsuka. Or Ochako.

Exiting the changing room, the boys started walking down the tunnel towards where All Might would be waiting for them, Izuku nervously adjusting the white glove on his non-dominant hand, and then behind them, they heard the sound of the girls' changing room door open. Looking around, Izuku gulped a bit seeing all the girls coming out in their hero costumes - some of them, like Kyouka and Pony, looked pretty conservative, but others like Setsuna and Mina were clearly enjoying wearing something a bit more … er … risque, Izuku supposed.

"Deku!" He looked around at the sound of Ochako calling out to him, and saw her and Itsuka hurrying to catch up with him, Itsuka moving her eyes to the top of his head and blinking while Ochako gave him a weak little wave, still obviously embarrassed by her costume.

"I, uh … hi, Deku," She cleared her throat, "we, uh … we might've forgotten to add something in the notes for my costume."

"H-huh?" Izuku wrinkled his brow, trying to remember what they could've possibly forgotten as he looked down - and then squeaked when he saw the problem. Yui, meanwhile, merely adjusted the hat on her head as she turned to look at Momo, the taller girl making sure to keep the zipper of her suit up as she looked around in curiosity.

"Is there something wrong, Kodai?" She asked innocently, not catching Yui's eyes drifting down to her legs, "I just noticed, you seem to be staring at me for some reason."

"I'm looking at your costume," She technically said the truth in a stoic tone, "we're both wearing red and white, I just thought it was cool."

"O-oh! Then - then I suppose this makes us 'twinsies'? I'm sure that's what Tokage would say."

"Mm. That's right. Twinsies."

Itsuka gave Yui a suspicious look, being sure to lean over and pinch her in the side to keep her from looking at Momo any longer than she needed to, and then turned to look over at Izuku, who was still staring at Ochako while his hands grabbed at the reciperator over his mouth, eyes wide and shaking while Ochako shook in embarrassment. Letting out a small sigh, she walked over, trying not to smirk, and flicked the ear on Izuku's mask, which thankfully did its job to distract him and look around at her in shock.

"Gotta say, nice ears, emerald rabbit." She giggled, poking the extension of his mask again while he sputtered.

"W-what? No, it's - it's supposed to be All Might's hair, it's - it's a shoutout!" Izuku looked panicked, reaching up to grab the ears. "Do - do they look like rabbit ears?!"

"Uh … kinda?" Ochako shrugged, making Izuku wheel back around at her.

"Occhan, why didn't you say anything before?!"

"I - I thought that was what you were going for!"

Nejire giggled a bit at Izuku's indignation, reaching forward to touch the ears as well and not noticing Itsuka's head snapping towards her so quickly there was an audible 'crick' in her neck. "It's cute, Midoriya! Like Kendou said, you look like a big emerald rabbit! Is that what you want to be called? Rabbit? Uh … Green Bunny? I'm no good with hero names, Yuuyu always made fun of me whenever we played heroes as a kid."

As they finally reached the end of the tunnel, that thankfully gave Izuku a reason to stop talking rather than address Nejire's 'cute' comment, which made him burn bright red under his mask while Itsuka and Ochako glared at the both of them.

Stepping out of the tunnel, the crowd of young students finally reached All Might as he gave them all a once over, hands on his hips as he smiled proudly at them. He glanced at Itsuka and Ochako, giving them a subtle, approving nod, and when his eyes flickered to Izuku, he briefly glanced away, raising a hand to cough into his hand, "So obvious." (which made Izuku give the two girls beside him a 'see?!' expression, both of them shaking their heads). With that, he turned back to the students, and nodded again.

"They say the clothes make the pros, young men and ladies," He laughed, "and behold, you are the walking, talking proof! Take this to heart ... from now on, you are all heroes in training! Oh, you all look great! You look so cool, I'm getting pumped up! Now then, shall we get started, you zygotes?!"

Turning around, All Might looked up at the sky, trying to look like he was being philosophical or something while in reality he was desperately trying to remember the next part of his speech that he had memorized last night with Tenko's help. "Now then!" He remembered, clapping his hands and deciding to start off small. "It's time for us to begin the combat training! Time to see what you're all made of!"

"Sir!" Tenya raised his hand, unaware that Yui, standing beside him, was looking up at the costume that covered him from head to toe in armor with an air of slight disappointment. "Regarding the performance ground we're currently using, is this the mock city from the entrance exam? In that case, are we conducting urban battles again?"

"Not quite! We're actually going to be moving forward a few steps! Today's lesson will be an indoor battle trial! Most of the time, fighting villains or villain cleanup usually takes place outside, but statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job! Most acts of villainy are committed indoors: imprisonment, house arrest, the black market, in this hero saturated society - ahem - why, any villain with intelligence is lurking in the shadows!" Putting his hands on his hips again, All Might's grin widened, "In this exercise, you'll be separated into 'villain' and 'hero' groups for a two-on-two team battle!"

"Without basic training?" Tsuyu asked from her spot on the side.

"Well, this is foundational training! This is a real battle to understand those basics! However, the key this time is that there won't be any robots that it'd be okay to just destroy! You'll have to get creative!"

"How will wins and losses be determined?" Momo asked.

"Is it alright if we just beat them up anyway?" Katsuki growled.

"Is there a threat of expulsion like with Aizawa-teacher's exercise?" Pony asked in a small, scared voice.

"If we're separating into different groups, what would be the best way to do so?" Tenya raised his hand up high.

"Is my costume cute?" Nejire asked curiously, poking her cheek.

All Might let out a pained groan as he clenched a fist and looked to the sky. "I ... will answer all your questions! I will tell you all how wins and losses will be decided in a moment! No, you can't just beat your opponents up! There is no threat of expulsion! I've got an idea in mind for making groups! And your costume looks very nice, Young Hadou!"

Quickly pulling out a script, which made Itsuka snort and Izuku look shocked at the sight of it, All Might cleared his throat, "Now listen here: For this training scenario, we'll have some 'villains' guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying! The heroes must stop them and their nefarious scheme before it's too late! Standard golden age American superhero stuff! If the heroes capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before the time runs out, they win! If the villains manage to keep the core the whole time or capture the heroes, they win!"

Pulling out a box from behind his cape ("How was he keeping that there?" Setsuna asked in confusion), he held it out to the students, giving it a small shake, "Now then, teammates and opponents will be chosen by lottery!"

"Is that really how we'll do it?" Tenya went frigid with shock, taking a step back as though he couldn't believe the audacity. "They're being decided so haphazardly?!"

"Well, pros are often to make impromptu team-ups with other heroes they might not know very well," Izuku pointed out to him, "so maybe this is something to give us experience with that sort of thing?"

"Plus," Itsuka shrugged, "real life doesn't really give the option to do something in an orderly fashion. You just kinda have to adapt, so this'll give us some practice."

"I see!" Tenya clapped his hands together, nodding at both of his friends. "Always with our eyes on the future ... the discernment to look ahead ... I apologize for the interruption!"

"No big!" All Might threw his arm into the air, "Let's get this thing started!"

Very quickly, everyone lined up to pull out a ticket from the box to determine who they were going to team up with, excitement in the air as they waited to see who would be teaming up with who. Thankfully, it didn't take too long, with everyone pulling out a piece of paper, moving to the side, and waiting for whoever pulled out the same ticket to join them. Momo had nodded when Yosetsu pulled out the same ticket as her, the boy in the bandana glancing at her costume and gulping nervously; Setsuna raised an eyebrow when Hanta pulled out the same ticket as her, the teasing girl giggling a bit at the tape accessories on his costume, which he thankfully took in stride and laughed along with her; Pony looked nervous that she was paired with Mezo, glancing at his multiple arms, Denki got partnered with Kyouka, Eijirou with Katsuki, who merely scoffed at him, Yui with Reiko, both girls quietly looking at each other, the raven-headed boy named Fumikage with Tsuyu, and Tenya with Mina.

All Might had gulped nervously when Ochako and Itsuka ended up pulling out the same ticket, both girls giving each other a big high-five that they were getting partnered up again. Izuku had tried not to shake his head and laugh at the cheeky looks they had given him as he pulled out his own lot - although the cheeky looks and Izuku's grin had been pretty much wiped out instantly when Izuku's partner was determined.

"Oh, this is going to be great!" Nejire bounced around happily, lightly tapping Izuku's back with her fists while he internally panicked and went bright red, cursing his luck. "This is gonna be fun, Midoriya, let's do our best! Like back in the entrance exam!"

Oh, god, Izuku thought in panic, how am I supposed to look at her in the face without feeling embarrassed, let alone work with her?!

"Now then," All Might grinned, ruffling through two separate boxes labeled 'hero' and 'villain' respectively (while making a mental note to figure out if the lot box was rigged, staring at his former pupils confusedly), "the first teams that we will have fight ... will be ..." Suddenly yanking out his hands, he showed the two balls to the students with a victorious grin, "... these two!"

There was a few seconds of silence on the field as the students looked up at the balls in confusion, and Yosetsu raised his hand.

"Uh ... All Might?" He gulped, pointing up at his hands, "They're backwards. We can't see the letters."

"Huh?" All Might blinked, looking up at the balls to confirm that, yes, they couldn't see which letter was painted on, and letting out a surprised laugh. "Ah! So they are. Well, I can always count on the universe to humble me, young students. In any case -"

He turned the balls around, inspecting the letters, and then spun them around to show the students - the white ball with the letter 'C' and the black ball with the letter 'A'.

Oh, boy, All Might thought weakly, feeling a bit of sweat slide down his forehead, this'll be interesting.

"And there you have it!" All Might announced, throwing the two balls behind him dramatically. "We have our first combatants! Itsuka Kendou and Ochako Uraraka on the hero team, versus Nejire Hadou and Izuku Midoriya on the villain team!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... huh?" Izuku squeaked.

"Excuse me?" Itsuka blinked.

"Sorry?" Ochako asked.

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 11! We managed to technically cover two episodes in one chapter, which is a fact I am very much proud of, and we've got a lot of developments beginning! Itsuka and Ochako may take Nejire on a hiking trip and return without her! Izuku may faint from all the blood rushing to his face! Katsuki's on a downward spiral! Setsuna seems upset for some reason at the sight of Class 1B, or more accurately, the lack of someone in 1B! Momo's very confused about how she got so many friends, but she's not complaining! A lot of familiar faces in Class 1A, and some not! And Yui keeps being all cold and distant towards Tenya, for some weird reason!

Thank you guys for reading! Coming up next:

 

Chapter 12: Battle Trial

Summary:

As UA's battle trial begins and the trio find themselves pitted against each other, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka give their all out of both respect and competition. Meanwhile, dark forces are on the march, and UA finds a storm brewing in the distance.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright!" All Might pumped his fist dramatically in his excitement, grinning as he pulled the door of the building they were doing their exercise in open, and holding it for the villain team to step inside. "Now that we've made sure your earpieces and equipment work, let's get this party started!"

Izuku gulped a bit nervously, but still took his cue to step away from their small group with Nejire beside him as All Might kept the door open for them to step through into the building. Behind them, the other members of their class had started heading off towards the observation deck so that they could watch their match through several camera monitors, Tenya trying to ask Yui her opinion on something and being flabbergasted as she pointedly looked down at her feet rather than respond to him, and Setsuna punching Hanta's shoulder as she ran ahead towards Mina, unaware of Hanta's eyes flickering down briefly and going a bit red behind his mask. Once the class had begun walking into the building together, Katsuki smirking a bit at how nervously Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were looking at each other, All Might gave the small group a grin as he looked up at the large, unassuming building with a fire escape on the side, where the 'weapon' that Izuku and Nejire had to guard would presumably be.

"Now then, the scenario has the villains inside the building already," All Might explained to Izuku and Nejire as they stepped through the doorway, "and then, after five minutes, the heroes will be let in as well to infiltrate. All four of you have already been supplied with capture tape - meaning that if you manage to wrap it around anyone on the opposing team, that means they've been 'captured', and they're out of the match! With that said, remember, Young Midoriya, Young Hadou - while you may not be on the hero team, this exercise will give an excellent opportunity to get inside the mindset of villainkind! Because this is a practical training exercise, go all out without fear of injury! Though we'll cut the match short if things get out of hand, of course."

Izuku gulped a bit, nodding - he didn't need to look behind him to know that Itsuka and Ochako were glaring at him, as though daring him to take All Might's advice to go all out without 'fear of injury'.

"With that said, since Young Midoriya and Young Hadou aren't familiar with the layout of the building, we're going to somewhat break the immersion of how a proper villain would react to a situation like this, and the five-minute timer will only begin once you both have entered the same room as the weapon you're guarding. This will give you both a bit of time to look around a tad bit, seeing as Young Uraraka and Young Kendou will also have that time to look over the building's layout map. Once that timer goes off, you all will have fifteen minutes to either capture the other team, or, in Young Kendou and Young Uraraka's case, secure the weapon. Should the hero team not touch the weapon in time, or the villains remain uncaptured when the timer runs out, the villain team will automatically win. Should the heroes capture the villain team or touch the weapon, they will win. Now then, we have no more time to lose! Good luck to all of you, and may the best group win!"

The two that would be on the villain team nodded at that, and watched as All Might spun on his heel and began sprinting off to rejoin the rest of the class in the observation deck. As Nejire skipped inside, talking a bit aimlessly as she looked around the hallway, Izuku hesitated to step inside the rest of the way, holding the door open, and then looked back around at Itsuka and Ochako.

Both girls were looking as conflicted as he was, glancing unsurely at each other before looking back at him - but once their eyes met his again, seeing his uncertainty through his body language, they tried to give him encouraging smiles and thumbs up. Pausing for another moment, Izuku tried his best to smile back at them through the respirator around his mouth, and then turned to follow Nejire inside, closing the door behind him.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the two of them to search the entire building - there were a lot of blind spots in the narrow corridors, sharp corners leading down other halls into the empty parts of the fake building. Nejire continued her unrelenting stream of questions behind him as Izuku went down every corridor and opened the doors to peek inside, sometimes being greeted by empty rooms, other times seeing furniture lined up against the walls, and sometimes just seeing pieces of plywood leaning against the walls. Mentally, though, he made notes of what Ochako could use as ammunition, and made the small plan to double check the top two floors of the building for anything she could float.

Although … well, making sure Ochako didn't have anything to throw at him was currently a secondary concern, he thought with a frown as he glanced down at the Full Gauntlet. There was something else he really needed to come to terms with before he could even try to find the motivation to fight his two friends - which he would have to do in about five minutes in addition to getting ready for them to enter the building. So, uh ... crap.

Finally, the two of them reached the top floor, and opening the door to have a look around. Unlike the floors below, it was one large room, with several panels of wood and barrels resting against the supports of the room, and standing in the middle of the room was a giant, ominous bomb, painted completely black except for three red stripes at the top of the weapon. Gulping a bit and being shaken out of his inner conflict, Izuku approached the bomb cautiously, hoping that UA didn't actually use real-life bombs as practice (something that wouldn't surprise him if it was true) and hesitantly raised his hand to knock on the weapon.

"Oh, good," He sighed in relief when he heard a hollow ding, "it's just papier-mâché, it's not gonna blow up if we screw up."

"So it's not a real bomb? Interesting!" Nejire hopped around a bit, taking a moment to run to the other side of the room and look out the window with a smile. "Maybe the second and third years deal with real bombs? Because some heroes have to deal with that kind of thing? Maybe? Hm, or maybe bomb handling is the police's responsibility, we just secure it and let them run in to disable it. That's what I think, anyway. Ooh, but this building is really, really big! But like - are all the buildings in this city like this? Big and empty and filled with bombs? Not real bombs, of course, but - well, maybe actual bombs, I don't know."

Realizing he hadn't said anything in the last few minutes, Nejire looked around, about to open her mouth and ask him a bit more about what he thought of the building, how big and empty it was, and what they could maybe do about Itsuka and Ochako - and then she blinked when she saw Izuku hunched over ea bit, playing with the red gauntlet on his arm absently as he took slow, deep breaths. Curious, she raised a glove-covered hand to her face and poked her cheek.

"Hey, hey, are you okay, Midoriya? You look like you just saw the ghost of your late grandpa telling you to eat mac and cheese at three in the morning. I speak from experience, by the way, but I also think that I was delirious with a cold when that happened - plus, I was like ten, so I might've been hallucinating. Which might not be good for you if that's what's happening right now. Are you seeing things?"

"N-n-no, I'm - uh - I'm okay, Hadou." He managed to say, looking over at her briefly before glancing away from her - honestly, he had been so distracted with his thoughts, he hadn't really registered what his partner was wearing. Although now that he had taken a look at her, he gulped at how … er … snug her costume looked, and pointed glanced away while hoping that anime logic wasn't somehow applying here and she couldn't make out how red his cheeks had become under his mask. "I'm just … er … I'm just kind of nervous."

"Nervous?" She repeated, feeling a bit concerned as she hopped over from where she was standing next to the window to stand beside him. "Nervous about what? Fighting Kendou and Uraraka? I'm kinda with you, I'm actually feeling a bit nervous fighting them too - they look really tough. Especially Kendou - she's got a lot of muscles, you know, I saw while we were putting on our costumes in the changing room."

"Er - uh - not … exactly that." He gulped a bit, blushing even hotter and choosing to ignore that last comment entirely - no need to think about Itsuka being - er - naked - no, no, Izuku, don't even think about it! "It's just … well, I'm not nervous about fighting Occhan and Kendou, I've done that loads of times in the dojo we trained in together. It's more like …"

Nejire tilted her head as Izuku hesitated again, staring off to the side for a moment before letting out another sigh, and looked around at her, his frown visible through the see-through respirator.

"... well … this is … well, it's a long story," He explained to her in a quiet voice, "but I've only ever used my - my quirk against someone else once in my life, and … and it didn't end well for anyone. I ended up getting someone injured, pretty badly, and … it scared me enough that for years, I swore off using my quirk. And now, I have to use it again against someone … and it's Occhan."

Feeling his eyes prickle with tears, he let out another sigh, and raised his arm with the Full Gauntlet on it to stare at his palm.

"A few months ago, the only reason I started using my quirk again was because I saw her in danger, and now, whenever I use my quirk, I think of saving her. But now I have to go through an exercise where I have to fight her with my quirk. And I … I don't know if I can do that. I don't know if I go through with ... with hurting her."

Nejire blinked a bit, keeping herself quiet for once while Izuku finished up his little story and stared sadly at his feet. There were a hundred thousand questions running through her mind that she really wanted to ask him - he used his quirk against someone before? It scared him? That made sense, his quirk was kind of scary, but he used it again thanks to Ochako? Or 'Occhan', which was his cute little nickname for her. Maybe she could call her 'Occhan' if she asked nicely? - but she knew that right now, he wouldn't appreciate her asking all her questions while he looked so sad.

Wait, wait, wait, she realized, she couldn't just let him feel sad about this, could she? They were partners! They had a match to win! And he couldn't do that if he was scared of hurting Ochako. So she needed to help him feel better. Thankfully, after taking a moment to think, she blinked as something came to her, and quickly nodded to herself.

"It'll be okay, Midoriya," She moved forward to pat his shoulder in comfort, which drew his attention back to her as she gave him a small smile, "I guess that it is a pretty long story about what exactly's bothering you, but we don't have time to go into it - y'know, no matter how much I really, really want to. You can tell me another time, though, okay? I'd like to hear what happened."

"I …" Izuku paused, and then sighed and nodded, "... okay, Hadou. I - yeah."

"But anyway," She gave him a small thumbs up, "if you're scared of using your quirk on Uraraka, maybe you don't have to use it."

There was a small pause in the top floor of the room, Izuku staring blankly at her while Nejire gave him an expectant, curious look - and then he blinked.

"I - huh?" He glanced unsurely down at the gauntlet and then back up to her. "I - what do you mean? N-not use my quirk against Occhan or Kendou? I - but I have to, Hadou - we can't win if I don't -"

"But look at it like this!" Nejire interrupted him, raising one of her fingers to hush him by pressing it against the part of the respirator where his mouth was (which did a good job of immediately zipping his mouth closed, his cheeks feeling very hot at the intimate action), "You mentioned that you've fought Uraraka and Kendou before without your quirk? Like - pow, pow, bam, punch, kick, kinda stuff? Then just do that! I don't know what you think, Midoriya, but we're pretty OP right now!"

"Uh … OP?"

"Yeah! OP! Like - we're overpowered! Look!" She threw her hands up into the air, and twin spirals of energy released from her palms, hovering there and drawing Izuku's attention to her quirk's effects as she bounced around a bit, "I'm super strong! And you're super strong too! I mean, we burned a hole through a zero-pointer's head! Well, technically you did that, I just kinda held you up in the air, but I helped at least! Of course, we also fell after that, and I'm pretty sure we would've splattered on the street if Hound Dog didn't save us - wait, where was I going with this? I had a point."

"Uh … something about how we're overpowered."

"Oh! Right! We're overpowered. That means that we're both super powerful - so it's okay if you don't use your quirk all that much! I can more than make up for us on the muscle side while you try to figure out what you wanna do - so you do you, and I'll back you up!"

Izuku stared up at her for a moment as she started unintentionally floating up into the air in her excitement thanks to her quirk, giving him a goofy grin and a thumbs up - and then he snorted a bit, and looked away as he was unable to stop himself from laughing a bit quietly. Still, he felt his heart warm a bit and the anxiety in his stomach lessen as he looked back up at Nejire, who had tilted her head in confusion due to his sudden laughter.

"S-sorry Hadou, I just … well … thank you," He smiled up at her, giving her a thumbs up in return, "it's … well, the fact you're so cool with me trying to - er - sort out my issues - it means a big deal to me. And - and for the record, we both destroyed that zero-pointer, not just me. I wouldn't have been able to do that if you hadn't flew me up there - so thanks again for - for helping me out."

"Of course I'll help you out! We're partners in crime, after all!" She nodded happily, floating back down and leaning forward slightly so her face was close to his, unaware of him gulping nervously at how close she was. "So I guess now that we figured all that stuff out, we need to make a plan?"

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, leaning back a tad bit while his face burned at her proximity to him, "let's - yeah, let's make a plan. So - uh - well, you pretty much know how my quirk works, and it's - it's not going to do us much good in this match. But what about yours? Er - well, I guess I should ask, what exactly is your quirk?"

"Oh, yeah! I didn't tell you yet - well, my quirk's called 'Wave Motion'," Nejire explained, opening her hands again and letting out a few more spirals of yellow energy, "it lets me convert my own vitality into energy, and releases it in my little spirals - y'know, like energy blasts, but I also used it to curl my hair up into these cute little horns. It's not really fast, though."

"Your vitality?" Izuku blinked, blinking as he suddenly found himself connecting dots in his head that he hadn't thought of before. "So your quirk draws on your stamina? And if you use enough energy, you get tired?"

"Yep! If I use too much of it, I get really sleepy."

"Wait - of course! That's what happened after we destroyed the zero-pointer, isn't it - you used too much energy and couldn't move afterwards."

"Mm-hm! If I overuse my quirk, I get really exhausted since my power source is pretty much my stamina. Luckily, I've got lots of stamina!" She balled her fists excitedly. "I worked on my quirk with my mom and dad, they've got me using up to - er - I think twenty percent of my power? I think that was the amount I used the last time I really practised!"

"Wait - twenty percent?" Izuku felt his jaw drop slightly, "so you fighting the zero-pointer - blowing up the robots - that was you only using twenty percent of your power?!"

"Maybe a bit less when I was fighting the smaller robots with you, but y'know! I had to make sure I didn't fall asleep until the end of the exam."

Izuku gulped a bit, nodding slowly and storing this information in his mind to put in his notebook later - seriously, how powerful really was Nejire? - but still, he could feel some of the gears in his head turning. Slowly, a plan began forming in his mind, glancing at the yellow spirals of energy still humming in Nejire's palms, and then he nodded.

"Okay," He sighed, "okay, I … I think I've got it, Hadou."

The floating girl blinked curiously at that, seeing Izuku look around at her as he straightened up and put his hands on his hips.

"Divide and conquer," He explained, "Occhan and Kendou are amazing on their own, but if what I saw really briefly during our admittance letter is any indication … they work too well together. If I know them, and I think I do, they'll try teaming up on us, or separating us and taking us both down one at a time. That means that you and I would have a better chance if we separated them, and took them down on the floors below. I'd say that since there are eight floors to this building, we shouldn't let them reach any higher than the sixth floor - although we'll also have to account for them trying to use the fire escape on the side to get in, we'll have to watch for them there."

"Okay, okay …" Nejire slowly nodded, "... so who am I fighting? Kendou?"

"No," He shook his head, grimacing slightly, "if I'm being honest, this fight's gonna be a bad match-up for both of us - Kendou's got the advantage over us in combat, and she can easily beat us down. And Occhan's dangerous to you too - you could theoretically stay in the air and out of her reach, but she'll be able to float up after you too. But if Occhan uses her quirk on me, that's game over - she'll float me, and either I'll have to resort to using my quirk to get around, or they'll disregard me and team up on you - and they'll win either way."

"Alright," Nejire nodded, looking suddenly professional as she clapped her hands together, "so in that case, what's the plan?"

"First," Izuku sighed, moving around to grab a piece of plywood against the support, "we're going to clear away all this stuff, so that in case Occhan gets up here, she won't have anything to float as weapons. We go down to the seventh floor and watch for them, and make sure they don't get any higher than the sixth floor. Like I said, this is gonna be a bad match-up for us both, but we don't have a choice. Since you can fly even if she floats you, you'll be the one to take on Occhan. And … well, I'll distract Kendou."

"Hm?" Nejire tilted her head. "'Distract' Kendou? Don't you mean 'beat' Kendou? Gotta stay positive, Midoriya!"

"Well, I'll be real with you, Hadou," Izuku shook his head, already resigned to his fate, "it's more than likely that no matter if we win or lose, she's gonna be kicking my ass either way."


"Honestly, I didn't expect to have to memorize the entire layout of the building in like - five minutes," Ochako sighed a bit as she leaned against the railing beside Itsuka they studied the two printouts that All Might had given them on the walk over in addition to their earpieces and capture tape. "I feel like we're gonna forget something."

"Well, I'm not too worried if we miss something," Itsuka tapped the paper with her finger as she looked over her own copy of the layout, "I don't think Midoriya and Hadou will have the time to hide the weapon in five minutes, so it'll probably still be up on the top floor. That means that they'll either be up there waiting for us, or they'll be spread around the building looking for us once we get the go ahead to head in."

"Mm-hm," Ochako nodded, looking around at her partner as she put the paper down, seeing her eyes studying the layout and nodding slowly, with Ochako already knowing that the gears were turning in her head, "so what are you thinking?"

"The fire escape," She leaned over to point at the metal staircase on the side of the building, looking up to note how far up it went, "it goes all the way to the seventh floor - we climb up it, find some stairs, and head to the top floor. We only have to touch the bomb to win, so we should prioritize finding it, and bum-rushing it."

"But Deku will probably think that we'll use the fire escape - he'll be watching."

"That's true. So instead of the seventh floor, we get off on the sixth. If either of them are watching for us to get off through the seventh floor window, we'll have a small opportunity to go around them. We should prioritize making it to the weapon and touching it, since that'll be an automatic win for us, but if we have no choice but to fight them, we'll need to team up," She looked around at Ochako, brushing some orange-locks behind her ear and careful to mind her mask, "we don't know anything about how Hadou's quirk works, but we know Midoriya like the backs of our hands. If only one of us goes up against him he could be dangerous, but if we team up against him, we can take him down easily. And then we move onto Hadou together."

"Okay," Ochako nodded, glancing back up at the building with a bit of reluctance, "I … yeah, yeah, that sounds like a plan."

Itsuka noticed the small, uncertain look behind her helmet's visor, and smiled a bit as she leaned back against the railing, putting her own copy of the floor plan on the ground.

"Bit nervous about fighting Midoriya?"

"Huh? Uh … well …" She giggled a bit nervously, slipping off her helmet and holding it in one hand while she fixed her hair somewhat, looking a bit sheepish and embarrassed, "... kinda. I mean, it's not like this is the first time we've fought, but … it just kind of feels different, you know? Now we're gonna have to fight him so we can get a good grade."

"I get it," Itsuka shrugged a bit, smiling as she looked back up at the building, "and I'm not gonna lie, I'm not exactly looking forward to this fight all that much either. I was kind of hoping that we'd get Bakugou to beat up so we could impress All Might - not, y'know, our boy."

"Yeah," Ochako giggled a bit, putting back on her helmet once she was sure she had fixed her hair, "if only."

"Well, we'll just have to be patient," She leaned back, scratching her cheek, "we'll get our chance to beat up Bakugou eventually. Hopefully it can be at the sports festival, so we can beat him up in front of -"

"Now then!" The two girls jumped a bit in surprise as All Might's voice boomed out over the speakers, making them look around in shock, "Let's get started with our first hero-against-villain combat training! Team C vs Team A! Start!"

Glancing at each other as a small horn blared, signifying that the fifteen-minute timer had started, Itsuka and Ochako nodded, getting into game mode as they balled their fists. They were still kind of nervous about having to go up against their friend in an actual testing environment, but they both knew that Izuku wouldn't appreciate them holding back on him. They needed to treat him seriously as a threat, so they tried their best to quell the tightness in their stomachs as they hurried over towards the fire escape, Ochako floating both of them up to climb over the railing.

Quickly climbing up, once they had reached the sixth floor, they slid the window open as quietly as they could, Ochako glancing up to make sure neither of their targets was peeking out the window above them to check for them, and with small grunts, they both hopped into the building.

"Infiltration successful!" Ochako pumped her fist slightly as Itsuka looked around with a small grimace.

"Crap, there's a lot of blind spots," She muttered, glancing around as though Izuku and Nejire were hiding just behind the corner, "let's be careful and look for the stairs. I think the layout said that there was one at the end of this hall."

"Right!"

Together, they began hurrying quietly down the hall with metal plates lining the walls, straining their ears to listen in case they could make out the sound of their opponent's footsteps - they knew Nejire could fly because of the tests yesterday, but Izuku didn't have that luxury, so they were sure to keep their ears open. So far, they didn't hear anything, but Itsuka had the suspicion that Izuku wouldn't stray too far from the weapon on the top floor - he knew Ochako's quirk like the back of his hand, and she wasn't convinced that Izuku wouldn't have guessed that they would use the fire escape.

They had fifteen minutes to get to the top floor and touch the weapon, or capture Izuku and Nejire. There weren't any timers on the walls, but Itsuka had the suspicion that they'd already taken up about two minutes to climb up the fire escape and into the building, so they only had about thirteen minutes left. So they needed to hurry.

"Here's the stairs," She gestured towards the open door, both girls hurrying to start heading up them. Remembering the map layout, they knew that these stairs would go to the seventh floor, and at the other side of the floor would be the stairs that would lead them to the top floor of the building where their prize was. So that also meant that if Izuku and Nejire were anywhere, it would be either on the next floor of the building or the one above that.

However, as they hurried their pace, taking one foot up the stairs, they suddenly heard the door above them bang open. Itsuka and Ochako froze slightly, pausing as they heard hurried footsteps heading down the stairs, and before they could even think to hide, around the corner came Izuku and Nejire, both of them looking shocked to see the their opponents just standing there, and skidding to a stop near the top of the stairs.

For a moment, all four of them froze in their step, staring at each other in surprise.

"Oh, uh," Itsuka chuckled awkwardly, giving them a dorky wave, "hi."

"I - uh - er - stop there!" Izuku managed to squeak out from behind his mask, doing his best to sound menacing and failing spectacularly. "You - you dumb heroes! You really think that you could have - uh - snuck up behind us villains like … um … that? We're - we're smart enough to figure out that you would've - uh - snuck up … behind … us."

Nejire gave him a curious look as his former bravado and attempt to sound like a villain faded into a lame finish, making him slump a bit while cringing, while Itsuka and Ochako tried to spare his dignity by not laughing out loud. "Ooooh, are you role-playing a villain? Should I do that too? I think All Might said that we should try that mindset, so I probably should! Okay, so - um - don't move, okay?!" She turned back to the other two below them, trying to look menacing and failing due to her just kind of pouting instead of looking angry. "I'm a villain right now! Don't come any closer!"

"Well, uh …" Itsuka glanced over at Ochako, seeing her shrug a bit before looking back up at the other two, "... that's some nice role-playing, you two, but, uh -"

And then, without warning, Itsuka and Ochako began charging up the stairs, bolting straight towards Izuku as his eyes widened behind his mask and he shifted automatically into a battle stance, seeing them balling their fists. Remembering their plan, they moved to attack him, wanting to beat Izuku down and tie him up with their capture tape -

"Hey!" Nejire snapped, throwing her up in the air as yellow energy began to swirl in her palm, making Itsuka and Ochako falter in their step. "I thought I said not to move! Couldn't you hear me?!"

Itsuka and Ochako both stiffened up and stared as spirals of yellow energy built in her hand - they had a feeling that they really didn't want to get hit by the energy she was obviously charging up. Very quickly, Itsuka hopped back down the stairs while Ochako kept charging forward, gulping as Nejire threw her hand down at Ochako, and blasted out a large swirl of power at her.

Yelping, Ochako ducked down to lay against the steps as Itsuka ducked around the corner of the stairs, and the large blast of energy shot down the stairs, blasting hard against the wall and crumbling down like several sledgehammers had hit it at once, collapsing hard against the floor with a loud crash.

For a single moment, both girls stared blankly at the destroyed wall as the yellow light dissipated, and Izuku turned his shocked stare to Nejire as she ducked a bit to make sure Itsuka and Ochako didn't accidentally get sent through that wall - and then Itsuka got herself back together.

"Uraraka!" She shouted, shaking Ochako out of her shock, "Go get the bomb!"

"R-right! Bomb! Right!"

Quickly, Ochako scrambled back to her feet and charged up the rest of the stairs. Izuku tried to reach out to grab her out of instinct, only to squeak when Ochako shoved straight past him, not even considering floating him as she muttered "Sorry, Deku!" under her breath, and took the rest of the stairs two at a time, eventually disappearing through the door and running as fast as she could down the hall.

"Oh, crap!" Izuku gasped, looking around at Nejire as he pointed to where Ochako had run off to. "Hadou, handle Occhan!"

"Right-o!" She gave him a small salute, and then she took off, using her quirk to float up the stairs at shocking speeds to where she had seen Ochako vanish. Gulping nervously, Izuku looked back around as Itsuka moved back from where she had hidden from the initial blast, seeing Izuku standing there in challenge.

"So you and me, huh, Midoriya?" She asked, smiling a bit as she shifted into her own battle stance, spreading her legs and raising her fists. "This wouldn't be the first time we've sparred, y'know - and I can't exactly recall you ever winning against me."

"Y-yeah, I know," Izuku gulped, and then began charging down the stairs, "but this time'll be different!"

Once he reached the middle of the staircase, Izuku chose to leap the rest of the way down, shouting as he remembered the technique Teko had taught him as his legs curled inwards, and then shot out towards Itsuka's face. He aimed to hit her nose with the heel of his boot, squeezing his eyes shut as he kicked out, and he felt his foot meet something solid. Wincing a bit at the sound of a thud, he opened his eyes, wanting to check that his kick connected to either her face or torso, and about to apologize - 

- and then felt his eyes widen when he realized that he hadn't hit her in the face or torso, but instead, he had hit the palm of her hand.

The palm of her enlarged, gigantic hand, grown to be roughly the size of his own upper torso as her fingers slowly wrapped around him, trapping him as his eyes widened in terror at the sight of the confident smirk on her face.

Mistakes have been made.

"Y'know," Itsuka said conversationally, "you're right, Midoriya. If you somehow manage to win this fight, it would be the first time you've ever won against me." 

He gulped, however, when she suddenly squeezed him with her large hand, her smirk widening as he began shaking in terror.

"But this is also the first time I've used my quirk against you in a fight."

At that, Itsuka wheeled around, letting out a small yell as she threw Izuku as hard as she could down the hall. With a yelp of terror, Izuku was sent flying through the air, bouncing off the ground once before rolling into the wall with a grunt. Eyes widening, Izuku quickly sat up, ignoring the pain his back felt from hitting the ground as Itsuka began running up the stairwell, heading upstairs to the seventh floor. Cursing himself for his rookie mistake, Izuku scrambled to his feet and ran back down the hall towards the stairs.


"Now then, everyone, you should all be observing this match closely," All Might instructed at the front of the group as everyone watched the large green monitor, several camera feeds giving them a good look at the situation from all angles as the two teams began fighting, "pay attention to what your classmates are doing in this situation, and think about what you would do in their place."

"Well, I'd definitely not launch myself at the enemy like Midoriya did." Hanta said as he chuckled, watching Izuku bounce off the ground after Itsuka threw him on the screen, "kinda got yeeted right off the bat."

"I mean, it's super manly!" Eijirou tried to defend his bro's weak attack, albeit with a wince. "He threw himself at the enemy without any hesitation."

"Pity it was with a kick that Ken saw coming from a mile away," Setsuna giggled a bit, "No offence to Midoriya, but that kick couldn't have been more obvious."

"Still, it was a nice kick, kero," Tsuyu put a finger to her chin, "but like you said, just a pity that Kendou saw it coming and could defend herself from it."

"I wouldn't put him down too badly, students," All Might decided to step in his own input, raising a clipboard to begin scribbling down a few notes, "it wasn't a bad strategy - testing the water in regards to an opponent isn't all that strange. Of course, it did backfire when Young Kendou reacted accordingly, but there's still eleven minutes left on the clock. Let's see what else your classmates might come up with!"

Young Kendou, Young Uraraka, Young Midoriya, he thought privately to himself as he adjusted the earpiece he could use to talk to them just in case, here you three are no more than students in my class. I'll be grading you strictly, without playing favorites. With that said … he winced a bit at Izuku tripping over himself to get back up and chase Itsuka, … Young Midoriya, let's maybe pick it up a bit.

Behind the small crowd of students watching the fight on the screen, standing near the wall and leaning on it, Katsuki let out a huff as he stared up at the two monitors skeptically, crossing his arms - or trying to, at least, what with the two giant grenades on his arms. If he were being honest, he wished that could take some satisfaction from the match that was about to unfold here, but he couldn't really. Not any long term satisfaction, anyway.

When All Might had announced that they would be having a battle trial, he had hoped that fate would be on his side today, so he would be able to get a chance to beat the hell out of the two pebbles in his path that were starting to annoy him, or the bitch that upstaged him and acted smug about it - and he couldn't even really take enjoyment in the fact that one of those three, or two of those three, were gonna get humiliated today because that meant that either way, one of them were going to win anyway. So he would have to just take in-the-moment satisfaction over long term satisfaction.

And that meant watching the upper left screen, watching Ochako run as fast as her fat legs could carry her, and hoping that she tripped and broke her nose on the ground.


"Hey, hey! Stop!"

Ochako let out a squeak as another blast of yellow energy shot down the hall towards her, glancing behind her over her shoulder and feeling her eyes widen as she had to throw herself to the side to avoid the spiralling energy, grunting when she collided painfully against the wall, and scrambled to her feet as Nejire threw another blast at where she had landed, taking back off towards the stairs - although at this rate, it was pretty clear that Nejire was going to catch up a lot sooner than she would've liked.

She was more than a little surprised that Nejire had caught up so quickly, and was now hyper focused on her. Honestly, though, maybe Ochako should have expected something like this - it was clear that Nejire's lack of focus might've messed up her stats during yesterday's surprise tests, and caused everyone to write her off as an airhead. Now she was hyper focused on Ochako, and serious. Which … was not good for Ochako, seeing as she needed to touch Nejire to use her quirk, and Nejire's long-ranged quirk was more than enough to put her entirely on the defence with no chance of going on the attack.

Throwing her hands back, Nejire charged up her quirk, pouting a bit as Ochako sprinted as fast as she could down the hall towards the upper floor. Izuku and she had already tossed most of the stuff upstairs out the window and onto the ground below (with Izuku quietly apologizing every time he threw a barrel out the window and sent it falling to the alley below, which she had found somewhat cute) but he had been absolutely clear that they shouldn't let Ochako and Itsuka step one foot upstairs - that would give them more options to touch the bomb, and that would be game over for them. So in that case -

"Full charge …" She muttered, sticking her tongue out the side of her mouth and squinting one eye shut so she could aim, "... output level ten!"

BOOM

Ochako glanced behind her shoulder again and felt her eyes widen as twin bolts of yellow spiralling energy shot out of Nejire's hands, blasting down the hall towards her. The shot she had seen Nejire fire yesterday during the ball throw had been kind of slow, seeing as the energy shot out in spirals, but here, in this smaller, more cramped environment, it wouldn't take long for it to reach and hit her, and she didn't have any room to duck in to avoid it, and no way to throw herself to the side. Either way, she was going to get hit, and it was probably going to hurt.

Gulping, she quickly looked around, trying to see if there was anywhere she could go or anything that could help her dodge the blast that was inevitably going to hit her at this rate. And then she spotted the window at the end of the hall.

Letting out a brief shout to hype herself up, Ochako quickened her pace, sprinting towards the window as she outran the fireball - or, rather, the large blast of yellow energy that was going to shove her out the window anyway.

Nejire wrinkled her brow as the yellow energy swept over Ochako, briefly obscuring her from Nejire's vision, and she paused her floating to watch as the energy blasted over Ochako, eventually slamming into the wall. It took a few seconds, but eventually it dissipated, giving Nejire a good look at the cracked walls and window, the outer wall apparently strong enough to withstand her blast - 

- and at how Ochako had seemingly vanished into thin air.

"Huh?" Nejire blinked, feeling more than a little confused, and quickly floated over. Her quirk didn't do that, did it? Make Ochako disappear into nothing? She sincerely hoped not, mostly because if that happened, Ochako would be kind of, sort of dead right now, and that wouldn't be good for her health at all. 

Ooooh, no, now she was feeling anxious, gulping a bit as she looked around for the smaller girl but not seeing her anywhere, nervously tapping her fingers together and biting her lip  as she felt a bit of cool air from the window blowing in, about to raise her finger to her earpiece that All Might had given them and apologize for accidentally killing - 

- wait.

That window wasn't open before, was it?

Wrinkling her brow, Nejire looked back around, seeing the window pushed open all the way, and pouted a bit as a sudden suspicion came to her. With a small grunt, she twisted herself in the air so that her back was to the ground and she was looking at the ceiling, carefully bracing her hands against the wall outside the window, and slowly poked her head out - 

- and the first thing she saw was Ochako floating in the air and slowly opening the window to the eight floor above them, blinking when she felt something off and looking down to see the top half of Nejire's face looking up at her, squeaking in surprise and a bit of fear.

"Hey!" Nejire gasped, mouth dropping open in exasperation. "That's not fair!"

Quickly, she began crawling out the window after her like some kind of horror movie monster crawling out of a TV - albeit not as gracefully. It was a bit of a struggle, pushing herself out the window with her arms and her quirk, and watching Ochako quickly scramble to get inside the same room as the bomb before Nejire got out. Thankfully, Nejire managed to slip her feet out in time, floating outside the building, and quickly blasted up to grab Ochako's feet as she crawled half-inside the building.

This didn't work in Ochako's favor, seeing as she had floated herself and taken away her gravity to get up there, so that made it pretty easy for Nejire to drag her back outside while she yelped, Nejire holding onto the heels of her boots and blinking a bit as they stretched with a metal spring - wait, were heels supposed to do that?

But unfortunately for Nejire, Ochako decided to stop trying to get back inside the building, and took advantage of the fact that Nejire was so close now to swing her fist back, biting her lips slightly as she grabbed Nejire's shoulder roughly to keep her still.

"Uh, oh!" Nejire yelped in panic, and quickly threw her head back to avoid Ochako's fist nearly beaning her in the side of the head.

For a moment both girls struggled in the air, Nejire pouting a bit as she ducked her head under Ochako's flying fists, and Ochako instinctively wrapped her legs around Nejire to keep her from moving away. However, thanks to their struggling, Nejire's feet accidentally angled themselves backwards, and both of them let out small yelps as they flew towards the building with a bit more speed than -

WACK

Both girls let out comical grunts of pain as their heads smacked against the wall harder than they anticipated - the back of Ochako's head, and Nejire's forehead. For a few moments, they stayed still while continuing to float in the air, eyes clenched tight and mouths twisted into grimaces as Ochako's helmet slipped off her face, falling towards the ground below.

"Time out?" Ochako managed to ask through the pain, not even minding the sound of her helmet breaking on the pavement.

"Time out," Nejire agreed, moving back slightly so she could rub her forehead and Ochako could rub the back of her own head. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Sorry," Ochako apologized sheepishly, shaking her head slightly and feeling relieved that she felt no blood in her hair - maybe only a slight bump, "I think that was my fault, I knocked you off balance."

"No, no, that was my bad," Nejire waved her hand good-naturedly, "I think I sent us flying a bit. I'm just happy I don't have a concussion! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. How about you? Are you okay, Hadou?"

"Yeah, I'm good!"

"That - yeah, that's good."

"Great!"

"..."

"..."

"... time in?"

"Time in."

And with that, Ochako shoved Nejire away from her as hard as she could, the blue-haired girl letting out a small squeak of panic and surprise as she flailed in the air trying to regain her balance, and Ochako quickly took advantage of her lack of weight to crawl up the wall to the window where the bomb was waiting.


Itsuka wasn't all that surprised that Izuku caught up to her so easily after chucking him down the hallway, knowing that he was a pretty quick runner after training with him for the last ten months. What she didn't expect, however, was for him to catch her running up the stairs and grabbing her by the ankle, and yanking it back to trip her. With a yelp, she barely managed to catch herself before she hit her head on the stairs, and with a growl, she kicked out with her other foot, hoping to catch him in the face.

Izuku was quick to dodge the kick, leaning off to the side, but thankfully it threw him a tad bit off balance, letting Itsuka slip her foot out of his grasp and crawl up the stairs the rest of the way. With a grunt, she rolled to her feet as Izuku charged after her, throwing back the arm he had the Full Gauntlet on, curling his hand into a fist and launching it towards her face. Raising her arm, she managed to block it, although she winced in pain as the blow forced her back.

Right. Metal gauntlets hurt. Ow.

Quickly whipping out the capture tape from her belt, she jumped back and avoided Izuku's other fist, growing out one hand to launch at Izuku again, but he was prepared this time, ducking underneath it and kicking out with his leg. Itsuka jumped back again to avoid it, and shrunk down her hand again so she could lower herself into a battle stance, giving both opponents a moment to breathe as Izuku panted slightly, raising his fists threateningly.

During their small break, Itsuka glanced at the gauntlet, and felt her brow furrow - there wasn't any electricity pulsing through it, and the small meter on the side was in the red. That meant that he must've been attacking her without the use of his quirk. Unfortunately, she had a feeling that she knew why, feeling her heart twitch a bit in sympathy for him - he must not have been comfortable using his quirk against his friends, so he was going without it. 

Well … in the end, it didn't matter. If he didn't want to use his quirk, he better put his fists up and fight.

With a smirk, Itsuka moved her hand up, and gestured with her finger for him to bring it on. She could make out Izuku smiling a bit as well through his respirator - honestly, even Itsuka couldn't help but grin a bit at him. Other than the stress of this being something that was being graded, it was kind of fun going all out with him.

With a yell, Izuku launched himself at her again, Itsuka reacting by growing out her hand to catch him again - but that was what he was counting on, as instead of landing in her grasp, he adjusted himself to use her palm as a launch pad, making her grunt as she was pushed back, caught a bit off guard. This was what Izuku had been waiting for, landing back on the ground and immediately launching himself forward with his capture tape in hand to wrap around her wrist as he angled himself beneath her -  

- but Itsuka caught on to what he was doing, eyes widening, and quickly growing back out her other hand to grab him with her other hand, and letting out a yell as she chucked him away, Izuku caught off guard enough that the capture tape slipped out of his grasp.

Izuku yelped as he was sent flying down the hall, slamming hard against a door with a grunt of pain and sliding down - and then his eyes widened in panic as he looked up, and he ducked just as Itsuka's gigantic fist slammed into where his head would've been, the strength of the blow hard enough to break the door off its hinges and send it flying into the room. Izuku took that chance to roll inside, trusting Itsuka to be single-minded enough at the moment to follow him in and continue the fight, and to his relief (and a bit of terror) she quickly followed him in, leaping into the air while bringing her giant fist back, trying to smash him into the ground.

"Hold still, would you?!"

Getting out of the way of the blow, Izuku quickly kicked out again, catching Itsuka in the back and sending her stumbling away from him and the door. She hopped away as he threw out another fist, moving behind a pillar to take another moment to breathe. Thankfully, Izuku had the same idea, moving behind another pillar so the both of them had a chance to calm their breath and reorganize.

As she panted slightly, taking small, slow breaths to calm herself down, Itsuka quickly raised her hand to her earphone and pressed it.

"Uraraka, can you hear me? Have you reached the weapon yet?"

"Yeah," She heard Ochako grunt, as though she was jumping out of the way of something, and she could faintly make out the sound of energy being blasted, "but Hadou's got the advantage over me, she's been keeping up in the air and blasting at me whenever I get too close."

"Okay," She slowly nodded, peeking out from behind her pillar and seeing a pair of tall green ears poking out from where Izuku was hiding near the door, which made her scowl as she realized there was no way she could get out the door if he was there to prevent her from leaving, "I'm fighting Midoriya right now, but I'm gonna try to break away from him and come to back you up. Just keep distracting Hadou, I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay - but hurry, I don't think we have much time left."

"Gotcha." She nodded, moving her hand away from her ear to take a moment to think.

She needed to either take Izuku out of the equation entirely, or book it up the stairs to help Ochako and deal with him pursuing her later. Neither were very good options - but Ochako was right, they didn't have much time left before All Might called it and declared the villain team the winners. So continuing this fight with Izuku wasn't an option - she needed to get upstairs to assist Ochako with Nejire.

But how? How could she make sure Izuku wouldn't be right on her ass if she booked it out the door? He was fast enough to catch up with her easily, and while he wasn't exactly on her level of fighting experience, he had the advantage that they were in a relatively cramped space, and Itsuka's quirk made it hard to swing her fists around. She needed to do something to confuse him, or fluster him - 

- wait.

Fluster him.

Memories of Izuku going as red as a tomato whenever she so much as touched his shoulder suddenly came to mind. She blinked a bit as an idea came to him, and felt her mouth begin to quirk up. The viewers in the observation deck were a bit confused with how Itsuka, who was supposed to be on the hero team, ended up with an evil smile worthy of any villain as she slowly moved around the corner.

She had a feeling she knew exactly what to do to get under Izuku's guard - and god, she wished he wasn't wearing a mask at the moment, because his reaction was going to be absolutely hilarious.

"Hey, Midoriya!" She called out to him, swinging herself around the pillar with mock confidence. "You gonna keep hiding back there all day, or are we gonna settle this so I can go help out Uraraka?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, peeking out from behind his pillar in his confusion - but he quickly collected himself, clearing his throat as he moved around the corner as well and faced his friend down, quickly shifting into another battle stance. 

"Y-yeah, Kendou - let's finish this right now."

"Really? You sure?" She raised an eyebrow, "You aren't gonna go easy on me, are you? Gotta say, this fight's kind of lacking - I don't think I've even bruised my knuckles yet."

"I'm not going easy on you," He made clear, narrowing his eyes somewhat behind the mask, "I respect you too much to do that, Kendou. Besides, you talk a big game about not having a single bruise yet, but you haven't put anything on me either."

"I mean, can you blame me?" Itsuka shrugged nonchalantly, leaning forward slightly while her mouth rose in a smirk, her eyes becoming teasing. "There's no way I can possibly beat up that nice face of yours. You're too hot to mess it up with bruises and scratches."

"Nice try, Kendou, but I -"

After a moment, it became clear that what Itsuka said finally registered to Izuku. He paused, staring at her blankly for a moment - and then he stiffened up, eyes going as wide as dinner plates under his mask.

"- huh?" He squeaked quietly.

Her grin widening from the sheer audacity of what she just did to her friend, Itsuka didn't hesitate, taking advantage of Izuku going as stiff as a board, and sprinted straight past him and right out the door, running as fast as she could down the hall and towards the stairs while unable to stop herself from cackling loudly.

"H-hey!" Izuku gasped, shaking himself out of his fluster and quickly taking chase, thanking every god above that his mask was secured around his face so nobody, either in the building or watching through the cameras, could make out how red it was. "T-t-that's not c-cool!"

He was also going to pointedly ignore All Might's increasingly weakening struggle to contain his laughter over the comms.


Ochako, meanwhile, was not having as good a time as her partner.

"Eep!" She squeaked as she dived behind another pillar, feeling the stone support crack as Nejire's quirk slammed against it, and making her gulp nervously as the room shook once again. They'd been playing a little game of cat and mouse for the last few minutes, with Ochako trying her best to sneak up on the bomb and touch it while Nejire floated just above it, squinting her eyes in concentration as she threw blast after blast after Ochako, forcing her to duck out of the way or get hit straight in the chest with … whatever the hell Nejire's quirk was supposed to be.

Ochako let out a small grunt as she rolled against the ground to avoid another blast of energy, knowing that this was getting more than a little dangerous - training with Teko for the last ten months had been enough to teach her how to fight, but those skills were pretty much useless when she was stuck on the ground and her opponent had the advantage of being far more flexible in the air than she would be. And she couldn't just float herself, since Nejire had enough mobility to just move out of the way, and then Ochako would be a sitting duck!

She was at a disadvantage - but if she could just reach the other girl in the air, and make sure she didn't move out of the way … but how? Nejire's attention was entirely focused on her, throwing blast after blast after Ochako as she ducked around the pillars, unable to get anywhere close to the weapon. So maybe … maybe if she …

Ochako hopped around to another pillar, glancing around the side to see Nejire throwing her hands together, a pout on her face as swirls of yellow energy started to build up. Gulping, and realizing that this was a pretty bad sign, and nowhere close enough to the bomb to distract Nejire and run to it, she felt a plan form in her mind, and she nodded to herself. With a grunt, Ochako threw herself around the pillar, facing down Nejire as the blue-haired girl prepared to blast her - 

- and then she gasped theatrically, looking at something around Nejire's shoulder, and pointed wildly.

"Hadou, what's that?!"

"Huh?" Nejire blinked, her curiosity piqued, and looked around at …

… absolutely nothing.

With her distracted, Ochako took her chance, floating herself and leaping right into the air, her hands extended towards her classmate to float her - she figured that if Nejire's gravity was gone, she'd have a harder time fighting in the air if she couldn't control herself from floating up. As her hands stretched out, however, Nejire subconsciously lowered her hands, both of them still filled with mounting energy - and fired straight at the ground.

BOOM!

Ochako let out a shriek of surprise and terror as the force of the blast sent both of them flying in opposite directions - Nejire straight up into the air, colliding hard against the ceiling and making her groan in pain as her head slammed into the concrete roof, and Ochako flying off to the side at alarming speed. The gravity girl flailed in the air in panic, unintentionally bringing her hands together to restore her gravity and hopefully slow her down a bit so she didn't slam into the door at full speed.

And then, as she flew through the air towards the wall, the door leading downstairs slammed open.

Ochako's eyes widened at the sight of Itsuka standing in the door, looking around and seeing Ochako flying straight towards her, and, probably out of instinct, she squeaked and ducked, making Ochako yelp as she flew straight through the open door.

"You can't just - huh?"

Ochako's jaw briefly dropped as Izuku finally made it up the stairs, the look of annoyance, anger and embarrassment in his eyes fading as he realized what was about to happen, freezing up - and then she collided hard into him.

Both of them let out comical yelps of surprise as Ochako hit him with enough force to send them both flying briefly through the air, Ochako unintentionally bringing her hands together to release her quirk and restore her gravity - which, thanks to her weight suddenly reappearing, brought them both down on the stairs. Itsuka could only watch in guilt and a bit of sympathy as her two friends rolled down the stairs, grunting and yelping in pain as they tumbled over each other all the way down. Finally, the both of them landed in a heap at the bottom of the stairs, Itsuka gulping a bit at the sight of them laying there in defeat, and then shook her head and quickly ran back to the top floor and towards the bomb.

They did have a mission to get through, after all, so Itsuka would touch the bomb and then run back downstairs to make sure her friends were okay. Besides, she also had to take advantage of the fact that Nejire apparently hit her head again, the blue-haired girl wobbling in the air and clutching the back of her head while whining in pain.

Downstairs, Ochako let out a small groan as she finally registered that she was not dead, and had landed on something a bit soft but firm. Shaking her head, she put her hands down on the ground, lifting herself up and opening her eyes to have a look at what exactly she had landed on -

"Ugh … are … are you okay, Occhan?" Izuku grunted, also opening his eyes to look around at her - and then both of them realized what position they had landed in.

Izuku, laying on his back, with one arm spread out on the ground, and the other one holding soft in his hand - wait, that was her waist, he realized, he was holding her side just above her belt. Ochako, meanwhile, having both of her hands planted on either side of Izuku's head, sitting on his upper legs and holding herself up as their eyes met.

This wasn't the first time they'd been in a position like this, of course - Ochako had been a pretty rowdy kid, and had enjoyed wrestling around with Izuku when they were younger; and at Teko's dojo, they sparred all the time, and more than a few times those matches ended with Ochako pinning Izuku down. So this wasn't exactly something new.

And yet … as Izuku stared up at her, surprisingly not really all that bothered by this position as they had probably been in something like this all the time, for some reason, Ochako felt herself stiffen up. She stared back down at him in shock as she realized what position they were both in. And the hand that Izuku hadn't moved from her waist … for some reason, it was making her heartbeat suddenly quicken, beating weirdly fast as she felt a smudge of pink touch her cheeks.

"Uh … Occhan?" Izuku asked in an unsure voice, sitting up a bit in concern, "Are you okay? Do you -"

"HERO TEAM ... WIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINS!"

Both of them blinked, and then quickly looked around at the stairs, Izuku shocked and sitting up slightly while Ochako felt her jaw drop.

"Wait, what?!" She squeaked, attempting to get up so she could go check for herself - which, as it turned out, was a mistake. She felt her stomach lurch the moment she tried to stand up, and her cheeks puffed out as she immediately keeled over and collapsed onto her hands and knees, holding a hand over her mouth as the aftereffects of turning her quirk on and off on herself for the last ten minutes or so finally caught up with her.

"Occhan -?" Izuku asked in concern, looking around her shoulder at her in worry as she gagged - and then he realized what was about to happen, eyes widening, and he acted accordingly, hastily bending over to gather up all of her hair in one hand so it wasn't in her face as she retched.

Oh, great, she thought miserably to herself as her lunch made a surprise reappearance, seeing one of the cameras in the corner zoom in on them out of the corner of her eye, what a great win to celebrate my win - puking my guts out in front of the entire class.


"Ah," All Might felt himself cringe a bit as the cameras showed Ochako vomitting, "we may need a nurse."

Everyone in the observation deck nodded, besides Katsuki watching with a weird, satisfied look on his face at the sight of Izuku's loss and Ochako's humiliation, as the class observed the odd sight that greeted them on the screen. On one camera, Izuku rubbed Ochako's back in soothing circles while she spat out some bile, using his other hand to hold her hair back so none of it got in her face; and on the other, Itsuka stepped away from where she had touched the bomb to help Nejire get back to the ground, the martial artist checking the back of her head with a worried look while Nejire wobbled around slightly, talking a bit slower than usual and closing her eyes in pain as Itsuka looked through her long blue hair.

"Hm," Tsuyu poked her lip, "kind of an anticlimactic way to end the match, kero."

"Yeah," Kyouka crossed her arms, wincing and looking kind of queasy at the sight of the bile on one of the screens, "everything was so chaotic, and it just kind of ended with Kendou running over and touching the bomb while everyone else was distracted."

"It was smart of her to do so," Momo closed the notebook she had been writing notes with, staring up at the screen with an approving nod as she tucked the book under her arm, "while everyone had been confused, she took the chance to end the match without further delay. And it was good timing, as well - they'd almost run out of time."

"Girl, girl, girl!" Mina shook Setsuna's shoulder in her excitement, staring up at the screen showing Izuku helping Ochako to her feet while whispering frantically to her friend, "You said they're childhood friends? Childhood friends?!"

"Yes, yes," Setsuna nodded, letting out a small sigh at the utterly terrifying look on her friend's face and knowing exactly what that meant, "they're childhood friends, they're probably head over heels for each other and don't even realize it yet. You don't need to shake me so much, I know what you're thinking."

"Mm-hm. I'm a hundred percent onboard with this. Team green plus pink, let's go. I'm invested, I'm gonna make this happen."

"Well, good luck, girl, but if we gotta pick teams, as cute as those two would be, I'm unfortunately gonna have to oppose you. Team Ken, all the way. Our battle will be legendary."

"Young Midoriya, Young Kendou," All Might spoke into the mic, communicating with the two students relatively uninjured from the match as he typed a text to the nurse's office describing what happened, "do Young Uraraka and Young Hadou need the robots to come down and help them back to the observation deck? Or do they need to go to the nurse's office?"

"I don't think so, All Might," Itsuka said over the comms, still sounding a tad bit worried, as she looked around for a camera to look at their teacher through, "but Hadou might have a concussion, so I'm gonna walk back with her a bit slower so she doesn't make it worse. We might take a little while longer to get back to the observation deck."

"And Occhan's fine, too!" Izuku answered. "I can help her back to the observation deck."

"Very well! I will still have someone from the nurse's office meet you here so we can handle Young Hadou's concussion and any minor injuries you three may have. Good work!"

Closing the mic and finishing his text to the nurse's office explaining the situation, he sent off the message, and turned around with a flip of his cape, grinning widely at the other students staring at the screen as the lights above them unexpectedly turned back on, making everyone wince and groan as they shielded their eyes.

"Well, since it may take our first competitors a while to get back, we can get to analyzing their match and explaining our observations when they get back! With that said, I suppose we should start with the most important part of their evaluation - does anyone have an opinion as to who was the MVP of this fight? Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka, Young Hadou or Young Kendou?"

"All Might-sensei!" Momo immediately raised her hand to answer the question, which drew the attention of everyone in the room towards her as she straightened up. "From what I observed, I believe Kendou was the MVP of this match, and by a substantial amount."

"Oh-ho?" All Might raised an eyebrow in intrigue as he grinned, while Tenya pouted a bit and put down his own hand, accepting that he might not be able to speak his own thoughts, "Young Kendou, eh? I'm interested in hearing your reasoning, Young Yaoyorozu!"

"First of all," She put her hand down, looking back up at the screen with an analytical eye, "Kendou adapted the most to the context of the training, and adapted well on the fly as well. From watching the match during the beginning, it was clear that the hero team's initial plan was to separate and apprehend Midoriya before moving on with Hadou - not a bad plan, but it didn't account for Midoriya and Hadou also working together to attempt to separate them. What saved Kendou was her quick thinking, and requesting Uraraka to head up to the weapon while she distracted Midoriya. Even then, their fight consisted of Kendou attempting to get to the door in order to flee upstairs to get to the weapon and back up Uraraka. And while everyone had been distracted, Kendou took that opportunity to run in and touch the weapon, before anyone else could collect themselves."

"That's -"

"As for Midoriya," She continued on, unaware of everyone (even All Might) giving her surprised looks over the fact that she was going to actually summarize up the entire match instead of just who she thought was the MVP, "I would give him points for having the foresight to remove anything on the top floor that Uraraka could float, and made up the plan to keep them off the top floor entirely. Where he failed, however, was Kendou and Uraraka both flustering him into making mistakes, with him standing around and letting Kendou escape to the top floor, and not reacting in time before Uraraka sent him flying back down the stairs. Not to mention that had I not been keeping track, no one would have noticed that he didn't use his quirk once in the exercise - which put his team at a huge disadvantage."

At the back, Katsuki's brow furrowed at that, his mouth closing into a thin line.

"Uraraka, meanwhile, did very well in handling Hadou, and moving outside to avoid one of her attacks, but it was clear that she was at a large disadvantage when it came to handling an airborne enemy with nothing to throw at her. She did well to try and distract Hadou, but as we saw, it only took Hadou's attention off her attack, and could have had disastrous consequences in a real life situation if she had hit the weapon. Hadou, meanwhile, was easily distracted by Uraraka's distraction, although she did well in keeping her away from the bomb, and ultimately failed to stop Kendou from reaching the weapon. As well, both Uraraka and Hadou really just went along with the plans that their partners made and offered no input."

Putting her hands on her hips, Momo nodded. "To summarize, with Uraraka and Hadou making mistakes, and Midoriya not using his quirk and getting a bit too flustered at certain points, I believe Kendou is the undisputed MVP of the match."

There was a small silence in the observation deck for a few moments, with everyone looking at Momo in shock at the utter word vomit that had escaped her lips and how she had put down her classmates so brutally. Even All Might was taken aback, feeling a bit of sweat drip on his forehead as he tried to keep his composure and cleared his throat.

"Uh - well, er - Young Midoriya, Young Hadou and Young Uraraka did their jobs well, so we should give them a little credit, but - uh - well, that's correct! Good job."

Clearing his throat again, All Might turned back around to face the screen, trying to regain his confident grin as he typed in a few buttons, grabbing the clipboard from the side as he turned back to the class.

"Now then!" He cheerfully said, "Since we've gone through that brief review, let's keep this train going and get our second combat training match of the day started! As I've already selected our next competitors for the next round, we can get them down to the building and get them organized - Team E as the heroes, and Team B as the villains! Let's go!"

As the four students on those teams nodded and followed All Might out the door to the next building they were going to use for their exercise (deciding to leave behind the previous one due to the wall Nejire had collapsed), the class became aware of the sound of another door sliding open, and looked around. Trooping in and looking miserable were Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire, all of them cringing and walking slightly awkwardly, Nejire most of all as she walked a bit slower, Itsuka keeping a hand on the back of her head and guiding her forward.

"Hey, good job, you guys!" Eijirou gave them a big thumbs up, grinning, "Kendou, Uraraka, you guys were great! Congrats on your win!"

"Did we win?" Ochako groaned a bit quietly, walking a little hunched over as Izuku patted her shoulder in comfort, "Kinda doesn't feel like it. I think I need to puke again."

"Ah. Er. Please don't puke again."

"Hadou, are you okay?" Setsuna asked softly to the blue-haired girl, keeping herself a bit quieter than usual just in case. "Those hits looked like they hurt."

"I'm okay." Nejire gave her a shaky thumbs up, although people felt a bit worried about how her voice was slightly slurred and hazy. "Just a little headache. And feeling kind of nauseous. Everything is very bright and very loud. Owie."

"Well, don't worry," Tsuyu assured her, reaching out to lightly pat her arm to assure her, "All Might asked for the nurse to come, so they can take care of your concussion in a bit."

"The … nurse?" Itsuka blinked, looking up from where she had been tending to Nejire at the frog girl with a bit of waringness, while Izuku and Ochako likewise stiffened up a bit, their faces going a bit red (Izuku's now visible thanks to him taking off his mask and pulling the respirator down to hang around his neck). "All Might called for the nurse?"

"Uh … yeah?" Mina raised a curious eyebrow. "Do … you not want one?"

"Er ... and … did he specifically say who -"

And, as if on cue, the door leading outside the observation deck slid open, making the entire class look around at their visitor.

"Hiiiii!" Himiko sang as she skipped inside, the sound of things being thrown around in the nurse's bag hanging off her shoulder making Nejire wince a bit, "I'm here to help out the cuties!"

"What the fuck?” Katsuki's brow furrowed, staring at the older girl as though she had just crawled out of a sewer pipe. "Is that a fucking gremlin?"

"Says the gremlin in the corner." Himiko shot back without a moment of hesitation, which made everyone giggle, Katsuki grit his teeth furiously, and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka sigh in relief when they saw that the nurse wasn't wearing something so risque this time; instead of the weird corset/nurse's outfit, she wore the same gym uniform they'd worn yesterday for Aizawa's tests.

Unfortunately, Himiko's eyes trailed over to Izuku and Ochako, and her cat-like grin widened.

"Well, well … I know you two," She giggled, skipping forward and patting Ochako's shoulder as she continued to look sick, "you both are starting to have a bad habit of staying out of trouble, huh? First fighting zero-pointers and winning, and now getting hurt during your exercises. Honestly, if you two wanted to come see me, I'm just at the nurse's office all the time, no need for the dramatics."

Katsuki, who had been leaning back against the wall, let out an irritated sigh and closed his eyes - and then something she said finally registered to him, making him snap his eyes open.

"Now then," Himiko reached into the bag, rummaging around a bit before pulling out a small capsule, and walking over to Nejire, "eat this, sweetie, it'll help out with your concussion since it's fused with Recovery Girl's quirk, you'll be back to normal in no time. And for you, sweet cheeks," She winked at Ochako, making her go a bit red as she pulled out another few gummy bears, "same deal as last time, eat these and your nausea will be gone in a few minutes. And as for you, big boy," She batted her eyelashes at Izuku, who went even redder than he had been before, "a few gummy bears that'll help with bruising and any other scratches."

There was a small pause, and then Himiko turned to Itsuka as though remembering she was there as well. "Oh, and the same treats for you too, Kendou."

Itsuka tried not to scowl too much as she took the gummy bears from Himiko.

"Now then!" She happily clapped her hands together, albeit a bit quieter for Nejire's sake. "I'm gonna hang around in the nurse's station in this building, so if you guys need me for anything else, you can just have All Might -"

"What the fuck?" Katsuki interrupted, getting off the wall and staring at her in shock. "What the fuck was that about zero-pointers?"

"Huh?" Himiko looked around at him, raising an eyebrow. "What about what zero-pointers?"

"The fuck is that about them winning against zero pointers?!"

"Hm?" Reiko looked around at the taller boy, which drew his attention as he wheeled around at her. "Didn't you know? Kendou and Uraraka made sure most of the people in our battle center passed the exam by distracting the zero-pointer. I know if they didn't make the thing punch itself in the face, I probably wouldn't have been able to get enough points. Thank you both for that, by the way - I wanted to bring it up earlier, but wasn't sure how to."

Katsuki blinked.

"Yeah," Mezo nodded from his spot near the back of the crowd, looking around at Izuku and Nejire, "not to mention Midoriya and Hadou melting a hole through our zero-pointer's head. I'd gotten enough points before they did that, but they did help Iida get that one boy to safety."

"Wait - melted a hole through a zero-pointer's head?!" Pony's jaw dropped, looking around at Izuku in awe. "Midoriya-san, that's awesome! You just got so much cooler!"

Katsuki's fists clenched.

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on, Ken," Setsuna threw her hands up, staring at her best friend in shock, "you made one of those giant assholes punch itself in the face? Girl, why didn't you mention that sooner? No shit you scored first place!"

"Indeed! It's impressive to hear of your accomplishments!" Tenya ridgedly gestured to both girls, the fact they weren't able to see him underneath all that armor meaning that it looked like a stiff robot was pointing theatrically at them. "I knew Midoriya and Hadou more than proved their worthiness by handling the zero-pointer in our area, but hearing that you both made sure others could succeed while you distracted your own obstacle … Kendou, Uraraka, you both have my respect as well!"

While everyone else started complimented the four people who had just arrived through the door, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka looking sheepish and bashful while Nejire winced at the loud noises, Katsuki stared blankly at them, feeling his fsits clenching tighter and tighter at his sides the longer he stared at them in shock.

Everything that he thought that he knew was being rocked - Izuku and Ochako were weaklings, and Itsuka was some bitch that got lucky and probably hit two more robots than he did in the entrance exam. But to hear that they had apparently gotten into fights with the zero-pointers in their areas and had fucking won … that made him shake, but not in fear or anxiety.

Instead, his teeth barred, red eyes glaring straight at them as a vein throbbed in his forehead.

"You're fucking shitting me," He breathed out, and then he began to stomp forward, shoving past Yui and Hanta, both of them blinking as they they were knocked off balance. His storming towards them drew Izuku and Ochako's attention, both of them straightening up a bit - Izuku looking suddenly anxious, shrinking, and Ochako throwing him a sharp glare despite how sick and miserable she looked. "You fucking shits beat the zero-pointers? Bull-fucking-shit."

"I assure you, it's not a lie!" Tenya insisted, gesturing with his hand towards him. "Midoriya and Hadou really did destroy the zero-pointer in our area, I witnessed the entire incident myself if you would like me to recount the events to you. With that said, Bakugou, I urge you to speak to your classmates in a less disparaging tone -"

"Shut the fuck up!" Katsuki shouted at Tenya, which made the taller boy recoil in surprise and their classmates grouped around them jump - and making Nejire groan a bit and clutch her head, which made Itsuka and Himiko look around at her in worry. "You don't tell me what the fucking do, extra! I want some fucking answers, so keep your nose out of stuff that doesn't concern you before I blow it off!"

"Hey!" Himiko threw a hand up, which drew Katsuki's rage-filled glare to her as the formerly smug and flirty girl gave him a sharp glare as she pointed at Nejire. "We've got a concussed person here, and it'll take a bit for the medicine I gave her to affect her. So we don't need you screaming all your words -"

"You don't tell me what to do either!" He shrieked, whirling around at Izuku and Ochako and clenching his fists, small explosions appearing in his hands and making Izuku shrink up even more and Nejire groan more from the loud noises, "I'm gonna get some answers from the fucking usless shits whose asses you idiots keep blowing smoke up, and if any of you fucking extras are gonna - mmmgh!"

That last noise, however, was due to a sudden hand shoot out and grabbing Katsuki's face in a tight grip. The blonde boy's eyes widened in rage as Itsuka's hand shot out and grabbed his lower face tightly, drawing his entire attention and putting a pause on his screaming as she leaned in slightly, looking far angrier than anyone had seen her - even Yui and Setsuna looked taken aback by how furious their best friend looked, and the entire class faltered into a stunned silence.

"Bakugou." She growled through gritted teeth. "Shut. The fuck. Up."

If looks could kill, Itsuka would be dead on the floor, but it was clear that she wasn't messing around, what with her tightening her already painful grip around his face one more time as a warning before finally letting go. Katsuki, shaking and gritting his teeth, was tempted to just have at it and blow her up - no one ever treated him this way, he thought in rage, and this bitch really needed to be taught a lesson - but before he could even make a move to wipe that smug look off her face, the door on the side opened again, and everyone looked around, shaken out of their shock of the unfolding events.

"Ah, very good, you're here, Young Toga!" All Might laughed a bit, strolling inside and spotting the returning students, although he seemed not to pick up the tense atmosphere. "Have you treated the students yet?"

"Just did!" Himiko straightened up with a happy expression, acting as though nothing had happened during the time she got there and All Might returned. "All these cuties plus Kendou got their medicine, so I'm gonna head back to the nurse's station. Just call me if there's any other cuties that need my help!"

With that, she turned on her heel and started walking out the door, smirking a bit teasingly as Itsuka's eyebrow twitched at her. Teasing her orange-haired kohai was so much fun.

"Very good!" All Might pumped a fist, turning back to the screen and dimming the lights. "In that case, students, it's about time for our second match to get started, so let's turn our attention to the screen and observe! As for the students who just returned from the first match, we'll go over what we observed and where you can improve in a bit!"

With that, the students nodded, trying to act like Katsuki wasn't about two seconds from biting the hand Itsuka had over his mouth and giving her rabies as they joined All Might near the screen, Katsuki growling under his breath as he stomped back to his spot on the wall. As everyone stared up at the screen, Setsuna turned to glance at Itsuka, who was still glowering a bit from what had happened, and decided to add a little bit of levity to get her back in a happy mood.

"Hey," She leaned over slightly, catching Itsuka's attention, "so something I noticed during your match - you said something to Midoriya to get past him, but we couldn't hear what it was. Plus you were grinning like when you threw that one bully into the trashbin in fourth grade. What was up with that?"

Itsuka paused, while Izuku, who was standing in front of her beside Ochako, stiffened up, his face exploding in a blush - and then she smirked a bit, leaning to the side to whisper in Setsuna's ear. And if All Might had been curious as to why the green-haired girl suddenly let out an extremely loud cackle of laughter, he didn't comment.


After that, the rest of the matches for that day's battle trials officially went underway.

"Alright!" Denki cheered as All Might gave them the go-ahead to head in and start the match, "Let's do this, Jirou!"

"Yeah, yeah." Kyouka shook her head, following the boy hurrying inside the building they were doing their exercise in while putting her hands in her pockets. Instead of trying to copy the strategy Itsuka and Ochako had used during their match, knowing that Momo would've anticipated them using the fire escape, they decided to head in through the main door, pulling it open and walking inside. As they moved in, Kyouka narrowed her eyes slightly, and brought a hand out of her pocket to poke Denki's shoulder, getting his attention.

"Just to let you know, Kaminari - if you accidentally electrocute me at any point in the next fifteen minutes, it's on sight."

"H-huh?" He blinked, looking around at her in surprise. "No way, Jirou! I'm careful with my quirk."

"Right," Kyouka slowly nodded, not really believing him and not afraid to show that, "right."

"I am! Seriously, you've got nothing to worry about, I'm cool." Denki leisurely pointed at himself with a grin. "Besides, I got to prove myself today. Midoriya didn't use his quirk at all in the last match, so that means it's my turn to show off! He's kinda my rival, you know."

"... your rival."

"Yeah! Two electric quirk users, in the same class … gotta make sure he doesn't outshine me."

“… right. Whatever floats your boat. Now shut up for a minute, I'm gonna listen for Yaoyorozu and Awase."

"Are you sure, I could -"

"Shut it!"

Once she was sure he was going to keep quiet, she moved over to a nearby wall to poke her earphone jack in, taking a second to listen carefully while giving Denki a glare when it looked like he was about to open his mouth again and interrupt her. Finally, Kyouka heard the sound of feet running a few floors above, and looked around to Denki.

"They're up on the top floors. Running - wait, they've slowed down, they're walking now."

"Right! Then let's do this!"

Rolling her eyes, she still took off after him as they made for the stairs. They both had a pretty solid plan - pretty much amounting to taking down Momo and then having Denki electrocute Yosetsu, seeing as they weren't sure what his quirk was (since he didn't have any opportunities to use it at all during Aizawa's tests yesterday), so they prioritized Momo's takedown first. It was a good plan, or at least Kyouka thought so - take down the smartest person in the room, and then deal with the second problem together.

What they didn't count on, however, was getting up to the seventh floor, running up towards the eighth floor when Kyouka listened in again and pinpointed their location on the top floor - and then were promptly greeted by several thick pieces of metal covering the door.

"Uh …" Denki sweated a bit at the sight that greeted them up the stairs, "... that wasn't there before, was it?"

"Nope," Kyouka stuck her earphone jack into the wall next to the metal sheets, listening in, "and I can hear Awase and Yaoyorozu inside. They set this up to keep us out."

"Right. In that case, let's tear this thing down and get the bomb!"

They did not tear the thing down. As it turned out, Yosetsu had a pretty useful quirk that neither of them were aware of - the ability to fuse objects together at an atomic level, essentially able to stick anything he wanted together. A quirk that he used to seal the metal sheets that Momo had created together around the door, so it didn't matter how much Kyouka or Denki punched or tried to pry it apart, it wouldn't come down. Kyouka even tried to plug her jack into the speaker on her leg to vibrate it apart with her amplified heartbeat, but alas, apparently Momo made the metal out of some thick stuff, as it bent and groaned, but didn't break.

Finally, All Might called the time, and declared the villain team the winners of the match. Once Yosetsu had taken down the walls to get them out, Kyouka let out a small, disappointed groan but still congratulated them, fist bumping a confused but still happy Momo as the two girls started walking back together, chatting. Denki decided to walk back with Yosetsu in the meantime - they'd hung out a bit at lunch today with Eijirou, and Denki thought that, while Yosetsu wasn't as social as he was, he was still pretty cool to hang out with.

"So, uh …" He put his hands in his pockets, looking around at the boy with the bandanna on his forehead, "... I'm kinda curious. Where'd you get those metal sheets to block the door from? I don't think they were there during the last match."

Yosetsu stiffened up, glancing around at Momo as she made sure her costume's zipper was all the way up, and let out a small cough, scratching his cheek with a blush.

"I, uh … I think it's better if I don't say."


After they had gotten back and got their analysis for what they did good and where they went wrong from All Might and the rest of the class, it was then time for Team D as the villains to face off with Team H as the heroes.

THWIP

"So you wanna be the one to go downstairs?" Hanta asked as he shot out another long strand of tape around the weapon, wanting to complete their strategy of surrounding it and the room with enough tape that neither Reiko or Yui could easily get to it. "You sure? I saw Yanagi with that telekinetic quirk yesterday, that'll be a bit of a challenge for you."

"Oh, yeah, bro, it's no sweat," Setsuna floated her upper torso into the air to secure the tape against the ceiling, leaving her lower half on the ground, "I want to go down and make sure neither of them get up here. I just …" She paused to herself, and then, muttering in a low voice, "... I gotta prove myself."

"Huh?" Hanta looked around, wrinkling his brow. "Did you say something, Tokage?"

"N-nothing! Anyway, uh - yeah, I can go downstairs. I'm pretty sneaky, and Yui's never actually seen me in a fight. Or at least, a fight where I'm using my quirk. I've gotten into a few scraps while she was around, but I never used my quirk during them."

"Oh, yeah?" He grinned. "Did you win any?"

"Most of them, so it's the thought that matters. Anyhoo, I'll confuse Yanagi with my quirk, and probably just flash my boobs at Yui. That'll be enough to distract her for the rest of the match, and it'll be an easy win for us."

"Er - as nice as that strategy is, I'm not sure All Might would be cool with you just unzipping your costume and trying to get into a hero's pants to win. Or, y'know, maybe that is what a villain would do, but I'm pretty sure Kendou would hit you upside the head when we get back."

"Oh, probably!" Setsuna shrugged, giggling a bit mischievously. "Ken doesn't really need to look for any real reasons to hit me - she can just think back to the time I spiked her jello with pineapple, and the murderous intent will simply manifest itself. I'm very proud to know all her buttons."

"Yeah, I guess so." Hanta finished putting up the latest strand of tape, turning back around to look up at her as she secured another few pieces of tape in the air as he watched her arm pop off to head across the room, "So, uh … that's a pretty cool costume. I don't think I've ever seen a hero costume come apart like that so easily."

"Yeah, I had it custom made," She explained conversationally, "lets me use my quirk without having to literally strip down or wear something as revealing as Midnight's costume - y'know, the one she wore when she first debuted. Plus, it's really snug!"

"Yeah," Hanta coughed a bit, glancing up at her with a small blush on his cheeks, "really … uh … snug."

There was a brief pause, in which Setsuna slowly looked around back down at him with a knowing smirk on her face while he coughed and cleared his throat, looking away pointedly as she raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, come on, dude," She let out another mischievous giggle, "it's okay to admit that you've been checking out my ass since we got partnered up. I have eyes, y'know."

"Erk," Hanta winced, glancing off to the side with a guilty look on his face while he put his hands on his hips, "I, uh … well, sorry about that, Tokage. It's - uh - yeah. I'm only human, I'm not gonna pretend you're not attractive."

"Not just attractive!" Setsuna corrected him while looking proud. "Hot! Sizzling! Put some respect on my name."

"Yeah, yeah," Hanta chuckled, bringing the dark visor of his helmet back down so he didn't have show her his red face any longer than he needed to, which made her laugh as she attached another piece of tape to the wall, before turning back to him with a cat-like smile.

"Hey, if it makes you feel any better, I checked out your ass too. Not gonna lie, bro, you got a nice tush."

"... huh," Hanta blinked, looking back around at her with a small grin, "y'know, that - uh - huh. Y'know, that actually does make me feel a little better. Thanks, Tokage."

"You're welcome, Tapeman!"

"... no."

"Hm, swing and a miss, huh? Well, what about 'Tush Bro'? 'Cause we both got such nice butts."

"Yeah, no. Not 'Tush Bro'. You kinda suck at giving nicknames, huh?"

"Excuse me! I'm insulted by your baseless claims. I'm an expert at nicknaming people! I'll think up a good hero name for you yet."

After their - chatting? Flirting? - whatever that was, All Might called for them to begin, and the match went underway, with Setsuna heading downstairs to head off Reiko and Yui while Hanta stayed behind to guard the weapon. It was a pretty close match, what with Setsuna using her quirk's natural slippiness to mess with her opponents, and having to dodge around Yui shrinking down pieces of furniture and regrowing them when Reiko had used her quirk to throw them at her. Unfortunately for the villain team, Reiko eventually pinned down Setsuna enough to wrap the capture tape around her floating leg, and both girls headed upstairs to team up on Hanta. Two on one, it was a defeat for the villain team as Yui managed wrap the capture tape around his ankle when he had tried to use his quirk to move around the room, and Reiko simply floated the weapon over for her to touch, although she had sweated quite a bit while floating it over and panted when she put it down - it appeared that, similar to Ochako's quirk, she had a weight limit for her quirk as well.

Once they were back, All Might gave them a critiqued explanation of what he thought, praising all four of them while handing off small pieces of advice for them to keep in mind (his telling Setsuna that she did well had lifted her mood somewhat, the dinosaur-loving girl having been staring glumly at the floor ever since she had been captured). For Yui and Reiko, he had advised them to … well … actually talk to each other, since, according to the pro hero, they hadn't said a word to each other at all during their planning, simply choosing to look at each other and nod slightly.

Once Yui and Setsuna had rejoined their group, Itsuka gave the stoic girl and the silver-haired girl a worried look.

"Er … was it okay, teaming up with Yanagi?" She asked Yui softly, her best friend pretending to ignore Tenya's entire existence while the earnest boy looked more and more confused by her coldness, "You guys didn't say a single word to each other during your entire match - did you two not get along?"

"Hm? Oh, no, everything was perfect," Yui tilted her head slightly in confusion. "I got along very well with Yanagi. She's pretty much my best friend now."

"Mm," Reiko nodded in agreement.


After an ... interesting discussion about how two girls that hadn't spoken a single word to each other could consider each other life partners, Team F was declared to be the heroes of the next match, and Team I was set up as the villains.

"Oh, boy," Pony muttered in English, staring at the door leading downstairs to the rest of the building while shaking a bit, "I guess we've got to go up against ... uh ... Sparky Sparky Boom Man now."

"It'll be alright, Tsunotori," Mezo assured her as he moved some of the debris away from the weapon, using his quirk to grow multiple arms in order to sweep everything away quickly, "he might be unreasonably angry, but there's no way he'll actually try to inflict lethal damage on us while All Might is watching. And if he tries to come up here, I know how to fight - I can protect you."

"Uh … right."

Mezo felt his brow furrow at her unsure, scared voice, and looked around at her with an eye growing out of his arm while he put down the barrel he was carrying. She was glancing between the door and him, and looked clearly uncomfortable, which made him sigh quietly as he put down the canister he had been carrying with his other arms. 

He had been kind of afraid of this when he had come to UA, but he could hear the shake in the smaller girl's voice when she spoke to him, and how she kept her hands clasped tightly together, clearly avoiding looking right at him. He could tell that she was afraid of him, and that made his stomach clench slightly. Still, they needed to work together for this match, and they couldn't exactly do that if his partner was too afraid to even look at him. So, scratching his cheekbone just above his mask, he slowly approached her, making sure to make it look like he wasn't suddenly charging at her.

"Tsunotori," he asked quietly, "are you afraid of me?"

"H-huh?" Pony blinked, looking around at him in shock for a moment while he slowly nodded.

"If you are," Mezo muttered, "I do apologize. I know my quirk can be quite disturbing to look at, and I didn't mean to -"

"O-oh, no, that's - that's not it!" She quickly assured him, waving her hands frantically in the air to stop whatever misunderstanding he was about to have. "I'm not scared of you! Er - not - not you, but - uh - sorry, it's kind of hard to explain."

Mezo merely watched as she brought her hands back together, twiddling her thumbs while looking embarrassed and sheepish.

"It's just ... when I was a kid, like five or so years old," She muttered, going a tad bit red, "my parents and I went to an aquarium on our vacation, and we visited the - the octopus exhibit. I leaned in a little too far over the railing and fell in, and ... and the octopus was really big, and ... I may have gotten slightly, kinda, only a little bit, only a tad bit ... heavily traumatized."

"Oh," Mezo blinked, understanding filling him as he nodded, "so it's not my appearance by itself that's making you uncomfortable - it's just that my quirk is reminding you of -"

"Tentacles wrapping around me and dragging me deeper into the water," Pony quickly said, glancing at the floor, "yeah."

"Ah. Well, Tsunotori, I'm ... sorry to hear that happened to you. I just want you to know -"

"And now our fourth match begins! Start!"

Both students jumped a bit, whirling around towards the door. They'd gotten distracted with their little conversation about how Pony was only slightly severely traumatized, they had forgotten about what they were actually doing - but now, they knew that Katsuki and Eijirou were about to enter the building, with Katsuki probably still being just angry from when Itsuka had told him to shut up an hour or so ago. 

But Mezo had made Pony a promise to protect her, looking down at her as she balled her fists and stared at the door with a bit of suspense, and nodded, also clenching his fists and glaring at the door. He said he would protect her, so that's what he was going to do.

And that's when they started hearing the explosions.

BOOM

Both of them let out noises of surprise as the ground shook beneath them, the sound of a distant explosion making them tense.

BOOM

That one sounded closer, making Mezo grow out an ear and put it to the floor to listen. It probably wasn't as good as Kyouka's quirk was, but it was enough to let him listen a bit closer.

BOOM

That one came from the fifth floor, he realized with his eyes widening. Which meant that he was coming up - and coming up fast. Why, if he wasn't -

BOOM

That one came right from the floor below theirs. Which meant -

"Tsunotori!" Mezo shouted in alarm, which drew her attention from the door to him, and making her large, doe-like eyes widen in shock as he dived towards her, hands outstretched -

BOOM!

The door to their floor exploded in a loud explosion of heat and sound, sending the metal door flying through the air towards them. Thankfully Mezo got Pony out of the way in time by wrapping his large arms around her and shielding her from the explosion, both of them grunting as they rolled away from the entrance to their floor. As the door smashed out the window and slammed into the building next to theirs, sticking there, their eyes widened, realizing that they would've been hurt if they hadn't moved out of the way in time.

Mezo quickly sat up, putting Pony back on the ground (and not noticing her glancing up at him while muttering "World cold and cruel, multiple arms soft and warm?") as he watched someone lumbering into the room, smoke blowing out from his gauntlets giving him a nightmarish appearance as he smirked.

"There you are," Katsuki sneered, explosions popping in his hands as he shifted his stance, "let's make this fun!"

With another loud explosion, Katsuki rocketed himself towards the two, eyes narrowed at them and smirk widening in delight at what he was about to do to them. Mezo grunted as he rolled away, using two hands to push Pony to the side away from Katsuki and barely managing to avoid the explosive pomeranian crashing into him - 

- only to let out a yell of pain as Katsuki threw an explosion at his exposed back, sending the taller boy flying through the air. As he landed against a pillar, Mezo grew out a few more fists, only for his eyes to widen as Katsuki launched himself back at him with surprising speed.

"Shouji-kun!" Pony gasped, and quickly put her index fingers to her head. 

With a small flash of yellow light, her horns popped off, soaring straight towards Katsuki as he threw up his hand in the air - but he saw it coming out of the corner of his eyes, grunting as he blasted himself back into the air, twisting himself right above the horns. Pony's eyes widened in terror as he looked around at her with a wicked smile, looking less like a hero and more like the villain she was supposed to be playing right now.

"You wanna go first?!" He cackled. "Then die!"

"Die?!" She squeaked fearfully in English.

"DIE!"

Exploding both figuratively and literally, Katsuki lunged at the smaller girl, smile widening when she tried to get up and run on those weird hooves of hers - but she was too slow. The moment she had turned to run away and give them some space, he reached her, grinning sinisterly as he clapped his hands together and released a large explosion from both palms.

BOOM!

Pony let out a cry of pain as she was sent flying through the air, flailing slightly before slamming into the wall and sliding to the floor. Groaning weakly in pain, she rolled onto her side, clutching the back of her head with both hands as she struggled to get back to her feet. On the other side of the room, Mezo's eyes widened, sitting up from his spot on the ground where Katsuki had thrown him with his quirk, and then lunged to his feet and used his quirk to form several fists.

As Katsuki turned in his direction, Mezo threw out a fist, hoping to take him by surprise with a swift hit to the back of the head - but Katsuki was quicker, ducking underneath the blows with a feral expression as his explosions crackled in his palms. Launching himself forward, Katsuki began throwing explosion after explosion, and the only thing that Mezo was able to do was form a small shield around his body with his arms as Katsuki hammered at him with explosions - until, finally, Mezo could take the pain and heat anymore, gasping as he was blasted back into the wall by an even more powerful explosion than before.

And the moment he hit the wall, gasping as the air escaped his lungs, Katsuki grinned, and threw one more explosion right at him, slamming right into the taller boy. Groaning, Mezo slipped down to sit on the floor, clearly defeated, while Pony groaned weakly and held the back of her head, feeling a bit of blood escaping the bump that was now forming.

Panting slightly, Katsuki grinned as he straightened up, looking around at the two defeated classmates. Mezo, rolling onto his hands and knees and weakly grunting, and Pony holding the back of her head while groaning softly. It was clear that he had won, he thought with a sneer, and not only that, it was probably the easiest win of the day - not counting Momo and Yosetsu, who just blocked up the door and called it a day. He actually earned this win, and didn't have to rely on shitty teamwork to get it done.

Speaking of that, there was the sound of panting at the door, and he looked out of the corner of his eye to see Eijirou making it to the top floor of the building at last, blinking in surprise at both of their opponents already down on the ground.

"Holy crap," He breathed, hurrying forward to check on Pony, "you don't know how to hold back, do you?"

"Hell fucking no," Katsuki huffed, "I came, I saw, I fucking conquered."

With that, he strolled forward and merely rapped his knuckles against the bomb, and All Might declared the hero team the winners. Eijirou wrinkled his brow a bit, and moved to help Pony and Mezo back to their feet, while Katsuki merely strolled out the door with a victorious grin. He wanted to get back to the observation deck to get his marks, knowing that he definitely beat out Itsuka and Ochako's performances in the battle trial, and he knew that he was about to head back to have All Might declare him the MVP of the match.

When they did get back, however, he was to be bitterly disappointed.

"I would say that Young Shouji is the MVP of the match!" All Might announced with a grin, putting his hands on his hips while Katsuki's jaw dropped and Mezo looked around at All Might in surprise.

"What?!" Katsuki yelled, which made All Might raise an eyebrow and look around at the boy suddenly barring his teeth. "The fucking octopus is the MVP?! How the fuck?!"

"Hm," All Might tapped his chin, not really liking how Katsuki called his classmate an octopus and seeing Mezo slump his shoulders, which made Pony give him a concerned look, "an interesting question, Young Bakugou. Can anyone explain?"

Katsuki's teeth gritted when Itsuka's hand immediately shot up, but thankfully All Might picked out Tenya instead so he didn't have to hear her shrill shrieking. Although it wasn't like the four-eyed asshole was any better.

"Sir!" Tenya stiffly lowered his hand, "Bakugou did not adhere to the rules you instated in the test. He did not work together with his partner at all and left him behind to instead confront the villain team on his own. He also caused severe damage to the building when he moved up the building, and caused severe harm to our classmates! Shouji, on the other hand, kept a level head during the attack, and kept Tsunotori from danger! I'd say that he kept focused on the task at hand, and due to Kirishima not having a chance to get in before Bakugou moved inside on his own, and Tsunotori being taken out very quickly, I believe Shouji is the MVP of the match!"

"I agree!" All Might gave him a thumbs up, which made Tenya stiffen up with shock and emotion that the Number One Hero had agreed with him. "Young Shouji is definitely the MVP of the match, due to his quick thinking and intuitiveness, even if it didn't last very long. Do you understand Young Iida's points, Young Bakugou?"

"..."

"Young Bakugou?"

Instead of answering, Katsuki merely growled under his breath, and stomped away from the small group and back to his corner. All Might watched him go, feeling his confident smile falter a tad bit. Still, he did have two injured students, and turned back to the two heteromorph students with a kind expression.

"Young Shouji, Young Tsunotori, do you need to go visit Toga? She can probably help patch you up in her nurse's office."

"Er ... probably," Mezo shrugged, glancing down at Pony in concern, "Tsunotori may have a concussion. I'd offer to carry her there, but I ..." He hesitated, and then muttered, "... I don't want to make her uncomfortable."

At that last remark, Pony winced, feeling regretful of their conversation earlier as she took off the harness around her head.

"All Might?" Itsuka raised her hand, giving the two students a look of worry, "In that case, can I escort them? I don't think they should be moving on their own, and I can help Tsunotori."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded in agreement, taking a step forward, "if - if they need help getting to the nurse's office, I can help them out."

Giving both of them a smile, All Might nodded, and watched as Itsuka wrapped Pony's arm around her shoulders to help her out the door, Izuku likewise doing the same while helping the larger boy out the door and muttering to him some small assurances, and All Might turned back to the screen, tapping on the keyboard to inform Himiko that there were students incoming. And out of the corner of his eye, he turned slightly, seeing Katsuki leaning back against the wall and fuming.

He knew that Aizawa had pointed out that Katsuki had the risk of being a problem student, and now he could see what he had meant - the boy was a mass of pride and arrogance, and it was clear that there was something personal going on between him, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, mostly due to the glares the explosive boy had thrown at them, and being answered by glares from Itsuka. That was something that would need to be fixed soon, whether it be Katsuki getting a reality check or someone to talk to him. Hopefully, when Aizawa saw the tapes later today, he'd know how best to approach the situation and advise him on how to proceed.

Soon after the four students had returned, both Mezo and Pony looking a bit better at least, the final match of the day went off without another hitch, with Tenya and Mina on the villain team managing to score a win against Fumikage and Tsuyu on the hero team (despite Tenya's identity crisis of playing a villain, which had amused Mina greatly), by simply coating the halls with Mina's acid and Tenya using some of his speed carefully through the halls to pursue Tsuyu when she climbed up on the walls. Granted, it wasn't an easy win, what with the villains' strategy working against them somewhat and making Tenya slip at one point, sent sliding into the wall without any dignity or grace (thankfully everyone was too busy laughing to notice the stars in Yui's eyes as Tenya's legs and butt stuck up in the air), and once the timer had run out and the villains were declared the winners, they were finished the battle trials.

As soon as they ran through the last evaluation, All Might led the class back to the entrance of Ground Beta outside, giving all twenty students a radiant smile as Himiko waved goodbye to them all, winking at Izuku and Ochako as she strolled away back down the tunnel to the nurse's office. And it was good timing for the pro hero, as well - he knew he was almost out of time, so he needed to hurry back to the teacher's lounge before he reverted back to his weakened form.

But before that, he thought as his eyes flickered to Itsuka …

"Good work today, everyone!" He praised the class overall, looking around at the tired but satisfied looks on all their faces from their matches that day, the sole exception being Katsuki. "We don't have any major injuries, and the injuries we did have were fixed up by Young Toga rather easily. I'm so happy to see that you all took this test so seriously! You've all done a great job for your first training exercise."

"To have such a proper class after Aizawa-sensei's class," Tsuyu raised a hand to point something out, while everyone in the crowd shuddered a bit at the memory of the sinister expressions of their homeroom teacher, "it's kind of anticlimactic."

"Well, we are free to have proper classes as well!" All Might threw his arms wide, his blue and red cape flying in the wind. "In any case, we've done good work, and it's almost time for the bell to ring - which means that it's time for you all to get changed and head on home! In the meantime, Young Kendou," He turned to look at Itsuka, the girl blinking at being addressed as he gestured to Pony, "I think Young Tsunotori is still wobbling a bit - could I ask that you walk her back to the classroom after you're finished getting changed, just to be safe? And bring her to the nurse's office if she thinks she needs to go there again."

"O-oh, yeah, sure, All Might," Itsuka quickly nodded, straightening up and looking over to her classmate - the pro hero had a point, Pony still looked kind of wobbly even after coming back to the observation deck after being healed up by Toga's medicine, so she might need a hand getting back to the classroom. Quickly, she started hurrying around the crowd as they started heading towards to the changing room, chatting excitedly between each other as All Might watched them go -

"Young Kendou."

Itsuka faltered in her step, hearing the low voice of her mentor muttering to her, and looked around at him. He still wasn't looking at her at all, instead staring ahead at the other students, before he tilted his head slightly, looking at her out of the corner of his eye.

"When you're finished getting changed and helping Young Tsunotori," He whispered in a low voice so that she could only hear, "come to the Nap Room."

"The ... Nap Room?" Itsuka blinked, looking up at her mentor, but before she could question him, he suddenly began speeding away, running full hilt down the hall towards who knows where.

Confused, Itsuka still shook her head and straightened up - even if she had no idea what he could want, she wasn't going to just ignore a request from All Might, and quickly hurried forward to help Pony to the changing room, walking behind the rest of the girls a bit slower to match the pace of the small horse girl - and ignoring Katsuki throwing her yet another dirty look as he slammed the boy's change room door shut behind him.


The first words out of Aizawa's mouth as he strolled into the principal's office for their meeting were, without a moment of hesitation, "Transfer Hadou over to Class 1B or I quit."

Principal Nezu let out a loud laugh at that as he looked around from where he had been staring out the window, smiling mischeviously, "Oh, Aizawa - as if I would simply let you quit! I'm afraid I'll be having you teach here until your hair is completely grey."

Aizawa grumbled in displeasure as he slid the door shut behind him, feeling more tired after yesterday and this morning than he had in the last six months - all thanks to his new blue-haired student who would not stay quiet for any longer than a few seconds. The school bell had just rung to wrap up the day, and Class 1A had just finished their first Hero Basic Training lesson with All Might - he had said that there were a few videos Aizawa could review, which he would be doing thoroughly to make sure his students weren't slipping up on their second day.

Before that, though, he had received a summon to the principal's office for a meeting, so he had reluctantly unzipped himself from his yellow zipping bag, threw a dirty look at Midnight when she flashed him a teasing grin, and shuffled up to the office on the top floor of the building.

"As much as I may pity you, Aizawa," The mouse principal said cheerily as he moved towards his large leather chair, "I can't exactly transfer Hadou to Class 1B just because you don't want to deal with her. Now, if she were to be a troublemaker, then I'd consider it, but from what you described, she's simply a curious mind that doesn't quite have a filter. I'm sure being taught by you will encourage her to find a way to temper herself."

"That's assuming she doesn't drive me to alcoholism first," Aizawa shook his head as he walked towards the chair on the other side of the principal's desk, "I'm half tempted to accept Midnight's offer to go out for drinks this Friday."

"Well, in case you succumb to your depression, I offer you good luck," Nezu sat down in his seat, pulling his laptop a bit closer to him, "seeing as I'm much fonder of tea than alcohol, I will not be joining you all. Now then, we can get back to that in a bit - I heard that besides Hadou, you've had a bit of a surprising development with your class's unexpected tests yesterday, what with you not expelling anyone for once this year."

"Midoriya ended up surprising me," He shrugged, "so he stays. For now."

"Oh?" Nezu chuckled, "And if you had ended up expelling him, would Midoriya have been re-enrolled the next day like all the others, or would this have been one of the rare instances where he was permanently kicked out of the program?"

Aizawa pointedly didn't answer that question, instead moving to take his seat in the chair opposite of the small principal, and crossing his arms as Nezu settled back in his chair.

"Well, in any case," The principal typed a bit more into his computer, the small smile on his furry face fading as he looked back up at the tired teacher, "I wish that we could talk a bit more about your academic adventures, but I'm afraid that this conversation will not be so light. You had mentioned before that you wanted to keep updated on the ongoing Trigger situation."

Aizawa blinked at that, looking up at his boss as he leaned slightly back in his seat. He knew exactly what Nezu was talking about - the Trigger thievery from last summer. He had been the one who had initially found the warehouse up in Hokkaido, working in the underground network and finding out about the fight, and had reported the situation to the upper heroes, with the exception that he would be kept up to date with the investigation. It wasn't just because of this recent situation, either - he had been a part of the investigation of the initial Trigger outbreak years ago, working with the police to try and apprehend the villains that had been manufacturing the drug, and they had reached a dead end with the death of their suspect. But now that there was a new lead into it ...

"From the investigations All Might, Hawks and Ryukyu had conducted from the last two months," Nezu turned his laptop towards Aizawa so he could read a bit, "they weren't able to pick up any trails that this hypothetical villain took the barrels. They were, however, able to conduct an investigation of the warehouse, and who owned it in the first place."

"So the gang that developed the drug in the first place." Aizawa nodded, quickly reading through the report. After briefly scanning it, his eyes narrowed. "Of course. Humarise."

"Indeed," Nezu tapped the screen with his paw, "after the arrest of their leader, the cult broke down into several splinter cells throughout the globe. After their failed terrorist attacks, a group of former Humarise agents arrived in Japan and used the cult's remaining funds to purchase the warehouse and turn it into a drug lab. It's clear that from what they found from the cell leader's email that they were planning a terrorist bombing up in Hokkaido - that was, until this other group came in and slaughtered them.

"Right," Aizawa leaned back, frowning, "what did Officer Kaniyashiki say? She was part of the initial Trigger outbreak, along with Detective Tanuma."

"Well, from the autopsies that they had made from what they found on the bodies, we found that the Humarise cultists were … well, they were brutalized." Nezu frowned. "Beaten down, slashed with knives, strangled. Nothing quite to go by there."

The quirk erasing teacher sighed, nodding - he had expected that, for them not to have anything on the other villains that would've been there that day. However, Nezu suddenly pulled the laptop back to him, which drew his attention as the mouse principal gave him a serious look while tapping on the keyboard.

"However," He tapped a paw against the closed computer, "from that autopsy, it gave the heroes another lead - for an entirely different case."

Aizawa furrowed his brow at that, watching as Nezu found what he was looking for on his computer, and then turned it back to him to look at. The teacher leaned forward, tilting his head slightly at the two pictures of heroes on the screen - one with a hero in gundam-like armor and a red cape, and another hero with an iron-like jaw.

"Do you recognize these heroes?" Nezu asked. "Three months ago, these two heroes from two separate parts of Japan were both brutally attacked and put in the hospital. Ordinarily the HPSC would dismissed this as the work of the Hero Killer - and seeing as they already have a few of their own agents working on that case with Ingenium, it would be out of our hands. However, Endeavor did a bit of investigating himself, and found a curious connection," The mouse principal raised his eyebrows, "both heroes showed signs of being beaten down, strangled, and stabbed as though with knives."

"The same type of injuries from the warehouse," Aizawa nodded, putting the pieces together, "you think the group that took the Trigger is the same group that attacked these heroes."

"Indeed. It is just a theory, though."

"But why?" AIzawa shook his head, "What would be the point of that? It would simply draw attention to them - unless that's what they want. But if they went to such great lengths to make sure we couldn't pick up a trail on the Trigger, it would be foolish for them to draw attention to themselves."

"Well, this is where it gets intriguing, Aizawa," Nezu leaned in, looking grave. "The HPSC wants to dismiss these two incidents as work of the Hero Killer, and granted, they do have injuries that seem to match sword wounds, but they were kept alive when the police and paramedics found them - which meant that these attacks weren't meant to kill them. They were both brought to the hospital for tests, and the doctors confirmed an … odd connection between their injuries."

"Besides the stabbing and strangulation and beating, you mean."

"Yes. The doctors discovered that their quirks were … gone."

Aizawa stopped at that, staring blankly at the screen for a moment, before looking back up at the principal as he sipped on some tea, looking far more serious than he had ever seen him as he put the cup back on the saucer.

"As though they never had them," He elaborated, "their quirks have been lost. They had a quirk specialist come in to investigate, and found that it was as though they were never there. As though they had always been quirkless."

Closing the laptop, the principal returned his gaze to Aizawa as the teacher looked more than a little confused by that, "Two heroes, attacked and having their quirks somehow erased without a trace, and several barrels of Trigger taken away from a terrorist cell. I want to say that this is a mere coincidence, but I'm not a fool, AIzawa. I know that the last time we had to seriously deal with Trigger - before Humarise's attempted attack on society - things came very close to disaster with the lockdown in Naruhata. And I fear that this might not be two different factions of Humarise fighting over some drugs. I believe, with what little evidence we have … this may be connected to the original Villain Factory."

"Wait. You don't mean -"

"The original two villains who helped spread the initial Trigger outbreak - Kuin Hachisuka and Number Six," Nezu raised an eyebrow, "both of them currently out of action - Hachisuka was extracted from both Tamao Oguro and Kazuho Haneyama, and is currently serving out her sentence in Tartarus; and Number Six died during the Naruhata situation. And yet, we know that those two were merely working for the true mastermind behind the Trigger development, and we never caught them."

"Number six," Aizawa muttered, eyes widening in realization, "and there was a number painted on the wall of the warehouse …"

"It may be a coincidence," Nezu nodded, "but I sincerely doubt it. Whether this Trigger thief could be an original member of the Villain Factory that escaped its disbandment by All Might, or someone else serving as its new face for the original Trigger mastermind, I cannot say. But what I do know is that we will have to tread carefully, AIzawa. There's someone out there with barrels full of a drug that can fuel the villain underworld for months on end, and someone attacking heroes and somehow getting rid of their quirks. I pray they aren't connected, but I'm smart enough to consider that these two incidents may be the work of the same individual."

"And there's no way the HPSC will let anyone below the Top 10 near that," AIzawa grumbled, crossing his arms again, "they'll want to make sure the public thinks that everything's nice and dandy while sweeping everything else under the rug."

"Indeed," Nezu picked back up his tea to sip, "so that is why we'll have to be cautious. We'll bring All Might up to speed on the two heroes who had their quirks disappear, but for now, I would like you to keep this on the downlow. Concentrate on your teaching responsibilities, and when you are out working tonight, keep your ear to the ground.  If there's someone out there capable of removing quirks, it does not matter if you are in the low hundreds in the rankings or the number one hero - you will have to be careful."


Thankfully, by the time they got back to the classroom, Pony's small wobble had faded away, and she believed that she was good to go home without another visit to the nurse's office, giving Itsuka a big thumbs up. Still, Itsuka wanted to make sure that Pony was okay, and was relieved when Reiko offered to walk with Pony to the train station just in case, both girls walking into the classroom to gather up their things. After that, Itsuka told Izuku and Ochako that they could go home without her today, as she needed to do something, and then went off in search of the Nap Room - from his request, All Might might be there waiting for her right now, and she didn't want to keep him waiting.

Thankfully, it didn't take long to find it - after asking Cementoss for instructions, she went up to a floor upstairs, finding a door with the sign 'NAP ROOM' written in kanji at the top. Hurrying her pace, she approached the door, and quickly knocked on it.

"Come in." She was relieved to hear All Might inside, and his voice wasn't really as bombastic as it had been all day - which must have meant that he was out of time for the day, and back to his weakened form. Sliding the door open, she immediately spotted All Might sitting on the couch, his formerly muscular frame shrunken down to his weakened form and his costume hanging loosely around him. There was a tea maker on the small coffee table, and he was currently filling up the two cups beside it as he looked around at her, a small smile on his face.

"Young Kendou," He greeted her, "come in, come in."

"Hi, All Might," She gave him a small wave, sliding the door shut behind her and walking into the room, moving towards the small stool on the other side of the coffee table, "are you doing okay? You were in your muscular form for hours today - that must've been exhausting, wasn't it?"

"I'm fine, Young Kendou," He waved off her concerns with a chuckle, finishing pouring a cup of tea for his pupil and sliding it across the table to her as she sat down, "I was definitely a bit rushed for time at the end of the lesson, and barely made it to the teacher's lounge before I lost my form - but it's alright, I expected that to happen. Of course, we also have to account that today was going to be stressful anyway, seeing as it was my first class - but I'm sure that with practice, I'll know how to better manage my time."

"A-ah. I see."

"Indeed. Well, in any case, I have to offer my congratulations," All Might smiled at her, "winning your first battle trial with Young Uraraka. I'm going to have to make sure I don't team you two up again for a long while after today - you both seem to be unstoppable together."

"Ah, well …" Itsuka chuckled sheepishly, "... we make a good team."

"That you very much do. I have to say, though, I didn't quite imagine your first combat training would pit you against Young Midoriya of all people - but all three of you performed very well, if not making a few basic mistakes, but I'm not too worried."

"Uh … right," Itsuka chuckled a bit weakly, sipping on the tea she had been offered while All Might likewise did the same. After a moment of silence, All Might put the cup back down on the table, letting out a small sigh as his smile slipped off his face.

"Now then," He cleared his throat, "I imagine that you're curious as to why I asked you to meet with me."

"Um … maybe a little."

"Well," All Might sighed as he adjusted himself in his seat, leaning back on the couch slightly, "I'll start with this, then. Young Kendou, for the last ten months or so, I have trained you with two simple goals in mind. The first was to prepare you for UA's entrance exam - to train your body until it was at its peak performance, and that you would be ready to succeed once you took the exam. There were a few hiccups along the way, but in the end, you've not only met my expectations, you've far surpassed them, and for that, I'm very proud of you."

Itsuka nodded and said nothing at the moment, unable to stop a small smile from spreading on her face from his praise.

"And," All Might leaned forward, "there was a second reason why I had you move garbage across the beach. One simple, albeit difficult reason. Something that's, at this point, very long overdue. I think you know what I'm talking about."

At those cryptic words, though, Itsuka blinked a bit in confusion, sipping absently on her tea. Another reason to train on the beach? What could All Might be talking about? Didn't she train on the beach so she could get herself ready for - 

- oh.

"What I'm saying is that I want to get into UA just like Midoriya and Uraraka are, like Set and Yui and Kirishima are. I want to get in on my own merit. I want the entrance exam ... basically, I want this to be the way I prove that I've earned it."

"You mean …"

"I want to get into UA without using One for All. Just with my quirk. If I can do that ... if I can get into UA just using my own quirk ... then I think I'll be ready for One for All."

Slowly, Itsuka realized what All Might was talking about, feeling her eyes widen in shock as she looked back up at her mentor and straightened up in her seat. Memories of their agreement on New Year's Day, of Itsuka's promise to enter UA on her own merit, filled her mind. Of what All Might had offered her that day, and what she had softly rejected at the moment so she could prove herself worthy of it. Something that All Might had been training her for for almost a year.

He seemed to have read her mind, seeing as All Might smiled, nodded, and folded his hands in his lap.

"Indeed, Young Kendou," He told her, "we've had a few bumps along the way, and this may have been delayed more than I would've liked it to have been - but it's time to transfer One for All to you."

There was a small silence in the Nap Room, with Itsuka staring blankly at her teacher while he tapped his foot absently against the ground. And then she said, in a small, shocked voice, "Oh."

"'Oh'?" All Might chuckled a bit, picking back up the kettle to pour himself some more tea, "That's all you have to say, Young Kendou? I was somewhat expecting something profound, or another reason to delay again."

"O-oh, no, that's - that's not it!" Itsuka quickly assured him, gulping a bit and putting down her own cup. "I just - well - things have been pretty busy lately, and - and I kind of forgot that - yeah. I forgot that was supposed to happen. Plus, I kinda - well, I kinda expected it to - to be a lot more - uh - ceremoneous than just - er - giving me One for All while sipping on tea in the break room."

"Well," All Might shook his head while laughing, "I definitely don't think we don't have to be so dramatic! So unless you have any other reasons to delay, Young Kendou, I believe we can finally transfer One for All to you right now."

"N-no, I - yes, we can do it now," Itsuka quickly straightened up again, giving her teacher her best serious look. "Let's - yeah."

"Alright," All Might smiled a bit, sitting up properly in his seat. On her side, Itsuka gulped nervously, staring at her teacher as he moved his hand to his hair. This was it. She had honestly almost completely forgotten about One for All, mostly due to how busy the last two days had been and not having seen All Might for a while before today - but she was ready, she knew she was as she gave her teacher a determined look. She was prepared for One for All.

She watched as All Might grabbed a pluck of his hair, yanking it out with a small wince. And then, smiling, he brought the strand of blonde hair towards her, as though offering for her to take it.

"Young Kendou," He grinned, "eat this."

"..."

"..."

"... what?" Itsuka asked in a blank, emotionless voice.

"Well, to inherit my power, you need to ingest some of my DNA!" All Might laughed a bit, seeing Itsuka's face twist into disgust as she stared down at the hair as though he had just pulled it out of a sewer grate, "That's how it works!"

"I - but - does it have to be hair?!"

"Hm - well, not necessarily. It could be blood, if you wanted. Or if you'd like, I could spit into your drink."

"..."

"..."

"... god damn it." She growled, and reached out to take the hair from her mentor, pinching it between her fingers. There was a small moment as Itsuka stared down at the hair with a mix of disgust and remorse, as though she were only now regretting every decision she ever made that led her to become All Might's successor - and then, with a deep breath, she moved to put the strand in her mouth, her face immediately twisting into a grossed-out expression, and she quickly grabbed her cup of tea so that she could swallow it down.

As she slammed the cup back down on the table, shuddering in disgust, All Might laughed a bit louder than the situation probably deemed worthy, which drew her glare to him.

"My apologies, Young Kendou," He chuckled, patting his knee, "but that was how my own mentor transferred One for All to me - I couldn't resist a little callback."

"Guh," Itsuka shuddered again, taking another gulp of tea, and then looked down at her body, her brow wrinkling, "I don't … er … I don't feel all that different. Did it work?"

"Well, of course you don't feel any different yet! The hair will need some time to digest! You should start to feel something in a few hours, though - so I recommend if you feel any weird tingling, lie down."

"Weird tingling. Great."

"Now, some general advice," All Might's smile slipped from his face, staring seriously at her, "you may be a proper vessel, but please keep in mind that, in comparison to my own training, you were put together in a hurry. You won't have had any time to get used to One for All, so prepare for a little kickback when you first use it. We won't have any time to practice with One for All for the rest of the week, but once the weekend comes, we can head back down to the beach so you can practice."

"Yeah … yeah," She nodded in confirmation, sitting up a bit, "I think that's a good idea. So, uh … how exactly do I use One for All? O-once your, uh, hair's been digested. Bleh."

"Well," All Might grinned, "it's simple! When you want to use One for All, you clench up your butt, and shout from the bottom of your heart: 'SMASH!'"

There was another pointed silence in the room while Itsuka's face fell and All Might smiled at her - and then she said, in a monotone voice, "Is it too late to give this quirk back to you? I don't think I want it anymore."

"I'm afraid it is, Young Kendou. But anyway," He shook his head, letting his smile fall again, "now that One for All has been transferred to you, we'll have to be careful with how you use it. It won't come naturally to you at first - it's like if you asked a person who suddenly grew a tail to do a trick, they wouldn't even be able to control it right off the bat. We'll have you practice with it, and once you figure out how to regulate the power, you can put out just as much as your body can handle. The more you temper the vessel, the better you can control the power."

"I see …"

"Of course, we'll also be reaching out to the quirk registry to update your form, and pretend it was a natural power up of your quirk … but there are also two other people we'll need to consider as well."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked. "Two other people? What are you talking about?"

"Young Midoriya," All Might seriously said, "and Young Uraraka."

"W-wait, what - what about them?" Itsuka straightened up, looking surprised at the mention of her friends and feeling a bit concerned. "What do they -"

"Young Kendou," All Might sighed, "for the past ten months, we've trained together on the beach with them. You've grown, fought, and endured alongside them all the way, and you know their quirks by now - probably enough to know why Young Midoriya didn't use his at all during your match today."

"... yeah."

"So with that in mind," All Might leaned forward, not looking very pleased by what he was about to say, "do you think that it's possible to use my power, something completely different than your own quirk … and they wouldn't notice?"

Itsuka opened her mouth to refute that - and then she stopped. Blinked. Looking briefly away, and then back to him. And then her mouth slowly closed, realization filling her eyes again as he realized what All Might was saying.

"... oh." She said quietly. "So … so you think …"

"Yes, Young Kendou," He nodded, "we … will probably have to let them in on the secret."

"I - w-wait a second," She shook her head a bit, feeling strangely frightened by that and not exactly sure why as she leaned forward again, "I - I thought you said that One for All is a - a closely guarded secret pretty much no one should know about. I - I know that you said that we might eventually bring them into this, but isn't this too soon? Shouldn't we -"

"Young Kendou," All Might smiled gently at her, "I've put a lot of thought into this as well, for the last few months or so. When Gran Torino first came to the beach, he told me that Young Midoriya and Young Uraraka finding out about One for All would be an inevitability rather than a possibility - and he was right. They are both smart - Young Midoriya with his eye for quirks, and Young Uraraka for her perceptiveness. If you used One for All, they would put the dots together that something was off, and they will want answers."

"..."

"And yet … if they ask, I believe we can trust them. The last ten months have ensured that you three have become close - close enough that we can trust them with One for All. As I trusted them both with my true form, we can trust them with One for All's secret. But don't spend time worrying about it now," He reached out to pat her hand, "right now, you should go home, take a well deserved break, and relax. Ultimately, Young Kendou, the decision to tell them of One for All will be up to you - so go at your own pace, and if you need my help to explain everything, just let me know and I will come assist you."

"I …" Itsuka hesitated again - and then nodded, letting out a small sigh as she straightened up again, "... okay, All Might. I'll … I'll think more about it. Yeah."

"Very good," All Might smiled gently at her, "in that case, Young Kendou, I believe we're done for the day. I need to go meet with Aizawa to discuss your training for the day. You can go home now."

"Yeah … yeah. Okay." Slowly, she stood back up, trying her best to smile back at her mentor as she moved around the stool, and back out the door, giving him one last wave as she slid it shut. Once she was outside, her small smile slipped from her face, and she let out a small sigh as she leaned briefly against it, closing her eyes.

Telling Izuku and Ochako about One for All … honestly, she knew that it would be stupid not to, she thought as she softly banged her head against the wall. All Might was right, they were both too smart to not notice something change when she inevitably used her … her new quirk. And she wasn't an idiot either, she knew that if she told them, they would believe her. It was just …

"Kendou!"

She jumped a bit at the sound of a familiar voice on the other end of the hall, and quickly looked around, her angsting thoughts interrupted before they could even properly begin. As though she had mentally summoned them, Izuku and Ochako were jogging down the hall towards her, smiling and waving, and she could make out Nejire following behind them with her own smile. She stared blankly at them for a moment, feeling as though her heart was trying to force its way up her throat - and then she gulped it back down, letting out a small sigh as she tried her best to smile at them without it looking fake.

"H-hey, guys," She waved back at them, turning to face them as they slowed to a stop, "I thought I said you guys could've headed home without me."

"Well, we thought about it, but we decided to wait for you," Ochako shook her head, adjusting her backpack on her shoulders as Nejire caught up to them, beaming as the four stood near the entrance to the Nap Room, "are you done now, though? We can always wait back in the classroom if there was something else you had to do."

"N-no, I'm done, I - we can go home together if you want. Have Set and Yui gone home yet?"

"They're going to stay behind for a bit," Izuku explained while shrugging, "Tokage wanted to talk to Ashido for a while, and Kodai was kind of … uh … staring at Iida for some reason. A-and Yaoyorozu already went home, she was going to walk to the train station with Jirou. So, uh - if you're ready to go, we can."

"Great!" Itsuka smiled at him, and then glanced over at Nejire, "Anyway, are you feeling better, Hadou? Did those gummies Toga give you earlier help you out?"

"Yeah! I'm good as new." The blue-haired girl beamed at her, but then she blinked and tilted her head as a thought came to her, "Well, not 'good as new', technically, because I'm only fifteen years old, and that's not really 'new'. But I'm definitely feeling a lot better - no bright lights or loud noises are bugging me anymore, anyway. Thanks for asking, Kendou! You were super awesome today! Even though me and Midoriya lost, I'm not too bummed about it because you guys put up a really great fight! Especially you, Uraraka! I bet if you didn't try to lunge at me, I would've eventually run out of stamina, and you would've beat me up!"

"Er ... no, I wouldn't have beaten you up," Ochako gulped, blushing a bit, "but thanks, Hadou. I'm glad you're - uh - you're feeling better. W-well, anyway, we were about to walk home. Uh ... do you wanna -?"

"Yes!" Nejire quickly nodded, smiling happily, "I'd love to walk home with you guys! Yuuyu's already left, she wanted to get home quick so she can grab her skateboard and go to the park - I'm not much of a skater, or at least, not with a board, I'm a lot better with my rollies, but anyway, I'm not waiting for anyone either! I can go home with you guys."

"Uh … great," Izuku nodded, adjusting his backpack over his shoulders, "I guess in that case, we can get going  -"

"Yeah! Let's go!" Without warning, she moved forward, grabbing Izuku's arm and beginning to tug him away. Like yesterday, Izuku squeaked at the physical contact, and went bright red when Nejire slipped her arm through his, pretty much walking him back down the hall while she happily hummed, having a long list of questions she wanted to ask him on the way back home.

Behind them, Ochako and Itsuka stared after them, the formerly happy moods they had been in evaporating as they stared after the other two with a strange lack of light in their eyes.

"I guess we should follow them, Kendou." Ochako said in an emotionless voice.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, sounding equally as empty, "we'd better catch up."

With that, the two girls hurried forward to catch up with the other two, Itsuka subtly grabbing Nejire's backpack to pull her away from Izuku, and soon enough, the small group was moving out the entrance of the school and back into the evening air, the sun setting in the distance and showering them in a golden light. As they walked and talked, Itsuka glanced around at her friends, seeing Izuku doing his best to keep up with Nejire's questions while Ochako giggled a bit, and found herself smiling softly to herself.

All Might was right, she supposed, there wasn't a huge rush to tell them. She could wait a little bit to figure out exactly how she was going to figure out how to explain the concept of One for All to her partners later. Right now ... well, it had been a long day, so she wanted to head home and relax a bit. So she pushed One for All to the back of her mind, and tapped on Ochako's shoulder to ask her what she and Tsuyu had been chatting about in the changing room.

And with that, the four friends walked out of UA on their successful second day of school, enjoying the warm evening air relatively stress free. Of course, none of them really paid heed to the distant storm clouds coming in from across the distant ocean, moving a little quicker than clouds usually would - as though the dark, lightning filled clouds were following someone.

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 12! We had a few exciting things happen this chapter - romantic tension between our trio, ships that may or may not have been jump started, a reminder that there's supposed to be a serious plot happening somewhere in this fic, and at very long last, Itsuka gets One for All. It's not like that was overdue for like - four chapters or so. No, no way.

We've got a bit of a party ahead of us, ladies and gentlemen - we've wrapped up our first few days at UA, so now we're going to get to the fun stuff. What's that, you ask? Why, deciding who the class rep will be! More ship tease! Nejire being Nejire! More shenanigans than you could even handle! And nothing else of importance.

 

nothing of importance whatsoever.

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 13: Calm Before

Summary:

As a new day shines on UA, Ochako and Itsuka find themselves contemplative on numerous things, as their small trio deal with class representative elections, reporters being where they shouldn't be ... and a strange feeling of foreboding starting to wrap around the school like an incoming storm.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Do not be ridiculous!"

"Dad!" Her mom shouted as her daughter cried into her shirt, feeling her mother's arms wrap protectively around her as though to physically shield her from the bellows that were being directed at the five-year old girl. "That's enough! We can have this discussion when we're calmer, you don't have to shout at her!"

"What choice do I have, daughter?!" Her grandfather roared, louder and angrier than anyone had ever seen him as his fury-filled eyes turned back to his granddaughter. She clung to her mother like a lifeline, staring fearfully up at the older man as he slammed his fist against the kitchen table, her father raising his hands as though about to go over and restrain him, "Talking about such foolish dreams, as though she doesn't realize what they actually do! She only watches them on the TV and thinks they look flashy, she has no idea what it even takes or means to be one!"

"Teko, please -" Her dad tried to intervene, but her grandfather was quick to whip a glare at him to silence his son-in-law, before looking back at the crying little girl staring up at him like he was a monster.

"Do you understand what I am trying to tell you, Itsuka?! Do you understand?! I will not allow you to pick a profession that will get you killed! Choose to become a mechanic, like your father! Take over the dojo from me when you grow older! But you are not to get yourself killed over a glorified popularity contest!"

"G-Grandpa -"

"You will not become a hero! Do you hear me?! I forbid it! You will not be a hero!"

With a small gasp, Itsuka's eyes shot open, jolting from where she had been laying on her side in her bed. From the complete lack of light outside her window - wait, she realized, she could see the sky beginning to lighten up now that her eyes had adjusted somewhat to the dark - it must've been pretty early in the morning. The memory of her dream was fresh on her mind - it was almost as though her grandpa was above her, yelling as loudly as he could, but soon enough, she realized that she was no longer dreaming, her grandfather wasn't shouting at her, and her mother wasn't holding her.

Closing her eyes briefly again, she let out a small sigh, trying to calm down the small shake in her hand from the dream and the hammering of her heart, and reached over to tap her finger against the phone screen on the bedside table. Leaning over, she grumbled when she saw there was only five more minutes before her alarm went off, so, grumbling, she switched the alarm off, swung her blankets off her, and stood up on shaky feet, shuffling over to grab her uniform from where she had left it on her desk chair while yawning and shivering slightly from the early morning air coming through the open window.

The memory of that day … god it had been such a long time since that day, she thought with a frown as she gathered up her brazer, dress-shirt, tie, skirt and socks so she could get dressed in the bathroom after her shower. Years and years ago, when she had come home after playing heroes with the kids at the playground, excitedly telling her mom and dad about how she had wanted to become a hero in real life, and then her grandfather's … very loud reaction to that proclamation. Honestly, in all the years she'd known him after that day, he hadn't raised his voice like that since, she recalled as she tiptoed out of her door, lowering a hand to brush against Gūdo's head as the dog looked up at her questioningly - she was used to cold disappointment from her grandfather if she ever messed up (the few times she had done that) but could never recall, outside that day, an instance where he raised his voice at her.

Still though, she wondered what exactly had happened after that to change his mind. She remembered how she had sobbed throughout the night after he had screamed at her, went out onto the porch to sit the next morning, and then her grandfather had sat down with her, apologized for yelling at her (probably the only time she'd ever heard her grandpa apologize to someone), and had hugged her. After that, he had never brought up a complaint about her being a hero again.

Well, she'd probably have to think about that another time, she sighed as she turned on the light to the bathroom and stepped over to turn on the shower, raising a hand to the water as it shot out of the showerhead and wincing at how cold it was. Right now she kind of needed to think about something else, of much more importance than past hurt feelings - she needed to figure out how exactly she was going to bring up to Izuku and Ochako that All Might just so happened to have handed over his quirk to her.

When she had gotten home last night, Itsuka hadn't really felt all that different at first, helping her mother out with making dinner and saying hello to the students being taught in the dojo downstairs when she had gone out to play with Gūdo in the yard. It had been when she had come inside to work on her bike in the garage, however, that she felt the 'tingling' that All Might had mentioned - and it was less of a 'tingle' and more a huge shot of adrenaline that coursed through her entire body, the shock of it making her sit up and hit her forehead on the bike's handlebar. Groaning in pain and irritation, by the time she had gone upstairs to put some ice on the small swelling, the weird humming that pulsed through her body had disappeared, but after texting All Might, she got the confirmation that 'tingle' was what he had also felt when his own mentor had given him the quirk.

One for All had been passed successfully to her. It was her quirk now.

Pushing the shower curtain aside, Itsuka sighed in relief as she stepped into the warm water, letting it shower over her as she pushed some of her hair out of her face. Now that she had One for All, she knew that things were probably going to get very complicated from here on out. Her own quirk was pretty simple to master and control, but even she knew One for All was an entirely different beast. All Might was going to take her out this weekend to the beach to let her practice with it for the first time - and she knew that, probably after how she saw her new quirk did in action, she'd have to bite the bullet and tell Izuku and Ochako.

All Might did raise good points yesterday during his explanation - Izuku was observant when it came to quirks, and Ochako was a lot smarter than a lot of people gave her credit for. It wouldn't take long for them to see her use One for All and put the pieces together that something was different, and it'd be better for her to tell them instead of them figuring it out and thinking that she deliberately kept that from them.

But … how? How exactly was she supposed to go about this? Just go 'hey guys, what's up, oh me, nothing much, beautiful morning, and oh yeah All Might gave me his quirk yesterday, what's for breakfast?' No, it couldn't be that simple, she thought. And that wasn't even considering the possibility that they might not even believe her if she told them the truth bluntly - the very idea of someone being able to give their quirk to someone else was outright laughable, let alone the idea that the Symbol of Peace had given her his power.

But they will believe her, she insisted to herself as she scrubbed her hair with shampoo and winced when some got in her eyes; Izuku and Ochako would at the very least hear her out, and all else fails, she could just throw All Might at them to explain everything; if they didn't believe her, they would probably believe him. Now she just needed to - she didn't know, find a good time to tell them. Should she ask them to come see her sometime on the weekend and let her explain things? Maybe at a café, or something - or maybe she could ask if they wanted to come over to her home and hang out?

Well, she could think of that later, she sighed as she turned the dial on the shower to turn it off - they still had three more days of school left, and if they were going to be as crazy and unexpected as the last two days have been, what with surprise threats of expulsion and All Might giving her a quirk, she was probably in for an exciting time today as well.

Once she had stepped out of the shower, shivering until she grabbed her fluffy towel from the stand and began drying herself off, she glanced around to where she had put her phone on the counter, and blinked when she saw it lighting up with messages. Crinkling her brow, and wondering who would be awake at this time sending her texts, she walked over to check, entering the code and bringing up her messages app, and then nodded in understanding when she saw it was just Momo and Tenya talking.

After Momo had given them all a ride home on the first day, she and Setsuna had the idea to add their new friends to their group chat, and had quickly added Tenya, Momo, Nejire and Yuuyu after getting their numbers. Honestly, the group chat had become rather busy now that there were about ten people in there - Nejire constantly blew up the phone (to the surprise of absolutely no one) asking questions, which Izuku took as his responsibility to answer and Yuuyu to reprimand her best friend for talking so much; Setsuna had a ball of a time last night sending memes to the chat and confusing Momo and Tenya with how cryptic they were; and Yui had gone completely silent in the chat when Tenya had asked her a question, which made Itsuka feel a bit confused about her friend's behaviour towards the bespectacled boy - but of course, she'd have to ask her about it later, when she wasn't so busy.

Anyway, it looked like Momo and Tenya were early-to-bed, early-to-rise kind of people, since it was still pretty early in the morning. Still, what were they talking about? Tilting her head, she scrolled up to where the messages began, rolling her eyes slightly at Setsuna's blatant trolling of Momo where the messages left off last night, and started reading the messages that had started about ten minutes ago.

 

TENYA IIDA

Good morning, fellow students! My apologies for reaching out to you all a bit earlier than what some of you may prefer, but my brother brought something to my attention when I arrived for breakfast that I believe everyone should be made aware of.

 

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Good morning, Iida! What exactly is the problem?

 

TENYA IIDA

Well, I had woken up this morning to go for my early run, and when I had returned home Tensei had informed me of something that he had heard from one of the teachers from UA - apparently, those reporters that had shown up after school had started yesterday and the day before, and might I say have had a high risk of interrupting our education, decided to arrive at the school gate a bit earlier than before. This means that when we arrive at UA today, there may be a crowd of reporters waiting for us. My brother warned me and by extension all of you to be careful getting to school today!

 

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Oh dear! That does sound like a complication. Thank you for letting us know, Iida!

 

Itsuka carefully read through the long line of text that Tenya had sent all at once, furrowing her brow - apparently he didn't believe in cutting up his sentences while texting - and once she got to the end, she let out a tired groan and closed her eyes, having only been awake for about fifteen minutes and already over today. 

She had almost forgotten about those reporters - they arrived after school had begun yesterday, yelled for All Might to come out and give them a statement, and only left when one of the teachers stormed out and ordered them to leave the premises before they called the police on them for disturbing their classes. But from what Tenya was saying, they were going to arrive sooner than expected today, and it was more than likely that they would be held up by them if they were going to camp right outside the school gate.

 

YOU

aw man

that's definitely going to hold us up

morning, y'all

 

MOMO YAOYOROZU

Good morning, Kendou!

 

TENYA IIDA

Indeed, good morning, Kendou! As for the reporters, I would recommend arriving a bit earlier than you usually would - from how Tensei was describing it, the teachers think that it's going to be a much larger crowd compared to the one yesterday. As well, I believe that they do not know about the UA barrier - one step inside might cut us off from getting into the school, should we arrive a bit later than usual, and then we would definitely be late, and at their hypothetical lack of mercy!

 

YOU

great

yeah, i'd much rather avoid that

so in that case, @Midoriya @Uraraka @Tokage @Kodai when you see this, i'mma be leaving earlier to see if we can get there before it gets too crazy

try to leave early too, and i'll try to meet up with you at the train station

@Kirishima @Hadou @Haya i'd also recommend leaving a bit earlier

 

YUUYU

why are you people blowing up my phone, it's six in the fucking morning

 

YOU

read up haya

 

YUUYU

...

ah for fucks sakes

fine i'll let nej know, she's been up for a few hours now getting her hair ready before school anyway

that shit's gotta have high maintenance if she wants to keep it that long

 

YOU

preach

and just because i know she's still asleep, @Uraraka

get up

 

GRAVITY GIRL

fjekfjeknefhekarjeaofjeafeaffvefc

 

YOU

awake?

 

GRAVITY GIRL

spwn of satan

yes, im gettn up

YOU

good girl

 

With a small smirk at ruining Ochako's morning, and a weary sigh at what they would have to deal with very soon, Itsuka shook her head as she put her phone back on the counter, and grabbed another towel for her hair. Looks like she wasn't going to have time to play with Gūdo this morning - she was going to have to leave a bit earlier for the train today than she had expected.

It didn't take long for her to get dressed up in her school uniform, sighing as she made sure her tie was on correctly, and once she was sure that her socks matched and came up to just below her knees - she didn't want to look like she wasn't asymmetrical - she left the bathroom, stroking Gūdo's head as he gave her an inquisitive whine, but thankfully remaining silent as though to make sure her parents didn't wake up. After grabbing her backpack from her room, and making sure all her books and notes were in there, she led Gūdo downstairs to the garage, filling up his bowl with food and begin sure to refill his other bowl with water, and gave him and itch behind the ears as she prepared to head out.

However, as she stepped back out into the hall and headed towards the door, she suddenly realized that the sliding door to the dojo was open, which made her blink a bit as she looked around at it. She could've sworn that her grandpa had locked up last night - but here it was, wide open. Faltering in her step a bit, Itsuka steeled herself and peeked her head inside the training room, feeling kind of sketched out and hoping that there wasn't some intruder in the house - and then her eyes trailed to the other side of the large room, to see a light on in the backroom.

At once, she understood who was in the backroom, standing in the doorway to the dojo for a moment before she straightened up, and carefully, she stepped inside. She took her time walking across the dojo to the back room, not wanting to sound like she was charging across the large room. There would only be one reason that light would be on this early in the morning, and she knew who was in the backroom and what he would be doing.

Sliding the door slowly open, she poked her head inside, and, as she expected, there was her grandpa, kneeling down and folding his hands together in prayer. The shrine he knelt before had its candles lit, a bowl of rice and tempura laid there in respect. Her grandfather's eyes were closed, an expressionless look on his face as he prayed - and then he said, without even opening his eyes or looking around, "It's a bit early for you to be awake, Itsuka."

Wincing at how easy it was for her grandpa to know she was there even though he had his eyes closed, she nodded, opening the door properly to enter the room. "S-sorry, grandpa, I was just - well, I got up early. I was going to leave a bit earlier for school, but then I noticed the light was on."

"Mmm. Well, since you're here and leaving a bit earlier, come pay your respects."

Nodding again, Itsuka walked forward, moving to kneel down beside her grandfather on the mat, and folded her hands together. After a small moment of silence in which they both prayed, Itsuka opened her eyes, taking a look at the woman in the picture on top of the shrine, seeing her smiling and laughing at something the cameraman must've said.

Honestly, looking at this picture of her grandmother always made Itsuka feel a little sad - she looked so young, so full of life, and she had died decades before Itsuka had even been born, when her mom was just a little girl. It was clear that it was her grandmother that she got her eyes from - her mother and grandfather's eyes were dark, and her dad's eyes were a bright blue, but it was her grandma's teal eyes that told her where she had gotten her own from. It felt strange, to feel sad for a woman who had passed away long before she was born, but she had such kindness in her eyes that it made her heart pang.

"Something on your mind, Itsuka?" Teko asked as he continued to pray for his late wife, not opening his eyes at all as the younger girl looked around at him. "I know you well enough to know when there's something that has your mind going a mile a minute."

"I - uh -" She stuttered for a moment, taken out of her thoughts for her grandmother. She cursed how well her grandfather knew her, well enough that he could figure out easily that something was bothering her. The problem, of course, was that there were more than a few things bothering her, and not a lot of things she could actually tell him - One for All, telling Izuku and Ochako about it, her fears of them rejecting her or not believing her.

But it was what she had woken up from this morning that suddenly came to her mind, and she let out a small sigh as she returned her gaze to her grandma's picture, not wanting to look at Teko for this.

"Grandpa, why were you so against me becoming a hero when I was a kid?" She decided to ask bluntly, not looking at the older man as he kept his head down. "And … and what exactly changed your mind?"

"..."

"It's just ... well, I had a bad dream last night about it," She explained a bit sheepishly, blushing in embarrassment, "and it was just reminding me of what had happened. I just … I'm not sure what exactly happened. One day you were against it, and the next you were okay with it. I was just - I was just wondering why you changed your mind about it."

"..."

"... Grandpa?"

"It does not matter," He shook his head, sighing as he put his hands down on the mat so he could stand up, "I was wrong, granddaughter, for yelling at you that day. And I apologize if remembering what had happened brought up any insecurities you may have. I support you as a hero. Now then, it's getting late, and if you are going to get to school early today you'll have to leave for the station soon. Don't let me keep you."

"But -" She tried to protest, but her grandfather was already stepping around her and moving out the backroom, sliding the door shut behind him. She could hear his bare feet moving across the dojo as she stared after where he had left, taken aback by how quickly he had shut down that conversation - and then she let out a small, defeated sigh, and got up as well.

She … supposed he was right, that the matter had already been put to bed, and she shouldn't bring it up. It was clearly something her grandpa didn't want to talk about. Straightening up, she looked back to the picture of her grandma, and gave it a small smile as she adjusted her backpack on her shoulders.

"I'm off now," She told the picture, and quickly moved out the door to the backroom, hurrying out of the dojo, and then out the door of her house to start jogging towards the train station. Her grandpa was right, she didn't want to miss it and risk being late, and caught up in the sea of reporters that were probably gathering outside the school right now.


With a tired sigh, Ochako slowly opened the door to her apartment, tiptoeing out so she didn't wake up her parents, and quietly shut it behind her. She was awake … a lot earlier than she wanted to be, she thought with a frown, only having been woken up by the group chat going off on her bedside table beside her head, which got her to raise her head groggily when the light kept flashing in her eyes every other ten seconds, and she had whined when she saw Itsuka's message that she was leaving early to get to the train station.

Still, she knew that her friend was right, and they did not want to get caught up in a sea of reporters and end up being late for school, she had no idea if that was something Aizawa thought of as an expulsion-level offense. So she had gotten up, washed her face, got dressed, and left her warm, tempting bed to head over to Izuku's to wake him up.

Knocking softly on the door to let the occupants know she was coming in, Ochako used her key to their apartment to unlock the door, and quietly opened it so as not to disturb anyone sleeping inside. Thankfully, the light was on in the kitchen, and she could distantly hear the shower going, which must've meant that Izuku saw the message as well and was getting ready now. Walking in after slipping off her shoes, she entered the kitchen, putting down her backpack as she saw Inko standing at the counter and using the coffee machine, looking around to hear who was coming in and smiling when she saw who it was.

"Oh! Good morning, Ochako," She greeted her, yawning a bit as she put down her coffee cup on the counter, "I suppose you're here for the same reason Izuku's awake right now?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, going over and hugging Inko in greeting, "we're gonna be leaving early. I'd have liked to have another hour of rest, but I really don't wanna deal with those reporters."

"Well, Izuku's just getting ready now," Inko pointed over to the bathroom, where her son was presumably inside, "and I'll make you both some toast before you have to go. It won't be a full breakfast, but it'll hopefully be enough to keep you two satisfied until lunch."

"Awesome, thanks, Mama Inko. I'm - actually," Ochako blinked, thinking of something, "while I'm here, I think I'll go see if Deku's done with that book I leant him."

"Alright, sweetie. It should be on his desk, I think he was reading a little bit of it last night before bed."

"Great!" Quickly, she headed over to his bedroom to see if she could check where he was in the novel she had let him borrow to read - she and Izuku had always been cool with sharing their things, although Ochako had always been hesitant to accept them after the All Might toy broke not ten hours after he had given it to her, but she at least felt comforted that he was still more than happy with giving her his things.

Entering his room, she smiled around at the various All Might merchandise decorating his walls and desks - it was a pretty familiar sight to her now, having grown up pretty much sharing this room with her best friend whenever they had sleepovers or hang outs or late night talks about how scared she was when her parents didn't get a lot of jobs to pay rent, with Izuku comforting her and hugging her. Although, she blinked as she stared down at a few of the All Might bobble heads on the counter, how long had it been since they had a sleepover? A few years now? She didn't think the stay overs at the Kendous really counted - how long had it been since it was just him and her?

Had it been … god, it would've had to have been a few years now, she realized with a small frown. Ever since they both really hit puberty, they hadn't exactly been … well … not as close as they used to be. Like, no more cuddling or wrestling or anything physical they did when they were about ten years old - they still hugged or grabbed each other's hands if they needed it, but it felt more sister-brotherly. And that was - well, that was what they were, weren't they? Like brother and sister?

Yeah, yeah, she nodded to herself, Izuku was like a brother to her. Obviously. Nothing more than that.

Heading over to his desk, she hummed as she took a small glance around at the various books and pens, and then her eyes landed on the book she leant him, letting out a small 'aha!' as she opened it up, looking for his bookmark. Oh, it looked like he was almost done - he just had another two chapters to finish, and then they could chat about it. She had been really excited to lend him this book - it was her favorite fantasy novel, about a hobbit teaming up with a young witch and a knight to go stop an ancient evil. The series was currently in its eight installment, so she was excited to see that Izuku was reading through them so they could squee about it together when he caught up.

Putting the novel back down, Ochako let out a small sigh as she glanced around the desk again, and then blinked when she saw the journal that she had gotten him for his birthday last year. Smiling, she absently opened it, smiling when she saw the picture of Itsuka drawn inside, and quietly read through his notes on their mutual friend. He'd always been a good artist, with him usually asking to draw her in hero costume concepts when they were little and her being more than happy to sit around and read on his bed while he doodled her. Flipping through the pages absently, she smiled at the latest instalments that he had drawn in over the last few days - she could make out Tenya and notes about his quirk, Yui, Setsuna, Eijirou, a hastily started page of what looked like Yuuyu, and - 

- and Nejire.

Flipping to the latest page, she faltered when she came across the picture of their new friend. She was drawn in her hero costume, smiling goofily as she raised her hands to form peace signs beside her face. For some reason, the smile on Ochako's face slipped as she stared down at the picture, feeling her stomach clench slightly. It was … the picture was a bit more detailed than the others, she realized, almost on par with the illustrations Izuku used to draw of her. As though he had put a lot of attention on this drawing.

She … honestly wasn't sure what was going on with her, when she thought of her new friend. It was like - Ochako frowned and sat down in the desk chair, furrowing her brow. She had no idea why, but whenever she saw Nejire getting in Izuku's face, her stomach felt like it was filling with lead, her heart hammering and not in a pleasant way, and a shot of … something pulsing throughout her body. She couldn't help but feel angry at herself for feeling this way - what, was she angry at him having a new friend? That made her feel disgusted at herself - she knew full well that he had gone years with just her for company, she shouldn't be upset that Nejire was so enthusiastic to be his friend, she should be happy for him.

And - and it wasn't like she was insecure about his other friends! She was happy that Tenya seemed to have mellowed out and befriended Izuku. And Momo was nice too! Setsuna and Yui liked to tease him, and Eijirou was his bro, and not to mention Itsuka - 

- Itsuka.

Slowly, Ochako's eyes shut, letting out a small sigh as she leaned back in the chair. Itsuka. She was … well, Ochako would be an idiot to say that Itsuka wasn't one of Izuku's closest friends. And for good reason, too. She was probably one of the kindest people Ochako had ever known - she heard Izuku's story and immediately resolved to become his friend, and for that, she had Ochako's respect and admiration. And there was no doubt that Ochako liked her too - Itsuka could probably be considered her best girl friend (best friend who was a girl) after all they had been through together, training on the beach and in the dojo together, and the entrance exam and the battle trial yesterday, she sometimes felt attached to the hip with her.

And yet … and yet, back at the New Years party, when Izuku had complimented Itsuka's hair. And when they sat together on the porch later than night, and they had given each other those ... looks.

Ochako … wasn't dumb, she supposed. She knew about crushes and feelings. At the time, she had thought … well, when she had met Itsuka, there was a part of her that might have thought, in the back of her mind, that she and Izuku might've been … together. It had been easily debunked when she had been sat down by them and explained everything about why they had been on the beach, but she knew Izuku. She knew when he had dumb crushes on celebrity heroes, like that Wild, Wild Pussycat magazine he thought had hidden from her under his mattress, and was sure to tease him about it too, just like he did when she got starry eyed around heroes that caught her attention and made her feel starry-eyed. And it wasn't like she disliked it when Itsuka made Izuku blush a bit while being in contact with a girl - honestly, she found it as hilarious as Itsuka did when she could touch Izuku without any problems, but when Itsuka did it he would light up like a firework, sputtering and flailing.

And yet … for a moment, on that porch, when those two had smiled at each other like that, she couldn't help but feel like she had been … left behind. That Izuku and Itsuka had shared something without her. 

And that made her feel awful for feeling that way, she pouted at herself. She shouldn't be upset that Izuku was close with Itsuka, and she shouldn't be upset that he was getting closer to Nejire. He deserved it. She'd been his only friend for years … he deserved to have more than just her for company. And she shouldn't feel upset that Nejire gets up in his face, and should try to get rid of those feelings of hurt and -

"Occhan?"

She squeaked at the feeling of a finger poking her shoulder, jumping in the seat and whirling around in shock as she heard her best friend call her name. Sure enough, Izuku was standing right beside where she was sitting at his desk, dressed in one of his dorky shirts and shorts, and giving her a concerned look.

"Uh … are you okay?" He asked, tilting his head somewhat, "You were kinda … uh … staring into space."

"O-oh, no, I'm - I'm fine!" She tried to say evenly, hopping out of the chair and giving him a grin that was a little too wide, as though trying not to give away that she had been thinking somewhat about him. "Just - yeah, lost in my head for a few minutes there. I'm okay."

"Alright, if - if you say so. Anyway, my mom says that our breakfast is almost ready - I just need to get dressed and put my stuff in my bag, and we can get going. We wanna be sure to meet up with Kendou, and make sure she doesn't have to wait for us at the train station."

"Right, I'll - yeah, I'll go help out Mama Inko."

Quickly, she moved around him, giving him a weak smile as he grinned back at her, and quickly walked out of the room so he could have some privacy. As she shut the door behind her, she glanced around, and blinked when he leaned over the desk, seeing his open notebook and Nejire's picture, and a small smile crossed his face at the sight of the page and closed it to put in his backpack.

Frowning, she closed the door, feeling like her heart was slamming angrily in her chest, and took a small breath as she turned from the door to head into the kitchen.

It took another five or so minutes, but the two of them got their breakfasts from Inko, the smaller woman kissing Izuku on the cheek and hugging Ochako bye, and soon they were off, quickly texting Itsuka to let her know that they were on their way. They chatted a bit aimlessly after that, Ochako trying to push away those weird feelings she had been going through this morning as they talked, and soon enough they had boarded their train, looking at the group chat to see Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou gripe about how much it was going to suck to get through those reporters when they arrived, or Nejire promising that she would fly Yuuyu over the reporters, which earned a long text from Tenya lecturing about inappropriate usage of quirks.

Soon enough, they had reached the station, and quickly climbed off to look for Itsuka. They found her quickly, leaning against the wall near the exit and taking off her earbuds when she saw them, giggling when they both gave her dorky grins.

"Mr. Midoriya," Itsuka pointed at his chest with a smirk, "your tie is wrong. Again."

Pouting, Izuku crossed his arms pointedly across his chest, looking away as Ochako likewise gave him a look, before Itsuka laughed and shook her head.

"Well, I'll let it go for today, since we have to hurry. From how Iida described it, it looks like there's going to be even more reporters there today then there was yesterday, so I wanna get in before they even know we're there."

They did not, unfortunately, get into the school before the reporters knew they were there. In fact, contrary to what Tenya had said in the group chat, instead of a handful of people starting to gather at the front of the school, there was already a large crowd of reporters already outside the gate, with film cameras, shutters, and microphones flying everywhere as they talked and argued amongst each other. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka briefly froze in panic and considered having Ochako use her quirk to float them over the wall, but alas, it was too late, as someone noticed them and recognized the uniform, and they were promptly ambushed by the crowd.

"What's it like learning from All Might?!"

"Tell us what the Symbol of Peace looks like in front of the class!"

"What's he like as a teacher?!"

"Tell us about 'All Might, the teacher'!"

"Juko News here! Is it true that he and Midnight have begun an affair?! Have you seen them together?!"

"How does All Might get along with the other teachers?!"

"All Might was seen talking with a scruffy looking man on the campus! Is All Might allowing the homeless to take shelter there?!"

"I - come on, let us through!" Itsuka tried to insist, grabbing Ochako's hand and Izuku's sleeve to pull them through the shouting crowd, and doing her best to ignore the microphones and cameras being shoved into her face. Honestly, she had been a little flustered at the beginning when they had rushed them, but now she was more than a little annoyed by all the shouting.

Unfortunately, one of the reporters ended up pushing through the crowd a bit too roughly, and collided into Ochako, making her slip from Itsuka's grasp with a small squeak.

"W-whoa -!" She gasped, feeling herself trip and fall over, and then grunted when she collided into someone standing behind her, hearing that person let out a small noise of surprise as they instinctively raised their hands to stop Ochako from falling over. "Oh, I - I'm so sorry -"

"No, no, it's alright." The reporter laughed a bit, putting down her microphone so she could help Ochako straighten back up, "I understand that this is - well, not exactly how I would've gone about this, but you gotta do what you gotta do." 

"O-oh?" Ochako managed to straighten up, looking around at who appeared to be the only sane person in this crowd. Itsuka and Izuku also noticed the commotion, and quickly headed over to help Ochako straighten up as well, smiling gratefully at the one reporter who didn't seem to be as intense as her colleagues - she was a bit busier smoothing out her purple blouse to interrogate them, giving the students a small smile. "S-so you're not going to ask us for an interview?"

"No, no, I'd rather ask a teacher for that." She picked back up her microphone, looking around at someone who just appeared at the gate, and gave a radiant smile, "Such as you, sir - tell me, what All Might like as a colleague?"

The three students blinked, and quickly looked around to see who she was talking to. To their surprise, Aizawa was standing at the gate, giving the crowd of reporters a sullen look as a few of them awkwardly shuffled away from him, as though not entirely sure what his deal was as he looked around at the crowd.

"All Might isn't on duty today," He informed them, using his hand to make a 'go away' gesture at them, "the principal sent me out to inform you of that fact, so there's no point standing here and disturbing our students. Please leave. Kendou, Uraraka, Midoriya," He gestured for the three students to follow him, "class doesn't start for another hour and a bit, so you're free to walk around for a while. I expect all three of you to be in class by the time I get there."

"Y-yes sir!" Izuku quickly nodded, and gestured to his two friends to follow him and the teacher inside. Quickly, they left behind the sea of shouting reporters now aiming their questions at Aizawa ("Don't you think you're too scruffy?!"), and politely waved goodbye to the one friendly reporter that Ochako had bumped into, who smiled after them as she raised a hand to tuck some of her long, red hair behind her ear, the rest tied up into a large bun.

As they hurried through the gate, however, Aizawa suddenly stopped in his tracks, and looked back around at them with a small frown.

"Actually, Midoriya," His red eyes flickered to the boy in question, "before anything else, I want a word with you. Alone."

Blinking, Izuku stared up at his teacher in shock for a moment, and then looked around at Itsuka and Ochako, who likewise looked surprised that Aizawa asked for a moment with him. Still, the two girls knew better than to argue with their strict teacher, and after confirming that they would text Izuku where they would be when he was done, they turned to hurry towards the school, walking behind a tree as Aizawa led Izuku away -

- and then both girls promptly hid behind said tree, peeking around the corner to eavesdrop on what exactly their homeroom teacher wanted from their training partner.

As the other two remained unaware that they were being listened in on (or at least, Izuku was unaware), Aizawa sighed as he leaned against against another tree, turning his gaze to his student.

"So Midoriya," He raised a hand to scratch some of the scruff on his cheek, "I had done a quick review of your performance in the battle trial yesterday, and there was something I wanted to talk to you about."

"O-oh?"

"Well," His lips thinned, staring down towards his student while being clearly unpleased, "I couldn't help but notice that you didn't use your quirk once during yesterday's exercise."

At that, Izuku immediately winced, already knowing where this was going and feeling his shoulders tense - their evaluation had been done without them yesterday, mostly because they had to lead Ochako and Nejire slowly back due to their injuries, and had only gotten cliff notes about what the rest of the class had discussed before the second battle trial had begun. So Izuku knew that one of the points against him yesterday was because he hadn't used his quirk at all, and of course Aizawa would want to know what was up with that.

"I … well … no, I didn't." He muttered, not really sure what else he could say as Aizawa shook his head.

"Care to tell me why?" He raised an eyebrow. "Don't think I didn't notice this isn't something new either - you didn't use your quirk at all during the tests on the first day either, at least up until the ball throw. Is there a reason why you weren't able to use it at all yesterday?"

Izuku stayed quiet for a moment, not entirely sure what he could say to placate the teacher - he definitely knew the reason why he didn't use his quirk, but also considered that Aizawa wouldn't be interested in a blatant sob story - so he let out a sigh as he slumped his shoulders slightly, deciding to make this brief.

"W-well," He twiddled his thumbs, "it's - well, it's a long story, obviously, but I - well - I have a - a kind of a - a complex with my quirk. It's - like I said, it's a long story, but I don't have - well, I don't have a lot of control over it."

Aizawa nodded, already knowing this after overhearing Izuku talking about it to Ochako on the first day of school.

"So I didn't - well, I didn't trust myself to use it during the battle trial yesterday, because - because I didn't want to hurt Occhan or Kendou with it. I - I know that it hindered our process, but I really only considered that using my quirk might've hurt Occhan or Kendou if I used it against them."

“Even though you have a support item," Aizawa raised his eyebrow again, "that's specifically meant to bring your power down?"

He got his answer from how Izuku winced again, clearly not having thought of that excuse, and the teacher let out a sigh.

"Well, Midoriya, I imagine you'll be happy to know that I'm going to let this time fly since it was your first battle trial, and you did lose the match because of your mistake. But you should know that I'm not going to tolerate this kind of thing from here on out - choosing to not use your quirk in a real life situation against villains will not only endanger yourself, but anyone else that may be around you. I'm not exactly sure what your deal is, and what exactly this 'long story' of yours is, but if it's something you need to get over, we'll have to get to it soon. We have Shimura, a teaching assistant that's specializing in quirk analysis, for you to talk to if you need to, or else Hound Dog, our guidance counselor. Hell, you'll probably have to have a talk with him anyway, he didn't like how you put your life in danger during the entrance exam. But know this, problem child," He pointed a finger at Izuku's face, "you can't not use your quirk during exercises because you're afraid of it. You'd be better to learn this lesson now rather than on the field when lives are in danger. Understood?"

"I - yes, sir," Izuku nodded, staring down at the ground in shame as he was reprimanded. Aizawa studied him for a moment, pretending not to see the two girls trying to be sneaking and glancing around the tree at them, and realized that he may have been a bit too blunt. Letting out another sigh, he opened his mouth - only for the sound of a familiar siren to blare behind them as one of the reporters shouted at his colleague.

They both looked around at the gate as several thick, metal walls shot up from the ground, blocking the entrance to the school and beginning to line the outside walls.

"Oh, great," Aizawa groaned, "one of the idiots triggered the barrier, and now the rest of the students won't be able to get in. I can't believe All Might is able to get any work done with those clowns running behind him screaming questions a mile a minute. Midoriya, head to class, I have to go deal with that."

"Yes - yes, sir," Izuku quickly nodded, and began to hurry away - but then Aizawa called out to him.

"Midoriya." The boy in question paused in his step, glancing around as Aizawa turned towards the barrier. "You have potential. I'm not going to deny that. But just trying isn't going to cut it. Learn how to control your quirk. And Uraraka and Kendou, you both need to work on your stealth."

Izuku jumped a bit as two high-pitched squeaks sounded out from behind the tree, and quickly looked around as Aizawa began walking back to the gate to bring down the barrier and let the rest of the students in. Looking around, he saw Ochako and Itsuka awkwardly come out from behind the nearby tree, looking embarrassed and a bit sheepish as they scratched the backs of their heads.

"Wha - wait, you guys were eavesdropping?"

"Er … maybe a little." Itsuka shrugged, looking a bit guilty. "Sorry, Midoriya."

"Uh - er - no, it's okay."

"Deku," Ochako glanced up at him, and then back around at their teacher's back, "shouldn't you - I don't know, tell Aizawa what exactly is up with your quirk? It's not like you've been hesitant telling people before - you were okay with telling that Tenko guy and Kendou."

"I … uh …" Izuku faltered for a moment, staring at the ground - and then he sighed and shook his head, "... I don't know, Occhan. I just - I kinda feel like he's not going to accept that for an excuse, you know? He'll just tell me to get over it, or just tell me to - to stop wasting time. I just - well, if he asks, I'll tell him, but for now I - I don't want it to seem like I'm just making excuses."

The two girls glanced between each other, and then back to Izuku as he looked down at the ground. They felt like they could probably argue with him about opening up to their teacher and getting him off Izuku's back, but he probably wouldn't appreciate it right now - not when his mood was obviously brought down by the small lecture. So they both sighed and nodded at each other, deciding to drop it for now and bring it up at a later, better time.

"Well, anyway," Ochako decided to take charge of changing the topic, leading the two of them away from the tree and towards the entrance of the school, "I guess we can leave it alone for now - Deku, are you nearly done reading the novel I leant you?"

"H-huh? Oh the - the fantasy novel. Yeah, they - the group just met the barbarian king and his dragon, they were making their request to ally with them to head to the mountain."

"Oooh, that part - god, the barbarian king is such an asshole. People request help and he tries to immediately set them on fire."

"I mean - well, they are strangers, Occhan, would you just drop everything to go do whatever a stranger wanted if they knocked on your door and asked? He might be kind of a jerk, but I at least get it."

"I mean, I would if it was the entire kingdom in danger!"

"You two are such nerds." Itsuka shook her head at them, smirking as Izuku stuck his tongue out at her and Ochako flipped her off.


About an hour later, after all the students managed to get through the sea of shouting reporters and the bell rang, the door to their classroom was slammed open, Aizawa standing there with a noticeable grimace and clearly mentally preparing himself as he walked into the classroom. And lo and behold -

"Good morning, Aizawa-sensei!" Nejire happily greeted him from her seat on the right side of the class, not noticing everyone else sitting in absolute, painful silence as he walked over to the podium to start homeroom. "How was your night? Exciting? You look really tired, does that mean that you were out doing hero work? I hear that some teachers prefer to go out and patrol at night once school lets out, so it kind of makes sense why you'd feel so tired if you were doing that. But did you get enough sleep? I think I can see your sleeping bag in the corner, so if you need to catch a few 'z's, you can do that! But wait, then who would teach us? Would you get a substitute? I think Midnight would be pretty cool, she -"

"Hadou." Aizawa cut in once he had enough Nejire he could take, making the blue-haired chatterbox quiet down in curiosity as he raised his index finger and thumb to his lips, and then made a zipping motion, giving her a glare to further enunciate what he was wanting her to currently do. Understanding, Nejire nodded with a smile, and likewise imitated him by zipping her mouth closed and pretending to throw away a key.

Relieved for a little bit of silence (for however long that would last), Aizawa turned to face the rest of the class.

"Alright then," He sighed as he tapped his papers against the podium on the desk, "we managed to get the issue sorted out with the reporters out near the gate - we're going to keep the barrier up now that all the students have been accounted for, so we won't have to worry about them while we get classes started. Now, before we get started with today's assignment, I want you all to know that I reviewed yesterday's combat training through the recordings, and looked over your grades and evaluations." 

Such a casual remark delivered with such a lack of emotion was enough to strike a bolt of terror throughout the entire class, everyone stiffening up a bit at the unamused look on their teacher's face as he slowly looked around at his students, from Nejire looking curious, Tenya straightening up in his seat, Setsuna biting her lip a bit in anxiety as she thought of how she failed yesterday, Yui continuing to stare blankly at him, Kyouka attempting to peek over Mezo's shoulder where she was sitting behind him, and Pony nervously nibbling on her pencil.

"Needless to say," Aizawa nodded at them, "good work."

He tried not to roll his eyes at everyone letting out sighs of relief, slumping over in their seats.

Okay, maybe this was a case of them not being able to read their teacher's expressions yet - it seemed like he didn't really have a 'pleased' expression, what with the apparently limited ways he could shift his face into something that could express happiness.

"From what I saw, you all did a good job working together," He continued to lecture, "and I trust that those of you that didn't get the results you wanted yesterday did a bit of retrospective to see how you could improve next time. Jirou, Kaminari, Shouji, Tsunotori, you four may not have been able to carry out the strategies you came up with, but sometimes heroes are given bad matchups against villains that may not fit the scope of your abilities. Work on your ability to adapt on the fly, and don't be afraid to visit the support studio to see if there's any work you can do with support items."

"Yes, sir!" "Yes, Aizawa-teacher!" Four responses came.

"Bakugou," Aizawa's dark eyes flickered to the blonde student as he glared at his desk, "grow up. You're talented, so stop acting like a toddler everytime you don't get your way."

Katsuki didn't bother to respond, merely huffing and crossing his arms across his chest. At least he wasn't challenging him or screaming about the others being extras, so Aizawa would have to put that into consideration. He'd have to wait for another time to properly supervise him in a class, however, so he supposed he'd have to wait until then to properly see how he acts in class, he sighed as he closed his eyes.

"Now then," He put the papers down on the podium, "on to homeroom business. I'm sorry to announce this so suddenly, but …"

The entire class, who had somewhat relaxed when they realized they weren't in trouble, immediately stiffened up as Aizawa slowly opened his eyes, staring at them with the utmost seriousness and fearing another brutal pop quiz was on the horizon for them, with even Itsuka and Momo gulping a bit nervously.

"... you'll have to pick a class representative this morning."

Such a normal, school-like thing! Seemed to be the class's collective, relieved thought as everyone sighed.

"I wanna be the rep!" Eijirou immediately hopped to his feet, both hands in the air to show his enthusiasm as everyone began loudly volunteering. "Lemme do it!"

"I'd like to do it." Kyouka raised her hand at least a little politely.

"I wanna be the leader!" Mina shouted. "Pick me!"

"Let me be the rep and you can all call me by my first name!" Pony offered while hopping up and down behind Izuku, the sound of her hooves clopping against the ground audible even as everyone shouted over each other.

"Jokes on you, I'll do that either way, Pony!" Setsuna immediately shot her down as she disconnected her arm from her body to shove up into the air. "Anyway, pick me!"

As the class descended into chaos, Aizawa staring at them in annoyance, Izuku chuckled awkwardly, keeping his hand half-in the air as he glanced around, seeing Itsuka raising her hand determinately and Ochako looking around in surprise as her hand remained unraised. Yeah, that was what he had figured - he knew that Itsuka would throw herself into this kind of role while Ochako wouldn't, evidently not comfortable with leading the class. They all knew that in normal schools, the position of class representative usually entailed mundane, boring tasks that no one wanted to do, but in the hero course at UA, it would mean that who would be in that position would be the one leading the entire class - a top position suited for a top hero in training.

… wait. A position suited for a top hero in training?

Izuku blinked, and glanced back over at Itsuka as she tried to get everyone to quiet down a bit while keeping her hand in the air, and slowly lowered his own hand, staring at her for a moment while the gears in his head turned. A student training to be a top hero … Itsuka would fit that bill, wouldn't she? If she was going to be All Might's successor … wouldn't this be the right position for her? A way for her to practice being a leader, or some kind of top hero? That made sense, at least, to him. Besides that, he knew that Itsuka was studious, she was charismatic, she was tough. So … in that case …

From her own spot, Ochako glanced around the classroom, giggling awkwardly at all the shouts, and then her gaze flickered to Izuku, seeing him looking at Itsuka. She tilted her head in curiosity, which got Izuku's attention as his gaze flicked to her as well. The two had a silent communication between each other, with both of them glancing at Itsuka and then back to each other - and then Ochako smiled, knowing exactly what her best friend was thinking, and flashed him a thumbs up, which made Izuku grin back at her as well as he also gave a thumbs up.

"Quiet down, everyone!"

At the loud shout at the other side of the classroom, the yelling and pleading to be the class representative quieted down at once, everyone looking around at Tenya as he stared ahead in determination, slowly nodding to himself.

"Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility," He reminded them all sternly, looking around seriously, "But ambition does not equate to ability! This position is a sacred office that requires the great esteem and trust of its constituents, so if we are to choose, then I put forward the motion that our true leader must be chosen from a democratic choice reflecting the will of the people! Which is why this must be settled by a vote!"

"Even though your hand is up higher than the rest of us?" Setsuna asked while tilting her head, looking up at the bespectacled boy's hand being shot straight upwards and trembling slightly to show how much he wanted this position. "Besides, we don't need to take this kind of thing so seriously, it is just a high school class rep thing - it's not like we're going to be running for congress here."

"And even if we did that," Reiko put her hands down on her desk as she looked around at Tenya, "it's not like we've known each other long enough to build the kind of trust you're talking about. It's only been about three days, so won't everyone just decide to vote for themselves anyway?"

"That is precisely why," He pointed a hand at the ghost girl as though she had just proved his point, "anyone that manages to earn multiple votes will be the individual best suited for this position! Will you allow it, sensei, if we take votes?!"

"I don't really care," Aizawa had already zipped up his sleeping bag and flopped over on the floor to take a nap ("I knew it! Sleep well, sensei!" Nejire cheered for him), "as long as you decide who's the class rep before the end of homeroom."

"Thank you very much!"

Itsuka let out a weak chuckle at her seatmate's antics, and then shook her head, standing up and pulling out her notebook.

"I guess if Aizawa-sensei's cool with it," She said, which drew the attention of the classroom as she began pulling a piece of paper out of the notebook, and then ripping it up into tiny pieces, "we can do Iida's idea to take a vote, even if we're just going to vote for ourselves. I'll give you guys pieces of paper, and you can write who you want to be the class rep on there. Once everyone's voted, we'll have someone unbiased gather them up and put the results on the board."

"Sounds good, Ken!" Setsuna cheerfully nodding, accepting the piece of paper from her as she started going around the classroom. From there, everyone was handed a ripped piece of paper, taking their pens and writing down the name of the person they wanted to be the class representative, with everyone glancing around suspiciously before scribbling the name of the person they wanted.

Honestly, Tenya might have been a little … eccentric about it, but to a lot of people in the classroom, they kind of thought reluctantly that he had a point. It would be alright to vote for themselves, but wouldn't it be better to think about who actually stood out as a leader in the class? Eijirou glanced at Katsuki, who was obviously scribbling his name with violence; Nejire glanced over at Izuku while bouncing in her seat a bit; and when Momo had volunteered to gather up the votes, Yosetsu glanced up at her as he gave her his folded piece of paper, hoping that he didn't just waste his vote.

After a few minutes of her looking through the papers and writing the names up on the wall along with a tally-mark, eventually they came up with the election results, with Momo taking a step back to show everyone where the votes had gone:

 

Itsuka Kendou - 5 votes

Momo Yaoyorozu - 5 votes

Katsuki Bakugou - 2 votes

Izuku Midoriya - 2 votes

Mina Ashido - 1 vote

Fumikage Tokoyami - 1 vote

Reiko Yanagi - 1 vote

Hanta Sero - 1 vote

Tenya Iida - 1 vote

Denki Kaminari - 1 vote

 

"... wait, what?" Itsuka blinked from her seat, straightening up in shock as Izuku and Ochako slumped forward in their seats with relief, "It's a tie?"

"Oh, my!" Momo gasped a bit, blushing and looking around the classroom in gratitude for those who must've clearly believed in her enough to want her to lead their class.

"What the fuck?!" Katsuki leapt to his feet, eyes widened and teeth barring at the results on the board clearly not going his way. "You've gotta be shitting me! Who voted for the fucking ponytails?! And how am I fucking tied for points with Shitty Deku?!"

"Are you really that surprised?" Hanta raised an eyebrow as he leaned back in his seat. "It's not like you're the person anyone in here would vote for. Honestly, I'm surprised you actually got someone else to vote for you. Besides, I'd take Midoriya over you any day."

"Yeah," Setsuna sniggered teasingly, "I'd just consider myself lucky that someone pitied me enough to vote for me and call it a day - y'know, if I were you."

"What did you just say?! No one's fucking pitying me!"

As Katsuki screamed his head off at both the people teasing him, Izuku shrinking in his seat behind him and Pony looking like she was getting a headache from all the yelling occurring in the seat two desks in front of her, Tenya slumped forward in his own seat, staring at the board in shock as he stared at his name printed there, completely taken aback.

"I received a point?" He muttered quietly to himself, taking his glasses off briefly to rub the lenses and then bringing them back up as though to confirm. "But I didn't vote for myself … does that mean that there's someone in this classroom that believes I had the credentials to lead?"

As happy tears swelled in his eyes, putting a hand to his chest and trying to control how flattered he was over this, Yui absently doodled in her notebook, humming and trying not to look too conspicuous.

Still, they had to deal with the matter of the two people receiving the most votes were currently tied, so they quickly decided to wrap this up with a friendly game of rock-paper-scissors. They made the deal that the one who got to five wins first would be the class representative, and the loser would become the vic-rep of the class. At Setsuna calling 'go!', Itsuka and Momo quickly played through a few grueling games, and to Izuku and Ochako's relief, Itsuka managed to score five wins first, Momo looking disappointed but conceding defeat gracefully as she shook her hand.

Once that was settled, Aizawa peeked up from where he was lying on the ground, nodding as best he could since the zipping bag was currently zipped up to under his chin.

"Then Kendou is the class representative," He surmised, "and Yaoyorozu is the deputy class representative."

"This might not be too bad." Tsuyu put a finger to her chin, at least alright with her own loss as she sat back in her large blue chair and smiled at the two girls at the front of the class.

"Yeah, Kendou's got that manly class rep spirit," Eijirou clenched a happy fist, "and she's super reliable too! Plus, Yaoyorozu was super cool when we were going over our battle results, they both got pretty fired up during yesterday's test."

With that, the two girls went to return to their desks, so AIzawa could wrap up the homeroom class. As she took a seat, Itsuka sighed a bit, and then turned in her seat to give a knowing look at Ochako, suspecting where her friend's vote had gone. The brown-haired girl innocently whistled and glanced away, not meeting Itsuka's eyes as she raised an eyebrow, and then she turned to look at Izuku, who was likewise pretending not to notice anything as he imitated his best friend and whistled innocently.

"Idiots." Itsuka shook her head as she muttered to herself, unable to stop herself from smiling a bit, and feeling a slight blush burning on her cheeks.


Soon after the results for the class representative were revealed, and Itsuka was made the class representative, homeroom was quickly dismissed, with Present Mic strolling into the classroom for their English lesson while Aizawa slid out like some weird caterpillar, evidently either too tired or lazy to get up and walk. Thankfully, their classes after their hectic homeroom went by in the blink of an eye, everyone trying to stay awake or pay attention as Mic kept screaming English phrases at them, evidently undeterred from how quiet and awkward they were, until finally the bell called for lunch and they were promptly excused.

At the cafeteria, sitting down at their table with her bowl of rice, Ochako sighed as she broke her chopsticks apart, smiling as Izuku took his seat on the other side of the table with his own tray of food. From the looks of things, the cafeteria was just as busy as it had been yesterday, with everyone from the hero, support and management courses taking seats at the various tables around the eatery. As they both started eating, Izuku glanced up at his best friend, taking a moment to look around before subtly clearing his throat.

"So, uh," He glanced around again, before looking back at his best friend as her eyes flickered up to him, "you voted for Kendou too, didn't you?"

"Mm-hm," She nodded through her mouthful of rice, swallowing and smiling happily at the taste as she looked back up at him, "I thought she would've been the best pick for class rep. Just - y'know, didn't expect that it'd come down to a rock-paper-scissors match to decide who was gonna be the rep."

"Well, we couldn't exactly account for that," He chuckled along with her, breaking apart his own chopsticks, "but at least she won, I guess - even though being the deputy representative wouldn't have been so bad."

"What's that?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow as she walked around Izuku to her own seat, making sure to flick Ochako's ear teasingly and giggling when she stuttered, "You guys talking about me? I'm flattered, really, but I'm sure there's more interesting stuff to talk about."

"W-well, we were just talking about the class rep votes," Izuku hurriedly explained as their other friends moved to the table to sit down around them, Nejire taking a seat beside Izuku and Tenya putting his own tray down beside Ochako's, "we were just thinking that we weren't really expecting - y'know, for it to come down to a rock-paper-scissors contest."

"Indeed," Momo shook her head a bit as she sat down beside Tenya, Itsuka taking a seat on her other side, "I wasn't quite expecting us to tie, though - I'm very happy to see that so many people believed in us, though, even if I'm a little disappointed that I am just the vice rep - but that's not to say that I'm bitter! I was just - well, I was classroom representative during my time in middle-school, I just wasn't expecting to be the deputy representative this time."

"Yeah, I get what you mean, Yaoyorozu," Itsuka smiled at her, "it might be a bit of a change of pace, but I'm pretty sure since this is an actual hero class instead of a regular middle school classroom, I think I'm gonna need all the help I can get."

"Indeed," Tenya nodded in agreement as Nejire began digging into her own lunch, "looking after an entire class of heroes may be far more hectic than anyone may suspect, but I believe that you two will adapt quite well. You've already shown excellent leadership skills, Kendou, in taking charge of the election, so you have already shown that you have what it takes to step up and lead this class."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, "you'll be great, Kendou. And I mean, I know me and Deku voted for you, but you also had three other people vote for you, too. That means you've got other people who believe you can lead us."

"Yeah," Itsuka looked around to give her training partners a skeptical smirk, "and I'm sure that your votes were completely and utterly unbiased, no chance it was due to personal reasons you two voted for me."

Izuku and Ochako innocently whistled.

"Ah, don't be too hard on them, Ken," Setsuna giggled as she broke her chopsticks apart, "I mean, it might've been lowkey biased, but it's not like your under-qualified for the position - you were the class rep for our class back in middle school, y'know, before you stepped down so you could concentrate on training last year."

"I guess so," Itsuka shrugged, and then turned to smile at Momo, "in any case, Yaoyorozu, I'll be looking forward to working with you from now on - I'm expecting you to keep me in check and make sure the power doesn't go to my head."

"I look forward to it as well!" Momo put a hand to her chest, smiling back at the orange-haired girl, "I'll be keeping you on track."

"Still," Izuku shook his head slightly, going slightly red as he picked at his lunch and scooped up a piece of lettuce from his bowl, "I'm kind of surprised that I of all people got two votes. I mean, it's not like I'm not happy about it, but I'm not exactly sure who would've -"

"That was me!" Nejire immediately shot her hand up into the air, finally being able to talk once she had paused her scarfing down her lunch to turn to Izuku with a grin, seeing him quickly look around at her with a blush. "I know I was one of those votes for you, Midoriya! I mean, to me it was a no brainer, since you were so cool and badass during our battle trial yesterday, and during the entrance exam too! Plus, you're kind of charismatic, in a dorky, doesn't-really-mean-it kinda way, but yeah!"

"I - uh - er -"

"It wasn't just Hadou that voted for you," Tenya put down his own spoon to reach over and pick up his orange juice, giving Izuku a serious look, "I also voted for you. Not only because of your performance during the test yesterday, but because your courage and good judgment during the entrance exam made me believe that you were worth following. With that said, even though Kendou is now the class representative, I do not regret having voted for you."

While Izuku stuttered and blushed at the praise, wrapping his arms around his head as Nejire beamed at him, Itsuka and Ochako very casually stabbed at their food with their chopsticks, frowning a bit at how close Nejire's face was to Izuku, and Ochako resisted the urge to reach over and pull Nejire back by the hair. Before she could give into that temptation, though, they heard a long, tired sigh above them.

"Yo," The group blinked and looked around to see Yuuyu walking to their table with her own tray of food, looking absolutely exhausted as she put the tray down in the seat beside Nejire's and flopped into it, slumping forward and putting her elbow on the table to hold her head, "long day, am I right?"

"It's … only been three hours." Yui pointed out.

"Has it? Feels like it's been longer," The pink-haired girl shook her head, pouting as she picked up her wooden chopsticks to break apart, "we had to pick our class rep this morning before homeroom dismissed."

"Oh! As did we!" Momo clapped her hands together happily, leaning forward, "And how did it go?"

"Terribly." Yuuyu shuddered at the memory, popping a piece of teriyaki into her mouth, "We ended up doing, like - an election type thing where everyone went up and talked about why they should be the rep, and then we voted on it. It ended up taking freaking forever because one dude just wouldn't shut up - he kept going on and on about how he would lead us to success, how under his leadership we would thrive, and gain the attention of the entire hero community, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I ended up having to finally go up to the podium and giving him a good shock to the back of the neck to get him to finally shut up and let someone else go."

"Huh," Itsuka winced on her behalf, watching as Yuuyu tossed another piece of teriyaki in her mouth while looking absolutely done with today, "so in that case, who did you guys end up deciding on?"

"You're looking at her," Yuuyu shook her head, looking miserable at that, "everyone saw me shock the annoying dude and thought 'hey, she can keep us in line'. And me, being an idiot, was too polite to say no. So here I am, class rep of Class 1B. Yay."

"Well, it's a great opportunity!" Tenya tried to assure her, chopping his hands in her general direction. "Becoming a class representative means that your class trusts you with the serious responsibility of leadership. This is a task laden with responsibility where you must carry and pull everyone else's weight. And of course, wanting to do it and being suitable for it are two different issues - just because you'd like to do it doesn't mean you can do it. If you feel that you are not suited for leadership, Haya, I assure you that there would be no shame in backing down from the position."

"I … guess you're right, Glasses," Yuuyu gave him, letting out another sigh as she straightened up somewhat, staring down at her food, "if I end up not liking the position, I can just hand it over to someone else. And it's not like I can just lay down and whine for the next half hour, we've got our first Hero Basic Training coming up after lunch. In any case, Nej -" She turned to look at her friend, raising an eyebrow as she played with one of her earrings, "- you didn't vote for yourself during the class rep selection in your class, right?"

"Nope! I did as instructed!" She was sure to salute her friend, who nodded in satisfaction.

"Good. You're not cut-throat enough for politics, no need to poke your nose in that kind of business."

As Nejire gave her friend another salute to confirm, the table giggling a bit at their antics, Ochako was unable to stop herself from looking around at Tenya, feeling her smile falter and her head tilt slightly. She had been thinking a little bit about something that she noticed about him before, and now that she was remembering it, maybe now was a good time to bring it up. Something about the way he talked just now, and back in the classroom, was making her kind of suspect something.

"Hey, Iida," She leaned forward slightly, catching Tenya's attention along with the rest of their table looking around at him, Yui pretending not to notice the attention shift to the boy in glasses as she stared at her food, "I've been thinking about this for a while, but I'm wondering … you're a rich boy, aren't you?"

"Rich -?!" Tenya gasped, taken entirely aback for a moment as though completely surprised that she had figured it out, and then closed his eyes and looked back around, sighing a bit to himself, closing his eyes in defeat. "I see … I tried to change how I talk because I didn't want to be called out on that."

The entire table gave him an odd look at that remark - that was him trying to change the way he talked? Still, Tenya sighed again, and then straightened his back out in his seat as he looked around at the table, deciding to answer before Nejire went on the questioning spree she was obviously starting to build towards when the conversation shifted to him.

"To answer your question as to my social background, Uraraka - well, yes, I consider myself to be well off in regards to other students," He put down his spoon again, looking around the table somewhat as he pushed his glasses to the bridge of his nose, "I simply tried not to bring it up as I have known a few people that look down in this type of subject. But yes, mine is a renowned hero family, and we have been that way for over four generations now. I am currently the second son of my family."

"Whoa, cool!" Izuku sat forward at once, eyes wide and attention entirely focused on Tenya the moment the world 'hero' escaped his lips. "Your entire family are heroes?! I had no idea!"

"Indeed. Would you happen to know the Turbo Hero, Ingenium, by chance?"

"Of course!" He quickly nodded, while Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes but still smiled at his dorkiness and Nejire began practically vibrating with all the questions she was now attempting to hold back. "He employs over sixty-five sidekicks at his office in Tokyo alone, and he's well liked as a popular hero that's great with children and likes going on talk shows to discuss various charities he's supporting! But wait," He suddenly stopped his fanboying, realizing something and looking at Tenya in shock, "you're not saying …?"

"That's right!" Tenya swelled proudly, a large smile on his face as he put his hands on his hips. "He is my elder brother!"

"He's so frank about it now." Ochako noted.

"That's amazing!" Izuku refused to be deterred from his fanboying.

"My brother is a likable hero," Tenya explained to the others at the table, Setsuna leaning back to listen somewhat while Itsuka and Momo looked interested, Yuuyu continuing to eat while half-listening, and Nejire on the edge of her seat with questions about to spill from her mouth any moment now, "and leads his agency with unwavering adherence to rules and regulations. Truly, he's a beloved hero! It's my admiration for my brother that inspired my own desire to become a hero." Turning in his seat, he smiled at Itsuka. "Although I realize that I am not quite ready to lead yet. As the superior candidate, it was right that the role should go to you, Kendou."

Everyone at the table blinked at the natural smile on Tenya's face as he looked around, with even Yui unable to keep up her cold act as she stared at him with her mouth dropping open slightly.

"Wow," Yuuyu raised an eyebrow, "honestly, I think this is the first time we've seen you smile, Glasses."

"Huh?" He blinked in shock. "I-is that so? I do smile on occasion!"

"Ooooh, but Iida, Iida, Iida, tell me more about your brother!" Nejire finally broke, practically jumping up to lay over the table and grabbing his arms, which made the bespectacled boy yelp as she got in his face. "What's his office like? Is he really that nice? I bet he is, but is he like a teasing older brother to you? Does he do the arm things you do too? What's his favorite food?"

"H-Hadou! Please refrain from laying across the table!"

As Tenya attempted to get her back into her seat and Yuuyu attempted to drag her back while loudly reprimanding her, Izuku and Ochako chuckled a bit, glancing at each other while the rest of the table laughed at Nejire's flopping. The way Ochako gave him a knowing look made Izuku blush a bit; both could probably tell what the other was thinking - the way Tenya talked about his brother inspiring him reminded them of how Izuku talked about All Might inspired him. She smiled a bit teasingly at him as she picked up her rice bowl to keep eating, and Izuku was about to give her an annoyed smile as he opened his mouth -

- and that was about when an alarm suddenly went off above them.

"What the -?" Itsuka quickly looked up in surprise, hearing Ochako choke on her food and seeing Izuku jumping to his feet as well, Nejire looking up from where she was laying on the table in confusion.

"Security Level 3 has been broken," An automatic voice came on over the speakers, "all students please evacuate outside promptly and in an orderly fashion."

"Wait," Tenya quickly looked around at the older students as they got up and started hurrying for the exit, several panicked voices filling the room from the announcement as it repeated, "what is a Security Level 3?"

"It means someone's infiltrated the school!" An upperclassman answered as he ran by. "This hasn't happened in all the time I've been here! Anyway, stop sitting around and get outta here!"

Quickly, the group at the table stood up and moved around their chairs, Izuku reaching out and grabbing Ochako's sleeve just to be safe, and they hurried to join the crowd of students beginning to push out the door of the cafeteria and into the hall.

And very quickly, they ran into a problem.

"Ow, ow!"

"Stop shoving!"

"Don't push me, you prick!"

"Wait, I'm gonna fall over! Stop!"

"I said quit pushing me!"

"Ow!" Ochako cried out as she was squeezed between two older students in the large crowd that squished together in the hall, unable to move as their group was swallowed in the large riot beginning to grow out of control. Quickly, she reached out to grab Izuku's hand so they didn't get separated. "What's going on?!"

"Such a rapid response to danger!" Tenya remarked even as he similarly struggled, Setsuna grunting when she was shoved into his back and almost knocked over by the struggling crowd. "I'd expect nothing less from this great institution!"

"Yeah, well, it just seems like a regular panic to me!" Yuuyu called out in an annoyed voice, keeping hold of Nejire's hand so she wasn't swallowed up in the crowd either. "It's a fucking riot! If they don't calm down, someone might get hurt!"

"Just keep calm!" Itsuka instructed them, even as she herself was knocked around by the wild mass of bodies trying to get to the exit, "I'm sure the teachers are on this, so we just have to -"

"Ah!"

Ochako gasped as Izuku's hand was suddenly ripped out of hers, and she and Itsuka quickly looked around in shock and a bit of terror as Izuku was dragged away from their group, eyes wide in panic as he reached out for Ochako. "Guys!"

"Deku!"

"Midoriya!"

Tenya's eyes widened, and he attempted to use his own hand to grab Izuku to ensure he wasn't swallowed up in the horde - however, he felt his feet slip out from under him as someone slammed into his back, and he yelped as he tripped and fell straight towards the window. Before he could collide against the glass surface, squeezing his eyes shut, he felt himself collapse into someone, hearing a small grunt of surprise as he ended up accidentally pinning someone against the wall, his hands pressing against the window.

"Ah, I - I apologize -" he quickly opened his eyes, looking down to apologize to whoever he just pushed into the wall - just as Yui also glanced up, blinking in shock when she realized who had pinned her. 

It was about then that it registered to Tenya what position they had just landed in - Tenya pretty much pinning the smaller girl to the wall, both of his hands planted on the window on either side of her head, and Yui leaning back slightly so they weren't pressed against each other. Going very red, Tenya was about to apologize to her and back up, his eyes unconsciously trialing up above her head - 

- and then he blinked.

"The press!" He gasped in realization. "It's just the press!"

Yui wrinkled her brow, and looked around as well. As he had said, there was a large crowd of reporters gathered around near the entrance of the school, shouting at Aizawa, Present Mic and another teacher with dark hair and red shoes. The former two teachers looked bored with denying all the reporters' questions, while the third, younger guy was looking uncomfortable as he gently pushed some of the microphones away from his face.

"I see! There's no danger, it's just the media!" Tenya confirmed, and then quickly looked around to shout at the crowd, "Everyone, please calm down! It's just - gerk!"

A good shove to the back stopped his train of thought and rammed him back into the window, and this time he was unable to stop himself from leaning against Yui, the quiet girl letting out a small gasp as he pressed up against her and unintentionally pinned her against the wall with his weight. 

Unfortunately, she couldn't quite take any embarrassment (or pleasure, whichever) from this - everyone was panicking and shouting, and it was clear that their friends were starting to get separated as well. She could make out, from leaning over to peek around Tenya's arm, Setsuna and Ochako still together, the girls hanging onto each other to prevent them from being separated; Yuuyu having Nejire float in the air with her quirk, holding her hand like Nejire was an oddly shaped balloon; and she couldn't make out Itsuka, Izuku or Momo anywhere in the chaos. She could've sworn that she saw Eijirou, Denki and Yosetsu trying to calm the crowd as well, but they were quickly swallowed up in the riot as well.

"Ow!"

"Wait! Someone fell over!"

"Stop shoving!"

Tenya grunted, trying his best to get off of Yui while his cheeks burned redder and redder by the second - and then Yui shook her head, tired of being shoved around and looking up at Tenya.

"We need to stop this," She told him, which made Tenya blink in surprise and look down at her as though to confirm that she really was talking to him, "we need to get to Itsuka, she'll know what to do."

"R-right! Yes!" With a grunt, he finally managed to push himself away from her, pushing against the crowd that was trying to keep him shoved face up against the window.

"Get me over to Set - she can use her quirk to look for Itsuka."

With a nod, as best he could, Tenya began to push against the crowd, looking around for where he last saw Setsuna. The two of them began sliding against the wall together, before finally managing to find a place they could slip into the riot. As quickly as they could, they began shoving and making their way through the crowd towards were Setsuna and Ochako were still struggling, Ochako looking like she was about to be dragged away herself and Setsuna looking annoyed enough that she was going to start biting with her sharp teeth.

Finally, they managed to squeeze through the crowd to get to them, and Yui looked back up at Tenya.

"Grab hold of Set's body so it doesn't get trampled."

"Er - of course!"

Quickly, Tenya took a hold of Setsuna's shoulders, making the green-haired girl sputter in confusion and look around in shock as Yui leaned in slightly, trying to keep herself from being knocked off her feet again by grabbing Setsuna's arm and the front of Tenya's blazer to keep her stable.

"Press is making trouble," She explained shortly, "use your head. Tell Itsuka."

Setsuna blinked in confusion for a moment, not really sure what to make of that - and then she got it. Quickly nodding, she detached her head from the rest of her body, letting it float up into the air above the crowd as Tenya kept a hold on the rest of her body to prevent it from being knocked over and trampled, and quickly began scanning the crowd for her other best friend. Thankfully, it didn't take long to find her - she was pushing through the crowd with Momo towards Izuku to rescue him from where he was pinned by a few upperclassmen, growing out her hands to shove her way towards him. 

Quickly, she zoomed down, hovering in front of the orange-haired girl as both class representatives looked at her in surprise.

"It's the press!" She quickly explained to them. "Yui says it's just them! They got on the campus!"

"The press?!" Itsuka looked angry at that, staring up at her scandalized, "We're gonna fucking die because of the fucking media?!"

"Oh, this is ridiculous -" Momo shook her head, having had absolutely enough of being shoved around, and quickly pulled up her shirt to reveal her stomach, facing away from the crowd in case some pervert looked her way. With a pink glow, she used her quirk to create a microphone, and once it was created, she quickly raised it to her mouth to shout.

"Please stop! Everything's fine!"

Thankfully, the loud voice of the deputy class representative made everyone in the crowd freeze as Momo's voice echoed through the microphone. They quickly looked around as Itsuka acted quickly, using her grown out hands to lift Momo up by the waist above the crowd so everyone could see her, and witness the sharp glare she was throwing at them.

"It's just the press!" She explained quickly, and in a stern tone. "The reporters from outside the gate have just gotten onto the grounds! There is nothing to panic about, we're fine! This is UA! We can't just shove our fellow students out of our way, people might get trampled! Behave in a way that would befit this institution, and please exit the school in an orderly fashion!"

After a moment of tense silence, they could feel the crowd begin to settle down, everyone muttering and looking around at each other. After Momo was put down by Itsuka, they began to adhere to her order and began exiting the school in an orderly fashion. Now that everyone wasn't shoving their way through, the small group got back together, with Ochako quickly giving Izuku a one-armed hug after he managed to finally get back over to them, Izuku hugging back while shaking a little bit.

Once they finally got outside, letting out relieved sighs as they got some fresh air, Tenya cleared his throat awkwardly, unable to stop his cheeks from going slightly red, and turned to look at Yui, her back still to him as she put her hands in her pockets.

"I, er - I feel I should apologize to you, Kodai," He said in a small voice, glancing away from her, "back in the crowd, I ended up accidentally - er - well, in any case, I apologize for -"

"It's cool," She interrupted him quickly, making Tenya sputter a bit and look back around at her as she straightened up, "wasn't your fault. I'm just gonna go grab a drink from the water fountain. Be right back."

With that, she quickly walked away from their small group, intending to go around the corner and get herself something to drink - and try to calm down the massive blush on her cheeks, making sure she was around the corner before she raised her hands to smack them and get some of the color out.

Once the police arrived to escort the press off the school grounds ("Goodbye, bad mass media!" Present Mic gleefully taunted them as they were forced to leave, with Tenko trying in vain to calm him down), the school day quickly resumed, with everyone returning to class and bidding Yuuyu good luck as she returned to her class for All Might's first lesson. Once Aizawa was back in class, looking annoyed and a bit cross with what he had to deal with, he congratulated Itsuka, Momo, Yui and Tenya for their quick thinking, albeit in his usual deadpan manner. From there, everyone was relieved to just use the rest of the day to have a normal school experience, with Midnight and Ectoplasm shuffling in to teach their own classes until the bell finally run to confirm that the day had come to an end.

After their group met back up with Yuuyu, the delinquent girl covered in bruises and scratches and cursing under her breath ("Fucking Monoma," they could have sworn they heard mixed in with the other threats of violence directed to the ground), they started to head home for the day, heading out the entrance to UA and walking towards the UA barrier.

Or at least, what remained of the UA barrier.

"Whoa," Ochako stared up in shock at the slashes on the gate, looking through the hole made in the metal sheets and gulping, "it kinda looks like someone just … sliced through the barrier like butter."

"Yeah," Itsuka tilted her head some, giving some of the other pieces of cut up metal lying on the ground before them a wary look before glancing back around at her confused friends, "it looks like one of those reporters really wanted to book an interview if they were willing to get through the gate this way."

"Reporters, huh?"

The group blinked in surprise, and looked around at the sound of a familiar voice. Who was walking towards them, staring at the gate with slightly narrowed eyes, made them look surprised to see her so far away from the clinic.

"N-Nurse Toga?"

"Ah, ah, ah, I'm off duty - it's just Toga-senpai to you cute kohais," Himiko giggled a bit, before turning her gaze back to the barrier. It was kind of weird to see her wearing the same school uniform as them, and not the weird nurse's outfit from the first day, "I heard about the gate, so I decided to come have a look. Doesn't look very pretty, eh?"

"Indeed," Tenya rested a hand on his chin as he thought, "it's a stain on UA's reputation that someone used such brute force to enter our school. Quite disdainful!"

"Were there any arrests?" Yuuyu raised an eyebrow at the nurse as Nejire inspected the hole in the metal, experimentally reaching out to poke it with her finger before Itsuka hastily pulled her hand away, not wanting her to get cut accidentally, "I know the police were here, but I didn't see anyone being led away in cuffs."

"Nope," Himiko shook her head, "whoever did this pretty much got away scott free."

"How distasteful!" Tenya proclaimed. "For a reporter to use their quirk like this for a mere interview - I recognize that they may have been desperate to do their job, but deciding to risk a panic amongst the student body couldn't be worth this trouble!"

"An interview, huh …" Himiko hummed, which made Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blink and look around at her. It was rather strange to see no weird cat-like smile on the nurse's face, only dead seriousness and narrowed eyes as she studied the gate. Hastily, Izuku gulped, and turned back to properly look at her.

"Uh … Toga-senpai?" He asked timidly, which drew her yellow eyes to him. "Sorry, but - do you think - do you think someone - uh - someone else might've come into the school? Someone - someone other than the reporters?"

Himiko studied him for a moment, seeing some of the gears turning in his head - and then shook her head, smiling a bit as she leaned forward and patted his shoulder airily.

"Ah, don't mind me, cute kohai," She giggled, seeing his cheeks heat up slightly, "just lost in my head, that's all. Whoever did this, the police'll catch them. You shouldn't put much thought into this kind of thing. Anyway, you guys should head home, you've still got two more days of school. Just be careful going through the barrier."

Hesitantly, Izuku nodded, and obeyed his senpai's instructions to walk carefully through the barrier with the rest of his friends, Itsuka being sure to make sure he didn't lean up against the walls of the hole. Still, he couldn't help but glance back at Himiko, seeing her cat-like smile fade again as she stared seriously at the barrier, and played with something solid and long in her pocket, almost looking like the handle of a boxcutter - and he couldn't help but feel a weird sense of foreboding shoot through him.


Thankfully, it appeared that the reporters that had surrounded the gate for the last few days had finally gotten the message that they weren't wanted, because the next day they were nowhere to be seen. Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako were at least thankful for that, stepping through the now repaired gate of the school so they could enter the main building and get started with their day. After an uneventful English lesson and getting back from lunch, they were surprised that, unlike last time when All Might had hammily greeted them for their Hero Basic Training class, it was Aizawa leaning against the podium waiting for them as they retook their seats.

"Alright," He said as everyone sat back down, "for today's Hero Basic Training, this lesson will be supervised by myself, All Might, and one other teacher."

Izuku blinked in surprise at that, staring up at the teacher as Aizawa flipped through the pages of his work and tried his hardest to ignore Nejire immediately questioning why he was coming along and who was helping and where All Might was and if it was going to be fun. So today's class would be special or something along those lines? It must be, if Aizawa and another teacher were coming with them to do … well, whatever it was they were doing.

Thankfully, after Aizawa subtly told Nejire to zip it by glaring at her with his quirk activated, as though hoping that he could somehow shut her up with one glowing red glare, Hanta had the same thoughts as Izuku as he raised his hand in question.

"So, uh, what are we doing today, exactly?"

"Preparing you for disaster relief," Aizawa briefly explained, "from fires to floods and everything in between." 

With that, he raised a similar card that All Might had used in their last class to announce what they were doing - but instead of two bold red words, it was one blue word titled: 'RESCUE'.

"Rescue training?" Itsuka blinked in surprise, sitting up.

"Yes. This specific class covers the types of situations you'll find yourselves working through in the future. From disasters to shipwrecks, this class will prepare you for every type of situation."

"Whew …" Setsuna chuckled a bit, leaning back and glancing at Mina as the class began muttering amongst themselves, "... sounds like we're gonna have to put in a lot of work this time. Rescue training's a lot different than combat training, this is gonna be tough."

"Right?"

"Oh, come on, man," Eijirou leaned forward with a grin as Setsuna glanced behind her shoulder at him, seeing him leaning against Denki's back, "this is what a hero's all about! I'm getting pumped up! Let's rumble!"

"Well, I'm looking forward to this," Tsuyu also sat up in her seat in anticipation, a froggy smile on her face as she looked behind her shoulder at Nejire, "I've been looking forward to doing flood training, kero."

"Hey." Aizawa snapped at the front, glaring at the class harshly. "I wasn't finished talking."

At once, silence fell.

"Anyway, it's up to each of you whether or not you wear your costumes for this exercise." He pressed the button on the remote he kept on the podium, bringing out the briefcases that would contain their costumes and equipment. "Especially since you may have costumes that'll limit your abilities in these kinds of situations. The training site we'll be going to is a bit remote, on the other side of the campus, so we'll be going there by bus. That's all - get ready and meet me out front."

Quickly, everyone nodded in confirmation and got up, running over to grab their costumes. Izuku debated briefly with himself, staring at the briefcase that would contain his costume, and then shook his head to get up and go grab it from the glass container.

He knew that, if they were going to be doing exercises that simulated disasters, they might have to deal with a situation that included water. And lightning and water … tended not to mix, but he knew that he also needed to test out how exactly his equipment would be able to handle flood situations should he ever get in one. That, and with Aizawa there with his quirk, he should be fine if he got in water and accidentally began electrocuting himself - of course, assuming Ochako or Itsuka would even let him and his quirk anywhere near water.

About twenty minutes later, and a quick visit to the changing room, everyone trooped out to the front of the school where the bus was waiting for them to get on, being piloted by an AI to get wherever they needed to go. Aizawa was already climbing on the bus to sit down, grunting as he leaned against the window and immediately began napping. Izuku had decided to put on his equipment and costume, but left the mask and reciperator down, sighing as he raised a hand to brush through his hair and making Itsuka and Ochako, who were dressed in their hero costumes sans their head accessories - Ochako's visor and Itsuka's domino mask missing - look over at him in surprise.

"Hey," Itsuka smiled a bit, grabbing the loose mask by the ear and lifting it up with a teasing look, "where's the bunny ears? I thought that was gonna be your look."

"Er - w-well, I was just thinking that for this exercise, I should - y'know, keep my face visible this time," He explained quickly, going a bit red, "especially if we're going to be doing rescue simulations, it'd be better for people to see my face just in case something goes wrong."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Ochako agreed, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "I think it's better if we leave anything that blocks our face behind too - plus, y'know, my visor still needs to get repaired after it broke a few days ago."

"Oh, that's right!" Izuku brightened up, looking around at her, "You had some of your stuff sent to the support studio. How'd that go?"

"Okay," Ochako shrugged, although she did shiver a bit, "Power Loader-sensei said that he'd get some of his students to repair my stuff. They were - uh - kinda enthusiastic about repairing my visor, though, so I might have to check it before I put it back on."

"Yo, Mido-bro!" Eijirou suddenly called to him, and Izuku looked around as the redhead walked over, Denki and Hanta walking towards him as well. "Quick question, but are you busy this weekend?"

"This weekend?" Izuku blinked, unaware of Itsuka blinking as well and straightening up slightly. "Er - no, I shouldn't be. Why, Kirishima?"

"Well," He grinned back at Denki and Hanta before looking back at his friend, "me, Kaminari and Sero were thinking of hitting up the arcade sometime this weekend - y'know, before we have to go Plus Ultra on school - and I was wondering if you wanted to tag along! We were thinking of inviting Awase too, if he's free."

"O-oh!" Izuku blinked in surprise, looking at the other two boys grinning at him, and then felt a bit of red tingle in his cheeks as he smiled and nodded. "Y-yeah! I'd - I'd love to come with you guys."

"Ooh, are we talking about this weekend?" Nejire bounced over to the group, being followed by Setsuna and Yui as the green-haired girl fastened the purple mask around her eyes. "I was just thinking, we could hang out or something! Ah, but you just said you're busy, aren't you, Midoriya? Oh, man, I wish I had asked you to hang out before Kirishima did! Although it's cool if you wanna hang out with your bro, we can hang out another time! Maybe Sunday?"

She continued to babble on, not noticing Izuku gulping and going a bit red. Ochako, meanwhile, looked at Izuku as he glanced away with a small, bashful smile, and let out a small sigh as her own smile fell, although she was quick to shake her head.

She tried to remind herself of what she had thought a few days ago - this was a good thing, Izuku now being surrounded by people who wanted to hang out with him and spend time with him, and she shouldn't feel sad about that. He deserved more than just her, she continued to remind herself as she looked around at Itsuka, and her being a little lonely shouldn't -

- wait a minute.

Ochako blinked as she finally looked around at her other friend, seeing Itsuka staring at something while … also frowning, a small, disappointed look in her eye. Staring at her in surprise, Ochako felt confused, and then quickly followed Itsuka's gaze - and realized that she was also staring at Nejire, seeing her bouncing around and talking to Izuku while he blushed and tried to answer back as best he could.

Wait a moment … Ochako looked back at Itsuka, feeling her eyes widen slightly. Wait, could it be possible … 

"- Uraraka? Helloooo?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, shaken out of her shock, and looked around at Nejire giving her a curious look, raising a hand to poke her own cheek.

"Spacing out?" She wondered out loud. "I mean, that makes sense, if that's your quirk, but anyway, I was actually wondering if you were busy this weekend?"

"Uh - er - busy? This weekend? I - I don't think I am."

"Oh! That's great!" Nejire lit up, smiling widely and clapping her hands. "In that case, wanna hang out with me and Yuuyu? I really wanna get to know everyone better, and if Midoriya's busy, I wanna see if you and Kendou and Yaoyorozu are good with hanging out! We can go to the park, or the movies, or a restaurant to eat, or to a sleepover! If that's the case, my house has the room for us all, but I also kinda wanna see where you guys live! Do you have pets? I know I have a cat, if you guys come over you can pet her all you want, she's such a -"

Her invitation, however, was suddenly interrupted by the loud clash of lightning above them. The entire class jumped a bit at the loud rumble, and quickly looked back up at the sky. Unlike this morning, with bright skies and the sun twinkling, dark storm clouds slowly circled above the school, lightning briefly flickering within, and they could suddenly feel the wind pick up.

"Jeez," Eijirou wrinkled his brow, looking up at the clouds, "I thought the forecast said it was gonna be sunny today. Where'd this come from?"

"Yes," Reiko also looked up at  the storm clouds, keeping her face mask down around her neck as she raised an eyebrow at the skies, "I believe the news said that it would be sunny skies until next week at the latest. I wonder where this darkness has manifested from."

"Indeed," Tokoyami crossed his arms in agreement, standing beside the ghost girl as he also looked seriously at the sky, the shadow creature that was his quirk peeking from around his shoulder, "what strange omens manifest above us?"

"... guys, it's just the weather being weird," Yosetsu pointed out, chuckling a bit awkwardly at their dramatics, "it's not like dark spirits are about to suddenly come down from the sky."

"If we were only so lucky." Reiko shook her head sadly.

"Er … Midoriya-san, you wouldn't happen to control the weather too, do you?" Pony asked, gulping as the wind picked up a bit, with her brushy long hair blowing around somewhat. "Looks kind of ominous."

"Er … no, I don't control actual lightning storms," Izuku shook his head, and then stopped briefly, staring contemplatively for a moment, "at least, I don't think so."

"Well, in any case," Itsuka shook her head, turning to walk towards the bus and wincing as another cold wind hit them, "we should probably get going before the rain actually comes. C'mon, everyone, let's pile on the bus!"

"Right!"

With that, everyone quickly obeyed Itsuka's instructions, Katsuki with gritted teeth, as they quickly moved into the bus, taking seats so that they could get going. Izuku took a seat in the middle of the bus, being quickly joined by Nejire sitting beside him with a smile as she made sure not to sit on any of her hair, and Mezo on his left side. Both Itsuka and Ochako stared down at them for a moment, feeling themselves frown, before they moved towards the back of the bus, sitting together. Once everyone was sitting down, Aizawa woke up from his nap long enough to press the button on the bus to get it moving, before slumping back down again and starting to snore.

As everyone chatted amongst themselves, either about what they were going to do for the weekend or what they were about to do for class, Ochako and Itsuka glanced over to see Nejire start to ask Izuku more questions, which he tried to keep up with and answer, both of them sighed as Itsuka leaned against the window, staring out of it, and Ochako sat back, glancing between her and Izuku. The image of Itsuka's face a few minutes ago was still on her mind, and she let out another sigh as she folded her hands in her lap.

"Uh … hey, Kendou," She muttered, staring down at the floor, "could I ask you … uh … can I ask you a stupid question?"

Itsuka shrugged a bit. "Sure, go ahead."

"Um … is it just me," She hesitated for a moment, not exactly sure how to ask her this without sounding weird - and then sighed and shook her head, leaning over to where Itsuka was leaning against the wall of the bus and muttered, "or do you - uh - do you not like seeing Hadou hanging around Deku?"

There was a small silence, with Itsuka staring out the window for a moments while clearly thinking, and Ochako fidgeted a bit embarrassedly, worried that she might have just said something stupid or mean - and then Itsuka sighed as well, glancing back at Ochako with a small, unsure look.

"What, uh … what do you mean? Do you not like seeing them together?"

"I … well …" Ochako hesitated again, not exactly sure how to explain as she absently played with her hair, "... it's just … whenever she gets up in his face, I just … well … my stomach feels kinda uncomfortable. And my heart starts hammering, but not in a nice way. I just - I don't know, I just kinda feel uncomfortable and weird whenever they get talking, and I don't know why. Do I - am I the only one who feels that way?"

"..."

"..."

"... no," Itsuka admitted, not looking very pleased about that fact as she glanced back out the window, "you're not, Uraraka. I - I think I know what you mean. It's just - I don't know. I'm not even sure what my problem is, I just … I don't like when she gets too close or gets up in Midoriya's business. I - I don't know why, I just - I don't like it."

"It's - it's not like we dislike her, though," Ochako quickly made clear, feeling relieved when Itsuka nodded in agreement, "it's just - I don't know, either."

"No, no, I like Hadou well enough. She's - well, she definitely likes talking, but she's nice, and I'd like to hang out with her a bit more. It's just … the two of them," Itsuka frowned again, glancing back out the window at the dark clouds and sighing, "I don't know either."

"W-well, it definitely makes me feel better to know that - y'know, that I'm not alone about - about being weird." Ochako chuckled weakly, relieved when Itsuka nodded and turned back to her with a smile.

"Yeah, you're not alone being weird. Don't worry, we can both be weird together."

As both girls laughed and giggled together, Kyouka leaned against the window in the seat in front of them, letting out an exasperated sigh at how dense both girls were, and then turned to look at Setsuna beside her as she nodded in agreement.

"Yep," She said without Kyouka even saying anything, "they're a pair of dumbasses."

Thankfully, it didn't take them too long to reach their destination, Aizawa ordering them off the bus as it slid to a stop as he hopped off before them. As everyone trooped out, blinking at the sight of a large, oval building with large glass windows, and walked towards it. Soon enough, they stood at the entrance, and walking out to greet them was - well, as that person opened the doors and waved at them in greeting, Izuku's jaw dropped, Ochako gasped out loud, and Itsuka snorted a bit at her friends' reactions.

"Hello, everyone, I've been waiting for you. Welcome to the USJ!"

"Oh, my gosh!" Izuku gushed at the sight of a hero in a puffy white space costume, yellow sneakers, and a black helmet with white eyes as she opened her arms as though to envelop the entire class in a large hug, "It's the Space Hero, Thirteen! Occhan, it's her!"

"Oh ... my ... god," Ochako shook in excitement, grabbing Izuku's arm in a tight grip, and feeling her knees weaken at the mere sight of the hero in front of them, "it's Thirteen. It's - it's really Thirteen. The greatest rescue hero there is. My - my favorite hero. It's Thirteen. It's - it's really Thirteen?"

"Is that right?" Nejire bounced in excitement, looking around at Ochako with interest. "You like Thirteen, huh, Uraraka? I bet you know a lot about her! Do you know when her birthday is?"

"February 3rd."

"What're her hobbies?"

"Museum visits and documentaries."

"Is she dating anyone?"

"She's aro-romantic."

"Where was she born?"

"Tanegashima."

As Nejire continued to ask questions and Ochako absently answered, still staring at the pro hero in awe while Thirteen chuckled good-naturedly at her fangirl ("I suppose that's 'Occhan'," she muttered to herself, remembering Tenko asking her for a specific autograph a few months ago around Christmas), Aizawa took a moment to look around the entrance, wrinkling his brow somewhat, and then leaned down to mutter to his colleague.

"Where's Shimura?" He muttered, "And All Might, as well. I don't see either of them here, I thought Shimura would've at least met with us outside."

"Tenko has a meeting with the principal right now, to discuss how things have been going during his training," Thirteen explained quietly, looking around at the taller teacher as she also raised a large hand to cover her mouth, "so he won't be able to attend this lesson. And All Might ended up accidentally reaching his limit during his morning commute, especially since he had to take a route half-way across the city to pick up something that came to him overseas from the post office. He's resting in the break room right now."

"The height of irrationality." Aizawa shook his head. "Fine, if there's nothing we can really do about it, we'll get started without them."

Still, he thought with a small frown, at least they took precautions just in case something like this happened, especially after what had happened yesterday. He certaintly wasn't supposed to be here with the class, but after yesterday's break in, he insisted on accompanying his class to their next Hero Basic Training class just to be safe. The students had been unaware, merely thinking one of the reporters had gotten desperate and cut through the barrier to get an interview with All Might - but the teachers had been more than a little suspicious about how easily it had been for someone to break down their door. 

The students could think it was just some desperate reporter - but Nezu, after taking a look at the hole in the hole cut through their defenses with Midnight, Recovery Girl and Thirteen, suspected that the break in wasn't orchestrated by a reporter. So right now they were on guard. They hadn't been able to catch the one who sliced through their defenses and instigated the break in, but they were at least going to keep an eye out.

"Now then," Thirteen clapped her hands together, knocking Ochako out of her fangirling state and making her realize that she was making a scene, gulping and covering her face in embarrassment while Izuku, Itsuka and Setsuna chuckled a bit, "before we begin, I wanted to say a few things to the students - but perhaps it'd be better if we did that inside," She glanced up at the sky, "it looks like it's about to come down."

As if on cue, the students jumped as they felt a few drops of rain suddenly hit them, and the winds started to pick up even more, somewhat pushing Pony around. With that, the two teachers led Class 1A into the facility, and they were relieved to get out of the weather - hell, it was almost like the wind itself was eager to get them inside, pushing against their backs to get them into the large building.

Once the doors sealed shut behind them, the entire class stared in complete awe at the sight that greeted them. It almost looked like a theme park - they stood on a small platform above the facility, the stairs leading down to a small pavilion, and surrounding it were six large areas - they could make out a few destroyed buildings in one area, another with what looked like a landslide, a rocky terrain, a city covered in a dome and looking like it was being assaulted in a heavy rain, a large lake with a shipwreck placed in the middle, and an enclosed area with flame patterns painted on the dome.

"Holy crap," Eijirou looked excited, "it looks like Universal Studios Japan!"

"A flood zone." Thirteen explained, sounding pleased with how impressed the first years were as she stared down in pride at the facility. "A landslide zone. A conflagration zone. A downpour zone. A ruins zone. And a mountain zone. I built this facility myself to simulate every possible disaster and accident you can imagine to serve as a training ground for you students to prepare for real life accidents. I call it - the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! Or, if you would prefer to call it, 'USJ' for short!"

There was a pointed silence at that, as everyone mentally noted that it shared the exact same initials as Universal Studios Japan, and wondered briefly if UA had ever been sued at any point since Thirteen joined their staff.

"Now then," She continued on with her presentation, "before we begin, I do have one or two points to say. Or three. Or four. Or five … six … seven …"

Everyone gulped as she mentally counted on her fingers, before she shook her head somewhat and raised her hand to show them the caps on the ends of her fingers.

"As I'm sure many of you are aware," She explained patiently, "my quirk is called Black Hole. I can use my power to suck up and turn it to dust."

"Right!" Izuku nodded enthusiastically, while Ochako practically vibrated beside him while nodding fervently and Itsuka gave both of them a small smirk ("Dorks," She muttered affectionately), "And you've used it to save people in all sorts of disasters!"

"You're right," Thirteen nodded, her voice suddenly turning serious, "I've used it many times to save lives. But it's also a power that can easily be used to kill."  Everyone stopped at that, staring at Thirteen as she put her hand down at her side. "And I imagine that there's no doubt that there are some among you with similar abilities - the ability to use your quirk to kill as easily as you can use it to save."

Both Ochako and Itsuka furrowed their brows, looking around at Izuku in concern. They knew that Izuku already knew all about this kind of topic, and he was clearly taken aback by where this conversation was going, his smile slipping off his face as their teacher continued to explain her point.

"In our super-powered society, the use of quirks is heavily restricted and monitored. It may seem that this system is a stable one, but we must never forget that it only takes one wrong move with an uncontrollable quirk for people to die." Katsuki's frown deepened, feeling the scars on his chest ache slightly as he glanced at Izuku out of the corner of his eye, seeing the green-haired boy's shoulders slump slightly and his face fall as he stared at Thirteen. "And that, students, is part of the reason why you're here. During Aizawa's physical fitness test, you came to learn of your own hidden potential. Through All Might's battle training, you experienced the danger that your respective quirks can pose to others. And here, you will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives."

While the rest of the class listened to Thirteen's speech, Aizawa found himself glancing at Izuku as well, seeing the boy stare at Thirteen and listening to her words with a small, hurt frown, and narrowed his eyes somewhat. From that reaction, it was clear that something might have happened to Izuku with his quirk … and if he was reacting like this to Thirteen's speech about using their quirks carefully, he was starting to get a better picture. Frowning, he made a mental note to have a look at Izuku's old files from his middle school later.

"Always remember," Thirteen finished her speech, throwing her arms out again, "your powers are not meant to inflict harm. They're meant to save lives. I hope you leave her today with the understanding that you're meant to help people. That is all! Thank you for listening!"

As the class gave Thirteen an enthusiastic round of applause as she sank into a bow ("So gentlemanly!" Ochako fangirled while shaking Izuku, with that at least knocking him out of his bad mood by making him laugh), Aizawa sighed and straightened up from where he had been leaning against one of the supports for the building.

"Alright," He tried to bring order back to his overly enthusiastic class, rolling his eyes at Setsuna whistling for the teacher, "now that we've got that out of the way, let's get started. We'll begin with the -"

KRACK-BOOM

Before he could finish that sentence, a loud clap of lightning interrupted him along with a bright flash of light. Everyone jumped again at the cloud clash of thunder, and quickly looked up at the glass ceiling of the facility. The rain was practically beating against the window, lightning flashing ominously and powerfully in the sky, and the howl of the rain rattled the glass threateningly.

And then, suddenly, there was the sound of electricity surging, and the lights surrounding the walls of the USJ suddenly began exploding in tiny pops of glass, the background hum of energy running suddenly stopping.

"Holy whoa!" Nejire jumped in surprise as the power went off to the facility, shutting off the fountain in the foyer below and casting the entire USJ into darkness, with only flashes of lightning outside briefly illuminating the facility. "Is this a typhoon or something? I thought the weatherman would've let us know if something like this was coming! Do we have a sleepover in case we can't get back to the school?"

As she continued to question aimlessly, however, Aizzawa and Thirteen slowly turned to look at each other, the quirk-erasing teacher getting up from where he had been leaning against the wall and looking around with a frown. Something was wrong.

And then, down below in the facility, something caught their attention, making Aizawa quickly look around with a small grunt, his eyes widening as Thirteen gasped. The students were quick to notice, with Yui straightening up, Mezo tilting his head, Tokoyami looking up from where he had been trying to keep Dark Shadow calm in the dark, and Momo pausing her notetaking, and they all hurried over to the top of the stairs to see what was going on.

Looking down at the pavilion, they all stared at the sight of a swirling, black hole hovering in the middle of the dark foyer. They could've almost sworn that this was something of Thirteen's creation, but Izuku wrinkled his brow - the edges of the black hole were brimmed with purple, something that Thirteen's quirk wasn't capable of. The hole slowly began to widen by the second, briefly illuminated by another flash of lightning - and then it suddenly flickered, and blasted out.

The students jumped as the black and purple darkness suddenly morphed into a large figure, a pair of bright yellow eyes briefly flickering to life within the mass of darkness, and turned to look up at the students. It was then that Izuku realized with eyes widening that it wasn't a black hole, but some kind of … teleportation quirk that had just manifested in the middle of the USJ.

And then, within the depths of the dark shadow, something shifted.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka stared as, coming out of the dark wisps of mist, a steel-toed boot came out of the portal, and stepping out came a person wrapped in a large, brown cloak that reached their feet. Izuku furrowed his brow and squinted his eyes - due to the hood covering their face, the cloak covering their entire body and the darkness of the facility, it was hard to make out what they looked like underneath the cloth - but the mysterious person tilted their head up to stare at them, and Izuku could have sworn that he saw a flash of glowing yellow eyes, similar to the portal, peeking out from the darkness under the hood.

As the cloaked person emerged fully from the portal, staring up at the students, the portal behind them shifted again, and another person walked out behind them. This one, however, didn't wear a cloak, and was in fact a woman with long red hair reaching down to her thighs that she was absently playing with, with a small domino mask over her eyes. She wore a short, navy blue dress secured to her waist by a thick brown belt, and underneath the dress she wore a pale purple blouse and a pearl necklace, as well as dark red gloves and thigh-high purple socks, along with a pair of black boots.

From behind them, more shapes began emerging from the darkness, and out came two more people. One was a tall heteromorph man, his head resembling a wolf with blue fur, yellowish eyes looking around with a sneer as he strolled out out the portal, and from his brown trenchcoat, he pulled out a cigar, putting it to his lips and taking a small puff. Beside him came a tall, lanky man with short gray hair, wearing several burgundy-coloured bandages wrapped around his entire body, with the exception of his hands and eyes, and a dark-gray combat vest strapped to his upper body, and a sword strapped to his back. 

As the two men stopped near the people who first emerged from the portal, from behind those two, Izuku could make out more shapes continuing to come out of the weird portal, including another hooded man wearing black pants and a jacket obscuring his face similar to the cloaked man, and a weird mutant-type person with a tall, muscular body, dark skin with red scars lining its body, and a beak like mouth with his brain clearly visible.

"What is that?" Eijirou tilted his head slightly, echoing the thoughts of the class as the six people stared up at them, the lightning flashing from the storm clouds above illuminating the dark USJ. Both Izuku and Ochako gulped as the yellow eyes of the person in the cloak faded, only to be replaced by a pair of glowing red eyes instead. And then, from behind them, more people of strange appearances came out, including a man in a green-jumpsuit, a gas mask and horns, a man with strange bone-like structure, and a ghoulish looking woman, leading out a large group of people while the six who came out first continued to stare up at them.

"Is this like the entrance exam, where the test starts the moment we walk in?" Yosetsu wondered out loud, raising his hand above his eyes to try and see if he could make out any of the strangers' appearances.

"That's weird," Setsuna tilted her head curiously, taking a small step forward, "I thought that we were doing a rescue lesson -"

"Don't move!" Aizawa suddenly barked, making his class jump and quickly look around at their teacher. He was staring at the small group as well, narrowing his eyes with a grimace as he slid the goggles from his neck up to cover them. "This isn't part of the test. Those ... those are villains."

Everyone gasped out, and Itsuka quickly whipped her gaze back to the group as more people poured out of the portal, reaching out to grab Izuku and Ochako's arms as they tensed. The person in the cloak raised an arm, halting the hulking man with the brain as it took a step closer towards the stairs, and raised their red eyes to the ceiling to stare up at the thunder clouds - and then he turned their gaze back to the group they just emerged from the portal with.

"Well," He said, his soft, lethargic voice somehow reaching where the students were standing at the entrance of the training building, "this is certainly an unexpected complication. I don't see All Might with them at all."

At the name of their mentor, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka tensed up again, their eyes widening.

"Are you kidding?" The wolf-like man growled, clenching his fists. "We went to all this trouble, got all these people together, and the bastard isn't even here?!"

"Patience, Chimera," The cloaked man reached out to pat his comrade's shoulder, looking around at the woman, "everything's not lost yet. Slice, the teachers that are up there - who are they? Did the schedule say?"

"I don't recognize the one in black, but I do recongize Thirteen." The woman answered in a deep, smug voice, huffing a bit as she smirked and flipped her hair behind her shoulder, "The teacher's schedule I grabbed the other day said that she'd be here in addition to All Might. There was supposed to be a teaching assistant, but he would have a meeting with the principal that would mean that he wouldn't attend this lesson. And Thriteen don't have powerful ability - she has a Black Hole quirk, but she doesn't use it lethally. So we have nothing to fear from her."

"How perplexing," The black smoke that had been swirling around suddenly re-morphed again, and out came a head with the narrowed, glowing yellow eyes staring up at the students, "All Might not being here, and another teacher we didn't count on ... perhaps there was a change in the schedule?"

"It doesn't matter," The man in the cloak shook his head, allowing more of the sinister looking villains to stroll out of the portal while his glowing red eyes studied the small group at the top of the stairs, "we went through the trouble of bringing our entire cabal to meet the Symbol of Peace personally, and that's what will happen. We needn't worry if he's running a little late ... he'll come as fast as he can when he hears the screams of the children."

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 13! And the beginning of our new version of the USJ Invasion - this time with 100% less Shigaraki, and 100% more villains that the kids weren't able to easily deal with after all their cool training arriving a few months before schedule! I'm sure that this will go extraordinarily well.

We did get a bit of story development in this chapter, didn't we? A surprising revelation that Teko wasn't always alright with Itsuka being a hero, Ochako being forced to confront these weird feelings for her totally brother-like best friend, a few more developments with our mysterious Class 1B, and Tenya and Yui doing the awkward accidental tango around each other even if Tenya doesn't realize it. We'll be getting a few more pieces of story going forward, readers, so I hope you're ready for the next few chapters!

Also, as a bit of a visual, I thought to show you guys what exactly the seating arrangement is for our updated Class 1A! For reference, Izuku, Ochako, Katsuki, Tenya, and Momo are in their in-canon seats:

 

 

Thank you guys so much for reading this chapter! See y'all next time

Chapter 14: Storms (Part One)

Summary:

As a powerful, unexpected storm rains over UA, everyone at the school, despite being weirded out, believes that all is well - unknowing that at the USJ, the students of Class 1A are about to be put through an unexpected test.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

KRACK-BOOM

"Christ," Vlad King shook his head from his spot at the front of the class, turning his head towards the window with a frown as rain continued to beat against it, "where the hell did this come from? I thought it was supposed to be sunny all day."

"Er - Vlad King-sensei," The kid named Mashirao raised his hand hesitantly from his spot near the window, wincing when a bit of drizzle hit him again, "do you mind if I -?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah, go ahead and close that, Ojirou, I didn't even know it was still open," Vlad nodded to him, wrinkling his brow at another low rumble of thunder as Mashirao slid the window shut, "I've got no idea where this storm came from, but I don't think anyone would mind if we close the windows, right? God knows when this is gonna stop so we can refocus on the lesson."

He wasn't the only one who was thinking something along those lines, with Yuuyu leaning back in her seat to look out the window of their classroom as well, feeling her brow furrow as she watched the storm outside. It had been hard to concentrate for the last ten minutes or so, seeing as one moment it was nice and sunny out, with everyone wishing that their hero training had been today instead so they could spend it outside - and then the next, what looked like an actual goddamn hurricane descended upon UA, lightning rattling the windows and rain beating hard enough against them that for a few seconds Yuuyu thought they were going to break.

It was pretty clear that she wasn't the only one who was starting to notice that something seemed off, watching the other guys in the class glancing out the window with weirded out looks. Initially, she had kind of rolled her eyes over the fact that she ended up in the absolute sausage fest that made up Class 1B, what with there only being four other girls in the class, but at least yesterday a few of the guys proved that they at least earned their seats here, and thus earned a bit of her respect. Which … probably was a good thing - she was the class rep, she kind of needed to respect her classmates, even Monoma. That was something she needed to work on, evidently - not being so annoyed.

She could tell that Kinoko, who was sitting in front of her, was also a bit nervous about the weather, absently tapping on her desk and growing a mushroom on her knee while glancing uncertainly out the window; Juzo, meanwhile, turned slightly towards the window beside him at the front and winced when an especially bright flash of lightning struck down from the sky, accompanied by a low rumble of thunder.

"Don't worry, people," Vlad said from his spot near the blackboard, seemingly knowing that their attention wasn't on him anymore and looking around at them with a reassuring look, "UA's built to withstand any kind of bad weather, and even if something ends up breaking in here, we can get Cementoss to come in and patch it up, and it'll be good as new by tomorrow."

"Jeez," The guy named Kousei leaned against his desk while staring outside the window, looking a bit nervous as another flash of lightning illuminated the dark skies, "what happens if this weather's still around by the time school's over, sensei? I don't think we can walk home in weather like this - do we just stay at school until it calms down?"

"Potentially," Vlad shrugged his shoulders, turning around to face his class and lean on the podium, "usually in weather like this, we do have the hypothetical room to keep all the students on campus until the storm calms down, and provisions if it lasts for a while - Lunch Rush can provide dinner if we have to stay here for that long. In any case, we'll know a bit more about how we'll proceed by the end of the day - if this weather keeps up, we'll have you all call home to explain that you're going to at the very least stay a bit longer, and if you do need to get home and can't wait here - like if you have siblings to take care of - we could potentially charter buses to take you there."

Yuuyu slowly nodded from her spot at the back of the room, understanding that there wasn't much to be done if she was stuck after school. Hell, she'd probably just spend some time by going over to Class 1A and sitting with Nejire instead of - 

- wait. If today was Thursday, Nejire wouldn't be in the classroom next door, she'd be doing Hero Basic Training right now. And that was …

"Sensei?" She raised her hand, drawing the blood hero's attention to her as she sat up in her seat, feeling a bit of worry shoot through her, "I just remembered - Class 1A was supposed to have their hero training today, and we usually go outside or to one of the areas on the campus for that - will they be okay in weather like this?"

"No need to worry, Haya," Vlad shook his head and smiled at her, glancing down at the phone on the podium, "we just got word from our automated system a few moments ago - they've arrived safely at the USJ. They should be indoors now, and if the weather keeps going like this or gets worse, they can stay there until it's safe enough to return to the school."

Yuuyu slowly nodded at that in acknowledgement and a bit of relief, putting her hand down as Vlad returned to writing on the blackboard, not minding some of the students whispering amongst themselves - he'd let them mutter a bit before continuing on with the lesson.

Honestly, and it might sound a bit selfish that she prioritized her best friend's safety over their other friends, but Yuuyu was more relieved to hear that Nejire would be alright and had made it to the USJ in a storm like this - Nejire had always been fascinated with bright things, so there was a part of her that had been afraid that she would be dumb enough to go 'oooooh, lightning!' and stick her head out to get a good bolt to the head for her troubles. So hearing that they had made it to the USJ was a relief to hear, and knowing that she had her new friends around would make her feel just a tad bit better that she wouldn't wander out into the storm and freaking die.

She could, at the very least, trust Itsuka or Momo to keep Nejire focused. Yuuyu had been afraid of what would happen when they got to UA and found out that they would be separated into different classes; Nejire really only had Yuuyu as a friend for their entire lives, everyone else either crept out by all of Nejire's unfiltered questions, or trying to take advantage of the pretty girl with the concentration of a goldfish, which had earned them a good assbeating from Yuuyu when she found them before things got out of hand. So seeing Nejire find a few more friends in a class, people who genuinely wanted her around, was a relief to her - they might be a bit nerdish for her tastes, but at least they could be trusted to keep Nejire out of trouble.

Well, if she was to be honest, Yuuyu should probably try and take a leaf out of Nejire's book and try to be a bit more sociable with her classmates - it'd be hard to actually try to lead them as the class representative when she was so dreary.

"You're still thinking of the other class, aren't you?"

Yuuyu blinked at the sound of a stoic, calm voice speaking up right beside her, and rolled her eyes as she looked around at the person sitting on her left. Speaking of dreary, it looked like the one person she knew she disliked in this class was talking to her, staring at his desk and not even at her when he addressed her.

She knew that he hadn't really given her any real reason to dislike him yet, but she couldn't help but feel her eyes narrow in annoyance when she looked at him - not a single expression on his dumb, good-looking face, staring down at the surface of his desk as he scribbled some notes in his notebook, glancing up at the board to continue jotting down what Vlad was writing. Honestly, looking at how nonchalant and stoic he was, she couldn't help but remember yesterday, when he had frozen Ibara and Rikido in ice and walked away after letting them out without any kind of care in the world, like he didn't care that he instantly won his match and was more concerned with brooding in the corner.

Like he hadn't even tried, like doing this, participating in class with the few people who got in the normal way instead of being recommended like him, was beneath him. It wasn't like Momo and Setsuna, who were more down to earth and humble, or Juzo, who was pretty cool when she talked to him yesterday. This guy acted like he had a stick up his ass the size of Mt. Lady's pinkie finger, and Yuuyu could help but be annoyed by that.

"Well, can you blame me?" She decided to humor his question, leaning back in her seat and not looking at him at all as she crossed her arms across her chest. "It's a pretty bad storm out there. Just hope that everyone's okay."

The boy with white and red hair nodded at that, turning to look out at the rain beating against the window himself, as everyone else in the class murmured a bit. He frowned as he tapped his pencil against his notebook.

"Yeah," Shouto Todoroki nodded, narrowing his eyes somewhat, "I imagine they'll be fine."


"The number you have dialed is not in service at the moment, or has been temporarily disconnected. Please try again at a later -"

BEEP

With a short sigh, All Might pressed the option to end the call on his phone, putting it back down beside him where he was sitting on the couch, and let out another small sigh as he looked back out the window of the Nap Room, furrowing his brow. They'd gotten word from the automated system just a few moments ago that the bus to the USJ had arrived safely with Class 1A, and All Might had wanted to give them a call to confirm that he would be able to come for the end of the lesson when he had regained some of his strength, but he had been unable to reach either Thirteen or Aizawa. The sudden storm raging outside might have something to do with it, he thought to himself as he looked back out the window - he had no idea where it had come from, only that it looked like UA had just come under attack from a typhoon.

Frowning, All Might leaned back against the couch, cursing himself mentally. Honestly, he had no one to blame for his current predicament but himself - he had overexerted himself this morning on his commute to the school, initially picking up something for Izuku from the post office (Melissa had texted him last night that she had forgotten something in the Full Gauntlet package, and he had volunteered to pick it up so he could deliver it to the young man), and then he ended up stopping a hostage situation and saving the family kept under the arm of the giant villain. And then went to stop a hit-and-run. And then trying to stop someone from barricading themselves in a home. And then another car accident. And eventually he had realized that he had been running late for work, arriving at the school just in time to poof out of his true form in exhaustion, and needing time to recover in the Nap Room.

So that was just great. A great start to his third day in his new job, not being able to teach his second class with 1A, especially in light of the suspected break in yesterday. Aizawa was going to have his hide for this.

Still though, he couldn't quite concentrate on that at the moment, he shook his head as he stood back up from the couch, looking out the window as another flash of bright light made him wince. At the moment, he didn't feel very different or strange, and this morning felt just as strong as always, but Itsuka's text message to him the day before confirmed that she had felt the tingle, and that meant only one thing - One for All had been successfully passed along to her, and All Might would now gradually get slower, his hits would have less impact, and soon One for All would fully leave him.

And after that, he wouldn't be able to do any more hero work.

He wanted to say that he would be proud to continue mentoring Itsuka, to assist her in continuing his legacy … but if he were to be honest, his heart panged at the thought of no longer being able to run around and save those who needed to be saved. After he had saved Izuku from the sludge villain a year ago, he knew that the time he got to spend in his true form was gradually shortening by the day. Another large effort like that may cut his already small amount of time being able to stay in his true form in half. He knew that it was inevitable, that soon he would have no choice but to step down as the Symbol of Peace.

But … he would miss it. He would miss being a hero.

But that was a bridge he would have to cross later, All Might chided himself mentally as he shook his head. Right now, he was neglecting his teaching duties because of this morning's foolishness, but no more! He needed to head out to see Itsuka and Izuku and Ochako train! And the nest of the class, of course. That, and the fact that when he had called to check in on them, he hadn't even gotten to voicemail - he just couldn't connect to the call at all.

Filling his chest fill up with determination, All Might prepared to swell up to his true form, ignoring that he really only had ten minutes left today to do so - and then the phone in his hand suddenly began vibrating. Blinking, and pausing his transformation, he quickly looked down, expecting Thirteen or Aizawa to be calling him back right now - 

- and then he stared in surprise when he saw that the person calling him wasn't anyone on the campus at the moment. Instead, it was a name he didn't expect to see at all, feeling his eyes widen and his jaw drop slightly.

Mrs. Midoriya? His dark eyes widened ever more as the familiar name flashed on the screen, making him blink again. Why was she calling me now? Is something wrong?

Furrowing his brow slightly in worry, All Might took a deep breath, turning away from the window, and pressed the green button to answer the call, clearing his throat before raising the small device to his ear and trying to sound like he wasn't just about to overexert himself by buffing up to his true form.

"Er … hello? Mrs. Midoriya?"

"Oh! Mr. Yagi!" The pleasant voice of Izuku's mother filled his ear, making him smile a bit despite himself - it had been a while since they had seen each other, what with All Might no longer having to go to her home every weekend to give her a status report of her son's efforts on the beach, but he had missed speaking with Inko over the last two months while he had been busy with the Trigger investigation. "I'm sorry, I wasn't sure if you were going to pick up, I just had the thought that you were probably at work. So if you're busy I can -"

"Oh, no, it's quite alright," He chuckled, moving to sit back down on the couch, "I'm actually just resting at the moment, so I'm not too busy. But is something the matter? It's rather surprising to hear from you, especially in the middle of the day."

"Oh, well … Miwa and I had been talking yesterday," Inko explained, sounding equal parts embarrassed and relieved she wasn't interrupting something, "and we just realized that we haven't heard from you in quite a while. I know that you had your assignment at work ever since January started, but I had thought that I might as well give you a call just to make sure everything was alright. It's been a while since we've seen you, after all, Taiyo and Hakushu were also thinking of giving you a call eventually."

"Ah," All Might slowly nodded, feeling a bit guilty at the moment - of course his lack of communication while investigating the Trigger robbery would've caused a bit of concern for them, he would have to be foolish not to consider pretty much vanishing from their lives would be cause for concern for the three families, "well, I'm alright, Mrs. Midoriya - I've actually been very busy at work, I actually just returned from my - er - assignment a few days ago. But that's not an excuse for me not to have called to let you all know, I imagine that you all must've been worried when I didn't get back to you."

"Oh! Well, that's a relief to hear that you've been doing fine, Mr. Yagi. So you're back in Musutafu now?"

"I am! I was - uh - actually about to reach out to Young Izuku and his friends," All Might decided to bend the truth a little bit - he definitely was going to see Itsuka sometime this weekend, but for an entirely different purpose that he couldn't exactly tell her, "I saw from your text message a few weeks ago that they managed to successfully enroll at UA - I'm thinking of taking them out for lunch to have a very late celebration."

"Oh, that sounds absolutely lovely, Mr. Yagi, I'm sure Izuku would love to see you! Actually, speaking of … um … lunches - or - or dinners, in this case," Inko sounded embarrassed again, making All Might tilt his head somewhat in curiosity, "I was wondering if you'd - er, of course, if you had the time, that is - if you were interested in having a small together with us sometime. As in - as in with the Urarakas, the Kendous and myself. We've done a few dinners together, of course, so you - you don't have to feel obligated to come - but - er -" She coughed suddenly, "- it's a bit awkward being the fifth wheel all the time."

"Aaaah," All Might nodded, smiling a bit as he understood what she was asking - yes, when essentially going on a double-date between two couples, it would be awkward to be the odd woman out, "In - well, in that case, Mrs. Midoriya, I certainly wouldn't mind going out for dinner with everyone again! I must say, on my trip up north I missed having so many friendly people to eat with, so it would be my honor to go out with you all again. As long as the menu has options for my dietary needs, of course."

"Again, I do apologize for - well, for our first dinner out," Inko apologized again, sounding sheepish, "I didn't know about your injury before, and if I had known when we had you over for dinner, I wouldn't have tried to insist you eat a bit more."

"Well, Mrs. Midoriya, I can hardly blame you - I'm sure my doctor would agree with you that I need to gain a bit more weight."

"Er, ah … yes, of course. In - in any case, Mr. Yagi, I'll probably reach back out to you soon with an update hopefully soon! I'm sure Miwa and Tenohira would be more than happy to hear that you want to come with us next time."

"Yes," All Might grinned, leaning back against the couch as he heard her giggle in excitement over the line and feeling his smile widen a bit as well, "I'm sure that you would also appreciate me coming over so you don't have to be in the middle of their … er … 'rivalry'. Any progress on that, by the way?"

"No," Inko laughed, "my son's still oblivious, and the girls are obviously still coming to terms with it as well. Miwa and Tenohira are still competing, and Taiyo's now bet over ten thousand yen on who will make the first move on Izuku."

"Ha! And you're sure you don't want to throw your own hat in as well? I imagine that you'd probably know who your son would probably go for, hypothetically."

"Well, maybe I would know, but I'm not going to lie that if it's between Ochako and Itsuka, I'm not quite sure who my son's feeling that way for," Inko admitted, and All Might could practically see the soft smile on her face even when he couldn't see her, "if you asked me a year ago, I'd say Ochako without question, but I'm not going to pretend that Itsuka hasn't also found her way into my son's heart. But as long as my son is happy, I'm happy. I know that those two girls are both more than capable of making him feel special and loved, so I'm content with sitting back and letting those girls actually realize they're both in love with my son - we'll deal with the actual emotional fallout of that later." 

At that, she sniffled a bit over the line, making All Might smile at how easy it was to set off the tearworks for this family, before he heard her clear her throat and giggle again.

"W-well anyway, thank you so much for catching up with me, Mr. Yagi - I'm sure you'll need to get back to work soon."

"Ah, er - yes, I - I should probably get back to work," All Might quickly nodded, feeling a bit disappointed that the call was about to end, and quickly cleared his throat again, trying to get some of his professionalism back, "anyway, uh - yes, let me know when you all will want to go out for dinner, I'll make some time."

"E-excellent! In - in that case, I'll text you then. Have a good rest of your day, Mr. Yagi."

"And you as well, Mrs. Midoriya."

Smiling, All Might pressed the red button to end the call, letting out a small sigh as he leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling happily. It had been good to hear from Inko again, even if it was a bit about how dense her son was. And from the sound of things, going out for dinner with her and the other two families would be a great time as well. Going out with them as friends, of course - it wasn't like there was any kind of ulterior motive, All Might shook his head, it was just so she didn't feel awkward around the other two couples. Yes, that. Of course.


Inko hung up the phone, putting it back into her pocket as she leaned against the wall somewhat, giggling and smiling as she walked back into the kitchen, a rosey hue on her cheeks - and without even looking at Miwa, sitting at the table sipping on her coffee, she said, "Shut up."

"Mm-hm," Miwa smirked into her drink.


Before All Might could continue that line of thought, however, he heard the door to the Nap Room begin to slide open, and quickly looked around, smiling at the person standing in the entrance.

"Ah! Young Tenko, did you finish your meeting with Nezu?"

"Yeah," Tenko sighed as he walked into the room, picking up the coffee maker from the counter to walk to the table and make himself some tea, looking more exhausted than when he looked after a late night of gaming (some of which either Hana or All Might himself pretty much had to drag him to bed to get him some rest), "it was, uh - well, the principal went off on one of his tangents, I couldn't really get away from it until now, that's why I'm a bit late. Still, it's kinda a shame, I wanted to meet with one of the first year groups on their first day at the USJ. But … well, we couldn't really reschedule my checkup, so I guess I'll have to meet with them next week."

As Tenko fetched a few cups from the closet to pour for himself and the man sitting on the couch, All Might heard the door slide open again, and quickly looked around to see Nezu standing in the doorway, humming as he stepped through and closed the door behind him.

"Awful weather, isn't it, All Might?" The principal hummed as he shut the door behind him, "I was just speaking to Recovery Girl over the phone on my way here - apparently she had to stop Toga from attempting to head back to her room for one of her humorous outfits, it was raining that hard. I believe that if this weather doesn't go away soon, we may have to ask you to directly interfere."

"Good afternoon, Principal Nezu, sir! Your fur is well-groomed today, as usual."

"The secret is keratin!" Nezu told him informatively as he walked into the room, "but humans can't achieve this level of luster and color. But of course, we can talk about hair products for ourselves later. I was looking through some of the news reports before my meeting with Tenko," He reached into his pocket to pull out his tablet, tapping in a few commands before flipping it around and showing All Might what he had pulled up, "and would you have a look at this! Seven separate incidents, solved within one hour this morning! An amazing record for you, All Might - you haven't lost your step too much."

"Gerk." All Might winced, looking down at the various reports on the device and getting himself ready for a lecture as Nezu sighed and put the tablet away.

"I do acknowledge that the fault mainly lies with the ruffians and criminals that still cause trouble in our city even while knowing that you are living here now," He gave All Might a little break as he turned towards the couch that the pro hero had been sitting on, moving to sit beside him, "but you should know by now how to restrain yourself every time you hear about a slight incident in the city. You really haven't changed over the years, have you?"

All Might hummed in acknowledgement, at least having the decency to look sheepish as Tenko returned to the table, carrying the stool with four fingers as well as he put down the tea for them and glancing outside at the horrible thunderstorm continuing to rumble.

"Your hero activities, while still impressive, have become even more limited because of your injury and its aftereffects," Nezu continued to lecture as he hopped up onto the couch, "and not only that, you now have a responsibility as a teacher as well as being the Number One Hero. You'll need to learn how to properly hold yourself back, so that you can actually attend class to teach your students. You'll have to remember, All Might, that you are not the only hero in this city, and there are others that can pick up the slack. I'm fine with you insisting on remaining the Symbol of Peace as well as a teacher, but you'll need to learn how to maintain your muscle form now that you'll need to maintain it for specific amounts of time."

"Yes, sir," All Might mumbled, considering himself told off, and accepted a cup of tea from Tenko as the young man and the ... principal, whatever species he identified himself as, sat down with him.

"In any case, I believe the right move at the moment, All Might, is for you to stay here and relax for a bit longer. I know that you're down to very little time today due to your activities this morning, so we might need you to use your remaining time today to clear away this storm so the students can go home," Nezu looked out the window, his tail hitting the couch seat behind him as he stared out at the rain, "I'm very surprised at how suddenly this weather came out of nowhere - especially when the weatherman said it was supposed to be sunny."

"Yeah," Tenko frowned, looking around out the window himself as he stared at the rain beating at the window, "I wish I could be at home right now - Hana's legs usually ache when the weather's bad, I'm probably going to call her in a bit to make sure she's okay."

"Ah, yes. And how is your sister, Young Tenko?" All Might asked interestingly, "I believe the last time we spoke, she got arrangements to begin working from home, right?"

"Yeah, she's working out of her room right now - so now whenever I get home, I get to hear her being yelled at by angry customers. She's definitely got thicker skin than I do, I still feel like crying if one of the students gives me lip."

"Something for us to practice later, Tenko! How to handle criticism, even when it's from an overly emotional teenager."

"Well, in any case, Principal Nezu, if you insist I stay, I suppose I have to," All Might sighed, glancing around at the thunderstorm outside again with a frown, "once we're at the end of the day, I'll go out and punch the weather away so the students can head home. Hopefully after we get word from Aizawa and Thirteen that their class is over - I tried to reach out to them a bit earlier, but they might be busy at the moment with the students."


Lightning.

Rain.

Wind.

Storms.

Storms always calmed his heart.

With a low sigh, Nine looked back up at the glass ceiling of the facility they had just infiltrated, feeling himself relax a bit despite the sound of the villains shouting and crowing around him. It was a bit humorous, he thought to himself as he stared up at the dark sky, lightning flashing and rain hammering down against the windows. It was funny that they were currently attacking one of the most prestigious schools in Japan, openly declaring war on hero society itself - and yet, his heart was beating normally, and he didn't feel any nervous shake, other than the feeling of his quirk working overtime in his body. Nothing to indicate that he was afraid or nervous at the moment.

It made him smile, slowly folding his hands together as he closed his eyes and simply enjoyed the sound of the beautiful storm that he had created.

"Alright, I confirmed it with Tesla, everyone is in position," Mummy said from his spot near the back of the group, looking around at the small army of villains that had finally finished moving out of the portal, "and from what they're saying over our communications, we've got the rest of the villains waiting in the various areas around the USJ."

"And he's blockin' out the other communications to the school?" Chimera folded his arms as he glared up at the students at the top of the stairs. "They figure out what we're doin', it might take 'em a while to get through this storm, but they'll disable the grunts before we get started."

"He's confirmed that the communication to the school has been blocked. We're the only ones able to communicate amongst ourselves. And once he's taken our gift, we won't worry about communications at all."

"Good," Nine nodded, looking back at the army of villains that they brought, all of them sniggering and looking up at where the terrified children were, "then all we need to do now is separate them into groups. Kurogiri?"

"I cannot activate my quirk," The warp villain narrowed his eyes slightly, looking down at the dark mist emulating from his body, "it appears that it has been disabled. It's possible that there's someone among their group capable of erasing quirks that is interfering."

"Your quirk is disabled?" Nine raised an eyebrow under his hood, looking around at their mysterious collaborator, "Fascinating. We'll have to find out who up there has a quirk like that and have a look at them. In the meanwhile," He turned to the towering monster with the exposed brain, seeing it staring blankly up at the students with that permanent grin on its beak, "Nomu, you're to stay here with me. Don't attack the students - I want you in pristine condition for when All Might arrives. I want no surprises when he turns up."

"And what about him?" Slice looked over at the other hooded man, seeing him staring up at the students as well, the darkness of the facility hiding his face in shadows.

"You," He made it clear to the hooded man that he was speaking with him, "are to stay here as well. I know that you'd rather soak in their blood, but I want you ready in case any of them are strong enough to sneak past the others and try to attack me. Understood?"

"..."

"Am I understood?"

"... yeeeesh," He slowly nodded, his slurred voice quiet.

"Good. Don't worry - if a student up there somehow gets past our little traps and to me, it means that they're strong enough to go a few rounds with you. You'll get your blood one way or another. Now then," Nine returned his gaze to the top of the stairs, and then he called to the other villains clearly waiting to get started, "all of you, head up the stairs and bring them down here. I'd like to try to make this as painless as possible, but if they resist, don't be afraid to rough them up."

"I suppose these are the scumbags that helped the reporters get into the school yesterday," Aizawa narrowed his eyes behind his goggles, shoulders tense as he glared down at the six apparent ringleaders of the group as the small army of villains began to advance towards the stairs.

"Aizawa-sensei, what do we do?" Setsuna quickly looked over at their teacher, her usual snarkiness and confidence long gone as she glanced fearfully between Aizawa and the villains slowly approaching the stairs. "How did the villains get into the school? Wouldn't we have defenses against a warp quirk?"

"What about the trespasser sensors?" Momo stepped forward as well, putting her hand on her fellow recommended student's shoulder to try and soothe her, "Wouldn't they have gone off if something like this were to happen?"

"Normally they would," Thirteen gave her, her light and happy tone of voice gone as she turned back to speak to the students, "but it's possible that this may be condensed here. The trespasser sensors would have gone off if they had come in through the school gate, but it's possible that there is someone among them with a quirk that can block our communications. They may just be here, or all around the school as well."

"Makes sense," Aizawa didn't look away from the villains below as he tugged on his capture weapon wrapped around his neck, "an isolated area mostly separated from the main campus during a time when the class is supposed to be here. These people aren't idiots - this isn't some villain group doing something bold, this is a coordinated attack. And I'll be that the weather outside is due to them too - someone in the group with a weather manipulation quirk, keeping the rest of the teachers from reaching here safely."

"Then - then what do we do?" Itsuka looked around at her teacher, still holding onto Izuku and Ochako's arms to assure them and watching as Aizawa took a step forward, "If we can't leave because of the hurricane outside, then we'll be stuck here with them. Do we fight back?"

"Let's," Katsuki cracked his knuckles, grinning ferally down at the slowly advancing army, "I've been looking for an opportunity to show you extras how it's done."

"No," Aizawa sharply said, shaking his head, "even if these villains are regular thugs, you're all inexperienced when it comes to direct combat with someone trying to kill you. Don't engage the villains if you can. Thirteen, start the evacuation. Get the kids outside on the bus, and try calling the school. If these villains have something to counteract the sensors, it's possible that someone with radio-wave-type powers is interfering. Kendou," He looked around at the orange-haired girl, seeing her straighten up, "you're the class rep, so assist Thirteen with getting everyone out of here."

"Y-yes sir," Itsuka quickly nodded, glancing around at her fellow students as Aizawa continued to give last-minute instructions. She could tell that Pony was definitely afraid, taking a nervous step back, as was Eijirou and Reiko, both of them taking slow, deep breaths to try and calm themselves. Yui still looked as stoic as ever, but she could tell that she was shaking; Nejire was oddly quiet, staring down at the villains with a pout on her face; and from beside her, Izuku and Ochako were also studying the villains, Ochako clearly afraid and Izuku on his guard, sweat beginning to drip down his forehead.

Feeling a small surge of protection surge through her, Itsuka took a deep breath and squeezed Izuku and Ochako's arms, getting their attention as they looked around to her, seeing her give them both an assuring glance.

"Stay by me," She muttered, "we're getting out of here together."

Izuku and Ochako hesitated, glancing between each other once - and then they both nodded, Izuku giving her a shaky grin and Ochako reaching up to squeeze her waist somewhat.

"... and Kaminari," Aizawa finished his instructions, looking around at the blonde boy, "you try contacting the school with your quirk as well, once you're outside on the bus."

"Y-yes, sir."

"Sensei, what about you?" Izuku stepped forward, glancing down at the villains as they reached the bottom of the stairs and then back up to Aizawa. "Are you - are you going to fight them all by yourself? There's way too many of them - even if you can nullify their quirks with yours, your fighting style isn't suited for a frontal assault. Your power works better in stealth and one-on-one fights -"

"Midoriya," Aizawa cut in, but unlike the tranquil anger from before, there was a surprising softness in his voice as he looked back around at his terrified students, "you can't be a pro if you only have one trick. I'm leaving them to you, Thirteen - get going."

And with a grunt, Aizawa leapt from his spot at the top of the stairs, the students quickly running forward to watch his gray scarf blowing behind him, as the moment he landed on the staircase gracefully he took off in a sprint straight towards the approaching villains, seeing them pause in surprise as he charged them.

"Firing squad!" Chimera barked from his spot near the fountain, and several people hurried forward to the front of the stairs, each of them with quirks similar to firearms emulating through their hair, fingertips or masks.

"Who's that?" The lone woman in the squad sneered up at Aizawa, her hair forming into long barrels, "Didn't our intel say it would just be Thirteen and All Might? Who's the hobo?!"

"No idea!" The large man in the green jumpsuit shook his head, "But if he thinks he can just come at us like that -" The nuzzle of his mask suddenly lit up, and the woman's hair pointed straight at the approaching teacher as she sneered, and the man with the finger-barrels cackled, "- then he's an idiot!"

Before any of them could fire at the teacher, however, they found the barrels of their gun quirks suddenly stalling, making them balk; the man with gun fingers waved his hands in confusion, the woman's heavy metal hair fell unexpectedly, making her yelp in surprise, and the large man in the green jumpsuit stared down at his hands in surprise - but before any of them could realize what had happened, they found themselves suddenly wrapped up in gray cloth.

With a grunt, Aizawa yanked them up into the air as he leapt off the last few stairs, making the trio of gun yielding villains scream in confusion and terror as they were flipped into a small circle, and with another grunt of exertion, the pro hero brought the two lines of his cloth together, yanking the three villains over and slamming them into each other. With groans of pain, they were sent flying, landing on the ground in heaps and clutching their heads as Aizawa landed on the ground, glaring up at the other villains.

Several of the criminals balked at the surprising show of force from this stranger, and how their compatriots' quirks had randomly disappeared - but Nine seemed undeterred, studying the man in black as his red eyes suddenly flickered from yellow and then back to red, and slowly nodded, smiling under his hood.

"Ah," He drawled as Aizawa straightened up, his long dark hair floating above his head, "I believe I see now. The ability to erase quirks just by looking at them … I believe that would make you Eraserhead, wouldn't it? I've heard of you … I believe you're an underground hero, aren't you? Odd to find you at a school of all places."

"Erase?!" One villain growled, clenching his four fists and charging at the teacher, "That's not gonna do jackshit against heteromorphic-types like mine!"

"No, it won't," Aizawa agreed, ducking under the fist being thrown at his face, and then threw his own fist forward, driving it into the attacker's face. As the villain's head was thrown back, his nose probably reduced to a pulp under the black mask with yellow lines, Aizawa was quick to shoot out another piece of his scarf as he was sent flying, wrapping it around the villain's leg.

"But how obviously inept you are at fighting just means I'll just handle you the normal way."

With a grunt, Aizawa yanked back with the cloth, eyes narrowing behind his goggles, and threw the villain straight at Nine, wanting to take the ringleader by surprise. The hooded man merely raised an eyebrow as the villain was sent flying towards him, but Chimera was quick to jump in the way, snarling as he grabbed the flying villain and roughly threw him away from their leader.

The other villains, meanwhile, were looking more and more nervous by the moment, glancing fearfully between each other and taking nervous gasps as they reached for their pockets, grabbing for something -

"Don't!" Nine shouted, raising his voice properly for the first time, and the villains in the surrounding area froze as they looked around at him in fear, seeing his glowing red eyes narrowing behind the hood. 

"Not yet. You don't need to turn to my gift just yet. Look at your opponent. Eraserhead is strong in hand-to-hand combat, so you'll need to watch his face to know how he works. He's hiding his eyes with the goggles so you can't tell whose quirk he's erasing. A good strategy against those who don't know how he operates."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the apparent leader of these villains before quickly glancing back around, not wanting any surprises. Apparently, this guy knew more about him than he expected, which was a major disadvantage for Aizawa - he wanted to go into this with the element of surprise. Still, he couldn't quite counteract him, seeing as another villain leapt at him with her pigtails turning into sharp drills, requiring him to duck under her attack and swiftly kick her in under the chin, jerking her head back and causing her to collapse with a grunt of pain.

"Such a shame," Slice sighed, shaking her head with a small pout as she leaned against Nine, "I thought we might've picked up a few good ones, but they're getting beat down by fists and kicks. Really shows the difference between quality versus quantity, doesn't it? I imagine me or Chimera could probably finish this up quickly."

"Don't," Nine shook his head at the woman, "I imagine that you could probably hold your own against him, but if he erases your quirk it might put you at disadvantage. And Chimera already has a job to do, he doesn't need to get distracted."

"Hm. And what about you?" She turned to the other hooded man, seeing him watch the fight. "Interested in jumping in and finishing up?"

"Nuh-no," He shook his head, his deep, gravely voice sounding disappointed, "not … n-not s-strong enough."

"Such a shame," She repeated dully.

"Keep behind him," Nine continued to instruct the other villains, moving back to the fountain with his second in command as he observed the fight, "and once his back is turned to you, attack. In the meanwhile … Kurogiri."

"Understood, Nine."

The mist villain quietly studied Aizawa, waiting until his back was briefly turned - and then he acted, feeling his quirk return to him in that brief moment. Portals opened behind Chimera and Mummy, both of them smirking as they took the moment while Aizawa was distracted to get to the next part of their plan, stepping backwards and vanishing through the portals. Once they were gone, Kurogiri likewise vanished, leaving Nine, Slice, Nomu and the hooded man behind in the foyer.

"Damn it!" Aizawa cursed himself, eyes flickering back to where the ringleaders were and saw that three of the six had vanished. He had gotten distracted by the fight, and the three villains who looked like they would be trouble had gotten away.

Up at the top of the stairs, Izuku stared down in growing wonder as his teacher continued fighting against the massive horde of villains, watching as Aizawa ducked underneath their attacks and began working his way towards the leader of the group. Despite the sound of Itsuka ushering their classmates towards the door, he couldn't help but stand back and admire the fight a little bit.

From the looks of things, Aizawa's fighting style was completely different from All Might's but he was still able to hold his own against so many people. But unlike All Might, he knew that eventually, Aizawa would get outnumbered - he lacked All Might's overwhelming strength, and eventually fighting so many people at once was going to exhaust him. And if he got tired, surrounded by so many villains -

"Deku, stop watching the fight and let's go!"

Izuku yelped as someone grabbed and yanked on his wrist, almost tripping him backwards as he was roughly pulled out of his thoughts. He quickly looked around in shock at Ochako looking back at him as she pulled him along, looking equal parts terrified and exasperated at him as Itsuka and Nejire ran alongside them.

"There's a time and a place for you to analyze fights, Midoriya," Itsuka growled a bit, grabbing his other arm to help Ochako pull him over to where their class was running towards the door, "and it's not now! We need to go!"

"Yeah!" Nejire quickly agreed, assisting the two girls by pushing Izuku from behind, "we need to get out of here! You can do the cute thing where you talk really fast, really quietly, later! Let's go!"

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that."

As the students ran as fast as they could for the door, Thirteen leading them at the front, a sudden blast of black mist shot out of the ground. Everyone in the class gasped as they skidded to a stop, staring up in shock and terror as a large pillar of black energy stood in front of them, bright yellow eyes flickering at the top as the villain looked around at the terrified students.

"A pleasure to make your acquaintances," The towering mass of darkness bowed briefly in respect, his back barely bending forward, "we are the Villain Consortium. An organization meant to gather villains to work as a … I believe Nine said that we were meant to work as though we villains are parts of an interconnecting network. I feel that is appropriate, given our alliance today. Forgive me if it is presumptuous, but we have invited ourselves to your school, the home of heroes, in order to turn All Might, the Symbol of Peace, into a martyr for our cause."

Both Izuku and Itsuka tensed, glaring up at the villain, while Ochako attempted to steel herself while grabbing Izuku's hand to try and calm him down, and Nejire gulped nervously.

"I do believe that according to the schedule, he should have been here," Kurogiri continued to monologue, his narrow glowing eyes looking around at the group of shaking and terrified children, unaware of Thirteen subtly hiding her hand behind her back to subtly unclasp one of the tips of her fingers as he began to spread his arms, "has there been a change? Ah, well, in any case, it doesn't matter."

As he somehow narrowed his eyes even more, Thirteen quickly threw her hand upwards towards the villain, ready to activate her quirk - and then her eyes widened as two of the students behind her rushed forwards, sprinting straight towards Kurogiri as he briefly stopped whatever he was about to do to watch curiously.

"Both of you, stop!" She cried, but it was too late to stop Katsuki and Eijirou from attacking the villain. Quickly, Katsuki threw out his hand just as Eijirou threw out a punch, and a large explosion rocked Kurogiri back, making the gasp and cover their eyes as a large smoke cloud covered the group, stinging their eyes.

"Heh," Katsuki smirked, landing back on the floor, "That was too easy."

"I bet you didn't expect that!" Eijirou also looked proud of himself, his quirk briefly deactivating, "You probably didn't expect to be beaten by us before -"

"My, my, that was dangerous."

Both hot-blooded teenagers tensed in surprise, Katsuki narrowing his eyes and Eijirou's eyes widening, as the black mist reformed, blowing away the smoke of Katsuki's quirk. They briefly caught a glimpse of a metal brace above a vest and tie from somewhere within the smoke before it quickly covered itself, and Kurogiri was quick to reform, a menacing chuckle escaping his lips.

"That's right," He mused to himself, "even if you are nothing more than students, there may be a few golden eggs amongst you. I must be a tad more careful while moving you all around - I believe Nine would be interested if your quirks are strong enough to gain his attention … but alas, I still have a responsibility."

"Both of you, get back!" Thirteen shouted, but was powerless to do anything with Katsuki and Eijirou still in the way as Kurogiri spread several large tendrils of black mist backwards.

"Consider this your new test for today, students," he sneered, "I shall scatter you all to be tortured and slain by our comrades."

The blast of black and purple mist exploded outwards over the class, and the tendrils were quick to slam down upon them. Several students yelled out and covered their faces to block the smoke - but Tenya acted faster, feeling his engines roar to life as he moved. As quickly as he could, he grabbed the nearest person to him, hearing a yelp of surprise as he wrapped them up protectively in his arms and raced out of the way of the blast of smoke. It seemed that Mezo had the same idea, gathering up his two nearest classmates in his six arms and leaping out of the darkness, rolling on the ground briefly and grunting as he collided with the railing.

Gasping as she hit the ground, Setsuna was quick to hop out of Tenya's protective embrace, and quickly whipped her head around to look at the swirling mass of darkness with widened eyes and a dropped jaw, realizing that her friends were still inside that thing. On the other side of the darkness, Mezo, Hanta and Mina also looked around fearfully as the sounds of their classmates shouting in panic made their hearts feel like they were attempting to crawl up their throats, Setsuna shaking as the villain's quirk briefly turned into a small dome, separating all the students still trapped in the darkness.

"Ken! Yui! Guys!"

Within the shadow of Kurogiri's quirk, Izuku grunted, feeling his hand be ripped from Ochako's grasp as he was pushed back by an invisible force. He hard Itsuka yelp in panic and Nejire groaning, and he tried to look back at them, unable to see anything through the black mist as he took one step back - 

- and felt nothing, letting out a gasp as he suddenly lost his balance and began to fall backwards. There was a part of him that thought that he had been pushed back far enough to the stairs, about to trip down them and be sent crashing down the steps towards the fight happening below, and yet, the pain of hitting the ground never came.

Instead … he felt a sudden heat hit his back.

Izuku felt confused, feeling a somewhat familiar sensation as his other foot slipped out from beneath him and he felt himself begin to fall. Wait … fall? He was - he was falling?! He felt himself cry out in panic as he began to plummet, remembering what it was like back at the entrance exam, falling to his death with Nejire wrapped around his waist - 

- but then he realized that something felt off. Everything around him, from the air to the sweat on his skin, felt … hotter. As though he had just stepped into a furnace.

Izuku stared blankly up as the black mist that had enveloped him suddenly vanished, replacing his vision with nothing but gray smoke - and then he realized what exactly had happened. If this guy had some kind of teleportation quirk, and had enveloped Izuku with that mist … that must have meant that he had been teleported. And the feeling of something hot on his back, and seemingly getting hotter by the minute - and then it came to him.

Whipping his head around to look behind his shoulder, Izuku let out a shout of fear and surprise as he fell towards a building clearly on fire, hot licks of flames blasting out as he plummeted towards it. With a yelp, Izuku twisted in the air, eyes widening despite the smoke hitting them as he realized he didn't have any time to get himself out of the way, and he was about to probably slam into that building and into the flames - 

- and then he felt two small objects stab through his costume, yanking him out of his small plummet and sending him flying off to the side, much to his surprise. Looking down, he blinked at the sight of a pair of familiar horns stabbing through the sides of his costume.

"Midoriya-san!"

"Hang on, dude!"

Quickly looking around, Izuku saw an odd shape emerging out of the smoke, a bit confused at first at what exactly was calling out to him and why it sounded familiar - and then Pony burst out of the smoke, her large, doe-like eyes squinting through the dark fumes as she reached out for him. Attached to her back, swearing up a storm and clenching his eyes tightly together, was Yosetsu, attached securely to her back as he rested one of his hands against her back - probably using his quirk to make sure he didn't slip off - and before Izuku could say anything, Pony slammed into him, carrying him in a bridal position as she began to plummet towards the ground.

"Too much weight," She groaned, looking around for a safe spot to land, "this is probably going to be a rough landing, guys!"

"I don't care, as long as we get down on the fuckin' ground!" Yosetsu yelled, keeping his face in her hair as they continued to plummet. Managing to finally get his thoughts together, and not feeling flustered at all in Pony's embrace, Izuku also quickly began looking around, shaking a bit from the nerves of almost dying - and then he spotted a small rooftop, smoke rising off it but clear of any holes they would fall into.

"Tsunotori!" He quickly pointed. "There!"

Nodding, Pony bit her lip as she concentrated, aiming her body as best she could towards the building Izuku pointed out to her. For a moment Izuku feared that they were going to shoot over it, or too little and slam into the wall and slide down to the ground, but thankfully Pony managed to aim herself just right, tripping over her hooves as they fell onto the rooftop, Izuku yelping as he was sent rolling away out of Pony's arms and the horse girl groaning as she landed on the roof with Yosetsu on top of her.

"Damn," The boy in the bandana groaned, managing to sit up slightly, "I fuckin' hate heights. You guys okay -?"

"Get off me, ya butthole!" Pony grunted, English in full force as she slammed her fists on the ground, and Yosetsu yelped as he realized that he was still laying on top of her, pretty much crushing her with his weight. Quickly, he undid his quirk, unwelding his arm from her back, and rolled off her, looking concerned as Izuku managed to sit up, rubbing his arm where he had landed on it.

"Oh, shit, you alright, Tsunotori? Sorry, I didn't even realize that I - I landed on you."

"Other than maybe a cracked rib, I'm good," Pony sat up, rubbing her forehead and coughing as smoke continued to rise into the air, looking around while clearly nervous, "and maybe a little bumped forehead, but it's good. Where are we?"

"I don't know," Izuku got up on shaky feet, walking over to his classmates as he glanced around, and together, he and Yosetsu helped Pony to her feet - or hooves, more specifically. As she rubbed her forehead, Izuku tried to take a better around, feeling his heart hammering in his chest as he studied his surroundings. From what he could see, the entire city was on fire, with flames burning brightly and relentlessly, smoke floating into the air and fanning out as - 

- wait. Fanning out?

Izuku looked up at the sky, feeling his brow crinkle in confusion. The smoke wasn't rising into the sky, it looked more like it was hitting something invisible and slowly blowing out, almost as though - wait.

Wait, of course!

"I think we're still in the USJ," Izuku said out loud, drawing Yosetsu and Pony's attention as the two of them looked around at him. "Look, the smoke isn't rising into the sky, it's - it's fanning out, like it's hitting something."

"Wait a sec," Yosetsu realized, catching on and hurrying over to stand beside Izuku, "there was one area in the USJ - that one with the flame patterns. Does that mean -?"

"Yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, "that warp villain sent us in here. We're still in the USJ - he just separated us."

"So that means that everyone might still be here!" Pony gasped, hurrying forward to join them near the edge of the rooftop, Yosetsu gulping as he realized he was standing too close and taking a cautious step back. "If we're still here, everyone else might be too!"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded slowly, tugging at his lip as he thought. If Pony was correct, then Ochako and Itsuka would still be okay, just spread out across the facility. He felt his heart hammer in worry for them, before quickly shaking his head - they would be alright. They were both strong, so they'd be okay.

They'll be okay.

Right now, he had to worry about himself, Pony and Yosetsu, and how they were going to get out of there. They needed to scout around and find the exit, so they could leave and -

"They landed over there! I see them!"

All three teenagers yelped at the sound of a rough voice shouting from below, and quickly looked around, their eyes squinting in the smoke rising from the area. They could make out several figures walking on the roads towards them, looking unfamiliar - but it wasn't hard for Izuku, Pony and Yosetsu to figure out who they were.

Villains. Like the students, they had been spread out throughout the facility as well. In the lead, staring up at them, a man in red bandages was leading the pack, seemingly unperturbed by the smoke as his eyes locked on the three students on the rooftop.

"Ah, so only three students," Mummy nodded, smirking beneath the bandages covering his mouth, "this will be interesting."


On the other side of the USJ, Ochako let out a grunt as she fell back-first through the dark mist, and let out a loud gasp of pain as her back met solid rock. All the air in her lungs escaped with that gasp, eyes widening slightly as she bounced off the stone floor - but luckily for her, whoever fell through the warp gate after her seemed more focused, as she managed to land on her side with a grunt, looking up as Ochako bounced in the air, and threw out her hand.

"I've got you!"

Ochako felt relieved that her second landing was a bit softer than her initial one, falling into something a bit firmer but less painful on her back. It took her a moment to realize that she had landed in a giant hand, and looked around to see Itsuka hastily getting up, putting Ochako on the ground as she reshrunk her hand and turned her back over, looking a bit panicked.

"Uraraka, are you okay?! Can you breathe?!"

"I'm fine," Ochako wheezed, coughing and accepting her help sitting up, "just - rough landing. Ow."

Brow crinkled in worry, Itsuka was quick to help her friend back up to her feet, both of them grunting slightly as Ochako stumbled on her feet before managing to regain her balance. Quickly, they both looked around at their surroundings - from what they could see, they were in some kind of mountain terrain, both of them quickly looking up at the sky and relieved when they saw the ran slamming against the window of the USJ and lightning flashing briefly across the sky, signifying to them that they were still in the facility, and the villain hadn't sent them halfway across Japan. Without the power on, it was harder to see their surroundings, with only the occasional flash of lightning above them illuminating the landscape.

"We're still at the USJ," Itsuka quickly made note, looking around suspiciously at the darkness as the two girls stayed close to each other, "I think this is the mountain zone - either that or that landslide zone."

"I think it's the mountain zone," Ochako slowly nodded in agreement, glancing around as well, "so if we're still at the USJ, that means everyone else might be too - we were all just spread around a bit."

"Exactly. So we should get out of here as quickly as we can, and get back to the entrance. Let's try to -"

"Kendou! Uraraka!"

Both girls jumped at the sound of someone calling their names, and quickly looked around. Thankfully, it had been a familiar voice calling for them, and from over the side of the nearest mountain to them came Momo and Kyouka, the taller girl holding a flashlight so they could better see, and quickly running over to them, Kyouka looking around suspiciously as she held her earphones up into the air.

"Oh, thank goodness," Momo sighed in relief as they made it over to the other two girls, Itsuka reaching out and patting her shoulder in comfort, "Jirou and I arrived somewhat over there, we heard you both talking."

"It's good to see you guys," Itsuka smiled at her deputy representative, and then looked around at Kyouka, "Uraraka and I were just about to try and get out of here - we're thinking that we can make it back to the entrance, so we can see if there's anyone still there after that bastard blasted us through the portal. Jirou -?"

"Quiet for a second," Kyouka requested, and knelt down on the ground. The three girls watched as she stuck her earphones into the ground, taking a moment to listen carefully as she raised her hand to her ear - and then her eyes narrowed.

"We're not alone. I can hear a lot of feet moving around."

"Oh, great," Ochako sighed, looking around and balling her fists, "just what we need, more villains spread around the facility. In the dark. We need to get out of here and find everyone else - should I float us all up?"

"Yes," Momo quickly nodded, deciding not to risk it and beginning to grow weapons out of her body, unzipping her front and beginning to grow a metal pole to give to Kyouka, "I think the correct course of action will be to -"

"Yaoyorozu!"

Momo jumped a bit in surprise at Itsuka's sudden shout of her name, and looked around as the orange-haired girl quickly ran at her - and then she noticed a strange light coming from behind her, illuminating the area, and looked around to see a wall of fire being blasted straight at -

FOOOM

"Ah!"

Just before the blast of fire could envelop her, Itsuka tackled Momo out of the way, both girls letting out cries of pain as they slammed into the hard stone ground to avoid the flames. Ochako and Kyouka were similarly quick to get out of the way, Ochako rolling to the side and Kyouka jumping to the side, hissing slightly at the intensity of the flames even as she moved away from it. Once the flames had bounced off the wall and evaporated, the four girls were quick to jump back to their feet, Momo growing out a staff from her stomach and Itsuka using her quirk to grow out her hands, to look around at the tall man walking towards them out of the shadows.

"Well, I'm impressed," Chimera smirked, grabbing another cigar from his pocket as he tossed the used one in his mouth off to the side, several villains quickly moving around him to surround the students, "usually my flame breath's fast enough to catch anyone not noticing off guard - nice job, girlie, with keepin' your eyes open."

Itsuka merely glared at the villain as the villains continued to surround them, the four girls moving into a small circle as several villains with weapons, sharpened arms and smirks moved around to pin the students against the mountain wall, while Chimera used his fire breath to light up his cigar.

"Now then," He smirked, puffing out some smoke, "let's see what kind of fight you can put up, heroes."


The villains currently swimming around the shipwreck zone were ready.

They had been pleased when they had been sought out by the Villain Consortium, asked to join them in their crusade to kill All Might, and had been more than happy to be given the special gift to stand up to him. Given power by Nine that they were more than excited for to get into their system, so they could become gods. That was the promise of the Consortium - the power to become more than just street trash, more than the pirates they had been, being chased down by that damn seal and his crew.

And now they got to use this power for the first time to tear a couple of brats apart. They were ready to sink their teeth into the little children who were deluded to think that they could look down on them when they got out of high school, that they could treat them like trash.

What they didn't expect, however, was for the black portal to open above the lake, about to dump whatever poor kid into the water to get torn to shreds by the villains eagerly waiting for them to drop in - and instead, a girl with long, blue hair carefully carried her two classmates above the water, blinking down in confusion at the villains beneath her and straining to keep all three of them afloat with yellow spiralling energy leaving her feet.

"Hey! Hey, hey, hey!" She called down to them, a bit of sweat running down her forehead as she fought to stay floating in the air with all their weight, "You guys look really menacing! Like you! You look like a shark! Really cool goggles! And you! I like your little trident! Or wait, that's not a trident, is it? Tridents got three pointy thingies - what is that, Asui? Do you know what it might be? Oooh, but that guy has cool ears, too, they look like fins!"

"That would be a harpoon, Hadou," Tsuyu said from where she was dangling in the air, carefully holding onto Nejire and wrapping her tongue around Yui's waist just in case Nejire accidentally dropped her, "and be careful, he might throw it at us, and we can't really move fast right now. Anyway, I don't think we want to go over on the boat, they might put a hole in it and sink it, I know that I have a good enough quirk to last pretty long in the water, but neither of you do, kero."

"Mm," Yui nodded in agreement, looking around and then using her hand not being held onto by Nejire to point up to the top of the large structure, "take us up to the slide, if you can - it'll give us a bird's eye view."

"Sure thing! Hold on!"

With that, Nejire slowly began flying up into the air, all three girls moving away from the water and ignoring the sounds of the villains shouting and cursing at them as they flew away, a harpoon being thrown at them, completely missing, and then falling back down to impale another villain in the shoulder. Finally, once they reached the top of the large slide of the flood zone, Nejire let out a sigh of relief as she put the two girls down, and landed beside them carefully on the top support of the slide, gushing over how cool it was and briefly wondering if she could slide down it for fun once they weren't going to die.

"Careful, Kodai," Tsuyu croaked as she kept her balance, and left her tongue wrapped around Yui's waist, "you're the only one here that might not recover if you fall into the water from this height, kero. I'll keep my tongue wrapped around you just to be safe."

"Kinky."

"If you say so, kero."

"Hey, hey, do you guys think we can use this for recreation when we're not dying? Can we, can we? Wait, there's ice in there, I might get hurt if I - darn it!" Nejire snapped her fingers in frustration, looking at the other two girls with a pout.

"We can worry about going down the slide later, kero," Tsuyu turned back towards the dark USJ, trying as hard as she could to have a look around. From what they could barely make out, there were still people moving around at the top of the entrance, which must have meant that there had been some people that managed to escape the initial portal over to the flood zone, and if they looked around to the bottom of the stairs, they could also make out Aizawa still fighting with the other villains there. 

Other than that, though, they couldn't see their other classmates at all, which worried all three girls at the top of the structure.

"Hadou," Yui looked around at the curious girl, seeing her peeking over the side towards where the villains were swimming towards them furiously, "I think you should head over and help out Thirteen, if she's still at the entrance. If we can handle that weird warp guy, we shouldn't have any more trouble getting out of here."

"Sure thing!" Nejire saluted her with a big smile, and then blinked as something came to her. "Wait, is that by myself, or should I bring you guys with me? I can bring you too if you want, but holding up so much weight is really hard, and the entrance looks really far away, so I might accidentally drop you! But I don't wanna just leave you guys here, you might get in trouble with those jerks in the water!"

"Kero," Tsuyu slowly nodded, looking down at the villains as well, "I think I know what you mean, Hadou - leaving the two of us here to face the villains by ourselves isn't really a smart move, but expecting you to carry us all the way over there probably isn't possible - we'll either drop and fall into the water, or on the ground. And theoretically, Kodai and I have close-range quirks, and you're the only one here that can attack at long range and fly above the villains. So maybe we should consider -"

BOOM

All three girls yelped as the slide suddenly shook, Tsuyu quickly grabbing Nejire's arm to make sure she didn't fall over the side, and were quick to look down. A gigantic fist made of water had emerged from the lake, and began smashing at the supports of the tower, shaking the entire structure and almost making Yui fall over, if not for Tsuyu acting quickly and securing her with her tongue.

It was clear what they were doing - knocking out the supports of the tower in order to send all three of them plummeting into the water. And then it would be open season for them. Nejire felt herself frown, her cheeks turning into a pout, and quickly took off, floating in the air and making the other two girls look up at her in shock.

"Hadou?" Tsuyu croaked, "What are you doing, kero?!"

"They'll knock us into the water if they keep beating up the slide!" She gave them another quick salute, looking back down at the villains in the water. "And I might be fine with that since I can float, but Kodai, you definitely won't be okay if you fall from this height! And you too, Asui, it might be bad for you but you're also a frog, so you might be okay, but I don't wanna take that chance! So - uh - try to climb down while I go down there!"

"Go down there and what?" Yui tilted her head. "Stop them? They outnumber us twenty to one, there's no way you can take them all on at the same time."

"That doesn't matter!" Nejire shook her head, clenching her fists and whipping her head back down to the villains trying to hurt her classmates.

There were a thousand thoughts running through her head, but she tried to push them down as best she could as she started to fly down, glancing over her shoulder to see Tsuyu and Yui carefully starting to climb down. She was honestly more than a little annoyed by this - she wanted to come here and have a lot of fun with her friends! Do cool exercises! Maybe fulfill her lifelong wish to be bridal carried, if she was pretending to be unconscious and one of her classmates had to carry her to safety! Maybe by Mezo, his multiple arms looked comfortable - 

- wait, no, Nejire shook her head, focus.

Her friends were in danger. Itsuka and Ochako were in danger. Tenya and Setsuna were in danger. Momo and Eijirou were in danger. Yui was definitely in danger. And Izuku … he would probably be in danger too right now.

So it was with that thought, thinking of her green-haired friend, that Nejire narrowed her eyes and floated down to beat up all the bad guys.


From within the multiple arms emerging from Mezo, an eye and an ear grew out, quickly scanning the dark USJ as lightning flash and thunder rumbled above them.

"Shouji, is everyone still here?" Tenya asked, looking around the dark USJ as well, and felt relieved when he spotted the familiar glow of Nejire's quirk above the flood zone, "I can see Hadou, but what about everyone else?"

"They're all scattered around," Mezo noted, narrowing his eyes, "but they're all still in the building. Jirou would probably have a better time pinpointing where everyone is, but I think they're all here. But I can also hear several villains moving around as well, so they might be up to something."

Nodding, Tenya looked back around over his shoulder, surveying their current situation. As far as he was aware, he, Mezo, Setsuna, Hanta and Mina were the only students that had managed to avoid the villain's attempt to warp them away, and were still at the entrance of the facility with Thirteen. The warp villain, meanwhile, continued to slowly manifest his body, content to take a few seconds to reform just to intimidate the remaining students, as the five remaining students looked to their teacher.

"Sensei, what do we do?!" Setsuna took a cautious step back, sweating a bit but trying her best to clear her thoughts and calm down, "Nothing we do to this guy can hit him, and he can just warp us away if he gets bored of us! What's our strategy?!"

Thirteen took a quiet moment to think, staring at the warp villain as he slowly reformed - and then she nodded to herself, hitting her fist into her open palm and look back around at her students in determination.

"We have no choice then," She decided, looking between them all, "we need to warn the other teachers of what's happening here, and get some backup to ward the villains back. We'll need one of you to get out of the building, and run straight back to the school. Head straight to the principal's office and inform him of what's happening, and if you don't know where that is, go back to where your classroom is and knock on the door to Class 1B, and tell Vlad King."

"What?!" Tenya gasped, staring at her in shock for a moment, "But would it not be a disgrace as a student of UA to leave everyone behind?!"

"The alarms aren't sounding," Thirteen reminded him gently, "and the phones aren't working either. There's no way for us to reach out to the rest of the teachers from here. Since our alarm system uses infrared tech, the fact that it hasn't activated even though senpai - I mean, Eraserhead - is down there nullifying quirks means that whoever is interfering with the system has hidden themselves somewhere within the facility. We don't have time to search for them and defeat them, so it'll be faster for someone to go and get help."

"But -!"

"We don't have time to think up anything else, Iida," Mezo shook his head, growing out a few more arms as he stared down Kurogiri, "if we can get outside, and it's only the USJ that the alarms are blocked, we can use the alarms outside to let everyone else know what's happening. That's why they're only attacking us here, right?"

"If any of us get outside, they won't follow you!" Hanta also got ready for combat, flexing his arms to expose his elbows and feeling some tape escape in preparation, "We can blow this fog guy away! One of us has to make it out!"

Tenya hesitated again, and then glanced unsurely at Setsuna. The normally crass, loudmouthed girl was shockingly silent, shaking and staring at the villain with an anxious look on her face - and then she took a deep breath, nodding slowly to herself as she exhaled, and looked back around at Tenya as she searched his hesitant face. 

A small, silent communication passed between them, and Tenya felt his shoulders slump a bit - and then determination filled his face, and he bent down into a sprinter's stance, feeling the engines on the back of his legs extend.

As Setsuna moved into her own combat stance, Hanta glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, seeing how nervous and shaky she was, and chuckled despite himself, moving to stand beside her.

"Come on, Tush Bro," He tried to tease her to lighten the mood a bit, "I thought this wasn't the first fight you've been in."

"I'm used to fighting with stupid middle-school students," Setsuna shot back, trying to sound confident as she stared down the large mass of darkness, "this isn't exactly my forte."

"It ain't mine either, but looks like we don't have a choice!"

"How foolish," Kurogiri taunted from within the darkness of his quirk, the yellow eyes staring malevolently at the students, "aside from the fact that you have no hope … what kind of fools discuss strategy within earshot of the enemy!"

"It hardly matters what you overheard," Thirteen narrowed her eyes under her helmet, "you won't stop us!"

With that challenge being obviously accepted, the warp villain shrunk in briefly, and then several tendrils of dark energy blasted out towards them, intending to warp them away - but Thirteen, now free to use her quirk knowing that her students were all behind her, threw out her hand, the tip of her finger opening, and felt Black Hole activate as she began to absorb the warp gate.


"How curious."

Aizawa grunted as he leapt over another villain attempting to attack him from behind, swinging his foot down to catch him right in the back of the head. As the villain fell down in a heap, Aizawa landed on his back to grind him into the ground, his eyes narrowing behind his goggles, and used the fallen villain as a springboard to leap overtop another villain swinging at him with a bat, using his capture tape to yank the weapon up and slam it into the villain's nose. While she was disoriented, Aizawa's foot came down in a bicycle kick on the top of her head, sending her to the ground.

As he landed, striking out with his fist and hitting another thug, his gaze flickered to Nine and Slice, still standing near the fountain as the cloaked man hopped up on the edge to stare over at Aizawa as he worked on his thugs.

"He's been fighting for over five minutes now," Nine observed with the air of someone watching a mildly interesting sports match, "and yet he hasn't slowed down at all, or shown any kind of hesitation while attacking us. Very, very curious."

"Are you sure I shouldn't jump in to fight?" Slice offered, glancing up at her leader as she took a seat on the fountain's edge and smirked at the teacher continuing to fight, "I'm sure he'd have a harder time going up against me - it looks like our little vanguard isn't quite up to task, and he might not fare as well going up against someone who can actually fight."

"No, Slice," Nine shook his head, "I need you in good condition in case Eraserhead breaks through our defense and comes at me. I apologize for degrading you to the position of my bodyguard, but Chimera and Mummy are already out leading the other teams, and we have our own failsafe here just in case anyone with a stronger quirk arrives before All Might to try and take us down."

"Oh, fine," Slice shook her head, looking up at her leader as he reached into his pocket for something, "I'll play nice for now. But I think we've waited long enough for the next stage of our plan, haven't we?"

"You'd be right about that, Slice. I'll let them all know."

Raising a walkie-talkie to his mouth, Nine spoke into it. "Teams. This is Nine."

At the sound of his voice, the villains surrounding and attacking Aizawa stopped charging forward, pausing and looking around at him. Aizawa, panting and moving down into a crouch, took a moment to catch his breath, looking around at the leader of this attack, as he presumably spoke to every villain in the facility as the monster with the exposed brain stared blankly ahead and the other hooded man put his hands in his pockets.

"As you all know, today, I have brought you to UA High School for several purposes - but the most important of all is to end the life of All Might." Nine spoke into the walkie-talkie, his soft, lethargic voice somehow loud enough for everyone in the foyer to hear clearly. "The Villain Consortium is to become the greatest army of villains the world has ever seen. As much as it pains me to kill someone with such great strength, we will need to make an example of the Symbol of Peace in order to do so. And that, my dear friends, is why I gave you the syringes."

Syringes? Aizawa thought, his brow crinkling - and then he glanced around, seeing the mooks hastily grabbing something from their pockets and bringing them out, and he felt his eyes widen at the hungry, addicted looks in their eyes as they stared down at the needles, its contents filled with a green liquid.

"As you all know, the truth of our world is that men were not born equal. And yet, somehow, in this society, it's expected that the weak rule over the strong. Monkeys ruling over lions. I disagree with this motion, and wish to reverse it back to how it should be - with the lions ruling over the monkeys. The Top 10 Heroes may have powerful quirks, but it's clear that they are just pawns, serving the true rulers of this world - the corrupt governments that cast weaker people aside in favor of flashy costumes and colorful personalities. Well … I say no more."

Aizawa could only watch in horror, realizing what was happening and knowing that he wouldn't be able to stop them all, as they brought the syringes to their arms, necks, even their stomachs, and jabbed the needs in, pushing the plunger to push the green liquid into their bodies.

The effects immediately began - muscles for strength-enhancing quirks bulged, natural quirks shot out and covered their entire bodies, weapons that were attached to arms or legs suddenly shooting out from every part of their bodies. One by one, the villains began spasming from horrific transformations, all of them laughing loudly, eyes widening with delight and tongues rolling out of their mouths as the drug they injected into their bodies boosted their quirks to far more powerful levels - and the tongues themselves began to change, from a normal pink to a dark black color.

And across the facility, in each area, Aizawa could make out the sound of more screams of laughter.

"I've given you," Nine stared down at the teacher as he spoke to his army over the walkie-talkie, his red glowing eyes filling with malice, "a syringe full of Trigger. Ingest it, and enjoy yourselves as you tear the children apart. And then be ready. All Might will be here soon."

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 14! Apologies if this one took a bit longer to get out than the last ones - I somehow chose this time to get a bunch of my WIPs done, and edited at the same time, and then had my own contradicting thoughts about how this chapter would go, from a chapter flashback to a much longer chapter than this one, to other wonderful thoughts that made me close my computer in annoyance. So I decided to split up the next two or so chapters into parts! Hope y'all are ready lol

And we've got plenty of things happen this chapter - from Yuuyu perspective, to a certain half-and-half bastard finally making an appearance, to All Might angst, to Toshinko idiots-to-lovers, to Tenko suffering, to Nine shenanigans, to the realization that it's not just the MHA timeline I'm flipping off but the Vigilantes timeline as well, to everyone not being where they were in canon, to Chimera trying to roast four teenage girls alive, to Nejire being Nejire, to even more F.B.I. references, to 'oh yeah the Trigger I almost forgot about that ha ha ha ha ha'. Fun times!

Well, in any case, that's all from me, so thank you so much for reading, and I'll see you guys next time!

Chapter 15: Storms (Part Two)

Summary:

As Class 1A battles the Villain Consortium across the USJ, several developments occur for the students as they fight for their lives - and Izuku finds himself coming across a menacing opponent.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Move your ass, dunceface!"

"Don't call me a freaking - gah!"

Denki let out a panicked yelp as he ducked underneath another large fist being thrown at his head, quickly running away as the villain let out a maniacal laugh at his cowardly fleeing. The blonde boy quickly hurried back over to Eijirou, watching as the redhead got struck by another large tentacle from the villain that he had been fighting for the last few minutes, although thanks to his hardening he didn't have much trouble with blocking it and absorbing some of the damage from the blow. 

On the other side of the room of the building they had been warped in, Katsuki sneered as he threw explosion after explosion against the villains trying to surround him, although he was starting to get more than a little annoyed by all the insane cackling from the assholes ever since they got hopped up on whatever drug they just took, but at the very least it presented a challenge - he'd be bored if they just kept throwing themselves at him just for him to blow out of the picture, at least he could show how badass he was by curb stomping the crazies.

He hadn't really been paying attention when the villains had stopped attacking them a few minutes ago to listen to their idiot boss over the walkie-talkie, and he had taken advantage of their distraction to blow a few across the room. However, once they jabbed themselves with those weird needles from their pockets, pushing the green liquid into their bodies, everything got a lot more intense. The moment that weird rug got into their systems, Katsuki, Eijirou and Denki had watched as the villains twisted and transformed, their teeth growing larger, their arms bigger, their animal quirks becoming more deranged, energy from their hands going from lightbulbs to fucking campfires.

With one little injection of that syringe, they went from pretty much cannon fodder to fucking monsters. And Katsuki was probably having more than a lot more fun with this unexpected challenge than what would be appropriate.

"What the hell is going on?!" Denki whined as he dodged out of the way of another blast of energy, the villain cackling as she chased after him. "These guys weren't so tough before, what the hell did they inject themselves with?! Fucking steroids?!"

"Gotta be some kind of quirk booster!" Eijirou punched another villain that had been charging him away, only to yelp when another villain tackled him from behind. "How else would they get so tough?!"

"It's one hell of a booster, then, it made them all go freakin' nuts! That one nearly took my head off with her teeth! How does someone try to bite a guy's head off so casually?!"

"Would you just shut the fuck up already?!" Katsuki screamed at Denki, throwing out the hand still covered by his grenade gauntlet to slam into the nearest villain and send him flying away with an explosion. "You're giving me a damn headache, dunceface, learn how to shut up for once!"

"You're one to talk!"

"WOULD BOTH OF YOU JUST SHUT UP?!" One of the villains roared from his spot near the back of the group, and opened his mouth wide, his jaw unhooking like a snake. Several long black tongues immediately shot out straight towards Eijirou, the redhead letting out an 'Ew!' and quickly ducking underneath the writhing tentacles. With a growl, Katsuki blasted off where he had bounced off the wall, jumping over another giant villain roaring and leaping at him only to miss and slam headfirst into the wall, and then twisted in the air to hop out of the way of a chameleon villain jumping at him. Once he had made it to the tentacle villain, Katsuki snarled and used his knee pad to slam directly under the villain's jaw, snapping his teeth over his tongues and sending him sprawling away while howling in pain.

Alright, forget what he said about it being fun - this was getting fucking ridiculous, Katsuki growled as he used the one grenade gauntlet he brought along to blast himself away. He could hear Eijirou and Denki continuing to whine about running away, or leaving to go help the others, but he merely barred his teeth and leapt back into the fray of the freaks, all of them giggling gleefully with their tongues turning black from their quirk booster, and more than happy to throw themselves at him. And he at them, Katsuki gritted his teeth as he threw another explosion at them. There was no way he was gonna run with his tail beneath his legs - he was gonna stay, and he was gonna make these assholes shut the hell up.

First he'd take down these freaks by himself, then he'd go after that warp bastard. Not just because he made Katsuki look like a fool, but he knew that the warp gate asshole was the villains' way in and out. Take him out of the equation, and these assholes would be stuck here and have to run home, and that would give him more than enough time to find that cloaked guy who called himself the leader and take him down.

Take down the leader of this invasion, and there would be no way any of these asshat teachers who kept looking down on him could ignore that. The glory that got stolen from him in the battle trial would finally be his. And there would be no way All Might could ignore him if he were to -

"Dude!" Eijirou shouted, knocking Katsuki out of his thoughts, and he quickly looked around just as Eijirou reached out and gave him a shove with both hands. Katsuki yelled in anger at him as he lost his footing and was sent off to the side, about to open his mouth and fully ream him out - and barely noticing a muscular arm barely missing where his head would've been had he not been shoved, the redhead grunting as he took the hit full force and was sent flying across the room.

Snarling like an animal, Katsuki whipped around and threw his hand up to blast the villain aside, barking at Eijirou, "Don't get in my way! I didn't need your help!"

"Obviously you did, since -!"

"Guuuuuuuys!" Denki whined a bit more, continuing to run and duck underneath another villain with elongated fingers as a few more crazies chased after him. "What are we supposed to do?! Nothing we're doing to them is keeping them down, they just keep getting back up!"

"Cool down, bro!" Eijirou hopped away from the slash of another villain as he tried his best to assure Denki, "If this is a quirk booster, that means that there's a time limit for how long they're like this! We just gotta wait them out, keep dodging, and eventually this stuff will wear off on them, and they'll crash!"

"Fuck that!" Katsuki sneered as he landed hard on the back of a villain and drove him into the floor, punching him squarely in the back of the head and exploding another villain at the same time, "I'm not taking the fucking easy way out of this! These asshats wanna pick a fight with me, I'll put them into the ground!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Kirishima!" Denki hopped over another fallen villain. "We don't know how long this booster's gonna last! There's no way we can just avoid them forever!"

"Finally! The first fucking smart thing you've said, dunceface!"

"Whoa, whoa, I'm not agreeing with your idea either! Your idea's even stupider than his!"

"Hey, not cool, bro -"

"I don't see you suggesting anything, sparky! How 'bout you actually use your quirk instead of running around and whining?!"

"H-hey, come on now -"

"SHUT UUUUUUUP!" The villain from before screamed at the top of his lungs, leaping at Denki as the blonde yelped, pinned against the wall and having nowhere to run to - but fortunately for Denki, another villain who had been charging after him collided into the first villain, both of them grunting with pain and rage as they slammed against each other. 

As Denki quickly ran back to Eijirou, the redhead grabbing him by the arm and pulling him over, both villains growled at each other's interference and shoved against each other, rage building in their eyes - and then the one villain grabbed the other by the throat and started throttling him, roaring in anger.

The three boys blinked in surprise and alarm as the villain slammed the other into the wall, snarling in his face as the throttled villain punched and kicked him. There was the sound of more blows being thrown and connected, and they looked over to see another one of the villains launching themselves at an ally, giggling with glee as he slammed him against the ground, and, as though they were all inspired, the others began howling and throwing themselves at each other.

"Are they ... fighting each other?" Eijirou tilted his head, feeling confused by the sudden violence.

"Of course they are," Katsuki smirked, "dumbasses. They took that psycho serum, no shit they'll eventually turn on each other."

"Uh … guys, they're still coming at us!" Denki panicked, pointing wildly and making the other two boys look around to see some of the other manic villains not as concerned with beating each other up, snarling and hissing at them as they began plowing through the fighting villains to get to them.

Gulping, Eijirou shook his head and glanced at Katsuki, seeing him sneer in challenge and get ready for the next onslaught. It was clear that he wasn't going to run away, which would've been pretty manly if it hadn't been obvious that they were clearly outmatched here. Even if some of them turned on each other, the rest of the villains that were focused on them were still dangerous, and in such an enclosed space, it wouldn't take long for one of them to strike a lucky blow.

So maybe …

"Uh … hey, Bakugou, man?"

"What?" He didn't even look back at him, eyes laser focused on the villains.

"Maybe … uh … okay, maybe you have a point that we shouldn't run away -"

"We shouldn't?!" Denki squeaked.

"- but - but we can't fight these guys in here for much longer! It's too cramped!"

Quickly, Eijirou turned and punched a hole into the nearest wall as hard as he could. Thankfully, it looked like the building wasn't as well fortified as a regular building would, probably due to whatever exercises Thirteen did here, as it burst open into a wide hole to show the outside, showing the other broken buildings of the ruins zone. Trying to smile his brightest grin, Eijirou turned to gesture outside.

"C'mon, Baku-bro! There's a lot more room for us to fight out here!"

Katsuki didn't look back at him at all for a moment, staring at the other boosted villains growling or fighting each other or trying to get through the riot towards them - and then he turned back to Eijirou, frowning.

"You're fucking awful at manipulating people. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know," Eijirou slumped his shoulders while feeling disappointed in himself, while Katsuki merely shook his head and huffed.

"But I guess you have a point, even if it's fucking stupid. Fine. Let's go, Shitty Hair. Dunceface."

"I told you, my name's not - gah!"

The last little squeak, of course, was due to Katsuki suddenly reaching out and gripping Denki by the shoulder in tight grip, a feral grin on his face, before letting out a loud yell and throwing Denki across the room as hard as he could towards the hole. Eijirou quickly yelped as he hurried over to catch Denki before he could be thrown straight out the hole, managing to grab him and grunting as he skidded dangerously close to falling out of the building.

Laughing, Katsuki threw his hands back and let out another large explosion, blasting his way out of the hole. Several villains screeched in rage and exhilaration as they chased after him, the tongue-villain charging right out of the hole with his various tongues quickly sharpening into blades and stabbing after Katsuki. With a gulp, Eijirou grabbed Denki around his waist, pulling him up under his arm like he weighed nothing, and after taking a moment to hype himself up, quickly charged out of the hole after Katsuki and leapt out of the building.

Trying to ignore Denki screaming like a little girl as they plummeted through the air, Eijirou was quick to look around at their surroundings, hardening his body so that they could survive the fall. From the looks of things, they were in the ruins zone of the USJ, the absence of light in the facility making the broken city come across as very creepy, especially when it was illuminated briefly by a flash of lightning from above. Unlike some of the other zones, thankfully, this area wasn't covered by a dome, letting them look up and see the dark and stormy skies - actually, maybe that wasn't too lucky, that looked freaking morbid.

After a few seconds of falling, Eijirou grunted as he landed on the ground, bending his knees slightly to absorb the impact, and quickly looked back down at Denki under his arm, seeing him shaking and looking absolutely horrified.

"You okay, Kami-bro?"

"Give me a sec, Kirishima, my life's still flashing before my eyes."

"Great!" Eijirou quickly put him back down on the ground, ignoring Denki immediately kissing it and promising never to leave it behind again, and looked back around for where Katsuki went. Sure enough, he wasn't hard to spot - he was blasting around in the air, smirking as he fired off blast after blast at the villains emerging from the building they had been fighting in as whatever quirk booster they took continued to mutate them, the villains letting out a loud chorus of screams and laughter as they fought against the teenager.

"Oh, man," Eijirou shook his head despite himself, unable to suppress an impressed smile, "Bakugou's really going all out on them, huh? Gotta say, that's real manly."

"Yeah. Manly." Denki finally got up on shaky feet, wiping some of the dirt off his pants while giving the redhead a sideways look. "Real manly, throwing me out of a six-story building."

"Nah, he didn't! I caught you before you fell out."

"Yeah, you're right! You caught me! And that's the only reason I'm not dead!"

"Anyway," Eijirou looked around the broken city, biting his lip slightly, "we should probably think of getting out of here, right? I think I can see the stairs over there, we can hurry over and see if there's anyone left!"

"W-what about Bakugou?" Denki pointed up at the other boy, showing Katsuki still flying around and blasting at the villains still attacking him as he landed against the side of one slanted building, "He can't fight them all, can he?"

"Of course I fucking can!" Katsuki barked from his spot on the building, turning his attention to the two guys on the ground to shriek at his classmates. "You cowards can run if you want, but I'm gonna stay here and make sure that none of these -"

"Bakugou, look out!" Eijirou shouted as he pointed at something in front of him, and Katsuki felt his brow wrinkle. Glancing up, though, his eyes then widened, and he was forced to blast away from his spot as one lizard guy, wings spread under his arms and several rows of teeth opened wide to bite at where Katsuki's throat had been, nearly slammed into him, instead smacking into the wall of the building Katsuki bounced off of.

If he had been injured by the hit, though, he didn't show it, letting out a hiss of laughter and looking around as Katsuki blasted through the air with a growl.

"Sssssstay ssssstill, brat," He giggled with glee, "gonna bite your head off!"

"You fucking wish!" Katsuki bellowed in rage, and threw the hand covered by the grenade gauntlet up.

BOOM

As another explosion lit up the dark ruined city in the USJ, and several more empowered villains began crawling out of the hole Eijirou had made, both boys on the ground stared up in slight terror and exasperation as Katsuki eagerly flew right into the horde, laughing as crazily as they were as he continued throwing explosion after explosion at the overpowered villains. And then they glanced at each other.

"He's really gonna try to fight them all, isn't he?" Denki asked in a tired voice.

"Probably." Eijirou slowly nodded.

"He's totally underestimating them, isn't he?"

"Yeah, definitely."

"We're ... gonna have to make sure he doesn't fucking die, right?"

"... yeah."

With that, the two boys on the ground let out challenging yells as they ran towards the crazed villains, Denki sweating up a storm as he charged himself up with electricity and Eijirou hardened his body up to throw himself back into the fight.


"WHERE DID THEY GO?!"

"COME OUT, COWARDS!"

"WHEEEERE AAAAARE YOOOOOOU?!"

Throughout the conflagration zone, the roars and shrieks of the villains echoed around the flaming city, all of them too hopped up on Trigger to even make sense of their surroundings. Several of the villains stomped their feet and slammed their arms against the sides of the buildings, not even minding the burns they would get as their pumped up bodies passed through the flames as they bellowed in rage. At the front of the group, Mummy let out a small sigh as he shook his head, already over the temper tantrums and tempted to just wrap them up - but no, that would defeat the purpose of giving them the Trigger, so at the moment he would stay his hand.

They had taken their eyes off their targets for a single moment to insert the Trigger into their bloodstream, and when they had looked back up, their quirks now more powerful than ever before … they weren't there anymore. They had quickly climbed up to the rooftop where the three students had been hiding, but they had been nowhere in sight. As though they had just vanished into thin air. And that had tripped up all the villains who had taken the Trigger with the sole purpose of putting them through unimaginable pain, and sent them right over the edge.

"DAMN IT!" One of the villains bellowed, slamming his enlarged fist against the side of one of the buildings with enough force to crumble the wall and send it falling back into the flames, the other Trigger henchmen screaming their heads off. "WHERE DID THEY GO?!"

"Patience," Mummy shook his head, looking back at the other empowered villains that were currently freaking out and narrowing his eyes, "they couldn't have gotten far - you've already blocked the exit with your quirks, that's why we brought you to this specific zone. Just keep a clear head and find them."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!" Another villain from the back screamed at him, rage completely filling his vision as he threw his fist back and filled it with enough fire to blow apart a small building - 

- and then grunted when several of the bandages wrapped around Mummy suddenly shot out, wrapping around his body and pinning his arms to his sides as he roared in confusion and rage.

"WHAT - STOP - DON'T -!" He tried to break free of the restraints, roaring in fury as they completely wrapped over him like a mummy, his screams briefly being muffled - and then there was a small burst of bright light that made the other Trigger villains look away in pain from the brightness, and when they looked back, they were shocked to see a large, red shape resembling the villain, only wrapped securely in Mummy's wrappings. They watched, intimidated, as it began slowly lumbering down the street, looking around for the children who escaped while Mummy controlled it from his hand.

"Anyone else want to get testy with me?" He raised an eyebrow, pleased when none of the roaring villains stood up to him. "Now then - as I was saying, concentrate on finding the children. This zone isn't that big, they couldn't have gotten far. And there's very few places they can hide."

As the villains quickly nodded and began searching a lot quieter than they had been before, a bit of a ways down the street, Izuku gulped from their hiding spot on the rooftop. His eyes trailed down to the one villain who didn't take the quirk boosting drug, the gears slowly turning in his head as he analyzed the situation.

It was clear that this villain was in charge of the gang, and the reason he didn't take the drug with them was to keep them in line - if someone lost control, he would wrap them up and put them back to work. That … was pretty bad. Some of the villains were acting like wild animals, but with this guy there to keep them in line, it would be harder to get around them.

Quietly, Izuku slipped back down to where Pony and Yosetsu were also hiding beside him, both of them sweating nervously as Pony made sure that her head was down - her horns would be a dead giveaway for where they were, so it had been quickly decided that she would keep out of sight while the boys stole a few peeks.

"This is bad," Yosetsu muttered, using his bandana to wipe at his sweaty face from both the intense heat and nerves, "what're we supposed to do? There isn't any way we can fight them, can we?!"

Izuku let out a small sigh, slipping down to kneel beside their small group, and quietly put his hand on his chin to think.

"I don't think … okay, yeah, I don't think we'd stand much of a chance in a head-on fight," He admitted in a low voice, grimacing, "no way. There's no way we can charge in without them noticing us immediately and blasting us apart. But we should still talk about our options." He glanced over at Pony, seeing her large, doe-like eyes squinting from all the smoke, "Tsunotori, your quirk does have offensive capabilities, right? From the battle trial, you were able to launch your horns at Kacchan."

"Yeah, but I can only do it two at a time," She explained, shaking her head as she tapped on one of the long horns protruding from her hair, "and they're useless if I try to summon more, they'll just fall to the ground like the ones I used to get us over here. I can probably stab 'em in the villains if we sneak up on 'em, but that'll probably give me away, I can't be too far away."

"Okay … and how many can you control at a time?"

"Just the two right now! So I gotta stop, fire, and fly away if we need to, and that takes time to let my horns regrow. So, uh … I … kinda … suck," Pony slumped her shoulders. "Sorry."

"And before you even ask," Yosetsu sighed, also slumping on the wall as Izuku looked over at him, "my quirk just lets me stick stuff together. I have to get in close to do it too, since my quirk's based on physical contact. I'm useless at this kinda thing."

"So uh we're fucked?"

"Yeah. We're fucked."

"I - no, guys, come on!" Izuku tried to pump them back up, squeezing his fists together as he tried to look between his two clearly defeated classmates, "Your quirks are awesome! They just … they might not be fit for a direct confrontation with these guys. And that's okay! We'll just have to -"

"Dude, you come on!" Yosetsu threw up his hands, eyes looking tired as he looked over to his slightly more enthusiastic classmate, "Let's be real for a second - even if we did have offensive quirks like yours or Bakugou's, there's no way we'll be able to defeat those guys. Do you even know what shit they just put in themselves? That's fucking Trigger!"

"Trigger?" Pony blinked in confusion, while Izuku straightened up, his eyes widening slightly as he peeked back over the rooftop, "What's that?"

"Oh, right, you're from America, they don't have that kind of - yeah, it'd be more contraband over there. It's like a - well, it's a quirk booster," Yosetsu explained to the horse girl as Izuku continued to watch the villains, seeing them spread out and shriek for the teenagers to reveal themselves, "it started out as an illegal drug before they managed to create a legal version of it, but it's mostly used to stop baldness and … uh …" He paused for a moment, glancing left and right while his face went noticeably red, and muttered, "... and erectile dysfunction. My uncle uses it for his head."

Pony paused for a moment, mentally trying to figure out what Japanese word Yosetsu just used - and then her face scrunched up in disgust.

"... ewwwww."

"A-anyway, those are - those are like controlled doses. This - this ain't that. I saw something like this on the news a few years ago, Trigger's some kind of - y'know, a villain drug that thugs take to boost their powers. And these guys took a big fucking dose, so now their quirks are going overboard and we have no idea when the fuck it's gonna wear off. There's no way we could stand up to them even if we wanted to - it'd take freakin' All Might to stop them at this point!"

At that last sentence, though, Izuku blinked. He briefly stared down at the screaming, rampaging villains - and then the dots connected, remembering what they had heard on the walkie-talkie a few minutes ago from their supposed leader.

"Ingest it, and enjoy yourselves as you tear the children apart. And then be ready. All Might will be here soon."

"... that is what they're doing."

"Huh?" Pony blinked, looking back up at Izuku when she heard him mutter. "You say something, Midoriya-san?"

"That's their plan," Izuku looked back down at them, horror filling his eyes as he realized what they were up to, "it'd take All Might himself to stop them - and that's what they're counting on. These guys - the Villain Consortium, they came here to kill All Might. That's - that's gotta be how they're planning to do it - they made their henchmen take all the Trigger, and when All Might gets here -"

"They'll swarm him," Yosetsu finished for him, his own eyes widening, "But - but wait, if that's the case, then All Might'll kick their asses, right? He handled Trigger guys a long time ago as well, he beat the crap out of them!"

"Y-yeah!" Pony quickly nodded, bunching her fists as she looked hopeful, "He'll come and save us!"

Izuku slowly nodded in agreement, although his frown did deepen as he glanced back over the side, letting out a small sigh as he thought quietly to himself. Indeed, All Might had been capable of fighting against Trigger villains - he'd also seen the reports from years ago, when Trigger was rampaging around Japan and his mom and Miwa had warned Izuku and Ochako in serious voices never to accept anything from a stranger - but there was one thing that no one but he, Ochako and Itsuka knew.

"Truth is, kid ... I can only work as a hero for about three hours a day. And then I’m stuck like this until I recover enough strength to buff up again."

All Might was injured … and he didn't show up today when they arrived. Aizawa had specifically said in the classroom today that he and All Might would be helping Thirteen, but the pro hero was nowhere to be found when they had arrived. And he hadn't been able to hear them, but he had seen Aizawa and Thirteen muttering to themselves before they went inside the USJ - she had held up another hand, showing him three fingers.

Which must've meant … that All Might was either running on little time, or completely out of time right now. It was possible that he wouldn't even be able to get here even if he wanted.

Besides that …

"Anyway, we should probably keep hiding," Yosetsu continued saying to Pony, "there's no chance of us taking them down, so let's just wait for All Might to come and save us."

"That's not possible," Izuku shook his head, moving back to kneel beside his classmates and seeing them look around at him, "even if we waited for All Might, they're looking for us right now. And some of the villains are tall enough right now to see over the rooftops. We can hide and run, sure, but - but they'll eventually find us."

As Yosetsu and Pony glanced between each other fearfully, Izuku sighed and sat down on the rooftop, taking a second to smack himself in the face to try and clear his thoughts, and think. The odds were stacked heavily against them - Izuku had offensive power, sure, but he was still hesitant to use it against other people. He knew that no one would judge him for using his quirk on these overpowered villains, but that was the main question, wasn't it? Could his lightning even hurt them, or would it just tickle them?

And he couldn't exactly ignore that they were outnumbered thirty-to-three, and the villain in the red bandages was clearly keeping them in line if they got distracted. Not to mention their surroundings, flaming buildings and the hot atmosphere, would work against them as well, with little places they could run in case things got too hairy. So a frontal assault, or a straight-up fight? Not possible. They'd die if they tried directly confronting the Trigger villains.

So …

His eyes narrowing slightly, Izuku turned his gaze from his feet to the large roof of the zone they were in, the gears in his head continuing to turn as he considered their limited options. If confrontation wasn't possible … then escape was their only choice. They'd have to figure out a way out of this heated death trap, before the Trigger henchmen found and killed them, or the smoke from the burning buildings would eventually cause them to pass out - and they'd be dead anyway.

But how? That Mummy guy clearly mentioned that they had blocked off the entrance, and they were probably smart enough to leave a few villains there to wait just in case. So that wasn't an option. In that instance, the only option would be to …

… to … 

As he continued to stare at the roof, Izuku gulped, and then looked back down at the Full Gauntlet on his arm, the little needle still in the red. The idea he had … it wasn't the best one, of course, and there was a chance it could backfire - but he, Pony and Yosetsu needed to get out of there. And to do that … well … it was probably going to hurt, but he could deal with that pain later, his eyes narrowed as he clenched his fist.

Ochako and Itsuka were still out there somewhere, and probably in trouble. He knew that they could handle themselves, but he couldn't deny how hard his heart was hammering at the thought of them in danger, especially if they were dealing with villains boosted up on Trigger right now. He needed to get to them, and make sure that they were okay.

So he could deal with a little pain.

"Okay," He breathed, looking back from where he had been studying his hand to the other two teenagers as he nodded, "okay. We won't fight, but we still need to get out of here."

"How?" Pony glanced up at him, shaking a bit, "They said that they got the entrance blocked."

"That's true. But Tsunotori - you were able to fly," Izuku pointed out, leaning forward a bit, "that's how you were able to catch us when we first fell in here - you can use your horns to fly?"

"Uh … yeah?"

"How does that work? Can you go fast? Or - you know?"

"W-well, I can go fast, but not at first," Pony explained, rubbing her horn a bit as she thought, "I can't just jump on and start zooming around, I gotta build up a bit of speed first. Usually it takes about a minute to get to full speed, and even then, I'm not fast like - y'know, Iida or Hadou."

"Okay … and Awase," His gaze snapped to the other boy, seeing him look back at him in confusion, "you're able to weld things to each other. If you were to - y'know, weld my arm to Tsunotori's back, I wouldn't fall off?"

"Uh … yeah? But it's not like that just removes your weight, you'd still be freaking heavy."

"Right … right … but theoretically, you'd be able to do it, right?"

"Yeah," Pony nodded, still unsure, "but like I said, I'd need a minute to get to full speed, and the villains would notice us by then, wouldn't they?"

"They would," Izuku agreed, raising his hand to smack into his fist as he nodded, "but don't worry - I think I have a plan."


In hindsight … Nejire's plan seriously sucked.

"Eep!" She squeaked as she soared just above the water, narrowly avoiding another large hand made of - well, water - from swatting her out of the sky. Feeling her quirk go into slight overdrive, she blasted out at another weirdo villain who had leapt out of the water after the hand missed her, his shark quirk evolving to form multiple shark heads from his body and giving him even more scary teeth. Luckily her blast caught him right in the chest, sending him skidding across the water like a rock before sinking beneath the surface, although she hummed in worry when she saw him immediately start going after her again.

She didn't have much time to worry about that, though, seeing as she had to duck under another villain leaping out at her from the water with a yelp, the guy's hands barely missing her long hair as she flew as fast as she could.

"Get her!"

"Drag her into the water! Drown her!"

"Make her shut up!"

"You shut up!" She shot back weakly, dodging another hand being thrown out at her before she began to float up higher into the air, needing a break from her distraction while the villains continued to circle around her like … well … sharks, but they weren't sharks, just one guy was. The other guys were just kinda creepy. No, scratch that, very creepy.

Anyway, this sucked majorly, she pouted to herself as she dodged another hand construct that shot up at her to knock her out of the sky. She thought she could fire off a few shots to get their eyes on her and off Tsuyu and Yui climbing down the slide, and it had worked! But then they inserted those icky syringes and now they were super duper powerful! No way she could take on all of them!

The best she could do was fly away from the slide, keeping all the crazy villains' eyes on her while her friends escaped or at least got to safety. But now she had a big problem with all these guys now being super freaky, super powerful, and super wanting to drown her.

Which was bad. Really, really bad. Plus the fact that she couldn't really see the water either thanks to the stupid lighting meant that they could pop up from anywhere! What was she supposed to -

"Eeep!" She squeaked again as another villain launched himself out of the water, with a lot more force so he went a lot higher, and after quickly turning to the side to dodge him, Nejire decided to quickly fly up to near the top of the USJ, just for a small break. As she floated up in the air, she quickly stole a glance over to the slide and felt relieved to still see Tsuyu and Yui carefully making their way to the bottom. Plus, they were much closer to the bottom of the construct now, so if either of them fell in it wouldn't be like it was concrete they were landing on, which would be very bad. No, they'd be able to crawl down and swim to safety at this rate!

The problem, though, was that there was still a lot of distance between there and the shore. Sure, Tsuyu might be able to swim really, really fast thanks to her quirk, but Yui was also kind of heavy - Nejire didn't mean that in a bad way, of course, her figure was really nice, but she still had weight that Tsuyu needed to drag along in the water, and would slow her down. And she wasn't sure if all these bad guys were looking at her - maybe there were still a few bad guys lurking around the slide, waiting to attack Tsuyu if she went into the water!

So in that case, she needed to figure out a new strategy, and fast. Nejire thought for a moment as she floated up in the air, staring down at the villains and seeing a big piece of ice being thrown up into the air and straight at - 

- wait. Big piece of ice?

With a small shriek of surprise, Nejire quickly flew out of the way before the large chunk of ice from the slide could hit her and knock her right out of the air, falling back down and hitting the fake mountain that the slide was attached to. Shaking her head and feeling her eyes widen, she looked back down to see the villains grabbing a few more pieces of ice, whatever drug they took giving them the strength to chuck them at her.

With a pout, Nejire threw back her hands, brimming with yellow spirals of energy, as she tried to push her thoughts aside and concentrate on a conversation she had with Izuku a few days ago.

"So your quirk draws on your stamina? And if you use enough energy, you get tired?"

"Yep! If I use too much of it, I get really sleepy."

Frowning, Nejire slowly raised her hands, feeling her quirk's energy continue to spin out in the cute little spirals she loved. She didn't feel too tired right now, but she knew that it would only be a matter of time before her Wave Motion ran out of vitality to drain from her. She'd eventually get tired, and be forced to fall into the water all sleepy - and then she'd either drown, or get eaten. And she didn't want to get eaten! She didn't taste all that good! She was sure she smelled good, at least, she put on lots of perfume this morning, and had on some deodorant - 

- wait, wait, she was getting distracted again, refocus, Nejire.

She could use twenty percent of her quirk safely without falling asleep - anything more than that, she'd have a high chance of knocking herself out. So keep her output to twenty percent, and she'd be fine! She'd distract the villains, Tsuyu and Yui would get back to shore, and then she'd go and find Izuku!

… and Itsuka and Ochako, of course. And Momo and Tenya and Setsuna. And then everyone else!

Narrowing her eyes in determination, Nejire moved into a swan dive towards the lake, keeping her arms at her side and began to twirl somewhat through the air. She could see a few more chunks of ice being thrown at her, but she'd be able to dodge those easily, as shown when she went into a nose dive towards the water and the large pieces of ice soared above her head. It didn't matter if she didn't have too much of a plan - she couldn't fight them at all, she had quickly realized, so the name of the game was to keep them all on one side of the lake while Yui and Tsuyu escaped on the other.

And to do that, she threw her hands out towards the water, took a deep breath, and felt her outpour raise to five percent.

FWOOM

Quickly, she blasted off a small percent of her quirk, the golden energy slamming straight into the pool of water and exploding in a big wave - which did its job well, making the villains quickly swim or scramble out of the way before giving chase to her as she kept close to the surface. Glancing behind her, she saw, through another flash of lightning, Yui and Tsuyu nearly at the bottom of the slide, which was good!

All she needed to do was keep dodging and weaving, and she'd be able to distract the villains long enough for her classmates to escape.

And, of course, that was just about the time when one of the villains managed to finally grab her foot.

Nejire yelped as she was yanked back from her flight, her momentum cancelled at once as she flailed somewhat in the air, and, with a loud cackle, the villain who had caught her pulled her back down, and dragged Nejire straight into the water. She barely had enough time to take a deep breath before she was yanked under the surface, her eyes stinging at the feeling of salt hitting them, but before she could even try to think of escaping, a pair of hands wrapped tightly around her throat and squeezed, making her gasp and open her mouth - and immediately felt water filling in, her eyes widening in panic.

"Drown the bitch!" One of the villains growled as they worked together to push her further and further into the water.

"Rip her hair out!"

"No! Keep her at the bottom! Let's watch the life drain from her eyes!"

Soon enough, Nejire felt her back meet something solid, making her realize that they had dragged and pushed her all the way to the bottom of the lake, and were now pressing her firmly against the floor to keep her from moving. She tried to lash out, punching at the villain choking her, but another few villains were quick to grab her by the wrists and her costume's support items to pin her against the ground, grabbing her ankles as well so that she was laid flat. As soon as she realized that she couldn't move, Nejire began to panic, her screams silent as she strained as best she could and her long blue hair floated in the water, but the villains kept her restrained as they laughed and mocked her.

Oh, god … oh, god, was she going to die? Nejire shook in terror as water continued to fill her lungs, seeing black spots begin to dance in her vision within the darkness of the lake and the cold making her shiver. She was so stupid! She shouldn't have kept so close to the water - and now she was going to die, and no one would be able to help Tsuyu and Yui! They could get away, maybe, but what would happen if Tsuyu were to jump in after her?! There was no way she could fight them all!

She couldn't breathe! Her limbs felt more heavy than she'd ever felt before as she tried to fight against the villains pinning her. Her fingers felt numb from the cold, her eyes stung, her chest burned.

She was going to die … she was going to die, and no one would be able to help her. No one. Not Yuuyu, not Itsuka, not Tenya, not Ochako, not …

… not Izuku.

For some reason, as her mind slowly began to fog, she suddenly didn't think about how she was about to die. No, instead, her mind went to her new friend. She felt confused for a moment, thinking of how silly he looked in his hero costume, how cute his reactions were whenever she got too close to him (which was kind of weird - Yuuyu didn't react like that when she got up in her business), of how cool he looked blasting a hole in the head of that zero-pointer, how …

… how nice his smile was through that silly respirator when she told him that it was okay not to use his quirk during their battle trial, and his very nice laugh …

And then Nejire felt herself refocus, and her eyes narrow in determination again.

No. No, she couldn't die here. She wasn't going to die here. She still needed to be bridal carried. She still needed to visit the beach with all her friends. She still had so much she wanted to do. She went her whole life with only Yuuyu for a friend, and when she finally made a bunch of cool new ones, what, she was going to die and leave them because stupid shark villains killed her?! No! 

She was going to hang out with them all the time! They were going to have so much fun! She was going to talk and laugh and play with them, ask Itsuka how big her hands could grow, how long Ochako could float something, how fast Tenya could run! How little Yui could shrink something, how many body parts Setsuna could split apart! She was going …

… she was going to ask Izuku to hug her! And not some little tiny 'yay' hug, a big long one! She wanted him to hug her! She thought that would be nice! Hold his hand, jump in his arms! Yep, sorry, Mezo, his arms looked nice and comfy, but it was going to be Izuku to give her a bridal carry!

And so, Nejire tried her best to clear the fog in her mind, ignore that she couldn't breathe, and slowly twisted her wrists so that they would face upwards. Her eyes slowly closing, Nejire did her best to concentrate as her hands opened back up, and her quirk activated, making the villains choking her gleefully and pinning her to the bottom of the lake look around, and widen their eyes as they started humming with energy - a lot of energy.

After all, this was UA, right? That Plus Ultra stuff? Well, she'd better go Plus Ultra, then.

Full charge ... Nejire closed her eyes, knowing that this was really going to hurt, and then blasted her quirk out, ... output level 100%!


"Ah … so this is Black Hole," Kurogiri mused, his voice wobbling as more of his dark energy was absorbed into Thirteen's finger, "a quirk that sucks up anything it comes across and turns it into dust. I see … this is truly an astounding quirk."

From their position at the top of the stairs, Setsuna gulped nervously as Thirteen continued to absorb more and more of the warp villain's body into the hole in her finger, the five students behind her watching as he warbled in the air. If he found the experience painful he didn't show it, instead merely standing there and curiously watching as his black mist was pulled into Thirteen's finger and vanished. From behind them, Setsuna could still hear the loud shrieks of laughter from the villains below, and stole another nervous glance behind her to see the villains stretching horrifically, or more weapons appearing in their skin, or their muscles bulging menacingly as they charged at Aizawa.

Thankfully, their teacher managed to flip over the several blows being thrown at him, but had to move even faster than before to avoid several sharp hair drills from stabbing through him while he twisted in the air. It looked like his quirk was still capable of erasing the other villains' enhanced abilities, making them keel over briefly as the pain of the quirk booster they just took caught up with them - but Aizawa's attention couldn't stay on one specific person forever, and as soon as he glanced away, the Trigger would return to their system along with their quirks and allowing the villain to get right back up to continue the attack while the villains' leader was content with sitting back against the fountain and watching.

"Tokage!" Tenya quickly reached out to shake her shoulder, making her jump a bit and snapping her out of watching their teacher fight for his life, and back to the bespectacled boy as he glanced between her and the villain they were confronting. "Please, keep focused! I know Aizawa-sensei is in trouble, but you and I need to keep our attention on this villain."

"R-right, sorry, Iida," Setsuna quickly shook her head, looking back around at the warp villain, "I just - yeah."

"Good. I'm going to head towards the door - please remember if I -"

"However, Thirteen," Kurogiri sneered, making Tenya pause his thought and look around at the villain as his yellow eyes stayed on the teacher, "you are a hero who works primarily to rescue people from disasters. And as a disaster relief hero ... you can't measure up to even the most ordinary of heroes when it comes to a fight."

And without warning, a portal appeared in the middle of Kurogiri's body, the villain chuckling slowly as the effects of Thirteen's quirk immediately began absorbing the warp gate and giving Kurogiri the chance to get himself out of its effects. Before any of them could even blink, or realize what he was doing, another warp gate appeared - right behind Thirteen.

"What -?!" Thirteen gasped, looking around in horror as she finally realized what the villain was doing - but the few seconds she had hesitated meant that it was too late to even think of moving out of the way, or stopping her quirk. The effects of Black Hole immediately took effect on her back, making her eyes widen from behind her helmet as her costume - and parts of her back - were ripped off by her own quirk. Quickly, she tried to stop her quirk, feeling the clasp close on her finger - but the damage had been done.

"As I thought," Kurogiri chuckled, watching smugly as Thirteen fell forward, "you now find yourself ripped apart by your own power."

"Thirteen!" Mina cried out for her as the pro hero collapsed on her face, unmoving. Setsuna felt her breath leave in shakes as she hyperventilated, staring down at Thirteen in horror, while Tenya stared incomprehensibly as well, as though completely caught off guard by what had happened and staring blankly down at the unmoving body of their teacher - until he shook his head and felt his engines activate on his legs.

"Damn it!" He cried out, sprinting straight past Kurogiri thanks to the speed of his quirk and towards the door, leaving behind Mina to run to the collapsed Thirteen and try to raise her off the ground. Tilting his head, Kurogiri followed the bespectacled boy's movements, his yellow eyes narrowing as Tenya raced towards the large doors.

"Oh, my dear sweet children," He mused as he vanished from his spot, "it would hardly be to our benefit if I let you outside."

As fast as he could, Tenya raced towards the doors - and then gasped as a warp gate suddenly appeared in front of him, waiting for him to run inside it. It was clear that the villain wasn't going to let him get outside without a fight, and Tenya knew he would be at a disadvantage if he tried to avoid him - racing around him meant that Kurogiri could just open another warp gate beneath his feet and cause him to fall. And Tenya knew that if he didn't make out to the door, then instead …

Quickly, Tenya leapt up into the air, throwing out his leg towards where the villain had appeared to kick him away - only for Kurogiri to chuckle again and vanish before the kick could connect.

"How tragic, Four Eyes," The warp villain taunted, appearing behind Tenya, "you're so impudent. As entertaining as it would be to chase you in circles, I still have a job to do - so let's teleport you to a place you can run to your heart's content. Perhaps the flood zone -"

"No you don't!" Mezo shouted, and leapt out to tackle the villain midair. Kurogiri grunted in surprise as he was wrapped up in the multiple arms of the student, hitting the ground and rolling away as Mezo kept a tight grip on him. Snarling, Kurogiri vanished from the student's grasp, Mezo quickly looking around and letting out a gasp as another tendril of black mist was thrown down towards him, and quickly rolled off to the side before it could slam into him and transport him somewhere else in the USJ.

Kurogiri merely growled at the interference, whipping around to see where Tenya had gone - only to blink in surprise when the young man, instead of running towards the doors, shouted something he couldn't quite make out and raced over to throw another kick at him. Laughing, Kurogiri warped away just in time again, moving back towards the stairs as both Mezo and Tenya charged him - and then he felt something light and sticky attach to his back.

"I knew it!" Hanta pulled back hard on the piece of tape, making Kurogiri stumble with a surprised grunt, "That metal thing's a part of your body, isn't it?! You aren't just mist, you've got something physical hiding in there!"

"You little -!"

With an annoyed growl, Kurogiri threw another tendril of mist at the dark haired boy, making him jump away quickly before he could be hit. Before Kurogiri could continue with the onslaught, however, Mezo quickly threw out his multiple hands, only to gasp in surprise when another warp gate opened and absorbed them. Mezo immediately knew what was about to happen, and quickly withdrew his hands before Kurogiri could close the gate and sever them.

Menacingly, Kurogiri threw more tendrils of darkness at the two boys interfering - only to grunt in surprise and pain as Tenya's leg finally connected with his true body, sending him flailing away to hit the railing of the platform.

As he rose, his yellow eyes narrowing to slits as he glared at the three boys, Kurogiri growled - and yet, he couldn't help but feel like something was off. The boy in glasses had been trying to escape, only to do a complete one eighty and began attacking him at full force. And these two boys were assisting him, keeping him away from the door they'd been trying to get to. This was something that annoyed him, tempting him to just say to hell with it and warp these five students to be torn apart by - 

- wait.

Five students. Three boys, two girls, and Thirteen.

His eyes quickly flickered to where Thirteen had collapsed, seeing the pink-skinned girl kneeling beside her and helping her up with tears in her eyes - but the girl in purple wasn't there.

She wasn't …

And that was when Kurogiri understood. His eyes widening, he quickly whipped around towards the door, and saw Setsuna running as fast as she could towards the large blue doors, sprinting as hard as she could while tears continued to slide down her cheeks from terror.

"Aaaaaah … I see," Kurogiri chuckled, looking at the three panicked boys as they realized that he had caught on to their plan, "you made me concentrate on the one with the obvious speed quirk while the other slipped away. Alas …"

And with that, Kurogiri quickly blasted out a few more tendrils of black mist, making the three boys quickly jump out of the way. While they were distracted he whipped around, ignoring the three boys and focusing on Setsuna, and blasted out several more tendrils of black mist towards her.

Quickly glancing over her shoulder, Setsuna jumped out of the way as the tendrils swept over her, feeling herself continue to hyperventilate now that the villain's attention was entirely on her. And yet, she tried her best to push through the fear and get to the doors - it was up to her to get to the teachers and tell them what was going on, and she wasn't going to let tall, dark and evil over there teleport her away!

"Run, Tokage!" Hanta yelled at her, dodging under another one of the writhing tendrils of black mist to shoot out another piece of tape towards the body of the villain - but Kurogiri was prepared this time, opening another warp gate as the tape sailed through it, and opened another one behind him so that the piece of tape could soar straight at Setsuna's back. Thankfully, she managed to duck in time, dodging and weaving through the energy being thrown at her, years of training with Itsuka and Yui letting her dodge through them easily - but she knew that her biggest problem would be the moment she actually got to the doors.

The large blue doors were thick - which meant that it would take some time for her to get them open, and that meant that she would forced to stay stationary and be at risk of the villain attacking her. Before she could think of a strategy, however, she reached them, and without thinking grabbed the two doors and began to strain with all her might, her sharp teeth clenching together tightly as she tried to pull them open.

And slowly, the doors began sliding open, showing her a look at the harsh wind and lightning flickering and the heavy rain hitting the ground outside.

"I will not -!" Kurogiri growled, blasting out at Setsuna again to teleport her back now that she wasn't moving around - only for another strand of tape to hit his metal brace from behind, and felt Hanta pull with all his might to yank him off his feet. This time Kurogiri wasn't caught off guard, merely being pulled back somewhat, but he was not to be deferred, his yellow eyes narrowing as Setsuna strained to get outside - and as she took one step through the doors, Kurogiri blasted out a particularly large tendril to hit her, knowing that there would be no way for her to get out of the way in time.

With a grunt, Kurogiri threw it down, and Setsuna only had time to look back, her eyes widening in shock and panic, as the warp gate slammed down on top of her.

Tenya, Mezo and Hanta stared in shock and disbelief as the darkness of Kurogiri's quirk slammed straight down on top of their friend, and Mina let out a small squeak of terror from where she was helping Thirteen as Kurogiri pulled his tendril back, Setsuna nowhere to be found.

"Ah ... well, that was dramatic," Kurogiri chuckled to himself, assured in his victory as he opened another warp gate to deposit the fleeing girl and seeing the doors on the other side of the platform slowly begin to close again. "But despite your best efforts, students, there was no way that I … would have …"

He faltered, however, when he opened the warp gate and slowly let the girl back out, his eyes trailing up and then blinking in confusion. He made out her dark boots, her legs, her waist … and then nothing else. As though she had been cut in half, Setsuna's lower body fell out of the portal, landing on its knees before quickly scrambling up and running past the warp villain as he stared at her incomprehensibly.

"What …?" Kurogiri stared in confusion as the lower body of the girl ran to join the other four students and the teacher. Where did the top half of her body -?

And then he quickly realized what had happened. His eyes widening, he quickly looked back around at the closing doors - and saw the top half of the girl floating and streaking away in the harsh rains, but before he could try to open another warp gate, the heavy metal doors closed again with a large BOOM, sealing them back inside - and preventing Kurogiri from chasing her back down, with no way for him to pinpoint her exact location.

It was then that Kurogiri realized that he had lost - there was no way that he could leave the USJ to warp her back, or the children behind him would use that as an opportunity to leave. And if he were to waste time warping them, she would get away and he would be unable to find her. And then ... so that meant ...

"Hm ... how disappointing," He mused, slowly beginning to teleport away, "it appears that I have failed."

With that, the warp villain suddenly vanished into thin air, leaving the four students at the top of the stairs. Quickly snapping out of his shock, Tenya turned and moved down towards Thirteen, kneeling beside the wounded hero as Mina tended to her.

"Thirteen!" He called to her, feeling his heart continue to hammer in his chest from the adrenaline of what had happened. "It's - it's alright now! Tokage managed to get out, she's going to alert the teachers!"

"That's … that's good," Thirteen managed to wheeze, her voice filled with pain as she tried to raise her head up and patted Mina's hand, "but … but don't let your guard down too soon. It's - it's not over yet. Don't leave this platform, a-any of you, for any reason. The villains are - they're still here."

"Of course not," Mezo shook his head as he spoke softly, moving to put his hand on Mina's shoulder to assure her, "we'll -"

BOOM

All the students gasped at the sound of a large explosion, as though something had just gone off somewhere below them. Quickly looking around and praying one of the villains didn't sneak past Aizawa and head up the stairs to attack, they looked down to the rest of the USJ - 

- and then felt their jaws drop at the sight of a massive tidal wave leaving the shipwreck zone and looming menacingly over the USJ.


Honestly, Aizawa wasn't expecting so many terrible things to happen today. An army of villains showing up at their doorstep. Being forced to fight them all in an effort to draw their attention while the students escaped. Those villains taking Trigger, linking this Nine guy to the theft from months ago. He didn't expect those things.

But on top of that, he didn't think he'd have to deal with a goddamn tsunami.

The tall, rising wave of water made everyone in the pavilion freeze in shock, Nine and Slice quickly looking around at it with their eyes widening, and the Trigger villains that had been gleefully attacking the teacher pausing their crazed assaults, either the ones on him or each other, to stare up in surprise. Luckily for Aizawa, he snapped out of it enough to know that it was time to take cover, quickly sprinting away from where he had been kneeling down to dive against the side of the stairs, knowing that it wasn't the most sturdy support but it was better than nothing. Before any of the villains could think to run to cover, the massive wave of water moved down from the shipwreck zone and onto the rest of the USJ, as Nine narrowed his eyes, kept Slice secured next to him, and raised his hand as the water crashed down on them.

FWOOOOOM

The massive wave of water crashed down on the pavilion, carrying everyone away. The Trigger henchmen screamed in panic and rage as they were swept away by the current, unable to fight back as the water dragged them throughout the facility and away from the fight at the pavilion. The hooded man, meanwhile, quickly leapt up at a surprising speed to jump right over the wave, his eyes trailing wildly around to see who had the strength to do that and being disappointed that he couldn't find them, while Nomu merely stood there and took the water head on, being quickly swept away by the water without even trying to fight back, his expression not changing at all. Aizawa grunted as water slammed over the stairs, immediately drenching him, but at least it didn't carry him away or break his protection.

Finally, the tidal wave hit the other end of the facility, and the shipwreck zone was left with barely any water, the titular shipwreck laying on its side away from the zone as water slowly began to rush back to the large hole it had once been in. The water from around the facility just came up to everyone's calves, making the Trigger villains waddle through the water - either to get up and reorganize, or turning their frustration and single-minded rage on each other as they started to fight.

From the fountain, Nine let out a sigh as he looked around, both he and Slice still at their spots near the fountain.

"Hm," He hummed as his eyes narrowed behind the cloak's hood, "that … wasn't one of ours."

"What even was that?" Slice winced as she felt water fill her boot, growling somewhat as she pushed her wet bangs out of her face. "Some kind of explosion quirk? Was that one of the villains in the lake?"

"No," Nine slowly shook his head, feeling his other quirk activate as he slowly turned his yellow eyes to where the lake used to be, "the villains we put in the lake didn't have quirks strong enough to create waves, let alone a tsunami like that. That was one of the students. We underestimated them, Slice … once we're done killing All Might, I want Chimera to go into the lake and find whichever students were in there. If we had more time, we should've found out what their quirks were before we arrived, we would've been able to act accordingly."

"So - wait, you want to take the quirk of whoever just did this?"

"Perhaps," Nine shrugged, raising his hand to look down at the artificial hole created in his palm, "if it's compatible with my body, and doesn't put on too much strain, I can switch it out with -"

THWIP

Before either villain could blink, a gray cloth wrapped tightly around Nine's forearm, and yanked back hard. The villain let out a grunt of surprise as he was pulled suddenly towards Aizawa, the hero sprinting back into the fight from where he had been hidden at the stairs to leap up into the air and throw a kick at the villain's face - only for Slice to move faster, her hair hardening and intercepting the blow. As Aizawa's foot connected to the impromptu shield, the piece of cloth attached to Nine's arm slicing in two, Aizawa was quick to aim his gaze towards the woman, and her hair immediately fell, her quirk erased.

However, he couldn't exactly keep his attention on her, seeing as the moment her hair fell loose, Nine's hand burst through the red locks and wrapped tightly around Aizawa's throat. Choking, Aizawa was surprised when Nine quickly flipped Aizawa over his shoulder in a judo throw, slamming him down into the water and raising his foot to stomp down on the teacher's face while snarling - only for Aizawa to catch his foot and shove up.

As Nine stumbled back, Aizawa twirled on the ground, kicking out the ringleader's other foot and sending him falling back onto the watery ground with a splash. He couldn't quite celebrate that, though, what with Slice's quirk reactivating and turning into sharp, spear-like appendages that stabbed downwards, forcing Aizawa to roll through the water and out of the way before he was impaled.

The moment Aizawa was back on his feet, his eyes snapped to Slice and erased her quirk, but it was clear that wasn't going to put a stop to her this time. As her wet hair fell, she smirked and flexed her fingers, retractable metal claws unsheathing as she slowly raised them to her mouth, taking a small swipe with her tongue.

"Stay back, Nine," Her gaze never left Aizawa as her leader got back to his feet, "I'll handle him."

Aizawa narrowed his eyes, and quickly ducked as Slice came at him much quicker than he expected, the long blades on her fingers nearly missing his face as he moved down. He aimed for a shot at her kidney, balling his fist and throwing it forward, but she was fast, moving to the side and kicking out at Aizawa, catching him in the chest and sending him rolling over his back and onto his hands and knees. With a grunt, Aizawa leapt back up, ducking and blocking her strikes and hits as Nine slowly moved around the duelists, his red eyes studying Aizawa as he slowly raised a hand up towards the glass ceiling.

It was clear that this woman was far more combative than the other henchmen that had been attacking him, Aizawa thought as he threw out another kick and she expertly leaned back to avoid it. She had obvious training, or else had enough experience to put up a fight, kicking at him with a series of moves that put him entirely on the defensive, being forced to duck under her blows and look for an opening. Still, Aizawa decided to remain on the defensive for the moment - for every ten shots that she could connect, there would be the one that she fumbled with, and as long as he was patient and looked out for it, he'd be able to get under her guard and give her a swift take down.

Finally, she made one tiny slip up, probably taking advantage of his going completely on the defensive to wind her foot up in a circle and bring it down on top of his head - something that Aizawa could easily catch, crossing his arms briefly to deflect the blow before quickly twisting his hands to grab her ankle. While her eyes went wide as she realized her mistake, Aizawa grunted as he pushed forward, forcing her to lose her balance - since her foot was up high, she could only support her weight on the other foot still in the water, meaning it would be easy to slam her back into the ground, forcing the air out of her lungs as she gasped.

Straddling her waist, Aizawa threw his fist back, intending to strike her hard enough in the face to knock her out of the fight, and then move on to -

KRACK-BOOM

Aizawa's eyes widened as he heard the extremely loud clash of lightning - and then being swiftly followed by the shattering of glass. Quickly looking up, Aizawa saw the broken pieces of the ceiling window begin to descend upon them, and quickly rolled away from Slice, needing to get out of the way before any of the large pieces could hit or cut him - he really didn't need to lose a limb today from a particuarily large piece of glass. Slice had a similar idea, taking advantage of Aizawa's gaze flickering off her to create a small shield of her hair to protect her.

Rolling to the side, Aizawa winced as pieces of glass slammed into the watery ground and shattered everywhere, breaking and sending glass pieces flying. He winced when one particularly sharp piece barely missed his face, scraping the side of his head and taking out a small chunk of his hair, as he looked back around with fury building in his eyes.

"My apologies for the interruption," Nine chuckled from his spot near the broken fountain, his hand still up in the air, "but I wanted to make sure you didn't hurt my friend there. Hope you don't mind."

Panting, Aizawa went down into a defensive crouch, feeling the rain from the now open roof sprinkling down on them. He knew that Nine was taking advantage of this pause to quickly move to Slice, helping her up to her feet and dusting her off - and then a thought came to him. He wasn't able to use his quirk on Nine at all because of the cloak around him, but the tiny gap at the top for him to see …

As the villain looked back around at him, Aizawa concentrated his gaze on the darkness of his face, and activated his quirk. Sure enough, the rain pouring in around him slowed to a stop.

"So that's you," Aizawa noted, returning his gaze to Slice as she sharpened more spears of hair and feeling the rain resume the moment he looked away from the villain leader, "you're the reason behind this weather - some kind of elemental-manipulation quirk."

"You'd be right about that," Nine conversationally said, patting Slice's lower back and making her smirk as he turned his gaze back to the teacher, "my quirk gives me the ability to control any kind of weather - from storms to summer clouds, to tornadoes to hurricanes. It's quite the useful quirk - I wanted a little atmosphere for this invasion, in addition to being able to keep the teachers from getting here quickly in case they caught word of what was happening, so I thought it'd be nice to overload your generator and create a little scenery."

"And you're the one who stole the Trigger," Aizawa glanced around, seeing the Trigger henchmen continue to brawl with each other before returning his gaze to the leader of the villains, "what, need to amplify your powers a little bit? It's already pretty overkill."

"Oh, no, I'm not the one using the Trigger - or at least, not to that amount," Nine chuckled, gesturing to some of the rampaging villains striking each other, "not to the extent that I would lose control of myself. It's a good way to sway over any weak minded people desperate for a chance at glory - I'm not too fond of employing people with such weak quirks, but I wouldn't get anywhere if I only tried to scout the strong. So I bring in the weak and offer them the chance to become strong. Don't mention this to them, but I'm pretty much going to be throwing them at All Might - they'll only be strong enough to slow him down for the main course."

"'Not to that amount'," Aizawa repeated, narrowing his eyes, "that's what you said. So you are taking Trigger."

"Not to their extent," Nine repeated as he smirked behind his hood, some of his long white hair escaping from beneath it after their little scrimmage, "just enough for me to drown out the pain of my quirk - nothing more than a tiny drop. Few actually know this, but the more Trigger you ingest, the less control over yourself you have, and your mind becomes foggy and your inhibitions harder to control. If we're being technical, I'm actually using a legal dose of Trigger, so I'm quite innocent of that offense. I imagine I'm going to be crashing pretty hard after we're done today, though, but ... it'll be worth it."

Aizawa hummed a bit, taking advantage of the fact his goggles obscured his eyes to blink, getting some moisture back in his eyes as he glanced around. The other hooded man was slowly making his way back over to the fountain after dodging the tidal wave, and the other Trigger villains were too busy raging and fighting each other to really remember what they were supposed to be doing. So maybe this was Aizawa's chance - take down Nine and Slice, and then the hooded man if he tried to attack, and then head back up the stairs to check on Thirteen and whoever -

And that was when Aizawa felt a powerful hand suddenly grab the back of his neck through the scarf, squeezing tightly and making his eyes widen.

"Ah, yes," Nine chuckled darkly, "I was wondering when you'd get back, Nomu."

Slowly, Aizawa turned his head, or the best he could anyway from how the giant hand gripped him, to look over his shoulder to see the monster Nine had brought along, its brain pulsing a bit as it turned its wide, unblinking gaze to him, its beaked mouth stuck in a frozen smile.

"Now then, Nomu, I changed my mind from before," Nine put his hands in his pockets while Slice giggled maliciously, watching as Aizawa began to brace himself in anticipation for what was about to happen, "you'll be in fine condition for when All Might arrives. Until then … let's show Eraserhead here what happens when he fights villains out of his league."

BAM


"RAAAAAAH!"

With a grunt, Itsuka managed to roll underneath the villain's fist being thrown at her face, hearing the sound of rock cracking as it struck the piece of the wall that her head would've been had she not ducked. Rolling back to her feet, Itsuka grew out her hand and slammed it hard into the back of the villain with a yell, smashing him as hard as she could into the wall.

"Kendou!" Ochako called out to her from behind, and Itsuka quickly whipped around, eyes widening at the sight of a villain with mantis claws pulsing all over his body chasing after her, several arms sharpened and ready to strike at her. Ochako was doing a good job of dodging and weaving through his attacks, but she was getting backed up against the wall, with little to no space for her to use her quirk on herself to try and get away - not without losing one of her limbs, at least.

Charging forward, Itsuka yelled to get the mantis villain's attention, using her enlarged hands to slap another Trigger henchman away to get to him. The mantis villain's eyes snapped to her, widening in rage, and quickly turned his attention from Ochako to Itsuka to swipe out at her - a mistake on his part, seeing as him looking away from her completely opened him up. Moving forward, Ochako pressed her hand to his back, taking away his gravity and making him yell in surprise as he began flailing in the air - at least, until Itsuka took advantage of his confusion to punch him away, sending him flying through the air.

"Release!" Ochako quickly pressed her fingers together again, restoring the villain's gravity and dropping him on top of more of the crazed villains circling them. Quickly, she and Itsuka went back to back, looking quickly around at the other Trigger villains hungrily staring at them, as though drooling at the mouth at the thought of attacking him.

This had been their little situation for the last ten minutes or so, the two girls, Momo and Kyouka fighting off the villains after they took the Trigger drug and launched themselves at them with the full intent of tearing them apart. It quickly turned out to be a hopeless fight, Itsuka realized - nothing they were doing was putting them down, only really smacking them away and continuing to move before they could attack. They'd been separated from Momo and Kyouka, Itsuka quickly glancing around and seeing her deputy class representative wack another villain away while Kyouka plugged her earphones into the mics on her legs, sending another blast towards them to knock them off balance while using the machete Momo created for her to hit the villains in the face and send them stumbling back, although they were quick to refocus.

While they fought for their lives, the lead villain, smoking his cigar and leaning against the wall, was content with simply watching smugly as the four girls tried to fight off the crazed villains, and if one of the Trigger henchmen got any bright ideas and attacked him, he'd simply blow his fire breath at them to get them refocused. So at the moment, everyone's attention was on them - which would make escape impossible, and soon enough they'd run out of stamina to keep fighting and be torn apart by the horde.

Thousands of thoughts and plans and counterplans ran through Itsuka's mind as she pressed her back against Ochako's, both girls looking around at the villains as they waited for an opening to jump to. Every plan Itsuka thought of, of either fighting or escaping or running or dodging, would be swiftly countered by the villain leaning against the wall, keeping his rampaging forces focused on them through either shouting or literally throwing them back into the fight if they got distracted.

As both girls attempted to catch their breaths, their eyes trailed over to Chimera, the villain throwing his used cigar away and pulling out another one from his pocket to continue watching the show with interest.

"Not bad, girlies," He chuckled from his spot against the wall, his yellow eyes trailing over to Itsuka and Ochako as they slowly backed up, "I expected you four to die the moment we had our boys here inject the Trigger. You're lastin' a lot longer than I imagined."

"Fuck you," Ochako spat back, not really up for conversing with the villain threatening their lives. For his part, Chimera merely barked out an amused laugh.

"Ha! You got fuckin' stones, girl. Took you for more of the polite, meek one. That mean your pal there's the polite one?"

"Eat shit, asshole."

"Heh!"

While Chimera laughed, Itsuka's eyes flickered around, trying to come up with another plan. Slowly, she glanced between Chimera and Ochako, blinking as she thought of something new - and then she decided to act on the fly.

"Besides, we're not really up to having a discussion with a little coward like you - y'know, unless you wanna get off your lazy ass and fight us ourselves?"

"Kendou?" Ochako muttered quickly, looking back at her in confusion as Itsuka baited the obviously dangerous villain, but the taller girl merely shook her head and glanced back at Ochako with a knowing look in her eye.

"Follow my lead," She muttered, "I wanna try to rile him up."

"This is a stupid plan."

"All my plans are stupid, you should be used to that by now," She was unable to suppress a small smirk at that, and then raised her voice to continue insulting Chimera, who was raising his eyebrow, "Anyway, what's the point of you hiding behind all your Trigger boys while you just sit on your ass? What's the matter, scared of being beat up by girls?"

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded, trying to come across as tough while also shaking like a leaf, "why don't you - uh - get off your butt and get over here? You - you talk an awful lot of shit from someone hiding behind his gang."

"Yeah," Itsuka smirked, "you're right, Uraraka - he sure likes to talk a big game while hiding behind his boys. I think he's afraid."

Chimera continued to study both girls as they taunted him, his gaze flickering between them - and then he chuckled, shaking his head and putting his cigar back in his mouth.

"Sorry, girls," He snorted as he shot out a little fire to light up the cigar, "you two ain't slick. You're gonna have to try a bit harder than that if you want me to tear your heads off. I'm stickin' back just to make sure you four don't get any bright ideas on escapin'. I'd love to kill you myself, believe me - but I got orders."

"From your boss, huh? I think he said his name was Nine on that call, right?" Itsuka continued to try and stall for time, feeling Ochako slowly back up with her as they made their way over to where Momo and Kyouka were still fighting, and subtly tapping the back of Ochako's hand with her finger as her other hand grew out to give the appearance that she was about to start fighting again, keeping the one touching her friend's hand its usual size. "That's a pretty dumb name - is it German?"

Chimera smirked, but still shook his head and straightened up from where he was leaning against the mountain while the other Trigger villains shifted restlessly.

"Sorry, girlie, like I said, you aren't that slick," He grinned menacingly, "you're just stallin' for time. Trying to taunt me into coming over there isn't gonna delay your deaths."

"Oh, no, I'm not delaying," Itsuka lied through her teeth, feeling Ochako's fingers brush against her arm to prepare to float her, "just trying to make a little small talk. I wanna have all the facts before you throw your little druggies at us again."

"DRUGGIES?!" One of the Trigger henchmen bellowed, losing what little patience he had and beginning to charge forward as Ochako tensed, "WHO YOU CALLIN' A DRUGGIE, YOU LITTLE BITCH -?!"

BOOM

Everyone in the small enclosure jumped at the sudden loud explosion, the villains attacking Momo and Kyouka pausing their assault, and quickly looked to their rights - and felt their jaws drop at the sight of a large tsunami rushing in from the lake, rising menacingly over the USJ as it began moving towards the other side of the facility. Everyone stared in shock and incomprehension at the sight, Chimera's smirk falling as he stared in wide-eyed realization and anger, while even Itsuka froze at the sight of the large wave approaching them - 

- at least, until Ochako's hand grabbed her arm, all five fingers pressing into her bicep, and Itsuka felt her weight leave her.

"Wha -?" She looked around in confusion as she began to float in the air, but Ochako was quicker, sprinting through the crowd of villains and shoulder-checking one out of the way as she ran towards Momo and Kyouka, taking advantage of the distraction. She quickly slapped a hand to Momo's shoulder, and then Kyouka's arm, and then to her own leg, and with a grunt, she kicked off the ground, looking around to Itsuka with a look of desperation and panic.

"Grab Yaoyorozu and Jirou!"

"R-right!"

Itsuka quickly snapped out of her confusion, knowing what Ochako was doing, and grew out both her hands to reach out and grab Kyouka and Momo, both girls shaking themselves out of their own moments of panic and shock. Thanks to Ochako kicking off the ground, they were propelled further up into the air than they expected, but the villains were also shaking themselves out of their surprise at the tsunami approaching them.

Quickly looking around to where their targets vanished, they snarled at the sight of them hovering in the air, prepared to use their overpowered quirks to reach out at them as one villain with a skull mask threw his hand back, electricity curling along his arm to throw at them - 

- which Chimera immediately noticed, his eyes widening in realization and horror, and he was quick to leap up onto the mountain and out of the path of the tsunami as water crashed down hard on them.

As the waves washed the villains away to slam against the end of the mountain zone, they shrieked in agony as the electricity from the Trigger henchman's quirk surged through the water, giving them all a nasty shock as they were shoved unceremoniously against the wall. As they attempted to crawl out of the water, however, they were interrupted by the villains from the lake suddenly joining them, one of the shark villains slamming hard into another from the mountain zone and sending them flailing through the water. It was thankful that they were hopped up on Trigger at the moment, or the electricity in the water probably would've done a good job in cooking them alive.

On his perch on the mountain, Chimera snarled at the sight of the Trigger henchmen not being where they were supposed to be, and the sight of his troops being pushed back by the waves and electrocuted as the four girls hovered safely in the air. Turning his gaze to them, he grimaced slightly, barring his teeth.

"You wanted me to fight you?" He growled. "Fine! Have it your way!"

With a grunt, he leapt up from his perch and onto the mountain, grabbing a large boulder and hefting it up with the natural strength he got from his appearance. Growling, Chimera leapt into the air, and threw the rock as hard as he could at the four girls to knock them out of the air. Luckily for them, Momo saw it coming from a mile away, her eyes widening, and she quickly used her bo staff to hit the mountain beside them to push them out of the way of the boulder, letting it fall back into the electrified water below.

Unluckily for them, that was what Chimera was aiming for - since they were slow in the air even as they continued to ascend, Kyouka gulping nervously at the height they were gaining, it made it easy for Chimera to leap up and grab Itsuka by the ankle, all four girls grunting in surprise at as his weight, in contrast to their lack of weight, began to drag them down.

"Ah!" Itsuka cried in pain as Chimera yanked on her leg, the villain growling as he gripped her ankle tightly, and Kyouka's eyes narrowed in rage as she threw her machete back.

"Let go!" She yelled, and threw the machete forward to chop at Chimera's shoulder - the blade was dull, so it would just hurt and shock him rather than slice him - but before she could hit him, Chimera's snake tail suddenly shot out, wrapping around her neck and squeezing tightly. Kyouka's eyes bulged as her oxygen was cut off, the hand holding the machete clenching and dropping it into the water below.

Momo saw what was happening below her, her eyes widening and her mouth twisting into a snarl unbefitting of a lady of her stature, and raised her heeled boot to kick Chimera directly in the eye. The beastman snarled, but was undeferred, continued to drag them down with his weight towards the water - at least, until Itsuka kicked him straight in the throat with her other foot, making him gag slightly as he let go of the girls on reflex.

His tail quickly released its grip from Kyouka's throat, making her gasp in relief as her airway was cleared, and the four girls watched as Chimera dropped down from them, hitting the top of the mountain and bouncing off before he managed to dig his claws into the rock of the mountain, slowly sliding to a stop just before he hit the electrified water.

"You - you okay, Jirou?" Itsuka winced, biting her lip from the pain in her ankle.

"I'm - *cough* *cough* - I'm fine," Kyouka cleared her throat, wincing at the red mark around her neck, "just - fuck."

"Don't just stand there!" Chimera roared at his henchmen below them, watching as they managed to finally crawl out of the electrified water while leaving some behind to writhe, "Get them back down here! And shove them into the water! Give them a taste of their own medicine!"

Itsuka shook at the sight of one of the villains managing to drag himself out of the water, climbing the wall with reckless rage, sending the small bounders down to hit the other villains, all of them grunting as the large rocks sent them back into the water. It was clear that they were pretty much out of their minds, not even considering their partners' safety as they tried to get out of the water; if they weren't careful, they might bury themselves under all the - 

- wait. Itsuka's eyes widened, quickly looking back around at the tallest mountain in the zone. It certainly was no Mt. Fuji, but it was large enough that … and there was enough rock to …

… that was it!

"I've got it!" She quickly looked back up at Ochako, seeing her straining to support the three girls clinging to her as they floated above the water, "We've gotta bury them under the mountain!"

"Bury them - wait, what?!"

"They're strong, but they aren't strong enough to dig themselves out if we drop a freaking mountain on top of them! They're getting hurt by the electric water, so that means they aren't invincible!"

"And how the hell are we supposed to do that?!" Kyouka looked at her class representative like she had gone insane, which wasn't completely unfair. "We might be able to dodge it if we got Uraraka's quirk on us, but - but my quirk isn't strong enough to break apart a freaking mountain!"

"Don't even think of asking me to try and float it," Ochako threatened, already looking pretty sick at the moment, "or I'll puke all over you out of spite."

"And any cannon I may create will lack the firepower to create an avalanche," Momo shook her head, glancing down fearfully at all the villains continuing to try and climb out of the water, and getting ready to drag them back into the onslaught, "we're running out of time - perhaps there's a way for us to get out of here quickly?! Perhaps if I make a propeller -"

As the three girls quickly began making plans to escape while they had the small opportunity to do so, Itsuka sighed as she cursed herself, shaking her head as she glanced back up at the mountain. They did have a point - they could use the mountain to their advantage, but they seriously lacked the firepower to go through with Itsuka's plan. Kyouka's quirk wouldn't be enough to shatter it, anything Momo could create might make a dent but not be enough to punch through, and asking Ochako to float the entire damn thing was out of the question.

Hell, it was unlikely that anyone in their class could go through with her plan! Nobody in the damn school could! The only person who would have the power to destroy a mountain would be - 

- would be - 

- All Might.

Itsuka slowly blinked, staring blankly at the mountain for a moment, before her gaze turned to her own hands, still holding Kyouka and Momo safely above the electrified water and the villains scrambling out of it. Slowly, the gears in her head began moving, with her gaze flickering between the mountain and her hand.

All Might could destroy the mountain. She'd watched videos of him taking on villains the size of buildings for years, saw how easily he took them down with a single punch. An entire mountain … he could probably destroy it easily, and send it down to bury these villains. He could do that by using … by using his quirk.

By using One for All.

And One for All … it was now hers.

Slowly, Itsuka felt a plan begin to form in her mind, staring between her hand, the mountain, and her three friends floating there and trying to come up with escape plans in their panic. This was going to be … well, it was going to be chaotic, for one. She'd definitely need Ochako's help, and … and she did remember what All Might said about telling Izuku and Ochako about One for All when she felt ready … but this was going to be …

… no. She didn't have time to second guess herself. They needed to get to safety. She'd deal with the consequences later.

"I can destroy the mountain."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking back down at Itsuka as she continued to have her arms underneath hers to keep them in the air, "What'd you say, Kendou?"

"I'll destroy the mountain," She looked back up at Ochako, giving her a good look at the incredibly nervous but determined look on her face as she glanced between her classmates, "I have a plan, I'll make the avalanche. Just - listen for a second."

"I - but Kendou -"

"Uraraka, we don't have time. Just - listen to me, okay?"

The four girls glanced between each other - it was clear that Kyouka and Momo had their doubts, and Ochako was obviously wondering how on earth Itsuka was supposed to make an entire mountain collapse - but then they all nodded, deciding to trust in their class representative, while Kyouka clearly still thought she was insane but decided to keep that thought to herself. Itsuka glanced between them all, feeling her lips thin - what she was about to do was risky, especially doing it in front of Ochako, but at this point they had little to no choice.

"Uraraka," She glanced back up at her friend, "I'll probably need you to come with me and help me get out of the way of the mountain when it collapses. It's, uh … probably going to be really violent, so we'll need to haul ass."

"R-right. Actually - uh -" Ochako's eyes flickered up, glancing around the terrain of the mountain zone, before her eyes settled on a small trench near the entrance of the zone, beside a chasm, and nodded, "- yeah, I'll know where to go. Leave it to me."

"Great. Yaoyorozu, Jirou, you guys stay here and distract the villains. Once I - y'know - Uraraka will probably have to release her quirk at some point, so while you're here, create something that'll either keep you in the air long enough for those guys to get buried, and not bury yourselves. Once I start the avalanche, we'll probably all need to book it."

"I'm … still really doubtful of this plan," Kyouka pointed out while Itsuka sighed and nodded.

"So am I, but at this point, I don't think we have much choice. I'll buy you guys lunch when this is all over."

"That's fine by me."

"Very well," Momo nodded, glancing down to start growing a small flare gun from her stomach just to be safe as the villains continued to try climbing out of the water, and also starting to grow out a small parachute, "in any case, Kendou - we'll begin on your command."

"Right. Well - uh - no time like the present, I guess," Itsuka shrugged, making sure Kyouka was holding onto Momo before letting both of them go and shrinking her hands back to normal size, the rocker girl quick to wrap her earphone jacks around Momo's arm to keep them together. Once the four girls were separated into two groups, Itsuka quickly moved up to wrap one of her arms around Ochako's shoulders, Ochako wrapping her other one around her waist. "Alright, Uraraka - are you ready to do this thing?"

"Uh … not really."

"Neither am I. But wanna do it anyway?"

"I guess!"

Nodding, Itsuka quickly raised her hand to the nearest pile of rocks, letting out a small sigh to try and hype herself up, and then smacked against it as hard as she could. Without their weight, both girls were pushed forward towards the tallest mountain, not at too quick a speed but enough to gain the crazed villains' attention as they sped away.

"THEY'RE ESCAPIIIIIIIING!" One villain screeched, his jaw widening to horrifying levels. "STOOOOP THEEEEEEEEM!"

As they streaked through the sky, Ochako gulped nervously as she glanced backwards at the villains, all of them quickly trying to chase after them while avoiding the electrified water, while Momo and Kyouka attempted to keep their attention on them by firing the flare guns. At this point, she wasn't too sure what exactly Itsuka had in mind as they moved closer and closer to the bottom of the tallest mountain, but if her friend said that she had a plan, then she had a plan.

Still though, maybe it would be better to know what exactly Itsuka was planning to do to cause a goddamn avalanche - her hands were strong, of course, but not that strong. Wrinkling her brow, Ochako turned to look at her and ask that question, her mouth opening - 

- only for her to falter when she saw Itsuka slowly nodding and closing her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Okay …" She exhaled, continuing to keep her eyes closed as she grimaced slightly, as though hyping herself up for something unpleasant - and then she threw out the hand that wasn't currently wrapped around Ochako's shoulders, balling it into a tight fist. Ochako felt more and more confused as they streaked closer to the mountain, hearing the villains shrieking and demanding their blood behind them as she wondered what the hell her friend was doing - and then she suddenly felt what could only be described as an electric jolt, making her gasp somewhat in surprise.

It hadn't hurt much, but it had almost been like she had been electrocuted by Izuku's quirk.

Crinkling her brow, she turned her gaze back to Itsuka, feeling more confused by the second as the orange-haired girl clenched her teeth tightly - and then she heard the sudden sound of something ripping. Quickly looking around her, Ochako blinked as the glove Itsuka wore on her hand suddenly ripped apart - and then, before Ochako could even blink, Itsuka's skin began glowing.

As in, her skin began glowing a bright yellow color, slowly crawling down her arm as she reared her fist back. The straps of her elbow guard burst apart, sending it falling behind them as they streaked closer and closer to the mountain, and began pulsing down the rest of her arm and into her bicep. Ochako's jaw dropped open as glowing red lines of energy suddenly lined Itsuka's arm like veins, and her hand began growing again, probably thanks to her quirk - but this time, it was pulsing with energy and humming with flickers of teal electricity.

Now, usually Ochako could roll with the punches pretty well - having Izuku as a best friend for years, she didn't get too surprised by weird quirk stuff. But this unexpected development, on the other hand, merely brought to mind three tiny yet meaningful words in her crashing brain.

"What the fuck?" She squeaked quietly.

"Okay …" Itsuka breathed through her nose, speaking through her clenched teeth as she threw her fist back, "... clench my butt and yell -!"

… clench her what now?

BAM

Ochako flinched as Itsuka suddenly threw her fist forward, quickly looking around and squeaking when she realized that they had just arrived at the base of the mountain - just in time for Itsuka's enlarged, energy-filled fist to directly strike it.

The moment her fist connected to the rock, a large crack shot out from the blow, streaking all the way up the mountain and making Ochako's jaw drop even more - and then a large burst of wind suddenly blasted out from the point Itsuka had punched the rock, making both girls yell in surprise (and in Itsuka's case, pain as well) as they were blasted through the air by the force of the punch - and fast.

"Uraraka!" Itsuka cried out as best she could as they were sent spinning through the air, agonizing pain ripping up her arm as they rolled in circles. "Release!"

"R-right!"

Shaking her head to get herself out of her shock, Ochako did as best she could to ignore the dizzying feeling of spinning around too fast, her mouth puffing slightly as she fought to keep her lunch down, and brought her fingers together. At once, their weight was restored - just in time for the mountain to break apart, and several pieces of rock began to rain down on the mountain zone. 

They could hear the screams of panic and rage from the Trigger henchmen below, but at that point, it didn't matter - they had their own problems to deal with. As in the fact that they were falling towards the ground, and falling fast.

As quickly as she could, Itsuka grew out her other hand, the one that didn't feel like there were several knives repeatedly stabbing it, and brought it down beneath their falling bodies to soften their fall, wincing in anticipation and knowing that this was going to hurt. And sure enough, once they reached the edge of the second mountain, Itsuka screamed in pain as the back of her glove was scraped off at once, rock shredding the back of her hand somewhat. Ochako immediately panicked at the scream, though, grabbing Itsuka with both hands and floating her before slapping a hand to herself, and both of them tumbled down the mountain towards the chasm - and doing so at such dangerous speeds that there wasn't any way they weren't going to crash.

Twisting them in the air and hugging Itsuka to her, Ochako quickly glanced behind her, sweat flying off her brow - the mountain that Itsuka had just destroyed was crumbling in all directions, meaning that there were a lot of large boulders continuing to crumble menacingly after them, threatening to bury them just like they were probably burying the villains right now. And since Itsuka was still in such obvious pain, that meant that it was up to Ochako to get them to safety - behind that trench that she had seen.

As they awkwardly floated down the side of the mountain, Ochako winced a bit, knowing that this was going to hurt either way, and released her quirk again. Her stomach clenched painfully, but she managed to keep her nausea down as she quickly floated Itsuka again and hugged her tightly to keep them together, and soon, her feet finally met the rocky terrain and began to slide down.

Pretty much immediately, Ochako heard something break in her boots, and winced when she was almost thrown on her back as the heels of her boots broke off, the springs snapping in two as she lost her balance - but thankfully, due to the speed they were heading down, they were almost at the bottom of the small chasm, a large hole that would probably lead all the way down - and bury them with the mountain crumbling behind them.

With a yell of exertion, Ochako leapt across the large hole, desperately praying that they had enough momentum to make it - and thankfully, they did! Albeit with Ochako narrowing landing on the other side, hitting her butt against the cliffside and making both girls cry out as they tumbled and rolled over each other, grunting as they fell into the small trench and finally came to a stop. At the sound of the mountain continuing to collapse behind them, though, Itsuka acted immediately, leaping over and covering Ochako's body with her own as she grew out her still good hand, albeit with the back of it bloody and painful, to cover them just in case.

Luckily, it ended up not being necessary - the chasm they had barely jumped over was apparently deep enough for the landslide to quickly roll into and fill the small hole, preventing the two girls from being buried under the mountain. After what seemed like an eternity of smashing rocks and collapsing cliffs, silence finally fell on the mountain zone, the small sound of pebbles falling being the only thing they heard as dust from the destroyed mountain covered the zone and gave Itsuka and Ochako a bit of cover as they both finally registered that they had survived that.

"You … you okay?" Itsuka grunted, attempting to sit up and get off of Ochako as the smaller girl clung to her - and then winced at a searing pain in her right arm. Glancing down at it almost made her double over, feeling her stomach clench painfully at the sight - her entire arm was a dark purple color, and the pain was almost enough to make her pass out. But still, she tried to push the pain aside so she could focus on her friend.

Ochako was still clinging to Itsuka in a hug, and Itsuka wished she could embrace her back, both to comfort her and comfort herself as she slowly winded down from all the adrenaline of the past ten minutes or so - but her one good, enlarged hand was still covering them as though expecting more large rocks to crush them. Quickly shrinking the hand back down to normal size, she moved her hand to the back of Ochako's head as she sat them up, Itsuka up on her knees and Ochako sitting down as the smaller girl shook in her embrace.

"We - we almost died," Ochako muttered, seemingly finally realizing it as she raised her head off Itsuka's shoulder to stare her in the face, looking immensely shaken and shocked, "we - we almost got crushed."

"Y-yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, grunting slightly as she put her bad arm back down and winced in pain, and quickly moved her head to look around at the landslide she had just created. Both girls went silent for a few moments, Ochako's hands clenching Itsuka's shoulder and side, and it wasn't too painful that Itsuka wanted her to let go, her good hand continuing to absently hold the back of Ochako's head.

And then Ochako let out a high-pitched, panicked giggle, making Itsuka look around at her in alarm as she doubled over in laughter.

"We - we almost died," She repeated through a wheeze, letting out a few more panicked giggles as reality slowly caught up with her. Itsuka stared at her in shock for a moment, taken entirely aback - and then she snorted, and was unable to stop herself in joining Ochako in her little gigglefest, both of them doubling over in nervous laughter as the hectic events of the last few minutes caught up with the both of them.

After a few more seconds of intense, wheezing laughter, Itsuka managed to calm herself down a bit, fighting down the urge to continue her nervous breakdown, and looked back up at Ochako as she fought down her own giggles. She could still feel her heart hammering in her chest, her head feeling light and the pain from her arm making her feel dizzy and nauseous, probably as queasy as Ochako was feeling right now after turning her quirk on and off repeatedly - 

- but at that moment, when Ochako opened her round, brown eyes to look up at her with that smile, she temporarily forgot all that.

The pain in her arm, the fear from everything that was happening at the USJ, her fear for where Izuku might be, what Ochako might think of her using an entirely different quirk all of a sudden - all of it forgotten as she stared at Ochako, her mouth dropping open slightly and her heart skipping a small beat.

And, without even pausing to think or consider what she was about to do, Itsuka tightened the hand she had in Ochako's hair, taking a deep breath, and then drew Ochako to her, slamming her lips against hers.

"Mmmph?!" Ochako only squeaked a bit in surprise, her eyes widening and a massive blush exploding on her cheeks as she realized what was happening, staring blankly at Itsuka as she closed her eyes tightly and kissed her harder - and then she felt her eyelids slowly lower, feeling her shock and surprise at the feeling of Itsuka's lips on hers blow away, and then she closed her eyes and tried to answer Itsuka back as best she could, bringing one of the hands she had clenched on her friend's shoulder up to hold her cheek.

For a moment in the shadow of the landslide they had just created, Itsuka and Ochako shared their long, awkward kiss, both of them humming against each other's lips as they briefly forgot where they were, Itsuka's hand holding the back of Ochako's head while Ochako snaked her arms around her neck to draw them closer. It wasn't a perfect kiss, of course - their mouths were open a bit too wide, Itsuka had no idea what she was doing with her tongue, let alone how awkwardly it was moving against Ochako's own, and Ochako knew that she was drooling a bit, a bit of spit escaping her mouth and dripping down her chin.

But at the moment, to them, it felt perfect.

And then they suddenly heard the sound of lightning striking out somewhere in the USJ, and jumped apart in surprise, eyes opening wide to look around in alarm.

Quickly, they looked around, Ochako over her shoulder, to see the glass roof of the conflagration zone explode in a large blast of green electric energy, almost striking the now open roof of the USJ itself and sending the loud clash of thunder rumbling throughout the entire facility.

But neither of them panicked - because they recognized that green electricity, and saw, in the small hole that had just been created by the blast, a small shape bursting through and back out into the facility.

"Deku," Ochako muttered, round eyes following the small shape as it flew back down to the ground floor of the USJ - and then she felt her strength return to her. It was clear that this wasn't over yet, and their friends were still in danger. They needed to get back to the pavilion and help them out.

Taking a deep breath, Ochako turned to look back at Itsuka, about to ask if she was in a good enough condition to fight with her broken arm - 

- and then both girls looked each other right in the eye, and it finally seemed to register how close their faces were, with Ochako's nose bumping slightly against Itsuka's. And that, right about when, was about the time it finally came to both of them what they just did.

Honestly, it was rather impressive to see how fast and how bright red both girls became when reality finally settled in for both of them. They both blushed a bright red that would make Izuku proud, Ochako's jaw dropping with an audible POP and Itsuka's entire head looking like it was on fire, the orange of her hair perfectly matching the explosion of heat on her face.

"I - uh - eugh -" Ochako stammered out.

"You - we - I - uh -" Itsuka shook.

"We just - uh -"

"Yeah - I - er -"

"Kendou! Uraraka! Are you both down there?!"

Squeaking at the sound of a familiar voice coming towards them, both girls leapt apart from where they had been hiding, Ochako scuttling back on her hands and feet and Itsuka straightening up fridgedly from where she knelt, and both girls immediately whipped their gazes away from each other, so flustered they couldn't even look at each other as Ochako automatically raised a hand to wipe her mouth.

"There you are!" Momo gasped as she moved around a large boulder with Kyouka, both girls quickly and carefully running down the landslide to join their other two classmates, "We - we managed to move over top the landslide, the villains are - they're down! We're alright now."

"You two - oh shit -" Kyouka cursed as she tripped over a rock, "- you two okay? I heard weird noises coming from -"

"We're fine!" Ochako squeaked, a little too fast as she got up on her hands and knees. "We're - we're a-okay. Except - uh -"

"N-no, Uraraka's right, we're - ah!" Itsuka tried to get up as well, only for her to put some weight on her sprained ankle and collapse at once, wincing in pain.

"Kendou! Are you - oh, goodness!" Momo gasped as her gaze flickered to Itsuka, a hand whipping up to cover her mouth. "Your arm!"

"H-huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking back down at - oh, yep, and there came the pain again, she'd almost forgotten about it. "Agh! Oh, fuck, I - ow! Fuck!"

"Oh, fucking hell," Kyouka gagged slightly, staring down in horror at Itsuka's bruised arm as the orange-haired girl hit her good hand against the rock as Itsuka shouted in both pain and frustration, and the rocker girl had to quickly look away before she pulled an 'Ochako' and threw up.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Momo to create a few bandages and wrappings, jumping down into the small trench to wrap them carefully around Itsuka's arm in a makeshift sling so it was at least not dangling and hurting her even more. Once Itsuka's arm was secure, she and Ochako, who was still quite red but trying to get over her fluster to focus, helped Itsuka carefully to her feet, the orange-haired girl wobbling slightly and wincing when she put her right foot down.

"Agh - god, I think that asshole sprained my ankle too," She shook her head, looking back around at the two girls who had just arrived, "so - so you said that all the villains are down?"

"Yeah," Kyouka nodded, still not looking around at Itsuka's arm in fear of barfing as she jumped down into the trench with them, "I listened in, they're all buried underneath the mountain. They're still hopped up on that drug, so they aren't crushed. Just - y'know, pinned."

"Good," Itsuka slowly nodded, taking a deep breath as she looked back around to the rest of the facility, "couldn't have happened to nicer guys. Once this is all over, someone can help dig them out. In any case, let's -"

BOOM

Above them, they heard the sudden sound of rock blasting apart, and automatically, all four girls quickly went down into a crouch behind their small cover, eyes wide and hearts hammering in their chests as a familiar fist slowly rose from beneath the rubble above them. With rock continuing to smash apart, they heard a familiar roar, and Chimera rose up from where he had been buried by the landslide, yellow eyes bright with rage as he quickly looked around.

"Seriously?!" Kyouka whispered, shaking a bit, "This asshole dug himself out of all that?!"

"Shhh!"

Luckily, it didn't seem like he had noticed that they were relatively close to him, Chimera looking around in anger before he slammed his fist against the mountain he had been buried under in rage, and quickly crawled out of the hole, relatively unharmed aside from his clothes being ripped up. Before any of them could even blink, he suddenly leapt down from his spot on the mountain, not even noticing them as he landed near the entrance of the zone, and began to sprint through the exit and back into the facility.

"Crap!" Ochako gasped as they watched him flee, sitting up from her spot, "Is he trying to escape?!"

"No," Itsuka shook her head, her eyes narrowing as the heteromorph villain left their sight, "he's probably running back to the pavilion. I bet that's where his boss is right now."

"Then - then we should follow him," Momo nodded, straightening up from where she had been kneeling to hide, and continuing to glare after the fleeing villain, "and ensure that he doesn't end up going into any other zone. Our classmates may still be scattered around … they don't need him to join their assault."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, getting up, "let's handle Ochako's shoes, and then we can get going."

"Huh? My shoes - oh. Right."

It didn't take long for Momo to make a pair of sneakers for Ochako to slip into after she had pulled off her broken boots and tossed them away, and together, the four girls ran out of the mountain zone, slowing down a little bit so that Itsuka wasn't putting too much pressure on her sprained ankle. As they discreetly began following the villain through the small forest surrounding the pavilion, Kyouka stole a small glance at Itsuka, and blinked a bit.

"Hey, Kendou," She poked the class rep's good shoulder to get her attention, "you got some drool on the side of your face."

Itsuka blinked for a moment in confusion, raising her hand to the side of her mouth - and then quickly went red, whipping her gaze away to wipe at her face with the back of her good hand, and prayed that it was her spit she just wiped away.


About five minutes earlier, Izuku took a deep breath as he made sure Yosetsu's quirk was working properly on him, trying to pull his hand back. Lo and behold, to his relief, the palm of his hand was securely welded to Pony's shoulder, the smaller girl looking behind him and blinking somewhat in surprise that it didn't really hurt to have his entire hand welded securely to his back.

"Okay … I'm gonna hop up now, Tsunotori. Are you ready?"

"One sec -" She bent her knees slightly, moving her arms behind her in preparation, "- okay! Go ahead, Midoriya-san."

"Alright …" With a small grunt, Izuku hopped up, blushing a bit in embarrassment as Pony grabbed his thighs and hefted him up into a piggy-back position, his one hand welded onto her shoulder to make sure he didn't slip off. Once Pony was comfortable with his weight, Yosetsu went to work immediately, lifting Izuku's leg out of the girl's grasp to secure against her side before welding it to her hip, and them moving to the other side to do the same to the other leg so Pony would have her hands free.

"Is that comfortable, Midoriya?" He asked as he pressed the other boy's knee to Pony's side.

"One sec …" Izuku stretched out the arm he still had the Full Gauntlet on, moving his arm around above Pony's head, then behind them, then to the sides, before nodding in satisfaction and relief. "... okay, I've got full mobility. I think we're good to go whenever you're ready, Awase."

"Yeah, we better hurry," Yosetsu glanced nervously near the edge of the roof he had been peeking behind to look at the villains in the flaming city below, "those freaks are heading our way, it won't be long before they find us."

"Alright, then," Izuku nodded, gesturing for the bandana-wearing boy to get moving, "in that case, once you're welded onto Tsunotori, we can get going with the plan. This is - well, it's definitely gonna suck, but right now it's the only idea I've got."

"It's the only idea any of us have right now," Yosetsu shrugged, moving over to Pony and blushing a bit in embarrassment as she easily lifted him into her arms, carrying him in a bridal position, "so I'm not exactly gonna complain."

Quickly, as soon as Pony was comfortable carrying him, he pressed his hand against Pony's arm, which was currently pressed to his back, and welded the two of them together, before moving down and welding the arm she had under his knees. Once he was securely welded to her, Pony took a small step forward, grunting a bit from the weight of both boys she was supporting, but they had completed the first step to their plan - making sure that none of them could be separated from each other, Izuku on Pony's back and Yosetsu in her arms, as the smaller girl made her way over to where her two floating horns were waiting for her to step on.

"You got the horn I lent you, Awase-kun?" She asked the boy in her arms as he nodded, wincing a bit as he withdrew the horn and stared down at the pointed end.

"Yeah, I just … really hope I don't have to stab anyone with this thing."

"Well, it's just to be - ergh - safe," She grunted as she slowly shuffled over to the horns, sweating a bit in exertion, "jeez, you two are heavier than my mamma."

"Er … you've carried your mother before?"

"I can carry everyone in my family! My parents, my older brothers, my younger sisters, my cousins, my aunts, my uncles, my grandparents! I'm super strong. Just … y'know, two people at the same time is … kinda ridiculous."

"Don't worry," Izuku awkwardly patted the shoulder his other hand wasn't welded to, blushing a bit due to how close he was clinging to the smaller girl, "we'll just need to get out of here and back onto the ground, and then Awase'll unweld us. You … can unweld us once we're down, right?"

"Oh, yeah, that won't be a problem."

"G-great. In that case, Tsunotori - whenever you're ready, we can get going."

"Okey-dokey, Midoriya-san. This is - well, I'm gonna have to start a bit slower than before because of all our weight, but you guys need to tell me if we're gonna slip off my horns, because I might not notice until it's too late."

"Right! Sounds good, Tsunotori."

Pony nodded, and at last the three of them stopped near the two floating horns, waiting for them to jump on. There was a brief moment where the three of them tried to hype themselves up for what they were about to do, taking a slow, deep breath - and then Yosetsu muttered, "Y'know, if, uh - if there's anything that any of us wanna get off our chests before we do this - y'know, because I think there's a good chance we all might die - we should do it now."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... I stole Occhan's pudding cup back in fifth grade and blamed it on her dad. I still have nightmares of what might happen if she finds out."

"I got ten bandanas just like this one back home. I pretend that they're all different when someone at school asks, but they're all the same. I'm embarrassed if anyone ever finds out."

"I spent all of our battle trials a few days ago looking at everyone's butts. Midoriya-san, you don't have the best bootie in class, but it's definitely up there."

There was a small pause, and then Izuku wrinkled his brow.

"Uh … Tsunotori, did you say my name somewhere in there?"

"Nope," Pony lied as naturally as she breathed, pretending the redness on her face was due to the heat of the zone, "you're imaginin' things, Midoriya-san . And one more thing -" She grunted as she carefully stepped onto her floating horns, both boys gulping as they wobbled awkwardly in the air before Pony managed to secure herself, her large eyes narrowing in determination, "- you both should call me Pony!"

"..."

"..."

"... awkward time to ask that? Okay, we'll try again after we're not dead. But I want you guys to call me by my first name!"

And with that, and no more time to waste, Pony began flying off of the rooftop, leaning her upper body forward to direct herself to where she wanted to go. Izuku gulped as his hand tightened its grip on her shoulder, believing that Yosetsu did successfully secure his body to her but not wanting to take any chance of making her fall off her flying horns, and leaned forward with her. Finally, the three of them flew away from their hiding spot on the roof and towards the ground.

At once, the Trigger henchmen still wildly looking around for them spotted the three flying teenagers - Pony had said that they'd be off to a slow start, and it wouldn't be hard to spot the big, awkward lump flying awkwardly in the sky. At the sound of roars of rage and exhilaration, Izuku took a shuddering breath, but tried to remain calm as he spotted Mummy within the crowd, the one villain who didn't take the Trigger looking around at them as he directed more of his mummy-creations like some kind of puppeteer.

"Ah, there you three are, at last," The villain smirked beneath his wrappings before turning towards his other henchmen, "knock them out of the sky."

With savage screams, the Trigger henchmen launched themselves at the teenagers, using their newfound strength thanks to the booster to fly through the air at them - but Pony, at least, was experienced with flying with her hooves, or at least confident enough to know what she was doing even with all the extra weight. 

Quickly, she leaned to the side, all three of them letting out small worried noises as they just barely missed one of the henchmen lunging at them and the blasts of fire being sent towards them by the villains' enhanced quirks, and then Pony launched herself back up as another series of stretched out hands tried to grab at them from another villain, one of the hands reaching for Yosetsu's face to drag them down to their deaths - 

- only for the bandana-wearing boy to grab the horn that Pony had leant him earlier in his pocket, and stabbing it directly into his palm, wincing in sympathy as the villain howled in pain and withdrew the hand back down to him to grab in agony.

"HE STABBED ME! YOU LITTLE FUCK!"

"Hold on, guys!" Pony warned as she tilted her body downwards into a dive, screwing her eyes almost closed in concentration. Yosetsu was unable to suppress a small scream of panic as they suddenly shot down towards the ground, Izuku wincing at the heat hitting his eyes but trusting Pony to know what she was doing as she dive-bombed the Trigger henchmen. They shrieked in rage and almost began to charge - at least, until they suddenly lost their balance, as though an earthquake was suddenly shaking the facility.

As they tried to regain their balance, Pony gulped as her hair blew back, some of the villains stable enough to try and reach for her - only for her to swiftly change her position back upwards, making the villains stumble in their step and trip when she moved abruptly out of the way.

"There - now we -"

"Tsunotori!" Izuku called from his back, his voice panicked. Pony was quick to turn her head in his direction when she was called - and then squeaked as she was forced to roll in the air to avoid the red wrappings being sent towards them at alarming speeds, moving like snakes in the air as Mummy sent them after the teenagers.

"Sneaky little ones, aren't you?" He chuckled, his yellow eyes widening slightly in delight, "Don't worry … I'll make marvelous creations out of all three of you."

"Dive!" Izuku instructed his classmate, pushing his body somewhat into Pony's to make her dive down in the air to avoid the tendrils of cloth. Yosetsu continued to swear up a storm as they were forced to fly a bit too close to the ground for any of their comforts, sweat flying off Pony's face from how exhausting it was to carry the three of them but the blonde girl never giving up as they flew through the Trigger henchmen or the other mummies the ringleader had created.

As they soared through, Izuku quickly ducked his head at a blow being thrown at him, the villains shrieking in rage as one struck out - but this time he wasn't too lucky, gasping in pain as a few claws scrapped his arm hard enough to draw blood, stinging him. Yosetsu also grunted as he grabbed the hand of one of the villains, making them twist suddenly in the air and yanking the villain around with a surprised yelp to change their direction - but it was clear that they were running out of space, the rest of the Trigger villains in the zone hurrying to the sound of the commotion as Pony kept them moving.

"What was the point of this again?!" Yosetsu screamed as they flew through just above the crowd of villains, "Why couldn't we just -?!"

"If we tried to immediately leave," Izuku reminded him, wincing in pain from the scratches on his arm as he held on tight to Pony, "they'd be able to catch us easily. Tsunotori needed time to get up to speed! We needed to get them confused before we busted out so they wouldn't follow!"

"And - and can we leave now?! It's getting kind of hairy!"

"Just - one second -" Izuku quickly tried to ignore the pain from his arm so he could look around at the crowd of villains. They were hurrying around to them, all of them shrieking in rage and annoyance, and Mummy was summoning more of those monsters with his quirk - but at the moment, none of the Trigger henchmen were near him. He was alone.

"- alright! Tsunotori, the ringleader's isolated! Let's do this!"

"Okay!"

With that instruction, Pony grunted as she twisted in the air again, barely managing to avoid flying into another flaming building, and soon they began to soar straight towards Mummy. As the Trigger henchmen screamed in rage, they kept their eyes on the villain, seeing him narrow his own eyes as he slowly began moving his arms, the wrappings floating menacingly in the air as Izuku adjusted himself on Pony's back.

"Okay …" He took a deep breath, and slowly raised the Gauntlet, pointing it straight at Mummy as the villain's eyes narrowed more in challenge. It was clear to the villain what they were doing - they were going to take him out before moving on. Mummy seemed undeferred, continuing his preparations to rip the teenagers out of the air while the Trigger henchmen charged after them.

Izuku adjusted his aim, squeezing one eye shut as the energy of his quirk began to charge up, seeping into the Gauntlet to charge it up. Closer and closer they came to Mummy, seeing him throw his hands back to whip the wrappings at them to completely trap them, and Izuku felt the Gauntlet prepare to fire - 

- and then Izuku quickly adjusted his aim, aiming straight up at the ceiling and firing off his quirk.

BOOM

The entire roof of the conflagration zone shook at the force of the lightning bolt hitting it, the Trigger henchmen and Mummy wincing at the sudden bright burst of green light emerging from Izuku's palm. The brightness of the lightning, in contrast to the dark, smokey environment, caused them all to quickly look away, temporarily blinded - but Izuku saw that his effort had been successful, and a hole had been created by his quirk in the ceiling.

Pony noticed it as well, scooting a bit in the air so she could take off towards it - but not before slamming her hooves hard into Mummy's chest, the villain grunting in surprise as he was sent flying through the air by the force of the sudden blow while still blinded from Izuku's quirk. He landed hard on his back, groaning as he rolled into the wall of the nearest flaming building - and while he was distracted, the three teenagers took advantage of Pony being up to speed to shoot towards the hole in the roof.

All three of them sighed in relief as they managed to burst through the hole Izuku had created and getting back into the main facility, hearing the sound of the Trigger henchmen shrieking in rage at them as they escaped. Coughing, Izuku shook his head and took a moment to rub his eyes, trying to get the stinging feeling of all the smoke he had been surrounded by out of it, as he quickly snapped his gaze around once he was able to properly see - and felt his jaw drop at what had happened while they had been trapped in the fire zone.

Water from the lake was everywhere on the floor, some of it flooding back into the large hole in the floor but enough water deep enough that the Trigger henchmen were still trying to get through it, to their frustrations. Explosions blasted around the ruins zone, indicating to him just where Katsuki was. The downpour zone was seemingly dark and peaceful - but the occasional flash of lightning from within showing signs of a large, frightening monster looking almost like a bird roaring within. The mountain zone on the other end of the facility was also broken, one of the mountains broken down and laying in rubble.

All in all? Either the Trigger henchmen around the facility were far more powerful than anyone had expected … or their classmates were putting up a hell of a fight.

"Holy whoa ..." Pony muttered, seemingly as taken aback as Izuku was, "... what happened while we were in there?"

"Something bad," Yosetsu shook his head, still looking very nervous being so high up in the air as he glanced around at their surroundings, "I don't see our classmates anywhere - do you think they're still in the other zones?"

"Maybe," Izuku muttered, frowning as he thought of where Ochako and Itsuka could be at the moment - but then he shook his head, trying to refocus. "A-anyway - we should do some investigating, find our classmates and make sure they get some backup if they need it. Tsunotori, if you can, let's fly over to the entrance to make sure if anyone's still there, and from there -"

"Oh, my god."

Both Izuku and Yosetsu blinked at the sound of Pony's quiet, horrified whisper, and quickly looked around at her to make sure she was okay. She was staring, wide-eyed and terrified, at something in the foyer, the black in her big blue eyes shrinking down. Wrinkling his brow in confusion and concern, Izuku turned his head to see where she was looking, squinting his eyes somewhat to see in the darkness - 

- and then he finally saw what she had been looking at, and felt his stomach twist.

The three villains from before they had been warped - the cloaked man and the woman, as well as the other hooded man - were standing together, looking down at the large monster as it sat down - directly on the back of their teacher. Aizawa's arm was being held in a tight grip by the monster, bent in a position that arms weren't meant to be, as his mouth was kept open in a silent scream of pain. 

It was clear what they were doing, from Aizawa's broken arms, to the blood covering his face, to the grip the monster had on his arm and the way the villains were watching what was happening.

They were torturing him.

Slowly, Izuku stared down in horror, hearing Pony let out a sniffle of fear and Yosetsu to swear lowly - and then he felt his eyes narrow. A sudden rage built in his heart as he spotted the cloaked man turn his attention from Aizawa to them - even from this distance, Izuku could tell those yellow eyes were focused on them, and Izuku's free hand clenched.

"Awase."

"H-huh?" Yosetsu blinked, unable to tear his gaze away from what they were looking at. "Y-yeah, Midoriya?"

"Unweld me. Tsunotori - move down to the ground."

"H-huh?" Pony felt confused as well, looking around at him from over her shoulder in shock. "Midoriya-san, what -?"

"Please, just listen," Izuku asked, his voice gone quiet, but his classmates could easily pick up the anger in his voice as he straightened himself up, "sweep in low, and when I jump off, get Aizawa-sensei and move to the top of the stairs. I'm going to hold them off while you get him out of there."

"But - but we can't just - you can't take them all on!" Pony quickly called him out on that, her voice panicked. "We just have to -"

"Guys, please," Izuku made no room for argument, glaring at the three villains below them as their attention turned from Aizawa's suffering to them approaching, "we need to get Aizawa-sensei away before he's - you know. Just get sensei out of there!"

Pony and Yosetsu were clearly unsure, giving each other a quick, uneasy glance - but then Yosetsu sighed, nodding as he did as instructed and grabbed Izuku's leg to unweld it from Pony's side. Pony, meanwhile, narrowed her eyes somewhat as she moved into a dive, speeding along the ground and kicking up some water as they sped towards the villains.

As they made their way over to the fountain, Izuku quickly studied the surroundings near the pavilion - just the three villains and the monster were together, the rest of the Trigger henchmen were scattered around and fighting each other. Izuku then turned his gaze back to the cloaked man, knowing that he would be the one calling the shots - and he could spot the glowing yellow eyes quietly studying them back, which meant that this guy, whoever he was, had his attention solely focused on them. 

Strangely enough, Izuku couldn't quite find himself concerned enough to care - this guy, whoever he was, threatened his friends, tortured his teacher, and made his intent to kill All Might clear the moment he came here. He needed to go down. So Izuku would take him down.

Finally, Yosetsu unwelded his hand from Pony's shoulder, completely freeing him, and Izuku straightened up, tensing slightly.

"Okay," He breathed, patting Pony's shoulder as they neared the fountain, "I'm off."

"Good luck, dude!"

"Don't die, Midoriya-san!"

Nodding, Izuku didn't hesitate to leap off Pony's back, eyes locked on the leader as he threw his fist back. The normal thoughts and terror of him using his quirk on someone else, images of Katsuki lying injured and his mom's injured arm - all of them were strangely absent as he glared at the villain responsible for this nightmare. The cloaked man merely watched curiously behind his hood as Izuku's arm charged up with electricity, being absorbed quickly into the gauntlet.

With a yell, Izuku threw his Full Gauntlet-covered hand forward palm up, a blast of lightning emerging from his hand and sending sparks everywhere as it streaked towards the villain - 

- only for him to raise his own hand palm up and blast out a large, yellow shield, completely absorbing the blast of lightning and making Izuku's eyes widen.

A defensive quirk?! He quickly thought to himself, landing on the ground and skidding briefly through a puddle of water before taking off running at the three villains watching him. His eyes also glowed yellow - that must be a side effect of his quirk!

Quickly, Izuku fired off another blast at the cloaked man, watching as the lightning was easily deflected off the shield - and yet, none of the villains attacked him, instead watching him charge at them with intrigue while the other hooded man quickly looked around at him. Thankfully, his distraction meant that their focus was entirely on him - and not on Pony and Yosetsu, who swept down and let the bandana-wearing boy throw his hand out and grab Aizawa's arm with his quirk to weld them together, wincing at how broken his teacher's arm felt, and dragged him out from underneath the monster.

The brain monster let out a small strangled noise as his prey escaped up the stairs, getting up and turning to advance on the fleeing teenagers - but then the cloaked man said, in a sharp voice, "Leave them, Nomu - you've had your fun. Stay here."

Immediately, the monster named Nomu obeyed, freezing in its place and staring after Aizawa as he was dragged unceremoniously up the stairs. Izuku, meanwhile, skidded to a stop, panting heavily as he pointed the Full Gauntlet at the cloaked man, his eyes narrowed into a glare as rain poured in from the broken, open window in the roof above, lightning flashing and thunder rumbling the sky.

The cloaked man smiled beneath his hood as he turned his attention from Nomu back to Izuku, the yellow shield disappearing as he put his hands back in his pockets.

"So … you're the one who just made that hole," He gestured with his head toward the conflagration zone, "very impressive. That's a fine quirk you have, young man … reminds me of the first one I got refitted with, as part of my little deal. It ended up trading it for this shield quirk, though - a bit more useful for defense, and I've already got all the offensive abilities I need. A shame, though … I did like that quirk while I had it."

"I -" Izuku felt himself falter, staring at the lead villain in confusion for a moment - trading in his quirk? What did that mean? - before he quickly shook his head and refocused, keeping the woman in the corner of his vision as she also walked around the cloaked man, "- that - that doesn't matter. You're - you're -"

"I'm Nine, by the way," The villain quickly introduced himself to Izuku, chuckling a bit at the taken aback look on Izuku's face, "and this is Slice. It's a pleasure to meet you …" He paused for a few moments, as though waiting for Izuku to speak, and then chuckled again, "... usually this is the part where you introduce yourself."

"T-that - no," Izuku quickly shook his head, refusing to be confused by this guy as he activated his quirk again, charging back up the Full Gauntlet, "no, you're - you're not distracting me. P-put - put your hands on your head and get down on your knees."

"Wait," Slice blinked, giggling a bit, "are you arresting us? Oh, that's precious! Do you have enough handcuffs for all of us in that little belt of yours?"

"You - just -"

"Calm down, young man," Nine assured him in a soothing voice, raising his hands out of his pockets as though to humor him, "take a second to breathe. We don't have to fight - not now that I've seen your quirk in action, after all. It's very powerful, isn't it? I have an eye for that kind of thing. Put down your arm, there's no way you can hurt us anyway … let's take a moment to talk, alright? I'm sure we can work something out."

Izuku took several deep breaths, despite his annoyance that he was technically following the villain's instructions, and glanced between him and Slice again - and then he shook his head again, and continued to charge up the Full Gauntlet, glaring at Nine.

"No," He said, and this time he was relieved to hear no shake in his voice. "You … you come into my school, attack my classmates, hurt my teacher … and you expect me to just sit down and talk to you? No way."

"Well, now -"

"You screwed up," Izuku shook his head, glaring at Nine as the villain tilted his head, "you came to my school, set those Trigger guys on us - but you failed. They weren't able to keep us down, and I got to you easily. You tried to kill my teacher, but we saved him. Everything you've tried to keep us down, we outwitted you. It's over - put your hands on your head, get down on the ground, and - and get rid of this storm, if one of you are the ones behind it."

Nine stayed silent for a moment, with Slice's own teasing grin fading as she gave him a look that suggested he just said something insulting to them, as the two villains studied him for a moment. And then Nine asked, his formerly pleasant tone suddenly devoid of emotion, "And that's your final verdict? I'm fully willing to work something out with you, boy … are you sure this is the path you want to take?"

"I'm really sure," Izuku was sure to enunciate his words to drive his point home, "put your hands on your head."

Nine stared at him for another moment, the yellow eyes fading back into glowing red - and then he sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms across his chest.

"Oh, very well," He tilted his head slightly, the humor in his voice gone as he stared Izuku in the eye, "I wanted to see if we could come to an agreement - those with powerful quirks always deserve a chance to speak in my book - but now I see that's not possible. In that case … well, if you're not willing to cooperate with me, with how strong your quirk is … I'm afraid that I can't let you interfere when All Might arrives." 

Turning his head slightly, he spoke in a clear, authoritative voice, "He's all yours."

CRUNCH

Izuku let out a small gasp of pain, his eyes widening, as a fist suddenly slammed directly into the Gauntlet he had been pointing at the lead villain. Pain ripped through Izuku's arm as he was sent flying back by the force of the blow, letting out a yell of pain as he bounced off the ground once, and then collapsed against the fountain in a heap, water splashing everywhere as he landed.

Groaning, Izuku managed to roll onto his side, panting and glancing back down at the Gauntlet where he had been hit - only to pale in horror when he saw that his support item, the one thing that could migrate his blasts, was pretty much hanging off his now bruised and purple arm by a few loose wires and pieces of metal, a hole punched into it so big that it had shattered the Full Gauntlet. Feeling himself shake, he looked up in terror at whoever - or whatever - had hit him with enough force to shatter the Gauntlet in one hit.

The hooded man, standing near where Izuku had been standing, let out a deep breath as he slowly brought back the fist he had used to punch Izuku away, his knuckles sprinkled with blood, and turned his gaze from the ground to look at the boy he had just struck. From within the darkness of the hood, Izuku couldn't really make out any features at first - but then, to his horror, he could see a crooked, broken smile spread across the hooded man's face as he raised his arms threateningly.

"Sh-shtr-shrength," The hooded man spoke in a slurred voice, the wicked grin appearing on his face continuing to widen under the darkness of the hood, "shhhooooow me ... mooore o-of your ... s-strength ..."

Notes:

And that was Chapter 15! And hoo boy, plenty happened this chapter! Katsuki has two kinda dense boys looking after him now and making sure he didn't get killed! Teamwork up on the stairs with a side dish of Setsuna being mildly traumatized! Nejire thinking some kinda unplatonic thoughts about Izuku that's pretty much begging for a spinoff! Aizawa f-ed around and found out! Izuku got strategic and used his quirk successfully, only for him to meet up with Hood right after! And, perhaps the most unexpected of all - two out of the three of our trio may be finally realizing that some of their feelings aren't that platonic either!

Indeed, as many suspected in the comments, it was kinda obvious that Itsuka and Ochako would be the first ones to take the scary first step in their complex relationship, although I don't think many of you guessed a kiss was on the menu XD Now, that's not to say that our girls aren't going to immediately get together - they've first got a lot of questions about themselves to answer, so I hope you all are ready for when our trio will realize -

- wait, what was that? Izuku's fighting Hood? Oooooooooh, yeah. Actually, hold off on any relationship development, we gotta see how this pans out so that there's actually going to *be* three people in this relationship after this and one of them isn't about to freaking die.

As always, thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll see you next time - for the third and final part of the USJ invasion!

Chapter 16: Storms (Part Three)

Summary:

As chaos fills the USJ and the battles rage even more, Izuku finds himself at the mercy at the hands of the mysterious sixth villain, called Hood - and can only hold out for as long as he could before reinforcements finally arrived.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Okay. When Nejire had gone down to the water to face the villains and create a distraction while they tried to escape, Yui didn't think that she would go ahead and create a goddamn tsunami.

She and Tsuyu had nearly reached the bottom of the slide, trying to pay attention to the sounds of battle below them while carefully climbing down and hoping that they wouldn't lose their grip and fall the rest of the way into the water - and probably their deaths, given the height and the fact there might've been villains still around. They had been debating quietly what they could do while Nejire distracted the villains somewhere in the large lake, coming to the agreement that they were going to go and assist her, when a weird, bright yellow light underneath the water had caught their attention - and not two seconds later, the entire lake exploded upwards with a blast of water that immediately rose up into a tsunami.

Yui had nearly lost her grip and balance, and probably would've fallen in and get carried away with the wave, had it not been for Tsuyu's quick thinking, wrapping her tongue tightly around the support and Yui's waist, and holding onto the slide for dear life less they get dragged off to somewhere else in the USJ with the wave - and it probably wouldn't have been a nice ride for either of them.

Finally, the water seeped out of the lake to crash down on the rest of the facility, the large tsunami slamming into everything and carrying several of the villains along for the ride. As they dangled on the support, both of them panting and spitting out some water, Tsuyu and Yui glanced at each other - the rampaging waves that had crashed into them meant that they were both dripping wet, Yui's hat long gone, with the stoic girl patting the top of her wet hair and pouting when she couldn't find it. They very quickly looked back around to inspect the rest of the facility, and saw that most of the water from the lake - an area of water, keep in mind, that wasn't too big, but probably large enough that only Tsuyu would be able to swim all the way across - was now spread across the facility, leaving the lake a large, empty hole in the ground, with streams of water slowly washing back into what remained of the shipwreck zone.

But their attention was immediately drawn to a shimmering yellow light still in the lake - until it suddenly flickered, and died away.

"Do you think that's -"

"Yes, kero. It's probably Hadou," Tsuyu unwrapped her tongue from around Yui's waist, giving the spot they had seen the light a worried look, "we need to get over there."

With two grunts, one normal sounding and one with a ribbit, the two girls hopped down from where they had been clinging for dear life on the supports. Thankfully, it wasn't a huge drop, with Yui only stumbling a bit and Tsuyu landing on all fours, but that beat Yui landing wrong and breaking both her ankles.

"Kero," Tsuyu shook her head, looking around the empty lake with her already big eyes growing even wider, "it looks like there's no one left - they must've been carried along with the wave across the facility."

"Except for Hadou, you mean," Yui pointed out, grunting as she shook her hands out (they felt positively raw from all the climbing she had to do) and quickly began hurrying away in a quick jog, "let's just hope that we can get to her before any of the villains can come back and try to look for us."

"Good idea, kero."

Quickly, the two girls took off in a run towards where they had seen the yellow light flicker out - it had been kind of hard to exactly tell where it was in all the darkness, but it had been around near the middle of the lake, so they would keep their eyes open as best they could in the dark. The two girls kept close together, Tsuyu running on all fours while Yui tried to pretend she wasn't ridiculously out of shape as she ran a much longer distance than what she was used to. They only had to stop once, ducking when a loud clash of lightning had shattered the ceiling of the USJ, but luckily none of the glass fell on top of them, so they were good to keep searching for their classmate.

Once they found the spot they had seen from the slide, it didn't take long to find her - thankfully, since it seemed like she had been at the bottom of the lake, Nejire's blast had only driven her into the ground rather than carrying her away with the rest of the villains, leaving her in a small, cracked crater. Still though, it wasn't a good sight - she was laying motionless on her back, skin pale and eyes closed, and the large gauntlets she used for her costume were lying in pieces.

"Hadou!" Tsuyu quickly skidded to a stop beside her, feeling a bit panicked at how pale her face was, and quickly bent over so she could move her ear towards her classmate's mouth. Thankfully, Nejire was breathing - it was a bit shallow and raspy, but it was consistent. "Oh, thank goodness, she's still alive."

"Yeah," Yui quickly moved to a stop on her other side, kneeling down to inspect Nejire and furrowing her brow, "but is she okay? She was underwater, wasn't she? Shouldn't she be …?"

"No," Tsuyu glanced down near Nejire's head, wincing and moving back slightly, "it looks like she's already puked out the water from her lungs, there's a - er - puddle here. It looks like she had enough time to puke up any water before she passed out."

"And she passed out because …?"

"I think she mentioned one time before that her quirk draws on her stamina, kero. So if she used it to create that tsunami -"

"Then she'll probably be out for a while," Yui finished for her,  glancing back down at Nejire's unconscious body with a frown before glancing around, "so in that case, we should probably pick her up and get out of here before anyone has the chance to -"

"Asui! Kodai!"

Both girls jumped about a mile high at the sound of a familiar voice approaching, accompanied by the sounds of engines firing off. They quickly looked over their shoulders to see Tenya sprinting right towards them, his eyes wide at the sight of the unconscious Nejire on the ground, and after quickly sliding to a halt, turned off his quirk and ran the rest of the way over at a normal speed.

"Is Hadou all right?! Does she require CPR?!"

"No, she's still breathing," Tsuyu assured him, while Yui leaned back so Tenya could quickly kneel down beside her to inspect their unconscious classmate, "she's just unconscious - we think she overused her quirk to create that tsunami, so she's probably going to be out for a while."

"Oh! Well, thank goodness - er, not thank goodness, but it's a relief to hear she's alive."

"Anyway, is everyone else alright, kero? Did they get separated like we did?"

"I'm afraid that I'm not sure about everyone else," Tenya shook his head, raising his hand to wipe his sweaty brow, "Shouji, Ashido, Tokage, Sero and myself were left behind at the entrance with Thirteen. But Tokage managed to escape just a few minutes ago, so she is headed back to the school to get us help! Thirteen asked me to come check on the lake and come straight back with anyone I found - in any case, let me take Hadou for you, and I can carry her back to the entrance before I return for you both."

"Right," Tsuyu nodded, glancing up and around at the other zones they could still somewhat see from their spots in the hole, "you should get Hadou to safety, Iida - but I want to head over to the other zones as well, just to see if there's any more of us that are trying to escape and may need help. I'll probably start with the downpour zone, that's the closest to us."

"I - what?!" Tenya gasped, looking shocked. "I - I do understand why you would want to do that, Asui -"

"Call me Tsuyu, kero."

"I - well - very well, but in any case, I must protest that course of action!" Tenya quickly chopped a hand at the frog girl while Yui glanced over at him, "Everything has gotten far too dangerous! Those villains have taken some kind of drug to amplify their quirks, there is no way we would be able to get to our classmates safely without waddling through an army of villains with that in their systems! The best you can do is wait for me to return, and I can get you both back to the top of the stairs so we can await further instructions!"

"But the rest of our friends are in danger, kero, we can't just flee to the top of the stairs," Tsuyu argued, frowning as she sat up and faced him, "we can't just run. You should definitely get Hadou to safety, of course, but I can move around and see if there's anyone we can help. We shouldn't just leave them for the rest of these villains."

"I - but -" Tenya was clearly in conflict with what they needed to do, raising his hands to his forehead to grab it as he tried to sort through their options. He wanted to do what his teacher instructed him and bring everyone to safety - but he knew that Tsuyu had a point, and there was a part of him that did want to find the rest of their classmates.

It was just - he couldn't just decide - he needed to -

Before he could stew in his thoughts any longer, however, he felt a hand suddenly touch his arm, just above his arm guard. He quickly looked up to see Yui staring at him, her expression still blank and her hair soaking wet from the waves that had splashed over her - but then his gaze flickered to her eyes, and he felt himself falter. 

Rather than the blank, emotionless expression over her face, her eyes told a different story - showing understanding and compassion, something that took Tenya aback and made his heart, which had been hammering in his chest, skip a beat for some reason as she leaned in slightly.

"Help Hadou," She asked him in a quiet voice, "get her to safety. Tsuyu and I will go around and help everyone else - we won't fight the villains, we'll just find our classmates and help them get back to the stairs. But Hadou definitely needs to get out of here - she's a sitting duck."

Tenya stared blankly at her for a moment - and then he let out a shuddering breath, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly. There were another few moments of silence, with Tsuyu glancing between the two of them, before Tenya sagged a bit, and then moved to scoop Nejire up, putting his arm underneath her knees. Tsuyu and Yui helped him lift the unconscious girl into his arms, Nejire's long blue hair hanging loosely and dripping a lot of water onto the ground, and Tenya straightened up, glancing down at the unconscious girl in his arms.

Yui was right - before anything else, Nejire needed to get to safety, and being left here while they argued was not an option.

"I will get Hadou back to the stairs," He informed the two girls, turning around with Nejire secured in his arms, "and once she's secure and with the rest of our classmates, I will meet with you both at the downpour zone!"

And with that, Tenya took off, the engines on the back of his legs roaring to life and going turbo as he raced across the emptied lake at great speeds, running up the small ramp at the edge of the hole and then taking off towards the stairs, going behind the zones just to be sure no one spotted him and attacked them. The girls watched him race away until he eventually vanished from sight.

"Hm," Tsuyu poked her lip, "it's like I thought - he's got a bit of a pole up his butt, doesn't he? But he seems like a good guy."

"I wish he would stick his pole up my ..." Yui muttered quietly to herself, before realizing what she was saying and quickly shutting up, Tsuyu looking around at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What was that, kero?"

"Nothing whatsoever. C'mon, we've gotta get over to the downpour zone."

With Tsuyu giving her a serious case of the side-eye that Yui completely ignored, both girls began following Tenya's path out of the shipwreck zone, both of them trying to keep quiet just in case one of the screaming villains above them heard their and came to investigate. They only had to stop and duck for cover once when they heard the sound of another bolt of lightning striking the facility again, and glanced up to see a flash of green energy blasting out of the conflagration zone, but other than that no one seemed to be looking around for them as they climbed out of the lake zone, Tsuyu carrying Yui with her tongue as she quickly crawled out, and then both girls headed towards the downpour zone, the zone's power apparently still on as lightning flashed and rain poured down within.

As they skidded to a stop at the entrance, looking into the darkness of the zone further empathized by the lack of light outside it, Yui and Tsuyu glanced at each other, uncertain about how to go from here.

"So … do you have a plan for how we're going to do this?" Yui raised an eyebrow at her smaller classmate, "Because I definitely don't."

"Well, I was thinking that we would go in quietly, kero," Tsuyu glanced back into the darkness with a weary, intimidated look, "listen for our classmates, and if we spot them, I can use my tongue to zip them to safety, and then we can make a run for it."

"..."

"..."

"... that's a stupid plan."

"I'm more than aware, kero. Do you have any better ideas?"

"Nope. Which is why I'm annoyed we're going to have to go with this one."

"Kodai! Asui - I mean, Tsuyu!"

The girls looked around to see Tenya returning, sliding to a stop near the entrance of the zone and then quickly and quietly jogging over, wincing as the water from the lake that was now on the floor splashing everywhere with each step and making more noise.

"Hadou has been safely left with the rest of our classmates at the top of the facility," He quickly confirmed, "Shouji is looking over her, and both Tsunotori and Awase are back with Aizawa-sensei - he was injured by the villains, but they're going to look after him. Did you two run into any trouble?"

"No, we were fine," Yui looked back into the darkness of the downpour zone, rolling her shoulders slightly as she prepped herself up, "we were just debating how we were going to do this. Tsuyu had a dumb plan."

"Kero, I'm still waiting to hear your own plan."

"Well, you can keep waiting because I don't have one. Which is why we're probably going to go with your plan."

"That's what I thought."

"W-well, clearly, if you are having doubts about your plan, we should take this moment to discuss and potentially improve on it!" Tenya protested, looking between both girls with shock as they shrugged their shoulders sheepishly, "We should not run all willy-nilly into the lion's den, we should take a moment to come up with a more solid plan that does not end up backfiring on us! May I please know whatever 'dumb' plan Asui was planning? I assure you, you appear to be quite the intelligent individual, so I'm certain that your plan is well thought-out!"

"It's Tsuyu, kero."

"My apologies!"

"Her plan was to go into the zone quietly," Yui informed Tenya, not looking back at him as she slightly raised her eyebrow, "look for our classmates, grab them if they're in trouble, and then haul ass."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... you can say that it's a dumb plan, Iida," Tsuyu smirkeda  bit as Tenya clearly froze, "it is pretty dumb."

"I - n-no, it's - it's not, Asui - I mean Tsuyu!" Tenya tried to assure her, clearly lying through his teeth as the two girls glanced at each other knowingly, "it's - well - it's a viable strategy, certainly! It's just - er - well - we could maybe work on it a bit more before -"

Before he could finish whatever white lie he was supposed to make Tsuyu feel better with, however, they suddenly became aware of another sound. All three of them quickly straightened up and whipped back around to the entrance of the downpour zone, where they could hear what sounded like - like the sound of wet feet hitting the floor, moving right towards them out of the darkness.

Tenya quickly moved forward, throwing out his arms and shielding Tsuyu and Yui from whatever was approaching. Tsuyu quickly bent down into a combat stance while Yui gulped and glanced around for anything that she would be able to shrink and use as a weapon.

Fortunately, from within the darkness, a familiar shape suddenly began emerging, making Yui blink and squint her eyes to have a better look. Whoever it was was about her height, wearing what looked to be a small dress and - wait, no, it was a kimoto, Yui realized, lined with a fur collar.

"Yanagi?"

"Wha - Yanagi!" Tenya straightened up with a small gasp, eyes widening. Indeed, it was their classmate running towards them out of the zone, absolutely drenched and as stoic as Yui. But still, they couldn't help but feel their stomachs tense a bit - Reiko looked physically fine, at least, but there was an air of panic about her, running away from the downpour zone as quickly as she could and looking relieved to see people she actually recognized.

"Are you - are you alright?" Tenya quickly chopped his hand at her as Reiko stumbled to a stop, almost tripping over herself if not for Tsuyu quickly moving forward to assist her, letting Reiko pant and bend over to hold her knees, "It's alright now, Yanagi - we we have someone running for help, Tokage managed to escape the facility! If there's any more of us in the zone, we can go in and help out. If you keep going that way, you'll make it to the stairs, where Thirteen-sensei has -"

"No," Reiko suddenly shook her head, finally managing to find her voice as she looked up at the three of them, "I - I can't leave yet. There's - there's something we have to do before we're able to escape, or - or we'll all be in danger."

"Kero?" Tsuyu blinked, poking her lip, "What's going on, Yanagi? Was there someone else warped into the zone with you?"

"Yes - Tokoyami and I. We were the only ones teleported to this zone," Reiko quickly explained, straightening up and glancing behind her with a worried look in her eye, which made the other three feel nervous for some reason, "and there were villains there waiting for us. They attacked, and … well … things backfired quite fast."

"Mm-hm," Yui nodded, knowing what she meant by that as she also glanced into the darkness of the downpour zone's entrance, "the villains have Trigger, the ones in our zone injected themselves with it too. Does that mean that Tokoyami is -?"

"No. They never had the chance to inject themselves with it."

The three arriving teenagers blinked, looking around at Reiko as she likewise glanced back into the darkness. It was about then that they heard something else - or rather, felt something beneath them. It was like there was something rumbling the ground, making everything shake, and it was almost like it was coming closer.

"When we were coming here on the bus," Reiko explained, a shake in her voice, "I sat down with Tokoyami and inquired to know more about his quirk, since it fascinated me. He explained that the more light there is, the easier it is for him to control Dark Shadow. But when there's an absence of light … and things that cause him to stress out … it makes it harder to control."

Tenya, Tsuyu and Yui felt their eyes widen, realizing what Reiko was talking about as they stiffened up. The rumbling sound came closer.

"When we were warped in there … without any light, with the villains surrounding us and attacking … he lost control. He managed to take down all the villains before they took the Trigger, and I managed to hide, but …"

And that was when they all saw a pair of glowing red eyes suddenly emerge from the darkness, glaring straight at them.

"... but if we want to get out of here in one piece," Reiko gulped, beginning to slowly walk back into the downpour zone, "we're going to have to get him to calm down first."


"Sh-shtr-shrength ... shhhooooow me ... mooore o-of your ... s-strength ..."

One moment, the hooded man who had punched Izuku across the foyer was standing where he had initially struck him, his crooked mouth continuing to spread open into a bloodthirsty grin as Izuku stared up at him in shock and terror. And the next, in the blink of an eye, he was next to the water fountain, standing over Izuku and throwing his fist forward.

With a gasp, Izuku acted on instinct, ducking underneath the blow as his fist smashed into the fountain, breaking it easily and sending the overflowing water within flying everywhere before draining out even faster to join the water on the floor. Izuku didn't have time to gather his thoughts, though, as the moment he had rolled onto his feet, the hooded man was back on him, arms raised as though in a boxing match and throwing another fist at him, and this time Izuku wasn't fast enough to move out of the way.

BAM

The breath in Izuku's lungs left in a gasp as the fist, wrapped up tightly in gauze, struck him straight in the chest, making his eyes bulge as the force of the low rocketed him backwards, flying off his feet and briefly into the air - and then in a blur of movement, the hooded man twirled on his leg, spinning with his other leg out, and catching Izuku straight in the face, making him grunt as he was flung away from Nine and Slice, both villains watching with raised eyebrows as Izuku was smacked around.

The moment Izuku hit the ground again, rolling briefly, the hooded man was back, snarling with glee as he kicked back up into the air, the boy letting out a small rasp as he felt something break in his midsection - probably his ribs - before the hooded man grabbed him by the back of his costume, stopping his ascent, and then slammed the teenager down hard onto the wet floor, water splashing everywhere. Growling, the hooded man grabbed Izuku by the ankle, his eyes narrowing behind the hood, and threw Izuku back towards the fountain.

Hitting the ground and sliding towards the fountain, which he fell against roughly, Izuku let out several panting breaths, blood slowly trickling out of his nose and a bruise forming near his eye from the initial kick, and stared at the hooded man in terror as he rounded back on him.

"N-no … no, no, no!" The hooded man shouted in rage, his eyes shining insanely behind his hood as he childishly stomped his foot. "Y-your sth-strength! Your - your power! Where is it? S-show me y-your s-strength!"

For a brief moment, Izuku tried to gather his thoughts, feeling like his hammering heart practically trying to escape out of his chest from the sheer terror of the situation before him. It was clear that this guy, whoever he was, outclassed him in power and speed - he was able to smack Izuku around effortlessly, and was clearly fast enough to keep Izuku on the defence, or rather, being unable to defend himself. Right now, he needed to - 

- and without warning, the hooded man was back on him again, grabbing Izuku by the other ankle and making the boy gasp as he was ripped into the air and thrown towards the stairs, tumbling a bit while Nine and Slice watched in amusement.

This time, though, Izuku managed to focus as he flailed through the air, and quickly threw his hands out. He was still uncertain about using his quirk against others - but he had no problem with using it to make sure he didn't crash!

BOOM

With two lightning bolts, Izuku managed to get control of his tumble before he crashed down hard on the stairs, and was instead jerked upwards. With a bit of flailing, Izuku managed to land near the top of the stairs with a grunt, wincing as he hit his tailbone, but at least he hadn't hit his head at all from the crash.

"M-Midoriya-san!"

Izuku jumped at the small gasp, and quickly looked around. He could see Pony and Yosetsu tending to Aizawa, the teacher managing to look up through a bleeding face and a clear, painfilled expression before slumping back down, while Mina and Hanta took care of Thirteen, and Mezo had his arms wrapped around an unconscious Nejire. He couldn't quite keep his attention on them, however, as he heard a roar below him and quickly looked down to see the hooded man at the foot of the stairs, looking up at him in surprise and delight.

"There!" The hooded man shouted, clenching his fists in excitement. "T-that power! The - the l-light - the lightning! More! MORE!"

Izuku didn't hesitate this time as the hooded man leapt up, a blur of black streaking up the stairs. He immediately slammed his palms against the top of the stairs, and with another electrical explosion, was rocketed straight up, flailing a bit in panic but still fast enough that the hooded man struck where he had been a few seconds ago, making Pony, Yosetsu, Mezo, Hanta and Mina jump in surprise and terror as he effortlessly broke the stairs.

Snarling, the hooded man whipped back around, seeing Izuku flailing in the air, and quickly leapt after him, blood streaking out from his knuckles where he had punched the stairs.

"Oh, no!" Pony gasped, realizing the danger that Izuku was in. She quickly got back up to her hooves, about to run over to jump into the air with her horns and back up Izuku before the hooded man could -

"Tsunotori, wait!"

She faltered as someone reached out to grab her shoulder, making her quickly look around at Mezo as he glanced down at Aizawa on the ground before looking back up at her.

"Sensei is still bleeding," He said in a quiet voice, regret and guilt in his tone as he realized what he had to do, "he - you can't just jump after that guy, he needs your help."

"I - but - but Shouji-kun!" She protested, looking back around at where Izuku was still fighting the hooded man while Hanta likewise looked conflicted, "Midoriya-san can't fight that guy! He needs back up!"

"But what can we do?" Yosetsu shook his head slowly, looking just as horrified as the rest of them as they watched Izuku fight against the villain, "There's no way any of our quirks can put a dent in that guy - at least Midoriya's quirk is powerful enough to fight back! But we - we can't just leave Hadou, Thirteen and Aizawa here, they - they need us!"

"But - but -" Pony looked back around, seeing Izuku trying to keep away from the hooded man midair - and then the hand that was on her shoulder tightened somewhat, making her look back around at Mezo as he gave her an understanding look, Nejire still secure in his arms.

"We won't be able to do anything against that guy," He gently told her, "and Aizawa-sensei needs us. We need to find a way to wrap up his injuries so he doesn't … bleed out. I'm sorry, Tsunotori, but - but he needs us too."

Pony winced at that, stealing a small glance down at their unconscious teacher's injuries - his arms twisted to horrifying angles, blood pooling out from his head - and she quickly nodded, looking back around towards Izuku and thinking a silent apology, before kneeling back down beside Aizawa to start ripping out pieces of her hero costume to wrap up his wounds, Yosetsu doing the same as he unwrapped the bandanna from around his forehead.

Down below, Izuku grunted as he landed about half-way down the stairs, quickly looking around for the hooded man and feeling his eyes widen as the villain spun in a circle through the air, giggling with glee. Quickly, thinking back to when he had fought the slime villain last year and how he had jumped at him to get to Katsuki, Izuku slammed his hands against the stairs and blasted off again, managing to just dodge the hooded man from landing on top of him and pinning him to the floor. If the hooded man was in pain from punching concrete, blood leaking through the gauze around his hands, he didn't show it, instead leaping up into the air after Izuku, the boy feeling lightning curling in his hands.

As he flew through the air again, Izuku felt himself wince, glancing down at his hands and seeing them starting to turn red from the use of his quirk at full power. He was still hesitant to use his quirk against someone else, despite the fear of what would happen should this guy get his hands on him - and deep down, he knew that he needed to get over it, and fast. The hooded man leaping after him with a wide, vicious grin clearly overpowered Izuku in both speed and power, and while Izuku could try and avoid him by keeping on his toes, it would only be a matter of time before he got tired or his quirk injured him too much, and then it would definitely be game over.

Flying through the air, Izuku threw his hand to the side to unleash a blast towards the ruins zone, jerking him to the side to avoid the hooded man grasping out at him and narrowly avoiding the hand the size of his face from grabbing him. Izuku continued to use his quirk at full blast to keep himself away from the villain, wincing at each blast emerging from his hands that sent huge spikes of pain throughout his body, to essentially fly through the air and avoid the hooded man as he fell back to the ground, landed, and then leapt back up into the air after the teenager.

Unfortunately, Izuku might've found it a bit easier to keep blasting to stay airborne, but he was clearly unused to staying in the air for long, and had to contend with the fact that he didn't have Ochako's anti-gravity quirk on him to keep him up in the air. He let out a squeak as he began to somewhat plummet towards the ground, glancing back nervously and seeing the wet floor coming up to meet him, and quickly threw his hands back down to fire off another blast of lightning to bounce himself back up into the air. 

Once the lightning hit the ground, Izuku let out a small grunt as he was pushed straight up - and then he felt his eyes widen when he heard the sound of something descending on him from behind.

Barely having enough time to look over his shoulder, this time Izuku wasn't quick enough to dodge out of the way of the hooded man's fist, only having enough time to twist somewhat in the air so that instead of hitting him full in the back, the hooded man only struck him in the shoulder. Unfortunately, even a glancing blow from this guy hit like a truck, making Izuku shout in pain as he was sent flying towards to the ground. 

The hooded man didn't relent in his assault, however, giggling gleefully as he grabbed the back of Izuku's costume by the hood and tugged. Izuku gasped as he was choked briefly, and as soon as the hooded man landed back on the stairs, he used his strength to throw Izuku down the rest of the way.

Grunting as he rolled painfully down the steps, Izuku finally landed at the bottom, pain ripping through his body as he finally managed to roll to a stop. The hooded man didn't give up though, using his enhanced speed to slide down and kick Izuku back up into the air, sending him up before grabbing him by the arm and slamming him back down on the ground. With a growl, the hooded man grabbed Izuku by the throat, the respirator around his neck breaking in half, and quickly dragged Izuku back to his feet with a roar.

Izuku tried to raise his hands to defend himself, electricity sparking, but the hooded man quickly landed a blow in his stomach, making Izuku keel over, before a knee hit him straight in the mouth, jerking his head back up. The hooded man punched and slammed Izuku around briefly, the boy too painfilled and terrified to get his thoughts together, before the hooded man raised his foot to spartan kick him, sending Izuku flying through the air before landing and sliding through the water, and finally coming to a stop near Nine and Slice, both villains having watched the fight with interest.

"Hm," Nine raised an eyebrow, watching as Izuku panted and cringed on the floor, "perhaps we were mistaken, Slice - he doesn't seem to have much control over his quirk after all. Hood," He turned his gaze to the villain who had begun to take a few more eager steps towards Izuku as the boy rolled onto his side, "stop for a minute."

The hooded man froze where he stood, looking around at Nine with rage in his eyes as his shoulders tensed. It looked as though he was about to defy his leader for a moment, or turn his anger on him as his fists clenched, but finally, he took a small step back, turning his crazed glare to Izuku again as though daring the boy to get back up.

Once he was sure the hooded man wasn't going to move, Nine returned his gaze to Izuku, approaching him slowly. The boy rolled onto his hands and knees, taking several shaking, tear-filled breaths as pain ripped through his body, barely able to sit himself up.

"Have you ever felt this kind of pain before?" The villain asked him, smug as Izuku tried to get back up again before stumbling, blood dripping from his nose and mouth as he panted. The cloaked man let out a small grunt as he knelt down in front of the boy, hovering over him. "The feeling of powerlessness, of helplessness, of weakness? I imagine that not many of you all-powerful UA students are used to the feeling. From what I hear, students with weak quirks aren't able to enter the hero course, can they? I have to say, I approve - it's a good way to weed out the weaker ones. In my new world, should I choose to let UA stand, I think I'm going to be keeping that rule."

Izuku merely stared at his reflection, the blood coming out of his mouth and falling down to the water to turn it crimson as Nine chuckled.

"Still, it must be surprising for you, isn't it? To be reminded of how weak you truly are. I gave you a chance to work things out, boy - but of course, you had to punch above your weight. Truly pathetic."

Izuku panted, glaring at his reflection for a moment before his eyes slowly trailed to Nine's own reflection - and then, with a yell, quickly threw his fist forward towards Nine's face, wanting to take advantage of how close they were to knock him on his ass. The villain saw it coming from a mile away, however, smirking as he easily caught Izuku's fist - and then twisted it into a painful angle. As Izuku screamed in pain, Nine threw back his other fist and then forward, driving it into Izuku's face and knocking him back over onto his side, the boy panting and raggedly wheezing as more pain exploded on his cheek.

With a small sigh, Nine stood back up, waving his fist around gingerly for a moment as he gave Izuku a disappointed look, Slice approaching him from behind and resting her chin against his shoulder as she smirked down at him.

"I won't lie," Nine shortly told the student, "when I saw that I'm a bit disappointed in you. And on so many levels as well. I'm disappointed that you didn't seem to want to cooperate with me, even when I was the one extending the olive branch. I'm disappointed that you're utterly wasting your quirk's potential - you could be so much more, boy, and yet all you use it for is to fly around and avoid a fight. And I'm disappointed that I don't have room to take your quirk to put it to better use - which means that it's going to die with you today. Truly, what a waste."

"Well, we don't necessarily have to," Slice offered, smirking a bit as she hugged him from behind, "we can always bring him back with us so our benefactor can have a look at him."

"Unfortunately not," Nine said with regret, "I'm still weak from the last operation, which means that they'd have to keep him around for months before I'm ready for another one. And I don't want to be cheated out of this quirk by him, so no. If I can't have it, no one can."

"And what about the other student who created that tsunami? I thought you said that you wanted their quirk."

"Well …" Nine paused for a moment, clearly thinking, before he shook his head and glanced down at his palm, "... I think this is a side effect of my operation, Slice - I have the need to steal quirks, but … I don't have the room for them or the opportunity to switch them out, the two quirks I have right now are too important. If I try to take anyone else's quirk, stop me."

"Of course, Nine."

While the two of them spoke in quieter voices, Izuku merely wheezed, not even listening as he attempted to get back up. He was aware of the hooded man watching him hungrily, pacing back and forth while waiting for his chance to continue the fight, and the other large monster, who Nine had called Nomu, blankly watching him. Slowly, Izuku rolled back onto his front, putting his hands back into the water and wincing in pain as his broken wrist painfully reminded him that he wasn't exactly in the best shape at the moment.

From what Izuku could gather as he tried his best to recover, his right arm, where the hooded man had struck the Gauntlet, was as broken as his support item, as was his left ankle and right leg. From the pain ripping through him in his chest, there might be something broken there as well, but hopefully there was no internal damage, and there was more than a likely chance that his ribs were broken as well. And that wasn't even covering the pain in his hands from using his quirk, feeling like an intense heat was burning through his palms and up his arms, shaking them and making sure that they were unable to support his own weight.

In short, he'd been fighting this guy for about five minutes, and he had gone from in slightly good shape to about five minutes from getting beaten to death, if he didn't think up something soon, and fast.

There was a sudden burst of wind from above them, and both Slice and Nine looked up to see Chimera flying down towards them, landing with a grunt and a splash beside the other members of the Consortium. As the heteromorph brushed himself off and took out a cigar, Nine observed his ripped and damaged clothing before glancing back around at the broken mountain zone, putting the dots together in his head.

"I take it things didn't go too well in your zone?"

"I got a bunch of crazies, if that's what you mean," Chimera growled, putting his cigar in his mouth before puffing out some fire to light it up, "four girls blew up the goddamn mountain and buried our boys. I only got away 'cause I tried to find higher ground before I got buried."

"Is that so?" Nine sounded interested, looking around at his comrade as the taller villain shook his head, "And where would these students be?"

"No idea. Not sure if they got buried or not, but the rest of our boys over there are buried underneath the rubble, along with the rest of the assholes from the shipwreck zone that got washed in. Anyway, what's up with this one?" He gestured with his head towards Izuku, seeing the boy raise a shaking hand up to grasp at the fountain and letting out a small cry of pain. "Looks like you're kickin' the crap out of him."

"Just a student who needed a lesson in humility pounded into him," Slice huffed, flipping her hair behind her shoulder as she stepped back from Nine, "we'll have our friend here finish him off in just a second."

There was another movement in the air behind them, and the three villains turned to see a warp gate slowly opening before them, turning bigger and bigger until Mummy emerged, looking very angry and smelling slightly of smoke. However, before anyone could ask what was wrong with him, his gaze flickered to Izuku on the ground, and he blinked in surprise before a smirk appeared behind his wrappings surrounding his lower face.

"Well, well, well," He chuckled lowly, walking over and looking down at the weakened and bloody Izuku, "I was wondering where you went off to while you made us look like fools. Looks like you didn't get too far, did you, boy?"

Izuku merely spat out a bit more blood into the water. Mummy chuckled again, and then threw his foot back and forward, driving it into Izuku's stomach. The boy gasped as the air was driven out of his lungs once again, bending back over and coughing as he struggled to breathe again.

"Leave him, Mummy," Nine shook his head, giving Izuku another disappointed look as he put his hands in his pockets, "we're about to have our benefactor's little experiment over there finish him off. I don't want to just use our toy here to kill All Might before we have to send him back - we can have a bit more fun."

"Very well, Nine."

"Nine," Kurogiri appeared through the warp gate, sounding displeased as he shimmied the black mist around him back down to form a solid body, "I'm afraid that I come bearing bad news. I was able to put Thirteen out of action - there is no possibility of her getting back up to fight again - but there were students I was unable to disperse. One of them managed to leave the facility and run away."

"Is that right?" Nine mused, turning his gaze back up to the ceiling and seeing his storm continuing to rampage. Raising his hand, he curled his fingers, and the storm somehow worsened, rain beating down harder on them and lightning flashing menacingly as several lightning bolts began to slam down on UA's grounds.

"There," He nodded to himself, "at the very least the storm will probably knock around whoever escaped, and they won't be able to make it to the school. Or they'll be hit by lightning, that's also preferable. In any case -"

He was interrupted, however, by a sudden spike of pain ripping through him. Gasping out, Nine quickly fell to his knees, grabbing his face from beneath the hood as excruciating pain tore its way through his entire body. Slice let out a small gasp as she quickly hurried to her leader's side, falling to her own knees and ignoring the water splashing around and soaking her as she grabbed his shoulder and brought him to her, laying his head against her and rubbing his arm.

"Take it easy, Nine," She muttered to him, seeing him grabbing his face as he took several deep, shaking breaths, "just ride out the pain, we're here, don't worry."

After a few moments of heavy panting and cringing, Nine's breathing began to slow, and he lowered his hands to look down at them. He shook as he saw the familiar purple glowing veins begin to appear beneath his skin, and he could feel the burning, stinging infliction begin to crawl over his body, reaching his face and making him shake.

"The side effects are starting to catch up with me," He muttered, shaking his head as a bit of his long white hair fell, "but I can't take the Trigger drop, that's - ergh - that's the failsafe. If I -"

"Just take it slow, Nine," Slice assured him as Chimera, Mummy and Kurogiri looked down at him slowly getting back to his feet, "just try and take a deep breath, and stop using your quirks for a little bit. All Might will -"

"You're a hypocrite."

The five villains gathered around in a circle stopped at the sound of a weak, but furious voice just ahead of them. Slowly, Nine's gaze flickered back up to Izuku, seeing the teenager finally manage to sit back up, giving them a good look at the blood leaking down his forehead, mouth and nose. His face was a mess, littered with purple bruises and cuts from all the blows the hooded man had rained down on him, but if Izuku cared about that he didn't show it, instead glaring angrily at Nine as he sat up and braced himself against the broken fountain.

"All that crap about me being … being weak and wasting my quirk …" Izuku spat out a bit more blood, huffing, "... and look at you. W-what was it you said? That it must've been - *cough* - surprising to be reminded of how weak I really am? And then look at you. You're no better than me."

Nine narrowed his eyes beneath the hood.

"You're not as impressive as you think you are," Izuku glared into the darkness of his hood, seeing a few purple glowing lines becoming visible within, "you blew this entire thing when you realized that All Might wasn't here, and you decided to throw all these villains on Trigger at us … and now here you are, with everything backfiring on you, and now you're collapsing and debating taking Trigger yourself." 

Watching as the villains around him began glaring at him, Izuku shook his head, managing to get back up on shaky feet as he glared at their leader.

"You go on and on about strong quirks and strong people, and look down on us," He glared at Nine, "but you're probably the weakest person here."

There was a small silence in the pavilion as Chimera's fur bristled as he growled lowly, Mummy narrowing his yellow eyes, and the ends of Slice's wet hair sharpening as she glared up at Izuku, as rain continued to beat down on all of them from the broken window above.

And then Nine, in a cold, emotionless voice, said, "Kill him."

This time, Izuku was ready, immediately throwing his hands down to the ground the moment Nine spoke, and unleashed another blast of lightning, up and away as the hooded man lunged at him and barely missed where his head had been. 

Flying up into the air, Izuku knew that he had no chance, but if he stayed still for even a moment, then the hooded man would turn him into paste. But maybe … maybe instead, Izuku could try and draw the villain away. His gaze flickered down, looking around at the other villains still fighting around the facility. There were still loads of Trigger villains around, fighting each other - and this hooded guy kept screaming about Izuku showing him power.

There were loads of villains with 'power' around here … maybe if he lured him over to one of the Trigger villains, and had him -

And that was when the hooded man threw his hand forward, still at his spot near the fountain, and with a sudden CRUNCH of bone and ripping of cloth, his arm extended. Flying straight up into the air as it stretched out, skin ripping and exposing blood, muscles and veins beneath, the hooded man's hand wrapped tightly around Izuku's throat, making his eyes bulge in surprise and pain as he was choked.

Growling, the hooded man reeled his arm back in, and Izuku grunted as he was suddenly ripped back through the air towards him. Automatically, Izuku's hands charged up with lightning, but before he could think to attack, the hooded man kicked out, and like his arm, it horrifically stretched out, skin and muscle ripping, to strike Izuku straight in the chest. With a wheeze, Izuku was driven hard into the ground with a crash, bouncing off the ground with a small crash as he bounced off the floor.

Landing in a heap, Izuku quickly scrambled to his feet, looking around at the hooded man slowly brought his two extended limbs back in, both of them soon reverting back to their normal length, the villain now being down a sleeve and pant-leg. He had to suppress the urge to vomit when staring at the blood, muscle and ripped flesh of his limbs, before they slowly began to melt shut, the hooded man shuddering as his gaze flickered back up to the boy on the ground.

It was … some kind of muscle augmentation quirk, Izuku quickly realized as he watched the flesh seal shut. The clothes gave Izuku a good look at the lines of pink muscle fibres as he healed - and then the hooded man lashed out again with his other arm, growing it out and stretching it with a sickening wet crunch to hit Izuku.

The boy quickly dived to the side, wincing as he slid through the water, and watched as it soared straight over his head and hit the tree beside where Izuku had landed, ripping it out of its roots and sending it flying through the air to land on the other side of the facility. The hooded man chuckled, and Izuku watched in horror as the hand drew itself back, the bones crunching beneath his skin as he healed, but if the hooded man was in pain he showed no sign of it, that cracked, ugly grin of his visible even in the darkness as lightning flashed above them. If Izuku were to look closer, even, he could almost make out what looked to be a pair of yellow, subtly glowing eyes underneath the hood.

"S-strength," He muttered to himself, "b-blood. Y-you were - you - you were so s-strong. T-the - the lightn-ning. S-show it - show it to me ag-again."

With that, he lashed out again, his leg stretching up high before being thrown straight down at Izuku as his leg extended out with a horrific crunch again. Izuku barely had enough time to roll away as it collided against the ground, but quickly his mind went into hyperdrive as the hooded man streaked back towards him, his arms posed as though he were in some kind of boxing match - but it let Izuku think as he did his best to dodge out of the way of the blows.

His quirk ... it wasn't like he was opening up folded joints. His limbs themselves were transforming, their core structure stretching out, Izuku's mind quickly concluded. It was some kind of cellular propagation, but at lightning speed - it was letting him heal his body after breaking his arms out to stretch, alter its structure, and bulk up on the fly. This guy's quirk … it was crazy! Izuku could barely dodge the villain's speed, grunting when one of the hits collided with his arm and sent him spinning through the air, collapsing into the water, but adrenaline allowing him to roll quickly to his feet as the hooded man leapt up and landed down in an attempt to stomp on the boy, his bare, bloody feet barely missing Izuku's head.

But now that he had a chance to focus, Izuku could feel a strategy come to mind. This guy was fighting as though he were some kind of martial artist, or boxer, and training at the Kendous' meant that Izuku had experience with those kinds of fighters - after all, one of the fighting styles Teko had taught him had been kickboxing. This guy, whoever he was, clearly had these moves drilled into his head, either through muscle memory or something else. He was a fighter, that much was clear, but after a few minutes of this, Izuku knew that his fighting style wasn't compatible with his -

- and that was when Izuku felt his foot slip on something beneath him, forcing him to lose his balance as his eyes widened. And in that moment of hesitation, the hooded man struck out, his fist slamming directly into Izuku's chest.

The boy let out a gasp as he was slammed hard into the ground again, his head bouncing against the concrete, and the hooded man did not hesitate, quickly leaping up and then down onto Izuku. The boy felt himself being slammed back as the hooded man straddled his stomach, throwing up another fist as the muscle in his arm bulked up again.

"Enough!" The hooded man snarled. "I'm b-bored! You were - you were strong! S-so show ... me ... y-your ... STRENGTH!"

And then the fist came down.


"I - whew - I - holy crap -" Kyouka panted slightly behind them, clutching her side as she winced in pain, "I'm - I'm really out of shape."

"Shh!" Momo quickly shushed her as they rounded another corner on their path, her eyes widening as they continued to sprint through the trees, "I believe I can see the pavilion from here - we're almost there!"

Behind them, Ochako panted a bit, glancing backwards towards Itsuka as she lagged a little behind the other three girls. They had made some pretty good progress after running from the mountain zone through the forest that had been set up in the middle of the facility, but she could tell that Itsuka wasn't doing as good as the rest of them - her limp was gradually getting worse as they ran along, and the arm she had in a sling was getting purpler by the minute, which made Ochako feel a bit queasy to look at.

Although at this point, that was the least of her concerns about her friend. She had … honestly no idea what had happened at the zone. She had no idea how Itsuka had managed to destroy a freaking mountain with a single punch and why she had been glowing. And … she really had no idea what had been going through both their minds when … that happened, Ochako thought with a blush.

But at this point, she couldn't really focus on that, even if her mind was screaming at her to stop for a moment and actually think about everything that had just happened in the last half hour. She could hear the familiar loud blasts of lightning from ahead of them, which meant that Izuku was nearby, and her heart was hammering at the potential reasons why he kept using his quirk - either he was doing something weird with it, or he was being attacked, which meant that she had to find him, and fast.

But still …

"Kendou, are you doing okay?" Ochako lagged behind a bit, keeping pace with Itsuka as she ran with her limp behind them, "We can slow down a bit if you …"

"No, no, I'm fine," Itsuka shook her head, eyes narrowed somewhat in determination and pain as she wobbled along, "just … y'know. It freaking hurts. Ow."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded a bit, glancing down at her friend's arm and wincing a bit in sympathy, "Is - is there anything we can do for you in the meantime to help soothe it, though? We can -"

BOOM

The four girls yelped and skidded to a stop, water splashing everywhere, at the sudden sound of an explosion ahead of them - but it didn't sound anything like Izuku's lightning strikes. It sounded as though something big had just … slammed into the ground. Giving each other worried looks, Itsuka and Ochako hurried their pace, Itsuka biting her lip somewhat in pain from her ankle, as they caught up with Momo and Kyouka and finally rounded the corner, exiting the forest and returning to the pavilion.

It didn't take long for them to find the source of the explosion - there was a large column of dust and water rising from a spot near the fountain before the water fell back onto the floor, the four girls quickly spotting it as they slid to a stop. If they squinted carefully, they could make out the five villain ringleaders at the front of the fountain, looking at the rising dust curiously while the other Trigger henchmen continued to trade blows with each other around them, one of them running towards the five ringleaders only for Kurogiri to warp him up into the air, resulting in him plummeting back to the ground a good distance away from them. 

Gulping, the four girls moved down to hide behind the trees near them, hoping that they didn't get spotted, and Momo quickly surveyed their surroundings, her eyes trailing to the ruins zones and blinking when an explosion suddenly blasted somewhere.

"I think … I think Bakugou is at the ruins zone," She muttered, the three other girls glancing around to see the destroyed city lighting up with brief blasts of fire, "he might still be in trouble."

"And look," Itsuka pointed out, the three girls glancing around at where she was pointing at the downpour zone. It was still dark, but then a small flash of lightning from within illuminated the city - and the shadow of a large creature shrieking, looking oddly birdlike.

"Is that … what's his name … Tokoyami?" Ochako remembered, sitting up a bit straight.

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, furrowing her brow, "and he doesn't look like he's doing so hot."

"Then we should help him," Momo nodded, adjusting herself from where she had been standing behind the tree and glancing around, "and Bakugou, in case he needs it. I say we split up - two of us will head to the ruins zone, and the other two to the downpour zone to see what's going on and if we can help. We'll stick to the trees so that no one sees us."

"Well, as much as I don't wanna help Bakugou," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head and likewise straightening up, "he probably needs backup, even if he doesn't wanna admit it. Uraraka and I can head to the ruins zone - you two head to the downpour zone and -"

"Uh … guys?"

The three girls blinked at Kyouka's small, unsure voice, and looked around at her. She was staring at something in the courtyard, and they turned their eyes towards the cloud of dust from before - just as they saw something shifting inside the cloud, hunched over and slowly rising back up to a kneeling position.

With a small wave of his hand, the hooded man grumbled lowly to himself, staring down at something beneath him in the ground. His right sleeve and pants were ripped up, showing the bloody and bruised skin, looking utterly nasty with large amounts of blood continuing to seep out. If he was in pain he did a good job hiding it, his concentration locked on whatever was in the ground. With a growl, he reached down, grabbing whatever it was he was staring at, and lifted it out of the rubble.

Itsuka and Ochako stared nervously at the hooded man - they hadn't gotten a good look at him before when this nightmare started, but it was clear that he was tough, or at least tough enough that he didn't mind having bits of his body mangled up as he fished out whatever he was grabbing and lifted it up. The two girls glanced over at the boy he was holding before glancing back around, deciding to avoid him at all costs as they moved through the trees to go help their classmates - 

- and that was when something clicked in their minds. Both of them whipped their gazes back to the person the hooded man was pulling roughly out of the ground, and both of them felt their stomachs clench painfully.

"B-b-boring," The hooded man grumbled as he picked up the prone, unconscious, dead-looking Izuku off the ground as though he were some bag of groceries he had dropped, looking around at Nine with a disappointed look, "are there … any more … s-strong heroes … a-a-around?"

Momo let out a quiet, horrified gasp, her hand rising to hold over her mouth, and Kyouka felt her jaw drop, the cramp in her side from all that running completely forgotten as she stared in petrified silence at the mangled state Izuku was in. His face was almost unrecognizable, a mess of bruises and cuts, and his nose was horribly crooked. Blood mangled his curly green hair, and there was a slash near his mouth, a deep cut that poured blood down his neck. His costume was ripped, the shoulder-pads he wore broken, and blood from large slashes throughout his torso bled through his green costume, visible even though he was drenched in water and giving the impression that black blood was leaking from him.

In short, he looked like he had been beaten to death, his eyes closed and his mouth hanging open slightly, which clearly terrified Momo and Kyouka.

But for Ochako and Itsuka, time slowed to a crawl.

Ochako's leftover nausea from using her quirk, Itsuka's broken ankle and arm … all of that was forgotten as their eyes stayed frozen on Izuku's lifeless body, watching as the blood leaked down from the various cuts from his body and dripped to the ground below, the hooded man growling at him like he was a toy he had broken. Ochako felt her heart hammering in her chest, a tight, uncomfortable feeling as her jaw dropped slightly and tears immediately built in her eyes, and Itsuka' stomach clenched again as she let out a quiet, shuddering breath.

And then both of them were moving.

"W-wait!"

"What the fuck are you two doing?!"

Both girls ignored Momo and Kyouka's cries behind them as they sprinted out of the forest and ran straight for the hooded man, because only one thing mattered - getting to Izuku and getting that guy off of him. Ochako felt her face twist into a snarl, her teeth clenching tightly as she sprinted head on towards the guy who had injured her best friend so heavily, and Itsuka's limp was all but forgotten as she grew out her free hand with her quirk.

The hooded man had just enough time to look at the charging girls in curiosity before Itsuka's enlarged fist punched him straight in the face, sending him flying through the air as he dropped Izuku out of reflex, the boy's prone body hitting the ground again with a loud THUMP as the hooded man bounced against the concrete, until he finally smashed into the fountain and made the four villains jump a bit in surprise.

Quickly, Ochako skidded to a stop, letting out several tear-filled breaths as she fell to her knees and grabbed Izuku's head from the ground, lifting it back up. Seeing how bruised and injured he was up close, she stared down at him in horror as tears began streaking down her cheeks.

"D-Deku! Deku, wake up!"

"Get him out of here!" Itsuka shouted over her shoulder, not even minding her broken ankle as she didn't pause her assault, sprinting straight towards Nine. Slice barred her teeth and sharpened her hair, but Nine merely raised his hand to stop her, watching in intrigue as the orange-haired girl charged them, her hand growing out as large as she could make it as she threw it back in a challenging shout.

"Oh, please."

BAM

The power behind Itsuka's hit probably would have shattered every bone in Nine's body had he not raised his hand to deflect the blow, the yellow shield emerging from his hand to collide with Itsuka's fist. The orange-haired girl clenched her teeth tightly in pain - it felt as though she had just struck a wall, the reverb of the hit forcing itself back into her arm - but she didn't relent, simply throwing her fist back and hitting the shield again while Nine watched in amusement, Chimera growling at the girl in recognition as Nine's red eyes flickered back to yellow.

"Nine!" Slice looked around at him, completely shocked, and not noticing Ochako glancing up at her with a bit of weirdness - as though she recognized her voice - "I thought I said you shouldn't use your quirks!"

"Don't worry, Slice - I'm not feeling too overexerted, this girl's hits are weak. As for you, girl, I'd think of a different strategy soon," Nine dismissed Itsuka in a huffing tone, "you may be physically strong, but your quirk is -"

BOOM

Despite himself, Nine raised his eyebrow at the ferocity Itsuka was striking his shield. In curiosity, Nine let the quirk aura ability he had stolen from one of the heroes he had attacked a few months ago activate, and turned his gaze to look at her. Sure enough, he was able to read her just fine - a transformation quirk, allowing her to grow her fists and - 

- and -

Actually taking a look at her as she raised her fist again, Nine faltered, staring at her as she continued to pound on his shield with the full intent of getting behind it and ripping him in two. A transformation quirk, yes, that he could plainly see … but … there was … something else.

There was something else lurking inside of this girl. Her power levels were … unlike anything he'd ever seen before. Far too powerful to just be a transformation quirk. It was as though there was something else in there, something so powerful he had only seen it once before - and that had been when he had used this quirk on their benefactor.

It was as though she had -

"S-STRENGTH!"

At the loud shout behind her, Itsuka quickly turned her head as she reared her fist back again to hit the shield - and then gasped as she ducked under another fist being thrown at the yellow barrier, roughly where her head had been. This time, though, Nine wasn't prepared for the power behind the hit, and grunted as he was forced back by the hooded man's blow, rounding on him in anger as he realized that the maniac's attention was no longer on the boy Nine had wanted him to execute.

"Don't!" He barked at the crazed lunatic, "Don't attack this girl, Hood! I need to -"

This time, however, the hooded man wasn't in the mood to listen. Whipping around at him with his glowing yellow eyes filled with insanity, instead of merely backing away at his command, the hooded man threw out his fist again and slammed it hard against the shield. Normally Nine wouldn't be affected by the hit - the shield quirk was strong, and relatively simple to master to its full potential - but he knew that he was weaker at the moment, so the power of the blow threw him off his feet, slamming him back into the ground with a grunt of surprise and pain. Slice, Chimera and Mummy quickly bent down to help their leader up, looking up in shock and rage as the hooded man pointed a bleeding finger at him.

"S-shut up," The hooded man muttered, a line of drool slowly escaping his lips from the darkness of the hood as he slowly looked back around at Itsuka, "or I'll k-k-kill you, you - you piece of c-crap. Youuuuuuuuu …" His gaze flickered to Itsuka, making her shake a bit at how insane this guy appeared to be, "y-you're strong? M-maybe ... maybe ... s-show me. Shoooow me your s-strength."

And with that, he lunged right at her, Itsuka's eyes widening as he came at her with a lot more speed than she had anticipated. She barely had time to duck underneath the fist being thrown at her face, attempting to shrink her hand a bit to better move around, but the hooded man was even faster, his foot coming out and kicking her straight in the gut. Gasping as the air was driven from her lungs, Itsuka was thrown off her feet, skidding across the ground before rolling to a stop, and the hooded man let out a gleeful laugh as he charged right after her.

"K-Kendou!" Ochako gasped, seeing her friend being kicked away as though she weighed nothing, and quickly moved to stand up, floating the unconscious Izuku and holding him protectively to her chest. She knew that she should be running right now, getting Izuku to safety, and she could hear Momo and Kyouka trying to get her attention … but seeing the hooded man assaulting her friend made her heart hammer in her chest as she quickly slung Izuku's arms over her shoulders, wincing at how broken they felt, and made sure that he wasn't going to fly away from her.

As soon as she made sure Izuku was securely floating on her back, Ochako didn't hesitate to charge across the foyer to help Itsuka, keeping her eye on the five villains and seeing them content to sit back and watch the show. Glancing back around her shoulder, she saw Momo being held back by Kyouka by the arm, both girls looking clearly conflicted about what to do, and she quickly shouted, "Get out of here, guys! Just get back up the stairs!"

"But -" Kyouka protested, about to take a small step forward - and then Momo suddenly grabbed her own shoulder. The punk girl blinked and looked around, about to ask why she was the one getting restrained now, only to falter when she saw Momo's eyes flickering. Turning her head to glance at the ruins zones, and then the downpour zone, and then the villains at the foyer. And then the ruins, then the downpour, and then the villains.

"Yaoyorozu?" Kyouka asked quietly, watching Momo's face carefully. It was clear that there were gears beginning to turn in the class rep's head, Momo's eyes narrowing a smidge as she thought - and then she nodded, and turned to look back at Kyouka.

"I … I believe I have a plan," She explained shortly, her grip on Kyouka's shoulder tightening a bit, "just - I don't want to leave Kendou and Uraraka, but if we're going to make sure the villains don't get away … we'll need more than just the two of us."

Kyouka faltered again, glancing between her and Ochako continuing to charge at the hooded man - and then she sighed and nodded.

"Alright," She gave her, "if you got a plan, I'm with you."

"Thank you, Jirou. L-let's go. And quickly."

Straightening up, the two girls began sprinting through the trees, Kyouka raising an eyebrow as Momo led them towards the ruins zone - she wasn't really sure what her plan was, but if it meant that they could get out of here in one piece, and make sure the villains didn't get away, she'd trust in Momo.

Across the foyer, none of the villains noticed the two fleeing girls, mostly because their attention was now on Ochako as she ran towards the hooded man, the larger man now trying to swat the serpentining Itsuka.

"Oy," Chimera narrowed his eyes, growling as he recognized both girls easily, "those are the pups that tried to bury me, Nine. I should be the one takin' them out - they're a lot more dangerous than they look."

"Patience, Chimera," Nine shook his head, his eyes never leaving the ensuing fight as he brushed himself off from where the hooded man had shoved him over, "there's no chance that they'll be able to overpower Hood. They won't last much longer, and then Hood will turn his attention back to the brat who insulted me," His gaze flickered to Ochako as she charged the hooded man, watching the unconscious boy floating on her back, "and then we'll send him after -"

"No."

Nine blinked in confusion, as though unsure if the deep voice behind him had really contradicted him. He quickly turned around to face Kurogiri as the warp villain stared down at the four of them, Slice, Chimera and Mummy also looking around in confusion, as the yellow, glowing eyes of their business partner narrowed at them, and began slowly opening a warp gate.

"No? What do you mean, no?" Mummy asked, his voice tense.

"We warned you this would happen," Kurogiri shook his head, "my master told you that Hood was not ready to enter the field. The procedure to turn a test subject into a High-End is a long and difficult one, and he is still in the middle of the process. We told you that he would be difficult to control should he become overwhelmed, but you ignored his warning. And now he has lost control, and is already attacking you - the one he's supposed to take orders from."

"As long as he does his job," Slice huffed, "we won't have any complaints."

"And I shall do mine. I was told specifically by my master - if Hood loses control, it will not take long for him to slaughter everyone in this facility. And that includes us as well. My master has interest in your development, Nine, so your death will set us back. Now, I shall warp him back to our base for my master and the doctor to calm him down - it will take a while to bring him back under, considering the base instincts of the villain we used to create him."

"Don't you dare think of warping him away from here," Nine suddenly growled, his red eyes glaring into Kurogir's as lightning flashed ominously above them, "the plan requires both of them to defeat All Might."

"You were told that you only needed Nomu here to take down All Might." Kurogiri reminded him in a quiet voice, and soon leaned down to breathe directly into Nine's ear, "Remember - we created this Nomu with All Might specifically in mind. He will be more than enough to overwhelm and kill him. We allowed you to bring Hood along to show that we were serious about our organizations partnering up - but we cannot allow the possibility of All Might surviving and discovering our involvement. That will make things difficult in the long run ... for both of us."

Nine merely fumed.

"When All Might arrives," Kurogiri made clear, "I will warp Hood back to base. Trust me, Nine ... Nomu will be more than enough to bring the Symbol of Peace to his knees. For now, just sit back and enjoy the show," The yellow eyes flickered back up to Ochako as she finally reached the hooded man as he threw another punch at Itsuka, "I imagine you'll take great enjoyment as he tears these children apart."

Back across the foyer, panting and trying her best to keep the unconscious Izuku secured to her back, Ochako threw her hands out, pointed straight at the back of the hooded man as he focused on throwing punches at Itsuka that she was barely dodging in time - only for him to suddenly move off to the side as though he had expected her to attack, making Ochako gasp as she stumbled a bit. Thankfully, Itsuka was quick enough to grab Ochako by the arm, dragging her and Izuku away as the hooded man's fist almost hit her, grazing her arm and making her wince in pain as the two girls faced off against the villain, Izuku still breathing unevenly on their backs and making them shake at how quiet it was.

"Y-y-yessssh …" The hooded man giggled, his voice slurring as the bright yellow eyes within the hood glanced between Itsuka and Ochako as they quickly backed up from him, "... k-keep fighting … a-a-are you both s-strong? If I … if I kill you three … then - th-hen - I would - I'd - be - th-the - the strongest."

The two girls glanced between each other nervously as he growled - they knew that despite there being two of them and one of him, they were the ones at the disadvantage, what with the side effects of using Ochako's quirk catching up with her and Itsuka only having one arm to fight. Itsuka supposed she could have used One for All … but then her gaze flickered down to her broken arm, and glanced over at the other villains watching the fight.

No … no, she couldn't do that, Itsuka quickly shook her head. She might be able to win this specific fight, but there were still other villains around that wouldn't just let her leave, and she couldn't fight them with two broken arms. That would mean that she would have to -

Unfortunately, the hooded man decided that it was tired of letting them stand around, and in the blink of an eye leapt back into battle, forcing Itsuka to jump back and flinching as his fist barely missed her face and grazed her nose.

The hooded man then threw his leg out, stretching it with a sickening crunch, to launch it straight at Ochako's head, forcing her to duck down low so that it didn't hit Izuku due to her not moving down far enough - and leaving her directly open for the hooded man to leap up into the air, giggling as he aimed to stomp right on Izuku's back and drive them both into the concrete.

"Uraraka, move!"

Ochako acted on instinct the moment she heard Itsuka's panicked voice shout at her, pressing her hand to her side and activating her quirk. While her stomach clenched in protest, almost forcing her lunch back up, Ochako tried her best to ignore it as she leapt from the spot she had ducked on just as the hooded man's feet came down, barely missing Izuku and leaving cracks in the concrete. Cackling madly, the hooded man whipped back around at Itsuka and charged, throwing several jabs that Itsuka was barely able to dodge and block, and the ones that did connect made Itsuka flinch in pain - this guy could hit like a goddamn truck.

But … but she could feel a strategy starting to form in her mind, she thought as the hooded man let out another howl of rage and exhilaration, charging straight at her with his fists flying through the air. The way he had his arms raised defensively - it was something she recognized, she realized as she jumped left and right to avoid the blows, and Ochako quickly unfloated herself from behind them, straining when Izuku's weight was restored on her back and she had to take a moment not to puke her guts out.

When he wasn't using his quirk, or his superhuman strength, he fought like a boxer, Itsuka quickly realized. She'd fought a few boxers before, back in her grandfather's dojo when she was teaching the class about fighting people with different styles of fighting - the hooded man would make quick jabs, keep on his toes and not let her have any breathing room to reorganize. But that was his weakness as well, she narrowed her eyes as her fist grew back out.

The fighting style he used wasn't compatible with his quirk. They didn't mix well - bulking up his arms and legs and stretching them out shifted his weight off balance, and threw off his center of gravity. And that meant if she watched carefully … him winding his arms and legs back for hits tended to lag, and his reaction after throwing out the strike would be delayed.

That meant if she got ready for when he used his quirk …

Itsuka took another few hops back as the hooded man threw another fist backward, hearing the telltale sound of his bones cracking as he threw it forward to hit her - only for her to lean out of the way just in time, his fist sailing straight over her head. While he stumbled forward a bit, Itsuka's enlarged fist flew upwards to drive straight into his stomach, punching as hard as she could. The hooded man grunted as the air was driven from his lungs, his eyes snapping to Itsuka leaning beneath him - 

- and then trailed up as Ochako rejoined the fight, Izuku floating on her back again as she gritted her teeth.

Leaping up, Ochako kicked out, her shoes connecting with the hooded man's shoulder and side and knocking him off his feet, taking advantage of him being off balance to knock him over. Growling, the hooded man fell on his side, quickly scrambling up - just in time for Itsuka's foot to connect with the side of his face, throwing his head back. Not giving him any time to recover, Ochako landed and launched her fist into his gut, wincing at how hard it felt, and Itsuka struck him again in the face, knocking the villain back.

It was here that they had the advantage over him - he couldn't focus his attacks on one of them since they were both attacking, with Ochako landing a hit, jumping back while Itsuka landed her own hit, and then she would jump back in as Itsuka moved around him. The two girls worked together to drive the hooded man back, punching and kicking and not giving him any time to look for openings, until at last, the two girls punched him at the same time, Ochako in the face and Itsuka straight in the throat, and the hooded man was knocked onto his back.

Both of them panting, Itsuka and Ochako glared down at the hooded man as he rolled onto his hands and knees, quickly looking up at them with surprise and delight while Ochako waved her fist gingerly - unlike Itsuka, she didn't have any guards for her knuckles, meaning that they were bruised and bloody from all the hits she had landed.

"Mmmgh ..." The hooded man grunted, a thin line of saliva leaving his lips and dripping into the water on the floor, "the pain - it hurts - you're - you're both sh-strong ..."

"Yeah," Itsuka huffed, stomping her foot down in the water and splashing it everywhere as she raised another threatening fist, "we're strong. Now are you gonna stay down, or do we have to keep beating you over the fucking head?!"

"Mrrrgh ..."

As he whined and groaned on the ground, Itsuka and Ochako finally found the moment to breathe again, taking deep, unsteady breaths as they turned their attention to Izuku, their training partner still unconscious on Ochako's back. He was still out, obviously, his bruised face twisted into a small grimace of pain, the sight of which made both girls feel like their hearts were breaking.

"We - we need to get him out of here," Itsuka muttered, raising her hand to gently brush against Izuku's cheek to comfort him, "to - to a doctor, or Recovery Girl."

"Yeah," Ochako quickly nodded, glancing around. From their spot at the end of the pavilion, they could see the Trigger villains still brutally fighting each other, unaware of anything that was going on, and the five villains that were still watching them. "Those - the villains at the foyer, though - it'd be tough to get past them."

"We will," Itsuka nodded, narrowing her eyes at Kurogiri especially as she straightened up and balled a fist, "we need to get Izuku out of here. Follow my lead - I'll distract the villains, and you try to get to the -"

CRACK

Itsuka's small plan, and Ochako's determination to get Izuku to safety - both faltered at the sound of something wet crunching behind them, and the hooded man letting out a small gasp of pain. Slowly, they both turned to look back down at him, seeing where he was kneeling and staring at the ground, slowly placing his palms down into the water - and without another crunch, his back suddenly pushed out, just like his arms and leg did when he used his quirk. Instead of shrinking back down to normal size, however, it instead continued to grow, making the villain subtly begin to grow bigger as his arms and legs likewise swelled.

Ochako and Itsuka took a small step back, eyes widening in horror and revulsion as the muscle fibers on his arms pushed out out his skin, blood beginning to leak down not just from his limbs, but under his clothes as well as they darkened with blood, just like Izuku. And then, slowly raising his head to look at them, both girls felt themselves shake at the sight of a bright, yellow eye staring at them as an insane giggle escaped his cracked lips.

"Fun ..." He breathed out, "... s-so much fun!"

The two girls took another step backwards, a sudden chill spiking up their spines as they watched the hooded man slowly get back up, continuing to grow even bigger. With a growl, he suddenly slammed his arms against the concrete again, hard enough to crack it and make the two girls stumble a bit, and his bones continued to snap with wet crunches before quickly resetting - from his ribs to his arms, to his legs to even his neck, as he slowly rose back up to his feet, and his neck snapped to an odd angle as his grin widened, his eyes never leaving their faces.

Soon enough, the hooded man's transformation had been completed - he now towered over everyone else in the facility, his clothes straining from how large had become as he continued to glare down at Itsuka and Ochako in glee. In short? He'd gone from a regular sized martial artist, probably about a head taller than them, to an absolute monster as he reworked his body's very structure to look like something straight out of a nightmare.

"S-s-str-strength," He slurred, "b-b-blood! G-give it - give it to me!"

At once, he threw his fist down, moving much faster than someone his size could, with Itsuka barely managing to jump out of the way as it drove itself hard into the ground and knocking Ochako back - but she wasn't able to dodge the hooded man's other leg from snapping out, catching her right in the ribs. Feeling her eyes widen and blood and spit escaping her mouth, Itsuka was sent flying through the air at shocking speed, bouncing off the ground with a cry of pain.

As she flew through the air away from them, the hooded man was immediately on her trail, giggling gleefully as he ran across the ground on all fours like some kind of rampaging gorilla.

"K-Kendou -!" Ochako cried out to her, attempting to run to her friend - but the hooded man kicked back out at her this time, catching her right in the arm. Ochako screamed in pain as she felt something crack in her elbow, knocking her off balance - and sending Izuku flying off her shoulders, the girl letting out a small gasp as she immediately whipped around to where he was floating away from her. 

But it seemed that the hooded man was awfully good at multitasking, even in his berserker rage, as he kept his eyes locked on Itsuka as she slid to a stop - 

- and then suddenly reached out, his elongated hand snatching Izuku's floating body out of the air and dragging him back to the monster.

"Deku!" Ochako screamed in panic, her eyes widening briefly in horror - and then she quickly crawled back to her feet from where she had been knocked over, her eyes narrowing back to slits, and she charged after the hooded man as he quickly crawled away on all fours, Izuku's body banging against the ground with each movement forward. From her spot where she landed, Itsuka looked up at the beast, spotting Izuku immediately and feeling her eyes widen - and then she was back on her own feet in an instant, ignoring the blood leaking down her face from where she had bumped her forehead on the ground, and ran straight at the hooded man, her teeth barred into a snarl.

Both girls knew that they didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of taking this guy down - but they needed to get Izuku to safety, and if that meant ripping this guy's fingers off his hand to get him to let him go, then so be it.

The hooded man let out another gleeful noise as Itsuka charged him, throwing his fist up with the full intend to smush Itsuka into the ground - but she was even quicker, sliding underneath his body as her mind suddenly went back to her first fight with Gran Torino, months ago on the beach. As the hooded man moved over top of her, his neck crunching to look at her underneath him, Itsuka balled her hand into a tight fist, taking a deep breath, and then punched out.

BAM

The hooded man's eyes widened as she threw her good fist up, and at the moment it struck him dead center in the chest, activated her quirk. The enlarged fist pushed him up slightly into the air - his body was heavier than a car, so there wasn't any chance of her sending him flying up too high - but what he didn't account for was for Ochako jumping into the air with her quirk activated, releasing it, and then landing straight on his shoulders.

With a shout of rage and desperation, Ochako did the only thing she could think of to get this guy's attention on her and off of her friends below him - grab the hooded man by the sides of his head, angle her thumbs, and push in.

The hooded man shrieked in pain as her thumb drilled into his eyes, rearing back with a loud shout that echoed throughout the USJ. Ochako yelped as he bucked a bit, trying to keep herself balanced as Itsuka rolled over beneath the thrashing villain, attempting to pry his enlarged fingers off of Izuku's unconscious form - but the hooded man seemed coherent enough to know what she was trying to do even when Ochako was digging her thumbs into his eyes, and doubled his grip on Izuku, making him groan in pain as the hand crushed him against the floor.

"Let go of him, you bastard!" Itsuka screamed as she punched uselessly at his hand, but the hooded man only growled, ignoring her as he reached up with his other hand and attempted to grab Ochako's face. The smaller girl was quick enough to duck underneath his grasping hand - but not quick enough to jump off of him he suddenly began to roll over onto his back.

Ochako's eyes widened as she realized that she was about two seconds from being crushed under this guy if she didn't move at once, and as quickly as she could, braced herself so that she could leap off his back, her thumbs leaving his eyes and wincing at the blood on them. With a loud crash, the hooded man slammed his back against the concrete, Ochako barely managing to get clear as she floated into the air - only for the hooded man to quickly roll back over, snarling as he threw out his free hand at her.

This time, with Ochako floating up in the air with her broken arm distracting her, she didn't have enough time to unfloat herself, letting out a scream of pain as his large hand squeezed her tightly, and quickly whipped her down to slam her against the concrete, making her gasp as the air was driven from her lungs - and unknowingly making the boy in the hooded man's other grasp stir, his eyes flickering slightly.

"Uraraka!" Itsuka screamed for her, horrified that both of her friends had been pinned by this monster, and quickly scrambled back to her feet - only for the hooded man to raise his leg and snap his knee to a horrifying ninety degree angle, and then kicked up. The foot slammed directly into her side, sending Itsuka flying away again to collide against the ground, grunting when she felt something crack in her back as she rolled to a stop.

Slowly, she rolled onto her side, coughing and spitting up blood as she stared blankly at nothing for a moment, before rolling onto her back and staring up at the broken roof, seeing light begin to shine in as she cringed in pain. Her entire body was screaming in agony right now, and not just from her arm and ankle - her ribs were definitely broken from all the hits she had taken from the man, making it difficult to breathe, and she could feel blood running down her arms and mouth from the blows. Groaning, she attempted to roll back onto her side, her vision blurring -

- and then she spotted the hooded man standing back up, keeping Izuku and Ochako pinned to the ground as the brown-haired girl weakly hit his arm with her unbroken one, trying to get him off her.

"N-not strong," The hooded man noted, sounding disappointed, "y-y-you - you aren't - I - I thought y-you were - you were s-strong … b–b-but - but you're not. You - you're boring."

With that, he slowly began to apply more pressure to his hold around Ochako, the small girl crying out in pain as he began squeezing her midsection tighter. With a pathetic grunt, Itsuka sluggishly tried to climb to her feet, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks, and tried to get back to them despite how weak her knees felt, ignoring the reality that there was no way she would be able to get to them before the hooded man crushed Ochako to -

BOOM

Before the hooded man could apply any more pressure to the young girl he was squeezing tightly, however, the three of them were suddenly blinded by a burst of bright light. Itsuka winced and quickly raised her good hand to cover her eyes, while Ochako screwed her eyes shut in pain as the hooded man howeld, his grip on Ochako automatically loosening as he sat up, shaking and spitzing as electricity slammed directly into his chest, the pain of the green lightning burning into his chest making him shriek in both pain and delight.

Ochako managed to squint her eyes open slightly, wincing from the brightness of the green energy as it shot out at the hooded man from somewhere on her … left … where …

And that when it came to her. Her eyes snapping open, Ochako quickly whipped her gaze around, and felt tears return to her eyes at the sight of Izuku somehow managing to sit up, fully conscious as he kept one hand extended as he released a long stream of lightning straight into the hooded man's chest to drive him back, sparks flying everywhere.

There was a look of such utter rage and fury on his face that Ochako had never seen before. She had seen him angry before, of course, but that was nothing compared to how tightly his teeth were clenched together, eyes wide and pupils shrunk as he used the full power of his quirk on someone for the first time in years. As the hooded man screamed to the ceiling, his limbs spread out as he absorbed more and more of the electricity, Izuku pulled his hand back slightly - and then shoved out. With an even larger blast of lightning, the hooded man was rocketed off his feet, flying through the air as smoke trailed behind him from where Izuku had pretty much burned a hole through his chest, and came back down to the ground on the other side of the pavilion with a loud crash, water flying everywhere as he tumbled ass over head.

As the hooded man landed far away from them, Izuku let out a tense breath, the electricity slowly flickering away from his arm and leaving an intense burning feeling in his entire arm - and then he let out a groan of pain as he slumped back down onto the ground.

"D-Deku!" Ochako scrambled to her hands and knees, quickly crawling over to roll him onto his back and ignoring the pain of her broken arm. There was the sound of feet splashing against the ground, and Itsuka quickly skidded to a stop before them, tripping and falling onto her side before she managed to get back up and help Ochako with sitting Izuku up properly.

"Deku?! Deku, are you okay, can you hear me?!"

"Midoriya!"

"I …" Izuku wheezed out, his voice weak and strained as he fell back against Itsuka, the orange-haired girl letting him lean heavily on her, and then he opened his eyes slightly, letting out a small cough. His vision was slightly blurry, but he knew who was there, seeing the familiar brown hair and hearing the familiar voice behind him, and a small smile appeared on his face.

The sight of that weak smile, especially on his bleeding and bruised face, was what finally sent both girls over the edge. The stress of the last hour immediately caught up with them, with tears streaming down both of their faces as they helped Izuku carefully sit up, and once they were sure he wasn't going to fall over, Ochako buried her face in his neck, sobbing as she wrapped her arms carefully around him, and Itsuka weakly pressed her face into the back of his head, sniffling. Izuku couldn't do much to assure them, but he still smiled gently as he laid his head against Ochako's, letting out a shuddering sigh.

As soon as she calmed down a little bit, Itsuka raised her head, giving a quick look around. The Trigger henchmen were still fighting amongst themselves, but it wouldn't take long for them to eventually notice them, and go back on the attack. Nine and his group were still watching them, all of them frowning over the fact that they had managed to overpower their muscle, and looking like they were about to head on over to finish the job, which definitely wasn't good - her entire body was pretty much screaming in pain, and Ochako seemed to be in the same boat as her, scratches and blood littering her body. And that wasn't even mentioning Izuku's current state.

None of them were in any condition to fight at the moment, so what they needed to do was get the hell out of there and back up to the top of the stairs.

"C-c'mon," She managed to mutter to them, sounding choked up as she gently began raising Izuku off the ground, "let's - let's g-get you out of h-here, Midoriya. We need to -"

"YES!"

All three teenagers jumped at the sound of a familiar voice screaming out. Horror crawling up their spines, Itsuka and Ochako whipped around to see the hooded man managing to rise to his feet, his glowing yellow eyes wide and a horrifying smile visible beneath the darkness of the hood as his gaze snapped to Izuku, the half-conscious boy feeling himself tense. They watched as the bloody, burnt hole that Izuku had burnt into him began to slowly close, the skin healing quickly as he let out another roaring bellow.

"THE - THE LIGHTNING!" He shouted, drool and blood escaping from under the hood. "THE POWER! S-SHOW IT TO ME A-AGAIN! SH-SHOW ME - Y-YOUR - B-B-BLOOD!"

With that loud shriek, the hooded man began to charge, keeping low on the ground as he sprinted towards them with the full intention of finishing this fight. With no other options, Itsuka felt herself tense - this was the end of the line. There was no way any of them could keep fighting, there wasn't any backup coming, and there was nowhere they would be able to run and escape this guy. 

Acting on instinct, Itsuka threw herself over her two friends, attempting to shield them with her body, and held them tight to her, squeezing her eyes shut as tears streamed down her cheeks.

I'm sorry, Mom! She quietly apologized, I'm sorry, Dad! I'm sorry, Grandpa! I'm sorry, Gūdo! I'm - I'm so sorry!

From their spot at the pavilion, Nine smirked as the three teenagers huddled together. It looked like the feeble fight they'd been watching was about to come to an end, and it was good timing as well. It had been entertaining to watch the girls fight a hopeless battle against their monster, and now that it was a bit brighter, he'd have a much better time watching what their monster was about to do to them - 

- wait.

Bright?

Nine blinked, his brow furrowing slightly, as he felt his gaze begin to trail around as he realized something that he hadn't noticed before. There was … light. And not electric light, they had made sure to cut the power by completely destroying most of the generators, with the exception of the downpour and conflagration zones to let their henchmen use their elements for their quirks. Natural sunlight was pouring in from the window above them. Slowly, he and Kurogiri, who also seemed to pick up that something was wrong, turned to look straight up, their eyes widening.

They hadn't even noticed it during the heat of the battle, and watching the two girls fight for their lives, but the storm that Nine had summoned was … gone. There were still dark clouds hanging in the sky, but no more rain drenched them, no more lightning flickered and boomed. Instead, the sun was gleaming through the dark clouds, illuminating the chaos-filled USJ.

Nine … hadn't turned off his quirk, or pushed away the storm clouds. Even if something were to happen to incapacitate him, or the effects of his quirk would render him unconscious, the weather would have raged on. It was almost as though … as though …

Kurogiri was the first one who realized what was happening, his yellow eyes widening - and then quickly whipped around to where the hooded man was charging at Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka with the clear intent to rip them to pieces. Throwing out a tendril of dark mist, he managed to hit the hooded man dead center in the chest, the monster's eyes widening in shock and rage as the warp gate began to teleport him away.

"NO!" He screamed out, throwing out his hand to try and grab Izuku by the face even as Itsuka and Ochako weakly tried to cover his body with their own, "S-STRENGTH! I - I CAN STILL - F-FIGHT -!"

And then he vanished through the portal, his entire body warped out of the USJ, and the hand that barely managed to reach Izuku's face, scratching it with his fingernails, vanished within the darkness, before the warp gate closed, making the three teenagers blink and look up in shock as the warp gate faded into nothing.

"What the hell are you doin'?!" Chimera barked, wheeling on the warp villain and shouting at him as Slice and Mummy likewise threw him dirty looks, Mummy's wrappings beginning to float up and Slice's hair sharpening. "He nearly had 'em!"

"I am a man of my word, Chimera," Kurogiri narrowed his eyes, "Hood would be sent back home in order for our benefactor to calm him down. Nomu here will still serve your purposes well. Besides, I don't hear your leader complaining," He turned to look at Nine, seeming him slowly walk towards the stairs, "I believe the entire reason you all planned this attack has finally arrived."

"He's right," Nine nodded, his eyes narrowing beneath the hood as there was a sudden loud BANG above them, and the two blue doors that led to the outside of the USJ were blown off their hinges. "He's here."


To say that All Might was furious would probably be the understatement of the century.

The sound of footsteps slowly walking through the haze of dust that had been picked up from the doors being punched off their hinges echoed throughout the USJ, the students near the doors quickly looking around as the pro hero walked through the entrance and into the facility. He held his jacket in tight grip, glaring ahead as he slowly emerged from the dust cloud, his eyes flickering to the fallen form of Thirteen being cradled by a tear-eyed Mina, then over to Aizawa's broken body on the ground as Pony and Yosetsu tended to him, and then to the unconscious Nejire wrapped securely in Mezo's arms.

And All Might's blood boiled even more.

"I had tried to call the teachers here a few more times back at the school," He informed them as he walked closer to the top of the stairs, giving the students an assuring look as Hanta, Yosetsu and Mezo collapsed onto their butts in relief at the sight of him, and Pony teared up, "but when the lightning storm got worse, I had the suspicion that something more was going on. I decided to disperse it before heading over here, and I came across Young Tokage fighting her way through the storm. Thanks to her, I've been caught up to speed on the utter villainy that has occurred here today."

He couldn't help but clench his teeth slightly, remembering the state he had found the young girl in. He had punched the storm away and quickly found her hurrying through the storm without her lower body, and she had broken down in tears when he had ran to her. The longer he had spoken to Setsuna to find out what happened, the angrier he had become, to hear how her voice trembled and shook with sobs, until he had pretty much been shaking with fury as he told her to wait for the teachers, giving her his phone and instructing her to call Principal Nezu to tell him what happened.

This was his fault above all else. If he hadn't wasted his time this morning, stopping villains left and right, he would've been here. The children wouldn't have been terrified and injured. His juniors wouldn't have had to fight so hard. All of this could have been avoided if he had just been here. And now … he was running on fumes. He only had about five minutes left before he wouldn't be able to maintain his muscle form, and after that, he would be useless.

But that didn't matter now, he shook his head as he finally reached the edge of the stairs, immediately spotting the five villains below that matched Setsuna's description of the ringleaders, all of them quickly turning to look up at him. What mattered was that he was there now. These children did not need to fight against these villains any longer, although pride swelled in his chest for them for the bravery they showed today.

"It's all right now," All Might slowly reached up for his tie, unfastening it a bit, and then ripped it straight off, glaring down at the villains in barely suppressed anger, "for I am here."

Even though he spoke calmly and in his regular tone of voice, it echoed throughout the facility, gathering the attention of the Trigger henchmen, the villains unaffected by the drug, and all of the students still scattered around. He saw the water from the shipwreck zone everywhere, the boat laying on its side not far from the pavilion. He saw the window above them, broken. He saw the hole in the dome of the conflagration zone, the ruins of the mountain zone, and clenched his teeth.

These villains must've had fun, terrorizing his students with their new enhanced power. Well, the fun was about to stop now -

"A-All Might!" Pony suddenly gasped, drawing the teacher's attention as he looked down at the terrified girl, tears sprinkling her eyes, and All Might tried to smile down at her as he raised a hand.

"Young Tsunotori, it's alright now -"

"All Might! T-there! Midoriya-san!"

At the sound of one of his pupil's names, he stopped, blinking down at the young girl as she quickly pointed towards something at the bottom of the facility. Quickly whipping around, All Might's gaze trailed around, searching for - 

- and then he spotted them, huddled into a small group. Izuku on the ground, beaten to hell with spots of blood all over his body, his costume ripped up, the Gauntlet broken around his wrist, and his face bruised and littered with gashes. Beside him was Ochako, her own costume ripped up, a nasty bruise swelling near her eye, and her arm lying broken in her lap, looking a nasty red color just below her elbow. And guarding over both of them was Itsuka, her face and body as bruised as her training partners, with the addition of her ankle swelling up and her arm in a makeshift cast, a nasty purple bruise that went all the way up to her shoulder.

And all of them were staring up at him in shock, as though not believing he was really there.

All Might didn't even register moving. He didn't register the Trigger villains screeching and running up the stairs to engage him. He didn't even register the villains' leader, and whatever taunts he might've been sending up to him as he called to the pro hero. All he knew was that he needed to get to his pupils, and if that meant throwing a few of these lunatics aside and getting the leader to shut up, then so be it.

BAM

BAM

BAM

BAM

BAM

In a flurry of movement, all of the Trigger henchmen that had been running or flying towards him were backhanded, punched, or thrown out of the way as All Might flew down the stairs to the ground level. One of the Trigger villains approaching had balked in surprise or terror, but All Might showed him no mercy, punching him hard in the chest and sending him flying. Landing at the bottom of the stairs, All Might moved immediately, his gaze locked on the cloaked villain as he quickly raised his hand, as though anticipating he would be next, and a shield quickly appeared as All Might threw his fist forward.

BAM

All Might's fist didn't break down the shield, unfortunately, but there was still enough force behind the blow that Nine grunted in surprise as he was pushed off his feet, stumbling backwards and colliding into Chimera just as the heteromorph grabbed him to hold him up. Slice and Mummy quickly balked, taken aback by how fast All Might truly was, but luckily for them, All Might's attention wasn't on them at the moment.

Indeed, once he was sure the villains weren't going to strike out at him from behind, the pro hero quickly hurried over to his pupils, kneeling before them and placing his hands carefully on both Itsuka and Ochako's shoulders.

Both girls stared blankly up at their mentor for a moment, seeing his face fall as he took in the full extent of their injuries - and then Itsuka sniffed, and quickly moved back down to hug Izuku, crying a bit in relief as Ochako likewise imitated her and bowed her head against Izuku's shoulder. The boy himself seemed half-conscious, looking up at All Might in a haze as his mentor smiled gently at the three of them.

"It's alright now, Young Midoriya," He spoke in a quiet voice, patting Itsuka's shoulder, "it's alright. I'm here now. Everything's going to be okay."

"A-All Might …"

"I'm insulted."

All Might tensed at the sound of a monotone voice speaking up behind him, and turned his head, a frown on his normally smiling face. Nine seemed unperturbed by All Might's appearance, chuckling as he walked towards him with his hands in his pockets to stare down at the larger man, while the creature with the pulsing brain, which had been standing back for a while, had its attention solely focused on the pro hero, cracking its knuckles.

"Here I am, organizing what could be the start of a new society," The villain leader huffed, "and the first thing you do is ignore me and check on three broken teenagers. I have to say, I was expecting some kind of cheesy one liner. "This is job for All Might!', 'Have no fear, hope has arrived!', something along those lines. I'm almost disappointed."

"Shut up," All Might narrowed his eyes, making Nine raise an eyebrow under his hood, "I'll be dealing with you in a moment."

Turning back to look down at Itsuka and Ochako, both girls staring up at him with teary eyes, he muttered, "Get Young Midoriya back to the entrance. I'll cover you."

Quickly nodding, the two girls grunted as they managed to get back up onto their feet, Itsuka gingerly holding her broken ankle above the ground, and carefully helped Izuku back up, tearing up as he winced and whined briefly in pain before managing to suppress his noises of discomfort by biting his lip. As All Might stood back up, whirling around to glare at the villains, the trio quickly attempted to get out of the way of what was about to be a very brutal beatdown of them - 

- but then a warp gate opened in front of them, making Itsuka and Ochako quickly skid to a halt as three sharp pieces of hair shot out, pointed straight at their throats. All Might quickly looked around, seeing Slice emerging and holding her sharpened hair to his students' throats, and smirked up at him as the pro hero bristled, clenching his fist tightly and looking like he was about to beat her down over daring to attack the injured children.

"I'd ignore Slice for now, All Might," Nine waved his hand dismissively, "as long as those three don't move at all, they have nothing to worry about."

"Leave them out of this!" All Might whirled back around at him with a glare, his eyes narrowing as Chimera and Mummy likewise smirked at the teenagers' predicaments, "They are merely children. You've terrorized them enough today!"

"You know something, All Might? I agree with you," Nine smirked, "I have terrorized them enough. But I don't want them to leave just yet - I want them to stay for this. I want them to watch their teacher in action as he finally meets his match - they were so enthusiastic to throw themselves into battle with someone who heavily outclassed them in power, so I want them to watch the mighty Symbol of Peace do the same. So Slice, if these children even think of moving, either towards the stairs or to help our dear All Might - slit their throats."

"Of course, Nine," Slice giggled, moving around so that she could somewhat embrace the two girls and Izuku from behind. "I'm sure the four of us will have so much fun watching what's about to unfold. Won't we, girls? Buddy?"

Itsuka and Ochako bristled at the villain touching them, but they did nothing as the sharp blades slid gently against their throats, making them wince, and Izuku, managing to keep himself conscious, glanced fearfully between All Might and Nine as the pro hero glared at the villain and Nine glanced back up at the ceiling, looking at the sun.

Raising his hand, Nine made a small, twirling gesture, and at once, the rampaging storm clouds that had terrorized UA returned, lightning flashing and rain falling through the hole again, and casting the USJ into darkness. Nine suppressed a small cough, feeling the familiar sting of pain from overusing his quirk, but did his best to hide it as he turned back around to All Might, a pair of glowing blue eyes glaring into his red eyes as the two studied each other.

"I hope you don't mind that I made it a bit dark again," Nine asked in a sarcastic, concerned voice, "I just wanted to properly set the mood."

"Huh," All Might huffed, straightening up as he glared at the villain leader, "one for the dramatics, are you? Can't say I'm too impressed - I handle punks like you every other weekend."

"Well then, I hope that I'm memorable," Nine humored him, moving back to slowly pace as All Might's eyes trailed after him, "or at least, I hope that I can be remembered by all of your students - I'm afraid that after I'm finished with you, you won't be doing much reminiscing. Or, you know, anything at all, once you're dead."

"We'll have to see about that."

"That we will. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, by the way. I'm Nine of the Villain Consortium. As it's been mentioned to your students, we're here for one reason and one reason only - to make you into a martyr for our cause."

"Sounds interesting," All Might suddenly grinned, flexing his arms, "but I'm not interested!"

Without warning, All Might leapt forward, drawing his fist back as he glared at the villain leader. From the looks of things, this guy was the brains behind this crisis - take him out, and the others would either flee or fall into chaos. Quickly crossing his arms, All Might let out a challenging, " CAROLINA -"

"Nomu."

"- SMASH!"

All Might quickly slashed his hands downward, intending to send Nine flying through the air and into the hole that the lake used to be - only for him to blink in surprise. Instead of hitting the villain leader, in a mere second, another villain had stepped in - one about as large as he was, who took the blow as though it was nothing.

The pro hero faltered for a moment as the villain with the brain protruding from his head aimed its gaze at him - and then it quickly swiped at him.

"Whoop!" All Might grunted, leaning back just in time to avoid the villain from grabbing him into a bear hug. This guy was quick - much quicker than he anticipated, barely missing the slightly smaller pro hero. With a small frown, All Might threw a fist forward, driving it hard into the villain's abdomen - and then blinked in surprise when the villain merely quivered at the moment of impact, before quickly steadying itself and reaching back down to grab All Might by the back of the head.

"Holy crap," Itsuka breathed with widened eyes, watching as her mentor attempted to duck and weave through the villain's attempts to grab him, "it's … All Might's not doing anything to that guy."

"Of course not," Slice laughed haughtingly, making Ochako turn to glare at her - and then faltering a little bit as she aimed her glare at the brown haired girl, something about this woman seeming familiar, "you didn't think we'd just bring along nobodies to bring down All Might? Our friend over there - Nomu - he's been bioengineered to defeat All Might. Consider him the anti-Symbol of Peace."

The three teenagers tensed, turning their gazes back to All Might as he ducked through Nomu's attempts to grab him, punching and kicking him without any change as the pro hero furrowed his brow.

"You know something, All Might," Nine sighed to himself, putting his hands back in his pockets as All Might continued to try and strike the villain while dodging its attempts to grab him, "I do regret having to come to this - I respect you. You may think that I'm being sarcastic right now, but honestly, I really do. Strength is one thing I admire more than anything in this world, and as you're considered the strongest man alive … well, I truly admire you."

All Might paid no attention to his rambling, instead ducking underneath another blow being thrown at him by Nomu.

"But alas," Nine tsked, "if I'm going to make a statement, it's going to have to be a rather big one. Which means that, to my regret, you're going to have to die for our cause. Pretty horribly, I might add."

"Ha! You seem to be under the impression that I'm just going to sit down and let your little delusions of grandeur continue!" All Might grinned through the pain, already feeling the stress of holding his muscle form start to catch up with him as he ducked under another one of Nomu's strikes, "Too bad that I'm not exactly one to take things lying down! As for you, big guy," His gaze flickered back to the monster before him, seeing Nomu grinning wickedly at him, "I'm starting to figure out your tricks. Some kind of shock absorption quirk, eh? Well, it'll help you for now - but not for long!"

There was the sound of several more powerful blows being slammed into Nomu as All Might ducked and struck out under Nomu's attempts to grab onto him, and the villains watching the fight turned to glance at each other.

"Alright," Chimera raised an eyebrow at Nine, "time to get started with the plan?"

"Indeed," Nine nodded, smirking beneath his hood, "Kurogiri, get into position. Chimera, you know what to do."

Kurogiri slowly faded away, chuckling sinisterly under his breath, and Chimera turned to whistle loudly in the direction of the fighting Trigger henchmen. They all whipped around, snarling a bit at the high-pitched noise that had startled them - and then their eyes flickered to All Might battling Nomu, and they felt their eyes widen briefly before letting out several shrieks of glee as they began charging, ignoring each other as their black tongues hung out of their mouths.

All Might felt his eyes narrow as he glanced at the approaching henchmen, all of them screaming for his blood. So that was the game here - overwhelm him with the Trigger henchmen while the one villain that could take his blows and then some would finish the job while they kept him distracted. Clever, maybe - but All Might wouldn't give up that easily.

"You talk a big game about respecting me," He addressed Nine, seeing the villain leaning back against the fountain as All Might continued to duck under Nomu's attacks, "and yet you have no problem throwing more villains at me in order to overwhelm me? Not exactly fighting fair, are you! And you say you're just here to kill me, but let's not pretend that you didn't throw these villains gleefully at my students!"

"Well," Nine shrugged while smirking, "I did need to get our boys here a little bloodlusted before you arrived. I'll give your students this, though, they're much harder to kill than I anticipated. There's plenty of strong quirks around … I have to say, I'm impressed."

"I'll say," Slice giggled, sliding the back of her hand against Itsuka's cheek and making her recoil in disgust, not able to stomp on the villain's foot in fear that the blade pointed at her throat would dig into it, "the three of you definitely lasted a bit longer than I anticipated. I'm surprised - I got the impression a few days ago that you three were too busy tripping over yourselves to cause any problems."

It was that last sentence, unknown to her, that made Ochako falter. She blinked, staring blankly at nothing as Slice's words echoed around in her head - and then she carefully turned her head, looking up at Slice as the villainess turned her gaze back to the fight, and felt the dots in her head begin to connect as her eyes widened.

She hadn't thought about it at all since this whole nightmare began, but Slice ... now that she was thinking about it, she felt her stomach twist, making her shake a bit in realization. The red hair, even if back then it was tied into a bun. The way her face was shaped, obvious even if she was wearing a mask. The deep voice. 

She'd seen her before. She'd seen her at ... at the ... at the gate, a few days ago. The reporter that she had fell into. That had helped her up.

"... you?" Ochako whispered, horrified as Slice glanced down at her curiously - but then a loud explosion suddenly drew their attention, drawing both eyes back to the battle.

With a grunt of exertion, All Might barely managed to duck out of the way as Nomu's fist struck the ground, causing a loud explosion of sound that made everyone wince a bit - but that was what All Might had been looking for, grabbing the villain's extended arm and grunting as he lifted Nomu off his feet. With a laugh, All Might twirled in a circle, using Nomu as a bat to hit aside several of the Trigger henchmen that had been charging at him from behind, and once they had been knocked aside, All Might threw Nomu as hard as he could at Nine, Chimera and Mummy.

Before the monster could hit them, a warp gate opened, immediately swallowing Nomu. All Might's eyes widened as he heard another warp gate open behind him, and quickly ducked as Nomu shot out of it like a bullet, barely missing All Might as he flew over his head and smashed into the fountain, breaking it further. As soon as it was back on its feet, however, Nomu quickly got up and charged straight back at All Might, the pro hero shooting like a rocket towards the more physically powerful villain to meet him head on, and threw another punch that the beast didn't react to at all.

As the battle continued, All Might punching the villain back and ducking under Nomu's attempts to grab him, Mummy furrowed his brow, tilting his head slightly.

"This doesn't make any sense," He muttered, drawing Chimera's attention as the heteromorph looked over to him, "he said that All Might would be weaker when he arrived. But he's still going at Nomu like there's nothing wrong at all."

"Just wait, Mummy" Nine shook his head, watching the show as he smirked beneath his hood, "it won't be obvious at first - but if All Might really had the power to take out Nomu, he'd have done it already."

As All Might threw out another fist to slam straight into the creature's face, he blinked in surprise as Nomu easily caught it, the creature letting out a strangled noise as he then threw his hand out to grab the pro hero by the throat. With a snarl, it threw All Might away as hard as it could - and since it was freaking strong, that was a pretty long distance.

Ochako and Itsuka flinched as All Might was thrown all the way to the ship that had been beached by the tsunami, grunting when his back hit the hull with enough force to dent it - and then quickly ducked when Nomu raced over in the blink of an eye, its fist barely missing All Might's head as it slammed straight into the boat and broke a massive hole through it, the creature growling as it tried to free its stuck hand.

"You pack quite the punch!" All Might noted, quickly raising his foot and slamming it down into the side of Nomu's knee. The creature buckled a bit, clearly taken aback by its loss of balance, and All Might took advantage of that to grab the creature by the back of its head and slam it straight into the ship's hull, its beak getting stuck as well. Nomu was undeterred, though, managing to rip its stuck arm free - and then angled it down, and striked backwards with its elbow, straight into All Might's side.

The pro hero's eyes widened a bit, wheezing as he backed up in shock and pain, holding where Nomu had hit him with one hand - and then he suddenly heard a few screeches from behind. Before All Might could turn around, his arms were suddenly seized, and another hand wrapped around his throat. Choking a bit, he was quick to throw one of the Trigger henchmen away, the power of his arm tossing the villain right up into the air - 

- but that was when Nomu freed himself from the boat, capitalizing on All Might being still for just a second, and quickly tackled him. All Might let out a grunt of surprise as Nomu slammed him straight into the ground, the other Trigger henchmen being quickly punched away by the beast - and then quickly moved down, its hand grabbing his side and squeezing tightly.

Ow! All Might yelled in his mind. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! It got me right in my weak spot!

"And there we are, Mummy," Nine chuckled, straightening up and getting ready to walk over as Nomu pinned the pro hero to the ground, "that wasn't so difficult, was it?"

"All Might!" Itsuka yelled for her mentor as the Number One Hero was slammed back into the ground by the monster. Izuku likewise tried to lurch forward in an attempt to run over and help, but Slice was quick to point her blade straight at his throat as a warning, with Ochako quickly grabbing her best friend and making sure he didn't fall over onto the blade.

"What did I say?" Slice hissed from behind, "Don't move, or I'll be finishing the job Hood started."

"Listen to her, students!" All Might quickly threw his hand out as though to stop them, despite the pain he was in as Nomu's fingers dug deeper into his side. "Do nothing! I've got this!"

"Do you now?" Chimera sneered as the three other villains approached All Might, reaching into his pocket for another cigar as he smirked down at the pro hero's feeble attempts to get Nomu's hand off of him, the monster quickly sitting down on his stomach to prevent All Might from squirming out from underneath it. "Looks like we've gotcha pinned, don't we?"

"I agree, Chimera," Nine chuckled as he stared down at the pro hero, lightning flashing in the skies above them, "it's not looking too good for you at the moment, oh mighty Symbol of Peace."

"You three are awfully good at acting smug," All Might said through the pain, straining to get Nomu's grip off of him, "I'll at least give you that! But it'll take more than your little monster sitting on me to keep me down!"

"You know something, All Might?" Nine smirked beneath his hood, "I completely agree. Kurogiri?"

Shimmering in the air, Kurogiri reappeared, the warp villain chuckling as he slowly spread out his arms. All Might tilted his head up with a confused grunt as a portal opened up right beside where the pro hero's head was, and then another one opened up right beside it. With a sickening growl, Nomu began to push, angling himself to get off of All Might slightly but keeping his intense grip on him, and began to slowly slide him through his portal, the two hair antennas on All Might's head slowly beginning to move into the darkness.

"You see," Nine began pacing around All Might as the pro hero struggled to get out of Nomu's grip, "before we came here, I put a lot of thought into what could actually kill someone like you, All Might. You've been in this business for a long time now, so you know the ins and outs of what makes you tick, after all. General physical violence? Beating you to death? It's possible, maybe, but of course there's no guarantee. So I thought to myself, why leave things up to chance? Why put you in a situation where you could use your fists to get out of trouble?"

"Ergh -!"

"So I decided to leave your death in the capable hands of Nomu. After all, Nomu was specifically designed to kill you - if there's anyone here that has a better chance of finishing your life, it's him. I'd wanted Hood here to make sure there was no chance of you escaping, but he had to be excused from the party early - but if what Kurogiri said is true, then Nomu will be all we need. But then I thought to myself - who would believe me if I said that I killed the Symbol of Peace? Which is why," Nine leaned down a bit, All Might glancing into his red, sadistic eyes as he was pushed a bit more into the portal, "I'm going to need proof."

This is bad! All Might thought in a panic, evidently catching on to what the villain was thinking as his two pieces of familiar blonde hair appeared through the other portal.

"Now, Nomu is going to push you through the portal, just until you're about up to … here," He used his hand to point at a specific part of All Might's neck, "and then whenever someone dares to question my authority … I'll be able to point out your head as my trophy to keep them in line."

Oh, that's very bad!

As Nine smirked, straightening back up as All Might struggled in vain to get Nomu's tight grip off of him and resisting being pushed through the portal, the villain's gaze flickered back up to the three teenagers Slice was holding hostage. His friend was watching gleefully as the pro hero was being shoved through the portal, but her hair kept the three wounded students in place, Itsuka and Ochako having to hold Izuku back from struggling out of their grip to help even though he could barely keep himself conscious.

"Oh, come now, you don't need to struggle that much, boy," He laughed at Izuku as the boy looked up at him with a wild glare, "it's over. You tried, and I'll give you that much. Now stay where you are, and once we're finished with All Might here -"

And that was when everything went absolutely chaotic.

BOOM

Nine grunted as a pair of boots suddenly slammed into his back, shoving him forwards without warning as he stumbled, and an explosion suddenly slammed directly into Kurogiri's back, making the villain covered in black mist grunt in surprise as he was tackled to the ground, slamming hard into the water still slowly draining back into the lake. Chimera and Mummy quickly whipped around, their eyes wide, as Katsuki grabbed the warp villain by the back of his head, a wide, vicious smile on his face as he leaned down, ignoring the various scratches and blood lining his body from all the fights he had been in.

"Got you by surprise that time," He gloated, "misty bastard!"

"You little brat -" Chimera snarled, his talons extending as he whipped around at him, but before the heteromorph villain could even think to scratch out at the blonde boy, he suddenly heard a familiar voice shout.

"Now!"

All at once, the upper hand the villains had been gloating that they had over All Might was lost. Chimera let out a grunt of surprise as a large, shadow covered fist slammed into his back, shoving him straight into the ground, and Fumikage and Dark Shadow were quick to wrap him up in a tight grip, the raven-headed boy looking thunderous while Dark Shadow looked on the verge of another freak out as he shoved the villain even harder into the ground.

Slice snarled from her spot near the three shocked teenagers, feeling more of her hair sharpen - and getting ready to shove the blades pointed at their throats in to finish the job - but then there was the sound of a cannon firing behind her, and something wrapped around her, pinning her arms and hair to her sides. Gasping in surprise, Slice quickly looked down, feeling her eyes widen at the sight of a pair of ropes around her - but before she could think of cutting herself out, the ropes somehow tightened into a crushing grip, and something pink and fleshy like a tongue wrapped around her feet.

With a yelp of surprise, Slice was ripped off her feet, slamming into the watery ground, and quickly dragged away from her hostages, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka looking around in shock as what looked to be glowing ropes yanked her away from them. As she was dragged across the ground, Slice looked around wildly for whatever had a hold on her, until she finally stopped at the foot of Reiko, the silver-haired girl covered in cuts and bruises and looking very angry as Yui quickly came up beside her and aimed one of the machetes Momo had created straight into the villain's face, while Tsuyu kept her tongue wrapped around Slice's feet to prevent her from moving.

"Like you said when you were threatening Itsuka," Yui said stoically, although her eyes looked thunderous, "don't move. Or we'll squeeze you even tighter until you pop like a balloon."

Near where Nomu had All Might, the pro hero looking around in surprise at his students, Mummy quickly prepared to throw out a few wrappings at Katsuki, prioritizing their escape route's release - but then he heard two twin shouts, and someone tackled him from behind. With a grunt, Mummy was likewise slammed into the ground by Eijirou and Denki, both boys tightening their holds on him and grabbing him by both wrists, angling them up into the air while he growled in pain and anger.

And now that all five villains were scattered around or likewise restrained, Nine still attempting to get back up after being knocked aside by Katsuki, none of them were around Nomu to back it up. And that meant that, with a sudden sound of rockets activating, Tenya leapt up, letting out a grunt of exertion as he slammed his foot directly into the side of the monster's head. The creature didn't move much from the blow, and the hit didn't seem to affect him - but his grip momentarily loosened on All Might, and that was what all the pro needed.

With a grunt, All Might managed to slide away from both the portal he was being pushed through and under from Nomu's body, his knee coming up and hitting it straight in the jaw and forcing its head up. Freeing his other arm from where Nomu had pinned him, All Might quickly flipped to his feet, and threw his fist back to strike Nine directly in the face. The villain was quicker, though, swiftly bringing his hand up to activate his shield and block the blast, although he was definitely forced back by the strength of the blow. 

He couldn't stay still for long, though, as he glanced out of the corner of his eye towards where the students had appeared, and saw Momo standing near where she had shot Slice with her cannon, and Kyouka quickly plugged her earphone jacks into the speakers on her legs to blast out a shockwave of sound at him. Growling, Nine quickly brought up another shield to deflect the blow - and shot another spike of pain through him from the overexertion, a groan of pain escaping his lips as he quickly backed away from All Might, and glanced down to see the purple veins crawling up his arms from his hands.

Finally, the chaos of the last minute or so faded into silence, everyone tense as the standoff began. Nine quickly looked back up, observing his surroundings - Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako were still on their own in their small group, as shocked as he was from the sudden ambush as Itsuka and Ochako helped the boy in the middle stay on his feet and conscious; Slice was being held down by Yui, Tsuyu and Reiko, restrained by Reiko's quirk tightening their hold on the ropes her and Tsuyu's tongue holding her feet together; Mummy was pinned by Eijirou and Denki, the electric boy grabbing the back of his head with his other hand and using his quirk to threaten him into staying down; Chimera was restrained by Fumikage and his sentient quirk, the shadow growling and pressing him harder against the ground; Nomu was still free, but frozen in place and awaiting instructions; and All Might quickly getting back up onto his feet, rubbing his side where Nomu had grabbed him and glaring at Nine.

For a moment, they were all at a stalemate. Sitting down on top of Kurogiri, Katsuki grinned viciously up at the villain leader as Nine observed his surroundings.

"I figured you all out," He sneered up at him, spitting out a bit of blood into the water around them, "you slipped up, bastard! It's just like I thought - the parts your little warp gate extra here could turn into portals are limited. And he's using that misty crap to hide his real body! So as long as I've got your little portal out of here under control, you aren't going anywhere."

"Hm," Nine hummed, unable to stop a small smirk from appearing on his face despite the situation being turned on him, "how … observant of you."

"Ergh - get off me -" Kurogiri growled, attempting to get back up - only for Katsuki to grab his metal brace threateningly, chuckling lowly.

"Don't even think of moving," He sneered, leaning down to get in the warp villain's face, "if I even think you're doing something fishy, I'll blow you straight to kingdom come!"

"That doesn't sound really hero-like, dude!" Eijirou grinned weakly at the blonde boy while restraining Mummy beneath him.

"You little bastards really think you can keep us down?!" Chimera snarled, attempting to get back up, only for Dark Shadow to apply more pressure and slam him back onto the watery floor.

"I wouldn't move, if I were you," Fumikage coldly informed him while Dark Shadow growled menacingly, "the darkness your master has summoned once again has Dark Shadow on edge. We managed to get him to calm down for a while there to create a plan while there was still light out - agitate him at your own peril, minion of evil."

"Midoriya! Kendou! Uraraka!" Tenya gasped as he ran over to the trio, looking at the utter mess of blood and scratches they all were in with complete horror. "What on earth happened?! It looks like you were all hit by a truck!"

"Kinda feels like it," Ochako coughed weakly, spitting out some more blood, and let Tenya gently wrap his arm around Izuku to hold him up, while Momo and Kyouka ran over to do the same to them, Kyouka carefully wrapping the brown-haired girl's arm over her shoulder while Momo let Itsuka lean heavily on her.

"All of you," All Might grinned around at his students, before swelling back up and turning his glare to Nine, trying desperately not to think about how little time he had left, "have my thanks! It was looking kind of hairy there for a moment, ha, ha, ha! Now then, as for you, Nine - as shameful as it is to have to rely on my students to keep your Consortium down, you are outnumbered! The teachers from the school will be here any minute now - it won't take long for you all to be arrested. Surrender peacefully, before I have to put you on the ground with the rest of your friends!"

Nine slowly nodded as he hummed quietly, looking around at the various states his Consortium were in through the students' ambush, and seeing All Might preparing to attack him while Tenya, Momo and Kyouka were making movements to get Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako to safety - and then he let out a small sigh, putting his hands back in his pockets and feeling the syringe there rolling against his palm. He quietly debated with himself for a moment, and then smiled, shaking his head.

"I'll admit," He shrugged, his low, quiet voice somehow audible for everyone around, "that I didn't exactly expect things to go this way. I thought we'd get our Trigger boys here to rip the students apart to get them all bloodthirsty with their new power, but the children turned that around on us. I expected our friend Hood to be here to help kill you, All Might, but he had to leave the party early after he lost control. And I expected you to die like the good little hero you are, but once again, I underestimated your students. Truly, you've all put quite the damper in my plan."

After a small pause, Nine sighed, and raised his hand to scratch his cheek, "So in that case, I'll just have to begin improvising. Nomu - free my friends."

All Might's eyes widened at once, realizing what that meant as a small whoosh of air passed him by. His eyes trailing to the monster moving straight towards Katsuki, raising his fist, All Might moved at once.

BOOM

All of the students restraining the villains let out cries as Nomu moved in the blink of an eye. One moment had been crouched behind All Might, unblinking and unmoving, and the next he was throwing a punch at their faces as he moved from one group to the next before they even had a chance to react. There was a sudden explosion of water blasting straight upwards, making Itsuka, Izuku and Ochako wince as they screwed their eyes shut - and then they all blinked as there was a sudden crowd of students surrounding them, sitting on their butts and looking confused.

"Huh?" Yui blinked, looking around at everyone as they suddenly registered that they weren't threatening the villains anymore. Katsuki grunted as he sat up, blinking when he realized he wasn't holding Kurogiri down anymore, as the teenagers looked around at each other.

"Uh …" Eijirou trailed off briefly, completely confused, "... what the hell just happened?"

"Did - wait a second, did we all just dodge that guy?!" Denki was looking around wildly, eyes lighting up. "Holy crap, we're awesome! That was just like anime, guys!"

"No, you idiot," Kyouka shook her head, tapping him with her foot as she held Ochako up, and looked around, "we sure as shit didn't just dodge that - we got fucking pushed out of the way."

"Then - who did -"

And that was when the haze of water that had risen up from the explosion finally fell, and the group of students went silent, their eyes widening slightly at what they saw.

The villains that they had pinned to the ground in Momo's plan were slowly getting back up, brushing themselves off and whipping around to glare at the students, Slice's hair sharpening and making Reiko and Yui gulp - but All Might was currently on his knees in front of the students, taking a moment to pant as he slowly lowered his arms from the brace he had them in. A closer inspection showed the sleeves for his dress shirt ripped to shreds, and several red bruises lined his strong arms, as though he had taken several punches - and that was when it clicked for them.

Nomu was fast - but All Might was faster, moving quickly to take the hits for his students and getting them out of the way just in time.

With a small cough, wincing as pain ripped through his body, All Might whipped his gaze up to Nine, seeing him smugly studying the pro hero as he snarled, "You would have your beast try and kill my students when they weren't prepared, you coward?!"

"Coward?" Nine laughed, helping Slice to her feet and wrapping his arm around her waist as she glowered at the students, "I prefer the term 'pragmatic'. I was outnumbered, All Might, what would you expect me to do? And look, they're fine - they've got enough breathing room to see us tear you to pieces, don't they? Now then," He turned his gaze to Nomu, "Nomu, I've had enough of this. The moment he moves, bring me his head."

"All Might!" Tenya called to his teacher, unsure of what to do as he let Itsuka weakly take Izuku back, Momo reaching out to hold him up and Ochako likewise grabbing onto him, as the students scrambled to their feet to rejoin the fight again - but then All Might threw his hand up to stop them in their tracks, shaking his head while his smile quickly reappeared on his face.

"You've all done enough," He told them gently, keeping his eyes on Nomu as it slowly lumbered back over, "and I thank you all for getting me out of that jam - but at this point, this fight is mine. All of you, get back up the stairs! Young Midoriya, Kendou and Uraraka are injured. Get them to safety! It's time to show what happens when a pro gets serious!"

All of the students hesitated, none more so than Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako as the three injured teenagers watched their mentor shift his feet and get ready to charge. The trio had glanced down at his hands as he balled them into fists, and felt themself tremble at the sight of All Might shaking.

It was obvious to them - All Might wasn't in prime condition at the moment. The thoughts Izuku had in the conflagration zone came back to mind - All Might must be running on fumes at the moment, and at this point he would probably not be able to truly fight with his all - 

- but before any of them could blink, All Might's eyes flashed, and he suddenly took off.

The five villains, gathering in a small circle, flinched a bit in surprise as All Might flew across the USJ towards them like a rocket, but Nomu quickly took point, immediately charging in and throwing his fist forward the same time All Might did. Their fists collided together, the muscle of Nomu's arm warping a bit, before a powerful shockwave blasted out, making Nine back up a bit and bring back up his shield to guard Slice, Mummy and Chimera, smirking a bit as All Might threw out another blow. They'd already done this song and dance before, after all, so it was clear that the pro hero was -

"As I thought!" All Might suddenly laughed, making Nine stop his inner gloating as the pro hero continued to trade blows with Nomu as their fists began to blur in a flurry of motion around them. "Your quirk is shock absorption, isn't it? It's a powerful quirk ... but it's not nullification! That means that there has to be a limit to what you can take, right?!"

As All Might threw another punch, Nomu quickly landed a heavy blow on his left side, right on top of his wounded spot, which made All Might stagger briefly with a grunt of pain - only to come roaring back with even more power, his punches increasing in speed. The students felt their jaws drop as All Might pushed Nomu back, with the four members of the Villain Consortium faltering for the first time, Slice blinking in surprise, Chimera tilting his head slightly, and Nine's smirk falling a bit as their muscle was suddenly put on the defensive.

"So you were made to kill me, huh?!" All Might grinned triumphantly as his fist slammed into Nomu's face, the beast flinching a bit for the first time, "In that case, if you can really withstand everything I've got - then I'll just have to go beyond that!"

Both the students and the Consortium watched in shock as the battle increased in ferocity, All Might keeping up his assault and driving Nomu back. For every blow the creature landed, All Might landed ten more, hitting twice as hard. Nomu attempted to do its best to keep up the fight, but it was clear that whatever advantage it had over the pro hero was gone - All Might was faster, fought smarter, and hit even harder than it could as he finally landed one large blow that knocked it off its feet and sent it flying back - only for All Might to suddenly charge after it, grabbing it by the ankle and yanking it back as he threw his fist backwards.

"A true hero ..." All Might threw the punch as the two were airborne, slamming directly into the side of its face, "... will always find a way for justice to be served!"

With that blow, Nomu was punched straight into the ground, the monster bouncing off of it briefly - and then All Might landed straight down, turning his glare to the creature as he swelled up a bit more.

"Now then ... villain ... it's time for a lesson," He raised his fist back, gritting his teeth as he ignored the pain traveling through his body, "you may have heard these words before, but I'll teach you what they really mean! Go beyond! PLUS ..."

BAM

"... ULTRA!"

With one last explosive punch, the fight had finally been decided. All Might's fist slammed directly into Nomu's chest with the power of a missile, and the monster's absorption quirk finally hit its breaking point, deforming his body but not being able to shrug off the power of the blow. With a loud explosion of wind and sound, Nomu was launched straight into the air, smashing through the roof of the USJ and creating another large hole, as it shot out the facility like a rocket into the sky, blowing apart one of the dark thundering clouds before finally vanishing from sight.

The students stared in shock and silence at the sheer power that was just displayed, All Might slowly lowering his fist and standing back up straight to look back over at the stunned villains - and then Eijirou threw his fists out and let out a loud cheer, and that broke the tension. All of the students began cheering and clapping for their teacher for his victory, with Denki shaking Kyouka (which prompted her to poke him with her jacks), Tsuyu letting out a happy ribbit, and Katsuki to stare at the hole created by Nomu's body, shocked into silence.

But for Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, they couldn't celebrate. Their eyes were drawn to All Might as he faced the villains, and felt their stomachs clench at the sight of steam beginning to pour from his body, cloaked by the dust rising around him from the hit as he addressed the Villain Consortium.

"So," He grinned confidently, "what's your plan now, villains? Your monster's long gone, so I don't think you'll be having my head. Do you wanna go another few rounds, or is it about time you finally leave my school? You've definitely overstayed your welcome."

Whatever smugness and self-assured confidence the villains had was gone - Slice took a fearful step back, glancing between the pro hero and the hole he had created with their muscle's body, while Chimera and Mummy shook in barely held back rage. Nine, however, stared blankly at All Might, the shadows of his hood giving nothing away as All Might faced him down.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" All Might challenged, smoke continuing to blow off his body as he subtly shook. "You were acting so high and mighty before when you had that thing on top of me. Where did the confidence from before go? Come and get me if you can."

At All Might's dare, silence fell again, everyone's breath held as they waited for whatever decision the villains came to. Itsuka and Ochako were glancing between All Might and the remaining villains in the Consortium, their hearts hammering in their chests as Izuku weakly raised his head, trying desperately not to slip back into unconsciousness. It was clear to the three of them that All MIght was bluffing - beneath the cloud of dust, more steam was blowing off him as All Might fought to stay in his muscle form. If he even so much as twitched wrong, he'd revert back to his true form, exposing himself in front of these villains - and give away that he was on his last legs.

All he could do now was maintain the form for as long as he could, and pray that the villains thought that they were outmatched and flee. Or that the teachers would arrive soon and back him up.

Glancing at the villains, Izuku felt a small hope in his chest - it appeared that they were hesitating to make a move. Slice's smirk was long gone, staring at All Might like he was some kind of monster and taking another cautious step back; Chimera's fur was bristling, but he made no move to attack; and Mummy was staring at All Might with widened eyes and a dropped jaw. Kurogiri's eyes narrowed somewhat, and Nine's own reaction was unknown due to the darkness covering his face.

"Well?! What's wrong?!" All Might barked. "Come on!"

The three villains flinched, and quickly looked to their leader as Nine continued to quietly stare at All Might. Another silence fell, with the students praying that the Consortium took the hint and booked it, and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka held their breaths.

And then Nine, in a quiet, monotone tone, asked, "Why don't you come over here and finish us off, then?"

All Might was thankfully able to keep a poker face, even though he was cursing inside as he tensed. Nine tilted his head somewhat, a smirk slowly returning to his face as his comrades looked around at him, seeing their leader slowly take in All Might's appearance.

"Look at him," He mused to them quietly, "he's definitely been weakened from Nomu's attacks. If he was able to finish us off, he would have done it already. And look," His gaze flickered to the group of students huddled near each other, "they're hesitating as well. The Trigger in our henchmen won't last much longer … but they'll have enough time before whatever reinforcements from the school arrive, and they can keep them distracted. Kurogiri … prepare a warp gate. We're about to leave."

"And what of All Might?"

"I'll finish him off."

At that, All Might flinched a bit, but tried to keep himself calm as Nine took a step forward, lowering his hand to his pocket and lifting something out. The students froze as Nine held up the syringe, a drop of green liquid inside, that he brought to his neck and pushed the needle in, inserting it into his bloodstream. Behind him, the warp gate blasted open, letting Chimera and Mummy quickly step through and vanish from sight - Slice, however, remained behind, staring at Nine as the villain hunched over a bit, groaning as the small amount of Trigger infected him.

And then he threw his hands up. The students flinched as lightning flashed and thunder rumbled loudly with even more ferocity than before, seeing Nine raise his head, eyes glowing a bright red, to glare at All Might as the pro hero squared his shoulders in preparation for what was about to happen. Itsuka and Ochako felt themselves shake, staring in horror at their teacher as they realized that there was no way he would be able to dodge what was coming.

In the state they were all in, there was no way they'd be able to outrace a bolt of lightning - not them, and not All Might. All they could do now was watch.

"Goodbye," Nine smirked, and then threw his hands down, "Symbol of Peace."

KRACK-BOOM

A bolt of lightning streaked through the air.

But it didn't come from the sky.

Itsuka, Ochako, and the entire group of students jumped in surprise as Izuku suddenly lurched forward, his eyes wide with pain and rage, and quickly threw his hands together. With a shout of pain, he blasted out a large bolt of green lightning - one far stronger than they had seen from before, with Ochako and Katsuki not having seen this kind of blast since they were children. But in a flash of light, the bolt blasted through the air, passing straight by All Might and making him twitch a fraction - 

- and then striking Nine dead center in the chest, just before he could activate his quirk and blast the pro hero with a bolt of lightning.

The villain's eyes widened under the hood as pain ripped through his body, blasting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air. Slice let out a gasp and quickly stepped in to catch him, grunting as they collided and nearly bringing them both to the ground. As she quickly lowered him down onto his knees, she looked over her leader, tears prickling in her eyes as she saw the large hole burnt through Nine's cloak, and hearing him letting out several rasping breaths of pain and shock as he stared blankly at nothing.

Quickly, she whipped her gaze back up to Izuku, seeing him collapse onto the ground with Itsuka and Ochako breaking out of Momo and Kyouka's holds to grab him before he fell on his face, and felt her teeth bar as she whipped around, seeing one of the Trigger henchmen, a particularly large one, lumber towards her.

"Kill him!" She screamed at him, pointing straight at Izuku as the Trigger henchman stared down at her. "Kill him, rip him to shreds!"

The villain stared blankly at her for a moment - and then threw its hand back with shocking speed, preparing to launch it towards her face. With a snarl, Slice acted automatically, her hair sharpening and shooting upwards to stab straight through the Trigger henchmen with enough force to throw him away, probably killing him as the students gasped in horror.

Which was why Slice was confused when, instead of falling over dead, the villain burst into a large collection of gray sludge, and out from it came a short girl with blonde hair tied into two messy buns, her yellow eyes narrowed to slits as she threw out a knife towards the older villainess.

Slice grunted as the knife sliced her arm, quickly shooting out another red blade to slice at the heroine - noticing her wearing some kind of hero costume, with a short skirt and a sleeveless top with black and red accents - but the girl was faster, jumping out of the way and deflecting the blades easily with two knives in her hands. Kurogiri's mist swirled around both of the villains on the ground, preparing to warp the younger girl who appeared out of nowhere away - and then they became aware of the sound of stone crumbling.

Looking around, they saw a young man at the top of the stairs, looking very angry as Hanta and Mina helped out the fallen Thirteen, and bent over to press his hand to the ground. At once, several lines of decay shot out down the sides of the stairs, moving underneath the Trigger henchmen's feet and making them trip. As the crumbling rocks shot towards them, Kurogiri was quick to open a few more portals in an attempt to drive away the decay before it could hit them, and shot out another warp gate to hit the blonde girl away, although he growled at the good job she was doing to avoid them.

BAM BAM BAM

As Tenko worked on the ground control, his decay spreading over to the other Trigger henchmen drawn to the foyer by the blast of lightning, and Himiko danced around the multiple portals Kurogiri was creating to trap her as a means to draw his attention, the sound of gunshots filled the air, making everyone flinch and instinctively look around, their eyes widened, Standing at the top of the stairs, beside the rest of the students that had been stranded at the top, was Snipe, taking careful aim towards the black mist and attempting to hit the two villain masterminds still in the facility.

"Apologies for our lateness!" Nezu called down to them from the top of the stairs, perched on Vlad King's shoulder as several of the teachers began running down the stairs towards where their students were tearfully looking up at them in relief, Setsuna quickly reattaching her lower body to her upper one while taking deep, steadying breaths, "We had to get through the storm while gathering up everyone who was immediately available, and then calling in additional reinforcements. Now then, teachers - split up, and escort our students out of the USJ while we clean up the villains!"

"Yes, sir!"

Quickly, Ectoplasm opened his mouth wide and spat out a few clones to fight against the charging, screaming villains as Snipe continued to fire off more shots, trying to aim for Nine and Slice as the villainess attempted to drag her prone leader through the portal - only for them to grunt when Thirteen, held up by Hanta and Mina, held out her hand and activated her quirk on Kurogiri, dragging him closer. On top of the stairs, Pony and Yosetsu helped Aizawa up onto Mezo's back, while the larger student still held the unconscious Nejire in his arms, and all three of them quickly hurried out of the USJ.

As Black Hole dragged Kurogiri closer to them, the warp villain growled in anger, but it was clear that the heroes were too far away to properly capture them - so that meant that it was time to finally go. Turning his gaze down to the two remaining villains, Kurogiri quickly surrounded them in black mist, beginning to warp them and himself out of the USJ before the arriving heroes could capture them.

As the darkness swirled and lightning flashed above them, Midnight and Hound Dog reached the crowd of students at the bottom of the stairs, quickly beginning to escort them away as Present Mic let out a loud scream to push the charging Trigger henchmen back. Hound Dog bounced over to the trio of wounded students, grunting as he bent over to pick up Izuku, and Midnight quickly ran over as well to wrap Itsuka and Ochako's unbroken arms over her shoulders, while another clone of Ectoplasm shouted, "All students, get up the stairs and head straight out of the USJ!"

Everyone quickly nodding, the students began to follow their teachers back up the stairs, more than happy to finally get out of the utter nightmare their day had become as lightning flashed above them. In that brief moment, however, with Kurogiri's warp gate closing on the two remaining villains and Hound Dog lifting Izuku up into a carry as Midnight helped Itsuka and Ochako towards the stairs, with the rest of the teachers running into the USJ to hold off the Trigger henchmen - no one noticed Izuku returning his gaze to the two villains vanishing through the portal, his vision filling with black spots. And at the same time, by complete coincidence, Nine also managed to raise his head, his hood ripped and finally exposing his painfilled, enraged face.

And then, as though both of them noticed someone looking at them, their eyes met.

With long white hair hanging over his face, Nine glared into Izuku's eyes, his red eyes burning through the boy who had just maimed him and denied him his victory as a slab of cement covered All Might, blocking him from view. And Izuku returned the heated glare tit-for-tat, his wide eyes narrowing at the villain who had tried to kill him and his friends.

Green eyes met glowing red as the two glared at each other - and then the portal finally closed, letting Nine, Slice and Kurogiri fade into nothing.

And it was at that moment darkness swirled around Izuku, and he finally fell back into unconsciousness.

Notes:

And that was Chapter 16, and the third and final part of our USJ arc! Whew boy, this was a long one - there wasn't too many places we could've stopped organically to keep the flow going, so I decided to pack it in all at once! And my oh my, did we have a few developments here!

Tenya might be getting a sign how Yui works! Izuku got the utter snot kicked out of him and got back up for more, and used his quirk on someone else for the first time in years! Itsuka and Ochako saw their boyfriend - I'm sorry, I meant to say, totally just best friend, not romantic interest at all - getting nearly beaten to death, and acted accordingly, as in they attempted to rip Hood into pieces! We got Hood having the time of his life! We had All Might being as fucking heroic as he is in canon! We had Momo planning out cool stuff! We had Katsuki being ... Katsuki! We had Ochako realizing who exactly her own archenemy is! And we had the glorious start to our Izuku/Nine rivalry, which will in no way come up at all in the rest of the story.

Now then, we're going to pretty much have one more chapter in our USJ arc, which will be acting as our 'season finale' for the hypothetical first part of this fic! I'm excited to get to it, and see what developments will occur next time, so I hope you're all ready as well!

Thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 17: Aftermath

Summary:

As the Villain Consortium flees the USJ, calm is restored to UA High School. Unfortunately, Class 1A is currently in shambles over the incident - and may need to lean on each other in order to find the strength to go home.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The following twenty minutes standing outside of the USJ, hearing the manic shrieks of the Trigger henchmen as they engaged the arriving heroes, was the longest twenty minutes of the students' entire lives.

Once Midnight and Hound Dog had ushered them out of the USJ following the Villain Consortium's escape through the warp gate, Midnight supporting both Itsuka and Ochako and Hound Dog carrying the unconscious Izuku, they quickly moved to the bus that had just arrived, hearing the sound of loud sirens quickly approaching them as several police cars raced down the path towards them through the storm, the window wipers working furiously to let them see where they were going. The presence of the police didn't surprise them, of course - it was obvious that Nezu, once he got word of what was happening, would summon the police to assist.

What did surprise them, however, was the blast of fire that soared right over their heads as a familiar hero flew directly into the facility, and from there came a few more pro heroes - a rabbit hero eagerly leaping through the door, a familiar tree man swinging threw the entrance, and several other major heroes running in to back up the teachers. It appeared that when Nezu had called in reinforcements, he really went all in on getting the big guns to come assist.

In the cold rain, Class 1A didn't dare to move as the battle raged inside, staring into the dark entrance of the USJ and shivering from the unrelenting storm as police officers wrapped blankets around them, and several ambulances pulled up to get them all sorted. Recovery Girl hopped out of the first ambulance to arrive and hurried to the most injured, from Izuku, Aizawa, Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire still unconscious in Mezo's arms, and Hound Dog lowered Izuku's unconscious form for Recovery Girl to inspect. During that time, without Nine there to keep the storm rampaging on, the weather around them slowly began to calm down, the wind no longer howling, the rain gradually slowing, and lightning and thunder no longer flickering above them.

By the time the rain finally stopped beating over their heads , they heard the shrieks and howls from the Trigger villains inside begin to quiet down as the heroes fought against them, until finally, their sounds completely died out, leaving the USJ in silence.

After a few tense moments stretching into a minute, with police standing prepared to storm in and the students staring fearfully inside in case one of the maniacs got through, they saw a flicker of flame within the darkness, and then the pro hero stomped out of the facility, huffing as he looked around at the crowd gathered around the entrance as his flame beard settled back down into a more tempered blaze.

"The villains have been defeated," Endeavor informed them, not bothering to look around as the police quickly began hurrying inside to detain the remaining villains, "they're currently going through withdrawal now that the drug is no longer in their system. My agency will be taking over the Trigger case from here on out - send the profiles of the villains once they've been processed to my tower."

With that, the Number Two Hero stomped away, turning to the other police officers as they got ready to storm the facility and arrest the Trigger henchmen. As they moved in, the rest of the heroes who had arrived to help the teachers followed Endeavor out, allowing the police to take over. It was clear that whatever power the Trigger villains had, it had been nothing compared to the combined might of the UA teachers and the heroes who had come to assist them.

While they weren't as badly cut or bruised as the students, however, it was clear that the heroes had been put through quite the fight in the last ten minutes - Kamui Wood's bark was a bit broken, and he was holding his ribs tenderly, but he seemed relatively alright regardless; Edgeshot was adjusting his mask, looking a bit ruffled but still dignified; and Miruko was wiping some blood off her forehead, although if it was hers or someone else's would remain a mystery (and judging from the wide, vicious grin still on her face, they were betting on the latter). The other teachers, meanwhile, looked as bruised as the top pros that had come to assist, from Present Mic disgruntedly tossing his broken glasses into the bin to Snipe checking his gun for any major cracks, but they seemed alright as well.

The students' attention, however, was drawn to another hero exiting the facility behind them, grumbling at the small stains of dirt or mud on his white armor, and who was looking around towards the students. They faltered at his appearance, blinking a bit - there was something familiar about this pro hero, for some reason, looking like a futuristic knight with engines coming out of his elbows -

"Brother!" Tenya gasped, and quickly broke away from the group. Everyone blinked in surprise and looked around as he quickly skidded to a stop before the other armored guy, looking shocked as he quickly gestured to him with a chop of the arm, "You - you're here?! I thought you had an assignment in Hosu!"

"Well, I did," The armored guy nodded, and quickly moved his hands up, unstiff and unblock-ey unlike his brother, to remove his helmet to show a … well, a guy who looked pretty much like Tenya, square-jawed with short blue hair, but older, with his hair being slightly messy and no glasses on his face, "but I was giving my report to the HPSC over the Hero Killer case when I heard what was going on here, and came running as soon as I could. You okay, Tenya?"

"I am!" Tenya nodded affirmatively, wincing a bit and reaching up to pat the cut on his cheek, "I did get a little beaten up while attempting to help Tokoyami calm down his quirk, but I am relatively unharmed despite that."

"Good … that's good, Tenya."

"Class 1A!" 

At the sound of another voice calling out to them, the group turned to see a man quickly approaching them with his hand in the air, wearing a long tan overcoat over his suit accompanied by a fedora, quickly taking it off to show them his short dark hair and friendly face. 

"I'm Detective Tsukauchi," He quickly introduced himself, "I've been assigned to question you all once we get back to the school. Before that, though, we'll need to make sure that everyone who needs to be looked at by Recovery Girl is on their way, so please line up so I can do a quick headcount!"

Nodding, everyone quickly lined up, with the paramedics in the ambulance that Recovery Girl had arrived in quickly jumping out with a few stretchers to load the injured into the vehicle. As Hound Dog put Izuku down onto one of the stretchers and Midnight helped Itsuka and Ochako into the ambulance, Aizawa and Thirteen were loaded into their own ambulance to be taken directly to the hospital, with Aizawa gaining enough consciousness to demand Recovery Girl look after his students first while Present Mic attempted to keep the bloody and wounded man from attempting to climb out of the vehicle to yell at the elderly nurse, who had nodded with an eyeroll and assured him that she'd be prioritizing the students before even thinking of healing him.

After a quick inspection, Recovery Girl made a small plan for prioritizing her quirk's effectiveness - Izuku needed most of her power, so Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire, the last girl being put carefully inside the ambulence by Mezo, would get their injuries treated first so that she could get them out of the way, and then concentrate on the most injured. As she moved back to the other students to check for their injuries, Itsuka and Ochako settled in, looking over Izuku's unconscious body with worry - he'd lost consciousness sometime after hitting Nine directly in the chest with a lightning bolt, probably from the pain of using his quirk again, and his breathing was coming out in small rasps, as though he was having difficulty inhaling and exhaling - probably a result of broken ribs, Itsuka thought to herself, having seen such injuries at her grandfather's dojo.

As Ochako leaned over him, trying to see if there was any way she could help him breathe a bit easier (and not really having any idea how), a familiar voice suddenly spoke up from outside the ambulance.

"Wait … isn't that the kid who jumped between us fighting that sludge villain last year?"

Blinking, she quickly looked around outside the ambulance. Standing there while wiping his bloody nose was Death Arms, crinkling his brow as he looked down at Izuku with an air of recognition, while Kamui Woods likewise looked around. She tensed as Death Arms walked forwards, tilting his head as he studied Izuku's broken face briefly - and then he sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms.

"Damn," He grumbled, "looks like I was right. Kid's some kind of attention junkie."

Ochako's eyes widened at that callous comment as Death Arms scoffed to himself - and then, grunting a bit as she lifted herself out of her seat, moved to grab the door to the back of the ambulance with her good hand and swing it shut, surprising the hero and making him quickly move back before he would be hit by the door, and slammed it shut with a lot more force than what probably was deemed necessary.

Flopping back in her seat, Ochako fumed, crossing her arm across her chest while carefully keeping her broken one to her side (although some tears of pain had escaped her eyes when she had jumped up to close the door so suddenly and swung the broken arm around), and Itsuka used her good arm to pat her friend's shoulder to soothe her, while likewise frowning at what Death Arms had said.

Once everyone else in the class had been quickly confirmed as - well, injured, but not injured enough to need Recovery Girl's immediate assistance - the smaller woman told them that Himiko would soon be around to pass out her health gummy bears to them in order to soothe any scratches, bruises or bumps they may have picked up during the attack, and once Himiko had climbed into the ambulance with her, adjusting her black and red hero costume while grumbling about her hair getting wet, the vehicle took off towards UA, with the other ambulance with Aizawa, Thirteen, Present Mic and Tenko pulled away to head off to the hospital, the teaching assistant having climbed in to accompany his senior with a worried look.

As soon as the ambulances were on their way, Tsukauchi quickly pulled out a clipboard with a copy of the roll call on it, and began counting down the remaining bruised students to make sure that the rest were still there, crossing Izuku, Nejire, Ochako and Itsuka off it automatically.

"... fourteen, fifteen, sixteen," He muttered to himself, pointing at the student he was double checking with the schedule in his other hand before nodding to himself, "alright. Other than the four that were sent back to the school, everyone else is here. So while we still have a few paramedics here, is everyone sure that they have injuries that don't need to be looked at?"

His eyes scanned the students again, feeling his brow furrow with sympathy. They were all somewhat bruised and scratched up, some more than others, and dripping wet from the storm that was now beginning to fade from the skies now that Nine wasn't around to keep it rampaging - but it was the expressions on their faces that drew his worry. 

The majority of them looked shell shocked, as though unsure that what had happened had really happened; Pony's eyes were downcast, staring blankly at the ground; Mina was sniffling, wringing her hands tightly together; Katsuki was staring up at the USJ with a scowl on his face, clenching his fists; Setsuna wasn't looking at anyone, staring down at the ground as well with her long green hair dripping in front of her face; Eijirou was clearly frustrated, clenching his jaw slightly; and Kyouka was absently rubbing the red line around her throat from where Chimera had choked her, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

"Everyone," Tsukauchi said in a soft voice, looking around at the teenagers with sympathy while Tensei, who had been standing nearby, reached over to gently take his younger brother's shoulder, "I know what happened today … it's cruel that you were forced to go through with it, and it's cruel that we will have to ask you more about it. You've all shown remarkable bravery, and … as much as I hate to say it, we may need you to show it once more. We need to know more about the perpetrators of this invasion, so we may need to ask you a few detailed questions. If you guys need to ask me anything …"

He let that hang in the air, glancing around again as everyone avoided his gaze - and then Pony timidly raised her hand.

"Um … detective," She still stared at the ground, guilt all over her face but trying to remain calm to ask her question, "if I can ask … what's gonna happen to Aizawa-teacher? And Thirteen?"

From the side, Tensei's eyes turned downcast, but he still turned to face the class, everyone glancing at him as he raised his phone.

"I've been texting with Tenko - uh, if you guys don't know him, he's the one who got in the ambulance with your teachers, he's Thirteen's teaching assistant," He quickly explained, "and he says that the paramedics did a quick analysis for both of them. Aizawa has fractures in both his arms and face, but fortunately doesn't have any serious brain damage from what those villains did to him. He's just going to need a bit of bed rest while we work to repair the damage, but … well, mostly, they'll need to work on … well, his eyes sockets were pulverized by that thing, so there's a chance he may suffer long-term loss of vision."

"Kero …" Tsuyu teared up a bit, and Yui reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

"As for Thirteen, she's expected, at the very least, to make a full recovery - she has terrible lacerations across her back and upper arms, and she'll probably need a bit of bed rest as well, but she's going to be alright."

Everyone sagged a bit in relief at that - it was good to hear that at least one of their teachers would be up and running in no time, even if Aizawa needed a bit of time to recover and … hopefully he'd be able to teach them again soon.

"All Might is also expected to make a full recovery," Tsukauchi took over for Tensei, looking around at the students as he slid the clipboard under his arm, "he got a bit beat up by the villains during the fight, but he's comfortable waiting for Recovery Girl to be finished with your classmates. Her quirk will be enough to treat him, but it may take a bit of time to get around to him, so he'll just be in the nurse's office until then."

"And - and what about our classmates?" Momo asked in a quiet voice, teary eyed and requiring Kyouka to rub her arm to soothe her, "Midoriya and Uraraka and Kendou and - and Hadou. Will they be alright?"

"Kendou and Uraraka were beaten up pretty bad, but they'll be alright," Tensei assured her, smiling at Tenya as he likewise looked worried, "they don't have any injuries that Recovery Girl hasn't used her quirk on before, especially at the sports festival - she'll get them treated right away. They'll probably be exhausted afterwards, though. And Hadou will be alright as well - she's run out of stamina, which is apparently what her quirk relies on, and Recovery Girl will let her rest a bit before she tries to get her back on her feet."

"And … what about Mido-bro?" Eijirou asked quietly, "Will he be okay too?"

The entire class faltered, several of them wincing slightly while tears came to their eyes. It was hard to get the image of the horrific state he had been in while they were escaping the USJ out of their heads, how beaten he had looked being held up by Hound Dog. Pony and Mezo felt guilt rising in their hearts as they remembered prioritizing Aizawa's survival over Izuku's, and Yosetsu clenched his fist tightly. Katsuki, meanwhile, kept his face blank.

"Midoriya was beaten pretty heavily," Tensei sighed, keeping his hand firmly on Tenya's shoulder as his younger brother clenched his teeth in frustration, "and for a while there seemed to be hanging on a thread. Recovery Girl is certain that she can get him to fully recover in a few sessions if we keep him in the nurse's office, but … well, it may be possible that there'll be scarring, at the very least. Just … be ready to support him, alright? Getting beaten like that to the brink of death … it might have some impact on his psyche, so be gentle with him, and try not to ask him any questions about what happened."

"Yes, sir," Came the class's quiet affirmation.

"Now then," Tsukauchi turned back to one of the officers, a man with a cat head who quickly saluted him, "we should head back to the main building so that you all can get cleaned up - you've all been in the rain and wet for so long, we'll need to make sure that you don't get sick. After that, though, we may need you to return to class so we can question you about this Villain Consortium's ringleader and his associates."

Nodding, the students silently followed Tensei back to the bus to take them back to UA's main campus. Sitting down, they all looked out the windows to see the former Trigger henchmen, depowered and sticking their now black tongues out of their mouths, being escorted out of the USJ either in chains or on stretchers carried by police officers, while Endeavor crossed his arms and watched them go with a warning eye as they twitched and scratched at themselves. From the bushes, several police officers led Nomu out while strapped securely into a harness to be escorted into a Maiden, the monster surprisingly docile.

As Hound Dog, Snipe and Midnight joined Nezu in reentering the USJ to inspect the damage, and more police officers began to organize parties to start investigating the school grounds to make sure the Consortium weren't lurking anywhere else on the campus, the bus began pulling away, leaving behind the battle damaged USJ and bringing Class 1A back to the main campus.


A searing, burning pain.

That was all Nine felt as he landed onto his face with a pathetic grunt through the warp gate that Kurogiri had created to evacuate them from the USJ, emerging into a dark room with the majority of the light coming from several TV monitors lining the walls. The pain he felt in his chest flared as it was pressed into the ground, making him cry out briefly in pain as he rolled onto his side, slamming his palm against the concrete floor as he gritted his teeth tightly. 

In addition to the intense electrical burn on his chest and stomach, he could feel the Trigger drop that he had just taken lessen its impact, and the side effects, along with the pain from his quirk, immediately made themselves known, forcing him to stick out his tongue as it turned black and made his body shiver and shake, unable to support his own weight as a layer of sweat lined his skin, unable to move off the ground as several lines of glowing purple light flared under his skin.

"Nine!" He heard a familiar panicked voice above him, and managed to move his head slightly to see Slice kneeling beside him, grabbing his shoulders and trying to ignore the pain of the slash on her arm from that blonde heroine, soaking her sleeve with blood, and began to gently pull him up onto his knees. Nine let out a small grunt of pain as he was hoisted up, cringing at the hole burnt through his cloak and into his chest as his fists clenched tightly, and Slice was quick to undo the slightly burning cloak and toss it away to properly inspect his injury.

"What the fuck?!" From above them, Chimera suddenly dropped down to a knee, staring at Nine in shock and outrage. "What the fuck happened?! Did All Might -?!"

"It was the lightning brat," Slice growled through her teeth, shaking with rage, "he hit Nine when he wasn't looking."

"That little …" Mummy shook his head, kneeling down beside them as he hit his fist against the ground. "I knew that one would be trouble. If I had -"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The four villains jumped at the loud bellow of rage behind them as Kurogiri slowly solidified into a normal size, a dark suit appearing from within the shadows as his physical body reappeared. They quickly looked around to see the hooded man flipping a table, sending the various vials and liquids smashing against the ground as he let out another shriek of manic rage, and threw out his fist, stretching it out with a horrifying crunch. The various TV monitors lining the walls of the room they had been warped to exploded into large sparks of electricity, glass shattering to the ground as the hooded man's glowing yellow eyes widened in complete and utter fury.

"I - I CAN - STILL - F-FIGHT!" He bellowed, throwing his fist out and launching it straight into the shadows - and then something shifted from within, and an enlarged hand emerged, catching the fist easily and in a tight grip.

For a moment, Slice and Nine thought that the damned orange-haired girl had somehow followed them through the portal - but then the hand pushed out, and the hooded man was shoved backwards right off his feet, flying through the air and crashing into another wall. The impact of the throw smashed more of the monitors and electrocuted the villain, making him grit his sharp teeth and try to get back up - but before he could even rise to his feet, several black tendrils with glowing red lines shot out from within the shadows, stabbing straight into the monster's body.

At once, the hooded man's entire body seized, his eyes widening as he trembled, before he toppled forwards and collapsed onto his face, panting raggedly as his hood finally came off and showed the other villains his deformed features, the skin patched awkwardly together as the scar on the left side of his face pulsed around his one deformed eye, the patches of blonde hair left there looking shrivelled and dirty. He was still struggling to rise, though, trying to overcome whatever the tendrils had done to paralyze his body while letting out several more pants of anger and desperation.

"My, my," Came a deep, amused voice from within the darkness, "are you still struggling to get up?"

Emerging from the shadows at long last, the tall man with white hair and subtly glowing red eyes let out a small 'tsk' as he hopped onto the hooded man's back with a grunt, able to easily stay there due to how large the monster had become, and knelt down on his shoulder blades. Keeping the tendrils secured in the hooded man's limbs, he regrew his other hand to a larger size, never minding his suit jacket's ripped sleeve, and grabbed the monster's head, keeping it pinned to the floor as he leaned over.

"I - I CAN - FIGHT -" The hooded man's eyes went to the man on top of him, one looking normal and the other bulging from a previous injury.

"No," Their benefactor chuckled, using the enlarged hand to keep the monster pinned to the ground while slowly bringing his other hand towards his face, "you can't. Just look at you … you're ripping your skin and it's not healing back at all. Only a few minutes of battle, and your regeneration is already taking a nosedive. You're far from being the perfect killing machine, I'm afraid."

"I ... I ..."

"There was a part of me that was hoping that you would keep yourself under control, Imasuji, and use the martial arts skills that we transferred to you from our other villain to get the job done - but I'm afraid that I missed the mark there." 

Slowly sliding his other hand towards the hooded man's face, the small black tendrils with glowing red lines quickly stabbed into his face, making the hooded man freeze with his eyes wide open, the prosthetic one installed to keep the damaged eyeball open pulsing.

"Such a letdown," All For One tsked again, his red eyes narrowing slightly, "it's clear that you're capable, but the process to mesh the memories of the villain we combined you with is still crippling you. Your commitment to brawling is a worthy trait, I'll give you that, but your natural muscle fibre quirk meshes poorly with the shapeshifting quirk that I gave you. Bulking yourself up from the very start might've been the best way to crush them, but … well, what's done is done."

Finally withdrawing the tendrils from the monster's body, sure that his creation would not be getting up again, All For One sighed as he stood up on top of the villain, watching as the hooded man slumped to the ground, drool escaping his wide mouth and pooling on the floor. Chuckling, he shrunk down his other hand and raised it to brush through his hair as he turned his eyes back to the remaining members of the Villain Consortium on the floor, seeing Nine slumped forward, Slice supporting him, and Chimera and Mummy watching him with clear apprehension.

"My apologies about our friend here," He grunted as he hopped off the hooded man and back down onto the floor, straightening himself up as he gave a smile to the other villains, "we constructed him using two of our most bloodthirsty underlings. Mixing a cage fighter with a psychopath like Imasuji is bound to have a few messy bumps, but we did warn you about bringing him onto the battlefield, after all."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Hm. A very downplayed mood, I see. I take it that things didn't go very well at UA. Kurogiri," He turned to the warp villain as he moved forward, away from the other four members of the Villain Consortium, "send Hood back to the doctor for me. The remaining modifications will take a bit more time and effort to complete."

"Understood, master."

"Yeah, no shit things didn't go well at the USJ," Chimera growled, baring his teeth as All For One moved back around to his desk, Kurogiri covering the hooded man with his black mist to warp him away, "we got our asses handed to us! The rat you said you had there wasn't anywhere in sight, and All Might humiliated your little monster! He wasn't weakened at all, you set us up to fail!"

"Well, you are incorrect on two of those accusations," All For One shook his head, "my initial informant failed to get into UA during the entrance exam, which forced me to … improvise. Rest assured, the Aoyamas have learned what happens when they don't live up to my expectations. As for my new young friend, I specifically instructed them to act as though nothing was amiss, so you shouldn't be surprised if they ended up fighting against you - they were simply doing their job. Secondly, I did not lie to you - All Might has been weakened. It's hardly my fault if he proves himself to be a far more resilient cockroach than you anticipated."

Chimera huffed.

"In any case, I suppose that there's no cause for alarm," Their benefactor shrugged as he sat down in the leather chair behind the desk, sitting in the darkness so that they couldn't quite make out his features, "none of you were captured, and the thugs you left behind will not know anything that would lead the police or the heroes back to us. Nomu's loss will set us back, of course, considering how much time and effort we put into him to make him as strong as All Might, but I suppose that it cannot be helped, no matter how unfortunate it is. You may have been defeated, but you've no doubt made an impression on All Might."

"Are you joking?" Mummy scoffed. "We were humiliated by a bunch of snot nosed brats. You were wrong about this being easy."

"No, I wasn't," All For One's smile was the only thing they could see through the shadows, "we just weren't prepared enough. We underestimated them. Fortunately, this will work both ways - you may have been defeated by All Might, but he wasn't able to capture any of you. While it may not be exactly what you wanted, the fact that you four escaped the Symbol of Peace will send ripples through the underbelly of society, and any villain lurking behind the scenes will hear the name 'Villain Consortium' and take you all a bit more seriously."

Mummy furrowed his brow and Chimera merely huffed, fishing for another cigar in his pocket and growling under his breath when he realized he had smoked them all. With a smile, All For One turned his gaze to Nine, still flopped over on his side and being supported by Slice as he breathed in rasping breaths, while All For One tilted his head with that frozen, unnatural smile on his face.

"As for you, Nine," he tapped his finger against his desk, "you shouldn't feel frustrated that your three quirks didn't get the job done. We did offer you the chance to complete the surgery all the way, but you insisted on taking the modifications one at a time. Your body may be compatible with my quirk factor, but it can only take five more quirks before your mind would be overloaded. We wanted to complete the tests to ensure that specific outcome is less likely to happen, but you refused."

"Sorry," Nine coughed, purple veins continuing to crawl under is skin as Slice lowered him to rest in her lap, "but I'm not - *cough* - interested in being your guinea pig for however long you want. I have things to do."

"Fair enough. That injury … hm, looks like an electrical burn." All For One's smirk rose, "Accidentally shock yourself with a lightning bolt?"

"It was one of those brats," Nine growled, shaking as the Trigger drop he injected was purged from his system, making his stomach clench in revolt and the shakes increase as he threw his head back, cringing in pain, "he - he got me as I was trying to finish off All Might. It was those … it was those three brats that interfered with my plan the most today. If it hadn't been for him … and that little floating girl … and the girl that looked like she had two quirks … I would've been able to kill All Might!"

All For One went silent for a moment, his face framed in shadow as Kurogiri stood behind his chair. The room was silent, other than Nine's angry and pained breathing while Slice muttered assurances to him as she smoothed out his hair, until All For One tapped his finger against his desk again.

"You're frustrated," He spoke in a quiet voice, drawing the attention of the four villains back to him as he folded his fingers together, "and you have regrets. But this was not a futile endeavor - we've learned many things. And I am a man of my word, Nine - I will figure out a way for you to overcome your illness, and take my throne when the time comes. As long as our plans coincide, I'll honor my end of the bargain. For now, recover - go into hiding and begin building your forces. The heroes will be looking for you four now, and our partnership never mentioned anything about me having to shelter you - although I don't see how you would want such pity. Recover from that wound, and we will reach back out to you when we are ready to continue working on the duplicate All For One quirk I gave you. But before that …"

Leaning forward, All For One grinned.

"... tell me about the girl with two quirks."


Unsurprisingly, showering took a lot longer to get through than usual, but no one in Class 1A was begrudging anyone for needing a moment alone in the stalls. The changing rooms were silent except for the sound of water running or the occasional sniffle, and the girls had to try not to call out to Pony as they heard her quietly breaking down in her own shower, muffling her noises so as not to disturb anyone, and all of them got out at the same time and redressed before Tsuyu pulled her into a much needed hug.

Returning to the classroom without bothering to dry or comb their hair (the guys would hardly blame them, what with Eijirou's normally spiky hair being down and Yosetsu not having his bandana at all due to having wrapped it around one of Aizawa's injuries), they were soon greeted by Tensei and Tsukauchi with officers ready for questioning. Thankfully, the police had been gentle and patient with their questions, with Tensei acting as a cool and comforting presence, holding their hands and gently telling them how brave they were being as the police asked them for details on Nine, Slice, Mummy, Chimera and Kurogiri. He was such a comforting presence that Setsuna, Momo and Yui, the only girls in the classroom that had been there for their conversation with Tenya about his brother a few days ago, knew why he looked up to his brother so much, and felt grateful for the older man as he moved past Tenya, ruffling his hair and giving him a smile.

Once the interviews with the police had concluded, Himiko had swung by as promised, holding a big bag full of gummy bears and medicine prescribed by Recovery Girl, and began going around to each desk, sorting out the medicine that was needed to be passed out to each student while Tsukauchi and Tensei left to go talk to Ochako and Itsuka, who were back at the nurse's office with the rest of the injured and were probably waiting to be treated. Finally, once Himiko left again to head back to the office and help Recovery Girl, the police officer that had been left there, Sansa, told them that it would be alright to go home - seeing as school had let out a while ago, and every other student hearing rumors passing by of what happened had already left at high speeds - but advised them to go home in groups just to be safe, and to call their parents to let them know that they were on their way - the police had already made calls to the parents explaining what had happened, and the students could feel their phones vibrating in their pockets - and that if they needed a police escort, to just speak with him so that he would arrange them a ride.

Finally, when he gently shut the door to Class 1A's homeroom, the entire classroom fell into silence, absently bringing out their phones to text their parents that they were fine and that they would call them soon. Setsuna, staring blankly at her desk for a moment, slowly rose to her feet, grabbing her backpack beside the desk, and quietly left through the back door, not aware of Yui and Hanta giving her a worried look as she moved through the door and vanished from sight. Katsuki, meanwhile, leaned back in his seat, continuing to scowl as he tapped his foot against the ground.

For several minutes, no one else moved from their spots, staring at their desks or out the window as the sun began setting in the distance. It was clear that the events of the afternoon were catching up to them - they had all nearly died at the hands of a madman who had wanted to make All Might a martyr, and some of them nearly did die to monsters and freaks and other creatures that wanted them dead for no other reason than it would give them amusement. Those at the top of the stairs felt guilt for thinking that there had been nothing they could've done against the hooded man, because that line of thought had nearly resulted in the death of their classmate. Those who had helped out with Momo's plan felt horrible that their efforts had been for naught, with Nine easily getting his comrades out of their trap and out of the USJ. As they all sat there and stared at their desks, Katsuki kept tapping his foot against the ground, deep in his thoughts as he frowned, and Yui pulled back out her phone to read a text message that had just been sent to her.

And that was when the door to the classroom suddenly slammed open with a small crash, jolting everyone out of their depressive funks and quickly looking around at the newcomer.

"Whew … well, that sucked!" Nejire giggled, stretching one arm above her head as she strolled back into the classroom and slid the door shut with her foot, lowering her hand so she could suppress a yawn and put down what looked like an energy drink on her desk. At the moment she was back in her school uniform, like the rest of them, but had her blazer wrapped around her waist and her white dress shirt rolled up to her elbows, looking far more relaxed than anyone else with her tie absent and a button popped open. "Like - seriously, that one hundred percent sucked. Drowning sucks. Would rate it three out of ten, wouldn't try again."

After taking a moment to nod to herself, satisfied with that rating, she looked back around with a smile - and blinked when she saw that she had the entire attention of the class on her, everyone blinking at her in shock as their jaws dropped slightly.

"Uh … what's up, guys?" Nejire tilted her head, poking her cheek in curiousity, "Is there something in my teeth? Ah, man, I thought I had done a pretty good job washing my mouth out after puking up all that water and a little bit of my lunch, but -"

"You're okay?!" Pony squeaked, jumping out of her seat, and that seemed to be the cue for everyone to do the same.

Nejire looked around in surprise as everyone jumped to their feet, with the exception of Katsuki merely huffing and moving to grab his bag from beside his chair to pack up his stuff, as everyone hurried quickly around the desks to where Nejire was standing, the blue-haired girl feeling surprised as everyone quickly circled her and gave her a once over.

"Girl, we thought you'd still be unconscious!" Mina teared up as she stared up at the blue fairy. "But - but you're okay! You're up!"

"Hadou, are you sure that you're alright?" Mezo put a hand down on her shoulder, looking concerned as he grew out a mouth to speak to her, "You were passed out for a really long time, after all."

"Mm-hm! I'm a-okay!" She quickly saluted him, looking around and patting Mina's hair as she smiled. "I'm still really tired, but Yuuyu -"

As though Nejire had summoned her just by uttering her name, there was the sound of feet moving quickly towards their class, and suddenly the door slammed open again. They all turned to see Yuuyu panting as she stared down briefly at her shoes, huffing and puffing as she tried to catch her breath and resting her hands on both sides of the doorway - and then she whipped her gaze up, glaring at Nejire.

"Oh! Hey, Yuuyu!" The blue-haired girl cheerfully waved to her, unaware of the students nervously backing up just in case as small flickers of electricity appeared in Yuuyu's hands. "I was just telling my friends about -"

ZAP

Nejire yelped as Yuuyu suddenly moved forward, looking very thunderous, and poked her right in the arm, a small zapping noise sounding out and making her jump in surprise and pain. Yuuyu didn't relent in the assault, however, using her fingers to poke Nejire as small flickers of electricity attacked the blue-haired girl, not enough to be overtly painful but enough to be uncomfortable as her big blue hair began standing up and sticking up in some places, Nejire quickly retreating and beginning to run around the classroom as Yuuyu gave chase, and eventually cornered her, continuing to give her tiny zaps as Nejire whined.

"Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Yuuyu!"

"Do -"

ZAP

"- not -"

ZAP

"- run -"

ZAP

"- away -"

ZAP

"- from -"

ZAP

"- me -"

ZAP

"- after -"

ZAP

"- being -"

ZAP

"- unconscious -"

ZAP

"- for -"

ZAP

"- two -"

ZAP

"- hours -"

ZAP

"- you -"

ZAP

"- dummy!" Yuuyu finished yelling, punctuating each word with a shock and pouting down at Nejire as she raised her hands in surrender. "You do not get shocked back to life and then immediately run away, Nej! I was pretty much racing through the halls trying to find out where you went!"

"Sorry, Yuuyu! I just wanted to see if everyone was okay!" Nejire whined, giving a similar pout to her best friend, "And I had to take a shower! And brush my teeth! Because I puked, and my breath was stinky!"

"Then tell me that before you suddenly sprint off! I'd at least have gone with you!"

"Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

With a sigh, Yuuyu finally relented in her assault, taking Nejire's hands and lifting her back up. Pausing to give Nejire a glare when the blue-haired girl gave her the puppy eyes, as though that would get her out of trouble, Yuuyu sighed as she looked back around at the rest of Class 1A, who had been watching the strange interaction wtih raised eyebrows and a bit of nervousness.

"Yeah, hi, it's nice to meet you all," She waved sheepishly, going a bit red, "I'm Haya, I'm the class rep from over in Class 1B. This idiot's my responsibility."

"That I am!" Nejire cheerfully saluted the pink-haired girl again. "Yuuyu apparently heard that I was unconscious after nearly dying - if I use my quirk so much it makes me coma myself until I get enough stamina back - so she came running to the medical room to shock me back to life! Well, I say 'back to life' but I wasn't technically dead, just sleeping. But you guys know what I mean! And then she made me drink her soda so I'd stay awake -"

"It's an energy drink, Nej, not soda."

"- and now I'm super wired!" She began jumping up and down, everyone gulping nervously when they suddenly noticed how dilated her white pupils were. "I'm probably going to crash the moment I get home, but that's okay! I could use a little more sleep."

"I mean …" Eijirou grimaced helplessly while Nejire hopped up and down to try to burn off some of the sudden energy she had.

"Anyway, what did I miss?" She looked around interestingly as Yuuyu reached out to grab her shoulder to stop her bouncing, "Is everyone else okay? I can see a lot of bumps on everyone - oooh, Pony, there's a big one right there! On your cheek! Do you need to go to the nurse?"

"Do I need to go to the nurse?!" Pony said a bit hysterically as she looked up at Nejire in terror, absently reaching up to grasp her horns in exasperation. "Don't you need to go to the nurse?!"

"I mean … I don't think so!" Nejire giggled bubbly, "Actually, I think it's in our best interest not to go back there - I got shocked back to life and Recovery Girl hit Yuuyu with her cane, so I think we should avoid the nurse's office for a while. We'll deal with boo-boos on our own."

Hadou, you were unconscious," Momo said in a worried voice, "so perhaps you shouldn't be -"

"Oh, for fuck's sake," Katsuki finally snapped as he got up from his desk, making everyone crowding Nejire and Yuuyu look around at him as he turned his annoyed glare to them, "you're so fucking exhausting, Chatterbox. She's fucking fine, you extras, you can stop crowding around her like she came back from the fucking dead. She was just knocked out, you don't need to fucking baby her."

"'Knocked out'?" Tsuyu repeated, looking around at him with a frown, "You call being nearly drowned by those monsters 'knocked out', kero?"

"Yeah, I do," Katsuki scoffed, starting to head towards the door, "it's not my fault she was so weak that she got knocked out by a little water - she should've killed those guys if she -"

"She's the one who caused that tsunami," Yui raised an eyebrow, her eyes narrowing slightly, "and saved me and Asui. And she did that in an explosion a lot bigger than anything you can create. You call that weak?"

Katsuki stopped at that, staring blankly at nothing for a moment - and then he shook his head and moved to the door, gritting his teeth.

"Whatever," He grunted, sliding it open, "I don't fucking care. All I know is that those assholes got away, and it was all your guys' faults," His gaze snapped to Momo, seeing her blink at his attention on her as she straightened up, "I could've taken out the warp gate if you hadn't made me agree to your stupid fucking plan of keeping him restrained - I just had to fucking blow him up, and there would've been no way for them to get away when the pros arrived. They were pretty much fucking down by the time they arrived, but because you made me play nice, they got to run away with their fucking tails between their legs. Now those assholes are out there probably kicking back and celebrating that they got away with giving All Might a bloody nose. Just remember that the next time you useless extras wanna pat yourselves on the back."

"Now hold on a moment, Bakugou -" Tenya protested, straightening up while Momo looked stricken and half the class began glaring at the blonde boy, but he was interrupted whatever reprimand he was going to say when Katsuki whipped his gaze back around with a snarl.

"If you assholes wanna play at being heroes, that you can deal with the consequences," He spat out, glaring at each of them as they looked uncomfortable with his insults, "just like Deku and Round Face and Ponytail are right now. They fucked around and found out, and all that showed is how fucking useless they are. I would've been fine getting rid of the warp bastard, and I would've actually made sure the heroes captured those villains, but you worthless shits made me go along with your fucking plan. Instead they managed to get away, and now we're gonna have to look over our shoulders for now on. Good fucking going with that."

"That's not -!"

"So you assholes know what? If you wanna play around with friends and have a grand old time, go fucking somewhere else. Go to Shiketsu, or Seijin or Ketsubutsu, or anywhere fucking else that people would find you 'useful' for. I'm in this to become the number one hero, and if today taught me anything, it's that you lot are all fucking worthless. So this is a warning to all you fucks - don't get in my fucking way again!"

With that, Katsuki stomped out the door and slammed it closed behind him, the sound of it hitting the frame shaking the wall slightly. There was a long silence in the classroom, everyone staring blankly at where the blonde boy had vanished through while feeling themselves shrink slightly at his words - and then Kyouka swore under her breath and threw her fist aimlessly through the air, stepping away from the small circle of students with a look of fury on her face.

"Fucking asshole," She growled, shaking her head, "acting like his plan wouldn't have just made those fucking villains kill him … god, he's such a dick."

"Huh," Yuuyu crossed her arms, looking around at Yui, "I'm guessing he's the guy that Kendou was saying had small peepee energy. I can see it."

"Mm-hm."

"Please calm down, Jirou," Momo quickly stepped towards her, raising a hand to hold the rocker girl's shoulder while glancing back down at her feet, guilt and uncertainty on her face, "perhaps … perhaps Bakugou raised a good point. My plan didn't … well, he's right that it really didn't work, it didn't keep them down for long. If I didn't take so long to get us organized, maybe I would've had better time to think up a better plan …"

"Yaoyorozu, no!" Eijirou quickly shook his head while Nejire glanced confusedly between the students, "Your plan saved Mido-bro, Uraraka and Kendou! Plus, we managed to get All Might out of trouble!"

"Indeed," Reiko nodded, "it's because of you that we got them away from that audacious rouge rogue. The villains might have been able to get out of your trap afterwards, but that's because we never anticipated the strength of that Nomu character. You shouldn't blame yourself for that."

"B-besides, Bakugou's just - he's obviously just frustrated," Eijirou glanced back at the door where the pomeranian boy had vanished, grimacing slightly, "he shouldn't have taken his anger out on us, of course, but -"

"Kiri, babe, don't go making excuses for him," Mina shook her head, likewise frowning as she moved back to her desk with a sigh, "that guy's got a stick up his ass the size of Mt. Lady's little finger."

"That's … a very gross mental image, kero," Tsuyu quirked an eyebrow as she likewise returned to her desk, "but I think that we should drop this for now, alright? We're all tired, we're stressed, we're - we're obviously going to need some time to get over what happened today. We should all start heading home - I don't know about you all, kero, but I'm going to speak with Officer Sansa about getting myself an escort home, I should get back as soon as I can before my siblings worry too much."

"Of course," Kyouka gave her a more genuine smile, "go home and give them a few big hugs, alright?"

"Oh, definitely."

"And hey," She turned to Momo, still seeing her looking conflicted and ashamed of herself, and reaching out to rub her arm, "I think Asui -"

"Call me Tsuyu."

"- Tsuyu's right, we should probably think about heading home soon. Why don't you and me walk to the train station together? I'll get your mind off what Blasty said."

"Perhaps ... but I don't know if we should leave while Midoriya, Kendou and Uraraka are still at the nurse's office. Shouldn't we -?"

"Mm," Yui suddenly hummed, getting everyone's attention as they turned to see her looking at her phone, evidently reading something that was just sent to her, "I forgot to mention this earlier because of Hadou coming back, but Itsuka's up."

"Huh?!" Denki felt his jaw drop. "After fighting that weird hooded guy?! Is she okay?!"

"She's fine, she and Uraraka are just being healed by Recovery Girl right now. Anyway, she's saying that we shouldn't hang around waiting for them," Her gaze flickered around to the rest of the class, "they don't know how long they're going to take, and they're going to stay behind so they can get Midoriya home. So the official message from our class rep is that we should head home, and that she's going to be reaching out to everyone tomorrow to do check ups. So when she texts you tomorrow, tell her how you're doing, okay?"

"Yeah," Yosetsu nodded, putting his hands in his pockets, "I'd … well, I also wanna stay to make sure Midoriya's okay, but if Kendou's telling us to beat it, I guess we gotta listen."

"Indeed!" Tenya chopped his hand, getting everyone's attention as he straightened up. "I realize that today was far more hectic than anyone expected, so it would be a good idea to head home and de-stress from what happened. If anyone needs to be walked to the train station, I would be more than willing to go with you - I am probably going to stay anyway until Tensei is done with his report so we can go home together, so if anyone wants to be escorted, I am more than happy to help!"

"Uh … that's okay, Iida," Mina smiled up at him, glancing at Tsuyu as she sighed, "I'm … I might take a leaf out of Tsuyu's book and get an escort home. Hope you don't mind me tagging along, Tsu."

"Not at all, kero. It'd be nice to have a little company."

"What about you guys?" Eijirou turned to look at Yosetsu, Hanta and Denki, seeing them leaning against the nearby desks as they frowned, "I guess if Kendou's telling us to scram, we'd better listen to her - I've seen what happens if she gets pissed off, last time that happened in middle school she slam-dunked a bully into a garbage can. Besides, I think Jirou's got the right idea - it's better to head home together, who knows if some of those bastards are still lurking around."

"Huh, I, uh ... I didn't consider that," Denki grimaced, "Yeah, that - that sounds like a plan."

"Yeah, I'd rather not head off by myself." Yosetsu agreed.

"Uh …" Hanta hesitated, glancing over at the desk beside Mina's as everyone began to break up, heading back to their desks to grab their things, and then sighed and shook his head, "... you guys - you guys go on without me. I just … well, I need to do something before I go. All else fails, I can ask that Sansa guy about a lift home."

"Alright, if you say so, man."

"Um …" At the sound of Nejire letting out a small hum, everyone looked back around at her, seeing her looking very lost and concerned while Yuuyu grimaced slightly, "... I was unconscious for a lot of what happened, so I'm confused. What happened to Midoriya? And Uraraka and Kendou? Are they safe? Are they alright?"

Blinking, and realizing that Nejire of course wouldn't know what happened to their friends, Tenya quickly reached over to take Nejire's shoulder and guide her away from the group so that he could explain what happened, glancing behind his shoulder to see the saddened and down looks on everyone's faces as they thought about what happened. No need to rehash the state Izuku was in in front of everyone again - they could do that in the corner.

As Tenya began explaining everything that had happened after Nejire lost consciousness in the lake, Yui and Yuuyu quickly moving to join their small circle, everyone else began to make movements towards the door, heading to their desks to pack up their things and head out. As Momo and Kyouka walked out together, and Tsuyu and Mina left to find Officer Sansa, Reiko sighed as she returned to her desk to put her things away - now that the spell of grief and despair that had hung over the class had been dispersed by Katsuki's dickheaded-ness, she felt the need to go home and just de-stress in the darkness of her room. Thank god it was the weekend, so she could spend it all in her dark room drawing in her notebook and binge-watching Yap!Tube.

However, as she began putting her papers and pens into her bag, she heard the sound of someone clearing their throat behind her.

"Er … Yanagi?"

"Hm?" Reiko turned, blinking when she saw Fumikage standing behind her looking very awkward and ashamed, while Dark Shadow, restored to his usual size, twirled his fingers together while looking guilty. "Oh - Tokoyami."

"Indeed. I was … well … I wish to apologize to you," He glanced away from her, staring at his shoes while he closed his eyes and scratched his beak absently, "back in the downpour zone, I lost control of Dark Shadow, and … I ended up injuring you. For that, I will never forgive myself."

Reiko furrowed her brow, absently reaching up to brush her fingers against the bruise under her shirt on her collarbone that was now fading away thanks to the gummy bear that Himiko had given her. 

Ah, yes - his loss of control during the invasion, she suddenly remembered. The battle with the Consortium had completely driven what had happened in the downpour zone from her mind, after seeing Izuku in that state of pain, but now she remembered helping Tenya, Yui and Tsuyu calm Dark Shadow until some light was able to shine in to help Tokoyami soothe the beast.

"Y-yeah, that was - that was my bad," Dark Shadow apologized as well, staring glumly at the floor like his owner as both raven-headed beings looked anywhere but at her, "me and dark places don't tend to mix, I lose a lot of control over myself, and - and - gah, what am I doin', Fumi?! I'm just makin' excuses at this point!"

"Yes," Fumikage looked over at his shadow as it despaired, "you can just apologize, Dark Shadow, there is no need to beat around the bush."

"But it's hard! How do you apologize for trying to kill one of your classmates?!"

"You can start with 'sorry' and go from there."

"I don't know -!"

"Tokoyami," Both of them jumped and looked around at Reiko, the ghost girl glancing between the two of them and putting her backpack back down on the desk, "and Dark Shadow as well - neither of you need to apologize to me for what happened. I understand the circumstances of the events in the downpour zone - you explained how your quirk works to me, after all. I am not angry at either of you for attempting to attack me in your state of shadowy madness, since I am instead directly my righteous fury at those who put us in that situation to begin with. There is nothing you need to apologize to me for."

"Ah, but still …" Dark Shadow protested while Fumikage still looked conflicted, so Reiko gave them a small smile and reached up to pat Dark Shadow's beak, making the shadow blink in surprise and Fumikage to look between them with a raised eyebrow.

"Tell you what," She offered while glancing between the two of them, "I would not mind escorts to bring me safely back home. If you both are still feeling guilty for what happened, you can ensure my safety by walking me to the train station. While we are travelling, there is something I wanted to ask you both - there is a substantial amount of manga that I am not caught up on ever since I got into dress making, so I was wondering if you two would know where to start after a prolonged absense."

"A-ah, I am not sure if we are quite fit to -"

"Of course!" Dark Shadow immediately agreed for the both of them, his shadow cheeks going a bit red as he smiled happily and ignored the dirty look Fumikage was throwing at it, "We got all the deets! We used to read so much seinen before we got into other stuff like shojo, so we know all the good ones -"

"Dark Shadow! Cease your foolishness!"

"But she asked!"

While Fumikage argued with Dark Shadow, the sentient shadow whining at his coldness while Reiko smiled at them both, Pony moved around them to return to her own desk, glancing at the two gothic teenagers and the shadowy quirk as she let out a small sigh. Ordinarily, she would've thought it was kind of cute, seeing a shadow bird monster geeking out over shojo (and she might've asked if it knew any good ones), but …

... but unfortunately, the excitement of talking to a living shadow about girly manga wasn't on her mind at the moment, the small girl sniffed as she put her backpack on her desk to put her stuff inside.

No matter what she did, she couldn't get her mind off what had happened at the USJ. She knew everyone else probably wasn't able to either, of course, so she really shouldn't be complaining, but ... but she couldn't help but feel guilt pulse through her. She remembered waiting outside with everyone, glancing around to see the broken and unconscious Izuku hanging limply in Hound Dog's arms, and feeling the massive spike of guilt and horror that had crawled up her spine and made her tear up even now.

She remembered what she had seen at the top of the stairs - Izuku leaping out of the way of a villain obviously more powerful than him, who was clearly trying to kill him … and Pony had instead stayed behind to help Aizawa instead of helping him.

It hadn't been an easy choice, and Aizawa had needed her help to make sure he didn't bleed out … but she couldn't help but feel guilty. If she had tried to help Izuku instead of just staying up at the top of the stairs and letting him fight that hooded guy on his own, he might be in better shape right now. He was the reason she and Yosetsu got out of the conflagration zone without any of them getting injured, after putting all of his trust in her, and she just … abandoned him when he needed help, and almost got himself killed. What happened to Izuku … it was her fault.

God, and the detective had said that he might have scars from the fight. She didn't doubt that Recovery Girl would fix him up, but what would happen if he came back to school on Monday with any obvious injuries? Reminders that she had left him to die? The detective had said that they had all been brave for what happened, but in reality, she was the only one in this class that had been a complete and utter coward. What if he realized that she had pretty much left him to die and hated her for it? She wouldn't even be able to blame him if he gave her the cold shoulder after that.

She probably wouldn't even be able to look at him once -

"Tsunotori?"

Pony jumped a bit at the sound of a quiet voice behind her, and quickly looked around. Standing near her desk was Mezo, pretty much towering over her with her head only coming up to his shoulders, but looking down at her with an understanding look as he reached out with one of his multiple hands, and offered her a handkerchief, much to her confusion.

"Uh ..." She trailed off for a moment, glancing between the blue cloth and his face as he looked a bit sheepish.

"Sorry," He muttered, "but … I noticed that you had started crying."

"H-huh?" Pony blinked, reaching up to touch her face. Indeed, she hadn't even noticed the feeling of tears running down her cheeks, making her blink a bit as she gulped. Feeling self-conscious, she quickly accepted the handkerchief with a small ' thank you ' in English, and began dabbing at her face.

And now she felt embarrassed that this was the second time she broke down while everyone was around her and had to be comforted by someone else - she was an utter mess today. But before she could try to return to her desk to grab her things, about to promise that she would return his handkerchief to him Monday after being washed, Mezo quietly sat down in Izuku's vacant seat, glancing at her.

"Listen," He tapped his finger against the chair, "don't blame yourself for what happened, alright?"

Pony blinked again at that quiet request, and looked back around at Mezo in surprise, tears still in her large eyes. He had turned away from her, but even with half his face covered by a mask and hair hanging over it, she could see the guilt and remorse in Mezo's own eyes, making her falter as she stared blankly at her classmate.

"I heard you muttering to yourself," He explained in a quiet tone, "and … and blaming yourself for what happened to Midoriya. That wasn't your fault, Tsunotori - it was mine."

"Huh? What do you -"

"I'm the one who told you not to go help him." He stared down at his knees, two of his hands gripping them tightly and making Pony begin to tear up again for an entirely new reason now, "I'm the one who told you that we couldn't fight that guy, but - but we should have at least tried to do something. What happened to Midoriya - it's my fault, not yours. Please don't blame yourself for my mistake."

"I - Shouji-kun, no!" Pony protested, quickly clopping over to stand in front of him and ball her fists tightly, absent-mindedly trying to stop herself from crying even more. "It's not your fault, it's - it's mine! Midoriya backed me up in the - in the conflagration zone, and - and I couldn't help him when he needed me. It's my fault he got hurt so bad, so -"

"No, Tsunotori, you were at least willing to go and help," Mezo shook his head, obviously ashamed of himself as he got back up and looked down at her tearful face as he sighed, "I was … I was afraid. I was afraid of that guy, but you - you weren't. You're a lot braver than I am, Tsunotori, so please - don't blame yourself for what happened. You were at least willing to help, so if anyone is to blame for what happened to Midoriya … it's me."

With that, the taller boy prepared to head back to his desk to grab his bag, and head home to stew in his thoughts. He knew that he wasn't just trying to say this to get her to stop blaming herself, of course - deep down, he knew that it was his own hesitation and cowardice that resulted in Izuku getting as hurt as he did. It was likely that he and Pony would've probably been beaten by the hooded man along with Izuku, but it would've at least been better than Izuku having to deal with him on his own.

If anyone was to blame for the green-haired boy's predicament right now, it was - 

- and that was when he felt a pair of small, warm hands wrap around one of his left hands.

Blinking, Mezo looked back around as Pony held on tightly to his hand, looking incredibly nervous - well, of course she would, he realized, she still had a fear of octopuses after that thing that had happened to her when she was young, this was probably taking all of her courage to do since he reminded her of one. Before he could open his mouth to ask her if she was alright, however, she looked up at him, making Mezo falter at the determined, sure look in her big teary eyes.

"It wasn't your fault either," She shook her head, her wavy blonde hair flying a bit from the speed that she shook her head at, "it's - you were at least smart, Shouji-kun. You - you knew that neither of us could fight that guy. It's - it's not your fault either."

"I … well …"

"No!" She shook her head again, "It's - if it's anyone's fault, it's mine."

"I - Tsunotori, no," Mezo turned back to face her, "I told you, it's not your fault."

"Well, it's not yours either! You should stop blaming yourself!"

"I … suppose I could say the same to you."

Both of them stared blankly at each other for a moment, Pony's mouth hanging open slightly while Mezo glanced back down at where she was holding his hand, going a bit red behind his mask - and then Pony let out another shuddered breath, although this one sounded like a small, strangled giggle, and slowly released his hand, raising the handkerchief again to wipe at her teary cheeks.

"I - okay," She sniffled, "I won't - I won't try to blame myself for this, only if - only if you don't either."

"I'm … not sure if it's that simple," Mezo smiled despite himself, "but … I suppose that's better than having you try to shoulder all the blame."

"O-okay, then let's - let's just blame the stupid villains, alright? I mean - technically they're the ones who did all the stupid stuff, so - so screw them."

"Yeah," He chuckled a bit, "screw them."

"Okay," She slowly nodded, and then it became clear that another thought came to her, making her go a bit red as she looked back up at him with a small pout, "and … I know this is kind of out of the blue, but … but I'm sorry for making you uncomfortable a few days ago."

"Hm?" Mezo blinked. "You did? About what?"

"When I … when I told you about my aquarium thing," She blushed a bit redder, while he blinked as he remembered their conversation from the battle trial, "I - I should've realized that it would've made you … uh … uncomfortable. I know you said something  about - um - about your quirk reminding me of that stupid thing, and - and I realized right afterwards that I should've - I should've made sure that you were okay. I'm sorry, Shouji-kun - I shouldn't have told you that stupid thing."

It's alright," Mezo nodded, glancing away as he frowned under his mask, "I'm … used to being feared."

Pony faltered at that, blinking once or twice as she registered what that meant - and then, as Mezo was about to turn to walk out of the classroom again, blurted out, "Can you walk me to the train station?"

Mezo blinked as he stopped walking, and looked back around at her in surprise. Pony gulped a bit, a dust of pink reappearing on her cheeks as she glanced awkwardly away, and wrung her hands together.

"T-the officer said something about us not leaving the school alone," She said in a quiet voice, not looking at him at all, "and … and I want to …"

"Tsunotori ...?"

"... I want to be your friend," She finally managed to say, looking back up at him with her cheeks going redder and redder by the moment and his eyes widened, "that's - that's what I want, Shouji-kun. I feel really bad about what I said to you, because - because you seem like you're a really nice guy. And - and I do have my hang ups about the tentacle stuff -"

"P-please watch your phrasing."

"- but you shouldn't feel like you're feared. You - you should be appreciated, because you're a - you're such a nice guy, and -"

"Tsunotori?" Mezo sighed, thinking absently about how much he had said her surname these last few minutes as Pony stuttered to a stop before she could completely forget the Japanese language - but he was unable to stop himself from smiling behind his mask, looking down at her with kindness in his eyes.

"I would … well, it's definitely not how I expected my day to end, but … well, yes, I would be more than happy to walk with you to the train station. Officer Sansa is right, we shouldn't be walking alone - so let's go together."

"Great," Pony said in a quiet voice, a bit awestruck, and then quickly shook herself out of her shock and tried her best to smile widely, "I - I mean, g-great! Let's go!"

Mezo chuckled as she quickly scrambled to grab her bag from her desk, and together, the tallest boy in the class walked with one of the shortest girls out the door, Pony trying to wipe her teary face and find something to talk to him about while Mezo wondered if it would be weird to offer to hold her bag for her while she tried to calm her slight hysteria down.

It would be polite, after all.

As Pony and Mezo walked out of the class, shutting the door quietly behind them, that left only the four remaining members of the Kendousquad inside the rapidly emptying classroom, Tenya sighing as he finished his explanation to Nejire as she slowly blinked at him in shock.

"... in any case, Midoriya should be in the nurse's office right now," He finished explaining, taking off his glasses and wiping them with a cloth in his pocket, "and I spoke to my brother as he was leaving about ten minutes ago - Recovery Girl was going to finish healing Kendou and Uraraka, and then have them speak with Detective Tsukauchi. Since Kendou texted Kodai a bit earlier, I take that to imply that Recovery Girl is either currently healing or finishing their healing before she moves on to Midoriya."

"Wow," Yuuyu muttered, looking stricken by the details she wasn't sure she wanted to know, "That's …"

"I'm …" Nejire faltered as well, and for once she looked like she was completely speechless, staring down at the floor in shock as her mouth briefly hung open, and had to rapidly blink for a few moments - and then she shook her head, and straightened back up hurry over and grab both her bag from her desk and the energy drink from her desk. After taking another sip and shuddering, Nejire looked back around and gave Tenya a thankful smile, her pupils still dilated enough to show all blue and no white pupils, and shaking enough to make him gulp in concern.

"Thanks for telling me all that, Iida," She smiled sweetly at him as she adjusted the bag on her shoulder, taking a moment to hop up and down, "I'm - I'm gonna head back to the nurse's office, then. If Kendou and Uraraka are still there and awake, I should make sure they're okay too!"

"I understand, Hadou, and …" Tenya hesitated, grimacing slightly, "... well, I know that you probably have plans for relaxation afterwards, but I do hope you take a bit of time to settle down. I would not blame you if you needed some time to just sit around and do nothing - you were unconscious for a long time, after all."

"That's okay, Iida," Nejire giggled, reaching out and patting his shoulder "I know what I said about avoiding Recovery Girl for the rest of the school year, but I'll gladly conquer that fear to make sure my friends are okay! My game plan is to go to the nurse's office, make sure everyone's okay, and then go home! After maybe a few hugs and cuddling, in case Kendou and Uraraka need it. Yuuyu and I are gonna have a girl's night when we get back to my house - a really big one! With painting nails and doing makeup and trying not to have nightmares about drowning. Which I won't have. Probably. Hopefully."

She stared blankly at nothing for a moment, as though reluctantly coming to terms that she probably wasn't going to have pleasant dreams later that night, and then looked back up at Tenya and Yui with a big grin. "Anyway, that's that! I'll text the group chat later!"

"Yeah," Yuuyu sighed, looking around at Tenya and Yui as well as the two looked around at the class representative, seeing her tired look as she put her hands in her blazer's pockets, "it's probably gonna be a bad night, but at least I'll be with her. I'll let you know if anything happens or if we need anything before we go, Glasses - I'll probably have to check my own classroom before we leave, I hurried out and left Todoroki behind to clean up. Just gotta make sure that there isn't anything messed up in there."

"Of course! And thank you, Haya - I'm glad that Hadou has you to look after her."

"Well, I've been doing it since preschool, so there's not much point in stopping now," She shrugged, giving him a small smile before turning to where Nejire was standing, about to ask her if she was ready to walk back to the nurse's office - only for there to be a blank spot where Nejire had been, as though she had somehow vanished into thin air when no one was looking. 

The three of them blinked and looked around in confusion as they tried to see where Nejire had somehow disappeared to - and then they all glanced out the door peaking their heads out to see the blue-haired girl hurrying down the hall and out of sight around the corner as the door slowly slid shut.

Yuuyu took one moment to blink as she registered that Nejire had essentially ditched her again - and then the rage that had been on her face when she arrived in the classroom returned to her face.

"Hey!" She shouted after her, immediately taking off in a sprint after her best friend. "I told you not to take off without me, you dumb bitch! Slow the fuck down!"

"Haya! Hadou!" Tenya called after them, rushing towards the door and shouting as Yuuyu ran as fast as she could after Nejire so she could shock some sense into her. "There should be no running in the halls! And please do not refer to Hadou in such language, Haya! As a class representative -"

"Bite me, four eyes!" Yuuyu managed to yell over her shoulder before skidding around the corner, colliding briefly against the railing near the windows, and disappearing from sight.

"Guh -!" Tenya gasped, looking majorly offended, and then let out a small sigh as he shook his head and moved his head back in so he could slide the door shut - perhaps since they were all obviously stressed out, he'd let Nejire's running and Yuuyu's swearing go for today. He'd pursue it Monday when they were refreshed and hopefully de-stressed.

Once he heard Yuuyu's footsteps fade away, he turned took glance around the classroom - at this point, everyone in class had pretty much left either separately or in groups, leaving him standing at the door and Yui heading back to her desk so she could grab her bag, slinging it over her shoulder as she sighed a bit.

"Er … I - I suppose you are also heading home, Kodai?" Tenya tried to say in a conversational tone, glancing away awkwardly as Yui kept her back to him. "There - I know what Kendou said about us not waiting for them, and that's probably a good idea - after all, Midoriya may take a bit of a while to wake up, we can wait for Haya and Hadou to give us news in the group chat."

"Mm."

"A-ah ... uh ... w-well, in - in that case, shall I walk you to -"

"I'm good," Yui quickly shook her head, making Tenya falter mid-step as he attempted to approach her, and he watched as she quickly speed-walked through the back door of the classroom, shutting it firmly behind her. Tenya blinked at where the stoic girl had vanished as he heard the sound of her quickly walking away, feeling his mouth open slightly and his heart thump in his chest - 

- until he straightened up, took a deep breath, and quickly strolled to his own desk at the back so he could grab his bag and go after her. It was clear that he had done something to offend her, and for that, he clearly needed to apologize.

Outside, as the sun began gently setting in the distance, Yui let out a shuddering sigh as she moved down the steps of the school's entrance, having exchanged her school shoes for her regular pair as she walked outside, carefully stepping around some of the water from the storm that was still everywhere, either in puddles or in the grass lining the path to the gate. At this point most of the students were long gone - she could tell that rumors of what had happened at the USJ had traveled fast, what with her able to see a few students from the general studies class quickly running through the gate huddled together.

Well, that made sense, at least - all the hero teachers running to their rescue through a hurricane probably would draw a lot of attention.

In any case, though, Yui furrowed her brow as she looked around, reaching the bottom of the stairs and looking around. She was worried about Izuku, of course, and about Itsuka and Ochako, but like her friend had said, if they were just waiting at this point there wouldn't be much point in her staying behind. So maybe she would text Setsuna and ask if she was okay after her weird exit from the -

"Kodai, please wait a moment!"

Yui froze as she stopped at the bottom stair, feeling her eyes widen at the sound of a familiar voice calling for her. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who was calling her name, hearing hurried footsteps approach her from behind at the top of the stairs as Tenya panted a little bit, managing to get control of his breathing and clearing his throat.

"I - I apologize, I had to speed-walk through the halls to catch up," He cleared his throat again, straightening his back so he could stare down at the stoic girl at the bottom of the stairs, feeling himself frown as she stared ahead and not back at him at all, "I - Kodai, I apologize for running after you, but I - I wanted to clear up something that I may have - that I may have inadvertently done."

Quickly, he sank into a bow, staring down at his feet and not noticing Yui glance slightly over her shoulder at him, her eyes widening just a fraction.

"Kodai, I - I do not know what I did that has obviously offended you," He frowned, staring guiltily at his feet and not noticing a flash of guilt cross Yui's own face, "but I know that I did something, so I must offer you my deepest apologies. It is clear that you are not comfortable around me, and I have been told before that my behaviour sometimes alienates other people - I have been informed multiple times by my former classmates in middle school that my personality does not mesh well with others, and I realize that I may be overbearing. In any case, that does not excuse me if I -"

"You didn't do anything."

His small prepared speech was stopped as soon as it started at Yui's quiet voice, requiring Tenya to look up at her from where he was bowing. She still had her back to him, not looking around at him at all, but he noticed that her hands had clenched tightly together, and her gaze was down on her feet.

"You didn't do anything wrong," She muttered, barely audible, "it's all me, Iida. You haven't done anything to offend me or anything like that, I'm just … acting stupid."

"I - well, I must disagree!" He quickly straightened his back again, chopping one of his hands at her. "You seem to be quite the intelligent person, Kodai - any perceived acts of stupidity must be incorrect!"

"I - no," Yui shook her head, "it's just … well …"

Tenya felt a small ounce of confusion as Yui continued to stare blankly at the ground for a moment, her fists clenching a bit tighter - and then she sighed, slumping her shoulders somewhat as she narrowed her eyes.

"Damn it," She muttered, "I'm really gonna have to say it, don't I?"

"Er … I beg your pardon?" Tenya tilted his head, "I'm not sure if I caught that, Kodai. Can you please repeat -?"

"You're attractive."

The boy in glasses felt himself pause at what Yui said, blinking at the quiet statement as Yui continued to look anywhere but him. He felt what little thoughts he had in his head to try and comfort her drain away as he took a moment to finally register what she had just said, staring at the back of Yui's head - and then he took off his glasses, grabbing the cloth in his pocket to wipe them, and wrinkling his brow at the sudden shake in his hands.

"I … I apologize, Kodai, I - I must have - I must have misheard you," He managed to say in a slightly shaky tone, not entirely sure why he was wiping his glasses while questioning his hearing as he put them back on his face, "could you -?"

"You're hot." Finally, Yui turned around to properly face him, and Tenya felt his jaw drop with a small pop at the blush on her cheeks as she finally met his eyes for the first time, wringing her hands tightly together as she obviously fought herself not to look away.

"I find you physically attractive," She clarified in that same quiet voice, "I've been checking you out when you're not looking. I don't look at you in the face because you're really handsome, and I don't answer you all the time because that would tempt me to look at you, and that makes me feel really good, and that feels really scary. When you tried to talk to me after we helped stop that riot a few days ago and I ran away, it was because I was ... remembering you pressing me up against the wall, and it made me feel really flustered. That's it, Iida - that's why I don't look at you. Because I find you attractive."

Tenya let out a small sputter, feeling heat on his cheeks as his mind promptly crashed a little bit at the sudden burst of information from a girl he really only spoken to properly once or twice, and needing a few seconds to reboot. Yui carefully watched his reaction for the next few moments or so, seeing him trying to bring his jaw up from where it had dropped as she clenched her hands tightly together on her bag.

Finally, Tenya snapped his mouth closed, glancing around as he somehow straightened up even more than he already was, finally managing to tear his gaze away from her for the first time since they started this conversation.

"I … I see," He squeaked, which made Yui pout a little bit - god, he sounded so adorable when he was flustered. "I, ah - I did not expect - I - uh."

"Yeah," Yui nodded in agreement, "uh."

"I - well - I'm - I'm flattered, Kodai," He managed to finally get out, his face somehow turning even redder, "that you find me - well - physically attractive - that - uh - it's just - er -"

"I'm not asking you out."

Tenya faltered at that quiet statement, quickly looking back around at her as she fought to keep staring up at him in the eye. Her face was still bright red despite its stoicism, but she seemed to at least be trying to keep her eyes on his, and after a moment of hesitation, he fought down the desire to look away in order to do the same.

Once again, Tenya found himself staring into her eyes, and unlike her stoic face, he could plainly see the emotions clearly there - a small bit of fear, a bit of hope, and more than a little timidness.

"It's not like I'm asking you to go out with me," She made clear, her voice still quite quiet, "I find you attractive, but … well, I'm not saying that you're not attractive in other ways too, but …"

"O-other ways?" Tenya blinked, confused by that and needing a bit of clarification. "H-how so? In - in what other ways might I possibly be attractive?"

"Like … your hand gestures," She imitated him, moving her arms around robotically while he sputtered in sudden indignation, "I think they're cute."

"T-they are not meant to be 'cute'!" Tenya complained, chopping a hand at her while she raised an eyebrow. "I am simply emphasizing my movements to make my points clear!"

"Well, you do that cutely, then."

"I -!" Tenya let out a small groan, moving his hands underneath his glasses to cover his red face. Yui was unable to stop a small smile from gracing her face at the sheer adorableness of the boy in front of her, although she thankfully managed to force it down before Tenya revealed himself again, still very red in the face but clearly unsure of himself as he put his hands back in his blazer's pockets.

"I … as I was saying, Kodai, I'm … I'm flattered that you apparently find me … attractive," He somehow went even redder, partially resembling a tomato but managing to calm his fluster somewhat so that he could face her again, "but … well … I will admit that I have never really put much thought into … you know … romance. I have been very busy studying in middle school, and quite honestly it took up a lot of my time - a bit too much of my time so that I never really considered the option of - er - getting a girlfriend, and I believe from rumours that my ... personality ... did not really appeal to anyone at Somei. You … I believe you said that you were not asking me on a date, though?"

"No, I wasn't," Yui shook her head, frowning a bit, "I do find you attractive, but … well, I'm honestly not sure how I feel for you emotionally just yet. We have only known each other for about a week."

"That is … also very true," Tenya nodded, at least relieved that they could agree on that - and then Yui raised her eyebrow again.

"So … do you find me attractive?"

"..."

"..."

"... I beg your pardon?" Tenya squeaked, the hot red blush instantly returning to his face while Yui smirked a bit.

"I asked," She tilted her head, "if you also find me attractive."

"I - I do not -" Tenya sputtered again, his arms flailing wildly in the air while Yui tried her hardest to hide her smirk. Honestly, while Tenya took a moment to promptly freak out, Yui found the urge to hide her face from him fading the longer they actually talked, and she let out a small sigh as she adjusted her bag's strap on her shoulder again.

"Don't worry about answering my question, I was just pulling your chain." Tenya faltered at that, staring at her in shock and outrage, and Yui raised her hand for a moment to speak. "Like I said, Iida - I'm not asking you out, and I'm not expecting you to ask me out either. I'm just stating that I find you attractive, there's nothing that you really need to do to acknowledge that. It's just … well … I shouldn't try to avoid looking at you, I guess. It's rude. Anyway, that was my explanation. Please don't blame yourself for me being stupid."

"I …" Tenya hesitated again, and then nodded stiffly. "... I believe I understand, Kodai. That - that there aren't any expectations here to - to ask you - yes, I understand."

"Alright," Yui nodded, adjusting her bag again, "in that case, I should probably start heading home now - my dad's probably worried sick, I should head back before he gets in his car and starts looking for me."

"A-ah," Tenya quickly nodded, finally glancing away and attempting to get control of his blush. "Yes. You should - yes, it's best that you should get going, Kodai."

"Mm." Yui nodded, and started to turn around to keep walking to the gate -

"S-shall I escort you to the train station?"

Yui faltered at Tenya's offer once again, stopping in her step and staring blankly at nothing for a moment - and then she glanced around at him, seeing him staring at her frozen as though he realized that he had said something he shouldn't have, but he seemed unable to take it back as Yui glanced aside, a tinge of pink of her cheeks.

"I … thought you were going to wait for your brother to get done with ... whatever it was he was doing."

"I … am," Tenya nodded awkwardly, likewise staring away from her, "it's just … well … you shouldn't go home by yourself, Kodai, just - just to be safe. It's like Officer Sansa said, we shouldn't be leaving on our own. I - I can walk you to the train station, however, and then quickly come back - jogging up the mountain is no fret for me."

Yui slowly nodded at that good point, glancing away as Tenya attempted to ramble up a few more excuses in that same quiet mutter, probably trying to come up with a few more explanations and justifications why Yui walking back on her own would be a bad idea. She could feel her heartbeat quickening in her chest, and let out a small sigh as she nodded to herself.

Yep. It had only been a week since they met, and he just kept getting cuter. She was in some pretty serious shit.

"Iida," The boy in glasses stopped his muttering at the sound of her calling his name, and looked back down to see her face reverting back to its blank state - but her eyes had a playfulness in them, which made him gulp nervously as his own heart skipped a beat, "if you want to walk me to the train station, you can. I'd appreciate the company."

Tenya blinked from his spot at the top of the stairs, staring down blankly at Yui as she turned to begin walking towards the gate, and jolted as she began moving away from the stairs. Quickly hurrying down them so he could join her, both Tenya and Yui walked together down the path to the gate, both of them still a bit red, but when Yui turned to look up at Tenya, probably one of the first times she had done so since they had met, the boy in glasses couldn't help but feel a small smile grace his face.

As they moved together towards the gate, not exactly speaking but not feeling uncomfortable, they did not notice Hanta jogging around the side of the main building, humming a bit as he scrunched up his brow. It was kind of pathetic that, ever since leaving the classroom, he had gone from looking in classrooms up and down the building, to now searching in the bushes - but honestly, he had no idea where she was.

He'd been looking around the school for the last ten minutes or so, moving from looking through the now empty classrooms to outside and searching along the walls. Really, he really didn't know why he was bothering - it was very much possible that she had already gone home, and he was looking around this huge freaking campus for nothing. Hanta let out a small sigh, looking around with a small frown - honestly, it was probably useless. UA was a fairly big campus, so if she was still here, it might take him forever to find - 

- wait. Wait, there she was!

Hanta's eyes had trailed over to a couple of trees lining the walls of UA, a little ways away from the path leading to the gate and out of sight of everyone, and sitting against the barrier, her arms wrapped around her legs, was Setsuna, staring glumly at nothing. At the very least, from what he could see, she wasn't crying - but there definitely wasn't a happy expression on her face, staring down at her knees with a small pout as she hid from everyone.

Feeling himself grow concerned, Hanta quickly began jogging over, calling out, "Tokage!"

The green-haired girl jumped in surprise as she heard someone calling her name, eyes widening in panic as she whipped her gaze around to see that he was moving towards her. Quickly, she tried to scramble to her feet, stumbling a little bit as she straightened up, and tried to force an obviously fake smile on her face as she turned around to properly face him, Hanta slowing himself to a stop as he approached her.

"Uh … hey, dude!" She tried to sound enthusiastic, although there was a small catch in her voice that made him furrow his brow. "What's - what's up? I-I thought you would've gone home already."

"Uh … no, not - not yet," He shook his head, glancing down to see her wring her hands. "I was ... actually looking for you. Are - are you okay? You sound …"

"Huh? F-for me? Oh, n-no, I'm - I'm fine!" She glanced away from him, staring at another tree as she quickly put her hands in her blazer's pockets, "Just - just a little cold, I'm fine. I - I was running around in the rain for a little bit this afternoon, so I might've actually caught something, ha ha. A-anyway, just - uh, I just needed a moment to myself, that's why I was - uh - yeah."

"..."

"S-sorry about - y'know, just kinda leaving the classroom. There - I - I remembered that there was something I had to do -"

"Tokage, shut up for a second."

Hanta felt a little bad at how blunt that sounded, and from how Setsuna winced, but thankfully she had stopped with the stuttering excuses, looking away with that obviously fake look of happiness on her face. 

Honestly, it kind of hurted to see how … obviously not okay she was. It was pretty clear that she was taking what happened today pretty hard, but … but why did it feel like there was something else there?

"Tokage," He said in a quiet voice, trying to sound comforting as he moved to lean against the wall with her, "it's - you don't have to pretend like - like you're okay. I know that - uh -"

"Dude, I'm fine -"

"- but you're not!" Hanta shook his head, frowning as Setsuna quickly glanced away from him so that he couldn't see her face. "I - look, it's - it's obvious that something's going on, and - and you don't have to pretend that everything's okay. I - I know that we barely know each other, but if you - if you needed someone to talk to -"

"I don't." Setsuna's fake happy tone suddenly vanished, coming out a bit clipped and making Hanta falter for a moment as she fully turned away so her back was to him. He noticed, for the first time, that her hair was still a bit damp, clinging to the back of her uniform as she made to walk away. "I don't need to talk to someone, Sero. Thanks for the - the offer, but I'm f-fine. I'm all g-good, so -"

"Tokage, it's okay."

This time it was her turn to fall silent, stopping herself from walking away as Hanta slowly approached her from behind. After a moment to debate with himself, he lifted his hand up to rest on her shoulder, giving it a soft squeeze. He was ready to jump away in case he crossed some kind of line, but to his relief, she let him rest his hand there, not jerking away or shoving him off her.

"Tokage, I know that you aren't okay," He said in a quiet, soothing voice, "none of us are. And … and I realize that we've only known each other for a week, and if you really needed to vent to anyone it'd probably be Kendou or Kodai - but I have a feeling that you don't want to tell them what's on your mind."

"..."

"I promise, anything you tell me right now, I won't tell anyone else. It'll just be between you and me. If you don't want to tell me, I'll understand and let you go, but … but if you do need someone to talk to, I'm right here."

Hanta let the offer hang in the air, willing to let her think about it for a moment. For a few moments, they stood in silence under the shade of the UA gate's wall, Hanta looking down at her while Setsuna faced away - and then she slowly ducked her head, and he could feel her shoulders tense beneath his palm.

"... I'm useless." She muttered.

"Huh?" Hanta blinked, confused. "You're - what?"

"I'm useless." She repeated, and he faltered at the sound of utter defeat in the usually confident girl's voice. "I didn't - I wasn't able to do anything back at the USJ. I froze up, and I - I panicked. That guy was attacking us and I just … I just ran. I was useless."

"Wha - no, Tokage, you weren't!" He was quick to try to assure her, taking his hand off her shoulder but taking one step closer, "You got All Might for us, you escaped -"

"No, I didn't!" She suddenly shouted, and whipped back around. He blinked in shock at the tears beginning to stream down her face as she clenched her fists tightly. "I was wandering around the forest that whole time! I got lost in the storm! I had no idea where the hell I was floating to and where I was supposed to go! If All Might didn't punch the storm away and saw me running around like an idiot, he wouldn't have even noticed me! I couldn't even get to the school if I wanted to, because then my legs would've been too far away and I would've collapsed! I wasn't even the one who was supposed to have escaped, it should've been Iida, not me! He would've actually made it!"

"I - Tokage, that doesn't -"

"It does!" She gripped her hair tightly with both hands and bit her lip slightly in frustration, tears falling from her face and onto the wet grass below. "I didn't save anyone! I was useless, just like I was useless at the battle trial, just like I was useless everywhere else! I haven't done anything to prove that I belong at UA!"

"You haven't done anything -?" Hanta blinked in confusion, staring down in shock at the smaller girl as she ducked her head again, heaving, sobbing breaths leaving her and unintentionally making him tear up slightly. "What - what does that mean?"

"I …" She hesitated again, as though trying to catch herself before she said something she wasn't supposed to, and then shook her head. "... I'm … I'm a recommended student. I'm supposed to be super freaking good, aren't I? Exceptional, just like all the rest of the guys who got recommended."

"I ... uh ..."

"But when I finally came here," She shuddered, "I realized how weak I am in comparison to everyone else. There was this one guy - super loud, super boastful, but he had a freaking powerful quirk. He had some kind of wind quirk that he used to beat out the other recommended student here - Todoroki - by a freaking hair during their race. He fucking … he aced every test the teachers at UA threw at us. There's no way that he didn't pass with flying colors."

"Okay …?"

"When I got my acceptance letter, I thought that - that somehow I impressed the teachers, that I showed that I was good enough to pass. I came in second to Yaoyorozu in everything, but somehow I thought I did it." Setsuna let out a choked, disbelieving laugh, shaking her head. "And then when I actually got here, and we saw Class 1B, I saw Todoroki and Honenuki - the other two recommended students, besides me and Yaoyorozu - but not that wind guy. Not the guy who obviously passed."

"..."

"At first I didn't get it - but once I realized he wasn't there, that the guys who came in second and third were with them, I realized what that meant." She glanced away, tears continuing to slowly slide down her cheeks. "It meant that the guy with the wind quirk - who came in first in everything - he must not have accepted the offer they gave him. And if he had accepted it … then I wouldn't be here. I would've failed the exam. The only reason I managed to pass and get into UA is because someone else dropped out at the last minute."

Hanta felt his jaw drop open slightly, staring at Setsuna in shock as she raised a hand to roughly wipe her face, looking away from him for the first time in minutes. Suddenly, something that she had said a few days ago, under her breath while they had been getting ready for their battle trial, came to him, making his eyes widen in realization.

"... I gotta prove myself."

Suddenly, everything clicked in place for him, staring at the recommended student as she turned fully away to continue wiping her tears. Every instance where she would try to answer a question first when Aizawa asked, every determined gleam in her eye that she had when she went through Aizawa's surprise tests and All Might's battle trial, every look of misery when she didn't reach anywhere near first place, or answer their teacher's question first …

"You wanna prove that you earned your spot here," He slowly said out loud, staring at her in complete shock as he slowly blinked, "that's why you're so … determined to do your best. You wanna prove that you got in on your own merit."

"... yeah," Setsuna nodded, wiping her cheeks with the back of her hand, "so … now you know. That's my big deal - that I'm an utter failure and I've got nothing to prove otherwise"

"I …"

"Just … don't tell anyone else, alright?" She sniffed, wiping her nose again as she turned to grab her bag that she had propped beside her on the wall, "I just … I don't want Ken or Yui to worry about me over this fucking stupid thing. Just - just pretend that -"

"Tokage, can you just … hold on and listen to me for a sec?"

The green-haired girl stopped as he quietly made that request, and glanced behind her to see a conflicted look on Hanta's face appear as though he was unsure as to what exactly he could say, before he managed to shake his head, and he moved to stand beside her.

"I just … well, I'll be honest with you, Tokage, I'm not exactly sure how I'm supposed to - to comfort you over this kind of thing," He decided to say honestly, wincing a bit from the bluntness of that statement, "but … but I'm not gonna say that you didn't earn your spot here. You did, one hundred percent."

"That's …" Setsuna started to protest, more tears beginning to swell in her eyes.

"Tokage, you're freaking amazing," Hanta pressed on, moving forward to hold her shoulder again as she glanced away, unable to even look at him. "You're fucking awesome. You came in fucking ninth during Aizawa's tests - behind Bakugou and Yaoyorozu and all those guys with quirks that were actually suited for those kinds of tests. You beat out freaking Midoriya, and he's probably one of the only ones here that can say that he went toe-to-toe with one of those Consortium assholes and came out alive - you don't get any cooler than that. Plus, during our battle trial, you held off Yanagi and Kodai at the same time while I was guarding the bomb upstairs with my thumb up my ass. You lasted a few minutes fighting two people at the same time, all by yourself. Tokage, that's - that's freaking awesome!"

"I'm …" Setsuna faltered again, staring down at her feet while Hanta continued to praise her.

"And besides, there's one thing that you're not considering at all," He gave her a small smile as he tilted his head a little, "we've only been at UA for a week. Like - shit, I thought today we were just gonna relax and walk through the USJ to see everything and maybe practice swimming in the lake, not - not have to fight villains that came out of fucking nowhere and attacked us. And - come on, I saw how everything outside looked when you opened the doors, I could barely see! And, y'know, not to mention that you're apparently strong enough to open those big freaking doors all by yourself. No way in hell you skip arm day."

"... nope." Setsuna was unable to stop herself from giggling a little bit, which made Hanta's smile grow.

"And listen, no one's going to blame you for getting lost in a fucking hurricane, Tokage - well, maybe Bakugou would, but he's also an asshole. And I'd stick up for you." Setsuna didn't say anything about that last bit, but she did let out a small noise that sounded like another watery chuckle, so Hanta took that as a good sign.

"I know that it seems like … like, y'know, you need to prove yourself as soon as you can," He told her in a quiet but soothing voice, "but honestly, Tokage, we're gonna be here for at least three years. That's more than enough time to make sure everyone knows that you're as awesome as I know you are. And if you ever need someone to remind you of that, well … fuck it, I don't mind being your cheerleader."

Setsuna continued to stare down at her feet as Hanta finished up his pep talk, clearly waiting for her reaction as he bit his lip nervously. He wasn't sure if he ended up making her feel better or making it worse, and expected either a 'thank you' or a disgruntled response. Kinda leaning towards the disgruntled response, he thought with a grimace - he was no good with motivational speeches, so he kind of expected a rebuttal.

What he didn't expect, however, was for Setsuna to suddenly turn around, sniffling a bit, and then quickly move to wrap her arms tightly around him in a hug.

The moment she pressed up against him, holding on for dear life all of a sudden, Hanta froze, staring blankly at the space behind her shoulder and felt his cheeks turn really red with his arms sticking stiffly out behind her. Before he could even think to wrap his own arms around her, unfortunately, she pulled back, letting go of his waist and stepping back as she let out a wet giggle and wiped her eyes again.

"Sorry, man," She said in a slightly choked voice, "just … kinda needed a hug."

"It's - it's no big," He managed to stutter out, trying to calm his very red cheeks down before she could look up at him and see how flustered she made him.

"And, uh … thank you," She nodded a bit, still wiping her face of any stray tears, "about what you said about being my cheerleader. I, um … I hope you're going to do the full package, too."

"Uh … full package?"

"Y'know. Skirt, pom-poms. That'd be a good look for you, man."

"Yeah, uh - okay, no, I'm drawing the line at pom-poms. Might wear a skirt if you convince me, though."

Setsuna let out another small giggle that made Hanta's heart soar, and she let out another sigh as she finally revealed her face, giving him a small smile as she tried to straighten out her small hunch from before.

"Seriously, though … thank you, Sero," She tucked some of her messy hair behind her ear, "I … I kinda needed that pep talk. It … well, it wasn't the best pep talk in the world -"

"True, but you didn't have to say it," Hanta grimaced.

"- but it was … well … you definitely told me stuff that I needed to hear."

"H-hey, it's - it's no problem," Hanta tried to awkwardly laugh his fluster away, scratching the back of his neck while glancing around, "it's - it's all good. You needed a bit of a confidence booster, so …"

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, letting out a small exhale as she likewise glanced away, "it's … definitely going to take some getting used to the fact that I'm not gonna - you know - prove myself until a lot later, but … but at least I can accept that now."

Hanta nodded stiffly again, keeping his gaze on anything but her as she likewise faded into silence. There was a long, awkward pause as both of them didn't meet each other's gaze, until Setsuna let out another sigh and looked up at the sky, seeing the sun continue to set in the distance.

"A-anyway, I'm - I should probably start heading home," She tapped the wet grass with the toe of her shoe while going a bit red, "my parents are probably worried sick and I should make sure my sister isn't freaking out. Do you, uh - do you want to walk with me to the station? Just so - er - just so we don't have to go alone."

"O-oh! Y-y-yeah, let's - let's get going."

"Alright. And … uh … oh, fuck it, can you give me your number?"

"... my what?"

"Your number! I mean - come on, tush bro, you just gave me the pep talk of my life - the least I can do is get your number so I can send you memes. Like it or not, we're friends now."

"... 'tush bro' is just going to be my name from now on, isn't it?"

"Hell yeah it is, tush bro! You know, 'cause we got -"

"- nice tushes. I'm not too sure what people would think if I were to basically call you my ass buddy all the time."

"Excuse me! I like to think we've got the best asses in class, you and me. I bet Pony thinks so too - she thought she was slick during the battle trials, but I saw her peaking."

"I - wait, what?"

As the two students moved out of the gate, Hanta completely blown away by the implication that the cute, innocent Pony was apparently checking out everyone in class and Setsuna in a much better mood as she giggled and hit his shoulder with her own, another student moved out of the doors and into the evening air, sighing as he stood in the entrance of the school briefly.

Taking the steps down one at a time, the student began walking away from the school, brushing some of his hair away from his face as his normally stoic expression lessened. It had been a long day, trying to help Yuuyu make sure none of their classmates followed Vlad King to the USJ, and honestly, he was tired. He had to stay behind for a bit to clean the classroom, which he couldn't really blame anyone for not doing since today had been so hectic, so when he got home he was going to make himself some dinner and -

"Shouto."

The boy with the multicolored hair paused in his tracks at the sound of a voice he really didn't want to hear coming up behind him, hearing heavy boots splashing in the puddles approaching him. Scowling, Shouto slowly turned his head, not giving Endeavor the dignity of his full attention as the pro hero walked towards him, his flame beard continuing to burn as his father looked down at him with a frown.

"What are you doing here?" Shouto asked in a dismissive voice, not really caring for the answer as he turned his full attention back to the gate.

"I was summoned here to help deal with the villains at the USJ," Endeavor crossed his arms behind his back, staring down at his youngest son with a frown as the boy continued to stare ahead and not at him as the pro hero leaned against one of the busts, "they were the ones who masterminded the Trigger theft months ago. I'll be working with the HPSC to track them down - I chose to stay behind to assist the police in searching the campus for anyone else the villains may have left behind."

"Hm." Shouto nodded, not really caring for small talk, and began to walk away towards the gate.

"Shouto, I am still speaking with you."

"You can do that when I get home. I have to get to the station for my train before it leaves."

"Stop this childish game of yours," Endeavor sighed, shaking his head and not noticing Shouto narrowing his eyes and clenching the hand he had over his bag, "you are acting disgracefully, Shouto. Between your constant rebellion at home and your refusal to interact with your sister and brother while they're trying to speak with you, I will not be tolerating this kind of behavior. I have to return to my tower for work tonight, so listen carefully to what I have to say now, son."

Shouto gritted his teeth.

"Class 1A survived the assault of this Villain Consortium. Not in one piece, but there were no serious injuries that require visits to the hospital. This means that the attention of the hero community will be on them when the time comes for you all to show your skills in the sports festival. You need to remember that it is your duty to surpass All Might, not any of them. Do you understand?"

He clenched his fists tightly.

"You are different from your siblings, Shouto. You are a masterpiece. That means that when the time comes, you have to stand head and shoulders above the rest of your classmates. I do not want to have to hold your hand all the way to the top, but if you keep up this attitude, I may not have a choice."

As Endeavor finished that implied threat that he was going to treat his youngest son like a child needing to be led around by the nose, Shouto finally moved through the gate and back out onto the street, adjusting his shoulder bag as he turned the corner and finally escaped his father's sight. Thankfully, it didn't look like Endeavor was in one of his self-projecting moods at the moment, because he didn't bother to pursue his son or insist that he be given a ride home with him so he could continue to lecture.

Good. If he had to hear the bastard speak any longer, Shouto glared ahead of him as a bit of frost formed on the side of his face and crunched in his hand, he might do something stupid.

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 17! "What?!" You all proclaim, lifting up the fic to look underneath it in shock. "That's it?! What about the trio?! And Nejire?! And the teachers?! And everything else?!" And I look you in the eye as I sink into the dumpster I call home, cackling insanely as I do so.

In seriousness, this chapter was meant to be much longer - unfortunately, it went well over 50k words, and that was just a little bit too much XD so good news, since this chapter is technically a two parter (just won't be presented as such), the next chapter will hopefully come out much sooner! Perhaps I'll need to write another scene or two, but hopefully you guys won't have to wait so long!

As for this chapter, whew, we got a little bit of info, didn't we? We got Tensei being a cool big bro not just to Tenya but to everyone, we got Katsuki blaming everyone but himself for the USJ, we got relationship steps for everyone, we got a Nejire bouncing off the walls, we got a Yuuyu who's just *tired*, and we got a Shouto who's two seconds away from freezing his shitty old man! And nothing else of importance.

... huh? What's that? You guys wanna know more about why All For One is 100% less potato-ey, and how you guys totally called it that Hood and Muscular were being combined into the same character? Well, all I can say is - *dumpster lid is shut*

In seriousness, thanks so much for reading! Hopefully we'll be seeing each other a bit sooner, but for now, here's a small comic depicting the events happening next chapter:

 

 

 

 

 

See you then!

Chapter 18: Realization

Summary:

As UA is restored to a relative calm, Ochako and Itsuka take a moment to wait for Izuku, both of them feeling several different emotions all at once, and several secrets will be revealed.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"And … you're absolutely sure it was her, Uraraka?"

"Yes," Ochako nodded, leaning back slightly against the stiff pillows and looking up at the police detective's face as he scribbled down a few more notes on his pad of paper, "the woman that was with the Consortium - Slice - she was the one I ran into outside the gate a few days ago, before the break in. She pretty much all but said that it was her."

"I see," Nezu hummed with a small smile as Tsukauchi wrote down what Ochako had just told him, Midnight putting her hands on her hips as she scowled to herself, "we had suspected that someone with more sinister purposes could have tried to sneak into the school during the chaos … and based on the timing, these villains arriving literally the next day ... yes, it would make sense that they sent in an agent beforehand to take the schedule so they could plot out their attack. It would also explain how they knew where All Might was supposed to be today."

As Nezu quietly mused to himself, Ochako felt her brow furrow as she tried to make herself a bit more comfortable on the stiff hospital bed as Itsuka likewise did the same on her own bed, moving carefully so as not to disturb her leftover injuries. At the current moment, they were in one of Recovery Girl's waiting rooms, speaking with the police detective while Principal Nezu, Tensei and Midnight stood alongside him. The sun was gently setting through the windows, all of the dark storm clouds that Nine had summoned to cut the school and the USJ off from each other having dissipated now that he was long gone, and the weather outside was calm, with a gentle breeze blowing through the trees - but at the moment, they couldn't quite concentrate on that.

When they had arrived back at the school, they had been sorted into different rooms - Izuku and All Might taking one room to share, and Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire being placed in the other, much to the two conscious girls' protests. When they had tried to ask Recovery Girl not to separate them, the elderly nurse had explained that she needed a lot more time to heal Izuku than she needed to heal them, so they had reluctantly relented. After their injuries had been inspected by Recovery Girl, during which Yuuyu arrived and pretty much shocked Nejire awake with her quirk, they had watched as Nejire chugged down some kind of energy drink while the elderly nurse reprimanded the Class 1B representative, watching with worried looks as Nejire briefly bounced off the walls and then took off to go find the rest of their classmates while Yuuyu chased after her.

Once the two girls were gone, Recovery Girl began her healing, heading over to Itsuka first to take care of her. Both girls had tried to insist that the elderly nurse tend to Izuku before them, only for her to shut that down by explaining that since their injuries were less severe than his but still needed tending to, it would make sense to heal them first before heading over to devote her quirk's energy to Izuku, as he was currently in stable condition and just needing a bit of time to rest before she began the healing process. Once they had been told that, the two girls offered no more complaint, although it was clear that they weren't entirely convinced.

After about twenty minutes of both of them getting smooched on the cheek, Ochako was pretty much back to regular form, albeit feeling absolutely exhausted and sore all over her body, and Itsuka, who had been in a battered state much worse than hers, would have to wear a cast on her arm for the rest of the weekend, and at the moment was looking like she was struggling to not fall asleep, her eyes drooping and her head swaying a bit where she was sitting up in the bed, occasionally dropping her head and then snapping it back up as though she was fighting not to pass out.

Once Recovery Girl left to finally attend to Izuku, Detective Tsukauchi, Midnight, Tensei and Nezu arrived to ask the girls questions about what happened at the USJ, and Ochako powered through her own exhaustion to describe the woman who had held them hostage, and where she had seen her before.

"So this Slice woman disguised herself as a reporter," Midnight shook her head, furrowing her brow, "and managed to sneak into the school to get the schedule for today while we were distracted with the crowd of actual reporters. This was our fault - we got so distracted with the reporters we never considered having a few teachers patrol the halls in case anyone slipped in. Not to mention that all of our third year hero students were out in one of the zones on campus - if they had been on site, they might've been able to stop the rest of the students from panicking, and helped catch Slice before she snuck out with the rest of the crowd."

"Well, we have an idea of what she looks like now," Tensei assured her, patting the beautiful woman's shoulder with a smile, "so we'll be able to look out for her. And now that we know how they initially got in, there's no chance that they'll be able to repeat it - she might've been able to slip in through the gate, but the rest of hte school's defenses will prevent a possible repeat."

"Not to mention," Nezu tapped his foot against the ground, "they had the benefit of one villain that could block off our communications and let them slip in unawares. Now that we've captured that villain, they won't be able to easily get back on campus - not without alerting the entire school."

"And now we know how to identify them." Tensei continued. "The heteromorph villain they were with can be easily identified, and if Slice's quirk is based on her hair, she won't be able to make any major changes to it to disguise herself - not without depriving her of what makes her a threat."

"Regardless," Tsukauchi finished writing down what he had picked up from Ochako, putting his notes and pen back in his pocket while frowning, "There's only going to be so much that we can do. I've been talking with our rep at the HPSC - the chairwoman has officially taken the Trigger case out of the hands of every hero previously involved and given it solely to Endeavor to combat this Villain Consortium. At the moment, all we can really do is help you cover the repairs of the USJ and increase the defences of the school."

"Of course!" Nezu nodded happily. "Now that we know how they got in, we'll be able to come up with ways to more easily combat them. This is the first time in years that someone without a pass infiltrated our school - we be making sure that it's the last time. And once your officers have made sure that there aren't any more villains hiding in the USJ or anywhere else on campus, we'll have Cementoss go in to start repairs - and once she's up and about, hopefully Thirteen will be able to join him sometime soon."

"H-how is Thirteen?" Ochako asked, feeling worried for her favourite hero, but Midnight merely shook her head with a smile as she reached down and patted her shoulder.

"It'll take more than getting her own quirk redirected at her to keep her down," She assured her, "Thirteen'll be back on her feet in no time. Aizawa too - we've been talking over the phone with the doctors at the hospital, they're convinced that they can fix him up just enough that when Recovery Girl comes to see him tonight, she'll have a better chance of healing him right up."

"Good …" Ochako slowly nodded, "... that's - that's good."

"In any case," Nezu turned back to Tsukauchi, "I do know that UA's staff might receive some backlash for letting the Consortium escape after they made such a big show of trespassing. Did any of your officers report villain sightings around the campus, Detective?"

"Nothing," Tsukauchi shook his head as he put his hands in his pockets, "from what we've found, the villain with the warp gate only transported himself, Nine and Slice out of the facility and left the rest of their henchmen behind. They were concentrating all of their forces on the USJ - as of right now, the only villain we found on the campus was the Nomu one that the students told us was punched away from the USJ by All Might, and from what we could gather, it had no apparent injuries and appears to be docile, it didn't resist capture at all. As far as we know, it was only the Consortium's leaders who escaped through the warp gate."

"I see … and what will happen to the ones who took the Trigger and got captured?"

"They're being processed and going through interrogation right now - we still don't have an approximate number on how many there are right, but it could well be near a hundred of them. The HPSC's chairwoman wants them put in Tartarus, but we're trying to talk her down from that while we interrogate them, see if we can put them in Sian of Ba'Ku while we try to figure out how the Consortium recruited them."

"Very good," Nezu nodded, "and hopefully we'll be able to figure out if the Consortium had any outside help as well."

"Indeed. So just to confirm, Uraraka," Tsukauchi turned back to look at the small girl on the bed, "The Consortium's leaders - Nine, Slice, Kurogiri, Mummy, and Chimera. Those were their codenames?"

"Yes, sir. Nine was the - the leader, and Slice seemed to be the one closest to him, like - like a bodyguard. And - and there was another hooded guy, but they never gave him a codename, at least not one I heard, and he was forced to leave just when All Might arrived - he got warped out."

"Chimera was the one who attacked us at the mountain zone," Itsuka spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, everyone looking over to see her rubbing her eyes to try and stay awake, "we're not sure if Mummy was in another zone, though."

"We spoke with Tsunotori and Awase," Tensei quickly added in, "they said that they spotted him in the conflagration zone."

"Right. And - and Kurogiri was their warp gate, they specifically called him that a few times."

"A warp quirk is already so rare," Midnight pursed her lips as she looked over at Tensei, "but for a villain to have one …"

"We'll have to prioritize his capture," Tensei patted her shoulder again, "Tartarus has the technology to hold villains with teleportation quirks - take him in, and the Consortium won't be able to move around as freely."

"With that said," Tsukauchi put back on his hat from where he had been holding it under his arm, smiling down at the two girls, "I believe that's all the information I need right now, thank you both. We'll have our officers continue to investigate every corner of the school, including the USJ - we just dug out the rest of the villains that had been trapped in the mountain zone, but we want to make sure that we've double checked every spot before clean up crews can go in. I also heard that there'll be a few heroes coming in to inspect the damage as well, if that's alright."

"Of course it's alright!" Nezu agreed, smiling as he threw his hands into the air, "I hardly blame the hero community for wanting a first hand look at the USJ, to see what we're now dealing with, even if the HSPC is handing over the Consortium's investigation to Endeavor. And the police are more than welcome to continue conducting a clean, thorough search - better to be safe than sorry. In any case, thank you both, Uraraka, Kendou," The principal turned back to the two girls on the hospital beds, reaching out and patting Ochako's hand with his paw, "both of you did very well telling us everything you remember. Hopefully, the HSPC and Endeavor can use this information to track down the leaders of the Consortium and bring them swiftly to justice."

"Of - of course, Principal Nezu," Itsuka nodded, "anything we can do to help."

"With that, I believe you both are free to leave the school now - you can use the showers here to clean up and get changed. I'm sure that you both don't want to be here any longer than you have to - your parents must be worried sick."

"I …" Ochako hesitated, glancing between the principal and the door to the nurse's office for a moment - and then she timidly shook her head, looking awkward as she sat back up.

"... I'm … if it's alright, Principal Nezu, we - we don't want to leave just yet. A-at least, not yet for me, I - I'm not sure about Kendou -"

"Both of us," Itsuka confirmed, also sitting up and looking as awkward as her friend, "I think we both want to make sure that Midoriya - that he's alright. We - we don't think he should walk home alone, anyway, so we - we don't mind - uh -"

"Ah," Midnight nodded, making both girls quickly look around at their teacher - and gulp nervously at the suddenly knowing look on her face as she smirked, "I see. In that case, both of you are fine to stay outside in the hall if you want to wait for Midoriya - he might not be done for a little while, I know that Recovery Girl had to do a bit of work on you both before going over to do a thorough examination of him and starting the healing process."

"That's - that's alright," Ochako slowly moved to put her bare feet down on the cold floor, having taken off the shoes that Momo had made her along with the rest of her equipment so she was just left in her jumpsuit, "we can wait, we don't mind."

"Still, be sure to call your parents, alright? Like Principal Nezu said, I'm certain they're worried sick right now, and would appreciate a call from you so that they know where you are. As for your costumes, just leave them on the bed for us to collect later - they're pretty banged up, so we'll send them to the support studio for repairs."

"Alright, we - we will."

With that, Nezu, Midnight, Tensei and Tsukauchi made their way out of the room, Midnight being sure to leave behind their school uniforms that Tensei had collected from their homeroom for them to change into as she slid the door shut. After a quick draw of the curtains, Itsuka and Ochako slid out of their wet, miserable-feeling hero costumes, leaving them in their underwear, and then headed to the back room where the showers were, not even looking at each other as they went into the stalls and not waiting for it to warm up as they went under the cold water, shivering and wincing as they washed off the leftover blood from before, trying hard to not think of whether the blood on them was theirs or … 

… no. No, they weren't going to think about that.

Once their miserable showers were done, they slowly came back out, drying off their bodies with the white towels left in there before dropping them into the basket while not bothering with combing their hair, and walked out to get changed into their school uniforms. Neither girl looked or spoke to each other as they put their uniforms back on, their minds clearly on the boy next door as they slipped into their blazers, and together, they walked out of the room and back into the hall, letting their crinkly, stiff hair hang loosely around their shoulders and dampen their clothes as they slid the door shut behind them.

Silently, Ochako and Itsuka made their way to the opposite side of the nurse's office, seeing a few chairs that they could have sat down on a bit further down the hall, but they didn't want to be any further from the room than they had to be. So they ended up sitting down together on the floor near the window, both of them grunting stiffly as they sat down. To be honest, both of them were absolutely exhausted, barely having the energy to stand up, so they flopped down on the floor, not quite caring for how they might look as they stretched their legs out, and closed their eyes for a moment as they inhaled, then exhaled.

For a moment, they were both quiet, staring blankly at the opposite wall, before Ochako glanced at Itsuka, seeing her eyes continuing to droop, looking like she was fighting to keep herself awake.

"You can sleep for a little bit, Kendou," Ochako quietly told her, feeling her heart sink as Itsuka hummed in disagreement.

"N-no, I'm … I'm okay …"

"It's alright, Kendou, just - just rest your eyes for a minute," She assured her, and watched as Itsuka's head drooped again, slowly moving down, "I'll … I'll wake you up if anything happens. You can sleep."

"I …" Itsuka seemed like she wanted to protest, but evidently her body wasn't quite complying with what she wanted. Slowly, her head came down to rest on Ochako's shoulder, the smaller girl adjusting herself so that it would be more comfortable - but then, before Ochako could make sure the position was okay, Itsuka continued to move down. Ochako watched, her face feeling a bit hot for some reason, as Itsuka slowly came down to rest her head on her lap, closing her eyes and curling up a bit.

Unable to stop herself, Ochako reached down and gently brushed some of Itsuka's hair out of her eyes, smiling gently as Itsuka's breath began to escape in quiet inhales and exhales, obviously asleep. Now that she had a moment to herself, Ochako let out a small sigh as she leaned back up against the wall, absently stroking Itsuka's hair as she slept, and felt her small smile from before drop as she closed her eyes briefly, and then opened them back up as she sighed again.

There was … honestly so much to think about, Ochako reflected as she stared down at her slumbering friend. About Izuku and his injuries, and what state he might have been in; the Villain Consortium, Slice, the hooded man who had beaten all three of them; and …

… and the fact that they had …

Glancing down at Itsuka's sleeping face, Ochako felt her face turn a bit red as her gaze flickered down to her lips, and she was quick to glance away, gulping and trying to look anywhere else but the girl slumbering in her lap.

They … really kissed, hadn't they? There was a part of Ochako that was kind of convinced that she had somehow imagined that happening, like it was some kind of really detailed part of her imagination that she couldn't quite forget, but … but no, she knew that she couldn't have possibly imagined the feeling of Itsuka's lips on hers, her hand clenching her hair tightly, the feeling of her tongue -

- oh, god, nope, there was no way she imagined that part, that had really happened, Ochako thought as she shuddered a bit and went even redder.

So the question was … why did that happen? Why did Itsuka kiss her? Ochako felt herself frown as she glanced back down at Itsuka as she slumbered on, still absently stroking her hair and feeling suddenly self-conscious of how intimate they were at the moment. For some reason, she kept thinking back to all those times from the last year or so while they trained, the times that they hugged each other, or cuddled while sleeping in the same bed at the slumber party, or that time during Itsuka's first spar with Gran Torino, where she had asked her - she had asked her -

"What, no kiss for good luck?"

Ochako knew that Itsuka had been joking then, but she couldn't help but rethink every tiny interaction that she had with the girl in her lap, Ochako furrowed her brow as she felt her blush keep her face warm. Was it possible that ... that Itsuka had a ...

.. no. No, she was overthinking things, Ochako shook her head. There was no way that Itsuka would have a - that she had a - what, a crush on her? No freaking way, she shook her head - Itsuka was way too cool and popular for that. She was awesome with her friends, she had the respect of their entire class (sans Katsuki, but he didn't count in Ochako's book). She was confident, and awesome, and a great hero even a week into their first year. She was beautiful, and perfect, and -

- and what, Ochako thought that she would crush on her? Plump, dumb, unattractive Ochako? She remembered all of the insults that her former classmates at Aldera had thrown at her. Calling her ugly, and frumpy, so poor that she couldn't even afford cheap store brand make up to cover up how unattractive she was. That she would have to spend all of her money on clothes that fit her because she was so fat ...

Ochako sniffled, and shook her head, glancing away while wiping her eyes. No, there was no way that Itsuka would look at her like that. No way. Besides, she - like she had thought before, she must be overthinking things. They had just barely escaped the mountain zone with their lives, and Itsuka had to have been running on some serious adrenaline. That had to be why she kissed her.

That had to be it.

Soon, the minutes began to pass by while Ochako internally debated with herself, and eventually, her mind began to move away from the girl sleeping on her lap, and back to her other best friend who was probably being looked over by Recovery Girl at the moment. When glancing out the window behind her shoulder, she could see a few of her classmates heading towards the gate, with Mezo and Pony walking together, Dark Shadow happily chatting with Reiko while Fumikage slapped a hand to his face, and Tsuyu and Mina walking with a police officer to a vehicle to get them home.

So ... so they were alright, Ochako slowly nodded to herself, closing her eyes and breathing out a small sigh. That was good.

She had … no idea what time it was, whether or not everyone else in the school had left already or not, and what the police were doing right now. Her mind kept going a mile a minute, bouncing from one thought to the next with no end in sight - from Itsuka, to Izuku, to Slice, to All Might, to her parents, to Inko, to Nine, to the hooded man, and back around.

As she sat there stewing in her thoughts, she could feel several different emotions burning inside of her. 

Fear, even though the threat was now over and the Consortium was on the run. 

Shock, at remembering the state Aizawa and Thirteen had been in while they were being loaded into a separate ambulance. 

Horror at the close up she got of Izuku's injuries, of his burned arms from the lightning he had blasted out, the blood drying from the various gashes and slashes littering his body, his face a pulverized mess with a deep scratch near his mouth. 

Relief that Recovery Girl was tending to him now, and would ensure that he would be able to walk out of there in one piece.

Anger towards the villains that had endangered them, towards Nine who had orchestrated the madness, towards Chimera for smugly attacking them with the crazies, towards Slice who had held them hostage and taunted her, towards the hooded man and what he had dared to put Izuku through.

But most of all, she felt guilt. Shame. Fury. Uselessness. Disgust.

She felt all that for herself.

However, before she could dwell in those feelings even more, she suddenly felt her cell phone, the device having been retrieved by Tensei when he had visited their classroom to gather her and Itsuka's things, vibrate in her pocket. Blinking in surprise and jumping a bit, unaware of Itsuka groaning slightly in her sleep, Ochako reached into her pocket and grabbed it, pulling out the flip-phone and glancing at the name on the screen, wrinkling her brow at the word 'DAD' incomprehensibly - 

- and then she let out a small squeak of horror and shock as she realized what she had completely forgotten to do.

Oh, shit! I forgot to call home!

Hurriedly, she opened the phone and pressed the green button, and lifted it to her ear.

"H-hello? Daddy?"

"Chipmunk!" She heard her dad's panicked voice, making her tense up with tears immediately welling in her eyes - god, she had never heard him sound so scared and relieved at the same time. "Oh, thank god - I - we though' somethin' happened! Are ya alright? Where are yeh?!"

"I'm - I'm okay, Daddy, I'm fine. I'm - I'm still at the school," She explained in a quiet voice, not wanting to wake Itsuka up as she explained. "I'm - I'm really sorry, Daddy, I - I meant to call you back after we got cleared and the detective was done talking with us, but I - I forgot -"

"It's alrigh', Chipmunk, we're jus' - we're jus' glad that yer okay," Taiyo let out a shuddering breath, and Ochako suddenly heard the sound of Inko sobbing in the background, making her heart hurt when she managed to pick up her own mom's quiet, shaking assurances. "H-how abou' Izuku? Where's he?"

"He … he got hurt too," She mumbled, tearing up more as she absently stroked Itsuka's hair, unaware of her soft breathing slowing, "he's - he's with Recovery Girl right now, she's - she's looking him over. Kendou and me - we're waiting for him"

"God … is he …?"

"I - I don't know, Daddy, but … but Recovery Girl said that she'd fix him."

"Okay … okay, that - okay. An' - an' you're there righ' now? Yer still at tha' school?"

"Y-yeah. Me and Kendou. We - we already got cleared, but … but we're gonna wait until Deku's okay and ready before we come home."

"Alright … alright, Chipmunk," Her father still sounded worried, but she was relieved at least to hear that he was trusting her as she heard the sound of him moving out the door of whichever apartment he was in, sliding it closed behind him so that they could talk privately, "but yeh need ta text me th' momen' he's up and abou', I'll come getcha all righ' now, even if I have ta wait outside th' gate. I'll call ta Kendou's too and let 'em know that I talked tah ya and she's with ya, and I'll drop her off -"

"Daddy?" Ochako suddenly interrupted him, sounding a bit small and unsure, and Taiyo stopped speaking so that she could talk.

She glanced back down at Itsuka as she slept in her lap, feeling her heartbeat quicken in worry at the thought of being separated from her after - after everything that happened today, and asked, in a quiet voice, "Is it - is it okay that we don't have to - to leave Kendou alone tonight? I just - I don't wanna -"

She tried to find her words to explain herself fully, to somehow tell her dad that after everything that happened between them and Izuku, she didn't want to leave Itsuka alone tonight any more than she would want to leave Izuku alone after what happened at the USJ - but thankfully, Taiyo seemed to understand.

"Alrigh', Chipmunk," He said softly, making her let out a shuddering sigh as she continued to tear up, and raised a hand to hold over her eyes as some of her tears finally escaped and began moving down her cheeks, "I'll … see if it's possible if we can all stay over at tha' Kendou's tonight, they got th' room. It's just … ya can't just stay over there by yerself, ya know? Your mom needs ta … she needs ta see you before she loses her mind."

"I know, Daddy," She mumbled, continuing to cry a bit, "and … and thank you. I love you."

"I love ya too, Ochako," Taiyo briefly choked on that, succeeding in breaking her heart even further than it already was, "yer ma and me ... we love ya so much. But … are ya sure that yer okay?"

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked, lowering her hand from her eyes to glance at the phone pressed to her ear. "W-what do you mean, Daddy?"

"Kiddo, I can hear ya voice catchin'. Are you sure that everythin' is alright?"

Ochako stared blankly at the phone next to her ear for a moment, not aware of Itsuka shifting in her lap - and then she closed her eyes and bowed her head, letting out another shuddering breath.

"... y-yeah. I'm - I'm fine, Daddy," She tried to lie as confidently as she could, "just … no need to worry about me, okay? I just need a bit of time to - to think."

"A-alright, Chipmunk, if - if tha's what ya want. I'll … I'll be outside th' gate when yer all ready."

"Okay, Daddy. I'll … we'll hopefully see you soon."

With that, Ochako brought the phone down from her ear, pressing the red button to disconnect the call, and let out another shuddering, tear-filled breath as she kept her eyes closed, biting her lip slightly. She felt awful for lying to her father about how she was, but at this point -

"Uraraka."

Ochako couldn't help but jump a bit in surprise at the sudden voice coming from below her, letting out a small squeak. Opening her eyes, she quickly looked down, and to her shock saw Itsuka rolling onto her back, staring up at her from her spot on Ochako's lap while her cheeks went a bit red, but it seemed like she was too busy feeling comfortable about her current position to really get embarrassed or move away.

But what Ochako felt suddenly panicked about was the look of understanding and pity on her face. Which must've meant that she saw how Ochako had looked while lying to her dad.

"Uh - K-Kendou," She managed to calm herself down a bit, staring down at her as Itsuka yawned, "I - I thought you were still asleep."

"I was kinda in and out," Itsuka shook her head, grimacing slightly, "and I'm still kind of tempted to try to go back to sleep, but … well, honestly, I'm feeling a bit too anxious to try and actually sleep. Just had to rest my eyes for a few minutes there."

"A-ah. I see." Ochako slowly nodded, at the very least sure that the 'minutes' Itsuka had slept had probably been around an hour, at the very least.

"Yeah. So … do you wanna tell me what's wrong?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, staring down as Itsuka let out a small grunt and started to sit up, both girls missing the intimacy but soon remedying that as Itsuka moved to rest her head on Ochako's shoulder again, leaning against the wall. Despite her initial embarrassment earlier, Ochako didn't mind at all, letting out a sigh as Itsuka scooted up to her and wrapped her arm around her shoulders so that they could cuddle for a bit, both of them clearly needing the closeness despite how embarrassed they both felt.

"Like I said, I was pretty in and out," Itsuka admitted, turning red, "so I was … I kinda listened in on your phone call with your dad."

"... oh."

"Yeah. And … and I heard you say that you were fine," Itsuka glanced up at her, seeing Ochako staring down at her knees and looking guilty, "and … well, in the end I know that it's not any of my business, but … but I know that's not true."

There was a small pause as Ochako didn't look over at her, and then she let out a small sigh.

"It's … seriously, Kendou, it's nothing. Please don't worry about -"

"Uraraka," Itsuka spoke in a slightly sharp tone, making her friend stutter to a stop, "don't."

Ochako said nothing to that.

"We both know that … you telling me that everything's fine and - and to not worry about you is just gonna make me worry even more." Itsuka sat up a bit more properly, raising her head so that she could stare at Ochako as she continued to look anywhere but her, "You're my friend, and - and if you're just gonna sit there and stew in your thoughts, I wouldn't want that. Just … I know if you don't want to, I can't make you, but whatever you say to me, I won't tell anyone else. Whatever's on your mind, you can just tell me. I'm here to listen."

The hall fell silent again, with Ochako staring blankly at her knees for a moment while Itsuka fell silent, giving her a chance to think as she moved to rest her head back on her shoulder. They sat there for about a minute, letting Ochako sort through her thoughts - 

-  and then she let out a small, shuddering sigh.

"... I was useless."

Itsuka stared off to the side for a moment as she digested what Ochako said - and then she blinked.

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"I was useless," Ochako mumbled, her voice shaking, and Itsuka lifted her head off her shoulder again to stare at her in shock, "nothing I did today - nothing helped. When we were at the top of the stairs, I let go of Deku when Kurogiri teleported us all - and the next time we saw him, he was - he was almost dead. My best friend almost died today, and - and there would've been nothing I could've done to make sure he didn't end up being beaten to death."

"Uraraka …" Itsuka started to protest.

"On New Year's Eve," Ochako shook in Itsuka's hold, "when we were - when we were talking in the changing room, I said that - that I'm not like you or Deku. And today … today just proved that."

Itsuka faltered again, staring at her while her lips fell into a frown.

"I was useless," Ochako felt tears escaping her eyes again, staring blankly ahead while her voice broke, "all I did was … was be saved. Saved by you, saved by Deku, saved by All Might. But I - I never saved anybody. You saved me from the villains in the mountain zone, All Might saved me from the hooded guy, Yanagi saved me from that Slice person, Deku - Deku literally woke up from the brink of death to save me. And I … I couldn't save anyone."

"Uraraka, that's -"

"I'm not like you or Deku. You have - you both have amazing quirks, and - and all I can do is float things." She scoffed a bit at herself, shaking her head while tears continued to move down her cheeks, "You're both amazing, and I'm just … me."

Once again, silence fell in the hallway, only broken by Ochako sniffling and wiping her nose with the back of her hand. While they both sat there, Detective Tsukauchi walked past where they were sitting so that he could enter Izuku's hospital room, glancing down at the two girls in pity before entering through the door and sliding it shut behind him, both of them hearing the sound of muffled conversation behind it as they sat in relative silence.

And then Ochako felt a hand gently cup her cheek, and begin to turn her head.

She didn't do much to resist as her face was turned to Itsuka, making her falter as her friend kept her hand there and rolled her thumb against another tear as Itsuka stared into her eyes.

"That's … quite a selective memory you've got," She couldn't stop herself from giggling a little bit, "because I seem to recall that you and I would've been buried underneath a mountain that I broke apart if it wasn't for you."

"I -"

"Mm-mm." Itsuka shook her head, looking unamused. "No. You shut up and listen to me, okay?"

Ochako paused, and then tried to turn her gaze away, only for the hand on her cheek to keep her face looking at Itsuka's as she leaned in slightly.

"Listen to me," She said softly, "you're amazing, Uraraka. You did - you did everything you could today. If I had to go up against that hooded guy all by myself, I would've ended up just the same as Midoriya. You were there to stop him, you - you literally drove your fucking thumbs in his eyes! Do you realize how freaking hardcore that is? You did that. Midoriya might have saved you from that freak, but - but we saved him. You saved him."

"But I didn't," Ochako's voice broke, averting her gaze but unable to turn her face as Itsuka's hand prevented her from looking away - that, and the feeling of her warm hand stroking her cheek was making her blush bright red, but not in an uncomfortable way.

"You did. It doesn't matter how much you think you didn't, you did." Itsuka insisted. "You saved me from getting buried underneath several tons of rock, and you made sure Izuku didn't get crushed by the hooded guy. You kept using your quirk, and that must've been exhausting - but you didn't puke once. You still threw yourself at that guy. You helped, Uraraka, and I won't let you think otherwise."

"I'm not … Kendou, I don't …" Ochako faltered again, glancing back up into Itsuka's green eyes - and then the orange-haired girl shook her head, smiling.

"No," Her face went a bit more red, "not 'Kendou'."

"H-huh?"

"You and I have been working together for a year now," She smiled, "so no more 'Kendou', okay? Just … call me Itsuka."

Ochako blinked at that, staring at her friend in shock for a moment as she slightly sat up. Honestly, this was the first time she'd been asked to call a friend by their first name, with Izuku's own nickname being the only way she'd addressed him for years and 'Occhan' being the only way he addressed her, so she was a bit taken aback for a moment.

Finally, once she got over her brief surprise, she let out another shuddering breath, using her hand to wipe her face one more time, and then looked back up at Itsuka with a small smile.

"Okay," She nodded a bit, "I-Itsuka."

"Great," Itsuka smiled back at her, "Ochako."

Both girls shared a small moment smiling between each other as Itsuka absently stroked her cheek - and then both girls blinked at the intimate action, and became aware of how close their faces were. Both of them stiffening up and going very red, Itsuka cleared her throat awkwardly as Ochako slowly slid away from her so that they were at a respectable distance, both of them averting their gazes and trying hard not to think about the fact that a few hours ago they had both been trying to shove their tongues down each other's throats.

"Er - yeah," Ochako nodded awkwardly, staring down at her knees, "you can - you can call me 'Ochako', Ken - I mean, Itsuka."

"Y-yeah, same here." Itsuka clenched her hands together a bit tighter than she intended, wincing. "Er - you can - you can call me by my first name, and I - I can call you by yours."

"Yeah."

"Mm-hm."

"Right."

"Yyyyep."

There was another short, awkward silence in the hallway - and then Itsuka sighed, neither of them noticing the sound of the nurse's office's door beginning to slide open again as she unclenched her hands.

"I … guess we need to talk about it, huh?" She muttered, absently raising her hand to smooth out her crinkly hair.

"Uh … it?" Ochako tried to play dumb while her face went redder and redder.

"Yeah … you know," Itsuka glanced awkwardly at her as her own face likewise began to heat up, both girls looking very intimidated at the words escaping Itsuka's lips, "what happened back at the mountain zone -"

"Huh? Something happened at the mountain zone?"

Both girls stared blankly at each other for a moment at the sound of a very familiar voice in front of them, right where the door was - and then quickly whipped their gazes up, moving their heads so fast that their necks cracked, and Itsuka's hair accidentally whipped Ochako in the face.

Standing in the doorway, bandaged up and in his school uniform, with a small bandage on his cheek, one wrapped around his head, and staring down at them in concern and confusion, was Izuku.

"Uh … guys?" He glanced between both frozen girls as his brow furrowed. "Are - are you okay? Why are you sitting on the floor?"


"Midoriya? Can you hear me?"

About ten minutes before he went out the door of the nurse's office, Izuku let out a small noise.

His body felt stiff and tired, a low throbbing pain pulsing throughout him and making him wince slightly in pain. It was almost like there was a fog in his mind, preventing him from fully registering where he was, or what was going on. But all he really knew was that there was some kind of light poking him in the eyes through that fog, making him grimace as he shifted on the soft but stiff thing that he was on -

- wait, was he laying on a bed? Why did it feel so uncomfortable, then? And why did his entire body feel like that time Teko had made him run two hundred laps in the dojo?

The light that was bugging him moved in a bit closer, making him groan again and wish he had enogu strength in his arm to cover his eyes, and with a small grunt, he began to try and focus. After a few moments of trying to pull himself together, his eyes cracked open, although from how bright everything was and how blurry it looked, he immediately closed them, wincing.

After he cracked his eyes open again slightly, relieved that the light didn't hurt him too much this time, he tried to focus on the weird, blobby shape above him, wincing again as the bright light flickered in his vision - and then slowly, clarity began to return as the bright light was brought out from his eyes, and his vision cleared enough that the weird yellow blob hovering above him began to fade back into a familiar nurse smiling at him with a catlike-grin.

"Well, well, well," Himiko giggled, leaning in slightly closer so some of her bangs tickled Izuku's forehead, "look who's come back to life, cute kohai! For a second there I thought I was gonna have to wake you up Briar Rose style."

WHACK

As the syringe-shaped cane came down on the top of Himiko's head, Izuku jumped a bit in surprise - and immediately regretted it, pain suddenly ripping through his tired body as he let out a small grunt of pain and squeezed his eyes shut as he gritted his teeth together. His mind was still a bit foggy from probably being asleep for so long, but he knew that everything hurt, so the best thing he could do at the moment was just … stay on his back and not move as much. 

After managing to calm himself down, and the pain somewhat faded away, Izuku opened his eyes again, and looked around to see Recovery Girl continuing to jab Himiko with the end of the cane as the nurse climbed up onto one of the desks and swiped at her like an annoyed cat, hissing in pain as she hiked up the red and black hero costume she was still wearing, the mask shaped like a sharp grin hanging around her neck.

"What did I tell you?!" The elderly hero barked as she gave Himiko a particularly good poke to the side, making her whine, "Don't shine light into our patients' eyes when they're asleep! That flashlight is for concussions, young lady, and I cleared him for that twenty minutes ago!"

"Ow, ow, ow, grannie! Now I'm the one who's gonna be bruised!"

While the two of them argued, with Recovery Girl threatening to whack her nurse over the head again, Izuku let out another small grunt as he began to slowly sit up, trying to move carefully this time so as not to disturb his injuries. Wincing from how sore his back felt, he took a small glance around - it didn't take a genius to figure out that he was currently in the nurse's office, the sun gently setting in the distance out the large window. From the setting sun and the dark clouds from the USJ not being anywhere in sight, Izuku wasn't sure what time it was - or even if it was the same day - until he heard a familiar voice to his left.

"I'm glad to see you're finally awake, Young Midoriya."

Izuku blinked, and quickly looked around, wincing a bit. To his surprise, All Might was currently lying in the adjacent bed, watching with a small smile as Himiko was whacked in the head again for her foolishness, looking a bit amused by the antics of the healing hero and her nurse. Turning back to look at his pupil, All Might raised a hand in greeting, giving Izuku a good look at the bandages he was wearing, with his shirt off and his weakened form horribly frail as he adjusted the wrappings around his stomach and forehead.

"It looks like everything's ended up working out just fine, young man," The older pro hero adjusted himself on the uncomfortable bed, staring back up at the ceiling with a small sigh, "Recovery Girl finished your treatment about ten minutes ago - I'm sure that once she's finished reprimanding Young Toga there, she'll have another look over you before we decide if you should stay overnight."

"I … guess," Izuku slowly nodded, taking a small moment to lean back against his own bed, "Are - are you okay, though, All Might?"

"I'll survive, Young Midoriya."

Izuku wasn't quite sure what to make of that answer, nodding awkwardly as he turned back to give himself a look over. At the moment he was still in his hero costume, albeit with the broken Full Gauntlet shrunken back down to a cracked wristband, and both his glove on the other hand and his shoes had been removed to show his bare hand and feet. He winced at the sight of all the dried blood mingled in with his green costume in odd places, but when lifting his shirt to have a look underneath, he saw each of the slashes had been carefully wrapped up with gauze, so ... he supposed that he at least had proof that he had been treated, at least.

As he laid there staring up at the ceiling briefly, memories of what had happened were slowly coming back to him. He felt himself stiffen up a bit, closing his eyes at the sudden horrible memories that came to him - memories  of a deranged hooded man striking him in the face with unnatural strength and throwing him everywhere, of villains crowding around him and sneering down at him, of a cloaked man throwing his hands up and making the skies themselves explode with lightning - but he was quick to shove those thoughts back down.

He refused to think about those terrifying things just yet - he had no idea how everyone was, and that had to take priority.

Slowly, Izuku opened his eyes again, glancing around to see Himiko pouting and sitting up on the surface of the desk she had been hiding from Recovery Girl on while the elderly nurse huffed and returned to her desk - 

- and then Izuku blinked suddenly, something clicking in his mind.

He stared blankly at Himiko for a moment, and then turned his gaze back to All Might, who was still lying there in his weakened form. And then back to Himiko, and then back to All Might. Then back to Himiko, then back to All Might. Back to Himiko, and then back to All Might. And that was when it properly registered for Izuku, and he began freaking out.

"A-All Might!" Izuku squeaked loudly, drawing everyone's attention as his eyes filled with panic as he glanced between the nurse and his mentor's true form once again in shock and terror. "Is - is it alright for you to - to be -?!"

"It's alright, Young Midoriya," All Might waved his concerns away with a chuckle, smiling gently, "Young Toga here has seen this form more times than she would probably like. Like Tenko, she's a part of the supplementary at risk course here - she's been at UA far longer than any other student has, since she was much younger than you are right now, and she's well aware of my true form since I've had to come visit Recovery Girl more than a few times over the years."

"Yeppers!" Himiko cheerfully giggled from her spot, swinging her legs back and forth on the desk, "I've seen more of this guy's skinny mode than his actual form. It's alright, cute kohai, his secret's safe with me."

"To my surprise," Recovery Girl snarked, but still put on a kind smile as she returned to Izuku's bed, patting his hand as she looked up at him, "In any case, Midoriya, I'm glad to see that you're awake - you weren't in very good condition when you came in here."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, feeling his face fall at the reminder - but he was quick to shake his head, trying not to think about it at the moment while looking around at All Might, "a-anyway, All Might, are - are you okay? That fight with the - the Nomu guy -"

"Like I said, Young Midoriya, I'll survive," All Might chuckled, turning his gaze back to the ceiling while his smile fell somewhat, "I just got roughed up a little bit more than I was expecting - I wasn't quite ready for that level of strain. I'm not too sure yet, but … I think I might've shortened the time limit of my hero form again. I hope I still have at least an hour …"

"All Might -" Izuku tried to sit up again to look at his mentor in concern, only to let out another small gasp and wince of pain as his body sharply protested any kind of quick movement, making him flop back onto the pillow with a groan.

"Easy, sonny," Recovery Girl tapped her cane on the floor as she gave him an unamused look, "I haven't healed you all the way back to being fully recovered - my quirk can only stimulate a person's healing ability. Ordinarily I couldn't treat you all at once, due to my quirk's healing capabilities drawing on your stamina, so I had to do a bit of first-aid treatment. You still have a few gashes and slashes along your torso, so moving around will be a pain for the next few days, but I had to make sure I didn't draw on so much of your stamina to heal your arms and legs that it would've been bad for your health."

"Er … and by that, you mean …?"

"That means that you would freaking die," Himiko helpfully said from her spot on the desk, crossing her legs as she raised an informative finger up to make her point, "since you had some major injuries, she couldn't use up so much stamina that you would just keel over and die. And that would be bad for your health, wouldn't it?"

"Uh …" Izuku paused, not entirely sure if that was a rhetorical question as he paled a bit, "... I would … assume so? Yes?"

"Normally, I would be scolding you for using your quirk enough to cause yourself such injuries," Recovery Girl shook her head as she moved back to sit on her chair, tapping Himiko with her cane to make her move a bit, "but because of the circumstances, I can hardly fault you. But still … you had several broken bones in both your arms and legs from all the jumping around you did in addition to the beating that you took from the villain, as well as a few shattered ribs, and not to mention the electric burns from your quirk."

"R-right."

"Well, I healed up your bones so that you'll be able to walk around and pick up things, but they'll be stiff for a few days - so I expect no exercising, no strenuous activities, nothing like that. You are allowed to change out your bandages over the weekend so they don't get infected, but make sure to keep them covered. I healed your body up to about 80%, just so you're out of the woods. As long as you do no big exercises, or training, nothing that would stress your body, you'll be fine for the next two days. And when you come back to school on Monday, we'll do a quick session in the morning to heal you up the rest of the way."

"I … alright." Izuku nodded, frowning a bit but raising no argument - there was a part of him that was upset that he would essentially have to sit around for the weekend, but he should be probably considering himself lucky that he was still alive to begin with, so he shouldn't be complaining about not being able to do anything for two days.

"As for any potential leftover scars," Recovery Girl pointed to his face, and Izuku raised his hands up and blinked at the feeling of a bandage on his cheek, and another wrapped around his head, "The healing managed to close up a few of the slashes on your upper torso, but … well, as I said, I couldn't draw too much on your stamina, so you may have a few scars on your forehead and cheek, and on your chest and stomach from the big ones."

Izuku slowly nodded again, frowning as he lowered his hands back down and stared down into his lap. He knew what he had thought before about not complaining, but … well, to have a permanent reminders of what had happened to him on his body, giving him permanent marks to show what Nine and the hooded man had done to him …

Before he could angst about it more, however, he felt a hand tap his, and looked over to see All Might sitting up, giving him an understanding smile as he reached out to pat the back of his hand.

"It can't be helped, Young Midoriya," He closed his eyes, bringing his hand back, "I know that it seems like small comfort, but eventually you'll be able to look at those scars and be reminded of the good that came out of today instead of the bad."

"I …"

"Young man, I realize that I probably shouldn't be saying this, but I'm proud of what you did today." All Might's words stopped Izuku's self-doubt in his tracks, making him blink. "Battling against someone who outclassed you in speed and power and surviving is … well, like I said, I probably shouldn't be praising you too much, and I'm sure that Aizawa will be more than eager to lay into you once he's back on his feet … but you did well."

"I'm …" Izuku found himself pausing again, staring blankly at his mentor - and then he let out a shuddering sigh, glancing back down at his knees, "... but … your time …"

"These things happen, Young Midoriya." All Might waved his hand in the air, turning away and giving Izuku a good look at how securely he was wrapped up in bandages as he stared down at his feet, both of them sticking out from the blanket and hanging off the bed. "I was foolish today - I wasted my time limit this morning going around and helping people out, so if I had been there … but like I said, what's done is done. We can't change the past, and in the end, I was able to defeat the villain, and you sent the rest packing. If me not being able to maintain my muscle form for an extra half hour is the most damage that comes out of today, then I won't complain."

Before Izuku could protest that, however, there was the sudden sound of someone knocking on the door, and the four occupants of the room looked around as it slid open.

"Pardon the intrusion," Tsukauchi took off his hat, smiling at the pro hero in the bed as he walked into the room, "it's been a while, All Might."

"Tsukauchi!" All Might straightened back up, smiling at the police detective, before turning back to Izuku, seeing him looking panicked about this random cop casually revealing that he knew about All Might's skinny form as well. "Young Midoriya, this is Naomasa Tsukauchi - my friend on the police force. He's also known about my current form for a few years now."

"Oh, come on now, what's with that introduction?" Tsukauchi laughed, walking over to All Might's bed and putting his hand down on his thin shoulder, "I'm glad to see that you're alright, though - from the interviews my officers conducted on the students, it sounds like you had a rough time at the USJ."

"They certainly caught me off guard," All Might slowly nodded, his smile fading a bit before he shook his head, "but that's not important right now. You just said that you've interviewed Class 1A - are they all right? Any injuries?"

"Most of them only had a few bumps and scratches from the fights," Recovery Girl said as she returned to her desk, sitting in her chair while Himiko aimlessly kicked her legs out, "and I've sent Toga here with some of my gummies to accelerate their healing. The students that did need my attention have already been attended to before you both woke up. I'm sure that you're curious, sonny, and Kendou, Hadou and Uraraka have already been treated - they're already up and about."

"Oh … oh, good," Izuku sighed a bit in relief, slumping back onto the bed and closing his eyes, raising a hand to rub them. There had been a part of him that had briefly feared for them when Tsukauchi came in with word about his classmates, remembering that they had been involved in his fight with the hooded man and the Villain Consortium, and had felt his heart briefly hammer in his chest at thought of Ochako and Itsuka being attacked with the same ferocity he had been attacked with - but to hear that they were alright was a relief.

"... and both Eraserhead and Thirteen are in stable condition," Tsukauchi continued to explain while Izuku zoned briefly out, coming back into the conversation and looking up at the detective, "and from what the doctors were discussing over the phone, they'll both make full recoveries, albeit with some scarring and needing some time to recover. And the students will probably need a few sessions with Hound Dog, but I believe Midnight will be helping him cover that, and Ingenium will be more than happy to step up to help in case Aizawa needs more time to recover from what happened. With that out of the way," He turned his gaze to Izuku, making the younger boy blink, "Midoriya, if you're alright with it, there are a few questions that I need to ask you."

"M-me?"

"Yes. From what your fellow classmates described, you directly interacted with the villain that was mentioned to be the leader of the Villain Consortium."

Izuku's face fell at that, slowly blinking at the question - and then it suddenly clicked to him what the detective was talking about. Remembering the cloaked man that had thrown the villains at him, insulted him, watching eagerly at the prospect of the hooded man tearing him apart.

Feeling himself frown, Izuku sat back up, his eyes narrowing slightly and unaware of All Might giving him a look of concern.

"Right," He slowly nodded, "Nine."

"Nine," Tskuachi nodded in confirmation, moving around to stand at his bed  and fetching his notebook and pen from his coat pocket, "We interviewed the rest of your classmates about what happened when they jumped into the fight between All Might and the villain they called Nomu, and Tsunotori and Awase confirmed that you had stayed behind to distract Nine while they got Eraserhead to safety before All Might arrived at the USJ. We've learned more about his quirk and how it seemed to hurt him over time, but when you were facing him, did Nine say anything to you? Anything specific, or something that caught your attention?"

"I'm …" Izuku faltered for a moment, the word 'no' on his tongue, mostly due to having no memories of the villain other than his hypocritical taunting and boasting - but then something clicked in his head when he ran over what the detective said. Something about …

"We got to learn more about his quirk."

Blinking, he glanced back to the covers of his bed, and aware of everyone in the room staring at him intently, all of them knowing that he had just thought of something by the look on his face.

"Young Midoriya?"

"I …" He paused, thinking, "... there was … something he did say that got my attention …"

"Yes?" Tsukauchi nodded, putting his pen to the paper and getting ready to write.

"When … when I used my quirk to blast myself, Tsunotori and Awase out of the conflagration zone … and - and I was holding him up with my quirk - he - he complimented it." Izuku scrunched his brow, trying to recall exactly what the villain said, "He said that it … it reminded him of … of one that he had been refitted with? And that he had to trade it for a shield quirk. But … but it didn't really make any sense, and he - he threw that other guy at me right after, so - so I just kind of forgot about it."

When he finished his small explanation, cringing slightly from how lamely he finished it, silence fell in the room, with Izuku staring down at the covers for a moment before realizing that no one was saying anything. Wrinkling his brow, he glanced up, seeing Himiko raising her eyebrow while looking confused and skeptical - but upon glancing over at the adults, they had a far different reaction that caught him off guard.

Recovery Girl, sitting in her chair, was slowly blinking as she stared at him in shock. Tsukauchi, meanwhile, seemed to have a similar reaction, crinkling his brow and his pen pausing where it had been scribbling notes as he stared blankly down at the teenager. And All Might … he was staring at Izuku like he had never seen him before, his dark eyes widening and sitting up straight in the bed, his jaw hanging slightly while his blue pupils shrunk.

"Uh … All Might?" Izuku leaned back a little bit, feeling nervous for some reason - he had never seen such an expression on his mentor's face, and it unnerved him. "Are you -"

"Trading in quirks?" All Might suddenly asked in a quiet voice, stopping his pupil in his tracks. "Are - are you sure that's what he said, Young Midoriya?"

"I … uh …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, taken briefly out of it by the utter seriousness in All Might's voice as All Might stared at him - and then he nodded. "Y-yeah, All Might. I - yeah. That's what I heard."

All Might studied Izuku's face for a moment as though trying to figure out if he were lying, his expression falling into a far more serious look than Izuku had ever seen - and glancing down, he felt himself blink at the sight of All Might's hand clutching the blanket his was under in a tight grip - and then the pro hero let out a small sigh, rubbing his face and trying to put back on a smile for the young student.

"Ah - my apologies, Young Midoriya," He chuckled a bit awkwardly, "I was just … er … was taken aback by that statement. Being able to trade in quirks is … well … anyway, I - I believe that's all we really needed to hear from Young Midoriya, isn't it, Tsukauchi?"

"H-hm?" Tsukauchi blinked, briefly shaken out of his small shocked silence, and then quickly got a hold of himself, nodding a bit stiffly, "Oh, uh - yes, of course, All Might, we should be done here. There's still a few things that I'll need to ask you, mostly in regards to - er - well, anyway, we don't want to bore you with that, Midoriya, so you should be alright to go if Recovery Girl doesn't need to keep you here overnight."

"He'll be alright," Recovery Girl confirmed, seeming just as shaken as the other two adults but managing to get ahold of herself faster, "you can head on home, Midoriya - I'm sure that there's two young ladies outside that want to make sure that you're okay."

"Two young -?" Izuku repeated, feeling confused - and then he got it, his eyes snapping open in shock and a bit of horror. "Oh! Occhan! Kendou! Oh, crap!"

Quickly, but not quick enough to disturb his sore body, Izuku managed to sit up and swing his feet from under the covers and onto the floor, wincing a bit at the cool porcelain, and looked around to see his school uniform folded neatly on the end of the bed and waiting for him to put back on. He was in such a hurry to get out of the room and see his two best friends he didn't even register the flirty pass Himiko made at him as she slowly slid the curtains shut for his privacy, only really hearing her getting whacked on the head by Recovery Girl again ("I'd fire you if I could, Toga!").

Once he had taken off his ripped up suit and folded it neatly for the support studio to take care of, and making sure that his school uniform and tie were on correctly, he carefully and stiffly made his way to the door, bowing in thanks to Recovery Girl and Himiko for treating him, and then turned to leave the hospital room.

As he approached the door, he could pick out the sounds of two voices muttering, not loud enough for him to hear what they were saying, but enough that he recognized them, and felt his heart skip a small beat in his chest as he smiled in relief. They sounded … okay. Like they weren't in pain, or beating themselves up, so … so they were fine. They were fine, he was fine, so everything was fine.

With that thought, Izuku began to slide open the door.

"... guess we need to talk about it, huh?" Itsuka was muttering in a quiet, embarrassed tone as Izuku slowly slid the door open, his smile widening slightly at the sight of her and Ochako sitting on the floor and not looking at each other at all. His eyes, however, found themselves zipping up to their faces, and he felt himself blink at how red their cheeks were as they avoided looking at each other, leaving Izuku feeling briefly confused about what exactly they were talking about.

"Uh … it?" Ochako asked in an equally quiet tone, tapping her fingers against her knees as her face turned even redder.

"Yeah … you know," Slowly, both girls turned t o look at each other again, their faces still flushing more and more by the second, "what happened back at the mountain zone -"

"Huh? Something happened at the mountain zone?"

Izuku didn't mean for the words to spill from his lips, making him squeak a bit as he caught himself, but alas, it was kind of too late to pretend like that didn't come from him. Both Ochako and Itsuka stopped at the sound of his voice ahead of them, staring blankly at each other for a moment, before both of their gazes snapped to him, so fast that Itsuka accidentally slapped Ochako in the face with her hair.

Izuku gulped nervously as the two girls stared at him in shock, watching as he slowly slid the door shut behind him.

"Uh … guys?" He glanced between the frozen girls, and then his gaze flickered over to the few chairs lining the wall beside them. "Are - are you okay? Why are you sitting on the floor? There's - there's chairs right there."

He pointed weakly at the few chairs, not entirely sure why they were just sitting there on the floor - but at that moment, it didn't matter as he continued to flicker his gaze between them. They were staring at him as though they were being approached by a ghost, Ochako's gaze flickering between the bandage on his cheek and the one wrapped around his head. Itsuka, meanwhile, let out a small, shuddering breath as both girls sat up, staring at him wordlessly while their jaws dropped somewhat.

And then, for some reason, both of their gazes darkened. Izuku faltered as they slowly began climbing to their feet, moving carefully so as not to disturb their own presumed injuries as their frizzy hair covered their faces, not giving Izuku a hint as to how they might be feeling as they managed to stand up and face him.

"Uh … guys?" Izuku asked unsurely, glancing between Ochako and Itsuka again as both girls looked blankly at him. "Are - are you okay? Do you need me to get - ah!"

The reason he yelped out, however, was due to Ochako suddenly rushing forward. Izuku did little to resist, his eyes widening in shock, as Ochako suddenly grabbed the front of his blazer in a tight grip, yanking him forward, and twirled a bit as she moved to pin him up against the window, making him grunt slightly as he was pressed against the glass, and stared down in shock and a bit of fear at his best friend.

For a few seconds of silence, Ochako stared blankly at his chest - and then her gaze whipped up, and Izuku felt himself falter at the sight of tears beginning to stream down her cheeks.

"You - you -" She said in a choked voice, her face screwing up, and then she collapsed into Izuku, the taller boy letting out a small noise of surprise as he quickly wrapped his arms around her so she didn't slide to the floor, as though her legs were unable to support her, and stared in shock as she began sobbing. Her hands clenched the back of his uniform as she hugged him tightly, tight enough to make him wince, as though she were afraid that he would vanish if she were to let go.

As she cried, Izuku felt his shock at what had happened begin to fade, and his face fell as an unexpected shot of guilt ran through him, staring down at the sight of his best friend sobbing like he had never seen her before.

He did this. He … he made her worry.

Tentatively, Izuku slowly wrapped his arms firmer around Ochako, supporting her weight as she clung to him, and pressed his face into the top of her head as he comforted her. Feeling himself shake a bit as tears built in his own eyes, he turned his gaze upwards towards Itsuka, who had been standing there in silence for the last minute or so.

She was staring straight at him with an expression that he had never seen before, filled with barely suppressed sadness and anger, and looking like she was trying to work herself up so she could berate him - but he could see her hands shaking and the telltale sign of tears in her own eyes. Feeling himself shake, and taking a deep breath, Izuku tried to push down the slight hammering in his chest, of both embarrassment and a bit of fear - and then, moving his hand from the back of Ochako's head, he reached out to her.

Itsuka only paused for a moment, her gaze flickering from his face to his hand - and then her own face scrunched up, her own tears escaping, and she quickly hurried in to join Ochako in hugging him tightly, tucking her face against his shoulder as she quietly gave herself over. It wasn't tight enough to hurt him, but it was enough that Izuku felt himself quietly break down as well, as his felt his own weight give out, and the three of them slowly sank to the floor, Izuku running one hand against the back of Ochako's head while his other arm wrapped around Itsuka's back, and both girls clung tightly to him as they sat there and just cried.

For a few minutes they were quiet, Ochako squeezing his waist a bit tighter and Itsuka continuing to press her face against his shoulder, and Izuku slowly tucked his face against the top of Ochako's head as he let out a shuddering sigh.

"I'm … I'm sorry," He muttered, feeling both girls squeeze him a bit tighter, "I'm sorry about worrying you both."

"..."

"..."

"... no," Itsuka mumbled, her hand grabbing his side and squeezing it gently, "it's … it's not your fault, Midoriya. I'm the one who should be sorry … I'm sorry we couldn't save you from - from that thing."

"Kendou -"

"And I couldn't save you," Ochako sniffled, her voice coming out muffled, "I … I couldn't save you, Deku. You had to save me."

"Occhan, no!" He protested weakly, finally moving his head back, and both girls finally came out from where they had been pressing their faces against him, leaving tear marks on his clothes as they all sniffled. "I … no, you - you did save me. You both saved me. I was … I was going to die if it wasn't for you two." He felt himself shudder at that, feeling himself shake, but tried as hard as he could to push those feelings down.

"You both saved me, and … and …" He faltered again, and then let out another shuddered breath as he moved back down, pressing his eyes against Ochako's shoulder as he spoke in a whisper, "... thank you. Both of you. I just … thank you."

Ochako and Itsuka stared down at him for a moment, taken aback as he let out another quiet shudder - and then both girls, as though having the same mindset, moved down to embrace him, Ochako hugging his head to her shoulder and Itsuka wrapping her arms around him more firmly as -

"Um."

At the sound of a taken aback voice above him, the trio jumped a bit in surprise, wincing slightly in pain, and quickly looked around. Standing above them was Nejire, staring down at them in surprise as she tilted her head somewhat - and then she blinked.

"Oh! I'm interrupting something!" She quickly realized, quickly taking a step back as the three of them straightened up, tears and snot running down their faces and making her quickly reach into her bag for some napkins. "Sorry, I just kinda saw the wiggling mass of flesh and our school uniform, and thought - er - that it was some kind of guy with his quirk going nuts, I thought I could come over and help in case they were trying to get to Recovery Girl, and I know that I'm on thin ice with her already, but - but it was just you guys! A-anyway, I'm interrupting something, here, have a few tissues, your faces are kinda gross."

Izuku stared blankly up at the blue-haired girl as she helpfully held out a handful of napkins, staring at her blankly - and then, with a shuddering sigh, he reached out and accepted them from her, feeling himself smile a bit shakingly as he shuddered again.

"I … thank you, Hadou," He said in a choked voice, handing the other napkins to the two girls wrapped around him as he raised one to his face, "I … yeah."

"Mm-hm. Yeah," Nejire nodded, staring down at Izuku with an odd look, but before he could decipher what it could possibly mean, there was the sound of shoes running down the hall, and they looked over to see Yuuyu staggering over, panting heavily while glaring at Nejire.

"You … you …" She wheezed, clutching a cramp in her side, "... fucking hell, Nej … I'm … I'm gonna … I'm gonna kick your ass … makin' me run …"

"Oooh! I'm sorry, Yuuyu!" Nejire seemed to realize, letting out a gasp of shock and remorse as she quickly hurried over to pat her shoulder. "I was in such a rush, I didn't - I completely forgot to - you know - let you know that I was going. I - I didn't mean to lead you on a wild goosechase, but I thought you were chasing me, and it really hurts to get zapped, so I just kinda ran around and hoped that I could lose -"

ZAP

"Ow!"

As Yuuyu began poking Nejire repeatedly with both hands, the sounds of zaps sounding throughout the hall to accompany Nejire's yelps, Izuku glanced back down to Ochako and Itsuka as they sat up, wiping their faces with the napkins the blue-haired girl had given them. Now that they had calmed down, both of them slowly moved away from him, making Izuku breathe out a small sigh of relief but feeling suddenly lonely as they gave him some space, and slowly, the three of them began to get back up to their feet. Thankfully, Ochako didn't seem to be in the mood for having some space to herself, moving forward to wrap her arm around Izuku's shoulders, and he responded by holding her waist.

"C'mon," She muttered, resting her head against his shoulder, "let's go, Deku - my dad's probably waiting at the gate."

"Okay," Izuku nodded, feeling himself stiffen slightly as Itsuka wordlessly moved forward to imitate Ochako and wrap her arm around his waist, resting her head against his shoulder - but he couldn't quite complain about the sudden warmth.

Of course, he was unaware of Nejire glancing around after Yuuyu decided that she had been punished enough, blinking at the sight of the three of them wrapped up together - and then trying to fight down a small pout.

Together, the five of them moved away from the nurse's office, Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako keeping their arms wrapped around each other as they went, and Yuuyu finally decided to give Nejire a break and giving her a one-armed hug. As they moved away, Nejire lowered her voice to ask small questions about how they were feeling, with Ochako at least cohesive enough to answer her as they spoke in quiet voices, moving down the hall towards the door to the stairs, and heading towards the entrance of the school so they could meet up with Taiyo at the gate.

As they quietly made their way down the stairs, Izuku knew, at least, that he should be feeling some kind of embarrassment with his two friends clinging to him, but … but deep down, he knew that he needed this. This warmth, this comfort, this assurance that they were still there with him. So he swallowed whatever embarrassment he might be feeling and wrapped his arms a bit tighter around his best friends as they made their way through the school and out the door, the sun setting in the distance and causing the sky to turn a dark purple color.

Out front, Taiyo was pacing around his truck, straightening up when he saw the five students heading towards him. It was clear that he was barely restraining himself from charging through the gate to get to his kid, standing there and tearing up, and it was only when they made it through that he ran forward to hug Ochako tightly to him, running his hand through her hair as he lifted her off her feet.

"I … I'm so glad you're okay, Chipmunk," He managed to get out as tears streamed down his cheeks, letting Ochako cling to him as he ran his hand up and down the back of her head. "I don' know wha' we woulda done if you were … if you were …"

"I know, Daddy," Ochako mumbled, feeling herself tear up as she let her dad keep her up in the air, "and … and I'm okay. I'm okay."

After a few more seconds of the two Urarakas clinging to each other, Taiyo finally put her down, pausing so he could kiss her forehead, and then moved around so that he could hug Izuku as well, the boy grunting slightly in pain as he got wrapped up in a tight grip.

"Oh, shit!" Taiyo yelped, letting him go at once. "I'm - I'm sorry, you okay, kid?!"

"I'm okay, Taiyo," Izuku grunted as he was put down, patting the man's shoulder weakly, "just … kinda stiff."

"Alrigh', kid. And - and Kendou," He turned to the other girls, seeing them standing there awkwardly, "I talked to yer folks too, I'mma drive us over there so we can stay there for the nigh'. I've already got Miwa and Inko there, so - so I'll getcha home."

"I … okay. Thanks, Taiyo."

"An' - an' if you two need a ride home too -?" He turned to Nejire and Yuuyu, but the pink-haired girl shook her head and smiled gently.

"That's alright, Mr. Uraraka, we'll be fine," She assured him, "Nej here probably needs to burn off some of her energy, so we'll be alright walking home. Thank you so much for the offer, though."

"Alrigh', if - if yer both sure," He nodded, rubbing his face briefly before turning to the other three teenagers, "in tha' case, let's - let's get goin', you three. Yer moms need to see ya before they lose their minds."

With that, the four of them moved into the truck, all three teenagers moving into the back so that they could sit together, and after Taiyo waved to the two girls on the sidewalk, Nejire and Yuuyu watched as they drove off back down the road.

As the truck moved away, Yuuyu let her gaze flicker to her side, glancing up at Nejire's face - and feeling herself blink at the sight that greeted her.

Nejire, for once, had her entire attention focused on the truck, staring at it with a weird intent, and the look on her face took Yuuyu aback. There were so many emotions there that she really couldn't keep track - shock, probably from the fact that Izuku was up and about after getting his shit kicked in, relief, obviously from the fact that he was okay, and …

… and there was something else there, something that made Yuuyu blink. Almost as though …

"Nej?" She asked quietly, poking her shoulder. "You good?"

"H-huh?" Nejire blinked, looking back around at her pink-haired friend with surprise, as though she had forgotten she was there. Luckily, that seemed to shake her out of whatever funk she had been in for the last minute or so, managing to disguise her conflicted face with the usually preppy look. "Oh, uh - sorry about that, Yuuyu, got - got caught up in my thoughts! Was just a little shocked that Midoriya was - you know, that he was up and about. But maybe I shouldn't be, though! Recovery Girl's awesome! You know, when she's not trying to stab people with her cane."

"Uh-huh." Yuuyu slowly nodded, wincing as she moved a hand to rub her side where the bruise from earlier was.

"A-anyway, I guess - well, I guess that if Kendou and Uraraka are with him, he's gonna be okay! I'll try giving him a call tomorrow, though - just to make sure that he's totally fine. Yeah." Nejire quickly nodded to herself, turning on her heel to start walking down the sidewalk. "C-c'mon, Yuuyu! Let's go home."

"I … yeah," Yuuyu nodded to herself, glancing back at where the truck had vanished from sight as she sighed, "let's go home, Nej."

With that, the two girls began walking down the sidewalk together - with Nejire glancing back down at her feet, trying hard to swallow the small smile on her face from the sheer thought of Izuku, and Yuuyu glancing at that smile and feeling her heart thump in her chest.


The mountain zone, broken with one of its massive summits laying in a landslide outside of the zone.

The flood zone, its water slowly continuing to seep back in and fill up the empty hole.

The conflagration zone, with a massive hole blasted out of it.

The foyer, laying in ruins with massive cracks in the floor and the fountain broken.

Two large holes in the roof of the USJ, one on its side and the one above the facility with the glass laying smashed up against the ground.

"Jeez, Sir," Bubble Girl gulped nervously from their spot at the top of the stairs, her yellow eyes flickering around, "kinda looks like a warzone, doesn't it?"

Sir Nighteye didn't respond to that, turning his own gaze towards the other zones as Centipeder likewise adjusted his white glove. They weren't the only heroes currently in the broken remains of the USJ - there were several heroes already moving around down there to inspect the damage, working with the police to uncover any villain that might've tried to hide.

So far, they hadn't found anyone else, digging through the mountain zone for those who had apparently been buried underneath it, and inspecting the ruins zone to their left for anyone who might've been trying to hide in the simulated broken city.

"It appears that our presence here was unnecessary," Centipeder said in his high-pitched voice, "the police and other heroes seem to have it covered."

"No," Nighteye shook his head, "I was summoned here for another reason. I just wanted to have a look around here before heading back to the main building. While I do that, I want you both to head down and begin taking pictures of the various zones - this attack is linked to the Trigger investigation, so I'd like to have another look before we have to hand off all the evidence we found by ourselves to the Endeavor agency."

"A-ah," Bubble Girl slowly nodded, looking nervous as she glanced up at her employer, "and - and by that, you mean -?"

"You know what I mean, Bubble Girl." He shortly said. "Go down to the mountain zone and crawl in to take pictures of the damage."

With that, Nighteye spun on his heel to head back out the door, heading to his car so that he could drive back to the school. As he moved out of the broken doors, Bubble Girl sagged over, mumbling under her breath, "I hate this job." as Centipeder patted her shoulder in sympathy and a bit of amusement.

Outside, Nighteye sighed as he got back into his car, turning the key in the engine, and taking off, furrowing his brow. It was one thing to come all this way to UA to have a look at the site of the attack - he had plans to do that anyway, since he would have never suspected that this place of all places would've been linked to the Trigger investigation from the last half year everyone had been looking into it - but All Might himself had reached out, asking to meet with him at the nurse's office. That had taken Nighteye aback, seeing as this was the first time in months that All Might had asked to meet after that disastrous day at the beach, and made him push his foot to the petal to hurry himself over to the school to meet up with his old friend.

He wasn't quite sure why All Might wanted to meet, but there was a small hope in Nighteye's chest - the hope that somehow, All Might had changed his mind. Mirio was more than ready, Nighteye was sure of it - his work in Nighteye's hero office, his high marks, his expert command over his quirk … it was more than enough for All Might to finally step down as the Symbol of Peace and let Mirio take the reigns. He'd heard nothing about Itsuka for months, so perhaps … perhaps All Might had finally given up on her, and come around to Nighteye's thinking.

As he pulled into the parking lot after the five minute drive, Nighteye jumped out of his car, and began speed walking through the main doors. He passed by Ingenium and his brother, the older man poking his younger brother and teasing him about something, but Nighteye paid it no heed as he hurried up the stairs. It had been a while since he had been at UA, but he knew his way around somewhat, so he at least knew where All Might would be waiting for him right now, and hopefully it wouldn't be too late to ask Mirio to come back to the school for a talk.

Soon enough, he was outside of Recovery Girl's office, knocking on the door sharply as he finally came to a stop, breathing a bit more erratically.

"All Might? It's Nighteye."

"Come in, Mirai."

Nighteye faltered at that, staring blankly at the door - there was such seriousness in his friend's voice, it took him aback. Still, he straightened his shoulders, and pulled the door open as he stepped insidde.

To his surprise, All Might was not the only one in the nurse's office, the pro hero sitting on the bed with his torso wrapped up, and looking so frail it made Nighteye frown. Standing at the edge of the bed was Tsukauchi, looking uncharacteristically serious, and standing near Recovery Girl, who was sitting on her own chair at the desk, was Principal Nezu, his beady eyes scanning a few notes on his tablet while he likewise frowned.

Glancing between the four of them, Nighteye furrowed his brow - what was going on here?

"Hello, Mirai," All Might nodded, straightening up and frowning, "thank you for meeting with me on such short notice."

"Of course," Nighteye slid the door shut, walking into the room and glancing around uncertainly. "What's going on?"

"Well …" Tsukauchi sighed, and extended the hand he held his notebook in, offering it to Nighteye. Wrinkling his brow, the pro hero accepted the notepad, turning it so that he could begin reading the notes.

"These are the notes that I took from the students of Class 1A today," The detective explained shortly, "that goes into the details of the villains that attacked them today.

"Alright ..."

"As you know, Nighteye," Nezu said from his spot, looking up at the taller man as he read through the notes, "today, we were attacked by a villain organization calling themselves the Villain Consortium. From what we discovered, they were the ones who organized the Trigger theft half a year ago from the Humarise cell up in Hokkaido, all in an effort to assassinate All Might."

"Yes, yes," Nighteye nodded, his eyes scanning the detective's notebook as he flipped a page, "I heard about it from another few heroes who had come to inspect the USJ damage."

"Well, they were led by a specific villain," Tsukauchi sighed, "calling himself Nine. He had an interaction with one of the students in Class 1A, where he said something that … well, if you flip the next page, you'll know."

Furrowing his brow, Nighteye flipped to the next page, his eyes scanning its contents. The four others in the room watched as he read over the notes, All Might uncharacteristically silent as he clenched a fist - and then they saw Nighteye's strict face flicker.

Reading over the note, Nighteye blinked slowly, and then reread the note at least two more times, feeling his eyes widen and his jaw dropped.

"... is this accurate?" He said in a quiet voice. "Are - are you sure?"

"I'm sure." Tsukauchi nodded stiffly. "Nine boasted about somehow trading his quirk for another. And All Might told us that he was …"

"I didn't notice in the heat of the moment," All Might finally spoke up, his voice surprisingly tranquil, "but at the USJ, Nine had the ability to command the storm above us - and when I moved to attack him, he created some kind of shield. I had thought it was an extension of his quirk, but …"

"But from what Midoriya told us he heard," Nezu finished for him, tapping his foot against the ground, "Nine was somehow outfitted with a quirk he traded in - and at the USJ, showed that he was capable of using more than one quirk. From there, I made my own connection with another separate case." The principal flipped his tablet to show the others two pictures of heroes.

"Two separate attacks on two separate heroes from two separate parts of Japan, all within the timeframe between the Trigger theft and the invasion of our school. Two heroes that had lost their quirks. I had thought that they were somehow erased by a villain's attack, but if what I'm thinking is accurate … and this Nine character was involved ..."

"They were taken." All Might glared down at his lap. "Stolen."

There was a silence in the nurse's office, Recovery Girl frowning, Tsukauchi biting the inside of his cheek, Nezu staring down at his tablet, and All Might glaring at nothing.

"This … this can't be possible," Nighteye muttered, feeling his hand shake as he raised it to adjust his glasses, "we saw the body ourselves. I was there when we cremated it. There was - there was no way that he could have - the state it was in -"

"All For One is dead," Nezu sighed, his normally happy expression nowhere in sight as he looked around at the others, "and yet, somehow, this Nine villain is able to find a way to trade in his quirk? And potentially steal others? I'm still reaching out to the hospitals that these heroes are in to find out more about their quirks, but I imagine that at least one of them will have had the ability to create a shield out of air. And his name - Nine. An odd choice of a villain name - unless it's some kind of hint."

"A hint of what? Being able to have up to nine quirks?" Recovery Girl finished for him, tapping her cane against the ground as she frowned and scoffed sketically. "It shouldn't be possible, Nezu - those found during All For One's reign to have more than one quirk were only given one extra in addition to their own so that they didn't succumb to the strain. The possibility of one person having up to nine quirks is medically impossible - if what you're thinking is true, Nine would be comatose."

"And yet," Nezu tilted his head, "we should also find it impossible that this villain has more than one or two quirks in the first place. This means that either All For One left behind ways that villains can take on more than one quirk -"

"Or somehow," All Might clenched his fist tightly, "against all odds - he survived."

Silence once again fell as the five adults slowly came to grips with that - and then Nighteye let out a small sigh.

"All Might," He turned his gaze up to the pro hero, seeing him continue to stare down into his lap as Nighteye took a step forward, "at this point, you have to see - if All For One survived, this means that my vision - it's very much possible that it's him that I saw. You can't deny what I've been saying anymore! Mirio is ready for One for All! He can take it, so -"

"No, Nighteye."

"This isn't the time for you to be stubborn!" Nigheye suddenly shouted, making Tsukauchi jump a bit in surprise as the thinner man took a step forward. "If All For One is alive and is backing up this Nine villain, both of them are threats to you! Either one of them could be the one that ends your life! So before it comes to that -"

"Mirai, no," All Might shook his head, frowning, "it's too late to give Young Togata One for All."

"It's not -!"

"Mirai," All Might looked up at him, looking him dead in the eye, "it's too late."

Nighteye stopped in his tracks there, blinking in confusion and anger as All Might gave him a knowing look - and then he understood it. He quickly straightened his back, staring down at the frail man in shock as All Might sat back. There was a long moment of silence as All Might stared up at Nighteye, keeping his expression neutral until his former sidekick found his words.

"You …"

"I gave One for All to Young Kendou a few days ago." All Might shortly explained. "You've already been to the USJ, Mirai - the mountain zone that you saw in pieces? That was her doing. One for All has already been successfully passed on."

Nighteye felt his jaw drop, staring at All Might as though he had never seen him before as the pro hero stared back up at him - and then he snapped his mouth shut, feeling himself frown.

"... you need to convince her to give it to Mirio."

"I will not -"

"All Might, you may not take your life seriously, but I do!" Nighteye punched the wall, glaring down at his former friend as the other three members of the room stared at the argument with their own frowns. "You're trusting your survival in the hands of a girl who has no experience, who isn't even able of defending herself, much less you if the time comes! I've seen her in action, we both have! Against someone like All For One, she'll die the moment he even glances her way! Mirio is the more suitable candidate for One for All, and if he has it, he'll be able to take up your sword! This girl will waste it!"

"Mirai, I will not rob Young Kendou of what she's been fighting for for the last year," All Might refused point-blankly, making Nighteye grit his teeth, "she is just as worthy of One for All as Young Togata is. He'll grow to be a great hero, and so will she. Instead of you trying to pit them against each other -"

"No, All Might." Nighteye shook his head, spinning on his heel and gritting his teeth, "You won't be convincing me anytime soon. I refuse to accept Kendou as your successor, and I will show you that you made a mistake choosing her. If you really have passed on One for All, it means that soon enough the people will be robbed of their symbol. They don't need a small spark, but a bright and burning light."

Pulling open the door, Nigheye turned to look All Might in the eye, furrowing his brow angrily, "And if I have to make you and her aware of who is best suited for that responsibility, then so be it."

With that, Nighteye stepped through the door and closed it sharply behind him.


"Y-yes, Hisashi, I know," Inko nodded as she paced back and forth in the Kendous' kitchen, massaging her forehead, "I just - well, Izuku said that he doesn't want you to miss work on his behalf, and - well, if they are insisting - I - alright, I suppose, if they're pretty much nudging you out the door. Just - alright, yes, Hisashi, I understand, you don't need to raise your voice. I won't mind having you on the couch for a week or so. Alright. Yes, just - just let me know when you arrive at the airport tomorrow, Taiyo can drive out and pick you up. Yes. I'll give Izuku your love. See you tomorrow, Hisashi."

With a small sigh, she hung up the call, sliding her phone back into her pocket, and moved back into the living room. The mood of the room was the same as when she left it - Ochako was being cuddled by Miwa while Taiyo hugged them both to him as they sat on the couch; Itsuka was sitting on the floor and stroking Gūdo's head as the dog whined and cuddled against her, both her parents still cleaning up the kitchen table from dinner; and Izuku was sitting against the couch, with Miwa reaching out and stroking his hair, and he looked up curiously at his mother as she moved back into the living room with another sigh.

"Well," She shrugged, "I guess that's that. I tried to tell your father that you were alright, Izuku, but he's insisting on getting the first flight back to Japan as soon as he can."

"I - oh, no, he - he doesn't need to do that, Mom," Izuku sighed, rubbing his own forehead slightly as Inko sat back down beside him, kissing his cheek, "did - did you try to tell him -"

"I told him everything you told me to say," Inko smiled, hugging Izuku again as she sniffled, "I told him you were fine, that he didn't need to worry about you, and he still insisted on coming back anyway. I don't blame him, sweetie - it was hard enough for me to hear about it, and I'm in the same country as you are. I have no idea how he's feeling being all the way across the world from you. He needs to see you, and in person this time - not through a phone screen."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, not entirely up to the idea - he didn't like the idea of his father missing an entire week of work just for him - and then he sighed, and sat back as he suppressed a small yawn, "... I guess so, Mom. I just … don't want him to … ah, forget it, I - I understand."

Nodding, Inko kissed his head again, sniffling as the Kendous returned to the living room and sat down, glancing at their daughter as she hugged Gūdo. The last few hours had been … quite hectic, to say the least. Once they had been driven back to Itsuka's house, the three of them had been enveloped into tight hugs by their mothers, chaos immediately ensuing with Inko bawling her eyes out hugging Izuku while Miwa and Tenohira refused to let go of their daughters for even a second, with Hakushu, Taiyo and Teko having to hurry into the kitchen to make sure that the food that the mothers had been stress cooking didn't burn down the entire house.

Once everything was sorted and everyone calmed down a bit, they sat down in the dining room for dinner, eating lots of food that would still go into the fridge for leftovers that would last for days. Inko had tried to concentrate on her food, but was unable to stop herself from hugging Izuku every few seconds while he tried to assure her that he was okay, although how stiffly he was holding his chopsticks and the occasional wince of pain definitely didn't help. Ochako sat between her own parents, letting Miwa cuddle her a bit while trying not to show how hungry she really was after all the stress of the last few hours, while Itsuka did not begrudge Gūdo any of her foot, occasionally giving something from her plate to her dog while her gaze would sometimes flicker to Izuku and Ochako, as though trying to make sure that they were still there.

Teko, meanwhile, remained quiet throughout the entire evening, other than asking the three teenagers if they were alright in a quiet voice. He stared down at his plate for the entirety of dinner, staying quiet as he picked at his food, and once everyone was excused to the living room, merely opted to head off to his own room and slid it shut. Izuku had thought that the older man had just decided to head off to bed for the evening, but when Inko had sat down with him after returning from the kitchen, he heard the sound of the dojo teacher's door sliding open again.

"Hm?" Tenohira looked around, and blinked at the sight of her father putting on a raincoat, straightening up. "Dad, are you heading out? It's late, and it's about to rain."

"I'm aware," Teko grumbled, moving around her to pat Itsuka's head, "I just need to take a bit of a walk, daughter. I've been holed up inside all day, I'm just going to walk around for a bit to relieve a bit of stress. I'll be back in an hour or so - you don't need to leave the door unlocked, I have my key. I'll see you all tomorrow."

With that, the teacher moved towards the door leading down to the dojo, pulling it open and closing it behind him as he went downstairs. Tenohira stared after him with a conflicted look as the sound of his footsteps moving down the stairs faded away, and she let out a small sigh as she walked over and kissed Itsuka's cheek as well, the orange-haired girl grumbling a bit at all the affection her parents were giving her but not complaining.

"Alright," The Kendou matriarch straightened back up, looking around at everyone, "I … well, I'm not sure about everyone, but we should at least try to get a little bit of sleep. Inko, are you sure that the couch is alright? Hakushu and I don't mind sharing the pullout if you want to take our bed."

"No, no, the - the couch will be fine," Inko shook her head, smiling as she reached out and stroked Gūdo's head, the dog wagging his tail against Itsuka, "I don't want to kick you both out of your bed, I'm just a guest. As long as Izuku is fine with the futon, I won't be complaining."

"Mm-mm," Izuku shook his head in agreement, smiling up at Tenohira as her gaze flickered to him, "I don't mind either, Mrs. Kendou."

"Tenohira," She pouted, reaching out to poke his cheek, "I have told you a thousand times. Te-no-hi-ra. Say it, Izuku."

"Er - uh - T-Tenoh-hira," He mumbled, blushing, "sorry."

"That's more like it."

With that, the three families decided to adhere to what Tenohira said and start heading to bed - while the two families would've liked their children to stay in the same room as them, they accepted that Ochako and Itsuka wouldn't have anywhere comfortable to sleep, and probably needed a bit of time to themselves to destress from everything. As such, the two girls would share Itsuka's room again, while Izuku slept on the futon out in the living room with Inko, and Miwa and Taiyo would take the guest room. Gūdo, meanwhile, was selected to stay with the Midoriyas, the dog happily bouncing up onto the couch as Hakushu pulled it out for Inko to sleep on as she went to brush her teeth and change into her pajamas.

As everyone began moving around to get ready for bed, Izuku laid down in the futon, sighing as he leaned back. Itsuka, meanwhile, seemed conflicted as she stood in the small hall that would lead to her room and the guest room, Ochako having gone on ahead to get changed into her pajamas after Itsuka was done changing. Hakushu and Tenohira seemed to notice their daughter's hesitation, both of them looking around from where they were returning from locking the downstairs doors.

"Itsuka?" Hakushu patted her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"H-huh?" Itsuka blinked, glancing around and shaking herself out of her small pause, "Oh, no, I'm - I'm fine, Dad. It's just … uh …"

The small group, with Taiyo, Miwa and Inko looking over at the teenager in confusion as well, watched as Itsuka glanced down at her bare feet - and then sighed as she nodded to herself, her mind apparently being made up as she strolled over to the foot of Izuku's futon, the boy inside blinking in confusion at the certain look on her face.

"Mom, Dad," She sighed, "punish me for this tomorrow."

"H-huh?" Izuku crinkled his brow, looking up at her from his spot in the futon as Inko also looked around curiously, patting Gūdo's head, "What are you talking abouAH!"

The reason for his yelp, of course, was due to Itsuka suddenly bending over, grabbing the end of the futon tightly with the one hand that wasn't in a cast growing out slightly with her quirk, and then began dragging it, and by extension Izuku, out of the living room. Izuku had no real option to try and stop her, stuttering and only managing to stay inside due to him grabbing the blankets to prevent himself from flopping out.

The adults watched with raised eyebrows as Itsuka dragged him all the way down the hall towards her room, ignoring Izuku's nervous inquiries about what she was doing, until she dragged him fully inside, and then firmly shut the door behind them.

There was a small silence in the living room - and then Tenohira, feeling herself smirk smugly, turned to look at Miwa.

"I believe that's one point for Team Kendou," She giggled while Miwa pouted at her and Taiyo patted his wife's shoulder with an amused sigh.

Inside her room, Izuku still wasn't quite sure as to what might have been going on as Itsuka dragged him closer to the bed, where Ochako was already sitting in her pajamas and blinking at her best friend's sudden appearance. With a grunt, Itsuka put down the futon at last, but then moved around it to grab the blankets and throw them off of Izuku, ignoring how blankly he was staring at her as she grew out her good hand, and wrapped it around his body.

Izuku was a bit too shocked to resist as she effortlessly lifted him out of the futon, turned him around, and then dropped him unceremoniously onto her bed, shrinking back down her hand as she moved to get into the futon.

"... uh." Izuku managed to squeak out while Ochako likewise looked around him in surprise at Itsuka as she sat down in the futon.

"Midoriya," She sighed as she threw the covers over her legs, "you can't just sleep on a futon after - you know - what happened today, it wouldn't be good for your injuries. I'll take it."

"But - wait a second, you were injured too!" Izuku protested, attempting to stiffly get out of the bed, only for Ochako to quickly hold down his shoulders and prevent him from getting up. Izuku only had time look around at her in shock and betrayal before she got up from the bed as well - and then moved down to get rid of Itsuka's covers as well, making the orange-haired girl blink as Ochako tried to lightly push her out of the futon.

"W-well, if that's the case, Itsuka," Ochako lightly pushed her, furrowing her brow as Itsuka quickly took her wrist in one hand, "you - you can't sleep in the futon either, you broke your arm. Let me sleep in the futon and -"

"No, Occhan!"

"Ochako, get back in the bed, I'll be fine here."

"W-well, I can't let you stay in there either!"

"N-no, neither of you, you guys can sleep in the bed, I don't mind sleeping in -"

"Deku, sit your ass back down."

"Midoriya, I will tie you to the bedpost, I swear to god."

Whan then ensued was about another minute of the three of them arguing, with Izuku trying to get out of the bed only for both Itsuka and Ochako to hop up and restrain him, pushing his hands carefully up so that he couldn't get up so easily, while Ochako attempted to push Itsuka out of the futon with her foot while Itsuka lightly kicked her back. Pretty soon they were at a standoff, with Izuku trying to resist them pushing him back down, Ochako and Itsuka working together to ensure that he stayed on the bed, and Itsuka trying to keep herself in the futon while fighting off Ochako with her feet.

And then, after a brief moment of glancing between each other at the odd positions they were in - Izuku with his hands restrained by Itsuka, Ochako half on the bed and sitting on his legs, and Itsuka's leg slightly up and pushing against Ochako's stomach - Izuku couldn't help but snort a little bit.

"I - sorry -" He wheezed, shaking his head while the two girls gave him a mutual look of confusion, "- I just thought that things would be less stressful once I got to bed, but - heh."

"I … guess so," itsuka shrugged, smiling weakly at Ochako as she finally let go of Izuku's wrists, and turned to sit down on the edge of her bed, while Ochako slid back a bit from Izuku so she could somewhat sit back down too, the three of them sitting together on the edge of the bed, "but I'm serious, Midoriya - you've still gotta be sore from today, so you shouldn't be sleeping on the floor. Just sleep in my bed, I don't mind taking the futon tonight."

"But Itsuka, you're also injured," Ochako insisted, glancing between her two friends, "you need to sleep in an actual bed too - I'm pretty much fine, let me sleep in the futon."

"Yeah, and normally I might not complain, but you aren't thinking of one thing," Itsuka smirked, pointing at Izuku as he went a bit red, "I don't think Midoriya here would be able to sleep if I'm in the same bed as he is. You two at least have had sleepovers before, so you're used to each other - I don't mind being on the floor for a single night while you two rest."

"Peh," Ochako returned her smirk, patting her best friend's shoulders, "I don't believe that. Deku can do it, he's a big boy."

"I protest that," Izuku muttered, going redder, "I am not a big enough boy for that."

Both Itsuka and Ochako giggled at that, with Itsuka leaning back slightly to smile at her two friends on her bed.

"Maybe in that case," She joked, "we might as well all sleep in the bed together, just so no one's uncomfortable on the floor."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... that - that was a joke, guys."

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, letting out an awkward, stilted laugh as he scratched the back of his head, and Ochako glanced between the two of them while gulping nervously, and Itsuka went a bit red, "Y-yeah, of - of course, Kendou, I was just - uh - you know."

"Uh …" Itsuka trailed off, not exactly sure what to say here. Ochako coughed a bit, glancing down at her knees, and Izuku folded his hands together, looking anywhere but them.

Silence fell in the small room as Izuku continued to stare down at his knees, Ochako glanced between the two of them with her face turning redder by the second, and Itsuka stiffened up, glancing between them while shaking a bit nervously as well for some reason - and then she let out a small sigh, and put her hand down on the bed so she could better get on it.

Both Izuku and Ochako quickly looked around as Itsuka swung her legs up, leaving all three of them on the bed and making them both go much redder as she began moving towards the front of the bed.

"Uh … Kendou?" Izuku squeaked a bit. "What are you -?"

"Move over a bit," She smiled at him, poking him in the shoulder with her finger, "you're gonna be in the middle."

"I - huh?!" Izuku felt himself go even redder, looking around at Ochako as she likewise went red, watching as Itsuka moved to lay down on the edge of the bed with her own cheeks looking rosey.

"Well … you put the thought in my head," She shrugged, glancing away, "and at this point, I'm feeling a bit too tired to think things through properly. So yeah, fuck it, let's all sleep together - it'll definitely be tight, but we'll be comfortable, I think. Ochako, move to the wall, and Midoriya - if you keep your head up, we'll move a few pillows."

Both Izuku and Ochako gulped nervously, clearly having reservations about this, but one eyebrow raise from their friend made them immediately comply with her instructions. Ochako moved back so her back pressed against the wall, and Izuku awkwardly slid up beside her, both of them red as Izuku's arm accidentally pressed into her own, and filled them both with the need to get away from each other.

Alas, it was too late to do so, what with Itsuka grabbing the pillow from the futon with her toes, and once she got a hold of it with her hand, moved to put it down under Izuku's head, and then used her foot to grab the sheets. Once they were all tucked in, Itsuka turned to turn off the lamp beside the bed, casting them into darkness.

Soon enough, all three of them were laying beside each other, having little to no choice but to stare at each other as silence fell. At once, all three of them realized the biggest flaw here - the bed was somewhat big, but definitely not big enough for three people, so they were all somewhat pressed together and touching whether they like it or not, both girls trying hard to avoid touching Izuku with any ... girl parts that might make him explode into a blushing mess. Itsuka immediately cursed her decision to lay on her side facing Izuku, giving her a good look at him laying flat on his back and staring at the ceiling in terror, and Ochako likewise imitated her, not wanting to face the wall as both girls stared at Izuku's blood red face.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... this was a much better idea in my head," Itsuka muttered, her own cheeks feeling very hot.

Both of them turned to stare at her blankly for a moment - and then Izuku let out another soft chuckle, one that made their hearts thump happily in their chests for some … unknown reason, as he sighed and raised a hand to rub his face.

"It's … well, I'm not gonna say that I'm cool with it," He muttered, "but … it's nice, I - I think. I'm - I'm not feeling like I have to get up, anyway. It's very … uh …"

"Snug?" Ochako guessed for him, smiling as Izuku covered his face and let out a weak groan. Both girls giggled a bit, feeling the small awkwardness break, and adjusted themselves somewhat so that they could get comfortable, laying in the dark room as the three of them closed their eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"So … uh …" Izuku lowered his hand, glancing between both girls with a questioning look, "I … might have misheard this, but … were you two referring to each other by your - by your first names?"

"Huh?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, and then blinked as she realized what he was talking about. "Oh - oh, yeah, I … I guess we were, huh? Yeah, we, uh - well, we had a talk while you were … indisposed … and, y'know, decided that since we've been so close for - for a year now, why should we be so formal?"

"I … guess that's true," Izuku slowly nodded, seeing the logic in that statement and not noticing Ochako conveniently glancing away to hide how red her face had become.

"So … uh … I guess in that case, if you want, you can call me by my first name too, Midoriya. N-not to say that you have to," Itsuka quickly added in, glancing away with her face turning red again, "or - or that I'm feeling pressured to let you call me that, it's just - uh - I'm just - throwing that out there, I guess. It's cool if you - yeah."

"Uh …" Izuku stopped for a moment, staring at the ceiling as he thought about it - and then he gulped nervously. "... I'm … not sure if I have the mental fortitude to do that."

"... you don't have the mental fortitude to call me 'Itsuka'?"

"Er … no."

"Hm," Itsuka raised a teasing eyebrow, smirking a bit, "I see how it is, Midoriya … okay, okay. I don't get the privilege of having a cool nickname, huh?"

"Huh? W-what?"

"Yeah, 'Occhan' is apparently okay," Itsuka smirked as Ochako began giggling, "and 'Kacchan' too apparently, but nothing for me, it appears. No 'Icchan', no 'Kenchan', nothing. I'm disappointed, really disappointed."

"I - you -" Izuku stuttered, glancing around desperately at Ochako for help, only for him to falter at her increasingly difficult attempts to hold in her laughter, and let out a small sigh as he crossed his arms carefully across his chest, pouting adorably. "- you're mean. I'm going to sleep."

"Oh, come on, Midoriya, I'm just kidding!"

"Nope."

"Midoriyaaaaa …" Itsuka said in a giggly sing-song voice.

"Nope." Izuku repeated, and with that, he managed to roll over onto his face, making Ochako break into laughter at his immature pout and Itsuka beginning to giggle as well as she laid down a bit more comfortably so as not to disturb her arm. Once she got control of her laughter, Itsuka let a more natural smile grace her face as she poked Izuku's arm, sighing as he jumped a bit and moved his head to look at her from where it had been smushed against the pillow.

"Seriously, though," She leaned against her own pillow as her hand back down to her side, pressing the side of her face against her pillow, "you can take your time calling me whatever you want. If you wanted to just call me 'Kendou', that's fine, but when you wanna call me by my first name, just go ahead."

"Oh, uh …" Izuku rolled over so that he was on his back again, and both girls relaxed and smiled at the sight of the blush on his cheeks as he shrugged, "... I … guess so, I - I guess that sounds good. And … well … I guess if you … if you wanted to call me by my first name …"

Itsuka raised her eyebrow at that unspoken invitation, trying to pretend that her heartbeat didn't just accelerate at the sheer thought of that, and slowly nodded.

"Alright," She smiled, "Izuku."

His name on her lips just made him go even redder, letting out a groan as he rolled back around and pressed his face back into the pillow. Itsuka let out a small giggle while Ochako smiled at their antics, and both girls took that as their cue to finally try and get some sleep, rolling over and closing their eyes - 

- and yet, Ochako couldn't help but feel her smile falter.

As the minutes ticked by, and she heard Izuku shuffle next to her as his breath began to slow into an even pace, signifying that he had fallen asleep, she couldn't help but curl into herself a bit, relieved that she was facing the wall so neither of them could see the small frown on her face as she thought, slowly bringing her knees up so she could wrap her arms around them.

The way that Itsuka had smiled at Izuku just now … for some reason, she couldn't just … get it out of her mind. It wasn't the first time she had seen that kind of expression on her friend's face; it was back at the - the New Year's Eve party, when they had been sitting on the porch. Staring at each other as though there was nothing else in the world besides each other, as though Ochako didn't even exist.

At the time, it had confused her, and … and she couldn't understand why. She didn't understand why she felt so … off when Izuku had pointed out Itsuka's hair being down, and why it felt like she had been forgotten about at that moment. She didn't understand why, whenever Nejire got into Izuku's face, she felt like her heart was about to slam out of her chest, why she felt like she had to go over and physically separate the two of them. She wasn't sure why she felt so … off whenever Itsuka and Izuku had a moment, why she felt weird when Izuku and Nejire got together to hang out at lunch.

Why? Was she - was she jealous of him spending time with other people? She knew she didn't have any right to feel that way - after years of just having her as a friend, he deserved more than just her. But why was she so … uncomfortable with Izuku getting closer to Itsuka and Nejire in general? She didn't feel this way about Setsuna and Yui being friends with Izuku, or him being friends with Tenya and Eijirou and Momo and Yuuyu. Why those two?

Why would she -

"Either of you two still awake?"

Ochako blinked at the quiet voice behind her, hearing it come from somewhere behind her. With a small grunt, she managed to roll over, and blinked when she saw Itsuka's eyes still open, glancing behind her shoulder to see Ochako still awake as well, and she let out a small sigh as she likewise rolled over. 

Both girls glanced to see Izuku asleep, looking tired even when he was out of it, and Ochako couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Out like a light," She giggled quietly.

"That's our boy," Itsuka shook her head, smiling gently, "not that I can really blame him. Today was …"

"Yeah."

There was another silence in the room, both girls staring at Izuku as he slept - and then Itsuka felt her smile fade.

"... we almost lost him today, didn't we?"

Ochako blinked at that, looking up from Izuku's face to look at Itsuka. Her entire happy mood from earlier had vanished - now there were small tears gathering in her eyes as she stared down at him, shuddering a bit as she raised a hand to wipe her face.

"I just … sorry," She sniffled, shaking her head. "I'm … I've been lying here for minutes, and I just keep thinking about …"

Ochako stared at her for a moment, shocked - and then she began quietly sitting up. Adjusting herself so that she was up on her butt, she moved around Izuku (and mentally apologizing for somewhat laying on top of him) so that she could give Itsuka a small hug. Her friend sniffled, and quickly sat up so that Ochako wouldn't wake Izuku up with her weight on top of him, and the two girls embraced a bit, Itsuka tucking her face into her shoulder.

"Fuck, I suck," She giggled lowly, "here I am breaking down over …"

"It's okay," Ochako mumbled, "I've … just been trying not to think about it, honestly."

"Yeah."

"..."

"..."

"... so, uh …"

"Yeah, Itsuka?"

"If ... if we're trying to take our minds off it ..." Itsuka tucked her face a bit firmer into Ochako's shoulder, but there was a weird catch in her voice that made Ochako blink, "... then ... I guess we can ... talk about it?"

Ochako went a bit still, blinking in confusion - it? What was 'it'? What could she be -

- and then it clicked, making Ochako's eyes widen and a sudden hot feeling begin crawling on her cheeks. She was talking about …

"Oh. You ... you wanna talk about ...?"

"Yeah." Itsuka nodded a bit, sounding very small. "Our ... kiss."

"Oh. I ... uh ..." Ochako faltered, feeling heat returning to her face - and then she let out a small sigh, closing her eyes, and nodded against Itsuka's shoulder. "Okay. Yeah. Let's … yeah."

"Not … right here, though. Do you wanna …?"

"Y-yeah."

Together, the two girls slid out of the covers, careful not to shake Izuku out of his slumber, and slowly got to their feet - they were still exhausted after today, of course, so they both had to move a bit stiffer than they were used to. They managed to get off the bed, and slowly sank down so that they were sitting on the abandoned futon, glancing away from each other as Itsuka scratched her cheek, and Ochako gulped.

"So," Itsuka started, already beginning to blush, "we … kissed."

"U-uh-huh."

"Yeah …" Itsuka slowly nodded, "... or … you know, more accurately, I - you know, I kissed you. That's … yeah."

Ochako nodded a bit stiffly.

"So … uh …" The orange-haired girl faltered then, staring down at her knees - and then she let out an awkward giggle, using her good hand to cover her face. "... I'm sorry, I have - I have no idea what to even say about this."

Ochako let out a small sigh, smiling reluctantly, and glanced back up at Itsuka as she settled back on the back of her thighs, glancing through her fingers at her friend. There was another silence in the room as they stared briefly at each other - and then Ochako let out another breath as she leaned back on her hands.

"Uh … yeah," She nodded, "we … kissed. That … definitely happened, didn't it?"

"That it did."

"Yeah," She bit her lip, "it wasn't … exactly how I imagined losing my first … you know."

"Me neither," Itsuka chuckled, "I kinda imagined it would be like … I don't know, some big romantic date where the guy of my dreams just kind of … sweeps me off my feet. I didn't imagine it would be … you know, me shoving my tongue down one of my best friend's throats."

"Egh," Ochako groaned, covering her own face while Itsuka giggled. "God, we really did - oh, my god, it was a French kiss too! I'm - I'm so sorry, I - I had no idea what I was doing!"

"Me neither!" Itsuka shook her head, her quiet giggles increasing. "I had no idea what I was even doing with my - you know! God, I just - I'm sorry for just - you know - planting one on you."

"I mean … I did … kiss back," Ochako pointed out, blushing harder, and Itsuka let out a small noise at that, "and … and it wasn't like …"

"L-like what?"

"I …" Ochako paused, feeling her gaze trailing down to the arm Itsuka had in a cast. There was a small silence, as Ochako stared down at the sling and Itsuka stared at Ochako's face, looking very conflicted and curious as to what she would say about their kiss - and perhaps feeling a small increase of her heartbeat as to what she could possibly say here - and then Ochako blinked.

Itsuka blinked as the embarrassed, awkward look on Ochako's face vanished as she stared at her arm, tilting her head somewhat.

"Uh ... Ochako? Are you -"

"Itsuka."

Itsuka blinked at the sudden seriousness in her voice, feeling herself begin to shake slightly. She had no idea why she was looking so serious at the moment, but she could feel her knees suddenly begin to shake as a shot of something hot but not unpleasant shot through her.

"Y-yeah, Ochako? What is -"

"Why was your arm glowing?"

Itsuka's thoughts, which had been beginning to move around a mile a minute, grinded to a stop, staring blankly at Ochako for a moment as her brown eyes returned to her cyan ones, looking at her curiously and worriedly. After a few seconds of confused silence, suddenly, it clicked for Itsuka, making her blink as her jaw dropped slightly, her thoughts about the kiss immediately evaporating.

"I … huh?"

"Today," Ochako said in a quiet voice, "when you … you destroyed that mountain. Your arm … it was glowing."

"I … uh …" Itsuka stuttered, completely taken out of it and unable to mask the shock and fear that suddenly shot through her at what Ochako was realizing.

"Your quirk … it's never done that," She pointed out, noticing Itsuka paling even more in the low light coming from her window, and how she had begun shaking, "you've never glowed using your quirk. And - and the strength that came from the hit - you've - you've never done something like that before. Destroy an entire mountain."

"I - O-Ochako -"

"Itsuka, what was -"

"N-no ..."

Both girls blinkedat the sudden mutter - but it didn't come from either of them. It came from somewhere on the side, up on the ...

... on the bed.

"P-please … please no …"

Feeling their eyes widen, and the awkward conversation that they were having immediately fade from their minds, they both sat up on their knees, quickly looking back around at the bed in slight alarm. Inside it, Izuku's head moved quickly to the side, and even if it was dark, they could see his face twisting into a grimace, clenching the bedsheet tightly in one hand.

"D-Deku?" Ochako muttered towards him, feeling her heartbeat begin to quicken as she rose to one knee.

"Please don't … please …!"

At the sound of tearful panic in her best friend's voice, Ochako quickly got up, moving back to the bed and sitting back down beside him as she stared down at him in alarm. Itsuka likewise scrambled up, staring down at Izuku in shock as Ochako gently shook his shoulder, realizing at once what was happening.

It was clear that Izuku was dreaming, muttering to himself, but the way his voice sounded panicked, and the way he sounded almost pleading … it was like …

"Don't, don't, please don't -!"

"Deku!" Ochako said in a slightly sharper voice, giving him another quick shake - and then Izuku's eyes snapped open. He let out a quiet gasp as he stared blankly at the ceiling for a second, his eyes hazy as he registered that he wasn't dreaming anymore, and after a few moments of silence where he panted a bit heavily, he slowly turned his head to where Ochako was sitting beside him, staring down at him in worry.

"Deku …" She leaned down, staring at him with a kind, assuring smile, "... you were dreaming."

"I …" Izuku shuddered again, and slowly began to sit up. The two girls watched him as he managed to sit up so his back was leaning slightly against the bedframe, and both immediately noticed that he was shaking, small tears building in his eyes.

"Deku?" Ochako asked quietly, "What is it? Are you okay?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated, and then quickly brought his hand to his eyes, letting out a shuddered, choked breath, "... I just …"

At the sight of him beginning to break down in tears, letting out another tearful breath, Ochako didn't hesitate to lean in, wrapping her arms around his head and bringing him to her. Itsuka watched in concern as Izuku had a quiet breakdown, Ochako stroking his hair and letting out a few shushing noises as she stroked his hair.

"I'm - I'm - I'm sorry," He shook his head, letting out another choked noise, "I - I wasn't - I - I t-tried not to think a-about it, but -"

"Shh, Deku," Ochako mumbled, rocking them back and forth a bit in order to soothe him, "just let it out."

Itsuka nodded, and reached out to put her hand over Izuku's, rubbing the back of his hand and letting him shudder and cry quietly to himself.

For a few minutes, the two girls let Izuku quietly cry to himself, wrapping his arm around Ochako's waist to somewhat return the embrace. They knew that he was trying to keep himself quiet so as not to disturb the rest of the house's occupants, something that made their hearts break as Itsuka scooted closer, taking off the blanket so she could take Izuku's legs and raise them, slipping in and letting them rest overtop hers. Ochako continued to gently rock him, and Itsuka, after a moment of hesitation, reached out to run her hand through his hair, Izuku not even minding as he quietly cried into Ochako's shirt.

Finally, he let out another shuddering breath, and slowly began to raise his head from her shoulder, both girls letting him move back, and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, Itsuka quickly turning to grab a few tissues from the box next to her bed, and gave them to him so that he could wipe his face and blow his nose.

"I'm … I'm sorry, guys," He apologized quietly, blowing his nose again and throwing the used tissue into the trash bin, "I just … I couldn't keep it in. I was trying not to - to think about it,  but - but - I'm sorry."

"Don't be, Deku," Ochako shook her head, using the back of her fingers to absently stroke his cheek, "it just happens. But … but what happened? Did - you had a nightmare, didn't you?"

"I … yeah," He muttered, looking down in shame, "I … I tried not to think about what happened today, but … but I … I had a dream about … about them."

Both Ochako and Itsuka went still at that, staring at Izuku in shock as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand again, and let out another shuddering breath.

"I thought … I thought if I just kept thinking about how you guys were holding up, and … and concentrated on my mom, I wouldn't … I wouldn't have to think about what happened," He mumbled, "and about … and about them. But … but they came to me in my dreams and … and I'm …"

"Deku …"

"I almost died today," He blurted out, trying to keep his voice even as Ochako and Itsuka winced at the reminder, "I almost died, and … and I hate that it just came to me and won't leave me alone. I thought that - that if I just kept - if I just kept thinking about you guys and kept my thoughts happy, I'd - I'd be fine, but I just … I just remembered -"

Before he could even finish his rambling thought, however, Ochako moved back in. Grabbing the back of his head, she guided him back against her shoulder, hugging him tightly and putting her head down on the top of his head. Izuku, for his part, didn't resist and immediately gave in, releasing another shuddering breath as he carefully wrapped his arms around her.

"I closed my eyes, and I just … I saw them," He mumbled, "The hooded guy. N-Nine. Slice. I don't think … I don't think I …"

"Deku," Ochako muttered, "it's okay. It's going to be okay."

"I don't …"

"Deku, you're going to be okay," She insisted, taking her own shuddered breath as she nuzzled his hair, "I'm not gonna let them get you. I … I messed up so much today. I - I was weak, but … but I'm not gonna let them do that to us again."

Both Izuku and Itsuka remained quiet, letting Ochako speak - from the emotion in her voice, they both knew that she needed to say this to get it off her chest.

"I was weak, and I wasn't able to save you." She vented, squeezing him a bit tighter, "But … but that's going to change. I'm going to get stronger so that I can - so that the next time any villain so much as looks at us, I can save you. Just like you saved me."

The three of them were quiet for a moment, letting Ochako duck her head against his for a moment - and then she let out another breath, and slowly began moving to lie down with Izuku. The boy, for his part, merely let her carry him down, laying on their sides as Ochako tucked her arm under his neck, and held him to her.

"Uh … Occhan?" Izuku said quietly, confused for a moment while she smiled.

"You know the drill," She giggled a bit as she hugged him, "cuddle time. Just like when you had nightmares when we were kids."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, glancing away with his cheeks going a bit red - and then he sighed as he complied, moving to get himself comfortable and trying not to crush Ochako's arm under his head, and let her hug his waist, his face continuing to burn.

Itsuka smiled down at the both of them, and took her cue to get back into bed as well, sighing as she rolled onto her side facing away from the two friends, letting them quietly comfort each other - 

- and also to hide the small frown on her face as she curled in on herself.

There was something about … about how Ochako had been holding him, comforting him, that had made Itsuka stare blankly across her room, hearing them shift in the bed behind her but not looking back. The way they were so … comfortable with each other, in a way that Itsuka definitely wasn't with him. She'd poke Izuku and he'd go blood red and start flailing around, and Nejire would get in his face and make his face steam.

But with Ochako … he seemed so calm, so peaceful. So much that she told him that she was going to literally cuddle him to sleep and he didn't offer any resistance despite being so embarrassed about it.

Before, she had been amused by his nervousness around her, but now … but now she could feel some of the dots connecting in her head as she realized something. It made sense, of course, for Izuku to be closer with Ochako than he was with her - they had known each other for years, it made perfect sense that he was more comfortable around her. But the way Ochako was with him right now, how she seemed to understand his thoughts better than he did. How close they both were after only having each other for years … to her, everything was coming together.

The length of time they'd known each other. How Ochako had been in his corner for years, and he in hers. How close they were, even closer than Itsuka could ever hope to be with either of them.

They were …

… they were in love with each other. Probably have been for years, at this point.

Now that she thought of it, it made perfect sense, Itsuka thought as she buried her head a bit firmer into the pillow, hearing them both begin to breathe venly behind her, telling her that they were both probably asleep now. Ochako and Izuku were in love. That made sense. Everything was coming together in her mind - why Ochako had asked Itsuka if Nejire being up in Izuku's business bothered her as much as it bothered Ochako. Why she always got so worried and so angry whenever he did something reckless. Why she had gotten so protective over him at the USJ, literally using her thumbs to blind the hooded man.

She was in love with him … and Izuku was probably in love with her, and neither of them realized it.

And for some reason, that made Itsuka's heart clench in pain.

But … why? Why was she feeling so … weird about them being together? She should be jumping off the walls in happiness right now, making internal plans to get them together, being their biggest shipper - and yet, she felt like crying, tucking her face into her pillow as tears returned to her eyes yet again for a reason she didn't understand. She should be beside herself with joy right now, and yet …

… did … did the kiss today … did that have something to do with it?

She squirmed, going red again as she stared glumly at the wall. From their conversation earlier, it didn't seem like Ochako felt too awkward about it - well, she did, but not to the extent that they were going to be avoiding each other from now on. They didn't talk much about it, but … but Itsuka felt like she understood what had happened. High nerves and adrenaline had made her act on basic instinct, and temptation made her kiss Ochako.

She wasn't - yeah, that made sense, she thought to herself. Why else would she just … kiss Ochako of all people out of nowhere? She had never even thought of girls like that before - well, she barely thought of anyone like that before, to be fair, the selection of guys at middle school that she was attracted to was slim to none. But that wasn't important - she had crushes on celebrities before, of course, but they had all been guys. She had never even considered girls in that light before.

Her thoughts made sense - they'd barely escaped with their lives, they were panicked, and she just acted without thinking. That's why she kissed Ochako.

So … so she just needed a bit more time, if that was the case. Get over what happened with Ochako, pretend the kiss never happened, and … and then get to shipping her and Izuku together. It was clear from their conversation - she and Ochako acknowledged it happened, and it looked like they weren't going to put much thought into it. That was that, despite how Itsuka's heart ached at that thought.

But now … now that that was out of the way, there was one more thing that she had to think about, she frowned as she adjusted herself slightly so she wasn't laying on her broken arm.

"Why was your arm glowing?"

She had known it already, but to hear Ochako ask that question just confirmed her greatest fear. Ochako had seen her use One for All. She knew that there was something off, that there was something Itsuka was hiding from them. And it would only be a matter of time before she brought it up again. Or talk to Izuku about it and confer with him. 

And then the two of them … they'd either ask her about it, or think that she was holding something back and wouldn't trust her ever again.

Which meant … it was time to bite the bullet. She had to tell them about One for All, and soon.

Finally glancing behind her shoulder, Itsuka stared at Izuku and Ochako as they quietly slumbered, and let out a small sigh as she rolled over, careful of her arm as she faced them. Izuku looked at least a little better, being held in a soft embrace by Ochako, and Itsuka smiled gently. After a small moment, she hesitantly reached out, and brushed the tips of her fingers against his face, before lowering it to rub Ochako's arm. Neither of them stirred, merely sighing as they relaxed in their sleep, and Itsuka couldn't help but smile at them both.

These two lovebirds … she couldn't help but let out a small breath as she moved a bit closer to them. No matter what empty and weird feelings she had, she knew that these two were pretty much stuck with her - so she'd get over this heavy feeling, whatever it was, and then give them the kick in the asses they needed to get together.

But before that, she would have to trust them with her biggest secret, and pray that it didn't push them apart.

But that … Itsuka felt her eyes grow heavier, resting her face pretty close to Izuku's without thinking, and began to drift off to sleep … that would be an issue that she'd have to face tomorrow. Because right now …

… right now, she wanted to rest beside her training partners.

And that would be enough.


Rain.

Wind.

Lightning.

Thunder.

Ordinarily, such weather wouldn't be something that Teko Kendou would even put any thought into, walking down the empty streets, but after what the police detective had told them over the phone this afternoon, he couldn't help but look up and narrow his eyes at the flashes of light in the dark clouds, wondering if it was true weather or just the work of the villain who had tormented his granddaughter.

At the moment, it was around eleven o'clock, long after he would ordinarily go to bed, but he couldn't sleep just yet. He had work to do, after all. With a huff, he adjusted the hood of his raincoat as he continued moving down the street.

At this point in the night, due to the weather, not many people were out and about, save a few people across the street hurrying into the local bar for cover or walking home with their umbrellas being beaten on by the rain. As lightning flashed across the sky again, Teko sighed as he moved down into the alley they had agreed to meet in, reaching into his pocket for the phone that Tenohira had purchased for him a few years ago, and checking hte messages.

After Itsuka had safely returned home, he had immediately sent a text asking for a meeting. He hadn't expected the head to come meet with an old man in the middle of a downpour, of course, but after checking his messages after dinner, he had gotten word back that a few of his subordinates would meet with him, and had quickly left his home for the meeting. He knew Tenohira had been suspicious about where he was going, but at this point, he wasn't much for caring - he had gotten the meeting, and his name carried enough weight after what happened two decades ago that they wouldn't send some hooligan to waste his time.

Still, Teko couldn't help but scowl as he looked around, raising a hand to scratch his wet beard - he would rather be home right now, sleeping in his bed, and he needed to get back soon so his daughter would not be suspicious for him being out for long.

After a few minutes of waiting and watching passerbys, Teko heard footsteps approaching him, splashing in the puddles. On guard, Teko subtly activated his quirk, feeling his shoulders loosen, as he looked around. Thankfully, he knew from the silhouettes of the dark figures moving through the shadows that they were here for him, feeling his eyes narrow.

Of course it was them. They were one of the few remaining yakuza groups who took a leaf out of the books of heroes and villains dressed themselves up, after all.

"I'm disappointed," He said in a gruff voice, relaxing his quirk, "Kai does not even wish to greet an old man out in the rain."

"You'll have to forgive our master," The man in the dark cloak and hat said, bowing slightly to the older man and dripping a bit of water down the bird mask he was wearing, splashing his own coat with it, "we had a few complications tonight with runaways, so he had to stay behind to ensure that they behaved. Had one of our guests not tried to flee, I assure you that Chisaki would have wanted to meet with you in person, Kendou-sensei."

It does not matter," Teko shook his head, walking a bit further into the alleyway so no one passing by would see him with what looked like two plague doctors, "as long as you two are here and reliable."

"Indeed we are. I believe that we have not been introduced," The man straightened up, gesturing to himself and the man beside him, his blonde hair flattening in the rain as they bowed respectfully, "I am Shin Nemoto, and this is Hekiji Tengai. We are but Two of Chisaki's Eight Bullets."

"Hm," Teko narrowed his eyes somewhat at that nickname, "well. It doesn't matter what you refer to yourselves as, as long as you hear out what I have to say."

The two yakuza straightened up, obviously a little intimidated by the older man standing before them. Good - if these two were truly members of the Shie Hassaikai, there would be no doubt that they would have been told the stories about him, and what he was capable of. He still had some street cred, after all.

"Today," He glanced between the two masked men as he buried his hands in his pockets, "there was an attack at UA High School, on a few of the students. Several of the students involved in the incident had been injured, including a few of my own."

"Ah, yes," Tengai nodded, raising a hand to rub the beak of his bird mask, "rumors of the group that got away from All Might himself have already begun circulating. I know that Chisaki was very interested to hear about them when they reached us."

"Well, he's not the only one that wants to know more about them," Teko narrowed his eyes somewhat, "I want to know everything about them. Their true names, where they operate out of, what power they might have. I want to know what the Hero Public Safety Commission is doing about them, and what other criminal groups may be interested in joining or imitating them. I want to know everything about this Villain Consortium."

"I see … and does it matter how we get that information?" Tengai tilted his head interestingly. "There may be bloodshed, sensei - few villains are willing to just talk, we may need to persuade them."

"Then so be it. As long as you get information about them, I don't care how you get it."

"Very well then, Kendou-sensei. The Shie Hassaikai will look into it. But know this, as Chisaki instructed us to tell you," Tengai folded his hands together, "the only reason we allow this partnership between us to continue is because of your past with our now former leader. We will assist you in gathering information about this Villain Consortium, but always remember that we will prioritize our own survival and safety above whatever debt we owe you."

Teko merely frowned at that, glancing between both gangsters as they looked back at him, before he huffed and turned to walk out of the alleyway.

"I am aware." He said over his shoulder, not even dignifying looking back. "Inform Chisaki that when you get the information I requested, to summon me. Do not come to my dojo, or I will send you out in a worse state than you come in."

"Very well. And do you have anything we should tell your son?"

Teko stopped walking for a moment, staring forward as the yakuza let the question hang in the air - and then he furrowed his brow, continuing to walk forward.

"If my son hasn't gotten himself killed yet," He gruffly said, "tell him that I expect him to arrive home for his lessons soon."

With that, Teko walked out into the night, and the two members of the Shie Hassaikai slid back into the darkness.

Notes:

 

And that was Chapter 18! And thus, technically, the end of our 'Season 1' of this fic! And my oh my, we got a few plot developments this chapter, didn't we? Itsuka and Ochako have totally, 100%, gotten over their kiss, no way this won't impact their relationship going forward, no sirree! Izuku told All Might about Nine's cool new quirks, which did not set off more tension between All Might and Nighteye! Itsuka realized that there's gotta be feelings between Izuku and Ochako, which will in no way end in disaster! And Teko got to meet two young men in the rain, who will not have any repercussions -

- what's that? You guys don't believe me? Okay, fine.

Yep, indeed, we've got Nine's group attached to Izuku and Ochako, and we've got our favourite yakuza attached to Itsuka! We all knew that the Shie Hassaikai were attached to this story from the get go, especially since we've technically already been introduced to Eri in our little flash forward, but I don't imagine you guys guessed that they might be connected to Itsuka in this way! This will be a bit of a slower burn, but I hope you guys are ready for the sheer, utter chaos! I know I am :D

In any case, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 19: A Long Day Off

Summary:

In which the trio takes a well deserved day off, secrets are revealed, and Itsuka has what the kids call 'a bi panic’.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Izuku? Are you awake?"

With a small, questioning grunt, Izuku's eyes fluttered open, feeling confused and out of it for a moment. He wasn't exactly sure what time it was, or where he even was at the moment - probably just grogginess from waking up - but he knew that everything felt weirdly soft. He was lying on top of a soft mattress, a pillow comfortably propped up so that his neck and head weren't at a weird angle, and he could feel someone softly brushing their fingers against the back of his neck - the tips of that person's fingers feeling ticklish and familiar.

Feeling a bit more confused about what was going on, Izuku rolled over onto his other side, and felt himself falter and go a bit red as he realized who was in the bed with him. Ochako was lying on her side as well, giving him a small, adorable smile as she laid right beside him - as in, their legs were entwined under the white covers, making Izuku shiver at her gently rubbing her thigh between his. 

What she was wearing, however, was what made Izuku blink a bit - he could've sworn she went to bed in her black tank top and shorts, with her mitts on her hands, but she was now wearing a familiar white t-shirt with kanji on it, making him blush as he realized that she was wearing his shirt. Plus, her gloves were nowhere in sight, her fingers idly rising to brush against his arm and making him gulp.

But maybe he shouldn't be surprised she was wearing his shirt - he was pretty out of it last night, and she borrowed his clothes all the time. Maybe she even changed her shirt before she had gone to bed with him and -

- and -

"Huh?" Izuku blinked again, glancing over his shoulder. To his surprise, Itsuka was no longer in the bed - just an empty space where she had been, leaving Izuku and Ochako as the sole occupants. The entire room was bright and warm, making Izuku feel like they were just floating in the air, as though Ochako had used her quirk on them and the bed, just to give them their own little private world.

"Itsuka already got up," Ochako explained with a giggle, making Izuku turn his head back to her as she pushed half her face into her own white pillow, "she's just getting breakfast ready. We decided that you could sleep in for a bit, and I'd stay behind so you didn't wake up alone."

"Oh," Izuku nodded, letting out a small sigh as he felt himself relax on his side. There was something in the back of his mind that felt like there was something off right now, but everything was so soft and warm he couldn't quite concentrate on it, closing his eyes.

Suddenly, Ochako's weight on the bed shifted, and he quickly opened his eyes again to see her scooting a bit closer, giggling lightly as she raised her hand and brushed it against the fringe of his hair, making him flinch slightly and blink at her in surprise.

"O-Occhan? What're you -?"

"'Occhan'?" Ochako repeated, smiling teasingly at him as she trailed her finger against the mark on his head. "Haven't heard that nickname in a while …"

"H-huh?" Izuku wrinkled his brow, staring at her in confusion. "W-what do you mean?"

"Shhh, silly," She smiled, making Izuku's heart suddenly skip a beat, "just relax. You're safe here … with me."

She scooted even closer, with Izuku feeling himself turn red with how close their faces were getting - they were almost nose to nose, and the soft, adoring look in her eyes was making his heart beat rather fast in his chest, and the blood running throughout his body quickly make a detour to his face. Gulping loudly, Izuku acted on instinct and rolled back over, facing away from Ochako as she giggled cutely again.

"Oh, Izuku," She laughed lightly, making Izuku shiver for reasons he didn't quite understand - and then he felt something soft and slightly wet press into the back of his neck, hearing the sound of her lips quietly smacking as she moved away from where she kissed him, and felt himself go even redder as her hand began rubbing his side, "acting so shy …"

"I - O-Occhan, I don't - I -"

"What's wrong?" She mumbled into his hair, pressing herself against him and making him shake again, "Don't you think you deserve this, Izuku? Are you wondering why?"

"I - I'm not - I -"

"I'll tell you what, Izuku …" She whispered, "I'll tell you why I'm doing this … giving you everything you deserve … if you answer me one question."

Her hand slid up his arm, ghosting over his bicep, and she gently took his shoulder -

- and then squeezed.

Squeezed hard.

Hard enough that a shot of pain suddenly streaked through him, making him wince.

"I -?" Izuku wrinkled his brow in confusion, grimacing slightly from the pain of the grip on his shoulder, and looked back around to see what his best friend was doing -

- and standing above the bed where she should have been, grinning wickedly down at him as blood and saliva mixed together fell from his mouth and onto the white bed, and face to face with Izuku as his large hand crushed his shoulder in a tight enough grip that blood streaked down his clothes, was the hooded man.

"W-w-why," He growled in a quiet voice as Izuku stared up at him in horror, the yellow glowing eyes widening insanely, "were you not s-strong enough to stop m-me?"

As he raised his other large hand to wrap around Izuku's head, the boy shook in frozen terror, as the warm feeling of the covers he was under suddenly vanished, and he felt a slight wetness. He only had time to glance down to see the blood soaking through the white sheets, whether it was his or someone else's, before the hand completely covered his face and blocked his vision.

And then the hooded man squeezed his hand into a tight fist, laughing as he easily crushed Izuku's entire head like wet paper -

- and that was when Izuku let out a sharp gasp, his eyes shooting open and jolting where he was laying.

For several seconds, Izuku panted raggedly as he stared up at the ceiling, the phantom feeling of the hooded man's hands on his face and arm fading as he tried to control his breathing. From the sunlight pouring in from the window on his left, he knew that it was the morning, with the sun trickling in the open window as the birds sang outside. Finally, Izuku let out a small sigh, and closed his eyes, flopping his head back onto the pillow. The events of what had happened yesterday slowly came back to him, making him frown as he kept his eyes shut, and a small breath escaped his lips, feeling a weird tingling sensation on the right side of his neck, but it wasn't unpleasant, so he didn't pay any heed to it.

He … probably shouldn't be surprised, he supposed as he grimaced slightly. There would be no way in hell that he would just be able to … get over what happened yesterday. He had almost died, after all, at the hands of a group of madmen obsessed with killing All Might and killing him when he dared to call them out on their hypocrisy. Still though, he couldn't help but breathe through his nose for a few minutes - he hoped that the hooded man wouldn't be showing up in any more dreams, but he had a feeling that he wouldn't be so lucky. Hopefully, once he got up, he'd have enough time to forget about the nightmare and pretend that he was fine.

He could feel his entire body aching in a throbbing pain, his back sore and his arms feeling weirdly pinned - but he was here, wherever he was. He was awake, he was alive, the hooded man was nowhere in sight, he was safe. They weren't going to knock down the door, he wasn't going to be beaten to death, he was fine.

With a groan, Izuku tried to bring his hands up to rub his eyes, wanting to get some of the gunk out of them -

- but he felt suddenly confused when he realized that he couldn't move them - mostly due to that feeling of them being pinned down.

Crinkling his brow, Izuku opened his eyes and moved his head up to check on why he couldn't move his arms - and then he felt his eyes suddenly bulge out of his sockets as he realized he was currently face to face with a sleeping Itsuka. As in, she was resting her head on his shoulder, lightly snoring as she nuzzled into him in her sleep, and it was her slow breathing that he felt on his neck, sending a ticklish sensation through his body and making him shake. The arm that she didn't have in a cast was wrapped around his waist so they were pressed together, cuddling him so securely there would be no way he could break away without waking her up.

Another small groan suddenly came from Izuku's left, and he slowly turned his head, feeling horror fill him as the events of last night suddenly came back to him, to see Ochako in a likewise state as Itsuka, snoring as she pressed her face into the same pillow Izuku was resting on, her nose brushing against his cheek and making his face burn bright red. He soon realized that she had her own legs wrapped around his own, Izuku glancing down to see that she had raised it to wrap around both of the other bed's occupants to wrap around Itsuka's back, and her hand, encased in her sleeping mitt, was resting on Izuku's chest right above his heart, which had begun beating so fast it wouldn't be surprising if it woke her up.

And his hands … Izuku felt himself shake in terror as he realized that he had wrapped them around them as well. One hand resting on Itsuka's lower back, where her shirt had ridden up and letting him touch her bare skin (which made him shake for other reasons) and the other one wrapped around Ochako's shoulders, his fingers spread on her upper arm.

Oh, god, he was going to die, Izuku thought to himself as he felt paralyzed by his predicament - his best friend and their training partner, and let's be honest, their closest friend outside each other, were clinging to him like lifelines, and there was no way he would be able to escape without waking one of them up and causing complete and utter chaos. There would be no way he'd be able to slip his arms out from underneath them, Izuku realized as his blush burned even deeper. They were both pinned by the girls' weight, Ochako resting her head on top of his bicep and Itsuka's pinning his other arm under her body -

- and he was still rubbing her back, Izuku realized in horror, his thumb absently brushing against Itsuka's spine and making her hum in her sleep. Quickly, he snapped his hands down, flopping his other arm so it wasn't wrapped around Ochako's shoulders, which made her grumble, and sending a small spike of … something down his spine.

It was almost claustrophobic, with no way for him to ignore the fact that two girls were cuddling him, and - and god, it was so warm and soft, he thought with a shudder. There was a part of him that was trying to lull him back to sleep, or to move his hands back around them and bring them even closer, and …

… and he felt a sudden warmth in his stomach as Itsuka somehow nuzzled even closer, her orange fringe pressing against his cheek and making him gulp at how soft it was. And then Ochako's leg rubbed against a bit of his stomach, the shirt having ridden up slightly, and he could feel himself shake as Itsuka's hair tickled him, and Ochako nose nuzzled against his neck, making him take an audible gulp as they -

- and that was when the door to Itsuka's room began to slowly push open. Izuku's gaze snapped up as the white door slowly creaked open, all the blood that had been rushing to Izuku's face in the last minute draining just as quickly as a familiar head poked in.

"Hey … you guys awake?" Tenohira said softly, looking around at where her daughter was supposed to be. "I'd hate to wake you up, but we've all gotta leave for work soon, so we made breakfast for ..."

And that was when her eyes met Izuku's and he felt himself begin to shake in terror and embarrassment as she took in the little … situation he was in. Her gaze trailed from her daughter nuzzling into him on one arm, to Ochako hanging onto him like a lifeline on the other, and her small, kind smile fell as her dark eyes returned to meet Izuku's.

There was a moment's pause in which Izuku desperately attempted to find his words, and Tenohira slowly blinked -

- and then a sinister smirk appeared on her face, which only terrified Izuku even more as she slowly brought her head back out from the door to look down the hall.

"Inko, Miwa," She called in a sweet voice, "come have a look at this."

"Oh, no," Izuku groaned quietly, watching in embarrassment as Tenohira pushed the door fully open, "M-Mrs. Kendou, please don't -!"

Alas, it was too late to protest, as Tenohira took a small step back and let his mom and Miwa curiously peek inside to see what was going on. He felt heat explode right back onto his face as both Inko and Miwa's faces lit up in delight, and flopped back onto the pillow as they let out small squeals and tiptoed into the room, Gūdo walking behind them and giving the empty futon beside the bed a few curious sniffs.

Izuku could only lay there in embarrassed horror as the three mothers took in the sight of Itsuka and Ochako clinging to Izuku underneath the bed covers while he flopped back, and let out another groan as he peeked up and saw them taking out their phones.

"Oh, my goodness," Miwa flipped open her flip-phone, immediately snapping a picture while Tenohira likewise brought out her own phone, "this is going straight on the wall."

"Same here," Tenohira giggled, leaning over to snap a picture of her daughter's snoring, undignified face, "oh, Izuku, you little womanizer, you."

"I - no!" Izuku quickly but quietly protested, not wanting to make this situation any worse but also not wanting to wake up the two sleeping girls. "I just - we - I didn't - I -!"

"My little baby," Inko sniffled, moving her hands over her mouth as happy tears welled in her eyes, "he's finally becoming a man!"

"Mom, no!"

"Hm? What's going on down here now?"

Now Izuku felt like he was about to die as Hakushu poked his head into the doorway, blinking at the situation his daughter was in with her friends, and raising an eyebrow as he leaned against the doorframe, sipping on his coffee and feeling unable to suppress a smirk as his wife and Miwa continued to snap pictures.

But Izuku couldn't concentrate on that, since walking around Hakushu to see what was going on in the bedroom came -

"ALL MI-?!" Izuku almost shouted, but quickly caught himself before he could make this morning any more awkward than it already was. "- I - I mean - C-Coach Yagi?"

Indeed, All Might, albeit in his weakened for, was standing in the doorway, looking down at the three of them in surprise as Inko, Tenohira and Miwa continued to take several pictures of the trio in the bed, holding a coffee cup in his hand and glancing from Itsuka, to Izuku, to Ochako as a dust of pink appeared on his cheeks.

"A-ah, uh … Young Midoriya," He nodded stiffly, looking like he wasn't entirely sure what to say here, "good morning. You, uh … you seem to be comfortable."

"You can say that again," Hakushu laughed good-naturedly, chuckling as he leaned against the frame of the door and smiling at the entertainment as Izuku went redder and redder, "seems to be quite the pickle you're in there, Midoriya."

"I - uh - M-Mr. Kendou - C-Coach Yagi -"

"Oh, this one's going in the book," Tenohira gushed, giggling quietly with glee as she absently reached down to pat Gūdo's head, the dog looking like he was about to jump onto the bed as well as he popped his two front paws on the soft mattress, "down, Gūdo, you'll wake them up. And I see you wanting to bark, don't do it!"

"Aroooooo …"

As the dog let out a small, pitiful whine, Izuku felt himself blush even hotter as he heard the sound of more footsteps approaching outside the door - and then he felt himself pale in horror as Teko likewise poked his head in to see what the commotion was about. His gaze trailed to the bed, and met Izuku's eyes as his student stiffened up, seeing the old teacher flick his gaze to the arm Izuku had under Itsuka's waist, and Izuku gulped as Teko's eyes narrowed.

Quietly moving around All Might and Hakushu, Teko walked into the room, moving past Inko as she continued to barely keep her tears of happiness in, and moved to stand at the foot of the bed, staring down at the two sleeping girls and Izuku mentally praying for forgiveness - and then he suddenly reached down, grabbing the foot of the comforter they were all under, and ripped it straight off them.

At once, Itsuka and Ochako made confused and alarmed noises as they were suddenly jerked awake from the feeling of one of their sources of warmth vanishing, both of their eyes snapping open. Izuku grimaced and prepared for a world of awkwardness as they groggily sat up, looking confused and out of it as their gazes trailed down to him - and then, suddenly, clarity seemed to return to them.

They then realized what positions they were in - both of them clinging to Izuku while he had his arms beneath them, what they were doing suddenly clear - and Itsuka let out a small squeak as she pushed back, almost falling right over the side of the bed, and Ochako scrambled up so that she could press herself up against the wall. Izuku, for his part, immediately began apologizing, finally using his arms now that they weren't trapped underneath the girls to wrap around his head as he blushed brighter than he probably had ever done in his life.

"I - what -?!" Itsuka stammered, her entire head looking like it was on fire from how red it was, and quickly whipped her gaze up to the adults surrounding the bed, Tenohira pouting at her father while Teko stared down grimly at them. "- Mom?! Dad?! Grandpa?! Gūdo?!"

"Woof!"

"M-Mama?!" Ochako squeaked, likewise burning bright red at the sight of the flip-phone in her mother's hand, already knowing that she wasn't going to like what she found on it if she looked. "What - what are you -?!"

Before the three teenagers could freak out even more than they already were, however, there was the sudden sound of a door bursting open in the hall, making everyone in the room blink at the sound of footsteps quickly running throughout the house and making everyone look around in confusion.

"H-hey, man, let's slow it down!" Taiyo's voice was suddenly heard, sounding a bit confused and alarmed. "Izuku's over -"

"Where are you, Izuku?!" The voice of someone familiar shouted, making Izuku and Inko blink, and then they heard the footsteps come closer. "Are you -?!"

And coming right around the doorframe, while Hakushu and All Might blinked at him, came a man that neither the Midoriyas or the Urarakas hadn't seen in person for at least a year. It was clear that he had just gotten off his flight and came straight here, his business suit wrinkled and long coat kind of crinkled as a tall, lean man with short black hair, a bushy beard, and a look of absolute panic on his face, skidded into the room, looking around for his son.

"Izuku, are you -?!" Hisashi's gaze finally moved towards the bed, seeing Izuku sitting up and blinking in complete shock at the sudden appearance of his father, and relief seemed to course through Hisashi as he sagged forward, a smile appearing on his face - and then his gaze moved to Itsuka, and then to Ochako.

Hisashi faltered, straightening up and staring at the three of them in the bed for a brief moment, and became aware of everyone staring at him in surprise at his sudden appearance - and then a tinge of red came to his cheeks, and he quickly cleared his throat, looking suddenly awkward and out of place.

"Oh, uh … hello," He glanced around, giving an apologetic look to the adults in the room, glancing around at Hakushu, "you, uh … you must be the Kendous. I - I heard all about you from Inko, uh - er - hello. I'm Hisashi."

"Er … hey there," Hakushu awkwardly waved as Hisashi stole another glance at the bed his son was in, going red.

"Uh … well … it seems that you're … pretty busy right now, Izuku," He coughed, pointing awkwardly behind his shoulder while Izuku held his face in his hands and Itsuka and Ochako went redder and redder, although only Ochako was looking as embarrassed as Izuku - Itsuka seemed to be growing more annoyed and angry by the minute, glaring up at all the adults in her room, "I'll, uh … I'll just wait outside until you're done."

"A-ah, there's - there's coffee in the pot if you want it!" Tenohira quickly tried to jump back to normal, turning to the older man while her daughter began trembling, her face turning redder and redder, "and - and it's a pleasure, Mr. Midoriya. I'm Tenohira."

"Oh, uh - yes, Tenohira! Inko told me all about you in our calls. And - and I assume you must be Hakushu?"

"H-heh, that's right. Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Midoriya."

"O-oh, no, Hisashi's fine -"

"Will you all get out?!" Itsuka finally shouted, unable to hold it in anymore, and the adults jumped as they looked around at her, as though suddenly aware that she was about to jump up and forcibly shove them out. Quickly, Inko moved to push Miwa out the door, apologizing quietly to Hisashi as he was likewise shoved out, much to his sputtering confusion, and Teko followed them out with Tenohira on their heels, taking a moment to pause at the door and give Izuku a suspicious glare as he slowly closed the door behind him.

Finally, the room was quiet again, save for Gūdo jumping up on the closed door and scratching at it, clearly wanting to go meet the new person, as Itsuka took a few deep breaths and swung her legs down onto the floor as Izuku and Ochako's faces continued to burn, not looking at each other at all.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... alright." Itsuka nodded stiffly, still not looking at either of them, "I'm gonna grab some clothes and go get changed in the bathroom."

"Er - right."

"Y-yeah."

"Mm-hm." Itsuka began moving to get up, letting out a small grunt as she realized how stiff she was, and glanced behind her shoulder to see Izuku and Ochako likewise beginning to get up, Ochako groaning as she began awkwardly sliding down the bed towards the foot of it. Izuku lowered one of the hands he had over his face as he sighed, still looking embarrassed as he pushed the blanket properly away, and Itsuka gave him a sympathetic look as he pushed the blanket off him with his foot -

- and then, as Izuku moved his leg back down, he saw both Ochako and Itsuka's eyes trailing down to follow the movement as he straightened his legs - and then they both locked on something on his midsection.

Izuku felt himself falter at the sight of both girls suddenly stopping their movements, staring down at something on him with their eyes widening slightly, Itsuka freezing where she was sitting on the edge of the bed and Ochako pausing her attempt to crawl off the bed, her eyes staring at something on his midsection. But before he could ask what was wrong, he blinked at the sight of color immediately flooding their faces again - both of them looking like all the blood in their bodies had suddenly went straight to their faces, Itsuka looking like her entire head was alight and Ochako looking like she was about to faint.

"Uh … guys?" Izuku asked in an uncertain tone, and that thankfully seemed to snap them out of their frozen states. Itsuka immediately whipped her gaze away, her hair flying, and hurriedly stood up so she could all but run to the dresser to grab her change of clothes, a tank top and jeans, and Ochako likewise scrambled off the bed to find her bag, while Izuku looked between both of them in confusion.

"I'm - just gonna - yeah, I'm j-just - I'm off to the bathroom. To g-get - to get changed." Itsuka managed to stutter out, quickly hurrying out of her room and practically shoving the door open in her attempt to get out.

"I'm - yeah," Ochako likewise grabbed her backpack, hugging it tightly to her chest while running after Itsuka, not looking back at Izuku at all, "I'm - I'm going - to - to the changing room downstairs. S-see ya."

With that, the door to Itsuka's room snapped closed behind them, leaving Izuku more than a little confused as he sat up, hearing the sound of their footsteps hurrying away. Wrinkling his brow, and wondering what that weird reaction from his friends was about, Izuku let out a small grunt as he moved his feet to the floor, wincing at a kind of weird uncomfortableness in his pyjama pants, and glanced down to see -

- and that was when Izuku himself froze, staring down at the bulge in his pants from waking up this morning.

That Itsuka and Ochako … from their reactions … had clearly noticed.

Staring down blankly at the tent in his pants for a moment, Izuku stayed completely still - and then slowly laid back down on the bed, grabbed the pillow that he had been resting on, planted his face right into it, and let out a muffled scream of embarrassment.

While also trying not to notice how good the pillow smelled, like how Itsuka and Ochako smelled -

- no. No, he was not going to go there.


After taking about ten minutes to calm himself down so that he would be able to properly face Itsuka and Ochako today (and even then, he knew it was pretty iffy), Izuku managed to get changed into a pair of shorts and a white kanji t-shirt, and left Itsuka's room with his head hung low. He could hear the sound of adults talking in the dining room, so he made his way into the kitchen, grabbing a plate filled with toast and pancakes that had obviously been left for him, and then moved through the doors of the living room, petting Gūdo's head as the big dog hurried by him, and soon he was pulling open the door to the dining room.

"... so Mr. Yagi," Hisashi was sipping on his coffee, having taken off his jacket and leaving him in a white dress shirt, as he looked to Izuku's mentor sitting in the seat across from him, "you're the man who trained my son."

"That's right," All Might nodded, putting down his own cup of coffee on the table and adjusting himself in his seat, "for the last year or so. I also trained Young Ochako and Young Itsuka as well - it's how their families met."

"I see," Hisashi slowly nodded, and there was the hint of a frown on his face as Izuku sat down beside him, his father automatically wrapping his much bigger arm around his shoulders and bringing him in for a side hug, "and … during this time, you got to know Inko as well."

"I …" All Might briefly faltered, not exactly sure where that line of thought was going, "... did? I mean, yes, I - I did."

"Hm," Hisashi pursed his lips, taking another long sip of coffee while Tenohira and Miwa brought some more breakfast for their husbands, the two of them watching the Midoriya patriarch from their own seats curiously, "and … I've also heard that the two of you went out for dinner a few times."

"... uh …"

"With everyone else, of course," Hisashi quickly corrected himself, but there was still an angry glint in his eye as All Might began sweating a bit, clearly nervous about where exactly this conversation was going, "but you two have met up for lunch. And dinner. And you also visited her every weekend for those … 'progress reports' of yours."

"Er … I … did."

"Hm. 'Progress reports'. That was happening while you two were … alone. In the apartment."

"I - Mr. Midoriya -" All Might began blushing, and looking very panicked as Taiyo chuckled into his coffee and Izuku wondered if this conversation was too mature for him as he gulped, "- I assure you that - that I -"

"Hisashi, what are you saying to Mr. Yagi?" Inko said in a very deadpan voice as she came into the dining room, glaring down at the serious look on Hisashi's face as he stared at the sweating All Might, and bopped him on the head with her hand, making him yelp a bit. "Stop messing with him already."

"Alright, alright!" Hisashi shook his hands, chuckling as the angry look from before immediately vanished from his face, and he gave All Might an apologetic smile as the taller man glanced between the two Midoriyas in confusion. "I'm sorry, Mr. Yagi, I just thought I'd have a bit of fun. I'm not actually accusing you of doing anything untoward with Inko - although it's not like I have any right to complain if you did."

"Is - is that so?" All Might still looked a little nervous, taking a sip of his coffee while Inko sat down on Izuku's other side so she could kiss his unbandaged cheek, while Tenohira and Miwa likewise sat beside their husbands and Teko walked in to take his spot at the end of the table, being sure to give Izuku a sharp look that made him gulp nervously, making it clear that the Kendou patriarch had not forgotten what position he had found Izuku in with his grandaughter.

"Yeah. Me and Inko are - well, we're not divorced," Hisashi grimaced slightly as Inko nodded, "more like … separated. We haven't signed any divorce papers, so we're technically still married, but …"

"It's hard to keep a marriage fresh when we're in separate countries," Inko took over the story for her ex-husband, "especially when we can only see each other about twice a year, and overseas calls get expensive. And Hisashi can't exactly move back all the time, he had an important position in his company that requires him to actually head into the office, and going from America to Japan and back ends up racking up the bills, so we agreed to just … separate."

"Ah …"

"It's not like there's any hard feelings," Hisashi guessed the conflicted look on All Might's face, chuckling, "Inko's still probably my closest friend - has been like that since before we were even married. I certainly don't mind staying on the couch whenever I visit."

"Oh, I … I see." All Might nodded slowly, looking … well, not happy about that answer, but definitely interested, which made Izuku blink. "That's … that's good to know."

However, before Izuku could try to digest what that meant, fixing All Might with a slightly suspicious look, the door to the dining room slid open again, and he glanced over to see Itsuka and Ochako entering from the living room with their own plates filled with toast, and holding drinks in their other hands.

Gulping, Izuku sat up slightly, letting Hisashi take his arm away from his shoulders so he could keep eating, and glanced up at the two girls as they took seats beside their own parents, and took a small, unsteady breath. Hopefully they would just … pretend that they hadn't seen what - what they had - what they had seen this morning. They were both mature enough to know that it was a - a guy thing, and that kind of thing happened.

Yeah. Yeah, it would be fine.

However, to Izuku's horror, both girls happened to glance at Izuku out of the corners of their eyes, and, with their faces turning a bit redder, quickly looked back down to begin practically inhaling their breakfasts, while Izuku felt himself pale.

Oh, no! It's awkward!

Before he could figure out how he could get himself out of this, Inko sighed as she looked back at Izuku's face, giving her son another small kiss on the side of his head, making him grumble, and then gave a small worried look at the bandage wrapped around his head.

"Sweetie," She asked in a quiet voice, "I was reading the paper the school nurse sent home with you - you're gonna have to change out those bandages soon, won't you?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing at her in confusion, and then realized what she was saying, reaching up to pat the bandages on his cheek and forehead. He felt his eyes briefly turn downcast, and nodded. "Oh, y-yeah, Mom, I will - after breakfast. Recovery Girl said to change out the bandages every so often - I'll head into the bathroom after I'm done washing my plate."

"What about you, sweetie?" Tenohira turned to her own daughter, who was taking small nibbles out of her piece of toast, "Do you need to do anything about your arm?"

"Well …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, putting down her piece of toast, and slowly slipped her arm out of the sling she had over her shoulder, to the surprise of everyone at the table. She seemed fine enough, although it was clear that she couldn't stretch her arm all the way out, wincing in pain as she nearly got it all the way out, and making Hakushu and Tenohira give their daughter a sharp look.

"Sorry, sorry," She smiled guiltedly, putting her arm carefully back into the sling, "I was just demonstrating. I can't stretch my arm out all the way just yet, so once we head back to school on Monday, I'll head over to see Recovery Girl to finish up the treatment - me and Izuku."

"Er … right," Izuku nodded.

"'Izuku'?" Tenohira blinked, glancing between both of the teenagers, and both Izuku and Itsuka went red as they realized her slip up, with Itsuka quickly clearing her throat and looking around at All Might, who was likewise raising his eyebrow, while Hisashi blinked in confusion and glanced between both teenagers and Miwa subtly bent her fork with her fist, making Taiyo gulp nervously at the pout on his wife's face.

"A-anyway, coach," Itsuka tried hard to change the subject while her cheeks felt a bit hot, "when did you - uh - when did you get here? This morning?"

"Er … about an hour ago," All Might shrugged a bit, "I had - uh - I had heard around All Might's agency about what had happened yesterday at UA. Apparently - er - All Might had seen Young Izuku off yesterday, but I was still concerned, so I decided to stop by and check up with the three of you."

"Which we do appreciate," Hakushu gave him a smile, "we know that Itsuka said you were coming back to town, but it's good to actually see you back."

"Well, it's good to be back," All Might smiled in return, "it's been rather … busy these last few months, but I at least know that I'll be in Musutafu for the foreseeable future. A-anyway - Young Midoriya," Izuku looked around in surprise as All Might reached into his pocket, clearing his throat as he brought out a small envelope, "there was another reason I wanted to stop by today - I have something for you."

"Huh? R-really?"

"Mm-hm. I take it that you remember Melissa Shield?" The three students blinked, straightening up in their seats as Izuku was handed the envelope, "She actually reached out to - uh - All Might a few days ago. Apparently, she forgot to include something in the package she sent the Full Gauntlet in. All Might asked me, since I know where you live, to pick it up yesterday and deliver it to you - I'm sure that, uh, All Might would've given it to you yesterday, but ... well, with everything that happened ..."

"I … I see," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing at his name written on the envelope in English curiously - she had forgotten something? What could it be? Was it serious?

"Well," Hisashi sighed in satisfaction as he finished his breakfast, scratching his beard as he put down his now empty plate and smiled at Tenohira and Miwa in thanks for breakfast, "I guess that's taken care of - that was delicious. In any case, I'd … well, I'd love to stay here a bit longer to get to know you all, but I need to get back to the airport."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at his dad in shock. "Wait, are you - you're leaving already?"

"Oh, uh … no," Hisashi suddenly looked awkward as he cleared his throat, glancing away from Inko while she turned to give him a pointed look, "I was, uh … I was really worried about you, Izuku, so when I got off the plane, I … couldn't find my luggage in time, and … just kind of … left it there."

"Hisashi."

"I was worried!" Hisashi waved his arms defensively, leaning away from his ex-wife as Inko gave him a glare, "I wasn't thinking clearly, I just wanted to make sure Izuku was okay!"

"Er … dad, I - I mean, I get why you did that," Izuku smiled awkwardly as he bit into his toast, "but - but you shouldn't have left your luggage. I'm definitely okay afteeeeeeer …"

He trailed off, however, as this was evidently the wrong answer to give, mostly indicated to him due to everyone at the table - from the Midoriyas, to the Urarakas, to the Kendous, to All Might - turning to give him an unimpressed look. From Inko narrowing her eyes at her son, to Hisashi raising an eyebrow, to Hakushu and Tenohira tapping their fingers against the table, to Teko humming, to Taiyo and Miwa crossing their arms, to All Might letting out a small sigh, and Itsuka and Ochako giving him a glare.

Izuku gulped very nervously, feeling all the displeasure around the table aimed at him.

"Er … I'm … okay … compared to yesterday, I mean," He quickly corrected himself, raising his glass to take a hurried sip, and tried not to choke on it as it went down a bit quicker than he expected.

"Hm," Inko hummed while pouting at her son, and then turned to put her chopsticks down on her plate and sighed, "well then … if that's that. I know we agreed that Izuku and Ochako can stay here for today last night, so Hisashi - if you forgot your luggage, I'd better go with you to get it. We don't know how long it'll take to find it if you just left without it. I know that Taiyo - wait," She suddenly realized, looking around at the Urarakas as they winced, "you probably won't be able to drive us back to the airport and get to work in time, won't you?"

"Er … Taiyo cleared his throat, looking awkward, "... unfortunately not, Inko. I'd love ta give the both of ya a ride back ta tha' airport, but … well …"

"We have to be on the site in at least half an hour," Miwa grimaced, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine!" Hisashi shook his head, smiling as he waved his hand. "I certainly don't want to make you both drop everything to help me out. We can always -"

"Well, if you both need a ride," All Might spoke up, prompting the two Midoriyas to look at him, "I wouldn't mind helping you out - I don't have any work to do until much later today."

"Oh!" Inko blinked, smiling happily as she sat up, "O-only if it's not any trouble, Mr. Yagi."

"Of course it won't!" All Might smiled back, prompting Hisashi to glance between them with a raised, amused eyebrow, and Izuku to narrow his eyes suspiciously, "I'd be more than happy to help you both out."

With that, the three families seemed to be ready to start their day - it was known since last night that since the Urarakas and Hakushu had work that day, they wouldn't be able to spend as much time with their children that they wanted. For their parts, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were okay with having the day to themselves, since Tenohira had to step out to do a grocery trip before sitting down in her room to write up some taxes, and Teko had to teach at the dojo. Above all else, the adults made it clear to the three teenagers that they were not to do anything strenuous, and just sit down and relax for the entire day - granted, they had mostly aimed that at Izuku when they said that, but he at least knew that it would be foolish of him to move around after what happened yesterday and the amount of energy it had taken to heal him, so he didn't mind having a day where he could do nothing and recharge his batteries.

Soon enough, All Might left with Inko and Hisashi so he could bring them to the airport, with both parents hugging Izuku bye and telling him that they would see him at home (Hakushu would swing by at the end of the day to bring him and Ochako back to the apartments) and the Urarakas did the same with Ochako while Hakushu kissed his daughter's cheek and walked downstairs. And soon enough, with Tenohira telling them that she would see them later, and Teko moving downstairs to prepare for his weekend classes, it was just Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka in the living room with Gūdo, the dog hopping up onto the couch and laying down.

"..."

"..."

"..."

As the front door shut, an awkward silence filled the living room as neither Izuku, Itsuka or Ochako looked each other in the eye, staring down at their feet or the opposite wall as Gūdo gave an inquisitive whine. Izuku, for his part, let out a small sigh as he sat down, putting down a few bandage wraps that he had grabbed from the bathroom as his parents had left, and reached up to pull the bandages off his face, wincing as the tape pulled slightly from his face.

Both girls glanced up as Izuku tossed the slightly reddened bandages into the garbage, wincing as air finally hit the wounds on his face for the first time since yesterday. He kept his back to them as he reached over for the bandages, fudging the first attempt to pick it up with a small grumble - and then Ochako reached out, tapping his shoulder and getting his attention, Izuku glancing at her behind his shoulder.

"Deku," She quietly asked, feeling a bit awkward from this morning but still smiling, "let me help you, okay?"

Izuku paused at that, clearly conflicted about showing the two girls his face - and then he let out a small sigh, nodding, and after a moment to gather his courage, turned properly around, sitting down on the couch and lifting the fringe of his hair.

Both girls winced at the sight that greeted them. It wasn't as though he was suddenly deformed, but their eyes trailed up to the large red gash on his forehead, and another one on his cheek, slashing through his diamond freckles. Izuku, for his part, looked embarrassed, glancing down at his knees as Ochako rubbed some ailments on the bandage before she would wrap it around his head.

"It's … not really nice to look at," He said in a small voice, pulling out the envelope he had gotten this morning, as though wanting to stare at it so he could avoid looking at both girls, "but from what Recovery Girl said, they'll probably fade into - you know, white scars, so it's not so bad to look at."

"No, Deku," Ochako shook her head, frowning as she sat down across from him on the coffee table, "they're not … it's okay. You don't look weird. Besides, eventually the scars are gonna fade away, right? Like the one I got on my knee after I fell off that railing."

"That scared the crap out of me," Izuku chuckled a bit to himself, glancing over at Itsuka as she glanced between them curiously with a small smile, "she got a skateboard for her birthday, and tried to do a … was it a rail grind? Anyway, she flopped off her board and hit her knee on the concrete - we were both crying our eyes out when we got home."

"Cute," Itsuka smiled gently, and sat down beside Ochako so she could lift up her other arm, showing him a white faded patch of skin on her elbow, "I got this after some jackass knocked me over in the dojo and scraped my elbow against the wall. I cried and whined when I couldn't hit him back."

Both of them smiled at the thought of a young Itsuka trying to beat up another kid while crying, chuckling as Ochako began wrapping the bandage around Izuku's head again. As she did so, Izuku let out a small sigh, trying not to notice Ochako being so close to him and feeling his cheeks turning red, as he finally began opening the envelope from Melissa.

Carefully tearing the lid off the envelope, Izuku opened it up, feeling his brow wrinkle as he felt something sliding around within - it couldn't be any bigger than a coin - and cupped his hand as he slid whatever the object was out. Itsuka and Ochako watched as a small metal disk landed in Izuku's palm, all three teenagers staring down at it while blinking in confusion - and then Ochako suddenly thought of something.

"Wait," She tilted her head, pausing her attempt to fasten the clean bandage around Izuku's head, "doesn't that look like one of those … hologram things that UA gave us for the entrance exam?"

"Hey," Itsuka blinked, tilting her head, "yeah, that - that looks like - yeah. Does that mean …?"

Izuku tilted his head somewhat, wincing as Ochako fastened the bandage around his head, but still moved to press his finger down on the button in the middle. Immediately, the small button in his palm began blinking a small, blue light, making the three of them instinctively lean back as Izuku quickly put it down on the coffee table, staring at it and wondering what was about to happen.

And then they waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"..."

"..."

"... uh."  Izuku glanced up at the two girls as they likewise glanced between each other in confusion, "I didn't just … activate some kind of bomb, right?"

"No," Itsuka shook her head, frowning as she moved to sit in the armchair, while Ochako moved to grab the gauze and tape to make up the bandage for Izuku's cheek, "I don't think the inventor who gave you a cool gauntlet would send you a bomb in the mail, Izuku."

"Uh … okay, I guess. I suppose we're … just gonna wait," Izuku shrugged, moving back against the couch as Ochako moved to put the bandage on his cheek, carefully putting it on while Izuku winced and quietly apologized.

The room fell into a small silence, with Izuku occasionally glancing at the now glowing button, Ochako finishing putting the bandage on his cheek and moving to stroke Gūdo's head while he flopped his head into her lap as she sat beside Izuku, and Itsuka fidgeted with her phone -

- while occasionally glancing between the two of them on the couch, gulping quietly.

Their parents were all gone, her grandpa was down in the dojo, they had apparently forgotten about … what they had seen this morning, Itsuka thought with a blush. It was just them now, and it was going to be just them for at least two hours, since her mom took her time shopping … so … this was the perfect time, wasn't it? It was time to tell them about One for All.

They were all quiet, they were clearly unsure of what to do for an entire day by themselves, and it was clear that they weren't going to address seeing Izuku's … boy parts, she thought with a small shudder. It was the perfect time to bring it up. It was time.

And yet, Itsuka couldn't help but feel herself shrivel up in her comfortable chair, glancing at Izuku patting his bandages to make sure they were securely on, and Ochako petting Gūdo, and feeling her courage seriously waning.

However, before she could try to mentally inspire herself to speak up, she heard her phone pinging, and turned it over to see who was texting her, expecting her mom or her dad reminding of something they forgot to mention -

- and then she blinked in surprise, sitting up in her seat.

"Midnight-sensei?" She wondered out loud, which drew Izuku and Ochako's attention as they looked over at her.

"Hm?"

"What's up?"

"Oh, it's -" She held up her phone awkwardly, "Midnight-sensei is just texting me. Hold on a sec, I should probably respond."

With that, she unlocked her phone and scrolled over to the messages app, tapping it as she once again pulled her arm carefully out from the sling around her neck. After all, she probably needed both hands so Midnight wouldn't be waiting all day for her to type with one hand.

 

MIDNIGHT

 

MIDNIGHT

Good morning, Kendou, this is your teacher. The staff was talking a bit last night, and we decided that they would have me reach out to you this morning since you're the class representative of Class 1A, and Aizawa is still in the hospital.

Just respond to this message when you wake up, please :)

 

YOU

Er

Good morning, sensei.

 

MIDNIGHT

Ah! Good morning, Kendou

How are you feeling this morning?

 

YOU

Well

would you believe me if I said I was fine?

 

MIDNIGHT

Not really, dear

But don't worry if you're not okay after what happened yesterday - I don't know many pro heroes that haven't talked to a therapist at least once a year over the things we see on this job, and you've only been in school for a week.

We've already decided that you all will be doing mandatory meetings with Hound Dog, Tenko and myself to discuss how you've been recovering on Monday, before you're cleared to return to class

 

 

YOU

Ah

Bakugou won't like that

 

MIDNIGHT

We did acknowledge that possibility lol

But if he wants to return to class, he'll have to put up with talking about his feelings for ten or twenty minutes

In any case, Kendou, have you heard anything from your classmates? Recovery Girl said that you, Midoriya, Uraraka and Hadou left together yesterday.

 

YOU

Well, I was going to reach out to them all this morning

But ... I don't exactly know most of their numbers.

Something that just occurred to me

 

MIDNIGHT

Ah! Well, in that case, I can help you out with that, Kendou.

We all have your emergency contact information, so if I go ahead and look them all up, I can make both our jobs a bit easier.

I'll get back to you in about a minute.

 

"Uh … Kendou?"

She looked back up, blinking, to see Izuku and Ochako looking over at her, glancing between each other before looking back at her.

"Is everything okay?" Izuku asked. "What does Midnight-sensei want?"

"Oh, she's - she's just checking in to see how we are," She quickly explained, "she's also gonna help me get in contact with the rest of the class - I don't exactly have everyone's number, after all."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, about to open his mouth to say something else - and then both his and Ochako's phones dinged, along with Itsuka's. The three of them, blinking curiously, returned their gazes to their phones, Ochako pulling hers out of her pocket to see what was going on.

 

CLASS 1A GROUP CHAT

Midnight has added Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, Yosetsu Awase, Tenya Iida, Ochako Uraraka, Denki Kaminari, Eijirou Kirishima, Itsuka Kendou, Yui Kodai, Mezo Shouji, Kyouka Jirou, Hanta Sero, Pony Tsunotori, Setsuna Tokage, Fumikage Tokoyami, Nejire Hadou, Katsuki Bakugou, Izuku Midoriya, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Reiko Yanagi to the chat.

 

Itsuka stared blankly at her screen for a moment, feeling her forehead begin to sweat, and then glanced back up at Izuku and Ochako, who were likewise staring at their phones in surprise at all of the names.

"... this … might have been a mistake."

Before any of them could respond to that, however, they noticed Midnight beginning to type, and looked back to their screens so that they could see what their teacher was going to say. 

 

MIDNIGHT

Good morning, everyone! I hope that you all had a pleasant night, at least. I was discussing things with Kendou, and I decided that a group chat that you could all share to keep in touch, help each other with homework, and other miscellaneous subjects, would be a benefit to you all.

With that said, I will be handing administrative responsibilities to Kendou as she is your class representative, and can keep everything in check.

I do have some work to do today, and will be reaching back out to this chat later about what we teachers will be expecting come Monday, but if you all need something, please don't be afraid to reach out to me. With that, I hope that you cuties have a good rest of your day, and see you on Monday! ;)

 

Midnight has given administrative rights to Itsuka Kendou

Itsuka Kendou has locked nicknames

 

TOKAGE

whew new group chat

ken you spoilsport D:

 

YOU

sorry set i don't have the patience to learn people's nicknames lol

we'll stick with normal names for now

 

TOKAGE

for now you say 😏

 

YOU

behave and i might recant that XD

in any case, guys, i was just checking in to see how you're all doing after yesterday

i was gonna reach out to you guys one by one, but i forgot that i didn't have everyone's number, and midnight texted me and decided that this would be easier

 

HADOU

oooooooooooh new group chat!

hi guys!

how are you?

everyone okay after yesterday?

it sucked, i know, but we gotta keep our heads up!

speaking of heads, though, tokoyami

were you born with a bird's head or did it come later?

 

TOKOYAMI

I beg pardon, Hadou?

 

HADOU

oh and tsunotori, the same question!

 

TOKAGE

uh oh

 

HADOU

did your horns come later or were you born with them?

did it hurt for your mom to

wait no i don't wanna know that nvm

 

TOKAGE

i forgot about you hadou lol

this chat's gonna be busy

and yeah, best not to think about those kinds of questions

 

BAKUGOU

fuck this

i'm out

 

YOU

stay bakugou

or else midnight will want to know why you left

just say if you're fine or not and then go about your day

 

BAKUGOU

eat shit and die

 

YOU

i'll take that as a yes

 

IIDA

Bakugou! That is foul language!

 

YOU

dickhead

 

IIDA

Please refrain from insulting your classmates with such words!

Kendou?!

 

YOU

not you iida

bakugou

bakugou is the dickhead

 

BAKUGOU

Fuck you!

don't @ me!

 

Katsuki Bakugou has muted the chat.

 

YOU

well, that's not surprising

 

MIDORIYA

uh

yeah

 

URARAKA

nope, not surprising at all

 

ASHIDO

midori!

you're up!

 

Tenya Iida is typing …

 

MIDORIYA

huh?

oh

yeah, i'm okay

 

KIRISHIMA

you sure, bro? yesterday was

uh

kinda rough

 

MIDORIYA

er

yeah

but i'm okay, i'm just kinda relaxing right now

very stiff

very sore

 

Tenya Iida is typing …

 

YANAGI

That's good to hear, Midoriya. I'm glad to hear that you are doing much better.

 

TOKOYAMI

Indeed. While the foes of darkness attempted to drag you into the abyss, you resisted with everything you had, and now are here with us to assist in driving back the horrors that we may face in the future.

 

KIRISHIMA

uh

yeah

what he said

just not as wordy

 

ASHIDO

do take it easy today, okay, midori?

yesterday was really

i'd rather not go through that kind of thing again

 

URARAKA

don't worry, ashido, he won't

we've got our eye on him, he ain't going anywhere

 

Tenya Iida is typing … 

 

YOU

yeah, he's fine rn, we're making sure he's benched for the day

iida i can see you typing out something about me swearing, we don't have time for that today lol

are you doing okay, though?

 

IIDA

Hmph! Well, please know that I will speak to you in person about addressing your classmates with such language! And that does not exclude Bakugou either! I will be speaking with him come Monday about how to address his class representative!

 

TOKAGE

ooof

that'll be fun to watch

 

ASHIDO

i'll bring popcorn!

 

KIRISHIMA

Hoo boy

 

JIROU

lol i'll bring popcorn too 

 

IIDA

In any case, Kendou, I am doing well! I did not have many problems going to sleep last night, save a nightmare or two, but that is to be expected. Once I woke up, I went on a brisk walk with my brother this morning, and I must say that helped me tremendously! Apparently, he's going to be spending a few days with us at UA once classes resume, and help us until Aizawa is fit to return to class!

 

ASHIDO

oh that's good

didn't mention it yesterday, but your brother's really nice, iida

 

IIDA

Indeed!

 

YOU

that's good to hear

in any case guys, just text the chat if you're awake how you're feeling

 

TOKAGE

i'm good, ken!

 

TOKOYAMI

Indeed, I am well, Kendou. I tend to enjoy the darkness of my room, but it was a bit difficult going to sleep last night, so I am very much awake and tired in this mortal coil. Know that I am currently alright, and simply enjoying a bit of downtime with Dark Shadow.

 

YANAGI

I concur with Tokoyami's statement

Just doodling in my notebook for the day.

 

YOU

awesome, awesome

 

TSUNOTORI

good

i am good

hard to typ

e

crap

hard to read and ty

pe japanese

at same time

everyone type

s really fast

 

SHOUJI

oh right, that would be a problem for you

i'm also fine, kendou

 

YAOYOROZU

I'm also doing well! I've been having breakfast with my parents, my apologies that I couldn't text the chat immediately

 

SERO

yeah, i'm good too

just woke up

 

YOU

awesome guys

 

TOKAGE

lol

 

SERO

oh no

 

TOKAGE

so buddy

oh shut up i haven't even said anything yet

but anyhoo

how was the walk back home lst night, bro? food get in the fridge?

 

SERO

yeah all good

imma be the leftover king for the next few days lol

 

AWASE

food?

something happen last night, you two?

i'm okay btw, just kind of playing games on my phone fn

 

SERO

ah man

well uh

 

TOKAGE

lol basically

this guy was gonna walk me to the train station last night after the fuckwads fucked up our day

and we got to talking

 

YOU

>>

 

TOKAGE

and basically we got distracted, and he ended up walking me all the way home

my legs were deadass tired lol

 

AWASE

lol smooth dude

 

SERO

we just got distracted!

i was exhausted lol

but then her parents saw me at the door when she opened it and

 

TOKAGE

lol basically they dragged him in for dinner

my parents love you btw

and sera does too

pretty much because of your name XD

 

YOU

lol

'sera' 'sero'

yeah i can see how sera'd like you

 

SERO

lol

but yeah basically i met tokage's parents and they gave me loads of leftovers to take home

basically because i'm living at my student apartment by myself and gotta make my own food

so i'm pretty much going to live off that for the next couple days

 

AWASE

smooth

 

KIRISHIMA

smooth

 

KAMINARI

smooth

 

JIROU

smooth

 

YOU

smooth

 

KODAI

smooth

 

SERO

shut up y'all

 

TOKAGE

smooth

 

SERO

shut up tokage

 

TOKAGE

T_T

anyhoo, yo yui

 

KODAI

hey

woke up to you people blowing up my phone

btw iida i got home safe, forgot to text you last night because i passed out pretty much immediately on the couch

sry

 

IIDA

I see! I suppose that's understandable, Kodai. Still, I did worry about you when you did not respond to my message, so please try to at least send me a text to confirm that you arrived home safely!

 

TOKAGE

👀

story here?

 

KODAI

too tired, going back to bed

later haters

 

IIDA

Kodai! It's currently eleven thirty in the morning! This is no time to go back to sleep!

 

YOU

lol she's probably already passed out again iida

alright i think that's everyone accounted for

had to do a quick headcount lol

so we're all good?

 

JIROU

i mean i wouldn't say good

we did almost die yesterday

 

MIDORIYA

i ... guess that's true

 

JIROU

oh shit greenie

sorry about that

 

MIDORIYA

huh?

 

KAMINARI

I mean

we did almost die yesterday

but you especially

from the sounds of things, that hooded guy almost beat you to death!

 

AWASE

dude

 

TOKAGE

smooth dude

 

JIROU

stfu, kaminari!

 

TOKAGE

that's sarcasm btw

 

KAMINARI

huh? what did i say?

 

MIDORIYA

oh

oh no i'm okay, guys

i mean i'm not okay, okay

but i'm alright

 

IIDA

Are you sure, Midoriya? I recognize that we should not compare the traumas we all shared yesterday, but you in particular got the blunt of the horribleness that happened.

 

MIDORIYA

oh no i'm

okay, i won't say okay because kendou and occhan are glaring at me

but i'm moving around, so i'm going to count that as a win :)

 

URARAKA

:)

 

YOU

nerds

:)

 

ASHIDO

y'all are cute

anyhoo what's the plan for everyone today?

just sitting around and stewing?

 

YAOYOROZU

I am actually free at the moment - I was going to ask, Midoriya, if it would be alright if I stopped by your place of residence?

I wanted to check up on you and see if you were alright. Not to say that I'm not concerned about everyone else! You just were injured quite terribly yesterday, and I wanted to make sure

Wait, am I rubbing salt in the wound? I'm so sorry!

 

MIDORIYA

oh no, yaoyorozu it's

it's okay!

it's just i'm not at my apartment rn

i'm at kendou's

 

ASHIDO

O_O

 

TOKAGE

O_O

 

TSUNOTORI

O_O

wait why are we post

ing this, what's going on

 

SERO

O_O

 

KIRISHIMA

O_O

 

YOU

okay y'all shut the hell up

uraraka's here too

 

AWASE

O_O

 

ASHIDO

oooooooooooooh 😏😏😏

 

URARAKA

this groupchat was a mistake

 

YOU

they just stayed over because we didn't want to get separated too soon, alright?!

stop with the emojis before i whack you

Midoriya slept in the other room

 

"..."

"..."

"... if either of you tell them the truth," Itsuka glared at them both, "I am taking you back to Dagobah Beach and tossing you into the ocean."

"Gotcha."

"Read you loud and clear."

 

HADOU

back!

just had to go grab a snack

and pet my cat

which took twenty minutes

she's a siamese

she likes to chat

 

ASHIDO

i mean

so do you, hadou

 

HADOU

yeppers!

wait what were we talking about?

 

YOU

thanks for getting us back on track, hadou lol

just read up, it's a long bit

anyway yaoyorozu, if you wanted to come visit my place to see midoriya, he's here

 

IIDA

Ah! In that case, Yaoyorozu, I may accompany you to visit Midoriya - I also want to check up on his current condition!

 

KIRISHIMA

me too! you were awesome yesterday, mido-bro, so i just wanna make sure you're in one piece!

 

MIDORIYA

guys ...

 

TSUNOTORI

me too!

i have to

apologize for yesterday

 

MIDORIYA

wait what? apologize for what?

 

HADOU

oooh! a home visit!

i'm coming too!

i'll bring yuuyu

 

YOU

wait hold on guys

how many of you are inviting yourselves to my house?

 

YAOYOROZU

Oh dear! For a moment I completely forgot he was at your place of residence, Kendou. My apologies for somewhat inviting everyone to your home.

 

YOU

all good, yaoyorozu

but

well

okay, i get that you guys probably wanna see midoriya

 

MIDORIYA

i'm not sure why

 

HADOU

?

 

MIDORIYA

uh

i mean

 

There was a long pause in the room, with Izuku slowly looking up from his phone, terror beginning to build in his eyes, at the sight of Ochako and Itsuka likewise turning to look at him with their eyes darkening and looking very unamused.

"Do we really need to remind you," Itsuka raised an eyebrow, "why people would be concerned about you after what we went through yesterday, and the state you were in? Or is this about how you can't imagine people being concerned about you?"

"Uh …"

"C'mon," Ochako grumbled, patting Gūdo's head one more time as she got up, "time for a pep talk."

"Yes, ma'am," Izuku hung his head shamefully, getting up as well and following his best friend out the door into the kitchen as Itsuka returned to the group chat.

 

KIRISHIMA

huh

he got quiet

mido-bro, you good?

 

YOU

he's fine

he and ochako just had to be excused so they could have a talk about why people would want to make sure that he's okay

 

TOKAGE

ah i see

he's being roasted over the fire

 

SERO

rip

 

YOU

anyway

i'm sure that you guys would love to see him, but there's only

so much room in my house XD

plus my grandpa's dojo lessons start soon, he doesn't need like ten people running around upstairs to distract the kids

 

IIDA

Ah, of course! In that case, Kendou, I completely understand. We would not want the children to be distracted by us while they are attempting to learn martial arts!

 

TOKAGE

that and grandpa kendou will literally kill us

or drag us downstairs to be used as punching bags

 

KODAI

it's happened before

i still feel pain in my side occasionally

 

YOU

^^^^^

 

IIDA

... I suppose that as well!

 

HADOU

aw

i wanted to come see you guys 😣😫😫😭😭

 

ASUI

don't worry, nejire

i'm sure that they'll be okay and we'll see them monday anyway

 

YOU

ah! asui!

 

ASUI

tsuyu

 

YOU

*tsuyu!

i'm so sorry, i completely forgot that you were the only one who didn't comment :(

 

ASUI

kero, it's fine :)

i was just reading through the chat, forgot to comment that i was here

i'm looking after my sibs today, and they're being very clingy

hard to read and cuddle at the same time lol

 

TOKAGE

same!

i'm looking after sera since my parents had to head to work

 

YOU

right, right

and while we probably can't hang out today, we can talk about doing something later

y'know, once we all have the free time

in any case, guys, if you are heading out to hang today

just be careful, alright?

if you see anything suspicious, text the chat or midnight or something

 

KIRISHIMA

no need to worry, kendou!

me, kaminari, awase and sero are just heading out to lift weights

we're heading to a gym right near a hero agency, just to be safe

 

YOU

okay

just keep an eye out, okay, guys?

and no lifting heavy weights

no idea if you guys got too injured yesterday, you don't need a barbell dropping down on your neck because your arms suddenly get weak

 

AWASE

yeah

i'm probably going to spot for them anyway, so i'll make sure they don't get in over their heads

 

YOU

alright, awesome

in that case guys, i need to get a drink so i'm putting my phone down

have a good rest of your day

 

ASHIDO

later, ken!

 

TOKAGE

oh god i think sera's trying to get into the cookie bin

later babes

 

HADOU

oooh, she sounds cute!

i gotta go wake up yuuyu

she's sleeping in

and it's like, almost twelve

no more sleep, need cuddles!

later!

 

With another small sigh, Itsuka tossed her phone over to the couch, taking a moment to stretch her good arm above her head as she stood up to go get herself a drink from the fridge. Luckily for her, it appeared that Ochako had just got done her 'reasons why your classmates would be worried about you after seeing you get beat up' speech to Izuku, who was sitting at the kitchen table, slumped over and nodding guiltedly while Ochako crossed her arms and stood above him.

"Learned your lesson?" Itsuka asked in a teasing voice as she entered the kitchen, making Izuku groan lowly and Ochako smirk. "Good. I let everyone know that you're gonna be here for the rest of the day, and that we probably won't be accepting guests - not unless they want Grandpa to kick them in the head."

"I … see," Izuku nodded, sighing as he straightened up and Ochako moved to sit down at the table, watching as Itsuka bent over to look in the fridge for her drink, "and … uh … so …"

"Hm?" Itsuka hummed, still looking around for something to quench her thirst, "What's up?"

"What … exactly are we doing today?" He decided to ask, folding his hands together as Ochako looked likewise interested. "It's … not like we have homework to do. There's not actually much to do today."

"That's true," Itsuka shrugged, spotting what she wanted with a small 'aha' as she grabbed her drink, and straightened up while closing the fridge, turning around, "I didn't really think there was gonna be a plan, actually - I thought we'd just be staying up here, hanging out, and trying to see … a … ghost."

At that last word, Izuku and Ochako blinked, looking back up at their friend in confusion. Itsuka, for her part, was suddenly still, staring at something behind the table with a dropped jaw and widened eyes. Feeling their brows furrow, Izuku and Ochako turned to look behind them -

- and then let out twin squeaks of surprise.

"Hm? A ghost?" The transparent girl asked in an interested voice, giggling slightly at their flabbergasted reactions. Well, flabbergasted might be the wrong word, seeing as they were currently staring at the sight of a half-transparent girl they had never seen before looking around at them curiously - Itsuka was half tempted to throw her drink at the ghost, as though to see if it would sail through her head.

She was currently coloured blue, looking like something straight out of Star Wars with occasional flickers and blue waves pulsing around her. She was also very cute, Izuku thought with a blush, with wavy hair falling to her upper back, and a pair of oval glasses on her round, smiling face. She was wearing some kind of vest over a short dress shirt, with a strange bow and a pair of brown boots along with a pair of plaid socks.

"I mean, I don't want to think I'm a ghost," She giggled, tapping her foot against the floor and not making a single noise, "more of a holographic image of myself, all the way over in America. Or at least, we're ported in America right now, we'll probably be heading back across the Pacific in a day or so."

"Uh …" Itsuka tilted her head at the hologram in her house, raising an eyebrow, "... hello?"

"Hi!" She gave them a small wave, and the three of them suddenly realized that this girl, whoever she was, definitely wasn't Japanese - not only were her eyes much more rounded than theirs, there was something in her voice that immediately told them that Japanese wasn't her first language. "I saw that you guys activated the device I sent you - sorry that I didn't immediately answer, I was working in the shop."

"The device -? Wait," Izuku blinked, the dots finally connecting in his head as he sat up, "you're …?"

"Melissa Shield," She introduced herself, taking a moment to bow, "it's very nice to finally meet you, Midoriya."


Melissa had a very kind smile.

It was something that Izuku had noticed pretty much at once, seeing her lighten up the room with just a grin as they returned to the living room to sit down and talk, Melissa bringing a small stool to sit on so she didn't have to stand around, and properly introducing herself to Itsuka and Ochako as the inventor of Izuku's support item. That nice, pretty smile had been on full display, quickly endearing herself to the two girls and Izuku as they properly made their introductions.

The reason Izuku had been thinking of her smile, however, was because it had pretty much completely vanished the moment Izuku had sheepishly brought her the Full Gauntlet for her to have a look at - or at least, what was left of it. As it had turned out, he had completely forgotten to take off the support item while getting changed last night, and since it had been shrunk down into its now chipped smaller form, he had just worn it back to the Kendous' the previous night.

And now Izuku pressed the button, prompting it to stutter for a moment before finally opening up to the Gauntlet - or at least, the part of the support item that showed the large hole punched into it, giving a pathetic whine as it briefly started up, and then shut down just as quickly.

There was a long silence in the room, with Melissa staring blankly down at her destroyed creation, the physical evidence of all her hard work being completely and utterly ruined, and Izuku automatically moved down into a dogeza bow, keeping his head against the floor while Ochako and Itsuka waited for the explosion.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... it took me two months to complete the Gauntlet, you know." Melissa said in a low, emotionless voice, which only made the three of them wince.

"Er … yeah," Izuku nodded, guilt coursing through him.

"I put aside all of my projects to make sure that it was ready for your entrance exam. You have no idea how many all nighters I had to pull in order to modify it for your quirk."

"Yeaaaaah ..."

"You've only had it for a week," Melissa's eyebrow twitched, "and you've already broken it."

"Er … in his defense," Ochako weakly said from the couch where she was sitting with Itsuka, both of them watching Izuku about to be murdered by a girl who wasn't even there, "it was actually a villain that broke it. He just kinda … yeah."

Melissa took a sharp inhale through her nose, shaking her head and putting her hands on her hips while Izuku continued to grovel before her.

"I … guess you have a point there. If I have a problem with how it was broken, it's gonna be with these stupid villains," She gave Ochako that, seeing Izuku quickly looking up at her in relief and raising her eyebrows, "but that doesn't change the fact that you're kind of boned now, Midoriya. The only reason I was able to adjust the Full Gauntlet to become a support item for your quirk was because I was working off another project. I can't exactly build another one from scratch - that would take months, even with the data you sent me, and while my family is rich, we don't exactly have the time for me to just fly to Japan to fix your support item."

"I … I see," Izuku slowly nodded again, sitting up on his knees to look up at Melissa as she bent forward to inspect the Gauntlet's damage a bit closer, "then … well, what am I supposed to do? This was the only way I could use my quirk safely - do I just … I don't know, bite the bullet and start experimenting with my quirk?"

"I'm not too sure about that," Itsuka shook her head, "your quirk still hurts you, Izuku - and Recovery Girl won't be happy if you keep popping into her office."

"I suppose that's true," Melissa finally smiled again, nodding and straightening up, "so in that case, Midoriya, there's only one thing we can do."

"Uh … okay … and what's that?"

"Well," She reached over to the side, pulling over a piece of paper, and waving it in the air, "I'm going to have to teach you how to repair the Full Gauntlet by yourself. I realize that UA probably has a support studio, but they tend to be … well, from what Uncle Might's told me before, they're a lot more interested in adding unnecessary additions to the items and costumes, just so they look cooler. Better for me to just teach you how to finetune it yourself - I sent this device so we could talk about it, after all, so I guess we were gonna have to eventually do this kind of thing anyway."

"The support studio puts in … unnecessary additions?" Ochako repeated, feeling suddenly nervous- it just registered to her that all of her stuff was in the hands of the support studio at UA, making her gulp.

"Wait -" Itsuka blinked, something registering to her as she turned back to the hologram, "- 'Uncle Might'? Did you just call All Might 'uncle'?"

"I did," Melissa giggled, noticing Izuku suddenly look back up at her with widened eyes, and smiled, "My papa and All Might go way back, they used to work together in America after All Might graduated from UA -"

"Wait," Izuku straightened up, feeling himself begin to shake a bit as he pointed uncertainly at Melissa, who looked down at him curiously, "you - you said that your last name was 'Shield'. As in - as in David Shield? The scientist who designed -"

"- All Might's costumes?" Melissa finished that sentence for him, giggling again at the wide-eyed fanboy look in Izuku's eyes, "Yep - he's my dad."

"That - that's amazing!" Izuku quickly scrambled up from where he had been kneeling to move closer to her, Melissa blinking and leaning slightly back even though she wasn't technically in the same room as him, while Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes, seeing this coming from a mile away. "Professor David Shield! The scientist who received a Nobel Quirk Prize for his research into quirks! All Might's partner while he was living in America!"

"Er -"

"The scientist who designed his costumes! Young Age, Bronze Age, Silver Age, Golden Age! That's - that's amazing! Is he -?!"

BONK

Melissa jumped in surprise as Itsuka got up, raising her hand and growing it out slightly, and then quickly bringing it down to chop Izuku right on the top of the head, stopping his fanboying in its tracks while nearly slamming him face first into the coffee table. With a sigh, she looked up to give Melissa a weak, apologetic smile, gently taking Izuku by the back of the head and lowering him back into a bow.

"Sorry about him," She said in a small, embarrassed voice while Izuku caught on to what he had been doing thoughtlessly, squeaking and beginning to mutter apologies as well, "he's a bit of an All Might fanboy. As in - uh - his biggest one. He tends to get carried away."

"Oh, it's - it's not a problem," Melissa giggled, waving aside the apology as Izuku glanced up at her, "I definitely get it - my dad's got his own fanboys on I-Island. Although I gotta say, that's a bold claim to make in front of me - I'm pretty sure I'm Uncle Might's biggest fan."

"I mean … I've seen his room," Ochako laughed as well, the three girls looking down at Izuku as he went redder and redder and fixed his gaze on the carpet, "you've definitely got some serious competition right here, Miss Shield."

"Oh, just Melissa is fine," She shook her head, smiling, "I don't mind being on a first name basis with you guys - although I do know that American customs are a tad bit different than Japanese. If you guys want to call me Miss Shield, that's fine."

"Oh, no, only if you want us to! And in that case, you can call me Itsuka."

"And Ochako!"

"Itsuka and Ochako," Melissa grinned happily, clapping her hands together, "it's nice to meet you both! And of course, I know that I sent this device so Midoriya had a way to communicate with me about the Gauntlet, but if either of you want my help with any support items, I'd be more than happy to assist!"

"Wait, really?"

"Of course!" She nodded, glancing between both surprised girls as she balled her fists, "I mean, I'm pretty sure I'm in this for the long run with Midoriya - I may have said that constructing a Full Gauntlet from scratch may take a long period of time, but that doesn't mean that I'm not willing to try! I'd say that around summertime I might have something for you, Midoriya - and hey, if you three are close, then why should I build things exclusively for Midoriya? That is, if you're both interested."

"Yes!" Ochako and Itsuka said at the same time, nodding happily - seeing the Full Gauntlet in action, they knew better than to turn down her offer.

"Great!" Melissa quickly swiped another piece of paper up, grabbing a pen, and then looked to Ochako. "So in that case, Ochako - what kind of quirk do you have?"

"It's, uh - it's a gravity based quirk," Ochako quickly explained, raising her hand to show Melissa the pads on her fingers, "I can take away the effects of gravity on anything I touch with all five of my fingers - and if I press them both together, I can return the gravity."

"Interesting …" Melissa wrote that down, nodding, "... I assume there's side effects?"

"Yeah, if I go past my weight limit, I, uh … I vomit. I'm actually not too sure what my limit is at the moment, I haven't checked in a while."

"Well, just let me know by - well, I was gonna say you could use this device, but I can just get your numbers later, can't I?"

"O-oh, yeah!"

"Anyway, Itsuka," Melissa turned to the other girl, smiling, "what about you? What's your quirk?"

"Me? I can …" Itsuka was about to say, raising her good hand to grow out her hand - but then she found herself pausing, blinking. There had been a part of her that was going to say that she could grow out her hands, but … but technically that wasn't all she could do now. Now she had One for All …

… ooooooooh, crap.

Melissa, Ochako, and Izuku, who had edged off to the side while the three girls talked, blinked as Itsuka obviously hesitated - and then Ochako found her gaze flickering down to the arm she had put back in her sling, and found herself blinking. Itsuka's gaze flickered to her, seeing the gears in Ochako's head suddenly turn, and gulped nervously.

"Uh … actually, Melissa," She tried to remain calm, and not on the verge of freaking out about Ochako about to call her out on her bullshit, "could I get back to you on that one? I just kinda … want to figure stuff out about my … quirk.  Yeah, I'll - I'll get back to you on that."

" O-oh," Melissa nodded, looking a bit confused while Izuku glanced up at Itsuka curiously - obviously wondering what Itsuka needed to figure out about her quirk, seeing as she just needed to grow out her hands to use it - but thankfully, Melissa turned her attention back to Izuku, clearing her throat, "yeah, that's - that's alright, Itsuka, just let me know if you have any ideas and I can help you out. Anyway, Midoriya - we should get down to business, starting the repair of the Gauntlet. To start, you'll need a few tools …"

As she began to explain what he needed to get the repair started, Izuku stiffly bringing out his notebook to start writing things down, Itsuka glanced at Ochako, seeing her still flickering her gaze between Itsuka's arm and her face as her brow furrowed and she frowned. With a small sigh, Itsuka glanced over at Izuku, and then turned back to Ochako.

"Can you … keep quiet about it for a few minutes?" She asked in a quiet voice, making Ochako blink, "I … I know you have questions, Ochako, but … but not right now, okay?"

Ochako crinkled her brow, obviously uncertain about that as she glanced back down at Itsuka's arm - but before she could say anything to that, Izuku let out a sigh, prompting the two girls to look around as he finished writing the notes for whatever Melissa was telling him.

"Uh … Kendou," Izuku looked a bit awkward, sheepishly scratching the back of his head, "is - is it okay if I go down to the garage to use some of your tools? From the sounds of things … uh … yeah, I need tools. A lot of them."

"Hm?" Itsuka blinked, glancing between him and Melissa giving her a small, awkward smile as well, and then quickly nodded. "Oh, yeah, go right ahead Izuku, I don't mind. Actually, I think I'll go with you - I can work on my bike for a bit. Ochako, do you wanna come too?"

"... yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, her eyes still on Itsuka's face as she tried not to wince too much, "yeah, I'll come with."

With that, once they had picked up both the broken Gauntlet and Melissa's communication device so that she could come with them (prompting her to look like she was standing sideways in the air, making her grumble a bit in embarrassment), the three, technically four, teenagers made their way down the stairs towards the garage, Gūdo happily following them while jumping up in the air trying to hit Melissa with his paws while she giggled at him. They quieted their steps as they moved past the dojo, hearing Teko barking instructions at his students within, and managed to get into the garage quietly, with Izuku heading over to the work desk, putting Melissa's hologram down on the floor, and she created a holographic blueprint for him to follow and pointed out the tools that Izuku would need as they got to work.

Itsuka, meanwhile, let out a small sigh as she sat down on the stool beside her bike, dragging her kit towards her, while noticing, out of the corner of her eye, Ochako moving to bring another stool over to sit beside her, a frown on her face that made Itsuka bite her lip. Once she was seated, the garage fell into silence, other than Melissa instructing Izuku and carefully pointing things out to the broken Gauntlet Izuku had put on the desk.

And then Ochako let out a small sigh.

"You're hiding something," She said in a quiet voice, "aren't you?"

Itsuka stayed quiet for a moment, picking up a screwdriver to check what size nut she needed to put into the engine, and exhaled.

"Yeah," She muttered, not looking at Ochako at all, "there's … something that I haven't told you or Izuku. I … can probably guess what you're about to ask me, Ochako."

For her part, Ochako remained quiet, carefully watching her as she flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder.

"You … want to ask me why my arm was glowing yesterday," She guessed, tapping her finger against her leg as she put down the screwdriver to pick up another one, "that's what you wanted to know last night before we had to wake Izuku up - and why I didn't answer Melissa earlier."

"... yes."

"Mm-hm," Itsuka slowly nodded, grimacing slightly, and put down the screwdriver to look up at her. She had to fight down a wave of guilt from seeing the hurt look on Ochako's face - it was clear that she was wondering why Itsuka was hiding something from her, since they had both been pretty honest with each other about everything, ever since they had met. But this was a misunderstanding that Itsuka couldn't let continue.

It was just …

"There … is an answer to why my arm was glowing," She admitted, "and I do want to tell you. A-and I am! Please don't think I want to hide this from you, Ochako. It's just … I'm not exactly sure how to say it."

"S-say it?" Ochako repeated, crinkling her brow as Itsuka briefly ducked her head.

"It's … it's a lot. And I don't … exactly know how to begin." She looked back up at her, letting Ochako see the pleading look on her face. "Just … please, give me some time to think over what I'm going to say. And - and I want to make sure Izuku's there to hear it too. Please believe me, Ochako, I don't want to hide anything from you, either of you - but I just need some time to organize my thoughts."

"I …" Ochako hesitated again, clearly unsure as Itsuka nervously glanced away, and then let out a small sigh. There was a moment of silence between both girls as Izuku worked away on the Gauntlet, and then Ochako tapped her fingers together.

"Just … tell me one thing, okay?"

"Of course."

"Is this something … something that you were going to tell us anyway? Like - like if I didn't see your - your arm glowing, were you going to tell us anyway?"

"Yes," Itsuka nodded without hesitation, "this is something I was - I was working up the courage to tell you."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, glancing off to the side - and then let out another sigh, slumping her shoulders, and then turned to look back at Itsuka, seeing her look hopeful as Ochako smiled, and she giggled.

"Okay," She nodded again, "okay, Itsuka, I'll - if you are going to tell us, then - then that's fine. I can wait for an explanation for a little bit longer."

"Alright," Itsuka smiled at her, "thank you so much, Ochako. Can you, uh … can you pass me that screwdriver right there?"

"Hm? Oh, sure," Ochako quickly nodded, looking down and around for where the screwdriver Itsuka needed was - there were quite a few amassed by her feet. Itsuka herself glanced back down, trying to pick up the bolt that she needed - and then letting out a small curse as she fumbled it out of her grasp, sending it falling to the floor with a small clink and rolling away from her.

"Ah, damn it," She grumbled, bending over in her seat to pick it up while Ochako kept her eyes down on the box at her feet, trying to pick out the screwdriver that Itsuka had pointed at.

"Woop! There we go," Ochako smiled as she picked out the screwdriver, turning her gaze back up to hand it to Itsuka - and then blinked when she saw Itsuka bending over to pick up the bolt that she had dropped.

But her gaze didn't go to the back of Itsuka's head, or a part of her back. Instead, it flickered down.

It was pretty obvious that Itsuka, having not put much thought into what she was wearing that day, chose something rather simple to wear - in this case, her white tank top and a pair of jeans. A tank top, by the way, that kind of … rid up in the back, giving Ochako a look at her lower back, and how Itsuka was bent forward in her seat meant …

… meant that Ochako, at the current moment, had a very good look at Itsuka's butt.

For some reason, Ochako's gaze locked onto the small of her back as Itsuka grumbled, trying to reach the screw that rolled away from her, and got up from her stool to reach for it, making Ochako gulp. She found herself unable to look away as Itsuka continued to bend over, suddenly feeling a bit hot around the collar and pulling slightly at her pink t-shirt as she nervously swiped her lip with her tongue, and for some reason, a sudden thought came to her.

There was a part of her, a small, innocent part of her, that was suddenly tempted to reach out and trail her fingers against her friend's back, pushing the shirt up, or maybe reaching down to pull the pants slightly down. Ochako felt herself pale in horror as she realized something, something that she had never thought of before finally came to her.

The fact was … Itsuka had a great ass, and there was a part of Ochako that wanted to reach out with both hands and -

"Aha!" Itsuka finally managed to grab the screw, letting out a small grunt as she straightened back up. Ochako let out a tiny squeak, her eyes widening and her face turning red, and quickly whipped her gaze down to her feet, stiffly lifting up the screwdriver for her friend to take and desperately trying to pretend that she hadn't been staring at her best friend's ass as Itsuka looked back around at her.

"Ah! Thanks, Ochako."

"Y-you're welcome."

From there, everyone quietly worked in the garage for about an hour, going over the two separate projects. It was pretty clear that Izuku wasn't going to be rebuilding the Gauntlet in a day, but he was at least an attentive listener as Melissa went into more specifics about how the Gauntlet worked, so they counted that as a win. Itsuka, for her part, worked on her bike and hummed a bit to herself as she turned on the radio beside the bike, and Ochako tried not to look over whenever Itsuka got up and bent over, so as not to pass out from blood rushing to her head. During that time, Tenohira returned from grocery shopping, poking her head in and blinking at the blue ghost helping Izuku through the Gauntlet's repair, before slowly backing up and out of the garage, wondering if they were haunted. 

Finally, Melissa let out a small sigh and stretched her arms, nodding down at what Izuku had been doing and smiling.

"Well, I think this is a good spot to stop," She gave Izuku a thumbs up, getting the two girls' attention as she glanced around, "the nanobot I had you design should work around repairing the other shattered bots for the next few days, and soon enough, the Gauntlet will be good as new. We just have to wait for now."

"G-great!" Izuku smiled happily, turning in his seat to look up at her. "Thank you for showing me how the Gauntlet works - I've always been kind of curious about it."

"No problem - honestly, I shouldn't have forgotten to include this device so I could've run it through with you anyway, but what's done is done. Anyway …" She took a moment to stretch again, yawning, "… I don't know about you guys, since you're halfway across the world from me, but it's pretty late, and I need to head to bed soon - I've got an assignment to work on tomorrow."

"Of course!" Izuku quickly stood up from the desk so he could bow, "Thank you so much for helping me, Miss Shield."

"Melissa."

"Er … right. Melissa."

"Anyway," Itsuka smiled, walking over to pat Izuku's arm and rolling her eyes at the blush on his face as she turned to face Melissa, "thank you for looking after this guy. I'd rather not see what might happen to him if he doesn't know how to fix his stuff. Honestly, you've been a great help - I'll add you to our groupchat in a little bit, okay?"

"That sounds great!" Melissa nodded. "And if you guys need anything else, don't hesitate to ring me up!"

"Of course!" Ochako clapped her hands and waved. "Goodnight, Melissa!"

"Goodnight - or, y'know, have a good rest of your day," Melissa giggled, and reached over to tap something. Soon enough her hologram faded away, leaving the three teenagers alone in the garage as the small disk finally stopped glowing blue, powering down.

Finally, the room was silent again, other than the muffled sound of the students two doors down shouting as Teko instructed them, and Izuku let out a small sigh as he likewise stretched, glancing down at the Gauntlet as the tiny nanobot Melissa helped him modify crawled around the broken red support item to begin fixing everything up.

"Okay," He nodded, swinging his arms down and beginning to move towards the door, "I think that it's been a few hours since we had breakfast, so if you want, I can go upstairs and maybe cook us some -"

"Wait a second, Midoriya."

Izuku felt himself blink at the sound of Itsuka quietly speaking behind him, and wrinkled his brow. Looking around, he saw Itsuka staring down at her feet, not looking at either him or Ochako as their other training partner likewise gave her a curious look - and then Itsuka let out a small sigh, and glanced around at both of them, looking suddenly rather nervous and making them both feel a sudden shot of concern pass through them.

"Uh … Kendou?" Izuku asked in an unsure voice, "Are - is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah, everything's - everything's fine," She quickly said, glancing away and beginning to fidget, "it's just … well … there's something we … have to talk about. Do you guys mind … uh … sitting on the couch for a bit? Just - yeah, we - we gotta talk."

Izuku couldn't help but feel more confused by the second, glancing around at Ochako to see what she was thinking, and blinking at the sight of the registration in her eyes as she turned to look at Izuku as well, grimacing slightly.

"It's, uh …" Ochako paused for a second, and then nodded, "... let's sit down, Deku."

"I … okay …?" He nodded slowly, still not sure what was going on but deciding to just humor them by walking over to sit down on the couch, moving carefully so as not to disturb his stiff and sore body. Ochako likewise did the same, plopping down onto the couch beside him, and they both watched as Itsuka grabbed her stool beside the motorcycle to bring over to them, putting it down in front of them and carefully sitting down as she decided to slip her arm out of the sling again, folding her hands together.

For a few seconds, the garage was silent, with Izuku and Ochako letting their friend gather her thoughts. Taking a few moments to stare down at her feet, Itsuka let out a small sigh.

"Okay," She breathed out, nodding slightly to herself, "so … guys. There's … something that I have to talk to you both about."

"Uh …" Izuku glanced between both girls again, still not entirely sure what was going on, "... okay."

"Alright. S-so … first of all, I - I just wanna - okay," She shook her head again, and raised her hands to smack her cheeks briefly, before turning to look at the both of them with a serious look on her face, "okay. So first of all - what I'm about to tell you, it - it doesn't leave this room. I'm telling you both, but you can't - you can't tell anyone else. Alright?"

Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other again, clearly unsure where this was going, but didn't hesitate to nod in agreement.

"I'm serious, guys," Itsuka made sure to give a pointed look to both of them to emphasize this, "this does not leave this room."

Both of them nodded at her again, still not really sure what she was about to tell them that required this much secrecy, but still, they didn't hesitate to agree to her terms. Once she was sure that they were taking what she was saying seriously, Itsuka sighed again and settled back in her seat, glancing between the both of them.

"Okay," She bit her lip briefly, breathing through her nose, "so … well, Izuku, you don't know this, but - but yesterday, during the - the invasion - I was the one who destroyed the mountain zone."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, understanding that just fine - and then he blinked.

"Wait," He felt confused for a moment, his brow furrowing, "you destroyed it?"

"Mm-hm."

Izuku felt his mouth open briefly, but he was quick to close it again, although both girls could see the obvious question in his mind, making Itsuka smile and Ochako sigh.

"You're wondering how, aren't you?" Itsuka guessed, nodding slightly when Izuku went red, "I don't blame you for thinking that, Izuku - that goes against what you've noted about my quirk, doesn't it?"

"I … well …" Izuku hesitated, and then sighed and nodded, while still burning red, "... yeah, it - it kinda does. I know that you're strong, Kendou, and - and your quirk does increase that strength by at least five times that - but - but you were able to destroy a mountain with your quirk?"

"Doesn't add up, does it?" She chuckled, shaking her head, "Well, Izuku, the answer is … well, it's … yes and no."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, while Ochako tilted her head somewhat. "What - what do you mean, yes and no?"

"Well," Itsuka folded her hands together, feeling herself begin to shake as she realized that this was it, "Ochako was there with me when this happened, and … well, she's part of the reason why we're having this conversation, because she can tell you that …" She took another deep breath, and closed her eyes, "... that she saw my arm glow before I destroyed the mountain."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, looking a bit more serious, as she turned to look at Izuku - and unable to stop herself from giggling a bit at the sight of him looking more and more bewildered by the moment, quickly taking out his notebook to flip to Itsuka's page.

"But - but -" He glanced back up at Itsuka, who at the very least was smiling at his antics, "- but that doesn't make sense! Your quirk is to - it only allows you to grow out your hands, doesn't it? We've worked together at the beach for a year, and your arm never glowed. I - what -?"

"You're right," She gave him, biting the inside of her cheek, "you're right, Midoriya, that my arm's never glowed on the beach. But … well, I'm glad you brought that up, Midoriya, because … well … okay. So you guys know … you remember why we trained on that beach, right?"

"Uh … yeah," Ochako nodded slowly, not exactly sure where this was going, "so we could all improve our quirks and bodies for the entrance exam, and so Deku could practice using his quirk in a safe environment."

"Yeah, and … and that part was true. It's just …" Itsuka took another deep breath, fidgeting in her seat, "... the truth is … there was … another reason why All Might had me training on that beach. One that … we didn't tell either of you about."

She could tell that had grabbed Izuku and Ochako's interest, Izuku straightening up and stopping his almost mad reading of Itsuka's page and Ochako sitting up, but she could see a flash of shock on their faces that she and All Might had kept something from them, and that hurt her even more than she expected as she sat forward in her seat.

"You see," She decided to start right at the beginning, "it - it all started when I - when I ran into a burning building to save a few kids. You guys remember me telling you that, right?"

Izuku and Ochako nodded at the same time.

"Yeah … the firefighters were a ways out, the heroes weren't doing anything since their quirks couldn't combat the fire, and … and I just ran in to save them. I got the hell reprimanded out of me, by the cops and the heroes and my parents, but when I was walking home afterwards - All Might approached me."

Both Izuku and Ochako sat up a little bit more as Itsuka aimed her gaze away from them.

"He told me that … that I had shown the true heart of a hero," She explained, "and that I … reminded him of someone that he used to know. That he was interested in making me his successor. I - I accepted, of course, but he …" She took another deep breath, knowing that this was the point of no return, "... he said that … there would be a … a benefit."

She glanced back at them, knowing that she had just gotten their interest - they knew the small details of that meeting, but she had never mentioned anything about benefits, seeing Izuku looking more and more curious by the second and Ochako's brow wrinkling.

"Izuku," She smiled at him, "when we first met, and All Might told you that I was your successor … you were wondering what was so special about me."

"H-huh?" Izuku straightened up, going very red as he stared at her in shock. "You - wait, you heard that?! I - I thought I didn't say anything though -!"

"You were muttering under your breath."

Izuku stopped, and then let out a small groan as he held his face with both hands, which made Ochako roll her eyes and mutter his name in a disappointed tone while Itsuka giggled.

"I don't blame you for thinking that," She smiled sheepishly, "All Might choosing a girl who can only grow her hands does seem weird. But … well … that's where the benefit comes in."

With this, Itsuka took a deep breath, aiming her gaze back to the ground, staring at her feet while trying as hard as she could not to break, and just ripped the bandaid off.

"He said that … well and I know this is going to be hard to believe, but … but he said that I was … I was worthy of inheriting his quirk."

At those last seven words, silence fell once again in the garage. Itsuka stared down at her feet, and Izuku and Ochako went quiet. For several heart pounding moments, Itsuks was afraid of what she was going to see when she looked up, expecting either looks of shock, disbelief, or anger that she wasn't taking them seriously.

But it was with a deep breath, and steadying of her nerves, that she finally, slowly, looked up to see what their reactions were.

And ... they didn't have any.

For one, they both looked - suddenly very blank, staring at her while slowly blinking. Izuku brought his head out from where he had been holding it with his hands, his mouth slowly dropping open, and Ochako slightly tilted her head, her brow furrowing.

They stared at her, and she nervously stared back for a moment.

"... uh …" Izuku finally managed to find his words, "... what … uh … what does that … what does that mean, Kendou? That you're worthy of - of All Might's - what?" 

"I'm … with Deku," Ochako said in a quiet voice, still blinking slowly, "what?"

"It … it means …" Itsuka faltered again, and then took another deep breath, shaking her head, and just decided to bluntly say it, "... it means that All Might said that I had the - the chance to take his quirk from him. That if I wanted to become the next Symbol of Peace, I would have to inherit his quirk. And … and I accepted. That's why my arm glowed, and why I was able to destroy the mountain zone yesterday. I didn't use my quirk," She leaned in, looking serious, "I used All Might's."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"... bullshit." Ochako finally managed to say, and quickly squeaked as she threw her hands to her mouth, as though she couldn't believe she said that. 

Thankfully, that finally broke the rising tension that the trio had been under for the last few minutes. Itsuka let out a small sputter, and then felt herself break as she cupped her face with her hands and began giggling hysterically. Izuku, for his part, finally snapped out of the blank state he had been in, so that his jaw could properly drop open, and stared at Itsuka in complete and utter shock as his world was slowly blown apart.

"I thought it was bullshit at first too!" Itsuka laughed, watching through her fingers as Ochako slowly melted into a puddle of embarrassment, "but - but nope, he was - he was being serious! He could give me his quirk, I said I wanted his quirk, and … yeah."

"W-w-w-w-w-wait a second!" Izuku managed to stammer out, quickly waving his hands in the air frantically to get Itsuka to stop for a second, "I - I mean, it's true that All Might's quirk is something that's been heavily speculated about before - it's pretty much one of the world's greatest mysteries! People are always debating online about what it could possibly be, whether it's some kind of super strength quirk or something else, but - but I don't understand what it means to 'give' someone a quirk - it flies in the face of everything we know about quirks!"

"Er … Izuku?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow as Izuku slowly descended into mutter mode.

"Either through biology, or what's been theorized about quirks! I've never heard of anything like this happening before, it hasn't even been covered in any of the official debates scientists have had before, but why is that? Is it because at the dawn of history, quirks like that have never been confirmed? In the first place, it shouldn't even be possible for …"

As his mutter spree increased slightly in volume and speed, Itsuka and Ochako watched with amused looks as Izuku essentially had a mental breakdown over everything he thought he knew about quirks, bending over slightly in his seat and tugging at his lower lip in concentration. With another small giggle, getting control of herself, Itsuka reached out with both hands, and lightly slapped both of his cheeks, jolting him out of his thoughts and looking up at the smile she had on her face in surprise.

"Izuku," She said sweetly, "I realize that you're probably having a breakdown, but maybe you can let me keep explaining? I wasn't done."

"O-oh!" Izuku jumped, embarrassed, and quickly sat back in his seat as he flushed right, "R-right, Kendou, of - of course."

"Alright," She nodded, settling back in her own seat, and let out a sigh as she glanced between them again, "so … back to what I was saying. All Might offered me his quirk, and … explained how it worked. The name of the quirk …" She gulped, and then, in a quiet voice, said, "... is One for All."

"One for All?" Ochako repeated, blinking and sitting forward while Izuku seemed to be resisting as hard as he could not to jolt down these notes, remembering Itsuka's insistence that it would only be between the three of them and how she probably wouldn't take it kindly if he wrote it down.

"Yeah. It's a … well … it's a special quirk," She admitted sheepishly, "All Might explained it to me that it's a … well, it's kind of a transferring quirk. A quirk that can be passed down from person to person, making the quirk stronger as each user adds their strength to it. One person cultivates the power, and then passes it onto another person to continue cultivating it. And so on and so forth, yada yada yada. He inherited it from the previous user, and he wanted to pass it on to me."

"And … and you accepted," Ochako felt her eyes widen in shock, sitting forward and staring at Itsuka like she had never seen her before, "and you used it to - to destroy the mountain zone yesterday."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, grimacing and rubbing the sore arm, "it had … well, it definitely had a lot more kickback than what I was expecting."

"But - but -" Izuku continued to stammer, completely blown away by this as he scooted even closer, "- but when did - when did All Might even have time to give it to you? When did he -?"

"Well …" She smiled sheepishly again, "you guys remember All Might asking me to talk after the battle trial a few days ago?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, clearly thinking for a moment - and then their eyes widened.

"Wait … so when you met up with All Might …?"

"That's when he gave me One for All," Itsuka nodded, grimacing slightly and shuddering, "and … I'd prefer not to go into how he gave it to me. Eugh."

"But - but Kendou, this is amazing!" Izuku suddenly gushed, and leapt out of his seat. Itsuka squeaked as he suddenly hovered overtop her, making her have to lean back so that he wasn't in her face as he stared down at her in excitement. "You - you have All Might's quirk! This is awesome!"

"I - uh -"

"This - now that I'm thinking about it, it makes sense!" Izuku continued to excitedly rant, unaware of Itsuka's face turning redder and redder the longer he stood over her, and Ochako glanced between them with a small, strange look as he balled his fists. "I had thought it was a little strange that All Might insisted on working on the beach, but - but if this - this 'One for All' is some kind of strength enhancing quirk, it makes sense that he had you build up some more muscle before you took on the quirk! And using the garbage on the beach makes sense!"

"Uh - I-Izu -?"

"But in that case, what are you capable of now? You said that the quirk gets stronger as it gets passed along … so does that mean you're even stronger than All Might?!" Izuku looked away, almost as though he couldn't quite believe it as he began shaking again. "In - in that case, how does it feel? How did All Might transfer it to you? What did it -?"

However, before he could continue his fanboying, he felt a finger tap on his nose, making him wrinkle it on reflex. Feeling himself falter in his excited chatting, he glanced back at Itsuka - and felt himself freeze when he realized how close he had gotten to his friend. As in, their noses were almost touching, in that he was leaning so far in she had to physically lean back in her seat so they weren't touching, and the fact that she was bright red indicated to him her uncomfortableness.

Letting out a small squeak, Izuku quickly retreated backwards, sitting on the couch while Ochako glanced between both of them with a small pout on her face.

"Sorry," He muttered, flushing red and slowly covering his face with his hands, "didn't mean to … you know."

"Y-yeah, it's - it's cool," Itsuka managed to get out, sitting back up properly and trying to calm her own face down as she adjusted herself on the stool, "but … yeah. That's - that's what I was hiding from you guys. That I have … All Might's quirk now."

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment while Izuku sank back into the couch, the girl clearly thinking over everything - and then she let out a small sigh and shook her head, smiling a bit despite herself, "... I'm not gonna lie, Kendou, when you said you were gonna tell us why your arm was glowing, I didn't expect … all that."

"I didn't think so," Itsuka smiled at her as well, "it's … definitely something else."

"I … uh … well," Izuku cleared his throat, glancing back up at his friend while his face continued to glow red, "is … is that everything, Kendou? Are - is there anything else -"

"No," She shook her head, "that's everything, I swear. I'm hiding nothing else from either of you. I - I didn't wanna hide this in the first place, but I swear - I swear that that's all I was trying to hide."

"Okay," Ochako slowly nodded, although there was a look of conflict on her face, "but … why?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked. "Why what?"

"Why … did you tell us?" She leaned forward slightly, with Izuku glancing at her curiously before returning his gaze to Itsuka. "We - now that we know why, I get why you were hiding it, but … why did you tell us about One for All? We're just ... us."

Itsuka faltered then, staring at Ochako in surprise for a brief moment, and then glanced at Izuku. Although he still looked flustered from leaning overtop her, he seemed to be having similar thoughts, lowering his arms so that he could look at her. Itsuka found her gaze returning to the floor, thinking for a moment - and then she sighed.

"I think …" She mused quietly, "... that I told you both about One for All for - for a few reasons. One of them was just … y'know, because of yesterday. We worked together for a year, you both saw my quirk in action loads of times - if you had seen my arm glowing and me unleashing that power, you'd both come to the same conclusion you did, Ochako - that there's something going on."

"That's … fair," Ochako smiled weakly - but then both she and Izuku blinked when Itsuka suddenly leaned forward, and rested her hands overtop both of theirs, making them both blink down at them and feeling their cheeks go red - or in Izuku's case, go redder.

"But that's not all," Itsuka shook her head, seemingly without thinking about what she was doing as she glanced between the both of them, "I told you about One for All because you two - you're -" She swallowed, and then said, in a quiet voice, "- because you're important to me. You both worked alongside me while I was fighting as hard as I could to get One for All, on the beach and off of it. Izuku, you defended me from Nighteye - you don't know this, but this is the real reason he doesn't approve of me - he doesn't think I'm worthy of One for All."

"What?!" Izuku straightened up, his eyes widening in shock and outrage. "Then - then when he came to the beach -?!"

"He was there to convince All Might to change his mind." Itsuka shook her head, smiling bitterly.

"That ..." Izuku slowly shook his head as Ochako looked outraged, and Izuku himself wasn't that far behind - but Itsuka squeezed their hands, distracting them from their anger and making them look back at her.

"But … but that day, Izuku, you told me to ignore him. And you, Ochako - when he came with Gran Torino, don't think I didn't see how close you were to beating Nighteye's ass. Both of you …" She hesitated, and then let out a shuddering sigh, "... you didn't know it, but you've been on this journey with me the entire time, and … and I care about you both. Both of you. If there's anyone deserving of finding out the truth about One for All … it's you two."

The garage finally fell into silence again, with the three of them glancing between each other, and Gūdo raised his head from where he was napping to give an inquisitive bark. The sound of her dog barking seemed to jolt Itsuka, making her realize that she hadn't moved her hands off of theirs, and felt her cheeks turn red - but before any of them could move, or open their mouths, they heard the sound of the door to the garage opening again.

Quickly, Itsuka withdrew her hands, straightening up and whipping around in slight panic as her mom poked her head through the door with a smile.

"Was wondering what was taking you three so long," She giggled a bit, opening the door a bit wider and raising a bag that smelled absolutely delicious, making the three teenagers' stomachs growl, "I picked up some meat buns on the way for you guys to share - and if you want, since I've got nothing else to do today, I can make you guys some lunch."

"O-oh!" Izuku quickly blinked, standing up from the couch as Ochako's mouth watered and Itsuka studied her lap with her face continuing to burn, "That - thank you, Mrs. Ken- I - I mean, Tenohira. Do - do you need help with making lunch?"

"Oh, no, you three just sit back and relax, I can handle it."

"B-but we should also help!" Ochako hopped up as well, neither she or Izuku looking at Itsuka while she likewise didn't look at them in fear of bursting into embarrassed flames, "We're guests, I know, but - but we should still help out where we can. I can make a bit of mochi for dessert, if you want!"

"Mochi?" Tenohira smiled a bit teasingly at the mention of Ochako's favorite food in the world, but shrugged, "Well … I did buy some rice flour … so if it's for dessert …"

"Yes!" Ochako quickly nodded, happy to have an excuse to run to the bathroom to calm down her fluster, and quickly moved out of the garage. "In that case, Tenohira, leave it to me!"

"Uh … I'll come too," Izuku nodded, walking around Itsuka towards the door while stiffly glancing down at her, "I can help out with lunch. Are - are you coming too, Kendou?"

"Hm?" She hummed absently, turning slightly towards him while continuing to hide her red face, and quickly nodded, "Ah, uh … yeah, yeah, I'll be up in a sec. There's just - something I wanna screw into the bike really quick. Be right up."

Both Izuku and Ochako stiffly nodded, feeling like the cool garage was suddenly a tad bit too hot for them, and quickly followed Tenohira out of the garade, Gūdo happily bouncing out after them. As soon as the door closed behind them, Itsuka nodded quietly to herself, standing up and grabbing her seat to bring back over to the bike. She had just enough time to sit down, pick up the wrench to screw in the bolt on the engine of her bike, before she suddenly sagged over, taking a few deep breaths as she rubbed her chest, where her heart was beating a mile a minute.

Good god, that was nerve wracking! She was thankful that telling Izuku and Ochako about One for All went even better than she expected - they both accepted it, they didn't laugh at her, they didn't not believe her, they didn't get angry at her for keeping such a big secret from them. The fact that they seemed to accept it, and her, was more than a relief to her.

So why was her heart still hammering in her chest? She got through it! It was over! Izuku and Ochako were in the know now, and there wasn't anything else she was hiding from them! This didn't have anything to do with -

- oh, who was she kidding. This one hundred percent had to do with the fact she grabbed their hands and said those - those things to them.

"You're both important to me."

"I care about you both."

With a small groan, Itsuka slumped forward, resting her forehead against the engine as she closed her eyes. She honestly had no idea where her mind was at all ever since yesterday - kissing Ochako, resting on top of her, whether it be on her legs or her shoulders, hugging Izuku, literally sleeping with them both and waking up cuddling him - what the hell was going on with her?!

She might've thought that she was just being clingy after what they went through yesterday, but …

… but she knew there was something else there. Something that made her feel …

… really, really, really fucking good when she touched them.

Itsuka shivered, raising her hand to her chin and biting her lip as she closed her eyes. Her mind was going a mile a minute, and she didn't like where it was going. She remembered that day on the beach, with Izuku lighting himself on fire and running into the ocean, and then coming back with his shirt off. How fucking tight the abs in his stomach were, how good his arms looked. She remembered hugging him yesterday, how solid he had felt against her, and waking up this morning with his arm under her waist. Wondering if he had been holding onto her as tightly as she had been holding on to him, a thought that made her shiver.

Then her thoughts turned to Ochako - making her remember the times they got changed together, seeing her in her hero costume for the first time. How nice that costume hung to her, made Itsuka feel embarrassed even looking at her. She remembered yesterday, how it had felt to kiss those nice lips of hers … their lips smashing together, before they opened their mouths and their tongues -

SMACK

Itsuka acted without thinking, raising her hand up and bringing it to her cheek to slap herself across her face, jerking a bit in her seat and letting out a small whine as she shook her head. What the hell was wrong with her?!

Shaking her head, Itsuka let out another grunt as she got up, tossing the wrench down onto the mat beside the bike, and quickly moved to the sink and mirror in the garage, glancing up at her reflection and grumbling about how red her cheeks were as she washed her hands.

She was just … disorganized, that was all. She went through something awful yesterday, and now she was just feeling confused. That had to be it.

So she needed to get herself together, Itsuka nodded as she turned off the faucet and wiped her hands on the towel, walking out of the garage so she could join everyone upstairs. She needed to stop feeling like she was skipping on thin air whenever those two so much as looked at her. She needed to forget about Izuku's stupid, sexy body. She needed to forget about kissing Ochako and how much she … 

… nope, nope, she wasn't going to go there. Admitting it, even in her head, would've just spelled out more trouble for her.

Once she finally got up the stairs, pausing to pat Gūdo's back, Itsuka moved into the kitchen, hoping that her face wasn't as red as it felt as she glanced around and saw Izuku helping her mom out with starting the food prep for their late lunch while Ochako helped put away some of the groceries. Trying her hardest to smile, Itsuka hurried over to start helping Ochako, humming as she picked up some fruits and veggies, and then looked over at her two friends as she tried to clear her throat.

"So, uh … we've got all day for ourselves," She pointed out, Izuku and Ochako looking around curiously, "and you two aren't going home until my dad gets back from work, so why don't we watch a movie after lunch? We can hang and eat some popcorn if we're still hungry."

"Uh … sure! That sounds great!" Izuku smiled awkwardly, although there was slight apprehension on his face, "Just, uh … no horror movies, okay?"

"No horror movies?" Itsuka laughed, shaking her head as she opened up the fridge, "Oh, come on, Izuku - they're not all that bad."


"Oh no," The man gasped, staring down at his open palms in abject horror as he slowly backed up, the empty fridge in the grocery store large enough that he had a lot of space for himself. "I can't - it's starting!"

"What - what's starting?" The woman in the thin tank top whimpered, leaning against the wall next to the locked door as the man raised his hands dramatically to his face.

"My - my eye quirk!" He suddenly shouted, his voice coming out raw and agonized. "It's - it's starting to -!"

And suddenly, several eyes opened up on his face, looking rapidly around as the woman let out a high-pitched scream of terror.

"K-KYO!"

"Help me!" He screamed desperately, his body beginning to jerk and hitting the floor where he convulsed. "Please, HELP ME!"

As the woman on the screen continued to scream in terror, the camera not moving away from the man's body twisting and transforming with several eyes emerging on his skin, as shown from his lack of a shirt, the three teenagers sitting in the dark living room, the curtains drawn and the doors closed, were not having a good time at the moment. Ochako had her face buried in Izuku's shoulder and her hands covering her ears, while he felt himself rapidly turning blue as he shrunk somewhat, his eyes fixed on the screen, and on his right, Itsuka was trying as hard as she could not to jump as much from the scares, although her eyes were similarly transfixed on the screen as she clasped her hands tightly together and raised her feet off the floor.

"PLEASE!" The man screamed as the eyes began forming more and more across his skin, the woman shrieking against the wall and desperately jerking the handle of the locked fridge, "PLEASE HELP ME!"

"KYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

And the eyes rushed forward, completely enveloping her and causing the screen to smash to black.

QUIRK AWAKENING III

"Oh, thank fuck that's over," Itsuka sighed in relief, slumping forward and holding her hand over her eyes as eerie violin music began playing over the credits, "I was starting to wonder if we were actually going to have a happy ending. No way that's possible in this stupid movie, no way no how."

"Oh, god, this is going to haunt me for the rest of the weekend," Ochako shuddered a bit, likewise rising from Izuku's shoulder and fanning her face slowly, as Izuku tried hard not to think about the horrifying time he had in the last hour and a half, "why can't we just watch something soft? Like puppets? Puppets aren't bad."

"Puppets?" Itsuka blinked, repeating that word, before a small, evil smile appeared on her face that the other two couldn't see due to her facing away from them, and pulled out her phone, "I mean, if you want puppets, Ochako, I've got a few videos we can watch - Set sat me and Yui down to watch them when we were like, eleven."

"Oh, yes!" Ochako clapped her hands happily, smiling in relief, "Please, let's just watch something lighter."


"WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK, WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Wow," Itsuka chortled, enjoying the sight of Ochako grabbing her face with both hands and screaming at the top of her lungs at the screen while Izuku likewise paled in horror beside her, "I know I punched Set for showing us these - but I think I get it now. This is fun."

POW

"Ow!"


"... so now you pull up the corner and tuck in the edges," Ochako instructed Itsuka as they rolled the mochi balls, both of them concentrating in the kitchen as Ochako pulled her hair up into a bun so it wasn't in her face, "and you keep pulling and tugging until it's a thick small mound."

"Okay," Itsuka nodded, concentrating as she rolled up the small piece of dough, sticking her tongue out slightly while Izuku wrote in his hero notebook on the couch, off in his own little world as Gūdo napped with his head in his lap, "so like that ... that ... and like that?"

"Yep!"


"Izuku."

"Y-yeah?"

"You have any nines?"

"Mmmgh ..."

"Ha! You're too easy. Ochako, any sixes?"

"Go fuck yourself."

"Heh, heh, heh. Gūdo, any twos?"

"Woof!"

"Hm ... I'll take that as a 'go fish'."


With a low grumble, Teko pushed the door upstairs open, taking a moment to wipe his sweaty brow as he closed it behind him. All in all, it had been a long day, but he was satisfied that it had been a successful one - none of his students got on his nerves, they had remained professional, and other than one student breaking his nose after being kicked in the face, there weren't any injuries that required hospital visits. So Teko would be satisfied with retiring into his bedroom, taking a bath, and then going straight to sleep - he wasn't feeling all that hungry, and certainly felt more tired.

All in all, he did not get much rest last night, Teko frowned as he moved down the hall towards the kitchen - he had gotten back at a late hour, but fortunately for him, no one was waiting up for him, and everyone sounded asleep, so his return to the dojo and his quiet movements into his bedroom went unnoticed. He was a bit disappointed that no word had gotten back to him yet, but he was unsurprised - it may take a while for his contacts to find what he was looking for, so he would just have to continue his regular schedule and -

His dark thoughts were interrupted, however, as he moved into the kitchen, looking around, and stopping in his tracks at the sight of Tenohira poking her head into the living room, the doors having been slid nearly all the way shut. Furrowing his brow, he moved through the kitchen, walking up to his daughter and raising his eyebrow.

"Daughter?"

"Shh, Dad!" Tenohira shushed him, which only made Teko raise his eyebrow even more, and feel suspicious about the happy, gushing tone in his daughter's voice. Moving his head to the side, he got a look into the dark living room, seeing the sun setting through the window - and let out a sigh at the sight of his granddaughter sleeping on the couch, Izuku napping on the floor beside her while Ochako curled up against him.

The sight of the three of them asleep only made Teko roll his eyes, but at the very least, neither girl was clinging to Izuku - his granddaughter at the very least had her hands to herself, so he would count that as a small victory. Still …

"How many more times shall we find those three sleeping together?"

"Shush, Dad, it's cute," Tenohira giggled, withdrawing her head so that she could slowly slide the doors shut, and turned to her father with a pout, "I'm still really unhappy with you waking them up this morning - they looked so comfy, and you ruined it."

"You were busy taking pictures of them, daughter - they needed to get up anyway, it was close to noon."

"Still!"

Teko sighed, and moved past his daughter, patting her back and shaking his head, "I do not know why you are so insistent that my granddaughter must be in love with with the first boy she brought home, Tenohira, but please keep your dreams of a future son-in-law in check. You aren't considering Uraraka's own feelings."

"I am!" Tenohira shook her head, pouting again, "I'm not going to pressure Izuku and Itsuka into getting together, Dad - I'm just gonna watch and hope Izuku leans in her direction. No unnecessary pushing from me."

"And I assume he isn't staying the night again? Or should I be worried that we will find him and Itsuka in more compromising situations?"

"Oh, Dad, don't be ridiculous, that was just a bit of cuddling. And no, Hakushu is going to give him and Ochako a ride home once he's done work."

"Hm," Teko shook his own head, frowning, and moved back down the hall towards his room and sighing again as he raised his hand to rub his sweating forehead -

"Where did you go last night, Dad?"

With his hand on the door, Teko stopped in his tracks, blinking slightly at the change in his daughter's tone. The light and happy voice she had was gone, replaced by a far more neutral tone - but he could sense the change in Tenohira's voice.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his daughter moving out of the kitchen towards him, her expression blank but her eyes knowing.

"I was listening for you last night," She pointed out, "and you didn't come home until late. Not until at least one in the morning. Where did you go?"

Teko paused, and then turned back to the door.

"My walk took longer than expected - I ended up getting lost in my thoughts. And I bathed downstairs in the changing room when I returned home - I did not want to wake up anyone on this floor with the sound of my bath running. I didn't want to get sick, not at this age."

As he began to pull his door open, however, Tenohira's hand landed on his wrist, stopping him. Teko turned back to his daughter, seeing her look concerned but still rather cold - it was an odd sight to see on his otherwise lovely daughter.

"Dad," She said in a serious tone, "you're … sure that's what happened?"

"..."

"..."

"... yes." He nodded, his own expression falling into a scowl, "You don't need to doubt me, daughter - I know what you are thinking."

"Do you?" Tenohira's own frown was cross enough to rival his own. "I made it clear when Hakushu and I moved back here, Dad -"

"Daughter, I am done with that life."

Tenohira paused, watching as her father turned back to her, and did nothing to push him away as he raised a hand to cup her cheek. "I did not lie to you, Tenohira - I will not be doing that kind of thing anymore. I am far too old and tired. Even if I could convince your brother …"

He stopped there, seeing the flash of pain on his daughter's face, and closed his eyes with another small sigh.

"... I'm sorry. There is no reason for you to worry, daughter - I took a long walk with my thoughts last night, and got carried away and walked into the city. Do not worry yourself."

"..."

"Now, I am going to take my bath. There is no need to make me any dinner, Tenohira, I am not hungry. I will be retiring early this evening - please wish Itsuka a goodnight for me."

There was a part of him that knew, as he turned around to walk into his room and slide the door shut on his daughter's clearly conflicted face, that she knew that he was lying.

He couldn't quite bring himself to care, however - this was for Itsuka's safety, so it would be better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

Even if he was betraying everything he and his daughter had agreed to.


"Nine? Are you awake?"

With a small knock on the door, Slice pushed the door open, attempting to keep the tray she was holding level as she stepped inside. She frowned at the darkness of the room due to the closed blackout curtains drawn against the window, only letting a small sliver of sunlight in to show her where she was going. The room itself was nothing impressive, with a desk pressed up against one wall, a large TV on the side, and a small bed on the other wall facing it.

Laying on his back, Nine let out a small grumble, staring up at the ceiling while his long white hair hung loose behind him. Slice furrowed her brow at the sight of her leader - he had his shirt off, showing off the harsh red burns of the lightning strike he had been hit by yesterday. They had spread down his torso, red jagged lines lining his chest, stomach and arms - a permanent reminder of what that little bastard did.

But Nine's breathing was steady, and his eyes were open, so they would count that as a win.

"I brought you some food," Slice said in a quiet voice, setting down the tray near the bedside table and watching Nine's eyes flicker over to her, "our options were limited, but at least the convenience store employee doesn't know what we look like, so it's better than nothing."

"Alright," Nine's voice came out a bit raspy, and Slice gave him a gentle smile as she sat down on the edge of the bed. Gently taking the back of his head, Slice guided him into sitting up, Nine hissing slightly but offering no complaint as she settled him back against the pillow, seeing him grimacing slightly.

"Do you need help eating?"

"No," Nine shook his head, unable to stop a small smirk as she put the tray down on his lap, "I'm not that pathetic yet, Slice."

"It's not a matter of you being pathetic," Slice reminded him with a frown, putting her hand down gently on his leg, "you took a lightning bolt to the chest, and since we can't take you to the hospital you'll probably be bedridden for a while. Being hit by lightning isn't something one can just shrug off."

"Then we'll just have to find the regenerative quirk faster," Nine frowned, taking the spoon from the tray and dipping it into the soup, "we can't just wait around for our benefactor to be ready for us. Can you turn on the TV? I'd like to see what the news is making of us."

Slice nodded, scooping up the remote from the side table and turning on the TV in the corner. Flicking through the channels as Nine began to eat, she eventually settled on one major newsfeed, leaning back and using one of the pillows from the side to lay against her upper back as she sat against the wall on the bed, putting her legs over Nine's. They both watched the news absently, not really interested in the various reports of hero news and gossip (really, who gave a shit about Wash?) but then it changed to an image of UA High School, making them both sit up and Slice turning up the volume.

"In other news," The reporter with the one horn on his head said, making both Slice and Nine narrow their eyes at him - was that all his quirk was? Just a horn? - "the Hero Public Safety Commission has yet to make an official statement on the attack on UA High School yesterday, where one of their classes was attacked by a group of villains known as 'the Villain Consortium', according to police. The identities of the five villains referred to as the leaders of this villain group have yet to be revealed to the public. As our sources confirmed yesterday during a police conference with Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, over seventy-two villains were arrested yesterday after an attempted assault on the high school, and while no students were harmed, police will continue to search for the leadership of the Consortium. It's not known yet if HPSC's head president will address the attack, but -"

"The same bull they've been saying over and over again," Slice scoffed, shaking her head as she turned back down the volume, "just trying to downplay what happened. And outright lying about it too - we injured quite a few of those students ourselves, after all."

"It's the direction the Commission always goes," Nine shook his head in disgust, "downplay the obvious threats to be nobodies while siccing their little hitmen after us to kill us in secret. It means that they're afraid - and that they'll be looking for us. I wouldn't be surprised if they've already decided that they'll be sweeping our deaths under the rug."

"Mm."

"With that in mind, did you hear back from Chimera and Mummy yet?"

"I did," She nodded, pulling out her phone and raising it, "they're both in hiding now. Chimera is going to hold down on the Trigger barrels, and Mummy is moving around seeing what the word is about us."

"And what about this place?" Nine raised his gaze to look around the dark room, "Will it be secure enough for us to stay in?"

"It is," Slice nodded, smirking a bit as she absently pulled on her tank top, "I convinced the landlord to, ah … look the other way for us."

"I see. And Giran?"

"Still hasn't gotten back to us."

With a grumble, Nine carefully put the tray back down on the bedside table, slowly and stiffly, and sighed as he laid back against his pillow, suppressing a small cough. Slice scooted closer so that she could pat his arm, seeing the subtly glowing veins appearing under his skin and furrowing her brow as he raised a hand to rub his sweaty forehead.

"We underestimated those brats yesterday," She said in a patient, soothing voice, "it won't happen again. We've sent our message, and the heroes received it. We can begin focusing on taking down the more dangerous pro heroes -"

"No." Nine growled slightly, shaking his head. "No, Slice, we didn't. We were humiliated. All For One can go on and on about pyrrhic victories, but I was defeated by a brat who couldn't even die properly. Odds are that he managed to survive, if they managed to get him to safety … along with those other two brats. As much as I hate to admit it, Slice …"

She watched as he paused, clearly thinking to himself for a moment - and then he sighed, shaking his head as he looked around at her.

"... that boy," he said in a low voice, "as much as I try not to, I can't help but think about him. Him and his quirk."

"The green-haired brat?" Slice raised an eyebrow.

"There was something … about him yesterday," Nine shook his head again, "something that seemed to be holding him back. During his fight with Hood, he didn't attack at all - just dodging and weaving. Until those girls were in danger. Then he moved to kill, and if it had been anyone else other than Hood, that boy would've been walking away with blood on his hands. And then, when he hit me with lightning, I went down like a sack of potatoes."

"Meaning … what, exactly?"

"It means that whatever might have been holding him back," Nine couldn't help but smirk a bit, "has faded away. Now he can begin to experiment with his quirk, revealing its full potential. And UA does like to broadcast their students … we might be seeing what could be a powerful new hero - a new Endeavor, a new Hawks. Maybe even a new All Might."

"And …" Slice raised an eyebrow, "... in that case, why should we wait? We should kill him, then, if he'll be a threat."

"That quirk," Nine's expression turned almost hungry, "I want it. And I can't take the quirk if he's dead. So he can live for now - UA always has a little sports festival, don't they?"

"Yeah …?'

"And there will be no chance in hell that they'd cancel it after what we did - it would be seen as an act of weakness, they want to remind everyone that they're strong. So we'll be watching their little festival, and look for him - and once All For One reaches back out to us, to give me the chance to improve and receive more space for quirks - we'll find the regeneration quirk I need to save me - and then I'll be taking that lightning quirk for myself."

A small silence fell in the dark room then, with Nine turning his gaze, which had been studying the hole in his hand, towards Slice. There was a clear look of conflict on her face, opening her mouth briefly and then closing it - and then Nine chuckled, shaking his head.

"You have doubts," He guessed, "about going after the brat again?"

"I mean …" Slice hesitated, and then shook her head, "... I just don't see the risk, Nine. He's a fifteen-year old kid."

"Power is power," Nine shrugged, "no matter where it comes from."

Slice wrinkled her brow at that, as though to refute that, but before she could, Nine's hand rose, stroking the side of her face and making her falter as he absently played with her long, beautiful hair.

"Besides," He said softly, "it's not like we've ever been weak. You and I … we were strong, even when we were kids."

Slice shut her mouth at that, staring into Nine's gray eyes as he stroked her cheek.

"Both of us … we both know what it's like," He frowned, "to be looked down on, to give everything but receive nothing in return. When I found you, Slice … I was so angry about what they had done to you. To try and make you think that you were nothing, even when you fought as hard as you could to make them happy with what little they had. They betrayed you, and my only regret is that I wasn't the one to put them in their place - even if you deserved to be the one that made them suffer."

Slice, for her part, felt a small scowl return to her face.

"I gave you purpose," He reminded her softly, "and I showed you how ugly this world was with the monkeys ruling over the lions. And you agreed with me."

"I just … don't see the purpose of going after that kid again."

"He humiliated me," Nine narrowed his eyes, frowning, "just like they humiliated you. They humiliated us. And like you … I'll have my revenge. I have plans for him. And not just him, but the girls that dragged you around yesterday, those little brats that stopped us from killing All Might. All of them."

Slice faltered at that, staring at her leader as he continued to stroke her long, beautiful hair - and then she sighed, nodding. Gently, she took his wrist in her hands, bringing his hand down to her face, and she pressed a gentle kiss against his knuckles. Nine raised his eyebrows at the intimate action, but did nothing to stop her as she closed her eyes and exhaled - and then she nodded, opening them back up to look him in the face.

Slowly, she pushed him back, Nine moving with her as she laid him back, and then Slice moved overtop him. Nine watched as she took the remote and turned off the TV, standing back up so that she could walk over and close the door again to completely seal them inside. With another sigh, Slice took the helm of her tank top and lifted it over her head, Nine blinking a bit at the sight of his lieutenant's scarred, battle-worn torso appearing before she began sliding her jeans down her legs.

"Hm," Nine couldn't help but smirk, "you seem to be losing a few clothes there, Slice."

"Hush," She shook her head, quietly approaching the bed again. Gently, she took him by the shoulder and laid him back down against the bed, Nine grunting as he was pressed into the stiff mattress. Slowly, she activated her quirk, and her hair, unsharpened this time, began moving around his arms and legs, leaving a ticklish sensation.

Before he could say anything, however, Slice moved her leg overtop him, and quietly began straddling his legs, staring down at him with a look of adoration while Nine stared blankly up at her for a moment, before a smile appeared on his face and his hands rose to gently take her sides, Slice shivering as his hands rubbed up and down her hips.

"You know," He said absently, "this won't help you with Mummy and Chimera's suspicions that you're only here to cozy up to me."

"Let them think that," She smirked, laying down on top of him gently so as not to disturb his injuries, and gently brushing her nose against his cheek before kissing his cheek, "I've made it clear to you so many times, Nine - you saved me. The least I can do is give my king everything he deserves."

"Hm," Nine smirked, absently wrapping his arm around her waist as she continued to kiss the side of his face, trying not to chuckle too much at the ticklish sensation of her hair wrapping around him, and used his other hand to rub her thigh as she laid down on his side, her own hands beginning to feel him up.

"So you just lay back," She breathed into his ear, "and relax. I'll take care of you, Nine, and then once you're fully recovered, we'll get back to work. You'll take that little brat's quirk … we'll find your regeneration quirk … you'll become the strongest man in the world … and then, when we overthrow the old king, you'll become the new one. And everything will be yours."

"Yes," Nine nodded, stroking her hair as Slice gave his earlobe a light nibble, "it'll all be mine."

Notes:


And that was Chapter 19! My apologies for my long absence in comparison to the previous ones - life decided that August would be the month that everything got dropped on top of me and made sure I didn't have much time to work on the chapter. Still, we got it done, and hopefully next time I'll also have another chapter of Like Rabbits to go along with the next chapter of this fic.

And speaking of this fic, hoo boy, did it get horny, didn't it? Indeed, other than Melissa getting added to our Kendousquad, this chapter got quite the bit of fanservice for our leads, didn't it? We're past the formations of the friendships, people, and are ready to embrace the teenage hormones! Especially with Itsuka, who never thought about boys or girls that way and may have one foot still in the closet. We'll be looking forward to seeing how our trio reacts to each other as the sports festival begins - and speaking of which, the sports festival! We already know a few people who will be watching, won't we?

In any case, we now begin our hypothetical Season 2 of Ignited Spark! What exciting developments do we have in mind? Well, if you're all so curious, here's a few teases!

....
....

"What?! Some of you yell, standing up in outrage, "Where are they?!"

"What?!" The rest of you proclaim, standing up in outrage as well, "The vague pictures are gone! Where did they go?!"

Yes, indeed they are! I decided, as a bit of a tease, to remove them. Along with all the other memes. But I restored those! But will not restore the teases, as I feel like I've teased you enough.

 

Or have I?

Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 20: A New Countdown and Pressing Matters

Summary:

As Class 1A returns to class, they find a new challenge is on the horizon, and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka begin taking steps to get ready for their first big hurtle.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Ah! Good morning, Midoriya," Tenko gave him a smile and small wave as he took a seat in the leather chair, sitting down in the small office with a tall window behind him showing off the large grounds of UA, and he gestured to the other chair placed beside his, "please, come on in."

"Uh … alright," Izuku felt himself smile awkwardly, sliding the door shut behind him as he took off his backpack, giving the teaching assistant an apologetic look, "uh … sorry that I got here so early, I know that Midnight asked us to be an hour early, but -"

"Oh, no, it's alright, Midoriya," The dark haired young man laughed, leaning back in his own seat as he picked up his coffee cup carefully with four fingers, "we kind of expected you to get here early to finish up your recovery. Besides, I definitely don't mind talking to you a bit earlier - we weren't expecting anyone to be here any later than seven o'clock, so the fact you're here a half hour early is more a plus to me than anything."

Izuku nodded at that, and quickly moved across the room to sit in the seat opposite of Tenko's, putting his backpack down between his legs. At the current moment, it was still fairly early Monday morning, three days after the attack on the USJ, and quite honestly, Izuku wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to be there - or at least, in this room, talking to Tenko about how he was feeling. Alas, though, as Midnight had said in the group chat on Saturday morning, everyone in his class would have to talk to either her, Hound Dog, or Tenko before they would be cleared to return to class and resume their usual schedules, so Izuku supposed he would just have to deal with …

… talking about his feelings. Or how he was feeling after the USJ.

And … if he was being honest, Izuku wasn't entirely sure if he even wanted to talk about the USJ, especially after what had happened specifically to him. After the nightmare Saturday morning, it turned out that it would be bad dream central for him for at least a while longer - he ended up waking up yesterday morning after a vision of the hooded man choking him to death while Nine laughed above them, and then this morning, he ended up dreaming Nine himself standing over him and calling down a lightning bolt to strike him dead.

It had taken all of Izuku's energy not to give away how shaky he was feeling from the dream this morning to his parents, which wasn't too hard - his dad was a deep sleeper and only grumbled confusedly on the couch when Izuku wished him a good day, and Inko had been distracted talking to Ochako about something Taiyo and Miwa were doing for their anniversary. So thankfully for him, he'd managed to give nothing away about his nightmare as he left the apartment so he and Ochako could meet up with Itsuka at the train station, and head to UA so they could visit Recovery Girl.

So talking about the USJ and what happened? Something he really didn't want to do. But he knew that Itsuka and Ochako would easily find out if he were to skip out talking to Tenko - Itsuka was talking with Midnight right now, and Ochako with Hound Dog - and they would probably drag him back by the hair if they found out he was trying to avoid talking to a teacher. And he also knew that without this session, he wouldn't be cleared to go back to class.

So he let out a small sigh as he leaned back in the chair, and hoped that he wouldn't have to answer any hard questions.

"So," Tenko decided to start their conversation casually, leaning back in his seat and glancing outside at the early morning skies as he smiled gently, "how was your weekend? I know it was pretty chaotic for me, but I assume you had a chance to unwind a little? You know, besides your parents freaking out, probably."

"Ah, it was, uh … it was fine," Izuku answered in a slightly awkward voice, glancing out the window as well, "my, uh - my mom was fine once she saw that I was okay - er, not entirely okay, but - but still breathing -"

"Yeah."

"- and - and my dad actually is home for the next few weeks too."

"Oh!" Tenko blinked in surprise. "That sounds nice. Does he have a bit of time off now?"

"Y-yeah. Work ended up calling him over the weekend and he says that they extended his time off, just to be safe. Mom had to pretty much force him into accepting - he wanted some time off, but not that much time. He's compromising by doing a few assignments from home."

"Ah, well, that's good," Tenko smiled, "it's nice that his workplace gave him a bit of time off. I assume he works overseas? I think All Might told me that at some point."

"Yeah …" Izuku nodded again, twirling his fingers together absently while he tried not to feel stupid - and then he heard Tenko chuckle, making Izuku glance at him out of the corner of his eyes and blinking at the knowing look on his face.

"You're a bit hesitant about talking to a counsellor, aren't you?" He guessed, and chuckled when Izuku blushed and quickly glanced away, looking embarrassed.

"I - uh -"

"It's alright," He waved a hand good-naturedly in the air, "take it from someone who's been in therapy for years, Midoriya - I've been in your shoes. It's hard to talk about how you're doing and how you feel after going through something traumatic. Well, trust me when I say this - I'm not going to be asking you any major thought-provoking or uncomfortable questions. We're here to have a conversation just to make sure you're holding up okay. If I ask you something you don't feel like answering, you don't have to."

"Uh … right," Izuku nodded again, letting out a small sigh and tapping his fingers together, "it's just … uh … well, you know."

"I do," Tenko smiled and nodded as well, and put down his clipboard so he could lean back in his seat, "so in that case, let's talk about something lighter, then - what did you end up doing this weekend? Just to relax. I know Recovery Girl told you to take it easy for the weekend, so did you just spend all your time watching TV? I know I like to play video games in my spare time to de-stress."

"Oh, I - um -" Izuku paused for a moment, going a bit red and still staring out the window as he absently crossed his legs, "- I - I ended up spending a little time at Kendou's."

"Oh?" Tenko blinked, looking intrigued. "I did notice you two have spent a lot of time together this week - it's kind of strange though, since I remember you asking for Thirteen's autograph for your other friend."

"I - huh?" Izuku blinked, finally looking around at the older man in his confusion. "W-what do you mean?"

"Oh, I just -" Tenko looked briefly confused as well, "- well, I was just thinking that you spent a little time at your girlfriend's, but - am I mistaken?"

Izuku stopped in his tracks at that, staring blankly at the teaching assistant for a moment, and then quickly jolted up, fluster mode going from zero to a hundred in an instant as a large blush immediately exploded in his face.

"W-w-wait, you - you think - you think - K-Kendou - she's - you think she's my -"

"Your girlfriend," Tenko nodded, looking suddenly awkward, "but … I assume I'm mistaken?"

"Y-yes!" Izuku immediately nodded, although he quickly winced at the surprised look on Tenko's face. "N-not to say that - I - n-no, Kendou isn't my - she's - she's just my friend!"

"Is that right …" Tenko raised an eyebrow, shrugging and smiling as Izuku wrapped his arms tightly around his head to hide his blood-red face. "Well, if you say so Midoriya - I had heard Midnight saying something yesterday that according to your class's group chat, you spent some time at her place with Uraraka - I just assumed that -"

"Can we please change the subject?" Izuku asked in a quiet, pleading voice, and Tenko let out a small laugh and waved his hand in the air.

"Alright then - so what else did you do this weekend? You did mention that your dad came home."

"Y-yeah - his - his bosses pretty much forced him to take an extra long vacation, so we - we spent some time together catching up. N-not that he's complaining too much, I - I know that I freaked him and my mom out." Izuku glanced guiltily down at his knees, while Tenko gave him an understanding look and leaned forward.

"That's always the hardest part about being a hero," He gently assured him, "worrying your loved ones. I know that Hana's had her own fair share of worries about me whenever I have to go out into the field."

"H-huh." Izuku slowly nodded at that.

"Yeah … but y'know, speaking of Hana," Tenko decided to change the topic, sensing that the student's mood was going down and wanting to lighten things up, "if we're still discussing how our weekends went - mine, uh … well, it pretty much started with her running over my foot."

Izuku slowly nodded at that - and then he blinked as what Tenko said registered.

"I - I'm sorry? She - she ran over your foot?"

"Yeah!" Tenko laughed, shaking his head sheepishly, "Turns out that someone from the school called Hana to tell her what happened on Friday, and she got really worried about me since I mostly do my work at the USJ. When I came home she was crying and trying to make sure that I was okay, and I may have … poked a little fun at her," he winced, glancing down at his shoe as though painfully remembering what he had gone through, "and she responded to that by running over my foot with her wheelchair."

Izuku was unable to suppress a small, amused chuckle at that, and to his relief, Tenko laughed along with him and nodded.

"Yeah, my sister did not appreciate me joking around - but in any case, once I got her calmed down, she and I spent most of the weekend at the hospital with Thirteen. She's fine, by the way," He quickly assured Izuku when he saw the briefly worried look on the teenager's face, "she should actually be back in class for tomorrow - she's just got a few lacerations she'll have to deal with, and she's pretty much banned from any strenuous hero work until she's fully recovered. She's going to be doing a mostly hands off approach at the USJ for the next few weeks - but luckily, that's where I come in."

"Oh, that's - that's good."

"It is," Tenko nodded, although his smile did fall as he leaned forward a bit, "er … and sorry, Midoriya, but while we're on the topic of the USJ …"

Izuku faltered at that, but Tenko was quick to raise his hand before any assumptions could be made.

"I'm not going to ask for any details about what happened," He quickly assured him, "but I just wanted to … confirm something with you."

"I …" Izuku hesitated again, and then sighed and nodded, "… okay."

"Well, there was just, uh … something that I noticed while we were doing a review of the place while Cementoss was repairing the facility. We found several marks on the ground - marks that matched lightning strikes. I was just wondering … well, I'm to take it that those marks were from you, right?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, a bit confused for a moment - marks on the ground that matched lightning strikes? Why would he ask if it was Izuku that did that? He assumed that they had already heard what Nine had been capable of -

- and that was when it suddenly came to place, making him stop in his tracks.

Oh. Oh, of course, he felt himself go a bit red as he realized it. That was right - during his fight with the hooded man, Izuku had been propelling himself around with his quirk, and did fling his lightning pretty much everywhere. So …

"Uh … y-yeah, that - that was me."

"I see," Tenko slowly nodded, tapping his four fingers against the chair briefly as he used his other hand to reach for his coffee, "so … in that case, Midoriya, does that mean that you've - y'know, overcome that mental barrier of yours? When we first met, you were having troubles with using your quirk - and I know from the entrance exam you had a support item that you used for your quirk. But when Aizawa reviewed your first battle trial, I noticed that you didn't use your quirk at all against Uraraka or Kendou."

"Y-yeah."

"So … in that case, since you used it at the USJ, does that mean that you used it against some of the villains there?" Tenko asked, and then paused, his cheeks going slightly red, "Uh - if you do want to answer that, by the way, if you don't want to. If you're uncomfortable -"

"N-no," Izuku shook his head, surprising himself, "I - I think I'll be okay. It's just …"

At that, he paused, feeling his brow crinkle - quite honestly, at the time he hadn't really put much thought into it, but he did raise a point that he used his quirk against someone else - specifically, the hooded man. But … but Tenko was asking if he'd overcome the mental barrier that was preventing him from using his quirk.

And …

"I … did use my quirk," Izuku said in a quiet voice, aware of Tenko leaning forward interestingly while sipping on his coffee, although the conflicted look on the teenager's face did hold his tongue until Izuku was finished speaking, "but … well … it was against someone who was trying to kill me, and I - I mostly just bounced around with it. And - and the only time I did use it against someone else was when that guy tried to kill Occhan, and - and he just kind of bounced back up after I used it - w-which might've been a good thing," He suddenly realized, feeling himself go pale, "because I - I might've tried to - to -"

"To kill him?" Tenko gently asked, and Izuku, finding himself suddenly at a loss for words, nodded, beginning to feel his stomach twist in a knot - but before he could even think about how he was supposed to respond to that, Tenko reached out to pat his hand, keeping one finger up. 

"Is that something you feel guilty about, Midoriya? Using your quirk to try and kill the villain who was - well, harming Uraraka."

"I … I don't know," Izuku shook his head, feeling himself begin to tear up as he glanced down at his knees, "I … is that … is that wrong? That I don't know how I - how I feel -"

"- trying to take someone's life?" Tenko finished for him, giving him a sympathetic look while Izuku looked anywhere else but him. "Midoriya, trust me when I say this - I've been there. I've been in that mindset, where the only way out is seemingly to kill someone else - it's hard to think straight. Add in your injuries, honestly, it's amazing you were even able to move around. But please, just remember," The guidance counsellor leaned forward, giving him a serious look, "taking the life of a villain should always be the very last resort. Heroes are held to a higher standard than, say, police officers - but there have been times that heroes have had no choice but to kill villains."

"R-really?'"

"It's not a pleasant part of our job," Tenko grimaced, not entirely sure if he should be sharing this with a student only in his first week of school, "but sometimes we're not able to bring in villains, whether they're too dangerous or holding someone hostage or is just … too out of control to properly contain. It's a hero's job to protect everyone above all else, however, and as much as society would like to say otherwise, that includes villains. So killing someone should always be the last resort - and from what I gathered from your classmates from their talk with the police on Friday, you had a choice between saving your friend and letting a villain kill her. No one is going to fault you for that."

Izuku slowly nodded, not entirely sure if he was convinced, but still watched as Tenko sat back and let out a sigh, sipping on his coffee.

"Well … that got a little bit dark," The guidance counsellor laughed awkwardly, glancing back over at Izuku, "so, ah … back to our first topic, Midoriya. You were saying that you used your quirk to save your friend."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded again, feeling himself frown as he folded his hands together, "and … but honestly … you're asking if I - I overcame my mental barrier, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I … well, if I'm telling the truth … I'm … not really sure if I did," He decided to just be honest, glancing away while biting the corner of his lip, "I'm not - I know I used it against the - the hooded guy, but - but I'm not sure if that means I can – if I can use it against anyone else. It's - I'm just not sure if -"

"No, no, I understand what you're saying, Midoriya," Tenko nodded, grimacing slightly, "it's a lot different to use your quirk against a classmate instead of a villain. So … hm …"

As the room faded into a small silence, Izuku glanced over at where Tenko was staring down at his knee, obviously in thought as he absently drummed his fingers against his chair's armrest - and then he slowly nodded to himself, evidently thinking of something as he glanced back up at Izuku with a small smile,

"In that case, Midoriya," He leaned forward, "I … may have a way that we can see how you'd react to using your quirk against someone else - without the threat of hurting them."

"W-wait, really?" Izuku blinked, feeling his mouth drop open slightly as he immediately sat up in his seat. "How?"

"Well, it'll take a bit of talking around on my part," Tenko grimaced slightly, "and it might have to be at an odd time, like at lunchtime or having to pull you out of an afternoon class - but I'll run it by your substitute teacher beforehand, and go from there. If all else fails, we can always arrange to do it on a weekend - ah, but in any case, we can handle it another time. Anyway, why don't we call it here?"

He put his coffee back down as he stood up, taking a moment to stretch his arms above his head. Blinking, Izuku hurriedly stood up as well as Tenko smiled down at him

"I'll probably have to get ready for your other classmates swinging by soon," He put his hand down on Izuku's shoulder, "so I think I'm comfortable saying that you'll be alright to resume classes today. But if you do need to talk to anyone else, either me or Hound Dog or Midnight, don't hesitate to drop by, alright? We'll always be happy to listen."

"I …" Izuku paused, not really certain if this was something he wanted to do again, but still nodded, trying to smile back at Tenko as the older man led him out of the office, sliding the door open for him, "... I will. Thank you so much!"

"No problem," Tenko chuckled, holding the door open for him to step through, "you have a good rest of your day, Midoriya."

Once Izuku had stepped through, Tenko slid the door closed behind him. With a small sigh, and feeling relieved that it had gone a lot better than he had expected, Izuku looked around as he stood there in the hallway, and thankfully, it appeared that he wasn't the first one who had gotten done talking to the teachers.

Ochako was leaning against the opposite wall, checking one of her notebooks for something, but the sound of him walking towards her caught her attention, looking up at him and smiling as she put the notebook and pen down. She opened her mouth to say something, but then a yawn suddenly escaped her lips, making her close her eyes and open her mouth widely - although she was quick to get control of herself and pout at him when he chuckled at the look on her face.

"Shut up," She half-heartedly punched his shoulder, giggling as he feigned a mortal injury and held his shoulder, "so you were in and out too, huh?"

"Well … not really," Izuku shrugged, leaning against the wall with her, "Tenko-sensei is a … well, he's a fast talker, I guess. We talked about the weekend, the USJ, my quirk, and - well, he also said that he was gonna reach out to me another time, so he might be saving everything for later."

"Oh! So you got another appointment?"

"I … don't know," He sighed, raising a hand to scratch at the bandage on his cheek, "and I'm not exactly sure how I feel about … you know, more therapy."

"Deku -" Ochako frowned at him, and Izuku quickly raised his hand with a sheepish smile.

"I know, I know," He quickly assured her, "I shouldn't be … y'know, reluctant about therapy. It's just … it's hard, y'know? Just to open up about … everything."

"Yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, letting out a small sigh as she put her notebook back in her backpack, "I … yeah, I get that, Deku. Honestly, I shouldn't talk - it was awkward enough talking to Hound Dog too."

"Oh, right, you were - you talked to him," Izuku put his hands in his pockets, "so, uh - how did it go?"

"It was, uh … okay," She shrugged, a weak smile appearing on her face as she fixed some of her bangs, "it was kinda hard to make out what he was saying some of the time, but I still got cleared to head back to class. He seemed kinda angry that he wasn't able to talk to you, though - any idea why?"

"Huh? Oh," Izuku suddenly realized, feeling his face turn red as he glanced away, "you, uh - you remember what I told you about the entrance exam? When I was - when I was falling with Hadou?"

"Yeaaaah …?" Ochako raised her eyebrow, frowning at the reminder of Izuku's stupidity while he at the very least had the sense to look sheepish.

"Well, it was, uh - it was Hound Dog who ended up saving us - he caught us right out of the air. And he was, uh - well, he wasn't happy with me. Kinda shouted and howled at me before I passed out."

"I mean," Ochako tapped her foot against the ground while she gave him a knowing, unamused look, "I don't exactly blame him - you did do a pretty stupid thing, Deku."

"Mm-hm," Izuku slowly nodded, a smirk appearing on his face, "it was pretty stupid, Occhan. Almost as stupid as climbing up a zero-pointer and tricking it into punching itself in the face."

"... damn it," Ochako mumbled, going red and pouting at him, "I hate it when you throw my words back in my face. My only relief is that it only happens, like, once a year."

"Well, I'm gonna enjoy -"

Before their bantering could continue, however, the door that they had both been standing in front of began to slide open. Blinking, Izuku and Ochako looked around to see Itsuka exiting the room, sighing as she slid the door shut behind her. For some reason, her cheeks had a tinge of red as she awkwardly glanced around, and saw them blinking at her in surprise.

"Uh … Kendou?" Izuku asked, feeling a bit concerned at the look on her face, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head and walking over to them as she lightly smacked her cheeks, "Midnight-sensei just … likes to poke and tease. I probably shouldn't be all that surprised. Anyway, I assume you guys are done talking to the teachers too?"

"Yeah, we're both good," Ochako confirmed, moving to adjust her pink backpack as she smiled over at her, "and Deku here was just beginning to tease me, so thank god you got here when you did."

"Oh?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, looking over at Izuku as he chuckled, "Did he now? Well, I'm glad to save you from that then, Ochako - don't want our boy here getting an ego, now do we?"

Both girls giggled over the implication that Izuku could grow anything even resembling an ego while Izuku shook his head, smiling as they began walking together down the hall towards the stairs.

"Well," Itsuka sighed as she rolled her neck, "I guess all we have to do now is go to class - give you a little bit of time to get ready for everyone wanting to make sure you're okay, Izuku."

"I'm … not really ready for that," He admitted, going red as he scratched the bandage on his cheek again - only for Ochako to pout and reach out so she could smack his hand away, making him yelp.

"Deku, you know what Recovery Girl said - no itching."

"R-right. Sorry, Occhan."

As mentioned before, part of the reason why they were so early for school, besides having to head in to talk to the guidance counselors, was because he and Itsuka had to visit Recovery Girl bright and early so that she could finish up their healing. Both of them felt a bit tired from her using her quirk on them, but at least the stiffness that had plagued them all weekend was finally gone, and Itsuka could lift both arms above her head without fear of injury. For his part, Izuku was instructed to keep the bandages around his face for the time being - both in an effort to give his injuries a little more time for recovery, and to not immediately freak out his classmates with the scars on his face.

Which … did kind of hurt, but at least he understood.

Thankfully, it didn't take long for the trio to make their way upstairs to their classroom, but to their surprise, as Itsuka slid the door open and looked inside, it turned out that they weren't the first ones to arrive early.

"Ah! Kendou, Uraraka, Midoriya!" Tenya raised his hand happily in greeting from where he was seated at his desk, prim, proper, and ready for the day despite the bell not going to ring for another hour and a bit, "I see that you all had the same idea as I did - getting a bit of a head start arriving early! I was beginning to wonder when we would all begin to be cleared by our teachers to return."

"Oh - hey, Iida," Itsuka raised her hand in greeting as they walked in, glancing around at the otherwise empty classroom, "you're … the first one here? Wait, when did you even get here?"

"Bright and early! As heroes in training, it is imperative that we arrive in the classroom as early as we can so that we are ready to learn how to become heroes! But in any case -" Tenya turned to Izuku, his eyes automatically trailing over to the bandages on his face, and a worried look passed over the bespectacled student, "- Midoriya, I'm glad to see that you're up and about. Have you already visited Recovery Girl? I recall that you mentioned that you would be arriving early today specifically to see her after our talk in the group chat yesterday."

"O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine now, we went to see her before we visited the other teachers," Izuku confirmed, walking over to the other side of the room and putting his bag down on his desk, "I'm just keeping the bandages on so that - uh - so that the scratches on my face have a little more time to heal over."

"I see!" Tenya nodded, satisfied with that answer as he put his hands down on his desk and looked around at Ochako as she sat down in her seat behind him, "It's very good to know that you are not neglecting your own physical health, Midoriya, and that you're free to return to class now. In any case -"

Before he could go on, however, the four of them were suddenly aware of the door opening again, and everyone looked around in surprise as another one of their classmates made their presence known so early in the morning.

"Yo," Kyouka raised her hand, moving into the classroom and looking around at the other four sitting in their seats - or at least, Izuku, Ochako and Tenya were in their seats, as Itsuka decided to sit down in Katsuki's currently empty desk in front of Izuku, "you guys are here early."

"So are you," Itsuka pointed out, smiling up at the rocker girl as she put her bag down on top of her desk, "have the same idea as us to get here early?"

"Yeah, I'd rather not have to wait in a line," Kyouka shook her head, letting out a small grunt as she stretched her arms above her head, "I'm gonna head over to Hound Dog's right now - just wanted to drop off my bag before. Have you guys talked to him yet? Any tips for what to say so I can get out of there early?"

"Jirou, that's not the kind of behavior you should have when talking to someone about your mental health!" Tenya quickly gestured to her, while Kyouka turned to give him a deadpan look. "What we went through on Friday was highly traumatic, so you should not make light of -"

"Dude," Kyouka held out a hand to interrupt him, raising an eyebrow, "I was only attacked by some assholes and helped bury them under a mountain. Compared to everyone else, I got the least amount of - y'know."

"I mean," Itsuka shrugged, getting Kyouka's attention back to her, "just because you didn't have it as rough as other people doesn't mean you didn't go through some crap of your own, Jirou. There's nothing wrong with taking a few minutes to talk to Hound Dog."

"I … well, I guess you got a point," She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, absently playing with one of her jacks, and then her gaze turned to Izuku as he looked up at her, "just don't like talking about feelings. Anyway, Greenie - how are you doing after last week?"

"Uh - 'Greenie'?" Izuku wondered out loud, blinking at the odd nickname she had apparently given him yesterday while Itsuka snorted and Ochako giggled, "I'm - uh, anyway, I'm - I'm doing a lot better, Jirou. T-thanks for asking."

"Mm-hm," Kyouka nodded, and then glanced back around at Itsuka as the class representative absently reached for her water bottle in her bag. For a moment, Kyouka was quiet as she tapped her foot against the floor, clearly thinking of something - and then she cleared her throat and glanced away.

"Hey, uh … Kendou. You're friends with … Yaoyorozu, right?"

"Hm?" Itsuka blinked, looking back up at her, "Uh … yeah, we're friends. Why?"

"Oh, ah - no reason," Kyouka quickly shook her head, although there was a weird tinge of pink on her cheeks as she suddenly looked anywhere but at the two students sitting before her, "or - uh - well, no, there's - there is a reason, just … uh … anyway. We - um - we walked home together on Friday, but I forgot to ask for her number to hang out. You guys, uh - do you mind if I eat lunch with you today? J-just so I can make sure I can thank her for - uh - walking me back to the station last week."

"Hm? Oh!" Tenya straightened up, smiling, while Izuku looked a bit confused by Kyouka's reasoning and Itsuka and Ochako shared a small, suspicious glance, "Well, I certainly don't see why not, Jirou! It's quite admirable that you would want to personally thank Yaoyorozu for walking you to the station, especially after what we all went through on Friday."

"Y-yeah. Thanking her for - yeah. That."

Before Itsuka and Ochako could even think to give Kyouka a very pointed look while she avoided looking at everyone, her ears looking weirdly red, the sound of the door sliding open again got their attention, and Izuku straightened up at the appearance of a man walking into the classroom, wearing white armor not unsimilar to Tenya's own hero costume, who flashed the five students a surprised smile when he saw them.

"Ah! Good morning, guys," Tensei smiled, walking over to the podium to put his stack of papers down, "I see that you all took a leaf out of Tenya's book and decided to get here a bit earlier. I was starting to wonder if I was gonna have to talk to my brother for the next hour before everyone swung by!"

"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?!" Tenya chopped his hand indignantly at his brother while he chuckled.

"Y-you -" Izuku briefly stammered, his eyes going wide as he bolted up in his chair, and raised a shaking hand to point at the teacher before them as he finally found his words, "- you're - you're Ingenium! The speed hero, Ingenium!"

As though he had a super speed quirk himself, Izuku suddenly moved - one moment he was sitting at his desk, and the next he was standing in front of the podium, making Tensei blink in surprise as the student held out his notebook and pen.

"C-can I have your autograph?"

As the notebook was held in front of him, Tensei looked taken aback and a bit amused. Tenya slowly blinked as he wondered how Izuku managed to get over to his brother so fast. Kyouka tilted her head and raised her eyebrow. Itsuka held her hand against her face and groaned lowly. Ochako was not surprised in the least.

"Sooooo … I assume you're Midoriya?" Tensei guessed, chuckling when Izuku suddenly realized what he was doing and quickly went red, but the pro hero still reached out to take the notebook and pen from him. "It's nice to finally meet you - I would've introduced myself to you on Friday, but you were unconscious most of the time I was at the school, and you left before I could come back to the main building after our search of the grounds."

"Uh - y-yeah, that's - that's me."

"Well, I'm glad to see that you're up and about! I was wondering if you would have to spend a little more time with Recovery Girl, but since it seems like you're alright, we can start classes soon. I've got a few ideas about potential exercises we can do this week - it's been a while since I've been at UA, so I'm not entirely sure what the schedules are like, but -"

However, before Tensei could elaborate a bit more on what he was planning their class to do, the door to the room slid open once again. Everyone quickly looked around to see who had also decided to arrive a bit earlier - and Itsuka and Ochako felt their lips thin as their new visitor immediately snapped her gaze to Izuku.

"Oh!" Nejire blinked in surprise, before a large smile appeared on her face, "Midoriya! You're already here!"

"Y-yeah, I am," Izuku nodded, smiling awkwardly at Tensei in thanks as the substitute teacher handed him back his notebook, his autograph now the latest addition. He then turned to watch Nejire carefully put her bag down on her desk before moving around it towards him, "We, uh, decided to get here a bit earlier so that we can finish our treatments with Recovery Girl. So, uh - how are you, HadooooooUGH!"

The reason for his yelp was mostly due to Nejire suddenly stepping into his space, that wide, happy grin on her face widening slightly, and immediately wrapped her arms around Izuku and brought him in for a hug. Izuku immediately froze in horror as she pressed herself against him, his face exploding into a massive red blush while Nejire let out a happy hum and squeezed him tight. Both Ochako and Itsuka sputtered, Itsuka having chosen to take a sip from her water bottle and immediately having to fight not to spit it out, and Kyouka, with one glance down at the orange-haired girl's face, decided that now was the perfect time to finally get over to Hound Dog's, quickly speed walking past a surprised Tenya and right out the back door.

"Oooooh, it's so good to see you!" Nejire giggled happily, finally moving away from Izuku so he could have some room, only for the red faced boy to squeak when she reached down to grab his hand in both of hers and began dragging him back to his desk, "I actually wanted to give you a big hug back on Friday, but Kendou and Uraraka were hugging you first, and there wasn't any room for me! So consider that hug my 'I'm glad you're okay' hug! But I'm not upset about not hugging you on Friday, emotions were running high! I know when we got home, I pretty much cuddled Yuuyu to sleep, and then again when we woke up, and then when I got back from peeing. I know Yuuyu likes to complain, but I also know she likes hugs! I'm not sure if she's a tsundere for hugs or something, but she never resists the cuddles. Or would that be considered being a 'tsundere'? Because she's half hot, half cold about it? I dunno! Wait, what were we talking about?"

"Uh - uh - uh -"

"Oh, right! You being okay! It's good to see you're moving around! How's your face feeling? Oooooh, there's still a lot of bandages around it!"

Nejire continued to blabber on as she put the frozen and red faced Izuku back in his seat, and then moved to sit down in Hanta's empty seat beside him so she could continue talking. Ochako, meanwhile, stared blankly at Nejire's back, slowly tilting her head while the emotion drained from her eyes. Itsuka, sitting in front of them, felt her aluminum water bottle groan as she squeezed tightly on it, not entirely sure which quirk she was using to slowly crush it. Tenya awkwardly cleared his throat, not entirely sure what was going on but knowing that he probably shouldn't be a part of it, and quickly began rummaging in his bag for something to read. Tensei glanced between the three girls and Izuku, and felt himself chuckle awkwardly.

"Oh, jeez," He muttered, shaking his head and shuddering to himself, "now this part of high school I remember."


As time went on for the next hour or so, the rest of their classmates began to pour in as they got finished with their talks with either Hound Dog, Midnight or Tenko. All of them, much to Izuku's embarrassment and awkwardness, expressed their relief that he was okay, from Setsuna ruffling his hair, to Eijirou wrapping an arm around his shoulders and laughing while shaking him, to Yosetsu coming up to his seat and apologizing for leaving him behind to fight the Consortium (which Izuku quickly waved his hands in the air and frantically told him it was alright), to Momo giving him a kind smile and patting his hand, to Yui patting his arm and then moving back to her seat while flashing Tenya a look, who flushed red for some reason and avoided looking her directly in the eye. 

By the time everyone had returned from their talks with the teachers, cleared to begin taking classes again, Izuku's face was pretty much stuck being red, not even noticing Itsuka having to get out of Katsuki's desk when he arrived and growled at her (while Itsuka gave him a clearly unimpressed look) and Nejire pouted but still returned to her own desk when Hanta arrived. Still, at least he wasn't the exact center of attention, with everyone talking and laughing together while greeting each other after their strenuous last day the week before, from Setsuna winking at Hanta and making him sigh in exasperation, to Reiko and Dark Shadow conversing while Fumikage groaned in annoyance at his quirk, to Kyouka poking Denki with her earphone jack, making him wince slightly and whine.

However, the sight of Pony and Mezo arriving together, spotting Izuku in his seat, and then quickly moving around the desks so that they could lower themselves into apologetic bows ended up drawing the attention of the entire class, making a lot of conversations slow down as they looked around at them.

"Uh … guys?" Izuku tilted his head in confusion, while Katsuki merely huffed at the pair of them and looked back around at his notes on his desk, "Are - what're you doing?"

"W-well, Midoriya-san," Pony mumbled, her long blonde hair hanging over her face, "I - well, we - we wanted to give you an apology."

"Er - an apology? F-for what?"

"Well," Mezo sighed, a deep shame in his voice as he likewise kept bowing before him, "back at the … USJ … Tsunotori wanted to come and help you with that hooded guy, but … well … I was the one who told her to hang back. Had I not …"

"It's my fault you got hurt," Pony teared up, still staring down at her hooves, "if I had just come and helped you …"

"W-wait, guys, no!" Izuku quickly shook his head, sitting up in his seat and waving his hands frantically in the air while their other classmates gave both bowing students a surprised look. "Seriously, it's - it's okay, I don't blame you guys for not stepping in! It was all the villains' fault anyway!"

"Besides," Momo spoke up, sitting behind Izuku and giving both Pony and Mezo a sympathetic look, "assisting Midoriya would have only put you both in danger of that lunatic as well. It's for the best that you stayed behind and helped Aizawa-sensei."

"Yeah!" Denki nodded, looking momentarily panicked as the two bowing students looked unsure, "We didn't need you guys to get as beat up as Midoriya did! No one wants to see that!"

"Dude," Kyouka glared at him, "what did we say Saturday?"

"Salt in the wound." Fumikage shook his head.

"N-no, it's - it's alright, guys, I'm not offended," Izuku quickly shook his head, returning his gaze to Mezo and Pony as the larger boy still looked unsure as to whether or not he deserved to be defended, and Pony continued to tear up, "b-but seriously, guys, don't - don't blame yourselves for what happened. It was the Consortium's fault that I got injured, and - and we managed to beat them back, so -"

"'We'?" Katsuki huffed, not looking back at Izuku but scowling. "All I remember was you getting the shit beat out of you, Deku - the hell did you actually do?"

Izuku winced at that, while Itsuka and Ochako glared at Katsuki from their seats.

"Really?" Setsuna raised her eyebrow as she leaned back in her seat, "Midoriya did nothing? Because I seem to recall that he saved freaking All Might's ass from that Nine dick."

"Yeah," Mina huffed, "what'd you end up doing again?"

Fortunately, before Katsuki could wheel around and snarl at the two girls - tensions between the entire class and Katsuki had clearly not gotten better since last Friday - the door to the front of the classroom opened again, and everyone looked around, immediately silencing themselves, as Tensei strolled back in, giving everyone a smile and waving. Before he could speak up, however, he was suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone screaming at the top of their lungs somewhere on campus - a scream loud enough to rattle the windows, making them all blink in surprise.

"Hm?" Tensei raised an eyebrow, looking out the hall with a curious look, "that was Mic's voice - wonder what he's screaming about. Well, anyway, that's not important," He slid the door back closed, and looked around at the sitting students, "hey there, guys! It's good to see you're all back from talking to your teachers. Sorry that it took a bit longer than usual to get class started, but …"

He paused, however, as his eyes trailed around the classroom, blinking at them - and then he asked, in a confused voice, "Er … is it just me, or is everyone not sitting in their assigned seats? Like - uh - Awase, why are you on the other side of the room? Shouldn't you be sitting in front of Tenya?"

"Uh …" Yosetsu blinked, taken a bit aback, while the rest of the class likewise looked around in confusion.

"Well," Itsuka shrugged, giving the substitute teacher an innocent smile as he turned to her, "we just … kinda sat down in the seating plan Aizawa-sensei laid out for us. We kinda thought it was weird we weren't in alphabetical order, but … well …"

"Huh," Tensei nodded, letting out a small sigh, "that definitely sounds like Shouta, alright … well, how about this? Before we start class, if you want, we can fix up your seating arrangements - I'll let you guys know where you have to sit."

With everyone glancing around at each other and shrugging in a 'why not?' kind of manner, there was the sound of chairs scraping against the floor as everyone got up and grabbed their stuff in order to move into their actual seats, with Pony giving Izuku a wave goodbye, telling him sadly that she would miss sitting behind him - only to end up looking sheepish when she ended up sitting in the seat to his right, both she and Izuku unable to stop themselves from chuckling a bit. Itsuka, meanwhile, rolled her eyes as she had to just move up a seat ahead, with Yui turning to look at Tenya now sitting to her right, and he tried not to gulp as she leaned back in her seat and gave him a blank, yet somehow amused look.

In the end, only Izuku, Ochako, Tenya, Mina and Tsuyu didn't have to move at all, with everyone putting their bags down in their new assigned seats. To Izuku's slight relief, Katsuki ended up having to move up a seat so that he wasn't directly in front of him - only for a new problem to arise for him as the new person sitting right in front of Izuku immediately wheeled around to face him with a big smile.

"Hi there, new neighbor!" Nejire giggled, spinning around fully in her seat and resting her arms on Izuku's desk while he went red and glanced away, Momo letting out a small, amused sigh as she took her new seat right behind him, "What a coincidence, huh? I was just thinking this morning how nice it was to sit beside you before Sero kicked me out of his seat, but it turns out that we're going to be sitting close by anyway! How cool is that?"

While Nejire continued to blabber on, Katsuki gritted his teeth furiously at the class chatterbox sitting right behind him. Meanwhile, Ochako drummed her fingers against her desk while scowling, and Itsuka casually bent her mechanical pencil in half while staring at Izuku and Nejire blankly, which made Eijirou, sitting right in front of her, gulp nervously at the frown on his class rep's face.

"Alright!" Tensei clapped his hands together, smiling happily at the students now that order was somewhat restored as he leaned against the podium. "Now that that's out of the way, let's get homeroom started! I do have a few announcements to get through before I can dismiss you, so let's get it out of the way so we can get to work. First of all, for those who might need the reminder, I'm Ingenium - I'll be subbing for Aizawa for the next week or so, before I have to go back to work and another one of your teachers will have the time to fill in."

"Er - Iida … sensei?" Mina wrinkled her brow at that, as though not exactly sure if she liked how she described him, but still shrugged and carried on. "How is Aizawa-sensei? The last time we saw him, he was in pretty bad shape, and you guys said that …"

"Oh, you guys don't need to worry about that," Tensei smiled kindly at her, leaning against the podium as he looked around, "the doctors at the hospital were able to help him in time - he's just on mandatory bed rest at the moment, and he'll be spending the next few weeks recovering. The school can afford to let Aizawa rest for -"

He was interrupted, however, by the sound of the door beginning to slide open again. Everyone looked around to see what appeared to be a mummy standing at the door, wrapped in bandages not just around his neck but his entire face, wrapped up so tightly it would be a miracle for him to see, while both his arms were done up in casts. But the long black hair on top of his head made it pretty clear who was not in bed resting at the moment.

"Good morning," Aizawa said in a muffled voice.

"AIZAWA-SENSEI?!" Came the collective shrieks of the majority of the class, with Itsuka's jaw dropping open, Setsuna immediately holding her hands over her mouth to stifle her laughter and not get harshly punished, Tenya quickly wiping his glasses with a cloth to make sure he wasn't seeing things, and Pony staring completely gobsmacked at their teacher, immediately convinced of his utter immortality.

"He's way too much of a pro!" Denki shivered as Aizawa began to slowly make his way over to the podium, walking stiffly as Tensei gave him an exasperated look.

"So you're feeling better now, Aizawa-sensei?!" Tenya shot his hand into the air.

"Can you really call that alright, though?" Ochako gulped nervously.

"My well-being doesn't matter," Aizawa shook his head, attempting to nudge Tensei away from the podium with his wrapped up arm as the armored hero shook his head and likewise attempted to guide the injured teacher back out the door where he came, "more importantly, we have matters to discuss."

"Aizawa, how did you even get out of the lounge?" Tensei grumbled, shaking his head at the slightly smaller man as he put his hand down carefully on his shoulder, "I thought Mic was going to make sure you stayed put before he left for his classes."

"I found a spider," The bandaged teacher explained, and the students could practically hear the smirk in his voice, "so Mic's currently on the other end of the campus - I dropped it on his hand."

"Wait, so that's why we heard him screaming a few minutes ago? C'mon, Aizawa …"

"Ooooooh, that's mean, sensei!" Nejire giggled from her new seat, bouncing as she fully took in Aizawa's injuries, "I'm not too big around bugs either, but like - only really gross ones, like centipedes! They have too many legs. And spiders! They have lots of legs too. Well, actually, I might just have issues with bugs with lots of legs. I like bugs without many legs, like snails! And worms! Mostly because they come out when it's rainy, and I really like the rain - well, except for last week's -"

"Hadou," Aizawa interrupted her, already sounding like he was regretting coming to the classroom after all, "keep it on the inside."

"Mm-hm!" Nejire quickly nodded in confirmation, raising her hand so she could mime zipping her lips together while Katsuki let out an annoyed growl and Izuku smiled weakly at her.

"Anyway, why aren't you in your seat?" Aizawa tilted his head at her, and then his gaze turned to the rest of his exasperated class as he blinked. "Why are … none of you in your seats?"

"Aizawa …" Tensei groaned.

"Whatever, it's not important right now," The bandaged man shook his head, sighing as he managed to duck underneath Tensei's attempts to get him back out the door, and returned to the podium where he turned back to the class, "the real fight isn't over yet. In fact, it's about to begin."

"A fight?" Katsuki sat up, attention caught.

"Don't tell me …" Izuku gulped.

"M-more villains?" Pony whimpered, clasping her hands together tightly.

Aizawa took a moment to let them all look very nervously up at him, wondering what other hell might be waiting for them - and then he leaned forward, and in a deadpan voice, said:

"In two weeks, UA will be holding their annual sports festival."

"But that's so ordinary!"

"The sports festival!" Eijirou shouted, throwing his hands into the air and making his seatmates jump in surprise at his enthusiasm as he stood up. "Hell yeah! I've been looking forward to this since - mmph!"

The reason for his grunt, of course, was due to Itsuka leaning forward in her seat with her hand enlarged by her quirk, and wrapped it around his head and arms, stopping his enthusiastic shout as she looked up to the front of the classroom, aware of Yui taking advantage of her rising in her seat to check out her butt and rolling her eyes (and was unaware of Ochako glancing over at her and gulping, turning away with a blush).

"Hold on just a second," She shook her head at Eijirou as she released him, and then looked back up to Tensei and Aizawa at the front, "is it really okay for us to have a sports festival just after the villains snuck inside?"

"Yeah," Kyouka nodded, looking concerned, "what if they decide to attack again?"

"You guys don't need to worry about that," Tensei smiled, putting his hands down on his hips as he looked around, "even if villains hadn't invaded the school, the sports festival is still probably the most secure event of the school year, even more than the festival in the fall, mostly due to the fact that we're letting in not just reporters, but other heroes and support companies. We make sure to do a very thorough pat-down before they're even allowed to step one foot on the campus."

"And even then," Aizawa shook his head stiffly, "security will also be strengthened to five times that of the previous times we held the festival, in order to demonstrate that UA's crisis management protocols are sound. Our sports festival is too big to be cancelled because of a few villains - this is probably going to be the greatest opportunity you will all get."

"R-really?" Pony gulped nervously, "I'm not sure that a sports festival of all things should …"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked and looked around at her, feeling confused for a moment before he suddenly realized it. "Oh, that's right, Tsunotori - since you're American, you've probably never seen UA's sports festivals before."

"Uh … not really, no."

"Well then, for those who might not know," Tensei smiled kindly at Pony's embarrassed look, "UA's sports festival is one of Japan's biggest events."

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, drawing Pony's attention as she looked behind her, "like, they replaced the Olympics - those games they played decades ago where the entire world competed against each other. People used to get whipped up into a frenzy about them."

"But over time," Itsuka took over while Yui nodded behind her, "when quirks began emerging, the Olympics generally got smaller in scale and tradition, and eventually they were pretty much shrunken down to a much smaller deal than they once were. As far as Japan's concerned, the sports festival at UA took its place."

There was a small silence in the classroom as everyone looked around at the three girls in surprise, and Tensei chuckled.

"Well … yeah, that's pretty much it!"

"You seem … really well educated about the sports festival," Izuku noted in a surprised voice while Itsuka blushed and shrugged her shoulders sheepishly.

"We did a presentation about the sports festival back in middle school," Setsuna giggled as she leaned back in her seat, "learned the ins and outs of the festival, how it benefits students in general studies and business courses, the works. We aced the hell out of that assignment, by the way."

"Mm." Yui nodded.

"In any case," Tensei continued to say at the front, "all the top heroes around the country will be making their way here so they can grab front row seats and have the opportunity to scout you guys! Typically after graduation, it's expected for a fresh new pro hero to join an agency as a sidekick, although they do have to be careful so they don't miss their chances to become independent afterwards and essentially be sidekicks for the rest of their careers."

"Huh," Kyouka slowly nodded, and then looked over at Denki, "Kaminari, that sounds like something you'd do."

"Huh?! Why me?!"

"Naturally, you'll gain valuable experience and popularity if you're picked up by a big-name hero," Aizawa took over the explanation for Tensei, "but the times you can show off what you're capable of is limited. If you expect to become pros, then the path to your future will begin at this event."

Ochako, who had been sitting in her seat and listening attentively, immediately sat up at that statement, drawing Izuku's attention as he looked around at her.

"That's something you need to remember," The bandaged teacher leaned forward, his eyes narrowing behind the gauze on his face, "you have one chance a year, and a total of just three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event. So if you understand that, do not slack off on your preparations."

There was a small silence in the classroom as everyone glanced amongst themselves, gulping - they didn't need to get lectured to know that the sports festival was a much bigger deal than they had initially thought. Izuku found himself staring at Ochako as she slowly nodded, and then looked up as she clenched her fist, evidently fired up as she glanced over at Izuku and grinned at him. He had to suppress a chuckle as he grinned back - he knew that vicious smile enough to know that her blood was probably boiling right now, looking forward to the upcoming competition.

"Alright then!" Tensei suddenly clapped his hands together again, grinning and getting the class's attention back on him again. "With that out of the way, homeroom is dismissed. If you guys will excuse me, I gotta get sleepypants here right back to the teacher's lounge. I'll see you guys in the afternoon so we can go over what we'll be covering for the next week, in addition to times that you can train independently or together for the sports festival."

"Watch it, Iida," Aizawa growled, but did not resist as Tensei began pushing him back out the door, waving to the class. Once they were out and Present Mic came in, looking far more shaken than they'd ever seen him and whipping a glare at Aizawa for scaring the shit out of him, everyone sat up as Mic whirled around to the class, a grin suddenly appearing on his face.

"Alright, listeners!" He made a weird gesture with his hands that made them all wince from the cringe, "Now that the mummy man is out of here, it's time to get cray-cray with English. Anyone got any questions for me before we begin?!"

"I do!" Nejire suddenly shot her hand up into the air, and Mic pointed at her.

"Lay it on me, Hadou!"

"How big was the spider Aizawa-sensei put on you?"

Mic paused, and then visibly wilted.


Shortly after Present Mic's traumatic flashback, in which the students had sadly watched him shiver at the very descriptive ways Nejire had seen spiders in the past explained to him in exquisite detail (only stopped by Itsuka walking over and covering her mouth with her hand), classes had resumed as normal, with Mic writing down English phrases for them to correct in a far more visibly deflated way than they were used to, Midnight strutted in to start teaching art history, and Cementoss had come in afterwards to help teach modern literature. It was only after the bell rang for their lunch break that the excitement from this morning returned.

"I don't know about you guys," Eijirou threw his hands into the air again as he grinned, "but this has got me so freaking pumped up!"

"It's like Aizawa said," Hanta likewise seemed to share the excitement, elbowing Eijirou half-heartedly, "if we put on a good enough show and stand out, this'll be our first step to becoming heroes!"

"That does depend on how we stand out, though," Fumikage hopped onto the cabinets at the back while Reiko leaned beside him, both of them watching as everyone got ready to head out for lunch, "which means that not only must we actually try and put in effort to get them to notice us, we must be careful not to embarrass ourselves."

"I mean, either way you're automatically lucky, Shouji," Denki sat down on his desk while giving the masked boy a sheepish look, "your appearance already stands out - uh, no offence."

"None taken. Even so," Mezo shook his head while Pony sat down in the opposite seat with her own lunch, "there's no point in that if I can't show off my usefulness. I have to work hard."

"Don't worry," Kyouka smirked at Denki as she passed by the small group sitting together, "I imagine you'll find ways to stand out too, Kaminari. Y'know, for all the wrong reasons."

Denki shook with indignancy.

"Huuuuh," Izuku felt himself sweat a bit nervously as everyone talked excitedly between themselves, walking over to Itsuka's desk as she got out her own lunch, "everyone seems pretty excited, huh?"

"And you aren't?!" Tenya chopped his hands at him, beginning to wiggle around strangely and drawing Yui's interested and slightly exasperated gaze. "We enrolled in this school for this exact opportunity! This is our chance to add our names to the ranks of heroes, so of course we are all in high spirits!"

"You've got a funny way of showing it, kero," Tsuyu noted as she began moving out the door with Mina, "a little bit weird."

"I mean, don't you feel the same way, Midoriya?!" Tenya chopped at Izuku, making him jump slightly as Nejire absently imitated Tenya and started doing his little 'dance', with Setsuna giggling beside her.

"I - of course I do!" Izuku quickly nodded as Itsuka got up with an amused sigh, watching as Momo and Kyouka joined their small group with Kyouka glancing up at the taller girl with a tinge of pink on her cheeks. "Of course I'm excited, it's just - uh - well …"

He let out a small chuckle, and looked around at Ochako, who was still sitting in her seat with her hair shadowing her face, giving nothing away.

"… I know someone who's even more excited, so I'm keeping myself calm."

"Hm?" Momo tilted her head curiously as the other girls and Tenya looked around at her. "Uraraka, are you alright?"

"Guys …" Ochako muttered, making the small group look at her in confusion as she stared down at her desk - and then they, with the sole exception of Izuku, recoiled as she raised her head to show the utterly intense look on her face. "… let's do our best at the sports festival."

"Uh …" Itsuka leaned back slightly, caught off guard as Izuku didn't look surprised at all, "… are you okay, Ochako?"

"Hm?" Setsuna blinked, looking around at her best friend. "'Ochako'?"

"Everyone!" Ochako suddenly jumped out of her seat, her chair clattering against the ground as she shot her fist into the air and made a passing Yosetsu jump in surprise. "I'm gonna do my best!"

"Uh - r-right!" Nejire quickly said, likewise pumping her fist in the air.

"You … go, girl!" Setsuna half-heartedly raised her hand in the air.

"Mm," Yui nodded, raising her hand in the air like she was going to ask a question as Ochako wheeled around at Eijirou, who was also looking confused.

"I'm gonna do my best!"

"R-right! Kinda inconsistent characterization, but okay!"

"Er …" Itsuka stared at her training partner in confusion as she leaned over towards Izuku, who was smiling a bit embarrassedly but keeping his hand in the air for Ochako's sake as she continued to get pumped up, "… is she okay? She's kinda …"

"Intense?" Izuku guessed, nodding and smiling, "Yeah, she's … really pumped up for the sports festival. Do you guys remember when we played video games back in the summer?"

Itsuka, Setsuna, Yui and Eijirou paused, thinking for a moment about their sleepover nearly a year ago when they had played video games, and how Ochako had gotten … rather scary when they had competed against each other. Shaking her head with a sigh, Itsuka moved forward, and gently wrapped her arms underneath Ochako's armpits to begin dragging her cheering ass out of the classroom with the rest of their group, Kyouka wondering if she should really be associating with these crazies for a moment before glancing at Momo and sighing as she followed them out.

"Itsuka! I'm gonna do my best!"

"That's great, Ochako, but can you do your best to be a little quieter?"

With several sighs, they all made to leave the classroom, with Ochako getting one more cheer with Reiko unenthusiastically raising her fist into the air, before they all finally managed to get out of the classroom, with Nejire interestingly glancing between them.

"A sleepover, huh? Last summer? That sounds pretty fun! What did you guys do?"

"Hm? Oh," Setsuna realized what she was asking about, chuckling as they began to walk down the hall towards the cafeteria, Itsuka continuing to drag the still cheering Ochako away from the classroom and causing the other students hanging out in the hall to stare at her weirdly, "we were having a bit of a party before we all started training for UA. Me, Yui and Kirishima didn't stay over, we ended up heading home eventually, but I know Midoriya was exiled to the couch."

"I wasn't exiled," Izuku shook his head, sighing as they continued to walk together, "I volunteered to sleep on the couch."

"Oh? You saying you were up for sleeping with the girls? Midoriya, I'm surprised -"

"Anyway!" Itsuka suddenly squeaked, her face going red while Izuku became suddenly very interested in his shoes, getting both Setsuna and Yui to pause and raise their eyebrows. "Yeah, Hadou, we had a sleepover last summer. We had fun."

"Interesting!" Momo commented, looking curious as they walked down the hall, "I've never been invited to a sleepover before - perhaps, down the road, we could try to have one sometime? G-granted, I recognize that we haven't known each other for -"

"Nah, don't sweat it," Setsuna giggled, patting her arm, "a hundred percent we'll be doing a sleepover eventually. Maybe with just us girls! It'll be fun! But anyway, back to the sports festival - what're we gonna be doing about that? I'm betting we're all going to be training non-stop for the next two weeks, so are we doing that as a group or are we considering each other rivals already?"

"Well, the sports festival is competitive," Itsuka gave her while continuing to drag Ochako down the hall, shaking her head, "but honestly, if we all wanted to do a bit of training together, I bet that would be nice. I could also help you guys out with your own training if you want - I've got a few ideas for how I'm getting ready for the festival."

"Ooooooh, yes!" Nejire quickly nodded, hopping up and down the stairs they were moving down while grinning happily, "I'm in! I'd love to train with you guys! I'll convince Yuuyu to do it, too!"

"As tempting as it is to train with you all," Tenya gave them all an apologetic look, adjusting his glasses and missing Yui pouting at him in disappointment, "I'm afraid that the training plan I will be following may prove to be rather intense - I believe that it may be better for me to train on my own. Ah, but no offense to those who wish to team up!"

"Nah, it's all good, big guy," Setsuna shook her head while smiling, moving her hands behind her head to tie her hair into a ponytail, "I gotcha. Anyway, Ken - if there's an option to have you as my private coach, I'll jump on that. Although I might be a bit flaky too - there's a few zones around UA I wanna try out on my own."

"Mm," Yui nodded in agreement as well, folding her hands behind her back, "I'd love to see you working out, Itsuka."

"... you mean … work out with everyone too, right, Yui?"

"Mm. Yes. That's what I meant. Exactly."

"... to correct myself," Itsuka decided to dryly say, letting go of Ochako as the girl got a hold of herself at last and began blushing in embarrassment, almost floating herself by slapping her hands to her face and barely stopped by Izuku reaching out to take her wrists, "I'm free to help everyone with training except for Yui."

Yui pouted and flipped her off while Itsuka giggled.

"I'm afraid that I must also concur with Iida," Momo looked a bit regretful as well, folding her hands together, "my training is rather … well, different in comparison to may be considered usual. I will be spending a lot of time in the library looking up rather complex combinations for creating new objects with my quirk, and I imagine you'll all want to spend that time getting ready by yourselves."

"Er … yeah," Kyouka twirled her earphone jacks, gulping a bit.

"Ah! Jirou, I had almost forgotten!" Tenya suddenly remembered, turning to look at the punk rock girl with a smile, "I believe that you wanted to take this time during lunch to thank Yaoyorozu for walking you to the station, didn't you? I believe now would be an opportune time for that!"

Kyouka froze briefly, staring up at Tenya in betrayal and anger. Itsuka let out a small groan and slapped her hand against her forehead. Nejire glanced between both girls curiously. Setsuna and Yui looked around at Kyouka with widened, teasing eyes. Ochako awkwardly cleared her throat and looked anywhere but behind her. Momo looked around at her in surprise. Izuku briefly wondered if he was missing something.

However, and perhaps thankfully for Kyouka, they were interrupted by the sound of a loud laugh behind them, catching their attention.

"Well, well, well!" They all turned to see All Might power walking down the hall towards them, a large grin on his face as he spotted the small group. "It's good to see that you're all up and about! Young Midoriya, I - er - heard from Yagi this weekend that you were feeling much better, but it's good to see that you've been fully healed by Recovery Girl - minus a scratch or two, of course."

"O-oh, uh …" Izuku briefly blanked out for a moment - he wasn't entirely sure how to address that, since they were both aware that they had just seen each other over the weekend - but thankfully, Itsuka took over.

"Uh, thank you, All Might," She tried to smile up at him, "it's, uh - it's nice to see that you're doing better, too."

"Indeed!" Tenya chopped his arm at their smiling teacher, "I must say, All Might, it was a pleasure to watch you at work, but we're also relieved that that Nomu character didn't do any lasting damage to you."

"Oh, no need to worry about that, Young Iida," All Might patted his shoulder, "it'll take more than a few punches to put me down! Now, if you'll all excuse me, I have a meeting to attend! I hope to see you all tomorrow during our next lesson!"

With that, the pro hero moved around them, giving them all a confident grin as he began walking down the hall. Itsuka watched their teacher go, nodding slightly - and then a thought suddenly came to her, making her blink.

Wait - wasn't there something I was supposed to say to him?

She briefly blanked out - what did she need to tell him again? Something about - the weekend? Maybe? What happened this weekend - she woke up with Izuku and Ochako in her bed (embarrassing), she saw Izuku's … little … problem (also extremely embarrassing and something she tried hard not to think about), they had breakfast with All Might and their families, they talked to Midnight, they talked to the group chat, they talked to Melissa, they talked to each other about -

- about -

- oh.

Oh, crap! She completely forgot to tell All Might that she told Izuku and Ochako!

"A-All Might!"

The pro hero paused in his step at the sound of Itsuka calling out to him, and looked back around curiously at his student - at the exact same time everyone else did, prompting Itsuka to suddenly find herself pausing at the spotlight on her. She felt herself blink as she realized that their entire group was looking at her, and, oh yeah, the realizing what the problem was with calling out the name of the goddamn Symbol of Peace to ask him something.

Uh …

For a second she continued to stand there, frozen - and then she let out a small, awkward laugh as a plan was quickly made in her mind.

"U-uh - actually, it's - it's nothing," She tried to smile as confidently as she could, although it came off as a bit stiff as she turned back to Izuku and Ochako beside her, her mind quickly working as she still spoke in a slightly louder and quicker tone, "sorry, All Might. A-anyway, Izuku, Ochako - we're - we're still heading to the usual spot tonight, r-right? Right after school? To - to meet up with Coach Yagi."

All Might straightened up at that, his eyes slightly widening - and Izuku and Ochako blinked in confusion.

"Uh … we are?" Izuku briefly questioned, although he was quick to realize his mistake when Itsuka suddenly whipped a subtle glare at him, making him quickly correct himself. "O-oh, I - I mean - y-yeah, we - we are! Right! Yes, of - of course!"

"Y-yeah!" Ochako quickly nodded as well. "I-it'll be nice to s-see him again, so - so soon."

Itsuka felt like facepalming as Ochako sent a very not subtle wink her way, with Setsuna raising her eyebrow and Nejire glancing between them in confusion.

"Oh," All Might seemed to pause for a moment himself, before quickly straightening his back and nodding, "ah, Y-Young Kendou, that sounds - well, that sounds quite exciting! I'm sure that Yagi will be happy to see you three again. In any case, I'm running a bit late, so I'll see you all tomorrow in class!"

With that, he quickly spun on his heel and continued to power walk down the hallway, eventually disappearing completely around a corner from their sight. Trying to pretend that the rest of the group wasn't giving them weird looks for what they just did, Itsuka quickly cleared her throat and pointed at the back of a pink-haired girl walking away from them.

"S-say, isn't that Haya?"

"Huh?" Nejire blinked, looking around, and then brightened up. "Ooh! Yuuyu! Yuuyu, Yuuyu, Yuuyu, Yuuyu! We're over here!"

She quickly ran ahead, and with the group seeing the tired and exasperated Class 1B representative turn around to look at them while obviously sagging her shoulders (indicating that she must've had a long morning), they all began to walk towards the cafeteria. In the back, Ochako, Itsuka and Izuku slowed their step so that they were trailing a bit behind, and both childhood friends turned to look at their training partner.

"Er … what was that about?" Ochako asked in a quiet voice, leaning over so that she could mutter, "Why do we have to meet up with him on the beach?"

Itsuka paused before responding, and then made a small gesture towards the group in front of them. Izuku and Ochako glanced over to see her subtly pointing at Kyouka, who was currently talking to Momo - or, more specifically, the earphone jacks she had in her ears.

Immediately, Izuku and Ochako understood - watch what they said around a girl who could easily pick up their mutters.

"So …" Itsuka grimaced slightly, trying to choose her words carefully, "... I was hoping to talk to him about … you know. The thing we talked about this weekend."

Both Izuku and Ochako paused for a moment, before what Itsuka was talking about registered to them - One for All.

Izuku felt himself slowly nod, moving to fold his hands together as he bit his lip. Truth be told, a lot of his Sunday at home, sitting in the living room with his dad and catching up on everything, had also been spent thinking about what Itsuka had told him about this weekend - perhaps the most unique quirk he had ever heard of. A quirk that could be transferred to someone else, increasing in strength as it was passed along. It had taken pretty much all of his willpower not to go into a mutter spree about, and took the rest of his willpower not to write about it anywhere - he had a feeling Itsuka wouldn't appreciate him theorizing about it and writing it down.

And so …

"I … guess that sounds like a good idea," Izuku slowly nodded, putting his hands in his pockets as he looked around at Itsuka, "it's important that All M- I mean, Coach Yagi - knows that we're in the loop."

"Yeah," Itsuka agreed with him, "so once 3:30 hits - we're out of here, and heading back to the beach."

Both of her training partners nodded in agreement, having no problem with heading out with Itsuka to their usual spot, and they quickly hurried back over to their group so they could get in line for Lunch Rush - and were unaware of a blue haired girl glanced at them out of the corner of her eye, feeling curious.


Around 3:20, though, right as the bell rang to signal the end of the day, they ran into a little problem.

"Wha -?" Ochako's eyes briefly bulged in surprise and a bit of fear, as Class 1A likewise stared gobsmacked at the massive crowd of students gathered right outside their door. "What the hell is going on?!"

Indeed, it was a rather shocking sight to be greeted to at the end of the day, Itsuka thought to herself as she stood up from her desk to join Ochako, Nejire and Izuku as they gulped nervously. What looked to be everyone in their year - albeit faces that they didn't recognize, probably from general studies, the business course or the support studio - was standing outside the door to Class 1A, peeking in and staring at them as though trying to memorize the faces of everyone inside. 

They seemed to be a mix of excited, nervous and confident as they sized Class 1A up, the students inside staring back out at the massive crowd a bit nervously in turn.

"Pardon me!" Tenya chopped his hand at the massive crowd, unaware of Yui copying him stoically behind him as her hand likewise chopped, "What business do you all have with Class 1A? I'm afraid that we do have a few things to do before we must go home, so please give us a path!"

"They're scouting out the enemy," Katsuki narrowed his eyes as he moved around the small group at the front of the class, knowing that he had the attention of both his class and the crowd before them as he glared back at them, "we're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack, so they're scoping out the main competition and sizing us up."

Stomping to the front of the crowd, Katsuki's eyes briefly scanned them, and then he deepened his scowl.

"There's no point, though," He glared at them, "get out of my way, you worthless extras."

"Stop calling people 'extras' just because you do not know them!" Tenya yelled at him behind his back, while Izuku and Ochako facepalmed, Itsuka heavily weighed the pros and cons of knocking Katsuki on his ass, Nejire tilted her head curiously as she attempted to keep the various questions in her mind inside so she could see what the crowd wanted, and Tenya and Yui chopped their arms, Tenya indignantly and Yui stoically.

"Well, I don't know about everyone else," A deadpan voice suddenly came from within the crowd, "but I came to see what the famous Class 1A looked like."

From out of the massive body of students came another boy that made the students trapped inside their own classroom raise their eyebrows, and Nejire perked up at a familiar face - a tall, lanky boy with messy indigo hair pointing up in several different directions, and some serious dark eye bags. Although what really caught their attention, not allowing them to concentrate on how exhausted this guy looked, was the rather unimpressed look he gave them as he pushed his way through the crowd.

"But I don't know," The indigo-haired boy scoffed at them as he finally reached the front of the crowd, his eyes trailing along the rest of the students inside, "you all seem pretty arrogant. Are all the students in the hero course like this?

Katsuki looked like he was about two seconds from biting this new guy's head off while everyone cringed slightly - only for Itsuka to roughly push past him, making the pomeranian boy snarl at her, to give the new guy a slightly stiff smile.

"Please, don't mind him," She tried to get control of the situation, wanting to attempt to prevent any misunderstandings with the crowd outside, "he's a bit of an idiot, but he's just the exception. We're not all like him."

"Bite me, ginger!"

"Anyway," She clapped her hands together, trying to come across as polite and welcoming, "like Iida said, we all have places to be, and school is over now. Would you mind letting us -"

"Honestly, seeing something like this makes me feel disillusioned," The guy with indigo hair shook his head as he ignored Itsuka, rubbing a hand against the back of his head while Itsuka's smile stiffened even more, "if you're all the ones who got in before any of us."

"... any of you?" Itsuka decided to ask, her smile beginning to fall as Setsuna, Yui and Reiko frowned slightly behind her, and the rest of the class turned to look at the new guy with their own awkwardness fading away.

"Hm? Didn't you know?" The guy with indigo hair chuckled darkly. "Those of us who didn't make it into the hero course are stuck in general studies, or other tracks. As you've probably noticed, there's quite a few of us. So I imagine that you probably don't know that this is our only chance."

Now most of Class 1A, with the obvious exception of Katsuki as he sneered out at the crowd, were starting to feel an icy chill begin to spread into their classroom.

"I heard that depending on how we do at the sports festival," The guy continued to drone on, a small smirk on his face as he looked around at the hero students, "the teachers might consider transferring us into the hero course. And I heard that the reverse is also possible for any of you - you could get transferred out if you don't live up to expectations."

Izuku gulped. Ochako looked suddenly nervous. Itsuka raised an eyebrow.

"So, this, uh, 'scoping out the competition' thing? For a general studies student like me, this is the perfect chance to knock you all off your pedestals." He glanced uncaringly down at Itsuka once again, smirking that he had managed to wipe that nice smile completely off her face. "Consider this a declaration of war. No need to get all pouty - I'm just doing what everyone else here is doing. I don't need you pretending to be nice to me, I'm not exactly here to make any friends."

Once he had made that clear, a small silence fell in both the classroom and the hall, everyone turning their gaze to Itsuka as she slowly looked down, nodding a bit to herself as she considered his words. Both Izuku and Ochako gulped as they waited for Itsuka's reaction to being pretty much insulted right in her face, while the boy with indigo hair smirked and crossed his arms.

And then she let out a small sigh, and looked back up at him.

"Okay," Itsuka put her hands back in her pockets, "so, uh … sorry, I don't think I caught your name."

"Shinsou." He said dismissively.

"Shinsou," She nodded again, a sweet smile returning to her face, "well then, Shinsou - I just want to make a few things clear. Alright?"

"Heh. Sure, go ahead."

"Thank you. First of all," She raised her eyebrow, "the, ah, girl who's apparently pretending to be nice to you? I'm actually the class representative. It wasn't really an act, by the way, I was attempting to be polite. So just keep that in mind if you do end up enrolling in this class - you'll probably want to show me a little more respect. You had a nice 'I'm not here to make friends' speech, but trust me - it's a lot easier to get through this class when you don't purposefully alienate yourself from your peers."

Shinsou's smirk somewhat faltered at that, but he still didn't show any other strong emotion as Itsuka leaned on one leg.

"Second of all," She tilted her head, "you really think we aren't aware that students from the general studies class can join us if they do well enough in the sports festival?"

"Yeah," Setsuna sat on the surface of her desk as she in turn smirked at Shinsou, "we did our homework, buddy. That's how our own teacher got in, and Midnight."

"Although, Set," Itsuka suddenly smirked as well, "there was one thing that he said that I should probably correct, so no one gets any ideas."

"Oh?" Shinsou raised his eyebrow, "And what's that?"

"You said that if one of you did well enough, you'd replace one of us," Itsuka's own smirk didn't falter, "but as far as I can tell - since, y'know, I did my homework, Set said that - that's actually never happened."

Shinsou's smirk fell slightly.

"So that means either of two things," Itsuka raised her hand, showing two fingers that she put down as she made her points, "one - that little fact that the teachers would replace us with students from general studies is a myth. Or two -" She leaned in, staring him right in the eye as she lowered her other finger, "- it never happened, because us hero course students you're looking down on earned our places in this classroom. Just because I'm curious - did you try to get into the hero course through the entrance exam?"

"Ooooh! He did!" Nejire jumped in, making Shinsou turn to glare at her. "I saw him in my zone, Kendou - he was getting pumped up!"

"I see," Itsuka slowly nodded, turning to look back at Shinsou as he scowled at them all, and let out a small sigh as she straightened up, and began to address the crowd of students that had watched the little showdown in shock.

"If what my dumb classmate said is right," She said, loud enough for everyone to hear her and enough for her to pretend not to hear Katsuki growling at her behind her back, "you're all here to intimidate us, to let us know that we're going to be crushed by you all. Well, I can't speak for the rest of my classmates, but I think that we're not going to just sit around and let you guys try to usurp our places. So, you guys want to make sure we're intimidated? Sorry, but we don't scare easily."

"Nope!" Mina shook her head, smirking as she leaned against her desk and Pony balled her fists determinately beside her, "Trust me, all of you - we aren't giving up these seats without a fight."

"Yeah," Yosetsu glared at the people outside while Eijirou and Denki looked fired up, "you're gonna have to pry my desk from my cold dead hands."

With that, the small crowd fell into silence - Shinsou's confidence was gone, instead choosing to glare down at Itsuka as she put her hands on her hips and glared right back. There was a tense moment -

"Oi!"

Itsuka jumped a bit, and looked around as someone else jumped up in the crowd, glaring straight at her. Automatically, her eyes went to his own - not to check out his eyes specifically, however, rather the long eyelashes on his face that kind of gave the impression he was wearing a mask.

"I'm from Class 1B next door!" The boy barked. "I heard you fought against villains, so I came to hear 'bout it!"

Itsuka felt her eyes narrow, not liking where this was going. "You heard right."

"In that case, you better not get so full of yourself!" He pointed a finger straight at her, not even minding the rest of the crowd looking around at him while clearly wondering what exactly his problem was. "You talk a big game, but if you bark too much, it'll be embarrassing for you durin' the real fight!"

"I'm sorry?" Itsuka frowned, crossing her arms across her chest. "Are you telling us not to be arrogant?"

"I am!"

"…"

"…"

"… did that come across as arrogant?" Itsuka suddenly blinked, looking around at Izuku and Ochako and feeling concerned. "I was just trying to throw the gauntlet back at them - but did that sound like something Bakugou would say?"

"I mean … kinda?" Setsuna shrugged, giving her a weak smile, "but at least you aren't like blasty here and actually meant to say it like that."

"Fucking bite me." Katsuki huffed, shoulding his backpack and moving out the door, "I don't fucking need you losers trying to hitch a ride on my way to the top."

"Hey, bastard, I wasn't done talking!" The gray-haired guy yelled angrily - but then a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his neck, making him stop in his tracks and blink, looking around with a small snarl. "Hey, what's -?!"

He faltered, however, when he looked around at who had grabbed him - and felt himself pale in horror at the sight of the shorter girl glaring up at him angrily.

"Tetsutetsu," Yuuyu gritted out between clenched teeth, "what do you think you're doing?"

"Uh - Haya," He gulped nervously, "y-yo. What're you -"

"I told you not to bother them!" She barked, and began roughly pulling him back, making the boy yelp and quickly move along with her as the much smaller girl kept her hand clenching the back of his neck as she escorted him out of the shocked crowd. "In one ear and out the other with you!"

"I - I'm, uh -"

"Nej," She looked back into the classroom as Nejire interestingly watched her best friend drag the loudmouth away with an angry look on her face, "I just gotta clean the classroom and reprimand this dumbass. Do you mind waiting for me?"

"Nope!" She gave her a salute, while the rest of the crowd briefly turned to look at her in surprise. For some reason, Nejire felt herself falter at the attention of the crowd suddenly being on her, blinking slightly - but before she could say anything, they all let out small grunts, throwing dirty looks into the classroom, and began to disperse, moving down the hall or choosing one more moment to throw a glare at them before stomping away.

"Well, shit," Itsuka grumbled, shaking her head and looking back at her friends as Katsuki stomped past her and out into the hall, "I wanna say Bakugou just made things worse, but I bet my thing didn't do anyone any favors."

"No," Izuku shook his head slightly, although there was a small frown on his face, "I … don't imagine that there was much you could've said that would've made everyone calm down. They just kinda …"

"Their minds were probably made up the moment they got here," Momo assured her, cupping her cheek a bit as she frowned, "there wasn't much we could've done to appease them, Kendou."

"Well …" Itsuka sighed, shaking her head a bit, pouting as she looked around to Izuku and Ochako, "… I'm sure that I still made lots of enemies today, but - but we can worry about that when the sports festival actually comes around. Anyway, let's get going, you two - we need to head to the beach."

With that, Class 1A began making movements out the door, wanting to finally go home after a long day back in class. The small trio at the front, meanwhile, quickly hurried their pace to get out the door - it was true, after all, that they had pretty much told All Might that they wanted to have a meeting with him, so they had better make sure they weren't late.

Once the three training partners were out the door, the rest of the class was quick to follow suit, with Eijirou, Denki, Hanta and Yosetsu groaning about Katsuki making things worse for them ("No need to cry, tush bro, just Spider-Man above them and you'll be fine," Setsuna teasingly assured Hanta, who didn't look amused by the remark), Momo giggling as she agreed to walk back to the station with Kyouka, who flushed a little (and then aimed a glare at the smirking Yui) and Yui purposefully grabbed Tenya's sleeve to walk home with him despite his sputtering red face as the entire class began leaving the school to head home.

And soon enough, it was just Nejire left.

With a small sigh, she walked back over to her desk, sitting down and leaning back against the window as she smiled to herself. Yuuyu asked her to wait for her to get done reprimanding that Tetsutetsu guy, so she was okay with waiting for a little bit. Letting out a small hum, she kicked her legs absently, and couldn't help but giggle a bit to herself, glancing back out where the crowd from before had been. She had been pretty much boiling over with what she could have questioned them, asking that Shinsou guy why he was so tired and why he seemed to have a stick up his guy, why Tetsutetsu's eyelashes were like that - but she had been a little …

… well …

Again, Nejire felt her smile falter as her kicking legs slowed, before she put her feet back down on the floor. Seeing all of those students looking in on them and glaring at them, as though they had done something wrong … it had made her feel kinda … weird.

And not the good kind of weird, the … the bad kind. Kind of like …

"Ugh, there goes Hadou again. Just don't look her in the eye or she's going to bug the shit out of you."

"You're new here, see that girl over in the corner? The hot one? Don't let it fool you, she's annoying as fuck. Don't even look at her or she'll just keep talking to you forever."

"She's kinda hot though … just wish she'd shut up."

Giving herself a small shake, Nejire let out another sigh as she stood back up, absently swinging her arms as she began to pace up and down the isle of desks. Geez, these were memories she didn't like thinking of, she thought with a small pout as she slowly turned in a circle. Middle school had really sucked, and the way that all the people outside the classroom had been glaring at her (because she knew a few of them had looked her way) had just … reminded her of that.

But luckily for her, Itsuka got control of the situation and made them all back off, which made Nejire happy - she would have to thank her for that tomorrow.

But … speaking of her orange-haired friend …

Nejire felt herself pause, tilting her head somewhat as she thought to herself. So she, Izuku and Ochako … they were going to a beach right now? To meet with a guy named Coach Yagi? That All Might apparently knew? The curious wheels in her head began to spin at the very thought, prompting her wide smile to return to her face as she resumed her pacing. She knew that those three were close - they did everything together, and from the times that she spent alone with Izuku (which she could probably count on one hand, she pouted, something that needed to be rectified eventually) she knew that he probably cared about Ochako and Itsuka. A whole lot.

But … well … how deep did that care go?

Nejire let out a small hum as she approached the blackboard, absently picking up a piece of chalk and beginning to doodle as she hummed. It was clear that he cared about Itsuka and Ochako, and she could totally understand why. But … but how much did he care for them? In what way? Did he … maybe he …

For the third time that day, Nejire's smile faltered, and she couldn't help but pout a bit to herself. Back at the USJ, when the villains had tried to drown her - which really sucked, by the way - she knew that she had been thinking about a lot of stuff. While her memory was a little hazy - but at least it wasn't complete short term memory loss! That would be pretty bad, she liked her memory and she would like to keep it - but anyway, she remembered the gist of what she had thought about at the bottom of the lake. 

Getting scared about dying, thinking about what she still wanted to do, and thinking about …

… him.

As the familiar face of a green-haired boy appeared in her thoughts, Nejire couldn't help but feel a small smile grace her face, pressing her forehead against the blackboard.

For the past month or so, ever since the entrance exam, she had been thinking about him. Not in an obsessed way, of course, she still had her hobbies and other stuff to distract herself with, but she had spent at least five minutes every day having at least one thought about him. Ever since he had saved her life during the entrance exam, she couldn't help but think and wonder about him. It had probably been the best part of her first day at UA when she found out that not only had he managed to get enrolled with her, but they would be in the same class! And now, she was sitting right in front of him!

And he was so friendly, too! She had thought he was a little dorky and nervous during their time together in the exam, but when he wasn't so red in the face she thought he was going to pass out, he was so nice to talk to! 

And not just that, he came with a lot more friends, too! Ochako and Itsuka were so nice - at least, not when they were looking at her weirdly; Eijirou was funny with his whole manliness thing; Yui kept looking at her boobies and her butt, but she was okay with that, since she knew she had a nice body and wasn't ashamed of it; Tenya was a bit uptight, but his weird gestures humored her; Setsuna was really cool and really snarky; and Momo was also really smart and polite!

She had made more friends last week than she had in her entire life. And it was all thanks to Izuku. If it wasn't for him, she might've been as miserable here, trying to look as cold and unemotive, as she had been when dealing with her old classmates back in middle school.

Now Nejire … wasn't dumb. She knew what she was thinking, when it came to Izuku. She knew what it meant when she smiled even at the thought of him, his laugh, even him just talking to her. She knew what it meant when her cheeks felt hot and her heart beat a bit quicker. She knew what it meant when she felt like she was floating without her quirk when he smiled at her.

But … but she wasn't sure yet! Nejire couldn't help but sigh as she turned so she could lean against the blackboard, putting her hands behind her back. She never felt like this towards someone else before! She knew that there had been something about him before that warmed her heart and made her smile, but after what happened at the flood zone, thinking about him made that feeling amplify to like - a hundred percent.

Maybe ninety-five percent. No, ninety-seven. That felt like a good number.

So … what did that mean? No one had ever made her feel this warm inside before. It wasn't like … well, it wasn't like she was in love with him, was she?

No, Nejire shook her head while thinking, she wasn't in love with him - but then she blinked. The fact that she wasn't disturbed by that thought - the idea of being in love with him - might mean something else.

So … so what this probably meant was … she needed to get to know him better. She needed to understand what these weird feelings for him were and put a name on them. But that couldn't happen during school, or at lunch, since they were always in a group together and they hung out with the same friends.

That meant …

… that they needed some alone time. Just him and her.

And Nejire, not even noticing Yuuyu come and blink at the smile on her face, had an idea on how to do that.


They were late.

With a small sigh, All Might slowly slid his jacket off his arms, looking around as he paced near the stairs in his shrunken form. At the moment he was at Dagobah Beach, taking off his suit jacket and tucking it under his arm as he rolled up his sleeves a bit as he took in his surroundings. The sun began to gently set across the ocean of water, with not a single soda can or scrap of paper in sight, much to All Might's relief. Hell, he could even make out a few middle school students jogging across the sand, laughing about something or the other - but to All Might, to see these three kids enjoying the beach his pupils had cleaned, filled him with pride.

Now … where were they? All Might felt himself frown as he straightened up, looking around. It wasn't like them to keep him waiting - it was clear that Itsuka had wanted to meet up with him, although he wasn't sure why she hadn't just texted him, but she had very much made it clear that Izuku and Ochako were coming along. Which meant this wasn't a private conversation - it was between the four of them. But what were they supposed to chat about -?

- wait. Was this something to do with One for All?

All Might straightened up, his eyes widening. Of course … of course! He had told Itsuka that if she had any issues with telling her training partners about the quirk he transferred to her, to not be afraid to seek him out to help with the explanation. It was unexpected, All Might gulped nervously, but if that was what was happening … well, then, he should get ready, then.

Izuku and Ochako were smart, and they knew the importance of privacy and secrecy, already displaying it by working with him for a whole year without giving away his true identity. If they were to be brought in on the secret, he should be ready to emphasize how important it was to -

"All Might!"

The teacher jumped at the sound of his name being called, and quickly looked around, feeling a smile grace his face. Hurrying down the stairs were his pupils, Itsuka in the lead and Ochako and Izuku quickly following behind her as they waved to him.

"Ah! There you three are," He nodded, raising a hand in greeting and temporarily forgetting what he was thinking about, "I was wondering where you three were."

"Sorry, we got caught up at school," Itsuka quickly apologized as the three of them hurried down the steps of the beach, "everyone else in the school wanted to try and intimidate us for the sports festival and wouldn't let us leave immediately."

"Oh, no problem, no problem." He chuckled, moving back so they could join him at the bottom of the stairs. "In any case, my apologies that I couldn't talk with you a bit longer today at lunch - Principal Nezu wanted to meet up with us about the USJ and anything else we needed to clear up, as well as discussing your sessions today with Tenko, Hound Dog and Midnight. Otherwise I might've taken you three aside to talk for a bit."

"T-that's okay," Izuku nodded, putting his own hands in his pockets as he looked up at the pro hero, "a-anyway, All Might, are - are you okay? After what happened on Friday, and - and we didn't get a chance to ask you on the weekend -"

"Well," All Might sighed, turning to look around at the ocean, "I'm about as well as I can be, Young Midoriya. I imagine you three are very well aware that I completely undersold my condition to Young Iida today. The truth is, I went to speak with Recovery Girl today so we could theorize about how much time I have each day to use my power."

"O-oh?"

"Mm. We both quickly agreed that I have … overdone it far too many times lately. Not to mention that Nomu villain I faced was far tougher than I had expected when coming to rescue you all. We did a few tests, and we have decided that I now only have about … well … about up fifty minutes to an hour and a half left to use my power each day. That's if I push it."

"Fifty -?!" Itsuka gasped, staring up at All Might in shock as he nodded, and Ochako likewise looked incredibly stricken while Izuku immediately began to tear up. However, before they could speak, All Might raised his hand and smiled down at them.

"As I told Young Midoriya on Friday," He assured them, "it can't be helped. This kind of thing is something that I've been expecting to happen for quite a while now - the best I can do right now is just deal with it. Please, don't let this bother you."

"I …" Ochako hesitated, and then nodded, "… okay, All Might."

"Y-yeah."

"If you're sure."

"I am," All Might nodded, and then straightened his back, taking a deep breath and looking down on the three teenagers. "Now then - it seems that I've been the one summoned to the beach this time. What was it that you wanted to meet with me about, Young Kendou?"

This is it, All Might prepared himself as he narrowed his eyes somewhat in determination, time to explain everything.

"Huh? Oh, right," Itsuka likewise straightened her back, glancing back at her two friends for a moment - and then turned back to All Might, giving him a sheepish look, and decided to just be blunt, "I … well, the truth is, I told Izuku and Ochako about One for All this weekend."

"PFFFFT -!"

Evidently, All Might had not expected that for Itsuka to start with, given the amount of blood that suddenly blasted out of his mouth as he recoiled. Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako squeaked as All Might immediately launched into a coughing fit, bending over and covering his mouth with his hand as a bit of blood leaked out between his fingers.

"I - *cough!* - I'm sorry, Young Kendou?!"

"I - uh -" Itsuka grimaced, regretting being so blunt about it but knowing that it was a little too late to go back on it, "- I told them about One for All. They - they know."

"I - alright, I - *cough* - I heard that," All Might finally managed to get control of his coughing, glancing around in shock at Izuku and Ochako as they weakly shrugged, "I just - I - I thought you were coming so I - *cough* - so I could help you tell them!"

"I - oh, uh - well, n-no, I - I told them. They believed me."

"Y-yeah," Ochako quickly nodded, "we - we know, All Might."

"I - so - I - alright, so they - how much did you - gah, my apologies, let me get my thoughts together."

The three teenagers were at least alright with that, nodding and waiting for All Might to get himself together. He managed to straighten himself up and put his suit jacket carefully down on the sand, letting out a small sigh as he moved to sit down, and raised a hand to cup his pointy chin as he thought.

After about a minute, he let out a small sigh and nodded again, looking back up at the students.

"Alright, so … just so we're all on the same page. Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka … you know about One for All."

"Y-yeah," Izuku quickly confirmed, and Ochako nodded as well.

"You had everything explained to you? How it works, what it can do, how I chose Young Kendou as my successor?"

"Yeah, we did."

"How important it is," He narrowed his eyes somewhat, "to keep this a secret?"

"Yes, of course," Ochako nodded for the both of them, "we won't tell anyone, All Might - we swear."

"I … see," All Might slowly said, staring up at Izuku and Ochako as they likewise looked down at him, and then he let out a small sigh as he sat up, "well … in that case, Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka … with that out of the way, I believe that I owe you both an apology."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked while Izuku looked surprised, "An - an apology? For what?"

"Well," All Might grunted as he rose up to his feet, and then sank into a bow, "I should be apologizing to you in regards to keeping the real reason we trained on this beach from you. Know that I wasn't attempting to offend you both, or intentionally attempted to -"

"O-oh, no, All Might, it's okay!" Izuku immediately attempted to assure their mentor, looking suddenly panicked. "We - Occhan and I, we - we know how important it was to keep this secret! We don't mind that you both kept it from us!"

"Yeah," Ochako quickly agreed, glancing between Itsuka and All Might, both of them looking sheepish and guilty about the secret they had been keeping, "Deku and I - we don't mind at all. We understand."

"I … well, I suppose so," All Might slowly nodded, rising back up to his full height so he could look down at the three teenagers, and then sighed as he attempted to smile again, "if you both understand … and know that I don't blame you if you had reserves …"

"We don't," Izuku shook his head, glancing at Itsuka as well as he said this, "we completely understand, All Might - we aren't angry at either of you for this."

"Well … alright," All Might nodded, and then glanced down at his pupil as well, "in any case, Young Kendou - thank you for keeping me in the loop. And I'm glad to see that you three don't have any hard feelings between you."

"Nope, none at all," Itsuka smiled gently at her other two training partners, who returned her smile with their own, "we're all on the same page now."

"Very good," All Might scooped the suit jacket back off the ground, shaking the sand from it and tucking it underneath his arm again as he smiled at the trio, "we're all in the know now. The four of us are completely caught up about One for All - I suppose that this was spurred from the USJ, Young Kendou? I was told that you were the one who destroyed the mountain."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, frowning as she glanced back down at her arm, "my first time using it, and I shattered every bone in my arm."

"Well, that was at least to be expected," All Might assured her, reaching out and patting her shoulder, "One for All is the accumulation of power - you won't be able to simply master it within a day. So in this case, Young Kendou - here's what you'll need to consider when it comes to One for All."

Itsuka nodded, paying close attention and putting her hands in her skirt's pockets, while Izuku and Ochako likewise began to listen.

"Firstly, as I told you when I first gave you One for All, we'll have to be careful with how you use it."

"I mean, I could've told you that," Itsuka winced, rubbing her arm absently, "I broke every bone in my arm just by using it once. I couldn't control it at all - I pretty much just aimed and fired."

"That can't be helped," All Might smiled, "One for All is an entirely different quirk in comparison to the one you were born with, Young Kendou - One for All is, by all accounts, an emitter-type quirk, in comparison to your transformation type. It'll take a while for you to properly learn how to control it, but that's why we're here."

"Wait a second," Ochako blinked, realizing something, "you said that Itsuka breaking her arm was to be expected - did you know that would happen?"

"I, well, uh …" All Might faltered, shrinking slightly when the Danger Pout immediately appeared on Ochako's face, and Itsuka crossed her arms with her own glare. Izuku could only gulp nervously for his mentor as he glanced between both angry girls, "I … had my suspicions that … well … i-in any case, it turned out alright. It - it turned out 'All Might'!"

"I'm pretty sure you've used that pun before. It wasn't funny the first time."

"A-anyway, at the current moment, Young Kendou," All Might quickly attempted to get back on track and get his head out of the hypothetical guillotine he had found himself under, "your control over One for All is pretty straightforward. You can either use it at a hundred percent, or zero. What we'll need to work on is how you can properly control it - and once you do that, we'll be able to adjust the output to what your body can handle. The more you train as a vessel, the more you'll be able to freely use the power."

"I get that," Itsuka grimaced slightly, "but we've also gotta deal with the fact that eventually, the rest of my family and friends will see me use One for All and realize something's up - the sports festival is in two weeks, and that's going to be televised. I can't exactly use Big Fist and then pull One for All out of nowhere."

"So in that case …" Izuku cupped his chin, getting the small group's attention as he thought, "... s-so you're saying you need to naturally … uh, what am I saying … oh! You want to find a way that One for All just seems to be a natural evolution of your quirk?"

"I … guess so?" Itsuka shrugged. "I can't exactly explain it as me suddenly getting a second quirk, after all."

"Then … then in that case, you'll want to figure out a way that you can just use One for All in just your arms."

"Hm?" All Might tilted his head, curious about Izuku's line of thought, "What do you mean, Young Midoriya?"

"Well … I was kind of thinking about One for All over the weekend," Izuku admitted, blushing a bit at Ochako and Itsuka not looking surprised at all and fixing him with two smirks, "and I realized that if Kendou does want to sell it as her - y'know, her own power - she'll have to approach it as her quirk naturally evolving, right? So if we want to make sure that no one gets suspicious, she'll have to start training One for All exclusively in her arms to begin with - and then work on using her quirk in the rest of her body."

"Huh … that's a good point, Young Midoriya," All Might gave him, leaning back slightly and watching him interestingly while Itsuka and Ochako likewise glanced between each other, "and do you have any ideas on how to do so?"

"Well …" Izuku paused, clearly thinking as he glanced back up at the pro hero, "... I guess to start with, what's the trick to controlling One for All, All Might?"

"Feeling it!" All Might clenched a fist, grinning excitedly.

"..."

"..."

"... feeling it?" Itsuka repeated hollowly.

"Yep! You gotta feel it, Young Kendou!"

"Ah," Itsuka nodded slowly for a moment, staring at the scrawny man before her, and then let out another sigh and sagged her shoulders, "I am so screwed."

"Oh, don't give me that! You've already pulled out a 100% smash, didn't you? So you already know how it feels to unleash it."

"Yeah! Like it hurts!"

All Might let out a small, amused noise at that, shaking his head while smiling at his young pupil's pout, and then turned to look back at the sunset. The sky was quickly beginning to darken, purple light lining the clouds, and he nodded as he put his hands back in his pockets.

"It's getting late," He pointed out to the three teenagers, looking back around at them as they glanced between each other, "so you three had better be getting home before your parents start to worry. But don't worry, Young Kendou - we have all the time in the world to help you figure out how to use One for All."

Itsuka slowly nodded at that, and All Might let out a sigh as he scratched his cheek.

"In any case …" He turned to look at Izuku and Ochako, giving them an awkward smile, "... Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka, do you mind if I have a moment alone with Young Kendou? There's actually something about the sports festival I wanted to run by her."

"Oh," Izuku blinked, and quickly looked over at Ochako as she adjusted the pink backpack on her shoulders, "s-sure, All Might, that's - yeah, that's fine. Uh - Kendou, do you want us to -"

"No, you don't need to stick around," Itsuka giggled, shaking her head at Izuku's slightly red cheeks, "I'll see you both tomorrow."

With that, Izuku and Ochako nodded, giving the two of them a wave as All Might smiled up at them, and together, they began to head up the stairs back into the parking lot. At the top of the stairs, they both briefly turned back, seeing All Might and Itsuka starting to walk down the beach by themselves, All Might saying something a bit animated by waving his hands and Itsuka nodding along.

"Wonder what they're talking about," Ochako said out loud, brushing some of her hair behind her ear as she glanced over at her best friend, "you have any ideas, Deku?"

"I don't know," Izuku sighed, shrugging, "but … but All Might said it had something to do with the sports festival, so it can't be that bad, right?"

"Yeah …" Ochako slowly nodded, "he probably just wants to talk about it with her since … y'know, she's his successor."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, and together, they both began walking across the parking lot. Ochako stole a small glance at him while he fell into the same step with her, both of them walking quietly for a moment.

"So … the sports festival, huh?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, glancing at her with a slightly teasing smile, "you, uh, had a bit of a reaction to that today, huh?"

"Oh, god," Ochako blushed, shaking her head and smacking her red cheeks with both hands while Izuku chuckled, "I was acting really stupid, wasn't I? I didn't expect to get that … intense about it."

"No, no, I was, uh - I was kinda expecting it," Izuku laughed, looking away when Ochako threw the Danger Pout his way, "just … everyone else wasn't. But honestly, Occhan, it wasn't anything to get embarrassed about - you were just really pumped up. I … definitely understand why."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, glancing back up at Izuku as he likewise gave her his own understanding smile. She let out a small sigh, and put her hands in her pockets as they walked down the road.

"It's just …" She hesitated for a moment, before she clenched her hands in her pockets, "... Deku, this is it. All those times I talked to you about making enough money for my parents to retire … this is the start of that." She turned to look up at him fully, seeing him continue to look understandingly at her. "This is the start of my hero career, Deku - it's like Aizawa-sensei said, the better we do and the further we get into the tournament, the better chance we'll have to be noticed by the pros!"

"I know," Izuku nodded, smiling at her as he reached out and patted her shoulder to comfort her, "and you're going to be great, Occhan."

"I … I don't know about that," She turned slightly to the side, frowning, "like … compared to you and Itsuka, or Iida or anyone else, my - my motivation is really weak."

Izuku likewise frowned at that, and used the hand he had on her shoulder to stop them from walking forward down the road. For her part, Ochako did slow down, although she was still staring away from him as he turned to stand in front of her, and let out a small sigh as he raised his other hand to rest on her other shoulder.

"Occhan," He gently said, "I've told you a hundred times, and I'll tell you a hundred more times, wanting to make money for your parents - so they can live comfortably - is a really selfless motivation. I, uh, kinda wanna motivate you a bit more, but … well … do you know how many times we've had this conversation? Like - a year?"

"A few times," Ochako chuckled sheepishly, but still didn't look quite convinced as Izuku rubbed her shoulders - and felt herself falter at how good that felt.

"Yeah - I've said so much to you about this I can't possibly add anything new." He smiled down at her as she glanced up at him again, a slight rosy hue coming over her cheeks. "You are probably one of the most unselfish people I know, Occhan. You've always been, ever since we were kids. You're going to do great at the sports festival, you're going to get all the attention from the pro heroes, and you're going to be awesome. And then we can all go on vacation to Hawaii."

"That's just what my dad wants," Ochako shook her head and giggled, but still looked back up at Izuku with her own smile, "but … thank you, Deku. I … I guess I needed to hear that. Again."

"I don't mind telling you again and again about how amazing you are." He smiled down at her, both of them giggling a little as Ochako raised her hand to lightly smack his chest - and then Izuku unintentionally gripping his hands on her shoulders made them both blink, and realize the position they were in, what with Izuku holding her gently and her staring up at him.

Both of them quickly freezing up, Ochako quickly cleared her throat, and Izuku pretty much whipped his hands down to his sides, both of their faces going red as they began walking together back down the road.

"Y-yeah, I - I guess that's the plan," Ochako mumbled, feeling her face glow for reasons she didn't entirely understand, "we'll score high enough in the sports festival that no hero can even think of not looking our way."

"Yeah," Izuku stiffly nodded, "that - that sounds like a plan."

"..."

"..."

"... that's not to say that I'm expecting you to go easy on me if we do end up fighting in the tournament."

"O-oh, no, not at all."

"I will kick your ass if you take it easy on me."

"I know."


"... alright then," Cementoss nodded as he finished putting away his book, facing the class, "I believe that concludes this class. Just a reminder, you all have Hero Basic Training coming up next after lunch, so after your break is finished, head down to the changing room with your costumes."

Nodding, Izuku sighed as he put his notebook back into his desk, taking a moment to stretch his arms above his head as everyone else likewise got ready for lunch. At the moment, it had been only one day since the sports festival had been announced, and their morning routine had been … quite interesting, what with them having to watch Tensei fight with Aizawa over who the homeroom teacher was, Present Mic cheerfully attempting to avoid Nejire's questions about bugs like the plague, and Cementoss dulling out the excitement by teaching them about modern literature. And at the moment, Izuku's stomach was growling, desperately in need of lunch.

Luckily for him, he knew the bell was about to ring any minute now, and they would be able to go to the cafeteria so they could discuss their plan for training over food. From what he knew from their texts last night, he, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire, Yui and Setsuna were going to be making up a plan for when they could train both on and off campus. And thankfully, Melissa, giving him another call through the holographic device, had gone over the Full Gauntlet's repair status, confirming that it would probably be ready for the festival. Which meant that he wouldn't have to go through an entire festival not able to control his quirk, which definitely lifted his mood.

From what they had discussed, Izuku remembered as everyone started getting up for lunch, their group was planning to use a modified version of their old training plan on the beach, with jogging, swimming and -

"Ah, my cute kohai!"

Izuku let out a yelp of surprise as a pair of hands suddenly slammed down on his shoulders, almost making him jump out of his seat if not for the surprisingly tight grip keeping him there, and everyone else surrounding him, Nejire looking around at him and Momo, who was sitting directly behind him, blinked in surprise as well. Quickly, Izuku looked around at who was holding him, and let out a squeak at the sight of a familiar older girl with two buns of hair tied up on each side of her head, and grinning down happily at him.

"T-Toga-senpai?"

"Ah, ah, ah! I'm working right now!" She pointed down, and Izuku gulped and blushed at the sight of the nurse's outfit she was wearing - what looked to be an old fashioned nurse's uniform, a white dress that barely reached mid-thigh and stretching up to sleeves on her forearms, and a paper nurse's hat on the top of her head. "I'm Nurse Toga at the moment. Anyway, cutie, you've been summoned!"

"I - what?" Izuku blinked, turning in his seat to look at her properly while the rest of the class likewise gave her confused looks. "S-summoned? By who?"

"By Tenko!" She cheerfully informed him, and then reached down to grab his arm. Izuku yelped as he was pretty much yanked out of his seat, and pulled along with her as she marched over to the door, sliding it open. "He says that he's got an idea, and he wants to use this lunch period to go over it with you. Now, there's no time to waste! We've gotta head over to Gym Gamma, and that's a bit of a walk! Come along, kohai!"

"I - okay, but - ah!"

Izuku let out another yelp as he was pulled completely through the door, and the rest of the class blinked as the sound of his mild protests and flailing faded away until they were both gone. Blinking in her seat, Setsuna turned around to look at the back of the class, confused.

"Uh … did any of you guys see her come in?" She asked unsurely, "Because I would've thought …"

"No," Reiko shook her head, likewise looking confused as she rose from her seat at the back, "in fact, I didn't even see her until she suddenly sprang up. What a mysterious senpai we have."

"Indeed," Fumikage nodded sagely, "what fraught madness, being able to hide in the shadows until the opportune time to strike. We could learn much from her, Dark Shadow."

"Meh! I'm shadow-y enough!"

As everyone shrugged and got up to go for lunch, Ochako found herself still blinking in her seat, however, glancing between where Himiko had appeared and where she had vanished through the door with Izuku before she glanced at the door right behind her. If Himiko snuck in, she would've had to have gone through that door, the one Ochako was right beside - but she hadn't even heard it open, much less the sound of Himiko's feet walking behind her - and it would've been loud, she was wearing heels.

For some reason, she found herself thinking for a moment, slowly standing up in her seat so she could go join her friends for lunch - but then an idea began to slowly form in her mind. Nodding slowly, Ochako sighed, and moved to join Itsuka at the front of the class - she would have to make a mental note to talk to her senpai later.

Meanwhile, outside the building, Izuku was still confused as to what was going on as Himiko led him towards the large gymnasium in the distance, but at least she had let go of his arm as she happily skipped towards it, letting him calm down his flustered face a little. As they walked together, Himiko glanced behind her shoulder with a coy smile.

"So," She pointed out, "I see that someone's a little unwrapped today."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, not entirely sure what that meant - until Himiko helpfully pointed to his face, and made him realize what she was talking about. "Oh. Oh, uh, y-yeah, I - I decided to - uh - to not wrap up the injuries today."

"Mm-hm," Himiko nodded, watching as Izuku absently reached up to touch the white scar on his cheek, her eyes trailing up to the other one on his forehead "and what did your classmates say about that?"

"Uh … they … didn't say anything," Izuku felt himself frown, however, continuing to rub the scar on his face, "but … I know that they noticed it. They were … looking."

Himiko's teasing smirk lessened somewhat at that, and she slowed her pace down so she could walk with him. As Izuku stared off into the distance, Himiko reached out and patted his arm, making him blink and look around at her giving him a big, comforting smile.

"It's always kind of hard to come back to class with big marks," She said in an assuring voice, "but honestly, Midoriya, it'll just take them a little bit to get used to them. Soon enough they won't even notice you have scars."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, trying to smile back at her, "... yeah, I … I guess so. Thank you, Toga-senpai."

"Nurse Toga."

"N-Nurse Toga."

"Mm-hm. And besides," Himiko's playful smirk suddenly returned, and Izuku realized at once he had just fallen into a trap, "some people think scars look sexy. Including me. And those are some sexy scars, if I say so myself."

"I - huh?!"

"So you can count on me cheerleading for you in the corner, cutie - but if you want a private cheering session, don't hesitate to knock on my door."

"I - uh -" Izuku balked, his face quickly going red again as Himiko giggled mischievously. "I - you - you don't - I - I don't -"

"Ah! There you are, Young Midoriya!"

Blinking at the sound of a familiar voice ahead of them, Izuku managed to shake himself out of his fluster and looked around. As it turned out, they had managed to reach Gym Gamma, a large building with two big blue doors and large glass window at the front, and standing right outside it, in his true form, was All Might, grinning and giving the two teenagers a welcoming wave as Himiko skipped on ahead so she could enter the gym and get out of the slight heat.

Izuku, however, couldn't help but find himself taken aback by what All Might was wearing. Instead of his usual hero costumes or suits, he was dressed in a pair of dark green pants, a muscular dark shirt just barely stopping at his forearms, wearing a pair of dark gloves on his hands, and a weird shoulder-pad thing with three sharp spikes emerging from each shoulder. In his hands, he held what looked to be some kind of gas mask, one side painted orange and the other black, and several more spikes emerging from the back of the helmet.

"Uh ... what are you wearing, All Might?"

"Oh, this?" All Might grinned, poking one of the spikes on his new costume and wincing slightly. "Just a little surprise for your classmates - your teachers and I talked about it, and we're going to be doing a surprise lesson for your class today! I'm going to be dressing up as a villain that 'got overlooked by the police', so to speak. And if you would like to assist me, I believe that we can give quite the little performance!"

"Uh ... performance?" Izuku looked unsure, glancing at the weird mask he had in his hand. "What, uh … what kind of performance do you mean, All Might?"

"Well, we'll discuss that in a bit," All Might smiled, patting his arm as Izuku stopped in front of him, and began guiding him into the gym where Himiko had already run into, "right now, if you don't mind, there is something else that we can do while the rest of your lunch break passes by - if we end up going over the bell, we can arrive at the USJ later."

"Okay," Izuku glanced as they entered the large gym, not entirely sure what was going on, "but ... what exactly are we doing?"

"Ah! There you are."

At the sound of a voice calling out to him, Izuku quickly looked around. Approaching him in the foyer, wearing a hero costume composed of a bodysuit with sleeves coming down to his surprisingly toned arms, and a white cape wrapped around his shoulders, was Tenko, jogging over and giving him a smile. Walking beside him was Himiko, who was adjusting her paper hat, and turning towards another student that Izuku didn't recognize, a slightly taller guy with dark blue hair, who immediately avoided Izuku's gaze when the younger student looked at him and looked shyly to the floor as Himiko giggled and poked his pointy ears.

"It's nice to see you, Midoriya," Tenko greeted them, letting All Might pat his shoulder and chuckling as he likewise took in the pro hero's strange appearance, "and, y'know, sorry to drag you away during your lunch break, but Aizawa jumped in on my attempts to get you out of class, so … well, I guess we'll have to do it now."

"And ... what are we doing, exactly?" Izuku glanced around, not entirely sure what was going on.

"Well," Tenko put his hands in his pockets, "remember what we talked about yesterday during our meeting, Midoriya? About finding out how ready you are to face someone with your quirk?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Well, I did some talking around," Tenko grinned, "and found out that the person I had in mind was going to be in today instead of his internship. And he's more than happy to help us out with your problem."

"That I am!"

Hearing a third, more joyful, more boyish voice behind him, Izuku blinked and looked around.

Strolling into the gymnasium behind them, in the same gym uniform that he wore during Aizawa's tests last week, was an older boy much bigger than Izuku, one hand in his pocket and the other hand raised to greet them. What caught Izuku's attention, however, was the number of scars around his lower arm, making him blink at the roughness of them in contrast to his round, friendly face, the hand he was using to wave at them moving to smooth his blonde hair back.

"Sorry that I'm late!" He quickly jogged over, glancing around at the shy guy who had looked up at his appearance, and grinned at Himiko when she playfully shook her head in disappointment, "I got myself stuck in the wall on the fourth floor, so I had to get dressed in a hurry before I came over! I was gonna grab my hero costume, but y'know, it's still a bit damaged from my internship last week."

"That's alright," Tenko laughed, and then turned to Izuku, who was looking at both of them in confusion. "This, Midoriya, is Mirio Togata. He's a senior student here at UA - and if anyone here's going to be able to make sure that you can use your quirk against someone else, it'll be him."

Notes:

And that was Chapter 20! And just in time for Itsuka's birthday! My apologies about getting this one out a bit late, these last few weeks were pretty much the 'all my projects need attention, pay attention to all of them!' period that I had no choice but to not avoid. That, and I kind of started a New Game+ for Persona 5. If there's anyone here that plays Persona, you know.

Anyway, we got a bit of development! What with Izuku's continued fight against his own quirk, Itsuka unintentionally getting the entire school focused on beating her ass, Ochako starting to take her first steps towards being a hero in several different ways, Nejire having a bit of a revelation on her part - and the introduction of our Big Three! As you all may guess, we'll be having a lot of fun with Mirio in this fic - especially since Nighteye is already so much fun XD

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading! I promise that the prelude to the sports festival won't take long - another two chapters or so. Anyhoo, see you next time!

Chapter 21: Pranks, Naked People and A Request

Summary:

As Class 1A heads back to the USJ for their first actual lesson, Izuku finds himself between a rock and a hard place as All Might plans behind the scenes - and afterwards, runs into quite a few problems.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright," Tensei nodded with a small sigh, watching as the bus slowly slid to a complete stop near the sidewalk and walking forward towards it, his head turning to look back at the rest of the waiting class, "the bus is here, guys - let's hop on."

Everyone that had been standing around the small bus terminal on the side of UA's main building, waiting for the vehicle that would take them to their rescue training, nodded as Tensei moved to get on the bus, althoguh not everyone was so quick to head over. Itsuka, for one, only let out a small sigh as she stood up from the bench she and Setsuna had been sharing, glancing around at her classmates as they walked slowly towards the bus so they could head to their destination - the USJ.

As it had turned out, their first Hero Basic Training lesson following the invasion of the USJ would be taking place at the USJ itself, in order to make up for the lesso nthat they had missed because of the villains who had attacked them. Of course, it seemed to not have been considered by the teachers that Class 1A probably wouldn't want ot see the USJ so soon after what had happened there. That tended to happen at places that they had nearly died in not four days ago.

So ... well, to say that everyone wasn't really looking forward to going back there so soon would be an understatement.

As she looked around, she could see the obvious reluctance on her classmates' faces as they moved towards the bus. Even Eijirou, manly guy as he was, seemed hesitant to jump onto the bus behind their teachers, watching as Aizawa awkwardly and stiffly got on after Tensei despite the substitute teacher's protests. So far, Katsuki was the only one who didn't seem as bothered, scoffing at everyone as he stomped over and got onto the bus after the teachers, while everyone else was attempting to muster their courage to follow him on.

Frowning, Itsuka looked around as she slowly made her way to the front of the class, patting Pony's arm on the way when she was looking more a little scared to get onto the bus, although Mezo was there to thankfully pat her other arm, prompting her to look up at him and see him creating a smile on his arm. Itsuka was at least thankful for that, smiling gratefully at the tall boy as she moved towards the vehicle. Putting her foot on the bottom step, she took a moment to pause, looking around at the clearly hesitant group that seemed to be either looking at the bus or the sky, as though watching for sudden storm clouds, and she gave them all a gentle smile.

"C'mon, guys," She encouraged them, making them all blink and look around at her as she put her hand down on the railing, "let's do this - no matter what, we're going to be fine."

It wasn't much to encourage them, of course, but it did seem to get a few people to slowly nod as they follow her into the bus, Momo stepping on after her and giving her a smile as they both took their own seats near the back. Soon, Mina, Yosetsu, Reiko, Tsuyu and Mezo got on as well, sitting down in various spots on the bus, and Tenya, Ochako, Hanta, Setsuna and Yui moved into their own seats, Ochako sitting beside Itsuka as the two girls smiled at each other, and Yui was quick to plant her butt in the seat next to Tenya, looking up at him expectedly while he sat down with a blush, which made Setsuna raise an eyebrow as she sat down on Tenya's other side.

Soon enough, the bus had been filled up with the students sitting together, with Katsuki being the sole one on his own as he put his foot up on the railing ahead of him, and stared out the window with a frown.

"Okay, so that's … everyone accounted for except for Izu- I mean, Midoriya," Itsuka finished her roll call, looking up at Tensei as he turned in his seat to look around, and let Aizawa stare out the window. "Uh - Ingenium-sensei, Midoriya is the only one who isn't here - should we -?"

"Here he comes." Aizawa's voice suddenly droned her out, which made the students in the bus quickly look around and out the windows (no one noticing Nejire quickly whipping around, her small disappointed look being instantly replaced with a smile) as they saw Izuku running out the doors, looking panicked and relieved that they hadn't left without him, and coming right behind him was a familiar teaching assistant dressed in a black bodysuit and a white cape fluttering behind him.

Itsuka and Ochako, watching their training partner approach from their seats, blinked at his appearance - he was just wearing his gym clothes, no Gauntlet (which was still being repaired at his apartment) and no hero costume in sight. Of course, they couldn't really judge seeing as they were in the same boat - the trio's costumes were still under repair at the support studios, and they themselves were getting ready for the sports festival (according to Power Loader when Itsuka had asked him at lunch) so at the moment they would have to be stuck in their gym clothes for their assignments.

Although they still felt a bit embarrassed - everyone else had chosen to suit up today, so not only did they look out of place in comparison to everyone else, they were matching.

"I - I'm sorry!" Izuku gasped as he jumped onto the bus, panting a bit as he looked around frantically at the teachers sitting in the front seats staring up at him, "The - uh - my thing - uh -"

"It's fine, Midoriya," Tensei grinned up at him, leaning back in his seat as he kept his helmet in his lap, "I'm just happy to see that you made it in time! I was just starting to think that you'd have to find another way to the USJ."

"Go get in your seat, Midoriya," Aizawa grunted as he looked back out the window, "so we can get going."

Izuku quickly nodded, moving back so Tenko could take his seat at the front of the bus (the teaching assistant panting as well and looking like he was barely resisting wiping his sweaty brow on his cape), and quickly began scanning the bus for any open seat. Unfortunately for him, since he was very late to the party, he was kind of limited in the places he could sit - and by 'kind of limited', he meant there was pretty much nowhere for him to sit. Momo was seated next to Kyouka, Tenya was sitting with Yui and Setsuna was sitting on his other side, Ochako and Itsuka were sitting together near the back, Eijirou was flashing him an apologetic look while sitting next with Denki, and Nejire was waving happily at him from her spot beside Tsuyu.

Nearly everyone else in the class was paired up as well, which meant that the only seat available to sit in was next to …

… uh oh.

“Er … h-hey, Kacchan," Izuku gulped nervously as he slowly moved to sit down in the seat beside Katsuki, awkwardly staring at his feet and getting ready to jump up at a moment's notice. Katsuki, for his part, didn't even bother looking around at him, merely growling lowly under his breath and glaring out the window. Izuku still took that as a hint to not speak at all, continuing his staring contest with the floor while everyone around him winced in sympathy, and prayed that nothing would set off the living personification of dynamite as the bus began moving down the road towards the USJ.

In the back, both Itsuka and Ochako frowned at the sight of Izuku folding his hands awkwardly together, looking incredibly uncomfortable while Katsuki threw him a dirty look before looking back out the window. With a small exhale, Itsuka sat back a bit, glancing at Ochako out of the corner of her eye.

"So," She decided to throw out there, "on a scale of one to ten - do you think Izuku would change seats with me if I asked if he wanted to? Just so he can sit away from Bakugou."

"One to ten?" Ochako shrugged, glancing out the window and sighing, "Probably like ... a one or two. I don't think he would, he'd probably think it's something like - we're babying him, or whatever. Boys are kinda weird about - I don't know, pride or whatever."

"Yeah," She slowly nodded in agreement, pouting, "I just wish he was like - five minutes earlier. I would've taken one for the team if that meant he didn't have to sit next to Bakugou."

"Well, let's keep an eye on him anyway - I swear to god, the moment Bakugou starts his shit, I'm gonna jump over the seat to slug him in the face."

"Why wait?" Itsuka giggled, "Just go up and do it now."

"Nah, Ochako chortled, "I wanna keep my fingers for now - I don't want him biting me and giving me his rabies."

As they giggled together, Izuku awkwardly tapped his fingers together from his spot at the mid-section of the bus, not entirely sure what to say or if he should say anything at all as everyone started talking amongst themselves.He turned in his seat slightly so he could look behind him at the back of the bus, seeing Itsuka and Ochako chuckling together briefly before they both glanced up at the same time, blinking when they saw him looking back at them.

Barely surpressing a squeak, Izuku went a bit red, and mouthed 'Sorry.'

Both girls raised eyebrows at how embarrassed he looked being caught looking at them, and giggled together, Ochako smiling at him and mouthing back, 'It's all good.'

Itsuka nodded as well, and then, after a moment, pointed over to where Katsuki was sitting, and mouthed, 'You okay there? Want to switch seats?'

Izuku blinked at that, taking a moment to turn back and glance at Katsuki as the other boy continued to glare out the window. Thinking for a moment, Izuku let out a small sigh, and looked back at them as he shook his head and mouthed back, 'I'm okay.'

Neither girl seemed quite convinced at that, glancing over at Katsuki as well before turning to each other, but they both still nodded and flashed him a thumbs up, although Itsuka was sure to point at Katsuki and punch a hand into her fist, a clear sign of what'll happen if he acted up.

Unable to suppress a small chuckle, Izuku nodded as well, and moved back to face forward in his seat with a small smile, trying to make himself comfortable.

"God, you're pathetic."

Izuku felt the smile on his face slip off at the voice coming from his right, and glanced around. Katsuki was still staring out the window as the bus moved throughout the school grounds, but there was a noticable scowl on his face as he crossed his arms, the grenade gauntlets he always wore tucked safely under his legs.

"H-huh?" Izuku felt his defenses raise slightly, glancing away from Katsuki before looking back, trying to awkwardly grin through what he knew was going to be an unpleasant conversation. "What was that, Kacchan?"

"What, you deaf now, nerd?" Katsuki huffed, narrowing his eyes slightly. "You. You're fucking insufferable. Every time something starts going wrong for you, you go running to those two. Honestly, at this point I wouldn't be surprised if you can't even go to the bathroom without holding their hands."

Well, the small, awkward smile that Izuku had been trying to keep on his face completely slipped off, and he turned to look at Katsuki properly in his seat, frowning. Before he could say anything, though, a small smirk appeared on the blonde boy's face.

"Maybe it's better I bring this up now," He let out a small chuckle, "seeing as they're both already moving on from you."

"... what?" Izuku blinked.

"What do you mean, 'what'? It's obvious, nerd. Those two do everything together now," Katsuki pointed out, still not looking at him at all as he smirked, "and the best part is that they do it all without you. They eat together, go home together, all that stupid stuff. Isn't it obvious? You're the third wheel."

That, for some reason, made Izuku's stomach tense slightly.

"You can keep trying to get their attention and make them dote on you, but eventually they're gonna forget about you and tell you to fuck off. Just like everyone else did back in middle school. I'm just surprised it took Round Face this long."

"Occhan -"

"But maybe I shouldn't be, though. She just didn't have any better options than you before we started high school."

Izuku felt himself falter at that, not exactly sure how to respond or where this was even coming from - since when did Katsuki know Itsuka and Ochako? Izuku thought that he hated them - but before he could think to ask, he heard the sound of foosteps coming up behind him, and a hand suddenly grabbed the back of his seat. Izuku quickly looked around to see Itsuka glaring down at Katsuki, with the boy turning slightly to give her a glare in turn.

"Everything good here?" She raised an eyebrow, clearly not in the mood to be cordial and just barely being so. "If Midoriya's bothering you, Bakugou, I'm sure you wouldn't mind if he and I switched seats."

"I - huh?" Izuku faltered briefly, glancing up at his friend while she spared a glance down at him, her expression softening slightly. However, before he could ask her what she was doing, Katsuki scoffed.

"Well, Deku?" He turned fully in his seat to look at him for the first time, giving him a smirk that made Izuku's lips thin and Itsuka's glare intensify at him. "You heard her. Your mommy said you don't have to sit with the mean kid anymore."

Izuku stared at him for a moment, taken aback slightly while Itsuka straightened up, her fist clenching at her side while everyone around them glanced at the interaction a bit fearfully - and then he let out a small breath, and looked back around at Itsuka.

"Thanks, Kendou," He smiled up at her, "but … I'll be fine."

Itsuka didn't look quite sure about that, glancing between him and Katsuki again as the other boy scoffed one more time and turned to look back out the window, but she knew better than to argue with Izuku about this. With a small sigh, she patted his shoulder one more time and began moving back down to her seat, moving carefully so she didn't trip, and sat back down beside Ochako, who had been looking between both boys in concern.

With a small sigh, Izuku leaned back in his seat, and looked back around at Katsuki. The scowling boy glanced back at him, and blinked at the small, unamused look on Izuku's face as he looked him right in the eye.

"Kacchan," Izuku crossed his own arms, "I … don't exactly know what your angle is here. I thought you didn't care about me or Occhan."

"I don't." Katsuki growled, looking back out the window as his arms tensed slightly, and he gritted his teeth. "It's you two fucks that keep messing with me."

"What?"

"I was supposed to be the first student from that little, insignificant school to go to UA." His glare intensified. "That was my fucking dream - I was supposed to be the first and only to go to UA, that was a part of my plan. And you and fucking Round Face tore my dreams to pieces. I told you two fucks to go literally anywhere else!"

"And we didn't." Izuku stared down at his feet, feeling himself begin to shake slightly - he had never talked back to Katsuki like this before, usually getting an explosion to the side of the head for standing up even slightly for himself, but there was no way he could let this go. "We both wanted to aim for UA, and that's what we did."

Katsuki stared blankly at him for a moment, his face twisting slightly for Izuku standing up for himself and Ochako - and then he let out a small chuckle and shook his head, turning to glare back out the window.

"Well … I guess that doesn't matter now," He shook his head, "I'm already over it. And now that I know Ginger's just a fake -"

"She's not a -!"

"- it'll just make it more pleasurable for me to crush all three of you at the same time." He turned back to look at Izuku, his red eyes meeting his for the first time, and Izuku faltered slightly at the cruel smirk on his former friend's face. "Everything that's happened to you three so far is just because of luck. Everyone can act like the sun shines out of Ginger's ass while they look down on me, just like you and Round Face did in middle school. I'll show them soon, though, that they should be looking at me."

"Kacchan, no one -"

"So just wait for the sports festival, nerd," He turned to look back out the window again, his hands clenching his biceps tightly, "and pray that you don't make it to the final round. So I don't fucking crush you on my way to the top."

Izuku wasn't quite sure how to respond to that 'implied' threat, so ultimately, he decided not to. He turned back in his seat so he could rest his head against the back of his seat, and let out a small sigh as he closed his eyes.

He was, of course, unaware of the few people in the bus looking at him and Katsuki, from Ochako and Itsuka sitting in the back and frowning, not sure what htey were talking about but knowing they weren't going to like it, to Nejire glancing around from her own seat near the front, her normally happy smile nowhere in sight as she stared right at Katsuki, to Eijirou who was glancing worriedly between his two friends. But no one in the bus noticed Aizawa glancing between both boys, the bandages around his face hiding his small frown.

Feeling his eyes narrow slightly, he glanced around at Tensei and Tenko sitting together on the opposite side of the bus, both men somehow doing as good a job of hiding their expressions as the guy with gauze wrapped around his face. It was clear that all three of them had been watching the small interaction between both boys, even if they had been speaking so quietly no one could hear what they were talking about - but the expressions on both boys' faces had been enough to alert the teachers that they weren't exactly talking about sunshine and butterflies. Letting out a small sigh, Aizawa leaned back slightly in his seat, closing his eyes and scowling under the bandages.

Honestly, Aizawa had mixed feelings about returning to the USJ so soon after the invasion. On the one hand, he knew that they needed to make up for the time they lost on Friday - rescue training was just as important as basic hero training, and it would hurt them in the long run if the teachers tried to baby them - but on the other hand, he had been the one most vocally against All Might's idea of 'testing' Class 1A during their lessons, if one of their teachers dressing up as a villain to try fighting with the class could be referred to as a test. Of course, the Number One Hero had raised enough good points to make him reconsider, with the understanding that All Might would be responsible for anything that would go wrong. Perhaps this could even be benefitial in bringing up any traumas the students were trying to hide, as much as Aizawa didn't like thinking about that.

But perhaps one of the bigger factors into why Aizawa had agreed to All Might's plan had been what they had discussed during their meeting yesterday as well …

"… excellent," Nezu had happily said as he sipped on his tea, looking around the meeting room filled with teachers as they read over the notes Tenko, Midnight and Hound Dog had made this morning, "so Tokoyami may need some additional quirk counselling after what happened with his sentient quirk … but if Yanagi did forgive him, we might have an easier time to help him understand his own issues. With that out of the way, we're moving onto Bakugou now, correct? I believe this almost finishes our reviews."

"That's right," Hound Dog nodded, crossing his arms, "just Bakugou, Midoriya,  Yaoyorozu and Yanagi left to cover."

The teachers in the class nodded and flipped to the page that Tenko had written up this morning, Aizawa grumbling as Present Mic helpfully flipped his own copy for him, but perhaps he should just be thankful that Mic wasn't yelling his ear off about the spider incident this morning. The meeting had been called during their first break so that they could go over the analysis of Class 1A that the three teachers had conducted this morning, and cover any important notes that they might have to consider when moving forward. While all twenty students had been cleared to return to class this morning by the teachers who had spoken to them, Nezu still wanted to make sure that there wasn't anything they didn't consider while getting the students back on track after what had happened at the USJ.

So far, the meeting was going pretty smoothly, with Aizawa, Present Mic, Tenko, Midnight, Hound Dog, Tensei, Nezu, All Might (after arriving late, apologizing sheepishly and explaining that some students held him up), Cementoss, Snipe and Ectoplasm sitting down and discussing what they had all learned this morning. So far, there was nothing too serious to discuss - they confirmed that Setsuna had a few insecurities with her position as one of the recommended students, something that Aizawa knew would have to be coached out of her gradually, Pony was open to more sessions with Hound Dog, timidly admitting that she had a few problems sleeping the last few days, and Nejire … seriously needed some coaching with how to stay on topic and not go on tangents about random topics. That, and agreeing that, due to Midnight's teasing, this morning served as a reminder not to have her as one of their counselors ("Oh, please!" Midnight had protested, throwing her hands into the air. "They needed something to laugh about! So I teased them about finding their classmates attractive, they do it to each other all the time!").

And now, onto Katsuki.

"So Bakugou was cleared to return," Cementoss read through the notes with a raised eyebrow, or at least, with his block-ish forehead raising, "I have to say, this surprises me - I remember that you said something about keeping an eye on him, Aizawa."

"I did," The wrapped up teacher nodded, turning to look at Tenko as the young man flipped over to the student's page that he had written up this morning, "so, what do you think, Shimura? It's as I told you, isn't it?"

"You got that right," Tenko sighed, shaking his head as he frowned, "his was the quickest session I had today, but not for the reasons we wanted. He's anti-social, standoffish, and prideful to a fault. I asked him how he was feeling after what happened at the USJ and got quite the tongue-lashing in return. The only reason he got cleared to return to class is because you said it would be counterproductive to deny him."

"Mm-hm."

"And let's make one thing clear," Tenko turned to give the bandaged man a sharp look, "that is the only reason he's back in class right now. I would've wanted him to come back in for more sessions if his automatic reaction to people asking him if he was okay is to scream at them for looking down on him."

"I don't blame you for that," Aizawa sighed, "but Bakugou has a different response to his trauma than what would be considered normal."

"Which would make it more important to -"

"I do have a method here," The teacher leaned forward, sighing as the teachers around him looked to him and Tenko threw his hands in the air with a scowl, "from the first day in class, I pegged Bakugou as a potential problem child, and from what we read from the police statements Kaminari and Kirishima gave on Friday, I was correct."

"He refused to escape the zone they were trapped in," Snipe recalled, letting out a small grumble as he flipped through the pages of the report they had gotten after school on Friday, "insisted on stayin' to defeat the villains that were attackin' him. He only left when Yaoyorozu and Jirou came along to get him over to where the Consortium's leaders were."

"Normally, that's something we're used to dealing with," Present Mic grimaced slightly, "students with arrogance issues. But from what we read, Kirishima and Kaminari attempted to get him to flee with them when they had a chance to escape, but not only did he refuse, he scoffed at them."

"And from what I got from talking to Kirishima and Kaminari this morning," Midnight sighed, "neither of them were willing to leave him behind to face the villains alone."

"So he put his classmates in danger so he could prove he could win against a horde of Trigger villains?" Tensei balked, looking shocked. The other teachers knew what he was thinking - while his involvement in the Trigger case years ago wasn't as intimate as Aizawa's had been, there had still been quite a few villains infected with the drug that Tensei had faced, including them feeding a goddamn cat a vial, so he knew how dangerous one could be while on the quirk-enhancing serum.

Villains were dangerous, but under the right circumstances, could be brought down without much issue. Trigger-affected villains, on the other hand, were another breed of dangerous.

"Not to mention what you said you saw this morning, Tensei," Midnight continued on, "and his behavior after the argument on Friday, the one that you overheard. It's clear that there's an antagonism beginning to build between him and the rest of the class. From what I saw, he was crass and confrontational with Kendou in the group chat, and Midoriya and Uraraka didn't express any surprise at his reactions, indicating that they're used to that sort of behavior coming from him."

"I noticed his antagonism with Kendou," Aizawa nodded, "back during my tests, he kept glaring at her and looking pleased with himself whenever he outperformed her."

"Makes sense," Snipe nodded, "from what I remember, those two were the top students in the entrance exam - Kendou beat him by about six or so points. It makes sense with what we know Bakugou acts like - someone beats him at anything, he'll get competitive."

"Midoriya and Uraraka weren't surprised by his behavior …" Ectoplam looked over to Nezu, "... it's clear that there's a history there. Did your look into his records indicate anything, Principal?"

"Not much, unfortunately," Nezu chuckled as he tapped on his tablet, "from what I found, the teachers at Aldera Junior High called Bakugou a very talented and patient young man. Got along well with his classmates, attentive in class, was practically the star of their school. While with Midoriya and Uraraka, small notes about their performances in class and something about Uraraka getting into altercations with fellow classmates."

"And seeing as they called him 'patient' and 'gets along well with his classmates'," Mic scoffed, "we know that they're lying through their teeth about him."

"And from what I observed of Uraraka, she's a kind girl," Aizawa nodded, "albeit a bit hotheaded. So I would take what their middle school says about them with a grain of salt."

"That's not to say that Bakugou isn't talented," Nezu pointed out as he looked around the group of teachers, "from what little we've seen so far, he is rather skilled in combat, both from what we've seen in the battle trial and what we've gotten reported to us from the USJ, and his marks in the pop quizzes Aizawa has had have been high. It's more of his behavior that is the problem here - it's clear that from what we've seen of him that his pride is extremely high."

"That's definitely understating it."

"And what about Midoriya and Uraraka?" Ectoplasm leaned forward as Snipe and Hound Dog crossed their arms across their chests. "The three of them must've grown up together if they went to the same middle school and have addresses in Musutafu - they might have known each other since they were kids. What do you make of their relationship, if they have one?"

"They do seem to know each other," Nezu nodded, "and that is where this gets interestingly complex."

"How so?" Tensei leaned forward in his seat.

"On the one hand, from what little we saw of them together last week," Aizawa explained, "there's no love lost between Bakugou and Uraraka. The recordings we saw after the first battle trial between Midoriya, Hadou, Uraraka and Kendou showed Bakugou confronting them both - the sight of them being praised clearly made Bakugou angry, and Uraraka was giving him some rather dirty looks as well. They haven't said anything to each other yet, but it's clear that there's history between them - and I'd bet my sleeping bag that it's filled with bad blood."

"Okay … and on the other hand?"

"On the other hand, Midoriya's an interesting case in that we've barely seen him react to Bakugou," The wrapped up teacher narrowed his eyes beneath his wrappings, "Bakugou did charge him during my tests on the first day, and Midoriya's obviously wary of him. But unlike Uraraka or even Kendou, he doesn't show much reaction to Bakugou at all. It's a case where the antagonism is one-sided - but I'm not entirely sure what Midoriya feels for him. Does he dislike him? Is he scared of him? Does he ignore him? I'd say that Midoriya has thick skin, but I think we all know that isn't true in the slightest."

All Might, who had been quietly listening for the last few minutes, winced at that.

"I'm … apologies for backtracking a bit," Tenko raised his eyebrows as he glanced around at the other teachers, "but if Bakugou's having so many problems, I don't see why you insisted on having him return to class."

"No," Aizawa shook his head, "one thing we do know is that Bakugou isn't traumatized from what happened at the USJ, so we can't not approve him because of entirely different reasons. However, it's the fact that he clearly put his classmates in danger out of his own pride, and the behavior that he's shown thus far, that's making us realize that this is going to be a problem that we'll have to deal with sooner rather than later."

"To be honest," All Might finally spoke up, frowning, "there's a part of me that wishes that Young Bakugou had lost his match in the battle trial."

"That isn't something you should be saying about your student." Aizawa began to sharply reprimand, but All Might quickly raised his hand in order to continue.

"That's not what I meant, Aizawa," He clarified while the teachers looked around at him, "it's clear that from what we've observed of him that Young Bakugou is extremely prideful - and while there's nothing wrong with having pride in his abilities, it means that he has difficulties trusting others and making meaningful connections. When I didn't declare him the MVP of his match, he loudly protested. When Young Midoriya outperformed him in one of your tests, Young Bakugou charged him. And now we have Young Kirishima and Young Kaminari noting that he refused to leave the zone they had been trapped in until he defeated all the villains."

"Meaning …?"

"I've seen this behavior in heroes before," All Might frowned, "heroes that just started, and heroes that have been working for years. He's got something to prove, but he's taking the wrong lessons in what we're trying to teach him. Had he lost in the battle trial, perhaps he would've been given an outside perspective, and been given a chance to see that he isn't the top dog -"

"Hey." Hound Dog growled.

"Er - no offense, Hound Dog. Anyway, as I was saying - Young Bakugou instead won his match, and was furious when I didn't give him the praise that he thought he deserved. If he continues to succeed but doesn't get the results he desires, he may double down on his behavior."

"Not to mention the argument on Friday," Tensei sighed, "he made it clear that he blamed the rest of the class for the Villain Consortium's escape, and from what I saw this morning, it only alienated him from the class more - there was quite a few dirty looks being thrown his way."

"In that case, is it possible for us to wait for him to face consequences for his actions in the sports festival?" Ectoplasm threw out there, "There's always a challenge that has the students team up so they can proceed to the final round - Bakugou would have to see that his way of doing things is getting him nowhere if no one wanted to team up with him, right?"

"I wouldn't bet on that," Midnight disagreed, shaking her head, "the students are far more pragmatic than you would expect during those games. They would know to put aside their own differences to advance to the next round, so Bakugou shouldn't have any issues getting partners for whatever game we decide to do- albeit unwillingly."

"I agree with what All Might is saying," Nezu folded his paws together, "sooner or later, Bakugou will need a reality check - and we would much rather it happen in the safety of school rather than out in the field, or in front of several pro heroes."

"So what can we do, then?" All Might glanced around, "From the sound of things, at this rate the divide between Young Bakugou and the rest of his classmates will grow wider by the day. What can we do to make him stop considering his classmates as extras?"

"I … might have something in mind," Aizawa narrowed his eyes as he looked around at the pro hero sitting on the other side of the room, "since the students are heading back to the USJ tomorrow, and since I'm 'on bed rest' -"

"You are on bed rest," Present Mic rolled his eyes and scolded him, "stop over-stressing yourself and let Tensei handle things for a week."

"Never. Anyway, tomorrow's class will have to take place at the USJ, if they're all cleared to return." Aizawa glanced around, seeing everyone looking uncertain about that as he leaned back. "You all know that I have my own reservations, but like it or not, those kids will eventually have to come to terms about what happened there. If they don't want to go into the building, that's fine - we'll be having at least four teachers there, if no one wants to go in we can't make them. But eventually, they'll need rescue training, so we won't be able to baby them forever."

"That'll be a discussion for another time," Nezu sighed as he flipped the page, "for now, we'll put Bakugou on the backburner. We still have Midoriya, Yaoyorozu and Yanagi to discuss. Now then, Tenko - I believe you were the one who had the discussion with Midoriya this morning?"

"I did," Tenko nodded, a bit unsure as to whether or not they should stop their conversation about Katsuki but knowing that they needed to move on as he flipped through his notes, "and … well, he's doing a lot better than what we were expecting, but … well, he still has a few issues that we'll need to deal with. But speaking of that, Ectoplasm - I was wondering, would the Big Three be able to help me out with something tomorrow afternoon?"

"Hm … they're just getting back from their internships, so I was planning to take them to Ground Gamma for an exercise. What do you need Togata and Amajiki for?"

As the memory of what they had discussed played in his head, Aizawa found himself frowning as he leaned back, sighing and looking back out the window to see the USJ approaching in the distance. It was clear from their conversation about Katsuki yesterday that they had a lot of things to work on with him - but perhaps what All Might was planning today would shed some light on how they can approach the trouble child going forward.

Or perhaps, somehow a miracle would happen, and Katsuki would magically find the will to work with his classmates as a team.

Quite honestly, though, he doubted it.


"Hello, everyone," Thirteen opened her arms from where she stood outside the USJ, "I've been waiting for you all to get here."

Several people let out small cries of surprise and relief at the sight of their teacher, and Mina, Pony and Ochako quickly ran over to greet her, the pro hero letting out a small chuckle as she put her hand down on Pony's shoulder while she teared up. They had just arrived at the USJ, everyone slowly getting off the bus while keeping their eyes on the large oval building with their hearts thumping uncomfortably in their chests, but thankfully, the sight of Thirteen standing there waiting to greet them drove a lot of their small angsting out of their minds.

Now, most of Class 1A were standing just outside the large blue doors that would lead inside, with Tensei, Aizawa and Tenko moving to the front of the group to stand with Thirteen, with Izuku standing between Itsuka and Ochako while their classmates surrounded him - although no one noticed him subtly moving to the back of the group, glancing around as though looking for someone else to approach them.

"Alright guys," Tensei looked around the class standing before them, Thirteen moving back slightly so she could rub her shoulder absently, "so as we told you back before we got on the bus, today's lesson here will be covering both what you would've gone over last week, doing a tour of the facility, and then beginning your first proper lesson in hero training. Well … I know that a few of you got a look around after … well … yeah. But essentially, we just want to make sure you can do a few lessons in here before the sports festival."

There was a small silence, in which several people glanced uncertainty between each other, feeling their eyes flicker back to the large building. Nejire seemed oddly quiet, tapping her fingers together, Pony gulped and looked down at her hooves, and Yosetsu absently tightened the bandana around his forehead, but before anyone could think to speak up, Tenya raised his hand.

"Er … brother - I mean, Ingenium-sensei," He quickly corrected, which made Tensei chuckle as he looked over at him, "I … well, normally I would not question the actions of our teachers -"

"But you're going to anyway?" Tensei raised his eyebrow, which made Tenya freeze in shock, before he laughed and shook his head, "I'm just kidding, Tenya, go ahead. What's up?"

"Er - of course. I - I mean no offense when I ask this, of course, but - well - are you sure that a lesson here at this time would be the best course of action? I realize that I don't exactly speak on behalf of the class, but …"

He trailed off at that, not entirely sure whether or not to continue that line of thought, but thankfully it didn't seem like he had to, what with everyone awkwardly not looking at each other, or tapping their fingers together, or in the case of Katsuki, looking absolutely bored. Aizawa let out a small sigh as he took a step forward, walking a bit stiffly forward.

"We acknowledge that what happened on Friday would make you all hesitant to be here, much less go inside," He looked around the group, from Nejire glancing at the round building while gulping, to Ochako patting Izuku's shoulder, to Fumikage and Reiko standing together while Dark Shadow nervously played with Fumikage's hair, "part of the reason why we spoke with you all individually yesterday was not only to gauge how you were feeling after last week. It was also to test if you were all mentally ready to come back here."

"B-but …" Pony gulped, glancing around at the clear blue skies as though expecting a dark cloud to suddenly appear, and Aizawa looked around at the small girl. It was impossible to know what he was thinking with the bandages wrapped around his face, but his voice, when he spoke back up, was a tad bit softer.

"Like it or not," He said in a quiet voice, "you will need the training we do here at the USJ to become heroes. If you really don't want to go in today, we can't make you - I'm sure one of the teachers here will be happy to stay outside with you. But keep in mind that missing any lessons today may not be covered again down the line. In any case, time is valuable, and we can't waste it. Make a decision if you're going inside or not, and let's go."

"Aizawa …" Tensei groaned at his utter lack of empathy - he had started off so comforting, too - but alas, Aizawa had already turned to begin awkwardly walking towards the facility. With a small sigh, the speed hero turned to look back at the rest of the class, giving them a sympathetic smile.

"Don't mind him," He comforted the teenagers, "he's just … well, I'm sure that Aizawa has a big 'do as I say, not as I do' thing going on - he wasn't quite looking forward to coming back here so soon either."

"Watch it, Iida." Aizawa grumbled as he moved through the doors and into the facility.

"Anyway, guys," Tensei turned to follow Aizawa in, still smiling kindly at the students behind him, "as Aizawa mentioned, if any of you don't want to head in with us, we can have a teacher stay outside with you. For those who -"

"Oh, for fucks' sakes," Katsuki growled, stomping forward from where he had standing outside the group and making the entire class blink in surprise as he threw them a dirty look, "stop being such fucking pussies and let's get this over with. This class is already a waste of my fucking time as it is."

"Bakugou, I must protest!" Tenya reprimanded, chopping his arm and quickly moving to follow him inside, Katsuki gritting his teeth tightly in annoyance - it was pretty clear that the blonde boy didn't like Tenya, especially after yesterday's interesting morning where he attempted to lecture Katsuki on how to address his classmates in the group chat. "You shouldn't be looking down on certain parts of your education! Learning how to rescue civilians is just as important as learning how to defeat villains, and it would be unwise of you to not care to educate yourself on -"

"Shut the fuck up!"

Letting out her own sigh at the sound of the two boys arguing fading away as they entered the USJ, Itsuka glanced over at Izuku and Ochako as they both likewise stared up about the building, clearly hesitant about heading in. Not that she could blame either of them - Itsuka was pretty sure that they were both feeling the same way she was. Not a few days ago they were in there, fighting for their lives, and Izuku nearly ended up dying, and they were supposed to … what, go on in and pretend it didn't happen?

No, she quickly shook her head as she tried to concentrate on something else - forcing herself to think about what they had gone through with the hooded man would only lead her down to some pretty bad thoughts. She just needed to concentrate on the here and now. And that meant that she had to lead everyone else inside.

However, before she could turn to ask Izuku and Ochako if they wanted to follow her in, she blinked as Izuku suddenly straightened his shoulders, continuing to look … weirdly nervous, for some reason, but before she could ask him if he was okay, he suddenly moved forward, everyone looking around in surprise as he began strolling through the large blue doors of the USJ without a moment's hesitation, although the way he stiffly walked indicated how nervous he must've been feeling at the moment.

Staring after him in shock, Itsuka turned to share a confused glance with Ochako, who was likewise looking taken aback by Izuku's sudden movement into the USJ.

"So, uh …" Itsuka faltered for a moment, before she shrugged and gestured with her head towards the doors, "... you wanna head in with me?"

"H-huh? Oh, uh -" Ochako blinked, realizing what she was talking about, and let out her own sigh as she absently bit her lip, "- I - I guess. Yeah, let's … let's go."

"It'll be fine," Itsuka comforted her as they began walking in together, seeing the worried look on Ochako's face and trying to smile as kindly as she could, aware of everyone behind them likewise began moving, "we've got Ingenium here just in case anything goes wrong. We'll be okay - just stick close to me, okay?"

"R-right," Ochako nodded stiffly, moving through the doors with her, "we'll - yeah."

"Hey, hey!" A voice came behind them, and they looked around to see Nejire hurrying forward to walk with them, folding her hands behind her back as she gave them a curious look, "I was actually wondering, where do you think Midoriya went during lunch? I know he got pulled away right when the bell rung, but he almost missed the bus! Do you think he's in trouble?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't think so," Itsuka shook her head, but she still bit her lip a little bit as they walked into the USJ, seeing Aizawa, Tensei, Katsuki, Tenya and Izuku standing near the stairs and waiting for them, "if he was in trouble, I think we would know, Hadou."

"Hmm … I guess that's true. But where would he have gone, then?"

"Well, uh … Toga-senpai did mention that it was Tenko who summoned him," Ochako pointed out, although she likewise didn't look sure, "so maybe he was doing another therapy session with him? Deku did mention yesterday that he might be asked to come in again."

"Still, I would've thought that they would wait for before or after school to ask him to come in," Itsuka put her hands in her pockets as they all moved inside, Thirteen and Tenko taking up the rear, "it's kinda weird that they asked him to come in at a time he could've potentially missed class - anyway, we'll ask him later if there's anything going on."

"Sounds pretty good!" Nejire agreed, more than happy to continue talking with her friends as they began walking down the stairs, her eyes automatically trailing away from the lake on the side, "But speaking of that, how did your sessions go yesterday? Were they good? I got to talk to Tenko, he's pretty friendly! But he seemed really taken aback by me when I kept asking him questions, so he just kinda said that I was okay to go back, but I should talk to him if I had any issues."

At the back of the group, hearing the energetic girl talking about him, Tenko suppressed a small, awkward chuckle.

"And … do you need to in for more sessions, Hadou?" Itsuka looked around at her, feeling slightly concerned as she noticed Nejire obviously keeping her back to the shipwreck zone, "It's okay if you're not okay, you know."

"I mean, I'm not at a hundred percent, but I'll manage!" Nejire smiled at the orange-haired girl for her concern, reaching over and patting her shoulder. "It really sucks to drown, and I might have a few more nightmares about it, but being here with you guys really helps! And if I do have a nightmare, I'll just sneak into Yuuyu's room and cuddle with her. She likes to complain, but she always cuddles back when she knows I need it. But anyway, thank you for asking, Kendou! Are you guys going to be okay?"

"I'm sure we will, Hadou," Itsuka smiled kindly at her, "don't worry about us."

"Alright!" Thirteen clapped her hands together behind them, quickly moving around them so she could hurry down the stairs to the front of the group as they continued moving into the USJ, "we'll start the tour with the ruins zone, then the landslide zone, and then the mountain zone. So those at the front, start heading down the path towards the ruins zone to start."

The three girls in the middle of the stairs paused at the mention of the mountain zone, with Nejire looking around at Itsuka and Ochako as they stared blankly ahead for a moment - and then Itsuka took a deep breath, and reached out to take Ochako's hand in hers, squeezing gently and making Ochako blink and turn a bit red as she glanced down at their conjoined hands.

"Just … for a bit," Itsuka excused lamely, but Ochako didn't mind, smiling and using her four fingers to squeeze her hand back as they continued to follow the teachers down the steps.

Unbeknownst to them, however, their little hand-holding got the attention of the two girls moving behind them, walking slowly down the stairs with the rest of their class chatting amongst themselves, seemingly following Itsuka and Ochako's idea of trying to distract themselves from their surroundings by looking anywhere but at the zones they had been trapped in.

"So … Yui." Setsuna absently hummed.

"Mm." Yui slowly nodded.

"I suppose we've gotta address the elephant in the room, right?"

"And what elephant would that be?"

"Well," Setsuna snorted, "how about we talk about the fact that we can't exactly pretend Uraraka down there hasn't been checking Ken out for the last two days in a row."

"No, we can't," Yui shook her head, glancing down at the two girls as they made their way down the steps, adjusting her hat, "I'm actually kind of impressed - she's checked out Itsuka's ass more times than I have today."

"Which … is admittedly kind of annoying," Setsuna pouted, glancing between the two girls as well as Izuku chatting with Tenya a bit further down the stairs, "I thought I had this weird thing they're doing all figured out, with how much Ken's iching to climb Midoriya like a fucking tree, but … look, I'm dumb, but I'm not that dumb."

"You are pretty dumb."

"Shut up, dumbo."

"Mm," Yui pretended to hum pleasantly, "you always know how to talk dirty to me, Set."

"Okay, horny girl, calm down," Setsuna snorted, "anyway, back to what I was saying - it's obvious how much Ken's crushing on Midoriya. And as much as I don't like to admit the existance of the opposite team, I know that Uraraka's probably liked Midoriya even longer than our girl has. But now we've got her and Ken blushing over each other more times than I could count today.

"Mm-hm," Yui nodded, seeing where her friend was going with this, "something happened between these two."

"That's exactly what I'm thinking," Setsuna smirked, poking her lip with her finger, "our two girls down there had something happen with each other. Something … perhaps a little … non-hetero."

"Oooooh," Yui tilted her head some, clearly fantasizing, "that's something nice to think about. So what do you bet?"

"If I had to guess, based on what we've seen …" Setsuna guessed, smiling mischievously, "... I'd say that sometime this weekend, our girl down there got into a situation with Uraraka that got a little … shall we say … lesbian in nature."

"Kissing?"

"Oh, please. The way Uraraka's been checking Ken out? They probably made out, and our little innocent bean got to cup a feel. Or they made out and she wished she got a feel."

"Oooooooh," Yui clapped her hands together, already thinking of that kinky scenario while nodding slowly to herself, while Setsuna snorted and poked her cheek, "I'm so hurt she didn't tell us."

"God, tell me about it. Ken down there probably got to suck face for the first time in her life, and she hasn't even told us about it! Especially when it was with another girl!"

"I was gonna say, this time last year I would've made a bet that it would be either you or me that eventually kissed Itsuka for the first time, right up until she met those two. And then it was just us counting down the minutes until she finally had enough and pinned Midoriya against a wall."

"Yep," Setsuna pouted a little, "so it being Uraraka she's probably been making out with is kinda … well, it's a surprise, isn't it?"

"I mean," Yui raised her eyebrow, "far be it from us to judge Itsuka for kissing girls, seeing as the both of us aren't exactly exclusively tied to boys."

"That's true, but Ken's never shown an interest in guys or girls! And then Midoriya comes fumbling along and Ken's pretty much in denial about how much she wants to drag him into a broom closet and give her little sparring partner a few bruises along the neck."

"Ooooooooooooooh."

"Calm down, horny girl. Anyway, one second she's awkwardly crushing on him, but then the next, she's calling Uraraka by her first name and holding her hand while Uraraka's been so busy checking out her ass, I'm surprised she hasn't walked into any walls." Setsuna crossed her arms behind her back, tilting her head as she thought. "Something's obviously happened between these two, and it's killing me not to know."

"Mm," Yui slowly nodded, watching Ochako and Itsuka making their way down the stairs while putting her hands down near her skirt, "so you're probably going to bug Itsuka about it, aren't you?"

"Oh, of course I am. Who do you think you're talking to?"

"Alright then, I should make sure you don't end up making things anymore awkward than they probably already are. How about after school on Friday, we can ask her to go out for dinner - I bet if we sat her down, we can get her to admit that she and Uraraka were being 'really good friends'."

"Just gals being pals."

"Friends that totally kiss, platonically."

"Silly Yui, it's not gay to kiss your best friend on the mouth."

"You're so right. As long as they say 'no homo' before -"

"Okay," A sharp voice suddenly spoke up from behind them, making them both blink and look around at an annoyed Kyouka with a faint pink on her cheeks, while Tsuyu was letting out a few ribbiting giggles, "I get it. Please, stop, both of you."

"I mean," Setsuna suddenly smirked at her, and Kyouka immediately realized that she had made a huge mistake getting herself involved, "in that case, Jirou, if you don't want us talking about Ken and Uraraka, we can do that! How about we chat about why you seemed so excited to join us for lunch yesterday with Yao-"

She unfortunately couldn't finish that teasing remark, however, due to Kyouka blushing a bright red and immediately zipping out one of her earphone jacks to hit Setsuna right in her armpit, causing her to jump with a loud yelp while Yui merely raised an eyebrow at the blushing punk girl.

Once everyone was accounted for at the bottom of the steps, Tensei beaming in pride at everyone being present, the tour of the facility immediately began, with Thirteen walking them over to the various zones to look around, either standing right outside the zones and explaining their purposes or letting them walk inside to have a look around. Thankfully, she left it up to the students whether or not they wanted to walk in, with Itsuka, Ochako, Momo and Kyouka pointedly not wanting to go into the mountain zone until they absolutely had to, and Fumikage and Reiko likewise glancing at the downpour zone and deciding that they didn't need to look in so soon.

Once they had reached the conflagration zone, Izuku, Pony and Yosetsu ended up being in agreement that they didn't need to tour the fire zone again, and chose to wait outside as everyone else walked in to have a small look around, Tensei standing to the side with them just to be safe.

"So, uh …" Pony glanced over at the two boys she had been trapped in the inferno zone with, awkwardly fixing the halter around her head as she gave them a nervous grin, "you guys are doing okay, right? Or, uh - am I the only one kinda nervous being here?"

"I … nah, it's not just you," Yosetsu grimaced slightly, leaning up against the wall as he looked around at them, "I'm not exactly excited being here, either. It's just … y'know, I didn't want to be the only one that stayed outside, so I'm just kinda sucking it up."

"Oh, same! I really didn't wanna get left outside."

"Besides, I guess Aizawa-sensei's got a point, doesn't he? We're gonna have to be in here anyway, so might as well do it as soon as possible. It's better to get this dumb stuff out of the way so we can get back to work."

"What about you, Midoriya-kun?" She turned to look at Izuku as he likewise looked around the USJ, "I'm … actually kinda surprised you were so cool with coming in here!"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at the both of them looking at him curiously, and he quickly fixed an awkward smile on his face, "O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm good, guys. Just … kinda wanted to get it over with, l-like Awase said."

"Exactly," Yosetsu nodded, and turned to continue talking with Pony.

Grimacing slightly, Izuku looked back around at the USJ, feeling his heart thumping a bit in his chest - but for an entirely different reason than one would suspect. It was true that it wasn't exactly … well, it wasn't exactly easy to just stand around after what happened, what with him not looking over at the foyer at all to remind him of what happened. He had nightmares about it enough already, he didn't need any fresh reminders about how he nearly died not a few hundred meters away.

No, why he was feeling so nervous, he thought with a small blush, was because he kept recalling the instructions that All Might gave him before he and Tenko had to hurry to the bus, reminding him of what he was going to be doing once they went over to the ruins zone.

"One of the exercises Thirteen has planned for today is a small game similar to hide and seek. Just make sure you're well hidden, Young Midoriya, and I'll come find you. Then we can get started with the real test!"

Yep, Izuku sighed quietly to himself, he had ended up agreeing to serve as All Might's 'hostage', agreeing to help him out with his plan after he had made arrangements with Tenko and Mirio to meet with them after class, seeing as there wasn't enough time for them to do whatever it was Tenko had in mind during the lunch break. From what All Might had described to him, the pro hero was dressed up as a villain, and had plans to head to the USJ while the rest of the class was busy in another zone so he could hide in the ruins zone. Then, once Izuku was isolated, he would come collect him, pretend to have 'beaten down' Izuku to sell to the rest of the class that he was a serious threat, and then would confront the rest of his classmates.

He was admittedly unsure about his job of 'hanging limply from All Might's grasp and try not to move', but it was All Might that needed his help, so … well, he couldn't just turn him down! So Izuku guessed that it would be his job to pretend he was beaten up, and be presented as someone his classmates needed to rescue from the big, scary villain.

Only …

Hearing the sound of the class beginning to come back out from the conflagration zone, Nejire asking Thirteen question after question, Izuku looked back around at them from where he was standing off to the side - and he found his gaze trailing to Itsuka and Ochako as they chatted amongst themselves, unsure why they were still holding hands and feeling his stomach kind of twist for some reason. Seeing their happy faces turn to look at him and smiling as they hurried over to him, Izuku tried to smile back, hoping that he didn't give away how nervous he was about what he'd be doing with All Might soon - and feeling himself gulp a bit.

His mind kept trailing back to what he had heard yesterday, when the rest of their class had been discussing what had happened to the USJ to Nejire - who had apparently been unconscious the entire time, Izuku remembered and couldn't help but worry for his friend when he heard that she had nearly freaking drowned. He remembered what Pony had told Nejire about happened to him - that he had been beaten down by the hooded man, and that had been Itsuka and Ochako who had found him and saved him. He remembered their reactions after he had returned from the hospital room - how Ochako had clung desperately to him, how Itsuka, normally calm and collected, had broken down and hugged him tightly.

And … Izuku essentially agreed to help All Might do the same thing to them again. Force them to find him at the mercy of a villain. Only this time, he would be intentionally tricking them into thinking he had gotten hurt.

Feeling guilt stab him in the heart, Izuku began walking with his friends as the group began moving towards the lake zone, Nejire immediately turning away and letting Tsuyu hold her hand to comfort her. No, he couldn't do that to them again. So he just needed to … okay, as much as he hated the mere thought of betraying All Might's trust, he had to tell them what they were planning to do.

But how? Ask them to talk privately? Maybe that would be the best course of action - both to bring them in on what was going to happen so they didn't think he was going to get hurt, and to also make sure both girls didn't rip his and All Might's heads off of their shoulders.


"Now then," Thirteen nodded happily as she clapped her hands together, "with our tour out of the way, let's get started with the rescue training!"

Ochako gulped as she looked around at their surroundings, feeling herself shake a bit as she kept her hand in Itsuka's, the orange-haired girl seemingly sensing her distress and giving it a comforting squeeze, her thumb running against the back of her hand and making Ochako's cheeks feel a bit hot. As Thirteen had said, the class had finished their small tour of the facility, and now were about to get to work at long last, doing the class that they missed on Friday due to stupid villains invading. Unfortunately for Ochako, Itsuka, Momo and Kyouka, the first zone they were going to be working in happened to be the one they had been trapped in, with the tall, sharp rocks surrounding them and the deep chasm they were standing in front of making Ochako nervous as the broken mountain Itsuka had smashed to pieces loomed in the background.

It at least looked like Momo and Kyouka were doing okay, though, with both of them looking around the mountains with small frowns but other than that not looking at all uncomfortable, Kyouka rubbing her arm and Momo pursing her lips briefly before she took out her notebook to write down anything Thirteen was going to explain. Itsuka, meanwhile, seemed to be doing fine as well, letting out a small sigh as she squeezed Ochako's hand again and listened to Thirteen as she gestured to the large hole in the ground, which made everyone gulp nervously and prompting Yosetsu to give it a wide berth, sweating a bit.

Still though, Ochako felt her brow scrunch up a bit as she looked around - there was something weirdly familiar about this spot in general. But that felt ridiculous - she was pretty sure that she had been here before, but she couldn't even recall -

- and then she found herself glancing over at a small incline in the rocky hills, a bit far away but still close enough that she could probably jog over to it, and she felt herself blink.

Wait ... this is where Itsuka and I ...

With that realization, Ochako felt her cheeks instantly go red, and quickly whipped her gaze back to Thirteen, desperately trying not to think about what she and the girl she was still holding hands with did over there, while Itsuka glanced at her blushing face in confusion.

"For this exercise," Thirteen explained as both Tensei and Aizawa stood off to the side, Tenko standing beside his mentor as she clapped her hands together, "there will be three students waiting at the bottom of this chasm while pretending to have certain injuries. One of them will have an injured leg, one will be unconscious, and one of them will be very hysteric. We will be having you all work in groups of four to get the three victims out of the chasm safely, using this stretcher, harness and rope." She gestured towards the three objects laying beside the chasm.

"Whoa," Eijirou's eyes bulged, both he and Denki carefully moving towards the edge while Yosetsu kept very clear of the gigantic hole, gulping very nervously while wiping some sweat from his brow, "this is so freaking deep! How are we even supposed to get down there?!

"What are you saying, Kirishima?!" Tenya suddenly barked, making both the red-haired boy and Denki jump a bit as he quickly skidded over to the ledge and fell to his knees, "There are people down there! We can't be hesitant about how we're supposed to get down to save them! Hello?!" He whipped around to face the chasm, shouting so loudly that his voice echoed around them. "Are you down there?! Can you hear me?! Please, do not worry! We'll save you!"

"The exercise hasn't started yet," Yui pointed out, raising an eyebrow and tapping Tenya's side with her foot, "calm your horses."

"Jeez," Setsuna laughed nervously as she peaked over the ledge, absently reaching down to pick up a rock to throw down there, only for Hanta to take it from her before she got any bright ideas, "y'know, I'm with Kirishima - how are we getting down there, sensei? Or - y'know, how will the people who'll be playing the victims get down there?"

"There's a slope that we'll be having the students playing the victims go down," Tenko explained, chuckling at the students' clear nervousness at the chasm, "and you guys don't need to worry about falling - Thirteen and I will be here to make sure no one slips. We've done this exercise a hundred times with other classes, we'll be able to help you out."

"That's not to say," Thirteen pointed out, "that you should be reckless. Treat this like a rescue that you're conducting out there in the real world - be careful not to make yourselves a victim either, and watch where you step."

As more students began asking questions, Katsuki growling and crossing his arms at the side and Nejire hopping over to ask Tenko more about the other classes, Izuku let out a small sigh as he put his hands in his pockets, glancing around while frowning slightly - he knew that they had all afternoon, but he was feeling a bit nervous about what will happen when they finally head over to the ruins zone - but a finger poking his arm suddenly caught his attention, making him blink and look around.

"So," Itsuka smiled at him, walking over with Ochako as his best friend likewise looked up at him curiously, "we didn't see you at all for lunch."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, confused for a moment before he realized what she was talking about, "Oh, uh - r-right. Yeah, I - I ended up, uh - getting back late, so … yeah."

"Getting back late from what?" Ochako asked, brushing some of her hair out of her face and behind her ear.

"Oh, uh … it's …" Izuku hesitated again, feeling himself go a bit red -he knew that this was kinda the opportunity he had been waiting for, a chance to tell them what All Might was planning, but seeing as they were still kind of surrounded by their classmates, he was a bit hesitant to explain everything while surrounded by anyone who could overhear and have All Might's surprise spoiled for them.

But luckily, fate would smile upon him that day.

"Alright! With that out of the way, our first batch of injured students will be …" Thirteen looked around, humming as she wondered who would be going first, and then pointed right at them, "... the three in their gym clothes!"

Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako stopped their quiet conversation, blinking slightly. They glanced at Thirteen as she pointed straight at them, and then, as though confused, they looked around to see if there was anyone else suddenly wearing their gym gear that Thirteen was pointing at.

"Oh," Itsuka slowly nodded, "okay then, I … guess we're going first."

"Mm-hm." Ochako shrugged a bit.

Thank you, Thirteen-sensei! Izuku silently praised her.

After about ten minutes of carefully climbing down a slope some distance away from their class, assisted by Thirteen and Tenko so they didn't slip and tumble the rest of the way down, the trio stood in the wide space at the bottom of the chasm, looking up and seeing Aizawa staring down at them so that they were sure that they were in the correct spot and moving away when Izuku waved up to him to signify that they had arrived. Itsuka let out a sigh as she moved to sit down against a large boulder, looking up at her other two friends as they likewise looked around awkwardly, not really sure what to do now, and Itsuka let out a giggle as she leaned back.

"Alright, then," She shrugged, "I guess … Ochako, you can be the unconscious one, I'll be the one with the broken leg, and Izuku will be … the one who's panicking."

"That definitely tracks." Ochako giggled, while Izuku merely grumbled but said nothing in his defense, which kind of said all that was needed to. Together, the two of them sat down on the rocky ground, Ochako laying back so she could pretend to be unconscious and Izuku sitting down on the ground beside Itsuka.

"Anyway, uh …" Ochako turned her head to look at him, "... everyone's probably going to take a while since Thirteen-sensei has to show the first group how everything works. So, Deku - back to what we were talking about before. What were you doing at lunch?"

"Oh, uh - right," Izuku nodded, sitting up a bit as the two girls looked curiously at him, "well, it was, uh … it had something to do with my quirk. Do you remember what I said yesterday about him having me back in for another session, Occhan?"

"Mm-hm. I kinda figured it had something to do with that."

"Yeah. Well, pretty much … we were meeting up so we could talkabout me using my quirk against someone else."

Both girls blinked at that, looking around curiously at Izuku as he likewise leaned back slightly on his hand and sighed.

"So … well, Tenko-sensei and I talked about it yesterday," He explained, "and I told him that I was … I was unsure if I could use my quirk against someone else after what happened here."

"Okay …" Itsuka nodded along.

"So he told me that he may have had a way so that I could practice my quirk against someone else without the threat of injuring them. And … well, that's kind of what I'll be doing once class is let out for the day," He grimaced slightly, looking a bit nervous, "the person that Tenko had in mind is having his own class right now, and Tenko wanted me to meet him during lunch so we could make a plan. I'm supposed to head back to Gym Gamma after school so I can practice using my quirk on him."

"Oh," Itsuka looked interested, leaning back and adjusting herself on the ground, "okay, so, uh … I guess that means we're going to be sticking around at the end of the day?"

"Er - oh, no, guys, you don't have to wait -"

"Izuku."

"Deku."

Izuku winced at both deadpan girls speaking at the same time, seeing Itsuka and Ochako turn to look at him with raised eyebrows. Rather than pursue an unwinnable argument, he instead nodded, sighing and waving his hands in the air with a small smile.

"I - okay, okay, I - I guess you guys want to wait for me, you can … uh … stick around and watch?"

"How kind of you." Itsuka snorted, smirking a bit when Izuku lazily kicked her ankle with his foot. "Ow, Izuku, that's my injured leg."

"Your injured -? Oh, r-right. The assignment."

"Yes," She giggled, "so please don't make my wound worse."

Izuku only sighed and shook his head, unable to stop his own smile as Ochako giggled beside him.

"A-anyway, yeah, that's - that's why I was dragged away for lunch," He scratched the back of his head, wincing slightly, "I pretty much stood back and let Tenko talk to our senpai for about half an hour, and then we remembered that I still needed to eat, so All Might …"

At the mention of their mentor, however, Izuku found himself pausing, blinking as he looked back over at the two girls. Ochako and Itsuka, who had been lazilly sitting around, watching him curiously as Izuku suddenly closed his mouth, staring blankly ahead for a moment - and then he let out a small sigh, sagging his shoulders and grimacing again.

"… er. I just … remembered that I was … well, I gotta tell you both something else."

"Huh?" Ochako sat up, feeling concerned, "What's up, Deku?"

"I - well, uh - okay," He shook his head, giving them both an awkward smile as he wrapped his arm around his knees, "All Might wanted me to keep this a secret from everyone, but, uh … well, I realized that …"

"Oh, no," Itsuka sighed, sagging her shoulders and already knowing that she wasn't going to like this, "what's he up to?"

"I … well, All Might …" He paused again, clearly attempting to gather up his thoughts and phrase this in a way that didn't throw their mentor under the bus, "... he's got … an exercise planned for today."

"Oh, no."

"Oh, crap."

He couldn't help but let out a small laugh at both his best friends groaning under their breaths, but decided to continue on.

"A-anyway, All Might is … well, he's planning an exercise," He began to explain to them both, "where he dresses up as a - a villain that managed to slip away from the police and the heroes, and hide himself in the ruins zone. He told me that it was going to be something like - like he's testing us to see how we react to something happening twice in a row."

"So he's going to dress up and attack us?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, leaning back against the rock she was sitting in front of and frowning, "Okay … I mean, I guess I get it. It's kinda stupid, but I guess I can kinda see where he's coming from."

"But … why are you telling us?" Ochako wondered out loud before blinking, "Wait, why do you know what he's planning in the first place if he's trying to surprise us?"

"Because … uh …" Izuku glanced away, scratching the back of his head while being unable to meet their gaze, "... I'm … supposed to help him?"

There was a small moment of silence in the pit, with Izuku looking anywhere but his friends while Ochako and Itsuka stared at him, their expressions turning blank. And then Ochako, with a small note of unamusement in her voice, said, "Elaborate on that, Deku."

Izuku found himself gulping and nodding quickly. He recognized that tone of voice - the 'you have five seconds to convince me not to kick your ass' voice she reserved for times she knew he was about to mess up. And he'd much rather not have to deal with their classmates asking why he would be returning to them with a black eye he didn't have when he climbed down into the chasm.

"W-well - uh -" He cleared his throat, leaning back slightly and looking up at the sky as Itsuka began tapping her finger against her knee while likewise giving him an unamused glare, "- the plan is - uh - for me to get separated from the group, and - and All Might - a-as the villain - is supposed to jump out and take me hostage. Carry me around, show me to the rest of the class. I'm - I'm pretty much supposed to pretend to be unconscious the whole time, to prove that the 'villain' is serious."

"Okay …" Itsuka slowly nodded, glancing at Ochako and sharing a confused look with her as they glanced back at him, "... I … guess I get that. But … in that case, why are you telling us what All Might has in mind?"

"Because …" Izuku hesitated, and then let out a small sigh and looked back down so they could see the guilty look on his face, "... because I just … I remembered that … that this wouldn't be the first time for you two to see me like that."

Both Itsuka and Ochako stopped at that, staring blankly at Izuku in turn for a moment before they slowly glanced at each other in confusion, as though wondering what on earth he was talking about - and then, Izuku saw it come to both of them at the same time, making them both blink, and realization came to their eyes.

They both turned and looked at him properly again, Itsuka's mouth dropping open slightly, and Izuku slowly nodded in confirmation, already knowing what they were thinking about - it was pretty clear that they both were remembering the last time a villain had carried an unconscious him around.

"... oh." Itsuka said in a quiet voice, looking a bit pale as Izuku turned to stare down at his knees. "You - oh."

"A-ah," Ochako likewise seemed at a loss for words, looking away from him as she slowly laid back down, "I … I get what you're saying, Deku."

"Y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, frowning down at his feet, "I just … I didn't want you both to see me like that and - and be forced to relive that. So - a-and I know that this kind of blew apart All Might's plan, but - but I couldn't let you both go through that again. I'm - I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Itsuka repeated, letting out a small laugh and shaking her head, "Sorry about what? About … about not wanting to traumatize us again?"

Izuku winced at that, feeling some tears well in his eyes, but before he could apologize again, Itsuka reached out and patted his shoe, making him blink and look around as a small smile appeared on her face.

"I'm … well, I'm not sure if I speak for the both of us," She absently scratched her cheek while Ochako nodded in agreement to whatever she was going to say, "but … thank you, Izuku, for telling us. We'd … now that we know, we're … well, I guess this means we're not going to be kicking you in the head once the truth comes out."

"Er … that's …" Izuku felt a bead of sweat fall down on his forehead, "… that's … a joke, right?"

"Nope," Ochako giggled, "we'd be kicking you until you're black and blue. Don't worry, though, we're definitely giving All Might crap for this too."

"Er … right."

Itsuka laughed as well, opening her mouth again, but before she could speak, a sudden shout came from above them. Blinking, they quickly looked up, but no head poked out from above the cliff's edge - but listening closely, they quickly recognized the voice of whoever was yelling.

"That's … Kacchan," Izuku grimaced slightly, sighing and leaning back while Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes.

"Wonder what he's shrieking about this time," Itsuka tossed her ponytail behind her shoulder as she leaned back and looked up at the cliffside, "probably something along the lines of 'why do I have to help people who need help? Why can't I blow them up?'"

Ochako merely huffed while Izuku chuckled awkwardly and conceded that. While Ochako leaned back and stared up at the sky, Itsuka sighed again and glanced at Izuku.

"Hey, uh … speaking of him, I'm sorry for - y'know, kind of putting you on the spot on the bus," She apologized, looking a bit guilty, "I wasn't really thinking when I came up to confront him, I just -"

"O-oh, no, it's fine," He shook his head, smiling at her, "I wasn't - well, Kacchan will be Kacchan. I'm … kinda used to it by now."

"Hm," Itsuka hummed, not looking very pleased by that.

"A-anyway, Kendou, I'm - I was wondering," He straightened up a bit, giving her a curious look, "on the beach yesterday - what did All Might want to talk to you about? After we left."

"Huh? Oh," Itsuka blinked, realizing what he was talking about and nodding, leaning back again as her other two training partners gave her a curious look, "it - well, it wasn't much, honestly. He pretty much told me that everyone's gonna be looking at me once the sports festival comes around, and that I should … er … be ready to tell them that 'I'm here'. Honestly, I probably should've expected that kind of talk," She giggled as Izuku suddenly looked very interested, "Aizawa-sensei goes on and on about how we're supposed to stand out at the sports festival, so naturally All Might wants to pull me aside to tell me to stand out as well. Well, either way, I'm gonna have to work on my speech soon - apparently, everyone who came in first at the entrance exam has to give one at the sports festival, so that's what I'm working on this weekend."

"O-oh. Well, in that case -"

"Everyone!"

The three of them jumped in surprise at the sound of a familiar voice speaking above them, and quickly looked back up at the cliffside again. Kneeling at the edge of the cliff, Momo was looking down to them, raising her hand to the side of her mouth.

"Please keep calm!" She yelled down to them, "We'll be down there soon!"

"O-oh," Izuku blankly said for a moment, almost forgetting that they were technically doing an assignment right now, and then jolted up. "Oh, I - I mean - t-thank you! P-please hurry! Occhan is - she's - uh -"

"Dying." Itsuka whispered to him, feeling mischievous.

"She's dying!" Izuku shouted up to Momo - and then blinked, and looked around in shock at the two girls as Itsuka began snorting with laughter, and Ochako wrapped her arms around her mouth to hide her increasingly failing attempts not to laugh.

It only took a few more minutes of them sitting around and waiting to be 'rescued', but eventually, the sign of spiraling yellow light shined above them, signifying that their classmates were getting to work. Carefully, Nejire floated her way down into the chasm, looking around for the three of them at the bottom and lighting up when she spotted them, and landed with a small 'oof'.

"Hi, guys!" She waved to them, hurrying over while Ochako played dead on the ground. "I'm supposed to come down here to assure you! So, uh - are you guys okay? Can you stand? I mean, I know you can't because that's the exercise, but I thought I'd ask just to be safe."

"Er -" Izuku glanced around while Itsuka shrugged and Ochako laid still on the ground, "- O-Occhan here is - she's unconscious, and - and both me and Kendou have broken legs."

"You're supposed to be panicking right now," Itsuka reminded him in an amused mutter.

"O-oh, I mean - p-please - please help us, h-hero."

"Nice," Itsuka smirked. Izuku stuck his tongue out at her while she giggled.

"I'd be more than happy to help!" Nejire quickly saluted them both, kneeling down and patting Izuku's arm while smiling, "We're just waiting for Yanagi to come down here to help me! I'd carry you out, Midoriya, but I don't have super strength! It was really hard to carry you back during the entrance exam, remember? And it was also really hard to carry Kodai and Tsuyu at the same time a few days ago, I thought my arms were gonna get ripped out of their sockets! But hey, maybe if - or when! - it's your turn to rescue and I'm down here, you can carry me out! Trust me, I'm not that heavy."

"Uh … r-right," Izuku slowly nodded, feeling his face go red while Nejire beamed, and Itsuka's teasing smile slipped from her face, tapping her 'broken' foot against the ground while flickering her gaze between the two of them while frowning.

"Oop!" Nejire suddenly looked up, blinking in surprise, and then pointed. The three of them followed her finger to see a familiar girl in a kimoto, with orange straps wrapped around her, began to slowly climb down the wall of the mountain, carefully tied with a rope around her to prevent her from falling.

"Yanagi," Momo said, staying near the cliff's edge but having her own hands on the rope, "please take your time descending - Tokoyami and I will keep feeding you the rope."

"Understood," Reiko grunted, slowly walking down as she braced her feet against the side of the gorge. Itsuka, Izuku, Nejire and Ochako watched (Ochako laying down and squinting through her closed eyes) as the ghost girl carefully made her way down the wall of the chasm, supervised by Dark Shadow flying down with her and raising its arms to make sure that it would catch her in case she slipped. Finally, she managed to reach the bottom.

"Hi, Yanagi," Izuku gave her an awkward wave as she hopped down onto the ground, keeping the harness on and looking up as Dark Shadow began lowering the stretcher down.

"My apologies for the long wait," She walked forward, using her quirk to float the orange board needed to bring Ochako to the top and putting it down beside her as she looked around at the three teenagers, "we had a few … er … issues above."

"We heard," Itsuka giggled, smiling up at her, "anyway, nice to see you. Ochako here is … uh … concussed, and we can't move her - our legs are hurt."

"Very well," Reiko nodded, and lifted her hand, "in that case, I will be more than happy to assist."

Ochako tried not to yelp as she felt her clothes suddenly stiffen around her, and then slowly began to rise in the air, as though she was being pulled by invisible strings. Reiko hummed as she telekinetically brought the other girl over to the orange board, carefully placing her on top, and once she was sure that Ochako was secure, Reiko released her quirk, and turned to look back up at the top of the chasm.

"Yaoyorozu! Tokoyami!" She called out in a loud voice, "Uraraka is now secure, I'm sending her up! Hadou, please help me keep the board balanced - I will lift her up half-way."

"Gotcha!" Nejire quickly hopped up, beginning to float in the air with her quirk.

Both Izuku and Itsuka watched with interest, Izuku quickly whipping out his notebook to begin jotting down notes, as Reiko lifted up the board with Ochako on top of it, Ochako giggling a bit nervously at the wobbling, but thankfully Nejire flew beneath it and kept both hands on it to prevent her from slipping off, keeping the board balanced as it floated up in the air. Midway, Dark Shadow flew back down over the side to help the blue haired fairy out with making sure Ochako didn't fall out, helping keeping it balanced as she was brought to the top of the chasm and pulled in by both Momo and Fumikage.

Once she was off, the board was sent back down for the other two, with Itsuka trying not to move too much as she was floated up, and Izuku had to pause his note taking so he didn't accidentally fall off in his excitement - that, and awkwardly glancing away as a pair of beautiful blue eyes peeked over the side of the board to look at him as Nejire helped push the stretcher to the top. And soon enough, all three of them were back at the top of the chasm, greeted by their classmates as the exercise continued, with the trio being paired up with Tenya so they could repeat the exercise with Yui, Mina and Hanta at the bottom of the chasm, Nejire pouting off to the side for some reason as Ochako and Izuku carefully floated their way down, Izuku with the rope around him and Ochako wrapping her arms around his neck to prevent her from floating off.

Soon enough, they were back down at the bottom of the chasm, this time as the rescuers as Izuku helped wrap up Yui's leg with a stick and two pieces of fabric as Ochako knelt down beside her, tying the rope around her waist just to be safe.

"Kodai," She said kindly, "this might be a little scary, but try not to move."

"Gotcha," Yui nodded, and allowed Ochako to press all five fingers to her back, taking away her gravity. Izuku and Ochako helped push Yui up into the air where Tenya and Itsuka were waiting at the top, Itsuka hanging onto the rope just to be safe, and they watched as Yui floated up near Tenya, looking uninterested with even the loss of her gravity.

"We've got her!" Itsuka yelled down to Ochako, "You can let her go!"

"Release!"

Yui only fell for a split second before Tenya reached out with both arms, grunting as he caught her easily, and let out a relieved sigh as he turned towards Tensei, who was watching the class off to the side with Aizawa while Thirteen and Tenko helped out with the class.

"She is safe!" He confirmed to his teachers, smiling at a job well done - and then he heard the girl in his arms clear her throat.

"Iida," Tenya looked back down, and felt himself suddenly freeze at the sight of Yui being held securely in his arms, staring blankly up at him while a tinge of red began blooming on her face, "as nice as it is to have you carry me around, I kinda want to be put down now."

"A-ah! Of - of course, Kodai! My apologies!" Quickly, Tenya helped Yui down to her feet, the stoic girl raising an eyebrow at his fluster - and neither of them were aware of Tensei straightening up a bit, glancing between his brother and the smaller girl while a small, teasing smile began to appear on his face.

The next half hour of saving their classmates again and again went surprisingly smoothly, with Katsuki not bothering to growl any threats out loud while Setsuna and Hanta poked fun of him behind his back ("Thirteen-sensei said he'd be a beautiful hero," Setsuna cackled, while Hanta chortled, "But he'll never be beautiful!"), and Nejire managed to restrain her endless questions so as not to distract her classmates from lifting her into the air, being put down on the edge of the cliff and giving everyone a thumbs up when she was safe. Once everyone had a turn, Thirteen announced that there were more battle scenarios prepared, and led them out of the mountain zone in high spirits towards …

Izuku felt himself gulp as they gathered within the ruined city, Eijirou likewise looking a bit uncomfortable while Denki looked crossedly at Katsuki, who was giving the destroyed city an unimpressed look. Itsuka and Ochako, meanwhile, had to actively resist giving Izuku a deadpan look as he tried to subtly make his way to the back of the group as Thirteen began to pick out who the 'rescuers' of the exercise were, giving Mezo and Pony an apologetic look as he squeezed in behind them, and prompting a curious 'kero' from Tsuyu as he stood beside her.

"Now then, for this exercise, we'll be having Bakugou, Yanagi, Kaminari and Awase as our first 'rescuers'," Thirteen explained, ignoring the subtle shaking of Katsuki as he looked more and more annoyed by the second, "the purpose of this scenario is to give you all a more genuine experience rescuing others. You'll all be playing the injured while our rescuers try to search for you. The rescuers will not have any idea what state they'll be in, and the rest of you will have eight minutes to spread out and hide. Once those eight minutes are up, the rescuers will begin to look for you in whatever place you wished to hide. Just keep in mind that of the sixteen of you, eight will not be able to speak, so about half of you will not be able to call out for help. Understood?"

"Yes, Thirteen-sensei!"

"So we're basically playing hide and seek?!" Mina excitedly bounced.

"Pretty much," Tenko laughed as he put his hands in his pockets, nodding to Mina's question while Tensei and Aizawa stood back, "just keep in mind that there'll be a time limit too for you guys to hide and for the rescuers to find you. Also, no moving around once you find a spot! That wouldn't be fair."

"Why the fuck do I have to do this?!" Katsuki suddenly barked, while Tenko sighed exasperatedly, Thirteen groaned lowly, Tensei sagged his shoulders and Aizawa merely glared, "This is fucking useless. I came to UA to be a hero, not to play fucking hide and seek!"

"You'll do it because if you don't, you'll fail the test." Aizawa said in a deadpanned voice, and Katsuki merely grinded his teeth together, but luckily for them he offered no more complaints.

"Now then!" Thirteen clapped her hands together, "As I said, you all have eight minutes to hide. Let our next exercise begin!"

Realizing that they had just been excused, the sixteen students quickly began to scramble away to run throughout the city, leaving behind Katsuki, Reiko, Yosetsu and Denki as they quickly began to look for places to hide. Izuku carefully kept to the back of the fleeing group, slowing to a light jog as he made sure that his classmates weren't looking at him - and thankfully, or un-thankfully, the only ones who were staring at him at the moment were Ochako and Itsuka, who gave him teasing looks as they both separated down two alleyways and vanished from view, and he let out a small sigh as he turned down another street.

It didn't take very long for him to find a small, secluded spot - a broken lobby with a few treadmills lying on their sides, some sunlight shining through the broken windows. With a small grunt, Izuku entered the building, glancing around a bit as he moved to sit down on one of the abandoned pieces of rubble, and bit his lip as he he tried to make himself comfortable.

All Might had told him that it wouldn't have mattered where he hid, because he would be able to sneak through the city and find him anyway, so Izuku knew that it might take a little while for the pro hero to find him. Well, not that Izuku was worried - All Might was a lot quicker than he looked, and while Katsuki might be the fastest of those selected to find the hiding students, Izuku had chosen to hide pretty deep in the destroyed city, near the wall of the USJ. So really, all he had to do now was wait and -

"Hm? Wait for what, Midoriya? Something exciting?"

At the sound of a very familiar voice right behind him, Izuku felt himself go still. His eyes widening slightly, he slowly turned his head, and his heart skipped a beat at the sight of a girl sitting on the piece of rubble behind him cross-legged, leaning forward so their noses were almost touching, while she gave him a very interested look and absently reached behind her to pull at her long blue hair.

"So? Whatcha thinking about, Midoriya?" Nejire asked in a curious voice, beginning to tug her hair up to the back of her head, "I know you like to think fast, but I'm curious! Is it about class? Or after class? Or maybe even before class! Actually, while we're on that topic, why were you almost late for class? What did Toga-senpai want at lunch?"

"H-H-Hadou!" Izuku quickly jumped to his feet, his face bursting into flames as she grinned up at him.

"M-M-Midoriya!" She quickly imitated him, giving him a wave. "Hi!"

"I - wha - what are you doing?!" He managed to squeak out at last, watching as she began to tug her hair up, pulling a scrunchie out of nowhere so she could fix it into a ponytail, with a part of him internally wondering how the hell she did it so easily with how much hair she had, "I - I thought we were supposed to -"

"Hide!" She finished for him, nodding and grinning up at him. "I know! That's what we're doing, isn't it? Hiding? Thirteen-sensei didn't say anything about us hiding together, did she? Or maybe she did, though, and I wasn't listening carefully enough? But that doesn't matter, since I'm here now! I think eight minutes have gone by, so I don't think I can go find a new spot. Unless …" She suddenly faltered, looking unsure, "... well, if you don't want me here, I can leave."

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, knowing that this is probably screwing up All Might's plan enormously - it would be hard to do a surprise with one of the people he's trying to surprise here - but at the slightly uncertain look on her face, Izuku acted automatically, shaking his head.

"I - n-no, Hadou, I - I don't mind -"

"You don't?!" Nejire gasped, delight suddenly blooming on her face, and quickly reached out to take his wrist. Izuku squeaked, but did nothing to resist as she pulled him down to sit beside her, automatically making Izuku blush redder as she sat a little closer than what he was expecting, close enough that their knees were pretty much touching.

"Okay, so! I have questions!" Nejire finished putting her hair up in the ponytail, patting her scrunchie once, and then leaning back as she gave him a big smile, seemingly oblivious of Izuku's fluster. "First things first - well, it's okay to talk, right? I don't think either of us were going to be those eight people who couldn't talk, right?"

"I - uh - I guess?"

"Great! Okay, so - I've been wondering. How do you know that Melissa girl who's in our group chat now? I'm not complaining, by the way, she seems really nice! Very happy! Very American! But that raises further questions - like how do you know someone from America? Did you go on vacation? Is that what your family does over the summer? But wait -" Her eyes widened, "- is she your girlfriend?"

"H-huh?!" Izuku squeaked again.

"Yeah! Your girlfriend!" Nejire continued to poke, flustering Izuku so much he didn't notice a strange level of anxiety in her voice. "Like - you went over to America for vacation, met her, and started flirting with her! Is that it?"

"Why do people keep asking me about my lovelife?" Izuku groaned to himself, feeling embarrassed, and quickly blinked as he realized Nejire had heard that, tilting her head. "A-ah, I mean - n-no, Hadou, she's - she's not my g-g-girlfriend. She's - she's the one who made my support item for me. We - no, I'm - I'm not d-dating her."

"Oooooh!" Nejire clapped her hands together, smiling in delight, although there was something … weird in her gaze that made Izuku falter for some reason. "So she's not your girlfriend? Okay! I had thought it was kinda weird, since you never brought her up before, but - well, we have only known each other for a week! Oooh, but wait a second, that makes me even more curious! New question -" She leaned forward, "- do you have a girlfriend? Not Melissa, just - anyone?"

"N-no!" Izuku quickly shook his head, and Nejire blinked in surprise.

"Oh - really? Have you ever dated before? Like - do you have an ex-girlfriend?"

"N-no! I - I've never- I don't - n-no."

"Really?" She looked surprised by that, which Izuku … didn't really understand, feeling his cheeks go red as she leaned slightly in. "But … well, that's weird, Midoriya."

"Huh?" Izuku faltered at that, looking at her in confusion - it was weird that he didn't have an ex-girlfriend? - and felt his mouth open to ask why she was so curious about -

"You're both so noisy."

Both teenagers felt their words die in their throats at the sound of a rough voice coming from the doorway - Nejire, realizing that something was wrong, and Izuku, realizing that he had gotten so caught up in the chaos of the girl in front of him that he had forgotten why he had been trying to hide by himself in the first place.

Slowly, they both looked around as the shadow of a large, spiked villain came into view, glaring down at the two of them through his gas mask as he cracked his knuckles.

"Heard you both a few hallways down," He let out a sinister chuckle, while Nejire's eyes widened at his size in comparison to them, "thought you two could hide away from your classmates for a little one-on-one time, huh?"

"A villain?!" Nejire gasped, and quickly leapt to her feet, moving quickly in front of Izuku as he likewise stood up, and raised her hands, a dangerous pout on her face as she began activating her quirk, and the villain threw his hand into the air -

- and then let out a familiar laugh, and used his hand to grab his mask and begin to lift it up, much to Izuku's surprise.

"No need to worry, Young Hadou, it's just me," All Might's grinning face appeared beneath the mask as he lifted it up to rest on the top of his head, smiling down at the two students as Nejire blinked in surprise, her quirk immediately dissipating, "my apologies about the surprise, but I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"Oh! All Might!" Nejire's battle-ready pose immediately vanished, hopping down from the perch she and Izuku had been sitting on so she could run over to her teacher with a bright smile. "It's just you! Hi! But wait - why are you dressed like that? So many spikes! You could stab someone's eye out with your shoulders! And your mask too! Wait, back to my first question, why are you dressed like that? What's going on? Did you get a new costume? Are you doing that 'darker and edgier' thing?"

"No, no," He chuckled, patting Nejire's shoulder while Izuku continued to look incredibly nervous behind her, "the truth is, Young Hadou, Young Midoriya here is actually going to assist me in an exercise I have planned - I'm going to be pretending to be a villain holding him hostage, while the rest of the class has to work together to defeat me. Unfortunately, I didn't quite account for Young Midoriya having a partner in this exercise when I came to collect him!"

"Oooooh," Nejire slowly understood, looking disappointed in herself, "I'm sorry, All Might. I ruined the surprise, didn't I?"

"Not at all!" All Might grinned at her. "Rather, Young Hadou, I think we can adjust our plan a little bit. How good are you at keeping secrets?"

"Pretty good!" She quickly perked up, looking excited as she clenched both her fists, "I can keep a secret, All Might, like when Yuuyu asked me to - wait, no, I can't tell you that, a secret's a secret. Oooh, but what do you want me to do? Can I change into a costume and be a bad guy too?"

"Well, not exactly," All Might chuckled, moving over to where Izuku was standing and looking confusedly between both of them, "what I have in mind is that you can head out to find your classmates, and yell about a villain appearing. Essentially, pretend that I just came out of nowhere and attacked! Do try and keep our secret, though, alright? Just so things don't get spoiled before we even arrive."

"Okay! Sounds good!" Nejire quickly saluted him, and began to run over to the entrance of the building so she could 'warn' her classmates - and then, just as she took one step outside, she paused, looking back at where Izuku was standing, and Izuku blinked as their eyes met. He felt a bit confused at the look on her face - one that looked slightly hesitant, and the way her mouth opened slightly as though to ask him something - before she quickly shook her head again, and took off, activating her quirk and flying away.

"Whew!" All Might chuckled, patting Izuku's shoulder and getting the smaller boy to look around at him, "Well, that was a close one, Young Midoriya - I had thought for a moment our surprise was in the gutter."

"Uh - y-yeah."

"In any case, I'm thankful that Young Hadou will be the only one who knows what we're up to - and that she'll be keeping our secret."

"… er … about that, All Might …" Izuku winced, looking away when All Might blinked in surprise, "… I … might have told Occhan and Kendou about - well, about what we're up to."

"Huh?" All Might felt his eyebrows raise. "But why?"

"So … uh … they don't see you holding my unconscious body and try to rip your head off."

"…"

"…"

"… that's … fair," All Might gave him, grimacing slightly, "I didn't … quite think of that."

"Y-yeah." Izuku awkwardly nodded, "And … also so they don't … you know … kill me for making them think I was in danger again."

"That's … also a good point. Well, in any case, Young Midoriya, Young Hadou will be on her way to warn your classmates - so let's get this started!"

Nodding in confirmation, Izuku loosened himself up as All Might grabbed the back of his gym shirt, carefully picking him up while Izuku went loose. They had gone over the plan while he was eating with Tenko, so All Might felt that they were both ready, lowering the mask over his face again as he began walking out of the destroyed room.

Still though, Izuku hoped All Might would take it a little easy on their classmates as the disguised pro hero walked out from Izuku's hiding spot, moving to stand at the end of the street.

"Are you ready, Young Midoriya?"

"Uh …" Izuku wasn't exactly sure how to answer that, seeing as his job was pretty much just to be limp in All Might's grasp and pretending to be unconscious, so he shrugged, "… I … guess so, All Might."

"Alright, then! Let's get this started!"

And with that, All Might raised his foot into the air, and then stomped down.

Hard.

Hard enough that a strong gust of dust and wind blew away from where he had slammed his boot against the ground, making Izuku squeak as he was temporarily blinded. The ground itself rumbled by the force of All Might's foot stomping down, shaking the entire ruined city as All Might began sauntering down the road, swinging his arms back and forth and making Izuku swing in his grasp.

Distantly, Izuku heard the sound of surprised shrieks and yelps down the road, indicating that he either ended up not hiding himself far away enough or that his classmates had been making their way towards his hiding spot. Still though, he gulped and tried to pretend to be unconscious as All Might walked menacingly down the street, praying that he didn't give away the game as he swung uselessly from All Might's grasp.

"It's a villain!" He heard Tenya shouting, and he tried hard to keep himself limp as he heard several footsteps moving towards them.

"What?!"

"They didn't catch him?! How?!"

"How can he be here?!"

"Was one of them hiding?!"

"W-wait - in his hand -!"

Izuku knew what they were talking about in that moment as the disguised All Might stomped closer, keeping himself limp and his head down as he heard several gasps and calls of his name, which made him feel very guilty. Oh, he was so getting his ass kicked after this.

"Someone, quickly! Hurry to Tensei!" Tenya ordered, and Izuku heard the sound of feet quickly beginning to run away - by the sound of the loud clopping, it was Pony who had decided to flee as All Might let out a low, menacing laugh.

"I won't let any of you escape," He shook his head, dropping his voice down to a far more menacing growl as he lifted his foot up again, and Izuku quickly squeezed his eyes shut so that the dust wouldn't kick up in his eyes, "I'll finish you all here!"

After some more rumbling and shrieking from the force of All Might's foot slamming into the ground, shaking the city again, Izuku dared to squeeze his eyes open slightly as All Might turned to look around - and gulped as he saw the nice big hole created by the impact of one freaking kick, creating a small arena trapping the entire class inside.

"Good," All Might continued to act as the confident and menacing villain, chuckling darkly, "now the terrain is clear. No one's going to be escaping now!"

"Everyone!" Izuku heard Thirteen calling from a distance away. "Run!"

BOOM

As entirely expected, the sounds of explosions blasted throughout the air as Katsuki rocketed towards them, a feral grin on his face. Izuku squeezed his eyes shut as he heard the loud boy shout in excitement and rage, and brought his arm down to blow All Might away - although the pro hero saw it coming from a mile away, quickly raising his arm to block the blow, albeit with a small wince as he easily threw Katsuki away.

"Well, would you look at that!" Katsuki sneered, bracing himself as he landed on his feet and threw his hands back up in the air, "One of you annoying fucks decided to hide. I made a promise, scum - I wouldn't be leaving this zone without you little Trigger idiots being in multiple pieces! The rest of you extras can run if you want - I'm taking this freak down!"

"Bakugou!" Itsuka shouted from where she was standing between Tenya and Momo, both of them looking fearful of the arriving threat and Itsuka looking annoyed because she knew exactly what was going on. "Get back over here! We need to come up with a plan!"

"Fuck that!" He barked, whipping a glare at her as explosions ignited in his palms. "The last time I trusted you fucks with a plan, the villains got away! You were in my way the first time - so sit back and watch how a real hero works!"

"As expected," All Might muttered to himself as Katsuki blasted towards him again, throwing out his fist to strike the disguised pro hero in the face. All Might easily blocked it, however, as he carefully kept Izuku from getting hurt as a side effect of his classmate's rough behavior, and threw out his own punch. This time Katsuki wasn't quick enough to dodge, grunting as All Might's large fist hit him in the shoulder and sent him spinning away, crashing against the ground as Eijirou quickly hurried over to help him up - but Katsuki shoved him away, snarling.

"I don't need help!" He shouted at him, making Eijirou blink down at him in surprise before the blonde boy blasted off again, making Eijirou stumble away from being hit by the recoil of the explosion, and All Might let out a small sigh.

"Well, Young Midoriya," He muttered to the student pretending to be unconscious, "looks like this is going to be rough. Hold on tight."

"Er … right."

"Don't worry - I imagine we're all going to have a good laugh over this after it's done!"


"YOU WENT OVERBOARD, MORON!"

Soon, the sounds of fists being thrown, yelps, and pleads of mercy filled the air of the ruins zone as several members of Class 1A, minutes after the supposed 'villain' had attacked them, began a rather merciless beatdown of the disguised pro hero, All Might letting out several cries of pain as he disappeared into a cloud of dust being kicked up by Hanta, Eijirou, Setsuna, Yosetsu, Pony and Denki continuing to pummel him with their fists and feet, while Itsuka and Ochako sighed and helped Izuku up from where he had been 'rescued' - although he would also like a 'rescue' from his very angry and tricked classmates.

The fight had turned out to be … well, no one really knew what All Might's ultimate goal was for this, but thankfully it seemed to have worked out. Class 1A had come together, despite Katsuki flying all over the place and knocking them around, to fight this mysterious villain holding Izuku 'hostage', with Itsuka eventually getting a bit of revenge in for her mentor's stupidity by grabbing Izuku and punching All Might in the chest with her enlarged fist, and thus gave the class an opening to go all out on the disguised teacher. Eventually, All Might had gotten pinned to the ground by Yosetsu sticking his arm there, with the pro hero unable to move, and one dramatic unmasking later revealed the grinning, disguised teacher, who admitted the surprise, and all of Class 1A figured out Izuku's involvement as he was sheepishly sat down on one of the broken pillars by his two training partners.

Which then followed was a beatdown of epic proportions, All Might unable to do anything to stop his students from kicking him other than pleads for mercy, while the rest of the class stormed over to Izuku and began yelling at him.

"That was utterly disgraceful, Midoriya!" Tenya lectured him, making several wild gestures in the air while Yui hummed in annoyance and gave a half-hearted smack to Izuku upside the head. "To trick your classmates so ruthlessly! Making us think that you were being held hostage! Did you not consider the feelings of Kendou and Uraraka?! To see you in such a state?!"

"Well, uh …" Ochako gulped nervously.

"We … kinda knew," Itsuka admitted, drawing several gasps from the class surrounding them while Ochako winced and looked sheepish, "he told us before so we didn't freak out."

"An' you decided not ta tell us?!" Pony yelled out in English, throwing her fists angrily into the air while Yui reached out and pinched Itsuka's cheek, making her grumble in annoyance and pain but did nothing to resist since she kind of deserved it. "This is all one big conspiracy, huh?! Makin' me look like an idiot for panickin'! Wha's next, Aizawa's gonna be all nice to us?! Bakugou's not gonna scream like a little bitch?! What else can I expect?!"

"I knew too!" Nejire threw her hand into the air, while Setsuna's head and arm came over to smack Izuku as well so the rest of her body could continue kicking All Might. "I ended up running into them while I was trying to hide."

"What?! Nejireeee!" Mina whined, running over to half-heartedly beat on the chest of the giggling girl while Yui poked Ochako's cheek, grinding it in and making the brown-haired girl weakly grumble. "You freaking knew?! Why didn't you say anything?!"

"Sorry, sorry! All Might made me promise not to tell! It's his fault!"

"What?! Young Hadou, I recognize I messed up, but please, there's no need to push me under the bus -!"

"You be quiet!"

"Come on, Hadou!" Kyouka groaned while Momo stared down at Izuku with such disappointment he felt a shame he hadn't felt since Miwa had found him and Ochako spilling juice on the carpet when they were kids, "We can't freaking pay you to shut up, and the only time you did was when All Might wanted to scare the crap out of us?"

"It was hard!" Nejire giggled as Mina continued to shake her, no one seeing Katsuki aiming a dirty look at Izuku as he began to stomp forward. "I wasn't even supposed to be there! All Might snuck up on us, and he made me promise not to tell anyone before he sent me running! Do you know how hard it is not to say anything? Huh? Huh? Midoriya, are you proud of me for not saying anything?"

"I … really don't know," Izuku sighed, grimacing as Eijirou paused his beating of All Might so he could come over with the clear intent of nuggying his friend, "I … definitely think I would be getting at a lot less."

"I wouldn't count on that," Reiko shook her head, pouting a bit as Fumikage likewise gave him a dramatically annoyed look and Dark Shadow shook its head, Tenko, Tensei and Thirteen watching on the side with amused looks as All Might got beat on, "I imagine that you'd probably be getting yelled at either way."

"I … guess so," Izuku sighed, shrugging to himself, but then the sound of feet stomping towards him made him realize that someone else was approaching, and glanced up to see Katsuki standing before him, glaring down at him with barely disguised contempt. Itsuka, who was getting her cheek pulled by Yui, and Ochako, who was awkwardly laughing off Tsuyu poking her in annoyance, quickly looked around at the taller boy as he glared down at Izuku, who felt suddenly uncertain and on edge.

"Er … hey, Kacchan," He found himself gulping, glancing up at Katsuki's face twisting slightly and feeling nervous, "I'm … well, I'm sorry for … yeah."

The expression on Katsuki's face only turned stormier and uglier by the second. His fist clenched slightly, sweat coming down his bare arm beginning to spark in tiny explosions, and Itsuka and Ochako quickly sat up, knowing the look on the boy's face as he gritted his teeth -

"Alright, that's enough," Aizawa suddenly stepped forward, causing everyone to jump a bit as they looked around at him, seeing their bandaged teacher walking towards them while Tensei and Thirteen shared a glance and Tenko quickly jogged over to their group, which quickly hid how the explosions on Katsuki's arms faded away at once as Aizawa looked at him, "you've all reprimanded Midoriya enough. Keep it verbal, not physical. Tokage, as funny as it is, stop hitting All Might with your foot."

Setsuna grumbled, and lowered the disembodied foot she had been using to wallop All Might in the head to reattach it to her leg.

"With that, class is dismissed," Aizawa looked around at the students, "you're all free to go and get back on the bus outside. Midoriya - Tenko here tells me you've got a fight with an upperclassman coming up, so don't bother changing out of your gym clothes. Head straight back to Gym Gamma, and make sure you don't keep him waiting."

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered, quickly straightening up from his spot - it wasn't exactly a fight he was about to get in - but unfortunately for him, many of his classmates blinked.

"What - a fight?" Yosetsu looked around at him from where he was refusing All Might's weak requests to be unweld from the ground, "You're fighting an upperclassman?"

"Uh - oh, n-no, I -"

"You mean," Momo raised an eyebrow, her normally kind voice sounding very cold, "that after you helped trick us into fighting All Might, you'll be getting into a fight in turn?"

"That," Denki grinned sinisterly, "I'd like to see."

"Yeah," Kyouka likewise smirked, "sounds like the perfect revenge, doesn't it?"

"I - I just -" Izuku tried to correct the misunderstanding, as more and more sinisterly grinning faces appeared on his classmates' faces, but before he could, Itsuka grew out her hand with her quirk again and wrapped it around him, lifting him up into the air as everyone looked up to her smirking face.

"Well, I guess that's that," She shrugged, smiling up at Izuku's paling face as she kept him in the air, "c'mon, everyone - we've gotta get this guy over to Gym Gamma for his little meeting with our senpai."

There was a large, collective cheer at that, while Izuku groaned and realized how much of his life was going to suck for the next hour or so as everyone began moving in a group towards the exit of the ruins zone, chatting excitedly about how much fun it was going to be to watch Izuku get the crap punched out of him just like he had sat back and watched them getting beaten up. With Tenya acting as the voice of reason, telling them that they shouldn't be taking too much pleasure in watching Izuku getting beaten up, the green-haired boy merely resigned himself to his fate, aware that telling them that he wasn't actually going to get beaten up wouldn't save him at all as he was carried away.

With Tenko jogging behind them to escort them out of the zone, Aizawa let out a sigh as he and the other three teachers stayed behind, his gaze flickering to the one person flagging behind the group while stomping his feet and gritting his teeth. Around him, Thirteen, Tensei, and All Might awkwardly rising from the ground by cracking the concrete he was welded to so he could get up, watched as Katsuki stormed away, turning to look at each other as they knew what Aizawa was clearly thinking, even with his entire face hidden by the bandages.

"So," Tensei sighed, leaning against one of the broken building supports as they watched the group of students leave, "I think I understand what you were saying about Bakugou now, Aizawa. He's really … what's the word …"

"Pigheaded?" Aizawa guessed for him, sighing and shaking his head, "I wouldn't say that, Iida, but what happened here really highlights what I was saying, doesn't it?"

"Especially with his 'watch me you extras' speech," Thirteen grimaced, shaking her head.

"Young Bakugou acted exactly as we suspected he would," All Might sighed, managing to break the ground he was stuck on into much smaller pieces, and checking that the students were far enough away before before he shrunk down in a burst of smoke, coughing as his shrunken form appeared, "he didn't work with his classmates at all to suppress me. Had this been an actual villain attack, I have no doubt that there would be injuries."

"So what do we do now?" Thirteen looked over to her coworkers, "Should we be taking him aside?"

"I don't think that would work," Aizawa shook his head, "all it would do is make him double down on his behavior, just like he's been doing the last few times he's been called out on it. As much as I hate to admit it, All Might, you might have a point - this is behavior that we'll have to squash before it grows out of control, and just reprimanding him will probably not work. He needs a reality check. Events like today, where he wasted time yelled at his classmates in a dangerous situation - that'll just end with people getting hurt. I think … I do have an idea, though."

"Oh? And what's that?"

"I'm thinking," Aizawa tilted his head, "that we'll have to force Bakugou into the one situation that he's probably more afraid of than anything - a situation where there's no chance of him winning on his own. Where he has to rely on someone else. Where there's no way he'll be able to succeed without the help of someone he considers beneath him."

"And …" Tensei looked confused, "... what would that be?"

"Well ... we're still planning the events for the sports festival. I've got an idea for the teams of our second round."


"Whoa!" Mirio's eyes went wide, giving the large crowd on the side a big grin as he put his hands down on his hips, "I didn't expect such a big crowd!"

"Uh … y-yeah, sorry, um - T-Togata-senpai," Izuku grimaced slightly, glancing over to where all of his classmates, with an exception of Katsuki, were chatting and giggling amongst each other as they stood with Tenko, Himiko and the guy who said his name was Tamaki, watching both Izuku and Mirio as they stood a few feet apart from each other in the middle of the gym, "I may have … uh … helped All Might prank them during our class today, so they're here to - uh -"

"Oh, I get it," Mirio nodded, flashing him a big thumbs up and grinning happily, "they want to see me kick your butt."

"Yeah, pretty much."

It had been about a half hour after they had left the USJ, and Izuku couldn't help but still feel like he was about to make a giant idiot out of himself in front of his entire class, glancing down at his hands and gulping. They had pretty much made their way here at once, everyone not bothering to change out of their costumes either as they convinced Tenko to let them watch, although Tenko had made it clear that if Izuku really didn't want them there they would have to leave, and their classmate wasn't actually going to fight Mirio. Thankfully, Izuku didn't mind them all watching, even if the reason they were doing this was pretty private.

At the moment, Izuku was standing on one side of the gym while his upperclassman stood on the other, taking a quick moment to stretch his legs, as though he was actually capable of dodging a lightning bolt, while the rest of the class stood on one side and out of firing range, watching curiously.

Well, most of them were, anyway.

"So! So, so, so, so, so! You're our upperclassman, right?" Nejire poked Tamaki's shoulder as she asked him question after question, making him shrink as he pressed his face firmly into the wall. "That's so interesting! Like, how are your classes? Are they hard? Ooh, actually, I have a question about the battle trials we did a week ago! We used fake bombs, but do you use real ones? I was curious about that! Wait, what's your quirk like? Is it good for disarming bombs? Huh? Huh?"

"Mirio," Tamaki quietly whined, "please come save me."

Unfortunately for the shy boy, there wasn't much Mirio could do, seeing as he was too busy doing a couple of side steps, grunting comedically as he threw out his arms, while Izuku looked more and more unsure about what they were doing by the second.

"So - this guy is gonna help Izuku out with his quirk?" Itsuka asked in an uncertain voice, glancing at Ochako who also likewise shrugged, and both girls looked around at Tenko curiously. But for Itsuka, she couldn't help but feel her brow furrow as she looked back at Mirio, seeing him goofily dancing around. For some reason, her mind kept going back to when they had come into the gym, when Tenko had pointed at the surprised Mirio and introduced him to the class.

Mirio Togata. She had definitely heard that name before, but from where?

"Is there something wrong with Midoriya's quirk?" Momo likewise looked curious and concerned, while Kyouka leaned against the wall beside her and tapped her earphone jacks absently together, "Is he alright?"

"Oh, no, Midoriya's fine - physically, that is," Tenko assured her while shaking his head, looking a bit awkward as he leaned against the wall, "I can't quite go into it due to Midoriya not giving me permission to, but essentially, we just want to make sure that Midoriya can use his quirk offensively against someone else after what happened at the USJ - and Togata here is the best candidate for us to do so safely."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, glancing over at Himiko and Tamaki, "and, uh … why is Toga-senpai and - uh - Amajiki-senpai - here for?"

"Well, Himiko is here just in case Midoriya injures himself -"

"He better not," Ochako pouted, staring straight at Izuku while he grimaced weakly at her.

"- and Amajiki is … uh …"

"He's here for emotional support!" Mirio laughed, jumping up and down one more time before landing and striking a pose. 

"Er …" Setsuna glanced between both of them, eyeing the energetic guy and the one who looked like he was going to die if anyone met his eye, "… emotional support … for who?"

"Eh - kinda for me, kinda for him, that kinda thing."

"I wanna go home."

"After this, buddy! Now then, Midoriya - come at me!"

"Uh …" Izuku faltered as Mirio continued to pose dramatically, feeling more and more confused by the second, and then glanced over at Tenko as the rest of the class quieted down, "… before I … do that, uh - can I ask you one question, Tenko-sensei?"

"Sure, Midoriya. What's up?"

"Am I …" He pointed unsurely at Mirio, "… supposed to just … shoot at Togata-senpai?"

"Yep!" Tenko nodded happily. "That's the plan."

"O-oh, okay. Just, uh … well … I do have one problem with that plan."

"Hm? What's up?"

"I do not want to kill him."

Izuku winced at how blunty that had come out, but quite honestly he wasn't exactly sure about what exactly Tenko's plan was to get over using his quirk against others, other than it apparently required him to shoot someone in the face. So perhaps a bit of bluntness was necessary.

However, before Tenko could explain, blinking as he realized that he did kind of skip over that part, Himiko let out a loud laugh from where she was leaning against the wall, crossing her arms while Nejire glanced around interestingly at him and the entire class blinked at the apparent possibility of Izuku killing someone.

"Yeah, Tenko, I was wondering when you were going to get to that part," She poked fun at him while the dark haired young man blushed in embarrassment, and quickly glanced away as Itsuka and Ochako gave him a pair of unamused looks, "you can't really just tell one student to shoot another without explaining your thought process."

"I just thought it was going to be a demonstration," Tamaki muttered, pressing his forehead a bit firmer against the wall, "and he'd explain it as it went on."

"I think you'd be wrong about that, Tamaki baby."

"P-please don't call me that, Toga."

"Oh, hold on, did no one tell you?" Mirio asked interestingly, catching Izuku's attention again as he turned back towards him and saw the large grin on his senpai's face. "It's totally cool, kohai! Just shoot me with your quirk, it's all good."

"I … uh, well …" Izuku awkwardly glanced around, seeing his classmates beginning to look very confused as to what was going on before he looked back to Mirio, seeing Yosetsu and Denki raising their eyebrows a bit, "… I'm not … exactly sure about this, Togata-senpai. My - my quirk -"

"You can blast lightning out of your hands?" Mirio guessed, grinning when Izuku gave him a surprised look, "Yeah, Tenko ran it by me! You have difficulties using your quirk, and because of reasons that he didn't get into, you don't want to use it against other people because you're afraid of hurting them with it."

"I … well, yeah."

"Cool! Like I said, Midoriya, it's all good - I won't get hurt. Shoot me in the face!"

"U-uh -"

"Or - okay, how about we do this instead?" Mirio suddenly changed tactics, hopping up from where he had been doing his weird poses, and Izuku blinked as he brightened up and raised a finger into the air. "The future's gonna be …?"

Izuku stared blankly at Mirio as he leaned forward, a hand to ear as though waiting for him to shout something back to him. On the side, the entirety of Class 1A began feeling like they were missing something, with Yui tilting her head, Momo wrinkling her brow in confusion, Tenya pausing his notetaking to glance between them with uncertainty, Pony raising her eyebrow, Eijirou wondering why they weren't fighting yet, and Ochako and Itsuka beginning to feel exasperated for Izuku's sake.

"…"

"…"

"… grim!" Mirio finished his apparent one-liner, the confident grin never leaving his face. "That's what you were supposed to say, right? Alright! Looks like my attempt to break the ice totally failed."

"T-that was supposed to break the ice?!" Izuku's jaw dropped, completely and totally exasperated. Tenko grimaced weakly at the side, realizing that this had gone completely pear-shaped, while Setsuna and Mina had to continuously fight down their giggles at how goofy this had turned out to be, while Himiko wasn't bothering to hide her snorts. The rest of the class, meanwhile, were seriously starting to wonder if they were being punked.

"Okay! Well, this is getting us absolutely nowhere!" Mirio put his hands down on his hips, smiling at his very confused kohai. "I mean, I can't really blame you - from an outside perspective, this would look kinda weird, right? Your senpai just kinda showed up and is asking you to shoot him in the face! That'd make anyone hesitate, wouldn't it?"

"Uh … yeah, kinda," Izuku slowly nodded.

"Hmmmmm …" Mirio thought for a moment, looking off to the side - and then he blinked, and quickly dropped his fist into his open palm as something obviously came to him. "I've got it, Midoriya! How about this …"

Izuku suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine as MIrio turned to look at him again - but no kind smile was on his face now. Now, it looked like Mirio had just seen something he really liked - and in a rather bad way - and was slowly moving down to a crouch, his grin growing more confident and his eyes narrowing slightly. Ochako, who had been leaning against the wall beside Itsuka, suddenly straightened up, feeling a disturbance in her 'Izuku's about to get in trouble' senses, and Nejire likewise finally silenced her rapidly increasing questions to Tamaki, looking around feeling her own smile fade as Itsuka also seemed to realize something was about to happen, her shoulders tensing slightly.

"If you need motivation to shoot me in the face," Mirio's voice had dropped some, making Izuku begin to shake at the sudden menace, "then why don't I just give you some? It's not like you can hurt me anyway …"

"Uh …" Izuku gulped, "… T-Togata-senpai?"

"I've got it, Midoriya," Mirio nodded, "let's fight! For real!"

"F-fight?!"

"Yep!"

And without any more warning, Mirio charged. Izuku felt himself flinch in surprise as the much larger boy came running at him a lot faster than he expected, his fists throwing back as he crossed the gym in an instant it seemed. Everyone near the wall jumped in surprise, Itsuka and Ochako having to immediately restrain themselves as the much taller boy threw his fist towards Izuku's face. Izuku let out a squeak and ducked out of reflex, barely dodging his senpai's thrown blow as he jumped back, and Mirio let out a laugh.

"Don't worry! I won't go all out just yet!" He leapt back at Izuku as the smaller boy barely moved out of the way again, "That's not the point of this exercise, anyway! If I wanted to fight for real -"

"T-Togata-senpai! Just - wait a sec -"

"- then this fight would've already been over! But you use your quirk whenever, Midoriya!"

"Whoo!" Eijirou cheered at the side. "Kick his ass, Mido-bro!"

"You got this, Midori!" Mina encouraged him.

"Break a leg," Mezo nodded, although he blinked as he realized this may or may not be the wrong thing to say during a fight.

"Rip his shirt off." Yui requested, her eyes on Mirio's arms, which made Tenya pause as he realized what she said and then immediately whip around to start shouting at her for her pervertedness.

"Kick his butt!" Pony threw her hands in the air and cheered him on.

"Kick him in the nuts!" Yosetsu yelled.

"Don't die, kero." Tsuyu decided to offer.

Izuku wanted to try to protest all the shouts of encouragement that were being sent his way, but Mirio wasn't exactly giving him much chance to think as his fist was thrown back out, and this time Izuku wasn't able to jump out of the way in time. He grunted as he was punched straight in the shoulder, and was spent spinning away with a noise of pain and surprise - good god, that hurt!

But Mirio wasn't giving him much chance to recover, leaping up into the air with his feet angled at him -

- and as Izuku looked up at him, eyes widened in shock and pain, he found himself stopping.

Instead of seeing Mirio leaping into the air, his feet angling down to kick Izuku directly in the chest - instead, Izuku found himself envisioning someone else immediately coming to his eye, making him stop in his tracks. The vision of a man in a ripped black sweater and ripped jeans, blood flying from his flayed skin. The hood around his head casting his face in shadow, but the bloodthirsty grin and insane yellow eyes still somehow visible.

Izuku only paused for a moment, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping slightly as a shudder passed through him - and then quickly jerked to the side as Mirio stomped down, his feet hitting the floor with a loud clap. As soon as Izuku hit the floor again, grunting as he skidded away, the apparition of the hooded man disappeared, and Mirio was back in his place, looking around at Izuku with an excited grin as the younger boy quickly scrambled to his feet.

Izuku quickly shook his head, attempting to refocus - he had no idea what that was all about, but Mirio was still coming at him, and -

BAM

Izuku grunted, and the crowd let out a few 'oohs' and cringes of sympathy, as Mirio rewarded his kohai for his hesitation with a fist right to the side of his eye, his head jerking back. Himiko let out a small hiss, and both Itsuka and Ochako felt their fists clench, having to pretty much restrain themselves from charging out and helping their training partner, as Itsuka grabbed Ochako's wrist and gave it a small squeeze, and Nejire found her smile falling, her eyes widening, and a small pout appearing on her face as Mirio let out a triumphant laugh.

Izuku stared blankly ahead for a moment, his hand automatically raising up - and then he glanced back up at Mirio as he threw his fist back again, ready to give him another good punch. Once again, Izuku found his mind wandering as he stared up at his senpai - and then he blinked, and he was gone. Instead of a joyful, happy Mirio about to punch his lights out, again, it was the large, terrifying hooded man glaring down at him, a wide, bloodthirsty grin beneath the hood. The bright eyes that showed how excited he was to make Izuku suffer.

A large, cold bolt of fear ran through Izuku.

And a slight buzzing sound, accompanied by a flicker of electricity on his palm and a sudden pop of sparks, was all the warning Mirio got about what was going to happen.

KRACK-BOOM

All of Class 1A, Himiko, Tamaki and Tenko practically jumped out of their skins as a sudden blast of green lightning shot out of Izuku's palm and straight towards Mirio, the older boy too close to dodge out of the way in time. The bolt of lightning curved and struck the ceiling of the gymnasium, a loud explosion of sound immediately blasting in their eardrums and making Kyouka cringe as she held her hands over her ears in pain, and a large cloud of dust kicked off from where Izuku had fallen over, hiding him and Mirio from sight.

For a moment, Izuku stared blankly ahead, not even noticing the sting of his arm from the blast - and then the realization of what he had done came to him. He couldn't see or hear Mirio, and he had just shot him point blank in the chest. Immediately, panic filled him.

"T-Togata-senpai!" He gasped out, sitting up at once and beginning to scramble to his feet. "Are - are you -?!"

"Whew! That was a close one!"

Izuku blinked at the sound of a boyish, happy voice coming right in front of him - not sounding at all like he had been hit by lightning.

"Togata-senpai?"

"Yep!" Mirio laughed within the dust, and Izuku felt his jaw drop at a familiar silhouette beginning to appear in the cloud of dust, feeling himself begin to stare in shock. That - that wasn't possible. The bolt of lightning had been aimed right at Mirio's chest, and - and there would've been no way to dodge out of the way in time.

So how - how did he -

Feeling himself shake his head lightly, Izuku quickly waved his reddening and stinging hand in the air, attempting to get some of the dust cleared as the familiar shape in the cloud shifted - and then, as Mirio came back into view, Izuku let out a squeak, his face going red at once.

As the dust cloud finally dissipated, Class 1A and Tenko felt a bit of relief pass through them as the two boys came into view - and then every student in the class felt their jaws drop, and Tenko let out a small groan of exasperation.

"Whew! That was great!" Mirio gave Izuku a big thumbs up, completely unharmed from the blast of lightning while being very naked all of a sudden, putting his other hand on his hip as he smiled down at his kohai staring up at him in silent shock. "I know what Tenko was talking about now - hoo, boy does your quirk pack a punch!"

"Oh, whoa!" Itsuka shouted, her own face exploding in a blush as she quickly averted her gaze to the ground, Ochako squeaking and doing the same while Nejire went a bit red.

"Ho-ly shit!" Setsuna likewise yelled, not exactly looking away but feeling hot around the collar all of a sudden.

Yosetsu, Denki, Fumikage and Hanta quickly looked away, although Hanta saw Setsuna staring at the naked older boy in shock and felt himself frown.

Pony quickly covered her face, although she subtly let one eye poke out.

Tenya felt his jaw drop, completely taken aback. 

Yui tilted her head, heat filling her cheeks.

Momo very politely turned right around and faced the wall, while Kyouka let out a high-pitched squeak and quickly covered her eyes with her arms.

Fumikage and Reiko, who had been standing together at the side in silence, took one look at their naked senpai, and immediately turned on their heels and walked out of the gym.

Tsuyu let out a gasping ribbit, and quickly looked away, Mezo raising his multiple arms to block her from the sight as he cleared his throat.

Eijirou knew, right then and there, that he was going to be questioning a lot of things about himself that night as a blush began burning on his cheeks.

"Y-y-y-y-y-y-you're -" Izuku stuttered out before he whipped his gaze to the floor, his face burning bright red, and quickly wrapped his arms around his head as Mirio stood there in slight confusion, glancing up at the rest of the students and blinking at them all averting their gazes.

"Huh?" He glanced around. "What's up?"

"Mirioooooooo," Himiko called from the side in a sing-song voice, giggling, "we can see your peepeeeeee!"

"My what?" Mirio wrinkled his brow, looking around his friend in confusion, while Tenko slapped a hand to his face - and then he seemed to realize what everyone was deliberately not looking at, quickly looking down and realizing that he was, by all extents and purposes, suddenly flashing nearly everyone in Class 1A, who were looking more and more traumatized by the second while Mirio's gym clothes pooled around his feet.

"Oh! S-sorry about that, Midoriya!" He quickly scrambled to grab his pants, putting them on in a hurry as Tamaki glanced behind his shoulder, blushed, and then looked back at the wall. "My quirk is just kinda - well, yeah, the fine-tuning's pretty tricky! Sorry about giving you an eyeful there."

"Y-your quirk?" Izuku mustered up the courage to glance up at Mirio, thankful that he was now at least wearing a pair of pants as the older boy extended his hand down, and Izuku felt at least safe enough to accept it as Mirio pulled him up to his feet, Izuku wincing at the bruises on his face and where he had been kicked in the side. "W-wait a second …"

Izuku found his gaze whipping down to Mirio's midsection, expecting a large burn mark there  but he was unharmed. Mirio looked completely fine, despite being shot point blank by his quirk. But how -?

- wait a moment.

"Your quirk …" Izuku slowly said, putting the pieces together in his head as he looked back up at his senpai, "… it's …?"

"Permeation!" Mirio cheerfully explained. "I'm sorry about making you see my willy there, but you kinda caught me off guard, so I didn't have time to just lose my shirt! Anyway, I can totally see what Tenko was talking about - your quirk is crazy strong! If I had just been a second too slowly, I would probably be in the ceiling right now! And not warping through it, by the way, but like - actually stuck in it. Like those cartoons where you fall out and there's an imprint of you left there from how hard you hit it."

"Permeation …" Izuku slowly brought his hand up to his chin, staring at his senpai in wonder, "So - so you have the ability to slip through things? That's - that's amazing!"

"Oooooooooooooooooh!" As entirely predicted, Nejire immediately charged across the gym towards them, sliding up next to Izuku and looking up curiously at Mirio as he looked around at her with an interested grin. "So does that mean you can walk through walls? But wait, you were just naked, so - oooh, that makes sense! But back to my question, you can walk through walls, right?"

"That I can!" He laughed, more than happy to indulge Nejire as she hopped up and down. "If I activate my quirk through my entire body, I'm pretty much intangible - my body can go through anything. The floor, the wall, even you! I think that's why Tenko wanted us to spar today, Midoriya -" He turned back to Izuku, "- there's no way that you would be able to hurt me with your quirk. By the way, did you know that when you use your quirk, your hands spark?"

"Y-yeah, I - I do know. It's - it's how I know my quirk's about to activate - sparks before lightning."

"So that's your tell! I was thinking before you blasted me that you were about to do something, so that's good to know for later! Palms spark, lightning comes out."

"But - but what else can your quirk do?!" Izuku excitedly asked, while Mirio grinned and crossed his arms and Nejire bounced around beside him. "You said you could go through anything - so you're able to go underground? How can you see? Or breathe?"

"Oh, I can't! You see …"

As the three of them blabbered on, Izuku whipping out his notebook to write and Mirio not missing a step as he moved around to have a look at what his kohai was writing, Itsuka and Ochako let out a few relieved sighs as they tried to calm down their red faces, and looked around at Tenko as the teaching assistant likewise began writing down a few notes on his pad while humming to himself.

"So, uh …" Ochako glanced between Izuku and Mirio, relieved that their senpai had his pants back on, and then turned back to their teacher, "… was that what you were expecting, Tenko-sensei?"

"Hm … not exactly," Tenko admitted, shaking his head while glancing back up, "Midoriya was clearly in a state of panic when he fired at Togata, and … well, that's not exactly what we were aiming for. We want to make sure he can fire one off while he's calm and collected, so …"

Clearing his throat, he called out to the two talking boys.

"Midoriya!" Izuku quickly looked around at the teaching assistant, seeing most of the girls in the class still awkwardly looking away from Mirio's half-nakedness (with the obvious exceptions of Yui and Pony) and Himiko leaning up against the wall to poke Tamaki's cheek again, the shy boy quickly turning away from her as she teased him. "Before we stop for today - good job, by the way, Togata, even if it's not exactly what we had in mind -"

"Thanks!"

"- but anyway, Midoriya - now that you know how Togata's quirk works, do you mind trying to fire off your quirk again?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, and then realized what Tenko was asking him to do, quickly nodding. "Oh - oh, yeah! Y-yeah, we can - let's try again."

"Great!"

With that, Nejire quickly ran back over to the rest of the class leaning against the wall, everyone watching as Izuku hurried back to his spot and Mirio tossed his shirt aside for Himiko to snatch out of the air, laughing a bit as he jumped back down to a pose, and Izuku took a small breath as he raised his hand again, aiming it directly towards Mirio. Everyone quickly quieted down, watching as Izuku squinted one eye closed, taking careful aim as Mirio grinned confidently - and then he faltered.

Izuku was … admittedly still unsure about this, but … well, he could definitely see where Tenko was coming from, fighting against someone who could literally phase through his attacks. It was just … well …

"Uh … Tenko-sensei?" He glanced back over at the teacher on the wall, "Can I ask you something?"

"Hm? What's up?"

"It's just … well," He sighed, and straightened up slightly, lowering his arm, "I - I can see where we're going with this, but - well, would it really help me if I already know that Togata will just phase through my attack? I mean - most of the people I'm gonna go up against can't do that so … agh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to question -"

"No, no," Tenko shook his head, a smile appearing on his face as he straightened up, "I think I see what you're trying to ask here, Midoriya. You're right, in the long run, fighting Togata here isn't going to be the same as fighting someone in your class, and we might run into a similar problem down the road. But I want you to consider a few things."

Jogging forward, Tenko stood beside Izuku, while the entire class glanced between the both of them curiously, and Mirio straightened up where he had been posing.

"First of all, we've established that you don't have any problems using your quirk at full blast," Tenko reminded him, "but only if it's not against someone else - you're alright with firing it in the air, but not against anyone. Secondly, you might not have it right now, but you have the Full Gauntlet, which minimizes your quirk's output and allows you to use it safely - but you've only ever really used it against robots. Fighting Kendou and Uraraka in the battle trial, you didn't use it at all. And thirdly, the only time that you've been able to use your quirk against someone else was at the USJ, and that was in a life-or-death situation."

While Izuku frowned at the reminder,  Tenko put his hands in his pockets, "The reason you use the Full Gauntlet, let me remind you, is that you want to use it until you have a handle of your quirk. And as much as I hate to admit it, full mastery of your quirk isn't going to happen by the end of the week. It's something that we'll have to work with over time - both control of your quirk, and your mindset while using it. What we're aiming for here, Midoriya, is to get you into the mindset of using your quirk offensively against someone else. While using Togata here might be considered cheating since he's able to make himself intangible, he's still the safest student here to help you out with your quirk. Once you're comfortable fighting him, and we help you figure out how to use your quirk offensively, we can start experimenting with fighting against other people."

Izuku slowly nodded, while everyone glanced between each other - and then Mirio let out a small noise, prompting everyone to look at him as he smacked one fist into his open palm again, looking like a lightbulb popped over his head.

"I got it!" He jogged over, grinning down at his kohai, "How about this, Midoriya - if you don't want to shoot me in the face, I guess I can't make you - well, I can make you, but I don't think you'd appreciate it if I'm trying to make you shoot me with a bolt of lightning while I'm trying to punch you. So how about we spar a few more times next week? My internship is going on a break, so I'll be around the school more often."

"I - really?" Izuku blinked, staring up at his senpai in shock. "I - I wouldn't want to -"

"You wouldn't be bothering me," Mirio shook his head, grinning, "I'd be more than happy to help you out with this. And that extends to the rest of you as well!" He suddenly wheeled around, all the students on the wall blinking as he pointed to them. "My offer isn't just for Midoriya - I'd be more than happy to help you guys out if you wanted to spar, and I'm sure Tamaki and Himiko over there would love to as well!"

"Yes!" Himiko grinned happily, hopping a bit as she smirked and looked around at a few select students, "I'd love to get some one-on-one time with a few of you."

"You mean all of you." Tenko raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that thing."

"S-sparring?" Tamaki muttered, looking more and more awkward by the second as a few people looked at him, "I - I don't know - uh -"

"Oh, man," Eijirou pumped his fists, "no way I can turn something like that down!"

"Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me," Hanta chuckled, glancing at Setsuna as she straightened up as well, "getting a few pointers from third years? That sounds pretty good, doesn't it, tush bro?"

"Dude," She leaned over and muttered to him, her eyes alight with delight as he grinned at her, "this is exactly what I need. Hell to the fucking yes I'll try and kick our senpai's ass."

"Just don't be surprised if - or probably when - he ends up kicking your ass."

"Hey, it is an ass worth kicking."

"…"

"… okay, I'll admit, that one sounded a lot better in my head."

"I mean," Itsuka shrugged, glancing at Ochako with her own grin, "… I guess experience is experience, no matter how we get it. If one of our senpai's is offering to spar with us, we probably shouldn't turn it down. How about you? Interested?"

"Of course!" Ochako clenched her fist, while everyone else began muttering excitedly about getting some bonus training in. "I'm getting pumped up just thinking about it!"

"Alright!" Tenko suddenly called for attention, causing everyone to falter in their conversations as he put his notebook under his arm and looked around, "I guess if we've got that out of the way, and if you're all cool with eventually doing some training with Togata, Amajiki and Toga here -"

"Oh, please, no," Tamaki whined silently.

"- we should probably wrap it up! School let out a half hour ago, so I imagine that you guys'll want to be heading home soon. So head to the changerooms and start getting changed, and I'll be seeing you guys tomorrow! I start working with Ingenium and Aizawa on times you guys can meet up with Togata - and maybe I'll talk to Vlad King as well to see if we could extend this to Class 1B as well. A few early joint-training lessons here or there would probably do you guys a world of favors."

Everyone quickly nodded and agreed to start heading home, and from there, their small 'class' was dismissed, with Mirio hurrying forward to grab both Tamaki and Himiko around the shoulders to hurry them out, Himiko complaining about him pressing his sweaty naked body up against her while Tamaki wasn't sure if he should feel embarrassed or thanking every god above. Once they were out, with Mirio giving their underclassmen a wave as they left, Class 1A started to head towards the changerooms, realizing they were still in their hero costumes covered in dust from their fight with All Might, and in desperate needs of a few showers.

As they all moved out of the gym, Izuku let out a small sigh and jogged over to where Ochako and Itsuka were waiting for him near the wall, Itsuka looking around at where Mirio and his friends had went with a small, unsure look on her face.

"So, uh …" Izuku rubbed the bruise on his eye, wincing slightly, "... that was … certainly a thing, huh?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, reaching out and brushing her finger against the bruise on his face and making him wince, quickly withdrawing her hand and giving him an apologetic look, "Oh, uh - sorry, Deku. Anyway, we should probably -"

"Hey, guys."

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked at how quiet Itsuka's voice was, looking around at her in confusion. She was still staring after where their upperclassmen had vanished, a small frown on her face as she scrunched her brow slightly, clearly thinking.

"Uh … Kendou? What's up?"

"Nothing, just …" She slowly shook her head, biting her lip slightly before glancing back over at her friends, "… Mirio Togata."

"Er …" Ochako glanced at Izuku unsurely, "… yeah? What about him?"

"I'm … I was just thinking, but … is it just me, or have we heard that name before?"

Izuku and Ochako blinked at that, glancing between each other again as Itsuka glanced between them - and then they faltered again, feeling their eyes widen.

"Wait …" Izuku glanced down at his feet, his mind beginning to work, "now that you mention it … I … think we have?"

"Yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, thinking, "I - yeah, we have. Now that you mentioned it, Kendou, yeah, we - we've definitely heard his name before. But … from where?"

The three of them quietly glanced down at their feet, attempting to remember where exactly they had first heard Mirio's name and drawing a blank - but then Itsuka shook her head, letting out a small sigh as she reached out to lightly punch Izuku's shoulder, getting both their attentions.

"It's … I guess it's not too important right now," She laughed a bit, "it'll probably come to me in the middle of the night and I'll feel stupid. Anyway, I really need a shower - Midoriya, do you mind waiting a little bit longer for us? We might take a while in the changing room."

"Huh? Oh, uh, right," Izuku blinked, quickly nodding, "I don't mind waiting. You guys can take however long you need."

"Well, when you put it like that," Ochako giggled, "I guess we'll see you in half an hour, then, Deku."

"Half an - no, never mind, I'm not waiting that long."

"Ouch!"

Laughing, the trio walked together out of Gym Gamma and towards the changing room, both girls splitting away from him as Itsuka pushed the door open, Izuku distantly hearing the sound of showers going.

"We'll probably take about ten minutes, Deku," Ochako promised as she waved to her best friend, and Izuku smiled as they both headed inside. Taking a second to sigh and stretch his back slightly, he began walking towards the guys' changing room, wanting to take his own shower and wincing as he brushed his hand against the bruise on his face.

He was a bit stiff and sore after everything today - from being manhandled by All Might carrying him around like a sack of potatos, to getting into a fight with Mirio that resulted in a black eye and a bruised side, and the fact that he fired off a bolt of lightning at full blast was catching up to him, making him wince as he waved his hand in the air. Maybe a warm shower would help him out with the bruises -

"Oh, does it hurt?"

At the curious voice behind him, Izuku straightened up quickly, his eyes going wide as he looked around. Sure enough, Nejire was watching him waving his hand in the air, blinking curiously at how red his arm looked, and moved out of the gym to give it a closer look.

"Oh, uh - Hadou," Izuku quickly blinked, taking a step back from the changing room door, "I - I thought you had already -"

"Left?" She guessed, giggling when he went a bit red, and she shook her head. "Nah, I think everyone kinda needs a shower today after what happened at the USJ, and there aren't a lot of stalls in the showers, you know? Like, did you ever notice there's more girls in class than there are boys? So I'm okay with waiting! I'm not sure if anyone in our class would be okay with me sharing their showerhead, and I take a while to wash all my hair."

"Er - yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, although he could feel his cheeks burning at their topic of discussion - really, he had no business talking to a girl about showers - but then Nejire caught his attention again by smacking her hand into her open palm, reminiscent of when Mirio had done it.

"But anyway!" She suddenly hopped forward, standing right in front of him and putting her hands behind her back as she smiled up at him. "Midoriya, I remember what I was gonna ask you earlier."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked again, staring down at her in surprise. "Earlier?"

"Yeah! When we were hiding together! And then All Might interrupted us and made me run away. Which kinda sucked, because I was asking you questions, but anyway! That doesn't matter right now. So - Midoriya."

She straightened up, and Izuku - well, for some reason, he felt like something was off. Nejire was giving him a look of such utter seriousness, it took him aback - he was so used to seeing her peppy and joyful, seeing her without any kind of smile on her face made his heart quicken slightly - but for some reason, it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling.

"So - I have a question for you."

"Uh …" Izuku faltered a bit - he had the strangest feeling that something was going on here, but he couldn't quite put his finger on what - "… y-yes, Hadou?"

"I was wondering …" Nejire hesitated, and then glanced away, her cheeks going a bit pink. Izuku was feeling more and more confused by the second, and was about to open his mouth to ask if she was feeling okay, when she suddenly asked, in a hurried tone, "… are you doing anything this Friday? After school?"

"Uh - F-Friday?" Izuku repeated, blinking a bit at the odd question, and glanced to the side, trying to remember if he had anything going on that day after school - and being completely unaware of Nejire stealing a small glance at him, looking hopeful. "I … uh … I don't think so. I - I assume training for the sports festival, but - n-no, I - I don't think I have anything planned."

"G-great!" Nejire stuttered a bit, a smile slightly reppearing before she saw Izuku's confused look, "I mean - well, not great, but - uh - well, I was wondering, um - if you aren't busy - maybe you'd wanna - uh -"

Izuku felt his own cheeks starting to burn, for some reason, staring down at Nejire as she clearly tried to muster up the courage to say whatever she wanted to say - and then she let out a tense breath, and nodded to herself.

"- I was wondering if you … maybe … wanna do some training with me?" She offered, which made Izuku blink in surprise. "I was thinking of going to a beach near my house to do a few laps on it - I do a bit of running, you know - and I thought that I'd - y'know, maybe ask if you wanted to come with me. Yuuyu's got a meeting with her class on that day, so it'll just be me, and it's kinda a busy beach, so I thought if you came with me, I wouldn't have to worry about guys trying to hit on me -"

"Uh …"

"Oh! Wait, I'm - I'm just rambling." Nejire giggled nervously, which made Izuku more and more confused - since when had she ever been nervous? "W-what do you say, Midoriya?"

"Er - uh -" Izuku stammered for a second, feeling his face continue to go red as Nejire gave him another hopeful look - but still, he found himself nodding. "- I - I guess so? I - I mean - y-yeah, we can - if you wanted to do some training, I can - I can come with you?"

"Really?!" She suddenly gasped, surprising him as her eyes lit up, and he gave her another awkward nod.

"Y-yeah," Izuku confirmed, trying to give her a shaky smile, "it - it sounds like fun."

"Great." Nejire slowly nodded, speaking in a quiet voice - and then she straightened up, her wide smile returning full force and making him wince at the sudden brightness emmiting from her. "Great! That's - that's super! Awesome! I'll send you a text later about where we're going, and what we'll need to wear!"

"I - uh - s-sure. Yeah."

"Oh, and bring your wallet, too! If you want, we can go out for dinner afterwards! I'll buy, but y'know, you shouldn't go anywhere without your wallet, just to be safe! Because I've forgotten my wallet before, and it was super embarrassing when I went grocery shopping and I didn't have any money to pay the cashier. Oooooh, that's a bad memory."

"Er - I - I guess so," Izuku nodded, letting out a small laugh at the thought of Nejire having no wallet to pay an unamused cashier while Nejire giggled along with her, and she quickly moved away over to the changing room, Izuku looking around to see Tsuyu exiting the showers and giving them both a wave as she headed out of the gym. Izuku couldn't quite concentrate on that, however, as he found himself taken aback by the odd pep in Nejire's step as she opened the door.

"But anyway, we're going to have so much fun on Friday!" She gushed, giving him a big smile as she leaned against the door, "I'm really excited! We're going to have an awesome date!"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling and laughing as she beamed back at him, "that sounds -"

And that was when what she had said finally registered to him, making Izuku stop right in his tracks.

Nejire, of course, didn't notice as she practically skipped into the changing room, humming happily to herself as she shut the door behind her, while Izuku froze where he was standing, the last word the blue-haired fairy had said echoing around in his mind. He stood there for about a minute, not even noticing Yosetsu and Denki awkwardly coming out of the changing room and having to move around him, giving him an odd look as he stood there, blinking - and then, slowly, all the blood in his body went to his face as his jaw dropped, making him feel suddenly light-headed.

"- we're going to have an awesome what?" He squeaked.

Notes:

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/827966679253516318/1019328882744234004/SPOILER_unknown.png
And that was Chapter 21! My apologies for making you all wait for so long - as you could see above, I wanted to base this chapter off the first OVA, only to reminded how much they really like to play up Katsuki in those things, so writing meant I had to take regular hour long intervals every time they acted like Katsuki had the sun shining out of his ass. As you may understand, writing was quite difficult.

Anyway, as many of you have noticed, this chapter brought up one thing I know a lot of people were waiting for - addressing Katsuki's behaviour the last couple chapters. I do recognize that I may be playing up Katsuki's jerkness and how much he was an asshole - but again, I have a plan! *in my best Dutch Van Der Linde voice* I HAVE A GODDAMN PLAN!

But anyway, I hope you're all excited for our upcoming chapters concerning our trio having to face their greatest opponent during the sports festival!

 

... hm? What's that? What about who? Oh, very well.

*BLARES THE SIREN*

ATTENTION TO ALL ON DECK! BEST GIRL HAS MADE HER MOVE! OCHAKO AND ITSUKA ARE IN SHAMBLES! IZUOCHAKENDOU IS AT RISK OF SINKING IN FAVOR OF THE SS IZUNEJIRE! EITHER ABANDON ALL DECKS OR PREPARE TO BE BOARDED!

In any case, thank you guys for reading! Coming up next, as a vague spoiler: https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4c/2c/bf/4c2cbf8b2b2acace1eb3396f7216d373.jpg

Chapter 22: Birds of a Feather

Summary:

As the day of reckoning (a.k.a. the big date) finally comes, all three members of our trio will be forced to confront feelings of theirs - both positive and negative.

Notes:

I'mma just warn you all upfront - this chapter is 33,000+ words. I have no idea what happened. I am so sorry. Please enjoy.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"THE MORNING IS HERE! THE -"

BEEP

The alarm clock that he had on the table beside his bed, set to go off at five o'clock on the dot, didn't even have any time to go off due to Izuku reaching over and pressing the button before it could blare All Might's voice for any longer than it had to. This, of course, was mostly due to the fact that Izuku was already wide awake by that point, letting out a small sigh as he moved his arm back onto the bed, and continued his silent staring contest with the dark ceiling, laying there in his pajamas while his heart beat uncomfortably hard in his chest.

The reason he was already awake? And probably wouldn't be able to go back to sleep? Well …

As though he had summoned her by thought alone, his phone, which had been laying on the bed beside him, suddenly vibrated, indicating that he had just gotten a message. Feeling his brow furrow at the bright light appearing in his dark room, Izuku reached over himself to grab it, fumbling for a second and grumbling before he got a hold of it, and lifted it up, turning it on the side to see who was texting him - and as more messages began to pop in one by one, he felt his cheeks begin to turn red.

 

NEJIRE HADOU

hi midoriya! good morning!

today's the day! i'm so excited!

we're going to the beach!

i just remembered, please bring some sun-tan lotion! for your skin!

ooh! and your wallet!

and a towel! in case we go in the water!

and your swimtrunks! i don't think you wanna go swimming in your school uniform

wait we might not be swimming at all, i just remembered

but still bring them just to be safe!

anyway! i'll see you at school!

have fun with your run later!

can't wait for tn!

 

With a small sigh, Izuku slowly lowered the phone down onto his chest, turning his gaze upwards to continue to stare blankly up at the ceiling, and desperately trying to pretend that his heart wasn't trying to beat its way out of his chest.

Indeed, today was Friday. The day he would go on a 'date' with Nejire after school.

Letting out another small, shuddering breath, Izuku closed his eyes, and then swung his legs out from underneath his covers so he could sit up, shivering a bit at the cold air as he stood up and stretched, feeling his shoulders pop as he raised his arms over his head. He knew that sleep wasn't going to be coming back to him anytime soon - he'd pretty much been lying awake for about an hour now, having a staring contest with the roof while both dreading and feeling nervous about today. Two sides of himself were currently locked in combat, making his stomach feel like it was twisting as he raised his hand to rub his eyes.

Part of him was pretty much demanding he get to school as quickly as he could, and the other part of him was heavily fighting the other half to try and call in sick. He was feeling both excited to see Nejire today and absolutely dreading the moment he sees her. He was impatient for the day to end so he could head off with her to train on the beach, while also begging Father Time to put a pause so it would never come.

So he was feeling … well, to sum it up, he was feeling pretty mixed about what he and Nejire would be doing after school today.

Yawning, Izuku moved quietly out of his room, scooping up his school uniform and his backpack - which had already been filled with his stuff for after school, Izuku having a near nervous breakdown last night while simply packing it all up - and began quietly tiptoeing his way into the bathroom, moving quietly so as not to wake up his snoring father on the couch, a glance into the living room showing Hisashi lying awkwardly on his side with his blanket almost falling off him. Once he was inside the bathroom, Izuku let out another sigh as he winced from flicking on the lights, moving over to the bathtub to pull the curtain closed and start up the shower.

His mind felt a bit sluggish as he turned the dial up, wincing at the stream of cold water that he briefly ran his hand under, and then moved towards the mirror as he took off his pajamas. Dropping them into the laundry basket beside the counter, Izuku glanced up into the mirror as it began to fog up from the steam beginning to come from the shower - and felt himself sigh again at the utter dull-eyed look on his face, raising his hand and gently scratching his cheek.

He was going … on a date with Nejire. An - an actual date. These thoughts had been on his mind pretty much all week long, his mind unable to comprehend that he was going out on an outing with the girl that sat in front of him, and kept turning in her seat to smile and talk to him. He was pretty much … well, to say that he was shocked would be an understatement. He had spent the last two days in an almost zombie-like trance, walking to and from UA with a shocked, wide-eyed look that he knew had concerned Itsuka and Ochako, both of them uncertain about what was going on but still guiding him along so he didn't walk into any lampposts. Although, they couldn't really help him when he ended up staring off into space in class, only being brought back to reality by Midnight smacking him upside the head with her flogger.

But now … now the time had come, Izuku felt himself shake as he stepped into the shower, standing underneath the now warm water as he stared blankly down at his feet. Today was the day that he never thought would come - the day that he finally went on his first date.

But this … this wasn't what he thought would happen at all! He thought dates meant going to an amusement park, eating crêpes while holding hands! Not - not going to a beach where he wouldn't have a shirt on, and he'd have to see his date wearing - wearing a -

- oh, god, do not imagine Nejire in a bikini!

Izuku let out another groan as he pressed his forehead against the shower wall. So all in all, no, he was not handling the fact he was going on a date very well. Especially considering …

… well, ever since the word 'date' had left her lips, Izuku couldn't help but realize that … well … okay, look, he was a teenage guy. Many people would scoff and laugh about this fact, or outright deny that it was possible, but Izuku was not immune from thinking that girls were pretty. That girls were beautiful. That girls were … or, well, that they could be … they could be … sexy.

He was a teenage guy! Of course he would think these things!

And Nejire was … well, by all extents, she was pretty much … she was pretty much all three of those. She was cute, she was beautiful, and she could be very … er. He felt his face go very red, feeling like the steam from the shower was actually coming from his face as he closed his eyes, imagining a beautiful girl in a very skin tight costume, that hugged every curve and -

- no, Izuku, calm down! Do not imagine her like that, or he wouldn't even be able to look her in the eye today!

Letting out another tired groan, Izuku reached for his shampoo, squirting some into his hand before he began to scrub the liquid into his hair. Nejire was … very cute. Someone who also really liked getting up in his face, brushing her hand against his arm when she passed by him, smiling whenever he laughed at something Eijirou was joking about. And … well, ever since she referred to this little outing of theirs as a 'date', Izuku couldn't help but notice it even more than he did before.

Noticing … her.

Izuku wasn't an idiot, he sighed as he closed his eyes and let the water wash out the shampoo in his hair. It wasn't like he had never crushed on other people before today - once, he had a crush on a popular girl back in middle school, but her spitefully calling him a villain while some of Katsuki's cronies shoved him around had been more than enough to kill that crush completely. And it wasn't like he didn't notice beautiful pro heroines before either - Midnight strutting into class for the first time last week had made him blush a bright red, along with half of the class as well.

So no, Izuku wasn't exactly some oblivious idiot when it came to girls -


In two entirely different places in the city, both Ochako and Itsuka were startled awake by sneezing.


- and his new friend was … well … she was definitely very hard to ignore.

It was just … okay, Izuku would have to be honest with himself here, frowning slightly as he turned the dial for the shower off and began shivering in the cold air. He knew that Nejire was … she was a very attractive person. But there was one tiny problem with this situation that he couldn't help but think about.

What … exactly did he feel for her? Not - not physically, he knew exactly how he felt about that. More ... how did he feel for her emotionally.

And that … wasn't exactly an easy question for him to answer, Izuku sighed as he pulled the curtain back and moved out of the tub, grabbing his towel to begin scrubbing through the curls on his head to get his hair dried.

In truth, he knew that Nejire was unlike anyone he'd met before - someone who had completely and, without a shadow of a doubt, expressed an interest in spending time with him, something that hadn't happened since he met Ochako when they were kids. But … well, there was a part of him that was uncertain about how he actually felt about her, because they had only really known each other for about two weeks. And a few of those times, he hadn't really … had an actual conversation with her.

As in, they definitely talked in their group, and in their chat, and there were a few times they talked on their own, but that was always during class, or lunch or on their breaks. So the amount of times he had spent alone with Nejire and just - talking with her was … pretty much nonexistent.

So the fact that he didn't have an idea about how he felt for a girl he pretty much agreed to go on a date with was kind of scary.

Like … what would happen if he messed up? Izuku felt himself gulp as he lowered the towel from around his head, looking into the foggy mirror to see his nervous expression as he continued to dry himself off. It was pretty easy to appear like he had his crap together when he was with other people, but this was - this was just going to be between him and her. No Ochako and Itsuka around to make sure he didn't come across as a -

- wait.

Izuku felt himself falter as an idea came to him, staring at his reflection in shock as he paused his attempts to dry off. Maybe … maybe that was it! Nejire did kind of imply that they were just going to train, so maybe - maybe inviting Ochako and Itsuka to come with them would save him from being an awkward idiot! He definitely didn't feel awkward around them - most of the time - so asking them if they wanted to come train with the two of them would definitely help keep him calm!

Besides, Izuku let out a tense chuckle, resuming his attempts to dry himself off, he was - he was probably overthinking things. Nejire asking him on a date - she probably didn't mean it, didn't she? No way, no how! She had probably been joking about it being a date. Yeah, yeah, that made sense.

… but what if she wasn't?! Izuku let out a small whine as he smacked a hand to his eyes, hunching over slightly. What if he was underestimating everything?! Or overestimating everything?! God, what'll he do if she tries to hold his hand?! Or if he thinks she wants to hold his hand, and do something that would make their friendship awkward?!

Letting out another weak, defeated groan, Izuku put the towel into the clothes bin and began moving to get dressed, opting to wear his uniform to school and get changed there - Itsuka had plans to do a run this morning with their group, so he would just get changed into his gym stuff when he got to school. As he began doing up his tie, he glanced at his reflection, frowning at the nervous look on his red face.

No matter what he did, he knew he wasn't going to be able to calm down or think about this rationally. Either he was about to make an idiot out of himself on a date with one of the most beautiful girls he'd ever seen, or he was going to do something that would make his friendship with her super awkward. No in between, no thoughts of positivity here. He was either going to do something that was going to make him want to die of embarrassment, or she was going to do something that killed him of embarrassment anyway.

Opening the bathroom door again, Izuku walked out of the now steamy room completely and utterly defeated, his thoughts only on how much he was going to mess up today as he slung his backpack over his shoulders -

"Gotta say, Izuku, you're muttering a lot earlier than usual."

He jumped slightly, eyes widened at the sound of an amused, chuckling voice coming from the dark living room, and looked around just in time for the lamp beside the couch to flick on. With a yawn, Hisashi sat up from where he was laying on his side, stretching his arms over his head and smacking his lips slightly as he grinned up at his son, lowering one arm to wipe the drool from the corner of his lips and using the other to pat down his own messy hair.

"Dad," Izuku blinked, standing near the hallway in surprise. "I - oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you up?"

"Nah, I've been in and out of sleep for a little while," Hisashi shook his head, smiling as he leaned back against the couch he'd been sleeping on and lowering his voice - probably to make sure Inko didn't get woken up by their talking - "I was working a bit later than usual last night on my assignments, so - well, I'm probably going to nap this afternoon, but that's something your mom can poke me awake for later. Anyway, that's why I'm awake so early - how about you?"

"Oh, uh -" Izuku paused for a moment, glancing around at the front door and gulping a bit - technically, he still had a bit of time before he had to leave - "well, Kendou wants Occhan and me to arrive early for school - we're gonna start training for the sports festival today, so she wants us, Tokage and Kodai to go for an early morning run around the school."

"Interesting," Hisashi slowly nodded, smiling up at his son as he glanced over his uniform, "honestly, it still kind of takes me aback - last time I saw you in person you were as thin as a stick, and then when I get back, you somehow packed on all those muscles after getting taught martial arts for a year? I wouldn't be surprised if you end up bench pressing the couch at some point."

"I … don't think Mom would be very happy with me like it if I did that," Izuku chuckled a bit, glancing down at his feet. Well, Hisashi had been correct about a martial artist being involved in his training, but he didn't know a lot of the muscle his son had put on came from a much more surprising trainer.

But in any case, he should probably make his way over to the Urarakas soon to get Ochako moving as well so they could start heading to school - there was supposed to be more people coming for their run this morning, but Nejire and Yuuyu had said that they had to do something else, which made Izuku blush a bit when he thought of the blue-haired -

- wait. Wait a second.

"Well, if you've got places to be, Izuku, don't let me stop you," Hisashi yawned again, scooting a bit so he could get up and stretch his back, "I think I'll be surprising your mom and the Urarakas for once - this is the first time I've been awake before her, so I think for breakfast -"

"Uh, Dad?"

Hisashi paused in his attempt to stand up, glancing back over at Izuku when he heard the quiet and nervous tone in his son's voice. Izuku was looking away from him, but Hisashi could tell that he was tense, his shoulders a bit stiff and his hands wriggling together as a small tinge of red appeared on his cheeks.

"Er - yeah, Izuku? What's up?"

"O-oh, nothing - nothing much, just … I, uh …" Izuku hesitated again, and then reached up to scratch the scar on his cheek, "I was just … wondering if I could ask you for some - some advice."

"Advice?" Hisashi repeated, and then shrugged, sitting back down on the couch. "Er - I guess, Izuku. What's going on? Everything okay?"

"Oh, uh - y-yeah, everything's okay," Izuku quickly nodded, moving into the living room and putting his backpack down on the floor so he could sit on the couch beside his dad, Hisashi leaning back in his seat a bit as Izuku remained sitting forward, his elbows resting on his knees, "I was just … uh … I was just wondering …"

Hisashi slowly nodded, letting his son find his words. Izuku stayed still for a moment, his mouth slowly opening as he obviously tried to figure out a way to voice what was on his mind - and then he let out a defeated sigh as he decided to wing the question.

"… if … if you were heading out o-on a - a - on a date - what would you do so you don't mess it up?"

There was a good ten seconds of long silence in the living room as Izuku stared down at his socks, and Hisashi stared blankly at him. Then, as the silence started to feel more than a little uncomfortable, Izuku stole a small glance at his dad out of the corner of his eyes, and felt a bit confused at the sight of Hisashi staring at him with a look of complete surprise as he slowly blinked.

"Er … Dad? Are you -"

"You've got a date?" Hisashi repeated, and Izuku let out a small squeak as he quickly looked back down at the floor, color immediately flooding his cheeks. A smile appeared on his dad's face, one that made Izuku immediately slide into panic mode. "You've - you've got a date? Is - is it with O-"

"J-just a friend!" Izuku was quick to correct him, making Hisashi blink in surprise while his son continued to look very uncomfortable and hesitant, "Or - it - it might be a date - or - it's a - I'm - I'm not really sure."

"You're … not sure?"

"W-well, uh … no, I'm not." He sighed, staring glumly ahead of him while Hisashi leaned back and tried as hard as he could to not give away his own excitement that it was very much possible that ten years of waiting might finally be paying off, and Inko and Miwa might be doing somersaults during breakfast this morning. "She - she said it was a date, but I - I don't know, she might've been joking. I'm just wondering … well …"

"Yeah?"

"… I don't know," He groaned, folding his hands together as he turned his gaze down to the floor, "I just … I don't know if this is actually a date or not, and … and I'm not really sure if I want it to be? Or if I don't want it to be?"

"You're not sure?" Hisashi raised an eyebrow, "So … sorry, Izuku, let's back it up a bit. What exactly is going on?"

"Er - right," Izuku quickly nodded, realizing that he was leaving out a few pieces of information, "so, uh - one of my friends is asking me to - to go with her to train for the sports festival. And - and it makes sense to train together, so - so I agreed. But then she called it a date, and - and is telling me to bring my swimsuit and my towel and my - and my everything. And she's - she's really excited for it, too, and I - I don't exactly know what's going on anymore."

"I … see," Hisashi slowly nodded, his mind now trying to connect the dots - whoever this girl was, she sounded assertive, perhaps more so than he knew Ochako was. So maybe … it wasn't her? Maybe he had to call the Kendous this morning and offer congratulations?

However, before he could put more thought into it, Izuku let out another sigh.

"It's just …" He hesitated, "... I'm kinda scared that if this is something serious, I'm gonna … I'm gonna end up messing everything up. So - so how do I make sure I don't come across as awkward? Or - or scare her off?"

Hisashi gave his son another few seconds of quiet so he could wind down from how clearly anxious he was about this, Izuku taking a few seconds to try and control his breathing. With a small sigh, Hisashi slowly nodded, bringing his foot up to rest on the coffee table while giving his son a comforting smile, reaching out to pat his shoulder.

"I don't know, Izuku," He joked a bit, "from the sound of things, this kinda does seem like it's a date. Or at least, whoever this … er … lucky girl is, you sound pretty serious about her."

"I … don't know," Izuku shook her head, "and … I'm kinda scared to find out."

"Well … if you want my advice," Hisashi smiled, "if you're scared of coming across as awkward for this kind of thing, don't be. Trust me when I say this, kid, it's way easier to act like yourself instead of someone you're not."

"I'm …"

"See, that was my first mistake when I tried going out with your mom for the first time," His dad shook his head, chuckling sheepishly, "I was trying way too hard to act cool and confident, and that just turned your mom right off. I'm lucky I ended up getting a second date with her. The second time around, though, I acted more like myself, and that endeared me to her a lot better than me trying to second-guess every little thing to impress her."

"R-really?" Izuku blinked at that, feeling surprised - his parents' first date hadn't worked out? Before he could think about that, though, Hisashi patted his shoulder again.

"So I guess if I've got any advice for you," He smiled comfortingly, "you want this girl to like you for you, not someone you're trying to be. So I wouldn't approach this as a date - approach it like you're going out for a … a social outing with one of your friends. One that you might get a kiss at the end of. So just be yourself, pay attention to her, make sure she's having a fun time, and Izuku, for the love of god," He gave him a serious look, "if you go out for something to eat, do not let her handle the bill by herself. Good lord."

"I …" Izuku felt himself pause for a moment, blinking slowly to himself as he glanced away. His father's words rung in his head - act like he was just going out to hang with Nejire? Just - be himself? It didn't quite make him feel comforted, seeing as he was a ball of anxiety and hero trivia, but - but maybe it was like what his dad was saying - he was overthinking things.

It wasn't like - well, he knew that he didn't want to come across as weird to Nejire, but … well … it wasn't like Nejire wasn't a little weird either, he reluctantly thought with a blush. So maybe instead of overthinking what was about to happen, and … and fearing what was to come, maybe … instead he should just treat this as something he'd do with Ochako and Itsuka.

He just … needed to come at it from an angle he knew. He'd spent plenty of time training with them on the beach. So this wasn't much different, was it?

"I … I'll keep that in mind, Dad," Izuku sighed, leaning back slightly and turning to give his dad a small smile, "I'll … yeah. Thank you."

"Good," Hisashi nodded, smiling kindly down at his son, and then turned to look over at the wall, his own face turning pensive. There was another small silence in the living room as Izuku slowly came to grips with what he had to do and trying to feel more excited than nervous for after school, and Hisashi was fine with everything quieting down a bit - and then he said, in a low, curious voice, "Hey, Izuku?"

"Yeah?"

"I was just thinking," He shrugged, trying to come across as unconcerned, but his eyes flickered over to his son as though to gauge his reaction, "but, well … I've been curious about something for a while now, and I was just wondering if you noticed … uh …"

Izuku felt his brow furrow a bit, looking around at his dad as he trailed off awkwardly, and glanced at him again.

"… your mom, and …" He hesitated again, and then sighed and shook his head, "… and Coach Yagi."

"H-huh?" Izuku felt himself straighten up a bit, unsure as to where exactly this was going (but feeling his stomach lurch slightly for some reason), "Uh - w-what about them?"

"Oh, nothing much," Hisashi quickly shook his head, tapping his finger against his knee and watching Izuku's face carefully as he leaned back against the couch, "I was just noticing that they, uh … well, they seem to get along together, don't they? Like they seem to enjoy each other's company."

"Uh … y-yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, not entirely sure what was going on now but feeling more and more like this was a conversation that he wasn't exactly sure he wanted to be a part of, "why?"

"Oh, well, I was just … wondering how you … felt about that," Hisashi shrugged, glancing off to the side at last, "Coach Yagi, I mean. He's - he's a good guy, right?"

"Er - y-yeah?"

"Yeah, that's - that's the impression I got about him too. So I was just, uh … wondering …" Hisashi hesitated again, and Izuku was suddenly struck by the feeling that he needed to leave, and fast, "… since your mom likes spending time with him, I was … pretty much just wondering how you would feel if her and Coach Yagi were to -"

"A-anyway!" Izuku suddenly squeaked, hopping up and surprising his dad as he looked back around at him in shock. "I - I just remembered, I've - I've gotta make sure Occhan is awake, we - we gotta go soon! I should, uh - I should get going."

"Oh, uh, r-right," Hisashi quickly nodded, taken out of it and watching as Izuku quickly scooped his bag up from the floor, "I - I guess in that case, I should get started on breakfast soon."

"Y-yeah. Thanks for - thank you for the advice, Dad, I'll - I'll keep it in mind for later today. I - I think I know what to do now when it comes to Hadou," Izuku slowly nodded, beginning to walk out to the hall while slinging his bag over his shoulders, "just … keep calm and treat everything like normal. I - I think I can do that. Have - have a good rest of your day."

"Yeah, that - that sounds good, Izuku. Good luck today wiiiiiiiiith …"

Izuku, of course, was unaware of the sound of his father's voice trailing off as he realized what his son had just said, with Izuku instead opening the door and quickly stepping out into the cool morning air. As he closed it behind him, Izuku felt himself nod, determined not to let things with Nejire get awkward today, and to not panic in front of her as he began to walk over to the Urarakas' apartment -

- and being completely unaware of Hisashi staring blankly at the spot Izuku had disappeared around the corner from, half-risen up from the couch and hearing the sound of his son's footsteps walking next door.

And then, in a blank, confused tone, Hisashi asked the empty room, "… who the hell is Hadou?"


All that stuff about Izuku being determined not to let things with Nejire get awkward? And to just enjoy his time with her after school and not get anxious?

Yeah, that was pretty much out the window now. Now he was utterly terrified.

The day had ended up going by much quicker than he would have liked. Izuku couldn't help but gulp nervously as he tried to focus all of his attention on the board in front of him, watching as Tensei wrote down another note before turning to lean against the podium, chuckling and laughing about a story from last year while he was on duty. Something that Izuku would've found extremely interesting, and be writing down notes a mile a minute right now, if it weren't for the fact his gaze kept flickering from the board to the clock on the wall, and then to the girl sitting in front of him bouncing in her seat.

As Nejire let out another amused, happy giggle as she listened to Tensei's story, everyone laughing around them at the pro hero's tale about him slipping on a frozen puddle and sliding all the way down the street on his butt, Izuku found himself sweating heavily, staring blankly at the clock on the wall as he tried desperately to pretend that Nejire wasn't occasionally glancing at him from behind her shoulder in fear that he would melt in a pile of stress and terror. The entire day had been spent trying to pretend that everything was fine and he could act like a normal human being in front of her, but Nejire's excited little giggles had been enough to make him shrink in on himself like a turtle, unable to resist looking at the clock on the wall and seeing it tick down the seconds until class was finally over with a mixed feeling of excitement and dread.

Okay … it was all going to be okay. He tried desperately to go over what his dad had advised him this morning. He was going to be able to act normal when they got to the beach. They were just going to do some training for the sports festival - doing laps, that's what she said. He just needed to treat this as something he would do with Ochako and Itsuka - don't try to act confident (that wouldn't be hard seeing as he had the confidence of a guy who was bullied by everyone his entire life), make sure he paid attention to her (not that she was hard to ignore) and … pay the bill? Is that what his dad said? Er - right.

They were just going to hang out like he always did with Ochako and Itsuka.

Just … alone.

On a nice, hot day.

On a beach.

With swimsuits.

And Nejire being very, very pretty.

… oh, god, he was so -

The sound of the bell suddenly ringing above them made Izuku practically jump out of his skin, letting out a small squeak of terror that made everyone around him look at him curiously. He felt his face go red as he let out a meek 'Sorry', slowly leaning back in his seat as Nejire took the time to stretch her arms above her head, and Tensei was thankfully able to take the attention off of him as he sighed and straightened up at the podium.

"Well, I guess that's that," He chuckled half-heartedly, putting his pen down as he gave the class a smile, "I've gotta say, guys, it was a lot of fun getting to teach you all this last week or so, but looks like this is our last day. Honestly, I'm gonna miss you guys."

Mostly everyone in the class couldn't help but frown sadly at that, seeing their teacher lean over to grab his bag on the side of the podium, and there was the sound of chairs being pushed back as several students jumped up to run over to the podium. Quite honestly, Tensei wouldn't be the only one missing his presence in their class - some of Tenya's friends had wondered if he had talked his brother up when he had told them about him last week, but Tensei had blown Tenya's praise out of the water with how kind and humorous he was, especially compared to what they're used to with Aizawa.

So seeing him getting ready to leave was quite the saddening sight.

"We'll miss you, Ingenium-sensei!" Mina reached the podium first, looking like she was about five seconds from tearing up as Tensei smiled kindly down at them. "Do you ever think you'll come back to teach us again?"

"Yeah!" Pony nodded as well, balling her fists. "You're really good at it!"

"Well …" Tensei looked to the side, thinking for a moment as he gave a non-committed shrug, but still looked like he liked the idea, "… I wouldn't say right now, of course, since I have a few assignments to get to, and I'm heading off back to Hosu tonight, but … who knows? Now that I got some experience, I honestly wouldn't mind if I had to teach again. I guess if Nezu's open to having me come back, I'd love to."

"I hope so, kero," Tsuyu gave him a happy smile, "you're an awesome teacher, Ingenium-sensei."

"Yeah!" Eijirou likewise beamed up at him. "I hope you get to come back soon."

"Ah, stop, guys, you'll make me blush."

"Indeed!" Tenya suddenly threw his arm into the air, drawing the class's attention as he stood up from his seat. "I recognize that you all wish to send my brother off on a happy note, and I'm more than pleased that he's made quite the impression, but he still has to leave soon so that he can get to his train! Brother, do you have -"

"Yes, Tenya, I've got my ticket," Tensei laughed, already ten steps ahead of his little brother as he patted his costume's pocket, "but I guess you've got a point - if I end up fainting in the teacher's lounge because I passed out from how embarrassed I am from you guys flattering me too much, I got a feeling the Commission won't be happy with me."

With that, the teacher moved around the corner, patting people's shoulders or heads, or otherwise shaking their hands, before he made his way to the door with Tenya, who was obviously waiting for his older brother. With a chuckle, Tensei looked back around, raising his hand in farewell.

"I'll probably be in the teacher's lounge for a few minutes if you guys need me for anything else," He told them, "so I just wanna say that it was a pleasure to teach you guys this last week. You're all some of the strongest kids I've ever met, and I'm so excited to see what you guys can do going forward. Hopefully I'll be able to watch you guys on TV in two weeks during the sports festival, so keep training hard, aim for the top, and good luck!"

The students politely clapped for Tensei as he sank into a small bow, Itsuka having to wrap her enlarged hand around Eijirou when he began whistling loudly and hurting Kyouka's ears, and with one last wave, Tensei walked out the door, chuckling when Tenya quickly moved to follow him to the lounge (but offering no complaint, lightly smacking his brother's shoulder with the back of his hand) as the door slid closed, and everyone returned to their desks to grab their things and start heading home.

As it was Friday, they now had the entire weekend to themselves to get ready for training, but it became apparent that for a few people in Class 1A, their day at UA wasn't over just yet. Katsuki stomped through the door with the briefcase that held his hero costume, obviously headed off to do something by himself, while Eijirou wrapped his arms around Yosetsu and Hanta's shoulders as he started leading them out the door, their gym clothes in hand. Momo and Kyouka, meanwhile, grabbed their bags as they began walking out the door together, discussing places they could go to train both their quirks, and Itsuka and Ochako leaned against their desks, chatting about what they were going to do this weekend.

And yet, on the other side of the room, Izuku found his gaze slowly moving to the girl in front of him, gulping nervously as Nejire wheeled around in her seat and beamed at him.

"Sooooooo …" She tapped her feet against the floor, glancing over at the door, "… you good to go, Midoriya? Like - do you have anything you have to do before we leave? Like talk to people? Or go to the bathroom? I'd definitely go to the bathroom before we have to leave, no toilets on the train, after all - or maybe there are, and I never looked for them? But I don't think I'd go in there anyway just to be safe. But anyway, are you good?"

"I, uh …" Izuku glanced around for a second, feeling his face turning hot again as Nejire stood up from her desk - and then he slowly nodded, sighing, "… I'm … er … I don't think so. I - I think I'm good to -"

"Great! Then let's go!"

With sudden lightning speed, Nejire's hand zipped down and grabbed his wrist, and Izuku let out a yelp as he was practically yanked out of his seat by the excited girl. Barely managing to grab his yellow backpack from under his feet, Izuku had little choice but to let Nejire pull him through the classroom and right out the door, Nejire pretty much skipping as Izuku tried his hardest not to trip over himself as he attempted to match her pace lest he fall over and smack his face against the floor.

As Izuku vanished out the door, the sound of their feet moving away from the classroom fading away, both Itsuka and Ochako blinked from their desks, Ochako sitting up in her seat slightly, and turned to glance between each other. Ochako slowly felt a frown appear on her face, and Itsuka's own face became a bit cross as she turned back around and put her notebook in her bag with a little more force than necessary.

"Er … say, Itsuka, do you know what's going on with Deku and … Hadou this week?" Ochako decided to ask her, leaning back slightly in her seat as Itsuka sighed and moved her bag over her shoulder, "I swear that he's been avoiding looking at her for some reason, but he hasn't told me anything."

"I've got no clue," Itsuka shook her head, biting her lower lip slightly as she stared down at her desk for a moment - and then she quickly shook her head, letting out a small sigh as she tried to fix a smile on her face, and looked back around at Ochako.

"Er - anyway, Ochako, I … guess Midoriya's heading home with … her today. In that case, do you wanna -"

"Nope! You're ours today, Ken!"

Itsuka let out a sudden yelp as an arm suddenly wrapped around her shoulders securely, and dragged her down slightly to Setsuna's height as her friend let out a giggle. On her other side, Yui likewise hummed as she grabbed Itsuka's arm, and together, the two girls began frog marching their friend out of the room, with Itsuka sputtering in confusion and Ochako looking around at them in surprise as Setsuna flashed her an apologetic smile.

"Sorry, Uraraka! It's been like - an entire year since we've had something unhealthy, and we're afraid if Ken slips away with you, we'll just feel guilty. We're just gonna steal her for the afternoon, if that's okay! Just so we feel less guilty about pigging out."

"Oh, uh - y-yeah, that's - that's okay."

"I - what?" Itsuka looked between both her friends in slight alarm. "Set? Yui? What're you -?!"

"C'mon, Ken!" Setsuna giggled again, continuing to guide her friend out the door with Yui's assistance, "I've got a craving for burgers! And fries! And milkshakes! It's been so long since we've gotten to eat anything unhealthy, and Mama's hungry! Let's go get some junk food!"

"I - uh - I guess - er - but - but we should ask Ochako if -"

"Sorry," Yui shook her head, grimacing slightly, and then leaned in so she could mutter to her friend, "but … we kinda wanted to ask you something about her."

At that, Itsuka stopped, quickly looking around in alarm, and Setsuna raised her hand to pat her shoulder.

"Nothing bad," She assured her, "just … maybe something you might not want her to know about just yet. If you wanna tell her afterwards, you can - you should just hear us out first, though."

Itsuka felt her brow furrow at that, unsure, but still did little to resist Setsuna and Yui pushing her out of Class 1A's room, taking a bit of time to glance back at Ochako and give her an apologetic look as the brown-haired girl blinked somewhat in confusion. Finally, the door slid closed, leaving Ochako one of the last people in the classroom.

With a small sigh, Ochako frowned slightly, turning back in her seat as she bit the inside of her cheek. Well, there went her chances of hanging out with someone tonight, she supposed - she had thought about maybe asking Itsuka if she wanted to come over for dinner at her apartment again, so they could eat with her parents and the Midoriyas, but … well, apparently she had plans.

She had just … she didn't expect Izuku to have plans too. Or, well, more accurately, Nejire had plans, evidenced by how quickly she had pulled him out the door. So … it was probably just going to be her tonight.

Grimacing slightly, Ochako gently closed her eyes, breathing through her nose as she leaned forward to put her arms on her desk -

- but then a thought suddenly came to her, making her snap them open again as a sudden nagging feeling overcame her.

Wait … wasn't there something she was supposed to do before she went home?

Furrowing her brow, Ochako sat up so she could lean back in her seat, trying to think. By now most of her classmates had already left, with Mina, Tsuyu and Pony chatting by the pink girl's desk, so she had a bit of time to sit there and try to remember. She had a feeling that she had forgotten to do something, and now that she was thinking about it, it wouldn't leave her alone, making her sigh as she closed her eyes again.

Something about … school. Yeah, that was definitely it. Maybe something to do with the support studio? No, not there, the teachers told her and Itsuka that their costumes wouldn't be ready for repairs until after the sports festival. Maybe … she had to ask Aizawa about something?

No, not that either. Something to do with support items, maybe? Training?

… training. Yes, training! It had something to do with -

- oh.

Oh, now she remembered.

Snapping her eyes open again, Ochako sat forward in her seat, her mind beginning to race as her eyes widened. Of course - of course, she had completely forgotten. She had wanted to ask her more about it on Tuesday after she had snuck into their classroom, probably during the spar between Izuku and Mirio, but their senpai's … nakedness had completely driven that thought out of her head due to the sheer 'what the fuck'-ery.

But … but it was after school now, with nothing to do tonight. If she was still on campus …

Slowly nodding to herself, Ochako was quick to gather up her books and stuff them into her bag, pushing her seat back so she could stand up. At the sound of her seat being pushed back, Mina, Pony and Tsuyu looked around at her curiously, seeing the girl in the back packing up her stuff.

"Kero, are you leaving for the day, Uraraka?" Tsuyu called over to her, poking her lip as Ochako blinked and looked around at her.

"Huh? Oh, uh - kinda?" Ochako shrugged, giving the three girls a weak smile as she put her pens into her bag and quickly put the bag over her shoulders, "I've gotta do something, then - well, yeah, I'll probably be heading home."

"Oh, cool! We're actually going to head out to one of the training facilities here," Mina giggled, putting her bag down on her desk and pulling out her gym clothes for them all to look at, "we're thinking about practising for the sports festival while we've got time here - the teachers never said anything about us staying behind to train, and I bet UA's got a load of exercise equipment for us to play with."

"I'm gonna lift all the weights!" Pony declared, smacking her bicep while the two girls beside her let out giggles. "Do you wanna join us, Ochako-chan?"

"Oh, uh - thank you for the offer," Ochako smiled politely, bowing slightly, "but I should probably hurry before the person I want to talk to heads home. Maybe next time, though?"

"We'll hold you to that," Tsuyu flashed her the peace sign, "have yourself a good night, Ochako."

"You too, Asui!"

"Tsuyu."

"Er - right! Tsuyu!"

With that, Ochako quickly jogged out the door, waving to the three girls with a smile one more time as she slid the door shut again, and began quickly moving down the hall. With a small sigh, she tucked some of her hair behind her ear as she speed-walked through the hall - she knew that her senpai would probably be hanging around the nurse's office at this time, and all else fails, if she wasn't there, she could ask Recovery Girl to send a message for her.

So with renewed vigor, Ochako quickly began moving down the hallway, passing by a slightly open door -

"- those Class 1A idiots -"

Ochako's step faltered, however, as she passed by the open door, blinking as she registered what she had just heard. Someone calling her class … idiots?

With a small frown, she looked around at the open door, and her eyes trailed up to the sign near the top of the door - she was currently standing in front of the classroom right beside hers, so … Class 1B. And at the moment, she could hear the sound of people talking inside, a bit loudly and not sounding very pleased.

Feeling her brow scrunch, Ochako debated briefly on whether or not to listen in - it would be pretty rude, and it'd be awkward if she were to get caught, of course, but whoever was talking at the moment seemed pretty rude himself - but then, as she sighed and slowly began turning away, the sound of Yuuyu's voice suddenly speaking made her pause again.

"For fucks' sakes, Monoma, how many times do I have to tell you not to call them idiots?"

"Well, I apologize, Haya, that was my mistake. I should've just called them attention-seekers, would that make you feel better?"

"Oh, my - would you just stop with the dick-measuring contest you keep going on about and tell us why you wanted to call a meeting? Nej isn't waiting for me, so I wanna go home soon."

Ochako felt herself go still as the group quieted down - and then, against her better judgment, she let out a small sigh as she slowly moved towards the back door, gulping nervously as she leaned slightly against it and prayed that no one was looking in her general direction, and slowly peeked inside through the crack, ready to jump away at a moment's notice.

As previously suggested, the entire classroom was still full of students, despite the bell ringing about five minutes ago, although their teacher had obviously already left the room. She gulped a bit at the sight of every student staring up at the only two students not in their seats, standing up at the podium. Ochako, of course, instantly recognized Yuuyu at the side, looking annoyed and a bit cross as she crossed her arms together and tapped her foot against the floor as she leaned against the board, but it was the boy that was leaning against the podium who was obviously calling the shots at the moment, drawing Ochako's attention to him and making her feel more than a little nervous at the look on his face.

He was a bit taller than her, with neat blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but the scheming, calculating look on his face and the small smirk immediately filled Ochako with dislike towards him. It was quite odd, seeing as Yuuyu was the class rep and yet this guy clearly looked like he was in charge, his eyes scanning all of the students sitting down and thankfully missing Ochako peeking in through the barely open door.

"So," He tapped his fingers against the podium to get their attention, "I suppose you'd all like to know why I asked you to stay behind today."

"Well, duh," Came a girl's voice, and Ochako blinked as she looked around and saw … well, what looked to be a girl's school uniform with absolutely no one wearing it, the sleeves moving to cross its arms across its chest, "I gotta go home soon, Monoma, so can you hurry it up?"

"Yeah," Another boy near the window sighed, looking fairly normal except for the fact that he had no lips, and his teeth were on the outside of his skin, which made Ochako blink at him in surprise, "I do have to get to my job soon, and I'm sure that everyone else have things to do. So can we skip the theatrics?"

"Oh, very well," The guy named Monoma sighed, seemingly undeterred by his class's lack of enthusiasm if the smirk remaining on his face was anything to go by, leaning back slightly and continuing to lean against the podium, "I suppose we'll just have to skip the details so we can get to my plan. You see, I've been keeping my ears open since Monday, trying to listen to the small rumor mill that's been going around. And as you would happen to know, they've only been talking about one class ever since Monday morning."

"Oh, god," Another boy, with his head looking like a speech bubble, groaned.

"Class 1A." Monoma slowly nodded, ignoring the multiple groans that sounded throughout the classroom.

"Good lord, man," Another guy with brown hair and oval-shaped eyes looked annoyed, "I get that they've been sucking up everyone's attention, but can you go like - an hour without bringing them up?"

"Indeed," A girl spoke up, Ochako blinking at the long green vines on her head as she folded a hand against her chest, "such obsessions will be your undoing, Monoma."

"I mean, I wouldn't exactly put it like that," One furry guy at the front grimaced slightly, "but Lady Shiozaki has a point. You've been going on and on about them, Sir Monoma - it's not healthy to obsess with our other class as you have."

"Look," Monoma's smirk fell slightly, and Ochako gulped at the utterly serious look on his face as he leaned against the podium, "like it or not, they've become the talk of the school. You can't go anywhere here without someone talking them up about what happened last week."

"Uh … yeah?" Another guy leaned back in his chair, scratching the side of his black hair, "They survived a freakin' villain attack, dude. Who the hell else would they be talking about?"

"Well," Monoma's smirk suddenly snapped back onto his face, "that is exactly why I called this meeting, Kaibara. It's because we'll be taking advantage of that in the sports festival, just so we can rip the rug right out from under them."

That, at the very least, seemed to catch the attention of the entire class, their complaining fading slightly as they looked back up at their classmate, and Ochako couldn't help but gulp nervously again at the outright nefarious look on Monoma's face as he glanced around the classroom again, his smirk widening.

"You see," He continued to tap his finger against the podium, "we have multiple advantages that Class 1A doesn't have. And one of those is that they're way too busy basking in all the attention they're getting. And that's where we steal the show right out from under them. While they continue to coast on the glow of surviving against a few measly villains that got too big for their britches, we'll sneak underneath them. During the first competition in the sports festival, whichever it is, they always angle it so that over eighty percent of the competition is eliminated - so here's what I'm thinking: we'll deliberately underperform."

"What?!" The girl named Shiozaki gasped dramatically, her hand rising to put on her chest from the audacity.

"We'll underperform to lure Class 1A under a false sense of security," Monoma continued to explain, "to make them think that we're much weaker than we actually are. And then, when the second challenge comes - we rip the rug right out from under them as we ascend to the final round! All the heroes watching the sports festival will know that they should've been watching us instead."

"Okay," Yuuyu rolled her eyes as she leaned against the board, "say we go with your idea. You are forgetting one thing, though."

"Oh? And what would that be, Haya?"

"They've got Nej," Yuuyu couldn't help but smile gently at that, "and there's no chance in hell she's gonna let you kick her ass."

"Ah," Monoma tsked, looking condescending at his class rep, "but there's one thing you aren't thinking of, Haya."

"… I'm gonna regret asking, but … what would that be?"

"We," His smirk somehow widened even more, making him look even more psychotic, "have Todoroki."

The entire class blinked at that, and as one, they all turned to look around towards the back of the class. Ochako felt herself follow their gazes towards the boy with white hair sitting by himself in the back of the room, idly writing down some notes and not paying that much attention to the conversation. At the sound of his name, though, he glanced up to see everyone staring at him, making him blink as he looked around, and Ochako found herself letting out a small gasp as he looked around in her direction - letting her look at both the red hair on the other side of his head, and the faded, reddish burn mark around his eye.

"Shouto Todoroki," Monoma grinned in victory while Yuuyu rolled her eyes, "the son of the Number Two Hero. And by far our most powerful student, and the most powerful student in our first year. No offence, Honenuki."

"None taken."

"He won our battle trials effortlessly with one stomp of his foot!" Monoma cowed, grinning viciously. "With him on our side, we'll utterly crush everyone else and prove to everyone that they've been looking at the wrong class."

"You wanna rely on Mr. 'Social Skills of a Goldish' to get us to win the sports festival?" Yuuyu asked dryly, before blinking and quickly looking back around at Shouto with a slightly apologetic look, "Er - no offence, Todoroki."

Shouto, for his part, didn't really look like he was stressed from the comment, although he did frown as he let out a small sigh and began putting his book in his bag, gathering up his things.

"The heroes won't be looking at us for our social skills, Haya," Monoma smirked, shaking his head, "they'll be looking at our quirks. And Todoroki, by far, is the most powerful one here with his ice quirk. Why, with that alone, he could probably freeze all of Class 1A in place, and they'd have to watch in despair as we soak up all the attention of the heroes that we have to impress. So yes, Haya, we'll be relying on Todoroki to help us outshine -"

"I'm not going to do that."

The entire class went still at the quiet voice that interrupted Monoma's little rant, and they quickly looked around as Shouto stood up, frowning down at his desk as he put the rest of his notebooks in his bag, and cracked his neck as he looked up and aimed an emotionless look at Monoma.

"I'm not going to be helping you with this plan," He stated coldly, with Ochako gulping a bit at the utter lack of warmth or … really any positive emotion in his droning voice, "from what you've been saying, it seems like you'll all be depending on me, so … no, I'm not interested in doing that. Nor am I interested in crushing Class 1A for the apparent crime of surviving against a few crazy villains."

"Then -" Monoma started to argue, but Shouto suddenly gave him a particularly icy glare, thankfully shutting him up.

"I'm not going to be helping any of you in the sports festival," He looked around the classroom, seeing everyone either giving him nervous stares or answering him with their own glares, "because this isn't some little playground activity. It's like that one purple-haired kid said before - none of us are here to play at being friends. This isn't some kind of team effort. I'm not going to be joining you all if you're insisting on screaming for Class 1A's blood - especially when the other courses will be coming at us with everything they've got. I have my own plans for the sports festival."

The atmosphere in the room went quite cold, with Ochako gulping as everyone in the classroom stared at Shouto while he scowled right back at them. For several tense seconds, everyone was quiet - and then, a familiar guy with gray hair let out a small huff, crossing his arms.

"As much of a jerk as he is," Tetsutetsu grumbled, "I think Todoroki's got a point. It's not manly to trick everyone, so if you guys are gonna do this thing, count me out."

"Really?" Another guy with large lips looked around in surprise at him, "I … well, he is being kinda weird about it, but I don't think Monoma is exactly wrong, is he? Maybe he's got a point, underperforming in the first round could help us out in the long run."

"Maybe, Sato," Tetsutetsu scowled, clenching his fists tightly, "but after that Kendou jerk tried to rile us up on Monday, there's no way I'm gonna try and trick her into underestimating me. I'm gonna crush that asshole with everything I got!"

At that, Ochako felt her lips thin into a line, glaring at the gray-haired boy.

"While I perhaps do not share his exact motivation, I agree with Tetsutetsu," The girl named Shiozaki shook her head indignantly, "making such horrible plans … trying to trick everyone … no, I refuse to be a part of it."

"I won't either," Honenuki sighed, "I'm out there to do my best."

"Well, yes, fine," Monoma let out an annoyed sigh, the air taken out of his sails a bit, but he still turned to look at Yuuyu as she continued to lean against the board, "but my plan is solid! You four can opt out if you want to, but you agree with me, don't you, Haya? And you won't tell those idiots you hang out with?"

Yuuyu stayed quiet for a moment, her gaze falling to the floor while scowling. Ochako felt her eyebrows raise at the brief, contemplative look on her face - and then Yuuyu let out a deep sigh, sagging her shoulders, and raised one hand to scratch the side of her head.

"They're not idiots," She was sure to glare at them, "and if they ask if we got anything planned, I'll tell them. If not … then I'll keep your little strategy a secret."

"In that case," Shouto sighed, shouldering his bag, "I'm leaving now."

Ochako blinked, and let out a quiet squeak as he suddenly turned and began to walk towards the door that she had been hiding behind. Panicking slightly, Ochako looked left and right wildly, before she settled on a plan - and that was for her to very quietly and very quickly begin speed walking down the hall, feeling herself begin to sweat nervously as the door behind her slid open.

"Do whatever you want," she heard him say behind her to the rest of his class, "I plan to win the sports festival on my own."

With that, he slid the door shut again, and Ochako felt herself continue to sweat nervously as she tried to get clear of the classroom as quickly as possible, moving away as Shouto paused outside the door and stared down at his feet. 

Luckily, it seemed like he hadn't noticed her at all, letting Ochako begin thanking whatever deities above helped her get away from that scott-free as she began making her way towards -

"You were listening, weren't you?"

At the sound of the cold voice speaking up directly behind her, Ochako felt her step falter again, stiffening up slightly and feeling the color drain from her face. Against her better judgment, she slowly turned her head to look over her shoulder, feeling her stomach tighten with anxiety as Shouto looked directly at her with the same emotionless yet cold face, narrowing his eyes slightly as he straightened up.

Ochako could only stay there in terror as he turned around and began walking up to her, keeping one hand on his bag to prevent it from sliding off his arm, and giving her a suspicious glare. Every part of Ochako screamed at her to run, but for some reason that icy glare kept her frozen to the floor, as though this guy who apparently had an ice quirk had frozen her in her place - so hey, maybe he was using his quirk on her.

The closer he came towards her, the more Ochako took in his appearance - standing a good head taller than her, with white hair on one side and red hair on the other. Even his eyes, she realized, were mismatched, with one gray and the other icy blue. His expression of blank coldness made her gulp nervously as he finally stopped his approach and stood before her, glaring down into her nervous eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked in a suspicious voice, making her gulp. "I think I've seen you around before, but is there a reason you were spying on us?"

"I - uh - I'm -" Ochako stammered for a moment, feeling more nervous by the second - and also feeling like this guy was about ten seconds from dragging her into his own class to feed her to the wolves - and quickly sank into a small bow. "- I'm - I'm Uraraka, from - from Class 1A."

"That right? And why were you eavesdropping on us?"

"Er - I - I didn't mean to," Ochako, for her part, at least felt guilty about that, straightening up slightly and avoiding his gaze, "I was just walking by, and - and I heard some guy in your class call us idiots, and - uh - yeah."

Shouto carefully studied her for a moment, continuing to narrow his eyes slightly as she avoided his gaze - and then he let out a small sigh.

"I see," He nodded, and Ochako, glancing over at him, felt a tiny bit relieved that some of the coldness had left his voice, "I suppose that makes sense - I think I've seen you come out of that classroom before. And Monoma is certainly … not quiet about how he views you."

"Er … I kinda got that from … yeah."

"But I'm curious," He tilted his head slightly, still clearly on his guard, "now that you know what my class is up to, are you going to tell your own?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, feeling herself gulp when Shouto gave her another suspicious look. For a moment, she wasn't really sure how to answer that question - shouldn't she tell them? Class 1B was specifically making plans to throw them under the bus - and then she let out her own sigh as she shrugged her shoulders, glancing away again.

"Er … Haya is … she's a friend of mine," She explained in a small voice, "I was … well, I was gonna ask her about it later, and - and get her thoughts before I do anything."

Shouto's brows furrowed for a moment as he let out his own sigh - and then he nodded, and finally looked away from her, glancing out the window.

"Alright then," He put his hands in his pockets, aware of Ochako quickly glancing up at him, "I suppose that's fair. I can't exactly tell you not to bring your class in on this secret, seeing as my class is doing something underhanded as well - but you're lucky that it was me who caught you. You were too obvious with your eavesdropping, I noticed you listening in pretty much immediately."

Ochako let out a small grumble at that, although she wasn't that surprised - hell, her sucking at being quiet was why she was going to the nurse's office in the first place - but before she could offer anything like an apology or an explanation, Shouto moved around her, making her blink as she watched him begin to walk down the hall.

Before he could reach the end of the hallway, however, he paused, and glanced behind his shoulder at her.

"Oh," He narrowed his eyes, "and what you heard from me in my classroom? Keep that in mind. I'm planning to win the sports festival, and I will not be going easy on you."

"H-huh?"

"I said," Shouto frowned, "that if you think I will be -"

"Why are you bothering Uraraka?"

Both students blinked at the sound of a familiar voice suddenly and sharply speaking up from the end of the hall. Feeling herself gulp, Ochako leaned around Shouto to see who had come across them - and felt her eyes widen in surprise at the sight of a familiar girl standing there, glaring straight at Shouto while he likewise looked around at her, and the frown on his face turned into a proper scowl.

"You're still here?" He took one of his hands out of his pockets, letting it hang near his side, "I thought I saw you walking past my classroom when the bell rang."

"I forgot my textbook," Momo crossed her arms, glaring right at him while tapping her foot against the floor, "I was just running back to get it. You didn't answer my question - why are you bothering Uraraka?"

"Y-Yaoyorozu?" Ochako blinked, feeling a bit startled by what she was seeing - she had never seen this kind of look on her friend's face. Normally Momo would have a refined air of elegance to her, either looking giddy or serious while they were doing tests or something along those lines. But now, as she stared at Shouto, there was a look of displeasure there that took Ochako aback, glancing between both students and wondering briefly about what on earth could be going on at the moment.

But before she could even think to ask, Shouto straightened up a bit, and began to move past her.

"Don't mind me," He grumbled, "I was just speaking with … Uraraka, I believe you said her name was. Anyway, I'm pretty much done for today - I was asked to stay behind for a meeting, but that ended up wasting my time. I will let my father know that I saw you."

"Indeed," Momo huffed, flipping her ponytail as she moved to the side and let him pass. "Please give my regards to Fuyumi and your brother."

"Mm-hm."

With that, the taller boy moved past her, Momo giving him a look that … definitely didn't seem very positive, while he didn't even bother looking at her. Still, the chill emulating from him was enough to make Ochako shiver a bit. 

Finally, he rounded the corner and vanished from sight, with both girls listening to the sound of his footsteps moving away until they were finally left in silence. Momo let out a small sigh as she carefully raised her hands to smooth out her ponytail, and Ochako glanced over at her -

- and blinked at the small, sad look on her face, looking a bit guilty and morose. However, before Ochako could open her mouth to ask if she was okay, Momo blinked, and looked up at Ochako in surprise as a tinge of red appeared on her cheeks.

"Oh! Uraraka, I must apologize about that," She quickly walked over and sank into a small bow before the surprised girl, making Ochako back up a little bit, "That wasn't very professional of me, and - well, I'm sorry if I made you feel awkward."

"It's - it's alright, Yaoyorozu," Ochako smiled weakly at her, watching as the taller girl straightened up and looked relieved as Ochako brushed a hand through her hair, "he was, uh … y'know, kind of a jerk, wasn't he? Er - but - well, do you know him? I - I mean, it's - it's obvious that you know him, since - well - y'know."

"I do," Momo nodded, her apologetic smile vanishing again as she sighed and frowned, raising a hand to cup her cheek, "that was Shouto Todoroki - another student who got in through recommendations. I … well, I knew him beforehand, back when we were children, but … well … let's just say that our last interaction ended up being … under very unfavorable terms, mostly thanks to his family and his recent behavior. Suffice it to say that I wasn't … exactly thrilled to see him here."

"Oh," Ochako slowly nodded in understanding, "so … you don't like him?"

"I … wouldn't exactly say that," Momo glanced down at her feet, biting her lip slightly, "despite what you saw earlier. It's just … well … it's a bit of a long story, and I'm not exactly sure if now is a good time to get into it."

"I … see," Ochako frowned a bit, but still shrugged her shoulders and tried to fix a smile on her face, "Er - anyway, Yaoyorozu, I actually need to -"

"Oh, of course!" Momo gasped, quickly nodding and moving to the side to let Ochako through, "I didn't mean to keep you - I'm actually keeping Jirou waiting right now, so I should hurry. I hope you have a good weekend!"

"Y-you as well!"

Quickly, Ochako began jogging down the hall, giving another wave to Momo as the proper girl gave her a smile and quickly began moving back towards their class, opening the door and slipping inside. Ochako herself began cursing her luck - between listening in to Class 1B's plan, Shouto confronting her and talking with Momo, she'd ended up wasting lots of time, and seriously needed to hurry.

Before she moved around the corner, though, Ochako glanced back towards where Momo had vanished into their classroom, feeling her small smile from before fade as she mentally replayed what had just happened between the two recommended students.

Honestly, she had never seen Momo act like that before, she thought as she continued to jog lightly down the hallway, adjusting her pink backpack around her shoulders. Sure, fighting against that Chimera asshole had shown her that Momo could act aggressive - but she couldn't help but feel surprised at how hostile she had appeared around Shouto, even if Momo seemed to regret it. And sure, he definitely didn't seem to be the nicest person from what she saw, but to see Momo of all people being so cross with him … what on earth was that about?

But … well, Ochako supposed that could wait for another time. Momo definitely didn't have time today to go into it, and Ochako had things to do as well. She needed to stop getting distracted and hurry.

Very much thankfully, after those little speed bumps, it didn't take her long to reach the nurse's office on the other side of the building, jogging lightly through the halls and looking around to make sure no one else interrupted her on her path. To her relief, she didn't have anyone else impede her trip to the other side of the school, spotting Tensei and Tenya walking together outside towards the gate and talking happily while their substitute teacher held a briefcase; she also saw Aizawa walking around the grounds with Present Mic, and Eijirou jumping up and down on the roof for some reason - she'd watch, but she was kind of running out of time, so she kept jogging down the hall.

Finally, she made it to the nurse's office, skidding to a stop and panting lightly as she glanced up at the closed door. Once she had steadied her breath, she took another deep inhale, exhaling to try and get rid of some of her nerves, and raised her hand to knock gently.

"Er - excuse me?" She tried to ask in a polite voice, slowly sliding the door open and peeking inside, "I'm looking for Toga-senpai, is she -?"

Fortunately for Ochako, Himiko was in the nurse's office, looking around in surprise from her place near the beds. Unfortunately for Ochako, she, of course, happened to have barely any clothes on, as per usual.

"Oh?" Himiko looked around interestingly, her mouth spreading into a smile as she gave Ochako a good look at the very … well … risque bra she had decided to wear today, colored entirely red except for the two black buckles on each side. Not wearing a shirt while wearing her school skirt also happened to give Ochako a good look at her slim stomach, and if she were to look closely, she would be able to make out the smallest hint of abs.

Ochako froze for a moment in the doorway, feeling her face begin to heat up slightly, and then moved back so she could slowly slide the door closed, muttering a small apology under her breath. But alas, before she could close the door and then run for her life, the door was yanked back open, and Ochako squeaked as Himiko grabbed her wrist and began to drag her inside.

"Oh, you can't go running off now!" Her senpai giggled, pulling her in and shutting the door behind her, "Not when you're specifically knocking on the door for me! Don't mind me, cutie, I'm just getting changed - don't you get changed with the girls in your class too? I would've thought you're used to seeing beautiful girls in barely anything by now."

"I - I don't -" Ochako started to stammer, aiming her gaze up to the ceiling as she attempted to resist Himiko's pulling her in - and then gave up and just let Himiko guide her into the room, letting out a shaky sigh as her face went a bit redder, "- I was just - I was just trying to be polite and give you some privacy."

"Well, no need for that, sweetie pie!" Himiko laughed again, watching with mild amusement as Ochako pointedly turned to face the wall, and rolled her eyes as she fetched her shirt from the corner, "I think we've had enough interactions by now to know that shame is a feeling I've never felt. So just give me a few seconds to get all buttoned up - Recovery Girl's out visiting one of the zones, so it'll just be you and me."

Ochako slowly nodded in agreement to that, keeping her eyes straight ahead on the poster detailing a human's nervous system while Himiko giggled behind her. Thankfully, no other teases came until Himiko was good and ready, clearing her throat to let Ochako know it was safe to look, and Ochako peeked behind her shoulder to see that Himiko was now dressed in her school uniform - albeit without any socks on and her tie missing - and the older girl let out a relieved sigh as she sat down in Recovery Girl's usual seat, stretching her arms and purposefully popping out her chest - although Ochako, ready this time, was quick to glance away.

"So," Himiko put her arms down, leaning back in her seat and grinning up at her kohai, "this is a surprise. One of my beloved kohais, coming to see little old me after school? What's the matter? Have my feminine charms finally ensnared you? Come to ask me if I'm busy? Because for you, sweetie, I can make some time."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "Well, uh - no."

She winced at how bluntly that came out, but thankfully Himiko didn't seem to mind by the loud cackle that escaped her lips.

"Ouch! Shot down immediately! Well, in that case, Uraraka, what do you need a pretty young thing like me for? You were asking for me when you came in, after all - but just so you know," She leaned forward, licking her lips, "I usually ask for a nice little dinner before we have any fun."

"Er -"

"Although for a pretty girl like you, I'd be satisfied with WcDonald's takeout."

Ochako … was now beginning to sympathize with Recovery Girl as she pouted at her senpai, her face going redder and redder by the second. If she had to deal with this all day, she'd probably be bonking Himiko on the head too. Thankfully, it seemed Himiko was satisfied with leaving her teasing there, leaning back and waiting for Ochako to speak.

"Er … uh … okay. So, uh - Toga-senpai -"

"Aht, aht, aht!" Himiko suddenly interrupted. "No need for formalities around me, cutie - 'Himiko' is fine!"

"Rrrrrrright," Ochako slowly nodded, the situation with her face not calming down at all, "H-Himiko. I was, uh … well … I was wondering if … um … if I could ask you something."

Himiko slowly nodded, continuing to smirk.

"It's, uh - well -" Ochako struggled to find her words, lightly raising her hands to smack her red cheeks, "- I was just wondering if I could … er, or - or more accurately, if you could - uh - give me some … pointers."

There was a small pause in the nurse's office - and then Himiko raised her eyebrows.

"... 'pointers'?" Her smirk widened again, "My, my, Uraraka - how cruel of you. Getting my hopes up like this … tsk, tsk."

"I - what?"

"Oh, no, I get it now! You're not here for me." She giggled teasingly, "You just figured that I've got the experience, huh?"

"E-experience?" Ochako repeated, gulping nervously - while, yes, she was here to ask about some of Himiko's experiences, she had a weird feeling that they were both talking about very different things at the moment.

"Yeah … well, I'm more than happy to help you out!" Himiko clapped her hands happily together. "Now, the big question - which one of your cute little friends are you looking to get some … 'pointers' on? Is it your green-haired hunk, or your little orange -"

"No!" Ochako suddenly shouted, her face quickly resembling a beet while Himiko blinked in surprise. "N-no, not - not like that! They're - they're just my friends, and - n-no! I'm - I'm not talking about t-t-that! No!"

"No?" Himiko pouted playfully, shaking her head as she leaned back. "Well then, you're gonna have to be a little more descriptive for your clueless senpai - lest she get any other strange ideas."

"Er - r-right. Yes, of - of course. I'm - I'm sorry for the misunderstanding, T-Toga-senpai."

"You mean … 'Himiko'."

"R-right. Himiko." Ochako quickly nodded, trying to bring her red face back under control as she let out a shaky sigh - coming here was probably a mistake. 

Still, it was too late to go back now, Ochako bit her lip lightly - and now that she was here, she was determined to get some answers. Ever since last week, what had happened at the USJ had bugged her - she tried her best to hide it, even during Tuesday while she had to hang onto Itsuka's hand while exploring the zone they'd nearly died in - but still, her thoughts of what she had said to Izuku that night kept ringing in her ears.

"I was weak, and I wasn't able to save you. But … but that's going to change. I'm going to get stronger so that I can - so that the next time any villain so much as looks at us, I can save you. Just like you saved me."

And if she was going to get stronger … then the girl in front of her was her way to do it.

"So … uh …" She bit her lip slightly, trying to find her words, "… so … I was just - you know, I was just wondering … on Tuesday, you - do you remember slipping into our classroom?"

"Uh-huh …?"

"Okay. So I was … I was wondering …" She gulped, and then looked at the floor, squeezing her eyes shut, and muttered, "… how did you do that?"

"How did I …" Himiko tilted her head, looking curious, "… what? Sneak in?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded quickly, "how did you … get into my class without anyone noticing? My seat is - it's right beside the door, and I saw what you were wearing that day - you had heels on, but - but you didn't make a sound. I didn't even notice you open the door. It's - it should've been impossible for you to sneak up on Deku without anyone noticing. How - how did you do it?"

Once she finally got her question out, she continued to keep her eyes shut, waiting for her senpai's response. There were a few moments of awkward silence in the nurse's office, broken only by the sound of Himiko tapping her bare foot against the floor.

And then her senpai asked, with an air of curiosity, "Why do you wanna know?"

"I - huh?" Ochako felt her eyes snap open, quickly looking up at the older girl as she tapped her finger against her chin.

"I'm just wondering why you're curious."

"I - uh -" Ochako stammered for a second, not entirely sure how she should respond, but Himiko leaned forward again, catching her attention and prompting her to look up at the smirk reappearing on her senpai's face.

"You're wondering how I snuck up on you all," She raised another eyebrow, "and you came in here to ask me for pointers."

"Uh - y-yeah."

"So … before I answer your question," She giggled, "I wanna know why you're so curious. Is there … someone you wanna sneak up on?

Ochako quickly snapped her mouth closed, feeling her face go red - and yet, after a moment, she let out a small sigh and nodded. Himiko nodded as well, letting out another small sigh as she leaned back in her seat, and crossed her feet.

"So … let me see if I got this straight," She said slowly, enjoying playing with Ochako, "you want me to tell you how I'm so good at sneaking around so you can learn how to be just as quiet. Is that what I'm understanding, sweet kohai?"

"I - y-yeah."

"Hmmmm … well, this just raises my curiosity," Himiko giggled, "what sprung this on?"

"It's - it's something that I - I want to know how to do. As - for hero work."

"Oh, ho? So it's for training," Himiko smirked again, "I assumed you were some kinda combat hero, from what we heard about the USJ - charging up and attacking idiots left and right. You seem to be pretty comfortable doing that, so … why the change of pace?"

"Er - I, uh -" Ochako stammered again, feeling herself blush again - of course she'd want to know her reasons - and let out a small sigh. Biting her lip slightly, she moved over to lean against the desk near the wall, looking down at her feet and aware of Himiko watching her carefully.

"Because …" She hesitated, and then felt her shoulders sag, "… it's kinda … well, it's - it's actually because of the USJ I want to know how to sneak around."

Himiko raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet so Ochako could continue.

"Back there, I was … I was useless," She felt small tears begin to well in her eyes, although she was quick to wipe them away with the back of her hand, "I could - sure, I could fight against all those villains with what I knew, but … but when it actually mattered, I couldn't do anything. I couldn't save Deku from that hooded guy, I couldn't stand up to Slice when she held us hostage, I couldn't - I couldn't do anything. I had to be saved by Deku when he was literally beaten within an inch of his life."

Her senpai frowned a bit at that.

"But then … I noticed that …" She sighed again, wringing her hands together, "… that when you came in, you were able to sneak up on those villains before the rest of the heroes even got there. You managed to - I assume that's your quirk? Being able to - to transform into other people?"

"Mm-hm."

"And - and you being able to sneak around everywhere - being quiet enough that no one notices you're there until you want them to - that has nothing to do with your quirk," Ochako pointed out, getting some of her fire back as she straightened up and looked at Himiko, "that was all you. You were able to get through all those villains at the USJ, and attack them before anyone even realized you were there."

Himiko nodded again.

"So … so I want to know how you did that," Ochako reclarified, "and … and if it's possible, if you could - if you could give me some pointers on how to do it. I was useless back at the USJ, so the next time villains try to attack us - I want to be able to do more than I did before. I need to figure out how to be better. And - and I think that if I want to do that, I need to - I want to figure out how to sneak around so no one notices me until I want them to. Like you do."

Once Ochako was finally done with her fiery speech, she quickly quieted down, suddenly feeling a bit bashful at how passionate she had gotten. Himiko slowly nodded as she glanced away from Ochako at last, letting out a small hum as she tapped her foot against the ground and nodded to herself.

There was another moment of silence - and then Himiko shrugged.

"Well - I don't mind giving you a few pointers if that's what you want," She aimlessly tossed her hand through the air, smirking at the hopeful look on Ochako's face, "but if I am, there's one teeny little problem with teaching you anything."

"H-huh?"

"Your costume." Himiko leaned forward, nodding with a smile at the surprised look on Ochako's face. "See, the reason I can be so quiet is because I don't actually have a lot of equipment holding me down and making noise. Some knives, some thin strings, but nothing that would make much noise. You, on the other hand, are … how shall I say this … a bit loud."

"L-loud?"

"Mm-hm. I remember your costume from the battle trial, cutie - it's super cute, and super easy on the eyes, especially when I got a good look at your butt -"

"Can you please get to your point?" Ochako asked weakly, her blush returning.

"- but if you wanna learn how to be quiet? You're gonna have to do a little … redesign," She shrugged, leaning back in her seat and grinning, "like - for example, your boots. They're super big, and I don't know if you noticed, but wearing heels is kinda impractical for someone who wants to be a stealth hero."

"They're - they've got springs so I can -"

"Yeah, sweetie, I know," Himiko giggled as Ochako sputtered again, "but the problem is that when you want to be a stealth hero, you wanna be quiet. And wearing two giant boots that probably clip-clop all over the place isn't exactly gonna help you if you want to sneak up on someone."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, feeling herself begin to pout as she conceded her senpai's points - and then Himiko suddenly hopped to her feet, stretching her arms above her head and surprising Ochako.

"So in that case!" She giggled, grunting as she cracked something in her back and looked around at Ochako with a grin. "You'll have to think about redesigns so you can move around a bit quieter. That's not my job - my job is to teach you!"

"I - wait," Ochako blinked, straightening up slightly. "So - so you'll do it?"

"Of course!" Himiko laughed, running over and grabbing her wrist. "Now c'mon - training starts immediately! Let's get changed and head over to Gym Gamma!"

"Er - wait, what?" Ochako blinked, letting out a small squeak as Himiko began to suddenly pull her towards the door, reaching down and grabbing a pair of flip flops to put on her feet. "I - oh, t-thank you, Toga-senpai, but - but I do have to get home soon -"

"Nope! You've got me hyped up right now, cutie. Let's get to training."

"I - wait -"

Alas, Ochako wasn't able to protest any further, seeing as Himiko tightened her grip on Ochako's wrist, and ripped the door open, determinately stomping out of the nurse's office with Ochako in tow and ignoring Ochako's sputters of protest. As she quickly began attempting to keep pace with her senpai, Ochako only had one thought pass through her mind as she was pulled towards her doom.

Oh, god, Ochako gulped, why do I feel like I'm getting into something I shouldn't be?


Ooooooooh, this is a bad idea.

Izuku let out a small, shaking sigh as he stared into the mirror of the changing room, glancing down at his current attire. At the moment, he was standing in the small changing room of the beach that Nejire had taken him to, and feeling like he was about to die as he stared down at his currently shirtless body, his pair of dark blue swimming trunks and … pretty much nothing else.

He could tell that Nejire was still getting ready, feeling his face flush a bit as he heard Nejire's happy humming through the thin walls, and knew that once he was prepared, he would be meeting her out on the beach with the rest of their stuff.

And … he definitely, definitely wasn't prepared.

With a groan, Izuku quickly reached over for his white t-shirt, grabbing it and quickly yanking it over his head, feeling his cheeks continue to burn. Oh, god, it was actually happening, and he definitely wasn't ready for this. Nejire was going to come out in a swimsuit, and he knew that his heart wasn't going to be able to handle it. He could barely handle her in her hero costume, and that thing covered her from neck to toe! Albeit showing off a lot of curves that made his face feel super hot. How was he going to handle it if she came out in a one piece?

… or a two piece?! A - a freaking bikini?! Izuku quickly smacked himself in the face the moment he got one of his arms through the hole of his t-shirt, praying that Nejire had chosen to wear a school swimsuit that wouldn't make his heart explode out of his chest.

The walk over to the beach had been … well, at least Nejire didn't seem to pick up on his awkwardness, happily chatting with him as she guided him back to the train station and then onto a train that he normally wouldn't take, one that would lead them to the northern side of Musutafu that they were going to train at - a nice little local beach that no one was currently on, with gentle blue waves washing up onto the shore, and wide enough that they could easily do a few laps on.

It was pretty ideal, nothing that he would really complain about - they would probably be able to get a decent day of training in. Just … why they had to do it in their swimwear, Izuku had no idea. But … well … oh, god, he didn't think he'd be able to leave this changing room.

He let out a small whine as he sank down onto the bench, raising his hands to brush some of his hair back. No matter what he did, no matter how many times he ran his dad's words from this morning through his head, he couldn't shake away the nervousness. He couldn't help but feel like he was a bit trapped - there was no way he could just bail out on Nejire now, not now that he was this far. He felt like a coward, someone who couldn't even face a pretty girl without panicking, but …

… but he was so scared he was going to mess something up. Nejire was his friend, and he had very few of those. He was frightened that he was going to do something that would make her hate him, and would split their friend group apart. He was going to say the wrong thing and make her uncomfortable, or he wasn't going to pick up on something she said and make her annoyed with him. No matter what he thought, he couldn't help but think -

"Midoriya?"

Izuku let out a loud squeak of terror at the sound of Nejire's voice suddenly coming from the door, and quickly whipped around in horror. Luckily for him, the door had been only opened a crack, and he could make out the sight of her finger pushing it open, and a swish of long blue hair through the small opening.

"Are you okay in there?" She asked in a sing-song voice, "I can hear you muttering about something or the other - do you need help? Or maybe you're writing notes in there? Which would be kinda weird since there's not much in there to write notes about, but maybe a thought came to your head? What're you thinking about? Heroes? I think it'd be heroes since you like thinking about them, but which one?"

"I - huh?" Izuku felt himself blink, taken aback by the onslaught of questions, and then quickly shook his head, feeling his cheeks go red. "O-oh, n-no, Hadou, I'm - I'm fine. Just - still getting ready."

"Okay!" She giggled, making Izuku's heartbeat quicken a bit, and she pushed her fist through the slightly open door to give him a thumbs up. "As long as you're okay! I'll just be waiting out here with my stuff! I'll set up an umbrella from the stand so none of our things gets cooked in the sun. Just take your time, though! I'll be out here looking at the water!"

With that, she slipped her hand back out the door and let it slowly shut behind her, and Izuku heard the sound of her bare feet walking away from the changing room, hearing her hiss and mutter "Ouch!", presumably from walking across the hot concrete ground. 

With a small sigh, Izuku looked back down at his bare feet, the thoughts from before beginning to come back to him - and then he shook his head again, and raised his hand to smack himself again.

What was he doing? He tried to chide himself - he thought he had this resolved this morning thanks to his dad. Don't treat this as something to panic about. Approach it as just hanging out with someone he spent every day with. He'll be fine. As long as he tries to act like himself, pays attention to her, and makes sure she has fun - he'll be fine.

Nejire was his friend. He was just … overthinking everything. As long as he didn't look at anything below the neck … he'll be fine. Just stare at her face. Her adorable, beautiful face.

… okay, he was still screwed. But he couldn't exactly hide in the shower stall forever.

With a small grunt, he managed to get back up from the bench he had been despairing on, brushing himself off slightly, took another deep breath as he moved around it, and began walking towards the door, holding his bag now containing his uniform under one arm. It was going to be okay, he kept repeating to himself, ignoring how warm his face felt. It was going to be fine. Nejire wasn't going to be wearing anything provocative. She was going to be fine. He was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine.

With that in mind, he reached out to grab the handle for the door, and with a deep breath, before he could think about it anymore, pulled it open and stepped outside. Wincing slightly as the bright sun shined in his eyes, Izuku shielded his eyes for a moment, walking down the concrete sidewalk and towards the beach, letting out a few winces of pain from the hot concrete beneath his bare feet and feeling relieved when he felt himself step on sand, and slowly, his eyes began to refocus as a familiar blurb of blue hair came into view.

Blinking slightly, he lowered his hand, seeing Nejire turn around to look at him -

- and immediately, Izuku realized that he made a giant mistake coming out of the changing room.

"There you are, Midoriya!" Nejire giggled, giving him a small wave as she stood up from her spot underneath the umbrella where she had put her bag, "I was wondering if I'd lost you for a minute there!"

Izuku felt his face immediately explode in a large blush, quickly whipping his gaze towards the ocean as she approached him. His greatest fears had been realized - Nejire had chosen to wear a bikini. And not just any bikini, but one that showed off a lot more skin than he was anticipating.

Stealing another small glance at her, Izuku felt himself gulp. The swimsuit was, at the very least, a nice aqua color, with a bit of white frilly stuff on it. And, thankfully, the bottoms she decided to wear had a small mini-skirt with the same white flannel. So at least it wasn't as bad as it could have been. And - and she looked cute! Very … very … 

very … cute.

Izuku felt himself begin to shake as he took in more and more of Nejire's appearance, with the girl absently tying her hair up into a ponytail and not noticing him looking at her as she softly hummed to herself. She was … well, Izuku had expected it somewhat, but he found his gaze flickering down to her midsection, feeling like his face was on fire from how much he was blushing at the moment. He probably should've expected it from how many times he'd seen her in her costume, but Nejire was pretty … well … fit. Her stomach was somewhat slim, but not unreasonably so - he could make out the sign of abs on her stomach as she unconsciously flexed.

Against his better judgement, Izuku's gaze flicked up a bit of a ways, feeling himself gulp. The bikini top did a good job of hiding the top of her chest, but it was only now that he realized how … uh … healthy she was. And even if some of the white frilly stuff hid it well, he could make out the slight hint of her cleavage, something that made him automatically trail his eyes down -

- and curse himself as they settled on her mini-skirt. While it did hide her some of her lower body, it was still … mini. He could make out the small hint of bikini bottoms, and then his gaze flickered down to her long, slender legs, her thighs jiggling a bit as Nejire hopped up on her tippie-toes while doing up her hair, and making Izuku feel particuarily weak in the knees.

So yep, Izuku's fears were confirmed. Nejire was hot. At the current moment, her chest was the biggest problem, with Izuku now looking away as he repeated a mantra in his head as though it were a prayer.

Don't look at her boobs, don't look at her boobs, don't look at her boobs, don't look at her boobs, don't look at her boobs ...

"Okay!" Nejire finished tying up her hair, clapping her hands together and seemingly ignorant of how Izuku was sort of having a hard time looking at her as she looked around at him, stretching and bouncing up and down on the sand, "So here's what I'm thinking, Midoriya - this beach is about half a kilometer long, so if you want, we can do a few laps here and back! It's okay if you wanna leave your stuff here with mine, no one's really around at this time of day, and there isn't anything important in my bag - wait," She suddenly blinked as something came to her, "my school uniform's in here, so if I lose that I have to go back in a bikini. Huh. That's not really ideal, is it? But let's not worry about that! No need to curse our luck! But hey, hey," Her eyes trailed over to him, blinking, "are you gonna take off your shirt? It's really hot, y'know, and this is a beach! You don't have to wear it here!"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing down at his white t-shirt with the kanji for 'sheets' written on it (something that he was unknowingly making Nejire suppress her small giggles at the pun) and then quickly shook his head, his face feeling hot, "O-oh, no, I'm - I'm good with leaving it on, if - if that's alright."

"Ehhhh …?" Nejire slowly nodded, although she had to fight down the disappointment in her voice, "It is, Midoriya, but I just thought I'd say that it's okay, anyway."

"Er - y-yeah. Just, uh … can … I ask a question?"

"Hm? Oh, sure! I mean, I always ask questions, so it's only fair if you have something you wanna ask me! What's up?"

"Why … are we wearing swimsuits?" His face went even redder, glancing down at his bare feet, "I - I would've thought that running around in our tracksuits would be better for exercise … n-not that I'm complaining! I was just curious."

"Hm," Nejire slowly nodded, looking playfully casual as she leaned on one leg and popped her hip out - something that made Izuku automatically avert his gaze from her and blush even more than he already was as she thought, "well, that's a good question, Midoriya! I guess if I had to give you a reason why we're wearing swimsuits …"

"Uh - uh-huh?"

"… it's because I wanted to!" She admitted, giggling a bit when Izuku looked utterly flabbergasted at that. "But we're wasting time now, Midoriya! Let's get running!"

With that, she suddenly wheeled around to face away from him, pointing up at the sky, and Izuku blinked somewhat as her vibrant blue hair whipped around from the force of her turning around. He found his eyes trailing back to the end of her ponytail, moving around in the air before falling to the small of her back -

- and then, automatically, his gaze went a bit further down, and got a very good look at her butt. It was still hidden by the skirt, of course, but the skirt itself was short enough that Izuku got a … pretty good picture. Enough of a good picture that Izuku was starting to feel woozy, and whipped his gaze away as Nejire turned back around to smile happily at him.

"Well? C'mon!" She giggled, and began to move away from him at a light jog. With a small noise of confusion and surprise, Izuku quickly took off after her, stumbling only a little bit, and watched as her blue hair bounced around as she ran, seeing it trail around her - her -

DON'T LOOK AT HER BUTT, DON'T LOOK AT HER BUTT, DON'T LOOK AT HER BUTT -

Needless to say, as Izuku managed to catch up with Nejire and tried to keep his eyes laser focused on the end of the beach, not looking at her at all in fear of noticing anything other than her hair bouncing, he knew that this was probably going to be the most difficult run he'd ever been on.

For the first few minutes, at least, Nejire was pretty comfortable with doing their run in relative silence, the sound of their feet kicking up sand filling the air as they ran together. Izuku desperately attempted to keep his eyes locked ahead and not look anywhere at her as they kept the same pace, Nejire likewise slowing down a little so they could run side-by-side. Soon enough, they reached the end of the beach together, Nejire tapping on a rock near the edge, and together they turned right back around so they could return to the spot they left, Nejire's long blue hair bouncing around as she ran, and Izuku, against his better judgment, attempting to only look at her from the corner of his eyes, which might be all he was capable of at the moment.

Finally, they managed to jog back to their little set up, Izuku panting a little bit but not feeling all that tired as he reached down to sip from his water bottle, while Nejire seemed … completely and utterly unwinded, letting out a happy little hum as she reached for her own water bottle. Together, they took a deep drink of water, Nejire letting out a little satisfied gasp as she finished swallowing, put back on the cap, and dropped the bottle onto the sand.

And then she nodded, putting her hands on her hips, and said, "Mm-hmm. This isn't working."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at her in confusion as he put down his own water bottle, and tried as hard as he could to keep her face as the only thing he was focused on. "W-what is? Or - or what isn't?"

"Our run!" She shook her head, pouting a bit as she looked around to pout into the distance. "We aren't talking to each other, I forgot to bring any music for us to listen to - nothing like that! We need something to keep our spirits up, Midoriya, or else it's gonna be like that time Yuuyu tried out for track and field and came back in like - 60th place!"

"Er - what?"

"Yeah, she didn't want to do any clubs after that, even though it kind of confused me. Like, she could have done something like an anime club! Or a drama club! But nope, she likes running, but hates it being a competition, the runners suck, something something something, she hates school. I'm not really sure how she reached that conclusion, since track and field is a bit different than school, but hey, it's probably not my place to ask. But anyway! Back to what we were talking about! Our run! No music!"

"Er - r-right," Izuku slowly nodded, trying to both stay on topic with Nejire and trying to understand how Yuuyu thought 'I hate track and field' equals 'I hate school'. "Er - I do have my phone in my bag, and - and I might have some music for us to listen to -"

"Yeah, but then it'd be wobbly! And you might accidentally drop it in the ocean, and not only will you not have music, you won't have a phone at all! And that's a big no-no to me, Midoriya, phones are important. So …" Nejire let out a small hum as she thought, tapping her finger against her chin for a bit as she looked up at the sky - and then she suddenly smacked her fist into her palm.

"I got it!" She announced. "Just running around without doing anything is boring! In that case, we need to spice it up!"

"Er - spice it up?" Izuku asked, feeling suddenly nervous, "What, uh … what do you have in mind?"

"We can play tag!"

"…"

"…"

"… sorry?" Izuku tilted his head in confusion, "T-tag?"

"Tag!" She confirmed, giggling. "You know, that game where people chase each other around? You touch them, they're 'it'? Have you ever played that game?"

"N-no, I - I know what tag is, Hadou -"

"Great! So in that case, let's do it!" She cheered while Izuku let out a noise of surprise and alarm as she slapped his shoulder. "Okay! Let's make the rules. Ummmmmmm … okay! So rule number one, my hair doesn't count! You have to actually touch me if you want to tag me!"

Izuku had several issues with that rule.

"Rule number two! Uh …" Nejire faltered then, looking away so she could think - and then she shrugged her shoulders. "… I guess that's it! Only the one rule! So let's play!"

With a giggle of joy, Nejire quickly ran over, and Izuku's gaze automatically flickered to her, feeling himself squeak in slight terror - oh, god, how did she get to him so fast?! - only for her to suddenly tap him on the chest, making him sputter as she laughed and suddenly took off in a sprint. Izuku sputtered as he whipped around to stare at her in shock, feeling his jaw drop.

"I - what?!"

"Tag! You're it!"

Izuku continued to stare at her in shock as Nejire slid to a stop some distance away, smiling widely as she patiently waited for him to chase after her. Izuku quickly closed his mouth, straightening up slightly as he glanced left and right - and then, after a moment of hesitation, cleared his throat as he took a step forward. And then another one, and then began moving in a light jog, moving straight towards Nejire as she grinned widely.

He was still a little confused as to what was going on, and feeling his face redden again as he was pretty much forced to look at her - and since she was a good distance away, he found his eyes briefly scanning her entire body as he gulped - and yet, the joyful smile that crossed her face as she realized he was playing along made some of his hesitation that had been plaguing him disappear, and he began to hurry his pace.

As he neared her, Nejire slowly began to back up, as though she were about to take off running, and Izuku felt a small smile appear on his face as he reached out, intending to tap on her shoulder -

- only to let out a yelp of surprise and stumble as Nejire suddenly took off into the air with her quirk, making Izuku nearly trip over his own two feet and wipe out in the sand. Sputtering, he quickly whipped his gaze up, his eyes widening in shock, as Nejire giggled and floated in the air above him.

"Ah, that would be too easy!" She teased him, yellow spirals of light coming out of her feet as Izuku stared up at her in surprise and exasperation. "Did you really think I'd just stay still? C'mon, Midoriya, you've gotta be faster than that!"

"I - okay, but -" Izuku felt his brow scrunch up in confusion, straightening up and looking at her in the face as she giggled above him, "- you're flying now. How am I supposed to tag you?"

Nejire's giggles faltered, feeling herself blink - and then asked, in a confused tone, "You … jump?"

Izuku stared blankly up at her for a moment, and then took a deep breath, lowering himself slightly, and then jumped up, throwing his hand in the air in an attempt to hit her foot. As expected, she was flying too far above him to even think of reaching her, not even managing to touch her toe as he fell back to the earth.

She blinked again as Izuku fell back onto the sandy surface, straightening up and shrugging his shoulders in a 'what can I do' kind of way, and she felt a small tinge of red cross her face in embarrassment as she began to slowly float down to the ground.

"Er - right, Midoriya, you're right," She sheepishly muttered, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, "I completely forgot about - y'know. I was just kinda excited, y'know? Thought we could play a bit of tag, but I completely forgot that you can't exactly jump -"

SMACK

Her apology was stopped, however, by the feeling of a hand smacking her foot the moment it got close enough to the ground. Feeling her words trail away, she looked down as Izuku smiled nervously up at her, beginning to slowly back away before he completely turned around and began sprinting down the beach.

Nejire felt her jaw drop open, completely shocked that he had tricked her - and then a bright smile appeared on her face.

"Oh, no, you don't!" She shouted, and with that, began flying at alarming speeds after him, her arms stretching out. Izuku glanced behind his shoulder at the sound of her blasting after him, and let out a yelp as he narrowly ducked underneath her attempt to smack his back with the palm of her hand, making her fumble a bit in the air - although she recovered much quicker than he expected, with her blasting backwards and trying to swat at him, causing him to quickly roll out of the way.

Oh, well this was going to be … Izuku felt himself gulp as Nejire rotated back in the air and flew straight at him with an almost evil look in her eye … something interesting.


"Order number 194?" The cashier behind the counter called, putting the tray of fast food down and looking around.

"Oh, that's me!" Itsuka smiled at her, showing her receipt, and then reached out to take the tray, "Thank you so much!"

With her food in hand, and her stomach growling a bit as she turned around, Itsuka began making her way over to where Setsuna and Yui were already sitting side-by-side in a booth by the window, not even bothering to wait for her as they began tossing french fries into their mouths, making Itsuka roll her eyes but still smile at them as she put her tray down on the other side of the table and slid inside.

To be honest, though, she wasn't really all that surprised that they had ended up coming here - Setsuna usually had cravings for fast food that demanded her to drag Itsuka and Yui with her, and Yui usually helped peer pressure Itsuka into it. It was more of a surprise that it had taken them this long to text home to tell their families that they were eating out - Itsuka would've suspected that they would do a fast food run when they were done with their second day of school.

Well, whatever - it'd been a while since the three of them had hung out, after all, so Itsuka didn't mind having to do a few more sit ups than usual.

"Ooooooh, yeah, baby, that hits the spot," Setsuna groaned in delight as Itsuka unwrapped her own burger, Setsuna already taking a big bite out of her food while Itsuka cracked her neck, "I haven't had french fries in freakin' forever - things have been so hectic lately I haven't even been able to sneak out to grab food."

"Now, Itsuka," Yui raised an eyebrow, "what do you say to the nice girls who have dragged you out for food?"

"Thanks for making me have to do extra reps tonight," Itsuka snorted, giving them a teasing smile while Setsuna let out a mock gasp and Yui shook her head in sarcastic disapproval.

"Well, that's some gratitude, isn't it, Yui? If it weren't for us, you wouldn't even be having a burger right now. You'd be stuck with - what is it your grandpa makes your family eat?"

"Traditional Japanese cuisine," Itsuka giggled, "at least it's healthier than a burger."

"Oh, don't give me that - c'mon, you gotta admit that it gets tiring to eat rice all the time," Setsuna shook her head as well, "it's not like your grandpa lets your dad cook burgers more than once a year, right?"

"Excuse you," Itsuka smirked, "it's more like - three times a year. I've got two more opportunities to eat burgers at home."

"Pfft," Setsuna snorted, taking a bite out of her cheeseburger, and, after swallowing, shook her head, "I don't know how you survive on all that classic Japanese food your grandpa insists on having. I'd have thought you'd eventually put your food down, like 'Goddamn it, Grandpa, I want cheesy bread!'"

"Oh, yeah, I'll stand up to my grandpa," Itsuka shook her head, "if I ever wanna have my head kicked off. I'm good with just sneaking fast food, thanks. Besides, it's not like that 'classic Japanese food' is bad, Set."

"But still! Burgers and pizza! Think of what you're missing out on, Ken!"

"Hey, we do order pizza! Like - once a month. Unlike you, Miss 'If I Don't Eat A Box Of Pizza All By Myself Every Week I'll Die''."

"Madness," Setsuna shuddered.

With a giggle from Itsuka and an eye roll from Yui, the girls settled back to eating their food in silence, Setsuna sipping on her milkshake and Yui dipping one french fry in her ketchup cup at a time. They were comfortable with eating quietly, Setsuna and Yui snorting at Itsuka letting out a satisfied groan as she ate her burger, causing her to flash them both the finger, until at last, all three of them were finished, letting out satisfied noises (and Setsuna suppressing a burp, flipping off Itsuka this time when she laughed).

Once their trays were put on the side for later, Yui let out a hum as she finished sipping on her soda, putting it down on the table and looking over at Itsuka.

"Anyway," She tapped her fingers on the table, "now that we got that out of the way - back to what we were talking about back at school."

At that, Itsuka's satisfied smile fell, straightening up as she reached for her own drink.

"Right," She nodded, "about … Ochako."

"Mm-hm." Setsuna nodded as well, "I guess it's time for interrogation."

"Interrogation?" Itsuka blinked, glancing between both of her friends worriedly. "Is something going on, guys? I mean - I don't see why you didn't want her to come with us, but is she -"

"Oh, wait, no, Ken, everything's fine!" Setsuna quickly caught on, waving her hands in the air while giving Itsuka an assuring smile. "Uraraka's awesome! We love hanging out with her. It's just … well …"

"We just thought that what we wanted to talk to you about her wouldn't be something you … really want to have in front of her," Yui shrugged.

Itsuka felt her brow furrow at that, leaning back in the booth and raising her drink to her lips.

"Okay … so what's going on?"

"Well … alright, I guess there's no point beating around the bush," Yui decided, frowning slightly, and she leaned forward, "so - Itsuka."

"Yeaaaah …?"

"Did something happen between you and Uraraka?"

Itsuka paused at that, staring at her friend in confusion, with her mind not really catching on to what she was asking. And then she asked, in a confused voice. "Like … what do you mean?"

"Ah, fuck it," Setsuna muttered, shaking her head and tossing her hair behind her as Itsuka began sipping on her drink, and then said, in an equally blunt voice, "Ken, we've been wondering if the reason you've been hanging out with Uraraka so much is because the two of you have been making out."

"PFFFFFFFFFFT - *COUGH COUGH COUGH*!"

What then came from the other side of the table was a series of ragged coughs as Itsuka choked on her drink, holding her hand over her mouth as a bit of soda came out of her nose. Both Setsuna and Yui watched in surprise and amusement as Itsuka attempted to get control over her coughing, leaning forward to grab some napkins to cover her mouth, glancing between both girls in terror as her face began to glow red.

"Ah," Setsuna slowly nodded, smirking, "so we'll take that as a yes, then?"

"I - *cough* - I'm -" Itsuka managed to clear her throat, shaking her head slightly as she lowered her hand, and gulped a bit as her face continued to glow hotter and hotter by the second, "- what?! I - I don't know what you're - I -"

"Oh, yes you do," Setsuna giggled, Itsuka's face growing more and more terrified as she realized too late that she had been pretty much lured right into a trap, "I asked you if you and Uraraka have been up to something … not exactly platonic, and the fact that you tried to deepthroat your straw when we asked is pretty much all we need to know that something between you two definitely happened."

"I - n-no, it -" Itsuka sputtered out, getting control of her coughing enough to clear her throat and put down her drink, raising one hand to fan her red face, "- we didn't - I didn't -"

"You didn't?" Yui raised an eyebrow, and Itsuka froze up, realizing her mistake, "You're saying that you two didn't do something … but you did?"

"I -" Itsuka hesitated again, glancing down at her empty tray for a moment as she tried to figure out what to do - and then she let out a defeated sigh, sagging her shoulders slightly as she raised a hand to scratch the side of her head, her face continuing to feel like magma was slowly flowing into it as she glanced away from both her eager best friends.

Maybe … well, she knew that trusting these two with anything relationship-related would just result in lots and lots of embarrassing questions, but … maybe talking about what happened between her and Ochako could help her out with how flustered she felt about it? At this point, anytime Itsuka had tried to think about kissing Ochako this week resulted in … well, very unproductive thoughts, mostly due to how flustered and confused she felt about it. And hey, while Setsuna and Yui would probably blow whatever Itsuka tells them out of proportions …

… well, if she couldn't trust these two, who could she trust?

"… okay." She breathed out, nodding slowly, before whipping her gaze up to glare at both of them. "You tell no one what I'm about to tell you."

Both Setsuna and Yui nodded at once, leaning forward eagerly as Itsuka glanced down into her lap, her blush still burning furiously.

"So … uh … something … might have happened," She muttered, feeling suddenly bashful, "and … well …"

"Was there tongue?"

Itsuka squeaked at Yui's intrigued question while Setsuna snorted in amusement - and then Itsuka let out a small grumble, crossing her arms across her chest and looking out the window as her best friends' eyes widened.

"My, oh my, Ken!" Setsuna squealed. "So bold!"

"There wasn't - I - okay, fine." Itsuka growled a bit, tapping her foot against the floor, "Ochako and I - we - we kissed."

Setsuna and Yui nodded slowly, looking more and more entertained by the second.

"When? Where?"

"Back at the USJ," She muttered, which made both Setsuna and Yui blink, "during the invasion. We - we barely survived the trap those assholes set for us, and we just - we had a moment to calm down, and she was just there, and - yeah. We kissed. O-or," She hesitated, blushing even more, "if - if we're talking specifics - I kissed her."

"Okay," Yui slowly nodded, tilting her head slightly as she leaned forward, "so - speaking of specifics. Was it hot?"

"Oh, my god," Itsuka groaned, but Setsuna merely shrugged her shoulders.

"C'mon, Ken, you know that was gonna be the first question to come out of her mouth. And to be honest … yeah, I wanna know too. So - was it hot?"

"It happened right after we almost died."

"But was it hot?"

There was another pause in the booth - and then Itsuka let out another groan as she slowly lowered her head down into her arms, blushing something fierce while her best friends leaned forward excitedly again.

"It … kinda," She mumbled, "it was - it was kinda hot. I … we were kinda coming down from all the - y'know, adrenaline - and she was right there and I wasn't even thinking and - and one second we were just fine, then the next second, I'm shoving my tongue in her mouth."

"Oooooooooooh," Yui clapped her hands together.

"I just - I thought she was going to shove me off, but then - but then she just started kissing me back," Itsuka buried herself further into her arms while her face remained flushed, "and we just spend the next fucking - like, ten seconds trying to get my tongue acquainted with the back of her throat."

"Did you touch her butt?"

"No."

"Did she touch yours?"

"No," Itsuka said, sounding a bit annoyed by that, "I didn't touch her butt or her boobs or her - or her anything. I was just - one of my arms was broken, so all I touched was her hair."

"…"

"…"

"… and fuck me, her hair was so soft," Itsuka groaned again, shaking her head slowly while she buried it further in her arms, "like - what the hell is her conditioner! It was so freaking smooth!"

"Oh, my god," Setsuna sniggered, "the bi panic is real."

"The what panic?" Itsuka straightened up, glancing between both of them while she tried to fan her face. "Is - is that what's going on?"

"Hm?" Yui tilted her head. "What do you mean, Itsuka?"

"I … okay, if either of you mention this again, I'll destroy you," She was sure to glare at them both, with Yui nodding and Setsuna crossing her heart, "but … I … well, I've been thinking about what happened, and … and Ochako is …"

Both girls leaned forward while Itsuka trailed off, looking uncertain.

"… you guys," She said in a quiet voice, sounding suddenly unsure, "… how did you … uh … realize that you liked girls?"

Setsuna and Yui felt themselves blink at that, glancing over to stare interestingly at each other - and then Setsuna grinned, knowing where this conversation might be going as she leaned back in her seat and took another sip of her milkshake.

"Well …" She said slowly, thinking for a moment, "… I couldn't give you a definite date … I've always thought girls were pretty … but if you're asking when I actually figured out I was bi? I was watching some news report on Miruko on TV. She did this thing where she wrapped her legs around his head, and I was suddenly struck with the thought of: 'God, I wish that was me'. So yeah, I always thought girls were cute, but Miruko was definitely my bisexual awakening."

"Back in seventh grade for me," Yui shrugged, "you guys remember when Mina wore those tights for her break dance during our sports festival?"

"Yep."

"Yeah, that doesn't surprise me."

"Mm-hm. Instant bisexual awakening."

Itsuka let out an amused snort, shaking her head and raising it slightly to look up at her friends as they gave her an interested look.

"So …" Setsuna gave her a small grin, "… is that what happened last week, Ken? Are you bisexual now?"

"I … I don't know," She admitted in a guilty tone, pouting a bit as she finally raised her head up and leaned back in her seat as she pouted, "I mean, does that even count? I mean - I'm not sure if I'd be having this exact same reaction if it was a guy I kissed. So - I don't know. Maybe?"

"I mean," Yui shrugged, "it might not even be that either. You could just be pan."

"I … maybe?" Itsuka gave her, sighing and shaking her head, "It's just … god, it wasn't how I expected my first kiss to go, y'know? I expected it be like - on a date or something, I don't know. Something romantic, like a fireworks show - something I'd remember for the rest of my life. And instead, I lost my first kiss after I nearly got fucking killed, and just happened to shove my tongue down one of my best friends' throats."

"Huh?" Setsuna raised an eyebrow at that while a vein in her forehead twitched.

"Excuse me?" Yui did not look amused by that.

"You both know what I mean. I expected my first to be something … romantic, and instead, all I got out of my first kiss is just making my friendship with Ochako awkward." Itsuka pouted at that, staring down at the table while clenching her fists slightly, "We haven't even really talked about it yet. We tried, but - but Izuku ended up having a nightmare in the middle of our discussion and … well, we just … never brought it up again after that."

"What?!" Setsuna looked at least shocked, her jaw dropping slightly as Itsuka glanced over at her. "Oh, c'mon, Ken - you gotta at least talk to her about it. From what you've said about it, you can't exactly pass it off as a friendly kiss, can you? What if she's still expecting you to talk to her about it?"

"Besides," Yui raised an eyebrow, "that doesn't exactly match up with what we've seen. You said you've messed up your friendship with Uraraka, well … from the amount of times we've seen her checking you out, I'm not sure about that."

"I - wait, what?" Itsuka blinked, looking over at her in surprise.

"Yeah," Setsuna grinned, "Uraraka's been so busy looking at your ass, I'm surprised it's Midoriya walking into lampposts and not her."

Itsuka felt herself falter there, glancing between both her best friends - was that even possible? Ochako checking her out? She felt her cheeks redden a bit at that as her heart suddenly found itself beating a bit faster in her chest -

- but then her mind flashed back to last Friday night. Back to the sight of Ochako cuddling Izuku to sleep.

And she felt herself sigh.

"… look guys," She frowned, glancing off to the side, "I … I don't know if she wants to talk about it. Her checking me out just might be … I don't know, it might just be something she's done before and - and now we're just noticing. I mean - you check me out all the time, Yui, that doesn't mean you wanna - I don't know, hold hands with me and walk off into the sunset together."

"Er …" Yui raised an eyebrow at that - while yes, Itsuka had a point that Yui didn't exactly want to do romantic things with her, the idea of holding hands wasn't exactly something she was thinking, but Itsuka clearly did.

"I just … I think she just wants to forget it ever happened. And - and honestly, I don't blame her. I just kinda kissed her out of nowhere, and … and I think we both know that it was a mistake. I shouldn't have just …"

"Ken …" Setsuna began to lightly reprimand, not liking where this conversation was going, but before she could, Itsuka shook her head.

"… besides," She laughed quietly at herself, "what am I even supposed to say? 'Hey, I know we kissed, but we're all good now, right'? Or 'hey, sorry about trying to suck your soul out of your mouth with mine'? Actually trying to talk about it would just probably make everything even more awkward. I think the only reason we're good now is because we're just … pretending that it didn't happen."

"I mean," Yui raised an eyebrow, "didn't you two pretty much hold hands during our entire lesson on Tuesday?"

"We were going back to the USJ for the first time," Itsuka reminded her, "we just … kinda needed the comfort. And it wasn't for the whole time."

"I … well, okay, I guess that makes sense," Setsuna gave her, still frowning a bit, "but -"

"But nothing, guys," Itsuka shook her head, playing idly with her ponytail, "I said what I said, guys. Me and Ochako are fine as we are. We're just friends, and we're gonna pretend that kiss never happened. And it's better that way - it's obvious that she's got a thing for Izuku, so what am I supposed to do? Ask her if she wants to make out until she gets together with him?" She scoffed at herself, leaning back and staring out the window again, "No way."

Both Setsuna and Yui fell silent at that, staring blankly at their best friend for a moment as Itsuka idly bit her lip. And then Yui, in a blunt voice, asked, "Then what about your crush on him? Are you just gonna let that go?"

Itsuka continued to stare out the window for a moment, letting out a sigh as she opened her mouth to refute that - and then what Yui said suddenly registered to her. She felt herself go still, her eyes widening a fraction and her mouth hung open -

- and then, slowly, she turned to look at her two best friends, blinking rapidly.

"… what?" She blankly asked.

"Uh …" Yui raised an eyebrow, glancing at Setsuna unsurely before looking back at Itsuka, "… your crush on Midoriya. Ring a bell?"

"My … what?"

"Girl," Setsuna sagged her shoulders, staring at Itsuka in both disbelief and exasperation, "you're seriously not telling us you don't have a crush on him?"

"I … what?!" She suddenly squeaked, her cheeks, which had been calming down slightly over the last few minutes, exploding in red again as she gave them a look that told them that they had completely flabbergasted her. "I don't - I no, I - I don't have a crush on I-Izuku! I - where did that even come from?"

"…"

"…"

"… you have gotta be shitting me right now," Setsuna's jaw dropped, "seriously? You haven't even noticed?"

"I - noticed what?!"

"How about the fact that the first time we met him," Yui leaned back in her seat while picking up her cup, "me and Set were flirting with him, and you looked like you were trying to to glare a hole through our heads?"

"What? That -" Itsuka hesitated, looking more and more confused by the second while her face burned, "- that didn't happen. D-did it? N-no, it didn't."

"Oh, yes it did," Setsuna nodded, smirking a bit, "I was pretty much clinging to him, and you looked like you were trying to manifest a laser eye quirk so you could blow my head off."

"I -"

"And then there's at school," Yui pointed out with sipping on her drink, "Hadou keeps hanging off him, and you look like you're about to jump across everyone's desk to punch her in the face."

"I'm not - I don't wanna punch Hadou!" She weakly protested. "I just - I glare at her because she - she makes him uncomfortable!"

"Yeaaaaaaaaaah, no. Not uncomfortable. Unless you count 'horny teenage boy' as him being uncomfortable."

"I mean," Setsuna giggled lowly, "not that I blame him. You actually look at Hadou when she's in her hero costume?"

"I do," Yui let out an appreciative hum, "and god-damn."

"Guys," Itsuka said sharply, while both girls turned to smirk at her red face, "I - look, I just - I don't have a crush on Izuku. That's -"

"'Izuku'," Setsuna suddenly pointed out, which definitely didn't help with Itsuka's now glowing red face, "we never discussed that, did we? Such a sign of closeness, isn't it, Yui? 'Izuku'."

"Mm," Yui nodded in agreement, "it's very cute when she calls him that, Set. 'Izuku'."

"I call you both by your first names," Itsuka tried to justify herself, scowling a little bit, "that doesn't mean I have a crush on either of you. And - and I also call Ochako by her first name! I don't see -"

"You kissed her, though," Yui pointed out helpfully, while Itsuka let out a small groan and held her hand over her eyes, "something similar happen between you and Izuku, Itsuka?"

"Look," Itsuka tried to emphasize her words, biting her lip slightly as she lowered her hand, "I don't have a crush on Izuku. We just - I - I don't. There's no way. He likes Ochako, and - and Ochako likes him. I'm not interested in -"

"So you're saying you'd be cool with us asking Midoriya out instead?"

Itsuka felt herself pause at that, blinking, and Setsuna's smirk widened as she realized that they had her.

"Y'know, I think that is what she's saying, Yui," She leaned over to rest her head on her friend's shoulder, watching Itsuka's face carefully. "Ken over here is saying that she doesn't like him, so I think it's alright if you or I take Midoriya home with us. And I mean, like, not just to hang out."

"Mm," Yui nodded in agreement, "as in taking him up to our rooms?"

"Yep! I mean, can you imagine what he'd do if he had two bombshells like us alone?"

"Mm … probably not much," Yui admitted, although her eyes were also watching Itsuka for her reaction, "he's a nervous guy, after all. Shy. But I imagine we can teach him a few things."

Itsuka began to scowl.

"Oooooh, like what, Yui? I'm curious. I mean, I doubt he knows much about kissing," Setsuna was sure to put emphasis on that word, "so I think we could teach him a lot about how he can put that mouth of his to work."

"Mm," Yui slowly nodded, closing her eyes as though she were imagining it, "like how to kiss our lips … our cheeks … how to nibble our earlobes …"

"Our necks," Setsuna pretended to moan quietly, "trailing kisses down our throats … our collarbones … our -"

"Guys," Itsuka suddenly snapped, glaring at them both, "stop. I know what you're doing, and it isn't working."

"What isn't working, Ken?" Setsuna giggled. "The fact that you don't seem to like a girl giving Midoriya attention? Someone giving him attention that isn't you?"

"No," Itsuka was sure to lean forward, frowning, "but this - this thing where you're trying to make me jealous enough to confess something - it isn't going to happen. I don't - I don't have a crush on him. Even if I did, there's no way that anything's going to come out of it, because I know - I actually know - that Ochako likes him. She's probably been in love with him for years now, and - and what? You guys are trying to tell me that I should snatch him right from underneath her nose?"

Both Setsuna and Yui paused at that, glancing between each other while Itsuka settled back in her seat while pouting - and then Setsuna let out a small sigh, raising her head off Yui's shoulder.

"I … guess not, Ken," She at least had the sense to look guilty about that, brushing some of her hair behind her ear, "sorry, sweetie. We shouldn't have … you know, tried to make you jealous."

"Mm." Yui also nodded, her eyes turning downcast, "that was a dick move."

Itsuka paused for a moment, glancing between both girls - and then she let out her own sigh, her scowl disappearing and leaving a sad look on her face as she reached out to put her hands overtop her friends'.

"Well … it's not like I've been acting any better," She pointed out, "sorry about being kind of a jerk."

"Nah, we've been pushing you pretty hard," Setsuna shrugged, "but … well, okay, can we be real with you for a second?"

"I … sure."

"You said you don't like Midoriya," Setsuna raised an eyebrow to show that she doubted it, "fine. In that case, we won't bother you about it again. But … I think we all know who definitely does like him."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded in agreement, "Ochako -"

"Hadou."

Itsuka felt herself blink, her words fumbling to a stop as she looked around at Yui. The stoic girl, for her part, merely leaned back while brushing some of her hair out of her face.

"Itsuka," She sighed, "it's obvious that Hadou's been circling around Midoriya almost as much as you and Uraraka have."

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, "eventually, Hadou's gonna stop with this teasing stuff and eventually scoop in to snag him up. And we all know Midoriya - he hides it well, but the dude's probably so starved for affection there's no way he'll be able to resist."

Itsuka felt her lips thin at that.

"Mm," Yui sighed, "there's no way Midoriya isn't gonna reciprocate, and soon enough Hadou's gonna have him wrapped around her finger, and that means you and Uraraka are gonna be left out to dry."

Setsuna leaned forward a bit, looking unusually serious, "So at this point, Ken, you've got two options. Either you bite the bullet and ask out Midoriya - because we can tell you want to - or you sit around and let Hadou ask him out."

Itsuka stayed quiet at that for a few moments, glancing off to the side while Setsuna and Yui leaned back as well, both of them deciding that they'd pushed Itsuka enough tonight, and let her think. They watched her face curiously, seeing it look conflicted for a few moments, before that fell into a more contemplative look - and then she let out another small sigh, shaking her head, and moved to grab her bookbag beside her, slinging it over her shoulder.

"… I need to think," She muttered, shaking her head, "privately. Just … please don't mention this to anyone, okay? Izuku or Ochako, or - or Hadou. Just … I need a little time to think."

"I … guess, Ken," Setsuna nodded, at least fine with that. 

The two girls watched as Itsuka slid out of the booth, letting out a small grunt as she cracked her back a bit, and then patted Setsuna's head as she moved past the booth. With that, Itsuka dumped their trays of trash into the bin, and gave them a small wave as she walked out the door and onto the street.

"… we probably pushed her a bit too hard," Yui said, a small frown on her face as she leaned forward, and Setsuna sighed.

"No, we definitely did," She gave her, sipping on her milkshake again, "but if she doesn't get her head out of her ass, she's a hundred percent gonna set herself up for failure at this rate. Did you see how quick Hadou pulled him out the door today? There's no way in hell that she isn't crushing on him."

"I'm envious," Yui pouted, "all that booty, all for himself. Bastard."

"Well," Setsuna's smirk suddenly returned as she looked around at her friend, "I have a feeling you're not actually complaining. Speaking of boys - what's up with you and Iida?"

"Hm? Oh. Iida. Yeah, I find him attractive. Just kind of feeling it out right now. So if you hit on him, I'm shaving your head in your sleep."

"Jokes on you! I think I look good bald."


With a pathetic grunt, Izuku fell onto his back in the sand, letting out several loud pants as he raised a hand to rub against his eyes. At the moment, the sun was setting in the distance, casting the entire beach into shadows as the sky turned an orange and red color, with clouds distantly gathering in the distance, and giving him quite the beautiful view - not that he could quite enjoy it. He was currently laying on his back near the water, wincing at the cold water brushing against his hand as it seeped up and down the sand and desperately attempting to catch his breath.

It had been unfortunate for him that Nejire's quirk, as it relied on her stamina, meant that she could keep up a chase for a very, very long time. They had spent the last two hours playing a non-stop game of tag, Izuku having to duck and weave through her attempts to tag him out or him attempting to jump up to tag her. At the moment, Izuku felt utterly exhausted, his legs too weak to support his weight, and  in desperate need of water.

That, plus he was pretty much covered in a layer of sweat, and his t-shirt was now uncomfortably clinging to him. So in the end, he did somewhat regret not taking off his shirt at Nejire's inquiry when he had the chance.

With a small grunt, he turned his head towards the building, where Nejire was jogging over with both of their water bottles. As she wasn't as tired as he was, she had been the one to volunteer to grab their empty water bottles and fill them up at the refill station a bit of a ways away. Izuku watched as she hummed and put her bottle under the water first, playing with her hair as she waited for it to be refilled. Watching her for a moment, Izuku slowly blinked, and sighed as he turned to look back up at the sky, trying to catch his breath.

The game of chase had been … well, it had been exhausting, but it had also been fun in its own kind of way. He wasn't sure if he should be proud of how many times he managed to tag her, despite how flustered he felt about actually touching a girl, but … well, maybe he should be. Towards the end of their game, he had even somewhat forgotten about how nervous he felt around her, having too much fun chasing her around either when she was on foot or when she was in the air.

Although now … well, he couldn't help but remember her choice of clothing at the moment, feeling himself blush. Glancing back around at her, he went red as she bent over a bit to fetch his own bottle on the ground, removing her own bottle once it was refilled. He knew that he shouldn't look -

- and yet, he couldn't help but stare at her for a moment, seeing how pretty she looked under the setting sun, and feeling his face grow hot.

Okay … well, one thing was clear, he blushed. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't help but look at her as he laid there, feeling his heartbeat quicken in his chest and his stomach twist a bit as he stared right at her butt. He felt a bit guilty, and like a pervert as he checked her out with her back turned, and let out a small sigh as he looked back up at the sky, biting his lip.

At least he didn't do anything bad during their game of chase. Like - like accidentally touching something he wasn't supposed to. He only touched her arm, and her foot, or her leg or her back. So he was technically fine! Just … he had to be careful so he wasn't caught staring at something he wasn't supposed to.

About a minute later, with him still staring up at the sky while he attempted to slow his breath, he heard the sound of footsteps in the sand next to him, and before he could look around, a water bottle appeared over his face, making him blink.

"Whew! That was great!" Nejire giggled happily, putting the now refilled water bottle down on his chest as she moved around to sit down beside him. As Izuku sat up and cleared his throat, thanking her under his breath as he fiddled with the top of his bottle, Nejire took a second to stretch, grunting when she cracked something. "I gotta say, I'm surprised that I got tagged so many times! You're really fast! I mean, I guess you've always been fast, since you were really quick during the entrance exam, but I was flying that whole time and fighting robots, so I didn't notice! But anyway, whoof," She suddenly waved her hand in front of her nose, her nose scrunching adorably and looking embarrassed, "I stink! I haven't sweat this hard since Yuuyu nearly figured out I stole her soda from the fridge! Try not to smell me, okay?"

"Er … okay, Hadou," Izuku slowly nodded, sighing as he likewise got a small sniff of himself and grumbled, "but, uh … I don't think you have anything to worry about. I think I'm pretty much in the same boat."

Nejire nodded at that, her eyes flickering to him as he grabbed the bottom of his shirt, and lifted it up to wipe at his face. His eyes were covered by the white cloth, of course, so he had no idea that Nejire's gaze flickered down to his abs as he wiped the sweat off his face, her face going pink as she licked her lips slightly, and then quickly looked back out at the water as he uncovered his face again, grabbing his water bottle on the side for a desperate drink.

Once he had chugged the cool water gratefully down his throat, unaware of Nejire glancing out of the corner of her eye at how he gulped down his drink and going slightly pink, Izuku let out a satisfied gasp as he put the bottle down, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Thank you, Hadou, that - that really hits the spot."

"Y-you're welcome!" She smiled happily at him, inwardly cursing herself for the brief stutter, and sat back so she could stretch her legs out. "Anyway, this was super fun, wasn't it? Getting chased around? I haven't played tag in forever, so I thought it'd be a bit of fun for our training. So, uh - this was a good use of our time, right? I think this got us both kind of ready for the sports festival, I dive-bombed you a lot, didn't I? I guess we could count that as us training - especially if you and I end up fighting in the final round!"

"I … guess so."

"Hey, but wait, hold on," She suddenly blinked as she realized something, "does that mean I technically gave away some of my strategy? Flying around and dive-bombing people? Oooh, now I hope we don't end up fighting! You're gonna know what's coming! That'd be unfair!"

Izuku was unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit at her look of panic, shaking his head and giving her a small smile.

"I'll … try to, uh … consider that if we end up fighting, Hadou," He gave her, seeing Nejire look around at him with an adorable pout, "plus, wouldn't you just … I don't know, blast me out of the arena with your quirk?"

"Oh! I didn't consider that!" She gasped as though she had forgotten that there was more to her quirk than just flying, and then shrugged her shoulders. "Okay, I think I'll be fine. I'll be able to kick your butt even if you know what I have planned!"

Izuku laughed at that. "Y-yeah. I bet you can."

"Hm? Oh, that's not to say I don't think you can beat me!" She quickly rectified, reaching out and patting his shoulder. "Don't be so pessimistic, Midoriya - I bet you can kick my butt a lot better than I can kick yours! Oh, but - wait, actually, that reminds me of something I wanted to ask you!"

"Er … yeah?" Izuku blinked a bit at that, seeing Nejire straighten up and look around at him with a smile. "What's up?"

"I was wondering," She raised one of her fingers in the air, grinning happily as she looked him right in the eye, "if you've looked at my butt at all since we've gotten here."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… well, Midoriya?" She pressed, "Have you?"

"…"

"Midoriya?"

"… what?" Izuku managed to squeak out. Gone was the small, relaxed smile on his face, his laid back posture, everything. He was sitting up straight as a board, his face gone completely red, and his jaw was hanging open so widely he was looking like he was some kind of goldfish. Nejire, for her part, merely giggled and leaned forward.

"I asked if you looked at my butt!" She repeated her question, seeing Izuku continue to stare at her in horror and not feeling any reason to change up her questions. "I'm just curious, because I kinda had to think about which swimsuit I wanted to bring for today, and I decided on this one because it was one of my more unrevealing suits. I was tempted to bring my nice black one, but it's still a bit too chilly for that - do you know how much skin I would have to show? A lot! And it'd really show off my boobies, too!"

"Ugh - uh - gah -"

"Oooooh, but speaking of my boobs!" Nejire gasped, looking down at her chest and not noticing Izuku looking like he was about to have a complete and utter meltdown. "I also wanna know if you've been looking at them too! I wore this suit because the top covers me up a bit more, but I can kinda see the top of them if you look close enough! But hey, you're not answering my questions, Midoriya - did you look at my butt? And my boobies?"

With that, Nejire finally looked back up at Izuku, feeling legitimately curious - but then blinked at how red Izuku's face was, looking like it was about to start emmitting steam. For a moment, she wondered what would happen if she cracked an egg over it.

"Hey, are you okay, Midoriya? Your face is super red."

"Uh ghgah … umguh …"

"Ooooooooooooh," She suddenly realized, slowly nodding in understanding, "I see what's going on - you're scared of what I'll do if you say you did look at my boobs?"

"Unahgah … mungugh …"

"Well, you don't need to worry!" She raised her hand into the air, pointing up at the sky, "If you did check me out, it's totally okay! I'm very okay with you looking at my butt! Yuuyu says that it's cute, and she knows a lot more than I do, so it's … it's all … okay …"

She trailed off, however, when she noticed that this did not alleviate Izuku's sudden stress, rather making him begin to sway back and forth a bit as though he were on the verge of passing out with all the blood in his body rushing up to his face. Nejire's smile faltered as she watched him sputtering for a moment, her shoulders lowering slightly as she watched him get more embarrassed by the second - and then she suddenly cleared her throat, glancing away.

"… I made this awkward, didn't I?" She said quietly to herself, her smile completely fading away, and turned her gaze down to the sand beneath her. "I'm sorry Midoriya, I - I asked you the wrong thing. I always do that."

"I - huh?" Izuku finally managed to squeak out coherently, his melting mind managing to squeak out a coherent word at last, and he felt himself blink as Nejire let out a small, sad sigh, and brought her legs up to wrap her arms around.

"I'm sorry," She repeated, looking suddenly ashamed of herself, "I always do this kind of thing - I got too comfortable and asked you something that wasn't really appropriate. My old classmates always used to make fun of me and shout at me to stop talking when that happened, and - well, sorry, I shouldn't be making any excuses. I made you uncomfortable, and … sorry."

"I - t-that's -" Izuku started to stutter out - and then something she said registered to him, making him pause and blink. "W-wait - what?"

"Hm?"

"M-made fun of you?" He managed to get out, feeling the heat on his face begin to cool off as Nejire glanced away from him, and his heart began to beat a little bit faster. "What - what does that mean? Were you - you were made fun of? B-by your classmates?"

Nejire took a moment to remain quiet, her gaze flickering out to the water rushing towards them on the shore and then slowly retreating back into the ocean. Izuku's gaze flickered down from her face to her hand, noticing, for the first time, one of the hands she had on her knees was clenched, and he came to the realization that he may have just asked her something personal.

However, before he could get out an apology, Nejire sighed softly.

"I guess …" She muttered to herself, "… since I'm always asking stuff about you … I should tell you stuff about me, right?"

"Uh - not if you - not if you don't want to, Hadou," Izuku felt a sudden wave of guilt rise within him, "I'm sorry if -"

"No, it's okay!" She shook her head, giving him a much smaller smile than before, but at least she was smiling, he thought to himself, "It's only fair - plus, I should probably get this off my chest, huh? Only Yuuyu really knows about it since we grew up together, but - yeah. Yeah, it's story time."

Izuku felt his brow furrow at that, leaning back slightly on his hands - and then, with a small gulp and a tinge of red crossing his cheeks for the uptenth time that day, scooted a bit closer, ready to jump back the moment he thought she was uncomfortable. Fortunately (or unfortunately for him), Nejire didn't seem to mind, giving him another smile as she likewise scooted a bit closer. They weren't touching, of course, but now they were clearly sitting together, turning to look out at the ocean together as Nejire got her story ready.

For her part, she seemed to be rather resigned to what she was about to tell him, letting out a small sigh as she frowned, and leaned forward so she could better wrap her arms around the top of her knees, resting her chin on her arm.

"So … about me," She sighed again, "I … well, I guess I should start by saying that I was … so I wasn't really … well, I wasn't really popular back in middle school."

Izuku felt his heart thump in his chest. He had a feeling that he knew exactly where this was going, and he really didn't like it.

"So, uh … so basically, I grew up in the Akita prefecture," Nejire decided to explain from the beginning, "it's a super nice little neighborhood! My next door neighbors are really nice to me. I met Yuuyu back when we were in preschool, and she was so nice to me - she called me the cutest thing in the galaxy, you know! She wasn't at all like how she is now, all sarcastic and angry. But - but don't think I don't like her like that! I love Yuuyu, even when she's being mean! She's been my best friend forever."

"Er - right."

"Mm-hm! Just wanted to make sure you knew that in case you got any bad ideas. But, uh, anyway, Yuuyu was my best friend … but …" Her eyes turned downcast, "… but other than her … no one else really … liked me."

"You … you were bullied?" Izuku felt his own hand close into a fist.

"No, not - not really, just … people didn't like talking to me," She explained sadly, staring down at her knees as the water from the ocean washed around the both of them, "they thought I was annoying, and super loud. I mean, I know I don't really have a filter, but every time I came up to someone to talk to them, they were like, 'no! Shut up, Nejire!', or 'guys, don't talk to her!'. Or when someone new transferred to school, they would point at me and say 'she's hot but annoying'! You know, stuff like that."

Izuku took an uneven breath, staring down at his feet as one of his hands clenched into a fist. She said it wasn't bullying, but … well, it definitely sounded like it, and it was making him feel pretty angry on her behalf.

"And then one time, when everyone else but Yuuyu didn't like me, I just kinda … well, I just did what everyone wanted me to do," She frowned, "I shut up. I stopped asking everyone questions, and just … kept it all in. I thought that maybe, hey, if people didn't like hearing me talk, then I just wouldn't! Then maybe they would like me. But it didn't work. They just thought I was being all cold and haughty, like -" She suddenly morphed her face, trying to look super serious for a moment. Izuku felt himself blink at the look - she looked, admittedly, rather cold and haughty, unlike what he was used to, before she shook her head and regained her usual curious but still sad look. "- like that!"

"I - I see."

"But I wasn't trying to be haughty, or look down on them! I just thought that if I kept quiet, people wouldn't try not to avoid me, or maybe they'd pat my shoulder and ask me if I was okay since I hadn't talked for a while. But it just … it made everything worse." A small tear welled in her eye, startling Izuku as she let out yet another sigh. "I was … kinda sad back in middle school. I couldn't win at all - either I talked and everyone thinks I'm annoying, or I didn't and everything thinks I look down on them. Things seemed to be … no matter what I did, I always ended up being … really sad."

At that, a small silence finally fell on the beach, Nejire taking a second to reach for her water bottle and drink, and Izuku stared at her in shock and sympathy. For him, his heart was hammering slightly in his chest, and he could tell that his breathing was uneven as moisture welled in his eyes - but strangely, it wasn't from sadness on her behalf.

Rather, he instead felt himself shake at the thought of a younger Nejire, sitting by herself, looking sad and lonely while everyone just tried to ignore her or talk about her behind her back. Thoughts of her walking down a hall alone while everyone insulted her. Yuuyu being her only friend, trying to defend her from the bullies. Nejire sitting alone, wondering what she did wrong while crying.

It … well … it reminded him of …

… of what he had to go through back at Aldera. Everyone being against him, only having one friend to defend him from the bullies, trying to keep quiet so no one noticed he was there.

For the first time that day, Izuku looked Nejire properly in the face. Knowing now what she went through, he couldn't help but feel a tiny bit of kinsmanship with her, knowing that she went through the same thing he did. He slowly closed his mouth, and nodded slightly.

"Hadou, I'm …" He hesitated, and then closed his eyes and exhaled, "… I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Mm-hm." Nejire slowly nodded, but then a smile crossed her face. "But it's okay now. You wanna know why?"

"I - sure. Why?"

"Because I'm here now." She let out a small giggle, "I'm here with you."

He felt himself go still at that, shaken out of his angry thoughts, and glanced back up at her as she likewise turned to look at him. A smile was back on her face as she leaned against her arm, her blue eyes never leaving his, and Izuku felt his heart skip a beat at the look of … well, he had no idea what to make of that look, but it made his stomach twist slightly.

But not in an uncomfortable way.

"When I came to UA," She explained to him, "I was kinda afraid that the same thing would happen to me, y'know? That everyone would think I'm annoying and tell me to shut up - and it kinda does, now that I think about it, since Aizawa-sensei's always telling me to be quiet - but you know, it's okay if it's him because he's the teacher, and he tells everyone to shut up! But anyway, I was kinda afraid that since Yuuyu was going to be in a different class than me, I was gonna go through the exact same thing that always happened. Heck, I even thought that I could - y'know, do my whole quiet thing and make everyone believe I was all cool and collected from the start."

"I - so what changed?" Izuku asked, feeling himself go red again as she brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"I … kinda met you." She confessed, going a bit pink herself as Izuku squeaked quietly. "It sounds super corny, doesn't it? But - y'know, this might surprise you, Midoriya, but - but I think you're actually the first friend I've had since I met Yuuyu - waaaay back in preschool, so it's been a while! And - and honestly, Midoriya, I'm really happy I met you. You don't think I'm weird for asking a lot of questions, and you actually answer some of them, and - and that makes me feel really happy."

"I …"

"And it's … kinda why I asked you to train with me today," She tapped her feet against the ground, "because I wanna get to know you better."

Izuku stayed quiet at that, unsure of whether or not he should answer, or if he even could with his heart pretty much beating out of his chest, Nejire scooting a bit closer, and looking up at him through her eyelashes.

"I wanna get to know everyone better," She made clear, "but I wanna know more about you especially. I wanna be your … I wanna be your friend. And not just any friend - I wanna be someone you can trust. I know that you probably like Uraraka and Kendou waaaaay more than you like me - and that's okay! You've known them way longer! - but I wanna get to know you better! I wanna give you hugs without you blushing, like you have been all day - that's why I asked you about looking at my boobies and my butt, I kinda think that's why you're so red."

"Erk," Izuku winced, utterly called out, but at least Nejire didn't seem to mind.

"And I wanna be able to talk to you for hours! Either at school, or if you call me at night so we can talk on the phone! I wanna be someone you can think 'I'm sad, I need someone to talk to', and you immediately think of me! I know that I sound really silly right now," She shook her head, "but that's what I want. I wanna be your friend."

Finally, silence fell on the beach once again, with Nejire finally saying her piece and deciding that now was a good time to stop talking, flushing a bit and looking back out at the ocean. Izuku, for his part, had no idea what to say to what she had just confessed - still feeling his heart beating rather quickly in his chest - and let out a small, shaking sigh as he likewise looked back out at the ocean.

"I … Hadou -"

"Oooh, what's this?"

Both teenagers blinked at the sound of a voice above them - one that they didn't recognize. With a squeak, Izuku quickly whipped around, his eyes widening in shock while Nejire likewise whipped around in alarm - and both of them trailed their gazes up at the sight of someone neither of them recognized, leaning over slightly to stare down at them with a curious smile.

"Isn't it a little cold to be sitting around in swimsuits?" The girl raised her eyebrow, smirking. "Like, jeez, I'm freezing my butt off right now and I'm pretty much fully covered! You two got my respect."

"I -" Izuku managed to sputter out, feeling his face go red again - seriously, what was it with girls today?! This girl was at least more covered up than Nejire was, but that wasn't saying much, seeing as she was wearing a rather skintight, black costume that showed off all of her curves, and made him gulp very nervously - but then his gaze shifed upwards to the hat on her head, and he felt himself blink.

"W-wait - is that a Shiketsu hat?"

"Oooh, you know Shiketsu?" The new girl giggled, reaching up and tapping her strange, policeman-like hat as she winked down at him, her large lips curling slightly. "Yeah, that's right, cutie - I'm just on patrol right now. But neither of you are answering me - why're you just hanging around on a beach?"

"Ooooooooh!" Nejire hopped up, smiling widely at the new girl as she straightened up, "You look so cool! I really like your catsuit! Really form fitting! Does it have anything to do with your quirk?"

"Nah, brah," The girl giggled, while glancing down at Nejire's getup and nodding in approval, "but I gotta say, sweetie, you're lookin' pretty rocking yourself! Like god-damn!"

Both girls seemed to briefly forget Izuku's existence as they complimented each other, while Izuku took that chance to rub his cheeks slightly, sitting up from his spot and glancing around the beach - and felt himself blink at how dark it had gotten. Had they been talking for so long they completely didn't notice the sun going down? Jeez, no wonder this girl had asked what they were doing - they probably looked like they were doing something sketchy.

With a small grunt, Izuku started to get up, grunting slightly from how stiff his back felt, and felt his gaze trail down to the ground -

- and that was when Izuku's eyes fell to the sand itself, and he felt himself blink.

While it was pretty dark, he could somewhat make out the imprints of feet on the sand. He saw Nejire's footprints, moving to where she had sat down, and he saw his own leading to where he had been initially laying down … but he didn't see footprints for this girl. It was as though she had just … appeared out of nowhere.

And there was a sudden odor that reached his nostrils, making him recoil back. Something smelled - but what -?

"Anyway, you two," The Shiketsu girl giggled, gesturing with her thumb back towards the road, "you should probably think about getting out of here soon, kapeesh? I've heard that there's lots of villains lurking around lately because of some other dumb group, so you don't wanna be caught out here on your own."

"A - villain group?" Izuku repeated, feeling himself be shaken out of his brief confusion while Nejire blinked.

"Mm-hm. Don't worry, though, I'll still be patrolling around - don't want my teach getting upset with me - so I'll be sure to be on the lookout. But still, you two should get going soon. Don't want anyone thinking you're out here sneaking some …" Her lips curled into a smirk, "… alone time."

"Sure thing!" Nejire saluted her, and the Shiketsu girl giggled at her before turning around with a small wave - but not before her gaze fell to Izuku, who was staring at her in confusion. When their eyes met, the girl raised an eyebrow before a smirk appeared on her face, flicking some of her long blonde hair behind her shoulder, and then turned fully around to walk away from them, being sure to sway her hips slightly as she left.

Feeling himself blink, Izuku went a bit red, clearing his throat awkwardly while Nejire's gaze flickered between the retreating girl and Izuku's fluster, and a small pout appeared on her face.

"Er - a-anyway, Hadou, should we -" He coughed a bit, glancing at her and seeing Nejire quickly wipe the pout off her face, "- I think she's right, we should - we should probably think about getting out of here soon."

"Uh - right!" Nejire quickly nodded, grinning. "I didn't even realize how dark it was getting! We still gotta go get dinner!"

Together, they both quickly began walking over towards their stuff, Izuku grabbing his backpack and slinging it over his shoulders while Nejire grabbed the umbrella and popped it out of the sand. While they gathered up their stuff, Izuku stole a small glance at his friend, and then let out a small sigh.

"Er … hey, Hadou?"

"Mm? Yeah, Midoriya?"

"I was just …" He hesitated again, and then shook his head and straightened his shoulders slightly, "… I just wanted to say, about … you know, before … about what you told me."

Nejire paused at that, keeping her back to him while he slowly nodded to himself, trying to hype himself up.

"I just wanted to say that I … I think I understand," He told her, feeling himself blush again, but tried to power through the awkwardness, "I'm … I'm really sorry to hear about what you went through back in your old school. Me and Occhan, we - we kinda went through something similar. I - I know that I shouldn't be comparing our pasts, but -"

"Wait, what?!" She suddenly looked around at him, surprise on her face. "You did? But why? You're both so cool!"

"I, uh -" Izuku scratched the back of his head sheepishly, letting out an awkward laugh, "- well, t-thank you, Hadou. It's, uh - it's kind of a long story, but … but I guess you could say that a … a lot of people didn't think the same way you did. A-anyway, I just wanted to say that - that if you ever feel like that again - like you're annoying people, I - I swear, you're not. And if anyone ever tells you that you are, I … I'll …"

Nejire waited for Izuku to find his words, seeing him trail off and glance off to the side - and then he sagged his shoulders.

"… I was gonna say I'll fight them, but they'll probably kick my butt instead," He mumbled while going red, "but … but what I wanted to say is that … well …"

"…"

"… I … really like talking to you too, Hadou," He confessed, going even redder and speaking even quieter than before, but at least a small smile appeared on his face, "and … and if you wanted to be better friends with me … then … then I wouldn't mind that. I - I want to be better friends with you too."

For a few seconds there was silence, with Izuku slowly shrinking into himself and looking more and more embarrassed by the minute as he stared down at his feet. Finally, he managed to muster up the courage to glance up at Nejire, seeing her staring at him with her mouth opening slightly, blinking in shock - and then a massive smile appeared on her face, and a giggle escaped her lips as she suddenly looked away, reaching up to play with her hair.

"That - wow, that - that's really nice to hear!" She managed to giggle out, stroking her hair a bit more awkwardly than she usually would as she looked away from him. "I - um - okay! I - I - yeah! Then I guess we've gotta get to know each other even better from now on! Hey, can I give you a hug?"

"A - wait, what?" Izuku felt himself go still, his eyes widening in horror. However, before Nejire could think to act on her impulse, she blinked.

"Wait, I'm just wearing a bikini," She realized, looking down at herself, "and you'll probably die if I hug you."

"I - uh - yeah," Izuku nodded in shame.

"Okay! In that case, I won't hug you right now. But later tonight, I am! And I won't let go until you hug me back!"

"I - huh?" He squeaked, feeling his face burst into flames again, but before he could squeak out a protest, she reached out to take his hand in hers, making him freeze.

"Now let's go! We've gotta have dinner soon, before my curfew! And we can't do that if we stink!" She shook her head, beginning to lead him over towards the changing rooms while holding the umbrella under her arm and her backpack in her other hand. As they walked, Izuku trying not to die from the feeling of Nejire's soft hand in his, the girl suddenly slowed, clearly thinking to herself.

"Actually, speaking of that," She thought for a moment, "that Shinketsu girl from earlier."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at her. "W-what about her?"

"She kinda smelled, didn't she?" Nejire asked in a stage-whispered, giggling slightly, and Izuku felt himself go still before he let out a small sigh, trying to suppress his own awkward smile.

"I … wasn't sure if I should've commented on that," He admitted while blushing, and Nejire laughed.

"No, no, I noticed it too! But she was also wearing a lot of leather, and it was really hot today," She did point out fairly, "and I don't think heroes really do deodorant breaks, do they?"

"I … guess not? Maybe?"

"Well, I think so! Anyway, let's get going, Midoriya! I'm taking you to a really cool monjayaki spot I know - I can actually make us dinner!"

Together, they walked together towards the changing room, Nejire finally letting go of his hand so she could approach her own door, and Izuku let out a weak sigh as he reached out for his door -

- and then Nejire suddenly said, "Hey, Midoriya?"

Izuku paused in his attempt to enter the changing room, blinking, and looked around at her. Nejire herself paused at the door, staring at it for a second, before looking around at him.

"You, uh - you never answered my question," She pointed out, tucking some of her hair behind her ear, and he wasn't able to see that her cheeks went pink again, "about if you looked at my boobs. Or my butt."

"I - huh?" Izuku balked slightly, feeling suddenly terrified at the question like before - but then, as he stared into her face, he felt himself go still. Nejire wasn't looking angry, or accusing - she appeared to be curious, and maybe a little bit awkward. Izuku stared at her for a moment - and then he let out a small sigh as he looked down at his feet.

"I …" He hesitated again, and then closed his eyes, "… might have … looked at your butt a - a little bit. I'm sorry."

There was another small silence - and then he suddenly heard the sound of a door opening up. Feeling his eyes snap open, Izuku glanced up at her, seeing Nejire begin to enter the dressing room while looking back at him, and there was a small smile on her face.

"Okay," She nodded, smiling at the surprise on his face, "that's good, Midoriya. That's really good! Thank you for letting me know!"

With that, she shut the door to the changing room, leaving Izuku staring at it while his jaw pretty much hit the ground - and he then promptly felt his mind crash.

Good? Checking her out is 'good'?! What does that even mean?!


Well, that was … awkward.

Outside of the fast food place, Itsuka let out another soft sigh as she raised her hands to her cheeks to smack some of the blush off her face, moving onto the slightly empty sidewalk and beginning to walk down the street towards the bus stop around the corner. By now, the streets of downtown Musutafu were pretty much thinning out, with only a few people walking up and down the sidewalk, but Itsuka didn't mind - at least, she had a bit of room to walk by herself as she sighed and tossed her ponytail behind her shoulder, feeling her mind begin to think.

She knew that it had been kind of rude to just walk out on her best friends like that, and was already going to text them on the bus with apologies for her sudden exit, but … well, that conversation had honestly taken a turn she really hadn't liked, and she needed some time to think everything over.

Setsuna and Yui thought she had a crush on Izuku. The mere thought of her crushing on her training partner was enough to make Itsuka snort to herself, shaking her head as she walked down the empty street. God, she knew she'd been spending a bit more time with him and Ochako lately, but to assume she had a crush on him? That was absurd!

Sure, she - she liked him, but it was only as a friend!

Not to mention that she had spoke the truth about Ochako, Itsuka bit her lip slightly. Her thoughts from last week hadn't changed at all - she knew that Ochako liked him, and there was no chance in hell that Itsuka wasn't going to become her biggest cheerleader. From how Setsuna was talking, it sounded like Itsuka should've been sweeping in to get the guy for herself, but - no, there was no way that was happening. She already stole Ochako's first kiss, there was no chance she was no chance in hell she was gonna steal Izuku from her as well.

Although … now there was Nejire to consider, Itsuka scowled slightly as she stared straight ahead. As much as she didn't like to admit, Yui's words from earlier were ringing around in her ears. Nejire was … well … much closer to Izuku that she liked to admit. So maybe …

… wait, no, that made much more sense now, Itsuka realized. Her kneejerk reactions to whenever Nejire invaded Izuku's space - was that because she thought Nejire was honing in on Ochako's property? Not - not to say that Izuku was her property! Itsuka quickly shook her head, feeling guilty about thinking that of her friend. No matter what, Izuku wasn't entitled to anyone. While she wanted to get those two together, in the end, Izuku still had a right to say no if he didn't feel that way about Ochako.

But … but she had a feeling he did, Itsuka sighed to herself. There was no way those looks that those two had shared before, what she had seen, the hugs they had shared, how comfortable Izuku felt with Ochako … there was no way that two people who just considered each other friends would do that kind of stuff.

And … and she would help him get there. That's what she should do, as their friend. Help them realize that their crushes on each other were reciprocated.

So Setsuna and Yui's claims that she liked Izuku was ridiculous! Ridiculous, and completely unsupported by anything! Sure, she had called him hot back during their battle trial, but that had been sarcastic!

… hadn't it?

Itsuka felt her brow furrow at that, pausing in her step as she briefly went still. She had called Izuku hot in an effort to distract him while she tried to escape out of that room … but … but when she thought about it a bit more …

… well … it … it's not like Izuku was bad looking. Not at all! He was a little plain, sure, but 'plain' in the sense that he didn't have any engines on his legs, or sharp teeth, or anything like that. So it wasn't like Izuku was … it wasn't like he wasn't attractive.

He was. He was good looking.

He was nice to look at.

Izuku was … hot.

… hot.

He's hot.

Oh, god, she had thought it, Itsuka let out a small groan as she quickly began walking down the street again, her eyes on the ground and her face feeling like it was on fire again. She admitted to herself that Izuku was hot. So … what? Why did that matter? Why was it making her heart beat so fast in her chest?!

She was allowed to think that her friend was attractive without it being weird! She thought Setsuna and Yui were good looking. Tenya was good looking, in a stiff, stick up his ass kind of way. Momo was very attractive. Nejire was cute. Ochako was sexy.

In a cute way! Itsuka's eyes widened in slight panic. Ochako was sexy in a cute way! Wait, no, she wasn't - she's not sexy at all! She's - beautiful? Cute? Literally anything but sexy!

Itsuka let out a long groan as she held her hands up to her eyes. She could think of her friends, think they were attractive, and her heart would keep beating normally. So why was it that when she thought of Izuku, acknowledging that he was attractive, her heart would suddenly start hammering? Why was she thinking of his stupid, hot face, that nice billion-dollar smile, and felt herself begin to smile in turn? Why was she -

- oh.

Oh, no.

She wasn't … Itsuka felt herself pale, coming to a stop in front of an alleyway while feeling her eyes widen in horror. Oh, no … she wasn't … starting to …

… she didn't have a crush on him, did she?

No. No, no, no, no, no. She quickly shook her head, raising her shaking hands again to smack her cheeks. No, that was just - that was just Setsuna and Yui putting the idea in her head. There was no way in hell that she was crushing on one of her best friends. It was just - no way, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!

She was not crushing on him, no, no way, no how. Setsuna and Yui were just messing with her head, and she was unfocused now.

Besides, what about - what about Ochako? She knew that her friend was in love with Izuku already, and there was a high chance he felt the same way about her. It was so obvious that a blind man could see it. So what was she supposed to do here? Just steal Ochako's first kiss and then fall head over heels for the guy she has a crush on too? Go 'hey, Ochako, thanks for making out with me, now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go make out with your crush too'?

No. No, that was not going to happen, Itsuka shook her head, straightening her shoulders. She cared about Izuku as a friend, and the relationship - no, the friendship she shared with Ochako even after their kiss was way too important to her than the supposed crush she had on Izuku.

So that would have to be it. Something that Setsuna and Yui were trying to put in her head.

And she also had to consider … they knew about One for All now. They knew about her real responsibilities - to replace All Might one day as the Symbol of Peace and the Number One Hero. There was no way that she would be able to … even if she wanted to, a relationship was pretty much out of the cards for her.

So no, she would push these thoughts of a crush away, she resolved with herself, nodding slowly. Get her best friends together … and then get back to what she was supposed to do. Master this new quirk, and become someone everyone could -

BAM

"Ah!” Itsuka let out a sudden cry of surprise as something small collided hard into her side. Because her thoughts were elsewhere, she hadn't heard the sound of something approaching her from within the alleyway, nor did she have time to brace herself as she was knocked off her feet, and found herself being carried down to the ground by whatever had just crashed into her, letting out a grunt of pain as she fell to the ground hard.

"Ow, ow, ow …" She tensed, letting out a small groan as she rubbed her side where she had had landed, and tried to sit up, her eyes trailing around to see what on earth ahd just hit -

"Help me …"

Itsuka felt herself falter, however, at the sound of a low, tearful voice quietly speaking. It sounded … young. As though …

Looking around, she felt her eyes widen at the sight of who had just slammed into her, and was now clinging tightly onto her school uniform, shaking and hiding her face against her. The little girl was wearing a raggedly hospital gown, a few holes in it, but what Itsuka found her eyes focusing on was the wrappings around her arms and legs, looking dirty and tightly fastened around her limbs. She was barefoot, her feet scratched and bloody from running across the pavement, and her long, messy pale hair covered her face.

Finally, she looked up, and Itsuka stared into her large, doe-like eyes, tearing up as she desperately clung to the older girl, the horn on the top edge of her forehead lightly digging into Itsuka's blazer.

"Please …" The little girl begged, holding on fast while her voice was on the verge of breaking, "… please help me …"

"Oh," Itsuka let out a small gasp, quickly sitting up. Her hands automatically reached out, tempted to take the little girl by the shoulders, but the way she flinched away made the older girl stop.

The longer she stared down at this little girl, though, the faster her heart hammered in her chest - god, she looked so terrified, tearing up and glancing back at the alley she had apparently came from.

"Hey," Itsuka said softly, sitting up slowly so that the little girl could be sat up on her knees, her red eyes turning back to stare up at her with tears in her eyes, "are you okay? I'm really sorry that I got in your way - are you hurt?"

The little girl merely stared up at her as the tears finally began sliding down her cheeks. It was then that Itsuka realized how hard the little girl was trembling, and she suddenly felt something … weird run through her. As though she had the sudden urge to protect this little girl.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," She quickly adopted a much gentler, kinder voice, the kind of tone that she used when Gūdo was just a puppy and was scared of her, "you don't have to be afraid of me. C'mon," She slowly climbed to her feet, the little girl's hands still clinging to her blazer as she smiled kindly down at her, "why don't I help you up? We both took a pretty bad -"

And that was when Itsuka heard it.

The sound of footsteps moving down the alleyway.

Feeling her eyes widen, Itsuka quickly snapped her gaze up into the dark alleyway, feeling the little girl's hands tighten their grip on her as she whipped around, staring fearfully into the darkness. Itsuka didn't see anyone at first, only the sound of feet meeting the pavement - but Itsuka's senses were screaming at her to run away. Slowly, she felt her feet turn slightly away while hesitantly reaching down towards the little girl, and finally, she looked away from the dark alley and down into her face.

The sight of the little girl staring in horror down the alley told Itsuka all she needed to know - whoever was coming down that alleyway right now was bad news.

And then, as her gaze flickered back up, she saw a white shoe suddenly appear from behind the alley wall. And Itsuka acted.

Grabbing the little girl and lifting her right up into her arms - and feeling alarmed at how thin and light she was in her grasp - Itsuka bolted. Before whoever was coming out of that alley could even poke their head around the corner to have a look, Itsuka was already running at full speed down the street, her arms wrapped protectively around the little girl as she hurried away. The little girl, perhaps unsurprisingly, clung tightly to her, her thin arms wrapping around Itsuka's neck as she ran … really nowhere in general, just away from that alleyway.

If Itsuka had been paying attention, she would've noticed a flicker of teal lightning moving around her, and that her legs were moving a lot faster than she used to. She suddenly felt a strain in her body as she ran so fast a passerby yelped as her hair was blown about by Itsuka speeding past her. But instead, Itsuka concentrated on getting away from there, feeling like if she slowed down or hesitated for even a second, something awful would happen - to either her, or to the girl she had in her arms. But either way, there was no chance in hell she was going to slow down.

As she sprinted down the street, she became aware of the sound of quiet sobbing coming from her shoulder, and she glanced down to see the little girl pressing her face against her, and Itsuka became aware of the feeling of something wet there.

"I'm sorry … I'm sorry …"

That same, weirdly protective feeling flared within Itsuka again, making her blink - and she raised one of her hands to hold the back of the little girl's head, rubbing it up and down her mangled locks to comfort her.

"I've got you," She muttered, "I've got you."

Eventually, she ran around the corner and completely vanished from sight, not sure where she was running but knowing she had to get away. If she had been looking behind her, she would've seen a tall man suddenly storm out of the alleyway, keeping to himself in the dark, and a pair of yellow, enraged eyes flickered around, searching for something and finding nothing.

And a growl escaped his lips, concealed by the beaked mask he wore around his lower face.

Notes:

 

 

And that was Chapter 22! Jesus fucking Christ. I apologize for leaving you all alone for so long, but as you could see ... well, yes. This chapter is now our longest chapter, beating out Chapter 2 by 1000 or so words. Christ.

But as you guys could see, we couldn't quite leave stuff out this chapter! So much has happened! Inko, Tenohira and Miwa are in shambles! Operation: Date is a go! Hisashi is confused! Ochako has learned of Class 1B's nefarious plot! Shouto and Momo are 😡😑 with each other! Ochako has Himiko as a mentor now! Setsuna and Yui are 'putting thoughts' in Itsuka's head! Operation Date is so far a success! Izuku and Nejire have more in common than they thought! And we get two unexpected cameos! I imagine you all want to know more about them?

... well, no. Not yet.

Also, this is quite the late realization, but it has been one year since I've posted Chapter 1 of this story! Uh - holy crap. I'm not quite sure how to celebrate that I've been working on this crazy story for a year now, and how I'm supposed to repay you guys for all the support - hm.

Well, why not give you guys some 'Ignited Spark behind the scenes'?

Well, to start, I suppose ...
-Mirio, Nejire and Tamaki were supposed to be in Class 1A in a previous version of this story, with Mirio acting as Itsuka's rival in contrast to Izuku and Katsuki's relationship, but I eventually moved both of them back - although Nejire did eventually stay, as one might notice. Instead of the Big Three, Miruko was gonna be aged down and be ... well ... her XD
-Camie was also considered to be in Class 1A *and* in the Big Three.
-Early plots had Ochako and Himiko being childhood friends before Ochako moved to Musutafu, and she completely forgot until Himiko reminded her.
-A lot of inspiration for Izuku's quirk comes from One for All's lightning, and in addition to me being a huge freaking fan of Infamous lol - you'll begin seeing the comparisons soon.
-Hana Shimura was actually pretty much considered as the main villain of the fic before Nine - surviving the events of Tenko's freakout and being raised by All for One in his stead. However, it didn't feel different enough from canon so it got scrapped.
And I think that's it! :)

 

 

 

oh, and in ten or so chapters, two members of our trio are going to kiss.

Thanks for reading, and see you guys next time!

Chapter 23: Eri

Summary:

Despite the trio attempting to enjoy their Friday evening, they end up having a complication thrown in - a little girl in desperate need of their help. As they meet to try and figure out what to do, complications may begin to arise, and forces in the darkness are beginning to move again ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"I … might have … looked at your butt a - a little bit. I'm sorry."

"Okay ... that's good, Midoriya. That's really good! Thank you for letting me know!"

… what does that mean.

What does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, what does that mean, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!

Izuku felt his eyes begin to ache from how hard he was staring down at the hardwood table, feeling his arms tense slightly at his sides. He had been fortunate that Nejire had been taking up a lot of his attention in the last hour or so, sitting together on opposite sides of the table they were having their dinner on and chatting aimlessly with him. Nejire forcing him to concentrate on talking to her had thankfully made him take his mind off of what it had been desperately pleading with him to think about - but now that she was away from the table, leaving him alone, what she had said before they had parted into their separate changing rooms was all he could think about, and he felt like he was about to combust.

As she had promised, Nejire had been more than happy with taking over preparing their dinner at the monja restaurant she had ended up taking him to, Izuku watching as she had happily prepared their food on the small oven top beneath their table as she happily told him about the various adventures she had as a kid (which had been surprisingly varied - apparently Nejire lived quite the adventurous childhood). He found himself having a good time when she took his mind off of what she had said, laughing with her and talking to her about what he and Ochako got up to over the years as well, but … well, whenever they lapsed into silence, either waiting for a waiter to come over with drinks or eating their admittedly delicious food, Izuku's mind kept going back to what she had said on the beach and making his heart begin hammering in his chest.

And now, since Nejire had excused herself to head to the bathroom very quickly, he was currently busy having a nervous breakdown while waiting for her to get back.

It was … apparently a good thing that he checked her out. She flat out asked him if he looked at her butt, looked him in the eye when he told her that he did, and she made it clear that she was … happy about it.

She was happy that he checked her out.

This, of course, was making Izuku's brain pretty much completely crash, like a car that had sped head first into a brick wall and making him feel like he just smashed straight out of the windshield. He continued to stare down at the table with widened eyes and a slightly dropped jaw, unaware of the couple at the table beside him giving him a concerned look and glancing at each other as he had his breakdown over the fact that a girl found out he perved on her and was … very much okay with it.

Now, Izuku would be the first to admit that he had … very little experience when it came to the mere concept of girls. Hell, he had to work himself out of several panic attacks this very morning just thinking of Nejire. And sure, he might have 'experience' with girls - he spent most of his life hanging out with Ochako every day, and spent every day last year hanging out with both her and Itsuka - but it wasn't like just hanging out with his friends gave him any insights into romantic gestures. Seeing as neither Ochako or Itsuka were interested in him in that way, he had about the same level of knowledge about girls as he did back when he was a four year old.

So … yeah. He was pretty dense when it came to the opposite sex.

But … but even he had limits to how dense he could be. He knew when there was something obviously poking him in the face, and what was poking him in the face right now was making his heart feel like it was about to explode out of his chest, his hands shaking and feeling his leg muscles tense.

It was good that he checked her out.

He … he had a feeling he knew what that meant, but …

… but there was no way. There was no freaking way.

"I'm baaaaaaaack!"

Izuku jumped slightly at the sudden sing-songy voice above him, quickly looking around his shoulder with his face turning red once again. Nejire had just skipped back to the table, giggling a bit as she reached over for her blazer, which she had taken off and hung around her chair so she didn't get it dirty while eating, and let out a small sigh as she tied it around her waist, her bag still strapped over her shoulder (which Izuku had found a bit weird that she brought her bag to the bathroom).

"So! Sorry about taking so long!" She quickly gave him a salute, giggling a bit as Izuku continued to stare nervously up at her, "Yuuyu actually texted me while I was in the bathroom asking where I was, so I had to take a little bit to respond! She was kinda jealous that you and me went to get monjayaki, so I was assuring her that her and me would go another time! Mmmmmm, it was so good, wasn't it, Midoriya? Dinner, I mean. Not the bathroom. The bathroom wasn't good. That would be … a really weird thing to think about a restroom. Wait, what was I talking about?"

"Uh … you were … back from the bathroom?"

"I was … oh, right! Well, we're good to go now," She confirmed, smiling down at him, "I brought my purse to the bathroom with me so that when I passed by the front, I could pay! So we can leave now."

"I - huh?" Izuku blinked, straightening up in his seat in surprise. "Wait, what? Y-you paid already?"

"Yep! I paid, so we can go! So - time for the big question! Where should we go next? I gotta get home in like - two hours, but we've got time to visit a bookstore, maybe? Or an arcade! Or - oooh," She suddenly gasped, eyes widening in delight, "or we can go take a walk in a park! That'd be pretty cool, right?"

"I … I guess so," Izuku slowly nodded, letting out a small sigh as he stood up, and grabbed his backpack from beside his feet, "I mean, if your curfew is -"

Wait.

Izuku felt himself stop suddenly, feeling his brow scrunch as something flickered in his brain - and then a memory from this morning came back to him, something that his father had been sure to emphasize as his eyes widened.

"So just be yourself, pay attention to her, make sure that she's having a fun time, and Izuku, for the love of god, if you go out for something to eat, do not let her handle the bill by herself."

Uh oh.

That's a … that's a very big uh oh.

"O-oh, I'm - I'm so sorry, Hadou!" Izuku quickly whipped his gaze back up to Nejire in his panic, the blue-haired girl blinking in surprise at the sudden look of terror on his face, "I - I should've - I should've helped you pay for our dinner! P-please, let me - I can pay you back for what I ate, do - do you have a receipt that I can -"

"Hey, whoa, whoa!" Nejire let out another giggle, reaching out and patting his shoulders with both her hands, which managed to successfully stop his flailing, "Don't you remember what I said back on Tuesday? I said that I'd cover dinner! And I kept my promise, so it's all good!"

"I - but -"

"So c'mon!" She suddenly reached down to grab his hand again - she'd done it so many times that day he should've been expecting it, but it still made him freeze up with his face turning hot. "We've still got two hours to hang out together! We've got places to go and things to talk about!"

With that, she pulled him along away from their table, Izuku scrambling to make sure he didn't trip over himself as she moved out of the restaurant, moving carefully around the other tables and waving to one of the waitresses. Izuku, for his part, was still unsure if Nejire was really cool with paying for both of them, or was waiting for privacy so she could …

… he didn't know, what do girls do to make the guy pay them back? Punch them? Mug them?

"I'm - I really am sorry, though, Hadou, I - I should've helped you pay."

Nejire, for her part, only giggled as she finally led them both back onto the street, looking up at the sky. By now, it was completely dark out, the city's lights illuminating them as they began walking together down the street, Nejire finally letting go of his hand so that she could adjust her bag on her shoulder.

"It's all good, Midoriya!" She assured him, smiling up at him as he walked beside her, "I saved up on all of my allowance, you know, so I had more than enough money to pay for us! Plus, my mom and dad heard that I was taking someone out to eat, and they were like, 'oh, no, Nejire's gonna make him pay!'" She imitated an older, gruffer man, "'We can't allow that!' So they gave me a little extra money too, just to be safe!"

"I - uh -"

"Midoriya," She smiled sweetly, "seriously, it's all good! I wanted to pay for you."

Izuku wasn't exactly sure how he was supposed to respond to that, merely pouting a bit as he adjusted his backpack on his shoulders. For a few seconds they walked down the street in silence, Nejire suddenly turning away to play with a bit of her hair, and Izuku staring glumly down at his feet for his failure - and then she subtly cleared her throat, getting his attention again.

"I mean …" She said, her voice sounding a bit quiet suddenly, "… if you're really sad about it, Midoriya … you could always cover us … if we do this again."

At that quiet … invitation, Izuku slowly realized, he found himself pausing in his step, staring blankly ahead while Nejire also took a moment to slow her step, as though waiting for a response to that offer as she slowly walked ahead of him. Slowly, Izuku felt his face turn red for the umpteenth time that day as his mouth, which had been hanging open slightly, slowly closed, and he suddenly found his hands beginning to shake.

Should … should I ask her if …

NO! Another part of his mind screamed. BAD IDEA! NO, NO, NO! DON'T BRING IT UP!

Why not, though?

YOU'RE JUST GONNA ASK HER IF SHE LIKES YOU?! ARE YOU AN IDIOT?!

But - but she literally said that it was good that I checked her out!

YOU'RE OBVIOUSLY MISSING SOMETHING HERE! THERE'S NO WAY! NO FREAKING WAY!

But - but what if I'm not missing something here?

YOU ARE! YOU'RE OVERTHINKING THIS! WE MUST'VE INTERPRETED WHAT SHE SAID WRONG! THERE'S NO WAY THAT SHE -

"H-hey, Hadou?"

The two voices loudly arguing in Izuku's head suddenly went silent as he said her name in that same shaking voice. Nejire herself paused as she had turned around ahead of him, blinking and looking around at him. Izuku felt his heart continue to hammer faster and faster by the second, putting his hands in his pockets to prevent her from seeing how much they were now shaking, one hand wrapping around his phone.

For a moment, Nejire kept quiet as she tilted her head curiously, and Izuku stared blankly ahead - and then he let out a small sigh.

"Can … can I … can I ask you something?"

"Hm?" Nejire poked her cheek. "Er - yeah, sure, Midoriya! I always ask you questions, don't I? So it's only fair if you wanna ask me something."

"Uh … right," He slowly nodded, feeling his face burn hotter and hotter and his breath leave in shakes, and, in a small voice, said, "I was just … back at the - the b-beach."

"Mm-hm?"

"What … what did you mean w-when you said -"

VRRMM VRRMM

The question on Izuku's lips, however, was interrupted by the feeling of his phone suddenly vibrating in his hand. Feeling himself falter slightly at the interruption, he shook his head and tried to ignore it for now - it was probably one of their group chats sending something, he knew Melissa liked to send some of her sketches for Momo to look at - and tried to continue with his question -

VRRMM VRRMM

VRRMM VRRMM

Now Izuku felt like his head was about to explode, his eye twitching slightly. Unfortunately for him, Nejire also blinked as she looked down at her pocket, and reached in to pull out her own phone.

"Hm? Wonder what's …?" She started to ask out loud, and then found herself fading into silence, blinking in surprise. Letting out a small, disappointed sigh (and just when he had summoned the courage to ask!), Izuku put a brief pause on his question, reaching into his own pocket for his phone and pulled it out.

Putting in his password, Izuku tapped on the messages app and clicked on the latest message from the group chat that the Kendousquad (as Setsuna had dubbed their group) shared, expecting Melissa to be texting them a picture or Tenya reminding them of homework -

- but then he felt his eyes widen slightly as he read the message.

 

ITSUKA

GUYS I NEED HELP

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE RESPOND

THIS IS SERIOUS

GUYS?

 

Feeling his eyebrows raise slightly, Izuku forgot about his disappointment and quickly began typing out a message while Nejire hummed in curiosity.

 

YOU

er

kendou?

are you okay?

 

ITSUKA

OH THANK GOD

okay, yeah, i'm okay, just

things are

i kinda need help

 

OCHAKO

huh?

is everything okay?

are you okay?!

 

 ITSUKA

i mean

yes, i'm fine

it's

i mean, not really? kinda?

okay, starting over

so i may have

kidnapped a child?

 

For a moment, Izuku stared blankly down at the message Itsuka had just sent, feeling his mind slow to a stop as he stared incomprehensively at the last three words she had sent. Slowly blinking, he glanced back up at Nejire, who was likewise looking at her phone in surprise as she apparently read the message that was just sent, and glanced up to give him a confused look.

"Uh …" Izuku paused, and then weakly pointed behind his shoulder with a small, shaky smile, "… please excuse me for a second. I - I have to give Kendou a quick call."

Turning right on his heel, Izuku quickly jogged down the street a little distance away, aware of Nejire looking between him and the message in the chat again while he felt himself go a bit red. Still though, he was quick to dial Itsuka's number, pressing the green button and raising it to his ear.

Luckily for him, it only rang once before Itsuka picked up.

"Izuku! Oh, thank god."

"K-Kendou," Izuku quickly nodded as well, still feeling a bit nervous for some reason as he straightened up. "Hey. Uh - so - w-what's this about you … uh … kidnapping a kid?"

"I - okay, I didn't kidnap her, but -" She suddenly stopped talking, letting out a sigh, and then muttered, "- just hold on for one sec, okay?"

"I - sure."

He heard her make a noise of gratitude, and he heard her move the phone away from her ear. He waited for a moment, hearing the sound of shuffling on the other end, and then he heard her say, in a suddenly soft voice that was hard to pick up since she moved the phone away from her mouth, "Hey, sweetie - I'm just gonna go over here for a second, okay? I'll be right where you can see me."

After another few moments of silence, Itsuka's voice filled his ear again.

"Okay. Sorry about that, she's - she's really nervous."

"I - it's okay, just - what - what exactly happened? Or - or what's going on?"

"I don't - honestly, I don't really know. One second I'm walking down the street, and the next, she's bumping into me out of nowhere! I - I thought something bad was gonna happen, so I just - picked her up and ran away."

"H-huh …"

"She's - she's really scared, Izuku," She muttered, and Izuku felt his eyes widen slightly in worry, "I talked to her about going to the police station, or the hospital, and - and she looked like she was about to freaking bolt. I - I don't know what to do now, I've been panic texting All Might and Midnight-sensei but - but neither of them are picking up right now. And - and I know I said I was fine, but I'm really freaking sore right now, so - so shit, I've got no idea where to go."

"I …" Izuku trailed off, not entirely sure how to respond to that, and understanding Itsuka's dilemma at once.

Very quickly, he went over what Itsuka had told him. There was a kid, who was clearly frightened, but who didn't want to go to the hospital or the police, and Itsuka was currently tired and had no idea where to take her. Her options were … certainly limited at the moment. Izuku briefly thought about UA, but then felt himself shake his head - even if someone was there this late, what could they do? They'd probably do the same thing Itsuka wanted and take the little girl to the police, but … but wouldn't that just be Itsuka hoisting this scared little girl off on them?

There was … certainly not a lot they could do. But … well, maybe Itsuka didn't have to face this sudden dilemma alone. No, she definitely didn't have to do this alone.

"… okay. W-where are you right now, Kendou? I'm - I'm gonna come by."

"Okay. I … okay. We're at … hold on, let me find a sign … okay. We're at Ochitsuite Park. And, uh … listen," She continued to speak in a quiet, embarrassed voice, "if … if it's not any trouble, can you stop by some fast food place for takeout?"

"I - huh?"

"It's for her," She clarified, "she's so thin, and … and honestly, I'm getting some pretty bad vibes right now. I swear, I'll pay you back."

"Bad vibes?"

"Not from her, but … but this whole thing. Something's going on, and it's got me … you know."

"I … I think I do," Izuku slowly nodded, feeling himself begin to grow concerned as well - just what was going on with this little girl? - and he gulped. "A-anyway, yeah, of - of course, Kendou, I'll bring her something to eat. You don't have to pay me back, it's - I'll be there soon."

"I'll … still probably try to pay you back."

"I guess that's something we'll argue about later."

That thankfully got Itsuka to giggle, the sound of her pleasant voice in her ear making him go a bit red (even a year later, and he still wasn't used to talking on a phone with a girl who wasn't Ochako), and soon, both of them exchanged goodbyes, with Izuku putting his phone in his pocket and letting out another sigh.

Slowly, he ran through the facts again - Itsuka found a little kid, who was scared of the hospital and the police, she was getting bad vibes, she was at Ochitsuite Park, and she wanted Izuku to get the little girl something to eat. He couldn't help but feel a little worried for whoever Itsuka had stumbled upon, and straightened up.

Granted, this was going to be awkward to explain to Nejire, seeing as he had to dip from their hangout to go -

"So we're going to a park after all?"

He let out a yelp at the voice in his ear suddenly speaking, and quickly whipped around. Nejire let out a small giggle as she held out her phone with one hand, giving him a small, apologetic look.

"Sorry, I was kinda eavesdropping in," She apologized sheepishly, "but there's a little girl? Who's hungry? In that case, we should hurry, right?"

"I - we?"

"Yeah! I wanna come too!" Nejire nodded in confirmation, balling her fist. "Sounds like Kendou needs our help! Besides, I was reading the chat and Uraraka's gonna come, too! But we're just wasting time now, that little girl needs food, and I know where to go!"

With that, she grabbed his wrist again, Izuku too flustered by what she was saying to really register it, and she began tugging him down the street, the green-haired boy letting out a small sputter of surprise.

"But - but what about -?"

"About our hangout? It's okay, Midoriya! There's always next time!" She strolled down the street in determination. "Now c'mon! There's a few fast food places around Ochitsuite Park, so we can get her some burgers! But wait, if it's a little kid, maybe they want chicken nuggets? And french fries! And maybe some soda or juice! Don't worry, I know where to go!"

Izuku nodded along to Nejire's blabbering, straightening himself up slightly as he tried to match her quick pace as they began jogging down the street.

He was aware, of course, that the question he had wanted to ask her would have to go unanswered for now. And that he would probably have to wait for a better time to ask what Nejire meant when she said looking at her butt was apparently good.

But at the moment, Izuku felt himself frown, he probably had bigger things to worry about.


A kid?

Ochako felt her brow furrow as she carefully hurried down the street as fast as she could - which wasn't quite too fast, seeing as her body was so stiff and tired from all the training she had done in the last few hours. Still, she tried to ignore how sore she felt as she continued texting with Itsuka, nodding when she confirmed that Izuku would be swinging as well, and quickly tapped over to her dad's phone number to text him that she would be late coming home tonight since Itsuka needed her.

She wished she could move a bit faster, but alas, she had apparently chosen the absolute worst day she could've talked to Himiko. It had only been about three hours of doing exercises with Himiko in Gym Gamma, but as it turned out, the sweet, flirty persona her senpai put on was an absolute lie. The truth was that the girl was an absolute slave-driver, Ochako winced as she rubbed the large bruise on her shoulder from Himiko throwing a blunt knife at her, and knew that she would probably be walking awkwardly for the rest of the weekend due to the small limp she now had.

But she couldn't really complain - it was what she had signed up for, after all. And right now, there were more important things that she had to worry about. Most of all, this little girl that Itsuka had apparently found.

Wincing slightly as she tried to hurry along on her sore leg, Ochako finished texting her dad her apologies and explanations about where she was, and put her phone down as she hurried down the now emptying streets towards downtown Musutafu. Itsuka had said that they were at Ochitsuite Park, which wasn't … too far away, with Ochako being sure to follow the street names so she didn't end up getting lost. She didn't see many people out, other than two heteromorph types who were arguing near an alley (which she knew to avoid) and one girl who looked her age, moving down the street while playing with her phone and adjusting the cap on her head as she a turned a corner and vanished from sight.

Finally, she slowed her step as she finally found the sign to Ochitsuite Park, glancing up at the multiple sakura trees slowly blooming, and let out a sputter as one pedal fell directly into her mouth, spitting it out. Once she got control of her coughing, she quickly moved into the park, eyes scanning around for wherever her friend was.

Trying to make sure her limp wasn't too obvious, she followed the path around a few trees, looking around carefully - the park was dark, so she had no idea who could be in the park right now, a fact that made her gulp nervously. Still, at least there was enough light out that she could see in front of her, and she knew that there were a few buildings around that she could run to if things got dangerous.

Moving around another tree, her gaze flickered over to a bench underneath a streetlamp, and she let out a relieved sigh at the sight of a familiar bunch of orange hair. Sure enough, Itsuka was sitting on the bench underneath the light, turned away from Ochako as though she were speaking to someone on her left that the brown-haired girl couldn't see, her hand slowly rubbing up and down her leg as though it was irritating her. 

Quickly, Ochako stepped forward - and then, as she moved properly around the corner, her gaze fell to the person Itsuka was speaking to when she came into view.

The mere sight of the little girl sitting beside Itsuka made Ochako falter in her step, her eyes widening slightly. She had already been trying to prepare herself for whoever Itsuka had found, but she hadn't expected to see a little girl who looked so … miserable. Long white messy hair that fell down to her back, a raggedy short-sleeved dress that looked filthy, and equally dirty bandages wrapped securely around her arms and legs, stopping at her wrists and ankles. Her bare feet looked scratched, dirty and bloody from presumably running around the city. So … well, she was obviously a mess.

But what had made Ochako stop and stare in shock was the look on the little girl's face. She saw how scared she looked, as though she were on the verge of tears, and something stirred within Ochako, forcing her to move forward at once and raise her hand.

"Itsuka!"

Her friend on the bench jumped a bit and seemed to immediately regret it, wincing in pain and cringing slightly, but that was nothing compared to the little girl's reaction. With a small gasp, she immediately moved to hide behind Itsuka, pulling her feet up so she could press herself firmly behind the older girl and hide her face.

Wincing at her dumb mistake, Ochako stepped out of the darkness, giving both of them an apologetic look.

"Er - s-sorry about that, Itsuka, I - I should've -"

"I know," Itsuka nodded, smiling at her while still looking like she was in a bit of pain, "and it's cool. You just surprised me, is all."

"I - are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh," Itsuka blinked, realizing that she was still rubbing her shoulder, and grimaced slightly, "it's, uh - a long story, I'll tell you later. Just … may have overexerted myself just now. Uh - anyway, what's - what's with the black eye? Are you okay?"

"Er -" Ochako realized what she was talking about and blushed, reaching up to tenderly pat the bruise near her eye with a similar wince, "- y-yeah, I'm good. Was just … doing some training after school. Uh - anyway -"

"Yeah," Itsuka quickly nodded, realizing that they were getting a bit distracted from the reason they were at the park in the first place, and turned back to the little girl who was still hiding behind her, speaking in a much softer tone, "hey, uh … sweetie? It's okay, this is my friend. She's super nice - do you wanna say hi to her?"

The little girl definitely didn't seem to be assured by that fact, but she still slightly leaned out from where she was hiding to peek at Ochako from behind Itsuka, one red, teary eye flickering up to her. At the frightened look on her face, Ochako tried to smile as kindly as she could, carefully moving down with a small grunt of pain to kneel beside the bench, and looked back up at the little girl.

"Hi, honey," She gently said, "I'm Ochako. What's your name?"

The little girl didn't answer her at all, but still, after a moment of hesitation, slowly slid out from behind Itsuka, sitting down very closely to the other girl. It was then that Ochako's gaze flicked up, seeing the odd bump up there, but the little girl seemed to still be nervous around her, letting out a small whimper as she continued to cling onto Itsuka's school blazer, looking as though she were five seconds from hiding behind her again.

Both girls gave her a worried look, and Itsuka turned in her seat, still wincing slightly in pain, so she could talk directly to the little girl.

"Listen, sweetie," She said in that same gentle tone, "like I was saying, I've got another friend who's gonna swing by too, okay? He'll have some food for you to eat, and then we can … well, if you want … I know you said you didn't want to, but if you're hurt under those bandages, we can always go to the hospital -"

"No."

Ochako felt herself blink at the first word out of the little girl's mouth since she arrived. Her voice was quiet, broken, and sounding suddenly terrified.

"No … no hospitals," She muttered, her eyes tearing up again as she avoided both their gazes, "they'll … they're friends with the doctors. They'll look for me there."

Both Itsuka and Ochako felt themselves pause at that, and turned to share a small look. Now the alarm bells were ringing in both of their heads, Itsuka feeling her lips thin and Ochako glancing back over at the little girl with obvious worry, before slowly moving over to her. Gently reaching out, Ochako paused, debating whether or not to touch the little girl's shoulder - realizing that she may panic if Ochako did something she didn't want - and then lowered it to put on the bench beside her.

"Okay," She slowly nodded, making sure that she met the little girl's eyes when she said this, "we won't, honey. We won't take you to the hospital. But … well, we kinda need to know your name, right? It's good manners!"

"…"

"Like I said, I'm Ochako," She introduced herself again, trying to smile as warmly as she could, "it's really nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"…"

Ochako felt her smile turn shaky at the utter lack of a response from the little girl. Itsuka grimaced slightly, meeting Ochako's unsure glance when she turned to look at her and shrugged - and then the little girl spoke again.

"Eri."

Both girls blinked, and looked back around at the little girl as she stared down at her bandaged knees. Her hold on Itsuka's jacket tightened slightly, and she was quick to bow her head.

"My name …" She muttered, "… is Eri."

"Eri?" Itsuka repeated, turning to stare down at her properly - and then she smiled, "That's a beautiful name, honey. Like Ochako said, she's … well … Ochako, and my name is Itsuka."

"Och … Ocha …"

Ochako tilted her head as Eri, as she was apparently named, tried to pronounce her name - and then she giggled, drawing the little girl's attention again.

"How about … you just call me 'Occhan'?" She suggested, smiling when Eri blinked, "That's what my best friend calls me - Occhan. Is that cool?"

"Occhan …" Eri said her nickname, mulling it over.

"And I guess if you want, hon, you can call me … Ken." Itsuka confirmed, giggling as well. "That's what my friends call me too."

"Ken …?" Eri looked confused, looking around at her, "But … you said your name was I-Its… Itsu…"

"Well, my first name is Itsuka," The orange-haired girl explained, "but my last name is 'Kendou'. My friends call me 'Ken' for short, and … well, if you wanna call me that too, it's okay."

"Ken." Eri slowly nodded. "Okay. Occhan and … and Ken."

The two girl nodded at that, smiling down at the little girl as she continued to glance between them with uncertainty, although the hold she had on Itsuka's jacket lessened slightly - 

- only for them to hear the sound of footsteps approaching, and Eri's eyes widened again in terror as she quickly moved to hide behind Itsuka again, the orange-haired girl jumping a bit in surprise again and wincing from it. Thankfully, though, both girls recognized the voice that was suddenly speaking, although they both blinked that it wasn't Izuku's voice they were hearing.

"… and then, me and Yuuyu went fishing over at the local pond in Ichigaya, but we were having problems catching anything because I kept talking and kept scaring away all the fish, so she ended up putting a bucket over my head! That got us banned from fishing there ever again, by the way, so she ended up regretting it and bought me some food afterwards! Anyway, that's kind of why I hate going to WcDonald's now, since whenever I eat there I get the taste of fish in my mouth, and that's kinda … blegh. Which is funny, because I still like sushi, but you know, you don't wanna have a weird fish aftertaste when you eat a burger, right?"

"H-huh. That's … interesting."

"Mm-hm! Oh, and after that -"

"Uh - Hadou?" Itsuka called out uncertainly, and Nejire's voice suddenly paused as she let out a small 'eep'. It took about two more seconds for both her and Izuku to round the corner behind a bush, Izuku blinking in surprise at the two girls by the bench, while he held a bag of fast food in his hand. Eri, once she saw the two strangers, let out a small whimper of fear that made the girls' hearts pang, and quickly moved to hide behind Itsuka again.

"Oh - oh, it's okay, Eri," She quickly soothed her, "they're our friends, too. They brought you some food, okay?"

Ochako was very quick to hop up from where she had been kneeling, wincing as she moved a bit too fast and sending a shot of aching pain through her, but she turned to Nejire and quickly brought her hand up to her lips, shushing them. It was a bit mean, Ochako winced, but at least Nejire seemed to understand, pretending to zip her lips shut and winking at her, as she and Izuku walked quietly over, Izuku's eyes zipping to the little girl hiding behind Itsuka's back, and Ochako saw as his eyes began taking in her appearance.

As it had with Ochako, she could tell that Izuku was going through several different emotions as his gaze flickered from the dress she was wearing to the dirty bandages wrapped around her arms and legs. Izuku's face fell, the curiosity in his eyes fading as worry replaced them, and complete and utter shock and horror as the ramifications seemingly hit him. Ochako couldn't really blame him for his shock - staring at how dirty and clearly frightened this little girl was was making her own heart clench.

Nejire, for her part, stayed quiet, although the small smile that had been on her lips had disappeared almost immediately once she laid eyes on the girl hiding behind Itsuka.

"Uh … h-hey," Izuku muttered to her as he reached her, his gaze flickering between Ochako and Itsuka and the little girl hiding from him, "is … I guess this is … uh …"

"Eri," Itsuka nodded, which drew Ochako's attention subconsciously to her - and she blinked when she saw Itsuka's face looking a bit red in the light from the post above her as she looked up at their training partner, although she was quick to shake her head and try to refocus, "this is Eri, Izuku. Eri, honey, this is Izuku - or, uh, I guess if we're doing nicknames …"

"He's Deku," Ochako was quick to introduce him, Izuku blinking a bit in surprise and Nejire tilting her head slightly, but thankfully neither of them protested as Ochako put her hand on her best friend's shoulder and smiled at the little girl, "he's my best friend. I've known him since we were both your age, Eri - er, however old you are right now. But he's probably one of the nicest guys I've ever known - like, don't make fun of him for this," She leaned in to whisper, as though she were sharing a deadly secret, "but he cries whenever he has to kill spiders for me."

"The only one who's crying when I kill bugs for you is you." Izuku mumbled defiantly, pouting at Ochako while she giggled nefariously back, but he still smiled at her antics as he turned back to Eri. With a small grunt, Izuku moved down to crouch beside the bench, Nejire likewise quick to follow him to the ground. For her part, Nejire was trying to make herself look as unintimidating as she could - she knew that she was a lot, and this little girl, Eri, was obviously very afraid right now, so the less noise she made the better.

Thankfully, Eri finally mustered the courage to poke an eye out, seeing Izuku crouching there with a gentle smile as he moved to put the bag of food on the bench beside her and Itsuka.

"Hi, uh … Eri," Izuku gave her a small wave, trying to sound as gentle and soft as he could, "like Occhan said, my name is - it's Izuku, but you can call me Deku, if you want. It's really nice to meet you."

"Mmmm," Eri let out a small hum, pressing her face a bit firmer into Itsuka's back while Izuku grimaced slightly - well, that reaction was probably to be expected since he did kind of come out of nowhere. But then Eri's gaze flickered from Izuku to Nejire kneeling beside him, and he realized that may be part of why she was so uncomfortable - there was still one more person they hadn't introduced to her.

"And - and this is - this is Hadou," Izuku turned towards his blue-haired friend, seeing her smile nicely at the little girl, "she's - uh -"

"You can call me Nej," Nejire took over for him, giggling slightly as she leaned forward, "it's really nice to meet you, Eri! Are you hungry? We brought you some food! We weren't sure what you liked, so we got you some chicken nuggets and french fries! I eat those whenever I feel sad, and they always make me feel better. Oh! And we also got you a drink in case you were thirsty!"

From out of nowhere, she pulled out a small cup, putting it down on the bench and making Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blink in question at where she was hiding it.

"I thought about getting you some soda," Nejire explained, "but then I thought, hey, maybe it would keep you awake? And you probably wanna go to bed soon! So I got you some apple juice instead. Do you like apple juice?"

There was a small pause in the group as the girl hid behind Itsuka - and then, slowly, she peeked back out. Both Izuku and Nejire felt their hearts pang at how hard she was trembling, but then her gaze flickered down to the cup put on the bench. For a moment, she stared down at it, and then glanced back up at Nejire, who blinked and smiled.

"Oh? Are you asking me if you can have it? Well, of course you can! I brought it for you, y'know."

Eri glanced between the excited girl and the cup for a moment, and then, hesitantly, reached out to take it, looking more than a little timid, as though she thought Nejire was about to change her mind halfway through and snatch it back. Thankfully, Nejire only smiled and nodded in encouragement, and they all watched as Eri brought the cup towards her, sitting back a bit so she wasn't behind Itsuka anymore, and took a small sip through the straw.

They watched as she blinked a bit, as though surprised by the taste - and then her stomach suddenly growled, making her squeak and go red as Nejire, Itsuka and Ochako giggled together.

"You, uh - you can eat, if you want, Eri," Izuku tried to stay on track for the group of giggling girls, although he was unable to fight down a smile as the little girl glanced at him, "we brought the food for you in case you were hungry, and … well … it looks like you are."

Eri slowly nodded, her face falling slightly - and then, albeit reluctantly, she scooted away from Itsuka so that she could sit beside her on the bench rather than behind her, and with Nejire's prompting smile, looked inside the takeout bag.

Looking a bit confused, Eri slowly reached in and took out one of the fries, staring at it uncertainly for a moment, before bringing it to her lips and taking an experimental bite -

- and she immediately made a face, grimacing slightly as her face scrunched and she moved the fry away from her mouth.

"Huh?" Nejire blinked in surprise, "What's up, Eri? Is something wrong?"

"It … it takes weird."

"Huh? The fry does?" Izuku also looked surprised, moving to take a look inside the bag. Unsure of what was wrong, he took out one of the fries as well, with Itsuka and Ochako looking confused as well, and he tossed the fry into his mouth, chewing for a moment before he blinked.

"Oh - oh, it's salty. That's just salt on the fries, Eri."

"Salt …?"

"Y-yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, feeling her brow furrow, "salt. Y'know, what people put on food. Have you … have you never had salty food before?"

"Mm-mm," She shook her head, looking sad.

"Then … well, what have you eaten before?"

"Onions," She said simply, "and beets and tomatoes. Sometimes fish with - with fatty."

"A-and … and that's it?"

"Apples if … if I do something good."

The four teenagers paused at what she had just said, staring at her blankly before turning to look at each other.

Now, they were all just fifteen years old, of course, but major, major alarm bells were now being run inside all four of their minds as Eri took another small bite of the french fry, wincing at the bitter taste. For once, Nejire didn't have a smile on at all, staring at the little girl in shock and concern, while Izuku straightened up slightly, his expression turning dark.

"… Eri, sweetie," Itsuka suddenly spoke again, catching her attention as she weakly scooted along the bench, "me, Occhan and Deku here are … we're just gonna have a little talk by ourselves, okay? Just over there. We won't go far, okay? And Nejire will be here with you."

Eri faltered slightly at that, but still nodded as Itsuka stiffly got up, letting out a small groan as she bit her lip, and both Izuku and Ochako were quick to help her move away from the bench, Izuku with a slightly red face as he held her shoulder (and unaware of Itsuka likewise blushing, glancing over at his own face and looking away quickly) as they moved slightly into the darkness. Fortunately, Nejire was quick to sit down beside Eri, giggling as she took a fry herself and chewed on it, making a similar grimacing face that at least kept Eri's attention on her.

In the dark, Itsuka sighed as she leaned against the tree they had chosen to stand under, Izuku and Ochako giving her twin worried looks as she rubbed her legs.

"Are you sure you're okay, Itsuka?" Ochako asked in a quiet voice, reaching out for her, "You seriously look like you're about to collapse."

"I mean … I might have understated it a little bit before," Itsuka shrugged, grimacing slightly at Ochako beginning to give her the Danger Pout, "but … okay, the truth is that I might have … overdone it a little, getting Eri out of there."

"Er … and how did you do that?" Izuku asked, feeling his eyebrows scrunch a bit.

"I … think I might have used One for All," Itsuka muttered, keeping quiet so they weren't overheard by the other two, and watching as Izuku and Ochako blinked in surprise. "I - I don't exactly remember how, I was running off some serious adrenaline, but I think that I - I think the only reason I got away with her so quickly was because I tapped into it. I was - god, I was freaking exhausted when we got here, I drank my entire water bottle in one freaking go and I'm still feeling thirsty."

"I … I see," Izuku slowly nodded, feeling his mind begin to work as he began taking invisible notes, which made the two girls raise their eyebrows at him as his hands wrote down what he was thinking without a pen and paper, "so somehow you used One for All throughout your entire body subconsciously? Is - is that why you keep rubbing your legs?"

"I … think so. Fuck, I want a bubble bath right now."

"Maybe later," Ochako giggled a bit while Itsuka pouted up at her, but her smile disappeared as she turned to look at Eri again, "we … kinda have to deal with what we're going to do with her."

The three of them watched as she took another sip of apple juice, nodding along as Nejire chatted idly with her about nothing much - or at least, Nejire was talking, and Eri nodded along.

"Right," Itsuka nodded, frowning, "forget my sore legs right now."

"So …" Izuku let out a small sigh, "… so you said that she doesn't want to -"

"- go to the hospital or the police," Itsuka finished for him, biting her lip slightly, "yeah. We tried bringing it up to her again before you and Hadou got here, but … well, she turned us down immediately. And … and I meant what I said to her - if she doesn't wanna go to the hospital, she doesn't have to. We won't force her."

"But …" Ochako shook her head, clearly frustrated, "… but that means we don't exactly have a lot of places we can take her, right?"

"No," Itsuka slowly shook her head, biting her lip, "no, we don't."

"Then - then what can we do? If we can't bring her to the hospital, or the police … then where can we take her? It's not like we can just … let her go after this."

Both Izuku and Itsuka slowly nodded at that, glancing down at their feet - and then Itsuka let out another long sigh, reaching up to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"I guess we don't have a choice, then," She shook her head, already dreading what was going to happen, "I guess … since I have the room …"

"Er … Kendou?"

"… Ochako, I hate to make you do this, but I need you to float me home," Itsuka raised her head to look at her best friend, grimacing, "I don't think I can walk that distance with how bad my legs are shaking, and … well … I think I'll need the energy to convince my parents to let Eri stay the night."


Thankfully, the time it took for their group to walk all the way back to her house, roughly half an hour to forty minutes, was enough that when Itsuka's feet touched the solid ground again, she had regained enough of her energy to, at the very least, walk up the stairs. She was sure to close the door securely behind them, not locking it since Ochako, Nejire and Izuku would probably have to leave soon, and led their small group up the stairs, taking Eri's hand when the little girl immediately moved to her, and watched as she opened the door to the upstairs floor.

"Okay," She said in a quiet voice, looking around at the small group of girls and Izuku standing behind her on the stairs, awaiting her instructions, "Ochako, you go find Gūdo and keep him calm - he hasn't met Eri or Hadou before, and we don't need him getting super hyper. Hadou, Izuku, you two come with me to the kitchen - we aren't gonna try and hide anyone, that might just make things more complicated when I have to explain everything."

"Oooooooh, this is really cool!" Nejire squealed in a stage whisper, watching as Itsuka moved properly inside while keeping Eri's hand in hers, "Your house is over a dojo! Can I come by sometime to watch some kung-fu fighting? Or, y'know, whatever martial arts they teach here?"

"Er … maybe another time, Hadou. Sure."

"Awesome!"

Indeed, this was probably the best plan they could've come up with, Itsuka grimaced as she turned around towards the kitchen, seeing the light on at the end of the hall. Inko and the Urarakas might have been alright with letting Eri stay with Izuku or Ochako, but they definitely didn't have the room to keep her, what with Hisashi on the couch, and while Ochako could theoretically have Eri stay in her room, they still knew that since Itsuka had been the one to find Eri, if anyone needed an explanation as to how their group stumbled across a little girl, it would be better for Itsuka to be the one to give it.

Of course, Itsuka knew that she couldn't exactly sneak Eri into her house under her parents' noses (that would just spell disaster, and there was no way Gūdo wouldn't eventually sniff her out), so she would just … have to bite the bullet and explain what happened. 

And risk potential grounding.

No, screw that, she was probably a hundred percent getting grounded.

To her relief (or not, it might just be anxiety), Itsuka heard the sound of her parents and her grandpa talking in the kitchen, meaning that everyone was currently home for her to walk in and … introduce her to the little girl she had scooped off the street and brought to their house. So … yeah, this was probably going to be a disaster.

"Where are we?" Eri asked in a timid, yet curious voice, and Itsuka did her best to shake down her anxiousness as she smiled down at her, although there was an obvious nervous twitch in her eye.

"This is my house," She explained to her in a quiet voice as Izuku and Nejire began following them down the hall towards the kitchen, Nejire looking interestingly around at the photos on the wall and Izuku taking a nervous breath, watching as Ochako moved ahead of them and into the house, "it's where I live with my mommy and my daddy, and my grandpa. We just need to introduce you to them, okay? And don't worry - my parents are the nicest people in the world."

It's just my grandpa we need to worry about, Itsuka thought to herself while gulping anxiously.

"Oh!" The trio in the hallway suddenly heard Itsuka's mother make a noise of surprise and delight, accompanied by the sound of a plate being put down on the counter. "Ochako! I didn't hear you come in - I wasn't aware you were swinging by tonight."

"Er - y-yeah, I was just … yeah," Ochako said nervously, "uh - where's Gūdo?"

"Ah, there it is," Hakushu chuckled, "you've been here two seconds and you're already looking for the dog, as per usual. He's in the living room."

"G-great! I'll just - y-yeah. Good - good evening, Kendou-sensei."

"Mm." Itsuka's grandpa grunted. "Good evening, Uraraka."

At the sound of Ochako moving into the living room, Itsuka paused in her step near the end of the hall, seeing the light on around the corner and freezing briefly, with Izuku and Nejire watching her curiously - and then she let out a small sigh, trying to hype herself up by lightly hopping (and making Eri blink as the person who was holding her hand jumped up and down, and she hesitantly hopped with her too) and then straightened up.

"Yeah, I'm - I'm here too," She announced as she poked her head around the corner, Eri lagging back slightly and somewhat dragging Itsuka back from fully entering the kitchen, "and - and I brought some friends with me."

"Hello!" Nejire popped her head into the kitchen as well, quickly entering as she looked around with her hands folded behind her back. Izuku was quick to follow behind her, watching as Itsuka turned slightly around to speak quietly to a suddenly anxious Eri, and took a sigh of his own as he looked around the kitchen, feeling suddenly nervous as well.

As expected, Hakushu and Teko were still sitting at the kitchen table, blinking at the girl they hadn't met before in surprise, while Tenohira stood at the counter washing the dishes from dinner and also giving Nejire a surprised but still welcoming look. As Izuku entered the kitchen with an awkward smile, however, Tenohira's smile vanished from her face at once, transforming into a scowl as she gave him a small glare which took him aback, and then returned to scrubbing the dishes with a little more force than necessary.

"Ah," She said, dryly and sourly, "hello, Izuku."

"Er … h-hi, T-Tenohira," Izuku felt himself stutter a bit, feeling confused by the utterly icy chill coming towards him from Itsuka's mother, and glanced at Nejire as she continued to curiously look around the kitchen, "uh - t-this is Hadou. She's one of our classmates."

"So this is Hadou, huh?" Hakushu put down the newspaper he had been reading, trying not to grimace as Tenohira let out a small, growling hum and practically slammed one of the plates down onto the drying rack, "W-well, it's, uh - it's nice to meet you. I'm Hakushu, Itsuka's father, and this is Tenohira."

"Oh! You're Kendou's dad! I mean, I thought that was the case, since you've got orange hair." Nejire happily noted, her gaze flickering around to Tenohira as the mother gave her a once-over and returned to pouting at Izuku, "Oh, and that must mean you're Kendou's mom! Ooooh, you're really pretty! I know where Kendou gets her looks from now - she's also really pretty! Oh, but wait, should I call her 'Itsuka' since you're all technically 'Kendou'? Wait, then should I call you Mr. Kendou, and Mrs. Kendou? Or can I call you by your first names? Is that okay? Or would that be informal?"

Both Kendou parents blinked at the utter stream of questions that came from Nejire's lips, while Teko slowly put down his book, a scowl on his face, as he took off his reading glasses and turned his tired and narrowed gaze to Izuku, who was looking quite awkward as Nejire babbled on.

"I take it that this is what she's like all the time, Midoriya?"

"Er … yes, sir." Izuku lowly admitted, while Nejire nodded in agreement, pointing at him as though to confirm his point.

"A-anyway," Itsuka finally poked her head back into the kitchen from around the corner, feeling herself wince already in anticipation to this awkward conversation, "Mom, Dad, Grandpa. Hadou and Izuku are with me because … well, uh … actually, it just might be better to - to introduce you."

With that, Itsuka finally moved fully into the kitchen, and Eri came with her - albeit hiding behind Itsuka's leg and holding her hand tightly with both of hers. Eri was back into 'shy mode', hiding her face behind Itsuka and making sure Itsuka was between her and the new people, and feeling herself tremble as the three adults automatically looked down at her.

At once, Izuku and Nejire quickly moved to the side so that Itsuka could be clearly seen standing with the little girl.

"Oh," Tenohira quietly gasped, straightening up from her spot at the sink as her eyes widened. Hakushu's own gaze went to what the little girl was wearing, his eyes trailing to the bandages, and he sat up in his seat. Teko, for his part, felt the small scowl on his face from Nejire's relentless stream of questions vanish, slowly standing and staring down at the little girl while his mouth closed.

"This … this is Eri," Itsuka introduced her softly to her parents, feeling more than a little nervous as her parents quickly flicked their gazes up to her, "I ran into her while I was walking home from meeting up with Set and Yui. She's … I thought she needed help."

"I … oh," Tenohira quietly said again, staring blankly at her daughter for a moment, before she shook her head and quickly withdrew her hands from the soapy water, drying them with the cloth beside her. After a moment, she put down the cloth and made her way over to Itsuka, her gaze returning to the little girl hiding behind her daughter, and slowly got down onto her knees, glancing down at the bandages and scratched feet and immediately feeling her maternal instincts kick in.

"Eri, was it?" Hakushu likewise moved to kneel down beside his wife, trying to make himself appear as small as possible (which was a hard task, considering his size) as he tried to make himself look approachable for the little girl. "Hey there, sweetheart … it's okay, you don't have to hide behind Itsuka. We're not gonna hurt you - it's okay."

There were a few seconds of silence - and then Eri moved slightly around Itsuka's leg, her red eye peeking nervously at the two adults, before it settled on Tenohira. Seeing her, Eri blinked, moving slightly around Itsuka's leg to have a good look at her, and Itsuka smiled, glancing down at her mother -

- and seeing Tenohira suddenly falter, her smile dropping slightly as she blinked and straightened up. However, before Itsuka could register that, feeling herself blink, Eri suddenly pulled on her hand, getting her attention.

"She looks like you," She pointed out in a small voice.

"H-huh?" Itsuka faltered, glancing between the little girl and her mom, but Tenohira's face had morphed back into a patient smile, leaning forward with her hands on her knees, and Itsuka briefly wondered if she had imagined that.

"That's right," Tenohira smiled, "she looks like me because I'm her mom."

"You're … her mama?"

"That's right. I'm her mama."

"And …" She glanced over at Hakushu, her gaze flickering up to his orange beard and hair, "… you're … you're her papa?"

"You got that right, little miss."

Eri slowly nodded at that, glancing between them both. On the side, Izuku and Nejire watched as the little girl took a cautious step forward, while the two parents smiled and gently encouraged her to come out of hiding - but before they could see Eri reach out to them, a voice cleared, catching their attention as they both looked around.

"Midoriya, Hadou,” Teko slowly stood up, speaking in a gruff voice as he beckoned to them, "come with me, into the living room. Explain what happened."

Izuku quickly nodded, understanding - of course Teko wanted to know why they had brought a dirty little girl into his home. With one more glance at Eri as she flickered her gaze up to him and Nejire, Izuku let out a small sigh, and smiled down at her.

"Uh … me and Hadou are just gonna go into the living room," He told her, getting the Kendous' attention on him as he and Nejire stepped around their small group to follow the Kendou patriarch into the other room, "we'll still be here, Eri."

"... okay."

Smiling awkwardly, Izuku turned to lead Nejire into the living room, the blue-haired girl taking a second to wave at Eri again and smile at her before they both moved into the living room where Teko was waiting.

Once the two teenagers were inside the living room, Teko slid the door shut behind them to give the rest of his family a little privacy. With a short sigh, he moved around to his chair, sitting down as Nejire looked around the living room and spotted Ochako sitting on the floor with Gūdo, the dog sitting up at attention at the new person gasping in delight at him, and barked before Ochako shushed him and stroked his head, trying to keep him quiet as Nejire hurried over and quickly sank to her knees, smiling happily at the large dog panting up at her with obvious excitement.

Izuku, for his part, knew he couldn't exactly slink out of this by going to pet the dog, and let out a small sigh as he sat down on the couch, glancing at Teko as the older man leaned back in his chair and folded his hands together.

"Now then," He gruffly said, "explain."

Quickly nodding, Izuku took a deep breath and began to explain to the older man what had happened when Itsuka had reached out to their group chat, and what she had told them had happened while heading back to the house. For Teko's part, he kept quiet, listening and nodding slowly as Izuku explained how they met Eri at the park, what she had told them, and her refusal to head to the hospital, while Nejire and Ochako kept quiet and Gūdo calm, petting the dog while he wagged his tail and stared happily up at Nejire as she giggled quietly and kissed the top of his head.

When Izuku told him what Itsuka had said happened when she had found Eri, Teko's face grew slightly darker - his frown becoming more and more apparent as he nodded along, his fingers tapping against each other as he breathed through his nose. Finally, Izuku finished up the story, and the living room was silent.

After about a minute, they heard the sound of feet approaching through the kitchen, and looked around as the sliding door was pulled open. With a sigh, Itsuka moved into the living room, her hair let out of her ponytail and her blazer, tie and socks missing so she looked a bit more comfortable, and looked far more tired and sore than anyone had ever seen her - although Izuku and Ochako weren't that surprised, seeing as the last time she used One for All she had shattered every bone in her arm, so perhaps they should just consider themselves lucky that she was simply aching.

"Mom's taking care of Eri right now," She explained to the occupants of the living room as she slid the door closed behind her, moving around Gūdo and patting his head before she settled into the spot next to Izuku, massaging the back of her neck, "she's gonna help her take a bath so she can get cleaned up, and maybe change those bandages. And Dad's gonna get the guest room ready for her for the night, and look through some of my old stuff for something for her to wear."

"Hm." Teko slowly nodded, leaning back in his chair and turning to give a small, narrowed eyed look at his granddaughter. Itsuka, for her part, felt herself gulp as she came under his glare, knowing the last time he had given her this look hadn't … been for anything good.

"Uh … grandpa?"

"Midoriya here filled me in with what happened." Teko informed her, Itsuka glancing at Izuku and seeing him give her an apologetic look. "It seems that you haven't learned your lesson from what happened the last time you wanted to be a hero."

"I - what?" Itsuka blinked, not entirely sure what he was talking about as he moved his hands down to the arms of his chair, one finger tapping against it.

"The fire. Last year."

"The fire …?" Itsuka glanced away, trying to comprehend what he was talking about - honestly her mind had been going a mile a minute for the last hour or so, so now that she had some time to finally calm down it was difficult to think. While Nejire gave her a curious look and Izuku and Ochako shared an unsure glance, Itsuka felt herself blink again - and then it suddenly came to her what her grandpa was talking about.

"Wait - what?" She straightened up, looking around at her grandpa in exasperation. "That - that was different, but - no, Grandpa, this -"

"I am not discouraging you for helping out this little girl," Teko made clear before Itsuka could find her words, but the frown on his face remained, "I am merely pointing out that like last year, you did not think your actions through."

"I - Grandpa -"

"From what Midoriya told me, you came across a little girl, thought she was in trouble, and ran away with her," He summed up neatly, not looking at all impressed by his granddaughter's actions, "Itsuka, you must think things through before you act. I understand you must've thought she was in trouble, but in the end, what you really did was abduct a little girl."

"'Abduct a little' -?!" Itsuka's mouth opened in outrage, leaning forward to stare at her grandpa indubiously, and Izuku suddenly found himself wishing he were anywhere but in between these two obviously angry people as he leaned back nervously in his seat, "Grandpa, there was someone coming down that alley, and - and she was terrified -"

"And how do you know that wasn't her parents?" Teko challenged, "What if they are out looking for her right now, in panic? The first thing tomorrow, we should be bringing her to the police so they can begin conducting a search."

"She didn't want to go to the police," Itsuka explained through gritted teeth, frustration beginning to overcome her, "I asked her if she wanted to go to them or the hospital, and she was terrified. And - and she's got bandages all over her! She was terrified! I couldn't just -"

"Itsuka." Teko suddenly snapped, stopping his granddaughter in her tracks, "Stop arguing with me."

The living room felt silent once again. Izuku and Ochako exchanged another nervous glance - they had heard Teko yell and growl at them while they had trained down in the dojo last year, but never had they heard this level of tranquil anger in his voice, and especially aimed at his beloved granddaughter. Nejire, for once, kept herself very quiet as she patted Gūdo's head, the dog letting out a small whine as the two Kendous glared at each other - but Itsuka, for her part, closed her mouth.

With another sigh, Teko closed his eyes, and then turned to get up, raising a hand to scratch his jaw.

"In any case," He informed the teenagers around him, glancing over at Izuku, Ochako and Nejire, "I will speak to Tenohira about what I talked to you about. I am going to go to bed. The three of you should think about going home soon - your parents must be worried. Worry not, I will not be throwing Eri out onto the street - but you have to remember this, Itsuka."

He turned to look back at his granddaughter, seeing her glaring up at him while crossing her arms.

"I will not say you're not good at acting in the moment, but you need to think about the consequences of your actions." He gruffly told her. "Perhaps you were right to get Eri away from that alley. But what will happen if Eri does have parents out there looking for her? What if they find her, and accuse you of kidnapping her, and try to have charges filed against us? While helping Eri might have been the right thing to do, what if her parents had been coming down that alley and saw you running off with her? Do you know what would be running through their minds right now?"

Itsuka, for her part, merely turned her glare down to her knees.

"Keep that in mind," Teko turned away, "the next you want to try to be a hero."

With that last remark, the Kendou patriarch moved out of the living room, opening the doors, stepping through them, and then closed them behind him. For a few moments, an awkward silence filled the living room, no one exactly sure what to say after that reprimand, Izuku, Nejire and Ochako glancing nervously at Itsuka as she stared down at her knees.

And then she let out a small sigh, and slowly nodded, raising a hand to wipe her face as she took her phone out of her pocket.

"I … guess my grandpa's right," She said to no one really, looking away from everyone while looking obviously dejected, "it's getting pretty late, you guys should think about heading home."

"Itsuka …" Ochako started to say, reaching out to her as she got up, but the orange-haired girl shook her head.

"I know," She muttered, biting her lip slightly, "just … let's just forget about it for now, okay? I need … I just need time to think."

The other three paused at that, glancing at each other again - and then Izuku bit his lip slightly, nodding and standing up.

"Okay, Kendou," He quietly said to her, "if … if you don't wanna talk about it, we won't push you."

"Thanks," She at least managed to smile at him, and then glanced back down at her feet, "anyway, we should probably - well, I'll bring you guys downstairs."

"Mm-hm," Nejire slowly nodded, and then turned to look back down at Gūdo, the dog looking back up at her as well as she scratched his ears to get his attention again, "oooooh, I'll be back to play with you again. I can't say that I love you more than I love my cat -"

"Woof!"

"- but I love you almost as much!"

"Woof."

With that, the four teenagers began moving out of the living room, Nejire and Ochako getting up from their spots on the floor while Nejire gave another kiss to Gūdo's head one more time, and together, they all began making their way out of the living room. They heard muttering coming from the hall, and Itsuka tried to square her shoulders and continue onwards as they moved out of the kitchen to the door downstairs, seeing Teko speaking to Tenohira as her mom poked her head out of the bathroom, hearing the sound of water splashing in the background, and Tenohira glanced at her daughter in worry as she wordlessly began heading downstairs with the rest of her friends.

Once everyone was out on the porch in the warm spring night, they stood there for a moment, Nejire glancing back over at the other three dejected teenagers - and then she straightened up, trying to smile.

"Okay! Well, I didn't expect my night to go this way!" She informed them, seeing Ochako and Itsuka grimace weakly but still smile a bit, which was a relief to see, "But still, I'm super happy to have helped out! Just let me know if she needs anything, okay? Like clothes! Or toys! Or heck, even if she just needs someone to hug her! I'll hug her! Although I'm pretty sure if she was asking for a hug, you'd help her out, Kendou, but - well, you know what I mean!"

"I think I do," Itsuka slowly nodded, trying to smile over at their friend, "thank you so much for coming to help us out, Hadou."

"You're welcome! Anyway, see you guys - wait," Nejire suddenly paused, having turned so that she could walk away, and then looked back at the trio at the door, "I just had a thought - what if Eri asks about where I went? Should I leave without saying bye? I don't think I should, should I?"

Itsuka opened her mouth to refute that, or at least assure Nejire that it's okay for her to take off - and then she paused. Feeling her brow furrow, Itsuka thought of what would happen if Nejire suddenly disappeared, and Eri - someone who had pretty much clung to the blue-haired girl's hand all the way to the house - found out that she left without saying bye. Feeling her brow scrunch, she let out a small sigh.

"That … I didn't think of that," She admitted, scratching the side of her head while the others looked around at her. "I … I don't know how Eri'd react if you just suddenly vanished, Hadou."

There was another pause - and then Ochako let out a small whine as she looked down at her feet, drawing everyone's attention to her as she shook her head and pouted a bit.

"I … honestly, guys, I'm not sure if I can go home," She admitted to them, making Izuku blink in surprise and Itsuka furrow her brow a bit, "not while Eri is - I mean, like you said, what are we supposed to do if she asks where we went? What if she panics? I - I've gotta at least say goodbye, but - ugh!"

"I didn't … oh, crap you guys are right," Izuku realized, feeling himself straighten up as his eyes widened a bit, "she'll be scared if we just disappeared and - y-yeah, no - we - we can't just leave without saying goodbye, or - or something like that."

"Okay - but you guys are still out late," Itsuka pointed out, leaning against the wall, "your parents have gotta be wondering where you are, and the last train is gonna probably leave soon. You guys are awesome, but there's no way that you can walk all the way home from here."

The quartet paused while they tried to figure out how to get around this sudden problem of needing to go soon and still wanting to say goodbye to Eri - and then Nejire let out a small gasp.

"Wait …" A smile began to spread across her face, "… sleepover?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked. "Sleepover?"

"Yeah! We can have a slumber party!" She excitedly gushed, reaching out to grab Ochako's shoulder and giving her a small shake, the brown-haired girl yelping a bit as she was jolted around but relieved that Nejire hadn't grabbed the shoulder she had a blunt knife thrown into. "I bet I can convince my parents to let me stay over if I just explain what's going on! It'd be better than just trying to come up with an excuse - like, here's what I'm thinking! 'Hey, Mom, I know I'm breaking curfew, but I ended up running into a little girl! Who was in trouble! And needed help! So I'm gonna stay over at one of my friends' houses to make sure that she's okay!"

There was another pause, as Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka glanced between each other - and then Nejire pouted.

"That still sounds like I'm making up an excuse, doesn't it?"

"K-kinda?" Ochako was unable to suppress a small giggle as Nejire let out a dramatic sigh, "But - but I think you've got the right idea, Hadou - I don't feel comfortable with just leaving Eri behind tonight. It'd be better for her to spend some more time with us before we have to go."

"Yeah, I get that," Itsuka nodded, turning to look at Izuku with a small smirk, "so I hope you don't mind having to sleep on the couch tonight, Izuku."

"I - well, I guess I don't," Izuku chuckled at least, raising his hand to scratch the back of his head as he glanced between the three girls with a slight blush, "but still - we should probably call home."

"Right, right," Itsuka nodded, letting out a small sigh as she got off the wall, "you guys go do that now. And I'll just … sit down here and - and wait for you."

The three of them nodded, with Nejire looking curious as to why Itsuka was still walking so stiffly (but thankfully holding off on the questions) as they moved away so that they could call home, Ochako moving away from them on the porch, Izuku moving into the yard, and Nejire hopping over towards the swing in the backyard, sitting down and pulling out her phone. As they all dialed their parents' numbers, Itsuka moved slowly towards the edge of her porch, and let out a small, painfilled groan as she sat down, biting her lip slightly as she rubbed her back.

Yep, the pain from using One for All earlier was catching up to her quickly again, filling her body with a dull, throbbing pain, but at least nothing felt broken - just a bit strained. It just looked like she wasn't going to be having a comfortable time tonight either way - if Ochako and Nejire were staying over, and Eri would have the guest room to herself, that meant that one of the girls would have to use the futon, and the other would be in bed with her. Part of her prayed that it wouldn't be Ochako, Itsuka gulped as she felt her face grow a bit red, or she might wake up cuddling with her, and after what she had talked about with Setsuna and Yui tonight, she didn't need that on her mind if she was sharing a bed with the girl she was trying to pretend she didn't totally make out with.

But … as her mind turned back to what she had discussed with her two best friends … Itsuka felt her gaze trail over to Izuku, standing a bit of a ways away from her and shrouded in darkness, light illuminating his face both from the porch and from his phone that he was holding up to his ear.

And Itsuka felt her face heat up even more as her thoughts from earlier suddenly returned, seeing the small smile on his face as he started talking to his mom.

The thoughts about how Izuku Midoriya has apparently been hot this entire time, and she hadn't noticed at all.

Gulping audibly, Itsuka quickly averted her gaze as Izuku turned her way, to prevent him from seeing her staring at him, and she closed her eyes tightly. Between meeting Eri and the panic from getting her away from the alley, getting her food, and getting her home, she had almost forgotten what she had been thinking about her training partner - but now that she had a moment to calm down, the thoughts began to poke at her again, as though reminding her that she had dared to think about how attractive Izuku was.

And … and now that he was in front of her, she couldn't help but glance over at him, blushing as she took him in a bit more.

He had his blazer off and his sleeves rolled up, exposing his arms and ... and fuck, it was a good look. His tie was also off, stuffed into his blazer's pocket, and his top button was undone to show a bit of his collar, and it was making Itsuka feel more than a little hot under the collar of her own shirt as her face felt hotter and hotter by the second, and she tugged at her own shirt.

Fuck … fuck, why did he have to wear such baggy clothing all the time? She knew he was fucking packing underneath there, so why -

- wait! No! Stop! Shut the fuck up!

Resisting the urge to slap herself, Itsuka groaned lowly, moving her hand over her eyes and tapping her foot against the stone garden beneath her as she tried to remind herself that Izuku didn't look hot, that Yui and Setsuna were completely full of it, and there was no way that she wanted to go over to Izuku and unbutton a few more buttons of his shirt -

- and then, in her pocket, her phone suddenly dinged.

Blinking quickly, Itsuka looked around in surprise, lowering her hand to look around at her skirt's pocket when she saw her phone lighting up within. Wondering who was texting her right now, she reached in to bring it out, flipping it around and looking at the messages that were being displayed - and then let out a small gasp, eyes widening.

 

MIDNIGHT

Kendou? Are you still there?

I am so sorry, I was in a meeting that had our phones off so I just saw your messages now

You found a little girl? Is she alright? Are you alright?

Please answer me as soon as you can

 

Cursing slightly under her breath, realizing that she had forgotten that she had messaged her teacher and All Might, she quickly put in the password for her phone, moving to the message app to respond.

 

YOU

Sensei?

I'm really sorry about texting you out of the blue

 

MIDNIGHT

Oh, thank goodness

So are you alright? What about the girl?

 

YOU

Yes, she's okay

I have her at my place right now

 

MIDNIGHT

Ok, good, you're back home with her

In these kinds of situations, though, I would normally advise you to take her to the police

or all else fails, you should take her back to UA - Principal Nezu and Recovery Girl could have assisted you, and we do have a few teachers who stay a bit later to patrol if you couldn't find them

 

YOU

er

Well, I did ask her if she wanted to go to the police, or the hospital

But she refused

 

MIDNIGHT

I'm … sorry?

She refused?

 

YOU

yeah 

pretty uh

adamantly so

she said something like

'they'll look for me there'

 

MIDNIGHT

...

 

YOU

er

sensei?

 

MIDNIGHT

I'm still here

Kendou, sorry, but please excuse me for a moment

 

At the request to wait, Itsuka slowly nodded, sitting back on the porch and wincing at moving a little bit too fast, rubbing her back as she put the phone down on her lap. She glanced back around, seeing Nejire having an animated talk on the phone while giggling and swinging on Itsuka's old playset, while Izuku was hurriedly explaining what was going on to his own mom (Itsuka could hear the sound of Inko crying even from over here) and Ochako paced back and forth on the porch while talking to her own dad - probably running by him what happened and where she'd be for the rest of the night -

- and then her phone suddenly began ringing.

Feeling herself jump (and regretting it at once, whining in pain - why is everything insisting on making her jump tonight when she felt so sore?!), Itsuka looked back down at her phone, and blinked when she saw Midnight's name flashing on the screen. Raising an eyebrow, Itsuka picked back up her phone and answered it, hesitantly bringing it to her ear.

"Er - hello? Midnight-sensei?"

"Guess again, Kendou."

At the emotionless voice on the other line, both of Itsuka's eyebrows shot up.

"Aizawa-sensei?" She asked in confusion, remembering the mummy-like state her teacher was in and feeling confused. "I - how did you get Midnight-sensei's phone? And - uh - how are you holding it?"

"She's holding it up to my ear." Itsuka then became aware of the sound of background noise on the other end of the phone, and Midnight sighing. "I was reading her messages over her shoulder. Now, what's going on?"

Feeling herself become a bit nervous talking to her strict teacher, Itsuka nodded (even though Aizawa couldn't see it) and decided to give him a quick version of what happened, relaying the important parts of finding Eri and making sure she was safe at her home. Aizawa, for his part, listened attentively, letting out a few hums as she explained the situation, and then, as Itsuka finished up, he let out a small, tired sigh.

"So just so I understand," He reiterated, "she's scared of going to the hospital, and the police."

"Y-yes, sir."

"She specifically said that people would look for her there - people she doesn't want looking for her?"

"That's - yeah, that's right. She - she didn't say that she didn't want them to find her, but she was - she was scared when she brought them up."

"Hm. Alright then - in that case, bringing her home might've been the smarter thing to do. She'll still need someone to have a look at her, though," Aizawa exhaled, "if she was running around in dirty bandages, it's possible that she might be hiding injuries. So, Kendou, I'll be stopping by your home tomorrow with Recovery Girl. She knows her way around cagey children, so this Eri will be comfortable with her. I'll also ask a police officer to accompany us to ask her questions - he won't wear a uniform, of course, just so she won't be  uncomfortable around him."

"I - I see," Itsuka slowly nodded, frowning a bit, "so - so a police officer is coming with you."

"Yes. Unless that's a problem?"

"I …" Itsuka found herself hesitating, frowning slightly - why would she be resistant about a cop coming to question Eri? Isn't that what she wanted to do by bringing her to a police station?

But then she remembered how cagey and frightened Eri had acted when Itsuka had asked her about going to a police officer. Maybe it was just a gut feeling, but …

"I … I don't know if it's a good idea," She admitted, grimacing slightly as she realized that she was refusing the instruction of her very strict teacher, but still went on, "she looked like she was going to run away from me when I asked her if she wanted to go to the police, or go to the hospital. I - I understand that they probably want to question her, but … well … I think it'll just upset her, sensei."

There was another pause on the other end of the line, while Itsuka waited nervously for her teacher to respond - and then Aizawa sighed again.

"Maybe," He gave her, which made Itsuka blink in surprise - wait, he wasn't going to call her an idiot? - and she heard him shift on the other side on the other end of the line, "so in that case, Midnight will accompany Recovery Girl and myself in lieu of a police officer. She or I can ask her any questions we may need, and send what we get to the police to begin an investigation."

"I … I guess so. But - uh - Midnight-sensei?"

"If the girl is as skittish as you're suggesting, having Midnight there with her quirk will be imperative to make sure she doesn't bolt the moment she sees us." Aizawa explained, and then added, in a dry voice, "I'll make sure she'll be wearing something appropriate."

Itsuka gulped, blushing at Aizawa answering her unasked question, and heard Midnight sighing dramatically in the background.

"For now, just make sure she stays at your house until we get there, Kendou," Aizawa continued to instruct her, "she might be a runaway - if you take your eyes off her for even a second, she might try and slip out. Just make sure that she's still there when Recovery Girl gets there to check up on her, and then we'll decide what additional actions we may have to take."

"I … okay, sensei, I understand," She nodded, sitting up, "I'll let my parents know."

"Good."

There was another pause, in which Itsuka sat there for about ten seconds of silence - and then glanced at her phone, wondering if something was wrong with the other end, until she heard Aizawa let out a tired sigh.

"Midnight," She heard him grumble, "I was done talking. Take the phone away from my ear and hang up now."

"But don't you wanna say goodnight to your student?"

"Midnight, now."

With that, the phone call finally ended, and Itsuka let out a small sigh as she put the phone back down on her lap, slowly nodding to herself. Taking another second to glance around, seeing Nejire, Izuku and Ochako still talking to their parents, Itsuka let out a small grunt as she got back up to her feet, carefully walking back up onto the porch and sliding the door open. Meeting Ochako's eye, she pointed inside and mouthed to her to lock the door behind her, which Ochako nodded and gave her a thumbs up as Itsuka returned inside.

After all, Itsuka now needed to tell her mom that they were going to have a few guests over tonight and tomorrow - and she needed to grab both Izuku and Ochako's spare clothes that they had left in her house last year just in case to sleep in tonight, and then find some of her own pajamas for Nejire to sleep in.

Upon finally reaching upstairs, Itsuka took a deep breath as she tried to fight down the pain her entire body was in, having climbed up the stairs and realizing that with as sore as her body is she wouldn't be doing that again. However, before she could call out to her parents, the sound of the bathroom door sliding open caught her attention, making her look around in surprise.

"I'll just be out here, okay, sweetie?" Tenohira kindly said as she exited the bathroom back first, presumably talking to Eri as she stared down at something, "Just to give you a little privacy. Don't worry, Itsuka won't mind you wearing her old pajamas. If you need something, just let me know."

With that, Tenohira slowly slid the door shut - and then, after a moment, the kind smile slipped off her face. Itsuka felt her mouth open in surprise as her mom let out a shuddering breath, and leaned against the door, closing her eyes as tears suddenly began to well.

"M-Mom?"

Itsuka didn't mean to speak up, but alas, it was a little too late to pretend she wasn't there, and hadn't just seen that. Tenohira jumped a bit, her eyes snapping open as she quickly looked around, and Itsuka saw her face automatically morph into a more easy-going expression - as though her daughter hadn't just caught her about to cry.

"O-oh! Hi, sweetie, I - I didn't see you standing there," She tried to laugh awkwardly, glancing away, and Itsuka felt herself begin to worry as she quietly walked over to her mom, "is - did everyone else go home?"

"Uh - n-no, but - is - are you okay, Mom? What's wrong?"

"I …" Tenohira hesitated then, her obviously fake smile fading somewhat as she met her daughter's eyes - and then she let out another shuddering breath, and raised her hand to cover her eyes as she gestured for Itsuka. Her daughter, feeling more than a little concerned, walked over to the bathroom door, and blinked as Tenohira immediately enveloped her in a hug, Itsuka glancing at her mom uncertainly as she ran a hand through her orange hair.

"Mom? Seriously, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, baby," Tenohira muttered, although Itsuka heard how much her voice was shaking with emotion, and that broke her heart a little bit as she hugged her mom back, "it's just … that poor little girl."

"H-huh? What - what do you mean?"

"Those bandages. I took them off, and … and god, she's covered in scars."

Itsuka felt herself go still at that revelation, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping slightly. She had her suspicions, of course, and had been very afraid of what they'd find if they took off those bandages. But to hear her mother confirm it, it … it made her suddenly feel squeamish, as though her veins were filling with ice.

But before she could vocalize her horror, Tenohira let out another shuddering sigh, and moved back so she wasn't clinging to her daughter, being sure to kiss her cheek first. Itsuka grimaced slightly at the affection, but didn't push her mother off as she cupped Itsuka's face, the teenager looking up at her mother as she smiled even with tears in her eyes.

"Honey, I know your grandfather called you out on doing something rash," She gently said, her thumb brushing against Itsuka's cheek, "but you did the right thing, saving Eri. Always remember that, okay? Your grandpa might think you're dumb for being a hero, but … but I'm always, always gonna be on your side."

Itsuka faltered at that, blinking up at her mother for a moment - and then she quickly nodded, feeling tears of her own sting her eyes, and moved to give her mom another hug, Tenohira letting out a small giggle as she hugged her back and kissed the top of her head. There was the sound of paws on the hardwood floor, and Itsuka moved one hand that she had wrapped around her mom to pet her dog's head as he moved to sit beside them.

"I was talking to my teachers," Itsuka mumbled into her mom's shoulder, "they wanna come by tomorrow to meet Eri."

"Teachers, huh? You mean heroes?"

"Yeah. Heroes."

"Good." Tenohira nodded, "They should. That little girl … she's really been through it. We have to be gentle with her, okay? And … and don't stare at her scars, I could tell that she was uncomfortable with me looking."

"I … okay, Mom."

They only had another moment of embracing before the sound of feet moving up the stairs alerted them that someone was coming, and both women moved out of their hug to see Izuku, Ochako and Nejire coming back up the stairs into the upstairs house, letting out sighs of relief as Nejire looked at the dog just as Gūdo saw her return, letting out an excited bark as he quickly hurried back to her.

"That's right! I'm back!" Nejire giggled, immediately dropping to her knees to let Gūdo lick her face, although she sputtered a bit as Gūdo licked at her mouth. "Gah! Doggy kisses! Bleh! You need to brush your teeth, boy! Or eat one of those - uh - one of those treats that helps with your breath!"

"He does," Itsuka giggled a bit, shaking her head, "he just doesn't like eating them compared to his usual food. I guess things are okay?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling in relief, "I explained everything to my mom, and … well, she's worried, but she's okay with me staying over for the night, and for tomorrow too."

"Same here," Ochako giggled, bending over to scratch Gūdo's ears, "my parents are pretty much in the same boat - concerned about Eri, and okay with me staying over!"

"I'm good too!" Nejire cheered, unable to stop her laughter as Gūdo nuzzled into her. "My parents were cool! So we're doing a sleepover!"

"Oh?" Tenohira raised an eyebrow, smirking and cocking her hip at the four teenagers. "All three of you are staying over, huh? I don't recall giving you all permission to do that."

Izuku, Ochako and Nejire froze a bit, their eyes widening.

"I'm just kidding, guys," The Kendou matriarch shook her head, giggling as they all sagged their shoulders, "you're more than welcome to stay over. I guess this means … well, either way, Izuku, you're on the couch, and I'll grab the futon for one of you girls to sleep in."

"Oh, of - of course, Tenohira," Izuku smiled at her, straightening up, "I can go grab -"

"H-Hira?"

All five of them in the hall blinked at the quiet voice coming from the bathroom, and turned just as it slid open slowly. Standing in the doorway, Eri let out a small hum as she glanced down at the clothes they had prepared for her, looking a bit unsure as she stepped out of the bathroom. She was wearing a gray t-shirt with a large dolphin on the front, and a pair of red pajama pants with a dolphin pattern on it as well, and (thankfully) a fresh, clean set of bandages wrapped around her arms.

Blinking down at her clothes, and realizing that these could only be Itsuka's old clothes from when she was a kid, Ochako and Nejire looked around at the orange-haired girl, raising their eyebrows, and Itsuka crossed her arms defiantly, going a bit red.

"I was really into dolphins when I was a kid, okay?" She grumbled defensively, pouting when Nejire giggled.

"Oh, you look so cute, Eri!" Tenohira gushed, quickly moving to kneel down on the floor so they were at eye level. "Are they comfortable?"

"Mm-hm." Eri nodded, still a bit shy, and she looked around at Izuku, Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire as they likewise beamed at her, blinking at them in surprise. "Hi."

"Hi, Eri," Ochako giggled, waving to her, "Tenohira's right, you look really cute!"

"Mm." Eri glanced along them for a brief moment, and then her gaze fell onto Gūdo as the dog looked around at her. She blinked at the animal roughly the size of her sitting down, seeing him sitting there getting his ears scratched, but the sight of someone he didn't know had him letting out an inquisitive huff, his large black eyes staring at the little girl as she let out a small noise and took a cautious step back.

"Oh," Itsuka let out a small gasp, and giggled as she moved to kneel down beside Eri, lightly touching her shoulder to get her attention and looking back to her dog, "you don't have to be afraid of him, Eri - Gūdo is the nicest doggy in the world."

"Gūdo …?" Eri repeated, raising her hand to hold Itsuka's sleeve and keeping her eyes on the dog as he yawned.

"Mm-hm. This is Gūdo - he's my doggy. Do you wanna pet him?"

Eri blinked at that offer, glancing back at Itsuka as she slowly got up, and let out a small gasp as Itsuka moved over to the dog, kneeling down and wrapping her arms around her dog, Gūdo immediately leaning into her to sniff her hair and make her giggle as he licked her ear. Thankfully, Gūdo's attention seemed entirely focused on Eri, only greeting his master briefly before turning back to look at the little girl, panting happily with his tongue out.

"It's okay, Eri," Itsuka reached out for her, smiling encouragingly while Izuku, Nejire and Ochako stepped back, and Tenohira likewise got up, giving her an encouraging smile, "he won't hurt you."

Eri hesitated - and then, after gulping a bit, took a hesitant step forward, keeping her eyes on the dog's face in case he suddenly changed his mind. The group watched as Eri stepped forward, walking slowly over to the dog, and then, after a moment of hesitation, reached out carefully, as though afraid of being bitten if she moved too fast.

Gently, her hand touched the dog's chest, palm up, and Eri blinked at the soft fur underneath her hand as she experimentally rubbed up and down. Itsuka smiled, and moved her hands away from her dog so that he could get up, Eri letting out a surprised gasp as he stood up - due to her smaller height, and the size of the dog, he was almost as tall as her, with her being only about a  few centimeters taller - but Gūdo only let out another yawn as he moved around Eri, giving her an experimental sniff, much to her surprise as his nose grazed her wet hair, and then sat back down again, resting his chin on her shoulder as she stared blankly at him.

"There, you see?" Itsuka giggled while both Ochako and Nejire clutched their hearts from the cuteness, "He's just a big baby. I'm sure that he'll -"

She was interrupted, however, by the sound of Eri sniffling. The four teenagers and Tenohira, who had been standing above the two and watching, felt their eyes widen as tears suddenly spilled from Eri's eyes, and before any of them could panic, she gently raised her arms to wrap around the dog's neck, and buried her face into the dog, the sound of muffled crying filling the hallway.

Izuku, standing above them, couldn't help but feel his heart break for the little girl, tears welling in his own eyes, and before he could think, he was moving down to his knees. Hesitating for only a moment, he reached out with his hand to gently hold her shoulder, Eri flinching a bit at the touch but not moving away as she hugged Gūdo a bit tighter, the dog letting out a few pants as he turned to continue sniffing her hair. Ochako, Nejire and Itsuka likewise crowded around them, with Itsuka mimicking Izuku and gently brushing Eri's hair, Ochako rubbing her back, and Nejire patting her head.

Tenohira, for her part, merely took a step back and let the four teenagers comfort the little girl. There was the sound of footsteps approaching them from behind, and Tenohira turned to see Hakushu exiting the guest room, blinking in concern at the scene, but thankfully remained quiet as his wife shushed him.

It took a little while, but Eri eventually became calm enough to stop trying to strangle Gūdo with her thin arms, and the Kendou parents guided her down the hall to show her the guest room - a large room with a big window on the side, and a nice, large bed.

"The bed's nice and soft for you," Hakushu explained to the little girl as she held Itsuka's hand, "and you get it all to yourself! Isn't that nice?"

Eri let out a small hum, and then turned to look up at Itsuka.

"Are … are you gonna stay with me?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, and then turned to look back at her open door. "Oh, uh … well, actually, Eri, that's my room right there. I'm just gonna be in there with Ochako and -"

Before she could finish that sentence, Eri turned and began gently tugging on her hand, Itsuka letting out a small noise of surprise but still letting her pull her into her room, only having a bit of time to flash her parents a look before she was pulled inside, and both Ochako and Nejire shared a small, uncertain glance.

"I … guess she's with us tonight." Ochako shrugged.

"I guess so," Hakushu shrugged, letting out a small chuckle as he looked back over at the surprised Izuku, "I guess that means the guest room's for you, Midoriya."

"I - oh," Izuku blinked, "I … I guess so? If that's - if it's okay. I - I wouldn't mind sleeping on the couch if -"

"Midoriya. Take the room."

"Y-yes sir!"

With chuckles, Hakushu and Tenohira stepped back, watching as Izuku moved towards the room with his change of clothes under his arm (Hakushu had ended up bringing him and Ochako their pajamas, and Nejire was going to get changed in Itsuka's room), and the two girls moved to enter Itsuka's room for the night. As she was the last one to enter, Nejire paused while closing the door, and then turned to look back at Izuku as he likewise paused in the doorway to the guest room, noticing her look at him.

With a small giggle, Nejire gave him a wave as she closed the door slowly behind her, and Izuku felt himself go still as she kept her eye on him until the door completely closed, his cheeks going red again as he gulped a bit, leaning slightly against the frame of the guest room's door as -

"Ahem."

Feeling himself freeze, and his face slowly growing redder by the moment, Izuku slowly turned to look at the two adults still standing in the hall and having witnessed … whatever the hell that was, with Hakushu having an amused look on his face and Tenohira pouting at Izuku with a noticeably distainful look in her eye.

"Uh …" Izuku gulped nervously, having no idea why Tenohira was glaring at him but knowing that he should probably excuse himself from her gaze immediately, and quickly stepped in and closed the door, hurriedly saying goodnight to both of them as the door snapped closed.

After a moment of silence, Tenohira pouted a little bit harder at the door, letting out a small whine as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"The cheek of that boy, Hakushu …"

"I know, Hira."

"… the fucking cheek!"

"Yeah, yeah," Hakushu chuckled, wrapping his arm around his wife as he began guiding them towards their own room, Tenohira growing quiet as she leaned against him, "that's something we'll deal with tomorrow, sweetie. This was a … interesting way to spend the rest of our night, and I'm pooped. I'm probably not even gonna be able to open the shop tomorrow since we're gonna have guests."

"Mm-hm."

"Well, for now, let's just go to bed, alright? Sounds like we're going to have a busy day -"

"Hakushu."

He faltered in his step at how suddenly quiet his wife was, pausing in their doorway as he looked down at Tenohira. She was quiet for a moment, staring forward for a moment, and then closed her eyes as she let out another sigh.

"Eri."

"Uh … yeah?" Hakushu raised an eyebrow. "What about her? Is everything -"

"She looks like her, doesn't she?"

Hakushu's words died in his mouth when she asked that quiet question, feeling his mouth slowly close. Tenohira continued to stare ahead, her face falling as she stared down at the floor, and waited for her husband to answer.

"…"

"…"

"… you noticed it too, huh?" Hakushu quietly asked, and Tenohira nodded, prompting him to let out a small sigh. "I … yeah, honey, I - I see it. She looks like …"

He didn't finish that sentence - and quite honestly, he didn't have to. Tenohira continued staring down at the floor for a moment - and then she closed her eyes, letting Hakushu guide her the rest of the way towards their room and inside, as he let out another small sigh at his wife slowly walking towards the bed, and closed their door behind him.

On the other side of the house, however, there was one person who wasn't trying to sleep at the moment, despite saying that he would be going to bed a half hour ago. Leaning back in his chair, Teko let out a small sigh as he stared out the window, seeing the moon shining in the distance. With a frown, he turned to look over at his phone, scooping it up and putting in the password.

The message that came up made him scowl a bit as he read it over again.

 

UNKNOWN CALLER

Something happened tonight, something that we'll need to put all our resources in.

We have to put a pause on the Villain Consortium.

Please understand.

 

Putting the phone down on his leg, Teko let out another sigh.


The sun was still shining brightly in the sky, making Izuku squint as he stepped out of the changing room. With a grumble, he raised a hand over his eyes to block out the sun, he walked forward, feeling the hot concrete beneath his bare feet turn into sand as he strolled forward, and then, through his squinted eyes, he made out a shape starting to come towards him.

Lowering his hand in confusion, he managed to blink some of the bright spots out of his vision, becoming less blurry and allowing him to lower his hand - which was immediately snatched by another, which made him snap his eyes open and look around in surprise.

"Well, what are you waiting for, slow poke? Come on!" Nejire giggled, squeezing his hand a bit tighter as she began to pull him along the beach, Izuku finding himself stumbling a bit as she pulled him along. "What are you waiting for, Midoriya? We have so many other things we gotta do! Like another game of tag! Or running along the water! That'd be nice, wouldn't it? Maybe we can go swimming too!"

"I … I guess so?" Izuku tried to smile, although it came across as shaky as he tried to keep his eyes on the back of her head as she guided him along. He tried as hard as he could not to look down - she was wearing her nice swimsuit, so he had to consciously try to keep his eyes on her head. But still … he couldn't help but feel a little confused in his fluster, glancing around the beach and feeling his smile fall.

Hadn't they already left the beach? And had gone to see … Itsuka? Hadn't this already happened? So - so why were they back here?

"You're still asking yourself questions, aren't you?"

Izuku blinked at Nejire suddenly speaking up, looking around at her as she glanced behind her shoulder, and she let out a cute giggle as they both slowed down, standing near a blanket laid out in the sand - when did that get there?

"Well, I can't exactly judge, can I?" She pointed out, laughing as she spun around to face him properly. "Like I said, I'm the one always asking questions, right? So I can't exactly go 'hey, stop questioning everything!' But hey, maybe … well, maybe we don't have to ask each other questions for a little bit. I think there's something else we can do that's a lot more fun."

"Uh …" Izuku felt himself falter, staring down at her innocent face, "and … w-what would that beeeeeeeeeOFH!"

Without warning, Nejire suddenly pulled on his hand - or, more accurately, she yanked on it to throw him completely off balance, flailing slightly before she turned him to fall to the ground. With a yelp, Izuku tripped over his own feet and quickly toppled over while Nejire giggled, and he let out a comical 'oof!' as he hit the blanket back first, although thanks to the surprisingly soft sand beneath it it didn't hurt very much - he was more surprised by Nejire suddenly throwing him around.

"I - what's -?"

Before he could get that question out, however, he became aware of her moving, Izuku closing his eyes briefly - and then he felt something rest itself on his stomach and lower body as he laid down, feeling like there was some kind of … weight on top of him. Feeling his brow furrow, Izuku opened his eyes and looked up - and then he promptly froze in horror, his face exploding in a blush.

"Ah … that's so much better!" Nejire threw her hands up in victory as she sat down on top of him, reaching up to undo her ponytail and letting her long, blue hair fall over her shoulders, before looking back down at Izuku with a smile - but one that he had never seen before, and made him begin shaking nervously. It was confident, of course, but her eyes were narrowed slightly, glancing down at where his shirt had ridden up slightly - and then she reached down, and grabbed it.

Izuku could only stare in horror as she began working his shirt off, staring up at her as she licked her lips at the sight of his stomach and making him blush so hard he felt like passing out - and yet, his arms moved automatically, sitting up slightly so she could work the shirt over his head, and once it was off, she aimlessly tossed it behind her shoulder, licking her lips and making him shake beneath her.

"There we go … that wasn't so hard, right? And you look so much more comfortable now!"

"I - H-H-Hadou?!" He finally managed to find his words, escaping his mouth in a squeak. "W-what are you - what -?!"

"Shhhhh," She suddenly shushed him, and Izuku found his words dying in his throat as her finger gently pressed against his lips, "like I said, Izuku … we don't have to question anything anymore."

He felt himself shiver at Nejire saying his name in that tone of voice, sounding quiet, amused and more than a little pleased, and could only watch as she began to lower herself down. Her hands trailed down to rub against his shoulders, the feeling of her nails digging into his skin slightly making him bite his lip, and watched as her pretty face came closer and closer to his as her hands slipped down to his wrists.

As she got closer, Izuku, for his part, didn't fight her at all, watching in shock and a bit of intimidation as Nejire laid down on top of him, allowing him to feel her soft skin press against his and making him shake - god, she smelled really good - and watched as her long blue hair pooled around his head. Her hands, which held his wrists, lifted his hands up, and he didn't resist at all as she laid his hands down on her hips. 

Izuku did nothing to dissuade her as she finally finished laying down on top of him, their faces close by and her blue hair covering his entire head so there was nowhere he could look but her.

"C'mon," She giggled again, "isn't this what you wanted?"

"I … I'm …"

"You wanted to ask me why it's okay for you to look at me, right?" Nejire mused. Izuku felt himself go red as his hands clenched slightly on her hips, feeling her soft skin as her own hands rested on his chest, rubbing up and down and making her purr.

"But it's okay, Izuku … it's okay for you to look at me. It's okay for you to touch me. It's okay for you to …"

"N-Nej - I - N-"

"It's okay," She whispered as her face came closer and closer, their noses brushing against each other lightly as she tilted her head, and Izuku found himself gulping, "for you … to …"

Izuku found himself shuddering as he realized what she was asking him to do. His hands on her hips clenched slightly, and her body pressed firmer against his. Izuku only stared up into her beautiful eyes for another moment - and then he felt his eyes begin to slowly close. His hands on her hips rubbed hesitantly up and down, and he began to lift his head up as Nejire likewise closed her eyes, and he felt his lips begin to pucker as -

"Well, isn't this nice."

With their lips just a little bit apart, Izuku found himself stopping at the sound of a low, angry voice above him, his eyes snapping open. Nejire likewise looked confused, and looked up quickly. Izuku found himself straining to look up from where Nejire was laying on top of him, and felt himself freeze at the sight of two familiar pairs of shoes standing in front of them, and quickly looked up.

"Would you have a look at that, Ochako," Itsuka scoffed, crossing her arms across her chest as Ochako stared down at Izuku with a betrayed, heartbroken expression, "the moment someone else gives him attention, he's off nipping at her heels."

"Deku," Ochako said quietly, slowly shaking her head as though she were in denial, and Izuku felt his own heart clench slightly, "are … are you kidding? After everything we've been through together - the second Nejire comes into the picture, you're just going to push me to the side? After everything we've dealt with in middle school, you'll just forget about me?"

"I - Occhan -"

"Well," Itsuka scoffed, shaking her head and glaring down at him, "I'm sorry, Midoriya, but we're not gonna just let you yank us around like that. So I guess this is it. You wanna go off and flirt with someone else? Fine, you do that. Me and Ochako, we don't need you."

"I'm …" Ochako shook her head again, tearing up, and then quickly turned to hug Itsuka, the orange-haired girl quickly hugging her back while shooting a glare down at Izuku.

"I - h-hold on -" He tried to protest, moving to get up and comfort his best friend, and protest their hurtful words - but Nejire was quick to grab his shoulders and shove him back down onto the ground, making Izuku whip his shocked gaze back to her as she pouted down at him, looking shocked and angry.

"Are you kidding?" She asked, sounding insulted and hurt. "I thought we had something good going on, Izuku! You said that you wanted to get closer to me too! After I opened my heart to you about what I've been through! Did you think that was easy for me?! And then the moment they start looking sad, suddenly I'm the fourth wheel?!"

"Don't blame us, Hadou, blame him," Itsuka spat, moving to kneel down beside Izuku's head, and he was quick to look back up at her - seeing the cold anger there, but also how hurt she looked, "he didn't even trust you with what happened on that playground all those years ago. But don't feel too bad about it - apparently it was just him trying to score sympathy points with me. Bakugou was right, Izuku - he's right about you being our third wheel."

"W-what?" Izuku managed to croak out, tears beginning to spill from his eyes.

"Do you know how many times Ochako and I have tried to hang out by ourselves, only for you to shove your way in between us? Sure, maybe hanging out with you at first was okay, but that was just because I was trying to appease All Might when he was pushing us together. Once Ochako joined, how didn't you pick up on how we wanted to be left alone together? How we were having so much more fun when you weren't there?! Me and her do everything together, from the battle trial to hanging out to eating to even getting our lives threatened, and you always find a way to butt in!"

"Why?" Ochako asked in a broken voice, "Why can't I do anything without you looming over my shoulder, Deku? Why do you always insist on being involved every time I wanna spend time with someone who isn't you?!"

"I …" Izuku managed to croak out, staring at her in remorse, "… I'm …"

"Forget it, Ochako," Itsuka shook her head, shooting Izuku one more glare as she stood back up and wrapped her arm around her shoulders, "we should've told him this the moment we enrolled at UA. We put up with you because we're nice, but if you wanna string us along so you can spend time with Hadou, then forget it. You can't have it every way - you can't string me and Ochako along while you hang out with Hadou, and you can't keep her hanging to spend time with us."

"I - but -"

"So we don't need you. We've never needed you. If you're gonna juggle me and Ochako and Hadou all at once, just throw me and Ochako away so you can have Hadou all to yourself. At least she'll take you off our backs. So from now on …"

She finally turned herself and Ochako away, and Izuku heard her voice crack.

"… leave us alone."

"W-wait -!" Izuku desperately pleaded, his hand shooting out towards them -

- and then his eyes snapped open, Izuku staring up wide-eyed at the ceiling of the Kendous' guest room while he panted slightly.

For about a minute, Izuku tried desperately to calm down his breathing, feeling something wet on his cheeks that he quickly raised his other hand to wipe away. Slowly, ever so slowly, he began to remember where he actually was, and what Itsuka and Ochako had said on the beach, no matter how vividly he had remembered their biting words in his head, was … that didn't happen.

It didn't happen. It was - it was just a dream. He had only dreamed of what they had said.

With a small sigh, he flopped down the hand he had been aiming up at the ceiling with onto the bed, and lowered the hand he had been rubbing his teary eyes with, staring up at the ceiling in defeat. He kept telling himself that Ochako and Itsuka didn't actually say those things to him, that there was no way that they would.

And yet, Katsuki's words from Tuesday began echoing around in his head.

"It's obvious, nerd. Those two do everything together now, and the best part is that they do it all without you. They eat together, go home together, all that stupid stuff. Isn't it obvious? You're the third wheel. You can keep trying to get their attention and make them dote on you, but eventually they're gonna forget about you and tell you to fuck off. Just like everyone else did back in middle school."

"They eat together, go home together, all that stupid stuff."

"She just didn't have any better options than you before we started high school."

At the time, Izuku had just pushed Katsuki's words to the side, but now … well, it was becoming more than a little obvious that his accusations had hit a little closer to home than Izuku wanted to admit, he scowled as he gingerly sat up in the bed, wincing at how sore his body felt from all the training he and Nejire had done yesterday.

Katsuki's accusations that Izuku was nothing more than a third wheel for Itsuka and Ochako kept bouncing around in his mind, making him scowl as he let out another shaky sigh and scratched the side of his head. The thought of him being a third wheel was - deep down, he knew it was stupid. There was no way that Ochako and Itsuka thought that of him - he remembered the nights they would spend here after training down in the dojo, hanging out in Itsuka's room or the living room, just laughing and hanging out. He remembered the times they would go out to eat together, or study in a café, or sit down on the beach and just eat their lunches during their breaks. He remembered how they clung to him after his fight with the hooded man.

There was - he knew his mind was just messing with him.

And yet … and yet …

As much as Izuku wanted to brush Katsuki's insults off as just that, or think that he was full of it … there was one part that Izuku couldn't help but think about.

"Those two do everything together now, and the best part is that they do it all without you."

Was … was that true? Izuku found himself frowning as he stared down into his lap, putting his scarred hands down on his knees. He tried to think of a time when Ochako and Itsuka didn't do something together - sitting next to each other during lunch, or going home together, doing exercises in class. Anything that they didn't do together.

And … he couldn't. For some reason, there wasn't a single instance lately that those two weren't attached at the hip for. And the fact that they had held hands when they had gone back to the USJ … 

Izuku groaned at that, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes. That had been because they had gone back to the place they had nearly died in, but … but at the same time …

… neither of them had checked up on him. Neither of them had asked if he was doing okay. He knew that it was immature of him to think so, shaking his head at how childish he was being - he had been fine at the USJ, so he shouldn't be upset that they didn't ask.

But … but he couldn't deny one thing Katsuki was right about. Ochako and Itsuka were growing closer. And … and …

"She just didn't have any better options than you before we started high school."

Was … could that possibly be true? That the only reason Ochako stayed by him for so long … was because she didn't have any other options that were better than him?

… no. Izuku shook his head and scowled. No, don't go down that path. Katsuki had just been trying to get to him. Trying to make him doubt his friendship with Ochako and Itsuka. Trying to point out that they did everything together, and trying to paint it as a bad thing.

No. It wasn't bad if Itsuka and Ochako were close. Closer than … then he was with either of them. He couldn't let his old friend get to him.

With a sigh, he swung his legs out from the bed, wincing as his bare feet met the cold floor, Izuku took a deep breath, and rubbed his eyes again. He couldn't think about that right now - he wasn't going to sit here and doubt his friendship with his training partners, just because of a bad dream. That started with …

At that, Izuku paused, feeling himself stare blankly at nothing for a second as he remembered how the dream started - and felt his face grow hot again as he raised a hand to his mouth, staring forward as he let out another groan.

Well … at least the dream … had started out relatively nice. Dreaming of Nejire taking him back out on the beach, throwing him to the ground and getting … on top … of him … and trying to … to …

… oh, god.

Izuku let out a small whine as he covered his now glowing face with both hands, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. He had a dream where he was about to kiss Nejire. And … and she was still here, he realized in mounting horror. The events of last night were coming back to him - finding Eri, bringing her here to Itsuka's house, and … and Nejire was … she was probably sleeping in the room across the hall from him. And he'd have to see her after having a - a dream where he tried to kiss her, and had her on top of him, and -

- and already made a complete fool of himself yesterday.

Pouting, Izuku lowered his hands away from his mouth to frown down at the floor. That was right - yesterday, he'd made an idiot out of himself whenever Nejire so much as touched him. Anytime she grabbed his wrist or his hand, he would freeze up, go red as a beet, and shut down. Playing tag with her had been okay, since he had been too caught up in the fun to think about it, but - but god, what must Nejire think about him now that she knew that every time she touched him he would devolve into a blushing mess?

That … needed to change.

Izuku sighed as he leaned back on the bed, staring out the window as the sun began to appear over the horizon. He wasn't exactly sure if yesterday answered his question about how he felt towards Nejire, but he had a feeling that it was venturing towards … a very positive answer, and he couldn't just - what, freeze up every time she touched him? No, that was just … pathetic. So he needed to - he needed to find a way not to do that anymore. So that when someone of the opposite sex touched him he wouldn't mentally shut down.

But … how would he do that? Practice? Izuku scoffed to himself at the thought - and then he paused.

… actually … that … seemed like it wasn't a bad idea, Izuku slowly realized as he tilted his head in thought. Practice being touched by a girl so he didn't shut down if Nejire touched him again? And let's be real, she was going to eventually touch him again, so maybe … maybe if he got some practice, the next time he went out to hang out with Nejire, he wouldn't mentally shut down.

But who would he practice with? Ochako? No, not her, Izuku sighed, Ochako was already a pretty touchy-feely person, so he was more than used to getting physical affection from her.

So in that case … the only person that would be able to help him out …

Izuku felt himself grow still, eyes widening and his face turning red. The only person who would be able to help him out … the only girl he knew that might let him hug her if he asked … that would be -

His thoughts were interrupted, however, by the sound of the doorknob suddenly jiggling.

Blinking, Izuku looked around at the door across from the bed, sitting up and tensing slightly at the doorknob began to turn down, and felt himself slowly begin to stand. He wasn't sure what was going on, or what time it was, but Izuku felt himself gulp nervously as the door began to slowly push open -

- but then, as the door opened wide enough for whoever was opening it to poke their head in, Izuku felt his eyes widen in surprise as a familiar head poked in, and then, as her gaze trailed around the room and finally landed on Izuku standing beside the bed, she let a squeak as she tried to hide.

"Eri?" Izuku called to her, feeling himself relax and sighing in relief as the little girl peaked back inside, looking guilty at being caught. "I - g-good morning. What - what are you doing?"

"I'm …" She began to answer in that same, quiet voice, looking embarrassed and uncomfortable as she stood in the doorway, "… I was …"

Izuku stared at her as the little girl obviously tried to find her words, glancing down at the floor as she bit her lip - and then, with another sigh, Izuku moved to sit down on the bed again, drawing her attention as he tried to take a steady breath and smiled at her.

His experience with little kids was … pretty much non-existent, he knew that better than anyone, but … well, there was clearly something bothering Eri, and he couldn't just let her dwell in those thoughts, could he?

"Do you, uh … do you wanna sit down with me?" He offered, trying to smile assuredly at her but knowing he was coming across as awkward, "I don't think I'm gonna get anymore sleep - er, is - is Kendou, Occhan and Hadou awake already?"

"Mm-mm." Eri shook her head, staring down at the floor as tears suddenly began to well in her eyes again, "I … I had a nightmare."

Izuku felt himself falter at that, staring at Eri in surprise as she stared down at her socked feet - and then he let out a soft sigh as he leaned forward. Eri flickered her gaze back up to him as he made himself comfortable on the bed, and then turned to smile at her as he patted the spot next to him, nonverbally offering her to come sit beside him.

Thankfully, Eri seemed to want that, coming into the guest room and closing the door quietly behind her, and the sound of her tiny feet against the hardwood floor filled the room as she approached the bed. Since the bed was a bit bigger than what she was used to, she had to climb carefully up, Izuku having to resist helping her in case she didn't want him to touch her, and watched as she flopped into the bed, grunting slightly, and then she sat up so that she was sitting beside him.

As Izuku suppressed a small yawn, Eri continued to stare down at her feet, leaving them in silence for a few moments as they sat together.

"So you … had a bad dream?" He asked her quietly, and she nodded, tearing up slightly. "Do … do you wanna talk to me about it?"

"Mm-mm."

"I … I see. Okay, that's fine - you don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to. Anyway, I'm sorry, Eri - I know nightmares suck. I was … I actually had a bad dream too, so I … I understand."

"You did?"

"Mm-hm."

Eri stared down at her knees for another moment, and then glanced back up at him.

"What was it about?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, taken off guard.

"Your nightmare. Was it scary?"

"I - well -" Izuku stuttered a bit, glancing away as he was unsure how to even answer that - sure, he wasn't he didn't think Eri would really understand the concept of 'do my friends like each other more than they like me' - but Eri was looking a little curious, so maybe …

"Well, uh … it … it wasn't really scary," He explained in a small voice, seeing Eri tilt her head in confusion, "so it wasn't really a nightmare. More of a … a bad dream that … well … made me feel a little sad."

"Sad?"

"Mm-hm. But -" He was quick to give her a small smile, "- but I know that no matter how sad I feel about my dream, I know that when I see Occhan and - and Kendou later, I'm gonna feel a lot better. Sure, my dream was pretty sad, but that doesn't mean I have to be right now, right?"

"…"

"… uh … yeah," Izuku nodded awkwardly, some of his steam taken away by that complete lack of a response, but before he could try and figure out how to continue the conversation, Eri spoke up again.

"Are you gonna leave?"

"I - huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at Eri in surprise, and she glanced up at him, small tears in her eyes.

"Last night," She explained in a small voice, "Hira said that you, Nej and Occhan could stay the night. But … but you live here, right? You aren't gonna leave soon, are you?"

"I - oh -"

"I didn't know where you were when I woke up," She told him, tears in her eyes, "I - I was scared that you were gone. I looked everywhere for you, but - but I didn't find you. But you were in here, so it's okay now. Is - are you going to living in here from now on?"

Izuku couldn't help but feel like his heart was breaking as Eri stared up at him, as though pleading for him to confirm that he really did live at Itsuka's house.

"Oh, uh - I - I'm sorry, Eri, but - but this is Kendou's house," He explained in a quiet voice, "not mine. Occhan, Hadou and I - we - we don't live here. We wanted to stay for last night, so we didn't just disappear on you, but … but later tonight, we're gonna have to go home."

"You're not staying?" Eri sat up, and Izuku felt himself begin to panic at the tears immediately forming in her eyes. Before he could explain, however, Eri quickly reached out to grab his arm, as though trying to prevent him from getting up and walking away.

He stared down at her as tears threatened to leak from her eyes again - and then he let out a soft sigh, closing his own eyes for a second. Gently, he stood up from the bed, Eri clinging onto him a bit tighter, but he remedied that by moving to kneel down in front of Eri, slipping his arm out of her grasp as the positioning got awkward, but he remedied that by, gently, taking her hands in his. Eri stared down at him teary-eyed as Izuku smiled up at her.

"Eri," He gently said, "I … well, I will need to go home eventually. My mom and my dad know where I am, but … but they'll need to see me soon. And - and it's the same with Occhan and Hadou - all three of us have our own homes, with our own parents waiting for us to come back. But … but I'm not gonna leave until after today, okay? Not until - not until after dinnertime. We have all day to spend together."

"But … but why?" Eri quietly asked, sniffling. "Can't your mommy and daddy come live here too?"

"I … I don't think that's how it works," Izuku couldn't help but chuckle a bit, "but Eri … just because I'm going home tonight doesn't mean that I won't see you ever again. I swear, I'll … I'll come back tomorrow, okay? Just for a visit."

"Tomorrow …? But then - then what about after that?"

"After that? Well, then that'll be Monday, and - and I'll have school."

"School?"

"Y-yeah." Izuku nodded, feeling herself gulp - did Eri not know what school was? "Like, I'm - I'm gonna go to school so I can learn - uh - things. I'm gonna have to do that for a few days - but I'll tell you what, okay? If it's okay with Tenohira and Hakushu, I'll - after school on Monday, I'll come here with Kendou to say hi to you. I might not be able to stay very long, but - but that'll be okay, wouldn't it? If me and Occhan came and said hi to you."

Eri was quiet for a moment, clearly thinking it over and looking conflicted - and then her red eyes flickered back to his.

"Do … do you promise?"

"Of course," Izuku said immediately, nodding, "I promise."

The little girl stared into his eyes for a second, as though trying to find a lie in there - and then she suddenly surged forward. Izuku let out a small squeak as she wrapped her thin arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, hopping off the bed so she stand there and cling to him.

Izuku felt himself hesitate for a moment - and then let out a soft sigh, and gently wrapped his arms around her back, returning her embrace while he rubbed her back.

"Okay," She sniffled, "if … even if you just come to say hi."

"Yeah," He smiled, gently moving back so that they could look at each other again, and he automatically took the bottom of his shirt to start wiping at her teary face, a move that somewhat surprised him but chose not to question it, "and … and like I said, Occhan will be with me too. And - and who knows? Maybe, when it's the weekend, you can come to see where she and I live too."

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

Eri thought about that for a moment - and then she nodded.

"Okay," She mumbled, "if … if we can see each other, then … then I wanna see where you and Occhan live."

"Of course, Eri."

"And - and we can see where Nej lives too, right?"

"Y-yeah, of course."

There was a few seconds of silence in which Eri stared at Izuku and he smiled comfortingly back at her - and then she abruptly said, "I'm hungry."

Izuku felt himself sputter at that abrupt change of topic for a few seconds, and then let out a small laugh - well, maybe he shouldn't be that surprised that was where her mind went, seeing as Eri only had a few fries and chicken nuggets last night. Of course she'd be hungry.

"Okay, Eri, I'll - okay. If no one else is up yet, and if we can keep quiet - I'll make you something to eat. Do you want some toast?"

"Toast?"

"Like - uh - it's toasted bread," Izuku winced at the weak explanation, "or more like - well, how about this? I'll make you some toast, with some butter spread on top, and - and you can tell me if you like it. I think you will."

"Okay." Eri nodded, and Izuku smiled as he moved to get up, letting out a grunt as his knees popped - he had been kneeling on the floor for a little bit, of course - and began to walk with her towards the door to head out to the hall. As they walked together, Eri reached out to take his hand in her tiny one, making him smile down at her as he began leading her out of the bedroom and into the kitchen.


"Alright, dearie ... now stick your tongue out and say 'ah'."

"Aaaaaah ..."

Eri stuck her tongue out unsurely, and Recovery Girl let out a small hum as she inspected it. Sitting around the living room, everyone watched, from the three Kendous sitting together on the couch to Izuku, Nejire and Ochako sitting on seats from the kitchen, as the elderly nurse inspected the little girl's mouth, looking in carefully with a small flashlight as Eri looked around a bit timidly, but Midnight kneeling beside her and patting her shoulder comfortingly helped her out as Recovery Girl nodded, and turned off the flashlight, smiling at her.

"That's good, Eri, you can close your mouth now." She advised her, turning back to her notepad to write down a few more notes. "Her teeth are fine, and her tongue is healthy, so we don't have to worry about problems there … well, you will need to brush your teeth, dearie," She turned to smile at Eri, "I see that you had a big breakfast."

"Mm-hm." She nodded, "we had toast and pancakes."

"Oh, that sounds delicious!" Midnight giggled.

"Kendou," Aizawa suddenly sharply spoke from where he was sitting on the comfy seat, causing everyone to look over and immediately wince as Gūdo sat up and began licking his bandaged face again, "get control of your dog."

"Oh, my god," Itsuka continued to look completely terrified of what Gūdo insisted on doing, fearing divine retribution from her teacher over her lack of control over the excited dog, "Gūdo, come here! Now!"

"Don't mind Aizawa, Eri," Midnight shook her head, smiling down at the look of concern on the little girl's face, "he's just more of a cat person than a dog person."

"But Gūdo … he's the nicest doggy in the world."

"Oh, that he is."

As one might guess, it didn't take very long for the three teachers to arrive that morning, having come upstairs after they were done with breakfast and Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire had gotten control over their messy hair. As he had suggested, Izuku had gotten Eri started with breakfast, apologizing to Tenohira and Hakushu mentally as he rummaged through their bread boxes, and had made the little girl some toast to eat before the two Kendou parents had arrived, surprised that they were up so early, before Tenohira had offered to make them some pancakes while Hakushu ruffled Eri's hair. And thus, Eri was treated to a surprisingly delightful breakfast, the little girl scarfing down whatever Tenohira offered and Izuku trying in vain to get her to slow down and not get syrup down her shirt.

Eventually, after Teko had arrived to get a small breakfast and went downstairs to begin preparing for classes, Itsuka, Ochako and Nejire had arrived in the kitchen, scrambling around in panic for where Eri had apparently vanished to, and Izuku had been treated to their seriously bad cases of bed head - as in, Ochako being the one relatively fine with her shorter hair sticking up in certain places, Itsuka's hair being a frizzy mess, and Nejire being … well … an extreme mess, her long blue hair sticking out everywhere and covering her face. After Itsuka had punched him for being unable to resist snorting, the three girls tried to comb their hair, and sat down with Izuku and Eri to enjoy breakfast as well, Gūdo arriving and sitting underneath Eri's feet, sniffing and licking her feet. As Eri gasped and giggled at the sensation, the cute sound was nearly enough to give Izuku and Ochako heart attacks, Izuku leaning back and clutching his chest while Ochako tried her hardest not to keel over from the cuteness.

Once everyone was well fed and Eri was brought to Itsuka's room to get changed into a fresh pair of pajamas (Nejire and Ochako giggling at the new dolphin shirt and Itsuka flipping them off behind Eri's back), there had come a knock on the door, and Itsuka had opened it to reveal Aizawa, Midnight and Recovery Girl standing there, Midnight dressed into a surprisingly formal violet blue business suit with her hair tied up into a bun - but then Gūdo had to announce himself to the new strangers by pretty much leaping onto Aizawa, barking directly in his face while Midnight made sure to hold his back with both hands to prevent him from toppling head over ass down the stairs.

So to say that her homeroom teacher wasn't exactly pleased with her at the moment would be an understatement.

After about ten minutes of introducing Eri to the teachers, the little girl quickly hiding behind Nejire's hair before she was coaxed out, Recovery Girl had started her inspection of Eri. Thankfully, the elderly nurse was extremely patient, waiting for Eri to come out from behind Nejire and introducing herself kindly to her, with the nurse offering Eri a lollypop for after the examination. Soon after, Tenohira, Hakushu, Itsuka, Izuku, Ochako and Nejire watched as Recovery Girl checked her pulse, unwrapped some of the bandages to look at the scars on her arm (an action that made Eri uncomfortable, so the nurse was very quick to wrap her back up after having a look), and then checked her temperature and heartbeat.

Finally, Recovery Girl let out a sigh as she lowered the stethoscope from around her ears, smiling at Eri as she handed her another piece of candy for her to eat.

"There we are, dearie, we're all done," She patted her hand, "you were very brave."

"Mm-hm."

"Now then," She turned to the adults in the room, "everything seems to be much better than I was fearing. Her blood pressure is a bit low, and there may be some early signs of anemia, but that's nothing a varied and balanced diet can't fix, or, if all else fails, a prescription."

"Oh, good," Tenohira sighed in relief, "that's - that's very good."

"Now, Midoriya," Recovery Girl turned to look at the young man, seeing him sitting between Ochako and Nejire with a slight blush as Nejire's arm brushed against his, "you said that she doesn't have much of a diet?"

"Y-yeah," He quickly nodded, "we asked her about it last night - she said her usual food is just - uh, what was it - oh, uh, onions and tomatoes and beef. And - and apples occasionally."

"Hm," Aizawa let out a hum, looking back over at the little girl as she experimentally chewed on the piece of candy the nurse had given her, and she glanced back around at the mummy man as he drew her attention, "Eri, was it?"

"Um …" Eri glanced down at her feet, still a bit intimidated by the guy wrapped up in bandages, but her attention returned to him as he stood up with a grunt, walking over and kneeling down beside her.

"You've been awfully brave," He commended her, speaking in a low, soft voice that made the four teenagers blink in surprise, "but I have a few questions that Midnight here and I have to ask you, okay? If you don't wanna answer, you don't have to."

"Uh - uh-huh."

"Can you tell us about your parents?" He gently prodded, noticing Eri tense slightly at that question and taking a mental note of it. "Or, if you don't want to, can you tell us why you were running around last night?"

Eri remained quiet for a moment - and then she looked down at her now socket feet, her long gray hair hanging around her head.

"I was … I was running …"

"Okay," Midnight patiently nodded, taking over and smiling encouragingly when Eri glanced at her, "were you running from something? Or someone?"

"I was … running from …"

She stopped for a moment, and then let out a shuddering breath, raising her hands towards her face. Itsuka stood up, ready to hurry over and comfort her, but she felt herself pause when, instead of moving her hands towards her eyes, the little girl moved them towards her mouth.

The adults and teenagers in the room watched as Eri raised her hands towards her lips, and then angled them down to cup around her mouth.

"He … he has a long pointy mouth," She explained, her voice muffled by her hands, "he never takes it off unless - unless he has to look into me. And - and then he wears a mask when he does that."

The room was then filled with complete and utter silence. Midnight blinked slowly, Izuku, Nejire, Itsuka and Ochako feeling their stomachs churn, and Hakushu and Tenohira snapped their mouths closed. Recovery Girl took a deep breath, exhaling slowly, Midnight slowly closed her eyes, and Aizawa stared at the little girl as she looked away, her hands dropping to her sides.

The words she had chosen to use echoed around in their minds, making even Nejire, who had been trying to limit the amount of questions she had due to the situation, fall deadly silent.

'Look into me.'

"This … long pointy-mouthed guy," Aizawa said in a quiet voice, "is he the one who takes care of you?"

"Mm-hm."

"I see." Aizawa slowly nodded, taking a moment to breathe through his nose - and then he looked back over at Izuku, Ochako and Nejire.

"Hadou, Midoriya, Uraraka, Kendou," He said, "please take Eri here and … go do something else. I want to discuss things with your parents, Kendou."

"Y-yes, sensei," Itsuka quickly nodded, walking over to Eri and taking her hand in hers to begin pulling her out of the living room, whistling for Gūdo to follow them, and Izuku, Ochako and Nejire were quick to follow her out of the room while Aizawa stiffly climbed to his feet and Midnight likewise turned to look at the two Kendou parents.

Downstairs, after hearing the sound of students in the dojo and knowing that Eri wouldn't be comfortable in there, Itsuka led them into the garage, Eri's eyes looking over to the bike in the corner and blinking. Soon enough, they tried to distract themselves from what they had heard upstairs as Itsuka knelt down beside her motorcycle, telling Eri more about her bike and how she'd been fixing it up.

While she took the little girl's mind off of what they had been talking about, Izuku and Ochako sat together on the couch, Nejire sitting on the stool and not talking at all for the next ten or so minutes, letting Itsuka take care of Eri for a bit while they tried to take their minds off what she had said. It was kind of eerie, seeing Nejire completely silent, but the blue-haired girl's face was completely crestfallen, glancing over at Eri occasionally and frowning, while Izuku and Ochako merely sat together and stared down at their knees.

Finally, after about twenty minutes, there came a soft knock on the door, and everyone looked around as it opened up.

"There you all are," Midnight smiled, stepping inside and letting the door close behind her, "I was just wondering where you were - I looked outside, but I didn't see anyone. I'd have thought you were out there on the swing."

"Er - hi, sensei," Itsuka quickly stood up, letting Eri continue to sit beside Gūdo on the floor as the dog came over to put his head in the little girl's lap, Eri slowly patting his head. "Is - is everything okay?"

"Yes, Kendou, it is. Aizawa and Recovery Girl are just … discussing things with your parents upstairs. I figured I'd come downstairs and let you know that we've been talking about what is going to be happening with Eri going forward from here."

The four teenagers sat up at that, seeing Midnight take her glasses off to wipe them with a cloth from her pocket.

"Normally," She explained to all of them, moving to sit down on the couch beside Ochako, "Eri would be given over to child services, and be placed into some kind of protective custody and medical care, supervised by the police. Or, possibly, she would be sent to a foster home to be looked after while the police launched an official investigation."

"But -" Ochako began to protest, looking around in worry at Eri.

"With that in mind, though," Midnight seemed to read her student's mind, smiling at her as she patted her hand, "we aren't positive that sending her off to live with strangers would be a good idea. From what you told me last night, Kendou, she isn't fond of hospitals or the police, and sending her to stay with either one may trigger anxiety attacks. That, and sending her to stay with people she doesn't know won't do her any good in the longrun. So if those aren't options, we believe that the next best choice is to have her stay here."

"Here?" Itsuka blinked. "So - so she'd start living here?"

"For now." Midnight nodded. "She's clearly comfortable here, and when we asked your parents, they're open to the idea of having her here full time, as your mother doesn't have to go out to work and can keep an eye on her for us - and, if possible, tutor and take care of her education. UA will, of course, help pay for any expenses that may come with taking care of her."

Ochako, Nejire and Itsuka let out sighs of relief at that, sagging over a bit. But then Izuku, for the first time since they had entered the garage, spoke up.

"Sensei," Izuku found himself frowning, "… what about this … uh … beaked mouth guy?"

Midnight paused at that question as the three girls looked over at him, seeing him hunched over and clenching his hands tightly together. Feeling worried, Ochako reached over and put her hand over his, giving them a small squeeze for comfort as Midnight let out a small sigh.

"Unfortunately, Eri's description doesn't quite give us anything to go on," She admitted, "we considered the possibility that her caretaker has a ... well, from her description, it sounds as though he has a beak, and ergo some kind of avian quirk, but - but we can't be certain. But we will be on the lookout for anyone claiming to be her guardian. We don't want to do anything until we get a proper investigation started, but … in the meantime, we want you four to keep your eyes open. Especially you, Kendou."

"Me?" Itsuka blinked in surprise.

"Yes," Midnight nodded, frowning, "we don't want to jump to any conclusions, but … from what Eri has told us, we're not going to rule out the possibility that her caretaker isn't someone who was taking proper care of her. And since you said you thought you saw someone coming out of that alleyway last night … we aren't going to rule out the possibility that he may have seen you. So please, Kendou - keep an eye out."


"Whoa! It's a hero!"

Walking down the street, Camie Utsushimi blinked at the sound of a young voice speaking up behind her, and glanced around curiously, her finger moving to her cheek as she tucked her phone back into her pocket. As she had suspected, it sounded like some kid had called out to her, and sure enough, there were two middle school students staring up at her in surprise, their gaze flickering to her hat on top of her head.

"A hero? Me?" She pointed to herself, letting out a small giggle as she turned and made a pose, "I guess I am, huh?"

"Wow, you look super cool!" One of the guys gushed, both of them jogging over to greet her. Of course, it didn't take them very long to glance back down at her costume, which made Camie giggle as they both went red, realizing that they had been caught looking, but luckily for them, Camie was a bit too busy striking a pose.

"Doesn't my costume look cool?" She asked them curiously, turned slightly to give them a look at her back, and smirking as they automatically glanced down and gulped nervously. "I put it together real quick, but a lot of people complimented me on it. Makes me look sleek, doesn't it?"

"Y-yeah," The other boy, a guy with feathers on his face, quickly nodded, his face going red as Camie adjusted the hat on top of her head and turned back to face them properly, "uh - a-anyway, what - are you on patrol right now? It's - it's really late, isn't it?"

"That it is," She nodded, putting a finger to her lip while looking around - the streets were emptying due to the sun setting, and the lights from the buildings around them were starting to flip on to illuminate them, "and I am! I'm just spending a little bit of time walking around before I wind down for the night - I'm actually heading over to confirm some things with the, uh … hero that I'm doing my internship with. He gave me an assignment."

"H-huh, that's - that's cool."

"But anyway, you two …" She leaned back on one leg, one hand moving to her cheek as she smirked down at both of them, "… you know my eyes are up here?"

They both squeaked as they quickly snapped their gaze away from her cleavage, but Camie merely laughed as she leaned forward and patted one boy's shoulder.

"Ah, it's okay if you wanted to have a little look. But anyway, I actually got a request for you two, if that's cool."

"Huh?" The other boy straightened up, his face going red as her beautiful brown eyes trailed over to him. "Y-yeah! Anything!"

"Anything, huh?" Camie smirked, and leaned forward a bit more. Her finger moved up to rest just under his chin, making him straighten up as she smiled smugly and leaned forward so their faces were close, and his friend looked envious as she popped a hip out and smiled, the guy she was staring at trembling a bit as his mouth dropped open.

"Do me a solid," Camie batted her eyelashes, "and let me know if you ever see any scary villains around, okay? I'm on the lookout for 'em. Just let me know if you ever see me, alright?"

"Y-yeah!"

"Kewlio," She giggled, and finally moved out of his personal space, the boy looking a tad bit disappointed as she spun on her heel, and tilted her head a bit as she stuck out her tongue to the other boy, seeing him staring up at her in wonder as she turned and began walking back down the street, aware of their eyes on her ass and letting out a mischievous giggle as she purposefully swayed her hips, eventually moving around the corner and out of sight.

As she walked away, she raised her hands to the cap on her head and tried to fix it - it was a bit tight around her head, but at least it did its purprose to show people that she was with Shiketsu High. Maybe she shouldn't be all that surprised, though, if people were noticing her for reasons other than the hat - she was still dressed in her leather suit, the one she had made back at home, and the cap on her head must've made them all think that she was a patrolling hero. Still, it saved her bacon when another hero had come across her, seeing the hat and asking to see her provisional license - which she had made with her quirk, showing him it and getting her off his back.

But, well, maybe she shouldn't complain, she smirked - if people in this corner of town thought she was just some hero strolling about, they wouldn't bother her all that much and try to look the other way. So she'd wear the hat until it served its purpose, and once she was done with it, she'd be more than glad to toss it.

With a sigh, she reached back into her pocket for her phone, shaking her head at the low battery, and quickly tapped on her photos. Scrolling through the ones she had taken in the last few days as she walked down the street, she began counting them down, humming as she confirmed each one.

The loud mouth blonde guy and the red-haired spiky boy walking down the street.

The pink girl, the frog girl, and the horned horse girl at a bus terminal.

One guy with a bandanna, one guy with a black lightning bolt in his blonde hair, a guy with weird elbows, and another guy with weird octopus arms outside their school gates.

The beautiful black-haired girl walking with a punk girl.

A guy with a raven head and a girl with silver hair stopping at some manga store.

A guy wearing glasses with weird metal poles in his calves running along the street, his image almost a blur.

A girl with orange hair, a girl with green hair, and a girl with normal black hair boarding a train.

A girl with brown hair jogging down some street, a bruise on her face and walking with a limp.

And finally … the one picture she had gotten last night. A green-haired boy sitting on a beach with a blue-haired girl.

Camie tsked, and lowered her phone slightly she pouted to herself. Honestly, she hadn't planned on confronting those two the night before - her quirk was good enough to make an illusion camouflaging her, practically invisible to the naked eye in the dark, and she was smart enough to wipe her footprints on the sand away so they didn't notice she was there - but honestly, they'd both been so cute she couldn't help but say hello. They'd probably reprimand her for that, but she couldn't help it, raising her phone to look at the two of them again as she smirked.

They were cute - the girl was seriously sexy in that bikini, and the guy had some nice arms, Camie licked her lips. Maybe after they were done with him …

Well, that could wait, she supposed, looking up and letting out a small noise. She'd arrived at the building she knew that the 'hero' she was doing the assignment for was staying at.

With a sigh, she pushed open the door and walked in, fixing some of her hair as she stepped into the dark stairwell. Since it was dimly lit, she had to strain her eyes to see as she walked upstairs, the sound of her heels on the wooden steps filling the air as she huffed a bit - and soon enough, as she poked her head into the upstairs floor hallway, she saw the neon sign above the door, letting her know that she had arrived to where she needed to.

With a giggle, she skipped her way over to the door, and pushed it open.

"Hey!" She waved to the people inside, leaning against the doorframe as she lifted her phone up, "I got them all."

Her brown eyes trailed around, smirking confidently as she fixed the cap on her head with her other hand. The room she was standing just outside of was lit in an orange hue, giving it a very comforting appearance - or it would've looked comforting, if it hadn't been for the only two people occupying the room, one behind the bar and one sitting on the stool.

The bartender turned to look at her, pausing his attempt to wipe down a glass, and his yellow eyes narrowed slightly. Putting down the shot glass, he raised his hand covered in dark mist, taking a glass of whiskey from the shelf, and poured its contents into the glass. The one sitting at the bar, meanwhile, glanced at her, his own yellow eyes narrowing slightly, and he scooped up the shot glass to drain it in one gulp, letting out a satisfied grunt as he slammed it down onto the counter, and reached into his pocket for a cigar.

"Y'got 'em all?" Chimera grumbled, looking away from the teenage girl as he puffed out some of his fire to lit the cigar, and Kurogiri grumbled as he waved away some of the smoke. "Every single one of those brats?"

"Yes, I did," Camie smiled, "all their train routes, their houses, the works. And guess what? My last one was someone you've been gripping about. A certain green-haired hottie."

Chimera paused at that, and then a grin appeared on his face.

"Well then, girlie," He gestured to the seat beside him, "if you're sayin' you got all their routes and shit … I think you've gone above and beyond on our little assignment. C'mon in, and we can celebrate while I look over the photos."

"So this means I'm in?"

"Yeah, fuck it. You're in." Chimera huffed. "I'll let the boss know. Welcome to the Villain Consortium."

Notes:


And that was Chapter 23! And with that out of the way ... ahem ... DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!

Yep, many of you are shaking your heads and blinking in surprise, but a major twist has finally been unveiled! The twist that, as Tenko and Himiko have been turned into heroes, the other way around also applies in that canon heroes can be villains here! Our very own Camie Utsushimi, who some of you were wondering 'what the hell was that about' last chapter, is here a villain! Now I know that many of you are attempting to break down my door to demand answers, but I shall not answer! Not even under threat of pain! Well, unless you kick me in the nuts, then I might a little bit.

And I can see you all have other questions as well - like why didn't Ochako and Itsuka notice Izuku and Nejire coming together and connect the dots? Well, they were a bit worried about Eri to properly think about it - but worry not, just because it didn't happen now doesn't mean it won't soon. And what will be happening with the Shie Hassaikai? Well, that question will be ... not answered for a while.

In any case, thank you guys for reading! See you later!

Chapter 24: Prep for the Sports Festival

Summary:

As Class 1A prepares for the sports festival, Itsuka faces a few bumps in the road on her way to the festival. Ochako finds herself being pinned by something she never expected, and Izuku realizes a shocking truth as he tries to take a stand for his friend.

Notes:


Yep. One of those chapters again. Please enjoy, and believe me when I say I wish I could have cut some of this down. I tried. I couldn't. I'm sorry. XD

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Gently, in the distance, the sun began to rise over UA High School.

The sound of birds signing filled the currently almost empty grounds as the campus rested in relative peace, with only a few teachers and students on site so early in the morning, with the pro heroes patrolling the grounds and overseeing the work on the sports festival stadium that would house thousands of other heroes and civilians in the coming weeks. Students either stayed in the main building studying for their various tests, or out in the grounds training for the festival.

Everything was, calm, peaceful, and quiet ...

KRACK-BOOM

... save, of course, for the constant sound of electrical explosions ringing out from Ground Omega, birds quickly scattering away from the forest zone in panic from each blast of green lightning shooting out from the trees and into the sky.

Anyone near the zone, be it a teacher patrolling, a student training, or another pro hero visited, quickly whipped around in shock at each loud explosion of sound coming from the forest zone, arcs of green lightning shooting off into the sky. Anyone not around the zone would look up at the sky in confusion, wondering where the thunderstorm apparently was what with the sky slowly turning from pink to blue, with white clouds high in the air.

Thankfully, the blasts of lightning coming from the forest zone began to slowly decrease in power and sound before anyone could panic and wonder what was going on, and soon, the forest zone was silent and calm again. Save for a small celebration from a certain green haired boy standing in the middle of the forest.

"Okay! Okay," Izuku nodded happily, patting the Full Gauntlet on his arm as he turned it over to have a look at the other side of the support item, "that was … seven shots in a row, and I don't see any wear and tear in the Gauntlet … so I think it's good to go."

"Well, it's good to go for now," Melissa's hologram reminded him, the inventor dressed in her pajamas with her long wavy hair tied back in a ponytail, and suppressed a yawn as she walked over to have a look at the support item resting on Izuku's arm, "but let me have a look at it before we decide everything's fixed - I can notice any potential flaws that you might not initially see, so it's better to make absolutely sure it's fine. We wouldn't want the Gauntlet to randomly shut down on you in the middle of a fight, after all."

"Yeah, that would definitely be preferable," Ochako nodded from her spot on the side, wincing at the high-pitched ringing in her ear as she gently rubbed it, while Itsuka sat down beside her and continued to tie her hair up in her ponytail. All Might, who was on the side leaning against a tree with his suit jacket carefully folded against his arm, grimaced slightly and rubbed his eyes, looking almost as tired as his niece did, albeit for the exact opposite reason - Melissa was up pretty late, and the four of them in the forest zone were up much earlier than they would've liked.

Settling back on the tree stump, once her hair was tied up properly, Itsuka likewise rubbed her ears, wincing a bit at all the ringing - she supposed that she should be used to loud noises when it came to Izuku, mostly due to his quirk naturally being loud as all hell, but it was still a bit hard not to jump every time. At the current moment, the three of them and All Might had arrived much earlier to UA than they normally would've, mostly so that Izuku could bring the seemingly fully repaired Full Gauntlet for a test run. The crack that the hooded man had punched into it was completely resealed, but Melissa, due to the fact that she wasn't actually there to have a look at it, insisted on overseeing its test to make sure nothing was wrong and that it had been completely repaired and back to normal.

That, and it was the unspoken guarantee that if Izuku accidentally broke it again, she would board a plane straight to Japan so she could throttle him herself. So he offered no complaint for having her here to have a look at it while he tested her support item out.

At the very least, Melissa had been very excited to be able to talk to them in 'person', relatively speaking, even if she had to stay up pretty late to do so. It was much better, in her opinion, to talk to them personally rather than over the group chat, which had been … quite busy this weekend, to be the understatement of the century.

Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire had failed to realize that their little chat about Itsuka supposedly 'kidnapping a child' had been their main chat, and they had woken up the next morning with Melissa, Setsuna, Tenya, Momo and Yuuyu panicking at what exactly was going on, from Tenya yelling at Itsuka for supposedly doing something unbecoming of a class representative and that there were better ways to support homeless children on the street (so the prospects of Itsuka giving him a karate chop to the back of the neck were high) to Yuuyu trying to figure out how she had left Nejire alone for an entire evening and Nejire had somehow involved herself in the kidnapping of a child.

So in the end, the entiredy of Saturday morning, after the teachers had left, had been devoted to Itsuka texting and calling everyone personally to let them know everything was alright, although they couldn't go into much detail about Eri - Aizawa, upon leaving, made it clear to the four teenagers that until their investigation was concluded, it would be important that Eri is not brought to the public eye, so they were instructed to keep things on the down low. So in the end, Itsuka had given her friends the short version of what had happened, and assurances that they had everything under control, while Eri got the chance to spend some more time with Izuku, Ochako and Nejire.

After Aizawa, Midnight and Recovery Girl had left, she had gotten a call from All Might as well, who apologized profusely to her for not getting back to her in time - according to him, he had a very busy night as well, going to meet with Gran Torino for something (so she at least understood why he sounded so shaken, not even Itsuka could think of the human sized pinball without gulping nervously), which meant that he had missed her texts entirely. Nonetheless, he had commended her for her bravery once she had explained what had happened, and that he would be assisting the Kendous with any financial problems that may come with taking care of Eri - through 'Coach Yagi', of course, but he assured her that the little girl Itsuka had saved had the full support of the Number One Hero.

At the very least, though, Eri seemed to be adjusting very well to living with the Kendous. After the teachers had left, and Itsuka had finished talking to pretty much everyone she knew, she, Ochako, Nejire and Izuku had given Eri (and Nejire, by extension) a tour around the house, taking her to the backyard to spend some time out in the sun (and trying not to feel worried about how Eri looked up at the sky as though she were unused to it). The little girl had only been a little sad when the other three teenagers had to leave at the end of the day, but thanks to her apparent talk with Izuku that the girls didn't know he had with her, she accepted their goodbyes after they promised that they would swing by again tomorrow, with Nejire and Ochako giving her two big hugs and Izuku giving her a pat on the head. By the time they all finally left for the train, Eri had been pretty much tired out, only having dinner with the Kendous before she conked out for the night, and Hakushu carried her to Itsuka's room to sleep in her bed.

The day after that had been relaxation central, with Itsuka promising Eri that they would have a pajama day and a chance to watch a few movies instead of being so busy - although she did have to do her morning exercises, with Eri sitting on the porch and watching with wonder as Itsuka practiced her martial arts in the yard. Around lunchtime, as promised, Izuku and Ochako showed up again, with Eri running over to hug Ochako, and Nejire hadn't been far after her, carrying a large box filled with her old toys and clothes, much to the Kendous' shock. The rest of the afternoon was then dedicated to Eri going through her 'new things', which seemed to be code for 'Itsuka and Nejire's old stuff', but the little girl had only shown wonder and curiousity at Nejire's Barbie dolls and Itsuka's old clothes, which had been decorated with more and more dolphins ("Say something," Itsuka had growled menacingly at the clearly struggling not to laugh Izuku and Ochako, "I dare you both, say something.")

So the weekend had been … busy, to say the least. And now here they were, awake a few hours earlier than they would've liked, so they could do a bit of training before class started in about two hours.

When they had been watching Eri looking through Nejire's old things, Izuku had mentioned that he had wanted to bring the Gauntlet for his test, and had been talking with Melissa over text to have her watch, and Itsuka had decided to ask All Might if it would be alright to train around that time as well. All Might, evidently, had agreed, texting Melissa so that all five of them could watch Izuku testing the Gauntlet - but Itsuka, for obvious reasons, had been a bit nervous about what would happen once Melissa was finished with her inspection and disconnected.

There wasn't much that Ochako could do in the forest, so she was comfortable with waiting for later to train - which meant that next would be … her turn.

And it wouldn't be Big Fist they were going to be training with, Itsuka thought nervously as she glanced back at All Might, seeing him grin as Melissa continued inspecting the Full Gauntlet on Izuku's arm. It would be … the other quirk.

The one that had shattered all the bones in her arm into several tiny pieces the first time she used it.

So … yeah. She was feeling rather justifiably nervous.

"Okay …" Melissa let out a hum as she had Izuku turn his arm again so she could have a look at the Gauntlet in full, "… looks like the nanobots have completely resealed the Gauntlet's outer hull, and has no problems with absorbing the lightning … and the meter looks like it's working perfectly fine … and there's the data feedback now, I'm getting it on my end. Alright! I think reparations are complete."

"Really?" Izuku gave her a hopeful look as she straightened herself up, smiling proudly down at her invention while tucking some of her messy blonde hair behind her ear. "So I can start using it again?"

"I think so! So for future notes, for both of us - looks like the repair process takes about a week and a bit for the nanobots to completely reconstruct a blow that could shatter the Gauntlet itself, so that'll be good to know for the next time something like this happens."

There was a short pause, and then she turned to look up with Izuku with a sudden cold glare, and he gulped and quickly straightened his back as though she were a drill sergeant about to shout him down.

"And when I say that," Melissa was sure to stare him in the eye, "that means the Gauntlet isn't going to be broken again for a good long time, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again, ma'am."

"Good," She huffed a bit, finally smiling at him again as he gave her a salute, and turned back to look at All Might with a grin, "so Uncle Might, looks like things are all up and running again, so we don't have to worry about the Gauntlet blowing up his arm."

"Yeah, that's - wait," Izuku stopped his eyes going wide as he whirled back around at the hologram, "blow off my what now?"

"Anyway, it's, uh … kinda very late," Melissa held a hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn, and giggling at Izuku's look of panic as he quickly shot his gaze down at the Gauntlet on his arm as though it had suddenly turned into a bomb, "and I do have a few tests to run on my own equipment tomorrow, so I should probably head off to bed. Unless you need me for anything else?"

"That's alright, Melissa," All Might chuckled, walking over to automatically pat her shoulder and blinking when his hand just sailed through instead, "I believe we've done enough testing today for Young Midoriya! And I'm relieved that the Full Gauntlet is working properly again - now we don't have to worry about Young Midoriya walking into the sports festival without it. Now then! As you said, it's late - and you need your sleep! Go on now."

"Yeah," Itsuka chuckled, "you go get your beauty sleep, girl."

"I get enough beauty sleep," Melissa giggled as she gave her and Ochako a wave, "but anyway, Izuku, if you end up testing the Gauntlet again later, be sure to send me all the data to look at when I eventually wake it up. There's nothing wrong with doing more tests to make sure that everything's running smoothly."

"R-right," Izuku quickly nodded, looking back up from the Gauntlet and giving her a smile, "thank you again, Miss Shield."

"You mean … Melissa."

"Uh - yes. Uh-huh. That's what I meant."

"…"

"… M-Melissa."

"There you go," Melissa giggled, moving her hand over her mouth to yawn again, and turned to the other three to wave, "goodnight! Or - you know, have a good day."

"Goodnight, Melissa!" Ochako waved to her, and they all watched as she reached over to press a button to disconnect their call. As she fizzed out of existence, and the blue button that they had placed on the forest floor stopped its blue beeping, All Might took that chance to immediately vanish in a cloud of smoke, emerging from it in his skinny form while trying to suppress his blood-filled coughing, while Izuku hastily moved to scoop up the hologram button and slip it into his pocket so they didn't lose track of it.

"Alright," All Might managed to wheeze, grabbing a handkerchief from his pocket and bringing it to his lips to wipe at the blood, "now that we have that out of the way, Young Midoriya, I believe it's time we let Young Kendou have her turn."

"Right, All Might," Izuku quickly nodded, quickly moving so that he was out of the way. Itsuka tried to give him a small smile, feeling her cheeks go a bit red as she glanced at him and automatically looked away as she stood up, and let him take her spot on the stump, sitting beside Ochako and beginning to play with the Gauntlet on his arm while Ochako gave him an amused look.

Well, Itsuka grimaced slightly as she turned to walk over to the spot he had been standing in, it was time for her to somehow mess this up.

"Alright," All Might clapped his hands together as Izuku and Ochako got settled, watching as Itsuka walked over to where Izuku had been testing the Gauntlet in, and looked around at their teacher, "let's go over what we know, shall we?"

"Yeah!" Izuku nodded excitedly, making All Might blink and Itsuka look around at him, "One for All."

"…"

"…"

"… Deku," Ochako giggled a bit nervously as Izuku caught himself and looked suddenly mortified, raising his hands to cover his mouth, "I … don't think All Might was talking to us."

"You're right, Young Uraraka, I wasn't," All Might had to fight hard to suppress his chuckles as Izuku quickly bent forward in apology, "but if you have something to say, Young Midoriya, I encourage you to say it - since Young Kendou brought you both in on the secret of One for All, if she's comfortable with you being here to watch, then I suppose she wouldn't mind your input."

"I wouldn't," Itsuka agreed, unable to stop herself from giving All Might a teasing smile, "especially since the last time All Might tried to advise me with One for All, he just said I should 'feel it'."

While All Might sputtered and grumbled at that unsutble dig at him, unable to really say anything back due to her being right, Izuku lowered his hands from his mouth, still looking a bit awkward and embarrassed at his outburst, but still, he at least knew that he had the go ahead to talk, looking around at Itsuka and giving her a grateful smile - one that made Itsuka gulp suddenly, feeling her face turn a bit red as she looked back at All Might quickly before Izuku could see her face.

All Might had been right that Itsuka was comfortable with Izuku and Ochako joining them for this training, but there had been … one problem with this morning's arrangement - an ongoing problem that had been going on since Friday, and definitely not being helped over the weekend.

The problem being that it was still kinda, a little bit, a teeny, tiny bit … hard for Itsuka to look at Izuku.

Ever since Setsuna and Yui had put those stupid thoughts of having a crush on him in her head, it was hard for Itsuka to shake them out. This entire weekend, anytime she even looked in his general direction, her heart would randomly start beating a bit faster, her face turning a bit warmer, and it was hard to look at him for longer than five seconds without feeling like her cheeks were on fire. It was okay whenever they were in their group with Ochako and Nejire, but … but right now, with his attention on her, she was starting to feel like there was something wrong with her, and she couldn't figure out what.

She just … had to keep her eyes on the ground, keep her voice even when she talked to him, and then find Setsuna and Yui and bonk their heads together for putting these thoughts in her head.

Because this was obviously their fault.

Entirely their fault.

"Okay, so …" Izuku let out a small grunt as he stood up again, looking around at All Might and Itsuka, "… One for All."

"Mm-hm," All Might chuckled, "that is indeed the name of the quirk."

"S-sorry, All Might, just … kind of reminding myself of what we know," Izuku gave him a sheepish, awkward smile, and while Ochako giggled a bit at his goofiness, Itsuka pouted to herself off to the side - god, how fucking dare he suddenly become cute.

Thankfully, before she could catch what she had just thought and punch herself in the face, Izuku straightened up, letting out a sigh as he raised his hand to pull at his bottom lip.

"Okay … so it's an emitter-type quirk," He reminded himself quietly while Ochako got back to trying to fix her bedhead that she still hadn't combed down yet from waking up this morning, "with the ability to be passed on from one user to the next, taking the strength of its last user and adding it for the next person to use."

"That's right," All Might nodded encouragingly, "One for All's stockpiling abilities means that Young Kendou's physical abilities have been enhanced to a superhuman level."

"And the first time I used it," Itsuka added helpfully, grimacing, "I broke every bone in my arm."

Both Izuku and All Might winced at that, while Ochako looked up at her.

"But - but you also said that you used it to save Eri," She reminded her, "and you didn't break any bones when you did that, you were just … really sore afterwards."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, continuing to wince a bit at the memories, "and I wasn't able to have my bubble bath until like - last night."

"Y-yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, trying not to mentally picture that particular scenario while his face went a bit red, and he sat down on the stump beside Ochako again, "but - uh - so you used One for All to get out of there. Do you remember anything about using it?"

"Not really," She shook her head in disappointment, rolling her shoulder with a small sigh, "I thought someone was coming down that alleyway and panicked, and just - focused on getting Eri out of there as fast as I could. I didn't even realize I used One for All until I finally slowed down, and - and everything freaking hurt afterwards. I was also … really thirsty, but I don't think that had anything to do with it."

"But that means that, somehow, in your panic, you found a way to use it safely," All Might pointed out, "even if it was barely. Somehow, you were able to use One for All while you were running, putting yourself under strain, but not enough strain to seriously injure yourself. So that should be our goal going forward - to somehow replicate what you did Friday night, being able to use a smaller amount of One for All without injuring yourself, but not enough to strain yourself."

"Okay …" Itsuka slowly nodded, "… that sounds … well, a bit easier said than done, though. Like I said, I'm not sure what exactly I did to get Eri out of there."

"That's true," All Might gave her, "so we'll need to look at it from a different angle, then."

"And …" Ochako tilted her head, "… what angle would that be?"

"That would be … er … well …"

The three teenagers paused, looking around at All Might as he faltered, staring down at the ground - and Itsuka let out a small sigh, shaking her head and smiling as All Might looked a bit taken aback and unsure how to respond.

"You … don't really know, do you, All Might?"

"I … er … no." All Might looked down at the ground in shame, putting one hand in his pocket as he rubbed the back of his head with the other, "The truth is, Young Kendou, I really have … no idea."

"What?!" Ochako exclaimed, shocked. "You've had One for All for so long, and you don't know how to use it?!"

"W-well, I wouldn't say that, Young Uraraka -!"

"It's because he was able to use it normally from the start."

The three teenagers and All Might blinked at the sound of a low, familiar voice suddenly coming from behind them, somewhere close to them in the forest, and quickly looked around in surprise, All Might quickly buffing up to his true form.

The bushes rustled a bit, and they heard the sound of a wobbly voice grumbling, and then, from behind a tree, there came a familiar, tiny old man, holding his walking stick carefully as he slowly approached, wearing a white hero costume with yellow boots, gloves and a cape.

"S-sensei?!" All Might squeaked in terror, immediately shrinking back down so he could cough and shrink away from his mentor. "W-what - you're here!"

"Ooooooh, my, what's this?" Gran Torino looked around at the other three teenagers, all of them surprised to see him as he spoke to them in a frail, shaking voice. "Three teenagers getting ready for the sports festival? And a skeleton!"

"Gran Torino?" Itsuka's eyes widened while All Might let out a small sigh, unable to suppress her surprise at seeing him - they hadn't seen the retired hero since they had stopped working on the beach. "I - what are you doing here?"

"… who are you again?"

"I - what?!" She squeaked while Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other in confusion. "It's - it's Kendou. You know who I am."

"… what was that?" Gran held a hand up to his ear, as though he couldn't hear her.

"I - you -"

"He's messing with you, Young Kendou," All Might let out a defeated sigh, shaking his head while the old superhero looked around at him with a dopey smile, "it's just an act that he likes to do - does it with Tenko and Hana all the time, pretending to be senile."

"Peh! You're no fun." The goofy grandpa-shtick suddenly vanished, allowing Gran to frown at his student in disappointment, "I was gonna pretend that there was an accident since we last saw each other - especially since none of you bothered to call me at all since then."

Izuku, Ochako, and Itsuka winced, while All Might furrowed his brow.

"But - sensei, I just saw you on Friday. We -"

"But that was a serious conversation, Toshinori! Those don't count."

"Er - what are you doing here, Tornio-sensei?" Ochako asked, trying to get everyone back on track, "Were you walking the grounds?"

"I was walking with Tenko," Gran explained, moving over towards the stump, and nodding when Izuku quickly hopped up so as to give him his spot, "I've got a meeting with Nezu later this morning, since he wants to repeat that dumb prank All Might did on your class at the USJ with me -"

"That right?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, turning to stare pointedly at All Might as he whistled innocently.

"So we were taking some time to catch up with each other. Which wasn't necessary, by the way," Gran tapped his cane against the ground, “since Tenko actually likes to keep me updated on what he's been doing -"

"Oh, boy," All Might groaned quietly, "he's never going to let this go."

"- and then I saw the green lightning coming from the forest. Since I only know one zygote who can do that, I told Tenko I would come investigate - you were being too obvious about where you were training, and talking out loud about One for All." Gran Torino huffed to himself, "You're lucky it was only me coming to see what was going on - anyone else, and you'd be having a very awkward conversation right about now."

"Er - right," Izuku nodded in guilt, "sorry about that."

"Anyway -" Gran looked back around at Itsuka as she stood there awkwardly, "- as I said, this doofus here was able to use One for All's full power from the start. Because of this, I taught him in a different way."

"Ooh!" Izuku looked excited, while All Might looked like he was experiencing some horrible flashbacks. "All Might as a student?! What was he like?!"

"Hm … well, he was a good student, but as for his training, that was nothing but practical training for him."

Itsuka and Ochako paused at that, unable to stop themselves from flashing back to the utter beatdown that the tiny pinball man had given the orange-haired girl on the beach. Grimacing slightly, both girls turned to look at the pale All Might and felt a bit of sympathy for him - they suddenly understood why All Might was so terrified about the possibility of having to talk to his mentor.

"Because of that, I couldn't teach this oaf half-heartedly," Gran continued to explain to Izuku, "but that can't be the case here with Kendou, because of the different circumstances behind both of your training. For Toshinori, he was trained over two years before he received One for All, right before his first year of high school, and because his mentor was careful about using her portion of One for All before it faded - and due to the fact that it was a bit weaker than it is now - it lasted her much longer than it probably would now, only completely losing it about a year after she had given it to Toshinori. On the other hand, Kendou, you were only trained for ten months before you finally received it - because of that, your body, while it can use One for All, isn't prepared to withstand it at a hundred percent power."

"So," Itsuka grimaced, "eventually using One for All at a hundred percent without hurting myself is something I've got to train more for."

"Essentially."

"Okay," Itsuka nodded, "so … I should start with using lower percentages. Y-yeah, we discussed that. So how do I do it?"

"Yes," Gran nodded slowly, "how indeed …"

"…"

"…"

"… you aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"Ha! Of course not," Gran chuckled at the dismayed look on Itsuka's face, "I can't just give you the answers, kid - that's something you're gonna have to figure out on your own - or with Midoriya and Uraraka here, although they seem to be just as clueless."

"Right," Itsuka nodded to herself, grimacing slightly as Izuku likewise began to slowly pace, evidently thinking, "that makes sense. So, uh … Ochako, Izuku, you guys got any ideas? Because … I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda stumped right now."

"Yeah," Ochako shook her head, sighing sadly, "I'm not sure either."

"I'm … the same," Izuku looked a bit frustrated, shaking his head, "I just … I don't get it. I know that there's something we're clearly missing here, but I just … can't figure out what. Maybe it has something to do with … or …"

The two girls watched him slowly pace, frowning and tapping his lip as he clearly thought. Itsuka let out her own sigh as she shook her head, looking up at the sky as the sun continued to rise in the distance.

"Well, at least I know how to activate it," She chuckled to herself, trying to clear the moody air that had arisen all of a sudden, "but I can't exactly demonstrate it right now, or I would have to go visit Recovery Girl and probably miss out on morning classes. And - you know, she's probably getting a little tired of seeing the three of us."

"This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for that dumb mist guy," Ochako tried to joke as well, smiling a bit, "if Deku came with us to the mountain zone instead of the conflagration zone, back at the USJ, then he'd have been able to see it yourself."

"Yeah," Izuku shook his head, smiling despite himself - it was a relief, at least, that his friends could somewhat joke about what happened there and he wouldn't feel uncomfortable - and sighed, "those stupid villains sending me to the wrong …"

And that was when Izuku suddenly faltered in his pacing, his voice trailing off as he slowed himself to a stop. The two girls looked around at him, blinking as he visibly paused, one eyebrow raising as Izuku brought his hand back up to his mouth.

They, and All Might and Gran Torino on the side, straightened up - they knew that he had suddenly thought of something, seeing the gears working in his mind, so they kept themselves quiet as he looked off to the side, clearly in thought. And then he nodded, and looked back around at Ochako and Itsuka.

"… Hadou."

"Huh?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, a small pout appearing on her face at the mention of the blue-haired girl while Ochako likewise blinked in confusion.

"What about her, Deku?"

"Back at the USJ," Izuku continued his vague explanation, his eyes widening in realization, "everyone said that she was the one who created that tsunami."

"Uh … yeah?"

"And - and Asui and Kodai said she did that by - by using her power to the maximum."

"That is what they say."

"Yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, beginning to pace back and forth again as an idea obviously came to him, "she has to manually make sure she doesn't overload herself. That's what she told me back at the battle trial - she can only use about twenty percent of her power, or else she'll run out of stamina and pass out. That's what happened during the entrance exam, and that was why she was unconscious for so long after the USJ."

"That's right," Itsuka nodded, wrinkling her brow, "but, uh … I'm sorry, Izuku, but where are you going with this?"

"I think," Izuku looked around at her, his eyes widened, "that we're trying to use One for All the same way Hadou uses her quirk."

Itsuka blinked at that, while All Might straightened up and Gran smiled to himself behind his scarf.

"I - sorry?" Ochako looked confused.

"What we're trying to do is - is to use All Might's quirk in smaller percentages," He clarified to the both of them, "the problem right now, for you, is that for One for All, it's either a hundred percent, or it's none. Except for Friday, in which you somehow used it in a smaller percentage. And Hadou - she uses her quirk in a similar way. She can use it all but it'll knock her out for a while, but she's found a way to use it in smaller percentages."

"The more she trained," Itsuka finally caught on to what he was suggesting, feeling her eyes widen as she straightened up, "the more she's able to use her power."

"And that's what we want to do here!" Izuku nodded, feeling happy that she understood. "It's like All Might said - the more you train as a vessel, the more you'll be able to use your power. We already know how to use it - you clench your butt and yell 'Smash!' within your heart."

"I … don't really think I have to do that every time." Itsuka blushed, regretting telling him and Ochako that part while All Might tried his hardest to stiffle his laughs on the side.

"So I - I think that's it," Izuku slowly realized to himself, "if we want to figure out how to use One for All - we should talk to Hadou about how she lowers her own quirk's power, and act from there!"

There was a short pause, and Itsuka, feeling herself pale a bit, asked, in an uncertain voice, "So … we're just … telling Hadou … what, exactly?"

"I -" Izuku began to explain, and then blinked. It became clear to the other four that he had not exactly thought through what he was saying - that they would be essentially bringing Nejire in on this, to essentially tell her about how Itsuka could suddenly perform feats that All Might himself could.

Nejire. The one person in class that would … very obviously … ask questions.

Lots of questions.

Thankfully for Izuku, All Might cleared his throat.

"Well, while I understand a potential flaw in this plan," He stepped in, drawing the three teenagers' attention to him again as he put his hands in his pockets, "I also see where Young Midoriya is coming from. While Young Hadou's quirk doesn't work exactly the same as One for All, she may prove to have some insight on how we can proceed from here. We'd have to approach her carefully about it, however - Young Hadou has a very curious mind, and it'll be important not to divulge anything to her that would compromise us."

"I … guess so," Itsuka nodded as well, straightening her back, "if I want to understand how to use One for All in lower percentages, I guess talking to Hadou about how she does it with her quirk - well, it's better than nothing. I'll talk to her at lunch - come up with a story so she doesn't ask too many questions. Just about what I'm doing, and if she has any advice for me about it."

"At lunch?" All Might blinked, seemingly realizing something, and they watched as he went into his pocket for his phone. After tapping on the screen, All Might let out a small noise, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Ah, I'm sorry, Young Kendou, I completely forgot to mention - Principal Nezu actually reached out to me last night, and asked to have a meeting with the two of us at lunch today."

"Huh? Principal Nezu?" Itsuka straightened up again, looking shocked and more than a little nervous. "Uh - what about? Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure it is," All Might assured her, putting his phone back in his pocket while he turned to her with a smile, "he didn't specify what we'll be talking about, but I'm sure you're not in trouble, Young Kendou. Everything is probably fine."


"I will be frank you with, Kendou," Principal Nezu leaned forward in his seat, an apologetic look on his face, "I have summoned you to my office today to consider having you pull out of the sports festival this year."

All Might choked on his tea.

The wracking coughs from the side, courtesy of her mentor, was all the sound that filled the room as Itsuka stared blankly at the principal sipping on his own tea, while Tenko grimaced slightly in his own seat on the side in a 'just bear with him' kind of way. This topic of conversation was … obviously not what she had been expecting to hear when she had been summoned to the principal's office when lunch began, sitting on the other side of his desk with the large window behind him displayed the city of Musutafu in the distance.

"Indeed," Nezu nodded as he put his own cup down as he poured some tea for Itsuka to drink, pushing the cup towards her, Itsuka feeling more than a little nervous and panicked as she stared at the tiny bear-mouse-something principal, "this conversation is to determine what we will be doing regarding your involvement in the sports festival coming up in two weeks. Please keep in mind that we won't force you to do anything you don't want to, of course - I just wish to use this meeting to discuss our options."

"I - I see."

"Indeed. Now then! Before anything else, please, take a sip of tea - it'll help calm your nerves."

Still not entirely sure what was going on but knowing better than to argue with her principal, Itsuka did as instructed and accepted the cup of tea, hesitantly bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. Nezu watched her interestingly as she gulped it down -

- and then, in an excited voice, he asked, "So?"

"Uh - sorry, sir?"

"The tea, Kendou - how is it? Delicious? Mediocre?"

"O-oh. Uh …" She was feeling more and more confused by the second, somewhat thinking, for a moment, that she was being pranked, but still took another sip of tea so she could gauge the taste this time before swallowing.

"It's - uh - it's very good. Is - is it raspberry?"

"It is!" Nezu clapped his paws together happily as she guessed correctly. "It's one of my own blends - I enjoy experimenting with different kinds of tea to find particularly good blends. Now then - would you like to taste something else?"

"Uh - I, uh -"

"Oh, don't be shy, Kendou - I have several different blends here for you to try, such as green tea, white tea, oolong, herbal infusions, Golden Tips Imperial, although I think that's a bit too strong for such an elusive tea, pu-erh if you were -"

Tenko, realizing that they were quickly losing their principal to his hobby, quickly cleared his throat.

"Er - sorry, sir," He apologized as Nezu looked around at him, thankful that All Might finally managed to get control of his coughs, "I'm sure that Kendou would love to try your different blends, but, uh … I think that she would like to discuss why you want to pull her out from the sports festival. She doesn't have a lot of time to taste test your teas, as it's our lunch break."

"Ah, quite right, Tenko," Nezu sighed in disappointment, putting the box of tea down, "I suppose we'll have to save it for another time, then. But for next time, Kendou - what kid of tea do you prefer?"

"Um … well, I'm kind of a fan of green tea."

"Ah, good to know! Now then - back to what we were discussing."

"Uh - yes, sir," Itsuka nodded, putting down her cup of tea as she glanced between the two teachers and her principal, "so - you want me to step out of the sports festival?"

"Not exactly," Nezu shook his head, "we will not force you to excuse yourself from the festival if you wish to compete. Please, don't think that we are trying to force you to sit on the sidelines - I acknowledge that this is more than simply a sports day. It's your chance to try and stand out amongst your peers, and gain the attention of any hero who would be willing to take you on for work studies down the line. No, as I said before, we are simply here to gauge our options."

"Right … and why is that?"

"Well," Tenko sighed, leaning forward and putting his own cup of tea down on the desk, grimacing as Nezu automatically moved to refill it, "the truth is, Kendou, the reason we're asking you to consider stepping out of the festival … isn't actually because of you. It's because of Eri."

"Eri?" Itsuka sat up in her seat, eyes widening slightly. "W-why? Is she okay?"

"Oh, no, she's fine, it's just … well …"

"After they visited your home, Aizawa and Midnight brought us up to speed so we could understand the situation," Nezu took over for Tenko, drawing Itsuka's attention back to him, "and as mentioned before, UA will be more than happy with assisting your family with her care while the police investigate - we're more than happy to work with All Might's agency to make Eri's stay at your home as comfortable as she needs it to be. However, I had my own thoughts after Midnight informed me what she told you on Saturday, and simply wish to keep it in mind for your involvement at the sports festival."

"Huh?" Itsuka furrowed her brow, blinking a bit in confusion. Something that Midnight had said? But what did she -

- oh.

Oh, that's right.

" ... we don't want to jump to any conclusions, but … from what Eri has told us, we're not going to rule out the possibility that her caretaker isn't someone who was taking proper care of her. And since you said you thought you saw someone coming out of that alleyway last night … we aren't going to rule out the possibility that he may have seen you. So please, Kendou - keep an eye out."

"Oh," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, her eyes widening slightly as she slowly nodded, "oh, I - I see."

"Yes, indeed."

"So - so you think that if I were to -"

"The sports festival," Nezu reminded her, nodding as well as he likewise topped off her cup of tea, "as you may recall, is televised. So if Eri's caretaker did catch a glimpse of you … well, I imagine that if he were to watch the festival that day and see you participating, he would be able to find out who exactly you are - and more importantly, he may begin to track down where you live, and find out where Eri is."

"I - I understand," Itsuka slowly sighed, taking her cup of tea and sipping on it again while All Might gave her a sympathetic look, "so … so you think that I shouldn't do the sports festival on the chance that the guy might've seen me."

"Yes," Tenko nodded, grimacing slightly, "just to be safe."

"Although," All Might tapped his finger against the desk, jumping to Itsuka's defense, "are we certain that he might've seen Young Kendou? From her retelling, she saw a shoe come out from around the corner and immediately ran. Could it have been possible that he didn't catch a glimpse of her in time?"

"It's certainly possible," Nezu gave him, "but the fact that we can't be certain is why we are conflicted on this. The police did go to the alleyway where Kendou found Eri, and unfortunately, there weren't any cameras, no surveillance, no witnesses, nothing at all that would give us a glimpse at whoever was coming out of that alleyway. And given Kendou's shaky recollection of what happened - no offense, Kendou - we cannot confirm that this mystery person did or didn't see her."

"And …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, "… so if I were to - if I step out of the sports festival, what am I supposed to do about internships afterwards? I did my research, that's - the sports festival is how you get noticed for field training. If - if no one sees me perform, I don't have any chance of being accepted to any hero agencies, do I?"

"Well, in that case, we do have other options," Nezu patiently explained, "in the event that you are not able to perform in the sports festival, there are alternative means to reach out to other heroes. It's normal that in the event a student doesn't receive any offers, we have a selection of around forty hero agencies around the country that would be accepting interns. And if that isn't something you're interested in - and I can hardly blame you, there have been several interns in the past that were unsatisfied with our options - we can also reach out to other specific heroes and explain the situation. As All Might is directly involved in Eri's case, he can the situation and ask to help you out."

"And don't think this is something you should keep secret from your classmates," Tenko was quick to assure her as well, reaching out to pat her with his four fingers, "you can talk to them about why you had to step out, as it isn't for your safety, but for someone else's."

"I … okay."

"But as we said," Nezu tiled his head a bit, "we will not be forcing you to do something you don't wish to. Ultimately, the decision to compete or step out will be up to you."

"To me?" Itsuka blinked, looking uncertain, "But - you said that if the guy -"

"There is that risk," Nezu acknowledged, "we acknowledge that. But we also acknowledge the fact that we know that the person you saved Eri from isn't the only threat that may be watching the sports festival. There's always the risk of villains watching the sports festival so that they may see the next generation in action, to know what they'll eventually have to face. But after what happened a few weeks ago …"

"None of the Villain Consortium were captured," Tenko frowned, making Itsuka look around at him with a noticeable shiver at that name, "and they're clearly still out there, in hiding. The HPSC has been applying a lot of pressure on us, trying to make sure we know not to do anything that would make our students or them look bad - they're trying to downplay what happened, so they wanna make sure that we don't make them look like idiots."

"Er -" All Might looked awkward, "- speaking of the Commission, Principal Nezu - were you able to -?"

"No, I was not," Nezu let out a tired sigh as he shook his head, "I'm afraid that the president of the HPSC was insistent that should we have any student act up, we are to - effectively - muzzle them."

Itsuka blinked at that - muzzle them? Was that some kind of metaphor?

"Anyway, that's not important right now," Tenko shook his head, waving his hand in the air, "what we mean, Kendou, is that it might seem unfair to you that we're asking you to step down from the sports festival because of someone watching for you, when it's probably guaranteed that the Consortium will be watching for the rest of your classmates. So yes, we're going to leave your involvement in the sports festival up to you."

"That's why I asked to have a meeting with you today," Nezu took another sip of tea, "so we can discuss what we'll be doing, and what measurements we will have to take."

Itsuka felt herself falter there, turning her stare down to the cup of tea that she had in her hand. To be polite, and maybe give herself some time to think, she raised the cup to her lips to take another sip of tea, closing her eyes as she thought to herself.

The obvious answer, of course, should be that she would step out of the sports festival without question - if it was a matter of Eri potentially being put in danger solely for the purpose of her wanting to show off her skills, then she should gracious step out so as not to put the little girl at risk. It was the smart, responsible thing to do.

But … but she knew that not performing in the sports festival …

"That's something you need to remember - you have one chance a year, and a total of just three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event."

If she were to miss her first sports festival … then that might have some pretty big consequences down the road. Of course, as Nezu had said, there would be forty potential hero agencies that would accept her, but … but it wasn't that simple, either. She didn't just have her Big Fist quirk to think about, she grimaced, she had One for All to consider as well. She could probably learn under one of those forty heroes, but the sports festival would be her chance to try and learn under … someone more, who saw her quirk(s) in action, and would have constructive criticism for her to learn from. Someone who would know how to help her, not treat her as a footnote to be passed along to some random hero.

So …

"Quite conflicting, isn't it?" Nezu guessed her thoughts, smiling gently at the conflicted look on her face. "We understand, Kendou - it's not a simple thing we're asking you to do here."

"If … if I do want to compete," Itsuka said in a small voice, leaving it clear that she hadn't made a decision yet, "you mentioned there would be … measurements we would have to take."

"That's correct," Nezu nodded, "if you do compete, we may have to ensure that there is a police officer or hero patrolling around your neighborhood, just to be safe. We were already talking with Tsukauchi about doing that anyway, but we believe that having the police stay outside your house for the next few weeks, checking for anyone that might come by, would be beneficial to make sure that no one suspicious comes around your home. As for you competing in the festival -"

"Wait a moment."

Nezu and Itsuka faltered a bit at All Might suddenly speaking up, causing them and Tenko, who had been sitting on the side looking at Itsuka sympathetically, to turn and look at him. And yet, All Might's eyes weren't on the two talking, but on Tenko himself - or, more accurately, the top of Tenko's head, staring there and blinking as he straightened up in his seat, a thought obviously coming to him.

"Young Tenko," He realized, "you … haven't dyed your hair lately."

"Huh?" Tenko blinked at that strange change in conversation, raising his hand to his hair. Itsuka glanced around as well, blinking when she saw, sure enough, that the white roots of his dark hair were subtly growing out. "Uh - yeah, that's - it's been pretty busy, All Might, I haven't had any time to take care of it. I don't see how that … has to do … with …"

At Tenko faltering, however, Itsuka felt herself blink when three pairs of eyes suddenly moved back towards her - All Might leaning forward, his hand on his mouth while he thought; Tenko, blinking in realization; and Nezu looking intrigued. Slowly, all three of them slowly glanced at Itsuka - only for their eyes to trail up and towards her hair.

"If this caretaker ended up catching a glimpse of Young Kendou," All Might thought out loud, "then the easiest way for him to identify her would be … her hair."

"Huh? My hair?" Itsuka felt more and more confused, subconsciously raising her hand to pat her head. "Wait, are you -"

"It's definitely an idea," Nezu nodded slowly, a small smile appearing on his face, "if Kendou here did flee before he came around the corner of that alley, the most he would've gotten is a glimpse of her hair and perhaps seeing her school uniform. And if Young Kendou got out of there fast enough, he wouldn't be able to identify her quirk. So if she were to …"

"W-wait a minute," Itsuka raised a hand to pause the three of them, feeling nervous for some reason, "are - are you saying -"

"Young Kendou," All Might nodded, "you might be able to compete in the sports festival if we take the effort to disguise you. As we mentioned, your orange hair is your most obvious feature - so if we were to dye it, even just for that day …"

"That way," Tenko's eyes widened in realization, a smile appearing on his face, "she can compete with the rest of her classmates. And if Eri's caretaker is watching, he won't be able to recognize her - especially if he only caught a glimpse of her."

"I - hold on," Itsuka held both of her hands out to stop them, feeling herself begin to sweat nervously as she glanced around at the three adults, "is - is that the only way? Dying my hair? Wouldn't - I don't know -"

"It would only need to be temporary stuff," Tenko assured her, giving her a gentle smile while noticing her uncomfortableness, her hands rising up to pat her hair - obviously, she had her reservations, "I know that there are some products that only last for about day, at most - like Best Jeanist has a few brands of hair dye that can turn your hair darker, or multicolored, and I know Uwabami has some branded stuff for dyeing your hair for a certain amount of time. It's just so that while you're on TV, Eri's caretaker, should he have caught a glimpse of you, won't be able to recognize you on sight alone."

"I believe that this may be an appropriate compromise," Nezu agreed, already looking like he was on board with this plan, "if having Kendou disguise herself to perform in the sports festival, not only would she be able to compete, but we'd be able to ensure that the heroes don't think anything is the matter either - there would be questions as to why Kendou wouldn't be able to compete, not just from the potential heroes that would take her on, but from the HPSC as well. And seeing as we've only just started the investigation for Eri, we don't want the HPSC potentially poking their noses in as well. Having her dye her hair can be easily explained. It would also ensure that we don't have to switch over who would give the opening statement."

"I'm not - wait," Itsuka blinked, "what was that about the opening statement?"

"Well," Nezu sipped on his tea again, "if we had you step away from the sports festival, we would have to get someone new to give the opening statement representing the students, seeing as you came in first in the entrance exam. And if it wouldn't be you, then we would have to hand it off to the student who scored second place."

"Second place? Then that would be … Bakugou."

"That is correct."

There was another short pause - and then Itsuka, looking horrified at the hypothetical scenario of letting Katsuki represent their class (or, more accurately, making everything all about him and making everything for their class worse for anyone watching), quickly nodded.

"Okay." She gulped nervously. "Let's - let's do that, then. The - the dyeing my hair thing."

"Excellent!" Nezu clapped his paws happily together, while Tenko scratched the side of his head and All Might let out a relieved sigh. "Then I suppose that is that. Kendou will still perform in the sports festival, while we keep an eye on the Kendou household just to be safe. Now then, I believe we've taken up enough of your time today - you can return to lunch now. I have to get ready for a lot of meetings this afternoon - I'm going to be having a few pro heroes who do internships and the such come in for review, and the HPSC wants another meeting to discuss the sports festival. I would like some time to prepare my notes, as well as any advil I may need in order to get through a meeting with the Commission's representative. In any case, have a good rest of your day, Kendou."

Quickly nodding, Itsuka put her teacup back down on the desk, standing up and bowing to the principal as All Might likewise got up to leave with her, buffing back up to his true form. Both of them bid goodbye to Tenko as well, the young man self-consciously patting his own hair as though debating if he could run home to redye it very quickly, and together, Itsuka and All Might exited the office, closing the door behind them and walking down the hall as All Might let out a small sigh.

"Well, that was certainly a roller coaster," He joked lightly to his pupil, "it looks like you can still compete, Young Kendou. My apologies about the scare."

"I get it," She shook her head, frowning a bit, "I know I had my reservations, but I'd … much rather not risk Eri. It was just …"

"I do understand," He patted her shoulder to comfort her, "it's a difficult choice to make - I know that you don't like taking the easy way out of things, but I'm happy to see that you still kept your mind on Eri while making your decision. I'm glad that you will be able to attend the sports festival.

"Yeah, I'm ... I am too."

"Indeed," All Might smiled at her, and then straightened up, throwing his hand into the air. "now then! If you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for our next class. I'll see you -"

With a sudden burst of speed, All Might suddenly began sprinting down the hall, making Itsuka yelp as she was pushed to the side by a gust of wind as he ran away from her.

"- in the afternooooooooon!"

With a small sputter, Itsuka straightened herself up, dusting off her school uniform slightly as she glanced around at where All Might had vanished around the corner, and let out a small sigh. With that, she began making her way back to her classroom, walking a bit quicker so she had time to get there and eat her lunch before Hero Basic Training - she'd much rather not have to train on an empty stomach.

She supposed that she should look at the silver lining, Itsuka thought to herself - instead of being forced to sit out of the competition this year, and potentially mess up her future aspirations, she would be able to compete with all of her friends, and all it would take is to dye her hair for the day. It was just … she really liked her orange hair, she pouted as she reached up to stroke her ponytail.

She knew she was being dumb, and that it was for Eri's safety, and it would just be for one day. But … well …

…well, but nothing, she frowned at herself as she shook her head. She would have to put up with having a different hair color for a day. It was for Eri, after all.

So she supposed, Itsuka sighed again as she walked down the hall towards the stairs, that once she, Izuku and Ochako were done with training for today, she'd have to make a stop by the department store so she could look at a few different types of -

"You and All Might seem close."

At the stoic voice suddenly speaking up from behind her, Itsuka let out a small squeak, jumping a bit in surprise. Quickly turning around, she felt her cheeks go a bit red - she hadn't even realized that she wasn't alone in the hallway, her eyes trailing over to the boy leaning against the wall near the principal office behind her, having been there this whole time and watching her with a raised eyebrow and calculating eyes.

At once, her own eyes unintentionally zipped right to the burn mark on his left eye, although she was quick to look away from that, fearing that it would come across as rude. Instead, she glanced up at his hair, one side white and the other side red, and then glanced down to his face as she regarded his appearance. He was a bit taller than her, lean but still a tadbit bigger than her, and watching her carefully with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Sorry about scaring you," He apologized, his voice monotoned like Yui's but far different - while Yui had a lack of emotion in her own voice, this guy's voice sounded oddly cold, "I noticed you and All Might were talking, so I thought I would come over and speak with you."

"Ah," Itsuka nodded blankly, not exactly sure what to say in response to that.

"And like I said," He tilted his head a bit, "you two seem to be close. You and All Might."

The way he said that, however, made Itsuka straighten up a bit, feeling a small chill crawl up her spine. Staring up at the boy giving her his own blank, yet somehow suspicious, look, Itsuka felt herself become a bit defensive, but still tried to shift her face into a far more neutral expression.

"I'm … sorry," She managed to say in an even tone, trying to smile, "but I don't think we've met."

"No," He shook his head, "we haven't. I'm Shouto Todoroki, from Class 1B."

"Todoroki," She repeated his name, nodding, "well, uh - good to meet you, Todoroki. I'm Itsuka Kendou, the class representative from Class 1A."

"I know."

"Uh … yeah. And, uh, about what you saw there - you think All Might and I are … close?"

"That's right."

"Well," She smiled awkwardly, feeling a bit bad for lying about this but knowing that she really needed to come across as not suspicious, "that'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Being close to the Number One Hero. But, uh, I was actually just having a meeting with him and Principal Nezu - we were talking about me participating in the sports festival this year."

"That right?" Shouto repeated, but from the sound of his voice, he wasn't that interested.

"Yeah. It's kind of a long story, but … well, everything's gonna work out." Itsuka nodded, and then turned back around so she could walk back towards the stairs.

"Anyway, I should probably head back to my class - lunch break is probably halfway over by now, and I still need to -"

"I'm not sure what is actually going on."

Her step faltered at the sound of his cold voice speaking behind her. Itsuka stared blankly ahead for a moment ,and then turned back to look at her classmate. Shouto was still giving her a cold, unemotive stare, but she had a feeling that something was going to happen, and for some reason, her hands tensed.

"I know that you're probably lying about something," He turned to the side as well, not really looking at her but still making it clear that he was talking to her, his heterochrome eyes never left hers, "but honestly, I don't quite care at this point. All I know is that you were the one who told everyone else to bring it, weren't you? When all those students came to your class a week or so ago - you were the one to put that Shinsou guy in his place, and told everyone else that you don't get scared easily. Didn't you?"

"… that's right," She slowly nodded, a frown appearing on her face as she turned back to look at him properly, "I did."

"Well then," Shouto narrowed his eyes, "I just want to make sure you know that I don't scare easily either."

Itsuka blinked at that.

"If I'm to be honest, I believe that I'm easily stronger than you," Shouto bluntly stated, which only made Itsuka narrow her own eyes as well, "but I know that you're downplaying whatever relationship you have with All Might. He sees something in you, doesn't he? He came to save your class at the USJ - came to save you."

"Uh … yeah," She tried to keep her tone even, "he did. But I imagine that he would've done the same for your class if you were in our shoes. I'm sorry, Todoroki, but I'm not exactly sure where you're going with -"

"You two were talking with each other like you were pretty familiar with each other," Shouto pointed out, which made Itsuka freeze slightly, "just now, leaving Principal Nezu's office. He's pretty open with both our classes, sure, but he talked to you like he's known you for a while. That, and it would make sense for the principal to summon you for a meeting - but All Might had to be there as well? To talk about the sports festival of all things?"

Itsuka silently cursed herself, glancing down at her feet. It was pretty clear that, unlike that Tetsutetsu guy who had shouted at her class and then got dragged away by Yuuyu, this guy was pretty smart.

"Like I said," Shouto shook his head, "I don't know what the relationship between you two is, and I won't pry. But know this - at the sports festival, I'm going to beat you."

Itsuka met his cold glare again, seeing him give her a frown.

"I'm going to defeat you," He declared, "be certain of that."

"I … see," She slowly nodded, her neutral tone finally fading away as she put her own hands in her pockets, "and … I assume you're not going to tell me why."

"I have my reasons."

"Reasons …" She repeated in a slow voice, her own voice becoming colder, "… that I assume you aren't going to tell me."

"No," He shook his head, "there wouldn't be much point."

"I figured," Itsuka nodded, letting out her own sigh as she straightened her back, and then turned back around to face him properly.

Shouto, for his part, merely stared as Itsuka took a deep breath, and then exhaled, opening her eyes to meet his.

"I don't know what exactly your problem is with me," She said in a tone as blunt as his, "and to be honest, I don't quite care either. I have my own reasons for doing the sports festival. So … at the risk of sounding standoffish …" She sank into a small bow, "… alright. I accept your declaration of war. And just so you know - I won't lose to you."

Shouto studied her carefully for a moment, his eyes narrowing again as she straightened back up and returned his glare tit-for-tat - and then he nodded.

"Good." He said in a quiet voice, and then turned and began walking away.

Itsuka let out a small sputter at how anti-climatic that weirdly tense conversation had ended, but before she could call back out to him, Shouto turned around the corner at the other end of the hallway and vanished from sight. Letting out a small sigh, Itsuka shook her head, feeling her heart start to calm down from how quickly it had beat from that sudden tension -

- and then her gaze fell to the clock on the side, and she felt her eyes widen.

"Shit!" She cursed at the sight of her lunchbreak being already halfway over, and quickly whirled around to begin jogging towards the stairwell, wondering if she could get back to class in time to eat and wonder what the hell just happened there.


"Oooooooooh!" Nejire clapped her hands happily together as Izuku put the Full Gauntlet down on the table, this time not around his wrist, and allowing the small group surrounding it to lean forward and have a look at it. "It's all back to normal! Well, I assume it's back to normal, since you said it was fixed, but I don't know, maybe you made some adjustments since we last saw it! Like lasers! Lasers would be cool, wouldn't they, guys? Or maybe there's a speaker in there that plays music! That'd also be cool, you can go around and fight crime while you have some theme music playing! I think Present Mic did that once with ads for his show, but people tried to sue him for blowing their ears out with - wait, hold on, I just had a thought. If you do your lightning thing, wouldn't that just make the speaker explode? Don't do that, then, you don't want the speaker to blow up while it's on your arm, that'd be bad!"

"Why do people keep saying that stuff that's attached to my arm is gonna blow up?" Izuku groaned lowly, Ochako letting out a small giggle and patting his shoulder.

At the moment, it was pretty close to the end of lunchtime, with Izuku, Ochako, Nejire, Tenya, Momo, Setsuna, Yui, Kyouka and Yuuyu moving some of the desks to make a large table for them all to eat at. Currently, Yuuyu was resting her head on the table with her arms wrapped around it, groaning lowly at whatever must've happened in her class that day, while Tenya and Yui were sitting together, Tenya looking oddly awkward and Yui nonchalant as she occasionally turned to glance up at him. Setsuna, meanwhile, leaned back in her seat, chewing on her carrots, while Nejire sat on Izuku's left, looking over the Full Gauntlet excitedly, while Ochako sat on his right, opening the lunch Inko had made for her this morning and clapping her hands together to thank his mom for the meal - she had a bit of math to do, so now that it was all done, she would enjoy eating her lunch as quickly as she could.

Still, Izuku's attention right now was on the Full Gauntlet, as Tenya, Momo and Kyouka leaned forward to have a look over the support item, while Eijirou, Yosetsu and Pony left the classroom so that they could run and grab their things from the vending machines.

"Well, it is spectacularly well made," Tenya nodded in approval, carefully picking up the Gauntlet to turn it and have a look at the red meter, "it looks like Miss Shield did a fantastic job on its construction! And you're saying it only takes a few weeks to fully repair?"

"It looks like it," Izuku nodded, watching as Tenya passed the Gauntlet for Momo to inspect, "although that was just because of how damaged it was - I think Miss Shield said something last night about more minor repairs taking less time to fix itself up."

"Cool," Kyouka experimentally slipped her hand into the Gauntlet, Momo giggling as it was a bit too big for her and left plenty of room for her fingers to wiggle around, "so that means you can use this thing for the sports festival?"

"I'll have to talk to Midnight-sensei to get it officially registered," Izuku nodded, smiling a bit as he was handed back the Gauntlet, which Nejire immediately took so she could have a closer look, "but yeah, once I get it petitioned, but I'm sure Midnight-sensei will let me use it. We tested it out this morning, so it's not gonna break on me -"

"Or explode," Yui pointed out helpfully.

"- or - explode on me," Izuku winced slightly, "anyway, yeah, it's - it's all good."

The door to the classroom suddenly slid open, and everyone looked around to see Itsuka reentering the room, letting out a small, tired sigh as she flipped her ponytail back behind her shoulder.

"Hey," She greeted them as she stopped by her desk to grab her lunch from her bag, "sorry I'm late, Principal Nezu likes to talk, and - someone stopped me to talk. So what did I miss?"

"Not much!" Setsuna confirmed as she munched on her carrots, "Midori over here was just showing off his shiny, brand-spanking new support item. And, y'know, confirming it wasn't going to blow up his arm."

"Oh, god, please stop putting that thought in my head," Izuku shivered while Ochako giggled again through her mouthful of lunch, and Itsuka shook her head as she sat down in the seat between Ochako and Momo, taking a second to stretch her arms.

"Anyway," Kyouka leaned back in her own chair as Yuuyu raised her head somewhat, still looking disgruntled and absolutely done with the day as Nejire patted her head, "what did Nezu want with you, Kendou?"

"Oh, right," Itsuka nodded, sitting back as she broke her chopsticks apart, "well …"

From there, she explained the reason why Nezu had summoned her to his office to have a talk, with her friends around her blinking in surprise and shock that the teachers had wanted her to drop out of the sports festival, and relieved when they figured out a way for her to compete anyway. Once she was finished confirming that she'd have to start looking for hair dyes, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she scooped some rice into her mouth, glancing up at the clock and wincing at how little time she had left to eat before classes started again.

"So," Ochako felt herself frown as she leaned forward slightly, "they think that whoever Eri's caretaker is could recognize you if he saw you on TV?"

"It's not something they're certain of," Itsuka slowly nodded with a frown, "but - yeah, the fact it's a possibility in the first place is why they wanted to talk to me about it."

"Huh," Izuku likewise frowned down at his desk, accepting the Full Gauntlet back from Nejire and swiping his finger across the blue panel to restore it to its bracelet form, "that's … something that we didn't consider, did we?"

"Nope, we didn't. But now that they've pointed it out … well, it's not like Principal Nezu was wrong to consider having me pull out of the sports festival, right?" Itsuka shook her head, "If the guy really did see me, or at least caught a glimpse of me that would help him identify me if he saw me, and then suddenly saw me giving a speech on TV - well, then that's just putting Eri in danger, isn't it?"

"So they want you to dye your hair?" Yuuyu raised an eyebrow, keeping her head down in her arms even as she addressed her fellow class rep. "Is that really necessary? From how you explained it, you pretty much grabbed Eri and booked it the moment you thought something was wrong."

"I did," Itsuka nodded glumly, "but I also didn't look back at all once I thought someone was coming. So we … honestly, I don't know if whoever was in that alley saw me."

"Honestly, girl, what is it with you and doing crazy shit?" Setsuna shook her head, leaning forward to rest her elbow on the table as she gave Itsuka a slightly concerned, slightly amused look. "Last time you left my house after a hangout, you ended up jumping into a burning building. And then when you leave us after we go get dinner, you end up saving a runaway? Is this some kind of sign?"

"Yeah," Itsuka smirked a bit, "it's definitely a sign. I've gotta stop going places with you, Set, it just gets me into trouble."

"Ouch! But I can't deny the pattern."

"So you're gonna dye your hair?" Yuuyu seemed interested in that, raising her head from where she had been slumped over in her seat at last. "Like - permanently?"

"From the sound of things, they were recommending it be just for the day," Itsuka explained, pouting a bit, "so I guess I gotta find some temporary stuff - I've got no clue about hair dyes, I've never done anything with my hair before. And I ... really would rather not dye it permanently, I really like my hair as it is."

"In that case, I could send you some stuff on different brands, if you want," She offered, "I dye my own hair, so I've done all the research on this kind of stuff. Uwabami has a bunch of sponsors for hair dye companies, I know a few that last like - twenty-four hours."

"Oh, I'd love that, thank you. I'm completely lost when it comes to hair stuff."

"Don't you just tie your hair up into a ponytail every day?" Ochako cheekily giggled, drawing Itsuka's attention to her as the orange-haired girl pouted at her. "I don't even think you comb your hair."

"Watch it, bedhead," Itsuka reached over to mess with her hair with one hand, making their group shake their heads at Ochako letting out a small grunt of annoyance and smiling at their antics, "anyway, I guess that's enough talk about dyeing hair - what are you guys up to after school? Me, Ochako and Izuku are gonna stick around and do some training - and, uh, I was actually wondering if you could stay around too, Hadou?"

"Me?" Nejire blinked in surprise as Itsuka suddenly turned to her, while the other members of the group gave their class rep a surprised look. "I mean, of course! I'd love to stay around! But what's up? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Itsuka nodded, aware of Izuku and Ochako studying their lunches very carefully and subtly rolling her eyes at their inability to stay cool, "just been kinda … experimenting with my quirk, and I came across something I wanna try. I was wondering if I could ask you a few things about your own quirk - do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Oooooooh!" Nejire squealed, immediately sitting up in her seat. Izuku and Ochako squeaked as she suddenly leaned over them so she could grasp both of Itsuka's hands, the orange-haired girl letting out a sputter as Nejire quickly and enthusiastically nodded. "Yes! One hundred percent, Kendou! I'd love to answer your questions! And I can ask you a few things too, right? Like how much you can carry when your quirk is activated! I bet it can be a lot! Like, they're really big, so I imagine you can carry someone easily! Oh! Can that person be me? Would you carry me? That sounds fun!"

"Er - sure," Itsuka grimaced weakly, while Izuku went redder and redder with Nejire laying in his lap and Ochako looking awkwardly down at her, "we can - maybe do that later."

"Yay! Ooooh, and what about - ow!"

Nejire let out a yelp as Yuuyu suddenly reached out to grab her hair, giving it a small tug. Nejire was pulled right off of Itsuka's two training partners, forced to sit back in her seat and letting Izuku breathe a sigh of relief, while Ochako trying to pat her own slightly pink cheeks.

As Yuuyu gave Nejire a good electric shock to the neck for her troubles, Momo let out a small sigh as she looked over at Itsuka.

"Well, er … back to our conversation about what we'll be doing after school," She gave Itsuka an apologetic look, while Kyouka went a bit pink herself and looked away while clearing her throat, "Jirou and I are planning to do a bit of training over at Ground Beta once Hero Basic Training is finished - we're going to be joining up with Ashido and Tsunotori once they're done at Gym Gamma, so we can practice aiming at moving targets."

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, "and I promised Sero we're gonna play a game of tag at Ground Gamma with our quirks. Gotta practice maneuverability, y'know."

"And I will, unfortunately, being doing a full sprint around the campus," Tenya bowed his head in apology, unaware of the girl in the seat beside him turning around so she could look at him, "so it appears that I will not be able to -"

"Huh?" Yui raised her eyebrow, and Tenya found himself sputtering to a stop, looking around at her in confusion.

"I - er, Kodai?"

"You don't wanna do some training with me at the USJ?" She asked in a blank, emotionless tone, and the group blinked at Tenya suddenly going stiff as a board, his face going a bit red, "I was gonna ask if you wanted to come do something with me in that stupid fire zone."

"I - well, uh -" Tenya continued to sputter for a moment, unsure whether or not to agree - it was important that he be able to get a few laps in - but the slightly dangerous look in Yui's eyes, staring at him almost soullessly, suggested to him that going against her wishes would be detrimental to his health, so he quickly nodded in agreement.

As everyone went back to talking about their plans after school, unsure as to what that was but not wanting to point it out in fear of … something weird happening, Yui scooped up a tomato from her bento box with her chopsticks, pausing for a moment, before she leaned over.

"Sorry," She muttered to Tenya, drawing his attention back to her, "I shouldn't tell you what you should do, but … there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Alone, preferably."

"I … understand," Tenya slowly nodded, feeling himself go a bit red as he gulped nervously, but still picked back up his own chopsticks, "well, then … uh, perhaps that was an unorthodox way of asking me, yes, but … well, I have no … qualms about spending time with y-you."

"Mm," Yui nodded as well, her face still blank, but the way she said, "Good." afterwards told Tenya that she was pleased.

Which … definitely made him shake a bit in anticipation, fear, or some combination of the two.

"Anyway," Yuuyu shook her head, finished giving Nejire her shocks for laying on Izuku and Ochako and watching the blue-haired girl sulk in her seat, "as much as I'd like to stick around, I gotta head to my part time job right after school, so I'm gonna have to dip out of any training you guys are doing today. Nej, I'm also probably gonna be late getting home tonight - make sure your parents know to leave some dinner for me in the fridge, okay?"

"Sure thing, Yuuyu! Oh! But that reminds me!" Nejire suddenly perked up, looking excitedly around at Ochako, Itsuka and Izuku. "We're gonna try and find some more things for Eri! I know I brought a box yesterday, but I think I might have more stuff in the basement - she likes whales, right, Kendou? I think she likes dolphins now that she wears all of your old shirts, but maybe she'll like whales too?"

Itsuka let out a small grumble as Izuku, Ochako, Setsuna and Yui tried not to smirk too much to incur her wrath, but she still gave the blue-haired girl a smile.

"I mean, if you have more stuff to bring her, we won't turn it away," She nodded, "if you wanted to swing by this weekend to give them to her, you're more than welcome to - Eri's been wondering when you'll be coming back to visit after you guys left yesterday. Hell, I was barely able to get out the door today because Eri woke up early with me - she tried to give me the puppy dog eyes to make me stay."

"Awwww," Setsuna cooed a bit, smiling, "when are the rest of us gonna be able to meet her, anyway? I bet I can convince my parents to bring Sera along for a playdate."

"Maybe not yet," Itsuka shook her head, her smile fading somewhat, "she's still a bit cagey around new people, so … well, we're just trying to get her used to living with us before she meets anyone new. Besides, she still has to meet Izuku and Ochako's parents, and Coach Yagi too. We don't wanna end up overwhelming her - but hopefully soon, we can arrange a playdate."

"That's fair."

"Anyway," Yuuyu suddenly spoke back up again, causing everyone to look around at her as she sat back up in her seat, and she turned her gaze towards Ocahko, "sorry to kinda backtrack, but I wanted to go back to the sports festival - there was something I wanted to ask you, Uraraka."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked in surprise, looking around at the pink-haired girl as she leaned back in her seat, "Me? What's up?"

"Well," Yuuyu raised her eyebrows, "I wanted to ask you about something I saw last Friday."

She already got her answer from how Ochako immediately winced, grimacing.

"Mm-hm. I think you already know what I'm about to ask you here."

"Huh?" Kyouka raised an eyebrow, intrigued as to why Ochako was sinking down in her seat looking embarrassed. "What's up?"

"Well," Yuuyu smirked a bit as Izuku and Itsuka looked down at the mortified Ochako between them in confusion, "Friday afternoon, my class was having a meeting about what strategies we were gonna use during the sports festival - y'know, the usual stuff - and I was up front talking to them. Towards the end of the meeting, though, I thought I saw someone poking their head in through the backdoor, and only left when one of us was about to leave."

"Eugh." Came Ochako as she slowly began to crawl under the table in embarrassment.

"And that person," Yuuyu tapped her foot against the floor while looking at the top of Ochako's head, "was you, Uraraka. Wanna explain yourself, young lady?"

"Mmrgh."

"You spied on Class 1B?!" Tenya gasped in shock, looking absolutely scandalized as he immediately threw his hand out to point at the barely hidden Ochako. "Uraraka, I am surprised at you! I had thought that you were above such underhanded tactics such as eavesdropping! The fact that you were apparently so easily caught as well does not reflect well on you! What were you thinking?!"

"Yeah," Setsuna chortled, looking mischievous, "such a bad girl, Uraraka. Ken, you wanna spank her for being naughty?"

"Huh?!" Ochako squeaked, face exploding in a blush.

"What?!" Izuku looked shocked at what Setsuna said, his face going red as well - although he didn't seem as mortified as Ochako was by the suggestion, glancing between his two training partners and gulping nervously.

"Shut up, Set." Itsuka shook her head, knowing what she was doing and giving her a glare.

"You can spank her later, Kendou," Yuuyu joined in the teasing, smirking as Itsuka whipped around to glare at her while her face went red, "Uraraka? Wanna say something that'll convince me I was seeing things? Or is there something you wanna admit?"

Slowly, Ochako rose back from where she had been hiding under the desk, looking sheepish and trying to give off an innocent expression, while Izuku shook his head while trying to shake away the thought of Itsuka and Ochako … nope, nope, nope, don't think about that.

"In … uh … in my defense," Ochako weakly said, "that Monoma guy had been talking … pretty loudly about us. And - and not in a good way. That sort of got my attention."

Yuuyu paused for a moment while Ochako squirmed a bit in her seat - and then she let out a sigh, nodding.

"Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one," A small scowl appeared on the Class 1B representative's face, "that guy definitely loves the sound of his voice. Almost as much as he loves shittalking you guys."

"That right?" Itsuka snorted a bit. "Monoma, huh? Need me to go over and give him a smack?"

"Nah - if anyone's gonna be smacking that guy, it's gonna be me. But I'm content with just giving him a zap if he acts up for now."

"A-anyway," Ochako tried to get back on track, blushing, "I was gonna talk to you about it later, Haya, before I told anyone else."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuuyu chuckled, waving her hand aimlessly in the air while Nejire continued eating her lunch, "that's cool, Uraraka. And I mean, it's not like I can tell you not to tell anyone else about how the students next door are planning to throw you guys under the bus."

"Wait, what?" Yui turned to her, raising an eyebrow, "we're getting tossed under the bus?"

"Yep, that's our strategy," Yuuyu shrugged, not really caring about revealing her class's nefarious schemes, "we're gonna deliberately underperform in the first round, and then, when you guys are underestimating us, completely overwhelm you during the second round and screw you completely out of the third round. That's Monoma's 'genius' plan."

"So …" Ochako gave her an uncertain look, "… you guys are going through with that plan?"

"Yeah," Yuuyu shook her head, looking a bit peeved, "Monoma's annoying, but it's not like it's a terrible strategy. Of course," She suddenly smirked, "you were listening in, Uraraka, so you know I said that if you guys ask me if we were planning something, we'd tell you."

"Y-yeah, you - you did say that."

"Plus," Itsuka suddenly smirked as well, "now that we know, you aren't gonna tell your classmates that we know, are you?"

"Well … if they ask. It's only fair."

"Gotcha," Itsuka nodded while the girls around the table giggled and Tenya looked aghast at their scheming, but before he could protest, Itsuka's smirk faded a bit, "actually, Haya - speaking of your class, I wanted to run something by you."

"Yeah?" Yuuyu looked intrigued as she leaned back in her seat, "What's up?"

"In your class, do you know a guy named Todoroki?"

For some reason, the mood of the table … suddenly shifted when that name left her lips. Setsuna, who had been pretty busy chewing on her carrots, blinked, and looked around at her best friend in surprise. Ochako, meanwhile, straightened up in her seat, feeling her eyes widen a bit as Izuku blinked at that look in confusion and glanced around at Itsuka curiosity. Momo, who had been putting away her lunch bag, faltered, and looked back up at Itsuka while her mouth slowly closed, and Yuuyu's curious gaze faded into a far colder one.

"Todoroki, huh? Red and white hair? Burn mark on his eye?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Yeah, I know him," She nodded, scowling a bit, "one of our two recommended students. A real jackass. Why?"

"Well," Itsuka sighed, putting her chopsticks down, "he approached me after my meeting with Principal Nezu today. Introduced himself, and then pretty much immediately told me he was gonna beat me in the sports festival."

"Huh?" Setsuna blinked incredulously, "Just like that?"

"Pretty much. He, uh … well, he seemed pretty serious about it."

"Yeah, that tracks," Yuuyu nodded while leaning forward in her seat, "if you had told me he was just joking around, I'd accuse you of being a dirty liar. The guy's … well, he's an asshole. It's pretty clear he looks down on everyone in my class, and he doesn't even try half the time."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"He's got a killer quirk," Yuuyu shook her head, "he can create fire and ice. He's pretty freaking powerful too - he froze the entire building we were using for our battle trial in seconds, and dethawed it just as quickly. But the thing is, he only insists on using his ice quirk - he barely uses the fire side. He only uses it to melt us out of the freaking ice blocks he freezes us in."

"Is that right …?" Izuku said in wonder, slowly pulling out his notebook only for Ochako to absently take his hands and push them back down, acknowledging that now was probably not the best time for note taking.

"Yeah, he's a real douche-canoe, that's for -"

"I wouldn't say that."

At the quiet voice speaking from the side, Yuuyu's insults of her classmate paused, and everyone glanced over in surprise. Momo, for her part, looked a bit uncomfortable at the attention being suddenly all on her, but she still let out a sigh as she straightened up, keeping her hands folded on the desk as she looked around.

"Shouto Todoroki," She hesitated for a moment, and then cleared her throat and continued, "may seem to be quite standoffish, but … well … I assure you, that's mostly a front. I believe that he is quite the compassionate person, once you manage to get past the coldness."

"I mean," Setsuna raised her eyebrow, as though she doubted it. "I saw him during our exam - he pretty much scoffed whenever someone tried to talk to him. You saying he's got some hidden heart of gold we all don't know about?"

"That is very much correct. I would know, after all."

"Oh," Ochako's eyes widened a bit as she remembered, "oh, that's - that's right. You do know him, Yaoyorozu."

"Is that right?" Itsuka blinked. "So you two are - you're friends?"

"My friend? I … wouldn't say that," Momo sighed a bit, "we haven't been friends for quite a long while. Shouto is … well, to put it in simple terms … he is my fiancé."

There was a very long pause at the group as everyone blinked at the last word Momo said. They all slowly turned to look at Momo, seeing her stare down at her desk uncomfortably.

"He's your what now?" Yuuyu said in a blank tone, while Nejire's eyes widened.

"My … fiancé," Momo repeated, pouting a bit, while being unaware of Kyouka staring at her in complete and utter shock, "we are … well, it's a very long story. But when we were children, his parents and mine got together to discuss the possibilities of an arranged marriage between us. There was an … accident in the past that I am afraid that I can't get into without his permission, but after that, the relationship between myself and Shouto … deteriorated."

Turning to look at the utterly taken aback Ochako on the side, Momo tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"What you saw on Friday, Uraraka," She continued to explain, "is an example of the type of relationship Shouto and I now have - I would like to say that he's the only one acting cold, but I definitely don't make things any better. I'm not sure why he decided to distance himself from me, but … well, as much as I would like to try and patch up our friendship, he constantly pushes me away, and … well, a bit of resentment built up within me towards him. So our relationship is now … fairly frosty, pardon the pun."

"H-huh," Setsuna looked somewhat uncomfortable, "so, uh … if you two don't get along anymore, can't you … tell your parents you don't wanna go through with the - the marriage thing?"

Momo let out a sad sigh, shaking her head while Izuku and Itsuka shared a small, uncertain glance.

"I'm afraid that it isn't that simple, Tokage. My parents and his father are convinced that we still get along well. And it's … very difficult to talk to my father these days. He's the CEO of Yaoyorozu Corporations - he's barely home as it is, and even then, he always has guests over so I can't exactly ask him to talk alone so I can make my feelings about my engagement clear. So, as far as I am aware, I am still engaged to marry Shouto when we both turn twenty - once we've both gotten our rankings in the Hero Billboard Chart."

Once again, silence fell on their group as everyone either stared down at the desks, or at Momo in complete shock and sympathy, and Kyouka quickly closed her mouth as she glanced away. Even Nejire seemed speechless, if for a moment.

And then Setsuna pretty much summed up all of their thoughts by saying, "Well, that sucks."

"Set …" Itsuka groaned.

"No, I admit, that is the reaction I expected," Momo slowly nodded, sighing and glancing off to the side, "and I agree. It … sucks."

"Is … well, I wanted to ask if there's anything we can do," Yui shook her head, pursing her lips, "but there really isn't, is there?"

"Unfortunately not," Tenya shook his head as he sighed, putting his cup of orange juice down on the table and drawing the attention of the group over to him, "I will admit that I am not quite as well versed as Yaoyorozu is on the subject of arranged marriages, but they aren't easy to break, especially if a contact between both families is somehow involved. That would require a lot of time and effort to break that her parents, or Todoroki's parents, would probably prefer not to go through."

"Oh," Yuuyu weakly nodded, "well, shit."

"But Yaoyorozu," Tenya suddenly looked serious, leaning forward in his seat, "there is one thing I must ask."

"Yes?" Momo looked uncertain, "What is it, Iida?"

"This … isn't a quirk marriage as well, is it?"

"What?!" Momo let out a gasp, her eyes widening, and she quickly shook her head. "Oh, no! Goodness, no! I - I do not believe so! Goodness gracious."

A quirk marriage?" Ochako repeated, looking confused while Izuku looked a bit squicked out and Itsuka shook her head with a frown. "What's that?"

"It's, uh … it's when people would choose a spouse based on their quirks," Itsuka explained with a noticeable grimace, "like, they specifically choose to marry someone so that they can strengthen their quirks by passing it onto their children. It's like forcing someone to …"

From there, an icy chill passed through the group. Tenya, for his part, let out a small sigh as he turned back to Momo with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," He sincerely said to her, "I'm aware that quirk marriages are rather frowned upon these days, but from some of the stories Tensei came home with … well …"

Momo shook her head, giving her classmate a smile.

"I thank you for your concern, Iida," She kindly said, "and I understand that all of you are concerned about me."

Everyone nodded, at least relieved that Momo seemed okay with everything.

"But," They then turned as Momo gave everyone a more serious look, "I know Shouto. I understand that you're all concerned, but I know that no matter how cold our relationship has become, there will be no chance that he will force me to do anything against my will."

"You're … sure?" Setsuna asked with clear uncertainty.

"I am positive."

Everyone wasn't exactly convinced, or comfortable with leaving it with that, but when they saw the more uncomfortable look on Momo's face, everyone got the clear message to drop the conversation for now. Itsuka, meanwhile, gave her friend a concerned look and made a mental note to talk to her about it later, while Kyouka likewise glanced up at Momo with a small, sympathetic gaze, glancing down at her hand on the table and resisting the urge to reach down and pat it.

Thankfully, before the awkward silence could go on any longer, they heard the sound of the bell ringing above them, making them jump and look around in surprise at the clock on the wall.

"Ah, crap," Yuuyu grimaced, standing up at once, "we lost track of the time. I should probably head back to my classroom - I've got hero training next, so I'm gonna check that my support items are still good to go from what happened last week."

"Oh, that's cool!" Nejire nodded with a big smile, "Then I guess I'll see you at home, Yuuyu!"

"Yeah," Yuuyu grinned at her, "see you later, Nej."

With that, everyone got up so they could move their desks back to their normal spots - they knew that Aizawa would probably not like them messing around with the seats, so they were quick to begin moving everything back to where it should be before he returned to the classroom. Yuuyu, meanwhile, gave their group a small wave as she made her way to the door, sliding it open so she could head back to her classroom and check out her gear -

- but then she felt herself pause with one foot out the door, and turned to look back in the classroom.

Her eyes fell to Nejire as she carefully carried her desk back to its usual spot, putting it down with a small grunt, and then quickly turned to look back at Izuku as he likewise put his desk back behind her in their usual spots. Yuuyu watched as Nejire visibly brightened up with excitement as she moved to put her hands down on his desk, excitedly beginning to talk to him as Izuku sat down in his seat, going a bit red but still smiling up at her.

Glancing between the both of them, Yuuyu felt her small smile from before fade at once, and be replaced by a scowl. Finally, she turned to finally leave the classroom, closing the door behind her with a little more force than necessary.


"Okay!" Pony pumped both her fists into the air as she turned to give her senpai a vicious yet somehow adorable smile as she hopped back and forth on her hooves, "I guess it means it's my turn now! Please take care of me, Amajiki-senpai!"

"How did this happen?" Tamaki shook in terror, his gaze immediately zipping down to the floor as he realized that he had no choice but to fight Pony as well, "I didn't even want to come today … I had homework to do … I feel like everyone's just staring at me … r-right, potatoes … s-she's not a person, she's a v-vegetable …"

"Huh?" Pony blinked in confusion, "I'm a what?"

"… I wanna go home …"

Indeed, Gym Gamma was fairly busy this afternoon for Class 1A's hero training - or, at least, the end of it, as the bell had rung about twenty minutes ago. All Might had decided ultimately to give them the afternoon to themselves to do some independent training for the sports festival, emphasizing not to slack off while he was summoned to another meeting with Nezu (although Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako saw a bit of steam rising from their mentor, clueing them in as to why All Might would want them to do a bit of training by themselves). So that meant that about half of Class 1A had decided to take their senpais up on their offer to do some training with them, with a good chunk of people more than willing to throw down with Mirio as he dodged and weaved through their attempts to hit him, laughing all the while.

At the current moment, the rest of their classmates were spread out throughout the campus - Katsuki had immediately went off by himself, while Yui and Tenya had gone off to start training at the USJ together, which made Itsuka a bit confused when Yui pretty much pushed Tenya out the classroom door, while Setsuna threw their friend a knowing grin. Yosetsu, Denki and Fumikage likewise headed out to one of the fields to train together as well, and Setsuna, Momo, Hanta and Kyouka headed out to the various zones to begin their exercises, with Momo and Kyouka going to Ground Beta to get some training done and wait for Mina and Pony to be done at Gym Gamma, and Hanta and Setsuna moving over to Ground Gamma.

The rest of the class, meanwhile, were busy trying to either tag team Mirio, spar with Tamaki (when the nervous guy could even look at them to fight, anyway) or else just sitting near the wall and waiting for their turns.

"Ha! C'mon guys, I saw that coming from a mile away!" Mirio laughed as Eijirou's fist easily sailed through his face, making the redhead stumble in his step. "You gotta do better than that!"

"Damn it!" Eijirou gritted his teeth, turning back around to run after their senpai as Mirio laughed happily and ducked underneath Tsuyu's attempt to kick him, the frog girl letting out an annoyed ribbit as she skidded across the floor, and Reiko hummed in annoyance as the bench she tossed at him telekinetically easily passed through him, with Mezo staying back to gauge his options to sneak up on Mirio.

On the other side of the gym, Izuku sat down on the floor beside the bench his training partners and Nejire were sitting on, in complete conflict as he flipped quickly between pages and tried to keep his ears open. He was trying to multitask - on one page, he would scribble down notes about Mirio's abilities as he saw their upperclassman use them, and on the other, he was trying as hard as he could to listen to what Nejire was saying as Itsuka explained a very watered down version of what she was dealing with.

"… and when I hit the mountain," Itsuka continued to explain to the curious and bright-eyed Nejire, "I ended up shattering it. I wasn't … aware that I could use my quirk with that much power, but it ended up breaking every bone in my arm."

"Woooooow …" Nejire quietly gushed, shaking with excitement as she held her hands up to her mouth, "… that sounds so cool, Kendou! So you didn't know how strong you were until your life was in danger? I mean, that sounds like it really sucks, and I'm sorry to hear that, but - wow!"

"Yeah, it was - it was really something," Ochako weakly nodded, trying not to give away what a ridiculously bad liar she was. Which … Izuku couldn't judge, there was a reason he was keeping quiet too.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, "so I was doing some training, and I think that I can figure out how to use that strength without - y'know - breaking my arms. I figured out that it kinda works like - I need to manually control how much power I use each time. So I was wondering if you'd be able to give me a few pointers - from how Izuku described it, you use your quirk kinda like that, don't you? Having to make sure you only use your quirk at a certain percentage."

"I do!" Nejire nodded in confirmation, quickly hopping up and spinning around. With a bit of spinning energy, she hopped up into the air, floating carefully as she smiled down at the three training partners.

"So right now," She explained happily, "I can use my quirk's output up to twenty percent at maximum! Any more than that, I'll run out of energy and fall asleep - when I was going through the entrance exam with Izuku, I ended up using a bit more power than I normally would to keep him up in the air while he destroyed the zero-pointer - which was really awesome, by the way! - and then afterwards I was in and out of consciousness. And that wasn't good, because we were falling at the same time. Eesh."

"Yeah, it sounds like it," Itsuka nodded, trying to play along, "but, uh … so how do you …?"

"Oh! Right! Well, Kendou," Nejire kept her hands behind her back, "so how I do it is kinda … well, how do I explain it? Hm … oh! I know! So basically, how I started it was - well, I worked with my parents with my quirk, so what we did was figure out a plan. Back when I was little, I could use my quirk at full power, but it'd drain all of my stamina and I'd be in a mini-coma all day. And that wasn't good! It scared the crap out of Mom and Dad! So we needed to figure out a way for me to use my quirk safely - so we decided to treat it as me having to use my quirk in smaller percentages!"

"Percentages," Izuku repeated quietly, snapping his gaze up to her as more information about her quirk was revealed, and began to scribble excitedly in his notebooks while both Itsuka and Ochako sat up - given how All Might and Gran Torino described using One for All with certain 'percentages', all of their attention was focused on their classmate as they prayed that what advise she could give them would help out with Itsuka's current predicament, "so - so how do you do that? Use Wave Motion in smaller percentages."

"Well," Nejire clapped her hands together, "how we figured it went is pretty much - like I said, I had to figure out how to use my quirk safely. So I ran through what I knew - my quirk converts my stamina into energy, and releases it in spirals. And since it drains my life force, I had to really train my stamina so that I could get over all the drawbacks. So here's how I considered it - you guys know those weird volume knobs on computers? Or - or just like volume in general!"

"Uh … yeah?"

"Great," Nejire continued to excitedly explain, "so you know how there's volume control, right? Like - turn it down all the way, you can't hear anything. Turn it up around the middle, you can hear just fine. But if you turn it up all the way, it's too loud and it hurts your ears!"

"Yeah?" Ochako nodded, while Izuku quickly wrote in his notebook.

"Well, I figured my quirk was like that! Turn my quirk down low enough, I can't really use it. Turn it up to five percent? I can use it, but it's not loud - or, in that case, it's not too powerful. Twenty percent? I can hear! Or - you know, I can use my quirk just fine. But 100%, all the way? Ouch, my ears! Or - you know - my stamina."

"So," Itsuka leaned forward, feeling that she might understand, "that's the secret to how you use your quirk? You visualize a … volume control thingy?"

"Pretty much! But it's also not that simple," Nejire pointed out, raising her finger into the air, "because I'm also trying to train my body so that I don't hurt it too much with my quirk! So it's like - uh - well, if I'm going with the volume analogy thingy, it's like I'm trying to train my ears to better take louder noises! Except it's with my body, and trying to build up my stamina so that I can use my quirk better! Does that make sense?"

Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku stared up at her in wonder again, Itsuka's mouth opening slightly as a smile began to appear on her face -

- and then it dropped.

"Kinda? Not really?"

"Huh?!" Nejire blinked in surprise. "I thought I explained that well!"

"I - well, maybe you did, but I probably just don't get it," Itsuka sheepishly scratched the side of her head, shaking her head, "so, uh … I don't know. Maybe I'll understand a bit better if I try it out for myself - the, uh, volume analogy thingy."

"Ooooh! Can we do it right now?" Nejire excitedly asked, "We can go out in the field, maybe! And then we can -"

"Yo! We talking about quirks over here?"

The four teenagers jumped (or in Nejire's case, bobbed up a bit in the air) at the sound of a joyous voice behind them, and looked around. Mirio was jogging over towards where they were sitting, panting a bit as he reached out to grab his discarded gym shirt from where he had dropped it to spar with everyone, and gave them all a grin.

From the looks of things, they were taking a break from sparring, with Eijirou taking a long drink from his water bottle while Tsuyu patted Reiko's back, the pale-haired girl on her hands and knees and clutching her stomach, and Mezo returned from grabbing a water bottle for her to drink, all of them looking quite frustrated and tired. Evidently, things hadn't exactly gone their classmates' way in their spar

Once his gym shirt was back over his head, Mirio let out a small grunt as he moved to sit down on the floor beside Izuku, looking up at the three girls above them with a grin.

"How're you four doing?" He asked as Nejire floated back down onto the gym floor. "I noticed that you guys weren't fighting with either me or Tamaki - everything good?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Itsuka confirmed, giving their senpai a smile as she leaned over Ochako to speak with him, "we were just talking about our quirks - I was asking Hadou for advice."

"That right?" Mirio brightened up, sitting forward as he glanced at Nejire. "About what? Is there something going on? Like Midoriya here?"

"Uh -" Izuku sputtered a bit, going red while Mirio gave him an encouraging grin and patted his shoulder, "- well, uh, not - not really. Or - kinda. Just - Kendou here is - uh -"

"I'm having trouble with an aspect of my quirk I never realized I had," Itsuka quickly took over for him lest Izuku sputter his way through an unbelievable explanation, "turns out my quirk has, uh, a lot more punch than I thought it did, and I only realized how strong I am during what happened at the USJ."

"Huh …" Mirio's smile faltered a bit, turning to look down at his knee as he let out a small sigh. All four first-years blinked at the look of disappointment on his face as he glanced back over at them.

"I know that you guys probably don't wanna hear anything like 'I wish I had been there to stop those villains'," He grimaced, "or - y'know, anything that sounds arrogant like that, but … honestly, I do wish I had been at school that day to come help you guys out."

"I -" Izuku faltered for a bit, and then tried to smile assuredly at his upperclassman, "- I bet you would've been amazing, Togata-senpai. Especially with your quirk - there's not a lot of things a villain using Trigger can do to someone who can make themselves intangible."

"Maybe," Mirio nodded, letting out another sigh, and then sat back up, trying to smile again, "anyway, uh - don't let me spoil the fun with my moodiness. So Kendou, you're having trouble with your quirk, huh? Anything I can do to help you out? I know my quirk might seem relatively simple in comparison to your own quirks, but trust me, I've been there with having complications with my powers."

"Huh? Really?" Nejire looked curious, leaning around Itsuka as she sat back down beside her, and Itsuka tried to lean back so that her classmate wasn't leaning across her. "That's surprising! Is your quirk hard to use? You make it look so simple!"

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment!" Mirio laughed, slapping his hand to his bicep as he lifted it up to flex. "But to be honest, yeah, it kinda is."

"Is that right?" Ochako blinked in surprise. "That's - well, that's surprising to hear, senpai. Your quirk is amazing - you make using it look so easy when you spar with us."

"Well, that's only because I made it amazing," He explained to her with a smile, "When I activate my quirk, I can go through everything - but the opposite is also true. I can go through anything, but anything can go through me. So whenever I use my quirk, I'm pretty much going in blind every time."

"Oh, yeah!" Nejire let out a gasp. "You told me about that! Back when you were naked!"

"Er … yeah," Izuku grimaced, flipping his notebook back to Mirio's page, "I remember you telling us about it when we were testing out my quirk - your senses don't work while you use your quirk."

"Yep! My lungs can't take in any oxygen, I can't hear anything because the vibrations can't go through my eardrums, and light can't go through my retinas. It's freaky!"

"Is … that right …?" Ochako slowly said, feeling herself gulp slightly as she thought about what that would be like. Essentially slipping into a state where all of her senses didn't work, unable to see, hear, or breathe …

Both she and Itsuka shared a small glance, the orange-haired girl likewise looking like she was having the same thoughts and grimacing slightly. They had been impressed by their senpai's quirk when they had seen it in action, but now that they knew what he had to go through every time he had to use it … well, they didn't exactly feel envious of him, that was for certain.

"So that's why, if I wanted to learn how to use my quirk," Mirio continued to explain, letting out a small chuckle at Itsuka and Ochako's clear looks of discomfort, "I had to start practicing. I pretty much had to work my whole life to learn how to even walk through walls. You'd think it'd be simple to do that, but there's actually a lot of steps involved. And because my quirk's so complicated, I ended up being dead last in my class during first year. I was always behind everyone else."

The four first-years didn't really know what to say to that, even Nejire, but at least Mirio seemed pretty serene about it.

"So you guys wanna know what I did?"

"Mm-hm," Nejire nodded excitedly.

"Well," He grinned, "if I was to improve my marks, I realized it - I had nowhere to go but up. So that meant that I needed to get experimental with my quirk! And lucky for me, I ended up getting scouted by my mentor after what happened at the sports festival."

"Your mentor?" Itsuka blinked in intrigue. "You mean, someone you interned with."

"Yep!" Mirio nodded in confirmation. "He's the reason I'm where I am today. He reached out to me after I messed up at the sports festival - took me in, told me that he could help me figure out my quirk, and help me master it. And you know something? That's exactly what he did! Taught me how to predict everyone's movements before they even made them, so that I knew what to do, and how to use my quirk, before they could even have a chance to think it themselves."

"Wow …" Ochako slowly nodded, "… your mentor sounds pretty cool, Togata-senpai."

"He is!" He laughed. "He's actually gonna be here today - Principal Nezu is talking with a bunch of pro heroes about field training after the sports festival, so he's gonna let me know when he's gonna stop by so he can say hello! If you want, I could introduce you guys."

"Really?" Izuku gasped, sitting up with a wide smile. "Y-yeah! That sounds great!"

"Awesome!" Mirio jumped up to his feet, smiling down at his kohai as he threw his arms up in the air to stretch. "I think he mentioned something about not being in for about another hour or so - so in that case, you guys ready to fight? I'm sparring with everyone today, so I'd advise you take my offer and try to kick the crap out of me!"

"Oooh!" Nejire jumped up as well, excited. "Let's do it, guys! Preferably together, so he doesn't just beat me up. Which would suck. Please?"

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded with a smile, standing up from the bench as she turned to look down at her training partners, "I'm game. How about you two? Wanna come get the crap kicked out of us?"

"Well," Ochako giggled, "I guess if -"

"Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!"

At the sound of someone shrieking in English, the small group near the wall jumped in surprise and looked around. Pony was quickly running away from where she had been sparring with Tamaki in panic, her hooves clopping loudly against the gym floor, as she ran behind Mezo to hide behind him, the taller boy looking around at her in surprise.

On the other side of the gym, Tamaki froze, his fingers transformed into octopus tentacles and looking mortified by her outburst.

"Oh -" Mezo realized what was going on, turning to give their senpai an apologetic look, "- that's - she's just a bit afraid of octopuses, Amajiki-senpai, she didn't mean to -"

Alas, it was too late, as Tamaki quickly turned to speed walk over to the wall so he could press his forehead against it and mutter his intent to go home under his breath, shrinking in on himself. Pony, for her part, realized her mistake and began panicking even more, quickly hurrying from around her friend's back to run back to her senpai on the wall as he looked like he was about to go into the fetal position.

"Oh, no, I'm - I'm so sorry, Amajiki-senpai! I didn't mean - I just -"

"Iwannagohome, Iwannagohome, Iwannagohome …"

"Oh, boy," Mirio let out a sigh, straightening himself up, "I better go help out with Tamaki before he decides to run away. Anyway, you guys wait for me on the gym floor!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, watching as Mirio began jogging over to his best friend. The group watched as he made his way quickly across the gym to go pat his best friend's shoulder and get his attention, and then turned as Nejire spun around.

"Okay! I'm gonna go do some stretches!" She informed them excitedly. "Don't wanna fight without doing those!"

With that, she quickly hurried across the gym so she could begin stretching, Izuku watching her go for a moment as she stopped and threw her arms over her head - and then quickly blinking as she moved down to touch her toes, letting out a small noise as she bent over, and quickly turning to look away.

It was an action that didn't go unnoticed by Itsuka and Ochako, both girls blinking and turning to give him a slightly suspicious stare as he quickly brought his hands together to wring them, his face going a bit red. With a sigh, Itsuka shook her head, and glanced back around at Mirio as he talked to Tamaki, patting Pony's shoulder to assure the clearly panicking girl that everything was okay. 

Despite herself, Itsuka couldn't help but feel herself begin to frown, her brow furrowing slightly - but not at Mirio, of course, he hadn't done anything wrong. It was just … it had been about a week and a bit, and yet, she still felt that she should recognize something about Mirio.

She was certain that she had heard about him before - that, she was convinced of - and yet, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't match his face or his name to anywhere. It had almost gotten to the point of annoyance for her, like she should know who he was, and yet, it wouldn't come to her. Almost like she was experiencing some kind of déjà vu that she couldn't quite figure out.

With another sigh, Itsuka tried to shake the annoyed feeling out of her, turning back to her training partners as she hopped up to bounce a bit on her tippie-toes.

"Okay," She shook herself slightly as she glanced between them, "I guess this means we're fighting Togata-senpai now."

"Yep!" Ochako cracked her knuckles, that fierce look from when she had been pumped up about the sports festival back on her face. "Let's kick some ass, guys! Deku, you ready to use the Full Gauntlet?"

"I … don't think I should," Izuku shut that down, looking sheepish as both girls looked around at him in surprise and Ochako's fierce expression faltered a bit, "I don't wanna get into a fight with the four of us and - you know, accidentally miss Togata-senpai and hit one of you. Which … I think would definitely happen, since he can make himself intangible. So I think I'm just gonna stick with trying to hit him with my fists - there's too much of a risk otherwise."

"Oh," Ochako blinked, "I didn't think of that."

"… that," He suddenly glanced down at his shoes, not meeting either girl's gaze, "and I … may have forgotten the Gauntlet back in the classroom."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… dude." Itsuka gave him a deadpan look.

"I just forgot!" Izuku waved his hands in the air as he tried to defend himself, with Ochako letting out her own exasperated sigh, and gave her head a shake.

"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now," She shrugged, "unless you wanted to run there and back. So let's get out onto that gym floor and kick some senpai -"

"Oh, I don't think so, cutie!"

Ochako let out a small squeak of surprise as a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves intimately around her waist, and someone rested their chin against her shoulder, embracing her from behind. Both Izuku and Itsuka looked around at her outburst, blinking (and Itsuka beginning to suddenly scowl) as Himiko let out a small giggle, hugging Ochako from behind, and the brown-haired girl quickly looked around in surprise at their senpai, not even hearing or seeing her come into the gym.

"Sorry to interrupt you three while you were getting pumped up," The school nurse gave them a cat-like smile, "but I believe it's time for us to do a bit of training on our own, cute kohai."

"I - uh -"

"Training?" Izuku blinked in surprise, glancing between both girls, "Wait, you're training with Toga-senpai, Occhan?"

"That's Nurse Toga," Himiko corrected him with a giggle, "I'm on the clock right now! And yes, she is! Occhan here asked me to show her the ropes back on Friday, and me, being the kind and gracious senpai I am, gave in to the puppy dog look pretty easily. So now we're gotta go on a bit of a jog around the campus - I hope you two don't mind me stealing her away for the rest of the afternoon."

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka felt herself falter, glancing between her two training partners as they looked around at her.

There was a small pause between the three of them as they glanced between each other - Ochako blinking and realizing that she would have to leave them on their own for a little bit, seeing as she had no idea how long she was gonna take and when they'd be able to meet up again; Izuku glancing between the both of them and seeing how Itsuka looked a bit taken aback by Ochako leaving, which made him shrink slightly in on himself; and Itsuka glancing between them both and realizing that there was a high chance she and Izuku were gonna have to be left alone for a bit, when she still had problems looking at him without her face turning red.

Himiko felt her eyebrow raise as they stayed silent for a moment, glancing between each other again - and then Itsuka let out a small, weak laugh.

"Uh … yeah! Yeah, it's - it's cool, Toga-senpai," She managed to get out, turning to Izuku as she tried to grin shakily at him, "it's - yeah, it's cool. Uh - anyway, Izuku, let's - let's go get ready for our spar with Togata-senpai. And - uh - I should go refill my water bottle."

"Oh, uh - yeah, sure," Izuku nodded quickly as well, still unsure if it was a good idea for Ochako to leave as he cleared his throat awkwardly, "let's, uh - yeah. I'll start getting ready."

With that, the small trio broke up, Ochako's two training partners turning stiffly away from each other and beginning to head to their spots - Itsuka scooping up her water bottle from where she had their bags and jogging over to the refill station, and Izuku moving over to where Nejire was stretching to begin getting himself ready for the fight as well.

Ochako glanced between the two of them again at how awkward they were both acting, her head slightly tilting as she glanced after Itsuka.She wasn't exactly sure … what the hell that was, she thought as she felt herself pout a little bit, but it was clear that Itsuka was hesitant to be left alone with Izuku, for some reason. Was … was there something going on between them? Did something happen this weekend? She had thought that Itsuka seemed to be avoiding Izuku's gaze while they had been spending time with Eri - but what could've happened that made them both feel awkward to be around each other?

After Itsuka stopped at the refill station to put her water bottle beneath the tab, Ochako's gaze flickering down her friend's body automatically before glancing away, she let out a small sigh - although she couldn't concentrate on what might be going on between her friends for long, as Himiko squeezed her arms around her waist again to get her attention. As Ochako looked around at her senpai in surprise, Himiko thankfully let go of her waist at last with a giggle, taking a step back and grinning at her.

"So!" She clapped her hands together. "Here's what I'm thinking, cute kohai - you and I are gonna go on a little run together. Or, to be more accurate, we're going to have a little chase between us. I'm gonna be 'it', so you need to make sure I don't catch you."

"Oh," Ochako blankly said, for a moment - and then a thought suddenly came to her.

Reminded of what had happened on Friday when they had trained together, Ochako felt herself pale a bit, gulping as she began sweating a bit, and glanced up at Himiko's seemingly innocent face, feeling herself begin to shake as nervousness filled her.

"And … when you say that, you don't mean that … you're … not gonna throw knives at me again, are you?"

Himiko merely let out a girlish giggle, and pulled out a knife from her pocket, flipping it open, and then playfully balanced the tip of the blade on her fingertip.


The one bright side of having Himiko as a trainer was that she, at the very least, made sure that the knives she threw at Ochako were extremely blunt, not sharp at all. So rather than having knives lodging themselves in her skin and causing damage, Ochako was simply being hit very hard by thin pieces of metal getting thrown at her back.

That ... was the down side to having Himiko as a trainer.

"Ow, ow, ow …" She hissed as she moved her now bruised arm a bit too quickly to reach for her water bottle on the ground, while Himiko merely giggled behind her.

"Shoulda been fast-errrrrr," She teased her kohai in a sing-songy voice as she reached the water fountain where they had left their bags, scooping her own water bottle off the ground and sitting down on the bench.

"I'm sorry that I can't run and dodge knives being thrown at my back after just two days of training," Ochako grumbled as she finally managed to snag her water bottle from the ground, lifting it and uncapping the top to take a deep drink.

"Heh, heh, heh, sarcastic little minx."

"Huh? I'm a minx? What's a minx?"

Himiko merely wiggled her eyebrows, making Ochako roll her eyes a tad bit at her teasing senpai as she finally raised her water bottle to her lips to drink.

As she had said, Himiko had taken Ochako out for a small 'jog' for their training that day, running from one spot on the campus and back. She just failed to mention that their little 'chase', as Himiko had called it, would include the older girl hurling knives at Ochako's back, giving her kohai all the motivation to keep her eyes over her shoulders to quickly dodge out of the way. In the end, Ochako supposed that she should just consider herself lucky that Himiko was either somehow skilled enough to always hit her with the handle of the knives, or she had chosen to use the bluntest knives she had to hit Ochako in the back of the head.

Either way, Ochako knew she was seriously going to need an ice pack when she got home tonight.

At the moment, Himiko decided to give Ochako a small break from all the running around and getting hit by knives, standing near the road that would eventually lead to the USJ, and stopping near a water-refill station, much to Ochako's immense relief. As they looked out onto the various fields of UA from their spot near the bench, they could make out other students training for the sports festival or heading towards the gate to head home, while Ochako slowly rubbed her legs to get some of the feeling back in them from all that running, continuing to pant slightly even after taking a deep drink of water.

"Is it … is it really necessary to make me run all the way across campus and back? Why couldn't we just use the gym like last time?"

"Uh, because other people were still using it?" Himiko teasingly smirked up at Ochako as she leaned back against the bench, watching as Ochako rubbed her legs as the blonde girl unzipped her gym uniform a bit. "And the last time I got caught throwing knives around in there, Midnight walloped me over the head with that stupid flogger and dragged me off to a lecture. Trust me, cutie, as someone who's been lectured by her for years, you do not wanna spend any more time talking to Midnight than you have to."

"Er … I guess so," Ochako slowly nodded, watching for a moment as Himiko absently played with the zipper of her gym uniform - a gym top, by the way, that had the bottom cut off to expose her abs, and Himiko playing with the zipper meant she caught a small glimpse of her black training bra - and hurriedly turned back to the refill station to top off her water, feeling weirdly nervous for some reason.

Training with Himiko for two days now meant that Ochako got a better glimpse into how the older girl acted - specifically, that she very much enjoyed teasing. Whether that be through sultry tones and giggling remarks, or trying to feel herself up to catch Ochako offguard and hit her in the face with a knife, Ochako was starting to get the picture that Himiko especially liked teasing her, for some reason. She knew that it was normally how Himiko acted - she'd seen Himiko make similar remarks to Izuku and Nejire, after all, so she knew that it wasn't like she was special or something.

Still, it kind of made her nervous to get those kinds of remarks from her senpai, despite how she felt that she didn't deserve them, so most of the time she responded to those flirty remarks with nervous laughter or just not saying anything. Which … she knew must make her look pretty dumb, she thought with a small grimace.

Himiko, for her part, seemed content for now with sitting back and looking up at the orange-ish sky as the sun set in the distance, tapping her feet against the gravel ground as she put the blunted knives down beside her on the bench. Soon enough, Ochako sat down on her other side, sighing in relief as she rubbed her sore legs again, and took a small sip of water.

"So," Himiko said conversationally as she leaned back on the bench, glancing at Ochako out of the corner of her eye, "question, cute kohai."

"Uh … okay?" Ochako shrugged, raising her water bottle back up to her lips to take another sip, and completely missing Himiko beginning to smile mischievously. "What's up?"

"Why is it that you keep looking at Kendou's butt?"

Ochako then proceeded to, as one would guess, completely and utterly choke on her drink.

"Pfft! I - *cough* *cough* *cough*!"

Himiko watched with great amusement as whatever water Ochako drank violently exited her nose as her senpai asked her the million dollar question, leaning back and enjoying as Ochako was subjected to a violent coughing fit not unlike what All Might would go through when he shrunk down from his true form, her face going blood red. It took a little while for Ochako to calm herself down, with Himiko continuing to patiently wait for her kohai to get her shit together and sputter herself back to coherency.

"I - *cough* - I - w-what?!"

"I asked," Himiko cheerfully repeated herself, "why is it that you seem so interested in grabbing your best friend's ass?"

"I - I w-what -" Ochako let out another cough, her face turning redder and redder by the second, and Himiko let out a cheeky giggle as she turned to look up at the sky again.

"I'm just surprised, that's all!" She went on as Ochako covered her mouth to contain her coughs, "A few weeks ago, I noticed that all you did in your spare time was check out that other cutie you hang out with -"

"I - who?!"

"Oh, you know," Himiko wiggled her eyebrows suggestively again, "your certain green-haired friend."

"I - n-no!" Ochako quickly protested, shaking her head and hiding her face in her hands, unintentionally using her quirk on herself. Himiko raised an eyebrow as her kohai began floating up into the air, and absently reached over to grab her shoe to prevent her from flying away, looking like a little kid holding an oversized balloon. "I - I don't know what you mean! I don't - I don't look at Deku like - no way! He's just my - he's - you've - you've got it all wrong!"

"Do I?"

"Y-y-yes! And - and I don't - I don't look at Kendou like -"

"Oooooh, yes you do," Her senpai giggled menacingly, "you literally did it before we went off to train today. You looked like you wanted to slide across the gym floor and give her butt a great big hug."

"I - I don't -! I don't wanna -!"

"And I can't blame you!" She let out a small sigh, using her other hand to hold her cheek as she smiled happily, "I'll admit that Kendou isn't really my type, but I can appreciate a good looking girl when I see one. And hoo boy … I'd love to find a way to sneak in between those legs, but I'm afraid of either being suffocated to death or getting my neck snapped by those thighs."

"I - No, I -" Ochako shook her head again, her face continuing to burn bright red while Himiko gave her a very entertained look. Finally, she lowered her hands from her face so she could grab the bench and lower herself back down, looking extra embarrassed at accidentally using her quirk on herself.

Once she pressed her fingers together and restored her weight, she let out a sigh as she quickly looked down at her pink shoes, anywhere but at her senpai as her face remained very red.

"- l-listen, Toga-senpai, I -" She cleared her throat briefly, "- I'm - okay, listen."

"I'm listening," Himiko giggled.

"I - okay," She let out another breath to try and calm herself, "I … I'll admit, I might have been … kinda … sorta … looking at Itsuka's butt."

"Mm-hm," Himiko cheekily hummed as Ochako fidgeted, tapping her fingers together.

"But - but we aren't - we aren't together," She clarified in a quiet, embarrassed tone, "and - and I shouldn't be checking her out anyway. It's - it's rude of me, I know that."

"Why would that be?" Himiko titled her head curiously, seeing Ochako let out a small sputter, "I wasn't aware that you had to be in a relationship with someone to check them out. No harm in letting your eyes wander, cute kohai."

"But -"

"Don't you like her?"

"I …" Ochako felt herself go still at that question, faltering as her face continued to burn … and then she shook her head. "... no, I … I don't like her. Like - I don't like-like her."

"…"

"…"

"… yeah, no." Himiko shook her head, her smirk fading somewhat, "I'm gonna call bullshit on that."

"H-huh?!" Ochako squeaked, quickly looking up at her senpai again. "But - I -"

"There's no way you don't like her," She leaned back with a small smirk, "trust me, cutie, I've got an eye for this kind of thing. I take love very seriously, you know. And how you look at Kendou … you aren't subtle. It's not just her butt you're looking at. From how you look at her? You're in it deep, girl - which is why I'm surprised that Kendou isn't the only one you look at like that. You're just … not very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in."

"I - n-no, I -" Ochako stuttered, feeling her cheeks continue to turn bright red. "- s-seriously, Toga-senpai, I don't -"

"Er - I understand the desire for privacy, but do we really have to go in here, Kodai?"

Both girls blinked at the sound of a familiar voice coming somewhere from their left, well into the forest they were sitting beside. Looking quickly around, Ochako squinted her eyes a bit into the slightly darkened area - and then felt them widen at the sight of a familiar girl with shoulder-length black hair leading a taller boy deeper into the forest.

"Kodai?" She wondered out loud, "And … Iida? What're they doing?"

"Ooooooh, you know them?" Himiko asked in an interested voice.

"Y-yeah, they're - they're my friends."

"Is that right?" Himiko slowly nodded - and then clapped her hands together. "Okay, then. Let's go!"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked in surprise, looking around at her senpai as she abruptly stood up from the bench, but before she could ask what she meant, Himiko reached down to grab her wrist, and began dragging her to her feet.

Ochako sputtered a bit as she was pulled off the bench, and Himiko began walking towards the forest, her eyes on Tenya's retreating back as she began tiptoeing quietly so as not to alert them to their presence.

"I - wait a second, senpai -!" Ochako began to protest.

"Shh!" Himiko giggled quietly as she raised her finger to her lips to shush her, "It sounds like something juicy is coming up if your friends over there wanna talk in private. Let's listen in."

"But - but -!"

"Consider this one of your first tests to become a stealth hero," Himiko gave her a wink, "we're gonna eavesdrop on those two without them ever noticing we're there. Follow my lead."

Ochako still had her clear hesitation about doing something like this - she didn't feel comfortable spying on her friends - but Himiko was really offering no alternative, keeping her surprisingly tight grip on Ochako's wrist as she guided her through the forest where Tenya and Yui were going. Ochako took a small, deep breath, realizing that she probably didn't have a choice in this, and glanced down to the ground to make sure she didn't step on any twigs or discarded leaves, anything that would alert the other two to their presence.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long for them to catch up with Yui and Tenya, although that was less to do with how fast they were walking and more to do with Yui apparently finding the spot she had been searching for - a small clearing with two trees relatively close together that they could stand near. Both Himiko and Ochako managed to hide themselves behind a larger tree that gave them plenty of cover, peeking their heads out slightly to see Yui leaning against one tree while Tenya stood stiffly before her, his face looking weirdly flushed.

Ochako knew that she probably shouldn't be doing this, listening in on them, but … well, for some reason, she remembered what had happened at lunch, with Yui pressuring Tenya into going to train with her. Their reactions had been a little odd, so she was admittedly curious as to what they were doing.

"So … ah …" Tenya cleared his throat, his voice sounding oddly stiffer than usual, "… is … this an appropriate place to speak to each other? I didn't realize that we needed so much privacy, Kodai."

"Yeah, this is cool," Yui nodded, speaking with that same blank tone that gave away nothing, "sorry to make you walk out all this way, I just wanted to make sure no one overheard us."

Ochako tried her hardest not to feel too guilty while Himiko let out another quiet giggle.

"Well, if - if it's to make you more comfortable talking to me, then I will not judge you!" Tenya quickly assured her, "Especially since you helped me get a good amount of training done in the conflagration zone - I hadn't thought of using it as an obstacle course to practice stopping abruptly. Thank you very much!"

"Mm-hm."

"Well - so, er -" Tenya suddenly faltered, his grateful smile turning a bit nervous, "- you … mentioned at lunch that you would - uh - like to discuss something with me."

"Mm-hm." Yui hummed again, nodding. "Do you remember what we talked about? After what happened at the USJ?"

Ochako felt herself blink at that, her guilt at eavesdropping on this fading a tad bit as Himiko let out an intrigued murmur. She felt herself lean out a bit further - she had no idea that Tenya and Yui had apparently talked after what happened at the USJ - or, more accurately, the few times they did visit the USJ, between the Villain Consortium attacking them and All Might playing a prank on them. 

She couldn't help but feel intrigued herself as Tenya somehow stiffened up even more.

"I - yes," He nodded, his face turning as red as Ochako's had been a few minutes ago, "I - I recall what we discussed. P-perfectly, Kodai."

"Good." Yui nodded, and then tilted her head curiously, "So then - I wanna know if you've put any thought into it."

"Er … any … thought into … p-pardon my manners, but could you explain -"

"I wanna know if you've put any thought into how you feel about me."

Ochako stared blankly at her friend from her spot hiding behind the tree, her eyes widening slightly as Tenya let out a small squeak. She felt like she had missed something here, some important piece of information that would help her understand what exactly was going on, but before she could collect her jaw from where it had fallen to the forest floor, Himiko let out a small 'ooh' and leaned out slightly to listen better as Tenya cleared his throat again.

"I … I see," He managed to get out, his voice cracking, "you'd, uh … like an opinion on - on how I - on my feelings towards you? If - if I understand you correctly."

"Yep," She nodded, crossing her arms across her chest, "I was talking a bit about it with Set on Friday, and I figured I'd at least ask you about it now that you've had some time to think."

"Y-yes," Tenya quickly nodded, his face continuing to burn in reds Ochako had only seen Izuku, the blush master, have on his face, "as I - as I thought you would. It makes sense, of course, what with me making you wait for an - an answer."

"I mean … it's okay if you don't have an answer," Yui said, a small frown appearing on her face, "like I said to you before, I'm not expecting you to ask me out or anything like that - you don't owe me an answer if you don't have one. I was just … curious."

"I - I understand that," Tenya quickly said, glancing down at his feet, "but … well, I … did put some thought into what you told me. And … well, the truth is …"

Yui straightened her back a bit, staring at him blankly but with an air that she was completely focused on him. Ochako suddenly found herself waiting with baited breath, never one for gossip before but all for whatever was going on here.

"I … I shall not deny that you are … certainly physically attractive," Tenya managed to finally get out, one of his hands at his side shaking a bit, "you're … you're very beautiful, Kodai. But - but that isn't what matters here. The truth is, I've been thinking about - about how we've spent time together, and - and I find that I - I enjoy being around you, K-Kodai. You're - well, I do find your jokes humorous, even if they are a tad bit inappropriate, and thinking of you does - uh - warm my heart a bit."

"Holy crap," Ochako's eyes widened as she softly muttered under her breath, never expecting Tenya of all people to say stuff like this.

"And - and the fact that you seem to regard my … admitted odd behavior as attractive is very - er - well, it certainly is a confidence booster. I will admit that my experience with the opposite sex is quite limited, as many people have told me that they are quite turned off by my personality -"

"That doesn't surprise me." Yui muttered under her breath, scowling a bit on his behalf. Those four words alone were enough to convince Ochako, right then and there, that she was a hundred percent on board with whatever was going on with these two.

"- so the fact that it doesn't seem to be a - well, a deterrent for you is quite - well, it means a great deal to me."

"Okay." Yui nodded. "So?"

"So …" Tenya faltered again, "… so … er …?"

"I'm wondering," Yui took a small step forward, seeing Tenya stiffen up once again as she moved slightly towards him, "what exactly we're supposed to do with this now."

"I - what do you mean?"

"I mean," Yui raised an intrigued eyebrow, "I find you attractive. You find me attractive. You like spending time with me. I like spending time with you. I like you. And I think you just admitted that you like me. So what does that mean for us going forward?"

"I'm …" Tenya paused again, evidently not thinking things through as his face continued to pretty much glow magma.

Behind the tree, Himiko let out a small, impish giggle as she raised a hand to her mouth. Ochako managed to tear her gaze away from the two to look up at her from the older girl's stance behind her, and felt herself blink at the mischievous look on her senpai's face as she straigthened up, beginning to lean a bit more out from behind the tree. Almost as though she were about to …

Without thinking, believing that Himiko was about to go around the corner and interrupt them, Ochako's hand went down to grab her wrist. The older girl blinked at the four fingers squeezing around her wrist, looking down at Ochako with a raised eyebrow and the side of her mouth moving up slightly as an intrigued smirk crossed her face. 

Ochako felt her face go a bit red at the action, but was still sure to raise her finger to her lips to shush her this time, hoping that it would somehow convey her wish for her senpai to stay put.

Thankfully, before Himiko could do anything, Tenya let out a small sigh.

"I believe that … I understand what you're asking, Kodai," He said, getting all three girls' attention back on him (unbeknown to him or Yui), "you're … asking about the possibility of us beginning a - a relationship?"

"Mm-hm."

"I …" Tenya stopped for a moment, glancing away with his face continuing to flush bright red - and then he let out a small sigh.

"… Kodai, if I … if I am being honest," He said in a quiet voice, "I am not … opposed to forming a relationship with you."

Yui straightened up again, a small flush appearing on her cheeks, and both Ochako and Himiko's eyes shot open at what Tenya was saying.

"It's just …" He frowned, staring down at the forest floor, "… and I don't wish to offend you, but - but I also acknowledge that things are going to be - well, they'll be quite busy going forward. What with the sports festival in a few weeks, and then midterms, and then whatever assignment Aizawa-sensei would like us to focus on after that - I must say, there won't be many opportunities for us to …"

"That's fair," Yui finished for him, staring down at the ground, "not a lot of time to go on dates if we're both getting ready for the sports festival."

"Y-yes, indeed."

"Then how about this?" She offered, making Tenya blink and look around at her in surprise. "You don't have to give me a genuine answer until after the sports festival. I know that we're both supposed to be getting ready for that, and you don't need me distracting you. So we'll leave it as this - acknowledging us as being attracted to each other. And once the sports festival is done, we can talk about where we want our relationship to go from there."

"That's …" Tenya paused for a moment, evidently thinking things over. The three girls watched as his gaze fell to the ground again, tapping one foot against it as his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and his cheeks remained rosy.

After a few seconds, he began to slowly nod.

"Y-yes, Kodai, that - that seems reasonable," He confirmed, looking back up at her. "I will - I will put some serious thought into how our r-relationship will progress after the sports festival."

"Good." Yui nodded as well. "In that case, I guess we're putting a pause on this conversation."

"Y-yes, we are."

"Mm-hm."

"Yes."

"…"

"…"

" … wanna grab my ass before we do?"

"I - what?!" Tenya let out a squeak, looking mortified and scandalized as Yui began to turn and walk away, being sure to purposefully sway her hips a bit to tease him and making Himiko force herself to suppress an amused and approving snort. "Kodai, that is entirely inappropriate! We are still on school grounds, despite being relatively in private! I wouldn't dare touch you in any inappropriate ways, even if we had just begun a relationship! Those actions are for when a couple are in the safety and comfort of their bedrooms, and even then -!"

"So you aren't saying you don't wanna grab my ass."

"How did you get that from there?! And another thing …!"

He was quick to follow after Yui as she looked over her shoulder to give him a deadpan yet somehow amused look, walking away from the tree and letting him rant at her as they walked out of the clearing back towards the road that would lead back to the main building.

As soon as the sound of Tenya's reprimands began to fade in the distance, the two girls that had been taking cover behind the tree straightened up and came out from their little hiding spot, Himiko leading the way with her eyebrows raised, and Ochako still in a bit of shock that Tenya and Yui had apparently being flirting this whole time and she never noticed. As soon as his voice finally faded away, there was a small silence.

And Himiko let out a small giggle, drawing Ochako's attention and looking around as her senpai stared down at where Ochako still had her hand around her wrist, one pinkie out, and a coy smile appeared on her senpai's lips.

"Oh," Ochako blinked a bit, feeling herself blush as she realized she had been holding onto Himiko this entire time, "I'm - I'm sorry, senpai, I'll just -"

But before the apology could leave her lips, and Ochako could let go of her wrist, Himiko moved her arm. Ochako found herself faltering as Himiko easily slipped her hand out from Ochako's loose grip, but instead of moving away, slid it up so that she could entwine their fingers together. Ochako felt herself go a bit red again as Himiko held her hand, her gaze snapping up to her senpai as Himiko giggled mischievously.

"Well?" She gestured with her head, "I think it's time we go take a shower, cute kohai. Let's get moving - we can go to the nurse's office and use the showers there, I've gotta stop by there anyway to check on something."

"I - uh -?"

Before she could ask, however, Himiko turned to begin walking away, Ochako squeaking as she was suddenly pulled along again, and quickly began trying to match her senpai's pace so that she wasn't dragged along. She glanced back down at where Himiko was holding securely to her hand, feeling her face continue to burn, but she didn't say anything as Himiko led her out of the forest, unaware of a small smirk on the older girl's face.

After stopping to grab their discarded bags from where they had left them at the bench, Himiko continued to lead her back through the school grounds to the main building, holding her hand the entire time. They walked in relative silence, Ochako staring down at the ground while Himiko counted her knives to make sure they were all there, and both girls kept quiet as they entered the building. Himiko led her all the way upstairs towards the room that she and Itsuka had been treated in after what happened at the USJ, pushing it open and glancing inside.

Seeing the room being apparently empty, she glanced over at the desk, seeing a note placed there with her name on it, and tilted her head in curiosity. Walking over, she grabbed the note, keeping her other hand in Ochako's, and flipped it open to read whatever instructions Recovery Girl had left for her.

Toga,

I'm heading out into the field - some first years messed up and ended up getting entangled in vines, so I don't know how long it's going to take until I get back.

Please clean off the tables when you get back, I've cleaned everything else. And if you do anything naughty with one of the students, I will know. I will hit you with my cane.

Do not test me.

"Oh, good," She muttered to herself, smirking as she tossed the note onto the desk and completely ignored the not so subtle threat, "so Granny's not coming back for a while, huh …?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "Did - did you say something, senpai?"

"Nope! Anyway, make yourself comfortable," She giggled, leading her inside and finally letting go of her hand, letting Ochako sigh in relief a bit as she glanced around the empty room, "I figured we'd better use the showers in here, just so we can have a bit of privacy."

"Uh … sure."

"Anyway," Himiko sighed as she moved towards the nearest bed, putting her stuff down on it while grabbing the curtains, "it seems like there's someone in your class that's being proactive."

"Huh?"

"You know," She gestured airily with her hand, "Little Miss Suave back there. Taking her boy to the forest to get answers out of him."

"Oh. Uh …" Ochako felt herself stutter for a moment, unable to stop herself from giggling slightly, "… honestly, I had no idea she was into Iida. That's - well, good for her. I thought it was kinda weird how they were acting around each other, but maybe it was just crush stuff?"

"Hm," Her senpai absently hummed as she drew the curtains closed, "well, at least she knows what she wants. Unlike someone else I know."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked.

"I mean," Himiko looked over her shoulder to give Ochako an amused, pointed look, "at least Kodai had a look at 'Mr. Ruler Up His Ass' and decided to go and get it. Unlike you, Miss 'I Wasn't Looking At Kendou's Ass, I Swear On My Life'."

Ochako sputtered at that, her face going a bit red, and she quickly aimed the Danger Pout at Himiko with an annoyed hum. Rather than be intimidated, Himiko merely giggled again, moving to sit down in the small gap she had created with the curtains at the foot of the hospital bed.

With a smirk, she patted the spot next to her, inviting her kohai to sit down, and Ochako didn't think much of it as she dropped her stuff on the bed beside Himiko and sat down, letting out a sigh.

"I … look, senpai," She muttered, lessening the Danger Pout a bit so that it was just a regular pout, "I … like I said, I know that I've been … I've been checking out Itsuka. It's - it's not like I want to, or - I know that I shouldn't do it. It's just … something happened between us, and it's been kinda hard to forget."

"Oh?" Himiko wiggled her eyebrows once again, leaning forward interestingly. "Something … a little gay?"

The blush on Ochako's face told her everything, and Himiko felt her smirk widen.

"Well, well, cutie … I'm surprised. So what happened?"

"She …" Ochako hesitated, and then dropped her head to look down at the floor, unable to meet her senpai's eye, "… she kissed me."

"Ooooooooh …"

"And … I may have … kissed back."

"Oh, my," Himiko giggled, "so romantic."

"S-see, that's - that's the thing," Ochako shook her head, sighing sadly, "I - I don't think it was. I think it was just - it was pure adrenaline. We - we haven't even talked much about it afterwards, either. So I - I think we're just trying to forget it ever happened."

"I see," Himiko nodded slowly, pursing her lips slightly, "so the regular 'I didn't mean to kiss you, it doesn't mean much, we're still friends' kinda thing."

"I … yeah."

"Hm. But do you want that?"

Ochako felt herself pause at that quiet question, and glanced up at Himiko. For once, the cat-like smirk wasn't on her senpai's face, giving Ochako a serious, understanding look as she leaned forward slightly.

For some reason, the way she was looking at her, her yellow eyes scanning Ochako's face, was making her feel … something, her heart going a bit quicker and a blush starting to appear on her face again, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

"W-what do you mean, senpai?"

"I mean," Himiko raised an eyebrow, "do you wanna forget your kiss with Kendou?"

"I …?" Ochako faltered again.

"Or maybe," She tilted her head, "you do wanna forget about it, so you can concentrate on your other cutie."

"My other -?" Ochako began, and then blinked, her face continuing to go red. "Wait, you - you mean Deku?"

"Mm-hm. Deku."

"I - no," She quickly shook her head, Himiko raising her eyebrow at her shaking her head in disagreement a little too fast, "I don't - I don't feel that way for him. He's - he's my best friend, we're pretty much family."

"Hm," Himiko hummed, "sounds kinda like denial."

"I - no, Toga-senpai -"

"But if that's what you say, then that's what you say," Himiko shrugged nonchalantly, making Ochako falter, "if you say you're just friends, then fine. I won't argue with you. But like I said before, I take love very seriously. I can always see when people have feelings for each other. And you -" She tapped her finger against Ochako's nose, making her scrunch it, "- love him. Even if you don't realize it."

"I'm …" Ochako trailed off, having absolutely no idea what to even say to that.

Himiko thought that she was in love with Izuku? That was - that was stupid, wasn't it? There was no way that she felt that way for him! There was … there was no way that she felt …

… but then she felt her mind wander.

Her thoughts returned to the beach the day after they returned to school, with Itsuka going off with All Might to talk about One for All. When she had admitted that she was insecure about her motivations to be a hero, wanting to earn money for her parents, and Izuku had comforted her like he always had. How Izuku had put his hands on her shoulders, and how … weirdly good that felt. How weirdly that interaction had ended, with both of them realizing how close they were, even if they'd been much closer than that before - they've actually hugged so many times she lost count, for god's sake - and quickly backed away.

How she felt while he was around Itsuka and Nejire … she had dismissed it as her feeling insecure about him meeting new people, and considering herself selfish. But was there … was there something … more there? Did she not want …

… could she …

Ochako slowly looked away, her eyes widening slightly while Himiko kept quiet for once, letting her think. There was … there was no way that she … that she liked Izuku, was there? There was no way! There was …

… there was …

"… senpai," Ochako slowly said, "I think you're full of crap."

Himiko snorted, and shook her head. Still, she didn't say anything, even as she smirked - she could see the conflict in Ochako's eyes, and even if she was still in denial, she could see a seed being planted there.

So she would leave it there for now, and not push the issue.

"Heh. Well, aren't you a funny one?" Himiko smiled as Ochako glanced back at her as she raised her hands to the buns on her head, beginning to play with them to let her hair loose, "Here you are, checking out one of your best friends and being in denial about your other one. Whatever shall I do with you, my dear cute kohai?"

"I'm …" Ochako hesitated for a second, and then sighed as she realized Himiko was just teasing her again. Shaking her head, she let out a shaky laugh, looking away across the room again as Himiko began to undo her hair. "… I think you're just messing with me at this point, senpai."

"Oh, am I?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, smiling a bit, "you like to tease, but … well, I don't think you actually mean it, do you? That Deku or Itsuka would look at me like that."

"Hm?" Himiko blinked, pausing her attempts to let down her hair. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, I'm just … me." Ochako shook her head, smiling ruefully.

"…"

As silence suddenly fell in the empty waiting room, Ochako found herself blinking at the lack of response or tease from her senpai. Turning to look at her again, she felt surprised that Himiko was watching her with a skeptical, surprised look, one eyebrow raised as she stared at her. However, before Ochako could ask what was wrong, she spoke again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her senpai asked in a deadpan voice.

"H-huh?"

"What does 'I'm just me' mean?"

"I'm -" Ochako faltered, feeling a bit confused - why was Himiko acting so weird about that? - and shrugged her shoulders a bit as she glanced away, "- well, uh - I'm just … you know … not all that attractive."

"Huh?" Himiko narrowed her eyes, looking a bit confused and unamused. "What the hell does that mean? You're attractive. You're hot."

"No, I'm … no, I'm not." Ochako shook her head, letting out a sigh as her face fell, and her hands wrung together. "I'm just … you don't have to do that, senpai, I know already. That's what everyone told me back in middle school - I'm not all that good looking. I'm … I'm pretty ugly. I'm frumpy and - and weird."

"…"

"Like … look at this," She sighed as she moved her hand to her gym shirt, lifting it and the tank top she had on underneath it to expose a bit of her midsection. Rather than focus on the abs in her stomach, however, she went to her side, lightly pinching it and showing a bit of excess skin there as she pouted. "See? I've been training for a year now, and I'm still … cushiony."

Himiko remained deathly quiet as Ochako lowered her shirt again, letting out a small sigh as she shook her head. Instead, Himiko's gaze fell to her face, staring at the acceptance there. As though she sincerely believed in what she was saying, and she was alright with it.

"Seriously," Ochako shook her head again, with a small, accepting smile on her face, although her eyes were more than a little sad, "you don't have to try and tease me, senpai. Don't worry, I can take a joke."

There was a good few seconds of silence - and then Himiko nodded to herself.

"Okay," She said in a quiet voice, "I was gonna leave this as an option for later, but now, I have to do it."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking around at the older girl as she straightened her back, "Sorry, what was -?"

"Uraraka," Himiko suddenly sounded like she meant business, turning to look at her, "get in the bed."

There was another good few seconds of silence as Ochako stared blankly at Himiko - and then she blinked, finally registering what her senpai had just said, and felt more than a little confused as Himiko stood up from her spot on the end of the bed, letting out a sigh as she cracked her knuckles.

"Uh - what do you -?"

"You heard me. In the bed. Get in."

Feeling herself become more than a little taken aback by the weird direction this went, Ochako glanced behind her at the bed that Himiko had drawn the curtains for - and then back up at Himiko, who gestured for her to do as she said and get in, looking unusually serious.

Feeling herself become more confused by the second, Ochako still did as instructed, slowly slipping out of her shoes, and began crawling into the bed on her hands and knees. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she could hear Himiko taking off her own shoes for some reason, not knowing that Himiko had taken the precaution to hide their shoes underneath the bed.

Soon, Ochako reached the pillow on the other side of the bed, still unsure as to what was going on.

"Uh … okay," She slowly nodded, "I'm in. So what's exactly -"

SWISH

She heard the sound of the curtains being suddenly pulled closed, and blinked as they were cast somewhat into darkness, the sun setting outside the window giving them a darkened, orange hue. Feeling herself blink, Ochako looked around her shoulder, and felt surprised to see that Himiko was sitting in the bed with her, having drawn the curtains shut, and turned to look at her - and in the shade, her yellow eyes were practically glowing.

And Ochako felt suddenly nervous, as though she had stumbled upon a predator that was now sizing her up.

"Uh … senpai?"

"Let me make something clear."

Ochako merely stared, feeling her heartbeat begin to pick up speed for some unknown reason as Himiko turned fully around to slowly begin crawling towards her on all fours, and Ochako slowly began to automatically attempt to back up on her hands and feet as well.

"You mentioned earlier," Himiko's smile began to slowly reappear on her face, but there was something … new there that made Ochako gulp, especially from the way her senpai's eyes were quietly studying her face, "that I like to tease. I won't deny that, but there is something not a lot of people know about me."

"O-oh …?"

"I like to tease everyone," Himiko slowly licked her lips, "but I don't just flirt with anyone."

"I - huh?" Ochako was sure she was blushing again, feeling her back suddenly press against the wall as she ran out of room to back up, and Himiko reached her ankles - and then, as her hands landed on both of them, Ochako could feel Himiko take a firm grip, and began to pull down. 

Ochako did little to resist, staring up in shock and another feeling that she couldn't quite describe, as she was gently tugged from where she had been sitting up, and pulled so that she would lay flat on her back, quickly moving to sit up on her elbows as Himiko finished laying her out, and then began to continue crawling, this time overtop her.

"What," Himiko giggled lowly, "you think I just flirt with everyone I come across? Sure, I call them sweetie, and honey, and that kind of stuff … but I don't just suddenly grab people's hands. I don't bring them up here, where Recovery Girl can't find us …"

Oh god, Ochako shook, feeling herself definitely begin blushing again as she began leaning back.

"… I don't pull the curtains shut so no one can see us …"

Oh, my god, Ochako trembled as Himiko's hand slowly pressed down beside her head.

"… and I don't crawl over them …"

Now that Himiko was completely overtop her, both hands beside the sides of Ochako's head to effectively pin her, she began to lower herself. Ochako did nothing to resist, merely staring up in shock as her face went redder and redder, and watched as Himiko practically laid overtop her, their faces close together as Himiko gave her a serious look.

"… if I don't find them attractive."

"I - s-senpai -"

"I know what you're thinking," Himiko said in a quiet, yet intense voice, one that made Ochako continue to shake underneath her, "it's weird that I'm telling you to go after your friends while I do this. But you don't have to think much about it - I've had years of therapy with Midnight, and all her and Granny's sex-ed classes. I'm not looking for some kind of romantic relationship here."

"I -" Ochako stammered, "- I'm -"

"But I hear that shit about you not thinking you're sexy as fuck," Himiko narrowed her eyes, "and I'm not gonna let that stand."

"I'm - senpai -"

"After all," Himiko leaned down, and Ochako felt herself lose her breath as they stared at each other, their noses barely an inch apart as Himiko's hands slowly slipped up to take Ochako's wrists, pinning them to the bed, "what kind of senpai would I be if I didn't help my adorable, beautiful kohai out?"

"I - I'm not sure - I don't -"

"You remember what I said," Himiko raised an eyebrow, "about you not being very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in?"

Ochako gulped, and found herself nodding.

"Well," She suddenly smirked, "you really think that I wouldn't notice you looking at me like that?"

"I'm - I don't -"

"Cute kohai," Himiko muttered, "I'm gonna give you ten seconds to say no to me. I won't breathe a word of what happens here to anyone. If you say no to what I'm offering, I'll get off you, and we'll go get in our showers and pretend this never happened."

"I …"

"But if you say nothing," She leaned down, "or if you say yes … then I'm gonna kiss you."

Ochako let out a small sputter at that, feeling her face continue to burn bright hot at the feeling of the girl on top of her. She had utterly no idea how this had happened. Not two minutes ago she was talking about how unattractive she was, and suddenly, she was being pinned down on a bed by her senpai, talking about getting kissed. Her head felt woozy, it was hard to think, it was hard to breathe. She could feel Himiko's cool hands slowly slip into hers to hold them again, careful not to float herself.

She had no idea where this was coming from. She had no idea that Himiko had apparently been flirting with her this entire time. She had no idea what she even wanted to say to what Himiko was going to do unless Ochako told her otherwise.

"Senpai, I don't … I'm not sure …"

"You don't know how you feel about me," Himiko finished for her, nodding slowly and smiling, "and that's okay. You don't need to know. But let me ask you something, Ochako …"

She found herself gulping nervously at her first name coming from her lips.

"… do you think you could live with this if you did nothing?" Himiko raised an eyebrow, "Your attractive, beautiful senpai is offering to kiss you. You can say no … but do you wanna say no? Even if you don't know how you feel about me, don't you wanna see what it'd be like? You aren't hurting my feelings if you say turn me down … but even if it doesn't lead to anything, don't you want to see what happens next?"

Ochako let out a quiet noise at that, staring up at Himiko as she leaned down, her yellow eyes beginning to flutter closed - and Ochako felt her own eyes begin to close as well.

"Ochako," Himiko whispered, tilting her head, "I'm going to kiss you now."

"…"

"…"

"… okay," Ochako muttered, and Himiko smiled as she leaned down, and their lips met.

Ochako let out a muffled noise as Himiko slipped her hands out from hers, moving them down to hold her face. Himiko's lips were chapped, a bit dry, but there was something about them that made Ochako close her eyes and kiss back, albeit as awkwardly as she could. Her own hands slowly lowered to Himiko's face as well, feeling her long, sweaty hair fall out of their messy buns at last, trailing down and falling along Ochako's hands and face. Their lips disconnected briefly before Himiko went back in, kissing her a little harder as Ochako grunted, feeling something wet push at her lips, and opening her mouth slightly to let Himiko's tongue in to explore.

This was … much different than kissing Itsuka, Ochako realized as her tongue hesitantly fought with Himiko's. It was much slower, less intense, more sensual with Himiko laying on top of her. The feeling of Himiko's hands cupping her cheeks made her heart beat hard, her weight on top of her adding a certain thrill. The temptation to run her hands across Himiko's body was definitely there, with one of her hands moving to hold the back of Himiko's neck while Himiko's own hands moved down to rub her sides.

Their lips moving away once again was remedied by Ochako this time, moving her head up to catch Himiko's bottom lip between hers, sucking timidly on it, and letting Himiko purr as her hands moved between them to feel up Ochako's stomach beneath them, making the younger girl groan into the liplock as her own hand moved down to rub the small of Himiko's back.

Kissing Himiko was … definitely nice.

But …

… but that was just what it was.

Nice.

Her heart wasn't palpitating at the feeling of kissing Himiko. There were no nerves. There weren't any fireworks exploding within her. There wasn't the sudden exciting feeling of seeing Himiko in a new light.

It was nice, and she'd definitely like to kiss her senpai more, but … but it wasn't like when she kissed …

… when she kissed Itsuka.

Slowly, their lips moved away from each other, but this time, neither one moved back in to resume the kissing. They both took a few seconds to pant lightly for air, Ochako feeling like she had just run a marathon while slowly opening her eyes, staring up at Himiko studying her quietly.

And then, before Ochako could speak, her senpai let out a giggle.

"Disappointed that I wasn't someone else when you opened your eyes?"

"I -" Ochako stuttered, her face still feeling rather hot, and quickly looked away, "- no, I - I'm not, Toga-senpai. It's just -"

"No, no, no need to spare my feelings," She giggled again, shaking her head while smiling, "it was just a kiss. No need for you to suddenly ask me out if you don't want to."

"It was … it was nice."

"I sure as hell hope so! I'll have you, I'm very well versed in making out."

"I … take it I'm not the …" Ochako paused, realizing something and causing her to pout slightly, "… I'm not the first of your … patients … to get to do something like this with you?"

"Not the first, and not the last," Himiko shook her head, licking her lips a bit, and giggling as Ochako gave her an adorable pout, leaning down to hug her, "but don't let that get you down - you're definitely one of the cuter ones."

"Ugh," Ochako groaned.

"Plus, if it makes you feel better - you're a much better kisser than I was expecting! I was expecting teeth clacking together."

"I'm glad to hear that, jerk."

"Like I said … sarcastic little minx," Himiko teased with a small giggle, and then, with a sigh, and turning her head to deliver a quick kiss to Ochako's cheek, slowly began to sit up so that she was no longer laying on top of her kohai, "so - I shouldn't be expecting us to be suddenly sharing a shower in a little bit, should I?"

"I … no," Ochako shook her head, pouting a bit as she likewise sat up on her elbows again, "I'm sorry, senpai, but I don't … I'm not sure …"

"Nope!" Himiko giggled, raising her finger to tap on Ochako's nose again to interrupt her. "None of that. It's like I said - years of therapy from Midnight and Granny have made me gag at the prospects of relationships. I just thought you needed a well deserved reminder of how attractive you really are."

"I'm …" Ochako shook her head, frowning a bit, and Himiko rolled her eyes.

"I'm not gonna pretend a little make out session is gonna cure … all the stuff you dropped on me," She said in a blunt voice, "but I want you to remember this, the next time you start thinking you're unattractive. The next time you think you're ugly, remember your gorgeous, bombshell senpai who pinned you to a bed and shoved her tongue into your mouth. Try to let the stupid voices in your head counter that."

"I …" Ochako hesitated, and then let out a small sigh, shaking her head and smiling despite herself, "… I guess I will."

"Mm-hm. Now then," Himiko suddenly rolled off of Ochako completely, making the younger girl blink as the older girl flipped up to sit on the edge of the bed, and drew the curtains open, "it's time for a shower! Let's go, cutie!"

Ochako slowly nodded, beginning to sit up -

"Oh, and one more thing."

Blinking at the sudden interruption, she glanced up - and felt her face, which had been feeling a little hot from the last few minutes, exploded back into a violent blush as Himiko ran her hand slowly up her butt, giving Ochako a lecherous look behind her shoulder.

"Don't think this is the last time I play with you," She licked her lips, "until you get your - whatever's going on with you, Kendou and Midoriya sorted out - you'll be expecting me trying to fluster you in more ways than one. And then once you do … well, don't forget that I've been flirting with both of them, too. Something to keep in mind for when you might wanna play with … more than one person."

With that, she turned to begin heading towards the bathroom, being sure to imitate Yui from before and sway her hips so she could give Ochako a bit of a show as she slowly zipped down her gym shirt, slowly working herself out of it as she went.

Ochako stared blankly at her as her senpai entered the bathroom, being sure to toss the discarded gym shirt on the floor, as she registered again just what Himiko was implying -

- and then she promptly fell down onto her back, staring at the ceiling as her face felt like it was on fire.


"Hey … Kendou."

"What is it, Izuku?"

"We … we won that, right …?"

"Nope," Itsuka grunted, cringing from their spot on the gym floor, both of them laying flat on their backs and bruises littering their bodies, "we got our asses kicked."

"Okay," Izuku nodded, likewise grimacing, "so the memory of us winning - that might just be brain damage."

"Oh, most definitely."

With a small groan, Izuku slowly looked up and cringed as he began to try and sit up, his stomach feeling bruised from where his senpai had hit him repeatedly. Itsuka was laying beside him, grumbling and holding her arm over her eyes as she slowly rolled onto her side, and across from them, Nejire was laying flat on her face, her long blue hair covering her entire head as she laid there in defeat - or maybe she was playing possum so Mirio didn't hit her anymore, that was a definite possibility. 

On the other side of the gym, Mirio was bouncing up and down, none the worse for wear as he looked around at the three teenagers he had just defeated.

"Well, that was fun!" He laughed loudly, putting his fists down on his hips. "You guys put up a pretty good fight! Hadou, you almost hit me a few times there - it's harder to get the flyers! So! Anyone need ice?"

Three groans on the ground told him that yes, they all needed ice, so he jogged over towards the water fountain where bags of ice would probably be located.

The sun was beginning to gently set outside the gym, with the lights above being flickered on so that they could see properly. At this time, they were the only ones left in the gym, everyone else having headed out to either go home or do additional training around the campus, so that left the four of them to have the entire gym to themselves. Their fight had taken about an hour to get through, and no matter what Izuku, Itsuka and Nejire did to try and catch him off guard, trapping him in a corner or just ganging up on him, he managed to slip out every single time and deliver them a completely one sided beatdown.

So … pretty much what they had expected going into this fight.

But luckily for them, since they had walked in with those expectations, their prides weren't as wounded as they could have been, accepting Mirio's hands to help them stand up, Izuku wobbling a bit and glancing over as Itsuka climbed awkwardly to her feet, taking the ice from Mirio with a grateful smile and immediately moving to press it against her stomach as Mirio went to help Nejire up.

"So!" He happily clapped his hands together as he looked between the three first-years, Nejire's hair covering her face as she pressed the icepack he had given her to her side, "You guys up for round five?"

"Nope," Itsuka shook her head, trying to remain positive as she raised her shaking fist to give him a thumbs up, "I think we're good. Thank you, Togata-senpai."

"Mm-hm," Nejire agreed with her, beginning to take a few pain-filled steps towards the changing room and drawing their attention to her, "that was fun! Very intense. I think I almost threw up a few times. But I also think it's getting really late - Yuuyu's probably at her after school job by now, and I need to go home to let Mom and Dad know to leave food out for her. Just so I'm nice! So I'm gonna go take a shower."

"That right?" Mirio shrugged. "Well, it's up to you guys! I thought you all did great today!"

"Yaaaaaay," Nejire cheered a bit unenthusiastically, which made both Itsuka and Izuku blink and look after her as she wobbled away from their group.

"Er - Hadou, are you sure you're okay?" Itsuka asked, feeling a bit worried. "Do you need help walking?"

"Nah, I'm fiiiiine!" She managed to say in a sing-song voice, albeit very stiffly as she took another slow step, "Just … kinda wobbly. I'll be okaaaaaay …"

And that was when, with another step forward, she ended up toppling over, collapsing on the floor. Both Izuku and Itsuka squeaked in concern, and Mirio blinked in surprise, and together the two first-years ran over to make sure she was okay, with Itsuka sinking down and quickly taking Nejire by the shoulders to lift her up.

Thankfully, Nejire seemed fine, but a bit woozed, and raised her hand to pinch her nose as a bit of blood began leaking out of her nostril, presumably from her smacking her face against the floor just now.

"On second thought," She managed to say in a clearly pain-filled voice, "I think I need help to get into the bathroom."

"Oh, jeez," Itsuka winced while Izuku fretted above them, and Mirio grimaced weakly in apology. "In that case, uh … hold on, Hadou, I'm gonna take you to the bathroom so we can get you cleaned up - and stuff some toilet paper up your nose. Do you think we can go grab Recovery Girl? Would she still be here at this time?"

"I'll go get her!" Mirio volunteered, saluting the two girls and Izuku while looking extremely worried for his fallen kohai. "This is technically my fault, so I'll go and grab her!"

Quickly, he ran away from their small group, Izuku and Itsuka watching as he quickly sprinted straight out the door and began running presumably towards the nurse's office. As the door shut behind him, Itsuka let out a small sigh, and looked up at Izuku.

"Izuku," She asked in a slightly awkward tone, glancing down at her own bruised arm and wincing, "do you think you can pick her up? My arm's still pretty bruised, so I don't think I can carry her all the way. We just need to bring her over to the shower room - I'll be able to help her inside then."

"Uh … sure," Izuku nodded, pushing aside what awkwardness could come from this as he looked at how woozy and out of it Nejire was, and quickly moved to kneel down. Nejire herself, who was still a bit out of it, blinked as Izuku moved to wrap her arm around his shoulders, and after a moment of debating with himself - feeling his cheeks go a bit red, but shaking it when he looked back down and saw how injured she was - tucked his other beneath Nejire's legs.

With a small grunt, he lifted Nejire up, Itsuka keeping close by to support her head, and together, they both began walking towards the showers. In his arms, Nejire stirred a bit, looking up at Izuku, and then down at how she was being carried. There seemed to be a switch that was flipped in her mind as she realized what was happening.

"Ooooooooh …?" She said in a drone-like voice, looking up at Izuku with a dusting of red on her cheeks, "Bridal carry …?"

"Uh, yeah," Izuku nodded, going a bit red himself, "Occhan usually needed help moving when we were training together, and sometimes it was just easier to carry her. Are you comfortable, Hadou?"

"Um …" She thought for a moment, Itsuka glancing around at her curiously as the blue-haired girl debated what to say - and then, with a small sigh, moved to lean her head against Izuku's shoulder, closing her eyes. Izuku sputtered for a second, staring down at the girl in his arms in shock for a moment and feeling his cheeks burn a bit hotter, while Itsuka's face fell at the intimate action, although she was quick to shake it off and raised her hand to shake Nejire's shoulder.

"Don't close your eyes," She softly told Nejire, the other girl lazily opening them to look at her, "we don't know if you hit your head, Hadou - we don't need you passing out if you have a concussion."

"Another concussion?" She whined childishly. "But I already dealt with concussions back during the … the battle trial. That was fun, right? We all got to fight together … I had a lot of fun chasing Uraraka around, even if I hit my head a lot."

"Yeah, it was … it was fun," Itsuka nodded, smiling a bit, "I'm sure we'll get a chance to do it again."

"Yaaaaaaay …"

Soon, they rounded the corner out of the gym and towards the changing rooms, with Itsuka leading the way and glancing back to see Izuku continuing to look a bit red with Nejire in his arms, with Itsuka frowning and trying to push down the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach as she opened the door to the girls' changing rooms.

"Uh …" Izuku faltered then, blinking and turning a bit redder - but luckily, Itsuka seemed to read his mind, her small pout disappearing as she let out a small giggle.

"No, Izuku," She shook her head, "I'm not gonna make you go into the girls' changing room. Even though that would be okay for you to do. Hadou," She asked the girl in Izuku's arms, "can you stand?"

"I think so," Nejire slowly nodded, and Izuku took that as his cue to begin lowering her down back onto her feet. As soon as her feet met the ground, Itsuka reached out, carefully wrapping Nejire's arm around her shoulders, albeit with a wince, and lifted Nejire up, looking over at Izuku with a small smile as he backed away.

"I can take care of her from here," She confirmed, "I just need to get her inside on the bench, and then we can wait for Togata-senpai to come back with Recovery Girl. Izuku, do you mind grabbing my phone from my stuff on the bench and bringing it to me? I just wanna text my mom and dad to let them know that we may be a bit late."

"Sure," He nodded, straightening his back now that he wasn't carrying Nejire anymore, "I'll go do that."

Nodding, Itsuka led Nejire carefully into the changing room, the blue-haired girl letting out a few mutters and asking slurred questions as she was brought inside. Izuku let out a small sigh as he watched the door close behind them, and nodded quietly to himself as he turned to walk back to the gym.

He smacked his cheeks a little bit to lose some of the color there - having Nejire unexpectedly rest her head on his shoulder was making him feel even more embarrassed than he had been just carrying her in the first place, so he needed to work on how hard he was blushing so that no one noticed him looking weird, as he rounded the corner -

- and almost ran into the guy standing at the back of the gym, with his back turned to the small entrance leading to the showers.

"W-whoa!" Izuku let out a small gasp of surprise as he nearly walked straight into the back of a guy facing away from him, quickly stumbling back and almost tripping over himself. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself before he fell over onto his butt, only managing to back up so that he was leaning heavily against the wall, having smacked his back against it and blinking and shaking his head a bit.

"Oh, I'm - I'm sorry -" Izuku began to apologize, looking back up at the newcomer as he likewise looked around at the teenager - but then he found himself faltering, blinking at the familiar face before him as he turned and looked at Izuku through his glasses.

"Ah," Nighteye nodded, "there you are, Midoriya."

"I - Sir Nighteye?" He managed to squeak out, unable to hide his surprise as Nighteye reached over to help him straighten up, and after a moment of hesitation, accepted the pro hero's hand and allowed himself to be lifted off the wall and back onto his feet. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I ran into Mirio outside," Nighteye nodded, putting his hands in his suit's pockets as he took a step back, letting Izuku walk a bit into the gym with him, "and he informed me of what happened, and that he needed to go find Recovery Girl. Luckily for him, she's out in the grounds - some students got tangled up with vines, so they needed her to heal them. She should be back in a few minutes or so."

"Oh, uh - that's - that's good. But … why are you here? At UA?"

"I had a meeting with Nezu," He explained, "and it ran a bit late. We were discussing work studies for this year. But I came here for another reason," He tilted his head, staring down at Izuku as he brushed himself off lightly, his gym clothes having gathered a bit of dust from having been laying down on the gym floor, "is Kendou here, Midoriya?"

Izuku found himself pausing his attempts to dust himself off at that question, staring down at his feet for a moment as he registered what Nighteye had just asked - and, unable to control himself, felt hims awkward look fade away as he began to scowl down at his feet.

It had been mostly due to Nighteye's surprise appearance that he didn't immediately remember, but at the name of his training partner leaving Nighteye's lips, Izuku couldn't help but think back to what Itsuka had said when she had told him and Ochako about One for All.

"Izuku, you defended me from Nighteye - you don't know this, but this is the real reason he doesn't approve of me - he doesn't think I'm worthy of One for All."

"What?! Then - then when he came to the beach -?!"

"He was there to convince All Might to change his mind."

Attempting to keep control of himself, Izuku straightened his back to look back up at Nighteye, trying as hard as he could to keep his face even. This entire time, he had thought the only reason Nighteye had kept coming to the beach was because he wanted All Might to change his mind about making Itsuka his successor - but it had been so much more than that.

All Might had chosen to give One for All to her, and Nighteye had been trying as hard as he could to convince him that giving it to Itsuka was a mistake.

And that … very much did not sit well with Izuku, obviously. But he had to try and keep his manners.

"She's … in the changing room," He explained in a short tone, "our classmate got beat up pretty bad, so she's going to stay with her until Recovery Girl gets here."

"Hm," Nighteye nodded, looking away from Izuku to where he had emerged from the small hall that led to the changing rooms, "that's good. In that case, I'll wait here - I want to speak with her once Mirio and Recovery Girl come back."

"If …" Izuku hesitated for a moment - and then shook his head a bit and took a deep breath before responding, "… if there's something that you want to tell her, I can tell her for you. I'm sure that you're busy."

"No, I'm afraid it's important -"

"I can do it."

Nighteye felt himself blink at how … intensely Izuku had said that. Sounding absolutely sure, as though there was nothing Nighteye could say to change his mind. Slowly, he looked back down at Izuku, seeing the young man's clearly struggling attempts to remain composed, although there was a small, angry look in his eye.

Subtly, Nighteye's own face fell a bit, frowning as he straightened himself up and removed his hands from his pockets.

"I am to assume," He said, his voice sounding a bit cold, "you know what I wish to discuss with her?"

There was a moment's pause - and then Izuku nodded, glancing around as though to make sure they were both truly alone, and then said, in a low voice, "One for All."

Nighteye regarded him for a moment, and then let out a small sigh, taking off his glasses and bringing out a cloth to wipe them.

"I see," He slowly nodded, "so … was it Kendou who told you? Or All Might?"

"Kendou," Izuku confirmed, still attempting to keep himself composed, although there was a small bead of sweat running down his forehead, "but All Might knew she was going to tell us. And he approved."

"'Us'." Nighteye noted. "So I'm to assume Uraraka knows as well."

"That's right."

"I see." He nodded again, putting the cloth away and moving his glasses back onto his face, "Well, Midoriya - I understand. I won't voice any complaints - All Might seems to trust you and Uraraka, so I will not disprove of you knowing the secret. Of course, that's to assume that he would've even listened to me. Just so you know, what I wish to discuss with Kendou isn't about her holding One for All - although it does concern it."

"In that case," Izuku tried to stick to his guns, "I can tell her for you when she isn't busy."

Nighteye let out a small sigh, turning to look back into the gym, and frowned.

"I'm … Midoriya, I'll be honest with you," He decided to admit, "I'm a bit saddened that you're choosing to disregard me as All Might is. You and I, we're on the same side here - we only want what's best for All Might. We just … have different people in mind that we want to continue his legacy, and let him rest."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, "and that person is Kendou."

"Yes," Nighteye nodded as well, looking back at him with a frown, "and I say the best choice is Mirio."

Izuku opened his mouth to argue his point further, not wanting to give any ground to him - and then he blinked. The name that left Nighteye's mouth made him pause, feeling himself falter off as he stared ahead for a moment - and Nighteye nodded as well, turning to look at him fully again.

"Yes," He nodded, "Mirio Togata. You've obviously met him."

Standing there for a moment, Izuku stared ahead, his mind slowly grinding to a halt - and then, he felt his eyes widen as he recalled a conversation he, Ochako and Itsuka had about a week ago.

"… Mirio Togata."

"Er … yeah? What about him?"

"I'm … I was just thinking, but … is it just me, or have we heard that name before?"

"Wait … now that you mention it … I … think we have?"

"Yeah, I - yeah, we have. Now that you mentioned it, Kendou, yeah, we - we've definitely heard his name before. But … from where?"

As that conversation relayed in his head, at long last, Izuku finally remembered where they had heard Mirio's name before.

"As I’ve been trying to tell you, you're making a mistake, All Might. I’ve told you, time and time again, I have been training Togata for years now for exactly this, and he's ready. You don't need this girl as your successor when I've already got one prepared."

And the words Mirio had told them just a few hours ago suddenly reverberated in his head.

"So you guys wanna know what I did?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, if I was to improve my marks, I realized it - I had nowhere to go but up. So that meant that I needed to get experimental with my quirk! And lucky for me, I ended up getting scouted by my mentor after what happened at the sports festival."

"Your mentor? You mean, someone you interned with."

"Yep! He's the reason I'm where I am today. He reached out to me after I messed up at the sports festival - took me in, told me that he could help me figure out my quirk, and help me master it. And you know something? That's exactly what he did! Taught me how to predict everyone's movements before they even made them, so that I knew what to do, and how to use my quirk, before they could even have a chance to think it themselves."

"Wow … your mentor sounds pretty cool, Togata-senpai."

"He is!"

Slowly, Izuku felt his mouth, which had been hanging open slightly, close into a thin line, and he slowly looked back up at Nighteye as he moved his hands behind his back, nodding slowly at the look of realization on the young man's face.

"Yes," He repeated himself, "Mirio Togata. I believe you're well acquainted with him by now. He mentioned to me that he sparred with you last week, Midoriya, and that he would be helping your class get ready for the sports festival. I'm happy to hear that you accepted his offer to help you with your quirk - you two have a lot in common, and I imagine that you'll be a great hero as well once you master your quirk like Mirio did."

"I …"

"Mirio also mentioned Kendou," He looked away again, seeing Izuku pale a bit out of the corner of his eye, "said that she seemed enthusiastic to spar with him. I assume that the same fight he was in with you and your classmate, Kendou was involved in as well?"

"… yes." Izuku said in a quiet voice.

"And did she hit him?"

"… no. None of us did."

"I see," He nodded again, turning to face the doors to the gym that would lead outside and let out a sigh, "I'm not trying to drive a wedge between you two, Midoriya - believe me, that's not my intention. I think it's good that you and Kendou can rely on each other. But surely, you can see it? You can see why I'm pushing for Mirio to be the one to receive One for All?"

"…"

"I'm sure that given time, Kendou will become a good hero," Nighteye gave the girl not even present to defend herself that, although he still frowned as he stared up at the ceiling, "but you can see the potential of what One for All could be in the hands of Mirio, can't you?"

"…"

"I'll let you think on it," The pro hero nodded, beginning to walk away from the silent Izuku across the gym to the exit, "and eventually, I think you'll agree with -"

"She's still worthy."

Nighteye's step faltered at the quiet statement coming from behind him, the pro hero staring at nothing for a moment as he blinked. Turning to look back around at Izuku, he felt himself wrinkle his brow - Izuku's fists were clenched, his eyes on the ground, and sweat was moving down his forehead.

And yet, when Izuku looked up at Nighteye, meeting his analytical eyes, the young man's were filled with defiance.

"It doesn't matter if - if Togata-senpai is great as well." Izuku told him, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice as he met Nighteye's eye, "What he told me about his quirk, he's - he's amazing, of course, I - I won't deny that. But he also told us this afternoon about - about how he met his mentor. Which … I suppose he meant you."

"That's right."

"He told us …" Izuku took a deep breath, and then let it out, "… how awful he was with his quirk before he met you. He didn't know how to use it, so he was always behind the rest of his classmates."

Nighteye frowned at that.

"The reason he is where he is today - he credited you. He told us that you gave him a chance - the very same chance you keep denying Kendou. I know what you're trying to do - you're trying to make me compare her to Togata-senpai. You're trying to make me realize that she's inadequate when it comes to him. You want me to help you convince her to give up One for All."

"That's -" Nighteye began to deny.

"But she earned One for All." He was sure to emphasize his words, clenching his fists tighter together as he glared into Nighteye's eyes. "All Might had Kendou work her hardest to earn it, and she did. Unlike you, I was there. I saw everything. I saw every piece of garbage she picked up, every hit she got from Kendou-sensei in the dojo - she worked her butt off to prove to All Might that she was worthy of being his successor. And she did."

"…"

"She wasn't handed One for All. She earned it. And that's why," Izuku took another breath, and then exhaled, feeling his cheeks go a bit red as he said, "Itsuka shouldn't give it away because you want her to. She earned it."

There was a long silence in the gymnasium as the two stared at each other - Nighteye beginning to regard the boy coldly, and Izuku glaring at him with all the fire he had. And then, with a small sigh, Nighteye turned back on his heel and began walking out of the gym. Izuku watched him go, seeing the pro hero not even bother to look back at Izuku at all as he pushed the doors open, and moved out into the twilight, the gym's doors closing behind him.

There was a moment's pause - and then Izuku broke.

"Oh, holy crap," He wheezed, bending over a bit and clutching his hammering heart, "that was the most stressful thing I've ever done!"

Letting out a few pants, and allowing his nerves to get the better of him at long last, he began to mutter worriedly to himself.

"Oh, god, I just talked down to Sir Nighteye. I just talked down to Sir Nighteye. All Might's former sidekick. Oh, god, why did I do that?! How did I do that?! I mean, I would do it again, but - but oh, god, I just made an enemy out of a pro hero! What was I thinking?! I could've done that in a much less confrontational way, but - but he was shittalking Itsuka!"

There was a moment's pause.

"Wait. Oh, god, I called her Itsuk- I - I mean, I called Kendou by her first name!" He let out a groan, feeling his face explode in a blush. "What was I thinking?!"

He continued to bemoan and mutter to himself for a few more minutes, pacing back and forth and muttering to himself at speeds previously unknown to himself or Ochako as he tried to calm down how hard his heart was beating. He was so busy in his panic, raising a hand to his eyes to cover his vision, he was unable to see that he wasn't … technically alone.

Mostly due to the fact that a specific orange-haired girl poked her head out slightly from around the corner near the changing room, and then moved it back so she was hidden again.

Around the corner, Itsuka's hand found her heart, feeling it beating almost as hard as Izuku's probably was right now. Her face was completely red, staring blankly ahead at the wall opposite of her. She even found herself breathing a bit unevenly, breathing in and out a bit shakily and sharply as she tried to calm herself down … and yet, she couldn't.

She had come out of the changing room to find out what was taking Izuku so long, once she was sure that Nejire wasn't going to pass out from the concussion she might have, only to hear a very familiar voice. Having hidden around the corner, she had listened to the conversation between Izuku and Nighteye, frowning when she heard Nighteye wanting a word with her - and then hearing her confirm where they had heard Mirio's name before.

She had been disheartened, listening to Nighteye compare her to Mirio, and she had unintentionally begun to do the same. Realizing that the guy she couldn't even land a hit on was supposed to be All Might's successor. There had been a part of her that had almost rounded the corner to admit that Nighteye had a point - and then Izuku had spoken up for her.

She remembered watching the scene carefully, hiding behind the corner, as Izuku had passionately defended her. Sounding like he was about ten seconds from going over to smack Nighteye in the face for badmouthing her, and trying to plant seeds of doubt in her friend. How he threw Nighteye's comparisons of her to Mirio back in his face. How he made it clear that he considered her worthy of One for All.

How he called her by her first name for the very first time.

And her heart wouldn't calm down, no matter what, and her face continued to burn.

Hearing Izuku defend her … how much he truly valued her … Itsuka felt her eyes close as tears began to well.

Last Friday, Setsuna and Yui had brought up the possibility of her liking him. Itsuka had denied it with every fiber of her being, pushing aside any stupid thought that suggest that she viewed Izuku as attractive. She had told herself that there was no way.

But who was she kidding at this point?

Itsuka looked back up, letting out a shuddering breath as she finally accepted what she had been attempting to deny all weekend, probably all year, ever since she met him on the beach that day. She knew that this would change nothing - it was clear that he and Ochako liked each other, and there was no way she would stand in the way of that. She knew that she had to work on being able to face him without going red in the face, talk to him normally without giving away anything was wrong. That everything was still fine, and that she still considered him her friend. Her best friend.

But … but as the doors to the gym opened again, with Mirio walking in with Recovery Girl and Izuku squeaking and jumping at them as though he had forgotten that they had been coming, Itsuka finally forced herself to admit, even if it was just to her, the one thing she had been afraid of all weekend, as she slowly turned to walk back to the bathroom and pretend she had been in there the whole time.

She loved him.

She was in love with Izuku Midoriya.

And her heart fluttered at that thought.


"Oh! Shouto!" Fuyumi exclaimed in surprise, standing at the counter with her plate and looking delighted to see him. "Welcome home! I didn't hear you come in!"

"Hello, Fuyumi," Shouto stoically greeted her, frowning a bit as he adjusted the loose blue training shirt he had changed into, and opened the fridge to retrieve his water bottle.

It was true that he had come home relatively quietly - once he was inside, and Endeavor wasn't there to greet him and take him into the study for another one of his lectures, he had headed right to his room, changing out of his school uniform and into his exercise gear. He had stayed behind a bit longer after school than usual, so he could practice with his mother's quirk - it was still a bit difficult, but he was confident that with his ice alone, he would be able to win the sports festival with ease.

His conversation with Itsuka at lunch had lit the fire in his stomach, as much as that thought made him frown. Now that she clearly reciprocated his challenge, he had to be ready - he wasn't sure what she was capable of, only that she had clearly caught All Might's attention. But he couldn't hold back in his physical preparations - knowing how to use his quirk was well and good, but he knew that it was also important to practice how to throw a punch.

"Are you headed out to the yard?" Fuyumi asked him interestingly as she walked by him, carrying her plate of food as she tried to make conversation with her distant youngest brother. "If you want, I can cook you something for after - it's been a while since we've all been home at the same time."

"That's okay," He shook his head, closing the fridge behind him and heading towards the door leading outside with his water bottle, "I can make myself something later. I don't know when I'll be back in."

"Okay," She nodded, although her smile faltered, "but, uh - just so you know, he's outside too."

"Endeavor?"

"Uh … no."

Shouto stopped at that, blinking slightly as he turned back to look at Fuyumi, who was giving him a small, sympathetic look.

"… brother's home?"

"Yeah," She slowly nodded, putting her plate down on the table and straightening up a bit, giving him a soft look, "we went to visit - uh - anyway, yes, he's outside."

"Oh," Shouto slowly nodded, his face turning into a scowl as he turned back towards the door, "I see."

"Shouto -" Fuyumi moved back into the kitchen, reaching out to touch his shoulder, but Shouto was quick to move away from her, towards the door. The young woman stared after her youngest brother, a frown appearing on her face as he walked out of the kitchen, and then dropped her hand sadly down to her side.

As Shouto moved to the door, he let out a small sigh as he paused, closing his eyes. Having his brother visit their was … not what he was expecting to happen tonight, but maybe …

… no. Don't walk into this with expectations. That was his mistake last time.

With one last deep breath, he nodded to himself, and slid the door open to step outside.

As it was when he had gotten home, the sun had completely set on the Todoroki household, the clouds still visible in the dark sky as stars began to twinkle above, and there was enough light coming from inside the house that he didn't need to turn the porch light on. Stepping out the porch, he slid the door shut behind him, nodding to himself and taking another breath.

He was aware of the smell of smoke coming from the side before his brother spoke up.

"What do you want?"

Closing his eyes briefly at the low, irritated voice, Shouto breathed out, trying to ignore the bad smell on the side, and turned to look at his brother. As he had expected, Touya was leaning against one of the pillars of their home as he kept his cigarette in his mouth, sucking in a bit of smoke before exhaling. At the very least, he wasn't wearing his hero costume, instead wearing a loose white t-shirt and jeans, making it clear that he was at the very least staying the night. Raising a hand to scratch the side of his face, where one of the scars he had from his various surgeries was, he glanced over at Shouto, his icy blue eyes narrowing slightly as Shouto looked back around.

"I'm just doing some training," Shouto informed him, knowing that his brother didn't like long answers coming from him, "I didn't mean to bother you."

"I'm sure you didn't," Touya huffed, turning to suck on his cigarette again.

Nodding, Shouto moved down to the yard, putting his water bottle down on the porch, and walked over to his spot, his shoes crunching against the dirt as he walked out a good distance away. He could feel Touya's eyes watching him, but he knew better than to comment - he didn't need an icy remark or insult thrown his way, so he was content with working in silence.

Taking a stance, Shouto threw out a punch, practicing the moves that his father had drilled into his head for years, as he took a few deep breaths before continuing to practice, throwing out a kick. During that time, he could tell that Touya was continuing to silently watch him, but Shouto kept quiet while feeling the tense atmosphere - there was a part of him that wanted to talk to his older brother, but he knew that if Touya wanted to speak with him, he had to be the one to speak first.

Luckily - or unluckily - for him, Touya took a long drag of the cigarette and exhaled.

"So," He said, "you're training for the sports festival."

"Yeah," Shouto nodded, keeping it simple, and throwing out another punch.

"Heard the old man is coming to watch."

Shouto felt himself pause at that, staring ahead for a moment - Endeavor was coming to watch the sports festival? The old man hadn't informed him of that - but he shouldn't be surprised, his eyes narrowed as he threw out another punch. Of course Endeavor would want to stand as close as he could to the arena while his masterpiece was off fighting.

Probably so he could shout at him from the sideline.

Although that did raise the question …

"Are … you going to come too, Touya-nii?"

"Me?" Touya scoffed, shaking his head. "Hell no. Why would I wanna come watch you?"

Shouto tried his best not to wince at that.

"But keep this in mind, little brother," Touya leaned forward, drawing Shouto's attention to him as his older brother gave him a pointed, unimpressed look, "you're not just representing Endeavor when you get out onto that field. You're representing me. And I'd much rather not have to answer questions from reports about why my little brother stumbled over the finish line at a stupid school contest. So you better be aiming to win."

"Of course I -"

"No," Touya suddenly interrupted him, forcing Shouto to quickly silence himself as his brother tossed the cigarette onto the ground, stomping on it with his foot while glaring into Shouto's eyes, "when I say you better win, you should say, 'Yes brother, I will win'."

"…"

"Say it."

"Yes, brother," Shouto repeated dully, turning to stare at the ground, "I will win."

"Good." Touya nodded, looking off to the side. After a moment's pause, he spoke again. 

"Fuyumi and I went to see Mother today, in case you didn't know."

"…"

"And before you ask, no, she didn't ask about you." He let out a scoff as he glared at his youngest brother. "I'm not sure why she would even -"

"Hey, Touya!"

Both young men blinked at the sound of a voice suddenly coming from the door, and looked around as it slid open. Fuyumi quickly poked her head out from the house, smiling happily - although, as Shouto looked around and saw, it looked a bit strained.

Thankfully, though, at the sight of his younger sister, Touya's scowl vanished at once, giving her a happy grin as his mood did a complete one-eighty and Shouto continued to stare at the ground so as not to show her his frown.

"Hey, Fuyumi," Touya grinned, "what's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that dinner's ready, Touya," She informed him, "you should come get it while it's hot."

"Oh, damn, that was quick! I'll be in in just a sec."

Nodding, Fuyumi began to move back into the house, stealing a small glance at Shouto again. While her smile faded as she stared sadly at her youngest brother, she still knew there wasn't much she could do - knowing how Touya was talking before, while she hid behind the door, she knew that it was useless to try and interrupt her oldest brother - but thankfully, she knew that giving him something else to do would have him wrap up his lecturing very quick.

As the door shut, there was a moment of silence between the two Todoroki brothers.

"Like I said," Touya's voice suddenly became drone-like and monotone again, "don't fuck up."

With that, Touya began moving towards the door Fuyumi had gone through, wanting to go and have some dinner. Shouto stood there for a long moment, his fists clenched at his sides - and then he took a deep breath.

"I'll make you proud, brother."

Seeing Touya pause at the door out of the corner of his eye, Shouto turned to look up at him. His older brother didn't look back at him at all, but he knew that he was listening.

"I … know that there's expectations on me," He quietly admitted, "from both you and Father. I don't care what that bastard wants, but … but I know the media likes to go after you. I don't want to make things harder for you, so I'll … I'll win the sports festival, just to rub it into Endeavor's face. I'll make you proud."

Touya stood there for another moment while Shouto stared at his back, waiting for a response. And then, Touya let out another scoff.

"You'll make me proud, huh?"

"Yes."

"Heh." He shook his head, and straightened up, "I sincerely doubt it."

And he opened the door, stepping inside, and then slid it shut, leaving Shouto out in the dark.

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/Lvu7Fs7.png
And that was Chapter 24! My apologies that it took a bit longer, and that it was ... much longer than I anticipated it being XD I wasn't entirely content with how the chapter was when I first wrote it, so it required a bit of a rewrite so that it would be coherent. Once again, I apologize for making you all drudge through 38,000+ words - I hope you enjoyed all the content this chapter had!

And oh, my, look at how much has happened! We got One for All developments! Gran being an old fart! Nezu and Tenko being real with Itsuka! Itsuka going through a bit of a crisis that her beloved hair has gotta be dyed! We got rivalries! We got Momo revealing a shocking truth about her and Shouto! We got Nejire helping out the OFA squad! We got Mirio talking happily about his mentor while we all kinda cringe on the side! We got Himiko teasing Ochako, and getting her to realize her own feelings! We got the official IidaYui due date! We got unexpected Togachako smooches! Nejire got her bridal carry, even if she was a bit out of it to fully realize it! We got Izuku passionately defending his gf! We got Itsuka realizing she *wants* to be Izuku's gf! And finally, we got - as many of you probably suspected - a Hero Touya!

Or a ... slightly more morally upstanding Touya. Maybe.

And indeed, we finally got pay off to one of the picture teases I posted before that has now been retracted!
https://i.imgur.com/ZXXnxHY.png
Now, before anyone panics that our little complicated love triangle - square - thingy - is going to get even more complicated, worry not! The Togachako parts of this fic have been pretty much taken care of. How Ochako will grapple with what happened in the nurse's office, however - what with Himiko making out with her and tossing a wrench in the 'I'm too ugly for Itsuka and Izuku to notice me' side of her - will definitely have repercussions going forward. I hope you're all excited!

And for the record, that kiss I mentioned in an earlier chapter? The one in ten or so chapters? It wasn't this one. XD

Thank you all so much for reading! Now that I've dragged this on far enough, it's time to finally get to what we've been building up to for the last few chapters or so - The Sports Festival! I hope you're all ready for our first round coming up next!

See you then!

Chapter 25: The Sports Festival Begins!

Summary:

As the UA Sports Festival begins, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka have to find a way to set aside the awkwardness to succeed - as the teachers of UA are definitely not going to make this year's events easy, and their classmates would not make getting to the next round any easier as well ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

At long last, this was it.

Two long, grueling weeks of training had finally come to pass.

Two weeks filled with sweat, tears, blood, and a bit of the three mixed together.

Two weeks filled with determination, nervousness, and a bit of terror at the thought of performing in front of hundreds - potentially thousands - of people.

And here it was. The day of the sports festival had finally arrived.

And Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, at the current moment, were in a panic.

But not for the reason one would expect.

Finally reaching the UA gate after walking up the busy sidewalk, so early in the morning that the sun was just beginning to shine over the campus and Eri yawned widely, still holding onto Itsuka's hand as they walked, the trio couldn't help but gulp nervously as they glanced to their left, seeing the line that had started for the civilians wanting to come watch the festival. The sun was just beginning to rise, and the line already stretching down the street, with people lined up down the sidewalk next to the UA barrier while talking excitedly or peeking around people's shoulders to see what the holdup was. Inside the campus itself, several small stores were already set up along the pillars that would lead to the school, with the entrance to the school having a billboard that displayed a small map of the area and how to get to the arena.

From the looks of things, everything was pretty much ready to go, and simply waiting for UA to begin bringing in the guests - reporters were lined up outside the barrier talking excitedly among each other, some of them turning to look around at the group standing at the gate and raising their cameras to get pictures of the three students in their school uniforms, with Itsuka quickly scowling at them and moving to stand in front of Eri to block her from their view. Other than that, the civilians along the wall were simply content with standing around chatting, clearly anticipating what was about to come as they pointed up at UA and looking excited to finally pass through the school gates.

So everything seemed to be in place, and the sports festival was only a few hours away from getting started.

Alas, the three teenagers couldn't truly bring themselves to feel nervous, or excited, about competing today. Mostly due to the fact that they were a little distracted by not being able to look at each other without going red - but for Izuku and Ochako, it was a bit harder for them to look at Itsuka than it usually was.

Mostly due to their eyes raising to the top of her head, and blushing as they took in her new appearance.

Indeed, as Itsuka had been instructed by the teachers, she had bought some temporary hair dye for today's events, so as to disguise herself from whoever may be specifically watching for her. After a bit of debate on what to do, Itsuka had decided to keep things simple, and picked out a dye that would turn her normally flaming red hair a simple black color, which had made Tenohira giggle non-stop this morning when her daughter emerged from the bathroom looking just like she did when she was younger.

But the problem had started once they had all left the house to go meet with the Midoriyas and the Urarakas, and Izuku and Ochako had taken one look at her new hair -

- and went extremely red, looking away from her quickly so as not to be caught staring. Which confused Itsuka, and kind of made her sad that neither of them were complimenting her new hairdo.

So … believe it or not, surprisingly, things were pretty eyeball-rolling at the moment.

"Wow," Taiyo let out a low whistle as the group stood right outside the barrier and looked up at the main building of the school, putting his hands in the pockets of his jacket while gulping a bit nervously, "y'know, I wasn't payin' too much attention back when I firs' swung by 'ere, but I never realized how … er … intimidatin' this place looked."

"You're telling me," Hisashi likewise looked nervous, chuckling while Hakushu scratched his beard and glanced around while feeling rather out of place, "it's kinda dumb, but I never really expected this place to be so … big."

"Oh, you three are just being babies," Tenohira giggled while Teko, standing beside her in his regular traditional Japanese clothing, merely frowned and crossed his arms across his chest, not looking impressed at all as he looked back down the street, "this place is amazing! I wonder if we can do a little tour before the sports festival starts - what do you think, Itsuka? Do you think we can walk around the grounds a little bit?"

"Uh … maybe, Mom?" Itsuka shrugged, still looking through the gate for who was supposed to meet up with them, "I'm not exactly sure the teachers would be okay with it, but maybe if you're with …"

"Well, I think that would be exciting!" Miwa clapped her hands together, moving to look down at Eri as the little girl looked around at her from behind Itsuka's leg, "Wouldn't it, Eri?"

"Mm-hm." Eri nodded, glancing down at her feet while squeezing on Itsuka's hand.

As one could see, Eri was still a little bit nervous around the Midoriyas and the Urarakas - which was to be expected, of course. She had only met them last weekend, with Izuku fulfilling his promise to let her visit where he and Ochako lived, and brought her to their apartments so she could have a look around, and during her little tour she had ended up meeting both sets of parents. They had been extremely kind to her, having been brought up to speed on her situation well in advance, and it wasn't as though Eri disliked them - she was just a little nervous around people she barely knew.

At the very least, she seemed to like Inko, with the little girl giving her a small wave this morning when they had met up that nearly caused Inko to burst into tears at the cuteness, and had to restrain herself so as not to flood their group down the street with her crying.

Thankfully, before any of them could stand around awkwardly for any longer than they had to, trying to ignore the media who were obviously trying to take pictures of them, a familiar voice suddenly called out to them from within the gate.

"Good morning, everyone!"

At the sound of footsteps quickly jogging towards them, the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan (as Taiyo had jokingly referred to them this morning as they set out towards UA) looked around through the gate, seeing the man they had been waiting to meet up with quickly hurrying towards them wearing a nice black suit for the event today. Inko, who had been giggling at something Tenohira had been whispering to her, quickly straightened up as All Might, in his weakened form, gave them all a wave as he jogged over towards them, and she quickly cleared her throat as a small blush appeared on her face. Izuku, who had been likewise looking happy to see their mentor, glanced around at her and blinked at how red face had suddenly become as she tried to quickly smooth out her dress, while Hisashi likewise caught the look from his ex-wife and let out a small chuckle.

"I'm sorry for keeping you all waiting!" All Might panted a bit as he reached their group, moving to put his hands down on his knees - evidently, to the three teenagers, he wasn't used to running around in this form - "I was helping out with something near the stadium before I remembered you were all waiting for me - I almost forgot to keep track of the time!"

"That's alright, Yagi," Hakushu chuckled, reaching out to pat his shoulder as the taller man looked up at them, "we haven't been waiting for long, we actually just got here. It's good to see you!"

"Yeah," Taiyo grinned, "nice tah see ya so bright and early. And thanks again for gettin' us tickets for this thing!"

"It's the least I - or, you know, All Might - could do," All Might straightened his back up, having caught his breath, and smiled as he took out the eight tickets from his pockets for the adults and Eri, passing them around carefully as he checked the names on the ballets to be scanned on the UA barrier, "he thought that it would be nice to have you all come and watch the sports festival personally! Er - don't tell him that I thought this," He leaned in to mutter to the Kendous, looking a bit sheepish, "but I also think it's why he has me working at the school today to help out UA with the festival - he wanted me to come watch Young Itsuka, Young Ochako and Young Izuku perform personally, and thought he'd reach out to you all as well."

"Well, I don't think any of us will be complaining," Tenohira giggled as she accepted her ticket, "and it's nice of All Might to have wanted you to see your trainees perform."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, turning down to smile down at Eri as she awkwardly shuffled behind her leg at the sight of All Might - she had briefly met him last week when she had come to the apartments, but Itsuka could tell that his sickly appearance still took the little girl aback, "Eri, do you wanna say hi to Coach?"

"Um …" Eri gulped rather nervously, but still glanced out from behind Itsuka towards All Might, who turned to smile down at her, which thankfully seemed to help her be a bit more at ease - even in his sickly form, his smile was still kind and assuring - "… hi, coach."

"Hello there, Eri."

"Is …" Eri turned back to stare up at the main building of UA again, still looking a bit nervous but turning to look at Izuku, reaching out to tug on his hand to get his attention, "… is this the place where you learn things, Deku?"

"Huh? Oh," Izuku blinked, remembering their conversation a few weeks ago and turning to look down at her with a smile, "y-yeah, Eri! This is UA - it's my school. And - and it's Kendou and Occhan's school too."

Ochako turned to nod happily at the little girl as well, while Itsuka frowned a bit sadly at the sound of her last name leaving Izuku's lips again and turned to pout at the ground.

"Yep!" Ochako tried to sound excited for Eri as the little girl turned to look up at the brown-haired girl in curiosity. "This is where we go to learn how to be heroes! And it's also where we're gonna be doing our sports festival - are you excited?"

"Mm-hm," She nodded, "Hira said there might be apples …"

"Oh! Yeah, there should be - you might even be able to get a candy apple!"

"Candy apple?" Eri blinked a bit at that.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, looking up from her pout and smiling at the clear interest the little girl had in that little concept, "it's a kind of candy - they dip the apple in sugar to make it taste sweeter."

"A sweeter … apple …?"

The adults tried not to laugh too much at the intrigued look on Eri's face as she thought of an apple that tasted even sweeter than she was used to, and Inko let out a giggle as she reached down to take Eri's other hand, the little girl looking up at her with a bit of hope.

"Can I have a candy apple, Inko?"

"I'm sure they're not ready just yet," Inko smiled down at her, "but once they are, of course you can! We'll buy you one so we can share, just in case you end up not liking it."

"Okay!"

"Kendou, Uraraka, Midoriya."

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka blinked at the sound of a familiar monotone voice calling their names, and everyone looked back around through the gate. Coming up the path towards them was Aizawa, still wrapped up in bandages with his arms in casts, but he was still clearly staring at his students as he walked stiffly towards them.

The three students quickly straightened up nervously - there was a smidge of annoyance in their homeroom teacher's voice, and quickly figured out that he probably wasn't in the mood for any fun and games at the moment.

"You shouldn't just be standing out in front of the crowd just yet," He told them in a flat voice as he finally reached their group, glancing at the reporters with a clear look of dislike, "just to make sure you don't get bombarded by the media. You three should head for the classroom - we're going to do a quick homeroom meeting once the bell rings before we head out to the stadium."

"Y-yes, sir!" Izuku quickly confirmed for the three of them, and then turned to Eri as she glanced up between the three teenagers. "It sounds like we're gonna have to head inside, Eri - we'll see you later, okay?"

"Okay," She nodded, glancing around at Ochako and opening her arms. Ochako, for her part, took the hint immediately, giggling as she moved down to give the little girl a hug.

"Kendou," Aizawa turned to look at his class's representative, who looked around at him as his own gaze behind the gauze looked up towards her head, "I see you did as instructed by Principal Nezu."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, raising her hand to run through her now black hair, not noticing Izuku and Ochako glance at her again and then quickly away as their faces went red again, "it's just some temporary stuff - it'll wash out once I have a shower tonight. Although it … might keep my hair a bit dark for the next few days, I think that was a side effect of the hair dye."

"Hm," Aizawa hummed, not really caring for the side effects, "well, as long as whoever was coming around that corner doesn't recognize you, you could dye your hair all the colors of the rainbow for all I care. Now then - as I said, you three need to head over to the classroom. I've got things to tell you all once the bell rings."

Quickly nodding to their homeroom teacher, the three students quickly turned to say bye to their parents, while All Might and Aizawa took a small step back so they could wait for the three teenagers to be wished good luck, Eri walking up to Aizawa to poke his leg as the pro hero glanced down at her.

"H-hello, Ai- uh -" Eri stuttered a bit, not entirely certain how to pronounce his name, but luckily for her the annoyed look behind Aizawa's bandages softened as he looked down at her.

"Hello, Eri," He greeted her in a much gentler tone, "you can just call me Ai-san."

"Ai-san ..." Eri repeated, and then quickly nodded. She then turned to look back at the three families that were exchanging goodbyes, and then quickly hurried back over towards the Kendous as Tenohira hugged Itsuka, the little girl seemingly content that Aizawa's sour mood from before seemed a bit less now.

"Izuku," Inko said in a clearly worried voice, reaching up to pat his cheeks with both hands, "please be careful, okay?"

"I will, Mom," Izuku assured her, while Hisashi moved to pat his shoulder with a grin.

"Do your best, kiddo!"

"Alrigh', Chipmunk," Taiyo rubbed his daughter's back while Miwa gave her a hug, "kick some ass out there! Er - well, don' actually kick someone's ass - or - or do? Y-yeah, be sure to - uh - literally kick some kid's ass."

"Taiyo," Miwa looked up at her husband with a raised eyebrow.

"I - y'know wha' I mean! Righ', Ochako?"

"Uh … I think I'm gonna stay out of this one."

"Now, Eri," Tenohira knelt down as Itsuka also knelt before Eri, the little girl looking around a bit confusedly at the Kendou matriarch, "Itsuka has to go get ready for the sports festival now, so we're not gonna see her for a little bit. But we will see her out on the field in a few hours or so, okay? So be sure to cheer extra hard for her so she can hear you!"

"Okay," Eri nodded at that, and then turned so she could give Itsuka a hug. The now black-haired girl let out a small giggle and hugged her right back as she glanced up at her dad and her grandfather. Hakushu reached down to pat her head affectionately, and Teko, who had kept quiet for the last hour or so it took to get to UA, put his hands in his pockets and gave a curt nod to his granddaughter - which was all Itsuka really needed to know that he was wishing her good luck.

With their goodbyes and various 'good lucks' given, the three students straightened back up, flashing smiles to their parents and Eri as All Might stepped forward.

"I suppose if that's that, we should let them head to the classroom," The disguised pro hero confirmed, aware of Aizawa glancing at him as though wondering what he was doing and feeling strangely nervous for some reason, "so, er … if you would all like to have a look around the grounds, perhaps I could be of assistance? All Might's agency is having me work the entire time during the festival, but I do have some free time now before it starts. I'd be more than happy to give you all a small tour."

"Oh!" Inko blinked at that, a smile of delight appearing on her slightly rosy face as she quickly nodded on behalf of the group, "W-well, if it isn't any trouble for you, Coach Yagi."

"'Coach Yagi'?" Aizawa muttered to himself, sounding more than a little confused and annoyed about whatever was happening at the moment as All Might purposefully tried not to look at his colleague, gesturing for the adults and Eri to follow him while also trying not to meet Izuku's eyes, the young man glancing at his mother in similar confusion for that reaction and back to All Might in clear suspicion.

As the small group walked away, Miwa and Tenohira giving Inko amused looks while their husbands (or ex-husband in Hisashi's case) tried to pretend they weren't noticing anything out of the ordinary, and Teko merely followed in silence while Eri waved goodbye to the three teenagers while holding Inko's hand, there was a moment of silence left in their wake, with Itsuka and Ochako trying to pretend they didn't notice anything weird as they strolled away. And then their bandaged teacher let out a small sigh, shaking his head as he turned to walk away, his eyes on Izuku as his student was still staring at All Might with a small, suspicious glare.

"I have no idea who that guy was," Aizawa said in a dry voice, the three teenagers somehow automatically knowing that he was lying through his teeth, "but he seems to be hitting on your mother, Midoriya."

Izuku let out a small sputter, whipping around to stare at his homeroom teacher with an expression that seemed to be a mix of 'how dare you say that about my mom' and 'please be joking, sensei', but alas, it was too late to try and counter what his teacher said as Aizawa turned to begin walking away, walking a bit slowly and hunched over from his injuries.

Ochako and Itsuka could only turn to give Izuku a sympathetic look as he slumped forward, looking like life was draining out of his eyes as he tried to grapple with what he was now forced to see with his own two eyes.

"All Might is hitting on my mom," He muttered, sounding completely horrified as he began to slowly walk forward, staring at the ground, "All Might is hitting on my mom. She's … my mom was hitting on All Might, but she doesn't know that he's - I -"

"Deku," Ochako reached over to pat his shoulder, although she felt herself go red as she touched him and quickly withdrew her hand before it go weird, "I'm sure that Aizawa-sensei is just pulling your chain."

"I'm not," Itsuka quietly said while grimacing, not wanting to push Izuku further into despair, and let out a small sigh as she finished waving to Eri as the group of their parents rounded the corner and vanished from sight, Izuku's wide, scandalized eyes quickly whipped up to follow All Might as he turned to chat with Inko before they both moved out of his vision, "anyway, it's like Aizawa said - we should probably head to class before some reporter stops us to talk and we get swarmed."

"Uh … yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, still in despair at the thought of his mother fancying someone (he loved his mom, of course, and he liked All Might, but those two thoughts put together just made him feel clammy), but before they could start moving forward towards the school, a few familiar voices suddenly spoke up behind them.

"Yo! Guys!"

"Good morning!"

"Oh, man! Kendou, your hair!"

Blinking, the trio looked around at who was clearly calling to them, feeling surprised at the rather … odd trio coming towards them. Sure, seeing Eijirou and Mina walking together didn't seem too weird to Itsuka, seeing as they all went to the same middle school together, but seeing Tenya walking behind them both, raising his hand stiffly in greeting towards the three training partners, was enough to make them falter somewhat in surprise.

"Uh … hey," Itsuka greeted them, glancing between the three of them, "good morning, guys. Did you … come to school together?"

"We ran into each other at the train station," Eijirou explained, seeing Itsuka nod in understanding, "I wanted to be at school a bit earlier today than usual - y'know, just in case there was a delay - and I ran into Ashido, and then we both ran into Iida."

"I had thought it would make sense to come together!" Tenya chopped his hand, "As we are all students in the same class, we were discussing our individual strategies for the festival later today. I hope that you three, and everyone in our class, is prepared! We are facing a long, strenuous day ahead of us, so I will be making sure that everyone drinks enough water and keeps hydrated enough to hopefully lower the risk of students potentially collapsing!"

"Er … great, Iida, that's great. Honestly, that sounds like a good idea."

"Wow! Kendou, your hair looks awesome!" Mina giggled as she moved towards her class rep, staring up at her dark hair. "Kinda wish you went for something more extravagant, though - like pink! We could've been twinsies!"

"Nah," Itsuka shook her head, giggling, "I wanted to keep things simple. But who knows? Maybe I'll like it enough to consider dyeing my hair pink next time."

"Ooh! Maybe like a permanent dye? Like Kiri-"

"Eh, uh -" Eijirou quickly stuttered, interrupting Mina as the two girls looked around at him, "- m-maybe we can talk about hairdyes later? We, uh - we gotta concentrate on the sports festival, after all!"

Mina tried not to roll her eyes at Eijirou glancing over at Tenya as though fearing his reaction, but still waved her hand and smirked a bit, giving him some mercy and dropping the subject.

Her lack of surprise over Itsuka dyeing her hair, of course, was due to Itsuka having explained to the class the previous day, once school had finished, an abridged version of what was going on with Eri, and why she needed to dye her hair for the day. For the most part, everyone had understood, giving her thumbs up and promising to not overreact in shock when she came to school the next day with much darker hair - everyone, at least, except for Katsuki, who had of course just stalked out of the classroom without a care when Itsuka had asked them to stay behind.

Of course, the only people who felt like they were somewhat overreacting to Itsuka's new hairdo was Izuku and Ochako, who stole a small glance at Itsuka again and glanced up at her now dark hair, and glanced away, Izuku feeling weirdly nervous for some reason and Ochako fighting the urge to look again.

"Kinda weird, isn't it?"

Izuku jumped a bit at the voice chuckling behind him, and quickly whipped around to look at Eijirou as he stood beside him, crossing his arms and grinning at Itsuka and Mina before looking back around at Izuku.

"You're so used to seeing someone with their usual hair for so long," He laughed, "then once they change it, it's hard not to look."

"I - uh -" Izuku stuttered, feeling himself go red as he realized he had been caught staring, but thankfully, Eijirou didn't seem to be in the judging mood, letting out a sigh as he moved his hands into his pockets. Instead, Eijirou's grin fell slightly, and he cleared his throat as he looked back around at Izuku, aware of Ochako standing closeby as Tenya walked over to look at some of the stalls that had been set up.

"Er … anyway, Mido-bro," Eijirou glanced down at his shoes, looking awkward, "there was actually … uh … something I wanted to apologize to you guys about."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at Eijirou in surprise while Ochako likewise turned to look at Eijirou with her eyebrows raised. "You want to -? Uh - what about?"

"Uh … yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, looking a bit confused, "I didn't realize you did something to apologize about."

"Yeah, well …" Eijirou kept his eyes locked on his shoes, looking guilty as he awkwardly shuffled, "… I just … noticed that I've been really flakey on you guys lately. I've been hanging out a lot with Kami-bro and Awase, and I just … well, I realized that I haven't really been talking in our group chat lately, and haven't really been hanging out with you guys at lunch either."

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, turning to glance at each other briefly before looking back at Eijirou.

"Things have been so hectic lately, I just kinda …" Eijirou hesitated for a moment, and then quickly shook his head, "… no, it's - it's not manly to be making excuses. I've been a bad friend, so - I'm sorry, bro."

"I - oh, no, Kirishima, it's - it's okay!" Izuku quickly assured him, reaching over to pat his shoulder and seeing Eijirou glance up at him with a small, sad frown, "Seriously, we - well, we did notice that you weren't hanging out with us, of course, but - but we understood that it wasn't because you didn't want to. We can't seriously be angry at you for making other friends, right?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, smiling gently at their friend, "we can't be mad at you for hanging out with other people. I mean, we've been spending a lot of time with Hadou, Yaoyorozu and Iida - does that mean we're being bad friends too?"

"I … I mean …" Eijirou grimaced slightly, still not looking entirely convinced by that, but their quiet conversation was suddenly interrupted by Tenya clearing his throat, making their small group look around at him, Mina and Itsuka pausing their own small talk, to see him gesturing towards the school stiffly.

"I believe that it's time to head to class!" He informed them as he continued to gesture with his hands. "Kendou broughty me up to speed on Aizawa-sensei's instructions - it's clear that we are not to hang around outside until the festival, so I believe that we should head inside to make sure that our preparations are complete. As well, if you'd like, I can show you the message Tensei sent me last night to share with the class."

"Ooh! Your brother wanted to ask about us?" Mina asked excitedly, her eyes shining with excitement, "Was he offering us good luck?"

"Indeed! Tensei won't be able to watch the festival until much later, since he has a mission to do in Hosu later today, but he wished for me to tell the rest of our class good luck. He's very interested in how we perform today!"

"Aw, that's sweet! Maybe we can send him a message later? Before the festival starts?"

"Well … perhaps! But I believe that we should be concentrating on getting ready!"

"Nah, I'm sure he'd love a bit of love from us before his mission! We can send him a message wishing him good luck!"

"I - well, that would be a distraction from his duties, wouldn't it?!"

As Mina and Tenya walked together down the path towards the school, lightly arguing about whether or not to send his brother a message, Eijirou let out an awkward chuckle, rubbing the back of his head, and turned back to glance at Izuku and Ochako. Both of them likewise looked up at him, and Izuku, although he looked a bit nervous, still smiled and raised his closed hand for a fist bump.

"Are we cool?" He asked in an unsure voice, but Eijirou laughed a bit, looking a bit embarrassed, and gave him a fist bump.

"Yeah, we're cool, Mido-bro," He nodded, "just … me be dramatic. Still, you and me still need to head out on the town to do something eventually! We got interrupted by those stupid villains the last weekend, so eventually you and me are heading out to the arcade!"

Izuku nodded a bit at that, more than willing to hang out with his friend, and Eijirou, with his spirits noticeably lifted, began jogging forward to catch up with Itsuka as she followed Tenya and Mina into the school in order to compliment her new hair, to which she giggled and likewise pointed up at his own red hair. Straightening up, Izuku let out a small sigh as he likewise began to follow the small group down the path towards the school -

- only for him to accidentally bump his shoulder into Ochako's causing them both to blink as they looked around at each other.

"Oh, uh - sorry, Occhan," He tried to give her a confident, albeit shaky smile, as he took a step back, "after you."

Letting out a small chuckling-noise while smiling weakly, Ochako took the invitation to walk in front of him, feeling her face turn a bit hotter - but it wasn't due to the warm weather. As for Izuku, of course, he likewise looked a bit unsure about her reaction, his shoulders sagging slightly again as he began to follow her towards the school.

Indeed, as one might have noticed from their interactions that morning, there was something … rather strange going on with the three training partners. For one, Itsuka couldn't help but pout a bit as she glanced behind her shoulder at Izuku and Ochako, having expected her two friends to at least make some kind of comment about her new black hair - it looked pretty simple, of course, and would wash out easily, but she at least expected Ochako to compliment her, and her getting absolutely nothing caused Itsuka's mood to go down considerably. Ochako, meanwhile, turned her gaze to her feet, trying as hard as she could to not look up at either of her two best friends as she quickly put her hands in her blazer's pockets, and feeling her face continue to burn as Izuku moved around to walk right beside her. And Izuku, for his part, glanced back up at Itsuka's hair, feeling himself gulp nervously, and then turned back to glance off to the side at the various stands that were still being put up, feeling himself frown a bit at Ochako subtly trying to put a little distance between them, glancing off to the side and staring at anything else but him.

Yes, for various reasons, it was kind of hard for Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka to look at each other, talk to each other, even think about each other, without feeling weirdly embarrassed - but for reasons, as mentioned before, that were very different.

It started, really, about a week ago, when Izuku had shown Mirio and Recovery Girl to where Nejire had been in the changing room with her concussion. Left alone outside with Itsuka, he had attempted to avoid looking directly at her as though she had somehow gained a mind-reading quirk that could pick up how embarrassed he was about defending her so passionately from Nighteye and accidentally calling her by her first name, despite her telling him earlier that was alright to take his time. And, because he kept looking away from her, he completely missed how Itsuka was unable to look at him either, her entire face red as she nervously wrung her hands together and tried to fight down a grin that just wouldn't go away as she thought about him.

Once Nejire had enough energy back to go home, the bouncy girl glancing between the two embarrassed teenagers in confusion for a moment before she left, Izuku and Itsuka had gotten changed and left Gym Gamma, still unable to look at each other, to go find Ochako after she had been dragged off by Himiko to parts unknown. They eventually found her walking back to the gym in an almost trance-like state, and when she had glanced up at them, she likewise went completely red, quickly moving her gaze to her feet as they walked back to the train station together.

And now … it had been an entire week, and now neither one of them had any idea what was going on with the other.

Itsuka feared that glancing at Izuku for too long would reward her treacherous mind for falling in love with him (a thought that made her shrivel up and die on the inside, and had made her come home that very evening to jump into bed, slam her burning face into her pillow, and kick her feet up and down, much to Eri's confusion), so she would try not to look at him anymore than she had to. Izuku, while initially getting over his embarrassment overnight, still felt weirdly nervous around Itsuka the following days, feeling his heart thump in his chest nervously whenever he glanced at Itsuka, and would try to glance around for Ochako whenever he and their training partner were left alone. And Ochako, meanwhile, would have difficulties looking at the both of them without being reminded of what Himiko had said to her in the nurse's office.

"I take love very seriously, you know. And how you look at Kendou … you aren't subtle. It's not just her butt you're looking at. From how you look at her? You're in it deep, girl - which is why I'm surprised that Kendou isn't the only one you look at like that. You're just … not very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in."

"If you say you're just friends, then fine. I won't argue with you. But like I said before, I take love very seriously. I can always see when people have feelings for each other. And you - love him. Even if you don't realize it."

God damn it, Ochako scowled as she walked forward with one training partner beside her and the other in front of her, this was all because Himiko couldn't keep her tongue in her mouth, and insisted on putting it in hers! That stupid conversation that they had just - it had done something to her that made sure that she wasn't looking at Itsuka and Izuku like she should be.

For the last two weeks, it had been hard to think about Itsuka and Izuku without a voice that sounded weirdly like Himiko's trying to force her to remember the conversation about her potentially … liking them. And to Ochako, it was frustrating.

She shouldn't be looking at Itsuka and Izuku like she has been. She shouldn't be remembering the kiss with Itsuka and feeling her legs shake at how intense it had been, having weird dreams about soft lips and hands roaming all over her body that made her wake up in a cold sweat. She shouldn't see Izuku in his gym uniform and stare at his arms, wondering how they had gotten so muscular without her even noticing. She shouldn't listen to Itsuka laugh about something Setsuna was joking about and feel her heart skip a beat at how cute her training partner's giggles sounded. She shouldn't see Izuku sitting across from her at the dinner table, see him laugh at something her dad said, and her heart begin to beat a bit harder in her chest.

Himiko had no idea what she was talking about. She wasn't in love with Izuku. And she definitely didn't have feelings for Itsuka. What had happened in the nurse's office had just made her feel suddenly disoriented. She'd be back to normal in no time.

But there was one thing that neither Izuku, Ochako or Itsuka could deny - they knew that there was soemthing going on with the other two.

Itsuka glanced behind her shoulder at Izuku and Ochako again, seeing how awkwardly they were looking away from each other, and feeling herself frown a bit sadly as she turned back to talk to Eijirou. Izuku glanced between Itsuka and Ochako, and wondered if they had been talking to each other when he wasn't there, closing his eyes for a moment and sighing. Ochako glanced between Izuku and Itsuka, feeling her heart beat a bit faster and hating that she was thinking such weird things about them, guilt starting to course through her.

Something was going on with them. And they all knew that, sooner or later, something was going to come to a head.

They just weren't sure what.


About an hour later, multicolored fireworks began to explode over UA. The sun had finally risen up into the blue sky, white clouds floating above all their heads as the school bursted with activity. Reporters were still in the long, boring line at the front of the school doing the bag checks, some of them complaining but most of them knowing that there would be no way they could get into the school without having their things checked, accepting that UA wasn't dumb enough to not do a thorough search after having been attacked by villains.

Inside the gate, several people burst with activity as they walked along the various stalls, excitedly looking over the foods and desserts that were being offered, stopping by some of the stores that had masks shaped like the faces of All Might, Endeavor, Present Mic and other popular heroes. Excited gossip filled the air, from how Endeavor's son was apparently competing today to what small rumors they had heard regarding the highly talked about Class 1A, who had survived the attack against a group of villains - something that the HSPC had tried to downplay, but word still got out around the hero community and caused probably the most bookings for heroes to come watch the festival UA had gotten in years.

Normally, the third years had been the main event in the last few years, due to a combination of this being their last festival, and a perfect chance to show off how passionate and experienced they had grown over the years, with heroes, reporters and civilians all waiting for the first and second years to finish their festivals before they all converged on UA on the third day. And yet this year, a massive amount of people were heading towards the first year stage, with the various civilians who were allowed to walk the grounds talking excitedly about the highly talked about Class 1A, or else heroes that wanted to head over and see for themselves. They were all so excited, in fact, that many of them weren't even stopping to look over at Mt. Lady shamelessly using her looks to earn free food while Kamui Woods and Death Arms watched her in judgment and contempt.

And that, of course, meant that they weren't also looking over at the two heroes standing together near the road that would lead to the UA stadium. It was understandable that they would look them over, on the other hand, due to them being dressed rather casually, one blonde woman wearing her leather jacket and a hoodie while her headband kept some of her short blonde hair out of her face, and the other woman wore a nice red long shirt and blue jeans, her long white hair tied back in a ponytail while waiting for her friend to finish looking at her phone.

Rather … impatiently waiting, as her long bunny ears twitched and her foot tapped against the ground rapidly.

thump thump thump thump thump

"…"

thump thump thump thump thump

"…"

thump thump thump thump thump

"You stomping your foot on the ground," Ryukyu let out a small sigh, a begrudging smile appearing on her face as her friend scowled beside her, "isn't going to make me text faster."

"Well, what do you expect me to do?!" Miruko barked, causing a few of the other civilians to look around at her in surprise at the outburst. "I'm bored! I thought you said that we were gonna come watch some kids bash each other's heads in! Not walk around some dull school looking at stalls!"

"The sports festival doesn't start for another hour, Rumi. Do you really wanna sit around in our seats and wait for it to start?"

"… if it doesn't start for another hour, then why the hell are we here so early?!" Miruko growled, unable to really counter that (because sitting around and doing nothing sounded boring as fuck as well).

"Because I wanted to come have a look around," Ryukyu lowered her phone as she looked around at UA's main building, smiling, "it's been so long since I've been at UA - I think the last time I was here and got to look around, I was graduating. It's almost been ten years now - am I not allowed to feel nostalgic?"

"You are," Miruko crossed her arms with a small huff, "just don't expect me to get it. I couldn't get out of my high school fast enough."

"Oh, that's right, you graduated from a hero school down in Hiroshima, right? What was the name again?"

"Don't remember, and don't care to," Miruko shook her head, at least grateful that they started walking down the road towards the stadium as Ryukyu put her phone back in her pocket, "all I know is that it got a whole lot harder to break into fight clubs with all my teachers breathing down my neck. Stupid monitor on my ankle preventing me from running away from school - Osaka was honestly a gift from the gods, what a freakin' fight that was!"

"I imagine so."

"Nah, I don't think you do, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes."

Ryukyu chuckled, glancing around at more of the stalls interestingly while Miruko picked up a bit of fuzz off her shirt, frowning as she likewise looked around.

"So," Miruko glanced around at her friend, "dumb question."

"I was raised to believe that there was no such thing as a dumb question, Rumi," Ryukyu was unable to stop herself from smirking a bit, "but if you have a challenge for me, I'd love to hear it."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha." Miruko sarcastically clapped for her, punctuating each dry laugh with a clap of her hands. "Funny. Anyway, why did you insist on dragging me to this stupid high school stuff?"

"Because I'm looking for interns," Ryukyu explained in a patient voice, as though she were speaking to a tantrum-throwing little girl, "I've never had any hero students as interns before - I have sidekicks, of course, but I never participated in UA's work studies program. It's something that I'm interested in trying."

"Okay, but that's you," Miruko shook her head, pouting, "why do I have to be here?"

"Well, I was thinking that having an intern would help you out too," Ryukyu turned to smile hopefully at the scowling smaller woman, "someone for you to look after, and give some of your wisdom to. You've been working all over Japan ever since you graduated - are you saying that you would have nothing to teach a student?"

"Yeah, sure," Miruko shook her head, "maybe I would be able to teach a runt something. But there's one thing you aren't considering."

"And what's that?"

"I don't want an intern!" She barked, shaking her head and ignoring the people continuing to give her surprised, weird looks. "Like - c'mon, Ryu! How many times have I told you that I work alone? Teams are for weaklings!"

"Ouch," Ryukyu dryly commented.

"So thanks for thinkin' of me, but I'm good."

"I'm not saying that you have to overanalyze the sports festival," Ryukyu shook her head with a sigh, "but at least keep an eye open for anyone who catches your interest, alright? You've gotten in enough trouble with the HSPC lately as it is - they're pretty much just waiting for you to give them an excuse to take away your hero license."

"Ha! I'd love to see them pry it from my cold, dead hands!"

"Well," Ryukyu shook her head, "when all you do is pick fights with villains and don't solve crimes or participate in rescue missions, it tends to reflect badly on you, Rumi. God knows how you rank as highly as you do. So just … promise me that you'll at least consider an intern? Please?"

Miruko took a moment to glance over at her friend, scowling at the puppy-dog look in her eyes (or eye, in this case, since one of her hair's fringes covered the one on the right), and then let out a long groan as she thumped her foot against the ground again, a bit harder this time, as though she were a petulant child stomping her foot.

"Fiiiiiiiiiine," She growled out, "I'll keep my eyes open. But don't expect me to walk away from this stupid thing wanting to adopt some runt."

"That's all I ask," Ryukyu smiled happily, patting her friend's shoulder, "now, come on - we can go find our seats."

"Eh? But I thought that this thing doesn't start for another hour."

"Oh, it doesn't. I was thinking that we could sit down so I can advise you what to look out for when selecting an intern - I've been doing a bit of research."

"Wha -?! Then we'd just be sitting around and doing nothing! At least let us walk if you're insisting on lecturing me, especially if you're gonna make me sit down all day! And speaking of that, don't expect me not to do a few crunches in the stands!"

As the two women continued to walk over to the stadium, Miruko complaining the entire time while Ryukyu shook her head and smiled gently, back at the front of the school, the workers outside continued to slowly let the reporters make their way inside. They had strict rules, of course - they would all have to wait in a long line, with those who made it in the front having to open their bags to allow the workers to inspect their gear, and allow them to double check their booking in the sports festival. As expected, it was a long, boring process.

But at least, at the front, there was one person who didn't mind, flashing a smile to the gulping worker as he blushed a bit at her appearance, and glanced down to the names he had on the official list while holding his hand out.

"Uh - name, please?"

"Chitose Kizuki," She continued to smile as she handed him her purse, the man gulping nervously and accepting it as she tucked some of her lilac hair behind her ear, "executive director of Shoowaysha Publishing."

"Er … ah, yes, here you are, Ms. Kizuki," He quickly handed her the purse back after glancing inside and seeing the notepad and pen, and nervously scratched his cheek as he handed her the pass, "our apologies for the wait - security has to be a bit more strict after those villains broke in a few weeks ago."

"Oh, no worries," She giggled, slinging her purse over her shoulder, "I completely understand. After all, you wouldn't want to let more villains in, would you?"

Stepping through the gate, she looked up into the sky, watching as fireworks continued to blast above her as she strolled into the school. Walking past the stalls that the heroes and workers had set up, her green and black eyes trailing over the heroes she spotted in the crowds. But as she moved around the corner, seeing the large stadium in the distance, she felt a smile spread across her face as she began following the massive crowd towards where the first years would be performing, wanting to find her seat so she could start writing.

Ordinarily, she would've left it to a few of her own employees to come to UA this year, but after all the rumors she had heard over the last few weeks, she simply had to come and attend this year's sports festival herself. She'd normally avoid coming here like the plague - it had always been the third years that had been the main event of the past few years, and Re-Destro was always content with watching the event by himself to scout out those with strong quirks that could potentially be recruited to their cause.

But this year was different - this year, it was the first years that everyone was watching. But scouting a couple of teenagers wasn't exactly what Chitose had in mind, she shook her head to herself. Even ignoring the fact that Endeavor's son was competing this year, she had to come and watch Class 1A personally. If not to gauge how strong their quirks were, then she would be able to find … alternative means to get information.

After all … the rumor on the street was that the Villain Consortium attacked one of the most secure schools in Japan, and got away scott free. And now they were back on the streets, looking for others to join their cause.

Villains who desired strength above all else … those who may wish to use their quirks freely …

… well, Chitose smirked, that wasn't something the Meta Liberation Army could ignore, was it?


"HEY THERE, EVERYONE!"

At the sight of a familiar DJ appearing on the massive screens around the stadium, raising his arms happily into the air as he greeted the guests with a grin, the entire stadium roared back with cheers from the various civilians who had managed to get seats for this year's festival, throwing their arms up into the air as well as they all leapt up to stand. Multicolored fireworks continued to blast above the stadium as several members of the media began snapping pictures as quickly as they could, looking down at the massive field the stadium was surrounding on all sides as Present Mic continued to make happy gestures for the camera facing him.

"PAY ATTENTION, LISTENERS!" He commanded the cheering crowd, his voice audible even over the loud cheers to show how excited he was to deal with an actual lively crowd instead of the students who always cringed at his attempts to be cool. "SWARM, MASS MEDIA HORDES! THIS YEAR'S HIGH SCHOOL RODEO OF ADOLESCENCE THAT YOU ALL LOVE - THE ANNUAL UA SPORTS FESTIVAL - IS ABOUT TO BEGIN! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE. SO TELL ME, EVERYBODY - ARE YOU READY TO PARTY?!"

As several more shouts and cheers rang through the air, on the sides of the stadium near the field, several doors began to slide open, prompting everyone in the crowd to look around excitedly as the cameras immediately zoomed in on the dark corridors, and the shapes that were beginning to appear as the classes walked out onto the field.

"ALRIGHTY, THEN! IF YOU'RE ALL READY, THEN IT'S TIME FOR THE STUDENTS TO ENTER THE FIRST-YEAR STAGE! PLEASE GIVE THEM A CHEER!"

As triumphant music began to play from the speakers, the first years started walking out of the corridors onto the field, to loud applause and cheers. Leading the first group out, walking with his arms chopping at his sides, was Tenya, glancing around a bit nervously as he led the rest of his classmates out to the roaring of the crowd, followed quickly by Momo. Behind them, Itsuka grimaced slightly, still regretful that she couldn't lead her class out but knowing that the less time she spent at the front of the group the better, and thus allowed Tenya and Momo to lead their group out with Izuku and Ochako at her sides, Nejire rapidly patting Izuku's shoulder excitedly while he sweated nervously at how many people were surrounding them.

"THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL!" Present Mic continued to dramatically scream over the speakers and the roar of the crowd, the sound of fireworks blasting in the air making sure that everything was extremely loud for the students walking out onto the field, "THE TENSE BATTLE WHERE A FLEDGLING HERO CAN SHARPEN THEIR SWORD ONCE A YEAR! LET'S HAVE A LOOK AT OUR CONTESTANTS FOR THE DAY, HUH?! COMIN' UP FIRST IS THE MIRACULOUS NEW STARS WHO OVERCAME A VILLAIN ATTACK WITH THEIR HARD HEARTS OF STEEL! LET'S GIVE A BIG CHEER TO HERO COURSE, CLASS 1A!"

"Oh, man," Setsuna let out a small grumble, going a bit red as their group continued to walk across the field, "Mic did not have to call us out like that - now I feel like everyone's watching us."

"Technically, everyone is," Itsuka shrugged, although she looked pretty nervous as well as she put her hands in her pockets, "but I get what you mean - he really didn't need to play us up too much."

"T-there's - there's so many people …" Izuku nervously muttered, sweating a bit as he walked between Nejire and Itsuka, with Tenya falling back a bit to walk in front of him, "… this is … uh … really different than watching this kind of thing on TV."

"Are you gonna be okay, Deku?" Ochako asked worriedly, hesitantly reaching around Itsuka so she could pat his shoulder while her face went a bit red, "I get that it's a lot of people …"

"I believe Midoriya has a point," Tenya grimaced, looking around at their small group as well, "will we really be able to give our best while being watched by so many people?"

"It's something we'll have to be used to," Momo pointed out, patting Pony's shoulder as the smaller girl likewise looked nervous, "it'll be a bit harder with all this attention and pressure on us, but being in the spotlight is something heroes have to get used to."

"Nah, I think Tokage and Kendou's right," Eijirou felt a shaky grin cross his face, "I'd have handled this kind of thing a lot better if we just got a normal introduction, but Mic went overboard with the praise. I'm actually gettin' kinda nervous! What about you, Bakugou?"

"Nah," Katsuki grinned to himself, "I'm just getting more into it."

"COMING UP NEXT!" Mic continued his presentation, unaware of the students' lowkey complaining about him on the field. "THESE COOL DUDES AND GALS HAVEN'T BEEN GETTING AS MUCH AIRTIME AS THEIR CLASSMATES, BUT THIS CLASS IS ALSO FULL OF TALENT! ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE, CLASS 1B!"

Itsuka glanced, out of the corner of her eye, as Yuuyu led her own class out from the door that had opened for them, turning to shoot a small glare at Mic's face on the giant screen as he didn't give her class a grand introduction like he did for Class 1A, but at least she smiled when Nejire gave her a dorky wave from her spot in the Class 1A crowd, the punkish girl unable to resist waving back with a cheeky look. The guys behind her, meanwhile, tried to give off several looks of confidence in front of the massive cheering crowd, all of them scowling and looking serious. The one guy with gray hair, Tetsutestu, glanced over at Class 1A and caught Itsuka's eye, and he gave her a determined look while clenching his fist.

Raising her eyebrow at the weird guy looking like he was challenging her, Itsuka glanced around again, watching as Nejire jogged over to walk with Yuuyu, but as her eyes flickered around the group, her gaze fell onto the one guy she had been looking for. As he walked out onto the field, Shouto kept a calm, stoic face, looking around at the crowd for a moment, before he felt someone's gaze on him and he turned to look over at Itsuka, their eyes meeting.

Remembering their declarations of war, Itsuka tried, at least, to remain polite, giving him a curt nod. After a moment, Shouto's eyes narrowed a fraction, glancing up at her now black hair with a slight raise of his eyebrow, but he at least returned the nod with one of his own, as though to acknowledge her, before he went back to continue scanning the crowd as though he were looking for someone. 

With a sigh, Itsuka turned back towards the large podium both their classes were walking towards.

"AND THEN FOLLOWING THEM, GENERAL STUDIES CLASSES C, D AND E! SUPPORT COURSE, CLASSES F, G AND H ARE HERE TOO! AND BRINGING UP THE REAR IN THE BUSINESS COURSES, CLASSES I, J AND K!"

"Oh, jeez, way to just speed through them, Mic-sensei," Setsuna grimaced as she and Hanta looked around at the group strapped from head to toe in support gear walking towards the podium excitedly, while the students from the general courses, Shinsou in the lead, turned to give Classes 1A and 1B a bunch of dirty glares for their trouble, "it's not like they need any more reasons to hate us."

"At this point, there's nothing we can do," Momo assured her, although she likewise looked a bit peeved at their teacher, "Mic-sensei probably should have spent more time talking about them, but … well, like I told Kendou before, they are already certain about how they feel about us."

"ALL OF UA'S FIRST YEARS ARE OUT ON THE FIELD!" Present Mic continued his announcements, bouncing up and down in his seat as the first years walked onto the dirt field in the middle of the field, moving towards the podium in the middle of the field. "AND NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER DELAY, LET'S GET STARTED WITH OUR OPENING SPEECH, WHICH WILL BE HANDLED BY OUR BEAUTIFUL UMPIRE! EVERYONE, PLEASE GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO THE R-RATED HEROINE, MIDNIGHT!"

As Midnight strutted onto the podium facing the students, the massive screen behind her showing off UA's logo, Itsuka, Momo, Ochako, Setsuna and most of the girls tried their hardest to ignore several cat calls coming from the crowd, and feeling their eyes nearly roll into the back of their skulls as Midnight stuck her hip out provocatively, shaking her head as though teasingly enjoying the attention she was getting. Up in the stands, both Miwa and Tenohira turned to glare at their husbands as though to make it clear that their eyes should not be on the teacher, and both Taiyo and Hakushu quickly looked away from the field so as not to displease their wives, while Hisashi merely shook his head and chuckled.

"Now then! Let's quiet down!" Midnight suddenly smacked her flogger-styled whip down on the stage, making everyone in the crowd, field and everywhere else immediately silence their cheers and noises. "It's time for the opening pledge. For everyone out there who isn't aware of our traditions, every year, before we begin our festival, we have an opening pledge from the student representing their year. As she came in first place in the entrance exam, and has proven to be a capable leader for her class, please welcome to the stage - Itsuka Kendou!"

Straightening her back and feeling herself stiffen up slightly, Itsuka still nodded when Midnight looked around at her, and began to walk her way over to the stage, moving through the crowd of students to head towards the podium. Pausing at the steps, she glanced behind her at Izuku and Ochako, who, while still looking nervous, flashed her a thumbs up, while Setsuna gave her a confident yet assuring grin and Yui nodded.

With that being about all the assurance she needed, she took a deep breath as she began walking up the steps towards the microphone. Once she was up on the podium, mentally going over the speech that she had written and memorized in her free time, Midnight took a step back and let her have access to the microphone, giving her student a teasing smile.

"Knock 'em dead," She winked, and Itsuka slowly nodded, letting out another deep breath and trying not to look at all the cameras that were now probably zooming in on her, and feeling herself begin to sweat nervously - but not for the reason one would probably feel nervous in front of a camera.

It's okay, she mentally reassured herself, I'm in disguise. If Eri's caretaker is watching, he won't recognize me. It's okay.

Closing her eyes for a brief moment, Itsuka cleared her throat, and then opened them to look up at the now quiet audience waiting for her to speak.

"Good morning, everyone," She said into the microphone, trying her best to smile confidently and keep the shaking out of her voice, "I know how excited everyone must be for the sports festival to begin, so I won't take up too much of your time."

That at least got a few chuckles from the crowd, which did help Itsuka's shoulders loosen up a bit.

"I don't have much to say," She admitted to them, "but I will say this: I know that everyone out here in this field will be doing their best today. Everyone standing behind me made it into one of the top hero schools in the world. Everyone here is worthy to be a hero -" She hesitated for a moment, and then let out a small sigh as she continued her speech, "- and I am not just talking about the people in my own class."

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw some of the students from the other courses that were glaring at her back blink at what she just said. Shinsou, on the other hand, just gave her an unamused look, which she just decided to ignore.

"Everyone on this field with me has the ability, and the drive to win today. Just like I am, everyone will do their best to win. Please don't allow anyone to make you feel like you're not capable of excelling. Let's work hard together to show the world why we are UA students!"

Throwing her fist into the air, she tried to grin as confidently as she could. 

"Plus Ultra!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" The audience, and the students from behind her, roared in approval, and began to cheer for the girl on the podium. Feeling her nervous grin return, Itsuka lowered her fist, bowing quickly and thanking everyone for listening to her, and then made her way to quickly jump off the stage, hurrying back to her classmates. There, they were all grinning and raising their hands to give her some high-fives.

"Very well put, Kendou," Momo gave her a warm smile.

"Indeed!" Tenya fixed his glasses, grinning, "That was very well said!"

"That was awesome!" Nejire likewise praised her, grabbing Itsuka's shoulders from behind and giving her a small shake to share her excitement, "Oooooh, you've got me all pumped up now!"

"Yeah, good going, Ken."

"Mm. I kinda expected you to fumble at some point."

"Oh, thanks so much for your confidence in me, Yui," Itsuka sarcastically thanked her while giggling, and glanced around at Izuku and Ochako. While they both were still sort of red while looking at her, they were both grinning and giving her a thumbs up, which made her smile warmly -

"Pfft. Oh, please."

At the scoff on the side, the small group blinked, and looked over to see a few general studies students scowling at them, Shinsou staring dully ahead at Midnight as the pro hero moved the microphone off the stage.

"Telling us to bring it when no one's around, and then saying sappy shit when there's a camera on you?" One girl huffed. "Hypocrite, much?"

"Yeah," The guy beside her nodded in agreement, "saying you don't intimidate easily, and then immediately sucking up to the adults when they're looking at you."

Itsuka felt her smile from before fade while Izuku and Ochako straightened up behind her, looking around at the two students with clearly offended and angry expressions - and then Itsuka let out a small sigh, and shrugged her shoulders as she returned her gaze to the podium before them.

"I meant what I said," She told them, "I said a few weeks ago that we don't intimidate easily when you came to our class to pressure us out of our seats. But I also meant what I said about you guys being capable of winning today. But it's on you guys to actually win. And like I said, I'm fighting to win too."

The two general studies students scoffed again, and turned back to look at Midnight as she snapped her whip again.

"Now then! With our speeches out of the way, let's get started." Midnight grinned audaciously as she spun around to gesture towards the giant monitor behind her, "Our first contest is what you'd call a qualifier! Let's have a look at what our first game will be!"

The monitor suddenly displayed a massive rolling wheel, and everyone let out gasps as it began spinning without warning, making them all gulp as it spun too quickly for anyone to make out the potential games they would play - and then, just as suddenly as it had started spinning, it stopped, landing on one specific game.

OBSTACLE RACE

Our first game is … this!" Midnight happily announced as she wheeled back around. "All eleven classes will be participating in an obstacle course! Normally, we'd be having you do this course on the outer circumference of the stadium - about four kilometers - but we decided to take a little pity on you all," She sent a wink towards the students, getting a few blushes in response, "and we're going to keep it in the stadium this year!"

There were a few sighs of relief in the crowd of students - while the stadium was pretty big, it wasn't like it would kill anyone to run from one end of the field to the other -

"Of course," Midnight suddenly spoke again, her voice filled with mischievousness, "we can't just make it too easy on you all, now can we?"

And, right about then, was about the time the ground beneath their feet began rumbling.

Everyone - from the students on the field, to the people in the crowd - began to mutter in slight alarm as the entire arena began to shake, almost as though there was some kind of earthquake beginning. Then they heard the sudden noise of what sounded like gears being turned, as though there was something underneath the grass - and then Midnight turned her gaze up to the crowds surrounding the field, a large smile on her face.

"Now, for our dear audience," She giggled, "I suggest you hold onto your seats."

And at once, the entire arena began to open.

Several screams of shock, panic and exhilaration sounded out from the crowd as the students looked around, eyes widening, to see the entire arena beginning to spread open. The cracks opening up in the arena revealed several hydraulic presses pushing one side of the arena away so that the entire field nearly tripped in size, pushed away so that it wouldn't be so easy to run to the other side - meaning, essentially, that instead of running about four kilometers outside the arena, it was more likely that they'd have to run four kilometers inside it.

But then, as they all became resigned that they would have to run across this now huge field, the ground rumbled again. Itsuka, in a panic, grabbed both Izuku and Ochako's shoulders automatically to keep them steady as they suddenly began to move - the students letting out gasps as the grass beneath their feet pushed up, and then began sliding back as they, and the podium Midnight was smirking on, were moved onto the other side of the arena where more of the audience were letting out gasps of amazement, and they all glanced out to see …

… oh, boy.

Class 1A found themselves gulping at the sight of a gigantic hole in the middle of the field, and several platforms began to slowly rise from the hole that had just been created in the ground, the sound of engines rumbling as they floated out of the pit. Some of them stayed stationary, while others began slowly moving around as though this were some kind of platformer video game, one platform on the end shaking slightly before a blast of purple air pressure blasted up, and some teetered around and rolled due to their shapes. Along the walls, what looked to be a massive armada of cannons suddenly shot out, as though the walls along the stadium were some kind of pirate ship, and immediately spun around to aim at the students standing on the other side of the wall, as though holding them at gunpoint.

And on the large platform on the other end of the arena, a red holographic line suddenly appeared, flashing Principal Nezu's smiling face, before a small wall suddenly blocked their vision.

"Not feeling so confident anymore, now are you?" Midnight mused sadistically, smirking as several students whirled around at her in panic. "The rules of this obstacle race are as follows! You have to make it across this field of death without falling into the hole. Don't worry if you do end up falling - we have trampolines and safety nets waiting to catch you in case you slip off the platform, and several heroes are also below to catch you. But your objective is to make it across this field and pass through that red line. Sounds simple, doesn't it?"

"Nothing about this seems simple," Mina whimpered a bit to Setsuna, who was likewise looking very nervously at all the cannons pointing at them.

"But there will be a few catches," Midnight giggled, "number one - those cannons aiming at you? They'll be shooting at you in attempts to knock you off the platforms. Those platforms, meanwhile, will always be moving themselves - so be sure to time your jumps, or you'll be falling right down into the pit. You are able to use your quirks, of course, and we won't disqualify you for attempting to use them to disrupt your other classmates - but know that direct quirk usage, or deliberately pushing someone off the platforms, will get you kicked out of the game! I'll repeat that in case there's some of you who don't understand - use your quirk to push someone off, or just push them off yourself, and you might as well jump off the platform as well!"

Katsuki merely let out a grumble.

"As long as you stay on the course, don't directly attack your classmates, and make it across the field in one piece, it doesn't matter what you do! Now then, take your places, everyone! We'll give you two minutes to get ready, and once the horn on the other end of the stadium sounds, the race will begin! The first forty-two students to cross the red line at the other end of the stadium will move on to our next challenge! And as one last piece of advice …"

She licked her lips mischievously.

"… don't stay still."

Everyone gulped nervously at that menacing piece of advice, but without further delay, the students out on the field all turned towards the massive pit, watching as the platforms continued to slowly move from side to side as though this were some kind of video game. Itsuka, meanwhile, gulped nervously - the platforms were big, but it was clear that they weren't big enough to fit multiple people without tipping over.

And what Midnight had said about not staying still repeated on a loop in her head, making her let out a small sigh - she knew that slowing down for even a moment in this game would mean her adventures during the sports festival would come to an end, so she needed to think fast on her feet.

Glancing up at where the red holographic line was now blocked by the floating walls, Itsuka tried to come up with a plan as quickly as she could. She tried to remember the various sports festivals of the past she had seen before, of races and games of king of the hill and all that kind of stuff, and tried to rack her brains as to what she was supposed to remember - and then she felt herself blink.

Wait a second …

Staring at where the red line was supposed to be, Itsuka felt her eyes widen as she remembered a few sports festivals of the past and what they occasionally did - and then turned to where Izuku and Ochako were getting ready. Both of them were looking about as nervous as she felt, but at least Izuku seemed to be getting himself ready, hopping up and down, while Ochako looked like she was going to bring her fingers together to float herself.

Quickly, she reached over to poke her two training partners, making them blink and look around at her. While their faces did go a bit red when their eyes met, Itsuka tried to shake away her fluster.

"Listen," She told them in a quiet voice, "whatever you two do, don't get first place."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, his eyes widening a bit as he stared at her in shock. "What - what does that mean? Shouldn't we -?"

"I think it's a trick," She quickly explained to them both, with Ochako shaking herself out of her surprise as she hurried over towards where the crowd was beginning to walk towards the pit, Yosetsu gulping nervously near them as they approached, "usually, back in some of the sports festivals I researched for my assignment back in middle school, there's some kind of - I don't know, a drawback to getting first place that hampers you when we get to the second round. If we get first place, it could backfire on us."

"But - but we also want the heroes to notice us," Ochako pointed out, glancing up at the crowds of civilians and heroes in obvious conflict, "and wouldn't getting first place get us that attention?"

"Yeah, but then if we have something that's gonna affect us in the next round," Itsuka raised her eyebrow, "then there's an even bigger chance that we won't make it to the third."

Izuku and Ochako paused for a moment, turning to each other as though to gauge their own reactions - and then Izuku let out a small sigh as he nodded.

"I … I think you're right," He gave her, glancing between his two training partners as he bit his lip, "so … what do you think we should do?"

"Okay," Itsuka nodded as well, looking determined, "so we should be aiming for the top - but not the top. Second, third, fourth - anything but first place."

Both of them nodded at that, feeling themselves grin a bit - but before they could say anything else, there was the sudden sound of a horn going off. They quickly looked around to see a pair of three green lights on the other end of the pit, shining brightly so everyone both in and out of the field could see.

"Everyone take your places!" Midnight commanded from her spot on the side, "Once that last light goes off, the game will begin!"

The crowd around the field let out another loud cheer, and the students lining the field gulped nervously, the ones closest to the hole glancing down into the dark hole with sweat dripping down their faces. But they all knew that they needed to get over their fears and get ready - things were about to get very busy, with everyone glancing between the closest floating platforms that they could jump onto, glancing around at their fellow students in paranoia.

Momo, meanwhile, created a bo staff, intending to use it to propel herself over the gap. Tenya lowered himself to the ground, the engines in his legs beginning to rumble as he narrowed his eyes in determination. Setsuna disconnected her body parts, determined to float across the gap above the floating platforms as she nervously eyed the cannons. Near the middle, Katsuki sneered, throwing his hands back and letting explosions begin to pop in his palms.

And Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka tried to get themselves ready as well, unaware of someone watching Itsuka from behind.

"On your marks!" Midnight called.

One of the green buttons on the other end of the elongated arena suddenly blared, flashing off, and the crowd quickly hushed themselves, waiting in anticipation. In the crowd, Inko was holding on tight to both Tenohira and Miwa's hands, shaking with tears in her eyes while the two women held their excited breaths, and Hakushu and Taiyo both leaned forward in anticipation. Teko leaned back in his seat and watched as his foot tapped on the ground, and Eri munched on her candy apple.

"Get set!"

Another green button blared, flashing off, and the crowd were on their seats, waiting for this to begin. Several students began to edge their way towards the hole, looking to the floating platforms they would have to jump to. Pony hopped onto her horns to begin floating above the crowd, looking nervous. Nejire likewise began to float up, flashing the peace sign to Yuuyu as she backed up with the rest of her class, all of them getting ready to put their plan in motion, although many of them were looking pretty nervous that their big plan didn't really anticipate this.

And up in the booth for the teachers above the arena, All Might clenched his hands tightly together, feeling nervous for his students as he stared down at the three training partners he had trained so hard.

Remember, Young Kendou, He thought mentally to himself, remembering their conversation on the beach, you need to tell them that you're here.

And the last green button flashed off with a blare.

"GO!" Midnight yelled.

And the moment she yelled that, a sudden blast of ice suddenly rocketed under everyone's feet, making them all gasp and look down as they were suddenly held in place by the blocks of ice crawling up their legs.

"What the -?!" Ochako gasped, immediately beginning to shiver as her shoes were encased in ice, preventing her from taking a step forward.

"Huh?" Pony glanced down, her eyes widening in surprise at the state of her classmates, while Katsuki let out a small snarl as he tried to rip his foot out from the ice, gritting his teeth when it wasn't so easily done.

"Wait a second," Itsuka's eyes widened a smidge, "this is -!"

"Sorry, Kendou."

At the soft-spoken yet somehow arrogant voice speaking up behind them, Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku quickly looked around, and flinched when Shouto suddenly charged right past them.

"I said that I would declare war on you," He told her in a short voice, not even looking around at her as he passed, "but I didn't say anything about making things easy on you."

With that, he leapt through the air, letting out a grunt as he landed on the first platform and rolled to his feet. At once, ice began to spread across the platform, encasing it as he ran forward.

"OKAY! TIME FOR US TO DO A PLAY BY PLAY!" Mic excitedly exclaimed as he leaned forward over his seat, the crowd immediately beginning to cheer as the games started. "READY TO START COMMENTING, MUMMY MAN?"

Over the speakers, the crowd heard a low, suffering groan.

"How do you convince me to do this every year?"

"BECAUSE YOU LIKE ME!"

"Debatable."

"OKAY, TSUNDERE MUMMY MAN! SO WHAT SHOULD WE BE PAYING ATTENTION TO DURING THE EARLY STAGES OF THIS MATCH!"

There was a pause.

"What's happening right now."

As Aizawa and Mic continued their bickering over the loudspeakers, Itsuka stared after Shouto for a moment, her eyes going wide in indignation - and then, with a shout, she grew out both her hands to full size and threw them down towards the ice on her feet.

CRACK

The moment her fists hit the ground, the ice broke apart into tiny pieces, allowing her, Izuku and Ochako to get their feet out of the ice encasing them - along with several people around them - but Itsuka only hesitated for a moment to look behind her shoulder at her training partners.

"Todoroki's targeting me!" She quickly told them, "I'll make sure his attention stays on me - just remember! Anything but first place!"

"But Kendou -!"

Alas, before Izuku could protest - probably to say something about the three of them needing to stick together for this race - Itsuka immediately took off in a dead sprint after Shouto, glancing at the iced platform he left in his wake and knowing that it would be schmuck's bait to try and run across that, so she instead moved towards the one on the left. 

Letting out a grunt as she leapt over the pit, mentally ordering herself not to look down, she flew through the air for a moment before she came down on a cylinder, stumbling a bit before she managed to regain her balance, and began to run across the now enlarged field with the giant pit beneath her feet.

"Where the fuck do you think you're going, Ginger?!" Katsuki barked behind her, finally exploding himself out of the ice he had been captured in, and propelling himself into the air. He was followed swiftly by Pony, Setsuna, Nejire and Momo, the latter girl slamming her bo staff onto the ground and propelling herself through the air.

Pony let out a small squeak as Katsuki's quirk nearly blew her away as he streaked by her, throwing the transfer student off somewhat, but she luckily managed to regain her balance as Setsuna likewise passed her easily.

"Ha!" She laughed loudly, grinning widely as she soared over the platforms. "This'll be -"

BOOM

At the sound of a cannon being fired from the side, Setsuna glanced around slightly, and let out a yelp of surprise as she quickly dodged under the black ball launched straight at her face, but before anyone else could blink, the sound of cannon fire began blasting throughout the arena, aimed specifically for those who were flying above the platforms instead of jumping on them. Katsuki snarled as he was forced to blast himself off to the side to dodge underneath the cannonballs shot straight at him, but was unable to stop himself from getting clipped in the shoulder, leaving a black mark on his gym uniform and sending him spinning through the air as he landed on one of the platforms.

Feeling it shake beneath his feet, Katsuki grunted as he blasted off again, just barely avoiding a blast of purple air pressure emitting from the platform that would've knocked him straight up into the air.

"W-whoa!" Izuku winced as he landed on his own platform, wobbling slightly, but thankfully was able to regain his balance just as Ochako landed on the other platform next to him, and together, both of them began running. Now that people were managing to break out from Shouto's surprise attack, they were all now making their way onto the platforms to follow those who were now getting a head start, with Izuku glancing over his shoulder to see Yui, Tenya, Reiko and Fumikage quickly taking off, Dark Shadow using himself as a human shield for his master to block the cannonballs, and Yui landing on her platform made it wobble dangerously as the stoic girl's eyes briefly widened in panic, waving her hands as she nearly leaned over the side of the platform and into the pit before she managed to regain her balance.

Back on the patch of grass that they had all started on, Izuku could make out more people continuing to break out of the ice, which made him gulp nervously at how many people were starting to make their way onto the platforms, which would make sure that it would be dangerous to stay on a platform for any longer than he had to. So he was quick to turn back around, spotting a spinning platform to jump on, and grunted as he hopped off the current floating square he was on and onto it. 

There was still a large pit of spinning wheels and platforms to get through, so Izuku needed to get some distance between himself and everyone else before he got knocked over by someone using their quirk to disrupt him.

So, with little options left for him, Izuku raised the arm he had the red bracelet on, and pressed down on the blue panel to activate the Full Gauntlet. Once it formed around his arm, he took a deep breath, and threw his arm back so that it faced the platform beneath him, taking one moment to brace himself, and fired.

KRACK-BOOM

With a small yelp, Izuku was shot straight into the air, his eyes widening and his arms waving in panic for a moment as he flew up. In the crowd, Inko threw her hands over her mouth, her eyes watering as her baby boy was sent flying in the air, Miwa and Tenohira quickly trying to assure her that he'll be okay while Hisashi glanced around at the other kids running along the platforms.

"It's okay, Inko, it's okay!" Tenohira tried to assure her friend, "Izuku's got this!"

"Oh, goodness, I think I'm going to faint," Inko fanned her face.

In the stadium itself, Izuku quickly looked over to the side, seeing a few of the cannons starting to aim at him and follow his movements, so he turned his gaze quickly to the platform he was aiming for, knowing that as long as he landed on his feet -

- and that was when he heard an explosion to the side, and someone slammed straight into Izuku.

"Ah!"

"Shit!"

"OOOOOF!" Mic's teasing commentary sounded throughout the stadium, "LOOKS LIKE A MID-AIR COLLISION BETWEEN BAKUGOU AND MIDORIYA! YE-OUCH!"

"Watch where you're going, Shitty Deku!" Katsuki barked at him, planting his feet against Izuku's chest, and blasted off. The force of the explosion pushed Izuku back towards the ground - and far off course of where he had been aiming, Izuku realized in horror as he glanced back at where the edge of the platform was coming up a bit too fast for his liking.

Alas, it was a bit too late to attempt to fire off another blast with his quirk, as Izuku quickly hit the platform with a grunt - disrupting another girl with pink hair and support equipment, who gave him a small pout as he nearly clipped one of the items she was holding and quickly zipped off, and Izuku rolled dangerously near the edge - thankfully the platform seemed to be made of some kind of styrofoam so it wasn't too hard on his back, but he was still close enough to the edge that he began to fall off.

With a gasp of panic, Izuku scrambled to grab onto the edge, only barely managing to grab it with his left hand as he began dangling above a very long drop. Grunting, he tried to swing his other hand to grab onto the platform and lift himself up, glancing around briefly - and then spotting a cannon slowly turning to point at him, aiming right for his face.

"Oh, no," He let out a small whimper, "please don't let that be -"

BOOM

The cannon fired straight at him, prepared to break his nose and shoot him right off the platform into the pit below - but a hand suddenly slapped onto his, and he felt his weight disappear. 

Realizing what was happening, he quickly let go of the platform so that Ochako could easily lift him up into the air, the cannonball barely missing its chance to knock him into next week as he began floating up in the air like a balloon. As he dangled there, Ochako quickly began running along the platform, and Izuku could only hold onto her hand to prevent himself from flying off into the sky.

"Are you okay?!" Ochako quickly asked Izuku as she looked up at him from around her shoulder, Izuku gulping at the obvious stress and panic on her face as they both somehow forgot about the awkwardness that had been plaguing them for the last week or so, "Let me just jump to the next platform, and I can let you down so -"

"There. He. Is."

Both teenagers faltered at the sound of a robotic voice suddenly speaking up a few feet away from them, and Ochako quickly looked around as she skidded to a halt - and then her eyes bulged out of her head as what appeared to be several robots suddenly began crawling out of the pit like zombies, climbing up carefully onto the platforms before them. There were several gasps from the other students behind them as more robots continued to appear on the platforms, and Itsuka quickly looked around as she landed on her own platform ahead of them, what looked like a two-pointer appearing on the other end as several red eyes flashed at the students.

And then, with another rumble, several giant hands began rising out of the pit, making most of the ensemble classes widen their eyes in horror as they realized what else had come out to the party in order to block the path before them as the zero-pointers menacingly towered over them.

"Oh, no," Inko groaned, "I really am going to faint."

"WHAT IS THIIIIIIIS?" Present Mic screeched dramatically as the zero-pointers rose out of the pit, and several audience members gasped in shock, delight or a mixture of the two. "STRANGE OBSTACLES HAVE SUDDENLY SHOWN UP FROM THE PIT! STARTING WITH ... UA'S TRADITIONAL FIRST BARRIER! THE ROBOOOOOOOO INFERNO!"

"... why are you like this?" Aizawa asked his fellow commenter dryly.

"It is him," One of the robots droned out, before suddenly snapping into a battle stance, its voice becoming rather sinister, "the murderer of Villain Bot Serial Number 1678323!"

"The …" Ochako gulped nervously, pressing her fingers together to let Izuku land on the platform beside her, "… murderer of who?"

"I … I don't even know," Izuku shrugged a bit, still looking nervously around as the other robots began menacingly moving towards the other students coming up behind them, and turned to glance at Ochako, "so, uh - are we gonna -?"

"Wanna work together?" Ochako finished the question for him, and Izuku smiled gratefully at her as they both began to run together towards the robot still declaring vengeance against him, "Better than trying to fight each other and facing these guys alone, right?"

"Y-yeah! Let's do this, Occhan!"

On the other side of the stadium, Itsuka glanced over at her two training partners out of the corner of her eye, having already picked up the two-pointer coming at her and tossing it back over the side and into the pit, and let out a small sigh of relief as she saw Izuku and Ochako working together to jump over the robot that was advancing on them. Thankfully, they seemed to have the same idea that she did - get the robots out of the way rather than fight them, so they could keep moving forward.

Midnight's warning from earlier - to not stand still - kept ringing in her head, and she glanced around as she saw one of the general studies students, who had somehow gotten ahead of most of them, suddenly slow down as he came across a one-pointer, letting out a squeak as he stopped running forward.

Feeling her eyes widen, Itsuka quickly began running over, looking for a platform to jump onto as she called out to him, "Don't stop! Just jump to -!"

Alas, it was too late, as the guy quickly tried to back away as the one-pointer advanced on him, not thinking to jump on one of the closer platforms - and instead, his foot slipped near the side, and, with a shout of alarm, topped backwards, too out of Itsuka's reach for her to reach for him, and fell right off the platform.

Her words dying in her throat, Itsuka followed his descent with her eyes as she continued on, watching as he fell screaming into the darkness, and felt her knees shake a bit as she moved to stay as far away from the edge as possible. She had admittedly never been afraid of heights, but … well … she would much rather avoid falling into dark, scary pits in which she couldn't see the bottom.

So she needed to keep moving.

Shaking her head and letting out another grunt of exertion as she leapt onto the next platform, she snapped her eyes up as the zero-pointers looked down on her. They were large, of course, large enough that they easily blocked the way to the other platforms - but at this height, she was up to their chests. And she already had plenty of experience climbing one of them, Itsuka smirked a bit, although it might be a bit harder to do without a gravity girl on her back floating her around.

But still, she felt herself grin as she ran forwards -

- and then, on her right, she felt a sudden chill.

She managed to look around just in time as Shouto, who had been slowed down slightly in his lead by the appearance of the robots, scooped his hand down from near the ground and, with a grunt, threw it upwards, flinging it at the zero-pointer reaching towards him - and a huge blast of ice erupted from the ground.

Indeed, with a loud crack, what was essentially a giant pillar of ice suddenly shot up and impaled the zero-pointer right through the face. Itsuka let out a squeak at how suddenly violent that was, skidding to a stop and whirling around to look at where Shouto was now leaned over and glaring up at the frozen robot, its hand twitching as the entire audience gasped in shock at the display of power.

"So these are the kind of robots that were used in the general entrance exam?" He asked himself, huffing, "Hm. If they went through all the trouble to get these things here, I wish they could've used their time to bring in something better - my stupid old man is watching."

"Er …" Itsuka felt herself trail off, not entirely sure how to respond to that, but she quickly shook her head as she tried to ignore him. She still had to get around her own zero-pointer, after all, so she should try to forget about … whatever the hell he was supposed to mean by that.

And she did this, of course, by running forward, only slowing down a bit as the zero-pointer's head loomed menacingly over her - and then, with a loud shout, leapt up into the air. As she jumped, her hands grew to their full size, which made it much easier for her to grab a hold of the robot's hand as she was pulled up into the air, dangling for a moment before she managed to tighten her grip, and grunted as she swung a leg up.

Shouto, down on his own platform, quickly looked up as Itsuka was lifted further into the air by the zero-pointer she was holding onto, and lifted his eyebrow as Itsuka managed to swing her way up onto the giant robot's hand. Once she was on top, however, Itsuka shrunk her hands down and quickly scrambled to her feet, sprinting down the zero-pointer's arm while keeping her eyes open for any cannonballs that might try and smack her off the robot, and ducked as one attempted to fire at her face as she climbed up its shoulder.

With a small scowl, Shouto began to run again as well, stomping his foot down and beginning to slide along the platform, before jumping up into the air and beginning to move through the air on a continuous trail of ice, sliding easily around the zero-pointer he just effortlessly put out of commission.

"AND LOOK AT THAT!" Present Mic screeched, "KENDOU AND TODOROKI ARE NECK IN NECK! KENDOU HAS CHOSEN TO GO 'SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS' ON THESE BAD BOYS, WHILE TODOROKI JUST DID THE SIMPLE THING AND STABBED HIS THROUGH THE FACE! KENDOU FROM CLASS 1A, AND TODOROKI FROM CLASS 1B! TODOROKI DEFEATING HIS OPPONENT IN ONE HIT, AND KENDOU CHOOSING THE HARDER WAY AROUND! ELEGANT! THEY'RE GOING TO BE THE FIRST ONES THROUGH!"

"It's logical," Aizawa seemed to agree, although there was a small hint of annoyance in his voice, "if reckless on Todoroki's part."

"WELL, IT'S TO BE EXPECTED! FROM SOMEONE WHO GOT IN THROUGH RECOMMENDATIONS, AND SOMEONE WHO CAME IN FIRST IN THE GENERAL ENTRANCE EXAM! ARE WE LOOKING AT WHAT APPEAR TO BE RIVALS IN THE MAKING?!"

"Okay, okay, Mic-sensei," Itsuka grumbled as she started hopping down from the zero-pointer, "you don't have to play me up that much."

With a grunt, she leapt down from the zero-pointer, landing on the platform with a grunt just as Shouto slid down onto his own platform. He was quick to look over at her as she started running again, and narrowed his eyes as he likewise did the same. Itsuka, meanwhile, was also quick to notice Shouto racing her, narrowing her eyes somewhat as she turned her gaze to the next platform she had to jump to.

It was clear, to both of them, that this race no longer involved the rest of their classmates or the people behind them - it was just them. Itsuka glanced over at Shouto again as he ran forward on his own platform, turning back to the next platform she spotted and was already beginning to time her jump for.

Still, though, as long as Shouto kept his attention solely on her, everything would be fine. As long as she kept on her toes to avoid any more tricks, and slowed down enough to let him have the win, she would be able to -

BOOM

And that was when the explosion sounded above her, the only warning Itsuka got as someone landed on the other side of the platform Itsuka was currently on - hard enough to propel its other side, and her, up into the air, Itsuka letting out a squeak as she barely managed to jump off the end and land on the next one.

"OOOOOOOOH! AND BAKUGOU FROM CLASS 1A WENT OVER THE ZERO-POINTER'S HEAD! CLEVER!"

"What the fuck do you think you're doing, Ginger?!" Katsuki barked behind her, and leapt off the platform with another explosion, leaping into the air and keeping his red eyes locked on Itsuka's back as she stumbled a bit with her landing, "I'm getting an overwhelming victory today! You aren't messing that up for me this time! Today's the day I'm gonna show everyone who's really the top of our class!"

"Oh, fuck off!" Itsuka yelled back at him, not up for any of his bullcrap as she started running along the next platform. Katsuki let out another snarl, and, using his explosions, blasted down onto Itsuka's next platform. She let out a gasp as she wobbled dangerously close to the edge, only barely managing to jump off in time before she would've been knocked over into the pit, and landed on the next platform with a grunt, rolling slightly.

"OH? WHAT'S THIS?!" Present Mic excitedly asked the crowd, everyone cheering and watching the sudden intense match with glee. "IS BAKUGOU FROM CLASS 1A TRYING TO KNOCK KENDOU OFF THE PLATFORM?! IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?!"

"It is!" Midnight declared from her spot near the red line, no one even knowing how she got over there as she threw her hand into the air. "As I said, using your quirks and body to directly knock someone off the platform is a no go - but everything else is fair game!"

"Come on, sensei …" Itsuka let out a small growl under her breath, already tired of her other classmate as he rocketed back up into the air, and deliberately began to slow herself down, beginning to run across the new platform at a much slower pace.

"Eh?" Katsuki suddenly sneered, as though sensing weakness as he blasted down again, "What's the matter, Ginger? You heard the teacher - as long as I don't use my quirk directly on you, I'm good to knock you out of the game!"

"Yeah …" Itsuka nodded slowly, talking in a low voice to herself as Katsuki launched himself towards her, about to slam down and completely knock her off - and then, just as he was about to land down, Itsuka spun on her heel, a vicious gleam in her eye.

"… and I suppose this is good as long as you stay on the platform!"

And with that, Itsuka did what she's been wanting to do ever since Izuku told her about Katsuki in her garage a year ago. And boy, oh boy, did it feel good to finally spin around, her leg in the air, and kick Katsuki in his smug, stupid face.

"OUCH!" Mic continued to commentate. "A GOOD SOLID KICK FROM KENDOU!"

"YEAH!" Hakushu shouted, leaping up from his seat and throwing his arms in the air. "THAT'S MY GIRL!"

"Oh, god," Tenohira groaned, looking around at Miwa as the other mother tried to hold in her giggles, "we don't … have to call that kid's mom to apologize later, right?"

"No, no," Miwa shook her head, laughing, "knowing Mitsuki? She's probably laughing her ass off right now."


"HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAA!"

"Dear," Masaru groaned from his spot near the kitchen table as his wife's cackles rang throughout their house, turning the page for his book, "I'm sure it's not that funny."

"You kiddin'?! Look at his face! Thank fuck we're recording this, I'm gonna print that out and frame that face on the wall!"


His eyes widening, Katsuki could do nothing but stare blankly ahead for a moment as Itsuka's foot slammed into the side of his face, looking as though he had no idea what was happening as she kicked him. With a shout, Itsuka completed the spin kick and deliberately smacked him to the floor, where his head banged against the soft platform, and without further comment, whirled around and began sprinting away from him as fast as she could, praying that he would be stunned enough for her to get some decent distance away while Shouto ran ahead of her.

Alas, things couldn't be that simple, as once she jumped off the platform onto another, she heard the telltale sound of a loud explosion behind her.

"YOU FUCKING BITCH!"

Meanwhile, back around the zero-pointers, Izuku and Ochako both leapt down from the one they had confronted (which had pretty much consisted of Izuku firing a shot at its face to briefly stun it while Ochako floated them up and around its head), landing with two grunts as they were careful not to tip the platform over with their combined weight. From the looks of things, other people were deciding to imitate them and just go around the zero-pointers; Hanta was flipping around on his tape, letting out a grunt as he briefly flew above the excited crowd; Fumikage leapt into the air with Dark Shadow as a brace; and Momo had been working on creating something from her stomach earlier, probably to blast at the robots.

So it wouldn't take long for Izuku and Ochako to lose what little headstart they had.

On the other side of the arena, meanwhile, the two training partners, as they ran together on the platforms, heard the sound of something banging. Taking a chance to glance around, they saw something in the zero-pointer's back start to bend, as though there were two … things in its leg trying to punch their way out.

BAM BAM BAM

BAM BAM BAM

At the exact same time, Eijirou and Tetsutetsu from Class 1B suddenly punched their way through the back of the zero-pointer, both of them shouting victoriously as they raised their fists into the air - and then immediately wheeled around at each other, snarling as they kept the same pace as they ran along the platform.

"Stop imitating me, man!"

"You're the one who's making me look bad!"

Trying not to roll their eyes, Izuku and Ochako turned back to continue running through the platforms, keeping pace so as not to overtake each other or knock their partner off balance. They glanced around to see Katsuki going after Itsuka, which made them worry for their teammate (although the way Itsuka was keeping ahead of Katsuki did make them feel a bit relieved), and another glance around showed Shouto clearly in the lead, sliding across the platforms on his ice.

They both knew that, at the end of the day, it didn't matter if they didn't get close to first place - as long as they made it to the next round, they would be in the clear. But a glance between each other told them both what they wanted - to place near the top, as close to the top as possible.

So that was what they were going to do.

Still, there was a brief problem that came before them as the platforms suddenly began to thin out, and they both blinked as they landed on one platform that wasn't moving. And a single glance up at what was now in front of them, which had been blocked from sight by the zero-pointers, made both of their eyes widen in shock. Mostly due to the fact that the wall that had blocked the next section had slid back down into the pit, and the section that they had now come across was … definitely not going to be as easy at all.

"OH HO! LOOKS LIKE OUR STUDENTS THOUGHT THE FIRST BARRIER WAS GOING TO BE A PIECE OF CAKE! SO DIG ON THIS!" Present Mic commented gleefully, the crowd gasping at the sight of a series of thin lines suddenly stretched out from one platform to the other, "OUR LITTLE LISTENERS DOWN THERE HAVE GOTTA GET TO THE OTHER SIDE IN ONE PIECE! IF YOU FALL, YOU'RE OUT! IF YOU DON'T WANNA FALL, THEN YOU BETTER BE READY TO CRAWL ACROSS! JUST MAKE SURE YOU DON'T GET HIT BY THE CANNONS! ENJOY YOUR REST STOP WHILE YOU CAN, BECAUSE YOU'RE GONNA BE CLIMBING FOR A WHILE!"

Both Izuku and Ochako grimaced just a little bit at that, staring down at what they had to deal with. From the looks of things, as Mic had suggested, the floating platforms were pretty far away, in favor of what looked to be a series of cables stretched out from one end of the field to the other. Some were straight lines, but others were more zigzagged, attaching to each other to make climbing a bit harder. They turned towards where Itsuka, Shouto and Katsuki were now climbing across - or in Shouto's case, sliding along the cable on his ice, while Katsuki blasted ahead (and a slight turn showed what looked to be a weird shoeprint on the side of his face) and Itsuka climbed.

Well, at least Itsuka seemed to be having fun, enlarging her hands to easily swing her way across as though she were Tarzan, grunting as she climbed through. The cables, however, tensed dangerously at her weight, making Itsuka grimace a bit -

- and then a cannon shot at her on the side, making her squeak as she forced herself to swing a bit faster in order to avoid getting hit. Katsuki, meanwhile, snarled as the cannons continued to fire at him, the only one in the air, and Shouto scowled as he was forced to slow his sliding in order to avoid getting knocked off while he was off-balance.

Both Izuku and Ochako stared in shock as Itsuka tried to make her way across the pit as quickly as she could, the cables tensing under her weight, while Katsuki had to blast himself back and forth with wild snarls and shouts, and Shouto had to duck underneath the cannons being shot directly at his head. There was another moment's pause -

- and then Izuku shook his head, frowning as he looked around at Ochako.

"Nope." He said simply, "we aren't doing this."

"Then what're we gonna do?" She asked, feeling her brow furrow as she began pacing up and down their rest stop while glancing behind her, seeing Eijirou, Tetsutetsu, Momo and a few other members of Class 1A and 1B come around the zero-pointers (although Momo was weirdly slowing down, for some reason). "We can't just fly across - there's no way that we could make it, and then the cannonballs -"

"- will shoot us out of the sky." Izuku finished for her, nodding and raising one hand to tug on his lip as he thought. There was a few moment's pause while Ochako tried to scan their surroundings for any answer that wouldn't require them to climb around - and then Izuku suddenly blinked, and lowered his hand, now forming into a fist, to smack into his open palm.

"I've got it," He nodded as he looked back at her, "I think I can get us across in one jump, with one blast. So, uh - so what we're gonna do, is - you'll climb onto my back, without your weight, and I can fire behind us with the Full Gauntlet. Once I jump up, you'll take away my weight, and we can use the momentum to fly us across. Once you unfloat us, we'll have completely bypassed the cables."

"Okay, but …" Ochako started to say, and then blinked, and shook her head, "… well, I wanted to ask if you had any alternative plans, but I don't have any, so - well, yeah, I wanna avoid the cables too."

With a sigh, she hopped up and down once before she turned to Izuku, balling her fists.

"Let's do it!"

Nodding, Izuku quickly flexed his quirk to fill up the Full Gauntlet again, and then moved down, lowering his hands as he prepared to carry Ochako.

Realizing that she needed to climb onto his back, Ochako felt herself blink - it would be far from the first time he carried her on his back, of course, it had been something they'd done since they were kids - but for some reason, she felt herself go a bit red. But there wasn't any time to think it over - the longer they stayed still, the more chances something would come along to knock them both off the platforms. And while she could float herself above the pit, it would leave her unable to move forward, and make her easy pickings for the cannons.

So, trying to fight down how suddenly flustered she felt, Ochako put her hands on Izuku's shoulders, keeping her pinkies up, and with a grunt, lifted herself onto his back. Izuku felt himself go a bit red as well as Ochako wrapped her arms a bit around his neck, and he held onto her legs as he straightened up - the feeling of her soft thighs in his hands, even through their gym clothes, was enough to suddenly make him feel woozy, for a reason he didn't quite understand - but soon, Ochako moved her hands to rest on his shoulders, and then raised one hand to touch her leg, and her weight disappeared.

"Okay," She tried to sound calm, although there was a slight shake in her voice, "I'm good to go. Once you jump, I'll float you too."

"Alright," Izuku nodded, glancing over to the platform on the other side of the cables and trying to swallow his embarrassment, "I'm gonna jump, you'll float me, and then I'll fire off a blast."

"S-sounds good!"

Once she gave him that shaky confirmation, Izuku let out a small sigh, making sure that his arm with the Full Gauntlet was pointed behind them and wouldn't accidentally hit Ochako by mistake, and just as the sound of their classmates coming up behind them filled his ears, jumped.

At once, Ochako slammed her hand down onto his shoulder, Izuku feeling his weight disappear at once as the two training partners began floating in the air - and then, with a backwards glance to make sure he wouldn't be hitting anyone standing directly behind them, fired his quirk.

KRACK-BOOM

Now, in the split second that it took for both Izuku and Ochako to achieve liftoff, there were a few things that they suddenly became aware of.

Number one, that while the Full Gauntlet was specifically designed to lower the firepower of Izuku's quirk, that didn't mean the blasts it did fire out weren't still extremely powerful.

Number two, that Izuku and Ochako, by both being weightless, could be easily pushed around by anything, from strong winds to a simple push from one of their classmates.

And number three, Izuku wasn't exactly aiming directly backwards - since they were floating up in the air, they had turned a bit off course, so instead of aiming directly behind him at the zero-pointer Shouto destroyed, he was aiming at the ground directly below them.

So, with all of those points summarized up, that meant that instead of being shot straight over the second obstacle like a bullet, easily avoiding the cables - they were instead sent up.

Straight up.

Itsuka, who had been swinging along the cables trying hard not to get hit by the cannonballs, jumped a bit in surprise at the sound of lightning clapping behind her, almost loosening her grip on the ropes, and quickly looked around - and then up, her eyes bulging out of her sockets in shock, as Izuku and Ochako were suddenly launched straight into the sky. Shouto and Katsuki were likewise surprised by the two classmates suddenly blasting off, and the cheers of the crowd were silenced at once as everyone was quick to follow the two participants that had suddenly flown straight out of the stadium.

As Itsuka's eyes widened in horror, Katsuki couldn't help but let out an amused snort at their failure. Behind the other three farther ahead in the course, all the students that had been racing each other to the finish line likewise paused, their eyes moving up to follow Izuku and Ochako as they blasted off. Tenya froze up a bit, skidding to a halt as his eyes widened. Momo likewise was distracted enough from the other distraction now clinging to her back and getting elbowed in the face, staring up at her friends in confusion. Setsuna paused, her head tilting as though she didn't quite understand what she was seeing. Shinsou raised an eyebrow, and then moved to another student to talk to them. And Nejire, who had been flying above the obstacle course and having lots of fun dodging the cannonballs being fired at her, felt her own eyes widen as she recognized the green hair soaring away.

And that, right about then, was when chaos ensued, as when everyone suddenly came to a stop to watch the students rapidly ascend, they forgot the one rule Midnight emphasized above all others - don't stand still.

And for that, they were rewarded by the platforms suddenly jerking them around, causing everyone to let out noises of surprise as they realized that they had completely forgotten that they were in an obstacle course race, or up in the air, the cannonballs fired at the now still students, causing Pony to yelp in pain as she got hit in the back, Setsuna get one of her body pieces hit and causing her to swear loudly, and Nejire to squeak as she was forced to duck.

As for Katsuki, his amused snort at Izuku and Ochako's failure got him rewarded by a cannonball being fired directly at his face, smacking him in the cheek and causing him to grunt in pain as he was sent spinning through the air, clutching his face with one hand while firing off an explosion to prevent him from falling into the pit, jerking him around.

"Why?!" He growled to himself, "Why do I keep getting hit in the face?!"


"Hey, boss," Chimera huffed, reaching for the bottle of scotch left on the table and pouring himself another drink as his eyes stayed on the TV, "it's them."

The bar room was quiet, except for the sound of the TV and their newest recruit leaning back in her own chair on the other side of the room, uninterested in the television and instead playing with her illusions in the corner. At the bar, Chimera and Mummy leaned forward in their stools, dressed in their civilian clothes in case someone came in, and quietly watched the TV beside them as they leaned on the bar.

At the nearest table, Nine let out a small sigh as his gray eyes studied the television, a small smile appearing on his face as he tapped his finger against the wood. Beside him, Slice frowned at the mere sight of the boy, her fist clenching slightly.

But Nine didn't mind that - not when he was able to read the names being flashed across the screen for the green-haired boy and his brunette friend.

"Izuku Midoriya," He noted quietly, "and Ochako Uraraka."

"Heh, look at that," Chimera chuckled at the nervous look on the kid's face, his yellow eyes trailing to the scars on his forehead and cheek, "looks like our monster gave him a good few scratches."

"Good," Mummy put his bottle down, scowling at the TV, "serves him right for what he did to Nine. He deserves to have a reminder of what it means to cross us whenever he looks in the mirror."

"Oh, come now," Nine chuckled, shaking his head and looking around at his friend, "let's not be like that."

"Huh?" Slice blinked. "But Nine -"

"He gave me a scar," He gently poked his chest, smiling slightly, "which I will be taking as a lesson. And our beast gave him a few scars of his own. I'm going to try and not hold it against our young friend too much - he was just saving his teacher."

"Oh!" Camie gasped, having looked up from her illusions to the TV. "The hottie!"

"Quiet," Mummy said in a small, annoyed voice - it was clear to the rest of the Consortium that he was still put off by their newest recruit, and had no problem with voicing his irritation, "I still don't know why you insisted she be here with us, Nine - she's clearly not interested."

"She's a part of the Consortium now," Nine said plainly, "you are allowed to have your reservations, my friend, but we'll be putting her to work soon enough."

"Give her a break, Mummy," Slice rolled her eyes, reaching for her own drink, "she's new. We'll be having her -"

"Er …"

Hearing the sudden change in Chimera's tone, the other three members of the Consortium looked back around at the TV, and Nine and Slice blinked at the odd sight of the two students doing some kind of piggy-back maneuver - before the boy pointed his hand backwards, jumped, and once she used her gravity quirk on him, launched the both of them in the air. The camera followed their sudden quick exit from the stadium, with the shrill commentary suddenly faltering out.

There was a pause in the bar - and then Chimera let out a loud laugh, slamming his glass down on the table while Mummy rolled his eyes.

"Come now, Chimera," Nine himself was unable to stop himself from letting out a small chuckle as Slice shook her head, "it's not that funny."


"WHAAAAAAAAAA?! ERASERHEAD! YOUR TWO STUDENTS JUST HURLED THEMSELVES OUT OF THE STADIUM! WHAT AN UNEXPECTED TWIST! WHAT DO YOU THINK THEIR STRATEGY IS?!"

"Your mistake is thinking that anyone in my class actually stops to think."

Way up in the air, the sound of Present Mic's loud, screechy voice began to dangerously fade the higher they went up, Izuku and Ochako continuing to stare blankly ahead as they ascended rather quickly into the sky. Hearing the noise of the sports festival's audience fade into surprised shouts as they flew higher and higher into the air, both of them slowly realized what had just happened, and why it was suddenly so windy.

And then Ochako glanced down, and let out a terrified squeak.

"D-don't look down, Occhan!" Izuku quickly snapped out of his shock, trying his hardest not to panic himself as he looked around wildly. "We - we don't need to freak out any more than -"

"Uh - Deku, you should really look down!"

Blinking, Izuku found himself feeling confused by that statement, and did as she said as he glanced down - and his warnings for her not to panic immediately went out the window as his eyes widened in horror, seeing the stadium continue to grow smaller and smaller as they flew up higher and higher into the sky.

"Oh, crap!" He squeaked. "W-what do we do?!"

"I don't know!" Ochako screamed, her eyes likewise bulging out of their sockets as she looked around in panic. "How are we gonna get down?! We'll overshoot the stadium at this point!"

"I -" Izuku faltered, trying to recollect himself as he looked around desperately. Indeed, they were flying rather ominously up into the air - similar to how he and Nejire had flown up together during the entrance exam, and faced a rather major problem when they fell down. But Hound Dog wouldn't be jumping out to save them this time - and if they didn't stop ascending soon, they'd be at risk of getting hit by a freaking plane.

So they needed to stop going up, that much was certain. But that presented the tiny problem of them being so high up in the air, falling now would mean certain death. So … what could they possibly …

… maybe …

"Occhan!" Izuku yelled to her over the blowing wind in their ears, "Release us!"

"What?!" Ochako shrieked, whipping around to look at him as she looked absolutely panicked, and staring at him as though he had gone insane, "Are you crazy?!"

"Trust me!" He quickly looked around at her over his shoulder, "I think we can fall enough that we can get back into the arena, and you can use your quirk again to slow our fall! Once we're back in the race, we can still move on to the second round!"

"I'm not really concerned about the sports festival right now, Deku!"

"Just - trust me, okay?!"

Ochako let out a small, whining groan at yet another one of her best friend's brilliant ideas, but still did as she was told, taking a small, deep breath before she brought her hands together and released her quirk.

At once, they both felt their ascent begin to slow, Izuku taking a very audible gulp over the wind blowing their hair back as Ochako quickly wrapped her arms around his neck to prevent her from slipping off, and tightened her legs' grip on his waist as they finally stopped flying up.

And, slowly, they began to fall.

"Okay!" He managed to squeak out, feeling Ochako cling tighter to him as she buried her face against the back of his head, but the panic of the situation prevented either of them from being flustered about it. "When I say 'now', take away our gravity again! I'll calculate the exact time we'll be at a safe distance for you to use your quirk!"

"Okay - but if we splat on the ground, I'm blaming you!"

"I - if we end up splattering on the ground, we'll probably be -"

"Don't say it! I know what you wanna say, Deku, don't do it! Don't put that thought in my head!"

Meanwhile, down below, Itsuka was still staring up at the small dot her training partners had become up in the air, her mouth dropped open. She wasn't even aware of the feeling of cannonballs continuing to hit her in the back and stomach, staring up at the rapidly falling Izuku and Ochako as she felt her heart hammering in terror as everyone in the crowds started gasping and screaming. It was clear, at least to everyone, that the two students were no longer flying up, but rather, coming down, and that was enough to make Itsuka begin to panic.

They were coming back down rather fast, and judging from where they were falling, there was no way either of them could slow their descent in time to have a soft landing - or at least, one that wouldn't result in them breaking every bone in their body.

And then the panic within Itsuka faded away, and she narrowed her eyes in determination.

With a grunt, she began to swing again on the cables - not at her rather slower pace before, but rather swinging back and forth from the cables like they were monkey-bars. The ropes did burn her hands slightly, but she ignored the pain in favor of getting to the other end of the obstacle, keeping her head swivelling between grabbing each rope she swung to and from and Izuku and Ochako falling from the sky. At the sight of their opponent suddenly moving much faster, however, Shouto and Katsuki both narrowed their eyes, and began to chase after her, Shouto ducking under any cannonball fired at him and Katsuki leaping through the air so he could just blast his way through, ignoring the balls being fired at him as his eyes narrowed at Itsuka swinging beneath him.

Back in the air, above the stadium, Izuku screwed his eyes nearly completely shut, the wind stinging his eyes, but he fought to keep them open so he could figure out where they could land safely while Ochako clung to his back - but then a flicker of yellow light suddenly appeared in his vision, and he quickly looked around as a familiar girl suddenly shot out from the stadium, her eyes wide in shock.

"Hey!" Nejire gasped, quickly managing to angle herself so she could fly (or descend) beside them both as she quickly reached out for them. "Hey, hey, hey, what are you guys doing?! Skydiving?! That's dangerous to do without a parachute! Should I help? I can grab you guys!"

"N-no!" Izuku quickly shook his head, making Nejire blink at how fast he was to deny her help, "I - thank you, Hadou, but - but if you grab onto us, you might just get yanked off course! Occhan and I - we've got a plan!"

"I guess!" Nejire decided not to argue, although she did pout a little bit, "If you've got this, you got this! But I'm gonna still be here, just in case! Better safe than sorry, right? I think so, at least!"

"I - I guess so! Sure!" Izuku quickly agreed, knowing better than to disagree with her, and turned his gaze back towards the stadium - and then it moved up to the platform Midnight was standing on, talking to someone on her comm quickly as she stared up at them. 

Quickly, Izuku nodded to himself - it was the largest platform, and on that they could at least trust not to collapse on them, so he narrowed his eyes in determination and began to angle himself and Ochako towards it, the girl on his back clinging tightly to Izuku and having one of her hands, one finger up, resting on his arm in preparation to float them whenever he gave her the word.

Down below, Present Mic managed to flicker his gaze back down to the stadium, with Aizawa turning away to talk to All Might about catching the two falling students, and blinked as he saw Itsuka suddenly flip up onto the other rest stop before the third obstacle, and quickly cleared his throat.

"WELL, UH - BACK TO THE CHALLENGE, AS I SEE A FEW OF OUR LITTLE LISTENERS HAVE MANAGED TO REACH THE THIRD AND FINAL PART! TO PROCEED HERE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE KEY IS TO - huh?" Present Mic faltered, and then leapt out of his seat, his eyes bulging, "WHAT'S THIS?! KENDOU ISN'T EVEN LETTING ME FINISH MY EXPLANATION!"

Indeed, back down in the obstacle course, Itsuka wasn't even listening to her teacher as she continued to run across the second rest stop, letting out a shout as she leapt out onto the pillars that had risen up from the dark pit. Coming down on one, she heard an ominous beep, but paid it no mind as she turned back to the sky briefly to see where Izuku and Ochako were falling, mentally calculating where they would land as her hands grew out again.

Jumping from the platform and hearing a weird noise as the pillar fell a second after she had touched it, Itsuka continued to run forward, narrowing her eyes in determination as she tried to mentally figure out where she would need to be in order to -

"GINGER!"

Her eyes widening slightly, Itsuka whipped around to look over her shoulder, feeling her jaw drop and her eyes widen with exasperation. Both Katsuki and Shouto were still in obvious pursuit of her, Katsuki blasting his way into the air and grinning audaciously down at her as he prepared to blast down at her - but Shouto, she realized, stood back as he stomped his foot down, his eyes narrowed, and sent a large torrent of ice towards her to halt her process.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?!" She screamed at both of them, her teeth gnashing in rage, and quickly turned back around, her hand forming into a fist.

Keeping her hand grown out, she turned to the ice blasting towards her. With a shout, she threw her fist forward, unaware of her hand flickering and glowing briefly with red veins beginning to crawl through her skin - and punched the ice as hard as she could.

And instead of freezing her in place, the power of the punch instead shattered the ice, and sent a torrent of wind straight at Shouto and Katsuki.

With his eyes widening in shock, Shouto barely managed to create enough ice behind him to keep him from flying back into the second obstacle, grunting in pain as he slammed against the shield of ice and slumped forward. Katsuki wasn't so lucky, being pushed back by the winds back into the second obstacle again, hitting his back on the ropes and grunting as he fell through. He managed to explode his way to a stop, preventing him from falling into the pit, and growled as he attempted to rush back forward to assault Itsuka again - but one of the cannons shot at him again, forcing him to move back in order to avoid it.

Itsuka, meanwhile, returned her attention to Izuku and Ochako falling from the sky, her eyes narrowed in determination now that she had gotten rid of the distractions. She continued to jump from pillar to pillar as they thinned out, ignoring Mic's commentary as she ran forward and not even caring that she was getting closer and closer to the finish line. 

All she could focus on was her training partners plummeting towards the ground, and fast, and having no way to slow their descent without breaking several bones.

And there was no way in hell she was going to let that happen.

She felt herself pant as she ran forward as fast as she could, ignoring the pillars falling beneath her feet as she left her hands grown out. She ignored the shouting of the crowd as they saw one of the students heading towards first place. She ignored Midnight talking into her mic to one of the teachers for some reason or another. All she saw was Izuku and Ochako falling fast towards where Midnight was, eyes widened and screams of panic leaving their mouths as Nejire flew with them as Itsuka reached the end of the pillars where she was supposed to jump across and through the red line, and without a moment of hesitation, instead jumped up.

She didn't even consider that she leapt up far higher than she usually could, and that her legs ached. All that mattered is that she caught her two training partners. Itsuka leapt up to intercede them, twisting in the air and opening her hands to catch them -

- just as Ochako suddenly touched Izuku's shoulder, floating the two of them and immediately beginning to slow their descent.

There was one good, long moment where Izuku and Ochako looked around at Itsuka, and Itsuka paused in the air, and all three of them realized what had gone wrong. Itsuka didn't realize that Izuku and Ochako obviously had a plan to get down safely, with Ochako's gravity quirk that she had somehow completely forgotten about. Izuku and Ochako, meanwhile, didn't realize that there would've been someone down there that could definitely catch them, her hands growing to grab them both. And Nejire, above the three of them, blinked at the looks of comical shock on all three of their faces.

And then … Izuku and Ochako promptly crashed into Itsuka.

Hard.

"Agh!"

"Oof!"

"Ow!"

Slamming hard into Itsuka's open palms, their weights fully restored, all three training partners were knocked back. Ochako flew off of Izuku's back, her arms flailing in panic as she tumbled through the air; Itsuka winced as both of them slammed into her, throwing her backwards; and Izuku grunted as he bounced off of Itsuka's enlarged hand, sending all three of them tumbling briefly through the air -

- and right through the red holographic finish line, Principal Nezu's holographic face smiling and spinning around as they fell through.

BEEP

BEEP

BEEP

The three loud noises blared out at almost the same time, with no one initially realizing it as Midnight squeaked and quickly jumped out of the way so she wasn't completely taken out by the three falling students. With grunts, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka hit the soft mat, Ochako briefly landing on Itsuka before bouncing off, before they rolled away from each other and finally came to a stop near the wall of the last floating platform, Izuku sliding off the wall at an awkward angle with his butt and legs in the air, while Itsuka slid down onto her face and Ochako slammed down onto her back, knocking the air out of her lungs.

There was a pause, the crowd staring at the three teenagers laying there in defeat, letting out small groans as they slowly realized they were still alive and Ochako tried desperately to catch her breath after having it knocked out of her - and then Present Mic let out a scream.

"AMAZING! IT'S AMAZING, ERASERHEAD!"

"Stop screaming in my ears."

"SOMEHOW! IN SOME WAY! KENDOU, URARAKA AND MIDORIYA CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AT THE SAME TIME! WITH MIDORIYA AND URARAKA BYPASSING THE LAST TWO OBSTACLES, AND KENDOU BY RUNNING ALL THE WAY ACROSS TO CATCH THEM! IT'S AMAZING! I DON'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME TWO OF OUR STUDENTS TIED FOR FIRST, LET ALONE THREE AT ONCE!"

"That isn't what happened," Aizawa groaned, "there was clearly a beep ahead of the other two."

"HUH?! THEN WHO CAME IN FIRST?!"

Midnight, for her part, quickly regained her composure from being nearly taken out by three of her students, moving around to a tablet on the table near where she had been standing to quickly scan through the recordings. After a moment of the audience holding their breaths as she double checked, Midnight slowly nodded as she replayed the last minute, and then turned back to the crowd as she quickly strutted over to the three students, checking that they were still breathing - which they were, simply groaning lowly in pain - and then raised her hand up in the air -

- and then brought it down to Izuku, his legs and butt still in the air as he slowly held the back of his head.

"It's clear!" She announced with a large grin, pointing down at Izuku, "Izuku Midoriya only barely crossed the finish line first! Which means that he is the first to finish the race!"

"YOU HEARD THE LADY!" Present Mic screeched. "THE FIRST PERSON TO CROSS THE FINISH LINE - IZUKU MIDORIYA IN FIRST PLACE!"

The audience positively exploded, cheers and roars sounding throughout the air as everyone leapt out of their seats, throwing their arms into the air and screaming as the stadium rumbled with all the sound. In the crowd, Inko promptly fainted, collapsing into her seat and causing both Tenohira and Miwa to panickingly look after her, while Eri clapped politely, unsure about why all the other adults were looking so distressed, with Taiyo, Hakushu and Hisashi holding their hands over their eyes and hearts, and Taiyo letting out a tired sigh as he massaged his forehead as though he had a headache.

"Well, congratulations, Midoriya," Midnight giggled as she looked down at Izuku, the boy slowly sliding over to lay down on his side, "it seems that you've won."

"Yaaaaaay," He said unenthusiastically in a small, painfilled voice.

"Do you three need to go to Recovery Girl?"

"I … I don't think so," Ochako managed to groan, sitting up slightly and rubbing her neck while her face was in an obvious grimace, "just … really big bruise on my back. Ow."

"Mm-hm," Itsuka nodded, shrinking her hands so she could put them down on the mat and raise her head, feeling her lip sting and licking it to feel a small cut there, "I'm good."

"Oh, excellent!" Midnight clapped her hands happily. "I'm sure Recovery Girl wouldn't be happy if she had to have you three back in her office immediately."

The three training partners grumbled at that.

"So …" Izuku flopped back down, staring at the sky, "… we weren't supposed to get first place."

"No," Ochako shook her head, "we were not."

"And … here I am. In first place."

"Don't look at me," Itsuka pouted a bit, "I was doing my own thing before you two launched yourselves into space."

"I … guess that's -"

BEEP

At the sound of the finish line beeping once again, Midnight looked around to see Nejire coming in for a landing, stumbling a bit before she managed to get control of herself, but her eyes widened in panic as she quickly hurried around her teacher. The R-Rated Heroine merely raised an eyebrow as Nejire quickly sank down beside Izuku, carefully taking his wrists to pull him up.

"Are you okay?!" She asked in a concerned voice, quickly looking around at Ochako and Itsuka as they likewise tried to get up. "That looked like it really hurt, guys! You just bounced off each other! It would have looked really funny if it didn't look so rough! Do you guys need to go to Recovery Girl? I can carry you!"

"I - I think we're good," Izuku managed to get out, allowing Nejire to pull him up so he was at least in a seated position, trying to ignore the blush on his cheeks as she kept her hands on his wrists, "or at least - we don't need to see Recovery Girl. T-thanks, Hadou."

"Okay," Nejire nodded, biting her lip slightly - and them, after a moment of hesitation, she moved forward to give him a hug. Izuku let out a small squeak, jolting slightly as she wrapped her arms around his neck, and went red as the crowd let out a few teasing 'ooooooh's.

Up in the stands, however, two women were not as happy to see the hug as the teasing crowd.

"So that's Hadou?" Miwa asked in a cold voice, still fanning Inko in order to wake her up.

"Mm-hm," Tenohira nodded, likewise scowling, "that's Hadou."

Back on the platform, Izuku felt himself grow redder and redder the longer Nejire held on, while Ochako and Itsuka, who were climbing to their feet, glanced over at the hug and felt themselves frown, while Midnight glanced between the four of them with a raised eyebrow.

"Just … don't do that again, okay?" Nejire asked in a small voice, making Izuku blink at how quiet she was, "That was really scary, Midoriya."

"I - uh -" He managed to stutter out for a moment, his arm automatically raising slightly around her back to -

BEEP

At the fifth beep, Nejire blinked, and finally moved away from Izuku so she could have a look around at who had just arrived, and thankfully letting Izuku breathe a little bit, his face still flushed bright red. Itsuka and Ochako likewise turned to look at who just arrived, and Itsuka felt her small frown turn into a proper scowl.

Panting, Shouto moved his hands down to his knees, taking a moment to try and catch his breath as he wiped his sweaty forehead. Slowly, he turned to look over at Itsuka, who was giving him a dirty look as she struggled to her feet, brushing some of the dust off her pants.

"Todoroki," She spat out, "I'm going to assume that you didn't know I was trying to catch Izuku and Ochako. But next time, when I'm looking up at the sky and clearly moving to catch someone, don't try and stop me."

Shouto merely glared at her for a moment, and then let out a small huff as he turned to look back down at the floor. Before he could find some kind of response to that, however, there was another loud beep, and Katsuki landed on the platform, black spots all over his gym uniform from all the cannonballs that had hit him, and the small bruise from Itsuka's kick continuing to form on the side of his face.

Gritting his teeth and growling furiously, he immediately whipped his gaze up to Itsuka as she leaned against the wall, still filled in pain from hitting the ground so hard, and his red eyes hardened into a manic, rage-filled glare.

"You did it again," He growled out, beginning to advance on the girl still leaning against the wall, and prompting both Izuku and Ochako to snap their gazes to him, "you made me look like an idiot again, Ginger!"

Stomping towards her, Katsuki swung his hand back, explosions beginning to pop in his hand - but then another hand suddenly shot out to wrap around his wrist tightly, at the same time another pair of hands grabbed his other arm. Blinking, Katsuki whipped around, and found himself faltering at the sight of Izuku suddenly standing up, using the arm he had the Full Gauntlet on to grab his wrist, and on the other side, Ochako kept her own tight grip on him while glaring up at him.

"Kacchan," Izuku took a small breath, sounding incredibly nervous to stand up to him but still determined as he lightly squeezed on his wrist, "stop. She won, you didn't. There's still a lot more stuff we've got to do today."

"Shitty Deku -" Katsuki began to snarl, very much tempted to rip his arm from Izuku's grasp and hit him with his own explosion, like he had when Izuku had annoyed him at their old school, but the sound of someone clearing their throat behind them caused the teenagers to look around at Midnight as she gave the group a small smirk, although her eyes were cold.

"I hate to interrupt," She said sweetly, "but I'd like to give you three a small reminder that you're in front of an audience. It would hardly look well on any of you to suddenly look like idiots, wouldn't it?"

Izuku and Ochako blinked, glancing around at the massive crowd surrounding the stadium, and knew what their teacher was implying, quickly letting go of Katsuki's arms and sitting back now that they knew that Midnight was taking care of whatever was going to happen if they hadn't interceded him.

"As for you, Bakugou," Midnight's cold gaze turned specifically towards him, "I very much hope that you were moving towards Kendou to help her stand up."

Katsuki merely stared at their teacher for a moment - and then, with a growl, he stomped away from the trio, moving to go and sulk in the corner as he crossed his arms across his chest. Itsuka felt herself blink up at Izuku and Ochako, a small blush on her cheeks, as she finally managed to start straightening up from the wall, Nejire quickly hurrying around Izuku to help her stand.

Once she was sure that Katsuki would behave, Midnight let out a small sigh, and straightened her own back.

"Now then," Her voice suddenly became cheerful again, "let's watch the rest of your classmates finish the course, shall we? I believe I can see a few people running along now."

Blinking a bit at the way she casually dismissed the tense mood, but knowing better than to argue with their teacher, the four teenagers turned to look back out at the field, gulping a bit at how quickly those pillars were shooting down as the students sprinted across the last obstacle. Honestly, Itsuka felt herself pale, she felt lucky she had been concentrating on saving Izuku and Ochako when she went through the last obstacle - she probably would've had an anxiety attack trying to run across this thing.

Although that … would've probably been preferable to thinking about Izuku and Ochako standing up to Katsuki for her, and the angry looks on their faces that made her stomach tense a little bit and her face feel warm.

Soon enough, the next student to join them behind the red line was none other than Tenya, jumping through the air and landing on the other side of the red line - and then immediately collapsing onto his hands and knees, making Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire blink down at their friend as he looked completely and utterly despaired.

"Seventh place …?" He asked himself in a weak voice, "With my quirk … with a speed quirk … in a race … I ended up taking … seventh place? I still have … a long way to go … Tensei, I'm … I'm so sorry …"

"Uh - i-it's okay, Iida!" Izuku quickly assured him, running over to kneel down and pat his arm. "It - it was a pretty difficult race for people on foot - it wasn't like there was a straight line! I'm sure you'll do better in the next round."

"I … perhaps," Tenya sighed, still sinking his head to a bow as a few other students from the other class, a girl with vines in her hair and a guy with a strange mouth, jumped across the finish line as well, "but I must admit Midoriya, I'm a bit afraid that my performance overall wasn't very good … I know that Tensei will be watching this later, and … I just …"

"No! You were great!" Nejire was quick to join them, sinking down to her knees and balling her fists as more of their classmates started passing through the finish line, Eijirou and Tetsutetsu jumping through at the same time and immediately whipping around to growl at each other, "I was watching you, y'know! Up in the air! I saw you running that whole time! It was really hard, though, since I kept getting hit by cannonballs, and then Midoriya and Uraraka launched themselves into the sky, but I still saw! You did your best! Please don't think otherwise!"

"You …" Tenya hesitated again, and then shook his head, finally moving to sit up on his knees. Looking between Izuku and Nejire, the boy in glasses attempted to give the pair a small smile.

"… you're right. Both of you. I shouldn't be looking on the downside." He shook his head again, and balled a fist. "We still have several more opportunities to shine today! I'll find another way to excel in the upcoming challenges!"

"Yay! That's the spirit!" Nejire cheered for him, helping Tenya get back up to his feet as Izuku smiled at him, and then moved to look back around at the others still hopping through the finish line to join them.

With another beep, Momo leapt through the holographic red line, panting and looking utterly exhausted, while her face looked … a little more red than the situation should permit. Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked at how angry and humiliated she looked, panting and biting her lip in frustration.

"This wasn't …" She panted, "… how it was supposed to go …"

"Uh … Yaoyorozu?" Itsuka asked, feeling concerned as she approached her friend, "Are you feeling okay? What's -"

She was suddenly interrupted, however, by the sound of a loud, obnoxious laugh directly behind Momo, and both Itsuka and Ochako realized, blinking, that when Momo had passed through the gate, it had made a strange noise - as though it beeped twice very quickly.

"I killed two birds with one stone! I'm a genius!" The smaller boy clinging to Momo's back proclaimed happily, using what looked like small purple balls from his head to attach himself to Momo's back and butt, ignoring how bruised and bloody his face was as he gave the other two girls a massive shit-eating grin.

Itsuka and Ochako stared down at him in shock for a moment - and then a vein appeared in Itsuka's forehead.

"Hey!" She snapped, stomping around Momo and grabbing the back of the guy's gym shirt to yank him off of her - and blinking when he instead stuck on tightly to Momo's back, the polite girl looking distressed as she glanced over her shoulder and saw that he wasn't getting off her back so easily, the little punk turning to give her a big grin that made her shrink.

"Get off of her, jackass!" Ochako likewise joined Itsuka in trying to yank him off, although the boy just looked more and more smug with more girls grabbing him and trying to pull him off Momo.

"I can't!" He giggled with glee, looking up at Itsuka and not so subtly licking his lips, which sent a wave of disgust through the former-orange-haired girl. "My balls let me stick to any surface! And there's no way that I'm gonna just get off of her without getting to feel up her -"

Whatever horrible thing he was about to say, however, was thankfully interrupted when a hand suddenly wrapped around the back of his neck. The small boy blinked at the sudden chill spreading through his body, and slowly turned, with both Ochako and Itsuka glancing up as well, to see Shouto leaning over to grip the smaller guy's neck, his blank face holding a surprising amount of contempt that made Itsuka shiver a bit.

Okay … so note to self, he wasn't as emotionless as Yui was. He was fully capable of making other expressions.

Very … scary … expressions.

"I'm going to tell you this only once." Shouto said in a blank voice, but one that sounded even colder than before, "Let her go. Now."

The tiny guy gulped very nervously at the feeling of something very cold beginning to spread on his neck, and knew that it wasn't just him imagining things. Knowing better than to try and hold on to the girl who was looking around at Shouto in surprise, he very quickly released the balls he had attached to Momo.

Shouto didn't show much effort in lifting the boy up into the air, and then tossing him away like garbage, the tiny guy stumbling a bit and nearly falling over on his face, and quickly began to hurry away from them so he could go stand in the corner. Itsuka tried not to shudder as his eyes unsubtly turned to her - or, more accurately, her chest - before she shook her head and tried to ignore him as she looked back over at Shouto, his back to the three girls.

Momo, meanwhile, likewise looked up at Shouto, a small, conflicted look on her face before she cleared her throat.

"Er … thank you, Shouto." She bowed slightly, "I know that -"

Before she could finish that sentence, however, Shouto began to walk away. The three girls blinked as he began to walk over to his own side of the platform, watching more of the students quickly hurrying along to get past the finish line and not even looking back at the girl he helped out.

Momo faltered for a moment, looking confused and conflicted, before her face suddenly hardened, and she straightened back up so she could likewise turn away from her fiance, huffing a bit as she flipped her hair and walked away.

Standing alone, Ochako and Itsuka shared a small glance, both of them gulping.

"Huh," Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "I … guess that's what they're like, huh?"

"Yep," Ochako nodded, scratching the side of her head, "that was … well, that was pretty much what they were like back on Friday, too."

"… he's a tool."

"Kinda, yeah."

With that, the two girls turned back to walk over to Momo, wanting to try and get those weird balls off of her and ask if she was okay. As they did so, more people continued to jump in, the red line beeping again and again, and at last, Yuuyu hopped through the finish line and fell onto her hands and knees, panting in exhaustion as she bent over and held her knees. 

Her throat feeling positively raw and her mouth filled with drool from all the running she just did, Yuuyu glanced around at who else had made it in before her, her eyes trailing around - and then she found Nejire. Blinking a bit, a small smile appeared on the pink-haired girl's face as she leaned up a bit -

- just in time to see Nejire hurry over to Izuku, patting his shoulder to get his attention as he chatted with Eijirou, and smiled when he looked around.

Yuuyu stayed still for a second, her smile fading somewhat as she stared at Nejire's happy face as Izuku turned to talk to her, her best friend putting her hands behind her back and a small blush appearing on her face. And Yuuyu's frown returned, looking back down at the ground as her heart hammered angrily in her chest, and she bitterly spat some of the saliva out of her mouth and onto the platform as she made to stand up.


"Well, well, well," Midnight giggled in a sultry tone as she paced back and forth on the podium in front of the TV, "wasn't that fun?"

As cheers roared once again throughout the stadium those who had passed through the red line looked around as the sports stadium slowly began to close again, the black pit being closed off by the grass ground as everything was restored relatively to normal. It had only taken about ten more minutes for the rest of the competition to make it across the line, with Present Mic loudly announcing the obstacle race had come to its end and letting the sports stadium slide back to normal so that they could continue on with the second round.

Still, though, Itsuka couldn't help but glance around with her brow furrowed - she knew that at the beginning, Midnight had said that only forty-two people out of the over a hundred students would be able to move on to the next game. But it seemed as though there were … a few less people than expected.

The people from Class 1B were definitely in a smaller, tighter group, all of them scowling a bit as they looked around as well, and Shouto was off in his own corner as he stood near Itsuka, glaring up at the screen before them. There were only three different students from other classes - Shinsou, looking smugly around, the guy who had clung to Momo, giving all the girls around him a lecherous look on his face, and one girl from the support studio fiddling with one of her inventions with a bored look on her face.

And … it seemed as though there was … someone missing from Class 1A, Itsuka realized - but who?

"With that, the first game of the first-year stage has come to its conclusion!" Midnight announced on her podium, continuing to pace lightly as she looked around at the crowd, "Now that we all have a moment to read, let's have a look at our students' scores!"

She gestured dramatically towards the monitor behind her, and it quickly flipped over to a long list of names, flashing the names of everyone who had passed - and Itsuka quickly began to read, trying to figure out who she thought was missing.

 

01. Class 1A - Midoriya Izuku. Points - ?????????

02. Class 1A - Kendou Itsuka. Points - 310

03. Class 1A - Uraraka Ochako. Points - 300

04. Class 1A - Hadou Nejire. Points - 290

05. Class 1B - Todoroki Shouto. Points - 280

06. Class 1A - Bakugou Katsuki. Points - 270

07. Class 1A - Iida Tenya. Points - 260

08. Class 1B - Shiozaki Ibara. Points - 250

09. Class 1B - Honenuki Juzo. Points - 240

10. Class 1A - Tokoyami Fumikage. Points - 230

11. Class 1A - Kirishima Eijirou. Points - 220

12. Class 1B - Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Points - 210

13. Class 1A - Yaoyorozu Momo. Points - 200

14. Class 1C - Mineta Mirou. Points - 190

15. Class 1A - Sero Hanta. Points - 180

16. Class 1A - Tokage Setsuna. Points - 170

17. Class 1A - Asui Tsuyu. Points - 160

18. Class 1A - Shouji Mezo. Points - 150

19. Class 1B - Sato Rikido. Points - 140

20. Class 1A - Ashido Mina. Points - 130

21. Class 1A - Jirou Kyouka. Points - 120

22. Class 1B - Haya Yuuyu. Points - 110

23. Class 1A - Kodai Yui. Points - 100

24. Class 1A - Kaminari Denki. Points - 90

25. Class 1A - Yanagi Reiko. Points - 80

26. Class 1A - Tsunotori Pony. Points - 70

27. Class 1C - Shinsou Hitoshi. Points - 60

28. Class 1B - Monoma Neito. Points - 50

29. Class 1B - Shoda Nirengeki. Points - 40

30. Class 1H - Hatsume Mei. Points - 30

31. Class 1B - Hagakure Tooru. Points - 20

32. Class 1B - Komori Kinoko. Points - 10

 

"There's only thirty-two of us," Tenya noted the same thing Itsuka did, frowning while everyone muttered about the points next to their names and Izuku blinked at the question marks beside his, "was … was everyone else knocked off the platforms?"

"Hey," Eijirou realized, his eyes widening, "I don't see Awase's name up there."

Feeling themselves blink, Class 1A finally realized who was missing, and with widened eyes, they began looking around quickly. Indeed, their classmate with the bandana was nowhere to be seen, with Eijirou, Hanta and Denki looking distressed for their friend as they tried to remember where they had lost him during the game.

Izuku and Pony, meanwhile, felt themselves begin to worry, remembering Yosetsu's fear of heights back at the USJ when they had escaped the conflagration zone together. If he had been knocked off the platform, into a hole of darkness with no hint of the bottom or where he would land … the two of them felt their hearts ache for Yosetsu. That must've been utterly terrifying for him.

Unknown to the hero class, Shinsou smirked to himself, putting his hands in his pockets as he scanned the ten blank columns that would've been competition for him had he not taken care of them during the last game.

"As the Top 32, you've all made it to the next round." Midnight stood before the gigantic screen behind her, grinning down at the students below her. "It's unfortunate for those who didn't make it, but don't worry! We've prepared other chances for you to shine later today. But now, the real competition is about to start! Give this next challenge your all!"

Throwing her flogger into the air, Midnight turned to look around at the gigantic screen, which stopped displaying the names of the students so it could turn into what looked like a giant wheel, spinning at such speeds some of the students looked away in fear of getting dizzy.

"Now then, here comes the second game! I already know what it is," Midnight let out a giggle, "but what could it be? What. Could. It. Beeeeee?"

There was a moment of tension, as the students all stared up at the screen nervously, feeling themselves sweat as the next game was decided - and then the wheel suddenly stopped, displaying one singular word:

TAG

"Tag?" Izuku read the word out loud, blinking. On his other side, Nejire let out a gasp, quickly moving to poke his shoulder with a big grin.

"Allow me to explain the rules," Midnight looked back to the screen as she cocked her hip, "we have already sorted you all into groups of eight, evenly divided amongst all thirty two of you. The purpose of this game is to make sure your team has, as a collective, enough points to make it through to the next round! There will be four teams all together, and your bases will be outside the arena in the forest. Terribly sorry for the audience, but our next game will have to be watched on the big screens! The forest has been divided into four districts - red, blue, green and yellow. And you will be wearing these!" 

She held up a red headband - it looked like it was made of cloth, but there was a small screen in the center flashing the number 'zero' on it. 

"How many points you gained in the last game will be reflected on this headband, with each person being assigned a different point value, similar to the entrance exam. Every person on the team that we assigned you to will be worth different points depending on who's on which team! And in the end, the two teams with the most points will advance to the next round!"

The list from before suddenly returned, starting at the bottom. The girl with brown hair covering her eyes blinked at her name being only worth ten points, and slowly moved up the list, each name having an additional ten points added to it.

"The points that are assigned go up by ten starting from the bottom. So for example, the one in last place gets ten points to start, and the second to last gets twenty. But keep this in mind," Midnight chuckled in a suddenly sinister tone, "the more points you have, the more you can possibly lose, and the less points you have, the less you can lose. For example ... if you only have ten points, if you get tagged, you lose five. If you have twenty points, if you get tagged, you lose ten."

"And if we have over a hundred points ..." Ochako realized, her eyes widening in horror at how many points she had beside her name.

"We lose fifty points." Itsuka slowly nodded, already realizing how much this was going to suck, what with her three-hundred and ten points.

"The less points you have, the better chance you have, but the more you'll have to work to get to the next round! The more points you have, the bigger the target you have on your back, but the easier it gets to move on to the next round!" Midnight put her hands on her hips. "And the point value assigned to first place is ... ten million!"

There was a good long pause at that last note - and Ochako and Itsuka, standing beside the now frozen Izuku, winced in sympathy. Izuku himself could do nothing else but stare up at the screen in horror, seeing all those questions marks beside his name be replaced by the ridiculously large number of ten million.

Slowly, everyone else began to look around at him, their faces still blank, but an undeniable wave of malice suddenly blasted over him - making him shiver at the realization that in a game where only two groups would advance with the most points, going after the one with the most points would be the smart thing to do.

And with ten million points, being divided the more he got tagged …

… oh, boy. Oh, he was screwed.

"But keep this in mind, in case there are a few of you that may wish to try and succeed on their own," Midnight giggled, "it doesn't matter how much you individually gather points! The only way your team can proceed to the next round is by combining all the points you earned with your team! Before the game starts, you will assign one of your teammates to stay in your district - you can hand the points off to them to start, or keep them to yourselves, but one thing is clear! By the end of the game, the only points that will be counted will be on the person assigned to be the point-keeper. So make sure you all get your points over to the point-keeper by the time the game is over! And keep them guarded - there's nothing to say that a player can't sneak in and take the points directly off the person."

Everyone gulped at that.

"Now then!" Midnight threw her flogger out. "Without further delay! Here are the teams!"

And, like she said, without warning the screen suddenly changed again, making everyone quickly look up to the four teams with eight names to see which teams they were on.

 

GROUP 1

Asui Tsuyu

Honenuki Juuzo

Kaminari Denki

Shiozaki Ibara

Shoda Nirengeki

Tokage Setsuna

Tsunotori Pony

Yanagi Reiko

 

GROUP 2

Hadou Nejire

Haya Yuuyu

Kendou Itsuka

Kirishima Eijirou

Monoma Neito

Shinsou Hitoshi

Todoroki Shouto

Tokoyami Fumikage

 

GROUP 3

Hagakure Tooru

Jirou Kyouka

Kodai Yui

Komori Kinoko

Sato Rikido

Sero Hanta

Shouji Mezo

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

 

GROUP 4

Ashido Mina

Bakugou Katsuki

Hatsume Mei

Iida Tenya

Midoriya Izuku

Mineta Minoru

Uraraka Ochako

Yaoyorozu Momo

 

Izuku quickly scanned the list for his name - and then he felt his jaw drop. Beside him, Ochako likewise felt her eyes widen in horror, and Itsuka let out a small hiss. Slowly, the two childhood friends, standing side by side, glanced over at where their other 'childhood friend' was standing, reading the list and feeling himself scowl at who was on his team.

On their other side, Itsuka likewise gulped, and slowly turned at where her 'rival' was standing. Shouto was scanning the list, his frown deepening, and then turned to look over at her, narrowing his eyes as his arms crossed, and he stared at her in obvious dislike. 

So … Izuku and Ochako would have to work with Katsuki. And Itsuka would have to work with Shouto.

Well, at least Izuku wasn't going to be the only one who was completely screwed.


"Huh?" Tensei blinked, looking down at his phone, "Tenya responded to my message?"

Standing by himself in the conference room, he couldn't help but feel himself blink as he put his helmet down on the table - Tensei recalled that after their talk this morning, during his phone call with his younger brother, Tenya had specifically said that he would only try to check his phone while he was on break, and needed time to concentrate in the morning. So to see that Tenya had responded to his text to remind his classmates that he was wishing them good luck - that was surprising.

Feeling his head tilt slightly at the MP4 file that had been sent, Tensei opened his phone, flipping over to his messages with his brother - and blinked when he saw, while Tenya was still in the video waiting to be played, the sight of Mina, Setsuna, Eijirou and what looked to be their entire class in the background looking at the camera.

A small smile beginning to appear on his face, Tensei quickly sat down in the chair next to his helmet, and pressed the play button.

"Hi, Ingenium-sensei!" Mina giggled, giving the camera a wave as Setsuna pushed a clearly protesting and flailing Tenya back, with Yui wrapping her arms underneath his brother's armpits, "It's us! Class 1A! You know, the dummies you taught for a week or so -"

"Ashido, please give me back my phone! Tensei is busy!"

"Anyway! Your little bro told us that you wished us good luck, so we thought that we'd send you a message right back!"

"Yeah!" Setsuna giggled, waving at the camera while continuing to push Tenya back, "Just wanted to wish you good luck too!"

"Nah, that's bad luck!" Eijirou protested, turning to flash the camera a grin. "Break a leg out there, man!"

"Not literally, kero."

"H-he knows what I mean!"

"Anyway," Itsuka suddenly came into view of the camera, plucking it out of Mina's grasp and holding it up so that everyone in the class could be viewed, everyone except for Katsuki, Reiko and Fumikage waving happily to the camera (and for the two gothic students, they were content with nodding), "we just thought that we'd wish you good luck on your assignment, Ingenium-sensei. We're going to be fighting our hardest out there, and we hope you are too!"

"Yeah!"

"Good luck, sensei!"

"Come back to school soon!"

"Good luck, sensei."

With those cheers, the video ended, and Tensei continued to stare at the phone for a moment, a big grin on his face as he chuckled lightly - and then he turned on his own camera app, pressing the red button to begin recording, and gave the camera a grin.

"Hey, guys!" He gave them a small wave, chuckling, "Just saw your message - and since I know Tenya is going to make sure you guys don't see this message until after the sports festival wraps up, I wanted to tell you that I'm so proud of you guys. I know how hard you've fought, and I'm happy for those who got to continue on to the final round. For anyone who might not have made it, I know that you might be disappointed, but just remember that I failed my first sports festival right out of the gate. And so did Aizawa. Don't worry if you guys stumble and fall - I know that you can pick yourselves right back up."

After a pause, he shook his head and chuckled.

"Anyway, you guys have heard enough from me - go out and have a great weekend!"

Pressing the red button again, he quickly sent the video to Tenya, resisting the urge to play the video the class sent for him again, and let out a small sigh as he slipped his phone back into his pocket. Standing up to grab his helmet from the table, he began walking out towards the meeting, but this time with a definite pep in his step - he had been somewhat dreading this meeting, and the assignment they had to do today, but seeing those kids again had picked up his mood considerably, making him smile brightly as he walked into the conference room with the heroes waiting for him.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone," He smiled around at all the heroes as they gave him a wave, a nod of acknowledgement, or an eyeroll as he walked to the front of the room, "my brother's class just wanted a quick word before their sports festival. So anyway, now that we're all here - let's go over the plan."

Turning back to the screen on the wall, Tensei let out a sigh as his smile from before slipped from his face, grabbing a small laser pointer to point out specific spots on the map of Hosu.

"So here's how today's going to go," He nodded to himself, "I'll be taking the lead with our specialist to locate the Hero Killer's location. Mister Blaster -" He turned to the scowling hero standing near the back, "- I want you to be searching the alleyways - the Hero Killer has been slipping up lately, so we don't want him somehow getting away from us and blending in with the crowd."

"Fine," The pro hero grumbled.

"Enigma -" He turned towards his sidekick, her black beady eyes looking up at him as he put on hand on his hip, using the laser pointer to circle a part of the city, "- you'll be using your quirk to hurry people away from where we'll be going - make sure that the Hero Killer has fewer opportunities to slip away again."

"Gotcha."

"Manuel -" He turned to the man sitting at the table, nodding when Tensei acknowledge him, "- you'll be taking everyone else to work on crowd control outside of our search zone, make sure nobody gets in. Everyone else will be on standby for when we locate the Hero Killer - we wanna pin him in one of the alleys so he can't escape."

"If that's the plan," One of the sidekicks in the back raised his hand, "couldn't the Commission have sent any other heroes with quirks specialized in capture? Like Snatch, or Wash."

"They've got their own assignments that they couldn't be dragged out of," Tensei shook his head, sighing, "but don't worry - we'll be doing this carefully. Everyone will have their trackers on and their earphones in, we won't be far away in case something happens. But it's important that we find the Hero Killer - or at least, get enough information today to identify him."

There was a small pause, and then Tensei glanced around, his brow furrowing a bit.

"In any case, we'll be heading out soon. Where's -?"

"The edgelord?" Mister Blaster guessed, letting out an unamused snort, "He's up on the roof brooding."

"He's not an edgelord," Tensei shook his head, unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit, "he just … takes himself very seriously."

"Yep," One of the sidekicks nodded, "an edgelord."

"And the best chance we have to find the Hero Killer," The speed hero reminded them, straightening up and keeping his helmet securely under his arm, "he's been on his trail for months now. In any case, you guys go get ready - we'll be heading out once I go over the plan with him."

Nodding, everyone started to get up and get ready, moving to each other to go over the plan again or fasten their hero costumes, while Tensei let out a small sigh as he put the laser pointer down, and began to walk out of the room. Keeping his helmet secured under his arm, he walked down to the end of the hall and towards the stairwell, heading straight up to the roof - where their 'Hero Killer specialist' was apparently waiting.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long for Tensei to get up to the roof - the hero agency they were renting out was near the top floor, so it was only a few flights of stairs that Tensei needed to climb up so that he could reach the top of the building. Opening the door, Tensei raised a hand to his face to block the sun shining directly into his eyes, grumbling a bit as he scanned the rooftop - and then he found who he was looking for.

"There you are," He called out to him, closing the door behind him, "I was wondering why you weren't downstairs."

The man standing on the edge of the building didn't look back at Tensei at all, instead silently surveying the city as he knelt down. His long black hair was tied back into a ponytail, and the black and red clothing he wore crinkled a bit as he slowly glanced around his shoulder at the hero approaching him. Or … Tensei thought that he was looking at him - it was kind of hard to tell with the mask he wore.

One half completely black, and the other side red, both sides opaque enough to see a distant shadow of a mouth and eyes staring back at him, as he reached up to adjust the katana on his back, the six folding knives across his chest clinking together.

"There is no doubt," Stendhal said in his low, deep voice, "the Hero Killer is here."

"Here?" Tensei raised an eyebrow, walking over to join him at the edge of the roof. "As in … with us at this very moment? All I see is you and me right now."

"He lurks in the shadows of this city," Stendhal continued on, not paying any attention to Tensei's jokes as he returned his gaze to the various apartment buildings before them, "in the alleyways. It's his gimmick - wait for the heroes to come to the darkest parts of the city, alone, where he can lie in wait for them to lower their guard."

"So he'll definitely be in an alleyway, huh?" Tensei slowly nodded, glancing up at the city as his smile faded, and he moved to kneel down beside Stendhal. "And you're sure that your quirk can track him?"

"Of course," He nodded as well, "I will be able to smell him when I get close, I have the scent. But be warned - heroes faster than you have fallen to the Hero Killer. We still do not know what his quirk is, only that once he has a hold on you - you will not be able to escape."

"Alright," Tensei sighed, straightening up, "in that case, let's do this - you and I will go together to where you think the Hero Killer was last, and we'll go from there. I have everyone waiting as backup a few blocks away - we'll follow him back to wherever he's hiding and lead him out in cuffs. We don't want him escaping this time, the Commission is putting enough pressure on all of us to get at least something here."

"Be not worried," Stendhal shook his head, a ghost of a smile appearing behind his mask, "the Hero Killer is close. I can tell."

"Alright then," Tensei tried to smile as well, putting on his helmet as Stendhal stood up, "then I guess wherever you go, I'll follow."

"Very good," Stendhal nodded, and then lowered his hand to offer Tensei a hand up.

Smiling behind the helmet, Tenya accepted his hand up - and then let out a small wince as a small spike of pain suddenly flared from his palm. Blinking, he took his hand back once he was standing up to look at his glove, and blinked at the sight of a small hole there, a bit of blood escaping from the puncture.

"Ow," He shook his hand a bit, looking back up at Stendhal with a grin the other hero wouldn't be able to see, "gotta watch yourself, man - you're pretty sharp!"

With that small chuckle, Tensei turned back towards the door on the roof, continuing to shake his hand as the small pain from before eventually faded, and he heard Stendhal walking behind him, casually adjusting his uniform after having bent over for a while, as he followed the pro hero down the stairs to where everyone else was waiting to go.

Unknown to Tensei, Stendhal's smile faded from his face, glaring at the other hero's back while slowly sliding the small knife he had hidden in his glove back to his hand, glancing down to confirm that he had gotten a small bit of blood from the pro hero.

And that tiny little drop would be all he needed to do what needed to be done.

Notes:


And that was Chapter 25, and the beginning of this universe's Sports Festival arc! I hope that you all enjoyed the relative chaos that this first event brought, and that it wasn't too confusing to follow! We also got a few interesting viewers for this festival, what with those two pro heroes w̶h̶o̶ ̶a̶r̶e̶ ̶t̶o̶t̶a̶l̶l̶y̶ ̶n̶o̶t̶ ̶g̶i̶r̶l̶f̶r̶i̶e̶n̶d̶s̶ watching the sports festival for potential interns that will 100% not come up again in some significant way later, and another innocent reporter that just wants to watch the festival, no ulterior motives here!

As for our little ... 'situation', as we're calling it - yes, I see you all raising eyebrows at the Izuku-Itsuka-Ochako angst that seems to have been brewing with no end in sight. But trust me when I say, this arc will be pretty important to their developments going forward. It's not like I make empty promises on who may or may not be kissing in the near future XD

And yep, Itsuka dyed her hair! I know people were wondering what color it would be, but I decided to keep things simple while also somewhat making things interesting for things going forward as well, what with Itsuka now resembling her mother nearly perfectly. Just keep in mind that our girl will be looking like this for the next few chapters:

And that's all from me!

 

huh? What about Stendhal? Wondering what his deal is? Why would I tell you that? XD

Thank you guys for the read! Coming up next, with my weak math skills:

See you then!

Chapter 26: Conflicts and Scheming

Summary:

As preparations for the second round begins, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka face similar problems in getting a few antagonistic teammates to get along with each other, and All Might faces his own problems when he receives a text.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

… oh, this wasn't good. He wanted to go and sit with the Midoriyas, the Urarakas, and the Kendous.

With a low, defeated sigh, All Might leaned back in his seat up in the teacher's box, watching as the students gathered around the podium that Midnight was standing on, far below on the field, to receive the headbands that they would have to wear around their heads for the entire game. After the confirmation that the students had half an hour to make their preparations, the crowds relaxed a bit, either sitting back to talk excitedly about what they had just witnessed and who they're predicting to pass on to the next round, or getting up to go grab food from the various stalls set up along the stadium or head to the washrooms.

All Might, on the other hand, felt his eyes scanning around the arena for where the three families might be before he let out a small, defeated sigh, and leaned back in his seat. It would be impossible for him to see them from up where he was sitting - at best, they'd be nothing but tiny specks along a sea of people. So he decided to try and get his mind off the families that he had reluctantly parted from this morning, a lonely feeling continuing to burn in his chest, as he turned to the screen as one of the cameras focused on Katsuki, detailing him as the one in sixth place.

From what he could see, Katsuki wasn't very pleased with he'll have to be doing for this upcoming game, ripping the headband from Midnight's hand when she offered it, and All Might felt himself frown as he leaned forward a bit, aware of Tenko turning around in his seat beside him to chat with Ectoplasm sitting behind them.

Indeed, this ended up being Aizawa's idea when it came to Katsuki, completely approved by Nezu - forcing him to be on a team with, and be forced to rely on, Izuku and Ochako in order to succeed. As one could probably guess, All Might had been … well … not exactly enthusiastic about this idea when he had first heard about it, back at the USJ after everyone had left to get on the bus so Izuku could head to his spar with Mirio.

He could already see several holes in this plan - but ultimately, he had kept his thoughts to himself, seeing as Aizawa had far more experience with this kind of thing than he did, and when his idea had been brought up at one of their meetings, Nezu had been more than happy to tweak his plans for the sports festival to accomondate for it.

But … well, All Might frowned again, as stated before, he definitely had his own thoughts about what Aizawa had planned. Being forced into a situation where Katsuki would have to rely on someone else to win might force him to change his perspective.

But that was the key word, though: 'might '.

He did support Katsuki growing out of this mindset, of course - he supported all of his students, no matter what their personalities and behaviors might be like, and he knew that there was genuine talent in the kid - once he graduated, All Might could see him going places. He wanted Katsuki to succeed and become a hero just as much as he wanted to see Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku succeed. But, he sighed, in order to change someone's attitude, that person has to be willing to do so, and, as a thought he kept to himself, he had the feeling that making Katsuki team up with people he obviously disliked and trusting him to make the change by himself is probably not what All Might would've done.

He was an observant man, despite Aizawa's clear doubt on that matter - he knew that the relationship between Katsuki and Izuku and Ochako was not … exactly the best. He knew that ever since Ochako had first come to the beach, All Might furrowed his brow as he thought back to that conversation that she had with Itsuka.

"It isn’t all the time, but there have been a few instances where Bakugou or one of his cronies hit him to try and provoke him, or someone throws something at him. I tend to be the one to get in their faces for that, though."

"Bakugou?"

"Kacchan."

"Ah. 'Kacchan'. Got it."

"You know about him?"

"I know the general story about him. I know enough about him that I hate his fucking guts."

"Oh, same! He's such a tool!"

"God, don't tell me he bullies you too?"

"Sometimes. Mostly because I get in his face and tell him to buzz off."

At the time, All Might had pushed that little tidbit from his mind, not really thinking about it and being more relieved that the situation with Ochako had winded down to a peaceful resolution. But after his talk with Aizawa on the first day about a problem child in Class 1A, All Might had walked away from the school that day with the feeling that he had heard the name 'Bakugou' before, and began to observe closely. It had only been a little while after the battle trial that All Might had connected the dots, seeing the harsh glares Katsuki was throwing Izuku, Ochako and especially Itsuka, and after reviewing the camera feed and seeing their confrontation whne he had stepped away to bring the next batch of students down to their battle trial to explain the rules of the match.

And it was only after their meeting a week after the incident at the USJ, and seeing Katsuki clearly about to hit Izuku after All Might's prank there, was when he remembered where he had heard Katsuki's name before.

It was clear, at least to All Might, that Aizawa and Nezu were definitely correct. Katsuki would eventually need a reality check, and it was better to do it now than risk it being beyond the school gates and out of their control. But … to force Izuku and Ochako, who clearly had a bad history with the young man, to have to deal with him? To get this hypothetical 'introspective' started for him? Well, it left a bad taste in All Might's mouth.

There was a part of All Might that just wanted to take Katsuki aside so they could talk privately - perhaps he could open up to him about the heroes he had seen that had attitudes similar to Katsuki, and tell them how it ended for them in an effort to scare him straight.

But at the end of the day, All Might sighed as he leaned back and watched Katsuki stomp out with the rest of the students as they began leaving the stadium, he would have to trust that Aizawa and Nezu knew what they were doing. He was only a novice when it came to this kind of thing, anyway.

No, he shook his head slowly, he should be focusing his thoughts on what he had seen during the end of the first round. That being what he had seen before his three protégés had gone through the finish line.

Itsuka running faster than he had ever seen her run, using a single punch to somehow blast all of Shouto's ice back at him in a gust of wind, and then jumping higher than he had ever seen her in order to catch Izuku and Ochako as they fell.

It was obvious, at least to him, that Itsuka had been clearly using One for All to perform those feats, he realized as he leaned forward in his seat, cupping his pointy chin. The speed and strength she displayed was clearly not an ability from her own quirk, but from the quirk that they currently shared, even as it diminished in All Might. He couldn't help but feel immense pride for her - it was clear that deep down, she must have some kind of understanding about how the quirk works, even if it was an unconscious feeling.

Now all they had to do was figure out how to make sure Itsuka could harness that power consciously, and not when she was in the heat of the moment with no chance to think. Perhaps … with Gran Torino was doing internships this year, perhaps he could -

Before he could muse about it any longer, however, his phone suddenly chimed, hearing his own voice calling 'A TEXT IS HERE!'. Jumping a bit in surprise, and ignoring the eyerolls and groans from the other teachers at the sound of the chime, All Might reached into his pocket for the phone, pulling it out to see who was messaging him -

- and then he felt his dark eyes suddenly bulge out of his head as he read the texts starting to come in.

 

INKO

Hello, Mr. Yagi! I was wondering if you were busy at the moment?

Eri wants me to go over to one of the stands to pick up some popcorn for her to try, and I was

I was wondering, if you weren't busy, if you could walk me back to our seats to say hello to everyone?

I understand if you're busy, though!

 

Letting out a sputtering cough, All Might abruptly stood up from his seat in his shock, unaware of the other teachers looking around at him in confusion. His hollowed cheeks suddenly felt like they were on fire, for some reason, as he stared down at the texts that had just been sent to him in shock and a bit of terror.

But before he could even blink, he was opening up the messager app and quickly responding back.

 

YOU

Of course! I'm not busy at the moment, so I can most certainly meet with you!

Just let me know what concession stand you're at, and I'll be there soon!

 

"Er … All Might?"

The pro hero jumped a bit in surprise at the voice uncertainly calling his name, along with the feeling of someone tugging at the arm of his suit jacket, and quickly looking down. In the seat beside him, Tenko was giving him a concerned look, leaning forward while raising his eyebrow at his mentor, while on Tenko's other side, Thirteen was turning to give him an interested look behind her helmet.

"You, uh … are you okay?" The teaching assistant asked him, "You're kinda … you know, you're blocking Vlad's view."

Blinking in shock, and looking around at Vlad King as the blood hero gave him an expectant look, All Might quickly apologized to his coworker with a small bow, and everyone watched as All Might awkwardly climbed out of his seat, Tenko continuing to give him a confused look.

"All Might? Is everything okay?"

"O-oh! My - my apologies, Young Tenko," All Might turned to give the young man a shaky grin, quickly bringing his hands together in apology as he glanced over at the door leading outside the box, "I just, uh - I got a text about - er - yeah. I'm just gonna - go do something for - for a bit. I'll be back before the next round begins!"

And with that, he quickly buffed up to his true form, making Tenko blink, and without another word, quickly wheeled around so he could begin running up the steps and out the door of the teacher's booth without even looking back.

While Tenko looked after the number one hero in clear confusion, Thirteen chuckled in her seat, leaning back.

"Well, isn't that funny?" She giggled to herself, "Looks like the Symbol of Peace isn't much different than our students when someone of the opposite sex asks to talk."

"Huh?" Tenko blinked, looking around at her with a furrowed brow, "What does that mean?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Senpai, I'm not a little kid anymore. And it's not like you're that much older than I am, anyway."

"I've got a whole ten years on you, Tenko."

"That's not much."

While the two bickered lightly, All Might quickly made his way down the steps of the stadium as fast as he could, keeping his eyes on his phone for Inko to text him back as he flipped down each stairwell, grunting as he landed on each stairwell and twirling in the air as he flipped down the steps, before he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Once he had made his way down, he took off in a brisk speed walk - which, due to One for All, was fairly quick, speeding down the hall so fast some people nearby watching the game blinked at the rush of hair that blew their hair around.

Thankfully, once Inko had sent a picture of the stall she was at while telling him which floor she was on, it didn't take long for All Might to get there, speed walking halfway across the stadium in under a minute. Once he finally reached the other side, he skidded to a halt behind a pillar, breathing thorugh his nose a bit rapidly as he tried to catch his breath (and not due to being winded) as he quickly looked around for the mother of one of his students.

And then, just as he felt his heart begin to beat a little faster than normal, he spotted her at long last, standing near the front of the line waiting for popcorn with a few yen in her hand, surrounded by multiple people as she glanced around for where he could be.

Feeling his dark eyes widen and a smile appear on his face, All Might quickly stepped forward, raising his hand to call out to her in greeting -

- and then, just as everyone suddenly looked around at him, he glanced at his own arm, seeing how large it still was, and felt himself pause in his step, realizing, to his horror, that he forgot one small thing in his delight in seeing Inko.

"Wait, is that All Might?" Someone from the concession stand gasped, which drew even more people's attention around to the cringing pro hero as he stood there like a deer in headlights.

"Whoa, All Might really does teach here!" Another civilian squealed.

In the blink of an eye, All Might was quickly swarmed by a massive entourage of fans, all of them speaking very loudly and excitedly as they raised pieces of papers and pens into the air, which, to All Might, they pulled out of nowhere. It was very hard for the pro hero to maintain his smile in front of the masses, as he would glance down at them and then back up at Inko as he saw her blink in surprise at the presence of the Number One Hero.

And then, after she had taken in his appearance, she glanced back around, clearly looking for 'Coach Yagi'. Completely unaware that he was currently getting swarmed by fans not too far away from her.

"Uh … ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" All Might tried his best to make sure his signature laugh came across as genuine and not stiff at all as he put his hands down on his hips, throwing his head back and laughing. "Y-yes, it's me! I'm here to - uh - well, yes! I am here!"

Several cheers filled the hall of the stadium at that declaration, but all that mattered to All Might was when his eyes flickered back up to Inko as she accepted the bag of popcorn from the concession stand, still looking around for where his alter-ego was, and raised her phone to begin texting again. As All Might hastily accepted a pen and a pad of paper from a young man, he glanced back up to see her beginning to walk away slowly as she kept looking around for him, his smile beginning to feel strained as she flickered her gaze between her phone and her surroundings - but between everyone asking for his autograph or a handshake, he was unable to call out to her, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket.

And soon enough, after waiting around for a few minutes, she began making her way back to her seat, and All Might felt his face fall a bit even as he tried his hardest to keep the smile on his face.

It only took about ten minutes to get through everyone in the crowd, shaking their hands or signing their notebooks, and once they began to return to their seats, or heading back over to pick up the snacks they initially set out for, All Might took that chance to jog over to the nearest empty stairwell, checking to make sure he really was alone, and with a weary sigh, stopped trying to maintain his muscle form. Shrinking back down to his emaciated form, All Might coughed and wiped some blood from his lip with the handkerchief in his pocket, cursing himself for his stupidity.

Leaning against the wall, he raised a hand to hold over his eyes, biting his lip slightly as he tried to fight down the disappointment he felt that he wasn't able to spend any time with Inko - she knew that she would be disappointed as well that he blew her off, just like he was, so he quickly brought out his phone so that he could send her an apology text.

There was … well, All Might wasn't an idiot, which was something that Aizawa and Gran Torino would cast doubt on immediately. He knew that was a reason why he was so disappointed that he coudldn't spend time with Inko. Something that he couldn't just pass off as … friendly.

There was something about Inko that just … made him feel like his heart was beating out of its chest. It wasn't a feeling that he'd felt in a very long time, not since …

… not since high school. Before … before what happened to Nana on Jed'ha Island.

Frowning, All Might lowered his head, staring down at his phone as he absently texted an apology to Inko, technically telling her the truth about someone interrupting him on his way down to meet with her while guilt churned in his stomach. Once he had sent it to her, he put the phone back in his coat pocket, and looked up at the ceiling as he sighed again.

Like he said, he wasn't a fool. He knew what these … feelings he had for Inko were. He knew why why he felt flustered around her, why the sound of her laugh made his heart soar. It had been clear to him, at least, ever since the dinner they had a few months ago before he left to investigate the Trigger theft, when Izuku had been out with Ochako and Itsuka so they could study for the entrance exam, so it was just the two of them. It had been that dinner, All Might remembered, that he realized that he hadn't felt that safe and warm with someone in a long time, and had to realize that his feelings for Inko were not exactly platonic.

At the time, he had immediately pushed them down - he had believed, during that period, that Inko had still been a married woman, and he knew that doing anything like that would be disrespectful and probably earn him a slap to the face. But then he found out that they were separated a few weeks ago, and the thoughts he had about her were starting to get a lot harder to push away.

Added to the fact that Inko seemed to like spending time with him, ever since he had gotten back from the investigation, it had been … rather hard not to think about her.

But …

Frowning, he turned to look at the window beside him in the stairwell - but instead of looking out at the forest of UA, instead he stared at his own reflection. Staring at the dark, sunken eyes, his hollowed cheeks, the automatic grimace, his long stringy bangs having over his face and his messy hair. And then he looked down to his body, seeing how frail and gangly he was. And with a sigh, he looked away, staring down at the ground.

No matter what he felt for Inko, he knew that there would be no way she would think the same of him. She was beautiful, and in this form, he was … he just wasn't very nice to look out. The only way she would look at him in that way is if he were to be in …

… in his true form.

Immediately, All Might shook his head, shoving that thought out of his mind. No, that would not be possible - to entertain revealing his true identity to Inko, that would mean he would have to include her in on the secret. And if he was to do that, he would have to give her a downplayed, small version of his past. No, that wouldn't be possible - if he had to tell her the truth, it would have to be everything. From Nana to One for All to …

… to him.

All Might's expression darkened at the mere thought, clenching his fist, and shook his head as though he were disgusted by himself. Here he was, entertaining the possibility of revealing himself to Inko just so he could act on his feelings, when not even a few weeks ago, he learned the possibility of All For One's survival. Even if Nine wasn't somehow connected to him, All Might should still treat this with the utmost seriousness. He cared about Inko, and not just her, but the Urarakas and the Kendous as well.

Including them, including any of them, in his secret would just give All For One more ammunition to use against not only him, but Itsuka as well. If he really survived what happened five or so years ago, it was of the utmost importance for All Might to be the one to finish their rivalry before he fully lost One for All, and the responsibility be fully transferred onto Itsuka's shoulders. And that meant that she alone would be the one to face him.

So no, that was not going to happen. With the last of his strength, he had to be the one to finish All For One, once and for all. And that meant that any pleasing thought of being with Inko would have to be put away.

Before he could think about it anymore, however, the sound of his phone beginning to ring filled the empty stairwell, the proclamations of 'A CALL IS HERE!' making All Might jump a bit in surprise. Blinking, he reached in for his phone again, somewhat expecting (and maybe hoping) for it to be Inko calling him, but then tilting his head when he saw that it was an unknown number attempting to reach him.

After a moment of hesitation, wondering how an unknown caller had gotten his number, he answered the call, and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Er … hello?"

"Ha! Don't you know that it's a bad idea to answer unknown calls, Toshinori? Or whatever Hana told me."

"S-sensei!" All Might quickly straightened up, fear slowly crawling through him as the chuckles of Gran Torino filled his ear. "It's - wait, are you calling from a payphone again? I thought Hana bought you a phone for Christmas?"

"I broke that thing week one."

"Er - accidentally, or -"

"It made too much noise!"

"- purposefully," All Might lamely finished, sighing as he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I suppose that's why Tenko said that Hana's been complaining about you not answering her calls."

"Well, Toshi," Gran huffed over the phone, "maybe she shouldn't try calling me so often. Maybe she should try to just come and visit me! It's almost as though those two brats don't care enough about me to take the train once and a while."

"Sensei, you live halfway across the city from them, and they both have jobs. I'm sure that Hana wouldn't mind you coming to visit her once -"

"Excuses!"

All Might had to fight down a sigh of exasperation.

"Anyway, Toshinori," Gran let out his own sigh, the jovial tone he had before fading away suddenly into a more serious tone, "as much as I'd love to talk to you more about those two brats, I'm afraid that I'm actually reaching out to you with news."

"News? About what?"

"Tsukauchi got back to me. He's returned from up north. Do you have the time to talk?"

At that news, the slightly confused, yet bemused look on All Might's face from talking to his teacher vanished at once. His eyes widening briefly, All Might's face then fell into a grimace, quickly looking around for anyone who might be coming up or down the stairs. Once he was sure that he was alone, All Might moved towards the railing, putting his hand against it and stared out the window as he slowly nodded to himself.

He shouldn't be that surprised, though - he had thought of the devil, and then came news of him.

"I'm alone. What did he say?"

"Endor Forest is still a crater," Gran told him, "same as it was when we left it. He's spent the last three weeks since the Consortium attacked the USJ going through the records at the hospital we stayed at and the morgue, trying to see if anything had been edited or changed, and interviewed the forensic technicians we entrusted with the body."

"And?"

"Nothing. The reports are the same as ever - confidential, the only ones able to read it are you, me, Tsukauchi and Chiyo, and anyone else who might wanna try to fight a legal battle with the Hero Commission. And the morgue's reports were the same - Nighteye and I brought in an undisclosed corpse, they were paid not to question it, and we burned the bastard to ash."

"And are there any records of what happened to the ash?" All Might began to glare out the window the longer they talked about this. "So we can check."

"If any normal person was hearing the Symbol of Peace asking about the ash of the bastard he brutalized, they'd probably be horrified." Gran tried to joke, but then he let out another sigh. "But no. After we burnt the body, Nighteye had instructed the morgue to dispose of the remains. It'll be next to impossible to track down exactly where they are at the moment - for all we know, they were dumped in some garbage bin where he belonged."

"So until we see those ashes for ourselves, we have to assume All For One survived."

"Looks that way," Gran scoffed, "I think the only assurance we have right now is that there's no chance in hell that he's in good shape. You smashed that bastard's head against the ground hard enough to reduce it to sludge - the best we can hope for at the moment is that he's clinically brain dead, and this Nine guy is just using his quirk while he's busy laying around being a vegetable."

"I'm not assured by that," All Might shook his head, "if Nine has access to All For One, either the quirk or the person himself, that means that the Consortium has the potential to become a bigger threat than anything we've seen before. But I don't believe it, Gran - I have a feeling that if he could survive being cremated, there's no chance that he isn't a threat."

"We'll have to hope. But at least I'm not coming with just bad news. Tsukauchi found a lead."

"A lead?" All Might blinked.

"After we linked the Villain Consortium to those two heroes they attacked for their quirks," Gran explained in a gruff voice, "we started keeping an eye open for any similar cases. We aren't gonna get answers out of those two anytime soon - one of them passed away a month ago from complications from his injuries, and the other's still in a coma. But Tsukauchi's been keeping his eye open for any kind of hospital records showing the signs we've seen from All For One's past victims - and we found one, along with an admittance to the nearby hospital back in March."

"March?" All Might blinked. "That was around the time the entrance exam for UA took place … it might give us a hint as to All For One's current location, and if he's close by, if he's working with the Consortium - it would make sense, since they were targeting me, if they tried to track my location and attacked this victim. Which hospital was this person admitted to? A location in Musutafu?"

"Yep," Gran confirmed, "and funny of you to bring up the entrance exam - it's what drew Tsukauchi's attention. The person who got submitted to the hospital was a kid who tried to apply for UA's hero course."

"A …" All Might found himself stopping, staring blankly ahead as his eyes widened, "… a kid?"

"Yeah," Gran sighed, his voice growing quiet, "a middle schooler by the name of Yuuga Aoyama."


She had half an hour.

Itsuka had half an hour to figure out how she was going cooperate with Shouto, the guy who declared her his rival and that she was angry at for trying to stop her from saving Izuku and Ochako, that Shinsou guy who kept giving her dirty looks and made it clear that he hated her guts, and the Monoma guy from Class 1B who kept trying to whisper to Yuuyu as though they were in on a conspiracy, and throwing her a suspicious glare.

So … well, quite honestly, she wasn't feeling very confident, but at least she wasn't in Izuku and Ochako's shoes, what with them having to figure out how they were going to get Katsuki to cooperate, so there was one small bright side to this.

As Midnight had explained to them before sending them off, the four groups would be going into the forest where their 'territories' were before their half-hour of making preparations, the large screen behind her displaying the countdown of thirty minutes. As the arena's massive doors slid open so they could head out to the forest, Midnight acknowledged that they all needed time to get to their zones, and confirmed that once all four teams had made it to their areas, the half hour countdown would begin, giving them time to prepare for the big fight, set up their territory for traps, and make their plans.

With great reluctance, Itsuka had parted ways from Izuku and Ochako for the moment, giving them a sympathetic look as they looked over at Katsuki and realized what they had to deal with, Izuku looking like he was dying on the inside and Ochako having a vein twitching in her forehead. As they walked out of the arena, she sighed as she glanced down at the black headband with the screen in the middle that Midnight had given her, seeing the number '310' flashing there, before she turned it around to wrap around her head, making sure to tie it properly so that the slightly heavy screen didn't slip down and cover her eyes.

Once it was on, she sighed, looking around as the four groups began walking into their territories, and followed her own group into the forest, noticing Yui and Setsuna flashing each other looks as they bumped fists before she turned back to her group. Which, of course, gave Itsuka ample time to look around at her team and gulp nervously at how difficult it was going to be to get them all to cooperate.

Now, she knew that Nejire, Yuuyu, Eijirou and Fumikage would be very easy to get along with - not only was she classmates with three of them, but she was friends with Nejire, Yuuyu and Eijirou, and Fumikage at the very least seemed to respect her as the class representative, so that wouldn't be a problem. No, the problems would be with the other three - Shouto, mostly because of the obvious fact they declared war on each other and she reprimanded him not a half hour ago; Shinsou, for how much he clearly disliked them if his glaring at them was anything to go by (and for being a smug little jerk); and Monoma, looking twitchy and paranoid while he turned to whisper to Yuuyu as she blatantly ignored him.

So … yeah, this was probably going to be very difficult.

But, Itsuka sighed as they walked in silence, she knew that like it or not, they were her teammates, and there would be no way for any of them to get to the next round without working together. So in that case, she had to be the one to extend her hand, since neither of the three were going to.

So that meant she had to put aside the plans she was currently brainstorming for getting them through this challenge, to make sure that they could cooperate long enough to even get through it.

With another sigh, Itsuka hurried her pace, jumping over a tree that had fallen over, and slowed her pace so she could walk beside Shouto.

"Todoroki."

The boy with the burn on his face paused slightly at her calling his name, and turned to look at her with clear dislike. It was pretty much what she expected, however, so Itsuka didn't let it get to her, putting her hands in her pockets as she met his eyes while trying to keep her face neutral.

"Look," She shook her head slightly, "I realize that you and I don't exactly get along, what with you declaring war on me and me yelling at you earlier. But like it or not, neither of us will be able to get through this challenge without at the very least cooperating - if we fail here, we won't be able to face each other in the final round. So with that in mind …"

She took a deep breath, and then held out her hand.

"… truce? At least for now?"

Shouto took a moment to clearly think it over, glancing down at Itsuka's hand before his gaze flickered back up to her face. Itsuka kept pace with him, meeting his eyes as he gave her a once over as though trying to check for any kind of trick or deception. Finally, after a few awkward seconds of holding her hand out to him, Shouto raised his own and took hers, giving it a shake.

"Fine," He nodded, "at least until we get through this challenge."

"Okay, good," She nodded back at him as well, letting go of his hand and starting to walk forward so she could run over to Shinsou -

"But I do have to question your intentions."

Feeling herself falter, Itsuka's step slowed a bit, and she looked back at Shouto. His own face, similar to hers, was neutral, but there was a noticeable look of suspicion in his eyes as he walked alongside her.

"Huh?" Itsuka's brow wrinkled, "What does that mean?"

"Back during the race," He put his own hands in his pockets as they walked through the forest, the headband he was wearing displaying the number '280', "you yelled at me when I tried to stop you from saving your friends."

"Yeah, I did do that," Itsuka's eyes narrowed slightly, "are you saying that you were in the right for doing that?"

"No," Shouto shook his head, letting out a small sigh as he looked off to the side, "I wasn't thinking back then. I saw you running forward ahead of me, and I acted out of impulse - I wasn't paying any attention to them. But that just makes me question you now, seeing as they're both on the team that we'll probably have to go up against - the one with the ten million points. The team that's already guaranteed to move on ahead in the festival."

"And … what exactly is your point here?"

"Those two," He turned to look at her again, "are your friends. I was behind you three at the start of the race - I saw how close you are when you were talking, even if I wasn't really listening to you. But those friends that you fought so hard to save are now going to be your enemies. They'll be who we have to gun for. Are you going to be comfortable with that? Forcing your two friends out of the sports festival?"

Itsuka fell into silence for a moment, walking with Shouto as he stared at her suspiciously - and then she let out a small sigh, folding her hands behind her back as she stared ahead.

"What," She joked a bit, "trying to make me doubt myself, Todoroki?"

"Perhaps," Shouto bluntly admitted.

"Well, don't," Itsuka huffed, looking away from Shouto as they walked together, "you don't need to do that. I'm not going to sabotage our team's efforts because I really like two members of the opposite team. Of course I can go up against Izuku and Ochako - we trained together, I'll have you know. I never hesitated to beat them down in the dojo or during our battle trial a few weeks ago."

"Those are just low stakes situations, though," He pointed out, "you'd be forcing them out of an event that they're supposed to show off in front of the hero community."

"You think that would be enough to break our friendship?" She asked him, shaking her head, "I know you said you weren't really listening, but I believe you heard me say during my speech that I'm aiming to win today, and I know they are too. We'll be able to face each other, fight each other, and walk away with our friendship stronger than ever. And if they were to go easy on me, I'd be insulted, and they know that."

"Is that right?"

"That is right. In fact," She raised her eyebrow as she looked over at him, "I don't think we should be questioning me sabotaging our efforts. If there's anyone here who would sabotage us, it'd probably be you."

"What?" Shouto scowled, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm friends with Haya," She was sure to give him an unamused look as she kept her hands folded behind her back, "she told me a bit about your quirk. Fire and ice, right?"

Shouto, for his part, didn't respond to that.

"She told me about how you're always holding back during your lessons. Finds it kind of insulting, and to be honest," She turned to look off to the side, not really considering what she was saying due to Shouto angering her with his own accusations, "if I was in her shoes, I would be insulted too. It seems like you're mocking your classmates by always holding back. They're going to be out there giving their all, and then there's you not even trying that hard. I suppose -"

"Let me make one thing clear, Kendou."

She faltered at the sudden tight anger in his voice, and became aware of a strange chill emulating from him. She then realized, perhaps a bit too late, that she was probably pressing a button she shouldn't be, as she turned to look at Shouto as he stared ahead, his face filled with anger and his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"In battle," He said in a low, almost growling voice, "I will never use my left."

With that, he stomped away from her, keeping his head low and his hands stuffed in his pockets. Itsuka watched him go with a small look of surprise on her face, before it quickly morphed into regret - she knew, right then and there, that she had probably gone a bit too far and pushed something he was uncomfortable with, and even if he was acting like a prick to her, she felt pretty bad about pushing him.

That, and she couldn't help but criticize herself for being a hypocrite - here she was, criticizing Shouto for holding back with his quirk, when she was over here with her two quirks that she had to carefully use so she didn't blow her arm up. But … well, at this point, she knew that there wasn't anything she could say, and any apology she might try to give him would probably be brushed aside.

Besides, there was still the matter of the other two teammates that still hated the rest of them that she still needed to get around to try and convince everyone to get along with everyone else. So, at this point, she would have to let Shouto go, and simply be content with this … fairly chilly alliance.

… god, she hated puns.

With another sigh, she began to walk over towards where Shinsou was moving down the path by himself, already bracing herself for what she knew was going to be an unpleasant conversation, and tried to convince herself to not to be so antagonistic this time as she reached out and patted his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey," She nodded as Shinsou looked around at her, a look of dislike immediately appearing on his face and letting her know that this conversation wasn't going to be fun, "can we talk?"

"Sure," He huffed, "you can talk. I think that's all you're good for, anyway - talk."

"Oh, boy," She muttered, despite herself, "here we go."

Shinsou merely scoffed, and shook his head as he looked back around, as though she weren't worth his time, "What do you want?"

"Well," She put her hands in her pockets again, criticizing herself for that small crack in her attitude and trying to keep positive, "like I was telling Todoroki, I, uh … I realize that you probably don't like anyone on this team. But I know how important the sports festival must mean to you -"

"Oh, do you?" Shinsou looked back around at her, sneering at her in a way that told her that she, once again, found a button to press, much to her regret, "Do you know how important this is for me?"

"I do," She nodded simply, trying to keep moving forward with the conversation instead of being tempted to take the obvious bait he was laying out, "this is your chance to get noticed by the teachers and be put in the hero course. I did my homework, remember? I know how it works."

Shinsou, for his part, didn't say anything about that.

"Listen," Itsuka tried to give him a smile, "I know how it works. And - you know, I do wanna help you out. Back when you confronted us before, back at my classroom, I can tell that you want to get into the hero course. And I don't see any reason why we can't help you out now. We just need to work together and -"

"Oh, please," Shinsou shook his head, scoffing again as he raised his eyebrow, "you're so preachy."

"… preachy?" Itsuka's attempts to remain nice began to waver once again.

"You're trying to get through to me with the power of friendship. Well, don't - you just come across as condescending. Pretending that you're so much better than I am, and wanting to offer little old me a handout to get through the festival. Well, I didn't need your help to get through the first challenge, and I won't need your help to get through this one. Just tell me what you actually want and leave me alone."

Itsuka felt her brow furrow for a moment before she let out another sigh. There was a part of her that wondered if she was coming across as condescending, but if Shinsou didn't want to get along with her, there was very little she could do to convince him otherwise - besides, the way he was smugly smirking a bit at her at the look of annoyance on her face was really not helping with the bad mood that kept building up inside her.

"Fine," She said coldly, "you wanna keep up this thing where you act like a jackass to everyone? Go ahead. But like it or not, Shinsou, you're wrong about one thing."

"Oh?"

"You do need us to get through this challenge. That's the whole point of the point-keeper thing. So just tell me what your quirk is so we can make a plan -"

"No, I don't think I will."

Itsuka let out a sputter at that, quickly looking around at Shinsou as he continued to smirk.

"What," He gave her a smug, knowing look, "shocked?"

"I - what? Dude, just stop with the smug shit and tell me what your quirk is."

"I'm not gonna do that," Shinsou shook his head, "it'd give you an advantage over me in the next round if we were to fight. I'm not gonna explain my quirk - but I'll be able to work along with whatever stupid plan you -"

His little insult was interrupted, however, by the feeling of Itsuka's hand suddenly clamping down on his shoulder, forcing him to slow down. Shinsou faltered, looking around at Itsuka as she glared up at him with a noticeable scowl, and he seemed to realize, if his eyes widening slightly and his smirk falling off his face, that he may have pushed the 'nice girl' a little too far.

"Listen, buddy," Itsuka's eyebrow twitched, feeling her patience finally pack its stuff up and leave, "I get that you've decided that you hate us. I get it already. You've already made it clear. But if you wanna go to the third round, and you wanna impress our teachers to get into the hero course, you're gonna have to work with us. But if you wanna be an ass and sabotage your own efforts to get into the hero course, be my guest. You're the only one here with that much to lose, and if I'm being honest at this point? I'd like to see you get into the hero course, but if you fail, it's no skin off my back."

Letting go of his shoulder, she started to stomp ahead of him - but then stopped, and looked around at him over her shoulder.

"Oh, and one more thing," She was sure to give him a scornful look, "you like to go on and on about how people condescend and look down on you - but honestly, I'm amazed at how many rocks you can throw at your own glass house without it toppling over."

With that, seeing Shinsou begin to glare at her, she whirled around and left the general studies student in the dust as she began to jog over towards where Yuuyu and Monoma were walking together.

Yyyyyyyep, she was in a very bad mood now, she scowled. Being on a team with two people that clearly hated her tended to do that, especially when they weren't doing anything to hide their dislike. And quite honestly, she knew that her attempts to get them to cooperate only made their anger towards her worse, but - well, it was a very stressful situation, and Itsuka couldn't really think clearly at the moment.

But … well, she had to remember that Izuku and Ochako had to deal with Katsuki right now. Itsuka felt herself blink as she remembered that, and she suddenly felt like an idiot for getting annoyed with Shouto and Shinsou. They had to deal with the same guy that bullied them their entire lives, and here she was losing her temper over two guys looking down on her. If they could somehow manage to get along with him … 

… well, that'd probably be the most impressive thing she'd ever seen. But she shook her head - she was getting distracted by her feelings of annoyance at the two guys. If Izuku and Ochako could get the biggest jackass in their class to cooperate with them, she could get one icy guy and one annoying jerk to get along.

So, trying to keep her smile on her face, she jogged over to walk with Yuuyu as she walked with her classmate, blinking at the annoyed expression on her fellow class rep's face as the blonde guy continued to whisper frantically to her, and Itsuka felt her eyebrow raise when Monoma noticed her coming and immediately went quiet.

"Hey," She nodded to both of them, patting Yuuyu's shoulder as she started walking alongside them, "what's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Monoma turned away, not looking either girl in the eye as Yuuyu rolled her own eyes.

"He's still trying to come up with strategies with me," She shook her head and told Itsuka, "trying to 'unite us and Todoroki as the sole three 1B members' to somehow throw you guys under the bus. Even if, you know, that means that we would lose too."

Monoma merely growled at his class representative's betrayal, and Itsuka let out a small sigh as she glanced off to the side, seeing Nejire, Fumikage and Eijirou walking together and glancing awkwardly at the other four students not belonging to their class.

"Okay," She grimaced weakly at Eijirou, talking in a low voice so as not to let Monoma know what she was saying, "already alienated and made our problems with the other two worse, let's go for one more."

Eijirou chuckled awkwardly and flashed her a thumbs up, and Itsuka sighed as she straightened her back and turned back to the two members of Class 1B, trying to put a friendly smile on her face.

"I mean," She raised her voice in order to get their attention again, Yuuyu looking around at her with a raised eyebrow and Monoma giving her the third dirty look in a row, "I commend you for trying to figure out a way to do that, Monoma, but … well, from what they described, we won't be able to move on without working together, right? So -"

"Ha!" Monoma suddenly and haughtily laughed, and Yuuyu let out a groan as a vein immediately clenched in Itsuka's forehead. "I imagine that you'll be attempting to appeal to me with the power of friendship? Confirming that you'll be rooting for us anyway?"

"Oh, boy," Yuuyu sighed.

"Well, my apologies, but I don't think that'll happen. We are meant to be rivals, and the only reason I am bothering to go along with this is because Class 1B has already suffered too many casualties in the last game. But let's make one thing clear - I will not be rooting for this team."

"Is … that so?" Itsuka tried her hardest to remain polite even through clenched teeth while Yuuyu smacked her hand over her eyes at the large hole Monoma was digging for himself.

"Indeed," Monoma smugly nodded, "from what I saw, Group Three has the most of us - Hagakure, Komori, Sato and Tetsutetsu. Which is why I will be supporting them, even if I have to sabotage our own -"

He wasn't able to finish that, however, due to Itsuka suddenly reaching out and grabbing the back of his neck. He froze in his step, his eyes widening slightly, and looked around at the angry look in her eyes as Itsuka glared right at him, and he realized, too late, that he may have said something that he shouldn't have.

"Let me make something clear to you, Monoma," Itsuka said in a low voice, aware of everyone glancing around at her, "if you try and sabotage us out of petty spite, I'm gonna just knock you out now and make plans without you."

Monoma looked like he was going to say something back to her as she let go of his neck, but Yuuyu giving him a small zap managed to take his attention off of her, making him yelp as Itsuka looked around. At this point, everyone was looking at her, including Shouto as he stared at her dully over his shoulder, and Shinsou sent her a dirty look while Nejire and Eijirou gave her worried looks, and Fumikage raised his eyebrow.

Itsuka, for her part, only let out a sigh as she raised a hand to rub her eyes - it was clear, no matter how hard that she tried, she couldn't help but let her annoyance and the three boys' words get to her. However, before she could try to regather herself to try again, Eijirou shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Oi!" He tried to get everyone's attention, everyone glancing around from Itsuka to him as he jogged forward, turning around so he could speak to everyone in their small clearing. "Look, I know that everyone's stressed about what's gonna happen - but we shouldn't be making Kendou shoulder all the responsibility of getting everyone get along! At least she's trying to get everyone to behave - and she's right, none of us are gonna be able to get to the next round if we keep fighting."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded in agreement, clenching her hands into fists, and then hopped over to put her hand down on Itsuka's shoulder. "I know that I've been keeping quiet, but everyone's kinda acting like jerks! Like you, Shinsou - I mean, I always thought you were kind of a jerk ever since you came in and were all 'oooooh you guys think you're so much better than us', even when we didn't think that way! Never have, never will! And you, Monoma - it's rude to try and throw us under the bus!"

Itsuka grimaced slightly as Nejire began to get worked up, seeing Shinsou and Monoma beginning to glare at her, and quickly patted her hand on her shoulder to get her attention, causing Nejire to look around at her in confusion as she tried to flash her and Eijirou a thankful smile, and then she sighed as she straightened up, looking around at everyone as she tried to clear her thoughts.

"Look," She said in a loud, clear voice, making it clear that she was talking to everyone, "I know that, overall, we don't exactly get along. We have people from different classes, and people who definitely don't like each other. But at the end of the day, Kirishima's right. We're all here to achieve the exact same goal - to get to the next round. And we can't do that if we're going to be antagonistic or arguing with each other, so we need to - at least right now - put all that aside."

With a small sigh, she looked around again, trying to give everyone a smile.

"If it makes you feel better," She tried to joke, "we'd all be fighting each other in the next round anyway, so let's try to put our differences aside for now to make sure we can do that."

There was a long pause in the small group, with everyone glancing around at each other - Eijirou and Fumikage exchanged looks, Monoma gave her a haughty stare, Shouto stared directly at her with a slight narrowing of his eyes, Shinsou rolled his own eyes at her, and Nejire and Yuuyu glanced at each other. And then, with a sigh, Yuuyu nodded, turning to smile at her.

"Yeah, of course, Kendou," She confirmed, giving her fellow class rep a thumbs up, "we're gonna be working together. I'll make sure my idiots are in check so they don't act up."

"What?!" Monoma gasped, whipping around to stare at his class representative in shock, outrage and betrayal. "You would willingly work with 1A, Haya?! I thought that you were -!"

ZAP

"Ow!"

As Monoma yelped from Yuuyu's finger giving him a good zap right in the back of the neck, he jumped a bit in surprise as his hair began to stick up a bit. While he rubbed the spot she had zapped him, Yuuyu looked around at Shouto as his gaze flickered to her.

"This gonna be a problem for you too, pretty boy?" She asked him, her voice devoid of any playfulness to indicate that she didn't really mean that compliment.

Shouto, for his part, merely sighed as he looked back around at their path to the territory, taking his hands out of his pockets.

"Got it," He nodded to his class representative, turning to begin walking again.

Shinsou, for his part, merely scoffed at Itsuka one more time, but didn't offer any complaint as he followed his fellow aloof teammate up the path, leaving Itsuka, Nejire, Eijirou and Fumikage near the back as the other four began walking ahead, and Itsuka sighed as she started walking again.

"Well, I'm with you, Kendou," Eijirou confirmed, flashing her a grin and a thumbs up again, "as far as I'm concerned, you're the boss."

"Kinda wish I wasn't," She sighed, shaking her head, "but at this point, I might have to take charge, if three members of our group aren't gonna play nice. Thanks again, Kirishima, Hadou - I definitely wasn't making things any better trying to get those three to get along with the rest of us."

"You're welcome!" Nejire happily said.

"In that case," Fumikage spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, "I suppose you've been coming up with a plan?"

"I … well," She grimaced slightly, looking around at the shorter boy, "I was concentrating on getting Todoroki, Shinsou and Monoma to cooperate - but I have been thinking about it, a little bit."

"Oooh!" Nejire clapped her hands. "So what's up? I'm curious! What have you got in mind?"

"Indeed," Fumikage bowed his head slightly, "I'm sure that whatever plan you come up with, we will back you up. And Haya, as Monoma and Todoroki's representative, can keep them in line, and she will at the very least listen to you."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded happily. "And if she doesn't, I'll give her the puppy eyes! She can never resist those! We're good for Plan Kendou! So what is the plan? Huh? Huh? What do you have in mind?"

"Okay, okay," Itsuka was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit from Nejire's questions, raising her hands to prevent Nejire from coming any closer to her than necessary, "I'll tell you. Well, keep in mind that I was mostly brainstorming, but … well, anyway, I think I'm starting to come up with something."

As her three teammates looked around at her, Itsuka straightened her back, glancing around at them.

"Tokoyami," She addressed the raven-headed boy, "you should be the point-keeper. You have Dark Shadow to protect you in here -" She gestured around the forest, pointing out how shaded it was due to the trees, "- so you'll be the hardest of us to catch, if you just keep moving and be entirely on the defensive."

"A good point," Tokoyami nodded, while Dark Shadow poked its head out from behind him and flashed her a thumbs up.

"While you're keeping the points safe, Kirishima," she looked around at Eijirou, "you'll be defending Tokoyami with Haya and Shinsou, depending on what exactly his quirk is."

"Huh? Really?" Eijirou looked briefly surprised, and a bit disappointed, "I mean, if you want me to, but … well …"

Itsuka smiled, and patted his shoulder.

"As awesome as you would be getting us points," She assured him, "your quirk is also great for defense, and you're really difficult to get around. It'd make sense to have you defend the points. It's like my grandfather says when some of the kids at the dojo want to train for offensive moves and not defensive ones - a good spear isn't worth anything without a stable shield."

"A shield, huh …?" Eijirou slowly mulled that over, glancing off to the side - and then he let out a sigh, straightening his shoulders, and looked back around at her with a grin. "Okay, Kendou, I gotcha. You need me to be a shield, not a spear. I'm cool with that."

"Awesome," She smiled at him, and then looked around at Nejire as she continued bouncing around with a happy, curious smile, "so while they defend Tokoyami, Hadou - you, me, Todoroki and Monoma will go out to get points. We'll double check to see what exactly Monoma's quirk is, and if he'll be good enough to head out with us, but we'll definitely need someone fast enough to run the points back to Tokoyami - and you're the only one on our team who can fly."

Both Eijirou and Fumikage nodded, and quickly jogged over to speak with Yuuyu about the plan, while Nejire continued to keep pace with Itsuka as the two girls walked near the back together. While Nejire hummed and skipped ahead, Itsuka glanced over at her, seeing her long blue hair swinging around a bit, and raised an eyebrow.

"Are, uh … are you cool with my plan, Hadou?" She asked her, "I know that it seems kind of iffy, and - y'know, based on a lot of presumptions I've made about the others, especially since I just pulled it out of nowhere …"

"Oh, no! It's great!" Nejire was quick to spin around and assure her, "I mean, I kinda thought that I was gonna be the point-keeper, since I can fly! But Tokoyami also makes sense, because of his bird thingy!"

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, grimacing slightly, "that, and … uh … you tend to get pretty distracted by other things, Hadou, so I thought … well, no offense, but I thought Tokoyami would have a better time concentrating on keeping the points safe. Sorry."

"Oh, no, no offense taken!" Nejire giggled, patting Itsuka's arm, "It's true! Yuuyu's always annoyed whenever I go off and do my own thing - like back a few weeks ago, when we played tag across UA, when you and Uraraka were in Recovery Girl's office! But I get it if you don't want me to hold onto all the points."

"Oh, uh - okay, good." Itsuka nodded, still feeling bad about pretty much admitting that she doubted Nejire's concentration skills, but at least the blue-haired girl didn't seem bothered by it.

"Oh, but I do have one question! Can I ask it?"

"Uh - yeah, sure."

"Okay!" Nejire smiled happily, and then put her finger up on her chin, "So, I was wondering about Midoriya's team! They've got all the points, you know, and they'll be a big target! Because of how many points they have. Like - ten million! That's so unfair! But anyway, I was wondering, are we gonna go after them? That makes sense, right?"

Itsuka paused at that, feeling herself glance off to the side for a moment in thought - and then, with a sigh, looked back around at Nejire.

"You're right," She told her, "that everyone's gonna be after Izuku and Ochako's team. But … well, that's the problem. Everyone is gonna be after them. If we just try and concentrate on getting those ten million points, we'll just be wasting time and resources. We should be going around looking for the people who got the most points besides Izuku - we can build up our own score that way, and if Izuku somehow keeps the ten million, that means we'll still have enough to move on."

"Oooooooh, that's smart!" Nejire praised her, but then she pouted, "but then, if someone touches their point-keeper, then they get half the points, right? So instead of ten million, they could get five million!"

"That's true," Itsuka nodded, frowning a bit, "if they lose half the points, then the field will descend into chaos. So … okay, here's what I think you should do, Hadou. We won't actively go after the ten million points - but if, for some reason, you do end up getting the points, then fly up as high as you can and avoid anyone trying to come after you. Only when the game's almost over - like thirty seconds until the end - you get those points to Tokoyami."

"Yeah … but it won't be easy! Everyone's gonna be fighting over those points anyway, but Midoriya's smart!" She pouted, "I bet he's coming up with something to throw us all off!"

"I …" Itsuka tilted her head, surprised that Nejire had pointed that out, "... maybe. I think you're right."

There was a small pause - and then Itsuka was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit, making Nejire blink and look over at her.

"Hm? What's up?"

"Oh, uh - well, it's nothing," Itsuka waved her hand while smiling, a bit embarrassed, "but … well, I mean, I just kind of …"

"Oh!" Nejire realized, smiling, "I did a smart thing, didn't I?"

"I - what?"

"Yuuyu reacts the same way whenever I say something smart," Nejire looked proud of herself, sticking out her chest and looking briefly smug, which only made Itsuka sputter a bit in laughter at the look, "she'll be like, 'whoa, you said something smart, Nejire! I'm proud!' And then I'll ask for a reward and she'll say no. Which sucks. I deserve rewards, don't I?"

"Yes, you deserve rewards," Itsuka chuckled, "anyway, I just … uh, well, I always kind of forget that you're a lot more capable than I tend to think you are."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean," Itsuka shrugged awkwardly, "again, no offense, Hadou, but … I have a bad habit of thinking that you're less of a threat than everyone thinks you are. Like, back at the USJ you created a freaking tsunami - somehow I always forget that."

Nejire blinked a bit, and then let out a giggle.

"Yeah! I did that!" She clenched her fists tightly, looking up at the trees with a smile, and Itsuka watched her as a big smile appeared on her face - but then, for some reason, her cheeks went a bit red. "Hey, uh - speaking of that tsunami, Kendou - can I tell you something about that?"

"Huh?" Itsuka felt herself go still for a second, her smile fading, "I mean - yeah, you can. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine! I remember what you said, back when we visited the USJ the second time -" She smiled fondly, "- it's okay if I'm not okay about what happened. But this is something good! It's just …"

She faltered a bit, slowing her step, and Itsuka found herself slowing down as well, letting everyone else go on ahead while Nejire glanced off to the side.

"… well …" She looked … suddenly bashful, making Itsuka falter a bit, "… I haven't actually told anyone about this. Not even Yuuyu! I would, but she always gets so bored of this kind of thing when I try to talk to her about it. But … but I feel like I can trust you, Kendou. Like - you wouldn't judge me! So, uh, can I trust what I'm about to tell you is gonna stay a secret? And you won't tell Midoriya, or Uraraka, or anyone else?"

Itsuka blinked a bit at that, seeing the strange look on her face - and then she quickly nodded, smiling.

"Of course, Hadou," She confirmed, not suspecting anything, "if you wanna tell me something, it'll stay between us."

"Okay, great!" Nejire giggled, raising her hand with her pinkie-finger out, and Itsuka let out a small giggle as she caught on, wrapping her own pinkie around hers for their pinky-swear. "So - this happened back at the bottom of the lake, but … well, I was down there, drowning, and … I kinda don't know, it just kinda happened!"

"Uh … okay?"

"Yeah! I was down there, kinda … dying," She grimaced slightly, a blush slowly spreading across her face, "and then I started thinking about things that I hadn't done yet. People I still needed to talk to. And … well, I just kinda …"

"Yeah?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow slightly. "You kinda …?"

"I just …" Nejire smiled bashfully, "… thought about -"

"Oi!"

At the familiar voice ahead of them, both Itsuka and Nejire jumped a bit, quickly looking around. Standing a bit further down the path was Yuuyu, adjusting her gym shirt a little bit, and giving them both a curious, slightly suspicious look as she glanced between them.

"What're you two doing?" She asked, "We're almost to where our territory is - once we're there, we've gotta start coming up with the plan."

"Oh!" Nejire gasped, her eyes widening. "We were just talking, Yuuyu! We'll be right there!"

"Alright," Yuuyu nodded, still looking unsure about what exactly was going on but not offering any complaint as she turned on her heel, starting to walk back down, and Nejire turned back to Itsuka with a smile.

"I … guess I'll tell you later?" She giggled unsurely, "Is that okay? If we talk later about it? I really kinda … wanna get this off my chest after everything that's happened, but maybe now isn't the best time? But later would be!"

"Sure," Itsuka nodded, smiling as she patted Nejire's shoulder, not suspecting a thing, "I'll be more than happy to hear what you're thinking, Hadou. But let's get past this challenge first."

Nejire giggled as well, and together, the two girls quickly began jogging to go meet up with the rest of their group.

"So, uh …" Nejire glanced back over at Itsuka as they jogged down the path, "… how do you think Midoriya's plan is coming along? I know Bakugou's part of it, and he's kinda stinky, but do you think they're having the same problems we are?"

"Midoriya's team?" Itsuka repeated, and then felt her shoulders sag a bit as she sighed, "Honestly, Hadou? I'd be surprised if they weren't."


"Fuck this!" Katsuki barked, explosions sparking in his palms as he looked around angrily at everyone, "I ain't working with any of you shitty extras!"

There was a good few seconds of silence in the small enclosure that they had decided to make their base - and then Mina let out a long, defeated groan, holding her hand over her eyes while the rest of the team gave Katsuki a deadpanned, unamused look.

"Oh, we're so boned," She shook her head, "we are so freaking boned."

Both Izuku and Ochako sighed, but knew that they couldn't exactly refute Mina's point. Indeed, their group was, as she put it, completely boned.

At the current moment, Midnight had just announced over some of the speakers set up in the forest that, since everyone had reached their districts, the half hour they would all need to organize their team and make their plans had begun, and automatically, Izuku and Ochako knew that they were going to be having more than a few problems. First, and the most obvious, was that Katsuki was adamantly refusing to work with any of them, crossing his arms and growling while Tenya and Momo attempted to appease him, although the way Tenya's voice was beginning to shake a bit indicated that he was reaching the end of his rope.

The second problem, meanwhile, was that the guy from general studies, who they remembered was named Mineta, wasn't contributing to the conversation at all, and had spent the entire time walking to their district staring up at Momo and Mina lecherously. It was bad enough that even Izuku was giving him a dirty look, standing protectively in front of Ochako so the little jerk couldn't look at her, but thankfully (or not) it looked like Mineta didn't even notice, too busy staring at Momo's chest while she tried her hardest to ignore him, although a vein was starting to throb in her forehead and Izuku and Ochako wouldn't be surprised if she was debating creating some kind of bat to smack the person irritating her away.

And the third problem, of course, was that the girl from the support studio seemed a lot more interested in tinkering with … whatever weird device she was holding, sliding the goggles she was wearing down her face and muttering excitedly to herself, and completely ignored everything else around her, with Mina's attempts to ask for her name ending in vain as she was far too busy tweaking her device with a screwdriver she pulled out of nowhere.

So … yeah. They were off to a great start. And when they said 'a great start', that actually meant that they were completely and utterly screwed.

"Bakugou, I must protest!" Tenya flung his hands up to chop at him, giving Katsuki a scandalized look as he scoffed at him and looked away. "As Midnight-sensei said, there is no way that we will be able to succeed individually! We must elect a point-keeper to hold all our points -"

"Then that's me!" Katsuki pointed at his chest with his thumb, making Tenya sputter, "I'll be the point-keeper, and I'll go get everyone else's points. You extras can just stay here and ride on my coattails."

"That is … it's a … bad idea," Momo barely managed to hold back her real thoughts there, which was getting harder and harder to do since she feeling more than a little angry at the moment, both from her teammate's stubbornness and Mineta blatantly looking at her rear, "Midnight-sensei was clear that the point-keeper is the only one whose points will let us get to the next round, and we have to get any extra points to them before the game is over. Having you blast all over the place means that any points we might gather up will be worthless, if we can't get them to you."

"Then let them be worthless! I'll get enough points by myself."

"That. Is. Not. Strategic." Momo started to growl through her teeth, "There are more than ten million points available for everyone, and we are the ones in possession of the most. The smart thing to do would be to stay here and keep guard of the ten million - as long as we have those points, we will be able to get through to the next round."

"That," Tenya nodded in agreement as he gestured to Momo, thankful that there was someone in their group with common sense, "and we will already be the other teams' target anyway! It is obvious that everyone on the other teams will be coming after us due to our having a guarantee that we will be advancing to the next round. The strategic thing to do would be to keep guard around our point-keeper and fend off anyone who comes into our district!"

"Huh?" Katsuki turned towards him with a sneer, while Mina, who had been letting them all talk, threw her hands up and stomped over to where Izuku and Ochako were watching their argument, "That's your idea, Four-Eyes? Stay here like cowards and hope the other teams can't get through your shitty defenses? Is that what your brother would do? Huh? Is he a coward too?"

"I -!" Tenya recoiled in both shock and outrage, "How dare you! Tensei is not a coward in the slightest!"

"Then why are you insisting on hiding?!" Katsuki barked at him. "I want an overwhelming victory! I want to give those other extras no chance to get to the next round!"

"That is foolish! If you are to do that, then you would need to - oh, for goodness' sake, would you stop looking at my chest?!" Momo suddenly wheeled around to shout at Mineta, her patience lost as the smaller boy wiped some drool from his lips.

"The hero course is the best …" He muttered happily to himself.

While the four of them were off in their argument, which was growing louder and louder by the second, Ochako watched her 'childhood friend' with an utterly dull expression while he snapped and argued with everything Tenya said, feeling her shoulders sink a bit as she scowled. Their planning for this round was clearly going down the toilet, with everyone's strategies being pushed aside and ignored in favor of Katsuki's massive ego, and now that everyone knew Mineta was too busy creeping on Momo to contribute, there would be no chance of cooperating with him.

So that meant … yeah, they were screwed.

"Man," Mina whined a bit, leaning against Ochako's arm as she pouted at the arguing group, "and here I was thinking we had this in the bag with Yaoyorozu on our team. Now we're probably not gonna make it to the next round."

"Don't give up so soon," Ochako shook her head, already half-way towards giving up herself as she scratched her cheek, "someone probably just … I don't know, they need to punch Bakugou in the face to get him to shut up."

"I mean … I would, but he'd probably blow me up."

"Yeah, that's the only reason I'm hesitating to do it too," Ochako sighed, and then turned to look at Izuku beside her, "so, what do you think, Deku …?"

She trailed off, however, as she turned to look at her best friend - and blinked as she saw him not paying attention to the conversation at all, leaning forward a bit as he stared down at the ground and tugged absently on his lip as his mouth moved quietly.

Feeling her eyes widen at the realization that he was clearly in mutter mode, she shushed herself and began listening carefully to what Izuku might be thinking, while Mina blinked and furrowed her brow at the odd look on Izuku's face.

"… maybe …" Izuku was muttering to himself, "… if that were to be the case, then he would … no, definitely … I'd have to make sure that he didn't …"

"Uh …" Ochako tilted her head for a moment, not entirely sure what was going through Izuku's head but seeing him looking more and more reluctant by the second as he glanced up at Katsuki, and then reached out to poke his shoulder. "… Deku?"

Thankfully, this pulled him out of his mutter mode, making Izuku blink a bit as she interrupted him, and he looked around at her in surprise as Ochako let out a small giggle at the look on his face.

"You were muttering," She explained, "so I thought I'd ask what you were thinking. So, uh - do you have an idea for the game?"

"Oh, uh … well, I have several," Izuku smiled sheepishly, making Ochako giggle again and Mina glance between them with a small smile.

"Y'know, that doesn't surprise me."

"I mean, I thought it wouldn't. But, uh, actually, I was thinking about … y'know … this whole thing with Kacchan."

"Oh," Ochako's smile fell a bit, glancing back around at Katsuki as he barked at both Momo and Tenya with a frown, "yeah. That's … definitely gonna be a problem. So, uh - did you think of something?"

"Maybe …" Izuku trailed off, still obviously in thought as his eyes narrowed somewhat - and then, with a small sigh, he nodded, straightening back up.

"… okay," He said, his voice already sounding like he was going to regret whatever it was he was going to do as he turned to Ochako with a wobbly, yet determined look, "I'll talk him into cooperating."

"…"

"…"

"… you … are?" Ochako stared at him blankly.

"I am," He nodded in confirmation.

"…"

"…"

"… uh …" Ochako gulped nervously for him, "… good luck?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, grimacing slightly as he sighed and turned to look back at Katsuki, "yeah. I'm … really gonna need it. We'll, uh - we'll be right back."

With that, he turned to begin walking over towards the arguing group, strolling towards Katsuki while his fists clenched nervously at his sides.

Looking at him worriedly, Ochako let out her own breath - the more she thought about what Izuku was about to do - somehow talk Katsuki into not being … Katsuki - the more she didn't like it, hating the thought of Izuku being alone with him in any capacity with all her being. But she knew that her presence would probably be detrimental to any attempt to get Katsuki to get along, the temptation to punch him being a constant feeling she had. So …

… so for now, she would stay back. At least for now. But the moment she felt like something was wrong -

"You two are so cute, y'know?"

Ochako blinked, looking around at Mina as she realized that she kind of forgot she was there. Mina, for her part, had a weird, catlike smile on her face, glancing between her and Izuku as he walked away, as she folded her hands behind her back.

"H-huh?" Ochako felt a bit confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean," She gestured with her head, her pink hair bobbing a bit, "I just noticed that you two are really in sync, you know what I mean? I guess it makes sense, though - I talked to Set a few weeks ago, she said that you two have known each other since you were kids, right?"

"Uh … yeah," Ochako nodded unsurely, not entirely sure where this was going, "since we were - uh four. Y-yeah."

"Childhood friends, huh …"

"Yeah …?"

"Well, I was just thinking that was cool!" Mina giggled, patting her shoulder - and then leaned forward, raising her hand to her mouth as though she was going to share a secret, "And just so you know, girl - I'm rooting for you."

"Er …" Ochako glanced off to the side, completely and utterly lost but feeling her cheeks go a bit red for some reason, "… thank … you …?"

As Ochako gave Mina another confused glance, Izuku, meanwhile, walked over towards the three arguing teenagers, or more specifically, Katsuki, as he smacked his cheeks lightly to try and build up his courage. With a small glance to the side, glancing up at where he saw a camera was with a small wince, he saw a clock on the small screen above the camera, showing that five minutes of what was supposed to be their half hour of planning had passed, and Izuku grimaced a bit - if they kept this up, they wouldn't have any time to figure out what their plan was.

So, essentially, he needed to handle one problem at a time - and at the current moment, the biggest problem was Katsuki. And unfortunately for him, he had a feeling that he actually knew how to get Katsuki's cooperation - but the way he would have to get it would probably result in him getting blown up. Or hit. Or both.

So … well, the odds of being punched were pretty high, but he knew that he needed to get Katsuki to stop arguing with everyone. So … he'd take one for the team.

"And another thing -!" Tenya started to reprimand as Katsuki sent a smirk his way again, but then, as Izuku joined their small group, the boy in glasses faltered as he looked around at him. Both Katsuki and Momo looked around as well, Momo blinking at the serious look on Izuku's face and Katsuki not bothering to hide the dislike on his face at the sight of him as Izuku took a deep breath, closing his eyes. And then, as he opened them, he turned to look at Katsuki, ignoring the dirty look on his face.

"Kacchan," He said, trying desperately to keep the wobble out of his voice, "we need to talk. Privately."

"Ha?" Katsuki narrowed his eyes, a sinister smirk reappearing on his face as though tempting Izuku to continue his line of thought while his open palm sparked with an explosion. "And why would I go anywhere with you, Shitty Deku? You don't order me around."

Izuku let out another sigh, and braced himself for a punch.

"I wanted," He took another breath before he was sure to meet Katsuki's eyes when he said this, speaking in a slightly quieter voice, although still loud enough to still be heard, "to talk to you about … you know … the playground."

That single word clearly caught Katsuki off guard, his smirk vanishing right off his face at once. While Tenya and Momo blinked in confusion, glancing between the both of them, back near the tree, Ochako likewise straightened her back, her eyes widening a bit as she glanced between Izuku and Katsuki - she had no idea why Izuku would want to talk about that, and why he wanted to talk about it with Katsuki of all people.

Before she could even think to walk over, however, Izuku let out a small sigh.

"Unless," He felt his forehead sweat a bit in nervousness, already ready to get punched, "you wanna talk about it in front of everyone?"

Katsuki winced slightly at that, glancing around at the other members of the group - at this point, even Mineta stopped his staring contest with Momo's chest to give off a confused look - and then, with a small growl, wheeled around and shouldered past Izuku as he began stomping further into the forest. Realizing that he was supposed to follow, Izuku glanced back at Ochako, seeing her giving him a worried look, and tried to flash her a confident grin that still came off as shaky, as he quickly moved to follow their 'childhood friend'.

As he vanished into the bushes, Ochako took a moment to stare after him, her heart hammering slightly in her chest in worry - and then, without thinking, began to move. Both Tenya and Momo blinked as she hurried past them, and began following the two boys into the forest.

"I …" Momo scowled a bit as she looked over at the time, "… well, I suppose having him gone for even a few minutes is better than nothing."

"Indeed," Tenya nodded, sighing as he took off his glasses to rub at his eyes.

Deeper in the forest, meanwhile, Katsuki continued to lead Izuku down the path towards a slightly larger tree, with Izuku beginning to brace himself. Finally, once Katsuki stopped at the tree, allowing a moment of silence, he suddenly wheeled around at Izuku, a snarl on his face.

"What the fuck are you going," He barred his teeth, "bringing that shit up in front of those extras?"

"Kacchan -"

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted, moving forward to slam his palm against Izuku's chest. Thankfully, it wasn't an explosion, but Izuku still let out a small gasp as he was shoved back, quickly catching himself before he tripped over a fallen branch.

Alas, he couldn't quite feel relieved that he didn't fall over, what with Katsuki suddenly grabbing his shirt and giving him a small shake.

"You were fine not talking about what happened that day for years," Katsuki barred his teeth, "but then you suddenly bring it up in front of these assholes?! Are you trying to fuck me over, Deku?!"

Izuku couldn't help but feel a bit confused - fuck Katsuki over? Katsuki had been his victim that day - but then, before he could open his mouth to answer, Katsuki suddenly paused, and then a grin began to spread across his face.

"Well," He let out a chuckle, letting go of Izuku's gym shirt and taking a step back as Izuku tried to straighten himself up, "I guess if you want, you can tell all of them about it. That is, if you want them saying the same things that the extras from our old school said about you."

It was a cheap shot, of course, but still, that small taunt did its job well, making Izuku wince a bit - forcing him to remember the horrible name calling and accusations thrown his way back in middle school.

However, before Katsuki could get any satisfaction for making Izuku uncomfortable, the green-haired boy shook his head, trying to take a deep breath to calm himself down, and moved to stand beside a tree near Katsuki's. He knew that Katsuki was just trying to rile him up, so he needed to keep himself calm and collected. At least for the next few minutes.

"That," He let out another sigh, "isn't why I was asking to talk to you, Kacchan - well, it is, but - well, anyway. I wanted to talk to you about - about this game we're about to play. We need to fully cooperate with each other, and you trying to run around as the point-keeper, taking everyone else's points - it's not going to work."

"Ha?" Katsuki leaned back against the three, smirking at the smaller boy as he folded his arms across his chest, "And why the fuck should I cooperate with them? You think I can rely on you and Round Face? On Four-Eyes and Ponytail?"

"Yeah - yeah, you can."

"And what about the perv? And pinky? And the one bitch who hasn't even bothered looking at us?"

Izuku did wince a bit at that, making Katsuki's smirk widen.

"Yeah. You really think I can rely on assholes I barely know? You think I can rely on Round Face when she hates my guts? Besides, I think you already know that I'm more than capable of getting through all those other extras."

Katsuki smirked at the lack of a response from that.

"Heh … you and Round Face know I'm more than capable of getting those points. So why don't you shut the fuck up and keep quiet when I'm telling them to -"

"Maybe," Izuku suddenly interrupted him, making Katsuki blink, "maybe we can rely on you. But that's just it, Kacchan - we can maybe rely on you."

"What are you -"

"We can maybe rely on you. And that isn't going to work," Izuku turned to look back up at him, seeing the smirk slide off his face, "we can't just trust you to have everything under control. We need to be fully sure that you can get us through the round, and we just … can't do that, because we don't know if you can. There's people out there that can counter you - like Kendou and Hadou. So that's why we need you to work with us."

"And why the fuck would I do that?" Katsuki decided to ignore that bit about Itsuka and Nejire, a vein clenching in his forehead.

"Because we can't guarantee that you'll be able to get us through to the next round all by yourself," Izuku grimaced slightly, "and it is a team exercise, Kacchan - I wouldn't put it past Midnight-sensei to fail us if we didn't do anything to contribute and left it all to you."

Katsuki, for his part, didn't have anything to say about that.

"So if we don't get past this round, we don't get to the final round." Izuku pointed out, and then took a deep breath, knowing that this would be the part where he'd probably get blown up. "And then, none of us will be able to fight each other in the finals."

"Ha? And why should I care about what you extras want?"

"Because," Izuku braced himself, "then that means that you won't - you won't be able to even the score between us."

There was a moment of silence in the small enclosure. Izuku glanced up at Katsuki, seeing him staring blankly at Izuku for a moment as though his brain crashed - but the vein twitching in his forehead told Izuku that his taunt worked.

Much to his terror.

"… what?" Katsuki said blankly, beginning to stare at him as though he had gone crazy. "What the fuck are you talking about? You've never beaten me in anything, Shitty Deku."

"That's … that's where you're wrong," Izuku gulped, "I did beat you, Kacchan - back on the playground. You and I went up against each other, and I -"

He didn't have the chance to finish that sentence. Katsuki was off the tree in an instant, and Izuku grunted as Katsuki's hand grabbed his throat tightly, shoving him back to slam against the tree Izuku had been standing in front of.

Izuku's eyes bulged as his air was cut off by Katsuki choking him, and all he could see was the look of utter rage on Katsuki's face as he leaned in to snarl directly in his face.

"You," Katsuki growled, squeezing a bit tighter and making Izuku snap his eyes closed from the pain of not being able to breathe, "didn't beat me. That didn't count, because you took me by surprise. If our quirks did go against each other, I would -!"

He suddenly stopped talking, however, and Izuku felt Katsuki's grip suddenly lessen a bit. Feeling his brow furrow, Izuku squeezed his eyes open - and then snapped them open, quickly looking around in surprise, as he realized that he and Katsuki were no longer alone - mostly due to the hand that had clamped down on Katsuki's wrist, squeezing it tightly to force Katsuki to lessen his grip on Izuku's throat.

"Get away from him," Ochako said in a low, angry voice, glaring hatefully at the blonde boy as he stared back at her in surprise, "now."

Katsuki stared at her in slight confusion as she forced his hand off Izuku's neck, Izuku letting out a small gasp as his airway was cleared, and she threw his arm down and moved to stand between them - and then he let out a chuckle, taking a step back.

"Should've guessed," He shook his head while Ochako continued to glare at him, "your little cheerleader was in trouble, Round Face, so you came to rescue him. Just like middle school."

Ochako merely gave him another dirty look while Izuku grimaced slightly, and they both watched as Katsuki stomped past them, being sure to shoulder check Ochako as he growled lowly and put his hands back in his pockets.

"I don't give a shit," Katsuki turned to look at Izuku, glaring right in his eyes, "what the fuck you think of me, Deku."

That's clearly bullshit, Ochako rolled her eyes, remembering Katsuki strangling Izuku a minute ago for pointing out that he won the fight in their childhood.

"All I know," Katsuki ignored her eye roll, "is that you're nothing more than a shitty nerd who got a lucky shot back when we were kids. But you wanna go another round with me? Just to prove that I'm better than you, once and for all? Fine. I'll play. But know this, Deku - that shit about you beating me as kids? That's nothing. I'll prove to you who's better once we get to the third round."

"That mean," Izuku managed to say, massaging his throat, "that you'll work with us? You won't go off on your own?"

Katsuki gave him another glare, and then huffed, turning away.

"Fine," He grunted, and without further ado, he walked away from the two of them, making Izuku and Ochako stare after him as he began moving back to the group. Izuku gave him a small, concerned look while he continued to massage his neck, and Ochako gave him one more hateful glare until he finally vanished from their sight.

Once they were alone, Ochako quickly looked back around at Izuku, the anger melting off her face and being replaced by a concerned look.

"Are you okay, Deku?" She asked him, staring at the small bruise forming on his neck as he lowered his hand, and raised her own hand to brush lightly against it. When he winced, she immediately withdrew it, eyes widening in regret.

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Deku, I -"

"Were you listening?" Izuku asked her, seeing her wince and immediately look awkward, but thankfully, a smile appeared on his face as he straightened up.

"I … well, I didn't really trust him around you," She explained in a low, embarrassed voice, twirling her fingers together, "n-not that I didn't think you didn't had it covered, but I just thought that I'd stick around to make sure - and then he started choking you, and I - well - yeah. Sorry, Deku."

"No, no, it's - it's okay," He cleared his throat a bit, smiling up at her as he finally straightened up, gulping a bit, "I don't mind, Occhan, really. T-thank you for coming to help me - I figured I was gonna get blown up at some point, so him choking me was a surprise."

"Hm," Ochako frowned, looking back around at where Katsuki had vanished with a noticeably dour expression on her face for a moment. There was a small moment of calm between them, before Ochako let out a small sigh, and looked back around at Izuku.

"So, uh … do you think he'll really …?"

"Cooperate?" Izuku finished for her, putting his hands in his pockets and sighing, "Yeah, I - I think he'll at least go along with what we have to say - I was trying to bait him with a challenge, and - well, it looks like it worked."

"Yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, biting her lip somewhat, and then turned to look back up at Izuku, "So, uh - does this mean you have a plan? For what we should do?"

"I … think I do," Izuku nodded as well, turning back to look at her, "it's gonna - it'll definitely be risky, but - but I think we have a chance if we do what I'm thinking. It involves the both of us, and me doing something - well, me doing something pretty stupid."

"Okay …" Ochako slowly nodded, putting her hands down on her hips - but then she blinked as Izuku suddenly let out another sigh, raising his hand to scratch the side of his head where he was wearing his headband, the '10,000,000' points standing out as he gave her a slightly intimidated look.

"I'm … not gonna lie, I'm pretty anxious about it," He admitted to her, feeling his eyes turn downcast as he stared down at the forest floor, "it's definitely gonna be risky, and - and one misstep means that we'll be screwed over. Not to mention that Iida and Yaoyorozu and - and the rest might not wanna do it. I just … I don't know."

Ochako felt herself blink a bit as she stared up at her best friend as he glanced off to the side - and then, with her own sigh, she reached up to pat his shoulder to get his attention. When Izuku looked around at her, Ochako moved herself to stand in front of him, and gave him a small smile as she reached up to take both of his shoulders gently, making Izuku stare at her in surprise with a slight blush.

"Remember," She said in a quiet, yet assuring voice, "'Deku' means 'you can do it'."

Izuku blinked at that.

"I - huh?"

"Remember what I told you, back when we first met?" She giggled a bit at the confused look on his face. "I told you that 'Deku' means 'you can do it'. I don't just call you that because it's cute, Deku - like you told Itsuka back when I first met her, it's supposed to be a reminder that you can do it, not the stupid thing Bakugou told you it means. If you've got a plan, then I'm gonna back you up."

There was a small pause in the forest, in which Izuku stared down at Ochako in wonder and she felt her cheeks go red as she realized she was still holding his shoulders - but then Izuku let out a small laugh, causing Ochako to blink as he glanced away, raising one hand to brush against his eyes.

"Sorry," He said in a slightly choked voice, chuckling weakly at himself, "just … I hear that name be used so many times over the years for what Kacchan means it as, and … well, sometimes I forget what it really means."

Ochako smiled warmly at that, and then moved in to hug him. Izuku, for his part, didn't have any problems with hugging her back, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and the hand on his other arm on her lower back - it had been a while since they had properly hugged, after all the awkwardness ever since the USJ, but it felt nice and familiar to hold each other.

But then, as they pressed against each other, they both blinked as they felt their hearts beat a bit quicker, becoming suddenly … aware of each other.

As in, Izuku's hand on her lower back making Ochako suddenly shiver a bit at his thumb lightly brushing against her lower back and sending a slight bolt of pleasure through her, and Ochako's arms wrapping around his neck making Izuku feel weirdly lightheaded. 

It felt like … like back during the race, when Ochako had jumped on Izuku's back, and both of them had felt these weird butterflies in their stomach that made them want to quickly separate from each other as soon as they could. But for some reason …

… for some reason, neither of them wanted to let go this time.

Slowly, they both moved slightly back, keeping their hands around each other, and glanced at each other's faces for a moment. Izuku … admittedly wasn't sure what was going on as he stared down at his best friend in shock for a moment as she stared back up at him in what looked to be a mix of confusion and wonder. He had no idea why his heart was starting to beat … a little quicker than normal. He had no idea why Ochako pressing herself against him suddenly felt so good. And he had no idea why Ochako was looking suddenly … nervous, for some reason, as she glanced up at him with a look that showed both shyness and … another expression that he wasn't sure what it was, but something that made him gulp a bit.

But then, as they both stared into each other's eyes, that was when they heard a strange sound near them, making them both blink.

As though something with engines was coming towards them.

"Heh, heh, heh …" An unfamiliar voice suddenly chuckled, sounding a bit sinister and mischevious, "… just as I thought. You really are planning to stand out … yes, this is great …"

Izuku and Ochako faltered, and slowly looked around at the pink-haired girl who hadn't said anything ever since they had come into the forest, staring down at the forest floor with those weird goggles on her face - and then she suddenly shot forwards, getting right into Izuku's face as they both squeaked, and one of the pink-haired girl's hands shot out to shove Ochako's face away from Izuku, making her grunt in surprise as she was forced out of hers and her best friend's weirdly intimate hug as Izuku looked panicked at a new girl getting right up into his business.

"You'll be the one to help me out with showing off my babies, person in first place!"

"Your what?! Who are you?!"


Oh, thank god. The Full Gauntlet didn't look like it was going to blow up after all.

With a small, relieved sigh, Melissa leaned back in her spot on the bed, stretching some of the kinks out of her shoulders as she kept her eyes on the holographic television in the corner. Right now they were in commercial, some company called Detnerat doing a peppy, happy commercial about clothing for mutant-types, but she wasn't too interested in that at the moment - not when she was leaning forward to write in her notebook, trying to remember what happened on the screen as best she could as she wrote down her notes, checking Yap!Tube for any videos of what had happened in the first round so she could double check for anything she might have missed.

Indeed, she had been very excited for this years' sports festival being broadcasted on TV, so much so that she had gone to bed extra early last night to make sure she got enough sleep so she could stay up late for tonight. Waking up grumpy and tired this morning was worth it, technically seeing her friends in person for the very first time even if it was through the screen, and she couldn't help but smile fondly as she looked down at the video she was playing on her phone, seeing Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka talking to each other before the event began. 

Watching her friends perform, even if she was doing it from an engineer's point of view as she tried to analyze how Izuku used the Gauntlet, was something that made her smile even now as she jotted down her thoughts in her notebook. She had panicked a little bit when Izuku and Ochako had tried to launch themselves into space, but thankfully Itsuka had caught them - even if their landing was still rough, Melissa found herself giggling as she checked her phone again, zipping down to the end of the video, and saw Izuku laying there with his legs and butt in the air.

Shaking her head, she turned back to her notes to continue writing down her thoughts.

'With the Full Gauntlet's complete repair, it is apparent that it has been fully restored to its regular settings, being able to keep Izuku's outpour at a reasonable yet powerful output.' She wrote, 'The absence of gravity from Ochako's quirk demonstrated that the Gauntlet's firepower is still amazingly powerful, being able to launch two seemingly weightless objects high into the air - **NOTE THIS FOR POTENTIAL HERO TEAM UPS**. The landing for Izuku was pretty rough, so perhaps a hero costume that could absorb impact as well as electricity would work well - something to also offer Ochako due to the nature of her quirk. Designs, however, would have to be completed in person, to account for any growth that Izuku would do, to ensure that he doesn't grow out of it.'

'This, perhaps, would warrant a visit to Japan to meet Izuku in person and get his measurements, and to have a closer look at his current costume design. I should be able to record his measurements, including his height, width, arm size, leg size, and perhaps a measurement of his crotch for potential cup sizes, and while I am at it, I can also get a feel of his butt -'

At that last word, however, Melissa felt her pen go still, rereading that last couple of words that she had written into her journal. Blinking in surprise, she looked back down at her phone, staring at the paused video's image of Izuku's ass in the air, and stared at it for a moment, her eyes widening - and then she quickly took her pen to scribble out the last paragraph, making sure that she couldn't read what she had just wrote while her cheeks felt weirdly hot.

Rolling out of the bed, Melissa tossed her journal off to the side and got up, stretching her back slightly with a small grunt as she heard something crack, and then began to walk out to the kitchen so she could grab herself a drink and maybe a snack from the fridge. She was dressed in her comfy pajamas, the slightly-too big flannel pants dragging slightly against the floor as she opened the fridge to have a look at her food, and let out a sigh as she put the can of soda on the counter, and then, quickly making up her mind, walked over to the counter to pull out a bag of popcorn. She knew that Sam and her dad were still here, working in David's office, but she didn't mind if Sam saw her in her pajamas - seeing as he'd probably seen her in her pjs a hundred times, ever since she was a little girl.

Lifting her phone back up to check for when the commercial break was going to end - the teams had a half hour to make preparations, so now was the time to check out all the advertisements for hero support item companies - Melissa winced when she saw Izuku face down with his butt in the air again, and quickly flipped to another tab as she tossed the popcorn into the microwave, sighing as she pressed the time and leaned against the counter, putting the phone down beside her as she pouted.

She loved watching her friends perform on TV, of course, and seeing Momo, Tenya, Setsuna, Yui, Nejire, Eijirou and Yuuyu properly for the first time, even if it was through a screen, was probably sending enough dopamine through her mind that she was going to be happy for the rest of the weekend. And yet … well, there was a part of her that kind of wanted to be there.

She wanted to actually be at the arena right now, watching her friends perform in person, be able to shout her support for them in a way that they could actually hear, and not through the phone. She couldn't help but sigh a bit - the Kendousquad were her first real friends, not people that were trying to pretend to be nice to her or just playing the quirkless girl to make her look like an idiot like some people did back at the Academy, before she decided that having friends there would be more trouble than it was worth. She wanted to actually be there to support them, and not just talk to them through the group chat or the hologram projector. 

She wanted to see Izuku perform in person - hell, it wasn't even that she was feeling lonely when she thought that, she pouted as she rested her face in her hand as she leaned against the counter. If she were to continue making support items for him, it would be much easier to do so in person where she could get a full demonstration of his power, and not through holograms or data on her laptop's screen. Those were fine, but it was different than being there to look at the Gauntlet herself.

It would definitely be easier if he were here, Melissa thought to herself as she leaned back, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. If she were somehow closer to UA, or if Izuku were somehow to be on I-Island, then maybe …

… wait a second.

It was then that a lightbulb suddenly turned on in her head, making her blink as her eyes went wide behind her oval glasses. Wait … if she wanted Izuku to somehow come to I-Island … if she needed an excuse to get him here … how could she forget?

The I-Expo! It was coming up at the start of summer - and she was going to be presenting her generator there this year - and since she was presenting something, that meant that she could get a ticket for a guest …

… and she … could invite … him.

Feeling her head tilt a bit, she moved so that she could put her hands down on the counter, her mind beginning to spin just like the bag of popcorn that was currently popping in the microwave. She would have the opportunity to invite a guest … and she wanted to see the Full Gauntlet in person for herself to test. It would take a bit of a while, since the Expo was still a few months away during summer break, but … but she could invite Izuku to have an in-person check for the Full Gauntlet.

She could do a few tests - and not even that, she could even show him around the island! Actually spend some time hanging out with him! With a bright smile, Melissa straightened up, hearing the microwave beep to confirm her popcorn was ready, and quickly brought it out to put on the counter before she turned to jog to her father's office.

She wanted to run her idea by him - and if he thought it was a good idea (which he probably would, he had been interested in how the Full Gauntlet was working out for him) she could probably use his help to eventually book some kind of hotel room for Izuku to stay in - she had a feeling that Izuku wouldn't be cool with sleeping on their couch during the expo.

However, as she approached the door to his office, Melissa's smile faltered slightly when she suddenly caught the sound of a slightly raised voice from the door that was cracked open a little.

Blinking, she paused for a moment, feeling her eyebrows furrow, and strained her ears to listen for a second - and then she realized who was talking at the moment was her dad, his voice sounding agitated, and the happy thoughts of Izuku visiting the island quickly faded from her mind.

"- after everything we did to make sure that it worked, it was just … taken away?! Having the research data was critical! I checked everywhere, Sam, they made sure they didn't leave behind anything we could use!"

"I suppose that's I-Island's board for you," She heard Sam respond to him, the portly man sounding sympathetic to her father's anger, "they're quick to supervise every tiny detail, and especially quick to take everything away once they realize it goes against what they want."

Her brow furrowing, Melissa couldn't help but feel confused - the board of directors confiscated something from her papa? What could that possibly be? She never recalled him making anything that would cause the board to step in.

Her curiosity overwhelming her, Melissa carefully tiptoed over to the door of her father's office, and, after taking a moment to breathe, peeked inside, making sure to remain hidden so she wouldn't be seen eavesdropping.

From what she could see, Sam's back was to her, facing the professor as he leaned himself heavily against his desk. Since the sun was continuing to set through the large window, it cast the room in an orange glow from the early evening light, making it a bit hard for Melissa to see her father's face. David himself was hunched over on the desk, a fist curled at his side, and Melissa stared at him in shock for a moment - and then flinched when he suddenly punched the desk.

"A way to artificially boost someone's quirk without the regular side effects …" David quietly muttered to himself, his shoulders shaking, "… a way for … for Toshi … and it's all gone, just like that."

"The entire wing that we created the device in was cleared out," Sam said in a small, painfilled voice, "not a single thing was left behind for us, professor. I tried to ask the movers where all the data was being taken to, but they told me that the board of directors refused to say. All they told me was that there was intense pressure from different governments across the nation to put a stop to the development, and that they would be taking the project itself to the top floor of the central tower - for confiscation."

"But it was done!" David's voice was filled with despair, making Melissa's eyes widen a bit as she watched him. "We finished it! All we had to do was put the finishing touches on it! An entire year of our lives spent on this, Sam … and now it's - it was all for nothing!"

There was a silence in the office, in which both adult men stood there in despair. Melissa had no idea what was going on, but to hear her father sounding so defeated made tears briefly well in her eyes, and even if she didn't understand what was going on, there was a part of her that wanted to come into the office to comfort him, to tell him and Sam that no matter what was taken from them, everything would be okay.

But then, as she slowly began to slide the door open, Sam spoke again.

"No," His voice was small, "it can't be for nothing."

"Sam -" Her father began to protest in a tired voice.

"I think there's a way to get the research back."

David froze for a moment while Melissa paused her attempt to open the door, her eyes moving over to Sam's back as he stood there in the shadows formed by the setting sun. And then David wheeled around, his eyes wide and his face shocked.

"We can get my research back?" He repeated, sounding completely shocked as he turned around completely to face his assistant. "How?"

Sam hesitated for only a moment - and then his shoulders squared, straightening his back to face the professor right on.

"Instead of doing it ourselves," He explained shortly, "we'll have villains steal it."

Melissa felt herself freeze this time, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at Sam in shock.

"What? Villains?!" David looked aghast, likewise taking a step back in shock before he scoffed and shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Sam, we couldn't -"

"They don't have to be real villains," Sam continued to explain, taking a step forward out of the shadows to face his boss as his voice turned pleading, "just actors that can disguise themselves as villains, and we can have it be stolen by them. They won't harm anyone, of course - if the directors are taking the device to the central tower, they'll make sure to keep it confined in the archives, and make it hard for anyone to unlock it. It'll take time, but we can find it - we helped design the archives. And if we can get the villains to take the building hostage and get us up there …" 

He took a deep breath, and then let it out. 

"… then we can take back the device. And once we have it back, we can continue the research somewhere safer than here."

There was another moment of silence in the office. Standing right outside it, Melissa turned to stare at her father, feeling her breath begin to leave a bit quicker than normal. She fully expected him to say refuse, to say no, to tell Sam that he was talking crazy.

So it was to her horror that he wasn't speaking at all, merely looking away with a conflicted look on his face.

"But …" He hesitated.

"I want to get the research back, no matter what," Sam continued to plead with him, sounding desperate, "don't you feel the same way?"

"…"

"I can organize everything. With your funds, we can carry it out on the day of our choosing, when the tower will be closed to make sure no one gets hurt. And we can head up to the archives to gather -"

"Dad?"

Both men stopped speaking at once, freezing. Melissa didn't even mean to have spoken up, but ultimately, she couldn't stop herself from pushing the door open, making her appearance known for the first time since she had stopped by the office.

After another few seconds of silence, both men wheeled around, Sam's usually smiling face showing absolute shock at her appearance, and David looking like the ground was dropping out from under him, staring at Melissa in shock and terror.

"Miss?" Sam spoke first, sounding incredibly nervous as she stood there. "W-what are you doing? We thought you were in your room."

"What are you guys talking about?" Melissa ignored Sam's question, her voice sounding blank. "Hiring … villains? To - to steal something?"

David winced as she walked into the office, her eyes never leaving his face.

"You're not … you aren't considering this, are you, Papa?" She asked him quietly, "Stealing research data? Hiring people to dress up as villains? Just … just to get some research back?"

"We're just trying to get back what was stolen from him!" Sam tried to hurriedly explain, walking forward and trying to put his hand on Melissa's shoulder, "We've - Melissa, we've done the impossible, and they just took it away from us. You have to understand -"

"I don't understand!" Melissa suddenly snapped, causing Sam to recoil his hand quickly as though she were suddenly burning, and David winced again. "Papa, I know you! You wouldn't do that, would you? Steal something?! What would Uncle Might say?!"

David cringed slightly, turning away for a moment - but then, he sighed, and turned back to his daughter with a pained look on his face as he finally found his words.

"Melissa," He said in a quiet voice, "this is for All Might."

"I - what?!"

"Listen to me," He quickly rushed forward, putting his hands on her shoulders as she stared up at him in shock, seeing the look of utter desperation on her father's face, "the device we want to take back - it's for All Might. I didn't want you to find out this way, Melissa, but he … your uncle … he's sick. His quirk is … the last time he did a check in with us, over a year ago, I found signs that his quirk is … it's slowly starting to disappear."

"What …?" Melissa felt her eyes widen.

"When I did a test with him," David's eyes closed, turning away slightly, "I found that he could only use his quirk for a few hours a day. And every day, he would lose more and more time, and eventually … eventually it's going to disappear completely. It's clear that at this point, it's inevitable. But - but if he uses my device, he can go back to normal!" His eyes opened again, showing his daughter the desperation there, "It could potentially make him stronger than he was normally!"

The grip he had on her shoulders tightened slightly, making Melissa wince a bit.

"Please don't think that this is - this is because my pride is wounded!" David gave his daughter a pleading look. "I just want to help All Might go back to normal, so he can continue saving people! Just - we need the device to make sure All Might can continue working. I swear, we won't do anything else with it! There isn't any time to remake it, so we need to take it back! After that, I - I don't care what happens to me, so long as he goes back to normal!"

Melissa stared up at her father for a moment, feeling tears building in her eyes as he gave her a desperate, pleading look - and then she shook her head, looking down at her feet.

"Papa," She said in a quiet voice, "this … this isn't what Uncle Might would want."

"I -"

"And what about me?" She finally looked back up at him, "Are you saying you don't care what happens to me if you get punished for this?"

David found himself falling silent at that, staring down at his daughter in shock as tears began to slide down her cheeks.

"Are you saying that you're okay with going to prison? With - with never seeing me again?" Melissa shook her head, and looked up at her father pleadingly, "Papa, please don't do this!"

"I'm …"

"Papa, please …!"

Once again, silence fell in the small office. Sam, who had been silent for the last few moments, looked between both the Shields, knowing that speaking up now would do nothing. David, for his part, searched his daughter's pleading face for a moment, his own expression conflicted and frustrated -

- and then he took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Slowly, his frustrated face hardened into a more resolved one, and after a moment, he slowly released the grip he had on Melissa's shoulders, letting her take a step back - and then he opened his eyes, showing the sadness in his eyes.

"… alright, Melissa," He said softly, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly again before opening them to look her in the eye, "I … I'm not going to do this. I promise. I - I'm sorry, Melissa, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Papa …"

"I - professor, please reconsider!" Sam suddenly stepped in, jolting both father and daughter as they looked around at him as though they had forgotten he was there, looking pleadingly up at David. "Do you not realize what we've made?! Yes, the device is still in testing, but it's not like Trigger! It can amplify the body without affecting it! The fact that the sponsors confiscated it and all the research data means that it can work, if they're afraid of it! And you're just -"

"Sam," David turned to stare at him, a frown appearing on his face as he sighed again, but still tried to speak in a soft voice, "I know how hard you fought for this device, and I will forever be grateful for that. And if I could have my way, I'd be storming right up to the tower to take it back right now. But … but Melissa is right. We can't stoop so low as to hire actors to stage a threat so we can get it back."

"But, professor -!"

"The board is right," David looked away with a frown, "the amplifier would change the structure of superhuman society, and it would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands."

"But it won't fall into the wrong hands!" Sam argued. "It'll be in ours!"

"By stealing it back?" David shook his head. "We can't do that."

"But -!"

"Sam," David's eyes suddenly narrowed, turning back to the portly assistant as he gestured up at the professor with his hands, "we can't. I'm sorry, it's over."

Silence fell once again, both Shields looking at Sam as his face fell, turning to stare at the floor as he let his arms fall to his sides - and then he let out a shuddered breath, and looked back up at David with a shockingly angry expression.

"In that case, professor," He turned away, his voice becoming flat, "you can consider this my resignation."

"What?!" David gasped, his eyes widening in shock while Melissa stared at Sam in surprise, and he quickly reached out for his assistant, "Sam, please -"

"I've served under you for all these years," The assistant turned back to David, his face twisting into a grimace that was so unlike Sam's usually happy expression it took Melissa aback, "but you let your research be frozen so easily. I had thought that … but no, it's clear that Melissa is all you really care about, not your friend."

That made David snap his mouth closed, staring at Sam in shock and a bit of anger as he walked away from them.

"I can't just - I won't let the honor and renown we were supposed to be known for get away from us so easily." Sam slowly shook his head, "It can't be - it won't all be for nothing. I can't let it be. If we couldn't make a profit out of it, then it'd be a waste of time!"

"Sam -!"

"It won't be for nothing, professor," He slid the door to the office open, stomping out, "of that I can assure you."

Slamming the door closed behind him, Melissa and David were left in silence as they both heard the sound of Sam's footsteps walking out of their apartment. David stared at the door that his now former assistant had stormed out of with a pained look on his face, and Melissa likewise looked shocked at the outburst from the kind man she had known for years now.

After the sound of the apartment door slamming shut filled their ears, David finally broke the silence, letting out a defeated sigh as Melissa turned to look at him.

"I … suppose that's that," He said to himself quietly, "I'll have to contact security to keep an eye on him. Just to be safe."

"Papa, I'm -"

"No, Melissa," He shook his head, stopping Melissa in her tracks, "please, don't think that you need to apologize to me. This wasn't your fault - you were the only one thinking with your head. I was letting my passion try to convince me …"

Biting his lip slightly, David shook his head again and turned to look at his daughter again, reaching up to cup her cheeks.

"Melissa," He sighed, "I was an idiot for even considering Sam's idea. Thank you so much for making me see sense - and I'm sorry that I had to force you to do that."

Melissa felt her tears begin to fall again, and she let out a small, wet giggle before she moved in to hug her dad. Letting out a small sigh, David hugged her back, running his hand through her wavy blonde hair for a moment as they slowly swayed in their spot, before he finally moved back, letting out a small chuckle as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes.

"Now then," He tried to clear the heavy air, trying to sound lighter and happier, "why don't we put this behind us for now? I swear, Melissa, I will tell you everything about what we were doing once I'm a bit calmer - so why don't we watch the sports festival out in the living room? I'm sure it's almost back on - and I don't think I'm going to get any more work done today, so I won't be needing the apartment to be quiet."

Letting out a small, watery giggle, Melissa nodded, wiping at her own eyes.

"Yeah," She managed to get out, "that - that sounds like a good idea, Papa."

With that, father and daughter walked out of the office together, David wrapping his arm around Melissa's shoulders as they made their way towards the living room - and then David sniffed the air.

"Is … is that popcorn I smell?"

"Mm-hm. Made some for myself."

"Oh … well, I guess in that case, maybe I can -"

"You'll have to make your own, Papa."

"Aw, man …"

"As … y'know … punishment for considering Sam's idea."

"… you know what, Melissa, that's - well, I guess that's fair."


The fool.

As the crowds in the arena continued to talk excitedly amongst each other, seeing the timer on the jumbotron and screens tick down closer and closer to when the next game was to begin, Endeavor let out a small sigh as he leaned against the wall of the stadium, watching the various screens as he crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his finger against his bicep. As the Number Two Hero, many people walking along to grab their refreshments or return from the bathroom saw him standing there and were very quick to hurry past him - he had built a reputation over the years for not being approachable by his fans, so thankfully everyone gave him a wide berth.

Which was good for him, because at the moment, he wasn't in the mood to entertain fans.

His flame beard flared a bit as he thought of his youngest son, his scowl deepening by the moment as he thought back to the last round that he had just witnessed - and was forced to watch Shouto utterly fail.

There was no reason why he shouldn't have won that, Endeavor lowly growled to himself. He had the advantage right at the start of the race, what with freezing everyone in place, and he got past the zero-pointers easily. He had the advantage on the ropes with his ability to slide across them, and the final part of the game would've been simple had he used his fire to stop that girl in her tracks, and then used his ice to bypass the falling platforms. And yet, he came in fifth place.

Fifth.

His son had been completely upstaged by that girl that he had formed a rivalry with, which made him frown - it was clear that UA had a few powerful students this year, and that especially included that class representative that had strength that rivaled …

… well, it was improper for him to think, of course, but the way she had used her quirk's power had reminded him of All Might. The way she punched the air to send his son's attack back at him, and the way she had leapt up into the air to save those other two idiotic students that had launched themselves into the sky … it was clear that behind her kind smile and notable charisma was someone not to be underestimated.

But if anything … she would be able to serve a purpose today.

Endeavor slowly nodded to himself, thinking. She had power similar to All Might - so if she and Shouto were to get through the next round, and get to the finals to face each other … indeed, it would be a good test for Shouto, to see if Shouto could truly surpass All Might.

He couldn't have his son go up against the man himself, of course, but this girl … she would be a fine substitute. And should Shouto face her, Endeavor had no doubt that he would eventually have no choice but to abandon the childish tantrum he was throwing and use his fire.

And then, once Shouto won using his flames, he would see the purpose of using his quirk to its fullest. And Endeavor would send him the internship invitation, and Shouto would be able to work alongside him and Touya to begin taking taking the necessary steps to become the new Number One Hero.

Indeed, Endeavor knew that this Itsuka Kendou would be Shouto's true challenge, and if his son was to overcome her -

"Ah! Enji!"

The familiar voice from the left calling his real name made Endeavor blink a bit, jolting him out of his thoughts and scheming. His eyes widening a bit behind the flame mask he had over his face, he looked around, seeing a familiar woman walking towards him. Raising his eyebrow for a moment, he felt his shoulders straighten up, attempting to dissipate the scowl he had to greet the person who was walking towards him with a kind, happy smile on her face and a hand raised in greeting, while her bodyguard stood a few paces behind her, keeping an open eye for anyone who may approach them.

"I had thought that I spotted you from the VIP box," The woman smiled up at him as she lowered her hand, adjusting her expensive purse on her other shoulder as she gave him a small bow, "so I wanted to come and say hello before the next round started. My apologies, I've been speaking to support companies all morning, they kept me quite busy."

"Mrs. Yaoyorozu," Endeavor got off the wall, turning to face the smaller woman as she rose from her bow, "I wasn't aware that you were invited personally to the sports festival - had I known, I would've greeted you before the event began. I assume that you came to watch your daughter compete?"

"That's correct!" Yukiri Yaoyorozu giggled, her heels clicking on the concrete floor as she turned to look around at the field, "It's all so exciting, isn't it? To see our children competing against each other! I'm so happy to see that Shouto and Momo still get along, especially after he defended her from that scoundrel that clung to her."

"Hm," Endeavor nodded, not entirely sure about that - as he recalled, his youngest son rarely even mentioned Momo nowadays - "I assume that you'll be pressing charges against that student's family?"

"It's definitely a possibility," Yukiri sighed, her smile dropping a bit, "I'll have to speak more about it to Daikoku when I see him at dinner tonight."

"Ah. I suppose he didn't accompany you here, then."

"Unfortunately not," Yukiri raised a hand to her cheek, pouting a bit, "he just got back from his trip to America a few weeks ago, and he's been busy over at our HQ writing everything up for a meeting with the stockholders next week. But I know that he's supporting Momo, even if he can't be here - he's having Skip meet with her at the gate once lunch comes along, so he can bring her to Daikoku to have a pep talk."

"Hm," Endeavor nodded.

"Anyway, Enji - why are you standing around here?" She turned back to him with a smile, "You could come sit with me in the VIP box! It's been so long since we've seen each other, I would like some time to catch up with you. How is Fuyumi?"

"She is doing well," Endeavor bowed to the woman, "she recently got accepted to a school to work as a teaching assistant, she's been working hard. And it's tempting to come sit with you, but I'm here to support Shouto, even if he is being resistant to my attempts to help him. I'd prefer to be down here so he can see me."

"Oh! Well, in that case," Yukiri giggled, "we'll have to organize a dinner party sometime soon - it's been a long time since our families last ate together, and since the arranged marriage is coming sooner rather than later -"

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic's screech suddenly filled the air, interrupting Yukiri as she and Endeavor looked around at the giant screen, watching the timer finally flash the number '0', and then become replaced by the bold words of TIME UP, "AS YOU LISTENERS CAN SEE, THE TIME IS NOW UP! PLEASE WELCOME BACK INTO THE FIELD, OUR BEAUTIFUL REFEREE! SHOUT THOSE BATTLE CRIES! IT'S TIME FOR UA'S BLOODY BATTLE! IT'S TIME TO LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE!"

As renewed cheers roared throughout the stadium, and several screens began lowering down into the arena for everyone to watch the event happening outside the stadium in the forest, Endeavor turned back to Yukiri as she looked delighted that everything was about to resume, and turned back to Endeavor so she could bow.

"I'll have my staff reach out to yours," She giggled, giving him a small wave, and she turned around to begin walking back to the VIP box with her bodyguard, quickly hurrying so that she could return and watch her daughter.

Endeavor nodded, sighing as he moved back to lean against the wall, and returned his gaze to the screen as it began flashing images of the students, his eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of his son briefly passing by reminding the crowd that he had gotten fifth place.

"Don't disappoint me this time, Shouto," He muttered to himself.


Down below, in the stadium itself, Midnight stretched her arms above her head, cracking something in her shoulders, before she turned to beam at the massive crowd surrounding her, cheering as she walked back onto her podium, taking her flogger whip and smacking it down against the stage to get everyone's attention.

"Now then!" She called to them, "We've kept our lovely audience waiting long enough, so it's about time we get started again!"

As several cheers filled the air throughout the stadium, and Present Mic turned to poke Aizawa's shoulder to wake him up from his nap, the screens filled throughout the stadium flickered, and everyone quickly looked up at them. Since the teachers had known in advance that the round would be taking place outside the stadium, there were already several cameras and mics lined up throughout the forest, showing the students in their districts waiting for the games to begin. And since they did have speakers attached to the cameras, the students in the forest quickly straightened up at the sound of Midnight's voice, realizing that it was time to get started.

"We have given all four teams half an hour to come up with their strategies!" Midnight announced to the crowds, "But it's time to put those strategies to the test! As a reiteration, there are, in total, over 10,004,960 available points out on that field! Whichever two teams have the most points by the end of the next fifteen minutes will advance onto the next round! And since our students have probably been waiting long enough, we're going to begin on the count of three! I hope those little darlings are ready, because after the gracious half hour we gave you, we're not gonna give you much more time to breathe!"


Out in the forest, Itsuka let out a sigh, taking a moment to hop up and down before she moved down into a runner's crouch, ready to begin the moment Midnight gave the go ahead. As she put her hands down on the grass, she glanced up, seeing Shouto prepared to stomp his foot down as Monoma likewise got ready to run, already patting Yuuyu's shoulder for her quirk, and Itsuka turned back to look at the path that would lead them out of their territory.

"Ready?" She asked Shouto, keeping her voice even as she stared ahead.

"Are you?" He answered her dryly, making her grumble.

"IT'S ALL COME DOWN TO THIS!" Present Mic's voice shouted, with the students in the forest unsure if it was coming from the speakers or from the stadium itself with him being so loud. "LIKE MIDNIGHT SAID, I HOPE OUR STUDENTS ARE READY, BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO GO!"

"On your marks!" Midnight called through the speakers, making Itsuka's shoulders tense a bit as she somewhat raised herself up.

"Get set!" Shouto's eyes narrowed in determination.

"GO!"

The moment Midnight called for the game to begin, the screens in the forest showing the new time counting down from fifteen minutes, Shouto acted. With a grunt, he stomped his foot down onto the ground, feeling ice begin to build, and threw his hand up. At once, a large iceberg immediately shot up from the ground itself, two giant walls of ice shooting up from the forest floor and through the trees, spreading out to cover half of their district.

"WHAAAAAAAAAA?!" Present Mic immediately began screaming. "A GIANT WALL OF ICE?! THAT CAN ONLY BE THE WORK OF TODOROKI'S TEAM!"

"A large wall for defense," Aizawa noted over the speaker, "to keep people out, or give them a harder time getting in to attack their point-keeper. Not a bad strategy."

As soon as the ice was up, a thin gap left in between both icebergs he had created, Itsuka started running. She knew where she, Shouto, Monoma and Nejire would head, with Itsuka mentally going over her plan over and over in her head. It was a battle for the ten million points, and everyone would be going after Izuku and Ochako's team. They'd go around and steal the points from everyone else, but Itsuka also knew that they needed to keep track of where the ten million points were, to make sure that if (or when) they eventually got split up, they'd be able to grab some of the points for themselves.

Besides, Shouto could try and make her doubt herself, but Itsuka knew that if she and her training partners eventually crossed paths, it would be a disrespect to them if she didn't go all out.

So she sprinted through the forest, fully intending to find the other two teams and begin taking their points before they might have to turn their attention to Izuku and Ochako's team - she had no doubt that Izuku would leave the ten million points behind with whoever they elected the points-keeper, so she would have to make sure to keep her ears open for when Mic screamed that the ten million were taken, since she knew that he would make a big deal out of it.

Running through the forest, she finally got through the two icebergs, Shouto running beside her and Monoma behind them while Nejire floated above them - but then, at the sound of a lot of footsteps heading towards them, Itsuka found herself sliding to a complete stop.

It didn't take long for them to find out where the footsteps were coming from, as a lot of people - and by that, she meant like everyone else - ran through the forest towards them. So much that Itsuka found her eyes widening - quickly looking around, she did a quick headcount, and saw that everyone in her class, Pony floating on her horns, Kyouka plugging her earphones into the ground, and Yui shrinking down a boulder, were grouped together with all with all the other members of Class 1B - but other than two or so people, they were all there, quickly coming to a stop as everyone faced each other in the massive part of the forest, with the only people she couldn't see being those on Izuku's team.

And they were all turning to look at her group.

"They're not … attacking each other," Itsuka slowly realized, a foreboding feeling in her stomach as she glanced around at the two groups, all of them looking over to where her small four-man team was standing.

"Uh-oh," Nejire looked pretty nervous, floating down a bit to be behind her as Pony looked menacingly at her, an impressive feat for someone so adorable.

"Hey, Ken!"

At the familiar voice above her, Itsuka quickly looked up, her eyes widening again. She saw Setuna's upper body floating there, her head disconnected from her body and her arms separated as well as she stared down at her happily. However, the look on her best friend's face didn't exactly assure Itsuka - in fact, Setsuna was looking at her with the same face she usually wore when she saw something she could prank. A wide, sharp grin was on her face, her eyes twinkling in mischievousness and malice.

And all of that … was aimed right at her.

"Er … hey, Set," Itsuka tried to sound conversational, while glancing around at the many students surrounding them with a bit of sweat beginning to form on her forehead where her headband rested, all of her points having been left behind with Fumikage, "what's … going on?"

"Oh, not much!" Setsuna giggled, "So, uh, get this! While we were all off making our plans, that kind of stuff, me and Yui - we asked our teams if we could all meet up, y'know, just for a meeting between us. And we all got to talking! You wanna know what we discussed?"

"Uh … sure."

"Well," She smirked, "we all realized that our teams together don't have the most points! That'd be between Midoriya's team … and you guys."

"Oh, boy," Monoma groaned a bit.

"So we had the thought …" Her smirk widened a bit at the look of registered acceptance on Itsuka's face that the next fifteen minutes was going to suck, "… why go up against each other when we don't have as many points as you guys? Wouldn't it make more sense for both our teams to team up against the other teams that have more points than we do?"

"Uh-oh," Itsuka shared Nejire's clear nervousness, gulping as she looked around at everyone staring menacingly at them while Shouto merely narrowed his eyes.

"So you know what, guys?!" Setsuna laughed loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. "It isn't four teams against four! It's now two teams against one against one! So, if you'll excuse us, Ken, we're just gonna slip by and go get your points while the rest of us head to Midoriya's territory to snag the ten million!"

Itsuka felt her eyes narrow, lowering herself into a crouch as her hands grew out, and Shouto prepared to stomp his foot down as several people got ready to charge, or throw out an attack at them as one of the girls in particular began to grow her long, vine-like hair out, aimed to shoot it towards them -

"Y-you don't have to go far, Tokage!"

At a familiar voice shouting on the side, sounding far louder than normal, the advancing two groups and Itsuka's group preparing to defend themselves stopped, blinking. Quickly, they all looked around, their brows furrowing -

- and then up, seeing someone quickly climbing up the nearest tall tree and face them while trying to keep his balance on one of the branches. Still, he was up high enough that he made sure everyone could see him.

Stomping his foot against the branch, Izuku made sure that he was in plain view of all three groups, sweating nervously. Standing up on the top of the tree, he was clearly at the center of attention from all three (technically two) groups - standing there with a few support items strapped to his arms, torso and legs, all of them a dull gray to contrast the red gauntlet he wore on his arm, and he raised that arm up to his forehead so he could brush the hair off his forehead -

- and showed, on his headband, the number '10,000,000'.

"He's still …" Itsuka's eyes widened, her jaw dropping a bit.

"… got …" Setsuna's eyes widened as well, her smirk likewise becoming sharper.

"… the points." Shouto's eyes narrowed.

"You all want these points?!" Izuku yelled at them, looking incredibly nervous but still determined as he clenched his fist, and allowed some electricity to be absorbed by the Gauntlet as everyone looked up at him. "T-then come and get them!"

Notes:


And that was Chapter 26! My apologies if you guys were thinking we'd be getting the next round immediately after - and I did try, trust me, but I found that we had a few more plot things to do before we could get to the next round's craziness lol. But trust me, our next round will be completely dedicated to our heroes tearing each other apart for the ten million points - so I hope you're all excited for that!

And not only that, we got a few plot developments! All Might finding out more about AFO and his bitchiness, Melissa averting our first movie by being at the right place at the right time (which you all should know just means that this is getting butterfly-effect-ed XD), we get some Izuocha development in this OT3 at long last, we get to see the Setsuna that Hori wanted to have before he had Bakugou completely upstage her, and we get to meet one of Momo's parents, and another one of my parent OCs! I hope you're all as excited for getting to meet Momo's dad as I am lol

And as one more note, one of my friends from the izuocha temple, Cal, actually did some art of Izuku and Itsuka!

https://i.imgur.com/aW5TKvA.png
Don't they look great?! Cal's been one of several people who have been more than cool with me blabbering about this fic to them lol, and the fact that she did some art for me is surely the fastest way for me to give me a good shot of serotin. If you guys are interested, here's a look at her AO3 profile, her tumblr profile, and her Twitter, so go give her a follow! She definitely deserves it all the love :)

In any case, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 27: The Ten Million Point Man

Summary:

As the second round of the sports festival begins, Izuku makes a rather risky plan to get his team to the next round - one that would make him the centre of a lot of unwanted attention. But of course, all plans have flaws ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

BAM

The sound of several metallic suitcases slamming down against the forest floor filled the air of their meeting place, as everyone jumped slightly at how heavy the cases sounded as they kicked up a bit of dust from where they landed. With the unclasping of the metallic cases, they were all flipped open, revealing the various support items that rested inside - from rocket boots to jetpacks, from what looked to be some kind of wire connected to arrows neatly curled into circle to a weirdly shaped gun with a wide barrel, from what looked like a metal bar that got strapped around their chests to what looked like braces that connected to their legs - it seemed as though whoever this support student was, she brought the entire studio with her for today.

And that was just the tip of the iceberg - with more suitcases being laid onto the ground, being pulled out of nowhere by the support student and opened to reveal more and more support items, everyone else in the group, sans Katsuki as he leaned against a tree and gave a look of annoyance at all the suitcases laying across the ground, felt their jaws drop as the support student brought more and more items out of nowhere, from harpoon guns to what looked like circular drones.

Finally, there was a moment of calm as she finally finished bringing out all her the toys, standing up properly to wipe some sweat off her forehead - and then Mina let out a low whistle.

"Damn, girl," She grinned weakly over at the support student as her yellow eyes snapped to the pink girl, "you, uh - you might have overpacked a little bit."

"Nonsense!" Mei Hatsume straightened up, a wide grin on her face as she threw her arms back as though to envelop the group in a big hug. "When it comes to events like the sports festival, this is the time when support students are practically dying to show off what they've made! But most of my classmates only want to show off one or two items - bah! What a complete waste of an opportunity. No, I brought all my babies here today to show all the lovely support companies watching what I'm worth!"

"Er - 'babies'?" Momo tilted her head a bit, glancing down at the support items surrounding them in confusion while Mineta reached out to experimentally poke one of the devices laid near his feet, "Is that, er - is that what you refer to your items as?"

"Of course! They're all my cute, lovely babies!"

"Oh, my fucking god," Katsuki groaned from his spot near the group, crossing his arms across his chest.

While Mei turned to give the inventions she just laid down a proud look, the rest of the group cautiously approached the cases, almost as though they were somewhat expecting them to explode - which, based off the shapes of some of them, might have been an actual risk. Izuku, for one, knelt down to look at what seemed to be some kind of jetpack, tilting his head a bit as he gulped nervously while Ochako leaned over his shoulder, glancing around at the suitcases while she similarly gave off a small expression of worry, tilting her head somewhat.

When Mei had told them back in the forest that she wanted to use Izuku's reputation to show off her support items, they hadn't thought she wanted to show off … so many of them. In fact, it seemed to be a silent question shared between the two of them, glancing between each other in confusion, about where exactly she had grabbed all of these briefcases from since they hadn't seen her carry them over.

But a glance at the timer near one of the cameras showed that they only had close to fifteen minutes left to set up their plan and strategy before the second round officially began, which meant that they would, at least for now, have to put those questions on hold.

"Er … my apologies," Tenya looked over at the support student as she grinned affectionately at her inventions, "but I'm afraid that I'm a bit confused. You would like us all to use your inventions for this match?"

"Yes!" Mei happily nodded, "The more you use, the better!"

"But - well, isn't that against the rules?" Tenya tried to point out, chopping at Mei and making her blink at the hand being shoved slightly in her face, leaning back on her heels to avoid having his fingers poke her cheek. "Midoriya did mention that he had to get his own support item registered, but wouldn't we be disqualified for using items that we didn't register before the sports festival? We would not want to tarnish our reputations in front of several pro heroes by appearing as though we are cheating!"

"Ah," Mei's grin widened knowingly, using her hand to push Tenya's away from her face and giving him a slightly manic look, "but I did register them all! Everything here was approved by Midnight-sensei and Power Loader-sensei for me to bring today and use as I see fit."

"That," Izuku looked up at Tenya from where he was kneeling down, still poking the jetpack experimentally, "and that rule is mostly for the final round, Iida - just to make sure we don't cheat by bringing in something that Power Loader-sensei didn't inspect beforehand. For the first two rounds, it's okay for us to use support items we didn't bring in, as long as the person who did bring it in registered them beforehand."

"I see!" Tenya nodded, relief appearing on his face. "Thank goodness."

"But speaking of support items," Mei's smile suddenly dropped, looking around at Izuku as her eyes immediately fell to the Full Gauntlet on his arm, and her eyes narrowed sharply as she used her quirk to zoom in on it and have a closer look at the details, "I don't recognize what you have there. The material doesn't match anything we have at the support studio - looks more like nano-technology, that's more American based tech. Where'd you get it?"

"Huh? Oh," Izuku blinked, looking down at the Gauntlet as well as he lifted his arm, "this was, uh - it was a gift from one of my friends in America. It helps me control the output of my quirk."

"Aaaaaah," Mei slowly nodded, understanding filling her face as she tilted her head, "I see, I see, that makes sense. No wonder it's so shoddily made."

"Uh …" Izuku really didn't know how he was supposed to answer that, glancing over at Ochako with a slightly uncomfortable face as she slightly shrugged her shoulders, not sure how to address that comment either. Thankfully, Momo was able to save the conversation from ending on an awkward note by quickly changing the subject.

"So you want us to use … all of these devices for this game?" She inquired, tilting her head as she glanced back down into the contents of one box and feeling herself gulp nervously. "Er - I apologize, but how exactly will this help you get your support items noticed again? Or - how specifically?"

"Isn't it obvious?!" Mei quickly whirled around to grin at the taller girl, everyone gulping nervously at how manic her eyes had started to look, and the weird twitch near her left eye as she practically began shaking. They had thought that she had just been quiet and disinterested in the game before, but they had no idea that she was … well … no knock to her, but they were starting to think that Mei was a little … crazy.

"If everyone uses my super cute babies," Mei glanced down at one of the suitcases, beaming widely, "then they'll inevitably be seen by the big companies. And that means that those big companies will see my babies in action, know how well they work with the future generation of heroes, and know what I'm worth! My name will be well known after today! I bet I'll be getting boatloads of offers from all the big support companies to get my babies into the hands of popular heroes!"

There was a short pause.

"Oh," Mei tilted her head as she thought of something, "and you guys will probably benefit from using them too somehow."

"Oh, how nice of you to think of us too," Mina mumbled a bit sarcastically.

"The support course develops equipment that helps heroes use their quirks more effectively," Mei giggled with glee, "and I have lots of babies, so I'm sure that each of you will be able to find one that you like! For example … you!"

Izuku blinked in surprise as Mei wheeled around and pointed right at him, seeing her wide grin somehow stretch even more as she hurried over and scooped up the jetpack that Izuku had been inspecting, holding it up.

"I see that this one has caught your eye," She said knowingly, turning it around to show him the back of the support item, "I based this baby's design on a hero I saw once, and added my own original twist to it!"

"Wait," Izuku blinked, his eyes widening as he pointed at the jetpack in Mei's hands, "I had thought this jetpack looked kind of familiar … are you talking about Air Jet?"

"That I am! I saw him flying around one day and immediately started making notes on how to replicate his jetpack!"

"That's awesome! I'm actually a fan of Air Jet!"

"Really?"

"Yeah! His agency is close to where I live, so Occhan and I went to tour it before! His jetpack is actually some pretty awesome tech!"

While those two excitedly talked about the hero and his air pack, Izuku excitedly rambling and Mei nodding along and pointing out the similarities with the jetpack in her hands, Ochako took a small step back off to the side, feeling herself begin to stare dully at Mei getting back in Izuku's face to point things out on the support item. As she stared at how close those two were getting, Ochako absently rubbed at the hand mark the inventor had left on her face after she had shoved Ochako out of hers and Izuku's hug in the forest (whether it be a weird bruise or Mei's gloves being covered in soot) when she had confronted them, and continued to glare at the two of them.

Of course, she was so concentrated on those two she didn't notice Mina trying her hardest not to smirk at the scowl on Ochako's face.

"Er," Tenya cleared his throat to get Izuku and Mei's attention back on him, both of them looking around as he stood up straight, "my apologies for interrupting, but … I do believe that we should start planning relatively soon. We are running out of time, after all."

"O-oh!" Izuku blinked, going a bit red as he quickly snapped out of fanboy mode and taking a step back from Mei and the jetpack in her hands, "Yeah, of - of course, Iida. Sorry."

Straightening up, he looked around at the group as they turned to him, Katsuki merely huffing and turning to glare off in the opposite direction - clearly upset about Izuku's challenge a few minutes ago, but not saying anything so far.

Which … was good, if it made him cooperate for at least the rest of this round.

"A-anyway," Izuku shook his head, trying to refocus on the plan he had been brainstorming as he looked around at his teammates, "I talked with Hatsume for a bit in the forest before we came back - like she said, she's willing to let us use her support items for this round. So we can use her inventions to set up traps in our territory, and also use them to potential get an advantage over the rest of the other teams. And, uh - well, I did come up with a plan, if - if anyone was interested in hearing it."

"Of course!" Tenya nodded, gesturing to Izuku with his hand and a smile to continue. "I believe that everyone should have a chance to propose a plan, even if it may not be accepted by the group."

"That," Mina grimaced slightly, shrugging guiltedly, "and I don't think anyone else is coming up with something."

That, at least, made Tenya and Momo wince, the latter quickly shaking her head and trying to focus.

"Er - anyway, Midoriya," She turned to him, "what have you been thinking?"

"Right." Izuku nodded, while Katsuki glanced at him out of the corner of his eyes and scowled as Izuku pointed to Ochako, who quickly straightened up. "So, to get this out of the way - I think that Occhan should be the one who's the point-keeper. With her quirk and Hatsume's support items, she'd be the hardest out of us to catch if anyone were to somehow come through our district to come after. I would have had Iida serve as the point-keeper, but … well, with his speed, I think it would be better to have him be out in the forest collecting points."

"A good point," Tenya nodded in agreement, cupping his chin, "while I could theoretically keep the points safe, and my speed would make me theoretically one of the harder ones to catch, I would also be at risk of running into any traps our classmates set up. So yes, I agree with you that Uraraka would be the hardest of us to catch."

"Yeah." Izuku quickly took out his notebook from his back pocket, flipping it open and turning to look at their group. "With that out of the way, I'll be honest - I'm still brainstorming everyone else's roles in our team, and who will be on the offence and who will be on the defense. If it's alright with you all, would you mind if I ask you more about your quirks? I - I do realize that you guys would probably wanna keep the details of your quirks a secret for the next round, so -"

"I can use my eyes to zoom in on tiny details," Mei offhandedly stated as she knelt down to adjust something on one of her support items, not really listening anymore now that the attention was off her babies, "good for making inventions but useless in combat. I'll stay here to make any repairs to my babies that you all end up breaking."

Everyone blinked at that, glancing down at her as she already got to work tweaking one of her devices, and Mineta glanced back down at the box in front of him, which looked like a ball with several sharp spikes poking out of it, and gulped nervously.

"Er … well, I guess in that case," Mina shrugged a bit, smiling a bit shakingly, "I guess we're sharing. It's all good, I don't have anything to hide."

Taking a step forward, she raised her hand, giving everyone a sheepish grin as they looked around at her volunteering to technically go first.

"So, uh - I guess other than Hatsume, my quirk is the simplest here," She giggled despite herself, "I can generate acid out of my body. Mostly, I use it offensively, like throwing it at people, but I can also use it to climb by burning holes into stuff. There's a limit to how long I can use it before my body loses resistance, though, so I run the risk of burning myself too if I use it too much. But the best part," She lifted her foot, showing everyone the holes on the bottom of her shoe, "is that I can use a non-corrosive version of my acid to slide around."

"So it gives you some versatility," Momo noted, while Izuku quickly scribbled down what she said into his notebook, "interesting … so that means you can move around a lot faster than many of us."

"Yep!"

"Okay …" Izuku finished writing in Mina's notes, nodding, and then looked around at the rest of the group. Taking her cue, Momo stepped forward.

"As for myself," She put her hand on her chest, "my quirk, as you probably know by now, gives me the ability to create anything from my body by transforming the molecular structure of my fat cells. However, I do need to understand the structure of what the material is made of - so I won't be able to create anything unless I already understand the structure of what it's made of."

"Oh!" Ochako blinked, realizing something. "Is that why you carry that book on your back?"

"Indeed," Momo nodded, "if I do need to look up the molecular structure of something, I use the book - although I don't have it with me right now, and there would be no way I could create a copy with how complex it would be. Besides my quirk, I also have experience fighting with different weapons, such as bo staffs and the such, but I can also create larger weapons that I have practiced with should they be needed."

"Okay, okay …" Izuku muttered to himself, scrubbing more notes into his book while continuing to brainstorm - he was already thinking of various ways to incorporate Mei, Mina and Momo in his plan - and then turned to Tenya.

"So what about you, Iida?" He asked. "I know a bit about your quirk from when you talked about it with me, back when we were doing Aizawa-sensei's tests on the first day … you talk about your quirk as though you go through gearshifts, right?"

"That's correct," Tenya pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, and let out a small sigh, "but the truth is … well, if we're sharing details about our quirks with each other, there is … something that I haven't mentioned to everyone."

Everyone blinked at that, Izuku pausing his note taking as he flipped to Tenya's page to quickly look up at him in confusion, and they watched as Tenya lowered the hand he had on his face and then gave a short bow.

"I apologize to you all," He said to the ground, sounding ashamed of himself, "but the truth is … well, I haven't been entirely honest about the abilities of my quirk. During our first day at UA, when we were doing the test in which Aizawa-sensei had us use our quirks while doing the runs … I … I may have deliberately underperformed."

Mina, Momo and Ochako raised their eyebrows at that, while Katsuki merely scoffed and turned to glare out at the forest again, and Mineta looked like he didn't really care while Mei continued to play with her support items, tweaking anything she saw was out of place. Izuku, on the other hand, whipped up from glancing down at his notebook to stare at Tenya so fast, his neck audibly cracked.

"You … I'm sorry?" Momo asked, a bit confused. "You underperformed?"

"Indeed," Tenya nodded, looking ashamed of himself, "the truth is … there's another speed that I'm capable of getting to. I believe that it's going to be my first ultimate move - I call it 'Recipro Burst'. It can help me reach incredible speeds for about … ten or so seconds, I believe. It's one of the moves my brother uses, and I've only recently managed to replicate it - only a few weeks before the entrance exam, in fact. I didn't use it during the tests during our first day, however, because I knew that the sports festival would be around the corner, and I wished to keep it secret in case anyone was underestimating me. I know that it was underhanded, and not a proper reflection of my abilities during our first day, but I wanted to keep it under wraps in case I needed to pull out an unexpected move for the festival."

"Oh," Mina blinked, not entirely sure why this was such a big deal as she shrugged, "well, I mean, I guess that makes sense, Iida, no need to get upset about it, right?"

"No," Momo shook her head, smiling at the boy in glasses, "I certainly understand your logic, Iida - it makes sense not to show everyone your full hand if you don't have to. If … I believe that's how the saying goes?"

"Mm-hm," Mina nodded in confirmation as Momo looked around at her for clarification, and grinned, "and hey, at least we ended up on your side when you're gonna pull that move out! Right, Midori?"

There was a moment's pause where no one spoke - but at the mention of Izuku's name, everyone suddenly became aware that he was speaking … really quietly, and very quickly. They looked around at him, and Tenya felt himself falter at the sight of Izuku glaring right at him, his hand raising to tug on his lower lip while he muttered at speeds no one thought he was capable of.

"Uh …" Mina tilted her head a bit at the wide-eyed, almost insulted look on Izuku's face as he stared unblinkingly at Tenya, who was also looking confused and slightly alarmed, "… you good, Midori?"

"Oh," Ochako blinked at the wild look on Izuku's face, and let out a small sigh, "his info got invalidated."

"Huh?"

"He always gets like this when he gets presented by something quirk-related that completely contradicts what he knows. It's the only thing that really gets him mad. Hold on, I'll get him back to normal."

With that, she walked over to Izuku, gently taking him by the shoulder while he still glared at Tenya, but he still allowed her to lead him away from the group so they could speak privately. They all watched them in confusion, or in Katsuki's case rolling his eyes, as Izuku began ranting at Ochako in a fast, quiet mutter, which Ochako nodded along to.

"…"

"I know, Deku."

"…"

"I understand that."

"…"

"No, we wouldn't have time to fully interrogate him."

"…"

"No."

"…"

"It's not that big a deal."

"…"

"No, we can't put spiders in his mailbox. The last time we did that, Auntie Mitsuki nearly ripped our heads off."

"S-spiders?!" Tenya sputtered a bit, and Katsuki straightened up from his spot near the tree, his eyes widening in rage as he suddenly experienced a traumatic flashback and had a weird shuddering feeling pass through his arms, as though there was something crawling up them.

"That was you, Shitty Deku?!" He barked angrily at him, and Ochako turned to give him a small smirk as Izuku jumped a bit, shaken out of his anger at Tenya.

"Actually, it was me," She giggled, "you shoved me into a puddle earlier that day, so I took Deku's idea and mailed you a box of spiders. Made my grounding so worth it."

"You little bit-"

"Kacchan," Izuku sharply said, apparently shaken out of his comedic anger at Tenya to look over at Katsuki with a small scowl, "don't."

Katsuki seemed to want to bite back at that, but Mina, Momo and Ochako turning to glare him caused him to hold his tongue and quiet down, although his glare directed towards Izuku only increased as Izuku sighed and smacked his cheeks to refocus, both he and Ochako walking back to the group circle they had formed.

"Okay, okay," He nodded slowly to himself, "moving past the … sandbagging thing."

"Midoriya, I do apologize!"

"W-we still have one more quirk that we need to know the details of." Izuku then turned to Mineta, the support student blinking up at him in surprise, "Mineta, you're the only one here besides Hatsume we haven't seen your quirk in action before. So, uh - what exactly is your quirk? How does it work?"

"My quirk?" Mineta blinked, reaching up and plucking one of the purple balls off his head, another one automatically growing in its place. "It lets me make the balls on my head super sticky. Depending on my bowel movements, they can stick to something all day, but if I pull off too many, I'll start bleeding. I don't stick to them, by the way, I just bounce off of them. Luckily, though, I took a big dump this morning, so my balls should be pretty sticky."

At that last unnecessary bit of information, silence fell on their group. Everyone stared down at Mineta as he glanced around at all of them to gauge their reactions. Momo was giving him a look of disgust and horror at the mention of the word 'dump', her hand slowly going back to rub at where he had attached himself to her last round while Mina patted her shoulder sympathetically. Katsuki was glaring in disgust as well. Tenya was looking confusedly at him. Izuku and Ochako looked unsure what to even say. Mei wasn't even listening.

Immediately, Mineta began to tear up.

"I know it's useless!" He wailed, throwing his arms up into the air as tears burst from his eyes. "I thought I had the entrance exam in the bag with my quirk, but I got beat out by someone else! It's just not good for fighting!"

"N-no, that's not what I was thinking at all!" Izuku quickly tried to assure him while Momo held her hand over her eyes, breathing out a bit heavily and resisting the urge to kick the smaller boy away from her while feeling like she needed a shower, "I wasn't thinking that you would have to use your quirk to fight! That's why I'm thinking that you should be on the defensive!"

Trying to ignore Mineta's sniveling and complaining, Izuku turned back to his notebook, flipping through the pages briefly as he attempted to remind himself of what everyone said - running through Mei, Mina, Momo, Tenya and Mineta's quirks, and reminding himself of what he knew about Ochako and Katsuki's quirks. Once he was sure he had everything down, he closed the book, and let out a sigh as he put it back in his pocket.

"Okay," He nodded, and felt thankful that everyone looked back around at him, although he felt a shot of nervousness pass through him with all the attention on him again, but Ochako patting his back when she saw the look of anxiety on his face did help him gather at least a little courage, "so … I do have a plan. Now that I know what your quirks can do, I think I know how to position us."

"Er … okay?" Mina shrugged, giving him a small smile as she turned to him. "So what do you have in mind, Midori?"

"Right," Izuku nodded, and then turned to Tenya, "so with Iida's speed, Ashido's quirk letting her slide around, and Kacchan being able to blast himself around and being able to go on the offensive as well - we'll go out to the other districts to gather up all the points. While we do that, Yaoyorozu, Mineta and Hatsume will stay here to guard Occhan with our points, and set up traps throughout the zone while Occhan floats up in the air and uses Hatsume's inventions to move around. Yaoyorozu," He then turned to Momo, "you can create cannons, right? Like you did back at the USJ."

"That's right," She nodded, lowering her hand from her eyes, "although it may take a little while, it's one of the bigger things I can create. But yes, I have enough lipids to create one."

"Okay, then you'll be the one that shoots down any flyers that tries to bypass our traps - if the other groups come after us, they'll try to send people like Tokage, Tsunotori and anyone from Class 1B that can use their quirks to go above the forest for Occhan. And Hatsume, you can use your … uh …" He went a bit red as she looked up at him, "… your babies … to trap the zone. I'm also thinking … Yaoyorozu, I know I asked for you to make a cannon, but I also think you should make a few copper wires to wrap around the trees, and use Mineta's balls could pin them to the trees - I assume you can also make a taser?"

"I certainly can, Midoriya," Momo nodded, knowing where Izuku was going with this, "and yes, setting up wire traps will slow anyone who comes into our zone down."

"So you, Bakugou, Ashido and myself will be gathering the points?" Tenya asked, nodding and smiling slightly. "That sounds more than fine by me, Midoriya! And indeed, the rest of the group can stay behind to defend Uraraka and the ten million -"

"I'm gonna keep the ten million points."

The relief of the entire group finally having a plan to go forward with grinded to a halt as Izuku said that. Slowly, they looked around at him as he gulped nervously, grimacing, but Ochako patting his shoulder again managed to give him a bit of courage as he straightened his back.

"I … know what everyone is saying about keeping the ten million safe," He said in a quiet, yet determined tone, "but … well, I'm thinking the opposite."

Momo stared at him for a moment as her eyes widened slightly - and then she let out a long, shuddering breath, one that indicated to Izuku that she was just barely restraining herself from yelling, and he gulped again as she slowly turned towards him.

"Midoriya," She managed to get out through slightly gritted teeth, "having one person that isn't the point-keeper keep the ten million is what we were trying to make sure Bakugou didn't do. And yet, you want to take all those points and go out onto the field with them?"

"I - well, yes," Izuku winced slightly, "but it's for a different reason than Kacchan's."

Looking around at the group again, Izuku sighed as he put his hands down on his hips, feeling himself wither slightly at everyone staring at him like an idiot (with the exception of Ochako, obviously, and Mei, who was too busy playing with her support items), and tried to gather his courage again.

"Look," He started to explain, "I know why you guys would want to keep the points here, and - and I understand how important it would be to focus more on defence, since they're a surefire guarantee for us to continue on to the next round. But like I said, I think the opposite - all these points are doing is painting a massive target on our backs - I'm betting all three of the other groups will be focusing on coming to our base and taking them from us. So I'm thinking … why don't we take this chance to sow a bit of chaos out on the field? Taking most of the attention off of us, and focusing it on … well … me."

Tenya and Mina raised their eyebrows at that, while Momo tilted her head.

"What I'm thinking," Izuku patted the headband wrapped around his forehead where the number '10,000,000' was resting, "is that I'll take the ten million - and only the ten million - and go out to get everyone's attention. With Hatsume's support items, I'm betting that I can keep out of everyone's reach for at least a while. Hatsume," He turned to the girl still kneeling beside one of her briefcases, "would you have a support item that could keep me in the air for long periods of time?"

"Of course!" She immediately snapped to attention, reaching over to another case and lifting up the jetpack that Izuku had been inspecting, tilting her head as she inspected it, "Oh, what a twist of fate that this baby was the one you were interested in, because she's definitely what you're looking for! Hmmm, but you said that you need it for longer periods of time up in the air … well, nothing I can't adjust quickly!"

With that, she quickly raised her hand to bite the finger of her glove, and pulled it off with her teeth to reveal her bare hand. Suddenly, a wrench popped out of her finger, making everyone jump a bit in surprise as she immediately began wiggling her finger around the jetpack to tweak something in place.

Everyone stared, blinking, as she finished using the wrench her finger had turned into, and watched as it slowly moved back into her index finger, the tip of the finger closing with a small click.

"Uh … hey, girl?" Mina gulped nervously. "Your, uh … you said that you could use your quirk to look at stuff, right?"

"Hm? Yes, what about it?"

"So, uh … how can you make tools with your fingers?"

Mei blinked in confusion for a moment, glancing down at her hand again for a moment as though unsure about what Mina was talking about - and then she seemed to realize what she was talking about, her eyes widening along with her grin.

"Oh! You like these babies?" She giggled, wiggling her fingers, and was unaware of everyone staring at them in shock and horror as they realized that her middle and index fingers moved … a lot more robotically than the other three. "Got my fingers trapped in another baby a few years back, and oh, how it wouldn't let them go without a fight! So my parents ended up designing me some new fingers that wouldn't get hurt if they got caught again. Oooooh, but imagine it!"

Leaning back from where she was kneeling on the ground, she turned to smile dreamily up at the sky.

"Robotic limbs," She sighed in bliss, "arms, legs, the ability to work on my babies without the need for rest … oh, that would be the dream! If I could transmit my consciousness into a machine to work on my babies forever, you bet I would!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… what the fuck is wrong with you?" Katsuki stared at her as though she had gone insane. Which … probably wasn't that far off from the truth.

"Let's … uh … let's move on," Momo quickly tried to move on from that awkwardness, watching as Mei finished tweaking the jetpack and heading over to the now clearly nervous Izuku as he stared down at her fingers, as though regretting ever agreeing to help her out, but alas, it was too late for backsies as she attached the jetpack onto his back, and then moved back over to the briefcase for more support items.

Soon, he had two support items strapped to his back - the jetpack on his upper back, and another, slightly larger one with a spinning metal wheel on his lower back. Taking a step back, Mei pressed the button to the one on his lower back, and without warning, a long hydraulic pole suddenly shot out from the support item attached to his back underneath the jetpack, making Izuku jump a bit as it shot out and slammed into a nearby tree, narrowly avoiding Mineta's head as he froze in horror at being nearly decapitated.

"There!" Mei smiled proudly, backing up and putting her hands on her hips, while Mineta flopped down onto his back as he stared up at the hydraulic press retracting back into the support item in horror. "Now you'll be agile! These babies can release hydraulic presses for you to move around the forest with, with sensors inside that can move you even if you're being attacked from behind! And the jetpack, now that I've modified it, is estimated to keep you up in the air for up to a minute! Assuming it doesn't explode, of course."

"Oh, great," Izuku pouted a bit while Ochako giggled nervously, "another support item that I have to worry about exploding while I'm wearing it. Great."

"Er … back to your plan," Tenya tried to get them all back on track, keeping his eyes on the clock ticking down on one of the screens near them while sweating nervously at how much time they were running out of, "you said that you want the attention of the other groups on you? Pardon my rudeness, but doesn't that seem foolish? Wouldn't we want to keep the points here, and safe?"

"It does seem idiotic," Izuku gave him, looking up from the support items and back to the group, "but I also think it's foolish to keep them with Occhan. Either way, it's almost certain that everyone will be coming after our team - like I said, we've got the guarantee that we'll be moving on to the next round so long as we have them, so the smartest thing the other groups would do is to take the ten million from our team and take them back to their own point-keepers. Which would mean that all three teams are going to be coming after us, and that would mean that we'd be forced to be on the defensive for the entire round.

"But," He then raised his eyebrow, "if I were to go out with the ten million points and keep moving around - and we keep the other points here … that would mean that everyone's attention is taken off our district and put on me exclusively."

"Oh," Momo gasped lightly, understanding filling her eyes, "I … I believe I see."

"Er - you do?" Mina looked confused, looking around at her.

"Ten million points will be enough to get us to the next round," She explained as her eyes widened slightly, "but we don't necessarily need them to move on to the next round."

"Exactly," Izuku smiled at her, feeling relieved as everyone blinked at the two of them, "as long as Occhan doesn't have the ten million, no one will bother going after her - and that means that no one will be keeping an eye on her if Iida, Kacchan and Ashido bring her points from the other teams. While I have the ten million, they'd be useless if I don't make it back to Occhan in time to add them to our count - and everyone will be too busy chasing me around for them to gather points from each other, much less get them back to their point-keepers in time."

"So if you outrun them for the entire fifteen minutes," Tenya realized, straightening up, "while Ashido, Bakugou and myself go around to get their points, and bring them to Uraraka …"

"We can win," Ochako smiled proudly at Izuku for his plan, "even without the ten million."

There was a short pause - and then Katsuki snorted, getting everyone's attention as he stopped leaning against the tree, and turned to give Izuku a challenging look.

"That's a nice plan, nerd," He scoffed, which drew Ochako's glare to him, "but that's all hinging on the small chance that no one goes after Round Face. What happens if someone decides to take the points from her anyway, and we're stuck at zero while you're off fucking around with the ten million?"

Ochako merely gave him a dirty look for that, but Izuku slowly nodded in acknowledgement, sighing as he turned towards his best friend, who looked around at him with the glare quickly fading from her eyes, and quickly nodded.

"That's why," He said in a small sigh, "I also came up with Plan B."

"Er … Plan B?" Mina gave him a confused look.

"Yep," Izuku nodded, "a backup plan just in case someone does what Kacchan says and takes the rest of our points from Occhan. But, … well,  this one relies on a lot of dumb luck. I'll explain while we start setting up the traps - I know that we're running out of time, so when Midnight-sensei gives us the go ahead, I'm heading out right away to get their attention and start running around."

There was a short pause - and then Mineta, staring up at Izuku in shock and a bit of amazement, said, "You know, you're kinda crazy. You know that, man?"

"Trust me," Ochako sighed while Izuku grimaced slightly, "I know that."


"You want all these points?! T-then come and get them!"

As the sound of Izuku's shout echoed through the forest, the area in which everyone had confronted each other went quiet. Everyone on the ground froze, staring up at him as he pushed his hair away from his forehead to show them the '10,000,000' points on his bandana. Izuku, for his part, tried to stop himself from shaking as he quickly looked around as well, knowing, then and there, that his life was going to be very chaotic for the next fifteen minutes, and his little plan was going to be a lot more complicated than what he had been selling to his teammates.

With the attention of everyone on the other teams fixed squarely on him, Izuku fought down the urge to run away immediately, trying as best he could to stop himself from bolting, and tried to look determined as his eyes swept around. Everyone, from Class 1B to his own classmates, was emitting the same uneasy feeling he had felt back when it was announced that he had ten million points - a wave of pure malice being focused right on him, as though he were in a cage filled to the brim with hungry lions.

Still, he did his best to fight down the terror and nervousness running through his entire body as he glanced around, seeing Setsuna slowly lick her lips as she gave him a malicious grin, Yui giving him a surprisingly intense glare even with her blank face, Nejire giving him a look of surprise, Shouto glaring right at the points on his forehead, Pony slowly rotating around in the air to point herself straight at him, and Itsuka, the only one who's eyes he met, giving him a 'what the fuck are you doing' look as her mouth dropped open at the sheer audacity of what he was doing.

Which … well, the last one was something he was pretty used to, so at least he had been expecting Itsuka's reaction.

The entire forest was silent, filled to the brim with tension as everyone stared at Izuku and he back at them. He felt the cameras turn to point at him as well, meaning that everyone back at the arena was probably watching as well as his foot twitched slightly, everyone waiting for him to make the first move so they knew where to chase him - or were bracing themselves to start the chase themselves, what with Denki below taking a small step forward.

And then, without warning, there was a loud explosion near the bottom of the tree Izuku was standing on.

"DIE!" Katsuki roared, blasting through the shrubbery with a wide, malicious grin, wearing two gauntlets on his wrists. The three (technically two) groups jumped in surprise as he twirled through the air, boosted thanks to the twin shots of hot air shooting out of Mei's devices, and before any of them to blink, his hand landed on Denki's shoulder. With a loud explosion, the other electric-quirk user was sent flying through the air with a yelp, and Katsuki turned to smash through the small group, everyone quickly snapping out of the tense mood to whip around and see his head moving on a swivel, looking for any points he might snag.

And then there was the sound of an engine rumbling as well, and everyone looked around - and Reiko only managed to duck just in time as Tenya shot out from where Katsuki had emerged, his hand only barely missing her shoulder, but luckily the boy in glasses managed to catch himself before he crashed into another tree, and, with speeds that no one thought he was capable of with what looked to be braces along his legs propelling him along with two small pipes on his back balancing him, sprinted towards one of the girls from 1B.

His hand slammed down on the invisible girl's shoulder, making her squeak, and before anyone could blink, the bandana on her head, which displayed the number '20', suddenly went down to '10', while on Tenya's bandana, the number '10' appeared as well.

"Crap!" Setsuna growled loudly, quickly zipping down to where both Yui and Kyouka were standing, and shook Yui's shoulder to get her attention as the quiet girl stared at how Tenya posed with a slightly red face, trying to shake Yui out of her obvious leering.

"Spread the points out, guys! Just to be safe!"

Both Yui and Kyouka nodded, and quickly reached out to grab Setsuna's hands at the same time, Setsuna detaching them by the wrist to reach down for her two partners as she floated her upper body back up. Itsuka, who had quickly whipped around as her best friend swooped down low to the ground, saw Kyouka and Yui grab Setsuna's hands -

- and then watched as, rather than have Setsuna's hundred and seventy points cut in half on her forehead, went down to zero, and both Kyouka and Yui's headbands divided Setsuna's points between them.

Itsuka felt herself blink in surprise as Setsuna, now with zero points in her headband, began to rise back up to float above the crowd that was now breaking up slightly from Katsuki and Tenya's sudden attacks, and pointed straight at Izuku, who jumped as he was jolted out of watching his two teammates causing chaos.

"Get the ten million!" Setsuna shouted, baring her teeth, and immediately began flying over to Izuku as he squeaked a bit. As everyone complied with her order and quickly began heading towards the tree Itsuka's traininer partner was on, Tetsutetsu quickly turned to where Itsuka was standing, on the other hand, who looked around as he began charging right at her, his quirk immediately hardening into steel.

"While they handle Midoriya," He shouted right at Itsuka, "I'll show you for bein' so smug before!"

Itsuka, to her credit, only narrowed her eyes, growing out her hands and bracing herself as Tetsutetsu ran straight at her, Shouto moving his hand back while ice cracked in his palm -

- and then, without warning, Eijirou suddenly exploded out of the bushes behind Itsuka, making her jump as he roared at Tetsutetsu in challenge right in her ear. Tetsutetsu let out a grunt as Eijirou tackled him right off his feet, slamming him into the dirt, and both Itsuka and Shouto blinked in surprise as the two rolled over each other in the dirt briefly before they both got back to their feet, glaring into each other's eyes.

"You again," Tetstetsu gritted his teeth in fury, ignoring how everyone was charging forward to attack Izuku behind them, "it's always you, you copycat! First at Ground Omega, then on the roof trainin' my quirk … it's always you!"

"You kiddin'?!" Eijirou gritted his own teeth, slamming his hardened fists together, "It's you that's been copying me! I've had to deal with you for weeks now - copying my moves, my training strategies, my own freakin' quirk!"

"So it's come down to this!" Tetsutetsu cracked his knuckles, getting ready to run forward, "We're settlin' this right now!"

"That's what I'm thinking!"

And with twin roars, both of them charged at each other, their fists hardening and smashing together as they began a fight that's … apparently been building up for some time now. Itsuka, for her part, only stared in confusion over the fact that Eijirou had apparently been going through his own little shonen arc for the last few weeks and no one had noticed as Nejire floated down to stare at the two battling boys, her finger poking her lip.

"A fated battle between rivals?" She questioned out loud, and Itsuka was unable to suppress a small snort.

"Yeah," She shrugged, "apparentl-"

KRACK-BOOM

At the sudden blast of lightning that sounded out through the forest, both girls nearly jumped out of their skins, whipping back around as Izuku launched himself off the branch he had stayed on, narrowly avoiding Setsuna scratching at him as he pointed at the clear space on the ground and fired, sending him flying up into the air. Flailing a bit, Izuku looked panicked as he quickly looked around, seeing several people quickly looking up to where he had disappeared to and seeing him flying up helplessly into the air.

On the ground, one of the girls from Class 1B quickly clasped her hands together, and several vines from her head shot up into the sky, directly towards Izuku with the intention to snatch him out of the air now that he was completely immobile and unable to dodge out of the way -

- only for the support item on his back to suddenly beep, and, after something rotated around on his back, a hydraulic press suddenly shot out from the support item on his shoulder to push him out of the way of the vines.

"Huh?!" The girl with vines for hair blinked, staring up in surprise as Izuku was shoved through the trees, and everyone quickly tried to look around for where he had vanished. At once, Pony, Setsuna, Hanta and a few people from Class 1B immediately took off through the trees for where he had gone off to, Setsuna and Pony quickly floating up to the top of the trees to spot him.

In the back, however, Itsuka felt her eyes narrow as her mind began to spin, seeing Izuku briefly pop up from the trees again as he flew away from where everyone was now beginning to chase him, and her gaze flickered to Tenya and Katsuki as they chased after the people who were now scattered, trying to get away from them as Mina slipped around the group and went off in the direction that Setsuna's group had arrived from - and then she felt her eyes widen.

Wait - wait a moment. When they had gone off to the forest, someone on Izuku's team had specifically caught her eye. A girl with pink, weird hair, wearing some kind of goggles on her head and wearing a few items on her body. And the things on Izuku's arms and back - they were clearly support items, as were the things that Tenya and Katsuki were wearing.

Was it possible that - no, no, she shook her head, it was more than likely that the girl was from the support class - and she had shared her toys with her training partner. So that meant that it might not just be Izuku that's armed with support items - his entire team might have a few tricks up their sleeves.

So that meant, Itsuka nodded to herself as she began running towards where Denki was now chasing after Izuku, that they should avoid -

"We can take the ten million from him."

At the voice on her left, Itsuka faltered in her step, blinking, and quickly looked back around. Staring up at where Izuku had vanished, Shouto's eyes were still narrowed, and he looked around at her as he raised an eyebrow at her confused look.

"You saw what that one girl did," He pointed out, "she had two people touch her, and she lost all of her points."

"I did see that," Itsuka slowly nodded, still frowning slightly as she looked around at where the crowd was moving through the forest after her training partner, "must be some kind of glitch. What of it?"

"It means," Shouto glanced back around at where Izuku had vanished, ignoring Present Mic's loud commentary over the speakers spread throughout the forest as he scowled, "that if you and I catch up with him and touch him at the same time …"

Itsuka felt her eyes widen, and looked back around at Shouto as he likewise glanced back at her. Nejire looked between both of them in worry, with Monoma raising an eyebrow, and together, they all stepped aside as Eijirou tackled Tetsutetsu into the ice to ram him against it with his shoulder, all of them ignoring the surprisingly intense fight beside them as Tetsutetsu slammed both his arms down on Eijirou's shoulders, and Eijirou retaliated by moving his head up to slam the back of his head into Tetsutetsu's steel nose.

"Hold on," Itsuka raised her hand, frowning, "that isn't our plan, Todoroki."

"Plans change," He shrugged, "and it's clear that we never anticipated Midoriya doing something like this. But it's something that we can't just ignore - we know how to get the ten million points all for ourselves."

"But -"

"Besides," Shouto then gave her a judgmental glare, "it's like I said. I don't trust you being on my team, Kendou, because it's clear where your real loyalties lie."

That caused Itsuka to scowl at him.

"If you want me to take you seriously as my rival," Shouto's eyes darkened, "you have to show me that you're willing to put yourself on top of Midoriya and Uraraka. And this? This is the perfect time to show me that - to get me to actually respect you."

There was a moment of silence in their small group, with Nejire and Monoma watching the other two's silent stare off while Tetsutetsu and Eijirou continued to pound on each other - and then Itsuka exhaled through her nose, her own eyes growing colder as she met Shouto's glare tit-for-tat.

"Let's make something clear, Todoroki," She spat out, "I have no idea why you're so intense about being my rival. And to tell you the truth? I don't care. If I'm being honest, I'm half tempted to just end this rivalry here and now just to get you off my back."

That caused Shouto to raise his eyebrow.

"I don't care," Itsuka repeated, staring him in the eye, "I'm doing this - the sports festival - for my own reasons. I'm here to get the attention of the pro heroes I want to eventually intern with, not to get into a dick measuring contest with you. The only reason I'm even considering going after Izuku is because he's the best bet to get to the next round - not because I'm answering your stupid challenge."

Turning to look up at the sky, Itsuka let out a slow, slightly shuddering breath.

"And for the record," She glanced back at him, "Putting myself on top of Izuku and Ochako was never going to be a problem."

Before any of them could respond to that, Itsuka turned to look up at Nejire, who had been watching the surprisingly intense stare-off with widened eyes, and jolted as Itsuka reached up to grab Nejire's ankle, pulling on it lightly to get her full attention.

"Hadou," She sighed as she flipped her ponytail off her shoulder, "can you go and find whoever Izuku's point-keeper is?"

"Eh?" Nejire blinked. "Uh - well, yeah, I guess so, but why? For what reason?"

"I'm betting," She began to explain as quickly as she could, "that Izuku left the rest of his points behind with his team. He's got the ten million, but that's the only points he has right now - that means that his team is probably hiding the rest of the points somewhere in their district. Now that we know that Bakugou, Ashido and Iida are going around too, we'll be competing with them to get the other teams' points, and they're much faster than anyone on this team. And from what I saw," She narrowed her eyes, "they left their points behind too. So if we can't get the ten million, then we'll go and grab the rest of their points."

"I … guess that makes sense?" Nejire shrugged.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, "so you go and find whoever their point-keeper is and nab their points. I'm betting that since they have a support student, they're lining their zone with traps. Fly above the forest and see if you can spot anything out of the ordinary, or if one of them is wearing more support gear than the rest - I bet that'll be the point-keeper."

"O-okay! Sounds good!" Nejire quickly saluted her, and then quickly took off into the sky, and Itsuka nodded slowly as she turned towards where Monoma was staring haughtily at her.

"Monoma," She nodded, "you keep to our original plan and go around to get us the points from anyone you come across. Make sure to run them to Haya and Shinsou, and they'll get them to Tokoyami."

"Ha! And why would I -"

"Monoma," Itsuka's eyes narrowed dangerously, "don't even right now."

Thankfully, the annoying boy seemed to register that Itsuka wasn't making a simple request of him, and quickly turned to take off after the small mob that had chased after Izuku. With a sigh, Itsuka cracked her knuckles, and grew her hands out. Shouto took a step back, wrinkling his brow as Itsuka turned back towards him with a frown.

"Well, Todoroki?" She gestured with her giant hands, "Make me a few blocks of ice. Izuku probably can't go much higher than the trees, since his support item is just pushing him around. We make him go above the treelines -"

"- we can bring him down." Shouto nodded, turning around and began making a few blocks of ice for her. Itsuka nodded and looked back up at the sky, trying to strain her ears to listen for wherever Izuku had gone off to -

- and being unaware of two pairs of eyes turning towards her, one pair from the side and one from behind her, and sending her two glares.


Well, on the one hand, Izuku's plan worked pretty much flawlessly.

On the other hand, however, Izuku's plan … worked pretty much flawlessly.

With a yelp, Izuku ducked underneath another attack that came at him out of nowhere, Tsuyu letting out an annoyed ribbit as she narrowly missed kicking him in the head and was forced to move back down to the trees as the hydraulic press on his back pushed Izuku all over the place to avoid the massive crowd of people that was now flinging all of their quirks at him in order to stop him from moving. Landing on another tree, Izuku let out a small, shaking yelp as it suddenly began shaking, and quickly looked down to see Kyouka plugging her earphone jacks into the base of the tree, intending to shake him off, and quickly jumped off the tree as he ducked underneath a shot of tape being fired right at his face by Hanta.

Izuku grunted each time the hydraulic press shoved him off to the side with barely a warning, yanking him all over the place as it shoved him away from any attack that might come close enough to hit him, from someone jumping in the air in an attempt to grab his arm or ankle and drag him down, or a quirk trying to shoot him out of the air.

So there was one flaw in Mei's inventions, Izuku winced - it didn't really consider that bones weren't supposed to be jerked around so much.

"Stay still!" One of the guys from Class 1B shouted, a huge guy with very prominent lips as he crunched down on some kind of powdery substance, and then, with a roar as his body suddenly swelled with muscles, his shirt ripping slightly, charged through the trees to head to one of the bounders laying off one of the paths. Izuku felt his eyes widen as the guy picked it up as though it weighed nothing, and with an almighty shout, threw it straight at Izuku -

- only for the jetpack on his upper back to suddenly activate as Izuku reached around quickly to press the button as fast as he could, and he was jerked straight up through the trees, managing to completely avoid the rock being thrown at him but being rewarded with getting hit repeatedly with branches and leaves, grunting and yelping in pain as the back of his head was smacked repeatedly by branches until he was sent straight up above the forest.

Now high above the trees, Izuku flailed for a moment in panic before the jetpack's thrusters properly kicked in, and he was allowed to briefly hover in the air, Izuku taking advantage of finally being alone up in the sky to quickly scan the top of the trees for any sign of his classmates as he began to slowly descend. As Mei had explained, the jetpack was designed to allow him to float in the air for up to a minute as he slowly descended, so he took this moment to try and gather himself, and get ready for anything that might come his way while Present Mic continued to scream commentary through the speakers spread throughout the forest.

Thankfully for him, it looked like everyone was taking their time to come up after him, giving him a chance to breathe. Of course, he had to also consider that they were probably coming up with their own strategies while he was immobile - running around and letting everyone chase him for fifteen minutes was an okay plan to start with, but eventually, they'd figure out a way to corner him unless he kept light on his toes and avoided running into any traps they might spring on him.

So at the moment, he had to strategize as well - as long as he could keep using the hydraulic press on his back to keep himself moving through the trees, and continue to outrun the rest of his classmates while Tenya, Mina and Katsuki brought the points they were gathering to Ochako, everything would be okay.

Speaking of Ochako, somewhere far on his right, he saw something rustling in the trees, quickly turning around to look at it - but as he glanced to the right to double check where he was, and saw the pond in the distance, he knew that was his own district, and who was coming out. Soon enough, Ochako popped out of the trees, Izuku unable to stop himself from smiling brightly at the sight of his best friend raising her hands to brush some of the leaves out of her hair as she floated up into the air, and raised his hand to wave at her, letting out a chuckle as he saw Ochako give him a wave back. 

She had her own support items from Mei strapped onto her body - she was wearing what looked to be a jetpack similar to his own strapped to her back, and two small gauntlets she had on her arms that had pointed wires on the tips, presumably to help her move around. And thanks to using her quirk to float herself, she could position herself above the trees without the risk of falling into the sky, which she did by firing one of the wires into the trees to keep herself still.

So that meant that, if anyone somehow got through the traps that Momo, Mineta and Mei had been setting up in their district, they wouldn't be able to reach her. And speaking of that …

Bringing his finger to the small earpiece Mei had given him, Izuku pressed on it and said, in a clear voice, "Occhan? Can you hear me?"

There was a brief pause before the earpiece in his ear beeped.

"I can hear you, Deku." Ochako's voice filled the earpiece, and Izuku, for some reason, felt his heart start hammering a bit faster - something that didn't have to do with the adrenaline and panic he was feeling having half the class chasing him as it sounded like her soft voice was speaking in a hushed tone directly in his ear. "Is everything going okay?"

"S-so far," Izuku stuttered a bit there, feeling his face go red in embarrassment, but he continued to sweep the top of the trees with his eyes, narrowing them slightly as he tried to refocus and concentrate on anyone who might come out of nowhere, "everyone's after me, at least - but I also think Tokage and Kodai's teams have teamed up. They seem to be working together to bring me down, so, uh … that's … pretty bad, if they're both focusing on me instead of attacking each other."

"They teamed up?" Momo suddenly spoke up over the line, making Izuku jump a bit as he remembered that everyone had access to this feed, not just him and Ochako. "So does that mean that they'll both be coming towards us?"

"Maybe," He nodded, grimacing slightly, "but the good news at least is that they're all following me at least for now. And from how many were out in the field, they didn't leave any defenses behind in their districts - which means that Iida, Ashido and Kacchan will have free reign to go into their districts to get their point-keepers."

"Indeed!" Tenya spoke up, all of them hearing the sound of his engines roaring over the line, "I am heading towards Tokage's district now! I believe that they only left the point-keeper here to secure the points!"

"Okay … try to do one more sweep through the crowd following me, and then yeah, head to Tokage's district. We can take advantage of them being focused on me to go through them once with Recipro Burst before you go after her point-keeper."

"Very good! I'm on the way!"

"Yeaaaaah, uh … sorry, Midori, but I'm not going into Kendou's zone," Mina giggled nervously over the line, "I'm just scoping it out right now, and there's two big icebergs in the way. Plus, I can hear some kind of electricity running in there, so I guess they left behind some guys to guard whoever their point-keeper is."

"Okay," Izuku slowly nodded, understanding that as he glanced up and saw the massive iceberg poking out from the trees, "okay, Ashido. In that case, come and help Iida with picking off points from the crowd - I can see the iceberg from here - it looks like it's spread pretty far, it'd take too long to go around anyway. Yaoyorozu, are all the traps set up?"

"Most of them," Momo confirmed, "Mineta's balls have secured the wire traps Hatsume set up while you went out to confront the groups, and Mineta is still setting up a few more wires with his quirk. Since he'll be setting them up at his height, that means that if people do come into our zone, they'll have to move carefully over them lest they get a particularly nasty shock. And I'm working on the cannon now - it should be ready soon."

"Good," Izuku sighed in relief, "and I bet Kacchan's heading to where Kodai's group set up to deal with their point-keeper. Ashido's right, it's better to avoid Kendou's zone unless absolutely necessary - Todoroki's quirk makes it too hard to go around it. You guys just keep doing what you're doing, or come and sneak up on the people chasing me while I lead them around."

"Deku," Ochako spoke up again, "did you see -"

However, before she could finish her question, and Izuku could squirm with his best friend's voice in his ear - seriously, what was going on with that?! He'd had her phone number for years and spoken to her over the phone multiple times, why was her speaking directly into his ear now making him feel so flustered?! - there was a small rustling of branches to Izuku's left. Immediately snapping to attention, Izuku whirled around to look at the top of the tree, feeling his eyes widen at a sudden, familiar grunt of annoyance. 

There was a moment's pause, and then, suddenly, something blasted out from the branches of the tree - a familiar blast of yellow, spiraling light.

"Peh!" Nejire finally emerged, spitting out a leaf and looking somewhat grossed out as she flew up to float above the trees along with him, and quickly looked around at Izuku as he quickly turned to her, his eyes widening. Fortunately for him, Nejire didn't seem to be focused on attacking him, instead giving him a big smile.

"Hi, Midoriya!" She waved at him before her gaze trailed down to the support items he was wearing, and her eyes brightened. "Wow, those look really cool! Where'd you get them? They all look so shiny and white! I gotta say, though, I kinda like your gauntlet more! It's got way more color!"

Izuku, for his part, merely gulped nervously, not trusting himself to say anything - this was the first time he had gone up against Nejire, and remembering the way she had crumbled a wall effortlessly during the battle trial was making him nervous.

"Eh?!" He heard Mei suddenly growl over the line, "Did someone just shittalk my babies?! Where is she?! Tits McGee, blast her out of the sky with your cannon!"

"The cannon is not ready yet, and do not call me Tits McGee!" 

Izuku, for his part, tried to ignore the bickering in his ear as he kept his eyes on Nejire's hands, waiting for her to suddenly blast at him as he slowly descended. Nejire, meanwhile, merely pouted at the lack of response from him.

"Not gonna talk to me?" She said in slight disappointment, sighing and shaking her head while looking pretty sad - and then she shrugged, tilting her head as a thought came to her. "Well, it is probably really stressful for you right now, so maybe I can't blame you for not wanting to chat with me right now. But don't worry! I'll talk to you later at lunch! That'd be a good time to talk, right? Then I can talk to you all about those thingies you're wearing! Well, anyhoo, don't worry! I'm not gonna attack you!"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, jolted out of his nervous state and felt surprised and confused as Nejire began looking around.

"Nope! I'm not! I'm actually gonna …" She trailed off, her eyes searching around for a moment - and then she spotted Ochako, and her eyes widened in delight.

"Oh! I guess Uraraka's your point-keeper!"

And with that, she turned, completely ignoring Izuku now as he squeaked in shock, and blasted off through the air. Izuku's eyes widened as he saw her begin flying straight towards Ochako, a bit too fast for his comfort, and quickly raised his hand to the earpiece.

"Occhan! Hadou's headed right for you!"

"Oh, of course she is," Ochako groaned, and he could see the distant shape that was Ochako floating in the air tense as she attempted to straighten up, "I guess in that case, Deku, we … we might have to do Plan B."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, already regretting making this plan as he looked around again, "d-do you hear that, everyone? We're probably gonna have to -"

"MIDORIYA!"

Jolting at the sound of someone shouting his name behind him, Izuku quickly looked over his shoulder - and squeaked as he barely avoided getting hit in the face with a piece of tape, jerking his head barely out of the way in time as it slammed down on the tree he had been gently floating beside due to the jetpack. 

Seeing more students approaching him on the ground, and Pony flying straight towards him with an adorable pout on her face, Izuku let out a yelp as the hydraulic presses pushed him out of the way of Pony lunging at him, the horse girl letting out a curse in English as he barely avoided her, and Izuku quickly ducked as Reiko, throwing her hands in the air from where she was down on the ground, threw a large branch at him, Izuku only barely avoiding getting hit in the head with the broken tree as he began moving again, feeling panic surge through him.

Managing to land down on a tree, Izuku quickly looked around, reprimanding himself internally for getting distracted talking to Ochako as he saw everyone gathering below him to begin attacking again. Down below, Yui, storming up towards where Izuku was and narrowing her eyes, let out a small grunt of exertion as she threw several pebbles at him - but Izuku knew what they really were at once, his eyes widening in horror, and quickly leapt off the tree as Yui pressed her fingers together.

Regrowing the boulders, Yui watched as Izuku barely got out of the way as they crashed through the trees, and her blue eyes watched as he flew forward for a moment - only for the girl named Shiozaki to send several of her vines up to intercept him, Izuku letting out a grunt as he tried to move out of the way. With a small huff, Yui began walking over to more boulders, intending to shrink them down and throw them at the backpacks Izuku was wearing to disable them -

- but then the hum of engines suddenly distracted her, and she quickly turned as Tenya stood near the front of their group facing them, kneeling down on the ground in a running position. Before she could even blink, however, Tenya moved faster than any of them could follow, making them all wince and flinch as he sped past them, and his hand was thrown out to touch Yui to take half her points, not paying any attention to how low he was as he reached out and tapped Yui as quickly - and slightly harder than he anticipated - as he could.

If he had been paying attention, of course, he would've noticed Yui jump a mile high as his hand smacked her lower body, her eyes widening, and then quickly whip around to where he vanished off to, her face going very red very quickly.

Back above the trees, meanwhile, Izuku let out another grunt as he dodged through Shiozaki's vines, unable to stop himself from feeling a bit impressed by them - it was as though he were fighting off a massive group of people trying to reach out to him, to wrap around his arms and legs to prevent him from moving. As Shiozaki let out a small grunt of annoyance, clasping her hands tighter together, Izuku knew that if he didn't get out of this girl's reach soon, she could very easily bring him down, and quickly pressed the button on the jetpack again. 

Quickly, Izuku began blasting off into the air, managing to avoid Shiozaki's vines as he looked around - and then his eyes turned to where Setsuna was perched on a nearby tree, grinning evilly at him as he realized his mistake.

"There!" She yelled at her team. "He's back in the air!"

"Crap!" Izuku cursed, only now realizing that she had purposefully had her team put the pressure on him to get him back in the air, and quickly looked around as Hanta jumped up with help from his tape, and shot another line of tape down into the crowd below staring up at Izuku to lift someone up into the air. 

"C'mon, man!" Hanta complained to Denki as he wrapped him up in his tape, "You just had to fucking call out to him?! We almost had him back there!"

"Sorry, dude!" Denki winced at his mistake, but still shook his head and looked around at Izuku with a wide grin. "Just throw me at him! I'll give him a good shock!"

Hanta merely rolled his eyes at the lame pun, but still did as instructed, and, with a grunt of exertion, threw Denki as hard as he could towards Izuku as the green-haired boy floated up in the air, who quickly looked around as Denki began activating his quirk, bathing himself in yellow electricity as he gave Izuku an audacious grin.

"It's just you and me, Midoriya!" He laughed loudly, "Electricity versus electricity! You're pretty cool with your lightning, I'll admit, but I gotta say -"

He reached out for Izuku's arm.

"- my quirk's way cooler!"

Alas, before Denki could grab onto Izuku, the hydraulic press on Izuku's back beeped, and shoved him out of the way, making Izuku yelp as he was jerked aside, and Denki sailed right over where his prey had been.

"… huh?" Denki's eyes widened and his grin froze as he began plummeting back towards the ground, letting out a yelp of fear as he began flailing through the air with his electricity still sparking around him.

"Kaminari-kun!" Pony gasped, and quickly used her horns to fly over, her arms outstretched, and quickly caught the falling Denki.

Unfortunately for Pony, Denki's quirk was … still very much active. And she only had about a second to realize that as she realized what was about to happen.

"Oh," She said dumbly, "oh, shit."

ZAP!

Izuku winced in sympathy as both Pony and Denki immediately lit up like a light socket, and everyone down in the forest quickly covered their eyes at the burst of light that came from the two of them as Denki's quirk electrocuted her. Pony, her long bushy hair immediately standing up as she absorbed the shock, lost her balance on her two horns as she sailed low along the ground, and accidentally fell off, dropping Denki as she flailed through the air -

- and Denki was dropped right down onto the ground in the middle of the group of students who were chasing Izuku, where the rest of his electricity could spread out to everyone else.

ZAP!

Above them, Izuku stared in horror as everyone on the ground got a good taste of electricity from Denki, everyone immediately seizing up as it coursed through them - from Mezo, who had jumped out to catch Pony before she fell onto the ground and got a good shock for the both of them for his trouble; to Kyouka, who impressively looked like she was going to power through the shock to go kick Denki before she finally collapsed onto the ground face first; to the guys of Class 1B, who had absolutely no idea what to expect, unfortunately getting a good shock with Denki landing very close to them; to Reiko, who's gray hair in her face immediately stood up and showed her full face for the first time, eyes widening in pain; and then to Shiozaki, who immediately straightened up as electricity hit her and gave her a good shock for her troubles, the electric currents moving up her vines as she let out a few jabbering noises. 

Finally, Denki's power shorted out, and everyone, stunned by Denki's quirk, collapsed onto the ground, twitching with smoke beginning to rise up into the air, while Denki lazily sat up with a 'wheeeeeeey' and started giving everyone a thumbs up, a derpy look on his face.

"AMAZING!" Present Mic screamed through the speakers. "ONE SMALL MOVEMENT BY MIDORIYA HAS NEARLY TWO TEAMS ENTIRELY COMPROMISED! A SINGLE MOVEMENT AND SEVERAL STUDENTS DOWN! NOT BAD FOR YOUR STUDENT, EH, ERASERHEAD?!"

"I suppose it would be," Aizawa said dryly, "if Midoriya actually meant to do that."

"Uh …" Izuku gulped, sweating nervously, "… oops."

"Oi! Parsley-head!"

At the name calling out to him, Izuku blinked in shock at the fact there were apparently still people standing, and quickly looked around. Setsuna gave him a taunting grin as she kept her upper body wrapped around Hanta's waist as he flew up towards Izuku, reaching out to grab Izuku's arm, and the hydraulic press on his back quickly pushed Izuku out of the way before he could get snatched.

"P-parsley-head?!" Izuku was unable to stop himself from balking, automatically raising a hand to pat his hair.

"So buddy!" Setsuna continued to call out to him, watching as the hydraulic press of Mei's support item continued to push him away from Hanta as he gave chase, tape pushing past his elbows as he squinted his eyes in determination to keep up with Izuku moving through the trees with Setsuna clinging to his back, "I've been having a few thoughts, y'know? About you specifically!"

Izuku narrowed his eyes a bit as he pushed off another tree, disappearing through the bushes as the two of them pushed him back to his zone. Unfortunately for him, it appeared that Hanta had way more experience moving around this way - Izuku's movements were jerky and harder to control, while Hanta easily and expertly swung through the trees as he kept himself and Setsuna up in the air, chasing Izuku in an attempt to corner him. Which meant that Izuku was at a disadvantage - he couldn't keep his eyes on Hanta while running away, and Setsuna could fly on her own, which meant if they split up and ambushed him …

Of course, it was possible that they didn't know about the traps they had been laying out, Izuku quickly thought as he glanced down to see the wires spread out throughout the trees attached there by Mineta's balls, and felt his mind begin to race. If he could somehow get them close enough to the ground, so that Hanta would swing directly into one of their traps …

"I was thinking!" Setsuna continued to taunt him from behind, Izuku doing his best to ignore her and keeping his head on a swivel in case Hanta did something to disrupt his movements, "We were going over strategies before the game started, with our group - and I had a revelation about you, y'know? After what happened back at the battle trial with you and Ken!"

Izuku continued to try and ignore her, the hydraulic press pushing him out of the way before Hanta fired a line of tape at his back and damaged the equipment.

"You didn't use your quirk at all!" She helpfully reminded him. "And then, when we were watching you fight with Togata-senpai, I overheard something Tenko-sensei said - the teachers want you to try using your quirk offensively. Which means … you're probably hesitant to use it against other people, aren't you?"

"Uh," Hanta muttered to her, rolling his eyes, "yeah. No shit, Tokage. Tenko-sensei literally said that in front of everyone, that was obvious."

"Shut it, tush bro, I'm trying to work my magic." She muttered back, giving the hand she had on his shoulder a slightly tight squeeze, before quickly looking back up at Izuku to continue addressing him, watching as he used the support item on his back to dodge out of the way of Hanta firing another shot of tape at his back, her hands beginning to detach from her wrists as she automatically wrapped her arms around Hanta's neck.

"Anyway, buddy," She grinned sharply, "that was just what I was noticing, is all … you not being able to use your quirk against us."

Izuku merely grunted as he grabbed a branch from a nearby tree, yanking himself around the hard wood to avoid Hanta and Setsuna as he tried to ignore Setsuna's words. However, Hanta easily kept pace by swinging around as well, using his other hand to grab Setsuna's back and prevent her from falling off, although the feeling of her chest pressing into his back was making him blush a bit.

"So …" Setsuna smirked evilly, "… I guess that means you're too busy being a coward to properly fight, right?"

That, at least, finally caused Izuku to pause.

Standing there, frozen, for a moment, Izuku panted slightly as he stood on the top branch, and then, slowly, turned around to look at Setsuna as she and Hanta landed on a tree opposite of the one he was on. Setsuna raised herself slightly on his back to continue grinning sharply at him, making sure Izuku could see her.

"What's the matter," She began to sneer at him, "not brave enough to stop running and fight us one on one? Afraid of getting your hands dirty? Choosing to just run? Is that what a real hero would do, parsley-head? Or is that what a coward would do?!"

Izuku felt himself shake at the taunts being thrown his way - but not out of fear, or anxiety, or hurt feelings. He could feel his hands curl into fists, his breath leaving a bit shakily through his mouth, and staring at Setsuna right in the eye as anger began to course through him, feeling himself tense slightly - 

- but then he blinked, feeling his eyes widen slightly.

The way she had said that word … the way she had called him a coward … it was … familiar, he realized. The way his chest felt a bit tighter, his stomach tensing, his thoughts grinding slightly to a halt in favor of anger towards one of his friends. It was familiar, because …

… because …

"You know, I'm glad that you probably won't apply for UA, Deku - not that you would get in anyway. A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."

The words that day, the taunt that Katsuki had thrown at him … at the time, Izuku had been hurt by the accusation, but there had been several emotions moving through him when Katsuki had called him a coward. One of those feelings was … was anger at the accusation. Of course he had gotten angry - being called out as a coward was enough that Izuku's blood had boiled. And the way that Setsuna had said it, as though she had known that it would set him off …

He realized, then and there, what Setsuna was doing as his eyes widened slightly. She had found one of his buttons, and was pressing it as hard as she could. She was trying to get him to lose focus and turn to anger. She was trying to make him abandon any strategic thoughts he had in favor of just fighting her and Hanta - and that would be where the two of them would overwhelm him.

He suddenly remembered something that Itsuka had told him once, back on the beach while they were getting ready for the entrance exam, as he turned to look at both of them still perched on the tree and waiting for his reaction. They had been sitting around with Ochako, chatting about their childhoods, when Itsuka had told them about what she had gotten up to with Yui and Setsuna growing up. And there had been one thing that had stuck out to Izuku, for some reason, that he hadn't realized up until this very moment. Itsuka had told him … 

… that Setsuna fought dirty. She liked to tease. She liked to taunt. That people avoided fighting her because they knew she would use anything she had to win. And when she had to face down a bully, or got into a fight, Setsuna was not the cleanest fighter. 

And now … now Izuku fully understood what that meant, as he turned to look Setsuna in the eye as she smirked at him.

"Or maybe," Setsuna smirked, leaning forward and licking her lips, "you're gonna be a good boy and give me all your points right now?"

This was what Setsuna was capable of as an opponent. She knew how to taunt, to get under other people's skin, just like she got under his. He hadn't spent much time with her outside their group hanging out, but it was clear that she, at the very least, had been paying more attention to him than he paid attention to her. 

All those pokes and teases from before … all of those while trying to understand what it took to get a reaction out of him. This was …

… this was what Setsuna Tokage was capable of. He had never noticed it before, but … but quite honestly, she was probably one of the more dangerous members of their little group.

Izuku stared at her for a moment, his heart pounding in his chest - and then he tried to shake his head, taking a shuddering breath and trying to calm himself down from her taunts as he glanced down -

- and caught sight of Mineta hiding behind the tree Setsuna and Hanta were on, peeking out and meeting his eyes.

Izuku blinked, wondering just what on earth Mineta was doing. The general studies student definitely looked more than a little nervous, sweating hard while glancing up at the two Izuku was facing off against - and then he pointed at the tree they were on, where a small purple ball was attached to.

Izuku immediately knew what that meant, feeling his eyes widen. If his ball was there - it was holding down a wire. Which meant … that the two trees that they were standing on … it had a wire trap.

So if he could get Hanta and Setsuna down there …

Feeling his mind race for a moment, Izuku stared blankly - and then, before he looked back up at his two opponents, he tried to morph his face so it appeared to be casual, looking back up at Setsuna.

"Y-you know," He tried to sound calm and collected as he thought, trying to internally strategize a way he could get those two down low enough to get hit by the trap, "you, uh - you could really hurt my feelings here, Tokage - you don't know all that much about me."

"Yeah," Setsuna giggled, while Hanta braced himself, "yeah, maybe you're right, parsley-head, this might be a bit under the belt. But you know what, dude? I'll apologize after the game!"

And then, suddenly, her two hands which had been resting against Hanta's shoulders, shot out towards him, disconnected from her wrists, and flew straight for Izuku. Hanta, meanwhile, leapt up into the air, shooting his tape at the tree above Izuku's head and reeling himself and the girl on his back in much faster than Izuku was ready for. 

Izuku let out a small gasp as Setsuna's hands zoomed right over towards where he was standing, preparing to yank his wrist back as her left hand reached out to grab it -

- and that was when a sudden wall of ice came completely out of nowhere, smashing Setsuna's hand away.

Izuku let out a shout of surprise as a giant glacier suddenly shot up into the sky, hearing Setsuna's smug laughter disappear at once as she let out a loud scream of pain as the sudden wall of ice slammed her disembodied hand out of the way. He was also aware of Hanta letting out a shout of surprise and panic as the iceberg cut his tape in half, causing both him and Setsuna to flail in the air before the glacier completely cut them off from Izuku, but he heard the sound of them colliding against the block of ice as Izuku found himself on one side while they were on the other. 

On the ground, Mineta let out a loud shout of pain as he was likewise slammed back from the tall glacier, hitting the back of his head against the ground, and, with a groan of pain, passed out at once, flopping against the ground. On the other side, Hanta acted quickly, wrapping his arm around Setsuna's head as she almost passed out from the pain, only one hand returning to attach itself to her waist - and then both of them hit the wire on the ground. 

Hanta only had a second to realize what was about to happen, his eyes wide, as a current of electricity passed through the wire - and with that shock, they both flopped off the wire and onto the ground, stunned, while Setsuna rolled over, tears streaming down her face as she clutched her other wrist, the disembodied hand she could still feel even when it was detached from her absolutely freezing her to the bone.

On the other side, and feeling himself blink at the giant block of ice that appeared out of nowhere, Izuku quickly whirled around, his eyes scanning the ground below - and he let out a squeak as a smaller block of ice (and by smaller, that meant a block of ice at least as big as he was) was thrown straight at him. Thankfully for Izuku, he only got out of the way in time thanks to the hydraulic press pushing away from the tree and to the side, and he quickly activated the jetpack to let him float there for at least a second.

Panting in shock and slight exhaustion, Izuku was quick to look down again at the base of the ice wall, knowing that only one person could have the quirk capable of doing that. And sure enough, Shouto stepped out from behind the nearby tree, glaring right up at him as ice cracked in his palm. And coming in right behind him, her hands grown out to hold two giant pieces of ice, was Itsuka, looking up at him with a conflicted and apologetic look before she shook her head and narrowed her eyes, winding her hand back to throw another iceberg at him.

"Uh … guys?" Izuku gulped nervously, raising his hand to the earpiece, "I've … kinda got a problem."


"I hear you, Deku -" Ochako squeaked as she was forced to duck underneath another blast of spiraling yellow energy, "- but I've kinda got problems of my own!"

"Eh? Did you say 'Deku'? Wait, are you talking to Midoriya right now?" Nejire asked interestingly, sounding incredibly casual even as she threw her hands forward and sent out another blast of energy, Ochako only narrowly avoiding getting hit due to Mei's support item shooting out a wire that pulled her out of the way. "But how? Do you have really good hearing? Or a secondary quirk that lets you hear? Wait, that doesn't make any sense! If you had a second quirk, we'd know! And it doesn't make sense for it to be a hearing quirk, or you'd look like Jirou, wouldn't you? With ear thingies! Oh! But now that I'm thinking about it - maybe you've got one of those earpiece thingies? Like in heist movies! That would be cool, right? So do you have one? Do you, do you, do you?"

With another grunt, Ochako ducked underneath the blast that Nejire sent straight at her head, feeling herself begin to sweat in a mixture of nervousness and exhaustion as she attempted to use Mei's support items to get as far away from Nejire as possible. Which … was admittedly a very hard thing to do, seeing as Nejire was the only one who was up in the air with her at the moment, following her determinately and attempting to knock Ochako out of the air with wave after wave of spiraling energy.

It was a repeat of what had happened during their battle trial, when Ochako had faced off against Nejire - only this time, they were up in the air, with no place for Ochako to try and duck for cover from her. And it seemed that Nejire knew it, continuing to concentrate on knocking Ochako off balance even while trying to chat idly with her. 

She was hyper focused on her, and knew that she had the advantage over Ochako - they were out in the open, and there wasn't anything that Ochako could use to float and use as a weapon against her. And even if she somehow floated Nejire, that would do absolutely nothing since Nejire could still fly! There was also the fact that, unlike Nejire, Ochako's attempts to move around were far more jerky than Nejire's graceful flying. 

The support items on her arms and legs pulled and yanked her around, Ochako not fully in control of them as she yelped everytime she was dragged through the air to avoid Nejire, while the blue-haired girl had full control of her mobility, flying through the air gracefully and trying to grab Ochako in order to take all her points.

But … well, as Ochako narrowed her eyes as they swept along the trees, she did have one card up her sleeve, one that she didn't think Nejire knew yet since she floated above their zone. It was still booby-trapped, thanks to Momo, Mineta and Mei, so that meant that if she could get Nejire down there and low enough … they could potentially take her out. 

And all else fails, she could get Nejire over to where Momo had created a cannon, and have her shot her out of the sky. A bit mean, yes, but … well, they had a cannon! Why would they have Momo make a cannon if they couldn't use it?

The problem, though, was getting Nejire down there. But, as Ochako squinted her eyes and quickly scanned the trees for anything that might assist her in getting away from Nejire, it didn't mean that she should just run - she should look for ways to knock Nejire off balance, or get her low enough so that one of their traps could trip her up.

After they had made their plans and quickly went over their Plan B, Izuku had taken off immediately to go and confront the three groups - they had needed the time to set up, so he had volunteered to run out and grab all of their attention while they put the finishing touches on their traps, lining the trees with wires made of copper that Momo created to spread throughout the zone, and connected back to where she was standing with their cannon, so that if someone hit the wire, they would receive a nasty shock. And that wasn't also mentioning the small drones that Mei had sent out through the zone - although she did warn that they were a bit faulty, so they shouldn't rely on them.

The plan was clear - Izuku would move through the forest and distract the groups, Tenya, Katsuki and Mina would get the points, and Ochako would move above the trees, go down to meet them, and take the points to add to their count. That plan, of course, had been based on the assumption that no one would try to come into their zone instead of going after Izuku and the ten million points. 

But they hadn't anticipated Nejire's team sending her specifically over to come after Ochako, and completely avoid the traps they had set up. They had Plan B, of course, but it had only been a few minutes since the game began - they had planned, if all else failed and they had to go through with it, to use their backup plan near the end of the game. Not this soon.

Which meant that, somehow, Ochako needed to get Nejire over to where Momo had set up their failsafe for the flyers. And hopefully she'd be able to do that before Nejire got lucky and grabbed Ochako, and they would have to resort to Plan B a lot earlier than they would've liked.

But to be honest, at this point, it was looking more and more likely that Nejire was eventually going to catch her, Ochako grimaced as Mei's support items zipped her away from where Nejire was chasing her. The blue-haired girl was going to eventually corner her, and make their plans to get to the next round a lot more complicated. 

So what she needed was …

"Round Face! Where the fuck are you?!"

Ochako gritted her teeth at the annoying voice in her ear - which really didn't help with her current mood, being chased down by the human equivalent of an excited puppy  - and reluctantly brought her hand up to the earpiece to press the button.

"What do you want, Bakugou?"

"I got the shitty points from one of their point-keepers! It's fucking chaos out here, get your ass down near the ground so I can fork 'em over and get back to taking the other points from their zones!"

"Indeed! I'm also continuing to gather up points!" Tenya responded as well, Ochako hearing the sound of engines running in the background. "As Bakugou said, it's starting to become chaotic out here! Midoriya managed to knock a few of them down with Kaminari's quirk, but a few of them are starting to rouse! It won't be long until everyone starts trying to pursue us and going into our zone if they realize we're the ones who have all the points!"

"Yeah!" Mina spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, sounding panicked, "Jirou's already up, and she's chasing me down! I've got a few hundred points, so they're gunning pretty hard for me!"

"I understand that," Ochako grimaced again as she avoided another blast from Nejire, grunting as she was yanked to the side by a wire connected to the support item, "but I've kind of got Hadou right on my ass! She isn't going after Deku, she's actually after me! Yaoyorozu, can you hit her with the cannon from here?!"

"I - I'm trying," She heard Momo groan slightly with frustration over the line, "but she's moving too fast! I can't hit her - can you draw her closer to the ground?!"

"I don't think I exactly have that option!" Ochako quickly looked around the forest as she was pulled around, ducking under Nejire's attempt to grab the back of her shirt. "Hadou's probably going to grab me in a few seconds! I don't have enough mobility to avoid her!"

"Mobility?" Mei's voice suddenly came over the line for the first time in a few minutes, sounding excited. "Well, why didn't you just say so! I have the perfect thing for you! Babies, come back!"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, becoming aware of the lines in the support items she was wearing suddenly tense, "Come … back? What does that meaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

The reason she started suddenly screaming, of course, was due to being yanked without warning straight through the trees, the support items whirling around and shooting a few hooks into the nearby trees to pull her through the air a lot faster than she was anticipating. Nejire blinked in surprise as Ochako suddenly vanished into the forest like some kind of monster had dragged her into the trees, the sound of her screaming several curse words in rapid succession so loud that the speakers easily picked them up and transferred them back to the UA stadium.


While everyone in the stadium blinked in shock, staring in horror and scandalization at the very colorful language Ochako was screaming at the top of her lungs, Teko reached over to place his hands over Eri's ears, the little girl blinking in confusion. Ochako's parents, meanwhile, suddenly found their shoes very fascinating, looking down at them and pretending not to notice the Kendous looking around at them with raised eyebrows.

"Quite the potty mouth Ochako has there." Hakushu chuckled despite himself. "I wonder where she learned those words from?"

"I mean," Tenohira giggled, "she is a construction worker's daughter, Hakushu."

"Ah, yeah - that makes sense, Tenohira."

"Please stop talkin'," Taiyo muttered in shame.

Meanwhile, a bit further down the stadium, Ryukyu raised her eyebrow as she looked around at Miruko, who was too busy barking with laughter as she slapped her knee.

"Girl knows how to curse!" She cackled loudly.

"You can't choose a student to intern for you based on how well they swear, Rumi."


"- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuh?"

As soon as Ochako finally slowed down, being yanked down where Mei was standing with the rest of the support items that they didn't equip for this exercise, the crazy support student hurried over as Ochako's screaming faded into confused silence as she got to work, slipping her goggles down onto her face to cover her eyes. Ochako watched, completely and utterly befuddled, as Mei quickly slipped the jetpack off of Ochako's shoulders and applied a few new support items to the hero student as though she were working in some kind of pit stop, quickly ripping the support items on Ochako's legs and arms off, and replacing them with two huge boots similar to the pair she was wearing.

Once the weird boots with engines similar looking to Tenya's own engines were firmly attached to Ochako's legs, and she was handed two jolt sticks, Mei let out a triumphant laugh, and took out another wrench from her robotic fingers to quickly screw something into place on both boots before she straightened up.

"There!" She proclaimed proudly, tapping her wrench against the side of her goggles. "We're all done! Get going!"

As though to encourage her, Mei gave her a good smack on the lower back, making Ochako jump a bit - and then the two rocket boots suddenly activated, twin blasts of fire shooting out of each boot, and Ochako looked back at the sound of what appeared to be …

… turbo engines starting to rumble?

"Uh … what exactly did you -"

BOOM

And without warning, the rocket boots blasted off, and Ochako's question quickly turned into another scream of panic as she was shot straight out of the forest and back through the trees.

"Where did you go, UrarakaaaaaaaaaaaaaAH?!"

Ochako barely heard Nejire's loud shriek of surprise as she shot straight past the blue haired girl, barely avoiding accidentally headbutting her (which was a good thing, because at the speeds Ochako was moving it would inevitably result in Nejire getting yet another concussion) as she was, for the second time that day, sent blasting off into the sky.

As Ochako's face wobbled and warped as the winds immediately hit it, she discovered right away that the boots were … even more ridiculously hard to control than the last support items that Mei had slapped on her. Ochako was unable to stop herself from letting out several wobbling screams as she was flipped up and down through the air, feeling like she was about to vomit - and not from overextending her quirk. Instead, it felt more like she was on a roller coaster that wouldn't stop spinning, and was about to lean over the side to vomit on the poor people below.

"Oops!" She heard Mei giggling in her ear over the comms. "Maybe I set the output a little too high. Sorry about that!"

"JUST STOP THESE THINGS!" Ochako managed to scream out.

"Okay, okay! Hold on just a sec."

Slowly, thankfully, the power from the boots began to slowly decrease in volume, until at last, Ochako managed to straighten herself up in the air, letting out several loud pants as she finally managed to stop spinning. Moving her hands to her knees, Ochako let out a gagging noise slightly as she tried to stop her breakfast from making a reappearance, not wanting to accidentally hit someone down below - that, and she'd rather the pro heroes back at the stadium not watch her puke all over the place, what with all the cameras she now felt on her now that she had finally stopped.

"Whew!" Mei giggled through the earpiece, "That was awesome, baby! I had a thought that the kickback from the rocket boots was a little too weak when I was first testing them. I'm glad that you got to experience how my babies were always meant to be firsthand!"

"I … yeah," Ochako managed to wheeze out, "I'm … so lucky. Whoopie."

"Uraraka, are you okay?!" She heard Mina ask, the concern in her voice obvious, "I saw you from way over here, I thought you were gonna take off into space again!"

"I - yeah, I'm - I'm good." Ochako panted a bit, wobbling in the air. "Just … just let me check where my stomach is, I - I think I left it back with Hatsume."

"Huh? No, I don't see any intestines where I am, you're all good. Or, y'know, you lost them while you were spinning around."

"Great. Thank you, Hatsume. Do - do we know how much time we have left?"

"Eight minutes!" Momo quickly responded. "And Tokage and Sero are down - I felt something hit the wires and sent a shock through the cables, and Present Mic confirmed it was them over the speakers."

"Eight minutes … okay. Okay." She nodded, finally managing to stabilize herself in the air as she looked down at the forest below - she was relatively high up, so hopefully she would have a second to calm herself before she inevitably got spotted again. "Okay … Hatsume, how do I use these things to -"

"Uraraka! Can you please stop moving around so fast?!"

She jolted at the sound of a familiar voice calling her name below her, and quickly looked around, her eyes widening and her stomach clenching dangerously. Nejire was flying up towards her as fast as she could, the normally happy look on her face all but gone, with her eyes narrowed in determination.

With a small squeak at how fast Nejire was flying up towards her, Ochako quickly looked down at the two controllers in her hands in panic.

"Hatsume, how do I make these boots go?!" She quickly asked.

"Huh? Oh, yeah - just press and hold the two buttons, and lean in the direction you wanna go."

Quickly nodding (even if Mei couldn't see her), Ochako leaned herself forward, hoping not to flip upside down again, and as Mei said, pressed the two buttons on the controllers. At once, the engines roared to life, making her tremble a bit and pray that she wasn't about to go flying out of control again, and kept herself leaned forward as she blasted ahead. 

Thankfully, instead of flipping in circles, she was sent flying forward, Ochako attempting to keep herself balanced and not flail around as Nejire once again gave chase.

The one advantage of these rocket boots, at least, was that she was at least a bit faster than Nejire. While extremely hard to control, Ochako tried her best to follow Mei's advice, carefully leaning forward in the direction she wanted to go. She didn't have to keep low to the ground or above the trees - instead of the jetpack, where it would send her up and down, it was as though she was gliding forward on skates. Very unstable, shaking, noisy skates.

However, as mentioned before, it was very hard to keep control of these things. She forced her body to lean slightly to the left, and let out a yelp as she was jerked completely to the left, Nejire grumbling as she swiped out to hit her but completely missed. But at least she was moving, and could somewhat avoid Nejire while moving like this - so as long as she kept moving for the next eight minutes, they would hopefully be able to win the match without having to resort to Plan B.

Hopefully.

"Engh!" Nejire grunted pathetically as she made another grab for Ochako's wrist, only missing by an inch and pouting at Ochako as she flew away. "That's not fair! I'm not allowed to have cool rocket boots! Where'd you get them? Did you grab them when you went down to the forest? They're pretty cool, but very unfair!"

"C'mon, Yaoyorozu," Ochako muttered to her earpiece, glancing left and right, "can you take the shot at her now?"

"I - I'm trying! You're both moving too quickly for me to line up a shot! I need her to be stationary!"

"I … don't exactly have that option."

"Hey! You wanna know something, Uraraka?" Nejire continued to blab behind her, although she had to shout in order for Ochako to hear her over the blowing wind and rocket boots roaring loud enough to actually hurt their ears. "I actually trained for this kind of activity! With Midoriya! Flying through the air and playing tag with him! That's why I was so excited for this game, because I actually know what I'm doing! Although he actually kept on the ground, and I was up in the air, so it's a bit different!"

Ochako, for her part, tried to ignore Nejire's chatting as best she could, attempting to concentrate on getting away from her and at least getting Nejire close enough to the cannon as she flew near the top of the trees, letting out a small gasp as another blast of yellow spiraling energy barely missed her.

"And it was fun, you know! Me and Midoriya got to play tag, and that was fun, and we ran along the beach! And then we talked for a little bit about ourselves, and then we went out for dinner! The food was really good! And then Kendou texted Midoriya about what was going on about Eri, and he talked to her, and we went to go help you guys out!"

… but … as Nejire's words started to slowly get Ochako's attention, she felt herself blink a bit, slightly turning her head to glance over her shoulder at Nejire. What … what was she talking about?

Wait - wait, no! Ochako quickly shook her head, trying to look forward again. No, don't listen to Nejire! She was just talking to talk! 

Concentrate on moving. Just get over to -

"I'm just kinda disappointed that I wasn't able to ask him out for another date afterwards! But I get it, since we had to help Eri! Still, I was kinda disappointed we didn't get to go for another walk!"

- and that, right then, was when Ochako felt herself finally go still, staring blankly ahead as her mind blanked, and her thumbs accidentally slipped from the two controllers, the boots somewhat beginning to slow down.

"A …" She muttered to herself, eyes widening, "… date?"

And unfortunately for Ochako, that was all Nejire needed.

As Ochako realized her mistake at once, quickly whipping around and her thumbs frantically moving back down towards the buttons on the controllers to blast forward again, Nejire reached out, a wide smile on her face. And before Ochako could even blink, Nejire's hand slammed down on Ochako's wrist, and held on tight.

With a sharp gasp, Ochako quickly leaned off to the side, attempting to free her wrist from Nejire's grasp, but the damage was done. Her gaze quickly flickered up to Nejire's headband, just as the numbers on it briefly flickered, and then suddenly displayed … all of the points that Ochako was supposed to have on her head. And from how Nejire smiled when her own gaze flickered to Ochako's headband, it was clear that the brown-haired girl's number was now a big, fat '0'.

"Whew! I did it!" She let out a laugh of joy. "Sorry, Uraraka!"

And with that, she let go of Ochako's wrist to begin flying back over to the large iceberg that hid her zone. Ochako desperately swiped out at her to try and get back the points, but it was too late as Nejire flew out of her grasp, and the blue-haired girl flew away at speeds Ochako knew she couldn't catch up with, seeing as she had dropped both controllers to hang uselessly in the air beneath her, and a loud curse left her lips.

"Deku!" She quickly called through the earpiece, raising her hand to turn it on and trying to push past the guilt she felt for getting distracted. "Hadou's got all our points! We have to do Plan B!"

"For fuck's sakes, Round Face!" Katsuki shouted through the earpiece, making a vein clench in Ochako's forehead. "How the fuck did you mess up -?!"

"Shut the fuck up!" She shouted right back at him, having absolutely no patience to deal with him at the moment, and then returned to talking to Izuku, "I'll get into position, Deku, just - just hurry! We don't have that much time left!"

"I …" She heard Izuku respond quietly, before he let out a small grunt and she heard the sound of something smashing in the background, "… yeah, Occhan, I'll - I'll be there. Just a sec!"

Nodding, Ochako quickly began looking around for the spot she and Izuku had looked at when they had walked through the forest to their zone, and pulling the two controllers up so she could fly over to the pond they had spotted while talking to Mei in the forest, before they had gone back to the group to discuss their plan -

- while her gaze flickered to where Nejire was flying away, and without even meaning to, thought of how her and Izuku left school together the day they had met Eri. And how excited Nejire had looked as she pulled him out of the classroom, and how nervous yet excited Izuku had looked as well.

And the guilt in her stomach for messing up was suddenly replaced by … another uncomfortable feeling. One that made her scowl as she thought of her best friend and Nejire sitting on some beach together talking the day away.


Izuku, for his part, knew that he was probably going to need more than 'just a sec' to get over to Ochako. Mostly because of how difficult Itsuka and Shouto were making it for him to move anywhere - forward or back.

With another grunt, he dodged out of the way of another pillar of ice that had been shot out of the ground straight at his chest, letting out a small shiver as he braced his hands against the ice to push himself away from it, as the hydraulic press kept him moving around but not away from the two people trying to knock him out of the sky. For Shouto's part, however, he seemed to have figured out how Mei's device worked, continuing to circle around Izuku as quickly as he could to prevent him from launching himself through the trees as he kept pushing endless amounts of ice on either side of Izuku, trying to pin him enough for Itsuka to knock him out of the air.

Which … was starting to work, Izuku realized in horror as another hydraulic press shot out, only for another pillar of ice to suddenly interrupt it and jolt Izuku, knocking him somewhat off balance.

Itsuka, meanwhile, definitely wasn't making things any easier on her end, picking up a few blocks of ice that Shouto had made for her and trying to knock Izuku out of the air while he was occupied with the boy from Class 1B, throwing them with her enlarged hands. And that was starting to make things … progressively more difficult for Izuku, wincing as huge boulders of ice narrowly missed hitting him. And from the creaking noises that Mei's support items were starting making, it was clear that Izuku was starting to get into some serious trouble.

So it had been almost a relief when Ochako had confirmed that they needed to get started with Plan B - even if he wasn't exactly looking forward to it.

With another grunt, Izuku was jerked back by the now groaning hydraulic presses up into the air, being pushed off of Shouto's iceberg - but it was the chance he needed. Shouto, for his part, only growled lowly as he launched another pillar of ice after Izuku, with the boy with ten million points wincing as he narrowly avoided getting sealed inside it as he flailed a bit in the air - but the momentum of the hydraulic presses pushing him sent him straight into the air, and he took that chance to activate the jetpack on his back, blasting up into the sky and looking around wildly for Ochako.

To his relief, he spotted Ochako relatively quickly - she was wobbling dangerously in the air with a pair of rocket boots he hadn't seen her with before strapped to her feet, but she had quickly looked around at him as well, waving to get his attention in case he didn't see her. Nodding quickly, Izuku pressed a button on the side of the hydraulic presses to begin moving towards her, quickly trying to think up a reason as to why he was moving closer to Ochako to sell their plan -

- but then the sound of ice forming right behind him made his eyes widen, quickly whipping around.

Rising up and gliding along a pillar of ice that he was forming with his boot, Shouto's eyes continued to lock on Izuku, while Itsuka had one of her arms wrapped around her teammate's waist to keep herself from falling off, although she was looking a bit uncomfortable as she kept one arm wrapped around Shouto and the other holding up a huge block of ice to throw at Izuku. Trying to fight down a sudden scowl as his gaze moved down to the arm she had around Shouto's waist, Izuku shook his head as he tried to refocus, his gaze flickering to the block of ice in Itsuka's hand.

That … that would work.

Quickly, Izuku tried to move closer to Ochako, trying to give the impression that he was running as Itsuka wound back her hand, Izuku quickly glanced behind his shoulder to know when she threw the block.

"Sorry about this, Izuku!" She shouted out to him, and then, with a loud grunt, threw the iceberg at him.

Izuku slowed down slightly, letting out a few shaky breaths as he glanced up at Ochako again as she looked around at him, knowing that he was close enough for them to get started -

- and then, he quickly whipped around, feeling lightning pour out from his body into the Full Gauntlet, and unleashed the full blast, gritting his teeth in case this hurt, and fired at the iceberg thrown at him just before it was about to hit him.

KRACK-BOOM

As expected by Izuku, the lightning slammed straight into the iceberg and shattered it into several tiny pieces, making both Shouto and Itsuka flinch at the sound as the force of the blast nearly broke the ice that they were sliding on. Quickly, Itsuka recovered and whipped her gaze up as Izuku flailed through the air, panic on his face as he flew through the sky completely out of control, and she watched, blinking in slight confusion, as he flew straight towards where Ochako was now hovering.

She felt her eyes widen as she realized what was about to happen to her friends, with Ochako looking around at Izuku as he flew straight at her, her jaw dropping as -

BAM

Itsuka winced in sympathy as Izuku crashed straight into Ochako, his head slamming into her chin to snap her mouth shut as they both grunted, and combined with Izuku's weight and Ochako's lack of due to her quirk, were completely knocked out of the air. Letting out a gasp, Itsuka quickly followed the two as they flailed through the air in panic, falling towards the ground at alarming speeds - up until Izuku threw his arm back down and unleashed another blast of lightning towards the ground.

Bouncing up, Izuku and Ochako flew briefly back up, Izuku holding onto Ochako's wrist to pull her along, and then, falling sideways, angled so that instead of crashing into the ground, they instead landed right in a pond in the middle of their zone, Itsuka wincing in sympathy as they splashed into the water and disappeared from sight.

"Oh, crap," She shook her head, "we shouldn't have done that."

"Doesn't matter," Shouto, on the other hand, seemed entirely unsympathetic as he turned to move towards the pond, "they landed safely. We've got the advantage now, anyway - we can head over and grab the points while they're distracted."

"Dude," Itsuka narrowed her eyes at him as he kept his gaze locked on the pond, "those are your classmates. And we did just knock them out of the air. Feeling remorseful for hurting them isn't going to kill you."

"My brother wouldn't let it bother him," He countered as he aimed to head to the pond, "so I'm good with making sure sympathy won't screw over our chances to get to the next round. I'll apologize after we get the points."

Itsuka merely rolled her eyes as Shouto moved them towards where her training partners had fallen into the pond, while sincerely doubting that he would ever apologize for any of his stupid behavior.

Meanwhile, in the pond, both Izuku and Ochako let out gasps as they finally swam up and broke the surface of the water, letting out several coughs and panting as they tried to swim back towards the shore, Ochako trying to keep herself from puking as he brought her hands together to release her quirk and felt her stomach clench painfully. Izuku, for his part, kept the arm he had the Full Gauntlet on raised in the air just in case, knowing his quirk wasn't active but not wanting to take any chances in case there was any leftover energy crackling along it.

Eventually, they reached the shore of the pond, and Izuku collapsed, his body screaming in pain and soreness as he finally came down from all the yanking around Mei's support items had done with him. Ochako, meanwhile only managed to crawl after Izuku after following him out of the pond, and without even thinking, collapsed right on his back, Izuku grumbling a bit from her weight on him but not complaining as they finally took a chance to try and catch their breaths, closing their eyes briefly.

"You -" Izuku wheezed, "- you good?"

"Not … not really," Ochako panted, "but … but at least I'm alive. So - so that's good."

"G-great."

"Yeah."

Both of them let out sighs as they tried to recover from Mei's inventions jerking them around, the abeforementioned support items creaking and sputtering to indicate that they hadn't done much better than they had from all the abuse they had been put under. Exhaling a bit, Izuku managed to raise himself somewhat, even with the support items and Ochako on his back, and turned his head to look up -

- just as Ochako likewise opened her eyes and tried to get off of Izuku, and as his head turned to look up, their eyes met.

For one moment, they both paused, staring at each other blankly as they suddenly realized … how close they were to each other. As in, Ochako's nose was just a few inches from his cheek, not to mention how she was bracing her hands on the ground under Izuku's arms to somewhat lift her off of him. Izuku, for his part, blinked, feeling his cheeks go a bit red as he realized how she was laying on top of him.

Ochako, meanwhile, went a lot redder than he did, the stickers on her cheeks immediately darkening, and yet, she couldn't find herself able to move at all. They both definitely weren't at their most graceful, with their wet hair sticking to their faces and still dripping wet from their little plunge into the pond. And yet … 

… and yet, for some reason, they couldn't help but stare at each other blankly, and their hearts, unknown to each other, were beginning to beat a little faster.

What … what exactly was going on? Izuku could feel his hands shake a little bit as he braced them against the ground, and Ochako could feel one of her legs shaking as well. They had no idea what was happened to the two of them - why Izuku was staring down at her with his heart beating like a jackhammer in their chests, why Ochako suddenly felt bashful staring into his eyes but unable to look away. It felt like … like back at the forest, before Mei had interrupted them when they had hugged.

Like the hug they had shared this time felt different from all the hugs they had shared before. It was a strange feeling - like butterflies were moving around their stomachs and their hearts were doing a weird tango in their chests.

But … as Izuku gulped and Ochako bit her lip slightly … it wasn't … a bad feeling.

Whatever was going on with them at the current moment didn't feel like a bad feeling. It felt … quite the opposite. Ochako felt herself tremble for a moment staring up at Izuku while he gulped nervously, but neither of them felt uncomfortable. It had made them both feel … similar emotions when they were with … 

… when they were with -

"Oi!"

At the sudden loud shout in their ears, however, both Izuku and Ochako were jolted out of their strange staring contest, and reminded just where they were and what they were doing. Ochako, realizing she was still laying on top of Izuku and had been for the last minute or so, let out a squeak of mortification and very quickly rolled off of him, landing on her butt on the pebbled shore of the pond, and very quickly began busying herself by reaching down to take off the rocket boots, her face becoming so red she felt like she was about to pass out. Izuku, meanwhile, also gulped nervously as he rolled over, and likewise imitated Ochako by quickly getting to work taking off Mei's support items, quickly clearing his throat and looking anywhere else but Ochako.

But then, as he gaze flickered upward, he froze as he finally noticed, for the first time, a camera pointed straight at the two of them, right underneath a screen displaying that they only had five minutes left of the second round. Izuku, feeling his eyes widen in horror and embarrassment as he realized that the entire stadium had probably just seen him staring at Ochako like a complete weirdo, quickly felt his face explode in a red, blushing mess, probably so hot there would be steam rising from it.


Back in the stadium, admist all the giggling and gossiping through the crowd, Tenohira tried not to scowl too much and clench her hands too tightly as Miwa continued to poke her shoulder while likewise bouncing in her seat from sheer glee of what she had witnessed.

"Look at how they were staring at each other," She smugly whispered right in her ear, while their husbands pretended that Tenohira wasn't too seconds from raging and Inko wasn't two seconds from fainting again, "look at those longing gazes. That's love, bitch."


"Midoriya! Uraraka!" Tenya's voice suddenly came over the line, replacing Katsuki's low growls and thankfully giving the blushing Izuku and Ochako something to focus on, "I saw your collision from over here! Are you both alright?! Did you reach the pond safely?"

"We're - we're good," Izuku managed to stutter out, aiming his gaze at his feet as he finally got the support items off of him, rubbing his back where they had been digging in while Ochako likewise rubbed her ankle where the rocket boot had clung to her, "just - we had a bit of a rough landing. Is - so - uh -"

"We have five minutes left," Momo's voice came over the line, thankfully interrupting Izuku's stuttering question as both he and Ochako unsteadily rose to their feet, automatically smoothing their hair over their foreheads while desperately not looking at each other, "and I think I can see Bakugou and Iida coming back! How do we go from here? Should they be bringing Uraraka the points or -"

However, before Momo could finish her question, both Izuku and Ochako blinked when they heard a familiar sound - the sound of ice beginning to spread.

Izuku suddenly remembered who exactly had 'knocked them out of the sky', his eyes widening, and quickly turned around to see a huge amount of ice beginning to freeze up the entire pond - and then from beside him, Ochako let out a gasp of surprise and pain, and making him whip around and grunt as he was shoved aside by a huge tower of ice that began to rise from the ground and move up into the sky -

- and Ochako was currently inside it, the brown-haired girl letting out a cry of pain as her legs got sealed inside and she was yanked straight up.

"Occhan!" Izuku quickly called out for her, his embarrassment from staring at her before long forgotten as panic for his best friend overcame him. He could only watch helplessly as Ochako was hoisted up into the air, trapped up to her knees in the ice and forced to hang upside down against the wall of ice.

But before he could try to jump up and help her, Ochako, realizing what was happening, quickly looked around as to where the ice was coming from, and as she spotted movement in the dark forest, quickly pointed out, making sure to use her other hand to smooth her wet hair against her forehead as she hung upside down. 

"D-Deku! I-it's - it's t-t-them!"

Trying to ignore the obvious shiver and trembling in her voice, which made Izuku's hands clench tightly into fists, he quickly turned back around, automatically raising one fist to use the back of his hand to push his wet hair down against his forehead. It didn't take long for Shouto to make his appearance - he slowly and menacingly emerged from the forest towards the pond, glaring straight at Izuku as ice crawled along his arm in an attempt to intimidate the green-haired boy.

But hearing Ochako shivering behind him pushed aside any fear Izuku may have, glaring back at the boy from Class 1B as he slowly walked out onto the ice, slipping only a bit before he managed to get his footing.

There were footsteps behind Shouto, and Izuku quickly glanced over to see Itsuka emerging from the forest as well to join her teammate, stumbling a bit and picking out a leaf from her hair as she turned to shoot Shouto a small glare - it was apparent that she hadn't had the most graceful of landings when they had gotten off their little ice slide to confront them. But then her gaze turned back to Izuku, looking somewhat regretful but still determined, which meant that Izuku shouldn't be counting on any sudden frictions between their team.

It was two against one, Izuku frowned, and he was the one at the disadvantage - Shouto's quirk meant that one misstep would seal him in ice and be rendered immobile, and it was pretty much a fact that Itsuka was a far better fighter than he was. But …

… but at least Ochako couldn't be easily reached, Izuku thought as he glanced back up at her and seeing her hanging quite a ways off the ground - not even jumping up would let him snag her hand - so that meant that Itsuka and Shouto's attention were focused on him rather than her.

And that was the one advantage Izuku had, he nodded as he turned back to the two advancing on him. They were fighting to win. He wasn't. He just had to avoid them long enough for the time to run out.

There was a moment of hesitating for all three of them, each wondering who would make the first move. However, before any of them could even think to start the fight, there was another rustling in the bushes behind the two members of the opposite team.

Both Shouto and Itsuka quickly looked back at the rustling, expecting someone from Izuku's team to have reached them - but then, much to Itsuka's surprise, the person who came out of the bush ended up being … the one person she hadn't expected to swing by.

"Monoma?" She blinked, her eyes widening. "What are you doing?"

Emerging from the shrubbery, Monoma let out a small sigh as he dusted himself off, ignoring Itsuka entirely as he looked around to where Izuku was standing, and his eyes widened slightly as his trademark smirk returned to his face.

"Well, well," He laughed, walking forward and hitting Itsuka slightly in the stomach as he elbowed his way past her, making her stutter a bit in shock and anger as he moved to stand beside Shouto, "looks like we have him right where we want him. Excellent work, Todoroki."

"Monoma, what are you doing?" Itsuka repeated herself, narrowing her eyes and glancing between her teammate and Izuku as the green-haired boy glanced between them as well in confusion. "I told you to go around and grab everyone's points while we got Midoriya."

"And that is what I did!" Monoma chuckled, "I got all the points I gathered up to Haya - I picked them up from all the people from 1A that got downed when one of your idiots misfired his quirk. And when I saw Todoroki use his quirk to enter this zone, I thought I'd come and assist. Now then, with that out of the way, why don't we go ahead and take the ten million now, Todoroki? I believe that you and I can take him together - we don't need anyone from Class 1A to get our ticket to victory."

Shouto, for his part didn't acknowledge his classmate at all, instead continuing to glare at Izuku as ice formed on his arm again - but then Izuku felt his gaze flicker down to it, and he felt himself blink as he saw it begin to tremble. 

Was … was he shivering? He was, Izuku's eyes widened as he glanced up, seeing Shouto continuing to glare at him while subtly trembling. He was shivering … wait, but of course he was. Quirks were physical abilities … and physical abilities had limits. Like Ochako and her weight limit, Setsuna and the number of ways she could duplicate herself, Eijirou and how much damage he could take in his hardened form, Tenya and how fast he could run, Momo and how much she could create with her lipids.

And if Izuku could be damaged by his own quirk, he thought as he glanced down at his own hand, lined with red marks … then that meant that Shouto could be damaged by his own quirk as well. But …

"He's got a killer quirk - he can create fire and ice. He's pretty freaking powerful too - he froze the entire building we were using for our battle trial in seconds, and dethawed it just as quickly. But the thing is, he only insists on using his ice quirk - he barely uses the fire side. He only uses it to melt us out of the freaking ice blocks he freezes us in."

If Shouto could also use fire … why hadn't he used it yet? He was clearly freezing from using his ice quirk too much, but fire could easily mitigate that weakness. So why hadn't he used it to warm himself up?

"Are you kidding?" Itsuka was continuing to snap at Monoma while Izuku analyzed Shouto, and she turned back around at her training partner as he glanced over at her, no one noticing how Monoma was bringing his hands together. "Just stop with the antagonizing for one minute and let's just get the -"

"Fire."

BAM

Izuku, who had glanced back at Shouto as he continued to shiver, was jolted out of his analysis at the sound of Itsuka gasping out, quickly whipping around as what looked to be an invisible force hit her hard in the stomach - right where Monoma had elbowed her when he had come through the bushes.

The air taken out of her lungs, Itsuka was launched straight back into the forest, eyes wide and spit flying from her mouth as she crashed back through the trees. Both Izuku and Ochako gasped, staring in horror at where their best friend had been blasted back, hitting the ground so hard dust began to rise.

"Itsuka!" Ochako called out for her in panic, and Izuku quickly whipped around at Monoma, watching him begin to smirk smugly at where he had sent Itsuka crashing into the trees.

"Sorry," He didn't sound that apologetic, "but I've had enough of her ordering me around."

"HUH?!" Present Mic's voice suddenly shrieked from the speakers above them. "DID MONOMA JUST FLING HIS OWN TEAMMATE AWAY?! IS THAT REALLY A SMART MOVE?!"

"… no, Mic-sensei," Izuku muttered to himself, all thoughts about Shouto's shivering and possible limitations fading away as he turned from where he had seen Itsuka be launched off to to glare at Monoma, feeling electricity flickering on his arm as the Full Gauntlet began to absorb his quirk's power, "it wasn't."

"Now then," Monoma turned back to Izuku and moved down into a crouch, with Shouto preparing to take a step forward to unleash another blast of ice, despite his own shivering, "let's get those points, Todoroki - and we can go on to achieve victory for Class 1B in the next round!"

Continuing to glare at Monoma - while flashes of waking up at the USJ to see Ochako being crushed by the hooded man flared through his mind, unintentionally reminding him of what happened the last time one of his training partners had gotten hurt in his presence - Izuku raised his finger to his ear, and pressed the button. He suddenly wasn't feeling very nervous to be facing off against these two anymore.

"Iida, Kacchan, Ashido," He said through gritted teeth, "Uraraka's been sealed in ice by Todoroki, she can't move anymore. And we're almost out of time. Keep the points to yourselves and let the time run out, avoid anyone who might try and take your points, and run back into the zone if you have to let them run into the traps. Yaoyorozu, be sure to be on the lookout for Hadou in case she comes back, and shoot her out of the sky."

"Huh?! But Midori -!"

"Don't worry," He said in a clear, angry voice as he glanced between Monoma and Shouto again, the Full Gauntlet's palm filling with electricity, "we aren't going to lose the ten million."

"Ha!" Monoma let out a haughty laugh, and raised his hand in a 'shooting' expression, allowing a spark of yellow electricity run up his arm, "And I suppose this means that you'll be taking on both of us -"

KRACK-BOOM

Both boys from Class 1B flinched as Izuku, without a moment of hesitation, unleashed a loud blast of lightning from the support item - but it wasn't aimed at them. 

Instead, he purposefully swept his arm out in an arch along the frozen pond between them, cracking the ice at once - and reminding them both that there was still water underneath all that ice, thus making it a pretty bad idea to fall in as the piece of ice they were both on swayed dangerously and were at risk of falling in.

Quickly, Shouto stomped his foot down again to unleash another blast of ice to prevent them from falling into the water, but the initial blast from Izuku had done the job well enough. As the ice formed into uneven chunks, Shouto realized what Izuku had wanted to do as the green-haired boy quickly began to slide forward, and fired off another blast of lightning at the ice between them, making both Shouto and Monoma grunt as they were tripped up again, and Shouto quickly stomped down again to seal the hole in the ice.

Attempting to keep himself balanced on the now uneven ice, Izuku poured a bit more lightning into the gauntlet, and his gaze flickered up to the time under the camera and saw the clock ticking down closer and closer to zero. Just keep them occupied for that amount of time, Izuku thought to himself as he blasted out at the ice again to knock Shouto off balance, and then the game would be over. 

He just had to keep their attention on him until then.

With a loud, frenzied laugh, Monoma charged forward, jumping over the hole Izuku had created, and his skin hardened into steel as he threw his fist back. Blinking, and his mind beginning to race at the possible quirk Monoma had, Izuku felt his eyes narrow slightly - he didn't have all the clues, of course, but since Monoma just turned to steel, had electricity run up his hand before, and earlier he could've sworn that Tetsutetsu guy had turned his skin to steel - not to mention how Monoma had somehow blasted Itsuka back with some kind of telekinetic hit - Izuku would bet that Monoma had some kind of copying quirk. 

And since it appeared that he could only use one at a time - he had the electricity presumably from either Denki or Yuuyu before, and now steel - that meant he had one weakness Izuku could exploit.

As Monoma threw his fist out to strike him in the face, Izuku easily ducked beneath it, and slid back as Monoma threw out another wild punch. The way he was throwing his punches so desperately told Izuku all that he needed to know - Monoma wasn't a fighter. Or at least, he wasn't a fighter like Izuku was, who had trained at an actual dojo.

And since he knew Teko was watching this fight right now, Izuku felt his eyes narrow in determination as he used the ice to slide back. He had to impress his teacher.

So that meant that, as Monoma threw out more wild punches in attempts to knock Izuku on his ass, Izuku easily ducked beneath and around them as he slid around on the ice, using his training from the dojo to easily outmaneuver the blonde boy. But at the sound of ice cracking behind him, he felt his eyes widen, and looked around as Shouto threw out his hand again, taking advantage of Izuku being too distracted to try cracking the ice again.

Izuku yelped as he was forced to duck underneath another column of ice sent directly at him, sliding out of the way just in time as it shot out a bit too quickly for his liking. As he barely managed to dodge the attack, the ice hit the wall that Ochako was now attached to, the ice creaking ominously as she let out a small gasp of panic at the way a crack appeared beneath her - and since she was hanging pretty high upside down, that meant if she fell, her head would be the first thing that hit the ice.

Down below, however, Izuku still had the advantage over both of them - from how Shouto's shivering became even more obvious, it was clear that overusing his ice was starting to slow him down, and Monoma was obviously getting tired from his quick and fast assault on Izuku, the green-haired boy easily sliding under Monoma's spread legs as he missed another punch. 

With a snarl, Monoma quickly whipped around to look at Shouto, cursing himself for revealing himself to Izuku during the start of this fight.

"Todoroki!" He called to his classmate, "Let me copy your quirk!"

"No," Shouto growled, not even looking at Monoma as Izuku ducked underneath another blast of ice, which only caused the recommended student to shiver harder, "I told you -"

"I don't care what you told me! You can try freezing him if you insist, I can burn him -"

"Raaaaah!"

CRACK

The three combatants on the ice, and Ochako hanging upside down jumped slightly at the sound of someone yelling out behind them, along with the undeniable wood being broken in half. Eyes widening, they all quickly looked around to where Itsuka had just returned, panting unevenly with her large hand having split a fallen tree, which had been in her way, effortlessly in half with one hit, and then stomped back out onto the ice, moving carefully enough not to slip around. 

As she marched back out onto their uneven battlefield, her angry eyes snapped over to Monoma, who stood there in shock for a moment while Izuku paused at the angry look on her face, and Ochako likewise stared at her in stunned silence.

"For one minute," She said through gritted teeth as she glared at Monoma, her other hand rubbing her stomach where he had hit her, "would you stop being an asshole for one minute?!"

Slowly, the three boys and Ochako glanced between her and the massive tree that Itsuka had snapped in half in her anger, and several thoughts flew through all four of their minds.

Avoid her hits when she uses her quirk, Shouto noted to himself.

Watch out for the hand chops, Monoma shuddered.

God, I wish I was that tree, Izuku and Ochako were unable to stop themselves from blushing.

However, before Itsuka could actually enter the fight - either to go after Izuku or beat Monoma's as, either option good enough for her to seriously consider - they all became aware of a bunch of rustling on the side. Quickly, and once again, they all looked around as they saw someone coming towards them through the dark woods.

Shouto, for his part, tried to fight through how numb he was starting to get and immediately prepared to stomp down in case that it was someone from Izuku and Ochako's team coming to help, intending to freeze them in place before they could interfere. But then, as a familiar head of lavender hair appeared, all three members of Itsuka's team blinked, while Itsuka's own eyes widened in shock and anger.

"What are you doing?!" She snapped at Shinsou as he finally made his way onto the lake, brushing some leaves from his legs as he turned to give her a bored stare. "You're supposed to be guarding our zone! Why are you here?!"

"Sorry," He huffed, "but I got pretty bored being a watchdog, and Todoroki's ice wall from earlier broke a few of their trap wires. I decided to come help."

"Then who's defending Tokoyami?! Did you just leave Haya by herself?!"

"She can handle it. We're already close to winning the round anyway - we've just gotta take these points from him and run them over to the bird head."

"We've got this!" Itsuka yelled at him before quickly turning back around, where Izuku was ducking underneath another one of Monoma's desperate punches and grabs as he slid around the uneven ice, both boys tripping a bit from how unsteady the frozen pond was. "Go back and defend Tokoyami! We've only got a few minutes left!"

There was a pause behind her as Itsuka prepared to run over and try and grab Izuku with her now enlarged hands - it would be harder for him to dodge her attempts to grab him on this slippery ice, and she could hold on until they managed to get all the points - but then, before she could charge forward to grab Izuku, a hand suddenly landed on her shoulder, making her blink and look around at where Shinsou was now glaring down at her.

"I think," He said in a cold voice, "I've had just about enough of you ordering me around."

"What are you -?!" Itsuka began to say, whipping around at him with angry eyes, and about to use her arm to throw his hand off her shoulder -

- and then, the moment the words left her lips, she stopped. Her jaw dropped slightly, and her eyes quickly went vacant.

It was only in the back of her mind that she realized that something was wrong. She couldn't move a single muscle, simply standing there with her eyes widened and her mind racing as Shinsou gave her a dry, amused look. He then turned to look at Izuku, seeing him dodging underneath one of Shouto's attempts to grab him and freeze him in place, and watched as Izuku continued to use the training he received at the Kendou's dojo to slip through both Shouto and Monoma's attempts to pin him down.

"I didn't speak up about it before," Shinsou said, and his voice echoed through her mind - it was clear, in her panic, that this must be his quirk that kept her in place, "but I actually agree with Todoroki. The way you're practically throwing yourself down at this guy's feet is pathetic. You've been blessed with a quirk that let you get into the hero course, and you have the nerve to look down on me while practically begging for this guy's attention … and now here you are, ready to toss away my chance to get into the hero course."

Itsuka tried to scream out, but her lungs, her mouth, nothing could move.

"So," Shinsou smirked, "you're gonna go over there and give Midoriya a concussion. Make sure that he can't go on to the next match."

And with that order, Itsuka turned to look over at Izuku, entirely out of her control. She felt her mind race as her hands grew out, and she could feel One for All begin to flare - 

- but then, as she felt One for All begin to run up her arm … her gaze flickered over into the dark woods, and she saw something.

What looked to be eight shining lights twinkling. 

And then, without warning, they suddenly shifted into eight pairs of glowing yellow eyes staring straight at her, making Itsuka feel herself shake a bit as colors suddenly began to flow at her, and she felt One for All begin to activate.

"EH?!" Present Mic's voice screeched over the intercom, unaware of what was happening. "IT LOOKS LIKE KENDOU HAS SUDDENLY FROZEN! HER OWN TEAMMATE PUT HER UNDER SOME KIND OF TRANCE?! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THE DYNAMICS OF TEAM KENDOU?!"

Away from them, blinking at that bit of commentary, Ochako, who was still hanging upside and keeping her hair in her face as best she could, felt her eyes widen. Quickly looking around the small frozen pond as Izuku continued to duck beneath Shouto and Monoma's attempts to grab him, she quickly spotted what Present Mic was screaming about - Itsuka standing there, eyes vacant as she stared blankly ahead, and Shinsou looking around at where Izuku was fighting with a smirk as he leaned forward to whisper in her training partner's ear.

It was clear that something was wrong - Itsuka wasn't moving at all, merely staring ahead while her mouth fell open slightly, but the way her eyes lost all color and emotion made her panic at once as she wheeled around at the general studies student.

"Hey!" She yelled at Shinsou, knowing that she should just keep quiet to get the attention off her but unable to stop herself. "Leave her alone!"

Shinsou, for his part, merely ignored her yelling as he stared at Izuku and directed his puppet to go and take him out of the festival, just as he had taken out most of the other hero students the last round - but then his smirk faltered as Itsuka made no attempt to move, and he quickly looked around at her.

"Huh?" He blinked, staring at her briefly in shock for a moment as she made no attempts to move, before narrowed his eyes. "What are you doing? Go and beat Midoriya into the ground! Do as I say!"

Itsuka continued to stare blankly ahead for a moment, turning slightly towards where Izuku was charging up his Full Gauntlet again to presumably fire down at the ice again. Ochako stared at her for a moment, considering calling out to Itsuka to try and snap her out of whatever Shinsou had done to her -

- but then her gaze fell to Itsuka's hand, and she felt her eyes widen into dinner plates at the sight of Itsuka's hand beginning to glow.

But before she could call out to Shinsou to stop her, it was already too late. Itsuka took one small step forward - 

- and then her hand, charging up with energy, suddenly pointed down at the icy ground, and her middle finger and thumb quickly moved together in order to snap.

And a huge gust of wind blasted in all directions, hitting everyone in the general vicinity and causing them to go flying.

Shouto, who had been reaching out to grab Izuku's arm, felt himself be launched back by the unexpected gust of wind, only barely managing to create a wall of ice for him to slam his back again with a grunt of pain, sliding down as he shivered, trying desperately to ignore how cold he felt to continue fighting as he bit his lip in anger. Monoma, meanwhile, who had stopped using Tetsutetsu's quirk and switched over to Denki's to try and fry Izuku with a grab, let out a yelp as he was pushed away onto his back and slid down the ice, grunting as he rolled over each bump Izuku's quirk and Shouto's quirk had created in the ice, and eventually hitting the shore of the pond as he rolled away.

Ochako, who was still hanging from the wall of ice, flinched as the wind shoved her back to press into it a bit too hard for her liking, only barely managing to stop herself from hitting her head against the wall. Shinsou, who had been standing right beside Itsuka, got the worst of it, letting out a yell as he was sent flying through the air momentarily before he came down hard to hit the ground, grunting as he landed on his back and felt the air escape his lungs.

But it was Izuku who had been the most unprepared for Itsuka's sudden blast of wind, having been dealing with Monoma and Shouto attacking him at the same time, and thus was launched straight off his feet like Shinsou had been. With a small gasp, he flew briefly through the air before he slammed back against the wall of ice, the air being taken out of his lungs as well as he slipped down and fell onto his butt.

And in that moment, Shouto acted, recovering enough from the hit to slam his hand down against the frozen pond, and sent a blast of ice towards Izuku - one that he wouldn't be able to dodge.

The ice came at Izuku far too quickly this time, with the green-haired boy barely having any time to raise his hand to fire a blast at it before it reached him. He let out a cry of panic and pain as ice immediately spread up his feet, looking down in panic as he tried to get up and run away, but he was quickly encased - soon, he couldn't move his legs at all, his lower body, and then his torso as ice began spreading across his arms, closing him inside.

He winced at the icy chill completely covering him as the block of ice completely sealed him in, chilling him to the bone and making him squeeze his eyes shut at how cold and painful it felt to be completely covered in a thick layer of ice -

- and then, something in him … flared.

As he was encased in the ice, Izuku felt himself falter at a strange feeling - something he felt inside his body, rather than the icy chill surrounding him. It was like his insides suddenly clenched - it wasn't a comfortable feeling, making him wince as it felt like his heart and stomach were shrinking suddenly before going back to normal. And just as ice encased his hands, sparks popped out of both his palms, as though he was about to fire off a blast of lightning.

But before he could, the ice completely encased his body, save for his head and a bit of his arm as it poked out from the ice, as he stood there completely immobilized.

"IT'S AMAZING, ERASER!" Present Mic continued to screech over the speakers. "IN JUST A SINGLE MOMENT! THE TIDES HAVE BEEN TURNED AGAINST TEAM MIDORIYA! AND WITH ONLY A MINUTE AND A HALF LEFT!"

That made both Shouto and Monoma blink from their places laying down on the ground, sitting up on the frozen pond - and then, they both quickly scrambled to their feet so that they could run over to Izuku, Shouto stumbling a bit from how cold he felt. The now trapped boy, shivering from the ice completely covering his body, looked up at Ochako dangling helplessly from the wall of ice, giving him a look of concern as the two boys quickly returned to surround him, Monoma's smirk returning.

"Now then," He panted a bit, smiling wickedly down at the trapped Izuku as he looked up at him, "let's finish this up, Todoroki, and you can slide back to our zone to give the points to the bird head. Even if we don't get the ten million there in time, let's make sure we're the only ones who advance."

Shouto didn't look like he cared much for whatever Monoma was blabbering about, nor Shinsou getting up from where he landed to stiffly move towards them as well. None of them noticed Itsuka beginning to pant raggedly behind them, broken out of her trance and now clutching her purple hand as she quickly looked around in panic, as though she were searching for someone.

And then, at the same time as Monoma, Shouto reached down and grabbed Izuku's arm to take the points from him, making Izuku wince from how cold his hand was, just as Monoma roughly grabbed the side of Izuku's head to split the points between them.

Monoma let out a triumphant laugh as they both held onto Izuku for a few moments, wanting to take a few seconds just to make sure that they got all the points. Turning towards where his classmate was with a smirk, he glanced over at Shouto, and up towards where his bandana was on his head to see the points being added to the count -

- only to notice that the number wasn't changing at all. As in … as in there wasn't even a flicker. It was just … the same number as before.

"… er. Todoroki?"

"Hm?" He grunted, glancing over at Monoma in annoyance. And then his own gaze flickered to Monoma's headband, and from the way he blinked and straightened up, it was clear that points weren't being added to Monoma's headband either.

From behind them, Itsuka managed to straighten herself up, holding her broken hand as she winced in pain, and looked around in time for Shouto and Monoma to glance back at her. She likewise went still, what she had seen earlier while under Shinsou's hypnosis fading slightly from her mind, as she realized that both of them were holding onto Izuku, and no points were being added to their headbands. Quickly, they all looked back at Izuku, still encased and ice and glancing between Shouto, Monoma, Itsuka and Shinsou as he made his way back onto the frozen pond -

- and then his face turned suddenly blank, as though he was trying to come off as casual even while trapped in ice.

It was only then that Shouto had a sudden, suspicious feeling, his gaze flickering to where Izuku's bandana was still covered by his wet hair, and after a moment of hesitation, reached out. Izuku winced as Shouto's cold hand moved the wet hair away from his forehead, allowing them to look at the screen in the middle of Izuku's headband -

- and gave them all a good look at the big '0' in the middle of the screen.

At once, Itsuka, Monoma, Shouto and Shinsou straightened up, staring down at Izuku while Itsuka felt her eyes widen, Monoma's somewhat confused smirk vanishing at once, Shouto's eyes narrowing, and Shinsou's jaw dropping. While all three boys stared at the sealed Izuku in confusion and shock, Itsuka, on the other hand, suddenly realized it, putting the pieces together as Izuku tried to innocently stare up at her -

- even as his face cracked a bit, trying to fight down a smile. And suddenly, Itsuka remembered what had happened before Izuku had fallen into the pond, back when she had thrown that iceberg at him.

He had blasted at it with lightning, and got pushed up by the momentum and slammed against Ochako. She had … thought it had looked weird, the way he had flown up and hit Ochako right on. Almost as though …

… as though he had meant to crash into her.

Slowly, she turned to look back up at where Ochako was now trapped and hanging from the wall of ice, having been watching them quietly this entire time after glancing over and checking the time. Ochako, for her part, met her eyes for a moment, staring blankly down at them with her own neutral expression - and then, a small smirk broke through as she let out a small giggle. 

Slowly, as the four of them looked up at Ochako, Izuku also turning to give Itsuka a bold smile when she glanced down at him, as though he were unable to keep it off his face anymore, Ochako moved her hand to where her wet fringe was hiding her own headband, and smoothed it back …

… to reveal the '10,000,000' points on her bandana.

"Sorry," She continued to giggle at the absolutely gobsmacked look on Itsuka's face, "we had a Plan B."

Itsuka continued to stare up at her in shock for a moment, before her gaze began flickering between her and Izuku as he tried his hardest not to look too smug either - and then, without even thinking, she let out a small, disbelieving laugh.

"You … bastards," She shook her head in astonishment, unable to stop herself from feeling completely and utterly amazed by her two training partners, and if she had both her hands working and unbroken, she would've had the urge to clap for them.

"You bastards!" Monoma repeated after her, but definitely not as affectionately. Eyes wide with outrage, he whipped around at Shouto, looking panicked as the stoic boy glared up at Ochako from where she was dangling, and Shinsou likewise looking enraged and glaring down at Izuku as though he was two seconds from punching the immobile Izuku.

"Todoroki!" He yelled at him. "We need to get up there and -!"

And that was when a horn suddenly blared over the speakers of the forest, making them all jump - well, everyone jumped except for Izuku, as he was currently frozen in a block of ice, but he still looked around in surprise.

"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic screeched over the intercom. "THAT'S THE END OF THE SECOND ROUND, AND OUR LITTLE GAME OF TAG! I HOPE YOU KIDS MADE SURE TO GET ALL YOUR POINTS TO YOUR POINT-KEEPER IN TIME, BECAUSE FROM HERE ON OUT, NO MORE POINTS ARE GONNA BE ADDED TO YOUR COUNTS!"

"You could've said that," Aizawa said in a deadpan voice, "a whole lot simpler. I thought you taught language?"

"IGNORE THE PARTY POOPER!" Present Mic continued to gleefully shout. "EVERYONE MAKE YOUR WAY BACK TO THE STADIUM SO WE CAN COUNT YOUR POINTS!"

The six people at the frozen pond went still at the call that the game was over (or in Izuku's case, just stopped moving his head) as the announcement echoed throughout the forest. There was a moment of silence as everyone from Itsuka's team glanced at each other in anger and slight defeat, and Ochako flopped over where she was dangling with a sigh of relief, reaching up to grab the bandana and take it off to make sure she still had all the points while fighting down the feeling that she was going to pass out (either from all the stress, her quirk making her stomach clench painfully, or all the blood rushing to her head from hanging upside down).

Meanwhile, below where Ochako was hanging, Izuku tried to clear his throat to get the other three boys' attention, all of them turning to give him three looks of utter contempt.

"Uh …" He glanced up at Shouto, shivering slightly, "… h-h-hey. Could y-you, uh … l-l-let me out now? P-please?"

Shouto gave him a very dirty look at that, and seemed almost half-tempted to just leave him there to freeze, with Monoma already turning away to leave Izuku to his fate. But before any of them could move and leave Izuku to fend for himself, there was the sound of footsteps on the ice behind them, and they turned to see Itsuka stomping over towards them, her head low and one hand clutching the broken other one.

As she moved towards him, Shinsou felt his eyes widen.

"You shouldn't be able to move," He gasped, staring at her in shock as Itsuka stormed up to him, her hand subtly growing just a tad bit bigger, "how did you -?!"

BAM

Shinsou's demands to know how she broke through his quirk, however, was quickly silenced by Itsuka punching him straight in the mouth. With a grunt, he landed hard on his ass, quickly grabbing his now busted lip as he stared up in anger and shock at Itsuka, who brushed some of her dark hair out of her eyes so she could glare down at him in contempt.

"Sorry," She didn't sound that apologetic, already turning towards the trapped Izuku as he stared up at her in shock and wonder, and she was sure to raise her hand so Shinsou could see it shrink back down, "was just using my quirk a bit there. Thought it was cool, since we're apparently using our quirks on each other."

Walking over to where Izuku was trapped, she put her hand on the ice, and then turned to Shouto as he quietly studied her.

"Don't be a sore loser," She spat at him, "let him out."

Shouto merely glared at her for a moment, and then, with a sharp exhale, reached over with his right hand to lay it against the ice Izuku and Ochako were imprisoned in, steam immediately beginning to rise. 

With her own sigh, Itsuka hopped up slightly onto the ice wall Ochako was imprisoned in, hoping that she didn't slip off, and grew out her good hand to bring Ochako's torso into a position where she wasn't hanging upside down - that, and if she did fall out of the ice Itsuka could easily catch her. Ochako, for her part, let out a relieved sigh as she laid in Itsuka's enlarged hand, but she then turned to glance down at her other, broken one, and looked at Itsuka in worry.

"Are you okay, Itsuka?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Itsuka sighed as well, although she grimaced, "it, uh - well, it does hurt like hell, but I'll see Recovery Girl once we go on lunch."

"O-okay, g-great," Izuku nodded, still shivering as Shouto used his quirk to get him out of the iceberg, "uh - a-anyway, what h-h-happened with S-Shinsou? Did - did he u-use his q-quirk o-o-on you?"

Itsuka paused for a moment, staring down at the ground for a moment - and then she sighed again as she nodded, glancing over her shoulder at where Shinsou was now walking away, clutching his bloody lip. She then turned back to her training partners, and both of them blinked at the slightly haunted look in her eyes.

"Yeah, he … he did," She said in a careful voice, aware of Shouto standing right there, "I'm … probably gonna talk to Coach Yagi about it. Later."

The two of them blinked, glancing between each other - Ochako, for her part, knew what Itsuka was implying, what with her having seen Itsuka's hand starting to glow while under Shinsou's control - and both of them quickly nodded at her. Itsuka smiled at them in thanks, and let out a small breath as she glanced away.

And then she turned to look back down at Izuku, her eyebrow raising as she gave him a bemused look.

"By the way, I'm still very angry at you two," She smirked down at him while Izuku gave her a weak grimace, "you sneaky little shits."

Izuku, for his part, only gave her a small smile in turn.


Back in the stadium, Miwa stared glumly at the screen before them of Itsuka and Izuku exchanging a smile, gently fanning Inko after she fainted for the seventh time. And tried to ignore Tenohira smugly poking her shoulder.

"Hey," She giggled with glee, "look at that."

"…"

"Look at how my daughter is smiling at him."

"…"

"Look how he's smiling back at her."

"…"

"That's love, bitch."

"Fuck you."


"Welcome back, lovelies," Midnight threw her hand into the air, unable to stop herself from giggling at the group of students standing on the ground below her stage, "and my, oh my, wasn't that fun?"

As cheers roared throughout the stadium again, the students, currently gathered into a small group, looked wearily around, looking like they had anything but fun. Indeed, a lot of girls were currently trying to comb their now frizzy hair back down while aiming dirty looks at Denki, the blonde boy still in 'whey' mode as he continued to give everyone thumbs up with the derpiest look on their faces, and everyone else was looking too disgruntled and disappointed that they had lost. Hell, even the people who had won were a bit too busy rubbing their sore bodies, looking absolutely exhausted as the adrenaline of the last few minutes finally started wearing off, leaving them more tired than they had ever felt.

The overall mood of the group was fairly down - from Setsuna staring down at the ground while clutching the wrist her hand was currently missing from, not looking at anyone as her green hair hung around her face; to Yui pouting up at Tenya, poking him repeatedly in the side while he gave a slightly confused but apologetic look to her; to Mineta, still swaying around from getting knocked out from Shouto's iceberg hitting him; to Mei, who was far more concerned with repairing the babies that Izuku and Ochako had accidentally broken, the support student throwing a dirty glare at the both of them while everyone glanced up at the screen to look at all the points being counted up there.

On the other side of the group, Itsuka was likewise holding her broken hand carefully to her, wincing slightly in pain as she tried to push aside what she had seen while under Shinsou's control, while beside her, Izuku and Ochako were wrapped very tightly in blankets that Momo had created for them while continuing to shiver from their short time being popsicles, while the heiress gave them both a worried look and regretted being out of lipids, wanting to have made them a heater to share but only having enough fat to make them blankets. Hopefully, once Midnight broke them for lunch, they could slip downstairs to jump into the showers and heat up.

"Now, as you all know," Midnight snapped her whip against the stage again to get everyone's attention back on her again, "the two teams with the most points are the ones to move on to the next round! So with ten million points in first place, Team Midoriya shall advance on! And with four thousand, four hundred and twenty five points in second place, Team Kendou shall also move on to the next round!"

While the crowds let out a huge cheer again, Momo let out a small sigh and wrapped her arms around her waist, Kyouka glancing over at her while trying to get her slightly static-y hair under control.

"I must admit, I'm a bit disappointed," Momo admitted in a low, sad voice, "I don't think I did as much as I could have."

"Nah, don't be like that," Kyouka shrugged, still very disappointed and peeved by her loss but giving her taller friend a small smile, "you kicked ass out there, Yaoyorozu. Honestly, the fact that the only person who could've got through your traps was freakin' Todoroki should tell you how freaking awesome you were."

"Perhaps," She shook her head, "but … well, I can't help but feel disappointed that I wasn't able to shoot the cannon."

"… er," Kyouka felt a bit of sweat drip down her forehead, "sorry you … weren't able to do that?"

"Yes," Momo sighed, "I am as well."

Izuku let out a weak laugh at Momo's disappointment, although he still couldn't control how much he was shivering while trying to wrap his blanket around him, being unaware of Shouto glaring specifically at him off to the side in their group. Although thankfully, Itsuka certainly noticed, being sure to throw her now former teammate a dirty look as she leaned over to help Izuku adjust the blanket over his shoulders, and then turning to glare at where Monoma was sulking, the bruise now forming on her stomach aching painfully.

"NOW THEN!" Present Mic called happily over the speakers, "WE'RE GONNA TAKE AN HOUR LONG BREAK FOR LUNCH TO LET OUR STUDENTS RECOOPERATE AND GET BACK THEIR ENERGY! AND AFTER THAT, WE'LL COME BACK AND START THE AFTERNOON'S FESTIVITIES! SEE YA GUYS THEN! Okay, Eraser, let's go grab food."

"I'm gonna take a nap."

With one final cheer, the stadium stood up so that they could go and grab some food from the various stalls set up in both the stadium and around the school. With Midnight's encouraging nod, the students down on the ground also began moving towards the changing rooms, wanting to grab their things before heading to the cafeteria where Lunch Rush would be preparing their own lunch for them.

As everyone started walking, Setsuna, for her part, quickly hurried on ahead in front of the crowd, Hanta watching with a worried look as she kept her head low and jogged over to where the door in the side of the stadium had slid open. Beside where her best friend had run off, Itsuka blinked at Setsuna quickly vanishing through the door, turning to Yui with a concerned look.

"Hey, uh - what happened to Set?" She asked as they walked together, Izuku and Ochako trailing behind them with their blankets. "What happened to her hand?"

"It got hit by one of Todoroki's icebergs," Yui softly explained her expression turning a bit darker, "she couldn't bring it back in time because she fell down and got shocked by one of Yaoyorozu's wiretraps. So it's … probably a good thing we didn't get enough points to advance to the next round - I don't think she'd be able to participate without her hand anyway."

"Oh, man …" Itsuka tsked, looking around at where Setsuna had vanished off to with a sympathetic look. Hanta, for his part, was also staring after where Setsuna had gone, a conflicted, sad look on his face, but just as he took a deep breath and tried to hurry forward to catch up to his tush bro, Yui quickly reached out to grab his sleeve, stopping him in his tracks and causing him to look around at her staring up at him.

"Just give her a bit of time to herself," She told him quietly, "her pride took a pretty big hit. I'll find her later and take her to Recovery Girl later to do a check up, but let's give her some space for now."

"I …" Hanta hesitated, and then sighed and nodded, "… yeah. Okay."

As they approached the hallway that would lead them back to the waiting room, with Shinsou, Mei and Mineta splitting off to head down their own hallways where they had emerged from this morning, Fumikage walked solemnly on, but a hand patting his shoulder caused him to blink and look around.

"Tokoyami," Reiko nodded at him, finally fixing her hair to cover one side of her face with her fringe, "congratulations for advancing on to the next round."

"Thank you, Yanagi," Fumikage nodded, letting Nejire pass by him as the blue-haired girl hurried forward to help Ochako with her blanket, reaching down to grab the end of it so it didn't drag, "although I'm not sure if I should be congratulated - I spent most of the time running around with Dark Shadow while having points passed on to me by Haya. I did not do much."

"That's bull!" Dark Shadow emerged from his partner as they traveled down the dark tunnel, separating from Class 1B as he looked around happily at Reiko. "Fumi did a lot! I did a lot too, but he was super awesome! Wish you could've seen him, Yanagi, we were all cool and sexy and that jazz!"

"Dark Shadow …" Fumikage growled in warning, going a bit red behind his feathers, but Reiko merely smiled and reached up to scratch Dark Shadow's chin, the shadow monster letting out a satisfied noise and Fumikage quickly turned away to hide his blushing cheeks.

"Yes, I'm sure you were fantastic as well, Dark Shadow," She praised him as they made their way into the waiting room, Eijirou trailing a bit behind so he could nurse the bruises and cuts he got from the fight with Tetsutetsu, although he, at the very least, looked energetic enough to grin to himself. He also was sure to head to his locker to grab his phone and text Yosetsu - when entering the waiting room, their bandana-wearing classmate was nowhere to be seen, so the first order of business was figuring out where he was and if he was okay.

As everyone moved to their lockers to grab their phones and other necessities, Momo let out a small sigh as she reached in for her phone and scooped it up. Turning it around and turning it on, she found herself blinking when she glanced at her messages and saw a little red one, indicating that someone had reached out to her. Furrowing her brow, she opened the app to read through it, unaware of Kyouka staring at her back as she slowly closed the locker beside where Nejire was also grabbing her stuff.

Kyouka stared at her back for a second, feeling her heart beat a bit quicker as she turned away - and then, quickly smacking her cheeks, she took a deep breath, and then turned around to pat Momo's shoulder to get her attention. At the tap, Momo jumped a bit, shaken out of her staring contest with her phone, and quickly looked around at her.

"Er - hey, Yaoyorozu," Kyouka gave her an awkward smile while her heart beat a bit faster, "so, uh … I was just … wondering if, uh … maybe you'd … do you wanna have lunch with me again?"

She winced at how fast that last question came out, and felt herself begin to panic.

"I - I mean, I just kinda - you know, got knocked out for a bit during the last round," She quickly tried to clarify, "and … and I was wondering if we could … uh … compare … notes? Maybe?"

"Oh." Momo said blankly for a moment, blinking slowly, but then a look of regret quickly spread across her face, making Kyouka's small hopes shatter in that moment. "Oh, I'd, uh - well, I would love to have lunch with you, Jirou, so - so we can - to - to compare notes. It's just … well … my father actually just texted me," She lifted up her phone awkwardly for Kyouka to see, "and he wants to meet with me so that we could speak before we have to come back. So, er … I will … have to excuse myself from eating with you all, as my father sent our chauffeur to meet with me."

"Ah," Kyouka stiffly nodded, disappointment and awkwardness filling her quickly as she was shot down, "ah. I - I gotcha."

"I - I really am sorry." Momo, for her part, looked disappointed as well. "M-maybe next time, though?"

"O-oh, uh - y-yeah!" She quickly nodded again. "Yeah, of - of course. It's no big."

Momo gave her an awkward, yet still thankful smile, and then turned to close her locket door and walk out of the room, giving Itsuka a half-hearted wave as she walked out of the room. However, Kyouka couldn't help but feel her awkward smile slip off her face as she looked after her friend.

It was … well, maybe it was just her seeing things, but Momo seemed … off, for some reason. Her back was a bit too straight, her shoulders back, and there was some kind of strange air of anxiety around her as she quickly left the room, to go and … what was it she said … go and meet with her dad. Was … was everything okay?

Was there something going on with -

"What do you think that's all about?"

Kyouka felt herself jump in surprise at the high-pitched voice in her ear, and quickly whipped around, her face exploding in red, to see Nejire staring off after Momo as well, raising a finger to poke her cheek as she tilted her head.

"That was weird, wasn't it?" She asked curiously, turning to look at Kyouka as she blushed heavily from the realization that the class chatterbox had just seen her get shot down. "I would've thought Yaoyorozu would've jumped at the chance to hang out! I mean, I get it if her mom and dad wanted to talk to her, but you know, she was really awkward there, wasn't she? And it wasn't like she didn't wanna have lunch with you, by the way! I saw it! She wanted to hang! It was like -"

"H-Hadou, be quiet!" Kyouka hissed, quickly trying to shush her loud classmate by raising her hands to cover Nejire's mouth, and the blue-haired girl let out a muffled squeak of confusion.

While those two briefly struggled, Izuku, meanwhile, let out a small sigh on the other side of the room, taking off the blanket at last and folding it up while he continued to shiver. As Ochako imitated him and folded up her blanket, Itsuka gave them both a worried look - there was still a part of her from this morning that was feeling awkward looking at her two best friends, but the way they were trembling still was pushing those awkward thoughts from her head and filling her with concern instead.

"Are you two sure you're okay?" She asked them gently, reaching out to pat Ochako's shoulder. "We can all go to Recovery Girl."

"N-no, that's - that's okay," Izuku shivered, trying to give her a small smile even through his teeth clattering as he made his way towards the door, "j-just - just a warm s-s-shower would do g-good. C-change of c-c-clothes, too. You - you don't h-h-have to wait for u-us."

"Y-y-yeah," Ochako stiffly nodded as well, able to give Itsuka a small, shaky smile but unable to look over at Izuku, for some reason, "we'll - we'll be g–g-good."

"Okay," Itsuka bit her lip, "but … but I should still come with you guys, make sure you're okay."

"I-it's fine," Izuku reached the door, letting out a shaky sigh as he turned the knob and opened it, "we can -"

He paused his attempt to tell her that they were alright, however, when he pulled the door wide open and looked around - to reveal that the hallway right outside the door was filled to the brim with the students from Class 1B, with the exception of Monoma, and were staring right at him.

"Gah!" Izuku yelped, jumping back in surprise. 

His exclamation got the attention of the entire class inside the waiting room, looking around and feeling themselves blink at how many students were now crowded around outside. Within the crowd, there was one loud grunt, and Yuuyu managed to force herself up to the front of the group, looking cross for a moment due to how hard everyone made it to get to the front, and then sighed as  she finally managed to get inside the waiting room and turned to look at her classmates.

"Well?" She brushed some of her pink hair out from her forehead as she looked around. "They're all here. And you already talked to Awase in the cafeteria. Just say your thing, Tetsutetsu, so we can go for lunch."

Off to the side, Tetsutetsu nodded stiffly, and moved into the classroom, keeping his head low. Now that all of Class 1A were staring at him, the boy with weird eyelashes took a moment to look around, his expression serious - 

- and then he let out a loud shout of anger, making them all jump again as Yuuyu shot him a glare.

"God damn it all!" He beat his fist against his chest. "You guys freakin' rock!"

There was a short moment of silence in the room - and then Pony, sitting down beside Mezo, squeaked, "I'm sorry?"

"What Sir Tetsutetsu is trying to say," Another tall boy on the side said, covered head to toe in fur as he looked around, "is that we all owe you a bit of an apology. A lot of us have been sharing the thoughts that Class 1A was arrogant from what happened at the USJ, and allowed it to cloud our judgment of you all. That, plus the fact that many of you went on through the sports festival instead of us, who failed in the first round, means that your reputations are not without merit."

"That," One guy with teeth outside his mouth, who Ochako recognized was named Honenuki, pointed out, "and we all kind of planned to push you all under the bus -"

"It was disgraceful," Shiozaki shook her head in disapproval.

"- and it backfired in our faces."

"Yeah!" Another girl in the back threw her invisible arm into the air, so it looked like her sleeve was rustling around in the wind. "Shishida is right! You guys are awesome! We're sorry that we thought you guys sucked!"

"While I wouldn't put it like that," Another boyish voice spoke up, and Izuku, Tenya and Nejire blinked as a familiar small boy made his way to the front of the group, looking a bit nervous but still bowing slightly, "Hagakure and Shishida are right. A lot of us were thinking some pretty negative thoughts, and Monoma only encouraged them. As vice rep, I should've tried to encourage our classes to get along, but … well, I let my own biases get the better of me. We shouldn't have underestimated you all, and … we're sorry."

"Shoda!" Izuku proclaimed in surprise, a smile appearing on his lips at the familiar face as the smaller boy with gray hair looked up at him. "You're a part of Class 1B?"

"Yeah," Shoda smiled a bit shakingly at him as Nejire likewise bounced over, beaming happily, "and, uh - well, it's a bit overdue, but I suppose I should thank you for helping me out during the entrance exam. You, Hadou and Iida."

"Oh, no worries, it's all good!" Nejire giggled happily, patting  his chubby cheek and making the smaller boy blush. "But seriously, how did we not notice you get in? You're in the class next to us! We should've seen you at some point! Unless … maybe you were hiding yourself? But why? Nervousness? Anxiety? Wait," She gasped as she looked around at the rest of the guys from Class 1B, "maybe he's got a stealthy quirk! Like being able to turn invisible! Are you friends with the invisible girl over there? Or maybe -"

"Okay, we're stopping this here," Yuuyu deadpanned, reaching over to bop Nejire on the head before she got too out of control. While Nejire yelped and reached up to rub the spot Yuuyu headchopped her, the pink-haired girl turned to the rest of Class 1A with an awkward look, rolling her eyes at all the blushes from her male classmates (and Kinoko) over Nejire peering at them cutely.

"Anyway," She shrugged, "so sum it up, we're sorry we were jackasses, that we wanted to kick your asses, throw you under the bus, karma bit our asses, blah blah blah. We cool?"

"Yeah," Itsuka smiled, nodding and giving the group outside their door a thumbs up, "we're all good, guys."

With that, everyone from Class 1B let out sighs of relief, and came in to properly introduce themselves, a lot of the guys walking over to those who were moving on to the next round to shake their hands in congratulations. Katsuki, near the back, merely huffed as he closed his locker sharply, but thankfully everyone else in Class 1A were more welcoming, with Shishida walking over to shake Mezo's hand while introducing himself, the invisible girl speedwalking over to Mina to compliment her skin and giggle about how they had gotten into a fist fight in the forest, and Honenuki walking over to greet Iida to congratulate him from stealing the points from their zone, with Tenya shaking his hand while trying to awkwardly get out from under Yui's stare for something he didn't know what he did.

On one side of the room, meanwhile, both Eijirou and Tetsutetsu stared each other down, observing the bruises and cuts on both of them, and nodded slowly.

"I think," Eijirou raised his hand, light shining down on him, "it was a good fight, man."

Tetsutetsu merely shook his head, unable to stop grinning despite himself, and grabbed Eijirou's arm for a manly handshake.

"It was, man," He nodded, "it really was."

Beside them, Izuku felt a bit confused at the knowing looks the two boys were giving each other, but at least they … seemed to be getting along, so whatever they were talking about appeared to be resolved. With a small sigh, and a slight shiver, he turned back towards where Ochako and Itsuka were standing, chatting with Shiozaki as she shook their hands, and was about to tell them that he was going to go on ahead to the showers -

"You."

At the dry, emotionless voice right behind him, Izuku jumped a bit, and quickly looked around, his eyes wide as he saw who was standing before him. Nejire, who had been happily chatting with Yuuyu about what she did in the second round, trailed off a bit as she noticed, out of the corner of her eyes, Shouto glaring down at Izuku, his hands in his pockets as he fixed Izuku with a look.

When realizing that he wasn't mistaken, and Shouto really was talking to him, Izuku straightened up, feeling himself gulp nervously.

"Er … Todoroki?" He asked in an uncertain voice. "Uh - w-what's up?"

"Come with me for a bit," He said quietly over the chatter of their classes, gesturing with his hand and not bothering to look at Izuku as he turned towards the door, "there's something I wanted to ask you."

"Uh - c-can it wait? I do have to -"

"No." He said sharply, looking back around and glaring right into Izuku's eyes. "It can't. Unless you want me to ask you questions about Kendou in front of everyone."

Izuku felt himself falter at that, staring at Shouto in surprise as the recommended student glanced away with a bored look. Wait … Shouto wanted to ask Izuku something about Itsuka? But - but why?

But then, as Shouto stole a small look at Itsuka again before glancing back at Izuku, the green-haired boy felt his initial nervousness at being confronted by him fade away - and instead, it was replaced by a small, determined look, even while shivering from being a popsicle about twenty minutes ago.

He wasn't an idiot - he knew that Shouto was gunning for Itsuka today as his rival. And he also had noticed a lot of the dirty looks that those two had been throwing at each other, meaning that there was certainly no lost love between them (although the memory of Itsuka having her arm wrapped around Shouto was making Izuku scowl quite a bit). If Shouto wanted to interrogate him about Itsuka, then … 

… well, first of all, he suddenly realized, Izuku should probably see what the recommended student actually wanted first of all. And then he could go from there.

Nodding slightly, Izuku began following Shouto out of the room, still shivering slightly but trying to keep himself warm by rubbing his arms up and down as they went out the door -

- but Izuku, while focusing on following Shouto to wherever the hell they were going, was unaware of a pair of blue eyes watching him as he left.

Staring after where Izuku had disappeared through the door, Nejire blinked slightly - she wasn't sure what that was all about, and why Shouto was acting so cold and aloof when Izuku was always so nice. It seemed unnecessary to be so mean, like Shouto was trying to act all tough, like 'oooh I'm so cool I drink orange juice after brushing my teeth'. Like Katsuki, but much less loud and shouty and more quiet and cold … er … cold-y.

But the longer she thought about those two being alone together, the more Nejire frowned - she wasn't sure what was going on, but it seemed to be pretty serious. After being on a team with Shouto, she knew enough to know that he was kind of a jerk - he definitely didn't treat Itsuka very politely, always talking down to her and treating everyone like crap while being all aloof. And now he wanted to drag Izuku off by himself?

That didn't seem very good. In fact … no, that didn't seem very good at all! Nejire felt herself straighten up, pouting. She knew that she wanted to talk to Itsuka about what happened back at the USJ, but … but this was important too. She wasn't going to let Izuku be confronted by that jerk alone. No way, no how!

"Anyway, Nej," Yuuyu turned back from where she had been looking at Itsuka and Shiozaki talking, "I guess if you want, we can go and … uh … Nej?"

She blinked, however, as Nejire had suddenly vanished from where she had been talking to her, and quickly looked around just in time to see her best friend hurrying out the door. As Nejire's long blue hair moved behind the door frame, Yuuyu's hopeful face somewhat fell, feeling her smile fade away as her best friend left without a word - and apparently right behind Izuku.

But Yuuyu wasn't the only one who had noticed Nejire leaving. On the other side of the room, Ochako had also stared as Nejire ran off feeling herself blink as she looked around - and noticed, for the first time, that Izuku had likewise vanished.

Feeling herself falter slightly, Ochako glanced around the room again for Izuku, and not seeing her best friend anywhere. Feeling her brow wrinkle, Ochako pursed her lips - did Izuku leave to go and take a shower? Then why didn't he let her know he was leaving? If he had let her know, then she would've gone with -

- but then, as she thought of Nejire leaving as well, she suddenly felt her stomach twist as a thought came to her.

Did … did they go off on their own again? Izuku and Nejire leaving and …

… and …

Ochako let out a small sigh, staring down at the floor as she frowned. She had … absolutely no idea what the hell was going on with her today. She had no idea why it had been so hard to get Himiko's stupid thoughts and accusations that she was in love with Izuku out of her head, but … but …

… but the way they had hugged back in the forest. The way they had stared at each other when they had gotten out of the pond. And … and the way she felt when Nejire revealed that they had gone out on a date.

But … but there was no way that was right, Ochako shook her head. She had no idea why she felt so weird when it came to Izuku. She had no idea why the thought of Izuku and Nejire being all buddy-buddy would twist her heart. What the hell was going on?! Why was she -?!

"Ochako?"

She felt herself jump a bit, shaken out of her thoughts, and looked around. Itsuka, for her part, was giving her training partner a concerned look as she held her broken hand carefully to her chest, tilting her head a bit so that her now black ponytail hung a bit off her shoulder.

"You, uh - you okay?" She asked in a quiet voice, soft enough that the people chatting around them didn't notice. "You've been really quiet for the last minute or so."

"Oh, uh …"  Ochako felt herself falter, glancing around before looking back up at Itsuka. There was still a part of her that felt … kind of a little flustered around Itsuka, especially now when they weren't in high stakes situations in the sports festival, that she felt herself go a bit red in her presence. She was about to tell her that she was fine, that she had just gotten lost in her thoughts and that she just needed a moment to collect herself -

- but then she felt herself stop, blinking, as a sudden memory came to her.

"Um … is it just me, or do you - uh - do you not like seeing Hadou hanging around Deku?"

"What, uh … what do you mean? Do you not like seeing them together?"

"I … well … it's just … whenever she gets up in his face, I just … well … my stomach feels kinda uncomfortable. And my heart starts hammering, but not in a nice way. I just - I don't know, I just kinda feel uncomfortable and weird whenever they get talking, and I don't know why. Do I - am I the only one who feels that way?"

"..."

"..."

"... no, you're not, Uraraka. I - I think I know what you mean. It's just - I don't know. I'm not even sure what my problem is, I just … I don't like when she gets too close or gets up in Midoriya's business. I - I don't know why, I just - I don't like it."

Feeling herself blink slowly, Ochako stared blankly at Itsuka for a moment, while the formerly orange-haired girl gave her a slightly awkward look. This … this wasn't the first time she had felt this way around Nejire, Ochako remembered - feeling awkward about how much she got in Izuku's face, and made him flustered, and how that had made her feel weird.

But … but she had forgotten that Itsuka had also gotten this same feeling, back before what happened at the USJ. Both of them had felt weird about Izuku and Nejire getting closer.

So - so if she was feeling this way again, and Itsuka understood what she felt …

"Er … Ochako?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow. "Are you -"

"Can we talk?"

Itsuka faltered at how Ochako immediately blurted that out, staring at her in slight surprise, but Ochako quickly caught herself, going a bit red and glancing away. But before Itsuka could open her mouth again, Ochako shot her a small, uncomfortable look, one that made Itsuka's words die in her mouth as she stared down at her.

"Uh … I mean …" Ochako gulped slightly, taking a moment to glance around again before leaning in and muttering, "… can we talk? Privately?"

"Uh …" Itsuka felt a bit confused, and her cheeks went a bit red as Ochako leaned close to her, "… well, sure, but … what's up? Is everything okay?"

"Y-yeah, everything's fine. Just …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, wincing slightly at how awkward she was being, and then tried to clarify. "… I heard something back during the second round, and … I don't know, I just … need to talk to someone about it."

Itsuka blinked a bit at the weird request, but still, a smile appeared on her face, and she nodded.

"Okay," She nodded, and felt her smile widen just a bit when Ochako looked relieved, "yeah, of course, Ochako - let's go talk."

With that, the two girls quickly excused themselves from the group bonding between Classes 1A and 1B, and walked out of the room to find somewhere private to talk. Glancing back down at Itsuka's broken hand, Ochako asked if they should head to the nurse's office, but Itsuka had waved her off quickly, telling her that she could go later, since there were other people presumably there to get Recovery Girl's attention at the moment. They decided to compromise by heading down to the same floor Recovery Girl's office was on, so that after their talk, Itsuka could hurry over and get her hand looked at and Ochako could head to the showers to finally warm up.

They walked through the halls looking for someplace to speak, until they finally came upon a small waiting room, relatively far enough for no one to walk in and interrupt them, and quickly made their way inside, Itsuka pulling the door closed behind them as Ochako walked over to the desk and sat down on one side.

"Okay …" Itsuka gave her a small, curious smile as she took a seat on the other end of the table, "… so, uh … what's going on?"

"Right," Ochako nodded quickly, glancing around the room for a moment and letting out a sigh, "so … this is … about the last round."

"Uh-huh …?"

"Uh … so Hadou confronted me," She started off, feeling her stomach twist a bit, "I guess because you told her to, right?"

"Er - yeah," Itsuka nodded, going a bit red but shrugging, "I figured that with Izuku running around with the ten million points, that meant you were keeping the rest. Uh … sorry, if you were mad about that."

"No, it's fine," She shook her head, and then leaned forward, "but … when Hadou was chasing me around, she said something that … that caught my attention."

Itsuka tilted her head, feeling curiosity fill her as she leaned forward as well.

"Okay …?"

"She said …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, and then sighed, "… do you … remember a few weeks ago, when we met Eri? When Hadou and Deku left school together?"

That question, at least, made Itsuka blink.

"Hadou said that …" Ochako bit her lip, feeling her stomach continue to twist, "… that before you called Deku about Eri … they were on a date."

At that, silence fell in their room as both girls looked at each other. Ochako gave her training partner an awkward look as she slowly nodded, unsure of what to really say after that. And Itsuka just … stared. Straightening up in her seat a bit and tilting her head as her face fell for a moment.

"They …" She repeated a bit quietly, and then cleared her throat a bit as she continued to blink a bit rapidly. "… went on a …?"

"Y-yeah."

"You're - you're sure she said it was a - a date?"

"I - yeah, that's - that's what she said." Ochako nodded, tapping her fingers together. "But I don't know if - you know, if it was - if it was an actual date. I mean - wouldn't Deku tell us about it?"

"I -" Itsuka shook her head a bit, and Ochako felt herself falter slightly at the way Itsuka suddenly pushed back from the table, quickly getting to her feet while holding her broken hand so it didn't swing around and hurt her.

But it was the expression on Itsuka's face that was making Ochako blink - she looked frazzled, conflicted, shocked and …

… and disappointed.

"I …" Itsuka started to say, unaware of Ochako staring up at her as she looked away, "… I … I knew that … Set and Yui pointed out that Hadou was getting closer to him, but … oh, my god, is … is that what she wanted to talk to me about …?"

Ochako stared blankly at her best friend as she began to slowly pace up and down, obvious in her own little world as the shock faded from her eyes and she began to scowl. And then, suddenly, Ochako felt her eyes widen as she thought back to the discussion they had on the bus that day.

"… no, you're not, Uraraka. I - I think I know what you mean. It's just - I don't know. I'm not even sure what my problem is, I just … I don't like when she gets too close or gets up in Midoriya's business. I - I don't know why, I just - I don't like it."

And then everything began clicking into place.

The way she had felt when she discovered Izuku initially training on the beach with Itsuka.

The way Izuku had complimented her hair while ignoring Ochako's new hairdo on New Years' Eve.

The smile they had shared out on the porch, and how Ochako had felt like she hadn't even been there.

The way that she shared Ochako's feelings of uneasiness around Nejire, and how she always had the same dull stare as she did whenever Nejire got in his face.

How ferociously she had attacked the hooded man when Izuku was on the brink of death.

How worried she had been for him.

How tightly she had hugged Izuku when he came out from Recovery Girl's office.

How she had smiled when she called him by his first name for the first time.

How she had a silly little smile on her face for the last two weeks whenever she looked or talked to Izuku.

As all those memories came back to Ochako, her open mouth slowly closed, and she felt her heart begin to hammer uncomfortably hard in her chest.

"I … oh, god, this is totally what she wanted to talk to me about!" Itsuka groaned, not aware of Ochako not listening for the last minute or so as she shook her head and continued to pace up and down. "Back in the forest, Hadou wanted to talk to me about something - was it about - about this date? She - she was telling me something about the USJ and how she nearly drowned, and - and - she said that she thought about something. Was - was it about him?"

"Itsuka …?"

"God, it makes sense. She's - she does like him." Itsuka stopped pacing at that, her eyes slightly widening in horror. "It's why she's always clinging to him and talking to him and - and all that shit. God, I feel so stupid for not realizing it sooner!"

"Itsuka …"

"I - I guess I'll have to talk to her, ask her not to - wait, how the hell am I supposed to talk to her about that? Tell her not to ask Izuku out?" She quickly shook her head, looking disgusted at what she was saying. "I can't just - tell her not to like someone. It - but it'll mess up everything, but - but it's not like I can -"

"Itsuka."

At the sharp voice suddenly cutting through her rambling, Itsuka finally went silent, and quickly looked back around at Ochako as the brown-haired girl looked up at her, straightening up a bit. Ochako, for her part, was staring Itsuka straight in the eye, her mouth slowly closing and her lips thinning, and Itsuka …

… in that moment, Itsuka felt her heart suddenly begin to beat rather quickly as she realized that she had said all of that out loud, and in front of Ochako.

There was a brief silence - and then Ochako, in the calmest, blankest voice Itsuka had ever heard, said, "You're in love with him."

The room had gone suddenly cold as the two girls stared each other in the eye. Ochako, for her part, looked strangely calm, staring Itsuka right in the eyes even as her heart beat heavily in her chest and her stomach clenched painfully. Itsuka, for her part, felt her face flicker for a moment at the accusation - but there were no denials. No flailing, no going red, no fluster.

Instead, she felt her back straighten as she stared down at Ochako, looking as though she was now in the same room as something dangerous. As though there was a bomb suddenly in front of her that she needed to disarm. And then …

… and then her face fell. And she gave Ochako a small, knowing, and tired look as she looked her right in the eye.

"You are," Ochako said quietly, almost so quietly it was hard to hear her, "aren't you? You're in love with Deku."

Itsuka stayed quiet for another moment, letting out a soft sigh as she slowly closed her eyes and looked down … and then she opened them again and looked up, staring at Ochako with a determined look on her face.

"Not as much," She said in a quiet, yet clear voice, "as you're in love with him."

And with those simple little words, the dynamic of their trio changed forever.

Notes:


And that was Chapter 27! My apologies that this came out pretty late, it's been ... very busy, and this chapter had a *lot* to go through. From our second round, to Mei expressing her desire to become a brain in a jar, to our ship tease between Izuku and Ochako, to Itsuka about to kick Shouto in the balls, to Setsuna being a little shit, to Monoma being a little shit, to Shinsou being a little shit, to Class 1A and 1B finally bonding, and the moment everyone's been waiting for - Itsuka and Ochako realizing the other likes Izuku.

Yessssss, this has been a long time coming lol - and from here on out, things are gonna get a whole lot more complicated! A big part of the Sports Festival Arc, as I planned it, was setting up a change in status quo for Izuku and Ochako, as seen during their little alone time moments these last few chapters - and now that we've gotten an Itsuka-sized wrench thrown in the plan, I cannot wait to see how everything plays out from here.

In any case, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 28: Mistake

Summary:

As Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka sit down to have their own time to talk and think amongst themselves, some realizations will be made, and things will get a whole lot more complicated.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

As Momo had predicted, and the text message she had received earlier had confirmed, one of her father's chauffeurs was waiting for her at UA's gate. And, naturally, it was the chauffeur she had really not wanted to see today.

It hadn't taken her very long to leave the stadium and make her way to the gate - the arena was relatively close to the exit of the school, and she had been trained to jog longer distances than that, so it was a simple short run over towards the gate in order to answer the summons from her father. She had texted him a response as soon as she had left the changing room, even as she felt anxiety and nervousness begin to churn in her stomach as she quickly made her way towards where the chauffeur was waiting for her.

She knew, after all, that her father didn't like to be kept waiting. That, and she didn't have much time before she had to be back for the next round.

Luckily (or unluckily) for her, Skip was waiting for her near the front, his ever present smug smile widening slightly as he spotted her heading towards him, and the young man quickly flicked some of his long gray hair out of his face as he straightened up, watching Momo slow her jog down to a moderate pace, walking towards him and putting her phone back into her gym uniform's pocket as she gave him a stoic look.

"Miss Yaoyorozu," He bowed to her as soon as she was within earshot, "it's so nice to see you after so long - I missed you during our trip to America."

"Hello, Skip," Momo greeted him neutrally, not giving any real indication that she was pleased or displeased by his presence - her father's main chauffeur had always been nice to her, even during the times that her father had been angry with her, but she always knew to keep their relationship strictly professional. No matter how nice and flirty her father's young aide was, she knew exactly what he was - just another one of her father's employees.

If her father wanted to ask Skip something about Momo that she didn't want him to know, Skip wouldn't hesitate to tell him - she had learned that harsh lesson a very long time ago. So a stiff smile and a nod was pretty much all the young man was going to get, but if Skip minded, he didn't show it.

"So you received your father's text?" He asked conversationally, smiling when Momo nodded in confirmation, and reached out to her with his hand. "Alright, then - I'll have you home in a second. If you'd like to close your eyes now, ma'am, you're certainly welcome to."

With a small sigh, Momo quickly closed her eyes, and held her breath as Skip reached out to hold her shoulder. The chauffeur using his quirk to move them always made her vomit horribly if she wasn't prepared - perhaps it was the whiplash of being teleported several places at once before settling on the location that Skip wanted to go that made her stomach violently ill. She wasn't sure if Skip did that because that was just how his quirk worked, or if he was just messing with her, but either way being teleported around definitely wasn't a pleasant sensation, as Skip's quirk and Kurogiri's quirk from the USJ had reminded her.

Luckily for her, Skip seemed to be aware that Momo was on a time schedule, so there wasn't as many sudden bright flashes through her eyelids as she was moved - only one really bright one, and then the air around Momo changed from the warm temperature of UA's open air to the familiar chilly feeling of air conditioning. Feeling her stomach churn for a moment, Momo let out a breath and opened her eyes, looking around at her surroundings - very quickly, she knew that she was no longer anywhere at UA, with bright blue skies that she could see through the glass ceiling above her and the feeling of the red carpet beneath her feet replacing the hard concrete of the ground she had been used to.

Instead, she was standing at the top of what she realized was … yes, she had been teleported home. Just … not at the mansion itself. She was at her father's course.

Glancing to her right, the first thing she spotted was a table filled with several plates of food waiting for her - which meant, obviously, that she was to eat here, she frowned. That could only mean that her father was going to keep her here long enough that she wasn't going to go back to eat with her classmates in the cafeteria, which did disappoint her - she had wanted to see if she could find Kyouka during lunch to make up for her rudeness and sit with her. But …

… but it appeared that would have to wait. She suddenly heard the sound of a golf ball being whacked around the corner, and that meant that she shouldn't keep her father waiting.

Taking a deep breath again, and straightening her back while Skip walked over to stand near the entrance of the room, his formerly flirty smile fading somewhat, Momo strolled forward, keeping her hands clenched tightly together, as she walked around the corner.

As expected, her father was waiting for her at the top of the golf course - or, more accurately, he was a bit busy taking the time to line up a shot to whack it out into the field. When she had been young, golfing was one of the things he hadn't thought much of before he began traveling more, but picked it up as a hobby during his trips to America - so much so that he had specifically had a golf course built in their home solely for his own use, allowing him to smack golf balls around all day as he saw fit. He had taken off his black suit jacket and tie and left it on a nearby chair, leaving him in his red dress shirt and slacks as he lowered his club to the ball put down on the tee.

"Hello, Momo," He said in a pleasant voice without even looking at her, keeping his eye on the ball, "I'm glad to see that you arrived on time. There was a part of me that was worried you'd be late."

"N-no, Father," Momo quickly lowered herself in a bow, "I got your message as soon as we were excused for lunch."

Her father let out a small hum, continuing to concentrate on the game at hand as he raised the golf club and, with a small grunt, swung it down at the ball. With a satisfying smack, the ball was sent flying away onto the field, and her father let out a small huff as he lowered the club. Finally, he looked around at his daughter, showing his narrowed face, squinted eyes, and slightly smug smile as he used his hand to wipe one of the fringes away from his forehead.

"Ah, my apologies, Momo," He chuckled a bit self-consciously, "I was feeling a bit impatient waiting for the results of the sports festival's second round to come up."

He gestured up towards the large television screen on the wall, and Momo glanced around as it showed a small montage of the day's events.

"Ten million points for the second round," Daikoku nodded in approval, walking over to the small table on the side and sitting down, "not bad at all, daughter. I assume that you had some part of the planning."

"Er …" Momo hesitated for a moment, feeling her stomach clench in anxiety for a moment before she shook her head, "… n-no, not - not as much as I would've wanted, Father. Midoriya was actually -"

"Midoriya?" Daikoku interrupted her before she could finish her explanation, making her falter as he glanced off to the side where the TV was. "The winner of the first round?"

"Y-yes, Father."

"Interesting …" Her father slowly nodded, and then sighed as he lifted his phone up to his ear. After waiting for a moment, the heel of his black shoe tapping against the floor, he said, in a clear voice, "Jin, I sent a few golf balls out onto the course. Send a clone to pick them up and bring them back."

Nodding, he put the phone down again and turned back to his daughter, but this time his smile faded from his face, making Momo shake a bit. As she had feared, he hadn't brought her back to congradulate her.

"Please have a seat, Momo," He gestured towards the seat on the other side of the table, "I believe you know that I didn't summon you back home for nothing. I've actually been watching the festival in my off time."

"Y-you have?" Momo gulped a bit, approaching the table her father was sitting at and, after a moment of hesitation, sat down.

"Yes. And there was something that I needed to discuss with you before I have Skip send you back." Daikoku leaned forward, frowning at his daughter. "Your behavior regarding Shouto."

"I -" Momo faltered, blinking at that - of all the things she had been anxious about her father summoning her for, she didn't expect that - and she looked around at Daikoku as he raised his hand for one of Jin's clones to bring him a drink, "- w-what do you mean, Father?"

"What do I mean? I saw how coldly you treated him after he saved you from that little purple freak." Her father shook his head, accepting his drink from one of the servants and taking a sip. "Rest assured, Momo, that I have already contacted our lawyers to deal with that little pervert - he and his family will surely rue the day he dared to lay his disgusting hands on you. But that's not what I wanted to bring you here to talk about. Tell me, Momo," He looked over at her in disapproval, "how did you thank Shouto for saving you?"

"I - I 'm -"

"By huffing in his face."

"I - but he -"

"That is unacceptable, Momo," Daikoku looked around at his sputtering daughter, giving her a disapproving look. "He is to be your husband once you both become of age, there is no use in you trying to needlessly antagonize him. I expect you to apologize to him before the festival comes to an end today - and I will be coming at the end to pick you and your mother up in the car, so I will ask him if you apologized."

"But - but Father -" Momo protested, her voice raising slightly, "- he was the one who -"

"Momo." Daikoku's voice suddenly became cold, stopping Momo in her tracks. "Stop arguing with me. Now."

Momo froze at that, feeling her heart hammering in her chest from fear as her father stood up, putting his drink down on the table. He moved to scoop up the golf club that he had temporarily put down, and plucked another red golf ball out of the basket near the stage to walk over and put it on the small tee, and as he moved to line up his shot, Daikoku looked back up at Momo as she shrank in her seat.

"Making Shouto look bad - making your fiancé look bad - is not what a Yaoyorozu should do," He said in a clear, authoritative voice as he readied his swing, "we did not get where we are, made our fortune, by considering ourselves superior to others. And treating your future husband with scorn is not what I raised you to do - I already had to make several sacrifices for you to even entertain the idea of being a pro hero, and this is how you repay my and your mother's hard work? By acting like a child?"

Momo, for her part, only held her tongue, knowing that it would be useless to argue and make her father angrier.

"Goodness …  I've already received a call from one of our stockholders, inquiring to know if you were feeling alright. Do you know how much embarrassment I have to deal with when you act so thoughtlessly, Momo? Without considering how it reflects on myself, and your mother?"

Momo stared down at her shoes, feeling shame well within her.

"So you will apologize to Shouto as soon as you see him," Daikoku swung the club to strike the ball, making Momo flinch a bit at the noise, "and I will be continuing to watch the festival, Momo. I had better see you two get along far better than what I saw from you today. Do not be an embarrassment. Do you understand?"

"Yes, Father," Momo muttered, "I will apologize."

"Good." Daikoku nodded, and with a sigh, straightened up, still not looking over at his daughter as he tapped his golf club against the floor. "Now, I had the chefs prepare you a big lunch to eat while you're here - eat and restore your lipids for the next round, and then Skip will take you back to school. And remember, Momo, that I am expecting you to bring home something of worth for today. As long as you bring home a gold medal, you will continue to receive support for this little career path you've chosen for our company. But always remember - one slip up …"

"And I pull out of UA," Momo repeated dully, standing up from the table to go over and begin eating, "I know, Father. I understand."

"Good. And Momo?" Daikoku turned to look back up at her, a small smile returning to his face as he fetched another golf ball. "Good luck. Your mother and I are cheering for you."


"You are ... aren't you? You're in love with Deku."

"Not as much ... as you're in love with him."

The small room that they were inside had somehow become even quieter as both girls made their accusations. Itsuka and Ochako continued to stare at each other for several long moments, Ochako from her spot at the table and Itsuka standing above her, as they both slowly took in what they had just said. It was clear that whatever warmth and comfort they usually felt when talking to each other was long absent - now, coldness and a strange sense of anxiety was the only thing both girls felt.

Ochako, for one, had both of her fists slightly clenched, and she was continuing to feel her heart hammering in her chest as she stared up at one of her best friends. Itsuka, meanwhile, had her one good hand in her pocket, and the other one carefully held at her side to not risk the chance of injuring herself further, but the way her throat briefly bobbed as she obviously gulped was enough to show that she was … well, not wary of Ochako, but definitely on her guard.

Like they had both realized they were in the room with a violent, sleeping predator, and had to proceed very carefully.

Finally, Ochako let out a small sigh, and broke the eye contact from Itsuka to stare down at the table.

"I …" She hesitated for a moment there, not even sure what to say - and then she shook her head, and decided to just … try and tell Itsuka the truth, or at least, tell her what she had told Himiko when their senpai had asked her about it a few weeks ago.

"… I don't. I'm … I'm not in love with Deku -"

"Bullshit." 

Both girls immediately winced at how bluntly Itsuka had said that, and the class rep, for her part, quickly shook her head as well and cleared her throat.

"I - sorry, Ochako," She apologized quickly for that, "but - but no. You don't - you don't have to try to lie to me, Ochako, I - I know."

"B-but I'm telling you the truth." Ochako bit her lip slightly - she hated how she continued to stumble over her words in her fluster as she continued to stare down at the table, finding it suddenly hard to look up at her training partner. "I - I don't have feelings for Deku. Toga-senpai, she - she asked me about this before too, a few weeks ago, and - and I'll tell you what I told her. I just … I don't know what exactly is going on, but - but I don't have feelings for him. N-not like that, at least. He's my best friend. That's it."

There was another short pause in the room, with Ochako staring down at the table and Itsuka staring down at her - and then, Ochako heard a small sigh, and the sound of the chair in front of her being pulled out again, the legs dragging slightly against the floor. Ochako glanced up to see Itsuka moving to sit back down, letting out a small, painfilled grunt as she carefully put her broken hand back on the table, and then, as she took a seat, glanced back up at her.

Itsuka, for her part, had a pretty serious expression on her face at the moment, giving Ochako a weary look as though she weren't entirely comfortable with being in her presence - something that made Ochako's heart hurt again as she glanced back down at the table.

But then … but then Ochako reflected on the words she had heard earlier, and she felt her lips thin a bit.

"So …" She hesitated again, and then moved her hands to rest them on the table as well, "… how about you?"

"Hm?" Itsuka hummed a bit. "What about me?"

"You … never denied it," Ochako pointed out, feeling her heart continue to beat uncomfortably fast in her chest, "being in love with Deku. You never denied it."

"…"

"…" 

"… no," Itsuka sighed, frowning, "I didn't."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, feeling as though her mouth had gone suddenly bone dry as she absently licked her lips, trying to moisturize her lips.

"So, uh …" She bit the inside of her cheek, "… you're … er … so when did you realize …?"

"That I had feelings for him?" Itsuka finished her question, not looking comfortable with where this conversation was heading as she used her good hand to reach up and play with the end of her ponytail absently, a small blush appearing on her cheeks. "Well … uh … well, I don't know exactly when it started, but … but I think I put a name on these feelings a - about a week ago. Uh - well, you probably didn't know this since you were off training with Toga-senpai, but when we were sparring with Togata-senpai, Nighteye stopped by the gym -"

"What?" Ochako quickly looked up from the table, her eyes widening slightly in concern at the mention of that name. "Nighteye? What did he want?"

"Same shit he always wants," Itsuka sighed wearily, "I'm not worthy to have One for All, someone else should be the successor, blah blah blah. Same shit, different day. But, well … I was actually in the other room, Nighteye didn't even know I was there. He was talking to Izuku, trying to get him to see things his way, and convince him to help tell All Might that I was the wrong choice."

"H-huh …" Ochako bit the inside of her cheek again, this time in annoyance on Itsuka's behalf. "… so …"

"And Izuku … well, he stood up for me," Itsuka frowned again, but the way her eyes softened slightly told Ochako everything, "pretty much told Nighteye to stick it where the sun didn't shine. Just - y'know, a lot more polite than how you or I would've handled it. And Izuku, he - he didn't even know I was there, since I was around the corner, but he still went up to bat and got Nighteye to run off with his tail in between his legs. And just … seeing him defend me …"

There was another pause.

"… and that was pretty much it." Itsuka, at the very least, looked ashamed of herself. "I just … couldn't deny it anymore. I like him. Or - or I'm in love with him, I - I don't know."

"Oh," Ochako simply said, slowly nodding while feeling like her stomach was churning slightly. Like she had just released her quirk on something huge, and the nausea was threatening to make her sick.

She could feel her heart continuing to beat rather fast in her chest was uncomfortable, to say the least. She had probably always known this, she frowned - she always knew that there had to be something … more between her two best friends. But to hear Itsuka flat out admit it, it just … it made her feel strange. She wasn't sure if it was due to her thinking of all the times she had probably seen Itsuka crushing on Izuku and she just never realized it, or the times that they had a moment between each other while Ochako had just … pretty much third wheeled, but …

… but hearing Itsuka admit that she loved Izuku … it hurt her. And she had no idea why.

"So …" She bit her lip again, continuing to stare down at the table, "… I guess … in that case -"

"I'm not gonna tell him."

Ochako found whatever she had been about to say immediately stop at the interruption, blinking once at the table before finally looking back up at Itsuka, watching as she glanced over at her as well. There was a bit of a stiff, unnatural smile on her training partner's face, as though she were trying to force it to stay there, and for her part, she looked … weirdly nervous, for some reason.

As though she had realized she had said too much, and needed to get this situation back under control.

"Uh … surprised?" She tried to tease her, although the way that came out also sounded a bit awkward.

"I - what?" Ochako straightened up in her seat, eyes widening. "You - you're not gonna -?"

"I'm not doing anything," Itsuka nodded in confirmation, glancing away as she tried to lean casually back in her seat, although the way her smile slipped slightly told Ochako that she was anything but casual at the moment, "I'm not gonna tell Izuku how I feel about him. I'm not gonna ask him out, I'm not - I'm not gonna do anything like that. Honestly, I … I shouldn't anyway," She let out a stiff laugh, "we both know that there's a lot on my plate already, no need to - y'know - throw more onto it."

"I - uh -" Ochako continued to struggle to find her words, unsure why she was struggling at the moment.

"I mean," Itsuka continued to try and sound casual while grinning awkwardly at the opposite wall, unaware of Ochako's desperate attempts to get back to thinking coherently, "just thinking about it now … well, I've got a lot going on right now. Like - like I'm gonna start helping my grandpa at the dojo soon, he was thinking of having me help out again after the sports festival. And then we've also got midterms coming up to study for, and - and then our internships. And then there's the final exam to get ready for, and - and you know how Aizawa likes to drop random pop quizzes on us, I've gotta make sure I'm all caught up in my studying for that too."

"I-Itsuka -"

"Plus," She winced a bit, "there's also the fact that I've got One for All to deal with, too. Uh - well, you wouldn't know about this, of course, but - but back during the second round, I -"

"You're not gonna tell Deku?"

Itsuka's slight rambling finally faltered at Ochako's question, feeling herself blink slightly at the interruption before glancing back around at Ochako. The brown-haired girl was staring at her training partner in shock, her shivering from being trapped in ice twenty-ish minutes ago apparently forgotten at the moment.

"Uh -" Itsuka swallowed a bit, "- s-sorry?"

"You're not - you're not gonna tell Deku you're in love with him?" Ochako managed to finally get her thoughts in order, noting the way Itsuka winced at the 'L' word being dropped again.

"I - uh -" Itsuka glanced nervously away again, some of her confidence that she had been faking earlier beginning to fade away as her cheeks went a bit red again, "- well, uh - n-no. I - I wasn't."

"B-but - but why not?" Ochako straightened up in her seat, leaning forward slightly over the table while her stomach continued to twist uncomfortably. "You - you like him. You shouldn't - and - and I know that he definitely likes -"

"No, he doesn't."

This time, it was Ochako's turn to falter at the interruption, blinking slightly as Itsuka turned back around to give her … well …

… it wasn't a glare, but it was still a pretty sharp look, one that took Ochako off guard. Itsuka was giving her a pretty serious frown, not looking like she was liking where this conversation was heading but unable to stop herself as she leaned forward in her seat, her attention now entirely focused on Ochako as she furrowed her brows.

"Izuku doesn't …" Itsuka hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head, "… he doesn't see me like that. I - I at least know that, and - and I'm - I'm okay with it."

"N-no," Ochako quickly shook her head - not sure if she was disagreeing with Itsuka's statement that Izuku didn't like her back, or that Itsuka was okay with that fact, as the large amounts of awkwardness and uneasiness she felt from this topic began to disappear as she likewise frowned at her training partner, "no, that - he does, Itsuka. Deku, he - he totally l-loves you too. I've seen it."

"Really?" Itsuka huffed a bit at that, but at the very least she looked about as uncomfortable with this as Ochako was, not able to stop her stomach from feeling like it was twisting just like Ochako's was as the two girls gave each other frowns. "When? I've never seen anything that would suggest that. And - and we both know how open Izuku is with his feelings - he's super easy to read, and I've - I've never seen anything that would suggest …" She hesitated then, but then shook her head, "… that he was in love with me. If I haven't seen anything like that, then - then it didn't happen. But - but when he looks at you -"

"New Years' Eve." Ochako suddenly interrupted her - she had no idea why she was suddenly beginning to feel so worked up about this, but she felt her hands clench into tight fists as her voice began shaking. "New Years' Eve, we both wore our hair differently, but you - you were the only one Deku noticed. He was blushing at your hair being down."

"I - what?" Itsuka straightened up in her seat, looking a bit surprised. "T-that was only because -"

"And then later, when we were on the porch while you two looked over your costume," Ochako felt her heart beginning to ache as her voice began to rise gradually in volume, "you two - you smiled at each other, and it was like I wasn't even there. I saw it, Itsuka - you two had a moment."

"N-now hold on," Itsuka stuttered a bit, her cheeks turning red again, "that wasn't - I don't -"

"And then on the bus," Ochako shook a bit as she felt tears begin to sting in her eyes, "when we were going to the USJ - you told me that you were feeling the same way about Hadou that I was. You admitted that - you literally told me you didn't like her being close to Deku."

"So did you!" Itsuka challenged that, her own hand clenching slightly. "You told me that you felt the exact same way, so I don't -"

"You hugged him really tightly when he came out from the nurse's office after what happened at the USJ."

"I was worried! And you hugged him first!"

"You dragged him into your room with us to go to sleep!"

"I didn't want him to be alone!"

"Mama Inko was right there on the couch beside him! And then you shared a bed with him!"

"You were in that bed too! All the times you're talking about -!"

"You called him by his first name -" Ochako continued to feel tears burn in her eyes from the argument as their voice continued to gradually rise, "- and it was like I wasn't even in the room. I grew up with the guy, Itsuka - I know him better than I know myself. He's in love with you. You're in love with him. There isn't any reason why you two can't - why you two can't be together. You can't even use One for All as an excuse, because he's more than happy to help you out with that!"

There was a short pause in the room in which both girls tried to catch their breaths, glaring slightly at each other - and then Itsuka let out another huff.

"Okay," She nodded, clearly as frustrated with her friend as Ochako was with her, as she straightened up in her seat and gave her training partner a challenging look, "okay. That's the game we're playing? Fine. You get to name all the times you think me and him had a moment. In that case, it's my turn to name all the times you two actually had a moment."

"Oh, my -!" Ochako threw her hands up into the air, unable to stop herself in her annoyance with how stubborn Itsuka was being.

"Let's start with the time I actually met you," Itsuka was sure to give her a pointed look at that, leaning forward over the table, "because I'm pretty sure I remember how much he was tearing himself apart with how guilty he felt about lying to you. And then when you found us, he gave you a big hug, held your hand, and then demanded All Might to start training you with us."

"I - okay, he didn't demand -" Ochako tried to protest, although that came out pretty weak.

"And then, when I - you know - I accidentally threw a car at you -" Itsuka, at least, looked rather ashamed about that reminder before she shook her head and moved on, "- he was practically worried out of his mind. He couldn't even think properly."

"He - anyone would do that if a car was thrown at their friend! And - and I've told you a hundred times, I don't blame you for that -"

"And then, when you landed on him during the battle trial -"

"After we crashed down the stairs!"

"Setsuna told me," Itsuka raised her eyebrow, "that you two paused when you realized you were on top of him. You froze."

"I -" Ochako felt her cheeks become flushed again, flustered, "- that was -"

"And you brought up me hugging him after he got out of Recovery Girl's office after the USJ," Itsuka gave her another sharp look, "but you hugged him first. You two pretty much clung to each other all night long. And let's not go over the fact that you two are comfortable enough to share a bed while he could barely even look at me while I was in there."

"T-that's just how it's been since we were kids!" Now a full on blush was burning on Ochako's cheeks as she finally whipped her gaze away, unable to keep looking at Itsuka.

The formerly orange-haired girl, letting out a sigh, leaned forward in her seat.

"Look, Ochako," She frowned, "I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to - to pair your friends together because you think sharing one look is enough for Izuku to fall head over heels for me. But it doesn't. It doesn't matter how I might feel, because I know that what you two have is way more special than what could come out of - of me asking him out and ruining everything."

"I - what?" Ochako blinked, catching those last words and looking around in confusion at Itsuka. "Ruining -? What do you mean?"

Itsuka hesitated at that question - it was clear to Ochako that she hadn't meant to say that out loud, but now that it was out in the open, it was a little hard to take it back. With a small sigh, she put her other hand down on the table beside her broken one, not staring Ochako in the eye at all as she pursed her lips.

"I …" She paused for a moment, and then shook her head, "… I don't know what I meant by that."

There was another moment of silence.

"You're shitting me." Ochako said in a deadpan voice.

"I don't!" Itsuka quickly defended herself, looking up to frown at Ochako. "I just - I know that if I ask Izuku out, I'm - I'm going to ruin something."

"Something?" Ochako pushed, not entirely in the mood anymore to do this gingerly or smartly. "What is that? What's 'something'?"

"Something! Everything!" She threw her good hand up into the air. "This! Us! Our friendship! My friendship with him! Your friendship with him!"

"I -" Ochako found herself hesitating for a moment, before she scoffed slightly and shook her head, "- you - you asking Deku out isn't going to make me -"

"It will." Itsuka shook her head, speaking with certainty while her eyes turned a bit sadder, despite her clear frustration with her friend. "I know that no matter how much you try and argue otherwise, Ochako - you're in love with him. Just like I am."

That, at least, got Ochako to pause.

"And - and what am I supposed to do?" Itsuka scoffed at herself. "Say, 'hey, I acknowledge that you have feelings for Izuku, Ochako, now if you'll excuse me, I gotta go get ready for a date with him'?"

"I'm …"

"That's what Set and Yui were pretty much telling me to do, and there's not a chance in hell that I'm gonna do that. I know how much you two mean to each other - you've been best friends for your entire lives, and - and you haven't even known me for a year. What am I supposed to say to Izuku? 'Hey, I know you're a hundred percent in love with Ochako, but please consider me'?" Shaking her head, Itsuka turned back to frown at the table. "I won't do that. I know that he's in love with you, Ochako, and - and I know I shouldn't be pushing you to ask him out, and - look, I know I was arguing with you, but I won't actually try to force you to ask him out. But - but we both know that if there's anyone in the world that has a shot with him, it's you."

"I - he doesn't," Ochako protested again, but this time it came out a bit weaker.

"Oh, come on, Ochako," Itsuka shook her head, over this argument, "you know he does."

"He doesn't. He - he can't."

"…"

"…"

"… what?"

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked.

"What do you mean, 'he can't'?" Itsuka looked back up at Ochako, her brow furrowing and her frustration with her friend paused for the moment. "He can't … what?"

This time, it was Ochako's turn to hesitate, feeling her eyes widen a bit - like Itsuka before her, she hadn't meant to blurt that part out, but now that Itsuka had heard it, she was clearly not going to let it go, leaning forward with a slightly skeptical look.

For a moment, Ochako stared at Itsuka in slight terror, her mind desperately trying to find a way to take back what she had just said and talk about literally everything else - but the stress of the last few hours, and her stress from arguing with Itsuka, meant that any strength Ochako had to try and pretend that everything was fine just … wasn't there, and Ochako let out a shuddering breath as she felt some of the tears that had burned in her eyes from during their argument begin to finally fall.

"… he can't … be in love with me."

"I - what?" Itsuka blinked, looking confused and taken aback by the sight of Ochako beginning to cry. "What does that -"

"He can't like me," Ochako shook her head, looking down at the table again, "he can't have feelings for me. I'm just … I'm just me."

"… Ochako, seriously," Itsuka's voice had suddenly lost it's volume and aggression from their argument before, turning quiet and concerned as she leaned forward, any anger on her face immediately slipping away, "what the fuck does that mean? What does 'I'm just me' mean?"

"It means …" Ochako let out another small, shuddering breath, every part of her begging her to stop talking but finding herself unable to, "… there's nothing about me to like."

That, at long last, stopped Itsuka completely in her tracks, looking as though Ochako had just slapped her in the face.

"I … I don't know what's going on with me, Itsuka," Ochako felt her tears begin to fall, hitting her hands and the table beneath her, "I don't know - I don't know why I can't hug Deku like I've been able to all our lives anymore. I don't - I don't know why I feel so weird when you and Hadou talk to him. I - Toga-senpai, she - she said that she thought I liked him, and … and I just …"

She found herself shaking, her stomach and heart twisting.

"… I don't know anymore." She shivered slightly. "I don't know if I have feelings for Deku. I don't know why I - I don't know anything anymore, but … but I do know that you saying Deku likes me … that's impossible."

"I …"

"I'm not pretty," Ochako let out a dry, unamused laugh at herself, as though she found it funny for anyone to even think that, and not aware of the way Itsuka's breath caught at that remark, "I'm not attractive. None of the girls at Aldera thought so, anyways - they were always telling me about how ugly I am, about how no amount of makeup would be able to cover it up, and … and eventually, I realized they were right." 

She shook her head, unable to stop these words from spilling from her mouth just like she couldn't stop crying. 

"I'm just … really plain looking." She said quietly. "I'm not beautiful. Not like you, or Hadou, or Tokage or Kodai or Toga-senpai or - or anyone. And - and my body isn't really nice to look at either, not like yours or Hadou's."

"O-Ochako -"

"And - and I know that compared to you or Hadou, I'd probably - Deku probably wouldn't even look my way," She bit her lip again, shaking her head, "and it's not like I can blame -"

"Ochako, I - I'm sorry, but I need you to shut up for a second."

The way that Itsuka's voice had caught when she had asked her to stop talking was what Ochako's rambling to finally falter. Feeling herself shrink a bit as she realized that she had pretty much dumped years worth of insecurities unprompted on her best friend, Ochako felt guilt rise within her, and looked back up at her training partner sitting across from her to apologize -

- only for her words to immediately die in her throat, the horrible feeling in her chest that had been hurting her ever since she had started talking about how ugly she was grinding to a halt, when she looked up and saw the look on Itsuka's face.

Her training partner, honestly, was still looking like Ochako had just slapped her in the face, shock written all over it - but it was the sight of tears in Itsuka's eyes that caused Ochako to finally pause, staring at her in confusion. But before she could open her mouth to ask if Itsuka was okay, she spoke in a quiet whisper.

"Do … do you really think all of that?" She asked in a quiet voice. "That you're … that you're not pretty?"

"I …" Ochako felt herself falter then, not entirely sure what to say after that. Technically, this was the excuse she had been looking for - she could probably try and play it off as a joke, that someone she was rambling and didn't actually mean what she had said, and she could quietly excuse herself before Itsuka could stop her to leave this room and find a place for her to try to calm herself down.

But one glance back into Itsuka's eyes, seeing the hurt and sadness there, meant that she couldn't excuse this as a joke. No way, no how. So, with a small sigh, Ochako turned to glance back down at her hands still balled into fists on the table, and forced them to relax as she slowly spread her fingers out.

"… yeah." She muttered. "Yeah, I do."

For a good ten seconds, there was absolute silence in the room again. Ochako continued to stare down at her hands, and she felt Itsuka's staring at her. She waited for her friend to say something - anything, at this point - and she was already dreading it, knowing that no matter what Itsuka said, it would be the same as what happened with Himiko - her mind would just push whatever Itsuka said to the side, and she would still be ugly.

But then, as Ochako opened her mouth to say at least something to break the ice, or her mind convinced her body to finally get up and leave, she glanced slightly up - and saw Itsuka's good hand, the one that wasn't broken, begin to move.

And then she blinked as Itsuka's hand moved towards hers, her fingers lightly moving between hers, and before she knew it, Itsuka had moved her hand to hold hers, their fingers entwined together.

For a moment, Ochako stared down at their joined hands, feeling herself falter - and trying to ignore the flutter in her chest from how warm Itsuka's hand was - and quickly glanced back up at Itsuka. This time, she felt herself be taken aback at the sight of tears beginning to spill from Itsuka's eyes.

"I'm …?" Ochako found herself unable to say anything for a moment, feeling her heart thumping uncomfortably in her chest - but this time, it wasn't from anything … unpleasant. This time, the feeling of Itsuka's hand in hers was sending her heart rate spiking, a small blush appearing on her face - and yet, she didn't move her hand out of hers.

"Ochako, I'm …" Itsuka hesitated to say anything for a moment, looking as though she was unsure of what she could even say - and then she let out a shuddering breath, her face turning stormy as she briefly glanced away, "… if I ever meet one of your old classmates, I'm going to fling them into freaking space."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked, taken out of the hand holding for a moment. "W-what do you -"

"Listen to me," Itsuka shook her head, looking back around at her and frowning sadly at the tears still sliding down Ochako's cheeks, wishing her other hand wasn't broken so that she could reach up and wipe them away, "you're - none of the stuff you said - none of it is true. You're - you're pretty."

Ochako felt herself be caught off guard again by what Itsuka had just said - but automatically, just like what had happened when Himiko had told her that, she shook her head in disagreement.

"N-no, Itsuka," She muttered, about to glance away again, "you - you don't need to do that. I already know -"

"No," Itsuka shook her head again, her voice completely devoid of the frustration and anger from their argument before as she leaned up in her seat, and her voice now filled with determination and shaking emotion, "you are not ugly. You aren't even plain. You're - everything that those assholes in Aldera told you is wrong."

For a moment, she looked as though she was going to cry herself at the look of resignation and sadness on Ochako's face.

"Ochako, you're - you're freaking beautiful. You are so beautiful."

"No, I'm … I'm not."

"You -!" Itsuka seemed to want to try and protest that more, but then she stopped herself, letting out a small sigh as she temporarily glanced down at the table again - and then she let out a deep breath, closed her eyes and looked away.

"- you - you are, Ochako," She said in a quiet voice, "I know you are, and - and I -"

Ochako watched as Itsuka visibly paused, obviously trying to find a way to begin comforting her friend - it wasn't like Himiko, who had accepted that one talk wasn't going to automatically help Ochako out of her insecurities; Itsuka was clearly struggling to figure out a way to make sure Ochako never felt this way again, and it was frustrating her that she couldn't figure it out.

Suddenly, the brown-haired girl felt guilt shoot through her - here she was, throwing a massive pity party for herself, and leaving Itsuka so clearly distressed it made her immediately regret coming into this room with her. Her training partner had enough on her plate today - with Shouto causing her trouble with his stupid stuff as her 'rival', Monoma and Shinsou betraying her during the second round and making her life hell, and then whatever happened with One for All that broke her hand and was still clearly bothering her …

… and then here she was, just throwing more stress at her.

With a small sigh, Ochako bowed her head briefly, raising her other free hand to wipe the tears off her cheeks. She needed to find a way to fix this, she thought to herself as she glanced back up at Itsuka as she turned away to think, and she needed to get Itsuka's mind off of what she had just said so she can continue on with her day without this stupid conversation hanging over her. 

So how would she … how would she …?

Staring blankly down at the table for a moment, and lowering her other hand from her face onto the surface, Ochako let out another soft breath as Itsuka glanced back over at her at the noise - and then Ochako shook her head again.

"I'm …" She hesitated for a moment, and then closed her eyes and stared down at the table in defeat, unable to come up with anyway to make Itsuka feel better just like Itsuka was failing to come up with anything to make Ochako feel better, "… I'm sorry, Itsuka - I - I didn't mean to make you worry about - you know - me. Sorry."

"Don't," Itsuka stopped that line of thought at once, "don't be sorry, Ochako … I'm … I'm kind of glad you told me this, I …" She let out another sigh, clearly not sure how to even phrase her thoughts - and then she asked, in a quieter tone, "… does … does Izuku know about … this? How you feel about yourself?"

Ochako bit her lip, anxiety shooting through her at the very thought.

"I … no," She admitted in a small voice, "I … I've never told him. I haven't … I haven't told anyone. Not even my parents know. Nobody besides you, and - and Toga-senpai, but … well, when she heard about it, she kind of … uh …"

Pinned me to a bed and made out with me, She winced.

"What did she do?" Itsuka asked in a quiet voice, and Ochako immediately froze at once, realizing where she trailed off in that sentence left it open to be talked about. "Did it, uh - did it help you out? W-with how you feel?"

"It …" Ochako hesitated again - feeling herself blush as she remembered what exactly Himiko did to help her feel better - but alas, her brain really wasn't working with her today, forcing her to squeak out, "… did. F-for a little bit, but - uh - after that, I, uh - I just kind of pushed it -"

"W-well, what did she do?" Itsuka asked in a quiet voice. "I-if it helped you feel a little better. Maybe … maybe I could help you out with it again, and if it just - if it only temporarily helped, we can do it now, and then we can talk about this later, when - when we have time."

… okay, was Itsuka trying to kill her here? Ochako felt whatever shame and guilt for making her training partner quickly begin to fade away as her face continued to grow redder and redder.

"She … uh …"

There was a moment's pause.

"… I …" Ochako shrank a bit in her seat, "… don't think I should say."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… okay -"

"Ochako," Itsuka said in a slightly dry voice, raising her eyebrow, "please don't."

"Okay, okay!" Ochako quickly waved her free hand in the air, going red. "I just - I panicked."

"Alright, so just …" Itsuka let out a small sigh, adjusting herself in her seat, "… tell me what happened."

"Okay …" Ochako swallowed - there was still the guilt and shame from earlier that was affecting her, but for some reason, a wave of anxiety filled her as she realized that she had backed herself into a corner with this one, "so, uh … back when I was training with Toga-senpai a few weeks ago, after we were done, she, uh … she decided to bring me back to the nurse's office so we could use the showers there."

"Mm-hm …" Itsuka hummed, her face somewhat falling slightly.

"And then we … got to talking," Ochako continued to explain, "about - uh -"

About how Toga thinks I like you two, she thought privately, and felt herself go redder.

"- stuff." She lamely finished, aware of Itsuka raising her eyebrow at the way she had obviously swerved away from what she had actually wanted to say. "And - well, it eventually turned to my feelings about - about myself, and - and -"

"…"

"… and y-you know Toga-senpai," Ochako mumbled embarrassedly, "you know … how she is."

"Ochako," Itsuka began frowning at her - but one glance up into her eyes caught Ochako aback, seeing something weird and familiar there as Itsuka narrowed them slightly, "just … tell me what happened."

"She …" Ochako hesitated for a moment - and then she sighed and slumped her shoulders, "… to make me feel better about myself - she kissed me."

With those three simple words, silence once again fell in the small room they had chosen to talk in. Ochako, for her part, ducked her head, unable to control her blush anymore as she raised her free hand to cover her eyes, and Itsuka, meanwhile, said absolutely nothing as she absorbed what Ochako had just told her.

And then, after a few seconds of silence, Itsuka said, in a simple voice, "Oh."

"Uh … 'oh'?" Ochako blinked, repeating what her training partner said in confusion, and glanced back up at her friend. Itsuka, still frowning, turned away slightly in her seat, but there was that same dark look in her eyes that took Ochako aback, something weirdly familiar about the look that was making Ochako's heartbeat begin to pick back up again.

"Yeah … 'oh'." Itsuka shrugged, trying to at least sound casual as she began automatically slipping her fingers out of Ochako's, making the brown-haired girl look down in slight panic and resisting the urge to hold her hand down more. "I mean … well, what do you want me to say? Makes sense … you're right, it is Toga-senpai we're talking about here. Her kissing you, that - that tracks."

"Y-yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, feeling herself shake a bit as she felt her face go red again, and desperately trying to figure out a way out of this while trying to remember where exactly she had seen this expression on Itsuka.

"I … assume it was nice?" Ochako noted the small bitterness coming from Itsuka, making her blink again. "Kissing Toga. I … bet it was nice."

"It … it was." Ochako felt her face flush a bit redder, glancing down at the table while Itsuka exhaled through her nose, "it was … nice to kiss Toga-senpai."

There was a pause.

"But … but it wasn't …"

Ochako found herself trailing off, not entirely sure what she was about to say there, but thankfully, what she was slowly saying helped Itsuka snap out of whatever funk she had just gotten in, the formerly-orange-haired girl blinking slightly and glancing back up at Ochako as she visible hesitated.

It was probably … a combination of a few things that prompted Ochako to finish what she was about to say. Going from shock that Itsuka was in love with Izuku, to understanding how Itsuka fell for him, to anger that she had tried to push her onto him despite her own complicated feelings, to sadness and self-pity over herself, to guilt about feeling that way. The way that Itsuka's eyes had shifted when Ochako revealed her kiss with their senpai, how weird Ochako's stomach felt as it clenched.

All of those feelings … all of them combining into one, weird, heart-quickening feeling as Ochako said, in a quiet, shaking voice:

"… it wasn't as good … as when we kissed."

For the last time in that room, both girls fell silent as they absorbed what Ochako had just admitted. Ochako, for her part, went so red so quickly it was frankly amazing that she didn't pass out from all the blood in her body rushing to her face, and the over reason she didn't throw her hands up to cover how embarrassed she looked was because her other hand was being held by Itsuka at the moment, which only added to her embarrassment. Itsuka, meanwhile, felt whatever annoyance she had felt about her training partner kissing their senpai disappear at once, straightening up in her seat. And then, without even meaning two, their eyes met.

Ochako hesitated for a moment - and then, slowly, she began to lean forward, not even sure what she was doing but letting her emotions do the thinking for her for once, as her chair subtly squeaked backwards as she rose to her feet. Itsuka, meanwhile, continued to stare a bit nervously into Ochako's eyes as she watched her stand up, and she audibly gulped as she began leaning over the table.

It was clear that both girls weren't thinking properly at the moment - it was probably a mix of all the stress that they had experienced during the first few rounds of the sports festival - Itsuka dealing with Shouto, Monoma and Shinsou being dicks, Ochako with how weird she'd been feeling around Izuku and how complicated she was feeling at the moment, and their argument from before making it difficult to think things through properly. 

Both girls were stressed, and they needed some kind of thing to go right for them. And the look in both girls' eyes were all that motivated them both to slowly stand up, Itsuka moving to her feet as well as Ochako visibly hesitated. 

Their hands still clasped together, both girls leaned in, Itsuka's head tilting slightly, as their lips met in a far gentler kiss than the one they had experienced at the USJ.

As soon as their mouths pressed together, they both inhaled softly through their noses, their eyes gently shutting as their lips pressed together in a way they couldn't enjoy back at the USJ, when it had been a mess of lips and tongue and slobber and teeth. This one, instead, was a simple pressing of their mouths together, Itsuka's lips catching Ochako's lower one between them as they both just stood over the table, their fingers still entwined as they softly moved back from their kiss, only for Itsuka to go back in and press their lips together again, both girls quietly humming.

They both knew at once that they were making a mistake - they both knew that this was only going to make whatever was going on with them and Izuku more complicated, and it would make their own relationship even more awkward than it had been made during their first kiss. But the feeling of each other's lips on each other pushed all those thoughts away as Ochako's other hand gently rose up to cup Itsuka's cheek, both girls pressing their lips a bit firmer against each other before finally separating, lightly gasping and taking in some air.

There was another small moment where both girls slowly opened their eyes, staring at each other silently as the reality of what they had done came to them both at the same time, and Itsuka became aware of Ochako's hand on her cheek and the way their fingers were still entwined together. Ochako, for her part, was searching Itsuka's eyes for something - anything - that would suggest how she was feeling at the moment.

And then, after another moment, the soft look on Itsuka's face fell. And slowly, she moved her hand - her good hand, by the way - out of Ochako's, to slowly raise it and take Ochako's other hand gently by the wrist, and brought it back down to the table.

"I … I shouldn't have done that," She muttered, breaking Ochako out of her slight shock as she quickly looked back up at her after staring at the hand her training partner had put back on the table to her face, seeing the shame and sadness on her face, and slowly felt Itsuka's hand slip out of hers, "I really shouldn't have … I'm sorry, Ochako."

"I -" Ochako faltered then, feeling her heart skip a beat - and the horrible guilt from earlier returning full force as she shivered slightly - but then Itsuka moved back, shaking her head slightly as Ochako stood there, continuing to stare at her blankly as she began walking away from the table.

"I … I don't know why I did that," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, sounding more hurt and shaken than Ochako had ever heard her before and making her heart ache, "I don't know why I - but I'm sorry. I shouldn't be … I'm just ruining everything. Again."

"I - what -?"

"Ochako," Itsuka glanced back at her, using her good hand to wipe at her face and startling Ochako at the tears that were still building in her eyes, "I … I meant what I said. You're - you're so beautiful, and pretty, and - and - but I - I shouldn't have kissed you. I shouldn't have kissed you at the - at the USJ either, but - but I -"

Ochako felt her heart beginning to hurt.

"- but I know that you love him," Itsuka mumbled, her voice shaking a bit, "I know that you're in love with Izuku. And I know he feels the same way. And I care about you both, so - so much. But I'm not gonna ruin your relationship with him because I can't control how I feel."

Ochako watched as Itsuka slowly brought her broken hand carefully to her chest, and then turned to walk out of the room. Pausing at the door, Itsuka glanced back around at her friend, her face still red from what she did and tears still in her eyes, and for a moment, she looked like she wanted to say something - but then she shook her head and looked back down at her feet.

"I'm, uh - I'm gonna head over to Recovery Girl to get this healed," She muttered, "please, go take a shower so you can warm up. I'll see you later."

"I-Itsuka -" Ochako tried to protest, but Itsuka already opened the door and walked out quietly before shutting the door behind her, leaving the brown-haired girl alone in the waiting room.

Ochako stared after where one of her best friends had vanished, feeling her heart hammering and her stomach twist - and then, with a small, shuddering breath, Ochako turned back to the desk, and slowly moved to sit back down, staring down at her hands as tears burned in her eyes again.

It was clear that Itsuka needed some alone time - and quite honestly, so did she. Because now things were … starting to come clear to Ochako. Thinking back to the look in Itsuka's eyes when she had revealed that she had kissed Himiko, Ochako felt herself shiver when she remembered where she had seen it from. And a memory of what her senpai had said to her before filled her mind.

"There's no way you don't like her - trust me, cutie, I've got an eye for this kind of thing. I take love very seriously, you know. And how you look at Kendou … you aren't subtle. It's not just her butt you're looking at. From how you look at her? You're in it deep, girl - which is why I'm surprised that Kendou isn't the only one you look at like that. You're just … not very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in."

The look in Itsuka's eyes when she had been told that Ochako had kissed Himiko … it was … it was the same look that …

… that Itsuka had in her eyes when she had looked at Izuku and Nejire talking, the same sad look and feelings that Ochako had felt.

Which meant that …

… that Itsuka …

It wasn't possible, Ochako felt herself shake as she lowered her head to rest against her arms on the table, tears building in her eyes. Every part of her, every insecurity she felt, was screaming at her that she was making a mistake, that she was stupid for even suspecting so. But … but was it possible that …

… Itsuka … was jealous of Nejire. That was - that was obvious, from her small rant before Ochako accused her of having feelings for Izuku. It was clear that Itsuka was jealous of Nejire getting closer to Izuku. That weird look in her eyes … it had been envy that Nejire had taken Izuku out on a date, Ochako at least - she realized that.

And … Itsuka had the same look in her eyes … when she found out Himiko kissed Ochako.

Itsuka … had been jealous of Ochako kissing someone else. And then, when Ochako had said that she enjoyed their kiss more … the first thing they did was kiss again.

It shouldn't be possible … it shouldn't be possible that Itsuka could have feelings for her. But the thought of it, even if Ochako felt her chest hurt from all the emotional whiplash she had felt, was enough to make her heart skip a beat.


"I'll just get this out of the way," Shouto narrowed his eyes, "is Kendou All Might's secret love child or something?"

The silence in the small tunnel that they had chosen to talk in was absolutely deafening after a question like that. Izuku stared blankly at Shouto for a moment as he slowly absorbed what he had just been asked, with Shouto giving him a serious look as though he was genuinely expecting an honest answer from him. After realizing that he wasn’t being messed with, and that Shouto had just genuinely asked if his training partner was the secret daughter of All Might, Izuku felt his jaw drop slightly and sweat begin to slide down his face.

Which … Shouto seemed to take acknowledgement of, slowing nodding.

“You’re shaking,” he noted, “so I suppose my assumption is correct.”

"I - uh - n-no!" Izuku managed to squeak out, quickly shaking his head as Shouto gave him a suspicious look at the denial of his theory. "No, not at - not at all! I mean - well, even if I said she wasn't, you probably wouldn't believe me since that's what anyone would say to that question, but - but - just w-wait a second!"

Quickly, Izuku pulled his cellphone out of his pocket, grimacing as he realized that the screen was a bit wet from being in his clothes after being completely frozen and then thawed out (which meant he was still lowkey shivering), but quickly shook his head to refocus as he went to his photos app. Shouto continued to give him a glare as he let out a small ‘aha!’ when he found the picture he was looking for - a photo of his, Ochako and Itsuka's families that had been taken during Itsuka's birthday last September - and quickly zoomed in on the Kendou portion of the photo before flipping it around to show the recommended student.

"There! See?" He quickly pointed to the four Kendous standing together in the photo, Tenohira beaming at the viewer while Hakushu laughed at something, and Teko merely glared while Itsuka flashed the camera a nice smile. "That's her mom, and - and her dad! And her grandpa! And - and she looks like them!"

Shouto didn't look very convinced of that, glaring at Izuku for another moment before he slowly turned his eyes to the photo, squinting slightly. There was a moment's pause as Shouto's gaze flickered from Itsuka to each of her parents - wait, was he seriously trying to compare them?! - before he let out a small sigh, closing his eyes and moving back so he could lean up against the wall.

"I see," He slowly nodded, "those certainly look like her parents, alright."

"T-they are!" Izuku quickly put his phone back down - although not back in his wet pants, he winced, that would probably result in his phone not working anymore - and shivered a bit as he was still a bit cold from his time as a Deku-sicle. "I - I mean, that's obviously her mom -"

"But that could also mean All Might is estranged," Shouto pointed out suspiciously, which made Izuku almost trip over himself in his shock that he was still unconvinced, "the man has orange hair, of course, but Kendou did dye her hair today - how am I to know if she isn't dyeing it orange to disguise the connection?"

"T-the orange hair is natural! She dyed her hair black because - well - it's a long story."

"Hm." Shouto gave him another suspicious glare. "Sounds pretty doubtful to me."

"I -" Izuku sputtered a bit, unable to even believe that this was seriously happening - he had thought Shouto was going to drag him off to have some confrontation about Itsuka, to make some baseless accusations that Izuku would need to defend her honor against, like when Nighteye had come around a few weeks ago. 

He just hadn't expected it to be … about something so dumb. All Might being Itsuka's dad? Seriously?! That was …

… okay, maybe it would be a reasonable suspicion for Shouto to have if he saw the two of them interacting at first glance, but come on! If Shouto was basing this theory about how the pro hero acted around his students, All Might had better chances of being his father than Itsuka's!

"I'm …" Izuku shook his head after a moment, trying to force himself back to coherent thoughts and trying to push aside Shouto's interesting theory to focus back on the conversation, "… w-why would you want to talk to me about this, Todoroki? Wouldn't - wouldn't it have made more sense to talk about it with Kendou herself?"

"Maybe," Shouto dryly replied, "but I'm aware that I haven't won any favors with Kendou today. Even if I asked her to talk to me, she'd probably refuse."

"I - then why did you ask me?"

"I've seen how close the two of you are," Shouto raised his eyebrow, "she was willing to throw away her chances of winning the sports festival by not going after you during the second round. And I saw how you reacted when Monoma blasted her away. If anyone would know if she had a connection with the Number One Hero, it'd be you."

Izuku sputtered a bit at that, his face turning a bit red - both at the assumption that he and Itsuka were close enough that he would know if she were All Might's secret love child, and that …

… wait a second.

"Uh … Todoroki?" Izuku seemed to realize something, feeling himself blink. "Did … was that the reason you challenged Kendou?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Kendou told us that … that when you challenged her, it was pretty out of nowhere," Izuku recalled, "and she was a bit weirded out by it, since you've never talked to her before that, or given some reason as to why. But … but is that why you challenged her? Because you think that she has a connection with All Might? Or that … or that she's similar to All Might?"

Shouto stayed quiet for a moment, and then let out a small huff.

"Both." He answered shortly. "I noticed a connection between her and All Might, and from what I heard about the rumors of what happened at the USJ, she did something to destroy the mountain zone. Care to debunk that rumor?"

"N-no, it - that did happen," Izuku shook his head, "I'm just … I'm just a bit confused about why you would want to challenge Kendou of all people. I mean - I know that she's amazing, and powerful, and - and all of that. But if you were looking for someone with offensive power similar to All Might, then … then why didn't you challenge someone like Kacchan, who's got his own quirk that could challenge you? Or Hadou? Or -" He felt a bit awkward when finishing that thought, - "or even me? We've all got offensive quirks as well, enough to give you a challenge - so why did you choose Kendou specifically as your rival?"

There was a short pause in the tunnel, in which Shouto glared at Izuku and he stared awkwardly back at him. And then, letting out a small sigh, Shouto closed his eyes.

"Endeavor's my old man," He removed his hands from his pockets so he could fold his arms across his chest, "I'm sure you know him? The Number Two Hero."

"I - yeah, of course."

"And I'm sure you're also aware that he's been stuck in that position for as long as we've been alive."

"I … I am." Izuku nodded, not entirely sure where this was going.

"That," Shouto opened his eyes again to look up at him, "is why I challenged Kendou. I know that there's a connection between her and All Might, and that … that gives me even more reason to beat her."

Izuku faltered at that, straightening up from his position on the opposite wall and feeling more confused than ever. Neither boy was aware of the sound of shuffling around the corner, mostly due to their attention being entirely focused on each other as Shouto took a small, deep breath.

"My old man … it's always been his dream that he would be on top of the world," Shouto explained in a short voice, "but no matter what he did - no matter how many crimes he solved and how many villains he brought in - he knew that he had no chance of ever being better than a living legend like All Might. So, when he finally realized that he would never surpass All Might, he decided to move onto the next plan." After a short pause, he let out another deep breath. "You've heard of quirk marriages, right?"

With those six little words, Izuku felt his stomach tense.

"Endeavor has money and accomplishments, and he used both to win over my mother's family and get a hold on her quirk. Since he could never beat All Might, he decided to try the next best thing - using my siblings and myself to fill the role that he wants, as All Might's better. Before me, he was focused on my older brother - Touya."

"Touya …?" Izuku felt his eyes widen. "You mean - Touya Todoroki? As in -"

"The Blueflame Hero, Sol." Shouto nodded. "That's right."

"I - I'm not sure -"

"With my brother, he was easier on him," The recommended student scowled, "training him fairly and keeping an eye on his limitations. But when it became clear that my brother didn't have a handle on his flames - he inherited our mother's resistance to freezing cold rather than Endeavor's resistance to heat - my old man moved on from him, and began focusing on me after I was born. Touya tried to prove himself to Endeavor, but … well, I'm sure that you already know the story."

"I … I do," Izuku nodded, feeling himself shiver slightly at the thought (either that or having been frozen a half hour ago), "Sekoto Park - he lost control of his flames and disappeared for a while, didn't he?"

"He did. And for a while, my family thought he was dead. My mother … didn't take it well. She had a breakdown shortly after my brother's disappearance - it wasn't just my brother's 'death', it was a … lot … and she ended up …"

Shouto paused again, and raised his hand to cup the burn mark on his face.

"… she ended up pouring burning water on my face, and gave me this scar."

Izuku felt his jaw drop in horror, and the shuffling near the wall also stopped.

"Shortly after my mother was admitted to a hospital," Shouto's voice became bitter, "Endeavor doubled down on training me. After Touya 'died', he lost whatever hesitance he had when it came to training me - as in, he was no longer hesitant to get … rough with me. But then, one day …" Shouto lowered his hand from his face, looking down at the floor. "… one day, Touya came back. He survived whatever happened to him and came back to the house, covered in surgical scars."

"What?" Izuku blinked in surprise. "I - well, of course I'm aware that he eventually came back and became a hero, but - but I had thought that the surgery scars were from when after he apparently survived. That's what he said during one of his interviews."

"It's technically the truth," Shouto frowned, shaking his head, "he never said who helped him - said he didn't even remember how he survived, much less who saved him and saved his life. But when he did finally come back … he changed. He made it clear to the old man that he would be a hero even if Endeavor didn't want him to be one, and started training independently to become a hero until he eventually got picked up by the HPSC. I didn't know this since he disappeared when I was a baby, but according to my sister, he was … different." Shouto frowned sadly. "He was nothing like the stories my older siblings had told me about him."

There was another pause.

"Touya once told me," He scowled at the ground, "that he knew that I was his replacement. That Endeavor threw him out in favor of me. And he's treated me coldly ever since - nothing I ever did could impress him. I never cared for what Endeavor thought of me, and put up with the training that doubled when Touya came back. But … but for Touya?" He let out a small sigh. "The only person who could understand what I'm going through? I need to prove that I can live up to his standards. He broke away from Endeavor, and … and I need to prove that I can as well."

Izuku stared at him in shock, his mouth slowly closing as Shouto looked back around at him with a scowl.

"I challenged Kendou to be my rival today," Shouto explained in a short voice, "because of her similarities to All Might. I want to defeat her in order to show Endeavor and my brother what I can do. And I'm going to do that without using my damn old man's quirk, or my brother's flames. To stand out to both of them, I'm going to win the sports festival with only my mother's quirk. I'll reject my old man and win my brother's respect by winning first place without using their flames."

Finally finishing his small story, Shouto fell into silence, turning to glare out at the exit of the tunnel as Izuku absorbed the absolute bombshell of information that his classmate had just dumped on him. Izuku felt himself shiver again, but not from the cold this time - instead, his imagination was running wild, imagining what he knew Endeavor to look like pushing around a small boy with red and white hair, and felt horror and a bit of nausea crawl up his spine. 

Shouto, for his part, seemed unsure of what to say after that, his cold and haughty persona cracking slightly for the first time as he turned away from Izuku with a small exhale through his nose -

- and then they both finally became aware of the sound of feet shuffling around the corner.

At once, they both looked around, Shouto's eyes widening and Izuku feeling himself jump a bit at the sound of ice immediately beginning to crack in the recommended student's palm.

"Who's there?" He sharply snapped. "I know there's someone there, you can't hide."

There was a short pause around the corner, as though whoever was there was debating whether to just hide or run away - and then, shuffling awkwardly out, Nejire flashed them both a guilty look, raising her hand in greeting. Izuku blinked in surprise at her sudden appearance - gone was her usual happy smile, replaced by an uncertain and slightly shaky expression as she glanced over at Shouto, and from the way her shoulders were slumped slightly, it was made clear to both boys that she had probably heard everything Shouto had said.

"You were spying on us?" Shouto gave her a menacing glare, the ice in his palm continuing to crack.

"N-not on purpose," She weakly defended herself, and Izuku, feeling the air turn a bit colder, acted automatically, quickly walking over to stand slightly in front of Nejire and turning to face Shouto, "I was just … I was looking for Midoriya because I didn't - uh - well, I didn't trust you around him, after what happened in the forest when you and Kendou smacked him out of the sky, and then you attacked him and froze him and - er - anyway, I'm sorry. I didn't expect to hear you say … you know … all that."

Shouto merely continued to glare at her for a moment - and then, with a small sigh, the ice he was using to intimidate her stopped cracking in his palm, although he still shot her a menacing look as he shook it out of his hand.

"You won't tell," He made clear, "anyone about what you heard."

"Yep!" Nejire immediately agreed, crossing her heart. "Not a word! I know how to keep a secret, Todoroki, so I won't tell anyone! Consider my lips sealed!"

Shouto merely hummed at that, clearly doubting it as he began to look away from the two of them standing before him - but Nejire awkwardly clearing her throat caught his attention again as she gave him an uncertain look.

"But … uh … are you sure you're okay?" She asked in a quiet voice. "A lot of that sounded … really sad."

Shouto merely stared at her for a moment over his shoulder - almost as though he were taken aback by the question - before he let out a sharp breath and turned away from both of them.

"I'm fine," He said shortly, "and I don't need pity from either of you. That's all I wanted to talk to you about, Midoriya - I have my answers about Kendou. Don't tell her or anyone else about what I told you about my family."

With that, he began to stomp his way out of the tunnel, back into the sunlight so he could head off to do whatever he needed to before they had to return -

"Wait a second, Todoroki."

Shouto paused at the quiet voice asking for him to stop, blinking a bit before he turned back around. Izuku, back in the tunnel, let out a small sigh as he stood there for a moment, unsure about what to do now that he had Shouto's attention, before he turned back to glance at Nejire, giving her a small smile.

"Uh … can you wait just a second, Hadou?" He asked her quietly. "I just … have something to talk to him about."

Um … sure."

Nodding, Izuku turned back to where Shouto was standing, and moved to join him out in the sunlight. Shouto, for his part, merely stared blankly at Izuku as he approached him, watching as Izuku closed his eyes and turned his head down towards the ground, his brow furrowing slightly as he thought about how he wanted to say what was on his mind.

"I just … had a question," He gave his classmate an uncertain look, deciding to get this out of the way before he got any further, "does … does Yaoyorozu know about all of this? W-what happened to you?"

Shouto blinked slightly, as though in surprise, and Izuku gulped nervously when he realized how out of nowhere that question was.

"She - she told us that you two were friends once," He quickly clarified, "back when you were kids. But … but you had a falling out."

The recommended student stared for a moment, and then sighed and shook his head.

"No." He answered shortly. "She doesn't. After what happened with my mother … I ended up lashing out at her, and … well, it resulted in how our relationship is today, if she told you about it. Besides, I don't think her own old man would tell her anything about what happened - he's got issues of his own. I didn't need to add any stress to her."

"I … I see." Izuku slowly nodded, and let out another sigh as he closed his eyes, debating how to even begin this.

Because it was … well, either going to get him punched, or frozen again. Either or.

"Todoroki," Izuku hesitated for another moment, taking a small breath - and then, nodding to himself, opened his eyes to look back up at Shouto, "I'm … I'm not gonna pretend that I understand - o-or know - what you've been through. It sounds … it sounds genuinely awful, and - and I'm sorry that you were forced to deal with that."

Shouto merely stood there in silence, giving Izuku a small glare over his shoulder as the green-haired boy took a deep breath, and the recommended student's foot tapped against the ground.

"But …" Izuku licked his lips to moisturize them, feeling his heart beating rather quickly at what he was about to say, "… but if it's okay for me to say … I don't think you owe your brother anything. And - and you don't have anything to prove to your father."

There was a short pause, and the fact that Izuku wasn't suddenly a popsicle again seemed to be relatively good news and a sign he could keep talking. Very thankfully at the moment, Nejire was keeping quiet behind him from her spot in the tunnel, letting him talk as she stood near where the two boys were talking, clearly listening.

"Back during our fight on the pond, I … I noticed that you were shivering. I had thought it was strange - Haya described you using your quirk with both fire and ice, and you managed to thaw me out at the end. I had thought … I thought it was foolish," Izuku hesitated again, before shaking his head and continuing on, "because if you had used your fire against me, there would've been no way for me to avoid that. You would've won our fight a lot sooner - or you would've realized I didn't have the points earlier, and you would've gotten Occhan. Because you didn't use your fire, you hindered yourself - you were shivering, so that means that your quirk is like mine and it can hurt you."

Shouto remained quiet at that.

"But I … like I said, I don't think you owe your brother anything. I - I think you're aware that he doesn't treat you right. And … and I know it's not my place to tell you how to treat your family," He quickly added in, "but … but if you want to only use your ice to win … from what I saw, it's not possible. If you go up against Kendou with only your ice, she'll beat you."

Shouto, for his part, merely huffed at that.

"What," He raised his eyebrows, "are you saying that you want me to beat your friend?"

"No," Izuku shook his head, and a frown appeared on his face, "but if there's one thing I dislike, Todoroki, it's when people don't actually try."

"…"

"I …" He hesitated, and glanced down at his hand, staring at the red lines on the skin of his palms leading up to his fingers as he sighed, "… my quirk is dangerous. Dangerous enough to myself and everyone around me that I have to use a support item to lower my blasts. And if I'm being honest … there's a part of me that hates it. I hate not being able to use my quirk safely, I hate that I can't control it. But I at least understand why I have to use the gauntlet - to make sure that when I use my quirk, it isn't going to hurt anyone else. It's like I understand how Hadou," He turned to glance around at her, "has to manually use her own quirk to not harm herself. She has to hold herself back, or if she goes full power, she'll be knocked out for a while, like what happened to her at the USJ."

There was a short pause.

"But you …" He swallowed briefly, "… you're purposefully sandbagging because you're being petty. I - I know you have your reasons, but - but everyone that's been fighting today has been giving their all, and Kendou's like me - she - she doesn't have proper control of her quirk, but she's still trying to do her best. And you … it looks like you're not even taking this seriously."

Shouto merely glared.

"I'm not saying that to antagonize you," Izuku clarified, "but you said that … when you talk about your flames, you make them sound as though they're an extension of your father and your brother. But … but your flames are yours. Not your father's, and not your brother's. Everyone is out here giving their all, and you're deliberately holding back. I know it seems hypocritical of me to say that since I have to hold myself back, but … you said a lot of stuff about considering Kendou your rival. That would mean that you should consider her an equal to you. So … so you holding back while she gives her all, and tries her best despite not having a handle on her quirk while you can fully control yours …" He felt himself frown again, "… it's insulting."

Finally, silence fell again between both of the boys as Izuku made his thoughts clear, and Nejire, for her part, kept quiet so as not to interrupt the tense atmosphere that had suddenly erupted between the both of them. 

And then, with a short sigh, Shouto fully turned away from where he had been glaring at Izuku from over his shoulder.

"You are right about one thing, Midoriya."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked.

"You," Shouto's voice came out coldly, "have no idea what you're talking about."

With that, he began to stomp away from the two other students near the tunnel. Izuku only watched with a slightly tense look as Shouto walked away from him, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he stormed off.

"I don't really care what kind of relationship Kendou has with All Might," He made clear to Izuku, not even turning to look back at him, "but I will beat her with just my ice. Be sure of that."

He then turned around the corner at last, and vanished completely from view.

From where the recommended student left him, Izuku merely stared after Shouto, conflict and anxiety twisting in his stomach - he knew, then and there, that he probably shouldn't have just let Shouto walk off like that, and should have said something a bit more comforting. But still … what he said, he believed, had some merit of truth, and it was a bit too late to take any of it back, letting out a small sigh as he once again shivered in the open air.

And then came the sudden feeling of someone patting his shoulder lightly, and Izuku, blinking as he remembered that someone else was still there, quickly looked around to see that Nejire had come out of the tunnel to stand beside him, giving him a sad look.

"Uh … wowie,"  She tried to giggle lightly, although that was marred by how shaken and concerned she looked, "that was … a lot of stuff to learn, huh?"

"Yeah … yeah." He nodded.

"I'm … I'm not sure if I wanted to actually know all of that, though."

"I … definitely didn't want to know," Izuku sighed, turning to look back around at Nejire properly as she took a small step back, absently beginning to play with the end of her hair as she looked off at where Shouto had vanished around the corner with a worried look, "didn't … really expect all of that, honestly."

"Uh-huh," Nejire slowly nodded, standing still for a moment before she glanced down at her shoes, "and … and I know that I said that I wouldn't tell anyone about what I heard, but … but do you think we should tell the teachers? I bet All Might or Aizawa-sensei would want to hear about … you know … all that. Endeavor and his brother."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment - and then he sighed and shook his head, "… I don't think we should, Hadou. I mean, I want to, but … but I feel like it would just be betraying Todoroki if we went behind his back and told someone else about it, after we promised not to. Besides, we … would they even believe us? All Might would, probably, but Aizawa-sensei would probably ask for proof, and … well, other than Todoroki's word, we wouldn't have anything."

Grimacing slightly, he looked back down at the ground while Nejire frowned.

"As much as I hate to," He bit his lip, "we … we should probably keep this to ourselves. For now, at least. Let's … let's not tell anyone unless Todoroki says that it's okay to. Which … I don't think he will, but - but just to be safe."

"Okay …" Nejire nodded again, pouting slightly down at the ground - and then she quickly raised her hands to lightly smack her cheeks, causing Izuku to blink and look around at her in surprise as she began hopping up and down. And then, once she got her hops in, she landed back on her feet and tried to smile at Izuku again.

"Okay! So sad time's over then, I guess. Let's … let's go grab some lunch!" She tried to enthusiastically say. "I don't know about you, Midoriya, but I'm starving! I had a big breakfast this morning before I came to school, so I had a lot of energy - which kinda seems like a bad idea, now that I'm thinking about it, what if someone punched me in the stomach and I puked? That'd be gross, wouldn't it? But anyway, I gotta refill! We only have an hour left, so let's go and - wait," She suddenly blinked, "have you taken a shower yet? I just realized, your hair is still kinda stiff! Are you cold?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, and raised his hand up to his hair to pat it. Sure enough, the rather strange intensity of the conversation with Shouto had made him all but forget that he was very nearly frozen in a block of ice not half an hour ago, and he felt another shiver pass through him as he felt how dry and stiff his hair still was at the moment. Nejire, for her part, looked concerned as he very obviously began trembling again as his body reminded him that he was still very cold.

"Uh, oh," She said worriedly, patting his shoulder again to get his attention, "you should go warm up! In the showers! I know there are a few around here, so let's go get you warmed up!"

"Er - r-right," Izuku nodded, feeling his face turn a bit warm at least at the hand she kept on his shoulder (that, plus telling him that she would help him get 'warmed up' made him gulp very nervously), but still knew that she was right - at this point, he'd been standing around and moving around for close to half an hour and he was still shivering, so a nice warm shower was more than needed at this point. So together, the two of them began walking back into the tunnel that would lead into the stadium in search of the showers.

As they walked together, Nejire put her hands into her pockets, whistling a small tune briefly as she tried to think of a topic that would move them away from the pretty dark conversation they just had with Shouto - and then she blinked.

"Oh!" She gasped, drawing Izuku's attention back to her as he continued to shiver. "I just thought of something, Midoriya! I was always curious about this, but what's your favorite food?"

"Huh? My - my favorite food?" He repeated, a bit confused.

"Yeah! Like, your comfort food! The food you really like to eat when you're sad, or need a pick-me-up! Or if it's something that you really like!" Nejire nodded enthusiastically. "Like, for me, it's not really a food, but I really like jasmine tea. It's super sweet! Do you have a favorite tea?"

"Uh … well, it's not tea, but … but I do drink black coffee sometimes."

"Ooooooh! That's super bitter! I'm surprised you like that!"

"Yeah, uh … well, it's Kendou's favorite drink," Izuku explained with a small smile, looking around for the showers and being unaware of Nejire blinking at that reveal, "and after all the time we trained together, I just … kind of took a liking to it after she brought her own coffee to train in the morning. Er - not that it would be my first choice if someone was asking me if I wanted something to drink, of course, but … well, it kind of grew on me after a while."

"Ehhh … so you and Kendou trained together?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked a bit at the question, and then, only then, did he realize his slip up, feeling himself straighten up a bit and go red as his eyes went wide. "Oh, uh - w-well, yeah. We - me and Ochako - we, uh - we met her back in middle school, and since we were all going for UA, we just … decided to train together. We all became friends while we were getting ready for the entrance exam."

It was technically the truth, Izuku winced, and the story that Eijirou, Setsuna and Yui had been told. Just … leaving out the other big parts, like how they were trained by the Number One Hero and Itsuka ended up getting his quirk.

"Oh, that's cool!" Nejire clapped her hands together, and then blinked as something seemed to come back to her. "Wait a sec, I got distracted by our talk about tea! And coffee! And training! I was asking you about your favorite food! So what is it? Huh?"

"R-right, uh -" Izuku gulped a bit at the topic changing yet again for the third time in the last minute, but that was pretty much just how Nejire was, so he was somewhat used to it by now, "- it's - it's katsudon."

"Katsudon …" Nejire repeated after him, looking thoughtful.

"Y-yeah. My mom used to make me them all the time when I was little, and I ended up … well … kind of getting addicted," He chuckled a bit sheepishly at himself, "I don't think I've actually had katsudon in a long time, though - it's been so busy, I usually just eat what my mom gives me, everything she makes is delicious. T-that, and due to my exercise plan, I try to eat a bit healthier."

"Ooooh … so your mom is a good cook? That's awesome! I love my mom's own cooking, she's actually a chef, did you know that? Works in a high quality restaurant, and loves making me and Yuuyu something when we're hungry, even if it's not during breakfast, lunch or dinner! But she also likes junk food, which is kind of funny, since she can cook - like, literally anything! Oh, but wait," She blinked interestingly, looking around at Izuku as he slowly nodded along to what she was rambling about, "back to what you were saying about katsudon - would you eat it if it was offered?"

"Hm? Uh  …  yeah, I guess I would," Izuku nodded, a bit confused at how this conversation was bouncing around as he turned to look around again - and then blinking when he saw the door to a shower room. 

"Oh, uh - there it is," He quickly pointed to the shower door, sighing a bit in relief as he walked towards it, and pushed the door open as he glanced back at Nejire as she paused in her step, seeing him smiling weakly at her, "I - I guess we're here. T-thank you for bringing me here, Hadou. I'll just … go ahead and get warmed up."

"Oh! Right!" Nejire quickly nodded, shaken out of the conversation and looking somewhat disappointed that it ended abruptly - but then she blinked, and she quickly shook her head as a smile returned to her face, and quickly turned on her heel to start jogging away.

Izuku blinked a bit at her abrupt exit from their conversation, not even saying bye as she quickly rounded the corner and vanished from view, but then he let out a small sigh and shrugged a bit - well, maybe he shouldn't be that surprised, they were currently in the middle of their lunch break, and she mentioned that she was pretty hungry, so she was probably hurrying to go grab something to eat before they had to go back.

Well … it wasn't like he wasn't hungry either, he grimaced slightly as his stomach growled a bit at the reminder of food, so he should probably get to showering and warming up so he could also run upstairs to grab something to eat before they had to get back out onto the field. But for now, he had to get in the shower and try to warm up, and hopefully he would be able to take his mind off of the horrible things Shouto had just revealed to him - he'd have time to worry about his fellow classmate later.

Thankfully, the changing room he had entered had a few spare boys' gym uniforms of all sizes for him to pick through once he was done with his shower, Izuku sighed in relief as he began taking off his soaking wet uniform - it was apparent that this room was for situations like this, what with the radiator on the side for him to put his wet socks and underwear on so that they would be nice and warm for when he was done with his shower. He knew that he wouldn't be in the shower for too long, turning the water up pretty high and wincing when he went beneath it and felt how hot it was on his skin, but thankfully it didn't take long for him to get used to it and try to warm himself up underneath the hot water, not really trying to clean himself but taking the time to try and warm up his body.

Standing underneath the showerhead for a few moments, Izuku let out a small sigh as he raised his hands to his hair, scratching his scalp a bit as he shivered again, even under the hot water as he tried to relax his sore muscles after being jerked around by Mei's inventions. He felt so sore and tired from the last two rounds, and the worst part was that he wasn't even done today - he had at least four more rounds to get through, at the minimum. So it was inevitable that at the end of the day, he was going to be absolutely exhausted - honestly, he wouldn't be surprised if he went home tonight and the only thing he did was pass out the moment he got within walking distance of the couch or his bed.

God, so much had already happened … running through the first round, nearly launching himself into space with Ochako, their crash landing onto Itsuka and him accidentally getting first place, which ended up putting the ten million point bounty on his head. The second round having to cooperate with Katsuki, getting choked for the assumption that Izuku had beaten him once, and then chased around by all of their classmates in the forest, getting jerked around uncomfortably all over the place by Mei's inventions. 

And then his crash into Ochako, landing in the pond, swimming to shore, and then …

… then …

Izuku found himself faltering in his thoughts underneath the warm water, staring ahead for a moment. Due to the absolute chaos that he had to go through during the last few minutes of the second round, he had almost forgotten about … what had happened with Ochako after they had gotten to the shore of the pond. With her laying on his back, and then when their eyes had met. 

Staring blankly ahead for a moment, remembering the look on Ochako's face as he stared into her warm eyes … Izuku let out a short breath, shaking his head and feeling his cheeks turn red as he turned in the shower.

Honestly, he had … absolutely no idea what was going on with him today. He hadn't really gotten much time to think about it due to the breakneck speed of everything that had happened, but when his thoughts turned to his best friend, he just … he just felt weird. He hadn't much time to put any thought into it as everytime they had a … moment, he decided to call those awkward situations with a small blush, it was always immediately interrupted.

But he could tell that … that something was going on. He just couldn't figure out what.

Letting out a small groan, Izuku felt his shoulders sag slightly, staring down at the floor. He tried to run through all the times something happened with her and he felt weird - which was kind of a lot, he gulped. Back in the first round, he gave her the piggy-back ride - and the feeling of her arms wrapped around his neck and his hands on her thighs made him shake nervously even now in the shower. And then in the forest, when she had given him that comfort he had desperately needed, and he had hugged her - and the way he had felt as though there were butterflies in his stomach as they kept their arms around each other for a lot longer than necessary. And then up in the air, when Ochako had first talked through the comms and Izuku felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest at the sound of her voice directly speaking in his ears.

All three of these things weren't like they never happened before - he'd given her piggy-back rides before, since middle school, even, Ochako hugged him all the time, and they talked through the phone all the time too. So why was it now that he was feeling weird doing things that he'd done with her their entire lives?

Sighing, Izuku closed his eyes. There was just … something wrong with him today. Anytime he hugged Ochako, or was close to her, he felt like his stomach was twisting, but it wasn't like … it wasn't like it was a bad feeling. No, like he had felt back at the pond with her, it wasn't like these were bad or uncomfortable feelings. It made him feel like …

… like he was walking on air. Like someone had injected him with a needle full of happiness. Like when he imagined Ochako's face, or her laughter, a shot of dopamine would shoot directly through him.

But … but why was he feeling this way? Izuku felt his brow scrunch - why did thinking of Ochako make him feel so embarrassed but happy? Like he was thinking of something forbidden when he thought of how she looked after they had gotten out of the pond, with her wet hair hanging around her and clinging slightly to her face … or how nice it felt to be wrapped up in a hug by her, her arms wrapped around his neck and pressing herself against him … or …

… or how nice and soft her thighs had felt in his hands -

Izuku stopped at that thought, staring blankly ahead - and then, immediately and without any hesitation, headbutted the wall, squeezing his eyes shut as his face went much redder at the thought that suddenly invaded his mind.

God, what was going on with him today?!

With another low sigh, Izuku raised his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, and then used his other hand to turn the dial on the shower off. Thoughts aside about Ochako's … body, he thought with a heavy blush, it was clear that there was something weird going on with him, and he prayed that he didn't end up doing anything stupid before he figured out what it was. But there was one thing that he couldn't deny, he frowned.

These weird feelings he was having towards Ochako - they felt … familiar, somehow. As though he had felt them before, but he couldn't think of a time when he had. He just …

… he needed some time to think about it later, he nodded to himself, when he wasn't in such a stressful situation with the sports festival. Right now, he was hungry, he was tired, but he needed to push past them to concentrate - he still had the rest of the day to get through, and a few rounds of the sports festival to fight through. So he needed to put these weird thoughts about Ochako aside for the moment, get something to eat, and figure things out later.

Once he was finally out of the shower, Izuku breathed a sigh of relief as he moved to get dressed in warmer clothes again - the shower definitely helped out with his shivering, but he still felt a bit cold, for some reason, as he dried off and put on the spare uniform, checking his socks and feeling relieved they were at least dry enough to put back on. Getting dressed again, Izuku checked his reflection and winced - his hair being pushed back by the shower showed off the scar on his forehead, so he was quick to bring his fringe back down to cover it. Nothing much he could do about the one on his cheek, he frowned, but at least the one on his forehead could be covered by his hair.

Nodding slightly to himself, Izuku pushed the door to the shower room open, looking up so he could figure out how to get upstairs and find the cafeteria -

- and as his gaze flickered up towards the end of the hall automatically, he only barely caught a glimpse of a familiar black ponytail disappearing around the corner.

Standing there for a brief moment, Izuku blinked slightly - wait, that was … was that Itsuka? Feeling himself straighten up, Izuku started walking at a brisk pace towards where he had seen the ponytail vanish, and quickly looked around the corner - and sure enough, his eyes did not deceive him, as it was Itsuka walking slowly down the hall towards … well, it seemed like she was going somewhere, but he had no idea what else would be down on this floor.

"Er - Kendou?" Izuku called out to her, and found himself feeling confused when she jumped at the sound of his voice. Furrowing his brow, Izuku moved around the corner and towards her, feeling a bit more unsure as she continued to stare forward for a moment, not looking back at him at all as though she had been frozen by the sound of his voice - and then, as he approached her, she quickly looked around her shoulder, and he found himself blinking at the utterly stiff smile on her face.

"Uh … hey, Izuku," She managed to say through her teeth, "er - what's up?"

"U-um - n-not much," Izuku shrugged, standing before her and feeling a bit concerned as he glanced down at her hand being held to her chest and wincing at how purple it was starting to look, "are - are you okay? H-how's your hand?"

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka tried to laugh nonchalantly, although there was a slight shaking in her voice that Izuku had no idea was there for as her eyes darted away from him, "well, y'know, Izuku, uh … it … still hurts. I was - uh - I was going to Recovery Girl's office to get it looked at."

"Oh," Izuku blinked, "oh, uh, yeah, Kendou, uh - y-yeah, you should get that looked at."

"T-that I am," Itsuka nodded awkwardly, turning back around, "so, uh … well … I guess I'm gonna go do that now. S-see you, Izuku."

With that, she began to turn back around, clearly intending to head towards where Recovery Girl's office apparently was to have her hand looked at - but as she turned, Izuku, for some reason, felt like there was something wrong.

It had been … well, it was pretty obvious that there was something wrong. The way that Itsuka was carrying herself was … different than how she normally did. Her shoulders were slumped forward, her back a bit hunched, and she turned to stare back down at her shoes as she began to walk away from him, walking at speeds a lot faster than he was used to - as though she was trying to hurry away from him. It was so unlike how she normally carried herself - full of confidence and assurance - that it took Izuku aback, staring at the back of one of his closest friends in concern. It had almost been like …

… like when they had met Nighteye for the first time on the beach, when he had insulted her directly to her face, and she had tried to put on a brave face when trying to excuse herself.

And if that was going on here … that meant … something must've happened to make her feel down on herself.

Feeling his eyes snap open, Izuku straightened back up.

"Uh - w-wait a second, Kendou!"

Izuku winced a bit at the small stutter in his request, but luckily for him, his training partner did pause at the sound of him calling out to her again, glancing over her shoulder at him. Izuku stood there for a moment, not entirely sure what to do now that he had her attention as he gulped - and then he quickly shook his head, and jogged forward so that he could stand beside her, Itsuka blinking at him in surprise.

"W-why don't I come with you?" He quickly asked, unaware of Itsuka stiffening slightly at that inquiry as he put his hands in his pockets. "I, uh, I don't have anything going on right now - and, you know, I can wait for Recovery Girl to heal your hand, and then we could go get lunch together. I-if you haven't eaten yet, that is."

"Uh …" Itsuka faltered - and unaware of Izuku, her face becoming a bit redder and her stomach twisting slightly with guilt - but before she could protest, Izuku already began walking towards where Recovery Girl's office might be, deciding to lead the way. Itsuka sputtered a bit before she moved to catch up with him before she could think, and together, they walked through the halls towards where Recovery Girl had taken up residence.

Of course, as they rounded the corner, neither of them noticed a familiar blue-haired girl appearing from around the corner, carrying a tray of katsudon towards the showers, and then blinking when she glanced around and saw a familiar red shoe disappear around the other corner down the opposite hall.

Once they had gotten to the office that had the large 'Recovery Girl's Temporary Nurse's Office' over the door, Izuku knocked on the door as he nervously called out Recovery Girl's name to inquire if she was in there - Itsuka had been weirdly quiet for the last few minutes as they walked together, staring down at her feet while he tried to make light conversation but got pretty much non-answers and hums in return.

So there was … definitely something going on, Izuku bit his lip in worry, but he couldn't really put his finger on what.

Hopefully, at the sound of Recovery Girl calling out that she was still there, he had the thought that maybe distracting Itsuka with getting her hand healed might give him a chance to figure out what exactly was going on.

As he opened the door to let them both walk in, he saw Recovery Girl and Himiko sitting together in their chairs, Himiko rolling a pencil between her fingers (and, unaware to any of them, raising her eyebrows when Itsuka glanced up at her, and a pout immediately appeared on her face), and Recovery Girl looking somewhat serious as she sat comfortably in her chair. What he didn't expect, however, was the appearance of the frail man in another chair, hunched over and looking around at who was opening the door, steam blowing off of him.

"All Might?" Izuku blinked a bit, surprised. "Why are you down here?"

"Well, I was summoned down here for an inspection," All Might explained with a small smile as both his students entered the room, the pro hero's eyes flickering down to Itsuka's hand and grimacing slightly as he dabbed at his bloody lips with a handkerchief, "Recovery Girl wanted me to come down and do a small check up, see how I'm doing after our last checkup a few weeks ago. I was running a bit late, though - we were summoned for a brief teacher's meeting soon after break started, and I got a bit sidetracked by Endeavor afterwards, so I only just arrived."

At the sound of the Number Two Hero's name, Izuku felt his stomach tense.

"As for you, Young Kendou," All Might turned towards where his pupil was walking into the office, Recovery Girl pointing towards a stool for her to sit down on while she grabbed some wrappings for her hand to start the healing process, "I've been watching you during the festival - you've done very well so far."

"Yeah," Itsuka grimaced slightly, sitting down on the stool and holding out her hand for Recovery Girl to smooch, while not looking like she agreed with All Might's statement at all, "I … guess. Yeah."

"Well, we teachers are aware that you haven't exactly had it easy so far," All Might frowned, glancing down at his feet, "what with the behaviors of Young Monoma and Young Shinsou, so the fact that you've handled them about as well as you have is commendable - even if Aizawa may be talking to you later about your striking Young Shinsou at the end of his match. Just know that he won't be too hard on you about that."

"Yeah … okay, I - probably should've expected that," Itsuka scowled, "but sure, I'll take the lecture."

"Well, truth be told, Young Kendou, we were a bit more … er … nervous about Young Bakugou's participation in the second round," All Might grimaced a bit as Izuku nodded a bit at that, completely seeing where his mentor was coming from with that, "so we had been caught quite off guard when it turned out that the dynamic of your own team ended up being … er … complicated."

"Well, Vlad King is already planning to talk to Monoma about his behavior," Recovery Girl sighed as she finished kissing Itsuka's hand, a wave of fatigue moving over the class rep as the elderly nurse began wrapping her hand up, "and I believe we'll be having a few teachers speak to Shinsou as well, for both of their attempts to push you out of the round. Fairly unheroic behavior for two of our students to have, especially for someone who's trying to get into the hero course."

"I …" Izuku hesitated, feeling himself frown, "… I guess that means that Shinsou's chances of getting into the hero course …?"

"They were never gonna be that simple, cutie," Himiko giggled, waving her hand in the air, "I had to jump through more hoops to get into the hero course than I could count, no way the teachers are just gonna pull someone out of the general studies' course just for doing well at the festival."

"While I wouldn't put it exactly like that," All Might shrugged, "Young Toga is somewhat correct. The festival is merely a chance for general studies students to show that they have what it takes to be in the hero course, and then, throughout the semester, a few tests and exams would be conducted by the hero course to see if the student has what it takes to keep up with the workload. Just doing well in the festival doesn't guarantee that a general studies student can not only keep up with other hero students who had more experience than them, but also get caught up on everything they missed in the time they weren't in the hero course."

"So Shinsou's chances aren't shot," Recovery Girl shook her head, "but now that we know he's deliberately antagonizing others, he's got quite a hill to climb, that's for sure. Not to mention that we're now suspicious about why so many students failed the first round - we'll be reviewing the tapes to see what we might've missed in the excitement. Now then, dearie," She turned back to Itsuka, "your hand's all wrapped up and good to go - it'll be fine for when you start your first round, just keep the bandages on until then."

"Yes, ma'am," She nodded, flexing her fingers and only wincing slightly. From the other side of the room, All Might let out a small sigh and then turned towards his successor.

"Now then, Young Kendou," All Might tapped his fingers against his knees, "there was something else us teachers were curious about - from what we understood about Shinsou's quirk, it takes a jolt to shake the hypnotized person out of the quirk, or at least that's what we found after reviewing Young Shinsou's info in the quirk registry. What exactly did you do to break out?"

"Uh …" Itsuka hesitated then, staring at her mentor for a second before her gaze flickered briefly to Himiko as the older student began playing with her pencil again in her boredom. Izuku, meanwhile, also cleared his throat as he stood near the door, getting All Might's attention - and then, right about then, was when it seemed to register to both adults in the room why the other two were hesitant to talk, glancing down at Itsuka's broken hand, and Recovery Girl quickly nodded.

"I see, doctor-patient confidentiality," She said in understanding, and then turned to Himiko, "Toga, give us the room for a bit."

"Awww," Himiko pretended to pout in disappointment, "no room for me in here? Kicking a poor girl while she's down? Not welcome upstairs, and not welcome down here."

"That's right, no one likes you or wants you around." Recovery Girl dryly confirmed, rolling her eyes as Himiko pretended to tear up. "So go and - I don't know, flirt with some cheerleader from America. I don't quite care, as long as you're back down here before lunch ends."

There was a short pause in the room - and then Himiko slowly rose from her seat, putting the pencil down on the table as a wide, happy smile appeared on her face, and Recovery Girl immediately realized her mistake as she let out a groan.

"I can't believe this," Himiko sniffed, raising her hand as though to wipe an imaginary tear from her eye, "Granny is finally letting me go off to flirt with other people. I - I thought this day would never come."

"Yes, yes," Recovery Girl waved her hand in the air, prepared for a headache she'd have to deal with later, "now please -"

"Oh, how lonely I've been! For so many years, not knowing the touch of another!"

"I caught you trying to sneak a student into your room two months ago, Toga. Now -"

"I think it's finally time … time to find someone to take me back to the nurse's office, and rid me of my virginity -"

"Would you get out already?!" Recovery Girl finally barked, and Himiko quickly slipped by the others in the office, giggling mischievously. "And don't you dare think of doing anything like that in the office, Toga!"

"Oh, calm down, Granny, I'm only joking!" Himiko opened the door and stepped out - only to poke her head back in, pulling on her eyelid as she looked around at the elderly nurse with a grin and sticking her tongue out somewhat. "I had someone take my virginity in the nurse's office last year."

She quickly ducked back out as Recovery Girl chucked her cane at her head, closing the door with a snap.

With a sigh, All Might shook his head slightly, and then turned back towards where Itsuka was still sitting, suppressing a small yawn from the elderly nurse using her quirk on her.

"So … Young Kendou," He gave her a serious look as Izuku moved across the office, handing Recovery Girl her cane back nervously, "I … am to assume that you broke out of Young Shinsou's quirk with …"

"With One for All," She nodded in confirmation, "yeah."

"Hm … well, I suppose I should ask how you did that? Was his quirk weak to -"

"No," She shook her head, sitting forward as Izuku looked around interestingly, heavily resisting the urge to whip out his notebook at whatever info about the quirk she was about to drop, "it was … Shinsou's quirk was strong. No way I would've been able to break out of it without One for All. But when he had me in the trance, something … happened."

Closing her eyes, she let out another sigh as she turned her head towards the floor.

"I had … some kind of … vision." She wrapped her arms around her waist, frowning slightly. "It was like - I looked around, and there were a couple of people watching me from the shadows. I couldn't tell how many, but I think that … that they were the reason I managed to cut through Shinsou's brainwashing. I think … it sounds crazy, but I think they snapped my fingers for me."

Above her, the urge to write this down almost overwhelmed Izuku, barely managing to put his notebook back in his pocket before he whipped it out and started scribbling without thinking.

"Once they appeared, it was like … I could only move my fingers, and I just … snapped them together, and I broke out of the trance. But the thing is … when I was in that trance, and looking around at all their eyes, it was like … I could've sworn that I saw you in there, All Might."

Shaking her head, she let out a shuddering breath and opened her eyes again.

"I have no idea what it was," She turned to glance up at All Might to gauge his reaction, hoping that he would be looking like he understood what was going on, "but … could it be possible that those were … they were the people who had One for All before me? Maybe?"

As she looked up at All Might, however, what she saw wasn't a comforting smile or an assuring grin - but a look of terror on All Might's face as he looked like he was seeing ghosts this time.

"T-that's creepy …" He shivered, "… what the heck?"

"Huh?!" She squeaked, eyes widening in horror as she straightened up in her seat. "I thought you'd have some idea what that was!"

"O-oh, no, Young Kendou, I - I do know what you're talking about! Just took me aback, is all." Quickly shaking his head, All Might smacked his hollow cheeks to refocus himself. 

"I … also had similar visions like that in the past, back in my younger days," He explained, "I believe that it's a sign that you may be getting a better grasp on One for All."

"Really …?" Itsuka didn't sound sure about that.

"Indeed. I couldn't tell you what exactly the visions are, but …" All Might hesitated then, and then shook his head and straightened his back. "… but when I asked my own master about them, she told me that she believed it to be traces of something the previous users left behind in One for All."

"Huh?" Itsuka tilted her head slightly, while Izuku looked like he was going to have an aneurysm without writing any of this down, helped by Recovery Girl poking him with his cane when it looked like he was about to give in to his urges and whip out his notebook. "Traces?"

"Indeed," All Might nodded, "they're not something that could directly interfere with you, and you can't interfere with them - they're just there. If what I'm thinking is true … well, it wasn't the vision that got rid of the brainwashing Young Shinsou put on you. I believe that when you saw the vision, strong emotions - such as fear - allowed you to briefly overcome the brainwashing and use One for All to break out of it."

"I …" Itsuka hesitated for another moment - and then her shoulders sagged in disappointment, "… still don't really get it."

"Don't get too hung up on it!" All Might pointed at her with both hands, sounding slightly annoyed by her lackluster reaction. "You've still got the rest of the sports festival to get through, remember? Now that your hand has been healed, you should be getting ready for your first fight."

"I … guess so," Itsuka sighed, raising her hands to brush the black bangs away from her eyes as she stood up, stretching slightly, "anyway, uh … yeah, you're - you're right. I'll just … put it aside for now. Things to think about later."

"Indeed," All Might also straightened up in his seat, rubbing his forehead a bit as though he had a headache, "now then - you two have at least a half hour left. I would advise you to at least go grab something quick to eat - you're not going to be having very long to prepare for your first round, so it would be better to go get something in you now than to wait until later."

"R-right," Izuku quickly nodded, straightening up from his spot on the wall as well, as Itsuka turned away from him, "thank you, All Might."

"No problem, Young Midoriya - and both of you, break a leg out there."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… er … not … you know what I mean," All Might sweated nervously.

"We'll … definitely try," Itsuka sighed, and moved towards the door. Izuku felt himself blink as she quickly left without him, feeling himself jump slightly, and quickly moved out the door to catch up with her, quickly thanking Recovery Girl and All Might for their time and excusing them as he shut the door behind him.

Looking around for where Itsuka was quickly walking away, Izuku gulped a bit as he started jogging after her.

"Er - h-hey, Kendou!" He quickly called out to her, pushing all he just heard about One for All aside as he quickly caught up. "Hold on a second!"

"Can't," She shook her head, not looking back at him at all, "just … gotta go grab something really quick. I'll see you back at the -"

"Kendou, what's going on?"

Izuku winced a bit at how bluntly the question came out, but alas, it was a bit too late to really take it back now that he had asked it. Itsuka, for her part, finally froze in her step, stopping her attempts to walk away from him, and stared blankly ahead for a moment before she finally glanced back at him, seeing how red his face had become but still staring at her with a determined look, before she awkwardly cleared her throat.

"Uh … nothing," She shrugged her shoulders, wincing to herself at how unconvincing she was coming across as, "nothing's up, Izuku, just … really busy day, y'know -"

"No."

She stopped talking at that interruption, with Izuku wincing slightly but still shaking his head and trying to keep the momentum of confronting her going.

"N-no," He repeated, a bit lamer this time, "I, uh - I don't believe that, Kendou. I - I know something's up, because - because this is how you were acting when we met Nighteye for the first time. W-with you not being … well … you."

He knew that came out sounding absolutely stupid, but Itsuka, at least, didn't call him out on it, which gave him the incentive to keep going.

"I … I won't pressure you into telling me exactly what's going on," He said in an assuring voice, "but I just … I wanna …"

He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, speaking in a quiet voice.

"… I wanna be there for you. Because I know that you have to be struggling with something right now, and I  … I don't want you to go through it alone."

With that, he finished his stupid little speech, not entirely sure if Itsuka was convinced by it. There was a long moment of silence in the hall, with the two of them standing there, Izuku looking at Itsuka as she turned away from him with both her hands hanging limply by her sides -

- and then she sniffed, and Izuku blinked as she glanced around at him to show the tears beginning to build in her eyes as she turned to stare down at her feet, and he felt his heart clench painfully in his chest.

"I …" She said in a quiet voice, and then let out a shuddering sigh, "… I messed up, Izuku. I - I really messed up."

His brow furrowed, Izuku took a step closer. "You messed up? H-how?"

"I … I can't really … I can't go into it," She shook her head, looking slightly terrified for a moment when he had asked her that, and when he quickly nodded to show that he understood and wouldn't pressure her into talking, she bit her lip, "but I did … I said something to - to - to someone, and made her uncomfortable, and then I just … I did something that - that probably fucked everything up."

Izuku felt himself stare in shock as tears began to slowly slide down her cheeks, Itsuka turning away to quietly wipe at her cheeks, and he knew, right then and there, that he had to do something. The way that his friend was staring down at her feet, remorse and regret clearly filling her as she wrung her hands together, tore at his heart and made his entire body scream at him to do something, anything, to make her feel better. To make sure that the nice, kind girl that befriended him on that beach so long ago was feeling better.

But … but how? How could he comfort Itsuka right now? What - what would he do when Ochako usually felt sad? Izuku quickly flipped through his memories, trying to remember a time when Ochako had been sad and he had comforted her - and then, when he came up with a blank (much to his frustration, since he knew he had comforted Ochako before but just couldn't remember it at the moment), tried to struggle to remember a time Itsuka felt sad around him -

- and then, he felt himself go still as he suddenly had a memory of what had happened after he had gotten out of the nurse's office, recovered mostly from his fight with the hooded man. Remembering how Ochako had pinned him against the wall, broke down into tears, and then he had seen Itsuka break down into tears, and then he had …

… he …

Suddenly, Izuku remembered some of his thoughts that he had a few weeks ago, after sleeping over at the Kendous' the morning after they had met Eri. His weird dream that had made him overly conscious of how he always froze up around Nejire. The thoughts that followed that had filled him with the need to change how he reacted to being hugged or touched by someone from the opposite sex (something he was still struggling with, what with Nejire hugging him during the first round making him feel woozy with embarrassment even now). 

And how he had thought that if he needed to practice touching a girl, that girl would need to be …

… it'd be …

"A-anyway," Itsuka sniffled, beginning to turn away again as Izuku jolted a bit, eyes widening and face going red, "I … I'm just gonna … I'll go do my - my thing that I was doing. Just … anyway, Izuku -"

And then Izuku's body moved before he had a chance to think things through. One moment he was frozen, standing there in horror and embarrassment at the thought of what he had to do - and then, he took two quick steps forward, reaching out automatically, and grabbed Itsuka's shoulders, turning her around. Itsuka faltered at his touch, looking around quickly at her training partner as he took a deep breath -

- and then, before he could overthink it, quickly pulled her into a hug.

He heard Itsuka let out a small squeak as he suddenly moved in and wrapped his arms stiffly around her, and buried his face in her shoulder as it promptly burst into flames. Izuku himself wasn't quite sure what he was doing, his eyes wide and his face burning so hot at the feeling of Itsuka pressed against him he wouldn't be surprised if he somehow burnt her shoulder, but all he knew was that Itsuka was hurting, even if he didn't know why, so he tried to fight down the embarrassment as he stood there, awkwardly embracing his friend, unaware of Itsuka's own face flushing bright red as she realized what was happening.

But then, after a moment where Izuku's senses finally returned to him and he was about to jump away from her like she was on fire, she began to move her arms. Izuku found himself faltering as Itsuka hesitantly wrapped one arm around his waist, and the other one went around his neck - and then, she let out a shuddering sigh right in his ear, one that sent a chill through him, as she began to hug him back. He felt her hand suddenly move to the back of his head, stroking his hair, and he felt himself suddenly relax as well as he hugged her a bit tighter.

His face was red and his mind was panicking, and yet … and yet, he didn't move away. He didn't want to let her go just yet. This felt … it felt nice.

A little … too nice.

However, before he could think more about it than he probably should, Itsuka let out a small murmur as she nuzzled her face into his shoulder, making his already impressively red face deepen even more with color.

"Sorry," She said in a quiet, muffled voice, "don't know why I'm …"

"I-it's okay," He managed to stutter out, hesitantly rubbing his hand up and down her back and unknowingly making her toes curl slightly, "just … it's okay."

"I … haven't been having a really good day."

"I - I get that," He nodded, trying to push past his embarrassment as she slowly swayed the two of them, almost as though they were dancing, "between Todoroki and Shinsou and Monoma, I - I get it, Kendou."

"And … you know …" She hesitated there, and then sighed as she pressed her face down on his shoulder again, "… you and Ochako have been … away from me."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked a bit in confusion.

"Y'know … you worked together during the first round while I went off on my own," She sounded a bit ashamed of herself for admitting this, but it was clear that she really couldn't control her own words, "and then we had to face off in the second round. I just - I know it was my fault the first time, and we didn't have much choice the second time, but … but these past few weeks …"

She let out a shuddering breath.

"… it's been so awkward," Her voice began to quiet down while Izuku stared straight ahead, feeling his mouth close slowly, "for the last week. I … I don't know what's going on with me, but I just …" Her voice turned even smaller, "… I miss you guys."

Izuku stared ahead for a moment, his heart thumping painfully at what she just admitted - and then, with a small shudder, he tightened his grip on her, holding her closer and not even feeling embarrassed  as she nuzzled into his side again. As they slowly swayed on their spot, Izuku let out a breath as he experimentally, and nervously, raised a hand to the back of her head in an imitation of what she had been doing, and blinked at how soft her dark hair felt. Itsuka, in turn, took a small breath from where she rested her face on his shoulder, her nose digging slightly against it.

Standing in the abandoned hallway, Izuku felt himself shake a bit as he simply hugged Itsuka to him - he had no idea what he was even doing, why they had been hugging for so long, and why his heart was trying to beat its way out of his chest, but this felt nice.

It felt good.

It felt like …

… like when he had … 

And that was when both of them suddenly blinked, realizing what they were doing at the same time. As quickly as Izuku had brought her to him, they both quickly took a step back, unwrapping their arms from around each other and quickly taking their hands off each other as their faces both flushed.

Izuku felt like bowing and apologizing over and over again for what he just did while Itsuka gulped nervously as quickly moved her gaze back to the ground, and quickly spun around, staring ahead determinately.

"Okay," She managed to get out through a slightly shaking voice, "I'm - I'm gonna go grab some water. T-thanks for - yeah."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded stiffly, now turning to stare at the floor,"n-no problem, Kendou. See y–you - see you later."

"Y-yep. See you."

With that, they both quickly began to walk determinately away from each other, Izuku with his face on fire and Itsuka's face not being all that much different as she quickly hurried around the corner and out of sight. Izuku, for his part, quickly moved through the halls, his eyes searching around wildly before he finally found another abandoned room, and quickly opened it and stepped through before he closed the door behind him and made his way over to the desk, sitting down and holding his hands over his face.

There were plenty of things to feel embarrassed about, of course - like the fact he had hugged Itsuka out of nowhere, that he had done it for so long, that he had immediately ran off like a coward the moment he had realized what he had been doing. But … but the one reason he was panicking the most of all, he shivered, wasn't because of either of those.

It was the way he had felt when he had hugged Itsuka. The way he felt … like …

… like his stomach had twisted, but not in a painful way. The way he had felt like he had been floating without Ochako's quirk being used on him, as though happiness had been shooting through him.

Hugging Itsuka … it had given him the same feeling …

… the same feeling that he had felt with Ochako earlier.


To say that the atmosphere surrounding the three training partners when they returned from lunch was awkward would be … definitely underselling it.

As luck would have it, Izuku ended up standing between Ochako and Itsuka as Class 1A, Class 1B, and the rest of the other classes that were participating in the sports festival gathered around Midnight's podium as their lunch break concluded, wanting to get more information about the final round … and neither three of the training partners were able to look each other in the eye. Indeed, Izuku was too busy studying his feet to look up at his training partners, Itsuka was likewise staring up at Midnight as she paced around the podium without even acknowledging anyone around her in fear of melting into a puddle of awkwardness and embarrassment, and Ochako seemed rather … morose, staring down at her own feet with a noticeable frown.

Feeling himself gulp nervously, Izuku glanced between both girls only once, and felt his own frown appear on his face over the fact that neither girl was looking in each other's direction, with Itsuka staring up at the screen with a straight face and Ochako kept her eyes firmly on the ground, although the way her eyes looked a bit red made Izuku's stomach clench in worry. But the realization he had earlier that he was having weird feelings for both girls on either side of him meant that he couldn’t even muster the courage to ask her if she was okay. Honestly, he hadn’t felt this shy around either girl since he met them both (and yes, he meant when he met Ochako as a kid), and was too busy feeling flustered he didn’t notice Nejire shooting Itsuka a worried look from around his shoulder.

He just … well, he shouldn't be focusing on that right now, Izuku sighed as he continued to stare forward up at the screen. Right now, he needed to just … push these thoughts to the side, like he had convinced himself before, and focus on the sports festival. Only later, once the festival was done, would he sit down and think about all of these weird feelings he was having towards both of his best friends.

At the very least, he could take a little comfort in the fact that Ochako had seemed to have warmed up since they last saw each other, he slowly nodded to himself as he glanced over at her again and saw that she was no longer shivering - although he still felt a bit cold even after his own warm shower, rubbing his now dry arms absently together. Hopefully he hadn't caught a cold from being covered nearly head to toe in a block of ice.

"WELCOME BACK FROM YOUR LUNCH BREAK, ALL YOU LOVELY LISTENERS!" Present Mic screamed over the speakers and the roar of the crowd. "NOW THAT WE'RE ALL NICE AND FULL, IT'S FINALLY TIME TO REVEAL WHAT OUR CONTESTANTS WILL BE DOING FOR THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL'S FINAL ROUNDS! BUT BEFORE THAT, THERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS FOR ALL OF YOU WHO DIDN'T MAKE IT TO THE FINALS!"

Many of the students, like Setsuna, Yui, Hanta and Pony, glanced up in intrigue at the speakers.

"JUST SO YOU ALL AREN'T JUST SITTING AROUND AND WAITING FOR US BORING ADULTS TO GET THE ARENA READY, WE'VE PREPARED SOME RECREATIONAL GAMES THAT EVERYONE CAN PARTICIPATE IN TOO!"

"Oh," Setsuna scowled a bit, disappointed as she glanced down at one of her arms now wrapped up in a sling, twitching and wincing a bit as she slowly regenerated her hand, "so I'm not gonna be able to do that anyway."

Yui and Mina merely patted her back, sympathetic to their friend, while Hanta gave a small, concerned look at the sulking look on her face.

"ALL RIGHTY, THEN! SO COMING UP AFTER THIS LITTLE COMMERCIAL BREAK, WE'LL BE GOING OVER WHAT OUR SIXTEEN CONTESTANTS WILL BE UP AGAINST IN THE FINAL ROUNDS, FOLLOWED BY THE RECREATIONAL GAMES, AND THEN! THE FINAL BATTLES OF THE GAMES WILL BEGIN!"

"So what are you thinking?" Mina quickly looked around at Eijirou excitedly, playfully punching him in the arm while he stared up at the screen thoughtfully. "Tournament?"

"Oh, yeah, a hundred percent it's gonna be a tournament," Eijirou nodded with a grin, "it's always a tournament at the end of the sports festival - the thing we gotta wonder, though, is what kind of twist there's gonna be."

"I'm so excited!" She gushed, giving him a big grin as she quickly looked around at the small countdown on the screen indicating when they'll be back from the commercials. "We're gonna be up on stage in front of everyone! On TV!"

"Yeah," Eijirou nodded, although his smile faded and he slowly turned to look back at the ground, "yeah."

"Huh?" Mina blinked. "Kiri-babe? You good?"

"Huh? Oh, no, I'm good, Ashido," He quickly assured her, although he straightened up and gave a morose expression while wiping a small tear from his eye, "it's just … I kinda hoped that Tetsu-bro would be up here with me … maybe one last fight, settle who's really the best of us. He's the only reason I made it this far, and … and I owe everything to him."

A hand suddenly fell on his shoulder, and both Eijirou and the slightly befuddled Mina turned to see Tetsutetsu standing there, looking down at the ground for a moment - before he quickly looked up, showing the tears in his own eyes as he gave Eijirou a thumbs up.

"Bro," He sniffled, while Yuuyu rolled her eyes into the back of her skull beside him, "I … I'm with you a hundred percent of the way. Even if I can't be up on stage with you … I'll be with you, man."

"Man …" Eijirou teared up.

"… didn't you two only become friends like - an hour ago?" Mina dryly asked. However, before the two manly bros could turn to explain to her the beautiful ways two men could become blood brothers after only an hour of friendship, she felt someone poke her shoulder, turning around to see Denki grinning at her, finally out of his 'whey' mode that had caused Kyouka to almost choke on her food during her giggling at him at lunch.

"Yo, Ashido," He flashed her the peace sign, "was just wondering, do you have an aunt that was supposed to be here today?"

"Huh?" Mina blinked a bit, seeing Yosetsu, who still looked glum from being knocked out of the sports festival during the first round, roll his eyes. "An aunt? What are you talking about, Kaminari?"

"He's talking about some woman who came to talk to us during lunch, when we were coming back from the washroom," The bandana-wearing student explained, "was asking us a few questions, and Kaminari here was stupid enough to answer her."

"Okay … but why are you saying she's my aunt?"

"Well, because - uh - because she was kinda like you," Denki shrugged, "like - different-colored skin and black eyes. Just - y'know, she was blue instead of pink, and her eyes were green."

"Huh …" Mina raised an eyebrow, about to tell Denki off for jumping to that conclusion - and then she blinked a bit. "… uh. Y'know … I don't know. Most of my family has different coloured skin - maybe? I don't know?"

"What'd she want?" Yui, who had been absently listening while aiming a small pout at Tenya for unknown reasons, turned to look around at them, curious.

"Well, she was asking about the USJ," Yosetsu shook his head, frowning, "like, whether or not we were there or not. I was kinda suspicious, but Kaminari here -" He aimed a small glare at Denki who grimaced weakly, going a bit red, "- saw the pretty lady talking to him and told her about whatever he saw. Told her about Midoriya hitting that Nine asshole with lightning, too."

"In my defense," Denki looked ashamed of himself while a few of his classmates looked around at him, clearly unimpressed, "she was … very aggressive. I kinda panicked."

"A woman with blue skin?" The girl from Class 1B, who said her name was Ibara, asked in a concerned look, causing everyone to look around at her. "I believe I know who you were talking about, Kaminari … I saw her walking around down near the cafeteria as well. I was about to call out to her, since she was intruding, but she disappeared before I had a chance to speak out."

"Huh," Yuuyu frowned, "I … guess I'll let Vlad King know when we see him next. Let him know someone was sneaking around."

"So …" Pony, meanwhile, was still looking up at the screen in intrigue before glancing around at Mezo, who crossed his multiple arms across his chest, "… was it a tournament last year, too? Er - well, does it usually end as a tournament?"

"Typically, yeah," Her taller friend confirmed, glancing down at her, "it's usually a one-on-one competition, but it does vary every year. Like last year, instead of a straight up one-on-one fight, everyone did a sports chanbara match."

"Chanbara? What's that?"

"It's … kind of like sword fighting. Just not with actual swords."

"Sword fighting …?" Pony looked intrigued by that, glancing around as though expecting to see a rack of weapons lying around for the contestants to use - and then she stomped her hoof down in frustration. " Ah, man! I wish we could've done that this year, I'd love to sword fight people!"

"Er … it was with foam swords, by the way," Mezo was unable to stop a small, gentle smile from appearing on his face behind his mask as Pony pouted up at the screen, "so I don't think it'd be as cool as you're thinking. And it wouldn't be like you could compete anyway, you were passed out for most of the last round, remember?"

"But sword fights are awesome! I gotta look up last year's festival later, it sounds super cool - wait," Pony stopped complaining suddenly, whirling around at her friend as her pout somehow became any more adorable, "what was that bit at the end?"

"Ahem," Mezo quickly cleared his throat, trying to avoid looking down at Pony's small glare, "it was nothing."

Before they could all gossip and talk amongst each other more, however, Midnight suddenly snapped her whip against the stage above them to get everyone's attention again, making the forty-ish students look up at her as the countdown behind her reached zero, meaning that they had finally returned from their break and were ready to get started again.

"Alright!" She bent forward to pick up a large, yellow box, smiling down as she gave it a shake. "To keep things fair this year, we'll be determining the bracket with lots. And after the bracket has been determined, we'll do our recreational games, and then we'll have Cementoss build the stage for our final contestants to duke it out! Keep in mind, you sixteen who passed on to the third round, you can choose whether or not you want to participate in the recreation games - I'm sure that some of you will want to rest or save your strength for when the fights begin. But before that … we'll need to determine how your final sixteen will be duking it out this year! And this time, dear audience, we'll be putting a little twist on our round!"

This caught the attention of the two groups that had passed on to the finals, all of them quickly looking up at the podium as Midnight slowly paced up and down, smiling a bit sinisterly and immediately striking fear into their hearts.

"Us teachers decided to have a good, long talk while you were all having a long lunch break," She informed the crowds as they went a bit quiet, listening interestingly to what the R-Rated Heroine had to say, "and we've all agreed that we were very intrigued by all the teamwork that we saw during the last two rounds. It warms our hearts that our students can work together so flawlessly! Or, well, most of you can, anyway."

Itsuka scowled, and turned to shoot a glare at Shinsou and Monoma, who both didn't bother to look over at her even when they felt her heated stare on them, and Shouto merely continued to look up at the teacher, keeping his hands in his pockets while trying not to turn and scowl at Izuku.

"So in that case …" Midnight licked her lips, "… we decided to -"

"PAIR THE SPARES!" Present Mic suddenly screeched over the intercom. 

There was a short pause before Aizawa let out a groan and Midnight's smile noticeably stiffened.

"There aren't any spares being paired," The Class 1A homeroom teacher told his fellow commentator, the entire audience glancing over at where the commentator's box was, "they've all already gotten in. And you just interrupted Midnight in the middle of her speech."

"HUH? BUT I THOUGHT SHE WAS SEGWAYING INTO US ANNOUNCING IT!"

"But you interrupted her before she was even done -"

Before their small argument could escalate, however, Midnight snapped her whip against the stage, and even if the two teachers up in the commentary box were far enough away that they shouldn't have even registered it, Aizawa and Present Mic quickly stopped their argument at once as she angrily tossed the yellow box filled with lots behind her.

"Maybe if you two would shut up," She barked, "I could continue with my explanation before I do any segwaying!"

"S-SORRY!"

"Anyway!" Midnight turned back to the students standing around the podium, although not before shooting another glare up at where her coworkers were. "For this year's third round, we're going to do a bit of a twist on how our final rounds will go! Usually, we add a special little twist to each round to keep things interesting - last year we had our students duel with a mix of quirks and foam swords, and the year before that, we made the stage a circular area to make it a bit easier to knock people out and harder to keep yourself in -"

"Ah, man," Pony whined quietly, "that sounds awesome."

"- and truth be told, we were debating going back to basics and just making this year a simple tournament arena," Midnight shook her head, as though perishing the thought, "but after we saw such incredible teamwork out in the forest, us teachers had our meeting, and had the thought of … why not keeping it up? Why can't we see a little more teamwork? After all, every hero in this stadium has probably shared the glory at some point … there are some villains that can't be beaten on their own. So why don't we apply that logic here?"

"Uh, oh," Mina sweated nervously, while Katsuki looked like a vein was about to pop in his head.

"Sixteen of you will be entering this competition," Midnight smirked a bit sinisterly down at the students who had realized what exactly was going to happen, "but instead of only four of you walking away with medals … eight of you will. Two gold, two silver, and four bronze. The last duo standing will share the first place spot as the dual winners of the sports festival!"

"We'll be paired together?" Tenya straightened up, looking intrigued by the concept while Katsuki gritted his teeth angrily beside him. "I don't believe that this has ever been done at a previous festival - so this would mean that there would be two champions, wouldn't it?"

"Unless there's some kind of last minute twist," Kyouka rolled her eyes, somewhat thankful that she didn't pass on after all so she wasn't paired with someone she didn't like, "and you're gonna have to end up fighting your partner for the final round."

"But that would make no sense," Reiko shook her head while Fumikage likewise tilted his own head, "fighting your partner at the end would come out of nowhere, not to mention it would be unfair to those you beat before. Who would think to put in some random, unpredictable twist like that?"

There was a short pause - and then everyone in Class 1A sagged their shoulders a bit, realizing that they did know one teacher who would be more than happy with dropping unexpected twists on them, as they heard the sound of Aizawa suddenly sneezing over the intercom.

"Now then!" Midnight happily snapped her whip against the stage again to get everyone's attention back on her as she whirled around, gesturing towards the screen. "With that out of the way, let's take this moment to look up at the jumbo screen, you sixteen contestants, to give you all a look at who your partner is - and, if you fight hard, the one you'll be sharing a podium with at the end of the day!"

With that, the screen flickered, and the sudden image of a spinning wheel appeared. Before anyone could blink, it began to spin so fast no one was able to see who's name was on which slide, while below it, eight boxes appeared beneath the wheel. Everyone watched with bated breath as the wheel shook a bit, and one by one, several names began to shoot out, with the name going into one of the boxes presented below the wheel, and then another name would shoot into the box beside it to show who was getting partnered up:

 

| SHINSOU | HAYA |

| HATSUME | IIDA

| BAKUGOU | TOKOYAMI |

| KENDOU | HADOU |

| TODOROKI | YAOYOROZU |

| KIRISHIMA | MINETA |

| MIDORIYA | URARAKA |

| ASHIDO | MONOMA |

 

Very quickly, the sixteen students participating in the final rounds of the sports festival read their names up on the screen, and quickly looked over to see the name beside it to determine who was working with them. Some of them didn't seem to mind who they were working with, like Mei, who flashed Tenya an evil grin that he didn't even notice as he read through the other pairings (although it was quickly picked up by Yui, who furrowed her brow and automatically moved to stand between them), and Eijirou who shrugged and flashed a thumbs up at a clearly nervous Mineta. Some, like Katsuki throwing Fumikage a dirty look and Momo taking a deep, shuddering breath while Shouto frowned up at the screen, seemed less than enthusiastic. Some, like Monoma staring in disgust at Mina as she let out a loud groan of disappointment, and Yuuyu throwing an uncaring Shinsou a dirty look, seemed dissatisfied with who they were paired with.

But for four of them, time slowed to a crawl.

Oh, no, Izuku thought to himself in horror as he paled.

Oh, no, Ochako thought to herself as her mouth slowly closed.

Oh, no, Itsuka thought to herself as she slowly closed her eyes and exhaled through her nose.

Oh, Nejire thought to herself as she bit her lip.

Izuku, at least, could only curse whatever automated system had decided to just completely screw over his attempts to get some time to himself and focus on something other than his best friend as he quickly read the screen again, as though to check if he was misreading something - but no, he hadn't. He and Ochako had been paired up again, and that meant that any thought of giving his best friend some space was currently moot. 

Ochako, meanwhile, stiffened up slightly, glancing over at Izuku out of the corner of her eyes and feeling herself go a bit red as she glanced away again, going back to staring glumly at the ground as she felt her stomach tense. And Itsuka, for her part, could only feel a tiny bit relieved that her training partners were paired up again - because the rest of her was reeling in horror at the fact that she had to work with the girl that she had only just realized fancied the guy she was trying to get Ochako together with.

And that she … also fancied herself.

Awkwardly, she glanced over towards where Nejire was standing slightly beside Izuku, and upon feeling a set of eyes on her, Nejire glanced around at her as well, and their eyes met. Itsuka, for her part, raised her hand awkwardly, trying to at least remain polite, and after a moment of hesitation, Nejire smiled weakly and likewise raised her hand, nodding slightly before glancing back up at the screen.

… well, Itsuka shrugged awkwardly, at least she seemed open to working with her. Even if that reaction was … kind of weird, coming from Nejire. She had expected bouncing and jumping over and rambling from her new partner, so that reaction was pretty … well, strange.

"Now then!" Midnight clapped her hands together again. "With your partners determined, here is the bracket based on the results of the drawing!"

The screen behind her changed again, and showed off the new chart which now displayed the matches. Quickly, the sixteen students glanced up to see who they would be matched against.

 

| HATSUME & IIDA | vs | MIDORIYA & URARAKA |

| BAKUGOU & TOKOYAMI | vs | KIRISHIMA & MINETA |

| KENDOU & HADOU | vs | ASHIDO & MONOMA |

| SHINSOU & HAYA | vs | TODOROKI & YAOYOROZU |

 

"And if the lovely audience is wondering why I had a yellow box," Midnight nudged the discarded box with her foot, shooting a wink at the crowd, "it was just for dramatic effect. Hee hee."

"Who the fuck says 'hee hee'?" Kyouka wondered out loud, rolling her eyes along with Yuuyu. 

Not really listening, Izuku quickly read through the names on the screen, and felt himself frown at who he and Ochako would be going up against first. Still, he felt himself slowly nod to himself after a moment - it probably wasn't going to be an easy fight, seeing as Tenya was probably very capable of fighting either him or Ochako in a one-on-one match, and Mei was … Mei, he gulped a bit as he remembered how many support items she had brought along. 

But at least it wouldn't be as bad as …

… as …

… oh wait.

Oh, no. 

Izuku felt himself go still, probably as still as Ochako was as she also read the names and let out a small squeak. The way it was up on the board … their match with Mei and Tenya, in that small bracket, was beside Katsuki and Fumikage's fight with Eijirou and Mineta, the smaller boy paling in horror from his spot at the back of the group while Eijirou turned to attempt to assure him that they'd be fine. 

Which meant that if he and Ochako beat their opponents, and Katsuki beat his own opponents … which, of course, he probably would …

… they would have to face each other.

Very slowly, Izuku glanced back around at where Katsuki was standing in their small crowd, the blonde boy clearly not pleased to have to share the glory with someone else - but it seemed that he had read the screen as well, and had come to the same conclusion as Izuku did. Turning to look at Izuku, both boys looked each other in the eye, Izuku in slight terror, and a smirk beginning to appear on Katsuki's face, as both of them remembered what had gone down in the forest a few hours ago.

"All I know is that you're nothing more than a shitty nerd who got a lucky shot back when we were kids. But you wanna go another round with me? Just to prove that I'm better than you, once and for all? Fine. I'll play. But know this, Deku - that shit about you beating me as kids? That's nothing. I'll prove to you who's better once we get to the third round."

Well … Katsuki definitely had promised it, Izuku gulped nervously, so it would make sense that fate decided 'ha ha screw this green guy' and put their matches right beside each other to face off next.

Fortunately, before Izuku could spiral due to the sudden fear that gripped his heart, there was a small pat on his shoulder, and he glanced around from where Katsuki was giving him a bloodthirsty grin to see Ochako standing before him. She was still looking a bit awkward, glancing down at the ground, but she seemed to steel herself as she let out a small sigh, straightening her back and nodding.

"O-okay," She said in a quiet voice, "let's … let's go plan."

"R-right," Izuku quickly nodded - the feeling of nervousness he had around his best friend now that he was having these weird thoughts and how many close encounters they had that day was still there, but at least he could try to put it aside for now - win the sports festival first, freak out about weird emotions later. So with that, he turned to follow her away from the group, to find somewhere where they could plan out what they were going to do for their first match.

As they walked away together, the rest of the small group of contestants began moving towards their own partners, trying to get organized while Midnight happily chatted to the audience about what would be coming up next, willing to take the attention of the crowd off of the students so they could get themselves organized.

"Hatsume," Tenya nodded as the inventor made her way towards where he was standing, trying to look respectful even as he glanced nervously at the wrench she was holding in her hands with her goggles flipped over her eyes, "I, er … I see that we're working together again. I look forward to winning the sports festival with you."

"Hm …" Mei slowly looked up and down at her partner, almost as though she were seeing him for the first time and not after actually working with him to get this far in the sports festival an hour and a bit ago. Unaware of Tenya looking a bit awkward, she began circling him, humming intriguingly as she raised her hand to her chin as she thought.

"Uh … Hatsume?" Tenya blinked unsurely, still not entirely sure why Mei was circling him like a hawk (and why Yui was over near some of their other classmates chatting while giving him and the support student a pout). "Are you alright?"

"Hm," Mei hummed again as she finally stopped pacing, tilting her head - and then she reached out to move her hand to Tenya's bicep, running it up and down and then squeezing on the muscle.

Unconcerned with Tenya's squawk of indignation and his face quickly igniting in a blush (and Yui's head whipping around to aim a shocked glare at the support student she automatically grabbed the back of her neck due to it cracking from the speed) Mei nodded, and slowly, a sinister smile appeared on her face.

"Yes … yes, you will be perfect!" She giggled. "We have to get you into fitting at once!"

"P-perfect for what?!" Tenya managed to sputter out as Mei's hand tensed on his arm, making him go redder, "F-fitting? I - now hold on, Hatsume, I - if we're going to be getting ready for the first round, I - I should grab some orange juice in order to -"

"Ah, yes, for energy! You'll be needing it!" With that, Mei grabbed Tenya by the collar, beginning to pull him away as he stumbled over his step from the alarming speeds she was yanking him with. "Now come! We have some babies to make!"

As they sped away, Yui stared after Tenya with an air of betrayal and insecurity, looking almost as though she were going to run over and drag him away from the crazy pink-haired girl if not for Setsuna holding the back of her shirt with one hand.

"Cool down, girl," Setsuna shook her head, still a bit morose from before but knowing that Yui was about two seconds from lunging, "I bet you're just missing something. I don't think Iida's actually gonna go get laid."

"I'll cut a bitch, Set."

"I know you will, honey."

"Babies and … no, fuck it, I'm cutting a bitch, let me go."

"'Babies' is probably just a code for something, it's all good."

"ALL RIGHTY!" Present Mic screamed as the giant screen on the ground changed, showing the word 'RECREATION' . "LET'S LEAVE THE TOURNAMENT ASIDE FOR A MOMENTARY INTERLUDE! LET'S HAVE SOME FUN WITH THE RECREATION GAMES! LET'S START WITH THE SCAVENGER HUNT! EVERYONE WHO'S PARTICIPATING, GET OVER TO MIDNIGHT AND LET'S GET STARTED!"

As fireworks began to blast over the stadium again, Itsuka let out a small sigh as everyone began walking over to Midnight's podium, and then turned to glance over at Izuku and Ochako as they continued to walk away together to go plan as Momo also slowly approached Shouto from the side, not looking any more enthusiastic about teaming up with him as Shouto did teaming up with her. Neither Izuku or Ochako were exactly jumping up and down or high fiving about teaming up, or anything like that, but it wasn't as though they seemed to be … displeased with the unexpected team up.

But still, Itsuka looked at Ochako (despite how embarrassing it felt to look at her after what they did) and saw the look of conflict on her face, and felt herself frown. But … well … maybe this was good. This would give them some time to team up, spend time together … it'd help Ochako get her mind off of her and onto Izuku, forgetting about Itsuka's stupidity back in the room they had talked in. And since she was going to be working with Nejire for the rest of the day, she'd have a reason to keep her distance.

Slowly nodding to herself and trying to brace herself, she turned back to where Nejire was standing awkwardly, writing her hands together, and tried to fix a confident smile on her face as she walked over and tapped on the blue-haired girl's shoulder.

"So, uh … I guess it's you and me, Hadou," She nodded awkwardly as Nejire looked around at her, "we're in this together from here on out."

"Uh … yeah," She nodded a bit stiffly, making Itsuka blink slightly at the uncomfortable look on her face, "you and me, Kendou. Cool cool."

"Er … Hadou?" She wrinkled her brow at the look on Nejire's face. "Are … are you okay?"

"O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine! Just …" Nejire paused then, staring down at the ground for a moment - and then she shook her head, and looked back up at Itsuka as the formerly orange-haired girl tilted her head a bit.

"… could we, uh … could we talk?" She asked quietly.

Itsuka paused at that - and then she felt her eyes widen a bit.

Oh. Oh, right, she remembered. They were supposed to talk during lunch, she'd promised Nejire that before the second round, when they had gotten interrupted by Yuuyu and put off the conversation to go plan. But she had gotten distracted by Ochako, and they had gone off to talk about Izuku, that had …

… it had included …

… uh oh.

"… well … I haven't actually told anyone about this. Not even Yuuyu! I would, but she always gets so bored of this kind of thing when I try to talk to her about it. But … but I feel like I can trust you, Kendou. Like - you wouldn't judge me! So, uh, can I trust what I'm about to tell you is gonna stay a secret? And you won't tell Midoriya, or Uraraka, or anyone else?"

Oh no. Oh, god, oh, hell, oh, shit, oh, fuck, oh, no.

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself pale a bit in horror at what she realized was about to go down - but still, at the slightly awkward look on Nejire's face, she found herself slowly nodding, "… y-yeah. Let's - let's talk."

Nejire nodded a bit stiffly again, and together, both girls began to walk away together, Itsuka screaming in the void of her own mind and Nejire being unnaturally quiet as she continued to wring her hands together. They walked away from the small crowd, with Denki and Eijirou leading most of their class and Class 1B over to where the games were about to start, as fireworks continued to blast above them, and together, they headed into a tunnel towards where a waiting room was.

As they walked together in silence, Itsuka continued to panic internally as Nejire kept strangely quiet. She knew what they were going to talk about, and she was unable to stop herself from feeling like she was walking to her doom. Back in the forest, she hadn't been exactly sure about what Nejire had been talking about, but now, after her talk with Ochako, it was clear that Nejire had been talking about Izuku. She wanted to take Itsuka aside and talk to her about her feelings for her best friend.

That Itsuka … also had feelings for. And wanted to push down in support of her other best friend's feelings for him.

Already, Itsuka could feel an anxiety rise in her chest - she was afraid of what she would have to say to her very nice classmate as they both looked around for somewhere to talk privately. She knew that she had to stick to her guns, to not come across as even more of a hypocrite after what happened with Ochako - tell Nejire not to pursue Izuku, because of Ochako's own feelings for him - but she couldn't help but feel her stomach twisting about it. 

It would probably hurt Nejire, to have Itsuka reject her feelings for Izuku and try to push her away from pursuing him, and it would make whatever partnership they were supposed to have for the rest of the day awkward, but …

… but if she had to be the bad guy, she bit her lip, that's what she had to be. For Izuku and Ochako's sakes.

Finally, they found somewhere private for them to talk, and Nejire pushed open the door, looking around and giving Itsuka a slightly awkward look as she pointed inside with her finger. Nodding stiffly, Itsuka entered the small room with the table and lockers on the side, and tried not to wince as Nejire closed the door a bit loudly behind her.

"Uh … so hey, Kendou," Nejire giggled a bit stiffly, turning to lock the door just to be safe, and then turned to look at Itsuka as the class rep glanced behind her shoulder, "so, uh … there was … something I wanted to ask you about."

"Er - right," Itsuka nodded, equally as awkward.

"So, uh … okay," Nejire nodded, smacking her cheeks with her hands briefly before looking back up at Itsuka, "so - I'm not really sure how to ask this! It's a weird question! And … it might kinda get me in trouble, but - well, I just - uh - okay," She shook her head, "I'll just ask the question and go from there, okay? Yeah, I think that'd be good."

Gulping, Itsuka straightened up, feeling her heart begin to hammer in her chest. 

This was it - this was the part where she made everything awkward. She felt herself begin to shake a bit as Nejire worked up her courage to ask the question, Itsuka clenching her fists at her side as she glanced down at the floor, and bit her lip as she got ready to break Nejire's heart, no matter how bad she felt doing -

"What's One for All?"

And that, with four simple words, was all it took for Itsuka's world to screech to a halt.

Staring blankly at the floor for a moment, Itsuka felt herself be taken right out of the terrified and guilty mood she had been in, her jaw dropping slightly - and then she quickly whipped her gaze back up, her heart beginning to hammer again - but this time for an entirely different reason - as she stared up at Nejire, seeing her looking simply curious as she tilted her head a bit, raising her finger to poke her lip.

"I …" Itsuka's mouth felt dry, "… w-what did you say?"

"I asked," Nejire gave her a curious look, "what is One for All?"

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/sp0Fp1N.png
And that was Chapter 28! And yes, I am back, and still alive! My apologies for keeping you all waiting a lot longer than you probably would've preferred - if you would like a basic summary as to why I wasn't able to respond to your comments last chapter, and where I've been:

so yeah, it's ... been a lot. Not to worry, though, hopefully we can get back to our regularly scheduled programming! Knock on wood, though.

But in any case, whew boy, did a lot happen in this chapter! We find out that Yaodaddy is - well - an asshole! Ochako and Itsuka go from arguing to kissing, fulfilling my promise of a kiss in ten chapters! (Ha! Take that, forgetful me!) We got Shouto trauma-dumping on Izuku, as per usual! We got Izuku realizing his feelings (ever so slowly) while also coming to the shocking realization of 'wait, was Ochako hot this whole time?'! We got IzuKendou hugs! We got twists in our sports festival! And the biggest twist of all - y'all were expecting Nejire to confront Itsuka about Izuku, but instead, it's a OFA talk!

As for the talk between both girls, I admit, I did struggle with quite a bit writing - I wanted to make it clear that both girls are struggling with their feelings and lowkey projecting onto each other, while also acknowledging that there is a big mutual interest between them. As for the twist of our sports festival, that also came from another fic that I enjoyed! Not that I can give the source, though - all I remember was that it was a fic about Izuku getting mugged with heavy Izuocha focus on a sports festival, and ... it disappeared. Sadly. I've tried to find it. Relentlessly. I've cried myself to sleep because I couldn't find it DX

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading! Coming up next, as a vague spoiler: https://i.imgur.com/SWfdaSC.png. See you then!

Chapter 29: Round One, Part One

Summary:

As the first round begins, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka find themselves facing several different but still tense-filled challenges - and a conversation with a surprising source causes Izuku to have a few thoughts about these weird feelings he's been having all day.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"I asked, what is One for All?"

There was a pause after those last three words left Nejire's lips. And then, Itsuka's body moved without even thinking through her actions.

One moment, she was staring blankly at Nejire, her face going pale as her mind finally registered that the blue-haired girl had not dragged her off to talk about her (or rather, their) crush on Izuku, and was actually talking about something a hundred times worse. And then the next moment, she had crossed the room faster than either of them could blink, and quickly brought up one hand to clap over Nejire's mouth, using the other one to roughly shove the blue-haired girl up against the door. 

Nejire let out a muffled squeak of surprise as she was roughly pressed against the closed door. Itsuka kept her momentarily pinned against it, her eyes widened in panic - both at the question itself, and just how … loudly Nejire had said it, immediately pushing Itsuka into parnoia as she felt her mouth open and close in an attempt to stammer something - anything - out. 

"I - uh -" She managed to say, having absolutely no idea what she was even supposed to say - and not even thinking about what she was supposed to do, now that terror was starting to get to her, and feeling guilty as she realized that she had pretty much shoved Nejire up against the door -

- and then, she suddenly felt something wet and soft flick against her open palm where Nejire's mouth was.

Staring at the hand she had there for a second as she realized what her classmate was doing, Itsuka let out a yelp as she quickly withdrew her hand that she had been keeping over Nejire's lower face, the sight of the blue-haired girl's tongue flicking out of her mouth confirming what she had been doing, and quickly turned her hand around to look at her palm in shock and exasperation, seeing what was obviously saliva there.

"Did - did you just lick me?!" Itsuka stared down in shock at her hand while Nejire, at least, had the sense to look embarrassed.

"Sorry!" She apologized quickly, going red. "It's just - well, sometimes Yuuyu also pins me against something and covers my mouth - y'know, when I go on and on about something - and I just kind of reacted automatically! I'm really sorry about that, Kendou, I - I know Yuuyu doesn't like it when I do it either. Like - last week, when I came back from -"

"Hadou," Itsuka felt herself wince a bit at her interruption, her heart still hammering in her chest, "I'm really sorry, but - but I need you to be quiet for a minute."

Nejire blinked a bit at the request to be quiet, but still quickly nodded as Itsuka finally took a step back to give her some space, lowering her spit-covered palm to wipe it against her pant leg. With a sigh, Itsuka continued to move back, regretful of how she had slammed Nejire against the door and wanting to back up so both girls weren't up in each other's business, moving to stand near the lockers as she raised her other hand to cover her eyes.

There was a moment's pause as she managed to get her thoughts back in order, feeling her stomach clenching tightly and her heart hammering quickly. Okay. Okay, so - so somehow, Nejire had found out about … about One for All. 

Which … was pretty bad, Itsuka winced. If Nejire knew, then … then who else could know? It wasn't like Nejire was someone known to keep her inner thoughts to herself - but - okay, okay, no, she needed to calm down. She needed to … to approach this calmly.

She needed to know what exactly Nejire knew before she could do any damage control.

"Hadou," She said at last, taking a small, deep breath, "can you … please tell where you - where you heard about … that. It's -"

For a moment, she thought about trying to pass One for All off as nothing, just something small and needless … but, seeing as that would only cause more suspicion after her initial knee jerk reaction to hearing the name of her secret second quirk coming from Nejire's lips was to slam her up against a wall, she shook her head.

"- just … tell me where you heard those words."

"Uh …" Nejire paused for a moment, clearly unsure about what exactly Itsuka was thinking - which, to be fair, she couldn't blame her, the orange-haired girl winced, as she was currently struggling as well - and then quickly nodded. 

"… okay. Okay, Kendou, I'll - I'll explain. Really quickly!"

"Right," Itsuka nodded.

"So, uh … well, I was coming back down to the bottom floor after talking to Midoriya," Nejire started, "after he went to the showers to warm up after being frozen by Todoroki. Midoriya got dragged off by him, by the way, to get questioned about stuff about you - you know, being All Might's secret love child -"

"All Might's what?" Itsuka felt her jaw drop, but then quickly caught herself and gave her head a shake when Nejire looked around at her in question. "I - sorry, Hadou, k-keep going. I'll ask you about … uh … whatever Todoroki was going on about later. S-so - so you, Izuku and Todoroki were down on the ground level."

"Right! So they were talking about …" Nejire hesitated for a moment, "… uh … stuff. And then after Todoroki left, me and Midoriya went to the showers, and we were talking about our favorite foods."

"Okay …"

"And then when he went in to warm up,  I had the thought that, you know, if Midoriya was going to be in the showers for a while, it'd be nice if I brought him some lunch after he was done! You know, so he didn't have to run back upstairs and grab something to eat, since it's definitely kind of a walk to get from the showers down there to the cafeteria upstairs. Anyway, by the time I got back, though, I saw him walking away with you -"

Oh, god, Itsuka thought to herself, feeling herself shake as she immediately realized what had happened.

"- and you looked … kinda serious. Really intense! So I thought something was wrong, and … I followed you guys." Nejire, for her part, had the decency to look guilty and disappointed in herself. "I'm sorry about that, it was just … I wasn't really thinking, since Todoroki's been such a jerk today, I just saw you two walking off all serious like, and thought that, hey, maybe something was up!"

"Okay."

"So I followed you guys, and I saw you two walk into Recovery Girl's office. I was gonna wait for you two to be done after Toga-senpai left, so I decided to wait outside the door …"

"Oh, fuck," Itsuka muttered to herself, closing her eyes.

"… and … I heard you talking to someone about … traces?" Nejire wrinkled her brow as she tried to remember exactly what she heard. "Traces breaking you out of Shinsou's quirk? You saw … ghosts?"

Itsuka bit her lip.

"It was all … uh … it was super interesting," Nejire poked her cheek, unable to stop a small smile appearing on her face, "and I was just … wondering if you could tell me more about it! Like, when whoever you were talking to was saying something about you and - I think it was Midoriya - going up to get lunch, I kind of skedaddled out of there. And I'm still super curious about whatever One for All is, but …" Her smile faltered at the look on Itsuka's face, "… but now that I see how you're reacting, I think this One for All thingy is … something that I wasn't supposed to hear."

"I …" Itsuka hesitated for a moment, and then sighed while glancing away. 

"… no. No, you weren't."

WIth that ominous statement, there was a short pause in the room - and then Nejire tilted her head.

"So, um …" She looked hesitant, "… I get it if you don't wanna tell me, but … can I know what One for All is, Kendou? If - if that's cool?"

At that question, Itsuka found herself keeping quiet for a moment, staring at Nejire with clear uncomfortableness - obviously, the answer to that question was a curt 'no, you cannot'. Because quite honestly, Itsuka winced at the mean thought, of all the people she would trust One for All's secret to, it wouldn't be the one person who would poke her nose into it harder than Izuku was barely restraining himself from doing. 

If Nejire found out about it - the whole thing, from it being a quirk that could be passed on to All Might being the previous user (and honestly, she thanked whatever god above that Nejire hadn't recognized the voice she had been talking to in Recovery Girl's office) -  she would want to know everything about it, every tiny detail that Itsuka wouldn't know. And he would have no idea how to even explain to All Might that she told the biggest secret in Japan to the one girl who liked to go off on ramble sprees without thinking much about what she talked about.

Add to the fact that Nejire only found out about the concept of One for All by complete accident … right now, she needed to do some serious damage control. Nejire knew about 'traces' and them breaking her out of Shinsou's quirk, and that she was talking to someone else about it, and that Izuku may or may not be in the know. That was it. That was all she knew.

So right now, Itsuka needed to come up with something - anything - that would prevent Nejire from poking her nose into One for All more than she already accidentally had.

But … but quite honestly, Itsuka knew as well how tired she was, she furrowed her brow. Not just physically tired, but mentally tired. Her emotional talk with Ochako from earlier and her hug with Izuku had … taken a lot out of her, and right now, she just felt nervous, miserable and exhausted. Even if she tried to come up with some elaborate story, she just … didn't have the mental capacity to get Nejire off of One for All's trail right now, not with anything convincing. Maybe later, when she took a break or had some kind of nap before, but … but not now. Not when her nerves were high and she would obviously stumble over her words trying to explain.

She had expected to come into this room having no choice but to break Nejire's heart over her feelings for Izuku. Not … not this.

But … but she had to try, at least. Not giving Nejire any kind of answer would only backfire on them in the long run. So, with a small sigh, she straightened up again and looked back over at Nejire as the curious girl tilted her head somewhat to the side, looking a bit confused as to why Itsuka had been so quiet for so long.

"Uh … listen, Hadou …" She took a moment to pause before she said anything else, trying to think up something smart to say, something good enough to get Nejire to back off on this -

- and for some reason, she came up with, "… what you heard before, you - you should probably forget about it."

There was a short pause. Nejire gave her a … well, not a judgmental or skeptical look, but it was certainly not a positive one, what with the way her eyebrows raised. At the look, Itsuka sagged her shoulders in defeat.

"Okay, that was - that was weak, I admit," She shook her head, biting her lip slightly again as she glanced back over at Nejire, "but … I …"

"…"

"… look," Itsuka sighed, raising her hand to rub her eyes, "I'll be honest, Hadou, I - I really don't have the mental fortitude right now to give you a proper explanation." 

She found herself a bit surprised that she admitted that so freely, but … but at this point, she couldn't help but not care, far too tired from all the emotional talks today to try and come up with a reasonable excuse. 

"We've still got the rest of the sports festival to go through, and - and if I'm being real with you, I haven't been having a really good day." She glanced down at the floor at that, frowning sadly. "So I'm just - I'm afraid that I'm not thinking clearly right now, and - and I do want to give you an explanation, but I just … I just can't right now."

Wincing a bit at how lamely she finished that explanation, Itsuka winced. She knew how pathetic this sounded - that she was 'too tired' to explain things to Nejire - and she was ready for her classmate to poke holes in her stupid explanation, or call her out - 

- and then Nejire nodded and said, "Okay."

"…"

"…"

"… huh?" Itsuka blinked, quickly looking back around at her in shock as Nejire shrugged and gave her a smile.

"I said 'okay'!" She repeated, giggling despite herself at the gobsmacked look on Itsuka's face as she straightened up. "I mean - well, yeah, I know that me bringing it up was super out of nowhere, and I wasn't even supposed to even hear about it in the first place! And I still have questions, but … well, you're right, it is super busy today, so I don't want to add any more pressure to you if you're tired!"

"Oh," Itsuka said blankly, not even sure what the hell was happening anymore, "uh … well … thank … you?"

"You're welcome! But hey," Nejire's eyes suddenly softened, and she walked over to stand beside Itsuka near the lockers, "are you having a bad day? Is everything okay?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked - and then she felt her cheeks go a bit red as she realized, oh, right, she did admit that out loud. "Oh, uh -"

"I mean, I wouldn't blame you if you've been having a bad day," She said sympathetically, "I know that you've been dealing with Todoroki being kind of a jerk, and Monoma being kind of a jerk, and … Shinsou also being kind of a jerk … wow, you've been dealing with a lot of jerks today."

"I … yeah. I - I guess I have."

"Mm-hm! And that would make anyone really sad if you've been dealing with that nonstop! So are you feeling okay? Do you need a hug? I can give you a hug if you need one!"

"I'm -" Itsuka stuttered a bit, completely taken aback by Nejire's enthusiasm as the blue-haired girl quickly opened her arms as though inviting Itsuka to collapse in them, and then quickly shook her head, "- n-no, I'm - I'm fine, Hadou, I don't need a hug. Just …"

"Hey, hey, it's okay if you're not okay." Nejire dropped her arms, and reached out to pat her shoulder, giving her a small smile. "That's what you said to me when we went back to the USJ after what happened, remember? So if you're having a bad day, I wanna help you out! And you know, it's not like I haven't had my own sad days either! I can't just be positive forever, y'know? I've had days where I just wanna stay in bed all day and eat ice cream! But you know, having Yuuyu there to get me out of my funk always helps me, since she'll just bop me on the head and talk to me about stuff I wanna think about. So if you're feeling sad … and you're like me, and friends help …"

Nejire turned away for a moment to think, humming slightly - and then an idea clearly came to her, making her smack her fist into her open palm as her eyes brightened.

"I know!" She nodded happily. "If you want someone to talk to, I can go grab Midoriya or Uraraka, if you want! I bet they can cheer you up!"

Clearly, Nejire had brought up her training partners in an effort to try to bring up Itsuka's spirits. At the mention of her two best friends, however, Itsuka found herself wincing again, glancing away from Nejire as she uncomfortably bit her lip - something that Nejire caught at once, making her happy smile falter.

"… huh?" Nejire blinked. "Kendou? Are you okay?"

"I'm …" Itsuka tried to say, but then she let out a small sigh, "… well …"

Well … she couldn't blame Nejire for her thinking, Itsuka found herself frowning as she stared at the opposite wall. Ordinarily, yes, Izuku and Ochako would probably find a way to cheer her up. But seeing them right now would probably … well, it would probably make her feel worse, what with how awful she felt about leaving Ochako like she did back in the waiting room, and how awkward she felt around Izuku right now.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Itsuka stared at the floor for a moment, while Nejire waited for an answer with a curious look in her eye -

- and then she let out a defeated breath, and closed her eyes.

"… screw it."

"Hm? What was -"

"Hadou, I - I have a question for you."

"Huh?" Nejire looked a bit surprised at that. "Oh, uh - sure, Kendou, what's up?"

"I … I was wondering …" Itsuka found herself hesitating again. She knew that … well, this would probably be a bad idea, what with how emotionally tired she was right now and not wanting to - to hurt Nejire after she had gone out of her way to comfort her - but her heart wasn't catching up with the program, telling her that she might as well get this out of the way now that she was thinking about it, and her brain was too exhausted to really argue.

And … it would be a good way to take Nejire's thoughts off of One for All. It was … either way, she knew that this was a conversation that needed to be had.

Even if she was absolutely dreading it.

"… what did … you want to talk to me about back in the forest? That we were supposed to meet up at lunch over?"

At the question, silence once again fell in the small room, and Itsuka took that moment to finally glance back up, stealing a small glance over at Nejire to gauge her reaction. She knew that she probably shouldn't be doing this - having a conversation that would ultimately just make her mood worse - but at this point, she felt like she had absolutely nothing to lose, and was far too exhausted after everything today to properly think things through.

Nejire, for her part, blinked a bit in surprise at the change in topic - and then a small blush appeared on her cheeks as she realized what Itsuka was asking.

"Oh," She said simply, clearing her throat and glancing away with a small smile, "that. Uh - well, Kendou -"

"I … don't think you need to tell me," Itsuka winced a bit, "I … I already know."

Nejire faltered at that, the small smile on her face beginning to slip away as she glanced back at Itsuka. The class representative didn't look happy at all as she turned to face Nejire, feeling her stomach churning and the small, pathetic part of her begging her to stop this conversation before she said anything she couldn't take back, but she shook her head and tried to force herself through with it.

As she stared Nejire in the eye, she felt the memories of what they had talked about in the forest, before the second match, slowly repeat themselves in her head.

"So - this happened back at the bottom of the lake, but … well, I was down there, drowning, and … I kinda don't know, it just kinda happened!"

"Uh … okay?"

"Yeah! I was down there, kinda … dying. And then I started thinking about things that I hadn't done yet. People I still needed to talk to. And … well, I just kinda …"

"Yeah? You kinda …?"

"I just … thought about -"

"- him." Itsuka said in a low voice. "When you were … when you were fighting those guys in the lake, and - and you were thinking of what you still needed to do - you thought about Izuku, didn't you?"

Nejire didn't say anything at first - and then she slowly nodded.

"You have feelings for Izuku." Itsuka said that, not as a question, but as a statement of fact, feeling like her mouth was suddenly dry as she absently licked her lips.

There was another long silence in the room as both girls stared at each other, Itsuka with her face blank and Nejire staring at her as though she hadn't registered what her classmate had just said. And then Nejire awkwardly cleared her throat, a blush returning to her cheeks and making Itsuka gulp a bit nervously. 

A smile slowly appearing on her cheeks, Nejire raised a hand to poke her cheek as she glanced away.

"Uh …" She giggled a bit nervously, "… I … yeah. I - I like him."

Itsuka felt her stomach twist.

"It's … kinda obvious now that you pointed it out, huh?" Nejire continued to look embarrassed at being called out, twirling her fingers together. "Like - me having a crush on him."

"I … guess."

"I mean … believe it or, I didn't - I didn't always like him." Nejire admitted, and then her eyes widened a bit, quickly whirling around towards Itsuka again as she frantically waved her hands in the air, as though she had said something insulting.

"N-not that I mean that in a mean way!" She clarified quickly. "He's always been so nice, and I've always liked him! Just - just not always romantically. I was … well, I was always kind of fascinated by him, ever since we teamed up during the entrance exam. He - he's my friend, my first friend outside Yuuyu. But it was … but it was after what happened at the USJ, I realized that … I was starting to like him, like him."

"Right," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, absolutely hating this conversation, "that's … what you said in the forest."

"Mm-hm! Or - y'know, tried to say before we got interrupted."

"And then … you went on a date with him."

"Yeah! Wait," Nejire suddenly blinked, looking around at her in surprise, "you knew about that? How? Did Midoriya tell you about it? Wait, no, that makes no sense if you - oh, wait! I talked about it with Uraraka earlier, so - so she must have told you! Am I right?"

"Yes."

"Okay, that makes sense! But, uh - yeah, we - we went on a date," Nejire let out an embarrassed giggle, moving to lean against the wall and tapping her hands against it, "just over to a beach on the other side of the city, and it was super fun! We did some training for the sports festival, so we ran around and played tag. Which kind of seems silly now that I'm thinking about it, since we could've done something like pushups or swimming, but since the second round turned out to be a game of tag - or more like capture the flag, since we had to gather points, but - well, you get what I mean! Anyway, I think it went pretty well! And then we talked about some stuff about me, and then we went out for dinner, and then you texted the chat about Eri! That's when the date just kinda … stopped."

"Uh-huh." Itsuka said unemotionally.

"Yeah, and then after - wait," Nejire suddenly stopped, her happy smile fading somewhat as she looked back around at Itsuka, "why did you wanna know about this?"

"I - huh?" Itsuka blinked a bit, shaken out of the mood that had been growing more and more sullen the more Nejire had talked, and looked around to see the other girl curiously looking at her.

"I mean, I would get it if you wanted to know if Midoriya didn't tell you," Nejire shrugged, poking her cheek curiously again as she slightly tilted her head, "but … why do you seem to be … sad about it? You look upset, Kendou."

"I - I do?" Itsuka felt her eyes widen - oh, god, she hadn't been subtle at all! She must have had her emotions written all over her face! "Oh, uh - w-well, I - I don't -"

"Wait," Nejire's eyes widened, "do you …?"

Ooooooooh, shit, Itsuka winced. She found herself going red, turning to glance away with a noticeable grimace while Nejire stared at her in shock.

She wanted to try and deny it, but even if she could, Nejire had already seen her obviously uncomfortable face, her mouth moving into a small 'o' shape as she waited for the confirmation. For a moment, Itsuka felt like she had been trapped in a corner, just like she had been with Ochako earlier when she had been called out about this exact same thing, with nowhere to go now. And like before with One for All, she was far too tired to come up with some kind of convincing story or explanation that would convince Nejire otherwise.

So, with a small sigh, she bowed her head.

"Yeah," She said in a short, defensive tone, "I do. I … I have feelings for Izuku."

She was ready, Itsuka closed her eyes. She was ready for this to become a hundred times more complicated. She waited for the hurt reaction from Nejire, whether it be from heartbreak or jealousy, she didn't know. She was ready to break her heart for Ochako's sake. She was ready for - 

"Then you should ask him out, too!"

- for the reaction to be -

- anything -

- but that.

At what Nejire had just said, Itsuka found her frightened, anxious thoughts screeching to a halt. Opening her eyes, she stared down at the floor for a moment, blinking slowly and feeling her mouth drop open slightly, and then she quickly looked back up at Nejire, who had balled her fists and was looking far more excited than the situation probably demanded as she bounced up and down on her toes.

"… what?" Itsuka asked dumbly.

"I said," Nejire was practically trembling with excitement, grinning widely, "you should ask him out! Ask Midoriya out on a date! The date we went on was so much fun, so I bet you'll have a fun time too! Oooh, but what would you do?"

"I - uh -" Itsuka stammered for a moment, completely taken aback as her face went red.

"I mean, we went to a beach and trained for the sports festival, and then we went out for dinner, and then before you texted the chat, I was thinking of taking him out for a walk through one of the parks nearby," Nejire quickly gushed, unaware of Itsuka continuing to stare at her with her mouth open like a fish, "and that was all good first date stuff, right? Beach, dinner, walking through parks - super romantic stuff! But maybe that's not a thing you would want to do, right? Like, what I think of as romantic may not be what you consider romantic. Hm … well, what are your hobbies? What do you like to do?"

"I - w-wait, Hadou -"

"Maybe you could go see a movie? Or go to a dance club! Can you dance? Wait, can Midoriya dance?" Nejire looked uncertain about that, tapping her finger against her chin. "I'm not sure about you, but I don't really get dancer vibes off of him. Maybe he'd prefer something quieter? Like, he seemed to be okay on the beach after a bit, but I was also wearing a bikini, so it took him a while to -"

"Hadou, hold on for a second," Itsuka quickly interrupted her before she could go on, moving her hands up to interrupt Nejire and feeling her face turn redder and redder by the second (and taking a mental note of Izuku being around Nejire in a bikini, making her frown a bit), "I - I'm not gonna ask Izuku out!"

"Huh?" Nejire blinked, looking back around at her in surprise. "But why not? You like him. And now that I'm kind of thinking about it, I think he likes you too!"

"Here we go again," Itsuka muttered, biting her lip as she was reminded of her talk with Ochako earlier.

"You two totally look like you have feelings for each other! Like back after the USJ, when you two hugged! But, y'know, now that I'm thinking about it, Uraraka was also there in the hug, and that … was …"

Itsuka watched as Nejire's happy, if somewhat questioning, expression suddenly began to fade as something obviously came to her, making her blink a bit - and Itsuka took that opportunity to speak up.

"I'm not gonna ask Izuku out," She quickly said before Nejire could take over the conversation again, the blue-haired girl looking back up at her, "because … because you and I aren't the only ones that like him."

There was a pause again.

"… oh." Nejire simply said, her eyes widening, "oooooooooooh."

"Yeah," Itsuka grimaced slightly, walking over to sit slightly on the edge of the table, "oh."

"So … Uraraka likes him too?"

"She does," She nodded in confirmation, staring down at the floor while Nejire likewise moved to lean against the table as well, "and … and she's totally in denial about it. She's trying to pretend that she's okay with me just … swooping in and grabbing Izuku all for myself. But … but I can't do that. My feelings for him don't matter at all, and - and it's clear that he's got feelings for her. So," She took a deep breath, closing her eyes as she felt her stomach tense, "could I ask that you … not do anything with Izuku?"

"…"

"Like … like how I'm not going to," She clarified, "I won't do anything to address my feelings, and - and I just want to ask that you don't as well."

"…"

"Er - Hadou?" Itsuka glanced over at her, seeing Nejire's face looking weirdly blank as she temporarily turned away from her. "Are you -"

"Nope."

"I - wait, what?" Itsuka blinked, looking at Nejire in slight shock as the blue-haired girl turned to pout at her. As Nejire continued to pout, a defensive feeling pulsed through Itsuka, and she straightened up. "What - what do you mean, 'no'?"

"I mean no," Nejire confirmed, balling her fists together, "I don't accept that."

"I - I don't really care what you do or don't accept," Itsuka found herself frowning a bit angrily, moving off of the table as her own hands clenched into fists at her sides, ready for this to turn ugly, "just - Izuku and Ochako have feelings for each other, and - and you and I don't need to shove ourselves into that. So just -"

"Huh?" Nejire suddenly blinked, looking confused. "I wasn't talking about that."

"…"

"…"

"… I …" Itsuka let out a long, tired sigh, reaching up to rub her eyes, "… then … what were you talking about?"

"I was talking," Nejire suddenly reached out, and Itsuka found herself faltering as her classmate gently took her shoulder again, prompting her to look up at her kind face, "about you, Kendou."

"I - what?"

"You were talking about … you know … not addressing your feelings," She clarified, "and I don't want you to do that. I don't think you shouldn't do anything about your feelings for Midoriya."

"I'm -" Itsuka tried to protest again, but Nejire quickly silenced her with another pout.

"I don't know what's going on!" She pointed out, moving away from Itsuka and around the table. "I feel like there's a lot of info that I'm not in the loop about! You're allowed to have your secrets, Kendou, but it's like - it's like you're holding back about this too! And it's not good to keep something like this in - I would know, y'know. Emotions are supposed to be let out and felt, not kept in!"

Itsuka watched in confusion as Nejire took a seat at the table, letting out a little sigh as she settled herself down. Quite honestly, the formerly orange-haired girl had no idea what was going on - one moment they were talking about One for All, and then their feelings for Izuku, then Ochako's feelings for him, then back to Itsuka. Such pinballing back and forth could only result in her staring in confusion as Nejire turned to smile up at her.

"I can't make you talk to me about stuff if you don't want to," She said in a kind voice, "but sometimes, it's good to talk to someone, y'know? Let someone else hear about your thoughts and problems, and anything else you're keeping on the inside. And then once you get it out, that person can understand and help you! That's kinda what Midnight-sensei told me when we had our therapy thingy. I can't make you tell me anything you don't want to," She gave Itsuka a soft look, "but … if you want to tell someone about your problems … about your feelings … I can listen. And - and I won't tell anyone, I promise."

Itsuka found herself faltering once again at that, about to open her mouth to refuse - wanting to just get this conversation over with, and tell Nejire again not to pursue her feelings for Izuku - but for some reason, she found herself unable to say anything. Nejire was giving her a helpful and happy smile, gesturing towards the chair on the other side of the table for her to sit -

- and then Itsuka let out a small, shuddering sigh.

Honestly … today was exhausting. From her bad experiences in the first two rounds, to her hurting Ochako with their talk and their kiss, and then that weird hug with Izuku. There was a part of her that wanted to just bury that stuff deep down and keep going until the end of the day, and she could slink home and just pass out in her room.

But …

"… nothing I say," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, "can leave this room, Hadou. I need you to promise that."

"Okay," Nejire nodded in agreement, "I promise. Your secrets are safe with me. Pinkie swear and everything."

"I … okay." Itsuka sighed again, and moved to sit down on the other side of the table from Nejire, brushing some of her hair out of her face, and then, as she saw Nejire raise her hand with her pinkie extended, sighed and reached out, wrapping her own pinkie finger around Nejire's again, just like back in the forest. 

"Then I guess … what do you wanna talk about first?"


This was it.

Three rounds. Three fights he had to win with Ochako at his side, despite how awkward they were feeling around each other, and then they would be done with the day, and he could run home so he could hide in his room and die of embarrassment.

And … holy hell, was it already so awkward.

Staring down blankly at the table before him, Izuku felt like his insides were slowly squeezing tighter and tighter, feeling his hands continue to shake as he read Tenya's page in his hero analysis over and over again while Ochako paced in front of him. It had been nearly an hour after their teams had been announced, and they had been excused to go and form a plan as to how they would take on Tenya and Mei during their first round. And ... well, technically they had, with Izuku and Ochako not saying much to each other other than planning their strategies, with Izuku letting Ochako read what he had noted about Tenya, and briefly discussing what they had seen of Mei's inventions that she would probably use against them during the match.

Other than that … nothing. They were both still feeling awkward around each other, and Izuku had no idea how to fix it.

Now, glancing at the clock on the other side of the room, their first fight was coming up a lot sooner than either of them expected, and on the chance that they won … they both knew who they would be facing next. Izuku wanted to remain supportive towards Eijirou, and believe that his friend could do it, but he also knew Katsuki. He knew how much he had angered his former childhood friend in the forest with his challenge, and … how much Katsuki probably wanted to kick his ass for daring to think that he had beat him once before.

There was very little chance that Katsuki wouldn't be fighting his hardest to win in order to finally have a go at the two of them. And if they were facing Katsuki next …

… this awkwardness couldn't continue, Izuku shook his head and frowned. He needed Ochako to be calm around him.

So … so he just …

… he needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on with her, and whether or not it was his fault, so he could apologize, and they could move past it and get back to normal. That's all he wanted right now - for whatever this weird feeling he was having around Ochako and Itsuka to go away, so he could hang out with his best friends like they used to.

However, before he could open his mouth to speak to her, the intercome above them suddenly crackled. Both Izuku and Ochako looked up as a familiar voice suddenly spoke above them.

"Hatsume, Iida, Midoriya, and Uraraka," Aizawa's voice droned above them, "the recreational games have just come to an end, and Cementoss is now finishing building the arena. Please make your way to the arena now for the first round."

Both students blinked in alarm - wait, they had to go now?! - and Izuku quickly looked around as Ochako faced the wall for a moment, letting out a low, shuddering sigh - and then she nodded, straightening her shoulders and stealing a small glance at Izuku before turning away.

"W-well," She stiffly gestured with her head, not looking back at him at all, "that's … us, Deku."

"R-right," Izuku nodded equally as stiffly, quickly scooping up his notebook to put back in his pocket, "let's … yeah."

With that, both of them walked stiffly out of the waiting room that they had taken over to plan (if it could be called 'planning', Izuku winced), and together, they both began to walk down the hall towards the arena. They knew that the entrance to the stadium was just around the corner, so it wasn't too long a walk, but still, Izuku felt more and more awkward as they moved forward together, Ochako not looking at him at all and keeping her eyes on the ground.

So … it was up to him to resolve this awkwardness. Great. Something he was totally adept at doing, he thought sarcastically.

Clearing his throat slightly, Izuku glanced at his best friend again, seeing her tuck some of her brown hair behind her ear, and then opened his mouth - only to close it, glancing away from her as he frowned a bit. Several thoughts ran through his mind as to what they could possibly talk about - this upcoming round, Tenya and Mei, Katsuki, their hug in the forest, their parents, what they might be doing this weekend, Itsuka. And, of course the one question he kept asking himself over and over - why they were feeling so weird around each other.

And yet, even as his mind ran around in circles, Izuku had absolutely no idea how to clear the awkward air or make it even more awkward. As they moved around the corner, seeing the distant light at the end of the tunnel that would lead outside to the arena, Izuku found himself sweating nervously, both from nerves of what they were about to do and how Ochako wasn't looking at him at all, as they heard Present Mic begin to screech over the intercoms again.

"HEY, GUYS!" They heard Present Mic screech through the speakers at the end of the tunnel. "ARE YOU READY?!"

Loud, distant cheers filled the small passageway as Izuku and Ochako slowly walked forward, Izuku continuing to desperately attempt to think of anything he could talk about to Ochako as she continued to stare at her feet, and the nervousness they were both obviosuly feeling as their hearts beat quickly in their chests.

"A LOT'S HAPPENED SINCE WE GOT BACK FROM OUR LITTLE LUNCH BREAK, BUT NOW IT'S COME DOWN TO THIS! A SERIOUS BATTLE ON THIS STAGE, THANKFULLY MADE FOR US BY OUR PAL, CEMENTOSS! EVERYONE GIVE HIM A CHEER!"

As Present Mic continued to commentate over the roaring crowds, Izuku and Ochako took slow, deep breaths as they got closer to the opening of the tunnel, Izuku stealing another glance at her as Ochako slowly exhaled -

"Hey!"

At the sound of a familiar voice behind them, both Izuku and Ochako jumped, quickly looking around. Power walking towards them quickly, All Might panted a bit as he managed to slow himself to a stop, rubbing his side where his wound was and looking more than a little winded, as though he had ran here, but he still gave both teenagers a smile as he straightened up.

"Sorry I'm late," He apologized to them both, "got a bit held up again - seems that everyone wants to talk to me today."

"All Might?" Ochako blinked in surprise, as though she just suddenly realized he was standing before them. "W-why are you here?"

"To support you both, of course," All Might chuckled, moving forward so he could put his hand down on the young girl's shoulder, "it may surprise you, Young Uraraka, but I seem to recall that I trained more than one teenager on Dagobah Beach last year. I'm not just here today to support Young Kendou - I'm also looking forward to you two succeeding as well."

"Oh," Izuku said simply, going a bit red at the support, while Ochako likewise nodded a bit stiffly.

"But … well, do you both feel ready?" He glanced between both teenagers, a knowing look in his eye as he glanced down at the deactivated gauntlet on Izuku's wrist. "I know that this will be a challenge, no doubt, to face Young Iida and Young Hatsume at the same time. And … well, we all know who you two may be facing next as well, and your … history with him. Young Midoriya - do you feel confident enough to use your quirk against someone else?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused at All Might's question, blinking slightly. Well … it wasn't like it was an unfair question, Izuku winced - he was somewhat aware before that this wouldn't be a situation that he was going to be able to just use his quirk to bounce around, nor was it a fight against a robot or something. This was going to be a straight up fight against someone else - a fight where he would have to risk hurting someone else with his quirk.

This was … going to be a big step for him to take, Izuku frowned. Using his quirk for the first time against someone else, something that hadn't happened since he first activated it against Katsuki all those years ago.

And … odds are, it would have to be against Katsuki again.

While Izuku momentarily stared off into space, Ochako let out a small, shaking sigh, wringing her hands together as she glanced up at their mentor.

"We … yeah, we know that we may be facing Bakugou right after this," She nodded slowly, getting Izuku's attention on her again as she glanced back down at the ground, "… and … honestly, I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

"I … yeah," Izuku sighed as well, looking ashamed of himself as All Might glanced back over at him, "me neither. And … I don't know about my quirk either, All Might. I know that I've been using it a lot today, but … but not against someone else. I haven't really been thinking about it, but - but I guess at this point, I'm probably not gonna have a choice, if I'm supposed to be showing off what I'm capable of in front of all the pros. I just …"

There was a pause - and then he slumped his shoulders.

"I'm sorry, All Might," He looked ashamed of himself, "I - I don't know if I'm ready."

"Yeah," Ochako muttered, "me too."

A small silence fell as Present Mic continued to go on and on about something over the speakers and the crowd continued to cheer loudly outside the tunnel. All Might glanced between both of them again with a raised eyebrow as they both looked down towards the ground -

- and then the pro hero raised both his hands up, and brought them down sharply to chop them both on the top of their heads.

"Ow!" Ochako squeaked, raising her hands to hold the top of her head where All Might struck her as she looked back up at the now scowling pro hero in shock and anger, the Danger Pout on full display, and Izuku likewise grabbed the top of his head in surprise. "All Might, what the -?!"

"If you two are gonna be saying something, it should be along the lines of 'I'll do my best', damn it!" All Might put his hands on his hips as he gave both his pupils a frown. "You prince and princess of nonsense!"

"I - huh?!"

"Come on, now! Do you really think that I'd be disappointed if you two said you were scared? That you're not ready?" All Might interrupted Ochako before she could go off on him, glancing between both of them again. "It's alright that you're not confident! Or that you're scared and worried! It's not like I'm going to be disappointed if you two don't end up winning out there - but I'll be rooting for you either way!"

Both of them paused at that, looking up at All Might as he straightened up again, smoke beginning to emerge from his body before he suddenly buffed up, returning to his true self and flashing them a big grin.

"Don't you remember what I told you before, Young Midoriya?" He pointed his thumb at his large smile. "My smile hides my fear. It's not like I don't get scared to face something sometimes! It's when you're scared that you should deal with it by smiling! To trick the fear inside. You've both made it this far - it'll be fine if your smiles are merely bluffs. Stand proud, and don't forget that I'm rooting for you both, just as I'm rooting for Young Kendou!"

Both of them hesitated for a moment, staring up at All Might as he flashed the two of them a proud grin - and then, after a second, they finally turned to glance at each other, their eyes meeting for the first time since they returned from lunch. Ochako, for her part, was still looking incredibly nervous and awkward, but she tried to flash an obviously fake grin at Izuku, which, after a moment of hesitation, he stiffly returned. 

Slowly, the two of them turned towards the light at the end of the tunnel, and continued to slowly walk out, with All Might taking a step back to let them move forward. They were quiet for a moment -

- and then Izuku, taking a small, deep breath, said, "Hey, Occhan?"

"Y-yeah, Deku?"

"Are …" He hesitated for a moment, "… are we good?"

There was a pause between them as they both slowed their step, staring out of the tunnel and seeing what looked to be a large stage rising out of the ground - and then she let out a small sigh, and both of them turned to look at each other again.

Izuku was very quick to notice the shame in her eyes, making his chest clench slightly at how sad and disappointed she looked in herself, but before he could say anything, she nodded and turned back to look out at the stage again.

"Yeah," She said in a quiet voice, "we're good, Deku. I just … got stuff I'm thinking about. It's - it's okay."

"Oh," He said simply, and then turned back to look out at the stage as well, "I - I get it, Occhan. I - I just - I get it."

"Okay."

"Are … are you ready to - to do this?"

Ochako slowly sighed again - and then she nodded, straightening her back.

"Hell yeah, I am," She tried to say somewhat confidently, even if there was a shake in her voice, "let's go kick some butt, Deku."

Izuku blinked a bit at that, turning to glance at Ochako again - and feeling his heart skip a beat at the look on her face, making him gulp as the weird feeling overcame him again - and then he shook his head and tried to imitate All Might's confident smile from before.

"Y-yeah," He nodded, "let's - let's go kick some butt."

With that, both of them took deep breaths, Ochako hopping up and down briefly and Izuku trying to calm down the fluttered feeling in his chest, and then they both began to walk out of the tunnel and into the sunlight, All Might watching them leave with a soft smile on his face as he deflated back down into his scrawny form.

As they walked out of the shadows and into the sunlight, they both raised their hands to briefly cover their eyes as the sun shined down on them, wincing at the loud roar of the crowd that intensified at their appearances, and looked around at the field. Everything seemed to be normal, except, of course, for the large, circular dirt hill rising out of the field - it was pretty tall, but not imposingly so, only big enough that it would take them a few rolls to get from the top to the bottom. In the middle of the hill was a small flight of concrete stairs - which meant, of course, that their fight would be taking place at the top of the mountain of dirt, where Midnight was pacing around on her podium.

Nodding at the same time, Izuku and Ochako began quickly making their way across the grass towards the ring.

"LISTENERS!" Present Mic called over the crowd's cheering. "THE FINALS THAT YOU HAVE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR ARE ABOUT TO BEGIN! SO LET'S GET A NICE FIRST LOOK AT OUR FIRST CONTESTANTS - IZUKU MIDORIYA AND OCHAKO URARAKA, AGAINST MEI HATSUME AND TENYA IIDA!"

As Izuku felt rather than saw the cameras point at him, he gulped nervously and straightened his shoulders, knowing how awkward he must look at the moment with the stiff smile on his face and the way his arms robotically swung at his sides.

"EVEN IF HE'S DONE EXTREMELY WELL SO FAR, WITH FIRST PLACE IN BOTH THE FIRST AND SECOND ROUNDS, WHAT'S WITH THAT LOOK ON HIS FACE?! FROM THE HERO COURSE, IT'S IZUKU MIDORIYA!"

"Hey …" Ochako pouted a bit at that call out while Izuku winced, although she couldn't scowl for long as she felt the cameras' attention turn to her, glancing up at a random screen up on the stadium's wall and squeaking as she saw the focus now on her, heavily resisting the urge to smooth down her hair, and totally pretending she wasn't hearing her dad yelling even over the loud ambience of the crowd, making her blush.

"WALKING BESIDE HIM! OUR GRAVITY GAL WHO LOVES SPACE SO MUCH, SHE TRIED TO HEAD THERE A FEW TIMES TODAY! IT'S OCHAKO URARAKA, ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE!"

Now Ochako was definitely pouting hard enough that her cheeks began to puff out, which got a few giggles from the audience, while Izuku, despite still feeling awkward around her, had to hold back his small chuckle in fear that she was going to shove him down to the ground as they approached the dirt hill, beginning to walk up the steps. In the crowd, Inko was sobbing again as she cheered wetly for his son and Ochako, and Tenohira and Hakushu yelled as loudly as they could for the two teenagers while Eri waved her little arms in the air to imitate the two Kendous.

"VERSUS!" Present Mic continued to announce in a large, hammy tone as they approached the top of the stairs. "IT'S LIKE HE'S THE EPITOME OF THE MIDDLE OF THE PACK! FROM THE HERO COURSE AS WELL, IT'S TENYA IIDA! AND BESIDE HIM! FULLY EQUIPPED WITH SUPPORT ITEMS AND NOT AFRAID TO USE 'EM! FROM THE SUPPORT COURSE, IT'S MEI HATSUME!"

As Present Mic finished his narration, Izuku and Ochako finally walked up to the top of the stairs, and had a quick look around at the arena as they stepped in. The gray concrete was morphed into a large circle for them to walk on, while on the side, Midnight stood on her podium on a small part of the top of the hill, turning to nod in approval at Izuku and Ochako as they entered the circle, and then turned to look around at Tenya and Mei as they likewise approached the top of the stairs.

Mei, for her part, was jogging up the stairs with glee, her arms full of briefcases that she quickly tossed just on the outside of the circle, and then turned to giggle happily at the sight of her opponents, which made Izuku and Ochako gulp nervously as her yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of them, looking up and down the both of them. Tenya, meanwhile, came up the stairs as he lowered his hands …

… to adjust the straps of the exact same propulsion support item he had been wearing during the second round, the two metallic straps looking like wings behind him as he fastened the belt and straps around his shoulders, waist and thighs to keep the knee guards and leg propulsion system secured.

"Huh?" Izuku blinked in surprise, temporarily taken out of his nervous mood in his confusion. "Wait, is Iida …?"

"That's against the rules!" Midnight quickly and immediately called out to Tenya in a stern voice, causing Tenya to freeze in his step in terror as she pointed her whip at him. "Those that use equipment need to petition beforehand."

There was a moment as the gears apparently turned in Tenya's head, his eyes widening - and then he immediately wheeled around to point at Mei, who began innocently whistling as she looked away.

"I knew it!" He chopped his hand indignantly at her. "You had said that you had gotten permission to share the items for the next round, Hatsume!"

"Well, technically I did!" Mei giggled, shrugging. "I told you that I got permission to use them during the final round. I never said that they would be attached or used by myself."

"Curse you!" Tenya reprimanded her, and then quickly turned around towards where Midnight was tapping her foot against the podium while staring at him in judgment, and he quickly lowered himself into a bow.

"I completely understand your ruling, Midnight-sensei!" He looked absolutely ashamed of his actions while Mei gave him an unimpressed look and turned to look down at the screen she had attached to her work glove, making sure that it was strapped on tightly. "And I do humbly apologize! Should you wish to disqualify our team, I will not offer any complaints!"

"Huh? Oh, well …" Midnight felt herself sweat a bit - honestly, she had been leaning more towards just having Tenya take off the equipment before the match got started. However, before she could say so, Tenya suddenly looked back up at her with his face filled with determination, which made the teacher pause.

"However …" He hesitated for a moment, glancing over at Izuku and Ochako as they gave him a confused look back, before he shook his head and looked back at Midnight. "… I must admit, even if Hatsume meant it as a form of trickery, there's a part of myself that is by her sportsmanship. Even if she is from the support course, she said that she wanted to have us fighting together as equals. That is the reason why she gave me this gear!"

While Midnight's eyebrow raised in intrigue, Tenya straightened himself from his bow, gesturing boldly to himself and Mei as she didn't even pay attention to what he was saying, too busy playing with the screen attached to her glove.

"I did not think that I could ignore her willingness to consider us equals," He made clear to the entire stadium, "so that was why I had thought to put on this gear - to match her fighting spirit!"

"Such youthful vigor!" Midnight squealed without any warning, and began to squirm sensually on her podium, with Izuku squeaking and looking away with a red face and Ochako rolling her eyes nearly into the back of her skull.

While the teacher made the entire crowd suddenly become very interested with what was going on down on the podium, Teko frowned as he covered Eri's innocent eyes again, the little girl blinking in confusion as to why she wasn't allowed to look at the writhing woman on the field below, while Miwa and Tenohira judgmentally stared at their husbands as they suddenly became fascinated with their shoes.

"Seriously," The Kendou patriarch grumbled to himself, "this woman teaches at a school?"

As sudden as Midnight's sensual squirming started, definitely playing it up for the blushing audience, she quickly snapped back to seriousness as she wheeled around at Tenya and pointed her whip at him with a sure look.

"I'll allow it!"

"I - what?!" Tenya gasped in horror, taking a step backwards. "Y-you're letting us proceed with using unsanctioned support items?! Is - as you said, Midnight-sensei, that's not legal!"

"I'm making it legal!" Midnight threw her arm into the air with that same, slightly crazed look on her face she'd worn at several points that day. "Since both you and Hatsume agreed to share the devices, that should be fine! With that said, before we proceed - Midoriya, Uraraka! Do you have any complaints if we adjust the rules of this game?!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked while Ochako jumped a bit, both of them taken aback as their teacher looked at them with that same crazy look on her face. "I - I don't think so? N-no, I - I don't, at least."

"No, me -" Ochako hesitated, glancing at Mei uncertainly for a moment before shaking her head, "- me neither."

"Then it's within regulations! The match can proceed, with only one exception!" Midnight quickly looked around at Mei, who was continuing to tap instructions into the device on her wrist. "Hatsume! If you end up being pushed out of the ring or otherwise incapacitated, your support items have to stop with you! I assume that you followed regulations from Power Loader before the sports festival, and installed a shutdown sequence for your inventions? So I believe that it would only be fair to Midoriya and Uraraka that your inventions will shut down if you are taken out of the match. Do you agree?"

"Hm?" Mei hummed, only half-paying attention as she looked up from the device on her wrist, and then shrugged. "Oh, yeah, sure. That's acceptable."

"… then say it." Midnight raised her eyebrow, catching the small dismissiveness in the support student's voice.

"If I get kicked out, my babies will shut down."

"Good girl. In that case, I'll offer no more complaints!"

"ER … SO IT'S FINE?" Present Mic questioned, clearly hesitant to continue after Midnight's little … 'scene', as they would call it, down below.

"I guess if they're all in agreement, it's fine," Aizawa said offhandedly.

With the crowd hesitantly clapping for resolving … whatever that was, both duos took a step back, getting ready for the match to begin as several people in the crowd glanced between each other in confusion. On the other side of the arena, Izuku and Ochako glanced between each other again before looking back over at Mei, who was smiling a bit to herself as she continued to tap on buttons on the screen. 

They were both clearly thinking the same thing - admittedly, Izuku and Ochako had only known Mei for a relatively short time, but … well, they were obviously both wondering if she really someone who'd say stuff like that. About sportsmanship and seeing herself and Tenya as equals. From how she had acted during the second round, they had the impression that she had only been participating in the festival in order to …

And that, right about then, was when Ochako noticed Mei moving her hand up towards something on the gear wrapped tightly around her head, and brought it down towards her mouth, a small smirk appearing on the support student's face that immediately sent a foreboding feeling down Ochako's spine.

"W-WELL, SINCE PERMISSION TO USE SUPPORT ITEMS HAS BEEN GRANTED BY OUR LOVELY REFEREE, THEN LET'S GET STARTED WITH THE FIRST MATCH!" Present Mic quickly got back into the swing of things, pumping some energy back into the confused crowd. "MIDORIYA AND URARAKA! IIDA AND HASTUME! LET'S GET THIS FIGHT … STARTED!"

There was a short pause, in which the four students glanced between each other, and the crowd began murmuring as well.

" … GO! THAT WAS THE GO AHEAD! FIIIIIIIGHT!"

Both Ochako and Izuku jumped a bit in surprise, their eyes widening a bit as they both realized that the match had already started, but unfortunately for them, Tenya quickly made the first move, sinking down to a crouch, and they heard the sudden loud sound of the engines in his legs rumbling. Before either of them could blink, Tenya was moving, a lot faster than they anticipated, towards them, the support items he had on squeaking as they pushed him to move quicker than they were prepared for.

"Occhan!" Izuku called to her in warning, swiping his hand against his other wrist and activating the Full Gauntlet quickly as Tenya leapt up into the air with a grunt, clenching his teeth tightly as he moved to kick Izuku right in the side of the head -

- and then, behind him, Mei suddenly spoke up.

"Isn't that acceleration wonderful, Iida?!"

All three of the other contestants - even Tenya up in the air - blinked at the sound of Mei's voice - or rather, they blinked as her voice seemed to be … echoing all around them, as though she were talking through the various speakers lined up throughout the arena. Even Midnight looked taken aback, quickly glancing around in her confusion.

And that, right about then, was when Ochako glanced back at what Mei had been playing with on her headgear before the match had started, and realized that Mei was grinning as she spoke …

… right into a mic.

"Oh, no." Ochako felt herself pale in horror.

"Oh, no." Izuku likewise felt himself begin to sweat.

"Oh, no." Tenya realized his mistake at once.

"Don't your legs feel lighter than usual?" Mei continued to inquire excitedly, watching eagerly as Izuku barely managed to duck underneath Tenya's kick, and Ochako quickly acted, beginning to run straight towards her before the pink-haired girl wheeled around to look at the confused crowd. "Well, it's to be expected! The leg parts that Iida is wearing right now are designed to help the wearer's movements, and assist with better mobility and flexibility!"

"Is Hatsume seriously turning our match into a commercial?!" Ochako growled to herself as she ran at her, moving across the circle in an instant and reaching out to grab Mei while she was distracted with talking to the crowd - only to squeak when the backpack Mei was wearing beeped, and shot out a hydraulic press into the ground to shoot Mei up into the air and away from Ochako's grasp, causing her to trip over the long piece of metal and nearly face plant onto the concrete floor.

"That's -!" Izuku gasped, recognizing the device Mei had strapped to her back at once - of course he did, she had leant it to him to wear in the last match! But - but it had been broken after their crash in the pond, and the beating it took from Shouto! How did she fix it so fast?!

"This backpack, of course," Mei giggled with glee as she gestured to the press, "will allow me to easily evade my opponents with the hydraulic attachments in the back! As seen in the last round with the opponent I'm facing right now, this baby is versatile and quick to react to movements that even the wearer doesn't see coming! Since it's got built-in sensors looking in every direction, I can deal with attacks that even I wouldn't be able to pick up in time, but this baby will be the one looking around for me!"

On the other side of the ring, Izuku leapt back from another one of Tenya's kicks, narrowly ducking underneath the strong calf that sailed over his head, and let out a small noise as he quickly backed away from Tenya's desperate attempts to at least kick Izuku out of the ring before Mei could do anything else that would mess up the match. Knowing that he wasn't going to have many alternatives now that he was at least backed away from Tenya, Izuku took a deep breath, and glanced down at the Full Gauntlet still activated on his other arm.

Despite the images of Inko clutching her injured arm and a child version of Katsuki lying injured on the ground appearing in his vision, Izuku shook his head, and clenched his fist. He didn't have a choice. He knew he didn't. So, taking a deep breath, he glanced down at the Gauntlet and urged his body to pour some lightning into the support item, in order to at least have some of his energy prepared for the fight …

… only for nothing to happen.

"Huh?" He blinked, looking down at his arm in alarm - confusion briefly rose within him, staring down in shock as absolutely no lightning flickered out of his arm and was absorbed into the Full Gauntlet. However, before he could panic, or try to think about what was going on, he heard the sound of engines blasting towards him, and was reminded that he had another thing he had to panic over first.

As Izuku quickly dodged out of the way from another roundhouse kick from Tenya, the boy in glasses let out a sputtering gasp as the pistons on his back suddenly let out a small puff of air, and instead of stumbling over his feet as he came down from the air, he was instead spun back around towards Izuku as the other combatant jumped back, his eyes widening.

"Iida, of course, just adeptly changed course thanks to the auto-balancer on his back!" Mei threw her hands happily into the air as she came down to the ground again as well, Ochako looking around at Tenya in a mix of horror and sympathy as he wobbled around, completely out of his own control and in Mei's as she looked back up at the crowd. "Something that, if you were all paying attention, was also used during the last round! The leg parts detect the wearer's brainwaves to predict their movements, so there's no need to worry about lag time!"

As Tenya began sprinting impulsively at Izuku again, he desperately tried to ignore how much of a fool Mei was making him out to be, and let out a gasp as he tripped over his own feet in his haste to get to Izuku, the other boy dodging out of the way again, and came dangerously close to the edge of the ring - 

"And the auto-balancer is also equipped with a 32-axis gyro sensor! It will be sure to keep the wearer from falling over unless they want to!"

Without his input, contrary to what she just said, Tenya was shoved back up onto his feet with the hiss of the device on his back, letting out a yelp of shock and fear as he was temporarily sent spinning in circles before he came to a stop, wobbling slightly in his dizziness. Thankfully for Izuku, Tenya took a small break from attempting to come after him again, wheeling around at Mei as she bounced up and down on the stage and ignored Ochako's attempts to grab her and throw her out of the ring.

"Hatsume!" He shouted at her, his voice filled with indignation. "Didn't you say that we should be seen as equals?! Why are you controlling my movements like a puppet?! That's the opposite of seeing me as an equal!"

While he yelled at the currently apathetic girl, Ochako let out another shout as she leapt back at Mei, her hands thrown towards the support student in an effort to float her right out of the ring, so that there would be a chance for her team to take out the one opponent inspiring this much chaos - but with a small engine boost from the boots strapped to Mei's feet, she leapt up into the air before Ochako could reach her. Sputtering a bit, Ochako quickly looked up at Mei in shock as the rocket boots sent her up into the air.

Those boots had - they had been near silent! She was used to Mei's items being loud and flashy, but those boots had been so quiet she hadn't even noticed them activating, her eyes on them as Mei threw her legs up so she could gesture to them for the crowd.

"What do you all think of this lightness?!" Mei giggled with glee. "These electro shoes use electromagnetic induction on both feet to allow for instant evasive action!"

As she landed back on the ground again, she quickly threw her arms into the air, eyes wide with craziness.

"And who invented all of these lovely support items?" She rhetorically asked the confused and befuddled crowd. "Who perfected them? Who is showing you all the next steps in support item history?! It's me! Mei Hatsume! Mei Hatsume! Mei Hatsume! The newest name in the support gear world! And now, I will talk about the next support items on our list, so let's spice things up!"

With that proclamation, she pressed down on another button on the screen of her glove, and the boxes that she had dropped near the center of the ring before the start of the match suddenly began trembling. Izuku, Ochako and Tenya looked around with wide, alarmed eyes as one of the boxes suddenly opened on its own, and as though they were mini-rockets, several pieces of equipment shot out of the box and right towards Tenya.

The poor boy in glasses had no way of dodging out of the way in time as several support items began to attach themselves to him - strapping around his arms, legs, chest, hands and one even around his face. Soon enough, he had been sealed inside what looked like a black, high tech version of his hero costume, only with his eyes and hair exposed, and he looked around at the other two in horror as though asking for help - and then Mei pressed another button, and they all heard the sudden sound of something in the distance exploding.

"Er …" Midnight said weakly from the side, having absolutely no idea if she should stop this (or if she even could) and realizing only now how much this was backfiring on her. Izuku and Ochako quickly looked around as they heard what sounded like … engines beginning to rumble, looking around at the tunnel where Tenya and Mei had come out of, and saw …

… oh. Right. Now that they were thinking about it, she did have some drones in those boxes of hers.

"And now, let's have a look at these little babies!" Mei cooed as the circular drones surrounded the arena, reaching out and patting one that had zoomed over to her while giggling. "High advanced drones capable of multiple functions, both offensive and defensive! For example -!"

She then pointed up at the sky, and three of the … twenty drones, Ochako gulped nervously as she counted them quickly, complied with her unspoken orders. Quickly zooming up into the air, they watched as one of the drones suddenly stopped right in the center of the circular arena, right above the ring - and then a blast of purple energy suddenly shot out of all sides of the drone, quickly expanding and falling down to surround the ring.

Ochako quickly shook her head, trying to refocus on the job at hand as she looked around at where Mei was slowly spinning in a circle, obviously basking in the attention that everyone was giving her, and quickly ran back over, shaking her head in her disappointment that she only had one real trick going for her - float Mei, and get her the hell out of the ring - while remembering Midnight's warning before the match started and what Mei agreed to.

"If I get kicked out, my babies will shut down."

Get rid of Mei, and the support items will shut down. That would take a big load off everyone's back - and yes, she was including Tenya in that, she thought as she glanced at the utter state of disarray her friend was in and wincing on his behalf.

"See?" Mei giggled, moving over to the purple energy surrounding the forcefield, and Ochako let out a small cry as she moved to shove Mei right out of the field - but instead, Mei quickly slipped out of the way, easily spinning away from Ochako's grasp. The brown-haired girl barely had any time to realize what happened as she stumbled, flying off of her feet and letting out a gasp of panic as she fell face first towards the ground, and about to fall out of the circle -

- only for her face to suddenly smudge as she hit the purple forcefield, letting out a muffled grunt as she fell into it, briefly stretching it before the field suddenly shoved her back with a force and speed she wasn't entirely ready for. Letting out a yelp, Ochako was repelled straight across the arena as though she had been launched from a cannon, flailing a bit in the air - and slammed straight into Izuku, who had stopped his attempts to use his quirk and get some lightning into the Gauntlet when he heard Ochako crying out, and only had enough time to look up just as she slammed straight into him.

With two grunts, both of them were sent flying through the air for a moment before they both came down onto the hard ground, flopping onto the concrete floor and rolling for a moment before they stopped. Luckily, their fall onto the ground didn't completely knock the breath out of them, allowing both Izuku and Ochako to sit up and look around in shock at the force field surrounding them. 

On the other side of the arena, Tenya let out a small grunt as the support items wrapped around him suddenly began moving without his input, forcing him to run over to Mei as she bounced up and down in excitement, unaware that up in the teacher's box above the arena, Power Loader was holding his head in both hands while Ectoplasm stared down at the ring in confusion and Vlad King pinched the bridge of his nose in his exasperation.

"As you can see," Mei gestured around at the force field while the crowd began muttering in confusion to each other, "this baby has an impenetrable force field, with no one able to get in or out! Handy for capture work! Now then, with Iida here, I will demonstrate Baby #18's capabilities! Iida, do a headstand!"

"I - what do you - ah!"

While Tenya let out several cries of panic as the suit that he had been forced into did most of the work for him, flipping him over so that he could throw his legs in the air and balance himself on his hands, both Izuku and Ochako stared at the strange spectacle, glancing down at Tenya's face as it practically screamed 'help me' at them - and then looked at each other.

"Okay …" Izuku pouted, "… I guess this is happening."

"Yep," Ochako nodded with a frown, starting to get up, "so, uh - what's the plan?"

"Well," Izuku grimaced, getting up as well and cursing their earlier awkwardness - had they been able to actually talk to each other, they might have realized that this was something Mei would definitely do - "the shield's gotta go, obviously - as long as that's up, we won't be able to get either of them out. And Hatsume … okay, we should concentrate on getting Hatsume out of the ring before Iida, her support items are just gonna cause chaos. Focus on her, get her out, and then we team up to beat Iida."

"Okay," Ochako nodded, slowly looking around at the drones zooming around them as her eyes trailed up - and then she blinked as she stared at the top of the forcefield.

"Wait - Deku, look," She quickly pointed up, "that drone - I think it's the one that's generating the field."

"Huh?" Izuku quickly looked up as well, and felt his eyes widen. Indeed, at the top of the ring was a drone floating there, stationary, and the purple energy of the force field was slowly seeping out of all of its sides to completely encircle the ring - but there was still a half of the drone that was in the arena, rather than be protected by the force field.

As he stared up at it, Izuku felt his mind begin to work, glancing back over at Mei as she had Tenya continue to spin in circles and keeping her eyes off both of them - although he would bet that she was probably keeping track of where they were in case they tried anything.

"Okay," He slowly nodded, glancing over at Ochako as she also looked at him, their awkwardness from before somewhat forgotten now due to Mei's craziness, "okay, I think I've got a plan. I'll head over and distract Iida and Hatsume, and you - you can jump up and disable that drone. That way, we can get the field down and push Hatsume out of the ring. So I'll -"

"Huh?" Ochako suddenly interrupted him, looking confused. "W-why don't you just shoot it? It's not moving at all, you can probably get it easy."

"Oh," Izuku found himself hesitating, feeling his cheeks go a bit red, "I, uh … my quirk's not working."

"…"

"…"

"… what do you mean, your quirk's not -"

"Now let's see what my other babies can do! Drones 1 through 8, dive bomb!"

Feeling themselves blink as they felt Mei's attention suddenly return to them, Izuku and Ochako quickly looked around, and squeaked as they saw the other drones that had been lazily flying around stop in the air - and then shot straight towards their heads.

Eyes widening and quickly ducking, the duo acted at once, running straight forward while Mei continued to happily commercialize her products.

"What do you mean, your quirk's not working?!" Ochako managed to finish her previous thought, ducking underneath another drone that nearly slammed into the side of her head.

"I mean, I'm trying to pour lightning in the Gauntlet, but it's not working!" Izuku raised said Gauntlet to defend his face from a drone, wincing as it scraped against the red metal. "I think something's wrong!"

"I - okay, in that case, I'll - I'll float you and push you up to the drone while I distract Hatsume and Iida! That'll give you time to try and break it!"

"Occhan, you could easily float yourself up there instead! Besides, Iida's -"

"Deku, don't say Iida's stronger than me!"

"I wasn't! I'm just saying -"

"I can totally take Iida!"

"Occhan," Izuku winced as he ducked another drone that had tried to hit him right square in the forehead, "normally, I'd be rooting for you in a fight against Iida, but not only is he wearing lots of armor right now, you don't exactly have headgear to protect you in case he kicks you in the head with the freaking engines in his legs! He's gonna give you a concussion if he lands a hit!"

"The same could be said of you, Deku! And I can survive a kick to the head!" 

"A kick that's coming at you eighty miles per hour?!"

While arguing with each other in increasingly panicked tones, they quickly ducked underneath more of the drones that continued to divebomb them, ignoring Mei happily making a profit out of their misery as she kept her eyes up on the box that her potential customers must be in. Izuku let out another yelp as another one of the flying machines scrapped the Full Gauntlet again as it flew dangerously close to his face, and he let out a small groan as he glanced down at the red support item wrapped around his arm, and the small scratches that were -

- wait.

Wait a second.

"But speaking of support items, I don't recognize what you have there. The material doesn't match anything we have at the support studio - looks more like nano-technology, that's more American based tech. Where'd you get it?"

"Huh? Oh, this was, uh - it was a gift from one of my friends in America. It helps me control the output of my quirk."

"Aaaaaah, I see, I see, that makes sense. No wonder it's so shoddily made."

As the memory of Mei's … thoughts about the Full Gauntlet filled his mind, Izuku stared down at it in shock for a moment - and then he said, in a plain voice, "I know what'll distract Hatsume."

"Huh?!" Ochako looked around at him in confusion, her head still low to the ground to avoid the drones trying to hit her.

"I know what'll keep her attention on me. Just - when I distract her, head up to the drone and disable the shield!"

Without waiting for Ochako's counterargument as to why the powerless one of their duo should be attracting the most danger, Izuku quickly jogged forward away from her, moving towards where Mei was still excitedly talking to the crowd as she forced Tenya to kick his leg straight up into the air, the boy in glasses wincing as it went up a bit further than he was comfortable with. Sliding to a stop, Izuku took a deep breath, raising his hands to his mouth, and called to the support student.

"H-Hatsume!"

Mei completely ignored him at first, continuing to talk to the audience happily - at least, until he took a step forward and raised the arm he had the Gauntlet on, making the pink-haired girl glance at him with a raised eyebrow before she turned back to the audience.

"This Full Gauntlet," He shouted, feeling himself sweat a bit nervously, "was made by Melissa Shield, from America! And it's far more impressive than anything else I've seen today!"

At that proclamation, at long last, silence fell in the ring. The drones that had been zooming around suddenly froze in the air, causing Ochako to blink as she realized that was her cue, and quickly lowered a hand to touch her leg and float herself. Mei's rambling and giddy giggling about her inventions suddenly ceased entirely, staring blankly forward for a moment as the audience glanced unsurely around at each other, as though wondering what the hell was going on -

- and then, Mei began to stiffly and slowly look around at where Izuku was standing, holding the Gauntlet up in the air, and feeling himself begin to sweat nervously.

Only when Mei's yellow eyes met his did he realize that he had just made a horrible mistake insulting her babies - her pupils had shrunk entirely, the manic smile completely dropped as she looked at him as though she had never seen him before.

"Excuse me?" She said in a quiet whisper, her voice still echoing around them due to her mic near her face, and the entire crowd, which had been awkwardly giggling and talking amongst each other at the spectacle, fell into silence as well, as though they just realized that they were about a minute away from witnessing a brutal murder.

"Uh …" Izuku hesitated for only a single moment, praying quietly that Ochako would get the force field down sooner rather than later so he could run the hell away from the crazed support student, "… I … said what I said! The Full Gauntlet is … it's incredibly well crafted, and … uh … it works really well, and … uh … it's awesome. W-way more comfortable than the pack you lent me in the - the second round."

There was a pause.

"N-no offense," Izuku clarified quickly, his manners getting the better of him, "thank you for helping us get to the third round, Hatsume. Just - yeah."

Several long seconds of silence followed as Izuku continued to sweat nervously under Mei's cold stare, the intensity of her glare almost feeling like it was burning a hole through his head - and then she let out a long sigh, turning back towards the crowd.

"It seems as though my opponent here wants to compare!" She smirked, and then pressed another button on her glove. Izuku let out a loud yelp as a drone suddenly zoomed over and hit him right in the back, sending him stumbling forward - and Mei immediately bent down to grab his wrist, lifting the Full Gauntlet up into the air for everyone to have a look at.

"Observe!" She called to them, unaware of Tenya continuing to spin around the ring like a top while yelling at the top of his lungs, and Ochako quickly floating up to find a way to turn off the drone and the sphere. "Look at this strange weird American gauntlet. Serviceable in design, of course, but in comparison to my babies? It's pretty much exactly what it looks like - a bunch of red toilet paper wrapped up into a glove!"


Melissa suddenly crushed her semi-empty soda can, dark liquid slowly sliding down her hand to the floor as she stared at the girl on the TV with a vein twitching in her forehead. David decided, right about then, that it was about time he headed to the bathroom for a small break.


"Indeed! It's so pathetically and poorly designed!" Mei inspected the Gauntlet a bit further, while Izuku froze up, not entirely sure what to do now that Mei was up in his business as she dropped his arm and began circling around him, like a predator wondering how best to begin devouring her prey. "I'm not even sure what this thing is supposed to even do, it's that vague looking! Tell me what it does, Midoriya, and I imagine that one of my babies can easily do whatever this poor excuse of a support item is supposed to do, and even better!"

"Er …" Izuku hesitated for a moment - he could hear the small sounds of Ochako panickingly fumbling with the drone that was emulating the force field, and knew that she would need a bit more time to figure it out, "… it's … uh … to minimize the - the amount of energy I emulate with my quirk and - and fire them out in shorter blasts."

"Oh! Very good! As it so happens, I have a baby for that exact purpose!"

Quickly snapping her fingers together, Mei looked around excitedly at one of the boxes that she had dumped at the beginning of the match, which immediately shot open when she pointed at it, and one of the drones quickly zoomed over to lift it out, Izuku hearing what sounded like magnet sounds as it dipped down, attached itself to something, and pulled it out. Izuku found himself gulping very nervously at the appearance of what looked to be a large backpack with a cannon attached to it by a few loose-looking wires, but before he could take a nervous step back, Mei grabbed his shoulder tightly, giggling sinisterly as the drone, now carrying the menacing looking support item, slowly started moving towards him.

Mei let out another giggle as she quickly lifted his arm - the one that the Full Gauntlet wasn't on - and Izuku privately freaked out as the cannon was quickly strapped onto his arm. As she slipped the huge backpack the cannon was attached to over his shoulders, Izuku glanced around at the crowds as though begging for help, not even noticing Tenya's wobbling screaming as he continued to spin like a top around the arena.

"Now then!" Mei finished strapping the backpack over Izuku's shoulders, causing him to grunt as he took its full weight, and then raised the arm she attached the cannon to in order to make sure it was secure. "This baby here can absorb emitter quirks, based off of one of my old designs from watching Mister Blaster and how his quirk works! This baby is fully capable of absorbing quirks and blasting them out through the cannon - in theory, of course."

"I-in theory?!" Izuku squeaked.

"Now then! Please, Midoriya, demonstrate your quirk! I'd be more than happy to show and compare how my baby operates compared to the pathetic American tech you consider 'good enough'!"

Izuku found himself gulping as she lifted the cannon that his hand was currently trapped in - and a bit uncomfortably, as a matter of fact, with Izuku wincing as it felt like he couldn't move his fingers at all - and felt nervous as to how it was supposed to work. Feeling himself begin to shake, both in nervousness and due to the backpack he was now wearing starting to tremble ominously as well, he quickly glanced back up at Ochako, seeing her floating there while experimentally and panickingly tapping on the drone, looking absolutely frustrated at the lack of progress -

- and then she muttered, "Ah, fuck it!"

And with that, she threw her fist back, and with a loud shout, threw it forward to punch the drone as hard as she could.

Granted, it didn't do exactly what she had expected it to do - she kind of wanted to try punching straight through the drone to destroy it, but instead, she hit her knuckles very hard against the hard metal and drew her hand back at once to wave it, letting out a small curse of pain. But as Izuku glanced around, he blinked as he saw, thankfully, the shield waving for a moment, the thin purple walls of the force field faltering -

- and in that moment, Izuku acted.

Not even considering his actions, Izuku quickly used his free hand to grab Mei's wrist tightly, prompting the still chattering girl to pause, turning to blink down at his hand on her - but before she could speak, Izuku yanked on her arm hard enough to lift the support student right off her feet.

Mei let out a yelp as she was quickly brought into the air, and with a yell, Izuku judo-threw her over his shoulder as hard as he could, aiming to throw her away from the circle. Being flung through the air, Mei flailed in the air in panic as she headed straight towards the faltering shield - and to his relief, due to the wavering of the force field, she sailed straight through, letting out a small grunt as she fell a small distance onto the small hill the arena was on, and began rolling down the hill towards the ground.

On her podium at the side, Midnight blinked down at where Mei came to a stop on the bottom of the hill, sprawled out for a moment and staring up at the sky as she realized what had happened - and then the teacher quickly threw her whip into the air.

"Hatsume is out of bounds!" She quickly called. "As per the agreement at the start of the match, her inventions must now shut down due to her elimination!"

Down below, Mei slowly managed to rise to her feet, her yellow eyes slowly turning towards where Izuku was standing near the edge of the ring, clearly attempting to keep himself up with the heavy support items attached to his arm and back weighing him down. There was a moment, as she glared at him, that she was clearly considering vengeance, her hand slowly drifting towards the control panel on her arm -

- but then, she let out a long, heavy sigh, looking disappointed but slowly nodding, as though considering what it would look like in front of potential investors if she went back on her agreement with Midnight - who, by the way, was now giving her a pointed look as she tapped her foot impatiently against the podium.

"Let it be known," Mei called through the speakers, trying to smile widely again, "that Mei Hatsume is, above all else, a woman of her word!"

With that, she pressed a button on the screen - and at once, everything that she had brought into the arena stopped working at once, the drones stopping their rapid flying around and falling to the ground. The cannon attached to Izuku's arm suddenly dropped, making him yelp as it dragged him straight to the ground; Tenya finally stopped spinning in circles from the gear still on him, letting out several pants as he wobbled a bit briefly before trying to take one step forward and immediately falling on his face; and the drone that Ochako was currently holding onto with her gravity gone fell out of the sky, and she let out a gasp as she was dropped by its weight straight to the ground, slamming against the concrete and having the air driven out of her lungs.

The entire crowd watched in befuddled silence as the three teenagers that were still in the ring struggled to get back up, with Ochako taking several shaking breaths as she tried to roll over in an attempt to regain control of her breathing, tapping her fingers together to restore her weight; Izuku, meanwhile, continued to struggle to lift himself off the ground against the weight of the support items Mei had strapped him into, and Tenya attempted to get control of his dizziness, trying to get back up only to fall back down at once. In the crowd, the Urarakas were watching their daughter with sympathy, while Tenohira tried her hardest to control her giggles at how utterly pearshaped this first match turned out to be, and Hisashi likewise tried to look just as unamused while Inko gave him a pout.

Finally, once she was able to get control of her breathing, Ochako managed to get up on shaking feet, looking around for Izuku, and once she spotted him struggling on the ground, walked over and knelt beside him in order to help him out of the gear. Izuku let out a small murmur of appreciation as she managed to get the backpack off of him, and then started on getting the cannon off. While she did so, Tenya finally managed to regain his balance somewhat as he sat up, quickly shoving off the armor and various support items he had been unwillingly strapped into, and then whirled around to point a rage-filled finger straight at Mei, with the support student dully beginning to pack up the drones that had begun to zoom over to her to be placed back into the cases again.

"You tricked me!" He shouted in an accusing tone, blushing a bit at the crowd laughing at his reaction. "How disgraceful, Hatsume! Have you no shame?!"

"Yep," Mei casually nodded, pouting as she continued putting away the drones, "I used you."

"I hate you!"

While he continued to yell at his teammate, Izuku let out a small sigh of relief as Ochako finally helped him get the cannon off, allowing him to finally stretch his back now that the heavy machinery wasn't pushing him to the ground. Together, they both got up, Izuku flexing his hand a bit after having it be stuck in the cannon, as he glanced over at where Tenya was shouting at Mei - 

- and then he glanced at Ochako, who gave him a weak smile.

"So, uh …" He gestured with his head towards their classmate.

"Yeah," Ochako quickly nodded, "let's do it."

And with that, both of them began charging towards Tenya at the same time, their fists at the ready - they knew that getting Tenya at least pushed out of the ring would get them the victory, even if it was a bit unfair to team up against one person.

Unfortunately for them, however, Tenya wasn't too distracted while yelling at Mei, hearing the sound of them running up behind him, and quickly looked around, his eyes widening as he realized what was happening. Quickly, he activated the engines on his legs, making them both wince from the loud blast as he quickly ran away from where they had tried to reach out and shove him out of the ring, both of them stumbling briefly before quickly looking around at their classmate, seeing him slide to a stop on the other side of the ring.

Naturally befitting Tenya, he was giving them a disapproving look for their attempt to shove him out of the ring - but there was a weird confidence in his eyes as well, one that made both Izuku and Ochako gulp a bit and Yui lean forward suddenly from her spot in the crowd. Someone who was being teamed up on, two on one … probably shouldn't be looking that confident.

"Disgraceful, Midoriya, Uraraka!" Tenya was quick to reprimand them, straightening up and chopping his hand at them. "Attempting to sneak up on me while I was distracted? How shameful."

"Er …" Izuku glanced at Ochako, who shrugged her shoulders in confusion, before glancing back at Tenya and likewise giving him a confused, apologetic look, "… sorry?"

"Well," Tenya shrugged a bit, before a grin suddenly appeared on his face, and both of them gulped nervously as they heard his engines rumble as he leaned forward, "in any case, I should probably thank you both anyway. While I shouldn't be happy that you removed my partner from the match, at least now I can show the pros what I'm capable of against two opponents at the same time!"

With that, he took off a lot faster than either one of them were ready for, and it was only due to luck that Izuku quickly leapt to the side and out of the way before a kick from their classmate could connect with his head, and rolled away as Ochako likewise ducked underneath Tenya as he quickly kicked out at her as well. With Tenya a bit imbalanced after landing on the ground again from his leaping kick, Ochako quickly attempted to reach up and press all five of her fingers to take away his gravity to make him easier to handle -

- but Tenya seemed to anticipate that as well, quickly twisting out of the was as his other leg came up, and she let out a grunt as she was sent flying back by his leg connecting with her side, sending her flying back and yelping as she bounced off the concrete once before landing on her side, wincing.

Okay … okay, she'll never tell Izuku this, she pouted, but maybe he had a point. Tenya hit like a freaking truck.

With Ochako on the ground, Izuku let out a small grunt as he leapt back up to his feet, taking a deep breath before trying to pour some electricity out into the Gauntlet - but to his rising frustration, nothing happened again, only feeling a shiver crawl up his spine as he shook his head. Okay, he frowned, figure out what was going on with his quirk later - right now, Tenya was turning towards him, narrowing his eyes as he bent down in a runner's stance, his engines continuing to rumble loudly.

"Oh, no," Izuku muttered to himself, "he's gonna do the Recipro Burst thing, isn't he?"

Indeed, he was, as twin bursts of blue flames suddenly shot out of his engines, and Tenya began sprinting at Izuku faster than he could blink. It was only because of Izuku's natural instincts screaming 'get the hell out of the way now!' that he dodged in time, gulping as he barely avoided Tenya's attempt to jump up in the air and use both feet to kick Izuku out of the ring. As he stumbled away, Izuku let out a squeak as he barely leaned back in time to avoid Tenya's sweeping kick, as then, as Tenya straightened up and threw his fist back, Izuku acted quickly, raising the arm he had the Gauntlet on to cover his face before Tenya's fist slammed into it.

"Ow!" Tenya yelped in pain as his knuckles connected to the metal covering Izuku's lower arm, but it was Izuku that was knocked off balance by the force of the blow, tripping over himself and landing on his butt with a grunt. 

Luckily for Izuku, however, Ochako acted in that moment, taking advantage of Tenya being distracted by his attacks on Izuku to leap out, trying to ignore the cheering crowd now that the match had turned back into a fight that they could watch in entertainment, and threw her hands forward to grab at Tenya again - but he quickly moved his head back, leaning back as Ochako's hand only barely snagged at his face.

Keeping his eyes closed from automatically wincing at her hand nearly hitting his face, Tenya quickly leapt back, practically blasting across the entire ring to give himself plenty of space to recover and reorganize, keeping his eyes closed as a confident grin spread across his face again.

"My apologies, Uraraka," He began opening his eyes, "but you must be … faster … than that …?"

The reason he suddenly faltered, of course, was because when he looked over at Ochako, he suddenly found that … she was blurry. 

In fact … everything was blurry. And that, of course, was because in Ochako's hand, barely snagged off his face during his attempt to dodge her attack, was his glasses.

For a single moment, both Izuku and Ochako stared down at Tenya's glasses in the brown-haired girl's hand and Tenya stared at Ochako - and then Mei suddenly dropped one of her cases on the side, and the loud noise caused Ochako to jump a bit - and since her hand tensed, the glasses easily slipped out of her grip. With a gasp, Ochako quickly tried to fumble for the glasses for a moment, but was unable to stop them from falling to the ground and shattering.

There was a pause as all three teenagers stared down in shock at the broken glasses on the ground. The crowd fell silent as well, having absolutely no idea what was going on anymore, while Midnight attempted to stifle her giggles of amusement, Present Mic continued to try and figure out how Mei had silenced his commentary up in the booth, and Aizawa held his face in his hand - or, at least, in the cast he had on - while the rest of Class 1A stared down in exasperation.

"You …" Tenya turned to look up at Ochako in shock - or, at least, he was staring at the blurry blob he thought was Ochako - "… you broke my glasses."

"Uh …" Ochako gulped nervously, and Izuku very nervously glanced up at Tenya as well, "… I did. Sorry."

"I - Uraraka, that is very unsportsmanlike!" Tenya pointed indignantly somewhat to her left. "Impairing your opponent's eyesight for your own advantage! I expected better from you!"

"Er …" She shrugged helplessly. "… I'm in it to win it?"

"Unbelievable!" Tenya suddenly reached into his pocket, fuming, and pulled out … another pair of glasses, making both Ochako and Izuku blink as he quickly put them on, and then looked around angrily at his classmate. "Utterly unbelievable!"

"You …" Izuku tilted his head a bit in confusion, "… you keep another pair of glasses in your pocket?"

"Of course! I have several! I'm just thankful that I had the hindsight to be prepared for this very situation!"


"…"

"…"

"… that one." Setsuna flatly said.

Yui said nothing. Pony and Kyouka were likewise giving her looks with their eyebrows raising.

"You want … that one."

"Honestly," Yui shrugged, completely unashamed, "the fact he keeps spare glasses in his pocket just makes him cuter to me."

"… good lord, woman." Kyouka shook her head.


Alright, Izuku narrowed his eyes, after stealing one glance at Ochako as she likewise glanced at him, it was time to finally finish this match.

With a shout, he quickly hurried forward, hearing Ochako crying out (in a slightly stilted voice), "Wait, Deku!" behind him as he began charging across the ring towards Tenya. The bespectacled boy quickly went back down into a runner's stance as the other boy charged, his eyes flickering between both of his opponents - but it became clear to him, quickly, that Izuku was running forward to challenge him by himself, while Ochako hung back.

Taking a deep breath, Tenya turned his attention mostly towards Izuku, seeing him throwing back the arm he had the Gauntlet on, and tensed - it was clear to him that, with Izuku having the best chance of striking him from afar, he would need to be eliminated first before he got Ochako out of the ring. So he quickly made a plan - once Izuku threw his arm in front of him to fire, he would use Recipro Burst to get to the side, and then move quickly to kick Izuku out of the ring while he was unbalanced.

And then, as Izuku slid somewhat to a stop and prepared to throw his arm forward, Tenya acted.

Blasting to the side briefly, letting Izuku quickly throw the arm he had the Full Gauntlet on be flung forward, Tenya let out a yell as a loud explosion of blue fire blasted out of his calves behind him, leaping up into the air as he sprinted forward aimed a kick right at Izuku's midsection, with no way for Izuku to move out of the way. As he leapt up into the air, Tenya saw Izuku glance over at him in surprise, taking a deep breath -

- and instead of moving out of the way, Izuku quickly and suddenly dropped onto the ground, flopping on his stomach and letting Tenya miss him by just an inch, Izuku wincing as Tenya's shoe grazed the top of his head. Tenya sputtered a bit as he attempted to quickly twist himself in the air, wanting to at least kick Izuku while he was on the ground and unable to move, in order to potentially take him out of the game through injuries he couldn't bounce back from -

- and that was when Tenya felt it.

A pair of hands suddenly clamping down on his leg as he was midair.

And then the feeling of his weight disappearing made Tenya realize his mistake at once.

In his sudden panic as he realized he had fallen for a trap, Tenya quickly tried to activate his quirk again to get out of Ochako's grasp - but apparently, that had been what Ochako had been waiting for. As soon as Tenya's engines ignited again, she let out a shout as she quickly spun around, Izuku continuing to remain down on the ground so he wasn't hit by their now weightless classmate, and then, just like Izuku had done to Mei, she threw Tenya as hard as she could towards the edge of the ring.

And due to the blast of his engines activating in that moment, Tenya was sent spinning head over ass several times as he flew through the air, letting out several warbled shouts before Ochako finally pressed her fingers together to restore his weight the moment he flew over the edge of the circle.

With a yelp, Tenya fell straight down onto the hill of the ring and began flailing as he rolled down the dirt mountain, grunting and coughing as he kicked up a bunch of dust as he rolled several times down the hill. Finally, he came to a stop on the grass, laying on his back and staring up at the sky in confusion - or probably dizziness again, with Ochako and Izuku thinking that it wouldn't be a surprise if there were mini-glasses whirling around his head.

Before they could both move to make sure he was okay, however, they were suddenly distracted by the sound of a whip cracking.

"Iida is out of bounds!" Midnight officially confirmed, sounding somewhat relieved and amused as she pointed towards where the other two were, Izuku quickly getting back up and wincing at the dust on the front of his uniform from laying on the ground. "Midoriya and Uraraka advance to the next round!"

The crowd began roaring throughout the stadium at the confirmation of victory (a cheer that sounded albeit a bit confused about what exactly had happened in the ring for the past couple of minutes). Upon realizing that the match was over, Izuku and Ochako looked around at each other in surprise that they had apparently won, Ochako absently rubbing her back where she had been slammed into the ground by the drone and Izuku rubbing the top of his head where Tenya had barely grazed him, both of them somewhat confused about how exactly they had done that.

"Uh …" Izuku sounded a bit breathless, shaking his head lightly, "… n-nice job, Occhan. A-and good going on - on figuring out what I was gonna do with Iida at the end."

"Yeah, I - oh, wait," Ochako's eyes widened suddenly, "Iida!"

Quickly, both of them felt their shock at managing to win without either of them getting knocked out of the ring be replaced by concern for their friend, looking aorund at where Tenya was still sprawled out on the field. Quickly, after getting a nod from Midnight to confirm it was alright for them to leave the ring, they both quickly slid down the hill towards where Tenya was laying, and once they reached him, quickly began to help him sit up as he looked quite dizzy.

"I'm really sorry about that, Iida," Ochako apologized, dusting off some dirt on his uniform guiltedly, "I had wanted to get you out of the ring, I didn't expect you to - uh - yeah."

"T-that's quite alright, Uraraka," Tenya managed to get out, raising a hand to take off his glasses and rub his eyes as he shakingly stood up with assistance from the two of them, Izuku keeping his hands on Tenya's arm and shoulder in case he fell over again, "it was a smart tactic, that I will very much admit - floating me and using my quirk to push me out of the ring was a nice strategy. And Midoriya, congradulations as well - you definitely faked me out with that blast."

"Uh … thank you, Iida."

"Indeed. So, er … I just …" Tenya, for his part, looked somewhat embarrassed as he swayed on his feet, "… may need some assistance returning to the waiting room to gather my things - I'm not quite sure I can get there without falling over again."

"Er - right, of course," Izuku quickly nodded, immediately moving to wrap Tenya's arm over his shoulder, and began half-carrying, half-dragging him towards the tunnel that would lead back to the waiting rooms.

While the crowds around them clapped politely for the showmanship, Ochako let them move ahead of her, watching as Izuku carried Tenya over to the tunnel to go and help him sit down, and hopefully regain his balance - and then she felt her gaze automatically flick over to Mei as their other combatant snapped her fingers, prompting the drones from before to pick up the cases she had brought to the ring and fly them down towards the tunnel. With a grumble, Mei slipped off the sleek white boot and put it back in the compartment, before quickly calling to the investors to remember her, speaking again over Present Mic's increasingly annoyed attempts to get the speakers back under his control.

As the support student began to walk over towards one of the tunnels with the rest of the cases, Ochako found herself hesitating for a moment - then her gaze fell to the case where she had seen the white boots be placed inside. There was a part of her - probably the smart, self-preserving part of her - that knew that any interaction with Mei should be kept at the minimum … but …

… but one thought of how the boots had worked during the round, how near silent they had been, made Ochako's mind up.

Quickly, she began to jog away from Izuku and Tenya and their attempts to get Tenya somewhere where he could regain his balance, hesitantly raising a hand to the cheering crowds in thanks again, before she called out to the support student.

"Hatsume! Wait up a second!"

Thankfully, at the sound of her voice, Mei did pause her attempts to drag her stuff down the tunnel they had just entered, looking up and raising her eyebrow at Ochako as she slowed herself to a stop, panting a bit from running across the large field towards her and now standing at the entrance of the tunnel, both of them walking in so that they were out of the sun and the attention of the crowd.

"Ah," Mei looked displeased, "the baby puncher."

"I - okay, I'm not gonna touch that," Ochako shook her head, wincing as one of the drones that was still floating around bumped her on the side of the head as though it was annoyed with her, and then, with a small sigh, looked back over at the case she had seen the boots be put in and pointed at it. "I - I just had a question about one of the support items you showed off. Your - the boots."

Mei found herself blinking at that, and looked back down at the case that Ochako pointed out. Giving her a suspicious look, Mei flipped open the case again, seeing the bright white metal boots with the spinning disc near the ankle, and the three red dots on the front. Tilting her head and raising her eyebrows again, she looked back up at Ochako questioningly as the hero student looked awkward.

"I was just …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, "… wondering how they worked."

"Hm?" Mei hummed, fixing some of her hair behind her headgear as she glanced back down at the boot. "Well, I already explained that to the support companies during the match. Weren't you listening?"

"I -" Ochako paused, blushing in embarrassment, "- well, honestly, I - wasn't really listening, Hatsume. Kinda … got distracted fighting you and Iida."

"Hmph!" Well," Mei lifted up one of the boots from the case, allowing Ochako to have a closer look at it, "they're electro shoes. They use electromagnetic induction on both of my feet to allow for instant evasive action."

"And … they're really quiet," Ochako noted with a small nod.

"Hm? Not sure what that has to do with anything," Mei tilted her head, "the flashier the better, I always say. Why, should they be louder?"

"No," Ochako quickly shook her head, taking a deep breath to gather up the courage to ask this as she looked up at Mei, already knowing that this was probably a bad idea, "I was just … I was wondering if I could possibly have them for my hero costume? Or - or if you could build something similar. I'm thinking of becoming a stealth hero, and … and those boots look like they could work well with getting me places fast, and them being quiet would - you know - help me out."

Ochako winced a bit at how lamely her question ended, but at least it didn't matter to Mei - rather, it seemed to grab her entire attention, her eyes widening as she looked at Ochako as though she had only just noticed she was there. Ochako, for her part, gulped a bit nervously as Mei studied her for a moment - and then that wide, manic grin reappeared on her face.

"Ah! A potential customer!" She suddenly looked excited, and quickly leaned over her case to get in Ochako's face, the hero student jumping slightly as she quickly leaned back to get away from the wide-eyed grin. "Well, why didn't you start with that?! A hero costume, and you need my quiet babies?"

"I - well, I was just thinking -"

"Say no more! Wait, no, I might need your name. Give me your name!"

"Uh - O-Ochako Uraraka?" Ochako said in a hesitant tone, as though she wasn't sure.

"Ah, ah, I see, I see," Mei quickly pulled a clipboard out of the open case, writing something down while nodding excitedly, "you were the one who had their costume with us … was nearing complete repair, but now … now we'll have to throw it all away!"

"I - wait, what?"

"Yes, yes, if you're going to be a stealth hero, you can't be too loud," Mei excitedly muttered to herself, ignoring Ochako's increasingly nervous stammering, "but if you want to use my babies … yes, yes … we'll have to get to work at once."

Before Ochako could protest that, Mei reached out to grab her wrist. Rather than get flustered by the feeling of a hand on her, however, Ochako winced at the tight grip, feeling as though something was cracking from how hard Mei was holding onto her.

"Come," Mei giggled with glee, slamming the case shut again as the drones picked them all up and began floating down the tunnel, "we'll have to get to work at once!"

And with that, she began pulling Ochako at full speed, the brown-haired girl yelping in both surprise and a bit of terror as she was pretty much dragged down the rest of the hallway towards somewhere Mei could begin working.


"Are, uh …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, gulping nervously, "… are you sure that you're okay with how our match ended, Iida? I wouldn't blame you for … y'know … not being okay with it."

"Well," Tenya shrugged as the two boys continued to make their way down the hallway towards the stairs, wanting to walk to the floor that their classmates were seated at, "I won't pretend that I'm not disappointed that I was defeated, Midoriya. But on the other hand, if I focus only on the downsides of the match, that would be detrimental to my development. So, instead of dwelling on what I may or may not be bitter about, I choose to focus on the positives of the day."

"And … uh …" Izuku found himself sweating a bit, "… what would those be?"

"With hindsight," Tenya smiled, "I believe I did quite well during the first round, even if I didn't place first. The second round, meanwhile, showed my speed and ability to work well with others! And while I was tricked by Hatsume into being a walking advertisement -" That, at least, made Tenya's eyebrow twitch, "- you and Uraraka managed to get her out of the ring before she could dominate the entire match, and while I was eventually defeated by you both, I managed to show the pro heroes what I was capable of against two opponents at the same time. And I was only really defeated when you two tricked me, instead of being defeated through force or being overpowered."

Turning back to Izuku, he patted the smaller boy's shoulder.

"Quite honestly," He beamed, "even if I didn't make it to the last round, I would like to think that I at least had a good showing today!"

"That's - that's really good, Iida," Izuku gave him a shaky smile in turn.

Indeed, the two boys had pretty much immediately gotten over the intensity of their match when they had gotten back to the waiting room, gathering their water bottles and phones in order to head back upstairs for a bit - once Tenya had managed to get his balance back after practically spending half the match spinning around in circles, of course. Once they had gotten their things, they had started making their way back up to the top floor of the stadium, after Yui had posted in their group chat where they were all sitting, so that Izuku could at least watch the next two rounds with their friends before he had to go back down to get ready for his second match.

Izuku had been very relieved that there weren't any hard feelings from Tenya about how the match ended - as Tenya had said, he seemed to be rather satisfied with his day, despite how the match went and his ultimately being defeated. And, seeing as since Tenya lost he wouldn't have to do the next round with Mei, he seemed to be more relieved than anything - which Izuku couldn't blame him for, wincing slightly as he imagined how awkward it would be for Mei to use Tenya as a prop for her inventions and then have to do another match with him. So maybe he understood why Tenya was okay with being done for the day.

Still though, he had been a bit taken aback when he had realized that Ochako hadn't followed them, having looked around and saw her going off after Mei once the match ended - but still, Izuku tried to ignore how hurt his heart felt that she apparently didn't want to spend any unnecessary time with him that she didn't have to. He'd … well, he'll text her in a bit to inquire where she went off to, and when they'd get back together to go over the plan for the next round.

Although speaking of the next round …

"So, Midoriya," Tenya sighed as they turned down the corner down the hallway, glancing over at his friend, "I believe that depending on how the next round goes, your next opponents will be …"

"Either Kacchan and Tokoyami," Izuku nodded, feeling his smile fall, "or Kirishima and Mineta."

"Er … yes," Tenya grimaced slightly, knowing immediately why Izuku was suddenly looking down - he was, by his own admission, a bit socially dense, but even Tenya had picked up on all the dirty looks that Katsuki had been shooting both Izuku and Ochako all day long. "I suppose that - well, we can't discount Kirishima and Mineta just yet, of course - perhaps they have a trick up their sleeves."

"I … maybe," Izuku nodded, trying to keep his real thoughts to himself as he bit his lip.

Indeed, he wanted to believe in Eijirou's chances of getting to the next round, trying to feel confident for his friend, but … well, like he had thought before, he knew that Katsui wasn't going to just roll over for Eijirou and Mineta, Izuku winced. And he knew that Katsuki wasn't going to be dumb about this either - there was a small chance that Mineta could surprise him, but he knew that Katsuki was smart enough to pay attention to the general studies student while they had all been on the same team, and had probably come up with ways to counter him.

So the chances that he and Ochako would be fighting Izuku's former childhood friend in the next round was … admittedly a lot higher than he was comfortable with. However, before Izuku could voice his thoughts to Tenya, he glanced over at the bespectacled boy and blinked as he suddenly began vibrating.

"Uh … Iida?" Izuku asked in an unsure voice. "Are - are you okay?"

"Hm?" Tenya hummed, his voice shaking a bit as he reached down for his pocket. "Oh, I'm fine, Midoriya. It's just my phone."

"Oh, okay," Izuku sighed in relief, glad that it wasn't some sudden nerves or delayed anger that overcame Tenya as he pulled out his phone and glanced down at who was calling him. Looking at the screen, though, made Tenya blink.

"Mother?" He wondered out loud, drawing Izuku's attention back to him as he stared down at the screen in surprise. "Perhaps she wishes to talk to me about the festival … Midoriya," He turned to flash a grin at the smaller boy, "please excuse me, I should answer this in private. I'll see you back up with the rest of our class."

"Oh, uh - right. See you later, Iida."

Giving him a small wave, Tenya quickly turned to walk towards the nearest empty room for privacy. Izuku nodded a bit stiffly as his friend walked away, letting out a small sigh, and then turned back to the stairwell, quickly opening the door and starting to climb up the stairs towards the floor that the group chat had said they were, pulling out his phone to double check.

As he moved up the stairs, he found his thoughts returning to the next match he and Ochako would be participating in, feeling his small smile from talking to Tenya fade away. From what he could gather from the announcements Present Mic was making, his voice echoing through the halls and stairwell, the next match would be starting in a couple of minutes - and then once the other two matches were done, then he would have to fight whoever one this upcoming match.

And that … might be Katsuki. And Fumikage as well, Izuku sighed, he couldn't ignore that Katsuki's partner was equally as dangerous with Dark Shadow.

So … this would be the first time he's gotten into an actual fight with Katsuki, huh? Well, besides their altercation at the playground all those years ago, but - well, Katsuki clearly held the opinion that what happened there didn't count at all, Izuku grimaced as he continued climbing up the stairs. So … well, in any case, he shook his head, putting his phone back in his pocket and turning to look down at his hand - he couldn't focus on small stuff like that. He knew that if he was going to be fighting against Katsuki and Fumikage, he couldn't hold back at all. And that meant that he would have to use his quirk.

And that … that might be a problem, seeing as he needed to quickly figure out why he wasn't able to fire off a shot at all during the last match.

Pressing the button of the Full Gauntlet again, he let the support item activate over his arm, letting out a small sigh as he gave it a once over. Nothing seemed to be wrong or broken with the support item, he frowned - no cracks or pieces falling off or anything like that, other than a few scratches from the drones that had hit it during Mei's presentation. After a moment of staring at it, Izuku took a deep breath, concentrating slightly as he attempted to use his quirk to run some lightning along his skin to be absorbed into the Gauntlet.

And just like below in the stadium … nothing happened.

No sparks, no sudden flicker of lightning, nothing. Nothing but another shiver that crawled up his spine as his body refused to warm up from being stuck in ice earlier.

Letting out a small grumble of dissatisfaction, Izuku tapped on the screen of the Full Gauntlet to shrink it back down, staring at his arm in disappointment before letting it fall limply to his side. Quite honestly, he scowled as he pushed open the door to the top floor, where Yui said their booth was, he was getting rather tired of his quirk being mysterious and hard to use. On other days, he might be confused or curious as to why it wasn't working, but right now, all he felt was frustration and exhaustion towards his stupid, unstable quirk.

He just … wanted a single day where he could use his quirk normally and not have to consciously fight with this body on how to use it. And not only that, Izuku sighed, but of course his quirk had to screw him over at the absolute worst time, right before a match that he would definitely need it for coming up within the next hour.

At least Ochako somewhat knew about his quirk not working, he sighed as he walked down the hallway, hearing the crowds excitedly talking and cheering in the seats below him. So once he … eventually saw her, they could talk over what they were supposed to do if his quirk didn't start behaving.

Just … needed to find out where she went, he frowned sadly, and hope that whatever he did to make her feel awkward around him wouldn't -

"Deku!"

At the sound of his name - or rather, his nickname - being called out unexpectedly behind him, Izuku nearly tripped over himself, letting out a small yelp as he stumbled over his feet. Blinking, Izuku stared forward for a moment, as though believing for a moment that he had just imagined that, and quickly looked around - there were only three people that referred to him by that nickname, and seeing as Ochako was currently avoiding him for unknown reasons and Katsuki's voice had not suddenly turned high-pitched, there was only one person who could be calling out to him right now.

And sure enough, as he looked over his shoulder, Izuku blinked as he spotted a small girl poking her head out from one of the stairwells that led down to the crowd, her eyes widening as she saw his face.

"Eri?" Izuku straightened up, a smile appearing on his face. Momentarily, his worries about the next match, his anxiety about his quirk, his thoughts about Ochako, all of that completely faded as the little girl came out into the hallway, and he quickly jogged over to where she was standing.

Thankfully, before he could ask her why she was standing around all alone, his unasked question was answered as soon as he approached her, as his mom, wiping her eyes with her handkerchief, Miwa, and Tenohira made their way up the stairs to join Eri, all three of them looking at him in surprise as he approached.

"Mom? Miwa? Mrs. Kendou?"

"'Mrs. Kendou'?" Tenohira repeated dryly, raising her eyebrow and putting her hands on her hips, but before Izuku could begin sweating nervously at the mistake he kept making, Inko let out a loud wail as she threw her arms wide, a gyser of tears immediately exploding out of her eyes.

"Oh, Izuku!" She cried, throwing her arms around Izuku and making him grunt in slight pain as she practically crushed him in a big hug, her tears soaking the front of his gym uniform. "You've been doing so well today! Coming in first during the first round and the second round, b-but - oh, goodness, I've fainted so many times today, you wouldn't even imagine!"

"Erk," Izuku grunted, going a bit red as he managed to pat his mother's back despite her crushing him, "er - sorry, Mom."

"What are you apologizing to Inko for?" Miwa giggled, adjusting the strap of her purse on her shoulder. "I think you should be apologizing to Tenohira and myself - we've been the ones that have been making sure she's okay."

"Oh, honey, you don't have to apologize to anyone," Inko shook her head as she finally let go of him and took a step back, wiping her eyes with her wet handkerchief again, "it's okay, just … your mother worries, is all. I've just been so - I'm so happy that everyone has been talking so positively about you."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, confused. "Everyone? W-who's everyone?"

"Well, everyone watching, of course!" Miwa giggled, reaching over and giving Izuku her own hug, which he confusedly returned. "I don't know if you haven't noticed, but you've been getting a lot of attention today, Izuku - when we were getting lunch, you were practically who everbody's been talking about!"

"I - what?!" Izuku squeaked, going a bit red as he looked between the three women. All of them nodded with small giggles, and Tenohira reached out to rub Izuku's shoulder.

"Yep, kiddo, you're kind of famous," She smiled at him, "we've been spending all day watching you and Ochako going absolutely nuts out there and everyone loves it, it's been amazing! So you bet your butt that we're gonna have a lot to celebrate about tonight - I think you've earned yourself a few bowls of katsudon when we get back home."

"I - wait, katsudon?" Izuku quickly straightened up, looking over at the Kendou matriarch hopefully at the mention of his favorite food, which only made the three women giggle some more. Thankfully for them, Eri got the conversation back on track as she reached up to tug on Izuku's hand, drawing his attention back down to the little girl.

"We're getting more popcorn," She told him informatively, "Hira said that I could have one more small bag, and then that would be it. I've had a lot of snacks today."

"O-oh, is that right?" Izuku found himself smiling down at her, taking a step back from the mothers surrounding him so he could kneel down to Eri's level, "Not too much, though, right?"

"Mm-mm," She shook her head, "just a bit. Teko didn't want me to ruin my supper tonight." She then leaned in to whisper, as though sharing a secret with him. "Candy apples are awesome."

"I'm - I'm glad to hear it."

"But … where's Occhan?" Eri then turned to look down the hall, her small smile fading a bit and unaware of Izuku's smile freezing slightly at the question. "I thought she was with you."

"Oh, uh …" Izuku found himself hesitating for a moment, not entirely sure what to say there - how would he explain to a little girl that his best friend has been avoiding him, for a reason he don't really know? - and then let out a small sigh.

"… I'm … I'm not really sure, Eri," He admitted, "she walked away with Hatsume when we were done with the match, but - but I'm sure I'll see her soon, when we meet up for the next round. I - I'll tell her you were looking for her, okay?"

He knew that his voice had caught a few times there, making Eri falter slightly and the smiles on Inko, Miwa and Tenohira's faces fade slightly when they heard it, but he knew that there was no way that he could go into it right now. Quickly getting back up and straightening his back, trying to put on a smile, he turned on his heel in order to walk away, giving the three of them a small wave.

"Uh … anyway," He tried to hurriedly say, smiling a bit stiffly at them before turning around, "I should probably - uh - well, I should probably make my way over to the booth my class is staying in - I guess Kirishima and Kacchan's match is starting soon, so I should - I should watch that. Uh - I guess I'll see you -"

"Izuku?"

His step faltered, however, at the sound of his mom's soft and inquiring voice, and glanced back over at her. He winced as the proud, somewhat watery look faded from her face, replaced by worry as she put the wet handkerchief back in her pocket. Miwa and Tenohira, meanwhile, also weren't smiling anymore, both of them looking concerned as Inko reached out and gently took his arm.

"Honey," Inko said in a quiet voice, aware of Eri glancing up at Izuku in confusion as well, "are you okay? You seem to be …"

"Uh - er - w-what do you mean?" Izuku stammered, continuing to smile stiffly as he glanced left and right nervously, as though looking for some kind of route to escape from this conversation. "I'm okay, Mom, I just - I should -"

"Izuku," Miwa pouted, while Tenohira gave him a deadpan stare and Inko raised her eyebrow, and Izuku immediately shut his mouth at the three separate 'Mom isn't impressed right now' looks being aimed at him at the same time, "don't lie to your mother."

"I'm - I'm not, though," Izuku continued to glance around nervously again, feeling himself shrink a bit, "I'm really - I'm okay."

"Mm-mm," Eri shook her head, pointing up at Izuku, "that's a lie."

"I - Eri?!" Izuku balked at the betrayal from the young girl, now completely surrounded on all sides. However, before he could protest more, Inko reached up to pat his shoulder again, drawing his attention to her as she gave him a smile.

"Why don't you come with us to get Eri's popcorn?" She offered him kindly. "We can talk a bit there."

"Uh -" Izuku hesitated for a moment, wondering how he could possibly say no to this - but Miwa's serene but still expectant smile and Tenohira raising her eyebrow sealed his fate. That, plus he couldn't resist his mom's puppy-dog eyes and Eri tugging on his hand, even if she wasn't entirely sure what was going on.

"- sure, Mom," He sighed, "let's - yeah."

With that, the five of them began walking down the hallway, hearing the sound of Present Mic beginning to announce the next round on the intercom above them. As they walked away, Izuku let out a small sigh and quietly wished Eijirou luck - because, knowing Katsuki, his friend was definitely going to need it.

Thankfully, it didn't take them too long to find a stall that sold some popcorn, quickly joining the small line and letting Eri look around interestingly at the other stalls, holding Izuku's hand so she didn't go off on her own and explore. Izuku, for his part, felt a bit relieved that no one seemed to recognize him as he stood there, which meant that he could keep his head down a little bit and not have to deal with anyone realizing who he was - although it was hard to fight off the feeling that there were eyes on him.

While Eri continued to look around curiously at her surroundings, the three moms shared a small glance between each other, and then Inko let out a small sigh and patted Izuku's arm.

"Honey," She said in a quiet, kind voice, "is everything okay with you and Ochako?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back around at her and feeling his cheeks go a bit red at the question. "I - yeah, of - of course it is, Mom. W-what do you -"

"Well," Miwa gave him a knowing look, knowing that she would have to heavily restrain herself during this conversation to keep things unbiased, "it just seemed like … there was something going on while we were watching the last few rounds. We noticed when you guys came back for lunch, you weren't looking at each other at all."

"I - well -"

"And you weren't looking at each other either when you came out during the first round," She continued on, knowing that Tenohira was scowling slightly as she likewise looked around while accepting that she would also have to be unbiased for this conversation, "and then in the forest, when you two crashed into each other -"

"Oh, no," Izuku groaned quietly to himself, feeling like he was slowly dying on the spot the longer his neighbor talked. Luckily for him, Inko took over for her.

"- it just seems like there's something going on," She patted Izuku's arm again, "and we're just … hoping that everything between you two is okay, sweetie. I haven't seen Ochako looking like … that … around in … well, I don't think I've ever seen her like that."

There was a short pause - and Izuku found himself blinking.

"Looking …" He glanced over at his mom, "… like … what, exactly?"

"Like …" Inko hesitated for a moment - not entirely sure what to say here that wouldn't cause her son to melt into an embarrassed puddle on the floor - but then Tenohira cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention to her.

"It's … not just you and Ochako," She looked a bit embarrassed to be butting into the conversation, but didn't want anything to remain unsaid now that they were on the topic, "I also … noticed you were acting a bit weird around Itsuka too, Izuku. Like you two were …"

"… like … you're avoiding each other." Inko finished for the three of them.

Izuku found himself stopping at that, feeling his cheeks turn red and his slight panic from the conversation he hadn't been ready to have fade away as he frowned at the ground, something that was picked up by the moms surrounding him and causing them all to look at him in concern. 

Of course … of course they would've noticed, Izuku winced. Their moms of course would've noticed that not everything was okay with their children, and that things were awkward. Honestly, he thought as his cheeks remained red, now that he was thinking about it, it must've been more than a little obvious that he, Ochako and Itsuka weren't being as close to each other as they've been before today.

It was just … well …

"I …" He hesitated for another moment, and then felt his shoulders sag, sighing, "… I … I think I've messed something up. With - with both of them."

"Well, what's going on, sweetie?" Inko gave him a concerned look as Eri continued to bounce up and down as they got closer and closer to the front of the line, both Miwa and Tenohira exchanging concerned glances as well before looking back to Izuku. "You can tell us, you know - whatever's going on, it'll stay between the four of us."

"That's right," Tenohira smiled, "I definitely won't tell Itsuka anything, if you want. Your secret's safe with us, Izuku."

Izuku hesitated for a moment, feeling his heart beat uncomfortably fast in his chest - and then he shook his head, sighing and looking away.

"I'm … I'm not sure what I did," He admitted quietly, "that's the thing. But I feel … all today, and - and for the last few days, I've just … felt … weird around them."

The three mothers slowly nodded at that, exchanging another glance between each other before returning their gazes to the young man. With Inko giving him an encouraging nod, Izuku let out a small sigh, and began to explain to them everything that happened today between him and his training partners - from feeling awkward around them when they got to school, to those weird moments alone with Ochako in the forest, to the weird feelings in his chest when he thought of both of them, to the awkward hug he had shared with Itsuka during lunch. While he talked, he felt his heartbeat begin to lessen its hard beating, but his stomach twisted and tensed, making him feel more uneasy than anything.

He had been so concentrated on staring at the floor while telling them everything that had happened that day, he completely missed the varying looks from the three mothers - going from curiosity, to shock, to Miwa and Tenohira sticking their tongues out at each other at different points of the story while Inko merely rolled her eyes at them, and then excitement, to shock, and then back to feeling concerned as Izuku sighed unhappily.

"… and then the hug just … went on forever," Izuku groaned a bit in humiliation, holding a hand over his eyes as his face burned bright red, "and when I realized that I had been holding on to Kendou for too long, we pretty much jumped apart and ran away from each other. And now I - I can't even look her in the eye. And now Occhan's acting weird around me too, and - I just - I know that I must've done something wrong," He glanced away, feeling himself tear up a bit, "since neither of them don't even want to talk to me at this point, unless we don't have a choice. But the weird thing is - is that when I was hugging Kendou, I felt those - those weird feelings I felt around Occhan for her, too, and I - I just don't know what's going on with me."

"Uh … huh," Tenohira nodded slowly, holding out a spare handkerchief for Inko to grab and dab at her eyes with, the emotional mom unable to help herself from tearing up.

"And I just … I know that they're avoiding me, and I just - I don't know why. I don't know why I'm feeling weird around both of them, and I just - I want things to go back to normal again." He felt tears sting in his own eyes as he admitted that. "I want to go back to us … just hanging out without it feeling weird, but - but I don't know how. I don't know why I feel weird around them, and I just … I just wanna hang out with them again without feeling like I did something wrong."

There was a long moment of quiet as Inko, Miwa, and Tenohira slowly absorbed what Izuku told them. Even Eri, who had been bouncing around excitedly for her popcorn, had turned to look up at Izuku, saw the sad look on his face, and calmed herself down enough to reach back over for his hand, not even sure what was going on but still wanting to comfort him. Miwa and Tenohira stole a glance at each other again, both of their faces fallen - honestly, after what Izuku told them and how torn he obviously was about it, they didn't really feel like being in a competitive mood anymore.

Inko, meanwhile, stayed quiet for a moment as she stared down at the floor - and then she let out a small sigh.

"Well, Izuku," She nodded slowly to herself, "if … if you want the truth, I don't think you can."

"I - huh?" Izuku blinked, looking back at his mother in shock as she looked back up at him.

"I … don't think you can go back to spending time with Ochako and Itsuka like you did before," She admitted, wincing at the hurt look that quickly crossed her son's face, "but … well, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing."

"What?" Izuku found himself momentarily stupefied, while Miwa and Tenohira glanced at Inko in surprise. "But - doesn't that -"

"Honey, can I ask you something? And I want you to be honest with me, okay?"

Izuku felt his brow wrinkle a bit, but still nodded as his mother gave him a serious look, while also keeping mind of Tenohira and Miwa looking at her in confusion as well, as though wondering what she could possibly be asking of her son.

"Can I ask you …" She hesitated for a moment, "… what … exactly do you feel for Itsuka and Ochako? Like - how do you feel about them in general?"

"Uh -" Izuku found himself faltering, confused by the question, while Miwa and Tenohira let out small noises and quickly looked around at Inko in shock, and Eri glanced between them all in confusion. "- like - w-well, they're - they're my friends. My best friends."

"Mm-hm," Inko nodded, "yes, okay. But … how do you feel for them … specifically? Do - do they make you happy?"

"I -" Izuku still felt a bit confused about where this was going, glancing at Miwa and Tenohira but not getting any answers as they both conspicuously and quickly looked away to hide their faces. "- yeah, of - of course. More than anything."

"And the thought of them … does it make you feel better?"

"I … guess?"

"And you want to spend time with them? More out of anyone else?"

"I - Mom, where are you going with this?" Izuku sighed, not entirely sure what his mom was talking about as she continued to give him a concerned, yet knowing look. As he glanced back around at the other two adult women to maybe get some support, however, they both quickly and suddenly moved to take Eri's hands in theirs, with the little girl looking as confused as Izuku was, and led her over towards the popcorn stand, with Tenohira quickly pulling out some yen from her purse to pay for a bag for the little girl.

Now alone with his mom, Izuku glanced back over at her, and then sighed as she gave him an expectant look, clearly looking for an answer to her question.

"I - I guess I do?" He shook his head. "I don't - I mean, yes, I - I do wanna spend time with them, but - but why are you asking me these things, Mom?"

"Just … okay, I'll tell you, honey, but I do have one more question before I do." Inko bit her lip a bit, wringing her hands together anxiously as she looked up at her son, seeing him look around as his cheeks remained red.

"I - okay. W-what's the question?"

"Do you … would you be ready to … to hurt one of them?"

At those last five words, Izuku found his confusion and slight annoyance with his mom's weird questions cease entirely. Feeling his eyes widen a bit, he quickly looked back around at Inko, as she likewise gave him a concerned look.

"… Mom, what - what does that mean?" He asked in a confused, slightly shaking voice. "I - I don't wanna - I don't wanna hurt Occhan or Kendou. W-why would you ask me -?"

"Because …" Inko hesitated again, glancing again at Miwa and Tenohira as they led Eri, now happily munching on her popcorn, back down the tunnel that led towards their seats. With a small sigh, Inko gently took Izuku's shoulder, and began to pull him along, Izuku still staring at her in confusion and bewilderment as he automatically began walking with her.

"… listen to me, sweetie," She turned to look at him again as they walked, giving him a soft look as he clearly looked antsy about what she had just asked, "I … I think I do know why you've been feeling so weird around both of them. And … and I think you know what those feelings are, too - it's something that you've probably always known, you just … never really put much thought about it."

"Then - then what is it?"

"I … think it'll have to be something you figure out for yourself," Inko winced a bit at how vague she was being at the moment, especially when a vein Izuku's forehead twitched, "but - I want you to know one thing, okay?"

Izuku let out a small sigh at her elusiveness, but still nodded.

"I need you to know," She hesitated again before she quickly shook her head, "that once you do figure out what's going on between you and the girls - and I think you've been doing that all day long - you need to … to know that you'll have to make a choice. And that choice … it's going to hurt either Ochako or Itsuka."

Izuku found his stomach tense slightly as he slowly mulled over what his mom said. He thought that he understood what she was implying, but …

"Are …" He found himself swallowing a bit, "… are you saying that I'll … I'll have to hurt their feelings? T-that kind of hurt?"

"Yes, honey," Inko nodded, not looking very happy about what she was saying, "and it … it will hurt. It'll hurt both of them, and - and it'll hurt you as well. I know how much you care about both of those girls - I know how much they've both changed you, for the better. Ochako - she was there for you when you needed her the most, and Itsuka was there for you when you started coming out of your shell, and - and I know how much they both mean to you, in their own ways."

"But …"

"But once you realize what these … weird feelings … are," Inko teared up slightly, "you may have to hurt one of them. Because …"

She slowed them both to a stop, and Izuku blinked as he glanced around at their surroundings and realized that his mom and led him back to the stairs where they had first met up, hearing the distant sound of explosions and yelling from the crowds. Inko then patted her son's cheek, causing Izuku to look back around at her and see the tears in her eyes again.

"… because I know," She took a deep, shuddering breath, "how much you love them both."

At that, Izuku found himself straighten up.

"I  - what?" He quickly stuttered, going a bit red. "W-what do you mean, Mom? T-that I -"

"Sweetie," Inko shook her head, causing Izuku's flustered stammering to immediately stop as she gave him a knowing look, "you love them. I can't tell you what exactly that love is, because … well, it's something that you'll have to figure out yourself."

With that, she moved up on her tippie toes to kiss her son's cheek, and gave him a teary smile.

"Just … think about it, okay?" She asked him. "It doesn't have to be now, but … just think about it. And know that no matter what decision you make, I'll always back you up."

"I …?"

"I'm going to go back down to watch, okay? Good luck, sweetie. Just … don't do anything crazy, though, alright? Your mom's heart can't take it."

With that, she then turned to begin walking back down the steps towards where the rest of the families were seated, with Miwa and Tenohira giving her concerned and weird looks as she made her way back down to them, Taiyo and Hakushu waving in greeting at Izuku, Hisashi glancing between his ex-wife and Izuku with confusion, and Teko offering him a brief nod before turning back to watch the match.

Izuku, on the other hand, merely stared off into space for a moment as his mother's words continued to echo through his mind - not even looking down at the ring as Eijirou threw haymaker after haymaker at Katsuki as the blonde boy dodged around him, and Mineta screamed pathetically as he tried to pelt the balls on his head at Fumikage - and then, Izuku let out a slow, shaking sigh as he took a step back. Moving to stand near the wall next to the tunnel, Izuku raised one hand to scratch the side of his head, feeling his shoulders slump and his lips thin as he thought over what his mom said.

She … asked him how he felt around his best friends. If they made him happy. If he was … ready to … hurt one of them. That one thought made Izuku scowl a bit, folding his arms across his chest and shaking his head. He - no, he pouted, he wasn't sure exactly what his mom was implying, but he didn't want to hurt either Ochako or Itsuka. Not at all. 

But honestly … it was the last thing that Inko had said that kept ringing in his ears, and making his heart hammer in his chest.

"… but I know how much you love them both."

Love.

Why … why was that one word making Izuku's stomach twist when he thought of it?

Love.

His mom said that he … he loved Ochako and Itsuka. That - that had never been a word that he associated with them, Izuku felt his cheeks turning a bit redder. He … he definitely liked them, of course. They were his best friends! Of course he liked them! They meant a lot to him!

But he … he never …

… he never thought about … loving them.

Not - not like - not like being in love with them! Izuku quickly shook his head as that thought entered his mind without permission, going much redder and shaking his head so fast it looked like his hair became a temporary blur of green. Of - of course not! He wasn't in love with - with Ochako. He wasn't in love with Itsuka.

He wasn't …

… he …

… wasn't …

Slowly - ever so slowly - Izuku found his mind stopping there. His eyes stayed on the ground for a few moments, his mouth dropping open slightly. Nothing, not the background noise of the fight happening in the arena, Present Mic's gleeful commentary on the intercom above him, nothing broke through the weird fog his mind suddenly found itself in, his heart continuing to beat harder and harder in his chest.

He wasn't … in love … with either of his best friends … was he? But … but he was just …

… it was those weird feelings, he realized, that was - he was just - he wasn't thinking things through - they weren't - 

- he didn't -

- no.

No. No more of this.

Izuku found himself staring at the floor for only another moment longer - and then he finally shook his head, moving his head up to stare at the ceiling, and then quickly smacking his cheeks with both hands, taking a slow, deep breath.

He had no idea what was going on with him today. He had no idea why he was feeling so awkward around Itsuka and Ochako. He had no idea if this … was … love, he blushed, or if it was just his mom's phrasing that was making him feel flustered. But … but he was tired of this stupid stuff. He was tired of slinking off into a corner and overthinking everything, like he always did when it came to them. Like when he had been unsure about them growing closer, and Katsuki fed him that dumb thought about him being a third wheel and them leaving him behind. A thought that still caused him anxiety, but the growing frustration within him was quick to silence it as it tried to poke at him.

He was tired of it. Ochako and Itsuka - they were his best friends. He had no idea why they were acting so awkward around him, but - but he wasn't going to do this anymore.

He wasn't going to be stiff and awkward around Ochako, someone he's known his entire life. He wasn't going to act weird around Itsuka, who was the first friend he made in years and someone he's come to admire greatly.

He … he needed to talk to them. Both of them.

Without pause, he pulled out his phone from his pocket, taking a moment to look for their group chat - not the Kendousquad chat, of course, but the private one the three of them had from when they had trained on the beach. After a second to think of what he wanted to say, he took a deep breath, nodded slowly to himself, and then started typing.

 

YOU

hey guys

i know that it's pretty busy rn and you're probably

doing stuff, but i was

i was wondering if i could meet up with you guys

just for a bit

 

Finishing typing, he moved his hand down so that he could lean back against the wall, knowing that they probably wouldn't text back immediately, and glanced up at the screen on the other side of the stadium to have a look at the fight going on below. He stared at the screen aimlessly for about a minute, seeing Fumikage using Dark Shadow to grab Mineta in a tight grip and shaking him around like a ragdoll - and then he felt his phone vibrate in his hand.

Quickly, he brought his phone back up, feeling his heart hammer in his chest.

 

OCCHAN

uh

hey deku

i'm

sort of free rn

just gotta shake hatsume off me

she's designing her inventions rn and 

i'm kind of being a guinea pig against my will

 

Before he could think of a response to that (or what he even could respond to that with), he saw Itsuka's own picture start to pop up under the 'typing' notification, and quickly held his breath as he waited for her response.

 

KEN

is everything okay, izuku?

 

YOU

oh yeah, everything's

it's fine

just

wanted to talk to you both before the next match, if it's cool

 

KEN

...

okay

i

think we can meet up real quick

i got my match with monoma and ashido coming up soon, and then

y'know

you guys are back up again

but

anyway

where do you wanna meet?

 

YOU

er

 

KEN

or maybe

i'm sitting down in a waiting room with hadou rn

we've been

talking

if you guys don't mind her being here, we can chat there

 

OCCHAN

i guess that works

where is it?

 

KEN

bottom floor, near the tunnel

waiting room 4

i can also send my location if that works

 

OCCHAN

i think i'm close to there

 

YOU

okay

i'll be there soon

 

Quickly nodding to himself, Izuku slid his phone back into his pocket, taking a deep breath before he turned on his heel to start jogging back towards the stairs he had come up from. He was so focused on getting downstairs, he didn't even notice Present Mic announce the end of the match, with the screens around Izuku showing Katsuki dusting himself off while Eijirou was slumped over in defeat, Mineta laying far away from the ring on the field, and the blonde boy sneering down at both of them while Fumikage folded his arms across his chest, Dark Shadow slowly receding back into him.

No, the fact that he was going to have to go up against the one person he was absolutely dreading fighting didn't matter at the moment. At the moment, Katsuki didn't matter. Right now, he wanted to talk to Ochako without both of them wanting to look away from each other. He wanted to hang out with Itsuka without feeling like an awkward idiot. He just …

… no. No 'ifs' or 'buts' about this. All his anxious thoughts and worries about what his mom meant about hurting one of them could wait until later.

Right now, he wanted his girls back. And by god, he was going to get them back. It was with that determined thought that Izuku pushed the door open to the stairwell and quickly began making his way back down to the bottom floor.

He was in such a hurry, he didn't notice a pair of green, dark eyes staring at him, watching the hero student storm back downstairs with a raised eyebrow and a smirk, and then turn back to scribble something on her notepad from where she had been leaning against a pillar out of view of him, before flipping some of her pale, lilac hair behind her shoulder, and then turn to start walking down the hallway towards where the subject of her article vanished to.


"Keep away from the door, and face the wall. Now."

At the low growl from behind the thick door of the cell, the prisoner sitting on the bed let out a small huff as she reluctantly stood up. The gun in the top corner of the room immediately turned to point straight at the back of her head in warning as she walked over to the wall and pressed her forehead gently against it, closing her eyes as she heard the sound of the mechanical lock on the door beginning to slide open.

Shame, she scowled, and here she had been so excited to just sit on her bed and continue her staring contest with the wall. Still though, if the guards were coming into the room for once, that meant that something was up - they rarely if ever came into her room, usually only opening the small slide on the door to give her breakfast, lunch and dinner. 

So that meant one of three things: one, they were going to cut her hair again, which made her scowl since it wasn't even that long yet. Two, they suspected she was up to something, so they were going to come in and search the room.

Or three … someone was here for a visit.

At the sound of the door opening behind her, she continued to glare at the wall, keeping her arms limply at her sides as she had learned from experience. And sure enough, the two guards quickly grabbed both her wrists, with her fighting down the urge to rip them free and slam her elbows into their faces, and brought them behind her back, with the prisoner feeling them being sealed tightly inside the quirk-suppressant cuffs. She tried her hardest to fight down the shiver from the cold feeling of metal clasping around her arms - it made sense to her, at least, why they insisted on keeping her restrained, seeing as it'd be a lot harder to fight against them if she had two fucking heavy pieces of metal attached to her arms.

Just like what happened on the rare cases she actually got to arrest villains. Just sucked now that she was the one that had to have the cuffs on her.

Once she was secured, the guards kneeling down to strap shackles to her ankles as well, they both took a step back, and one said, in a rough voice, "Turn around, Prisoner 656698. And do not speak unless spoken to."

With another small huff - she doubted that the guards could do anything to her if they had some kind of outsider in their walls (although she couldn't account for them beating her after the visitor left) - the prisoner slowly turned, the cuffs keeping her hands behind her back forcing her to straighten her back due to their weight dragging her back. Turning to face the door, she felt her eyes narrow slightly at the sight of a young woman slowly walking in, nodding slowly and looking around the room - not that it would look very impressive, seeing as it probably looked like every cell in Tartarus.

The woman, standing before the prisoner with a raised eyebrow, was young - younger, at least, than the prisoner was, with a slightly matured but still youthful face to indicate that she had to be in her early or mid twenties, at most. She wore a business suit, with long black pants going down to the dark heels she was wearing, a white dress shirt beneath the dark jacket accompanied by a white tie. Her blonde hair was tied back in a short bun, and she had a serene smile on her face as she finally turned to take the prisoner in, looking up and down her as the prisoner scowled.

"Kaina Tsutsumi," She said in a light, airy voice in comparison to the serious attire she had on, "the infamous Lady Nagant."

"And you are?" Nagant huffed, leaning slightly against the wall and ignoring the glares from the guards, although if the woman before her minded the disrespect, she didn't show it as she sank into a small bow.

"My name is Kanshi Shiryoku," She introduced herself with a smile, "the new chairwoman of the Hero Public Safety Commission. I thought that I would come and introduce myself to you."

"Chairwoman?" Nagant raised her eyebrow, moving to sit back down on her stiff bed as the stranger walked in a small circle around the cell. "What happened to the last one? Did someone put a bullet in between her eyes, too?"

"No, no," Kanshi shook her head, that serene smile never leaving her face as she glanced around, her gaze continuing to flicker around curiously, "no one's repeated your mistake and shot my mother, Tsutsumi. She simply took an early retirement, and left me to take charge of the HPSC. A very daunting position, I must tell you - I'm under quite a bit of scrutiny and suspicion from my fellow members of the board, with rumors of nepotism coming from everywhere."

"Hm," Nagant gave her an unimpressed look, "well, since you did get your job from nepotism, I can't really blame them for that."

"Putting that aside for now," Kanshi smirked a bit as she turned to lean against the wall opposite of Nagant, straightening her back, "I actually came here today with a proposition for you, Lady Nagant. I think you'd be interested to hear it."

"Doubt that," Nagant scoffed, turning to look away, "unless you're here to offer me a TV."

"Well, I can't promise a TV," Kanshi shook her head, turning towards the door, "but what if I could promise you a bit of fresh air?"

That, at the very least, got Nagant's attention. The woman with lavender and pink hair felt herself blink slightly as she looked back around at the young woman, who continued to smile at her and took a step towards the door, gesturing with her hand while looking around at the assassin with a raised eyebrow.

"Well?" She gestured with her head. "Come along, now. It's a bit stuffy in here, the least we could do is step outside to have our conversation. I made a promise with the guards that I wouldn't be running away with you, so we can at least have a five minute talk outside. It's been a while since you've seen the sun, hasn't it?"

Nagant found herself hesitating for only a single moment, staring blankly at Kanshi as she stood near the door and gestured towards it - and then, against her better judgment, the former hero found herself slowly standing up from her bed. Staring out at the door for a moment, Nagant's lips thinned - 

- but she couldn't stop herself as she began to shuffle awkwardly towards the open door, carefully walking so as not to trip over the shackles wrapped around her ankles. She tried to ignore the smirk on Kanshi's face as she moved past her, standing outside the cell for a moment and wincing at the bright lights above her making the white-platted hallway shine even brighter, and slowly walked behind Kanshi as the chairwoman began walking down the hall, aware of the guards behind her.

She followed the new HPSC chairwoman towards the elevator, trying to ignore the scowling guards behind her trying to find an excuse to beat her down for whatever reason they were trying to figure out. There was a part of her that was convinced that this was a trick - she wasn't being brought outside, she was just going to be shuffled somewhere to take another beating at the hands of the guards while she was restrained and defenseless.

But as they stepped inside the elevator, Kanshi pressed the button to the roof, and Nagant felt her hands begin to tremble within the cuffs, trying hard to make sure that she wasn't being obvious as she stared down at the floor.

And then, once the elevator doors slid open, she couldn't help but shiver at the feeling of cold air hitting her.

"Come along," Kanshi stepped out of the elevator first and onto the roof of Tartarus, the fringes of her blonde hair flicking around in the wind, "there's something that I wanted to talk to you about."

Nagant stayed still in the elevator for a moment, hating how her confidence and defiance had left her the moment she was promised fresh air - but she was unable to stop herself from stepping outside, shivering at the air and wincing at the sun shining down over her. The skies were blue, and it had been so long since she had been outside, she felt a bit overwhelmed at how … cold it was. Her cell wasn't air-conditioned at all, so the feeling of cold air hitting her made her shiver probably harder than the situation demanded.

But still, she walked over with Kanshi as the government official stood near the edge of the roof, looking out over the sea towards the mainland, and Nagant was forced to stop a few paces behind her as a guard roughly pulled her back.

"The official story," Kanshi said, not even looking back at her as she folded her hands behind her back, "is that after the death of one of her hero friends in an accident - a bullet that was supposed to incapacitate a villain but instead fatally struck the hero - Lady Nagant was so horrified by what she had done, she chose to retire from hero work, taking up a life of seclusion and requesting the media to give her her privacy. That was the answer the HPSC had you give in that press conference before we put you in here, Tsutsumi, and it's the story that we've maintained. Any reporter or tabloid journalist that tried to dig into what really happened have been silenced."

Nagant, for her part, said nothing.

"No one outside of the HPSC, and a few of the Top 10, know that you're here, Tsutsumi. Had we wanted it, you'd be spending the rest of your life in that cell downstairs, rotting away with your hair cut down to nothing."

The chairwoman looked around at her, finally, with that same serene smile. 

"I believe that my mother once told me that you loved having longer hair, didn't you?" She asked curiously. "Before Tartarus had it cut off to prevent you from growing more ammunition."

The prisoner's sad look hardened at that, and her mouth thinned into a line.

"Just get to the point."

"Gladly," Kanshi nodded, still smiling. "I came to visit you today because I have a job for you."

"A job …" Nagant repeated, her eyes narrowing, "… and when you say that …"

"I want you to kill someone."

Nagant merely glared at her as Kanshi took a step towards her from the edge of the roof. It was only now that Nagant looked her properly in the eyes - and instead of that stupid peaceful smile, she saw what the chairwoman was really thinking, with how calculating and analytically she was staring at her.

"I think," She gave her a sympathetic look, one that Nagant didn't buy for a second, "that it would be an awful waste to have someone of your talents waste away in an terrible place like Tartarus. And I have the feeling that you would be far more comfortable in a much … homier location. For example, I could always help you get your old penthouse apartment back - or, if you don't like the memories, we can get you a new place."

"… what makes you think I even want to come back?" Nagant huffed, wishing she could cross her arms across her chest if not for the fact she was currently restrained. "Killing people - criminals or vigilantes, whatever you want me to do - is not why I wanted to be a hero. Even when the old HSPC director tried to gaslight me into thinking it was."

"It's not what you signed up for," Kanshi gave her, shaking her head, "but it's what you're good at. And I would hardly want to waste your talents. Besides, this isn't some normal job - it's a problem that's been making the HSPC look very bad for the last year or so. This isn't us trying to use you to get a win for the Commission - this is a pest that's been annoying us for some time now, and we'd like it exterminated. I'm sure that you understand how much we'd want to get rid of a recurring headache."

Nagant merely raised an eyebrow.

"Besides," The calculating look in Kanshi's eyes returned, "what else do you have to do? Go back to your little cell and stare at the ceiling for the rest of your life? If you say no, then fine. I'll simply get our golden boy to do it, it would hardly be the first time we've put him to taking up your old work. But if you agree," Now she began smirking, "perhaps I'll let you visit your daughter."

At that, Nagant felt herself go still. Her eyes widened, and her hands, still encased in the restraints, began shaking again - but this time, not from the cold or nervousness.

"Not under the assumption that you can actually see her," Kanshi wagged her finger as though disciplining a dog, "but looking at her from across a street would be fine, wouldn't it?"

"…"

"I have nothing to lose if I recruit you or not, Lady Nagant. But you … you have everything to lose if you refuse."

There was a long pause - and then Nagant closed her eyes in defeat.

"… what's the job?"

Kanshi smiled in satisfaction.

"One month," She raised a finger again, "you'll be out of Tartarus for one month, doing this job. You'll be enrolling in UA's internship course under the disguise of 'briefly coming out of retirement to pass your skills on to the next generation'. We'll give you the freedom to choose who you want as an intern -"

"Yeah, right," Nagant huffed not-so-quietly, "you'll let me pick someone you can use in the future."

For her part, Kanshi ignored that.

"- I've been keeping my eye on a case building between two members of the Top 10, and you'll be joining them under the pretense of helping them out."

"A case?" Nagant furrowed her brow.

"Just an alibi that will let you be where we need you to be. Your target will be working in the shadows, so while your 'partners' will be off doing their own case with their interns, you'll be leaving yours with them while you hunt. Do well, and eliminate the target, and we could be convinced to let you stay under house arrest somewhere out of the eye of the public. Fail," She raised an eyebrow, "and we'll simply dump you back in your cell downstairs, and wash our hands clean of you."

There was a long pause - and then Lady Nagant let out a small sigh.

"And …" The assassin opened her eyes to glare at the ground, "… who is the target?"

Kanshi smiled.

"A villain," She answered, "calling themselves the 'Hero Killer'."

Notes:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827966679253516318/1110305511825473566/a0f609cf-6206-4e47-a6b2-81599f5f1422.png
And that was Chapter 29! My apologies that I made you all wait a bit longer for this chapter - life's still a bit complicated, and writing for the Sports Festival is surprisingly hard lol, but hopefully going forward from here things will start winding down. And I'm glad that we finally got to this chapter, because it's starting to really jump into the meat of this arc - our three heroes finally opening up about these weird feelings of theirs! I know that there have been a few raised eyebrows about the slower burn of this arc, but I'd like to remind you - these last five or so chapters are happening within the same day. I acknowledge that it's been dreadfully slow, but I promise that the reward is just on the horizon.

And what a chapter we got, as well! Mei used Izuocha as an advertisement! Nejire is lowkey down with whatever Itsuka wants (which, I believe many of you foursome-believers out there, consider that a flag XD), we got Tenya getting a weird phone call from his mom that he needed to answer for not-plot related reasons, we finally got Izuku thinking about what he actually wants, we got Eri getting popcorn, and we got a Makima-expy coercing the lovely Lady Nagant into making an early appearance! As you all can guess, we're up for some craziness in the next arc, and I hope you're all excited!

With that, that's where we're leaving this chapter! Thanks so much for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 30: Round One, Part Two

Summary:

With time running out until the next disastrous match, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka finally sit down to talk about the awkwardness of the entire day, and to map out a game plan. Shouto doesn't have a very good time at all, Monoma's in for the shock of his life, and plans begin to be unfolded - for the forces of light and dark.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

So Midoriya won, huh …

Frowning as he stared up at the TV showing the results of the lastest round, Shouto felt himself scowl as the reporter on the screen showed the results of the first two matches, sitting at his spot at the table and tapping his finger against the metal. The second match had just been wrapped up - Izuku and his partner, the one who had helped him trick Shouto back at the pond, had gotten out of their fight with the boy with glasses and the crazy support student by the skin of their teeth; and the loud, annoying kid named Katsuki and Fumikage (who, at least, Shouto noted with a bit of respect, seeing as he worked quite well with them in the last round) had won their match with that redhead guy and the disgusting creep that had groped Momo at the start of the day, which had been far more one sided than the first one.

Still though, the sight of Izuku's dorky smile on the screen only made Shouto glare harder at the TV, remembering their talk from earlier and continuing to tap his finger against the table, before he finally let out a sigh and turned to look away from the television.

Well, in the end, it didn't matter much - from how it looked, those two pairs would be fighting each other next. And while Izuku was crafty, as seen during their fight at the pond, it was obvious that he had no idea how to really use his quirk, Shouto nodded slowly as he thought back to how clumsy he had looked on the pond -

"… my quirk is dangerous. Dangerous enough to myself and everyone around me that I have to use a support item to lower my blasts. And if I'm being honest … there's a part of me that hates it."

- and how he didn't even use his quirk at all during the match, Shouto felt his frown deepen as he shook that memory away. So either Katsuki would easily defeat him in the next round, or somehow, Izuku would get lucky again and have to face Shouto in the finals - and that would just mean that Shouto would be able to easily defeat him, since they would be on a stage that wouldn't be as unstable as the pond, and there being the risk of Izuku missing Shouto and hitting someone in the crowd. And from what he gathered from how Izuku acted with his quirk during the last couple of hours, if there was the slightest risk of hurting someone with his quirk … he wouldn't take it.

And he could use that to his advantage.

But that shouldn't be Shouto's main concern right now - not when, once he defeated his class representative and that Shinsou idiot, he would then have to go up against Itsuka and that annoying blue-haired girl - Nejire, her name was, he remembered. And that, he narrowed his eyes, was the match he needed to be prepared for.

Turning his gaze back down to the remote on the table beside him, he scooped it up and raised it to flip it to the next channel, wanting to take his mind off of Izuku for a while and put on some background noise so he could ready himself for his fight with Itsuka - but on the screen, the sight of someone very familiar to him made him pause, blinking, before he automatically turned up the volume to hear what was going on. 

"Sol!" The reporter called out to the pro hero, quickly jogging over to the white-haired young man with piercings as he was surrounded by a few of his fans and fellow heroes. "We've heard from a reliable source that your youngest brother has been competing in the sports festival today, and has been taking the world by storm! But tell us - are you nervous for little Shouto?"

On the screen, Touya kept his back to the camera for a moment, staring ahead and not showing any indication that he had heard what she had said - and then he turned around to face the camera, raising his hand to show the audience.

"Well, I guess I'll answer that question with my own question - is my shaking noticeable?" He gave the reporter a sheepish, nervous grin, and then straightened up with a confident grin as she and the crowd around him laughed lightly at his joke. "But if I'm being serious for a second - yeah, I guess you could say that I am a little nervous for my little brother! I'm also kinda envious, too - I never went to UA, so I'm super jealous of him getting to compete today!"

"Oh? Is this a sibling rivalry I hear?"

"Well, I wouldn't call it that - more along the lines of me just being a bit pouty he gets to fight robots. I mean, I'd love to go up against robots!" Touya pretended to look disappointed, before shaking his head and putting his hands in his coat's pockets, the blue flames subtle around his shoulders so as not to burn anyone close by. "But back to your question, I have faith my little brother's going to crush it today - and he better! Our dad would probably throw a fit if Shouto stumbled over the finish line after all the hell he put us through to get ready to be heroes, right?"

The reporter and crowd laughed again as Touya scratched his head sheepishly, still grinning into the camera.

"So basically, Shouto, if you're watching this - you've got this, little bro! But if you are watching this, maybe think about turning off the TV and getting ready - don't worry, I'll be watching!"

Feeling himself frown again, Shouto did as his brother asked and turned off the TV as the laughter from Touya's jokes were silenced, leaving the waiting room quiet again as he turned to look back down at the table, putting down the remote before he folded his hands together. His brother had always been rather good at portraying the joking, relatable hero persona he put on for the cameras - especially when it came to pretending that he cared for his younger brother. In reality, it wouldn't be surprising if Touya completely ignored him when he got home tonight, whether he had a gold medal around his neck or not.

But … but that didn't matter, he shook his head again. This wasn't a matter of getting a pat on the back. It was an effort to show Touya that he understood, that he knew what he was going through, that Shouto could be seen as an equal -

"… I don't think you owe your brother anything. And - and you don't have anything to prove to your father."

His scowl deepening again at the intruding memory, Shouto felt ice begin to crack in his right hand, letting out a small noise as he moved his hands apart to shake the slight frost away as he glared angrily at the table. Ever since he had walked away from that conversation during lunch, he had … a pretty hard time shaking what Izuku had said to him out of his mind. No matter how foolish he thought Izuku was, or thinking that his advice was poor, he couldn't help but hear the words Izuku had said ringing in his mind again and again, with no way to shake them out.

He had gone into that conversation expecting to have gotten some information out of his rival's friend, to get more information about her and what her deal was. He … hadn't expected to suddenly dump all the details of his traumatic past on Izuku, though. He had just … started talking about it without thinking, and hadn't been able to stop himself until he got it all out. And then, when he had tried to leave that conversation with a bit of dignity, Izuku had not only stopped him, he had dared to counter Shouto's thoughts, telling him that he didn't need his brother's quirk or his father's spite. And that …

… that was a bit hard to put aside, Shouto thought as his fists clenched. It was hard to keep those stupid words from a boy he barely knew out of his mind, rattling around and making his previous convictions feel shaken.

He knew what he had to do - spite Endeavor, gain Touya's respect. That was all he had to do. That was it.

And yet …

"Everyone is out here giving their all, and you're deliberately holding back."

Gritting his teeth furiously, Shouto took some of his frustration out on the water bottle that had been sitting on the table beside him, hitting it with the back of his hand and sending it flying across the room to smack against the wall, and he quickly stood up to begin pacing around the table in a circle. It shouldn't matter, he furrowed his brow, what Izuku thought. He had to concentrate on the next round, and the round after that, and then it would be over. The day would be over, he would get the gold metal, and he'd bring it home as physical proof that he could stand alongside his brother.

It wouldn't be too hard to win the next round - Shinsou was all bark, no bite, and Yuuyu's power was pretty much nothing compared to his ice, although that wouldn't mean that he could just dismiss her as a threat - if he was slow enough, she might get a hit in on him, and a blast of electricity was … something he didn't want to have to experience. It was just a question of who would be faster on the draw - him or her. If she hit him, there would be a chance that she could take him down by taking advantage of him being stunned.

But if he hit her first, he could end the match as soon as it started.

He just had to -

Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, however, he was distracted by the sound of the door opening again behind him. Straightening up, he glanced over his shoulder to see Momo entering the room again, not looking entirely comfortable being in his presence but looking like she was trying to swallow her displeasure, at the very least. In her hands, she held two water bottles and a small open bag of chips, probably for her to build up some of her lipids, and she approached the table and put it and one of the bottles down before holding out the other to him.

"Here, Shouto," She said shortly, keeping her tone stoic and unemotive just like his, "I thought you would be thirsty."

"Hm," Shouto nodded, taking the water bottle and ignoring the one that he had just smacked to the floor laying on its side not far away, wanting to remain at least polite, "thank you."

She nodded slightly, and then turned to look over at the now turned off TV, and Shouto studied the wall opposite of her as he took a sip of water, leaning forward on the table and tapping it with his fingers as he thought quietly to himself. There were a few moments of quiet as they waited for the announcement overhead to tell them to head into the arena, neither of them looking at each other as Momo finished eating the bag of chips and put the now empty bag into the bin near the door.

And then Momo let out a quiet sigh, her shoulders sinking slightly, and she said, in a quiet voice, "I'm sorry."

Shouto, who had raised the water bottle to his lips to take another sip, found himself pausing for a moment, staring blankly ahead as he realized that she had spoken. Blinking slightly, he turned to look over at where Momo was still staring at the wall near the door.

"What?" He said bluntly.

"I said that …" She hesitated for another moment, as though she were trying to force the words from her mouth, and then let out another sigh, "… that I am sorry for … brushing you off after you - you got Mineta off of me, back during the first round. I spoke to my father during lunch, and he - he gave me some … some perspective, telling me that I had been rude to you. For that, I - I apologize."

Shouto stared blankly at her for a moment, her words slowly sinking in as he realized what she was talking about - and then he let out his own sigh, and instead of answering immediately, he raised the water bottle to begin drinking it all. She glanced over at him as he finished the water bottle and put it back down on the table, wiping his lip roughly with the back of his hand as he narrowed his eyes, and began walking over to the door.

"Don't worry about it," He said in a sharp voice, "you have nothing to apologize about."

"I - er -"

"Come on," He gestured with his head as he pulled the door open, not even waiting for her, "it's probably almost time to head out to the arena, we can at least go wait near the entrance."

With that, he began to walk out into the hall, keeping his eyes forward as he began marching down the hallway towards where the tunnel would be. He heard the sound of her quickly trying to hurry after him, knowing that she had probably needed a moment to get over his dismissal of her apology before she could follow him - although he couldn't spare much thought about that, seeing as what she had said was filling him with the same icy anger that he had been feeling since he had spoken to Izuku - albeit for an entirely different reason now.

"I spoke to my father during lunch, and he - he gave me some … some perspective, telling me that I had been rude to you."

A memory, one that he hadn't thought of in a long time, came to Shouto as they began walking down the hallway together, or rather, he walked in front while she walked behind him. It had been back in their childhood, when the two of them had still been on speaking terms, had still been … friends, he thought as his heart hurt a bit at the thought. It had been a silly game they used to play together - the prince and princess of two families, brought together and having adventures in the large shiny manor she had lived in. One of those days, they had gotten in a disagreement - about what, he couldn't remember - and they had gone to cry to his mother while she had been sitting with Momo's parents. 

It had been … something he had done, he furrowed his brow. He knew that, at least - he had been acting like a brat, and hurt her feelings, causing her to cry. And yet, as she cried to his mom, who had paused the conversation she had been having with Momo's mother to comfort her, it had been her father, sitting at the other side of the table with Endeavor, who had sharply reprimanded her.

"Enough, Momo. You are supposed to be proper, so you need to act like it. Stop having a tantrum and apologize to Shouto, now."

It had been … something that had stuck with him. The way Momo had frozen when her father had spoken to her that sharply, and how she had quickly whipped her teary face and apologized to him, even when they both knew that the reason she had cried in the first place had been his fault. The way his mother had winced, her face twisting slightly as though Momo's father had reminded her of … of how it was at home. How Shouto had immediately felt awful for acting like a spoiled brat, that he had gotten Momo in trouble with her father.

And now to learn that her father had … 'given her perspective' … it made Shouto's hand curl into a tight fist, his fingernails cutting into the palm of his hand.

Of course … of course that bastard would make her apologize to him for his rudeness, as he always did. That was normal behavior for the head of the Yaoyorozus - barely reflect on the possibility that Shouto could be responsible for there being bad blood between him and his daughter, and then make Momo apologize to him. Shouto felt his stomach churn at the thought of the smug bastard - he hated Endeavor for everything he had done, but Daikoku Yaoyorozu … he knew, even as a child, that he was a similar breed of monster that his father was, but in an entirely different way.

He had always been uncomfortable at those strange dinners when he was a child, going over to the large mansion with his parents and all his silbings, and feeling uncomfortable under the gaze of the man sitting at the end of the table in his spot, smiling at the young child but filling him with nothing but unease. It had taken him a few years to realize, but Shouto knew that to the head of the Yaoyorozu estate, he was just a means to an end - nothing about Daikoku's kindess to him was real, only artificial.

He had no real feelings about Shouto, he had realized at a young age - he didn't see him as a young man, as a friend of his daughter, as a future son-in-law. He probably didn't even see him as a human being. He saw him as a tool, someone to marry his daughter off to for … reasons he didn't really know. That, of course, was between Daikoku and Endeavor.

Honestly, he had no idea how Momo could live with the bastard, assuming that he spent time at the biggest mansion in the world and wasn't travelling all over the world for business. Everything about Daikoku seemed so … fake. It almost made him appreciate his father, because at least he wore his expressions on his face - he knew when a brutal session of training was coming, or when he thought Shouto had failed him. Daikoku, on the other hand, always kept that same fake smile on his face, the one that showed absolutely nothing about how he really felt.

But speaking of the bastard …

Moving around the corner, Shouto found his eyes drifting upwards - and then, as he saw who was standing there waiting for them, leaning against the wall, he slowed his pace, his already sour mood due to thinking about Daikoku plummeting even more. Momo, who had been too busy studying her feet to look up as she followed behind Shouto, let out a small squeak as she unintentionally walked straight into him, blinking and looking up at her partner.

"Shouto?" She asked in an uncertain voice. "What is -?"

"You're in the way." He said in a short voice.

"W-what do you -?" She began to ask, her gaze lifting up to look over Shouto's shoulder - and then, as she saw who was leaning against the wall and staring at the boy in front of her, she quickly went quiet.

"Momo," Endeavor nodded politely at her, before turning his permanent glare and frown back to his son, "please excuse Shouto and I for a moment. We won't take long."

Momo felt her lips thin a bit, glancing between both Todorokis for a moment - Shouto glaring down at the floor and Endeavor leaning against the wall while staring coldly at him, and she opened her mouth as though to disagree - but then she closed it, feeling like she had done enough today. Bowing her head briefly to him, she quickly made her way past the Number Two Hero, moving around the corner to wait for her teammate at the end of the tunnel.

Still though, Shouto could only grit his teeth slightly as he began to walk past his father without a word, not even looking up at him as Endeavor let out a small huff.

"Today," He noted, "hasn't been a good day for you, Shouto."

"I'm aware."

"There is no excuse for you not winning the first round. You had the advantage right at the start, and each obstacle that came after it, you had the advantage over all your classmates. And yet," Endeavor scoffed, "you came in fifth."

Shouto said nothing to that, glaring at the floor.

"And in the second round, that other boy led you around by the nose," Endeavor shook his head, "even a fool could see that he was playing you, Shouto. You didn't pay enough attention - the way he crashed into that girl was pathetically telegraphed, it was obvious that he did it intentionally. And yet, you got arrogant, too busy thinking that you had brought them both down to consider the possibility of him giving her the ten million. I considered the possibility at once, so you have no excuse for that - I taught you to keep your eyes open to small details others missed, and yet, you missed it completely."

"Are you trying to make a point here?" Shouto spat, walking past his father, "I'm keeping Yaoyorozu waiting."

There was a short pause as Endeavor looked coldly down at his son.

"I'm aware," he narrowed his eyes, "of your conversation with Touya last week."

That, of course, made Shouto freeze in his tracks.

"… how?"

"One of the maids reported it to me," The pro hero shook his head, turning to glare at his son's back while his flame beard flared, "I knew that Touya was going to stop by for dinner with Fuyumi after visiting your mother, and I told my maids to keep an eye open in case he interfered with your training. I love him, but Touya has made it clear that he doesn't approve of you trying to follow in his footsteps."

"Yeah," Shouto scoffed quietly, under his breath, "he hasn't."

"And yet, you want to prove yourself to him."

He said nothing.

"That's fine," Endeavor shook his head, tapping his finger against his bicep as he kept his arms crossed, "in fact, I approve. If I can't get you to emulate me, then emulating your brother is the next best thing. But at the rate you're going," He turned to glare at his son's back again, "you will fail, Shouto. You continue to act disgracefully - had you used the power in your left side, you would've won both rounds easily. You could have gotten ahead in the race by using your flames and ice simultaneously to propel yourself, and melting the pond you had been fighting on would have taken out that Midoriya boy, if his lightning doesn't go well with water, and realizing his deception earlier would've clued you in that the girl had been your real target. At this point, you are insulting yourself and your classmates with your foolish behavior."

At that last comment, however, Shouto felt himself go still.

"Everyone is out here giving their all, and you're deliberately holding back."

"She told me about how you're always holding back during your lessons. Finds it kind of insulting, and to be honest, if I was in her shoes, I would be insulted too. It seems like you're mocking your classmates by always holding back. They're going to be out there giving their all, and then there's you not even trying that hard."

As the words said not only by Izuku, but Itsuka's insults from the forest earlier bounced around in his mind again Shouto stared down at the floor, his mouth thinning into a line.

"If you want to impress your brother," Endeavor moved off of the wall, looking at his son with the same narrowed eyes behind the mask of flames he always had, "then you'll need to stop holding yourself back. Surpassing All Might is your duty, and wasting your time trying to impress your brother by only using your mother's quirk is counteractive. Even if it works for now," He let out a small grunt, beginning to walk down the hallway away from his son, "you'll be reaching the limits of that power soon, as you did back at the pond. Don't fail again, Shouto."

With that, he began to stomp away back down the hall, the sound of his heavy footfalls fading around the corner and leaving Shouto standing there, staring at nothing. He was only dimly aware of Aizawa's voice above him telling them to head out to the arena, the words his father, Itsuka, and Izuku said earlier continuing to practically scream at him in his head -

- and then his eyes narrowed to slits, and he began storming down the corridor towards where the tunnel was. After all of that, and hearing his two classmates' words seemingly in agreement with what his father was saying … it made it pretty clear to Shouto that he should just disregard everything he had just heard, and focus on the present.

Stomping around the corner, he didn't even notice Momo standing there looking uncomfortable and pitying towards him, opening her mouth as though to say something and then blinking when she realized that he was leaving without her, quickly moving to catch up. Together, they both walked down the tunnel towards the distant light that would lead outside, the cheers echoing around the tunnel as Shouto glared ahead, keeping his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Finally moving out onto the grass and towards the arena before them, Shouto didn't pay any attention to what Present Mic was narrating, only seeing red as he stormed up onto the stage with Momo quickly following behind him, keeping her distance relatively as she saw, by his body language, that he was clearly not in the mood for last minute strategizing. Coming up on the opposite side of the ring, Shinsou and Yuuyu were also moving up the stairs towards them - Shinsou with a confident smirk, and Yuuyu looking both annoyed and nervous, glancing over at the stormy look on her classmate's face and knowing, right and then, that this was going to suck.

As the four of them finally stood in the ring on top of the hill, waiting for the fight to begin Shouto staring vacantly at nothing, Momo looking nervous, and Yuuyu slowly beginning to edge away from what she assumed was going to be the blast zone, Shinsou suddenly began speaking.

"You know," He turned to look over at Momo, who quickly snapped her gaze to him as he smirked at her, speaking under Present Mic's narration, "I don't seem to recall seeing you anywhere during the second round. I suppose you were hiding somewhere in the forest, weren't you?"

Momo, for her part, didn't dignify that with a response, merely holding one hand on her wrist and the other tapping nervously on her leg, glancing at Yuuyu as she slowly backed up, and then over to Shouto as he glared down at the ground.

"Well, I'm not surprised," Shinsou huffed as Present Mic gave them the go ahead to begin, "someone as pathetic as you probably couldn't help your team out at all, so of course you went and hid while the rest of your team did the heavy lifting. And I bet that's what you're gonna do with Todoroki here," He smirked, "just ride his coattails and wait for him to do all the work for you. Just like he did when that pervert grabbed your chest - although I can't blame him. Your tits are pretty big, you were pretty much asking some perv to grab them."

Momo's eyes went wide, snapping right back to Shinsou, and immediately, a look of anger crossed her face.

"How dare -!"

However, before Shinsou could use his quirk on Momo in that moment of weakness, and Yuuyu could throw her hand forward and send out twin arrows of electricity to stun the two in her panic - Shouto stomped down hard on the ground.


About twenty minutes before that, Itsuka was starting to think that she was going to die of embarrassment. That, or she was five seconds from crawling under the table and hiding there forever.

"… and then we just … kissed," She groaned, moving her hands over her face as she leaned forward and covered herself in embarrassment, "stood up, leaned over the table, and just - kissed. I didn't resist or anything, it was just like, 'oh, Ochako's getting up? And leaning forward? Well, shucks, I gotta kiss her or - or -'"

She then let out something that sounded like a mix of a curse word and random gibberish as she furiously rubbed her red face with both hands. While she felt like she was about to burst into embarrassed flames, Nejire let out a soft gasp, her eyes twinkling and her hand moving over her mouth as she took in the story.

"Oooooooooooh …" She shook a bit in excitement, "… so … so what was it like? Was it hot?"

"No," Itsuka shook her head, blushing harder and harder, "it wasn't hot, it was just … it was nice."

"Nice?"

"Yeah. Very nice."

Indeed, almost an hour and a half had passed since they had been excused to go make a plan, and during that period of time, the final rounds of the sports festival had started, everyone got ready to fight, and Itsuka and Nejire … had done absolutely nothing to get themselves ready for it, instead getting lost in all of the stories that Itsuka had told the curious girl about how she had met Izuku and Ochako, and fell for them. Leaving out the obvious details, of course, what with the real context that they had started training together, but Nejire had been entertained anyway, clapping her hands together with a mystified look in her eyes, and Itsuka's face had been a somewhat permanent shade of red for the last hour, even if there was a small, bashful smile on her face as she recounted everything that had happened in the last year or so.

Normally, Itsuka would have been pretty embarrassed just … spilling everything to Nejire, someone she didn't really know, instead of someone close to her like Setsuna or Yui, but … it was surprising about how Nejire had honestly been really easy to talk to, with the blue-haired girl heavily restraining herself from asking overly detailed questions and trying not to get carried away by their talk. As of right now, she knew, more than anyone, how Itsuka felt about both her training partners - having complicated feelings for Ochako she couldn't quite put a name on, and being head over heels for Izuku.

And instead of feeling embarrassed … Itsuka felt strangely … relieved. Like a heavy weight had been taken off of her shoulders by just talking to Nejire about it.It may have had something to do with Nejire having similar feelings for Izuku like she did, knowing what it was like to fall for him, but … honestly, explaining how she had fallen for Izuku to someone who had also fallen for him was … weirdly freeing.

Maybe … it was because Nejire had been surprisingly easy to talk to about it. Honestly, Itsuka couldn't say that she wasn't having a bit of fun telling Nejire about everything, taking enjoyment from Nejire's reactions, either gasping lightly at some points and gushing the next. Hanging out with Nejire and talking about her feelings, that had been stressing her out for who knows how long being all bottled up, it was … it was fun.

"Oh, but, so -" Nejire quickly leaned forward over the table again, her hands still up around her mouth from how flustered she was, "- your first kiss with Ochako, though - that was the one that was hot, right?"

"It was - I - okay, yes, that one was hot," Itsuka admitted with a bit of shame in her voice, lowering her head into her arms and burying it deeply in them as she glanced away with a fully red face, "like - I tried to undersell it to Set and Yui when I told them, but god … god, it was hot."

Nejire bounced around in her seat, shaking a bit.

"Like … we just almost died, and I wasn't thinking at all about it, just - just her, and … and … fuck," She groaned lowly, aware of Nejire's cheeks going a bit pink and feeling her own turn redder, "it was such a hot fucking kiss. Like, our tongues were wrestling, and her hair was so freaking soft, and there was - er, anyway," She quickly shook her head, realizing that she was maybe getting a little too carried away with her explanation, "after that, Izuku broke out of the conflagration zone, and we just kinda broke apart -"

"Oh, but what if he didn't?" Nejire gushed, continuing to bounce in her seat, "Would you two have kept kissing? Making out? French kissing? W-whatever you call it! Would you have?"

"I …" Itsuka found herself hesitating for a moment, her face practically on fire now from how much blood was rushing to her cheeks, "… I don't know. M-maybe? Probably? Y-yeah, probably. I mean, I probably would've - but wait, then Yaoyorozu and Jirou came down, so they probably would've caught us … you know … sucking each other's souls out with our mouths. S-so the kiss was probably going to end even if Izuku hadn't interrupted us."

With that, Itsuka promptly smacked her face into the table, groaning lowly in her humiliation.

"Fucking Izuku," She grumbled, "interrupting my hot kiss with Ochako, and then being all cute and hot afterwards. That fucking … fuck."

"Oh, but speaking of those two! Yaoyorozu and Jirou, I mean, not Izuku being a - er - 'fucking fuck'," Nejire giggled a bit, leaning forward and shaking her head to try to replace her giddy look with a serious one as Itsuka sneaked a glance up at her. "I've been thinking, and watching, and - you know, doing more thinking. But I think that Jirou might have a thing for Yaoyorozu, y'know? Like, today, she asked Yaoyorozu if she wanted to have lunch with her, and got really disappointed when she couldn't! What do you think?"

"Uh - Jirou and Yaoyorozu?" Itsuka blinked a bit, raising her head from where it had hit the table. "Oh, yeah, I - I know what you're talking about. And … yeah, a hundred percent. There's something going on there."

"Really?!"

"Oh, yeah. I mean, Jirou's super obvious about it. I don't really know how Yaoyorozu feels about it, though - honestly, I don't think she's even noticed Jirou looking at her yet. Or, you know, she has, but she's being polite and pretending not to notice."

"Oh, then - wait, is that a good thing? Is Jirou liking Yaoyorozu a good thing? I know Yaoyorozu's got her problems with Todoroki and the whole arranged marriage thingy, but her liking Jirou is good, right?"

"I mean, I would think so," Itsuka nodded, smiling a bit as she sat up in her chair and adjusted herself, "they'd be cute together. I was just … y'know, not gonna bring it up to either of them, at all. No need to poke my nose into something I shouldn't, right? Let them figure it out naturally and act from there."

"That's true!" Nejire quickly agreed with her, smiling happily. "No need to make things awkward for them, let them get together on their own! Oh, but they'd be so cute, wouldn't they? Like, when we first met Jirou, I thought she was all cool and tough, like Yuuyuu. All 'too kewl for school', you know?"

Itsuka snorted at that. "Yeah, I get that. 'Too kewl for school'."

"Yeah! But then whenever she's around Yaoyorozu, she gets all shy and nervous. It's so cute! And I don't think Yaoyorozu doesn't like her, you know? She's just got her whole thing with Todoroki to handle, but I wouldn't see her turning down Jirou if she asked her out, right? She seemed like she regretted not being able to eat with her today, I noticed! But maybe that's a friend thing, like me and Yuuyu - I sometimes get bummed when I can't eat with Yuuyu."

"I - maybe? I guess -"

However, before Itsuka could continue on with the slight shipping for Kyouka and Momo (something she would've thought had been more up Setsuna and Mina's alleys, but found it kind of fun talking to Nejire about it), she blinked when she suddenly felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She initially wanted to ignore it, opening her mouth again, but then came several more vibrations, indicating that someone was either calling her or texting her.

"Uh … hold on a second," She quickly asked Nejire, who looked briefly confused at that, and saw her reach into her pocket to pull out her phone. Finally finishing it out of her gym pants, Itsuka sighed and turned the screen over to see who was texting her, thinking it to be her mom or her dad wishing her luck for the upcoming match -

- and then, when she saw the name on the top of the screen, she felt her eyes practically pop out of their sockets.

 

DEKU

hey guys

i know that it's pretty busy rn and you're probably

doing stuff, but i was

i was wondering if i could meet up with you guys

just for a bit

 

There was a moment of silence. And then she said, in a simple tone, "Shit."

"Hm?" Nejire looked around curiously at her. "What's up? What's going on?" 

"It's - Izuku's texting me."

Nejire let out a small gasp at that, her eyes widening somewhat in delight, and quickly got up from her chair. As she started making her way around the table to read the texts over Itsuka's shoulder, the formerly orange-haired girl felt herself begin to tremble as she read over the last five messages that Izuku had just sent, feeling her heart begin to hammer in her chest and her jaw drop slightly as her hands started shaking.

Izuku wanted to … meet up? With - with her? Right now? To talk about what? W-what could be so important that they needed to talk without - wait, she realized as she glanced up at the name of the chat on the screen. He wasn't just specifically texting her, or messaging their group chat.

He was - he was using the chat that she shared with him and Ochako, back when they had started training on the beach. Which meant that …

… that he wanted to speak with her and Ochako. Both of them. At the same time.

However, before she could begin to panic at that, feeling fight-or-flight immediately kick in and, for once in her life, settle on 'flight', her phone vibrated in her hand again, and she squeaked in terror when Ochako suddenly answered.

 

OCCHAN

uh

hey deku

i'm

sort of free rn

just gotta shake hatsume off me

she's designing her inventions rn and 

i'm kind of being a guinea pig against my will

 

"So what are you waiting for? Text back!"

Itsuka jumped a bit, almost forgetting at that moment that Nejire had been there, and quickly looked around at her standing over her shoulder. Looking over to her face, Nejire then made a face that clearly said 'what are you doing?', making it clear that she had to respond.

And … well, she did have to, Itsuka realized as she looked back at her phone and saw she had unlocked her phone automatically and the chat was open, meaning that both Izuku and Ochako would see that she was reading the messages. So she couldn't just … pretend she hadn't seen them.

She opened her mouth in slight horror, realizing how screwed she was - and then she let out a sharp breath, shaking her head and looking back down at the phone.

Okay … okay. No avoiding it. Just … she needed to get more info first before she panicked. She needed to see what Izuku was asking them to meet up about, and then go from there.

So, letting out a small sigh, she decided to start by being casual.

 

YOU

is everything okay, izuku?

 

DEKU

oh yeah, everything's

it's fine

just

wanted to talk to you both before the next match, if it's cool

 

… that vague butthole, she pouted. Biting her lip briefly, she slowly nodded.

 

YOU

...

okay

i

think we can meet up real quick

i got my match with monoma and ashido coming up soon, and then

y'know

you guys are back up again

but

anyway

where do you wanna meet?

 

DEKU

er

 

YOU

or maybe

i'm sitting down in a waiting room with hadou rn

we've been

talking

if you guys don't mind her being here, we can chat there

 

OCCHAN

i guess that works

where is it?

 

YOU

i'll send the gps

bottom floor, near the tunnel, btw

waiting room 4

 

OCCHAN

i think i'm close to there

 

DEKU

okay

i'll be there soon

 

Slowly nodding to herself, Itsuka put the phone back down on the cool surface of the table, staring blankly ahead at nothing for a moment - and then she promptly slumped down, her face hitting the table with a low groan. Nejire, meanwhile, quickly moved back around the table, hopping up and down slightly as she scooped up Itsuka's phone to read over the messages again.

"Oooooooooh …" She, at least, seemed to be excited, "… so Midoriya's coming? And Uraraka, too? What are you guys gonna talk about? I mean, obviously you don't know, but what do you think you're gonna talk about?"

"I … I have no freaking clue," Itsuka groaned again, moving to drag herself to her feet and grabbing the sides of her head as she felt herself begin to panic at last. "I - what is even going on?! Why does Izuku wanna meet up?! Did - oh god," She felt her eyes widen in horror, "you don't think … you don't think Ochako told him about what happened?"

"Hm?" Nejire blinked, looking up at her in confusion. "What happened? Remind me again what happened."

"Our - our kiss!"

"Oh," Nejire nodded in understanding, "oooooh. I get it!"

There was a pause.

"Wait, actually, no, I don't." Nejire realized. "Which kiss are you talking about?"

"W-what? What do you mean?"

"You kissed Uraraka twice," She pointed out helpfully, "so are you talking about the USJ kiss, or -"

"The - the one that happened today!"

"Ooh, I see. But - wait, would Uraraka tell him about it? Maybe? I don't think so, it seems kinda … personal. Y'know, between you two. I'm not sure why she would go and tell Midoriya about it."

"I -" Itsuka hesitated for a moment, "- maybe she didn't mean to, and - or - oh, god, this is gonna be so bad!"

"Hey, hey!" Nejire quickly hopped out of her seat as well, moving around the table and gently taking Itsuka's shoulders, giving her a kind smile as she realized she had to be the one to calm her down. "Come on, it'll be fine! This is good! Midoriya and Uraraka are gonna come talk to you! Isn't that what you want? You wanna be done with how awkward it is between you guys, right? You told me that! Well, this is your chance to clear the air!"

"I - I don't know, Hadou," Itsuka sighed, flopping back down into her chair while Nejire looked down at her in confusion, "I don't know if - what if I'm not ready to face Ochako? The last time we saw each other, I was yelling at her one second and then kissing her the next, and - and - god, I don't even know what's going on with me right now, and why I keep bouncing from Izuku to Ochako and back again!"

"Bisexuality," Nejire sagely nodded, "I know it well."

"I - no, not that!" She shook her head. "The problem is that I've done nothing but send her mixed signals ever since what happened at the mountain zone, and now I don't even - I don't even know what to say to her when I see her. What, am I supposed to go, 'Hey, Ochako, sorry about arguing with you and then letting you kiss me out of nowhere, now can we go back to me trying to hook you up with Izuku while I fade into the background'?" Letting out a small scoff and shaking her head, Itsuka scowled as she leaned her elbow on the table. "Not a chance."

"Hey," Nejire suddenly gave her a pout, moving to sit down on the table itself beside Itsuka and patting her leg with her foot, "I knew I had to talk to you about that not being a good idea! Sealing up your feelings, by the way. Which it is! Not a good idea, I mean. It's not!"

"Come on," She sighed in defeat, biting the inside of her cheek slightly, "I'm not just gonna -"

"I'm not saying that you should tell him how you feel the moment he shows up! No, no, no! That would probably take a lot of courage and prep time, and it'd be unfair to you if I suddenly told you to do it! But what I'm saying is that putting your feelings down and trying to ignore them isn't gonna do you any favors in the long run! And hey, think of it like this! Think of it, please? Say that Midoriya does ask out Uraraka, and she says yes, and they start dating. You think that'd be good for you, right?"

"I … guess it would?"

"You guess incorrectly!" Nejire indignantly pointed in her face, as though Itsuka were some kind of game show contestant that just embarrassed herself in front of a live studio audience, and Itsuka half-heartedly pushed her hand out of her face so her fingernail didn't dig into her cheek. "It wouldn't be good for you! Not at all! In fact, it would be awful!"

"Okay …" Itsuka raised a skeptical eyebrow while looking back up at her, "… but why, though? I mean - Izuku and Ochako going out is what I want."

"While you still have feelings for him?" She likewise raised an eyebrow. "And maybe have feelings for her? Tell me, Kendou, would those feelings that you have for them magically go away once they start going out? Would they?"

That, at least, caused Itsuka to pause.

"Yeah, see?!" She gestured to Itsuka as though she had just made her point, smiling a bit smugly as she rested her other hand on her chest. "Midoriya and Uraraka dating isn't going to suddenly stop you from having feelings for maybe both of them! It'll probably only make you feel more lonely, and this time, you wouldn't have either of them to lean on! Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if it was just Midoriya you missed out on - although that would suck super bad, because he's such a cool guy -"

She pouted a bit at the thought of not being able to romantically pursue Izuku, feeling her heart hurt a bit, before waving its silliness away, knowing at least it was never going to happen with her.

"- but you have some kind of feelings for Uraraka, don't you? You kissed her twice, after all! You regretted it, though, but I don't think it's because you dislike her!"

"I … no, I don't." Itsuka said in a small voice, her face becoming redder again as she buried her face in her arms again, slumping over on the table.

"Yeah! So that might mean that - you know, you have feelings for her!" Nejire gave her a soft look. "I mean, that's kind of obvious, but you know! And she might have feelings for you, too, since you said she was the one who kissed you the second time! See? See? It's not as simple as you taking a step back and letting your best friends date! It'll just hurt you, and I don't want that. I'd rather you take a risk and be open with your feelings than bottle them up and let them hurt you."

"But …" She tried to come up with a defense from that very good point. "… Izuku doesn't …"

"Kendou," Nejire hopped down from the table and gave her a serious look - a look that, coming from her, was pretty surprising - and knelt down before flopping slightly on top of Itsuka, wrapping her arms around her and giving her a little hug, "I will bet you a million yen that Midoriya one hundred percent has feelings for you. And even if he doesn't, that doesn't mean that you shouldn't tell him anyway! Didn't telling me you had feelings for both of them make you feel better?"

"I …" Itsuka hesitated for another moment, and then sighed as she started sitting up, causing Nejire to somewhat lessen her grip, although Itsuka still leaned against Nejire and let her rewrap her arms around her, "… it did."

"See?!" She giggled, nuzzling her head into Itsuka's. "And even if it doesn't work out when you tell him, it'll be okay. You'll still be friends - and I'll just beat him up for you! Don't worry, Kendou, no one's gonna be mean to you while I'm in your corner!"

Itsuka let out a small snort at that, unable to stop herself from smiling.

It was … pretty true, she winced - she was feeling rather intimidated at the thought of Izuku and Ochako heading towards her right now, what Izuku could possibly want kind of scaring her. But … but it was hard to stay unfocused and frightened when Nejire was there beside her, giving her an adorable look while cuddling into her, something that she didn't think had happened between the two girls yet but still liking it.

And … yeah, she felt just a little bit better, knowing that there was someone in her corner, even if that someone was only there because of the fact they had feelings for the same guy. Knowing that no matter what, Nejire would support her.

It honestly … it made her feel just a bit bad about how she had acted before, before she had confronted Nejire on her feelings for her best friend. Whenever Nejire had done something to cause Itsuka to enter jealous mode. It honesty … 

… it made her …

"Hey, uh … Nejire?"

Nejire blinked at the sudden use of her first name coming from Itsuka, her smile widening slightly, but she still hummed to let Itsuka know that she was listening, hearing a bit of guilt in the other girl's voice from where she was hugging her and moving her head back to look at her.

"Yeah, Kendou? What's up?"

"I just …" She sighed, "… wanted to say sorry."

"Huh? Sorry? About what?"

"About … you know … earlier, when we first met," Itsuka looked a bit uncomfortable, making Nejire blink a bit in confusion, "I didn't exactly … treat you the nicest, whenever you got close to Izuku. Honestly, I tended to get … I got pretty jealous whenever you got close to him, getting up in his space. But I know that you never meant anything by it, and you're being here for me now, so I guess … well … I'm sorry for being a jerk."

Nejire blinked a bit again, thinking back - and then she felt her eyes widen.

"Wait -" She realized, "- you mean those times where you glared at me - that was you being jealous?"

"Yeah."

"Oh," She said simply, and then she was unable to stop herself from giggling, which made Itsuka pout.

"Hey …"

"Sorry, sorry! Honestly, I didn't even realize you were jealous," She admitted, giggling when Itsuka rolled her eyes, "so I think that's good, right? I always got good vibes coming from you, Kendou - or - uh - Itsuka? Is that okay? Can I call you Itsuka?"

"Yes," She giggled a bit, unable to stop the pout from before from disappearing as she returned Nejire's hug, "that's fine, Nejire."

"Yay!" She laughed, nuzzling against Itsuka a bit more. "But back to what I was saying, it's okay. People can get jealous, it's not something they can just control! So I think the fact you were always nice to me even if you were a bit jealous is - well - I like it. You're a good friend, Itsuka!"

"I, uh …" Itsuka paused, and then was unable to stop a bashful smile from crossing her face as she glanced away, her face turning a bit red again, "… thanks, Nejire. Seriously, I - thank you."


Okay … okay. This was it.

Opening the door to the bottom floor, Izuku let out a shaky breath as he stepped out of the stairwell, feeling his heart beating quickly in his chest as he began walking, and keeping one eye on his phone. From what Itsuka had texted, she and Nejire were in a waiting room on the other side of the stadium, which wouldn't be … too hard to get to, it would just be a bit of a walk.

Which, of course, was supposed to be good for Izuku, so that on the way to the room, he could figure out what he was going to say.

… which … was a problem. He had no idea … what he was actually supposed to say when he saw his two training partners.

Izuku let out a small sigh as he put his phone back into his pocket, looking up at the end of the hall with a grimace. Now that he was heading there, even if he was walking forward with determination, he had no idea what he was going to say in order to solve the awkwardness that was plaguing their friendship. So … well, obviosuly, he needed to think of something, and freaking quickly too. He would have to … 

…what, tell them both that he had been feeling weird … feelings for the both of them, and he was still trying to figure out what those feelings were? And the closest he had gotten to somewhat understanding what those feelings were was throwing the word 'love' in there somewhere, and he'd gotten the idea of that from his mom?

… no. No freaking way. Izuku felt like he would die from humiliation if he ever admitted that.

But on the other hand, he couldn't be vague about it either, because then Ochako and Itsuka would want to know what was going on. And he wasn't sure if he could cover all these weird thoughts in about ten minutes before Itsuka had to go and do her match. And she didn't need … well, she didn't need any horrible truth bombs from Izuku to impede her today.

Izuku groaned a bit as his shoulders sank - the closer and closer he got to the meeting spot, the more and more he thought that this was going to be a very bad idea, and at the absolute worst time he could try to bring it up. But it wasn't like he could stop himself, continuing to walk towards the meeting spot - he had asked to see them, so he needed to be there. He just knew that the moment he saw his two best friends, what little confidence he had gained upstairs would evaporate instantly and he'd try to hide underneath the table.

But … but he needed his girls back, Izuku felt his eyes narrow in determination, a bit of bravery from before returning. He needed to talk to them both, make sure this weird awkwardness between them ended so they could go back to normal.

But how was he going to do that? What was he supposed to -

"Yo! Mido-bro! Heads up!"

Blinking at the sound of a voice coming from the hallway he was just passing by, Izuku paused and quickly looked around - and then let out a yelp as he quickly moved out of the way of two robots zipping right by him, carrying a somewhat dazed and clearly beat up Mineta on the stretcher between them. The small student was staring up at the ceiling in confusion and pain, his face puffy from all the bruises and cuts lining there as he held his stomach.

"Why …?" He rasped out as he passed Izuku by. "Why was it so terrifying…? I just … I just said she had a nice ass …"

Feeling his brow wrinkle at what the general studies' student could possibly be  muttering about (and feeling like he wouldn't like it if he found out), Izuku still took a step back and let the robots drive Mineta away, presumably down to where Recovery Girl had set up her office. Once they had sped up around the corner and out of sight, he heard footsteps coming up behind him, and he quickly looked around and blinked at the three students slowly walking down from the end of one of the tunnels that would lead outside, where he could hear the sound of the crowd cheering distantly.

"Hey, man," Eijirou gave him a nod, trying to grin despite the obvious pain the redhead was in. Izuku felt himself wince at the familiar sight before him - his gym clothes were ripped and blown apart at various parts, with his shoulder and two pants legs ripped apart and parts of his stomach exposed with burnt clothes at the edges. His skin was obviously singed as well, meaning that he had been - as Izuku presumed - relentlessly bombarded by Katsuki's explosions. He was being supported by Dark Shadow, the sentient quirk looking somewhat peeved, while Fumikage walked a bit behind them and Katsuki stalked down the hallway behind them.

"Oh, man, Kirishima …" Izuku muttered, giving his friend a worried look, but thankfully, Eijirou raised his head and gave him a slightly pained grin.

"It's all good," He chuckled, glancing around at where Katsuki was slowly walking behind them, "looks worse than it is, man. I had a strategy, but Baku-bro, dude … he's too good. Saw right through the plan I made with Mineta and just kept going. Gotta give him props, he was manly out there!"

"Uh … sure," Izuku slowly nodded, glancing back over at Fumikage as the raven-headed boy paused at the curious look Izuku sent his way, "and, er - what happened to Mineta?"

"He seemed … insistant on stating uncloth comments about our female classmates," Fumikage explained shortly, his frown deep and his hands clenched into fists, while Dark Shadow growled lowly, "and when he eventually began speaking about Yanagi in an … uncomfortable manner, I will put it … Dark Shadow decided to … well …"

"I beat that little shitstain up!" Dark Shadow stretched its arm around where it was supporting Eijirou to punch into its open palm, giving Izuku a fierce look. "How dare he talk about Rei-Rei like that?! I taught him a lesson he won't soon be forgetting!" 

"Uh … Rei-Rei?" Izuku repeated, feeling his cheeks go a bit red.

"Dark Shadow, we don't have permission to use Yanagi's first name," Fumikage sighed, as his cheeks went a bit red, "let alone give her an informal nickname. Please, stick to just referring to her by her last name when we see her."

"But, Fumi -!"

"Oh, my fucking god!" Katsuki barked behind them, making the three boys jump and Eijirou wince slightly as he pulled on something. "Just get out of the fucking way already!"

"Very well." Fumikage sighed at his partner, but still did as instructed, starting to walk forward with Eijirou and Dark Shadow down the hallway, but not before he turned to look at Izuku. "Midoriya, I believe that we will next see each other out on the field. While I will be trying my hardest to win, I still wish you luck."

"Oh, uh - the same to you, Tokoyami," Izuku tried to smile at his serious classmate, "I'm gonna give it my all, too."

He was aware of Katsuki snorting in derision at that, but tried to ignore him. Taking a step back, he let Fumikage, Eijirou and Dark Shadow move past him, walking down the hall towards Recovery Girl's office where Eijirou would presumably be healed back to normal, and gave his friend a sympathetic look over his defeat, even if Eijirou seemed to be fine with it and gave him a small salute. 

Once they both (or all three, counting Dark Shadow) moved around the corner and vanished from sight, Izuku let out a sigh as he turned back towards where the waiting room was, his thoughts returning to his -

"Oi. Deku."

Before he could walk away, Izuku felt himself wince at Katsuki's sharp voice behind him, almost forgetting that he had been there - and worse, it was clear that he wanted to talk to him about something. Despite himself, Izuku let out a small breath and glanced down at his phone where Itsuka and Ochako had texted him, and let out another sigh as he glanced over at where Katsuki was glaring at him, standing with his back to Izuku while glaring over his shoulder.

Probably trying to look cool, Izuku felt himself frown.

"Uh … what is it, Kacchan?" Izuku asked, not really in the mood for this, "I'm, uh - I'm kinda busy right now."

"What the fuck was that earlier?" Katsuki snapped at him, gesturing with his head towards the arena as he continued glaring heatedly at him. "Out there, you didn't use your damn quirk at all. What the fuck was that about, nerd?"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, confused by whatever his old friend was talking about, and then he sighed and shook his head - the more time he wasted standing here getting interrogated by Katsuki over nothing, the less time he would have to talk to his training partners.

"I - I don't know," He said, taking another step forward, "I'm not sure. A-anyway, I'm sorry, Kacchan, but I have to go meet with Occhan and -"

"Those two don't need you third wheeling around them any more than you already do, nerd. So shut the fuck up about them and answer my damn question."

Those two magical words that came from Katsuki were enough to make Izuku freeze in his tracks yet again, staring ahead for a moment as he slowly blinked. And, unintentionally, he felt his face fall as he suddenly was reminded of the words his former friend had said to him so many weeks ago.

"You can keep trying to get their attention and make them dote on you, but eventually they're gonna forget about you and tell you to fuck off. Just like everyone else did back in middle school. I'm just surprised it took Round Face this long."

As though he had sensed that he had just hit a sore spot with Izuku, Katsuki turned and marched forward, grabbing Izuku's shoulder as though to stop him from physically walking away, and let his quirk activate subtly, smoke beginning to rise from Izuku's shoulder as he singed it.

"Listen," He growled menacingly as Izuku continued to stare forward, "I don't give a fucking shit about where you need to go and whatever you wanna bug those bitches about. All I know is that you're deliberately holding back, and I'm not gonna fucking stand for that shit. The only reason I'm letting Bird-brain share my glory is because I have to - if I had it my way, I'd toss his ass out of the ring first thing so I could teach both you and Round Face a lesson. If you hold back on me again -"

"Fuck off."

Katsuki's taunts and threats immediately faltered the moment Izuku had said two words that he had never heard before. Feeling his eyes widen for a moment, Katsuki stared blankly at Izuku - and then his face twisted into a snarl, and the subtle smoke coming from Izuku's shoulder turned darker as he began burning him hotter.

"What," He said through gritted teeth, "the fuck did you just -"

He didn't have time to finish that threat, as Izuku suddenly spun around, yanking himself out of Katsuki's grip, and before he could blink, Izuku had grabbed the blonde boy's wrist in turn. And a weird chill ran up Katsuki's spine from the grab, seeing Izuku glaring at him hard, and he squeezed the hand he had on Katsuki's wrist.

"I said," Izuku spoke while enunicating his words, "fuck off, Kacchan. I don't care about anything you have to say right now. I want to go talk to my friends without you trying to - to make me feel bad for doing so. So turn around and leave me alone. Now."

Katsuki's nostrils flared a bit, feeling sweat begin to run down his arm as he clenched the hand Izuku was gripping, both boys glaring at each other - and Katsuki wondering if they had to wait for their match for this fight - before he finally let out a huff, and ripped his arm out of Izuku's grasp. With a glare, Katsuki shoved his way past Izuku, bumping his shoulder roughly into his to unbalance him, and started stomping down the hall.

Izuku turned to watch him with a glare as Katsuki paused before he could go around the corner, and saw the blonde boy shoot him a glare of his own.

"Next round," He growled, "we settle this, once and for all."

With that, he finally disappeared from sight, Izuku hearing his boots stomping away on the floor. After staring for a moment, Izuku let out a small sigh and straightened up, raising a hand to rub the slightly burnt shoulder, while frowning and biting his lip gently. For a moment, he wondered if Katsuki would come back and throw the punch he had been obviously wanting to throw, but after a moment, and seeing no sudden reappearances, he sighed and glanced back down at his phone.

That was … unexpected, and would probably bite him in the ass later, but right now, he needed to get to his girls and make sure he could talk to them. He didn't see any more messages sent to him, so -

"Well, that was intense."

For the second time, at the sound of an unexpected voice coming right from behind him, Izuku let out a yelp as he jumped slightly, yanking him right out of his frustrated thoughts about Katsuki that had slowly started turning back towards his two best friends. Quickly looking around again, Izuku found himself going red as he realized that he was … still very much not alone, with the woman that had come seemingly out of nowhere standing behind him giving him an amused look while she tapped her pen against her notepad.

At once, Izuku knew that she must've been someone that … probably didn't belong down here. She was quite beautiful, Izuku thought as his cheeks went a bit red, and quite striking as well with her pale blue skin and dark pupils, looking alarmingly similar to Mina - except, of course, for the fact that her eyes were a dark green instead of yellow, and no horns were present in her long lilac hair that fell down to her mid-back. She used her free hand to adjust the red jacket with black fur that she was wearing over her dark dress, and continued to smile at him as she tilted her head somewhat.

"Uh …" Izuku found himself hesitating to say anything for a moment, as though he were confused if the woman before him was actually talking to him, even if they were the only ones in the hallway. Luckily for him, she seemed to find his slightly slack-jawed expression amusing, letting out a small giggle as she walked a bit closer towards him.

"Ah, sorry - I didn't mean to sneak up on you, I was just … watching your little interaction with your friend there," She clarified, "very intense, I was thinking. I'm sensing there's a history between you two - and it isn't something good. Is that right?"

"Er … I … guess you could say that," Izuku muttered, not entirely sure why he answered.

"Wait a moment -" She seemed to realize, her dark eyes widening, "- I recognize you. You were just in that match with the inventor girl, weren't you?"

"H-huh? Oh, uh - yeah, I was. Hatsume."

"Yes …" She smiled, straightening up and bringing her notebook to her chest as she stopped just short of him - she was a bit taller than him, meaning that he had to look up at her. "… that match was a tad bit different than what most of the audience is used to seeing, but … well, that's not to say that it wasn't amusing in its own way. I found it funny, at least - I had thought we were all done with the commercials, only for one of your classmates to start her own right in the middle of the festival."

"Oh, uh …" Izuku found himself faltering then, not entirely sure what to say to that as he glanced around awkwardly, "… yeah, that was a … that was definitely … a bit weird."

"Hm," The woman hummed, her dark eyes widening a bit again as her smirk lessened slightly, "I just realized, I completely forgot my manners."

With that, she took a step back and sank into a mid-bow, Izuku blinking at how formal she had suddenly become.

"My name," She smiled as she straightened up, "is Chitose Kizuki. I'm the executive director of Shoowaysha Publishing."

"Uh - Shoowaysha Publishing?" Izuku blinked a bit, the name somewhat familiar to him but not entirely knowing where from. Luckily for him, Chitose seemed to pick up on his confusion, smiling and taking a step forward again.

"We publish several different kinds of novels and magazines," She explained, "all for different kinds of readers, of course. My days of reporting were initially a bit behind me once I took a leadership position in the company, but after hearing about all the fabulous rumors of the infamous Class 1A, I simply had to come and have a look for myself. And … well, as luck would have it, it seems as though you're one of the more fascinating members of your class, according to your friend Kaminari."

"Er - Kaminari?" Izuku found himself feeling more and more confused by the second by this woman, but there was also something else about that made him feel … almost as though he should be on guard, for some reason.

As though he was in the presence of someone who was watching all of his movements, keeping an eye on what he was doing and where he was going, as Chitose raised the notebook again, giving him a strange smile as she tapped her foot on the floor.

"Well, from what he said when I talked to him," She raised a fascinated eyebrow, "you had a run in with the villains calling themselves the 'Villain Consortium', didn't you? And not just any villain, but their leader. Nine, wasn't it?"

At that name, Izuku found himself going still, feeling as though his stomach dropped - but the reporter had all she needed to know when the confused look on his face fell, replaced by a small scowl.

"Ah … not a good history, I assume," She guessed, giggling as she quickly scribbled something down on her notepad, "I was curious, was it just a run in with him? Or did you actually speak to him?"

"Huh? I - uh -" Izuku found himself stammering a bit, blinking as he finally just realized that he had basically run head first into something that he probably shouldn't have as Chitose leaned forward, looking at him interestingly -

"Deku! Run!"

Thankfully, fate would smile on Izuku that day, due to the panicked, terrified and very familiar voice coming at both of them from the side made Izuku blink, and quickly looked around, with Chitose likewise looking confused and looking around as well. Running at both of them extremely quickly, and looking utterly traumatized, was Ochako, her eyes wide and her arms pumping back and forth as she sprinted as fast as she could down the hall.

And coming from around the corner, skidding slightly before continuing to run after his best friend, was … oh, Izuku felt his own eyes widen in terror, that made sense.

"Come on, Uraraka!" Mei giggled gleefully, her own eyes wide and full of manic energy as she lifted what looked like a mechanical backpack mixed with spider legs above her head, running after Ochako with a surprising speed. "You said you were interested in my babies! Try this one on, it's a good jetpack, with several properties and other abilities you may be interested in!"

"Deku, run!" Ochako yelled at him in her panic, apparently forgetting all about their awkwardness in her fear of the support student chasing her down.

Izuku, for his part, acted automatically, spinning around from the reporter without another thought and quickly catching up with Ochako as they both started running away together, not even looking back at Chitose as she looked between the three students in confusion, Mei sprinting by her without even looking back as the two training partners looked around for anywhere that they could hide from the inventor.

Unfortunately for them, however, for someone that wasn't in the hero course, Mei had a surprising amount of stamina, easily running after them and turning her attention to the Gauntlet that was deactivated on Izuku's arm.

"I have babies that can replace the red toilet paper, Midoriya! Come, we have a lot of testing to do!"

"I'm good! I'm really, really good!"

It took a little bit, but once they got a bit ahead of Mei, Izuku and Ochako quickly tried to figure out a place that they could hide as they quickly ran through the halls of the lower floor, panting as they ran together. Once they managed to run a decent amount of distance away from Mei, they found a small waiting room, with a panting and sweating Izuku quickly testing the doorknob and cursing when it seemed locked.

"Crap!" He whispered as Ochako skidded to a halt beside him, panting and holding her hands on her knees, and both of them felt themselves shiver in terror at the sound of Mei's intense giggling coming from around the corner. "What do we do?!"

"Keep running! We gotta -"

But thankfully for the two, they heard the sound of the door before them unlocking, both of them looking up in time to see it slowly open. Poking her head out, Itsuka blinked a bit as she looked down at her two friends, her cheeks going slightly red, although her small fluster was quickly replaced by confusion at how tired and terrified they both looked.

"Uh … guys?" She asked uncertainly. "What's -"

"Inside!" Izuku and Ochako squeaked at the same time, not even considering why Itsuka looked slightly uncomfortable in their presence, and quickly moved to push Itsuka back so that they could get inside, the class representative letting out a squeak and her face turning red quickly as Izuku's hands went to her waist to push her back, and together, they shoved their way inside, almost tripping over themselves in their haste.

As soon as they were inside the waiting room, Izuku quickly shut the door behind them, twisting the lock shut in order to keep Mei out, and both he and Ochako leaned heavily against the door, trying to quiet their panting breaths as they listened for Mei, praying that they actually lost her and they hadn't just pinned themselves in a room that she would trap them in and force them to become her guinea pigs. Fortunately for them, they heard the sound of footsteps running past their door after a moment, the sound of Mei's muffled giggling fading away, and both of them let out tired, relieved sighs as they both collapsed.

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit nervously at her two training partners as they tried to regain their breath, Izuku holding one hand over his eyes and Ochako flopping on the floor to stare up at the ceiling, while Itsuka's hands nervously patted at where Izuku had gripped her waist.

"Sorry," Ochako managed to get out, "one … one sec. She's been … chasing me … ever since I … asked her about the - the boots."

"H-huh …" Izuku panted, not paying much attention to anything else as he leaned against the door, coughing a bit.

Itsuka gave them both a concerned look before turning to glance back over at where Nejire was standing at the desk, who was likewise giving the arriving students a confused look. Thankfully, she seemed to pull herself together much faster than Itsuka could, clapping her hands together and hurrying over to where the water dispenser in the corner was, quickly grabbing two cups and filling them up. Walking over to the two on the floor, she handed them both to Izuku and Ochako, who took them gratefully and greedily drank, letting out satisfied noises as they both managed to crawl up onto their knees, and Itsuka and Nejire took a step back.

Slowly, the two of them got back up, still panting slightly, and glanced up at the two girls that they had come to meet. Now that she wasn't running for her life and remembered why she was supposed to be here, Ochako glanced over at Itsuka for a moment, their eyes meeting, and it seemed to remind her of the last time they had met in a room like this - remembering their argument - and Ochako quickly averted her gaze as Itsuka likewise glanced away.

Izuku, meanwhile, glanced between both girls, his heart still hammering in his chest from all the running but managing to quiet his pants down so he wasn't the loudest sounding person in the room.

The room was quiet for a moment - and then Nejire, glancing between the three of them, cleared her throat.

"Uh … hi, guys!" She waved happily to Izuku and Ochako. "How are you both feeling? How was your match? Did it go well? We wanted to watch it, but we kinda got caught up with talking about - oh, wait!" She suddenly blinked again. "I almost forgot that you two were coming down to talk to Kendou! Well, come in! Do you guys want more water?"

"I'm … good," Ochako managed to get out in a quiet mutter, hesitantly taking a step forward into the room, and slowly, she walked over towards where the table was, taking a small breath before sitting down. Itsuka, meanwhile, also walked forward and moved to sit down on the opposite side of the table from her.

It was clear that, from the way they were both positioned, they were both being reminded of their argument, so all they could do was avoid eye contact as Nejire quickly hopped over into the corner, happily humming as she rocked back and forth on her toes. Gulping a bit nervously, Izuku likewise made his way over towards the table, noting the way that the two girls' hands were clenched slightly and making him frown, before shaking his head and moving to put his hands down on the surface of the table, not having a seat to sit down on.

The room continued to be quiet for a moment -

- and then Nejire said, simply, "This is awkward."

All three of them blinked slightly at the interruption, before quickly looking around at where Nejire was standing. The blue-haired girl shrugged a bit, her cheeks turning pink from her stating the obvious, before she suddenly straightened up and smiled at the three of them.

"So, uh - this seems to be a thing between you three!" She pointed out. "It'd be kind of awkward if I was just standing in the corner the whole time, so I'm gonna go and stand out in the hall."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked a bit, before feeling slightly guilty. "Oh, uh - n-no, Hadou, you don't need to -"

"Yeah, I do," She smiled softly, flashing him a thumbs up. "It's cool, Midoriya. I wanna listen, I really, really do, but I know that it'd be kind of awkward if I stood here listening to something you guys didn't want me to hear. So I'll just go stand outside in the hall and keep guard! And try not to eavesdrop. Which … kinda sounds like a hollow promise since I already did that today, but - ah, well, I'll give it a try! You three take your time, I'll just be outside!"

With that, she quickly stepped through the open door, sending them a wink, and then closed it behind her, leaving the room that the three of them were pretty much sealed in filled with silence. Izuku stared after where his other friend had gone briefly in confusion, feeling his cheeks flush at the knowing wink she had sent them, but the sound of Itsuka shuffling on the chair behind him made him remember why he was there - or rather, why he had called the meeting in the first place.

Gulping, Izuku quickly looked over his shoulder at the two girls, seeing them sitting there in silence and not looking at each other - or him - at all. Feeling himself shiver slightly, Izuku put his hands back down on the table, leaning against it and feeling himself go a bit red. The fluster of being confronted by that weird woman and getting chased around by Mei had caused him to lose the mini-script that he had been trying to come up with in his head, and now he could feel the nerves and anxiety from earlier return, especially as he glanced between both of their awkward yet oddly saddened faces.

But … but he couldn't lose his courage now. Not when he was so close to getting them back to normal.

"So, uh …" He said quietly, clearing his throat, "… hey, guys."

There was a pause as Izuku cringed at how awkward that sounded.

"Uh …" Itsuka said in a quiet voice, "… hey."

"Hey," Ochako slowly nodded.

"Er … right," Izuku felt himself sweat a bit, "uh … w-well, thanks - thanks for coming here so quickly, Occhan, and - and responding so … quickly … too."

"…"

"…"

Oh, god, he was losing it, Izuku internally groaned. He just - he needed to get what he was thinking out, and quickly. Just … with grace. And not sounding stupid.

"Uh - a-anyway, I just … there was something that I -" He swallowed quickly, "- that I wanted to say to you both, and … uh …"

He found himself pausing yet again, trying to grasp on something for him to start this conversation with - something smart, something that would cut to the heart of their problems and help them find a solution to all of this awkwardness - but then, as both girls continued to look anywhere but him, he found himself suddenly thinking back to a few minutes ago.

"Those two don't need you third wheeling around them any more than you already do."

Staring down at the two girls for a moment, Izuku found himself faltering - and then his mouth moved before he had a chance to think through what he wanted to say.

"… is … everything okay with us?"

Both Itsuka and Ochako were quiet for a moment, staring down at the table as Izuku cringed inwardly, not intending to have said that at all. And then what he said apparently registered to them both, causing both girls to blink.

At the same time, their awkwardness was completely forgotten, and they both quickly looked back around at Izuku as he leaned forward, putting both his hands on the table and staring down at it in defeat.

"Huh?" They both squeaked at the same time.

"I just … wanna know if … if everything's okay," Izuku repeated, lifting his head up and glancing unsurely between both girls as they stared at him with their jaws hanging slightly at him pretty much cutting straight to the problem, "because I … well …"

He paused again.

"… look," He sighed, "I … I don't know if I - I did something wrong. But I - I feel like I have, and … and I wanna make it right. I've got a - a thousand thoughts rolling around in my head right now, but I know that something must've happened today that - that's made everything this awkward between all three of us. I just … I don't know what exactly I did, honestly, but - but if I did something to you both, I'm sorry. I just - I don't know why -"

"W-wait, hold - hold on," Itsuka suddenly interrupted him, making Izuku blink a bit as he glanced up at the utterly astonished look on her face, realizing that he had been rambling a bit, "you - you think you did something wrong?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment again, a brief look of confusion crossing his face - and then it settled back down into guilt, and he nodded.

"… yeah," He muttered, "I … I know that I must've - I must've done something wrong. I just - I know that I made you both uncomfortable for some reason, and it's scummy that I can't even figure out why, and - but - but I wanna make it up to you both. So things can - can go back to normal."

For a moment, the trio were quiet, with Izuku staring down at the table for a moment, before he finally turned his gaze back up to them to gauge their reactions. He knew that his face was currently red, feeling himself shrink a bit as they both stared at him in surprise, and simply waited for their reactions to his apology, while hoping that they weren't angry at him for his lack of knowledge for why he made them upset.

And then, slowly, the two girls turned to look at each other.

Izuku found himself blinking as he glanced between both girls, seeing their faces looking … strangely conflicted, staring at each other for a long moment, in which Itsuka's face fell slightly, and Ochako's lips thinned. And then, slowly, they both turned to look back at Izuku at the same time, and he found his eyes widening when they both looked at him with guilt on their faces.

"… no," Itsuka slowly shook her head, looking up at Izuku with clear guilt as she unclenched her hand from the fist she had balled it in, "no, Izuku, it's … you didn't do anything wrong. Seriously."

"I -" Izuku faltered briefly, and then shook his head, "- no, I - I must've -"

"Deku, she's right."

Both of them looked around at Ochako as she finally spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, Izuku's protests dying in his throat. Ochako continued to stare down at the table for a moment, biting her lip gently as she stared down at her hands - and then, finally, she turned to look up at Izuku, showing him the guilt in her own eyes as she let out a small, shuddering breath.

"You … you didn't do anything wrong, Deku," She mumbled, tears beginning to well in her eyes, "and I'm being serious about that. It's just … me doing stuff that's … making me … god, I don't even know."

"I - then -" Izuku found himself stuttering again, taken aback by the tears in his best friend's eyes (and fighting down the impulse to try wiping them away) and then shook his head, "… then what's going on, guys? I - I know that things have been awkward all day, I just - I wanna make sure that everything's okay, and we can - we can go back to normal."

The room was quiet again, with both girls watching as Izuku let out a small sigh and moved to crouch down on the table so that they were all at relative face level. There was such a look of guilt on Izuku's face, he didn't know that both girls felt shame begin to crawl through them as he turned to look at the table.

"I … I know that things have been … really awkward, Occhan," He said to her, not looking up at either girl at all, "since we … ever since we hugged in the forest, and - and then what happened when we crashed into the pond."

Ochako stiffened up slightly, her cheeks turning pinker at the mention of those two events, while Itsuka blinked and glanced between them.

"And then … then when I hugged Kendou during our lunch break," He continued on, unaware of the situation reversing with Ochako glancing over at Itsuka as she in turn suddenly looked very interested in the table, "I just … I … I've been having these weird … feelings in my gut all day, and - and when I talked to my mom about it a few minutes ago, she - she asked me -"

That, right about then, was when Izuku suddenly realized what he was blurting out, and let out a small squeak as he quickly shut himself up. Alas, it was a bit too late to take it back, seeing as Ochako and Itsuka had looked over at him in curiosity as he froze.

"- she … asked me … uh …"

"What?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow slightly, making it clear to all three of them that they were aware Izuku was holding back on something, and it wasn't going to be something they could just let go of. "Izuku, what's going on?"

Izuku couldn't help but feel like he had just gotten cornered, glancing between both his best friends for a moment as he realized that he had not only just laid out a trap for himself, he had eagerly stepped into it. And it was far too late to get himself out of it now, seeing as Ochako was looking at Izuku with a clearly unsure face, her fingers tapping slightly on the table, and Itsuka was giving him a concerned look.

After a few moments of being quiet, Izuku turned back down to look at the table, feeling himself bite his lip as his face turned red.

"… my mom … she asked me if … if I knew how I - how I felt about you two."

Itsuka and Ochako both blinked slightly, staring at Izuku in shock as he continued to stare down at the table. He could feel terror coursing through him at the moment, obviously scared of what they were going to say to him once he was finished speaking - but at that point, whatever hesitance he was feeling died. All he knew was that … now that he was talking about it …

… he didn't want to stop. He just … wanted to get everything off his chest right now.

So he took a deep breath, clenched his fist, and tried to summon his courage.

"Back a … a couple of weeks ago, when we visited the USJ for the second time …" He swallowed a bit loudly, settling on finishing this specific worry of his now, "… when I was sitting next to Kacchan on the bus, he - he told me that I was a - a third wheel to you both. He pointed out that - that you two had gotten really close, and - and at least, to him, it seemed like I was - I was trying to keep your attention on me and not each other. And eventually - you'd both forget about me and move on with each other."

The two girls continued to stare at Izuku in shock - and unknown to him, Itsuka looking like she was five seconds from getting up to go wring Katsuki's neck - but before they could say anything to counter that, Izuku kept going.

"At the time, I - I tried to just ignore him," He shook his head, "trying to think that it was just me being paranoid, or Kacchan was just trying to get in my head. But … but after you found Eri, Kendou, I - I started thinking about it a bit more. And … there was a part of me that just kind of … even if I thought Kacchan was being full of crap, I just realized that … there was a part of me that was upset by that thought. I mean - of course I would, but - but there was a part of me that was afraid of it being true."

"I - Deku," Ochako shook her head, feeling tears continuing to build in her eyes, "that - of course that wouldn't happen. Of course not!"

"I know that," He slowly nodded, "but … but I also remember when - when we did go to the USJ the second time, and …"

He began to feel his own eyes start to sting.

"… and you two checked up on each other," He muttered, "and didn't do anything about me. You two held hands, but you didn't bother to check if I was alright."

Both Ochako and Itsuka sucked in sharp breaths at that, feeling their hearts clench.

"And - and I know that's immature of me to think that way," He shook his head, "and stupid. I was doing okay anyway, you two didn't need to check up on me. But I think just then, I didn't realize that … that I did feel like a third wheel. I tried as hard as I could to try ignoring it, pushing it to the side, but … but there was a part of me that felt like Kacchan had a point."

"Deku -" Ochako tried to interrupt him again, but Izuku shook his head.

"But then …" He swallowed again, "… today happened. And now, I - I have no idea what's going on with the three of us."

Both girls quickly snapped their mouths closed, paying more attention to Izuku than they ever had before. Izuku had no way of knowing how hard their hearts were beating at the moment, and hanging on his every word as he continued to stare down at the table.

"I have … no idea what's going on with me," He said in a low voice, "and why I've been so - so weird and awkward around the both of you. I don't know why I can't hug and hang out with you anymore, Occhan, without it - it feeling weird. I don't know why I'm so skittish and stupid around you, Kendou. I  - I talked to my mom about it, and she said that she - she thought I already knew why, but I just need time to figure it out. And she told me … she told me when I did … I would have to make a choice. A choice," He frowned, "that might hurt one of you."

"H-huh?" Itsuka blinked a bit.

"And … and I realized …" He took a deep breath, and at last, turned to look up at the both of them. They both faltered and felt their cheeks heat up slightly at the look of determination on his face, glancing between the both of them.

"… I don't want to hurt either of you," He made clear, "not at all. I don't wanna be a third wheel, but I don't wanna choose to hurt one of you. I don't know what's going on, but - but I'm gonna figure it out, and … and I'll go from there. My mom, she … she told me that she doesn't think we can go back to how we were before, but it - it doesn't have to be a bad thing. And I don't know what she meant by that, but I wanna figure it out."

He found himself shaking a bit, glancing back down at the table.

"I don't know what's going on between us, but I - I don't wanna hurt either of you, and I'm not going to. I'm not going to lose you both because I'm - I'm feeling weird. It doesn't matter what Kacchan tried to tell me, or how weird I'm feeling around you both - you're my girls, and I'm not gonna let this keep going. So I just - I wanna ask that - that for now, we can try to - to ignore the weird feelings, and - and try to be normal. At - at least for now. At least until the sports festival is over, and we can -"

"Your girls?"

Izuku's speech, his bravery, his attempts to get everything back to normal - all of that grinded to a halt as he suddenly heard Ochako's squeak. Feeling his brow wrinkle, he finally glanced back up at both of the girls -

- and it was only when he saw how red their faces had gotten, with Itsuka's jaw hanging right open and Ochako looking two seconds from freaking out, did it suddenly register what he had said, and what he had accidentally slipped in there, his own eyes widening and his face suddenly filling with red.

He just … said that out loud. He just called them 'his girls' out loud. In front of their faces.

And he started freaking out.

"I - I mean -! I - I didn't mean to - you know -!" He blabbered briefly, arms beginning to flail around in his panic. Alas, it was a bit too late to calm down Ochako, as her hands slammed against her face and she immediately began floating up to the ceiling, while Itsuka continued to stare at Izuku in a mix of shock and embarrassment as she continuously tried to close her mouth, only for it to fall open again after a few seconds. Trying to ignore his fluster, Izuku quickly stood up to grab Ochako's foot before she could float up high enough they wouldn't be able to get her, despite how awkward and humiliated he felt grabbing onto his best friend's foot and tried to bring her back down as she curled over herself, holding her hands to her face.

And then, before he or Ochako could say anything, Itsuka suddenly snorted.

Blinking, both Izuku and Ochako looked around, Ochako lowering her hands while looking confused, to see Itsuka suddenly holding her hand over her mouth as she gave over to a giggle fit, leaning forward with her shoulders shaking, and the sound of her muffled laughter sounded throughout the room. Izuku and Ochako stared for a moment in shock - and then Ochako let out her own sputter, and Izuku unintentionally let out a small 'pfft' before they both began laughing as well, taken completely out of the emotional moment a few seconds ago, and together, the three of them started intensely laughing together.

It took them about a minute to calm down, with a shaking Izuku getting the giggling Ochako back down to her seat so she could deactivate her quirk, and once they did, they all let out small sighs as they leaned forward in their seats, glancing amongst each other. But to Izuku, it was his immense relief that all three of them could glance among each other, and … and he didn't feel weird.

He didn't feel awkward, like he had to look away. Looking between Ochako and Itsuka, seeing them try to calm their giggling while smiling goofily … it made his heart skip happily in his chest, feeling more relaxed and free than he had all day, despite what had just … called them.

"Uh … listen," He tried to say, feeling his face burning, "a-about - about what I said -"

"Izuku," Itsuka shook her head, managing to calm herself down enough as she flipped her ponytail behind her shoulder and smiled at him, "it's fine. I'm … I mean, pretty sure that between Ochako and me, we've called you … you know … 'our boy' a few times."

Izuku found himself faltering at that, staring at Itsuka's embarrassed smile and Ochako nodding slowly, before he quickly looked away, his face going red.

"Uh … yeah," Ochako mumbled, twirling her fingers together while smiling bashfully, "it's all good, Deku. You're … our boy, I guess."

"I … guess," Izuku mumbled, feeling his stomach was shriveling up even as his heart skipped a beat, "and … I guess … you're my girls."

The three of them had to look away from each other at that point, looking around at different parts of the room as they tried to calm down just how flustered they had become in the space of a minute. As Ochako slowly waved her hands in front of her face to cool off how hot it felt, Izuku stole another glance between them as Itsuka cleared her throat and rubbed her cheek - and then the formerly orange-haired girl let out a small sigh, looking around at Izuku as her smile faded.

"Uh … listen, Izuku …" She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, "… do you … really consider yourself a third wheel?"

Izuku paused a bit, staring between both girls as they calmed down from their bashfulness, and Itsuka gave him a slightly more serious look, while Ochako managed to calm down her embarrassment to give him a serious, concerned look. And he let out a small sigh, raising his hand to scratch his cheekbone awkwardly.

"I … no," He shook his head, "I - I know that deep down, Kacchan is … well, he's being full of crap -"

"No surprise there," Ochako grumbled under her breath, while Itsuka nodded with a frown.

"- but it just … it stuck to me, that's all," He bit the inside of his cheek, "made me feel insecure. I - I know that you two don't really - I mean, I shouldn't be upset that you two are close -"

"No, you shouldn't be," Itsuka shook her head, frowning sadly, "but … I mean, I understand if you were feeling that we were - I - sorry," She shook her head, "I'm all over the place today. But back at the USJ, we … we should've checked up on you. Even if you were doing okay. I'm sorry, Izuku."

"Me too," Ochako likewise looked ashamed of herself, "it was uncomfortable for us, and - and we thought you were handling it a lot better since you were the first one inside the USJ, but we still should've asked you if you were okay."

"It's fine," Izuku smiled at them both, "I … knew that you two didn't mean anything by it. It was just … Kacchan getting to me."

"Yeah, but …" Ochako gave him a concerned look, glancing down at his hand after a moment - and then, after taking a deep breath and trying to make sure her face wasn't that red, reached out to put her own hand over his. Izuku blinked a bit and went red as she held it, although he didn't slide it away.

"… Deku," She quietly said, "you're not a third wheel. Don't listen to that asshole, okay? You're my best friend, and - and I'd never do that to you. I promise."

"I … I know," He smiled gently at her, "it was just … with you both distancing yourselves from me, and those stupid feelings, I … and I mean, Kacchan also put it in my head when I saw him a few minutes ago, but - but that's not an excuse. I should know better than that - you both are way better than that. I just … after all the awkwardness between us today, I just … wasn't thinking clearly."

A silence - this time, not an uncomfortable one - fell upon the room again as the three training partners sat there, glancing between each other for a few moments. Izuku, even if he felt slightly more relaxed after their little giggle fit, noticed the way Itsuka and Ochako were still glancing at each other - slightly timid, kind of awkward, but … definitely looking at each other this time, not unlike before when they could barely look at each other.

So … there was something going on there, Izuku realized as he glanced between his two friends. However, before he could open his mouth to ask if there was something wrong, Itsuka took a deep breath.

"Okay," She muttered to herself, having apparently been thinking things over privately, "okay. Both of you, please stand up."

That small request made both Izuku and Ochako blink, looking between each other for a moment before turning their gazes back to Itsuka as she slowly got to her feet, letting out a small grunt as she stretched her arms above her head. Her face was still a bit red, and there was nervousness there as well, but she still gestured at the two of them to get up along with her. Not entirely sure what was going on, but not wanting to make her repeat herself, Izuku let out his own grunt as he got up, and Ochako likewise started getting out of her seat, their hands sliding away from each other (to both their disappointment and confusion).

Once they were both standing, Itsuka nodded.

"Thank you," She smiled weakly at them both, "now, uh … come here, please?"

Still looking rather unsure, Izuku and Ochako nonetheless did as she requested and moved around the table, standing a bit awkwardly beside each other and sharing another glance again as Itsuka took a deep breath.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, and then, after a moment of hesitation, reached out with both hands. Both of them blinked as she gently rested both her hands on their shoulders - Ochako's right shoulder and Izuku's left - and brought them a bit closer together. Gulping nervously, Ochako tried not to look too embarrassed and Izuku tried not to look so awkward as their free shoulders gently brushed together.

Once they were both standing close enough, Itsuka stopped guiding them, standing there for a moment and taking a deep breath - and then, before either of them could think to ask what was going on, she suddenly moved in, wrapping her arms around the both of them, and bringing them all in for a group hug.

The moment her chin rested on Izuku's shoulder and her arm wrapped around Ochako's neck, the two childhood friends stiffened up, eyes blowing open and their faces immediately going from a moderate fifty to a hundred in the blushing department. Still though, Itsuka didn't move back at all, instead squeezing her arms around the both of them to prevent any escape as she embraced them both tightly. It wasn't, of course, like Itsuka wasn't obviously embarrassed as well - one glance at the side of her head from Izuku showed her own face burning - but she still didn't move back as she continued holding them.

"Sorry," She mumbled, "today's been … kinda shitty. Needed a pick-me-up."

"Uh …" Izuku went a bit redder, "… a - a hug is a pick-me-up?"

"Mm-hm."

"Er …" Ochako likewise looked confused by what Itsuka meant, but still (albeit hesitantly) began reciprocating the hug, even as awkward as she felt, by wrapping her arm around Itsuka's waist. After another moment, Izuku felt Ochako's other arm move around his back, and he went a bit redder.

"Uh … guys?"

"Izuku," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, "I'm … I'm not gonna lie to you two, I'm … I'm tired. Like - physically, mentally, emotionally, you know it. I don't … I'm sorry, but I don't think I have the mental capacity to deal with all this today. As - as much as I hate to ask this, could we maybe … maybe have this conversation another time? Talk about all this … weird stuff … later?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment - still obviously confused and a bit terrified of being in Itsuka's grasp, with the weird feeling he'd been having earlier pretty much magnified within him at both girls hugging him - but he managed to power through the embarrassment to let out a small sigh.

"… if … if I'm being honest, I don't know if I can," He mumbled, awkwardly raising one arm to hug Itsuka back, and the other arm to hug around Ochako to reciprocate her own awkward embrace, "I … I kinda feel like getting this out of the way."

The three training partners were quiet for a moment - and then Ochako let out her own sigh.

"… then tomorrow."

Both Izuku and Itsuka blinked a bit, looking back around at Ochako as she continued to awkwardly look down at her feet.

"Tomorrow," She offered, "we … we have this conversation sometime tomorrow. We just …" She hesitated again, and then shook her head, "… we just put it off for now, and then tomorrow, we'll - we'll meet up, and - and put everything on the table."

"Tomorrow?" Izuku wrinkled his brow. "Are - are you sure?"

"I … I like tomorrow," Itsuka agreed with Ochako, still backing up to look at Izuku with a serious look, "i-it's not like I'm trying to put you off, Izuku, I - I want to have this conversation, too. Just - just to get it out of the way. But I'm honestly way too exhausted to go through another emotional talk today, and … and we don't need this hanging over us for the next few rounds, do we?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… oh," Izuku said simply, going red, "right. I … kinda forgot we had to do that."

Both Ochako and Itsuka rolled their eyes, although indulgent smiles appeared on their faces.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, "and - and honestly, I also wanna know what I'm gonna say, and if we are going to have this conversation … I wanna make sure I say everything I need to. So … so tomorrow, we can meet up, and we'll talk."

The three friends slowly nodded between themselves, and Itsuka put her head back down on Izuku's shoulder to continue the hug - and then Izuku breathed out.

"I … I missed you guys," He found himself admitting in a low, embarrassed voice, something that made both girls go red at the honesty in his voice but finding himself unable to stop speaking, "I - I know that I've seen you both all day, but - but after all this dumb stuff, I - I just missed hanging out with you guys."

"Me too," Ochako mumbled, slowly nuzzling against Itsuka's shoulder even if both girls went a bit pink at the action, "I - I missed you both."

"… are you both kidding?" Itsuka snorted, digging her chin down slightly on Izuku's shoulder while giggling. "Like I told Izuku earlier, you two at least got to team up during the last few rounds. I've been dealing with assholes for the entire sports festival - I think I've missed you both more than you both missed me combined."

"We … won't fight you on that," Izuku chuckled.

"Still," Itsuka sighed, taking another step back while still keeping her arms wrapped around her friends, looking at both of them, "I … know that this conversation is - it's gonna be important. But … how about, for the rest of the day, we just … pretend that nothing weird is going on. Everything's normal. Tomorrow, we - as scary as it'll be, we'll talk about everything. Right now, though, we're just … normal."

"Everything, huh …" Ochako was unable to stop herself from glancing unsurely at Itsuka, wondering just how much they would cover, but Itsuka gave nothing away, turning to look at her and giving her an uncertain look. Izuku, of course, noticed the small shift between them, feeling himself frown slightly - before he shook his head and nodded, trying to smile.

"Okay," He slowly nodded, patting both girls with his hands (even if the action left him feeling like all the blood in his body was currently filling his head) to get their attention back on him, "that - that sounds good."

Ochako slowly nodded, taking another moment to glance back at Itsuka - and then she let out a shuddering sigh, trying her best to smile. Itsuka, for her part, gently smiled back at Ochako for a moment, her eyes clearly trying to communicate something to her friend, and Ochako seemed to have gotten it, closing her eyes and looking down for a moment.

There was another quiet moment before Izuku cleared his throat slightly, his face remaining red.

"I, uh … I didn't mention it this morning," He glanced away as Itsuka glanced around at him, "but, uh … your hair looks - it look n-nice, Kendou."

That, of course, caused Itsuka to go a bit stiff, blinking at him as Izuku stole a small glance at her and then immediately glanced back away. To the side, Ochako also let out a small noise, causing Itsuka to glance over at her and see Ochako's own cheeks turning pink again.

"I … uh … yeah," She nodded a bit stiffly, acting without thinking to reach out and pat Itsuka's ponytail, "it's a - a good look. T-though I - I do like your hair as it normally is a bit better."

"S-same," Izuku nervously agreed, "orange hair is - it's - yeah."

Itsuka glanced between both of them again for another moment, feeling her cheeks start to warm - and then she let out a small giggle and brought the two back to her for another hug, both of them squeaking in shock again.

"God," She shook her head between them, "I missed you two dorks so much."

Both Izuku and Ochako chuckled a bit nervously, especially as Itsuka continued to cling to them, and Izuku found his mouth opening to say something else, anything else, now that he was relieved that they were all talking again -

- but he was interrupted suddenly by what felt like an earthquake.

Quickly, the three friends jumped apart in alarm, eyes quickly moving to the ceiling in their shock as the room began to shake. The rumbling continued for a few seconds, the water jug in the corner rattling ominously and the chairs falling over as the vibration shook what appeared to be the entire stadium, until finally, the rumbling came to a slow stop, and they were left back in relative calm.

"Uh …" Ochako glanced around at them in confusion, "… what was that?"

Before Izuku and Itsuka could answer her, they heard footsteps outside the door, and they all turned to see Nejire poking her head back in, her eyes widened.

"Uh … did anyone else feel that?" She asked in a slightly weak voice. "I'm gonna be honest, I think I'm going crazy out here - first I think there's someone watching me, and then earthquakes suddenly start? Am I nuts? I don't think I am, but it's kinda weird if I hear footsteps but don't see anyone, right?"

"I don't …" Itsuka began to tell her that she wasn't going crazy, her eyebrows scrunching slightly - and then a sudden thought came to her, making her stop and blink.

Her eyes slowly turning to the turned off television screen on the wall, she suddenly had a suspicious thought come to her. Grabbing the remote from the table and pointing it at the screen, she turned the television on, flipping to a random channel that would be playing the sports festival -

- and then all four of them felt their eyes widen in shock at what looked to be an aerial shot of the very stadium they were in, with a giant iceberg shooting out of the side of it, its base forming from the middle of the arena.

"Whoa …" Izuku felt his jaw drop slightly in awe, staring at the scene on the screen as the camera pushed in on the ring in the middle of the field. They could make out where Shouto was slowly approaching the iceberg, while Momo appeared to have fallen onto her butt beside him from the massive display of power he had shown, while staring at him in shock. Within the iceberg, they saw what looked to be Shinsou, completely trapped inside with the exception of an arm and the side of his face, while Yuuyu had been caught on the side, her lower body and a part of her arm trapped inside the ice while she stared in frozen horror at her classmate as he approached the iceberg.

"Oh …" Nejire said simply, her eyes becoming sympathetic as she stared at her best friend on the screen, "… oh, poor Yuuyu."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, her face turning into a grimace, "there's … not much you can do against something like that."

On the screen, they saw a display suddenly pop on the screen confirming that both Yuuyu and Shinsou were immobilized, and that Shouto and Momo would be advancing to the next round. Once he apparently got that confirmation (if they looked closely, the four winced at the sight of Midnight also getting caught in the blast zone, looking peeved as she was half submerged in the ice), Shouto put his hand down on the iceberg he created and started to melt it, steam rising from where his hand had been laid on the cold ice.

Watching the screen, Izuku found his shock from before fading, and watched Shouto carefully on the television. Now that the camera was zoomed into the recommended student's face, Izuku could see some of the emotions there - anger from whatever had happened during the match, of course, but there was also … some sadness in there, Izuku realized, feeling his face fall watching the screen.

"Huh …" Nejire tilted her head slightly as she likewise stared at the screen, entering the room properly to stand beside Ochako, before she suddenly blinked. "Wait. Does this mean - this means that we're going up against Todoroki and Yaoyorozu next? Isn't that right? We'll have to go up against that?"

"I mean - technically," Itsuka sighed and shook her head as she turned away from the screen at last, showing the three of them how nervous she looked at the moment, "but … well, we still need to get past Monoma and Ashido first. Which … we should probably start getting ready for that, since if Todoroki's match just ended -"

Before she could finish that thought, however, the intercom suddenly activated above them, causing them to glance up.

"Er …" Aizawa's voice sounded above them, sounding surprisingly taken aback, "… due to needing repairs done on the stadium, the next match will be delayed for five minutes to give Cementoss some time to fix the stage. Please standby while we repair the arena."

With the intercom turning off, the four friends blinked a bit.

"Er … I guess that's that," Ochako shrugged, glancing back at the screen and frowning as Shouto dethawed their two classmates out, "they probably want to make sure Haya and Shinsou are okay too before they move forward with the next round."

"That's also true!" Nejire punched her hand against her open palm, looking slightly determined as she spun away again, not noticing Izuku continuing to stare at the screen with a frown. "In that case, I should probably go and - wait, no, Yuuyu would still be stuck in ice, wouldn't she? I wanted to go and see if she was okay - and tell her that I'm proud of her! I bet she was so cool - fighting Todoroki and Yaoyorozu at the same time, even if Todoroki was a douche-canoe and froze her in a giant - wait, if he froze her in a big block of ice, does that mean he was afraid she was gonna do something bad to him? I bet so! She's scary when she's mad! I bet Todoroki wet his pants!"

"I - I guess," Itsuka giggled a bit, shrugging and giving her a weak smile. The three of them sighed as they went back to sit down at the table, not noticing Izuku continuing to watch the screen with a strange look on his face, none of the girls really considering it as they picked up and sat in their chairs and Ochako stood above them at the end of the table.

"Still … I guess you have a point, worrying about the round after this," Itsuka gave Nejire, wincing a bit, "we're gonna have to deal with … that. Not to mention that Todoroki's already probably mad at me - I'm gonna guess he'll be throwing the iceberg move at us too."

"I … guess," Ochako bit her lip in worry, remembering her time stuck in Shouto's ice wall back in the second round, "do you have a plan for him?"

"I … honestly, I don't," Itsuka sighed, pouting slightly as she folded her hands together, and Nejire blinked in alarm, "I mean, what can I even do against that? Especially when he has -" 

"You can use - you can use your secret move."

Both girls blinked at Izuku's quiet statement, and quickly looked around at him as he straightened his shoulders. He was still staring at the screen, an uncomfortable look on his face there before he shook his head, and quickly replaced it with a stormy expression, and then turned back around to look at Itsuka again.

"If … if you want to stop that from happening," He pointed back at the screen, which was still showing replays of the giant iceberg, "then you'll have to use - uh - the volume thing Nejire mentioned."

"The volume thing …?" Itsuka found herself pausing for a moment, not entirely sure what Izuku was referring to - and then she suddenly got it, feeling her eyes snap open. As Ochako likewise looked around quickly at Izuku in surprise, Nejire also seemed to catch on to what they were talking about, letting out a small gasp.

"Oh!" She clapped her hands happily together. "Are you talking about that super strength Itsuka mentioned a while back? That she broke the mountain with? At the USJ? That volume thingy?"

"I - yeah," Izuku nodded, "the - the volume thingy."

"Awesome! I didn't think of that!"

"Okay, but-" Itsuka tried to interrupt the pair of them as she waved her hands in the air, sighing and shaking her head as Ochako shot a small glance at her, "- Izuku, we both know that - even if I wanted to, I - I can't. I have no idea how to really -"

"Then we'll figure it out now," Izuku's voice had no room for debate, clenching his fist as he quickly pulled out his notebook, "I'll go over how we can try using - uh - that super strength during your match. And I'll also go over Monoma's quirk with you guys - I didn't have much time to write anything down, but after fighting him at the pond, I think I've got a basic understanding of how his quirk works."

"I - uh - Izuku -?"

"Look," He sighed, shaking his head, "I just … you can't go up against Todoroki when he'll just hit you with all that ice. I - I don't want you to. So let's - we're gonna figure out how you can use that super strength. Right now."

"Right … now …?" Ochako repeated after him in confusion - but then she blinked as Izuku moved to the table and put down his notebook, looking back up at all three girls with that same determination on his face. He was so into it, of course, that he totally missed the light blushes that crossed their faces at the look he was sending them.

"Yeah," He nodded at both of them confidently, "right now. Let's figure this out."

He then bent down to begin scribbling on the open page of his journal, taking a moment to flip the page over to check something in his notes. Slowly closing her mouth, Itsuka stood up from her spot at the table, staring at Izuku's serious look as he began writing down a strategy - and then, against her better judgment, she glanced over at Ochako and Nejire, seeing them both staring at Izuku as well with the same blush that was probably on Itsuka's face.

Gulping slightly, Itsuka saw Nejire steal a glance up at her, slowly nodding as well, and then gestured for her to come over. Slowly walking over, Itsuka leaned in as Nejire raised her hand to her mouth to cover what she was saying, and Ochako looked around in confusion as the blue-haired girl slightly pulled on her sleeve to bring her over, so that she could whisper to all three of them.

"Hey, hey," Nejire whispered, a shaky smile on her face, "is it just me, or is Midoriya super duper hot when he's confident?"

Ochako and Itsuka paused at that - and then, with their faces turning red as they glanced back down at Izuku as he frowned at his notebook, they both stiffly nodded in agreement.


"The repairs for the ring have been completed, and we are ready to move on to the next round. Kendou, Hadou, Ashido and Monoma, please make your way to the stadium now."

Slowly walking out of the tunnel, Itsuka let out a small grumble as she raised her hand to block the sunlight hitting her eyes, listening to the roar of the crowd as she and Nejire started walking out towards the now repaired ring in the middle of the stadium, where Midnight was rubbing her arms up and down to get some of the warmth back in her body. Glancing around at the stage and seeing everyone cheering happily for them, Itsuka tried to give them a weak smile as she waved up at the crowd, hoping that her parents and Eri were in that direction so it looked like she was waving to them.

Their talk about her volume thingy - or, more accurately, One for All - went … a bit productively, Itsuka winced as she glanced back around and saw Izuku and Ochako standing by the entrance of the tunnel so that they could watch, Izuku taking the time as well to write a brief summary of what he had noticed about Shouto's quirk from their fight in the pond for her to use in the next match. Well, it wasn't productive in the sense that she could suddenly use her second quirk, but ... but at least Izuku had put some thought into how she should use it, giving her general advice that she had pretended that she could try and understand.

"Right now, we're considering your volume control as some kind of 'special move'. But of course I didn't notice - why didn't I notice before?! You need to use that super strength as naturally as you would your original quirk. Not as though you use Big Fist one moment and then the 'volume control' the next - it isn't like flipping on a switch! You need to learn how to use it without even thinking. So maybe …"

"Er … Deku?"

"… if you can use your power at 5% like you're breathing, theoretically, you could do moves like Kacchan. His combat abilities are flexible in the air, and … and combined with your martial arts - and then after that, as you get more and more control over the strength, there'll be a lot more you can do! So you need to use it instantaneously and intermittently!"

"… Izuku, I realize you're kind of having a breakthrough, but do you mind breaking down what exactly you're talking about so that I can understand it?"

"Mm-hm! Not really getting it over here."

"O-oh! Right, yeah, sorry. What I'm thinking, Kendou, is that you can't view it as 'using' the super strength. Like - using it when you need it, in the places that need it. It isn't a special move - it's your quirk. If you insist on using it like a switch, your reaction time gets slower and slower with the second and third moves. So instead of using it only when you need to - it should be on from the beginning!"

"Okay … and how do I do that?"

"What I think you should do is imagine how you felt when you used that super strength at the USJ. And when you saved Eri. And … and I guess when you used it against Todoroki and Kacchan back during the first round. Do you remember how you felt during those times?"

"Yeah. So … scared. And … and determined."

"Yeah. Now what you want to do is - well, concentrate on that feeling! What did it feel like to use the super strength?"

"I'm … not sure what you mean, Izuku?"

"Like - was it a 'bzzt'? Or a 'whoosh'? Or a - uh - like imagine this! Imagine like using your volume control is like - uh - like an egg in a microwave!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… okay, that -"

"Pfft!"

"Ha! Deku, you - ha, ha, ha!"

"An egg in a microwave? That's cute! But why are you microwaving eggs? I think that would be bad for the egg, wouldn't it? Unless it's already scrambled and you're just heating it up?"

"It's a metaphor! Just - imagine it, please?"

So … here she was, Itsuka winced, imagining eggs in microwaves and trying to make sure that they didn't explode. Which was … Izuku's big idea on how to control One for All. Just don't imagine the egg exploding, he said. Lowering the wattage. Shortening the cook time.

… god, she loved that nerd, she blushed.

"AND NOW," Present Mic screeched over the crowds still cheering for them, "WRAPPING UP THE FIRST ROUNDS OF OUR COMPETITION ARE THESE LOVELY LADIES AND ONE DUDE! COMING FROM THE TUNNEL, HAVING GIVEN A GREAT SPEECH THIS MORNING AND HAS BEEN WORKING HARD TO KICK SOME BUTT WITH HER KARATE SKILLS, IT'S ITSUKA KENDOU!"

"Yeah," Itsuka huffed quietly while the crowd roared for her and Nejire giggled a bit nervously, "my karate skills. That's all I got going for me, Mic-sensei."

"AND BESIDE HER! CUTE AS A BUTTON AND PACKING ONE HECK OF A PUNCH WITH IT, BUT HOW DOES SHE MOVE AROUND WITH ALL THAT HEAVY HAIR?! IT'S NEJIRE HADOU!"

Nejire, for her part, merely giggled as she gave the peace sign to the crowd, hopping up and down as they approached the stairs to the circle above, and quickly began moving up to where the match would take place. As soon as they reached the top, they saw their opponents coming up as well - Mina, for her part, looked disgruntled and uncomfortable with her partner while she tried to look positive for the crowd, and Monoma's gaze swept over to the two girls on the opposite side of the arena, his smirk widening a bit as his eyes met Itsuka's, and making her frown.

Oh, yeah. They'd also gone over what Monoma could possibly do, but she wasn't worried about him. Monoma, she knew she was going to kick his ass, with what she, Izuku, Ochako and Nejire had discussed on their way to the tunnel that would've taken them to the field.

"So Monoma didn't tell you guys what his quirk was?"

"Nope! And he was a real jerk about it, too! Was trying to be all smug and mysterious, but that just made him look dumb!"

"H-huh. Well, I - I do think I know what his strategy is. And what his quirk is."

"Oh?"

"He's a copier. Copies people's quirks, uses them for himself. I don't have all the details, but I remember back at the pond, he shouted at Todoroki to let him copy his quirk. And he was able to use Haya and that Tetsutetsu guy's quirks - not to mention that attack he hit you with, Kendou."

"Okay … so we should be expecting him to hit us with an iceberg?"

"I … don't think so. Todoroki seemed adamant that Monoma didn't copy his quirk. But knowing that … I wouldn't be surprised if he went around trying to copy other people's quirks to use against you. I'd expect him to use Ashido's quirk, since she's with him - and I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to get others to help him out. I don't know if there's a time limit for his quirk, but …"

"… but if he copies other people's quirks, Deku, doesn't that mean he could copy Shinsou's quirk?"

"Yep, if they pass each other by. So …"

"Let him talk and don't respond. Gotcha. Nejire - I think I know what to do."

So yep, Itsuka slowly nodded, she had no idea what she was going to do with One for All in the next match. But Monoma? She knew exactly how to deal with him.

"AND COMING UP ON THE OTHER SIDE!" Present Mic called over the stadium's intercom system. "IS THERE GONNA BE SOMETHING COMING OUT OF THOSE HORNS OF HERS?! EVEN IF NOT, I'M EXCITED! FROM THE HERO COURSE, IT'S MINA ASHIDO! AND BESIDE HER! LOOKING PRETTY CONFIDENT AND ASSURED OF HIMSELF, BUT HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?! ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE, IT'S NEITO MONOMA!"

While Mina stretched her arms above her head to try and limber herself up, four columns of fire blasting out from the sides of the circle surrounding them, Monoma let out a long, suffering sigh as he flicked some of his hair out of his face. Itsuka, however, found her gaze moving back towards the tunnel the two opponents had emerged from, and felt her eyes narrow as she spotted what she thought to be shapes moving away into the darkness.

Well … looks like Izuku had been right, she bit her lip. Monoma must have brought people along so he could copy their quirks right out of the gate. Which … also meant that there must be a time limit for him to pull something out of his ass.

And that … ultimately didn't matter in the long run. She and Nejire had their plan, and that didn't involve waiting for Monoma to run out of time to use his quirks.

"So," Monoma finally said over the announcements above them, speaking directly to Itsuka, "here you are, I suppose. How's your stomach feeling?"

Itsuka merely rolled her eyes and turned to look off to the side, completely ignoring him. Nejire also sent a pout at him, but remembering what they had discussed before, didn't say a word, being mindful of what kind of quirks their opponent might have.

"Oh? What's this, no response?" Monoma let out a low laugh at that, shaking his head dramatically while sending both girls a smug look. "Well, isn't that rude? After all the work we did together to get to the next round, you choose to simply ignore me? I suppose that's expected of Class 1A, wanting to hog the glory all to themselves and get all the attention on them while casting everyone else aside. I have to say, I curse the fates that decided to pair me against Todoroki next - I'd have found Midnight if I could and asked to switch partners had she not left to do something else before I could reach her."

Both Itsuka and Nejire turned to glance at each other, and proceeded to almost roll their eyes into the back of their heads. The more and more he talked, the more clear it was that he just loved the sound of his own voice. They kind of pitied Mina, who would have had to endure hours of this guy during their planning, and was indeed looking exhausted by the sound of his voice as she tried to prepare herself for the fight.

"Still," Monoma casually slid his hands into his pockets, "this should be easier than expected, shouldn't it? No offense to you two, of course, but neither of you struck me as … particularly smart while we were planning during the second round."

That, at least, caused the two girls to pause for a moment, turning to glance at the smug boy as Mina realized what was about to happen and winced.

"Both of you … so clearly blind by your idiotic emotions," Monoma smirked knowingly, "especially when it's for the same guy."

Both Itsuka and Nejire's eyebrows shot up.

"It's honestly … well, it's quite pathetic how much you two fell over yourselves to make sure that Midoriya guy went forward," He continued to press and hold the 'angry button', his smirk slowly widening as he realized he found something to get under their skin, "you embarrassed your class and your teammates by being so willing to throw away your chances to win the sports festival just to make yourselves endearing to a guy so … unseemly. Plain, I would say is the kindest thing I can say about him."

Itsuka felt her head slowly tilt to the side. Nejire began to pout again.

"I mean," Monoma shook his head in mock sympathy, "I would understand if it was someone like Todoroki - someone who clearly has the looks - but I have to say, the guy you chose to slave after and beg for his attention is … hm, what's the word I'm looking for here …?"

"Hoe, don't do it," Mina winced.

"… ugly?" Monoma leaned forward, his smirk wide, and didn't even notice as Mina slowly slid away from him, obviously aware of the maelstrom he was about to bring onto himself.

There was a short pause between the four students as Present Mic concluded his speech above them. And Itsuka decided, then and there at the same time, that Monoma was a dead motherfucker.

And unknown to her, a pair of rabbit ears suddenly pointed up in the crowd, feeling the sudden bloodlust and leaning forward to watch the match interestingly.

"START!"

Mic's screech filled the air above them to signify the start of their fight, and at once, the crowd leaned forward in anticipation, wanting to see what these four would be capable of, especially after the last twelve pairings. Monoma, for his part, didn't make any first move, merely smirking and waiting for the two girls to run headfirst into the trap he had been setting up, feeling the quirks he had already copied a minute ago ready for use.

For a moment, the two girls glared heatedly at him, their hands curling into fists -

- and then promptly moved to sit down on the ground.

The cheers from the crowd very quickly died away, everyone staring in confused silence at the two girls as they got comfortable on the ground, Itsuka sitting with her legs crossed and Nejire moving down to her knees. Monoma felt himself freeze, staring down at them in equal confusion to the crowd, while Mina glanced between both girls unsurely as Itsuka and Nejire turned to look at each other.

Within the crowd, both Hakushu and Tenohira blinked for a moment at their daughter's actions, before they suddenly got it, and two large grins began to spread across their faces.

"Er …" Inko glanced over at Tenohira, "… is Itsuka okay?"

"Oh, she's more than okay," Hakushu chuckled darkly, "look at her, all relaxed and not worried at all."

"Yep," Tenohira nodded, giggling, "she's gonna hand that kid his ass."

Down below in the arena, Monoma blinked once more - and then a smirk reappeared on his face.

"Ah … not taking this seriously, are you?" He barked out a laugh. "Once again expected of Class 1A -"

"You know something, Nejire?"

Monoma, of course, immediately went silent when Itsuka suddenly spoke up for the first time since they entered the ring - but unfortunately for him, Shinsou's quirk, that he had copied when the robots passed the shivering boy by him, didn't activate. Of course, it had to do with the fact that she was speaking to her partner, even if her eyes stayed on him, which must have meant …

… damn it, he realized, she must've figured out his trick!

"I was just thinking," Itsuka said in a light voice, leaning back on her hands as she turned her gaze up to look at the sky, "about Class 1B. I mean, they all seem … nice, I guess, but after what I've seen today, they seem to be … I don't know … kinda pathetic, now that I'm thinking about it."

That, of course, caused Monoma to freeze.

"Huh?" Nejire looked curious, looking around at her friend in intrigue. "What do you mean, Itsuka?"

"I mean," Itsuka shrugged, smiling lightly, "they came up with this big scheme to throw us all under the bus, and make sure they all advanced while we faltered - but isn't it kind of pathetic that most of them were taken out right at the start of the sports festival? I'd been kind of worried before, but then they all just … kinda failed. Like, we lost one guy, but they lost more than half their class. Kind of a let down, now that I'm thinking about it."

"Hm," Nejire hummed, raising a hand to poke her cheek, "I … guess so! Yeah, now that you're thinking about it, a lot of them should be feeling really embarrassed right now, huh?"

"Yeah. I mean, I can't blame them - I bet they were all gonna use Todoroki to try and coax their way through," Itsuka nodded slowly, stealing a glance at Monoma and seeing the look of shock and insult on his face, feeling a smirk come to her own face, "like Monoma here was. But of course, Todoroki doesn't really care about that - he's more concerned with beating me. It's really weird, you know? Like, Class 1B seems more obsessed with 1A, and 1A just … doesn't really care."

Mina gulped a bit nervously, knowing that Itsuka was clearly up to something, and allowed some acid to begin sliding down her arms - and then winced as Monoma took a step forward, breathing sharply through his nose as an ugly sneer appeared on his face, acid likewise starting to slide down his arms from when he copied her.

"What was that?" He said through gritted teeth. "You're looking down on us?"

"Hm … do you think he's angry?" Itsuka continued to talk to Nejire rather than Monoma, unable to stop herself from giggling slightly, the sound making Monoma angrier. "I mean, I am just saying stuff to rile him up - not really meaning anything I say about Class 1B."

"That's right!" Nejire giggled, tapping her arm with her hand before throwing the other one carefully in the air.

"Yeah, but he looks angry," Itsuka observed, smirking as Monoma's face turned even more twisted, "kinda like Bakugou, can dish it out, but can't take it. Tsk, tsk."

"And is just as ugly!" Nejire added in. "Like, Bakugou can look ugly when he's angry, but that over there's not a good look. Ew."

"Ooh, I'll show you who can dish it out!" Monoma shouted, throwing his arm back and letting acid form in his hand -

- and that, right about then, was when Nejire used the hand she had thrown carelessly through the air to quickly turn towards their two opponents, and a swirl of yellow energy told Monoma, in that moment, that he had run straight into their trap.

"Full charge! Output level ten!"

BOOM

At once, a bolt of spiraling yellow energy blasted out of her open palm towards the two opponents. Squeaking, Mina jumped off to the side to try and avoid getting hit by it, but instead of dodging, Monoma took a deep breath, letting the acid fall from his hand, and blew out a circular disk of air, quickly creating a shield in front of him. His eyes quickly snapped to Nejire as she jumped up, twin pairs of spirals emerging from her feet, and began flying up in the air, turning her attention to Mina as the pink girl began sliding around with acid coming from her shoes.

"That's cool! I always wondered, Ashido, how do you do that?" Nejire asked excitedly, even as she threw another bolt of energy at Mina, and then yelped as she quickly flew to the side to avoid Mina throwing a glob of acid right at her. Monoma quickly realized that she must be an expert flier, what with how she moved so gracefully in the air, and let out a small growl as he took a step forward.

"So Ashido's quirk, this quirk, and probably Shinsou's quirk."

Monoma felt himself freeze as he felt a shadow fall on him, and glanced around - right in time to jump back as Itsuka came down from her jump, her hands grown out to their full size and smashing down on the shield of air that Monoma was still blowing on. The Class 1B boy growled as he was forced back from the force of the blow, taking a step back as Itsuka threw out another punch, hitting the shield with shocking strength.

"That's three quirks you can copy," Itsuka smirked at him, "is that all you can do?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Monoma taunted.

Itsuka, raising an eyebrow, didn't really respond to his obvious attempt to get her to answer - or at least, not with words. Instead, she threw her fist back, and with an almighty shout, drove it right into the air shield. It managed to hold, thankfully, but Itsuka's repeated blows on it at her full strength (at least, full strength as far as Monoma knew) meant that the shield was beginning to crack, making Monoma sweat slightly in panic at the look on the class representative's face.

The look signifying to him that he was screwed should she get her enlarged hands on him.

"Eep!" Mina squeaked again, attempting to follow where Nejire was flying around the ring and throwing fistfuls of acid towards Nejire. Thankfully, the blue haired girl was a graceful flier, spinning circles around Mina's attempts to hit her with acid, while still staying inside the ring, under Midnight's watchful eye as she went higher up. After all, Midnight said that she couldn't leave the ring, but she didn't say anything about rising above it.

"Okay!" Nejire clapped her hands together, before suddenly diving down towards the ground, making Mina blink a bit as the yellow energy swirling out of her hands and feet twisted through the air thanks to her body. "Diving bomb -!"

Realizing the name of an attack move, Mina let out a small squeak as Nejire suddenly dove straight towards her, quickly ducking and hoping that Nejire would miss. Fortunately for Mina, that was what happened, with Nejire soaring straight above her ducked form and heading straight for Itsuka's back while she pounded on Monoma's air shield.

Unfortunately for Mina, as Itsuka suddenly spun around and abandoned her pounding of Monoma's shield, that was exactly what the chatterbox had intended to do.

It happened rather instantaneously - Nejire driving her energy-laced hands into Monoma's shield, and it broke apart completely, the force of the blow causing him to be launched backwards through the air and landing on his back with a grunt, still in the ring but now looking absolutely furious. And Itsuka, gracefully spinning underneath her partner, used her large hand to grab the still ducked Mina, the pink girl squeaking as she was lifted right off her feet with a hand the size of her torso. Before she could think to coat her body with acid to cause the class representative to let go, Itsuka let out a grunt as she spun once as though to wind up her throw, and then, as Mina let out a gasp as she was suddenly thrown right out of the ring, flailing through the air before coming down on the hill and starting to roll down.

"Ashido is out of bounds!" Midnight announced, snapping her whip against the stage as the crowd cheered wildly.

"AMAZING! WHAT A MOVE!" Present Mic screamed. "IN ONE SECOND, TEAM MONOMA-ASHIDO IS NOW DOWN AN ASHIDO! WHAT'LL HAPPEN NEXT?!"

Growling, Monoma quickly climbed to his feet, forced to duck as Nejire tried to fly up to him and shove him out of the ring. His mind was pretty much scrambling to find a way that he could find an advantage to this - he'd only had time to copy the quirks of Tsuburaba, Shinsou and the pink idiot from 1A, which meant that he only had one advantage left up his sleeve - the fourth empty slot that he could use for one of these girls' quirks. Obviously, his thoughts went to Nejire as she spun through the air; not only could she fly, she had a ranged quirk, which would help him well against Itsuka as she came barrelling towards him again.

So that was the plan - copy Nejire's quirk, and use it against both of them.

Letting acid coat his arms again, he quickly threw the projectiles at Itsuka, who quickly sidestepped his attempts to burn her, and then threw another one at Nejire as she expertly dodged underneath it. Letting out a small growl, Monoma ran forward towards Itsuka, throwing his hand back to throw the acid again, and Itsuka instead met him head on, her face determined, as she shrank back down her hands.

Throwing his hand forward, Monoma let out a crazed laugh as Itsuka quickly ducked underneath it, rolling right under his arm and coming up behind him.

"Ha!" He cackled madly, whipping around as his hands filled with acid once again. "You really think you were gonna -?!"

And that, right about then, was when Itsuka suddenly grabbed his leg, and grew out her hand. So instead of just grabbing his ankle, her entire hand ended up encasing his leg. And Monoma froze, his crazed face going rigid, as he realized what was about to happen.

With a shout, Itsuka spun back up to her feet, gripping Monoma's leg tightly and ripping him right off his feet as he was spun by her hand and lifted up into the air. Monoma let out a yelp as he was yanked straight up, his hands flailing for a second before coming down on her enlarged hand, and then tried to use one hand to grab at the passing by Nejire - only for her to easily move out of the way, her eyebrow raising at his failed attempt to copy her quirk.

As Itsuka spun around in a circle again, Monoma's face temporarily blurred, ripping from the whiplash as Itsuka finished her spin and finally let go of his leg, just in time to let him go flying through the air towards the edge of the circle -

- only to feel her eyebrow twitch as Monoma's hands suddenly grew out like hers, digging them into the ground to prevent him from falling out of the ring. Feeling her eyes narrow to slits, Itsuka began sprinting over as Monoma slowly and menacingly rose to his feet, a bit dizzy but still looking crazed enough that Nejire began wondering if there was something wrong with him.

"Nice try," He chuckled darkly, beginning to look up just as Itsuka slid just to his right, throwing her hand back before driving it forward, "but if you think that I can just be thrown out of this ring like your dumb classmates, you have another thing -"

CHOP!

The audience let out small 'oohs' as Itsuka's hand, instead of forming a fist, instead straightened out and quickly struck down on the back of Monoma's neck, giving him a hard chop. The blonde boy froze where he stood for a moment, eyes widened briefly as he stared forward for a moment - and then he crumbled right onto the ground, Itsuka and Nejire blinking in surprise as he collapsed with his butt up in the air, completely knocked out.

Staring down at him in shock for a moment, Itsuka then turned to look at her hand in amazement.

"Wow," She said in a slightly confused voice, "I … didn't even really try to chop him that hard. Is - is his neck okay?"

"Monoma is incapacitated!" Midnight declared as she pointed her whip at the slumped over Class 1B student. "Kendou and Hadou advance to the next round!"

Blinking again in surprise at the announcement, and quickly glancing up at the crowd as they roared in celebration, Itsuka tried to quickly get over her confusion about how easily Monoma went down, giving them a smile. Looking over at Nejire as she landed from her flight, Itsuka's slightly awkward smile became a more natural grin as she raised a hand, and Nejire quickly and happily ran over to give her a high five. And then, as though remembering something, Itsuka stole a small glance back over at the tunnel entrance where Ochako and Izuku had been, suddenly feeling her gut clench nervously.

But as before, they were still there. Ochako was cheering loudly for the both of them, jumping up and down and flashing Itsuka and Nejire a thumbs up, while Izuku looked up from his notebook to give her a happy grin.

And Itsuka felt her heart clench at that - but not in the awkward, painful way as it did several times today. Instead, she felt like she was floating, a smile widely spreading across her face as she felt a sudden pep in her step, feeling more energetic than she had all day as she and Nejire went down to where Mina was brushing herself off and shaking her hands in pain at the bottom of the hill, clearly burning herself from her acid, to make sure that she was okay.

"WITH THAT, WE'VE GOT EVERYONE WHO'S ADVANCING TO THE SECOND ROUND!" Present Mic gleefully yelled over the crowd. "SO WE'LL GET STARTED WITH OUR FIFTH MATCH OF THE DAY! MIDORIYA AND URARAKA VS BAKUGOU AND TOKOYAMI! LOOK FORWARD TO IT!"

Of course, in the crowd itself, no one was aware of a certain pro hero watching both girls in intrigue, letting out a small hum. Pulling out her pen and paper, Ryukyu raised her gaze up to the screen above them that displayed the names of the four fighters, and quickly scribbled down two of the names up there.

"Hadou …" She repeated the name up on the board, smiling and nodding slightly in approval as she put the pen and paper away. She would've asked Miruko beside her if she had any thoughts about the match they had just seen - but from the wide, vicious grin on the rabbit woman's face, watching Itsuka while thumping her foot, she had a feeling that Miruko had someone on her mind for internships.


There was a good, long silence in the bar. And then Chimera, sticking his cigar back in his mouth, huffed, "This is boring as fuck."

Slice was unable to stop herself from letting out a small snort at that, sipping on her drink as she leaned back. Truth be told, Chimera was … mostly telling the truth as the four, now five, members of the Villain Consortium sat back in the bar sipping on drinks and watching the small TV in the corner showing off the sports festival.

At the moment, Mummy was sipping on his own drink while Camie continued to pop bubbles that she was making with her quirk, not interested in the screen at all except to call out 'hot guys' (something that was making the other four roll their eyes each time), Chimera was on his fifth cigar of the day, and Nine was still staring at the screen with a cross expression, his fingernails tapping on the table he was sharing with Slice as she leaned against his shoulder.

The last hour or so of fights had been … quite lacking, to be honest. There were highlights, of course - the battle with that explosion brat that had knocked Kurogiri around back at the USJ was interesting, if for the use of his quirk, and the one boy who froze the arena immediately after the match was called to begin prompted Nine to look intrigued by the display of power, but the others had been … boring, as Chimera put it. Nine himself was staring dully at the screen as he continued tapping his fingers against the table, a scowl on his face as he allowed Slice to brush back his long, white hair.

"So the kid was full of it," Chimera shook his head as he scooped back up his scotch, rolling the glass a bit as he stared back up at the screen showing the green-haired boy from the first match beside his friend, some needless commentary going on and on about what they thought he was going to do, "talkin' shit about us being weak, and here he is not using his quirk at all."

"Pfft," Mummy glared at the boy on the screen, tapping his drink against the table and knowing Kurogiri was coming to refill it, "I knew that he was nothing. He got lucky at the USJ - against our beast, he was nothing."

"Don't worry about it," Slice shook her head as she looked back over at the man in red bandages, "I imagine that -"

"He's holding back."

The three blinked as their leader spoke for the first time in a few minutes, and looked around as Nine leaned forward. He had a cross look on his face, glaring at the screen where Izuku Midoriya's face was displayed, and he was looking a strange mixture of insulted, unimpressed and disappointed as he raised a hand to cup his chin.

"He's been holding back since the final rounds began," He noted quietly to himself, "ever since he had to go up against someone else. He used his quirk freely during the first two rounds, and at least knew his way around when he was fighting those four on that frozen pond. But once he started fighting in the first round … his quirk was a no show."

"Huh," Chimera sipped on his scotch, "and what does that mean?"

"He's afraid of using his quirk against other people," Nine frowned, "he used it against Hood when the beast was going to kill his friend, and against me when I tried to kill All Might - but he's refused to use it against anyone else. He hasn't attacked anyone directly ever since the festival began."

"And … why do we care?" Mummy scowled. "I'd rather just have him killed than try to understand why he's not sailing through the festival."

"That quirk is eventually going to be my quirk," Their leader answered simply, "I want to make sure it's not some kind of feedback or side effect that's making him hold back that will hinder me."

With that, Nine let out a sigh as he leaned back in his seat, letting Slice's fingers slide against his cheek, as he scooped up his own drink and raised it to his lips to take a sip -

- only for a shot of pain to suddenly streak through him, causing him to spit out whatever alcohol he had managed to get into his mouth as purple glowing veins suddenly began spreading across his body.

"Nine!" Slice quickly gasped as Nine doubled over, choking and grabbing his throat as his eyes went wide, and a ripple passed along his skin as the glowing veins flared menacingly. Mummy quickly looked around as Chimera likewise stood up, and even Camie was temporarily distracted from her playing with her quirk to look over as Nine staggered to his feet, planting one hand on the table to stabilize himself while the other clutched his face, feeling it warp under his hand.

"It's a bad one," Slice muttered in alarm, panicked as she reached for anything to help out her friend, but alas, it was a bit too late as Nine gagged, and bent over as black fluid suddenly flowed from his open mouth, causing him to choke briefly on the vomit as Slice quickly jumped back, wincing as the black liquid splashed on the table and on the floor. From behind the counter, Kurogiri let out a long, suffering sigh as the Consortium watched Nine convulse briefly, panting raggedly as the bones in his back cracked ominously.

"Calm down, calm down," Nine growled to himself, clutching his face tightly as the purple veins flared again, and then, finally, they began to simmer down.

The Consortium watched as their leader continued to try and catch his breath, Slice hesitantly reaching out to his back to rub up and down to comfort him - and then she jumped as Nine suddenly let out a growl and flipped the table out of his way, the glasses shattering on the ground and the black sludge splashing against the wall as he stomped over to the bar.

Kurogiri watched as Nine slumped against the counter, rubbing his forehead as the purple veins continued to disappear - and then he asked, in a dry voice, "May I offer you a mint?"

"Shut up." Nine growled, spitting some leftover black fluid out of his mouth and onto the floor.

"It's getting worse," Slice gave their leader a worried look, approaching him carefully and raising a hand to touch his shoulder, "ever since you ingested the Trigger, it hasn't been mixing well with … with whatever fluids you have in you."

"It's always been this way," Nine growled, "just … getting worse ever since …"

There was a long pause in the bar as the three members tried not to stare at the black sick on the wall - and then they suddenly became aware of the sound of a lighter flicking off to the side.

"Well," A low, amused voice sounded out, "that was dramatic. And a bit disgusting."

The five of them blinked at the sound of a new, yet familiar voice, and quickly looked around to the entrance of the bar. Leaning against the door, using a lighter shaped as a revolver to light the cigarette in his mouth, was a man in an unkept bluish-purple suit, adjusting his circular glasses to the bridge of his nose as he grinned into the bar. Kurogiri acted at once, using his quirk to bring out another glass and scotch from the bar and put it on the table near Chimera, who narrowed his dark eyes as the man strolled in.

"Ah, thank you, Kurogiri," Giran smiled as he began pouring himself a drink, taking the cigarette out of his mouth and tapping it against the ashtray, "can always rely on you for a quick drink."

Raising the glass to take a sip, he turned to glance at Nine over the edge of his glasses, seeing the white-haired man staring at him from under his fingers.

"Seems like you're sick," Giran noted helpfully, glancing over at the black fluid sliding down the wall with a raised eyebrow, while Camie went back to playing with her quirk and Mummy shot a glare at the broker, "unless that's normal?"

"I'm handling it," Nine shook his head, turning to spit out a bit more of the mysterious fluid before reluctantly accepting the bowl of pretzels and mints from Kurogiri, "mind your own business. I'm fine."

"I don't know," Giran chuckled, "puking black stuff doesn't seem normal. You should see a doctor for that."

"Trust me," Nine grumbled darkly, "you don't want to meet my doctor. That doesn't matter - I assume you're here because you have something?"

"Oh? And what if I just wanted to come and say a friendly hello?"

"You're smart, Giran - you know better than to interact with me more than you need to. You wouldn't be here unless you found recruits."

Giran glanced around for a moment, seeing Slice tapping her foot against the floor and glaring at him while the edges of her hair sharpened - and then he let out a small sigh, nodding slowly, and raised one hand to snap his fingers. At the sharp snap, the door to the bar opened again, and the Consortium looked around as the new recruits began to walk in.

Coming in first, the first recruit was obviously young, keeping his hands in the pockets of his white coat as he strolled in, looking around the bar with only one exposed eye, the other half of his face covered in half a diving helmet. He wore a black suit underneath the coat, some jewelry on his arms, and he was clearly uninterested in his surroundings as his mask made a weird breathing noise. Coming in behind him was a young woman with white hair reaching her shoulders, wearing a black and red buttoned outfit with white gloves and black boots, and after her came a heteromorph, his bear like features giving him an intimidating appearance as he glared around at the bar, his gaze eventually falling on Chimera as the blue wolf-hybrid gave him an interested look as he puffed on his cigar.

As the three of them shuffled off to the side, there was a grunt as the larger man behind them came in, his crazed gaze flickering around. He was taller, with a muscular physic, and orange, flame-shaped hair, while wearing a baggy blue bodysuit with bulky, rock like boots, gauntlets and shoulder pads. Behind him came another heteromorph, his elongated face causing his mouth to protrude forward like a bill. And then, coming in last, was another woman with white hair, although hers was long and wavy, and she was wearing a far more revealing outfit as she shot her gaze around the bar, smirking a bit.

There was a pause as the two large groups eyed each other up, Nine's gaze flickering between each of them - and then his gaze fell to Giran as the broker took another inhale of his cigar, exhaling and sending a puff of smoke into the air.

"A very interesting crowd you've found me, Giran," He said dryly, "when comes the part where you reveal that you wasted my time?"

"Don't shoot the messenger," Giran chuckled as the six villains turned their gaze to Nine leaning against the counter, "I went scouting, and they were the ones who found me. It was a bit tough, you know - you kind of wasted all of the villains that I supplied you for the USJ, there weren't many people to go around and ask if they were interested in the Consortium."

Nine, for his part, merely huffed.

"So," Chimera grunted, standing up and facing the man with the bear appearance, both of them squaring each other up, "heteromorph, right?"

"Yeah," He growled, nodding, "name's Bearhead."

"Bearhead, huh?" Chimera chuckled, raising a hand and taking his paw as he gave it a shake. "Chimera. What about you two?" He turned to stare at the masked man and the woman stoically staring ahead. "Got any mutations I should know about?"

"Just a deformity," The young man answered, tapping on his mask as his voice came out muffled, "my quirk's a transformation, but … well, it's gotten me a few scars for its insidiousness."

"You kiddin'?" The taller man growled behind his mask, crossing his arms against his chest and glaring around. "This is the famous Villain Consortium? I thought you'd all have some kind of secret base or somethin', not hangin' around in some bar - where's the Trigger?"

"Ah," Mummy scoffed, "there it is."

"Trust me," Giran chuckled, "it's not just the Trigger they're interested in -"

"Oh, please," The woman with wavy hair giggled, "that's what got my attention in the first place."

"- they want to know more about what you guys are selling."

"Indeed," The young man nodded, turning back to look at Nine as the leader of the Consortium leaned against the bar, "we heard tales of what you and your organization are capable of - and what you desire. A world where the strong rule over the weak. Well, I'll say for the Wild Villains, we are very interested in what kind of world that would be, and we would like to be on the winning side of that equation."

"Well, that depends," Slice raised an eyebrow, "is your quirk strong?"

"I'd like to believe it is."

"Well," The taller man with the volcano motif huffed, "I still got my reservations - but if the Consortium can get us the means to get stronger, then fuck it, we'll join up."

"It isn't that simple," Nine raised an eyebrow, "we do have a recruitment phase. Which … well, I believe you all will have some fun with."

"That right?"

"That is right. The public eye has been off of us for a while now - as of right now, the Villain Consortium, in the eyes of the public, are old news." Nine sighed as he stood up, still a bit shaky from his outburst from before. "Which means that we have the time and effort to start making new alliances and starting our new plans. The Villain Consortium isn't some random gang you can join up with with no strings attached - we have a backer who is very interested in our success, who wants us to unify the villain population under a single banner. Work with us, and you will all receive positions of importance in our new world. Of course, we don't just let anyone join us - there's a test that you will have to pass."

The six villains glanced between each other - or at least, the five did, as the woman with short white hair continued to stare blankly ahead - and then, finally, they all nodded in agreement as they turned back towards the leader of the Consortium as he nodded, and then gestured to Kurogiri.

"We'll have you brought to our base of operations," He confirmed as Kurogiri opened the warp gate on the other side of the bar, "so that you can all inspect the Trigger, if that's one of the reasons you're here for. Chimera will be the one to oversee your applications - follow his orders, and succeed, and you'll find yourselves in a comfortable position in the Consortium."

Nodding again, the six villains turned to enter the portal, hesitating only for a moment before stepping through. Chimera let out a grunt as he put out his cigar and followed them, patting Mummy's arm and nodding to Nine as he went through the warp gate last, and finally, Kurogiri closed it, leaving Nine, Slice, Mummy, Camie, Giran and the warp gate in the bar.

With a sigh, Nine turned to sit back down at the bar, Slice sliding up against him and leaning against his arm, and he let out a small sigh as he tapped his finger against the counter as he stared up at the ceiling.

"So," Slice smirked, "do you think they'll be able to pass the test?"

"Not sure," Nine shook his head, "some of them seem strong. Others … not so much." He turned to aim a look at Giran. "Truly scraping at the bottom of the barrel, eh, Giran?"

"Well," Giran chuckled, "not necessarily. Some of 'em might be able to pass, but … well, there was something else I thought you'd be interested in."

Reaching into his coat pocket, he pulled out a business card, sliding it down the bar towards Nine as he scooped it up, reading the number on the card with narrowed eyes.

"Got that from a pro hero," He smirked, "who's got some connections in the underworld. Apparently, you're pretty popular, Mr. Consortium Leader - you've got villains in high places asking for meetings. Just thought I wouldn't bring it up in front of the new recruits, didn't want to make them feel inadequate."

Nine read the message a few times over, his face falling slightly as Slice leaned over his shoulder to read what it said - and then he let out a small sigh, nodding slightly as he reached into his coat pocket, and pulled out the tight wad of yen he had secured there, sliding it across the bar to Giran, who nodded in satisfaction and scooped it up to begin counting.

"You've done good work, Giran," Nine acknowledged, "keep at it, and you may find yourself with a secure position in the new world we plan to make."

"How kind of you."

"Now then - it seems like we'll be getting to work sooner than I expected. If this number is legitimate, an alliance between them and us would benefit us greatly - but we'll have to proceed with caution. Slice," He turned to her as she straightened up, "you'll be working with Giran to find any villain that may be lurking under the radar. Promise them wealth, power, Trigger, yourself if you have to - anything that might lure them to our side. As for who we discussed …"

"… I'll find him," Slice muttered, frowning, "I'm looking."

"Good. Mummy," He looked over at the man as he leaned against the table, "you'll be taking over holding down the Trigger barrels for Chimera - he'll be busy recruiting the new villains."

"Oh! What about me?" Camie raised her hand interestingly. "You got something for me?"

"Perhaps," Nine tilted his head, glancing back towards the screen with the sports festival still ongoing, "I just need to wait to see how this resolves."

He then turned to Kurogiri, who was watching Nine carefully behind the bar as he rinsed out a glass.

"You," Nine smirked, "return to your master, and the doctor. Tell them that I'm ready for another session. I'd like two additional slots, this time."

"Very well, Nine." Kurogiri bowed his head. "All For One will be pleased."

With that, he turned away from the bar to head into the backroom, while Slice kissed Nine's cheek and walked over to begin speaking with Giran, and Camie went back to playing with her quirk. Nine let out a small sigh as he leaned back against the counter, and flipped back over the card to read over the message again.

 

To the Villain Consortium,

I've heard rumors of your mission, and your plan for a world where the strong are ruled by the weak. While our interests may not entirely align, I believe that there's enough common ground between us to potentially consider an alliance. Call the number on the back of this card to schedule a meeting, and the leaders of our organization can meet yours to discuss this new world order you'd like to create.

Regards,

Re-Destro, Grand Commander of the Meta Liberation Army


"You, return to your master, and the doctor. Tell them that I'm ready for another session. I'd like two additional slots, this time."

"Very well, Nine. All For One will be pleased."

Standing right outside the bar, the woman leaning against the wall with the support item pressed into her ear let out a worried hum, biting her lip gently before she finally shook her head and moved her face away from the brick wall. Stealing a fearful glance down both ways of the alley, she quickly began walking - she didn't see anyone, of course, but she knew that if she got caught listening in by anyone coming to and from this bar, it'd be bad for multiple reasons, but because of her … unique appearance due to her quirk, it'd be particularly bad if she got seen.

And … she needed to reach out to the leader. This was bad. This was very … very … bad.

Exiting the alleyway and hurrying down the street, careful to mind anyone that might be beneath her, she quickly stuffed the listening device the leader had given her back into her pocket and pulled out her phone, her eyes flickering around nervously as she began texting.

 

YOU

got what we need

it's bad

heading to rendevous

 

GV

Excellent, my dear!

I'll be waiting for you there

 

Nodding quickly, she put her phone back into her pocket and quickly hurried her pace, hoping she didn't look like she was fleeing or that she was standing out as she let out a small "Please, excuse me!" as she moved around a few of the people walking down the street. She, of course, tried to ignore some of the men and women she passed sending dirty looks her way, one person muttering, "Fucking muttie," as she hurried past, but she tried to push past it - she knew that this was a rough neighborhood, so hearing dirty growling about her size or how she looked was something HQ had let her know before she had gotten there.

Hurrying through the streets as fast as she could, she finally found the alleyway she had been looking for - glancing down it, she let out a small sigh of relief when she saw what looked to be a crudely drawn teacup on the wall, as though whoever had done it had been in a hurry.

Checking both ways before she moved in - and wincing when she saw two police officers standing close by, obviously glancing at how shifty she was being - she didn't hesitate to quickly walk into the alleyway, clutching her hands together and looking around for what she was looking for. Slowing her pace, she began hesitantly kicking around, not seeing anything at first as she let out a small shiver of nervousness - and then, just as she approached the alley wall, her foot felt it.

Eyes widening, she quickly looked down, seeing nothing at first, before she hesitantly stepped back down again, and, to her relief, saw the concrete ground sink in. As though … 

Letting out a deep breath, she closed her eyes - and then, before she had a chance to think, quickly hopped up and down onto the wobbly ground. At once, almost as though it were a trampoline, the ground sank to take in her weight, and then bounced her right up - far higher than she had expected, the large woman letting out a small yelp and waving her arms frantically as she flew up past the building. She then felt another invisible force suddenly hit her butt, making her squeak as she was bounced on an angle right up onto the roof of the building, where her … partner, as he had called himself, was waiting.

And … not paying attention at all.

"… and then," The man laughed as he leaned against the air ventilator on the roof, his finger on the earpiece as he smiled happily, one hand smoothing out his moustache, "when the young man and I had gotten over to the edge of the port, we had been interrupted by the police officers there! Of course, I managed to easily give them the slip, but it was a bit hairy there!"

There was the muffled sound of squealing that she could hear even over on the edge of the roof, dusting herself off and shaking slightly from the panic of being so far up in the air.

"Oh, my lovely La Brava, I imagined we could have had so many views had you recorded it! Alas …"

"U-um -" She managed to finally get out, moving her clawed hands to her knees and panting raggedly as she tried to calm down from her small panic attack. Thankfully, he finally noticed her standing there, his eyes with the black makeup there widening in delight.

"Ah! If you'll excuse me, my dear, my temporary partner is finally here! I should go and make sure we got the information we needed."

"…"

"H-huh?" His fake British accent slipped for a moment, his eyes widening a bit in panic. "Oh, of - of course you are my main partner, La Brava. Of course, silly girl! Don't think for an instant that I would trade you for anyone in the world!"

"…"

"Er - yes. Yes. I understand. Yes."

"…"

He paused for a moment, glancing at the girl with him as his cheeks went a bit red - and then he quickly turned, putting his hand up to his mouth to mutter, "Yes, I love you too, dear."

With that, he finally moved his hand away from his ear to throw out his arms, whirling around and smiling brightly at the young woman who was awkwardly moving away from the edge of the room after she had stolen a small glance down, squeaked in fear again, and wanted to get as far away from it as possible.

"My apologies!" Gentle cheerfully said to her as he took a step forward, his black coat blowing in the wind. "La Brava distracted me with a few photos of our previous adventures before we joined up with the resistance. Still, I assume your mission was successful, my dear Ippan?"

"K-kinda," She shook her head, looking down at the shorter man who only came up to her waist, showing him the worry in her eyes, "it's bad. It's really, really bad. We need to get back to leader so he can know what's going on - the Villain Consortium is moving way faster than he anticipated."

"Very well!" Gentle bowed a bit, looking around. "He's been busy getting ready for the convoy tonight - from what La Brava was telling me, Knuckle and Kugisaki's plane from China will be arriving tonight, and they'll be waiting to pick them up. That, and Miss Haneyama's concert will only keep the crowd's attention on her for so long - we'll need to be ready. Come along, my dear - the Gentle Vigilante will get you home quickly and safely!"

Nodding timidly, she stepped beside him and allowed him to take her large hand, squeezing her eyes shut tightly in fear as they both jumped together at the same time, Gentle using his quirk underneath them to begin bouncing them through the air towards their headquarters. Still, she had to swallow her fear so that she could get back and tell them what was happening - within the span of an afternoon, their fears were not only confirmed, they were about to be amplified by a thousand.

Nine was going to get more quirks. All For One was going to help them. And the Villain Consortium … they were moving forward with plans far earlier than their leader had theorized they would.

Which meant … they needed to hurry. Before it was too late.

Notes:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827966679253516318/1124515551033696436/SPOILER_so_hot_right_now.png
And that was Chapter 30! My apologies for being a bit late, and for this chapter just being another oner - things were a bit hectic yet again this month, but hopefully going into the next batch will have a few updates with another fic!

And my, oh my, were we busy this chapter! From Shouto's introspective and denial of his feelings, confirmation of Daikoku being a tool, Endeavor being a tool, Shinsou being a tool (and getting fucked immediately), to Itsuka and Nejire finally bonding, to Mineta getting beat to hell and back, to Izuku standing up to Katsuki with no time for him, to Curious being curious, to our trio *finally* getting on the same foot relatively speaking, to Monoma getting fucked, to Nine developments adding questions to how human he really is, to more members of the Consortium, to Nine getting a special message and deciding to speed up his development, to our favourite Ordinary Woman making an appearance, and finally, Gentle arriving, less criminal and more vigilante!

... *pant* *pant* *pant* Jesus Christ, a lot happened this chapter.

In any case, thank you guys for reading! Coming up next, the battle you've all been waiting 30 chapters for - Izuku/Ochako vs Katsuki! Hope you're all ready for a *cool* time!

Chapter 31: Sparks, Shadows, Explosions and Gravity

Summary:

The time has come - Izuku and Ochako vs Katsuki and Fumikage. As the audience holds its breath for what will probably be the bloodiest match of the sports festival, Nejire is in for a few unexpected developments, Yui faces something she wasn't ready for, and Itsuka takes a step.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"That …" Ochako practically trembled in excitement, "… that was amazing, you guys! You were barely out there for two minutes before you won!"

"Yeah," Itsuka chuckled a bit sheepishly, glancing back down at her hand and raising her eyebrow slightly, "I, uh, didn't expect him to go down that easily. I just kinda …" She straightened her hand back out and brought it up and down through the air, "… chopped him to death? I guess?"

"I - I suppose so," Izuku smiled a bit weakly as both his training partner and Nejire entered the tunnel, the blue-haired girl hopping up and down briefly to get out all of her excitement, "still, uh - you both were great out there!"

Indeed, the fourth round of their sports festival had just concluded, and both Itsuka and Nejire couldn't help but be in high spirits, running back to the tunnel to greet Izuku and Ochako happily. For her part, Itsuka looked more alive than she had been all day long, beaming happily as she raised her hands to give her two best friends a big high five, while Nejire looked like she was three seconds from bouncing around the walls in glee as she raised both of her hands to Ochako for a high ten. To tell the truth, it was Itsuka's enthusiasm that infected their small group - she looked far more alive than she had been all day long, looking at both Izuku and Ochako with such obvious happiness it was making both of them blush slightly, although they could nothing else but beam right back.

Out in the ring, they could make out Monoma being wheeled into a tunnel by two robots to Recovery Girl's office, his butt still sticking out in the air. Mina, meanwhile, waved her hands around while still giving the audience a big, albeit slightly clenched smile as she ducked back down the tunnel and out of sight. Now that the first rounds had been concluded, the teachers were giving the audience a ten minute break before the next batch, to give everyone coming up a bit of time to recover from the fights and get ready for more. That, of course, and give the contestants a bit of breathing room so that they could organize their plans and get ready for the next two fights. It was so close to the end, and everyone was nervous to see who would be facing each other in the finals.

"Weren't we? Weren't we awesome?!" Nejire gushed, clenching her hands into fists and turning to grin happily at Itsuka. "I thought Itsuka was super awesome out there, too! Wailing on that air shield and then our cool thingy where she ducked under me and grabbed Ashido and threw her out of the ring! She was super cool, wasn't she?!"

"Er - y-yeah, she was," Izuku smiled awkwardly, turning to Itsuka, "uh - speaking of Ashido, is - is she okay?"

"Oh, yeah, she'll be fine," Itsuka confirmed, "she just burned her hands a little by accident. She's just going to zip over to Recovery Girl's office and maybe get them looked at before she goes back upstairs to the rest of the class."

"Right." He slowly nodded, looking away from the three of them and letting his shoulders sink a bit. Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire looked around at him as he raised a hand to brush his hair back. "That's … that's good."

"Deku?" Ochako blinked. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine, Occhan," He bit his lip slightly as his face fell, "it's just …"

There was a brief moment's pause, and then he fully slumped over.

"… I just … kinda realized that we have to go up against Kacchan now. That just - it just came to me."

The three girls collectively winced again as Izuku looked back up at them with a weak smile, and Ochako likewise felt her eyes widen.

"Oh," She said simply, "right. Shit. Forgot we - we had to do that."

"Yeah …" Izuku then turned to look down at his hands in obvious frustration, "… and I still have no idea what's going on with my quirk. N-not to mention that I - I probably made him angry when I told him to fuck off earlier, so we'll have to deal with -"

"Wait, what?" Itsuka interrupted him, feeling her jaw drop slightly as Ochako likewise spun around to look at him in shock. "You told Bakugou to - to fuck off? Seriously? When was this?"

"Yeah, he was … he was trying to stop me from getting to you guys earlier, so he could interrogate me about my quirk not working," Izuku shook his head, "and I was … a bit on the edge, so I just - it kinda slipped out. And now he's probably going to be angry at both of us once we get out into the arena."

He was staring down at his feet in shame, probably regretful of his loss of control, so he completely missed both Ochako and Itsuka staring at him in shock, and wonder. And … definitely something not so innocent, Nejire observed with a raised eyebrow as both girls blushed a bit again. Honestly, though, the blue-haired girl could hardly blame them - hearing Izuku telling the guy being a jerk to everyone to screw off made her subtly lick her lips, trying to think of how confident Izuku had been earlier in the waiting room and wondering how she could possibly get that confidence out of him again.

Fortunately for the three practically drooling girls, Ochako was quick to shake herself out of it first, smacking her cheeks and then reaching out to pat Izuku's shoulder to get his attention back on her.

"W-we'll figure it out, Deku," She promised, "we've got about ten minutes before the next match, don't we? In that case, let's head somewhere else and see if we can figure out what's going on with your quirk. Itsuka, do you wanna -?"

"Yeah, I'll come too," She confirmed, nodding and glancing over at Nejire, "three heads might be better than two, honestly, and you did just help me out with my quirk stuff, Izuku - I can try to return the favor. Uh - Nejire, do you wanna come with, too?"

"I'd love to!" Nejire happily said - and then she sighed and shook her head, surprising the other three as she took a step back. "But … well, I wanna go check on Yuuyu now that I have the time. I bet she'll be out of the ice and all recovered by this point, so I wanna at least walk her over to the stairs. But I'll meet up with you guys later! Okay?"

Nodding in agreement, the trio waved to her and began making their way down the hallway towards somewhere they could brainstorm, Izuku quickly whipping back out his notebook to start writing in it. Ochako, meanwhile, kept somewhat in the middle of her two training partners, looking like she was back to normal as well as she leaned over Izuku's shoulder to read something in the notebook, while Itsuka let out a small giggle at the both of them, and they soon turned around the corner and vanished from sight, the sound of their light chatting fading away.

As soon as the trio were all out of view, Nejire smiled happily after them, and let out another small hop at her joy that they seemed to be getting back to normal. Spinning on her heel, she started making her way over to where she knew Recovery Girl had set up shop. They had about ten minutes before Izuku and Ochako's match with Katsuki and Fumikage, and then after that would be their turn against Shouto and Momo.

But she also knew Izuku was making them a page with a few notes about their opponents' quirks. So once she and Itsuka had that, they could make a plan. No, she didn't have to think about that right now.

Right now, all she wanted to do was go over everything that had happened in the last two hours, and how much fun she had finally becoming proper friends with Itsuka! And probably go through the excitement of everything Itsuka revealed to her!

Honestly, she hadn't expected their conversation to have gone in the direction it did when she and Itsuka had gone to sit down and talk in that room. She had initially only wanted to hear more about … whatever One for All was, Nejire tilted her head slightly as she started walking through the halls. It wasn't like she'd just forgotten about it, it was just that Itsuka had asked for a little break from all the madness today had brought her, and Nejire had agreed. She was still super curious about it, though!

She was especially curious about who Itsuka had been talking to about it during lunch time - they had been behind Recovery Girl's door, so Nejire hadn't been able to see who it was. She had thought initially that whoever it was had sounded like All Might's voice, but it wasn't as bold or confident or 'ha ha ha' as she knew her teacher's voice sounded like. So - well, she would just have to ask about it another time.

Maybe, if Itsuka came to her again, like when she had during that time when they had gone to Gym Gamma to -

- wait a sec.

"… and when I hit the mountain, I ended up shattering it. I wasn't … aware that I could use my quirk with that much power, but it ended up breaking every bone in my arm."

Blinking, Nejire slowed her step, staring forward for a moment as a realization came to her. Wait - was One for All her volume thingy? The thingy she had come to ask Nejire about? Maybe it was!

That made sense, she guessed - that conversation with Itsuka back in Gym Gamma a few weeks ago had been a little odd, honestly. Like Itsuka had been trying to tell her stuff without really telling her stuff, trying to hold back all the details. So maybe … well, if One for All was her volume control thingy, then maybe Nejire had been helping her out with One for All all along!

That was a good thing, right? She thought so, at least!

Smiling with pride at her unexpected accomplishment, Nejire picked back up her step, humming excitedly to herself. She'd honor Itsuka's request to ask her about it at a less stressful time, of course, when it wasn't so busy, but she still wanted to know more about One for All! But she was okay with leaving it alone for now - especially since Itsuka already had another thing to worry about.

But … honestly, who could blame her for being excited about that as well? Nejire felt like practically swooning as she started skipping down the halls towards where Yuuyu might be. It was pretty clear, after that long conversation, that Itsuka was crushing on both her friends - wait, no, no, she shook her head. Not crushing. What she had seen from her new official friend was more than that.

She was in love with them both. Itsuka Kendou was in love with Izuku Midoriya and Ochako Uraraka at the same time.

And that excited her! It was romantic! She could totally see it! For all three of them!

Nejire let out a small giggle as she happily skipped. Hopefully, their alone time before and now would get some things moving forward just a tad bit - she wasn't going to go and pressure Itsuka into making a move, of course, not when she was so clearly tired and drained from the day. But she had meant what she said, too - Itsuka shouldn't force herself to sit on these feelings of hers, she should act on them. She should be kissing Izuku and/or Ochako stupid, not sitting off to the side all sad! That was sad to think about, so Nejire would make sure it didn't happen.

Even if … well, Nejire felt her smile fade a bit, even if she had to maybe make a bit of a sacrifice on her part. Itsuka talking to her friends about her feelings would somewhat complicate Nejire's whole situation with Izuku, of course - but that would have to be a risk she'd have to take.

Honestly, she knew Itsuka had her reservations when it came to her, Nejire and Ochako crushing on Izuku at the same time, but … well, Nejire didn't really see the problem, honestly. Honestly, even if Izuku was the guy she was crushing hard on, the idea of Izuku and Itsuka getting together didn't inspire any jealousy from her. Nor did the idea of Izuku and Ochako getting together, either - she saw the chemistry between the three of them, and she had no intentions of getting in the way of that.

Well … maybe not purposefully getting in the way, Nejire considered. Even if she was okay with Itsuka making a move on Izuku, that didn't necessarily mean that Nejire was just going to give up on her crush. She wanted another date, and by god, she was going to get it! Although, if Izuku and Itsuka got together, or Izuku and Ochako got together, and they decided that they were going to be monogamous … well, Nejire wouldn't argue about it, she pouted.

It would suck, and it would probably hurt her feelings, but she wouldn't try to shove her way in.

Still … it was cute, she smiled as she moved around another corner. It was cute to see how hard Itsuka had fallen for her training partners, seeing her blush brightly and look sheepish when she had admitted to Nejire all the private thoughts she had about the two. Itsuka was a cutie, now that Nejire was thinking about it - and not just because she was beautiful, and had a body that would normally make Nejire tremble at the knees.

She could tell that, initially, Itsuka had been on her guard about Nejire - and it made sense now, she realized, if Itsuka had been jealous of her getting closer to Izuku, she would keep her at arms length. But the fact that she had never done anything jealousy-related meant that Itsuka had at least enough control to shove them down. And she was kind, and thoughtful. And fun to talk to, and made Nejire feel as happy to talk to someone besides Yuuyu that Izuku did.

And cute. Very cute. Adorable. And had a booty that Nejire kind of wanted to pinch!

… wait.

Nejire felt herself slow to a stop, blinking slightly as her head turned to the side. Where had that thought come from? It was true, of course, but where had it come from? Itsuka did have a very nice butt, that was pretty much a fact (she overheard Denki and Yostetsu talking about it under their breaths one time during break, with Yosetsu kind of blushing when talking about Momo, and both of them had shut up at once when she had gotten closer), and she was good looking, of course! 

And … well, Nejire knew that Itsuka was a cutie. She was beautiful, and confident, and her chest was almost as big as Nejire's, although not as big as Momo's, and had such full, kissy lips, and a butt that looked really nice in a skirt, and …

… and …

… and these were … not very platonic thoughts.

… thoughts for later, Nejire decided then and there with a touch of redness on her face. Itsuka had enough on her plate at the moment, Nejire didn't need to dump anything else on her right now. But these were thoughts that needed to be explored!

Later.

Maybe in her room.

When alone.

Maybe.

Besides, as she turned around the corner, she saw Recovery Girl's office at the end of the hall, and she felt her smile widen. She put her thoughts quickly aside - whether they be One for All, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka's relationship, or the fact that Itsuka was a hottie (cutie! She was a cutie! Nejire thought frantically as she quickly shook her head), and quickly skipped over to the door.

Once she got up there, she knocked rhythmically against the door, straining to try and hear anything inside the room - while also acknowledging, with a bit of shame, that this wouldn't be the first time today she was snooping outside the nurse's office - but thankfully this time, she heard footsteps approaching, which allowed her to back up before someone swung the door open and hit her in the face.

"Oh," Himiko blinked as she spotted Nejire, the smirk she always had on her face widening slightly as she leaned against the door, holding a white juice box in her hand, "well, look who it is - a cutie."

"Hi, senpai!" Nejire happily greeted her, ignoring how blatantly Himiko was looking up and down her while licking her lips, accepting that her horny senpai was probably always going to check her out whenever she came by. "I was wondering if Yuuyu was doing okay? And if she could move? And maybe if she could have someone hang out with her for a bit? It can't be for very long, though, because my next match is coming up soon and that means I'll have to get ready for it, but I wanted to make sure Yuuyu was okay before I went back. Say, what are you drinking?" She pointed to the juice box in Himiko's hand. "I don't recognize that kind of juice - does it taste good? Is there any I could try? Or maybe not, if you don't want me to drink your stuff?"

Himiko slowly blinked at the utter barrage of questions that had just been thrown at her, her smirk fading somewhat in confusion - and then it returned full force as she giggled a bit mischievous, and held the box up.

"What, this?" She giggled, shaking the small juice box and holding it out. "Oh, it's super good. Do you wanna have a taste? If you don't mind indirect kisses, of course."

"Ooh!" Nejire looked excited, reaching for the box. "Don't mind if I -"

WHAM

Before Nejire could take the box and have a sip, however, a cane shaped like a syringe suddenly slammed down hard on the top of Himiko's head, making her yelp as she was forced forward out the door, and Nejire quickly took a step back as Recovery Girl held her cane threateningly above her head, looking thunderous.

"Are you crazy?!" She barked at her assistant as Himiko whined and grabbed the top of her head with her free hand. "You would've let her drink that?! You're really trying my patience today, Toga!"

"I was just kidding, granny! I wasn't gonna actually give it to her! Goddamnit, woman, are you trying to give me a concussion?!"

"Hadou, please ignore whatever she was saying," Recovery Girl calmed down a bit as she turned to the confused Nejire, giving her a kind smile, "the box she has is specifically for her to drink - they contain blood for her quirk."

"Oh," Nejire blinked in realization, "oh, well, in that case, never mind! I don't need to have a sip of the forbidden juice. Nope, nope, nope."

"Good girl," Recovery Girl shook her head, smiling a bit at the innocent look on Nejire's face, "anyway, I believe I heard you say you were here for Haya?"

"Oh! Right! Yes, I was! Is she okay? Is she -?"

"Nej, I'm fine," A tired voice suddenly said from within the room, and the three of them looked around to see Yuuyu walking towards the door, wincing slightly and shivering as she kept the gray blanket wrapped around her, "just got turned into a freaking popsicle. Not the end of the world."

"That's a good mindset to have," Recovery Girl gave her a reassuring smile, reaching out and putting a few gummy bears in Yuuyu's hand, "you did as well as you could have, Haya. Now then, I'd advise you to go find someplace to sit and have a rest - I didn't use my quirk too much on you, but you should still relax for the rest of the day, and concentrate on trying to warm up."

"Yeah, I'll do that," She nodded, popping the pieces of gummy into her mouth, "thanks, doc."

With that, Yuuyu slid her way past the youthful heroine and the nurse so that she could stand outside in the hall with Nejire, turning to give Recovery Girl a small bow. The two girls watched as Recovery Girl made her way back inside, starting to reprimand Himiko for her prank again while the blonde girl whined and rubbed the top of her head where the elderly nurse had hit her, shutting the door behind her.

As the sound of their bickering was muffled by the door, Yuuyu turned to look at Nejire as she likewise spun around, smiling widely before launching herself at her best friend for a hug.

"Hi, Yuuyu!" She happily embraced her best friend, smiling when she felt Yuuyu patting her back as best she could. "Are you okay? Are you feeling cold? Well, obviously you're cold since you got frozen and have a blanket now, so that was kind of a dumb question. But are you feeling any warmer? I know Midoriya and Uraraka weren't really warm until they went to the showers, do you need to take a hot shower? I mean, not that I think you stink, but -"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Yuuyu finally took a step back from her best friend, trying to fight down a small blush as Nejire likewise stepped back, "and I'm fine, Nej. Just need to relax under the sun for a bit, maybe nap. What about you? How did your match go?"

"Pretty good! We kicked booty! Anyway, do you want me to walk you back upstairs?" Nejire gave her a concerned look, "Or maybe just over to the stairs? I've still gotta run back and meet up with Itsuka so we can go over our plan for the next match."

"Yeah," Yuuyu nodded, "stairs sounds fine, Nej. Let's go."

"Okay!" Nejire clapped her hands happily together, and together, the two of them began walking together down the hallway towards the stairs.

While they walked together, Yuuyu seemed … well, uncomfortable would be the wrong word, but she was glancing at her best friend out of the corner of her eyes as she kept her hands in her pockets, the blanket around her dragging against the floor slightly like a cape while Nejire hummed happily to herself.

"So, uh …" She cleared her throat, "… where've you been all day, Nej? You kinda vanished after we got dismissed."

"Oh! Well," Nejire looked off to the side, "I went off with Itsuka, because I …"

Had to ask her about something top secret.

"… had stuff to talk about with her. After that, though, I was just kinda chilling out with her! She's really fun to talk to, you know."

"That right?" Yuuyu raised her eyebrow. "I kinda got the vibe that she didn't really like you all that much, Nej. Er - no offense."

"None taken!" Nejire shook her head with a giggle. "And no, she doesn't not like me! She likes me very much! But you're right that she was kinda acting weird around me, because I got to find out why!"

"Oh? And why's that?"

"She likes Midoriya!" Nejire giggled happily, continuing to walk towards the stairs with her best friend, unaware that Yuuyu had suddenly fallen silent. Although, she couldn't concentrate on that, what with how she faltered when she realized what she had just said, her hands quickly moving up to her mouth.

"I - oh, no, I shouldn't have said that!" She quickly stomped her foot, frustration at herself suddenly appearing. "I pinky-swore with her that I wouldn't say anything! Oh, man, what was I thinking?!"

"Nej, it's cool," Yuuyu said, although her voice had lost a bit of the enthusiasm that was there before, "I … kinda already knew that Kendou liked him. I mean … it was obvious."

"Wait, was it? That's surprising! I mean, I didn't know!"

"I mean, yeah, it - it was. So, uh …" Yuuyu tucked some of her pink hair behind her ear, trying not to sound too hopeful, "… Kendou liking Midoriya … you're cool with that?"

"I mean, I don't know why I wouldn't be!" Nejire giggled. "They'd be cute, wouldn't they?"

"I guess." Yuuyu tried to look nonchalant, even if her back suddenly straightened up a bit as she stole another glance at her best friend. "So, uh … well, I - I guess that's … pretty mature of you, Nej. Hearing that Kendou likes - y'know - y-yeah, you know what I mean. So I guess you - you wanna help her out."

"I … guess so?" Nejire questioned slightly, not entirely sure what her best friend meant but still smiling softly. "I mean, yeah, I'd love it if they got together. They'd be adorable together."

"Y-yeah, I - sure."

"Well, I think so! Like, I don't know why I didn't see it at all at first! Like, they're super best friends, and they do everything together, and - yeah!"

"Uh-huh. Sure." Yuuyu cleared her throat - unknown to Nejire, what she had heard had loosened up the tense feeling in her shoulders a bit, glancing over at her. "Uh … a-anyway, Nej, I … I guess this is the time I should ask … uh …"

"Hm?" Nejire hummed, glancing around at her curiously, "What's up, Yuuyu?"

"You …" Yuuyu looked away, which was a good thing, since Nejire would've seen the look on her face and wondered why she looked like she was about to swallow her tongue, "… like … Midoriya, don't you?"

Nejire blinked a bit at the question, thinking it a bit out of nowhere, but still, she shrugged a bit as a small, bashful smile appeared on her face after a moment.

"Uh … yeah," She nodded, "I do. Was it obvious, Yuuyu?"

"Yes," She decided to say bluntly, with Nejire having no idea how hard her heart was starting to beat harder and harder as they made their way down the hall together, "but … well, if Kendou might be making a play for Midoriya, and - and you support it, I - I guess this means …"

Nejire tilted her head curiously.

"… you're, uh … you're giving up on him?" Yuuyu managed to get out, trying as hard as she could not to sound like she was praying she was. "Maybe?"

"Huh?" Nejire felt her brow wrinkle a bit, giving Yuuyu a confused look for a moment before she looked back around for the door to the stairway. "Oh, no, I'm not giving up on Midoriya."

She nodded a bit at her own answer, glancing around for a moment before she finally found the door for the stairs. Letting out a small noise of happiness, she quickly walked over to it so that she could hold the door open for her best friend to walk upstairs to where their classes were seated. However, it was only when she reached the door that she looked around at where Yuuyu was and … realized she wasn't there anymore.

Blinking in confusion, Nejire quickly looked around, and felt her brows furrow in confusion when she saw that Yuuyu had stopped walking a few paces back, staring at Nejire like she had grown a second head - and she was kind of upset about it, for some reason.

"Uh … Yuuyu?" Nejire called to her. "You okay? Why did you stop walking? Wait, are you so cold that you froze in place? I mean, that doesn't make much sense, but I'm not sure how Todoroki's quirk works exactly, so -"

"You're not giving up on Midoriya?"

Nejire found herself falling silent at the quiet question coming from her best friend. But before she could answer, Yuuyu started moving again, quickly hurrying to Nejire, who blinked at how shocked and hurt her best friend looked.

"You - you're not giving up on him?" She repeated as she stopped just short of her friend. "But - but you said that - that you wanted Kendou to ask him out. If - if you want them to get together, then - then why -?"

"I - well, I didn't say that I wouldn't!" Nejire quickly told her, not entirely sure why her best friend was looking so worked up.

"You - but -"

"I mean, I was - I was gonna talk to Itsuka about it later, when we weren't so busy and she wasn't all stressed," Nejire smiled a bit awkwardly, "but - well, I was thinking - I mean, I did encourage her to go for it, but I was also thinking of asking him for a date later, too! Our date last time got interrupted when Itsuka found Eri, but it's not like I didn't mind at the time, I understood! But I was thinking, maybe I could ask him to go see that romcom I've been looking at the last few days? The one that's coming out soon? I was thinking of asking him to come with me to see it!"

Yuuyu fell silent at last, staring at her indubiously while her expression fell.

"But those are plans for later!" Nejire hummed, looking away from Yuuyu for a moment as she thought. "Maybe … well, I know that they're probably alone right now - actually, wait, no they're not, Uraraka's there too. But that's a whole thing to figure out another time! I still need to figure out how to -"

"You should probably stay away from Midoriya."

That quiet statement from Yuuyu finally yanked Nejire out of her contemplative mood, making her blink as she realized what exactly her best friend had said. Nejire stared at the wall for a moment, her eyes fluttering slightly, before she finally turned to look at Yuuyu, seeing the pink-haired girl staring down at the floor with such an obvious frown, Nejire would've normally commented on it at once.

She would have, if not for finally registering what Yuuyu had said.

"… huh?" She stared at Yuuyu in confusion. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean …" Yuuyu hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head and looked over at Nejire with that same frown, "… d-doesn't it bother you? Knowing he's got like - like three girls lined up for him? I - like - I know you like him, and - and Kendou does too, and Uraraka probably does, that's - that's obvious. A-and you mentioned a few weeks ago that Toga-senpai seemed to be hitting on him too. That's - that's kinda sketchy, isn't it?"

"Uh … is it?" Nejire tilted her head. "W-what about it is sketchy?"

"Like …" She bit her lip, "… like he's … playing them. I mean - like - c'mon, what kind of guy does that, Nej? He took you out on a date, and then he - he was gonna ditch you to go help Kendou out with Eri. A-and then he goes and hangs out with Kendou and Uraraka all the time, and leaves you hanging? What kind of guy does that?"

"I … I don't know …"

"And - and if I'm being honest, he - he kinda gives me the creeps," She looked uncomfortable with admitting that, although it didn't stop her from going on, "always muttering under his breath about something or another. I just - I don't know, Nej, maybe - maybe if he's gonna be hanging around Kendou, you should - you should take this chance to give him some space. Like - let him sort that shit out, and -"

"W-well, I - I don't think it's a bad thing!" Nejire quickly protested, unaware of Yuuyu's fist clenching at her side. "I mean - I - I don't mind if Midoriya flirts with Kendou or Uraraka, that doesn't - it doesn't bother me."

"Why not?" Yuuyu challenged, feeling her voice dropping as she got worked up. "Why aren't you bothered about it, Nej? Isn't it fucked up to flirt with three or four separate girls at the same time?"

"I - well -"

"Because to me," Yuuyu scowled, "it makes him a dirtbag."

"H-hey!" Nejire suddenly pouted, looking adorable but still angry. "He's not a dirtbag! He's nice, and - and kind, and -"

"And you've only had like - only two conversations with him that were one on one," Yuuyu rolled her eyes, "just because he's nice to you during those conversations, doesn't mean he isn't an asshole behind the scenes."

"W-what's with you, Yuuyu?" Nejire balled her own fists now. "You're being mean!"

"Yeah?" She huffed, glaring over at her best friend. "Well, I am mean, Nej. Nothing new. And I'm just calling out the facts."

"No, I mean - you're being really rude! Midoriya's our friend -"

"He's your friend," Yuuyu scowled, "I never said anything about him being my friend."

Nejire sputtered a bit at that, watching as Yuuyu suddenly turned towards the door and opened it up, blinking as Yuuyu gathered the blanket up around her shoulders so it would drag against the floor, and stomped up into the stairwell.

"You're free to think about it," Yuuyu spat at Nejire as the blue-haired girl spun around where her friend was standing, "but I know how much of a tool he really is. He's playing with your feelings, Nej, just like he's playing with Uraraka and Kendou's feelings. What, do you think no one's noticed he's been flirting with his two 'training partners' this whole time? Fuck, the only one who hasn't noticed is Iida, and that's because he's got the social skills of a goldfish."

"I - that's mean, Yuuyu!" Nejire accused her again, almost stomping after her as Yuuyu turned to walk into the stairwell. "I don't know why you're -"

"Nej," Yuuyu suddenly whirled around again, showing Nejire the anger on her face - and the tears in her eyes, making Nejire falter slightly, "do me a solid. Figure out what the hell you're doing before you get hurt, because you aren't gonna be able to come crying to me about it this time."

With that, she grabbed the door and slammed it right in Nejire's face, making the blue-haired girl flinch slightly as she took a step back. Nejire blinked rapidly for a moment as she heard Yuuyu storming up the stairs - and then she let out a small growl, stomping her foot against the floor and glaring at where her best friend had been. Whipping around so fast her hair swung and hit her right in the face, Nejire started stalking back down the hallway away from where Yuuyu had been, positively fuming.


Of course, what neither girl had noticed during their argument was that they … hadn't exactly been alone. Standing around the corner, another girl peaked out again to make sure that Nejire was properly gone, and then she let out a small sigh as she moved back around the corner, leaning against the wall and nodding slowly to herself, her stoic expression unchanging.

"Well, that was awkward," Yui noted quietly to herself, before she nodded and began moving back down the hallways to start looking around again.

Indeed, Yui had not meant to eavesdrop on the conversation - or, more accurately, the argument between the two friends, only coming over when she had heard their voices rising and feeling intrigued. Of course, unlike Setsuna, she didn't quite care much to interfere with the potential gossip and drama, since the only one she was concerned with teasing was Itsuka. She had been more concerned with listening and seeing if the argument was going to end in a huff or with Yuuyu suddenly passionately kissing Nejire - but of course, Yuuyu had to go and pick the first one.

Still though, she noted how worked up Yuuyu had gotten about the conversation, and felt herself roll her eyes slightly. As though the love square Itsuka was involved in couldn't get more complicated, now there was an actual complication being thrown in there with the obvious, giant lesbian crush Yuuyu had on Nejire. And now it had the possibility of screwing up a few of the dynamics in their group, which would probably affect everyone else, including her.

But … but that wasn't important right now, she reminded herself. Right now, she wanted to find Tenya.

Feeling herself go a bit red, Yui hurried her pace, continuing to poke her head inside each room on the bottom floor in search of her friend. She had excused herself from the booth quite a while ago to go looking for Tenya and Izuku when neither of them had showed up, wanting a chance to stretch her legs - that, and get away from Tsuburaba and Kaibara coming over to hit on Setsuna, her best friend getting enough energy back to tease them. Yui had had enough of Hanta dully staring in their direction while sipping on his drink, so she had gotten up with the excuse of heading to the bathroom.

And of course, instead of going to the bathroom, she had quickly jogged through the halls so that she could head downstairs and find Tenya - and Izuku too, but, well, it sounded like he was with Itsuka at the moment, so he'd obviously be fine - and get the bespectacled boy back to the booth so they could watch the upcoming match together. Which … kind of honestly, she wasn't interested in watching.

… okay, that wasn't entirely true. It wasn't like Yui wasn't uninterested in the upcoming grudge match. She knew enough despite how vague Izuku and Ochako were about their pasts that there had to be some kind of history there with Katsuki, and it wasn't the good kind. And he was such a jackass, she'd love to see him brought down a peg. But Tenya had said he would come back up to the booth when the first match ended, and he just … didn't.

So that currently took priority over watching Katsuki get a lightning bolt to the face.

Besides … Yui couldn't help but feel her heartbeat accelerate in her chest as she looked around in the long hallways for her friend. Remembering clearly what they had agreed to back in the forest a few weeks ago.

"You don't have to give me a genuine answer until after the sports festival. I know that we're both supposed to be getting ready for that, and you don't need me distracting you. So we'll leave it as this - acknowledging us as being attracted to each other. And once the sports festival is done, we can talk about where we want our relationship to go from there."

"That's … y-yes, Kodai, that - that seems reasonable - I will - I will put some serious thought into how our r-relationship will progress after the sports festival."

Well … it was still technically the day of the sports festival, but … they were both out of the running, now. They were both done for the day. So there wasn't much stopping her from finding him and talking to him about it.

That … and definitely go to town on him for smacking her ass on live TV, Yui thought as she scowled, blushing. She already knew that she was going to be a laughing stock by the end of the weekend, because Setsuna had been cackling about the memes that were already popping up on their social medias. Tenya didn't even seem to realize he did it, which only added to her annoyance, but hopefully once she talked him into touching it a lot gentler than he did out in the forest, her annoyance could be pushed to the side.

Continuing to move through the halls, Yui pouted as she kept attempting to find the bespectacled boy she had come to fancy quite a bit, narrowing her eyes as she listened for his voice. Down each hall she went, once spotting Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka moving outside and deciding to leave them to their own devices, and then ignoring Shinsou as the lavender-haired boy punched a vending machine while ranting under his breath.

Eventually, she moved down another hallway far from the entrances to the field, hearing Present Mic start to monologue above her on the intercom, and finally, finally, she heard his voice. Straightening her back and looking around to a half-closed door, Yui hurried over towards it, taking a moment to fan the small blush on her face, and got ready to tease him for his moment of perversion.

But then, as she approached the door, Tenya's voice suddenly cut through her thoughts. And she felt her good mood falter at how …

off he sounded.

"Yes, I - I understand, Aizawa-sensei," She heard him muttering, in a voice so quiet she almost had to strain her ears to hear him, "and - and thank you again, thank you so much. I'll - my mother will let Midnight-sensei know more when we - yes. I - I understand. Thank you again."

Outside the door, Yui found herself pausing, unsure about what he was talking about - and why Tenya sounded like he was on the verge of a panic attack - but before she could think of what to do, she heard the sound of footsteps approaching the door. Before she could back up, it quickly swung inwards, showing Tenya standing there and blinking down at her as she took a step back.

Tenya looked … well, Yui wasn't sure what to make of it, but there was an expression on his face that she had never seen before, one that took her off guard and making her eyes widen just a tad bit. He looked … flustered, panicked, worried. He was breathing rather sharply, some of his hair shoved back as though he had roughly pushed it out of his face, and he was staring at her like he had never seen her before.

It was … it was almost like how he had looked at the USJ, but … but somehow, even worse. And that made Yui's heartbeat quicken.

But not for the reason she wanted.

"K-Kodai," Tenya managed to get out, which really didn't put her at ease, "I - what are you doing here?"

"Looking for you," She decided to answer honestly, although she didn't say it in a mean way or as an accusation, "we sent you and Midoriya our location almost an hour ago, and … you never showed up. I came looking for you - I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"I - I see," He nodded stiffly, quickly beginning to move around her as he shook his head, "and - and I am fine. My apologies, I was - I was trying to get ahold of Aizawa-sensei over the phone. I just - I have to leave early."

"Huh?" Yui blinked at the abruptness of that last sentence. "Leave? Like - leave the school?"

"Y-yes."

"I … I see," Yui reached out, touching his arm gently and making him jump as he looked back around at her, "Iida, what - what happened? Is everything okay?"

"I - I'm sorry, Kodai, but I can't - I can't get into it now," Tenya continued to look weirdly frazzled, taking another step away from her as she stared after him in that same stoic yet worried way, "just - please inform the rest of our classmates that I had to take an early leave, and that - that Aizawa-sensei is aware, and has given me permission to go."

"I - yeah, of course," Yui quickly nodded, taking another step after him, "but is everything okay, Iida?"

"… I …" Tenya hesitated again, looking so weirdly shaken, it made Yui feel like her stomach was clenching, "… like I said, Kodai, I - I can't go into it right now, but - but my brother -"

She felt her eyes widen.

"- something - happened," Tenya's eyes squeezed shut for a second before they opened again, "and - and he needs me. So I'm going to go and see him. Just - please inform our friends that I will not be here for the end of the festival, and - and please give my congratulations to whoever wins. I - I must be off now, I have to catch my train."

Without looking back at her again, he turned on his heel and began practically running down the hallway - something that made Yui's eyes widen even more. He … Tenya never ran down a hallway, and usually yelled at others who did it, like her or Setsuna if they were late getting back from lunch. So to see him taking off so fast, it made her …

… it made her feel worried, like her stomach was now filling with lead.

Something … happened to his brother? Ingenium? Yui found herself frowning slightly as she watched Tenya round the corner and vanish from sight, fighting down the sudden urge to run after him and make him tell her what exactly happened. She remembered that - that Tenya had said something before the sports festival had begun, about Tensei going off on a mission today, and that had been why Mina had recorded that message to him wishing him good luck.

If he was on a mission today, and Tenya had just gotten a call summoning him, and had to have him leave early, looking that worried …

… then whatever happened … it had to have been something bad.

Worry continuing to fill her, Yui bit her lip slightly, moving to the wall and leaning against it as she looked up at the ceiling, her mind racing. If Tensei had gotten hurt, then … then it made sense for Tenya to immediately head out. It was just … if his brother had gotten hurt, or … or worse …

"My brother is a likable hero, and leads his agency with unwavering adherence to rules and regulations. Truly, he's a beloved hero! It's my admiration for my brother that inspired my own desire to become a hero."

Ingenium-sensei, Yui thought as she looked up at the ceiling, I hope you're okay - for Iida's sake.


"…"

"…"

CLAP

As both Itsuka and Ochako's hands suddenly clapped right in his ears, Izuku let out a small yelp at the loud sound as he jumped about a mile high, his hand still pointing out at the forest - but still, no lightning shot out of his hands.

"Ah, man," Ochako groaned as she took a step back, allowing Izuku to rub both his ears while Itsuka likewise frowned, and both girls gave him an apologetic look as he looked around at them, "are you sure that's how Nighteye did it?"

"Kind of," Izuku shrugged, "he pretty much hit my back without warning, and - you know - boom."

"Yeah, but the problem is that you're pretty much expecting it," Itsuka grimaced, "so if you're anticipating us surprising you, then … I don't know."

"Me neither," He shook his head, putting his hands down at his sides and frowning down at his shoes, "just … okay, okay, there's - there's no use getting upset about it. We just … have to work around it, somehow. Like - like back during the battle trial."

"… that …" Ochako raised her eyebrow, "… you lost?"

"I mean, I wasn't expecting you to suddenly come crashing into me and send us both down the stairs," Izuku pouted at her, "that kind of derailed my plans."

"I guess," She was unable to stop herself from giggling slightly, while Itsuka merely shook her head with a smile as she looked back towards the tunnel.

"Well, I think we spent enough time out here as is," She gestured towards the entrance to the stadium, "the match is probably gonna start any time now. C'mon, let's head to the tunnel."

With twin sighs, Izuku and Ochako followed Itsuka back into the stadium, walking down the hallway while Izuku held his notebook in one hand and rubbed his eyes with the other. About five minutes had passed since their splitting off from Nejire, and Izuku had the idea of going outside to try and get the girls to surprise him into using his quirk - an idea that yielded absolutely no results, much to his growing frustration. He was still shivering slightly, and now feeling more than a little annoyed that hours had passed and he still felt cold from his time as a popsicle - especially since Ochako seemed to have completely warmed up, no shivering in sight at all from her time in Shouto's ice wall.

And … well, it was hard not to feel frustrated. He had no idea what was going on with his quirk, and that meant that he was about to walk into the one fight where he knew he needed it, completely defenseless - even if he still had his reservations about going up against someone and using his quirk. But … but it was Katsuki he was talking about, he shivered a bit. The one guy who would have reasons - both legitimate (Izuku telling him to fuck off) and petty (whatever the hell else reason he had to hate him) to want to ram his foot up Izuku's ass.

He was … pretty much going into this fight with just his fists and determination, and as much as he wanted to say it would be enough, he knew it wasn't going to be.

"So …" Ochako shook her head, sighing and stretching her arms above her head, "… okay, so if we can't make your quirk appear, I - I guess we'll just plan around it."

"How, though?" Izuku grumbled as he tucked his notebook away. "I … think we both know that I'm gonna need my quirk for this, Occhan."

"W-well, you still have the Full Gauntlet," She pointed out, reaching over to pat the red bracelet with her fingers, "so all else fails, you can … I don't know, punch Bakugou hard enough to knock him out."

Izuku was unable to stop himself from snorting a bit at that.

"Besides," Itsuka helpfully jumped in, "Midnight-sensei is also gonna be there, Izuku. She'll make sure Bakugou can't do anything too drastic - if he tries anything crazy, she'll stop him."

"So … that's the plan?" Izuku let out a small sigh, although he still smiled in amusement. "Wait until Kacchan does something super crazy, and pray Midnight-sensei will disqualify him?"

"Sounds good to me," Ochako giggled.

However, before the three of them could start taking things seriously again and try to think of a way to somehow get Izuku's flakey quirk to cooperate with them, they heard the sound of the intercom turn on above them. Blinking, the three friends paused their walking, looking up at it as Izuku felt his heart leap up into his throat.

"Midoriya, Uraraka, Tokoyami, Bakugou - please make your way to the stadium now."

Feeling himself begin to shake as Aizawa officially summoned the four of them, Izuku felt himself begin to sweat nervously, shaking in a mixture of shivering from Shouto's quirk being used on him, and nervousness as he realized that he really was screwed now. Before he could freak out, though, Ochako reached out, gently taking his arm and making him look around at her, seeing her give him a reassuring look even though her cheeks were red as well.

"Well … that's us, Deku," She gestured with her head down the hall, "let's get this over with."

"Y-yeah," He nodded stiffly, glancing around at Itsuka as she gave the both of them a worried look as well, and together, they continued walking down the hallway towards the tunnel that would lead into the stadium.

It didn't take them too long to get to the end of the tunnel that they would use to go to the ring, although the trip over there was quite quiet. Itsuka stayed behind her two friends a bit as both Izuku and Ochako marched towards what they were both probably considering their doom, with Izuku absently activating the Full Gauntlet to wrap around his arm while Ochako took several deep breaths to steady herself. As they moved towards the light that would lead out to the field, they could hear the sounds of the crowds cheering as Present Mic got back over the intercom, wanting to rile the people up for the next fight.

And then, as they got closer and closer to the end of the tunnel, Itsuka let out a sigh.

"Okay, uh - hold on, you two," She requested, making both of them stop walking forward. Izuku and Ochako looked around as their friend took a deep breath, and then opened her arms, her face turning a bit red.

"Before you head out there," She requested, "let's do one more group hug."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, his own cheeks turning pink, while Ochako looked around in flustered surprise.

"Another hug, please," Itsuka repeated, frowning, "you two are gonna be walking into a fight with an asshole we know is gonna try to hurt you as much as he can. I can get over my embarrassment for a few seconds. Now come over here and hug me."

The two best friends paused briefly, glancing between each other for a moment while being obviously taken aback (and embarrassed) by Itsuka's request. But still, they both nodded slowly, turning back to their training partner as she kept her arms open, obviously waiting for them to come back into her embrace. So, gulping very nervously, Izuku stiffly moved forward, ready to jump back at once in case this was some kind of trick, and Ochako likewise awkwardly moved around Izuku to hug Itsuka, the class rep wrapping her arms around both of them to hold them to her.

There was a small moment of silence between the three of them as they breathed out, Izuku awkwardly wrapping his arm around Itsuka's lower back as they listened to the cheering outside. And then Itsuka muttered, "I am … really scared for you two."

"I -" Izuku paused, and then let out a small, embarrassed sigh as her grip on him tightened slightly, "- yeah. I'm - I'm kinda scared, too."

"Yeah. So you two better be fucking careful out there, okay? I don't wanna have to jump into the ring and slam that asshole to the ground for you."

"We'll definitely try," Ochako giggled despite herself.

Itsuka let out a small hum at that, and finally moved her head back while keeping her arms around them. For a moment, the three glanced between each other, both Izuku and Ochako feeling themselves suddenly feel confused as Itsuka suddenly glanced between them with a blush. She slowly shook her head for a moment -

- and then she let out a small groan, and muttered, "Ah, fuck it."

"Uh …" Izuku felt his brow furrow as Itsuka took a deep breath, "… did you say something, Ken-"

But he wasn't able to finish that question, as the moment his mouth opened, Itsuka suddenly moved in. And before he could blink, Itsuka pressed her lips against his cheek, holding them there for a moment.

Before his brain registered what was happening, heat exploding onto his cheeks in almost record speed, Itsuka quickly moved back from his cheek, causing him to stare blankly forward for a moment before he whipped his wide-eyed, horrified gaze at her. Before he could ask, Itsuka suddenly turned to the shocked Ochako, who was standing there staring at the two of them in complete and utter mind blown silence, and then it was Izuku's turn for his jaw to drop as Itsuka leaned down and kissed her cheek as well.

Finally moving back, Itsuka quickly jumped out of the embrace and whipped around, her black hair briefly flying through the air and over her shoulder as both childhood friends stared at her back in shock.

"Now," Itsuka gulped, her bravery quickly abandoning her as she fully realized what she had just done, "kick that asshole in the dick."

With that, she all but ran back down the hallway away from the two of them, her arms pumping back and forth as she quickly speed-walked out of the tunnel, around the corner and out of sight. For a few moments, Izuku and Ochako continued to stare after where Itsuka had gone, Izuku subconsciously raising a hand to brush his cheek where Itsuka's lips had been -

- and then, with a sudden hot flare in his stomach and a loud buzzing noise, electricity suddenly burst out of Izuku's arms, covering him briefly in green lightning and causing the Full Gauntlet to charge up to a hundred percent a lot quicker than it usually did.

"Wagh!" Ochako yelped in surprise as she whipped around, feeling her eyes widen as Izuku squeaked and was likewise snapped out of his flustered state, staring down at his lightning-covered arms in shock before they dissipated in a burst of sparks. "W-what did - how did -?!"

"I - I don't know!” He quickly examined his arms in surprise, experimentally turning on his quirk and feeling his eyebrow twitch when sparks briefly popped out of his hand. "I just - I don't know if - she - I don't -"

There was a pause as Izuku attempted to find his words - and then he dropped his arm with a sigh.

"- I'll - I'll figure it out later," He grumped, turning back around to face the exit of the tunnel, "we just … need to get through them first. Now that my quirk's working again, it's - it's all good."

"R-right," Ochako nodded, shaking her head and moving to stand beside Izuku as they got ready to step outside, "that's - yeah."

"…"

"…"

"… so, uh …" Izuku cleared his throat, "why … did Kendou kiss your cheek, too?"

"…"

"…"

"… why'd she kiss your cheek?" Ochako mumbled, feeling defensive.

"…"

"…"

"… right," Izuku cleared his throat again, blushing, "we'll … figure that out later."

"Mm-hm. Much later. After - after we kick pomeranian ass."

Izuku was unable to stop himself from snorting again, shaking his head. And then, both of them took twin deep breaths, and stepped out of the tunnel for the second time that day, and into the sunlight.


In the living room, far away from UA and in Musutafu, the young boy sitting on the couch staring at the TV straightened up again, his eyes widening, as the familiar boy came into view on the screen. He was walking beside that one pretty girl with brown hair, both of them looking nervous but determined as they looked around at the people probably in the stands, but for him, it didn't quite matter how nervous the boy looked. The way he was walking into the fight, looking determined even if he looked nervous, was enough to send a small bolt of inspiration and excitement through his body.

"Mahoro!" He called out to his sister. "It's back on!"

"Ah!" His sister cried in panic from the kitchen. "Hold on, hold on, I've almost got the popcorn!"


"There," Slice smirked, leaning against the bar as Nine stared at the screen, "it's our golden boy again. And the little brat that let me in."

"Mm," Nine hummed, tapping his fingers against the bar again as he took another sip of his drink.


On the large screen of the doctor's computer beneath Jakku General Hospital, Dr. Garaki clicked on the button that opened up Izuku Midoriya's file, and scrolled down to the information that summarized up what he had written about his quirk, Spark, all those years ago. Behind him, All For One stared at the camera footage from the tunnel, seeing the girl kiss his cheek, and smiled.


The large jumbotrons surrounding the arena showed the semi-finalists on screen, with Izuku, Ochako, Katsuki, Fumikage, Shouto, Momo, Itsuka and Nejire's faces showing up in their own small corners of the screen. The entire crowd roared as Izuku and Ochako stepped back onto the field, quickly starting to jog back over to the ring where Midnight was waiting for them on her podium. They couldn't see Katsuki or Fumikage yet, but both teenagers tried to straighten their backs and look serious as they marched across the field.

"FOUR ROUNDS! FOUR PAIRS OF VICTORS! AND NOW HERE WE ARE IN THE SEMI-FINALS!" Present Mic announced over the cheering crowds. "NOW THAT WE HAVE EVERYONE WHO'S ADVANCING TO THE NEXT ROUND, WE'LL BE GOING FULL STEAM AHEAD FROM HERE! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR YOUR PATIENCE WHILE WE GET READY!"

Izuku and Ochako gulped as they felt rather than saw the cameras turn towards them as they approached the stairs, staring to quickly make their way up as the four pillars of fire blasted in the ring above them.

"COMING UP ON ONE SIDE OF OUR FIRST BIG MATCH OF THE SEMI-FINALS! LOOKING QUITE FIERCE AND DETERMINED - BUT WHY IS THE GUY LOOKING SO SWEATY?! AND THE GIRL LOOKING LIKE SHE'S ABOUT TO HURL THE RAINBOW?! IT'S IZUKU MIDORIYA AND OCHAKO URARAKA!"

Both of them were unable to stop themselves from frowning up at the commentary box, Izuku self-consciously wiping his forehead while Ochako flashed the Danger Pout. Near the tunnel's entrance, Nejire poked her head out curiously, trying to shake away her own pout from earlier, while Itsuka hid slightly behind her with a flushed face and looking like she was about to bolt away again even if her two training partners didn't notice her standing behind them.

"AND ON THE OTHER SIDE!" Mic continued to shout. "THE PAIR WHO WON A PRETTY FIERCE BATTLE OF MANLINESS A FEW ROUNDS AGO! BUT THAT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE A REGULAR PERSON'S FACE, AND THAT GUY'S SHADOW QUIRK - ISN'T THAT CHEATING?! ANYWAY, IT'S KATSUKI BAKUGOU AND FUMIKAGE TOKOYAMI!"

As they neared the top of the hill, Izuku and Ochako somehow straightened up even more, their faces falling into scowls, as their opponents finally came into view on the other side of the ring. Fumikage, for his part, was looking determined, giving the two of them a polite nod as Dark Shadow hovered ominously over him. Beside him, however, Katsuki wasn't looking nearly as welcoming, his own scowl deepening as he caught sight of the two of them, and explosions popped in his palms as they all entered the ring.

For a moment, as they all came to a stop at a reasonable distance from each other, both duos quietly studied each other as Present Mic continued to go on and on about whatever it was he was talking about above them.

"Deku," Katsuki growled.

"K-Kacchan," Izuku nodded stiffly.

"Bakugou," Ochako glared.

"Dark Shadow!" The shadow quirk suddenly jumped in, throwing its dark hands happily into the air.

As the four of them turned to look at it in confusion (with Fumikage sighing), Dark Shadow glanced between them before it looked suddenly sheepish, twirling its dark thumbs together.

"Oh, uh - sorry, I thought we were doing a thing."

Rolling his eyes, Katsuki turned his attention back to the two standing together on the other side of the ring before him, putting his hands in his pockets as he scowled. Izuku found his shoulders tensing as he gulped, and beside him, Ochako balled her hands into fists, the Danger Pout beginning to slowly form on her face as she hopped up and down a bit. And then Katsuki huffed, shaking his head.

"You know," He said dismissively while glancing over at Ochako, "I'm not even sure why you're here, Round Face."

"To kick your ass," Ochako answered at once, not in the mood for any psychological games Katsuki might think he was an expert at, "so shut the fuck up or get ready to lose a few teeth."

Katsuki's eyebrow twitched slightly, but thankfully, he didn't continue with his psychological taunting, glancing over at Izuku and seeing the green-haired boy narrowing his eyes to indicate that he also wasn't in the mood for Katsuki's bull either. So instead, as Present Mic wrapped up his speech above them, Katsuki started crouching down, his hands moving out of his pockets and behind him as explosions started crackling in his palms.

"Before we begin," Midnight said into her mic, although she specifically stared at Katsuki as she said this, "I'd like to remind you all again that we're here to have a nice, clean fight, not to beat on each other like wild animals. No overly violent moves, from any of you - especially not any move that ends with any of you savagely attacking each other. Remember what I said during your last match, Bakugou, Tokoyami."

Fumikage, at least, nodded in confirmation, while Katsuki merely gritted his teeth.

"NOW!" Present Mic screamed. "THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR!"

Izuku bit the inside of his cheek, and moved down into a fighting stance at the same time as Ochako.

"MIDORIYA AND URARAKA!"

Katsuki sneered while Fumikage crouched down, Dark Shadow tensing its claws.

"BAKUGOU AND TOKOYAMI!"

In the crowd, Inko clung to Miwa, the other mother looking just as worried as her friend for once, while Taiyo held his wife's hand in a tight grip. Up in the teacher's box, both Tenko and Thirteen leaned forward with frowns, Vlad King writing something in his notebook, and All Might nervously tapped his finger against his leg.

"THIS BATTLE BEGINS NOW!"

Unknown to any of them, far away from the stadium in Kamino Ward, Nine's eyes narrowed.

"STAAAAAART!"

The moment Present Mic screamed out the order to go, Katsuki and Fumikage acted. Dark Shadow immediately launched itself across the arena, carefully avoiding Katsuki's blasts as he flung himself straight towards Izuku with a manic sneer; instead, the sentient shadow went straight for Ochako, intending to push her out of the ring. It was clear that, despite the two boys clearly being displeased with working with one another, they could, at least, temporarily put their problems aside to focus on the bigger problem. 

But unfortunately for them, Izuku and Ochako were ready.

Without a moment's hesitation, Ochako quickly rolled underneath Dark Shadow's outreached claws, sliding slightly as she got back to her feet, and in the blink of an eye, she charged straight across the arena towards Fumikage, who blinked in surprise and took a reactive step back. Alas, he couldn't dodge out of the way fast enough as Ochako leapt up into the air, angling her feet so that they both collided with Fumikage's chest, and causing the boy with the raven head to grunt in surprise and pain as he was kicked straight off his feet, collapsing down hard on the ground while Dark Shadow looked around at them in surprise.

On the other side of the arena, Katsuki let out a vicious shout as he threw out his right hand, intending to grab Izuku's face in his palm and fire off his quirk - he didn't want to do so much damage that the fight got stopped, just close enough so that he could have a little fun. But instead of him just staying still like Katsuki had expected, Izuku quickly moved to the side, causing the blonde boy to miss the mark entirely. And then, before he could blink, Izuku wrapped his arm around Katsuki's, causing the blonde boy's smirk to flicker briefly. 

Quickly twisting himself around and using Katsuki's momentum, Izuku let out a shout as he flipped Katsuki right over his shoulder, and threw him against the asphalt as hard as he could, Katsuki feeling the breath be knocked out of his body in a gasp as he slammed right against the ground.

Indeed - in just two seconds, the two boys that had charged the moment the fight had started were suddenly on their asses, and the other two contestants were still standing and ready for more.

"WHAAAAAT?!" Present Mic screeched as the crowd gasped in shock before divulging into cheers. "IN JUST THE BLINK OF AN EYE, TEAM BAKUGOU-TOKOYAMI WENT FROM BEING ON THE OFFENSE TO GETTING CAUGHT FLAT FOOTED! WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!"

"They were too predictable," Aizawa commented dryly over the intercom, "they telegraphed their first moves too easily - honestly, it would've been disappointing if Midoriya and Uraraka hadn't seen it coming."

"Yes!" Itsuka cheered near the tunnel's entrance, clenching her fist tightly while Nejire hopped up and down in her excitement.

Staring blankly up at the sky for a long moment, Katsuki slowly blinked as Fumikage rolled onto his hands and knees, the blonde boy's mouth hanging open as though he were wondering what the hell had happened. And then it suddenly clicked for him, making his eyes widen as he quickly flipped onto his own palms as his gaze whipped up at Izuku, seeing him carefully take a step back.

"You …" Katsuki growled through gritted teeth, igniting the sweat in his palms to blow himself off the ground and back onto his feet, "… you're fucking dead, Deku."

Izuku gulped a bit, but still brought his hands up to guard his face.

As Katsuki lunged forward, Fumikage quickly got back to his feet on the other side of the ring, but Ochako was quick to realize that her raven-headed classmate wasn't the main concern at the moment as she quickly whirled around. Yes, getting Fumikage out of the ring would remove him from the match altogether, but Ochako knew, at the moment, that the real threat coming from Fumikage was the dark creature suddenly zooming back in from behind her, causing her to look around and quickly duck as Dark Shadow's outstretched claw narrowly missed grabbing her torso, quickly using the moves she learned at the dojo to hop and dodge out of the way of Dark Shadow's lunges at her.

Ducking underneath another thrown punch from the sentient shadow, Ochako kept her gaze flickering between Dark Shadow's attempts to shove her out of bounds, and Fumikage carefully keeping his distance. She knew what Fumikage's strategy was - have Dark Shadow do the heavy lifting while he stayed back, far enough away from Ochako that it would be difficult for her to run over and float him. 

And Dark Shadow would be … a bit too difficult to touch, or, hell, it might even be stupid to touch it, as Dark Shadow let out a snickering laugh and charged straight at her, seeing as it was already floating in the air and would be able to ignore her quirk if she used it on the creature. And she would have to be careful not to fall out of the ring while fighting him as well, what with Ochako glancing behind her and gulping at the sight of the hill starting to come up behind her as Dark Shadow kept slamming into her.

So keep on her feet, avoid Dark Shadow, stay in the middle of the ring, and find a way to get to Fumikage. Easy enough … hopefully.

On the other side, Izuku quickly took a step back as Katsuki flung himself into the air, a look of malice and excitement on his face as he twirled thanks to the power of his quirk. Thankfully, for Izuku, though, he had spent a bit of time over the last two months studying everyone's quirks in his off time - meaning that for a lot of his classmates, he knew how they fought. And that included Katsuki - he'd seen enough of his former friend's fights during their battle trial, some of the USJ, and when he had been a 'hostage' during All Might's exercise during their activity in the ruins zone to know how he fought.

So he just had to be patient and careful -

- but then, as Katsuki began descending towards him, his vision flickered. Izuku found himself stopping for a moment, staring up blankly, as the image of Katsuki flying down at him with that manic grin on his face suddenly flashed away - and in his place, grinning maniacally down at him, was the hooded man.

Izuku felt horror start to crawl up at him as he stared up, feeling his body shudder in pain from the memories that suddenly came to him as the vision of the monster that had hurt him twisted in the air, his foot coming down as the scars on Izuku's face and chest ached - and then, automatically, he raised his arms up to block.

CRUNCH

Izuku winced as Katsuki's red and black boot stomped right against the Full Gauntlet, causing him to stumble back as Katsuki threw out another explosion with a growl. The image of the hooded man vanished at once, replaced by Katsuki as he let out a crazed laugh and immediately began the beatdown. Izuku was quick to recollect himself, however, dodging underneath a punch from Katsuki -

- only to grunt as Katsuki's knee unexpectedly came up, slamming straight into the side of his head and causing him to jolt back up. His vicious grin returning, Katsuki let out a growling shout as he essentially backhanded Izuku away, the added force of an explosion to the blow causing Izuku to yelp as he was pushed off his feet and slammed against the ground.

Flinging himself up into the air, Katsuki ignited his palms, the fire of his explosion making Izuku wince again from the heat. This time, however, Izuku was quick to roll out of the way before the flames could hit him, rolling to his feet and keeping his arms up as Katsuki began beating against his arms with the explosions, causing Izuku to bite his lip in pain from the burning heat of Katsuki's strikes.

"What's the matter, Deku?" Katsuki sneered as he continued blasting Izuku. "Use your quirk. Do it!"

"I - agh!" Izuku winced as another explosion suddenly knocked him off balance, and Katsuki used that immediately. With another explosion, the blonde boy flipped himself over top of his opponent through the air, his hands coming down to grab a fistful of Izuku's hair, and once he had landed back on his feet, he used his other hand to grab Izuku's shoulder.

Laughing a bit maniacally, Katsuki practically ripped Izuku off his feet, twisting himself around before he threw Izuku to the ground as hard as he could, Izuku gasping as he landed on his back.

"AHA! SOME GOOD OLD FASHIONED PAYBACK!" Present Mic continued to commentate over the cheering crowds. "MIDORIYA FLIPPED BAKUGOU, AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR BAKUGOU TO REPAY THE FAVOR! WHAT A TWIST!"

"Not really a twist, Mic."

"Fuck," Katsuki breathed out as Izuku scrambled back to his feet, the blonde boy shaking with excitement, "fuck, this is great. I'm finally putting you back in your place, Shitty Deku, and everyone's cheering me on."

Izuku let out a shaky breath as he scrambled to his feet, wincing - some of the wind was still knocked out of him from being flipped onto the ground, and his mind kept reminding him of the hooded man from the USJ - but he still shook his head as he lifted his arms back up, causing Katsuki to falter slightly as Izuku tried to push past the images that kept coming to his mind, and trying to stay in the present.

"I'm … I'm still in the ring, Kacchan," Izuku reminded him through a slightly pain-filled voice, still wincing from how hard he had been slammed to the ground, "I'm not down yet."

"No, you're not," Katsuki shook his head, his face twisting into a sneer, "I'm keeping you in here until you use your quirk. I'm gonna prove once and for all that I'm better than you! So use your damn quirk, you shitty nerd!"

With that, he charged straight at Izuku, holding his hands closely together. Izuku found his eyes widening as he glimpsed three tiny explosions suddenly igniting between his palms, and, just as a large explosion suddenly blasted out, he quickly dodged out of the way once again, rolling through the air and just narrowly avoiding his old childhood friend's attack.

"STUN GRENADE!" Katsuki screeched with glee, his red eyes flickering around to where Izuku had rolled back to his feet.

On the other side of the ring, Ochako winced at the loud blast to the side, trying to keep herself concentrated on her own fight with Fumikage - or at least, what she wanted to call a fight, but in reality was more of a game of cat and mouse, with her as the unfortunate mouse. Dark Shadow continued to swipe out and try to push her away from Fumikage and out of the ring, and it was all she could do to not get knocked out of the match. As a sudden layer of smoke emerged from Katsuki's explosion, Ochako decided to use it as a cover, quickly ducking into the dark brown smoke to vanish from Fumikage and Dark Shadow's view.

This was bad, Ochako winced as she quickly unbuttoned her top - it was clear that this was a bad matchup either way for her. Fumikage and Dark Shadow would be next to impossible for her to get around, with the two apparently able to work independently from each other. She couldn't get to Fumikage if Dark Shadow was in her way, and she had no idea if the shadow had any weaknesses - or at least, a weakness she herself could exploit.

She and Izuku had been so concerned about Katsuki, they forgot Fumikage could be twice the threat their 'childhood friend' could be.

But still, Ochako shook her head as she slipped off her gym uniform's top, leaving her in her black tank top, she needed to think on her feet. One moment of hesitation, and that would be over for her. She needed to keep herself moving, and find any weakness of Dark Shadow she could exploit.

And, as the smoke faded away at least, Dark Shadow's yellow glowing eyes were quick to hone in on her, letting out a small laugh as it quickly zoomed back in - only for Ochako to quickly throw her gym shirt up, covering the head of the shadow creature.

"Gack!" It squeaked, quickly trying to get the shirt off of its line of sight, and Ochako quickly took advantage of that to duck underneath the creature, running straight towards Fumikage. The boy with the raven head was quick to understand what she was trying to do, jumping back as Ochako quickly swiped out at him with her hand, her three fingers barely able to graze his shirt.

"Dark Shadow!" He commanded, and Ochako let out a squeak as a claw suddenly smacked her away, letting out a yelp as she bounced briefly on the asphalt before she came to a stop, and quickly rolled away as another fist made of shadows slammed down on the ground where she would've been had she been two seconds slower.

So … no, Ochako winced as she limped slightly away, this wasn't going well at all.

For Izuku, at least, he wasn't having much luck either, wincing at each blast from Katsuki being deflected off the Full Gauntlet. Katsuki showed no mercy, continuing to fling explosion after explosion at him in an effort to knock him off balance. Something that … was kinda working, as Izuku was pushed back and forth around the ring. 

At least Katsuki was concerned with keeping Izuku in the ring, not wanting to knock him out before he had a chance to fully beat him. Still, as Izuku winced at each explosion hitting him, it was clear that he was at a disadvantage, and if he didn't think of anything soon, the chances of him leaving the ring in a full body cast was pretty likely.

"What -" Katsuki's shouts were emphasized with each explosion thrown at him. "- are you waiting for, you damn nerd?! Use -"

BOOM

"- your -"

BOOM

"- damn -"

BOOM

"- QUIRK!"

BOOM

CRACK

As yet another explosion hit the Full Gauntlet, Izuku felt his eyes widen at the ominous cracking noise, and quickly leapt back as Katsuki growled and slammed his palms against the ground where Izuku had been, unleashing yet another explosion. Now that he was back a bit, Izuku quickly twisted his arm to the side, and felt his face when he saw pieces of the Full Gauntlet missing, some of the nanobots that made up the support item whining and fizzling slightly. 

It seemed to still be working, what with Izuku seeing the meter still in green, but it was clear that using the Gauntlet as a shield from Katsuki was only going to result in it getting broken further. Not to mention that he had to be careful - he had no idea if using the Gauntlet with his quirk would just break it further either!

Still though, Izuku grimaced, at least Melissa was watching the sports festival today, and could see what was happening. She would understand why it was broken this time.


"Oh, you MOTHERFUCKER!"

"Right," David gulped nervously, quickly standing back up from the couch, "time for another bathroom break."


With another loud explosion, Izuku was thrown across the ring yet again, yelping as he landed hard on his back - and then squeaked when Ochako jumped right over him, the brown-haired girl letting out a small gasp as she quickly angled her feet so as not to accidentally step on his hand. Across from Ochako, Dark Shadow angled itself again, letting out an extremely evil cackle as it suddenly zoomed right over Izuku, wanting to take advantage of Ochako being off balance to shove her -

- only for Katsuki to suddenly collide into Dark Shadow with an explosion, causing the sentient shadow to recoil with a high-pitched yelp.

"Ow!" It cried out. "Bright! Bright light, bright light!"

"Watch it, raven-head!" Katsuki barked at Fumikage as the smaller student hurried over, looking angry as Dark Shadow was forced to move back from the blonde boy and back to its master, looking less like a menacing monster and more of a kicked puppy. "If you're going to keep getting in the way, just fucking step out of the ring now so I can handle it! You're lucky that I'm letting you share my spotlight!"

"That isn't how it works, Bakugou!"

While the two of them briefly argued with each other, Ochako took advantage of their distraction to help Izuku up. Izuku quickly reached up to take her hand, letting her help him stand back up - and then they both turned to look over at Dark Shadow, the wheels in their heads beginning to spin at the same time.

"It's obvious," Izuku said in a low voice, with a look of obvious frustration, "god, why didn't I see it? Of course Dark Shadow would be averse to bright lights."

"Yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, "which … probably means that I've got no chance of getting him out of the ring."

"W-well, I'm not doing so hot against Kacchan either." He gave her. "We - we'll probably need to team up against him, but - but not while Tokoyami's in the ring. Dark Shadow would just take advantage of us trying to get Kacchan out together and throw us off balance."

"Right," Ochako grimaced slightly, "then … I guess we both know what that means."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, glancing over at Ochako as she looked tired and nervous, as though not looking forward to whatever it was she was planning. "W-what do you mean, Occhan?"

"We'll …" She gulped, "… we'll need to change up dance partners."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… wait a second -" Izuku immediately tried to protest.

"Deku, your lightning is bright enough to put Dark Shadow on the defense," Ochako shook her head, "and Bakugou's got as much reason to try going after me as he does you. It makes sense."

"Y-yeah, but -"

"Deku," She turned to give him a small smile, "do you trust me?"

"I do," Izuku made clear at once, still giving her a serious look, "but I don't trust him. I don't -"

"Well, you better hurry up and get Tokyoami out of the ring, then," Ochako said in a fake, cheerful voice, squaring her shoulders as Katsuki finally turned back towards them after arguing with his partner, "because then we can team up and kick the utter hell out of him together."

Izuku clearly didn't like the idea, glancing between Katsuki, Fumikage, Dark Shadow and Ochako for a few moments - and then he let out a small, defeated sigh. Shaking his head, he slowly straightened his back, and reached out to gently hold Ochako's shoulder - an action that sent a spike of that same weird feeling through their stomachs, but the situation was serious enough that they tried to ignore it.

"Just …" He hesitated for a moment, and then nodded, "… be careful, Occhan. I'll come to help you as soon as I can."

"What," Ochako said without thinking, "not gonna give me a kiss for luck like Itsuka did?"

There was a brief pause between both of them, and then what Ochako had just said suddenly registered. However, before either of them could jump away from each other in their embarrassed fluster, with Izuku looking like he was on the verge of passing out and Ochako about to slam her hands to her face to float herself to a far more suitable location for her (a.k.a the sun), they both heard the sound of an explosion.

"Deku!" Katsuki barked at him, flying across the ring again with his teeth barred. Dark Shadow likewise got back into the action, quickly and carefully zipping around Katsuki's explosions to get back at Ochako -

- but unluckily for it, Izuku quickly looked around, feeling electricity flare on the broken Gauntlet, and quickly flipped his hand up, acting automatically as he suddenly fired off a shot.

KRACK-BOOM

Dark Shadow let out a squeak as the volley of green lightning hit it dead center in the chest, causing a large electrical explosion that caused several people in the audience to flinch and cover their ears. Katsuki, meanwhile, flinched as well, feeling the scars on his chest ache as Izuku charged away from Ochako underneath him to begin fighting Dark Shadow - but then his attention turned to the brown-haired girl as she quickly went down to a crouch, and he felt his grin widen.

"You want a turn, Round Face? Fine by me!"

Throwing his hands back, Katsuki let out another roar as two explosions rocketed towards Ochako. It was only thanks to her previous training at the Kendou dojo that she dodged in time, Ochako quickly rolling away before the flames of her childhood bully's quirk could singe her -

- only for Katsuki to move faster, his grin widening as he finally got a clean hit on Ochako, his left arm sweeping up and catching her in an explosion. With a grunt, Ochako was sent flying back, hitting her back hard on the ground and rolling briefly before she finally managed to get up onto her feet, wobbling slightly before she managed to shake off the pain.

"Occhan!" Izuku looked after her in worry as Katsuki blew himself across the ring towards her, feeling himself shake slightly at the sight of his best friend going up against someone he knew was going to hurt her - and feeling himself start to glare at Katsuki's back - but then he shook his head, trying to refocus as he quickly turned back to Dark Shadow as the sentient shadow hung in the air, glaring straight at him as it punched its hand into its open palm while Fumikage took a cautious step back.

"Bring it on, Midoriya!" Dark Shadow laughed in a taunting manner. "Bright lights might hurt, but you gotta do more than that!"

KRACK-BOOM

Without pausing, Izuku threw out the Full Gauntlet, feeling palms spark from his hands as another volley of lightning shot straight out of his hand. Dark Shadow, on the other hand, was ready for it, quickly angling its body out of the way - but Izuku's attention quickly focused on his shot as he watched as the lightning bolt shot out of the arena and moved straight towards the wall on the opposite side of the arena, slamming and cracking the stone there and making some of the audience members there yelp in shock and concern.

"Oh, crap," He muttered, turning to glance down at his palms in horror - it was clear that he couldn't just fire off a shot without expecting it to hit someone in the audience if he missed!

 Which meant … it meant that he couldn't just keep flinging lightning around, he growled as he glanced between his sparking hands and Dark Shadow. It meant that he had to …

… he had to …

… wait.

Glancing back down at the lightning flickering up and down his arms for a moment, Izuku stared - and then his gaze shifted towards the ground beneath them. An idea had suddenly come to him, one that made him blink as he glanced back up at Dark Shadow sweeping low across the ground towards him. It was a stupid idea, something that just came to him, but …

… but if it worked …

Izuku took a deep breath, before quickly dodging out of the way of Dark Shadow's claw again, and then, without another moment to second guess himself, took a deep breath as he activated his quirk again. Feeling his palms spark, Izuku let out a yell as, instead of throwing them towards Dark Shadow or Fumikage, he moved down to his knees, and slammed his open palms against the ground as he let out twin bolts of lightning from both hands, tensing at the pain already starting to ache in the arm that didn't have the Gauntlet on it.

"New move -" Izuku gritted out through clenched teeth, "- Ground Current!"

And as he had predicted, the lightning broke straight through the ground, twin bolts of green energy suddenly moving through the concrete floor towards Dark Shadow and Fumikage, the heat and power enough to break the concrete ground and singe it as they streaked towards him. The boy was quick to realize what was happening, his eyes widening in horror as he realized that there would be no way that he could dodge out of the way of two bolts coming at him from the ground -

- only for Dark Shadow to quickly zip back over to its master, grabbing Fumikage from underneath his armpits, and with a grunt, threw both itself and him up into the air before the electric current could hit either of them.

"WHAAAAAAA?!" Present Mic screeched as the lightning stopped traveling through the ground, and Izuku quickly withdrew his hands. "DID MIDORIYA JUST UNLEASH A BLAST OF LIGHTNING THROUGH CONCRETE?! IS THAT POSSIBLE?!"

"No," Aizawa sighed, "there isn't any metal wires or bars in Cementoss' concrete creations. I'm not too sure, but … okay, I'll be honest, I'm not too sure how exactly Midoriya did that. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say what happened was more like what happens when a tree gets hit by lightning."

"HUH? SO WHAT HAPPENS WHEN -  UH - THAT HAPPENS, MUMMY MAN?"

"The energy travels outward from the object and along the ground surface. In this case … I guess we could call Midoriya the tree dispersing the energy. But unlike normal ground currents, he's making the lightning travel down a specific path instead of all around him."

"YOU SAY THAT LIKE IT ISN'T AMAZING, EITHER! I THINK WE JUST SAW A NEW SUPERMOVE IN THE MAKING!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the arena, Katsuki got distracted by Izuku's slamming his hands against the ground, quickly looking around to see what he was doing (and trying not to flinch at each loud blast of lightning coming from Izuku), and Ochako decided to try taking her chances. With a grunt of exertion, she quickly sprinted straight at him, keeping her palms open so as she could float him out of the arena - 

- but alas, Katsuki wasn't too distracted to not hear her footfalls on the ground, quickly looking around at her with bared teeth.

"You've got a fucking death wish, Round Face!" He cackled, his palms popping again as he began throwing his hand forward with another explosion. Ochako was quick to roll to the side, which was unfortunately what Katsuki had been waiting for, unleashing another blast that caught Ochako right in the side and sent her spinning away, landing on the ground with a grunt as she winced and held her side.

Yep, as predicted, both of these boys were terrible matchups for her, she scowled - she had to be able to touch either boy to get an advantage over them, and since Katsuki knew exactly how her quirk worked, there would be no possible way for her to catch him off guard, with Katsuki keeping a close eye on her as he stormed towards her. That, and adding to the fact that Katsuki clearly hated her guts as much as she hated his, there was probably an extra factor in Katsuki insisting on keeping her in the ring - this way, he could take out all of his aggression and anger on her that had probably been boiling up for the last ten years.

So he was going to make sure that she would stay in the ring long enough for him to beat her down. But that was where she had an advantage, Ochako thought as she slowly rolled to her feet - if Katsuki wanted to keep her in the ring, that meant that he wouldn't just get rid of her so easily. He wouldn't be satisfied with pushing her out of a ring - he wanted her beaten down. And that gave her more chances for him to slip up.

She just had to be patient, and hope Izuku wrapped up with Fumikage any moment now to come and help her out.

Up in the air, Fumikage let out a small grunt as Dark Shadow carefully held him up by the back of his shirt, the quirk quickly moving its other arm to the ground so they could stay up there. It looked quite foolish, with the sentient shadow looking less like it was holding its master up in the air and more like it was holding a kitten by its scruff, as the audience giggled a bit at him. Still though, at least it was better than being in the path of Izuku's lightning, with Fumikage having no real way of dodging out of the way if he had decided to -

- to -

- wait. Oh, no.

Feeling his eyes widen, Fumikage quickly looked back down at Izuku, and cursed when he saw Izuku carefully holding up his arm that the Full Gauntlet was wrapped around, one eye squinted closed as he aimed. It was only then that Fumikage realized his error - with Dark Shadow being careful to hold him high enough above the ground to avoid Izuku, it also meant that he was now immobile in the air - and Izuku had an immobile target that wouldn't dodge out of the way in time.

He had one only hopeful advantage - Izuku had clearly expressed discomfort with injuring people directly with his quirk, as shown when he had fought their senpai at Gym Gamma. So that meant …

"You're bluffing, Midoriya," Fumikage said in a careful voice, aware that he was still very much at a disadvantage here with Dark Shadow holding him up in the air, "I don't believe you'll hit me with your quirk."

"No," Izuku shook his head, "you're right, Tokoyami, I won't."

He then moved his hand a bit lower.

"So I'm not gonna hit you with my quirk."

KRACK-BOOM

A bolt of green lightning suddenly shot straight out of Izuku's palm, arcing just below Fumikage - and hit Dark Shadow right in the face. The sentient shadow let out a squawk as it had no choice but to take the full blast from Izuku, and its grip on Fumikage slipped. 

With a small grunt of shock and panic, Fumikage began falling back to the ground, his arms flailing slightly. It wasn't like it was a long drop, or one that would injure Fumikage, but it would not be a graceful landing, he knew that even now. And he could see, with Dark Shadow clearly compromised and Izuku starting to run over towards him, he knew that he was about to be at a great disadvantage.

As Fumikage landed on his feet and bucked slightly, he watched, through widened eyes, as Izuku ran forward, looking determined as he raised his hands to shove Fumikage out of the ring now that he was unbalanced -

BOOM

- if not for a sudden explosion hitting Izuku square in the back, causing Izuku's eyes to widen as he was blasted right off his feet, feeling Katsuki kicking him right in the back.

"Deku!" Ochako cried out, panicked as Izuku slammed down on the ground hard with Katsuki standing on his back with a dominant sneer. She hadn't even seen Katsuki change his attention from her to her training partner, with Katsuki having flung an explosion at her that had knocked her right off her feet, forcing her to get back up while clutching the arm she had landed on, feeling pain rip through the arm. 

Now, though, she saw Katsuki grinding his feet into the back of Izuku's head, Izuku's face twisted in pain, and she felt her fear and worry immediately give in to rage.

Leaping to her feet, Ochako sprinted straight at Katsuki, who looked around at her with a confident smirk as she charged blindly forward - and paid for it dearly, as Dark Shadow swooped in to blindside her, slamming straight into her back and shoving her right off her feet onto the ground. Now that she was on the ground, Dark Shadow quickly acted, grabbing her with both large claws while Fumikage managed to regain his balance.

"OUCH!" Present Mic winced over the audience's gasps, and Inko fought to keep herself from fainting while Taiyo and Miwa looked like they were going to be sick. "LOOKS LIKE THE ADVANTAGE TEAM MIDORIYA-URARAKA HAD IS GONE! HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?!"

As Ochako laid there, prone and unmoving, Fumikage let out a small sigh as dusted himself off, turning towards where Katsuki was pinning Izuku to the ground with his feet, while Midnight watched him carefully, frowning.

"My thanks, Bakugou," Fumikage nodded in acknowledgment, "that was a close one."

Dark Shadow, sensing its master's intent, moved back down towards where Ochako was laying on the ground, who had roused enough to start struggling to get up after getting knocked around. Much gentler than its earlier attempts to get her out of the ring, Dark Shadow began lifting Ochako up into the air, the shadow being fairly careful to bring the slightly struggling girl over towards the edge of the ring -

"What the fuck are you doing, bird-brain?"

Both Fumikage and Dark Shadow paused for a moment, blinking, and then turned back to where Katsuki was glaring at him. Dark Shadow even stopped its attempts to fly Ochako out of the ring, looking around in confusion.

"I am escorting Uraraka out of the ring," Fumikage raised an eyebrow, "she's been beaten."

"The hell she is," Katsuki growled, an explosion popping in his palm, "look at her, she's still struggling. I want an overwhelming victory, so put her the fuck down!"

"Er - Bakugou -'' Midnight tried to poke her way into the conversation, feeling her brow furrow - it was clear that Fumikage could remove Ochako from the ring without issue. However, before she could cut her way in, Katsuki bared his teeth and pointed right at his partner, explosions popping in his palms.

"The only reason I haven't shoved you out is because I can't win that way!" He barked at Fumikage. "Put her the fuck down and back up - I'm gonna handle both of them!"

"Bakugou, that's not -!"

Whatever Midnight was going to say, however, was interrupted by the sound of metal hitting the concrete floor beneath the blonde boy. Both Katsuki and Fumikage blinked and looked down, feeling their eyes widen, as Izuku suddenly slammed the palm of his hand against the floor, the Full Gauntlet looking cracked and fizzing -

- but still charged up.

KRACK-BOOM

The blast of lightning straight into the ground caused a huge explosion of stone and rock to suddenly blast up, with Izuku yelling in pain as he felt the recoil in his arm - but it did its job in causing Katsuki to lose his balance, flinching back, and allowing Izuku to twist himself up with a grunt, baring his teeth as he twisted his feet up to kick at his old childhood friend. Katsuki was still quicker, jumping away with a snarl as Izuku quickly moved to sit back up, and Fumikage attempted to get over his shock quickly, looking back around at Dark Shadow to order him to toss Ochako out of the ring -

- but Ochako took that moment to also twist in Dark Shadow's grasp, the sentient shadow quickly looking around in shock as she landed on her hands and knees on the ground, and quickly began sprinting towards Fumikage. The raven-headed boy was too slow this time to react as Ochako's palms quickly slammed down on his chest, all fingers raised, and his gravity was taken from him.

Before Dark Shadow could quickly move to grab its master and station him, Ochako grabbed Fumikage's shirt in a tight grasp, and with a loud shout, twirled around, Fumikage helpless in her grasp, as she threw her arm forwards and let go of her classmate. Fumikage, at the edge of the ring, was helpless to do anything as he sailed right over the white line, and Ochako pressing her fingers together resulted in his weight being restored. Falling briefly, Fumikage let out several grunts as he came down on the hill and started rolling down to the bottom.

"WHAAAAAAA?!" Mic screeched again as the audience began cheering. "IN JUST A FEW SECONDS, TEAM MIDORIYA-URARAKA MANAGED TO TURN THIS MATCH AROUND AGAIN! WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THIS ROUND, ERASER?! WHAT'S WITH YOUR STUDENTS?!"

Dark Shadow stared blankly for a moment at where its master had fallen, Fumikage moving up to his elbows to try and get up, and then turned towards Midnight as she raised her flogger to indicate the raven-headed boy was out of bounds.

"Er," It twirled its fingers together, "does that mean I'm out too, sensei?"

"Yes," Midnight nodded, turning to look over at Katsuki as he lunged at Izuku again, "you're out too, Dark Shadow."

"Ah, darn," The quirk snapped its fingers, flying past Ochako and giving her a thumbs up, "good match, Uraraka. Remember - violence solves nothing."

Ochako furrowed her brow slightly at whatever that was supposed to mean in a match specifically based around fighting, but quickly shook her head as she turned her attention back to the other opponent she needed to take care of. She felt her face twist into a snarl as Katsuki slammed another explosion into Izuku's side, and then took off running.

"What - the fuck - is with you?!" Katsuki shouted as he continued slamming explosion after explosion into Izuku, the green-haired boy doing his best to dodge through them and wincing whenever he was hit, and trying to keep his vision focused on Katsuki rather than the hooded man that kept randomly flashing in. "Stop holding back on me, Shitty Deku! Use your damn quirk against me!"

"I - don't -!" Izuku grunted through the pain, shielding his face and flinching as an explosion hit him in the side. "I don't - wanna - kill you, Kacchan!"

"Your shitty lightning can't fucking kill me! You got fucking lucky!" Katsuki shrieked at him, using his knee to hit him in the ribs. "You've always been lucky! You got a cheap fucking shot when we were kids, hid your shit for years, and then you pretended that you're fucking better than me! You've never been better than me! I've always been at the fucking top, and you never -"

BAM

Before his rant could continue, however, Katsuki felt a fist slam into his cheek, causing him to jerk his head back as Ochako threw her other hand out to use her quirk on him. Before she could make contact, however, Katsuki yelled as he threw his hands towards the ground, and blasted away from both of them. 

Both Izuku and Ochako quickly looked around at Katsuki as he flew over to the other side of the ring, his fingers digging into the broken ground briefly as he threw up a dirty glare.

"That was fucking cheap, Round Face!"

"Screw you!" Ochako hurled at him, quickly helping Izuku to his feet and giving him a once over. It was clear that both of them were getting pretty much hammered by Katsuki - their clothes were singed and covered in dirt, Izuku having bruises around his face and arm where the Full Gauntlet had been blasting out lightning, and Ochako's arms and collarbone had some scratches that were bleeding.

But they were both still up, and turning to face Katsuki together as Izuku took a deep breath.

"Just him left," He shook his head, "let's do this, Occhan!"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, "let's -"

"If you two are gonna stand in front of me," Katsuki suddenly shot forward before they were ready, both of them flinching as Katsuki suddenly began spinning in the air, explosions propelling him forward, "then stop with the fucking flirting and get on with it! I don't want anything else but for you two to be fucking serious!"

Continuing to twirl in the air, Katsuki spun faster and faster, until a cloud of smoke followed around him. Both Izuku and Ochako froze, Izuku feeling his eyes widen and Ochako feeling a sense of foreboding suddenly hit her, as Midnight suddenly seemed to realize what was happening, throwing her whip forward.

"Bakugou!" She shouted. "Don't! You could seriously hurt them -!"

"They won't die," Katsuki sneered crazily, "if they dodge!"

Spinning through the air, Katsuki threw his hand out, Izuku feeling his eyes widen as he saw Katsuki's hand suddenly start brightening up with a larger explosion than he had ever seen from him before -

- only for him to grunt as a pair of hands slammed into his side, shoving him out of the way.

"HOWITZER … IMPACT!"


Seven minutes.

The fight had only been going on for about seven minutes, and this was probably the tenth time Itsuka had to be held back from going in to help her training partners.

Having Nejire beside her definitely helped, with the blue-haired girl holding her shoulder if Itsuka suddenly couldn't fight down the urge to head out onto the field, but ITsuka knew that even Nejire was having problems with just standing there, being unusually silent as she watched in shock. The fight was … going rather poorly for Izuku and Ochako. With whatever advantage they got over the other team, Katsuki and Fumikage would hit back twice as hard.

It was a bad match up for both of them - even if Izuku could use his quirk now (and how he had figured out what was wrong, Itsuka didn't really know), Katsuki was taking advantage of the fact Izuku couldn't use it against him to continue beating him.

She had felt hopeful when Ochako had gotten Fumikage out of the ring at last, feeling relieved for a moment that at least now, her training partners could team up against Katsuki to get him out of the ring - but as though the fates had been mocking her, Katsuki had decided to bring out another ace up his sleeve.

An explosion - one far larger than Itsuka had ever seen Katsuki produce - suddenly blasted out on the stage, covering the entire ring in a fiery blast. A heat wave hit the entire crowd as everyone flinched from the sound, Itsuka and Nejire raising their hands to cover their ears as smoke filled the entire arena. They saw Midnight topple off her podium from the force, flailing slightly before she came down on the hill and started rolling down, their seductive teacher looking quite silly as she lost whatever composure she had, and they could see several of the cameras that were pointed at the ring start shaking from the force of the explosion.

But Itsuka's attention, instead of focusing on where the ring was, flickered around as she saw a distant shape land on the grass outside the ring, covered by the smoke coming from the center of the field.

"BAKUGOU ADDED MOMENTUM AND ROTATION TO THE HUGE BLAST! HE WAS LIKE A HUMAN PROJECTILE!" Present Mic commented quickly as everyone in the crowd stared down in shock. "BUT SUCH AN ACT WAS CLEARLY AGAINST MIDNIGHT'S ORDERS! OOOOOOOF, WHAT WAS HE THINKING?!"

"He probably wasn't," Aizawa dryly commented, although there was an icy chill to his voice.

The audience, rather than cheer or shout at what had happened, instead fell into silence, several people leaning out of their seats to see what had happened. Taiyo and Miwa were holding Inko's hands tightly, the green-haired woman once again on the verge of fainting, while Hakushu and Tenohira hurriedly stood up to get a better look at what happened, and Teko made sure Eri couldn't see anything, the little girl squirming in her seat as she looked utterly panicked.

Finally, the smoke around the arena began slowly dissipating - the first to come back into view on the field was Midnight, getting back to her feet on the ground below the arena and coughing as she waved her hand in front of her face, looking quite undignified as she scowled. And then the smoke surrounding the arena began fading at long last, showing the audience who was still up there as they all looked forward nervously and in anticipation.

As the smoke cleared up, the first one they saw up there was Katsuki, laying on his stomach and looking up in shock from where he had fired off the blast. The audience let out small hisses as they saw Katsuki's arms at last - they were clearly bruised and swelling, the last blast having obviously taken a lot out of him. But if he was in pain, he didn't show it, instead quickly climbing to his feet.

The next to show in the arena was Izuku, letting out a small, muttered curse as he struggled to get back to his feet. Half of his shirt had been blown off by the explosion, exposing to the audience several cuts and bruises on his chest, stomach and arms. Thin red lines were also shown clearly leading up from the now broken Full Gauntlet, his arm tense from the burning. Izuku, however, didn't seem to care for that, his gaze quickly moving around to where Ochako had been -

- only to not see her anywhere. In fact … it became clear, to Izuku and Katsuki, and the audience, that the two boys were the only ones left in the ring.

And that, right about then, was when Itsuka realized it, her eyes widening in horror. Quickly, she whipped back around to where she had seen that shape from earlier land on the grass, and she felt her stomach drop, and the audience gasped, as the smoke finally lifted from the arena - and showed Ochako laying face down on her side, unmoving.

Without even thinking, Itsuka broke out of Nejire's grasp (which wasn't hard, as the blue-haired girl staring in shock and terror felt her grip loosen on her partner) and started running as fast as she could towards the fallen form of her training partner. Sliding onto her hands and knees, Itsuka carefully rolled Ochako over, wincing at the horrible burn that she could see on the brown-haired girl's arm and shoulder. 

Still though, she found herself releasing a quiet, shaking sigh of relief when she saw that Ochako was still breathing - her breath leaving in shaking trembles, but still clearly alive.

"ER - UH - OTHER STUDENTS SHOULDN'T BE OUT ON THE GROUND DURING A MATCH!" Present Mic tried to call out to Itsuka as the audience leaned out of their seats to get a better look at Ochako on the ground. "YOU SHOULD BE -"

"Mic, quiet," Midnight said through her mic as she quickly jogged over to where Ochako had fallen to the ground, moving to kneel down beside Itsuka to have a look at her, "Kendou, move back a bit, please, I need to make sure she's okay."

Itsuka, feeling tears begin to well in her eyes, still complied with her teacher's orders, sitting back as Midnight started inspecting Ochako, careful not to touch the burn mark on Ochako's arm. Letting out a small sigh, Midnight leaned back on her knees, and then turned to look back around at the stage where Izuku and Katsuki had moved to the edge of to see what had happened.

Katsuki didn't look … too shameful about what he had done, Midnight observed with a frown, but there was a clear look of discomfort on his face as he tried to look around Midnight to where Ochako had landed. Still, though, that didn't compare to how Izuku was looking down at Ochako - his eyes wide, his jaw dropped, and staring at his fallen friend in such horror it was as though he had stumbled upon her dead body. It was clear that he was fighting down the urge to run out of the ring to her, mostly due to Itsuka raising her hand to stop him, but he was practically trembling in shock.

"Uraraka is … out of bounds." Midnight regretfully said into her mic, standing up and walking back towards the ring while gesturing for the robots from Recovery Girl's office to come forwards. Her gaze then returned to Katsuki, her gaze turning colder. "But Bakugou performed an action that I expressly forbade him from doing. For that, I move to disqualify -"

"WHAT?!" Katsuki screamed at once, louder than Midnight even if she was speaking into a microphone, and explosions popped in his palms as he took a menacing step towards her. "What the fuck?! I did what you said! You didn't say anything about using supermoves! Deku gets to use a shitty supermove and I don't?!"

"Young man," Midnight glared up at him while Izuku slowly turned his wide-eyed gaze from where Itsuka was helping Ochako onto the stretcher the robots were wheeling towards her to Katsuki, "I said that overly violent moves were not permitted to be used. Are you saying that this was not an overly violent move from you? You said it was a supermove, but I don't recall any supermoves that end with the villain dying 'if they don't dodge'."

"Your bullshit rules are -!"

WHAM

Whatever Katsuki was about to say to Midnight was silenced, pretty much at once, by a fist slamming into his eye. The audience gasped as Izuku punched Katsuki as hard as he could, smashing the blonde boy right off his feet and through the air briefly before he came down on the broken concrete floor, bouncing off of it briefly before he finally slid a bit to a stop. Staring blankly at the sky for the second time that day, Katsuki then quickly whipped his wild gaze up to where Izuku was hunched over, breathing heavily.

"I - wait a minute!" Midnight shouted at both boys, feeling more than a little annoyed as the crowd immediately began 'oooh'ing, and she quickly began running back up the steps towards the stairs towards the stage, where Izuku was still breathing heavily and Katsuki stared up at him in shock and rage. "Midoriya, Bakugou has already been disqualified! There's no need to -"

"Let the fight finish!"

Midnight, who had gotten to the middle of the stairs, nearly tripped over herself when she realized that it was Izuku who had shouted over her this time. As quickly as she could in heels, she made her way all the way back up to the top of the hill in relative time, managing to see Katsuki slowly getting back to his feet while glaring crazily at Izuku, another bruise swelling near his eye as Izuku continued to stare at the ground.

"Let the fight finish," Izuku repeated, this time much quieter as Midnight stormed right into the ring, "he wants to keep fighting? I'll keep fighting."

Midnight gave Izuku a warning look as she scooped up her flogger from where she had dropped it during the explosion - she knew that anger in his voice, and didn't like it at all. Not to mention that Nezu and Aizawa's little plan for Katsuki was clearly backfiring in their faces, and stopping this fight now would be much better than letting it continue. However, before she could tell both boys off, she heard the sound of the crowds starting to cheer again.

No, not quite cheers - they were chanting something. Something that made the R-Rated Heroine's eyebrow twitch.

"LET THEM FIGHT!" The crowd chanted. "LET THEM FIGHT! LET THEM FIGHT! LET THEM FIGHT!"

As the crowds continued to chant, Midnight threw them all a scowl - she knew that there had to be reasonable pro heroes here that wanted the fight discontinued, but it was clear that everyone else's voices were drowning them out. She then glanced between the two boys again, seeing Katsuki's hands clenching tightly and Izuku continuing to stare at the ground, and knew, deep down, that if this fight didn't happen here, it might happen somewhere else. Somewhere they couldn't supervise and make sure that the boys didn't kill each other.

With a deep, annoyed noise, she threw the flogger back into the air.

"Very well," She confirmed, making the crowd cheer again and making her frown, "the fight will continue. But any more big moves like that, the fight will be over."

Katsuki didn't respond at all, instead glaring wildly at Izuku as the green-haired boy slowly nodded. Finally, Izuku looked up at where Katsuki was now hunched over, glaring at Izuku with such obvious hatred it made Midnight almost change her mind on the spot. Still, Izuku took a deep breath, looking down at the Full Gauntlet.

It was cracked, fizzing, and almost split in two. It was clear that it was now pretty much broken again - but for some reason, Izuku didn't care.

"You want me to be serious, Kacchan?" He said in a low, quiet voice, still staring at his arm for a moment - and then he reached down to grab the Gauntlet on his wrist, and practically ripped it off of him. The now shattered support item fell to the ground with a small clang, but Katsuki's attention quickly shifted between it and Izuku as the boy lifted his two arms in the air, and lightning began to run up both of them.

"Okay," Izuku glared at him furiously, "let's be serious."

Letting out a snarl, Katsuki didn't waste any more time. Throwing himself forward and into the air, he propelled himself forward with his quirk explosions blasting out behind him as he reached out for Izuku, the green-haired boy quickly moving away as Katsuki lunged at him, his hand coming up and slamming into Katsuki's ribs. But rather than balk at the pain, Katsuki's foot came back up, slamming into the side of Izuku's head and causing him to jerk to the side.

Landing on his feet, Katsuki threw his arm forward to slam another explosion against Izuku's head, but the smaller boy was faster, dodging underneath it and bringing his fist up to slam right into Katsuki's solar plexus. Katsuki winced in pain, but he still brought his other fist up to slam into Izuku's face, causing him to jerk back - but Izuku came back even quicker, a furious look on his face as he punched Katsuki right back, knocking him off course, before coming back at him with a bloody nose and returning Katsuki's glare tit for tat.

Letting out a growl, Katsuki shoved Izuku back, causing him to stumble, and Katsuki leapt straight at Izuku as he was knocked off balance, both hands reaching out. Katsuki knew that he would dodge, feeling a vicious grin appear on his face, and saw Izuku throw one arm back. He'd realize that he couldn't hit Katsuki with lightning, and have to go on the defensive -

BAM

And before the blonde boy could blink, Izuku's fist slammed straight into his cheek once again - but this time, there was a familiar electric feeling attached.

With a mini-explosion of electric energy, Katsuki was thrown off his feet. With a grunt of pain and surprise, Katsuki bounced once on the ground before managing to stop his stumbling, shaking his head and wincing at the feeling of numbness spreading across his face, as he quickly whipped around and looked at Izuku in shock.

The green-haired boy panted, lightning continuing to flicker and spark over his arms, but he let out a deep breath as he quickly shifted into a fighting stance, raising his arms and clenching his hands into fists. The lightning, rather than die down, instead intensified around his hands, two flickers of electric energy beginning to shimmer around his knuckles, as Izuku gave his hands a once over in surprise only once, before he shook his head.

"Okay," He muttered to himself, "come up with a supermove name for this later."

Katsuki merely stared at him for a moment - and then he felt his teeth grit, and leapt back to his feet. Instead of blasting himself forward, however, he ran straight at Izuku, and the green-haired boy answered his challenge with a yell. Bringing one of the fists coated in lightning towards Katsuki's face, Izuku growled as Katsuki ducked beneath it, an explosion slamming into his chest driving him back, and quickly looked around at Katsuki as he threw another explosion at him.

Katsuki's image kept flashing back and forth - one moment it would be him, and the next, the crazed hooded man striking out at Izuku. But Izuku didn't let it stop him this time - his eyes crazed, he threw out another fist, catching Katsuki in the shoulder, and the electrified punch forced Katsuki back again, making him stumble. Before Katuski could regain his balance, however, Izuku's foot came back up, and slammed right into his ribs, sending Katsuki right back to the ground.

"Get up!" Izuku barked. "Get up!"

With a furious roar, Katsuki did exactly as Izuku said and got up - and got up swinging. His fist slammed into Izuku's cheek again, jerking his head back around and causing him to stumble away as the lightning coating his arms flickered and faded for a moment. 

And Katsuki took advantage of that, his crazed grin returning and widening maniacally, as he threw another couple of explosions right against Izuku - and because he had been disoriented by the punch, he couldn't dodge out of the way, with each blow yanking Izuku off his feet and sending him flying across the ring and down hard onto his back.

Eyes widening, Izuku quickly looked back up, seeing Katsuki leap back up into the air thanks to his quirk as his hand whipped back, his palms beginning to fill with light. The crazed, almost villainous look on Katsuki's face said everything - he knew that Izuku had no time to get up and out of the way, that Izuku was pretty much pinned, and there would be no way to dodge out of the way, seeing as Izuku was right at the edge of the ring, and any movement would have him cross that white line.

Immediately, the rage at what Katsuki did to Ochako vanished within Izuku, and was replaced by fear. Fear, and the urge to stop his old friend from hurting him or anyone else. Automatically, Izuku's hand raised, lightning starting to flicker in his palm, and his mind screaming at him to move, to do something, to do anything.

Stop him!

Stop him!

STOP HIM!

And then, for the third time that day, he felt it.

A sudden flare igniting within him, a shift. The electricity running up his arm suddenly vanished, and a chill crawled up his spine. Sparks flying out of his open palm.

And as Katsuki's hand came down with an explosion, Izuku's quirk activated.


For a single moment, outside of the ring, the entire audience held its breath, waiting for the smoke cloud that was created by Katsuki's explosion to fade away to show them what had happened to the two boys inside of it. Midnight was at the edge of the ring, ready to intervene as she raised her hand to her sleeve in order to rip some of her suit and use her quirk. Inko held both hands to her mouth while Tenohira ran her hand up and down her arm, and Miwa clung to Taiyo, neither of them saying anything.

Itsuka stood near the tunnel entrance, her eyes wide, as Nejire stepped aside for the robots to bring Ochako to Recovery Girl, her own eyes on the smoke cloud and looking like she was fighting down the urge to run in this time. All Might was standing in the teacher's box, sweat running down his forehead, while the other teachers were muttering and looking quite anxious at what may have happened.

And then, finally, the smoke began to slowly blow away with the wind. And within it, they could all make out … a weird shape. The audience blinked a bit and tried to look a bit closer to see what had happened, and as the smoke cloud finally blew away … they all let out a collective gasp.

In the 1A booth, Setsuna jumped to her feet, her eyes wide. Eijirou's jaw dropped. Pony and Mezo sat forward with small gasps. And in the stadium itself, inside one of the waiting rooms, Momo held her hand to her mouth, and Shouto shot to his feet, staring at the TV in surprise and anger.

Laying on his back, his hand still extended, Izuku stared in complete and utter shock at what had happened, blinking as though he were unable to make it out. Katsuki was still hovering over him, his hand still in the air, and he let out several shuddering breaths - and, even as he strained to move, he just … couldn't.

Because … because it hadn't been lightning that had come out of Izuku's hand.

Ice. Katsuki was covered in ice, colored the same green as Izuku's lightning, and had completely frozen Katsuki into a statue.

It wasn't like Shouto's iceberg, much smaller and focused on wrapping Katsuki up, but the blonde boy was clearly unable to move. All of his body except for his head was frozen into a statue, with several icicles pointing out on his back, making him strain as he attempted to free himself despite how cold it was. Izuku's fingers were blistered, shaking from the unexpected cold that had emerged from his palm, as he felt his hand finally lose its strength and flop down onto the ground beside him, his other arm shaking and barely supporting his weight.

There was a long moment of quiet in the stadium, the quietest the sports festival had been all day long. And then Midnight, hesitantly raising the mic to her mouth, said, "Bakugou. Can you move?"

Katsuki stared blankly ahead for a moment - and then, with a loud grunt of exertion, he moved his shoulder and arm, the best he could. There was a crack, and some of the green ice broke away from the statue he was in, allowing his arm to go free. Quickly, Izuku scrambled out from beneath Katsuki, carefully watching here his hands went so close to the white line as he stumbled away, seeing Katsuki start to raise his arm -

- but the way it shook, trembling, told Izuku all that was needed.

He was too cold to use his quirk. He couldn't use his nitroglycerin sweat because he was frozen. There was … there was no way he could …

And then, after a single moment, Katsuki let out another weak grunt, and his arm fell along with his head. He wasn't unconscious, of course, what with his shuddering breathing and the way his eyes were still twitching, but it was clear that he couldn't do anything else. 

Midnight stared at him for a moment, as though wondering if he were faking it somehow, and then she turned to Izuku.

"Midoriya," She said carefully, "can you move?"

Izuku turned his gaze from the ice Katsuki was wrapped in to his teacher, as though confused with what she had said - and then, with a grunt, he started to stand up. The audience watched in shocked silence as Izuku managed to get to his feet, wobbling there, and looked down at his hand, feeling how cold his skin was. 

There was a prickling feeling, a numbness - but he felt fine. He felt …

"Bakugou is incapacitated!" Midnight snapped her whip against the ground. "Midoriya and Uraraka win!"

As the audience continued to stare in stunned silence, no cheers or clapping filling the air, Izuku wobbled a bit more - and then his teacher moved to take his shoulder, Izuku looking around at the beautiful woman as she gave him a sympathetic, yet worried look as she reached up for the shoulder of her body costume, and gave it a small tear.

"Sorry, Midoriya," She apologized, "but it'll be easier for Recovery Girl to look at you if you were unconscious."

Izuku stared at her in confusion for a moment, not even thinking about the violet purple mist that came from her skin, inhaling the sweet smelling scent softly - and then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, his vision darkened, and he fell into a deep sleep.

Notes:


And that was Chapter 31! And yes, at long last, the biggest plot twist of the story has come to pass - that I took the inFAMOUS inspiration a bit too far XD

Honestly, I'm surprised that no one really picked up on a lot of the hints lol - I did say, of course, that Izuku felt a flash in Chapter 27, when frozen in Shouto's ice, and he hasn't been able to use his quirk since then, has he? And I even said in the notes last chapter that we'd be having a *cool* time! And no one picked up on it! XD

Well, we'll certainly be going into how exactly Izuku's quirk might work in the next chapter, when we get to sit down and actually discuss it, so I can't wait!

But wasn't this such an exciting chapter? From Nejire and Yuuyu having the first moment of genuine conflict, Itsuka taking an impulsive first step, Izuku and Ochako being badass together, a few cameos none of you might have expected, Izuku still having PHMSD (Post-Hooded-Man-Stress-Disorder) messing with him, Katsuki being a jerk, Fumikage and Dark Shadow being 'tots adorbs', Ochako being badass all by herself, Izuku getting a few supermoves, Ochako doing a save-by-winning, Midnight being a boss, and Izuku and Katsuki's brutal beatdown of each other! This chapter was one that was a long time coming, and I'm so glad we finally got to it!

Now, tbh, there are two other things I'm not entirely satisfied by this chapter - Yuuyu's behaviour and Katsuki's. For Yuuyu, I wanted to get into her mindset and show the negatives of her jealousy - to contrast her with Ochako's own jealousy. Where Ochako responds to jealously by putting herself down and considering herself not worthy of Izuku's time, Yuuyu responds to jealously by getting angry and defensive, as shown here when Nejire tried her patience a bit too often. As for Katsuki, I realized I made him come off as ... kind of a psychopath, but I was emulating his behaviour from the battle trial, since, y'know, he didn't get his humbling there, so he got it here. Either way, both of these behaviours from Yuuyu and Katsuki are going to be explored further.

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading, and I'll see you later, as we come close to the conclusion of the Sports Festival!

Chapter 32: Reflection, Tough Calls, and Cheerleaders

Summary:

As everyone struggles with the aftermath of the last match, Izuku is forced to confront the unforeseen consequences of his actions, several forces begin to gather in the dark, and All Might traumatizes an entire generation.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

OPENING LINK

ESTABLISHING CONNECTION

Please wait …

Please wait …

Please wait …

CONNECTION ESTABLISHED

ENTERING USER INFORMATION INTO THE CHAT

Please wait …

Please wait …

CONNECTED

Leader, OG, P☆S, GV, LB, AND 2 ADDED TO CHAT

 

OG

WE'RE BONED

WE'RE SO SO BONED

 

2

oh, that's not good

You shouldn't be so down on your luck!

 

LB

Gentle! Can you see my messages?

Don't worry, everything's encrypted, so no one should be able to read this!

 Besides the interlopers already in the chat, of course

 

GV

I can see them, my dear!

And oh, how I have missed you!

 

OG

WE'RE FUCKED

 

LB

I've missed you too, Gentle! It's been too long! Please come back asap!

 

P☆S

it's

only been four hours since they've left

and you two have been talking over the comms

 btw just to throw it out there, no real names on this channel, guys, stick to codenames

 

GV

The amount of time we've spent apart is irrelevant, my dear Pop!

My love for La Brava is so fierce, even ten minutes of separation is unbearable!

 

LB

… even if you were off flirting with the new girl?

 

GV

my dear, that was taken very much out of context

 

OG

IS NO ONE READING MY MESSAGES, WE'RE FUCKED!

 

YOU

I'm reading your messages, Ordinary Girl

Don't worry, I'm taking this very seriously

 

LB

… really now?

Because from what I can see on your phone screen, it seems that you've been doing nothing but watching either the sports festival or this

 

LB posted: midnightsquirm.gif

 

YOU

et tu, la brava

 

2

eh? that midnight woman? she's beautiful! can't blame you leader!

she's disgusting!

 

P☆S

ew, seriously?! come on, leader!

 

YOU

okay, I don't wanna hear this from the person who thinks Skycrawler is attractive

 

P☆S

oh

so you're fucking dead when I next see you

 

YOU

I regret nothing!

 

OG

guysssss!

 

YOU

okay, okay, let's keep focused, guys 

we only have so long before we have to get this chat archived and deleted

I assume you two are far enough away from the bar?

 

GV

Indeed!

 

LB

Yep, they’re good

I got a look into the CCTVs and saw the bar anyway - it’s empty

 

YOU

Really?

Why? What happened?

 

LB

something happened on the tv that got Nine excited

like, leap out of his seat, excited

and then he gave orders to the others, pulled out his phone to make a call, and left through a portal the bartender made, and then the rest of them left

Slice & the teenage girl left together, the Mummy guy left on his own, and Giran left afterwards

 

YOU

hm

Nine probably went back to afo, but the rest …

that's a mystery for another time i guess

so what happened?

 

OG

Super bad stuff!

 

OG has sent 1 audio file

 

YOU

 

P☆S

 

2

 

LB

 

YOU

oh

fuck

that's not good

 

P☆S

so Nine's going for more quirks?

we thought he'd stay underground a bit longer

but from the sounds of things, he's getting ready to make a move

 

GV

Unfortunately, my dear, it appears that the recruits, and whatever this Giran person gave Nine, put him in good enough a mood to advance his plans

We always considered the possibility that he would want to lick his wounds for a little while longer, but as Leader mentioned a few weeks ago, it may be possible that the Villain Consortium has actually been around far longer than their theft of the Trigger from those Humarise deserters

so this is much less of a setback for them than we hoped

 

YOU

With that said, I never suspected that he'd be getting ready so soon

I expected him to try something again after a few months of gathering more forces

but if he's getting ready for two more quirks, that means he's confident enough in these new recruits to do something damaging

 

P☆S

or he's considering them expendable enough that he's willing to throw them away for his plans, just like the other ones he recruited

 

YOU

also true

Ordinary Girl, did you also open the backdoor into their system from the bar?

 

OG

I did

I think there was something flashing on the screen when I finished uploading la brava's flash drive, but I wasn't able to read it in time

 

LB

oooo wait a sec

i'll have a look

 

YOU

 

P☆S

 

OG

 

GV

 

2

 

YOU

… so uh

anyone watching the sports festival rn

 

P☆S

oh my god

 

YOU

it's awkward! we don't know how long it's gonna take for la brava to download the stuff!

 

LB

got it

 

YOU

it could take a while!

oh

well, that's good

 

LB

well, i've good news and bad news, unfortunately

good news: it's definitely the Inner Circle's network i'm looking at

 

YOU

excellent

 

LB

bad news, however, is that I see the message Ordinary Girl saw - managed to hack my way around it quickly, but yikes

it's some kind of security algorithm to prevent hacking - or more accurately, it's a program that's able to triangulate the location of whoever opens the files that she downloaded from the computer at the bar, if the person isn't logged into the network

basically a 'you want to steal my files? well now i'm gonna hack you back and see who and where you are' virus

 

OG

oh, no! I'm so sorry! Are we screwed?

 

LB

oh please, give me more credit

my computer's security should be able to slow down the virus, just give me a second to see if I can find a workaround

 

OG

… oh

sorry

 

P☆S

you just gotta keep calm, sweetie, try not to jump to the worst conclusion immediately

we've done this kind of rodeo loads of times, we know our way around stupid computer viruses thanks to la brava

 

GV

Bravo, La Brava, bravo!

 

LB

Oh, Gentle! ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

YOU

okay, everyone, let's keep on task

 

GV

though I must say, Leader, the technology you gave us to download the information is quite exquisite!

You're sure you cannot tell us where you got it?

 

YOU

yep, just to be safe lol

let's just say I have friends in high places and leave it at that

 

LB

okay, so virus is being stalled, and i'm in

i've got three files here for us to look through, boss -  but unfortunately, since I'm still technically connected to their network, i can only click on one of the files

because if i click on any more than one, it'll alert them that i'm in their system, and the virus will stop trying to passively get into my computer and start aggressively trying to get into my computer

no idea how they made a virus this advanced, and i could probably hack around it if i'm given more time, but truth be told, the sooner i leave their system the better

 

2

Oooh! What files are there? Are they scandalous? Top secret? End of the word stuff?

Is it porn?

 

P☆S

Twice, settle down!

 

LV

i've got 'Vessel', 'Consortium', and 'High-End'  as the files

like i said, i can only be in one of the files for a little bit, then I gotta get out as fast as I can before they realize I'm here

so pick your poison, leader

 

YOU

fuck

click on the 'vessel' one

let's see what the inner circle mean by that

 

LB

Okey, dokey!

hm

 

P☆S

what's 'hm'?

 

2

Is it bad?

I bet it's good!

 

YOU

La Brava, what have you got?

 

LB

Well, you picked the right briefcase, boss - it's afo's main project

it's his attempts to not overwhelm a body with multiple quirks

 

YOU

 

LB

He and Dr. Garaki are working on some kind of transfer surgery - something that'll let them put multiple quirks in people all at once without the drawbacks or surgeries that the body needs, like those nomu guys. From what I'm reading, they're theorizing that they'll be needing a specific machine to do it, and it's currently under construction.

But here's the curious part - Nine is mentioned in the files, but only as a test subject. whoever AFO's considering 'the vessel' to be, it's behind an encrypted file.

Taking a peek, it'd take me days to hack my way in and see who he's looking at

All that I can read from the file rn is that Nine's a rejected potential subject, but one that they're testing the process on to note any side effects.

 

P☆S

so

nine isn't afo's vessel?

 

LB

doesn't seem to be that way

he's the test before the actual test

 

GV

do you see anything in there indicating who the vessel is, my dear? besides the encrypted file?

 

LB

nope

all that the file says is that some company is supplying the tech to do garaki's research

 

YOU

the company

who is it?

deternet?

 

LB

don't know, it'll take forever to encrypt who exactly they are - they're behind a mountain of passwords and firewalls

but whoever they are, afo's paying them top dollar

 

YOU

hm

i have my suspicions on who they might be, but i'll have to reach out to rapt about it

i'll ask him to investigate if he gets the chance

anything about Sako in there?

 

LB

no

sorry, boss

 

YOU

damn

it's okay, i knew it was a long shot

alright

so the plan for tonight is still on - I'll be taking soga's boys with me to the airport to make sure Knuckle and his sidekick get away safely

Pop, your boys ready to help your concert?

 

P☆S

yep, they'll be there for the distraction

as long as it doesn't take long, the cops are already on to me

 

YOU

it won't

we're grabbing them and heading back to base as quick as we can

Twice, be sure to have a few clones around as cover

 

2

don't tell me what to do!

I'll give my life for the cause!

 

YOU

I'd rather it not come to that

 

OG

um  boss, are you sure you should be going to the airport?

aren't you

you know

 

YOU

don't worry about me, Ordinary Girl - being quirkless hasn't stopped me from doing worse stuff than this

okay, I think that's enough of this.

Gentle, Ordinary Girl, retreat back to base and rest, you've done good work

La Brava, be ready to hack into the airport servers, just to be safe

Pop, Twice, I'll see you tonight

 

LB

gotcha, boss! ending the log now and saving the info Ordinary Girl sent now

 

CONNECTION SEVERED

Please wait

Please wait

Please wait

YOU CAN NO LONGER VIEW MESSAGES


Half an hour.

It had only been half an hour since the fight between her training partners, Katsuki and Fumikage, and this was probably the most anxious Itsuka has ever felt in her life. 

And yes, she was including the villain invasion at the USJ a few weeks ago, or doing the entrance exam two months ago, or jumping into a fire a year ago.

Pacing back and forth in the hallway, Itsuka bit her lip nervously as she continued to stare down at the floor, unable to stop herself from walking for even a second. If Eri minded having to walk back and forth with her, the little girl didn't show it, instead holding on tightly to her hand while shuffling with her, almost hugging her side in her anxiety. On the other side of the hall, Inko was wiping her eyes with her handkerchief, still crying silently over the fight, while Taiyo had his head in both his hands and Miwa stared down at the floor desolately.

Both of Itsuka's parents were attempting to comfort the three of them, while her grandfather stood against the wall beside them and folded his arms together as he scowled at the floor. Around the corner, Hisashi quickly returned with several water bottles under his arms - presumably for Inko, so she could recover from the lowkey dehydration she was going through from all the crying. And on the wall beside the nurse's office, Aizawa and Midnight stood together, both of them looking towards it with frowns and looks of concern.

So … as one might guess, everyone was more than a little nervous at the moment.

And … honestly, who could blame them? Izuku and Ochako were currently inside with Recovery Girl, the elderly nurse having wheeled the two unconscious teammates inside the moment the match with Katsuki had concluded, and Midnight had used her quirk to knock out Izuku. The explosion-quirk user had also been brought in after the robots had chipped him out of - of the ice that Izuku had sealed him in, Itsuka still in disbelief that it had really happened.

But Katsuki, unlike her friends, had been cleared to go nearly at once, Recovery Girl having opened the door and allowed him to leave with a gray blanket wrapped around his shoulders. When Katsuki had staggered out of the office, there had been a serious moment where Itsuka had to fight down the urge to storm up to him and start punching him in the face as hard as she could - and she only really tempered that due to being in the presence of her teachers, her desire not to get into trouble with them only barely surpassing her desire to punch out all of Katsuki's teeth.

But even if she had to fight off the urge to make him pay, the look on Katsuki's face had stopped her anyway. He looked … honestly shell shocked by what happened, staring vacantly at nothing as he had been stopped by Aizawa and Midnight, and apparently given instructions, as the blonde boy had only wandered off the moment Midnight, who had been scowling something fierce, had dismissed him.

But right now, Itsuka didn't give a damn that maybe being frozen had finally knocked the wind from his sails. Right now, she just wanted to see her training partners, and make sure they were alright.

Ever since she had seen Ochako lying prone on the grass, Itsuka's heart wouldn't stop hammering in her chest, feeling tears threatening to leak from her eyes even half an hour later as she shuffled back and forth with Eri. Seeing her best friend - and, she had to be honest, someone she cared about immensely - laying still on the field like she had been killed was doing something to her insides to make them squeeze tightly together. It was a similar feeling to when she had seen Izuku at the mercy of that hooded guy - terrified, panicked, and ready to fight like hell to get over to him and save him. All of those emotions, now reflected on Ochako.

And then seeing Izuku throwing himself back at Katsuki, tanking explosion after explosion in his blind rage … honestly, Itsuka wasn't sure if she was going to hug the both of them when she saw them, or give them a good shake for being crazy. Or -

- or maybe kiss them, Itsuka blushed lightly. She … wasn't going to deny that it was pretty much up in the air at the moment, and the chances of her either hitting Izuku and Ochako when she next saw them, hugging them, or kissing the life out of them, was pretty much all very possible things. But … but she still needed to see them. And then she would decide what to do.

She would … definitely need to fight down that kissing thought, Itsuka blushed again. She'd have to fight it down hard. Very hard.

She was thankful, at least, that the hallway was relatively quiet, save a sniffle from Inko and hushed words from Hisashi. Nejire, having been more than aware of how her nervous energy would probably make things more tortuous for the Midoriyas and Urarakas if she were with them asking questions, had decided to distract herself by going to get Izuku and Ochako's stuff from the locker room. She and Itsuka had decided that, before she had parted, that Itsuka would come find her once they found out how the other two were, just so Nejire didn't have to wait around and wait for potentially hours before she got any news.

Still, she felt bad that Nejire had been aware that her presence might not have been welcomed at the moment, feeling her heart hurt from that thought, and made the mental note to do something to comfort her later - she knew that watching Izuku get beaten by Katsuki wasn't something Nejire enjoyed either, so a long hug would probably help her excitable partner.

Finally, after a good amount of time in that hallway pacing back and forth, the door to the office slid open again, and everyone quickly looked up as Recovery Girl came out into the hallway, sighing and looking around at them with a smile - although her eyes seemed heavy behind her visor.

"They'll both be alright," She started with that at once, seeing the parents in the group sag in relief, while Itsuka let out a small, shuddering sigh and Eri held tighter to her hand, "they've both got a few fractures all over and will most likely be incredibly sore in the morning, but neither Midoriya or Uraraka are in any danger at the moment - but there will be a few things that we'll have to go over as well going forward from here."

"Alright," Aizawa grunted, coming off the wall he had been leaning on and moving towards the door, "are they in any condition to talk right now?"

"Uraraka is still recovering from her concussion," Recovery Girl nodded, "but I fed her some of my gummies so we can counteract any effects, so she should be feeling better in a bit. Midoriya's currently in and out of consciousness at the moment, but he'll be okay - he just needs to rest. If you would all like, and you can keep quiet, you can all come in and -"

"OCHAKOOOOOOO!" Taiyo and Miwa immediately screamed as they leapt out of their seats and practically crawled along the floor inside the nurse's office. Recovery Girl blinked as she looked around at the two adults streaking past her, and inside the room, they all heard a loud shriek of surprise, making the elderly nurse's eyebrow twitch.

"- or you can just … go in screaming at the top of your lungs. That works, too."

Itsuka tried to ignore the scowl on Recovery Girl's face as she quickly hurried over to the door as well, Eri practically tugging on her arm to get inside as fast as possible, while everyone that had been waiting started following them in. As soon as she was inside the familiar nurse's office, Itsuka quickly looked around for her two training partners, feeling her heart hammering in her chest -

- and she found herself sighing in relief as she quickly spotted Ochako sitting up on her own bed, looking very confused and out of it as both her parents hugged her tightly. Ochako had her face covered in bandaids and small cotton balls with tape attached, and one of her arms - the arm that had been burnt by Katsuki's explosion - was tightly wrapped up in bandages and gauze, but at least she was awake, and staring up at Itsuka in confusion.

"Uh … hey," She weakly waved to her.

"Hey yourself," Itsuka smiled at her, trying to fight down the sudden tears that came to her eyes, "you, uh - you scared the crap out of me, y'know."

"Oh, uh …" Ochako shrugged - or at least she did her best to shrug, what with Taiyo enveloping both her and her mother in a hug while Miwa kissed her cheek repeatedly, "… sorry?"

Itsuka let out a small, weak laugh at that, and then she quickly turned to where Izuku was laying, on the other side of the room. Like Recovery Girl had said, he was currently unconscious, with both of his arms wrapped up like Ochako's, while his face was likewise covered in bandages from all the hits Katsuki had slammed into him. Unlike Ochako, however, his shirt (a new shirt, obviously, seeing as the one Katsuki had destroyed with his explosion was draped over a nearby chair)  had been opened up, showing the horrible bruises and cuts along his skin that being slammed into the ground, being exploded, and getting scrapped against the hard concrete floor had left him, with one boot-sized mark on his lower torso. 

But … but at least he was clearly breathing, as though he were just asleep, so that meant that he was at least going to be alright. Not that it didn't hurt Itsuka to see him like that, feeling those tears that she had just managed to fight down well up again. As Eri let go of her hand to run over and give Ochako a hug, she went over and sat down on the edge of Izuku's bed, staring down at him in worry.

"Easy there, sweetie," Recovery Girl patted her hand as she wobbled up beside her to look down at Izuku, allowing everyone else to troop into the nurse's office behind her, "he's been in and out, so let's not try to disturb him."

"I know, but …" Itsuka frowned.

"He isn't in any danger at the moment. There'll be something that we'll need to go over once he wakes up, of course, but right now, he'll be fine."

Over on the other bed, Eri finally stopped hugging Ochako's leg, the brown-haired girl confusedly continuing to comfort the little girl and her parents, and she quickly looked around for where the third member of their little gang was. Upon seeing Izuku lying prone on the bed, Eri's red eyes widened, and she quickly let go of Ochako so she could hurry over towards where Itsuka had sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Izuku in worry.

"Is - is Deku going to be okay?" Eri asked her fearfully. "Why isn't he awake?"

"He's … we're not sure," Itsuka admitted to her quietly, unsure about how to even tell the little girl about what was going on while Inko teared up above them staring down at her unconscious son, Hisashi hurriedly giving her a water bottle while trying to fight down his own worry, "he - he got himself really hurt out there, Eri, so - so he's resting for now. Recovery Girl is wondering when he's going to wake up, but for now, she's - she's going to let him sleep for a bit."

Eri let out a worried hum, looking back down at Izuku as he remained unconscious. A small silence falling in the room as everyone glanced between Ochako and the sleeping boy, while the teachers went over to the desk to have a look at Recovery Girl's notes - 

- and then, without warning, the little girl raised her tiny hand up into the air, and brought it down hard on Izuku's cheek, smacking him right in the face hard enough to jerk his head to the side.

With a noise that sounded somewhere between a squeak, a squawk and a yelp, Izuku's eyes snapped open at once as his head was forced to the side from the blow. While the adults quickly looked over in shock, Itsuka jumped a bit in surprise at Izuku being literally slapped back to life before quickly looking around at Eri, who was staring down at him with wide eyes.

"E-Eri!" She yelped. "Why did you -?!"

"I - I wanted him to wake up!" Eri looked up at her in panic, tears in her eyes as Izuku slowly looked around at all of them with a shocked expression, cupping the small, red hand print now slapped on his cheek while staring at Eri in confusion and slight terror. "He wasn't waking up!"

"Just … please don't slap patients awake, sweetie," Recovery Girl groaned as the other teachers looked down at Izuku as he slowly sat up, Inko's tears beginning to fully leak down her face as she raised her hands to her mouth, "that was … er … rude."

"I … wha …?" Izuku asked confusedly, blinking a bit as Eri quickly crawled into the bed with him and gave him a hug, tight enough that a small wince came from the boy. Still, at least he was now awake, with everyone watching as he absently patted the back of Eri's head with his wrapped up hands, and gave everyone else a look of confusion.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, "… good … morning? O-or - uh - what time is it?"

"It's been almost forty minutes since the end of your match with Bakugou," Recovery Girl quickly explained before anyone else could jump in, moving to sit down in her chair and pulling Izuku's files towards her as he turned to look at her in confusion, "I was treating both you and Uraraka for bruises and broken bones. For you, young man, I also treated you for burn marks, electrical damage, and …" She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, "… frost burn."

"Frost burn …?" Izuku repeated in a confused tone, as though not entirely awake as his eyes drooped slightly, his shoulders sagging slightly - and then they suddenly snapped open again. "W-wait. O-Occhan!"

He quickly looked around the room in panic, but thankfully, his eyes snapped to his childhood friend almost at once as she sat up on the other bed, raising her hand weakly to Izuku in greeting. Her gym shirt was still off, showing off her entire arm wrapped up in bandages while her tank top was slightly burned and ripped at the shoulder, but she seemed, at least, to be in much better spirits than she had been out in the arena, wincing as she waved at her best friend.

"Hey, Deku," She said in a weak, hoarse voice, "that, uh … that sucked."

"Izukuuuuuuu!" Inko was unable to hold it in anymore, wailing  as she threw herself at her son and hugged him tightly along with Eri, causing him to wince again as the bed creaked from all the weight on it, signifying to Itsuka that she should get up. 

As he was hugged tightly by both his mother and Eri, Izuku took the time to look around at everyone else standing around in the nurse's office, from the Kendous giving him a worried look, to the Urarakas still embracing their daughter, to his dad holding several water bottles and looking unsure how to help, to Teko leaning against the wall with a frown, and then to the teachers as they surrounded Recovery Girl's desk.

After a moment, Aizawa let out a small sigh as he looked up from one of the papers on the desk, and then turned to Izuku.

"Midoriya," He nodded, "seems that you've caused a bit of worry."

"I - yeah." Izuku nodded awkwardly, unsure of how else to respond to that.

"Are you feeling well enough to talk? I understand if you need to go back to sleep."

"I'm …" Izuku glanced around again at everyone as they all looked at him - and then he shook his head as he turned back to his homeroom teacher, "… I think I"m okay, sensei. Just … yeah."

"Good." Aizawa nodded once - and then his eyes narrowed behind all the gauze. "In that case, Midoriya, what's your deal?"

"Shouta …" Midnight groaned.

"Kayama, this is something we'll need to go over eventually, and I'd rather get it over with right now." Aizawa countered her before she could even start, and then turned back towards his befuddled student. "So Midoriya - what was with the ice?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, now feeling the eyes of everyone in the room staring at him and making him feel uncomfortable. He then turned to look down at his arms, wrapped up tightly to prevent him from seeing the red lines of electric scarring on them, and shook his head.

"… I don't know, Aizawa-sensei," He said quietly, "I'm - I'm telling you the truth, I don't know what happened out there."

"Your quirk is registered as an electric-type," The quirk-erasing teacher pointed out as everyone turned to him as he jerked his head towards a folder on Recovery Girl's desk, "and yet, somehow, you were able to freeze Bakugou into a statue out there. It's clear that there's more to your story than you've let on, but I don't really have the time for it today. Really, all I want to know right now is how you were able to do that, and why you didn't do anything like it before today."

"If I may," Recovery Girl leaned back in her chair, drawing everyone's attention over to her, "I might have an explanation as to why Midoriya wasn't aware of what his quirk could do. Honestly, it's rather simple."

"Oh?"

"Midoriya's quirk registration," She held up a piece of paper from Izuku's file, "I had to read through it thoroughly. According to the notes here, he was examined officially by a Dr. Tsubasa after his quirk manifested, and had it recorded as 'an electric type emitter quirk, allowing lightning to generate and blast out of his arms, with sparks being the indicator of it being released.'"

"Y-yes," Inko nodded from the side, raising her head off her son's shoulder and sitting beside him on the bed while Eri continued to cling to him, "although, that was - that was only what we told him it was. Izuku wasn't - he wasn't in the mindset to do a demonstration back then."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow under all the gauze, his gaze briefly flicking down to the covering on the mother's arm, but said nothing, only making a mental note to himself.

"Everyone is examined and registered when they enter either elementary or junior high school," Recovery Girl continued to explain, "but there have been cases where people discover that their quirks aren't what they thought they were upon further use. In those cases, for example, it would be like someone who thought they could shoot fire out from their bodies learning that, instead, their quirk can release a fuel and oxidizer to ignite the air around them."

"So … you think that's what happened?" Itsuka asked, moving over to the Urarakas so she could sit with them while giving Izuku a worried look. "Instead of Izuku's quirk being able to control lightning, the doctor just … got the official registration wrong based on the information he received?"

"Indeed," Recovery Girl hummed, "since I have a note here that Midoriya only started using his quirk within the last year or so, it's clear that this may have been the case all along, but for several years, he only had access to his lightning abilities. Although that does raise the question of how Midoriya is able to control lightning in the first place. If I understand how this works …"

"Is there a pattern?" Midnight asked.

"I believe so. I believe that how Midoriya's quirk works," She tapped her pen against the paper of his registration, "is that he has to be in contact with an element to use it. If Midoriya was able to control ice, he would've had to have been in contact with it, and if this is a recent development, the only time I can recall that happening was during the second round, when he was frozen by Todoroki."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, feeling the wheels begin to spin in his head as his eyes widened, "… my … my quirk wasn't working after I got out of the ice. I just felt … cold. And - and I never really warmed up after that, even after I took a hot shower. A-are you saying -?"

"Yes," Recovery Girl nodded, "your quirk must work in a way that you can only use - well - one element at a time. You can't use both, you can only switch between them. From what I observed, you weren't trying to hurt Bakugou when you froze him, correct?"

"N-no," Izuku shook his head, "I just - I wanted to stop him."

"Then that's what must switch the quirks," She pondered, "lightning if you want to hurt someone, and ice if you want to incapacitate them. It's probably not a conscious decision, however - you symbolize hurting someone with the lightning, and immobilizing someone with ice, so your mind automatically switches between which element to use."

"But that still makes me wonder how he even got lightning powers in the first place," Aizawa turned towards Izuku again, "so what's the story behind that, problem child? Were you struck by lightning when you were young?"

"N-no," Izuku shook his head as he frowned, "I don't … really remember …"

However, he felt whatever he was about to say titter out as he felt his mind start to race. Everyone watched as Izuku stared off distantly into space for a moment - as though a memory he had long forgotten had suddenly come to him - and then he looked around at Hisashi, who was still standing near the bed with the water bottles in his arms.

"… Dad."

"Hm?" Hisashi blinked, raising his eyebrows as Izuku looked around at him with a look of realization. "What is it, Izuku?"

"Do you …" Izuku felt his eyes widen, "… do you remember the old laptop you used to have, back when I was a kid? The one that occasionally shocked you?"

"Huh? That old thing?" He looked a bit confused by the change of topic. "Yeah, I - I got rid of it when I bought a new one in America. Think there was a short circuit inside, occasionally gave me some pretty nasty shocks."

"Didn't … didn't it shock me?" Izuku leaned forward slightly, eyes wide. "The day - the day before what happened on the playground. It - it gave me a shock when I touched it, and then the next day …"

"Wait," Ochako blinked, sitting up on her bed as her own eyes widened, "so you think - you think that the little shock from the computer gave you your - your lightning powers?"

"But - but that doesn't make sense," Miwa likewise shook her head, looking confused, "if it was that easy for Izuku to get his powers, then why hasn't he been able to get other elemental powers from other things over the years? I'm sure that Izuku's been burned by smaller stuff, like when he accidentally touched the stove one time. Why didn't he start suddenly blasting fire out of his hands?"

"Or if it's that simple," Hisashi likewise frowned, "why didn't he get water powers wherever he went swimming? Or take a shower?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Recovery Girl sighed as she leaned forward in her seat, "but I do know that quirks do strengthen over time, even without the necessary training. Quirks are essentially like organs or bones - they're weak when you're young, and grow stronger over time. Back then, a simple shock from a computer could have been enough to cause his quirk to awaken, but I imagine that if it were to happen now, I doubt anything would happen."

"We also need to consider," Midnight jumped in as she frowned around at the group, "that if Todoroki's ice was what caused Midoriya's quirk to take on its properties, he wasn't in it for only a few seconds. From what I remember, Midoriya was trapped in that ice for up to two minutes - he had undeniable exposure to the element before Todoroki unfroze him."

"Very true," Recovery Girl nodded, "it may be that Midoriya's quirk can't absorb other elements without undeniable and potentially prolonged exposure to the element."

"Mm," Aizawa hummed in agreement, "there's a big difference between touching an oven while it's on, and actually catching on fire."

"… uh …" Ochako felt herself pale as she looked up at her homeroom teacher, "… Aizawa-sensei, have … you ever been set on fire?"

"It's something that you'll have to expect in this line of work, Uraraka. With how many fire-type quirks there are out there, it's probably going to happen to you too, eventually."

There was a small pause in the room, in which Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka glanced briefly between each other in slight alarm, all of them wondering worriedly if they were going to be set on fire at some point during their time at UA. And then Izuku let out a low, shuddering sigh, and raised his two bandaged hands to his face to cover his eyes as he leaned forward, moving his legs so that he could sit up on the edge of the bed with Inko and Eri.

"Izuku?" His mom gave him a worried look as the other occupants in the room looked down at him. "Are you - are you okay, baby? Does something hurt?"

"No, I …" Izuku said quietly as he slowly shook his head, "… I'm fine, Mom. I'm … I'm actually better than fine."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked at that, looking down at Izuku as he began raising his head from his hands - and they all felt themselves stare in confusion as a large smile suddenly appeared on Izuku's face as he looked down at his hands, practically trembling in his seat as he breathed out.

"This … this is great," He said, excitement in his voice, "my quirk is - it's different than I thought it was. It - it doesn't have to be used to hurt people, I can - I can do other things with it! It's not just something I can use to destroy stuff!"

"Hey …" Ochako frowned at that, feeling herself pouting at Izuku going in a direction she wasn't entirely comfortable with.

"But - oh, come on, how can I not be excited?" He looked around happily at everyone staring at him, balling his fists slightly. "My quirk is - I was always frustrated that I never knew how it worked, but that's because I didn't have the full picture! I don't have lightning powers - I have - I have some kind of elemental absorption quirk! Now that I know how it works, I can - I can work on how to control it! I'll just - I'll be ready for the next round, and I can figure out -"

"That's where I'm going to have to stop you, Midoriya." 

Izuku's excited rambling was swiftly and suddenly cut off by Midnight, the R-Rated Heroine stepping forward from where she had been standing near Recovery Girl's desk. At the sound of her voice, everyone looked around at her as she gave the elderly nurse her clipboard back after examining it, frowning and putting her hands on her hips while trying to ignore the hole she had ripped into the shoulder of her costume earlier.

"Uh … Midnight-sensei?" Ochako felt herself become suddenly nervous at the serious look on their art history teacher's face. "Is - is everything okay?"

"Uraraka, Midoriya," Midnight sighed, knowing that this was not going to be a pretty conversation, "I'm here to let you two know that, due to your injuries from the last round, you've both been pulled out of the sports festival."

There was a long pause, in which the Midoriyas blinked, the Urarakas glanced between each other, and the Kendous found themselves nodding slowly as though they expected it. Itsuka found her jaw dropping open, and Eri glanced around in confusion. 

And then both Izuku and Ochako yelped, at the same time, "What?!"

"I - wait -!" Izuku tried to sit up, only to wince at how fast he moved, which required Itsuka, quickly getting up from Ochako's bed to hurry over to his own, and Inko to grab onto him so that he didn't try to injure himself even further, with even Eri quickly wrapping her tiny arms around his waist again to stop him from moving. Midnight raised an eyebrow at the obvious way Izuku's face clenched in pain, although the way he was looking at her indignantly made it clear that she wasn't happy with her ruling.

"Midoriya," She cocked her hip slightly, "look me in the eye and tell me that you're at full health right now. And that you'll be able to go out and fight whoever the finalist is going to be."

"I - but -" He shook his head, looking around at anyone to help him out and only seeing pitying faces, "- but Recovery Girl could help us, can't she? She can heal me -"

"She can't," Midnight shook her head, "because from what I read in her notes, what I noticed out in the ring is still there."

"H-huh?"

"Ah," Recovery Girl sighed, shutting her laptop and adjusting the visor over her eyes, "so we're doing this now."

"What?" Izuku looked between both women, obviously frustrated. "Doing what now?"

"Midoriya," Recovery Girl spun in her chair around to face him again, "I can't approve of you going out there, because Midnight noticed something on your arms that required me to investigate it. And after I looked, for your own good, I cannot approve of you using your quirk again today."

"But - but why?" He tried his hardest to fight down his anger at the situation in order to remain calm. "What's going on?!"

"… alright," She sighed, adjusting herself in her seat, "in that case … I would like you to take off your bandages."

The group sitting around the nurse's office all blinked a bit at that odd request, with several eyes flickering down towards the wrappings Izuku had over his arms. His hands were exposed, showing off a few of the red electrical scars, but his arms were completely ceiling in the white bandages.

Feeling his brow furrow, but still frustrated enough not to really question it all too much, Izuku still did as instructed, pulling on his bandages of his one arm to let the medical wrappings fall, Itsuka cringing a bit as his bare arms came into view -

- and then, as it fell away and exposed his forearm, she felt her eyes widen. 

She had expected … honestly, she expected something nasty. Electrical burns, frostbite, something - anything bad, something bad enough that would prevent Izuku from going back out to fight again. But what they all saw was …

"Whoa," She breathed out.

Lining Izuku's arm - moving up through his palm and up the limb, underneath his skin - were what looked to be cracked pieces of light. They were colored the same green as his lightning, pulsing slightly underneath his skin, but … but still clearly visible. Izuku's own eyes widened as he stared down at the lines; they were spread out along his arm, with what looked to be two cracks just between his wrist and elbow, one short one on his bicep, and another long one extending from the back of his hand to his shoulder.

"Midnight spotted those the moment the match ended," Recovery Girl pointed at them with her cane, "and had you knocked out with her quirk so that I could treat you without any issues. I'm not sure if they'll be going away, or if they're permanent, but … well, as I mentioned earlier, I looked into your official records and found nothing about this."

"W-what …" Inko's eyes teared up again, "… what are they?"

"It's too early to tell, but …" The elderly nurse hesitated for a moment before sighing, "… from previous cases I've seen of quirk damage that can happen to a body, I believe that - worst case scenario - your son has a minor case of cellular degeneration."

The entire room went quiet. Izuku, sitting on his bed, felt a chill go up his spine he now knew had nothing to do with his quirk, as both Itsuka and Ochako felt their hearts nearly stop.

"In case some of you were not aware," Recovery Girl stood up, "cellular degeneration is an uncommon - but not unheard of - side effect for quirks that are too strong for the body to handle. I'm not surprised in this instance, seeing as burns - specifically, in this case, electrical burns - can cause degeneration."

"I …" Izuku felt himself begin to shake as he stared down at the lines of light beneath his skin, "… what … what does that mean? W-what's gonna happen?"

"Well," Recovery Girl frowned, "in this case, the power of the quirk - or, as studied, overuse of the quirk - can begin to damage the body's cells. Prolonged use of the quirk - or how often the quirk is used - may result in the body completely breaking down, leading to your body completely crippling you, major brain damage, or …" She sighed again, "… death."

An icy chill spread throughout the room as they all absorbed what Recovery Girl just put out there. Both Ochako and Itsuka felt their hearts, how hammering, crawl up into their throats as they turned to look down at the glowing veins on Izuku's arm, while the green-haired boy likewise paled and stared down at his arm in horror, and Eri's grip on Izuku's waist tightened. Tenohira and Hakushu stared in shocked horror at the young man, Hisashi felt his jaw drop, and both Taiyo and Miwa shivered. Even Teko, leaning against the wall, felt himself tense, his hands clenched on his arms as they crossed his chest tightening.

Finally, Recovery Girl walked over and put her hand on Izuku's knee to get his attention again.

"I'm sorry for scaring you," She apologized, "but I wanted you to know the seriousness of this situation. I discussed it with Midnight, and we have both decided that pulling you out of the festival for now is for your own safety."

"Not because we don't trust you," Midnight made clear, her tone becoming a bit softer, "but just to make sure that there isn't any risk of you using your quirk again and furthering the damage that's already been done to your body."

"I … but …" Izuku shook his head, feeling denial start to seep in, "… isn't … isn't there anything we can …"

"It isn't just because of the cellular damage," Recovery Girl sighed, "your body was also damaged by your quirk's side effects. You should be aware of this by now, but lightning and electrical currents can cause several injuries, and damage your body irreparably. It can destroy your muscles, your nerves, your tissue. And as I've seen," She pointed her cane to his arm, which, besides the green cracks, had several burn marks and red lines stretching up the arm, "your quirk can and has harmed you. Not only do you have to worry about the damage your lightning can do to your body, you have to worry about the damages this ice aspect of your quirk can do."

With a small grumble, she tapped her cane on the floor.

"It's obvious, now more than ever," She said, "that your body's natural resistance to your quirk is either the bare essentials or next to non-existent."

"B-but …"

"And besides that," Midnight shook her head, "you don't have the support item that can help you use your quirk - I'm afraid that it's broken, and sent back to the support studio. LIke it or not, Midoriya, you have no way to fight out there."

"But …" Izuku said again, his gaze flickering over to Ochako as she sat there. Everyone could see the obvious guilt on his face - that he believed that he was the only reason that they weren't moving on, and that his failure was going to mean Ochako failed as well - so Recovery Girl shook her head and began speaking again.

"It's not just you, Midoriya," She pointed out, "Uraraka here doesn't have any way to fight, either."

"I … I don't?" Ochako sat up a bit as everyone turned their attention to her.

"I've used my quirk on you, sweetheart," The elderly nurse explained, "but it's clear that you're out of stamina. If I use my quirk on you again, it'll have negative effects on your health. That's why, unfortunately, I can't heal the burn mark on your arm," She frowned sadly at the wrappings on the young girl's arm, "it won't hinder you, of course, but it'll definitely scar over. Because both of you have been weakened by the last fight, neither of you are in any shape to get into another one. I'm sorry, but this is for your own safety."

"But …" Ochako glanced over at Izuku as well, who was likewise looking as shocked and frustrated over this unexpected development as she was, and their rather anticlimactic ejection from the sports festival was causing a bitter taste in their mouths. But before either of them could speak, Taiyo put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to look over at her dad as he gave her a sad look.

"Chipmunk," He said in a soft voice, "it's okay. You really don' hafta keep goin'."

"But - but we haven't -" Ochako felt herself tear up - she didn't have the heart to say anything in front of their families, but she remembered her conversation with Izuku at Dagobah Beach, so many weeks before the sports festival.

"It's just … Deku, this is it. All those times I talked to you about making enough money for my parents to retire … this is the start of that. This is the start of my hero career, Deku - it's like Aizawa-sensei said, the better we do and the further we get into the tournament, the better chance we'll have to be noticed by the pros!"

If they were ejected from the tournament now … so anti-climatically, and because they were both too injured to continue … the pros might look down on that. Her chances of being noticed would decrease, dramatically, if they thought she was too weak to rely on.

But before she could find her words, Miwa shook her head.

"Ochako, you've made us so proud," She stroked Ochako's hair, causing her daughter to look around at her, "but this is - you can't go back out and fight again, sweetie. You're hurt, and - and so clearly exhausted. So please, just for me and your dad, just … just rest, okay? You've done so well today."

"But …" Ochako still shook her head, looking around at Midnight and Aizawa as they stared down at her, "… but if we step out, what about the final round? W-wouldn't - wouldn't that just mean that Tokoyami and - and -"

She was unable to finish that sentence, feeling a hot anger suddenly rise in her stomach - the thought of Katsuki hurting her enough to make her step out and then take her place at the final round made her feel like she was about to be sick, and not because of the effects of her quirk. 

However, thankfully, Aizawa seemed to pick up on her question.

"Are you asking if Bakugou and Tokoyami would move on automatically?" He asked in a monotone voice. "Normally, it might mean that, but … well, truth be told, the other team is in no condition to continue on, either."

"H-huh?" Izuku straightened up again, feeling a sudden spike of fear go through him. "Does that mean that - that I hurt Kacchan -"

"No, no, he's fine," Recovery Girl shook her head again as she moved back to her desk, "physically, at least. The problem is that Bakugou is in no mental state to continue on - the boy's in shock, and from what Midnight told me, he's barely in a state to respond to us, let alone go out and fight again. And when we spoke to Tokoyami, he made it clear that he'd refuse to move on no matter what, since he feels that he lost the match fair and square."

"And honestly," Midnight sighed, "we think it's for the best that Bakugou doesn't continue either - like Recovery Girl said, he was in shock when he left the office, and it might take him a while to come back to cognition. It'd probably be better than he doesn't enter the arena again for the rest of the day - he's shown several pro heroes that he's more than happy to defy the orders of his teachers, so that's not going to win him any favors with heroes that will be looking for students to intern with them."

"That's assuming that we'll even allow him to get internships," Aizawa grumbled under his breath.

"In any case," Midnight cocked her hip again, "we'll be arranging it so that the next match - between Kendou, Hadou, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu - will be our final match of the day. Bakugou and Tokoyami will automatically take fourth place, and you two will be taking third. The other two pairs will be fighting for who takes second and first place."

As silence fell again, it was clear Izuku and Ochako were still rather unhappy with the arrangement, everyone raising their eyebrows as they both opened their mouths as though to try protesting again - but they found themselves faltering as Itsuka suddenly shifted from where she had been standing over Izuku's bed. 

Both of them stole a small glance at her as she glanced between them - it was clear that, like them, she wasn't entirely comfortable with her two training partners being kicked out of the tournament for their safety - but she still shook her head, and then straightened her back.

"Then …" She swallowed, and looked around at Recovery Girl, "… if that's the case, I - I'm not sure when the next round will start. Would it be alright if I had enough time to make sure Midoriya and Uraraka make it back to the booth upstairs with the rest of our classmates?"

"Of course, dear," Midnight nodded, smiling gently at her for at least trying to get her two training partners to stand down, "the next match was delayed for a while anyway - All Might volunteered to entertain the crowd while we dealt with everything. You have enough time to get them upstairs and back down here to get ready."

"And Midoriya," Recovery Girl got Izuku's attention on her again, watching as he slowly wrapped back up his exposed arm to hide the cracks of light under his skin, "I'll be speaking with your teachers about what we'll be doing about the potential degeneration. I'll admit that I may be overanalyzing something, and even if it's the worst case scenario, it's lucky that we caught it now, as it's starting. I know that Tenko was worried as well, and he'd be more than happy to help you with your quirk, as he always has been. Either way, we can begin to plan around it and come up with possible treatments before it gets any worse."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, at least satisfied with that answer, and then turned back towards where Izuku was sitting on the bed, and lowered her hand to offer to him. 

After a brief moment of hesitation, Izuku let out a small, defeated sigh and nodded, reaching out to take her hand (and being too tired to really see the soft blush on her face) as she gently helped both him and Eri up, the little girl still clinging to Izuku's waist. Soon, they walked over to Ochako, who likewise accepted Itsuka's hand to stand up, and the class representative quickly wrapped their good arms around her shoulders and neck as they started making their way towards the door.

The adults in the room watched as the three teenagers and the little girl made their way out, both Izuku and Ochako trying to hide how red their faces were as they leaned on Itsuka, and soon, they, and Eri, were out into the hallway, the door gently closing behind them. Aizawa stared after them for a moment, feeling himself frown before letting out a small sigh, and then started making his way towards the door as well to head back upstairs to -

"Please wait a moment."

Pausing in his step as Inko suddenly spoke, Aizawa turned back to look at the mother still sitting on the bed where her son had been, her hands clenching together slightly as she stared at her lap for a moment, before looking back towards Recovery Girl.

"Please," She muttered, "are you being honest with my son? That … that if he's suffering from - from cellular degeneration - there's treatments?"

Both Aizawa and Recovery Girl paused, while Midnight glanced between the both of them with a frown - and then the elderly nurse let out a sigh.

"I was," She confirmed, "there are treatments to help people with quirks that damage their bodies. But I was also being honest with your son that this is something he shouldn't treat idly - the threat of cellular degeneration caused by quirks is very serious, Mrs. Midoriya, and nothing to joke about. The more we find out about your son's quirk before more damage can be done, the better."

Inko slowly nodded, and then turned back to look up at Aizawa, who was still looking quietly at her.

"The reason he's going through this now," Her voice became a bit darker, "is because you put him up against Katsuki."

"Er," Tenohira felt herself pale, recognizing the tone in Inko's voice and immediately moving in to try de-escalating the situation, "I'm not sure if that's what happened, Inko, but -"

"My son was put on the same team as Katsuki during the second round," She pointed out to the group, "and then in the third round, he ended up in the same bracket as him. That … that can't be a coincidence. You made it seem like the pairings for the last rounds were randomly drawn, but … but if that was the case, then - then why were Izuku and Ochako paired up together? After they worked together all day long, the chances of them getting to team up again is little to none. And … and they both have reasons for Katsuki to - to come after them."

"That's …" Taiyo trailed off, realization coming to his eyes - and then he looked around to the homeroom teacher himself, his expression falling into something far more neutral towards the pro hero. That, of course, didn't mean much, as his eyes suddenly started getting more hostile as everyone looked around at Aizawa.

"Did you put our children … purposefully up against Katsuki?" Miwa's voice turned colder as well. "Knowing this might happen?"

Aizawa stayed still for a moment, while Midnight sighed and shook her head, Recovery Girl raised her eyebrows, and Inko slowly stood up from the bed. And then he let out a small sigh and nodded.

"Yes," He said bluntly, "I did. I do have my reasons -"

SLAP

The clear smack of Inko's hand meeting Aizawa's cheek sounded out throughout the room. Aizawa's head was jerked completely to the side, stumbling a bit from the blow due to having no way to brace himself with his arms wrapped up in casts, and Hisashi and Hakushu, both of them feeling their eyes widen at how quickly Inko had crossed the room to smack the living daylights out of the teacher, quickly moved forward, Hisashi dropping all the water bottles on the empty bed, to quickly hold her shoulders as though expecting her to go after Aizawa again, but Inko merely stood there and glared at the teacher as he raised his head again.

"Ow," He said without any emotion.

"Oh, please," Midnight scoffed at her coworker, shaking her head, "don't act like you didn't deserve that, Shouta."

"Kayama -"

"Because I seem to recall I was one of the teachers in favor of making sure this exact scenario didn't happen," She gave him a pointed look, unafraid of throwing him under the bus due to her warning him that this exact scenario was going to happen and he completely ignored her, "but you overruled the rest of us, and stopped us from putting Bakugou in therapy."

"Tha' righ'?" Taiyo growled, standing up as well as though about to imitate Inko, only for Miwa to (reluctantly) take his shoulder to try to stop him.

"Like I said," Aizawa scowled as he straightened up, "I do have my reasons, and I'll give them. The truth of the matter is, I became aware of how volatile and ill-behaved Bakugou is on the first day of class. He believed he was on the top of the class even if he had done nothing to prove it, and reacted terribly whenever his other classmates would upstage him. I knew the moment he confronted your son and your daughter after their battle trial that his behavior was something that needed to be addressed, and then after his behavior at the USJ, I realized he needed to be humbled if he was going to succeed."

"This is what you call 'humbling'?" Teko finally said after nearly an hour of silence, glaring at the bandaged teacher as he kept his arms crossed on his chest. "Letting him loose against two people who did nothing to earn his hatred?"

"That …" Aizawa was about to tell off the old man for jumping in, but from all the glares he was receiving from all around him, he held himself back and sighed, "… my plan backfired."

"Oh, did it?" Tenohira asked sarcastically while Hakushu shook his head.

"It did," Midnight shook her head, deciding to take some pity and get some of the heat off her coworker, "we wanted Bakugou to be humbled during the second round - our plan was to put him on the same team as your children, and give him no way to move on to the final rounds without having to rely on them. We had thought that being forced to rely on people he considered 'extras', having no choice but to work with them to succeed would do the trick."

"But …" Aizawa scowled, "… it didn't work how we wanted it. We saw him confront Midoriya physically out in the forest, and thought that -"

"That does not matter," Teko snapped, coming off the wall and glowering at the bandaged teacher as he looked around at him, "what you thought does not matter, now that there are two children that you allowed Bakugou to injure severely and force out of this tournament. Even if I have my thoughts about how you run this festival, it is inexcusable that you considered Midoriya and Uraraka's safety an acceptable risk for one boy to learn lessons he should have already known when he was in kindergarten."

"Sorry," Aizawa sounded cross, "but I wasn't aware that you -"

"Midoriya and Uraraka trained at my dojo last year," Teko clarified, crossing his arms again, "and even if I am not their sensei anymore, I still consider them my students. And seeing how you clearly do not care for their wellbeing, and I sincerely doubt that you will force Bakugou to see the consequences of his -"

"That's where I'll have to stop you!"

The entire group blinked as a high-pitched voice suddenly came from the door as it quickly slid open, as though there was someone outside waiting for their chance to jump in. Looking around, everyone then looked down, blinking as they saw Principal Nezu standing there and beaming happily at the group of agitated adults as he entered, shutting the door behind him as he brushed off his vest.

"Good afternoon!" He happily greeted them. "Am I a mouse? A bear? A dog? I am … the principal!"

"Er …" Hakushu paled a bit, "… you're … the principal?"

"Indeed! Expecting someone bigger?" Nezu chuckled a bit at his joke before shaking his head. "Ah, my apologies, I couldn't resist. I regret my lateness, Agent Iguchi has been quite distracting today. I must give the HPSC's agents credit, they sure do love taking up all of my time."

"Principal Nezu," Aizawa nodded to his boss while the other three families looked confusedly down at the small mammal, "I take it you were listening in?"

"Indeed! And don't be pouty, Aizawa, you definitely deserved that slap," Nezu nodded, ignoring Aizawa grumbling while Midnight had to suppress her chuckles, as the principal's expression turned more serious, and turned to the three families before sinking into a bow, making the Midoriyas, Urarakas and Kendous blink a bit.

"I would like to, firstly, express my own apologies for the behavior of Bakugou," He told them, "I have been distracted by the HPSC all day long, but I have been keeping an eye on the young man's behavior as well. After what happened, I am now considering what we are to do with him, and rest assured, we will not be letting Bakugou get off lightly."

"Oh?" Teko scowled. "Then educate us. What are you going to do? Trust me, we can keep a secret."

Nezu raised his eyebrows, but decided to keep going.

"We are, of course, reconsidering Bakugou's position in my school," He confirmed, "as Aizawa mentioned, we've been observing the young man's behavior since the start of the school year - we've noted him as being volatile and hard to get along with, and I decided to trust Aizawa's judgment to see how to address his issues."

"And that failed."

"It did," Nezu frowned as he agreed with Teko's assertions, straightening his back, "we believed that the second round could be used to help temper Bakugou's mindset that he could succeed on his own, but … well, as Midnight said, that backfired quite well in our faces as it instead ignited Bakugou's fire against Midoriya and Uraraka. Please, accept my most sincere apologies for how this spun out of our control, and please know that his behavior and assault in his match against your children - using a move we've clearly never seen him practice anywhere on the school grounds, making it clear that he pulled it out of nowhere - is certainly the last straw for many of us. We will be gathering tonight for a teacher's meeting to address Bakugou's status in our school going forward."

"You're …" Inko felt her eyes widen, "… you're going to expel him?"

"Truth be told," Nezu sighed, "expelling Bakugou is the worst case scenario, and one that we would like to avoid."

"Is that so?" Teko scowled.

"Yes. It may seem unfortunate for those who would want to see him properly punished, but … well, we would like to avoid expelling Bakugou outright. You all don't know this, as many hero schools keep this fact on the downlow, but the HPSC is quite annoyed that UA is one of the few hero schools they don't have any influence on."

Aizawa, Midnight and Recovery Girl scowled.

"Ketsubutsu, Isamu, Seijin, Seiai … all of them schools that the Hero Commission have their hands in," Nezu shook his head, "and direct the teachers in how to teach their students. Currently, UA and Shiketsu are the only two hero schools in Japan that they can't influence in any way - and they do certainly try to find loopholes to wedge control of the school away from me."

"Er … I'm sorry," Hakushu wrinkled his brow, "but what exactly does this have to do with Bakugou?"

"The HPSC has trained heroes in the past," Aizawa shook his head, "and they don't really need to rely on a hero school to take someone on. They've taken on students from even normal schools that they raised to become heroes. Hawks and Lady Nagant, for example."

Unknown to anyone, Taiyo and Miwa cringed a bit, and Recovery Girl felt her brow furrow.

"And while those two turned out to be capable heroes," Midnight scowled, "there have been rumors that … they weren't trained through the same means as we try to teach our students. In fact, some of the rumors we've heard surrounding heroes that are associated with the Hero Commission have … been quite disturbing."

"We will try not to expel Bakugou," Nezu agreed, "because we don't need someone with a potentially powerful quirk and a very hard to control personality to fall into the Commission's hands, due to us knowing that they'll do nothing to curb that behavior and potentially abuse him in turn. But please, rest assured that Bakugou will not be getting out of this without consequences. We have taken advantage of your trust in us once already, and I swear, we will not do so again. I promise to you, now, that we will not put your children through this situation again."

The three families glanced between each other for a few moments - as though trying to silently debate amongst themselves about if the principal was being honest with them - but then, after a moment, they all nodded.

"Excellent," Nezu smiled, clapping his paws together, "in that case, I will be more than happy to guide you all back up to your seats. We've had All Might running entertainment for the crowds, and I've been surprised about how enthusiastic the students of -"

"One moment, actually, Nezu." Recovery Girl suddenly interrupted him, making them all look towards her as she held another folder in her hand - and not Izuku's, they all realized. "Before they're sent back up, I was wondering if I could speak to the Urarakas privately."

Both Taiyo and Miwa blinked a bit at being called out, everyone looking around at them in surprise. Thankfully, Nezu was quick to nod, and began guiding everyone else out so that they could have some privacy, Nezu taking Inko's hand and beginning to speak to her about what they found out about Izuku's condition, while Teko threw another dirty look at Aizawa as he left to return to the commentary box.

Soon, the room was emptied, save for the two adults and Recovery Girl. Now that they were all alone, Taiyo felt himself gulp a bit as he turned back to the elderly nurse.

"Er … is everythin' alright?" He asked nervously. "Is - is somethin' wrong with Ochako?"

"No, no," She shook her head, "besides her current injuries, your daughter is in good health. And it's not that either of you are in trouble. It's just …"

Sighing, she opened back up Ochako's folder.

"When I was going through her medical files, back during the first few weeks of classes," She explained to both of them, "I came upon something in Ochako's files that I found curious. It took me a little while to secure permission to view the classified files, but I eventually got something back this past week, and now that you two are here, I would just … like to make sure you were both aware of what I found."

She then held out the folder to Miwa. Feeling her brow furrow with an unexpected worry, Miwa accepted the folder and began to read, Taiyo leaning over her shoulder to look as well. There were a few moments of quiet as the two parents read over their daughter's file together - and then they both blinked. Or in Miwa's case, her eyebrows raised.

"Oh," She said simply, "oh, er - that."

"Ah," Taiyo felt himself sweat a bit as he glanced back up at Recovery Girl, "that. Uh - y-yeah, we're - we're aware."

"Is that so?"

"Y-yes. It was - it's a long story," Miwa felt her cheeks go a bit red, shutting the folder, "but - but it was consensual. We all signed a contract, and - yes."

"Alright," The nurse accepted the folder back, "and I'm assuming Ochako doesn't know?"

"She … doesn't," Taiyo winced, "we were plannin' to tell her when she's older."

"Well," Recovery Girl sighed as she put the folder back on the desk, "I do understand, and I won't tell her unless she asks, of course. But … well, I'd probably imagine she's getting to be that age. It's entirely up to you, but in my opinion, you should probably tell her sooner rather than later."

"Y-yeah," Taiyo nodded, frowning. 

"And just so you know," Recovery Girl added, "I've done a few tests on Ochako since her time here - during the entrance exam, after the USJ's invasion, and now - and I find that she's completely healthy. No side effects or anything like that."

"Oh, that's - that's good," Miwa said, sighing a bit in relief, "we've - we've had her checked on by doctors before, and - and they were afraid of some side effects later in life."

"Well, she's healthy," Recovery Girl nodded, "but don't be surprised if she eventually starts suspecting something. Her life isn't in danger, of course, but … well, I'm not one to tell you how to raise your daughter, but the sooner she finds out, the better. Especially before any … effects … kick in."


Of anything they could be doing at the moment … Shouto didn't expect them to be heading back to the lockers.

"Are you sure this can't wait?" He said to Momo's back as she led the way through the halls. She was making sure to walk ahead of him, not showing him her face at all as her arms swung from side to side, while he slowly walked behind her to give her some space. "I had thought you wanted some time to figure out a strategy."

"I'm afraid it can't," Momo said in a colder voice - but he could hear a small shake under it, making him blink a bit as she continued walking with a stiff, straight back, "I believe my father might have sent me something during the last few matches, and … and I would at least like to have a look at my phone and make sure he's answered. I - I know that he's coming to pick me and my mother up after the festival is done, and I'd … I'd rather answer any questions he had beforehand."

Shouto stayed silent for a moment, his face falling into a darker expression - and then he nodded.

"I see," He said simply.

Well … not that he could blame her, Shouto scowled as they moved into the locker room at long last, with Shouto quickly spotting his own backpack resting against the locker from lunchtime. Honestly, the less he would speak with Daikoku Yaoyorozu, the better, and seeing as Momo would have to live with the bastard, he could understand her not wanting to give her father any ammunition to use against her. 

So … he supposed that this would have to be a moment where he checked on his own phone to give her some space, to make sure Momo didn't feel awkward if she did get something discouraging from her father, and she needed some time.

Walking over to his backpack, he pulled out his phone and turned it on, tapping his foot against the ground as he waited for it to boot up. Near him at the lockers, Momo slowly took out her own phone from her bag, taking a deep, shuddering breath, before she turned it over and turned it on. After a few seconds of waiting, with Shouto hearing her tap in her password, they waited for a moment - and then she let out a small sigh of relief.

"Alright," She breathed out, "that's … okay."

"No messages?" Shouto asked shortly.

"N-no … other than my mother wishing me luck," She confirmed, quickly typing out a reply before sending it and going back to her home screen, moving to lean against the lockers beside hers and smiling in relief. Shouto watched her for a moment as she closed her eyes, and then he turned his gaze away, intending to move it back to his own turned on phone before his eyes went down to her phone screen -

- and then he stopped.

"Wait," He blinked, "is that … are those my siblings?"

"H-huh?" Momo opened her eyes again, looking around at Shouto in confusion, and then she followed his gaze down to her phone. Seeing her screen, she let out a small gasp at what he was seeing, and a tinge of red suddenly came to her cheeks.

"Oh, ah … yes," She nodded a bit awkwardly, holding her phone up despite her embarrassment and allowing Shouto to see, "I, er … yes."

Shouto raised his eyebrow at the awkwardness, but still leaned over to have a look. Indeed, it was an old photo, but one that he recognized - he was in it, of course. He and Momo had been young - this was one taken from before their falling out, so they were still quite small, with a young Momo beaming at the camera while he awkwardly flashed a peace sign at it. Behind them, Fuyumi and Natsuo were also smiling widely at the camera, Natsuo with his hand on the top of Momo's head to try to squeeze in, and Fuyumi hugging Shouto from behind while she also flashed a peace sign.

It was like … it was like a memory from another life, Shouto thought for a moment - and then he exhaled.

"I … completely forgot about that photo," He said softly, which made Momo blink and look around at him as he stared a bit longer at her phone screen, "I can't believe you've kept it."

"Well," Momo brought the phone back to her chest, speaking in a careful, but much softer tone than she had used with him all day, "I understand it might be embarrassing to keep a photo of your siblings as - as my homescreen, but … but I do miss the times Fuyumi and Natsuo would hang out with us. I never had any siblings, and - and they were both so cool," She smiled a bit despite herself, "that I think that if I ever had an older sibling, I'd want someone like them."

Shouto stared at her for a second - and then he nodded, a soft smile coming to his face.

"They are … pretty cool," He nodded, leaning against the locker beside hers and making her look around in brief surprise, "Fuyumi's actually teaching, if you didn't know - she got a position as a teaching assistant."

"Oh!" Momo blinked, smiling a bit in surprise - both to that information, and to the fact that Shouto seemed to be willing to socialize with her - and despite herself, she felt a hope begin to bloom in her chest at the soft look on her old best friend's face. "And how is Natsuo?"

"He's well - he's been in college, but he hasn't been coming home recently. Fuyumi thinks that he got himself a girlfriend."

"Well, he was a bit of a charmer when we were children," She recalled, smiling fondly, "used to mess with me all the time, didn't he? Called me 'too pretty to be your bride'."

"Yes," Shouto nodded, pouting a bit, "he did."

"And, uh," Momo's gaze flipped down for a moment, feeling slightly panicked when she saw the inevitable awkward silence that might happen, and quickly pointed to his phone, "might I ask what your home screen is?"

"Hm? Oh," Shouto raised the phone, tapping the button to activate the screen for Momo to look at. Unlike her phone, he didn't have a photo or memory on his screen - instead, it was a picture of a field soft, violet-blue flowers, softly nodding blossoms spreading across the screen.

"They're beautiful," Momo said in a soft voice, smiling gently, "I wasn't aware that you liked flowers, Shouto."

"They're rindou flowers," He told her simply, "they're … my mother's …"

At that, though, Shouto felt himself blink a bit, turning the screen over to look at the flowers as well. He felt his face fall as he stared blankly - and then a sudden memory returned to him, making him blink at how … fuzzy it felt.

"Good grief," His father had growled as he stood with his back to Shouto, "this was an important time, too … II̷̿͛̏͆̈͘'̵̡͓̞̣̞̗̋̎̔l̷͚͈̰̙̞̳̟̗͎͉̜̦͕̐̏͘͜ͅl̷̛̙̠̏̔͂̃̓̀̎̾͗̀͌͘͘͝ ̴̨͙̻̯͕̼̣̩̮͕̉̀̆̾̓̓̃h̶̦̄̒̋͛̏̆̉͗͆ͅã̵̪̳͉̻̝͇̖͕̙̩̩̟̞̂̊͒̈́̄̉̚͠v̴̢̧͚̮̲͖̩̣̘̀ͅe̵͕̱̜̗͈̟͈̮͌̐͂͌͜ ̵͚̾̄̈́̈́̏̾̀̈́́͑̈́̊̚͝͝t̵̢̟̳̹̮͂̽̈̋̂́̃̓̔͘͘͘̚ͅȍ̵͚͍̬̥̯̘̊̿̂ ̴̛̛̟̜̦͊́̂͋̑͌͌͗͌͋t̸͕͆̽̀̓̐́̄a̵̛̯̖̮̞̙̣̭̰̭͎̳̪̬̍̍̀͂̄̏͗̄̈́̅͋̄̊̚k̶̢̡̢̙̝̖̲̣̱̦̘͖̭̟̎̃̋̽͋̌̔͐e̶̖͖̬͚̠͙̮̳̻͙̱͑̿̾͆̏̈́͌̚̚̚͜ ̶̛̗̰̺̥̑̀̀̏͘s̴̛̲̯͔͙̻̘̩̈́̑͑͊̋̆̍͝ò̸͓̮̘̠͎̫̖̯̟̊͒̾̉̒͒̓͜͜m̷̗̼̥͈̥̹̠̭̗̖̯̗͊́̐͜͜e̵̱͉͑̈́͂͑̂͋ ̶̧̢̛͈̹̗̠̗̖̰͎̹̖̘͈̿̓́̄̄͋͊͘͝t̶̨̛͕̗̞̖̱͕͎̥̯̉̀̑͒̋̇̅̉̚͝i̸̧̥̩͇̺̟͓̙̯̤̤͉̋͐̔̊̈́̿̿̏̍̀͠ͅm̴̦͐͐̀̃̌͊̅̄̍̚e̴͖̥̟̻̠̝̼̯̘͑͐͂̌̐͑͛͑͜ͅ ̵̘̙͍̠͔͆̈́̈́͐̆͒̕͘o̶̡͕̪͔̙̣̔̏̎̎̍̀͋͌̄͋̈́̑͝͝f̷̨̧̬̟̹͓͓͍̖͈͎̝͖̗̝̔̇̋̓͒̔͝ḟ̵̛̞̹͉͈͚̦̪̲̈́̈́̔̋̍̏͗̂̓͝"

"… where's Mom?" He had muttered.

"Eh?" Endeavor had grunted. "Oh, yes. She i̶̢͈̬̘̝̲̓̊̽̔̈́̐͑͆̈́̓̋͘͘n̴̨̧̨̘̳̦̱̫̩̬̲͝j̸̢̝̳̮̪͓̳̫͉̰̗̩͕͍́̔̏ǘ̴͈͓̮̱͑̓͗̊r̵̢̛͕̭̠͎̣̝͕͖͚͆̓̌̋̀̿̅̈́̕͠ḙ̶̛̤̠͕̠͍̻͉̬͊̌̊̏͌̏͂̅̿̕̕d̸̰̩̭͇̯̹̪̺̰̞̗̜̀̃ͅͅ-"

"Shouto?"

"- s̵̡̭̳͕̭̩͈̣͓͖̩̐̈́̓̈́̈́̇̃̐͛̄̅̄̂̀͛ǫ̶̧̮̣̹͈̲̟̯͒͒̎͜ I put her in the hospital."

"It's … it's your fault."

"Hm?"

"You're the one … who m̷̡̧̲͉͍̏̒̽̓̈́ḁ̵̣́͛̃͑̍͛̽̆̌̑̕͘̕͠d̴̢̹͕̎͑͜e̶̺̅͂̆ ̸͊̂́̎̅͜M̵͎̠͓̳͈͖͑̇͑̄̀́̀̄̾͋̌̕͝ó̵̹̬̈́͒͊̄̌̍̒̋̾̒̈́̕͝ḿ̸̨̢̟̝͎̰̘̠̻̱͔̭̥͎̗̅-"

"Shouto? Are you alright?"

A hand grabbing Shouto's shoulder caused him to jump, flinching back and quickly looking up at Momo. She also flinched at his sudden jerking, but there was a look of concern there as she stared into his eyes, feeling worried as he began breathing a bit more rapidly.

"Shouto? Are - are you okay?" She asked again, her voice gently as Shouto's face fell. "You kind of -"

"I'm alright." Shouto suddenly said sharply, his voice falling back into its regular monotone. Momo blinked a bit as he turned away from her, putting his phone back into his backpack, and then turned back to her with a scowl, his good mood swiftly and immediately gone. "You checked your messages, so let's get back."

"Oh, ah -" Momo stuttered for a moment, taken completely out of it as she automatically put her phone back into her bag. "- r-right, of - of course."

"I've been thinking of how we can prepare for Kendou and Hadou," He told her in that same cold voice, mentally shaking himself for his weakness earlier with her, "and I'm not worried. Kendou only has her quirk to try and break my ice, but it won't do her any good if I sent an iceberg that way. And Hadou might be able to dodge if she flies, but I can create enough ice to block her. It'll just be about forcing her out of the ring."

"That - that sounds like a reasonable strategy," Momo nodded, trying to fall back to their previous planning mood, "and - and what will I do?"

"Try not to fall out of the ring," Shouto said in a simple tone, starting to walk out of the room, "I'll handle it."

He wasn't aware of Momo faltering behind him, her face falling at his dismissal, but Shouto didn't pay any more heed. The sudden memory of his father about his mother made him feel rattled, raising his hand to brush against the burn that she had given him. He wasn't angry at her, but … but the memory of that day still made his mood plummet, sending him back to his already sour mindset from earlier.

Just … need to get Itsuka and Nejire out of the ring, and then he'll win the sports festival with just his ice. He'll show his father that he could succeed without his fire, and he'll show his brother that he can stand beside him. He'll show Izuku, the memory of what Izuku dared to say to him earlier making him scowl even deeper, that he had no idea what he had been talking about - and he'll show Itsuka who was the better one between their rivalry.

Even if … even if those things … didn't really seem all that important anymore.


A few minutes earlier, shutting the door gently behind her, Itsuka let out a sigh as the four of them walked out into the hallway, continuing to support both Izuku and Ochako while Eri walked beside them with her arms still wrapped limply around Izuku's waist. Wordlessly, the four of them began walking down the hallway together away from the nurse's office, walking past Principal Nezu as he stealthily made his way over towards the door, and walked in silence for a few minutes while Itsuka helped her two training partners stay upright.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… this sucks." Izuku grumbled at long last.

Itsuka only sighed, shaking her head at the slightly childish tone in Izuku's voice, and felt herself smile gently.

"Yeah," She gave him, "I … I get that, Izuku. This … this does suck."

"Mm-hm," Ochako hummed quietly, her eyes on the floor.

"But … well, c'mon, you heard Recovery Girl," She tried to gently remind them, "even if … you know … there's not much we can do about it, even if we wanted you guys to do the final round."

"I know, but …" Izuku frowned, looking down at his arms again and scowling, "… didn't think … this would happen."

Neither girl knew how to answer that.

"Cellular degeneration …" Izuku's voice became shaky, closing his eyes and gritting his teeth, "… that's just … great. It's great. Had one problem with my quirk resolved, and now an entirely worse one came to replace it. Just … just freaking fantastic!"

Itsuka winced a bit at how angry Izuku had said that, closing his eyes and looking both pained and furious, but she didn't say anything. She knew how frustrated he had to be right now, and  … honestly, she couldn't blame him. 

Learning that your quirk is pretty much destroying your cells was … well … she couldn't help but feel afraid for him, knowing that this was something he would have to deal with going forward. Hell, just hearing that death was a possibility here was making her feel like tearing up herself, her heart hammering in her chest, and it took all of her strength not to envelop him in a hug and never let go.

But she could feel Eri shake a bit as she held onto her hand - and she felt herself frown as she realized, oh, right, the little girl who clearly cared about Izuku heard all about the supposed damage his quirk was doing to his body. And hearing how broken up about it Izuku was would only cause Eri more distress, with Itsuka glancing down and seeing Eri's own eyes beginning to tear up.

So … they definitely needed a change of topic. Something that would cheer Ochako up as well, seeing as she was staring desolately at the floor about being kicked out of the sports festival for her safety. Something that would get Izuku's mind away from his quirk. Something like …

… like …

Itsuka paused for a moment as Izuku scowled at the floor again, his hands clenching slightly as she glanced over at him - and then, she let out a small sigh, realizing that she wasn't able to fight down the thought from earlier. And automatically, she moved her head so that she could lean forward, and her lips met his cheek again.

Thankfully, Itsuka's impulsive move worked to bring them all out of their bad moods - Izuku's scowl faltered as Itsuka leaned in and kissed his cheek, staring blankly forward as, instead of moving away, she simply kept her lips there. Ochako, who had been looking sadly towards the floor, blinked when she felt Itsuka move, and glanced up in time to see Itsuka closing her eyes, letting out a small squeak as her own cheeks went red. Eri, meanwhile, glanced up as well, and blinked in confusion as Itsuka moved back, watching Izuku stare blankly ahead for a moment, and then turned towards Ochako, moving in.

Once Izuku finally registered what had happened, his face promptly exploding back into a red mess, Itsuka's lips already met Ochako's cheek, pressing softly there for a few seconds and she felt the heat of Ochako's blush against her mouth. Strangely, the nervousness that she had felt before when kissing their cheeks wasn't as prominent - instead, she felt a bit more amused, letting out a small giggle even as her mouth remained closed and her lips puckered.

Finally, she moved back from Ochako, and both childhood friends quickly wheeled around to stare at her in shock.

"W-what -" Izuku managed to get out, shaking uncontrollably, "- what was - why did you -"

"That," Itsuka sighed before smiling awkwardly, "was … er … congratulations."

"C-congratulations?" Ochako repeated, flustered and confused. "F-for what?"

"For - you know - winning the match," Itsuka said simply, glancing between the two of them, "I know that … that it seems that nothing good came out of that, but - but you two beat freaking Bakugou. I just … thought I'd give you both a reward. So, uh - there."

They both stared at her for a moment, their hands slowly raising to touch the spots where she had kissed them, and Itsuka felt herself begin to blush as the fluster started to finally catch up with her, filling her with the sudden need to -

"What did you just do, Ken?"

All three of them blinked a bit at the young, innocent voice coming from below them, and quickly looked down. Eri was still hugging Izuku's waist, and looking confusedly between all three of them. At once, Itsuka realized her mistake, her face paling, and both Izuku and Ochako froze as well as Eri glanced between them.

"E-Eri," Itsuka stammered, quickly stepping back to give both of her friends their space, and moving their arms down from her shoulders, "uh - hey! A-almost forgot you were there. Uh - heh, heh."

"What were you doing?" Eri repeated, tilting her head and looking both curious and concerned at the same time. "Why did you …?"

"I was - uh -" Itsuka felt herself pause at that, her mind desperately grasping for a way to explain to the little girl that she totally did not just kiss both her friends - and then it landed on, "- I was giving them a - a friend smooch."

There was a long pause in the hallway as those last two words sank in. Izuku and Ochako slowly turned to look at her with wide eyes that clearly screamed, 'are you kidding me right now', which at most drew a sheepish shrug from Itsuka, her face turning a similar shade of red that her hair had once been.

"A … friend smooch?" Eri repeated in confusion.

"Y-yeah," Izuku gulped, nodding and deciding to just go with it for now, "a - a friend smooch. I-it's when, uh - when you're good friends with - with someone, and you just … give them a little smooch! Y-y'know what I mean?"

Immediately, he felt like smacking his forehead as both Itsuka and Ochako looked like they were slowly dying on the inside. No, the three of them mentally reprimanded Izuku, the little girl wouldn't know anything about kissing.

"Oh." Eri slowly nodded, still looking a bit confused but like she was going to accept that answer, "So … friend smooches are something you guys do?"

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself begin to sweat nervously. "… k-kinda, Eri. Y-yeah."

"Oh." Eri nodded again. "Then … Deku, are you and Occhan gonna give Ken a friend smooch too?"

And once again, silence fell. Only this one, however, was akin to something out of a horror movie - a scene where the characters hear something scary and go absolutely still with horrified tension. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka stared at the little girl as though she had suddenly come forward asking to cut off one of their arms, their mouths falling open as their faces exploded in heat - but then Eri tugged on Izuku's shirt, causing him to jolt.

"Deku," She looked curious, "aren't you gonna friend smooch her?"

"I -" Izuku made a sound eerily similar to a tea kettle, "- wha -?"

"She friend smooched you. And Hira told me that if someone does something nice for you, it's good if you do something nice for them," She told him importantly, "like, she gave me a hug, and later I gave her a hug. So if Ken friend smooches you, you should friend smooch her back."

Izuku let out another few weak noises, his face positively glowing like magma while Ochako looked between her two training partners, so quickly her head almost blurred. Itsuka kept glancing from Eri to Izuku in obvious terror, although Ochako could see there was a nervous air around her as the brown-haired girl glanced around - 

- but luckily for all three of them, her gaze shifted up, and she almost cried in relief as someone suddenly wheeled around the corner, blinking a bit and feeling her eyes widen.

"Oh! Guys!" Nejire gasped, causing everyone else to look around at her (and for Izuku and Itsuka to likewise sag their shoulders in relief), and she quickly hurried over. "There you are! I was walking over to the nurse's office because it had been a really long time since you all went down there, and I was getting kind of nervous, but it looks like you're all up and about! Here's your phones, by the way, I went to go get them for you - no need to worry about them being broken, I was super careful!"

She quickly moved her hands into her pockets, pulling out two phones and holding them out for both Izuku and Ochako. Blinking, the two accepted their devices back from her, Izuku quickly pocketing his and Ochako turning hers over in her hand, while Eri blinked a bit at the other girl's appearance, let go of Izuku, and walked over and tugged on Nejire's shirt to get her attention, which caused the blue-haired girl to look down let out a delighted gasp.

"Eri!" She cooed, immediately moving down to her knees and sweeping Eri in for a hug, "Oh, my goodness, I didn't even see you there! Because you're so small. Well, maybe not, you're not that small, since you're only like - uh - six? Seven? Somewhere around that range! So I know that kids your general age tend to be pretty small when they're that young! I was pretty short too! But that's no excuse, I should've spotted you, because you look so pretty in that dress! Where'd you get it?"

"Hira bought it for me," Eri said, her voice a bit muffled as Nejire continued to squeeze her before she finally let her go, moving back a bit with a smile, "she said today was special."

"It is!" Nejire nodded happily, glancing back up at Izuku. He tried to awkwardly smile down at her, rubbing his bandaged arm up and down with his other hand, and trying to silently thank her for getting him out of what could've been the most awkward moment of his life - but then, as she stared up at him, he found himself blinking as her smile faded.

Slowly, she began to stand up, Eri looking confused as Nejire's head fell briefly as she rose. Both Ochako and Itsuka likewise looked confused as Nejire let out a long sigh … and then she suddenly looked straight at him, and Izuku found himself automatically wincing when he came under the assault of … of … 

… of one of the most adorable pouts he had ever seen, only really comparable to Ochako's Danger Pout.

"Izuku Midoriya, you jerk!" She suddenly yelled, throwing her fists into the air as he took an uncertain step backwards, and then she suddenly threw them down, both fists hitting him right in the chest. Not that it hurt, of course, the hits were pretty light, but he let out a few noises of surprise as he quickly backed away from the surprised Ochako and Itsuka, Nejire following him and half-heartedly beating him on the chest. "Do you know what you did?!"

"I - I don't!" Izuku yelped as he turned around, covering his head as Nejire continued to hit him lightly. "What -?!"

"You scared me! And Kendou! And your parents! And Kendou's parents! And Uraraka's parents! And probably everyone else and their parents!" She continued to chase him around the hallway while lightly tapping him with her fists, while Izuku held his arms protectively around his head as he wobbled around.

Back at their spot, watching as Izuku pathetically ran away from Nejire while being pelted by small boops to his head and shoulders, Itsuka and Ochako slowly turned to glance at each other in their confusion, having absolutely no idea what had just happened in the last minute or so, while Eri watched the other two run around in a small circle with a confused and concerned look.

"Uh …" Ochako felt a bit of sweat fall down her forehead, "… should we help him?"

"I … I am not sure," Itsuka shrugged weakly, "I don't know what's going on, but I'm … pretty sure I don't wanna be in the middle of it."

Nodding together, they both turned back to watch as Izuku ran past them again, apologizing profusely while Nejire kept lightly tapping him with her knuckles.

"That was super crazy!" She continued to rant as Izuku finally slowed to a stop, protecting his head while she weakly punched at his shoulders. "And then you just go and keep fighting Bakugou, like some manly man! What are you, Kirishima?! Midnight said he was done, that could've been it, but nooooooo! You had to go and be all cool!"

"I'm - I'm sorry! I wasn't - I wasn't thinking!"

"No! You weren't!" Nejire finally ceased her assault on Izuku, panting a bit as she waved her hands in the air, and Izuku judged it to be relatively safe enough to poke his eyes out of his arms to see her still pouting at him. "You were maybe a little cool for a bit, but that was still super crazy! And stupid! When Midnight disqualified him, you should've just said something like 'lol, get rekt', not punch him right in the face and keep fighting! I know you were angry, probably because he launched Uraraka out of the ring, because that made me a little angry and scared too, but now look! You're covered in bandages! That's not something to be happy about, is it?!"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he let out a sigh, dropping his arms from around his head and staring down at the floor in guilt. "… no, it's … it's not. I was … I was being stupid. And you're right - if I didn't keep fighting Kacchan, I … we might be … we might still be in the tournament."

Ochako winced a bit at that, her face falling as she turned to look back at the floor, and Itsuka frowned as well. Nejire, for her part, stopped with the light assault as she dropped her arms to the side, her pout fading - and then she let out a sigh, and moved forward.

Izuku blinked as she gently put her hands on his shoulders, and before he could ask, she moved in for a small hug, making him stare forward and feel heat begin to come back to his cheeks before she took a step back, holding her hands on his shoulders as she gave him a worried look.

"Er … sorry for beating you up," She apologized sheepishly, "it was just … really scary to see that."

"I - I know," Izuku turned to look around at the wall, "and - and it's not like I didn't deserve it. I - I was being stupid. I just saw Occhan on the ground, and - and I just - I couldn't control myself. I got so angry at Kacchan, and - and I just -"

There was a pause in the hallway.

"- and now we're out of the sports festival, because I couldn't keep my cool." He grumped again, moving away from Nejire to lean against the wall, and Ochako, Itsuka and Eri approached them as he crossed his arms carefully on his chest. "You're right, if - if I just let Midnight disqualify Kacchan, we could - we might still be in the festival right now."

Ochako let out a small sigh, and moved to stand beside Izuku, leaning against the wall.

"Deku, you … you heard Recovery Girl," She pouted, "even if - even if we hadn't heard your thing about - about your cellular degeneration -"

Nejire's eyebrows shot up at that.

"- I'm not exactly at my full hundred percent either," She bit her lip, "there's no way that you and I could keep going, either."

"I know, but …"

"Deku, it's … it sucks," She raised her hand and gently took his bicep, careful not to squeeze too hard in fear of hurting him, "trust me, I know how much it sucks. This stupid burn on my arm keeps aching, and it's annoying and itchy, and - and god, I wish that I could just get rid of it, or go back in time and kick Bakugou in the nuts instead of the face so he didn't blow us up."

Izuku, despite his sour mood, let out a small chuckle at that. Itsuka likewise smiled a bit, reaching down to take Eri's hand as she approached her two partners as well.

"You guys," She glanced between them, "were amazing out there. I know that - well, a lot of what Nejire said was true, and it got pretty scary at times, and she had to hold me back from running in too many times to count, but - but you two were genuinely amazing out there. You were going into a fight against two guys you knew weren't going to make things easy for you, and you still came out on top. And …" 

She hesitated for a moment, frowning, 

"… and I know that … we had to hear about your … your cellular degeneration, Izuku …"

He winced at that mention, but the feeling of Itsuka suddenly taking his hand in hers caused him to blink, looking up into her kind eyes as she smiled at him.

"… but we'll figure it out." She told him gently. "We'll figure it out, like we always figure stuff out. We haven't faced anything like this before, yeah, but … but I know that we're gonna figure this out, and you're gonna find out how your quirk works, and …"

She hesitated for a moment, not entirely sure how to finish her comforting words - but Izuku sighing, and gently squeezing her hand back, caused her to look back up at him as he smiled - albeit weakly, and definitely looking a lot more flustered - back at her.

"I … guess I know what you mean," He sighed, nodding as he glanced over at Ochako, Nejire and Eri as well, "and … and I know that I'm … bringing down the mood. Sorry, guys -"

"You don't have to apologize," Ochako stopped that line of thought at once, shaking her head, "I know that it's … it's okay, Deku."

Izuku slowly nodded at that, letting out a soft sigh as he allowed both Ochako and Itsuka to hold his arm and hand respectively (albeit with three red faces, and naturally being ready to jump back at once at the slightest sign of awkwardness), and then Izuku looked down to where Eri was staring up at him. 

He let out a small, shuddering sigh, and then gently moved out of both his training partners' grasps as he moved down to his knees carefully, so that he and Eri were at eye level.

"Eri," He said in a soft voice, tears suddenly coming to his eyes, "I'm … I'm sure that if I scared Kendou and Hadou when I was fighting Kacchan, I must've - I must've scared you, too. I'm really sorry … I didn't mean for that to get so - you know. I really am sorry."

Eri slowly nodded at that, glancing up at Itsuka briefly before looking back down at Izuku - and then she let go of Itsuka's other hand, and moved in to wrap her tiny arms around Izuku's neck. Izuku, for his part, merely smiled as he let Eri hug him, his arm raising to hug her back, and for a few moments, the group was quiet as they let Eri cling to him briefly, Izuku running his hand up and down her back. 

Once she let out a small, shuddering sigh, Izuku allowed her to step back, looking sad as Eri wiped her eyes.

"Okay," She sniffled, "it's okay, Deku, I forgive you. Can … can we go and sit down, now? My legs are tired."

Izuku and Ochako were unable to stop themselves from laughing gently at that, while Itsuka smiled and Nejire cooed again.

"Y'know … I think you've got a point, Eri," Ochako giggled, reaching down to take the little girl's hand, "my legs are tired, too. So why don't we go sit down in the booth upstairs? You're definitely right, I gotta get off my feet - don't be surprised if I start napping while the final round's going on, okay?"

"Okay," Eri nodded, "don't worry, I'll wake you up for the important parts."

"How kind of you!"

"Yeah," Itsuka giggled, reaching down to pat Eri's head, "you guys go and sit down, okay? Don't worry, we've got one more match today, and then that'll be it. I'm so jealous you guys are gonna go sit down now - I'm pretty sure I'm gonna just take a bath and go to bed the moment we get home, Eri, I'm soooooo tired."

"Oh," Eri blinked, looking up at Itsuka, "well, then I guess I'll get ready for bed too when we get home."

"That sounds good to me, silly."

"Er …" Izuku cleared his throat, drawing the girls' attention to him again as he reached behind his back, and pulled out his notebook, "… actually, uh - speaking of the last match, I just - I remembered, I should probably show you guys Todoroki's page."

"Oh!" Itsuka gasped, her eyes widening. "I completely forgot, Izuku. Yeah, let's - let's have a look."

Nodding, Izuku quickly flipped open his notebook, flipping through the pages until he finally let out a small 'aha' and landed on the page he wanted, moving the book for everyone to see. Moving around him, Itsuka and Nejire quickly leaned over both his shoulders while Ochako stepped back with Eri, the brown-haired girl's eyebrows raising at the redness on Izuku's face from having two girls leaning on both of his shoulders, but chose not to say anything, albeit with a small, unsure glance at Nejire and then Itsuka. 

Together, Izuku, Itsuka and Nejire looked down at the half-scribbled picture of Shouto drawn beside the writing, and started reading.

 

SHOUTO TODOROKI

Quirk - Half Fire, Half Ice

Strengths :

The ability to create giant glaciers of ice, ice the ground to cause it to become slippery, create pillars of ice to ride on. Ice powers are versatile and well practiced, can come from either right hand or right foot - clearly Todoroki's preferred method of using his quirk. Has the ability to use fire from his left side, but has not used it during the sports festival - currently unknown what skills he has with the fire side of his quirk and how powerful it is, other than being able to melt ice he creates.

Weaknesses :

HAS LIMIT TO HOW MUCH ICE HE CAN USE BEFORE CONSEQUENCES - Was seen shivering during the second round overusing ice. If fought for long enough, will start suffering hypothermia. Unknown if fire side can avert effects of hypothermia, but as he shows reluctance to use fire, can't be considered for using it to cure the shivering. Causing him to use too much ice and then fighting him when he is shivering and unfocused is the key to win.

 

"Okay …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, moving back from Izuku as he continued to stare down at the page in concentration, "… so we just have to make him overuse the ice, and then we can take advantage of that to beat him. Still, doesn't change the fact he has those giant glaciers he could just throw at us the moment the match starts."

"Oh!" Nejire gasped, jumping back from Izuku and throwing her hand into the air as everyone looked around at her. "In that case, I'll handle those, Itsuka! I think I can make sure they won't hit us."

"Really?" Itsuka gave her a worried look. "Are you sure? Because I mean … let's be real, he's definitely gonna hit us with an iceberg."

"Yep!" Nejire giggled, flexing her arm and slapping her bicep while giving her a confident grin. "I've got your back, Itsuka - I can handle those icebergs! Todoroki won't know what hit him! Wait - I mean, that's not exactly true, he'll know what hit him - me. I'm gonna hit him!"

Itsuka let out a small sputter at that, shaking her head while smiling gently, but still gave the blue-haired girl a thumbs up to show her that she was going to trust her as she took another step back, stretching her arms slightly above her head.

While the two girls began getting into the mindset of going up against Shouto, Izuku continued to stare down at the page for a few moments quietly, as though he was silently thinking about something, as his face turned blank yet full of concentration. Ochako, who had been holding Eri's hand for the last few minutes and falling back out of the group to give them some time to get their plan together, blinked a bit as Izuku continued to stare at the paper, and reached out to gently take his shoulder.

"Deku?"

"Gah!" Izuku jumped a bit as she gave his shoulder a shake, looking up at her in shock. "H-huh? Yeah, what's - what's up?"

"You, uh, you were staring at the page really hard," She pointed out, giggling slightly as Izuku suddenly realized what he was doing, blinking and looking embarrassed, "is everything okay?"

"Oh, er - y-yeah, everything's fine, Occhan," Izuku nodded, knowing that they were drawing Itsuka and Nejire's attention away from their planning beside them, and going a bit red, "I was just … lost in my head a bit. No need to worry."

"Huh?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow as she realized what they were saying. "What are we worrying about?"

"Nothing, just …" Izuku hesitated for a moment as he felt all four girls' eyes on him, glancing back down at the page before him - and then he let out a small sigh and closed his eyes, gently putting the notebook down as he turned towards Itsuka and Nejire.

"… actually, uh … maybe there's something," He looked sheepish as all three girls nodded and rolled their eyes.

"Yeah, we thought so," Itsuka chuckled good-naturedly, walking back over to Izuku, "so what's up? Is everything okay?'

"Y-yeah, everything's fine, just …" He shook his head, sighing and scratching the back of his head, "… had a thought about Todoroki, and … well, it's stupid, and you can ignore this if you want to, but I just … wanted to ask you a favor, Kendou."

Itsuka felt her brows raise at that while Nejire looked curious, and Ochako likewise gave him a confused look as Izuku sighed and put his notebook back behind him in whatever pocket he put it in as he gave them a serious look.

"So, uh … Hadou already knows about this, by the way," He said in a slightly uncomfortable voice, "and it's - it's something that I can't really get into, since I made a promise, but … but Todoroki dragged me off for a talk during lunch."

"I … yeah, I know," Itsuka nodded, glancing over at Nejire and blinking when she saw understanding fill the blue-haired girl's face, the happy expression she had dropped entirely, "Nejire mentioned it to me when we were talking earlier."

"Y-yeah. I - like I said, I can't really go into what we talked about, but it was …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, "… it was serious. Really - really serious. I want to tell you all about it, but - but it's not my secret to tell."

"Okay …"

"I just … I just know that everything we thought about Todoroki is …" He swallowed, "… it's wrong."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked.

"When - when we were watching the TV, after his match ended, when we saw the iceberg he sealed Haya and Shinsou in," Izuku went on, unaware of Nejire pouting slightly at the mention of Yuuyu, "I was watching his face, and … and I saw that instead of - I don't know, angry? Or happy? He was looking … he was looking sad. And I - I know that you have plenty of reasons to be angry at him, Kendou, and all of them are justified."

"Yeaaaah …?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow.

"Y-yeah. He's - he's treated you like crap today, and you're more than justified to just beat him up and finish the sports festival," Izuku gave her, frowning.

"… but?" Itsuka smirked a bit.

"… but …" Izuku winced at how predictable he was, seeing Ochako rolling her eyes again off on the side, "… but there's a part of me that … that wants to help him."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "Help … Todoroki?"

"Yeah," He nodded, "I - I tried to reach out to him during lunch today, but - but he brushed me off. I - I hate to have to ask this of you, Kendou, and - and you can ignore what I'm going to ask you if you want to, but …"

There was a pause in the hallway.

"… but if you can … I want to ask if you could help Todoroki," He looked a bit sheepish and embarrassed, as though second-guessing his request of her, "he's - he's got a complex with his quirk. He believes that his fire belongs to people he - he doesn't really like. If it's possible, I … I want to see you win the match, but I also want to see Todoroki get over his complex that's hindering him. It probably won't be easy, but … but if anyone can do it, it's - it's you, Kendou."

There was a long pause in the hallway as all four girls stared at Izuku, and he gave Itsuka a determined look. And then Itsuka, raising her eyebrow a bit, cocked a hip while giving him a … well, not a judgmental look, but one that made it clear that she wasn't entirely on board.

"… you want me … to help him."

"Uh …" Izuku hesitated, going a bit red as he realized what she was implying here - that Izuku was pretty much asking her to help the guy who'd wanted to kick her ass all day long, "… yeah."

"My … 'rival'," Itsuka said with an air of slight disdain, as though making it clear that she was talking about who they were all thinking of, "who's done nothing but try to make me second guess myself and tell me about how thoroughly he's gonna kick my ass all day."

"Y-yeah."

"You want me … to help him."

"O-only if you - you want to," Izuku clarified, "you don't - you don't have to if you don't want to, but … yeah."

Itsuka stared at him for another moment, her skepticism clear - and then she let out a sigh and glanced away.

"I … hm," She hummed, pouting slightly while Izuku continued to look sheepish, "I just … I don't know, why do I need to help him, Izuku? Is there - is it something that's actually wrong with him, or - or is he just refusing to use his fire?"

"Uh …" Nejire giggled nervously, making them all look over at her, "… maybe a bit of both? Kinda? Sorta?"

"Well …" Itsuka bit the inside of her cheek, "… I'll … okay, I'll - I'll think about it. No promises that I'll do anything, and - and if he tries anything, I'm putting him on his ass, but - okay, I'll at least think about it."

"That's - that's all I want," Izuku quickly assured her, smiling happily, "thank you, Kendou."

"Right," She nodded slowly, sighing and scratching the side of her head as she glanced over at the clock on the wall, and wincing as she saw how much time had passed - she wouldn't be surprised if she heard Aizawa coming up on the speaker sometime soon, "uh - anyway, guys, we - we got distracted. I said I was gonna bring you guys up to the booth, and - er -"

"O-oh, no, It's fine," Ochako quickly jumped in before she could look guilty, smiling at her, "we can get there on our own. Eri'll help us, won't you, Eri?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded, holding onto Ochako's hand a bit tighter, and reaching out to take Izuku's hand as well, "we'll find it."

"That's the spirit!" Ochako happily giggled while Izuku smiled down at Eri, holding her hand back.

"Ken," Eri then turned back up to Itsuka, seeing her smile down at her while Eri looked worried, "will you be careful?"

"Of course I will," Itsuka moved down to her knees, bringing Eri in for a hug and smiling as she put her chin down on the top of the little girl's head, careful to mind her horn, "just gotta talk to the mean guy for a bit, and then after the award show, we'll go home. Promise."

"Okay," Eri nodded slowly, "but don't you want Deku and Occhan to give you a friend smooch? They forgot to!"

… and … once again, silence fell.

Itsuka felt herself freeze slightly while hugging Eri to her, and both Izuku and Ochako went still as well, the heat that had been dying on their faces returning at once. Nejire blinked and glanced between each of them, her eyebrows raising slightly, before Ochako suddenly squeaked.

"Uh!" She managed to pull Eri out of Itsuka's frozen grasp, the little girl looking up at her in confusion. "We, uh - we didn't forget, Eri! Just - uh - we - we don't - we don't wanna distract Itsuka from her big match, right? She doesn't have the time for a - a - a friend smooch."

"R-right!" Izuku quickly nodded, wheeling away from Itsuka as well as she stayed frozen on the ground, glancing between both her training partners while her face became redder and redder. "We - we don't wanna distract her, d-do we? N-no, of - of course not! Let's - let's go find our s-s-seats."

"R-right!" Ochako nodded at once, quickly reaching down and picking up Eri, tucking her against her side. "Let's - let's go do that."

"Okay …" Eri pouted at both of them, "… but you'll give her a friend smooch later, right?"

Izuku and Ochako made noises at such high frequency that it could barely be passed as a noise a human could make, but before they could lose themselves in their fluster, they quickly went on autopilot, beginning to walk away from the other two girls as they all but ran towards the stairwell. 

Itsuka, still frozen a bit, stared after her two friends -

- and then she let out a small noise, and said, "Guys, wait a second!"

Both Izuku and Ochako skidded to a stop, blinking, and quickly looked back around at their friend as she slowly got back up, straightening her back. Her face remained red as Nejire continued to glance between all of them in confusion and intrigue - and then, before any of them could blink, Itsuka began walking over towards both of them, her hands swinging from side to side.

Finally, she stopped just short of her training partners, moving her arms to her sides, and took a deep breath. Izuku and Ochako froze a bit, realizing what was going to happen, and yet, neither of them moved away as Itsuka summoned her courage, and then moved in to plant another kiss on Ochako's cheek. 

Ignoring Nejire's small squeak/squeal behind her, the sound of Nejire clapping her hands to her mouth in her surprise echoing slightly in the hallway, Itsuka moved back, and then kissed Izuku's cheek as well, the boy going redder than ever as she kept her lips there for a moment. Finally, she moved back, and looked over at Eri.

"It's, uh … it's fine, Eri," She tried to keep her voice light, in fear of the little girl hearing how embarrassed and flustered she was, "they, uh - they don't have to give me friend smooches right away. They can - uh - they can give them to me tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?!" Izuku and Ochako squeaked at the same time. There was a short pause, and then Itsuka slowly nodded, her gaze flickering between both of them.

"Yes," She said clearly, "t-tomorrow. We're, uh … we're going to the beach tomorrow."

"You are?" Eri blinked a bit, while Izuku and Ochako stared at Itsuka in shocked silence, and Nejire began bouncing around behind her.

"Y-yeah," Itsuka nodded, her face turning redder and redder, "we are. We're - we're gonna go to the beach, the - the three of us, and w-we're - we're gonna - we're gonna have a picnic. A-and swim in the ocean, and - and talk, and just - just - hang out. It'll be - it'll be super fun, and - and we'll get to -"

"What's this I hear about a beach?!"

The five of them blinked at a familiar, booming voice suddenly sounding behind them from around the corner, and they all quickly looked around in shock. With a loud, triumphant laugh, All Might suddenly ran into the hallway at full speed, raising his hand in greeting -

- or, at least, the pompom his giant hand was stuck in. And that, right about then, was when they all suddenly became aware of what their teacher was wearing, and Ochako and Itsuka felt their mouths drop open in horror, their fluster immediately forgotten.

There were many costumes they, at least unconsciously, were aware that they didn't want to see All Might in. And one of those was a cheerleader's uniform. And yet, before them, All Might threw his head back and laughed as he put his hands on his hips, the pompoms on his hands shaking around, and showing them the slightly too small cheerleader outfit, colored orange, blue, yellow and white with the letters UA on both sides of the too small vest (that thankfully covered his injury), and wearing a skirt that showed a lot more of his legs than either girl wanted to see.

Immediately, Ochako and Itsuka fought down the urge to gag, while Izuku tilted his head slightly at his mentor and Nejire blinked in shock before moving to rub her eyes, as though trying to make sure she wasn't imagining this.

"… All Might?" Izuku asked in confusion, as though he were mistaking some other giant blonde loud guy for his mentor. "W-what are you -?"

"Ah, this?" All Might chuckled, spinning around and immediately causing Itsuka and Ochako to avert their eyes when the skirt twirled around - he was thankfully wearing shorts beneath it, but neither girl wanted to risk it. "I was put in charge of entertaining the crowds, and I had the idea that, since the last match had been pretty grim, to lighten things up! Granted, I believe that I've become a bit of a joke to the crowds out there, but if it's to lighten their spirits, there isn't any road I won't go down!"

"Oh, my god," Itsuka muttered, staring at the floor in her horror.

"Oh, uh … that's … good," Izuku nodded awkwardly, not sure what else he could say, "so it was … just … you doing a - a cheerleader thing for a half hour?"

"Not exactly, Mido-bro!"

Blinking again at the familiar voice, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire and Eri looked around as Eijirou sudden ran around the corner, wearing the same cheerleader uniform as All Might - and then, following right behind him, came out roughly half of their class, and a few people from Class 1B. Izuku blinked in surprise, and felt his cheeks turn red, at the appearances of Setsuna (wearing a cast over her arm but clearly in much better spirits than from lunch time), Yui, Kyouka, Tsuyu, Mina and Pony wearing the cheerleader uniform, and following them came Denki, Hanta and Yosetsu, the third boy looking humiliated and pissed. From 1B, meanwhile, Tetsutetsu was beaming in pride at his own uniform, while the invisible girl he remembered was named Tooru, the brown-haired girl named Kinoko, and a few of the other guys from their class nodded in greeting.

"What …" Itsuka tilted her head in brief confusion at her two best friends as Yui and Setsuna approached her, "… exactly happened since I saw you guys last?"

"Well," Setsuna shrugged, smiling a bit and pretending not to notice Hanta staring down at the curve of her back, which made her smirk a bit, "after your match with Bakuho and Tokoyami, All Might swung by and asked us for some help entertaining the crowd while you guys got looked at. He was kind of out of ideas, though, so I suggested we do a cheerleading routine - y'know, not only do we get to look good for the cameras, we get to show off some gymnastics for the pros."

"Jirou almost refused," Yui nodded, "until All Might offered a bonus credit for whoever helped him. Honestly, I've never seen someone look so conflicted about pompoms before."

"Shut it," Kyouka growled behind her, throwing said pompoms into the trash bin near them with such venom, Itsuka briefly wondered if they did something to offend her.

"Er - right," Izuku glanced over at Yui, trying to pretend he was completely normal after what Itsuka told him they would be doing tomorrow (and feeling horror crawling up his spine that he'd be surrounded by more girls in bikinis, making him feel like he was about to faint), and walked over to her, "uh, Kodai - did Iida eventually make it back up to the booth? He left me to take a call, but I didn't hear anything back from him."

"He … had to leave early," She told him, an unnoticed quiet in her voice, "family emergency, he said."

"Family emergency?" He blinked, straightening up a bit. "W-why, what -"

"Hey, what was that about a beach?"

He felt himself stop his question at Mina's inquiry, looking around at her in surprise. The pink girl was looking excitedly around as All Might stepped aside from them to properly greet their other classmates, and she had balled her fists up.

"You guys are heading to a beach tomorrow?" She asked them, looking around at Itsuka and Ochako. "Where?"

"Er - Dagobah," Itsuka said automatically, wincing when she realized she wasn't supposed to say anything but unable to stop herself now that everyone was looking at her, "it's, uh - it's where we trained last year for the entrance exam. We were gonna - uh - yeah."

"Oh, awesome! I should check that out, too!"

"Yeah, I - wait," Itsuka stopped, her eyes widening, "what?"

"Yeah!" Tooru suddenly jumped in, grabbing Mina's arm and shaking her. "That sounds awesome! A day on the beach after duking it out all day? I'm so there!"

"Me too!" Denki threw his arm into the air. "I'll bring my basketball, and we can shoot some hoops!"

"There won't be hoops at a beach," Kyouka rolled her eyes, although an indulgent smile appeared on her face, "although … I could bring some music."

"W-wait a second," Ochako squeaked out, horror filling her as both Izuku and Itsuka likewise mirrored her inner agony.

"Count me there!" Eijirou cheered, while Tetsutetsu likewise threw his pompoms into the air as well.

"Yeah!" Denki pulled his phone out from his skirt. "I'll text the class's chat, let them know where we'll all be tomorrow, and everyone's invited!"

"Oh, god, please no," Itsuka whined quietly, feeling like smacking herself in the forehead for her stupidity.

"I'm there!" Pony threw her pompoms into the air. "I'll invite Shouji-kun, too!"

"I'll come too," Tsuyu poked her cheek, looking over at Eri with a smile as the little girl awkwardly hid behind Ochako from all the new people, "say, that's Eri, isn't it?"

The group all blinked at Tsuyu's question, and looked around at the little girl as she awkwardly hid behind the brown-haired girl. Smiling, Tsuyu walked over and gently reached out, Eri glancing at the frog girl in nervousness before she blinked at the kind look on Tsuyu's normally blank face.

"You know, kero," She said softly, "I have a couple of siblings who love going to the beach. Are you coming along too, Eri?"

"Um …" The little girl hesitated, glancing over at Itsuka. The life had certainly left the class representative's eyes now, while Nejire gave her a sympathetic look, but she still nodded slowly and looked around at the little girl.

"Uh … yeah, Eri," Itsuka managed to say through slightly clenched teeth, "you're a hundred percent coming with us. It'll be fun."

"Oh," Eri nodded slowly before turning back to Tsuyu, "I guess I am."

"Cute," Tsuyu giggled through her ribbits, "in that case, I'll bring my siblings along, so you can have someone to play with."

"Oh! Me too!" Setsuna grinned. "I bet Sera will love you, Eri! And I'm Set, by the way - Ken's best friend."

"Set?" Eri blinked, looking around at her in surprise, having clearly recognized her name before. 

While everyone gathered around to introduce themselves to the little girl in Ochako's arms, Izuku took a small step back, feeling himself shrivel up in horror slightly. So … not only were he, Ochako and Itsuka going to be interrupted for their … er … conversation tomorrow, it was probably going to be a big group exercise. So that meant … that meant that the chances of him talking to Itsuka and Ochako about these weird feelings of his before his classmates dragged him around to have fun on the beach … 

… were getting slimmer by the second.

However, before he could try to think of a possible way to get Ochako and Itsuka alone for their … talk, which he felt his cheeks go red for if 'friend smooches' might get involved, a giant hand suddenly moved to his shoulder, making him jump.

"Young Midoriya," All Might nodded, speaking in a slightly quiet voice as he looked down at him, "I didn't get to say this before, but … well, congratulations on your victory during the second round. Just so you're aware, Recovery Girl sent me a message, and I'm aware of what you all discussed."

"She - she did?" Izuku straightened his back, feeling a wave of fear pass through him, but All Might's comforting smile stopped his panic right before it overcame him.

"Don't worry," He assured the young man, "I will not rest until we've come to a solution to this, Young Midoriya, and we can help you overcome this hurdle. As will Young Tenko, of course - I believe I saw him going to Recovery Girl's office as I was returning from the field. I know that he'll want to make sure you're okay, and get caught up on your cellular issues. I texted with him briefly, and he's fully on board with helping you figure out a workaround and treatment for your issues."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, feeling his heart hurt a bit - and then he let out a small sigh, feeling tears come to his eyes as he smiled, and he nodded.

"… thank you, All Might," He said thickly, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand, "just … thank you."

"You're welcome, young man. Now," He clapped Izuku's shoulder, "I'd suggest you head back up to the booth with your class, and bid Young Kendou and Young Hadou good luck. I'm sure that you'll enjoy having a bit of rest after the long day you've had, and being able to catch up on everything else you missed."

"O-oh - right," Izuku quickly nodded, straightening up and looking around with a smile at where Itsuka and Nejire were standing, watching everyone introducing themselves to Eri with soft smiles (even if Itsuka's was slightly stiff from everyone inviting themselves to the beach tomorrow), "I - I should probably look to see what everyone's talking about me."

"… er," All Might suddenly began sweating, making Izuku blink and look up at him.

"All Might? What is it?"

"Oh, uh - it's nothing bad, Young Midoriya. Rather … er … I did have a look at the social medias while on break," All Might gave him an apologetic look, "and I'm afraid that you've become … er … what the kids would call a 'meme'."

"…"

"…"

"… I'm sorry?" Izuku said blankly.


"Sir?" Jin - or one of his clones, anyway - poked his head through the door. "Your guest has arrived."

"Ah, excellent," Daikoku Yaoyorozu shut his laptop, nodding slowly to himself as he rose from his seat behind his desk, "let him know that I'll be there in a moment, Jin."

As the scarred man nodded and quickly moved back out of the glass doors, the Yaoyorozu Corporations CEO let out a small sigh as he put down his pen beside the computer, pushing some of his papers to the side as he looked out of the floor-to-ceiling window of his corporate building in Fukuoka. A frown came to his lips as he tapped his finger against the paper and stared out at the skyline of his building in the afternoon light.

After scolding Momo at lunch time, he had Skip bring him back to the main office tower of Yaoyorozu Corporations to get some work done, absently watching the sports festival on the TV on the side of his office uninterestedly. He had at least paid attention to the match that Midoriya boy had gone through, both of them, and then discarded the other few rounds until it had gotten to Momo's turn. And he got to watch his daughter stand there uselessly while Shouto did all of the work.

At least, Daikoku huffed, that was to be expected - at least Shouto could put in the work to succeed, unlike her. Still though, for now, he'd disregard the tournament that Momo was now in the finals of - he'd look up the results of that later. If she came home with a gold medal, then he'd give her a pat on the back and go about his business. If she didn't, of course …

… well, he shook his head, he threatened her with being pulled out of UA, but he didn't specify when she'd be pulled out. He still had business with UA High School, and it would be easier for him if Momo stayed there for now.

He, admittedly, wasn't quite a fan of Principal Nezu's attempts to dodge Yaoyorozu Corporations' attempts to buy a share of the school - it was almost as though the little rat thing was careful enough to not want him to have a controlling piece of his school. Still though, it wasn't as though Daikoku was suddenly out of options - he would have to contend with reaching out to the parents of his daughter's classmates to organize a protest, and bring it to the media's attention.

Even if he hadn't quite cared about it to start with, he was more than aware that the school had failed to reassure the parents of those who had been victimized by the villain group that attacked UA. So he would at least use that to his advantage, to gain a foothold in the school. If he was lucky, he might even find a way to get himself on the school board. Either way, he will be getting a controlling piece of that school.

But … well, for now, that could wait. Especially since he had an old friend waiting.

"Skip," He turned to look over at the chauffeur as Skip stood near the bookshelf of his office, his hands folded behind his back, "I want privacy for this meeting. Please make the usual rounds across the floor."

"Of course, sir," Skip bowed, "and if I do find people around the floor after I excuse them?"

"No need to fire them," Daikoku shook his head, straightening himself up and dusting off the shoulder of his red blazer, "just a light scolding is necessary. Just tell them that I have an important meeting that I wish to remain uninterrupted for."

"Yes, sir." Skip bowed, and with that, he quickly teleported out of the room.

Daikoku let out a sigh as he moved around his desk and picked up the stack of papers before him, tapping them on the desk to make sure they were organized before putting them back down, and then began to walk out the door of his office, moving past the family portrait that he had taken a few years ago that still needed to be updated, and moved through the glass doors into the hallway, checking his reflection briefly in the glass before walking out of his office.

As he moved through the hallway, his hands clasped behind his back, he could hear Skip teleporting through each room of the top floor, which made him smirk a bit as he walked towards the meeting spot. Honestly, finding Skip was nothing short of a miracle - the young man had been in such a precarious position in life, he had little other options than to accept Daikoku's offer. And had he not used those resources to make Skip a better use, moving around Japan and getting people around the city would be far more difficult. All it took was a guarantee that Yaoyorozu Corporations would take care of his family that earned Skip's loyalty, and every penny he put in Skip's pocket earned him a very capable and loyal assistant.

He should probably check up on Skip's private life, to make sure that it seemed as though he personally cared, but … well, that could wait.

Walking through the door to the guest room that was held open by one of Jin's clones, Daikoku looked around the large room for a moment, seeing the bar, TV mounted on the wall, the large glass windows, and the two couches separated by a coffee table between them. And then, he spotted his guest standing near the window, looking out over the skyline, and Daikoku found himself smirking as he made his way over to the bar, letting out a small sigh as he took out two shot glasses and put them down on the wooden surface.

"Admiring the view?" He asked in a sardonic tone, chuckling a bit. "I just ask that you be careful not to smudge the glass with your nose."

The guest straightened up upon hearing his voice, and looked around with a laugh. Indeed, it would probably be hard to keep that pointy nose from resting on the glass, but at least he took it in good spirits, laughing off the insult and smoothing back his orange-brownish hair as he turned to face the other CEO and raised his other hand to stroke his pointy chin.

"So cruel, Yaoyorozu," Rikiya Yotsubashi shook his head with a grin, moving around the couch to walk towards where Daikoku was pouring them both drinks, "and here I thought I would be able to come here and have a pleasant afternoon talk with an old college friend. Alas, it seems that mockery is coming from everywhere lately - my new assistant, Miyashita, keeps going on and on about my hairline. I have to admit, it's incredibly cheeky."

"Is that right?" Daikoku shook his head as he handed him one glass filled with scotch, moving back around to pour himself his own drink and putting the glass of alcohol back down on the bar's surface once done. "Well, I'm not one to tell you how to steer your own ship, but I have to say, anyone who would mock my appearance might be facing a one way ticket out the door."

"Oh, it's all in good fun," Yotsubashi shook his head, raising the glass to take a small sip as Daikoku picked up his own glass, "and it humbles me."

"I suppose."

Together, the two men made their way over to the couches, sitting on either side of the glass coffee table between them, and clinked their glasses together once before raising them to their lips. As they enjoyed their beverages, they both turned to look up at the television in front of them, watching the commercial for Yaoyorozu Corporations that Daikoku had on the air for the last couple of weeks.

"- with the advancements of our medical, technological, mechanical, and soon, support item technology, our future is bright," The commercial's cheery voice said as the Yaoyorozu logo was displayed. “Yaoyorozu Corporations - reflecting the future onto you.”

With that, it turned back to the news, where a  red-haired reporter spoke directly to the camera with a frown.

"Welcome back," She said to the camera, "in other hero related news, the city of Hosu has been seeing a surprising amount of hero activity in the area over the last week or so, from local heroes such as Manual and Native, to more well known heroes like Ingenium and Sol. There have been rumors of activities from the Hero Killer, the serial killer who has been operating for the last year, in the general area close to and around Hosu, raising public concern from citizens about the threat of villains in the area. Chief of Police Kenji Tsuragamae has said in a public address last week that the villain sightings have little to do with the presence of several heroes in the area."

"While the heroes have indeed been working with Hosu's police force," A tall man with a strangely detailed dog head spoke at a podium, several cameras flashing, "the heroes have confirmed that their presence in Hosu has little to do with any kind of villain activity. They are simply working with the underground heroes in the area in an investigation that has not been revealed to the public as of yet. They have assured me, however, that the Hero Public Safety Commission will keep the public updated as to any updates that may cause concern."

"The heroes that have arrived in Hosu include Ingenium," The reporter was back on screen, "well known as a public hero that has just finished an assignment at UA High School, in light of the villain attack by a villain group known as the Villain Consortium -"

"Ah," Yotsubashi chuckled, moving one leg over the other as he leaned back, "seems that the Hero Killer is all everyone's been talking about the last few weeks, hasn't it? Makes sense, seeing as a serial killer hunting heroes would be rather large news in this hero dominated society."

"I haven't really put much thought into it," Daikoku shook his head, taking another sip of his drink, "hero business hasn't really been my thing - not before my daughter took an interest in it, anyway."

"Ah, yes," The other CEO smiled, "I did hear that your daughter was enrolled in UA. I suppose you've been watching the sports festival today? It seems as though your daughter and Endeavor's son are being speculated as the winners of the entire festival - I'm sure you must feel proud.."

"I suppose," Daikoku shook his head, smiling gently as he took another sip, "if that's what the commentary is saying. Win or lose, though, I'm still preparing a feast for her when she gets home tonight - I imagine that she's burned through too many lipids to count today. I actually met with her during lunch - I had Skip go and pick her up, and when she got home, she ended up eating every bit of food we had prepared for her."

"Is that so … how amusing! I've forgotten how much of her energy her meta ability can soak up."

"Well, that's a discussion for another time,” Daikoku shrugged, putting his glass down on the table and then leaning forward with a small smirk while also deciding to ignore his old friend’s small slip, "I assume that this isn't just a social visit, Rikiya. Did you get what I paid for?"

"Yes, yes," Yotsubashi laughed at his junior's need to get to business, putting down his own glass as he reached into his pocket for his phone. Pulling it out, he tapped on it a few times before he put it down on the table and spun it around.

Pulling the phone towards him, Daikoku quickly read the screen's depiction before smiling in satisfaction, smiling in satisfaction.

"Excellent. And as for when I can expect it to be delivered … ?"

"It already has been," Yotsubashi waved his hand through the air aimlessly, "since it was a personal request of an old friend, I started its development at once. I'm having the head of the project keep me updated - it's already been delivered to the warehouse you rented, and it's being added to your little … 'project', as you called it."

"Very good," Daikoku nodded, smiling, "my client will be pleased."

"And as for your end?"

"Of course," He nodded again, raising an eyebrow at the satisfied look on Yotsubashi's face, "I spoke with him, and he confirmed that, should you succeed, an audience with him could be arranged. He's very curious to meet you as well, you know - and he'll be pleased at how quickly you worked to get your end of the deal done. If you said that you've already begun adding the part to the machine, that'll mean we could begin the tests relatively soon."

"That impatient, eh?"

"Well, this is something my client's been looking forward to for a long time," Daikoku crossed his legs as well, "he's had a few other projects on the go, but this is one he's been working on for decades, at least."

"And …" Yotsubashi raised an eyebrow, "… what exactly do you intend to do with it, may I ask? I have to say, it's quite impressive how specific you were about the part and what needed to be put in it, but quite vague about what exactly it's supposed to do."

"Well," Daikoku smiled, "we've got our specialist putting everything together relatively soon - and once we have everything set up, it won't be long until we use it. If you make a good impression on the client, perhaps he'll grant you the opportunity to see it in action."

"Ah - and when would that be?"

"We don't have a definitive date. But tomorrow night," He put his glass down on the table, "we'll be having a small dinner party, and I'll be sure to have him extend you an invitation. Now then, as for -"

"Sir?" A voice came from the hall, and the two CEOs glanced around to see Skip teleporting back in, giving Daikoku an apologetic look. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but Jin discovered an intruder in your office."

"That right?" Daikoku raised his eyebrows, standing up. At the same time, Yotsubashi's phone began ringing, causing the older man to pick it up and answer it quickly. Daikoku made his way over to where Skip was standing, putting his hands in his pockets. 

"Were they trying to take some of my paperwork, or …"

"They were trying to get into your computer, sir." Skip confirmed.

"Oh," Daikoku slowly nodded, "I see. Well, that should be addressed at once, then. Is the intruder still in the office?"

"Yes, sir," Skip nodded, "Jin and his clones are making sure he stays put."

"Excellent. Then I'll handle it now," Daikoku sighed, brushing his suit off again, and then turned towards Yotsubashi as he stood up. "Rikiya, my apologies, but I should probably handle this."

"Ah, no worries!" Yotsubashi laughed, waving his hand as he kept his phone to his ear. "In fact, one of my own projects came up, and I should probably attend to it. Seems as though I'll have to get a few friends together for my own dinner party tonight. But I'll keep in mind your invitation."

"Very good," Daikoku nodded politely, "in that case, I'd ask that you excuse me - I'll have my assistant call yours later with our plans."

"Sounds excellent! Thank you for having me, Daikoku."

With that, Daikoku and Skip stepped out of the room, watching as one of Jin's clones went in to escort Yotsubashi to the elevator on the other side of the top floor. As they walked together, Daikoku sighed, smoothing some of his dark hair back as he turned to look over at Skip.

"You know," He chuckled, "it's been a while since we caught up, Skip. How are your siblings? Are they enjoying school?"

"They're … well, sir," Skip nodded, putting his hands in his pockets, "and yes, they're - they're enjoying it quite well."

"Yes, well … I imagine living in Japan's far more exciting than the country you used to live in. Remind me, what were your sibling's names again?"

"Roro," Skip answered in a slightly quiet voice, "and Lala, sir."

"Yes, yes … and how's your new quirk coming along?" Daikoku smirked a bit. "Still making you puke?"

"No, sir," Skip shook his head, frowning, "I can … hardly complain. It's a good quirk."

"That it is. Far more useful than your old one, isn't it? Ah," Daikoku smiled as they reached their office, and he caught sight of a small struggle inside through the glass doors, "but I suppose that can wait for later. I should probably handle this - I believe that I know exactly what's going on."

With that, he stepped into the office, not aware of Skip frowning down at the floor for a moment before he shook his head and followed him inside. 

As Skip had said, they had the intruder restrained, with two of Jin's clones, dressed in their white suits, keeping the lizard looking man restrained, struggling to get free even as he had both his arms restrained and behind his back. At the sight of Daikoku entering, both of Jin's clones gripped the intruder's arms even tighter, making him grunt in pain.

"Ah," Daikoku nodded as he walked around the three struggling men, taking his remote from Skip and turning the volume up on the still active TV on the other wall, "you're … Nakamura, aren't you? Akara Nakamura, from floor seven?"

The lizard man didn't answer, panting as Daikoku leaned over to open his laptop, typing in the password.

"Skip here tells me that you were found trying to get into my laptop," Daikoku continued to speak conversationally, smiling as he entered his computer and started looking through it, "very odd, isn't it? If you had wanted to talk to me about something on my computer, you could have simply come up and scheduled a meeting. Unless you were looking for something you didn't want me to know?"

"I …" The lizard man looked around at Daikoku as he leaned against his desk, studying him like a hawk.

"Tell me," He tilted his head, "was this simple corporate sabotage? Or were you looking for something to sell to another client?"

"I -" He gulped, glancing around at the other people surrounding him before a look of desperation came to his face, "- I swear, Mr. Yaoyorozu, there - there was a mistake! My - my manager, he - he asked me -"

"To sneak into my office?" Daikoku raised his eyebrow. "And try to get into my computer?"

"He tried to use this on your computer, sir." One of Jin's clones, standing in the corner while the other two held down the intruder, said in a monotone voice, bringing over a flash drive. Daikoku took it from him, letting out a small hum as he turned the flash drive on its side to look at it, while the lizard man paled.

"Hm," Daikoku smirked as he glanced back up at the young man, "pretty high tech, if I say so myself. Not like something I've ever seen before, though - looks pretty homemade."

"I - I don't -"

"Let me make something clear, Mr. Nakamura - or, should I call you Mr. Rapt Tokage?" He nodded smugly as the lizard man froze. "Yes, I know your real name. I know that you faked your application - was it someone talking in your 'hearing aid' that fed you the answers? Well, it doesn't matter much, anyway - I've had my staff do a thorough investigation of you, Mr. Tokage, and kept our eye on you the moment you joined us six months ago. This - you breaking into my office - is less of a surprise and more of an inevitably, I suppose."

Leaning forward, Daikoku put his hands against his desk, smiling serenely at the frozen young man being held down by Jin's clones.

"Now," He tapped his finger against the desk, "we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. The easy way is that we go and have a drink together, and you tell me everything about why you infiltrated my company, who helped you get this job, and why you want information from my computer. In fact, I could forgive you enough that I would be more than happy to pay a rather large sum of yen to tell me who put you up to this. Or …" He tilted his head, "… we do it the hard way."

Rapt struggled for a moment as Jin's clones gripped him a bit harder, his gaze falling to the marble floor - and then suddenly, he yanked his arm free, reaching into his suit's pocket, and flipped something out. Skip took a step forward out of concern, but Daikoku merely raised his hand to stop him, watching in intrigue as Rapt threw out the baton to its full length, and threw it up at Jin's face.

Unsurprisingly, the clone immediately broke down into gray sludge the moment the baton wacked him in the face, and with his arm free, Rapt ripped himself out of Jin's grasp as the remaining clone quickly backed up. This didn't bother Daikoku, who merely watched in amusement as Rapt quickly whirled around, pointing the baton right at him.

"Oh?" He smirked. "Are you going to attack me, Mr. Tokage? That's an interesting strategy."

Rapt panted raggedly, his eyes flickering to Jin as another clone was created, and Skip staring dully at him as he crossed his arms, and then back to Daikoku who was merely looking amused as he tapped his shoe against the tiled floor. And then he let out a breath, and shook his head.

"Nah," He tried to grin audaciously, "you wanna pay me to give up people I care about? Sorry, Mr. CEO, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" Daikoku raised an eyebrow, "I'm at least willing to compromise here."

"Compromise?" Rapt spat out a laugh. "Nah, I know you money types - you think you can slap down a big wad of yen and all your problems would go away, and you can do whatever you want. Sorry, rich boy, but I can't be bought like that! I actually have people who care for me and wanna have me around, not like you. So you can take your offer and shove it up your ass!"

There was a long pause in the office as both Jins and Skip glanced at Daikoku as he stared at Rapt. His fingers tapped against the desk once more, Rapt sweating nervously even after his defiant refusal to give into the CEO's demands - and then Daikoku let out a long sigh, nodding slowly.

“Tell me, Mr. Tokage,” Daikoku’s eyes returned to him, turning cold, “would you like to see my mask?”

Rapt blinked a bit at that odd change of topic, and his gaze flickered as Skip immediately made his way towards the wall behind the desk, pressing his hand against a secret panel. Something opened, and the chauffeur, his face falling, took out a large red briefcase, and hurried over to the other side of the desk, putting it down beside Daikoku and flipping the case's latches before opening it.

Daikoku smiled as he reached into the case, and picked up what looked like a few pieces of blue glass compressed into a noh mask - different shades of blue, with lighter pieces near where his face would be and darker blue pieces where the hair and beard would be. As Daikoku pressed it against his face, there was a small noise, and the mask suddenly stretched out more pieces of reflective metal to cover his entire head, sealing him completely inside.

Rapt stared blankly at the CEO for a moment as he straightened up - and then, gritting his teeth, he charged, knowing there would be no way to run with the teleporter in the same room as him. But with the CEO distracted enough putting on his stupid mask, he could try to concuss him and use the two assistants wanting to help their boss to escape. 

So he threw the baton up behind his head, and then brought it down hard, slamming the metal straight into the side of Daikoku's smug face.

WHOOM

But the baton … stopped just short of Daikoku's face. There was an ominous humming in the air as a flicker of blue lightning suddenly emerged from Daikoku's mask - or himself, Rapt didn't know - and suddenly, the force of the blow was redirected back into Rapt. 

The lizard man's eyes widened in pain as he was suddenly launched back across the office, letting out a yell as he felt his elbow snap from the force of the blow, and he crashed hard against the wall, shaking the family portrait attached to it as he slid down into a heap on the floor, clutching his arm.

"W-what -" He grunted, looking around desperately for where his baton had gone, having dropped it while in midair. "- what just -?"

"When I was a young man," Daikoku began slowly walking towards him, the lizard man's eyes flickering back to him as his voice came out in a filtered, metallic tone, "I had difficulties with using my quirk. It was quite the mischievous one, you know … able to reflect any movement it perceives as an attack back onto the user. Oh, how it was so frustrating, and traumatizing, to not know the feeling of someone's touch, to not be held by my mother and father, for so many years … at least, until my father had this mask created," He patted the blue mirrored metal around his face, "and allowed me to temper my quirk and control it. And after that, I could touch, and hold, and feel, anything or anyone I wanted. But after a while, I grew curious. I felt like … experimenting with my quirk. With that in mind, Mr. Tokage, if you have the time, I'd like to demonstrate more of my quirk's abilities for you."

Rapt struggled to stand back up, but suddenly Daikoku crossed the room in an instant, and his hands grabbed both sides of Rapt's head. The lizard man could only stare up in terror at the white, blank eyes that reflected no emotion.

"This quirk," Daikoku said in a low voice, "has other capabilities. You see, I can also store anything I perceive as an attack inside me to reflect later, rather than immediately. And I have a small habit of … well, it's strange, but I have a habit of occasionally allowing others to touch me. A slap on the back, a small punch to the chest, a handshake, a hug from my wife … all of that gets stored up over time."

"W-wait a minute …" Rapt began to shake.

"And, of course, I'll eventually need to reflect it. And this mask helps me focus where on my body I want to reflect the stored up energy. For example …" He tensed his hands on the shaking Rapt's face, "… through my hands."

"You - you can't just -"

"I can't?" Daikoku smirked beneath the mask. "Oh, Mr. Tokage, I believe you said it best. I can do whatever I want."

And with that, he released the stored up energy within him, straight into his hands - and against Rapt's skull.

Both Skip and the two Jins watched Rapt's legs kick out beneath where Daikoku was hunched over him, his screaming hurting their ears as blue lightning shot out around where the CEO had his hands on the young man's head. Skip frowned and looked away, closing his eyes, while the two Jins simply stared dully, and they both listened to the crunching sounds of bone being broken as Rapt's body convulsed  - and then, slowly, they began to stop twitching, and the sounds of Rapt's screams slowing and growing quieter.

Finally, his legs stopped moving, and they saw Rapt slump against the wall as Daikoku released his head.

Straightening up, Daikoku sighed as he raised his hand, and Jin moved forward to hand him a towel, flecks of blood having gotten on his suit.

“Skip,” Daikoku said casually as he wiped the front of his blazer with the towel, “take the body to the roof and drop it over the side. Jin, have a clone forge a suicide note, and then get a car ready. I have to be at UA in three hours to pick up my wife and daughter.”

"Yes, sir," Skip bowed, and then moved forward towards the corpse as Daikoku stepped away.

"And someone reach out to Beros," The CEO requested, "and tell her to be on standby. I want our boys down in the tech department to search through Mr. Tokage's phone and computer, and see who put him up to this."

"Yes, sir," Jin said in a low, droned voice, creating another clone, "for humanity's salvation."

"Indeed," Daikoku smirked behind the mask, turning and walking back to his desk while the TV in the corner continued to play.

“- and with you, our future is bright,” The commercial’s cheery voice said. “Yaoyorozu Corporations - reflecting the future onto you.”

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/pNFyoKY.png
And that was Chapter 32! And my, oh my, I imagine that a lot of you didn't see that last plot twist coming XD

Indeed, with that last plot twist, we get our third big main villain! Daikoku Yaoyorozu, a.k.a. Flect Turn, as crudely photoshopped by yours truly XD
https://i.imgur.com/SN2u7uj.png
This is a plot twist I'd been sitting on for a long time, and I'm now more than happy to finally reveal it! I'm sure that many of you thought that Humarise wasn't going to be that big a deal with this story, essentially serving as the reason the Consortium gets their powers - but of course, if I'm letting Nine be the big bad of this fic, I should give the other two movie villains some love too, even if they get a bit reimagined.

"But wait!" You all proclaim. "In that case, what about whatshisface from the first movie? Metal guy!"

"Ah, yes," I nod, "Wolfram, who I totally didn't have to google his name because of how one note and forgettable he is. Well ... let's just say that Wolfram's already made an appearance. You'll see what I mean later."

Other than that, we get the first big plot twist of Izuku's quirk - in that it has a familiar side effect of fucking killing him, just like Nine. Naturally, Izuku doesn't get a big power up without some potential bone-breaking (or in this case life-threatening) risks, can we? I do know that my explanation of Izuku's abilities - or, more accurately, Recovery Girl theorizing in universe - can come off as confusing, and things might not add up. Not to worry, though - we'll be exploring Izuku's quirk and the side effects of it in the next few arcs, and how he'll be proceeding from here on.

At least Izuku gets a date with Ochako and Itsuka out of this, though! One that his entire class will be twenty-wheeling, though, but a date regardless!

... hm? What's that about Twice? And how he's on two sides at once? Well, all I'll say is

https://i.imgur.com/xaX6uAN.png

Now then, thank you guys for reading! Coming up next, the final chapter of our Sports Festival arc! See you then!

Chapter 33: Fire and Vestiges

Summary:

In the final round of the sports festival, it's the final battle between Itsuka and Shouto, with Momo and Nejire caught in the middle. Truths will be revealed, voices will be heard, and demons will lurk around every corner.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

That … definitely could have gone better.

With the door to the nurse's office sliding shut, Aizawa let out a long, tired sigh as he carefully sat down in the abandoned chair Recovery Girl had just vacated, staring down at the open folder of Izuku's test results while Midnight stood beside the desk. The three families had just left with Nezu to be walked back to their seats, the principal speaking to all of them in more detail as to what may happen with Katsuki after the festival was over, and the Urarakas had been quick to follow them out, both looking weirdly flustered and contemplative. Recovery Girl had left the office as well, wanting to go off in search of Himiko after having excused her to go help All Might with whatever distraction he had come up with for the crowd (although Aizawa had to feel suspicious about how eagerly she had been muttering something about sneaking into the cheerleaders' locker room, something to investigate later).

And thus, he and Midnight were left alone in the nurse's office. And that meant … Aizawa was pretty much alone with all his thoughts.

And he didn't really like where his thoughts were going.

"… that was a disaster," He dryly said.

"Oh, was it now?" Midnight sarcastically asked, shaking her head and frowning as she scooped up Izuku's medical files to read over again. "Like I told you, Shouta, this wouldn't have happened if you had just trusted what Hound Dog and I were saying. Bakugou didn't need a fight to realize that he isn't king of the mountain. Tenko was right when he told you that the only reason Bakugou was being cleared to return to class after the USJ was because you told him to clear him."

"Yes, sure," Aizawa scowled under his bandages, "now how about next time, you don't throw me under the bus when you say 'I told you so'?"

"Oh, are you still going on about being slapped? You got off easy. If I were in Mrs. Midoriya's shoes and you indirectly put my son in the nurse's office, I would've kneed you in the nuts."

"Well," He sighed again, looking up at the folder in Midnight's hands, "at least some good came out of that match. Now that we know what Midoriya's … condition is, we can start making some progress into figuring out how to overcome it."

"Cellular degeneration …" Midnight looked sad, staring down at the notes, "… of course it had to be the worst case scenario. As if that poor boy didn't have enough going on."

"It's something that we're just going to have to keep an eye on," Aizawa shook his head, while ignoring Midnight raising her eyebrow, "to make sure he doesn't go overboard again and make things worse for himself."

"Oh," Midnight shook her head, her brief moment of calm disappearing as soon as it came, "so that mean you're not going to be forcing him into random fights anymore? And here I was thinking you were going for a more hands off learning lesson."

"Alright," Aizawa sharply said, looking up at her with clear annoyance in his eyes, "do you just want to get it all out at once, or are you going to just sprinkle in the insults for the next god knows how long?"

"Oh, you want me to get it all out now?" Midnight threw her hair behind her shoulder, putting the folder down on the desk with a bit more force than necessary and making Aizawa realize he had made yet another mistake as she whirled around to glare at him. "Alright then, if you insist. Shouta, I love you as a friend, and you're the idiot little brother I never had. But your handling of Bakugou's situation was irresponsible, and borderline lazy."

Despite his stormy expression behind the bandages, Aizawa couldn't help but wince at that.

"I realize that you've chosen to do a hands-off teaching exercise with Bakugou, but you cannot get up in arms when people point out to you how it obviously backfired," Midnight continued to scold him as she put her hand down on the desk to lean forward over him, "the truth of the matter is, we gambled the safety of Midoriya and Uraraka in the hopes of getting one irresponsible boy to realize he isn't the king of shit mountain, and all it resulted in was Uraraka getting maimed and Midoriya being forced to realize his real limits. And now, not only do we have to worry about UA being embarrassed about Bakugou's behavior on live television, not only do we have to worry about Midoriya pushing himself so much he had to discover that his quirk can kill him, we have to take into effect how the media will be looking at Uraraka as well."

"The media can -"

"You don't care about the media, Shouta, but it's important. They make or break a hero, especially one in training and especially when they're of the opposite sex. Sure, they'll criticize Bakugou for being an idiot, and we'll have to defend him from all the calls to expel him, since we've already made the decision that we can't trust the Hero Commission to not try to make him their new golden boy. But what about Uraraka? Who's been seen working with Midoriya all day long because it's the smart thing to do, but then we chose to pair her up with him again for the last rounds because you wanted to make sure Bakugou had more than one target he wanted to personally shove in the mud?"

"…"

"They're going to eviscerate her, Shouta! Do you know how many headlines make the news when a female pro hero messes up an operation, in comparison to how many times someone like Endeavor messes up?" Midnight shook her head. "They'll probably call her unfit to be a sidekick, much less a hero, and she's only in her first year. Do you have any idea how much that'll hurt her mental state?"

"That's not -" 

"She's got a scar now, Shouta. I already want to cry whenever I see Midoriya's scars, because they've barely been in class for two months now. And now Uraraka has a large scar on her arm, and let's not pretend Nezu didn't let us listen to that audio he found today where she admitted she hates her body. A girl with body issues, now having a big ugly scar she can't ignore?"

"We'll put her into therapy with Hound Dog."

"Sure, that might help. But you have to understand, we did that to her." Midnight shook her head, taking off her mask to wipe at her eyes. "We put her in danger, and she's going to be suffering the consequences of that for who knows how long. We put Midoriya in danger, and now he's had to have us sit him down to tell him about how he could possibly die. Because you wanted to teach Bakugou the vaguest lesson I've ever seen, and because I was foolish enough to trust you."

Aizawa turned to glare down at the desk for a moment, unsure of how to handle the mix of emotions Midnight's lecture had put in him - and then his senpai laid her hand down on his shoulder, causing him to look up at her. The angry look had mostly faded from her face, replaced by a much softer look.

One that he immediately recognized, and made him frown.

"Shouta," She said quietly, "I … know that Oboro's death -"

"Nemuri," Aizawa suddenly snarled at her, "don't."

"No," Midnight glared down at him, although he could see the tiredness behind her eyes that always came when they discussed this, "you don't get to shut this conversation down this time. It's been … look, Shouta, I realize that his death … it hit you hard. He was your best friend. I know you loved him. But do you think treating these kids like this - like this job isn't something that we can get any joy out of, that it's something to take with the utmost seriousness - is going to prevent them from turning out like Oboro did? And that Oboro wouldn't be questioning you like I am over how you used Midoriya and Uraraka?"

Aizawa didn't answer that at once, merely turning to stare down at the table for a very long moment.

"Shouta, I think that -"

"I think," He said in a short voice, "that you don't take what happened to Shirakumo as seriously as I do."

That caused Midnight to flinch, and Aizawa merely scowled at himself, knowing it was a low blow. There was a long moment before Midnight moved her hand off of his shoulder, and then she turned away from him, absently rubbing the sore spot on her ass that she had landed on after being thrown out of the arena by Katsuki's blast.

"You," She said softly, but with a tinge of venom in her voice, "are an asshole, Shouta."

"I know."

"And … I think you know that Oboro would be ashamed of how you use his death to hurt people just like him."

That, of course, caused Aizawa to freeze briefly, staring down at the desk for a moment before he whipped up to start shouting at Midnight - but the way she looked at him, far older than she usually looked, caused him to stop.

"You never grieved," She pointed out in a bitter, tired voice, "you just threw yourself into training after Oboro died, and you never came down from that. You're aware of what happened, but you refuse to move on from it. It's why your relationship with Shino failed, why you refused to talk to Hizashi after we graduated and you went underground, why you pushed everyone away until I got you this job, why … why everything happened. Because you lost someone you loved, and you decided to project your feelings of pain and anger out on your students. If I'm being honest, Shouta, I got you this job because I thought it would help you … but if I realized what you would do, I'd go back and change my mind."

That didn't get an answer from the quirk erasing teacher.

"I'm going back out to referee the final round," Midnight told him shortly, and then moved out the door, shutting it behind her.

Aizawa continued to stare at where she had left in a long moment of silence, his mind racing and his heart thumping angrily - and then he let out a long, shuddered sigh, looking back around at the wall. Midnight's words stung, of course, but … but deep down, he knew that they didn't come from a place that resented him. That she wouldn't have said those biting words if she hadn't cared.

And …

Moving his arm carefully out of the sling around his neck, grunting slightly in pain, Aizawa reached for his phone inside his pocket, pulling it out and putting it down on the table before carefully poking his thumb out the hole and putting in his password. Once it was on, he moved into the photos app, scrolling through the various pictures of hero reports, until he finally found what he was looking for, tapping on it and moving the phone to its side so that it would fill the entire screen.

The picture was old - well, not too old, but it was definitely taken during better times. It was their entire friend group sitting around on the benches near the school's gate, and posing for the camera - Nemuri leaning against Shirakumo and Hizashi, her arms around their shoulders and smiling seductively into the camera while the two boys laughed, with Shirakumo's eyes squeezed shut and Hizashi sliding down his sunglasses to wink at the camera. Behind them, Chatora, before his transition, was hoisting both Ryuko and Tomoko onto his shoulders, the two girls laughing and giggling as they joined hands above Chatora's head; on the side, Tensei was laughing and flashing the camera the peace sign, while Shino leaned around him to kiss Aizawa's cheek, his younger self immortalized in the picture straightening up with red cheeks.

Staring down at the photo for a long moment, Aizawa closed his eyes, and let out a soft sigh. 

He knew, despite every part of his being wanting to defend his own actions, that he had fucked up tremendously today. Midnight had been right with all of her points - he had gone ahead and made Izuku and Ochako's time at their school more difficult, all because he wanted to go about Katsuki's situation 'rationally' instead of just cutting to the point and getting the kid's head out of his ass. And now he had gotten into a fight with one of the few friends he had left, and was probably at the point that he would be questioning what Shirakumo would be thinking of his actions now.

And … he had known Shirakumo enough that he'd probably kick Aizawa through a wall if he had been alive.

It was clear, from the small discussion the teachers had in the group chat, that Katsuki's presence in his class would not be able to continue without the threat of a major schism between the students. He had to accept that it was his fault - he knew that Midnight was right. And … and she was right that he screwed up with Izuku and Ochako. The poor girl was maimed because of him, and now Izuku had to come to grips with the fact that potential death was on the horizon for him.

So …

… well, those would be thoughts for later. How to deal with Izuku, and Ochako, and Katsuki - right now, those had to be thoughts for later.

Frowning, he looked back down at his phone, pressing the button to return to his messages. Tenya had called him repeatedly during the first of the few rounds, which had annoyed him immensely, but once he had actually answered and figured out what had been wrong, his annoyance had immediately died. He'd given Tenya immediate permission to leave the sports festival early, and head out to Hosu General Hospital as quickly as he could. Because … well …

… quite honestly, it hurt Aizawa to think about, and made him angry as well. Midnight might have been trying to open an old wound by mentioning Shirakumo … but in truth, Aizawa had been thinking of him earlier, once he was told what had happened to Tensei.

And he now had to figure out how to deal with the fact that Tensei, one of his oldest friends, was in a coma that the doctors didn't know he would wake up from.


"Such a magnificent quirk …"

Standing behind the leather chair, Nine's eyes remained fixated on the large computer screen the doctor used, with the short bastard sitting in his chair and staring up at it as well. The screen continued to replay the footage that they had just seen an hour ago - Izuku Midoriya, the boy who had robbed Nine of his chance to kill All Might, freezing that loud-mouth blonde boy in place with green ice. Both of them stared at the boy as he stood there blankly, staring at what he had done, before the Midnight woman used her quirk to knock him out. The footage then rewound, going back to the beginning of the clip and showing the flash of green light in the dark smoke cloud.

Nine himself couldn't stop staring at the quirk in action, feeling himself shake slightly - seeing that quirk he desired be even more than he initially thought it would be filled him with an almost uncontrollable desire. The moment he had seen the boy begin to actually using his quirk on the television against the other brat, Nine had become more and more hungry to see the lightning in action - and then, when Izuku had froze the boy in place, he had felt like he had just witnessed a miracle. It had made up his mind on the spot, having Kurogiri bring him right to the doctor at once.

Despite his own reservations, what he had seen made up his mind.

"To think," Kyudai Garaki mused, tapping his finger against his bushy mustache, "that I disregarded this boy as a potential vessel. Clearly, there's more to the boy than we thought. Oh, if only All For One hadn't already made up his mind on who he's going to be using as the vessel … well, what's done is done."

"Mm."

"Ah," Garaki chuckled, spinning around to look at Nine as he turned his gaze to scowl down at him, "don't worry if you think All For One will be taking this quirk from you. He's a bit too busy getting ready for our High-End project."

"That I see," Nine said in a blank voice, turning to look over at the large glass cylinder on the other side of the lab. Inside, what used to be the hooded man was drifting there, various wires and breathing apparatuses attached, while its head continued to deform, the brain pulsing through the various holes in its head. It was still grotesquely large from its mutation at the USJ, arms larger than its torso and shriveled legs, and a long electrical burn where the very same boy they were discussing had hit him in the chest with a lightning bolt scratched into its rapidly blackening skin.

"I must say," Garaki tapped his pen against his notepad, "I'm pleased that you seem to be taking this much more seriously than I first anticipated. And here I was having suspicions that you were going to run off with just the two quirks. Not a large consequence to our Inner Circle, of course, but it would've been a waste if you were simply in it for just the two."

"Don't be ridiculous," Nine narrowed his eyes, "I was promised eight quirks. I'm going to get them."

"Well, try not to be too impatient. You're compatible with All For One's quirk factor, but you do have a limit. You're currently up to four of potentially nine quirks that you can steal and use for yourself safely - your original weather quirk, the artificial All For One duplicate we gave you, the Scanning Quirk, and the Air Wall quirk. And now, you're interested in Spark - that'll be five quirks."

"Spark …" Nine looked around at the various Nomu in the vats, "… so that's the name of my quirk."

"Indeed," Garaki stood up from the chair, "it's a quirk that we were interested in a long time ago, almost ten years now, but the user's incompetence, and my moving away from the area, meant that we have only kept quiet tabs on it. All For One initially had his eye on it, but after what happened with All Might … well, we stopped looking for potentially complex quirks in favor of easier-to-use ones. While All For One is pleased with its potential, he also knows the potential complications of attempting to master the quirk - so he's far more comfortable with letting you have it."

"How kind of him."

"Such sarcastic backtalk!" Garaki laughed, throwing his head up to the ceiling. "And here we are, willing to hand you everything on a silver plate."

"Oh, please," Nine scoffed, raising an eyebrow, "you think I'm a fool, doctor? You think I haven't realized what I am?"

"Oh?" Garaki hummed, sounding smug as he approached Nine, and stared up at the hooded man's prone form behind the glass. "Then tell me. What are you?"

"You think I haven't figured things out?" Nine shook his head. "I remember nothing of my past. Nothing before my time living in that little 'orphanage' of yours, before it was burned down. I remember wandering the streets for years, with nothing but a number for my name. But nothing before that. Absolutely nothing, besides my name and the feeling that I wasn't … normal."

Garaki, for once, said nothing as Nine turned to look down at him with a scowl.

"And then," He raised an eyebrow, "when I came to you, and you told me about what you could give me. Taking me to this lab, and having me meet All For One. You think I didn't realize it within our first conversation? You're a doctor who specializes in quirks and genetics, and you created that … other proto-Nomu. Number Six."

"…"

"Six. Very coincidental name, isn't it?"

"I believe you had a point?" Garaki scoffed.

"… my mother's name. What was it?" He decided to ask plainly. "Before you took me from … wherever it was you found me."

"Ah," Garaki chuckled, "that's it? You want just your mother's name? You don't want to know anything about her? Or the public bath we found you in? I have all the secrets, Nine, and I'd be more than happy to share them with you if you just say 'please'."

"…"

"Hm. Very well," Garaki chuckled, turning away and walking back over to his chair, "in that case, I will have to refuse to tell you anything. Besides, it'll come in time, I'm sure. You'll just have to be patient."

"I'm through with patience," Nine growled, turning to look over at him as his eyes began to glow red, and they distantly heard the sound of thunder above them outside the hospital, "either give me some piece of information, or tell me what I have to do to get more power. I'm a busy man, doctor."

"And alas, you'll have to learn how to be patient," Garaki smirked, "the process we'll be putting you through begins tomorrow night - All For One will be holding a meeting with the other High Generals of the Inner Circle, and we only just got the other piece from Flect Turn to power up the machine. You'll be a lovely little conversation piece for our dinner party tomorrow night, before we can begin."

"Hmph," Nine narrowed his eyes.

"Just put those questions on the side for now, my dear test subject. Right now, you should be concerned with the task before you - putting in the space for two additional quirks should be simple enough, but it'll be taxing on your body. You'll be in recovery for the next three weeks, and you'll have to begin wearing specialized support items from Yaoyorozu Corporations to support your health."

"You mean …?" Nine glanced over at the desk near the wall, or more specifically, what was lying on the desk. Garaki followed his gaze to the black bodysuit, and chuckled.

"Not that yet," He shook his head, "that'll be for the end of the operations. No, you'll see what we'll be needing to install in you tomorrow night."

Nine merely scowled for a long moment, and then the doctor chuckled again.

"As I said," He made clear, "the questions you seek will be for another time, Nine. It would have been simpler to do the operation all at once, but seeing as you insisted on having the additional slots added one at a time …"

"I prefer to continue moving around with my crew. I can't exactly make the plans if I'm in a fish tank for months on end."

"Well, I wouldn't worry about it just yet. All For One had to go prepare the meeting with the other members of the Inner Circle, but once he returns," Garaki shook his head, smiling fondly, "and preparations are complete, he will go over the process with the both of us. As I said, this will be far more taxing than the first session - but we are not worried, as anything happening to you will not dissuade us in the long run. You are merely the test subject, after all."

Nine scowled, and looked back around to stare at Garaki as the old man walked back towards his chair, his fists clenching slightly.

"Fine," He growled, "be vague. But know this, doctor - All For One won't be around to protect you forever. You're merely a pawn to him, not some important piece of the puzzle."

"Of that I am well aware! I know what my role is," Garaki turned to him with a smirk, "but the question is, are you aware of your role?"

Nine merely huffed.

"Just get my operation ready. And doctor?"

"Hm?"

"I want a list of every cell activated based quirks in Japan," Nine narrowed his eyes, "and I want it narrowed to see who's quirk I'll specifically need."

Hmph," Garaki merely hummed, turning back towards his screen as Nine continued to stand beside the vat containing the High-End. Continuing to scowl for a moment, Nine looked back around at the purple fluid surrounding the hooded man, trying to calm his mind at the irritation the doctor had put there as he tapped his foot against the floor.

He needn't worry at the moment - despite how infuriating the doctor and his blind loyalty to All For One was, he would serve his purpose, and once Nine got all of his quirks, he would have no other need for Garaki, or the Inner Circle. Nine quirks would be enough - he didn't need the full catalogue at his disposal, and for any quirk he believed served its purpose, he would distribute to his followers. He already knew that he was looking for new quirks for Slice and Chimera - quirks that would be compatible with their bodies, and wouldn't hinder them.

It'd take a while, of course … having seven slots would give him a limit, and that would be something that -

Before he could get too lost in his thoughts, however, he became aware of the feeling of a phone vibrating in his pocket. Looking down, Nine reached in and pulled it out, turning it on its side to see an unknown number calling him - but he had a feeling that he knew who was trying to reach out to him. He'd left a message (reluctantly) with the secretary he had gotten, and it seemed now his … potential business partner … wasn't so busy as to call him back.

Answering the call, Nine raised the phone to his ear and turned away from the vat and the doctor sitting at his desk. "Yes?"

"Good afternoon. Am I speaking to Nine?"

"You are," Nine's eyes narrowed at the modified voice on the other end of the voice, making it seem as though he were speaking to an animated cartoon animal rather than a person, "and I am to assume that you're Re-Destro? Can't really tell because of the Mickey Mouse filter."

"Ha! Forgive me, it's better to be safe than sorry. In case someone was listening in," Re-Destro sounded amused, "now then, I assume you've received my card. I'm interested in setting up a meeting between the Meta-Liberation Army, and the Villain Consortium. From the sounds of things, you've been picking up quite a bit of attention in the community?"

"Seems to me I have. I'm in the interest of recruiting new members, and … well, from the sounds of things, an army would be something I'm interested in."

"As you well should! Alas, I'm not going to just give it to you that easily," Re-Destro laughed, while Nine's eyebrow twitched, "I don't know a single thing about you, after all, and introductions are important between business partners to determine how our business relationship will advance. Now then, I do have a few friends of mine - fellow liberation seekers - who are interested in hearing what world you're interested in creating. I'm going to host a dinner party tonight - and it would please me if you were the guest of honor."

"Interesting," Nine narrowed his eyes, "and how am I to assume this isn't a trap?"

"Oh, no need to worry about that. From the sounds of things, you have those barrels of Trigger, don't you? I'd hardly not want to pick a fight when you clearly have the upper hand. Now then, our base of operations is at Deika City, at the central tower. Come alone or bring your fellow Consortium members, it doesn't matter. Either way, we'll be welcoming you with open arms, and discuss any alliances that we may come up with."

Nine paused for a moment, thinking through his options - and then he sighed.

"I'll be there. What time?"

"Excellent! Eight o'clock, my good man, and we'll have someone bring you up to meet with us."

With that, the line went dead, and Nine sighed as he put the phone back down, slipping it into his pocket and scowling.

The Meta-Liberation Army … Nine knew of them, of course. Hell, he probably learned how to read by reading that book. There were points in there he could agree with, of course, but … well, he knew that his version of a perfect world was different from what Destro's vision was. But it would be foolish not to take advantage of an opportunity like this - a potential army at his command would serve his future goals well, and if this Re-Destro eventually got in his way, Nine could figure a way to remove him from power and take his place.

Letting out a sigh, Nine looked back around at the lab, frowning. He didn't know where this experiment would lead him - even though he was the subject, he was only told the bare minimum. But … he wouldn't dwell on those questions. He was just a convenient lab rat to All For One, nothing more. And quite honestly, it's easier to see it that way, until he found his chance to strike.

He'd get his new slots. He'd get his new quirks. He'd gain his army. He'd find the cell activation quirk he desperately needed -

"And you will become the next Demon Lord."

Nine stopped his thoughts at the feeling of a hand taking his shoulder from behind, staring forward for a moment. The voice was familiar, of course, but there was an … echoing sensation about it. As though it wasn't spoken from behind him, but inside his mind. Slowly, he looked around … and then up.

Floating there, staring down at him, was … a man. But a man that Nine felt himself take a step back from, his eyes widening. The man was in a dark suit, with various wires and tubes emerging from his throat, his wrists, the back of his head, even his face, but fading off into nothing. The man's head was … it was a deformed thing unlike anything Nine had ever seen before. A mass of scar tissue, extending from above his upper lip and covering his entire head and the back of neck, with no nose, ears, hair or eyes.

But it was clear, without his eyes, that he was staring down at Nine, his grin spread wide.

"Patience, Mikumo Akatani," All For One smirked, "your answers will come soon enough. You just … have to wait."

With that, the vestige faded into red and black darkness, deep laughter echoing all around Nine.


"IT'S FINALLY HERE! THE LAST BATTLE OF THE UA HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS FESTIVAL! THE TOP OF THE FIRST YEARS WILL BE DECIDED WITH THIS FINAL, GLORIOUS MATCH!"

In the tunnel, the two girls could hear Present Mic's screeching voice as though it were up close to them, and the roar of the crowd filled the empty hall they were standing in, just off to the side so no one could see them. Standing there, they looked blankly out at the field before them, as though mentally getting prepared for the final battle of the day that would determine who would be winning this sports festival …

… and then Itsuka let out a low, menacing growl.

"I'm going." She said through gritted teeth, her hands clenched into fists as she and Nejire stood there. "To kill. Them. All."

"Well, I mean -" Nejire tried to palate her and fight down her giggles at the same time, knowing how frustrated Itsuka must be at the moment (while acknowledging silently that Itsuka's pout was both humorous and adorable at the same time), "- I bet it'll be fine, Itsuka! Sure, it's not like -"

"I just asked those two to come out with me tomorrow," Itsuka gritted her teeth, looking like she was about to punch the wall as she raised one hand to grab her ponytail, "told them that we were going to the beach, and - and we're gonna go swimming, and - and then All Might comes around the corner all 'ooh, boy, who's talking about a beach?' and everyone jumps on it!"

Nejire had to suppress a small snort, even if she more than understood Itsuka's annoyance.

"And the worst part!" Itsuka whipped around to look at her, stomping her foot childishly while Nejire struggled to keep a straight face. "The worst part is now, everyone's gonna keep me so busy, I'll have no idea how to get Izuku and Ochako alone for our talk! Because I know that everyone's gonna be so chaotic tomorrow I'm gonna have to make sure nothing goes wrong! Kaminari's probably gonna fry himself in the ocean, Setsuna's gonna poke and tease me, Yui's probably gonna be staring at everyone, and I'm gonna have to make sure Eri has fun, too!"

"Mm-hm …"

"It just - grrah!"

Nejire continued to nod and suppress her giggles as they both absently listened to the sound of Present Mic going on and on over the speakers above them. It had been a few minutes since they had separated from Class 1A, with everyone promising to escort the slightly traumatized and frozen Izuku back safely after All Might had sped away (she had overheard him muttering something about memes, which only confused Itsuka), and now the two girls were getting ready to step outside into the open air to finally get the sports festival over and done with. While they had been walking back, Itsuka had been obviously and quietly fuming, until Nejire had given her an innocent question about the beach which had prompted her to rightfully explode and begin ranting, and thus, minutes later, Itsuka was still grumbling while Nejire tried not to make it worse by laughing.

"I … grrrr," Itsuka grumbled, looking away and crossing her arms while pouting adorably, "okay, okay, I've complained enough, haven't I?"

"Oh, don't be like that, it's all good! I get that it's frustrating," Nejire stepped over and patted her arm, "and … well, I don't think you have all that much to worry about! Remember, Itsuka? I'm on your side! I'll be helping you out tomorrow!"

"You … are?"

"Heck yeah! You don't even have to ask! Don't worry, I'll make sure nobody can bother you three while you go and have your talk! But hey," Nejire glanced back out at the field, "maybe we can plan that later, right? We still have a lot to do today, and we're kinda … well …"

She paused, a thoughtful expression suddenly coming to her face.

"… hey, hey, I almost forgot about Todoroki," She realized, "which isn't good, because you promised Midoriya you'd think about it, right?"

"Gerk," Itsuka winced.

"Yeah! Well, I can't blame you if you forgot about it - All Might showing up in a mini-skirt was kinda out of nowhere, wasn't it? It was kinda traumatizing, so no worries if that got pushed to the back of your mind! Although I gotta say, I think All Might lowkey rocks a mini-skirt."

"I - no, I'm not gonna touch the fact All Might was wearing a skirt," Itsuka shuddered at the thought, raising her hand to scratch her cheek as she looked sheepish, "I just … wasn't really thinking about Todoroki, is all. And … not really thinking about Izuku's request."

"Yeah," Nejire nodded, her smile falling slightly, "it was kinda out of nowhere too, wasn't it? But, uh … well, I guess if he asked, we gotta consider it, right? And talk it through, right?"

"… Nejire," Itsuka raised her eyebrow, looking over at her partner with a skeptical look, "you're gonna ask that we do what Izuku says, aren't you?"

She got her answer from how Nejire began innocently whistling, looking away awkwardly, and the class representative let out a small chuckle.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Anyway, uh … well, I honestly don't know," Itsuka shrugged her shoulders, "do we really have to talk about it? I'm still kinda considering if we even have to talk to Todoroki himself."

"Oh! Well, in that case, if you don't wanna talk about it, we don't have to talk about it." Nejire agreed, smiling happily. "We can talk about those 'friend smooches' instead!"

"…"

"…"

"… I have no idea if you did that on purpose," Itsuka glared at her, her adorable pout returning while she went red again, "or if you really thought what I did was a 'friend smooch'."

"Well," Nejire shrugged, looking completely innocent (although the mischievous look in her eye suggested otherwise), "if it's not a 'friend smooch', Itsuka, what is it?"

Itsuka pouted a bit more - and then she reached over to wrap her arm around Nejire's neck, and brought her head down. Nejire let out a small confused noise, only to squeak as Itsuka began grinding her knuckles into the top of her head.

"Ow!" Nejire squealed as Itsuka gave her a noogie, "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Itsukaaaaa!"

"You little …!" Itsuka was unable to stop herself from laughing a bit as Nejire squirmed, her fingers moving up to start tickling her side, and both girls started laughing as they briefly struggled in the tunnel before they managed to get control of themselves, Itsuka letting go of Nejire's neck to let her stand up straight.

"Okay, okay," Itsuka managed to get control of her laughter, "if you're so adamant we talk about Todoroki, then we talk about Todoroki. Just … don't bring up 'friend smooches' ever again."

"Yay!" Nejire happily clapped her hands together, and they both turned to look back out of the tunnel - or more specifically, her eyes moved over to where she knew Momo and Shouto would be coming out of. "So, uh … what do you think we should do? Should we help him?"

"Well …" Itsuka bit her lip a bit, her smile from their tomfoolery fading as she looked over as well, and let out a small sigh, "… if … if I'm being honest, Hadou, I - I kinda don't want to. Like … okay, I'll admit it, I don't really like Todoroki. He hasn't really given me any real reason to like him. He's a jackass, he's done nothing but make me question myself all day long, he's treated me like crap, and - and at this point, I don't even really want to fight him anymore. I just wanna lay down and go to sleep, or just go home and do literally anything else. So the fact it's him that's gonna be making me work my ass off in the next couple of minutes doesn't earn him any favors."

"Mm-hm …"

"But …" Itsuka closed her eyes, pouting again for a moment before she opened them back up and looked around at her partner, "… okay, you said you were there when he talked to Izuku. Is this - this thing really all that serious? Do I have to talk to him about it right now?"

"Well …" Nejire hesitated for a moment, her smile dropping slightly as Itsuka tilted her head, "… I … well, I don't think it needs to be talked about right now … but - but it is pretty serious, Itsuka! I swear!"

"Okay. And … you can't tell me what it is."

"Uh … no. I - I can't. I made a promise."

"Right," Itsuka slowly nodded, thinking over Present Mic's endless commentary hyping up the final round - and then she pouted.

"Izuku would … probably be really happy with us if I helped Todoroki out."

"Mm-hm."

"And … happy Izuku makes me happy."

"I guess so! Happy Izuku makes me happy too."

"So," Itsuka raised a finger, "on the upside, I help Todoroki, Izuku's happy with me. Everyone's happy."

"Yep!"

"On the downside," Itsuka lowered her finger with a frown, "I help Todoroki, the odds of me being set on fire are gonna be pretty high."

"Yeaaaaah," Nejire giggled nervously, "it's … kinda … well …"

Both girls trailed off as they stared off at the arena in the distance, listening briefly to the cheering of the crowd as they realized the chances of their hair being set on fire was worryingly high - and then Itsuka let out a defeated sigh, raising her hands and smacking her cheeks.

"Okay," She nodded, frowning but looking determined, "fuck it. Fine. Let's just - we'll help Todoroki. Maybe. If he tries to freeze me, though, I'm putting him on his ass."

"Okay!" Nejire happily clapped her hands together, and then spun back around to smile happily at her. "Are we doing this?!"

"I … yeah, I guess so!" Itsuka laughed as well, infected by Nejire's cheerfulness and looking around at her as she offered her hand up for a high-five.

"Let's kick some booty, then!"

"Yeah!"

With that, Itsuka happily raised her hand and smacked Nejire's open palm with hers - only for Nejire to suddenly intertwine her fingers with hers, preventing her from pulling her hand back.

Itsuka faltered a bit, blinking slightly as Nejire squeezed gently on her hand, and then turned her gaze back to Nejire's face, as though to ask her what she was doing - but before she could, the blue-haired girl suddenly yanked Itsuka's hand towards her, making Itsuka lose her balance and trip over herself with a small yelp, and her face came awfully close to Nejire's -

- just before Nejire tilted her head slightly to the side, and she moved her face forward so that her lips could meet Itsuka's cheek, holding them there for a moment before she moved back with a loud kissing sound and a giggle.

There was a long pause as Itsuka stared blankly ahead, her brow furrowed automatically - and then it finally came to her what had just happened, causing her mouth to drop open wide, and her face to fill with red as she quickly looked back around at the giggling Nejire, a touch of red on her own cheeks as she happily watched Itsuka's face.

"I - huh?" Itsuka squeaked a bit. "What was - uh - w-what - what -?"

"A friend smooch!" Nejire explained happily. "It looked like it was pretty fun when you did it with Midoriya and Uraraka, so I thought I'd give it a try! Now c'mon, let's go kick some Todoroki booty!"

With that, she took Itsuka's hand and led her straight out into the sunlight, walking with determination over to the arena where Midnight was pacing on her podium again. Unfortunately, out in the open, Itsuka could do little to demand an answer out of Nejire over what the hell just happened, less the entire arena would see her freaking out and blushing in all her fluster, and forcing her heart to calm down.

She did pout furiously, however, pointing a finger at Nejire while her face continued to burn hot, and Nejire giggled a bit mischievously again as they saw flames burst out of the four corners of the arena above them, and the crowd roared as Present Mic continued to monologue above them.


"Mom, I'm ... I'm going crazy. I can't take it anymore. Every day the children seem to become more and more like ... like him. Shouto's ... his left side looks ... it looks like ... I can't ... I can't raise him anymore ... I feel like I shouldn't ..."

Here he was … walking towards victory … and he couldn't get any of the memories out of his damn mind.

Narrowing his eyes to slits, Shouto stormed out into the sunlight, ignoring the increased volume of the crowd's cheers as he stormed forward across the grass. Behind him, he could tell that Momo was giving him a worried look, her hands folded together and glancing between him and the hill where the arena was, but for now, he ignored it completely. Not when he had several voices ringing in his mind, distracting him and making him grit his teeth as he stormed forward.

"Stand up! If you're downed by a weak punch like that, you can forget beating All Might! You won't even be able to handle small fry villains!"

"Please, stop! He's only five!"

"He's already five! Get out of my way!"

It was … annoying.

"Don't look at them, Shouto. They belong to a different world than you do."

"̵͚̙̗͍̣̜͎̪̳̇̔̃̉̀̔̀͊̔̏̈́̊̚͜͝-̵̠̜͍̰̱͓́̄̇̊̐͝ ̴̢̼̈́́̋̎̈́̒̀͠I̸͕͍͖͈͓̘̮̙̥̣͕̤̾͑̃̈́̈́͒͠ ̵̨͎̟̰͐̓̈̒͗̌̅̽͒͛̾́̚͘k̷̡̧͖̫̲͔̼̟̘̓̉͊̑͜͠n̵̨̻͉̖͖̳͉̜̺̰̻̭͈̅̅̌͆̾́̅͌õ̴̠͖͚̼̬̥w̴̛̻̟͔̩̣̜͕͕͉̙̆̈́̅̇̉͒̀͠͠͝ͅ ̴̛͈͔̦̫͚̝̉̔̍̄̇͛̂͗͝ͅỵ̵͍̬͓̰̮͛̃ͅo̶̧̨̖̣̯̦͍̰̭̰̝̣̐̉̌̉̒û̶͌̑̓̈́͛͑͐̈̽̐̕͝͝ͅ'̸̢̫̹̩̦͚̥̞̯͚̻͉̥͕͗͘ŗ̷͖͖̙̝̠̫̥̯͉͙̩̏͐͑̈́̓ȅ̷̢̱̠̳̔̉͆ ̸̧͎̼̜̫͉̬͇͋͒̀͆m̴͎̱̐y̶̢̡̦̗͎͈̪̰̹͓͋̉͑̋̓͗́̂͘ͅ ̵̧̢͎̜͕͑͑̋͐̀̌̀̌̚͜͝r̸̛͎͈̘͎̹̩̠̗̹͒̔͑͑̈́̀̑̑̔ẽ̵̫̭͓̟̳̖͖͍̪̪̈͠͝͝p̵͇̼͔̖̤̻̯͖̳͒̽̓̈́͌͐͑̓͒̐͒͠l̵̢̧̙̰̰̻̫͖̣̲͇̤̭̻̰̆̿̈́̆͆̂̓̆̎̀ą̵̧̳̩̥̟̩̯̠͇̙͈̍̐́͒͗̄c̸̢̼͔̦͙͖̭͙̬̻̝̬̗͚̤͋ḛ̶͐̒̈́͋͗͗́̇̄͗͑m̷̯̟̩̫̮̱̞͗̔͂̆̑̂̈́̄͊̏̑̕è̴̡̛͔͈͆͛̅̓̋͐̓͊̉͊̈́͗̚n̵̥̪̤͇͕̱̯̱̈̆̒ṫ̶̠̣̳̱̣̰̝̹́̚͝,̸̬̖̍͆̑̆̊͛̌̂ ̴̢̯̣̝̲̝̟̅͌̋̈́̀͐̓̀̆̒͠͝y̴̢̺͈̹̫̻̻̫͍̌͋̀̑̉͒̾͝ò̴̢̰̘̝̫͙̯̋̾̐̑̀̎̚ͅư̵̡̩̗͙͋́̌͑̂̐̒̓͑̕͝ ̶̰͉̣͎̯̰͉̖̫̺̯̌͊̃̊͆͐̋̇̑́̆͘͜͠ͅl̷̨̛̬̱̳̩̤͆̈́́̐̇͆̑͗͂i̴̛̭̙̫̭͕͓̺͎̻̣̰̱̤̳̊̽͑̉̎̚͝t̷̬͖̝͈̆͗ţ̶̼̦̬͕͖̲͌͂̿͒͋̌̈́̓̄͐̒̒̐̚ͅl̴͙͚̗̺̬̱̦̣̬͍̺͎̜̣̣̂͠ẻ̸̡̙͉̯̣̙̘̮̜̀̊ͅͅ ̴̢̛͍̬̩͙̩̟̞̞̠̗̥̜̈̒̏̅͘̚̕ş̶̼̖͎̯͇̙̘̦̲͇͓̤̘͙̃h̵̗͙͈͛̓i̷͕͙̥͂̀̑̏̊̏̆̓́̌̌̚͘̚t̶̨̢̧̪̟͚̬̫̫͚̓̆̋̂͊͆́̏͋́̀̀͝͠.̸͙͚̙͉̩̤̺̍͆̍̑̊̅̿͌̿̕͘̕͘͝"̶̥̱̩͎͈͔̭̆͒̓͆̀͑̌̓̑

"Shouto, do you …"

"But you want to be a hero, don't you? It's okay, Shouto … it's o̷̡͍̖̱͎̱̦̮̘͇͖̻̯̪̐͛̾̎͛̑̈̏̃̎̕̕͜k̷̡̛̘͔̀͐̋̈̊̈́̔͝ͅa̴̦͉̯̫̥͙̭̙͈͊̓̊̌̆̊̃̒̊͂̍͜͝͠y̵̢̼̝̻̗̲̫̘̋̒̏̏̓͝ ̶̢̤̣̗͈͚̖͚̘͖̖̟̇͌̊́̾̿̕͘͘f̴̛͍͓̻̱̩͙͈͐̓̓ồ̷̧̧̥̫̹̲͎͈͓̥͇͚̟͍ṛ̸̨̿̌̔̆͐̄̍̈̎̚̚̕̚͠ ̴̧͎̫͈̼͋̈́͐͋̋̍̀y̵̛̪̤͚̗͗̑̈́̽͋̊̓̀̾̕̕̕o̴̡̡̺̮̤͈̥͇̓̿͋̍̄̂͐͋̄̀̎̚͘͝ǘ̴͔͕͕̖͙̫̲̘̿̉͝ ̵̧̩͇͓̺̞̜͖͈̀͒̃͗-̵̧̧̡̩̱̘̺̬͔͈̤̬̯̕"̸̹̯̫͚͕̘̂͒̒̾͊̏̓́́̌̌̎̀͘͝

"You stole my life!"

"- Touya's just playing around, Shouto! You don't have to t̸̛͔̂̿̾̿̔̋̂a̷̧̠͉̻̳̜̯͂̈́́̅́͠͝ķ̴̺̼̣͈̆̆͛̂̔͌̕͘e̴̜͂̈́̒͌̕͘̚̕͘͝͠ ̷̨̧̼̞͕̥͎͓̼̳̒̔̍̄̕h̸͇͖̅̅̿̈́͌̈̂͂̚ĭ̴̼̘̰͙͚̲̏̔̏̔͆̑̏̂̓͌͋̉͘m̴̢̢̙̯̞̘̙̻̟̐̒͋̊̌̌̓̓͂̈́̚ ̴̡̛͎̹̙͉̖̲̞͚̙̘̪̘̘͊̆̎͂̀̏͋͗́̂̈̋͜s̵̨̨̨͍̞̭̖̦̥͇̀̋̄̒́̓͗ó̷͕͔̙͑̎̿͛̈́́̔́̃͌̽̇̉͠ ̶̫͕͙͚̳͕̈́͒͗̆̉̔̀̄͑͋̀͑̽s̴̢͉̟̪̝̪̰̫͍̝̜̬̅͆̂̋͑̑̿̏̃̚ê̶̡̧̺̻̗̞̟̰̰̖͈̈́̄͂̽̉͝ͅŗ̴̨̢̻̘̺͖̹̹̪̮̥̭̎̉̉͗̃̽̄̈́͜͜͝͝ï̶̡̢͈̪̟̖̩͈̞̠̰͍͇̌͆́̊̕͘ͅo̴̼̺̩͌͆̏̂̽͆̆̉̈́͘͜u̸̧̱̮̹̙͓̟̫͓̹̮͑̀s̵̛͖͕̜̟̙͈̙̘̃̎̒͆̈́̃̑̽l̷̡̧̧͔̺̳̘͖͖̗̃͛̆̉̂͑̽͝y̶͉̓̉̈̈́̑͆͘͠͝ ̸̟͖̭͝-̵̧̡̛̱͖͖͎̬͖̯̳̖͂̏͛̓̈̿̽̃͆͛̚͜͝"̷̮͈̘̼̇

It was … making him angry.

"They're going to be out there giving their all, and then there's you not even trying that hard."

"Everyone is out here giving their all, and you're deliberately holding back."

"You'll make me proud, huh? Heh. I sincerely doubt it."

"… I don't think you owe your brother anything. And - and you don't have anything to prove to your father."

Clenching his hand tight, Shouto merely glared forward, ignoring his English teacher screeching his head off above them as he reached the bottom of the hill and began climbing up the steps. He was tired. He was in a foul mood ever since the fight against that Shinsou idiot and his class representative. And he just wanted to get the gold medal and show it to Touya, to prove that he could make it without using his fire. And all of this … this distraction, these memories of his childhood, of what happened, of Izuku and Itsuka looking down on him … it was making him feel like a volcano that was about to erupt.

But … but this was it. This was the final round. All he needed to do was defeat Itsuka, the one he had chosen to best represent All Might, and shove his victory in his father's face. He'd go home and show the gold medal to Touya -

"You'll make me proud, huh?"

- and earn his approval. He'll -

"… I don't think you owe your brother anything."

Gritting his teeth, Shouto glared forward, seeing Itsuka and Nejire coming up at the top of the stairs opposite of them, the one who had eavesdropped on him before giggling about something before she glanced over at him and allowed her face to fall. But his eyes locked on Itsuka as she looked over as well, her face turning to a frown as they both reached the top of the stairs, and began moving into the circle.

"- AND NOW THIS IS IT!" Present Mic screeched above them. "THE FINAL BATTLE! THE LAST DESPERATE STAND! THE ULTIMATE BATTLE OF ULTIMATE DESTINY! THE FINAL ROUND!"

Moving into the circle, the four of them quietly studied each other. Momo held her arm nervously, glancing between her two opponents. Nejire likewise glanced between both of them, although her gaze flickered down to Shouto's right hand and nodded slightly. And both Itsuka and Shouto stared at each other, Itsuka with a frown and Shouto with a glare.

"So," Shouto clenched his fists, "you're here."

"Where else would I be?" Itsuka huffed a bit.

"ON ONE END! PACKING QUITE A PUNCH, AND LOOKING ADORABLE AS WELL! IT'S ITSUKA KENDOU AND NEJIRE HADOU!"

Above the arena, and in the crowd, Izuku leaned forward in his seat, pulling nervously at his lip while Eri held his hand, sitting in the seat beside him. On the little girl's opposite side, Ochako was lightly snoring, having fallen asleep due to the amount of stamina Recovery Girl's quirk had taken from her, and Yui was currently attempting to wrestle a marker away from Setsuna, who was trying to lean forward to draw on the sleeping girl's face. Still, Izuku only absently reached over Eri and Ochako's head to snatch the marker from them, his eyes flickering between Shouto and Itsuka while he felt his heart thump heavily in his chest.

"I - I hate to have to ask this of you, Kendou, and - and you can ignore what I'm going to ask you if you want to, but … but if you can … I want to ask if you could help Todoroki, he's - he's got a complex with his quirk. He believes that his fire belongs to people he - he doesn't really like. If it's possible, I … I want to see you win the match, but I also want to see Todoroki get over his complex that's hindering him. It probably won't be easy, but … but if anyone can do it, it's - it's you, Kendou."

"VERSUS!" Present Mic continued to commentate. "LOOKING SERIOUS AND DETERMINED! IT'S SHOUTO TODOROKI AND MOMO YAOYOROZU!"

In his own seat, All Might ignored the barely concealed chuckling Tenko was doing as he shared the video of the Number One Hero getting into his cheerleader's uniform with his sister, instead leaning forward while his own gaze flickered between the two duos. He was thankful that it appeared that the crowd had very much lightened up after his show with Class 1A, 1B and Himiko - he'd have to remember to give those who participated extra credit, and put in a good word with Recovery Girl so Himiko could be rewarded with her own fair share of artificial blood for participating - but staring down at his chosen successor, he couldn't help but feel nervous as he tugged on his tie.

"NOW!" Present Mic cheerfully cried out. "IT'S TIME TO FINALLY WRAP THIS UP! KENDOU!"

Itsuka gulped. Tenohira and Hakushu nervously clasped hands while the other parents around them grabbed their arms and shoulders, and Teko clenched his own hands tightly against his arms where he was crossing them.

"HADOU!"

Nejire balled her fists. Yuuyu stared down at her best friend in conflict, still annoyed from their argument but shivering from the cold, and turned to aim a glare at her own classmate down in the arena.

"YAOYOROZU!"

Momo tensed. Up in the VIP box, Yukiri Yaoyorozu shook in excitement, balling her fists together while her bodyguard glanced around suspiciously for anyone who might be approaching them.

"TODOROKI!"

Shouto glared hard at his opponent. Up in the arena, Endeavor crossed his own arms, his flame beard flaring, and unknown to either of them, Fuyumi nervously stared at her phone while cleaning up the classroom, Natsuo cheered on his little brother from the living room of one of his friend's places, Touya continued to glare up at the television screen of the hospital while Stendhal spoke with one of the police officers and nurses behind him, and a white haired woman clenched her own hands nervously together while looking at her youngest son's furious face in worry.

"FIGHT!"

At once - the exact moment Present Mic screeched out that word - both sides acted. Shouto slammed his foot down as hard as he could, and a massive wall of ice shot out. It moved faster than many people in the audience could register, shooting out to slam straight into the other two girls as the other members of the audience behind them reeled back in anticipation -

- and then Nejire lifted up her hands, pouting and squinting her eyes in determination as she angled her hands up so the palms faced the wall of ice fast approaching, and they glowed a bright yellow light.

"Full charge, output level ... thirty!"

At once, her spiraling light shot out of her palms with such intensity, Itsuka winced at the bright light. It flew across the stage to meet the ice right in the middle, the yellow coils wrapping around the ice in spirals -

- and then the entire ring disappeared in an icy explosion.

"W-whoaaaaa!" Midnight screamed as she was, yet again, thrown off her podium from the force. The entire crowd gasped and screamed as the energy of Nejire's quirk slammed into Shouto's ice, and the ice … continued to expand, carried by the yellow light up above the arena and wrapping around it. Both Itsuka and Nejire let out shrieks of surprise and quickly covered their heads as the ice twirled above them, and Momo quickly ducked as well while Shouto quickly moved down into a crouch, squinting his eyes to see what was happening.

The ice quickly warped and twisted around them and the arena as it was frozen around Nejire's wave, and … soon enough, the entire crowd gasped as the ice completely sealed around the ring, moving up into the air above the stadium. Izuku leapt out of his seat, his eyes blowing wide in worry while Eri held tighter to his hand, and Ochako was jerked awake by everyone in the box letting out gasps, blinking in confusion as she looked around - and then squeaked at the large pillar of ice rising high into the sky.

Inside the arena, wincing, Itsuka continued to cover her head with her arms, not even thinking to use her quirk as she leaned away from the utter chill spreading throughout her entire body. Nejire likewise shivered as she closed her eyes, hearing the loud cracking of ice continuing to form around them as they kept their heads down. Finally, the sound of cracking began to stop, and once they were left in silence, feeling cold air nipping at them from all around, they both slowly opened their eyes -

- and then they felt them widen.

"… whoa," Nejire breathed out, her breath escaping in a wisp as she shivered slightly.

Honestly … well, it was hard to blame Nejire for her amazed-sounding reaction, with Itsuka also looking around in wonder. The collision of Nejire and Shouto's quirks, both of them combining together, resulted in Shouto's ice completely expanding overtop them. The entire ring was now resting in the center of a giant iceberg, far taller than anything Shouto had produced today, with the bottom of the iceberg hollowed out enough for the four of them to walk around in, and the yellow light of Nejire's quirk was sealed in the walls around them, illuminating the ring in a soft golden light.

Shouto and Momo, meanwhile, were likewise unharmed and looking around themselves, Momo's mouth falling open slightly while Shouto merely gave a cross look at the giant ice prison he had inadvertently made, and then turned back to glare at the two other girls.

"Well, uh …" Itsuka shivered a bit, seeing her own breath come out in an icy chill as she continued to look around at the blue walls of ice, "… that was … unexpected."

"And kinda cool!" Nejire gushed, hopping up and down.

"How … did that happen?" Itsuka continued to look around in shock. "It was like your quirk just … carried the ice all around the arena. Did you know your quirk could do that?"

"Nope! But hey, I'm not gonna question the logic!" Nejire giggled a bit in glee, even as Itsuka looked around at her with a deadpan look. "Oh, c'mon, you gotta admit that this is pretty cool!"

"I … okay, yes," Itsuka nodded, "I will admit, this is pretty aweso- Nejire!"

Nejire jumped pretty high at Itsuka suddenly shouting her name in warning, and quickly looked back around at where Itsuka was staring - and felt herself squeak when she saw another barrage of ice shooting out of the ground towards them. Quickly, Itsuka jumped to the side and out of its path, while Nejire leapt up into the sky with a burst of her quirk, flying upwards into the air as quickly as she could -

- only to grunt in pain when her head suddenly bonked against the thick ice that made up the ceiling of the ice cavern.

"Can't fly around anymore," Shouto growled at her, looking far more angry than any of them had seen him be all day long as he threw another barrage of ice towards Itsuka, who quickly dived to the side again out of the way, and the ice hit the cave's wall -

- and the entire ice cavern rumbled ominously, causing all four teenagers to quickly look around in nervousness at the sound of large cracking, and buzz of energy that made up Nejire's quirk being unleashed through one of the cracks, yellow flickers of lightning zapping out.

"Shouto, be careful!" Momo quickly told him, looking terrified up at the ceiling. "If you break the ice, then the whole thing will -"

"They have the disadvantage," Shouto quickly talked over her, his eyes staying on Itsuka as she slipped on some of the ice on the ground and collided with the nearest wall with a grunt, "Hadou can't use her quirk to hit me, or she'll have to risk missing and hitting the wall, and bringing the whole cavern down. Kendou might be able to outfight me, but if I keep her at a distance, I can use my quirk to immobilize her."

"But - Shouto, please, just listen to me!" Momo grabbed his arm - only to wince when she ended up feeling the chilling sting, and quickly moved her hand back. "This isn't a good strategy, let's just - we can talk before -"

"Just stay back," Shouto turned around and ordered her, ignoring how Momo winced again, "and keep out of the way. I'll take them both down."

Momo faltered at his command, but Shouto turned his attention back towards Itsuka, ignoring his partner now in his anger, and moved down to slam his open palm against the floor. At once, more ice shot out through the ground at Itsuka as she regained her balance, carefully sliding to the side and out of the way - only for one thick piece to hit her straight in the shoulder.

It wasn't sharp, thankfully, but it was a hard enough blow that Itsuka was thrown off her feet with a grunt, coming down hard on the slippery floor and sliding all the way towards the wall of ice.

"This time, Kendou," Shouto narrowed his eyes, "we finish this."

"Yeah," Itsuka grunted, sitting up and rubbing her shoulder, and wincing when a sharp pain shot through her when she touched it, "whatever you say, man."

BOOM

A blast of yellow light suddenly slammed down onto the ground close to where Shouto was standing, forcing him to quickly switch his attention between the partners, and threw his right hand back up to summon a barrage of ice to act as a shield from Nejire. Still floating in the air, Nejire pouted at Shouto's attempt to hide, and quickly soared right over top the shield as Shouto peaked out. Which meant, of course, that he didn't have much time to react when Nejire's foot suddenly shot out, catching him in the shoulder and sending him stumbling back, his balance lost.

Out in the open, Shouto quickly slammed his hand back onto the floor as he toppled over, and Nejire let out a small 'oops!' as she quickly flew out of the way of more icicles stabbing up at her, floating briefly in the air before she came diving back down with her hands still alight with yellow energy. With a scowl, Shouto stomped his foot down and shot out more ice at her, forming into a thick wall that Nejire was unable to dodge out of the way of.

Hearing her yelp as she thumped against the wall, Shouto nodded, and then turned to where Itsuka had been laying -

- only for two hands to suddenly grab him, one by the back of his shirt and the other by his hair, and Shouto let out a grunt of pain as Itsuka yanked him right off his feet.

With a growling shout, Itsuka threw him as hard as she could over his shoulder, forcing him to flail somewhat in the air from the amount of strength she put in the throw - but before he could collide hard with the ice wall, he quickly flung his hand through the air, and a slide of ice erupted beneath him to slide him away. Itsuka didn't give up, however, growing out her hands and running towards where he was coming to a stop.

Dodging out of the way as more ice erupted out of the slide he was using, Itsuka jumped into the air, and threw her fist forward - but Shouto was quicker, jumping off the slide and slamming his right hand down on the top of her fist.

Letting out a shriek of pain as a sharp, cold stabbing sensation itched at her skin where he was touching her, Itsuka quickly backed away, staring down in shock at the frozen mark on her gigantified hand that was beginning to grow ice. Before it could spread down her arm, she quickly slammed her other grown out palm against it, shattering the ice - but the damage was already done. Pain ached in her hand as tears of pain filled her eyes, and she quickly tried to back up -

- but in her moment of weakness, Shouto shot forward, and drove his foot right into her gut. With a gasp as the air left her lungs, Itsuka was knocked off her feet, landing on her back and staring up as Shouto kept his foot on her ribcage to keep her pinned, glaring down at her in contempt.

"That had better not be all you have," He said flatly as Itsuka looked up at him through her pain, "you'd better get up and -"

He didn't get to finish that taunt, however, as, due to his focus being on her, it was his turn to be caught flatfooted. And that was because of a pair of fists slamming straight into his back, and giving him a full blast of vitality for his trouble.

With a grunt, Shouto was forced forward by Nejire essentially slamming into him from behind, using her quirk to blast him right off his feet and through the air, until he came crashing down on the ground near the wall. With Momo taking a shocked step back, clearly on her guard but not making a move, Itsuka groaned as she rolled onto her side, looking at where Shouto was laying on his side.

Knowing that he would take a moment to try and get back up, Itsuka let out a small sigh. She knew that she had to try to talk to him, of course, but she'd expected it to be during a moment of slight calm, not after a bout of fighting. But still … well, no time like the present.

"H-hey, Todoroki," She grunted as she managed to roll onto her hands and knees, "can, uh … do you mind if we do a small time out?"

Shouto stopped his own attempts to get back up, staring blankly at the floor for a long moment before he slowly turned to look up at her. Wincing, Itsuka still tried to give him a slightly innocent smile, holding her side where she had landed. There was a long pause in which Nejire blinked down at her partner, and Momo likewise looked confused -

- and then Shouto suddenly slammed his hand back down on the ground, and a huge amount of ice shot out of the ground towards Itsuka.

Yelping, Itsuka quickly hopped back up before the wall could slam into her, slipping and sliding on the icy floor.

"Todoroki, I - wait, wait a second!" She tried to move her hands into a 'T' position. "Time out! Time ouUGH!"

The reason she grunted, of course, was because due to her slipping around on the icy ground, she was unable to get out of the way in time of a large block of ice slamming straight into her chest, knocking all the air out of her lungs yet again. Flying through the air from the force, she let out a grunt as she once again slammed against the ice wall, Nejire letting out a small 'ooh' of sympathy as Itsuka slid ungracefully down onto the ground.

Quickly, Nejire threw another blast of vitality towards Shouto, who quickly moved to the side and threw his arm out again with another iceberg, which clipped Nejire right in the side and sent her spinning through the air. Letting out a yelp, Nejire also collided with the ice wall, everyone hearing an ominous crack as she slammed hard against it, and slid down not too far away from Itsuka, laying with her arms flopped out and her legs up in the air.

"So, uh …" Nejire managed to wheeze out, her feet slowly falling down onto the floor above her head and not even caring that her butt was pretty much in the air, "… how are we doing?"

"I, uh …" Itsuka groaned as she flopped down onto her side, "… I think we're getting our asses kicked."

"Shouto!" Momo quickly called out to her partner as he got to his feet, her eyes on his arms and seeing them beginning to tremble. "You don't have to throw them around like that - I can drill a hole in the wall, and if you can restrain them -"

"That's not what my brother would do," Shouto shut her advice down at once, narrowing his eyes at the two girls sprawled out on the floor, "he would make sure that they stay down, and not do anything to get back up. I made the mistake of underestimating Midoriya and Uraraka earlier, I'm not going to repeat that now."

"Just -" Momo looked around at him, aghast and frustrated as she flicked her worried gaze up to where more spirals of yellow light were escaping the cracks forming in the ice cavern, "- I can make -"

"Yaoyorozu, I said to stay back," Shouto turned to give her a sharp look, making Momo flinch, "I don't want to hit you in the crossfire. I've overestimated Kendou's abilities, but Hadou's unpredictable. Keep to the sides until she's been immobilized, and I can take care of Kendou afterwards."

"… okay, now I'm just pissed off," Itsuka grumbled as she started getting up, "did he just say he overestimated me?"

"Yeaaaah … yeah, he did," Nejire likewise rolled over so that she could start getting up, leaning against the ice wall and shivering at its cold touch, "he's a jerk, isn't he?"

"Such a jerk." Itsuka shook her head as she likewise leaned against the wall to get back to her feet, "and from how much he talks about emulating his brother, I'm getting the feeling it runs in the family. Okay … agh … okay. So we're getting our asses kicked. We need a new strategy."

"Okay," Nejire likewise slid against the wall so they could stand together, "but … what are you thinking, exactly? Because I've got nothing! We can barely land a hit!"

"Yeah … well, Izuku said in his notes that he's got a limit to how much ice he can push out before he starts suffering from hypothermia," Itsuka recalled as Shouto continued ordering Momo around, not paying attention to them, "so … we've gotta find a way for him to keep using his ice until he can't use anymore. Or … well …"

Her gaze flickered around to the ice cavern around them, seeing the cracks in the walls and the yellow light within threatening to release, and she let out a sigh.

"… I guess all else fails," She pointed out, "you're the only flier in here, Nejire. You could bring the cavern down on all three of us and escape."

"H-huh?" Nejire blinked, looking around at Itsuka in shock, and then her cheeks puffed. "No way! I won't -"

"It'll definitely be our last resort," Itsuka quickly interrupted her before she could get going, "like, absolutely no choice, Todoroki's about to turn us into ice cubes. Because, y'know, I'd rather not get caved in. So, uh … just something for us to consider."

"Okay …" Nejire pouted, looking off to the side - and then she blinked.

"Oh," She said simply, and then jumped - which was a mistake, since she came down on the iced ground and slipped a bit, "oh! Wait, Itsuka, what about - wh-whoa - what about your volume thingy? Can't we use that?"

"The -" Itsuka faltered for a moment, feeling a bit confused before she realized what Nejire was talking about, and felt her stomach sink. "- oh, uh - that. Well, uh … I don't know."

"You don't know?" Nejire looked curious, looking around at her. "Haven't you been thinking about what Midoriya said? About - y'know - the egg in the microwave?"

"I - I mean, I did," Itsuka blushed a bit, "and - well, I did try, but - but nothing happened. I just - I don't know, I don't know if I can rely on -"

"You just need to calm down."

Itsuka was unable to stop herself from squeaking as a voice - an unfamiliar voice - suddenly spoke directly in her ear, and she felt the strangest sensation on her shoulder - as though a hand had just laid down on it.

Quickly, she whipped around, feeling her eyes widen - but there was no one behind her. All she could see was an ice wall, and her own shocked reflection staring back at her, even as the warm sensation on her shoulder refused to go away.

"Uh … Itsuka?" Nejire looked confused and nervous, glancing between her partner and Shouto as he began advancing on the both of them, Momo standing back reluctantly as she kept her eyes on the ceiling above them. "Are you okay? What was that yelp about? Is something broken? Do you have a broken bone?!"

"I …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, whatever Nejire was saying go in one ear and out - what the hell was that? But before she could turn back to Nejire, the voice spoke again.

"Just keep calm," The female voice whispered, making Itsuka nearly jump out of her skin again, "breathe in and out, and concentrate. You can use One for All, it's simple."

"W-who's -"

"Don't speak. No one else can hear me but you. Just close your eyes, and concentrate on what the boy told you."

"T-the -?"

"The egg in the microwave."

Itsuka felt herself slowly blink, her brow furrowing - it was becoming clearer and clearer that she must have hit her head sometime during Shouto's assault, because now she was clearly hearing voices. Still, an impatient feeling washed over her - one that she realized wasn't her own - and Itsuka let out a shuddered breath as Nejire turned back to face Shouto as he stomped closer and closer towards them, and she closed her eyes.

"Okay, okay," She said quietly, shaking her head and trying to imagine the rather boring image of a chicken egg sitting carefully in a microwave, slowly turning in a circle while being heated up. Seeing it start to warm up, the heat trying to make it pop.

Just … don't imagine the egg exploding. Lower the wattage. Shorten the cook time.

She felt her closed eyes narrow somewhat as her hand slowly clenched into a fist, taking another deep breath.

The egg not exploding … the egg not exploding … don't let the egg blow up, and everything will be okay … the egg …

"Don't just simply 'use' One for All," The voice told her quietly yet assuredly, like a teacher telling her she was on the right track, "it's not something to use when you need it, in places that it can be used. It's not a switch for you to use. One for All is a quirk to be used. So use it."

That … Itsuka thought, frowning as she kept concentrating on the imaginary egg, … seems like a gross simplification.

"I'm sure it is," The voice laughed, a bit warmly, "but you know what to do."

And … for the first time, Itsuka believed that voice. Because … because deep down, she knew that she knew what to do.

It … didn't have to be all of One for All. Just a bit of it. Just about … five percent. Just enough to put Shouto on the defensive. Just …

… imagine the heat of the hypothetical microwave, that was just used on the egg in one spot …

… and spread throughout her whole body.

Just … a little bit …

And then she heard Nejire let out a small gasp.

"Uh … Itsuka?" Her voice rose briefly in slight panic. "What's going on?!"

Feeling her brow furrow at the shock in Nejire's voice, Itsuka slowly opened her eyes, her gaze automatically trailing down to her arms as they rose up - and then her eyes shot open as though she were hit by a substantial amount of adrenaline, letting out a gasp of her own.

During those silent few seconds, unbeknownst to her, her entire body began … glowing.

As in, her arm was positively alight with teal lightning, the limb trembling a bit as energy danced along her skin. Underneath that very skin, red glowing lines of energy drew up her arm from her palms, and she watched as the glowing veins and skin began slowly moving throughout her entire body, feeling as though she had just been hit by a lightning bolt from Izuku and woken promptly up.

And … and she didn't feel tired anymore, she realized. The soreness and tiredness of dealing with everything today - all of that was gone. She never felt more awake in her life.

Shouto, meanwhile, immediately stopped his advancement on the both of them the moment Itsuka started glowing, his heterochromic eyes widening as he saw the teal lightning flickering along Itsuka's body. She hunched over a bit, letting out a shuddered breath as she tried her hardest to keep the image of an egg in the microwave in her mind.

And then, finally, the red flickering veins faded, and instead was replaced by the image of her skin softly glowing, making Nejire's jaw drop and Momo gasp from her spot near the wall.

And then Itsuka let out a soft laugh.

"Oh, man," She whispered to herself, feeling like smacking her forehead, "it really was that fucking simple, wasn't it?"

"Huh?" Shouto narrowed his eyes. "What are you -"

He didn't get the chance to finish that question. One moment, Itsuka was leaning forward, staring down at the floor - and then the next, in a bright flash of teal lightning, she was right in his face, and there was no way he could dodge out of the way as her fist suddenly shot out, and hit him dead center in the stomach.


"So?" Cementoss said in her earpiece. "Can you make them out?"

"No," Midnight grumbled, putting her hand reluctantly on the ice and trying to peer through the blue surface, but scowling when she couldn't make out anything, "can't see them."

Behind her, she could tell the crowd was becoming restless. The giant ice cave that Shouto and Nejire had accidentally made was beginning to crack ominously, making everyone nervously stood up from their seats as though they were about to run for the hills. Tenko and Thirteen were on the field now, waving assuredly to the crowds as they jogged up to join Midnight near the stairs. The only reason Midnight hadn't let Tenko put his hands to the ice and break it down was due to the occasional flash of yellow light she could barely make out moving around at the bottom of the ice sculpture, meaning that whatever was happening in there, they were moving around - and presumably fighting, something that made Midnight frown.

"So …" Vlad King sighed into the open comms, "… do we break down the ice? Or do we give it a little while longer?"

"Give it five more minutes," Nezu instructed them, one of the first times he had used the comms that day due to how busy the Hero Commission had been keeping him, "and then we'll have All Might smash his way through and get the four out. From my calculations, whatever's going on in there, combined with how the ice is sculpted, should collapse sometime within the next five to ten minutes, and when that happens, we'll need to act quickly so it doesn't collapse on the crowd. Tenko, are you ready?"

"I am," Tenko nodded, although he did look hesitant as he worked his gloves off, "but it would be better to know exactly where the students are before I start decaying. I can decay the ice relatively quickly if I'm ready, but the more it breaks, the less I can spread it - and if I don't see the kids, it's more likely I accidentally hit them in the crossfire, or I accidentally miss a piece and it comes down on them."

"Very well then. We'll have to send down -"

"Wait a moment," Midnight suddenly stopped the conversation, looking into the frozen ice. She might have been seeing things, she acknowledged, but … but she could've sworn that she saw a new bright light in there. Not anything like Nejire's yellow spiraling energy, but …

… but she could've sworn it almost looked like Izuku's lightning from before.

"Principal Nezu," She said carefully, "I … believe we might not have five minutes, if they're still fighting in there. You should get All Might ready - I have a feeling that whatever they're doing in there is going to be coming down on all of us very soon."

Above the teachers, the crowds continued to mutter nervously and anxiously, of course, hearing the subtle cracking noises and snaps of the giant ice cavern in the middle of the arena. However, up in the VIP box, one woman was looking far more concerned about what was really important.

"Oh, dear," Yukiri raised a hand to cup her cheek as she turned to her bodyguard sitting beside her, "do you think Momo will be alright? Maybe we should send someone down to get them out?"

"I'm sure the pro heroes have it under control, ma'am," Jin's clone said in a monotone voice, watching the group down at the ring working to break the ice, "but we can always have me go down if you're not sure."

"Oh, we wouldn't want to bother them," The Yaoyorozu matriarch hummed, still biting on her nail in worry, "but … well, perhaps send a clone down to ask if there's anything we can do to help?"

"Of course," The clone nodded, standing up to head over to the stairwell and create another clone to send downstairs. Sitting back in her seat, Yuikiri let out another small hum of worry, until she felt someone pat her hand, causing her to look over at her seatmate smiling at her.

"Don't worry," Kanshi Shiryoku smiled at her, brushing some of her blonde hair behind her ear, "I'm sure the heroes will have it under control and get your daughter out of there. All else fails, I'll be sending Iguchi down with a few more agents to see if there's anything we can do."

"Oh, of course, President Shiryoku." Yukiri smiled gratefully, patting her own hand in turn, and then turned to look behind them at the seat that was still unoccupied. "Say, do you know if he'll be back soon? I have to say, he's been gone for quite a while."

"Hm? Ah, you mean Mr. 'Prime Minister Candidate'," Kanshi giggled a bit with the older woman, "I hear that he and his bodyguards went downstairs a while ago. Apparently wants to congradulate the winners of the sports festival in person, give himself some good rep. It wouldn't surprise me if he walked out onto the field the moment the fight is over - still though, I imagine he'll be back at some point."

Yukiri giggled a bit at the mental image, and then looked back over at the giant ice sculpture, leaning forward in her seat to look down at the heroes surrounding it. Leaning back in her seat and sighing, Kanshi took a moment to tap her fingernail against the comfortable seat in the VIP box, and then returned her gaze to the woman sitting beside her, dressed in a black sweater and pants and not looking at anyone but the crowds below.

Nagant had been quiet pretty much throughout the entire day, sitting there sullenly and staring at the screens before them. The only time she had really done something other than sitting there like a good little dog was during the last match, in which Kanshi had seen what looked to be a particuarly ugly snarl on her face whenever something bad had happened to the opposite team, and had to bite down the urge to comment on it. Now, however, the assassin's gaze was locked down on one of the boxes below them, where some of the students were sitting.

Following her gaze, Kanshi observed for a moment - and then she nodded slowly, letting out a small giggle.

"Well," She smirked, speaking quietly to her guest, "I suppose that should count as your glance, Nagant. At least it wasn't across a street this time."

Nagant, for her part, only scowled and said nothing.


BAM

Shouto let out a sharp gasp, the air driven out of his lungs this time, as Itsuka hit him a whole lot harder than he had been expecting. The force of the blow Itsuka landed on him was amplified by her hand growing the moment her fist made contact with his stomach. He was launched right off his feet, his eyes widening as he flew through the air faster than he had been anticipating, and collided hard into the wall, hearing an ominous crack behind him as pain streaked throughout his body.

"Whoa!" Nejire gasped as Itsuka landed on the slightly slippery floor, breathing a bit heavily as she waved her hand in the air, growing it back down to its normal size. It had been almost a blur, with her moving from one end of the arena to the other in an instant. The teal lightning continuing to flicker around her body, Itsuka looked up, her eyes subtly glowing a brighter hue as Shouto looked up from where he had landed on the ground, staring at her in surprise and fury.

And then Itsuka let out a breath, the cold air showing it escaping from her mouth.

"Okay," She said softly, but her voice somehow was clear to all three of them, Momo having taken a shocked step back, "Nejire, keep me covered. Todoroki," Her eyes met his, "we're going to talk now."

Shouto stared at her for a moment in shock - and then his eyes hardened into a glare.

"What makes you think," He growled, "I want to talk to you?!"

He then slammed his hand back down on the floor, a barrage of ice shooting towards her - but Itsuka was faster this time. In a flash of lightning, Itsuka slid away from where the ice had suddenly slammed against the other end of the cavern, Itsuka wincing as she scraped her side against the cold floor. But she was up in an instant, spinning out of the way of another barrage of ice. 

Suddenly, Itsuka felt focused, certain - with One for All now running through her veins, enhancing her speed, she felt an energy and strength she hadn't felt all day long. And that, of course, gave her back her confidence, looking Shouto in the eye as she slid away from him.

"Todoroki," She said in a loud voice, her voice echoing around the ice cave, "Izuku - or, you know, Midoriya - told me to talk to you."

"Huh?" Shouto narrowed his eyes, stomping his foot down to unleash more ice on her, but Itsuka was quick to dodge, her eyes on his shivering.

"Midoriya," She repeated herself, “he told me before this match that - well - you had something going on with you. I know that this isn't really the place or time for it, but … I was actually serious with you before. Can we please take a minute to talk? Just - just stop with the ice for five minutes, and we can calm down and talk."

"Talk? Talk about what?" Shouto snarled. "I told you, I have nothing to talk to you about. Besides, what would I have to talk to you about? Why would I concern myself with talking things through with a hypocrite?"

"I - what?" Itsuka furrowed her brow, stopping for a moment and glancing over to see Nejire taking this chance to get back into the air, and Momo took a hesitant step forward - but from the way the heiress' eyes was glancing between her partner and her, Itsuka knew she was listening. "A hypocrite? What am I being hypocritical about?"

"Criticizing me for not using my fire," Shouto gestured to the lightning flickering along Itsuka, "when it's clear you've been hiding this all day."

"I mean - well, if I'm being honest with you, Todoroki, this is a new development," She raised her eyebrows, giving Shouto that, "but while we're on the subject - why am I not on fire right now?"

"I said -"

"No, you didn't say anything," Itsuka interrupted him, frowning seriously, "I called you out on it during the second round, and you just said you'd never use your left. Fine. But why not? You know I've got absolutely nothing to defend myself against fire - you keep producing ice, I'll just keep punching it away and breaking it until you're at your limit. Fire, though? You can win. So what's the deal, Todoroki? Why aren't you using your flames?"

With each of those questions, Shouto went stiller and stiller, his eyes turning blank as he stared at Itsuka in shock. Itsuka herself slowed down her assault just a bit, her gaze flicking over to where Momo was standing. Her fellow class representative was likewise looking shocked and confused at the abrupt change in topic, but … but instead of flickering her gaze between them, her eyes were now on Shouto squarely, as though she were likewise waiting for him to answer.

Shouto continued to stare at Itsuka for a long moment - and then, his blank gaze flickered somewhat, and for some reason, it slowly turned and lifted up to where Nejire was floating above them, watching the situation unfolding beneath her with rapt attention.

For a moment, Shouto stared wildly at Nejire, an unknowing expression on his face that Itsuka had never seen before - but for a moment, she felt her brow furrow, she could have confused it as a look of betrayal. And then his gaze hardened. Anger - far more anger than Itsuka had seen from him all day - erupted on his face, looking almost as though he were about to tear Nejire out of the sky and back on the ground, and his left side crackled with ice menacingly.

And a protective feeling rose within Itsuka, one that she would normally feel for Izuku or Ochako, but now directed at how Shouto was glaring at Nejire, and making her eyes narrow to slits.

"You told her," Shouto growled out, "didn’t you?!"

Stomping his foot down again, another barrage of ice came straight for Nejire - and Shouto let out a growl as Nejire easily destroyed it with a wave of her hands, the yellow light causing the walls around them to creak menacingly again as more wisps of yellow light escaped the ice. Catching the sight of movement out of the corner of his eyes, Shouto quickly whipped around and moved to stomp his foot down to freeze Itsuka -

- but she was too fast, sliding down to the ground and grabbing his ankle. And before Shouto could think to unleash the ice right onto the palm of her open hand, she thrusted up, and Shouto was thrown off balance, his mouth dropping open as Itsuka curled her hand into a fist.

"God," She gritted her teeth, throwing her fist up, "will you just fucking listen?!"

WHACK

Her fist hit him straight under the jaw, causing him to snap his mouth closed, and a gush of blood exploded out of his nose as she uppercutted him. With a grunt, he was thrown right off his feet from the blow as Itsuka rose to her feet, and watched as he came down hard on the ground again.

"I'm trying to help you!" She shouted at him, Shouto quickly looking back up at her with barred teeth and a furious expression. "I don't know what's going on, but god, Izuku was fucking right about you! You're clearly messed the hell up, Todoroki, and I'm offering you the chance to just - I don't know, stop trying to hurt me for a minute so you can answer me like a regular human being?! Tell me to stop talking about it! Tell me it's none of my business! Then fine, I'll drop it and we'll go back to beating the shit out of each other! But if you're just gonna keep trying to hurt me or Nejire, then I'll keep answering you back with hurting you until I find out what's going on!"

"I don't need your pity!" Shouto snarled, slamming his hand down on the ground and trying to ignore his shivering. Itsuka was quick to jump away again as several icicles popped out of the ground below her, moving with such speed she wouldn't be surprised if they stabbed her - probably something else he was emulating from his dumbass brother.

As more ice shot out of the ground, she let out a low growl, and grew out her hand, using another percentage of One for All to power the swing as she punched through it almost as though it were nothing. 'Almost' being the key word, as Itsuka felt herself wince from the sharp pain of smashing something covered in frost, and the strain her body was under from continuing to use One for All. 

But at the moment, she was too angry at Shouto and his stupidity to care - if he wasn't going to listen to her, and was going to keep trying to hurt her and Nejire, then he would have to see sense another way.

And that would be at her fists.

Leaping back up into the air, Itsuka twirled over Shouto as he staggered to his feet, eyes wide as she suddenly flipped over him with the boost from One for All. Growling and shivering, Shouto threw another barrage of ice at her, but Itsuka's newfound speed wasn't something he was able to keep up with, not with the massive cave of ice that could collapse on them if he wasn't careful. With that, she threw another punch into his back, knocking Shouto off balance, but as she landed on the ground and threw out another punch, Shouto, this time, took advantage of that by quickly leaning to the side, throwing Itsuka off balance - and then his own hand came up to grab her side.

Yelling in pain as ice quickly spread across her torso, Itsuka leapt back, her hand coming down in a flash of teal lightning and smashing the ice before it could begin covering her. There was a searing pain on both her hand and side now, making her wince and curse as she quickly backed away from Shouto, and seeing a nasty red swelling on the back of her hand. Shouto, despite his shivering, didn't seem tired in the slightest, growling in anger as he stormed after her, and throwing up another ice wall for Nejire to crash into as she tried to fly back down to help, and Momo continued staring at Shouto in silence.

Hearing Nejire thump against the wall with a grunt, Shouto turned his gaze back to Itsuka as she quickly scrambled up, and this time, he didn't use his quirk. Instead, he curled his hand into a fist, and slammed it into the side of Itsuka's face, jerking her head back with a grunt and causing a bit of blood to escape her mouth. But she quickly whipped back around, her own face filled with fury, and her own fist smashed into Shouto's face, jerking his head back. 

With Shouto unbalanced, Itsuka flared One for All, and with a shout, leapt forward, tackling Shouto and sending them both flying across the arena to crash hard into the wall of the cavern. Shouto grunted as his back hit the ice wall, the entire ice prison cracking ominously, but he wasn't out of it yet as Itsuka suddenly jerked her head back up, the back of her head smashing into his nose as she threw her fist back - 

- but Shouto's own arm came up to grab the side of Itsuka's head, and she grunted as he quickly slammed her head into the wall as well. But this only made Itsuka angrier - with her still technically pinning the recommended student against the wall, Itsuka rammed her shoulder into his gut, making him grunt in pain and anger, before he quickly grabbed her roughly by the side and threw her aside.

Scrambling to regain her balance, Itsuka ducked another one of Shouto's punches, and threw her palm forward, growing out her hand just as it made contact with his chest, and sent him sprawling back. As Shouto stumbled to a stop, Itsuka came after him with another barrage of fists, both of them grunting and growling furiously as they began brawling. 

Any thought of Itsuka talking to him was now long forgotten - right now, Shouto had annoyed her all day long and was continuing to insist on hurting her, so Itsuka wanted to hurt him right back. And One for All was still surging through her veins, enhancing her reflexes and allowing her to duck and weave through all of Shouto's attacks, her punches enhanced by her second quirk and allowing her to tap into strength she didn't know she had.

Shouto was clearly trained, of course, and knew how to fight - probably the advantage of having the Number Two Hero as a father, his skills in hand-to-hand were probably roughly equal to hers - but he was also unbalanced right now, his formerly blank face twisted into a snarl. And Itsuka, while definitely furious, was still focused enough to dodge through his punches and attempts to touch her with his right hand, and since Shouto was clearly worked up, his defense was sloppy, allowing her to connect most of her hits.

And as she punched him in the chest again, causing him to yet again stumble, Nejire suddenly swooped in with a yell, and both her hands hit Shouto right in the side. Eyes widened, Shouto was shot right off his feet again, bouncing once, twice, three times against the ground before he finally slid to a stop near where Momo was standing, staring down at him in shock.

"Whew!" Nejire pumped her fists as she remained floating, and Itsuka, yanked out of her rage-filled mindset, quickly looked around at her in surprise. "I was looking for my chance to jump in! That looked cool, right, Itsuka? Huh, huh?"

"I - uh - I guess," Itsuka shrugged, still a bit out of it and watching as Shouto struggled back to his feet, his arms continuing to tremble. "I, uh - it looks like he's reaching his limit."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded happily, floating there for a moment - and then she looked around at her, her joyful expression falling as she gestured down to Itsuka's body. "So, uh … what's going on? Is this your volume thingy?"

"My - huh?" Itsuka blinked, looking up at Nejire in confusion and then following her gaze - and then she felt herself pale as she saw all the teal lightning that was shooting off her body in flickers, realizing that, in her euphoria in discovering how the quirk worked and fighting Shouto, she kind of forgot that Nejire was right there.

"Oh, uh … well," She cleared her throat awkwardly, "er … y-yeah. It - it is. Kinda."

"…"

"It's … kinda … cool, right?" 

Itsuka tried her hardest not to cringe while Nejire raised her eyebrow.

"… well, okay, yes, it's cool, but this is also a really big thingy!" Nejire threw her hands up into the air, her excitement returning in full force while Itsuka looked awkward, whistling innocently and glancing down at her shoes. "This is way bigger than a 'volume' thingy! How are you doing that? Going super fast? Is there an 'on, off' switch? Wait, how has this got to do with your quirk? Your quirk can make your hands bigger! So how are you going super saiyan right now? Your hair's standing up, you know!"

"Oh, well, uh …"

"You …" Shouto managed to wheeze out, staggering back to his feet and wiping his bloody lip. Angrily, he took another step forward to rejoin the fray, but Momo suddenly and quickly grabbed his arm, causing him to look around at her with a wide-eyed, furious expression.

"Shouto, just - please, wait and listen to me!" She implored him, her gaze flickering around to the cracking walls in panic. "This is breaking apart the cavern - please, just take a moment to -"

"Let me go!" He snarled at her, ripping his arm out of her grasp and causing the other two girls to look around in alarm as he shouted at his partner. "I told you to stay back, Yaoyorozu! If you want to escape, fine, but I'm going to finish this!"

He then turned back around to face his opponents, ice continuing to crack in his palm, and Momo took a step back, looking hurt. Itsuka narrowed her own eyes as Shouto began advancing on her again, Nejire likewise pouting and getting ready to take off, and Momo slowly picked up something she had dropped earlier - what looked to be a large paper fan - as she stared down at the floor, seemingly cowed.

"I've …" She softly breathed out as Shouto prepared to throw his hand back, intending to throw more ice at the two other girls - and then Momo suddenly raised the fan up into the air, and screamed out, "… I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

SMACK

Both Itsuka and Nejire faltered, blinking rapidly, as Momo, her eyes alight with a fierceness Itsuka hadn't seen since Chimera had choked Kyouka at the USJ, suddenly and swiftly brought the fan down on the back of Shouto's head.

The rage-filled look on Shouto's face broke at once as he was forced forward by the blow, both hands quickly coming up to cup the back of his head. He stared blankly down at the ground for a long moment, before what happened finally registered, and he quickly whipped around to glare at his partner.

"Yaoyorozu, what the hell is wrong with you?!" He barked at her, making the three girls blink at the crass language. Unluckily for Shouto, however, Momo was done being yelled at, her eyes becoming fierce again

"What is wrong with me?! What is wrong with you?!" She shouted right back, throwing the fan away and pointing her finger in his face. "What is this, Shouto?! Acting like Kendou did something to offend you when she was just offering you help?! She wasn't looking down on you, Shouto! In fact, all you've done today is look down on her!"

"What do you care for?! I told you to just stay back and out of the way!"

"And how am I supposed to help when I do that?! We have to work together in order to win, you know! What, am I supposed to stay back and let you do all the work?! Should I head outside, make myself a chair to sit in, and sunbathe while all the pro heroes watch?!"

"I had this under control!"

"Oh, yes, letting Kendou beat you up must have been some trick of yours! You were always so good at those!"

While the two of them continued to bicker with each other, their voices echoing in the frozen cave around them, both Itsuka and Nejire stared in shock at the two of them for a moment before slowly turning to glance at each other. While this would normally be a time that Itsuka and Nejire could use to get an advantage over them, they had a feeling, due to how angry their normally kind friend was looking at the moment, that any interruptions would probably backfire heavily on them. 

So ... they were content to just take a step back, keep quiet, and let their opponents sort their issues out.

Which ... apparently was a lot.

"What, do you think caving us in is the answer? Oh, yes, please, Shouto, break down the cave while we're still in it, that will end well!"

"It would be fine! I wouldn't let you get crushed!"

"Oh, but what about our opponents? I'm not sure if you realize that we aren't supposed to kill people?! And what is with all the sharp icicles?! Who do you think you are, Touya?!"

"If I'm going to emulate anyone -"

"It's the idiot who constantly burns people?! And then winks at the cameras as though that would make it alright?! Why on earth would you want to emulate him?!"

"Who else would I?!"

"Er …" Itsuka glanced back over at Nejire, who shrugged - both girls knew it would be foolish to step in between them now, but it seemed like their argument was getting … a little personal, so maybe it should be time to wrap it up. So, taking a deep breath, Itsuka grew out both her hands to full size, and clapped them together - and since they were in an echo-y cave, the noise reverberated quite well.

Both Shouto and Momo were shaken out of their argument by the loud noise, Momo jumping a bit and Shouto wheeling around, and both looked over to see Itsuka shrinking back down her hands, while the teal lightning around her began to lessen.

"Uh …" She gave them both an awkward wave, "… hey. Sorry to interrupt, but …"

"O-oh!" Momo gasped, her cheeks going red at once, and she raised her hand to her mouth while Shouto's glare intensified again. "I'm - I'm so sorry, you two! I don't - I don't know what came over me!"

"It's all good!" Nejire assured her quickly, saluting with a happy smile. "Sometimes you just gotta get it out, y'know? Even I gotta shout it all out sometimes! Although I don't usually smack other people when I try to get all the aggression out - but maybe that's just a 'you' thing!"

"Erk," Momo winced, blushing again.

Shouto, meanwhile, merely let out another growl as he began stepping towards Itsuka again - but this time, before he could even think of using his quirk, Momo quickly recovered from her fluster, and moved so that she stood in front of her partner, spreading her arms out. Shouto, for his part, clenched his hands tightly and bared his teeth.

"Yaoyorozu, I swear to god, get out of my -"

"No!" Momo shook her head, her voice becoming more authoritative as she stared down her childhood friend. "Shouto, please, just - just listen to Kendou for just a minute, please? Just to hear her out. After that, I don't care, you two can beat each other bloody. Just - just please listen to what she has to say first."

Shouto glared at her for a long time, ice continuing to crack in his palm as he stared down Momo as though silently trying to get her to stand down. Momo, however, only answered with her own glare, her cheeks puffing slightly to show that she wasn't going to back down this time. Itsuka and Nejire waited for a long moment as their stare-off increased in intensity -

- and then Shouto let out a growling breath, throwing his icy hand down and looking around Momo's shoulder at Itsuka.

"Fine," He said coldly, "what do you want?"

Taking that as her cue (while fuming quietly at his dismissive tone), Itsuka shook her head and tried to turn off One for All now that they weren't in combat at the time being. Her entire body screamed in protest as the quirk slowly died down so that the flickers of lightning ceased, making her feel like a wave of fatigue washed over her at once, but she tried to shake it off.

With Nejire, she walked over towards her two opponents, still slightly on her guard as Shouto threw her yet another dirty look, and soon, all four of them were standing in a small group.

"Okay," She sighed, looking up at Shouto, "alright, thank you. So, uh - first of all, just to get this out of the way. Nejire? She didn't tell me anything. I had absolutely no clue what you're talking about when you yelled at her, so, uh, can you stop throwing her dirty looks?"

Shouto, for his part, merely glared at her, while she shrugged.

"So, uh … anyway," She put her hands in her pockets, "so the story is - before the match, Izuku took me and Nejire aside so that we could talk about you. He told me that he couldn't give me the details of what you two talked about during lunch, since it wasn't his secret to tell. And - and I respected that. But he told me that … well, after your last match, with Shinsou and Haya, he said that he noticed that you looked … sad when you froze them."

Shouto raised an eyebrow.

"Look, I'm not going to say I know what's up with that," She went on, "but Izuku … he asked me to help you in his stead. Told me that he tried to reach out to you during lunch but you brushed him off. And just so you know, he also told me that I didn't have to, seeing as - you know, you've done nothing but treat me like crap today."

"In that case," He scoffed, "why are you bothering?"

"Because - okay, if I'm being honest, I can see what he's talking about," Itsuka finally dropped her confrontational look, trying to appear more neutral, "there's … obviously something going on with you, Todoroki. And - and I'm starting to get the feeling that whatever issues you have - they don't actually have anything to do with me. So I just thought I would - I would reach out, and let you talk if you wanted to. That's it."

There was another pause in the ice cavern, with Shouto continuing to glare at her, Itsuka trying to look as passive as possible, and Nejire and Momo waiting for a response - and then he let out a breath.

"So that's what this is," He said in a quiet voice, "Midoriya took pity on me, so he pressured you into joining his charity case?"

"He didn't -"

"Well, he didn't have to," Shouto turned away from her, "I'm fine. There's nothing going on."

"Is that right?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow, still angry enough with Shouto that she was unable to stop herself. "Then why aren't you using your fire against me?"

That, of course, only made Shouto inhale sharply, his fists clenching as what little patience he was holding onto finally snapped. He turned back around and raised his fist, as though he was going to throw another punch at Itsuka, only to be stopped by Momo quickly stepping forward and resting her hand on his chest as though to push him back.

"You don't understand." He snarled at her. "No one here understands."

"Okay," Itsuka nodded, frowning, "then help me understand, Todoroki."

"What?" He sneered at her. "Because you think you can help? You think you can understand? Can you understand getting beaten by your father the moment you turn five?"

"I - what?" Itsuka blinked, taken aback,  while Nejire winced and Momo quickly looked around to stare at Shouto in shock, but he kept going.

"Can you understand being 'trained' until you're puking up your lunch?" Shouto's voice continued to raise with each word that left his lips. "Can you understand having to watch your own father, the person who's supposed to protect you, smack away your mother when she tries to help you? Can you understand crying to your mother every single night? Can you understand not being allowed to spend any time with your siblings? Can you understand having your mother pour boiling hot water in your eye when she finally loses it, and know that it's your fault?!"

He wildly gestured to the burn mark on his eye, while Itsuka took a horrified step back, staring at Shouto in shock while Nejire continued to cringe, tears beginning to well in her eyes.

"You don't understand anything!" Shouto shouted at her, his voice echoing around them as he moved and poked Itsuka's chest hard. "You could never possibly understand! You and Midoriya have no idea what you're talking about! The only thing you can do is stop with this pity party, and finally let me prove -"

"Shouto, what - what did you say?"

At Momo's quiet voice, Shouto's shouts died in his throat. Staring blankly at Itsuka for a moment, while she continued to stare at him in quiet horror, he looked back around at his childhood friend. He had expected some look of shock or horror on her face - he didn't know how much she knew about what happened behind his closed doors, but he expected her own shitty father to hide those bad parts from her.

But instead, what was on her face was something that took him aback. It was a look of …

… of confusion.

"Your mother … what?" Momo asked quietly. "She … poured boiling water … on you?"

"Yes," Shouto scowled, feeling defensive, "what, didn't you know that?"

"W-when? When was - when was this?"

"When I was five. Now, if we're done with this -"

"Shouto," Momo swallowed loudly, "you've … you've always had that scar. Ever since we met as children."

And that, right then, was when silence filled the cavern again.


He remembered it, as though it had happened only yesterday.

He couldn't recall exactly why he had gotten out of bed - if it had been because his father had trained him so late, or - or if he had just been thirsty - but Shouto had gotten up to go and look for his mother, in the large, lonely house that he lived in. He had moved out of his room and through the hall on his tiptoes - his mother didn't sleep in the same room as his father did anymore, but he couldn't guarantee that Endeavor wasn't lurking around somewhere, as though waiting for the chance to drag him back into that room for more … 'training'.

The house had been … awfully quiet since Touya's disappearance. His brother and sister barely came out of their rooms, and - and Endeavor's training had gotten weirdly harsher, the giant angry man far less patient with Shouto's failures. He could feel the bruise forming on his eye, raising his hand to rub it - he hadn't been quick enough, and had gotten hit in the face by a small bar Endeavor had thrown at him, whether accidentally or on purpose. It didn't matter.

And his mom … he hadn't seen her much. Just - just during dinner, when she had been so quiet, and then … and then nowhere else.

It wasn't like he didn't feel sad either, of course - Touya had barely talked to him, for some reason he didn't know, but he knew that he missed his cool big brother being around the house. But he also missed his mom - and he was thirsty, so - so maybe she could help him. And he could stay with her for the night, to help make her feel better.

Her bedroom had been empty, so he had gone to look for her. It took a few minutes to find her, but he was attracted by the sound of the tea kettle starting to go off in the kitchen. He had went to the door, slowly starting to slide it open - and then, he heard his mom speak in a whisper.

Feeling himself blink, Shouto slid the door open just a bit wider, starting to peek inside as she continued to say something.

"M-Mom?"

He looked in, and felt himself stop. His mother had been staring away from him, but at the sound of his voice, she froze with a soft gasp, and straightened up. The eerie sound of the kettle screaming behind her was the loudest thing he could make out. And then his mom had whipped around to stare at him, eyes wide in shocked horror and what could only be described as insanity, making Shouto tremble as blood dripped off the -

- the -

- blood?

Shouto stared blankly ahead as all three girls surrounded him, his hand moving to cover his burned eye. The fury he had felt at Itsuka, the annoyance and betrayal he felt for Nejire, the frustration he felt for Momo - all of that slipped away at once, as he felt himself begin to tremble - but this time, it wasn't from the cold.

"Mom, I'm ... I'm going crazy. I can't take it anymore. Every day the children seem to become more and more like ... like him. Shouto's ... his left side looks ... it looks like ... I can't ... I can't raise him anymore ... I feel like I shouldn't ..."

He had heard that … he had heard that when she … when she had poured the boiling water into his eye. Hadn't he? But … but the memory of … of the blood … she … she injured him …

… didn't she?

Didn't she … didn't she say that when he had come to get water? Or … or did she say it another time? Did she … didn't she …

… she …

"Shouto?" Momo asked in that same quiet voice, the cold eyes he had been used to ever since he had pushed her away suddenly gone as she gently reached out for him. "Are you alright?"

"I …" Shouto whispered, feeling his head hurt and his stomach ache, "… I … I don't feel good. I -"

"Hey," Itsuka spoke up, sounding far more gentle as well while Nejire kept quiet, and Shouto flinched as she reached out to him, "I … I think you need to sit down, Todoroki."

"I - no, I don't -"

"Yes, you do," Itsuka sounded far more firm, shaking her head, and Shouto felt himself falter as she gave him a sad look, "look, man, just - just forget about the tournament right now. I don't care, and I'm not gonna fight you again. No one's watching, so please, just - just sit down."

Shouto stared at her blankly for a moment, the aggression and confusion on his face clearly in conflict - and then he let out a small, shuddering sigh, and his shoulders sagged. All three girls watched as all the pent up aggression and anger suddenly vanished, and was replaced by complete and utter exhaustion.

Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground, only to fall onto his butt a bit harder than they had been anticipating. Instead of asking him if he was alright, Itsuka instead dropped to the floor as well, moving down to her knees. Beside her, Nejire likewise moved to sit down and cross her legs, while Momo moved to her knees as well, putting her hands down on her legs and giving Shouto a worried look as he stared vacantly at nothing for a moment, and then let out another shuddered breath as he raised his hand to cover his eyes. All four of them ignored the ice littering the ground around them as they stared at the white-and-red-haired boy, seeing him beginning to shake as he sat there.

"I … damn it," He muttered, moving his head down so that none of the girls could make out his face.

"Hey," Itsuka said softly, "hey, it's - it's okay, Todoroki. Just take your time, no one can see you in here. You're fine."

Shouto let out another shaking breath, continuing to hold his hand over his eyes and look anywhere but at the three girls. For their part, they patiently waited for him to calm down, seeing Shouto's breath escape his mouth in rattles due to the cold, and Momo had to resist reaching out to touch his shoulder. Finally, after his breath became less noticeable, he hunched over, one hand on his knee and the other one moving up to smooth back some of his sweaty hair.

He didn't look angry anymore, thankfully, but there was a look of lost confusion on his face, looking absolutely rattled. Once she was sure he had calmed down, Momo let out a small sigh.

"Shouto," She said quietly, "I … I know that this must be distressing for you, and you don't need to answer me. But … but what did you mean, your mother poured boiling water in your eye?"

He was quiet for a little while longer, before he finally dropped his hand from his face. Looking up, all three girls saw the tired, taken aback and exhausted expression there.

"I …" He hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head, "… I … I thought my memory of that night was - it was - but now when I try to remember it, it's - it's fuzzy. But I … I remember that I went out to the kitchen for a - a glass of water, and my mother was there, talking to my grandmother. I - I called out to her, and she looked around at me, and …"

He paused, and then shook his head again.

"… and then she grabbed the kettle from the oven top and poured the water in my face. It was - it was an accident, and - and I know she didn't mean to, but - but after that, my father had her put in the hospital. I - I haven't seen her since."

Momo slowly nodded at his explanation, feeling tears begin to well in her eyes. As Shouto continued to stare down at the floor, Momo hesitantly reached out, pausing for only a moment, before she rested her hand on his shoulder.

"Shouto, I - I promise you," She said in a gentle voice, "no matter what your memory is telling you, you've - you've always had that scar. I - I have seen pictures - you've had it ever since you were a baby."

"I … then …" He shook his head, frustrated as he glanced back up at Momo, "… then what does that mean? Why do I remember my mother -?"

"Maybe that's just how you remember it?"

The two childhood friends blinked, and Itsuka likewise looked around at Nejire in surprise. The blue-haired girl gave them all an uncomfortable shrug, having been eerily silent for a long time, but she still sighed as she put her hands down on her lap.

"I … well, I did do a bit of research into this, since I was curious about it," She explained, "but sometimes, people who go through - y'know - something traumatic, they can sometimes develop false memories. Something's that, uh … fake, but it's something you believe. I read that they can be pretty vivid, so …"

"Wait, so - you think that's what Todoroki went through?" Itsuka looked surprised. "He … he imagined his mom hurting him?"

"I mean - I don't know!" Nejire shrugged, looking slightly panicked. "It's just a theory!"

Shouto, for his part, merely stared at Nejire for a long moment, his mouth dropping open slightly, before he turned to look back down at his hands.

Would … was that the case? Did something … happen that he just … made up what happened? Something that he had …

And that, right about then, was when Shouto began to think. His mind racing, he tried to remember the memory of what had happened that night, staring up in fear into his mother's crazed eyes, watching as she snatched the tea kettle from the oven and charged over to him, reaching out to grab him by the back of his head so he wouldn't be able to move, about to pour the contents of the kettle onto his face …

… but … he couldn't remember the pain. He didn't remember what it had felt like. Something like that … a pain he should have never been able to get out of his head … he couldn't recall what it felt like.

And that was … it was when there was an itch. As though there was something he was forgetting.

Wrinkling his brow, Shouto closed his eyes, and tried to push past the fuzziness. He tried to remember everything. His mother was standing there, staring at him with insanity and horror in her eyes. Her hand gripping … gripping …

… not the tea kettle. It was … it was an icicle.

She was holding … an icicle. Gripping it tightly in her hand, as though she was trying to break it with all her strength. Blood dripped off of it and onto the hardwood floor as it was pulled back from where it had been purged into …

… into …

"Good grief," His father grunted as he kept his back to Shouto, his hand on his side, "this was an important time, too ... I'll have to take some time off."

"Where's Mom?"

"Eh? Oh, yes. She injured me, so I put her in the hospital."

"It's ... it's your fault."

"Hm?"

"You're the one ... who made Mom -!"

And that was when Shouto's eyes opened.

"My mother …" He said quietly, "… she … she didn't pour boiling water on my eye. She - she stabbed my father."

"Wait, what?" Itsuka whipped around to stare at him in shock.

"Huh?!" Nejire yelped.

Momo, for her part, said nothing, only frowning as she stared at her childhood friend.

"She … she stabbed him," Shouto realized, his eyes widening in horror and revelation as he sat forward, "she didn't try to hurt me, she tried to kill him. She didn't …"

He reached up to cup his hand over his burn mark again, feeling himself begin to shake.

"… she didn't … do this to me. She … she didn't …"

Shaking his head for a moment, he looked back down to the floor for a moment as he absorbed what he had said - and then, slowly, he turned to look back up at Momo.

"Did …" He asked quietly, "… did you know? About … about how Endeavor treated us."

Momo winced slightly, and closed her eyes as she took a turn glancing down to the floor. The three of them saw the tears that had been welling in her eyes begin to leak out.

"I … I didn't know … for sure," She admitted, "but I … I thought that was what was happening. I would - I would see you with bruises, and - and I asked my father about it, but he told me to m-mind my own business, or be punished for it. I … I am so sorry, Shouto. I - I should have said something -"

"No," Shouto shook his head at once, frowning, "there's … there's nothing you really could have done, Yaoyo-"

He paused for a moment, and then sighed.

"- Yaomomo," He corrected himself, "there wasn't anything you could have done, so I don't want you to blame yourself."

The four of them were quiet for a long moment. And then Itsuka blinked a bit.

"Uh … 'Yaomomo'?" She repeated, looking around at Momo as she blinked for a moment, and then flushed and looked away awkwardly.

"Ah, um … it was a - a childhood nickname," She clarified for her, clearing her throat, "one that Shouto gave me. He, er - he first struggled to call me by my last name, and didn't want to be improper by calling me by my first name, so - so my mother offered a compromise and told him to call me 'Yaomomo'."

"Awww," Nejire cooed, smiling adorably, "that's cute! I think I'm gonna call you that from now on if it's okay, Yaomomo!"

"Oh, I -"

CRACK

The conversation between the four, however, was suddenly halted by the sound of a very ominous crack above them. Blinking, the three girls and Shouto quickly looked up at what looked to be a large fracture in the ice moving upwards quickly towards the top of the ice dom. And then, around them, the walls began cracking as well, and then came the feeling of the ground shaking.

"Uh, oh," Nejire nervously said, standing up as the ice around them continued to crack, and Shouto stood up as well.

"The ice is coming down," He realized, feeling his eyes widen, "it's going to cave in on us."

"Oh, crap!" Itsuka jumped up as well, with Momo quickly climbing to her feet beside her. "What do we do? I think we can punch our way -"

Before she could finish that, however, they suddenly became aware of the sound of more cracking behind them. Looking around, they saw what looked to be a shadow of someone standing just behind the glass wall, with more cracks appearing by the second - and then whoever it was stepped back, and the shadow of someone large and far more familiar appeared, and a familiar fist suddenly smashed through the ice, before grabbing a bit of the cracks and tearing them right off to create a hole large enough for all four of them to step through.

"I am here to bust you all out of this joint!" All Might poked his head in, grinning widely but still somehow looking somewhat panicked. "But to be serious, you four, let's get you back out into the fresh air, ha, ha, ha! Preferably quickly, though, we need Tenko to decay the rest of the ice before it collapses!"

Nodding quickly, Itsuka, Nejire and Momo ran as fast as they could towards the hole in the wall, while Shouto merely walked over while turned to look around at the crumbling walls, seemingly unconcerned with how an entire cavern worth of ice was about to collapse on him, looking far more troubled as he thought. Moving towards the hole, the three girls quickly stepped out past All Might and Tenko, careful not to go right over the line just in case, and quickly looked up, paling when they saw how large the ice sculpture was and how it looked like it was about to collapse on the rapidly nervous crowd.

"Excellent!" All Might nodded and looked back in where Shouto had paused his walking, staring up at the ceiling for a long moment and absently raising his left hand. "Now then, Young Todoroki, if you don't -"

FWOOM

All Might, Tenko and the three girls standing near the ice, with Tenko about to rest his hands back on the ice, jumped in surprise as, before any of them could move, a sudden pillar of fire exploded right out of the hole All Might had made, the Number One Hero hastily moving out of the way before he could get his eyebrows singed off. The crowds around the arena gasped and leaned back as a brillant column of fire lit up the entire ice sculpture from within, blasting straight into the thick ice all the way to the top, and they watched, mystified, as the walls suddenly liquified - and then the entire structure collapsed.

Letting out squeaks, Itsuka, Nejire and Momo were unable to stop the water from suddenly spraying them, quickly whirling around and hiding their faces as all the water that the ice had been splashed around them. Unfortunately, however, it was difficult for them to remain in the ring - the amount of force pushing them from behind was causing them all to stumble, Itsuka looking slightly panicked as she almost lost her footing - but Nejire was quicker, quickly grabbing Itsuka underneath her arms, and with a strained grunt, began flying up.

Momo, for her part, almost tripped over herself, her arms flailing in panic as she almost fell down the hill. But from within the water, a hand suddenly shot out, grabbing her wrist, and yanked her back, Momo letting out a squeak as she was pulled straight into and through the falling water.

"Oh, you've gotta be shitting me -!" Midnight screamed as the rush of water slammed into her, carrying her straight off the podium once again and washed her away. Tenko himself wasn't lucky either, wincing and plugging his nose as the water slammed into him and shot him right off the hill, and All Might was much quicker than either of them, leaping up and soaring straight above the water seeping and throwing everyone in the stadium away from the hill -

- and being unaware of one middle-aged woman staring up at him, or rather, the black suit he was wearing, her eyes going a bit wider as she recognized it from that morning.

Up in the air as well, Nejire strained to keep Itsuka upright, her arms wrapped underneath Itsuka's as they both wobbled in the air. Itsuka for her part was gulping a bit nervously as the water continued to seep out onto the ground - and then, finally, they spotted Shouto and Momo, still standing in the ring as the water finally started washing away from them. Momo, for her part, was absolutely drenched, spitting out some water and waving her arms around as her long black hair stayed plastered to her, while Shouto wiped some of the water from his face, and fire continued to burn around his arm.

"HOLY MOLY!" Present Mic suddenly cut in, making Nejire jump a bit and almost drop Itsuka as they started floating back down to the hill. "THIS IS - THAT WAS - TODOROKI'S QUIRK! HE JUST MELTED AWAY THE ICE LIKE IT WAS NOTHING! UNBELIEVABLE!"

"Yeaaaah," Itsuka winced a bit, being put down on the floor of the ring at long last and feeling Nejire move her arms out from under hers, "guess … he figured it out, huh?"

"Guess so," Nejire giggled nervously, likewise settling down on the ground and looking around as Shouto turned to where the two girls were standing. "Happy Midoriya!"

"Yep. Happy Izuku …" She found herself wincing a bit as the heat of Shouto's flames hit her even from the other side of the ring, "… and soon-to-be-on-fire, us."

"You're … very odd, Kendou," Shouto noted, although they both took notice that the usual coldness in his voice was gone, so it didn't quite feel like an insult, "helping someone who declared themselves your enemy. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were screwing around."

"Yeah, well …" Itsuka shrugged a bit, a sheepish smile appearing on her face despite herself, "… I did make a promise to a friend. Even if it might not have been the best idea."

"Peh!" Momo spat out a bit more water, looking around at Shouto in shock and a bit of outrage. "Shouto, I'm - I'm dripping wet! Why did you -"

"You were about to be washed out of the ring," He said simply, looking around at her with a much softer look and tone of voice than he had been addressing her with all day long, "and I didn't know if the match was canceled yet."

"I - well, I'm still wet! And embarrassed!"

"I'm sorry."

"SHOUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

At the loud scream that suddenly erupted from the crowd, everyone - from the four contestants in the ring, to All Might landing carefully on the edge of the hill, to Midnight standing up in disgust (covered in grass and mud), to the audience, to even the commentators - looked around as Endeavor suddenly began storming down the steps towards the arena.

"Have you finally accepted yourself?!" He barked as he stomped down the stairs, the heroes and civilians in the seats looking around at him in alarm and confusion as he grinned maniacally. "That's it! Excellent! It all starts from here for you! With my blood, you will surpass me ... you will fulfill my desire!"

"Goodness," Momo scowled, "I wish he would shut up."

"Tell me about it," Itsuka turned to glare at the maniacally grinning hero, "if I ever have to actually speak to him, I'm gonna kick him in the nuts."

With that, the attention of the arena's contestants turned back to each other, completely ignoring Endeavor as Shouto continued to stare at Itsuka, fire blowing off his left side as he gave her a serious look.

"You still good to keep fighting, Kendou?" Shouto picked a bit of dried blood off from his lip. "If we're going to finish this, don't blame me for what happens next."

Itsuka hesitated for a moment, and then turned to glance back at All Might. The pro hero didn't seem certain about letting them continue, what with Midnight storming back up the stairs with obvious fury that she needed to take out on Shouto for covering her with mud - but after a moment, All Might nodded, taking a step back and looking around for wherever Tenko got washed away to.

Letting out a soft sigh, Itsuka slowly nodded as she considered her options - and then she straightened up, and a grin began to spread across her face again. Growing out both her hands, she reactivated One for All, and felt strength return to her body as she leaned forward and answered Shouto's small glare with a feral grin of her own.

"Nejire," She said to her partner behind her, "I'd step back."

Nejire hesitated a bit, glancing up at Momo as the heiress quickly backed away, as though knowing that what was about to go down was about to be violent and she didn't need to be caught in the crossfire. However, instead of moving away, Nejire quickly took a deep breath, hopping up and down, and moved down into a squat beside Itsuka, throwing her hands up and activating her quirk. Itsuka quickly glanced over as Nejire turned to give her an excited and hyped up look.

"Let's do this!" She grinned nervously at her, and Itsuka gave her a look of surprise for only a moment before she grinned back.

"Hell, yeah!" She nodded, looking back around at Shouto, "I'm counting on you, Nej!"

With that, the audience leaned forward in anticipation, realizing that they wouldn't be robbed of the match they had wanted to see. Itsuka's eyes began glowing a deep teal color, electrical sparks glowing up her arms - and unknowing making Tenohira and Hakushu stare down at the ring in shock, while Teko straightened up in his seat. Endeavor grinned maniacally as Shouto continued to build up his flames, and lowered one hand to the ground to begin producing a bit of ice, steam rising into the air as the three got themselves ready.

Izuku and Ochako, sitting up in the top seats and looking worriedly down at the arena, grabbed each other's hands without thinking as they stared at the intense staredown. Setsuna jumped up, shaking with excitement and ready to cheer on Itsuka with all her might, while Yui hummed a bit worriedly and leaned forward in her seat. Below, Itsuka got herself ready, watching as Shouto slowly raised his hand while beginning to glare at his rival again, flames blowing off the side of his face -

- and then he stopped.

Blinked.

And the sudden torrent of flames flickered and died.

Itsuka barely managed to stop herself from lunging forward to start the attack, feeling One for All flicker within herself as she blinked in surprise. Slowly, Shouto lowered his hand, the glare melting away to show that same troubled expression that had been there when he had tried recalling his memories, as he stared blankly at her for a moment - and then he completely deactivated his quirk, his arms flopping at his sides.

The audience stared in shock, beginning to mutter amongst themselves, and Endeavor's own grin faltered as Shouto slumped forward, and then slowly moved down to his knees before the two girls, Nejire likewise staring at him in surprise as her own quirk turned off.

"I …" Shouto hesitated, and then closed his eyes, "… I concede."

There was a long moment of silence in the arena as everyone absorbed what Shouto had said, Midnight arriving at the top of the stairs pausing for a moment to catch her breath - and then everyone began muttering in shock. On the side, Momo stared at Shouto for a long moment as well, her face falling as she glanced around at where Itsuka and Nejire were staring in surprise, and then towards where the cameras were - as fearing for a moment what they would say to this. Or, rather, what someone watching would say.

But then, in a reversal of her partner, her back straightened, and she took a deep breath. Moving towards where Shouto was kneeling, she stood there briefly in silence, before nodding and reaching down to rest her hand on his shoulder gently.

"I also concede." She confirmed.

Itsuka stared down at the both of them in shock for a moment, the teal flickers of One for All dying away and leaving her feeling exhausted - and then Midnight suddenly threw her whip into the air.

"Todoroki and Yaoyorozu concede!" She announced to the crowd. "Kendou and Hadou are the winners!"

There was a long pause in the large arena. And, then, suddenly, the audience roared, far louder than they had all day long. Itsuka and Nejire jumped a bit as they quickly looked around, shaken out of their previous moods so fast they almost got whiplash, as they blinked in surprise. But ... but what Midnight said suddenly registered to them, making both their jaws drop as they realized the crowd was cheering for them.

And then, Itsuka's gaze flickered back to Shouto. Despite her tiredness, her soreness, her need to just go and lay down somewhere and fall asleep, she straightened her back, and sighed as she started making her way over. Finally, she stood before Shouto, who blinked when he saw her flayed shoes before him, and looked up in time to see Itsuka fixing him with an unknown expression - until she suddenly lowered her hand, offering it to him.

Shouto stared for a second - and then he sighed, and reached up to take her hand. Gently, she helped him stand up, both of them standing there for a moment, before Shouto nodded to her, and gave her hand a shake.

"Good game," He acknowledged, and Itsuka smiled gently.

"Yeah," She nodded, "good game."

With that, the four of them turned towards the crowds cheering for the end of the festival, and Shouto, before anyone could ask, moved his hand down to Itsuka's wrist, lifting it up into the air in victory, causing the crowd to cheer loudly at the display of sportsmanship. Momo, for her part, smiled at Nejire as well as the girl hopped around and then threw her arms around her, with the heiress squeaking a bit but still awkwardly patting Nejire's back. With that, the four teenagers began making their way off the stage, giving Midnight an apologetic look as she continued to wipe the mud off of her in disgust, and made their way down the hill and over to the tunnel together, all of them knowing that they should probably go see Recovery Girl together.

"Well," Itsuka cleared her throat, the other three walking with her, "that was … exhausting."

"Mm," Momo nodded, rubbing her eyes slightly but allowing Nejire to keep her arm wrapped around her shoulders, "I agree, Kendou, I am … honestly quite exhausted."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded, not looking tired in the slightest as they made their way across the wet field towards the tunnel, and moving into the darkness and out of the light. "I'm ready for a nap. Aren't you guys? I think I'm gonna get home tonight and probably pass out."

Itsuka let out a small, weak laugh, reaching over to pat Nejire's shoulder while the blue-haired girl beamed at the three of them.

"Yep," She nodded, "I'm gonna eat something, get into the bath and scrub this stuff out of my hair, and go to bed."

"Hm," Shouto hummed, causing the three girls to look around at him, "so Midoriya was telling the truth? Your hair is dyed?"

"Huh? What do you -"

CLAP CLAP CLAP

The conversation the four teenagers were having was interrupted, however, by the sound of someone ahead of them clapping. Blinking, they stopped walking forward, before looking up at the man leaning against the wall, continuing to clap his hands together as he kept his eyes closed and smiled.

The man, by the way, was tall - taller than all four of them, even leaning against the wall and hunched over slightly. It was clear that he was well built, even under the black suit that he was wearing, and finally paused his clapping to raise one hand and scratch at his cheek, before turning to them to give all four of them a warm smile, although his eyes quickly flickered between both Itsuka and Nejire.

"Well," He chuckled, speaking in a deep voice, "that was quite extraordinary, wasn't it? That was quite the impressive showing from all four of you. My congradulations, you four truly did well out there."

"Er …" Nejire paused, taken aback, "… thank you? Er - wait, hold on, are you a teacher? I don't think I've seen you before, but that's a really cool suit! Do you have a hero costume you don't wanna put on? Or maybe your hero costume is beneath it, and you're waiting for the chance to Superman your way out of it?"

"Oh, no, no," The man laughed humorously, standing up from the wall, "I'm not a hero, my dear. I got permission to come down and wait for you four before the match began, to give you my congradulations."

"Wait a moment," Momo blinked in recognition, straightening up, "I … have we met, sir?"

"No, not directly," He smiled at her, "but I have been to your home. I have to say, though, it's a regret that we haven't been able to meet in person, Miss Yaoyorozu. Your father speaks quite highly of you."

"Oh …" Momo faltered, her smile slipping, and Shouto felt himself frown.

"Sorry, sir," He didn't sound quite sorry, straightening his back, "but I believe the rest of us haven't met you."

"Ah, yes," The man smiled, "you're correct, young man. Where are my manners?"

Moving down into a bow, his red eyes flickered up into Itsuka's, and for some reason, she felt a chill suddenly go down her spine as he smiled directly at her.

"My name," He introduced himself, "is Mugen Shigaraki. Future prime minister of Japan."

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/r0QHCwx.png
And that was Chapter 34, and at long last, the end of the Sports Festival arc! *flops on the floor* holy freeholy

Now, I realize that I kinda ... casually dropped a lot on you all this arc lol, and some of the things did drag on a tad bit. But not to worry - as many of you have been begging, our next tiny arc will be focusing on what you've all been waiting for - and boy, oh boy, am I excited to get to it! Besides, this chapter is giving us even more stuff to go forward with - what with Shouto's memories being something that'll be explored *very* much later, to Momo's now fairly justifiable fear with Yaodaddy, to a vestige making a surprise early appearance, to Aizawa being torn to shreds, Nagant and her whole thing <-< and, what we've all been waiting for, the chance for our trio to sit down and discuss what the hell is happening.

Now, as I realize, had I waited four more days to publish this chapter, we would've hit the second anniversary of this fic! Time sure does fly when you're stuck in the sports festival! Now then, last year I gave you all some behind-the-scenes ... so let's do more!

- Initially, this fic was going to be two stories - one reimagining with Izuku and Ochako as the main pairing, and a future IzuOchaKendou story! The IzuOchaKendou story would've had Izuku and Ochako adopting Eri, and bringing in Itsuka to help them navigate parenthood, with lots of shipping and angst galore! In fact, the flash forward? With Izuku and Ochako as a couple, and Itsuka bringing them in to fight a villain? That was initially the first chapter of that fic, just spiced up a bit lol. Eventually, I took my plans for the canon retelling and the IzuOchaKendou story and smashed them together for fun!
- Izuku's quirk was going to be lightning all along, but before the story, I did consider other possible quirks. For one, I considered a super-speed quirk, but felt that made Izuku a bit too broken. Then I considered a healing quirk, but found myself trapped in a corner because I didn't know how to write that. Eventually, I made the plan for the elemental absorption quirk, and went from there!
- Katsuki was originally going to be generswapped. Then I changed my mind. Then I thought about a sideplot where he thought Itsuka was in love with him. That disgusted me, so I dropped it. XD
- Ibara Shiozaki was originally going to be in Class 1A. Well, Hori, I feel your pain XD
- Another plan for Himiko was that she was going to stay a villain, but also have a twist of being Ochako's friend before she moved to Musutafu, coming to town and stalking both her and Izuku. She'd fall in love with Izuku, but because she wasn't in love with Itsuka, planned to replace Itsuka as the third member of their trio. I did feel that it kind of bloated the villain cast, however, and scrapped it.

Now then, thank you guys so much for reading this chapter! Coming up next, we've got a lovely meeting with the future prime minister, an awards ceremony, and Eri deciding to take on her future parents' grudges. See you then!

Chapter 34: Clover Rising: Part One

Summary:

With the Sports Festival concluded, the Trio makes their way home to finally rest. Unexpected developments will happen, however, with many that will change the dynamics of their group forever - while dark forces continue to gather in the shadows.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

There … there was something … off.

"The … future prime minister?" Itsuka repeated, staring at the man before her in surprise as he straightened his back and smiled pleasantly down at her. But rather than feel assured by that smile, she couldn't help but feel like there was a chill running down her spine that refused to go away. Almost as though her entire body was screaming at her that she was in danger right now, and that, of course, simply put her on her guard before him.

And it might have been due to the intense match she had just been in, but it almost felt like there was something sharp stabbing into her head as she stared up at the tall man, who, for some reason, continued to glance between her and Nejire and only occasionally glancing at Shouto and Momo, almost as though he couldn't focus on just one of them.

"Indeed," Mugen Shigaraki chuckled sheepishly as he raised his free hand to scratch the side of his head, "I know that some would call it presumptuous to immediately presume victory, but … well, I have plenty of good feelings about this upcoming November. Granted, I assume that you four probably wouldn't have much interest in politics, seeing as you're just starting high school - besides, UA presumably keeps you all busy enough not to worry about a couple of old farts like myself."

"You're … a politician?" Momo repeated, feeling her brow crinkle as Shigaraki turned to glance at her again. "I … apologize, but I don't believe that I've … ever heard of you."

"Well, I am announcing my campaign run tomorrow night," Shigaraki explained as he put his hands into his coat pockets, "my campaign manager had the thought that everyone would be far more concerned with the sports festival today, and rightfully so - I didn't want to end up stealing anybody's thunder. Still though, I thought I would come along and watch, so that I could congratulate the winners."

"Oh!" Nejire linked, looking a bit surprised. "Well, I guess that's good! But, uh - isn't that a little strange? I didn't think that politicians usually had anything to do with heroes? Or has that always been a thing? I don't really pay attention to government stuff, but my dad does, since he's a lawyer, and he says that politicians usually don't care about heroes unless they do something bad. Like, bad, bad. Like, do something bad that would make a politician look good when he criticizes heroes, bad. Which is what my dad says."

Beside her, Itsuka winced and cringed as her partner dug herself deeper and deeper. Luckily for Nejire, however, Shigaraki looked more amused by her rambling than anything.

"No, you're correct, my dear," He chuckled as Nejire looked around at him again, shaken out of her gossiping, "usually politicians don't focus on the hero system unless it's due to some kind of controversy - usually, we're content with letting heroes be and passing whatever law the HPSC wants. Don't fix what isn't broken, I believe the saying goes."

"Oh! I've heard that saying!"

"Still though," He tilted his head, "I am running on a pro-hero campaign - heh, pardon the pun. I'm in favor of giving the heroes more power - that will be the basis of my campaign."

"Is … that right?" Itsuka tilted her head a bit, confused.

"Indeed. I'm in the interest of making sure that the heroes have more power to better assist the day to day citizens. For example, are you aware that heroes can't legally lead the police? They can only work with the police force, not properly lead them - they have the responsibility of apprehending and de-escalating villains, but they're not allowed to arrest them or incarcerate them - just standing aside so that the police can come in and make the arrest. Well, under my party, I would have it that heroes are allowed to personally lead teams of police to do more to save lives."

"Huh …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit, that same uneasy feeling making her tremble a bit, "… well, I … never really thought of it like that. I just … assumed the police were there to help?" 

"Yes, well … ah, what am I saying?" Shigaraki laughed as he took a step back from the four teenagers. "I'm sure that you all would rather be doing anything else than talk to an old man such as myself about the exciting adventures of politics."

"I mean, it … sounded interesting!" Nejire tried to assure him. "Nothing I would actually talk about normally, but - yeah! It sounded interesting!"

"Well, my dear, I'm relieved you thought so. Still though, you all still have your award show to get to, and then I assume you're all off to have a well deserved rest, so I shouldn't keep you. In any case, Miss Yaoyorozu," He turned to smile gently at Momo, "I do have a meeting with your father coming up relatively soon - I'll let him know that you and I have properly met now. Perhaps we could even arrange a dinner party somewhere down the line, so that we could talk more about your marriage - with you in the room this time."

Momo felt her heart stop briefly at that.

"A-ah," She managed to get out through slightly gritted teeth, "yes, my - yes."

Shouto felt his eyes narrow a bit at Momo's obviously stiff reaction to that, and he turned back to look up at Shigaraki with a slightly cross look.

"Pardon my bluntness," He said in a short voice, "but may I ask how you know about that? I wasn't aware that our … parents' marriage plans for us … were made public."

"Oh, they're not," Shigaraki shook his head, turning slightly on his heel, "Daikoku simply mentioned them to me. Wanting you two to marry once you both place high enough on the hero charts - ah, yes, that would be an excellent strategy, wouldn't it? Just in time for him to announce his own movement into politics."

Both Shouto and Momo felt their eyes widen, while Itsuka and Nejire glanced between them and the politician before them.

"Wait …" Momo managed to get out, feeling herself shake, "… my … father intends for us to marry … so he can move into politics? B-but - but why?"

"Oh, well, I'm afraid I'm not sure," Shigaraki raised an eyebrow, "he only mentioned it to me in passing. You'll probably have to bring it up with him, my dear - I'm sure that he'll gladly tell you if you simply ask, Miss Yaoyorozu. Your father does speak quite highly of you, after all."

Momo slowly nodded at that, her face becoming troubled. Before Itsuka could ask, or at least check to make sure her fellow class representative was okay, Shigaraki let out a small sigh, pulling out a hat from underneath his arm and putting it on top of his head, turning to give Itsuka another amused look - and why she couldn't help but feel her brain ache when her eyes briefly met his red ones, she had no idea, but it was enough that her entire body was starting to hurt from the unexpected anxiety raining down on her.

"Now then, I should probably return to the VIP box," He chuckled as he adjusted his hat on his head, "no need to make my bodyguards search for me more than they probably are now, is there? You four enjoy your weekend - I'm sure that we'll eventually meet again somewhere down the road. Especially," He glanced between Itsuka and Nejire again, "if you'll continue to go down the path you're on."

With that vague statement, Shigaraki raised his hand in farewell - giving Itsuka a split second to glance up at his palm, and feeling her brow wrinkle when she saw what looked like a hole dug into it - and then turned to start walking back down the hall and around the corner. The four teenagers stared after him with clear signs of discomfort - Momo looking unnerved, Shouto put off, Nejire hesitant and Itsuka feeling her brow furrow as the politician walked away -

- and then they heard a familiar laugh behind them.

"Ah! There you all are!"

Jumping a bit in surprise, they all looked around to see All Might strolling into the tunnel from the field, throwing his head back and laughing some more as he came underneath the shade. Behind him, they could make out the distant sight of Midnight and Tenko walking over towards the entrance as well, both of them dripping wet while Midnight glowered, completely covered in mud while the teaching assistant tried to appease her. Beyond them, back out in the field, Thirteen continued to wave up to the cheering crowd.

"I was wondering where you all had gone off to!" The Number One Hero strolled right up to them, beaming down to the four students. "I was going to offer to walk off with you all, but … well, Midnight's in a bit of a bad mood right now, so I thought I would stay behind and help Tenko calm her down. It'd be wise to try and stay on her good side from here on out."

"Er … right," Itsuka nodded unsurely, glancing behind All Might to see the scowl on Midnight's face, and gulping nervously.

"Now then," All Might clapped his hands together happily, his dark eyes trailing upwards beyond the students, "I suppose we should be heading downstairs now, to get you all ready for the awards ceremony! We'll be having Aizawa reach … out … to …"

As All Might suddenly trailed off, Itsuka glanced back from out in the field towards her mentor's face, feeling her eyebrow raise as All Might suddenly went quiet - and then she felt herself falter as, for the first time since the USJ, she saw the proud grin All Might always wore falter as he spotted something behind her.

Feeling her brow crinkle, she quickly looked around her towards what All Might could be looking at, and saw the shoe of Shigaraki disappear around the corner and down the hallway. Realizing that All Might must have thought that the politician was some reporter, she looked back around at him, opening her mouth to explain who that was - but before she could speak, All Might suddenly moved.

"Uh -" Nejire blinked in concern as All Might suddenly pushed his way through the both of them - and by 'push', that really just meant they were gently pushed aside by his large hands. But still, seeing All Might suddenly move so quickly caused the four teenagers to quickly back up as All Might all but ran - ran! - over towards the corner, quickly bringing his hand up to the wall and looking around it with such intensity, Itsuka felt the jitters from before, that had been fading away a bit, return in full force.

Feeling herself move without thinking, Itsuka broke through her other three classmates, aware of Shouto glancing between her and All Might but choosing to ignore it, and she moved to look around the corner where All Might was staring -

- to see that Shigaraki had completely vanished.

As in, the hallway was completely empty, even if the other rooms were far enough down the hall, and seeing as the politician had just moved around the corner, it was as though he had disappeared into thin air. Feeling herself blink, she looked back up at All Might, and felt her brow crinkle when she saw that her mentor looked … disturbed.

Almost as though he had seen a ghost.

"All Might?" She asked in an uncertain voice, staring up at her teacher. "Are you okay?"

"I …" All Might paused for a long moment - and then he shook his head and looked back down at her, his smile returning to his face - although she could catch how strained it suddenly looked.

"… er, forgive me, Young Kendou," He let out a forced laugh, "I was … thinking that I saw something. Never mind! I think it's been quite a long day for all of us … now then, let's head off to get you all ready for the awards show! We'll have Aizawa reach out to Young Midoriya, Young Uraraka, Young Tokoyami and Young Bakugou and tell them where to meet us. Come along now, you four!"

With that, he gestured with his large hand, and the four competitors were quick to jump and begin following him down the opposite hall, presumably towards an elevator that they would have to take in order to get down to the stage. 

Still though, Itsuka couldn't help but feel a pit of worry opening in her stomach, and looked back around at where Shigaraki had disappeared to, the slight stabbing in her head beginning to lessen … and was unaware of All Might likewise glancing over his own shoulder, a chill moving down his back.

And of course, none of them were aware of what looked to be gray sludge sliding down the nearby wall and into the sewer grate.


"…"

"…"

"… do you think," Ochako said in a blank voice as they walked down the hallway together, "that was how Itsuka felt when she had to watch us fight Bakugou?"

"Yeah," Izuku said blankly as well, feeling his arms continue to shake as he put his hands in his pockets, "that … probably was. Yeah."

"… we should get her something nice."

"I'm already planning something great for her birthday."

"Mm-hm."

At the current moment, the two of them had just gotten out of the elevator that led to the bottom of the field - presumably in the giant pit that had opened during the first round - and were walking down the hallway towards where they had been told to meet with the other winners of the sports festival. Fumikage was walking ahead of them, his head bowed and his arms folded while Dark Shadow poked out from behind his shoulder and gave his feathered cheek a small poke, while behind them, Katsuki continued to walk in an almost scary silence, not having looked at any of them while they rode the elevator down and stared down at his shoes.

Izuku and Ochako, meanwhile, walked together, still looking a bit shocked at the outcome of the last match - in which their best friend had won the entire freaking sports festival after both Shouto and Momo threw in the towel. They had no idea how she would be feeling at the moment, but … but they knew that she wasn't going to be complaining, at least. While it might hurt her chances of internships as a lot of the crowd didn't see what was happening behind the wall of ice, and the other team pretty much gave up before they could see anything happen (other than Shouto's impressive melting of his ice cavern), they knew that, due to Itsuka's slightly bruised and bloodied face and Shouto's broken nose, there was a physical altercation between the two when no one had been looking.

And as much as it made Izuku's insides squeeze in terror at the thought, he knew that Itsuka wouldn't let Shouto walk all over her. And judging by that teal lightning that had been flickering around her … it was clear that she had been using One for All in there, and that could only mean that there had been a fight. A fight Izuku hoped that Itsuka had won, and judging from Shouto using his fire, Izuku wanted to lean towards saying that she did win.

It was just … well …

"Do you think … okay," Izuku shook his head, "am I the only one who's still kind of anxious?"

"I - no, you're not," Ochako agreed with him while shivering, tapping a bit on her bandaged arm and wincing, "I mean, I'm anxious for Itsuka, obviously …"

"Oh, of course."

"She's - she was okay when she left, right? She wasn't limping or anything?"

"O-other than her kind of stumbling, no, but - but Hadou helped her before she fell."

"R-right! Yeah."

"Yeah."

"Yeaaah …"

"…"

"…"

"… not gonna lie, I'm also kinda anxious about going out in front of everyone to get our medals." Izuku admitted quickly and with shame. 

Luckily for him, Ochako nodded timidly in agreement.

"It's just, uh … it's something we'll have to - to get used to, Deku," She gulped a bit, trying to reassure her best friend even if she felt as nervous as he did, having to go out and stand there while getting the undivided attention of everyone in the arena (even if they had already done that several times that day), "if - if we end up becoming part of the Top 10 someday, it'll probably be … you know … just like this."

"Y-yeah." Izuku agreed in a stammering voice. "Just … instead it'll be in front of … every hero … who didn't get up there."

"… like … how we're getting medals … in front of everyone who - who didn't win today."

"…"

"…"

"… is it too late to go back upstairs and sit with our parents and Eri?"

"I …" Izuku chuckled a bit nervously, "… think it is."

"Oh, joy," Ochako groaned, unable to stop herself from giggling nervously along with Izuku as they all finally approached the door at the end of the hall, watching Fumikage slip inside, and together, they both opened the door and moved into the room that they had been summoned to by Aizawa.

Quickly looking around for their friends in the large, empty room, their eyes were quickly drawn to Itsuka and Nejire - they were both being guided towards the second to the left circle embedded in the ground by Vlad King, who stood them both side by side while Shouto and Momo stood together over near another wall, waiting for their turn. Still though, both Izuku and Ochako blinked when their eyes found their best friend - and saw the big black sweater she was wearing, the hood pulled over her head and letting some of her dyed black hair pool near her shoulders and out from the hood. 

Still though, at least she looked okay, with some bandages on her face but otherwise looking unwell, as she glanced their way, smiled brightly, and gave them a small wave while Nejire bounced on the podium beside them.

On the side, Nezu was arguing with a lizard man with purple hair and a wearing a black suit, who was standing beside what looked to be a stone pillar with heavy metal handcuffs and a muzzle attached to it, and Tenko was quick to approach Katsuki and stand beside him when the lizard man looked around at the young man and pointed straight at him. In front of them, letting out a small noise of happiness at their appearance, Thirteen approached Izuku and Ochako and patted their arms to get their attention.

"Ah, there you two are," She greeted them both with a light voice, gesturing towards the circle just beside Itsuka and Nejire's on their left, "come this way, please - I'm going to make sure you two are ready for once the awards show, and then one Midnight gives us the cue, we'll raise you up to the stadium."

Nodding (although they both had to stop themselves from shaking obviously), both Izuku and Ochako followed Thirteen over to the podium beside Itsuka and Nejire's, the rescue hero carefully posing them so that they didn't fall off when the podiums lifted up. As she readied them, both training partners looked over towards where Itsuka and Nejire were standing, looking over at them as Vlad King moved to start getting Shouto and Momo over to their own podium, and beside them, Tenko arranged both Fumikage and Katsuki.

"Er … hey," Izuku waved to her a bit awkwardly.

"Hi," Itsuka smiled at them both and waved back, although she did wince from how fast she moved her arm, "ow."

"Hello!" Nejire happily greeted them as well with a wave - and then winced when she likewise moved too fast. "Ow."

"Yeah," Ochako giggled a bit despite herself, "ow."

"Er … so, uh … what's with the hoodie, Kendou?" Izuku raised his eyebrow as he glanced down at it, seeing some random band name on the front but not recognizing it as anything Itsuka would listen to. Blinking a bit when she realized what he was asking, Itsuka smiled a bit awkwardly.

"Well, uh … do you guys remember all that water that landed on me? Thanks to Todoroki?"

"Yeah …?"

"Well …" She then pulled down the hood, and both Izuku and Ochako blinked when they saw, rather than a full head of black hair, several blotches of orange that had been washed in. Grimacing a bit, Itsuka raised the hood back over her head.

"So basically," She giggled, "Tenko-sensei leant me his hoodie to wear until after the ceremony, and then after we get back to the school, I'm gonna wash the rest of the dye out of my hair. God, it's gonna feel crusty for the entire weekend at this point."

"Oh, don't worry!" Nejire patted her shoulder happily. "I can give you a bit of conditioner tomorrow, if you want! It helps Yuuyu whenever she dyes her hair and it feels weird."

"I … yeah. Thanks, Nejire."

"Still, uh …" Ochako leaned over Izuku, unable to stop herself from smiling at them both, "… congratulations, you two."

"Thanks," Itsuka giggled a bit, "it was, uh - it was kinda touch and go for a sec, but -"

"Oh, please."

The quiet mutter from behind Izuku and Ochako made the four of them stop talking, blinking a bit as they looked around. Still staring at the floor, Katsuki didn't look up at any of them, but there was a scowl on his face as he clenched his fists.

"You didn't win," He growled quietly, but with a lot of the venom that they were all used to, "the icy hot bastard gave up. You didn't win shit today, Ginger, especially not the final round."

Itsuka merely raised an eyebrow while Izuku and Ochako started to glower - and then she looked back around at the front, putting her hands in her pockets.

"If you think so," She shrugged her shoulders, making both her training partners whirl around at her in shock, "I don't really care, Bakugou. If that's what you wanna think, go ahead - I'm counting today as a win in my book."

Katsuki didn't respond to that, thankfully, merely gritting his teeth as he closed his mouth. Off to the side near the podium, Tenko nodded at something he was listening to over the phone, and then leaned over to the wall to press a button.

At once, the floors beneath them jumped a bit, making everyone look down at them in alarm, and Ochako was quick to grab Izuku's shoulder as they started rising off of the ground.

"Okay!" Tenko gave the eight teenagers a thumbs up, while the ceiling above them opened a bit to reveal daylight shining in on them, and they distantly heard the sound of Midnight saying something into a microphone and fireworks popping far into the sky. "They're all ready for you guys! Good luck!"

With that, Izuku gulped, trying to push his annoyance at Katsuki out of his mind as he straightened his back, and Ochako likewise tried to smooth out her hair a bit. Itsuka tried not to look too nervous as she secured the hood on her head, and Nejire looked like she wanted to hop up and down, only restraining herself so as not to fall off the podium. Shouto and Momo were quiet, staying still on the rising podium as Momo stared down at her shoes and Shouto tried not to glance to his left at the other four. Katsuki, meanwhile, merely glared off at nothing while Fumikage folded his arms.

And finally, they all rose up into the stadium.

"… we will begin the awards ceremony!" Midnight joyfully announced, and as more fireworks exploded in the sky as the crowds began cheering again, and an explosion of fog and confetti burst out before the eight teenagers, making them all wince a bit as they were pushed up by the podiums into the arena. Once the fog faded away, they all winced at the sight before them - everyone in their class, with some of the guys and girls still wearing their cheerleader uniforms, along with everyone in Class 1B and the other courses, were staring up at them, with several reporters snapping pictures behind an impromptu fence some ways away, and every camera in the arena was focused on them.

"Oh, jeez …" Itsuka gulped nervously, adjusting her hood again just to be safe.

On her left, however, Izuku felt his smile fall as he scanned through the crowd of students before them. He still felt a bit nervous, however, but … well, he couldn't help but feel a wave of sadness pass through him when he had glanced between Yui and Setsuna, seeing a space there that one of their classmates was supposed to be in. He knew that it really couldn't be helped, but …

… but still, he remembered what Yui had told him and Ochako before they had left for the awards ceremony.

"… he had to leave early," Yui told them, still wearing her cheerleader outfit but not looking all that positive as she leaned against the wall, Izuku and Ochako each holding Eri's hand as they stood  out in the hallway above their booth, "said that there was a … a family emergency. Something to do with his brother."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking alarmed and shocked while Izuku started a bit. "You mean Ingenium-sensei? Do you know how he's doing?"

"No," Yui shook her head, still frowning, "but … whatever it was shook him up pretty bad. I … know that everyone's probably going to the beach tomorrow, but I've been texting Iida - I'm gonna figure out which hospital they're at, and head over there tomorrow. Try not to text him over the weekend, okay? I don't know the details, but …"

"… but it sounds bad?" Izuku guessed.

"Yeah. It sounds … pretty bad."

If Tensei was injured … Izuku felt himself shrink a bit as he stared down at the ground. The pro hero that had comforted them after the nightmare at the USJ, who stayed with them for the week afterwards, who had been a ball of positivity … someone who Tenya clearly admired and loved so much … and if something had … happened to him …

… he could only pray that his substitute teacher was alright.

"Now then!" Midnight continued on with her speech, looking cleaned up and in a new hero costume that wasn't ripped to shreds and covered in grass and mud (although Itsuka and Nejire felt a bit fearful at the small scowl she shot their way before she shook her head and fixed her smile back on her face). "With the first-year events for this year's UA Sports Festival completed, we'll be awarding the medals to our eight lucky winners! And who better than to present them with their rewards, than this man!"

Far above the stadium, the crowds heard the familiar sound of a booming laugh, and quickly and eagerly turned to see the distant silhouette of a buff man with twin twirls of hair on his head on the top of his head, standing on top of the stadium and holding his hands to his hips as he roared with laughter.

"It's All Might!" Several members of the crowd cheered excitedly, watching as All Might quickly leapt off the highest wall of the stadium dramatically and began flipping in somersaults down to the field below.

"I am here to give our champions their medals -!"

"Welcome back to the stage, All Might!"

There was a long pause as All Might landed heavily on the field in his hero costume, Midnight throwing her hand over to gesture to the stage as she likewise froze. The crowd of students watched in confusion for a moment as All Might remained hunched over - and then he slowly turned to look at Midnight as she clapped her hands together in apology, cringing while All Might shook in barely restrained frustration.

"I talked over you …" She weakly said, "… ruined that for you, didn't I?"

"Tch," All Might managed to get out, before quickly getting back up and straightening up to look around at his coworker as she quickly walked over to the podium on the side, taking the panel holding eight medals and walking them back over to the Number One Hero.

"Er - now that you're here, All Might," She managed to get them back on track, "and not wearing that … very flattering cheerleader's outfit -"

The students amassed around them winced at Midnight's attempt to say that through her gritted teeth.

"- why don't we get started with the presentation? Starting with fourth place, of course."

"I don't mind if I do!" All Might laughed good-naturedly, moving down to take the two bronze medals on the first side. Without further ado, he turned to quickly walk up the lowest podium where Fumikage and Katsuki were standing, Fumikage staring up at All Might with a serious expression and Katsuki continuing to stare blankly at the floor.

"Ha, ha, ha!" All Might grinned, moving down and smiling when Fumikage lowered his neck to accept the bronze medal as the pro hero wrapped it around his head. "Young Tokoyami - congratulations. I have to say, you and your shadow were quite spectacular today."

"Thank you, All Might," Fumikage straightened himself up, nodding in respect, "your words are too kind."

"But," All Might suddenly stepped in, and the crowd of students blinked as the large man enveloped Fumikage in a hug, the bird-headed boy straightening up and going a bit red behind his feathers from embarrassment, while Reiko merely smiled up at him, "in order to fight well against different types of quirks, you shouldn't try to rely only on your quirk. Once you've trained your own strength more, you'll have plenty more options for any kind of fight you may be involved in."

All Might then moved back, patting Fumikage's back one more time as the raven-headed boy gave him a hum of acknowledgement. With that, he turned over towards where Katsuki was staring dully ahead, which caused the pro hero to nod to himself. Knowing better than to treat Katsuki with the same carefree-ness, he instead opted to reach out with the other medal, and after a moment, Katsuki slowly looked over, and lifted his hand up to take the bronze medal out of All Might's hand.

"Young Bakugou," All Might tried to keep his smile straight, "my congratulations as well. I know that this is probably not how you might have preferred today to go, but know that -"

He didn't get a chance to finish his advice, however, as Katsuki gave the medal a long look for a moment - and then he aimlessly threw it behind his shoulder and off the podium where he was standing, letting it fall to the grass with a small thud.

Around them, the crowd began murmuring amongst themselves as All Might faltered, and the students behind them cringed at the action. Midnight raised her eyebrow, Izuku winced while Ochako rolled her eyes, and Itsuka quirked her own eyebrow up while Nejire looked unimpressed. After a moment, All Might merely let out a sigh, and gave Katsuki's shoulder a small pat.

"Very well," He said simply.

Without further ado, he turned back around and walked back down the podium to where Midnight was standing with the rest of the medals, taking the other two bronze ones waiting for him, and began to walk over to Izuku and Ochako's podiums. As he began to climb the stairs towards them, Ochako and Izuku quickly tried to shake off their moods from Katsuki's immaturity, straightening up as All Might let out another soft laugh.

"Young Midoriya," He said with a grin as he first reached down to put one of the bronze medals around his protege's neck, and then turned to Ochako to do the same to her as she bowed her head, "and Young Uraraka - congratulations. You both were extraordinary out there."

"T-thank you, All Might," Ochako smiled weakly while Izuku merely gave their mentor a wobbly grin, tears beginning to build in his eyes. The pro hero merely shook his head in affectionate exasperation at the both of them, and then took both of them by the shoulders so that he could bring them in for a group hug, patting them both on the back.

"I know that you both might not have wanted this to be the end of the sports festival like you wanted," He said in a kind tone, "but I am extremely proud of both of you. For how well you both worked together today, and how far you've both come. You still have much to work on, of course, but I know that you can both overcome anything as long as you're both together."

Izuku nodded a bit stiffly, tears continuing to threaten to leak from his eyes, while Ochako merely smiled and patted All Might's side. With that, and no more needing to be said at the moment, All Might stepped off the podium again, walking over to take the two silver medals from Midnight, and stepped up to the second place contestants.

"Young Todoroki," He put the first silver medal around Shouto's neck, and then turned to Momo as she likewise bowed, allowing him to put the second ribbon around her own neck, "and Young Yaoyorozu - congratulations. You both did extremely well out there today."

"I …" Momo trailed off, not looking entirely convinced of what her teacher said as she glanced off to the side, and then muttered, "… thank you."

"Young Todoroki," All Might turned to the young man, although not before shooting a small, concerned look at Momo, "I believe it's safe to assume that there was a reason you didn't use your left side during the final round?"

"… yes," Shouto nodded, speaking for the first time in about twenty minutes and staring down at the floor of the podium, "I … had an opportunity to defeat Kendou with it. But … I was unsure of myself, so I didn't take it. I think it's because … to be honest, All Might, I think it's because there's a part of me that understands a little bit about why you're so interested in her."

"Is … that right?" All Might furrowed his brow, unsure about what that was supposed to mean, as Shouto looked up at him.

"It's been a while," He gave his teacher a much softer look than the one All Might had been experienced with while teaching Shouto basic training, "but I remember, when I was young, that I wanted to be a hero like you. But I didn't think it would be right for me to become one.  There's … still a few things I have to settle, but … but I think that one day, I'd like to dream about that again."

All Might slowly nodded, a proud look coming to his face.

"I have to say," He commented, "the look on your face is completely different than before, young man."

With that, before either Shouto or Momo could respond, he took both their shoulders and brought them in for a hug like he had done with Izuku and Ochako, wrapping his large arms around them both.

"I won't ask for the details," He assured Shouto kindly, before glancing over at Momo, "and I won't ask you to tell me something you might not want to. But if either of you need someone to listen to you, I'll be there."

"Yes, sir." Shouto nodded.

"T-thank you," Momo likewise muttered.

With that, All Might took a step back, patting their shoulders, and walked off the podium, finally taking the last two gold medals and moving up to the first place podium. Itsuka gave All Might a small, happy grin, while Nejire expectedly threw her arms out, clearly hoping for a hug as well. All Might, for his part, simply laughed a bit and moved to put the gold medals around both girls' necks.

"Young Kendou, Young Hadou," He gave them a look of pride, "congratulations for your victory today. You have both accomplished something to be proud of - showing that you can both stand up in front of the entire world and declare, 'we are here'! You have shown many of us today that the future is indeed bright!"

Nejire nodded a bit, her face falling - and then she stretched her arms out again, pouting slightly in impatience. Letting out another laugh, All Might decided to humor her, and brought both girls in for a strong hug, Nejire's arms wrapping around his neck and Itsuka awkwardly patting his side.

"Remember the difficulties that it took for you both to get here," He told them quietly, "and know that you should both be proud of yourselves."

With that, he let go of both girls and took a step down from the podium, turning to give a beam to the crowd.

"And there you have it! These eight are the winners of this years' first year sports festival!" All Might told the cheering crowds, but then directed his attention down to the group of students below him. "But listen here! Any of you could have ended up on one of these podiums. This year's events showed the importance of this festival - competition! Improving each other! Climbing even further than before! The next generation of heroes is definitely sprouting, and I couldn't be prouder!"

Throwing his hand up, he pointed at the sky.

"So! I have only one more thing to say, and I'd like everyone to say it with me, if you would! Ready … one! Two! Three!"

"PLUS ULTRA!"

"Thank you for your hard work!"

The stadium fell into a brief silence as All Might went a bit stiff, staring blankly ahead as he realized that he and the crowds weren't exactly on the same page. And then the boos began.

"HUH?!" Several people screamed at him. "YOU SAID THE WRONG THING, ALL MIGHT!"

"Oh, I, uh … I just … thought everyone did a good job …"

While several of the citizens and less experienced heroes continued to boo, other experienced heroes in the crowd, on the other hand, merely shook their heads at the Symbol of Peace's earnestness, clapping politely in any case. On one end of the crowd, Rock Lock nodded to himself and closed his folder, content with who he was scouting as he stood up to leave, taking his pregnant wife's hand to help her up. Above him, Fat Gum nodded as well in contentment, smiling widely as he finished jotting down his own notes. 

On the other side of the arena, Uwabami continued to jot down her own notes, glancing up at the jumbotron in front of her, while on the side, Selkie flashed a cute smile to Sirius while she rolled her eyes and went back to texting her girlfriend. And above them all, Endeavor merely scowled at his son on the second place podium before shaking his head and beginning to walk away from his spot on the wall.

But off to the side, none of them were having the … well … reaction of one bunny-eared young woman, repeatedly banging her head against the head of the seat in front of her, while her friend beside her smirked knowingly.

"So," Ryukyu tucked her notepad and pen underneath her arm, "made up your mind yet?"

"Fuck you," Miruko growled, "and fuck me. Fuck me right in the ass!"

Ryukyu merely hummed, although her eyes did trail down as Miruko leaned forward in her seat, and tried not to blush at the sight of a bunny tail and dark skin peeking out from how her shirt pulled up. She also had to restrain herself from saying 'buy me dinner first'.

"So on one hand," Miruko raised one of her fingers while glaring down at the winners on the field below them, "that Kendou chick? She's a fuckin' spitfire. I can fucking tell."

"Mm-hm …"

"She's got a fucking temper, and that'd be fucking amazing to see her get control of that. She'd probably be tearing idiots left and right apart, and I know I can get that temper out of her."

"And …" Ryukyu raised her eyebrow, "… on the other hand?"

"On the other hand, I don't wanna teach a kid!" She whined, stomping her foot childishly against the floor. "This fucking sucks! She's gonna get recruited by some idiot she doesn't know and they'll be all, 'ooh, you're so good at fighting!'" She imitated a high-pitched, sniveling voice, "'Come intern with me so I can give you mid skills'! And they won't know! They won't know that they got an amazon fighting to get out of her!"

"So," Ryukyu smiled knowingly, "if you want the amazon to get out …"

"But I don't wanna do it!"

"Well," Ryukyu grunted as she stood up, stretching her back before leaning down to scratch Miruko behind the ear, and smirked when she heard her friend's foot thump automatically against the ground, "you can think a bit more about it during the weekend, Rumi - I know that we have to send our applications by Monday at the latest, so that can give you a bit of time to think about it, can't it?"

"Ah, man," Miruko scowled, "so I gotta worry about hooking up with what's-his-face tomorrow night, and this on top of it? Fuck my life."

"Yes," Ryukyu nodded, although a small pout appeared on her face as she turned towards the stairs, "I'd imagine you'll be able to get ready for your … 'date' … and figure out if you want to send a request for Kendou. Doesn't hurt to think about, does it?"

While Miruko moped and moaned a bit more, around them, everyone watched as the students were led out through the tunnels they had come into this morning, and slowly but surely, everyone leaned back and watched as a few more speakers took the field. They all watched a group of people wearing suits walking out towards a stage, surrounding a smug looking blonde woman holding a briefcase, but seeing as the HPSC always took a moment to talk every year, they were all pretty much ready to ride it out until it was officially time to go.

Up in their own seats, Taiyo and Miwa leaned back in their seats, sighing as they both rubbed their eyes. The Kendous had been quiet for a while, with Tenohira and Hakushu muttering to themselves as they glanced down at their daughter, and Teko tapped his foot against the floor, while Hisashi leaned back and lightly snored and Inko continued to glance over at All Might down on the field with a strange look, for some reason. Eri, who had been dropped off by Izuku and Ochako a while ago, was likewise napping, leaning against Hisashi and breathing in lightly, so it was pretty clear that, once they were done celebrating at the Midoriyas, she would have to go home right to bed.

So … well …

"Well," Taiyo wiped his brow, "tha' was only slightly traumatizin', wasn't it, dear?"

Miwa let out a small laugh at that.

"Mildly, Taiyo," She patted his arm, stretching slightly, "and just think, we only have two more of these to watch next year and the year after next!"

"Oh, god. Well, I hope it ain't as long as this one was."

"Well … okay, yes, I'll admit that this dragged on a bit longer than I -"

Before she could finish that, though, they were both distracted by the sound of Taiyo's phone buzzing in his pocket. Blinking, he glanced down to his coat pocket, quickly fishing around it for a moment before he pulled out his phone.

"Hm?" He opened the flip phone, glancing at the text, and then furrowed his brow. Miwa, glancing at her husband's face and feeling her brow furrow at the confused look, leaned over to read the text.

 

UNKNOWN

look up

to the left

 

Both of them stared down at the phone for a second, and then glanced back at each other in confusion. Wrinkling their brows, they both turned to the left and looked up, their eyes moving around to the people above them in the arena as their gaze flickered from box to box in confusion -

- and then, at the same time, they both spotted her.

At once, both Urarakas straightened up, their eyes widening. Taiyo felt his jaw drop a bit as he stared up at her, and Miwa felt her grip on her purse slip a bit, sending it falling in between her legs. Above them in the box, the woman nodded a bit, and then turned her attention back to her phone, writing something, and Taiyo felt the phone in his hand vibrate again.

Almost unable to tear their gazes away, they both glanced down at the messages in time for the woman above them to put her phone back in her pocket, and move away from the railing above them and out of view.

 

UNKNOWN NUMBER

Falcon Hotel, top floor, room 840

9:00

one of you or both of you, doesn't matter

meet me

 

Taiyo sputtered a bit, still staring at the phone in shock, while Miwa glanced back up at the place she had been and felt herself falter when she didn't see her anywhere in sight. There was a moment's pause as Taiyo glanced at his wife, and Miwa stared blankly up at the spot - and then she suddenly stood, causing a few of their seatmates to look around at her.

"Er … Miwa?" Inko asked in concern. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," She confirmed, although her voice sounded a bit blank, "but … well, I'm going to go back to Recovery Girl's office. She had a copy of Ochako's medical files, and … I'm thinking it would probably be a good idea to have our own copy. Just to be safe."

With that, she moved out of the seat and began hurrying up the stairs. Taiyo, for his part, merely watched his wife move up the stairs and out of sight for a moment in silence - and then he let out a small sigh, and looked back down to the text messages, reading them through again.

"Alrigh'," He muttered to himself, "guess that's what we're doin' tonight."


Okay … okay. Shower felt good.

With a long, relieved sigh, Itsuka slowly turned under the showerhead in the stall, scrubbing her hair and squeezing her eyes shut so that the dye didn't get in her eyes. While Shouto's unexpected shower had only bled some of the hair dye out, the pure, concentrated warm water was fully getting it out of her hair, making sure that she could go home without looking like a weird orange skunk. Still though, she was a little nervous that some reporter or photographer would be hanging around the gates and snap a picture of her with her hair now a different color, but thankfully, should she need it, Tenko had told her to keep the hoodie for the weekend and give it back to him come Monday.

At the moment, it had been about twenty minutes since they had been brought back to the main campus from the stadium, and they had all been excused to change out of their sweaty, messy gym clothes and back into their uniforms. She could hear the other girls talking excitedly about the beach trip tomorrow, something that still made her eyebrow twitch but was slowly trying to get over, and she could hear the other girls leaving the changing room to start heading back to class. Aizawa had given them about half an hour to get changed and back to the classroom, so Itsuka wanted to take a bit more time making sure the hair dye was properly removed from her head.

And seeing as her hair no longer felt like it was stiff and in clumps, she seemed to have done her job well, letting her reluctantly turn off the shower dial just as someone knocked on her stall door behind her.

"Itsuka," Ochako said from behind the door, "I'm gonna go meet up with Deku. I'll see you back in class, okay?"

"Sounds good!" Itsuka called back to her. "I just gotta dry my hair, I'll see you back in the classroom."

She heard Ochako let out an affirmative noise, and the sound of her feet moved away from the stall. Plucking up her towel from the side, Itsuka sighed as she wiped herself down, moving carefully so as not to disturb how tired and sore her body felt - from all the moving and fighting she'd done since early this morning, she was completely and utterly exhausted, and it probably wouldn't take very long for her to pass out when she eventually got to her bed tonight.

Wrapping herself up in one towel and drying her hair with another, Itsuka finally stepped out of the shower, taking a look around the locker room. For now, she and Nejire were the only ones left inside, the blue-haired girl trying to comb her long blue hair near her locker and looking around to smile at her, dressed in her white dress shirt and skirt. It seemed as though everyone else had already left, with Itsuka glancing around to see Mina heading out the door, and leaving the two partners inside.

"Hey," Itsuka sighed as she moved over to her locker, taking out her things while Nejire continued to comb her long, flowing past her knees hairstyle, "everyone else gone to the classroom?"

"Yep!" Nejire nodded, glancing over at Itsuka from her shoulder and smiling. "I just thought we'd walk back together, you know! Since we were the winners! I kinda had the thought that you probably didn't want everyone to swarm you, right? Like, asking questions, what you did against Todoroki, that kind of stuff. So …"

"Yeah, I get it," Itsuka smiled, "and … thanks, I guess. I'm honestly in the mood to just go to my desk and go to sleep."

"Oh, same! I'm so exhausted right now!"

"… are you now?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, glancing around as Nejire hopped up and down with a lot of energy for someone who just said they were tired.

"Yepperoni! The moment my head hits my pillow tonight, I'm out!"

"Sure," Itsuka giggled a bit, shaking her head as she moved to undo her towel and get dressed. The two girls were quiet for a few minutes, Nejire continuing to play with her phone and trying not to look over as Itsuka put back on her clothes, and Itsuka was quiet as she carefully moved her arms and legs and tried not to require another trip to Recovery Girl that day. Checking the time on her phone showed that they had twenty minutes until Aizawa's deadline, which meant that both girls had plenty of time to get back.

It was only when Itsuka was nearly fully dressed, putting her gray blazer on the bench beside her, that Nejire suddenly hopped again, and moved over to where Itsuka was standing as the orange-haired girl tied her hair back up into her signature ponytail, her golden medal placed carefully on the bench waiting for her to put in its pocket.

"Soooo …" Nejire tapped her fingers together, "… I've been having thoughts."

"Okay?" Itsuka glanced at her with a smile. "Thoughts about what?"

"About tomorrow!" Nejire gushed, making Itsuka blink as Nejire leaned against the locker beside her and smiled happily. "I'm so excited, aren't you? A full day at the beach, and you're gonna talk to Midoriya and Uraraka! Oooooh, but it's gonna be so busy for me if I'm gonna have to get everyone's attention off of you guys, and I'm gonna have to work extra hard to make sure you guys get some alone time."

"Oh, uh - well, you don't have to work too hard," Itsuka pointed out, feeling her brow furrow as she moved away from the locker towards the bench, "I want you to have fun too, you don't have to dedicate your full time to helping us, Nejire."

"Really? Are you sure?" Nejire tilted her head in curiosity. "Because I heard during our showers hat Mina was considering inviting more people, like Togata-senpai and Amajik-senpaii and Toga-senpai when she said she was interested in coming -"

"Wait, Toga-senpai's coming?" Itsuka blinked, looking around at Nejire in surprise. When the blue-haired girl nodded, Itsuka briefly flashed back to her conversation with Ochako during lunchtime, where Ochako had admitted what she and their senpai had done - and she felt a scowl return to her face as she sat down on the bench.

"Okay," She nodded, "maybe we do need to make a battle strategy."

"Awesome!" Nejire happily clapped her hands together, moving to sit down with Itsuka. "Okay, so here's what I'm thinking! We're gonna meet in the afternoon, so … maybe you, Midoriya and Uraraka can sneak away while everyone's in the water? Wait, but then Eri will probably need someone to look after her - does she know how to swim?"

"Er - I don't know, but I'm gonna lean towards 'no'."

"Okay! Then I'll help her - but wait," She blinked, "then that means that I can't distract anyone - and then they'll see you three wandering off and ask questions! And then Toga-senpai might do something to tease them both -"

"And I'll chop her if that happens," Itsuka muttered darkly.

"- oh, man!" Nejire leaned forward in her seat, pouting. "This is gonna be harder than I thought."

"Well … it's not what I really wanted either," Itsuka gave her, smiling a bit ruefully as she shook her head, "here I was thinking of just asking those two to come with me by ourselves and … kinda … have a day …"

She trailed off, however, as a sudden thought came to her. In between the chaos of Mina essentially inviting their entire class to the beach tomorrow as well, the stress of having to face Shouto and Momo, and all of the emotional trauma she had to learn that Shouto was going through (that she was still processing in the back of her mind, making her note that she needed to find Shouto at some point next week to talk to him about it in more detail), she blinked as she suddenly registered … what exactly she had said to Izuku and Ochako.

"We're - we're gonna go to the beach, the - the three of us, and w-we're - we're gonna - we're gonna have a picnic. A-and swim in the ocean, and - and talk, and just - just - hang out. It'll be - it'll be super fun, and - and we'll get to -"

"… oh my god," Itsuka felt her eyes widen in horror, staring blankly ahead, "I asked Izuku and Ochako out on a date."

"Hm?" Nejire hummed a bit, looking around and blinking slightly at Itsuka's expression of terror. "Oh, yeah, you did. It was cute!"

There was a long pause. And then Itsuka slowly rose to her feet, walked over to the nearest corner, held her hands over her face, and moved down into a crouch, making Nejire look at her in surprise.

"Eh? Hey, hey, what's up?" Nejire hopped up and walked over, patting Itsuka's shoulder and tilting her head when the orange-haired girl remained huddled in the corner. "Are you okay, Itsuka? Do you have a headache? Something like that? I could run back to Recovery Girl's office to get you something, or maybe I could ask Yaomomo if she can make some -"

"I asked them out on a date," Itsuka suddenly spoke over here, her entire body beginning to shake as red filled her face, "I - I was - I asked them out on a date."

"Yeaaaah …?" Nejire nodded slowly, not really getting what was wrong, "You said that -"

However, before she could finish that, Itsuka suddenly hopped up and wheeled around, and Nejire blinked as Itsuka grabbed both her arms and gave the blue-haired girl a look of embarrassed horror and panic, beginning to shake her slightly.

"Nejire, I asked them out on a date!"

"Y-y-eaaaah y-y-y-yoou d-d-d-did!" Nejire managed to get out as she was shaken at increasing speeds, and Itsuka quickly looked away in horror as she stopped shaking her, causing Nejire to sway around in her dizziness, as though there were mini-Nejires flying around her head as she tried to regain her balance.

"Oh, god," Itsuka whispered in horror. "oh, god, oh, god, oh, god, oh, god!"

"A-and, I mean," Nejire managed to shake away her dizziness, flashing Itsuka a smile, "it was less you asking them out and more you telling them you were going out. Which was really assertive! Kinda hot, too!"

"I - I -" Itsuka blabbered a bit for a moment, looking far more panicked about the situation than Nejire thought - and then she let out a shuddering breath, as though realizing that she was still clinging to Nejire like a lifeline, and let go of her arms to take a small step back. However, before she could get out of Nejire's space, the blue-haired girl suddenly moved forward, and Itsuka blinked in surprise as Nejire gave her a hug.

"Ooooooh, I'm so proud of you!" She giggled happily, suddenly swinging Itsuka around and making her yelp as they moved away from the corner. "You asked them both out, and they were a hundred percent going to say yes before All Might came in and traumatized us!"

"I - I guess," Itsuka shivered a bit at that memory, still wrapping her arms gently around Nejire's waist, "I just … gotta focus on the fact that Izuku and Ochako know that I'm - I was expecting us to go on a picnic, and - and swim in the ocean, and - and -"

"And friend smooch?" Nejire added helpfully.

"Oh, god," Itsuka groaned, burying her face in Nejire's shoulder.

"But that's good!" Nejire moved her head back so that Itsuka could see her beaming at her. "This is really, really good, Itsuka! I don't know why you're freaking out about it - wait, unless it's because you don't have a swimsuit? Oop, in that case, I can let you borrow something from me! We can do it really quick in the morning, if you want, since Mom and Dad will probably - wait, are we even the same size? Would it be too small for you? I know that I'm a bit curvier than you, and you're a bit more muscular than I am, and my boobies are a bit bigger than yours -"

"N-no, I - I have a swimsuit," Itsuka cut her off before she could get carried away, although her cheeks did turn a bit pink, "it's just …"

Both girls paused as Itsuka finally stepped out of Nejire's embrace, the blue-haired girl watching her interestingly as she turned to sit back down on the bench. There was a long moment of Ituska simply staring off into space while Nejire patiently waited for her to collect her thoughts, before the class representative let out a soft sigh, and raised her hand to scratch the side of her head.

"… Nejire," She said carefully, "I … I've also been doing some - some thinking since we started talking about - you know - everything."

"Mm-hmm …" Nejire hummed.

"And then after what happened during Izuku and Ochako's match, and … seeing them get hurt, and beat up, and finding out about Izuku's …"

That caused Nejire's smile to fade as Itsuka stared at the floor for a long moment - and then she let out a small breath, and nodded.

"… so I decided that … tomorrow … I'm gonna say fuck it," She said quietly, "and tell them how I feel about them. Both of them."

Nejire slowly nodded, the smile returning to her face. However, Itsuka looked back at her, and she blinked at the look of uncertainty there.

"And … is that … okay with you?" She asked unsurely.

"Huh?" Nejire looked surprised for a moment, before she smiled happily. "Of course it is! That's what I wanted you to do, remember? When you were being all 'no, I shouldn't', and I was all 'yes, you should'!"

"I - yes, I remember that part," Itsuka nodded, still looking conflicted, "but I mean … if I do end up … telling Izuku how I feel … what about - y'know - you?"

Nejire felt herself blink at that, wrinkling her brow for a moment as she tried to figure out what Itsuka was talking about. The class rep merely waited for a moment, watching the wheels spin in her partner's head - and then she felt her eyebrows raise when Nejire physically stiffened a bit, quirking her own eyebrow, and then her eyes widened slightly.

"Oh," She said simply, "you mean …?"

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, pursing her lips, "if I … tell Izuku how I feel … what's gonna happen to - y'know - your feelings? I just - I know that you like him too, and - and I don't want to end up hurting you, Nejire, if - if he ends up … you know …"

Nejire slowly nodded for a moment, her eyes turning a bit softer, and then an unknown expression crossed her face. It was something that made Itsuka blink a bit, with Nejire staring down at her with some kind of … weird affection, something that made Itsuka's heart skip a bit for some reason. But before she could ask, Nejire moved to sit down beside her, letting out a soft giggle, and instead of answering her immediately, wrapped her arms around Itsuka once again and gave her another hug.

Itsuka, for her part, only let out a small sigh, albeit with a soft smile as she hugged Nejire back.

"It's okay," Nejire said, her voice muffled a bit with her ducking her face into Itsuka's shoulder, "you don't have to worry about me, Itsuka. You can just tell him."

"I don't know," She frowned, "I just …"

"Hey," Nejire interrupted her before she could go on, moving her head back again but keeping her arms wrapped around Itsuka's waist, and the orange-haired girl blinked at the uncertain look on her face, "I, uh … I'm serious. It's okay. It's just …"

She hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head.

"… well, I … I wasn't really sure how I was going to bring this up," She admitted quietly, "since the only other time I brought it up was with … Yuuyu …"

Her face fell again.

"… and she didn't really like it, for some reason."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked, sitting up on the bench with her. "What's up?"

"Well …" Nejire looked suddenly nervous as she glanced away, "… I was just … thinking that - that if you end up talking to Midoriya and Uraraka about your feelings - that means you're definitely gonna tell them that you - y'know - you love them."

Itsuka gulped a bit at the use of the 'L' word being dropped yet again today, but still nodded.

"Y-yeah," She said, "that's right."

"Well," Nejire glanced away, her own cheeks going red, "I was just thinking … if you're okay with telling them that you like them at the same time … and you're okay with them getting together, too … maybe it would be … okay for me to … keep crushing on Midoriya?"

There was a short pause at that. Itsuka found herself blinking a bit, feeling her brow furrow as Nejire looked far more anxious than she had ever seen her, glancing at Itsuka's face nervously while she leaned slightly out of Nejire's embrace to have a proper look at her.

"… er …" Itsuka found herself giving her an uncertain look, "… and when you say that, w-what do you mean?"

"I mean …" Nejire looked awkward, grimacing slightly, "… I'm just … wondering if it's okay, that - that even if you end up confessing to Midoriya tomorrow … if I can … keep going on more dates with him? And - y'know - keep getting to know him better."

"…"

"It's - it's entirely up to you!" Nejire quickly assured her, looking panicked at Itsuka's suddenly blank look. "And - and I'd understand if you didn't want me intruding on your relationship - or, y'know, relationships - if you guys decide to do something, and - and -"

"W-whoa, Nejire," Itsuka quickly shook herself out of her brief shock, seeing Nejire looking like she was on the verge of a panic attack and raising a hand between them even as she kept one hand on Nejire's hip, "just … just breathe, okay? I'm not mad or anything, just … I do have questions, but - but let's do it while we're calm, okay?"

Nejire slowly nodded to her words, taking a chance to stop her rambling and tried to take a deep breath. Allowing Nejire to take a moment to calm down, Itsuka waited patiently for her to collect herself, her thoughts moving a mile a minute as she carefully began to think about what Nejire had told her she wanted to do. 

As soon as Nejire looked a bit calmer, although still uncomfortable, Itsuka sighed again as she adjusted herself in her seat, moving out of the hug they were in.

"Okay," She started carefully, "so … Nejire. You … wanna keep pursuing Izuku. Even - even after I tell him how I feel?"

Nejire nodded timidly.

"I … okay. So, uh … okay, I'll be real with you," Itsuka dropped her shoulders, looking red, "I'm … not entirely sure what I'm supposed to say. I'm - I'm still coming to grips that I'm gonna tell him how I feel tomorrow, and then - then - gah. Okay, I - look, I'm not - I'm not gonna go and tell you not to do anything like that - since I - you know - haven't done my thing yet -"

"Really?!" Nejire gasped, looking hopeful. "Are - are you sure?"

"I - well, no," Itsuka winced as Nejire's smile fell again, "can I just … okay, I - I know that we're both talking about Izuku, but - but we've also got to consider Ochako's feelings too, remember?"

"Oh," Nejire blinked, "oh, yeah, uh - right."

"Yeah. So can I just … can I ask that you - you wait to do something with Izuku until - y'know - after we talk? Just so we know how things are gonna go forward with him and Ochako and m-me, and then - then we can talk again and figure out what we're gonna do."

Nejire slowly nodded at that, clearly thinking over Itsuka's request for a moment as Itsuka glanced automatically around the empty shower room - and then she let out another sigh, and leaned forward a bit as Nejire glanced around at her.

"Tell you what," She said in a quiet voice, her cheeks turning rosey again, "since … since you're helping me out with my talk with those two tomorrow, I'll - I can bring it up with Izuku about - well, I don't know if you, er, want me to tell him that … you know …"

"Oh," Nejire blinked a bit, looking surprised as she got what Itsuka was implying, "so - wait, are you saying that you'll - um - hint at me liking him?"

"O-only if you want."

"Hm …" Nejire thought about it for a moment, and then raised a finger, "… well … maybe nothing too obvious, but … maybe something like … you can be all 'hey, Midoriya, maybe pay a little more to what Nejire does? She makes it so obvious but you're missing all the hints! She's starting to get a little annoyed!'"

She paused for a moment.

"Well, not annoyed," She corrected herself, "but I'm starting to wonder if I have to be more forward! I feel like Midoriya's the kind of guy who only really gets it if it's super in his face, right? Like you did with your 'friend smooches'!"

"Y-yeah," Itsuka nodded, although she blinked as she thought about what Nejire had just said - and then she slowly straightened up, "gotta be … super forward."

"Yeah! So -"

"Like," She interrupted her without thinking, "super forward."

"Uh … yeah!" Nejire nodded a bit, not really getting it as she glanced over at Itsuka's concentrated face.

"Like … kiss someone's cheek, forward."

"Yeaaaah … like you did!"

"Yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, turning to look at Nejire with an expectant look, "and … like … you did."

With that statement, both girls paused, staring at each other. Nejire seemed to get what Itsuka was implying, tilting her head slightly white a look of nervousness crossed the orange-haired girl's face, her cheeks going redder - and then she let out a soft breath.

"Okay," Itsuka slowly nodded, adjusting herself on the bench, "I … guess we gotta have this conversation before we go back. Just - just to get it out of the way."

"Hm?" Nejire raised her eyebrow, and Itsuka briefly wondered if she was playing dumb on purpose. "Talk about what?"

"You …" She swallowed a bit loudly, and then tried to fight down the blush on her cheeks, "… gave me a - a 'friend smooch' before our match with Todoroki and Yaoyorozu."

"Oh," Nejire blinked a bit, a smile appearing on her face, "well, uh - I did."

"Okay … but … why?"

"Er … because I wanted to."

"You wanted to - okay," Itsuka sighed again, raising a hand to rub the bridge between her eyes as she closed them, "I - sure, I should've expected that. I was just … wondering why you did it. Because y'know, I just - 'friend smooches' are - they're -"

"They aren't real?" Nejire guessed, and laughed lightly as Itsuka nodded. "I mean, yeah, I know that! I just thought we were doing a bit. I know that you weren't just being super friendly with Midoriya and Uraraka when you kissed their cheeks. That's the love you have for them coming out."

"I - okay -"

"And c'mon!" Nejire hopped up, moving over to take Itsuka's hand down from her eyes, and gave her a beaming smile as Itsuka looked up at her. "You can't tell me that you were being platonic when you kissed their cheeks! It was your excuse to do something lovely with them. And it's romantic!"

"In that case," Itsuka spoke without even thinking about what she was saying, raising her eyebrows, "if it's something romantic to do, then why did you kiss my cheek?"

Nejire paused at that, her smile fading a bit as Itsuka likewise froze up as she realized what she had said - but both girls suddenly became aware of the other going on their guards, Itsuka's shoulders tensing and Nejire very obviously wondering what to say next. Itsuka, for her part, frowned slightly, but not in a bad way - more in a way that it was clear that she was a bit anxious about what Nejire was going to say here, and Nejire slowly straightened her shoulders.

And then … Nejire let out a small sigh, and moved to crouch down in front of Itsuka so both girls were relatively face to face.

What could be said here would … probably lead to some complications down the road, both girls knew. But … well, it wasn't like they could just let it go unaddressed. So Nejire let out a small giggle, leaning over to put her hands overtop Itsuka's where she had them on her legs, and gave her a soft smile.

"Like I said," She shrugged, speaking in a simple voice, "I … kissed your cheek because I wanted to."

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, letting out a small breath, "I … got that. But I'm wondering …"

Nejire tilted her head again, continuing to smile softly while Itsuka clearly searched for a way to repeat her question without it sounding repetitive - and then she giggled.

"Do … you really want me to say it?" She asked, making up her mind on what to do. "Or maybe … do you want me to show it?"

"I …" Itsuka paused, not aware of Nejire moving up on her tippie-toes while crouched before her, "… you know what? Sure. Just to make sure we're on the same page. So why -"

And then, without waiting for Itsuka to finish that sentence, Nejire leaned forward. And before Itsuka could blink, she felt a pair of soft, plump lips press against hers.

Itsuka froze at once, letting out a small muffled squeak as Nejire gently kissed her. She felt her entire body stiffen up, her hands on her legs tensing slightly as Nejire lifted her own hands up to cup her cheeks, pressing her lips a bit firmer against hers and closed her eyes. Itsuka's eyes continued to widen as Nejire held the kiss for a few seconds, her fingers gently stroking her face, before the blue-haired girl finally moved back, her eyes opening again.

They both stared at each other for a long moment, Itsuka with her face on fire and Nejire breathing in slightly, and then she giggled.

"Your lips are really soft," She commented, licking her own briefly, which only made Itsuka tense a bit more.

"Uh," She managed to get out, feeling herself begin to shake as Nejire kept her hands on her cheeks, "w-what was - what - I - what -"

"Wait," Nejire blinked a bit, her smile fading, and a look of worry appeared, "was that too much? Should I not have done that? I'm really sorry if I made you uncomfortable, Itsuka -"

"You didn't!" Itsuka squeaked at once at the sudden doubtful look that came to Nejire's face, quickly shaking her head and feeling herself begin to panic as her face continued to burn and her heart beat even quicker than it had during her fights today. "It was - uh - it was n-nice."

"It was?!" Nejire gasped, looking delighted. "Does that mean you wanna kiss again? I kinda wanna kiss again, too!"

"H-huh? I -"

Nejire, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) didn't wait for a response to that, instead quickly moving back in and catching Itsuka's lower lip in between hers. Itsuka let out a small grunt as Nejire suddenly sat up and moved her hands down to her shoulders, pressing their bodies a bit firmer together as Nejire tilted her head a bit to the side to deepen the kiss. Itsuka, for her part, had no idea what to do, other than kiss back in her confusion as they briefly went chest to chest - and that sensation made Itsuka feel like she was about to pass out - as she wondered in brief panic what to do.

Okay. Nejire was kissing her. She was being kissed. She was being kissed by someone other than Ochako. She was being kissed.

And Nejire was …

… kinda … really good at kissing.

Like … her lips were soft. She felt warm. Her arms snaked around Itsuka's neck and Itsuka's own hands had automatically grabbed Nejire's back and her hair was in her hands and - and - and holy god, her hair was soft.

It felt … really good.

It felt … nice to kiss Nejire.

Fortunately - or unfortunately - she didn't have very long to consider that weird fact, as Nejire finally moved back, their lips disconnecting in a light smack. And Nejire let out a little giggle as she finally leaned forward to envelop Itsuka in another hug.

And finally, Itsuka found her words. And those words, unintentionally, were, "What the fuck just happened."

"Hm?" Nejire hugged her a bit tighter. "I kissed you! Twice! That was my first kiss, you know, and ooooooh … wow, it was great! Not how I expected to lose my first kiss, but I'm glad it was with you. You're a really good kisser, y'know! Do you have practice? I mean, obviously you do, since you've kissed Uraraka, but - man, it was great! Your lips are really soft, like I said, and your hair's really soft, too! Did you like the kiss, too? Did you, did you?"

"I …" Itsuka slowly shook her head, not even aware of her arms absently wrapping around Nejire's lower back, "… what just … happened?"

"What just happened," Nejire giggled again, "is that I lowkey wanted to kiss you ever since we started talking after our match with Monoma. And … voila! I kissed you! I'm really glad that it was with you, you didn't try to push your tongue in my mouth or make us hit our teeth together or anything like that! It was nice."

"But … I … w-why did you -" Itsuka's voice was losing its confused tone, and being replaced by mild panic. "- why did you kiss me?"

"Because I like you," Nejire said simply, which only made Itsuka stiffen against her even more, "like, a tiny crush! I was thinking about you after that match, when you were all cool and hot, and then … I don't know, it kinda expanded from there! After what happened with Bakugou and all that stuff, I got really worried about Midoriya and Uraraka, and then … you know, after we fought Todoroki, I just … didn't want anything to go unsaid anymore. I like you, Itsuka - romantically."

Finally, she stepped out of the hug, although not without leaving a small kiss on her cheek, and stood back up while Itsuka remained seated, still frozen in shock as Nejire grabbed her gray blazer from the side, checking the time.

"I'm not gonna make you answer my feelings right now," She assured her, "not yet, anyway. I know that you've got all your romantic stuff with Midoriya and Uraraka coming up, so I'm not gonna force my way in between you guys and make you choose. Nope, nope, nope! I want you guys to figure out what's going on between you before I start … er … feeling things out. And then after that, we can figure it out."

"I … uh …" Itsuka nervously licked her lips again to get some of the moisture back there, and watched as Nejire spun away from her, starting to walk over to the door. Once she was there, though, she paused, as though thinking of something, and then looked back at Itsuka with a cheeky, almost …

… definitely not an innocent look, Itsuka stiffened up while her knees felt weak.

"Of course," Nejire batted her eyelashes, "I've kinda given you a lot to think about, haven't I? Just … keep me in mind for when you and Midoriya and Uraraka figure out your thingy, okay? You're a really nice kisser, and I don't mind if we explore that … later. If we ever end up alone again."

With that, she finally slid out of sight, Itsuka hearing the sound of her humming and skipping down the hall towards the classroom as the door shut. Itsuka continued to stare blankly at where Nejire had vanished as she slowly registered what had just happened …

… and then she activated her quirk, growing her hand out to full size, and quickly wrapped it around her upper body so that she could let out a muffled scream of embarrassment into her enlarged palm, her face going so red it wouldn't be surprising if she were to pass out from all the blood going to her head.


It only took her about five minutes to calm herself down enough that she wouldn't come back to the classroom looking like a tomato, but soon Itsuka left the changing room and eventually got back to Class 1A with only about a minute to spare. She tried not to glance over at Ochako as she blinked in confusion and suspicion about how red her face looked despite her attempts to cool off, and moved to sit down at her desk, where everyone was sitting around and talking happily about the weekend - with enough mentions of the beach that her eyebrow was beginning to twitch.

Nejire, for her part, was back in her own seat talking excitedly to Izuku while he weakly talked back to her, looking extremely tired as he adjusted some of the bandages wrapped around his wrist, hidden underneath his school blazer. There was a brief moment, however, that Nejire glanced over at where Itsuka was sitting, shooting her a small, mischievous look that Itsuka was not ready for, making her clear her throat awkwardly in her fluster.

Thankfully for her, Aizawa chose that moment to awkwardly slide the door open so that he could shuffle to the podium, causing the class to quickly silence themselves as they turned their attention to him.

“Alright, good work out there,” He said in a tired, droned voice, “there won't be any school tomorrow or the day afterwards so your upperclassmen can go through their own festivals, so be sure to take this time to recover and be ready for next week. I'm sure that the pro heroes who were in attendance today will be submitting their requests over the weekend, and we'll be consolidating everything and announce them when you return to school on Monday. So rest well and look forward to that.”

Yes, sir!”

Alright, then. Most of you are excused. Bakugou,” Aizawa's voice turned colder, “stay seated.”

With that, everyone, sans Katsuki still glaring down at his desk, stood up to be excused from the classroom. Izuku stole one more nervous glance at Katsuki - still unnerved by how eerily silent he had been for the last few hours, excluding his insult to Itsuka before the awards ceremony - and quickly hurried with Nejire over to where Itsuka and Ochako were waiting for them by the door. Unfortunately, their quick escape had a small complication with how Izuku handled his bag, trying to drag it up over his shoulder, and there was a small rip on one of the arms.

Oh, crap!” He squeaked quietly as his bag fell over, the notebooks and textbooks quickly sliding out of his bag and onto the floor with a small clatter. Thankfully, Ochako seemed to understand the urgency to leave before Aizawa reamed Katsuki out, and she quickly went down as well to pick up a few of his books to lessen the load, Izuku flashing her a quick smile in thanks. Once they were ready, Izuku quickly bowed to the glaring Aizawa in apology, and ducked out into the hall with the rest of their class -

- and saw Nezu, All Might, Snipe, Hound Dog and Tenko enter the classroom from the other door, sliding it shut behind them.

There was a short pause in their group - and Denki let out a nervous chuckle.

“Well, uh,” He cleared his throat, “he's screwed.”

“Okay,” Itsuka sighed, pushing past her tiredness and her fluster with Nejire beside her for the moment, “let's get a move on, people, let's give the teachers some privacy.”

Everyone quickly nodding, they all began to move out as a group, leaving Katsuki behind to his fate and moving down the hallway towards the exit to the school, Izuku checking on the rip on his backpack and Ochako shouldering her backpack with the extra weight inside it.

“So,” Yosetsu wiped his brow with his bandana as he walked with his friends, scowling, “today fucking sucked. At least for me.”

“Nah, don't be that way, bro,” Eijirou gave him a sympathetic look, clapping his shoulder, “it wasn't your fault Shinsou was being unmanly.”

“He's right,” Momo stepped forward to pat Yosetsu's other shoulder, causing him to quickly look around at her, “please don't think of today as a waste, Awase. I know that I can't exactly speak for you, but just because you were eliminated in the first round doesn't mean that a hero doesn't have their eye on you. How far did you get in the first round?”

“Just after the zero pointers,” He shook his head, a fleck of red on his cheeks due to the heiress touching his shoulder, “Shinsou asked me if I wanted to help him get across, and when I told him to - you know, uh - fuck off, that's when he got me. Told me to jump off the side.”

“Oh!” Setsuna blinked, looking around at him with her sharp grin. “Then you'll be fine, bro. You got some of the robots, right?”

“Yeah, three or four.”

“Then that'd be enough for some heroes to notice you, at least. Trust me, man, I did the research – heroes watch the reruns of the festivals like hawks so they can critique every performance, so there's no way there won't be someone noticing you and seeing what you've got, at least.”

“Mm,” Yui nodded from the side as well, “you at least got halfway through. It's easy to think about what you didn't accomplish in comparison to what you did accomplish.”

“I … guess so,” Yosetsu sighed, nodding and looking around at everyone in regret, “sorry to bring the mood down, guys, just … sucks that I'm the only one here that didn't make it to the next round.”

“I mean,” Setsuna helpfully pointed at her slinged arm, “you could've ended up like me and lost a hand.”

“… you know what, I think I'm gonna shut up now.”

“So!” Mina suddenly clapped her hands together, and wheeled around from her spot in front of the group, causing everyone to look over at her as she lifted her phone in the air, “I was just chattin' with Tooru over in Class 1B - everyone's gonna be meeting us for the afternoon at Dagobah Beach tomorrow! And we're just waiting for Toga-senpai to get back to us, but be sure to bring something for us all to share, since we're gonna be there until nightfall!”

“Oh, joy,” Itsuka muttered to herself, sulking slightly as everyone around her, Izuku, Ochako and Nejire celebrated with cheers. Fumikage, off to the side, raised his hand in question.

“Is attendance tomorrow mandatory?”

“No,” Mina pouted at him, pretending to tear up, “but if you don't come, you'll make me cry.”

“Ah,” Fumikage nodded, “in that case, I have nothing of consequence to worry about.”

“Erk!” Mina reeled back as though she had been shot. Reiko, at least, shook her head and patted Fumikage's shoulder to get his attention.

“A day out at the beach doesn't sound too bad,” She pointed out to him, “I will be in attendance, anyway. Although I don't have any plans to leave the umbrella I'm going to bring - perhaps, if you were interested, we could spend a bit of time together and catch up on the manga you let me borrow.”

“Hm? Ah, well,” Fumikage looked away from her, a tinge of red behind his feathers but still trying to look cool, “I suppose … in that case, I might as well.”

“Alrighty!” Mina raised her hand up in the air to get everyone's attention again. “So who's gonna bring what? Apparently, Sato over in 1B is gonna bake us some bread to eat!”

“I call chips,” Yosetsu, Kyouka, Denki and Setsuna called at the same time, prompting them all to quickly whip glares around at each other for their shared inability to cook anything.

“I could … maybe bring some mochi,” Ochako thought to herself as she poked her cheek, following everyone heading down the stairs together towards the gate, “Mama said something this morning about making some tonight for our celebration … maybe I could ask her to make us a bit more?”

“I know that I'm bringing burgers, at least,” Itsuka sighed, shaking her head and finally admitting defeat, “I'll have to ask Dad to help us get it over there, but he doesn't have work until lunch tomorrow so it should be fine if we just get there a bit earlier. I'll have to figure out what Eri's gonna eat, too - she's not picky, but my grandpa's trying to get her addicted to traditional Japanese cuisine, she needs a bit more variety.”

“I know I'm bringing nato!” Eijirou called out to the group.

“I'll cover onigiri, kero.”

“I guess in that case, I'll be grabbing marshmallows – if we're gonna be there until after dark, we can bring some stuff to make a firepit.”

“Oh! In that case, I'll cover that! I'll swing by the store and buy some firewood!”

“I'll bring a veggie tray!”

“Lame!”

“I've got soba covered, I guess!”

“I can bring volleyball stuff!”

“I'm still gonna bring my basketball!”

As they all called dibs on what they would be bringing to their beach party tomorrow, not even Itsuka could stop herself from smiling at all the quick preparations they were all making (even if she was still annoyed that their talk was going to be interrupted by all of this). They all headed out the doors of the school towards the gate, talking excitedly amongst each other. When they all finally decided on a time to meet for tomorrow, everyone gave each other waves as they started making their way back towards the train station, moving in groups in case some of them were still injured enough to need some help.

In the end, the only ones who stayed back were Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, wanting to stay to meet up with their families, Nejire, who was glancing between the three of them, and Momo, standing off to the side by herself. The other smaller group looked around at her with curiosity as she shuffled on her feet.

“Er … Yaomomo,” Nejire asked her, smiling a bit when Momo went red at the nickname that left her lips, “aren't you going to the train station, too? Is something wrong? Can you not move? I can go with you and help, if you want!”

“Oh, er - no, I'm fine, thank you,” She shook her head, letting out a soft sigh, “it's just … my parents are going to pick me up, so I probably shouldn't -”

“Itsukaaaaa!”

Hearing her name being shouted behind her, Itsuka jumped a bit, the gold medal she had decided to put back around her neck coming up and smacking her slightly in the face, and looked around with everyone. Coming from around the corner was the entire Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan, with Eri holding Inko's hand as they all walked over to the five teenagers standing there. From behind them, Momo spotted an older woman hurrying towards them with her bodyguard, spotting her daughter and visibly brightening up - which, of course, did put a small smile on Momo's face.

“Oh, baby, I'm so proud of you!” Tenohira embraced her daughter tightly, making Itsuka squeak as the life was squeezed out of her while her dad roughly ruffled her hair. “You got first place!”

“That's my girl!” Hakushu laughed joyfully, grabbing both Itsuka and Tenohira in a bear hug and lifting them off their feet. While Itsuka continued to let out several wheezing sounds at the life being crushed out of her by her parents, Izuku let out a small chuckle as he turned to give his own mom a big hug, and Eri briefly hugged his waist. Glancing behind him, though, Izuku felt himself blink when he didn't see his dad anywhere in sight.

“Er … Mom, where's Dad?”

“Oh, he had to … er … stay behind,” She explained quickly as she stepped back, “that Midnight teacher of yours asked one of us to visit Recovery Girl again so we could go over your medical history with her, and he volunteered so we both didn't have to stay. He should be back later tonight.”

“O-oh,” Izuku nodded slowly, feeling himself frown as Inko glanced down at his arms, “right. Of course.”

Below them, Eri finally let go of his waist so that she could walk over to where the Urarakas were reuniting, Ochako glancing down at the folder under her mom's arm in brief confusion, and gave the brown-haired girl a hug to get her attention.

“Hi,” She said in a slightly muffled voice as she pressed her face to Ochako's stomach, “I'm really tired. Can we go home now?”

“Can you wait just a little bit longer, sugar?” Miwa giggled as she knelt down and smoothed back Eri's gray hair. “We're going to head over to the apartments to celebrate - we always make Tenohira and Hakushu host for us, so why don't we change things up this time?”

“Okay … but I want apples.”

“I've gotcha covered, Eri,” Tayio chuckled, “we'll getcha somethin' sweet.”

Eri looked at least satisfied with that, nodding and reaching up to take Ochako's hand in hers. As she smiled down at her, Eri suddenly blinked, as though she remembered something.

“Oh, yeah,” She seemed to realize, “Occhan, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hm?” Ochako blinked a bit. “What's up, Eri?”

“What did those words you said mean?”

The Urarakas all blinked, glancing between each other in brief confusion as Eri looked between them.

"When you were flying around,” She clarified, looking a bit concerned, “you were saying a lot of weird words. What did they all mean?”

“Uh …” Ochako felt herself sweat a bit nervously, “… what're you talkin' about, Eri? I don't think I said anything -”

“You said 'shit'.” Eri helpfully told her, causing everyone nearby to whip around in absolute shock as the little girl casually dropped a curse word. “And … 'piss'? 'Balls'? 'Damn'? 'Hell?' 'Fu-'”

She was thankfully interrupted by Inko quickly moving down and covering her mouth with her hand, looking absolutely panicked while the Urarakas merely hung their heads in shame, and Itsuka, freed her her parents' death trap of a hug, reached out to gently grab Ochako's ankle as the girl covered her face with her hands and sent herself floating off again, with only Itsuka holding onto her to prevent her from flying off into space for the third time that day.

Thankfully for them, the casual curse words that the little girl had innocently dropped on them hadn't been overheard by Yukiri as she approached, letting out a giggle as she enveloped Momo in a big hug.

“Oh, Momo, you were simply spectacular out there!” She praised as Jin gave the other families a suspicious look, although he still hung back. “You and Shouto were beautiful together!”

“I - thank you, Mother.” Momo patted her back, trying to hide her small look of sadness as she backed out of her mother's embrace. Yukiri then turned to smile at the other teenagers and their families around them.

“Are these your friends?” She asked in a stage whisper, looking between the Midoriyas, the Urarakas, the Kendous and Nejire standing off to the side, and looked delighted when Momo nodded a bit awkwardly. “Oh, in that case, we'll have to do introductions at once! Or … perhaps should we wait for your father?”

“Oh, I -”

“You won't have to wait very long!”

At the sound of a deeper voice coming from behind them, everyone in the small group blinked (and Momo felt a chill run up her spine) as they all looked around, the Midoriyas, Kendous, Urarakas and Nejire looking around in surprise. Stepping carefully through the barrier before the limo that had pulled up on the curb, Daikoku Yaoyorozu flashed them all a smile as he raised his hand in greeting, glancing between them all.

“Good evening,” He greeted them, moving to wrap his arm around Yukiri's shoulders, and the smaller woman stiffened up slightly but tried to keep her smile from looking fake, “and here I was thinking that I was going to be late! Traffic coming back from UA was honestly a challenge to get through. I don't believe we've had the pleasure yet – I am Daikoku Yaoyorozu, and this is my wife, Yukiri. Momo has told me about you all, it's a delight to finally meet you all.”

“Hello!” Yukiri gave the other families a wave, quickly moving out of her husband's grasp to take Itsuka's hands in hers, much to the younger girl's surprise. “Oh, I have to say, you were all so fantastic during those final matches! I'm so proud of Momo, but congratulations, Kendou, for your victory!”

“Oh, uh - t-thank you,” Itsuka nodded awkwardly, while Nejire glanced back over at where Daikoku was smiling at them all still, somewhat put off by how stiff the smile looked, “Yaoyorozu is – she's a great friend.”

“Uh … y-yeah,” Izuku nodded in agreement as well, deciding to give Itsuka a chance to breathe as Yukiri looked over at him, “she – she really helped out during the second round too, uh – setting up all our traps. She was a great – she – she really helped us out.”

“Y-yeah,” Ochako agreed awkwardly as well.

“Oh,” Yukiri blinked, her smile growing a bit wider, “oh, that's so nice to hear! It seems that you've had quite the productive day, Momo!”

“I … yes,” Momo nodded stiffly, unable to really move while Daikoku had his hand resting on her shoulder, “I - I suppose, Mother.”

“Indeed,” Daikoku looked around at everyone again, before suddenly sweeping his arms wide, as though inviting them in for a big hug, “now then, after hearing so much about you all from Momo, I urge you to cancel your plans for the evening and let us take care of you. Since your children are all such good friends to my Momo, I would find it fitting to treat you all.”

“Oh, yes!” Yukiri clapped her hands happily together, looking weirdly relieved about having company over. “I'm sure that we can open up one of our halls at home and treat you!”

“Ah, er …” Taiyo went a bit pale, glancing down at the folder under his wife's arm while Miwa tensed slightly.

“We … thank you for the offer,” Tenohira took over for him, reaching over to hold Eri's hand and looking down at her, and looking relieved when Eri chose that moment to yawn widely, “but our youngest here had a pretty long day. As much as we'd love for you to host, we're going to have to get home soon for her to lay down.”

Thankfully, Yukiri didn't look too disappointed, smiling adorably down at the little girl and moving to pat her head a bit, causing Eri to blink a bit in confusion and look up at her.

“Oh, I remember when Momo was your age,” She cooed a bit, “getting so tired after spending all day reading encyclopedias. Used to get quite pouty with me when I didn't bring home any new ones for her to read!”

“Is … that right?” Itsuka raised an eyebrow, turning to glance at Momo while she went red.

“Mother …" She whined a bit.

“But I digress,” Yukiri shook her head, giggling a bit at her daughter's reaction, “if you need to get this sweetheart home soon, we shouldn't impose.”

“Still though,” Daikoku jumped back in, looking nonplussed about it, “we shouldn't wait to do something soon. I imagine we can arrange a small dinner party sometime soon - I still wish to thank you all for being Momo's friends.”

“O-oh, yes, indeed!” Yukiri quickly nodded, glancing back at her husband with subtle caution. “We'll be wanting to give you all our thanks eventually.”

“And - er - we thank you for that,” Hakushu nodded a bit awkwardly.

“Now then,” The Yaoyorozu patriarch turned to Momo, who stiffened up slightly under her father's gaze, “I suppose at this point, all we have to do is wait for Shouto, won't we?”

“Oh, ah -”

“I'm right here.”

Both Izuku and Ochako, who had been standing somewhat close together, jumped at the same time at the sound of a familiar voice speaking right behind them. Standing behind them all in his school uniform, looking stoic but much calmer than he had been all day long, was Shouto, carrying his school bag over his shoulder and looking between everyone as they whipped around to give him a shocked look, as though they were all wondering how long he had been standing there.

“Oh, Shouto!” Yukiri exclaimed happily, quickly hurrying over, and Shouto automatically and stiffly opened his arms up so that she could give him a big hug, his face unchanging as she clung tightly to him. “It's so good to see you, it's been so long! You did so well out there!”

“Thank you, Mrs. Yaoyorozu,” He politely said, and then turned to look at Daikoku from over her shoulder, “and you're right, it has been a while. Actually, Mr. Yaoyorozu, I'm thankful that you're here - there was something I wanted to clarify with you all.”

“Is that so?” Daikoku raised an eyebrow, watching as Shouto stepped out of Yukiri's embrace, and moved around the small group to face him. The CEO stared at Shouto for a long moment as the young man let out a soft sigh – and then he lowered himself into a bow, not before Daikoku, but to Momo, causing the entire group to blink at him.

“I'm afraid that there has been a misunderstanding between us, Yaomomo,” He said in a low voice as he faced the ground, “you asked me to talk after lunch, and apologized for being rude after I had gotten that Mineta idiot off of her. But I realized that it wasn't necessary - you were being assaulted by him, and I probably didn't make you feel any better by treating you so coldly. I realized that you have nothing to apologize for, so I … would like to give you my own apology now.”

“Is … that right?” Daikoku's smile slipped somewhat, while Momo stared down at him in surprise, Ochako in confusion, and Izuku, Itsuka and Nejire silently. However, before anyone else could speak, there was a huff behind them.

“Is this true, Shouto?”

They all turned around, and the parents of the group felt their eyes bulge out of their sockets at the appearance of Endeavor storming over to where Shouto was straightening up, shooting him a small glare. Itsuka, Izuku and Nejire, for their parts, couldn't help but feel scowls appear on their faces at the appearance of the pro hero, while Ochako glanced around and felt herself become even more confused at the sight, but before anyone could ask, Endeavor stopped just short of the Yaoyorozus, and put his hands on his hips.

“Shouto,” He said in a cold voice,” I know that I raised you better than to treat Momo so coldly. This is an error on my part, but regardless, you will apologize to her at once.”

Shouto nodded slowly - he mentally hated that Endeavor was forcing him to do things, but he knew that the old man seemed to pick up on Momo's awkwardness, so he would bite his annoyance down. Turning to Momo, he lowered himself into a bow again.

“I'm sorry, Yaomomo,” He said softly, “for treating you so harshly.”

“I …" Momo hesitated for a moment, trying not to glance over at her father in fear of his reaction – and then she nodded, "… thank you, Shouto. It's – it's alright, there's no need for apologies.”

“Indeed,” Daikoku jumped in, smiling down at the young man and shaking his head, “what's done is done, I suppose.”

With that brush off of Shouto's apology, the CEO turned on the spot, gesturing happily towards his wife and daughter, and Jin moved to the door of the limo to open it.

“In any case,” He nodded, “I suppose at this point, we should be taking our leave, ladies. I've got a few dinner plans for tonight, and I'm sure that you must be starving, Momo. Let's adjourn to the manor, shall we?”

“Yes, father.” Momo nodded, a troubled look appearing on her face -

“In that case,” Shouto suddenly straightened up and looked to his father, “we should accompany them, old man.”

Endeavor, for his part, merely raised an eyebrow as he turned to look down at his son. Shouto was giving him a sharp look of his own, making it clear that he wasn't really asking even as the Yaoyorozus looked around at him in surprise. After a long moment, Endeavor let out a short sigh, glancing over at the uncomfortable look on Momo's face with her father holding onto her shoulder, and he then nodded.

“Very well,” He agreed, crossing his arms, “like you said to me earlier today, Mrs. Yaoyorozu, it has been a while since we've all sat down together for dinner. Natsuo will probably decline, and I believe Touya will be working, but I believe Fuyumi will be able to meet with us. I'll have Kurumada pick her up from home.”

“Oh, excellent!” Yukiri joyfully clapped her hands together again, while Momo shot Shouto a grateful look for his fast thinking and Daikoku turned away to gesture for the two clones of Jin to get the car ready. “In that case, of course we'd be more than happy to host! And while I'm a bit disappointed that it can't be a bigger party,” She turned to smile at the other three families standing there awkwardly, “I'm sure that we'll figure out another time to do a get together.”

“Er - uh, yes,” Tenohira nodded a bit stiffly, “of course, just … let us know.”

“We will!”

With that, the Yaoyorozus and Todorokis started heading out the gate towards the limo, with Endeavor letting out a small sigh as he started walking with the other two adults. Momo and Shouto, meanwhile, paused before they headed off, with Shouto looking around at Itsuka, Ochako, Izuku and Nejire for a moment before he nodded to them, and then followed Momo out of the school gates. They all watched as they climbed into the limo, and soon enough, they were driving away.

The three families and Nejire stared after them for a long moment in silence – and then Hakushu said, in a plain voice, “That was … weird.”

“Mm-hm,” Tenohira agreed with her husband, cocking a hip and raising her eyebrow, “those were … definitely rich people.”

Nejire let out a weak giggle at that (although, like Itsuka and Izuku, there was a notable strain on her smile), as she then turned to look at the three families, raising her hand.

“Well, uh … I guess this is it for me!” She told them all as everyone glanced around at her. “Time to go home! Mom said that she'd be back in time for us to eat together! She said she was gonna cook something, but I'm also thinking – maybe she picked up some fast food? She does like fast food, so … well, I'm not gonna complain either way, I'm hungry! So time to go home and eat!”

“Oh,” Miwa blinked a bit, “well, we were thinking of asking if you wanted to join us, Hadou, but … well, if you already have plans …"

“It's all good!” Nejire saluted her. “I was gonna wait for Yuuyu, but … well, she texted me earlier that she was going home by herself,” Her smile faded a bit, “so I should probably get home soon before Mom starts to worry. And when Mom starts to worry, she gets angry! W-well, not like – 'hit me', angry, but more 'scold me', angry. And I don't wanna get scolded! That sucks! And I wanna show her my gold medal! She's gonna be so impressed! And I don't wanna ruin that by being late!”

“Right,” Hakushu nodded, “in that case, I … suppose we'll see you another time, Hadou.”

“Yep!” She smiled, and then turned to look at Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka. “So I'll see you guys tomorrow! I'm so looking forward to the beach!”

With that, she twirled around, her long blue hair flying briefly through the air, and she began to skip her way through the gates and out of sight. On her way out, her gaze flickered briefly back to Itsuka, who was glancing a bit nervously between Ochako and Izuku and her, and she was unable to stop herself from shooting her a small, flirty wink as she moved around the corner, leaving the three families standing there.

“Rrrrright,” Miwa slowly nodded, having no idea what that wink was about and wondering if she really wanted to, “I … guess in that case, it's … onto the Midoriya's? Or are we gonna wait for Coach Yagi?”

"Can't make it," Tenohira shook her head, pouting a bit at the lateness of the missing last member of their little clan, "he actually texted us a while back - said that an appointment had come up and he was going to have to congratulate the kids sometime in the weekend. That man, I swear … skipped out on Inko during the break too. I swear, those people at the All Might agency have to stop running him so ragged."

Inko let out a nervous laugh at that, suddenly breaking out into a small sweat as she cleared her throat.

"Er - uh - I suppose that if he can't make it, we can't hold it too much against him," She tried to defend the missing man while attempting to look normal, "so we'll have to see him later. S-so it's back to the apartments, then?"

“Not for me,” Teko suddenly spoke up from the back, shaking his head as everyone looked around at him as though they had forgotten he was there, “I am not sure about the rest of my family, but today has been tiring. I am going to go home and rest.”

“Okay, Dad,” Tenohira nodded, reaching out and gently rubbing his shoulder, “just be sure to eat some of the leftovers I have in the fridge, okay? I know you didn't end up eating much today.”

“I will. Goodnight to you all.”

With that, the Kendou patriarch separated from the rest of the group, and they all moved through the gate, with Teko moving over to one of the taxi terminals on the side while the rest of the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan started heading down the street. As he hailed a taxi, Teko watched the five adults and four children head down the mountain towards the train station, his eyes staying on Itsuka for a long moment as she held Eri's hand, and suppressed a yawn as she walked in between her friends. Watching as she vanished from view, Teko let out a sigh as he raised his hand towards the taxi approaching.

The drive back to the dojo was silent, save an occasional sniff from the driver, who seemed to pick up that Teko wasn't really in the mood for small talk as the dojo master stared out the car window the entire ride back to the Chiba prefecture. Finally, they stopped about a street away from the house so that Teko could stretch his legs a bit, he got out, giving the driver a tip for getting him home without any awkwardness. As the taxi drove away, Teko let out another long sigh, and turned on his heel towards his home, nodding politely to a few neighbors who waved to him.

His mind, at the moment, was racing - and none of the thoughts he was having were any good. He had seen much today - students fighting each other, harming each other, getting shot by cannons and thrown down dark holes, fighting out in the forest surrounding them, fighting in an arena as though they were in some kind of death match that the crowds could cheer on. He had seen both Izuku and Ochako being injured, the teachers acting as though they were suddenly responsible even after purposely setting things up so that they would get injured. He had seen his own granddaughter be trapped in an ice prison, come out bloody and wounded with weird lightning flickering around her, and then just … awarded medals at the end, like nothing of consequence had really happened.

It was clear now, at least to him, that he could not trust Itsuka's safety to UA. Not when it had been them that had put her in so much danger in the first place.

His insides continuing to churn in anger and frustration, Teko shook his head slowly. Back so many years ago, when his granddaughter had come home announcing excitedly that she had wanted to become a hero when she was older, he had overreacted. That much he knew, remembering his screaming at his beloved granddaughter while she sobbed and clung to her mother. It was …  undoubtedly the biggest shame he had felt since returning to Musutafu from Jed'ha Island. Even after …

… but after what he had seen today … he wondered if he made another mistake, changing his mind on her becoming a hero. How could he not have, if he couldn't trust All Might, the Number One Hero, with his granddaughter's safety, with him standing by and letting her get back in a fight with that boy?

Shaking his head, Teko gaze lifted up towards the dojo as he approached it, his eyes trailing downwards as he stepped on the path to the wooden porch. Walking around, he approached the gate on the side, wanting to simply walk upstairs, get his supper from the fridge, and then take an early bath so that he could be in bed before Tenohira and Hakushu would return with Eri -

- and then his thoughts were interrupted as he stepped up to the gate, lifted his gaze up … and saw the side of the man standing at the side door.

Stopping in his step, Teko stared blankly at the man standing there, pacing around slightly as he rang the doorbell again in his impatience. He then felt his eyes narrow, and Teko opened the gate slowly, not making much noise and closing it behind him as he carefully made his way into the backyard, walking behind the man. Finally stopping in the backyard, he folded his arms together and scowled.

“Son,” He said in a sharp voice, “you've returned.”

The man at the door finally stopped his pacing, straightening his back and staring forward for a moment before nodding slowly to himself. Turning slowly, his long, dirty light brown hair hanging in tatters behind his head, the giant man standing before him on the porch flashed the old dojo master a grin as he stared at him from behind his shoulder. Teko narrowed his eyes slightly at the scratches that littered his son's face - as though he had gotten in some kind of fight before coming here, his white t-shirt ripped a bit at the helm.

“Old man,” Rappa grinned, “didn't know you'd be alone. Where's my niece?”

“She's out at a party,” Teko frowned, moving up the steps around his son to unlock the door, “she probably won't be back until sometime tomorrow.”

“Ah, really? That's a shame,” Rappa grunted as he lifted the parcel he was holding under his arm, “wanted to give this to her. It's been a while since I saw Itsuka - how long's it been, since she was a year old? Two years old?”

“Three years old,” Teko said in a dark voice, “ever since I told you never to come back here.”

“Ah, right,” He slowly nodded, not looking very bothered as he flashed a sharp grin at his father, “three years old.”

There was a short pause - and then Teko sighed.

“I suppose you aren't here because Tengai delivered my message to you?”

“Huh? That thing where you want me to come back here to learn lessons?”

Teko narrowed his eyes but nodded.

“Nah,” Rappa chuckled, stepping down the step and putting the package down on the porch, even as his eyes never left his father's back, “stick-up-his-ass delivered your message, but I don't really care. I don't need any more lessons from you, old man.”

“That can be argued,” Teko sighed, “but I believe I told Tengai that I didn't want anyone to come -”

“You did say that. But I disagreed.”

At the voice behind him, Teko straightened up. With Rappa raising an eyebrow and smirking as he lifted something out from his back pocket - what looked to be a black cloth fashioned into a plague mask - Teko slowly turned, and felt himself frown as … he realized he was no longer alone.

Instead, he was surrounded by what looked to be a group of plague doctors staring up at him. One of them, a large, muscular man, growled a bit menacingly as the smaller man on top of him, wearing a black cloak that covered his entire body save the white plague mask, glared down at him menacingly. The one he remembered being Nemoto adjusted his hat on top of his head, while another young man wearing a white coat and hood over his full face mask glanced left and right, as though expecting some of Teko's neighbors to be poking their heads out to have a look at what was happening.

But it was the man in the middle that drew Teko's attention, making him narrow his eyes. It was a pale young man, with a narrow build, and thin, golden eyes staring into his own like he was trying to peer into his soul. Wearing a dark olive-green bomber jacket with a thick purple fur collar, and a dark dress shirt with matching dress-pants, what was the most unique feature about this young man, however, was the plague doctor mask he wore around his mouth - red and yellow, and showing nothing of his face other than his eyes.

“Kai,” Teko nodded shortly, frowning, “you've come to see me personally, I see.”

“Evening, old man,” Kai Chisaki smirked under his mask as he took a step forward, “sorry for the intrusion, but I have the information you requested. I decided to deliver it personally.”

“And ignored my request not to come here as well.”

“Can you blame me?” The yakuza leader looked up at the dojo. “It's been years since I've been here - it's almost as though I've come back home. Now then, let's do this inside - I've got quite a bit to tell you.”

Frowning darkly, but still nodding as he knew that there was no one else home, Teko gestured with his hand. The group of yakuza walked into the dojo as he held the door open for them, shooting a dark look at his sniggering son as he walked through, and then closed the door behind him.

He had been so caught up in his dark thoughts as he entered the dojo along with the rest of the Shie Hassaikai, he didn't notice the subtle flash of a phone's camera in the bushes. Quickly climbing out and grumbling quietly about the scratches and twigs in her hair, the blue-skinned young woman in disguise quickly hopped the fence of the dojo, and began jogging back down the street towards her bike.


“Are … you guys okay?” Eri asked in slight concern, yawning a bit.

“We're … we're good, sweetie,” Itsuka grumbled from her spot on Izuku's bed, laying face down with her voice muffled by the pillows, “just … gonna close our eyes for a bit.”

“Yeeeep …” Ochako groaned from her spot on the floor, laying on her back, “… I am … never gonna complain about stiff beds or sleeping on the couch ever again. This is the life.”

“Mm-hmmm …” Izuku nodded as he flopped in his desk chair, and laid down on the desk.

Indeed, the three teenagers had pretty much flopped down in various parts of Izuku's room in their exhaustion, Eri sitting on the edge of Izuku's bed and looking around at them all in slight worry, even as she yawned again. They were all currently back in the Midoriya apartment, with the kids hearing the sound of the conversation between the Kendous, the Urarakas and Inko outside in the living room, while the teenagers had thankfully been excused to lay down for a while as the events of the day caught up to them, and so that they could get ready for a small impromptu sleepover. The Urarakas had already set up the futon in Ochako's room for Itsuka, so all that they really had to do was make sure Itsuka was in the correct room by the end of the night so that she could pass out in Ochako's room instead of Izuku's.

“Okay,” Ochako yawned as she pushed her face a bit harder against the floor, “I think it's a testament to how tired I am that I'm kinda tempted to fall asleep on the floor. Itsuka, pillow me.”

“Meh,” Itsuka grumbled, and grabbed one of the pillows beneath her to throw blindly over her shoulder at Ochako. It managed to hit her leg, and the brown-haired girl grumbled as she flopped her hand blindly behind her to grab at it and move it so that she could rest her head against it, while Izuku sighed and cracked his neck.

“Are you guys …” Eri paused to yawn as well, her eyes becoming droopy, “… are you guys going to sleep?”

“Kinda,” Ochako grumbled.

“N-no,” Izuku managed to get out through a yawn.

“Yes,” Itsuka sighed, rubbing her head against Izuku's pillow while laying on her front.

“Oh,” Eri slowly nodded, her eyes closing, “okay. Goodnight.”

With that, she moved to crawl on top of Itsuka, the orange-haired girl grunting a bit as the little girl flopped her entire weight down on top of her, and for a few minutes, they were all quiet, allowing the dim light of Izuku's desk lamp to lull them into a comfortable rest. After the long day they had, it was all Izuku could do to keep his eyes open, feeling like his entire body was begging him to rest even as Itsuka took up most of his bed, the sight of her nuzzling into his pillow and breathing in lightly making him blush a bit.

They were comfortable, of course, until the sound of someone quietly knocking at the door got their attention, and Izuku and Ochako glanced up from where they were flopped to see it begin to open.

“Oh, y'all are still awake, good,” Taiyo sighed in relief, stepping into Izuku's bedroom with Miwa. They were both still dressed from the sports festival, with Taiyo securing his coat back over his shoulders and Miwa buttoning up her cardigan again, but it was the sight of Miwa tucking her purse over her shoulder and Taiyo holding that same folder from before underneath his arm that caused Ochako to wake up just a bit, sitting up from her spot on the floor.

“Uh … are you guys going somewhere?”

“Er … y-yeah, Chipmunk, we are,” Taiyo explained a bit stiffly, sweat forming on his forehead as he tucked the folder more firmly beneath his arm, “god word from the crew downtown that - er - they're gonna need us to check somethin' out. So, uh - don' wait up for us, sweetie, we'll probably be back sometime in the mornin'.”

“Oh …” Ochako paused for a moment, feeling her face fall - being told not to wait up for her parents meant it might be an all nighter, which of course made her worry - but Miwa then moved to kneel down beside her, and kissed her forehead.

“Don't worry,” She gently assured her daughter, “it's nothing for you to get stressed about. We're just … checking up on something, and we don't know when we'll be back. We're definitely going to be back in the morning, so don't stay up too late, alright? After the day you had, you need to rest.”

“I …” Ochako hesitated, and then she nodded, “… okay. Okay, Mama.”

With that, Taiyo bent down to give her another hug as well, and then both Urarakas were sure to move around their daughter to wish Eri a goodnight, Taiyo rubbing her hair affectionately while Miwa planted a small kiss on her cheek, and soon they were both out the door, Ochako and Izuku hearing the front door open and close.

Soon after that, Tenohira poked her head into the room as well, yawning a bit as she smiled down at all the teenagers passing out around the room.

“Alright,” She sighed as she approached the bed both Itsuka and Eri were laying on, “I think it's about time for us to head out, too. Sounds like I have to take Eri swimsuit shopping tomorrow morning, and then Hakushu has to get the barbecue prepared to the beach tomorrow. Eri, I'm gonna pick you up now, okay?”

“Mm-kay,” Eri managed to get out, already in a doze. Tenohira let out a giggle as she carefully scooped the little girl off her daughter's back, moving her so that she could carry her in one arm and resting Eri's head on her shoulder. While Eri continued to nap lightly, Izuku sighed as he got up stiffly from the desk, cursing his stiff body, and went over to the other side of the bed as Tenohira leaned over to where Itsuka was resting, wanting to at least see their guests out.

“Itsuka,” The Kendou matriarch said sweetly to her daughter, “I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Good night, sweetie.”

"…"

"Itsuka?"

"…"

“Er … Kendou …?” Izuku asked uncertainly, looking down at her - but soon, the sound of even, steady breathing filled the room, and everyone blinked as they stared down at Itsuka, completely and utterly passed out on Izuku's bed while snoring lightly.

Tenohira, for her part, only let out a soft giggle, and leaned over so that she could kiss her sleeping daughter's cheek, carefully lifting the gold medal that had been laid down beside her off the bed and putting it in her purse.

“Better make sure she doesn't accidentally leave this behind,” She said softly, “well, I … guess it's up to you two to make sure Itsuka gets over to the futon next door, huh?”

“I … guess so,” Ochako nodded, smiling a bit shakily and grunting as she stood up from the floor, “I should probably make sure everything's ready, anyway.”

“I'll - yeah, I'll go with you,” Izuku agreed, stretching his arms slightly, “just to make sure everything's put away.”

“It should be,” Tenohira adjusted Eri in her grasp, “your mom's just getting ready for bed now, Izuku, and your dad texted us that he'll probably be running a bit late, but to leave the door unlocked. Sorry about that, kids - we were gonna throw you all a party, but today's been …”

“Really tiring,” Ochako agreed with her, grunting as she likewise stretched her back, “yeah. It's okay, Tenohira.”

Nodding, Tenohira then turned to briefly brush her hand against Itsuka's cheek again before she turned to exit his room, carrying Eri with her. Izuku and Ochako were quick to follow her out of the apartment, Izuku gently closing the door behind them so that they didn't wake Itsuka up from her sleep, and looked around as the Kendou parents gathered around to get ready to go, Hakushu taking Eri from his wife and carefully holding her as she turned back to the teenagers.

“Well … I guess we'll be seeing you guys tomorrow,” Tenohira softly said, and then moved to wrap Izuku in a soft hug. He blinked slightly at the motherly way she embraced him, reaching out to gently stroke Ochako's hair as well, before she moved back, allowing Hakushu to likewise pat his shoulder before the other family finally departed, Eri continuing to sleep on Hakushu's shoulder.

Standing there as they disappeared into the elevator, Izuku stared after them in confusion before glancing back at Ochako.

“Er …” He cleared his throat, going a bit red, “… that was a … a weird hug, wasn't it?”

“I don't know,” Ochako sighed, shaking her head, “we scared the crap out of everyone today, I … I mean, I don't blame them for being scared. I'm not too surprised at Tenohira, though - she's pretty much our third mom at this point, isn't she?”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku was unable to stop himself from chuckling, “look at us, having three sets of parents.”

“One mom? Sure.” Ochako likewise chortled, “Two moms? Maybe. Three moms? Now you've lost me.”

Chuckling together, Izuku and Ochako moved to stand near the railing of the apartment. Sighing, Ochako leaned against it, looking off into the night sky as she briefly wondered how she was going to get Itsuka over to her room without waking her up, as her gaze trailed down to where the Kendous were walking away from the apartment. Her eyes trailed after them for a moment before she slowly turned to look over at the playground -

- and then she blinked.

“Hey,” She straightened up, “isn't that …?”

“Huh?” Izuku looked around at her, confused, and then followed where she was looking. And that, of course, was when he spotted what she was looking at, causing him to quickly straighten his own back as he leaned against the railing, putting both his hands on it as he stared down in shock.

Because standing there, at the edge of the playground all three of them had been at so many years ago, with his back to them and facing the ground, was Katsuki, still dressed in his school uniform.

“Kacchan?” Izuku questioned out loud, his eyebrows raising. Both of them were clearly thinking the same thing - it had been years since they had seen Katsuki so close to their apartment, let alone the very playground where the incident between them had happened. He had obviously kept to his own neighborhood since then, a few blocks away from them, but seeing him standing there, shadowed by the darkness surrounding him and staring at nothing - it made both teenagers up in the apartment feel a weird sense of foreboding.

Crinkling his brow, Izuku turned towards the stairs, taking one step away while keeping his eyes on Katsuki, before Ochako realized what he was doing and quickly reached out to gently take his wrist, stopping him in his tracks.

“Deku, are - are you sure that's a good idea?” She asked him, already knowing what her best friend was about to do and resisting the urge to roll her eyes. “Maybe it's just … better to let him be.”

“Occhan, he's - you know, probably waiting for us,” Izuku pointed out, not looking any happy with it, “so … you know, it's better just to figure out what his problem is and let him go home so we don't have to worry about him.”

"… this is a bad idea."

"Yeeeep."

"He's gonna hit one of us. And whoever he doesn't hit, is probably gonna hit him back."

"Yep."

"… I wanna just hit him."

"Just …" Izuku huffed back a laugh, "… don't do it unprovoked, okay?"

"Sure, I can deal with that."

With that, the two best friends started making their way over to the stairs together so that they could quickly jog down. Granted, it would probably be easier for Ochako to simply float them down, but … well, after the day they had, they were both clearly exhausted enough to know that using their quirks anymore today would be a bad idea. Instead, they stuck close as they headed down a few flights of stairs, heading out into the parking lot, and soon enough, they were across the street towards the playground, despite Izuku slowing down a bit at the sight of the melted jungle gym but still soldiering on.

Finally, they both approached Katsuki standing near the yellow police tape, who didn't look back at either of them as he continued to stare at the ground. Knowing that it would have to be up to him to remain at least a bit polite (despite feeling anger begin to churn in his stomach), Izuku cleared his throat.

“Er … Kacchan?”

He didn't get a response back.

“Kacchan?” He asked again, glancing at Ochako as she gave him a small shrug. “You … doing okay?”

“…”

“I -” Izuku sighed, “- Kacc-”

“You wanna know something, Deku?”

At Katsuki's quiet question, Izuku stopped talking at once. Not because he felt particularly intimidated, of course - it was mostly because of the silent anger in Katsuki's voice. It was so different from what he or Ochako were used to, both of them went quiet at once.

It didn't sound aggressive, or furious. It sounded … tired.

“This place … I always considered this place to be the first hiccup in my story.” Katsuki admitted to both of them. “The first place where you beat me. But I always chalked it up to you getting a lucky hit. I didn't fucking know what you were going to do, so I let my guard down. Just a little hiccup on the road to me becoming the greatest hero.”

Both Izuku and Ochako remained quiet.

“And then, after that, you guys got bullied by everyone and I got to rise to the top,” Katsuki slowly shook his head, “I just put it away as some minor setback. You got called a villain, Deku, and I didn't say anything because I thought I was better than that. And people called Round Face a fatass, and I laughed along because it made me feel good after she kept talking shit about me.”

Ochako winced a bit at the comment, feeling herself frown - and unknowingly attracting Izuku's attention, making him look around at her with a concerned look before he glanced back at Katsuki, a frown on his face now.

“Okay …” He said in a slightly cross voice, “… and?”

“And then,” Katsuki's fist clenched, “we all got in UA. Even after I told you both not to. And you started showing me up. Using your stupid quirk … helping Ginger make me look like an idiot … making all those shitty extras love you for doing fucking nothing … while I actually worked on my fucking quirk and didn't shrink away like a coward. Like you.”

Izuku winced a bit at that insult, and Ochako fumed, but still, they both said nothing. They both remembered what Katsuki had said that day, when they had met All Might and everything changed.

"A school for heroes doesn't take cowards."  

“And then today,” Katsuki shook his head, “you beat me again. You shoved in my face that - that the day we fought here, that wasn't a flunk. You actually … beat me. You defeated me. I was always supposed to win … and you beat me. And now … I'm …”

Clenching his fist tighter, he whirled around to show them both the snarl on his face - but both Izuku and Ochako instead blinked in shock when they saw the tears welling in his eyes. Stomping over to Izuku, Katsuki poked him right in the chest.

“Do you get it now, Shitty Deku?” Katsuki tried to sneer at him, but the effect was ruined by the trembling in his voice. “Because I treated you like the coward you are … and gave you a reminder of what happens when you try playing with the big boys, Round Face … I'm out of the hero course now.”

“H-huh?” Izuku blinked, while Ochako looked surprised.

“Yeah. Teachers pretty much ripped me a new one, and now I've been demoted to the general studies course,” Katsuki's teeth gritted into a pained grimace, “with no chance of getting back in. And if I try to fucking drop out, they'll reach out to other hero schools and warn them about me. I'm just another shitty extra now. Congratulations, assholes - you both fucking won!”

Suddenly whipping away from Izuku, Katsuki threw out an explosion. The loud noise made both Izuku and Ochako jump a bit, but luckily it wasn't aimed at either of them, just a way for Katsuki to vent his anger out at nothing. He paused for a moment, panting in exhaustion (or perhaps it was the emotion of the moment) before he shook his head.

“Well,” He managed to get out, “just so you two assholes know - this isn't over. I'm not gonna be out of the hero course for long. I'm gonna get my spot back, and I'm gonna prove to all you shitty extras that I'm supposed to be the next Number One Hero. It's my fucking destiny. And you two are gonna be stuck on the sidelines while I get to go to the top and -”

“Kacchan, please, just - stop talking.”

Katsuki's ranting was suddenly interrupted by Izuku speaking up, talking over his determination to return to the hero course like nothing happened, and he looked over at Izuku as the green-haired boy stared down at the ground for a second. Finally, with a soft sigh, he looked up at his former childhood friend with an air of tiredness and finality that took Ochako aback for a moment.

“Kacchan, what … what exactly do you want me to say here?” He decided to bluntly say. “'I'm sorry'? 'You shouldn't have been kicked out'? 'I'm gonna go talk to the teachers tomorrow to help get you back into the hero course, because you deserve it'?”

Katsuki, for his part, said nothing, only glaring at Izuku.

“You know … maybe … maybe years ago, I might have done that,” Izuku gave him, trying to ignore Ochako giving him a pointed Danger Pout at that statement, “back when we were little kids, and I followed you around everywhere, I might've gone up to bat for you. But … but now? Now I'm just tired. I don't wanna think about your problems, Kacchan, because … because honestly, I don't really know what your problem is with me anymore."

“You -”

“I don't care,” Izuku interrupted him again, some of the steel in his voice from earlier returning, “I don't care if you have a problem with me anymore. Because honestly? At this point, Kacchan, I think we've both gotta realize we aren't little kids anymore. What happened here -” He pointed over at the melted playground, “- is something I struggled with for a long time. Back a year ago, I'd have agreed with you that everything that happened here was my fault.”

Ochako opened her mouth to stop that line of thought, but Izuku kept going.

“I blamed myself for everything that happened here. Hurting my mom. Hurting Yubi and Tsubasa. Hurting you. That's something I had a hard time dealing with. When people called me a villain, as much as I didn't want to, I thought, 'they're right'.”

“…”

“And … even now, there's a part of me that still thinks that what happened that day was my fault,” Izuku raised his hand to Ochako when she looked like she was going to object, “but it's something I have to get over. If I want to be a hero, I - I can't wallow in self-pity. That's what you called me a coward for, Kacchan, and … and you were right. I was running from actually owning up to what happened, running from trying to do better. And it took - it took someone taking me here and telling me that only I could convince myself to become a hero to do it, but I did. And now … even if I still blame myself for what happened to you, Kacchan, I'm gonna stop letting it define me.”

Kacchan merely glared at him for a moment, and then snapped, “What the fuck has that got to do with -”

“It means,' Izuku's gaze hardened into his own glare, “that right now, the only one who's obsessed with what happened here that day is you.”

That, thankfully, got Katsuki to zip it at once.

“You're the only one here that's letting what happened here that day define you. You could've won today, Kacchan, if I had been a little bit slower, or if you had been a little bit faster. That doesn't matter. What does matter, though, is that you're considering yourself the victim of what happened during our match - but do you really wanna know what happened today?”

Izuku suddenly stormed up to him, unable to stop himself in his anger, and jabbed a finger against Katsuki's chest in turn.

“You hurt Occhan.” He growled at him. “You hurt me. All because I hurt you all those years ago, and you think that gave you the right to take all your anger out on both of us ever since. Because you 'lost a fight' when we were kids.”

Ochako was quiet behind him.

“So you wanna know what? I'm not sorry that you got kicked out of the hero course.” Izuku made it clear, while Katsuki's nostrils flared. “In fact, I'm happy to hear it. I don't care anymore, Kacchan, what you think of me. All your attempts to get in my head? They won't work anymore. Because I know Occhan and Kendou - they're better friends than you have ever been. So this - this thing where you try to make me a hiccup in your great story? I'm not gonna let that get to me. I'm done. You wanna get back into the hero course, fine. Just leave me and Occhan and Kendou out of it. So just - just go home, and stop bothering me.”

Katsuki, for his part, didn't like that. He didn't like that one bit. In fact, he was quick enough to throw his fist back, clearly intending to drive it into Izuku's face, but Ochako was even quicker. Knocked out of her shocked silence, she quickly got in between both boys and gave Katsuki enough of a glare to let him know what exactly would happen if he did what he was thinking of doing.

For a moment, he glared between both of them, his breath coming out unevenly as he tensed. And then, with a small growl, he pushed his way out from between them and started stomping out of the park and back over towards the sidewalk.

The two of them watched for a long moment as Katsuki stormed off into the night, eventually fading into the darkness. They stayed still for a moment - and then, with relieved sighs, they both sagged over, Izuku wiping his sweaty brow and Ochako staring down sadly at her fists, as though disappointed that she wasn't able to use them.

“Wow, that -” Izuku wheezed, “- I thought he was gonna hit us.”

“Yeah,” Ochako pouted, “yeaaaaah …”

“I … okay, I - I think I need to sit down.”

“Me too.”

With that, the two best friends walked over to the nearest bench - with Izuku only glancing over at the melted playground off to the side near them with a slight gulp - and both sat down together, underneath the lamp post shining down on them. The skies above them were clear, allowing some stars to twinkle above them, and it was about warm enough that both of them could sit there without their school jackets, just staring forward for a long moment.

And then Ochako glanced over at Izuku leaning back on the bench, a light dusting of pink on her cheeks.

“That, uh … that was pretty cool, Deku,” She told him, “telling Bakugou off like that.”

“That was … probably one of the scariest things I've ever done,” He joked lightly, smiling when he heard Ochako giggle beside him, “but … yeah. I just thought he needed to hear all that, so … I told him.”

“Yeah … I'm disappointed I didn't hit him.”

“I know you would've,” Izuku laughed along with her as they both leaned back, “I - honestly, I'm surprised you didn't.”

“Well, I would've,” She winced a bit as she rubbed her bandaged arm, hidden underneath the white dress shirt, “but, uh … don't need to risk another burn, y'know?”

“Yeah …” Izuku's smile faded, looking over at her arm with a visibly worried look, “… h-how is it feeling, by the way? Does it still hurt?”

“No, it's just …really itchy,” She sighed, “and … not gonna lie, the cream I put on it when we got home? It didn't really help.”

“Oh …”

“Yeah. How, uh … how about you?” She looked around at Izuku's own arms - like her, the bandages were hidden by his white dress shirt, but she still felt her stomach clench at the thought of those growing cracks of light under her best friend's skin, “Is the … uh …”

She trailed off, Izuku looking back around at her curiously as she awkwardly glanced away.

“Is, uh …” She tapped her finger against her knee,” … sorry to … bring it up again, Deku, but … but how do your a-arms feel?”

Izuku blinked a bit as he realized what she was talking about - and then he let out a sigh, looking away as he frowned.

They're, uh … stiff,” He admitted in a quiet voice, “they feel kind of … tingly. But - but not in a good way. They don't really hurt, it's just … annoying.”

“Yeah,” She nodded uncomfortably, still staring down at her feet, “I … I can see why that would be irritating.”

“Mm-hm.”

There was a brief pause between them, and then Ochako let out a small sigh.

“Sorry,” She muttered, feeling ashamed, “you … probably don't wanna talk about it, do you?”

“I … not really,” Izuku sighed with his own pout, looking up at the stars above them, “but … but I probably have to eventually, right? If I don't talk about it with you, then it might be with my mom and dad, or Tenko-sensei, or - or someone who wants to know how I feel. So I guess … I guess if I had to talk about it with anyone, I'd … I'd prefer to talk about it with - with you. Or Kendou. So, uh … yeah.”

“Mm-hm,” Ochako slowly nodded, turning to look at him with a worried expression, “so, uh … how do you feel?”

“It …” Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he let out a defeated sigh, leaning forward, “… it sucks. It really, really sucks, Occhan.”

“I know.”

“Cellular degeneration is … I know it's not a joke,” Izuku shook his head while frowning, “and … and I'm not gonna pretend that Recovery Girl doesn't know what she's talking about. It's just … it's like I said before, it's frustrating, you know? To think I've solved all my issues with my quirk, only for something new and entirely worse to pop up."

“Yeah,” Ochako nodded, looking glum as she likewise sat forward, “it … it sucks, like you said. I have no idea how it would feel to … and …” She felt her brow scrunch, shame welling up in her again, “… and I bet that … me and Kendou trying to cheer you up about it … y'know, earlier, back - back when we were with Eri and Hadou - it probably didn't help much, did it?”

“I …” Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then sighed, “… it didn't. Not really.”

“I'm sorry.”

“No, no, I - you don't have to be sorry,” He assured her quickly, looking over to give her a sad smile, “I … I know that you guys were just trying to comfort me, and - and I'm grateful for that. It's just … there's not much to say when - y'know - when you hear that your quirk can kill you if you don't use it carefully enough.”

Ochako winced at that, and Izuku immediately felt regret fill him.

“I - sorry,” He shook his head, “I - I shouldn't say that. You guys were just trying to comfort me.”

"Deku -"

"N-not that I have a problem with you guys trying to comfort me," He quickly assured her, "it's just … this is something that I'm gonna have to get used to, I think."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, staring as Izuku turned to look down at his feet for a moment - and then she let out a soft sigh, shaking her head as she leaned back a bit, and tried to lighten her own face, wanting to bring up the mood.

"W-well, I … I guess we should try looking on the bright side," She tried to say in a bright voice, getting Izuku's attention again, "at least we know something good came out of today."

"Really?" Izuku blinked a bit. "Like … uh … what?"

"Like …" She struggled to keep herself from giggling at once, "… #Sparky."

"…"

"…"

"… Sparky." Izuku said in a hollow voice, his face turning to despair.

"I - Deku -"

"Occhan, this - this isn't a laughing matter. They're … they're calling me …" With a shiver, he moved to duck his head between his legs, sounding utterly humiliated, "… Sparky."

"Deku, I'm …" Ochako had to consciously fight down the urge to laugh out loud, mostly because of the utter look of despair that crossed her best friend's face when she reminded him of his … online reputation.

"I'm a meme," Izuku moved his hand to cover his eyes, hunching over on the bench while Ochako continued her increasingly losing battle to not laugh as she brought her phone out of her skirt's pocket, "I'm … I'm a sparky boom boom boy. How did … how did that even …"

"I mean," Ochako managed to get a hold of herself, trying to make him feel better, "if it's any consolation, Deku, I'm 'Miss Cuss Word' apparently - looks like they caught everything I said while Hatsume's inventions was spinning me around. Which …" Her smile became a bit stiffer, "… is probably why Eri was swearing at me earlier. Er … I probably have to apologize to the Kendous."

"But … but … #Sparky?!" Izuku whined. "How did that - how did they even come up with that?!"

"Er …" Ochako checked her phone, biting her lip not to laugh, "… according to … well … knowyourmeme.com …"

Izuku merely groaned some more, but still gestured for her to continue.

"… during the first round, apparently when you came in first place, there had been an error on the news networks that no one had a display for your name," She read outloud, tapping her foot against the ground, "they corrected it after a commercial break, but since no one online knew who you were, they decided to start calling you 'Sparky'. You know - because of -"

"The sparks," Izuku pouted adorably, making Ochako giggle, "yeah."

"Yep. It kinda caught. Looks like they ended up using your nickname more than your actual name."

"Great," Izuku sighed, "that's … great."

"I mean, if it makes you feel any better, after the second round they just started calling you 'Spark'," She helpfully revealed to him, "and come on, doesn't that sound better? They all saw you being badass and thought 'no, drop the 'y'! Spark is my guy!'"

"I mean," Izuku tried to pout some more, although his lips quirked up at Ochako's tough macho-sounding imitation, "I'm … still a meme, Occhan."

"Come on, Deku," Ochako giggled, "look on the bright side! At least you were memorable. And hey, you can say that you already have a hero name!"

"'Sparky'?" Izuku huffed, starting to smile more indulgently. "Thanks, but no thanks, Occhan. I can figure out a better hero name than 'Sparky' or 'Spark'."

"Oh, really?" She smiled coyly, leaning over to poke his shoulder. "Something like 'All Might Jr.'?"

"Oh, my -"

"Or maybe 'Captain All Might'? 'Mighty Boy'? 'Super All Might'?"

"You keep laughing it up, 'Fourteen'," Izuku mumbled, which got him another Danger Pout from the formerly laughing girl.

"Oh, is that the game you wanna -"

"Or maybe you prefer 'Float Girl'?"

"Ooooooh, Deku," Ochako gritted her teeth, making Izuku begin to giggle a bit as he leaned away from her, only to get a finger on the cheek to subtly begin digging in, "you're playing with fire right now, buddy."

"Seems like it," Izuku chuckled, leaning his head back and letting her hand fall. They both stayed like that for a while, Ochako slipping her phone back into her pocket while Izuku glanced down at his hands, and they both sighed as they leaned back and looked up at the stars. Finally, he let out a sigh, moving his legs out on the ground and feeling Ochako glance at him.

"Y'know what, Occhan?" He shook his head. "I'm … I'm not gonna worry about the - the cellular stuff."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "You're not?"

"I - well, I am, but - but I'm not gonna - I'm not gonna let it worry me," He moved to stand up from the bench, looking around at his best friend with a smile, "I've done nothing but worry about my quirk for - for years. I just … I think you're right, I just have to try to look on the - the bright side."

"Oh, uh … okay," She slowly nodded, "so … what is the bright side?"

"The bright side," He lifted one of his hands, smiling down at it, "is that I finally know what's going on with my quirk. I finally understand how it works. And … and if I'm being honest, this has been - it's been the most excited I've felt about it in a long time. Because now I know my limitations, and - and the ways that I can improve. Lightning … ice … honestly, this is just the beginning, Occhan. If I can absorb any kind of element and use them all …"

"We gotta be careful when you decide to try getting fire?" She replied dryly, which got a laugh from Izuku.

"You think I can just ask Todoroki to set me on fire to get it out of the way?" He joked lightly, chuckling to himself. However, as Ochako slowly stood up, he glanced back her way and felt his smile freeze on his face at the utterly stiff, unamused look in Ochako's eyes, despite her empty smile.

"So while we're on that topic," She said in a light voice that still told him the danger he was suddenly finding himself in, "you're not ever gonna ask Todoroki to set you on fire. You understand that, right?"

"I … okay, but -"

"Deku, I swear to god -"

"Okay, okay!" Izuku waved his hands frantically in the air, feeling himself turn nervous at the cold look in Ochako's eyes, boring into his. "I'll - I don't know -"

"Deku, you are not going to ever set yourself on fire. Ever."

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

After giving him another warning Danger Pout to make it clear that she was serious, Ochako sighed and shook her head, putting her hands down on her hips while Izuku cowered a bit before her. Once she was sure he received the message, she gave him a far more genuine smile.

"Uh … back to seriousness," She joked lightly, "if - if you're looking on the bright side, then … then yeah, Deku, I - I agree, this - this is good. And you telling Bakugou you're not gonna let … you know, this place," She gestured around the playground, "define you anymore - that's good, too."

"It … wait, really?" Izuku blinked, looking around at her as Ochako turned to look over at the melted playground again, her expression softening.

"Deku, I don't know if you remember, but I've been with you every step of the way," She pointed out, glancing at him with a smile, "I'm the one who kept bugging you to be a hero, remember? Every time you tried to shut me down, I just kept trying harder and harder. And then … well … now look at us," She giggled, spinning around to smile up at him again, "we got third place at the sports festival. And - and if we hadn't gotten screwed over, then - then we might've gotten second or first. We almost won today, and - and it's because we worked together."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling softly as he took an unconscious step closer to his best friend, "you … really saved my butt a few times today, Occhan. I'm just … sorry that one of those times … you had to take the bullet for me, when Kacchan - y'know -"

"Oh, are you kidding?" She giggled, rolling her eyes with a small, knowing smile. "Deku, I'm pretty sure that if I had been like - point two seconds slower, it would've been you taking that shot for me. Am I wrong?"

There was a short between them - and Izuku sighed.

"I … yeah," He nodded, a sheepish smile appearing on his face, "probably."

"Yeah. And just think, if we had been even slower than that, Itsuka probably would've jumped in and took the giant explosion to the face. Couldn't have that, could we?"

"N-no, we can't."

"Although …" She glanced up with a small, teasing smile, "… that does give me the mental image of both of us going ham on Bakugou. That would've been awesome, wouldn't it?"

"… yeah. Yeah, it would've."

Ochako laughed again at the sheepish grin on Izuku's face as he admitted that, and without thinking, moved in. Her arms moved to wrap around his neck as they always did, and she moved up onto her tippy toes so that she could give him a hug, Izuku letting out a surprised grunt as she held on fast. Thankfully, though, it didn't take long for Izuku to get over his surprise, letting out a small chuckle as he wrapped his arms around her back, and returned the hug.

For a moment, they both stood there, warmly embracing underneath the street light in the park. They both let out soft sighs as they simply enjoyed each other's warmth, a good reward for a long day of rough challenges and unexpected turmoil. Izuku's hand rubbed up and down her back, and Ochako's arms wrapped around his neck allowed her to snuggle into his shoulder, allowing them both to just close their eyes.

It felt good to just … stand there and hug each other.

And then … Izuku felt something stir in his stomach. A familiar feeling.

A … weird feeling.

Feeling himself go still, Izuku opened his eyes slowly and stared blankly ahead, still allowing Ochako to gently hold him while his soft smile faded away. He knew this feeling well - it was the same feeling as before, back in the forest and in the hallway where he had hugged Itsuka. A feeling that, quite honestly, he was still pretty scared of, even after all the hugs Itsuka had given him today and all the - the - 'friend smooches' she delivered to both of them.

It was a feeling of becoming … aware of Ochako holding onto him, how close she was, how she held him and how he held her. A weird butterfly feeling in his stomach, a feeling of confusion as to why Ochako holding onto him felt so good. His heart began to pick up a rapid beat in his chest.

It was the same feeling that he had all day long … the same feeling that they had both been suffering through all day. But this time …

… this time, he suddenly realized, there wasn't going to be any interruptions. No one suddenly jumping in between them, nobody talking in their ears, nobody coming out to attack them. No inventors suddenly pushing them apart to make them part of her sales pitch, no annoying blonde teammates shouting at them in their ears, no ice suddenly coming out to freeze them in place. So that meant …

… that meant that …

… the only person who would be able to stop this - this weird feeling was either himself, or Ochako.

And … seeing as Ochako wasn't moving away at all … and he felt pretty comfortable in her grasp, despite his heart doing somersaults in his chest … there was a part of him that didn't want to break the hug.

And then, suddenly, Izuku thought about what he and his mother had discussed earlier today, making his heart skip a beat in his chest.

"Can I ask you … what … exactly do you feel for Itsuka and Ochako? Like - how do you feel about them in general?"

"Uh - like - w-well, they're - they're my friends. My best friends."

"Mm-hm, yes, okay. But … how do you feel for them … specifically? Do - do they make you happy?"

"I - yeah, of - of course. More than anything."

"And the thought of them … does it make you feel better?"

"I … guess?"

"And you want to spend time with them? More out of anyone else?"

"I - Mom, where are you going with this? I - I guess I do? I don't - I mean, yes, I - I do wanna spend time with them, but - but why are you asking me these things, Mom?"

"Just … okay, I'll tell you, honey, but I do have one more question before I do."

"I - okay. W-what's the question?"

"Do you … would you be ready to … to hurt one of them?"

At the time … his conversation with his mom had confused him. Made him wonder what she meant, about hurting one of his best friends. It had been the necessary kick in the pants to get all three of them talking again, but …

"… listen to me, sweetie, I … I think I do know why you've been feeling so weird around both of them. And … and I think you know what those feelings are, too - it's something that you've probably always known, you just … never really put much thought about it."

"Then - then what is it?"

"I … think it'll have to be something you figure out for yourself, but - I want you to know one thing, okay? I need you to know … that once you do figure out what's going on between you and the girls - and I think you've been doing that all day long - you need to … to know that you'll have to make a choice. And that choice … it's going to hurt either Ochako or Itsuka."

He hadn't … understood, Izuku stared behind her shoulder, aware of Ochako going a bit still in his embrace as well - as though she had picked up that the mood had changed as well.

"Are … are you saying that I'll … I'll have to hurt their feelings? T-that kind of hurt?"

"Yes, honey, and it … it will hurt. It'll hurt both of them, and - and it'll hurt you as well. I know how much you care about both of those girls - I know how much they've both changed you, for the better. Ochako - she was there for you when you needed her the most, and Itsuka was there for you when you started coming out of your shell, and - and I know how much they both mean to you, in their own ways."

He hadn't realized …

"But once you realize what these … weird feelings … are, you may have to hurt one of them. Because …"

… but now … now he was realizing …

"… because I know how much you love them both."

… love.

That word had … it had taken him aback, when his mom had used it. It had scared him, to think of how he used that word when it came to Ochako and Itsuka.

Love.

At the time, he had … he had tried to dismiss the thought of being in love with his best friends, thinking it impossible. That the weird feelings were just making things foggy for him to think things through.

But …

"Deku?"

Izuku jumped a bit as Ochako spoke softly in his ear, feeling his cheeks turn red. Automatically, his head turned in her direction, and he found himself stopping as he stared at her brown hair filling his vision for a moment. He could feel her tense briefly against him, but not moving back at all as she waited for him to answer her. When he didn't say anything initially, too frozen in his thoughts to, she let out a small murmur.

"I, uh … I heard you muttering," She admitted, aware of Izuku going stiff against her, "but I, uh - I didn't catch a lot of what you're saying. What's … what're you thinking about?"

"I, uh …" Izuku paused for a moment, feeling himself tense. His mind was effectively a pinball machine at the moment, one moment thinking of one thing and then bouncing to the next. But above all else, the word 'love' kept bouncing in his head as he held on a bit tighter to Ochako, with her remaining quiet in order to let him process his thoughts.

And then, suddenly, she gently sighed and began to move back. And Izuku, without thinking, quickly grabbed back onto her and held her to him, squeezing her a bit tightly. He was aware of her squeaking a bit in surprise at it, and he couldn't help but feel surprised by his own actions, but … but still, he held on tight as she turned her head to look at him.

"U-uh - Deku?" She asked uncertainly.

"I - I'm sorry," He stuttered a bit, feeling his face turn redder as the weird feeling in his stomach continued to squirm around like live snakes, but the feeling of her pressing up against him managed to tune out any awkward feelings he might've had at the moment as he tightened his arms around her back, "just - uh - I just -"

"Deku, are you … are you okay?"

"I … I don't know."

He could feel her move against him, and finally managed to move his arms back so that he wasn't practically crushing her. Taking a step back, both of them moved out of the hug, Ochako sliding her arms back so that they weren't wrapped around his neck anymore, but keeping her hands (one pinky up on each hand) on his shoulders, while Izuku's own hands moved to hold her hips - and making him blush a bit as he nervously held on, and felt himself blink at the similar shade of red on Ochako's face.

"Deku, what's … what's going on?" She asked, looking like she wanted to glance away but was unable to tear her gaze away from him. "You - are you okay?"

"I'm … I'm fine," He assured her, although the way his voice cracked a bit made it clear he wasn't, "I just … I just …"

There was a long moment in which Izuku stared down into her eyes - her eyes, he realized, that looked far more beautiful than he had ever thought today, a thought that made him shake - and Ochako patiently waited, her cheeks still red but her mouth open slightly, as though she was going to say something even as the hands she had on her shoulders tensed.

And then Izuku let out a soft sigh.

"Occhan …" He managed to get out, not even thinking through his words, "… you … you saved me a lot today."

"I … know?" She said questioningly, "We - we both did."

"I - n-no, not - not like that," He shook his head, wincing, "sorry, I - I should've been more specific."

She slowly nodded, feeling her brow scrunch, as Izuku finished shaking his head and letting out another sigh.

"Today …" He swallowed, "… during the first round, I … I thought I was going to have to go through it alone, like everyone else was. And then you saved me from getting shot down that hole and teamed up with me for the rest of the match. The only reason we were able to win was because of you - floating us, and stopping us from crashing into the ground when I launched us up into the air."

"That's …" Ochako automatically said, wanting to deny it, but Izuku quickly shook his head to interrupt her.

"And then," He went on, not really thinking through his words at the moment, "when we were in the forest and I was nervous, you were the one to anchor me back down to earth. You told me … you reminded me that 'Deku' is supposed to mean 'you can do it', instead of what Kacchan meant. You did that, and - and it let me focus back on the plan, and not get caught up on my insecurities. You pulled me out of it, and - and we were able to win again."

She stayed quiet for a moment, although the way her face was changing - into one of wonder, of cautious curiosity - was making Izuku feel nervous.

"I … I've been having these weird thoughts," He told her, "the weird feelings that've been coming and going every time we - we touch, or hug. The same with Kendou, but - but right now, when we were hugging, I … I got to thinking …"

"Y-yeah?" She whispered.

"And … and I thought of what my mom said …"

And that, right about then, was when the pieces fell together for Izuku. Making it suddenly feel so … simple, what these feelings were. He finally had a name for them, realizing what they were, even if he didn't initially realize that his face was … getting closer to Ochako's.

But … but she didn't pull away. Instead, she stared at him, in a weird mixture of anxiety, nervousness, and … expectation? But … but at the moment he couldn't really think of anything to say, even as his hands moved off her hips - and, to his surprise, moved to cup her cheeks, making Ochako go still and Izuku blush heavily at the feeling of the warmth coming off of her face.

"… and I …" He swallowed loudly, speaking much quieter than before, "… I thought about it …"

"Yeah …?" She repeated in a hushed voice, her own face becoming redder.

"And I … I …"

There was a long pause. And then, before he could blink, he did something … spontaneous.

Out of nowhere.

Something that he wouldn't have done even if he had been planning on doing it, or tried to hype himself up to do so.

Something that he had no idea if he would regret in the next five seconds, let alone the rest of his life.

And something … that, deep down, he had wanted to do all day, or probably ever since the day they had met.

And that, of course, was to take a deep breath, close his eyes, lean down, and kiss her.

The moment he felt her lips press against his, he knew that he had crossed a line. He heard Ochako let out a muffled gasp as his thumbs automatically rubbed against her cheeks, and he quickly opened his eyes again. Her hands on his shoulders clenched as they both stood there, eyes widening by the second as the reality of what Izuku had just done settled in.

But then, a mere second before Izuku went into panic mode, he felt it. Just the bare minimum of pressure from Ochako's mouth, meaning … meaning that she was …

… she was kissing him back.

They both stood there, their lips pressed together, and Ochako's look of shock and confusion faded the longer they stared at each other. And then, slowly, he felt her kiss him back a bit harder, tilting her head so that their noses weren't in the way. They lightly disconnected the kiss, only for Ochako to move to capture his lower lip between hers, and slowly, her eyes began to shut.

And Izuku, with his heart still hammering in his chest, felt his own eyes begin to close as well, the panic fading away, as they both simply stood there and shared their first kiss.

Finally, they both moved back, letting out soft gasps for breath as they both slowly opened their eyes to stare at each other - and then, before either of them could pause to think, Izuku went back in, and initiated a second kiss between them. Pressing their lips together, Izuku allowed his eyes to close, while Ochako let out a quiet hum and allowed him to take the lead this time. 

They stood there underneath the streetlight for a long moment, their hands carefully holding each other as they both softly inhaled, before Izuku finally moved back - but before Ochako could ask, he went back in, both of them tensing slightly as Izuku's hands moved back down to clutch at her hips.

He … honestly had no idea what he was doing, Izuku blushed as their mouths gently opened, and he shook at the feeling of Ochako's tongue poking at his. He had no idea what was going on, what he had just done, what he was doing with his oldest friend. All he knew was that … was that kissing Ochako was … nice.

It felt nice. And not just physically - he felt his heart skip and beat faster as Ochako rubbed his sides, and Izuku's own hands went back up to smooth out her brown hair for a moment as their tongues slowly rolled together.

He felt like he was on cloud nine. Like the entire world made sense now.

And then … Ochako pushed a bit harder against his lips, and their liplock deepened.

And a fire was lit in Izuku's stomach, one he had never felt before, but one that he immediately, without question, embraced.

Not even pausing to think, Izuku wrapped his arm around her lower back, bringing her flush against him, and Ochako's arms wrapped around his neck again. The sound of her gasping softly into his mouth drove him forward, causing him to push her back somewhat until her back met the lamppost behind her, and Izuku, without even thinking, made to push her a bit firmer against it. Ochako, for her part, began moving her tongue even more in his mouth, her eyes squeezed shut, and Izuku held onto her tight.

"I …" He managed to get out, although the feeling of Ochako's lips on his drove whatever thought he was going to say out of his head as he clung tighter to Ochako, feeling one of her arms move away from his neck while he desperately wrapped his own arm around her lower back, his hand in her impossibly soft hair and both of them let out quiet grunts into the kiss -

- and then Izuku felt it.

A hand … Ochako's hand … moving down, and …

… and grabbing a handful of his butt.

The feeling of her grabbing it and squeezing tightly caused Izuku to moan right into Ochako's mouth, their lips opening and their tongues briefly pausing - and then what had happened suddenly registered. Automatically, their eyes snapped open, staring at each other as Ochako kept her hand firmly grabbing his butt - and the reality of what had happened hit them both.

They were both … making out. In the park. In front of their apartment. Where anyone could look out and see them. With Ochako blatantly groping him.

They … were making out.

They were best friends … and they were making out.

Slowly and stiffly, as though they had become robots, they both made to get out of the embrace, Izuku stepping back so he was no longer pinning her against the street lamp, and Ochako letting go of his … butt … so that they could give each other space. They both stared blankly at each other for a moment, their faces filling with so much red there was a possibility they were both going to pass out - and then Ochako squeaked.

"Well!" She yelped with a high-pitched crack in her voice, whirling around to look at the apartment. "I'm beat! I'm going to bed! Goodnight!"

"R-right!" Izuku likewise squeaked, whirling around with her as they both began running straight for the apartment, not looking at each other lest they see the steam flying off their faces. "That sounds good! Goodnight!"

"G-goodnight!"

Goodnight!"

With that, they both ran as fast as they could up the stairs, trying not to trip or look at each other in fear of exploding into a mess of embarrassed goo. They finally reached their floor, Izuku running ahead so as not to run into her door, and they both quickly ripped the doors of their apartments open and slammed them shut, not even looking at each other in their fluster.

And that was when they both leaned against their doors, sliding down at the same time onto their butts, with Izuku holding his hand over his mouth as he hyperventilated and Ochako holding her hands in front of her as though they had committed an unforgivable sin, as they both thought, at the same time:

'WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST DO?!'


"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… oh, yeah," Chimera grunted, "this is a cult town."

Slice let out a dry laugh at that, nodding in agreement regardless as she crossed her arms and looked around at the town before them. It wasn't hard to see how Chimera had come to that conclusion - they, Nine and Camie had walked into Deika City outside of the town, and they could feel eyes on them from everywhere.

From the people crossing the street before them, to the windows of the buildings around them as they approached the tower, it was clear that they were being watched. And seeing as it was a feeling that came from everywhere … it was apparent that this town was the resting place of the modern version of the Meta Liberation Army. Meaning that everyone in this town was probably a member, and if not, they were being controlled by those waiting in that large central tower of the town.

"So," Chimera huffed on another cigar, "what's the plan here, boss?"

"I'll be going up alone." Nine confirmed, putting his hands in his coat pockets. After returning from the Doctor, he had opted to get changed into a suit, a pale lilac color with a white dress shirt beneath it. Slice had helped dress him, wanting to make him look good for his little … 'interview' as they were calling it. "I'm certain I can handle anything up there on my own if it comes down to it. You three have your own assignments, so Kurogiri will be waiting to teleport you there."

"Oooooh! Can I come with you?" Camie gave the leader of the villain group her best puppy dog eyes as she hurried around Chimera. "Please? Please, please, please?"

"No," Nine shook his head, frowning, "you have a job to do, remember? You'd better get to it."

"Huuuuh?" Camie pouted up at him. "Oh, c'mon, your assignment is ez! Just gotta find the stupid school traitor and cozy up to them, that's super easy! Why can't I come up and help out with negotiations?"

"Because, quite frankly, I believe you have a few screws loose," Nine bluntly told her, "and you'll probably make things worse. So no. Go do your job."

"Pooey," Camie crossed her arms, looking away with a pout.

"Chimera," He turned to the large villain, "how's the recruits? Any potential actual members?"

"That Volcano fuck is gettin' on my nerves," Chimera growled, "demanded to see the Trigger at once and fuckin' talked back about all the orders I gave. That idiot's not gonna be in the Consortium, or I'm fuckin' off."

"Not to worry," Nine patted his shoulder, "I had a feeling that he had a powerful quirk, but we'll be sure to use him quickly and discard him before he decides to betray us. What about the others?"

"Other two members of his group are just there for the Trigger. They aren't even subtle about it. The, uh, what're their names … the Wild Villains, though, they have potential. Bearhead's like me, been through some serious shit - I'm in favor and addin' him to the group."

"I'll consider it," Nine nodded, "what about the other two?"

"Curator's got a strong quirk, but he's only there because we're strong, and he wants to be strong too. No idea if he's got any combat experience or anythin' like that, but he's definitely a talker. Got grand plans for us, apparently."

"Oh, joy. And the third?"

"She's fuckin' brainwashed," Chimera growled, "same kinda shit your Doctor would be interested in. She's a fuckin' blank slate, does whatever Curator tells her."

"Hm," Slice frowned. However, before she could comment, Nine turned to look at her.

"What about you?" He raised his eyebrow. "Any luck?"

"I … said I would find him," Slice muttered, looking away. However, Nine stopped fully at that, causing their group to pause their advance on the tower, so that he could turn and give her a properly sharp look.

"Slice," He said in an emotionless voice, "I asked you a question."

"I just …" She pursed her lips, "… don't see the point in -"

"He has potential," Nine reminded her, stepping forward and gently cupping her cheek to force her to look at him, "and right now, we need all the help we can get. I know that you'd rather stick him in a hole and forget about him, but I told you - we'll chain him somewhere downstairs and forget about him until we need him. Now, I'm going to ask you again - do you know where he is?"

Slice paused, feeling her stomach squirm and her eyes glance away from Nine's - but she still muttered, in a low voice, "He's back home."

"I see," Nine nodded, not looking entirely happy with that as he lowered his hand, "in that case, I can trust you and Chimera to go get him. Now -"

"Good evening!"

The sharp voice in front of them caused the small group to falter, Nine looking around with a frown and Slice sharpening her hair quickly while Chimera breathed out a bit of fire as warning, and Camie looked curiously around at Nine. Before them stood only one man - one man in a long black trench coat and suit, adjusting the purple-tinted glasses on his face as he gave them a grin. Behind him, however, they could see several people turning to look in their direction, meaning that he definitely wasn't as surrounded as they wanted to think he was.

"Welcome to Deika City," He greeted them, "a liberated district where ninety percent of the population consists of dormant liberation warriors. Thank you for coming so far to see us!"

"And you are?" Nine raised an eyebrow.

"Koku Hanabata," He introduced himself with a grin, "leader of the Hearts and Mind political party, and fellow liberator. Re-Destro asked me to come and guide you to the tower - we wanted to wait for you, our guest of honor, but our party is already quite full, so we wanted to get it started as soon as we could. We were not aware that you were bringing other guests, however …"

"I didn't," Nine stepped away from the group, "I was just giving them their orders. They'll be on their way."

"Excellent," Hanabata smiled, taking a step back to let Nine join him, "in that case, we'll be off, then. Re-Destro is quite excited to meet you."

"I'm sure." Nine resisted rolling his eyes, subtly rolling his fingers together. At once, a light drizzle started hitting them from above, making the liberation leader wince a bit at the sudden rain as Nine looked around at Slice with a frown.

"I expect him at the manor," He told her sharply, making Slice frown and look down at her feet, "now get going."

Nodding, Slice and Chimera took a step back, watching carefully as Nine followed Hanabata down the street towards the tower, several people backing away to let them through. It wasn't that they didn't trust their leader to get out of a situation if it was demanded, but … they weren't entirely sure about letting him walk into a lion's den by himself. However, before they could comment, Kurogiri suddenly swirled around them, appearing from nowhere.

"I have the coordinates," He told them darkly, making Slice close her eyes, "it appears your leader is doubtful of you, Slice."

"No," She growled out, "he just knew where I lived."

With that, the darkness stopped swirling around them, making the three look up. They were standing before a derelict house, clearly in disrepair - the garden outside it was wilted down to nothing, the grass dead, the house looking like it was going to collapse in on itself. The car at the side had its tires slashed, its doors and hood stolen right off of it presumably by scavengers, while the other houses around them seemed empty.

Slice, for her part, merely straightened her shoulders with a scowl, and took a step forward - but not before Chimera growled, "Wait a second."

Pausing, she turned to glance over her shoulder at him. Chimera fished another cigar out of his pocket while Camie went over to poke at the car, but he still gave her a suspicious look as he tapped his foot on the ground.

"Why didn't you do this immediately?" He grunted. "If you knew where he was gonna be."

"I hate being here," She told him plainly, scowling back at him, "and I'm sure you understand why someone wouldn't want to go back to a place that gives them bad memories. Especially since the person who gave you the bad memories is probably still here."

Chimera merely grunted at that, leaning back on his heel.

"Truth be told," He shrugged his shoulders as he sucked on his cigar, "I don't know what your deal is. All I know is that Nine wanted you in, and me and Mummy didn't have any say. I just want to make sure you aren't weighin' him down."

"I'm not," Slice glared at him, "I want his world as much as you do."

"Right," Chimera huffed, "then get to work."

Shooting him one more glare as her hair sharpened in slight warning, Slice let out a sigh, turning back to the house. The door was opened already, meaning she didn't have to look for a key as she stepped into the dark house, her eyes trailing around for anything that might jump out at her. She could distantly hear thumping on the second floor, however, meaning that he was up there somewhere, so she carefully began walking through the empty, trashed house, careful to mind her heels so that he didn't hear her coming.

Moving up the stairs, Slice ignored the shattered and slashed pictures on the wall beside her as she slowly moved over towards one of the sliding doors, where she could hear the distant sound of something being messily eaten. Taking a deep breath, Slice nodded slowly to herself, and moved to carefully slide the door open.

Thanks to the moon shining in through the open window, she could make out what was going on distantly. First thing she noticed, of course, was a boy huddling in on himself in the corner, looking traumatized, while wearing a filthy and mattered gakuran school uniform, glancing up at her fearfully. Her eyes then trailed over to the body dumped unceremoniously on the floor, its right arm and leg missing and a blood trail leading over to …

"… so you really did escape death row, huh?"

There was a flash of metal against the moonlight, and Slice acted immediately, sharpening her hair and cutting it downwards to counter against the several blades shooting straight towards her chest and face. She managed to drive them all to the floor with a loud thud, forcing them into the hardwood floor, and causing the boy in the corner to jump. If the man huddled in the corner cared, though, he didn't show it, continuing to munch on whatever piece of meat he had in his hands as she approached.

Glancing over at the boy, Slice let out a short sigh, and gestured with her head. Taking his cue, the boy quickly scrambled to his feet, and ran as fast as his little legs could carry him out the door, Slice hearing him limping out of the house with bawling cries that made her roll her eyes - and unintentionally flashing back to when she was young and she did that. Still though, she approached the huddled man in the dark corner.

"That doesn't look fresh," She pointed out, scowling, "that's always typical of you - always drag your food upstairs to eat by yourself, made me and Mom fend for ourselves. Seems like you haven't changed at all."

She only heard muffled grunting and growling as he ate more.

"But … I know where more meat is," She moved to kneel down before him, "something that'll taste even better than what you've got."

The sounds of chewing stopped at once. She heard the distinct sound of swallowing, and then the sharpened teeth around her slowly slid around her, moving back into his mouth. She waited patiently as he slowly looked around at her, a dead look on his face as his mouth hung open slightly, drool and blood escaping his lips as he held the chewed up leg in both his hands.

"F-flesh …" He said quietly. "… you'll … bring me … flesh …?"

"I know where plenty of flesh is," Slice glanced over at the discarded severed foot, wrinkling her brow at the smell, "something far … fresher."

"Fresh … flesh …"

"Yes, yes … but I can only get you it if you come with me, and do as I say."

He stared at her for a long moment, until Slice reached out to gently stroke his buzzed-hair, despite it making her feel like she was touching something revolting as he stared blankly up at her.

"C'mon, Dad," Slice stroked his head, "let's go howl at the moon."

He stared at her for another long second as she waited - and then he nodded, dropping the foot.

"Flesh …" He slowly stood up with her, "… yes … we'll … go get flesh … we'll get to work …"

"Mm-hm," Slice nodded, "and then I'll get you something to eat. And don't worry …"

She felt herself smirk, despite herself.

"… we have lots of people to feed to you."

Notes:


https://i.imgur.com/VFmKu1R.png

And that was Chapter 34! And the beginning of our new small arc ... which, of course, I think all of you already know what will be covered XD

And hoo boy, things got pretty dark there, didn't they?! From All For One being a 'kewl' political candidate with his young crowd, to Overhaul coming back to his second home to his crew, to Nine paying a visit to a few cultists, to Slice and her ... er ... dad. That many of you probably guessed the identity of, and it's kind of obvious since their quirks are so similar XD Things are gonna get dark at some point, so we might as well throw Moonfish in there to get you guys ready for it lol

And ... oh, right. Kisses. Those did happen this chapter, didn't they? From Nejire going 'hey, I want my own kiss chapter!' and not letting Itsuka have a chance to retort, to Izuku and Ochako *finally* acting on all that unresolved sexual tension and ... maybe going a bit too far XD this, y'all, was what I was trying to build up to all Sports Festival arc, so I'm so happy to finally get that ball rolling! And as the meme above displays, it might not be over *just* yet ...

And as for Bakugou, I hear you ask? Well ... in addition to being expelled from the hero course but stuck in general studies, his costume and support items have been confiscated in the event of vigilante-ism, and he has received a month's worth of detentions on behavior and regulated therapy with Hound Dog. But seeing as he wouldn't care about those, he wouldn't mention them. Everyone wave bye-bye to Katsuki! And you are all now left to wonder who will be filling his seat. As if I hadn't already thought of it ... >:)

In any case, thank you all for reading, and I'll see you next time!

Chapter 35: Clover Rising: Part Two

Summary:

In the aftermath of a rather intense kiss, Ochako receives help from an unlikely source. Hisashi finds himself being awkward, Nine gets a new ally, Teko is reminded of his place, and secrets will be revealed.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Alright," Recovery Girl sighed as she put the pen down on the table, "I believe that's all the information that I needed about Izuku. Thank you again, Mr. Midoriya, for staying behind to fill in those blanks."

"You're welcome, Recovery Girl," Hisashi nodded awkwardly from the seat he was sitting on beside the desk, scratching his beard a bit nervously as Midnight read through the notes that the elderly nurse had been writing over her shoulder, "I just … well, I wish I'd known that I'd be asked for Izuku's entire medical history, I would've thought to bring his folder with us today."

"We know that it was unexpected," Midnight was unable to stop herself from smiling gently at his attempt to lighten the mood with a joke, "but it's just to make sure we know where we're going to be guiding Izuku once classes start back up on Monday."

Hisashi at least smiled a bit at that, nodding in thanks to the two women as he stood up to put on his coat. Indeed, he hadn't really expected to be asked about Izuku's entire medical history today, but he had tried to recite everything as best he could, from Izuku's quirk awakening (or what he and Inko had thought to be the awakening), to all the times Izuku would get banged up throughout his childhood, whether they be bruises or burns from school or the time he jumped off a bridge, and ending at the sludge incident Inko had told him about last year. It had only taken about two hours, and even if he felt like he needed a drink from all the talking, he knew that he'd be able to head home soon and finally get a chance to rest.

Still, even if it had been a lot of talking and remembering his son's injuries, he was at least comforted that both Recovery Girl and Midnight seemed determined to get ahead of Izuku's … cellular degeneration, the two words still sending a shiver down Hisashi's spine. He had expected Recovery Girl to want to know all the details, of course, seeing as she was the school nurse, but it was a bit surprising to see Midnight sticking around, seemingly seemed interested in Izuku's case as well/

Of course, he did have to avoid looking at her for too long, seeing as she was still wearing her hero costume and her long purple hair was down, making him awkwardly clear his throat and look away from her less she caught him occasionally stealing a glance.

"Now then," Recovery Girl tapped her notes against the desk as she turned back to her folders, "I'll have to work over the weekend to make sure that your son will be ready for the physical therapy we're beginning to work out. Tenko and All Might have both agreed to assist with Izuku's recovery, so I'll be speaking with them when they come first thing tomorrow."

"I see," Hisashi slowly nodded, frowning, "and … well, I'd trust All Might, of course, but this, uh - this Tenko person …?"

"Tenko has a keen eye for quirks," Recovery Girl assured him, "and he's worked with your son before on both his own quirk and his therapy session, so I believe your son at least trusts him."

"Okay, that - alright."

"Now then, I do believe that's all I needed from you, Mr. Midoriya, so … we won't keep you any longer," She sighed as she put her notes down, "thank you again for staying behind."

"A-ah, no, thank - thank you," Hisashi put his coat over his arms and zipped it up a bit, giving the two women an awkward wave, "I'm just … I'm thankful that you both are taking this so seriously. Just, ah …" Now he felt himself go a bit red, "… I'm … not entirely sure how to leave the school."

"No need to worry," Midnight smiled at him again as she likewise stood from her own seat, stretching her arms above her head and causing Hisashi to avert his eyes from her chest (and causing Recovery Girl to roll her own eyes), "it's about time I clocked out anyway, I should probably be thinking of heading home soon to finally calm down from today. I'll show you to the gate, Mr. Midoriya."

Giving her an awkward smile of his own, Hisashi followed Midnight over to the door. Taking a moment to bow in thanks to Recovery Girl, Hisashi then stepped through out into the hallway, allowing Midnight to close the door to the nurse's office behind them, and began to follow her out of the school. He could see, in the distance, the sun nearly all the way down, the sky turning dark, meaning that the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan was probably wrapping up their celebrations, making Hisashi pout a bit that he missed the celebrations. But still, he knew that there wasn't really much to be done, and that someone had to stay behind to give Recovery Girl the information she needed - and honestly, Inko would be a better host for their party, so he knew that it was better for him to remain behind.

Now, though … he couldn't help but glance a bit stiffly at Midnight as she walked beside him down the hall. Other than her being a very beautiful woman, Hisashi couldn't help but feel a bit awkward walking beside a woman in a hero costume, one that was looking far too casual at the moment as she adjusted her mask, and couldn't help but notice that, even if she was wearing heels, he still had a bit of height to her - meaning that he was pretty much looking down at her as she turned to glance at him with a questioning eyebrow raise.

"Er …" He cleared his throat, trying to remain polite, "… I … suppose I also have to thank you, er - Midnight, uh … ma'am."

"You can just call me Kayama," She smiled over at him, trying not to show her humor as he obviously sagged a bit in relief at not having to call her by some formal hero name, "I'm pretty much off duty now, Mr. Midoriya - it's been a pretty long day, so I'm not exactly up for doing the whole persona, if you can forgive me."

"I - I see."

"But in any case, why thank me?" She turned to give him a curious look as they walked down the stairs together. "I pretty much just sat there and listened to everything. I'm not sure what I did that deserves your gratitude."

"Well," Hisashi put his hands in his pockets, "I just … you were the one who pulled Izuku out of the sports festival today. I know that my son can be surprisingly stubborn, so … so I'm just glad that you took the situation seriously enough to convince him to stand down, for his safety. I … really haven't been all that present in his life because of work, so I know that I can't really convince him like his mother can."

"Is that so?" Midnight blinked a bit, looking intrigued. "I had thought that you and your wife seemed close."

"Er … ex-wife," He corrected her, looking sheepish as Midnight flashed him a surprised look, "I actually work overseas to provide for both of them, and … well, you know, it's hard to keep a spark burning when you're constantly at work halfway across the world."

"Ah, I see." 

"Yeah. We agreed to split up, and we're simply friends now. It, uh - it wasn't that hard, if you were curious, we were friends before we started dating, so we just … went back to that."

"Is that so …" Midnight hummed.

"Yeah. Although …" He felt his smile fade, "… I … might have to bother her for a bit longer, I'm not sure how impressed she'd be with that."

He paused for a moment, and then blinked, realizing that he may have said something she wasn't entirely interested in, and felt weirdly panicked at the possibility of annoying her with his problems.

"Oh, uh - never mind, I'm sure that -"

"Oh, no, please," She gave him a smile as they both reached the bottom of the stairs, "I'm intrigued. Why are you bothering her?"

"Well, uh …" Hisashi cleared his throat awkwardly again, trying not to show how out of his depth he felt at the moment, "… I … actually got an email from one of my supervisors where I work during our lunch break. They're interested in transferring me back to work at the main offices in Japan, saying I did such a good job working from here that they don't see much point in having me move back to America. It, uh … well, it just means that I might have to couch surf at Inko's place for a bit longer," He was unable to stop himself from feeling guilty, "at least, until I can find a place closer to the office. I just … you know, would rather not step on any more toes than I have to."

"Ah," Midnight nodded in understanding as they finally reached the doors that led outside, allowing the warm spring air to hit them as they walked out of the main building, "I see."

"Er - yeah. Sorry to just, uh … drop that on you," He chuckled nervously as they both breathed in some fresh air, "I'm sure that you probably have - y'know, more important things to worry about than that."

"Oh, no, Mr. Midoriya, I - I don't mind," She laughed as well, brushing some of her hair out of her face as they walked over to the gate in the distance, "I'm sure that you know that us heroes can't have the fate of Japan as our only problems. We heroes can get worried about smaller stuff, we do it all the time. In fact, I …"

She faltered, however, and Hisashi turned to glance at her. Surprisingly, there was no sultry or teasing look on her face, not anything that he had seen on the big jumbotrons today, at least - instead, there was a look of sadness there, looking a bit morose and put down that he couldn't help but feel himself blink in shock.

"… I … did have an argument with one of my friends today," She admitted, sighing as though she hadn't meant for that to slip out, "one of my older friends, someone I've known since high school. And it - well - it dug up some old wounds."

"Oh," He said in a blank voice, not entirely sure what to say to that, "I - I see."

"Well …" She sighed as they both moved through the gate, standing there as Midnight turned to give him a small smile, "… I suppose that it's also because of all the stress today - I always get like this when I have to referee, I'm so lucky that they're bringing a guest to referee tomorrow's sports festival and give me a little break before the last festival on Sunday. If I'm being honest, I could probably go for a drink right now - today's been long.”

"Oh, well," Hisashi smiled innocently at her, not thinking anything of it as an idea came to him, "I do know a good bar that I used to frequent with my neighbor. I don't think it's too far from here, they serve the best shots if that's what you're interested in."

He was speaking completely genuinely, of course, only wanting this woman who was obviously having a very rough day to at least have a relaxing night, and he knew that the bar he was thinking about now was a nice and comfortable place in addition to serving some pretty good beer. He glanced around, trying to remember the exact instructions to get there so he could tell her, and completely missed Midnight straightening up a bit, blinking.

"Oh," She said simply, "a … bar, you say?"

"Yep. Has excellent beer, too." He commented in a happy tone, "I imagine it's exactly what you're looking for, Kayama - it's a pretty relaxing place, especially after a long day at work."

"Oh," She said again, and then suddenly pepped up, a small blush appearing on her cheeks, "oh! Well, I - I suppose that sounds good. I should probably get changed, though - I don't want anyone looking around and seeing Midnight of all people sitting at a booth, that might give some people ideas."

"I guess so," Hisashi nodded, and then blinked when Midnight suddenly tapped his shoulder, causing him to look around as she beamed up at him.

"I'll be just a few minutes," She told him, "and then we'll be off."

With that, she turned and quickly made her way back to the school, hurrying along on her heels. 

Behind her, Hisashi stared after her in confusion for a moment, feeling the hamster wheel in his head pause. They'll … be off … together? Oh wait, he realized, she must think that he'll bring her to the bar itself, instead of just telling her where it was. Of course, that made sense! 

Well … he had planned to be back to the apartment in a bit, not wanting Inko or Izuku to wait up for him, but … he supposed that, since Midnight showed a lot of concern for Izuku today, it would be polite to show Midnight where the bar was directly instead of just telling her. And, well, it wasn't every day you could show something off to a pro hero, especially someone like Midnight! Maybe he could get her autograph for Izuku, in case he hadn't gotten it yet.

Yep, Hisashi smiled innocently and looked back around at the city, it seemed that tonight was going to be interesting.


"Filthy."

Sitting down on the floor of the dojo, Teko merely frowned as he crossed his legs, allowing the costumed yakuza to gather near the wall while Rappa absently walked over to the punching bag hanging in the corner, throwing out a punch. Over near the other wall, Chisaki continued to pace for a moment before he walked over to one of the boards where several of the children from Teko's lessons had posted some of their pictures and drawings. Teko had reluctantly agreed to allow them to hang their art when Tenohira had convinced him to, wanting to liven up the dojo a bit, and truth be told, he would occasionally look at those hastily drawn pictures with softness on some days.

Sometimes, it was just … good to have a bit of innocence down here. Not that Chisaki seemed to agree, with his eyes narrowing as he folded his hands behind his back.

"This entire place positively reeks of filth," He shortly told Teko without even looking back at him, "far more than I remember. I remember when this dojo was a place where we could rally, where warriors could train. Where blood would flow and no one would be able to stop it. Now, it's …" 

He let out a small snort as he looked around at where Teko was sitting, gesturing to one of Emi's drawings with an air of disgust.

"… it's a place where children can hang their snot-covered rags," He dismissed, "on the very same walls I was beaten into. I have to say, sensei, I feel nothing but despair for how far this dojo has fallen."

"Much has changed ever since you left us," Teko replied in a cold voice as he adjusted his legs, "I wanted this place to become more than what it was. Where children could learn discipline and self-control."

"Hm," Chisaki merely hummed, "still, it's disappointing. Thankfully, you seem to keep the place clean, at the very least - it's sickening to imagine what those children have dragged into the very same dojo that made me who I am."

Moving away from the wall, Chisaki slowly lowered himself before where the dojo master was sitting with a sigh, carefully moving to sit on his knees. Teko observed him carefully for a moment, feeling his brow furrow as Chisaki dusted himself off before looking back up at him, and then snapped his fingers. At once, the small one he had called Mimic, who had been standing near the wall silently, quickly waddled over with the folder in his hands to hand it to the boss.

As he accepted the folder without even looking back at his underling, Chisaki looked back around at Teko, only to raise his own eyebrow at the look the older man was looking at him with.

"What?"

"You've changed, Kai," Teko observed quietly, a tinge of sadness in his voice, "that much is certain, now."

"You've got that right, old man," Chisaki shook his head, keeping his voice cold, "and 'Kai Chisaki' is a name that I've left behind. My name is -"

"Please," Teko scoffed at once, frowning, "we aren't playing silly heroes and villains. We are yakuza - we are more than that. I won't be playing this game, Kai."

Chisaki's yellow eyes narrowed a fraction, enough to send the clear message to Teko - a simple warning not to get cocky. The other members of the yakuza watched the two of them carefully, while Rappa ignored all of them and continued to punch the bag in the corner, as the young yakuza head and the dojo master glared at each other, as though challenging each other.

Finally, Chisaki let out a short sigh, and leaned back slightly.

"The boss," He suddenly changed the topic, causing Teko to raise an eyebrow, "thought you'd want to know, he's sick. I'm running the Shie Hassaikai until he gets better."

"What?" Teko straightened up as well, his eyes going a bit wider as he felt his heart skip a beat. "Jōshi is sick? For how long? Why was I not told of this?"

"He's been in bed for the last … hm … two years?" The yakuza head shrugged nonchalantly, while Teko's eyes widened more. "Lost track. Anyway, he's been in and out of consciousness for a while, I've had doctors come in to look at him. I didn't want to stress him out by inviting you back to the house, so …"

Teko stayed silent for a while, his eyes turning down to the floor as he absorbed the information. Chisaki, for whatever reason, allowed the old dojo master a moment to quietly stew in his thoughts, as he tapped a finger against his leg and waited for Teko to get over himself.

For about a minute, the dojo was filled with nothing but the sound of Rappa punching the bag in the corner over and over, until finally, Teko let out a small sigh and shook his head, his expression hardening.

"You came to give me more information about this Villain Consortium." He said in a short voice. "Let's get on with it, then. Once I have it, you will all have to leave at once - I do not know when the rest of my family will return home."

Chisaki raised his eyebrow while Rappa snorted dismissively behind him, but still, the yakuza at least knew that Teko's patience was beginning to wane. The yakuza boss then moved to hand Teko the folder, the dojo master accepting it with a scowl and then flipping it open.

The first page he opened showed him a picture of a young woman with long, wild red hair, huddled in a large coat as she walked down a snowy street. The picture had been taken from what seemed to be a rooftop, pointed down at her as she stared down at the ground. Teko then glanced over at what he recognized at once as a rap sheet, moving to take it out of the folder and read through it as Chisaki leaned over to tap on the picture.

"Her name," He said, "her real name, at least, is Kiruka Hasaki. Don't have much information about her recent activities, that picture was taken about a year ago. All we know is that she used to commit some petty crimes when she was in high school - pickpocketing, threatening locals, that kind of stuff. But the curious part," He reached up to tap on the beak of his mask, "is that her father was arrested when she was about seven years old, for cannibalism of all things."

"Is that so?" Teko narrowed his eyes.

"Her mother was deemed unfit to take care of her, so special services kept moving the little brat from foster home to foster home whenever her crimes caught up to her. Eventually, little miss Hasaki there disappeared right off the face of the earth at some point - that rap sheet you're holding is the only proof she ever existed before she vanished. I assume she disappeared into the underworld, but none of the gangs we interrogated had anything about her when we asked."

"I see …"

"Now," Chisaki turned the page over so that he could tap on the mug shot of the next Consortium member, showing Teko the angry looking young man with gray hair glaring at the camera, "this next one is actually someone I've met - or, well, to be more accurate, we're acquaintances. You'd be the one more acquainted with his group - do you remember the Abegawa Tenchu Kai?"

"Ah," Teko nodded slowly, frowning.

"Mm-hm. After you finished off their leading brass, other lower punks moved in to take over the family. This one, Hoyo Makihara," He snorted a bit while the other yakuza chuckled, "is the last of the original yakuza - was being raised to take over from his father. But of course, your little … talk … with them ended up putting a stop to that. Didn't like that he was out of the job when the other members of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai tried to take over, and ended up finishing the group off before he vanished. Don't know when he joined this Villain Consortium either, but from some of the information we gathered, it was before Hasaki did."

Teko then flipped to the third page, and stopped. Feeling his eyes narrow, he picked up the picture of the young girl posing in front of a monument, raising his eyebrow at how youthful and playful she was, grinning at the screen with a few other girls who looked to be her friends.

"That one," Chisaki shrugged his shoulders, "is apparently the newest one, only joined about a few weeks ago. Some high schooler. Don't have a name for her yet, but from what my sources tell me, she's on the run for traumatizing some of her classmates - apparently sent them to some psych ward, not able to tell reality from imagination anymore. Don't know much about her, but apparently my sources are wary of her - she's a wild one."

"She'd have to be around Itsuka's age," Teko remarked quietly to himself, frowning as he put the photo back into the folder, "these monsters don't have any qualms about dragging someone so young into this."

"There's another two members - some recruiter, and their leader - but my sources weren't able to get any information about them," Chisaki shook his head, putting his hands down on his knees, "not that it quite matters. Word is that they're sending people out to continue recruiting. Heard some small-time villain gangs are teaming up with them, but … well, I haven't heard any news of major villain organizations reaching out. That's not to say that we haven't been talking about the pros and cons of what an alliance might do."

"Considering accepting an invitation from a villain organization?" Teko looked back up at him with a frown. "Especially a group who targets children? The Shie Hassaikai would never think to do such a thing, Kai. We are above such petty titles like 'villains'."

"The times are changing, old man. You see," Chisaki grunted as he stood up, dusting off his pants with his gloved-covered hands, "I have plans. Big plans. Those sources that got me this information spread around rumors that this Villain Consortium is trying to build up an army. An army for what, well, I have no idea. But the important thing is that they're organizing something big, and we," His eyes turned amused, "have received an invitation."

"You have?" Teko straightened up, a grave look on his face.

"A few weeks ago, once we were done snooping around, one of my Eight Bullets, Hojo, got an invite," Chisaki tapped his hand against his leg, "just to talk. Nothing big, or official, but a talk in order to discuss a potential alliance. I had Hojo tell them that we would consider it."

"Very well." The dojo master closed his eyes. "In that case, you should accept the invitation, and I will accompany you to this meeting. There, we can -"

"Kill them? Make an example out of them?" Chisaki guessed, scoffing under his mask. "You aren't exactly in the prime of your youth anymore, old man. And from what I've been hearing, you're trying to pick a fight against someone with serious firepower. Rumors are going around that they came closer than anyone to killing All Might, so they aren't exactly people we can ignore. So what I'm thinking, old man, is that a meeting between us is necessary - if only to make sure they know who the Shie Hassaikai are."

"Kai," Teko's eyes snapped open, and he stood as well, glaring at the young man before him, "you are forgetting yourself."

"Oh, I didn't forget anything," He chuckled dismissively, "I remember that it was you who chose to leave - we didn't force you out. You poisoned Tenohira's mind against us, and made sure that she left us to settle down with … with that …"

His eyes narrowed, and his tone turned to disgust.

"… with the outsider." He spat. “I'll admit, we could've become grand under your leadership, old man, but that's in the past now. Where I'm planning to leave it. The ugly truth is, the Shie Hassaikai can't survive as what you and the boss tried to make it. We need an edge if we're going to thrive. And unfortunately for us," His fists clenched, "someone came and took away our secret weapon. So I have no choice but to put out all the stops to get it back, no matter who gets hurt."

"An edge?" Teko scoffed as he folded his arms together, glaring at his former pupil. "Don't be foolish, Kai. The Shie Hassaikai are supposed to protect those who the heroes neglect. That is what Jōshi and I tried to do when we joined the clan, years before you or Tenohira were born, and both of us losing that vision is the real reason why I left. Do not twist our legacy to -"

"I don't think," Chisaki suddenly interrupted, his voice growing cold, "you understand what I'm saying, old man."

He then turned to look over at Rappa still punching the bag.

"Rappa," He said in a sharp voice, "come here."

"Eh?" The fighter grunted, looking over at them from under his hood with an obviously disgruntled look. Moving over towards them, he stopped just short of Teko and Chisaki, glancing between them both with a frown as he put his hands down on his waist.

"The fuck do you want, Overhole?" He grunted, sounding bored. "You two done with your dick measuring contest yet so we can -"

It was too quick for either Rappa or Teko to stop. Chisaki suddenly whipped his hand out, having uncovered it from the glove before either of them noticed, and his hand slammed straight onto Rappa's chest. And just like a balloon, Rappa's upper body swelled, his voice cutting out with a gurgle, and then he exploded.

Teko flinched back at once as a splatter of blood hit the front of his hakama, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping open as he realized what had just happened, seeing the lower body of his son tumble to the ground with a bang after a moment of wobbling around, blood splashing against the billboard with this children's drawings. Red liquid and viscera coated the wall and floor of the dojo as the other members of the yakuza watched in stoic silence, and Chisaki let out a low growl as he flicked some of the blood off of his hand, hives breaking out over his exposed arm and face as he itched at his skin.

"Disgusting," He said in a cold voice under his breath, before he moved down to what remained of Rappa's body. As Teko let out a shaking breath as his mind slowly tried to catch up to what had just happened, Chisaki laid his hand down on Rappa's ankle, and activated his quirk again.

And before Teko could blink, the lower body of what remained of his son twitched, and several strands of skin and blood, organs and veins, began erupting and rebuilding from the open hole flooding the floor with blood. It took several long seconds, but finally, Rappa sat up again, looking confused for a moment before a thunderous expression crossed his face, and he wheeled around to where Chisaki was straightening up.

"You bastard!" He barked up at him. "That was fucking cheap! You wanna kill me, you kill me during a fight!"

"Shut up," Chisaki huffed at him, "I used you to make my point. Don't look too much into it."

He then turned back to where Teko was now staring blankly at his son, watching as the fighter stiffly got back to his feet.

"Understand this, old man," Chisaki's voice remained cold as he tapped on the beak of his mask, "you and the boss are not in charge of the Shie Hassaikai anymore. I am. And I'm not the same punk nosed brat you stomped into the floor whenever you nitpicked my stance anymore. I'm running things from here on out, so you don't get any say in how I run my organization. I looked up the Villain Consortium for you because the old man owed you a favor, and as far as I'm concerned, we're square now. But if you think you can order us around, I want you to think again.

"Now, if you want to rejoin our group again, you can be my guest. Bring Tenohira with you too, so I can convince her that she made a mistake leaving our home with you, and that she'd be better off with her real family. But know that until I get back my resource," His eyes narrowed again, "the Villain Consortium is far from the top of our priorities. I'll decide to deal with this … Nine … how I see fit - not to stroke your little vendetta against them trying to kill your granddaughter. The girl that should've been my daughter, not that outsider's."

With that, he put back on his white glove, and began moving away from the frozen dojo master, the rest of the yakuza following him towards the door while Rappa grumbled and stomped after them.

"For now, old man," Chisaki called to Teko as the old man continued to stare blankly down at the blood coating the floor and wall, "you'll wait until I call you. I'm not done with your family, not now that you're poking your nose back in our business. Like it or not, you're now under the employ of the Shie Hassaikai - and the only reason I'm going to allow this dojo to remain standing is because I still see a use for it. Remember this well, old man - don't try to order me around again."

He then opened the door, glaring at Teko over his shoulder.

"And," He said in a low voice, "remember to never call me 'Kai Chisaki' again. My name is Overhaul."

With that, he stepped out into the night with the rest of the lower members of his group, leaving Teko there to stare down at the now drying blood of his own son coating the floor.


"Ah!" Re-Destro stood from his seat at the end of the table, smiling brightly and gesturing with both of his hands as the doors to the dining room were opened by the aides near the wall, allowing Trumpet and Nine to stroll in. "Our fellow liberator has returned, along with our guest of honor! We can finally begin."

As the politician - apparently named Trumpet by these people, Nine thought with a frown - returned to his seat, the other members of the table brought their thumbs and index fingers up towards their faces, an obvious salute shared between them. Nine himself took a chance to look around as he stood near the one empty seat at the end of the table, presumably for him to sit in, as he took in his surroundings. 

The room in the observation tower was rather bare, a simple table with black chairs surrounding it in the middle, and on the opposite wall, a large picture of a ponytailed man with black markings around his eyes was hung proudly. The large floor to ceiling windows on the side showed off the mountains surrounding them - or rather, they would, had it not been for the rain continuing to heavily platter against them with occasional flashes of lightning filling the sky. Several young people surrounded them in suits, obviously some waiters that had been dragged up to the tower to serve them, holding either wine glasses or plates of meat or sushi to treat them.

Then, he turned his attention to those sitting around the table looking up at him, and he felt his eyes narrow. The one woman furthest to the left was giving him a noticeable side eye, a fascinated look on her face as she sipped on her wine. Opposite of her, the gonkish man with long black hair covering his eyes let out a small scoff as he returned to looking at his own dinner plate, leaning back in his seat. Trumpet took off his glasses for a moment to wipe at his glasses, in order to flick off some of the rain, and on the opposite side, the man in the parka continued to sloppily use his hands to push food into his mouth. And on the end of the table, the tall, lanky looking man with the high hairline and pointy nose and chin smiled at him, his eyes closed.

On the table itself, what could only be described as a feast was being enjoyed by the group - American style turkey and chicken, various wine bottles, Japanese cuisine, what looked to be Korean beef, the works. It was probably more food than Nine had seen in months, but he could only scowl as he tapped his finger against the back of his seat.

It appeared that they were either trying hard to impress him, or flaunt their wealth in front of him. Either way, he merely frowned.

"Please, my friend," Re-Destro gestured towards the seat opposite of him, moving to sit back down and giving him a pleasant smile, "have a seat! As you can see, we've prepared quite the dinner for you - I have to say, we only had to pressure our cooks just a tad bit to get everything ready for tonight on such short notice, but luckily they had the assistance of our local university. I'll have to give them full recommendations, the students went above and beyond tonight!"

"Hm," Nine merely hummed, not really caring as he sat down in his chair, and a server came over to put sushi on his plate.

"Now then, is there anything you would like to drink? Wine? Scotch? We have a grand assortment of various alcoholic beverages for you to pick through."

"Water," Nine shook his head with a frown, "I still have work to do tonight."

"Ah, a fellow workaholic," Re-Destro lifted his own wine glass up to raise to him, "I completely understand. Well, I can hardly judge you - I have my own assignments to get through right after our dinner is concluded, but please, don't let that ruin the fun for you!"

Nine merely hummed again, accepting the glass of water from the waitress off to the side, and took a careful drink - he had no idea if these people would try and poison him, but he was fairly certain that the doctor's procedures had given him a slight poison immunity. Still, he would rather not test that.

For a few minutes, the room was quiet, filled with nothing but the sound of classic music coming from the speakers off to the side and the sound of utensils hitting the plates as everyone ate. Nine, for his part, didn't touch any of the food presented to him, merely sipping on his water and flickering his gaze around the room. Occasionally, the leaders of the Meta Liberation Army would catch a brief flicker of yellow light in his eyes, but seeing as they were also going ahead and privately psychoanalyzing him, they didn't call him out as they continued to eat.

Finally, after about ten minutes of silence, the sole woman of the group patted her lips with a napkin, and looked around at Nine as the other villain leader of the dinner party glanced at her.

"So," She put her fork and knife down, smiling at a server as she raised her glass for a refill of wine, and then turned back to look at Nine with her dark eyes, "did you have much trouble getting here? Our apologies if we had to make you hurry here from Musutafu, we're aware that we're a long way out."

"Indeed," Re-Destro smiled at his lieutenant opening up the conversation, "I know Curious here actually came straight from Musutafu herself - she got an invite to UA's sports festival, and wanted to ask around about you and those children you attacked a few weeks ago."

"Is that right?" Nine raised his eyebrow, taking another sip of water before answering. "A villain like you, just slipping by UA's security unnoticed because you looked like a reporter? Say it isn't so."

"Oh, yes!" Curious laughed a bit. "I also found it particularly amusing that they were so on guard for potential villains coming in. Well, thankfully no villains did interrupt the day's proceedings, and … well, I'm comfortable with what little information I gathered. It just means I'll have to do a bit of research."

"Very good," Re-Destro nodded at her, and then turned back to Nine, "it seems as though Ms. Curious here had quite the productive day. Now then, mister …?"

"Just Nine," He said shortly.

"Very well," Re-Destro smiled in acknowledgment, "Nine. I couldn't help but notice during our phone call today that you didn't sound very surprised or confused when we reached out to you. I take it that you've heard of the Meta Liberation Army?"

"Yes," Nine said offhandedly, putting his glass down on the hardwood table, "I've known about you for a while now. I learned about your army from one of your little foot soldiers."

That, of course, had the five leaders stop for a moment, blinking, before looking around at him in surprise.

"One of us told you?" The man in the parka growled. "Impossible. Our soldiers are loyal to our cause, they wouldn't betray us."

"Well," Nine smirked a bit as he leaned back in his seat, "this one did. Tried to arrest me due to his 'duty as a hero', but I managed to get him talking pretty quickly. Just so you know, he tried to sell you all out in order to save his skin, but … well, since I didn't have much need of him after he gave me the information I asked for, I thought it would be appropriate to get rid of him."

There was a short pause, as Trumpet and the one gonkish man exchanged a glance. And then Re-Destro raised his eyebrow, but he felt his eyebrow twitch, a small twitch of black pigment appeared on his forehead, causing the top brass to quickly look at him, and Nine to observe him with a tilt of his head.

"And …" Re-Destro's voice suddenly became stiff, "… who exactly was this traitor?"

"No idea what his name was," Nine dismissively said, "some idiot in purple and green."

There was a short pause - and then Curious blinked.

"Purple and green …" She repeated quietly, tilting her head slightly as she thought, and then her eyes brightened up. "Ah! So you're the one who killed Slidin' Go! Ah, that makes sense, Re-Destro, we had been wondering why he hadn't been reporting in - I was concerned that he had stopped communicating with us for the last month or so."

"Slidin' Go?" Nine wondered quietly to himself, wrinkling his brow. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard."

"Oh," Re-Destro likewise blinked, and to the relief of the other army leaders, the black pigment of his skin receded back, and a relieved smile came to his face, "I see. Yes, yes … well, I suppose that's in the past now."

Despite Re-Destro brushing it off, Trumpet quickly gestured for someone to come forward so he could whisper in his ear.

"Well," The gonkish man snorted to himself as he leaned forward to scoop some soup into his mouth, "I guess we should thank you for suppressing a traitor, but I'm still wondering if you really live up to your reputation."

The other brass of the Meta Liberation Army rolled their eyes at their fellow liberator's lack of tact, with Nine's eyes narrowing slightly over at him.

"Is that so?" He frowned. "And why would you say that?"

"Well," Re-Destro sighed, realizing that they'd have to do this now as he patted his own lips with his napkin, "Curious was sure to debrief us on what she learned from the school today, and from what we heard, you … well, apparently, from what we heard, you and your top brass were defeated by a group of high schoolers. She told us that you apparently had All Might in the palm of your hand, only for some," Re-Destro tilted his head, and both Trumpet and the gonkish man smirked a bit, "little punk that Curious is interested in to put you down before you could."

"Have to say," Trumpet was unable to stop himself, "I wish we had heard of that sooner. It seems that this Izuku Midoriya character made quite the fool out of you."

Nine could only scowl as the gonkish man and the man in the parka chortled.

"He took me by surprise," He said through slightly gritted teeth, "it won't happen the next time we meet."

"Oh, dear," The gonkish man snorted again, "sounds as though someone's reputation got a bit overblown."

Nine tapped his fingers against the table while breathing sharply through his nose, hearing the gonkish man sniggering quietly to himself. The other members of the table, however, saw the way Nine's eyes briefly flashed red, and realized that they might have been pushing him a bit too far.

With a sigh, Re-Destro tapped his spoon against his wine glass to get everyone's attention, and then, once the room was quiet again, he leaned back against his chair as he looked at Nine on the other end of the table.

"With that out of the way," He raised the glass to take another sip of wine, "I suppose we should get to business now. What exactly is it that you want? What is your goal? Your plan? Why should the Meta LIberation Army help the Villain Consortium?"

Nine stared at him for a long moment, tapping his fingernails against the table for a moment before he slowly nodded. After making sure everyone was looking at him, Nine let out a short sigh, and raised his hand into the air, the other members of the Army leaning forward with interest -

- and then Nine snapped his fingers. At once, a loud explosion of lightning outside the window caused everyone to jump, looking around to see several bolts of electrified energy slamming into the mountains around them.

The man in the parka, the gonkish man, and Trumpet whirled around in surprise as lightning flashed brightly, the noise almost enough to make them cover their ears. Curious, for her part, merely raised an eyebrow, and Re-Destro continued to stare at Nine as the other villain lowered his hand, and the sound of lightning finally quieted.

"I control the skies," He explained to them all in a short voice, "complete and utter control. I can create storms. I can form hurricanes. I can cause tornadoes. I can create anything."

"That's …" Trumpet, for his part, looked impressed, "… quite the powerful meta ability you have."

"It is," Nine nodded slowly, continuing to frown, "any yet … here I am. Crawling about on the ground, in the gutters."

None of them said anything to that.

"All of you … I imagine you've had silver spoons in your mouths your entire lives," Nine raised an eyebrow, "being fed all your money and power without doing anything to pursue it. I, on the other hand, already had everything decided for me the moment I was born. Regardless of the power I was blessed with, my circumstances kept me locked down, dragged through the mud. Suppressed. But in my travels, I found I wasn't the only one. I've seen with my own eyes so many people who don't get what they deserve, because of weaker men in positions of power to make the strong feel weak. It's … wrong."

"Wrong?" Curious raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Think about it. Take lions and apes, for example," Nine took another sip of water, "between them, which of those creatures would you say is the strongest?"

"The lion," The gonkish man rolled his eyes under his fringe, "obviously."

"Then why is it," Nine put the glass back down on the table, "that the lions aren't in charge? Why is it that the monkeys rule over the lions? Tell me, what is the 'meta ability' of the current prime minister?"

"I believe he's only able to dislocate his joints," Re-Destro offhandedly confirmed.

"Indeed," Nine nodded with a frown, "doesn't that seem wrong? That the strong are being ruled over by the weak? I simply intend to return the world to how it should be. Where the strong rightfully rule over the weak, and the weak look up to the strong as their saviors. And to do that," His eyes closed, "I will need more power. Enough power and status for me to reign over everyone and stand at the pinnacle of strength."

"In that case," Trumpet tilted his head as he looked at him over his glasses, "why come to us?"

"I'll answer that question with one of my own - what is a 'consortium'?"

"An association," Curious answered him, continuing to regard him with interest, "several businesses running together."

"And that's what I want," Nine nodded to her answer, "several organizations running together. There are several villain gangs in Japan, but only one force of heroes. If I am to return this world to the rule of the strong, I will need to make sure the villains can do the same - uniting under one banner. My banner."

Re-Destro let out a small hum at that, slowly folding his napkin on his empty plate. There were a few moments of silence before he slowly rose from the table, and snapped his fingers for the various waitresses and waiters to come and take away their plates. Nine studied him calmly as he fixed him with a pointed look, and the CEO finally let out a small sigh and fixed some of the reddish hair above his massive forehead.

"Well, you've given me much to think about, Nine," He informed him with a smile, "I am aware that our motivations might not align, but our interests do. I'm going to have to think long and hard about whether an alliance between our groups is in our best interests."

There was a short pause. And then Nine felt his eye twitch.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrow, glaring up at him. "You could've just said that you've wasted my time."

"Oh, don't fret, my friend," Re-Destro smirked a bit at him, which only really served to infuriate Nine, "I have much to think about, and other phone calls to make tonight. I will call you back with the number you gave me earlier today when we've decided on a vote, and we'll let you know what we have decided then."

With that, he snapped his fingers again, and the rest of the table stood, moving their fingers to their foreheads again to give their stupid salutes. Nine merely glared at them all as they turned to leave the room, the gonkish man shooting another smirk at him as he departed, and the man in the parka and Trumpet moved out together, while Re-Destro strolled after them and Curious took her time moving away from the table, turning to speak with a waitress while glancing at Nine out of the corner of her eyes. 

With a small growl, Nine shoved his own chair back as he spun on his heel to storm out of the room, clenching his fists and wincing as purple veins rose in his hand and the rain outside began thundering down even harder. Well, that was an enormous waste of time.

Scowling, Nine stormed past the various guards standing near the dining room over towards the elevator of the observation deck on the other side of the hall, jabbing his finger against the button. It was as he suspected - these liberators had simply dragged him out for a conversation that probably could have been accomplished over the phone, just to rub their superiority in his face. Re-Destro was nothing but a snobby rich boy who knew nothing of real strength or power. All of them - those CEOS, cutthroat politicians, reporters - they all knew nothing about what it was like to struggle to get what they wanted.

Everything was handed to them on a silver platter, while he had to drag himself through -

"Ah, are you really leaving so soon?"

At the teasing voice behind him, Nine paused, standing there waiting for the elevator. With another scowl, he looked over his shoulder and glared as Curious leaned against the doorframe leading to the dining room, cocking her hip and smirking at him as she played with her lilac hair with one finger, and used her other hand to dismiss the guards standing by in case he tried anything - which meant that they believed she could take care of herself, not that Nine really cared.

"And here I was thinking we had so much more to talk about," She said in an obviously fake sounding voice, pouting at him sarcastically, "you weren't going to stay for dessert?"

"I'm not interested in having any more of my time wasted," He said shortly, turning to press the button for the elevator again. As he stood back, Curious sauntered up behind him and chose to stand beside him, continuing to simply regard him with a coy grin while he glared at the elevator doors and tried to ignore her. As much as he would like to wipe that smug look off her face, he knew that he was in enemy territory, and should be careful not to make an enemy of an entire town he was at the heart of - not when he didn't have any backup, anyway.

Finally, the elevator doors opened, and he tried to step on - only to barely conceal his anger when the woman decided to step into the elevator with him, moving over to the other side while he pressed the button to the bottom floor.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He snapped coldly at her as the doors slid shut, and the elevator began to descend.

"Yes, there is," Curious giggled again, "you see, I just had to wait until we were here before I could ask you a few questions. Re-Destro has eyes and ears everywhere in this tower - everywhere, at least, except for this elevator.”

With that, she leaned over Nine so that she could press the emergency stop button on the elevator. The entire boxcar came to an abrupt stop, with Nine keeping his balance by putting his hand on the railing, and soon, they were both standing there in the dark as the light flickered above them, the glass windows showing off the raining and lightning filled skies around the tower.

With a sigh, Curious leaned back against the other side of the elevator, continuing to look at him with a smug smirk.

"So," She tapped her long fingernails against the metal railing, "Nine."

"Yes, that's my name." Nine rolled his eyes as he moved to lean against the other side of the elevator, deciding to humor her for the moment. "What exactly do you want?"

"Ah, is that how you treat all your potential business partners?"

"My 'potential business partner' has already wasted enough of my time tonight. And I know that you're probably going to waste even more of it."

"Ah, but I'm not talking about Re-Destro right now," She corrected him, wagging her finger a bit, "or the Meta Liberation Army. I'm talking about us. You and me."

"You and me?" he repeated, turning back to look at her as she tucked some of her long lilac hair out of her face behind her ear. She gave him an amused look for a long moment as he glared into her dark eyes, and then she let out another sigh.

"An army to serve you is all well and good," She pointed out to him, "but Re-Destro has us lieutenants for a reason. He can't command thousands of people without some of them slipping through the cracks and messing up, like Slidin' Go. Our soldiers are strong, but without guidance, they'll slip up, and make mistakes. That's why we lieutenants are in charge of different divisions of our army. Take me, for example - I have at least under two hundred liberation soldiers under my own command."

"… and?" Nine narrowed his eyes.

"And I'm saying," She leaned forward a bit, her smirk never leaving her face, "that you may think that tonight's been a waste of time, but I disagree. You see, you might want an entire army at your command - but two hundred liberation soldiers are better than none."

She then raised her hands, her fingers moving to make a square with both her index fingers and thumbs, as though to frame Nine in her eyes.

"The leader of the Villain Consortium," She mused, "the leader of the new world. Nine. The villain."

Nine regarded her quietly for a long moment - and then he was unable to stop himself from smirking a bit, feeling an idea begin to form in his mind. 

He moved away from the other side of the elevator to approach Curious, who slowly lowered her hands to study him with her dark eyes. Rain continued to pour against the glass windows of the elevator, lightning flashing, but neither of them paid attention to continue studying each other, as though noticing something curious about the other.

"Do I sense amusement?" He asked her.

"Oh, not amusement!" Curious giggled, and then tilted her head. "Well, perhaps some amusement. But not what you think."

"Elaborate, then," Nine put his hands in his pockets.

"I'm … intrigued by you," She decided to use that word, raising a hand to poke her cheek as she gave him an amused look, "about the world that you want to create. Re-Destro likes to play hard to get, but he's probably going to lean in your direction - the Meta Liberation Army doesn't share your views, but we know better than to ignore a potential partner. Although I know that Skeptic and Trumpet will lean him towards trying to use you - they won't want to play second fiddle, even if they know what power looks like when they see it. But if you want my … personal opinion?"

She leaned forward, somewhat getting into Nine's face as he stared down stoically at her teasing look.

"The world you've got in mind," She said in a quiet, yet confident look, her finger raising to gently stroke the buttons of Nine's dress shirt, "sounds far more interesting than the one Re-Destro has."

Nine raised his eyebrows. His eyes flashed a brief yellow, scanning her quirk for a moment, and then he let out a small huff.

"The ability to create explosive properties on anything you touch," He commented out loud, "a strong quirk. Something that can help me."

"Oh, I'm more than just my meta ability." She shook her head playfully. "You want someone with connections? I have them. And, should our … partnership … work out, you'll find that you can cause a lot more damage than just attacking a bunch of high schoolers."

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

"I can make sure your enemies don't receive any kind of support, from other heroes and the public." She offered him with a coy smile. "It's a happy coincidence that Re-Destro mentioned our mutual friend, Izuku Midoriya - I'm actually interested in writing a story about him. What you can decide," She reached up to gently put her hand on his chest, only for Nine to stop her by catching her wrist, although that merely got a wry smirk from her, "is what my article will be about. Do you want me to flatter him? Or …"

Nine studied her for a long moment, knowing what she was offering here - and then a smirk came to his face. He leaned over to press the emergency stop button again, restoring power to the elevator, and they began to ride back down to the lobby.

"You said you can make sure my … enemies … doesn't get support," He recalled, "what do you know?"

"Just what I've been researching on the car ride here," Curious smirked, "but a little more poking, and it can be enough to make his life very uncomfortable. Should you wish for it."

Nine raised his eyebrow, and then let out a chuckle as he raised his other hand to stroke her cheek. Curious, for her part, raised her eyebrow but still leaned into the touch, her dark eyes becoming seductive.

"Thank you," Nine smiled at her, "for making sure that tonight wasn't a complete waste. Now … about your offer. I'm going to need Midoriya broken, not dead."

"That can easily be arranged. He's an emotional little boy."

"Good," He stroked her blue skin, "in that case, my dear … consider this your application to the Villain Consortium. I'm looking forward to your article."

With that, as the elevator doors opened, he moved to stroll out, leaving Curious behind in the elevator. The liberation leader merely smirked as she moved to lean against the railings of the elevator, watching Nine leave with a lustful smirk on her face as she licked her lips, and she raised her cell phone from her coat pocket to call her driver.

After all, she had to get writing.


What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I done.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

It was honestly amazing that about an hour ago, she had been completely exhausted. And now, Ochako had never felt more awake in her life - but unfortunately, it was to her determent. Because how the fuck was she supposed to go to sleep now, after she had completely and utterly screwed things up?!

Pacing back and forth beside her bed, Ochako held her face in her hands, trying as hard as she could to resist the urge to smash her forehead against the wall as she let out several loud noises of distress and embarrassment. To her, it felt like her heart was a jackhammer at the moment as she continued to pace around her room, feeling like she was about to hyperventilate as she tried to come to terms with what exactly had happened twenty minutes ago.

Izuku … had kissed her. She … had kissed him back. It was … probably one of the most fucking awesome things that had ever happened to her. And she …

immediately ruined it by grabbing his butt.

HIs … very attractive butt, now that she was thinking about it. His very … taut … round … ass.

… oh god, what was she thinking?!

With a loud whine, Ochako threw herself face down on the top of her bed and buried her face in her pillow, kicking her feet up and down and making sure the pillow was wrapped tightly around her face as she screamed into it. She gets kissed by Izuku, and her immediate response was to start making out with him?! And grab his ass?!

His … his very nice -

No! Stop it!

Rolling around and flopping on her back, Ochako stared up at the ceiling in complete and utter horror at what she had done. She went ahead and kissed Izuku. She had made out with him. And then she groped him. What on earth would he be thinking about her right now?! She could imagine it now - Izuku sitting at his desk with a disturbed reaction, thinking 'Oh, wow, the best friend I've had since we were kids is kind of a freak, isn't she? Grabbing by butt out of nowhere, huh, even if she isn't attractive enough to do that? I mean, I could see Kendou doing that since she's so pretty, but then what would Occhan's excuse be, especially after -'

Wait a second.

Ochako slowly stopped her angsting thoughts, feeling herself sit up on the bed and her eyes widen in horror. Slowly, she turned to look over at the empty futon that had been placed on the floor beside her bed, where Itsuka was supposed to be.

Who was … not in there. Who was … probably … still sleeping on Izuku's bed next door.

Oh. Oh, fuck!

Quickly rolling back onto her stomach, Ochako slammed her face into the pillow and screamed again, wishing that the ground would just swallow her up at this point. So not only would Izuku probably be freaking out right now, there was a high chance that Itsuka was - no, a definite chance - she was going to find out about what they had done! And now she wouldn't just be in the doghouse with Izuku, but probably with Itsuka, too!

She - what had she done?! She's kissed both her best friends today! What the hell was Itsuka going to think about Ochako getting kissed by -

- kissed by -

- wait.

A sudden thought came to Ochako, causing her to blink and raise her face from the pillow, still red but now contemplative. Wait a second, she - she didn't - she wasn't the one who initiated the kiss, she remembered as her eyes widened. Izuku - he kissed her.  

She was - she was safe, wasn't she? Izuku probably wouldn't scapegoat her to Itsuka, not at all! He would probably blame himself for -

- for -

- oh. Oh, now she felt bad.

Frowning, Ochako slowly sat up in the bed again, curling her arms over her knees as she stared off sadly into space. Here she was, freaking out about what just happened and what she had done, when she had to know that Izuku was probably freaking out even harder than she was right now. Knowing that he had to be worrying about why she had clung to him so tightly, grabbed his butt, probably making him feel all confused with why she -

- she - gah!

Flopping back down on the bed, she raised her hands to cover her eyes, feeling absolutely overwhelmed. The burn on her arm was still itching, which only really fed into her irritation at the moment as she rolled onto her side and frowned. She still felt awful, like her body was in conflict - the part of her that was desperately trying to scream that she was too fat and ugly to have had Izuku initiate the kiss, and the other part of her that …

… really … really … wanted to kiss him again.

There were too many conflicting feelings dwelling in her right now. Horror at how she had ruined that moment; fluster that she had felt in her chest from what happened; terror at what imaginary walls could potentially be built between her and him right now; and the utter mortification she'd probably feel when - not if, when - she had to see him again tomorrow. Would they just … pretend it didn't happen, like Ochako and Itsuka were subtly trying to do with their own kiss?

No, she frowned, no, he wouldn't. Izuku would at least try to talk to her about it. She knew him, she knew that he'd want to talk to her and she'd probably try to float herself into the sun if he so much as looked at her differently. But - but she knew that he'd want to at least try to clear the air between them. 

And - and if they try to do that, would he -

- would he try to - to kiss her again?

She hated the way her heart did a backflip at the very thought. She hated that she could still feel his lips on hers, something that she already knew was burned into her memory. She hated the way her stomach was twisting, her heart skipping happily at the thought of her best friend's stupid, cute face. There … there was no way she could try to deny it at this point, Ochako frowned. Itsuka had been right. Himiko had been right. Both those pains in her ass had been right. 

There was no way … there was no way that Ochako wasn't in love with Izuku. She'd probably been in love with him for a long time now, if she was being honest. She had feelings for her best friend, and … and since he had been the one to kiss her … to look down at her with those eyes, those soft, adoring eyes …

… but …

… but she knew that there were … several complicated issues with this. She had feelings for Izuku … but she knew that she wasn't the only one who had them.

Itsuka's feelings for Izuku - those were obvious to Ochako, she frowned as she leaned against her pillow. And it wasn't like she didn't understand why - hell, the reasons Itsuka had fallen for Izuku were probably the same reasons she fell for him. But tomorrow … tomorrow, they were supposed to go and have a talk about their complicated feelings for each other, whenever that was supposed to happen.

And … and …

"Look, Ochako, I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to - to pair your friends together because you think sharing one look is enough for Izuku to fall head over heels for me. But it doesn't. It doesn't matter how I might feel, because I know that what you two have is way more special than what could come out of - of me asking him out and ruining everything."

If Itsuka found out about the kiss … would she … try and bow out of whatever was going on between the three of them? She felt her heart hurt at that thought. She didn't want Itsuka to just give up on them both so that she and Izuku could be happy together. Not when …

Okay, Ochako sighed to herself, feeling tears begin to build in her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. She knew that the two kisses that she had shared with Itsuka weren't exactly something that she could shuffle off to the side, like she had done with Himiko when her senpai had kissed her. There was something going on between them, despite the doubt in Ochako's heart that anyone would be interested in her. She and Itsuka weren't …

… it was clear that neither of them were interested in the other in a platonic sense. She knew that she had feelings for Itsuka, and … and despite feeling like scoffing at the very idea, there was probably a part of Itsuka that was attracted to her. 

And now, with her and Izuku kissing, she …

… she …

… really wished she had someone to talk to about this, Ochako sighed unhappily. Itsuka might know what to do. Or hell, she even wished she had Himiko here, because even if her senpai would tease her about it, she would at least agree to act as a sound board for this rather than just keep it in her head.

Especially when … when she was doubting everything about this.

Ochako sighed, and looked down at her stomach. Frowning, she slowly rolled up her school uniform, staring down at her stomach for a moment, and reached down to gently pinch at the belly fat that was still there, no matter how much she exercised. That no matter how much she trained or tried to improve her body, none of the miserable thoughts she had about how weird she looked … none of them left her alone.

Her expression falling into a miserable look, Ochako slowly moved to her feet, taking off her shirt and putting it in the hamper as she reached over for her bed shirt.

Which … was Izuku's, she realized while going red. Staring down at the kanji for 'bed sheet' on the t-shirt, Ochako let out a small sigh as she moved it over her head, and then undid her skirt to grab her pink shorts. Glancing over at the mirror as she pulled her shorts up, she felt herself blush again - wearing Izuku's slightly larger shirt, she never really put much thought into how many of his clothes she had stolen over the years for herself, but now that she had the feeling of Izuku's lips on her mind, she suddenly felt self-conscious.

I … really should return some of his stuff, She thought to herself, so I don't look like a - a - a girl who steals all her boyf-

Freezing in place, Ochako stared at her reflection in horrified realization - and then had to stop herself from seriously moving to the wall to smash her forehead against it. Before she could give in to her urge to knock the kiss out of her head the hard way, however …

… she suddenly heard it.

The sound of something beeping.

Blinking a bit, Ochako quickly looked around, her eyes trailing as she suddenly realized that there was an insistent beeping that had … probably been going on ever since she had hurried back into her room from outside. It was - she quickly realized that it wasn't some kind of alarm, thankfully, and it wasn't coming from somewhere in the house. It was … it was coming somewhere from in her room, sounding oddly muffled.

Looking around a bit, Ochako tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, letting her mind drift from the kiss, and slowly walked over until she finally came upon where her backpack was leaning against her desk. Kneeling down and furrowing her brow, she zipped the bag open and glanced inside, moving some of her textbooks and Izuku's books, until she finally saw a flashing blue light.

After a moment of fumbling around inside, she felt herself grab something small, at least the size of a button, and feeling metallic - and then pulled it out, allowing the small metal disc with the blue flashing light to lay in her palm, beeping insistently. Ochako stared at it incomprehensibly for a moment, confused as to what exactly it was - and then she suddenly realized what it was.

It was - this was Melissa's device. And if it was beeping, that meant that it was - she was calling? But … but why? What was going on that she needed to contact Izuku so late at night? Was there something wrong?

Feeling her brow furrow in worry, she quickly moved back to her bed, sitting down and then pressing the blue button. As she settled back, she saw a brief blue flicker appear in the air, feeling briefly worried about what might be happening - and then suddenly, Melissa's image appeared in thin air, her back to her as she slammed something in the background, and then suddenly whipped around a look of absolute fury on her face.

"FINALLY!" Melissa screamed, her ponytail flying around and smacking her in the face while Ochako jumped in surprise at the loud shout directed right at her, "ALRIGHT, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, IT'S TIME FOR … you to … answer …?"

Very thankfully, the moment she saw that it was Ochako instead of Izuku sitting there, leaning back with wide, alarmed eyes, Melissa's rant abruptly came to a stop. The American inventor stared blankly at her for a moment as Ochako awkwardly cleared her throat, and then went a bit red as she offered a weak wave, putting the small disc down beside her on the bed.

"Uh … hi, Melissa," She greeted her awkwardly, "sorry, uh - I saw the device beeping and thought that there was something - er - wrong. Deku's, uh - he's not here."

"Oh," Melissa said in a small voice, and even with her image appearing completely blue to Ochako, she could see that her friend had gone red in embarrassment, "I … I see. Huh. S-sorry about that, Ochako."

"N-no problem," Ochako leaned back, feeling privately relieved that her parents weren't in the apartment at the moment to have heard that screech, and awkwardly cleared her throat as Melissa continued studying her bare feet. She was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, looking far comfier than in her usual school vest and pants, and her long blonde hair was fixed in a messy ponytail on the back of her head, giving Ochako the impression that she looked oddly stressed at the moment.

"So, uh … why did you have the hologram projector?" She asked her curiously, causing Ochako to blink and go a bit red this time.

"Oh, uh - well, Deku's bag had a rip, so I took a few of his notebooks. G-guess that the device just kinda slipped into my bag, I didn't even notice."

"Oh, I - I see," Melissa was unable to stop herself from stammering a bit, still looking embarrassed as she put something down on the side and glanced over at Ochako with a nervous grin, "again, I'm really sorry, Ochako. I was just … well, I sent the call to Izuku earlier, after he …"

She briefly paused - and the embarrassed face Melissa was making melted away, being replaced by a smoldering rage that Ochako automatically straightened her back in attention, gulping nervously at how the previously kind look on her face shifted into one of pure, unadulterated fury.

"… broke the Full Gauntlet," She explained in a suddenly short voice, "tore it … right off his arm and onto the ground into pieces. And I had to watch them sweep my invention into the … you know … trash can."

"A-ah," Ochako felt herself begin to sweat nervously as though she was about to be once again on the receiving end of a rant that wasn't really her fault. Still though, she remembered how damaged the Full Gauntlet had been during their match with Katsuki and Fumikage, and how … how it …

… oh. Right. It - it didn't get damaged, she remembered when Setsuna had shown her some of the footage of their match. It had gotten destroyed.

"… oooooooh," Ochako cringed a bit.

"Yeah," Melissa pouted, "oh."

"Oh, man," Ochako felt herself pale, and then, in a hopeful voice, asked, "I - Deku can fix it though, right? I mean, he managed to fix it after the USJ, he can just do the same thing, right?"

"Nope," Melissa shook her head with a pout, tossing what looked like some kind of shirt off to the side as she sat down on a stool she pulled out of nowhere, "as much as I wanna say, 'oh, no big deal, we can fix it!', we really can't this time."

"R-really?"

"Yep," Melissa scowled a bit more, "the Gauntlet's previous damage had been pretty … aggravating, but it had only received enough damage that we could've made immediate repairs. This time, though? The Gauntlet's in pieces. And as much as I'd love to come up with a way to just super glue it all back together - I'm afraid it's beyond repair at this point."

"Oh," Ochako stared at her in slight horror, "shit."

"Yep," Melissa nodded, "shit."

"Oh, man …" Ochako glanced off to the side, feeling her insides begin to crawl in anxiety - not for herself, of course, but for Izuku. The Full Gauntlet was the only way Izuku could use his quirk safely, and now that it was gone … with Izuku's cellular degeneration now a threat …

Before she could speak again, however, Melissa let out another sigh.

"So," She shrugged, "that's why I'm going to come to Japan."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, still wrapped up in her worry to properly acknowledge that - and then what Melissa had just said clicked. Blinking a bit, and feeling her back straighten, Ochako quickly looked back around at Melissa with her jaw dropping, and the American inventor was unable to resist flashing her a small, trollish grin.

"Oh, what," She smirked, giggling, "didn't I mention that bit?"

"I … wait, you're coming here?" Ochako almost hopped out of her seat in surprise. "Isn't that - but - but don't you have school? C-can you really afford to - to take some time off?"

"You're right, I would have school," Melissa shrugged a bit, still smiling, "but I had a talk with my dad after the sports festival finished up, and he agreed with me that if I'm going to get the best education in support item creation - and getting the experience working with heroes who specialize in using support items - I should probably go to a school that has hands on work practice with support items. And that place," She giggled, "is UA."

"Wait, really? I would've thought that … you know, I-Island would be -"

"Normally, yeah, it would be," Melissa interrupted her, her smile fading, "but … well, there's also a lot of red tape that comes with working on I-Island. If your work ends up going into production, it's the board of directors' property, not yours. Hell, the only reason Izuku got the Full Gauntlet in time for your entrance exam is because we explained it to the board of directors that the Gauntlet was being designed to help a specific person with their quirk, not as a weapon that could be used by just about anyone. And seeing as I have to probably work on building a new one," Her eyebrow twitched, "we really don't need anyone breathing down our necks, so my dad is going to talk to Uncle Might, and … well, I'm actually leaving tonight and going to UA the moment I touch down in Japan to do some quick exams. Honestly, I might be in class by Monday."

"I …" Ochako felt her eyes widen again, a smile coming to her face, "… wow, Melissa! That - that sounds amazing!"

"Yeah," She snorted a bit, "it does sound amazing on paper. But I'm not really looking forward to all the tests I'll have to do - I usually suck at tests, so I'm going to be studying the whole plane ride over to Japan."

"Wait, really?" Ochako blinked in surprise. "I'd have thought that - y'know - since you were a genius, you'd ace tests left and right."

"Oh, no way, I used to get horrible grades," Melissa laughed and shook her head, "the only reason I didn't end up flunking out of the Academy at one point is because I spent literally every night forcing myself to study after I nearly bombed my exams. Usually it was because Uncle Might promised to come visit if I did well, and …"

At the way Melissa trailed off there, however, Ochako found herself blinking, having reached over to tap on her phone's screen to see the time. Glancing back at Melissa, she faltered at the way her face dropped, looking briefly conflicted for a moment, but before she could ask, Melissa suddenly looked back at her.

"Actually," She said in a suddenly quiet voice, "there was - uh - there was something I actually wanted to ask you, Ochako."

"H-huh? You wanted to ask me?" Ochako felt surprised - she knew she and Melissa were on friendly terms, but there was something that she specifically wanted from her?

Melissa, meanwhile, looked a bit embarrassed, fixing a few strands of her long blonde hair behind her ear as she glanced awkwardly to the side. And then her expression darkened, Ochako blinking a bit as Melissa glanced back to her, looking troubled but resolute.

And then she asked, in a small voice, "Is Uncle Might sick?"

For a long moment, Ochako sat there, slowly blinking at her question and her mind not really catching up to what Melissa was asking. However, as Melissa began to look uncomfortable and worried, Ochako found her mind suddenly snap to what Melissa was asking, and she felt herself go a bit stiff.

"Uh … All Might … sick?" She repeated, feeling her brow furrow and a bit of sweat begin to form on her back. "W-what do you -?"

"My papa," Melissa explained in a quiet voice, hunching over slightly on her seat, "today, he … uh … he mentioned something to me that I've … I've kept thinking about. He said that - that Uncle Might's sick. His quirk is - it's starting to disappear, for some reason."

… oh. 

Oh, shit.

At what Melissa just said, Ochako felt her stomach drop. All Might's quirk disappearing … that was what Melissa meant? She felt herself pale in horror, relieved that Melissa probably wasn't able to tell with Ochako's own projection on her end being blue as well, as the brown-haired girl suddenly remembered what All Might had said on the beach a few weeks ago, on the day the sports festival had been announced.

"We both quickly agreed that I have … overdone it far too many times lately. Not to mention that Nomu villain I faced was far tougher than I had expected when coming to rescue you all. We did a few tests, and we have decided that I now only have about … well … about up fifty minutes to an hour and a half left to use my power each day. That's if I push it."

Melissa's dad was suspecting All Might was sick … and Melissa was worried as well … and Ochako knew the real reason why All Might's quirk was disappearing.

She felt herself gulp nervously as Melissa's face changed a bit, looking as though she were suddenly feeling suspicious of the silence and clear deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, and Ochako felt herself gulp. She knew why All Might was 'sick' … but she couldn't just tell Melissa that he gave his quirk to Itsuka! She had to come up with something quick to throw Melissa off the trail, even if she felt bad about lying.

But … but that was the problem! She was a terrible liar! Nothing Ochako could say right now would probably convince Melissa that everything was fine, and would probably just cement to her that something was wrong! Which meant that - that if she was going to get Melissa to calm down and think of something else, she would have to change the subject.

But what would do? What would be enough to get Melissa's mind off of All Might?

"Ochako," Melissa tilted her head a bit, sounding frighteningly calm, "do you … do you know -"

"I kissed Deku."

And with those three words, silence fell in the room.

Ochako stared blankly at Melissa for a long moment, feeling her jaw drop as she realized what had just fallen out of her mouth, and her face began to heat up again, this time not stopping at her cheeks and covering her entire face with red. Melissa, for her part, felt the troubled and slightly suspicious expression shatter in that moment, staring blankly back at Ochako for a long moment as her own jaw slowly dropped.

And then Ochako grabbed a pillow from the side, slamming it into her face, and flopped back down onto the bed with a loud groan, kicking her feet up and down. She had wanted to change the subject, but not that abruptly! And not with that subject!

"… you what?" Melissa asked in a blank voice.

"I - mmmmmmmph!" Ochako squirmed around some more, hiding herself fully in the pillow while rolling around on the bed, and the hologram of Melissa quickly came forward, Ochako glancing up to see her friend looking down at her absolutely slack-jawed.

"You - you kissed Izuku?" She asked in a shocked voice, raising a hand to her mouth. "You two - wait, are - are you guys going out? When did that happen? Did I miss something?!"

"N-no!" She squeaked at once, feeling her face burn hotter while simultaneously feeling bad for how she put that. "I - I mean, we aren't going out, he - well, I - he kissed me, but I -"

"He kissed you?!" Melissa gasped loudly, now fully covering her mouth with both hands. "Did - did I hear that right?! He kissed you?!"

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, and then groaned and flopped back over on the bed, continuing to hide her face in her pillow, "… yes."

"… we're … talking about the same Izuku, right?" Melissa looked concerned. "The - the dork I made the Full Gauntlet for?"

"Y-yeah. Him."

"Who stutters over every other word?"

"Yes."

"The guy who blushes every time I bend over and tries to pretend he wasn't looking when I glance up? That Izuku?"

"Yeah - wait, he does what?!" Ochako quickly whipped her head up, staring at Melissa in both shock and mild jealousy. Izuku was checking out who's butt?!

"I - well, okay, let's be real," Melissa was unable to stop herself from snorting a bit at the look on Ochako's face, "I am well aware that I have a great ass. And he is also a teenage boy, so I'd be more surprised if he didn't steal a look once or twice."

"Hmmmmm …" Ochako took this moment to pout into her pillow, looking off to the side with a scowl and knowing that she and Izuku would have to talk about this at some point. When they wouldn't burst into embarrassed flames when they saw each other, at least.

Before she could reply, however, Melissa moved to sit back down on her stool, and Ochako glanced over, gulping nervously at the expectant look on her face.

"Sooooo …" She tapped her fingers against her knees, "… how was it? Was it hot?"

"Eek!" Ochako squeaked, panic immediately taking over, and she quickly tried to dive under her covers to avoid the question.

"Oh, no, don't you dare try to hang up on me!" Melissa shot down that idea the exact moment it came to Ochako, looking far more excited about the conversation than perhaps necessary. "I wanna hear everything! Come on, what happened?"

Ochako let out a small noise at that, glancing away from Melissa for a long moment - honestly, the temptation to just bury herself in her bed and die rather than think about her problems was very tempting. But … well … Melissa seemed to have forgotten about All Might's 'illness' when she had brought it up, and she … seemed interested …

… and … she had wanted to talk about it with someone earlier … so …

"I …" Ochako swallowed a bit, poking her head out from under her covers to see Melissa smiling hopefully down at her, "… okay."

Quickly, though, she hopped out of the bed to point at Melissa, suddenly panicked.

"But you can't tell anyone!" She immediately made it clear. "Nobody can know!"

"Got it!" Melissa nodded in understanding. "Everything stays between us. Cross my heart."

Ochako nodded slightly at that, letting out a small sigh. And then, at long last, after weeks and weeks of drama and heartache and having to hold it all in, she completely broke, and started to explain everything.

And by that, she meant … everything. Excluding the parts including All Might and One for All, of course.

She told her about how she had met Itsuka on the beach, the friendship the three of them had formed, how comfortable Ochako had gotten over the last year to the point that the orange-haired girl was one of her closest friends. She told Melissa about the body issues she had been dealing with since middle school, something that had made Melissa go wide-eyed with sympathy. She had told her about the complicated feelings she had been having about Izuku hanging out with Nejire, and how the USJ had shaken things up for both her friendships with Izuku and Itsuka, what with Izuku nearly dying and Itsuka kissing her.

She talked about her brief flirtation with Himiko that hadn't gone anywhere, the sports festival that had only complicated her relationships with her friends even more, the kiss she and Itsuka had shared just today. She told her about the closeness they were starting to have after their talk, the intensity of how much she had wanted to protect Izuku from Katsuki in the ring, and Itsuka's promise to take them both out tomorrow to talk. She had only just gotten to her kiss with Izuku and was continuing to melt down over how intense it got as Melissa continued to sit there, looking almost overwhelmed by the amount of information that Ochako was dropping on her without any warning, if not for the borderline gleeful expression on her face.

"… and then I just - I got so caught up with the fact that my best friend was kissing me," Ochako continued to break down on her bed as she held her face with both hands, sitting there cross-legged, "I just jumped right in it and kept going! Like, I - I know I had a chance to back off, but then he - he kissed me again, and my brain just freakin' went, 'ooh, Deku's kissin' me, better keep goin'!', and I kept - I kept feeling him up! He pushed me up against the freaking street lamp -"

Melissa continued to hold her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"- and we just kept making out, and I - I just grabbed his butt!"

Melissa let out a small shriek that she thankfully managed to muffle with her hands.

"Oh, my god!" She giggled nervously, while Ochako held her face in both hands. "You just - you just grabbed his butt?!"

"I did!" Ochako lowered her hands from her face so that she could stare at them in horror. "I just - I didn't even think about it, I just thought, 'wow, this feels great!' and then went and grabbed his ass! And - and he moaned!"

Her holographic friend continued to hold her hands over her mouth, as nervous, slightly hysterical giggles slipped out. Ochako, for her part, was unable to stop herself from giggling along with her, grabbing her hair in her hands.

"He moaned!" She repeated herself, as though doubting it had actually happened. "My best friend moaned into my freaking mouth! And it was -" She let out a shaking groan, unable to stop herself from saying this, "- it was so freaking hot. Like - holy fuck!"

"Oh, my god!" Melissa gushed, scooting her stool a bit closer and managing to get control of her giggling. "I - wow, did you have an exciting day, apparently!"

"I - I guess!"

"I - w-wait, so you - you've kissed both Itsuka and Izuku? And - and you're having a talk tomorrow?" Melissa tried to clarify. "Are - are you gonna tell her about this kiss? Itsuka?"

Ochako felt her smile falter there, and she glanced down at her knees for a moment. After careful contemplation, she felt her shoulders shrink and let out a small sigh.

"I … I don't know," She bit her lip, "I mean, I - I know that I should, but … I don't know."

"I mean, it's up to you," Melissa told her, "but I don't think this is something you should hold back, Ochako. I mean, it - it happened, you guys kissed. I - I bet that Itsuka would understand, if - if you say that she's in the same boat as you are."

"I mean, she is, but …" Ochako glanced away, "… but I feel like … I've done something wrong, and - and I don't wanna hurt Itsuka any more than I already have. I mean, I - I like her as much as I like Deku, but - but wouldn't that just - you know -"

"Upset her?" Melissa guessed, raising her eyebrow. "Well, I don't know - would it upset Izuku to know that you and Itsuka have already kissed?"

Ochako paused at that, feeling herself blink. She … really hadn't thought of it like that.

"I mean," Melissa shrugged, smiling a bit at the confused look on Ochako's face, "I don't know why you would panic, Ochako. Honestly, I'd just consider yourself lucky that you got to kiss two hotties today - honestly, what is your luck, girl?"

"O-oh, I - I don't know," Ochako shrugged, glancing away with yet another blush, "I don't think that …"

"I mean, you definitely grabbed Izuku's butt, but did you grab Itsuka's? Fair's fair, I guess -"

"No!" Ochako squeaked out at once, going even redder. "N-no, we just - we - uh - tongue kissed. That's it."

Melissa raised her eyebrows at that, as though mentally questioning the real difference between grabbing one person's butt and pushing their tongue into another person's mouth. Ochako, for her part, merely glanced away with a nervous whistle, while Melissa's smile ended up growing a bit more teasing as she leaned forward.

"I mean," She cleared her throat, smiling bashfully, "I don't think either of us would be lying if we said that Kendou has a great ass. I wouldn't blame you for wanting a handful."

Ochako sputtered a bit, her cheeks going red but a nervous giggle escaping her lips. "Melissa!"

"Oh, come on! You know it's true!"

"I do know it's true! But I won't say it out loud!"

"You just did."

Melissa tried not to smile too smugly as Ochako let out another squeak, now going so red it looked like she was about to pass out. After a moment of Melissa smiling smugly at her, Ochako let out another sigh as she moved her feet onto her bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, and Melissa's smile faltered at the way she stared off sadly at nothing.

"I just …" She pouted, "… I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku … but I just … there's just a part of me that doubts that they'd really like me. Not if they both like each other, and they can just - they don't have to include me to be happy."

"What? Why not? Ochako, I know that Izuku and Itsuka would be lucky to have you like them."

"Because I'm … I'm just me," She gestured down to herself, frowning again, "I'm not pretty at all, not like - not like Itsuka is. I'm - I'm all frumpy, and - you know."

"Ah," Melissa suddenly straightened up in her seat, looking like she suddenly understood, "so that's why you're so unsure about this. Because of your - your body."

"Yeah," Ochako sighed, closing her eyes, "I'm just … I know I'm not all that -"

"And I'm pretty sure that both Itsuka and this Toga girl told you that you're beautiful," Melissa interrupted her, "and you didn't believe them?"

"I …" Ochako faltered a bit at that - or rather, she faltered at the knowing way that Melissa had said that - and glanced over at her in confusion, "… well … y-yeah, I - I didn't."

"Mm-hm," Melissa nodded again, and moved to pick up her stool to scoot a bit closer once again. Settling it down and taking a seat, Melissa smiled at Ochako's slightly flustered look - had she actually been in the room, they would've been so close their knees would've been touching, but Ochako was still giving her a confused look as Melissa gave her another knowing, yet sympathetic look.

It was then, though, that Ochako had a thought, one that made her sit up a bit. It was the way that Melissa was nodding slowly, not looking entirely pleased with what they were talking about, that gave Ochako a weird suspicion that made her blink in realization.

"Melissa," She said in a shocked voice, feeling her eyes widen, "do … you … also …?"

"Have body issues?" Melissa guessed for her, smiling a bit ruefully as she tucked some hair behind her ear, "well, I … I wanna say I 'used to', but honestly … that stuff never really goes away."

"I …"

"Yeah, it's … it's true. Sometimes I look in a mirror and go 'man, I wish I was skinnier'. Or someone at school calls me a fat ass, and - well, it's hard to ignore that kind of stuff." Melissa's eyes turned sad. "I just kinda … got used to it, I guess. Dad took me to therapy when I was younger and was struggling with it the most, and my therapist helped me figure out some self-help tips."

"But …" Ochako shook her head, still unable to believe it. She looked down at Melissa's body - she tended not to try and deliberately stare at someone, but it wasn't as though Melissa was out of shape. With curvy hips and thicker thighs, she still looked great!

"Wondering how I could think that when I'm so pretty?" Melissa guessed, giggling when Ochako went red again, "Well, I could say the same of you, but you'd probably not believe me, would you?"

Ochako froze up a bit, realizing her own contradiction.

"But Ochako, believe me," Melissa gave her an understanding smile, "I get it, I really do. Sure, people telling you that you look pretty might feel good in the moment, but … but your stupid thoughts never let you convince yourself they're right. I always found ways to nitpick through compliments about my appearance, and I always focused on the people who called me ugly. I was always convinced that I was some … you know … fat loser."

Ochako pouted a bit at that comment - she realized the hypocrisy of trying to convince Melissa she was pretty when she had those exact same thoughts about herself, but the way Melissa looked so … accepting about it made her feel weirdly defensive of her.

"But …" Ochako shook her head, scooting a bit closer, "… Melissa, you - you really are pretty."

"Thank you," Melissa gave her a sad smile, "but you of all people would know that it's - it's really hard to think of myself that way. It sucks, but - y'know, it's something I've had to live with."

"I - but - but who wouldn't think you're pretty?"

"Honestly? A bunch of girls at the Academy," Melissa's smile fell, replaced by a small, angry pout, "when you're the daughter of All Might's former sidekick, you - you know - you get as much negative attention as you get positive attention. A lot of the girls in the Academy's hero course like to put me down, make me feel like just an ugly loser." Melissa's scowl deepened. "You'd think when someone's training to be a hero, they'd try to be nice, but … well, you'd think wrong. Especially since I'm also … well … anyway, yeah."

"That's …" Ochako shook her head with a frown.

"Well," Melissa shrugged, still smiling, "they're not gonna be a problem come Monday anyway, right? I'm gonna be at UA then anyway. I, uh - I don't think a lot of people are gonna miss me here. And I'll just need to come back during I-Expo to present my device, and … well … that'll be it."

Ochako stared at Melissa - while her voice remained light, she could feel that there was a heaviness there, a way that her smile wasn't exactly meeting her eyes. Honestly, from the sound of things, Melissa didn't seem like she particularly … enjoyed her time at the Academy. From the sound of it, it almost seemed like her and Izuku's time at Aldera - where everyone treated them like dirt, like they were stupid for thinking they could be anything more than they already were. 

But … but at least they had each other. From the sound of things, Melissa didn't have anyone in her corner.

And that … that made Ochako feel weirdly protective of her, feeling like she was about five seconds from going to I-Island and putting those girls in their place.

"Well, anyway," Melissa sighed, adjusting herself in her seat, "after I started going to therapy, my therapist advised me that - y'know - whenever I had those negative thoughts about myself, I'd try and convince myself it was wrong. Like, uh - my comment about my ass earlier? That it's great?"

"Uh -" Ochako blinked a bit, jerked out of her angry thoughts, and then nodded, "- yeah, I - I remember."

"Well," Melissa shrugged as she stood up from the stool, "part of me might doubt it, but when I compliment my body, I try to make sure I believe what I'm saying. Any bad thoughts I have about my body? I say 'fuck you!' and think about how fucking hot I am. I grew out my hair this long," She tapped her large ponytail, yanking on the hair tie to let it fall down to her mid-back, "because I thought, hey, long hair's pretty, so I bet I'll look pretty with long hair. You know, general stuff that compliments my appearance, and something that boosts my confidence."

"Huh …" Ochako felt her brow furrow again, "… so … so did you feel better about yourself after you grew your hair out?"

"Well, yeah! But I also understand that growing your hair out might not be your thing," Melissa shook her head, "so my advice? Do what makes you feel pretty. Grow out your hair, wear flattering clothes, stuff like that. And, well, also talking to someone about how you feel about yourself … you might not believe it, but it definitely helps. I talked to my papa about how I felt about myself, and he and my aunt always tell me how nice I look when they see me. It gets kinda annoying and embarrassing, but … you know, it helps, even if I don't admit it. And if I'm being honest, this is probably something you should share with Izuku or your parents," Her eyes turned soft, "so they understand how you feel about yourself. I know that you probably don't wanna burden them with this, but … it helps, Ochako, it really does."

There was a long pause as Melissa took this chance to breathe, letting Ochako sit there for a moment quietly. Her thoughts were moving a mile a minute, and she felt her eyes sting with tears as she clenched her fists tightly together. Melissa, for her part, sat back down on her stool and waited for Ochako to calm herself down.

After about a minute, Ochako let out a weak laugh, and moved to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Gosh," She shook her head and giggled wetly, "I … really wish I could give you a hug right now."

"Me too," Melissa smiled sadly, "but … you know, it is what it is. I'm stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and you're over in Japan. So, uh … no hugs yet."

There was a small pause.

"I wanted to be there today, you know," She admitted in a small, embarrassed voice, "to cheer you guys on in person. It gets … well, it gets kinda lonely over here, what with all of you guys over there."

"Jeez," Ochako wiped at her eyes again, moving her hand down to give Melissa a teary smile, "this got so depressing."

"I know!"

"W-well," She giggled a bit, shaking her head and smiling at her friend, "I guess that just means I'm gonna squeeze the life out of you once you're here. That's - well, that should be by Monday, right?"

"Yeah, Monday," Melissa nodded, smiling, "so try to keep it secret until then, okay? I wanna be able to jump out of a closet and scare the hell out of Izuku, and then go strangle the asshole who broke my Gauntlet without either of them suspecting I'm lurking out of a corner."

"Alright," Ochako smiled at her through her tears, and clenched her hands together while beaming at her, "yeah. We're gonna hug so hard. Like - for hours if we need to."

"Oh, good lord," Melissa laughed, "well, I'll - I'll try not to complain about getting squeezed too much."

Both girls smiled, and then Melissa looked over to glance at something off screen.

"Hey, I should probably get going soon," She shrugged, looking a bit sad about that, "but let me know what happens with you three, okay? I … know we kinda got derailed, but I wanna know what happens."

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, and then nodded and smiled, "… I will. I just … I think I need to sleep on it. Maybe I'll - I'll feel calmer about it tomorrow."

"Awesome."

"And, uh …" Ochako felt her smile fade slightly as she remembered what they had been talking about before that, "… Melissa?"

The inventor let out a small hum, glancing over at Ochako inquisitively.

"About … you know … All Might," She said, wincing when she saw Melissa's smile fade slightly, "I think, uh … I think that it's not really my - my place to say anything, but … but if … if you're worried about All Might's health, you should - you should ask him yourself. I know that he doesn't want to worry you, so - so he'll talk to you. I know he will."

Melissa stared at her in surprise for a long moment - and then she sighed, and slowly nodded.

"Yeah," She tried to smile at her, "yeah, you're - you're right, Ochako. If I"m worried about Uncle Might, I probably shouldn't drag you into it."

"Oh, no, I - I don't mind hearing you out when you're worried," Ochako quickly assured her, "it's just … I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but it might not be my place to tell."

"No, you're right about that. I'm … I'm going to see him Monday after school anyway, so … so when I see him, I'll ask."

"Okay," Ochako smiled, but before Melissa could stand again, she reached out. While her hands didn't touch Melissa's, seeing as she wasn't actually there, she still held them just above where they'd be to give the sensation that she was holding her hands. Melissa, for her part, blinked a bit as she glanced down at Ochako's hands, and then back up into Ochako's eyes, her smile faltering.

"And … and I'm serious," Ochako smiled warmly at her, "thank you, Melissa. For - for everything. I was having, like, three panic attacks until you calmed me down. And … and you talking to me about your … issues … it helped. I'm … I'm going to really try seeing myself more positively. I - I really wish you were here right now, but - but we'll settle for Monday, okay? I'm looking forward to finally meeting you in person, so I can - I can hug you."

For a long moment, both girls were quiet as they stared at each other. Ochako felt her smile falter, of course, as Melissa didn't respond at all for a moment, instead staring blankly at her for a moment. And then an … unknown expression crossed the American inventor's face.

She looked surprised, of course, and … a bit … flustered, was that the right word? She couldn't really tell exactly, but there was a weird darkening on Melissa's cheeks at the moment, staring at Ochako with her mouth slightly open.

"Er … Melissa?" Ochako asked in a confused voice, which made her friend jump a bit and yanked her out of her silent staring. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine!" Melissa quickly nodded, glancing away from Ochako and abruptly standing, making Ochako blink in surprise. "I just, uh … I just remembered that I have to finish packing before - uh - yeah! I'm - I'm gonna have a pretty busy weekend ahead of me, especially if Aunt Cathy is coming to pick me up soon, so, uh … I'd … better get ready for that!"

"O-oh," Ochako blinked a bit, sitting back as Melissa hurried around her stool, "I - yeah, I - I've probably been distracting you, haven't I?"

"N-no, I'm - I'm glad we talked!" Melissa reached over for her holograph device on the other end, but still looked up at Ochako. Her panicked expression, after a moment, faded into something softer. "I'm … I'm really glad we talked, Ochako. I'm - I'm really looking forward to our hugs on Monday."

"Me too," Ochako smiled at her, "have - I'll see you soon, Melissa."

"Yep. I'll see you soon, too."

With that, Melissa turned to turn off the device. Ochako let out a soft sigh as she briefly closed her eyes, opening them again as Melissa picked something up in the background to look at it - and then, for some reason, her gaze flickered down.

She stopped for a long moment, feeling her smile falter, as she stared down at Melissa's lower half. The inventor, of course, was wearing a pair of shorts, not the Capri pants that she assumed were part of the Academy's uniform, but Ochako stared, for a long moment, at her butt as Melissa leaned forward - and then, before she could realize what she was doing, Melissa pressed the button for the hologram, and her blue flickering form vanished.

There was a brief pause - and then Ochako realized what she had done, feeling her cheeks go red as she quickly shook her head and stood up from the bed.

Okay, She thought in her fluster, rubbing both her cheeks, I'll have to interrogate Deku about checking out Melissa's ass, but … but I won't judge him too much.

After a moment, Ochako sighed and moved out of her bedroom, wanting to take this chance to brush her teeth - it was late, and she knew it was almost time to settle down and go to bed. Flipping the bathroom's light on, Ochako sighed as she walked over towards the mirror, staring at her reflection for a long moment. 

And then, she slowly turned her head, staring up at her hair as she experimentally reached up to brush her fingers through it, wincing slightly as she came across a knot.

Melissa grew out her hair to feel pretty, huh? Ochako had never really had the thought of growing her hair out, but … well …

… she could think about it tomorrow, Ochako smiled to herself as she brushed some more of her hair aside, moving one of her longer bangs out of the way. She had … honestly, she'd had a lot of thinking to do tomorrow. About Izuku, about Itsuka, about - about everything. Even if her stomach clenched tightly in anxiety at the thought of their talk tomorrow, she knew that … she knew that she could do it.

She'd talk to them both tomorrow about - about their kisses, she blushed. No matter what happened, and whatever they all decided to do, she would enjoy just having …

… pink.

Ochako felt her wandering thoughts suddenly screech to a halt, staring up at the parts of her hair that was hidden by her longer bangs, and faltered. After a moment, she pushed a bit more of her hair back, and she stared in shock, blinking slightly, at what had been hidden by her bangs for - for who knows how long, she thought.

Because there - amongst the sea of brown hair on her head - were several strands of pink hair.


They were late. They were never late.

Leaning against the railing of the balcony, she let out a soft sigh as she raised her wine glass to her lips, taking another long sip as she stared up at the black skies and enjoyed the wind blowing through her short hair. She hadn't realized it until she had gotten out, but she had fucking missed alcohol. It used to be what comforted her whenever she got back from the Hero Commission's … 'assignments' … and she didn't have some hooker on dial up to come and make her forget the day. Even if the sex had been awful, or dissatisfying, it would at least help take her mind off what she had done for an hour at least, and it was something to do.

But alcohol … god, she missed this.

The first awful thing that had happened to her in Tartarus was having absolutely no choice but to go cold turkey. She remembered the first weeks thrashing on her bed and screaming bloody murder on the uncomfortable mattress that had been referred to as 'her bed', which had probably pleased the sadistic little shits that called themselves 'guards' in that place when they heard her sobbing and begging for something to take the pain away. After that, thankfully, her imprisonment at that godforsaken hellhole had been silent for years, even when they got rough cutting her hair down or keeping the cuffs on her ankles and wrists and neck during her showers, or the times they took their anger of the prisoners out on her, they never got another scream out of her.

Now, though … well, she heard all that shit about 'gilded cages' being no better than prison cells, but fuck, at least here she could take a shower without someone having to watch her. And she could drink her nightmares away.

Letting out a small sigh, she finished her drink and moved back inside the hotel room, her bare feet cold on the hardwood floor. The room was nice, at least - big enough for a large bed near the floor to ceiling windows that stretched across a balcony, a nice looking bathroom with a shower and bathtub, and a flat screen TV on the wall. It wasn't super fancy, but she was never one for fanciness - honestly, she preferred things like home, where practicality was favored over comfort.

She had thought about maybe putting on something fancy, like a dress, but … but this wasn't supposed to be a nice visit. This was a 'I'm back, I'm not dead, now leave me alone' visit. So she was comfortable in her tank top and track pants, her now neck-long hair uncombed and messy. 

She … honestly, she knew that this was a mistake, but … after the sports festival today, and seeing … no. This was a mistake. An impulse. Just something that she had to get over with now that there wasn't any way to turn back, and then get on with her job.

But … after what happened, and the fact she wasn't allowed to go down in the nurse's area to check on her, she - this would have to do.

With a small sigh, she moved over to the bed and sat down, sinking into its cushiony-feeling mattress and sighing. On the TV, it showed that one loud-mouthed boy, the one who had injured her, and she glared up at him as though he could feel the heat of her glare through the screen. During the time that she had been … watching her unmoving out on the ground, she had never been more tempted to pull out her quirk and put a bullet in between that boy's eyes. But her new boss had forbidden it - apparently, the new president knew a good new pet project when she saw one, and she was already reaching out to the rat principal to have him reinstated. 

Yep, she scowled - the HPSC wanted that brat rewarded rather than punished, just so that they'd have a new toy to play with.

… god, she sighed as she scooped up the wine bottle off the table beside the bed and debated the pros and cons of just drinking from it, not feeling drunk but definitely about to be if this kept up, this fucking sucked. This fucking -

Before she could just pop the bottle open and drink right from it, however, there was a sudden rap on the door. She found herself sitting up, the alcoholic buzz she had been feeling washing away and being replaced by anxiety, and she quickly stood up. Taking a shaking, deep breath, she slowly walked over to the door, looking through the peephole -

- and she scowled when she saw that one stupid agent - Agent Iguchi, she remembered, standing there with a frown. After a moment, she took a step back, and opened the door, keeping the chain locked so that he couldn't properly come in.

"What?"

"We have two people here to visit," He said in a short, cold voice, smoothing back some of his purple hair, "claim to have been asked here by you. We've done a search and interrogated them, but I want confirmation from you that you did invite them."

"Hm," She scoffed, "two people? Man and a woman? Guy's got muscles that can pop my head off if he chokes me, and a woman with an ass that can suffocate me if she sits on me?"

She tried not to smirk when she heard two voices choking briefly, out of view, of course. Iguchi, for his part, merely scowled as he shook his head.

"You only have ten minutes," He said coldly, and took a step away.

She took that as her invitation, of course, and closed the door so that she could properly unlock it. Opening it wide, she took one step out into the hall and took both of their wrists, seeing as they were both standing there looking slightly uncomfortable under the HPSC agent's glare, and dragged them into the hotel room, sending a wry smirk at Iguchi one more time before she used her hip to hit the door closed behind them.

Once they were inside the room, of course, her smirk faded, and she let go of both their wrists so that she could lock the door again, and then moved past them into the hotel room.

"So," She sighed as she leaned over to scoop up the bottle of wine, "I was wondering what was taking you two so long. Forgot that HPSC would wanna make sure you two aren't carrying in - I don't know, bombs or guns or something like that."

"Er … y-yeah," Taiyo scratched his scruff nervously, while Miwa merely stared at her with a neutral expression and held the binder underneath her arm, "sorry 'bout that - we wanted ta come early, but - er - we got held up a bit."

"It's fine," She waved her hand as she reached for the wine glass, "drink?"

"No," Miwa shook her voice, sounding a bit colder than her husband, "no, thank you."

"Mm."

There was a short pause.

"We, uh … we though' about bringin' flowers," Taiyo admitted, blushing again, "bu' - well, you were never a - a flower girl."

"Nope," She shook her head as she refilled her own glass, "I wasn't. How kind of you to remember that."

"O-of course we'd remember. I'd - we'd - well - we wouldn't forget."

"Hm," Miwa hummed, continuing to frown at her.

There was a long pause for several moments as she lifted the wine glass to her mouth, taking a deep drink for a moment as the two civilians stood  there. And then Miwa let out another sigh, moving to cock her hip as she frowned at her.

"… so when are you going to actually look at us, Kaina?"

She paused for a long moment, and then let out a short sigh, and put down the wine glass before looking at her over her shoulder.

"Don't know," Nagant narrowed her eyes, "how long are you gonna -"

"Okay, let's - let's slow it down," Taiyo quickly interrupted before things could spin out of control, moving to put his hand down on both women's shoulders. They both shot each other a glare for a moment that would've sent any other person screaming for the hills had it not been him, before Nagant sighed and looked away, picking up the wine glass to pour some more, and Taiyo felt himself frown down at it.

"So, er …" He cleared his throat awkwardly, watching as Miwa stood near the wall as though fearful his wife was going to do something stupid, "… how, uh … how have ya been?"

"Good," Nagant said in a short voice, reaching over for the television remote to turn the news down, "I've … been good."

They all paused again, and then Miwa sighed.

"Where did you go?" She asked, her voice still cold but an edge of concern there that made Nagant tense. "You disappeared after you announced your retirement. We … thought you would try coming home, but you never did."

"I've been up north," Nagant lied naturally as she topped off her glass, putting down the remote in her other hand, "HPSC was adamant that I didn't have my own phone. Sorry about that."

"And … the fact you texted us to let us know you were back?"

"They gave me a phone," Nagant didn't quite care for thinking up a logical answer, "said they needed me to do a mission with another few heroes. So I'm out of retirement for the moment, thought that I'd let you two know that I'd be in Musutafu for a few weeks, and then - don't know, probably'll head back up north when the Commission's done with me."

Miwa didn't look like she liked that answer, clenching her fists, but Nagant chose to ignore that for now, moving over to the doors to the balcony. She stood there for a moment as they both stared at her back, and she sighed.

"I … shouldn't have asked you two to come," She muttered, staring out into the city and biting her lip, "this was … I just … saw you two at the sports festival, and … and thought I'd at least let you two know that I'm gonna be around."

"I - I see," Taiyo nodded a bit stiffly, glancing off to the side - and then he sighed as well, "well, we … we're glad ya did, Kaina. We - we missed you."

Nagant glanced back at the both of them as Taiyo scratched his face awkwardly again, and Miwa remained as neutral faced as ever, although the way she looked down at the floor said as much. And then she nodded.

"I … missed you too. Both of you."

Taiyo slowly nodded as well, opening his mouth again, but before he could speak, Nagant looked back out the window.

"So you're in Musutafu now?" She asked, changing the subject. "Saw that you two used the money I left."

"We are," Miwa nodded, frowning as she took the folder out from under her arm and held it with both hands, "we thought that we could get more work if we moved here, so we used the money to buy an apartment. We … also thought we could get Ochako to a better school, for when she applied for UA."

"Hm." Nagant was lucky she was staring out the window, because the scowl that came to her face was something fierce. Before she could think up a response to that, however, Miwa came up behind her, as reflected in the window.

"But … now that we're on that topic," She held the folder up, "we actually wanted to talk to you for another reason. We were talking to Recovery Girl this afternoon, after Ochako … well …"

"Yeah," She nodded, her face falling and her free fist clenching slightly, "is … she okay?"

"Y-yeah, she'll - she'll be fine," Taiyo stepped in, walking over and putting his hand on Miwa's shoulder again, "she's tough, jus' like … uh … a-anyway. The, uh - the doc gave us this -" He gestured to the folder in Miwa's hands, "- and - well, since you asked for us tah come, we - thoug' - we thoug' you'd like tah see this."

Feeling her brow crinkle, Nagant looked around at the folder Miwa was now holding out to her. Putting the wine glass down on the desk again, she accepted the folder from her, flipping it open, and started reading.

Both Urarakas watched as she read through the paper, watching as her face changed a bit as she read through what Recovery Girl had been noting. After about a minute, Nagant let out a long sigh, and closed the folder again, handing it back to Miwa.

"Well, shit," She said simply looking back out the balcony window.

"Yeah," Taiyo nodded, frowning, "shit."

"She's … gonna show side-effects soon?"

"There's nothing guaranteed," Miwa sighed, "but … that's what Recovery Girl was leaning towards."

"Shit," She said again, scowling.

There was another pause - and then Miwa said, "We think we're going to tell her -"

"No."

Miwa inhaled a bit sharply at that while Taiyo cringed, feeling like backing away as Nagant looked back around at Miwa with a pointed glare. Both women were obviously shorter than Taiyo, but he felt the fear of god enter him the moment both women locked gazes, with Miwa's eyes opening to show how cold and angry she was.

"'No'?" She repeated, taking a step towards the other woman. "What do you mean, 'no', Kaina?"

"I told you," Nagant pointedly told her, "that she doesn't get to know. It's better for her that way."

"So, what, she'll start showing changes and we'll just shrug our shoulders and go 'oh, it must be puberty'?"

"I - no, but you don't tell her about our connection. She doesn't - you don't understand, Miwa."

"You're right!" Miwa's voice was beginning to raise. "I don't, Kaina! So please, explain it to me!" 

"I - okay, whoa, whoa," Taiyo hastily stepped in as Nagant's nostrils flared, putting his hand on both women's shoulders before an argument could break out, "let's not get -"

"No," Miwa said coldly, suddenly ripping out of her husband's grip and moving towards the door as both Nagant and Taiyo looked after her, "no, you know what? Forget it. She's never bothered to explain anything to us before, so why should we expect her to start now? I should've expected - I - god damn it."

"M-Miwa, hol' on -"

"So just so you know," Miwa looked around at Nagant, positively shaking in anger as she stared coldly at her, "we're going to tell Ochako, no matter what you want. Because our daughter deserves the truth, even if you're not willing to give it to her. We're not asking for your permission, we're telling you it's going to happen."

"Don't you -" Nagant began to snarl, feeling her chest tighten in both anger and anxiety.

"I'm going to wait outside, Taiyo," She ripped the door open, "I think Kaina's right, I want a drink. We'll go and get one after this. Goodnight, Kaina."

With that, she slammed the door hard enough to shake the wall. Taiyo winced a bit, glancing over to see Nagant glaring at the door his wife left through as her fists clenched, and before he could say anything, she turned around to grab the wine glass that she had filled up, and immediately began chugging it down, throwing her head back and taking it all in one go.

"Oh, god, hol' on -" He quickly reached out to stop her, only for Nagant to drop the glass from her mouth with a gasp, slamming it on the desk hard enough to crack the thin glass and whipping around and glaring back out the window - although Taiyo could see how her shoulders were shaking.

"Well?" She said sharply, but her voice shook as well. "Go after her. Go have your drink and - and - fuck!"

He winced again as she slammed her fist against the desk, her shoulders continuing to shake - and then he took a deep breath, his own shoulders straightening back, and his face became resolved. He moved forward, and after a moment of hesitation, moved to gently take her arm. Before Nagant could say anything, he spun her around so that she was facing him, and moved a hand to the back of her head before bringing her in.

Nagant only had one moment to stare blankly into Taiyo's chest as he hugged her, before she let out a shuddering breath and grabbed the back of his coat, burying her face there. They both stood there for a moment, before Taiyo let out a soft sigh, and pressed his chin against the top of her head.

"I, uh … it's okay, Kaina," He said quietly, "Miwa didn' mean anythin' by it, she's jus' … she's jus' frustrated. We - we both are. It's … it's not yer fault -"

"It is," Nagant muttered, her voice muffled, "it is my fault."

"Nah," Taiyo shook his head, gently moving her back so that they could look at each other, "I … I don' know wha' happened, Kaina, bu' … bu' I know Miwa, she'd - she'd forgive yah if yeh jus' - if yeh jus' told us wha' was wrong. You'd …" He hesitated for a moment, and closed his eyes before saying, "… yeh can - yeh can always come back home."

Nagant stared up at him for a moment, her heart hurting - honestly, everything hurt, from the throbbing headache the alcohol was beginning to give her to her heart beating quickly - and then she let out a shuddering breath, throwing caution to the wind, and reached up to grab his face with both hands. As Taiyo stuttered a bit, his cheeks going red, Nagant moved up to her tippy toes.

"K-Kaina -"

"Just shut up and kiss me." She growled, and before he could protest, her mouth was on his, and god, fuck, she missed this. It had been years since she'd felt this, and - and it felt addicting, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and letting out a muffled moan. Taiyo, for his part, only paused for a moment, his eyes wide - and then his own eyes slowly closed, and she felt his hands land on her hips.

Encouraged, Nagant pressed herself closer, deepening the kiss as Taiyo's hand moved up to her hair. She continued to hold the kiss as long as she could, feeling Taiyo rub her hair up and down for a moment as one of her legs moved to curl around his waist -

- and then she heard a sharp knock on the door, making both of them jump and part from each other with gasps.

"Time is up," They both heard Iguchi say coldly through the door, "sir, please come out and I will escort you from the hotel with your wife."

Taiyo paused for a long moment, staring down at Nagant as she panted and stared up at him in desperation, before he let out a soft sigh and nodded. Taking a second to press a kiss to her forehead, Taiyo stepped back, and began walking towards the door as she watched him go.

"I'll … I'll let ya know when we - when we tell Ochako," He said in a small voice, and then opened the door. 

Nagant watched him step through it, feeling herself shake a bit, and then, when the door closed and left her alone in the hotel room, she let out a shuddering breath and grabbed the wine bottle again, raising it to her lips and beginning to down it. It didn't take long, of course - feeling her heart hammer in her chest, and just wanting to stop thinking about so many complicated things, she just … drank until there was nothing left.

As soon as the wine bottle was empty, she let out a gasp, feeling herself sway a bit as the effects of the alcohol hit her all at once, and she tossed the empty bottle on the bed before she sat down heavily on the edge of it. Absently wiping her mouth with the back of her hand again, she turned to look at the television on the wall, and blinked several times when she saw a rerun of the awards ceremony, focusing on the winners of the day.

As the camera focused on the two bandaged students on the third place podium, Nagant felt tears fill her eyes, and she flopped onto her side, staring at the television as her vision blurred - whether it was unconsciousness starting to overcome her or tears, she had no idea.

"Are …" She managed to get out in a slurred voice, "… are you havin' … as bad a day … as I'm havin', baby girl …?"

Thankfully for Nagant, consciousness fading from her vision would prevent Nagant from figuring that question out, and she fell asleep.


Well … this was a mess.

The airport's lobby was in shambles. Splashes of blood were over on one wall while several shaking citizens were being comforted by the police, having taken them over to the seats near the luggage pickup to try and calm them down, and ask them what they had witnessed. Several of the windows had been smashed through with the hero's projectiles, with crunches underneath his boots as he walked along towards the doors that had been smashed open. Outside, ambulances flashed as several people were looked over by the paramedics, with injuries ranging from glass sticking out of their arms from the shots and general concussions, but no one had died, fortunately.

All in all? It looked like a fire fight had started here, and now it was up to him to pick up all the pieces.

Not that he didn't already know what had happened.

"So let me see if I get this straight," Hawks sighed as he flipped open the police officer's notebook that he had nicked to read through, raising his goggles up to his forehead so he could read it, "you thought you caught sight of a group of vigilantes, decided to try apprehending them by yourself instead of waiting for any backup. You endangered the lives of most of the people here, firing through the windows and trying to mortally wound them instead of taking them in alive. And the resulting firefight ended with … let me see … ah, there it is. Eighteen people were injured, and none of the criminals apprehended."

Tossing the notebook back to the officer who was lowkey fanboying over him, Hawks slid the visor back down over his eyes to give his fellow hero a skeptical look.

"So, uh … were you aware that we're supposed to try capturing villains alive?" He joked but also didn't joke. "I'm amazed that they managed to slip away if you were trying so hard to stab them through the head."

"They were a slippery bunch."

Standing off to the side, the woman who Hawks was lowkey interrogating turned away from him, her green cape hanging over her shoulders. Hawks sighed a bit as she adjusted the half-mask over her lower face, the clunk of her boots filling the room as she moved over to the splash of what looked like mud on the wall, kneeling down and swiping at it with her gloved hand. Hawks tapped his foot against the floor as she took her time responding to him.

"They were attempting to bring in another vigilante from across the seas," She told him in a short voice, "and I chose to apprehend them at any cost rather than let them slink off to the shadows. Had it not been for the police interfering, I would have been able to capture one, and the Commission would've been able to interrogate them."

"Well … I'm sure our dear president will be happy to hear that you're so …" Hawks paused to consider his insult for a moment, wondering if it should be subtle or obvious, "… invested … in capturing random civilians."

"These … vigilantes … cannot be considered mere civilians," Beros turned to give him a small glare, "they're merely villains who pretend that they're righteous. Trying to draw on the public's sympathy to make them appear appealing, to defend them from their criminal actions. I treated them as I would treat any villain standing in a crowd."

"Huh," Hawks chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "and here I thought the HPSC brought you on to fill the hole Nagant left us - y'know, the sharpshooter with the lovable personality! C'mon, kids loved Lady Nagant, you just kinda traumatized them. You gotta be a lot nicer and less trigger happy."

"I'm not here to entertain children," Beros answered him in a low voice, "I'm here to stop villains. You can act like a court jester in front of the parading crowds all you want."

"Huh …" Hawks turned back around to look around, "… well, anyway, did you get any id's? Any faces?"

"None. They were masked and the airport's cameras were being interfered with. But I will recognize the one," She narrowed her eyes, "the one who wouldn't shut up, who wouldn't stop making the clones. I'll be sure to report it to President Shiryoku so she can get a warrant out for them. Has Wolfram and his men reported anything from the south side?"

"Wolfram? Oh, right," Hawks laughed a bit, "the, uh - special guest. Surprised you're playing along with our beloved president's attempts to bring in interns."

"President Shiryoku says that Wolfram is the best at what he does, so I will use him as I see fit. In the meantime," She pointed over towards the wall, where blood was beginning to dry, "have the forensics look over that blood and do a DNA test, and then tell me. If I can get a name, I'll get the rest."

With that, she stood up, her green cape fluttering around her as she spun around, and walked off in order to bark more orders at the police, despite their attempts to tell her she wasn't actually in charge. With a weary sigh, Hawks adjusted his goggles again, moving over to the wall and kneeling down with a small grunt, feeling his knees pop, before he spread out his feathers to start listening around to what the other civilians and police were saying.

Taking a second to slowly move his finger through the mud-like substance as he heard the same thing being repeated over and over again by the victims, Hawks let out a small sigh as he stood up again, and waved to a few of the other police officers, letting them know without words that he was taking off as he quickly jogged out of the airport. After a moment of shaking a few kids' hands and signing one person's backpack, Hawks took off into the air, giving the small cheering crowd another wave as he turned to look up at the dark sky, the moon shining above him and giving everyone a cool thing to look at as he flapped his wings and flew away -

- and then, as he flew away from the airport, hearing the police sirens continuing to wail behind him, he reached into his pocket for his phone, taking it out and starting to text.

 

YOU

How is everyone?

 

LEADER

Some injuries, but we all got away fine

Let us know if you find anything out, or if we slipped up

 

YOU

Heading to you guys now 

 

Frowning, Hawks sighed and put his phone back into his pocket before flapping his wings and heading off. It wouldn't take long to get back to their hideout, but he had to make sure he looked inconspicuous.

Thankfully, because of his speed, it didn't take long for him to reach their hideout. Heading onto a rooftop across the street to change into the white t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket that he left in the duffel-bag in the small compartment hidden in the rooftop's tiles, Hawks sent his feathers shooting out so that he could walk around with smaller, less easy to notice wings for the moment, just to be safe. Putting on a pair of sunglasses as he headed down the stairs, Hawks eventually moved out of the apartment, and then quickly crossed the street towards the supermarket, raising his sunglasses above his eyes just like his goggles. 

It was late, of course, and there weren't any cars in the lot, but he was still conscious enough to keep his head down as he approached the large store, and knocked on the glass doors of the mart. He allowed his feathers to continue floating in the air above the mart, listening for any car or person that might be approaching, but he wasn't worried - this part of the district tended to be abandoned this late at night, everyone knowing not to mess with potential villains stalking around, and he knew how to handle himself if he heard anyone coming.

It took about a minute, but eventually, Hawks saw who he was looking for walk up to the front and coming towards the doors to let him in - a woman with a muscular build, with shoulder length reddish hair, a square jaw, and big lips carrying a broom. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans under her apron, something casual to wear for her overnight job, and she wore a pair of triangular, white-framed sunglasses to cover her eyes. But it was the slightly dark expression that was on her face that caused Hawks to know that everything wasn't well, watching as she quickly pushed the door open for him to enter, and then moved to the security pad on the side to stop the beeping.

"Evening, big sis," Hawks waved to her as he stepped in, allowing her to close the door behind him with one hand as she finished disabling the alarm with the other - but not before his feathers quickly made their way in through the small gap the door made, reconnecting to his back, "I assume the cameras are off?"

"Of course they are, silly," Magne waved her hand as they walked into the store together, "turned them off and started running Aiba's feedback loop once Leader texted that they were coming. You better get down there, though - tensions are pretty high, seems that it was a close call tonight."

"Yep, I figured. Thanks."

"Now then - are you bein' monitored?"

"Nope, I 'mused some of La Brava's tech to make them do a feedback of last week's events. As far as the HPSC's concerned, I'm at home right now."

"Aw, that's a good boy!" She rustled his hair, making Hawks grin a bit at the big sister vibes the vigilante always gave him. "Now you better get down there - I bet Leader's gonna need your help wrangling them."

"Gotcha," Hawks gave her a thumbs up, "thanks again, Magne."

With that, he quickly made his way through the aisles, allowing Magne to resume sweeping along the shining floor. Quickly making his way straight to the back, Hawks moved through the doors and into the small area where the frozen food was kept, yanking the freezer door open and shivering slightly at the cold rush of air that hit him as he stepped in. 

Making sure to swing the door closed behind him, he moved to the light switch, and flipped it up and down quickly three times, before flipping it down once, waiting three seconds, and then back up.

At once, the small door hidden along the wall popped open, and Hawks was quick to step over and push it open so that he could get inside. Already, he knew that Magne was underselling the situation downstairs as he stood at the top - he could already hear the sounds of shouting and yelling, knowing that things had probably gone downhill. With a small sigh, Hawks quickly made his way down the stairs, and into the small bunker.

Automatically, he knew that this was going to suck as soon as he got a good look inside at the group - for one, Kugisaki was shouting at Twice as he had his duster coat hanging off his arms, exposing the bloody arm the arrow was sticking out of as Twice poked experimentally at it, which only got another few roars of anger at him. In the other corner, Gentle was raising his hands while trying to palate Kazuho, who was far too busy chasing a terrified La Brava in a small circle around the bunker, the smaller woman yelping apologies over the shouts. And thirdly, poor Josei was in the corner, looking lost and confused as she glanced over at the large computer in the corner, where their fearless leader was scrolling through what looked to be news websites and ignoring the pandemonium behind him at the moment.

So … okay, one thing at a time, Hawks decided. Start with the loudest thing.

"La Brava!" Kazuho screeched as she chased La Brava around.

"Listen!" She begged her. "It's not my fault!"

"La Brava!"

"Listen, listen!" La Brava quickly dived behind Gentle, who bravely decided to lay down his life by standing in Kazuho's way, looking incredibly nervous as Kazuho finally stopped chasing her around and instead chose to just continue berating her.

"Are you kidding me?!" The older vigilante shouted at her, quickly trying to fix her eyepatch under her glasses as she worked her hair out of her regular Pop☆Step hairdo. "We told you not to poke around in the Inner Circle's network anymore than we already did! How do we know that wasn't what alerted them to what we were doing?!"

"I - I didn't think there was much harm!" La Brava tried to defend herself. "I ran a few viruses! I set up my firewalls! I was ready for anything they would've thrown at me!"

"And then you think it's weird that they somehow knew that Knuckle and the jerk was getting off the plane?!"

"Hey!" Kugisaki barked at her. "I'm right fucking - ow! Stop fucking poking it!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Twice clapped his hands together in apology as the angry man wheeled around at him. "No, I'm not! You don't deserve her yelling at you! You're a dog!"

"Okay, so if it's not your fault," Kazuho gritted her teeth, ignoring the argument behind her, "then who's fault is it?! Do you realize how close the FeatherHATS came to getting arrested tonight?! Daiki and Hiroto barely managed to get themselves out of being cuffed by the Commission's goons! So if it's not your fault, then who's is it?!"

She then looked up at Gentle, who gulped as she stuck a finger in his face.

"It's yours, isn't it?!" She accused angrily. "Is this because she wanted to impress you?! God damn it, La Brava, what is it about this brushy mustache that gets your panties in a twist?!"

"I - my dear!" Gentle gasped, appalled and insulted. "I put effort into making this mustache pristine!"

"Yeah, yeah!" La Brava pumped her fists behind Gentle. "You tell her, Gentle! I don't have to defend my taste in men from the person who thinks Skycrawler is attractive!"

"Hey!"

As amusing as the arguments were, Hawks observed as he leaned against the wall, he knew that they were getting nowhere just shouting. Raising his wing, several feathers flew in, brushing underneath everyone's noses, and making them all crinkle them out of reflex. Quickly, the continuing arguments died down, and they all looked around to see Hawks leaning against the wall, waving to them as his feathers returned to his back.

"Yo," He nodded, "how about everybody calms down a little bit? I swear, I could hear you all from the freezer upstairs."

Blinking, Kazuho went a bit red, realizing that she had been shouting pretty loudly, and sighed as she backed away from Gentle and La Brava. Once he was sure that no one was going to continue shouting, Hawks let out a small sigh as he hopped the last four steps and floated down to the floor, looking around at the group of vigilantes as they all looked sheepish - with the exception of Kugisaki, who merely gritted his teeth in pain and annoyance.

"Look," Hawks put his hands in his pockets, "tonight was a close call, but none of you got captured, so we don't have much to worry about them tracking us down. They got who I assume is Kugisaki's blood, but since he was already known for vigilantism, and he's off the streets, we don't have that much to worry about. The hero at the scene saw Twice's quirk in action, but as long as we keep the other clones on the downlow and don't do anything to stick out, we don't have much to worry about. Now, where's Knuckles? And Tochi and Tokage?"

"Knuckles went to scout," Twice reported, quickly saluting the pro hero, "wanted to make sure we weren't followed! It's smart, of course! What an idiot, right?"

"Right," Hawks nodded, "and what about the other two?"

"Tochi took the car, wanted throw them off our trail,," Kugisaki shook his head, scowling, "Tokage, I don't know. He hasn't answered any of my texts. I don't -"

"He's dead."

At once, everyone stopped what they were doing, blinking. Quickly, they looked around at where the leader was leaning over the chair, and up on the screen, Hawks could see what looked to be some news report, playing a video of several police officers answering questions outside of what looked to be a downtown building. Kugisaki quickly rose up from his seat, his eyes wide, and stomped over.

"The fuck?" He grunted, and the leader sighed and moved back. "The fuck do you mean? Rapt's not - he's not -"

"Says here that he committed suicide," The leader reported grimly, "jumped off the roof of Yaoyorozu Corporations, they said that they found a suicide note on his desk and everything. Police are considering it a one and done deal, said that they saw the tapes and how he went up to the roof."

"He's … not …" Kugisaki shook his head, clearly in denial, as the leader gently took him by the other arm and guided him into La Brava's seat, clearly needing him to sit down. After a moment, the leader sighed, and looked around to the other members of the resistance, adjusting the strap containing his bo staff around his shoulder, and looked around at all of them, putting his hands on his hips as his brown leather coat crinkled.

"I know that we're all frustrated," He put his hands in his pockets, "but we can't fight amongst ourselves. La Brava," He glanced over at where the shorter woman was looking ashamed, "you shouldn't have poked back in the Inner Circle's network, even if it doesn't seem to have done anything. And Pop," He looked up at where Kazuho was looking apologetic, "we can't just point fingers. We're all angry, and tired, and that's not gonna help us. I'm gonna head upstairs and get us all something to eat. We'll wait until daybreak before we can get away, and then we'll regroup."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, and then raised a hand to brush through his white hair.

"Now," He looked around at Josei, his voice becoming softer and less commanding, "do you need to get back home soon?"

"No," She shook her head, frowning, "school's not - it's - well, I don't have to head in until Monday, anyway. I've got the weekend free, so - so I can stay with Kugisaki."

"Are you sure?" He said softly. "You've done good work, Josei, you don't need to push yourself."

"I'm - no, I'm sure," She shook her head, balling her fists. "I know a bit of first aid, I can - I can help him when we get the arrow out."

"Okay." He smiled at her, and then looked back around at where Hawks was standing. "They have any leads?"

"Other than Kugisaki's blood and a bit of residue from Twice's quirk, nothing," Hawks shook his head and frowned, "but the Humarise agent - name's Beros - she caught sight of Twice. She's not nice like I am, she was throwing out the dehumanizing comments all over the place. She's gonna be trouble if she's working at the HPSC. Not to mention that the mercs Shiryoku brought in are already working - we didn't anticipate that."

"Erk," Twice winced a bit, adjusting his black and gray mask, "sorry about that, guys. YOLO!"

"Well, at least we can keep an eye on her and the mercenaries," The leader shook his head darkly, "if Shiryoku is having Humarise agents helping out her other heroes, that means we'll have to tread carefully from here on out. We just need to lay low for now - tonight was a hiccup, but at least we got Knuckles back. He's got experience dealing with All For One - he'll be vital for when we make our move."

"That's if All For One doesn't make his move first," La Brava shook her head, but the leader merely smiled and reached down to pat her shoulder.

"Don't worry," He assured her, "we'll be careful. And we're planning around that. Now - Hawks, a word real quick, before you head out."

The pro hero straightened up and nodded, moving to follow the taller white-haired man back up the stairs. Behind them, Kazuho moved to apologize to the two tea lovers for her accusations, while Gentle laid his hand on La Brava's head and Josei moved tenderly over to where Kugisaki was now holding his head in one hand, and Twice walked over with a first aid kit. 

At the top of the stairs, Hawks leaned against the wall while the leader sighed, and rubbed his eyes.

"Any leads on Yaoyorozu?" He asked, and Hawks sighed as he shook his head.

"Nothing," He frowned, "I've been looking all week long, just so no one suspected me, but … guy's squeaky clean. I've checked his records, his company's flight plans, any businesses he bought up or got a stock in - nothing indicating what he's doing for All For One, other than bringing in some weird parts."

"Shit," The leader frowned, "well … Soga's gonna be hard to try to calm down once he gets through this - if Tokage is dead, then there's no way it was a suicide. Yaoyorozu must have found out we slipped him inside - it wouldn't surprise me if they went through his stuff and found out what we were doing tonight, that's why Beros was there."

"And you're sure we can't find any reason to search his manor? I bet that's where Humarise are doing all their meetings."

"Not without throwing out a lot of suspicion on you, no. Shiryoku doesn't trust you like her mother did - we'll have to be careful, or we'll lose the one mole we have in the top brass of the HPSC." He then paused, and added hastily, "Oh, and we don't want you to die."

"Oh, gee, thanks. So … what now?" Hawks sighed, leaning against the wall. "Do I bite the bullet and tell All Might? And Endeavor and Best Jeanist? They probably won't take me working with vigilantes very well - hell, Endeavor would probably cook me."

"Trust me," The leader removed a hand from one of his pockets to adjust the goggles jostling around his neck, "once we come forward with our evidence - All Might will have to believe us. But the key," He leaned forward, "is Eraserhead. We get him on our side, then we have an ace up our sleeve."

"An underground hero over the Top Four? I don't know …"

"Don't worry," He smiled, "I know Shouta like the back of my hand. Once we show him what we've found, and what's gonna happen, he'll be fighting like hell to protect the kids of UA. The only thing that's gonna happen definitely is that I'm gonna get punched, though."

"Ah, come on, Shirakumo," Hawks laughed and clapped his shoulder, "you gotta admit, you've got a pretty punchable face."

The leader laughed again as he looked back down the stairs, nodding slowly to himself for a moment, before he scratched the bandage across his nose and made to head back down the stairs, giving Hawks a wave as he quickly moved back down into the bunker. Watching him leave, Hawks let out another sigh as he brought his sunglasses back down over his eyes, and then pushed the door to the cooler to head out of the vigilante's hideout, closing the door behind him.


He … didn't know how this had happened.

There wasn't any light on in the room, other than the moonlight shining in through the open window, where they could hear the crickets continuing their unending chorus. Neither of them moved, either because they were still in confusion about what had just happened or if they realized what position they had landed in - but after a long moment, he inhaled sharply, finally coming to terms with what had just happened.

… oh. Oh, no.

Izuku couldn't help but stare down in shock as he realized … where he had landed. Or, or accurately … who he had landed on.

Laying below him, with both of his hands effectively pinning her there by pressing against the bed on both sides of her head, Itsuka stared up at him in shock, her eyes wide and her orange hair pooling behind her head. He was … he was half laying on top of her, he realized at once, feeling his eyes widen in horror. His leg was in between hers, so he wasn't entirely on top of her, but he was close enough that they were both far closer than they had been ready for. Close enough that their noses were almost touching, and both could tell that the other was starting to get red in the face.

And … and the weird feelings that he had been experiencing all day with Ochako … were currently going crazy right now, close enough that he could feel her breath on his lips, and he felt his arms begin to shake.

How … how did this happen?!

Notes:


And that was Chapter 35! And boy, oh boy, did we once again cover a lot, didn't we? XD

Yep, this chapter ended up being quite busy, didn't it? From villains doing villainous things, to Nine and Curious having a weird amount of sexual tension, to Overhaul making a point of Teko that things aren't going to be as cut and dry as they thought. Not to mention we also got up to vigilante nonsense as well, what with the reveal that Hawks is a little mischievous traitor in all universes, and the identity of the vigilante's leader is none other than one Oboro Shirakumo! "But how?!" You all scream. "Kurogiri is - what have you done?!" And I laugh evilly as I slink back into the trash bin, the garbage men coming to carry it away and toss me unceremoniously into the back of the truck.

(btw Vigilante!Shirakumo is based off this awesome fanart https://twitter.com/Trevoshere/status/1520820419242217472. Yes, you may all begin with the 'OH NO HE'S HOT' comments XD)

But it isn't just villains and vigilantes getting up to nonsense tonight! Hisashi, as a reward for how I treated him in my last fics, finally gets a bone thrown out for him in the form of Midnight, and we all learn where Izuku got his suaveness from as well as his obliviousness. And Ochako and Melissa get to have a moment to bond, with Melissa getting to be there for Ochako - while, y'know, having that *strange* reaction at the end. No idea what that was about, of course. I will admit I'm a bit nervous about writing about body issue-related scenes, but I hope that this won't be the last time Ochako and Melissa comfort each other!

And, naturally, that little scene with Nagant and the Urarakas! I hear many of you wanting to know (or at least suspecting) what the deal is. Well ... the only thing I will say is that Taiyo did *not* just cheat on Miwa. Make assumptions from that as you will XD

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading! We'll be tuning in next time for, as you all guessed by that last little part, the chapter.

And when I say that, I mean *THE* chapter.

Look forward to it ;P

Chapter 36: Clover Rising: Part Three

Summary:

As the sun begins to rise on a new day, Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako find themselves awake far earlier than they would like ... and know that the time has finally come.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

His name was Yuga Aoyama.

It turned out that Tsukauchi had done his research thoroughly - All Might knew everything he already needed to know as he stepped into the hospital room, placing the folder on the table where his friend was already seated, looking troubled. Gran Torino, meanwhile, stared out the window, although he turned to give the bed in the center of the room a frown as he tapped his cane against the floor. All Might, for his part, was dead quiet as he approached the bed in his smaller form, staring down at the young man unresponsive to the world.

According to the records his friend had found, Yuga Aoyama was a Japanese citizen who had moved to France as a baby due to business that his mother and father, two wealthy socialites, had been involved in, and eventually moved back to Japan when Yuga was six. What was curious, however, was that Yuga was noted in his official medical record from France to be quirkless - but when he returned to Japan, he was noted to have spontaneously manifested a quirk, right before he joined middle school.

Navel Laser. A quirk that … neither of his parents had any record of having similar quirks for that to come from.

From what Tsukauchi had gathered, the doctors who had examined Yuga had passed it off as a birth defect, and the parents soon supplied him with a support item when it became clear that the young man couldn't control his quirk well. The doctors had simply excused it as his quirk coming in late, noting that it wasn't something out of the ordinary. And had All Might not known better, he would've thought the fact that Yuga's quirk was different than his parents' was a coincidence as well - he already knew that Izuku didn't have the same kind of quirk as his parents, so it was rare, but not out of the ordinary enough to investigate.

But now … staring down at the young man … he couldn't do that.

Feeling his face fall, All Might's frown deepened. The young man in the hospital bed was utterly catatonic to the world, staring blankly up at the ceiling while having tubes connected to his nose and mouth. He wasn't moving at all, but the way his eyes bulged in their sockets, looking manic yet blank at the same time, caused All Might to clench his fist tightly as he inspected Yuga. 

Even with the tall, skeletal man leaning over him, Yuga showed utterly no sign of even acknowledging his presence, staring blankly up at the ceiling with his face slack.

"… and they found all three of them like this?" All Might asked Tskuauchi in a blank voice.

"Yes," The police detective nodded, looking to Gran Torino in the corner as the older hero walked over to look at the notes again, "the police found them two days after the results of the entrance exam were sent out. The neighbors heard the sound of cats screeching in their home, and went in to investigate - they figured that the Aoyamas must have left on some kind of unexpected vacation since their cars weren't in the driveway, and forgot to feed their pets. They found all three members of the family in the living room, just like this."

"The father's still catatonic," Gran read from the police notes, "just like this young man, he's in a room further down the hall. The mother is apparently awake, but she's at Fujitani Hospital."

"The mental hospital?"

"She's … unresponsive," Tsukauchi's expression darkened, "prone to violent outbursts if distressed, especially if they mention her son. We won't be able to question either of them."

The three men turned to stare down at the young man in his coma, All Might clenching his fists tightly.

"We've seen cases like this before," Gran said in a rough voice, moving towards the bed and stepping onto the seat to stare down at the comatose boy, "Nana and I, and Toshinori as well. When we first began investigating All For One, trying to track him down to figure out how he moved around, we looked for cases like this - the results of people with clear signs of being forced to bear more quirks than they can handle. If this boy had failed the entrance exam … and then two days later all three members of the family ended up like this … the timing's too close to pass this off as a coincidence."

"He was trying to slip in a spy," All Might said in a quiet voice, but his teeth gritted, "and if we know All For One, this boy might not have been the only one."

"Is that even possible?" Tsukauchi shook his head, standing up from his seat. "I wouldn't put it past him to try manipulating a student into acting as his spy, but … if this boy failed, a week before class began, then All For One would've had to have either had another student along with Aoyama apply for the entrance exam, or …"

"Or this student who might be a spy," Gran narrowed his eyes, "would've had to have been coerced. Someone who had no choice but to help the Villain Consortium arrange the break in at the USJ."

"Hm …" Tsukauchi felt himself frown as he thought, "… if that were the case … we never did find any video evidence of Slice entering the school, on the day of the break in. All the camera feeds we reviewed didn't show her anywhere - from what was in the files, everything was shut down for maintenance that day. Could it be that … I doubt the Consortium had control over the crowd, but …"

"You mean," Gran raised his eyebrow, "this Slice woman deliberately waited until a time she knew the cameras would be down so she could slip in and out?"

"It's far-fetched," Tsukauchi gave him, "but like you said, Torino, at this point, there are too many loose ends piling up for it to be a coincidence. "

"The cameras were shut down …" All Might furrowed his brow, frowning seriously as he crossed his scrawny arms, "… and the Consortium just happened to choose that day to slip in to find our schedule. But another thing is … how would Slice have known where to go to find the schedule? As far as I'm aware, the timing of the crowd breaking in and them being escorted out was too close to have Slice slip in, find the staff room, find and steal what she needed, and leave before the police arrived."

"Could a student have done it?" Tsukauchi mused. "They were outside where the reporters were leaving, and I know that there were a few stragglers that the police had to escort out. Could it have been that a student took the files, Slice created the diversion, and then in the chaos, they met, and she took them from the student?"

"That's if it's even a student," Gran said grimly, "I trust Nezu, but I don't know most of his staff."

"No," All Might shook his head, "I've worked with them for about a month now, sensei - while some of them can be a bit rough around the edges, they're all good people invested in the success of their students. Not to mention that Tenko's worked there for years, and we know that he's more observant than either of us. If there is a traitor … it won't be a teacher."

The three of them were quiet for a while, clearly pondering amongst themselves over what might have happened. All Might's eyes never wandered away from Yuga, seeing him staring blankly up at the ceiling as though shell shocked, and unresponsive to the world - something that was just making All Might scowl even fiercer in anger, the possibilities of what happened to this poor boy only serving to fill him with fury.

It was only until Gran let out a sigh that the other two men looked around at him, seeing him turn away from the bed as he tapped his cane against the seat.

"I suppose that this will have to be a conversation for another time," He said in a grim voice, "we can't exactly grow paranoid over a theory that doesn't have any evidence yet. If we inform the UA staff about us suspecting a traitor in their midst - whether it be a teacher or a student - they might do something drastic, or start to investigate each other or their students - and all that would do is make a possible traitor nervous, and that would let All For One know that we're on to him."

"That's if he really is alive," Tsukauchi pointed out in a tired voice, "right now, Torino, it's just a theory. For all we know, Nine is masterminding this. All For One's survival should be our worst case scenario."

"Yeah, well," Gran huffed, "back in my day, the worst case scenario tended to be the only scenario we prepared for. Anything less than that is what we considered luck."

"Anyway," The police detective shook his head, "for now, I propose we act as though nothing's wrong. I'll bring Principal Nezu up to speed on our suspicions during our meeting Monday - he'll decide then how we proceed, and whether or not we bring in the other teachers in on this."

Gran Torino merely let out a sigh at that, but still nodded, deciding to let it go for now. Coming down from the chair, he turned to look back at All Might as his old student continued to stare down at the young man, not moving towards the door at all as Tsukauchi turned to open it. With a sigh, the old man reached up to tug on the pro hero's sleeve, causing his eyes to break from Yuga for the first time and look over at his old teacher.

"There's nothing we can do for him now, Toshinori," He said in a gruff, but not unkind voice, "all we can make sure to do now is find out whatever happened to that monster. And then we'll take down Nine and his Villain Consortium - if he got knocked on his ass by Midoriya when the kid could barely fire a lightning bolt, then he'll be simple for us to bring in."

All Might still frowned down at the student, clearly conflicted - but he knew that his teacher had a point. Simply staring down at this young man in rage wasn't going to bring him any justice. So, with a sigh, he nodded, and turned to walk out the door with Tsukauchi and Gran Torino, bowing to the nurses waiting outside in thanks for letting them visit so late, and watched as they moved back in to check on their patient, letting the door slide shut.

Once they were all standing out in the hall, the large windows of Central Hospital showing off the city skyline, Tsukauchi sighed as he began walking over towards the elevator on the far end of the hall.

"Now then," Tsukauchi gave them both a tired smile, "I should probably think of heading home soon - Makoto is going to be visiting over the weekend from America for the next month or so, so I should probably get as much rest as I can before she arrives - don't wanna have to spend the weekend of her trying to rearrange my furniture on no sleep. Can I give you a ride home, Torino?"

"Sure," Gran nodded, cracking his neck, "I skipped dinner to come here, after all, so I need to get home soon so I can eat some taiyaki before I pass out. Besides, I've got to visit the Shimura brats this weekend, so I better get to bed soon."

"Of course," Tsukauchi laughed a bit before looking up at All Might, "how about you, All Might?"

"Thank you for the offer," All Might nodded at him with a soft smile, "but I don't want to impose. I'll get a taxi home."

Both men nodded and bid All Might goodnight, with the pro hero watching as his two old friends walked together towards the elevator. He wasn't worried about his own ride home, of course - he could easily afford a taxi, seeing as he had used up enough of his energy today showboating around the sports festival. He knew that he was going to be regretting his cheerleading exercise in the morning - he hadn't stretched those kinds of muscles in years, he winced - but it was worth it to see the horrified looks on Ochako and Itsuka's faces, something that made him chuckle even now as he began walking down the hall towards the stairs.

That … and he did need some time to decompress from what he had seen, All Might felt his smile fade. Seeing that poor boy laying there, without any hope of waking back up … and thinking …

He knew that Tsukauchi was right, despite his and Gran Torino's paranoia - they had no confirmation that All For One really was alive, and it was very possible that it was simply Nine acting behind the scenes. But that didn't mean that he could just … rest easily, he frowned - after the last match of the day, when he could've sworn that he had seen …

… no, All Might shook his head, frowning deeply as he opened the door to the stairs, he was just letting the paranoia get to him. His conversation with Gran Torino earlier today had just shaken him - making him see ghosts everywhere. Right now, he should try and look on the bright side of things - knowing that, from what he had seen today, that Itsuka had managed to utilize One for All without hurting herself filled him with pride, which was what he should focus on.

He shouldn't try focusing on things that would stress him out - he should -

Before he could continue that line of thought, however, All Might became aware of the feeling of his phone beginning to vibrate in his suit pocket. Blinking, and glancing down briefly in surprise, he fished the phone out of his pocket and turned it to see who was calling him. He had the thought it would be either Melissa or David, giving him an update on when Melissa would arrive in Japan, which was something he was practically bouncing in excitement for -

- but then, as his eyes landed on the name, he felt himself pause his step in the stairs, blinking.

"Mrs. Midoriya …?" He said out loud, feeling a weird sense of déjà vu as he glanced around the stairwell, and then back down to the phone. Glancing over at a clock on the wall, he felt his eyebrows raise at the time of one o'clock in the morning - why was she calling him so late? Was everything alright?

Wait, did something happen?

Feeling his brow furrow as a shot of worry passed through him, he was quick to answer the phone call, and raised it to his ear. 

"Hello? Mrs. Midoriya?"

"Oh! Mr. Yagi!" Inko's voice sounded surprised, maybe a little embarrassed, and … definitely a bit anxious. All Might felt himself gulp nervously as he walked over towards the window, staring out into the city as he kept the phone to his ear. "I'm - I'm very sorry, I just … I thought to give you a call, and - and I didn't even pay attention to the time. I'm so sorry, were you asleep?"

"Er, no, I'm - not yet," All Might quickly assured her, glancing around the stairwell for a moment in embarrassment, "I was just … getting done with something. I'm actually about to head home soon."

"Oh! Oh, well, that's - that's good."

"Well, is everything alright?" He asked.

"Y-yes, everything's fine!" Inko was very quick to assure him, still sounding incredibly nervous - something that made All Might straighten his back in concern. "It's just, er … I was … wondering if you were busy tomorrow?"

"Er … tomorrow?" All Might repeated, trying to remember if he had anything going on the next day - but seeing as he had the day off tomorrow, Nezu wanting him to take a break from the second year sports festival to allow them to have some of the attention, he shook his head. "I don't believe so. Why? Is there something going on?"

"Well …" Inko hesitated for a moment, "… there was, er … something I wanted to talk to you about. Something that I … well … anyway. I know Izuku will be going to that little party of his in the afternoon, so … so would you like to come over for lunch?"

"Lunch …" All Might slowly nodded, and then felt a small smile appear on his face despite himself, "… that sounds lovely, Mres. Midoriya. I … yes, I'll be able to make it. Will Mr. Midoriya be joining us?"

"Er - well, no," Inko cleared her throat awkwardly, "he's actually going to go to work for the day - he got a message that they'll be transferring him back to Japan from America, so he's wanting to get his work things all transferred over. He's … actually not back yet," She sounded a bit confused by that, "he texted me a few hours ago that he was going out for drinks, but … oh, well, you probably don't care about that. S-so tomorrow, at noon? At my place?'

"Yes, that sounds lovely."

"G-great! Well, I'll - I'll make sure you're well fed. And … and we'll have … lots to talk about." Inko's voice fell slightly at that, making All Might raise his eyebrow - but then she sighed. "Anyway, I should probably keep waiting up for Hisashi - make sure that he isn't in trouble. Thank you, and - and goodnight, Mr. Yagi. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Er - right, Mrs. Midoriya," All Might nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, they both hung up, with All Might putting his phone back in his pocket. He couldn't help but feel his eyebrow raise slightly - while lunch with Inko wasn't something to be disappointed about, he was a bit confused about the timing. It was almost as though … as though she were …

… asking him … for a …

All Might paused for a long moment - and then he shook his head at once, dispelling the thought from his mind. No, he reprimanded himself, don't be an idiot. Inko was not asking him for a date, or anything like that. She didn't know he was All Might, after all, and … he was pretty repulsive in his current form, so - no. No, there was no way. It was just a … a friendly lunch get together.

Alone.

Just the two of them.

Without … the Urarakas, or the Kendous, or the kids.

Just … them.

… okay, All Might blushed a bit as he began hurrying down the stairs, he just … oh, good lord, he was the Number One Hero! He fought All For One! Why was he nervous about going on a maybe-date with a charming, beautiful woman?!

… oh, god, All Might held a hand over his eyes, he was so screwed.


… shadows.

Darkness.

That was all Itsuka could see.

She wasn't able to move at all. She couldn't move her feet, her hands, her legs, her arms, her head, anything. She wasn't able to call out to anyone, to shout, or scream. All she could do was feel her eyes move back and forth, both of them widening as she tried to understand where exactly she was.

It was … it was somewhere she had never seen before. And her mind felt like it was screaming in pain as she tried to take in her surroundings.

It was a realm made entirely of what looked to be moving shadows. As though the wind itself was somehow blowing the darkness around her, making her unable to even see if there was anything out there. And yet … despite the pain her head felt, she felt weirdly calm.

At peace. Like she was at home, with no one there to hurt her and no one there to make any trouble for her.

And then, in the distance, she heard them. Voices.

"... can you -"

"She can't -"

"This is -"

"- can't we just -"

"- all Gearshift's fault -"

"- I'm trying to -"

"- he was right there -"

"- grave danger!"

"- she has to -"

"- please -"

"- stop him -"

Wrinkling her brow, Itsuka tried, as hard as she could, to look around for where the voices were. It was almost as though they were echoing all around her, making sure that she was unable to see anything as she squinted her eyes. She wanted to call out, to ask if there were anyone there, if they could see -

"… I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up, I screwed up so much, oh, god, is she never going to want to talk to me again after this?! She probably won't, will she?! Oh, I couldn't keep control of myself for five freaking seconds, and now look what I've done! I've screwed everything up! I had, what, ten years of friendship with her and that wasn't enough for me?! I just go ahead and do whatever I want?!"

- huh?

Itsuka felt herself blink. Wait, she … she recognized that voice. What was … who was …?

"Okay, okay, okay, I just - there has to be a way I can fix this. There has to be! I just have to go over and apologize - for - for - k-kissing - oh, god, what is the matter with me?! I took advantage of her trusting me, and - and just decided to plant one on her without any warning, and now our friendship is ruined forever, I just - okay, I need to figure out other hero programs in other countries so that I can move away forever and she'll never have to deal with me again. I know that Peru has a few good programs, so maybe I -"

"Mmmm …" She managed to hum out, and one sense returned to her. A pleasant smell filled her nostrils, making her close her eyes and concentrate on it, the other voices fading into the background in favor of this one voice that was making her heart skip happily.

"_ agh, how do I convince my mom to let me move to Nepal?! Wait, do I even have the money to move to Nepal? Those tickets are expensive, I should do a bit more research on it before I make a -"

"Izuuuu," Itsuka groaned, finally getting her voice back, "I'm tryin' to sleeeeeep."

The familiar voice suddenly went quiet, allowing Itsuka to sigh a bit as she kept her eyes closed and frowned - the moving shadows around her faded, making her grunt slightly as they faded from view, and pouted into the pillow that she was currently rubbing her cheek against as her eyes finally cracked open.

She then became aware that she was laying down on a comfortable mattress, wincing a bit when the lamp on the desk shone its bright light in her eyes and made her squeeze them shut again. Once she opened them again, she stared over at the various memoria of All Might surrounding her, the room illuminated by a dim orange light, and she slowly moved to sit up on the bed.

Taking a moment to yawn as the weird dream she had slipped away from her memory at once, Itsuka stretched her arms above her head, grunting as she heard something crack, and then lowered a hand to rub some gunk out of her eye. Finally, she slowly turned to look over at Izuku -

- and saw him standing above her near the bed and staring at her in horror, as though she were some feral beast that suddenly emerged out of nowhere and was two seconds from attacking him. Her eyes drifted behind him, and she wrinkled her brow at the open window showing the pitch black sky, meaning that … it was probably still the middle of the night.

… and … she was on his bed, she finally realized. She had been … sleeping … on his bed.

At once, her still slightly sluggish thoughts grinded to a halt, and she turned back to stare up at him blankly for a moment. And then her face turned red.

"… I'm … in your bed." She stated the obvious, feeling herself shake as Izuku started a bit at her quiet voice.

"O-o-oh, no, it's - it's fine, Kendou!" He quickly assured her, beginning to wave his hands frantically while he blushed as well. "I - I really don't mind, I - actually, uh - I didn't - I didn't really n-notice you were - you were still here. H-ha. Ha ha."

"Ha ha …" Itsuka repeated after him, looking around at the alarm clock off to the side on the table, and winced when she saw that it was about twenty after four in the morning. Meaning that she had probably been passed out for hours, and was hogging Izuku's bed all to herself, seeing as her legs were still spread. Clearing her throat, Itsuka quickly moved to get off of the bed, looking around to Izuku in order to apologize and confirm that she'd try to sneak over to Ochako's room to try going back to sleep there -

- and then she finally took an actual look at his face. And she felt her attempts to escape from her fluster falter.

Izuku looked … it was strange to say, but he looked far too panicked at the moment. She'd normally think he'd be flustered if he found her asleep on his bed, but … but she saw that he was shaking, his forehead glistening with sweat, face red, and fingers fidgeting. He was a bit hunched over as well, glancing off to the side almost as though he were on the verge of a panic attack and was waiting for her to leave so that he could completely melt down.

So … he looked nervous, of course, but … perhaps … too nervous for this situation.

"Er … hey, Izuku?" She said in an uncertain voice, raising an eyebrow briefly when he noticeably flinched at her calling him. "Are … you okay?"

"O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine!" He said a bit too quickly, continuing to slightly twitch and glance away from her.

Her eyebrow continuing to rise, Itsuka stopped her attempts to get out of his bed, and didn't think much of it as she moved to crawl over to him. As soon as she was in front of him, she moved to sit up on her knees, and raised her finger to poke his cheek.

Jumping a bit as she briefly and playfully rubbed her finger in, Izuku quickly glanced over at Itsuka as she continued to give him a somewhat amused look, sitting there on her knees and looking up at him.

"Alright," She smiled at him, "so what happened?"

"H-huh?!" Izuku squeaked again, his face burning somehow redder. "N-nothing! I - I mean - n-nothing happened, Kendou, I - I don't - I'm - I'm good!"

There was a good long pause there, with Itsuka's eyebrow raising and Izuku's shoulders sinking as he forced himself to stare into her skeptical eyes - and then she said, in a deadpan voice, "Do you wanna try that again and try to make it sound more convincing, or …?"

"N-no," He sighed, slumping over, and Itsuka smiled again at the way he looked like he had just got caught with his hand in a cookie jar, "I - okay, something … something may have happened."

"I figured," She slowly nodded, and sighed as she moved off of her knees, wanting to sit down properly. Once she was sitting on the edge of his bed, she moved to pat the spot beside her, giving him a warm and inviting smile.

After a moment, Izuku nodded again, and moved to sit down beside her, although Itsuka couldn't help but notice that he was consciously keeping a bit of distance between them. She felt herself frown, but fought down the urge to scoot a bit closer.

"So," She brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder, glancing down and wincing when she realized she was still in her school button-up shirt and skirt, but deciding to ignore it for now, "what's … been going on since I passed out?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, his face twisting into one of humiliated shame that made her blink - and then he slumped forward. "… I ruined my friendship with Occhan. Forever."

Itsuka found herself sitting up, her stomach tensing slightly as she looked at one of her best friends in surprise. He … ruined his friendship with Ochako? Forever?

… okay, well, besides that sounding a bit overdramatic, Itsuka couldn't really see how he could do such a thing with Ochako of all people. Those two were pretty much inseparable, as shown by today being the nonstop Izu-Ocha show, so she couldn't help but wonder how Izuku could have possibly messed something up between them.

"Okay …" She shrugged a bit, deciding to go along with him for the moment, "… and … sorry, but what exactly did you do? I mean, I don't really think that -"

"I kissed her."

And … of course, that was where Itsuka's thoughts screeched to a halt.

For a long moment, she stared blankly at Izuku as he moved to hold his face with both hands, his blush evident even with it completely covered. Itsuka's good-natured smile slipped off her face, and she found her jaw dropping slightly, her thoughts flying away like a balloon with its air let out. She felt like her heart had suddenly stopped beating, and her stomach, which had been feeling slightly squeamish, suddenly twisted hard enough that she felt like she was suddenly in pain.

Izuku and Ochako … kissed.

Her best friends … kissed.

The two people she definitely wanted to kiss each other, who she had been wanting to get together for weeks now … did just that.

"… oh." She managed to get out.

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, still hiding his face from her, "oh."

"You …" Itsuka felt her mouth suddenly turn dry, "… kissed … Ochako?"

"I … I did," He slowly nodded again, horror in his voice as he slowly moved to stand up from the bed. Itsuka watched as he lowered his hands, showing to her the utter terror and guilt in his eyes. "I kissed her. I - I kissed Occhan. I kissed my best friend, and - and - and now, I ruined everything!"

"I - o-okay, hold - hold on," She tried to push down her own conflicted feelings as she reached out to take his arm, only to furrow her brow and wince slightly as he noticeably flinched at her touch, "just - just tell me what happened, okay? I'm - I'm sure that it's not that bad, Izuku, you're just - you're panicking. Just tell me what happened, and - and we can go from there, okay?"

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he quickly smacked his own cheeks, as though trying to force his panic down, and he nodded. "… r-right. Yeah, I - okay, Kendou. You're right, I just - I'll - I'll explain."

She nodded again, patting the spot next to her again, and Izuku took that as his cue to sit back down again, Itsuka keeping her distance but still close enough that if she saw him panic, she could calm him down.

"So …" She gestured to him, "… tell me what happened."

"Okay," Izuku sighed, moving to lean forward and rest his elbows on his knees, "So, uh … it - it happened when your mom and dad left with Eri. We - we saw Kacchan down at the park, and we - we went down to see what he wanted. I - I eventually got him to go away, and then we - we started talking. Er - me and Occhan. We just - we sat down and just started talking about - about everything."

"Uh-huh …" Itsuka slowly nodded, trying to get the twisting in her stomach to calm down.

"Eventually, we, uh - we started hugging," Izuku raised one of his hands to his eyes as he blushed redder and redder, "and the - you know the - the weird feelings I've been having all day? That I - I told you guys about?"

"Mm-hm."

"I - I started feeling them again, when we were - we were hugging. And - and I actually thought about what they meant, and I eventually realized that - that those 'weird feelings', they - they were -"

He hesitated for a moment, before he shook his head.

"- they were - they were feelings of - of love." He sounded humiliated by that. "I - I realized that I'm - I'm in love with Occhan."

Itsuka tried hard not to show how much her heart hurt from that statement on her face.

"O-okay …" 

"And then I just … I just started talking," He groaned in a weak, embarrassed voice, "telling her about - about how much she meant to me, and - and how much she's inspired me. I told her that - that I'd been having those - those weird feelings for her whenever we touched, or - or hugged, and then I just … I just … I went ahead and did it," He then buried his face in his hands, leaning down, "I kissed her."

"Okay …" Itsuka swallowed a bit, feeling her hands shake, "… and … did she … kiss you … back?"

There was a long pause. And then Izuku whispered, "Y-yeah. She did."

"Oh …"

"We - we actually - we made out."

"O-oh."

"I - oh, god, I - I made out with her," Izuku whispered, horror filling him once again, "I - I didn't just - I didn't just kiss her, Kendou! I made out with her! I pinned her to a street post!"

Itsuka felt herself blink at that. Suddenly, a mental image of Izuku came to her mind - Izuku, someone she knew to be a complete sweetheart, someone who wouldn't hurt a fly unless that fly did something horrible to someone he cared about, pinning Ochako to a street post, passionately kissing the life out of her and grabbing her leg to hoist up around his waist. Clinging to each other, hands exploring parts of each other that she could only dream of.

Suddenly, Itsuka didn't know who she felt more envious of, Izuku or Ochako, even as she tried to fan her red face and dispel the nice image from her mind.

"We were -" Izuku continued to ramble on, unaware of Itsuka getting a little … 'distracted', "- we were - tongue kissing! My - my tongue was in her mouth! She - she grabbed my butt!"

"Lucky bitch," Itsuka muttered under her breath without thinking.

"H-huh?" He blinked. "Did you say something?"

"Nope," Itsuka shook her head while blushing brighter, "not at all."

"I'm …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, and then he let out another defeated groan as he flopped back down on the bed beside her. Itsuka watched as he curled up and grabbed the pillow to bury his face in it. The same pillow that she had been using earlier, she realized with a faint blush. 

But now wasn't the time to continue getting distracted - it was clear that Izuku was going through a massive panic attack right now, overthinking everything, and believing that Ochako would never want to talk to him again after this. And … well, it was up to her to snap him out of it. 

So, with a small sigh, she moved to adjust herself closer to where he was flopped down, and gently shook his shoulder to get his attention.

"Listen, Izuku," She said in a soft, comforting voice, "I'm … I'm sure that everything's gonna be fine. You don't have anything to worry about - I'm sure that Ochako won't ever want to see you again. Honestly, I - I bet she's probably awake right now too, agonizing over the same thing you are."

"… do you think so?" Izuku's voice came out muffled and pouty from the pillow, which made her smile despite herself.

"I'm sure," She giggled a bit, "but you know what? I bet you're both panicking over nothing. I bet you two will - you'll see each other tomorrow, first thing, and this whole thing will seem like - it's - it'll seem like a smaller deal then than it does now."

"A smaller deal?" Izuku groaned a bit more. "I - I realized I"m in love with her -"

She tried not to wince again.

"- and - and I'm supposed to just pretend that everything's fine?" He shook his head, and finally moved to sit up so that she could see the tired, anxious look in his eyes. "I realized that my best friend is perfect, and beautiful, and - and that I've probably been head over heels for her since we were kids, and - and the moment I realized it, I messed everything up. How am I supposed to - we - we eat dinner together every night! How am I supposed to look her in the eye knowing that I have feelings for her? And - and how do I know that she just - she just doesn't want to forget about it? Just … pretend what happened … didn't?"

"I … I don't think she would," She shook her head, biting her lip - she, of course, knew that Ochako probably wouldn't want to try forgetting this, but she knew Izuku didn't know that. 

So … so she would have to proceed carefully here.

"I - I mean - c'mon, Izuku," Itsuka tried to lightly say, "do you think that Ochako would just - what - try and pretend your kiss didn't happen?"

That's what she did when you kissed her, A mean part of her pointed out, but she tried to ignore it. She knew the circumstances were different, and she wasn't exactly right when she thought that, but … well, it still somewhat hurt.

"I - I don't know," He shook his head, his eyes turning sadder as he looked away, "I just … I have no idea what I'm doing, Kendou."

She gave him another sympathetic look, and, after a moment of hesitation, reached out to pat his shoulder again. She could tell that Izuku probably wasn't going to be able to recover from the stress of this tonight - he was clearly scared of the implications of what he did with Ochako, and he was afraid that he had ruined everything. 

Of course he wasn't just gonna hop back up and be positive again after a few nice words. So maybe … 

… maybe he just needed some sleep. A few hours … of …

… wait a second.

Suddenly, Itsuka stopped her line of thought. Blinking a bit, she turned to look over at the alarm clock on the bedside table, next to his phone. She stared at it for a few long seconds before her eyebrows raised, wondering why it was she felt so off while staring at the time - and then suddenly, the dots connected.

"Izuku," She suddenly said in a quiet voice, but one full of suspicion, "when … exactly did you kiss Ochako? Like … at what time?"

"H-huh?" Izuku hummed, still looking desolate as he stared down at his knees. "Oh, uh … like … nine o'clock? A-around that time."

There was a long pause. After a moment, Izuku's gaze flickered over to Itsuka, and he blinked a bit at the look of incredulity on her face.

"Er …" He said unsurely, "… Kendou?"

"Nine o'clock," Itsuka repeated in a blank voice.

"Y-yeah?"

She then turned back towards the clock. For the first time, he followed her gaze, and they both stared at the red letters showing the time of four thirty in the morning.

"Have …" Itsuka tilted her head a bit, "… you've been panicking about this … all night?"

"…"

"…"

"… er -"

"Nope," She shook her head, looking back around at Izuku with a pout that made him gulp nervously at once, "nope. No more of that. It's time for you to go to bed."

"B-but -" Izuku stammered a bit, glancing around at her stern expression and feeling himself sweat nervously, "- well - isn't it - isn't it too late to -"

"Izuku Midoriya," She stood up from the bed, putting her hands on her hips and glaring down at him as he shrank into himself, "you texted the group chat yesterday that you got up from bed at five o'clock yesterday. That means that you've literally been going for almost twenty four hours straight. And that's not taking into account that yesterday was exhausting, and we're going to a party later today. You are going to bed for at least a few hours, and then once you've gotten at least a little rest, we can - I don't know -"

She paused for a moment, and then she nodded.

"- you and I can go for a walk," She decided to offer, "and we can talk more about what you're gonna do with Ochako. Once you - you know - actually have a chance to rest."

Izuku, of course, was clearly conflicted as to what he could do here - but it was the look of Itsuka's face melting back into cold certainty as she stood above him with her hands on her hips that told him that he couldn't really argue with her. With a small sigh, Izuku glanced down at his school uniform, and nodded, awkwardly clearing his throat as he moved to get up.

"Er … okay," He finally gave in, while Itsuka smiled in satisfaction, "I - I guess you're right, Kendou."

"Yeah, I know."

"So - uh -" He glanced back over at her as his cheeks went a bit red, "- i-in that case, I should - I should probably grab some blankets - I'll stay on the floor, and you can - uh - you can go back to sleep on - on my bed."

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked a bit, her gaze automatically trailing down to the bed, and she felt her cheeks heat up. "Oh, uh, n-no, I'm - I'm not gonna kick you out of your bed, Izuku. You - you just go to sleep, I'll just - I don't know, I'll sleep on the floor. It's only fair."

At once, both of them knew that Izuku wasn't going to like that thought. Indeed, as Izuku turned towards her with a frown, and opened his mouth to begin arguing, Itsuka decided to quickly appease him by raising her hand in surrender.

"Okay, fine," She rolled her eyes slightly, "I guess in that case, I'll just … you know, head over to Ochako's, and sleep on the futon. I just … I don't know, I'll try to be quiet."

"I -" Izuku felt himself falter, hesitating as Itsuka turned towards the door and began to quietly walk over. They both knew that Itsuka sneaking around in Ochako's apartment, especially so early in the morning, might be more trouble than it was worth. Even if Ochako was a heavy sleeper most times, both knew it was possible that she was just as awake as Izuku was, and Itsuka trying to sneak in might make her think that her home was being invaded.

Thankfully (or not), that potential scenario wouldn't be answered, however. As Itsuka slowly began to open the door, she blinked at the lights of the hallway being on - and then she let out a tiny squeak at the sound of hushed voices just in the hallway. 

Quickly stopping herself from pushing the door open all the way, she gulped nervously as she stared at the shadows of both Hisashi and Inko in the hallway, and looked around at Izuku as he gave her a confused look, moving up from the bed.

"It's your mom and dad," She whispered, "they're out in the hall."

"Huh?" He blinked, surprised, and quickly walked over. "Why? It's - it's so early."

She shrugged a bit, moving slightly to the side so Izuku could stand behind her (and having him so close behind caused her cheeks to remain red for the time being) as she slowly opened the door a smidge again, allowing them to listen in to what was going on.

"… I … I'm sorry, Hisashi, I can't - I can't believe that," They heard Inko say - and while she didn't sound angry, she sounded … a strange mixture of blank and shocked, "I - I can't believe you actually did that."

"I did," Hisashi answered, his own voice blank but also sounding completely shell shocked, "we … we went out for drinks … we had a good time … and then she - she started getting handsy, and - and -"

"I … no, I can't believe it. I'm sorry. She's too out of your league."

"It happened. We went to her apartment and - and - and now I have her number," His voice turned suddenly terrified, "and she wants me to call her again this weekend when I have the time."

"I … I can't …"

Itsuka furrowed her brow - the talk of people getting handsy and going to people's apartments already made her realize this was a conversation that was not meant to be listened in on by her and the boy behind her. That, and Izuku was looking both confused and not liking where this conversation was going, so, as quietly as she could, Itsuka pushed him back slightly so that she could close the door as quietly as she could.

Once they were back inside, Itsuka sighed, and looked back to Izuku.

"So, uh …" She shrugged, "… I guess … never mind. Unless you, uh - you wanna explain to your parents why I'm sneaking out of your room so early in the morning."

"I …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, his own face turning red, and then he shook his head, "… don't think I have the energy for that."

"Me neither," She shook her head as well, "so, uh … I guess …"

There was a pause - and then they both said, at the same time, "I'll take the floor."

They both paused at that, turning to look at each other as Izuku backed up, and both of them began to pout. There was a long moment of both of them glaring slightly at each other in challenge, as though the heat of each other's adorable pouts was going to cause the other to break, but unfortunately for them, Itsuka's determination was matched by Izuku's 'too tired to be polite'-ness, so that meant that they were at a standstill.

Until, at least, Itsuka glanced down at the bed. And then a thought occurred to her, and the lateness of the evening and being up much earlier than she was used to caused her to say it out loud.

"The bed's big enough for both of us."

That, of course, made Itsuka freeze up, blinking, as what she had just said registered. Izuku, of course, also froze briefly, before his gaze flickered to the bed as well. They were both standing there for a long moment, staring down at the bed blankly as though it had suddenly turned into a beeping time bomb - 

- and then Izuku, in a blank voice, said, "Yeah. It is."

Itsuka slowly nodded, her face turning redder. "And it's … not the first time we would share a bed."

"N-no, it - it isn't."

"And … it would only be for like … three hours. Four, tops," Itsuka began sweating nervously, "and it's big enough that we can just … roll on our sides and keep our backs to each other. Just until we get enough rest to - to wake up."

"Y-you're right."

"…"

"…"

"… okay," Itsuka nodded slowly, "then let's … go to bed."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, sweat beginning to streak down his forehead, "let's - yeah."


Somewhere in the Akita prefecture, bending over her desk after suppressing a yawn after pulling a full all-nighter trying to get her plans for the beach together, Nejire sneezed, a foreboding feeling going up her spine. She, of course, chose to ignore it as she went back to planning how to get Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka their alone time later that day.


… aaaaaaand naturally, the only pajama pants she would have in Izuku's room right now would be short shorts. 

Itsuka felt herself flush bright red as she lifted up the small black pants that she used as pajama bottoms. Judging from their length, they would barely cover her thighs, and would most definitely give Izuku a heart attack if he saw her in them, seeing as she hadn't worn anything as revealing as this around him before - hell, even her swimsuit when she, Izuku and Ochako had done a bit of swimming during their training last year had been in a school swimsuit, nothing as … well … provocative as this.

But … well … she didn't exactly have another option, she blushed. They were getting changed into pajamas, not wanting to mess up their school uniforms anymore than they already were, seeing as they didn't have much time to do laundry this weekend to get everything clean. She could hear the sound of fabric being moved behind her, meaning that Izuku was probably getting changed as fast as he could, so that meant that Itsuka didn't have much time to just stare blankly down at her clothes.

So, with a sigh and a blush, she got to work quickly, unzipping her skirt and letting it fall to the floor. She could hear Izuku squeak a bit behind her at the sound of her skirt hitting the hardwood floor, but she trusted him to keep his eyes on the wall he was facing as she quickly brought the shorts up her legs, and quickly got to work unbuttoning her shirt and getting it off. She knew, at once, that she would be keeping her bra on, she blushed - it felt like a step too far, and she didn't want to risk anything in the morning if they woke up entangled again.

So once the shirt was off and her gray tank top was on, Itsuka sighed as she let her orange hair out of her ponytail, and said, without turning to look at him, "Uh … I'm good. How - how about you?"

"I - uh -" Izuku stammered briefly, sounding incredibly nervous, "- y-yeah, I'm - I'm decent. Just gotta … uh … yeah, you're - you're good to look around."

Trying not to roll her eyes at the dorky way he said that - but also finding it cute - Itsuka let out a small sigh, and glanced over her shoulder. Izuku, of course, was still facing away from her, having gotten changed into one of his comfy t-shirts (that, of course, showed his arms wrapped tightly in bandages) and gym shorts for pajamas, and she had to suppress a giggle over how red his ears were starting to get as he glanced over his shoulder at her. She tried to ignore how his eyes flickered down to her legs, and then briefly up to her chest (okay, she couldn't fault him for that one, she blushed, the tank top did have a bit of cleavage showing) and then back around - and she, of course, tried to ignore how nice his butt looked in those shorts.

"So, uh …" Itsuka gestured with her head towards the bed, feeling her heart hammering in her chest as Izuku glanced down at himself.

"Er … yeah, of - of course," He nodded stiffly, and then gestured to his arm, "although, I … I should probably …"

She furrowed her brow briefly at that, not entirely sure what he meant - until Izuku glanced down at his arms again, what with the wrappings there, and she suddenly got it.

"Oh," She said simply, "you, uh - you wanna -"

"Yeah," He nodded, some of his fluster fading, "just … make sure that everything looks … w-well, not okay, but - but fine."

Itsuka slowly nodded at that, her face falling. Seeing Izuku look suddenly uncomfortable, staring down at his arms as though fearing what was going to be hidden under those bandages, made her forget about the fluster of sharing a bed for a moment as she quietly approached him, until they were both relatively face to face near the side of the bed. 

And then, without really thinking about it, Itsuka reached out, taking Izuku's left wrist gently, and lifted it up.

"Uh -" Izuku blinked, looking at Itsuka in surprise, "- Kendou?"

"I'm …" Itsuka paused for a moment, her own cheeks turning red again - not really sure why she had taken his arm, and why she was still holding it - and then she sighed and said, in a quiet voice, "… here. Let - let me do it."

"I - huh?"

"It's just …" She shook her head, not entirely sure how to explain herself - or why Izuku couldn't unwrap his own bindings - but thankfully for her, Izuku's surprise died down relatively quickly, and while he still looked slightly flustered with her so up in his space, he still nodded, relaxing his arm. Taking her cue, Itsuka reached up with her other hand and began undoing the top of the bandages, careful not to scratch him with her fingernails as she worked the bandages off. 

Finally, she unknotted the top, causing the bandages to loosen their tight hold, and she let the bandages fall, revealing his arm.

While the green cracks of light were still there, Itsuka winced, they definitely weren't as bright and menacing as they had been earlier today. They now were much smaller, no longer connecting or glowing - they were just there, slowly fading away. Nodding absently, Itsuka reached down for the other bandaged arm, undoing the knot there, and as the bandages fell away onto the floor beneath their bare feet, they both stared at the disappearing light underneath his skin.

"Looks like they're fading," She said softly, while Izuku merely frowned and stared down at them, "you'll probably be back to normal when we wake up later."

"Hopefully," He sighed, shaking his head and glancing over to his alarm clock, "uh … anyway, so … you want me to set the alarm for eight thirty, right? Or - or do you wanna wake up earlier than that?"

"Er - no, eight thirty's good," Itsuka shook her head, turning towards the bed and grabbing the blankets to spread them open for them to crawl under. She tried to fight down the sudden bolt of nervousness that crawled up her spine as she realized - yep, she was going to totally go to sleep with her crush. And since she remembered how the last time she went to bed with him, they woke up with her cuddling him to death. She knew that she had to … well … okay, she had to just stay calm.

Stay calm, and keep her arms and legs tightly wrapped around herself so she doesn't roll over in the middle of their rest and start clinging to him.

"Okay, so …" Izuku moved to set the time, nodding slowly to himself as he put the phone down and leaned over to click off the light on the desk, casting them into darkness, and began approaching the bed, "… I guess … uh … I'll stay on one side, and you'll stay on the other?"

"I - well, I guess," Itsuka shrugged, pouting slightly as she looked back around to Izuku as he approached, "I'll get in first, and then -

And that, of course, was when everything changed. Everything. 

And, of course, it was because Izuku accidentally stepped on the bandages left on the floor, causing him to slip.

"W-whoa -!" Izuku gasped as he suddenly lost his footing completely, unable to brace himself in time as he lurched forward. Itsuka let out a small squeak as well as he came at her unexpectedly, caught off guard as she automatically raised her hands up to try catching him - but Izuku landing on her, as well as the fact she likewise stepped on the abandoned bandages on the floor, caused her to slip on her feet as well, causing them both to grunt as they toppled forwards onto the bed.

"Oof!"

"Agh!"

As the bed squeaked loudly at both their weight landing on it at the same time, they both paused for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. Itsuka let out a small grunt of confusion as she felt something in between her legs - what the hell was that? - and opened her eyes, trying to see what felt both warm and heavy on top of her -

- and then Izuku moved up as well, grunting as he put both his hands on the bed beside her head. And then both their eyes met.

Both of them froze at once, as the situation they were in suddenly became apparent. Itsuka felt herself go still, her eyes widening and her blush deepening, as she realized two things. The first thing was that the warm comfortable weight on top of her was Izuku's body, pressing her into the bed. His face was close enough that she could probably lean up and brush her nose against his, which of course made her shake a bit. 

And the second thing was that, that thing between her legs was his leg - and it was also … kind of …

… pressing against … her. Hard enough that she inhaled sharply when his leg accidentally pressed a bit harder against her.

It seemed, of course, that Izuku became suddenly aware of where his knee was, seeing as his face suddenly went as red as hers, as the moon shined through the open window and showed them both their frozen, flustered faces. And yet, he made no movements to get off of her - and she made no movements to get him off of her. They both let out small breaths at the same time, Izuku's shaking and Itsuka's in a quiet gasp as Izuku accidentally shifted, just a bit, and it caused her to let out another small squeak.

However, before either of them could begin freaking out, or Izuku could roll off her and have his panic attack, they both heard it. 

The familiar sound of slippers approaching the door.

"Izuku?" They both heard Inko call softly from behind the door, making them both pale in horror. "What was that? Are you okay?"

Izuku quickly whipped his gaze up to the door, hearing the knob begin to twist - and realizing that his mom was about to poke her head in and see him pinning Itsuka to his bed in a very compromising position - but luckily for him, Itsuka was faster. Before he could blink, Itsuka's arms wrapped around him, and she pushed. 

Her feet came off the floor as they twisted around, Itsuka moving both their bodies so that the back of her head landed on the pillow, and her feet quickly gripped the comforter and pulled it up, her hands coming down to grab it and pull it right over the boy on top of her, covering his entire body save the top of his head. And then her arms came up to wrap around his waist and dragged him down, laying him properly down on top of her.

As he squeaked, being forced to collapse right on top of her, Itsuka quickly rolled him over with his back to the door, and she ducked her head below his, trying to make herself as small as possible as she used his body to block hers. They both then heard the door open, and Izuku quickly and thankfully closed his mouth with a snap, keeping quiet.

"Izuku …?" They both heard Inko inquire quietly, but neither of them answered - not with Itsuka gripping Izuku tightly, as though warning him to keep quiet. Izuku, thankfully, got the message, subtly ducking his head down - and causing both of them to erupt into flames as his lower face rested on top of her head. But it was a better alternative to being faced with his mom seeing him in bed with a girl.

In bed with a girl in a very … very compromising position, seeing as his leg was still in between Itsuka's, and the way it moved in between hers was causing her to bite her lip to try suppressing her shudders. 

It only took a moment, but they then heard her let out a soft sigh, and then the door quietly closed behind them. They both breathed out a small sigh of relief, Itsuka collapsing her face into the pillow, and Izuku flopping his head onto it beside her.

"Oh, my god," He wheezed out quietly, while Itsuka began to slowly but surely giggle, "that was … oh, my god."

"I know," She squeaked out, continuing to shake as she squeezed him a bit tighter. 

They both stayed like that for a long while, quietly laughing from the stress, and Itsuka giggled as she suddenly felt a bit more comfortable, angling herself so her head so that it pressed against his chest, and she felt his chin rest against the top of her head, as his own arms came up to wrap around her, one around her shoulders and the other on her hip, and she let out a small sigh of pleasure as she nuzzled against him.

It was only then, however, that Itsuka realized what she was doing, feeling the sleepy smile on her face melt at once as her eyes snapped open. Feeling the pleasant sensation of his heart beating quickly against her ear, Itsuka stiffened, her arms tightening slightly as Izuku likewise went a bit stiff in her embrace. 

However, instead of quickly scooting away, Itsuka stayed frozen there for a long moment as Izuku awkwardly shuffled against her.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, sounding flustered, "… Kendou?"

Itsuka stayed there for a long moment - and then, after a second of hesitation, she decided to keep her head pressed against his chest.

"Not … yet," She requested quietly, surprising herself, "just … can we … stay like this for a bit? Please?"

They were both quiet for a long moment, internally panicking - Itsuka, at least, was fully aware of what was going on, her cheeks glowing redder and redder and her body refusing her brain's frantic attempts to get out of this - but then, she heard him let out a small sigh, and his hand on her hip tensed a bit as he hugged her a bit tighter, holding her against him as she let out a soft gasp.

"I, uh …" She heard him swallow loudly, "… I … guess for … for a few minutes."

She gently nodded at that, not moving at all for a moment - and then she let out a soft sigh, and began adjusting herself so she was a bit more comfortable. Izuku went still as she moved herself so that she was no longer pressing and hiding in his chest, and as soon as they were both face to face again - both of them noting how red the other looked - Itsuka moved to hug him again, burying her face in his shoulder this time. She felt relieved as Izuku's leg quickly moved away from between hers, giving her a bit of relief, and they both breathed as they both softly embraced, although she could tell that Izuku was being careful and keeping his hands where he could easily move them away as he gingerly hugged her.

They continued to embrace for a while under the covers, Izuku's face in her orange hair as it hung over her shoulder, and Itsuka closing her eyes gently as she leaned against him.

"Uh …" Izuku spoke for the first time in a minute, his hand gently thumbing at her hip and sending a tingling sensation through her, "… are … are you okay, Kendou?"

"I …" She hesitated for a moment, before sighing, "… I think so."

"Y-you think so?"

"Yeah," She nodded - and then she said, in a small voice, "yesterday was … really tough."

"Uh … y-yeah, it - it was," He nodded uncertainly against her as they continued hugging, "you - you were great, Kendou."

"So were you," She smiled a bit as she pressed her mouth into his shoulder, "you were amazing."

"N-not as amazing as you."

Itsuka let out a small giggle at that, unintentionally nuzzling a bit into his shoulder before she moved her head back to rest on the pillow beside him. Izuku, for his part, still looked nervous, but there was a small, bashful smile on his face that made her smile in turn.

"Are we really gonna argue about who was more amazing today?" She asked in a small, teasing voice. "You'd win, by the way, so let's not pretend otherwise."

"N-no way," He chuckled back awkwardly, "I mean … you beat Todoroki, you beat Monoma, you beat - you beat everyone today. You were the amazing one."

"You beat Bakugou," She pointed out, a satisfied look coming onto her face, "I was too terrified out of my mind to notice it initially, but the look on his face when he lost … mwah." She moved her hand to kiss her fingers as though she just tasted something delicious, and Izuku let out a laugh at that, turning to duck his face against the pillow to hide his red cheeks.

As he busied himself trying to get out of his fluster, Itsuka smiled at him - and then her mind unintentionally wandered back to Ochako. She felt her smile falter, and her heart hurt, as she suddenly realized what she was doing - lying in a bed and cuddling with Izuku, after he had just kissed their best friend, and …

… and …

"I, uh …" She swallowed a bit, "… you know, I … I bet that - that Ochako would agree with me. That you were - you were amazing yesterday."

Izuku blinked a bit, his face emerging from the pillow as she stared him in the eyes, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.

"And …" She let out a soft sigh, "… and I know that you're worried Izuku, about - about what happened. But like I said earlier, I - I don't think you have anything to worry about. She cares about you, and you care about her. You two can - you can figure this out, and - and I bet you'll be really - you'll be really happy together.

"I-is that right …?" Izuku swallowed loudly, suddenly nervous. "So do - do you think that - that she -?"

"Likes you?" Itsuka guessed, smiling at his embarrassed look and nodding. "I … yeah. I do."

"A-and you're sure?"

"I am."

"I - I just -" Izuku sighed, feeling himself frown, and she felt his hand clench slightly on her tank top, causing her to gulp a bit, "- this is - this is something I'm completely out of my depth with, Kendou. I - I don't know if - if you know this, but I - I sometimes get a bit flustered by Hadou -"

"I know," She nodded, unable to stop herself from grinning when Izuku whipped around to stare at her in embarrassed shock, "it's, uh - it's kinda obvious."

"Erk," He winced.

"Don't worry," She patted where she was hugging his back, going a bit red as well, "I … I'm not judging, it's easy to get flustered by her. Uh … anyway, what were you saying?"

"I - yeah," He nodded quickly, getting back on track as his eyes moved down to the pillow, frowning sadly, "I just - I'm worried that I'm going to mess this up. I - I don't have any experience with this kind of thing - girls, and - and kissing, and all that - you know - stuff."

He paused then, and then glanced at her again.

"Have, uh …" He looked uncertain for a moment, "… have you ever done this kind of thing?"

"Huh?" She blinked. "What do you mean?"

"I mean … romance," He blushed again, glancing back at the pillow again as though unable to look her in the eye when he spoke of stuff like this, "have you ever … you know … had something like this happen? W-with anyone?"

Itsuka found herself going still at that, blinking. Izuku stole a small glance at her, looking so open, so vulnerable, so worried, that she couldn't help but feel herself grow quiet as she realized what he was asking.

'Have you ever had a crush?' he seemed to be asking. Well … yes, she had. She did have a crush.

The problem was … well … her crush was kind of cuddling with her right now.

And then … a thought came to her.

This is my chance to walk away.

She felt her mouth slowly close as she stared at Izuku, who patiently waited for her to respond. This was … this was the part where she could take a step back, she realized. This was her - this was her out. She knew they were supposed to talk later today, but - but she didn't have to do it. She could just … she could just join Nejire on the beach today and try to get Izuku and Ochako some alone time to talk out what happened, and get together.

Izuku had just realized he was in love with Ochako … and she knew that Ochako was in love with him too. She could - she could do this. Step out of their stupid triangle thing and help Izuku get together with her. And all she had to do … was tell him 'no, I don't have a crush on anyone.'

It was what a real friend would do. She could do it.

And yet … and yet, her heart wouldn't stop hurting at the thought. It felt horrible, to think of Izuku and Ochako together, and leaving her behind. The loneliness that would come with it. Seeing them grow close, fall in love together … and know that they couldn't share what they had with her.

It was selfish. She knew it was. It was just … she just … she just remembered what Nejire had said when they had talked today.

"You're allowed to have your secrets, Kendou, but it's like - it's like you're holding back about this too! And it's not good to keep something like this in - I would know, y'know. Emotions are supposed to be let out and felt, not kept in!"

Emotions … are supposed to be let out. Felt. Not kept in.

And that meant …

"I …" She suddenly felt like her mouth had gone bone dry, her heart beginning to hammer, "I'm … I … I think I know how you feel, Izuku."

"Y-you do?" He asked quietly.

"Y-yeah, I do. I .. I've been …" She took a deep breath, trying to summon her bravery, "… I've been waiting for someone to - to notice that I - I have a crush on them, too."

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, his voice sounding … kinda weird. Nervous, she knew, but also … maybe a bit disappointed? Itsuka couldn't help but feel a bit of hope enter her chest. "I - I see."

"Yeah."

"They, uh …" He glanced back into the pillow again, as though suddenly unable to look at her, "… they must be pretty cool, if - if you like them.

"Yeah," She said again, taking a deep breath as she mustered up her courage, "he - he is."

"H-he?" Izuku blinked a bit, glancing back at her in shock. "It's - it's a guy?"

"Yeah, it is," She confirmed, slowly moving back a bit as she saw the wheels turn in his mind - as though trying to figure out who, in their small circle of guys, she could possibly like, which did make her smile a bit, "and he's … someone who's very special to me."

Izuku glanced back at her as she slowly leaned back, keeping her hands on him but giving them enough distance so that they could look properly at each other. Itsuka, meanwhile, felt her heart continue to hammer as she slowly realized that, yes, this was fucking happening. It was only when she gently touched his shoulder that the expression on Izuku's face changed - as though only now catching on to the fact that the mood in the room was starting to shift.

Itsuka continued to force herself to stare him in the eye as she took a deep breath, hearing her heartbeat quickening but trying to keep a brave face on.

"He's … amazing," She said in a soft voice, staring him straight in the eye, "he's probably one of the most amazing people I've ever met."

"O-oh …?"

"Yeah," She nodded, "I met him when I had been pretty much beaten to the curb by some asshole, but then this guy … this amazing guy … he came up to me and lifted me back up. Then we spent a bit of time together, and I found out he was … he was the kind of guy that needed my help, and I needed his. He needed to know that there was someone out there who cared for him, who loved him, and … and I didn't know at the time, but I wanted to be that person."

Izuku was quiet - but for once, he didn't duck his face in the pillow. Instead, he was staring at her, his face becoming blank but his cheeks becoming a bit redder. It was clear, she knew, that he had caught on to what she was saying - that he knew who she was talking about. 

But the small doubt in his eyes made it clear that he was trying to figure out a possible way that she wasn't talking about him. So she kept going.

"Then … then he got into a fight," She felt tears begin to pool in her eyes, but she refused to break their eyelock, "a really bad fight, with a monster. And I … I realized that I came way too close to losing him. And from then on, I promised myself that I never would. These are … these are feelings that I've had a really hard time coming to terms with. Because I know … I know that this amazing guy was in love with his best friend, and his best friend was in love with him. And I … I love them both enough that I didn't want to get in the way of that. I didn't want to … to force myself in between them, because I - I didn't think I deserved it."

She took a moment to breathe again, lest her fluster overcome her and force her to shut up and roll away from him. They were both still pretty much in each other's arms, with Itsuka's wrapped around his waist, and Izuku's hand on her shoulder and hip, but she didn't pay attention to that, keeping her eyes on his.

Slowly, they both began sitting up on the bed, staring at each other. Izuku, for his part, had his mouth hanging open slightly - but the way his eyes were growing wider told her that it was becoming harder and harder for him to deny what he was hearing.

"And then," She said in a quiet voice, so quiet that she was almost inaudible, "when I was trying my hardest not to let my feelings get the better of me … that same asshole from before? He swung by again to try picking on me a little more. And this amazing guy … he didn't even know I was listening in, but he stood up for me."

Izuku let out a small, shuddering breath, his face turning redder.

"I heard," She told him, making sure to enunciate her words, "everything. About how he believed in me. That he saw … all the work I put in to earn One for All. That I earned it. He even - he even called me by my first name for the first time, and - and the fact that he went back to my last name afterwards kind of stung, but it made him calling me by my first name all the more important to me."

"K-Ken -" Izuku barely managed to get out for the first time in a while, but then he stopped himself.

She became aware of the fact that their faces were a bit closer than usual, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"And that," Itsuka whispered, "was … the day I realized I was in love with him. And even though I tried to suppress those feelings again, I just … I couldn't. Not after today. Not after I saw him … I saw him be the bravest person I've ever met, fighting a stupid asshole who wanted to hurt him for no reason. He's a guy who I'm … I'm really worried about …"

She slowly slid her hand up, hesitantly, and soon it rested above his heart. She could feel how hard it was beating, but she kept her eyes on his as Izuku slowly closed his mouth.

"… that I care about … almost more than anything …"

She took a deep breath.

"… and …" She whispered, "… who I'm … currently … sharing a bed with."

At long last, silence filled the room. The moonlight from the window shined inside, giving her a good look at his face as he slowly realized, yes, she was talking about him. Izuku stared at her blankly for a long moment, his heartbeat under her fingers feeling like it was going a mile a minute, and yet he made no move to get away from her, or get out of the comfortable lack of space between them. His hand on her hip, where her shirt had ridden up slightly, tensed, making her inhale sharply.

And then, finally, she moved her hand up from where it had rested on his chest, and she gently cupped his cheek.

Izuku flinched slightly at the touch, but he didn't move away at all as he stared at her, his mouth dropping open slightly but no words escaping. She used her thumb to gently rub in a circle, unable to stop herself from smiling gently as she rubbed those diamond freckles she found so cute, and she felt her face heat up.

"I love you," She blurted out at long last, "Izuku, I - I love you. I love you so much."

Izuku continued to stare at her in stunned silence as she finally let out those three tiny words that had been plaguing her for weeks. Itsuka quickly closed her mouth, wanting to stay quiet for a bit to let Izuku have some time to fully digest what she was saying. She felt his cheek burn a bit hotter under her palm as she kept her hand there, but he still made no movement to get away from her, or say anything.

And then, finally, he let out a shuddering sigh.

"I …" He managed to get out, his voice coming out a bit of a squeak. Itsuka continued to remain quiet, feeling her own heart start to pound as she nervously waited for his answer. 

The answer of whether or not he reciprocated her feelings, or was about to shove her right out of the bed and chase her out of the apartment. She couldn't help but feel herself flinch a bit at the very thought, causing her to slightly edge away from him and out of the embrace - but Izuku quickly picked up that she was moving away.

It seemed that at the sight of her putting some distance between them, Izuku quickly snapped out of whatever his broken mind was trying to get through, as a small look of panic quickly crossed his face. Without warning, Izuku quickly pulled on both her shoulder and hip, and Itsuka gasped as she was enveloped in another hug, Izuku squeezing her to him as he tucked his face into her shoulder, and she felt herself blush as she was half dragged into his lap.

"I - s-sorry," He muttered, "I - I didn't know what to say."

"You …" Itsuka swallowed loudly, feeling her blush burn even brighter, "… you could say … that you want some space. Or - or you want me to leave."

There was a pause.

"N-no," Izuku shook his head against her, "I - I don't want you to leave."

She slowly nodded against him, feeling relief that he wasn't going to push her away. Her own hands snaked around his sides to begin returning the hug, and both of them sat there, embracing. It didn't even matter that Itsuka was somewhat resting in his lap, something that made her blush as she awkwardly hugged him with her feet sticking out from under the comforter, as the two continued to embrace.

Honestly, the fact that Izuku wasn't pushing her away was what was filling her with lightness - after the stress of confessing her feelings for him, feeling Izuku's warm body against hers caused her to sigh in bliss as she buried her face where his neck met his shoulder.

"K-Ken-" Izuku audibly hesitated again, as though reluctant to call her by her first name - was he starting to feel guilty after her small comment about that? Before she could ask him about it, however, he let out his own sigh as he tucked his face against her shoulder, "- I - t-thank you."

"… thank me …" She felt herself blink a bit, "… for … uh … sorry, thank me for what, exactly?"

"I - I don't really know," He admitted, unable to stop himself from chuckling along with her small giggle, "I just … everything is really confusing right now. I - I kissed Occhan, and - and now you - you told me that y-you - uh - l-l-like me -"

"Love you," She corrected him, going a bit red again, "sorry, I - 'like you' doesn't seem - it doesn't seem really strong enough."

"R-right," Izuku nodded stiffly, "l-l-love. I just … thank you."

Itsuka giggled again, moving her head up from his shoulder - and she was unable to resist as she brought her face up to kiss his cheek. She felt Izuku stiffen up against her again, but she continued to press her lips there, and used her other hand to hold his other cheek. Finally, she moved back a bit, smiling at him.

"Sorry," She sighed, "just … needed to give you another … 'friend smooch'. You earned it."

"…"

"…"

"… 'friend smooch'," He repeated with a small snort, and she pouted at him.

"Yes," She giggled despite herself, "'friend smooch', you dick."

Izuku merely laughed again, and Itsuka smiled before she acted without thinking, and went in for another kiss to the cheek, which caused him to quickly shut up, to her satisfaction. She then moved back.

And then she went in for another short kiss.

And then another.

And another.

Another.

As her lips continued to lightly press against the same spot on his cheek over and over, causing her to softly inhale, she felt Izuku go still against her. And yet, she couldn't find it in herself to really stop, feeling her heart continue to hammer in her chest as she continued to lightly smooch his cheek, letting out a small hum as she planted light kisses across the side of his face. Her hands moved to grab the back of his shirt, and then her kisses began to go lower. She had no idea what she was doing, and felt like panicking as she continued to kiss his face, but her stomach tensed excitedly as she continued softly kissing the side of his face.

And then, as she kissed along his jaw, she felt it.

His own hands tightening around her, one on her shoulder and one on her waist.

And Itsuka let out a shuddering breath, and she pressed another kiss against his jaw. This time, however, she opened her mouth so that her tongue could lightly press against his skin, and she heard him let out a quiet gasp.

"K-Kendou …?" Izuku muttered, his breath escaping in a slight shake as Itsuka leaned up and pressed another kiss near his ear.

"Izuku," She breathed out, feeling unexpected tears sting her eyes, "just … call me by my first name. Please."

"I …" Izuku squirmed a bit against her, but did nothing to stop her as she lightly kissed his ear, the sound of her shuddering breath causing him to tense - and then, suddenly, she was pushed back.

Itsuka let out a small gasp as Izuku pushed against her, and she briefly feared that she had gone too far as she lost her balance on him and tumbled down on the bed. But Izuku moved with her, holding her to him as they both landed on the bed, the mattress squeaking as both their weights dropped onto it. Itsuka quickly moved her head back against the pillow to stare up at Izuku in shock, watching as he hovered above her with one of his hands - the one that had been on her shoulder - moving to rest on the pillow beside her head.

Their eyes locked on each other, they both panted for a moment, moonlight outside illuminating the scene as they realized their positions. Izuku barely managed to stop himself from laying on top of her again by using his other hand to lift up his body. His legs were spread out so that her own legs could stick out between them, and her hands were still clinging to his shirt. Itsuka, for her part, stared up at him with her breath escaping in nervous gasps, realizing at once what she had been doing as Izuku stared down at her in both conflict and another expression she had never seen before.

They were both quiet for a moment, breathing in and out in pants as Izuku's gaze flickered - and then he moved down. And before Itsuka could blink, she felt a pair of lips press against hers.

Both of them inhaled sharply through their noses as Izuku kissed the utter hell out of her, Itsuka's squeak being muffled a bit as he kept both of their mouths closed to enjoy the first kiss between them. Her eyes widened and her face burned bright as Izuku kept his own eyes closed for a moment, and then they parted with a gasp, both of them taking a second to pant loudly as they stared in shock at each other.

"I'm … I'm sorry … I-Itsuka," He managed to get out, causing Itsuka's breath to leave her for a moment, "I just … I couldn't -"

He didn't have time to finish whatever it was he was going to apologize for. Itsuka reached up to grab the neck of his shirt, and without warning, yanked him back down, both of them grunting as their lips slammed against each other again. Izuku let out a muffled noise of surprise and shock as their mouths automatically opened, and Itsuka's tongue moved up to run against his own for a moment.

It only took a second, but Izuku's eyes then slowly closed, and he let out a hungry groan as they both enjoyed their kiss, Izuku slowly lowering himself down on top of her as their tongues awkwardly moved against each other's, and Itsuka's legs tensed beneath his. She let out a happy grunt as they both moved to deepen the kiss, her hand moving under his shirt and clawing at his stomach.

"I …" Izuku managed to get out, letting out an embarrassing moan as he felt her fingernails scratch his stomach, "… Itsuka …"

"Mmph," She merely grunted back, swallowing his moan and responding back with her own as her other arm wrapped around his neck. They finally disengaged from the kiss with gasps, a bridge of spit connecting them before it snapped, and then Itsuka grabbed the back of his head to bring him back down for another. As they both let out hungry grunts into each other's mouths, her hand clenching at his hard stomach, Izuku let out a small moan, and then disconnected from the kiss to sit up.

She watched, her eyes lazily opening and then positively snapping open, as Izuku worked his shirt off over his head. Tossing it away, Izuku stared down at her in a mixture of arousal and caution, looking embarrassed and extremely sexy in Itsuka's eyes as her gaze trailed down to his hard stomach, his strong chest, his broad shoulders, his muscular arms. And had she been staring in a mirror, she would've sworn that hearts would have appeared in her eyes

"Is, uh …" He cleared his throat, "… is this okay? I just thought … you know, with your hand in my shirt …"

Itsuka merely stared for a moment - and then she reached up and grabbed his shoulders, and pulled him. Izuku let out a small yelp as he was pulled down and rolled onto the bed, laying flat as Itsuka's leg swung over his waist, and before he could blink, she was straddling him. As the shocked blush burned on Izuku's cheeks, however, Itsuka offered him no chance to express his embarrassment, instead moving down to inhale his lips again, her fingernails scratching at his scalp while her other hand palmed at his stomach.

Quickly getting back into the mood, Izuku kissed back without even thinking, his eyes squeezing shut as he enjoyed the taste of Itsuka's tongue poking into his mouth. He sat up suddenly, keeping her in his lap as she pinned his tongue to the roof of his mouth, dominating the kiss, and Izuku didn't even take a second to consider his next action as his hand zipped down, and Itsuka let out a gasp as his hand squeezed on her butt, gripping it tightly as she moved out of the kiss to stare at him in lust and love.

"Fuck …" She breathed out, her forehead pressing against his as Izuku opened his eyes lazily to stare into hers, "… Izuku …"

"I-Itsuka …" He breathed back, both of them staring at each other intensely while her hips ground against his, and he shivered as his hand came up to run through her hair - it was a bit harder than with Ochako's naturally smooth hair, seeing as Itsuka had it dyed all day long, but it still felt good as her hands came up to cup his cheeks.

"I …" She smiled beautifully at him, tears in her eyes, "… I love you."

"I …" He swallowed loudly, feeling his heartbeat rising as he kept one hand squeezing her butt, and his other hand moved to the back of her head to bring her back to him, as their eyes shut and their mouths opened to resume their make out, "… I lo-"

"THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE! THE MORNING IS HERE!"

The loud, familiar voice of All Might filled the room from the phone on the side, causing Izuku and Itsuka to freeze, their lips an inch from each other. Their eyes stayed open, staring blankly at each other as the voice of their mentor continued to come from the table right beside the bed. Slowly, they both looked over to see the light of Izuku's phone continuing to lighten up the room as it continued to vibrate, All Might's obnoxious calls of 'THE MORNING IS HERE!' completely and utterly killing the mood.

"I …" Izuku said in a blank voice, "… forgot to turn off my usual alarm."

Automatically, he moved his hand out of her hair, keeping his other one firmly on her butt and still absently squeezing, to reach over and poke the 'sleep' option on the phone, and the room was silent once again. With that, after staring down at the phone for a moment, they both turned to look at each other again, as though finally realizing the position they were in - Itsuka sitting in Izuku's lap with her legs wrapped around his waist, her hand grabbing a handful of his hair while the other one was groping his abs, and Izuku's own hand still squeezing her ass as he sat there in nothing but his shorts.

They both froze for a moment as Izuku's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and Itsuka's mouth dropped open as her own face went red -

- and then she let out a snort.

"I - oh, my god -" She began giggling uncontrollably, shaking her head as she lifted her hand up from his stomach, and before Izuku could explode into a blushing mess, she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly, unable to control her nervous laughter. Izuku, for his part, let out a few nervous chuckles as well, still very red in the face as he realized he was still holding onto her butt and hastily removed it, unsure if he even had that right anymore.

However, he was quickly distracted from those thoughts by Itsuka moving her head back to kiss his cheek again, making him squeak while she giggled.

"I'm not gonna lie," She chortled, "I, uh - I didn't exactly think this was going to be how my confession went."

"N-no?" He let out a nervous laugh.

"Nope," She shook her head, "it was, uh - it was probably gonna be at the beach, and Ochako was gonna be there. Never really envisioned - y'know - getting to make out with you. And, uh - having my butt grabbed."

"I'm … really sorry about that."

"Why?" She moved her head to smirk down at him, making Izuku blush brighter. "It felt nice. And it's not like you're not …" She gestured down to his current shirtlessness, which made him clear his throat self-consciously, "… giving me a bit of a show either."

Izuku slowly nodded, chuckling nervously - honestly, the fact that Itsuka was flirting with him right now was something he needed time to properly digest before he could come to terms with it. With a sigh, Itsuka finally moved to get off of him, trying not to smirk at Izuku's small noise of disappointment as she scooted off of him. Still though, she was sure to press another kiss to his cheek before she moved her feet down to the floor - and then her eyes fell on the alarm clock on the table.

Honestly, the last … what, five minutes of making out and feeling each other up? However long it was, it … it completely evaporated each and every fear that Itsuka felt, confessing to Izuku. Now she felt like she was on top of the world, wanting to run outside and sprint with all the nervous energy that was in her right now. And staring down at the time … well …

… a sudden thought came to her. One that she slowly nodded to, weighing more of the pros than the cons, until she finally sighed, and shrugged her shoulders.

"You know what?" She looked back at Izuku as he cleared his throat awkwardly and held the covers that she had just slipped out of over his lower body, absently reaching for his pillow to cover it as well. "Fuck it."

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked a bit, looking around at her as she got up. "W-what do you mean?"

"I mean," She stood up and smiled down at him, "it's time for you and me to get dressed. Do you mind if I steal a sweater and some track pants for a bit? I don't really have much clothes in your room besides pajamas and shorts, and … y'know, it's kind of chilly for shorts so early in the morning."

"I, uh - y-yeah, I - no problem, you - you can use my clothes," Izuku went a bit red as she then sauntered over to his closet, trying to pretend her hips weren't purposefully swaying to get his attention, "but, uh … a-are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, we are. We're gonna go wake Ochako up."

"I - wait, what?!" Izuku squeaked, immediately going red again as he awkwardly got out of the bed, "B-but - but - i-it's five in the morning!"

"Yep. The exact time we usually wake up to get ready for school," Itsuka looked over her shoulder at him with a smile, "don't worry, I bet Ochako will be awake. And if not, well, I'll just text her until she answers."

"I - w-well, okay, but -" He gulped nervously, "- but why are we doing this?"

"Izuku, she turned to give him a smile, "we talked yesterday about having a talk about us, right? That was supposed to happen today?"

Izuku looked unsure where she was going with this, but still nodded.

"Well," She tried to grin through her own nervousness, "we never mentioned when we'd talk. So … fuck it. Let's go talk right now."


It was perhaps a stroke of luck that when both Izuku and Itsuka poked their heads out of his bedroom five minutes later, they could hear the sound of the sink in the bathroom running, along with the sound of Hisashi snoring from the couch. Not wanting to take this chance for granted, both teenagers carefully slipped out of Izuku's room, with him quietly closing the door behind him, and together, they both quickly tiptoed over to the front door. With Itsuka slipping out first and Izuku right behind them, they slowly closed the door as silently as they could, not wanting Inko to hear them leave and investigate. 

Thankfully, once the door was closed, both teenagers breathed sighs of relief in the somewhat chilly air of the morning, and once their shoes were on, they began moving over towards the Urarakas' door, Itsuka in the lead and Izuku trailing a bit behind her. While Itsuka remained in bright spirits, her back straight and humming happily to herself as she looked more alive than she had been all day yesterday, Izuku, on the other hand, was currently in a state of panic. 

Truth be told, he was still struggling to come to terms with everything that had happened in the last eight or so hours, desperately trying to make sense of things. He had realized he was in love with Ochako, he had kissed her, they made out, they panicked and ran away from each other, he spent the whole night panicking, Itsuka woke up, they talked, they agreed to go to bed together, they got into a … a … super compromising position, he remembered as he went red again, they ended up cuddling, Itsuka confessed she was in love with him, they kissed, they made out, they - they - they -

- he grabbed her butt! Her tongue had been in his mouth! She had been on top of him! His hand had been in her hair!

And - and - and he was a piece of scum, he winced as he closed his eyes and cringed. He had two best friends, and he made out with them both in one night. HIs mind kept flashing between both girls, how much love and adoration had been in both of their eyes as they had shared their separate moments from him - and the fact that he had kissed them both, and the fact that because he felt the weird feelings he had felt for Ochako for Itsuka right now, meant - that meant -

- that meant that he was in love with - with both of them. He felt his stomach clench in worry at the thought of Ochako reacting to the fact that he had kissed her at one moment, and then learning that he kissed Itsuka the next. He felt like - he felt like an utter piece of shit.

And he wasn't sure why Itsuka was so - so - happy right now! She had a pep in her step, humming slightly under her breath as she typed something on her phone, and then glanced over her shoulder at him with a smile as they made their way over to Ochako's door. It had been like he had just - he had just made her entire day, he thought in embarrassment as his mind kept flashing back to what they had just done about five minutes ago.

The fact that she had told him that she loved him, and - and the fact that made him feel happier and lighter than he had felt in a long time - was driving him up the wall in anxiety for when they saw Ochako, with him knowing that he felt those same feelings for her, and Itsuka knew it, and - and -

- and there was … also the tiny fact that Itsuka was currently wearing his hoodie and track pants, and the sight of her wearing his clothes was making his face feel even hotter as they both stood in front of Ochako's door.

There was a moment's pause. And then Itsuka glanced at him with a smirk, and asked, "So are you done with the mutter spree?"

Blushing even brighter that he had been called out for muttering, Izuku mumbled and scratched the side of his head awkwardly, while she giggled and looked back at the door. After a moment, Izuku glanced back at her and awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Er … are … are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked in a whisper, as though Ochako was currently leaning against the door and listening in. "W-what if - what if she's still asleep?"

"I just sent her a message," Itsuka answered, raising her phone up for him to see, "and it's been seen. So either she's awake right now or she's at least conscious enough to look at her phone."

"Okay, but - but - I don't know, c-can't we wait for later today to talk?" He felt his insides squeeze tightly in anxiety. "W-when we're at the beach party?"

"Izuku," Itsuka sighed a bit, pouting as she reached up to start tying back her hair into her usual ponytail, "I think we both know that it's gonna take a freaking miracle for the three of us to talk later without being interrupted by anyone. So, well - wouldn't it be better to just talk now instead of later, when everyone's gonna be trying to get us to have fun while we're trying to sneak away to have a serious talk?"

"I - well, okay, maybe," Izuku gave her, unable to stop himself from shaking nervously, "but - well -"

"Izuku, I'm pretty sure you two are gonna be fine after having one kiss," She was unable to stop herself from lightly teasing him, looking at him with a confident grin that made the blush on his cheeks burn a bit deeper, "we've just gotta talk for a few minutes, and then it'll be over. Believe it or not, I'm pretty nervous, too."

"I - but - but - but she grabbed my butt!" Izuku whined a bit, making Itsuka giggle as he gave her a pleading look as though that would help her understand. "I don't think I can face her again if I have that on my mind!"

"I mean, you grabbed my butt," Itsuka pointed out to him, and smirked when he froze, "and I'm talking to you just fine."

"B-but you're you! I'm me! And I'm stupid!"

"Well," Itsuka suddenly looked coy, something that made Izuku's heart feel like it stopped at how teasing yet amused she was looking at him, "if Ochako really is asleep, and we have to sneak back into your room, maybe you can go ahead and touch it a bit more."

"…"

"Hm?" She hummed, raising her eyebrow and giggling at how red he was getting. "How about it?"

"… is … are …" He squeaked out, shaking nervously, "… are you … hitting on me?"

Itsuka paused for a moment, glancing away to raise her eyebrow, and then she giggled and nodded.

"Yeah," She smiled at him, before raising her hand and knocking on the door, "I am. Like it?"

"… w-well, yeah," Izuku flushed hotter, glancing away as Itsuka continued to smirk at him, "but it's not really good for the heart!"

"Awww …"

Thankfully, before Itsuka could continue to tease him, and Izuku could figure out if Itsuka blatantly flirting with him was something he really, really liked or was something that was going to give him a heart attack, they both heard the sound of shuffling feet on the other side of the door. Izuku immediately snapped back into panic mode, beginning to turn and run away before Itsuka reached out to clamp her hand on his shoulder to prevent him from moving.

And then the door slowly began to open.

"Mmmmm?" Ochako hummed as she poked her head out, her hair a bit of a mess on one side as she raised one hand to rub her eye. "Srry, Mama, Papa, but itzz … itz five. W-why are you guyz nooot …"

It was only when she lowered her hand from her eye and looked up at who was actually standing at her door did Ochako's half-asleep mumbling falter, and for a long moment, she stared at them in confusion. It was only after a moment that she blinked, and realized that she wasn't talking to her parents, her back straightening slightly.

Itsuka, for her part, gave her an awkward smile and waved a bit, while Izuku shrank at the sight of his best friend and looked like he was about ten seconds from trying to pry himself free of Itsuka's grasp and going back to his original plan to run straight out of Japan and somehow to Peru. They were all quiet for a moment, until Ochako's cheeks began to redden.

"You …" She gulped nervously, "… aren't Mama and Papa."

"Er - sorry, afraid not," Itsuka shook her head, smiling at her, "me and Izuku, uh - we were both awake, and … well … I've been informed about what you two were up to last night."

"O-oh," Ochako shrank a bit, slowly bringing the door back to her so she could hide behind it.

"Yep," Itsuka continued to smile at her, "so, uh … I ended up figuring - that big conversation we were supposed to have today? We should probably do it now, while no one's distracting us. I, uh - I figured that we could take a walk, all three of us, and … well … I have a place in mind for our talk, if - if you want to come with."

"Uh … r-right," Ochako nodded a bit stiffly, glancing at Izuku once before she glanced back at Itsuka, her face remaining red as Izuku looked more and more uncomfortable by the second, "you … wanna do the talk. N-now?"

"Yep," She nodded, "right now."

"Er … right … so …" Ochako glanced between them both for a few seconds. They could both tell, from the slightly panicked, embarrassed look in her eye, that she, like Izuku, was weighing the pros and cons of simply closing the door and hiding in her room for the rest of her life - but then, she closed her eyes, letting out a defeated sigh, and raised her finger to indicate that they give her a moment. With that, she moved away from the door, and they both heard her retreating back into the apartment.

It took about two minutes of Itsuka awkwardly holding Izuku's shoulder to prevent him from running away, but they soon heard the sound of keys clinking together before Ochako stepped back out into the open hall, zipping up a pink sweater over her sleepwear, and soon closed the door behind her, locking it behind her. While she did so, Izuku continued to grow more and more nervous by the second in his best friend's presence, Itsuka holding onto him being the only reason he wasn't running away as fast as he could. 

Finally, Ochako put her keys back in the sweater pocket, and turned to look at both of them.

"Yeah," She nodded, biting the inside of her cheek as she shot another nervous glance at Izuku, "so, uh … you … er … know."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, giving her a soft smile, "I know. You and Izuku kissed."

Ochako winced slightly, looking even more nervous under Itsuka's stare, but before she could open her mouth to try and explain, the orange-haired girl sighed and finally let go of Izuku's shoulder, turning towards the stairs as she gestured towards it.

"So, uh," She glanced back at her best friends, "I did have a place in mind for us to talk. It's, uh - it's gonna take us a while to get there, but … well, I figured we can go there and just get this conversation out of the way."

Ochako and Izuku both looked at Itsuka, blinking a bit as she glanced over her shoulder at them. Only, now that they were properly looking at her, they could see that her smile looked a bit shaken, and they could see the anxiety and nervousness in her eyes - making it clear that she was about as timid about this as they were.

Still, Izuku and Ochako stole a small glance at each other - which, of course, caused them both to look away just as quickly when their eyes accidentally met - and Ochako sighed as she gave them both a stiff nod, glancing down at her pajama pants and wincing just a bit. Izuku, meanwhile, awkwardly cleared his throat and glanced at his shoes, unable to stop himself from shaking nervously as Itsuka moved towards the stairs, and without a word, both childhood friends followed her.

It didn't take long for the three of them to get down to the bottom floor, and once they were at the edge of the parking lot, with both Izuku and Ochako pointedly avoiding looking over at the park beside them, Itsuka began leading her two best friends silently down the road towards wherever she wanted to have the conversation. They all walked in relative silence for about ten minutes - Izuku and Ochako not wanting to make the situation any more awkward than it already was, and Itsuka also not wanting to make things any worse. So, they walked in silence.

As they moved through the empty streets, the skies above them beginning to slowly lighten up, Izuku felt his mind moving at a mile a minute, panic starting to settle in. He didn't know where they were going, but he knew that wherever they went, he was probably going to die when they got there. He was walking with his two best friends, both of whom he had kissed within the last eight hours, and it was apparent that Ochako was as nervous as he was about what was going to happen when they got there. Would Itsuka tell her what happened? How would Ochako react?

Oh, god, was Ochako going to feel betrayed about kissing someone else not even a full night after kissing her? Would she punch him? Oh, that was probably what was going to happen, she was going to throw him into space and he would deserve it, and what would happen if Itsuka just - oh, no, that was what was going to happen, wasn't it?!

Itsuka was going to have Ochako help her kill him and bury his body where no one would find it! That was -

"Uh … Deku?"

Izuku jumped a bit at the quiet voice behind him, and quickly looked around as Ochako stole another glance at him. It was only when he noticed Itsuka also glancing around at him that he realized he had been muttering out loud again, and felt his heart leap into his throat.

"Er -" He squeaked, glancing between them both, "- h-how much did - did I -"

"Just the part about us murdering you," Itsuka helpfully told him, unable to stop herself from smiling as they rounded another corner, and Izuku buried his face in his hands, "and I'd say don't worry, but … well, where we're going will have some places to bury you, but you shouldn't worry about that right now."

Izuku merely groaned, shaking his head a bit. As they continued walking together down the street, they were quiet for another few seconds, and then Ochako let out a breath.

"And … I'm not gonna kill you," She said quietly to him, her cheeks still red as Izuku stole a small glance at her, "n-nothing like that, Deku. I'm just … I don't know what's going on either, and - and - yeah."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded a bit stiffly, raising his head from his hands. They both turned to look around and stared up the road as Itsuka continued to lead them - she was being quiet for now, but they could tell that she was listening.

And then Izuku let out a sigh.

"I'm …" He said quietly, "… I'm really sorry, Occhan."

Ochako was quiet for a moment before she responded.

"Sorry?" She questioned softly, still staring ahead as they walked. "About what?"

"For …" His cheeks went redder, "… you know … kissing you."

Ochako went quiet again for a long while at that. For a minute, there was nothing but the sound of their feet hitting the pavement as Itsuka remained quiet, leading them down a path that they all found familiar but didn't say anything about due to the tension of the moment. Izuku, for his part, glanced awkwardly at his best friend as Ochako kept her head down for a long moment -

- and then she fully looked away from him.

"So …" She finally muttered, "… you're … sorry for … kissing me?"

Izuku, naturally, stared blankly at her for a long moment, blinking in confusion. The way she had said that - almost as though she were disappointed - caused his fear-addled and overworking brain to short circuit, staring blankly at Ochako as they walked -

- and then he grunted as he inadvertently walked face-first into a stop sign, the loud CLANG! of his head meeting the metal pole causing both girls to jump a bit and quickly look around as Izuku tripped backwards and fell to the ground.

"D-Deku!" Ochako squeaked, her embarrassment forgotten as Izuku flopped down onto his back, his feet temporarily rising before they landed on the ground. Quickly, she and Itsuka moved around the stop sign to check that he was okay. Izuku, thankfully, seemed alright, although he was holding his forehead with one hand and groaning lowly, but at least it didn't seem that he had injured himself, instead staring up at both girls in surprise and a bit of pain.

"Uh …" He struggled to sit up, "… ow."

Together, both girls moved to help him up, Ochako taking his wrist and pulling and Itsuka gently pushing his back until he was back on his feet.

"Okay, let me see." Itsuka moved his hand away from his forehead to inspect it, and let out a small sigh of relief. "Okay, well - it's a bit of a red mark, but you seem okay."

"Oh, thank goodness for that," Izuku sighed a bit sarcastically, which made Itsuka smirk and lightly punch his shoulder. Indeed, Izuku didn't seem to be too injured, only groaning slightly as he carefully poked his forehead and winced slightly. "Uh - sorry about that guys, wasn't - wasn't really looking where I was walking."

Lowering his hand, he looked back over at Ochako, his expression falling.

"Er … Occhan," He said quietly, "do - do you -"

"Er," Itsuka suddenly cleared her throat, causing Izuku to falter and look around at her as she pointed behind her shoulder sheepishly, "sorry to interrupt, Izuku, but - uh - well, we're actually here, so …"

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, glancing over Itsuka's shoulder at where she was pointing - and then they both felt their backs straighten, their eyes widening slightly in surprise at the familiar sign of Dagobah Municipal Beach Park, the familiar parking lot leading down to the ocean they all knew too well at this point, even if it had been a few weeks since their last visit.

"W-wait - Dagobah?" Izuku questioned out loud, glancing between the sign and Itsuka in surprise. "You - you wanted to have our talk here?"

"W-well, yeah," Itsuka nodded, looking a bit awkward, "I just … figured it would be a nice, private place for us to talk, y'know? Besides, it's … it's where I met both of you, so I figured it's … appropriate."

Both Izuku and Ochako stared at her for a moment in surprise, seeing Itsuka flush a bit in embarrassment and glance away - and then they both nodded at the same time, likewise feeling embarrassment return to them at the small reminder of what they were supposed to talk about together. Together, the three of them wordlessly stepped into the empty parking lot, walking down the sidewalk towards the stairs that would lead down to the beach.

As they walked, Izuku stole another glance at Ochako, and cleared his throat slightly, the pain of walking into a stop sign temporarily forgotten.

"Er … Occhan?"

Ochako glanced at him again, still looking a bit uncomfortable, but she still hummed to let him know that she was listening.

"Do you, uh …" Izuku hesitated for a second, "… do you think that I … I regret … kissing you?"

Ochako squirmed a bit at the question, looking away from him again as they approached the stairs - and then she sighed, and nodded.

"I mean …" She mumbled, still looking away from him as his jaw hung open, "… don't you?"

It was Izuku's turn now to be caught flat footed, staring blankly at Ochako for a long while as she anxiously held her hands together. He then let out a small breath, and likewise looked away. It took until they were both on the stairs, with Itsuka pretending not to be listening in, before he finally found his words.

"I …" He paused, and then said, in a quiet voice, "… no. I - I don't."

Before Ochako could respond to that, Izuku was quick to try hurrying down the stairs towards the dark beach, moving around Itsuka so that he could get down the steps. He completely missed, of course, Ochako pausing in her step, turning to look down at Izuku in shock while her cheeks went pinker, but when Itsuka turned to shoot her a raised eyebrow and a smirk, she quickly smacked her cheeks and hurried down to the beach as well.

Once all three of them were on the sandy floor, Itsuka sighed as she once again took the lead, guiding them down towards the water. The sun hadn't rose just yet, but Izuku could tell that daybreak would be soon - the sky was beginning to turn purple in the distance, meaning that the sun would probably start rising soon. Once they were all standing together, Itsuka let out a soft sigh, and then, as she turned back to Izuku and Ochako as they stood in the small circle they had made, Izuku quickly straightened his back.

Okay … okay, this was it, he tried to convince himself. The talk. The talk that he had specifically wanted. Here it was. And … he hadn't run away yet, so that was a plus.

For a few seconds, the three of them were quiet, Izuku and Ochako watching Itsuka as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, and then she sighed.

"Alright," She nodded, "so … our talk. Let's, uh - let's do it."

Both Izuku and Ochako nodded stiffly.

"So …" She then turned to look at Ochako, who was still looking a bit flustered from Izuku admitting that he didn't regret their kiss, "… Ochako. Like I said back at the apartment, uh - well, I know that you two … well … kissed."

Ochako quickly refocused as Itsuka put her hands in her sweater's - or, to be more accurate, Izuku's sweater - and she quickly nodded, her cheeks going a bit red as she took in Itsuka's appearance. Still though, it wasn't like she could point it out, seeing as she was wearing Izuku's t-shirt under her own pink sweater.

"Okay. So, uh …" Itsuka glanced at Izuku for a moment, looking slightly awkward, before she sighed and nodded, and looked back at Ochako, "… I guess … I should probably tell you that … well … me and Izuku have kissed, too."

Ochako slowly nodded for a moment, while Izuku braced himself and winced in anticipation, and Itsuka cringed slightly at how she ended up awkwardly dropping that little fact. There was another few seconds of quiet - and then they both saw the gears in Ochako's head suddenly stop turning. Straightening her back, Ochako blinked, and then glanced between Izuku and Itsuka, her eyes flickering between them, and then, when she finally registered what Itsuka had said, her jaw dropped.

"… huh?" Ochako squeaked.

"Uh … yeah," Itsuka nodded a bit awkwardly while Izuku studied his feet, "we kissed. About … I don't know … half an hour ago?"

"I … huh?"

"Kinda … made out," Itsuka winced, aware that she was digging herself deeper, "butt grab and everything."

Ochako sputtered again, her eyes shifting between Izuku and Itsuka quickly while her cheeks went red. Izuku took a deep breath, his eyes still on the ground, and then he suddenly dropped to his knees. Both girls quickly looked around at him in surprise as Izuku went down into a dogeza stance, pressing his forehead against the sand.

"I … I really am sorry, Occhan," He said in a miserable voice, "I'm … I know that I'm a scumbag. If - if you never wanted to talk to me again, I'd -"

"W-whoa, whoa, Deku, hold on!" Ochako quickly interrupted him, looking completely confused while Itsuka likewise stared at him in shock. "I - I'm not mad! Not at all!"

"But … I …" Izuku glanced back up at his best friend as she took a deep breath, holding her eyes with one hand for a moment before she bent over slightly, and offered Izuku a hand up.

Blinking, and feeling himself go red again, Izuku hesitantly sat up and took her hand, allowing her to help him back to his feet. As he absently reached down to brush some of the sand off of his pants, Ochako sighed and looked back at Itsuka, an unknown look in her eyes as she observed her friend carefully.

"Can you …" She shook her head after a second, "… could you just tell me what exactly happened? Just - just so I have the full picture."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, trying to calm down how red her own cheeks had become, "of course. So, uh …"

From there, Itsuka pretty much explained everything that had happened when she woke up - from Itsuka deciding to stay in Izuku's room, to how they ended up in bed, to … well … how she confessed to him. Izuku had squeaked a bit when she had admitted that easily, with only a touch of red on her cheeks, and had caused him to turn around and huddle down on the sand, completely missing Ochako's withdrawn look at the admittance, and had stayed hunched over for the rest of the explanation. It was only when Itsuka had finally gotten to the end of what had happened in Izuku's bed before they had gone over to Ochako's that Izuku had raised his head up from where he was currently cringing, and the beach had gone quiet.

After a few moments, Izuku dared to steal a small glance over his shoulder to gauge Ochako's reaction to his … infidelity? Stupidity? Douchebaggery? Whichever one. Still, he felt surprised to see that there was a mix of emotions on his best friend's face - there was clear conflict, of course, and she was glancing between him and Itsuka for a few seconds. There was also a hint of surprise there, and apprehension, as she glanced over at Itsuka again.

Itsuka was quiet for a second, letting out a small sigh - and then she nodded, and raised her hand to brush some of her hair out of her face.

"Okay," She nodded, "so … that's what happened, Ochako. That's everything."

"Er …" Izuku was quiet as well, as though he didn't have the right to speak, "… yeah, that - that was everything."

"So …" Itsuka hesitated again, glancing back over at Ochako for a moment before she quickly shook her head, and then turned back to Izuku, "… okay. So, uh - Izuku, there's - well - there's something that we should tell you, too."

Izuku blinked a bit at that as the attention suddenly turned to him, looking around at Itsuka as she glanced back at Ochako. The brown-haired girl, for her part, blinked at their best friend for a moment as their eyes met - and then something flickered, and she let out a loud squeak as Itsuka turned back to Izuku.

Quickly, she hurried over and grabbed onto Itsuka's shoulder, making the other girl jump a bit and looked back at her.

"W-wait, hold on!" She managed to get out. "Are - we're gonna -?"

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, "we've gotta tell him."

"Uh …" Izuku glanced between them again, confused, "… tell me what, exactly?"

"I - I mean - are you sure?!"

"Well, Ochako," Itsuka turned to give her an expectant look, "it's only fair, isn't it? I mean …"

"T-tell me what, guys?"

"I …" Ochako hesitated again, still looking anxious, but then she let out a small sigh and nodded, "… n-no, you're - you're right. It's only fair. Just … how exactly are we gonna … you know … we can't just tell him, can we?"

"I mean," Itsuka gave her a small grin despite the clear nervousness on her face, "why can't we? That's what I just did, wasn't it?"

"I - I mean -"

"I - guys!" Izuku finally managed to get in, causing both girls to look around at his slightly frustrated expression. "Tell me what?"

Both girls paused for a long moment, glancing between each other again while Izuku gave them both an exasperated look. To him, he just felt more and more confused by the second - seriously, what was going on? Why were they acting so secretive? What was -

Before he could think to voice his questions, Ochako let out a small sigh again, her face turning even more scarlet as she looked away, and then Itsuka nodded a bit as she turned back to Izuku.

"So … Izuku," The orange-haired girl started speaking carefully, seeing Izuku's brow furrow, "there's, uh … there's something that happened between me and Ochako, that - that we haven't told you about yet."

Izuku blinked a bit at that, staring at Itsuka in confusion for a moment, and then, unintentionally, his gaze flickered back at Ochako as she suddenly covered her face with both hands, pointedly not looking at Izuku at all -

- and that was when something registered to him, causing his mind to suddenly pause.

Wait. Wait a minute.

This … this fluster from Ochako. The way - the way Itsuka was continuing to look awkward. They both were - these looks were both familiar to Izuku, he realized as his back straightened a bit. They were looking as embarrassed as both the times when he had …

… when he … had … kissed them.

And that, of course, was when the dots suddenly connected.

Slowly, Izuku turned back to look at Itsuka, his jaw dropping. And then he looked around at Ochako as she lowered her hands, but continued to study the sandy ground. And then back at Itsuka. And then back at Ochako. Then Itsuka. Then Ochako. Then Itsuka. Then Ochako.

And that was when Izuku took a small step back, feeling his blush return to his face full force as his mind finally caught up to what they were talking about.

"W-wait," He felt his eyes blow open, raising his hand to point in between both girls in his shock, "you … two … you two … you … k-k-k-kissed?"

"We …" Itsuka squirmed a bit awkwardly while Ochako studied her feet, "… did. Yeah."

"W-where? When?!"

"We … well, we've - we've technically kissed twice," Itsuka admitted, going much redder as Izuku's jaw continued to drop down farther and Ochako slammed her hands to her face, thankfully remembering to mind her pinkies lest she start floating off to the sky, "once at the USJ - you know, w-when it was getting invaded - and then today. W-when we were at lunch."

Izuku continued to stare at both of them like a fish as Itsuka awkwardly stopped there, his jaw completely hanging as he continued to glance between them both. Ochako and Itsuka, for their parts, were making sure not to look at each other at all, as though afraid that a single glance at each other would cause them to burst into embarrassed flames.

And then, for some reason, the comically shocked look on Izuku's face faded … and was quickly transformed into fear. Both girls blinked as Izuku took a small step back, continuing to flick his gaze between them while beginning to tremble.

"Wait," He whispered, horror beginning to fill him, "I … I kissed you both."

"Er …" Ochako furrowed her brow, confused, "… y-yeah …?"

"I … I kissed you both … and - and you've kissed each other before that," He stared down at his hands in shock, looking like he was about to have a breakdown while tears began to well in his eyes, "so that means … I … made you both … cheat on each other -"

"No!" Itsuka quickly jumped in before Izuku could get too carried away, her face now as red as her hair as Izuku whipped his gaze back up to her. "We - we aren't together, Izuku, I - I swear. We - we aren't - we aren't dating, or anything like that!"

"Y-yeah," Ochako likewise shook her head, although a sad expression did cross her face briefly, "we're not - n-no."

"I -" Izuku glanced between them again, his expression becoming more confused now, "- then - wait, you're not dating?"

"N-no, we're not."

"Nope."

"I - why not?" Izuku straightened up, his expression now a mix between confused, embarrassed, and another look that they couldn't quite understand. "I-if you - if you guys kissed, then - then you aren't - huh?"

Now it was the girls' turns to look embarrassed, their gazes continuing to stay on their feet as they awkwardly cleared their throats at the same time. Izuku, for his part, still was glancing between them in confusion as he inadvertently turned the tables on them.

"We - no, we're - we're not dating," Itsuka clarified again, feeling herself become a bit flustered as she kept her eyes firmly away from them both, "we just … kissed and - and that was it."

"I - okay, but - but why?" Izuku looked over at Ochako now as she nervously tapped her fingers together, "I - I had thought - m-maybe -"

"We - we didn't really talk about it afterwards," His best friend admitted quietly, while Itsuka continued to stare off down the beach rather than look at her, "not after … well … what happened."

"I - but why?" Izuku repeated himself, continuing to glance between them both in his confusion. It wasn't as though his heart wasn't hammering a little bit at the moment, but the way both girls avoided looking at each other was making him feel like he was missing something here. "I - I thought that - wait," He suddenly blinked, "- is - is that why I was - why Kacchan thought I was a third wheel? Because you two were - oh god, have I been -"

"Izuku, no," Itsuka turned to give him a pout while Ochako likewise shook her head, "we've been through this. You're not a third wheel."

"Then - then why?"

"I - okay," She sighed, scratching the side of her head, "the truth is - we - we did try to talk about it, on the night you two stayed over. After - after the USJ. You were asleep, me and Ochako were awake, and - and we did try and talk about it. You just, uh … you kind of had a nightmare that we had to wake you up from, and after that, we just … we didn't bring it up again."

"… oh," Izuku blinked, suddenly feeling a bit guilty, "uh … sorry."

"It's - it's not that big a deal," Itsuka shook her head, although she couldn't help but wince slightly at the hurt look that briefly crossed Ochako's face, "we, uh - we were cool with - with not talking about it. I - I think."

"And …" Izuku glanced over at Ochako to see how she was reacting to this, "… and the second one? T-today?"

"That, uh …" Ochako swallowed a bit as Itsuka continued to look away - both girls were clearly uncomfortable now, that much Izuku could pick up, and he felt a bit bad about making them talk about this. But before he could tell them that it was okay, that they didn't have to tell him, Ochako let out a small sigh and looked away.

"… we, uh …" She swallowed loudly, "… we had a - a discussion. And it just … kinda happened. That's - that's why we were awkward around each other today, Deku. Just … that happened."

"O-oh," Izuku nodded slowly, glancing between both girls again with a slight frown. There was a long pause on the beach - and then Izuku decided to just come out and say it.

"S-so, uh - do - do you guys have feelings for each other?"

The moment the question left his lips he cringed, and of course, it caused both girls to go still. They both turned to look at him again in confusion and a bit of surprise, and Izuku felt himself go a bit red, quickly clearing his throat.

"W-what I meant is," He quickly tried to clarify, "it - it sounds like - like you two have - y-you know - you've k-kissed a few times," He went red again at the reminder, "so - so what's going on? Do - do you two have a - uh - a thing for each other?"

Both girls squeaked a bit, quickly turning away from each other while Izuku blinked in confusion between them - and then they both paused. As though coming to the same thought, Itsuka and Ochako looked around at each other for the first time in a few minutes.

"W-wait," Itsuka looked surprised, pointing at Izuku inquisitively while staring at Ochako, "d-do we - are - do you have a thing for me?"

"I …" Ochako froze up again, as though she had been caught in a trap, and then quickly snapped her gaze back down to the ground, "… well, I - I don't know. I - maybe? I - I think?"

There was a pause.

"You …" Izuku tilted his head while Itsuka went red, "… think?"

"I don't know!" Ochako's hands immediately slammed against her face again. Izuku let out a squeak as she began floating, and quickly went over to grab her ankle and prevent her from flying off.

"This is - this is all really confusing!" She whined a bit. "I - I kissed you, Deku, and - and I've kissed you, Itsuka, and - and you two kissed, and - and - and now my head's all messed up and I don't know what to think! Like - I - I know that I like you, Itsuka -"

Itsuka chirped a bit at that, her face staying red but trying to keep herself quiet.

"- and I - I -" Ochako let out another humiliated noise, and buried her face deeper into her hands, "- I know that I like you too, Deku, and - and that's why I'm so confused! I like both of you at the same time, and - and now you're both here, and the thought of you two making out is - is really sexy, and - and -"

"W-wait, sexy?!" Izuku yelped, almost letting go of Ochako in his shock. She let out her own muffled squeak, Itsuka now fully turned away to hide her red face, her hand coming up to her mouth as she bent over a bit, and Ochako let out a whine.

"Oh, god, why did I admit that?!" She wailed.

"Y-you think we're -" Izuku felt like his mind was about to shut down, shakingly pointing a finger to himself in his shock, "- we're - s-s-s-sex-sexy?!"

"…"

"S-s-sex-"

"Yes!" Ochako finally admitted, throwing her hands away so they could both see her scarlet face, and her accent broke for the first time in a long time. "Yer both hot as hell! Fuckin' hell, Deku! Do ya know how fuckin' sexy ye've gotten?! I wanna smush my fuckin' face against yer abs, yew comin' outta tha' water back las' summer and takin' off yer shirt is fuckin' burned into my fuckin' memory!"

Izuku squeaked again.

"And Itsuka!" She whipped around to Itsuka, who chirped again and straightened her back. "Yer so sexy, it makes me so mad! Do yeh know how many times I've looked at yer ass?! I just wanna touch it and hug it and - and - Deku!" She quickly looked back at Izuku. "Did'cha grab her butt or did she grab yers?!"

"I - uh -" Izuku looked awkwardly away from Ochako in his fluster. "- might've - touched her butt."

"Yeh bastard! I'm so fuckin' jealous!"

"I - well, you - you also grabbed my butt!" Izuku protested, his face practically glowing now as he looked up at Ochako's hilariously angry face. "That happened! You grabbed my butt!"

"Well, yeh were the one tha' pinned me to a pole! Who kisses like that?! Like you were seducin' me!"

"I - I didn't mean to turn you on!"

"Yeh didn't turn me on! " Ochako squeaked at once, with the utter embarrassment in her voice letting both of them know that she was lying through her teeth. "Yeh just - yeh - yeh - aw, fuck, I'm gonna have to do this, aren't I?"

With a shaking sigh, Ochako moved to put her hands back together, pressing her fingers against one another to restore her gravity. Izuku was quick to let go of her ankle and stand back as Ochako dropped back down onto her feet, letting out a small breath as she shook her head and tried to calm herself down enough to regain her more natural accent. 

As soon as she calmed her fluster down, she moved to sit down on the sand, not even minding her pajama pants. After stealing another glance at Itsuka, Izuku moved to follow his best friend down to the ground as well, and Itsuka grunted as she moved down onto her knees as well. Soon, all three of them were quiet as Ochako tried to gather her courage.

Finally, she nodded to herself, and glanced between them.

"I … I meant what I said," She made it clear, even though her face was still scarlet, "I - I have a - a thing for you both. And - and it's not just that I find you guys hot - it's - you know - I really, really like you both. But … well …"

She shook her head, clearly still trying to hype herself up, and she turned to Izuku.

"Deku," She said in a quiet voice, "do you … do you remember what Bakugou said earlier? The - the thing about everyone at Aldera calling me a - a fatass?"

Izuku bristled slightly at that, furrowing his brow in anger, while Itsuka winced, clearly knowing what they were about to talk about. When Izuku gave her a curt nod, Ochako took a deep breath.

"The truth is …" She hesitated for a moment, before clenching her hands into fists and looking down at the sand beneath them. "… the truth is, I - for a long time, I - I agreed with them."

Izuku blinked.

"I - huh?"

"I …" Ochako swallowed, feeling like her mouth was turning dry, "… do you remember all those girls back in middle school who would - who would call me ugly, or tell me that I couldn't afford makeup to hide my hideous face, that I'm … I'm a fat loser …?" She glanced back up at Izuku, seeing his face fall and his eyes begin to widen in shock. "For a long time … I thought they were right. And … and when Itsuka kissed me, and then when you and I were - were so close today, I - I tried to push it all down."

She took another deep breath.

"I … think I've been attracted to Itsuka for a while now," She admitted, watching Itsuka out of the corner of her eye, "probably since - I don't know - since we started training. And I've probably had feelings for you, Deku, since - since we were kids, I just - I never thought about it. But I'm … I also had my suspicions that there was - there was something more between you two. And during lunch, I … I realized that Itsuka was in love with you," She bowed her head, "and I tried to back away. Convince her to ask you out while I back off."

"I … but …" Izuku swallowed loudly, his eyes beginning to well with tears again, "… but why?"

"Because …" She let out a humorless laugh, "… because I convinced myself I'm not pretty enough for you. For either of you. We ended up arguing, and … and I told Itsuka all of this. That I'm - I'm too ugly to have either one of you. Because I thought that I don't deserve it. Because I'm … I'm too ugly for either of you."

They were all quiet for a moment, Itsuka staring down at the ground in sadness as she balled her own hands into fists. And then Izuku suddenly began blinking, rather rapidly, as he straightened his back.

"I … what?" He managed to get out, his voice beginning to shake, and Ochako winced when she saw the tears begin to leak from his eyes. "But - you - no, Occhan. You're - you're beautiful. You really are!"

Ochako let out a soft laugh at that, but shook her head while her eyes remained sad. Izuku, for his part, became more distraught.

"Y-you are!" He protested again, sitting forward quickly. Without even hesitating for once, he reached out to take her shoulder, looking almost furious at what she was implying. "You're beautiful, Occhan, I - how long have you -?"

"Years," Ochako admitted, her voice becoming quiet, "I've … I've felt this way for years."

Izuku fell silent again, the tears continuing to move down his cheeks as Ochako turned to stare down at the ground. Itsuka, meanwhile, also stared down at the ground, not entirely sure what to say at this point.

And then Izuku asked, in a quiet voice, "Is … is this why you asked me if I - I regretted kissing you?"

Ochako didn't move for a moment, and then she nodded.

Izuku was quiet for a bit longer, turning to stare down at his knees - and then he shook his head, and straightened up as he raised his hand to roughly wipe away his tears. Without even needing to be asked, Izuku scooted over to sit properly beside his best friend, and wrapped his arms around her, bringing her in for a hug. Ochako, for her part, didn't resist, simply moving to rest her head against his shoulder, and both of them let out soft sighs as Izuku brought his face down on the top of her head.

"I'm sorry," He mumbled, "you've … you've felt this way, for - for so long, and I - I never noticed."

"It's not your fault," Her answer was muffled, but he felt her hand gently wrap around his waist, "I just … never told anyone."

"I wish you did," He responded, "you're beautiful, Occhan. I just … I wish I could've told you that before."

Ochako merely mumbled, burying her face a bit harder against his shoulder. Izuku's gaze flickered to Itsuka, who was watching them both quietly for the last few minutes, but as their eyes met, Itsuka nodded a bit slowly, and made her way over to their embrace. She gently laid her hand on the back of Ochako's head, and put her other hand on Izuku's free shoulder.

"He's right," She told Ochako gently, "I just … wish we knew about this sooner. That way we could've told you how pretty you are."

"No, I -" Ochako hesitated, and then shook her head, "- I'm working on it, I promise. Just gotta … I'll let you both know. But … yeah."

The three of them were quiet for a few minutes, Izuku letting Ochako lean against him and Itsuka stroking both the back of Ochako's head and Izuku's shoulder. Finally, the sole boy of the group let out a shaky sigh and leaned back from both of them, raising a hand to rub his eyes.

"I … okay," He said quietly, "okay, so can I just … can I just talk?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded, Ochako leaning away from him and Itsuka fixing her hair over her ear again.

"Okay. So, uh …" He hesitated for a long moment, staring down at his knees as his cheeks became red again, and then he shook his head, trying to summon his courage, "… I … think you both know that I - I'm in love with both of you."

Both girls stayed quiet, staring down at the sand, but Izuku saw how their cheeks burned hotter again in the morning light that was slowly but surely coming. He still sighed as he leaned forward, trying to keep looking between them.

"I just … I'm sorry," He said in a quiet voice, feeling his eyes begin to burn with tears again, "I know that it's - it's scummy, to say that to two girls at the same time, and - and I wouldn't blame either of you for - for not wanting to - to have anything to do with me. It's - it's a really crappy thing to just - to just kiss you both at the same time, and -"

"Izuku, hold on," Itsuka suddenly interrupted him before he could get carried away, her voice soft as she glanced up at him, "do you really think we would tell you to screw off?"

"I …" Izuku squirmed a bit, "… kinda? I don't know …"

"Boy," She was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit, tilting her head, "we literally just said that we've kissed each other. Do you think me and Ochako feel scummy for - well -"

She paused at that, feeling her face fall - and then she shook her head, moving her hand from his shoulder so that she could take his hand, and caused him to jolt slightly.

"Okay," She shook her head, "so … you both probably know that I - I feel the same way for you both. Izuku, I love you. I've probably been in love with you ever since we - we first hung out in my garage, I just - I never realized it until recently. You - when you talked back at Nighteye in the gym, and stood up for me, it just - it cemented it. I've been in denial about it for so long, but I'm not gonna hold back anymore. I love you."

While Izuku blushed and glanced away again, she then turned to Ochako, and moved her hand from her head to take her hand as well.

"And … Ochako …" She said in a gentle voice, seeing the brown-haired girl sit up at attention as Itsuka stared her right in the eye, "I … I know that it's kind of - you know - complicated between us, but - but I think I love you too. I haven't known how much I've liked you until - until today, after - after we talked at lunch. You told me about - about what happened with Toga-senpai, and - and I just - I broke. I know that we still have a lot to talk about, but - but I just want to tell you that I love you as much as I love Izuku."

Her grips on both of their hands tightened slightly.

"I … I wouldn't blame either of you for thinking this is too complicated," She admitted in a small voice, "I know you two have known each other longer than you've known me, and - and you have something with each other that I never will with either one of you. And you … you don't have to respond to my feelings, or anything like that, but …"

She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say next - and then Ochako sighed, and they both turned to look at her.

"Er … I guess it's my turn to admit feelings?" She asked in an embarrassed voice.

Both Izuku and Itsuka paused - and just like that, the tense atmosphere of the last few minutes finally broke. They were unable to stop themselves from giggling in a slightly crazed way, while Ochako joined them a bit as she sputtered and ducked her head, overcome in laughter briefly. As the tension finally bled away, she moved to adjust herself, sitting up, and reached out for Izuku's free hand.

He blinked slightly as she squeezed on his hand, careful to keep her pinkie up, and he looked up at his best friend.

"Deku," She said, trying to calm her giggles down so she could be serious again, "you - you said, before we kissed, that all day long you've been having these weird feelings about me. W-whenever we touched, or hugged, or talked, and - you know - all that stuff."

"Uh … yeah," He nodded, "y-yeah, I did."

"And … well, I never told you this," Her face began burning again, feeling lucky that she was holding both her best friends' hands so she didn't slam her own into her face again and float off, "but … I've been having those same weird feelings about you. And … and when we kissed, I just - I let go and embraced those feelings. I - I love you, Deku. Like I said, I - I've loved you since we were little kids."

She then turned to Itsuka.

"And … Itsuka," Her face turned guilty briefly, "I'm … I'm really sorry about arguing with you at lunch. I - I was insecure, and - and jealous of you and Izuku, and I - I took that out on you. After we - we kissed, I just - I realized how much you actually meant to me, and - and I realized that I fell in love with you, too. I just never got to tell you because of all the chaos today, but - yeah."

Itsuka slowly nodded for a moment, and then glanced between them.

"Okay, so …" She sighed, "… I … guess … that's what I needed to get off my chest. It's - it's the same for you two, right?"

"I … I think that's it for me," Izuku gave them both a tired smile, feeling a lot of weight suddenly disappear off his shoulders, "I didn't have anything else to talk to you guys about."

"Er … I don't think so, either," Ochako also gave them both a nervous smile, "that was it. H-how about you, Itsuka? Anything else?"

They were all quiet for a few seconds - and then it suddenly registered to Izuku and Ochako that Itsuka hadn't responded. Blinking, they both looked around to see Itsuka going still for a moment, blinking as though something had just come to her - and then she suddenly went red.

"Oh, uh … actually …" She cleared her throat awkwardly, "… I just … thought of something that you two should know."

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, glancing at each other briefly before they turned back to her.

"So, uh …" Itsuka let out a small, nervous giggle, looking like she had been caught doing some kind of prank, "… it's a pretty long story, but … well … okay, so just to put it out there, Nejire might've … you know … confessed to me after the festival yesterday. And - and she kissed me."

There was another long pause. Izuku and Ochako felt the smiles slide off their faces, replaced by blank looks as Itsuka shrugged innocently, looking suddenly sheepish.

And then they both squeaked, "Huh?!" at the same time and leapt to their feet, causing Itsuka to squeak as her hands were yanked up with them, throwing her off balance.

"You kissed Hadou?!" Izuku's voice came out hilariously high pitched, loud enough that Itsuka felt momentarily panicked that it was going to carry and draw attention to whoever would be awake at the ass crack of dawn.

"N-not - not exactly!" She tried to hush him, quickly and awkwardly climbing to her feet. "M-more like she - you know - kissed me."

"S-she kissed - she -" Izuku looked like he was going to have another meltdown, his face turning bright red. Ochako, meanwhile, was staring hard at Itsuka, her mouth dropping open, and then she freed her hand from Izuku's so she could point dramatically at their orange-haired friend.

"W-wait, so you got angry about me kissing Toga-senpai, but then you kissed Hadou?!"

"You kissed who?!" Izuku nearly shrieked as he whipped around to stare at Ochako in shock.

"T-that's different!" Itsuka protested quickly, still burning bright red and trying to hush Ochako as her friend stared at her in outrage. "I - I mean, it's not really, but - but you know!"

"Nah, I don' know!" Ochako immediately slipped back into her Kansai accent, practically trembling head to toe in sudden indignancy. "Wha's all this, I can' kiss anyone but yeh can kiss Hadou?! I getcha complaints about Toga, bu' Toga's Toga! She's a ball of horny! Hadou's different! She's - she's -"

"Equally horny!" Itsuka let go of both their hands to throw hers into the air, equally indignified. "That girl is not innocent at all! She acts sweet, but she's actually a monster! A sweet, sexy monster!"

"Sexy?!" Ochako grabbed her hair with her free hand.

"W-wait, so -!" Izuku pointed between both girls in his shock. "S-so you kissed H-Hadou, and you kissed Toga-senpai?! H-how many people are you two kissing?!"

"We aren't kissing anybody!" Itsuka waved her hands frantically in the air while the other two continued to positively melt down, "I got kissed by Hadou! I was the kiss-ee, not the kisser!"

"S-same!" Ochako quickly added in, wheeling around to Izuku. "I got kissed by Toga!"

"Then -" Izuku shook his head. "- w-well, why am I the only one not kissing other people?!"

"Wha- boy, you jus' kissed both of us tonight!" Ochako stomped her foot, flashing the Danger Pout while Itsuka likewise wheeled around at him. "You don' have any room to talk!"

"Yeah, but I love both of you! That's different!"

The three of them thankfully took that chance to breathe, all of them panting from the shouting they had just done. Izuku continued to switch his gaze between the two of them with a very red face, while Ochako and Itsuka continued to pout at him. Behind them, the sun continued to threaten to poke out from under the ocean, illuminating the three of them as Itsuka balled her fists, Ochako's Danger Pout intensified, and Izuku shook with slight indignation -

- and then, without warning, all three of them let out small 'pffts' before they doubled over, beginning to laugh.

"I - oh, god -" Itsuka sniggered to herself as she bent over and covered her mouth, overcome with the giggles. Ochako, meanwhile, held her hands over her mouth as she sputtered and almost fell to her knees in her mirth, while Izuku felt his chest shake as he looked away from both of them to prevent himself from laughing even harder than he already was. Soon, all three of them moved to sit back down on the sand to laugh their butts off, the tension of the last twenty four hours finally bleeding off of them as they gave themselves over to their laughing fits.

It took them all a few minutes to fully calm down, with one of them about to get out of the giggle fest only for someone to keel over with laughter and causing the other two to break down again. Thankfully, they eventually got control of themselves, huddled in their small circle as they all looked back up at each other, their hearts lighter than they had been all yesterday as they smiled bashfully between each other, trying to regain their breath.

As they continued to try calming down, Izuku cleared his throat, some red returning to his face as he looked between them.

"So, uh …" He looked suddenly embarrassed, "… you two … kissed."

Ochako and Itsuka paused their giggles to glance up at him, and then at each other. To his credit, Izuku didn't look jealous or insecure by what he was asking, just … a little curious. After exchanging another glance, Itsuka sighed and leaned back.

"Uh … yeah," She cleared her throat, blushing, "we … definitely did that."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, hatting how he stuttered a bit as he glanced away, "so, uh … and that was back at the USJ, and - and today."

"Mm-hm," Ochako nodded as well, looking just as embarrassed as Itsuka, "the first one was a - a really in-the-moment kind of thing. We almost just died, and we were kinda delirious, and … well … yeah."

"Yeah," Itsuka bit the inside of her cheek, "and if we're getting specific, I was … technically the one who initiated it. At lunch, though, it was a - I'd say it was more mutual. We kissed each other at the same time."

"Oh," Izuku dumbly nodded, note entirely sure how else to respond to that, other than keeping his eyes locked on the stairs leading to the parking lot and keeping his legs crossed for no reason, no reason at all. "So, uh … did … was it … you know … nice?"

There was another pause - and then Itsuka snorted again.

"'Was it nice'?" She repeated, unable to stop herself from giggling again as Izuku looked more and more embarrassed. "Well, uh, surprisingly enough, Izuku? Yes. I at least thought our kiss was 'nice'."

"I - I did too," Ochako admitted quietly, wrapping her arms around her legs and burying her face against her knees. "It was - uh - it was kinda …"

"Hot," Itsuka nodded in agreement, looking embarrassed as well in addition to still grinning sheepishly, "it was pretty hot, I'll admit."

"O-oh." Izuku blushed again while Ochako went even redder. "That's - that's good to know."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… perv," Itsuka was unable to stop herself from teasing him, making her smirk widen as Izuku sputtered indignantly.

"I - I am not!" He protested, although he laughed along with Ochako as the other girl giggled. "I'm - I just - I'm glad that you two - that you guys enjoyed your kiss! That's all!"

"Uh-huh," Itsuka leaned forward, continuing to giggle as she poked his shoulder, "you're not a perv. Of course. Although, should I check my butt to make sure there aren't any bruises from how hard you were squeezing on it?"

Ochako giggled again, and Izuku whipped around at her.

"Y-you can't laugh at that! You of all people can't laugh at that!"

"But I am," Ochako teased him as well.

"I - well," Izuku looked back around at Itsuka indignantly, "I'm not the one who straddled my lap! That was you!"

"W-wait, you sat in his lap?!" Ochako gasped, looking at Itsuka in surprise and a bit of jealousy - although jealous of who, neither of them knew. The orange-haired girl, for her part, seemed shameless, nodding a bit as she smirked between them.

"Well," She shrugged her shoulders, "I guess if Izuku just wanted to know that my first kiss was enjoyable, then mission accomplished. Of course, I could offer a demonstration if he's not sure."

"Huh?!" Izuku squeaked, glancing between both girls at once while his cheeks went redder.

"Huh?!" Ochako likewise went red, her eyes immediately locking on Itsuka's lips.

Itsuka, for her part, couldn't help but laugh again, while Izuku quickly looked away to try hiding his fluster and Ochako flashed her a Danger Pout in warning, displeased at being teased. Still, though, Itsuka felt her smile fade a bit as she settled back, glancing between them both.

"So, uh …" She was unable to stop herself from feeling a bit nervous again, clasping her hands together in front of her, "… jokes aside. What … exactly happens now?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused at that, looking back up at her for a long moment before they glanced at each other. The three of them were quiet for a long moment, as though they had all suddenly noticed the awkward elephant in the room at the same time.

They had all acknowledged their feelings for one another. They were all on the same page now. They knew that they liked each other.

So … now what?

They sat there silently on the beach for a few minutes, glancing between each other as the sun continued to rise in the distance - and then Izuku let out a small sigh, and raised a hand to tug at his lip.

"Well … I mean …" He blushed again, "… I … really like kissing you two."

Both Ochako and Itsuka went red again, but they still smiled at him.

"Well, uh," Itsuka giggled, "believe it or not, I like kissing you guys too."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded, "same. And - and I know that I've got all of my - you know - body issues to deal with -"

"Occhan, you are so beautiful -"

"Okay, Deku, I get it!" Ochako quickly threw her hands up in the air in defeat, before her bashfulness got the better of her and made her look away. Izuku, for his part, looked shameless in his assurances while Itsuka smiled at him in pride, and Ochako sighed again.

"Anyway," She tried to say again, "what I'm trying to say is - it probably won't be easy, but - but I like being with you two. You make me feel better about myself, and - and - I don't know. I know that we probably - we can't just go back to being friends, and I - I don't think I'd want to. I want …" She hesitated, and then let out a shuddering breath, "… I think … I want more. With both of you."

Both Izuku and Itsuka went red - but then Izuku nodded.

"I … I agree," He muttered, "I … I want to be with you both. N-not just as your friend. As - as more. I'm … I'm not entirely sure what that exactly entrails, but - but I want to find out."

"I … well," Itsuka sighed as they both glanced at her, raising her hand to stroke her hair, "I'm … pretty much aware that we're all lowkey sleep deprived right now -"

"Sorry," Izuku and Ochako winced again.

"- but I'm pretty sure that - you know - okay," She smiled as she shook her head and sat up, "so we got everything out in the open. We're all aware of how we feel about each other. And … well, what I'm … pretty sure we're all thinking is … well … it's not gonna be easy."

"…"

"…"

"… yeah," Izuku nodded slowly, "I know. It … won't be."

"…" 

"…"

"… but …" He swallowed, "… I wanna try it."

"Me too," Ochako nodded, twirling her fingers together.

"It'll be complicated," Itsuka pointed out to them, "we've … probably gotta figure out what's going on with Nejire. And - well - Toga-senpai."

"Y-yeah, but - but we can - we'll deal with that," Ochako said, a small frown on her face, "if - if Hadou's got some kind of tension with you and Deku - since, y'know, she was talking yesterday about you and her going on a date a few weeks back -"

"Erk," Izuku winced, "uh - in my defense, I'm - I'm not sure if it was an actual date."

"But …" Itsuka raised her eyebrow, "… did you want it to be?"

Izuku didn't answer, simply looking down at his feet and looking guilty. Thankfully, neither girl looked like they were judging him.

"I'm … I'm not worried," Ochako continued on, "I - I might not know how to feel about - about you two and Hadou - but I should try and understand it."

Yeah …" Itsuka slowly nodded, feeling herself begin to pout, "… and … I better let go of what you and Toga-senpai did, too. Since - since we're trying to - you know - be understanding."

"Y-yep."

"Yeaaah …"

"…"

"…"

"… if she comes to the beach today and flirts with either one of you," Itsuka's eyebrow suddenly twitched, "all bets are off."

Both Izuku and Ochako let out weak laughs, still raising their hands to placate her as she pouted at them, and then Itsuka shook her head again. After a moment, with the gentle waves of the beach still sloshing on the shoreline and giving them a bit of ambient noise, Itsuka let out another sigh, and then moved her hands out to hold over both of theirs, looking between them with a small, hopeful look.

"So, uh …" She licked her lips to moisturize them, "… I know that we have a big … Nejire-sized hole to figure out, and - and we probably won't be able to do anything special, since - since there's midterms coming up soon, and then internships. But … well … I guess we should try making things official, right? Even if … if we decide to keep quiet about it."

"O-oh, yeah," Izuku nodded quickly, "we'll - we'll be quiet about it for now."

"Mm-hm," Ochako agreed, "I'm not sure if I could deal with all the drama if we - if we went public. So … not yet."

"Yeah. So," Itsuka tilted her head, "I guess … at this point, I have a question for you both."

Both childhood friends straightened up, their faces beginning to burn redder and redder as Itsuka glanced between them with a soft smile.

"Izuku Midoriya," She said to him first, and then turned to Ochako as her own face burned hotter, "and Ochako Uraraka. Are … would you … would you both go out with me?"

Both Izuku and Ochako tensed up a bit, Ochako using her free hand to hide her blushing face and Izuku looking on the verge of passing out as she glanced hopefully between them. And then Izuku cleared his throat, glancing at Ochako for a moment before taking a deep breath.

"Uh …" He cleared his throat, "… I … I guess I should … also ask if - if both of you would be okay with me being your - your - b-b-boyfriend."

"I would be," Itsuka nodded at once.

"Yeah," Ochako agreed as well, emerging from her hand and glancing between both of them, "and, uh … I know that … that I've got my issues, and - and I might get annoying about it -"

"You'd never."

"Don't even think about it."

"- I - yeah, okay," Ochako was unable to stop herself from giggling, and then sighed deeply, "then … then I'd ask … if you wanted to be my - my boyfriend, Deku. And - and if you would - if you'd wanna be my girlfriend, Itsuka."

All three of them were quiet for a moment, letting the moment sink in. And then Izuku suddenly straightened up.

"So …" He glanced between both of them nervously, "… are … are we dating now?"

Itsuka sputtered a bit, and then giggled as Ochako quickly moved to hide her flustered face again.

"Yeah," She nodded, beginning to beam, "I'd … I'd say that we're all dating now."

Both Izuku and Ochako's faces flushed at that, but the smiles on their faces as they looked back at her only made Itsuka's heart soar. All three of them let out awkward laughs, sitting there on the beach as the sun began rising into the sky behind them and bathed them in yellow light. And then, after a moment, Itsuka shook her head, and leaned over to suddenly press her lips against Izuku's again.

Ochako merely squeaked in surprise as Izuku let out a muffled noise of shock, his eyes widening and his cheeks going red, but Itsuka didn't stay too long, parting from him with a soft smile before she turned her face to Ochako. And before the other girl could blink, Itsuka leaned over, and gave her her own kiss. Izuku, for his part, straightened his back at once, his eyes widening even more and his face burning redder as Itsuka gently kissed her, and then moved back.

Settling back on her knees, Itsuka gestured between both Izuku and Ochako, and the two glanced between each other in confusion before it suddenly came to them what Itsuka wanted. After an awkward pause, Ochako giggled nervously, and leaned over.

Izuku went still again, but still closed his eyes, and when he felt Ochako kiss him gently, he answered back just as gently. They stayed there for a moment before moving back, glancing between themselves and Itsuka for a moment, before she let out a laugh and sat forward, taking both of their shoulders and bringing them in for another group hug. This time, however, Izuku and Ochako weren't as awkward, laughing a bit as they hugged the girl between them and held her tightly.

After hugging for a few moments, Itsuka began getting to her feet, and Izuku and Ochako were quick to follow her.

"Like we said," She said between them, "it's probably gonna be tougher than we're thinking. But you know what? I'm gonna worry about that later. Right now, I'm just … I'm gonna enjoy the moment."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, smiling at her, "just … gonna enjoy that … holy whoa," He stopped briefly, his eyes widening, "I have two girlfriends."

Both Ochako and Itsuka snorted a bit at that, but still smiled at the amazed look on his face. With a giggle, Itsuka stepped back, but still held fast onto their hands as she began pulling them towards the stairs.

"So," She smiled, "as I'm aware that you two are pretty much running off no sleep - not too sure about you, Ochako, but you definitely are, Izuku - let's go back to my place, okay? You two can nap and when you wake up, we can start heading to the beach with Eri and my dad."

Both of them smiled at that, and hurried to catch up with her as they began walk over to the stairs that would lead up to the parking lot -

- and then Ochako paused, and looked over at Izuku.

"So Deku," She suddenly pouted, "what's this I hear about you checking out Melissa's butt?"

"…"

"…"

"… I'm sorry," Itsuka's eyebrow twitched while Izuku went pale, "you checked out who's butt?"

"I - hold on!" Izuku squeaked. "I can explain!"

Both girls turned to aim pouts at Izuku as he began stuttering out an explanation, only for Itsuka to suddenly giggle as she moved her arms around both of their shoulders again, causing them to falter and blink. She then moved to kiss both their cheeks, and as Izuku and Ochako went a bit red, she giggled again and held them close.

"Well," She sighed, "at least things shouldn't be as complicated as it was before from here on out. Even if our boyfriend likes looking at pretty girls' butts."

"H-hey!"


"…"

"…"

"… sorry, Eri," Katsuma sighed as he stared down at the paper he had been handed by his girlfriend, "but your parents are gonna kill you."

"Okay, I - yes, they will," Eri closed her eyes in defeat, reaching up to do up her hair into its usual ponytail, "but at least it isn't my fault! I didn't throw the first punch this time."

"'This time'," Katsuma repeated under his breath, only to shrink when Eri shot him a small glare.

Walking down the sidewalk in the hot summer air, Eri let out a small sigh as she finished tying her hair up into the side ponytail on her head - it wasn't as easy to do with her own wild, bushy hair unlike her mom's relatively straight hair, but she wanted to have at least a tiny resemblance to her when she got home. Unfortunately for the two teenagers as they walked home from school, tonight wasn't a date night - Kota had to go home to Mandalay's so that he could visit with the rest of his aunts and uncle, so he wasn't able to walk home with them, and Katsuma had dinner planned with his dad and sister that night. It was fortunate, at least, that Eri had her own plans for tonight, but it was still a loss for the Eri-Kota-Katsuma triangle.

Still though, at least Katsuma had enough time to walk Eri home, making her giggle a bit as she linked their arms together and caused Katsuma to go bright red.

"Anyway," She tapped on her shoulder with her horn, "here's what I'm thinking for later, Kats - I've got my mom coming home tonight, and we're gonna spend time tomorrow as a family, but I'm free Sunday! Wanna come by and study for the pop quiz?"

"Oh, uh … I don't know -"

"My dad isn't gonna glare at you in disappointment," Eri guessed her boyfriend's hesitation at once, giving him a deadpan look as he went redder, "not that he would anyway. He'd probably burst into happy tears if he caught us cuddling."

"I - I just don't know how to react!" Katsuma whined a bit. "He's been my hero longer than I've known you!"

"He became your hero a whole day before you met me! It's not that big a timeframe!"

"It's still weird!"

"Kats," Eri smiled up at him, reaching up to gently cup his chin and turn his face to her, her boyfriend going stiff and bright red at the action, "even if my dad has a problem with it - which he doesn't - that doesn't mean that we should act any different than we usually do. Honestly, I was more awkward about how my parents would react to me getting in my own little poly - do you know how humiliating it was when I finally told them and they just said that they knew already? I spent like - all night long face down on the couch."

"I … I guess so," Katsuma smiled a bit weakly at her, "it's just … kinda weird, you know? To not have to sneak around anymore."

"Well," Eri's kind smile suddenly turned mischievous, which made Katsuma gulp nervously, "we can still do plenty of sneaking around if you -"

"Ergh!" He suddenly grunted, quickly turning and pointing wildly at a sign near the road. "That's - uh - that's you, Eri!"

Eri merely raised her eyebrow at his weak attempt to dodge the flirt as she glanced over, seeing the sign that pointed towards her neighborhood. With a long suffering sigh, she shook her head and moved away from him, although her smirk remained on her face as she looked away.

"I guess that is," She pretended to sniffle, getting Katsuma's attention as she stared away with a pout, "poor me - my boyfriend can't wait to get rid of me."

"I - okay, hold on!" Katsuma looked panicked, staring at her in shock as she pretended to hide her face from him, and gave her an adorable pout. "That's not fair!"

"What's not fair is that you always interrupt me when I'm not done flirting yet. It hurts, Kats, Kota at least insults me when he has to hear my cheesy pick up lines. Then there's you, who just … enjoys hurting me."

"I …" Katsuma sighed, shaking his head for a moment before he reached out to pat her shoulder. When Eri pretended to look at him with an exaggerated sniffle, her boyfriend took her by the shoulders and brought her in for a side hug, making Eri blink a bit as he clung to her and hid his face in her shoulder.

"F-for the record," He said quietly and nervously, "I … really like your cheesy pick up lines."

Eri paused for a moment, red coming to her cheeks - and then she groaned.

"Oh, man," She whined at him, "you always do that!"

"H-huh?" He blinked. "Do what?"

"That thing where you get all charming and confident, and then you have to go!" She moved her head away to pout at him for real. "Why can't you do that when we first meet up, and I can kiss you silly?"

"Well, uh -" Katsuma awkwardly cleared his throat, trying to take a step back while Eri smirked coyly up at him, and then he jumped as Eri playfully traced his jaw with her finger, "- I - I don't think I would survive if you -"

"Hm, such a mean boyfriend," Eri teased, making Katsuma stiffen up more, "you should give me a few kisses then, just to make -"

“Oi! Punks!”

Both teenagers jumped a bit at the sound of a rough voice suddenly barking at them from behind, making them quickly jump apart and look around. Storming up the street, the police detective glared down at both of them as he adjusted the fedora over his head, and scratched at the scruff of his beard while he held a folder under his arm, his coat open to show the black suit beneath as he walked over from his car. 

While Katsuma looked weirdly nervous under the familiar detective's glare, Eri was the opposite, loosening her shoulders and smirking a bit as she patted her boyfriend's shoulder, and then raised her hands in surrender while the detective scoffed.

"Whatever it was, officer," She said in a dramatic voice, "I didn't do it. I have an alibi."

"Yeah, whatever, you little punk," Katsuki Bakugou grunted as he stopped just short of the two teenagers and glanced between them, "like I would believe that. Anyway, your shitty old man left this at my office," He moved the folder out from under his arm and pushed it into Eri's hands, "some shit about a villain gang west of Musutafu. Give it back to him and tell him not to leave his shit on my desk without telling me first."

"Aw, and here I was thinking you liked it when he gave you homework," Eri snarked at him, taking the folder and tucking it under her arm. Luckily for her, Katsuki merely scoffed as he moved one of his hands out of his pocket.

"You know kid, I miss when you were a shy little shit," He snarked right back at her, "at least you knew when to shut the fuck up back then."

"Yeah, and I wish you knew when to shut the fuck up now."

Katsuki, for his part, barked out a laugh and grinned down at her as he rubbed the top of Eri's head, messing up her hair. While she grumbled and tried to fix it, the police detective turned to look at Katsuma, who was still a bit stiff and at attention on the side.

"Hey, kid," He nodded at him, "tell your stupid sister that I"m expecting her to be training tomorrow morning. I better not catch her hanging out with the other losers she has at UA again, or I'm making her take a lap around the damn city."

"Y-yes, sir!" Katsuma quickly saluted him, while Katsuki rolled his eyes and turned back to his car.

"Now," He pointed between them with a smirk, "I'm gonna pretend I didn't just catch you two about to make out, and go about my day."

Eri merely flipped the police detective off while Katsuma studied his feet, and soon Katsuki started heading back to his car, wanting to take off and head back home. As he disappeared around the corner, Eri turned back to Katsuma, and with a smirk, went up on her tippy toes so she could kiss Katsuma's cheek, causing him to freeze up even more and look around at her with all the blood in his body rushing to his face.

"That'll just be a hint of what'll happen when we hang out Sunday," She giggled flirtatiously, "I'm expecting you and Kota to be paying me back in kind, mister."

With that, she twirled away from him with a laugh, and began jogging back down the street towards her neighborhood. Katsuma, for his part, stared blankly at her with a red face as he watched her press her hand to the pad outside the opaque wall, and then stepped through the two sliding doors while blowing him another kiss, before vanishing from view.

Now on the opposite side of the holographic wall, Eri twirled around as she started making her way towards her house. New Heights Alliance was honestly a dream come true, keeping all of the pesky reporters and paparazzi out of the lives of the former members of Class 1A, 1B and the various other family members and friends that lived there - her own private little neighborhood, patrolled by several pro heroes that doted on her. She waved over to Sato as he sat on his porch with a cupcake to eat, and jogged past Mashiaro and Tooru on their way to their car, although she did pause to feel Tooru's baby bump, with the invisible woman giggling as Eri looked shocked when she felt a kick.

She also made sure to pass by Momo and Kyouka's home next door, picking up their mail while they were on vacation in Venice. She also stopped to chat with Yui, her auntie having been coming back from work and looking absolutely tired, and then cringed when Tenya came up to kiss his wife's cheek and then berate her for getting into another fight at school, which made it clear to Eri that Izuku at least had heard what happened today. She thankfully got out of that by Yui seeing her distress and turning to Tenya to blatantly ask if they were, and Eri quoted, 'going to go at it like wild animals that night', which made Tenya whirl around to gape at her throwing that out there and only giving Eri slight trauma. She waved to Eijirou and Mina as they picked up their kids from the other side of the street to bring inside for dinner, Fumikage as he stayed under his tree reading a book while Reiko sketched in her notepad beside him, Koda as he talked with a few squirrels, and Ibara as she tended to her garden.

Finally, she moved up the driveway of her house, sighing in relief as she approached the three story building, and jogged up the steps of her porch to head inside, hearing the television on.

"- American authorities have confirmed that the prison break on the transfer plane was thwarted by the fourth member of Japan's own Team Clover," the reporter said to the camera as Eri closed the door behind her, "who stopped the hijacking while passing over. The criminal known to the public as Vortex and his gang have been placed back into custody, and are expected to arrive in America in a few hours' time. In other hero related news, pro hero Pretty Boy made a surprise appearance at -"

She didn't pay much mind to what the television said after that, of course, as at the moment she stepped through the door, her nose was hit by the delicious smell of food, making her stomach growl. Dropping her bag down and putting the folder on the coffee table, she quickly made her way through the living room and into the kitchen. As she suspected, Izuku was in charge of cooking tonight, humming to himself as he pushed something into the oven while she walked straight to the table, starting to salivate at the small bread buns put there for dinner that night.

"You're allowed to have one," He chuckled without even looking back at her, and Eri scooped up a bun and immediately stuffed it straight into her mouth, chewing on the whole thing and roughly swallowing it in one go, "I assume you didn't end up getting a snack after training today?"

"Nope," Eri sighed, pouting as she walked over to the kitchen sink beside Izuku and washed her hands, "Sera was being a little shit and made me spin in circles while we were training in the flood zone. I almost puked right in the pool!"

"Ouch," Izuku smiled at her, leaning over so he could press a small kiss on Eri's horn, "well, that sounds like Setsuna's sister. Oh, and I did hear from Nemuri about your fight at lunch -"

"Man," She cringed inwardly, muttering under her breath, "why couldn't you give me a break, Grandma Nemuri? At least for one night?"

"- and we'll talk more about it tomorrow," Izuku smiled as his daughter obviously sagged her shoulders in relief, "at least you didn't start it, so I think your moms and I can maybe let it slide. No promises, though."

"Thanks, Dad. Er, speaking of …?"

"Suka and Ocha are still at the hospital," Izuku's smile faded a bit as he sighed, "but they'll be back after supper, they texted me about twenty minutes ago. And your other mom'll be here soon - apparently, she had to stop a prison break on the plane back to America."

"Oh, yeah, I just saw that - it was that Vortex guy, right?"

"Yep, he broke out on the way there," Izuku was unable to stop himself from smirking a little bit, "and tried to take over the plane. But he ended up running into your mom, so she got everything sorted out - she was actually supposed to be here an hour ago."

Eri let out an excited giggle, moving to her tippy toes again to kiss her dad's cheek, and then moved back through the kitchen into the living room. As she made her way over to the couch, she called out to him, "Oh, yeah, I ran into Kacchan on the way back - he gave me a folder for you to look through."

"Oh! Well, I'll have a look at it tomorrow, I guess - this weekend's supposed to be about you girls, he'll have to wait if he wants me to look over it again."

"Heh, he made it sound like you left it on his desk on purpose. Made you sound incompetent!"

"Well, you know Kacchan - once a dick, always a dick."

Eri laughed at that, settling back on the couch and letting out a sigh of relief as she got her red tie off and put down. She heard her dad move out of the kitchen, pausing to turn on the radio in the windowsill so music could begin playing, and while she closed her eyes, she heard her dad approach the couch, making her smile when he reached down to rub her hair.

"So, uh …" Izuku's voice suddenly turned nervous, making her wrinkle her brow and open her eyes, "… did … Katsuma walk you home tonight?"

Eri felt herself pause at that, her smile faltering - and then she let out a long suffering sigh, and moved to roll over, aware of her dad standing behind her and making her grumble as her hair flopped down on her face.

"Yep," She grumbled into the couch pillow, "and before you ask, no, we didn't go into any bushes and -"

“I - okay, I'm not concerned about that!” Izuku quickly interrupted her before she could get carried away, sounding embarrassed as he moved around her to sit down on the table before the couch. “I'm not saying that you can't make out with your boyfriends -”

"Oh, god," Eri groaned, pushing her face further into the pillow.

"- I - I mean, it's - it's not like your moms or I can judge you. When we were at your age -"

"Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, please shut up."

“I - okay, you know what I mean,” Izuku sighed, reaching out to take Eri's long white hair tied into her ponytail and bopped her in the face with it. While Eri grumbled and looked up at him with a scowl, Izuku smiled and put her hair down, gently taking her arm to roll her over to look at him.

“Look,” He gave her a soft look, “your moms and I - we don't mind that you are dating Kota and Katsuma. We approve. It's just … we want you to be careful. It's … kinda different when it's two boys and one girl -”

“Dad, no -”

“- and it was reversed for us, so we -”

“Dad, please, god, do not talk anymore,” Eri groaned, flopping back down and kicking her feet up and down against the couch. Izuku at least knew to let it go, sighing as he stood up and adjusted one of the straps on his leg brace. However, before he walked back into the kitchen, he paused.

"So, uh - just so we're clear," He went a bit red, his tone of voice making it clear that he wasn't entirely sure if he wanted to know this, "when you say you're in a relationship with Kota and Katsuma - that means -?"

"Yes, Dad," Eri rolled her eyes, "they make out with each other as much as they make out with me."

"Oh. Okay. Good. That's good."

“I'm not sure how that's -”

Before Eri could snark at him, however, there came the sound of beeping at the front door. Izuku glanced over to see the small device on the side table beginning to beep, and he blinked a bit, realization hitting his eyes.

“Oh,” He said simply, “your mom's almost here.”

Quickly sitting up, Eri felt her annoyed and humiliated face fall away, and be replaced by excitement. Swinging her feet off the couch, she hurried around her dad towards the front door, quickly taking off her socks so that she could walk out on the front yard without shoes.

“H-hey, slow down!” Izuku laughed a bit, following her out after glancing backwards to make sure the kitchen wasn't on fire, and wincing when Eri nearly tripped right off the porch steps. “It's not like you don't see her come in every time she lands.”

“But it's always so cool!”

Skipping off the front porch, Eri jogged across the yard towards the sidewalk, her eyes moving up where the dome was showing the sky. Thanks to Mei's creative and insane ideas, she had the thought of making the entire dome a giant one way mirror - they would be able to easily see the sky and area around them, fresh air seeping in from the mini vents lining the dome, but no one outside would see anything but a gray dome that was just opaque enough that no one would be able to see inside. Which meant that all of the denizens of New Heights Alliance usually got to see if there were any flying quirks well in advance.

Soon, Izuku joined Eri outside, chuckling as he wrapped his arm around his daughter's shoulders, and they both waited for a few seconds, Izuku taking a moment to wave to Setsuna and Hanta on the other side of the street as they made their way inside.

And then they both heard it.

A deep, roaring rumbling coming down from the sky.

Looking up, Izuku was quick to take his daughter by the shoulders and back her up so that their hair didn't get singed as the force field of New Heights Alliance opened at the top, letting the returning member of their neighborhood in. The descent slowly stopping just before its feet collided with the road, the giant red suit of armor standing before them landed on the open road with a loud BOOM, bending its knees slightly to absorb the impact, and slowly, it rose up to tower above most of the house, its red head with the blue slitted eyes slowly looking down at the two of them standing there.

There was a long moment's pause as the giant robot stood impressively before them, staring down at them -

- and then Izuku raised an eyebrow. Walking forward towards its midsection, Izuku raised his fist and knocked on the metal, and from within, he heard a snorting grunt.

"H-huh?"

"Melissa," Izuku smiled a bit, "are you awake in there?"

"O-oh! Yeah, uh - totally! Just - just -" They both heard a yawn, "- just gimme a sec, Izu, I'll turn - y'know -"

"Hercules," Izuku commanded in a loud voice so that the suit's AI could hear him, "return to car mode. Override password: 'Snuggle-Wuffle'."

At once, the giant suit of armor beeped, and began to transform before them, Izuku backing up so that it could have some space to work. Soon, the red shade of moving parts shifted into black, and before them was a pitch black supercar, resting on the side of the road. The window quickly sliding down, Melissa poked her head out, pouting a bit as she adjusted her glasses, and suppressed another yawn as Izuku moved forward.

"I could've done that," She pouted at him, while Izuku merely chuckled and opened the door for her, moving in to undo the seatbelt and pick his wife up, careful to mind her head as he plucked her right out of the car, "I'm not - *yawn* - I'm not that tired, Izu."

"Yeah, yeah," He shook his head affectionately, "now come on, it's nap time."

"Izu, I don't need nap time. I need -"

"I'm finishing up dinner right now. Just rest for a few minutes, and it'll be ready for you when you wake up."

"… that's … tempting."

"I imagine so. It was a long flight from America, so just take a little nap, okay? Food will be ready for you no matter what, I'll handle things."

With that, he carried his wife inside, with Eri happily moving after them and reaching out to stroke Melissa's long blonde hair as it hung over Izuku's arm, and together, they all headed inside.

Thankfully, it only took about another hour before dinner was ready and set, and by that time, Melissa had woken up from her nap to at least change out of her red and black jumpsuit, moving into the dining room with a fresh pair of track pants, a t-shirt and a happy grin as she stared down at the food being laid down on the table. Eri and Izuku, at least, had just finished setting the table when they had heard her heading down the stairs, and Izuku had just finished filling her glass with milk as Melissa sat down beside Eri, taking a chance to kiss her horn herself.

“Oh, Izuku Midoriya, I love you,” She sighed in relief as she stared down at her dinner while practically drooling, “I had a single granola bar before I had to leave California, I was starving the whole trip across the ocean. I think I was a bit rougher on that Vortex idiot because I was so hungry.”

“Well,” Izuku smiled a bit at her as he sat down as well, all of them clapping their hands together before moving for their chopsticks, “I figured tonight was gonna be special, so … better to go all out, right?”

“At least we've got leftovers covered all weekend.”

“Now,” Izuku's eyes turned soft, “did you get enough sleep, Mel? Or -”

“Izu,” Melissa smiled at him knowingly, “I'm probably going to crash from jet lag right after stuffing myself, so you don't need to worry about me getting any sleep. I got a few minutes of snoozes, it's all good.”

“Okay,” Izuku still gave her a concerned look, “but you need your sleep, okay? No sneaking downstairs to work tonight.”

“Alright, alright,” Melissa giggled, and then turned to Eri as she ate her dinner, “now then - young lady, I have a question for you.”

“Hm?” Eri managed to get out through her chewing, swallowing and looking around at her third mother. “Yeah?”

Without even pausing, Melissa turned, and whistled. They all heard an excited bark - a high-pitched one - and a Bernese mountain puppy suddenly skittered around the corner, barking excitedly and jumping up on Melissa's leg. The American woman let out a giggle as she scooped him right up to hold in her lap, and then turned with a smirk to look at Eri, who was now busy studying her plate and sweating nervously.

“I can't help but notice,” She pointed out while Izuku chuckled and kept eating, the puppy moving up to lick at her cheek, “that Gūdo here is a puppy again.”

“Aaaaah … yeah,” Eri giggled a bit awkwardly, “isn't … that a miracle?”

“Mm-hm. And what did Itsuka have to say about this?”

“'Stop making the dog live forever.” Eri muttered in shame.

“And … will you?”

“… you already know that answer, Mom.”

“Well,” Izuku chortled a bit, “I'm at least glad Gūdo seems happy. This is … what, the fourth time you've turned him back into a puppy?”

“I mean, my quirk's gotta be released somehow!” She protested. “And Gūdo's happy with it!”

“Yeah,” Melissa giggled, “and I'm sure Itsuka's happy too - at least until she has to potty train Gūdo again.”

“She has experience now!”

“Anyway,” Izuku shook his head, smiling as Melissa put Gūdo back down on the floor, “Eri's been grounded for a week for it, so she'll have to deal with that. How was I-Island, Melissa?”

“Pretty good! I was actually talking to …”

From there, dinner passed by relatively peacefully, with the three of them catching up happily. They, of course, did miss that their table had a few missing members, but they knew that what Ochako and Itsuka were doing took priority, so Izuku was sure to wrap their dinner up to eat when they got home. Melissa told the two of them what she had been up to in America - it was pretty hard work, being the Number One Hero of America after Star & Stripe, but she still worked as hard as she could - and Eri enjoyed listening to her mom's adventures over the week.

Finally, once dinner was done and the dishes were washed, Eri smartly informed the two of them that she was going to go upstairs for a bit to study, and both Izuku and Melissa watched as she all but sprinted up the stairs, Gūdo happily following her, and they soon heard the sound of the door locking upstairs. Raising his eyebrows, Izuku was unable to stop himself from chuckling while Melissa tapped her foot against the floor.

“I think,” He chortled, “she's trying to avoid hearing us being up to something.”

“Oh?” Melissa gave him a coy smile. “And what would that be, Mr. Midoriya?”

“Well …” Izuku paused for a long moment, turning to glance at Melissa - and then he laughed as she quickly tackled him down onto the couch, both of them bouncing a bit until Izuku could arrange himself to sit up, Melissa straddling his lap, and they both kissed deeply.

“Oh, god,” Melissa groaned against his lips as his hand buried itself in her curly hair, “I missed this.”

“We missed you, too,” He told her as he wrapped his other arm around her waist, pressing her a bit firmer against him as they both continued kissing, “weekends are too quick, when - when do you have to go back?”

“Monday afternoon,” She squirmed against him, laughing as he flipped them around to lay her on her back, Izuku on top of her and starting to kiss her neck, “so I got the morning and lunch with you guys before I have to head back in Hercules.”

“Man,” Izuku shook his head, feeling her stroke his strong back, “I just … I kinda wish you could just …”

“Izu,” Melissa paused their make out to move his head out from her neck, smiling ruefully as she stroked his hair, “I miss living here all the time, too. But America needs Hercules, and … well, seeing as I'm the pilot, I'm not entirely sure I can be like Uncle Might and just pick someone to pilot the suit for a while. But let's talk about that later, okay? We've got a long weekend ahead of us, if your moms are gonna come over.”

“I guess,” Izuku chuckled, sitting up on top of her and adjusting her glasses when he noticed them going lopsided, “my stepmom wants to use our kitchen to make brownies, and … well, you know how picky Eri can get. You're right, seems we have a busy weekend ahead of us.”

“Mm,” Melissa smirked, and Izuku squeaked when he felt her roughly grab at his butt, “so in that case … let's get this out of the way before -”

“Booo!”

“Boooooo!”

Jumping a bit at the sudden booing, both Izuku and Melissa were quick to look over at the door. Izuku, for his part, felt his cheeks go a bit red, but still chuckled as he saw both Ochako and Itsuka standing there, their hands to their mouths as they continued to jeer at the two of them, Itsuka closing the door with her hip.

“Come on, this is the most boring scandal we've ever seen!” She pretended to complain. “You guys can't go ten seconds without talking about each other's days. Where's the heated kisses? The shock? You guys wouldn't make Juzo New's top ten scandals at this point.”

“Yeah!” Ochako giggled. “Where's the tears streaming down our cheeks? We want our heartbreak!”

“Well, too bad,” Melissa giggled as she slipped out from underneath Izuku, quickly hopping over the coffee table to cling to both women as they hugged her back happily, both of them leaning up to kiss her cheeks, “that was about all the energy I've got left, I'm freaking exhausted. As fun as a quickie would be, I think I'd just fall asleep right in the middle of it, so …”

“Yeah, yeah,” Itsuka giggled as she moved out of Melissa's grasp, letting her cling to Ochako while she headed over and kissed Izuku's forehead, “not gonna lie, I'm pretty exhausted, too - hospital visit took a long time today. I'm more than happy to just have a bit of dinner and go to bed, honestly.”

“I'll get you both your dinner,” Izuku smiled, kissing Itsuka's cheek before heading over to kiss Ochako, and then started heading into the kitchen to get their dinner heated up. While they heard him hurrying around to get the food in the microwave, all three women paused, and then huddled together, Melissa glancing over at Ochako while Itsuka smirked a bit.

So,” Melissa glanced at Ochako, “does … he know yet?”

Not yet,” Ochako giggled quietly, while Itsuka squirmed a bit excitedly but kept herself quiet, “we're still debating how to tell him. We talked about doing the bit with the oven, or just flat out telling him, but … we want it to be special.”

I'm still convinced we should just give him the baby test,” Itsuka smirked, “let him melt down right on his birthday.”

Oh, that sounds like a -”

Hm?” Izuku walked out, carrying two plates and looking at them in confusion as they huddled together. “What's up?”

Nothing!” All three women squeaked, quickly breaking apart so that Itsuka and Ochako could walk over and take their dinners from their husband, being sure to kiss his cheeks in thanks. While he laughed a bit, he took a step back, allowing them to start heading into the kitchen, Melissa following behind them with a small yawn, and he watched as they all sat together.

Standing in the kitchen's entrance, Izuku simply observed his three wives having fun together, Ochako letting Melissa lean on her shoulder while Itsuka started cutting up her dinner. However, as he watched them happily sit together, Izuku found his own smile fade a bit, and he glanced over towards the window. Walking away from the kitchen, Izuku walked over to the small table beside the door where the picture was, and scooped it up, staring down at it while he felt his smile fall and his expression soften.

It was a picture they had taken right after their first year final exam. Izuku's costume was charred in places, Itsuka had a bit of a bloody nose, Ochako's hair was wild, and Melissa's hair was a mess, but they were all huddled together, smiling in joy and flashing the photographer the peace sign. And in between them all … Izuku felt himself sigh sadly as he stared down at her, seeing the girl happily flashing the peace sign while cuddling into Itsuka and Izuku, and he sighed as he put the picture back down.

Wish you were here, Nejire,” Izuku muttered, and then turned to walk back into the kitchen.

Notes:


https://i.imgur.com/rkMdBSE.png

And that was Chapter 36! And at long last, the time has come! Our OT3 is now ... together! Please put down your bows and arrows and threats to my life, I have done as I have agreed! ... even if I added in a bit of a twist at the end :P

And my, oh my, was this a long chapter! I will admit that this went on a little bit longer than I thought it would lol - what between Izuku and Itsuka finally having their own little moment together, to the conversation in general. I knew that The Talk was going to be the bulk of this chapter, but even I didn't know how long it would take! Thankfully from here on out, we get to enjoy some sweet OT3 goodness, what with Itsuka already being super flirty, Ochako being more open with her problems, and Izuku being ripe for the teasing!

Now then ... for the end. >:D

I know that many of you will be shocked at the little twist - in that if there *is* going to be a fourth member of our little Clover, it's not gonna be Nejire! I now hear many of you sharpening your axes, pulling your swords from their sheaths, cocking your guns, pinning be to the bottom of the garbage bin and threatening me if I did something to our precious girl - and worry not! I do know that whatever you're all thinking happened to Nejire in the future, you're thinking wrong!

That is, of course, not to say that I *don't* have plans for Nejire, and that they're rather ... sinister in origin ... XD

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading! Coming up next is the party - and perhaps a little change to the tags above ...

See you then!

Chapter 37: The Horny Beach Episode

Summary:

With relationship drama out of the way, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka happily begin their first day as boyfriend and girlfriends. But hormones run wild all around, and ... well ... things get horny. Very quickly.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Holy whoa.

Holy whoa.

Holy whoa, holy whoa, holy whoa.

Hand holding … was freaking awesome.

Izuku couldn't help but allow his grin to spread across his face as he walked hand in hand with the two girls on each of his sides, both of them lightly giggling at his quiet muttering. They had just gotten off the train to Chiba, walking towards Itsuka's house at a slow pace to let them walk hand in hand, having been sitting and standing close together ever since leaving the beach about half an hour ago.

They knew that they would have to eventually let go of each other's hands, of course, in case one of Itsuka's neighbors saw the happy state they were all in and inquired about it to the Kendous. But while they were walking there … well … Izuku was going to enjoy himself.

Even if it was to Ochako and Itsuka's mirth.

"Deku," Ochako giggled a bit as their conjoined hands swung in between them, although she wasn't fighting the happy grin on her own face either, "you really shouldn't be that pumped up about hand holding."

"Yeah," Itsuka chortled as well, still squeezing on his own hand gently, "weren't you and I making out like - an hour ago? Where was all this infectious joy then?"

"I mean …" Izuku shrugged helplessly, still giving both girls a happy smile, "… I was pretty nervous about what was gonna happen after that. But this? This is awesome!"

"Hand holding," Ochako snorted, shaking her head at Izuku's dorkiness, "awesome. Sure, buddy."

"Well, it is!"

"Huh," Itsuka used her free hand to pat his shoulder, smiling at Ochako over his shoulder and making Izuku blush at how close her face was to his, "well, if holding my hand gives you all the simple pleasures in life, Izuku, I'm not gonna be the one to stop your little hype train. Honestly, I'm more afraid of what's gonna happen when I eventually hug you when you're like this, though - if you're this happy with me holding your hand, I can't wait to see what you'll be like when I hug you and not let go."

"I mean," Izuku turned to give her a bashful smile, "maybe that is something we should worry about. You've hugged me a lot before, but - but never as my girlfriend. That's going to be great!"

Itsuka paused at that, her teasing smirk fading as her cheeks went a bit red at his earnestness. She then glanced around Izuku at Ochako again, who was likewise looking up at Izuku with her own smile and reddening cheeks.

"Oh, this is just great," She joked to Itsuka, "we've created a monster. A monster made of fluff."

"What have we done?" Itsuka shook her head in mock remorse.

Both girls giggled together while Izuku simply shook his head at them both, and then, they stepped around the stop sign and headed into Itsuka's neighborhood. Reluctantly, both girls let go of Izuku's hands, flashing him an apologetic look but still electing to stand a bit closer than they normally would as they walked down the sidewalk, with Izuku smiling in understanding and putting his hands in his sweater's pockets.

Together, they all began making their way down the street towards the familiar dojo in the distance, Itsuka taking a moment to stretch her arms above her head as she glanced over at both her partners.

"Okay …" She decided, putting her own hands in her track pants pockets - well, technically it was Izuku's track pants, but let's be real, he was never going to be getting these pants or sweater back, they were hers now. "… so here's what I'm thinking we'll do."

"Hm?" Izuku hummed, looking around at her.

"So, you two," She glanced between them with a raised eyebrow, "are gonna be napping for the next few hours, just so you don't crash during the party, and then I'll wake you both up around lunchtime. That way, my dad should definitely be home by then for his lunch break - he usually has an hour to himself - and you guys can help us get the barbecue in the truck. And then he'll take us down to the beach so we can set everything up before the rest of our class gets there. Just so neither of my parents - y'know - suspects anything fishy, you guys should probably stay in separate rooms."

"Right," Ochako yawned a bit, shaking her head, "we, uh … don't want anyone to suspect anything."

"Er …" Izuku glanced between both of them for a second, his giddy look from before disappearing and being replaced by a concerned expression, "… not to drag the mood down, guys, but now that we're talking about it, uh … I - I think I should point out that we - we have a problem with the whole … y'know … secret relationship stuff we're gonna do."

"Huh?" Itsuka looked around at him in question. "What is it?"

"I suck at lying."

"…"

"…"

"… ah, shit," Itsuka cursed, smacking her forehead while Ochako paled beside him, "right. You do. Crap."

"Yeah," Izuku cringed, feeling his shoulders sink, "sorry about that."

"No, no, you don't have anything to worry about," She shook her head, glancing over at her boyfriend with an understanding look, "we can just work around this. It's not gonna be a big deal, trust me."

"R-really?" Ochako squirmed a bit, looking awkward as well. "It's just … Deku really is an awful liar. Er - no offense, Deku."

"N-no, I'm with you, I agree."

"Yeah, but you're not that much better than he is, Ochako," Itsuka was unable to stop herself from shooting a smirk at her girlfriend, "seeing as you two pretty much trip over each other whenever we have to lie about One for All."

"Erk," Ochako cringed, feeling completely called out.

"Still, like I was saying, we can just … work around this," Itsuka encouraged them both, quickly moving in front of them and turning to walk backwards so they could both look at her encouraging smile, "we just have to - you know - not talk about our relationship in front of other people. As far as everyone else is concerned, the three of us are just friends. As long as we don't try to do anything romantic where someone could potentially see us, either at UA or at one of our homes, we'll be fine. As long as we keep it behind closed doors or go someplace we know no one will see us being lovey dovey."

"Er … I - I guess you have a point," Izuku shrugged, giving her an awkward smile, "but, uh … well, I guess I should ask, is - is there anyone who might suspect that something might be going on between us? Because - well - I don't know how subtle I can be when I'm - I'm around you two."

"I guess you have a point," Itsuka sighed, spinning back around so that she could rejoin their little group as they approached the dojo, "and it's not like I'm subtle either. So … well, I know that Set and Yui have been poking fun at me - they know that I kissed you once, Ochako, and they know that I was - y'know - crushing on you, Izuku. But they don't know about anything that happened yesterday, and as far as I know, they don't know that I've accepted my feelings for you, Izuku. So around them … well, they'll suspect, but they won't know anything for certain."

"And - and I'm in the same boat with Toga-senpai," Ochako jumped in, "she at least thinks that I like you two, but she doesn't have any official confirmation that I like you two - she thinks I'm in denial."

"Okay …" Izuku slowly nodded, tugging at his lip, "… and - and is that it?"

"Well," Itsuka thought for a moment, frowning, "honestly, I think Nejire's the only one who positively knows that I like you both, and - and that you two have a thing for each other. She was the one who was pushing me to confess, and she's gonna be helping us try to get some privacy today, so …"

She paused, blinking slightly.

"… actually," She said in an unsure tone, "she'll … probably figure it out pretty quickly once we - we aren't taking her hints and trying to sneak away."

There was another pause.

"Shit," Itsuka balked, her eyes widening a fraction, "I have to let Nejire know that she doesn't have to help us today. And if she doesn't have to help us, she'll figure out that we already talked. And if she figures out that we already talked, then she'll figure out … shit."

Both Izuku and Ochako gave her twin looks of confusion for a moment as she cursed, raising a hand to smack her forehead - and then they both realized what she was implying, making them both zip their mouths closed quickly.

What Itsuka was saying was true - if what she was saying was to be believed, Nejire was going to be trying to help them get some privacy for their conversation. And they knew that, with Nejire's earnestness, she wouldn't rest until they got that privacy. But now that they technically didn't need to have any privacy anymore, that meant that Nejire didn't need to help them. 

And … knowing Nejire … she'd want to know why.

So that meant …

"… so …" Izuku gulped a bit, "… theoretically … could we get Hadou to stop trying to help us if we - we don't tell her? W-would she just accept that she - she doesn't need to help?"

"I …" Itsuka closed her eyes, sighing deeply as she moved back to rejoin the other two, "… imagine we can, but … I was pretty clear yesterday with her what I was gonna do with you two. So … she'd probably figure it out."

"… can …" Ochako felt herself pale a bit, "… can Hadou keep a secret? I mean, if - if she'll probably figure out why we don't need a private talk anymore, then …"

"Yeah," Itsuka sighed, nodding a bit reluctantly, "say what you will of her, but Hadou's a lot smarter than a lot of people give her credit for. And she at least knows when to keep her mouth shut about stuff, at least. So …"

The three of them paused for a moment outside of Itsuka's house, Izuku and Ochako staring forward as Itsuka kept her eyes closed.

"So …" Ochako felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "… we have a secret relationship no one knows about … with the exception of Hadou."

"Seems that way," Itsuka nodded.

"R-right," Izuku nodded a bit stiffly, staring up at the dojo before them as he gulped a bit nervously, taking his hands out of his pockets, "and … and I know that we still a, uh, a Hadou-sized hole to deal with, l-like you said, Itsuka. But - uh - when are we gonna … you know … talk about that?"

"Probably later," Itsuka sighed, turning to give him a smile, "but definitely not right now. You two just pulled an all-nighter due to stress, so you both need to go to bed before you crash. And … I probably should bring Nejire up to speed, so … probably later, we can try talking about it. All else fails, I've got stuff to do tomorrow, but we can take some time to text about it - unless you guys wanna do it in person, and in that case we'll figure out a time later."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, while Ochako likewise scratched at the side of her head, "later. So … so I guess we aren't gonna be able to spend time together tomorrow?"

"Not me," Itsuka shook her head, "knowing my parents, they'd want to have a day with me after all the crap that happened yesterday, so … I think I'll be counted out of any group activities."

"Me too," Ochako sighed, "I should probably spend time with Mama and Papa. So, uh … we'll probably see each other at dinner tomorrow, Deku, but maybe not in the morning or afternoon."

"Right," Itsuka slowly nodded while Izuku looked reluctant but accepting - and then felt a mischievous smile appear on her face as she smirked at them, "so no footsies under the table, you two."

Izuku squeaked, going a bit red, while Ochako snorted and gave Itsuka's shoulder a small shove, lightly knocking her off balance before Itsuka playfully shoved her back. With that, the three of them made their way up to the dojo, walking along the wooden porch to the fence on the other side of the house.

Slipping in through the side door, Itsuka blinked a bit as her nose picked up on a strange smell coming from within the dojo itself, along with the sound of voices chatting lightly - wait, was her grandpa cleaning something in there? In any case, the three of them quickly made their way up the stairs to the upstairs house, Itsuka poking her head in through the door. She could hear the distant sound of voices coming from within the house, so she raised her voice.

"Mom? Eri?" She called. "Are you guys still up here?"

"Itsuka?" She heard her mom call back. "We're in the kitchen!"

"Woof!"

Smiling at the sound of her dog's bark, Itsuka moved aside so that Ochako could excitedly charge in to find Gūdo, and she and Izuku took up the rear as they entered the house and made their way into the kitchen.

At the table, Tenohira was sitting with Eri and eating breakfast, with the little girl looking up from her pancakes to stare at them in surprise. Gūdo, meanwhile, quickly scrambled out from under Eri's hanging feet so that he could jump up to bark in his owner's face, licking her cheek while she giggled before she managed to get him down, and Ochako quickly moved into a crouch so that she could start cuddling the dog right on the kitchen floor.

"Hey, there, you three," Tenohira straightened up from where she was reading a bill, smiling in surprise as Itsuka waved awkwardly to her - and then did a small glance down at the clothes her daughter was wearing, making her raise an eyebrow in intrigue, "didn't know that we were gonna have a full house today, too."

"Yeah, well, we all woke up at pretty much the same time, so we decided to come back." Itsuka explained to her mom quickly, before moving down as Eri opened her arms, and the older girl immediately gave her a hug. "Hey, there, silly, you miss me last night?"

"A little bit," Eri nodded awkwardly from where she had her chin plopped on Itsuka's shoulder, "but you were tired, and I was tired, so we left you at Deku's. And Gūdo kept me company last night, so it's okay."

"Ah, what a good doggie. I bet he missed all of us yesterday, didn't he?"

"Yeah," Eri leaned back as Itsuka let her go, grunting as she straightened up and cracked her back, and the little girl looked around her at Gūdo. She blinked when she saw Gūdo suddenly stand up from Ochako's embrace, letting out a small whine as he quickly spun in a circle, and she sighed as she started getting out of her seat.

"Hira, I think Gūdo has to go potty."

"Oh, probably," Tenohira nodded at the little girl, smiling. She then glanced back up at Izuku and Ochako as the brown-haired girl stood back up, and felt her smile falter when she saw both of them blink sleep out of their eyes, yawning. Itsuka, feeling her mom glance questioningly at her, nodded and moved around the table to talk to her mom while Eri made her way over to gently pat Gūdo's back, to get the dog to follow her.

"Izuku and Ochako didn't get much sleep last night," The orange-haired girl explained in a soft voice, "they were, uh - they were still pretty wired from yesterday, and ended up staying awake all night. I thought they could nap here for a while before we head over to the beach."

"Oh," Tenohira nodded in understanding, giving the other two teenagers a sympathetic look as she stood from the table, "well, of course they can stay here for the morning - the dojo's closed for the day anyway, your grandfather's not feeling very well."

"Really?" Itsuka blinked a bit in surprise. "I thought he looked alright yesterday."

"Well," Tenohira looked a bit unsure as well, "he says that he's not feeling up to it today, so he's just going to handle someone downstairs signing his kids up for our children's program, and then he'll be spending the rest of the day cleaning."

"Oh, is that why I smelled bleach in there?"

"Yeah … not really sure what happened, but apparently your grandpa's going to be giving the dojo a good scrub. Anyway, Izuku," Tenohira looked up from her daughter as Izuku quickly stood at attention, "before you head to bed, could you do me a small favor and take Eri and Gūdo outside while Itsuka gets everything ready for you and Ochako? I'm gonna start getting ready so that Eri and I can go swimsuit shopping - would it be okay if you took them out so that Gūdo can use the bathroom?"

"Oh, uh - sure," Izuku nodded, looking around as Eri guided Gūdo around the corner towards the door that led downstairs, the dog barking a bit and trying to nuzzle her cheek while she giggled, "no problem."

"Awesome, thank you, sweetie."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, turning to smile at the still yawning Ochako, "in that case, I'll go get my bed ready, Ochako, you can sleep in there. After that, I'm probably gonna take a shower to get any more of the gunk that was in my hair out, then I'm gonna be down in the garage for a bit. Do you know when exactly Dad's gonna be back, Mom?"

"Oh, he should be back around noon, so …"

As Itsuka and Tenohira continued to chat between themselves and Ochako continued to yawn, Izuku realized that he should probably head back out to go help Eri, so he quickly turned back around the corner and back into the main hallway. Beside the door, Gūdo gave him an excited bark as he paused to pet his head, scratching his ears briefly before he turned to Eri and opened the door that led downstairs.

"So, uh - shall we?" He smiled, holding the door open for them, and watched as the little girl and the dog began quickly making their way down to the ground floor.

He followed them soon after, closing the door behind them as they made their way downstairs to the yard. He was tired, of course, but he was at least awake enough to help the little girl with letting the dog outside to do his business, and then clean up after him. As he held the door open for the both of them and they made their way onto the porch, Izuku turned to smile down at the little girl as she stood near the edge of the wooden floor with the dog, who was bending down to sniff at the stone garden below them.

"So, uh …" He decided to make some light conversation, seeing Eri glance up at him, "… are you excited to go to the beach with us later, Eri? I bet it's gonna be fun!"

Eri nodded, her smile fading a bit as she turned to look back out at the yard. She was wearing a pair of Itsuka's old t-shirt and shorts, her bare feet padding against the wooden porch as she glanced over at the old swing set. Before he could try asking her if she was looking forward to swimming for the first time, however, she looked back up at him with an uncomfortable look.

"Hey, Deku?"

"Hm?" He blinked at the worried look on her face, crinkling his brow and moving down to his knees so they were at eye level. "What's up, Eri?"

"I'm … I'm kinda nervous," She admitted to him in a small voice. He blinked a bit in surprise before he got control of himself, and tried to smile at her.

"Oh, uh … w-well, I don't think there's anything to be nervous about, Eri," He tried to kindly say, "but if you end up feeling weird around everyone, you can come hang out with me, or Occhan, or - or Ken."

"Um … no, it's - it's not that," She said in a quiet voice, "everyone yesterday was really nice."

"O-oh …?"

"It's just," She glanced around again, and then shook her head and glanced back up at him, "I'm … is … is the guy who hurt you gonna be there? And - and the guy who hurt Ken?"

"Huh?" Izuku felt his brow furrow again. "The guy who hurt me? And Itsuka?"

"Mm-hm," She nodded, giving him a crestfallen look, "the - the yellow guy, with the pointy hair. And - and the boy with - with white and red hair."

"Oh," Izuku said simply, and then he realized what she was saying, making his eyes widen, "oh, you're - you're talking about Kacchan, and - and Todoroki."

"Mm-hm," She hummed again, the sad look on her face being replaced by a look of annoyance, one that surprised Izuku, "I glared at the red and white boy at the gate until he left yesterday. That scared him off, right?"

"Oh, uh …" Izuku felt himself pale a bit - he hadn't even been aware that Eri had been glaring at someone when they had met the Yaoyorozus at the gate yesterday. "I, uh … well … I don't think Kacchan will be coming to the beach today, Eri, you don't need to worry."

"Okay," Eri balled her fists, "but if I see him, I'll give him a kick!"

… okay, was living at a dojo causing Eri to grow more violent? Izuku gulped nervously at that possibility.

"U-uh, anyway," He tried to move on from that terrifying thought, "I - I don't really know if Todoroki is gonna come either. I don't think either of them will, but - but Todoroki might. Don't know, though."

"Okay," She nodded, frowning as she looked across the yard, and then added, "I hope he won't."

"Er … hey, Eri," He gently said, not liking that tone in her voice as he lowered his hand to lay on her shoulder and gave her a concerned look, "I - I know that you must've been worried about me and - and Ken yesterday, but you don't have to worry about Todoroki, okay?"

"But …" She gave him a confused, but slightly angry look, "… but he hurt Ken. And Nej."

"Yeah, he - he did," Izuku gave her, grimacing weakly, "but - but I don't think he's really that mean. I mean … he might look mean, but - but I don't think he's all that bad. I mean, he helped Yaoyorozu yesterday, didn't he?"

"Y-" Eri hesitated at the big name, "- Yao- um - that other girl from yesterday?"

"Y-yeah, her," Izuku nodded, trying to smile, "she was being all awkward around her - her dad, but - but then he came and helped her, didn't he? So I don't think he's all that bad. Honestly, I - I think he's more sad than anything."

"Huh?" Eri blinked, her angry look fading and being replaced by confusion. "Sad? About what?"

"I … well, I"m not entirely sure," He winced a bit at the lie he told her - he knew exactly why Shouto would be 'sad', after all, but he also knew that Eri definitely wouldn't understand things like what Shouto went through, "but … but I know that sometimes, when you're feeling sad, you can - you can get a bit mad, too. That - that yellow guy from yesterday? He used to make me and Occhan feel pretty sad, and because of that, we got angry about it, too."

"Really …?"

"Yeah. But I think that - that yesterday, Itsuka - she helped Todoroki when they were in the ice. So I … I wanna give him a chance," He tried to smile encouragingly at her, "maybe he's nice when he's not being sad."

Eri let out another small hum, turning away from him to look at the ground in both confusion and contemplativeness. Izuku gave her a smile as he rubbed her shoulder, and reached around her to pet Gūdo again, as the dog had been standing there and watching their conversation with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Neither one of the trio noticed the sound of a door sliding open behind them, followed by feet padding against the wooden floor and a small gasp.

"So, uh, let's try not to worry about it, okay?" Izuku moved back just a bit as Eri reached over to pat Gūdo as well. "Even if Todoroki is there for some reason today, everyone else will be really friendly. And I bet that if Gūdo comes with us, he can get a lot of -"

"Spark?"

At the sound of a young, unfamiliar voice suddenly speaking up from behind them, both Izuku and Eri jumped a bit, the little girl quickly moving to hide behind Izuku, and Gūdo excitedly barked as he looked around, only being stopped from charging over by Izuku having his hand on the top of his head. Quickly, Izuku looked around to see a young boy standing near the open doors of the dojo, having flinched a bit at the dog's bark and taken a step back.

The little boy staring at them from the dojo's side door was young - from the looks of things, he was about as young as Eri was, Izuku realized quickly. He had curly, light brown hair, a small patch of freckles on his face accompanied by a pair of brown eyes. He was wearing white t-shirt and shorts, accompanied by a yellow messenger bag wrapped around his shoulder with a small pin that Izuku thought looked somewhat familiar but he didn't recognize at first glance. But what caught Izuku's attention, most of all, was that the little boy was staring straight at him in shock, as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Oh!" Izuku blinked, manners returning to him as he smiled at the little boy and Eri continued to hide behind him and Gūdo, who continued to bark at the stranger. "Uh, hello! We didn't see you there."

"Um …" The little boy looked nervously between him and the entrance of the dojo, but after a moment, he turned back around to slide the door shut behind him. After another second, he glanced back at Izuku and gave him an awkward and shy look, and then moved to sit down on the edge of the porch, glancing down at his feet in his nervousness.

After a few long seconds, Izuku let out a small hum as he glanced between the boy sitting and staring at his feet, and then at Eri hiding awkwardly behind him. It was clear, he realized, that both children weren't exactly gonna make each other feel better with their presence - Eri, of course, for the obvious reason of strangers always making her nervous, and this boy, obviously being awkward around strangers. 

So … well …

… okay, it seemed it was up to Izuku to make this boy feel a bit better, and to get Eri pumped up again. So, with an awkward smile, he let go of Gūdo's head, comforted that he hadn't charged around Izuku to bark right at the young boy, and took Eri's hand and placed it on the dog to get her attention.

"Hey, uh - Eri," He said in a quiet, kind voice, "do you mind helping Gūdo head over and do his business? I'll just be right here."

"Mm-hm," She hummed, still quite nervously, but she did as Izuku asked and gently wrapped her arm around the dog's neck, walking him out into the yard to do his business. Now that she was moving a bit away, Izuku nodded, stifling a small yawn behind his hand, and then carefully looked around at the young boy, seeing him shoot a shy look at him before quickly looking back at his feet.

Trying to fix on an assuring smile, he gently approached the boy.

"Uh … hi, again," Izuku gave the boy an awkward wave, cringing inside, "sorry about that. We, uh - we didn't think there'd be anyone else out here. We just have to help the dog with his business, and then - then we'll go back inside."

"Oh," The boy said quietly, "okay."

Izuku nodded again, wincing at how weird he was acting, and moved to stand beside the boy.

"Uh …" He pointed down to the seat beside the boy, "… do you mind if I sit with you?"

Thankfully, the boy wasn't that awkward, looking a bit uncomfortable but shyly nodding. As Izuku sat himself down beside him, the boy shot him another nervous look, and then glanced around to where Eri was patting Gūdo's back as the dog sniffed the bushes for somewhere to go to the bathroom. Once Izuku was settled back, rubbing the back of his neck, he leaned forward as the boy looked around at him again.

"So, uh …" Izuku smiled encouragingly at him, "… what's your name?"

"Katsuma," The boy answered in a quiet voice, looking back down at his shoes. Izuku continued to be patient with him as Eri stayed near Gūdo, the little girl's red eyes nervously flickering back over to the little boy across the yard.

"Well, uh, it's … nice to meet you, Katsuma," Izuku politely said, "my name is Izuku."

"Y-yeah," He nodded timidly, "Spark."

It took all of his strength not to outwardly cringe at the reminder of his … meme-ality.

"Uh … yeah," He nodded stiffly, "that's me. Spark."

"Mm-hm," Katsuma nodded again, and then glanced back up at Izuku. There was a small pause as the boy continued to look nervous - and then a small, weak smile appeared on his face.

"Y-you were really cool yesterday," He said in a quick tone.

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, taken aback. "I was?"

"Y-yeah!" Katsuma nodded, sitting up and putting his hands in his lap as he looked up at Izuku, and the older boy was taken aback by the brightness that suddenly appeared in his eyes, despite his nervousness. "You were really cool when you were swinging around the trees, in the second round. Avoiding everyone."

"Oh, uh …" Izuku felt his cheeks start to warm up, glancing away a bit bashfully and rubbing the back of his head, "… I wasn't all that cool. I was, uh - I was getting yanked around a lot of the time by Hatsume's devices."

"Yeah, but you still dodged everyone else!" Katsuma defended him from himself, adjusting himself slightly as some of his shyness disappeared. "No one got to touch you until the very end! And you still won!"

"Well, er …" Izuku squirmed, tapping his hand on the porch slightly as he glanced back down at the little boy giving him a slightly excited look - and then he glanced down at the little boy's pin again, and blinked when he finally recognized it.

"Hey, your pin -" He pointed, feeling his own grin start to come back, "- that's Edgeshot! I remember that they sold those pins at one of his appearances at HeroCon! Are you a fan?"

"Mm-hm," Katsuma smiled down at it before looking around at Izuku, "my mom got it for me. Do you know him?"

"Of course I know him!" Izuku balled his fists excitedly, happy that the little boy seemed to match his energy. "I've been keeping up with him since I was ten! I like his mystery."

"Me too!"

With that, the two boys began happily talking together about the pro hero, both of them sitting on the porch and starting to fanboy together. On the other side of the yard, Eri continued to glance unsurely at Katsuma, although the awkwardness in her eyes lessened and lessened the longer she stared at him - and unknown to her, the sight of the wide smile on Katsuma's face caused her cheeks to redden, her heart thumping in her chest. She was only distracted, however, when Gūdo finished up his business and licked her cheek to get her attention, causing her to grumble a bit.

When she realized that the dog was finished peeing in the bushes, she wrapped her arm around his neck, and, despite her uncomfortableness, proceeded to walk him back over towards where Izuku and Katsuma were chatting, Izuku raising his arm for Katsuma to look down at, the sleeve of Izuku's sweater having been pushed back.

"… did it hurt?" The little boy asked, his voice sounding small as he inspected the faded red lines on Izuku's skin. "Getting all blown up? That guy's quirk - it looked like it hurt."

"Well … yeah," Izuku nodded, sighing a bit as he rested his arm down on the porch and glanced away, "it kind of did. But, y'know - I still won the match, so it's not so bad."

"But you weren't able to move on."

"No, I - I wasn't," Izuku sighed again, unable to stop himself from pouting briefly, "but it was for my own good - I ended up getting pretty hurt, so the teachers decided to pull me out. It sucked, but … well, I understood why they did it, they just wanted to make sure I was safe. Besides, third place isn't so bad, is it?"

"No, it isn't," Katsuma shook his head, "but I bet you could've won if you did keep going!"

"Maybe," Izuku gave him another smile, "but it was only thanks to my partner that I got as far as I did, you know?"

"Oh, yeah, she - she was pretty cool," Katsuma agreed, looking around at the dojo as though a thought had occurred to him, "does - is she here, too?"

"O-oh, uh …" Izuku felt himself go a bit red, thinking of his best friend - no, his girlfriend - probably asleep by now in Itsuka's room, "… well, yes, she - she is, but - but neither of us actually live here. This is actually - er - Itsuka Kendou's home. Y-you know, the girl who won the sports festival yesterday?"

"Wait, really?" The little boy felt his eyes widen even more. "This is her house?"

"Y-yeah!"

"Huh …" Katsuma slowly nodded, looking back around at Izuku - and then his eyes trailed straight up to where Eri was awkwardly standing behind Izuku with the dog, making him gasp a bit in surprise and quickly go quiet. Izuku faltered a bit at his expression, confused, and looked around to see the little girl trying her hardest not to hide behind Gūdo.

"Oh! Hi, Eri," He smiled up at her, "is Gūdo all done?"

Mm-hm," Eri nodded quietly, moving to sit down on Izuku's other side, "he's done peeing."

There was a long pause after that, with Eri glancing once at Katsuma and then letting out a small squeak when Katsuma looked around at her at the same time, both children going red and quickly looking down at their knees. Izuku glanced between them in confusion, suddenly feeling like he was being used as a human shield on both sides, before Eri awkwardly glanced at Katsuma again while Gūdo sat down beside her.

"I'm …" She hesitated, clearly nervous, "… Eri."

"Um … hi," Katsuma shyly responded, "I'm Katsuma."

"Hi."

Izuku couldn't help but feel his heart squeeze at how cute the two of them were being, but thankfully, he knew to keep himself quiet. Eri swung her legs aimlessly while Katsuma studied his own feet, and then she cleared her throat.

"Um …" She said in a quiet voice, "why … are you calling Deku 'Spark'?"

"Erk," Izuku was barely able to stop himself from cringing.

"Um … that's what the internet was calling him yesterday," Katsuma explained in an awkward voice, "Spark. I thought it was his hero name."

"'Hero name'?" Eri repeated, confused.

"Y-yeah. Like … um … it's his super cool nickname." Katsuma winced a bit, looking like he had just said something stupid and was regretting it. "I - I mean, it's - it's the name that he uses to fight bad guys."

"Oh," She blinked a bit, "okay."

"…"

"…"

"… I call him 'Deku'."

"'Deku'?" Katsuma repeated, confused. "What does that mean?"

"I … don't really know," Eri paused as well, feeling her brow furrow, and then turned to back up at Izuku in the middle of their conversation. "Deku, what does … um … 'Deku' mean?"

"Huh?" Izuku was taken aback, being yanked back into the conversation now that both children were giving him a confused look. "Oh, it, uh -"

Before he could try to explain in a way that made sense to both children, however, the door behind them that led into the dojo opened again - but this time, it opened with a lot more force than Katsuma gave it, hitting off the wall and causing the small group to jump a bit.

"Katsuma!" The little girl standing at the door sharply said, quickly looking down at her brother as he looked around at the girl wearing red pants and a white t-shirt similar to his. "Why did you come out here without telling me? I would've come out with you!"

"Mahoro!" Katsuma looked around at her in surprise as she stomped out onto the porch, and then looked around at both Izuku and Eri, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. However, before she could demand to know who these two were, what with Eri suddenly looking scared of her appearance and Izuku looking taken aback, Gūdo let out an excited bark.

"Ah -!" Izuku squeaked as Gūdo quickly moved away from Eri and towards the little girl named Mahoro, who only had one moment to blink and realize what was going to happen before Gūdo quickly began licking at her face, the little girl letting out a squeak as she quickly tried backing away from the large dog.

"Ack!" She gasped as the dog barked a bit loudly in her face, causing her to stumble back even more. "What's with this dog?! Who - who's is he?! Get off!"

"Oh! Gūdo, stop!" Izuku quickly got up from the porch, panicking as the dog continued barking excitedly right in her face, and moved to pull him back from the little girl. Alas, the damage was already done, with the side of Mahoro's face and hair being covered in dog drool as she stood there, beginning to slowly but surely tremble with fury as she aimed her glare up at him.

And for a moment, despite her being much smaller and younger than him, Izuku felt a chill shoot up his spine at her hate-filled glare.

Thankfully for him, and both Katsuma and Eri who stared in fear as to what the little girl was about to do, Izuku's life would be spared in that moment, as the door behind them opened once again. Stepping outside, both Teko and a man with similar looking hair to the two took in the scene, the other man blinking in surprise while Teko let out a deep sigh. Gūdo let out another excited bark at the new stranger, but Teko looking sharply at the dog was enough that Gūdo knew to simply sit down on the porch, his tail wagging happily behind him and hitting Izuku's ankle several times.

"Oh! Good morning," The taller man smiled down at Izuku as the teenager attempted to keep the dog calm and avoid the little girl's murderous glare, "I see that Katsuma got a bit adventurous, huh? Can't blame him, though, signing paperwork can be a bit boring."

"Oh, uh …" Izuku quickly sank into a small bow while Mahoro whipped around to her father, pointing at the drool-covered side of her face as though she was displaying a mortal wound, "… sorry about that, sir."

"Oh, no worries!" He laughed, shaking his head. "I'm just thankful that he had a bit of company while I got everything signed."

"Dad!" Mahoro whined, pointing at her slobber-covered cheek again in anger as though he hadn't noticed. "The dog got all over me! Look at all the slobber!"

"Yes, yes," Her dad chuckled, bending over with a handkerchief and wiping some of the drool off her cheek, making Mahoro cringe and turn away while Katsuma wilted and Eri glanced between both siblings again, "that's usually how dogs are, Mahoro - the dog your mom and I used to have before you were born was always so happy to see strangers, it was hard to make sure he didn't jump up on anyone. But anyway, you two, I got you both signed up - thank you again, Kendou-sensei," He turned back to the dojo master, his expression falling slightly, "things have been a bit rough around the house, ever since … well, thank you regardless for seeing us today, I wasn't sure when I would be able to come in another time."

"Of course," Teko nodded, speaking in a slightly gruff voice, "I know the pain of losing someone you love, Mr. Shimano. If you ever need any assistance, or need someone to look after Mahoro and Katsuma while you're working, please don't hesitate to reach out."

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Mr. Shimano smiled at him, "thank you. Now then, you two," He turned back to his small children, "let's start heading back home, shall we? Or maybe we should stop somewhere on the way back for breakfast?"

"That sounds good!" Mahoro nodded, and then quickly moved to scoop up her brother's hand, pulling him up from where he was sitting and beginning to drag him over to their father. As he was pulled away, Katsuma quickly looked around and waved quickly back at Izuku and Eri, with the little girl hesitantly raising her hand to wave back, and soon, after Mr. Shimano bowed to the three of them, the small family walked through the gate and around the corner out of sight.

"Huh …" Izuku looked down at Eri, smiling weakly at her, "… his sister's … wow. But - but Katsuma seems nice, doesn't he?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded, continuing to pet Gūdo absently while staring after where Katsuma went, "he's nice. Is … is he gonna come back?"

"It sounds like it," He nodded as Teko looked back around into the dojo, frowning as he kept the door somewhat closed, "he'll probably be taking lessons, though, but - but maybe he can spend a bit of time with us after that?"

Eri stared at the blank spot Katsuma had been in for a moment, frowning slightly - and then she suddenly moved away from the dog, and quickly ran over to tug on Teko's sleeve. The dojo master let out a small grunt, looking down at the little girl as she stepped backwards.

"Is - will he be doing … um … lessons?" She asked, sounding suddenly shy.

"Hm? Ah, you mean Katsuma," Teko nodded, turning back to her. "Yes, he will - him and his sister both, every Saturday. Why do you ask?"

Eri paused for a moment, glancing down at her bare feet - and then she nodded, and looked back up to the dojo master, her face turning determined.

"Can …" She gulped, and then suddenly balled her fists. "… I wanna learn how to fight, too! Can I - can I have your lessons, too?"

Izuku let out a small sputter of surprise at that, while Teko straightened his back and gave Eri a serious look. The little girl, for her part, was looking serious as well, balling her fists in front of her and giving a pout to the older man as though she were unafraid of him. 

However, before Teko could answer, the door off to the side slid open, and Tenohira came out, holding her purse in one hand and her car keys in the other.

"Hey," She waved to the three of them, causing Eri to look around in surprise, "I'm all ready to go now, Eri. What are you guys talking about?"

Eri paused, and then looked back around at the dojo teacher. He stared down at the little girl for a long moment, and then he let out a small sigh.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," He said, in a way that meant that his word was final, and then turned around and headed back into the dojo. As the door slid shut, Eri let out a small hum, nodding surely to herself, and then quickly made her way over to go and take Tenohira's hand, the mother letting out a surprised noise as the little girl quickly put on her sandals, and then pulled the taller woman towards the gate so that they could go shopping.

"Oh, uh … okay," She looked back at Izuku, giving him a wave despite her confusion, "we'll - we'll be back soon!"

With that, she was pulled out of the gate by the little girl, and Izuku gave her an awkward wave back as he and the dog briefly stood there - and then he looked down to Gūdo as the dog looked up at him with a tilt of his head.

"That … was kinda weird, right?"

"Woof."

"I … guess that means that you don't really understand girls either, do you, boy?"

"Woof!"

"Yeah, me too, boy."

Gūdo panted happily, his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

"So, uh … talking to you and expecting you to answer back is kind of a bad sign. I should probably go to bed."

"Woof."

With that, the two of them went back into the house.


Okay … okay. Something was wrong here, and he didn't like it.

All Might felt himself continue to sweat nervously as he helped Inko with washing the dishes from their lunch, having finished just five minutes ago and volunteering to assist her in drying the plates and putting them away. As they stood together beside the sink, Inko silently passing All Might the wet plates for him to dry and put back in the cupboard, he couldn't help but feel himself begin to shake the longer the awkward silence went on, wondering wildly what on earth Inko might be thinking right now as she continued to wash the plates without a word.

As one might guess, lunch time had come and gone, and it had been in silence. All Might had come to the Midoriyas in nervous but high spirits, only for those spirits to be dashed by how quiet Inko had been, only informing him that Izuku had already left (although the way she had glanced at the shoe mat with a slightly concerned look indicated that there was another pair of shoes that was missing) and Hisashi had to go in to work for the afternoon and evening, so it would be just them. And then All Might's 'slight nervousness' became 'very nervous' when Inko said nothing after that, eating their food in awkwardness.

All of his attempts to make small talk ended with Inko stiffly laughing and trailing off, meaning that All Might was currently in a state of panic as he had no idea what had happened, why Inko was acting so quiet, and how he was supposed to bring it up to her. What, was he supposed to just ask, 'Say, Mrs. Midoriya, I noticed that you're giving me quite a bit of rope to leave myself hanging, why is that?' Of course not!

Goodness, he felt like he was about to pull an Izuku and start overthinking everything again, All Might sighed quietly to himself as he continued to dry the cupwear. They were quiet for a few more minutes, All Might careful not to get any water on his button up shirt - he had the foresight of removing his yellow suit jacket and rolling up his sleeves before taking the wet silverware and plates - and as soon as the last plate of their little lunch rendezvous was finished, Inko let out a small sigh as she dried her hands on the cloth hanging from the oven.

"Er … thank you, Mr. Yagi," She said quietly, while All Might tried his hardest not to wince.

"You're - you're very welcome," He tried to smile through his cringing, "happy to help."

She then turned to look back up at him, and he resisted the urge to shrink up when he looked into her eyes, and saw the raw nervousness there.

"So … um …" She glanced over at the couch, "… would … would you like me to make some tea?"

"Ah … w-well, thank you," All Might nodded awkwardly, and took his cue to head over to the couch, leaving his coat on the chair as he sat down.

It took a few minutes, but soon, after hearing the kettle whistling, he watched as Inko approached the couch holding a tray with two cups on it, putting it on the coffee table before them before sitting down beside him on the couch. They both picked up their cups and sipped on their tea, with All Might trying to awkwardly smile at her even through the silence.

"Er … thank you, Inko," He nodded politely at her, "lunch was - it was delicious. As always."

"T-thank you," Inko muttered into her tea, and continued her staring contest with the floor. All Might stiffened up slightly, but still tried to carry the conversation a bit further.

"So … er … did you get any word from Young Izuku as to when he'll be back?"

"Um - y-yes, I did," Inko nodded, "he texted me before you - you arrived. He'll be back sometime tonight, after the party."

"Ah, well - I hope they have fun. They earned it after everything yesterday."

"Y-yes, they did," Inko nodded slowly, putting her cup down on the table, and All Might missed how some of the nervousness left her eyes, being replaced by determination, "and … I'm glad that you came over."

"Oh, ah - thank you," All Might awkwardly glanced away from her, unable to stop himself from smiling softly. He, of course, also missed how she glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes.

"So …er …" She said carefully, "… we didn't see you much yesterday. How was work?"

"Oh, it was good," All Might nodded, "fairly busy."

"Hm," Inko nodded, carefully staring at the man beside her on the couch as he lifted his cup to his lips to take another sip, "yes. I would imagine being All Might is pretty busy."

"Yes, well …" All Might chuckled, sipping on his tea while chortling a bit -

- and then what Inko said suddenly registered. Made him stare blankly at the turned off TV. And then, without warning, he choked.

"PFFFFFFT -! *cough* *cough* *cough*!"

"Ah!" Inko squeaked, jumping up as All Might's tea spat straight out into the air, and he gave in to a violent coughing fit. Quickly, she pulled a dish rag out of nowhere and quickly began to wipe up the mess on the table, while All Might attempted to get control of his coughing as he raised one hand to cover his mouth.

While he struggled to quiet down his coughing, Inko began to blabber out apologies.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry, Mr. Yagi! I - I thought that - that it would make more sense for me to just - to put it out there, and I was - I was struggling during lunch to figure out to - to ask you, and - and I just - oh, I'm so sorry!"

All Might tried to raise his hand to assure her that it was alright, his cough continuing to fill the apartment as he fought to get control of himself. On the inside, of course, he was a different story, feeling himself begin to freak out at once.

Inko had just called him 'All Might'. Which meant that he had somehow slipped up. And that, of course, meant that he needed to do some serious damage control. 

He couldn't panic now - this wasn't a situation like Ochako's, thankfully, where she confronted him with hard to disprove facts. Hopefully, Inko had just … seen something that she was doubting, and he just needed to convince her that it wasn't what she thought, despite the bubbling guilt inside his chest at the thought of manipulating her. But … but it wasn't like he could just be honest with her! Not after everything he'd learned last night or his suspicions from the last few weeks.

So, once he finally got control of his coughing, he quickly cleared his throat, using his own handkerchief from his pocket to wipe at the tea dripping down his pointy chin (which was mixed with some crimson, he winced). Turning back to Inko, All Might felt like a river of sweat was moving down his back as he tried to smile innocently.

"Er … ah … my apologies, Inko, but - but what was it you said?"

"I …" Inko hesitated for another moment, looking conflicted from All Might's reaction - and then she let out a sigh and nodded. To All Might's worry, Inko straightened up in her seat, and she turned to look him in the eye, looking far more certain than he had ever seen her.

"… I … believe you know what I said, Mr. Yagi," She said in a voice that indicated to him that this wasn't going to be an easy fight, "I … know that you're All Might."

"I - er -" All Might felt himself begin to shake as he tried to keep his poker face, a stiff easy going look on his face even as his fist clenched where it was resting on his leg, "- I - I'm sorry, Inko, but I'm afraid you're -"

"I'm not an idiot, Mr. Yagi."

The cold way she had said that caused All Might to shut his mouth at once.

"I … realize that you must have your reasons to hide this," Inko was sure to stare him in the eye as she kept that same steel-eyed look on her face, "but please don't treat me like a fool. My son might have gotten his brains from his father, but - but he got his attention to detail from me. I … I know that it's ultimately your secret, and I can't make you tell me anything, but … but I know, and I wanted to make sure you knew that I knew."

"I … w-well …" All Might found himself stuttering again, unable to do much else as he was forced to stare into Inko's eyes. 

He knew, of course, that he had to find some way to get out of this, to somehow convince her that she was just imagining things. But the look in her eyes meant that she would see through all of his attempts to bluff his way out of this. And … her request for him to not treat her like an idiot … well, honestly, it somewhat stung. Because he had such respect for her …he … 

… couldn't …

… ah, to hell with it.

With a long sigh, All Might bowed his head, shuffling a bit further away from Inko on the couch, and without warning, buffed up. Soon, the Symbol of Peace himself was sitting on the couch with Inko, the housewife letting out a shuddered breath as she stared up at him, seeing the stiff grin on his face. And then he disappeared under another burst of steam in his regular form, coughing again and holding a hand up to his mouth to cover the blood.

Inko, thankfully, quickly acted, bringing out another handkerchief for him to wipe his mouth with. Once he had gotten control of his breathing, they both fell into silence.

Finally, All Might sighed.

"So …" He said in a quiet voice, "… how … did you learn of this?"

Inko hesitated for a moment.

"Y-yesterday," She explained, "when - when you went down to help Itsuka in her match, and - and I recognized the suit you were wearing. I … I realized that a lot of … of the suits 'Mr. Yagi' wore seemed … baggy. And then I remembered that I asked you to meet with me to get popcorn for Eri, and you never came … but All Might did show up. And I … I put everything together."

All Might, for his part, merely let out a small chuckle at his own foolishness.

"Well …" He shook his head, "… I … definitely wasn't on the ball yesterday."

There was a short pause. And then Inko decided to get the obvious question out of the way.

"Does my son know?"

"… yes," All Might nodded slowly, aware of Inko staring at him hard, "he does. I … back on the day we met, I saved your son from that sludge villain, but … he ended up clinging to my leg while I was taking off, and I ended up running out of time when I had to set him down …"

"Izuku …" Inko sighed, looking disappointed in her son.

"… and I … when I became this again," All Might gestured down to his emaciated form, frowning, "I ended up telling him the truth."

"The truth?"

"Yes. Inko, I …" All Might closed his eyes and turned away from the small housewife, unable to stop the shame welling within him, "… I'm sorry that I hid the truth of my identity from you. But I am being honest when I tell you that this -" He gestured down to his skinny form again, "- isn't how I normally look. The injury that I told you about, a year ago - it was given to me by a villain that dealt me a mightier blow than anything I've taken. The truth is that … I'm down to working as All Might for about an hour a day. Soon, I - I won't be strong enough to turn back to my normal form anymore. I will be stuck like this forever."

He opened his eyes again, turning to look around at Inko and seeing the shock in her own eyes.

"I didn't want to tell you this to frighten you," He made clear, "but … but there's a reason that I kept the truth from you, from the Urarakas, the Kendous, from - from everyone. And it's why I'm asking you to keep quiet about what I'm about to tell you."

"M-Mr. Yagi, what - what's going on?" Inko shook a bit. "You're - you're scaring me."

"And I'm sorry for that," All Might sighed, "but the villain that gave me this injury - I had thought that I killed him. But now … now a lot of things are pointing to the possibility that he's still alive, and I - I can't for the life of me figure out how, and what he's up to. And the truth is … the truth is, I took on Young Kendou as my charge because I want her to become my successor as the Symbol of Peace."

"I-Itsuka?" Inko gasped, raising her hand to her mouth in shock.

"Yes," All Might bowed his head, "and with this villain possibly lurking in the shadows … I'm terrified of what might happen if he surfaces before she's ready, and I run out of time."

"Itsuka … she's your …?"

"Yes. Young Kendou is my successor. I chose her before I met your son and Young Ochako."

"Then …" Inko looked absolutely gobsmacked, looking away while tears welled in her eyes, "… when you took them and trained them on the beach …"

"I wanted to get her ready to replace me," All Might sighed, looking ashamed, "and your son … well, Young Izuku needed my help, so I gave it to him. And Young Uraraka figured out the truth, similar to how you did, and - and because of your son's trust in her, I took her on as my third pupil. All three of them, they - they're good kids, and because I know your son and Young Ochako would follow Young Kendou to hell and back, I don't want them to have to deal with this villain I'm afraid of. Had I known that he was alive before I met Young Kendou …" 

I might not have given her One for All, He finished that thought in his head.

Inko fell silent when All Might trailed off, turning off to the side to stare down at the table in shock. The pro hero allowed her to think for a minute, knowing that he had dropped a pretty big bombshell on her without warning. They were both quiet on the couch for a long moment - and then Inko sighed, sniffing a bit.

"So …" She wiped her eyes, "… when Izuku wanted to try using his quirk for the first time in years … it was … because he was inspired by you?"

"I …" All Might paused, and then shook his head, smiling despite himself, "… not exactly. Your son always had the capability and the will to become a hero. I just … told him the words he needed to hear to get moving."

All Might stared down at his knees while Inko simply looked at him for a moment. And then, as All Might wondered briefly if he should apologize to her for lying again, he was interrupted by a small hand suddenly laying on his own, which had been clutching tightly at his pants leg. All Might blinked, and looked up at Inko as she wiped at her eyes again, and then turned to smile at him.

"Then …" She sniffled, and then lowered her hand to give All Might a teary smile, catching him off guard, "… I … I suppose I have to thank you, Coach Yagi."

"T-thank me?" All Might went a bit red with her hand on his, although he was quick to glance away so she didn't catch a look at it. "There's - there's nothing to thank me for, Inko -"

"There is," She insisted, and then, after a moment, she moved her hand to the compression sleeve on her arm, and rolled it down. All Might stared down at the old burn mark on the housewife's arm, his blush fading, and he looked back up at Inko as tears continued to build in her eyes.

"My son … I know that for a long time, he hated himself for this," She sniffled, "that he gave me this scar. I never blamed him, and I never stopped loving him, but I know … I know that he would see me wear this sleeve, and be reminded of what he did at the playground. I was always scared of how Ochako wanted to be a hero when they grew up, but … but it broke my heart that Izuku so clearly wanted to be with her, but he just … he wouldn't let himself. And - and I won't let you downplay yourself," She gave him a serious look, "I don't know what would've happened if - if you hadn't come to my son and lifted him up."

"I'm …" All Might hesitated for a long moment, seeing Inko suddenly straighten up and take a deep breath. However, before he could speak, her other hand came up to gently take his bony cheek, making his words die immediately in his mouth and a touch of red suddenly bloom underneath her palm while Inko likewise went red.

"If … I'm being truthful," She said in a small voice, "I'm a - a bit disappointed we weren't able to spend any time together yesterday, Mr. Yagi. Because I … I've grown very fond of you, and - and I want to spend more time with you. I … I know that you're worried about this villain, and - and what might happen if someone were to find out you're - you're All Might, but … but I don't want you to distance yourself from me."

"I …" All Might began to shake, not entirely sure what the hell was going on but not entirely sure he disliked it, "… I'm … I - I'm aware that I'm - I'm not very - uh - a-appealing in this -"

"No," Inko shook her head, smiling gently, and All Might shrank a bit as Inko slowly stood up, staring down at him, "no, I'm - I didn't - well -"

She paused for a moment, her face falling and turning redder - and then she sighed.

"Fine," She nodded to herself, "if Hisashi can somehow seduce Midnight of all people, I can do this."

"I - sorry?" All Might blinked. "Your ex-husband seduced - mmph!"

His voice was muffled, however, as Inko suddenly sat up and went in, and he found something soft and plump land on his mouth. All Might's dark eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as Inko kissed him, her other hand rising to cup his other cheek as she held her lips there. 

There was a long pause as Inko squeezed her eyes shut. And then she moved back, and both of them stared at each other.

And then All Might, in a slightly trembling voice, said, "I am … very confused."

Inko was unable to stop herself from snorting a bit at that, turning away to hide her red face - and then her hand fell to All Might's bony wrist. Gently rising from the couch, she pulled him up, All Might standing stiff as a board, and she began guiding him around the couch towards …

"Er …" He squeaked, "… I-Inko, why are - why are we going to your room? Um - w-why are you closing the door? Er … Inko … w-why are you … unbuttoning my shirt … uh …?"

"Mr. Yagi - no. Toshinori. Please stop asking questions."

"… a-alright."

And thus, one could guess what happened next. And Inko was very thankful that Hisashi and Izuku were out for the day.


"The beaaaaaaaaaach!"

At Mina's loud cry of victory and leaping off the parking lot and into the air, the large ensemble of Class 1A and 1B watched as the pink girl soared through the air, her open shirt blowing in the wind as she held her arms up and her legs out at her joyous cry …

… and then she went straight down, with her excitement immediately giving way to panic as she tripped over her own feet and began tumbling down the sandy slope with loud comical grunts, everyone behind her wincing as she rolled down the hill head over ass, until she finally arrived at the floor of sand waiting for it, sliding onto her back and spitting out sand that had gotten in her mouth.

"Ah," Itsuka shook her head at her classmate, while Gūdo barked down at Mina's sprawled out form while tapping his front paws on the ground, his master holding his leash as she turned to the rest of the students assembled there, "well, I saw that coming. Okay, everyone, unless you wanna do an Ashido, let's just go down the stairs, please?"

Several members of Class 1A and 1B glanced amongst themselves for a moment - and then, with similar whoops to Mina's, Eijirou, Denki, Pony, Tooru, Tetsutetsu, Hanta, Setsuna, Kinoko and the guy named Tsuburaba jumped down the hill, some of them like Tetsutetsu and Hanta  sliding down a bit more gracefully than Mina, and others, like Tsubuaba, Denki, Eijirou and Kinoko, tripping over their feet and rolling or sliding the rest of the way.

As the rest of the two classes shook their heads and started making their way down the beach, Gūdo let out another excited bark as Itsuka finally let go of his leash, and the dog took off down the hill as well, pausing to sniff Kinoko's hair as she sat up, before he quickly ran over to where Eijirou was standing up, moving in between his spread legs as he continued barking loudly. He then ran over towards the water, sand kicking up from how fast he was running in his joy.

"Gūdo, don't go too far!" Itsuka called out to her dog as everyone made their way onto the beach, and she whistled to her dog to come back as she headed straight towards the barbeque that she and her dad had set up a half hour ago. She was soon joined by Kyouka, who placed her speaker and player on the picnic bench beside her and started up the music. 

Around them, everyone else began setting up the things for their party, excitedly talking - Hanta and Denki started getting the campfire ready for later, everyone else moving to put their trays of food down on the picnic table, and then started chatting excitedly amongst each other as they all crowded around Gūdo, the large dog more than happy to roll onto his back so that everyone could take a turn doting on him and rubbing his tummy. It was thankful that the dog was basking being the center of attention, so that many of the guys could totally pretend that the girls were showing a hell of a lot more skin than usual, making their cheeks go a bit red. 

For one, only four of the girls chose to outright wear bikinis - Pony, wearing a nice red swimsuit that caused Mezo to clear his throat when she stepped near him to get to the dog, Mina, wearing a leopard-print bikini that was making a few boys like Denki and Rin from 1B awkwardly try not to stare at her jiggling chest as she laughed, and Tooru, who, while not exactly visible, was still wearing a black bikini that left enough to the imagination that the guys were awkwardly trying not to stare at the floating pieces of clothing. There was also Setsuna, wearing a purple two piece, but she was at least aware of how many heads were turning her way, with her poking Shoda's cheek and giggling when he went bright red and quickly went back to petting the dog.

Meanwhile, most of the girls were wearing a mix of the two - Itsuka was wearing a pair of cut up jeans that rode to her mid-thigh and a white open dress shirt showing her abs and the blue bikini top she was wearing (one that was making Izuku, Ochako and Nejire suddenly interested in flicking their gazes in her direction), and the other girls of the class, like Tsuyu and Reiko, were in a mix of shorts and t-shirts. The guys, meanwhile, all were wearing their swimwear with some (like Shoda and Jurota) keeping their shirts on. This, of course, didn't stop some of the girls from eating the obvious eye candy before them, with Mina giving approving nods to a few of the guys and Tooru blatantly checking out Ojirou as he bent down to pet the dog (not that anyone noticed, of course).

While everyone continued to dote on the dog and totally not check each other out, Itsuka smiled and took Eri's hand as she guided her over to where Setsuna and Tsuyu were standing with their own siblings. Sera, for her part, was giving Eri an interested look while the gray-haired girl wearing a nice red swimsuit bought that morning hid behind Itsuka's leg, but thankfully it seemed that Tsuyu's little sister was as nervous as Eri was, hiding behind her sister's long green hair while her little brother looked around the beach with a bored expression.

"So, Eri," Itsuka knelt down to Eri's height and brought her out gently to face the various green-haired people before them, "this is Sera, Set's little sister. She's a little angel."

"Yeah," Setsuna likewise knelt down to her little sister's height, being sure to put her hands on Sera's shoulders, speaking in a much gentler tone than usual, "and Sera, this is Eri. You know, the little girl I told you about when I got back home last night. Remember, you have to play nice with her, okay? She's not as excitable as you are, so no biting."

"Mm-hm," Sera nodded, "no biting. Not yet."

"Not yet," Setsuna giggled, while Eri suddenly looked nervously between both girls' sharp teeth.

"Kero," Tsuyu ribbited with laughter, before she moved to bring her little sister out from where she was unsuccessfully trying to hide behind her, "now Satsuki, please try and get along with Eri - she's very nice, but very shy. And Samidare, please don't try getting them into trouble, kero."

"Ribbit," Her older brother grumbled (or ribbitted), folding his arms together, before he stole a glance over at Reiko as she adjusted her large hat over her head and went a bit red.

While the Asuis ribbited together, Setsuna let her younger sister's shoulders go, and Sera carefully approached Eri as the other little girl continued to hold Itsuka's hand. As soon as they were relatively face to face, Setsuna's little sister smiled and reached out to pat Eri's shoulder. Jumping a bit, Eri quickly looked around at the girl before her.

"I brought my dolls," Sera informed her importantly, "do you wanna play with them with me?"

"Um …" Eri glanced awkwardly up at Itsuka as though asking for her opinion. 

Itsuka, for her part, merely gave her an encouraging nod and let go of her hand, straightening up and smiling down at her. Eri paused for a moment, and then she turned to nod at Sera in turn, and she smiled and reached down to take Eri's hand, so that she could guide her over towards where Setsuna had put down their backpack near their towels. They all watched as Sera also reached out to take Satsuki's hand as well, the frog girl looking nervous, and the three girls quickly made their way over to the backpack while Setsuna turned to grin at Tsuyu.

"I guess I'll be on babysitting duty first," She volunteered, and Tsuyu ribbited at her with a smile, "just to make sure Sera doesn't go back on her 'no biting' promise, anyway."

"Thank you, Setsuna," Tsuyu nodded at her, "I just have something to take care of quickly, kero, and then I can come back and take over."

Itsuka smiled between both of them, and then a thought occurred to her. She then turned to Setsuna and patted her shoulder to get her attention.

"Hey, Set," She dropped her smile a bit as she put her hands in her cut jean pockets, "did you hear from Yui at all? I know she was supposed to be visiting Iida, but she didn't respond to my text."

"Oh, yeah," Setsuna grimaced a bit, her own smile fading, "yeah, I talked to her at lunch. Apparently, she's not allowed to visit the Iidas - but apparently he told her to head home. Said thanks for coming to see them, but he couldn't leave the hospital room - and that was pretty much it. She wasn't feeling up for the beach afterwards, so she's gonna stick by the hospital for the rest of the day."

"Yeah," Itsuka sighed, shaking her head, "yeah. Well, let's - let's just hope that it's not as bad as it might be, y'know?"

"Kero," Tsuyu nodded in agreement, staring down at the sand sadly.

Indeed, most of the class were aware, from a text from Tenya in the group chat this morning, that Tensei was in the hospital, and that Tenya had gone to visit him. They had all sent their condolences, but Itsuka had been worried about how clipped Tenya's messages were - usually they would be punctual and all in one message, but he had seemed scatter-brained and distracted. 

So she was just … hoping that everything would be fine.

"Hey, uh -" The three girls blinked a bit and looked around to see Hanta raising a hand in greeting as he approached them, looking relaxed in his exotic looking shorts with no shirt (something that made Setsuna tilt her head in curiosity)  "- maybe I could help you out with babysitting duty, Tokage - I mean, I keep seeing Sera shooting looks my way, so I better go and see if she wants to play for a bit."

"Oh, yeah, totally, dude - she's been itching to play with you ever since we had dinner a month ago," Setsuna chuckled, patting him over and walking with him towards the little girls - although not before Setsuna was sure to use her hip to tap against his, making him blink and go a bit red at the barest feeling of her bare shoulder against his, "so you'd best keep your eyes to yourself for now, Tush Bro - no need to make the little girls wonder what's on my butt that's making you stare at it so hard."

"Peh," Hanta shook his head, unable to stop himself from chuckling, "I'm pretty sure you'll be the only one needing to keep your eyes to yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, dude, whatevs," Setsuna chortled. As they walked together, however, Hanta turned to glance back at some of the guys from 1B gathered around the dog - he remembered how they had hit on Setsuna and she had teased them back all yesterday, and how many of them hadn’t kept their eyes to themselves with her bikini on.

So, with a small frown, he nodded to himself and stuck a bit closer to the girl beside him as they approached the little girls.

Behind them, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she turned away, content with the little kids being distracted with Sera's toys for the time being. Looking around at everyone as they continued setting everything up for the afternoon, with Eijirou and Yosetsu putting up the volleyball net, Denki trying to bounce his basketball half-heartedly in the sand, and the other girls trying to organize everything on the table, Itsuka let herself relax a bit as she spotted Izuku walking over to help with setting up the net, and Ochako standing amongst the other girls. 

She then turned to look up as she saw someone moving towards the stairs up at the parking lot -

- and then she felt her lips suddenly thin.

"Hellooo, kohais!" Himiko happily greeted everyone as she hopped down the steps towards the beach, throwing her hands up in the air as everyone shouted greetings. Unlike everyone else, who were wearing either t-shirts or open button shirts, Himiko was wearing a thin black sweater with the zipper down, exposing the black bikini she was wearing beneath it as she happily skipped onto the beach, kicking off her sandals as she waved hello to some of the girls. 

Behind her, Mirio and Tamaki waved - or more accurately, Mirio waved while Tamaki awkwardly studied his feet - before the two headed back to the parking lot, but despite the heaviness in her stomach seeing her senpai, and being reminded of what Nighteye had said to Izuku a few weeks ago, Itsuka kept her attention on Himiko as her eyes somewhat narrowed. She had known, of course, that the Big Three had agreed to swing by the beach for their party, due to Mina having confirmed in the group chat that Himiko was going to be making an appearance. 

But now she had to focus on Himiko, feeling herself straighten up as she saw how obviously Himiko was looking over at Ochako, before the older girl licked her lips and started sauntering over, swaying her hips purposefully.

Quickly straightening up, Itsuka quickly began making her way over to intercept their senpai - she knew that it was pretty much useless to feel jealous now, but she couldn't help the way her heart was thumping nervously with Himiko obviously staring down at Ochako's butt -

- only for a hand to suddenly shoot out and stop her from moving forward, and she looked around in surprise as Tsuyu smiled up at her.

"No need to worry, kero," She confirmed to the confused taller girl, giving her a thumbs up, "Nejire asked me to run interference."

With no further explanation, the frog girl quickly made her way around Itsuka and hurried over to intercept Himiko in her stead. Itsuka watched in confusion as Tsuyu reached out to pat Himiko's shoulder, causing the older girl to stop in her tracks and look around in surprise and confusion as Tsuyu began lightly talking to her, the taken aback look on Himiko's face fading slightly as she looked intrigued by something Tsuyu said.

"Oooh!" Nejire suddenly came up behind Itsuka, causing her to jump a bit in surprise and look around at her in confusion as her friend happily giggled. "I didn't think Tsuyu would work that fast!"

"Er … Nejire?" Itsuka gave her a confused look as she turned to face her. "What's going on? Why is Tsuyu -?"

"Oh, well, I was doing some thinking this morning," Nejire confirmed, happily clapping her hands as the sash around her waist fluttered a bit - which of course caused a bit of Nejire's thigh to appear and making Itsuka quickly whip her gaze back up to her eyes, which also made her face go red - "and when I saw that Toga-senpai was gonna come, I was like 'uh, oh, spaghetti-o!' and I started thinking of ways that we could distract her from messing around with Midoriya and Uraraka! But I was kinda stumped because I didn't really know what would distract her, but when I asked Tsuyu for advice - but I didn't say anything specific, by the way! - she said that she would take care of it! Not really sure why she was so cool with hanging out with Toga-senpai, but … well, I'm not gonna argue!"

"I … well, I guess not," Itsuka shrugged, still grateful that Nejire had enough foresight to see this coming. However, before she could thank her friend for looking out for her (or maybe express guilt over how her jealousy had almost made her make a scene), Nejire's face suddenly turned business-like and professional, patting Itsuka's arm before suddenly grabbing it and guiding her over towards the stairs.

At how serious Nejire looked, Itsuka suddenly realized why she was being subtly dragged away from the group, and she felt herself gulp a bit.

"So, uh - Nejire," She tried to start, "about the - you know, the plan -"

"Yep! The plan! Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep," Nejire bounced around a bit happily, despite her serious face, "I was up all night planning!"

"I - wait," Itsuka blinked, looking around at the blue-haired girl in alarm, "all night?"

"Yeppers!" Nejire nodded, and staring a bit closer at Nejire, Itsuka gulped at the purple bags underneath the girl's eyes, and how, staring into her eyes, they looked … slightly manic, which made Itsuka gulp nervously as Nejire held up her phone, showing a lot of text in a note she had.

"So," She subtly began to shake, which only made Itsuka feel more nervous, "I was so excited about you guys talking today, I couldn't really sleep! But that's okay since I was pretty hyped up after yesterday - I thought I was gonna just pass out when I got home, but nope! Was wide awake! I kinda waited for Yuuyu to get back so I could talk to her, but … well, I ended up going to bed, and I think I heard her come in when no one was noticing, so … well … that's that! And when I was laying on my bed, that was when I thought, 'well, if I'm gonna be awake, might as well make it count'! So I went through all the possibilities and problems we might run into today, so we know what might happen and how we'll get you guys some room to talk!"

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka felt herself start to sweat.

"Okay, so we already took care of Toga-senpai, so we don't need to worry about her …" Nejire hummed, erasing something on her phone, "… so now we just need to figure out how to get Midoriya and Uraraka by themselves! Should I go over and hang out with the girls, and maybe get Uraraka alone? Or wait, maybe Midoriya will start playing volleyball, so … hm …"

"Er … Nejire …?"

"Anyhoo!" Nejire swished her fingers a few times against the screen to scroll through her plans, unaware of Itsuka grimacing weakly behind her. "So let's do a recap - Tokage and Tsuyu will be handling the kids, so we don't have to distract ourselves with Eri right now. But then there's Kirishima, who'll probably want to hang out with Midoriya … but we just gotta find an opening! Maybe we can ask Ashido to distract the guys? And then we'll go find Uraraka!"

"N-Nejire …"

"Of course, we'll have to be subtle about it, so -"

"Nejire!" Itsuka quickly grabbed Nejire's attention again so she could stop rambling, the blue-haired girl blinking when she felt Itsuka grab her shoulder, and looked around at her.

"Listen," She looked embarrassed, "there's, uh … there's actually no need for the plan."

"Eeeeh? Why not?" Nejire gave her a surprised look, still holding up the phone. "But I spent all night on it! I promise, it's super good! This way, you and Midoriya and Uraraka can meet and -"

"We already talked," Itsuka hurriedly said before she could continue, which thankfully stopped Nejire right in her tracks, "this morning. We've - we've already had the conversation. We're good, Nejire."

There was a long pause as both girls stared at each other - Itsuka with sympathy in her eyes, and Nejire blankly. And then Nejire's eyebrow twitched as she turned to look down at the phone.

"… so …" She said quietly, before looking back up at Itsuka, "… I did all that planning … stayed up all night … for nothing?"

"Er …" Itsuka grimaced again, "… yes. S-sorry."

They were both quiet for another moment - and then, slowly, Nejire began pouting at her. Itsuka merely winced again and nodded slowly, accepting her fate as Nejire let out a small, adorable hum of frustration, and then began lightly beating on Itsuka's shoulders. The orange-haired girl did nothing to resist as Nejire gave herself over to a tiny tantrum, merely going with the light punches as she accepted her mild punishment.

Once Nejire was satisfied with the 'savage' beating, she moved to sit down on the bottom stair leading up to the parking lot, pouting hard while Itsuka nodded and sat down beside her.

"Yeah," She sighed, "yeah. I'm … really sorry, Nejire."

"It's - mmmmm," Nejire shook her head, balling one fist and shaking it slightly before she put it down, "no, no. It's okay. I mean, it's not okay, but - but I'll deal."

"Y-yeah. So, uh …" She gave her an awkward smile, "… I guess I should say that I'm … dating Ochako and Izuku now? Just - just don't tell anyone."

Nejire hummed a bit to acknowledge her, still pouting as she moved to hunch over on the seat, her cheek in her hand as she sighed -

- and then she blinked.

"Wait," She looked around at Itsuka, her annoyance melting into surprise, "you guys are - you're dating?"

"Uh …" Itsuka went a bit red, flashing her a small peace sign, "… yeah. We - we are."

"…"

"Soooo … uh -"

She was interrupted, however, by the sound of Nejire letting out a squeal of happiness, her sullen mood completely evaporating. Before Itsuka could blink, Nejire grabbed her shoulders and made her squeak as she was briefly shaken around.

"Oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh, oh, my gosh!" Nejire gushed happily, continuing to shake Itsuka around like a ragdoll. "That's so exciting! You guys are -? Oh, that's so cool! Is it a full - um - well, I don't really know, but tell me all about it!"

"I - uh - I - w-would -" Itsuka managed to get out through the shaking.

Thankfully, Nejire seemed to catch onto the fact that shaking Itsuka around wouldn't get her any answers, so she quickly stopped, allowing Itsuka a chance to lean back and get over her dizziness. While she recovered, Nejire trembled in excitement and balled her fists together.

"Soooo?" She giggled gleefully. "C'mon, c'mon! Tell me how it went!"

"I - okay, okay." Itsuka shook her head, unable to stop herself from laughing gently as she continued to lean back on the stairs. Nejire was quick to join her in leaning back, both girls relaxing under the warmth of the sun.

"So … well … things went pretty well once we - y'know - got over all the awkwardness," Itsuka shrugged, "we talked, I admitted how I felt, Izuku and Ochako admitted how they felt. And then we just … we decided that from now on, we're gonna try going steady. Just … take it day by day, see where it all goes."

"Ooooooh …" Nejire happily clapped her hands together, looking mystified and a bit red. "So - so you're all together now?"

"Yep," Itsuka smiled, blushing a bit in her bashfulness, "I'm dating them, they're dating me, they're dating each other. One big triangle … thingy."

"Oh, that's awesome!" Nejire looked excited for her, reaching out to shake her a bit by the arm - although thankfully not with the force of earlier. "So you guys are all dating! Are you gonna go on dates soon? What are you thinking of doing? Are you gonna go eat together? Go walk in the park? Karaoke, maybe? Wait, does it have to be everyone together, or can you guys do separate things? Or does it only count when you guys are all together?"

"I'm …" Itsuka hesitated for a moment in the onslaught of questions, feeling herself blink a bit at - well, everything that was getting thrown at her - and then shrugged her shoulders, "… well, honestly, Nejire, I - I don't really know. We just started the relationship this morning - I'm not sure how exactly it's gonna work, but - but we'll figure it out."

"I guess!" Nejire threw her hands up, still trembling with excitement. "Oh, but I'm so happy for you! Even if I'm mad that I stayed up all night trying to figure stuff out for you."

"Er … sorry, again."

"It's no biggie! Well, it's kinda a biggie, I'm very tired. But I'm also wired! Which means I'm gonna crash once I get home. And it'll be your fault. But that's okay! You guys figured it out!"

"Right," Itsuka nodded, still looking a bit worried about the purple bruises under Nejire's eyes, "just … let me know if you need to take a nap, okay? I'll cover you if you wanted to sneak under an umbrella and get some rest. We've also got a tent you can stay in, I'd just need to set it up."

"Oh, yeah, of course! But I think I'm good for now," Nejire adjusted herself on the stairs, while Itsuka sighed and fixed some of her hair behind her ear. 

They were quiet for a moment, watching as Setsuna splashed Hanta playfully in the water while Sera and Satsuki helped Eri step in, the gray-haired girl wincing as water splashed on her feet. And then Itsuka let out a soft sigh.

"I, uh …" She shrugged, "… also told them about … well … our kiss yesterday."

Nejire was quiet at that. Itsuka stole a small glance at her, and while her friend didn't look … well … sad about it, her smile definitely faded a bit.

"Oh," She said in a simple voice, glancing at her out of the corner of her eyes, "and, uh … how'd it go?"

"Uh … well …" She shrugged a bit, "… they … aren't really judging, honestly. I - I mean, Izuku was a bit shocked at how many girls me and Ochako have been kissing -"

"A good shock or a bad shock?"

"- mix of both, I guess?" Itsuka went red while Nejire was unable to stop herself from giggling. "Anyway, we - we talked about it, and we agreed that there's a … well … you -sized hole that we have to eventually talk about."

"Ah," Nejire felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "and, uh … is that a … good hole or a … bad hole?"

"I'm …" Itsuka paused for a moment, not sure how to answer that - and then she sighed, straightening up in her seat and turning to smile at her friend,  "… you know what, Nejire? Let's, uh - let's go on a little walk. Honestly, I'm - I'm pretty sure that it's not a bad hole, but - but we should still kinda … uh … talk strategy. Especially if I'm not gonna be blatant with Izuku about your crush on him - but I can tell you what he told us, and - and you'll know where to go from there."

"Oh, uh - right!" Nejire quickly nodded, moving to get up as well. "Yeah, let's walk and talk!"

"Right. Just, er - let me make sure someone mans the grill."

Thankfully, it didn't take long for Itsuka to get some people to volunteer to look over the now active barbeque, with two guys from 1B, Bondo and Kamakiri, being relatively close by that they could keep their eye on it so that when she got back, she could get started with their lunch. With that, the two girls began walking down the long stretch of beach, Nejire looking a bit nervous but Itsuka smiling at her in reassurance as they walked relatively close together.

Meanwhile, Ochako watched the two girls move away from the group, feeling her brow furrow a bit before shaking her head and putting her pink backpack down, having gotten some sunscreen on her. Walking back towards where Mina, Pony, Tooru, Ibara, Kinoko and Kyouka were standing around the cooler, she saw Kyouka frowning down at her phone, while off to the side, Fumikage and Reiko set up their umbrella and settled down in the shade, being joined by Kuroiro as both he and Fumikage gave each other intrigued looks.

"… man," Kyouka grumbled as Ochako rejoined the group, "looks like Yaoyorozu isn't gonna be coming today - apparently she's staying home because her dad wants to talk about the sports festival with her. She says that she hopes we all have fun."

"Oh, dear," Ibara raised her hand to cup her cheek, looking a bit saddened, "I had thought that she didn't look quite pleased during the awards ceremony yesterday. I hope that she isn't beating herself up about how the last match ended."

"Nah," Kyouka put her phone back into her hoodie's pocket, her earjacks tapping together slightly, "she probably just wants a little break, if she's gonna be staying home. I mean, I checked social media this morning and she was getting … uh … mixed opinions about her and Todoroki conceding the last match. That shouldn't mean that she's in trouble with her old man, right?"

"I don't think so," Ochako shook her head, the other girls looking around at her, "I saw her leave with her parents, Todoroki and his dad yesterday - she seemed happy that they were all going home together, anyway."

"Left with Todoroki, huh …" Kyouka's face fell a bit, glancing down at her sandals. While she went quiet, Ibara turned over to where Kinoko was standing beside her.

"So that's Yaoyorozu not showing either," She shook her head, "and Monoma, Todoroki, Haya and Togeike won't come either?"

"Monoma wasn't interested, shroom," Kinoko shook her head, "and Haya has work, and Todoroki's … uh … Todoroki. But Togeike just texted me that she'd be late - oh! Speak of the devil, there she is!"

Blinking, the small group of girls turned to see who was coming down the stairs, Ochako blinking a bit. Coming down to the beach, the girl with dark hair tied up into twin pigtails on either side of her head raised her hand in greeting, looking sullen even as she stepped into their group, wearing a pink t-shirt and shorts.

"Yo," She greeted them all with a sigh, "sorry I didn't get here earlier, traffic sucked."

"Oh, uh …" Ochako looked awkward as the other girl glanced over at her, "… h-hi! I guess we didn't meet yesterday -"

"Nah, we didn't," She shook her head, sighing as she cocked her hip, "wasn't really interested in talking to anyone after that Shinsou prick knocked me into the pit, and I was sitting with one of my buddies in general studies during the final rounds. Besides, some people tend to forget that I'm there -"

"That was one time," Ibara sighed dramatically, "and I said that I'm sorry!"

"Anyway, I'm Chikuchi Togeike," The other girl introduced herself, ignoring Ibara and making the girl with vines pout at her, "met everyone else in your class during lunch, but you were a no show, I guess."

"Oh, uh … n-no, I - I had - uh - things going on during lunch."

"Yeah," She nodded, at least polite enough to shake Ochako's hand, and then glanced around at the other girls, "so what did I miss?"

"Nothing much," Kinoko giggled, "just talking about how shroomin' many no shows there are. Haya, Todoroki, and Monoma from our class, and Yaoyorozu, Iida, and Kodai from the other class."

"Yeah, well … I'm not too upset about Haya," Chikuchi sighed, looking a bit cross, "she was acting like someone pissed in her cereal after her match yesterday, so - yeah, I kinda need a break from her."

"I'm sure that losing to Todoroki didn't put her in a good mood," Ibara sighed, while Chikuchi gave her a pout, "so I would hope that you don't judge her too harshly."

"Well, hopefully you won't stick your nose in my business again, and you don't have to worry about that."

"My apologies for being empathetic," Ibara said with a slight trace of venom in her voice.

Ochako gulped a bit as she glanced between Ibara and Chikuchi, feeling a weird amount of tension there as the other girls likewise seemed to pick up on the sudden air of hostility between both girls. 

Thankfully, Kinoko decided to change the topic, turning towards where Pony was being quiet and staring off at something.

"Hey, uh … Tsunotori, right?" She tapped on Pony's arm, causing her to jump a bit in surprise and look around at the group looking at her. "Are you okay? You haven't talked at all since we got to the beach."

"Oh, uh - yeah, I'm - I'm good!" She confirmed, flashing them all a shaky thumbs up as they all turned to look at her. "It's just … uh …"

They all watched her for a moment, seeing her face fall as she stared down at her hooves, and then back over to Mezo as he checked something on his phone - and then she took a deep breath, her cheeks filling with red, and jumped up and down once.

"Okay!" She clapped her hands together before turning to the rest of the girls. "Am I cute, guys?"

"Huh?" Mina raised her eyebrow. "Uh … I guess? Yeah, you're cute."

"Okay," Pony let out a small hum of anxiety, looking down at her body. Quickly, she tapped at her slightly thicker arms, lightly slapped on her stomach to see it ripple a bit, bent down to tap on her thighs, and then looked around as she lightly smacked her butt. The other girls watched her in confusion as she continued to lightly slap her body to see it rippling - and then she nodded, a confident grin on her face.

"Oh, yeah," She nodded to herself, speaking in English, "I'm cute as fuck right now."

With that, she spun on her hooves in the sand and began making her way over to where Mezo was standing near the barbeque, not wearing anything on his top other than his mouth covering, and then tapped on his arm to get his attention.

"Shouji-kun, " She batted her eyelashes, "I'm, uh, I'm in the mood for ice cream. Wanna come with me?"

"Hm?" Mezo blinked. "Oh, uh - sure, Tsunotori. Let's go, then."

Together, the two of them turned away from the barbeque, and started heading their way towards the stairs. The girls near the cooler of drinks allowed their jaws to drop as Pony kept her head high, strutting a bit as Mezo followed her up the stairs, and soon they were out of sight, both of them hearing the distant sound of Pony beginning to chat with her friend as her hooves hitting the ground faded away.

"… wait," Kinoko felt her eyes widen, "did … what just happen, happen?"

"I … think so," Kyouka looked shocked as well, glancing around and seeing Mina beginning to tremble in excitement, "did … did Pony really just …?"

"Goddamn," Chikuchi cocked her hip again, unable to stop herself from looking impressed, "girl knows what she wants."

"Oh my gosh!" Mina finally squealed, holding her hands up to her mouth to prevent her shrieks from echoing around the beach, and was soon joined in her excitement by Tooru shaking her. "Pony really just said 'fuck it, I'm getting my man!' I had a feeling that they had a thing for each other!"

"Wow!" Tooru giggled excitedly. "That almost reminds me of how I asked Mashirao out! I wasn't gonna take no for an answer!" There was a pause, and then her voice became a bit shaky as she realized how that might sound. "I mean, I would've if he did say no, but - but you guys know what I mean."

"Oh, yeah, I know what you mean, girl," Kinoko giggled mischievously, looking around the group with a wide smirk, "you think we can get some of the guys to get off their butts and start asking us out, too? I'd love to sneak to the pier over there and get some quality time, if you know what I mean!"

"I - Kinoko!" Ibara gasped, aghast as she wheeled around and stared at her in shock. "That's vulgar! And sinful! Please don't tempt the poor boys of this beach with your sinful body!"

"Oh, please," Chikuchi chortled, drawing the vined girl's attention, "it ain't sinful if a guy and girl decide to get touchy together, Shiozaki. You should probably stop looking around at other people's 'sinful' bodies if it bugs you."

"I - you know that's not what I meant, Togeike!"

Mina giggled a bit nefariously while Ibara continued to lecture an unimpressed Chikuchi, and as the pink girl began looking around the beach eagerly, Ochako felt dread begin to creep up her spine, which seemed to be the same feeling Kyouka got as well as Mina's black and yellow eyes swept around.

"Er …" Kyouka awkwardly began to edge away from Mina's evil eye, and Ochako quickly nodded as she followed her away from the group before the evil pink shipper could think to get her hands on them, quickly heading over towards the bench where some of the food was. While they pretended to look over the veggie tray, Ochako absently raising a carrot to nibble on, Kyouka sighed and looked around at her.

"Oh, uh … yo, Uraraka," She said in a slightly awkward tone, while Ochako glanced at her, "so … you said that Yaoyorozu's … she was good yesterday? When she left?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah," Ochako nodded a bit, "I mean, she was kinda … well …"

She paused for a moment, not entirely sure what to say at the moment - honestly, she was aware of how awkward Momo had been around her dad yesterday, which had set off a few warning bells in Ochako's head from how weird Daikoku was - but she knew that making Kyouka unnecessarily worried at the moment would probably put a damper on the joyous mood around them. So she shook her head and looked around at her friend.

"… I'm … sure she's fine," She confirmed to her, biting her lip a bit, "I bet she's just … disappointed that she had to concede her match against Itsuka and Hadou. You know that it's - it's probably not how she wanted yesterday to end."

"Yeah," Kyouka nodded slowly, "yeah. You're right. It just … you know … sucks. Kinda wish she was here."

There was a pause as Ochako hummed and picked up another carrot to munch on. And then Kyouka blinked, and her cheeks went a bit red.

"T-to have fun," She clarified quickly, not looking up at Ochako at all as she quickly turned her head away, and Ochako glanced at her in confusion, "you know, after - after how stressful yesterday was. Y-yeah."

"Er … right," Ochako nodded a bit unsurely, "yeah."

With that, she walked away from where Kyouka was nervously fiddling with her earphones, getting the sense that her friend probably wanted a bit of alone time before she could try mingling with the crowd again. 

Looking around the beach as everyone continued chatting with each other, her eyes briefly searched for where her girlfriend was, and then found her walking along the water while still talking to Nejire, the blue-haired girl excitedly chatting with Itsuka while the orange-haired girl tucked some hair behind her ear and smiled. It was pretty clear, from where Ochako was standing, that Itsuka was probably talking to her about what had happened this morning, due to the redness on Nejire's face.

Still, Ochako felt her face fall a bit as she saw how closely the two of them were walking together, and let out a small sigh as she turned away.

She … knew that it was pointless to really get jealous at this point. She knew that Itsuka wasn't the kind of person to just - you know - go off and do something she knew would upset her and Izuku. It was just … jealousy wasn't something that could be so easily overcome, Ochako frowned. Sure, all her thoughts of Itsuka and Izuku together weren't very negative anymore - in fact, the thought of them together filled her with a bubbling happiness that made her smile even in her dark mood at the moment. 

But deep down, she knew that the problem wasn't just that she was possibly jealous of Nejire getting closer to her partners. The problem was … well … the problem was that unlike her other two partners, she didn't know Nejire all that well.

Nejire wanted to get closer to Izuku and actually made efforts to do so, and she had all yesterday to start crushing on Itsuka due to them working together. But really, Ochako and Nejire … they didn't have much of a relationship, she thought with a frown, compared to what the blue-haired girl had with her boyfriend and girlfriend. All that had really happened between them were two fights, one at the battle trial and yesterday during the second round, and that was … pretty much it. 

They hung around the same group, had interactions together that was pretty nice, but … but nothing like what Nejire had with Izuku and Itsuka. No alone time, no attempts to befriend each other outside of their group, nothing like that.

And that … made Ochako insecure. That Nejire had a better relationship with Izuku and Itsuka than her, and that the two of them were pretty much strangers to each other. And naturally, her thoughts … kind of drifted into the paranoid idea that Nejire could possibly be …

… she'd possibly be … a better fit for Izuku and Itsuka than she would.

But she remembered Melissa's words from last night. She knew that her friend was right. These thoughts of Nejire being better for Izuku and Itsuka … they were stemming from her poor self-esteem. And she … needed to do what made her feel pretty, what made her feel good about herself. So  … so Ochako had to do something about these mixed feelings for Nejife, she decided then and there. 

It was pretty clear, from this morning, that their new relationship had a big Nejire-sized hole that they would need to address. So she had to get a better grasp of the curious creature that was Nejire Hadou, to know what exactly her friend was looking for with her two partners. To see if, maybe, they would be able to avoid any unnecessary drama between them. Because she didn't want there to be drama with Nejire! She wanted everyone to get along.

In any case, then, she'd … have to get Nejire alone at some point to talk to her. Just … not right now, she grimaced as she glanced around and saw all their classmates around them. Preferably in some private setting, and not when Itsuka had to talk to Nejire about where she might possibly fit in with the three of them.

But for now … her eyes trailed to Izuku, her thoughts of last night coming back to her now that she was reminded, and raised one hand to the back of her head to feel her hair. Shaking her head and trying to dispel those thoughts for now - Izuku was still busy over near the volleyball net with the guys, and she could see Gūdo sniffing something near the water. Ochako quickly started making her way over towards the dog, wanting to make sure that he wasn't sniffing at something he shouldn't.

As she passed by Tsuyu and Himiko sitting on one of the towels near the water, the frog girl became aware of Himiko's eyes wandering to Ochako's back as she quickly made her way towards the dog - and then she snorted and looked back to Tsuyu as the frog girl sat beside her on the towel.

"So," She smirked, "'running interference on me', huh?"

"That's pretty much what Nejire asked me to do, kero," Tsuyu shrugged, completely unashamed of her bluntness, "Kendou wants a bit of alone time with Midoriya and Ochako at some point today, and she thinks that you'd probably interfere with that. So I volunteered to distract you for a while - hope you don't mind helping me look after the kids."

"Nah, I'll admit your sibs are adorable, so I won't be a blatant flirt for the day," Himiko shook her head, pretending to sniffle, "well, that, and it looks like those two are flirting, so we don't wanna traumatize the kids too much."

"Kero," She looked around at where Setsuna and Hanta were with the kids beside the water, Setsuna rubbing Hanta's arm up and down while the taller boy cleared his throat and went a bit red, "yeah, Sero's crush on Tokage is pretty obvious, and Setsuna clearly doesn't mind showing what she likes about him. I wonder if she's noticed how deep his crush actually is."

"Really? And you'd know that … how?"

"I am pretty quiet," Tsuyu pointed out, smiling froggily, "which means that people don't tend to notice that I notice things."

"Hmph. Well, anyway," The blonde senpai waved her hand nonchalantly in the air, "as much as I'd love to see my sweet kohai blushing and getting all flustered with each other, I suppose if Kendou wants a bit of alone time to smooch up to them, I shouldn't get in the way."

"I'm surprised," Tsuyu raised an eyebrow, "I get the feeling that you enjoy going out of your way to antagonize Kendou. Why give her a break now?"

"Oh, well, her frustration is always so cute!" Himiko giggled mischievously, adjusting her black sweater on her shoulders. "I love it whenever she glares at me, fills me with joy. But …" She let out a long, suffering sigh, "… I suppose for today, I'll let her have her fun. It'll be business as usual come Monday, though."

"How kind of you, kero."

"Still," Himiko then turned her eyes to Tsuyu, making the frog girl blink a bit at the gleam in her senpai's eye, "I'm surprised that you've committed yourself to spending all day with little old me. Something I should know about?"

"Well, kero," Tsuyu shrugged, although her cheeks did go a bit redder, "it's not like I had any ulterior motives to help Nejire out."

"Is that so?" Himiko then leaned over, being sure to angle herself as much as she could so that all it would take would be for Tsuyu to glance down to see pretty much her whole chest - she had chosen to wear her special black bikini, of course, to give Izuku and Ochako nosebleeds of their own. But she didn't mind allowing Tsuyu to get a peek.

Which … Tsuyu did, a brief flicker in her eyes and more red coming to her cheeks making Himiko's catlike grin widen. 

"Well," She licked her lips, "it seems to me that at least someone likes what she sees. And truth be told, froggy girl …"

Himiko's eyes slowly moved down to her underclassman's lips, seeing a bit of Tsuyu's tongue sticking out from the side of her mouth, and without a moment to hesitate, reached out. Tsuyu, for her part, did nothing as Himiko gently brushed her finger against the smooth, slightly slimy tongue presented to her, and kept her large eyes on Himiko's mischievous ones as her finger slowly rolled Tsuyu's tongue along her finger.

"… there's a part of me," Himiko batted her eyelashes, "that always kind of wondered what that tongue of yours can do. And where … you can put it."

There was a long pause as Tsuyu stared at her senpai, both girls sitting still on the towel as the sounds of the party went on around them …

… and then she said, in a blunt voice, "Sorry, Toga-senpai, but I'm not that easy, kero. You would have to buy me dinner first before you'd see 'what this tongue does'."

"Aw," Himiko pouted a bit but still shrugged her shoulders, moving her hand away from her tongue and sitting back as Tsuyu turned to reach into the small backpack beneath her feet. She turned to look out at the water again while her kohai fished for something for a moment, before she found what she was looking for with a small ribbit, and lifted out a piece of pen and paper.

Himiko's eyes then returned to Tsuyu as the frog girl took a moment to write something on the piece of paper, which made the blonde girl crinkle her brow in confusion, hearing Tsuyu let out a small hum as she thought. After a few moments of scribbling, Tsuyu let out a satisfied 'kero' and dropped the pen into the bag, ripping the piece of paper off the pad, and then turned back to Himiko while holding it out.

"Here, kero."

"Uh …" Himiko glanced between the paper and her kohai, "… and what's this again?"

"My order for dinner tonight, kero," Tsuyu revealed, and a small, coy smile appeared on her face as she stared straight into Himiko's yellow eyes, "I believe you're going to go to one of the restaurants close to the beach and pay for it."

Himiko stared at her for a long moment, her brain slowing down as she realized what Tsuyu was doing - and then felt a wide grin spread across her face.

"You and I," She giggled, impressed despite herself, and took the piece of paper from her to put in her own backpack, "are gonna have so much fun. When are your sibs supposed to go home tonight?"

"After supper, kero," Tsuyu went a bit red as she sat up as well, "my dad will be coming to pick them up. I've been told that I can stay as long as I want as long as I text my mom when I should be coming back."

"Oh, Tsuyu, baby," Himiko got to her feet and spun around, flaunting her butt to her kohai while the frog girl gulped a bit up at it - from where they were sitting and how close Himiko was to her, her bikini-clad butt was pretty much in Tsuyu's face, "if I have it my way … you won't be going home tonight at all. But one step at a time, I guess - let's go play with some froggy babies, and then I'll figure out what we'll be doing tonight."

"Er …" Now it was Tsuyu's turn to be caught flatfooted, glancing up at Himiko's hungry face and feeling herself begin to shake.

"Oh, and by the way?" Himiko fluttered her eyelashes, and Tsuyu shivered as Himiko opened her mouth and pointed at it. "My gag reflex? Practically non-existent. Keep that in mind for later."

With another wink, she twirled around and started heading towards the small group of kids, being sure to sway her hips for Tsuyu. While Tsuyu went even redder but quickly stood up to follow her, trying to bury her currently very inappropriate thoughts on where she'll be pushing her tongue down at some point tonight, they passed by the group of guys sitting in a circle near the volleyball net, all of them looking troubled or at least solemn.

"So Baku-Bro's out of the hero course, huh …" Eijirou stared sadly down at the sandy ground, while Izuku sighed and nodded, "… damn. I mean, I - I don't wanna stand up for him, or say that he didn't deserve it, but … damn."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, frowning, "I … can't really say that I'm sad to see him go."

"Nah, man, why should you be?" Yosetsu shook his head, frowning and sitting back. "The guy's had a hate boner for you for god knows how long, and beat the shit out of you yesterday in front of an entire crowd? I'm glad the fucker's gone."

"Jeez …" Denki looked troubled for a moment as he nervously played with his basketball, attempting to dribble it in the sand again, "… so like - he's got no chance of coming back? At all?"

"From how he described it, it - it seems like it," Izuku confirmed.

"Man. I mean, I'm not defending him, he deserved to get kicked, but - whew."

"Well," Honenuki shrugged as he sighed, "what's done is done. I didn't get much of a chance to interact with him, but …"

"But he came off as a tool," Tetsutetsu growled, slamming his fists together, "so I'm with Awase. Good riddance."

"Okay, let's try not to bring the mood down, Sir Tetsutetsu." Shishida patted his classmate's shoulder, getting his attention. "Indeed, perhaps Sir Bakugou's expulsion from our course should be discussed, but not while we're angry about it, it'll only lead to us going in circles about how much we dislike him. Besides, we are here to have fun, so let's not bring the mood down any more than it already is."

"I … yeah," Tetsutetsu sighed, nodding, "you're right, man. Sorry, guys."

"It's all good," Eijirou clapped Tetsutetsu's other shoulder, before glancing around at the other guys from Class 1B, "so, uh … I guess Todoroki's a no show either, huh? I mean, I'm not really all that surprised … would he even show up anyway? I kinda got the impression yesterday that he doesn't really like anyone."

"I … well, normally we'd say that," The guy named Kaibara agreed, frowning, "he can definitely come off as an asshole. But … I don't know, man, after he just gave up the last round yesterday, it's like … it's like he suddenly dropped all the jackassness we're used to. He was dead quiet when we got back to class and left without a word."

"Well," Shoda shook his head, looking concerned, "I suppose we should leave it when we see him on Monday. I'm not entirely sure what happened in the last match, but … well, it might be that Kendou and Hadou might have given him a bit of a - a humbling, right? Since he came out from the match all bloody."

"Man," Tetsutetsu teared up at the reminder, balling his fist, "I seriously gotta apologize to Kendou when I can - I thought she was kind of a jerk when we first confronted her class, but she's manly!"

"Tell me about it," Eijirou sniffled, "Kendou's a man's man."

"Er …" Izuku felt himself sweat drop a bit.

"Well, uh … anyway," Tsuburaba suddenly cleared his throat, causing Izuku to glance at him as a blush appeared on the Class 1B boy's face, "speaking of Kendou, uh … Midoriya, you'd probably know more about this than anyone else, so … I have a question."

"Huh?" He blinked a bit, "oh, uh - sure. What's up?"

"Is, uh - you know - Kendou single?"

There was a pause.

"Huh?!" Izuku squeaked at once, feeling his gut clench in anxiety and … okay, maybe more than a little jealousy.

"I - well, I mean, come on!" Tsuburaba tried to defend himself, glancing over at where Itsuka was standing near the water with Nejire, and Izuku fought down the urge to reach over to cover his eyes when he saw them wandering down the long dress shirt she was wearing. "You see her kick all kinds of ass yesterday, and you tell me that you're not at least curious?! She's hot, and awesome!"

"Well, uh …" Yosetsu looked awkward for a moment, and then he sighed, "… I'm … not gonna lie when I say that Kendou's pretty, but - but Yaoyorozu is where it's at, guys. I mean … come on."

Unknown to him, Kyouka straightened her back from across the beach and whipped around to glare wildly at him.

"Well, if we're talkin' about looks, sure, Yaoyorozu takes the cake," Denki chuckled, scratching the side of his face as a blush appeared, "but it's gotta be between Hadou and Uraraka for the cutest girls in class, right? Right after Tsunotori."

"H-huh?!" Izuku squeaked.

"Man, I wish we had as many hotties as you did," Tsubuaba shook his head sadly while Denki patted his shoulder sympathetically, "I mean, Hagakure's taken by Ojirou -"

"I'm … not exactly sure if I should be sorry for that," Mashiro looked awkward from where he was standing near the group.

"- and Komori's seriously sexy but fucking scary, and Shiozaki would probably shake the Jesus out of us if we try to hit on her. Haya's definitely gay as hell, and … honestly, Togeike scares the shit out of me enough to know that I shouldn't poke around that part of the class."

"Uh …" Tetsutetsu let out a small noise, causing Izuku to whirl around and stare in horror at the small blush on the brash boy's face, "… I mean, I'm not gonna say Tsuburaba's not thinkin' 'bout somethin' perverted, but … y'know, when it comes to Kendou, I'm not gonna lie that -"

"Uh, hey, guys!" Eijirou suddenly cut into the conversation, staring in slight panic at the way life was draining from Izuku's eyes the more and more the other members of the group were talking about girls, and realizing that he needed to quickly change the topic before his friend might do something stupid - and before he said something stupid, what with him glancing over at Mina and feeling his cheeks go red. "Just realized that we set up the volleyball net but never started playing! C'mon, let's make up some teams!"

"Oh, uh - r-right!" Denki quickly nodded as Eijirou pushed him up - while feeling disappointed that the topic of girls was suddenly finished, wanting to maybe ask Izuku for some advice on how to ask Ochako out on a date - but he still got the message and stood up. "C'mon, guys, let's do this!"

Quickly, the boys got up and started heading over towards the volleyball net, some of them deciding to change the uncomfortable topic by wondering what would happen now that Katsuki was out of the class, and 1A was down to nineteen students. On the ground, Izuku sighed and slowly stood up, trying to stretch his back a bit while fighting down the uncomfortable tightening in his gut.

Shaking his head, he tried to ignore the jealous feeling in his chest - he knew that Tsuburaba and Tetsutetsu didn't know that Itsuka was actually dating him, and that Denki was just being innocent, thinking that Ochako and Nejire were cute. But still, he wondered if this was how his girlfriends felt whenever he had hung out with Nejire, before they started dating. So … he should probably do something nice for them both.

Sighing, he brushed some of the sand off of his shorts, taking a moment to glance around him at the other people on the beach playing around - and then he blinked when he glanced over and saw Ochako making her way over towards him with Gūdo at her heels, the dog barking happily and running along with her to see what was going on. Meeting her eyes, Izuku smiled, feeling a bit of red touch his cheeks as she approached him.

"Oh, uh - hey, Occhan," He smiled as she stopped just short of him, trying to keep his voice light and act like he wasn't about to start shaking at the sight of his best friend, "what's up?"

"Not much," She shook her head, giving him a small smile - even if her eyes were a bit downcast, which made him blink a bit, "I just … saw Tsunotori and Shouji head out for ice cream, and … and was wondering if you wanted to come with me? So we can - uh - get ice cream, too?"

"O-oh," Izuku blinked, feeling his blush continue to burn on his cheeks while she gave him a hopeful look - while ice cream with Ochako would normally be something he'd jump on at once, there was also the small fact that she was blushing quite a bit as well, meaning that they both were remembering that going out to have ice cream together might not be considered as … well … platonic as it once was. 

Still though, with the way she shyly looked at him, he felt his heart skip a beat, and he still nodded, trying his best to remain brave.

"Y-yeah, of - of course, Occhan," He gestured awkwardly towards the stairs, "let's - let's go. Or, uh … are we waiting for I-Itsuka, too?"

"Er … no, she's busy," She looked around to see Itsuka and Nejire walking together over towards where Eri was playing near the water, the little girl running along with the two other girls while Tsuyu's brother walked over to where Fumikage, Reiko and Kuroiro were relaxing under their umbrella, "and, uh … well … there was … actually something I wanted to show you."

Blinking, and feeling himself blush a bit more - she wanted to show him something? What could it be? -  Izuku still nodded, and proceeded to follow Ochako towards the stairs that led up to the parking lot. Behind them, Ibara and Chikuchi continued to argue beside the cooler, while the other girls walked together in hushed giggles and headed over to the volleyball net, while Kyouka shoved Denki out of the way to start serving while Mina and Tooru joined the other team. Behind them, Itsuka let out several overdramatic yelps as she stepped into the water with Eri, the little girl giggling and holding onto her hand, while Nejire happily sprinted straight into the surf and disappeared into a wave that completely took her down. Himiko and Tsuyu, meanwhile, helped Satsuki and Sera swim around in the water, while Hanta and Setsuna sat near the firepit, Setsuna giggling mischievously and Hanta clearing his throat and looking flustered.

Once they started heading down the street away from the beach with Gūdo walking alongside them, however, it became apparent that Ochako's … request to show him something was the true reason they were leaving for ice cream, not the other way around. Izuku, of course, didn't mind, seeing as Ochako moved some of her bangs behind her ear, and he caught a look at something he didn't expect.

"Huh …" He frowned, reaching out to gently pull at the pink strands of hair on Ochako's head, careful not to pull too hard to hurt her, "… yeah, those - those are in there."

"I know," Ochako nodded a bit nervously, allowing her brunette hair fall back and hide the pink strands as she glanced at him, "I noticed them last night, and - and thought that they just got there from someone today, like - like somehow, Hatsume's hair got in mine. But - but nope, they're in my head."

"That's … weird."

"Yeah. And … well … after I found them, I had a little look around the rest of my hair to see if there's - if there were any more."

With that ominous statement, she awkwardly smoothed back some of the hair on the back of her head, and Izuku let out a small noise when he spotted, along the sea of brown hair, more pink strands. They weren't very noticeable amongst all of Ochako's brown hair if he wasn't looking for them, of course, but looking at them standing out on the back of her neck … well …

"They're … not everywhere," Ochako made clear, although the worry in her voice made Izuku frown, "but it's - I think they're starting to grow in."

"Huh …" Izuku furrowed his brow again, allowing Ochako to let her hair fall back into place to hide the pink strands. Admittedly, he felt a bit stumped by this - he'd known Ochako for years at this point, having grown up and seen how she'd changed as they both went through puberty, but seeing strands of pink hair when both her parents had brown hair as well was … well … something he was a bit confused by.

"Do, uh - do you know if there's any quirks in your family that give your family pink hair?" He inquired. "M-maybe on your mom's side?"

"Nah," Ochako shook her head, frowning, "all of my grandparents had brown hair. Hell, my great, great, great, great grandfather was bald! So, y'know, I don't exactly think I'm inheriting pink hair from him."

Despite himself, Izuku snorted a bit at the joke, while Ochako smiled at him.

"So," She shrugged, "I guess … it is what it is?"

"I mean … well, no, but I'm sure there's an explanation to this," Izuku shook his head while sighing, "I just … can't think of one right now."

Ochako shrugged a bit but still gave him a grin, scooting a bit over to bump her shoulder against his. "Well, I … I bet you'll think of one."

Izuku faltered a bit at her cute smile, and cleared his throat awkwardly, glancing away with a blush. They passed by Pony and Mezo as they walked back to the beach, Pony sporting her own small blush as she trotted a bit closer to her friend while licking her ice cream, and as soon as they were a bit of a ways away, Izuku glanced down at Ochako's hand swinging back and forth.

After a brief moment of debating whether or not to do it, Izuku gulped, taking a moment to glance around as though afraid someone was looking at them. And then, before he could figure out if it was a bad idea, he reached out to gently take her hand in his.

"Er -" Ochako blinked, glancing down at how he took her hand, and her blush deepened as she glanced up at him, "- Deku?"

"I, uh … well, we are alone," Izuku awkwardly scratched his cheek with his other hand, looking away from her, "and … we probably won't have much time to do the, uh … the lovey dovey stuff today. So … uh …"

Ochako stared at him for a moment - and then she let out a small giggle, glancing away with her own blush. She worked her hand so that instead of him simply holding it, she could interlace their fingers, making Izuku blush a bit more as she kept one pinkie up to prevent him from floating off, and they walked down the path together towards the ice cream shop, Gūdo trotting happily beside them.

“Honestly, it … I don’t think it feels all that real yet,” She admitted quietly with a soft smile, “that we’re t-together.”

“Yeah,” Izuku nodded, still blushing, “It’s like … it’s like a dream I’m still waiting to wake up from.”

“But it’s - it’s a good dream, right?”

"Yeah," Izuku nodded at once, and despite how flustered both of them felt, they both shared a smile, "a really … really good dream."

They both hid their faces from each other as their embarrassment briefly overcame them.

"Just, uh … just a shame Itsuka isn't with us right now," Ochako pointed out, giggling, "I'm sure she'd be flirting hardcore with us both right now."

"Yeah …" Izuku nodded slowly, his blush burning deeper, "… yeah. Didn't really realize that she'd be … um … so confident when it comes to that kind of stuff."

"Oh, yeah, totally. It kinda took me off guard how forward she is."

"She's - okay, I'm not gonna lie, she's probably gonna kill me eventually if that's how flirty she is."

"Oh, you aren't alone, Deku," She giggled, "when she was going off on us this morning? I thought I was gonna have a heart attack!"

"I know!"

"Yeah!"

"…"

"…"

"… she's … really hot when she's confident," Izuku admitted in an embarrassed voice.

"Oh, I knooooow," Ochako groaned, holding her other hand over her eyes, "she's fucking - god."

"Y-yeah," Izuku chuckled a bit at his childhood friend - his girlfriend, he remembered with a blush - and then cleared his throat, "she's … she's almost as hot as you are."

They both went quiet for a moment. Ochako went redder again as she glanced off to the side - but the way her smile slipped made Izuku blink a bit, automatically thinking that he had done something wrong.

"Er - I'm - I'm sorry if -"

"No, no, you're fine," Ochako shook her head, looking back around at him with a small smile, "it's just … well, I - I know that you're trying to make me feel better about myself, Deku, and I really appreciate that. And it's something that I have to work on. But it's just - it's a bit hard to really … believe it."

"I - I get that," Izuku frowned, "and - and I know that I can seem really annoying with it, but - but I don't want you to feel like you aren't anything less than beautiful, Occhan."

Ochako let out a small sigh at that, unable to stop herself from smiling bashfully as she briefly hid her face from him again. Alas, before she could figure out a way to respond to that, they both rounded the corner, their eyes moving towards the stall where the server was making ice cream cones for …

… for both Mirio and Tamaki, both of them standing there and about to turn and see the two of them holding hands. So, before either could blink, Ochako threw their hands up as she quickly let go of his hand, and Izuku was quick to spin around awkwardly so it totally didn't look like they had been a lot closer than two best friends usually would be. 

Alas, before Izuku and Ochako could panic and get out of there, Mirio turned towards them when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, and his beam widened.

"Oh hey! 'Sup, kohai!" Mirio turned to give both of them a grin, his blue eyes alight with excitement as Gūdo barked and ran over to him, and he quickly knelt down to start scratching the dog behind his ears. "Sure is a beautiful day, huh?"

"Oh, uh - hey, Togata-senpai," Izuku managed to get out, relieved that neither of their upperclassmen seemed to have noticed their hand-holding, but then he felt his brow wrinkle as he thought of something, "I'm - I'm glad you came, too. But, er - is it okay for you to be here? Don't you have your sports festival tomorrow to get ready for?"

"That we do! But us Big Three have been training non-stop together, so we decided that we deserve to relax a bit before the big day," Mirio grinned, accepting his ice cream cone from Tamaki while the other older boy continued to study his feet, "so we aren't doing anything too big today - just so we don't accidentally overdo it. That's why Toga's here instead of back at the school right now - they wanna give her a break from helping Recovery Girl today so she could be ready for tomorrow."

"O-oh, cool."

"Yeah. So," Mirio gave him a grin as both he and Ochako lined up to order their own cones, taking a lick from his ice cream while Tamaki bent down to pet the dog as well, "how are you guys doing? Tired from yesterday?"

"I … guess you could say that," Ochako chuckled a bit awkwardly, nodding as she glanced at Izuku ordering them both ice cream cones, "yesterday was kinda … a lot."

"Yeah, I get that," Mirio nodded, smiling gently down at her, "I didn't even make it past the first round during my first sports festival, and I was exhausted the entire day afterwards. It's crazy! Still though, I thought the second sports festival was always a bit better than the first - since we were already kind of expecting the teachers to throw something crazy at us."

"Y-yeah, I guess so!"

"Anyway, Uraraka - gotta say," He patted her shoulder carefully, probably aware that it would be bandaged at the moment, "you taking that hit yesterday for Midoriya was inspiring. You both were awesome out there."

"Oh, uh … t-thank you, senpai," She blushed a bit at the praise, while Izuku turned back to smile at Ochako as well.

"Y-yeah, she was amazing," He praised her as well, which made Ochako blush even more and hold up both her hands to her face as though trying to hide it from both beaming boys.

"Anyway, senpai -" Izuku turned back to Mirio, "- you said that your second year was more predictable than the first? What exactly did you guys do?"

"Ah! Well, there was the first round, which ended up being a big 'king of the hill' style race. Man, was that stressful! But thanks to my training …"

While the two of them talked more about the sports festival, Ochako stood back and let them chat a bit, with her turning to give their order to the smiling man behind the stand and pay for it out of her purse. While Tamaki continued to pet Gūdo while totally pretending not to be glancing up at how Mirio's shirt was open, Ochako felt her phone suddenly vibrate in her shorts, making her blink.

Once she was finished paying for their ice cream, she reached into her pocket to pull out the phone and see who was messaging her.

 

ITSUKA

hey, where'd you two go?

don't tell me that you eloped without me 😭

 

Ochako was unable to stop herself from snorting a bit.

 

YOU

oh, yeah, totally, we eloped without you

made sure you did your confession and everything before we ran off

sayonara, itsuka, we'll send pictures from hawaii

 

ITSUKA

you're so mean

T_T T_T T_T

 

YOU

lol 

nah, me and deku went to get ice cream

well, he's chatting with togata-senpai rn, so technically i'm the one getting the ice cream

want me to bring you something back?

 

ITSUKA

ice cream dates without me, ouch

nah lol i'm good

but maybe you could bring back a regular vanilla cone for eri?

i'll pay you back

 

YOU

gotcha 

and nah, i got enough pocket change to pay for her, it's all good

c u soon

 

ITSUKA

knew there was a reason i liked you, so reliable XD

<3

 

Blinking at that last emoji, Ochako felt her cheeks go a bit red, clearing her throat and smiling bashfully while putting her phone back in her pocket. Well, Izuku had one point, she supposed - Itsuka was probably going to eventually kill him with her flirts. 

Him and her both.


"Eraser? Is that you, Eraser?!"

At the loud voice calling his name behind him in the hall, Aizawa froze. His eyes widened in horror behind the gauze on his face, feeling himself begin to shake in horror at the person he knew was approaching him quickly. For a brief moment, he debated running as fast as his still recovering legs could take him - an immature tactic, sure, but he had a headache that had been building up all day long and he knew that talking to her was only going to make it worse.

Alas, it was too late, as a yellow gloved hand suddenly took his shoulder, and he was forced to look around at the most insufferably annoying person in Japan - and yes, he was including Present Mic in that.

"Well, would you look at that!" Miss Joke laughed, her smile widening and her eyes twinkling mischievously. "I heard you ranting at those kids from the booth, and I just had to come and see you! Gosh, it's been years since we've seen each other in person!"

She took a moment to laugh some more, throwing her head back - and then her expression turned serious.

"Okay, let's go get married."

"No."

"Pffft!"

While she cackled some more, Aizawa sighed and closed his eyes, cursing the gods for forcing him to interact with this woman before he went and got some ibuprofen. It was bad enough that today had been pretty rough - what with Midnight being cold towards him despite being in an otherwise weirdly good mood when she had arrived that morning to watch the sports festival rather than referee it, and then there was the fact that Mic kept looking disappointedly at him as well during their commentary today (which meant that he probably knew what he and Midnight had argued about) - and now he had to deal with his negative thoughts on how he treated Izuku and Ochako yesterday … well …

… in any case, he wasn't in a good mood. An already bad mood that was about to plummet even more.

"Oh, c'mon," Joke sniggered as she gave him a sneaky look, carefully poking his wrapped up cheek, "I can see the sexual attraction in your eyes. You looked at my chest, didn't you? C'mon, c'mon, all it takes is a ring on my finger and you'll have a house filled with laughter and joy!"

"That sounds like an actual nightmare," Aizawa grumbled, beginning to walk away while muttering under his breath. Unfortunately for him, it became apparent that Joke wasn't done tormenting him, quickly skipping up to walk with him as they went down the hallway.

The second sports festival of the weekend had just concluded, with all the second year students down on the field in the midst of their awards ceremony, this time hosted by Best Jeanist to give All Might a break for the day. He could see the tall and lanky pro hero in jeans on the first stage podium, wrapping the gold medal around Mawata Fuwa's neck, so that meant that the festival would soon be over and everyone would be leaving again. And then it would be one more day, and then that would be it - back to normal.

Something that Aizawa couldn't possibly wait for - at this point, he was so tired of being around people he just wanted to find the nearest storage closet and nap.

"So," Miss Joke put her hands in her oversized pants as she flashed him a happy grin, "you seem like someone peed in your cereal this morning."

"Don't you have other people to annoy right now?"

"Aw, c'mon, what's up with the coldness? I still remember that night," She shivered to herself, closing her eyes happily as she wrapped her arms around herself, and Aizawa groaned, "when you whispered sweet nothings in my ear, telling me all of your problems -"

"Whatever you're about to say never happened. All that ever happened between you and me was a make out when we were both drunk. Which I heavily regret."

"I know you loved it. Anyway, why can't I act as your confidant now? I bet all you need is a smooch through those bandages and -"

"Shut up."

"Ha, ha, ha!" Joke threw her head back and laughed while Aizawa glared ahead. "But seriously, you're acting like that time you got stabbed. Y'know, when you were being a little bitch all the way to the hospital? 'Grr, grr, I'm so tough I can rip this knife out of my stomach no problem, uh oh, I'm bleeding to death?! That doesn't normally happen when I yank sharp objects out of my body!'"

"Why is it that I can't have a moment of peace in my life?" Aizawa growled under his breath as Joke sniggered.

"Okay, okay," Joke calmed herself down enough to flash him a genuine smile, "making fun of you aside. What's up? What's got your panties in a twist?"

Aizawa merely glared ahead for a moment - and then he let out a tired sigh, and looked away. As much as he hated to admit it, Joke was someone he had been comforted in talking to about his problems before, and despite her idiotic nature, she wasn't someone to soften her words around him. So … well …

He shook his head and stopped stomping down the hallway, moving over to lean against the wall. Joke quickly took the hint and joined him, leaning against the wall as well as she gave him an interested look.

"I … messed up yesterday," He admitted, and Joke felt her eyes widen.

"Oh, shit, really? You must've screwed up real bad, then, if you're admitting that you did something bad. You never do that."

"Yeah, yeah," He shook his head, "all I know is that I treated two of my students terribly to help a third one, and that third one just got expelled, so I basically just got those two students maimed for nothing. And when one of my friends tried to call me out on it, I pretty much spat in her face. So yeah, I'm not exactly in a good mood right now."

"Ah," Joke raised an eyebrow, "so you being a shitty teacher meant you did a shitty job?"

"I thought you were trying to comfort me?"

"Nah, I know you probably wouldn't want that," She pointed out with a small smirk, "you wanna sulk and hate yourself and not actually do anything to improve yourself. That's how you usually are, isn't it? Every day's a pity party day for Eraserhead."

Aizawa grumbled, a bit pissed off by that but knowing that he couldn't really argue.

"So, uh, you know Eraser? Teacher to teacher advice?" Joke shook her head and leaned back a bit more against the wall. "You should probably apologize to those two students. Like, no excuses, nothing like that. Just explain why you did what you did, say you screwed up, and apologize. And then after that, make sure you never do it again. And then apologize to your friend for being a dick."

"If it was only so easy."

"It actually kind of is. I do it all the time when I make a mistake with one of my kids and they call me out on it. Just … you know, you kinda suck at admitting when you're wrong."

"I'm aware." Aizawa closed his eyes. "And contrary to your belief, I'm not interested in pity parties."

"Oh, I'm not pitying you," Joke laughed, "I know how much of a fuck up you are, remember? We worked together for two years, knew each other top to bottom … knowing what makes us tick … every crevice, every shape, every -"

"Get your mind out of the gutter, woman."

"I did miss your quick retorts," Joke dramatically sighed, and then shook her head and looked back at him, "anyway, I'm not just here to flirt and give you advice. I was actually looking for you, Eraser, because I wanted to let you know about something I heard at Ketsubutsu."

"Ah, yes," Aizawa shook his head, his tone becoming dry, "how is it at a Hero Commission school?"

"Oh, repressive, authoritarian and dystopian. But that doesn't matter right now," Joke's voice suddenly turned serious, "I heard something from one of my sources, on the underground network, and something one of my kids thought they saw when they were patrolling. Apparently, there's been rumors going around that villains are disguising themselves as Shiketsu students."

That, of course, got Aizawa's attention. Blinking, he looked around at his former partner as she kept her hands in her pockets, giving him a serious look.

"Shiketsu?"

"Yep. Not just any villains, teenage ones." She shook her head, cocking her hip a bit as they stood near the wall and heard the distant cheers of the crowd as the awards ceremony began to wrap up. "Rumor is that some of Shiketsu's students were mugged, and all they stole were their hats. That way, villains can roam around wearing costumes and people will think they're heroes out on patrol."

"That right?" Aizawa's gaze turned serious. "And where would they be?"

"There's rumors that there's a few kids out in Musutafu and Hosu, wandering around. They'll flash a fake hero license and everything. But so far, no hero's been able to stop them and double check the license."

Aizawa frowned underneath the gauze for a moment, and then turned to look down at his own feet, thinking. There was a long pause as Joke allowed her old partner to mull it over - and then he nodded.

"Hosu," He said in a quiet voice, "that's where everyone's investigating the Hero Killer."

"Yep."

"Think there's a connection there?"

"If I'm being honest? No," She shook her head, her gaze turning forlorn, "I heard about Ingenium. I know you two were friends, Eraser, so … I'm sorry."

"It is what it is," Aizawa said in a slightly sharp voice, clearly warning her not to go any farther with this topic, "I'll have to keep my eye on his brother, but for now, I'm not gonna dwell on it. Anyway, what you were saying …?"

"Right, right. And … no, I don't think these kids are connected to the Hero Killer," Joke frowned, "whoever the Hero Killer is, they had to have gotten Ingenium, and he's a top hero. No way that a kid could overwhelm him."

"Right. Well," He shook his head, "I'll be heading to Hosu during internships anyway - I've got Endeavor and Ryukyu wanting me there just to be safe while they  look into their own investigations, and I have a student who'll want to intern with me and knows how to keep quiet. I'll keep an eye out for these Shiketsu wannabes."

With that, he turned on his heel and began walking away down the hall. Joke watched him leave after a long moment, being surprisingly quiet and straight faced for once as she stared after him. Once he moved out of sight, and she saw the crowds of heroes begin to exit the stands, she let out a long sigh and started walking away as well, joining the massive entourage of heroes in leaving the arena.

As she walked with the crowd, she pulled out her phone and began texting.

 

YOU

he's going to hosu during internships

if you wanna shoot your shot, that'll be your time

 

LEADER

thank you, mj

i'll come up with something


About three hours after the sun had set, with all the students of Class 1A and 1B gathering around the campfire to start cooking marshmallows or grilled cheese sandwiches, all of the adults came back to the beach so that they could pick up the youngest and take them home. As per the agreement, the older kids could stay at the beach until their own individual curfews, but the little kids would have to leave at nine o'clock on the dot so that they could get home, washed up from playing in the ocean all day, and then head straight for bed.

Still, it broke Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka's hearts that Eri was looking so disappointed that her new friends had to leave, with the little girl holding both Satsuki and Sera's hands as their parents arrived to pick them up. Still though, she at least accepted Itsuka's insistence that Sera could swing by the dojo to play with her again, causing Eri to give Sera a big hug while Sera rubbed her cheek carefully against her horn.

"Ah, Midoriya, we meet again," Setsuna's dad chuckled as he ruffled Izuku's hair above the hugging girls, glancing around to see Itsuka and her dad finish putting the barbeque in the back of his truck while Gūdo climbed into the passenger's side of the car, "so good to see my long lost son again."

"Er … hey, Mr. Tokage," Izuku smiled a bit awkwardly as the taller man and his wife moved around their parked car to tease him, "it's nice to see you both again."

"Aw, he no longer getssss embarrasssssed around ussss," Setsuna's mom looked sad, scooping Sera up so that the little girl could wrap her arms around her mother's neck, "sssssso dissssapointing. Anyway, where'sssss Sssssetsuna?"

"Oh, she's, uh … I think she's still down on the beach,' Itsuka pointed down at it, looking unsure, "I think I saw her around the campfire, but … uh … well, I'm not really sure where exactly she is right now."

"Ah, no matter," Setsuna's dad waved his hand, "she knows that she'll be grounded if she breaks curfew. Now then, let's get our little one home soon - she'll probably need to take a bath after swimming in the ocean all day."

"Yeah," Hakushu chuckled as he patted Eri's slightly stiff hair, letting out an exaggerated sniff and pretending to crinkle his nose, "you definitely need a bath, Eri - pee-whew, you smell like salt."

"Okay," Eri nodded, and then looked back up at Itsuka as she stood near them. She walked over and hugged her leg, which caused Itsuka to giggle and pat her hair. "Are you gonna be back tonight, Ken?"

"Yep," Itsuka smiled, "not really sure when, but … well, no matter what, when you wake up tomorrow, I'll be there. Even if you end up falling asleep alone."

"Okay."

With that, Eri allowed Hakushu to pick her up, with the little girl giving a small wave to Satsuki as she was led over to her own car by her dad, who allowed both Asui siblings to get into the back before they started driving away. Finally, with the three cars moving out of the parking lot of the beach and out of sight, Itsuka let out a long, tired sigh as she stretched her arms above her head, grunting when she heard a small crack, and then looked back over at Izuku and Ochako as they stood side by side.

"So," She put her hands down, giving them both a small smile, "I … guess we just gotta hang out with everyone until it's time to clean up. Can't exactly go to do our own thing until everyone's gone and the fire's out."

"Well," Ochako moved to look down at the fire, seeing the distant shapes of everyone hanging out and having fun around the fire, "I guess we can go down and make s'mores, right? I haven't had s'mores in forever."

"I guess so," Izuku chuckled as Ochako wiped at the side of her mouth where some drool escaped, but then glanced over and saw Itsuka's face turning serious, walking to the edge of the parking lot and staring down at something, "er … Itsuka? Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong," She sighed, and then pointed, "but I just saw something moving over near the pier."

Blinking, both Izuku and Ochako looked around as well, feeling their brows furrow. It was hard to make out, what with the moon not shining as brightly tonight, but the pier out near the water stood out as perfectly normal - that was, until they saw a distant shape - or what looked to be someone's shadow - moving around out there. Feeling their brows furrow, they both turned to look back at Itsuka, who sighed and tossed her ponytail behind her shoulder as she squared them both up.

"So I guess I'm gonna have to be the one to make sure nothing's going on," She sighed, looking around at them both with a weak smile, "you, uh - neither of you don't have to come with, if you don't want to."

"O-oh, no, we'll - we'll come," Ochako quickly nodded, balling her fists while Izuku looked determined as well, "just to make sure it isn't something serious."

Giving them both a smile, Itsuka then began to lead the way, both of her partners quickly coming up behind her to back her up as they made their way back down the steps. Walking along the beach, waving to the occupants around the campfire where Eijirou and Mina were making s'more sandwiches together and Tooru was giggling while feeding a nervous Ojirou one of her marshmallows, they soon approached the pier, walking up the concrete ramp towards the small patio at the end. 

They walked quietly and slowly, just in case there was something there that they didn't want to know that they were approaching. However, as they approached, Itsuka felt her brow furrow - she couldn't quite see what was going on, but she thought she heard … well … the sound of grunting, and - and gagging?

Feeling her brow furrow, Itsuka tried to look through the darkness at what she was seeing on the benches, squinting slightly - and then her eyes adjusted to the lighting at the same time Izuku and Ochako's did, and they all let out small squeaks as they realized what they had walked in on.

So … in that moment, all three of them had forgotten that … technically, among this group were some particularly attractive people. People who had hormones, who were attracted to other people, all that jazz. They had also not realized, up until now, that a lot of their classmates weren't at the fire, having disappeared a little while ago. They had just … never realized, up until that moment, what they could possibly be doing.

And … well … to put it simply, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka had just stumbled head first into the make out spot on the beach.

On one side, to their shock, Mirio had Tamaki leaning against him while he likewise leaned against the railing, their blonde senpai's face buried in Tamaki's neck while he held his face in his hands, with none of them being certain if his muffled noises were of embarrassment or pleasure - maybe a mix of both, honestly. Beside them, on the other hand, Pony was far more blatant, straddling Mezo's lap on the bench while his large arms covered her like an oversized blanket, and she kept her hands on his face where she had pulled down his mask to his neck and was kissing at his mouth. And judging from how she cooed when Mezo used two extra hands to rub at her horns … well … they could tell that she was enjoying herself.

On the other side of the pier, on the other hand, Hanta and Setsuna were … well, making Pony straddling Mezo look positively PG, with Setsuna pinning Hanta against the railing with her arms so tight around his neck it looked as though she were trying to strangle him, while Hanta blatantly grabbed both of Setsuna's asscheeks so tightly it looked like he was trying to bury his fingers in her flesh. On their left, Ibara, who had been surprisingly argumentative with Chikuchi all day, was looking a bit too happy with that very same pigtailed girl on her knees and kissing one of her thighs, with Ibara rubbing through her classmate's hair to praise her.

But it was beside them that Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako found their attention falling to, and making them all go bright red - Himiko, sitting in Tsuyu's lap similar to Pony with her black sweater pooled on Tsuyu's legs. Himiko letting out several happy noises and breathing deeply through her nose as Tsuyu's long tongue continued to slide into their senpai's mouth, a slight gagging noise sounding as Himiko's throat began to bulge -

- aaaaaand that was about the time that the trio snapped out of their stunned silence, and immediately realized what was going on here was a bit too intense for them. 

At once, Itsuka grabbed both Izuku and Ochako's hands and yanked them away from the couples making out without a care in the world, Izuku quickly covering his eyes with his hand while Ochako's eyes snapped straight up into the sky, as though she could pretend that she hadn't just noticed what was going on there. They quickly fled the pier as fast as they could, not even heading over towards the fire as they disappeared into the darkness.

Once they finally stopped in the parking lot, they all panted, holding their knees with their hands as they bent over and tried to catch their breaths from fleeing the scene, Izuku's face scarlet and Ochako being pretty up there while Itsuka stared - and then she let out a long sigh, a giggle unintentionally leaving her lips and causing the other two to look around at her.

"I … whew," She nervously chortled, "that was … huh."

Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other, and then began nervously giggling as well.

"I mean …" Ochako shrugged a bit, looking embarrassed even talking about it as Itsuka sighed and went over to a few of the backpacks along the edge of the beach, "… can we really judge them? I-it's not like we didn't make out on the beach earlier today."

 "We can't - woman," Itsuka gave her a deadpan look as she grabbed Denki's basketball, bouncing it against the ground, "I am absolutely sure the extent of us kissing was just pressing our lips together, we didn't even use tongue. What they were doing was … well … a little bit more than just making out."

"I … I think I'm gonna have nightmares," Izuku shivered, rubbing his eyes while both girls snorted at his reaction, "I - I don't think I ever wanted to see … well … anyone in our class doing that. Especially Toga-senpai and …"

Both girls giggled nervously again, still shuddering along with him when they remembered the state their senpai had been in.

"I …" Itsuka looked back at the pier and gulped, "… honestly, I didn't think Tsuyu had it in her."

"I mean …" Ochako shrugged, smiling weakly, "… I can probably imagine that tongue can - y'know - do a whole lot worse than just -"

"Girl, no," Itsuka shook her head while she dribbled the basketball a bit more, "we do not need to think of what Tsuyu can do with that tongue other than what she can do in class with it. What she does with her - uh - body parts in her private times is her business, not ours."

"'Private'," Izuku muttered, shaking his head and trying not to glance back at the pier where quite a few of their classmates were … well … enjoying some 'privacy'.

Itsuka continued to dribble Denki's basketball on the concrete, humming as she practiced with one hand. Izuku watched her for a while, feeling his anxiousness from what he had seen fade the longer he stared at her. She had, at one point, gone to switch her relaxed gear with a white t-shirt and shorts, meaning that she looked relaxed and … honestly, quite cute, something that made him blush. Ochako, meanwhile, had her hair fixed up into a messy bun on the back of her head, and was glancing between them both, a soft blush on her cheeks.

And then, mischievously, Itsuka giggled and looked around at Izuku.

"Hey, heads up," She said playfully, and bounced the ball towards him. Izuku yelped but still managed to catch the ball, almost fumbling it for a moment while Ochako giggled, and once he had his hands on it, he quickly turned to pout at Itsuka while she smirked.

"Little warning next time?" He was unable to stop himself from chuckling, bouncing the ball back to her. Itsuka caught it easily, sending him a small wink that made him blush, and then tossed the ball over to Ochako, who was at least ready for it and caught it easily before bouncing it over to Izuku.

From there, the three of them tossed and dribbled the ball between each other, and Izuku found himself chuckling whenever Itsuka bounced it through her legs to Ochako or Ochako would accidentally land all five fingers on it before quickly undoing her quirk. It wasn't like … well, it wasn't like they were doing anything overtly romantic or charming, but Izuku couldn't help but feel his heart beat happily at Itsuka and Ochako's small giggles as they passed around the basketball, playing together in a way that felt simple, yet something that he'd treasure.

Finally, after about ten minutes of passing the ball between each other, they heard the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and they paused their small game to look around. Jogging up to the parking lot, Nejire blinked as she looked around at the three of them, and her smile widened.

"Hey!" She waved to them, walking over in her sandals as she kept her sweater on and zipped up so that her bikini top was covered. "Was wondering where you guys were! Thought that you guys had went to the pier, but then Kaminari went there and freaked out and a lot of people came back, and … well, we kinda figured they were up to no good, since Toga-senpai was glaring at everyone -"

"Yeaaah," Izuku winced.

"- but then I heard dribbling and came up to see you! Wait," She blinked, glancing between the three of them, "am I interrupting something? A talk? Ah, man, I wish we were still going with my plan, because then it would've been perfect! Or wait, would it be annoying that we waited all day? Maybe?"

"No, no, we aren't talking," Itsuka shook her head, smiling, and then bounced the ball towards Nejire, who quickly caught it with surprise, "just hanging out. C'mon, Nejire, come bounce the ball with us."

Nejire blinked a bit, but then beamed and nodded. From there, the three girls started bouncing the ball between each other, while Izuku took a step back to head over to where his backpack was so he could go through his phone and check his messages.

"So," Nejire glanced between Ochako and Itsuka, smiling happily, "what were you guys talking about?"

"Honestly, we weren't really talking," Itsuka shrugged, smiling over at Nejire as she bounced the ball to Ochako, "just … y'know, bouncing the ball between each other."

"I mean, that's not too bad! Sounds fun! But hey," She glanced between both girls, smiling happily, "I'm curious, super curious! Since you guys are - y'know - going out, do you think you'll be going on dates soon? What were you thinking? Where would you go?"

"Uh …" Ochako felt herself sweat a bit - between her mixed thoughts of Nejire earlier, and the blue-haired girl's wide, curious smile, she felt herself shrug, "… honestly, I - I don't know. Maybe … something simple?"

"Simple?" Itsuka asked, looking intrigued as she smiled over at her girlfriend. "Like - I don't know, a dinner? A movie?"

"I … yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, smiling, "dinner and a movie, that - that sounds pretty simple. Of course, we - we got midterms and internships and all that stuff, but - but just hanging out and going out for a movie sounds - it sounds good."

"It does!" Nejire happily agreed, looking between both girls in delight as she dribbled the ball. "It sounds really simple, really cute! And then, hey, maybe we can get together and talk about a few things. Like dates! And karaoke! And dinner!"

"Oh, well -"

"Or maybe One for All!"

With that, Nejire tossed the ball to Ochako - but all three girls froze when those three words left Nejire's lips. Nejire, for realizing her slip up in front of Izuku and Ochako. Itsuka, for completely forgetting that, oh yeah, Nejire did technically overhear stuff yesterday. And Ochako, completely taken off guard, let the ball hit her right in the face, not even noticing the pain as the ball dribbled away.

However, before they could freak out, Izuku suddenly spoke from his spot near the wall.

"Oh, no."

"I-Izuku!" Itsuka squeaked, quickly whirling around to see Izuku facing away from them, while Ochako let her jaw drop more and Nejire covered her mouth as though she had just let slip a state secret. "I - I can - I can explain, guys! She - she didn't -"

"No, it's -" Izuku suddenly interrupted, her, his voice shaking, "- it's Ingenium-sensei."

All three girls blinked, straightening up, and their panic at Nejire casually saying the name of Itsuka's second quirk slipped away. Together, they walked over to where Izuku was hunched over his phone, and they quickly looked over his shoulder, Ochako on his left, Itsuka on the right and Nejire moving on her tippie-toes to look over his shoulder -

- and at the headline they saw, all three of them felt their eyes widen.

 

VICTIM OF THE HERO KILLER - POPULAR PRO HERO INGENIUM IN COMA!

In a shocking statement from the Hero Public Safety Commission, the Number 18 Hero, Ingenium, has been confirmed to have been attacked by the villain known as the Hero Killer, and is currently in a coma. 

The pro hero was admitted to Hosu General Hospital Friday afternoon, having been attacked by the Hero Killer while the Idaten agency was conducting a search in the Hosu district, and while authorities have confirmed that Ingenium had life-threatening injuries, he is currently not in any danger. However, inside sources have confirmed that Ingenium is currently unconscious, with no word as to whether or not he will be waking up anytime soon. HPSC official Yokumiru Mera made the official confirmation this afternoon on the status of Ingenium during a press conference.

"The Commission has discussed the status of Ingenium's agency with his family," Mera told reporters, "and Tensei Iida's parents will be stepping out of retirement to keep the agency's sidekicks employed while their son recovers from his wounds. We have no other current comment from the family, and would ask that you respect their privacy."

In the press conference, it has been confirmed that the Hero Killer's investigation will be taken over in a joint-investigation by the HPSC and Endeavor's hero agency. There is currently no comment on the current status of the investigation.

 

The article went on and on, but for the four on the beach, neither of them really read through it. Izuku put down his phone, his eyes swimming with tears, and both Ochako and Itsuka looked horrified while Nejire fell silent.

"Ingenium-sensei … he's in a coma?" Ochako looked completely taken aback, looking away. "I … oh, man …"

"Poor Iida …" Nejire looked shocked as well.

"Have - does anyone have any word from him?" Izuku looked back at Itsuka, but she shook her head, her face falling as she picked out her own phone.

"I know Yui was going to try to go to the hospital the Iidas are at," She frowned, "but … well, I didn't hear back from her at all today. So maybe …"

The four of them were quiet for a long moment, their hearts clenching at the thought of what Tenya would be facing right now - his brother, someone that he admired greatly, was in a coma that the doctors weren't sure he would be waking up from. The pain he must be feeling … it would be unbearable.

And the fact that Tensei … who helped them after what happened at the USJ, who stayed to help and comfort them during their interviews with the police … who stayed with them for the week to make sure they were alright … and who they had just sent a message wishing him good luck just yesterday …

Their moods completely plummeted, together, the four of them turned back to the stairs, and headed down to the beach again. If not to share the news, then … just to let some of their friends know what had happened.

As they vanished out of sight, however, they didn't notice the pair of brown eyes watching them from the darkness of the parking lot, allowing the illusion around her to fall and reveal herself. With a sigh, she carefully moved to the edge of the parking lot and scanned her eyes around the teenagers at the fire pit, or some of them walking along the shoreline, and let out a disappointed sigh. As she tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear, she then used her illusion quirk to vanish again, disappointed she wasn't able to find anything, and headed off into the night.


"Well, well," Hawks was unable to stop himself from smiling a bit dorkily as she got off the elevator, "you look like shit."

Letting out a small growl of warning to the little shit, Nagant decided to ignore her 'kohai' and stalked her way over to the main office of the HPSC building, feeling her rampaging headache continue to plummet her mood as she finished strapping the new belt of her costume on. Due to the HPSC wanting their heroes to look formal, Nagant had been given a new uniform, far different from her old hero costume - which was a good thing, because if she had to wear that thing again she'd probably vomit all over it.

Now, she was wearing a purple sleeveless dress, with her old white zip-up boots, and a metallic utility belt for her to store her bullets. Her hair had grown enough from the shampoos and treatment the HPSC had given her that it was now down to her neck, giving her enough hair to work out in the field. So all in all? Lady Nagant was ready to get back out in the field, as much as she didn't want to.

With a short sigh, she walked with Hawks into the president's office, cursing her hangover - that, or she was still drunk, she sighed - and took a moment to look around at the other people in the large glass office. On the side, the guy she remembered being named 'Sol' was leaning against a bookshelf, puffing on a cigarette as he aimed a smirk at Nagant while she chose to ignore him. On the other side, a woman in a green cloak was folding her arms together and leaning against the wall and glaring down at the floor, while beside her, a man in a white trench coat spoke into a communicator in his ear, scratching at the scar on his cheek.

And behind the desk, Nagant felt her eyebrow raise as the HPSC director continued to sip on her tea, adjusting the small monocle that she had put on her left eye. Around her, what looked to be golden mathematical equations swirled around her as she kept her eyes closed, clearly thinking as she put the cup of tea down on the table beside her.

"We've released the information about Ingenium, sir," She spoke to the laptop open on the computer, showing nothing but a screen that said SOUND ONLY in purple letters, "and I've officially received word from Ryukyu. She wants Lady Nagant to join her investigation in Hosu."

"Excellent," The deep voice said on the other side of the screen, sounding deeply amused, "and you accepted, of course?"

"Indeed, sir," Kanshi nodded, "with the explanation that Nagant is to work as a sniper, not on the front lines. That will give her ample time to find the Hero Killer in Hosu and exterminate him."

"Seems to be a dumb plan to me," Touya said off to the side, lounging on the chair near the bookshelf and smirking at his boss, "you sure your tea wasn't spiked?"

"Oh-ho?" Kanshi giggled, looking around to her subordinate. "How do you mean, Sol?"

"The fact is that you're just going off my theory," He shrugged, "Stendhal might be the Hero Killer, or he might not be. Things are leaning that way, but I don't have an official answer yet. All I know is that I came back to Ingenium on the ground and Stendhal was doing first aid on him. All he knew is that he looked away for a single moment and the Hero Killer attacked them both."

"Slashing at Ingenium's back, crippling him," The woman in green read from the report, "and then stabbing him several times. Stendhal paralyzed, unable to see the attacker or move at all, and was knocked out by a kick to the head. The doctors looked over him - there was a bruise there. Could it have been a self-inflicted injury?"

"I'm leaning that way," Kanshi nodded, standing up from the desk, "Stendhal is our lead suspect. He's been in Hosu and has been following the Hero Killer around for months. Wherever he goes, the Hero Killer strikes. Touya, my dear, you've been hunting the Hero Killer as well - it fits, doesn't it?"

"My boys were looking for him," Touya scowled a bit, "but whoever the killer is, they're a slippery bastard."

"Stendhal fits," Kanshi shrugged, "and on the off chance I'm wrong, then we'll just add him as another one of the Hero Killer's victims. Nagant here won't mind that, would she?"

Nagant merely scowled, while the green-cloaked woman turned to give her a look of dislike.

"And why are we allowing her to make the kill?" She asked in a blunt voice, causing Nagant to turn to glare at her as well. "I could just get rid of him right away."

"It's an example," Kanshi explained in a patient voice, as though to a child, "and as much as I trust you to get the job done, Beros, you're loud. I need this to be quiet, so we know that the Hero Killer is taken out. If Nagant fails, then we'll be trusting you to do the job."

"Ah," Beros nodded, "then that means I'll need to prepare myself for her failure."

"I'm too drunk for this," Nagant growled, "just tell me the job and let me fuck off back to my hotel room."

"She's drunk?" Touya scoffed, "Well, I feel so much better about letting her have the job, then."

"Kid, you'd be drunk too if you had to deal with the grating sound of all your voices."

"Then why don't you -"

"Oi," Nagant snapped, "I know that you seem to like to get off to the sound of your own voice, but why don't you shut the fuck up while the adults -"

"That's enough of that." The president said airily, but with a steel under her voice to make it clear that she'd had enough of their bickering. The group went quiet, with Hawks hanging back and keeping quiet while the mercenary in white merely glared between them all, and then Kanshi sighed.

"Nagant has been eliminating the Commission's enemies since before many of you joined us," She informed the group, "she'll get the job done, I guarantee - she has far too much to lose if she doesn't."

Nagant merely exhaled, glaring at her feet. 

"Now then, we'll continue with our plan - Sol and Wolfram will be officially working with the 'Hero Killer Strike Team' that Endeavor is forming," Kanshi told them, "to divert their attention from Stendhal, so Nagant can pin him down. Wolfram, you'll be having your mercenaries scour for any vigilante interference, and Hawks will be looking over the skies with Beros to track down Stendhal. As per our agreement with Ryukyu, Nagant, I have submitted your name in the UA internship pool, to lessen suspicion on you.  I want this clean and done before the night is over. Dismissed."

With that, the group left, with Nagant and Beros shooting each other glares as they stomped out, followed by Wolfram, then Touya, then Hawks. Finally, Kanshi was left alone in the room, and she sighed as she moved to sit down.

"Well," Her master chuckled over the line, "that was dramatic."

"Children, sir," She dismissively waved her hand, "they'll do what we need while we work."

"Indeed. With my political campaign officially announced, All Might's attention will be secured on me while we run a test in Hosu. How many heroes will be there during Ryukyu's investigation?"

"Her, Miruko and Nagant," She confirmed, "and whoever they choose as interns. The strike team for the Hero Killer will have Endeavor and his sidekicks, and Sol. And then we can run the High-End test."

"Excellent," All For One chuckled over the line, "you've done good work, High General Intelli. With so many powerful heroes lurking in Hosu at the same time, it's smart to test our High-End against them all. And then … we will begin work on the Vessel project."

With that, the line went dead, and Kanshi let out a long sigh as she leaned back, closing her eyes and taking off her monocle as she sipped on a bit of her tea. Alas, before she could spin her chair around to stare out the window, her intercom beeped.

"Madam President," She heard her secretary say, "your little brother's here."

"Ah," She blinked, smiling, "then send him in, please."

Hearing a confirming noise, Kanshi merely leaned back in her seat, careful not to wrinkle her white suit. It took a moment, but then the doors to her office opened, and her little brother strolled in with a smirk, Kanshi returning the smirk as she set her teacup down on the table.

"Well," She giggled, "isn't this a surprise? It's the weekend, I'd have thought that you'd be at home right now with our parents."

"Well," Neito Monoma chuckled, "I was feeling restless after yesterday. The girl I told you about was throwing a party between our classes, and I refused to go on principle."

"Ah, of course, of course," Kanshi giggled as she stood up and moved around her desk, wrapping an arm around her half-brother's shoulders, "in that case, want to sit down and have some tea while you tell me about it? I was watching yesterday, but I'd love your thoughts on this Kendou and Hadou that yanked you around."

"Of course," Monoma frowned at the memory, "I'll tell you all about it."

"Good," Kanshi smiled, "that's a good boy."


On Monday morning, rain continued to beat on the umbrellas of Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka as they walked up the hill towards the school, all three of them quiet as they made their way up the mountain towards UA. All three of them had been a bit nervous when they had stepped out of the train station and into the rain as it poured on them - they were, of course, all subconsciously reminded of what had happened that day on the USJ, as this was the first day since then that rain had poured down this hard. But thankfully, with the three of them moving together, they could try and ignore what they were all thinking of when some thunder rumbled in the sky and made Izuku flinch a bit.

They were quiet, of course, not because of drama or anything like that, but due to the fact that the train ride there had been a bit exhausting - all three of them had been recognized on the way, causing them to be swarmed by people congratulating them on their victories or likewise praising them. Izuku, for his part, was a bit embarrassed - a lot of people were throwing out the names 'Spark' and 'Sparky', much to his mortification, while Itsuka and Ochako didn't make it any better by smiling a bit at the nickname.

Still though, they had all thankfully gotten to school early, with Ochako surprisingly being the one that wanted to get there the fastest, as it had been her texting them late last night that she wanted to get there earlier being the reason they were awake a lot earlier than usual.

As they walked up the hill, Izuku let out a small yawn.

"Man …" He shook his head, "… it's still morning, but I'm already tired."

"Chin up," Itsuka smiled at him from under her own umbrella, the three of them trying not to walk side by side and accidentally get each other wet, "once we get to school, you can nap at your desk until the first bell. Not like Aizawa can judge you much - er - well, he probably can, but not without feeling like a hypocrite."

"Yeah, I guess."

"So," She decided to change the subject as they approached the school gate, "like I was saying yesterday, Nejire - she doesn't know anything about One for All, except for what we discussed with All Might in the nurse's office. I just … kinda forgot about it, in all the excitement on Friday. Seriously, sorry about that, guys."

"No, it's - it's fine," Ochako shook her head, trying to smile kindly at her, "it's just … well, what exactly are you gonna do now that Nejire knows about it? Are we - are we gonna tell her about it?"

"Oh, uh - I was thinking -"

"Midoriya! Uraraka! Kendou! Good morning!"

The three of them jumped a bit, their eyes widening, and quickly looked around. Running quickly up the mountain behind them came, of all people, Tenya, wearing a long green poncho and rain boots as he sprinted as fast as he could.

"Why are you three walking so slowly?!" He barked as he sprinted past them. "You're going to be late!"

"L-late?" Ochako stammered, but still quickly followed her friend as she, Izuku and Itsuka quickly hurried their pace. "But - but we're early, aren't we?"

"UA students should always arrive ten minutes early!" Tenya lectured the three of them. "Even if we are still going to be early regardless!"

Shaking their heads at that logic, the three of them still hurried their paces to get out of the pouring rain, following Tenya through the school gates and into the campus. It didn't take them long to get up to the three doors that led inside, all of them sighing a bit as they shook the rain off of their umbrellas as they walked in. 

Izuku's eyes, however, stayed on Tenya as the taller boy moved to the lockers, taking off his rubber boots and putting them inside the locker.

"Hey, uh … listen, Iida," Izuku said gently as Ochako and Itsuka put their umbrellas in the stand, "about -"

"If you're going to ask about my brother," He interrupted him, taking off his hood and looking around at him, "there's no need for you to worry. Kodai informed me that she told you about why I left Friday - but regardless, I apologize for worrying you. Things will be alright."

With that, he turned to walk off, taking off the green coat as he moved away from them. Izuku still looked concerned - while Tenya's tone had been light, the way he had barely managed to smile put him off. Behind him, both Itsuka and Ochako exchanged a worried glance, and moved to either side of Izuku to stare off after their friend.

"I … guess he's just … kinda brushing it off," Itsuka said, sounding a bit put off, "I'd have thought that - y'know - he'd be more … uh … broken up about it."

"Are you kidding?" Ochako gave Tenya's retreating back a pitying look. "If what had happened to him happened to me, I'd be taking a few days off. I can't believe he actually came to school today."

"Well …" Izuku bit his lip, "… I … guess everyone grieves in their own way. If Iida's is to - y'know, come to school and act like everything's normal - I guess we can't judge him."

"No, no, we won't judge him at all," Itsuka shook her head, "let's just … be careful around him, okay? I can tell that he isn't okay, no matter what he says."

Both of them slowly nodded, and then began making their way up the stairs while Tenya went … wherever he was going to go. As they walked up to the classroom with their bags, Itsuka turned to Ochako and gave her a soft smile.

"So anyway," She hurried up the stairs to catch up with the two of them, walking in between them, "is there a reason why you wanted us to come early? Unless it was just to have some quality time together."

"Oh, uh … well, I can't tell you yet," Ochako gave her a soft smile as they walked up the stairs to where their homeroom was, "let's just drop off our bags, and then … I don't know, maybe I'll give you a hint."

Both Izuku and Itsuka glanced between each other, but shrugged, willing to entertain Ochako as she led the way to class. Soon, they were outside of Class 1A, Ochako turning to smile at both of them as she absently slid the door open.

"So," She shrugged her shoulders as Itsuka adjusted her backpack, "let's drop our stuff off, and then I'll - well - I'll go make some texts."

"Okay," Itsuka smiled as she moved around Ochako, "then let's do that, and we can start solving the mystery of why you wanted to … wake up … so early …?"

She trailed off, however, and Izuku and Ochako blinked when they saw the easy going expression on Itsuka's face fall, and being replaced by surprise as she looked into the classroom.

"Uh …" Itsuka felt her own jaw drop as she pointed into the classroom, "… am I seeing things, or is that Melissa?"

Blinking, both Izuku and Ochako whipped around to look in the classroom, Izuku in surprise and Ochako in shock. Indeed, sitting where Katsuki used to sit, arms on the desk and wearing the UA school uniform, was Melissa. She had turned slightly to see all three of them staring in shock at her, and she let out a nervous giggle as she raised her hand to wave.

"Uh … hi, guys," She weakly said, "surprise?"

All three of them sputtered for a moment, but luckily their surprise was short lived. Quickly, they all made their way inside, heading straight towards the desk Melissa was sitting nervously in, and soon they were around her, Izuku and Itsuka with their jaws dropped but delight evidenced in their eyes, and Ochako in surprise.

"M-Melissa!" Izuku squeaked, rubbing his eyes as though he were seeing things. "Is - you're really here!"

"Yeah," She nodded a bit, smiling, "I'm really here. In the flesh. Uh … voila."

"I - but why are you here?" Ochako gaped. "I - I thought you were going to surprise them differently!"

"Surprise - wait," Itsuka looked around at her girlfriend in surprise. "You knew Melissa was going to be here?"

"We, uh - we chatted Friday night," Ochako shrugged sheepishly, explaining, "and she let me know. She - she was gonna be here all weekend studying to enter UA as a foreign student. I - I thought that she was gonna surprise you two. That's why I wanted to come a bit earlier, so we could see her before classes."

"Oh, wow," Izuku turned to smile at Melissa as she continued to look nervous, "so - so that means that you must be enrolled in the support class now!"

"… yes," Melissa stiffly nodded, "and … no."

"Er … yes and no?" Itsuka tilted her head, confused. "What does that mean?"

"It means," Melissa gulped, "that I was … supposed to be in the support class, and I'm enrolled. But … I'm not. I - I think that there was a bit of a mixup."

"A … mixup?" Izuku looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean …" Melissa gulped, "… I was … supposed to be applying for the support studio. But I think … uh … Uncle Might must've mixed some things up. Because, uh … I got here, and I started doing tests … and halfway through, I … realized that I was …"

There was a pause.

"… Uncle Might … he … enrolled me in the hero course."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"I'm …" Melissa gave the three of them a weak grin, "… your new classmate?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… huh?" Izuku squeaked.

"Excuse me?" Itsuka blinked.

"Sorry?" Ochako asked.

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/fZrUkH2.png
And that was Chapter 37! Indeed, as the above picture mentions, we, uh ... we got into some *horniness* this chapter XD but hey, I was reminded that 'Eventual Smut' is a tag up there, so ... well, I don't think anyone will complain lol. Besides, it opens up a fresh new batch of drama at UA, so I'm sure many of you will be happy about some progression either way!

But alas, we also have some seriousness, what with our setting up a few new plotlines in the next two arcs - essentially, if we're in the hypothetical 'Season Two' of Ignited Spark, we're at the point where the new intro and outro are on, giving us hints of the next arc. And whew boy, are we in for some surprises! What with Tenya about to have his famous revenge quest, our dear president of the HPSC being revealed to be yet *another* composite character, having a surprising brother, and the reveal that Melissa is Katsuki's replacement! I'm sure you're all bubbling with questions, and they'll be answered!

... next time!

... maybe.

In any case, thank you guys so much for reading the final chapter of the year! See you in 2024!

Chapter 38: A Quirkless Hero

Summary:

As the new day begins and things start to jump into high gear, Class 1A meet their new classmate, Melissa Shield. Unknown to any of them, however, Melissa has a secret that she's not sure how to reveal ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"- so yeah," Aizawa let out a sigh as he gestured to the frozen Melissa, who was standing at the board with her back straight, "this is your new classmate, Melissa Shield. Please treat her well."

Across Class 1A, the nineteen students gave a polite round of applause for their new classmate, many of them giving Melissa an interested look as they took her fully in. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, however, all felt themselves wince at the gobsmacked expression on Melissa's face as she stood at the front of the class for a long moment, as though still trying to figure out how she had gotten to Japan in the first place, before she seemed to snap out of her daze. Her cheeks turning red, Melissa hurried back over to the desk in front of Nejire and Izuku, Nejire giving her an excited look and Izuku giving her a pitying one.

It wasn't just Melissa being awkward, however. As a whole, a few members of Class 1A were … well … still a bit flustered with each other after their little party during the weekend. Coming into the classroom after Melissa had been summoned to the teacher's office so they could run through with her what they'd be doing to introduce her, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka had seen many of their classmates arrive, and … kind of avoid each other's gazes. Tsuyu, for her part, had an embarrassed look in her froggy eyes as she tried to adjust the collar around her neck, hiding the imprint of a small bite mark there; Hanta glanced nervously at a laid back Setsuna as she leaned against her chair, seemingly nonchalant about why he was looking at her but occasionally having a bit of red come to her cheeks; and Pony was studying her desk while Mezo folded his arms tightly around his chest, not looking anywhere but his shoes, and definitely not at her.

There was also the fact that Tenya was dead silent as he came into class without telling everyone to take their seats, sitting down silently at his desk and not saying a word, that was causing everyone to keep quiet. Even Nejire, who would've normally jumped into asking Aizawa questions the moment he came into the room or asking everyone about their day off yesterday, was keeping quiet as she stole a nervous look over at him.

And … well, it went unsaid, but if anyone had a question as to why there were pink flecks in Ochako's hair, no one pointed it out.

Once everyone was back in their seats, Aizawa sighed as he scratched at the scar on the side of his head - from what they had seen, Recovery Girl had finished healing him up, with them seeing the small white line near his hairline where glass had slashed him back at the USJ, along with a scar under his eye as he put his hands down on the podium.

"So, as you've all probably guessed, Katsuki Bakugou has been expelled from the hero course," He said without preamble, "and Shield here has been brought in to fill up his seat. Just to let you all know, Bakugou will not be allowed back in this classroom, so if he attempts to enter or  threatens you to let him in, report to me or any other teacher immediately, and we'll handle him. It doesn't matter much, but Shield has done tests this weekend to prove that she has a spot here, so I don't want you confronting her about it. I don't want to hear any rumors about any of you confronting Bakugou, either."

"Yes, sir!" The class confirmed, while Aizawa nodded and grabbed something under the podium.

"Good. Now, then," He looked around at the board, "before we get started with today's lesson, I have another announcement to make."

Raising the remote from under the podium, Aizawa pointed it at the blackboard and pressed the button. Everyone looked around at it as the board behind them hummed, turning on, and before they could blink, a few large-lettered words appeared on the screen.

 

UA ALL-DORM SYSTEM - HEIGHTS ALLIANCE

 

There was a long pause as everyone absorbed what the board was saying. And then they freaked out.

"DORMS?!" They all screeched.

However, before Nejire could leap out of her seat excitedly to begin asking questions, Aizawa's eyes flashed red, specifically pointing at the blue-haired girl, and everyone quickly shut themselves up. Nejire only barely restrained herself by letting out a weak little grunt and using her fingers to zip her mouth closed.

"Thank you," Their teacher sighed, turning to look back at the screen as he put the remote down, "now, yes, you're reading that right - we will be implementing a dorm system in the next following weeks, beginning next Monday. Its official name is Heights Alliance."

"Er - may I ask why the school is implementing this now, sir?" Momo raised her hand, feeling her own stomach lurch as she read the screen again. "This seems rather out of nowhere, Aizawa-sensei."

"It may be to you," He shook his head, "and … well, yes, it somewhat is. This is a plan that Principal Nezu has been brainstorming over for a while now, which we teachers were aware of, but it was only announced this morning during our staff meeting that we'll be rearranging UA into a dorm system. We'll be transforming a field near the school into a local community for students who might want to try living on their own, or with roommates. It's not something we don't have experience with - Toga, for example, is technically a student who lives here full time, so she'll be switched from having a room on the top floor of the building to a house where she can live with her classmates."

"House?" Tsuyu repeated, raising her finger to poke her mouth. "So it's not a standard dormitory?"

"No. We're essentially creating a suburban neighborhood for each class to live in." Aizawa pressed another button, and on the screen, a small diagram appeared: four houses, surrounding another larger building in the middle, all in the shape of a giant square. "You'll split yourselves into households of five, living in each house, and this larger building will be a common building for you all to spend time in, do homework, make food, whatever you need. Should you want to live alone, above the common building are small apartment-like rooms for you to stay in. Of course, all of this is completely voluntary."

"It is?" Yosetsu questioned, surprised. "I'd have thought we didn't have the option to refuse."

"Principal Nezu is aware that not all of your parents will be on board with our plan," Aizawa acknowledged, "so we are willing to give this to you as an option, or think up alternative days you can stay. For example, some of you may choose to stay at the dorm house for the week but go back to your parents' house for the weekend. We'll be preparing a full explanation for your parents to look over when you get home, and you can discuss it with them then. As for your potential roommates -"

Everyone gulped a bit.

"- Principal Nezu and I will be leaving the choice up to you all," He looked up to give them a frown, ignoring the collective sigh of relief that filled the classroom, "but I'd advise you to choose who you'd want to live with carefully. I won't be accepting any room transfers unless you're threatening to kill someone, so be aware that you'll have to give me a pretty damn good reason to move you if things don't work out."

As Aizawa turned to turn off the screen, everyone took that moment to glance between each other, their thoughts mixed but many of them looking intrigued. Momo, for her part, stared up at the display for the dorm houses while feeling her heart thumping in her chest. Nejire was practically trembling in her seat in excitement, barely able to hold back her questions by stuffing her fist in her mouth as she glanced around the room at everyone happily. Setsuna and Mina, at least, looked interested as they tapped on their papers.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, weren't glancing at each other, but all three of them had the thought of being in the same dorm house together. And that … well …

… maybe it'd be better to talk about it later, with each other. Because the thoughts they were having right now - what with Izuku going a bit red, Ochako glancing at both her partners briefly, and Itsuka biting her lip, weren't exactly innocent at the moment.

"Now then," Aizawa sighed as he looked back to the class muttering quietly amongst each other, "with that out of the way, let's get started. We have a special hero informatics class today to get through."

Oh, no, was the class's mutual thought of despair at what Aizawa was about to drop on them.

The teacher himself paused for a moment to let the moment sink in.

"Code names," He then cooly informed them, "today, you'll all be choosing your hero names."

"WE'RE GONNA BE DOING SOMETHING EXCITING!"

Another flash or red eyes, and the class's outburst was silenced once again.

"Alright, so this is related to the pro hero draft picks that I mentioned before I dismissed you all on Friday." Aizawa sighed as his hair fluttered back down and the red glow in his eyes vanished. "The drafts begin in earnest for the second and third years, after students have gained enough experience that they can serve as immediate assets to pros. So the fact that they extended offers to first years like you all shows that they're interested in your future potential. These offers are often canceled, however, if that interest dies down by the time of your graduation."

"So basically," Itsuka raised her hand, looking concerned, "once we catch someone's attention, we have to work to prove ourselves, or the attention will go away."

"That's right," Aizawa nodded, raising the remote again, "now then, here's your offers - we had to wait until this morning for them all to come in, to get them all organized. They’ll be updated if we get a late request by the end of the day."

He turned back to the board and pressed the button on the remote. At once, words, accompanied by bars with a number beside them, all appeared on the screen.

 

CLASS 1A NO. OF OFFERS

Hadou Nejire - 3,457 offers

Kendou Itsuka - 3,324 offers

Tokoyami Fumikage - 893 offers

Midoriya Izuku - 670 offers

Iida Tenya - 554 offers

Uraraka Ochako - 443 offers

Kirishima Eijirou - 277 offers

Ashido Mina - 233 offers

Yaoyorozu Momo - 218 offers

Tokage Setsuna - 202 offers

Sero Hanta - 148 offers

Kodai Yui - 112 offers

Tsunotori Pony - 76 offers

Kaminari Denki - 69 offers

Yanagi Reiko - 68 offers

Jirou Kyouka - 67 offers

Asui Tsuyu - 45 offers

Shouji Mezo - 23 offers

Awase Yosetsu - 2 offers

Bakugou Katsuki - N/A

 

"Whoa," Itsuka blinked, feeling her jaw drop at how large the number was beside her name, while the rest of the class began gushing amongst themselves as they quickly looked for their names. Setsuna, for her part, let out a tension-releasing sigh as she sagged her shoulders, Momo frowned as she noted that she was the lowest of the finalists, and Yosetsu looked like he was about to pass out from relief.

"Whoooooooa!" Nejire happily squealed, quickly whirling around, and grabbing Izuku's arm to shake it, ignoring how he had dropped his jaw wide at the number beside his name. "That's awesome! I got so many offers! So did everyone else, but I got a lot! Who do you think requested me, huh? Huh? Hm, but wait, why are there so many offers, though? Not just because we won, probably, but what are they looking for? Me flying? My bursts? Maybe both?"

"Look at that!" Ochako teared up, leaning forward to shake Tenya back and forth. "We got so many offers!"

"Y-yes, yes."

While Tenya remained stone-faced and impassive, Yui stole a small glance at him, and then returned to look up at her own offers.

"Your performances have shown that several heroes have interests in all of you," Aizawa explained over their muttering, with some of them detecting a small hint of pride in his voice, "so be sure to look thoroughly through your list of potential internships. Keeping these results in mind, whether you choose from the list that we will provide you, you'll all be expected to participate in internships with the pros. With the exception of you, Shield," He turned to the still shellshocked Melissa, "you'll be doing catch up for the week while everyone is out on internships, so you have a chance to get caught up with the schoolwork you've missed. As for the rest of you, you've already experienced combat with real villains at the USJ -"

All of them collectively winced.

"- but this will still be meaningful training for you, so you can see how pros work firsthand."

"So that's why we're choosing hero names today," Momo nodded slowly, "so we'll have official codenames for when we go out into the field."

"Ooooooooh …!" Pony squirmed in her seat, clenching her fists as she looked around excitedly at Izuku and an equally excited Nejire. "Things are startin' to heat up!"

"Just remember," Aizawa gave them a serious look, "the hero names you choose today may or may not be temporary. If you're not serious about them -"

"You'll have hell to pay later!"

Everyone looked around at the door as it suddenly slammed open, and they all blinked (and some of the boys and girls blushed) as Midnight sauntered her way into the room, holding her arms above her head as she stretched. Since a lot of them were aiming their gazes at the floor, they missed Midnight glancing over at Izuku in his corner and clearing her throat a bit awkwardly, trying to fix on her usual seductive look. Behind her, Tenko walked in as well, wearing a black long-shirt and dark jeans with his black hair tied into a small bun on the back of his head, as he smiled and flashed everyone the peace sign.

"A lot of hero names that are used by students end up getting picked up by citizens and the media when you go out into the field," He explained as he joined Midnight at the podium, Aizawa moving quickly to slink into his sleeping bag, "and they end up becoming your official hero names."

"Take 'Tenko' here for example," Midnight giggled as she patted the young man's shoulder, Tenko going red and looking embarrassed, "he ended up getting caught up when it came time for him to pick a hero name, so he simply elected to use his real name. And before he could use a hero name he later wanted, the public had already gotten used to 'Tenko', so he was stuck with it."

"It was embarrassing," Tenko grumbled, "but since my first name was approachable and easy for people to say, I stuck with it. Still … what could've been."

"Out of curiosity, what was the name you eventually came up with?" Eijirou inquired.

"Duststorm," Tenko proudly puffed out his chest, "had the idea since I could decay stuff to dust, I'd be the storm that approached."

While nearly everyone in the room, teacher and student alike, gave him an unimpressed look, Fumikage and Reiko sat up, nodding in respect to the teaching assistant.

"In any case," Midnight likewise rolled her eyes at the meme, "to make sure none of you repeat Tenko's mistake, I'll be the one making sure that your names are alright."

She then reached under the podium humming happily under her breath, and she pulled out a stack of at least twenty small boards. Passing half to Tenko, the two of them began passing out the boards to the first person in each row, allowing them to begin passing the rest back to the person behind them.

"When you give yourself a name," Midnight reminded them as she stood near the podium, Aizawa already passed out in his sleeping bag on the floor while she ignored him, "you can get a more concrete image of the kind of hero you want to be in the future. That's what it means when they say, 'names and natures do often agree'. For example, you really set yourself up for what kind of hero you want to be if you name yourself something like 'All Might'."

Izuku nodded a bit at that, feeling his smile fall as he turned his attention to the board before him on the desk. As the sound of markers squeaking on the boards filled the room, there was movement in front of him, and he glanced up to see Nejire taking off her blazer, leaving her in just her white dress-shirt and red tie, and she spun around on her chair to beam at him.

"Sooooo?" She giggled. "What're you thinking?"

"Uh …" Izuku blinked, going a bit red, " … t-thinking about what?"

"Your hero name!" She gave him an excited look. "What are you thinking? What do you want your hero name to be?"

"Er -" Izuku paused for a moment, glancing down at his board - and then he let out a soft sigh, dropping his shoulders, and leaned over so Nejire could hear him mutter.

"- if I'm being honest," He admitted quietly, "I'm kinda stumped."

"Eeeeeeeh?"

"Yeah," He shrugged his shoulders, "I always knew that I'd have to choose a hero name at some point, but now that it's happening … well, I don't really know."

"Huh …" Nejire glanced off to the side for a moment, as though thinking, and then she looked lost as well, "… well, if I'm being honest, I'm not really sure either! But if I think of a cool name for you, I'll let you know, okay? I bet there's lots of cool things to name you!"

Izuku nodded, giving her a weak smile as she spun back around in her chair and leaned over her board, letting out a hum as she tried to think. Looking back down at his own board, Izuku felt his smile fall as he stared down at it and let out a soft sigh.

So, he thought to himself, a name for what I want to be like in the future, huh ...? I guess if I'm really desperate, I could name myself All Might Jr., but then I'll just be a laughingstock for Occhan …

Letting out a small huff of amusement at the thought of her reaction to that, he shook his head and uncapped his marker as he began thinking.

About ten minutes of muttering and marker squeaking later, all of Class 1A started looking around at what their classmates had possibly thought up. Before they could, however, Midnight smiled and tapped her long nails against the podium.

"Alright," She gestured towards the empty spot beside her as Tenko stood near the board, "if we're all ready, we can begin presenting!"

"W-wait," Eijirou started, eyes going wide, "we're presenting these?"

"Of course! I'm sure everyone is very curious about what you're going to name yourself, and it's better to get constructive criticism with everyone giving their opinions!"

"Oh, man," Hanta winced, "this is gonna take some nerve."

"Well, there's no need to be nervous," Midnight shook her head while smiling gently at the class, "we're all here to be heroes, there's no need to be afraid of getting a little advice. Besides, we also have to make sure what you're naming yourself is appropriate, right?"

"Says the queen of inappropriateness," Tenko muttered under his breath, quiet enough that his coworker wouldn't hear him.

"Now then," She gestured to the podium as she stepped aside, "who wants to go first? Or do you want me to start alphabetically?"

Everyone glanced nervously between each other, as though suddenly fearful that they were about to be put in the center of attention. Thankfully, Itsuka let out a small sigh from her spot, and raised her hand above her head.

"Okay," She shrugged, "I … guess I could go first?"

"Excellent, Kendou!" Midnight happily pointed at her, gesturing for her to get up, "Let's get the ball rolling!"

With a nod, Itsuka quickly got up and stepped up to the front of the room. As she headed up, Izuku and Ochako leaned forward curiously - they had never asked her what she had in mind for a hero name, so they were intrigued as to what she had chosen for herself. 

As soon as she was up at the podium, Itsuka let out a small breath in and out, and then moved to put the board down on the table to display her name, giving everyone a sheepish smile.

"I figured out what I wanted my hero name to be a few years back," She explained briefly, "but I was kinda stuck with what the subtitle would be. Anyway … 'Handy Hero: Battle Fist'."

"Oh, how spunky!" Midnight clapped her hands happily together as she nodded in approval, "I like it!"

Itsuka let out a sigh of relief at her approval, and smiled as the class politely clapped for her as she tucked her board back under her arm and returned to her desk. Both Ochako and Izuku gave her approving looks, which she responded by subtly winking at Ochako and smiling at Izuku as she sat back down.

Invigorated, Mina quickly hopped up from her desk and hurried over to the podium with a grin.

"Then I guess I'll go now!" She eagerly put her board down on the podium's surface. "Here's my hero name - 'Ripley Hero: Alien Queen'!"

"Ripley?!" Tenko gasped in shock, looking pale. "You mean that movie with the alien with acidic blood? Rejected!"

"Rejected?!" Mina balked, looking around at the teaching assistant in shock. "Why?! What's wrong with it?!"

"Well, it does make you sound somewhat villainous, dear," Midnight advised her, "and probably naming yourself after the antagonist of a movie might not be a smart idea for a hero. As much as I hate to say, giving yourself such an off-putting name might damage your career long term if you're not careful."

"Plus," Tenko shivered, "it also brings to mind a giant Xenomorph coming to save me, and … eesh. No, thank you."

"Aw, man, really …?" Mina pouted, looking disappointed. Thankfully, Midnight patted her shoulder.

"I'd allow a variation to be a subtitle for you," She comforted her, "like, 'Alien Hero - insert your name here'! That kind of thing."

"I guess," Mina sighed in disappointment, walking back to her desk dejected. Tsuyu then raised her hand to go next, and made her way to the front.

"Kero," She put her board down on the podium, "I've had this name in mind ever since I was in elementary school. 'Rainy Season Hero: Froppy'!"

"Oh, how cute!" Midnight gushed, clapping her hands together. "It seems friendly, I like it! It's a great example of a name that everyone would love."

"Ooh!" Nejire likewise looked delightedly up at Tsuyu. "That does sound so cute! I love it! But wait, hold on, is 'froppy' the name of a frog? Not an official name - or is it? Wait, was it a pet's name? Are you naming yourself after your pet? Is that a thing? Should I name myself Pixie, after my kitty?"

"Er - no, kero, I just thought it sounded cute."

"Hmm," Nejire hummed, looking back down at her board as Tsuyu moved back to her desk.

"Right!" Eijirou jumped up with his own board. "Then I'm going next!"

"Take it away, Kirishima!"

From there, everyone started to get the courage to step up to the podium and show what names they had selected for themselves. Izuku, for his part, continued to absently write names on his board, stare at them for a moment, and then shake his head and erase them, while Nejire continued to bounce excitedly in her seat and try to ask quick questions that the presenter awkwardly tried to answer - at least, until Midnight headed over and covered Nejire's mouth with her hand, giving her the signal to try reigning it in.

"'Sturdy Hero: Red Riot'!"

"Ah, playing homage to Crimson Riot, eh?" Midnight grinned, walking back to the front while Nejire zipped her mouth closed again. "If you want to bear a name you admire, it'll come with that much more pressure, if you're ready for it!"

"I guess I'm next," Kyouka put her board on the podium, "'Hearing Hero: Amplifier'."

"That's good!" Midnight cheered while Tenko went down to Denki's desk to give him advice on what he could produce as a hero name. "Let's keep moving, people! Give me those names!"

"'Tentacle Hero: Tentacole'." Mezo confirmed.

"A mix of 'tentacle' and 'octopus'! I like it!"

"'Taping Hero: Cellophane'." Hanta grinned.

"Nice and simple! That's important!"

"'Welding Hero: Welder'." Yosetsu winced at his lack of creativity.

"Very simple and to the point!"

"'Size Hero: Rule'." Yui nodded.

"I’m suspicious about your subtitle, young lady, but I like it!"

"'The Alien Hero: Venus'!" Mina proclaimed.

"There you go, girl!"

"'Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt'!" Denki flashed everyone a finger gun, which Kyouka eye-rolled to since he clearly didn't go with her thoughtful suggestion of 'Jamming-whey'.

"Ooh, I feel tingly!"

"'Horned Heroine: Rocketti'!" Pony pumped her fist.

"Ooooh, a name that reflects your body! I like it!" Midnight threw her hand happily in the air as the class all enjoyed the carefree atmosphere, Tenko grinned, and Aizawa napped. "Now come on, let's keep right on going!"

"I hope that I will not bring shame to this name." Momo declared in a serious voice, "'Everything Hero: Creati'."

"Creative! Heh."

"'Split Hero: Lizardy'!" Setsuna grinned, aware of Itsuka and Yui both snorting and resisting the urge to flip them off.

"Oooh, I like it!"

"'Jet-Black Hero: Tsukuyomi'." Fumikage said in such a voice it sounded less like a hero name and more of a burden he was taking on.

"Like the god of the night!"

"'Mysterious Hero: Emily'." Reiko brushed some of her hair out of her face.

"I get that reference!"

With everyone settling back in their chairs after non-stop volunteering to go next, Midnight turned to look around the room to make sure that nobody was being missed.

"Ah, choosing hero names has been going a lot more smoothly than I thought!" She happily told Tenko as he stood near the board with her. "So, let's see … who's left?"

"Midoriya, Uraraka, Hadou, Iida and Shield," Tenko confirmed.

"Ah, yes, thank you!"

"Er …" Melissa spoke up for the first time in about half an hour, causing everyone to look around at her curiously as she awkwardly raised her hand in the air, "… sorry, but I had a question."

"Yes!" Midnight pointed happily at the new student. "How can we help you, Shield?"

"So, uh …" Melissa went a bit red, "… I … realize that I only just joined the hero course this morning, so … uh … I'm not really sure what to name myself. I don't really - I don't have any names in mind."

"Oh, that's fine!" Tenko nodded, giving her a smile and thumbs up. "Since you won't be heading out on internships just yet, you have the time to think of a name and submit it to us when we do the later internships."

"Ah," She nodded awkwardly, "well - okay. Y-yeah, that's fine. Thank you."

"Now then," Midnight looked around at the other side of the room, seeing Izuku looking concerned and deciding to give him a bit more time to think, "Uraraka, Iida, do either of you want to go next?"

"Um …" Ochako stood up, holding her board to her chest, "… I can go next."

"Excellent! Take it away, Uraraka!"

Walking up to the front of the class, Ochako moved past Midnight and put her board down on the podium, aware of Izuku and Itsuka paying extra attention now as she gave the class a sheepish smile.

"So, uh - this is what I thought of," She gestured down to the board, "'Uravity'."

"Sounds stylish!" Midnight praised her, which made Ochako sag a bit with relief.

With another round of applause, Ochako returned to her desk, smiling and blushing at Itsuka's thumbs up. Midnight then glanced in between Izuku, Nejire and Tenya, with Izuku still staring down at his board and Tenya staring blankly at his, while Nejire looked around excitedly.

"So how about you, Hadou?" She asked. "Are you ready to present?"

"Oh!" Nejire gasped, quickly standing up. "Right! I got so excited, I nearly forgot that I had to present!"

Midnight smiled gratefully at Nejire for taking the initiative, taking a step back as Nejire happily made her way to the podium. The blue-haired girl stood there for a moment as everyone leaned forward in anticipation as to what she was going to name herself - 

- and then she blinked as she set down her board, seeing no name written on it.

"Wait," She realized, "I got so excited, I haven't thought of my hero name yet. Is 'Nejire' fine?"

Nearly everybody in the class face planted on their desks, while Midnight raised her hand to her eyes and Tenko sighed.

"Er …" Midnight looked back up at the concerned girl with tired eyes, "… it would be, but … just your name? Are you sure?"

"Ummmm …" Nejire looked away to think for a moment, while the rest of the class gave her a collective exasperated look - seriously, was she so curious about their hero names she didn't think of one for herself? - and then she suddenly gasped, her eyes brightening.

"Oh!" She clapped her hands together as she looked around at Midnight. "How about 'Fae'? 'Spiraling Hero: Fae'!"

"'Fae'?" Midnight repeated, and then smiled and nodded. "Sounds mischievous! I like it!"

Smiling happily, Nejire quickly made her way back to her desk.

As everyone muttered about Nejire's idiocy, Izuku let out another sigh as he scrubbed out another potential name that he had dismissed. Honestly, he was starting to get frustrated that nothing was really sticking - he thought of a few names that sounded stupid the longer he thought of it, names that wouldn't make sense, and names that were blatant rip offs of All Might (so no go's). He had been excited about one name he came up with, up until Denki unveiled his 'Chargebolt' title, forcing him to bitterly erase the 'Flashbolt' name off his board - he didn't want to look like he didn't have any creativity.

It shouldn't be that difficult - he just needed a name that people would think 'it's okay' when he arrived to save them. Something that they could be inspired by. Something that, when he arrived, they would know who he was -

- wait.

"Y-you were really cool yesterday."

"Huh? I was?"

"Y-yeah! You were really cool when you were swinging around the trees, in the second round. Avoiding everyone."

"Oh, uh … I wasn't all that cool. I was, uh - I was getting yanked around a lot of the time by Hatsume's devices."

"Yeah, but you still dodged everyone else! No one got to touch you until the very end! And you still won!"

Izuku found himself blinking as he had remembered what had happened on the Saturday following the sports festival. Katsuma … he had thought those things, hadn't he? He had recognized Izuku on sight, he had told him how cool he thought Izuku had been in the forest, and against Katsuki and Fumikage. And … he hadn't known him by his real name.

He knew him by … by …

Staring down at his board for a moment, Izuku felt his lips thin - and then he nodded to himself, swelling his chest up, and quickly scribbled down his hero name on the board. Once he was sure it looked fine, he stood up.

"Ah, Midoriya," Tenko grinned at him, "you wanna go next?"

"Y-yes, sir."

Taking a moment to hype himself up, Izuku walked to the podium, with Midnight stepping aside so he could have the spotlight. After a moment of glancing around the room nervously - and aware of Ochako and Itsuka paying him extra attention - he let out a sigh, and put his board down on the podium to face the classroom.

He saw everyone blink at what he had written.

"Huh," Kyouka gave him a curious look, "guess you're embracing the meme, huh?"

"I -" Izuku let out a self-deprecating chuckle, "- I guess."

"I mean, are you sure, man?" Eijirou leaned forward in his seat, giving him a surprised look. "I know it's kind of a joke now, but - well, you might be called that forever, you know."

"Yeah, I do," Izuku nodded, smiling a bit as both Ochako and Itsuka looked pleasantly surprised by his choice, "but, well … I met someone this weekend that knew me by this name, and - and I inspired him. So … well … why not try to inspire everyone else with this name, too?"

The class looked unsure for a moment - but then he saw some of them nod, looking at it in approval. Nejire looked excited for him, Melissa gave him a small smile, and both Ochako and Itsuka looked happy for him, while Izuku glanced down at the name he had chosen.

'Elemental Hero: Spark'

"Well, I approve!" Midnight flashed him a thumbs up happily while Tenko smiled at him, and as Izuku returned to his desk, she turned to where Tenya was silently at his desk.

"Now then, Iida, you're the last to go," She called out to him, "do you have a name in mind?"

Tenya continued to stare down at his board for a moment, aware of everyone turning to look around at him - and then he nodded, and abruptly stood up from his chair, making Ochako flinch a bit behind him. Everyone watched as he walked over to the podium, taking a deep breath - and then he put the board in his hands down on the podium, showing his first name there and nothing else.

"Oh? You're just going to use your first name?" Midnight raised her eyebrow, but still nodded (albeit giving him a sympathetic look), and Tenya returned to his desk. As he sat down heavily, he was vaguely aware of Yui looking at him out of the corner of her eye, but he stared up at the board as his gaze hardened behind his glasses.


Once Aizawa had been woken up from his nap (with Midnight coolly telling Tenko to kick him awake, and Tenko being weirdly happy to do so), the three teachers excused themselves, with Aizawa telling them that he'll be talking to them more about internships once they were back from lunch. Ectoplasm then came in to start teaching math, and to Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka's relief, Melissa had recovered enough from her shock from this morning to participate in class - and, well, answer each and every one of Ectoplasm's equations effortlessly, somewhat intimidating most of the class who didn't know her history in support studies and unnerving Ectoplasm, who muttered something about potentially bringing in more difficult questions and making Denki and Mina pale in horror.

Soon, the bell for lunch rang, and Ectoplasm excused them for their lunch break. The moment he closed the door behind him, many people shot up from their desks, but did not head out towards Lunch Rush. Instead, a small crowd quickly surrounded Melissa's desk, who was at least coherent enough now to look surprised at all the attention focused on her.

"So, I'm Kirishima!" Eijirou loudly introduced himself, bowing low. "I know that we usually talk in the chat, but it's nice to finally meet you face to face!"

"Y-yeah, I agree," Melissa stood up from her desk, giving him a small smile, "it's nice to finally put faces to names."

"If you do ever need any assistance," Momo gave her a concerned look, "please don't hesitate to ask, alright? I know that it must feel intimidating to join the hero course right after the sports festival, so I wouldn't mind lending you my notes for you to catch up with."

"Oh, well - that's - that's kind of you, thank you."

"Whew! I can't believe there's another person here who speaks English!” Pony happily clapped her hands together, before she blinked. "Er - wait, you do speak English, right?”

"do," Melissa giggled as she spoke English as well, making Pony sag her shoulders with relief, "and yeah, Japanese can be a bit difficult sometimes, right? I'm lucky that one of my uncles is a native speaker, I've been learning Japanese since I was six."

" Oh, that's awesome! I've been speaking Japanese since I was thirteen, so I'm still a bit shaky. "

" Well, I think your Japanese is pretty good. If you ever need help learning a word, just let me know ."

" Okay ! "

"Well," Mezo took a step forward as well, aware of Pony quickly falling silent and staring down at her hooves with a blush while he likewise went a bit red but tried not to look at her, "it's good to have you with us, Shield."

"Oh, you can just call me Melissa," She smiled up at him, and then glanced around the small crowd that surrounded her desk, "in fact, you can all call me by my first name, if you want."

"Well, only if you're sure," Tsuyu smiled up at her, "and in that case, you can call me Tsuyu, or Tsu if you want. So, Melissa, what's it like to live in America?"

"Oh, well - if we're being technical, I'm not from America. I was born there and spent some of my childhood there, but I've actually lived on I-Island most of my life."

"Wait, really?!" Mina's eyes went wide while several people let out several impressed noises. "You mean that super high-tech island? That I-Island?"

"The one and only," Melissa giggled.

"Okay, now we have to hear everything!"

As everyone continued to chat happily with Melissa to learn more about her, Izuku found himself smiling gently behind them, seeing the way Melissa's shoulders loosened from all the tension and her smile became more and more genuine. He then heard the sound of feet behind him, and he glanced over to see Ochako and Itsuka walking towards him with their lunch bags, their gazes on Melissa as well as she continued being the center of attention.

"She seems like she's fitting in fine, huh?" Itsuka smiled as she put her bag down on Izuku's desk, reaching over to Pony's discarded seat to pull it over as well.

"Yeah," Ochako likewise took Nejire's own seat and spun it around, sitting down across from Izuku as Itsuka sat down between them.

Behind them, they watched as the crowd began slowly filling out to head to lunch - from Tenya already having left, which made Yui frown but shake her head as she moved to join Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, and soon enough Setsuna joined them as well as she stretched her arms above her head. Behind them, Nejire checked her phone, frowning, and then nodded and waved to the group as she quickly headed out the door, heading in Class 1B's direction.

Soon, their small group was joined by Momo and Kyouka as well, pulling over desks to make their eating space a bit bigger, and then it was just the seven of them and Melissa, who reached down for her own lunch bag as she gave the group an awkward smile.

"Er …" She pointed at a free space, and at everyone nodding, she pulled her chair over and sat down at the small desk.

"Thanks," She gave them all a grateful look, "I'm pretty sure that I would get lost trying to find the cafeteria on my own."

"O-oh, yeah, it's no problem!" Izuku gave her a thumbs up.

"Yeah," Itsuka smiled at Melissa as well, "we don't blame you, this place is big enough to get lost in really easily. And … well, I wasn't sure if you wanted to go with everyone else, either."

"No, no, I thought I'd stick by the classroom for the first day at least," Melissa shook her head, "at least until - you know - my shock wore off."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in understanding, and soon, the entire group started getting into their bentos to start eating. For a few minutes, the group was more than happy to eat in silence, with them letting Melissa have a moment to just eat her sandwich before they overwhelmed her with more questions. Once she was finished eating the pieces of hot dog in her lunch, Setsuna sighed and put her bento box down as she looked around at Yui.

"So …" She grinned at her best friend, although it looked somewhat strained, "… how was it at the hospital yesterday? Did you, uh … did you find anything else out?"

Yui paused while sipping on her soup, and then frowned and put her spoon back down in the small cup.

"Nope," She shook her head, "it was the same as Saturday - I went there, I texted Iida, and he told me to head home. Wasn't as nice about it either, he pretty much just bluntly told me to leave the hospital."

"I mean," Itsuka shrugged, looking unsurprised, "I can't really blame him, honestly - it's his brother. We all know how much he looks up to him, so - so a coma must be - it must be devastating. I don't blame him if he's a little snippy."

"Yeah," Izuku frowned as well, putting his chopsticks down while Ochako bit her lip, "when I tried talking to him this morning, he pretty much brushed me off. And I mean, I can't blame him, it's just … it's weird."

"Indeed," Momo sighed as Kyouka looked uncomfortable, "but we must remember that everyone grieves in their own ways. If Iida wants to be alone with his thoughts, we can't begrudge him - it's only if we think he's going to do something to hurt himself that we should inform Aizawa-sensei."

"Do you think he'd do something dumb?" Kyouka shook her head. "I don't know, Iida seems … he's too much of a stickler for me to see him doing something stupid."

"His brother got put in a coma by a villain," Itsuka reminded her gently, "that's not just something you can brush off, no matter how much Iida's trying to convince us otherwise. I can see him throwing himself pretty hard into training, but … well, I'll keep an eye on him, anyway."

"As will I," Momo nodded.

The group was silent for a moment - and then Ochako cleared her throat, and glanced over at where Melissa was awkwardly sitting and quietly eating.

"Er … sorry, Melissa, that - that got pretty dark," She tried to smile at her, "I - I bet this isn't how you imagined things would be going down on your first day."

"Uh … not really," Melissa nodded, grimacing slightly, "I thought I'd be in the support studio right now, not - you know - here."

"Wait, what?" Setsuna blinked, looking surprised as Yui likewise glanced at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when I came to UA this weekend," Melissa explained to her, pouting as she lifted up a sandwich to bite into, "I was under the assumption that I was doing tests and exams for the support studio. Only to realize when it was pretty much over that I was … technically applying for the hero course. And by the time I figured that out, it was … well, a little too late."

"So …" Itsuka gave her a concerned look, while Momo looked shocked, Setsuna snorting, Yui glancing down at Melissa's chest and nodding in approval, and Kyouka rolling her eyes at UA's idiocy, "… what technically happened? Did you get here, and - and the teachers immediately put you to work?"

"Pretty much," Melissa sighed as she leaned back against her seat, "I got here after the plane ride, and I sat down to do the tests. I was kind of confused about the subject material I was given - it was about hero laws and crime investigation and all that stuff -"

"So what we wrote during our entrance exams," Itsuka confirmed, while Izuku, Ochako, Kyouka and Yui nodded as well.

"- but I thought that, since it's a hero school, everyone had to do those tests, so I didn't question it much." Melissa gave herself a disappointed look at her gullibility. "Honestly, the only time I realized I was taking the wrong tests was after my physical exam finished - I was put out in one of the fields against several robots. I thought it was just part of the test to find a way to disable them, but after Principal Nezu congratulated me and welcomed me into the hero course, I … I realized that I had been taking the wrong exam all along. But I couldn't - I didn't have the time to correct him, so … here I am," Melissa took another bite of her sandwich unhappily, "in the course I'm probably not supposed to be in."

"Yeesh, girl," Setsuna gave her a weak grin, "that's … definitely not one of your smarter moments, no offense."

"None taken. And yeah, I'm an idiot."

"Is it possible for you to transfer over to support?" Kyouka asked curiously.

"Maybe," She grumped, "but I've been trying to talk to Unc- I mean, All Might, since he was the one who gave me the recommendation to do the exams here, but he's apparently been in meetings all day long today. No way I can get in contact with him. I might be able to ask Aunt Cathy, but … well, I don't wanna distract her anymore than I already have, she was the one who gave me the lift to Japan."

All of the group gave her a sympathetic look as she shook her head and sighed.

"W-well, it can't be so bad, can it?" Izuku gave her a hopeful look.

"Well …" Melissa hesitated, her gaze flickering between them all for a moment before she shook her head, "… honestly, I'm supposed to be building stuff right now, that's what I have all my textbooks and stuff for. And I'm not really sure about the hero course itself, but I don't think I'll have the time to build any support items - for myself or you, Izuku - if I'm going to be training full time. I just …" She sighed, "… I'm gonna have to see if I can get in contact with All Might, or talk to Aizawa after class and see if it's possible to get a transfer."

"That right …?"

"Yeah …" Melissa shook her head, and then straightened up in her seat and gave the small group around her a smile, "… anyway, enough about me dragging down the mood. What kind of offers do you guys think you got from the pro heroes?"

"Uh … well, I don't know about the rest of you, but too many to count," Itsuka shook her head, wincing while Setsuna snorted and Momo gave her a look that mixed sympathy with a bit of envy, "seriously - over three thousand offers? I'm probably gonna be going through the list all week long and have to pick someone at the very last minute."

"W-well, if you want," Izuku turned to give her a hopeful look, "I can have a quick look over your offers and see what might be the best fit for you? I'm probably gonna be finishing going through my offers tonight, so I'll have time."

"Oh," Itsuka smiled at him, "that's - yeah. Thank you, Izuku, I'll take you up on that offer."

"Er - I can also extend that out to you guys as well," He quickly looked around at the girls surrounding him, going a bit red, "if you're having difficulties looking for someone who might be a good fit, I can look through your offers and see where you might fit."

"I … might take you up on that offer, Greenie," Kyouka shrugged, "have no idea who would want to send me offers, so it'd be nice to see who'd help me out the best."

"I'll hold off on you for now, Midoriya," Setsuna shrugged, "I'm … well, I'm hoping that someone specifically reached out to send me a request, so … I'll have to wait and see my offers."

"Still," Kyouka turned to look over at Momo, frowning, "sucks that you got the least amount of offers from the finalists. You got second fucking place!"

"I'm not surprised," Momo sighed, looking disappointed in herself, "I didn't put up a very good performance during Friday's events."

"I thought you did really well, though!" Izuku gave her a surprised look while she shook her head.

"I … reviewed my performance with my father," She turned her gaze down to the table, "and with some of his commentary, I found that my performance during the sports festival was disappointing. I didn't do much to truly stand out - my performance in the first round was hindered by Mineta clinging to me, the second round had me in a supporting role, and … well, the third round had me do nothing while Shouto did all the work."

"I am sorry for that," Shouto frowned, "I should've been more considerate of you, Yaomomo."

"It's alright, Shouto," Momo smiled up at him, everyone nodding along as well and giving Momo sympathetic looks as they returned to their lunches.

And that was right about the time the voice that had spoken above them suddenly registered. Blinking, they all looked up from their bentos, and to their surprise, they saw none other than Shouto, standing above them and carrying a small bowl of what looked to be noodles, and looking between all of them with a neutral expression.

"T-Todo-Todoroki!" Izuku squeaked in surprise, feeling himself straighten up - seriously, how had he snuck up behind them without anyone noticing?! - and blinked a bit at Shouto as he used his chopsticks to raise some noodles to his mouth, sipping them up. "W-when did you get here?!"

"I've been here the entire time," Shouto nodded, glancing at the group of girls plus Izuku as they all glanced at each other in confusion, as though wondering if their perception of their environment was that low, "I noticed that you were all still in your classroom, so I decided to come and speak with you."

He then looked up at Melissa, and shrugged his shoulders.

"But when I saw someone I didn't know," He explained, "I decided to stay quiet until I could introduce myself." He then lowered himself into a bow before Melissa. "I'm Todoroki, over in Class 1B."

"Oh, uh … hello," Melissa stood up from her desk to bow to him as well, "I'm Melissa Shield. You can just call me Melissa, if you want."

"If you're alright with that," Shouto nodded in acknowledgement, and then turned to where Itsuka was sitting, "now, then - Kendou. I wanted to speak with you, if that's alright."

"Er …" Itsuka glanced awkwardly around - she knew that the two of them were in somewhat of a better place than last Friday, when they had spent all day as rivals, but most of the group didn't know that, what with Melissa recognizing Shouto and feeling her smile fade, Setsuna and Yui giving Shouto suspicious looks, Kyouka glancing between him and Momo with a small glare, and Izuku, Ochako and Momo looking concerned.

Still, she nodded, and sat up in her seat.

"… well … sure, Todoroki. What's up?"

"Well," Shouto sighed, putting his bowl down on the desk beside them - and then, to everyone's surprise, he moved to lower himself into a bow again, "I wanted to take the time today to apologize to you."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… oh," Itsuka said blankly, "uh … okay. Er … apologize for … what, again?"

"Well," Shouto sighed as he straightened his back, glancing over at Izuku and Ochako, while Setsuna, Yui, Melissa and Kyouka looked confused and Momo slowly nodded as she plucked a tomato from her bento box, "I suppose that … I am apologizing for my behavior towards you on Friday. And that would include you both as well, Midoriya, Uraraka - I already spoke to Hadou when he stopped by my classroom looking for Haya, so she's accepted my apology. I still wanted to come here to clear the air."

"Ah," Ochako said blankly, "er - right."

"Right. I suppose that I could give you all an excuse for my behavior, but …" He shook his head slowly, "… well, I had some time to think over the weekend, and discussed things with Yaomomo as well -"

They all glanced at Momo, who merely nodded and continued eating her lunch, albeit wincing over the fact that she could see the gears in Setsuna's head spinning at the 'Yaomomo' nickname.

"- and I came to the conclusion that my attitude towards you all was inexcusable. So I want to just say that I am sorry for how I treated you all, and I hope that I can do better."

All of them balked for a moment as Shouto pretty much laid everything on the table, and then took a step back as he awaited their response. And then Setsuna suddenly cleared her throat, causing him to look over at her.

"Hey, uh, buddy," She gave him a pointed look, "there's still one person you have to apologize to."

"Oh," Shouto blinked, "and who's that?"

"Me!" She pointed at herself, and then raised her other arm to show that her hand was currently missing. "You pulverized my hand during the second round! I'm crippled for life!"

"Ah," Shouto's eyes widened in alarm, "I see. I am very sorry, Tokage - er - perhaps I could have my father pay your family for a prosthetic -"

"Prosthetic?! How could you think a prosthetic would make up for your crimes?! And what, you think you can flaunt your daddy's money to get yourself out of trouble?!"

"Ah - er -"

"She's screwing with you, Todoroki," Itsuka sighed as she shook her head, "her body parts regrow, thanks to her quirk. She's just being an idiot."

"Yeah, I am," Setsuna flashed Itsuka a teasing pout, and then brought her other hand floating out from under the desk, reattaching it to her wrist before looking back up at him with a smile, "and yeah, I'm just kidding, Todoroki, I'm over it. I'm pretty sure you didn't even notice my hand there when I was going after Midoriya, and I still got some attention from the pros, so I'm not gonna hassle you about it."

Shouto slowly nodded at that, glancing unsurely at Setsuna as though he were still confused. After a moment, Itsuka smiled as she pointed towards a chair beside Shouto, and, after a second of hesitation, the boy with red and white hair took it, and pulled it over to settle in between Itsuka and Setsuna, awkwardly sitting down.

"So, uh … well, I'm not sure if I speak for Izuku and Ochako -" Itsuka glanced over at them, and saw both of them flash her a thumbs up before she turned back to Shouto, "- but we accept your apology. Tensions were kind of high on Friday, and you were - you know - dealing with stuff. But … um … speaking of that …" 

She glanced between both him and Momo for a moment, unsure of how to ask her question, but Shouto seemed to pick up on what she was asking.

"Not well." He shook his head.

"N-not well?"

"Yes. So …" Shouto paused for a moment, glancing between Yui, Setsuna, Kyouka, Izuku, Ochako and Melissa for a moment, as though only now realizing that they were surrounded, before he shook his head again and sat up, "… well, I suppose that if you trust the people here, I can bring everyone up to speed."

"Wha- Shouto, are you sure?" Momo looked shocked, leaning forward and giving Shouto a concerned look while Kyouka continued to glance between both of them with a pout. "It's - it's a very personal matter, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to keep it private."

"Oh?" Yui tilted her head. "Are we about to hear some good gossip?"

"Yes," Shouto nodded to the stoic girl, before looking back at Momo, "and I'm sure, Yaomomo. You said it yourself that I should try to be more open, and … well, Kendou has shown to be trustworthy, and I imagine that everyone she has in her group is trustworthy as well."

"Oh, yeah!" Setsuna confirmed, crossing her heart. "Anything you tell us doesn't leave my lips, dude."

"Mm," Yui nodded, "I won't say anything."

"I … guess not," Kyouka sighed.

Melissa was quiet for a moment, feeling Shouto turn to look at her, and glanced up and saw him giving her a serious look.

"Just so you're aware," He narrowed his eyes, "what i'm about to tell you is information that the Number Two Hero of this country doesn't want to be public knowledge. Are you alright with keeping a secret of that magnitude?"

Melissa paused - and Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka guessed that she was probably thinking about the secrets she kept for the Number One Hero of this country - and then she nodded.

"Yes," She smiled at him, "don't worry, I know how to keep secrets about top heroes."

Shouto raised his eyebrow a bit at that, but he still nodded.

From there, he pretty much brought everyone up to speed - Ochako, Melissa, Yui, Setsuna and Kyouka, being the ones who had no knowledge of what was going on with the Todoroki family, felt their jaws drop in horror at what he told them. Izuku, who knew the basics, felt his eyes widen when Shouto revealed what he, Itsuka, Momo and Nejire had discovered in the ice dome, to which Itsuka and Momo nodded along as he detailed the repressed memories he had no idea he had. Shouto, for his part, made it pretty quick, frowning as he detailed everything that he had discovered on Friday.

Finally, Shouto finished his explanation, and took a moment to sip on his noodles again. The group of girls plus Izuku were silent for a long moment.

"I …" Yui frowned, "… don't think I wanted to know any of that. Sorry."

"Mm," Shouto shook his head, "I really can't blame you. I wouldn't want to know about it if I were you, either."

"I … okay," Setsuna had her face resting in her hands, "so just ignoring for now that Endeavor is a fucking psychopath -"

"Amen," Itsuka grumbled darkly.

"- what happened after you got done at the Yaoyorozus?"

"Well," Shouto sighed as he put his now empty bowl down, "after we were done with dinner, Yaomomo and I talked things over as well before we went home. I had some time to think this weekend, and … well, I decided that if I'm going to get to the bottom of what actually happened, I need to talk to my mother."

"Your mom?" Itsuka raised her eyebrows.

"Indeed. I want to get her side of what happened - mostly because I don't want to talk to Endeavor more than I have to, and I want to know which of my memories are real - the one where she poured water on my face, or the one of her stabbing Endeavor."

"God, dude, that's -" Kyouka shook her head, "- seriously, really fucked up."

"It is," Shouto agreed stoically, "which is why I want to know which of my memories is the true one. But of course, I ran into a snag yesterday."

"A snag?" Ochako blinked.

"Yes. I went to the hospital where my brother said my mother was located," Shouto frowned, "but the doctors told me that she had actually been discharged two years ago."

"She was discharged?" Izuku felt his eyebrows raise. "So - so that means that she's probably living somewhere in Japan?"

"I think so," Shouto nodded, "and it appears that my mother forbade her doctors from telling anyone where she relocated."

"I mean, it makes sense," Setsuna shook her head as everyone glanced at her, "if she wants to make sure your old man doesn't fuck with her, I'd hide where I'm living from him, too. Wouldn't surprise me if they had restraining orders on each other, too."

"I agree," Shouto sighed, "so that's why I'm going to wait until my sister gets back home tonight - she regularly visits my mother, so that has to mean that she's somewhere in Musutafu. So I'm going to ask her where she and Touya go to visit Mother, and … potentially go there by myself."

“W-wait, are you sure?” Ochako gave him a concerned look. “It – it doesn’t sound like it’s a good idea to confront your mom if she has no idea you’re coming. Who knows how she would react?”

“There is that possibility,” Shouto acknowledged, frowning, “but … well, I have the idea that if I try to go with Fuyumi, Touya will forbid me from going. And … and I’m not foolish. Whatever’s been going on with my mother, my brother … he’s the one who keeps telling me about how my mother was in the hospital and didn't want to see me. If he realizes that I figured out that there’s something going on … well, I don’t know what’ll happen, but I don’t want to risk it."

“Well,” Itsuka shrugged, sensing Shouto’s uncomfortableness regarding Touya, “if you don’t trust your brother, do you trust your sister to help you? I mean, if she’s been going to visit your mother with him …”

“Yes,” Shouto nodded at once, “I trust Fuyumi. She hasn’t been able to help me much at home, but where she can, she does. If I ask her to help me find our mother, I think she'll help me. I just … I need to keep this quiet around Touya. He and my other brother have always been close – I don't know if Touya’s turned him on me. If someone is going to help me find my mother … it’ll be Fuyumi.”

The small group of girls, plus Izuku, all nodded, glancing between each other as Shouto finished up his soba. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka all glanced between each other, and then Momo let out a soft sigh as she looked around to Shouto.

“Very well,” She nodded to her old friend, “if … if you’d like to find your mother, on your terms, you should. But please, Shouto, don't do something rash – or if you do end up needing help, please don’t hesitate to come to us, and we will be more than happy to help you.”

“Yeah,” Setsuna grinned at him, while Yui slowly nodded as well, “I know that we should probably cast a vote with the whole group, but dude, if we're helping you with this, you’d be insane to think you haven’t become a member of our little Kendousquad now.”

Shouto blinked at the name, and then looked around to Itsuka as her own smile faded at once, and she glanced away awkwardly.

"I didn't choose the name," She defended herself with a grumble.

“Hm. Well, questionable raising of Kendou’s ego aside,” Shouto was unable to stop himself from smirking a bit as Itsuka flashed him a warning glare, “I … suppose that the more help I get, the better. It might be difficult, but … but if I ever need help with my family issues, I know who to turn to.”

The group all smiled at him as Shouto was unofficially welcomed to their little band of weirdos – and then he blinked, and looked around to Izuku.

“Oh, right,” He suddenly said, “Midoriya, I’d almost forgotten – why didn’t you tell me that you copied my quirk after the second match?”

“H-huh?” Izuku looked around at the other boy in confusion for a moment, before what Shouto was saying suddenly came to him. “Oh, you – you mean the ice.”

“Yes,” Shouto nodded, looking troubled but still stern, “I warned Monoma that it was dangerous to copy my quirk, but you still went ahead and did it anyway. Took me by surprise.”

"Surprise," Momo muttered under her breath, "like he wasn't fuming."

“Oh, uh – no, that’s not how my quirk works,” Izuku explained, before a sudden sullenness came to his face, "if I'm being honest, I have no idea how my quirk works.”

“Ah,” Melissa suddenly spoke up, the previous warmth in her voice fading, and everyone looked around to see her scowling right at Izuku, “speaking of that – wanna explain why you thought it was a good idea to tear my Full Gauntlet and have it tossed in a trash can?”

“… I, uh …” Izuku froze in terror, “… I can explain that.”

“Oh, you better, you little son of a …”

While Izuku tried to stammer out an explanation to the suddenly cold and merciless Melissa, Setsuna let out a small giggle and leaned back in her seat, turning to grin at her fellow recommended student as Shouto glanced at her in confusion, pointing between the grovelling Izuku and the suddenly incensed Melissa.

“Oh, this whole thing of Melissa wanting to tear Midoriya apart is a huge meme in our chat. Don’t worry, I’ll add you into the Kendousquad chat, and you can catch up.”

“Hm,” Shouto slowly nodded, taking the matter of inside jokes utterly seriously as Itsuka gave them both a deadpan look, “I suppose I will have to catch up with the group’s dynamic. I guess that if we’re in a chat with Kendou as the figurehead –”

“Okay, I didn’t agree to that –” Itsuka protested.

“- that would make us Kendou groupies? I believe that's the word for it.”

There was a long pause, with Itsuka turning to stare in horror at him. And then both Setsuna and Kyouka let out loud cackles of laughter.

"Rejected!"

"Approved!"


"So tell us a bit about yourself, Mr. Shigaraki."

"Well, what's there to tell?" The political candidate leaned back in his seat, folding his fingers together as he smiled at the reporter. "Do you want the full resume, or the bullet list?"

The audience chuckled good naturedly at the joke.

"Ah ... well, to be serious," He sighed as he turned to stare down at his lap, his smile fading, "I was born here in Japan before I moved away, but I never knew my mother – I believe she died shortly after I was born. For a while, it had been me and my brother, but ... well, I’m sure that many of you well into their fifties and sixties remember that living in Japan when I was a child was … it was a much harder time. He was taken from me, and I … never saw him again."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"It's alright," He smiled at her, "I'm sure that my brother would be smiling down at us now, knowing that I am doing everything in my power to create a Japan that he would have thrived in. As I said in my speech yesterday, I want to create a world where my brother, someone who's quirk would be considered weak by others, would be able to live and laugh with love. It's the misfortune of being raised during the period before All Might came to save us - we knew all about survival, of course, but we knew practically nothing about just … living. The times my brother and I would just sit down and read manga together were times that I cherish, with my whole heart."

The audience let out a few 'aaws'.

"Ah, well, that got a bit sappy," He chuckled self-deprecatingly, causing a few laughs as he turned back to the audience, "in any case, my brother's legacy is the reason I want to become Japan's next prime minister. It's why I named my political party after him - the Yoichi Party will be focused on making sure the citizens of Japan, whether they be heroes or just normal everyday workers, feel safe. Random villain gangs roaming the streets, with the heroes no closer to stopping them? I wish to help. With me in the seat of prime minister, I will be ensuring that people are in the correct seats of power to make a difference in Japan, and force back the villain -"

BAM

As the camera focused on All For One’s kind and determined grin, a fist smashed straight through the screen, glass shattering all over the ground and sparks flying everywhere as All Might breathed unevenly through his nose. Around the seething pro hero, Nezu frowned and stared down at the tablet in front of him on the desk; off to the side, Nighteye gritted his teeth, while Gran Torino frowned and Tsukauchi put his hands in his pockets.

The room was silent for a long moment.

"From what I've observed, the news has been given an … abridged version of the history of this Mugen Shigaraki." Nezu sighed as he tapped on the tablet. "Born during the villain riots over fifty years ago, he was moved to a distant European country called Otheon, after the death of his younger brother in a vigilante attack. There, he formed a passion for justice and soon returned to Japan as a philanthropist – money he gathered from his apparent late father. He recently entered politics and rose quickly through the ranks, and has now established his own party. He's gunning for the seat of prime minister - and as our current prime minister is retiring, and many parties are seldom volunteering potential candidates …"

“He’s got a shot,” Tsukauchi closed his eyes, “which is assuming that he’d even play fair.”

“Of course,” Nezu nodded solemnly, “I have to say, from how popular he’s becoming with the public following his announcement, from the way things are shaping out, his victory is inevitable.”

"This … " All Might breathed heavily through his nose, clenching his fists, "… how could he … the utter nerve to flaunt himself …"

“This is worse than we could’ve imagined,” Gran grunted, “we thought that the best-case scenario would be him crippled for life, but he looks as though Toshinori never turned his head into mince meat. Whatever he did … I’d bet money that he’s at full strength now.”

“Indeed,” Nezu put down the tablet on the table, “things are not looking very good.”

Nighteye remained silent, staring down at his phone with the image of the candidate there to smirk up at him – and then he closed his eyes and put the phone back in his pocket, turning towards All Might’s back with a frown.

“All Might,” He said seriously, “we can’t do this anymore. We need to get ready now. Please, let me bring Togata up to speed and –”

“Mirai, if you try to needle me about One for All right now, I will throw you out of this office through the window.”

“Enough,” Gran snapped before Nighteye could open his mouth and argue, tapping his cane against the floor, “there’s no need for us to turn against each other.”

“I agree,” Tsukauchi gave his old friend a concerned look, “we can’t fight against each other, that’s what he wants.”

“You’re right,” All Might turned to frown at the three men behind him, his face fixed into a scowl, “you’re right, we can’t - we can't do what he wants. He’ll be in Tokyo right now, so – so I’ll go and –”

“And what?” Gran scoffed. “Arrest him? On what charges? That he’s an immortal villain that’s trying to run for prime minister? In that case, let’s go and get all the evidence we have and turn it in to – oh, wait, that’s right, we don’t have anything connecting Mugan Shigaraki to All For One.”

“That isn’t necessarily true,” Tsukauchi tried to argue, wanting to look on the bright side, “you two have worked for decades to gather enough evidence of All For One’s crimes, and there's no chance that this 'Mugan Shigaraki' backstory is real. Can’t we just –”

“Like I said, how are we connecting Shigaraki to him? Do we have any pictures confirming All For One is the same man as this guy? And what evidence do we have that confirms this backstory is fraudulent?”

Tsukauchi fell silent, looking away with a grimace. Nighteye, gritting his teeth, slammed his fist against the wall, causing the men in the room to look around at him.

“So it’s come to this,” He shook his head, “he’s going to be able to flaunt in front of us and we won’t be able to do anything about it? We’re just supposed to stand around and let him take the top position in Japan?”

“No,” All Might growled, “he won’t get away with this. I’m going to head to Tokyo now and –”

“I said no,” Gran glared up at All Might, stomping up to him and poking the pro hero in the chest with his cane, “this is what he wants, Toshinori. He wants you paranoid, desperately scrambling for answers, and making rookie mistakes. You need to remember that All For One may be smart, but he isn’t omnipotent. He has to slip up somewhere – that’s how we pinned him down the first time, and it’ll be how we take him down again. All we can do now is wait – patiently – and pretend that nothing’s wrong.”

“We pretend nothing is wrong?!” Nighteye clenched his fists. “He’s running for prime minister! How can we remain calm?!”

“Because,” Gran rolled his eyes, “neither of you two knuckleheads are wondering to yourselves why he’s running for prime minister.”

"Why does that matter?!"

“It matters, because even if we don't know why he's doing this, I don’t believe for a second that All For One would do anything that he wasn’t sure he would confidently win. And that,” He tapped his cane against the floor, “is a lead we can follow up on.”

The office went quiet at that, everyone turning to look at the old hero in surprise. Nezu, for his part, nodded in satisfaction that someone had figured out his thoughts as he tapped on his desk to get their attention.

“All For One has made a move that we won’t be able to easily counter,” He spoke up, his black beady eyes looking around, “but it also puts him at a disadvantage. He could have lurked in the shadows until he made a move, but running for prime minister means that he must have everyone's attention focused entirely on him now. And that means that he won’t be able to make a move without people watching him closely. This way, we will be able to keep an eye on him while we investigate whatever he might be up to, and put together whatever connections he might have. He didn't just pull a political party out of nowhere - this means that he must have connections, public and discrete ones, and we can work to see how he came to connect to those that support him.

“However,” He then gave both Nighteye and All Might a serious look, “this would mean that we have to pretend that nothing is amiss. All For One blatantly revealing himself is supposed to capture our attention and keep it solely focused on him, and stay on him. I believe that with him coming out into the open like this, it makes it all but certain that he has some kind of hand in the Villain Consortium, and as much as I hate to think about it, heroes are reporting rumors that they're still gathering forces, and gaining more notoriety.”

“This ploy might be a way to make us focus on All For One,” Tsukauchi nodded slowly, catching on to what Nezu was implying, “and lose focus on Nine and whatever he’s up to.”

“Precisely. All we can do now is pretend that we are ignoring his bait, go about our daily lives, and watch out for All For One when he inevitably makes a move. This way, while he tries to capture our attention, we can quickly start gathering the evidence we need, connect it to Mugen Shigaraki, and force him into a corner when we are ready.”

“Forcing a dangerous animal into a corner,” Gran shook his head, “that seems like a bad idea.”

“Yes, but if running for prime minister is All For One’s endgame, then both sides of this conflict are currently at a stalemate. He can’t do anything to turn public opinion against us without potentially losing followers, and we can’t make a move without having enough evidence. And since the election is a ways off,” Nezu sipped on his tea, “we have time.”

All Might slowly nodded to himself as the principal gave him a serious look – and then he sighed and shrunk back down to his weak form, coughing a bit as he heard Nighteye storm out of the room behind him, followed by Tsukauchi. He waited until he and Nezu were pretty much alone in the office, knowing that the principal wanted to have a word with him, and once Gran moved out the door and closed it behind him, he sighed as he took a seat, glancing at the broken television screen and wincing.

“Don’t pay it any heed, All Might,” Nezu waved his hand, “but I did want to talk to you about Young Kendou herself.”

“You … aren’t with Nighteye, are you?” He asked, uncertain

“No, no – Togata will be a great hero, but Nighteye refuses to consider the notion that he would be great with or without One for All. I have never questioned your choice, and Kendou has shown that she has the potential to replace you. But you must understand,” Nezu gave him a knowing look, “that we can’t keep Kendou in the dark about this anymore. I imagine, All Might, that All For One is waiting for you to completely lose One for All – it wouldn’t surprise me if he’s had his suspicions about how little you appear in public anymore. And if he intends to make a move soon … we’ll have to get her ready, in case his first move is to strike against her.”

“I …” All Might closed his eyes, feeling his chest hurt, “… I didn’t want it to come to this. All For One was supposed to be finished with my generation. I can’t … I don’t want to force her to take on this burden.”

“That was before things became dire,” Nezu reminded him, “and we don’t have that option anymore, All Might. I suspect that Kendou will have offers that will interest her for internships – but I want you to take her aside sometime in the next two weeks, and tell her everything about One for All and All For One. It’s time to take her seriously as your successor – and that means that it’s time to get her ready for what will come.”

All Might slowly nodded, folding his hands together as he frowned. Unknown to either of them, a pair of yellow, judgmental eyes stared at All Might's back for a long moment, and then closed the door quietly behind him and stomped away from the office.


“Alright, welcome back,” Aizawa grumbled as he returned to his spot at the front of the class, tapping on some papers to straighten them out before he looked up at them, “now then, let’s talk a bit more about internships before I excuse you.”

Everyone sitting back down in their seats, Class 1A all looked attentively at their teacher as he pointed his laser pointer at a few notes written on the board. On all of their desks, the papers that had been passed out before the bell rung were waiting for them, with some like Yosetsu and Mezo only having a single sheet with the names and information of the pros wanting to recruit them, while Itsuka and Nejire looked incredibly nervous at the literal hundreds of papers that were waiting for them. Still, they all turned to pay attention to their teacher as he scratched at the scar under his eye.

“Your internships will last for at least a week,” He explained, “as I mentioned earlier to you all, you’ve had several pros reach out to you to extend invitations to their hero agencies. But if you feel that the agencies that reached out to you aren’t a good fit for you, UA also supplies a list of forty potential hero agencies around the country you can apply for instead. Keep in mind while searching for someone to intern with that different heroes have different specialities you can learn from. For example, Thirteen would be focused on rescue incidents, from accidents to disasters, but wouldn’t be too focused on villain capture. So, think carefully before you decide.”

“Aizawa-sensei,” Reiko raised her hand, “out of curiosity, you mentioned Thirteen-sensei as a potential internship. Does that mean the other teachers will be taking interns?”

“A few of us do, but not all of us,” Aizawa shook his head, “Thirteen does take interns, but you should keep in mind that there’s a risk you won’t be able to get any experience out of it – she spends most of her time at the school unless an accident summons her, so keep in mind that you’ll probably be spending a lot of time here or at the USJ, so it's not recommended by her.”

“Ah, man,” Ochako grumbled while Izuku turned to smile at her.

“And Present Mic is a similar risk – he does internships, but he also spends a lot of time at the radio station before going out at night. I myself only have one intern,” Aizawa didn’t look happy about that, “and I won’t be taking on others – it’s only because I owe the old lady a favor that I’m doing it.”

With a short sigh, he tucked the papers under his arm and bent over to scoop up his yellow sleeping bag.

“Now then, you’re all excused for the afternoon,” Aizawa confirmed as he put the sleeping bag under his arm and headed towards the door, “All Might is excused from classes today, so you can do independent training if you wish. I’d advise you to use this time to look over your internship offers and think about making a decision – I’ll be in the teacher’s lounge if you decide and want to hand it in. You can also use this time to discuss Heights Alliance if you want, and just talk to a teacher if you want a tour. Now then, you’re dismissed."

As everyone began turning to each other to begin chatting excitedly, however, Aizawa paused at the door, and then looked back.

“Oh, yeah,” He said in a sudden sharp tone, causing everyone to quickly shut up and look around at him, “Midoriya, Uraraka – come talk with me in the hall for a moment.”

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, turning to glance at each other in confusion for a moment. However, Aizawa raising his eyebrow impatiently caused both of them to snap to it, quickly standing up from their desks and walking up to their teacher. They then stepped out and followed Aizawa out the door, closing it behind him.

Standing out in the hall, both Izuku and Ochako gave each other an anxious look as Aizawa let out a dry sigh and turned to look at them over his shoulder.

“You can both stop looking so nervous, you’re not in trouble.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes at how Izuku and Ochako sagged their shoulders in relief, and shook his head as he turned to face them.

“Right. So, this is about last Friday,” He brought them up to speed, “during the sports festival.”

“Oh,” Izuku blinked, feeling himself straighten his back, “is – is this about Kacchan?”

“Yes and no,” Aizawa grumbled, shaking his head and crossing his arms, “first off – I believe I owe you both an apology.”

"…"

"…"

“This is usually the part where you both ask for clarification,” Aizawa dryly commented.

“Uh –” Izuku sputtered, while Ochako continued to look comically shocked at the words that left their homeroom teacher’s mouth, “- w-well, yeah, kinda.”

“Well,” Aizawa put his hands in his pockets while frowning, “I’m … apologizing to you both because I realize that I treated you both extremely poorly on Friday. If you want the truth – and that’s if your parents haven’t told you what we talked about after you left Recovery Girl’s office -”

Both Izuku and Ochako shook their heads.

“- the truth is, you both fighting Bakugou in the sports festival wasn’t a coincidence, or an accident,” Aizawa closed his eyes, “I chose to make sure you two fought him.”

The two kids were quiet for a long minute while Aizawa waited for their reaction. And then Izuku, in a slightly confused voice, said, “Er … sorry, Aizawa-sensei, but – but you might need to dumb this down for us. What does that mean, you chose to make us fight him?”

Nodding slowly, Aizawa decided to stop toeing around it and just cut to the facts, and explained everything to the two students. From what he observed of Katsuki during the first few days of school, to his reaction to Katsuki’s actions during the USJ, to the decision he made that Izuku and Ochako could assist in humbling their classmate. He carefully watched both of their reactions when he told them, seeing Ochako tilt her head slowly and her lips thinning, while Izuku’s eyes widened.

Finally, once he was done explaining, he put his hands in his pockets, allowing them a moment to absorb everything he had told them.

“So that’s that,” He said in a clear voice, “I used both of you to try and humble Bakugou, and it backfired. I’m sorry. You two have the right to be angry with me – hell, you’d be justified in hitting me. And from here on out …”

He hesitated for a moment, glancing between both of them, and then he nodded.

“… from here on out, if you want, I’ll be behind you both,” Aizawa offered, “to make up for what I did to you both. Midoriya, I’m aware of you … problems … so I’ll be working with Recovery Girl and Tenko to try figuring out a solution. And Uraraka, I know that I can’t make up for giving you that mark on your arm –”

He saw Ochako subconsciously roll her shoulder, and frowned.

“- but I’ll try. But if you two want to be switched over to 1B, I won’t stop either of you. Midoriya,” He turned to look at Izuku, “I don’t know what your entire deal is, but I want there to be no more secrets between us now. And Uraraka,” He turned to Ochako, “I know that you’re training with Toga on stealth-based tactics. So, if you ever need pointers, don’t hesitate to reach out to me, and I can dedicate a weekend to teaching you.”

“Er …” Ochako blinked at the offer, feeling confused, “… I … I guess, but – but why not just have Toga-senpai teach me, sensei? She – she doesn’t mind teaching me stealth.”

“Because she had to learn what she knows from somewhere,” Aizawa was unable to stop himself from smirking slightly, “and I taught her many things, but passing on her knowledge wasn’t one of them.”

His smirk falling, he moved forward, and both students felt themselves blink as he laid his hands down on both their shoulders.

“I haven’t been a very good teacher to either of you,” He said in a soft voice, “and I plan to make up for it. Like I said, if you choose to drop out of my class and go to Vlad’s, you won’t receive any resistance, or be asked any questions. But if you choose to stay, I want to make up for my behavior with both of you.”

Patting their shoulders, he then straightened his back, turning to walk away from the classroom – and then he said, without looking back, “I should also teach you stealth, Kendou, since you clearly need lessons, too.”

Walking away, he didn’t bother to turn back, but he still smirked at Izuku and Ochako squeaking and looking back around at the classroom.

Indeed, with the door slowly sliding open, Itsuka poked her head out, looking sheepish and guilty.

“I legit don’t know how he does that,” She sighed, opening the door properly and closing it behind her.

“Er – we don’t really know, either.” Izuku gave her a weak smile, watching as she walked over towards the large window that both her partners were standing near. They both watched as she sighed and leaned against the railing between them, looking out at the ground as the sun continued to poke out from the dark clouds that were now retreating.

After a moment, she turned to look at them.

“So,” She shrugged, looking somewhat uncomfortable, “Aizawa-sensei really screwed you two over last week.”

“Yeah,” Ochako pouted as she joined Itsuka in leaning against the railing, rubbing her shoulder softly, “not really what I expected when we were called out here, but … well, yeah, I’m pissed.”

“I – I get that,” Izuku leaned against the railing as well, giving Ochako a worried look, “and you’re entitled to being angry at him. But … well, at least he seems to want to make up for it? If – if he’s alright with us transferring over to 1B, if we’re not comfortable with him.”

“Yeah,” Ochako was unable to stop herself from snorting, “this has never happened before.”

“What?” Itsuka glanced at her. “Teachers trying to use you to further Bakugou’s education?”

“Oh, no, not that,” Ochako shook her head, “a teacher apologizing for using us to further Bakugou’s education. That’s new.”

“Yeah, that’s never happened before,” Izuku agreed.

“… you guys know how you tried to stop me from burning down Aldera a few times last year? I'm still not convinced, I should still probably do it.”

“Eh, you’d have to fight our mothers over doing the honors, honestly.”

Itsuka let out a small laugh at that, before her smile faded.

“So … uh … what do you guys think?” She said in a careful tone, although they both picked up the hesitation in her voice. “Do you want to transfer classes?”

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, glancing at each other over Itsuka’s shoulder – and then they shook their heads at the same time and looked back at her with a smile.

“Nah,” Ochako giggled, “I’d really rather not have to deal with Monoma every day.”

“Y-yeah,” Izuku shook his head again, “it’d, uh – it’d probably be irritating for the teachers to have to move us around, so – so staying in 1A is probably easier.”

Itsuka smiled at both of their dorky excuses, although her heart did flutter a bit. She then reached out to squeeze on both of their hands, making them both quickly shut their mouths and go red as she glanced around the empty hallway, and then pulled them both off the railing and back towards the classroom.

“Sucks we … probably can’t do much at school,” She glanced between them, “but I love you two nerds, so I'm willing to wait for another time. Although … don't leave me waiting for too long.”

Being sure to squeeze their hands with hers, she let go and moved back into the classroom. Izuku and Ochako stood there for a moment, blushing furiously, before they quickly shook themselves out of their fluster and followed her back inside before their absence would lead to questions from their classmates – although they both kept their eyes on their girlfriend’s back as she returned to her seat, Ochako biting her lip slightly as she stared down at her butt and Izuku gulping as he imitated her as well.

Yep. It had been only three days after they all started dating, and they were both still ridiculously down bad for Itsuka. Shouldn’t be much of a surprise.

Moving back into the classroom, they saw most of the class had broken up into smaller groups standing around a few desks, with Tenya being the only one on his own as he stared down at his papers with a focused expression. Walking back over to his desk, Izuku took his internship papers and pulled them towards him, feeling excitement overcome his fluster as he got ready to read through them. Ochako, meanwhile, walked over to where Itsuka was sitting back in her seat, with several girls chatting around them.

Beside them, the small group of guys were chatting as well, with Eijirou looking around at the girls as Ochako joined them.

“So, what are you guys thinking?” He flashed them a grin. “I’m thinking of trying to fight crime in urban areas.”

“Meh,” Kyouka grumbled as she looked over her own sheet, “got a lot of options here, but I’ve only heard of, like – half of them. No way I’ll be able to pick someone without Greenie's help.”

“Well,” Tsuyu looked down at her own paper, “I’m hoping that I can intern somewhere with floods, kero. It’ll be good practice for when I’m a pro.”

“Oh, so you wanna work on the sea?” Pony gave her a curious look. “Like, uh, what’s his name – Selkie?”

“Kero,” Tsuyu ribbited in confirmation, giving them all a froggy grin, “Selkie’s been my favorite hero since I was a little girl. And since I saw that he sent me a request, I’m going to accept it and turn the paper in to Aizawa-sensei at the end of the day.”

“Oh, that’s great, Tsu!” Mina gave her an excited look, shaking her shoulders before turning to the group of girls sitting around Itsuka’s desk. “But what about Heights Alliance, guys? Doesn’t it sound exciting to try living on the campus? I think I’m gonna go for it!”

“I’m not really sure, yet,” Itsuka shrugged her shoulders, leaning back in her seat as the other girls glanced between each other, “I mean, on the one hand, it would be pretty beneficial to live on campus full time, so I can use the zones around the school whenever I want. Plus, I bet if people do end up moving in, they’ll need me there as the class rep so I can keep you guys from burning your houses down.”

“Ouch! But you know what, that's fair.”

“Yeah, but …” She shook her head, “… it’s still a pretty big step, moving away from home for the first time. I don’t know, I’ll have to talk to my mom and dad about it.”

“True,” Fumikage nodded from where he was standing beside Reiko’s desk, “it’s a rather big decision to make in a short time.”

“I think I’m in the same boat as you, Itsuka,” Ochako agreed with her girlfriend, “it sounds fun, but … I don’t know yet. I’m gonna have to talk to my parents about it before I make a decision.”

“Well, I think I’m gonna go for it,” Kyouka shrugged, putting her hand on her hip as the other girls looked at her in surprise, “it’ll be nice to get some experience taking care of myself, it’s not like I’m planning to live with my parents after graduation anyway. Sounds like a good excuse to try practicing taking care of a house.”

"That and you don't wanna live with your parents anymore, kero?"

"… okay, maybe I wanna do this so my old man can stop babying me," Kyouka grumbled while the other girls laughed, flipping Tsuyu off.

“I guess that’s kind of the point,” Mezo nodded in agreement, “the first point Jirou made, not the second. Learning how to care for a home while the teachers are there to help us if needed.”

"Yeah," Setsuna chortled, "I don't think we need to hear about Jirou's daddy issues - gak!"

She choked as Kyouka dragged her into a chokehold, everyone turning and laughing as the two girls struggled for a bit. Once order was restored by Itsuka reaching over and chopping them both, everyone got back into the conversation.

“I agree with Shouji that it makes sense to learn how to care for a place,” Reiko stood up from her desk, walking over to the girls with Fumikage while holding her own internship papers, “and I might give it a shot as well – as much as I might miss living at home, I think getting experience taking care of a home would be beneficial.”

“Well,” Melissa sighed as she joined the group as well, “I know that I really don’t have a choice either way – I’m not exactly stable right now, so Heights Alliance is probably gonna be my home for … well, probably for at least the foreseeable future, anyway.”

“That’s fair,” Itsuka grinned a bit, “like Yaoyorozu said –”

“You mean Yaomomo!” Setsuna called out, while Momo groaned and Nejire cheered from where she was sitting in front of Izuku.

“- okay, fine, Yaomomo said,” Itsuka sighed, nodding when Momo gave her a resigned nod to just go with it, “it sounds like things are gonna be rough for you, so if you do need help, just let us know.”

“That’s …” Melissa hesitated for a moment before nodding, “… that’s good to know, thanks.”

“Anyway,” Itsuka turned back to her desk, wincing at the large stack of papers still waiting for her, “I know Izuku said that he was gonna look through these for me, but I should probably have a look through too, just to see if anyone catches my eye. God, it’s probably gonna take a full week to get through all of them … how about you, Ochako? Are you gonna use the ‘Deku internship look through’ service?”

“Yeah,” Ochako nodded a bit, going a bit red, “I could probably pick someone out, but … well, I trust Deku’s judgment probably more than mine.”

“Really?” Melissa gave her a surprised look. “I mean, I don’t blame you for wanting a little help, but … I don’t know, is he that good with heroes?”

Both Ochako and Itsuka paused, and then looked over towards where Izuku was hunched over at his desk. The two groups quieted down so that they could hear what he was muttering under his breath, with Nejire sitting in front of them and looking quite entertained.

"First, I have to research all these heroes and divide them up based on their specialities," He muttered to himself, a low giggle under his breath that made everyone gulp worryingly, "then I'll look at the number of resolved incidents for each since his or her debut up until the present and determine which has the attributes that would be most informative for me, as I am now … such an important decision must be made carefully and without haste. I'll also have to observe how each spends their time when not engaged in heroic operations. Yes, I'll be very busy, indeed … heh, heh, heh …"

“It’s practically an art form,” Nejire smiled happily, while Izuku’s two partners gave him exasperated smiles and Melissa looked worried.

Walking over, the three girls stopped at his desk, patting on his shoulder to get his attention, and causing Izuku to snap out of his mutter spree.

“Gek! Oh, uh, sorry,” He went a bit red, “got pretty distracted with my list.”

“Really, huh?” Itsuka moved to lean against his desk with her hands, with Melissa walking over to her desk in front of Nejire, and the blue-haired girl picked out a random sheet of Izuku’s to look over, letting out a inquisitive hum. “What were you looking at?”

“Well, I’m trying to organize my list from the hero with the highest position on the polls, to the lowest,” He felt his smile fall as he looked back down at his open notebook, “just trying to figure out what would be a good fit for me. I’ve read up about a lot of these heroes before – they’re strong, but I’m not exactly sure if they’ll be a good fit for me.”

“Really?” Nejire hummed as she read over his list. “So what are you looking for, hm? Someone static-y? I bet that there’s lot of electric heroes! But wait, you also want someone ice-y, right?”

“Well, uh – not exactly,” Izuku smiled weakly at her, “I actually did some thinking, and – and I think I want to find someone that can teach me self-control over my quirk. I think that’s the biggest issue I’m dealing with right now – I need to get a handle on using my quirk, and make sure that I don’t damage myself any further with it.”

“I see,” Ochako nodded slowly, “so you’re basically looking for someone to give you self-control lessons over improvement lessons?”

“Exactly. I can probably experiment with my quirk after I learn how to control it. So yeah, control over improvement.”

“Well, that’s good,” Itsuka gave him an encouraging smile as she sat on the edge of his desk, taking one page from his stack and giving it a look over, “and it’ll probably make it easier for you to get through your list. I mean, I bet that you probably won’t be needing any lessons on self-control from someone like … uh …” She paused, reading through the paper before she settled on a random name, “… Lady Nagant, right?”

“Yeah,” Izuku chuckled, shaking his head, “I probably …”

However, as Izuku suddenly trailed off, feeling himself blink as he registered what she said, another voice across the room sounded out.

“Wait, did you say ‘Lady Nagant’?”

The four girls around Izuku’s desk blinked at the sound of someone calling out that name, and they all glanced over. Sitting near the other guys, Yosetsu was giving them a surprised look, holding his own internship paper.

“Er … yeah,” Itsuka nodded, putting the paper back on Izuku’s stack, “why?”

“Oh, uh – well, Lady Nagant was my other internship request,” He explained, holding up his paper, “just her and Rock Lock.”

“Wait,” Tsuyu blinked as well, walking over to where she had her own paper and flipping it over, “I believe I got a request from Lady Nagant as well, kero.”

"I did too," Mezo nodded.

"Me three," Kyouka realized.

There was a short pause in the classroom, as everyone went quiet and glanced between each other – and then at once, they all moved back to their internship papers to start flipping through them, the sound of mutters beginning to fill the silence as they all checked.

“Okay,” Itsuka raised her eyebrow in curiosity, “so show of hands – who got a work offer from Lady Nagant?”

She watched as everyone looked through their papers, furrowing their brows, and then one by one, everyone in the classroom, save Melissa, raised their hands.

“Huh,” Kyouka looked through her notes, quirking her mouth, “guess it’s just some hero who really wants an intern, huh? Anyone gonna bite?”

“Well …” Denki thought for a moment, seriously considering it, “… is she hot?”

ZAP

“Ow!” Denki yelped, waving his arm and quickly backing away from Kyouka’s earphone jacks as she glowered at him. “I was only kidding! C’mon, you didn’t have to stab me in the shoulder, why are you so violent today?!”

“Perv,” Kyouka growled, stomping back over to where Momo was checking her phone and pouting.

“Lady Nagant …” The heiress hummed, “… I believe that I recognize the name from somewhere, but I don’t remember exactly where.”

"I do."

Everyone blinked at the sound of Izuku speaking up in a much more serious tone, and they all turned to look at him. Rather than looking at his phone, however, Izuku was staring down at his journal, frowning as he stood up and looked around.

“Lady Nagant,” He explained, “was a pro hero who worked with the HPSC. Pretty much before Hawks came in to be their representative, Nagant was the Hero Commission’s mascot, and she was extremely popular – I think she once reached the Top 10.”

“Whoa, really?” Pony looked surprised, looking back down at her paper. "And she just sent us all requests?"

"Yeah," He nodded, "she was pretty well known when we were growing up. And, uh - it doesn't have much to do with anything, Kaminari, but yes, she's considered to be very beautiful. It was one of her nicknames - the Beautiful Lady Nagant. Honestly, I - I think that she was once voted to be the most beautiful hero in Japan. Even more beautiful that Midnight-sensei."

A lot of the guys - and, to no one's surprise, Yui - looked intrigued by that, while Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire gave Izuku unamused looks at that praise. However, Izuku continued to give them a serious look, putting a stop to any of the guys making a comment.

“But,” He shook his head, “her career ended up stopping when she accidentally shot one of the heroes she was on duty with.”

That, of course, got the class’s attention again.

“Wait,” Yosetsu felt his eyes widen, “you’re saying that this chick actually killed someone?”

“It was an accident,” Izuku gently corrected him, although he was still looking serious as he stared down at the small drawing of the sharpshooting hero he had done at one point, “and she pretty much immediately went into retirement not long after it happened. I guess … I don’t know, she felt guilty, and had a press conference announcing that she was quitting hero work. I remember the day it happened – she pretty much disappeared right off the grid, the hero forums called it an ‘self-imposed exile’.”

“So …” Kyouka stared down at her paper, looking as though a spider had suddenly crawled on it, “… this Lady Nagant killed someone, disappeared right after, and … and then just suddenly sent a dozen requests for all of us?”

“Yeah,” Eijirou frowned, “that’s weird.”

“I’m not really sure either,” Izuku shook his head while Ochako looked over her own paper, “maybe she’s coming out of retirement?”

“Perhaps,” Reiko sighed, “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m not very sure if it’s a bright idea to intern with a hero with a murder under her belt. As much as this Lady Nagant might have experience …”

The rest of the class nodded as well, frowning and staring down at their papers. What Reiko said definitely had merit – it might not look good for their future prospects if they took a work offer from someone responsible for an accidental murder. So, with that, many of them were quick to cross Lady Nagant’s name and phone number off their lists, and rejoined their groups as they began going back over their lists, or talking more about Heights Alliance.

Still, Ochako felt herself frown as she stared down at the disgraced pro hero’s name. She didn’t know why, but … it felt wrong to cross Nagant’s name off her list. So she simply put her paper back down, and walked back over to where Izuku and Itsuka were looking through some of her papers.

Thankfully, from there, the rest of the afternoon passed by relatively peacefully, with everyone in Class 1A either taking notes on some of the pro heroes that had sent them requests, thinking of going to hand in their applications with their minds made up, or talking about Heights Alliance in excited tones. From the sound of things, a vast majority of people were looking forward to potentially living on campus with their friends, with everyone chatting about what kind of activities they could do under the same roof and what they could do for training.

During the afternoon, Tenya had abruptly got up to go and hand in his application papers, causing everyone, but especially Yui, to look after him in concern at how quiet he had been all day long. But they knew better than to ask him about it, instead keeping on with their note taking or heading out to the fields to train now that the sun was shining outside.

Still, it had saddened Izuku at the end of the day to open Tenya’s locker where he kept his shoes, and frown when it had been empty.

“I … guess he left without us,” Ochako said in a soft voice as Izuku closed the locker, turning back where she, Itsuka, Nejire and Melissa were standing with their backpacks on and their shoes changed.

“I guess so,” Izuku nodded, letting out a soft sigh, “then … I guess we’ll have to talk to him another time.”

“Don’t worry,” Itsuka gently took his shoulder, and started to guide their small group out the door, “I’m sure that he just … he needs some time and space to himself. Once he needs help, he’ll probably come to us, or Yui or Set. We just need to give him some space, but still be there for him, right?’

“Yeah, I – yeah.”

“Mm-hm,” Nejire nodded as well, looking around at the four of them as she took a step back, and opened another locker and brightened up when she spotted a pair of shoes, “well, uh – anyway, guys, today was great! Got a lot of work to do! But I’m gonna stick around and wait for Yuuyu, and ask her if she wants to walk home with me. I mean, if we’re going the same place, it makes sense to go together, right?”

“Er … yeah,” Itsuka nodded, feeling herself frown in concern as they turned to the blue-haired girl behind them, “I guess so. Hey, uh … is everything okay with you two, Nejire?”

“Oh … I think so?” Nejire shrugged nonchalantly, although the others gave her concerned looks at the forlorn look on her face. “At least, I hope so! I hope we can walk home together today and maybe … well … we’ll have to see! Anyway, I’m gonna head back up to Class 1B to see if she’s still there, and if not, I … guess I’ll just go home! You guys don’t have to wait for me, though, so go ahead!”

“Er … okay, I guess,” Ochako nodded slowly, still giving the excitable girl a small smile, “g-goodnight, Hadou.”

“Goodnight, guys! See you tomorrow!”

With that, Nejire spun around and quickly began jogging back into the school, running around the corner and out of sight. Staring after her with a concerned look, Izuku let out a small sigh as he allowed Itsuka to pull him out through the doors, Melissa and Ochako behind them as they stepped into the now warm spring air. All of them sighed in relief that the storm clouds from this morning had disappeared entirely, and the setting sun was now bathing them in light.

Soon, they walked out the gate, and the four of them walked across the street before sighing, with Itsuka turning back to Melissa.

“So,” She stretched her arms above her head, having taken off her blazer and tied it around her waist, “where exactly are you staying right now, Melissa? If you want, we could take a train ride over if you want some company for a bit before we head back to my place and visit Eri.”

“Oh, uh …” Melissa suddenly looked a bit nervous, “… well, you see –”

"Oi!"

At the sound of a loud and very familiar bark behind them, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka winced, immediately recognizing the voice, and feeling themselves cringe. Melissa, for her part, merely looked around in confusion, and they all turned to see …

… oh, boy.

“So,” Katsuki growled as he stomped across the street straight towards them, his eyes on Melissa, “you’re the one who took my spot?”

“Leave it, Bakugou,” Itsuka sharply said at once, quickly stepping between the advancing boy and Melissa as she started glaring at him, “it’s none of your business.”

“It is my fucking business,” He growled at her, “since it’s my fucking spot!”

He then turned to throw Melissa a glare, stomping up and only being stopped by Itsuka pushing him back from advancing even more. Before he could try to snarl at her, however, two other unwelcoming voices sounded out.

“So, this is her, huh?”

"Whoa, she's hot!"

Izuku and Ochako felt themselves frown as two more general studies students made their unwanted appearances known. Shinsou, for his part, was glaring straight at Melissa, probably not as hard as Katsuki was but still with complete dislike and resentment as he stopped just short of them, putting his hands in his blazer’s pockets. Mineta, on the other hand, was staring up in wonder at the tall American girl, absently wiping some drool off his lip and making Itsuka curl her hands into fists as she continued to stand protectively in front of her new classmate, all of them standing near the hill that led down to the forested mountain UA rested on top of.

“Yeah … I have no clue who you’re supposed to be,” Shinsou haughtily said, looking Melissa up and down, “you aren’t from general studies, so who are you?”

Melissa hesitated for a moment – knowing the sound of someone judging her – and then she took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. While she wasn’t as tall as Shinsou or Katsuki, she tried to hold herself up with grace and pose.

“I’m the new transfer student, from I-Island,” She tried to sound pleasant, “my name is Melissa Shield. What’s your name?”

“Peh,” Shinsou scoffed, not even bothering with the pleasantries while looking at her with such obvious dislike it made Izuku and Ochako straighten their shoulders and start to glare, “that doesn’t matter. What matters is – oof!”

He grunted, however, when Mineta suddenly elbowed him right in the side, knocking him aside. The three girls and Izuku all turned to look down at Mineta, and Ochako and Itsuka felt like gagging at the look on the small boy’s face – it seemed like he wanted to come across as charming and suave, but seeing as his eyes were firmly locked on Melissa’s chest, it wasn’t appealing to look at.

“Please ignore my rude classmates, miss,” He tried to turn on what little charm he had, “they simply don’t appreciate fine art as I do.”

“… fine art?” Melissa dryly repeated, clearly not impressed.

“That you are! My name is Minoru Mineta, but … well, you can just call me Minoru, if you want.”

“I’ll … stick with calling you Mineta, thanks.”

“Shut the fuck up, you little runt.” Katsuki growled down at Mineta as he gave him a small kick aside, causing both general studies students present to glare at him with obvious dislike as he tried to push past Itsuka to get to Melissa.

Unfortunately for him, Itsuka was hard to push aside, giving him a glare the entire time, so he eventually settled down enough to just glare at Melissa from over Itsuka’s shoulder as he pointed at her.

“Listen here,” He snarled at her, “just so you understand, that seat you’re in? That’s mine. I fucking earned it, unlike you, and I’m gonna be taking it back once I get back into the hero course. I’m not gonna be putting up with these other extras for very long, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll head straight up to the rat’s office and quit.”

“Heh, you kidding?” Shinsou scoffed at him, crossing his arms and glaring at the new girl. “No way she’ll do that, she wants to probably soak up all the attention. I imagine that’s how all the hero course students are – they get in with their powerful quirks, get everyone’s attention, and then they just sit down and absorb all the glory. So, what’s your quirk then, huh? Something loud and obnoxious?”

Melissa flinched quietly.

“Nah, it’s gotta be something good!” Mineta tried to butter her up some more as he bounced around Katsuki’s legs to get back into the conversation. “Something that fits her beautiful body!”

“Oh, my fucking –”

“Look,” Ochako finally snapped, storming forward as well, “I don’t know what you guys want –”

“I wanna know what she’s got,” Shinsou seethed, “or what she paid to get into the hero course.”

“And I want her to know that the seat she’s in is mine!”

“Bakugou, it’s not your –”

"Quirkless."

The group all stopped arguing at the sound of a quiet mutter. Blinking a bit, they all looked around at Melissa, who was still staring down at the slightly wet ground, her blonde hair hanging over her face. And then she straightened up, trying to look as cold as possible, as she moved around Itsuka at long last to face Katsuki, Shinsou and Mineta.

“I don’t have a quirk,” She made clear, with steel in her voice, “I’m quirkless.”

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka all stared at her for a long moment, feeling their jaws drop a bit in surprise. Shinsou, for his part, looked taken aback as well by what she said, his eyes widening a fraction. Mineta, who had been lecherously staring up at her, blinked a bit as well, his face falling as he realized what she was saying.

And Katsuki, of course, felt his eyes narrow.

“You’re kidding,” He growled, shoving Shinsou roughly out of the way so he could stomp up to the American girl just a bit shorter than him, “you’re fucking kidding. They took my spot in the hero course, and they gave it to some … quirkless nobody?”

Melissa flinched at the way he had spat that out, but still held her head high.

“That’s right.” She said coldly.

“You’re fucking shitting me,” Katsuki merely repeated, his palms popping with sparks.

“H-hey, man,” Mineta suddenly looked awkward, glancing up at Melissa for a moment and then over at his new classmate, “maybe, uh … maybe lay off a bit.”

“Ha?” Katsuki turned to glare down at the small boy, disgust clear on his face.

And then, without any warning, his foot came up and kicked Mineta again. Not with a lot of force, of course, but with enough that Mineta lost his balance with a gasp and fell back into the muddy grass. When Shinsou took a step forward as well, continuing to glare at Melissa, Katsuki got impatient with him as well, and threw his hand up. A small explosion made the lavender-haired boy fall back as well, letting out a grunt as he fell straight into a puddle.

“H-hey, Kacchan –” Izuku stepped forward to try to stop him, but Katsuki quickly threw his hand back, sparks popping as though in warning –

– but whatever he was going to do, however, was interrupted by a roar.

A high-pitched, whiny, terrified roar, but a roar all the same.

Blinking, all five of them looked around – just in time for Mineta to suddenly jump off the two balls he had put on the ground, screeching as he was launched up into the air, and landed right on Katsuki’s face, wrapping his legs around his neck, and beginning to pummel him with his fists.

“What the f–?!” Katsuki yelled as Mineta continued to use his fists to smack him, hitting the blonde boy as hard as he could. While Katsuki tried to pry Mineta off of his face, Izuku stared in horror, Melissa in confusion, and Itsuka and Ochako in shocked delight as Katsuki took a step back, trying to rip Mineta off of him – and then, with a roar, his fist came up to slam straight into Mineta’s kidney, making the pervert wheeze as he was forced to loosen his grip, and Katsuki took advantage of that to throw him down hard at the ground.

While Mineta let out a sound that sounded like a mix of a squeal and a grunt of pain, Katsuki quickly threw him straight down the hill beside them. Everyone watched Mineta rolling pathetically through the mud with no way to stop himself as he flopped down at the bottom of the hill. However, as Katsuki wheeled back on the group, scratches on his face and looking like he was about to flip out –

– he was interrupted from doing anything by Shinsou suddenly kicking Katsuki’s legs out from under him, causing him to yelp as he flopped down into the puddle of mud near the hill.

“Oh, my god,” Izuku whispered in fear, while Itsuka sounded like she was literally gasping for breath through her laughter beside him, and Ochako was attempting to control her shaking as she lifted her phone up to record Katsuki quickly climbing to his feet, an enraged, feral expression on his face.

“You’re fucking dead, mime!”

Grabbing Shinsou’s shoulders, Katsuki shouted as he threw his new classmate to the ground again, mud and water clinging to both of their clothes. But Shinsou was clearly seeing red now, struggling to his feet as Katsuki backed up, and instead of trying to run from the deranged blonde, he instead charged in and flat out tackled – tackled! – Katsuki off his feet, and off the solid ground and down the hill.

Izuku and the three girls quickly ran over to the edge of the hill, watching as Katsuki and Shinsou continued to roll over each other while grunting and snarling, picking up more speed and mud as they wrestled their way down to the bottom of the hill, the momentum rolling them a few more times before Katsuki eventually forced them to stop. Leaving him on top, Katsuki threw himself down to wrestle against Shinsou, both of their legs kicking out and arms angrily grabbing at each other as they rolled over again to let Shinsou punch at him, only for Katsuki to force them to roll again so that he could be on top of him again. Katsuki tried to grab Shinsou by the throat to choke him out –

– only for another screech to fill the air, and Mineta charged in out of nowhere, tackling Katsuki right off of the other purple haired student.

The hero course students at the top of the hill watched as Shinsou flipped over to join Mineta in pummelling Katsuki, and soon they were witness to a huge ball of fists being thrown and profanities being yelled as the three general studies students struggled and rolled all over the ground.

“Uh …” Izuku gave the three fighting boys another nervous glance before he looked back at Itsuka hunched over and wheezing, Ochako desperately trying to control her shaking to record the brawl, and Melissa looking completely and utterly confused.

“Er …” He gestured towards the road, “… we should probably get out of here, guys.”

“Whaaaaaat?” Ochako whined a bit as she kept recording, gasping at Katsuki getting an elbow to the face. “But it’s getting so good!”

“Yeah, but I bet the teachers will be here soon,” He reminded them, glancing down the hill again and wincing at the boys rolling themselves over again, “and we really don’t need to get caught in the crossfire, do we?”

"No, no, he's - he's right," Itsuka shook her head, looking disappointed but willing to go as she straightened her back, "let's skedaddle before Aizawa-sensei gets here -"

"We're already here."

Jumping at the drone-like voice behind them, the four teenagers turned to see three teachers walking out of the gate to the other side of the road and staring down at the brawling boys below. Aizawa, for his part, looked bored already as his eyes flashed red to disable their quirks; Tenko, meanwhile, looked tired as he rubbed his own eyes; and Midnight, changed out of her hero costume in a simple black suit jacket, white dress shirt and slacks, was giving the boys a disappointed look as she fixed some of her tied back hair under her ear.

"Right," Aizawa sighed as he crossed his arms, keeping his eyes on Katsuki in the writhing pile of bodies, "so I'll be handling this from here. You four get going."

“Er …”

"This way, you kids," Midnight shook her head and gestured for the teenagers to follow her, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Melissa hesitantly moving away from the hill where the general studies were fighting.  

"Now," Midnight clapped her hands together, turning to smile at Itsuka as she led them, not towards the road, but back towards UA, "Kendou, I was actually hoping that I could join you for dinner tonight - I wanted to do a check up on Eri, make sure that she's adjusting well to your home. We have plenty of plans for the next few weeks, so we want to run something by your parents before we proceed."

"Oh," Itsuka blinked in surprise, "oh, uh - of course, sensei."

"Excellent," She smiled at her, and then turned to the other three, "and since I'm offering Kendou a ride, I can give you guys rides home as well, if you want. Shield, you're staying at a nearby hotel, right?"

"Er - yes, sensei."

"Wait -" Ochako blinked, looking around at her in surprise. "- you're staying at a hotel?"

"Oh, uh, yeah," Melissa shrugged, "just until Heights Alliance is ready next week."

"And …" Itsuka suddenly gulped, a thought coming to her "… how much money is that costing you?"

"Hm? Oh, about ... uh ... twenty thousand yen per night?"

"…”

"…”

"…”

"…”

"... uh …" Melissa glanced around unsurely, taken aback by their blank stares, "… what's up, guys? Why's everyone -"


“– and she was paying way too much for a hotel,” Izuku explained while Melissa studied her feet, “so I was wondering if it would be okay for her to stay with us for the week? At least until the dormitories are open.”

Inko and Hisashi blinked, glancing between each other – and then Inko nodded, standing up from the kitchen table with a happy smile.

“Oh, of course you can stay with us, dear,” She gave the embarrassed girl a happy smile, “we don’t want you to spend all of your money, so of course you can stay with us until your dorm house is ready.”

“I …” Melissa hesitated, letting out a small sigh, before she pushed her glasses up to the bridge of her nose and tried to smile at Izuku’s mother, “… w-well, thank you for having me.”

With that, the two teenagers made to sit down at the table, Melissa awkwardly sliding into the seat next to Izuku. As one could guess, he and Melissa had been the ones to return home to get Inko’s permission for the blonde girl to stay with them until Heights Alliance opened next week. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, had gone with Midnight to the orange-haired girl’s house to see Eri (after Midnight had been more than happy to drive them to the hotel Melissa had been staying at, watching with an amused grin as Melissa tried to talk the other three into not letting her be a bother), and Ochako would be back later that night.

Although, speaking of absent Urarakas …

“Er … so no Taiyo and Miwa tonight?” Izuku asked.

“No,” Inko smiled, “we actually have a new neighbor, if you didn’t notice – they’ve been helping her get all of her stuff into the apartment next to ours.”

“Oh! W-well, I guess we’ll be going to visit soon?”

“We chatted a bit with her earlier today,” Hisashi explained with a small smile, “she seems to be a very nice lady, so … try not to flood her apartment at all, you two.”

Both Izuku and Inko awkwardly glanced down at their plates while Melissa giggled a bit.

“So, Melissa,” Hisashi then turned to her in his seat, giving her a smile, “you’re here on a school visa?”

“Y-yes,” Melissa nodded with a weak smile, “I came down this weekend, did my tests, and … well, here I am.”

“Ah … so you’re here for the full three years?”

“I – I assume so. Once I’m done with high school, I … well, I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet, but I suppose I can always find some residence here in Japan before I move back to America, if – if I’m in the hero course. That’s what All Might did –”

No one noticed Inko cough quietly into her drink.

“- when he moved to America for a few years and then returned to Japan. I just … I think I’m gonna do the opposite. Work a few years in Japan, and then go to America.”

“Oh, well,” Inko reached over to pat her hand, “if you ever need any help, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. I imagine it can be intimidating, being in a new country all by yourself – are your parents still in America?”

“Er – no, but my papa is on I-Island,” She explained, “it’d be a bit hard for him to relocate entirely, and … well, he’s keeping an eye out for one of his old assistants on the island, just to make sure he’s being looked after. So right now, it’s just me – and my uncle, but he tends to be pretty busy.”

“Well, like I said – don’t be scared to reach out to us, alright? I’m sure that we – or Ochako and Itsuka’s parents – would love to help you if you ever need it.”

“T-thank you, Mrs. Midoriya.”

“You can just call me Inko, dearie.”

“Oh! Well then – thank you, Inko.”

From there, dinner passed by relatively pleasantly, with Inko inquiring about their day, and Izuku talking to her a bit more about what they had learned about Heights Alliance, and their internship offers. While Inko had looked taken aback and emotional by the possibility of Izuku staying in a dorm house, she told him that they would talk about it when they got more information, which Izuku had agreed to. Soon, once dinner was finished and Izuku and Melissa helped put everything away, Melissa was told to head into Izuku’s room to get ready for bed, while he got the futon ready for himself.

Of course … well … Izuku knew that there was nothing he could do, but he couldn’t help but look humiliated as he stepped into his room and winced at the permanently raised eyebrow on Melissa’s face, with her looking around and seeing her uncle’s face everywhere.

“So, uh …” She was unable to stop herself from smirking a bit, “… do you remember when we first met, and I told you that I was All Might’s biggest fan?”

"Y-yeah?"

"I rescind that comment."

“Uh-huh,” Izuku sighed in defeat, rubbing his red cheek as he looked over at Melissa. She had changed out of her school uniform into a pair of flannel pajama pants and a t-shirt, similar to the pajamas she normally wore when Izuku had been training in the morning and she had been present via hologram. She looked far more relaxed than she had been all day as well, tying her long bushy hair back into a ponytail as she sat down on the edge of his bed, flashing him a smile.

“Anyway,” She put her hands down in her lap, “I … guess I should thank you for this, Izuku. I know that I kinda put up a fight when you guys were getting my stuff, but – well, I’m not too big on spending a whole lot of money.”

“Oh, no, don’t – don’t think anything of it,” Izuku shook his head, “Occhan’s beat me up for not saving money our entire lives, so I know how important it is to save money.”

There was a pause. Melissa raised her eyebrow again, and glanced around the room at all the All Might merchandise again.

“… okay, but this was necessary money spending,” Izuku defended himself with a grumble, crossing his arms and making her giggle.

After she calmed down, she smiled at him and patted the spot on the bed beside her. Blinking, and going a bit red, Izuku still moved to sit down beside his friend, giving her a small smile as she grinned back. Honestly, the shock of seeing Melissa in the flesh was finally starting to wear off – he half-expected her to reach over and press a button to disappear, somehow, but the fact he could feel her weight sinking part of the bed she was sitting on kind of made it real for him.

Seeing him stare at her, Melissa tilted her head.

“What is it?”

“Oh, uh …” Izuku looked embarrassed, but then he shook his head and smiled at her, “… I’m just … glad you’re here, Melissa.”

She faltered a bit at that, her cheeks turning a bit red, and then she smiled back at him.

“I’m happy to be here,” She said simply, and then leaned back with an overly dramatic sigh, “but I gotta admit, I’m disappointed – Ochako promised me a hug when we saw each other, and she never delivered. And here I was, hyped as hell about it all weekend.”

“Oh,” Izuku chuckled, “well, uh – I guess you can grill her about it when we see her tomorrow.”

“That I will,” Melissa grinned.

They both lapsed into a small silence after that, Izuku turning to stare off at the nearby wall and Melissa down at her knees. They were both quiet for a while – and then Melissa, her smile falling, let out a soft sigh.

“So …” She folded her hands together on her lap, hearing the distant sound of Inko and Hisashi talking in the living room, “… I’m … guessing you’re gonna ask me about it?”

Izuku blinked a bit, looking back around at Melissa in confusion. It was the withdrawn and intimidated look on her face, however, that made Izuku realize what she was talking about, which made his own face fall.

“Oh,” He said blankly, “you’re talking about …”

“Yeah,” She nodded, “me being – y’know – quirkless.”

Izuku felt himself frown at the soft and morose expression on her face.

“I’m …” He shook his head, “… I’m really sorry that – that Kacchan made you do that. He’s …”

“A dick?” She guessed, smiling when Izuku shrugged in a way that meant that he totally agreed. “Yeah. And … well, I’m sorry about being so defensive about it. I’m … not normally awkward about talking about my – er – quirklessness. I just got called out by those guys, and I just … froze.”

“N-no, it’s okay,” He quickly shook his head to assure her, “I get it, Melissa, I’ve – well, I’m not gonna pretend that I haven’t frozen up around Kacchan before, he can be intimidating. But … well …”

“Yeah,” Melissa nodded at his unasked question, straightening up on the bed, “I didn’t develop a quirk by the time I was five, and my papa took me to the doctor and everything to confirm. I’m the type of person that’s never gonna get a quirk.”

“Oh,” Izuku said simply, turning to look down at his knees, “I’m … sorry.”

“Hm? What about?”

“W-well, just … to be told that you don’t have what everyone around you naturally has … it must not have been easy.”

“Heh,” Melissa smiled despite herself, closing her eyes, “well, of course I was shocked about it. And … well, honestly, I was pretty bummed out that my future as a pro hero was dashed before I ever had a chance to reach out to it. And I know that a lot of the time, there were people who looked at me with confusion and pity, but – but I didn’t care much when I was a kid.”

“And …” Izuku glanced at her, knowing that there was a ‘but’ attached to this.

“But …” Melissa felt her smile fade again, “… when you’re the only one in a big room without a quirk, it … it felt like I stood out, for the wrong reasons.”

“Oh …”

“Well,” Melissa shook her head, “at least that’s what it felt like for a while. But then things changed.”

“R-really? How?”

“I met Uncle Might,” Melissa smiled, “and I watched him punch away a tornado without any effort. When he came back to see me and my papa, he told me that the only reason he was able to do that without a single scratch was because of the costume my papa made him. And that inspired me – my papa doesn’t have a quirk that would allow him to be a hero, but he still supports Uncle Might and other heroes with his brains instead of his brawn. It’s indirect, but through his inventions, he fights for peace.”

Melissa held her hands together, staring down at her feet.

“That was the way I hoped I could become a hero,” She explained to him, “not as someone who helps people, but as someone who helps heroes. The problem is, though … well, I’m in the hero course now, and I don’t exactly have a quirk to defend myself. Honestly, that’s why I thought it was a mistake when Principal Nezu told me I’d made it in – I’ve been spending so long trying to be a support item inventor, I had no idea that they were testing me for the hero course when I came to UA.”

“R-right,” Izuku nodded, adjusting himself in his seat and giving her a concerned look, “but … well … do you not want to be a pro hero anymore?”

“See, that’s the thing,” She sighed, “I still do. The heart wants what the heart wants and all of that. But … but I know that there’s no way for me to get ready to take the step. I mean, I’m not exactly in the best shape,” She pointed out with a small smile, “I can barely run a mile in gym class without feeling wiped out for the rest of the day. And since I don’t have a quirk, I’m … I’m at a disadvantage.”

She allowed them to fall silent for a few moments, just to wallow in how screwed she really was. She waited for Izuku to say something at first, but when the silence carried on, she opted to steal a small glance at him –

– and then she blinked when she saw Izuku sit up, and look around at her with a determined, stubborn expression.

“No,” He shook his head, “no, I – I don’t believe that, Melissa.”

“H-huh?” She sat up as well. “Believe what?”

“I – I think you can be a hero, even if you don’t have a quirk,” He clarified, standing up and seeing Melissa’s expression fall at that, “I don’t think you need to be powerful or have a strong quirk in order to become a hero. You’re plenty strong already, Melissa.”

“Er … okay, but …”

Unfortunately for her, Izuku wasn’t going to let her be down about herself, instead standing up and pointing to his arm, showing her the faded electrical scars.

“If it wasn’t for you,” He reminded her, “I’d probably be terrified of using my quirk right now. With the Full Gauntlet, you helped me get over that fear, and take the steps towards actually using my quirk. Even if I – you know, broke it –”

Melissa was sure to glare at him for that reminder.

“- that doesn’t mean that I’m going to give up now. You said during lunch that you’d make me something to replace it, but – but thanks to you, I know what steps I need to take now,” He lowered his arm, “and I know where I need to go in order to become a better hero. And your Full Gauntlet helped me! You’re super smart! I bet you can create anything!”

“Izuku, I …” Melissa sighed, standing up as well to try and calm him down …

… and then she stopped. Blinked. And looked away.

“… uh …” Izuku felt the wind leave his sails, blinking as a contemplative look came to her face, “… Melissa?”

“I can create anything,” She muttered, more to herself than anything, “if … I don’t have a quirk to be a hero … then …”

“Er … Melissa …?”

“I can … I can make support items.”

Y-yes? You can?”

“I can …”

She paused for another moment – and then she snapped her fingers. Without another word, she quickly made her way over to where her suitcase and backpack were resting in the corner, a wide smile on her face. Quickly bending down to her knees and pulling open the suitcase, Melissa began searching through it, with Izuku looking more and more confused by the moment and feeling like he was missing something as Melissa let out an excited mutter.

Finally, she found what she was looking for with a small ‘aha!’, and pulled out a large sketchbook from the suitcase. Zipping it back shut, she stood up and turned around, aiming a wry smirk at the increasingly nervous Izuku as she held the sketchbook to her chest.

“Izuku Midoriya,” She said in a coy, yet excited voice, “you’re a flippin’ genius.”

“I – I am?”

“That you are. So …” She leaned forward seductively, the smirk on her face making Izuku gulp nervously as she held out the sketchbook –

– and then she asked, “… do you want to help me design a giant robot?”

… Izuku, of course, didn’t know it then, but that was probably one of the most arousing things he had ever heard.


“Okay!” Ochako let out a tired cheer as she glanced down the train tracks and didn’t see any lights approaching. “So either I’ve already missed it, or we got here early.”

“We’re here early,” Itsuka chortled, putting one hand on her hip and using her other to tug the back of Ochako’s shirt to pull her away from the edge of the stop, “told you that we’d make it on time. So I guess we’ve just gotta hang out for a little bit.”

Nodding, Ochako turned to smile at Itsuka as they both walked over to a nearby bench, sitting down and sighing as they stretched. Right now, no one was really in the station with them, other than the train station’s police officer who was sipping on his coffee and returning to his office, so they pretty much had the whole place to themselves. Both girls had just run to Chiba’s station, having been sitting in Itsuka’s room with Eri while Midnight had talked to Itsuka’s parents and Teko, and only when they had realized how late it had been getting did they hurry to the train station so Ochako could catch the last train home, or risk being stranded.

Which … wouldn’t have been so bad, being stranded at Itsuka’s, but … well, it was probably better not to test their luck. All it would take is the wrong parent coming into Itsuka’s room at the wrong time, and seeing them making out.

… presuming that they would make out if Ochako stayed over.

… oh, who are they kidding, both girls would totally want to make out if they got the chance.

“So,” Itsuka finished stretching her arms above her head as she settled back against the chair, “what do you think Midnight wanted to talk to my mom and dad about?”

“Don’t know,” Ochako shrugged, glancing over at her, “she mentioned that she was checking up on Eri, but then she asked us to look after her for a bit? I mean, I’m pretty sure the teachers have been giving your parents loads of room to take care of Eri over the last few weeks – maybe they were investigating her caretaker and had an update?”

“Maybe,” Itsuka frowned at the possibility, “but … well, okay, I’m probably worrying over nothing – I bet she’s just making sure that Eri’s comfortable where she is.”

“Yeah,” Ochako nodded a bit, glancing away. The two girls were quiet for a moment, until Itsuka quietly slipped her hand into Ochako’s, which made the brown-haired girl smile bashfully as she squeezed it back with four fingers.

“So, uh …” Itsuka stared down at her feet, her cheeks turning red, “… I was having a few thoughts earlier.”

“O-oh?” Ochako glanced at her, blushing as well. “What about?”

“About, uh … Wednesday night,” She clarified, “it, uh … it sounds like my mom and dad are gonna take Eri out for more clothes shopping, and dinner. And, uh – and my grandpa is gonna go buy some new mats, too, so he might take a while. So I was … maybe thinking that if I was gonna have the house to myself, you and Izuku could come over, and – and we can order some pizza.”

Ochako felt her cheeks burn even hotter, even as her smile grew.

“So, uh … a … dinner date?”

“Kind of,” Itsuka nodded, smiling bashfully as well, “we could, uh … we could just have a night to ourselves. Talk about stuff … eat pizza … hang out …”

“…”

“… maybe … kiss a little …” Itsuka glanced away as her face burned even hotter.

Ochako had to resist the urge to hide her face, but still giggled and nodded.

“I’m so there,” She confirmed, “and so will Deku. We can, uh – we can even talk about internships, if we wanna get that over with, or – or Heights Alliance, or –“

“Or Nejire?”

Ochako paused at that, feeling her smile fall. Itsuka, for her part, winced, as though she hadn’t meant to say that name, but it was a little too late to take it back now as she turned to glance at her girlfriend.

“Uh … sorry,” She shook her head, “killed the mood, didn’t I?”

“N-no, you didn’t,” Ochako disagreed, waving her other hand, “just … you’re right, we will have to talk about her eventually, and – and Wednesday night sounds good. We can talk about her over pizza and … uh … kissing.”

They were both awkwardly silent for a moment. And then Itsuka sighed, as she adjusted herself in her seat to look at her.

“Listen,” She said in a soft voice, “I know that … the whole Nejire thing is weird. It has to be weird for you, since – since it’s me and Izuku being all – you know – infatuated with her. I – I just want you to know, that if you ever have a problem with it, you just tell us, okay? We’ll drop it.”

Ochako blinked a bit at that offer, but shook her head and smiled.

“I … I know,” She assured her, squeezing her hand, “and … well, I’ll admit that I’m still kind of confused over it.”

“You and me both,” Itsuka shook her head, “that girl is … well, she’s stressful.”

They both giggled a bit together.

“But still,” Ochako shook her head again, trying to be serious again, “I thought about it, and … well, this whole thing is confusing, isn’t it? You and me and Deku. So I’m just … I’m trying to do what we said, and take it day by day. And I’m being serious, I’m not just doing this to appease you and Deku – the whole Nejire thing is something that I want to try and understand for myself. So we’ll … we’ll talk about it with Deku on Wednesday, and … we’ll take it from there.”

Itsuka smiled gently at her, opening her mouth to say something – but then the sound of a train’s horn cut that out, causing them both to look around as the train slowly made its way into the station.

Ochako smiled and stood up with Itsuka, about to let go of her hand so that she could make her way over – but Itsuka holding fast made her stop. Blinking, she glanced around to see Itsuka continuing to smile at her as she stood up as well, and, with her other hand coming to take Ochako’s other hand in hers, the brown-haired girl realized what was about to happen, feeling herself blink and turn red again.

But still, she smiled a bit bashfully as she moved up on her tippie-toes, with Itsuka grinning happily as she reached over to cup Ochako's cheeks. The brown-haired girl went a bit red, and giggled as she closed her eyes, and Itsuka leaned in to give her a soft kiss.

They held it for a long moment as the train came to a stop behind them and opened its doors. Disconnecting with a small smack of their lips, Itsuka smiled down at her while Ochako bashfully glanced away. 

"Goodnight, beautiful," Itsuka kissed her cheek, "see you tomorrow."

With that, she spun away from Ochako and started making her way out of the station, being sure to blow Ochako a kiss before she moved around the corner and out of sight. Ochako let out a small, breathless laugh as she goofily waved goodbye to her girlfriend, and then quickly ran over so that she could get on the train, brushing her pass against the automatic barrier and headed onto the train, and soon it closed its doors and started pulling out of the Chibu station.

With a soft sigh, Ochako leaned against the window in her seat and grinned like a dork. Honestly, the fact that their goodbyes were being emphasized with kisses now … she could get used to this. They hadn’t had much time to kiss each other following their party, so … well, Wednesday night? A night alone with Izuku and Itsuka? She was going to take advantage of that to get all the smooches she wanted.

She let out another giggle at her excitement at that, glancing at her reflection in the window – and then her gaze trailed up to her hair, and she found herself stopping, blinking at the collection of pink up there.

Sitting up in her seat, Ochako quickly fished out her phone and started brushing her fingers through her hair. Yep … the pink hair was starting to spread, she realized with a grimace. It was starting to slowly push through her brown hair – while her head still had mostly brunette hair, there were still some flecks of pink that were standing out more and more, that were making her frown.

Just … what the hell did it mean? Why wasn’t she noticing clumps of brown hair in the sink while this pink stuff grew in? Where was it coming from?

It was this question that bugged Ochako all the way home, eventually getting off the train in the Shizuoka prefecture and walking home. Once she got back to the apartment, she let out a soft sigh as she rode the elevator up to her floor, wondering how Melissa was settling in the Midoriya’s and if she should stop by to see what they were up to – but as she got off the elevator, she glanced over, and saw her father standing at the door to another apartment.

Rather, he was standing near the door on the other side of the Midoriya’s, taking a drink from his beer bottle with a small frown. Blinking, she adjusted her backpack’s straps and walked over.

“Daddy?” She called out to him, seeing him jump a bit and look over at her. “What’re you doing?”

“Oh! Chipmunk, yer back.” He gave her a smile, walking over and ruffling her hair. He grinned when she grumbled and tried to fix her hair, although the sight of some pink strands caused him to grimace, unbeknownst to her. “We were just helpin’ out new neighbors.”

“New neighbors? Did someone move in?”

“That they did – here, let’s introduce ya.”

Giving her a smile, he moved to the slightly open door and pushed it open, grinning at the appearance of someone in the doorway.

“Hey, Natsuo,” He greeted him as Ochako straightened out her hair and looked around, “mah daughter just arrived, just wanted to say hi.”

“Oh! Hey!” Coming out the door, a guy roughly the same size of her dad grinned at her, raising his hand in greeting. He looked young, probably college aged, with spiky white hair and a warm grin on his face. He was wearing a gray sweater and blue-jeans, and looked pretty relaxed, if a bit tired.

Behind them, Ochako saw her mom standing with another woman who looked around at her  with a soft smile, walking over to the door where she was standing. The woman was very pretty, with long white hair and a few wrinkles around her eyes doing nothing to disrupt her beauty. She wore a nice yellow cardigan over her blue dress, and gave Ochako a warm smile as she stopped before Ochako.

“Hello,” She said in a quiet yet welcoming voice, “I’ve heard so much about you from your parents, Ochako.”

“Um – hi!” Ochako smiled a bit awkwardly, sinking into a bow before the woman and her son. “Yeah, my – my name is Ochako.”

“I’m Rei Himura,” She introduced herself, lowering herself into a bow as well, “and this is my son, Natsuo. He was taking a day off from college to help me move in when your parents asked if they could help.”

“It’s the least we could do,” Miwa gently patted her arm and smiled at her, “we like to think we’re close with our neighbors, so please, if you ever do need some company, don’t hesitate to come on over – we and Inko would love to have you.”

“Thank you,” Rei smiled at her offer, “and I’m sure that it’ll be nice to have some neighbors again – most of my children are fully grown by now, they don’t have time to come and visit their mother.”

“Hey, I’m wounded!” Natsuo laughed, holding a hand to chest as though his mother had stabbed him. “I like to think that I drop everything when you ask me to come over.”

“Well, I don’t like taking up too much of your time, dear,” Rei lightly smacked her son’s shoulder, before looking back to the Urarakas as they stood out in the open hall, “in any case, thank you both so much for your help today – I imagine that Natsuo and I would still be putting things away if it weren’t for you two.”

“Don’ mention it!” Taiyo grinned as Miwa bowed to them. “And come over any time! I’m sure that Inko would love tah have yeh come over for dinner some night, she always cooks lots for us.”

“I’ll consider it,” Rei smiled, bowing again, “thank you.”

With that, the two Himuras moved back into the apartment, wishing the Urarakas goodnight again as they closed the door. With that, the three of them walked back over to their apartment, Ochako letting out a tired groan while both her parents went strangely quiet.

“Well, I’m beat,” She giggled as she heard her dad close the door behind them, walking over towards her room, “I think I’m gonna take a shower and –“

“Er – wait a sec, Chipmunk.”

Blinking at the sound of her father’s quiet voice, Ochako felt her step falter. Looking over her shoulder, she felt herself blink at both Taiyo and Miwa looking awkward, and … well … honestly a bit afraid, something that made Ochako straighten her back.

“Er … Mama? Daddy?” She glanced between them. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong,” Miwa shook her head, although her voice sounded heavy, “it’s just … there’s something that we want to talk to you about.”

Feeling her brow furrow, Ochako still took a step back, allowing her parents to lead her into the kitchen. Walking over to the table, they both sat down, and Ochako, after a moment of hesitation, sat down with them, feeling her stomach start to clench at the serious looks on both her parents’ faces – truth be told, she was starting to feel a little scared.

“So …” Taiyo hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head, “… there was … somethin’ we wanted to talk to you ‘bout, Chipmunk.”

“Uh … okay …?”

“And,” Miwa, for her part, looked far more certain than her husband, although she still frowned, “we want you to know that – that no matter what, we love you.”

Now Ochako was feeling more and more confused and nervous, glancing between both her parents as Taiyo pulled out a blue folder from under the table, and slid it across it to Ochako.

Feeling her brow furrow, Ochako slowly took it from her dad, and opened it, glancing down at the first page she came to.

 

Observation of the test subject shows that she’s perfectly healthy – no deformities, hearing problems, eye problems, anything that the initial surgery warned about. The only difference is the appearance of pink fibers in her hair, indicating that the quirk factor of Kaina Tsutsumi was passed along successfully to Ochako. There have been no signs of other physical characteristics passed along to Ochako other than the pink hair that is estimated to grow in over the next month or so. It is currently unknown if the growth will stop at a certain point, or move to cover her entire head with pink hair.

She displays a combination of her father Taiyo’s quirk and her mother Miwa’s quirk, being able to remove the gravity of whatever she touches and float it. However, further study, and the presence of pink fibers in her hair, may indicate that a secondary mutation may become present in Ochako.

 

Reading the page, Ochako found her worried thoughts grind to a halt. Reading the first two paragraphs over and over again, Ochako found herself blinking – and then she looked back up at her parents, who were watching her reaction carefully with frowns.

“Uh …” She licked her lips, suddenly feeling like her mouth was dry, “… w-what does this mean, Mama, Papa?”

“…”

“…”

“Who’s …” She glanced back down at the page, “… Kaina Tsutsumi?”

“…”

“…”

“… Kaina Tsutsumi,” Taiyo said quietly, “is … our ex-wife.”

“She’s …” Miwa let out a shuddering sigh, “… she’s your mother, Ochako. Your biological mother.”

There was a long pause.

"She’s … what?" Ochako said blankly.


“Yo!” Mirio shot his arm up in the air. “Togata’s in the house!”

“Oh! Mirio, hi!” Bubble Girl happily smiled at him as she walked by with a stack of papers. “Didn’t know that you’d be visiting!”

“Got a request from Sir to visit!” He informed her as he stepped into the office. “I’m probably not gonna take that long, it was just for a talk.”

Indeed, the Nighteye agency seemed to be winding down for the evening, at least. From what Mirio could see, Centipeder’s desk was empty, with the sidekick apparently having already headed home if his computer being off was any indication. Bubble Girl, meanwhile, looked far more relaxed and excited than he had seen her in a while, wearing a nice black dress and leather jacket over her shoulders as she put her paperwork in the finished stack for Nighteye to review later.

“You look nice, Bubble Girl,” Mirio complimented her, giving her a happy grin as she straightened her back, “is Sirius back in town?”

“Yep,” She grinned, unable to stop herself from looking absolutely ecstatic at the thought of her girlfriend, “she’s got the next two week on the shoreline, since her boss sent an internship request to UA, so we’re gonna have a date night tonight and spend some time together this week before she goes back on seas.”

“Oh, nice! I’m thinking of doing something with Tamaki soon,” He pointed at his chest with his thumb, “maybe a movie or something!”

“Sounds exciting!”

“Well, I won’t keep you – have fun tonight! Don’t do anything I would do!”

Bubble Girl merely giggled and smacked Mirio’s shoulder, making him laugh as they passed each other so Mirio could make his way upstairs, giving the sidekick a wave bye as she headed out the door.

Indeed, Mirio had been in a pretty good mood – not just for winning the sports festival yesterday, with the gold medal in his pocket making him grin a bit wider, but also the fact that Tamaki had done something so assertive on Saturday, agreeing to head into the pier so they could make out a bit. Usually they’d keep that indoors, so the fact that Tamaki did something so adventurous was great! Of course, he had looked like he was going to shrivel up and die when that one guy interrupted them, but baby steps!

Reaching Nighteye’s door, Mirio knocked rhythmically on it, already thinking of how to make a funny appearance, but hearing Nighteye say “Enter,” with a tired voice made him briefly stop, his smile faltering a bit, and ultimately just opened the door and stepped in.

Indeed, Nighteye was slumped over at his desk, his glasses off as he rubbed his eyes, and looking far more tired than Mirio had ever seen his mentor. Still, he knew better than to try and make the scene serious, so Mirio quickly threw his leg up in the air, pointing straight at Nighteye while sticking his tongue in his mouth.

“Lemillion, reporting for duty!” He announced. “Well, not duty – I already went to the bathroom before I got here, but you know what I mean!”

Luckily, Nighteye let out a small huff – meaning that the joke landed, to his relief – and sat back as he took his glasses from his desk and put them back on his face.

“Thank you for coming in, Mirio,” He stood up, “this won’t take long.”

“Well, I’m still surprised!” Mirio closed the door behind him. “I thought internships didn’t start until the next few weeks – did you have any updates on the Shie Hassaikai?”

“Not yet, but …” He paused, and then shook his head, “… well, we can forget the Overhaul case for now. There’s something important I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Alrighty!” Mirio walked over to his seat, sitting down and waiting for his mentor to gather his thoughts. After a moment, Nighteye shook his head and leaned against his desk.

“Has Bubble Girl left yet?”

“Just passed her out the door!”

“Good … good,” Nighteye nodded slowly, “that’s good. Mirio, I wanted you to come here tonight because … there was something important we had to talk about. Something that I … know that I am betraying a dear friend for this, but … but things are more dire now than they have ever been. If he won’t make the right decision … then I will now.”

“Er …” Mirio felt his smile fade, feeling confused, “… sorry, but what do you mean, Sir?”

“Mirio,” Nighteye gave him a sad look, “the truth is … there was another reason I took you on as an apprentice. And its name … is One for All.”

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/YmDrZvC.png
And that was Chapter 38! And the proper start of our new arc - as many of you can see, we've got quite a few things to get started with this arc, don't we? Everyone's being awkward about the beach, Ochako's got a case of mommy issues to deal with, Melissa's building a giant robot and Izuku's not sure if the robot's being turned on or he is, and our dear Itsuka will be dealing with a familiar threat, this time backed up by her greatest rival!

Well ... one of them, at least, but anyhoo~

We also got a start to the Aizawa character development! Shouto officially joining the Kendousquad as a groupie! (Kyouka's not a member of the squad, of course, because she's exclusively a Yaomomo groupie XD) We got a nice old lady as the Midoriya and Urarakas' new neighbor! We got rodents and super heroes facing evil politicians! And, of course, we now have the biggest question of our lovely Lady Nagant, which will be answered ...

... well ... relatively soon, actually.

Thank you guys so much for reading! Coming up next,

 

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1111077784106848297/1153458995340771379/SPOILER_image.png?ex=65aeed66&is=659c7866&hm=e557363dedc07dcee65f4664db2a68b888a90ab53bac0601b8acc2083a698806&

Chapter 39: Missing Moms and Support Chaos

Summary:

As Katsuki, Shinsou and Mineta are forced to have a reality check, Ochako receives a revelation that she has no idea how to grasp, Izuku and Melissa have an awkward encounter, and chaos begins to rise both in UA and elsewhere.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

"Well, well, well," Principal Nezu sighed dramatically, "I should've known."

Sitting in the three seats in front of the principal's desk, Katsuki, Shinsou and Mineta continued to fume. All three of them were covered in cuts and bruises, with Katsuki sporting a shiner near his eye, Shinsou having two balled-up kleenexes plugged up his nose, and Mineta having a pair of nasty bruises on his cheek and along his jaw. Their clothes, of course, were absolutely covered in dry grass and mud, and their hair was filthy as well.

Standing above their chairs, Aizawa and Present Mic were frowning, with the quirk-erasing teacher aiming his glare particularly at the back of Katsuki's head. Midnight and Tenko had already gone home, with Aizawa volunteering to escort the three boys to the principal's office, and Mic had tagged along for 'the drama', as he put it. Nezu, meanwhile, merely sighed as he put his teacup down on the saucer near the computer. With the sun having set a few minutes ago and having three lights shining above the three brawling boys, it felt less like a meeting with the principal and more like an interrogation. 

After tapping the keyboard on his computer for a few seconds, Nezu looked back up at the three frowning general studies students.

"Now, then," He tapped his paw against the desk, "before we get to the subject of punishments for brawling near the campus, I'd like to hear from all three of you what happened."

"You know what happened," Katsuki snapped at him, "these two fu-”

“Bakugou, I believe we have covered last Friday on how thin the ice you are on is,” Nezu interrupted him lightly but with steel in his voice, “so I would be careful of the language you use around me if I were you.”

Katsuki felt his teeth grit but knew enough of the threat in Nezu’s voice to quickly close his mouth before he said something he couldn’t take back.

Nodding, Nezu then turned towards where Mineta was sitting.

“Now then,” He said to the smallest student on the right first, “let’s hear from you what happened first, Mineta.”

The smaller student hesitated for a moment, rubbing his cheek and glancing around, before he let out a small sigh.

“Well, uh … we went to go and talk to the new student in the hero course,” He explained, “some people in our class saw someone new in Bakugou’s old seat, and … well, since it was a new girl, I wanted to meet her.”

“Oh? For what reason?”

Mineta hesitated again – he, of course, knew the real reason why he had approached Melissa, but he knew that the teachers wouldn’t be very impressed by that. However, feeling Aizawa’s glowing red eyes boring into him, he knew better than to try to come up with a lie.

“I …” He gulped nervously, “… wanted to see if I could … uh … maybe … hit on her.”

“Oho?” Nezu tilted his head inquisitively. “And when you say that you wanted to ‘hit on’ Miss Shield, are you referring to hitting on someone in the same kind of way you ‘hit on’ Yaoyorozu during the sports festival?”

Mineta cringed.

“Yes, well … I’m sure that your parents have already given you an earful of what you’ll have to deal with from Yaoyorozu’s lawyers, so I’ll leave it at that for now, with the understanding that any further attempts to ‘hit on’ your female classmates will result in … well,” He let out a short laugh, “let’s just say that dealing with Yaoyorozu Corporations will be the least of your problems.”

He allowed a moment to let Mineta gulp nervously before continuing the interrogation.

“Now then, moving on. What happened after you ‘hit on’ Miss Shield?”

“W-well, uh … Shinsou was bugging her about her quirk, and – and she told us she was quirkless.” His face fell at that. “When – when I thought that Bakugou was going to keep trying to push her around –”

He was aware of both Shinsou and Katsuki glaring at him, and cringed. Still, he kept going under Aizawa’s glare.

“- I told him to back off, and he – he kicked me away. So, I kinda … uh … lost my cool, and started hitting him.”

“Hm …” Nezu hummed a bit, typing at his computer, and then turned to where Shinsou was glaring down at the floor. “And what about you, Shinsou? Similar story to your classmate’s?”

Shinsou merely stared down at his feet.

“Shinsou?”

“… I heard someone got into the hero course,” He said in a low, angry voice, “and I went to confront whoever it was, since no one was missing in my class. I was the only one besides Mineta to make it past the first round, so I knew that if anyone was going to move from general studies to the hero course, it would’ve been one of us.”

“Huh,” Present Mic scoffed a bit under his breath, “how very presumptuous.”

“Mic …” Aizawa warned under his breath, while Mic cringed and clapped his hands together apologetically.

“So what happened next?” Nezu asked.

“I saw Bakugou confronting her, so I went over to have a look. Saw it wasn’t someone that I recognized from the festival, so I assume it was someone who got your special treatment,” Shinsou spat out, glaring down at his feet in his anger, “and I went to confront her about it. Assumed they had a flashy quirk that bought their way into the hero course. When Bakugou shoved me over, I retaliated.”

Nezu slowly nodded again, tapping his paw against his computer, and then turned to the last student who had yet to speak. “And Bakugou? What's your side of this?”

“…”

The teachers didn't bother to repeat his name, simply waiting.

“Heard someone took my spot,” He growled under his breath after a moment, “went to confront them.”

Nezu looked like he was unsurprised by that simple explanation, letting out a small sigh as he rolled his chair back to glance out the window.

The principal’s office was quiet for a long moment as the three boys waited for what Nezu would say, seeing him pluck up his teacup from the saucer and sipping on it before getting started.

“Ah, delicious,” He mused as he put the cup back down on the saucer, before looking back at the students, “now then … we’ll start with you, Mineta.”

The smaller boy cringed.

“I’ve already made clear that we’re aware of your treatment of Yaoyorozu and its own legal consequences. While we were unable to confront you during Friday’s events, I will make it clear – harassment of female students may be ignored in other schools, but it will not be at UA. We take this matter very seriously, so I will let you know that you are now on very thin ice with us. Another noted harassment will result in your unquestioned expulsion.”

Mineta gulped, loudly and nervously, but still nodded.

“Now, as for you, Shinsou –”

However, before Nezu could turn to the young man sitting in the middle, he was interrupted by Shinsou scoffing.

“You don’t need to sum it up for me,” He spat, “I know what happened.”

“Oh?” Nezu looked intrigued – which, of course, sent warning bells off in everyone’s head about how bad that was. “Then educate me, young man. What did happen?”

Shinsou hesitated for a moment, very much aware of the danger with the principal’s dark eyes staring directly into his – and then he shook his head, knowing that he couldn’t back down now, especially in the face of the person who was so clearly biased against him.

“I’m aware Shield wasn’t at the sports festival,” He made clear, “she wasn't in the business course, or general studies, or support course. You – you took someone from outside the school and gave her a spot in 1A without any strings attached. My class was talking about it – no one would just come in to the hero course unless they had connections, and –”

“Aaaaah,” Nezu chuckled, interrupting the student, “I see what you’re talking about. You believe that Miss Shield being placed into the hero course was a case of UA pitying someone who’s quirkless, and giving her a spot without questions. Is that it?”

Shinsou was quiet for a moment – and then he nodded.

“Well,” Nezu adjusted himself in his seat, “allow me to correct you, then. Miss Shield did not receive any ‘special treatment’ from us. Other than a standard recommendation from a pro hero, it was quite the contrary, in fact.”

“Pfft,” He rolled his eyes, “yeah. Right.”

“Oh, it’s very true. In fact,” Nezu leaned forward with a smile, “Miss Shield joining the hero program was not her original intention, nor was it UA's. We were actually going to enroll her into the support course, but it was the request of the Number One Hero that had us test her for the hero program.”

That caused all three boys to look around at him in shock.

“Huh?” Katsuki’s eyes widened in shock and a bit of rage. “All Might recommended her?!”

“All Might?” Nezu raised his eyebrow, and chuckled. “Well … in any case, the hero who recommended her actually suggested that I place her in the hero course, believing that she would benefit more from that course than support. I was, of course, intrigued – Miss Shield is considered a certifiable genius when it comes to support work, so much so that she helped your classmate Midoriya with a support item of his own – you’d know it, Bakugou, as you destroyed it during your match with him.”

Katsuki merely flared his nostrils.

“In any case, I still advised Miss Shield's recommender that she would be walking in completely unprepared for the hero course, but her recommender insisted, wanting to see what she was capable of. And would you all like to know her scores? Bakugou? Mineta? Shinsou?”

None of the boys replied.

“Well, I can’t give exact marks, as that would be an invasion of privacy,” Nezu waved his paw in the air, chuckling good-heartedly, “but if we were comparing her marks to those who wrote the entrance exams back in February, she would’ve ranked quite highly. Add to the fact that we placed her in the same practical exam that you three participated in – and with increased difficulty, mind you, seeing as she was firmly on her own in a city filled with robots with no chance of getting rescue points, and doing so without a quirk – she scored quite highly as well.”

“That’s –” Shinsou was about to call bullshit, but feeling Aizawa glaring at him, he managed to stifle himself.

“So in short?” Nezu leaned back. “Had Miss Shield been with us back in February, I don’t have any doubts that she would’ve earned herself a place in the hero course, without a quirk.”

Shinsou kept quiet for a moment, fuming.

“As well,” Nezu shook his head, “I also want to correct one thing that you said, Shinsou. You suggested earlier that it would’ve been either you or Mineta here that would’ve placed in the hero course, as you were the only two boys from general studies to go onto the next rounds. But why would we give either of you that, seeing as you in particular cheated during the sports festival?”

That, of course, got Shinsou to stop, his eyes widening, and he leapt out of his chair to slam his hands on the desk.

“What the hell?!” He snapped indignantly. “You think I cheated?! I earned my spot at the sports festival!”

“Did you?” Nezu coldly replied, smirking in a way that sent a chill down Shinsou’s spine, realizing too late that he just sprinted headlong into a trap. “Tell me, Shinsou, do you remember the rules Midnight placed during the first round?”

“…”

“No? Well, Mic,” He looked up at the teacher behind the boys, “why don’t you remind us?”

“Direct quirk usage was forbidden,” Present Mic recited, all the adults in the room aware of Shinsou straightening up with sweat probably beginning to bead on his back, “using your quirk to force your classmates into the pit would get you disqualified.”

“Thank you, Mic,” Nezu smiled at him before returning his beady gaze to Shinsou, “now, Shinsou – we weren’t able to catch it during the chaos of the first round, seeing as we were more concerned with Midoriya and Uraraka’s fall – but rewatching the footage, we noticed that many people around you ended up suddenly jumping into the pit. Strange, isn’t it? Now, why would they do that of their own volition, seeing as you weren’t allowed to use your quirk against others during the first match?”

Shinsou didn’t reply, instead continuing to sweat even more.

"And that's not even to mention how you blatantly used Kendou during the second round - using your quirk on her, forcing her to go over and … what were the words you used? Ah, yes - 'go over there and give Midoriya a concussion'. And that's only covering you blatantly using your teammate as a pawn - should we also discuss your willingness to help Monoma remove students from the sports festival altogether?"

Once again, Shinsou didn't say anything to defend himself.

“Please sit down, Shinsou, and don't interrupt me again.”

Without a word, he sank back into his chair.

“Now then,” Nezu sighed, adjusting his tea set, and finally turned to where Katsuki was quietly fuming, “onto you, Bakugou.”

“You don’t need to –”

“Oh, but I believe I do!” Nezu cheerfully interrupted his snarl. “You see, I wanted to make a correction to what you said. You see, you seem to think Miss Shield ‘took your spot’. But that ‘spot’, as you put it, isn’t yours anymore.”

“That’s -!” Katsuki began to snarl.

“We made it very clear on Friday,” Nezu tapped his paw against the desk, interrupting Katsuki’s shout, “that you were expelled from the hero course. You have no option to return. Even if we were open to the idea of eventually letting you back into the hero program, confronting the person you believe ‘replaced you’ and threatening them would have completely vetoed your chances. As it stands now, you have been given three strikes, Bakugou – your first was on Friday when we punished you, and your second is over what happened today. I would not recommend trying to see what will happen if you hit your third strike.”

Katsuki looked like he wanted to argue further, but, aware of the principal’s cold eyes on him, he forced himself to swallow the venomous words he wanted to spit at him.

“Now, then,” Nezu took a stack of papers from the desk and tapped them on the surface to straighten them up, “onto your punishments. Shinsou, Mineta, you will have detention for the next two weeks for harassing a new student and getting into a fight near school grounds. Bakugou, another week of detention has been added to your punishment. Should we hear any more of you three harassing Miss Shield again, your punishments will become more severe. Keep that in mind the next time you’re feeling as though someone is looking down on you.”

With that, he put the papers back down, and looked up to smile at the three boys.

“Now then, we’ve kept you at school for long enough. Please start heading home, and don’t let us catch you fighting again.”

With that clear order, the three boys stood up, Katsuki aware of the teachers staring at him in particular, as they shouldered their backpacks and headed out of the office. As the door shut behind them, they heard Nezu let out a small sigh and Present Mic huffing a bit, while Aizawa merely glared at their backs until the two oak doors closed behind them.

All three of them were deadly quiet as they went back down to the ground floor and left the school grounds, not one of them looking at the others as they walked through the gate, and stomped their way down the mountain towards the train station. Katsuki continued to fume, Mineta stared forward in shock and frustration before he shook his head and stared down at his feet, and Shinsou clenched his fists tightly at his sides.

As they continued to walk down the dark streets, the streetlights displaying the path, Katsuki gritted his teeth while Shinsou scowled and Mineta sulked.

“Fuck,” The blonde boy growled, “fucking … fuck.”

“Yeah, well,” Shinsou huffed at him, “you’re a fucking moron, so it makes me an even bigger moron that I didn’t just let you be stupid and fuck yourself over.”

“Fuck you, indigo,” Katsuki snapped at him, more than happy to have someone to vent his anger towards as he jabbed a finger at him, “you don’t get to fucking judge me. You act like you’re the king of shit mountain when you couldn’t even pass a simple sports festival without cheating. And then you get pissy when people remind you of what a weak piece of shit you are.”

“Pot, meet kettle,” Mineta muttered to himself while Shinsou glared at Katsuki.

“Oh, don’t you fucking say anything either, grapist.”

“G-grapist?!” Mineta squeaked. “That’s –”

“Say that it isn’t accurate,” Shinsou rolled his eyes, “I fucking dare you.”

There was a moment where Mineta simply sputtered. And then he started crying.

“It’s not my fault that I’m so weird looking!” He began to bawl at both of them, making Katsuki and Shinsou recoil at him in disgust. “It’s just my character design! If I were maybe a little buff and a little more handsome, I wouldn’t have to –”

“Assault girls?” Shinsou shook his head. “You’re fucking gross, man.”

“B-but – but -!”

“Oh, shut the hell up!” Katsuki barked at Mineta, making him squeal and immediately stop with the pity tears. Quickly stomping forward, the blonde boy whirled around and pointed at his two classmates with a sneer.

“Listen here, you fucking extras – like I told Shitty Deku, I’m not gonna be wallowing around on the sidelines forever!" He made clear. "I’m gonna be the next Number One Hero, so if you two ever try to get in my way again, you better get ready for a world of hurt!”

“I mean,” Mineta wiped his eyes, looking suddenly unimpressed by Katsuki’s threat, “didn’t Principal Nezu just say you’d get another strike if you did something again?”

“Shut up!”

“He doesn’t want to accept the truth,” Shinsou huffed, equally unimpressed, “sad.”

“I said shut up!” Katsuki whirled back around to continue stomping away from his classmates. “At least I’m not a pathetic loser who tries manipulating people to get what he wants and whines when he gets caught, and a little freak that tries groping girls because he’s ugly!”

That made both Shinsou and Mineta glower at him.

“At least,” Shinsou snapped, clenching his jaw, “I’m not the pathetic has been who only gets by because of his flashy quirk!”

Katsuki’s step paused for a moment – and then he ripped his backpack off, tossing it down to the ground, and then whipped around and snarled as he charged Shinsou. The indigo-haired boy had enough time to throw off his own backpack as Katsuki tackled him right off the sidewalk, both boys landing hard in the ditch off the road and starting to fight again.

While both boys wrestled and rolled around on the wet ground again, Mineta decided to stay out of this one, sighing as he walked over to their discarded bags and brought them together, and stood guard in case someone came by and asked what they were doing. While he waited, he checked his phone, ignoring the sound of blows being landed, grunting and snarling, and the ground squeaking as they rolled around the wet grass, filling the air.

It took them about five more minutes for the two boys to stop brawling, eventually climbing out of the ditch dirtier and muddier than ever, and they picked up their backpacks and started walking again while Mineta let out a small sigh and followed them. While Katsuki bridged his nose and Shinsou tried to get the twigs out of his hair, the three of them glared ahead for a moment. 

And then Katsuki let out a huff.

“Oi. Mute.”

“What?” Shinsou grumped.

“Why do you wanna get into the hero course? Not that I care, but you keep going on and on about it.”

Shinsou hesitated at that question, his expression falling, before he sighed and responded, “Can’t help what you want.”

Katsuki huffed again at that, while Mineta simply kept quiet. The blonde boy kept his hands in his pants pockets – 

- but inside, to his chagrin, he felt his mind begin to work.

He wasn’t stupid, of course – he knew quite well how screwed his chances were to get back to the hero course, but he knew that there had to be an exception. He had done thorough research that very weekend on how general studies students could get into the hero course – he knew that the teachers would observe when general studies students were training and could give them the chance to show what they’ve got and join the hero course through tests.

He also knew, he scowled, that him acting like a jackass was making his chances of getting back in his seat slimmer and slimmer by the day from how biased the teachers were against him. But …

Slowly, he looked back around at the other two purple idiots. He knew that neither of these guys had high chances of getting in either, but … but they did have better chances than he did right now, as loathe as he was to admit it. But they were both weak as shit, at least physically – he brawled with both of them, and knew that they had no idea how to throw a meaningful punch with any technique, let alone landing a punch. Probably half the bruises on his face were due to lucky shots. At the rate they were going, they wouldn’t make it into the course either. 

But … if they had someone training them … and the teachers noticed the person training them, and thought they had a change of heart …

… then his dreams of being the Number One Hero weren’t forever out of his reach. He just had to be smarter.

Katsuki frowned for a moment – and then he let out a low growl as he stomped forward again, and turned to face the two purple idiots, pointing at them again and causing them to stop in their tracks again to see what he wanted this time.

“Oi, shitheads,” He snapped, “listen here. You’re both weak as shit. If you wanna get into the hero course, then you’re gonna have to learn how to fucking fight. And neither of you can throw a fucking punch to save your lives.”

Shinsou and Mineta crinkled their brows, but frowned as they acknowledged they were being insulted again.

“Yeah?” Mineta shouldered his bag, “What’s your point?”

“My point is that if you two wanna get into the hero course, you’re gonna need someone to whip you into shape. Kick your ass when you’re being smug and pretentious, someone to punch you in the face when you’re checking out girls. And that person –” He used his thumb to point at himself, “- is me. Starting tomorrow, I’ll be whipping you two shitheels into shape.”

Both Shinsou and Mineta paused their walking and blinked at the offer as Katsuki gritted his teeth behind his closed mouth, glaring at them to challenge his decision. There was a long pause –

– and then they both snorted.

“Yeah, right,” Mineta walked straight past him.

“Yeah,” Shinsou likewise moved around Katsuki, “like we’ll take tips on how to get into the hero course from the idiot who got expelled from the hero course. Thanks, but no thanks.”

“I got fucking second in the entrance exam!" He barked indignantly at them, quickly charging after them as they walked down the road. "Higher than you two dipshits!”

“Yeah, but you’re still an awful piece of shit.”

“Ha?! Say that again to my face, mute!”


Ochako's world - and her mind - were crashing.

For a long moment, she stared blankly at her mom with her mouth slowly beginning to drop open, the hamster wheel in her head squealing to a halt. On the other side of the table, Taiyo and Miwa were giving their daughter a pair of serious but equally nervous-looking expressions, with her dad clenching his hands into tight fists and Miwa staring straight into Ochako’s eyes. Their daughter, meanwhile, continued to stare at her mom like a goldfish, her mind desperately trying to absorb what her parents had just said.

“Kaina Tsutsumi is … our ex-wife.”

“She’s … she’s your mother, Ochako. Your biological mother.”

The room was silent for a tense-filled minute – and then Taiyo let out a shuddering breath and unclenched one of his fists to hold his hand over his eyes.

“I’m …” He swallowed loudly, “… I’m sorry, Chipmunk. I’m jus’ … sorry.”

At her father’s quiet voice, Ochako’s mouth snapped closed.

“We …” Miwa hesitated for a moment, looking like she wanted to reach across the table for her daughter’s hand but holding herself back, “… we’ve been wanting to tell you this for a – a long time. But we were under a contract, and – and – oh, this is not how I wanted to do this.”

“I …” Ochako managed to finally squeak out, her gaze flickering between her parents as they looked more and more guilty by the second. After another moment, she let out a shuddering breath, and tried to push the folder away from her.

And not glance down at it and read what she just read again.

“I … I don’t understand,” She finally managed to get out, “this … y-you’re saying that – that this – this Kaina woman – she’s my mother?”

“Yes.”

“I … but … but what does that mean?” She looked between both her parents, but her gaze kept flickering more to Miwa. “How can I be – but – but I look just like you, Mama. How can I – how can I be someone else’s … I – I don’t understand.”

“R-righ’,” Taiyo quickly nodded at his daughter’s questions, noting how quiet his wife had become (and the way her hands were trembling on the table) and deciding to take over the explanation for now, “so … well … it’s a bi’ of a long story, sweetie, bu’ – bu’ I’m willin’ to answer anythin’ you wanna know.”

Ochako nodded, letting out a small, shaking breath, and sat up in her seat.

“S-so … so who is … who is Kaina Tsutsumi?”

Both of her parents were quiet for a moment, and then Taiyo sighed.

“Kaina …” He swallowed loudly, “… she was … one of our classmates, back when me and your mom were in high school. She was – well – she was th’ most popular girl in school, 'cause she was scouted by the Hero Public Safety Commission as a potential new hero. They pretty much sent someone out tah train her after school an’ everythin’. An’ everyone loved her – she was cool an’ snarky, but calm, kind, an’ – an’ beautiful.”

Ochako nodded slowly, feeling her stomach continue to churn.

“An’ …” Taiyo hesitated, glancing at the silent Miwa once before looking back to Ochako, “… an’ she and Miwa … they were best friends.”

Blinking a bit at that, Ochako looked to her mom again, who was still for a moment before she nodded and looked up at her.

“We’d known each other since middle school,” She explained in a quiet voice, “neither of us were afraid of - of getting into fights for people who needed to be stood up to, so we usually got in trouble together, and – and we became friends when we got to know each other in detention. She was my closest friend by the time we got to high school, even if … even if I felt that she’d become way too cool for me to hang out with.”

Ochako nodded again.

“When we got to high school, we both met Taiyo,” She put her hand down on her husband’s, and we were … well, I wouldn’t have called us friends, more – more mutual acquaintances.”

“See,” Taiyo shook his head and sighed, “everyone in school was interested in Kaina. But I … well … I might’ve ha’ a huge crush on yer mom, Chipmunk. Everyone though’ of Kaina as the mos’ beautiful girl in school, bu’ tah me? Miwa was the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen.”

Miwa sighed, but she still smiled a bit bashfully and swatted her husband’s shoulder.

“Taiyo was a lot shyer back then,” She explained to a slightly ‘disgusted-at-parental-affection’-looking Ochako, “we were friendly with each other after being paired as partners in chemistry class, but we wouldn’t exactly say we were in each other’s friend circles enough to hang out. If I’m being honest, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the big teddy bear guy who liked talking to me in science class had a crush on me.”

“S-so …” Ochako glanced between them, “… how does … w-what does Kaina have to do with this?”

“Well,” Taiyo folded his hands together, “one day, when I was gettin' ready for my wrestlin’ club, Kaina confronted me on th’ crush I had on yer mom. An’, uh … it turned out tha’ I wasn’ the only one who was crushin' on her.”

Ochako paused for a moment. And then she blinked.

“Oh..” She glanced over at her mom again, “So … she …”

“Yep,” Taiyo nodded slowly, “Kaina had a crush on yer mom, too. She’d been crushin’ on her longer than I had, an’ … well, she recognized the looks I was sendin' Miwa, and called me out on it.”

“Like I said,” Miwa sighed in disappointment at herself, “I had no idea - for either of them.”

“S-so,” Ochako glanced over at her dad, “Kaina told you to – uh – back off?”

“Heh! She tol’ me that she wanted to tell me that,” Taiyo smiled ruefully, “bu’ in th’ end, we ended up bondin’ over us havin’ a crush on th’ same girl. Honestly, it’s funny that I wanted to be close to yer mom, bu’ … well, it ended being through Kaina that I became proper friends with her.”

“And … you both confessed to Mama?” Ochako asked, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

“Well, er … no’ exactly,” Taiyo looked sheepish, “see, Kaina and I … we were both nervous about getting’ rejected - me for bein' a big awkward idiot, and Kaina because she wasn't sure yer mom even liked girls. So, while we were angstin' about it, th’ two of us started gettin’ closer. I’ll tell ya, Chipmunk, Kaina acted like the cool, calm an’ collected student, but in private? In private she could get in trouble like no one’s business, an’ she liked tah drag me along."

"U-uh huh," Ochako nodded, kind of finding it hard to imagine her dad being a troublemaker.

"So we got pretty close after a while, and … er …" He cleared his throat, looking awkward, "… we couldn’ really deny tha’ we were – uh – gettin’ closer to … uh …”

“What your father’s trying to say, Ochako,” Miwa sighed, “is that he and Kaina realized they were attracted to each other, and before I knew it, they started going steady. And I was shocked.”

“I mean couldja blame us?” Taiyo laughed a bit while Ochako looked awkwardly between them. “She was beautiful. Almost' as beautiful as ye are, Miwa.”

“Nice save, Taiyo.”

“An’ yeh know how feisty she was back then! I had tah be careful half the time or she’d have taken a bite out of me, even before we started dating’.”

“Oh, I’m aware, Taiyo. I’m very well –”

“C-could you guys please continue on with the story?” Ochako whimpered, feeling mortified at the thought of her parents … courting … and wanting to move the conversation on.

“Hm? Ah, er, righ’,” Taiyo nodded quickly, realizing that he was getting carried away, “so, uh – me and Kaina. We, uh – we started goin’ out, bu’ we were both aware that we still had feelin’s for Miwa. An’ … well, we had a bit of a talk, and since Kaina was … well … ten times more confident than I was when it came to yer mom, even if she wasn't sure about how Miwa felt. She was the one to bring up the possibility of … well …”

He paused for a moment to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say without traumatizing his daughter.

“… she made it clear,” He gulped a bit, “tha’ if she had feelin’s for yer mom and me, she was gonna have us both. An’ … well, we talked it through, an’ she ended up propositioning Miwa.”

“‘Propositioned’,” Miwa shook her head and smiled, “right. As though she hadn’t gone up to me at Sako's party and just said ‘I’ve liked you for a while, Taiyo likes you, so you’re dating both of us now’.”

“R-really?” Ochako blinked, feeling surprised. “Just like that?”

“Well … it was a bit confusing for me,” Miwa shook her head, while going red – she knew that she didn’t need to mention how her ex-wife had ‘persuaded’ her into joining her relationship with her husband – “I hadn’t thought of ever dating members of my own sex before. But … well, I’m not gonna lie and say that your father was the only one taken in by her charms. Kaina was a – she’s a force of nature when she wants to get something, and there wasn’t much we could do to stop her - and that's implying if we even wanted to stop her.”

She lowered her gaze back to the table, a soft smile on her face.

“I thought that we’d go on one date, the three of us, and we’d realize it’s a bad idea, but … well, a date turned into two, into three, into five, into ten. We kept our relationship under the radar until after we graduated, and eventually, we moved to another city in Mie and got an apartment together.”

While her mother explained that, Ochako felt her heart hammer a bit. Oh, where, oh, where had she heard that kind of story before? Three friends deciding to give a three-way relationship a try.

And … well … seeing as only two members of that polyamorous relationship were sitting in front of her and only now explaining how there had been a third …

… well … she couldn’t deny that it kind of stung in a way she didn't expect.

“Soon enough,” Taiyo smiled in reminiscence, unaware of his daughter growing quiet, “things were serious enough that I proposed tah both of ‘em, and they both accepted. We got married at city hall, and – well, tha’ was tha’. Miwa and I got started on our construction company, and Kaina officially joined the Hero Commission as the next upcoming hero. An’ she got … well, she got popular. A lot of our money, our comfortableness, was because she was bringin’ in a lot of it.”

“And she never minded,” Miwa shook her head, “even if we felt like we were dragging her down or forcing her to cover us if work wasn’t bringing in a lot of money. She just wanted us to live comfortably, so she never minded, as long as we were happy. And, well, for a few years we were – but then everything changed after – after you were born, sweetie.”

Ochako felt herself wince at that, and Miwa seemed to realize at once that she had worded that wrong, reaching out to hold her hand over her daughter’s before she caught herself and moved it back, still looking remorseful for how she said that.

However, before she could say anything, Ochako spoke up for the first time in a little while.

“I … I still don’t understand,” She said in a quiet voice, “you said that this – this Kaina woman is my – my bio mom. Like – like she’s the one who gave birth to me.”

“Yes, sweetie.”

“But … but I look just like you, Mama,” She looked up at her, “so – so how is that possible?”

“Well …” Miwa sighed, folding her hands together on the table, “… truthfully, Ochako, we – we decided soon after we got married to have children, and figured that since Kaina was a pro hero, I should be the one to carry our child. But after a few tries, we – we found out that I’m infertile. No matter how many times we tried, I – I wasn’t able to get pregnant. But then we found out about a procedure – some early medical experiment that allowed the egg of one woman to be implanted into another woman, and … essentially melded together. It was a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo that your father and I really don’t understand even now.”

“Er … okay, do I really wanna know how this works?” Ochako looked grossed out again.

“W-well, we’ll try and skip the details,” Taiyo was unable to resist a small smile at his daughter’s clear horror of anything sexual happening between her parents, “in any case, we talked it through with Kaina, and … we decided tha’ –”

He paused, however, when he glanced down at his wife’s clenched hands again, and noticed her beginning to shake again. He quieted down for a moment, his smile fading – and then he sighed, and moved to wrap his arm around Miwa’s shoulders, feeling her shake, and brought her in.

“- Chipmunk,” He said in a serious voice, making Ochako blink a bit, “I jus’ … even if yer mom here wasn’ the one who gave birth tah ya, she’s yer mom. Jus’ as much as Kaina is. Nothin’ will ever change that.”

Ochako found herself sitting still at that, her eyes trailing over to where Miwa was sitting. Her mom, for her part, stared down at her hands while avoiding her daughter’s gaze.

“I know that …” Miwa hesitated, a wobble in her voice, “… it might … it might make you look differently at me now, Ochako, but … I just …”

Ochako stared at her mother for a long moment as she kept her face hidden from her – and then she shook her head as she stood up abruptly from the table. Both parents briefly feared that she was about to walk away from the table, but instead, Ochako moved around it so that she could crouch down beside her mom, and bring her in for a hug, Miwa quickly unclenching her hands and hugging her back as she sniffled.

“Of course,” Ochako mumbled, “of course you’re still my mama. Nothing’s going to change that.”

“I know,” Miwa nodded slowly, kissing her daughter’s hair, “I know, I just …”

They were both quiet for a long moment. Ochako then glanced up at her dad as he rested his hands on his wife’s shoulders and rubbed them.

“What … what happened after that, Daddy?” She asked him. “Why did … why did …”

She hesitated for a second to figure out what exactly to call the woman they were talking about.

“… why did … Kaina … leave?”

“Well …” Taiyo hesitated, and then sighed, “… if … if we’re bein’ honest, Chipmunk … we don’ know.”

“After you were born, and Kaina’s maternity leave was up,” Miwa said in a slightly choked voice, “she … started staying for longer hours at work. Sometimes she wouldn’t come home at all, and we’d go days without hearing from her. It … it caused a strain on us, and – and we weren’t sure what was going on, or how to confront her on it. But then, one day, she came home, and … and it was like we weren't even there.”

“W-what do you mean?”

“She jus’ … she wasn’ respondin’ to us,” Taiyo closed his eyes, frowning sadly, “it was like she was in – in shock. She couldn’ tell us wha’ happened tah make her like that, or talk to us at all. She ended up holdin’ you for a few minutes, and then she jus’ …”

“She broke down,” Miwa said, “and cried like we had never seen her cry before.”

Ochako’s gaze flickered between her parents, her stomach continuing to tighten.

“Th’ next day …” A flash of pain crossed her dad’s face, “… she lef’ divorce papers on the table, and moved out of the apartment. Said she needed time for herself, an’ – an’ that left us a sum of money fer ya, tah make sure yeh were comfortable. We never heard from her again after tha’ – no’ until las’ Friday, when she saw us at the sports festival.”

“Is … is that where you guys went that night?” Ochako asked quietly.

“Yeah. We … we go’ tha’ binder from Recovery Girl,” He explained as he gestured towards the folder on the table, “an’ we heard tha’ somethin’ from yer other mom migh' happen tah ya, as a result of the procedure. So we – we let her know, and – and told her that we were gonna tell ya the truth. But please, please understand, Chipmunk …”

He reached out to place his hand on the top of Ochako’s head, while Miwa moved out of her embrace as well to give her a desperate look.

“… Kaina, she loves ya,” Taiyo said quietly, "I know she loves ya."

There was a pause.

“If she loves me,” Ochako muttered in a small, defeated voice, “why am I only learning that she’s my mom now?”

Both Taiyo and Miwa winced.

“Ochako,” Miwa gently said, “it’s … it’s not that simple.”

“Seems pretty simple to me,” Ochako said in a blank, matter of fact voice, “she didn’t want to be my mom, so she left us. That’s -”

“No,” Taiyo suddenly interrupted her, and Ochako blinked at the heat in his voice, even if he was audibly attempting to temper it, “no, Ochako. I – I know that this is shockin’ tah ya, and I don’ blame ya for bein’ – bein’ angry at her, yer mom and I have been angry with her too – but I know tha’ Kaina loves ya. We don’ know why she left, an’ why she hasn’ contacted us until now, but – but I saw her eyes when we talked about ya to her on Friday. She cares about ya so much.”

Ochako was quiet again for a long moment, squatting beside her mom’s chair while Miwa stared down at her in worry. And then, with a soft sigh, she straightened up.

“… you said that she’s a hero,” She said quietly, staring down at the table and avoiding her parents’ gazes, “who … who is she? What’s her hero name?”

Both Taiyo and Miwa paused, turning to give each other a look as though debating whether or not to answer their daughter. And then Taiyo let out a shaking sigh.

“… Lady Nagant.” He said. “Her hero name is Lady Nagant.”

And that name, of course, made the already tight feeling in Ochako’s stomach squeeze even tighter. She let out a soft gasp, her gaze flickering down to the backpack that she had left beside her chair, and for a few seconds, she stood there in silence.

And then, with a shaking breath, she walked over to the backpack and picked it up, and started heading out of the kitchen towards the front door.

“Ochako?” Miwa stood up quickly from the table, a tinge of panic in her voice.

“I just …” She said in a quiet voice, shaking her head, “… I just need some time alone, Mama. I’m not gonna go far.”

With that, she stepped back into the main hall, moving out the front door, and then gently and quietly closed it behind her.

Now outside in the warm spring air, Ochako let out another sigh as she stood there for a moment, her gaze flickering over towards Izuku’s door as though tempted to go in and spend time with her boyfriend – but then she shook her head and began walking the opposite way, walking down the hall towards the stairs. She’d love to get Izuku’s thoughts and opinions on this, but – but she knew that her mind was moving a mile a minute, straining to grasp everything that was just told to her in the last ten minutes, and she needed time to get her thoughts organized and to calm down.

Making her way down the stairs to the ground floor, walking across the parking lot and moving underneath the line of yellow police tape, Ochako put her backpack down between her feet, and sat down on the abandoned swing of the playground, her hands gently grasping the thin and worn-out ropes, and stared blankly at nothing. She ignored the melted plastic lump beside her as she absently swung back and forth for a few minutes.

And then she shook her head and reached down to her backpack, pulling out her internship requests.

Flipping through the pages, she found what she was looking for quickly. Her finger trailing down to the name on the sheet of paper, accompanied by the phone number and email beside it, and frowned.

My mom …  is my mom, but she's not really my mom. Kaina Tsutsumi …  Lady Nagant …  is my bio mom.

That was important for her to differentiate, Ochako frowned. It was important to make that difference. Miwa might not have been the one to give birth to her, but – but she was her mom. Nothing was going to change that, like she had said upstairs.

Kaina … to her, she was a stranger. But staring down at the sharpshooter’s name on the sheet … Ochako couldn’t help but feel her heart thumping uncomfortably in her chest.

Lady Nagant is my mom … 

…  and …  she doesn't want anything to do with me.

She hated that tears began to spill from her eyes at the thought, sniffling as she bowed her head and sat there. Everything that she knew – everything – had been changed in the span of about ten minutes. Her parents … they had been married to someone else before she had been born.

That woman … she was the one who gave birth to her.

She was a hero.

And for some reason, she had come home one day, held Ochako, cried her heart out, and then walked out of their lives without giving them a reason why.

This … this was …

“I know that this is shockin’ tah ya, and I don’ blame ya for bein’ – bein’ angry at her, yer mom and I have been angry with her too – but I know tha’ Kaina loves ya.”

Her dad said that her … her other mom … loved her. But god, it didn’t feel like it from where she was sitting.

She gently shook her head, and her gaze raised back up to the paper where Lady Nagant’s contact info was. The email, of course, was obviously not hers, what with the HPSC’s name in it and nowhere indicating Nagant’s name, but … but maybe the phone number …

She pulled her phone out from her pocket, staring down at the number on the sheet for a second, and then dialed it in. Once her finger was hovering over the green button, Ochako found herself hesitating, using the back of her other hand with the paper to wipe at her teary eyes, and then, after taking a deep breath and feeling her stomach and heart clench, she pressed the button and raised the phone to her ear.

The phone only rang once before it connected.

“Hello!” A cheery, female and clearly automated voice spoke at once. “You’ve reached the Hero Public Safety Commission’s official line. If you’d like to speak to a representative, please press ‘one’. If you –”

Not even bothering to hear the rest of the response, Ochako pressed the red button on the phone and sighed as she put it back in her pocket and put the piece of paper in her lap, raising her hands to hold the swing’s ropes again as she took a deep, unsettled breath.

She knew that it wouldn’t be that simple to call Nagant – and hell, she wouldn’t even know what to say if the phone had picked up and Nagant had been on the other end. All she knew was that her heart hurt, and she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to hear this woman’s voice – either to tell her that she wanted to meet her or tell her to go fuck herself. She felt like her heart was tearing in two, her mind telling her to call Nagant and tell her that she knows, or … or …

… fuck.

Ochako shook her head again, staring down at the paper and feeling tears begin to build in her eyes again. She reminded herself that this wasn’t some special thing she should be looking into – everyone in class got the same request. This wasn’t her – her other mother sending her a request so that they could meet. She sent everyone a request. Or – or it was the Commission that sent the request under Nagant’s name, either or. She wasn't special.

But … but then, she remembered what they discussed this afternoon.

“But her career ended up stopping when she accidentally shot one of the heroes she was on duty with.”

“Wait, you’re saying that this chick actually killed someone?”

“It was an accident, and she pretty much immediately went into retirement not long after it happened. I guess … I don’t know, she felt guilty, and had a press conference announcing that she was quitting hero work. I remember the day it happened – she pretty much disappeared right off the grid, the hero forums called it an ‘self-imposed exile’.”

Izuku said … that she killed someone. A fellow hero.

Was … was that why she left?

Ochako felt herself frown at the thought, but to her disgust, hope began to fill her chest. The timeline … it might match, she considered. Did … did Nagant make that horrible mistake, come home, and – and the guilt of what she had done caused her to leave?

She knew that this was just her trying to come up with an excuse for Nagant, Ochako realized at once as she sighed. She was attempting to find a rational reason as to why her birth mother hadn’t stayed around, to assure herself that her dad was right and Nagant maybe loved her. But … but what she was thinking … a part of it made sense, she thought.

If … if she had killed someone and went into exile … she wouldn’t have wanted to have her husband, wife and daughter around. But … but if what she was thinking was right, if Nagant had left when she was a baby, then – then it would’ve been at least fourteen or fifteen years, and – and she only reached out to her parents for the first time this Friday.

But why? Why would she do that? Why would she –

“Ochako?”

Letting out a small yelp at the quiet voice above her, Ochako quickly looked up. Standing near the swing, Miwa was frowning as she put her hand gently down on one of the swing’s metal poles.

“Sweetie,” She said in a quiet voice, “are you okay?”

“I …” Ochako hesitated for a moment, glancing down at the paper in her hand for a moment before quickly wiping at her eyes, sniffling and glancing away.

“… I’m fine,” She lied, “just … thinking. W-where’s Daddy?”

“He was, uh … he was worried you were gonna run off,” Her mom admitted, moving around the metal pole to sit down in the swing next to Ochako’s, “so I convinced him that I’d check the parking lot and park before he went searching with his truck.”

Ochako nodded numbly, staring down at her backpack. The two Urarakas were quiet for a long moment, and then Miwa sighed and stared down at her feet – better that than look up at the pink strands in her daughter’s hair that were growing out, and be reminded of her guilt.

“Ochako,” She said in a quiet voice, “I … I’m so sorry that we kept this from you.”

Ochako was quiet for a moment before she responded.

“Why?” She asked quietly and shook her head while attempting to keep her voice from shaking. “How … I … I’m not angry about that, Mama, I – I don’t even know how you would explain all that. But … why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because the Hero Commission made us.”

Ochako blinked a bit at that, looking up at her mother. Her face was still even, but there was a notable sound of disdain in her voice.

“The Hero Public Safety Commission,” She said in a low voice, “they’ve been … I’ve always had my suspicions about them and your mother. We couldn’t do much with Kaina without the Commission giving us permission – we had to keep our marriage with her a secret, we had to write a contract with them when we relocated for the first time. And – and then when we decided to have you, Kaina – she was forced to write something in secret, and not tell us about it at all. We thought – we thought it was just something to excuse her from hero work while she was pregnant, but – but after Kaina left, we were confronted by another few agents, and they made us sign a contract that forbade us from telling you the truth about your mother.”

“I …” Ochako shook her head, biting the inside of her lip gently, “… but why?”

“I don’t know,” Miwa shook her head, “but we didn’t have the expenses or the willpower to fight someone bigger than us, so … so we just agreed to their demands. But when we saw that folder, and your results … I knew that it was time to tell you.”

She hesitated for a moment, and then reached out to gently put her hand on her daughter’s on the swing.

“Ochako,” She stared at her, “I love you so much. The day you were born was one of the happiest of my life, and I know that Taiyo thinks the same. We both love you so much, and we’re so sorry that we kept this from you. I know that … if you want your distance from us –”

At that moment, Ochako broke. Quickly getting off the swing, she was quick to throw her arms over her mother’s neck and hug her tightly again. Miwa let out a surprised grunt at the sudden force that nearly sent her off the swing, but realizing that her daughter was hugging her, she was quick to hug her back, getting up from the swing and standing there with her daughter.

They both stood there in the park for a long moment, Ochako sniffling while Miwa stroked the back of her head, before she took a step back, wiping at her eyes and then grumbling when Miwa insisted on wiping them away for her.

“I …” She managed to get out, “… I love you too, Mama.”

Miwa nodded slowly, taking a shuddering breath as she stroked Ochako’s cheek. And then she let out a small sigh, and reached down to take Ochako’s phone out of her pocket. The brown-haired girl blinked as her mom brought out her own phone and gave Ochako a soft look.

“Ochako,” She said in a gentle voice, “I … know that if you don’t want to know more about Kaina, we won’t make you. It’s your choice, and we wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to just forget about everything. But I … I do have her phone number here, the one she used to contact us on Friday. If you want … I can give you that number.”

Ochako found herself pausing at that offer, realizing what her mother was saying. She was giving her the option of calling Nagant, of hearing everything from her, of – of making the first step of connecting. 

For a moment, the thought of that shot a wave of anxiety through her – but then, after taking a deep breath, Ochako pushed past that fear and nodded. Smiling at her, Miwa inputted the new phone number into Ochako’s contacts, and gave it back to her.

“You take your time,” She told her, “and contact Kaina on your own terms. Now … I’m tired, and hungry after moving things all day long. Wanna go calm your dad down and force him to take us out for cheeseburgers?”

Ochako let out a small giggle at that, and nodded, letting her mom wrap her arm around her shoulders and guide her back towards the apartment, Miwa plucking her daughter’s backpack off the ground and carrying it for her. As they walked back home, Ochako glanced down at her phone, and then sighed and put it back into her pocket.

Not yet, she decided. She … she wanted to get a bit more advice before she decided whether to make the call or not.

But … soon.


… yep. He should’ve gone to sleep a lot earlier last night.

With a long, tired groan as he turned off his phone’s alarm, Izuku rolled onto his back, staring blankly up at the dark ceiling of his own room from where he was lying on his futon. The lull of sleep was attempting to pull him back under, but he could hear the distant sound of the shower going, meaning that people must already be up and about – and he also needed to make sure that Melissa got to school on time, so it would probably be for the better that he got up and started getting ready.

Flipping the sheets off of him and shivering in the early morning air, Izuku sat up and looked around the dark room, realizing that he hadn’t heard Melissa reacting to the alarm at all. Glancing around at his own bed, Izuku saw that it was empty, and understood that she had probably already gotten up – he could see a faint light under his door, which, in his still sleep-addled mind, probably meant that she was probably out having breakfast.

Well, that was good. Maybe she handled getting a lot less sleep better than he did.

Last night was … whew. The moment she had asked him to help her design a robot, Izuku’s curiosity had turned into what could honestly be described as a nerdgasm, and they had spent over four hours going over potential designs for a mechanical suit of armor, using some of Izuku’s notes about All Might as a starting line for how powerful they could make it. Melissa had pondered the different kinds of technologies that she could use to replicate a few of her uncle’s moves, and they spent a lot of time wondering and being excited over what other designs they could come up with.

After that, while Melissa had been busy making a list of parts and gear she would need to build her suit, Izuku had finished going through his internship list – and one specific name that had caught his attention had caught him completely off guard, making him yelp so loudly it distracted Melissa from her own note taking. Unfortunately, since it had been around one in the morning, Hisashi had knocked on their door to remind them that they had school the next day, so they both reluctantly got ready for bed so that they weren’t complete zombies in the next morning. Still, Melissa planned to visit the support studio later today to look over what kind of space was in there for her work, in addition to the kinds of materials UA offered, and Izuku had gone to sleep pondering the benefits of interning with the hero he had seen.

In any case, it was great that Melissa seemed to have finally found her groove. Izuku smiled tiredly to himself as he stood up from the floor and stretched, still half-asleep as he began stumbling his way out of his room. The excitement on her face when she had realized a way that she could keep up with the rest of their classmates had definitely infected him, filling him with a happiness that made his chest swell even now. Add to the fact that Melissa also made the time to design a few new support items for Izuku that would be ready to go before internships, he couldn’t help but feel like everything was going upwards for him right now. Heck, he had been so happy for her, he hadn’t even felt uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as a different girl than Ochako or Itsuka! 

… well, okay, that wasn’t entirely true – he had felt a little nervous when he had laid down and calmed down from their creative high, but they had both been so tired they pretty much fell asleep at once. So it wasn’t like when he had gotten into Itsuka’s bed with her and Ochako and woke up snuggling with both girls, or …

… or when … he and Itsuka had gotten into his bed and …

… and …

Stepping out into the hallway, Izuku found himself pausing, glancing back into his room at the empty bed, and felt himself go a bit red. Clearing his throat and feeling himself blush more, he quickly closed the door behind him, and started wandering towards the bathroom.

Indeed, in all of the excitement of the weekend, he had … kind of forgotten about how he and Itsuka had gotten together. And when he thought, ‘gotten together’, he meant ‘make out under his covers’. Gulping, Izuku shook his head at how embarrassingly easy it had been to get lost in his passion for Itsuka, something that made him blush with mortification. Usually, love confessions didn’t involve the guy taking off his shirt and then blatantly grabbing the girl’s butt, he reminded himself.

He was at least thankful that the alarm had stopped them before anything else had happened.

… but … that raised the question of what would’ve happened if Izuku had remembered to turn off his alarm that night.

Pausing in the hallway again, hearing the sound of the shower turning off but not properly registering it, Izuku felt himself go red. If … he and Itsuka hadn’t been interrupted by the alarm … how far might they have gotten? He wanted to say that he would’ve stopped it before it got too far, but … well, he knew better than to try thinking 'oh, I would've done better' when he knew that what had happened had been pretty emotionally charged. He knew, due to the love confession and the overwhelming love he had felt for Itsuka, he hadn’t … exactly been restrained when they started kissing. And neither as she, seeing as she had been the one to begin their make out after he kissed her so enthusiastically.

He wanted to say that Itsuka would’ve known when to stop it, but … but was there …

… was there maybe the chance of them doing … more with each other if they hadn’t been stopped by the alarm?

Squeaking a bit at that thought, Izuku shook his head and started making his way towards the bathroom again, unaware of humming coming from the kitchen or snoring from the couch in the living room. 

He … supposed that this was something that he had to think about as well. In the euphoria of starting to date Ochako and Itsuka at the same time, he kind of … forgot about the obvious fact that his two girlfriends were insanely attractive, and were clearly attracted to him, as hard as it was to believe. And there was also the fact that they agreed to keep their relationship a secret from everyone for now, which meant that they were waiting until they were behind closed doors to do anything together.

So that meant that … it was very much possible that as soon as they had the chance, there would be … more kissing. More being lovey-dovey together. More … well … experiments with what they could do together.

Feeling himself shake a bit at that, Izuku pulled open the door to the bathroom, not even registering the steam in the bathroom fogging up the mirror as he stepped up to the sink to grab his toothbrush, lost in his thoughts. It was – it was true, the possibility of the three of them getting together and deciding to have some … 'fun' … was high. Between his first passionate kiss with Ochako, and his make out with Itsuka after that, he now knew that both of his girlfriends weren’t exactly shy about getting to the … er … physical parts of their relationship. 

Which meant that one thing was clear: if he was going to get to do this – he would need to do some research. Some very … inappropriate research, he blushed as he put toothpaste on his brush and raised it to his mouth to start scrubbing. But important research nonetheless –

“I-Izuku?”

At the quiet, embarrassed voice right behind him, Izuku paused yet again, his hand moving his toothbrush back and forth halting. Staring blankly at the fogged-up mirror for a moment, as though only now realizing how steamy the room was, Izuku felt sweat begin to slide down his neck as he registered one very, important fact about that voice.

It didn’t … belong to his mom or dad.

Slowly, as though he had only realized he was in the same room as a horror movie villain, Izuku turned his head to look over his shoulder, his toothbrush dangling loosely from his mouth, and standing there, near the tub and staring at him in surprise and embarrassment, was Melissa.

She was … well … to get it out of the way, she wasn’t naked, of course. But she was still alarmingly close to being so in the fluffy white towel she had wrapped around her upper body and just above her thighs. Her long hair was tied up in a second towel on the top of her head, her glasses off but still staring blankly at him. And then there was the fact that one of her feet was up on the edge of the tub, which gave him a … very good look at her long, bare leg.

And Izuku’s gaze subconsciously flickered down to it, looking at how plump it looked and how it led up to the towel where a hint of her … her …

Very quickly, Izuku realized what was doing.

“Gak!” He squeaked, immediately slamming his hand to his eyes to cover them as Melissa let out another quick gasp of surprise. He tried to quickly make his way out of the bathroom while blind, but due to the fact his eyes were covered, his shoulder bounced against the doorframe, making him yelp in pain and automatically lower his hand so he could see, making him glance over at Melissa again as she quickly brought her leg down from the tub.

“O-oh, no, it’s -!” She tried to raise her hands to stop him – and then, to both their horror, the towel around her waist loosened. Thankfully, she managed to quickly catch it before it fell, trying to tie it back up to cover her, and Izuku was quick to spin on his heel to face the opposite direction before he caught sight of anything he definitely wasn’t supposed to.

“S-sorry!” He managed to finally get out while his face burned bright red. “I – I wasn’t thinking, I – I – sorry!”

“N-no, it’s – it’s fine!” Melissa hurriedly wrapped her towel firmer around her and felt the blush on her own neck and ears deepen. “You’re good!”

“G-great!”

“Yep!”

With that, Izuku blindly tossed his toothbrush over his shoulder to land back in the toothbrush cup – it would’ve been impressive how he got it effortlessly if not for the fact it landed on the opposite side down – and all but ran out of the bathroom, shutting it quickly and then sprinting back to his room, only now aware of Inko humming as she made breakfast in the kitchen, and Hisashi still snoring on the couch as he fled.

Slamming his door shut, wide awake now, Izuku slid down to the floor of his room, holding his hand over his mouth as he hyperventilated, realizing what he had done and how he would never be able to look Melissa in the eye again. And back in the bathroom, Melissa wiped the foggy mirror with her hair towel and put Izuku’s toothbrush back into the cup correctly, putting her glasses on and catching sight of how red her face was in the mirror, and feeling herself shake.

So … well, it was safe to say that they were both very much awake now.


“Uh …” Ochako tilted her head a bit as she stepped through the door to the roof, staring down in confusion at the odd scene before her, “… Deku, why are you … bowing?”

Indeed, what she was looking at right now was a bit confusing – Izuku was, once again, bowing low in dogeza before Itsuka, who was sitting on the bench before him and giving him a dry, amused look as she ate her lunch. It had only been a few minutes after the lunch bell rang, and Ochako had asked both her partners to eat privately with her today before they had gotten to school so that she could talk to them about … well … what she had found out about herself last night.

She had noticed, of course, that Izuku had been acting a bit weird all morning – ever since he had greeted her out in the hall with Melissa, both of them pointedly looking away from each other. And … well, it became a bit obvious by the time they had gotten to UA, where Izuku was huddled on his desk in defeat and not saying anything, even as Nejire noted how quiet and withdrawn he had been and gave him several pokes with her fingers that he hadn’t responded to at all. It was kind of the reason she decided to try eating up on one of UA’s rooftops, where there was a small training ring for people to practice their quirks while it was patrolled by small drones, which were probably there to catch anyone if they accidentally fell over the side. If Izuku needed somewhere private for them to figure out what was going on, no one would’ve bothered them up on the somewhat windy rooftop of the school.

Which … well … was maybe a good idea after all, seeing as Izuku had taken this time to begin kissing the ground with how low his head was right now.

“Well, Ochako,” Itsuka turned to smirk over at their partner as she made her way over to the bench, “Mr. Spark over here has apparently been having some adventures this morning. According to him, he accidentally walked in on Melissa getting out of the shower this morning.”

Ochako let out a small sputter at that, quickly looking around at Izuku in surprise and … let’s be honest, a bit of the unmistakable girlfriend energy of ‘I’m sorry, you did what ’. Izuku, for his part, didn’t look up at either of them at all, but he did press his face harder against the ground.

“I – I am so sorry!” He sounded completely ashamed of himself. “I wasn’t paying attention at all, it was – it was really early, and I was still half-asleep, and – and – oh, what am I doing, I shouldn’t be giving you both excuses, there’s nothing excusing me from being an awful boyfriend! I’ll – I’ll let you both do what you want to –”

“W-whoa, wait a second, Deku,” Ochako quickly interrupted him, sitting down on the bench beside Itsuka as both girls began to look a bit exasperated, “we aren’t gonna beat you up, Itsuka’s just messing with you.”

“Yeah,” Itsuka dropped her smirk to give him a more genuine smile, “I’m just poking fun at you, we’re not actually mad - just tell us what happened, Izuku.”

“I … well … pretty much what I just said,” Izuku glanced up at both of them, still looking guilty as he glanced to the side, “I was half-asleep, I walked into the bathroom when she got out of the shower, and – and when I noticed her, I ran out of there as fast as I could. S-she was wearing a towel, so I didn’t see much, but – well – yeah.”

Both girls paused, glancing at each other briefly before Itsuka shrugged.

“Well,” She scooped some of her sushi out from the bento box, “that doesn’t sound too bad, Izuku.”

“Of course, it’s bad!” He despaired, throwing his head back to the ground. “She probably thinks I’m a pervert now!”

“I mean –” Ochako shrugged, feeling her cheeks go a bit red, “- what did you get a look at?”

“H-her leg,” He glanced away from them, his face burning hotter, “and … maybe a bit of her butt.”

Itsuka and Ochako, despite the despair on their boyfriend’s face and the guilt in his voice, were unable to stop themselves from snorting a bit.

“Naturally, it’s her butt,” Itsuka chortled to herself, “everything with us has to do with butts - first Ochako grabs yours, and then you grab mine … we’re currently two for three. We just have to see which one of us ends up grabbing Ochako’s butt first.”

Ochako cleared her throat, going a bit redder at that … very tantalizing thought, although she quickly glanced down at her boyfriend and giggled.

“Still,” She shook her head and leaned over to smile down at Izuku, “Deku, you perv. First you check out Melissa’s butt, now you’re walking in on her in the shower?”

“We should’ve known,” Itsuka joined in on the joke.

“Guys, it’s not funny!” Izuku groaned. “I thought for a second that she was gonna kill me!”

With a soft sigh, Itsuka put her bento box down on the bench between her and Ochako and stood up. Walking over to Izuku, she knelt, and took his shoulders to raise him out of the dogeza bow, making him blink as he glanced up and saw her smiling down at him.

“Izuku,” She comforted him, raising her hand to brush some of his hair out of his face, “was it an accident?”

“Of course!” He answered at once, going a bit red with her fingers brushing against his hair.

“And does she know that?”

“I – I think so?”

“Well,” She gave him a smile as she tried to help him stand up, “if she knows that it’s an accident, then you shouldn’t be worrying about it. I’ll be honest, yeah, Melissa seems embarrassed, but it doesn’t seem like she’s angry at you over it. It doesn’t have to be a big deal, unless you act like it is. Just treat it as an accident – which it was – and apologize to her, and Melissa won’t think you’re a pervert.”

Izuku didn’t seem entirely sure about that, but he still sighed and nodded, getting up from the ground with his girlfriend’s help. After taking a moment to brush some dust off his pants legs, he walked back to the bench with Itsuka to sit in between both girls, who both smiled and leaned against him, which made him go a bit red but was clearly something he didn’t mind, if the smile that appeared on his face was any indication. Seeing as they were all alone on the roof, they certainly didn’t mind indulging in a little bit of PDA.

Once Izuku had calmed down enough to start getting into his lunch, Itsuka let out a sigh, and looked around at Ochako as the brown-haired girl with pink stripes slowly but gradually appearing in her hair opened her bento box.

“So,” She leaned around Izuku to look at her girlfriend, “was there a reason why you wanted us to eat alone today, Ochako?”

“Huh? Oh, uh – right,” Ochako quickly straightened up, feeling her stomach tense a bit as she paused her attempts to eat so that she could look at her partners, “so, er – there was, uh – there was something that my parents talked to me about when I got back to the apartment last night. It, uh – it’s kind of making me question everything right now, so I – I was hoping that I could get your advice.”

“Oh,” Izuku blinked, looking around at her with a small smile while Itsuka nodded, “well, sure, Occhan. What’s up?”

Ochako grimaced a bit, and then took a deep breath.

“So, uh …” She shrugged her shoulders, “… to put it … simply … I found out last night that my mom isn’t … uh … my exact mom.”

“…”

“…”

“I actually … have two. Mama is – she’s not the one who gave birth to me.”

“…”

“…”

“And, uh – the mom that gave birth to me – do you guys remember when we all talked about Lady Nagant yesterday? Apparently, it’s – it’s her. She’s the one who gave birth to me.”

There was a very long pause. Ochako felt herself cringe as Itsuka stared blankly at her, and Izuku’s mouth dropped open.

And then Itsuka, in a very confused voice, said, “I – okay, can we – can we get that again? Just – I don’t think I understand.”

Nodding quickly, Ochako decided to simply cut to the chase, and explained everything that her parents had told her last night. Going over the history between Taiyo, Miwa and Nagant, how they met, how they got together, the HPSC’s apparent connection in all of this, the works. She told them how her parents had gotten married, had her, and then Nagant abruptly walked out of their lives. She talked about the conversation she had with her mom out on the swing, and how she now had Nagant’s number to call her when she felt ready.

By the time she was done explaining everything, Izuku had gotten up again, tugging at his lip and pacing in a small circle while he looked absolutely gobsmacked, and Itsuka was rubbing her forehead as though she had a headache.

So … pretty much the reactions she had expected, Ochako thought as she felt a bit embarrassed.

“So, uh …” She shrugged her shoulders, “… sorry that was how I – I dropped all of that on you. I know it’s a lot.”

“No, no, it’s – it’s cool, sweetie,” Itsuka shook her head, “I’m just … trying to wrap my head around all of it. So – so your mom is still your mom, but – not your mom? And this Lady Nagant is your other mom?”

“Y-yep.”

“And … wait, so Taiyo’s still your dad, right?”

“Y-yeah, he’s definitely my dad.”

Both of her partners were quiet for a moment – and then Izuku let out a sigh.

“I …” He shook his head, turning to stare down at Ochako a bit blankly, “… I have so many questions.”

“Yep,” Ochako nodded slowly, “so do I, Deku.”

“So – so she’s – Lady Nagant is your mother? I – I heard of cases of some people being born through artificial insemination, but – but you look just like Miwa!”

“Yeah,” Ochako sighed, playing with a bit of the pink showing through her hair, “and before the pink stuff, I’d have thought so too. But apparently, Mama’s … she’s infertile, so Kaina was the one who – yeah.”

Izuku went a bit quiet at that, staring up at the pink hair showing through her brown locks – and then he let out a sigh, and moved to sit back down between both girls as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

“Of course,” He shook his head, “of course, now that I – I know about her being – of course, that makes sense.”

“Huh?” Ochako blinked. “What are you saying, Deku?”

“I mean … when we talked about your hair, when we went to go get ice cream on Saturday,” Izuku explained as he typed in a few words on his phone, “I was pretty stumped when we were talking over why you were growing pink hair, but – but if your mom is Lady Nagant, then …”

Finishing looking up what he was searching for, he turned the screen so that both girls could look over his shoulders. They both blinked at the picture shown – a beautiful woman in a black bodysuit leaning to the side, her tongue out as she aimed at something. A long rifle poked out from her elbow, clearly demonstrating a shot as she looked confident and smug, her eye screwed shut.

But it was her hair that the girls looked at – long, beautiful purple hair, but with several pink strands.

“That’s her quirk,” Izuku explained, “she can turn her hair into bullets that fire from the rifle in her elbow.”

“That pink …” Itsuka absently reached over Izuku’s shoulders to brush some of Ochako’s hair aside, letting her look between it and the picture on Izuku’s phone, “… it’s the exact same shade. And … if we replace the brown in your hair with purple …”

“Yeah,” Ochako nodded, staring down at the confident looking woman for a long moment, before she sighed and shook her head, glancing away, “that … yeah. That make sense, now that we’re seeing it.”

The three of them were quiet for a moment, Izuku and Itsuka sensing Ochako’s mood plummeting when she saw the picture, and letting her stew. After a few minutes of letting Ochako be silent, Izuku sighed and put the phone back in his pocket.

“So …” He glanced at his girlfriend, “… what now?”

“I … I don’t really know,” She admitted quietly, clasping her fingers together and frowning, “I – I’m not angry at Mama or Daddy, they – they apologized for keeping it from me. But Mama, she – she gave me Kaina’s phone number, in case I wanted to talk to her myself, and - ugh.”

“And …” Itsuka hesitated, “… do you want to call her?”

“I – I’m not sure,” Ochako sighed, “I’m … I know that I probably should if I – I wanted to get answers from her. But I’m … honestly, I don’t know how to feel about her yet. I wouldn’t even know what to say to her.”

“That’s fair,” Itsuka gently assured her, “I know I wouldn’t know how I’d react if my parents kept something this big from me.”

“Yeah … I just – I don’t know if I want to be angry at her, or – or just get an explanation from her and move on. But I – I still don’t know how to feel about Kaina yet, and if I – I should even be angry at her. I mean –” Ochako looked up at both of them, “- I did the math – if Nagant killed a guy, and then left my family, it must mean – it means that she probably felt guilty enough about what happened that she didn’t want to be around us, right? Maybe – maybe after fifteen years, things have changed, and – and the reason she contacted my parents is because she’s thinking of reconnecting. At the very least, she can tell me why she left, and maybe after that, I can just … move on.”

Itsuka slowly nodded at that answer, looking back down to the bento box in her lap. Izuku, however, blinked a bit, straightening up and opening his mouth –

– only for the sound of the first bell above them to suddenly ring, shocking the three of them out of their conversation.

“Oh, crap!” Ochako squeaked, immediately beginning to scoop her rice into her mouth as quickly as she could as the three of them realized that their talk had distracted them from eating. Quickly, the three of them got up to start heading back to Class 1A, so they wouldn’t be late for their heroics class.

As they went through the door and headed back down the stairs, Itsuka glanced back at Izuku following both girls down the stairs – she knew that their conversation about Lady Nagant had probably tired Ochako out, so she decided to try changing the topic now that she had the chance.

“So, Izu –” She stuffed some more tempura into her mouth as they hurried, “- did you get a chance to look over your offers last night?”

“Huh? Oh, uh, yeah,” Izuku nodded, quickly eating another piece of pork and carefully swallowing, “I got through the offers pretty quickly, honestly – I got everything sorted from hero on the bottom of the rankings to the top who sent me offers.”

“Oh, well – who’s the top hero who sent you an offer?” She asked curiously, quickly closing her bento box as they got off the stairs on their floor and began hurrying through the halls.

Izuku paused for a moment before answering, swallowing the rest of his lunch, and then he said, in a slightly awkward voice, “Uh – Ryukyu.”

“Eh …” Ochako hummed a bit and Itsuka nodded along, all three of them starting to make their way down the hall alongside Izuku –

– and then what their boyfriend said suddenly registered.

Both girls blinked, and paused for a moment, looking back around at Izuku as he put his chopsticks back into his bento box and closed it.

“… Ryukyu?” Itsuka repeated incredulously.

“Yep.”

“The … number nine hero. That Ryukyu.”

“Yeeeeep,” Izuku groaned, nodding slowly and giving both girls a nervous grin, “I am … very well aware of what a big deal this is.”

I … wow,” Ochako shook her head in amazement, “so you really impressed a top hero? That’s amazing, Deku!”

“I – yeah, it is.”

“Yeah, but,” Itsuka gave him a small look of concern, “do you think that interning with Ryukyu would be a good fit? I mean, you’ve got your whole elemental power thing, and – and she has a transformation type quirk.”

“Yeah,” Izuku agreed with her, still looking contemplative, “but … well, like I said yesterday, I’m looking to find a way to control my quirk over improving it. From what I’ve researched, Ryukyu hasn’t taken on interns from hero schools before, but she does have sidekicks that have been interviewed, and they say that she’s a good mentor who takes the time to understand their quirks.”

“And …” Ochako looked unsure, “… they don’t have quirks like hers, right?”

“No, they don’t,” Izuku shook his head, “so maybe … maybe Ryukyu would be a good fit for me. I’ll have to look up a bit more about her later.”

Both Itsuka and Ochako shrugged a bit about it, but they didn’t have enough time to try advising him on whether or not to accept the request, seeing as they had reached Class 1A as soon as the second bell rang. Quickly putting their bentos away, they made their way back to their desks as everyone sat down, Izuku avoiding looking at Melissa in front of him while she likewise awkwardly studied her own notes, and Setsuna and Yui raised their eyebrows as Itsuka sat down in her desk, which she tried to ignore.

Thankfully, just as Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were aware of the rest of the class looking around at them returning at the same time curiously, a distraction came at the door at the front sliding open.

“I am here!” All Might announced as he enthusiastically made his way up to the podium, his grin wide as he looked around Class 1A. In her spot, Melissa glanced up and then sat up a bit, her eyes brightening when she saw her uncle in the flesh for the first time in two years, but she knew that it would make a scene if she were to greet him how she usually would.

However, seeing her uncle happily standing at the podium, she thought of her conversation with Ochako on Friday, and felt her smile fall. Still, she kept quiet, simply moving to fold her hands together on the desk.

“Good afternoon, students! My apologies for not being able to take you out for class yesterday,” All Might clapped his hands together in apology, “I ended up getting dragged into every meeting under the sun yesterday, so it was to my disappointment that we didn’t get to do an activity together after your terrific performances at the sports festival. But worry not, for today, I am here with a few exercises for us all to get back into the swing of things! Before we get started, I have a few instructions for some individual students.”

He then looked around at where Melissa was sitting, who was unable to stop herself from smiling when she saw his own grin widen at the sight of her.

“Miss Shield,” He gestured to her, “Aizawa received your request to inspect the support studio this afternoon, and has given his approval for your reasoning. You’ll be able to spend this afternoon inspecting the lab and its technology for your project.”

Several students glanced between each other, muttering curiously at what Melissa could be up to.

“And Young Midoriya, Young Kendou, and Young Uraraka,” Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka sat up at attention when their mentor called their names, “we received word that your costumes have been completely repaired and are ready to go. As such, I’d like to ask you three a favor and escort Miss Shield to the support studio while you pick up your costumes! Once you’re all done, meet us all at Gym Gamma for training!”

The three of them quickly nodded in agreement, more than happy to show Melissa around (even if Izuku’s cheeks did go a bit red), and feeling their backs straighten at the mention of their costumes being repaired. Nejire, meanwhile, looked curious as she raised her hand into the air.

“Ooh!” She quickly squeaked to get their teacher’s attention. “Can I go with them, All Might? Please, please, please? I haven’t been able to look at the support studio yet, so I’m curious! What kind of stuff do they do there? Do they have robots? Laser swords? Wait, do you think I could request a laser sword? That’d be pretty cool, wouldn’t it? Maybe they’ve got a big old wave motion gun too! Oh, my gosh, maybe we could – ooooooh! Can I go with them? Please, please, please?”

“Hmmmm …” All Might paused for a moment to think, raising his hand to cup his chin – and then he let out a laugh.

“Well, Young Hadou, I don’t see why not! We’ll be doing plenty of work out in Gym Gamma today, and as I was under the assumption that since a few of us wouldn’t be there with us at the start … well, I’ll allow it! If any of you would like to make a small detour to the support studio as well to have a look around, I don’t mind! Just be sure to make it back to Gym Gamma, so we can get in some training today, and remember to mind your manners!”

With that, the class was excused to go and grab their costumes to head towards the changing room. Quickly, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Melissa went to get changed into their gym uniforms, with the former three aware that they’d be getting changed into hero costumes once they got them back, and Melissa was sure to bring along her sketchbook with her notes inside. Once they were out of their uniforms, they were quickly joined by Nejire, Pony, Eijirou, and Denki in their own hero costumes, while the rest of the class followed All Might towards the gym.

As soon as everyone was ready to go, the small group began making their way towards the support studio. As they walked in a massive group, Pony looked around at both Eijirou and Denki.

“So, uh …” She tapped her fingers together, “… back to our conversation at lunch, Shouji-kun is gonna be rooming with you guys?”

“Yep!” Eijirou nodded, grinning and moving his hands down to his belt to adjust the skirt around his waist. “We were texting last night, and he said he was interested. So far, it’s me, Kami-bro, Shouji-bro and Awase-bro!”

“Oh, cool,” Denki looked around at him with a grin, “so your moms are cool with you moving to Heights Alliance?”

“Yeah! So long as I come home every other weekend. We’re gonna be the manliest house at UA!”

“Right, right …” Pony slowly nodded, turning to glance off to the side while clearly thinking – and then she asked, “… so you guys have one more room in the house to fill?”

“Hm?” Denki looked back at her curiously. “Oh, uh, yeah, we do! We weren’t sure what the other guys would be doing, so we were thinking –”

“Do you mind if I take it, then?”

Both boys paused at that, blinking a bit, and then they looked back around at the smaller girl. She was clearly blushing, but she still looked determined as she glanced between both of them again.

“W-wait a second,” Denki realized, his eyes widening, “you wanna come room with us? Are you sure?”

“Y-yeah! It’ll be cool, right? T-the really manly house!”

“Er … we guess?” Eijirou shrugged, still looking a bit taken aback. “I mean, we – we do have the spot open, but – I mean, it is gonna be a house full of guys, you’d be the only girl in the house. Are you sure, sure?”

“I’m sure, sure,” Pony slapped her hand against her arm as she flexed it a bit, “it’ll be fine! I mean, you guys will need someone with – uh, what’s Japanese for – oh, right – femininity in the house, right? Four guys, you’ll – you’ll probably make the house look like a pig’s pen, so I’ll be the one who makes sure you guys keep it clean!”

To emphasize her point, she kicked out with her hoof – and immediately hit the nearby garbage can, knocking it over and sending its contents right out onto the floor.

“Oh, shit!” She squeaked, quickly moving to try and clean everything up while both Denki and Eijirou looked frantically at her, quickly joining her in her attempts to clean up the mess.

Ahead of them, Melissa let out a small giggle at their actions and looked back around, putting her hands in her pockets as she tried to remember where All Might had told her the support studio was. She was, of course, unaware that behind her, Izuku was giving her an increasingly nervous look while Ochako and Itsuka pointed at her back and gave him certain glances, while Nejire looked between them quietly with a curious look on her face.

Finally, Izuku took a deep breath, and quickly moved forward to walk beside her.

“Hey, uh …” He squeaked, “… Melissa?”

Melissa glanced over at him, quickly realizing who it was, and straightened her back, her cheeks going red again.

“Oh, uh … hey, Izuku,” She managed to get that out without her voice cracking, “what’s – what’s up?”

“N-nothing much,” He shook his head, “just, uh …”

He paused awkwardly, before he let out a small sigh.

“I’m … sorry about this morning,” He muttered, glancing down at his shoes (which were about as red as his face was becoming), “I wasn’t paying attention to anyone being in the bathroom, and – and – sorry.”

Melissa blinked a bit at that, looking over at how ashamed Izuku was starting to look. She paused for a moment, and then she let out a small giggle, and used her shoulder to bump against his, getting his attention back on her as she smiled.

“I, uh … I guess I should consider myself lucky,” She joked, “if you’d stumbled into the bathroom like – a minute earlier, we’d have been in real trouble.”

Izuku let out an awkward chuckle at that – even if his cheeks burned brighter at that implication – but since she was giving him a much softer look, he tried to get control of his blush.

“Seriously, though,” She assured him, “it’s okay. I know it was an accident, and, uh – well, you were at least respectful enough not to gawk?”

“Erk,” Izuku winced, the memory of a very shapely leg kind of combating her comment of not checking her out. Luckily for him, she seemed to be humored about it, smiling and giving him a small shoulder check again.

“Still,” She giggled, “if that’s gonna be a recurring problem, we should probably talk about morning routines and pajama times until I move to Heights Alliance. No need for you to walk in and see anything you aren’t supposed to, right?”

“Oh, jeez,” Izuku sighed, “you aren’t gonna let this go anytime soon, are you?”

“Hey, man, I’m just saying. You’re lucky that I don’t sleep naked because some Americans do.”

That, of course, made Izuku blush even redder at that thought, shrinking up and looking like he was about to pass out, while Melissa merely giggled at his reaction and tucked some of her loose blonde hair behind her ear.

Behind them, Ochako and Itsuka smiled a bit at the two of them clearly making up from this morning’s awkwardness, if Izuku chuckling along with Melissa’s giggles was any indication, and Itsuka turned to chat with Ochako about what she was expecting in the support studio. However, behind them, there was one girl that wasn’t as happy to see those two getting along – but not for the reason one would suspect.

Indeed, glancing between Izuku and Melissa, Nejire couldn’t help but feel a bit confused and concerned at how close Melissa was walking beside him. She had known that Melissa had ended up going home with Izuku when they left the hotel last night, but … well, she had thought she had imagined it when they had gotten to school that morning, but both Izuku and Melissa had been a bit awkward around each other this morning.

Adding to how Melissa was looking around at Izuku with a bit of light and joy in her eyes … well, Nejire was having suspicious thoughts. The way she played with her hair … the smile on her face … was it possible that …

… no. Nejire recognized that look in Melissa’s eyes, she realized at once. She might not know it, but Melissa was starting to have a crush on Izuku.

And … well, it wasn’t like she could judge her for it! Izuku was very cute. And lovable. And kind. And caring. And lovely. And strong. And confident when he got into it. And sincere. And dorky. And muscular. And sometimes sexy when he got that look in his eyes. Like that time when he and her were floating above the trees during the second round of the sports festival, and he was on his guard? Things had been pretty tense at the time, but when she saw it on reruns during the weekend … oooooh. Oh, that had been sexy. And also, when he had lifted his shirt when they had trained on the beach, and she got a look at his awesome abs and …

… wait, what had she been thinking about? Oh, right! Melissa having a crush on Izuku. Which was … okay, like Nejire thought, she couldn’t judge.

But the problem was … Izuku was kind of taken. By two girls, in fact! And Melissa, more likely than not, probably didn’t know that. And Nejire didn’t want things to get awkward with her friends! What would happen if Melissa tried asking Izuku out, but he would have to explain that he was already taken? That would hurt Melissa's feelings, and probably Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka's, too!

So Nejire wanted to try to help her friends avoid that awkwardness, and that meant …well, that meant Nejire would have to be the one to make sure nothing awkward happened with her friends. Because she didn’t want Melissa to get her heart broken!

So, straightening her shoulders, Nejire quickly hurried forward around Itsuka and Ochako, to move in between Izuku and Melissa. At Nejire quickly sliding between them, Izuku blinked a bit and looked around at her in surprise, while Melissa looked around at Nejire’s curious look with her eyebrows raising.

“So, uh – Melissa!” The blue-haired girl clapped her hands happily together, trying not to sound silly. “I have questions! Lots of questions! Er – uh – oh! So, what have you been thinking of Heights Alliance, huh? I was talking to my mom and dad about it last night, and – and they’re all cool with me staying there, so I’m excited! I know that I can have my own apartment, but a house seems interesting, right? I’d love to live in one with roommates!”

Melissa blinked a bit, clearly taken aback by the onslaught of questions – she had, of course, been used to the kind of word vomit Nejire could unleash at the drop of a hat in the group chat, but it was pretty different to experience it in person – but she still smiled and nodded.

“Oh, uh – yeah,” She said, “I think I’d prefer to live with someone, too. Makes it more fun than living on your own, you know?”

“I agree!” Nejire happily nodded, glancing behind her at Ochako and Itsuka listening in to their conversation. “My only problem is that I don’t know who I’d want to live with! I mean, normally, I’d say Yuuyu, but she hasn’t … uh … really been talking to me, and I don’t know if the teachers would let guys from the other class live with us, so …”

Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked a bit behind her, taking a moment to glance at each other as they clearly remembered their thoughts about Nejire and her best friend last night, and they moved to join the other three in walking down the hall.

“Hey, uh … listen, Nejire,” Itsuka said softly to her, “I know you said yesterday that you and Yuuyu were fine, but … well, it’s kind of obvious that you’re not fine. Are you sure that everything’s okay between you two?”

“Well …” Nejire felt her smile fall a bit, and she let out a small sigh as the three girls and Izuku gave her a concerned look.

“… I mean, I wanna say that everything’s fine, but …” She shook her head, “… I don’t know. She’s been avoiding me all weekend and … and it’s like she doesn’t really wanna hang out with me for some reason. And I don’t know why!”

“Oh, well …” Ochako gave her a worried look, “… maybe … have you tried texting her, or -?”

“Yeah, all the time!” Nejire childishly stomped her foot. “I knocked on her door, but she locked it so I couldn’t get in! I tried going through the window, but she locked that, too! I texted her, but she left me on read! I try to walk to school with her, but she leaves before I wake up! It’s frustrating!”

“Well, uh – maybe after heroics class, we can try hanging around 1B before they’re excused?” Itsuka threw out as a possible option. “And when she leaves, we could try going home with her? I think it’d be harder if she’s trying to leave and the entire group leaves with her.”

“Maybe,” Nejire sighed as they turned around another corner, “but I’m not sure. She’s really good at slipping away, and I can’t figure out where she goes to work, either! And she knows that she can avoid me there, too! Knowing my luck, it’ll take an entire month before I can talk to … Yuuyu?”

At the way Nejire had suddenly said her best friend's name as though it were a question, Itsuka, Ochako, Izuku and Melissa blinked, and looked around at her. Seeing Nejire staring ahead with her eyes going a bit wider, they looked around as well, hearing Pony, Eijirou and Denki catch up with them from behind, and they all felt their eyes widen as well.

Indeed, standing near a large metal door with the yellow 'DEVELOPMENT STUDIO' sign above it was a pink-haired girl in a black hero costume, her arms exposed and wearing a yellow strap around her shoulder in conjunction to a belt, a domino mask secured around her eyes and giving the door itself a serious look. However, hearing the sound of her name being called, Yuuyu looked around at the small group approaching her – and then she froze in surprise and terror when she saw Nejire’s eyes beginning to shine in delight, and kicked off the ground to start floating down the hall towards her.

“Yuuyu, hi!” She waved happily at her. “What are you doing here, what’s going on? Are you here to look at pretty hero costumes, too?”

“I, uh –” Yuuyu stammered, her eyes behind the mask darting around wildly for a moment as though she were trying to figure out an escape route, “- I was –”

Whatever the Class 1B representative was going to say, however, was very swiftly interrupted by an explosion. The large metallic door beside her was blasted straight off its hinges in a huge blast of fire, the explosion immediately consuming the embarrassed Yuuyu, and they heard the distant sound of metal parts crashing against the floor.

As black smoke filled the hallway through the door, Izuku, Ochako, Melissa, Itsuka, Denki, Eijirou and Pony felt their jaws drop open in horror, and Nejire felt her eyes widen.

“Yuuyu!” She squealed, quickly charging into the smoke and immediately beginning to cough as she tried to wave it out of her face. “Are you okay? Are you fine? Swear if you can hear me!”

“F-fuck,” She heard Yuuyu grunt, sounding weirdly muffled.

“Oh, thank goodness,” She sighed in relief.

“Ten times!” They all heard someone bark, and as Izuku, Itsuka, Ochako and Melissa hurried forward to help Nejire blow some of the smoke away from where Yuuyu was presumably laying as a short, scrawny man with L-shaped pieces at the end of each finger, wearing a giant yellow helmet in the shape of a rectangular excavator claw, stormed out of the room. “We’ve only been in class for a month and a bit, and you’ve blown off the door ten times!”

“Hee hee hee,” They heard a mischievous voice come from their feet, one that made Izuku and Ochako freeze in horror at the very sound, as more coughs came from inside the room, “come now, Power Loader-sensei, you know that some of my babies can be wild, especially when they’re at that age …”

“I don’t care about your babies! I care more about how my budget is disappearing because you keep blowing up the door, and I have to replace it! At this rate, I’ll ban you from the support studio if you don’t stop blowing stuff up!”

Their brows crinkling, Itsuka and Melissa continued to try waving their hands back and forth to dispel it, before Itsuka sighed and simply grew her hand out to full size, and with one sweep of her hand, swept the smoke out through the open window near the wall. They soon were able to see the hallway again, looking around at Power Loader as he stared down at something on the floor.

And then, they all turned their gazes down, and saw …

“… oh,” Nejire felt her eyebrows rise, “her boobies are right in her face!”

Indeed, groaning as she slowly pushed herself up with both hands, Mei looked up at the group of students surrounding her, raising her eyebrows a bit at how Melissa’s eyes immediately narrowed into a glare behind her glasses at the sight of her, and how Izuku and Ochako squeaked and moved to hide behind Itsuka. And lying beneath her, Yuuyu was frozen with the inventor laying on top of her, Mei’s impressive chest as displayed in her dark gray tank top hovering just above Yuuyu’s face as she was pinned to the floor by Mei's body weight.

And that was when Yuuyu caught herself, her face exploding in red – and rage.

“G-get off me!”

While Eijirou looked confused, Denki envious and Pony curious, the group watched as Yuuyu quickly shoved Mei off her and onto the floor, scrambling back to her feet while blushing furiously, and immediately moved to put Nejire in between herself and the insane inventor, Nejrie looking happy to see her best friend even as she cowered behind her flowing blue hair. Mei, for her part, merely giggled again as she rose up to her feet, brushing some soot off her coveralls that the top part was currently tied around her waist.

“Sorry about the sudden explosion!” She sheepishly brushed some more soot off her face, “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other, hasn’t it? Hero course students … uh …”

There was a pause.

“I’ve forgotten all your names!” She declared.

“W-we fought at the sports festival!” Izuku squeaked.

“You’re building me stuff!” Ochako looked shocked.

“It hasn’t even been a week since we last saw each other.” Itsuka looked confused.

“Er …” Mei tilted her head in confusion as she looked around the group again – and then, when her gaze stayed on Ochako for a fraction of a second longer than the others, her manic eyes lit up again, 

“… oh! Yes, of course! Ochako Uraraka! You’re the one interested in my electro shoes!”

“Y-yeah,” Ochako nodded nervously – and then squeaked when Mei suddenly moved faster than they could blink, grabbing a hold of her wrist from where she was hiding behind her girlfriend, and began dragging her straight into the lab.

“Excellent, excellent!” She cackled in delight while Ochako looked around at her partners in terror. “I’ve been busy redesigning your costume all weekend, and it’s ready for testing! Come, come, we’ll get started immediately, I have twenty other babies for us to go through!”

“I – uh –” Ochako stammered as she was dragged inside the support studio.

While Izuku and Itsuka tearfully waved Ochako goodbye as she was unfortunately dragged to her doom (all while mouthing 'Help me, assholes!' at them), Power Loader sighed and looked over at the other students.

“Well, I received word from All Might that you lot were coming,” He gestured with his hand into the studio, “so you all can come in, and we’ll get started. Miss Shield, I was told you had designs for me to look over, so I’ll help you with what materials you can use. Kendou,” He looked around at her, “your costume’s been repaired, so I’ll bring it to you so you can get changed and make sure everything's fine. And Midoriya,” He looked at the other boy, “Furasu is the one who handled your costume repairs, so you can talk to her about it. Haya, I’ll talk to you about the support upgrades you wanted after I handle Miss Shield. The rest of you can have a quick look around, but I’d advise you not to touch anything – like Hatsume just demonstrated, one wrong hit can blast down steel doors.”

Everyone nodded awkwardly, glancing down at the ruined remains of the previous door and learning their lesson, and together, they walked into the support studio to have a quick look around. There were still a few students coughing from the earlier explosion, but most of them got back to work, pulling tools off the wall to hammer bolts into curved pieces of machinery, drilling screws into pieces of metal or otherwise strapping each other into what looked like pieces of armor, connecting them to laptops and running diagnosis.

While Nejire immediately went ‘oooooooooh!’ and ran off like a kid in a candy store, Power Loader approached Melissa as she stood back a bit, letting the rest of her classmates go ahead of her to start looking around.

“So,” He gestured to the sketchbook, “are your plans in there?”

“Yes, sir,” Melissa nodded, flipping the book open and turning it for the teacher to look at. Power Loader took it from her and had a look over, letting out a low hum. After a few moments of reading, the teacher’s eye raised under his helmet.

“I see,” He mused, “so you’re looking to design a mechanized suit of armor. That'll be a few lines of red tape that you'll need to go through, but I imagine that you already know that”

“Yep,” Melissa nodded, sounding surprisingly business-like as she stepped forward to talk to the teacher, and letting Itsuka look over her shoulder to see the surprisingly detailed sketches on the sheet of paper, “I'm used to red tape. Anyway, like the notes say, I’m looking to create a suit that can protect me and operate under extreme combat, weather and rescue operations. I’m basically looking to make a suit that’s a jack of all trades – something that might not be the expert in every field, but something that can do rescue and villain fighting as easily as someone with a quirk can.”

“Hm,” Power Loader hummed, “it’ll be a complicated piece of machinery – I’ve seen power armor be designed here, but nothing this extreme.”

“Well, it’s nothing like I’ve built before, either,” Melissa smiled, “but I’m always willing to take on a challenge.”

“Heh! You’ll fit in here well, Shield,” Power Loader grinned and handed her back the sketchbook, and Melissa took that moment to look around, "we'll talk about some space you can work in here for yourself."

“Er – while I am here, would I be able to look at one of Midoriya’s support items as well? The Full Gauntlet? I’m the designer, and I wanted to assess the damage of the old device before I think of making replacements.”

“Ah, so you’re the designer! Gotta say, I’m starting to think that it was a mistake to put you in the hero course. Anyway, it’s over here. Midoriya,” He looked around at Izuku as the green-haired boy worriedly watched an increasingly nervous Ochako get strapped into a familiar pair of metallic boots by Mei, only to glance away when he heard his name being called, “Furasu’s the one over there, she’ll get you your costume. Kendou, your costume’s here.”

Nodding, Itsuka went over towards where one of the briefcases was on a table, and Izuku looked around at where Power Loader was pointing. Standing near another counter where several metallic briefcases were standing, a girl with black hair tied back into a ponytail with a headband was leaning against it, humming as she checked something on a tablet as she adjusted the collar of her coveralls around her neck. 

Gulping a bit nervously, Izuku walked over to the counter where the smaller girl was still working.

“Uh – excuse me?”

“Eek!” She squeaked a bit, jumping at his voice right behind her, and looked around at him with wide eyes and a nervous look. “U-uh – yes? Can I help you?”

“Er … y-yeah, Power Loader-sensei said that you were the one who handled my costume's repairs?”

“Your costume … uh … sorry, who are you again?”

“Uh … Izuku Midoriya?”

“Midoriya …” Maina looked confused for a moment, glancing down at a few of the briefcases before her – and then she blinked, and looked back around at him. “O-oh! Izuku Midoriya! Y-yes, I – I’m the one who repaired your costume, and made the – um – improvements.”

“Y-yeah, that’s – wait,” Izuku blinked, realizing what she had just said, “‘improvements’?”

Maina suddenly looked awkward, nodding and walking over to one of the heavy briefcases on the counter. Izuku gulped nervously when she lifted it with surprising ease for a girl of such average build, and brought it over and put it down on the table before Izuku, all while giving him an apologetic look.

“Um … yes. Improvements.” She glanced awkwardly to the side. “I don’t mean any offense, but I was looking over your costume’s design, and I thought that it could use … um … some upgrades.”

“U-upgrades?” Izuku gulped nervously. “How so?”

“Well …” Maina tapped her fingers together, looking embarrassed, “… I was just … thinking that your design was a bit … um … lacking?”

“L-lacking?! How could it be lacking?! My mom made my costume for me!”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought when I first saw it,” Maina muttered to herself, before she shook her head and tried to get back on track. “Uh – anyway, I was just thinking that – you know – as I was watching the sports festival, I noticed a few problems you had with your quirk and how it affected your body. So I made sure that the material of your hero costume could better resist the effects of your lightning. And since the design was … um … kind of lacking in coolness factor, I decided to give it a small redesign. I still stayed true to your base design, just made some improvements on the look.”

Izuku blinked a bit at the sudden speed she said all of that, the smaller girl looking like her timidness was slipping away as she suddenly looked a lot more confident and sure of what she was talking about. Glancing down at his briefcase again, Izuku shrugged a bit, and sighed as he slowly took the briefcase from her and gave her a nervous grin.

“Uh … well …” He sighed, “… I might as well try it out? Just to see how it fits?”

“Good!” Maina quickly nodded, pointing over towards a small dressing room. “In that case, we’ll – we’ll have a look and see if anything else needs to be upgraded.”

Nodding, Izuku stepped around the counter with the hero case, and Maina quickly tapped another button on the tablet before a look of excitement swept over her face, hopping up and down and trying to hype herself up for her product about to roll out of the support studio.

On the other side of the support studio, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she stepped out from her own dressing room, making sure that her hero costume’s vest was securely around her waist. Honestly, after weeks and weeks of doing hero class in her gym clothes, it felt good to be back in her hero costume, the gloves fitting securely and the elbow and knee guards not uncomfortable. The only addition, she found, was that her pants felt just a bit more saggy and less constraining than her original pair – although she didn’t quite mind, seeing as she felt like she had a bit more leg room now to do some kicks.

Looking around the support studio again, she raised her eyebrow at Melissa looking like she was the one in charge as she talked professionally to Power Loader, pointing at a few different pieces of scrap metal on a table. On the other side, Nejire’s hands had to be held back by another support student from touching an ominous looking device on the table, the blue-haired girl not minding at all as she continued excitedly chatting and asking questions to every support student she could find, all of them noting her floating around and frantically writing notes on small pads of paper. Pony, Eijirou and Denki, meanwhile, were looking around at the other devices, some support students surrounding them and attempting to measure them; and on the other side of the studio, Ochako was …

… oh. So that must be her new hero costume, Itsuka realized.

Walking around a curtain, her new silver boots clanking a bit against the porcelain floor, Ochako flashed Itsuka an awkward smile as she raised her fingers in a peace sign. Her formerly skintight hero costume had been replaced by what looked to be a white coat, white on the front and black on the sides, with a pink line separating the two colors. She still wore the two round gauntlets with handles on her wrists, but her pants were replaced with a black leather-like fabric. Her new helmet was cute as well, the same based design on each side but instead of a glass visor, there was a flicker of blue over her face that allowed a holographic screen to appear over her face.

“So, uh …” She raised her hands, “… what do you think?”

“Cute,” Itsuka smiled at her, quiet enough that no one could overhear, but Ochako still went red as she smiled bashfully.

“Indeed, my babies are cute!” Mei happily skipped around Ochako, giving her an excited grin. “I kept your request of being a stealth hero in mind for these designs and made improvements to the hoversoles. Now then – babies! Engage stealth mode!”

At once, the boots on Ochako’s feet quivered, and in the back, several metal panels opened to let her feet out. Quickly, Ochako stepped out of the two boots, revealing a pair of pink sneakers underneath, and the iron boots quickly began floating up into the air gracefully - or, well, somewhat gracefully, with one accidentally smacking Mei in the side of the head as it went up, causing her to grumble.

“That can be adjusted,” She shook her head before her excited grin came back to her face, Ochako and Itsuka watching in fascination as the metal boots suddenly began shifting, and before their eyes, they began to undergo a small transformation, the silver panels sliding back and the tops of the boots sinking in until they were transformed into what looked like a silver version of the drones that Mei had at the sports festival.

"Whoa," Itsuka, for her part, was impressed.

"Indeed, indeed, now when you need to go stealth mode, and need back ups," Mei grinned maniacally, "these babies can act as your bodyguards!" 

“Ooh,” Ochako raised her hand to poke one of them – and then squeaked when something short circuited in the drone the moment her fingerpad tapped it, and it dropped down to the floor like a stone. Ochako only barely managed to step out of the way before it crushed her feet.

“Ah,” Mei tilted her head, “that can be fixed as well.”

"Yeah, I hope so," Itsuka sighed, and then looked around to see Melissa walking back over towards them. There was a small pout on her face as she tucked her sketchbook back under her arm, and she let out a sigh as she joined the small group of girls.

"So," She shrugged, "I looked at the Full Gauntlet, and it's definitely not getting fixed. It's in so many tiny pieces I don't think I'd even be able to get them all back together in a year, much less two weeks."

"Ah, man," Itsuka winced, "so Izuku's out of luck?"

"Not necessarily," She did at least smile at that, "there's enough pieces that are big enough for me to use as a starting base, and I can construct a new couple of Gauntlets. I'll need to ask Papa to send me the nanobot design to get started though, but once I have them I should be able to work quickly before he heads out for internships."

“So how long would that take?” Ochako asked, curious.

"Well … I'm hoping I'll get the stuff by the end of the week, but that depends on if I-Island will allow him to send me my stuff," Melissa sighed in disappointment, "can't believe that I forgot it."

"Well, you were pretty distracted by having to pack," Ochako gave her a sympathetic look, "but hopefully you can get it back soon."

"Yeah. Well, anyway," Melissa shrugged, "once I get it, I'll be able to work at my house in Heights Alliance - Power Loader-sensei said that each house has a garage, and enough space for support students to use the basement as an impromptu workshop."

"Then …" Ochako gave her a curious look, while behind them, Mei frowned and looked at Melissa in confusion, "… your project's a go?"

"I think so," Melissa nodded with a grin, "I probably won't have enough space to work in here, but hopefully, whoever my roommates will be won't mind me using the garage space."

"Oh, that's -"

"Excuse me," Mei suddenly interrupted, causing the three girls to blink and look around at her as she tilted her head, "but why are you using the red toilet paper as a base? I'm a bit confused by that."

Melissa felt her smile slip from her face, and be replaced by a sudden cold look.

"Because," She put her hands on her hips, "that 'red toilet paper' is my design."

Mei paused for a long moment, her gaze flickering - and then, slowly, her own eyes became cold, and a smirk appeared on her face as she crossed her arms.

"Ah," She nodded slowly, "I see. So you're the competitor."

"That I am, apparently," Melissa scowled at her.

Both Itsuka and Ochako blinked a bit, taking an uncertain step backwards. It seemed as though both support girls were glaring at each other with such intensity, it wouldn't be surprising to see lightning bolts flashing between them.

Thankfully to prevent the obvious confrontation coming up, however, a distraction came at the end of someone clearing their throat behind them.

"So, uh … what do you guys think?"

Ochako and Itsuka straightened up, hearing their boyfriend's voice behind them, and looked around - and then they both stopped, their eyes widening and their cheeks going red.

Looking awkward, Izuku raised his arm to the back of his head, giving them a sheepish smile. His silly green suit had been replaced by one of a darker green color, made of a stronger material. It now looked as though he were wearing a pair of dark green combat pants with his usual red shoes, a sleek red belt wrapped around his waist, and the top now being replaced by a dark t-shirt underneath a green armored vest, with the sleeves uncovered to show off his muscular arms. The large red shoulder guards connected together from before were replaced by only one guard, a strap connecting it around his chest and under his left arm, while the other shoulder was uncovered but still clearly protected. The silly smiley mask that was around his neck had been replaced by a more metallic mask, and the green hood hanging from his neck now had shorter ears and looked to be made of a more leather-like material instead of cloth.

So in short? Izuku looked like he had been militarized, going from a silly looking silver age hero to a hero who wouldn't look out of place in America.

While Ochako and Itsuka subconsciously began to drool, their eyes locked on his muscular biceps, Izuku glanced around at where Maina was shuffling up to him from behind, looking a bit timid in front of the other girls but still inspecting his hero costume.

"I used your fights in the sports festival as motivation for how flexible your hero costume should be," She informed him as she poked at the vest, "so now, you'll be able to do your lightning fling thing where you blast yourself off the ground in a hero costume that can protect your body from the whiplash."

"Yeah, I guess - hey!" Izuku suddenly looked around at her, blinking and smiling happily. "'Lightning Fling'! That's a pretty good name for that move! Thank you!"

"Er - y-yeah. You're welcome."

"Anyway!" Mei suddenly interrupted, charging over to Izuku while Maina squeaked at her far more confident classmate and quickly slinked away, while the pink-haired girl grabbed Izuku's shoulder as he squeaked. "Whatever your name is! You'll be coming to me for help with your quirk from now on, right?"

"E-eh?" Izuku squeaked a bit. "Oh, uh - it's Midoriya, by the way, and -"

"Irrelevant!" You'll be coming to me for help with babies, right?" Mei gave him a small pout, and made sure to lean against him so that her chest pressed against his arm. While Izuku squeaked, and Ochako and Itsuka snapped out of their drooly to aim wild, alarmed, and dangerous looks at Mei, the inventor continued to give him a pleading look. "Please~? I bet we'll have lots of fun making babies …"

"I … uh …" Izuku glanced back at Ochako and Itsuka, who were both tilting their heads and thinning their lips while Itsuka's hands began to ominously crackle with teal lightning, which made him gulp even more nervously.

Before any blood could be shed, however, Melissa cleared her throat, causing everyone to look over at where she was aiming a cold look at Izuku.

"Is that what's happening, Izuku?" She huffed, making the small group look over at where she was giving him a scornful look. "You're letting yourself be seduced away from my inventions? And here I was about to ask my papa to send over designs to get the Gauntlets built again, but if you wanna give Miss 'Items Fall Apart At A Moment's Notice' a shot, I'll step back."

"Eugh - uh -" Izuku stammered, taken entirely aback by the cattiness in Melissa's voice, and the way Mei was beginning to look smug and haughty as both girls glared at each other. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, felt their jealousy melt away as they shared a small glance, guessing that this was probably something all support item inventors went through - being very proud, and possessive over their 'test subjects'.

Luckily for Izuku, before the literal tug of war could begin, Yuuyu let out a low grumble as she walked over to their little group with a scowl, Nejire pausing her happy chatting with one of the support item students that was trying to measure how far her feet could push out her spirals to come over as well.

"Yo," She nodded to Maina, who was watching the ensuing 'marking territory' fight with wide eyes, and jumped and looked around at the other pink-haired girl, "I was told by Power Loader-sensei that you had experience building electric-type quirk items. I was thinking of doing something with my electric quirk, so could I bother you to help me out?"

“O-oh? Well –”

However, before Maina could offer her services, a hand suddenly shot out and shoved her out of the way, making the timid girl yelp as she tripped over her feet and fell into a small pile of discarded support items on the floor. Mei, her eyes widening madly and her grin spreading unnaturally wide across her face, wrapped her arm tightly around Yuuyu's shoulders, making the class rep yelp as she was suddenly dragged over to where Melissa had quickly stepped in between her fellow inventor and Izuku protectively.

"Fine, then! You can keep Midoriya!" Mei pointed her metallic finger straight in the American girl's face. "If you insist on having lightning boy over here as your client, I'll just take pinkie here as my own!"

"P-Pinkie?!" Yuuyu growled, trying to shove Mei off her and being alarmed at how tight her arm was around her shoulders. "You're pinker than I am! And let me go!"

"Oh, don't you worry!" Mei whipped around to grin dementedly at her, sending a chill down Yuuyu's spine. "My babies will help you outshine this other electric person! Now, come! You want electric-type tech? I have lots of those! Let's get inventing!"

Ignoring Yuuyu's snarling insults, Mei simply frogmarched her over to her own corner of the support studio, with Yuuyu looking back at Nejire with a clear 'help me' expression as she was yanked over to her own doom. Nejire, blinking a bit at her best friend needing her help, looked back around at the group as she gave them a weak giggle.

"I, uh - I better go save her!" She gave them a salute, "I'll see you guys at Gym Gamma!"

With that, she took off towards where Mei was starting to dig through her stuff. While their other friend fled, Melissa looked back around at Izuku, who gulped at the glare she was sending him, and watched as she gave him a 'I'm watching you' hand gesture, pointing at her eyes with two fingers and then at his.

"I won't forget your hesitation," She made clear, and then turned to make her way over to where Power Loader and a few students were trying to dig a disgruntled Maina out from the pile of support items.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, now alone, all glanced between each other before coming to the same conclusion, and started making their way towards the door. Pausing at the open door, they took a second to wave bye to Pony, Eijirou and Denki as Denki tried to hit on a support girl who was bluntly shaking her head, Eijirou waving back happily as he was dragged towards what looked to be a massive, dangerous looking minigun, and Pony tried to awkwardly trot away from where another few support students were trying to measure the length of her horns with tape.

Stepping outside the development studio, the trio began walking together down the hall towards Gym Gamma, all three of them letting out tired sighs.

"Support students," Izuku shivered, "are really freaking scary."

"Yeah, you got that right," Itsuka giggled while Ochako shook her head as well, "there was a few seconds there that I thought Hatsume and Melissa were gonna start trying to mark their territory."

Izuku chuckled as well, looking away as he sighed and tried to figure out how Melissa had gone from 'friendly new roommate' to 'this woman apparently owns me' so quickly - 

- but before he could, he suddenly felt his arm be gently taken, and he looked over just in time to see Ochako leaning against him, making sure to press his arm between her chest.

"I - uh -" Izuku suddenly stopped, going red very quickly as he realized what his girlfriend was doing, and Itsuka likewise looked surprised. "- Occhan?"

"Sorry," She mumbled, going red as well, "but seeing Hatsume do this, I … wanted to make sure that … you know …"

She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say - but thankfully, Itsuka seemed to catch on to what she was doing. With a small sigh, Itsuka took Izuku's other arm, and was sure to hug it to her chest as well, making Izuku turn even redder as he flickered his gaze between them.

"Yeah," She smiled, "these arms belong to us, thank you very much."

"Ergh," Izuku grunted, looking embarrassed and pleased at the same time, as he ducked his head. Both girls giggled a bit at that, and felt some of the awkwardness be relieved.

"Yeah, Deku," Ochako giggled, "gotta say, you're lookin' pretty hot here."

"I mean, whew, mister," Itsuka laughed as well as they continued walking down the hall, "here I am, thinking it's a crime that you've been hiding the gun show from us. Are we allowed to shred all your long-sleeved shirts so we can admire the view forever?"

"I - oh, my god," Izuku groaned, unable to stop himself from laughing along with them as he blushed a bit hotter from their flirting.

Both girls giggled again, and after a moment of glancing up and down the hall again to check that they were really alone, moved to squeeze him between them with a big hug, their hands moving to lay over each other as well. Izuku, for his part, was coherent enough to free his arms and wrap them around their waists, giving them a brief squeeze before letting them go.

"Oh, yeah," Itsuka grinned at him as she took a step out of their embrace, "like I told Ochako last night, Izuku - I got the house to myself tomorrow night, so you two are gonna come over. We'll have some pizza and hang out."

"Ah, uh … that, uh … that sounds fine to me," Izuku grinned nervously, and then glanced back at Ochako. The three of them walked quietly down the hall together, content with not speaking after the chaos of the last twenty minutes - and then Izuku let out a sigh as he cleared his throat.

"Hey, uh … actually, do - do you guys mind if we - we talk about something we were discussing earlier? I just … was having thoughts."

"Hm?" Ochako hummed, looking up at her boyfriend with a smile. "Yeah, Deku, what's up?"

"It's … about Lady Nagant."

That name, of course, made Ochako pause in the hallway, blinking a bit at him. Itsuka also stopped at the mention of her girlfriend's mother as well, looking around at her boyfriend in surprise as he frowned.

Still, as Ochako gave him a hesitant nod, Izuku sighed, and rubbed his eyes with one hand.

"So, uh … I was just … thinking about something you said earlier, Occhan," He explained, "you mentioned earlier that you - you were thinking that Nagant left your family after she killed that hero?"

"H-huh? Oh, uh … yeah," Ochako nodded unsurely, turning to look out the window, "I mean, it - it makes sense, right? That she left us after what happened."

"I - yeah, I - I guess that makes sense," Izuku acknowledged, still frowning, "but … well, there's just - there's just something I thought of, and - and wanted to run by you. You - you said that she left when you were a baby?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, uh - from my notes, uh - I just … wanted to say," He gave her a serious look, "the - the incident that made Nagant retire?"

"Yeah …?" Ochako gave him an uncertain look.

"Well, uh … that only happened four years ago, Occhan."

And that, of course, made Ochako stop in her tracks, making her stare blankly at her boyfriend. Itsuka, for her part, blinked a bit, glancing between both of her partners. And then Ochako turned to stare down at the floor.

"... four years?" She repeated. "So … she … retired from hero work when we were - we were eleven?"

"I …" Izuku gulped. "... yeah."

Ochako continued to stare down at the floor for a moment - and then her brow furrowed.

"Okay," She said slowly, turning away from them both, but they both could hear the frustration in her voice, "okay. I - I need to get answers."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded as well, "so … uh …"

"So," Ochako turned to look up at both of them with a determined look, "Lady Nagant sent me an internship request, right? And my mama gave me a phone number to contact  her."

"Yeah …?" Itsuka looked uncertain.

"So - I'm gonna call her," Ochako clenched her fist, "and tell her that I'm going to accept her request."


With a loud beep, the oval device let out a small hiss of steam as it finished its operation, and slowly opened the multiple panels surrounding him. Panting heavily, his voice muffled by the breathing apparatus around his mouth and nose, Nine leaned out of the device heavily, feeling his body tremble as purple liquid slid into the grate beneath the device, and continued to pant as the various cables and needles connected to his back popped out with several snaps, hanging in the top of the sphere above him.

He felt … exhausted, he admitted to himself. The electric scar on his chest felt like it was burning bright hot, his limbs and bones were sore, and his mind was screaming in pain from the rampaging migraine – and yet, he still looked up to see All For One standing near the desk looking at him while Garaki typed at a computer beside him, and the loud whine of the machine slowly died down as it turned off.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” All For One smiled.

“Did it work?” He asked, his voice coming out muffled and metallic from the breathing mask.

“Indeed,” All For One’s smirk widened as he leaned against the chair, “the operation was a success. You now have the ability to store two more additional quirks in the duplicate All For One – though I’d advise you to rest and recover from the operation before you go out looking for more power, or you’d risk ripping your body apart even further.”

Letting out a low groan of exhaustion, Nine put both his hands down on the device, and grunted as he stood up, ducking his head so as not to bump it against the top of the pod. Feeling as though the medical pants and gauntlets around his arms were weighing him down, he awkwardly climbed out of the device, staggering a bit but managing to keep his balance as he stumbled his way over towards a free chair in the dark room filled with low purple light, the computers and dark humming of the lab filling the air, panting and feeling his eyes grow heavy from the strain.

Still, he managed to sit heavily down in the chair, reaching up to undo the medical mask around his face, and once it was off, he breathed in deeply, leaning against the desk.

“So, how are you feeling?” All For One took off his suit jacket, giving his test subject a curious look. “Tired?”

“I just got done with three days of you two ripping my body apart and putting it back together,” Nine grumbled, “how do you think I feel?”

“Well, you did sign on for this,” Garaki reminded him in a haughty, smug voice.

“I did,” Nine nodded, “I know that. Doesn’t mean that it doesn’t hurt when you poke and prod at me. But I’ll live.”

“Excellent, excellent,” All For One swung another chair out from the desk to put his jacket around the back of it, and moved to sit down in front of Nine, “I’ll be needing you in fighting shape in the next few weeks, so that’ll give you enough time to recover from the operation. I believe that the Villain Consortium has laid low long enough – it’s time to begin the next phase of our partnership.”

“Right,” Nine huffed, massaging his forehead.

“Now then - how did your meeting with the Meta Liberation Army go?”

“I’m working on an angle,” Nine shook his head, frowning at the memory of the smug villains that had been at the table and then thinking of Curious, “Re-Destro said that he would get back to me at some point, but I’m not going to wait until he can figure out a way to manipulate us into working for them.”

“Heh,” Garaki chuckled at that, which caused Nine to throw a scowl at him and All For One to ignore him.

“Well, I believe that my own conversation with Destro’s descendant was similar,” He pointed out, smiling, “I believe that he believes me just as gullible as you – he’ll be trying to manipulate me into taking the prime minister’s seat, and then I wouldn’t be surprised if he tries to double cross me to take control of Japan. Well, I’ll get some use of him until I have him completely under my thumb, or he’ll try to make a move and I’ll get rid of him.”

“Hm,” Nine hummed, unable to stop himself from raising an eyebrow, “you know, it's starting to seem to me like your little Inner Circle is made up of nothing but cutthroats and backstabbers.”

“Well, it’s to be expected when you have two terrorist organizations and a law enforcement agency working in the same room,” He sighed, “I’m terrified of being betrayed at every turn constantly. It’s rather exhausting, really.”

“Well, why bother, then?” Nine tilted his head. “I hear you used to run things fine on your own. Why keep a bunch of top tier villains as your minions if you're expecting them to turn on you at some point?”

All For One tilted his head curiously at that, letting out a small hum. After a moment, he smiled again and shrugged.

“Well, then,” He leaned back in his chair, “I suppose that if you’re curious, I can tell you the story. And here I thought we'd only be having a business relationship, I wasn't aware that we would be sharing secrets with each other."

"Yeah, well, I don't really care. Tell me what you wanna tell me or let me head back to the Consortium."

"Very well, I'll skip the theatrics. Tell me, Nine – have you heard of precognitive quirks?”

At the question, Nine tilted his head.

“Precognitive quirks?” He repeated. “You mean quirks that can predict the future.”

“Or guess them, whichever one,” All For One shook his head, “in this day and age, they're practically unheard of – I believe that the only person currently on record with a precognitive quirk is Sir Nighteye, and he has too close a connection to All Might for me to think of stealing it without retaliation. And in the past, these kinds of quirks were especially rare – I believe only seven precognitive quirks have been officially documented in the past hundred and fifty years.”

“Hm.”

“Well, in any case, about … say … forty or so years ago now,” All For One let out a long sigh, “while All Might was still in his heroic diapers, I came across a woman with such an ability – to show multiple possible futures, with one being the correct vision. Should she lay a hand on you, she would be able to see up to five possible futures for you – but of course, she wouldn’t be able to tell which one was the real one until it came to pass. She tried her hardest to keep her quirk out of my hands, but I could see how it burdened her so – and being the kind man that I am, I made sure to relieve her of her burden.”

“Right,” Nine huffed, “you did that because you were such a nice person.”

“Well, it was also out of curiosity,” All For One’s smile fell, “I will admit that there’s been … a quirk that I’ve been after for a while now, so I wanted to have a small peak at my own future, and see the road I would need to take to getting it. So, I used the quirk on myself, to determine the future where I got what I wanted – and I discovered something quite alarming. Tell me, Nine, in the five futures I saw, how many do you think I saw my story ending in victory?”

Nine raised his eyebrow as his benefactor turned to glare down at the floor, and noticed how Garaki was being unusually quiet.

“I don’t know … one?”

“None.” All For One said in a displeased voice. “In the five futures I saw – all of them ended in my death.”

There was a pause. And then Nine, in a deadpan voice, merely said, “Womp, womp.”

“Yes, indeed,” All For One sighed again, “when I realized what the visions were telling me, I was quite … infuriated … for a while. But you know something, Nine … I believe in the concept that destiny is not set in stone. I was unable to see the one who would ultimately defeat me, but I knew that it would happen in forty years’ time, and that meant that if I was to avoid my fate …”

“You’d have to change the future,” Nine guessed.

“Correct. And that is what I did,” He grinned, “I allowed All Might to dismantle my empire, while I built a second one in secret. I made a little private club for all of my friends, with all of them having hands in villain organizations and local law enforcement, and their children would serve as my new friends once they retired.”

“An inner circle.”

“Precisely.  That is why I have such close friends now, Nine – so that we can subvert destiny together. And I made sure that, in the event that my destiny comes sooner than what I predicted, I would have the quirks necessary to survive it. And seeing as All Might very nearly killed me a few years ago, I had the perfect excuse to fake my death.”

"Imagine," Garaki sighed behind him, "what would've happened if we hadn't gotten our hands on super regeneration."

"Oh, that would've given me nightmares, good doctor!"

“Huh,” Nine scoffed a bit, “well, it seems like you’ve already subverted destiny, if All Might failed to kill you.”

“Afraid not,” All For One shook his head, “the visions that I had all had one thing in common – I'm staring up at something in the sky when I die. And All Might … well, the image I constantly see in my dreams certainly showed that I was not allowed to do that. So, after my recovery, I laid low and began planning for my return – and once everything has been set into motion, I’ll be getting the quirk that I want.”

“Fine,” Nine raised his eyebrow, aware of the doctor continuing to sit silently behind them, “but in that case, why not use this precognitive quirk on yourself again? You’ll be able to see if the future has changed.”

“You would think so,” His benefactor sighed dramatically again, “but I’m afraid that the vestige of that dreadful woman – she doesn’t quite like me. So, every time I try to use the quirk on myself, I get quite the verbal lashing!”

“A rebellious vestige? That doesn’t make sense.”

“Well, it’s hard to explain in general, but vestiges are hardly just afterimages of those who’s quirks I stole. They can appear in my dreams and berate me! It gets me quite upset, you know – like any normal person, I feel guilt. Still, even without the vestige’s cooperation, I’m confident that the actions I’ve taken after four decades are leaning the future heavily into my favor – I am in the position that I pretty much already control Japan. My participating in this election is to simply make things official before we go global.”

“So this campaign,” Nine nodded slowly, “it’s simply a front.”

“Something simple for All Might and the rest of his minions to devote their time and attention to try and figure out,” All For One nodded with a grin, “while I work on my true project. I'm sure that the principal of UA is already trying to figure out my real angle, but seeing as they're only working off the information I've provided - including my face - they'll be blind to what we're really doing. In any case, I’m not worried – the prime minister’s seat will be mine either way.”

“Hm. Well,” Nine sighed as he slowly stood up from the chair, still a bit wobbly on his feet, “you do you, I suppose. I’m just not sure if having all these high and mighty villains work for you will be beneficial to me – especially once I take control of Japan.”

He made very sure to emphasize his words, staring right into All For One’s blank eyes. Garaki, his brushy mustache furrowing, opened his mouth to begin berating the young villain for getting ahead of himself, but his master simply raised his hand to silence him, unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit as he stood up as well.

“I didn’t forget our deal, Nine,” He confirmed, “you will be the Future King, and the world will bend to your will. Simply consider my plans a retirement scheme – taking control of Japan is just for my amusement. I know that the other High Generals won’t be sticking around Japan once we get things started, so you don’t need to worry about them getting in your way – besides Re-Destro, of course, but he’s someone that we’ll both handle when it comes time for that.”

Nine was sure to stare suspiciously up at All For One’s face for a few moment’s longer, his eyes narrowing slightly – and then he huffed again.

“Fine,” He grunted, “that’s a bridge we’ll cross when we get there. In any case, I’ve heard enough. What is it you want us to do for you?”

Nodding and smirking, All For One moved over back to the table and snapped his fingers together. At once, a bright light above them began shining down on the table, and a hologram of a small model city appeared, Nine narrowing his eyes at the appearance of what looked to be a business-centered ward.

“Now then,” All For One tapped his finger against one of the hologram’s buildings, “our plan will be taking place when a few select members of the Top 10 will be in Hosu, investigating the Hero Killer. I’ve arranged the HPSC to send as many heroes as possible – I would like you and your little band to be on scene, while our High-End goes on a rampage and kills the Top 10 and as many heroes as it can. I’d like you and your crew to cause a bit of chaos as well – we’d like our High-End to appear to be your minion, and for the Villain Consortium to take responsibility for the deaths of the pro heroes.”

 "So, you're arranging a terrorist attack," Nine raised his eyebrow, "and you want us to serve as the scapegoats."

"This will only be the beginning," All For One smirked, "once our High-End is brought back to the lab and you escape the chaos, we'll arrange other High-End attacks across Japan in the next coming weeks, and it will spread your notoriety far and wide. While you gather more followers, I'll use the chaos your Consortium spreads to gain popularity from the masses, and the Hero Commission can kill who they believe to be the Hero Killer to gain more control over the heroes, for not doing their jobs."

He clenched his fist, smiling in excitement.

“The people will be thrown into chaos,” He grinned, “unable to trust the heroes to keep them safe. Deternet will supply them with support items, weapons to defend themselves. Humarise will bring in those disillusioned with hero society to fill their army. The people will look for a savior, someone who will make sure they’re safe when not even the Top 10 can – and that’s where I will step in.”

“And All Might?” Nine tried to remind him, feeling like his benefactor was missing an important part of that plan.

“You saw for yourself how weak All Might’s become. His days are numbered, Nine, and he’ll be distracting himself with my campaign, believing it to be my main scheme. And when I give him just the right amount of bait, it'll give us enough time for him to run out of his time.”

“Sounds interesting,” Nine frowned, “but I’m still more interested in gaining power, now that I have the two new slots.”

“Well then, you’re in luck. I've had Intelli make sure that there will be plenty of heroes around Hosu for you to inspect, and pick from what you want.”

Nine slowly nodded, putting his hand on the table before looking away.

“So which members of the Top 10 will be there?”

“Endeavor, Miruko, and Ryukyu,” All For One smirked, “well known for their talents, strength and power. Seeing them all fall to our High-End will break Japan’s spirit – and then I'll step in to comfort them.”

“Fine,” Nine nodded, “we’ll begin organizing. I have a few recruits I can throw into the thick of things as a test – we’ll be able to plan together again. Have your chauffeur act as our means of communication again – and let me know when to be ready.”

“Very well, Nine,” All For One smiled, “I’m eager to see what grand things we'll do together again. Kurogiri, return Nine to his comrades – they have work to do.”

At once, black mist swirled around Nine as he lowered his head, and soon vanished into the portal. Once the test subject was fully engulfed, Kurogiri then reformed around where Nine had been standing, placing one hand into his pocket and then plucking up a cane to the side, giving it a small twirl as he turned to walk back into the lab.

“You didn’t tell him the entire truth,” Garaki smirked, not accusing his master but finding amusement in it.

“Well, no need to cross that bridge until we get there,” All For One sighed to himself, “if Nine would like to think that the Inner Circle will eventually fight over Japan, we’ll let him. Truth be told, doctor, I would find Japan to be quite suffocating if we simply fought over this small country.”

Turning on his heel, he began walking back into the lab, with the doctor’s automatic chair sliding beside him keeping pace.

“Flect will be looking to advance his own plans on Europe,” All For One grinned, “and we received word that Intelli will be looking to North America to set up her surveillance. We’ll let them fight their little war if they want to poke at each other, but while I rule Japan as the new capital of our empire … the Vessel will rule the world outright. But that’s for the future – for now, we focus on Hosu.”

“Yes,” Garaki agreed as they wheeled into the laboratory. As they stepped through the doors, they saw the next part of their plan continuing to be underway - and being quite loud about it.

Stopping in the small part of the doctor's laboratory, the two men stared apathetically down at the writhing monster on the floor as it cringed and ripped at the back of its head with its large fingers. Released from his vat, the hooded man let out a low moan as it cringed on the floor, holding the back of his head with both hands as it rolled onto its side.

“Oh, dear,” All For One let out a sympathetic tsk, “what a pitiful sight.”

“D-don’t … don’t …”

“Come now, Imasuji, I thought you were over this,” All For One approached the large monster, “the beast who wants the taste of blood, a crippled mess on the floor? I thought you were the strongest of the High-Ends - the one who kept his mind, who I see being the harbinger of death and destruction. How will you find those strong enough to fight you down here, while you whine and sob? Hosu will have plenty of blood for you to dine in, but you’ll need to be strong enough to take it. Are you strong, Imasuji?”

“I … I …” The hooded man's eyes widened insanely.

“Come now,” All For One whispered, “get up. And get to work.”

The hooded man on the floor froze again, staring blankly forward – and then All For One sighed, and activated his Rivet Stabs, in addition to his Forced Activation quirk. Black tendrils brimming with cracks of red light, they flew up into the air briefly before sinking down into the High-End’s back.

With a loud scream of pain and rage, the hooded man threw his head up as his body flailed on the floor, blood and saliva leaking from his mouth as All For One used Forced Activation. The political candidate and Garaki watched, completely unimpressed, as the beast continued to thrash, even as All For One ripped the tendrils out of his back with an unimpressed huff, and turned to walk away, to leave the High-End to suffer on the ground –

– and then, they both heard it.

The sound of flesh beginning to ripple.

Looking back down at the High-End, they watched as blood shot out of the beast like a geyser, drenching the floor and splashing the front of All For One's white button-up shirt, but to their pleasure, the skin of the beast began to ripple, and change. The hooded man's true face poked out from under its hood of black skin, showing the exposed brain, yellow insane eyes, and jagged teeth as the creature clawed at himself again, shrieking in agony as it rose up to its knees and roared at the ceiling - 

- and then, from under the hood of black skin that made up its head, came several strands of pink fiber muscles.

All For One and Garaki watched in curiosity as the muscles spread across the High-End as he fell and thrashed around the ground, bones crunching and blood splashing against the floor as its body began to shrink down. Its hunchbacked spine crunched as it forced itself back down to the normal human curve, the clawed hands shrank down and the nails shrank, and from the exposed brain that made up the creature's head, blonde hair began to grow out, and the pink fibres slowly allowed skin to crawl out from it. Its inhuman growls slowly quieted down into low, agonized grunts, until finally, the transformation was complete.

And laying there on the floor, naked and sprawled out on the floor, was a large man, who slowly moved to roll onto his hands and knees and breathing heavily through his nose and mouth.

"Imasuji," All For One leaned forward as Garaki let out a sinister laugh, "can you hear me?"

The man before them panted for a moment - and then he raised his head, showing them the cruel eyes of the man before them. One was a normal, red pupil staring at them, while in the other formerly empty socket, scar tissue still surrounding it, was a yellow, glowing orb.

"Yeah," Muscular nodded, an insane grin filling his face, "yeah. God, that felt good."

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/Y8a7UKv.png
And that was Chapter 39! And whew boy, did *this* chapter come a lot quicker than I was thinking it would! Sorry if you guys needed a bit of breathing room from last chapter, because ... uh ... I'm kind of crazy and we don't do that here XD

In any case, we got a bit more story, didn't we? Katsuki, Shinsou and Mineta are tricking themselves into using each other for character development, Ochako learned the horrible truth, Izuku and Melissa are the latest victims of the ONR horniness infecting this fic, the support course students traumatized the hero ones ... and we get a hint as to the main villain of our next arc right at the end! And here y'all were thinking that Hood was bad - but Muscular with Hood's abilities? I think you all see how much fun I'm going to be having with *this* rematch between our hooded man and Team Clover ... XD

Now, as for Ochako's ... 'feelings' for Nagant. I definitely wanted to portray it as a complicated issue for all three Urarakas - Taiyo is still in love with her and wants to see the best in her, Miwa's angry and on the fence about her, and Ochako doesn't know *what* to feel for her other mom. It's definitely going to be a driving plot for Ochako from here until they actually meet, and a big part of our internship arc - and I hope you guys are ready for all the drama and angst I have in store for this poor family and their sniper waifu. XD

And just in case you guys were curious, Izuku's costume is inspired by Batman's Future State costume CDN media
and Ochako's costume is sort of based on this art!
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/827966679253516318/1053480935649181736/image.png?ex=65bd9413&is=65ab1f13&hm=2b0460934550cbfd540b98e6fa356b94ba748133a8e3cc5848b348a93f74c5af&

In any case, thank you guys for reading! As a small hint as to what's coming next ...
Image
source: https://twitter.com/effasempai/status/1746526509190271208

Chapter 40: Date Night

Summary:

As a date night finally comes around, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka are excited - but things have to be done before they can relax. Izuku has to learn how not to blow himself up with his quirk, Ochako has to make an anxious phone call, and Itsuka has to face a surprising development of her home life. Meanwhile, Melissa finds herself on the receiving end of a few surprising developments ...

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Well … today had been utterly exhausting.

Melissa let out a low, tired sigh as she continued to brush her teeth, staring at her dull-eyed reflection in the mirror as she tried to suppress a yawn. It was around eight o'clock now, and the negative effects of staying up late last night were beginning to catch up with her in earnest. She had been quite drowsy during dinner, with Izuku and Ochako having to stop her from headbutting the kitchen table a few times, and she had decided once dishes were done that she would be putting a pause on the brainstorming tonight and try to go to bed a bit earlier so that she wasn’t a zombie the next morning.

Both sets of parents at the table had, of course, been worried about how tired she had been, but the Urarakas had, at least, been empathetic with her, with Taiyo chuckling and telling Melissa about the time when he and Miwa had simultaneously face planted into a dessert after a long day of work. Honestly, she was just happy that both families were happy to help take care of her, at least until she moved to Heights Alliance next week. She had to struggle, of course, with feeling like a burden, what with her attempting to give Inko and Hisashi some semblance of rent money for letting her stay the week and both parents looking at her like she had grown a second head.

Still, at least she comforted that she wouldn’t feel like a freeloader for much longer, Melissa yawned as she finished spitting into the sink and putting her toothbrush back into the cup. After another 'talk' with Mei that afternoon (that had ended with her nearly taking off her shoe and throwing it at her rival inventor's head), she had met up with Aizawa and Midnight before they left school that day, and they had both given her permission to officially move into the first house in the 1A block this Saturday. Further discussions with Power Loader had both of them confirm that she would need a lot of free space for her project, and he wasn't able to grant that for someone not even in the support course, as curious he had been about her power armor.

So instead, she would be having her equipment and tools moved to her new house a few days early, and she'd be able to use the garage/basement as her workshop. Thankfully, Aizawa had been more than okay with Melissa moving in a bit quicker than the other members of her class – her homeroom teacher wanted his student to be ready for their in-class training as soon as possible, so that meant that she would have to get to work at once the moment she had everything she needed.

She just … honestly wished that she was able to find some roommates before she had to move in, Melissa sighed unhappily as she made her way out of the bathroom and walked down the hall towards Izuku's open room. It was going to be lonely, living on her own, and … well … she knew that she would be a lot happier if she had company.

But who would she even ask? She didn't have much of a clue, she shook her head. She supposed, if she had to pick anyone, she'd choose Itsuka or Ochako, but - but she wasn't sure they would say yes. Setsuna, Yui, Momo and Kyouka were nice as well, but she didn't know them well enough to just ask them to move in with her.

Nejire was … well, she had no idea what was going on with that girl and why she seemed to have insisted on walking in between her and Izuku during their trip to the support studio and back to the changing rooms after they were all done with Uncle Might’s lesson afterwards, but she wasn't sure if the blue-haired girl even really liked her. Eijirou was cool, but he was already committed to a house. And Tenya was … well … he had been nice, but he was still clearly dealing with his family issues to really ask him to be a roommate.

So in the end, she sighed as she walked into the bedroom, that would leave -

"Hey, are you done in the bathroom?"

Blinking as she was yanked right out of her thoughts, Melissa quickly looked around to see Izuku sitting on the edge of his bed, reading through one of his notebooks. He had changed into his pajamas, a pair of black shorts and a white t-shirt, and there was an easy-going smile on his face as he closed the book and looked up at her.

Still, Melissa glanced down to the floor briefly, and wrinkled her brow when she saw that the futon wasn’t anywhere on the floor. Was … was he not going to be staying in the same room as her tonight? That thought made her stomach drop a bit in disappointment.

"Uh … Melissa?" Izuku tilted his head a bit, causing her to quickly look back up at him. "Did you hear me? I asked if you were done in the bathroom."

"Oh!" Melissa quickly straightened her back, going red in embarrassment at how easily she got lost in her thoughts – she was probably more tired than she had initially thought - and giving him a weak smile as she stepped into the bedroom. "Oh, uh, yeah, I'm done. Sorry, I just … got lost in my thoughts."

"Really?" He gave her a curious look. "What about?"

"Uh … Heights Alliance," She decided to give him a half-truth, sighing as she walked into the bedroom as Izuku got up from the bed and passed her so that he could head towards the door, "was just … thinking about what I'll do for roommates."

"Oh?" He hummed, Melissa hearing the door close behind her.

"Yeah, uh … just thinking about how lonely it’ll be without anyone to live with."

"Huh. Oh, uh -" Izuku seemed to have remembered something, looking back around at Melissa with a small smile as she glanced around at him, standing near the bed, "- I forgot to mention, my parents have stepped out for a bit - apparently, the Urarakas needed a bit of help with a few things next door, so … so it'll just be us for a bit."

"Ah," Melissa slowly nodded, "uh - yeah. Okay."

That … did make her pause, though, she frowned as she looked back around at the bed. She could've sworn that the Urarakas had needed help with something earlier, right after dinner, and Inko and Hisashi had already stepped out to give them a hand. Maybe … they needed help with something else?

However, before she could put a bit more thought into it, she heard bare feet moving on the hardwood floor behind her. Blinking, she looked around to see Izuku approaching her, a soft smile on his face as he put his hands in his pockets. She wanted to ask him what was up, but the sight of the strangely confident look in his eyes made her pause, feeling as though something was off as her shoulders straightened and her cheeks kept burning a bit warmly.

"Hey, uh … Melissa, listen," Izuku reached out, and she herself stiffen even more as he gently took her hand, turning to stare down at the way his thumb rubbed against the back of her hand in surprise, "I … really am sorry about what happened this morning. You know, when I, uh - when I walked into the bathroom while you were using it."

"O-oh, uh -" She stuttered, looking back up at him and trying to fight through the weird fluster that briefly overcame her to smile weakly at him, "it's - it's fine. It was an accident, there’s - there's nothing to worry about, Izuku."

"Er - yeah, I know that," He nodded slowly, "but … that's not exactly what I meant."

She felt herself blink, opening her mouth to ask him what he did mean - and then she felt his hand squeeze hers, making her suddenly inhale sharply. And then, slowly, she turned away from the bed to face him properly, and she felt her heart begin to beat a bit quicker.

"W-what … uh …" She felt herself lick her lips, feeling as though her mouth and lips were suddenly dry, "… what did you mean, then?"

"I mean …" Izuku hesitated - as though he were unsure as to how to even voice his thoughts - and then he shook his head and smiled genuinely at her.

And she felt her heart begin to beat even faster in a sudden rush of excitement and anxiety.

"… I mean … I think we … both know that you wanted me to stay."

He then raised his other hand to gently rub his palm against her bare arm, his fingers trailing lightly up until it found the arm of her t-shirt. She felt herself shiver, aware suddenly of the lack of space between them - with the back of her legs pressed against the mattress behind her, and Izuku being almost claustrophobically close, looking up at her with that soft look on his face, she felt suddenly trapped.

And yet - she didn't mind how close she was. She didn't mind how fluttered she felt. In fact, she … she …

"We …" She began to tremble, her voice becoming hushed, "… we … shouldn't."

"Why not?" Izuku tilted his head slightly in curiosity. "Because of my parents only being next door? And Occhan?"

"I - uh -"

"I mean …" Izuku's hand continued to rub up and down her arm, sending a shiver down her spine, "… we are … two people who just kinda - you know - live in the same space. And … my parents don't typically hear anything …"

"U-uh …" Melissa felt herself begin to sweat.

"… and Occhan doesn't mind …"

She gulped audibly.

"So," Izuku gave her an innocent smile, "what's the harm of - you know - messing around a little bit?"

"M-mess … mess around?"

"Melissa," His smile fell so that he could give her a serious look, even if the kind look in his eyes didn't fade, "I … I'm not gonna pretend that I didn't - I didn't like what I saw in the bathroom this morning."

"Oh, my god," She whispered.

"And … and I don't think that either of us can deny it anymore. There's - there's something between us," He then raised his hand from her arm to brush against her warm cheek, Melissa unconsciously leaning into his palm, "something that's been building between us, for the last couple of days. And … and I've seen how you've checked me out. We both know that I've checked you out, too. So …"

Melissa stayed there, frozen, for a long moment. She knew what Izuku was implying, what he was inviting her to do. And staring down at Izuku's warm smile returning, looking into his eyes, she knew that he was ready to do something … anything … to her.

And … she …

… wanted it.

Snapping out of her frozen state, Melissa acted. She grabbed the back of his head with both hands and brought him to her so that she could slam her lips against his, both of them immediately inhaling, and she squeezed her eyes shut behind her glasses as their mouths opened at the same time. Izuku responded as enthusiastically as she was kissing him, pushing her back with his full weight, and they both toppled over and landed on the bed with a bounce. 

They immediately began making out, moaning wildly as they kept their mouths open and slid their tongues against one another, and Izuku's hands grabbed her waist and rolled them both over. With her now on top, Melissa began peppering Izuku's face with enthusiastic kisses, thrilling to his hands running up and down her body as she quickly brought her legs to each of his sides so that she could properly straddle him.

“Yes,” She moaned through each smooch, “yes, yes, yes …!”

“Melissa …” He groaned as their mouths joined again.

“I – I –”

“Say it,” He growled, grabbing a huge handful of her long blonde hair and almost yanking her head back, causing her to moan as he buried his face into her neck, and his other hand grabbed at her lower back and made her arch her back, "say you love me."

“I – I –”

“Say it!”

“I – I love –”

“Say it, Melissa!”

“I love –”

And that, with her eyes closed, was when Melissa suddenly felt the sensation of falling.

With a gasp, her eyes snapped open as she abruptly stopped dropping, letting out several deep and shuddering breaths as she realized that there was something off in the darkness of the room. It took her a few seconds to realize what was wrong - her head and shoulders were hanging off seemingly nothing, her back aching as it was bent at a weird and uncomfortable angle. The sensation of blood pooling in her head, and the feeling of her hair brushing against the ground, made her realize that she was hanging upside down out of the bed, her body dangling half-off the mattress.

After managing to catch her breath and come to terms with how uncomfortable her back straining was, Melissa grunted, and hoisted herself up from where she had half-flopped off the bed, carefully getting back into the bed so that she didn’t accidentally flop out. Finally seated in the bed in the dark room, she stared blankly at nothing for a moment, still feeling the phantom feeling of someone laying on her and lips brushing against hers, and she felt herself begin to blush.

She then became aware of the sound of light breathing coming from beneath her, and she turned to look over the side of the bed. 

She felt her cheeks burn even hotter as she saw, even if her vision was blurry, the sight of Izuku clearly being asleep in the futon, snoring quietly as he laid on his stomach under the covers. The memories of the dream burned into her mind, feeling her face turn hotter and hotter as she stared down at his currently drooling self and contrasting it with the image of the confident young man in her dream that had charmed her so quickly.

She then snapped her gaze away from Izuku’s face, letting out a small mumble as she blindly flung her hand out to scoop her glasses up from the bedside table and put them on her face, wincing slightly when she missed and nearly poked herself in the eye. Turning to stare at the alarm clock on the side, she stared with slight bleariness at the late time - it was just after midnight, and now that she felt like her face was on fire, she knew sleep wasn't going to come back to her any time soon.

Still, one thing was clear, with the vivid memory of the dream on her mind and the guy snoring next to her feet. She … definitely needed some air.

Quickly and quietly, she slipped her legs out from under the covers, scooping her phone up and unplugging it from the charger. Getting up, she carefully stepped around Izuku, trying not to look back down at his face again, and made her way out of the room, quietly opening the door and stepping through it. Since the rest of the apartment was dark, and she could hear Hisashi snoring from the couch in the living room, she knew that she was the only one still awake, and thus, needed to be extra quiet.

Tiptoeing her way over to the front door, she slowly opened it and stepped out into the open-air hallway. Breathing in the fresh air, Melissa took a moment to look around - it had started to rain, washing her with a cool feeling to enjoy as she walked over towards the railing, and looking out into the dark sky, seeing the occasional flash of lightning accompanied by the rumble of thunder, she felt herself begin to calm down from her fluster.

Finally, once she had control of her breathing again, she let out a soft sigh and slumped her shoulders, letting her hair fall around her face as she tried to come to grips with what she had just been dreaming off. And … to also convince herself that the feeling of lips on hers wasn't real.

Okay … okay. So … so she just had a dream of making out with Izuku. That was … only slightly embarrassing.

… okay, scratch that, it was very embarrassing, Melissa groaned. She just dreamed of kissing the guy that was letting her stay in his room. Getting naughty and wild with him. Making out on his bed, rolling around and grinding and - and -

- and trying to get love confessions out of her.

Yep, it was official, she blushed as she leaned against the railing. She wasn't gonna be able to look him in the eye again tomorrow morning, and he was going to be so confused.

But … okay, she - she couldn't panic just yet. She had no idea where that dream had come from, but there was no need to freak out about it yet. It happened; this kind of thing happens sometimes. It wasn't the first freaky dream she had that made her feel super embarrassed when she woke up. She just needed to keep herself calm.

She just … needed to make sure that she could look Izuku in the eye the next morning, without trying to remember what it felt like to have his lips on hers, and his body pressed against hers, and - and wonder what the real deal felt like, and -

- and -

BANG

As Melissa's forehead met the metal railing, she let out a long, embarrassed groan as she realized that she was pretty much boned.

She just … okay. She wasn't going to delude herself and pretend that - that Izuku wasn't attractive. She let herself mumble in frustration as she kept her head on the railing and wrapped her arms around her head. She knew that she wasn't exactly innocent - there were too many scratches in her notebook when she had been rewatching the sports festival that commented on some part of Izuku's body that she had noticed and - well - wasn't exactly appropriate.

And while she had been distracted a lot by Mei's stupidity today, she couldn't deny that Izuku's new hero costume looked good on him. Like … good lord, that boy seemed to be fond of baggy clothes, and she hated him for it, because he was fucking built like a Greek statue, and it was making her feel like there were butterflies in her stomach.

It was just … she didn't know what it all meant. Did she … like Izuku? No, she immediately shook her head, she didn't think so. She certainly liked him as a friend, and … was alright with admitting that he was hot, but … but did she have feelings for him? She didn't think so.

Besides … she then raised her head to look around at Ochako's door, feeling her stomach churn.

"I just … I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku … but I just … there's just a part of me that doubts that they'd really like me. Not if they both like each other, and they can just - they don't have to include me to be happy."

"What? Why not? Ochako, I know that Izuku and Itsuka would be lucky to have you like them."

"Because I'm … I'm just me. I'm not pretty at all, not like - not like Itsuka is. I'm - I'm all frumpy, and - you know."

She knew … Ochako and Izuku had a - a thing. Izuku kissed her, she kissed back, so - so things were complicated. She didn't even know if the two of them had ended up talking about it with Itsuka, or if they were just really good at pretending that the kiss never happened. She … knew that Ochako probably wouldn't like it if she found out Melissa was having sexy dreams about the guy she liked.

And knowing that Ochako’s self-esteem was next to non-existent … admitting to having the hots for the guy she clearly liked wasn’t a good idea. Scratch that, it was an awful idea. She had already chosen to ignore the weird fluster she had felt that night when Ochako had smiled at her, so … so this was something that she needed to likewise ignore, as well.

This – this dumb dream of Izuku – she couldn’t mention it to anyone. Well, not like she would anyway, Melissa groaned lowly, because why the hell would you tell someone that you had a sexy dream about your friend?

Thankfully, as Melissa continued to bemoan her stupidity, a distraction came at the feeling of her phone in her pajama pocket buzzing. Blinking a bit at the sensation, she raised her head from her arms and lowered her hand to grab her phone, bringing it out of her pocket and turning it around to see who was texting her so late.

 

PAPA

Hey, Melissa! Got your message about the stuff you need me to send – give me a call when you wake up

 

For a long moment, Melissa stared down at her phone, the dream of Izuku and her messing around fading a bit as she felt her mind catch something new to pay attention to. Her dad wanted her to call?

Well, it made sense, of course - it had almost been a week since they last talked, and she had promised to call him at least once a week. And she was, of course, relieved that he was getting back to her with the materials she needed so quickly, but …

… well … she did need the distraction right now, so …

Her mind quickly made up, Melissa straightened up, and clicked on the button on the back of the phone. The small metal disk popped out into her palm, allowing Melissa to rub it with her finger for a moment before she pressed the button, and once the blue light began flashing, she put it carefully down on the railing, leaning against it again and waiting for him to notice the call on his own end, staring off at the storm as the sound of rain pattering on the rooftop and the parking lot below made her feel a bit more relaxed.

It only took about thirty seconds before the device emitted a louder beep, and a shimmer appeared in the air beside her, forming the familiar image of a man with messy hair, glasses, a dress shirt and jeans.

“Melissa?” Her dad looked surprised and delighted to see her.

"Hi, Papa," She giggled a bit, feeling joy begin to swell in her chest - it had only been a few days, but she had missed him.

"Hey there yourself, honey - sorry, did I wake you up with my text?" David winced, looking a bit guilty. "It must be pretty late over there."

"It is, and - and it's okay," She assured him, "I was awake anyway. I was …"

Having a weird sex dream about my friend.

"… having … weird dreams," Melissa went a bit red, "and I decided to try to get some fresh air when you messaged me."

"Ah, I see," David sighed in relief, "well, I … guess if you wanted to wait until tomorrow to talk to me -"

"No, no, right now's fine - um - so how're things going back home?"

"Lonely, honestly," Her dad laughed as he took a step closer to her, although he raised his eyebrow at the sight of her looking a bit guilty at that admittance, "I've been so used to you being awake at three in the morning every night, the apartment's eerily quiet. I'm not used to the silence, heh."

“Oh, Papa …”

"Now, don't you start," David chuckled, putting his hands on his waist briefly before he pulled a chair out of nowhere and sat down on it, "I'm pretty sure that I'll get used to the silence pretty quick. Besides, let's not talk about me, I'm thinking that things are more exciting over in Japan. I got your notes - so you're building a mechanized suit?"

"Oh, uh - yeah," Melissa nodded, brightening up a bit as she moved to sit down against the hallway's railing, sitting on the floor so that her dad could look down at her, "I got it approved by the teachers at UA. There's gonna be a bit of red tape that I'll need to tiptoe around to make sure I get the approval to use it, but I'm pretty sure that I can get a prototype off the ground pretty soon."

"Awesome, awesome …" Her dad smiled down at her.

"So, uh …" Melissa shrugged, feeling her smile fade, "… that's been my week so far. How about you? How's …"

She saw David's smile fall, making her feel a bit guilty for bringing it up. If that was the look on his face when she even indirectly mentioned it, it meant that it was nothing good.

"Yeah, uh … well," David shook his head as he folded his hands together, "I just wish that I knew I could go with you on Saturday."

"Oh, no …"

"Yep, Sam left I-Island on Friday," He sighed, "I got a call from a support company in Otheon - he signed on to work for them, and they wanted to know if I would recommend him based on his work history with me. I tried to give him a call to follow up, but … well, he blocked my number."

"Wait, he - he left?" Melissa straightened her back, feeling worried. However, her dad gave her an assuring smile as he chuckled.

"You don't need to worry, honey," He assured her, "we both signed a contract not to talk about what we invented, and if he tries, he'll get caught up in about fifty different lawsuits. I still reported to security what he had been trying to convince me to do when I met with them Sunday, and - well, they confirmed that they'll be tightening things up in the tower. No, I'm just … I'm more worried that he'll stay angry with us. He's been our friend for a long time, and … and I just want to make sure that he knows that I'm not angry at him for his offer."

"But …" Melissa shook her head slowly, not really getting it, "… but he wanted to hire actors to pose as villains, Papa."

"Yes, he did. But he was also desperate, sweetie. Hell, I was desperate, since I was the one who was actually considering it. So I sympathize with how he was feeling - it wasn't easy to have our invention taken away from us, after we worked so hard on it. And … your Uncle Might …"

They were both quiet for a moment, their minds going back to what they had argued about on Friday. David, for his part, looked ashamed of himself, while Melissa felt her face fall.

And then she softly asked, "Papa?"

"Hm? Yes, Melissa?"

"You … you said that Uncle Might … he's sick."

Her father paused again, his face falling. Melissa felt her own mood plummet, turning to stare down at her knees as she wrapped her arms around her legs. Finally, her dad let out a soft sigh as he adjusted himself in his seat.

"Melissa," He said in a quiet voice, "I am … I'm sorry that was how you had to find that out. But your Uncle Might, it's … he … it isn't my place to tell you what's going on."

"But …" Melissa bit her lip.

"I shouldn't have said anything," David, for his part, looked regretful, "I should've talked to him about potentially telling you. But … but your Uncle Might, he - I think that you've known for a while now that he tends to think that the weight of the entire world is sorely on his shoulders. I’ve made that mistake myself a few times, thinking that peace would disappear entirely if something were to happen to him. But what that means is that sometimes, he doesn't know how to take care of himself. Your uncle, he - he isn't dying, but -"

"You said that his quirk is disappearing," Melissa said quietly, "and that your device - it would make him stronger."

"… yes. And I … I don't know why his quirk is disappearing, but - but that was why I considered working with Sam to get the device back. Not out of pride, or arrogance, but - but to make sure that your uncle could continue to fight for peace."

Melissa stared up at the ceiling, feeling tears begin to well in her eyes. However, she heard the sound of a chair moving back, and she looked around to see David kneeling on the ground beside her.

And even if she knew, in the back of her mind, that her dad wasn't really there, she felt a bit comforted by the soft smile on his face.

"But Melissa," Her father smiled at her, "you were right. Stealing our device back from I-Island - it wouldn't have been what All Might would’ve wanted. He wouldn't have wanted us to sink that low to help him. I'll … I'll figure something else out, something that can help him without having to break the law."

Melissa slowly nodded.

"And sweetie, I don't want you to worry about Uncle Might either - even if he tries to hide things, he's still your uncle. You can go to him and ask him about his – his illness, and …" He hesitated for a moment before shaking his head, "… and you can tell him what we talked about. If you need your uncle - even if you need to confront him about his sickness - you can talk to him about anything. You know how much he loves you."

Melissa didn't really know how to respond to that for a moment, instead taking a moment to remove her glasses and wipe at her eyes - and then she sniffled, and nodded.

"… okay, Papa," She sighed, putting her glasses back on, "I'll … I'll trust you. I - I still need to talk to Uncle Might, but … yeah."

"That's my girl," David smiled at her, and she smiled back.

From there, they were both quiet, David sitting beside her so that she didn't feel so lonely in the open hallway. And then he let out a small noise.

"So, uh …" He gave her a certain curious look, "… Melissa."

"Hm?" Melissa hummed. "Yes, Papa?"

"I, uh … I was looking over your requests earlier, and noticed that you wanted the All-Mobile sent over," David looked a bit surprised by that, "you mean the old car, right?"

"Oh, uh - yeah."

"Ah, well … I'll probably get I-Island's approval to have it sent over to UA - it shouldn't be very hard, since it's been outdated by a lot of my newer tech - but why do you need it sent over?"

"Huh? Oh," Melissa realized what he was asking, sitting up and nodding, "well, uh - since I'm building a support item that kind of has the same functions as the All-Mobile, I was thinking of taking out the main computer to see if I could repurpose it for my suit. And maybe see what the engine is like, too."

"…"

"…"

"… you're gonna gut the All-Mobile?" David sounded shocked.

"Yep," Melissa nodded matter-of-factly, "I am. Do you have a problem with that, Papa?"

"What, me? As long as I get the actual car back, I'll be fine." David was unable to stop himself from chuckling nervously. "But your Uncle Might? He's gonna fight you tooth and nail over this."

"Oh, Papa," Melissa giggled lightly, and then turned to give her dad an evil grin, "I'm not worried about Uncle Might."


"Achoo!" All Might sneezed loudly, causing several people to look over at him.

"You sick?" Aizawa grunted in disgust, scooting a bit away from him. "Don't give it to me."

"No, no," All Might waved his hand while raising a handkerchief to blow his nose, "just … er … I've been having this foreboding feeling all day. Never mind me."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Aizawa turned back to the scene below him as he leaned against the railing. At the moment, he was standing on the running track above Gym Gamma's first floor, his eyes on Izuku as his student stepped into the gym wearing his hero costume and looking nervous as he walked over to the table Tenko was standing at, with the two of them the only ones on the bottom floor. Tenko, at least, was wearing a pair of rubber boots as Izuku stepped up to the table with a steel girder on it, the green-haired boy looking around a bit at the quirk experiment they were about to perform. On the other side of the gym, a small hospital bed had been brought in, along with a table with some paper cups on it and other medical equipment that may be needed.

After discussions with Recovery Girl, Aizawa and All Might had decided to have Izuku stay behind for a bit after school had let out so that they could do a few experiments with his quirk in the gym. Izuku, for his part, had agreed to participate when Aizawa had talked to him during their exercises in the USJ, and had stayed in his hero costume when everyone had been excused to go get changed. Joining the two teachers on the second floor were several members of his class and Shouto from 1B, most of them chatting amongst each other while glancing down at Izuku occasionally out of curiosity.

None of them were really filled in on what exactly was happening - Izuku had given them a vague explanation of the scenario, and they were allowed into the gym after Aizawa made it clear that none of them were to ask questions that he didn't want to answer. Still, the teacher could tell that they were all curious, but out of respect to Izuku, they were keeping quiet. So Aizawa was alright with having them here.

Tenya, for one, had been eerily silent for the last two days or so, only barely speaking up in class, but at least he was looking down at Izuku with a curious, albeit reluctant eye. Setsuna and Yui were leaning against the railing together, chatting a bit about a request that got sent to Setsuna that got the green-haired girl excited; Momo and Kyouka, meanwhile, were watching Izuku down below curiously. Eijirou, was leaning against the railing and flashing his bro a grin while being ready to shout encouragement once the exercise got started; Shouto, keeping quiet and standing near Momo, leaned against the railing as well, staring down at the floor with a raised eyebrow while dressed in his gym clothes.

On Aizawa's other side, Recovery Girl was seated in a raised chair, writing notes. Beside her, Himiko was likewise leaning against the railing beside Ochako, who was standing beside Itsuka as both girls looked down at their partner. Beside Itsuka, Melissa was writing notes in her sketchbook as well, and above them all, Nejire floated up in the air above the gym, giving Izuku a concerned look.

Down below, Tenko nodded up at Recovery Girl, and then turned back to Izuku.

"Okay," He clapped his hands together as he gave Izuku a smile, "so, Midoriya, the point of today's exercise is to learn and work on your limitations. Basically, we want to see how much you can use your power without a support item, so we can see how much power you can use before any signs of cellular degeneration show up. Aizawa up there will be keeping his eye on you in case we need you to stop at once, and I'll be close by while you experiment with your quirk."

"Er … right," Izuku nodded unsurely, "okay."

"Great. So first, we'll start with using your ice," Tenko then gestured towards the metal girder on the table, "we wanna see if you can activate it, and if you can replicate what you did with Bakugou on Friday with this. Just hold onto the girder and freeze it."

"And be sure to be careful!" All Might advised him from above.

Nodding, Izuku turned to approach the metal girder, feeling a bit squeamish despite himself. He was aware of Aizawa’s eyes on him as he approached the table, and how Itsuka and Ochako were giving him nervous looks.

Those two, of course, were the reason that Izuku was trying to fight down that squeamish feeling, and looked back down at the girder in determination. No matter what, he knew he didn't want to upset Ochako or Itsuka. So, he was going to do this calmly, and carefully. As he stared down at the steel girder, Izuku tried to concentrate.

He tried to remember that moment back at the sports festival, as he sighed deeply and laid his hand on the metal girder. The moment where he froze Katsuki. The fear he felt, the need to stop his old friend from hurting him.

The way he needed to stop him … to stop …

And then, taking a deep breath and exhaling, Izuku closed his eyes and focused. And at the sudden hot flare that suddenly erupted in his stomach, Izuku used his quirk.

Rather than the electrical sting of power that usually left his hands after green sparks popped out of his palms, an unnerving chill filled Izuku's arms as a green sheen of ice quickly spread across the piece of metal from where Izuku had his hand. Izuku quickly moved his hand back as the piece of metal was completely encased in ice, and quickly opened his eyes to inspect his arms and hands.

And thankfully, he didn't see any green cracks of light under his skin or frostbite on his fingers, making him sigh in relief.

"Okay, that's seriously cool," Setsuna giggled a bit as she leaned against the railing. Yui, for her part, raised her eyebrow and looked at her.

"Pun intended?" She asked in a dry voice, while Kyouka groaned beside her and Momo gave her fellow recommended student a weak smile. Setsuna, for her part, blinked a bit at her unintentional pun and then let out a low groan.

"Ah, hell," She shook her head in disappointment, "now I'm making accidental puns. What have I become?"

"Suppose that means you're not having an 'ice' time?" Shouto asked her innocently.

The four girls paused. And then Setsuna groaned loudly, Yui shook her head, Momo giggled to herself, and Kyouka pointed her earjacks at the 1B class recommended student threateningly.

"You can't sit with us if you make puns," She warned seriously.

"I'll keep that in mind." Shouto nodded just as seriously, raising his hands in surrender.

Back down below, Izuku chuckled a bit nervously at his friends messing around above him, feeling his shoulders lose their tension from their laughter. Hearing footsteps behind him, Izuku quickly refocused and backed up so that Tenko could inspect the now frozen piece of metal, carefully tapping on it with his knuckle before lifting it up, wincing a bit at the cold feeling.

"Yep, that's ice," He confirmed, looking around at Izuku, "so how are you feeling, Midoriya?"

"I … yeah, I feel fine," Izuku nodded, looking down at his hands again and wincing when he saw them shake a little, "really cold, but - but fine."

"So, ice doesn't have the exact same negative side effects of your lightning," Recovery Girl noted on her own pad, looking down at Izuku, "when I inspected you on Friday, I made a note for frostbite, but perhaps it's because Bakugou was a bigger target for you to freeze than a simple piece of metal."

"Mm," Shouto nodded, causing everyone to look around at him, "so it's a different weakness than I have - or at least I have a better counter to it with my fire."

"So, the bigger the thing I try to freeze," Izuku frowned, "the more I might damage myself with frostbite."

"Right," Tenko nodded slowly, before he put all five fingers on the frozen piece of metal in his hand and instantly disintegrated it, "so now what we want you to do is switch over from ice to lightning. I'll be standing over near the stairs, just in case something - uh - explodes."

"Er … I don't think it will," Izuku went red, "but … yeah, maybe you should stay back."

"Sounds good to me." Tenko gave Izuku a thumbs up, and then quickly jogged over to the stairs on the side, waddling a bit awkwardly in the rubber boots he was wearing.

Once he was safely out of the way, Izuku took a deep breath, turning to walk away from the table so that he could take a deep breath, and focus again on his quirk. This time, instead of thinking of how he wanted to capture something, he took a deep breath, and …

… well … as awkward as it sounded, and how flustered he felt thinking of it, he tried to think back to how he felt when Itsuka had kissed his cheek before his match with Katsuki and Fumikage, going a bit red at the memory. He thought about how excited he had felt, how shocked, and -

ZAP

He let out a small yelp of surprise at the flickers of green electricity suddenly popping out of his palms with several sparks and running up his arms. As the green lightning flickered and caused him to flinch, he felt himself go a bit red – he had a feeling that would’ve worked, but it was a bit embarrassing how easily it had worked.

Quickly shaking his head to try getting over his fluster, he looked around to Tenko for instructions.

"Okay, good!" The teaching assistant called over to him. "How do you feel?"

"Uh …" Izuku shrugged, "… electric?"

There was another pause above him. And then Setsuna, Yui, Eijirou and Kyouka began booing down to him, while Itsuka and Ochako snorted and Shouto wrinkled his brow and looked at Momo.

"Does this mean Midoriya can't sit with us anymore?" He asked to clarify, while Momo sighed and shook her head.

"Okay, dumb pun aside," Tenko rolled his eyes but smiled up at the other teenagers' playful booing of their friend while Aizawa merely frowned at their tomfoolery, "are you hurt?"

"N-no."

"Alright, then! In that case," He pointed over to the other side of the gym, "move over there, and we can practice your supermoves. We'll leave your - uh - lightning bounce fling thing out for now, since you shouldn't be firing at the ground full blast with a roof over you. But we can practice the ground blast thing -"

"Ground Current!"

"- and then your electric knuckle thingy."

"That's - oh," Izuku suddenly blinked, looking around at the teaching assistant and grinning, "hey! I was trying to think of a name to call that move! Electric Knuckles - that's good!"

"Thank you!" Tenko gave him another thumbs up.

"Yes, yes," Recovery Girl rolled her eyes while Aizawa sighed, and All Might shook his head gently at both Tenko and Izuku and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like, "Nerds," under his breath with a grin, "now, if you two are done nerding out?"

Quickly nodding and going red again in embarrassment, Izuku quickly stepped back again as he took another deep breath. While he tried to summon his bravery to use his quirk without the Full Gauntlet to lessen the pain, up above him, Ochako turned to glance over at Himiko as the nurse hummed and watched Izuku hyping himself up interestingly.

"So, uh …" She gestured down towards her boyfriend with a jerk of her head, "… how does Recovery Girl think everything's going?"

"Not sure," The nurse sighed as she poked at one of her hair buns with the other end of one of her pocket knives, "Granny was coming up with a bunch of doomsday theories for your BFF down there - worst case scenario, he's gonna blow up and take everyone in this gym with him. So, the fact that hasn't happened yet is pretty good!"

"Oh," Ochako went a bit pale, "uh - that's good."

"Wait," Itsuka blinked a bit, looking around at the nurse in nervousness, "is him blowing up a possibility?"

"I mean, I don't know," Himiko shrugged, leaning around Ochako to flash the orange-haired girl a teeth-filled grin, "but that would be nice to watch, wouldn't it? Him blowing up."

Itsuka kept quiet for a moment, frowning at her senpai - she had the feeling that Himiko wanted to make some sexual innuendo, so she wasn't going to feed her the ammunition and just waited for the other shoe to drop.

"Just … not because of his cellular degeneration, if you know what I mean."

"Yep," Itsuka rolled her eyes, completely and utterly unsurprised, "I know exactly what you're talking about, senpai."

"Hm," Melissa hummed to herself, not paying attention to the conversation beside her as she continued to write on her notepad and glancing down at Izuku, privately relieved that she could do so without wanting to shrivel into an embarrassed ball at the memory of the dream, "so basically, the ice affects him in a different way than the lightning … I'll have to figure out a way to have the new Gauntlet feed back to me how cold it can make Izuku. And maybe I can find a way to install some kind of heater?"

"A heater?" Ochako blinked, leaning around Itsuka to look at their American friend. "So the new Gauntlet's gonna support his lightning and make sure he keeps warm when he uses the ice?"

"Pretty much," Melissa nodded, tapping on her notebook with a hum, "I'll have to figure out a way that the Gauntlet will automatically switch modes when Izuku switches elements - it'd be a bad idea if Izuku tries to use his lightning while the Gauntlet is trying to protect him from ice, it'll probably blow the device apart."

"And his arm, right?"

"…"

"… Melissa. You're gonna prioritize his arm not getting messed up, right?"

"Yes, yep, his arm," Melissa nodded, aware of both Ochako and Itsuka turning to pout at her and gulping a bit nervously at their unamused glares, "I'm definitely going to design this with Izuku's comfort in mind and not how to make sure he doesn't destroy it again. Mm-hm, yep."

Ochako nodded at her while continuing to Danger Pout in her general direction for a few seconds, and then sighed as she looked up at where Nejire was continuing to lazily float above them. It was kind of weird, having Nejire be quiet for so long, with her floating above the gym and watching Izuku carefully, but … well, it wasn’t like anyone could really blame her.

It was clear, at least to Ochako, that Nejire was worried for her green-haired friend - she knew that the blue-haired girl didn't know much about what was going on with Izuku, with them only really filling Melissa in today when they stayed behind with the rest of the teachers, but she at least knew that Nejire was aware of Izuku's cellular degeneration from the offhanded mentions they were making after Izuku left the nurse’s office last Friday. And that, of course, made Nejire anxious, obviously.

It was … it was good to know, Ochako thought at least. Nejire was as worried for Izuku as Ochako and Itsuka were. That was … well … she wasn't surprised by that, seeing as Nejire's crush on her boyfriend was becoming more and more obvious to her by the day. So it was good to see that Nejire was worried about him, despite Ochako feeling a weird, churning feeling in her stomach.

However, before she could think more about it, she heard someone clearing their throat beside her, and she blinked and looked around at Himiko as she stared down at the floor below.

"So, uh … cute kohai," Himiko suddenly looked a bit weird, as though she were nervous but trying to make it look like she was still totally cool," I, uh - I got a question for you."

"Er … yeah, senpai?" Ochako leaned against the railing. “What’s up?”

"You, uh … you know that Tsuyu chick, right?" Himiko kept her eyes down on the bottom floor. "Green hair, tongue, all that stuff?"

Ochako blinked a bit - and, internally, had to fight down the temptation to ask, 'The girl who tried to push that tongue down your throat Saturday?' - and shrugged.

"Uh … y-yeah, I know Tsuyu," She nodded slowly, "not - not very well, but - you know - yeah."

"Oh, yeah, yeah, uh - well, that's good," Himiko nodded slowly, and Ochako blinked when she saw a bit of her senpai's pale cheeks go a bit red, "I was just … wondering if … you know … she might've … mentioned me."

"H-huh? Oh, uh -" Ochako felt her brow furrow, "- I'm not -"

KRACK-BOOM

The chatting girls jumped a bit at the sudden sound of lightning coming from below, and they turned their attention back to the ground floor. Kneeling on the floor, Izuku panted a bit, wincing from the Ground Current strike as he waved his arms around a bit and felt them sting. But he didn't feel that hurt, looking back over at Tenko as the teaching assistant shot him a thumbs up from the stairs.

"Okay!" He called over to him. "Can you do it again?"

Izuku nodded, taking a deep breath, and then raised his hands before slamming them down against the floor again. Activating his quirk, Izuku bit his lip from the power of his lightning recoiling slightly into his arms, but he managed to hold fast as the green electricity crawled along the floor for a few moments before they dissipated, leaving black marks along the floor.

Nodding slowly to himself, Izuku stood up again, waving his hands again from the sting and checking his arms - but to his relief, he didn't see any green cracks yet.

So … he was okay so far.

"I'm good!" He called up to the people above him. Aizawa nodded a bit as he leaned against the railing, looking at the black scorch marks along the ground floor where Izuku's electricity had traveled, and then cupped his hands around his mouth to call down to him.

"Then let's go ahead and move on," He called down, "try the Electric Knuckle thing."

"Right!" Izuku quickly nodded to his teacher, feeling like he was on a roll as he quickly took a step back. 

Taking a deep breath, he raised his arms into the air for a moment before he brought them sharply back down, remembering the anger he had felt towards Katsuki in that moment and trying to draw back on that power. To his relief, the supermove activated quickly - lightning flickered and intensified around his hands, with the energy forming around his knuckles and running up his arms.

Izuku panted a bit, smiling and looking back up at his teachers -

- and then he blinked when he glanced over and saw Tenko pointing at him - or rather, he was pointing at something on him - at the same time that a sudden sharp pain felt like it stabbed through his brain, and his vision became blurry.

"W-wha …?" He grunted, taking a small step back as he became lightheaded, and the lightning running up his arms suddenly vanished as he became aware of Aizawa's eyes glowing red. He had enough time to glance down at his arms as his quirk was deactivated, and he saw small shards of green light begin to poke out and crawl under his skin from his hands. 

As he stared at them beginning to spread slowly, he felt himself lose his balance as his fuzzy vision turned black -

- but before he could collapse on the ground, aware of several voices above him calling his name in shock and worry, he felt a sudden whoosh of air around him, and he fell into a pair of strong arms, a large hand immediately moving to the back of his neck, so his head didn't lob back.

"Easy there, Young Midoriya," He heard All Might say above him, his usual bombastic voice soft and quiet, "I've got you."

Feeling his brow furrow a bit, Izuku felt his vision slowly return to him, slowly moving his head around in confusion. He was still in the gym, of course, but he could see several of his friends looking down at him in alarm and concern, and he winced when a bit of yellow light appeared in his vision as Nejire landed and quickly ran over.

"Hey, hey, are you okay?" She quickly asked as she gave his arms a worried look. "You're glowing, but not in a good way! Are you sick? Do you need me to go get you some water?"

“Actually, Young Hadou," All Might turned to smile at her, "that sounds like an excellent idea. Could you grab one of those paper cups from the other table and go get Young Midoriya some water?"

Nejire quickly saluted him and ran over towards the water cooler on the side, scooping up a cup as she went.

Izuku, for his part, let out a small murmur as All Might continued to hold him up. He became aware of the sound of footsteps quickly approaching, and looked around to see both Aizawa and Tenko quickly running over, Aizawa's red eyes slowly fading as he realized that the green cracks under his skin stopped, and behind them, he saw Recovery Girl hurrying down the stairs.

"I … what …" Izuku gulped, his mouth suddenly dry, "… what happened?"

"It's okay," Tenko assured him kindly, "you fainted for a second there. Let's just take it easy and move over to the bed, slowly."

"Oh," Izuku muttered, feeling shame well within him, "that's embarrassing."

"No, no, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, we were expecting this. Let's just go lay back for a bit, okay?"

Up above the gym, both Ochako and Itsuka leaned forward over the railing in worry, watching All Might carefully help Izuku over to the medical bed on the side where Recovery Girl was already standing, with the Number One Hero holding the back of Izuku's head as he was carefully laid down. Once Izuku was laid down, Recovery Girl quickly moved an ice pack underneath the base of Izuku’s head, and began inspecting his arms, with everyone up on the second floor, from Setsuna suddenly snapping her mouth closed and Tenya breaking out of his stoicism to look at Izuku in concern, was watching in worry.

Finally, when Recovery Girl looked up and down Izuku's arm, she let out a small hum.

"Alright," She nodded, looking back up at Izuku as he rubbed his eyes carefully with his other hand, "I see a few cracks, but they aren't as violent looking as the other ones I inspected last week. I think we'll stop for now, Midoriya."

"Right," Aizawa nodded, and then turned to the other teenagers above them. "We're done, you lot come down now."

With that, the rest of the members of the Kendousquad quickly hurried down the stairs towards the ground floor, careful not to push or trip over each other in their haste to reach Izuku. It didn't take long for them to reach the first floor and over to where their friend was now sitting up, some color returning to his cheeks as he accepted the cup of water from Nejire, and was looking a bit embarrassed by his collapse. At the very least, he was able to sit up without assistance, sipping some water from the paper cup and grimacing as everyone surrounded him.

"Sorry," He muttered, "didn't … know I'd fall over."

"It's fine," Recovery Girl shook her head, "like Tenko told you, there's nothing to be embarrassed about, Midoriya. Sudden collapses is a common side effect of quirk cellular degeneration, so I expected this."

She turned to the side and picked up her notebook.

"Now," She flipped it open, "from what I noticed up on the second floor, you were able to use your two supermoves without the normal backlash you experience without the Full Gauntlet. Perhaps that's a sign that your body is at least adapting to the natural recoil of your quirk. The problem, however, is that the cracks are beginning to appear a bit quicker - I reviewed your match with Bakugou this weekend to take notes, and I noticed that the cracks were slowly appearing throughout the match, but they began prominently showing up after discarding the Full Gauntlet."

"And what about the other times Midoriya used his quirk without the support item?" Aizawa crossed his arms.

"If you're referring to when I examined him after the USJ, I didn't see them at all," Recovery Girl shook her head, frowning, "but we also have to consider that Midoriya hasn't been using his quirk for nearly a decade before the last two months - and I assume that during your training for UA, you didn't use it often either?"

"Er - no," Izuku shook his head, glancing between Itsuka, Ochako and All Might, "only … only about once or twice a day. And - and it was only during the middle of our training that I - I got a handle on using it."

"Mm-hm," Recovery Girl hummed, "so … well, at this point, I'll admit that I'm not sure where these cracks are coming from, and why they're appearing on you now. At this point, what I'd recommend more than anything is to get a similar support item to the Full Gauntlet, and we can test if the cracks appear when you're using it."

With that, everyone turned to look at where Melissa was standing in the small crowd. She blinked a bit at the attention suddenly being on her, but she quickly got over her fluster and took a step forward.

"I did talk with my Papa last night," She confirmed, keeping her eyes on Izuku's face as he gave her a hopeful look, "he'll be sending the materials to build a few new support items by the end of the week. I've had ideas on how to improve on the Full Gauntlet to make sure that - you know, this -" She gestured at the green cracks on Izuku's arms, looking uncomfortable at their unnatural appearance, "- won't be showing up if the Gauntlet is adjusted to handle your firing power."

"Oh," Izuku felt his shoulders sag in relief, "that's - that's good."

"Yes, that's all well and good," Recovery Girl turned to give him a pointed look again, "but you also have to be sure that these support items don't become a crutch that you fall back on. You must make sure that you keep your cellular degeneration under control, Midoriya - you shouldn't become too used to the Gauntlet, we'll still be testing you without them to see if we can get a handle on it.”

"Y-yes, Recovery Girl, of course."

"Well," Aizawa let out a short sigh, "I suppose that settles that. All that we need to figure out now is what you'll be doing for internships so that this doesn’t happen while you’re out on the field. I won't lie to you, Midoriya, I'm half-tempted to have you stay at the school under my supervision so we can get a handle over this."

"O-oh," Izuku quickly straightened up, feeling his stomach lurch at the thought of having to stay behind at the school while everyone else got to go on their internships. However, before he could think to panic, Aizawa shook his head and sighed again.

"Unfortunately, as I have my own internship that'll be taking me away from the school, I won't be present in case of any quirk accidents,” He frowned, “so, in this case, we'll have to find someone for you to work with that can help you with this."

"Well, uh …" Izuku gulped a bit as he looked around, seeing the other teachers look to him, "I - uh - I actually got an internship offer from someone I'm - I'm interested in. Ryukyu."

Unbeknownst to him, standing on the edge of the group on her tippie-toes, Nejire blinked a bit, her eyes widening in surprise.

"Ryukyu, huh?" Aizawa narrowed his eyes a bit, looking around at the only other pro hero there. "The Top 10 hero? I've never worked with her before - would she be a good fit for Midoriya?"

"I've worked a few times with Ryukyu," All Might confirmed, putting his hands on his hips as he nodded, "she's a strong and capable hero. From what I've observed, she's also had a history of struggling to control her own quirk during high school - so perhaps working with her would do you a service, Young Midoriya. She can relate to your struggles - even if they're not exactly the same - so she might have the correct mindset to give you tips on how to control your quirk."

"Hm," Aizawa turned away, clearly thinking, "I suppose … if they have that in common …"

The gym was quiet for a moment, before the teachers turned back to look at Izuku. He blinked a bit as he realized they were waiting for his final say - which, of course, made sense as he was the one who had to make the decision - and then he slowly nodded, looking around at everyone.

"Yeah," He gave them a thumbs up, "yeah … I … guess I'm interning with Ryukyu."

"Alright then," Aizawa nodded, "then in that case, just be sure to give me your internship paper with her info on it before you head home today. Also, I don't know how Top 10 heroes work, but don't sign any paperwork or anything like that - UA students aren't allowed to officially sign on with any agencies as employees during the work studies week, they can only as volunteers. I'll be in the teacher's lounge, you lot, if you need anything else - you're all excused to go get changed."

With that, the quirk erasing teacher turned to walk out of the gym, keeping his hands in his pockets as he went.

Tenko and Recovery Girl stayed a bit longer to make sure that Izuku wasn't going to be collapsing the moment he got up, and once he was on his feet without Ochako and Itsuka holding onto his shoulders to keep him stable, they both excused themselves as well. Finally, All Might left after them once he made sure Izuku was okay, waving his hand and leaving them by themselves, while being unaware of Melissa watching his back with a small, worried look.

Finally, once the gym doors were closed and the students were alone, Setsuna let out a small sigh and turned to Izuku.

"Uh … in a very rare case of me being serious, dude," She gave him a concerned look, "are you sure you're okay?"

"Er - yeah," Izuku nodded, going a bit red as everyone surrounded him, "I'm fine. I'm sorry about - you know, being dramatic and fainting."

"Oi," Itsuka gave him a frown, "no more of that."

"I mean, you can't really control when you faint," Yui agreed with her best friend, "and I'm not going to say that I understood every single thing Recovery Girl said - but things do seem pretty serious with this cellular stuff, Midoriya."

"I agree," Momo nodded, crossing her arms and giving Izuku a sharp look, "like Recovery Girl said, cellular degeneration is not something to underestimate, Midoriya."

"Y-yeah, and - and I get that," Izuku nodded quickly, gulping at Momo's deadly seriousness and wanting to appease everyone before they could get carried away, "and - and I'm taking this very seriously. Today was just … we were trying to see how much I could do before the effects showed up. And … well … you guys saw how that turned out."

"Yeah …" Kyouka tapped her earphones together, frowning, "… but - I don't know, maybe Aizawa-sensei had a point? You should probably stay behind to practice your quirk."

"No," Izuku shook his head, frowning a bit, "I - I need to make sure I can go on internships."

"I mean, come on, dude," Eijirou gave him a worried look, "if things are serious enough that you can't really use your quirk without a support item -"

"I'll figure it out," Izuku cut him off at once, feeling a bit defensive suddenly, "Melissa said that she'll be working on new support items, so - so I'm going to trust her."

The group quickly closed their mouths, staring at Izuku in shock from Izuku snapping at them as he turned to look down at his red shoes. Both Ochako and Itsuka shared a worried glance, Setsuna and Yui kept their mouths shut, Nejire kept quiet, and Melissa and Eijirou stared at Izuku in surprise. Momo looked regretful, Kyouka uncomfortable, Shouto with concern, and Tenya continued to stare at his feet. 

Izuku, for his part, let out a sigh, allowing some of the anger on his face to melt away, and he glanced off to the side, feeling suddenly guilty.

"Sorry," He muttered, "I … I shouldn't snap at you guys. I just … I know that it's serious, and … and it's hard to accept that."

"I … I understand," Momo sighed as well, looking remorseful, "and … I'm also sorry for making you feel bad."

"And us needling you about it probably doesn't make you feel better," Yui gave him, frowning, and trying not to look at Tenya as he studied his feet, "so … yeah. Sorry."

"Yeah," Setsuna shook her head, allowing their small group to be quiet for a moment before she tried to fix on a grin, "so, uh - well, let's try not let this get us down, guys. I don't know about y'all, but I'm definitely craving some burgers and the arcade. So who's in?"

Nejire let out an excited gasp.

"Burgers and arcades?! I'm there!" She excitedly nodded, while Setsuna turned to give her a grin - but then Nejire's smile faltered, blinking as she suddenly thought of something. "Wait, but Mom's gonna be back to make supper tonight, and she wants me to come … ah, darn. Darn it! Sorry, I can't! I want to, though! But darn it!"

"Ah, no, It's okay, girl," Setsuna nodded in understanding, "we'll go out another night and party."

"Er … I'm afraid I have to decline as well," Momo sighed, looking disappointed while Kyouka looked around at her with a sad look, "my father and mother have a dinner party tonight, and I'll have to attend. My father is …" She hesitated for a moment, as though debating how much she could share, "… he's still thinking over letting me move to Heights Alliance, so I should try to - to make sure I'm in good standing with him once he makes a decision."

Shouto frowned at that, but still looked at Setsuna with a curious look.

"Burgers and arcades?" He repeated, drawing his fellow recommended student's attention as he looked intrigued. "Interesting."

"Oh?" She perked up, giving him an excited look. "Does that mean that you're down to come with us, Todoroki?"

"Well, I'm not familiar with many games," He shook his head with a small frown, "just to warn you."

"Nah, man, we'll teach you!" Eijirou gave him a grin as well, while Yui nodded and Kyouka sighed to herself. "I bet that you'll take to shooting games like a fish on water!"

"Hm," Shouto turned to the side, thinking, "well … I believe that Endeavor will be busy tonight … and if the invitation is open to everyone … hm. I suppose I could go."

"Awesome!" Setsuna pumped her fist, and then turned to Itsuka, Izuku and Ochako. "How about you three? You in?"

"Tempting," Itsuka grinned, aware of Izuku and Ochako suddenly looking down at their feet with interest (and unknowingly getting Nejire and Melissa to blink at them in confusion), "but I'm gonna have to pass - my parents are taking Eri out for dinner tonight, so they want me to hold down the fort. And before anyone asks, no, I'm not gonna be throwing any parties. Just pizza and a movie for me tonight. Sorry."

"Nah, it's all good, Ken," Setsuna lightly smacked her shoulder, "you had to take care of our dumbasses Saturday at the beach party, so you deserve a night of R'n'R."

"R'n'R?" Shouto repeated, confused.

"It means 'rest and relaxation'," Momo explained to him quickly.

"Ah, I see. Then yes, Kendou, get your R'n'R."

"That I will," Itsuka giggled.

"Anyhoo," Setsuna twirled around to count, "so that's me, Yui, Kirishima, Todoroki …"

She then gave a pair of puppy eyes at Kyouka, who scowled for a moment before she let out a long groan.

"Fine," She shook her head, "I'm only coming for the burger."

"Hooray!" Setsuna cheered. "So Jirou's coming with, and Ken and Yaomomo's doing their own things. So how about you, Midoriya. Uraraka, Melissa? You guys in?"

"Oh, uh -" Ochako cleared her throat, going red and praying that her lying didn't come across as too obvious, "- I actually gotta make a call tonight for internship stuff. Don't know how long I'll be, so … I'll probably be staying home. Sorry."

"Huh," Melissa nodded, and then turned to smile at Izuku, "well, in that case, what do you think, Izuku? Burgers and the arcade sounds pretty good, you wanna go with everyone?"

"Oh, uh …" Izuku went a bit red at Melissa's offer, while off to the side, Setsuna and Yui blinked a bit at the hope on Melissa's face and the fluster on Izuku's, raising their eyebrows suspiciously.

Thankfully, before Izuku could try to think up a convincing lie, Nejire suddenly popped in between them, wrapping her arm around Melissa's shoulders and making her jump a bit in surprise and look around at the slightly frantic look on the blue-haired girl's face.

"Oh, uh - well, I was thinking!" Nejire quickly said while Melissa blinked a bit at the urgency on her face. "Mom was saying something about me inviting some people over, and if you're busy, why not - uh - why not come by, Melissa? Maybe we can hang out for a bit after, you can meet my cat! But - but if you wanted to go to the arcade with everyone, that's okay, I won't be upset. But how about it? Do you wanna hang out?"

"Uh …" Melissa felt herself falter a bit, staring at Nejire in confusion for a moment before she glanced around at Izuku. She then blinked, her mouth slowly closing as she turned back to look at Nejire - and then she slowly nodded.

"You know what?" She said carefully, "Why not? Sure, I'll - I won't turn down free dinner."

"Yaaay!" Nejire cheered, looking weirdly relieved and making Melissa raise her eyebrow subtly as she began putting a plan into motion.

"Okay, then!" Setsuna clapped her hands happily together as she looked around the group. "Then that's that! Todoroki and Kirishima are going on a big date with me, Yui and Jirou! Don't worry, boys, we'll make sure you have a good time."

"Good to know," Eijirou chuckled, scratching the side of his head while Izuku was very thankful for the Nejire-Melissa distraction, being able to slink in behind Itsuka and Ochako as they both smirked subtly at him for not having to come up with a lie.

"A date?" Shouto blinked, taken aback as he looked between the three girls and went a little red. "Oh, my … my first date, with so many girls. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

"It's not a date," Kyouka groaned while making sure to zap Setsuna's shoulder with her earphone jacks, making her jump a bit and pout as she rubbed her arm, "Tokage is just being stupid. We're just hanging out, dude, you don't need to look that far into it."

"So I see." Shouto nodded, turning away with a thoughtful look. "So I don't have to go home and get changed into a suit?"

Setsuna snorted while Yui raised her eyebrow.

"Wearing a suit and tie to a burger place and an arcade?" She shrugged, "I wanna see that. Yes, Todoroki, go get changed into a tux."

Shouto nodded, clearly serious about it as he turned away and went to call home to get his suit ready. Momo looked like she wanted to protest, but at Setsuna covering her mouth with a trollish grin, she merely sighed and nodded.

With their plans made, the group excused themselves to go into the changing rooms to get back into their school uniforms, with Setsuna excitedly bumping Shouto's shoulder with her fist as the girls went into the changing room to get out of their hero costumes. Itsuka, for her part, flashed both Izuku and Ochako an excited grin as she headed into the changing room, and Ochako gave Izuku a nervous grin as she followed her in.

Letting out a small, shuddering sigh as he felt a bit excited about their night - but trying to temper it, seeing as he and Ochako still had something serious to do before they could head to Itsuka's - Izuku turned back to the boy's changing room to follow Tenya and Shouto in -

- but before he could, he felt someone poke his shoulder from behind. Blinking a bit, he looked around to see Nejire flashing him an awkward smile and peace sign.

"Uh - Hadou?"

"Hey, Midoriya!" She greeted him with a goofy wave. "Sorry to, uh, interrupt, but, um - I wanted to ask you about something."

"Oh," Izuku blinked again, turning properly around to face her, "uh - yeah. Uh, what's up?"

"Well, um, there was something that I was curious about - you know, about what you said earlier, so here I am! Going to ask you about it! Heh, heh."

"H-heh, heh," Izuku nodded a bit awkwardly, feeling himself go a bit red as he glanced around. He couldn't help but remember that the last time he was alone with Nejire in front of these changing rooms, she had kind of asked him out on a date, and seeing how nervous she looked was making him … well … feel just a tad bit nervous.

Just a tad bit.

Only a little.

Just a little.

"So …" Nejire folded her hands behind her back, giving him a hopeful grin as she leaned forward, "… earlier, you, uh - you said that Ryukyu sent you an internship request, right? The, um - the Dragoon Hero?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, feeling taken aback - of all the things he thought Nejire was going to ask him about, he didn't really expect this. "Oh, uh - y-yeah, she did. I was actually gonna go hand in my paper to Aizawa-sensei when I got changed. Er … so why do you ask?"

"Well, uh …" Nejire nodded, walking over to where her backpack was beside all the others, and quickly zipped it open, "… I was just wondering, because … well, I looked over all my offers last night, and there were a lot, and I noticed that Ryukyu sent me a request, too!"

"Oh, that's …" Izuku winced a bit on her behalf, knowing that Nejire got the most offers in the class and feeling a bit sympathetic that she had to crawl through them on her own, almost tempted to apologize for not offering to help her look through them -

- and then what she said suddenly registered.

"Wait," He felt his back straighten and his eyes go a bit wider, "Ryukyu … sent you a request, too?"

"Yeah!" She nodded, hurrying over with a sheet of paper. Quickly, Izuku took it from her, aware of Nejire moving around his shoulder to point at a specific name and going a bit red at her closeness, but still looked down to where she was pointing.

And indeed, there with the same email and phone number on his own paper, was the name of a certain Number Nine Hero."

"Huh," Izuku tilted his head.

"Yeah! It's weird, right?" Nejire gave him a curious look. "Since I would've thought that a hero seeing all of us working together during the sports festival probably would've tried getting the pairs, right? Like, if she had sent a request for me and Itsuka, that'd make more sense! But hey, maybe she saw both of us and thought 'hey, those two need my help'! Maybe, right? Or maybe she thinks we're cool?"

"M-maybe," Izuku nodded slowly, glancing down at the paper for a moment while frowning to himself.

It was true, he thought, that it was a surprising move, a pro hero sending requests to two different students - especially two people who weren't seen interacting as much during the sports festival. If it did happen, it'd probably be easier for a hero to pick two students with similar quirks, like Eijirou and Tetsutetsu over in Class 1B, but … Izuku and Nejire? Their power sets and problems were entirely different from one another. Or - well, at least on the surface they were. Maybe … Ryukyu noticed something in common with both of them?

Maybe … yeah. Yeah, Ryukyu might have seen problems with both of them that she wanted to help out with, and she just didn't feel restricted by only wanting one intern student.

However, before he could try thinking about it a bit more, Nejire cleared her throat a bit awkwardly to stop his mutter spree, causing him to look back at her as she gently took the paper back from him.

"So, uh …" She looked suddenly embarrassed, tucking her twirling hair behind her ear as she glanced off to the side, "… I was … kinda considering saying yes to Ryukyu's offer. But, um - if you wanted her all for yourself, that's okay! I can find someone else."

"H-huh?" Izuku looked back around at her in surprise. "W-wait, you - what?"

"I mean, if you think you need her to help you out, then I don't have to be there to distract her!" She quickly assured him with an assuring look. "I was just thinking that it would be - you know - kinda cool if we interned together. But since you want her to help you out with your - your cellular thingy, I can -"

"No!" Izuku quickly interrupted her, shaking his head and giving her a panicked look while she blinked in surprise. "No, it's - it's okay, Hadou! You can intern with Ryuyku, too! I just …"

He paused for a moment while Nejire gave him an uncertain look, and then he let out a sigh.

"… no, I - I don't have a problem with you also interning with Ryukyu," He confirmed in a quiet, embarrassed voice, "we - we should both be there, if - if she wants us to intern with her."

"Really?" Nejire gave him a worried look. "Are you sure? I don't wanna distract her if you need her help."

"I am," He said in a certain voice, "if - if Ryukyu wanted both of us to intern with her, then - then we should both take her up on her offer."

There was a long pause as Nejire stared up into Izuu's eyes with a slight suspicion, as though trying to figure out if he was just pretending to be okay with this - but when she saw the honestly in his eyes and his small, nervous grin, her own smile began to grow again.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, "okay! Then I guess we're gonna be interning together! Let's have fun, Midoriya!"

"Uh - y-yeah!" Izuku smiled back at her, taking a second to pause before he raised his hand for a high-five - but then he grunted as Nejire instead chose to zip in and give him a tight hug, making him wheeze as his eyes bulged like a stress toy.

Letting out another giggle, she quickly moved back to beam up at his red face.

"You gotta get used to the hugs, buddy!" She lightly teased him, smacking his chest with the back of her hand, "I'm gonna be giving you lots of hugs from now on, if we'll be interning together! Now, I gotta go get changed so me and Melissa can go back to my house! But I'll talk to you more about it tomorrow, okay? I'll see you then, intern buddy!"

With that, she happily skipped around him as she made her way into the changing room, humming a sweet little tune under her breath as she zipped inside. Izuku stared blankly after her for a moment as he felt his face burn bright red -

- and then he let out a shuddering sigh, smacking his cheeks lightly, before he turned back to the boy's changing room and shook his head.

"Intern buddy …" He muttered under his breath, "… more hugs … yeah. Between her, Occhan and Itsuka, one of them is gonna kill me."


"Okay …" Ochako gulped as she stared down at the phone, "… this is it, Deku."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, giving her a weak smile as he sat before her, "you've got this."

At the moment, they were both back in Ochako's room back at the apartment, Izuku seated on the edge of her bed as Ochako paced before him with her phone in her hand. The door had been left half-open, the two teenagers distantly hearing the sound of Miwa cleaning dishes from their dinner last night while Taiyo was grumbling while doing paperwork at the kitchen table, but their focus was on something else entirely.

To be precise, they were looking at the phone in Ochako's hand, with Lady Nagant's contact info on it, and staring at it as though it were a bomb about two seconds from going off.

"So …" Izuku gulped a bit as he glanced down at the phone, "… I guess …?"

"Yep," Ochako nodded, her gaze not moving away from the phone at all, "just … gonna call her now."

"Mm-hm."

"Just … press the button and … and … yep."

Izuku stared up at Ochako for a long moment as her eyes remained glued on the screen before her, the panic on her face obvious. And then he let out a small sigh, and reached out to gently take her free hand.

Ochako, feeling him squeeze on it gently, blinked and looked away from the phone, staring into his eyes as he tried to give her a comforting smile.

"Hey, uh … it's - it's gonna be okay," He quietly said to her, "I'll be here the whole time."

Ochako gave him a blank stare - and then she let out a shuddering breath, closing her eyes and nodding. She moved around his legs and sat down on the bed beside him, moving to rest her head on his shoulder. Despite Izuku going a bit red at the action, he still leaned down to rest his cheek against the top of her head.

"I'm just …" Ochako said quietly, "… I'm nervous. And I feel stupid that I am."

"I know," Izuku nodded, "and - and it's nothing to be embarrassed about."

There was a pause.

"… why do I suddenly feel like a hypocrite?" He blinked a bit, while Ochako giggled and patted his arm.

"Then just remember that the next time you end up fainting, hypocrite," She lightly teased him, and then sighed and shook her head, "and … yeah, I - I know that it's okay to be - you know - nervous. It's just … I'm just scared of what she's gonna say."

"Yeah," He nodded, squeezing on her hand again, "it'll … it'll be okay. You'll call her, you'll - you'll talk, and even if it ends badly … remember, we're heading to Itsuka's right after this, and we can tell her. Don't worry, Occhan - we're both here for you."

Ochako slowly nodded at his words, turning to stare down at the phone in her lap again - and then, with a shuddering breath, she moved her head off Izuku's shoulder, trying to hype herself up as she took a moment to summon her courage, and then raised the phone to press the green button beside Nagant's number, and lifted it up to her ear.

For a few, long moments, Ochako felt like the world had slowed to a crawl, the sound of the phone humming in her ear making her straighten her back and stare blankly ahead in horror. Even the feeling of Izuku holding her hand didn't make her feel better, feeling like everything was beginning to spin around her.

But then, before she could think of panicking and hanging up, there was a click on the other end of the line, the sound of shuffling, and then a low, feminine voice spoke.

"Nagant speaking."

At the sound of the rough, tired voice on the other end of the phone, Ochako felt herself freeze. Her hand, which had been holding the phone up to her ear, began trembling as she stared blankly ahead. Izuku, sitting on the bed beside her, gave her an encouraging smile and squeezed her other hand again, as though urging her to speak up.

"… hello?"

"Ah!" Ochako squeaked a bit, her eyes going wide, and she immediately felt a wave of embarrassment pass through her body. "Is - is this - is this K-Kaina Tsutsumi?"

"Yes …?" Nagant paused, and then her voice became guarded. "Who is this?"

"I'm …" Ochako gulped, trying to keep her bravery, "… I'm … Ochako Uraraka."

There was a pause over the line.

"Your - your daughter," Ochako quickly clarified, wincing at her awkwardness, "I was - my parents gave me your number, and I - I wanted to -"

Before she could say anything else, though, there was a click on the other end of the line, and the call disconnected.

Feeling herself blink, she lowered the phone from her ear, and stared down at the screen, her face turning blank as shown in the phone's reflection. Izuku, feeling his brow furrow a bit, leaned over and tried to look over her shoulder to see what was going on - but then, before he could open his mouth, Ochako abruptly stood up from the bed, making him squeak a bit as her hand slipped out from his.

"Uh - did she, uh -"

However, at Ochako turning to face him, Izuku quickly shut himself up, gulping nervously. Ochako no longer looked nervous or afraid - instead, there was a familiar fire in her eyes, the same kind of fire that would appear when she was really upset. So Izuku was sure to keep himself quiet as, without a word, his girlfriend pressed the call button again and lifted the phone back to her ear.

The first time, it rang enough times without an answer that it went to voicemail, to which Ochako ended the call before it could finish its message. And then she called again, tapping her foot impatiently against the ground while Izuku wisely decided to stay silent, gulping a bit nervously at the anger on Ochako's face.

The third time, however, after a few rings, Ochako heard it connect.

"I - okay, look, kid, you really need to stop calling me," She heard Nagant sigh, "I'm not interested in talking to you."

"But -"

"No," Ochako winced a bit as Nagant sharply snapped at her over the line, "I'm telling you, I'm not interested in talking to you, and you shouldn't be interested in talking to me. I've got nothing to say to you, and if your parents -"

She hesitated, and then sighed.

" - if they told you stuff about me, then you should ask them if you have any questions, they'll know what to tell you. So stop calling me, and delete this number. Goodnight."

"Please," Ochako tried to protest, "just listen -!"

Alas, before she could get anything else out, she heard the call end yet again, and she let out a frustrated growl. Izuku, sitting quietly on the bed, grimaced as Ochako lowered the phone to give it a Danger Pout.

"I'm not gonna stop calling you!" She threatened the silent phone with venom in her voice.

Izuku, wincing a bit at the heat and agitation in her voice, quickly stood up from the bed, holding his hands out to her.

"Occhan, it's -"

"What's going on in here?"

At the curious voice at the door, both teenagers blinked, Ochako being yanked out of her bad mood, and they looked around. Poking her head in through the door and pushing it open, Miwa looked between both of them in confusion, as though wondering why they were alone and why Ochako was shouting.

However, as her gaze fell to the phone in her daughter's hand, Miwa faltered for a second before an understanding look came to her face.

"Calling Kaina?" She guessed.

Ochako bit her lip, and then let out a shaky sigh, some of the heat in her gaze fading away as she turned to look at the phone.

"I'm … I'm trying to call her," She explained in a quiet voice, "but she keeps hanging up and telling me to stop calling."

"Huh," Miwa slowly nodded, moving to step into her daughter's room. Quietly, she walked up to her daughter, rubbing the top of her head briefly, and then gently took the phone from her. She smiled at them both and gestured for them to sit down on the bed, and once they were seated side by side, she pressed the call button and raised the phone to her ear.

There was about a thirty second pause in which Miwa tapped her foot a bit against the floor, and then she hummed and lowered the phone to press the disconnect button when she obviously went to voicemail, only to call again and lift up the phone. After a repeat of this about two more times, as the two teenagers watched Ochako's mom wait, Miwa paced up and down once before she suddenly stopped, her face brightening after two rings.

"Oh, calling me a little shit, huh?" She said in a cheerful voice, "You haven't done that since you moved out."

There was a brief pause, in which Miwa's smile widened and she nodded when she apparently heard a response over the phone.

"Yes, hello, Kaina. It's me. I was, uh - well, I overheard you continuing to hang up on our daughter."

"…"

"Mm-hm. Thought it was a bit rude, so I decided to give you a call myself."

"…"

"That's right. Now, then," Miwa's smile suddenly turned cold, causing both teenagers to gulp, "here's what's going to happen if you hang up on our daughter again, you stuck-up, child-abandoning, bottom bitch -"

What followed from that delightful opener was, to Izuku and Ochako, the most traumatizing two minutes of their lives. As Miwa spoke calmly but coldly into the phone, both teenagers reflected on the times that Ochako's dad would cuss up a storm, remembering how colorful his vocabulary could get at times. It was a mix of scary in some situations and hilarious in others, and, of course, they loved Ochako's father more for it. But Miwa? Miwa was a different kind of beast. 

For what was only two minutes but felt like ten, they listened to levels of swearing, threatening, and vows to tell stories that would give Ochako gray hair instead of pink that they had never experienced before. It was enough that both Izuku and Ochako stared at the kind mother with their mouths fully agape, unable to tear their gazes away from this metaphorical trainwreck as Miwa threatened Ochako's other mother, until at least, Miwa paused to breathe.

With that breath, she then turned back to Ochako, and smiled as she gave her back her phone.

"There," She said cheerfully, "she'll listen now. Come get me if she hangs up again."

With that, she spun on her heel and strolled confidently out the door, whistling a tune to herself. Ochako felt herself stare after her mom for a moment in genuine terror as Izuku tried to pick his jaw up from where it had hit the ground - and then she tentatively lifted the phone back to her ear.

"Er …" She gulped, "… hello?"

"… kid, don't you ever fucking put me on the phone with her ever again," Nagant sounded genuinely haunted for a moment, "good fucking god, I forgot how fucking scary she could get."

"Y-yeah, right. So - uh - are you gonna hang up again?"

"And have you get the hag on my case again? Yeah, no. Just … okay, fine. Just fucking tell me what you want, kid."

"Y-yeah, of - of course," Ochako quickly nodded, sitting up next to Izuku as he tried to shake himself out of the shock from Miwa's swearing, and gave her an encouraging nod.

After a moment of trying to compose herself, Ochako took a deep breath and sighed.

"So," She gulped a bit, "well, I - like I said earlier, my - my mom and dad told me everything. I - I know that you're my mom, and that - that you used to be married to my mom and dad. I - I know that you left. I know everything."

"Right," She noted how quiet Nagant's voice had become, and the sound of wind whistling in the background, indicating that she was outside, "and … what about it?"

Ochako slowly nodded, taking another small breath to try hyping herself up.

"I …" She felt herself hesitate for a moment before she tried to steel her gaze, "… I want to intern with you. For UA's hero work studies program."

There was a long pause. And then Nagant, in a blunt, sure-of-herself voice, replied, "No."

"L-listen -"

"No, you need to listen to me, kid," Nagant sounded cold again, "you seriously don't want anything to do with me. I get that you have questions, but like I said, you can ask your parents about it. I'm -"

"I did ask my parents about everything," Ochako interrupted her, aware of the heat beginning to come to her voice while Izuku gave her a worried look, "and they told me everything they know. I wanna know your side of the story."

"What your parents told you is my side of the story," Her mother stated, "I realized that I was in over my head, being a hero and raising a kid at the same time. I couldn't handle the responsibility. So I ditched you three - you had your mom and dad, you were gonna be fine."

"And you came to that decision after sobbing your eyes out?" Ochako challenged.

"It wasn't an easy choice to make."

"Yeah, no, that's - that's bullshit," She decided to make clear, noticing how Nagant's voice wobbled a bit, "and we both know it."

"I -" Nagant let out a low growl under her breath, Ochako hearing the sound of feet moving against the floor. "- look, even if I took you on in an internship, what would I even teach you? Our quirks are nothing alike."

"You could …"

However, Ochako felt herself hesitate, feeling her determination falter. In her nervousness over calling her other mother, she … kind of forgot to think up reasons as to why Nagant could be a good mentor.

Unfortunately for her, her other mother picked up on the obvious hesitation.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

"I -"

"Kid, no," Nagant sighed, with Ochako beginning to scowl at the finality in her voice, "look, I get that you … you probably want to ask me shit. But whatever your parents told you was the truth, and there's nothing that I can add that you don't already know. I can't help you as a mentor, so just - just intern with some other hero, and forget about me."

Ochako began to feel a pout come to her cheeks, feeling angry about her mother's rejection. Izuku, for his part, kept quiet but gulped a bit nervously as she Danger Pout-ed at nothing for a moment - and then she let out a small sigh.

"Fine," She said, shrugging her shoulders, "I mean … I guess in the end, I don't need your permission to intern with you."

"Huh?" Nagant scoffed. "The hell are you going on about, kid? I'm pretty sure you do."

"Well, I could just …" She said innocently, "… call the HPSC's official line and talk to a representative about applying as your intern. I'm sure someone there can help me out."

There was a long pause over the line. Ochako blinked a bit for a moment, almost wondering if Nagant had hung up again, but then she spoke.

"Kid," Ochako felt herself go still at the very cold, very angry shift in Nagant's tone, "don't even fucking joke about that."

"I, uh -" She felt herself falter, taken entirely aback, "- I just -"

"Who are you talking to?"

At the sound of a man's angry voice on the other side of the phone call, Ochako blinked, looking around at her phone by her ear.

"W-who's that?"

"None of your business," She heard her mom snap, and she wasn't sure if she was talking to her or the guy evidently on the other end, Ochako hearing the sound of footsteps approaching, "I'm just gonna hang up now."

"Don't you dare. That is not a phone call you've been given permission to make. Give it to me now."

"I - hey -!"

Before Ochako could ask what was going on, feeling a small twinge of panic in her voice, there was a shuffling on the other end of the call, and then someone cleared their throat.

Someone who, obviously, wasn't her other mom.

"This is Agent Iguchi, from the Hero Public Safety Commission." The man's cold voice spoke directly into her ear. "Who is this?"

"O-oh, uh -" Ochako felt herself hesitated, glancing back at Izuku as he sat up and gave her a confused look.

"This is - uh -" She gulped. "- this is Ochako Uraraka. I was - I was just calling to ask -"

"Ochako Uraraka?"

She blinked a bit at the change in the agent's voice - he sounded a bit less like a hardass.

"Y-yes, that's - that's me."

"The student from UA?"

"Er …" Ochako cringed a bit, "… yes? Sir?"

"Might I ask why you were calling?"

"Uh …" Ochako paused for a second, not entirely sure where this was going, "… I'm … I'm interested in applying as Lady Nagant's intern. I was - I was just calling to -"

"I said no!" She heard Nagant irritably say in the background, which made her brow furrow.

For a few seconds, Agent Iguchi didn't say anything, letting Ochako stand there for a moment nervously - and then he spoke again, this time in a far more business-like tone.

"Let me put you on hold for a moment, Uraraka."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked. "Sorry, what did you -"

And that was when the line clicked, and she was placed on hold. Blinking, she turned to look around at Izuku as he gave her a concerned look.

"Er … what's going on?" He asked.

"I, uh …" Ochako slowly lowered the phone from her ear, grimacing lightly, "… if I'm being honest, Deku, I've got no fucking clue."


"Is that so?" Kanshi blinked at her agent, a pleasant and surprised smile appearing on her face. "Nagant's daughter wants to intern with her?"

"I told you, I already said no!" Nagant barked at her from the other side of the room, but both agents ignored her as they talked near the door of the hotel suite.

"That's correct, ma'am," Agent Iguchi nodded as he held Nagant's phone out for her to take, "she wants to intern with Lady Nagant for UA's work studies program. They've been arguing about it for the last five minutes, when I came in to see who she was speaking to."

Nagant, for her part, merely flipped the younger man off and gave him a look of complete and utter scorn, pacing up and down beside the bed. On the inside, however, she felt her heart continue to hammer in terror at the thoughtful look on Kanshi's face.

She saw how the president stared down at the phone, as though she had observed something curious that had caught her attention. She had to resist the urge to run over and rip the phone away from them as Kanshi took the phone from her underling and held it for a moment.

And then, to her horror, a smile appeared on Kanshi's face, and she lifted the phone up towards her ear.

"Don't -" Nagant tried quickly to stop her, but it was too late, as Kanshi already pressed the button on the phone and lifted it to her ear as she stepped into the hotel room.

"Good evening! Am I speaking with Ochako Uraraka?" She asked in a pleasant voice, keeping the phone to her ear as she tapped her heeled foot against the hardwood floor. And to Nagant's horror, she distantly heard her daughter answer through the phone.

"Ah, excellent - my name is Kanshi Shiryoku, the president of the Hero Public Safety Commission. How are you doing tonight, Uraraka?"

As she heard her daughter squeak even from across the room, Nagant felt like ice was filling her veins, staring into the young woman's calculating eyes with horror. She knew what was coming, what Kanshi was about to do, but she felt powerless to stop her, especially as Agent Iguchi kept his own eyes on her, his hand in his coat as an obvious threat.

One that she could obviously deal with, of course, but she was too busy staring at the HPSC leader, her entire body tensing.

"Yes, I'm doing well, thank you for asking," Kanshi giggled, turning away from Nagant, "now, then, I hear that you're interested in interning with Lady Nagant? Just for the week, am I right?"

“…”

"Yes. Well, I think that's an excellent idea," She nodded, "Nagant has experience as a former member of the Top 10, so I imagine that she could probably teach you a thing or two. Now, before you accept our offer, I just want to make it clear that Nagant will have a mission to go on during your work week - would you be alright with tagging along?"

"…"

"Oh, good! In that case, Uraraka, I'll be officially notifying UA that you're interested in interning with Lady Nagant, and once you meet with Nagant during the work week, we'll have you go through some paperwork to sign, and - oh, what's that?" Kanshi blinked at something Ochako said. "Oh, you're not allowed to do any official paperwork? Huh! I didn't know that."

Nagant straightened her back a bit, a hint of relief suddenly coming to her. But at the way Kanshi looked simply more amused than anything, she felt her stomach drop again.

"Ah. Well, if UA won't let you sign any official paperwork, then - well, there's not much we can do." She sighed. "But Uraraka, if I could offer a small bit of advice?"

"…"

"I'm actually a pro hero myself," She explained, "and signed on to work with the HPSC after I graduated from Seiai. I know that we can't make you sign anything official, but I just want you to consider the option of working with the HPSC when you're done with school - we offer some very nice bonuses, and I did watch your presentation at the sports festival. I think that we," Kanshi's eyes wandered to Nagant's, "can find some very interesting uses for your abilities as a pro hero."

Now, Nagant felt the fear return.

"Very good. Yes, yes, we'll still be reaching out to UA to confirm your offer. I imagine that they'll be very agreeable."

"…"

"Yes, thank you. Have a good night yourself!"

With that, she moved the phone down from her ear and disconnected the call, lazily tossing the phone onto the hotel bed. Kanshi then turned back to where Nagant was breathing heavily through her nose in an attempt to calm herself down.

"Well," The HPSC president smiled happily, "there you have it. You have an intern now, Nagant - and your own daughter, even! You must be thrilled."

Without a moment's pause, with a loud snap, the long metal barrel slid out of Nagant's elbow, and she quickly threw it up to aim the gun straight at Kanshi's face. Her eyes quickly filled with hatred as she shoved the barrel straight at Kanshi's uncaring face, her eyebrow raising as Nagant took a menacing step forward.

As she glared hatefully at the HPSC president, Iguchi pulled his gun out from his coat pocket and pointed it right in Nagant's face, but it was a little too late as Nagant's ripped out hair hardened into a bullet that easily slid into the hole in her other hand, clearly ready to fire.

"Put it down!" He shouted at Nagant in warning, but she completely ignored him, her cold eyes glaring at the HPSC as Kanshi gave her assassin a fascinated look.

"She doesn't intern with me," Nagant growled in a deadly whisper, "cancel the request."

Kanshi paused for a moment to consider it, glancing to the side.

"Hm … no." She shook her head. "I don't think I will."

"I'll shoot you. I swear to god, I'll -!"

"If you shoot me, you'll be arrested and thrown back into Tartarus," Kanshi smirked at her, fearless even with the gun in her face, "and this time, with no chance of parole. Your daughter, meanwhile, will simply be shuffled off to intern with another one of our agents - maybe Hawks, maybe Sol, maybe Takeshita, maybe even Yoroi Musha. Either way, she'll be working with the HPSC."

Her smirk widened a bit as she raised her hand, a finger tapping against the edge of the gun.

"Let's make this perfectly clear, Nagant - your daughter has made the choice, of her own free will, in fact, to work with the HPSC. And now it's too late - once we get her to sign the paperwork, she'll be a hero working with us for the rest of her life, just like you."

Without a hint of fear, Kanshi used her finger to push the end of Nagant's rifle away from her face. Despite the temptation to just fire a bullet into the smug woman's face and fight her way out of the hotel, Nagant merely gritted her teeth and glared, as though the mere hatred in her eyes could make the president drop dead on the spot.

"Now," Kanshi tilted her head as her smirk remained positively psychotic, "you need to accept, Nagant, that your daughter will be one of my agents. I'm going to make sure of that. But let me ask you this - between rotting away in prison for the rest of your life without a clue of what's happening, or mentoring your daughter - which choice would you prefer?"

Nagant stayed quiet. Kanshi didn't like that, evidenced by the way her eyes turned from playful to cold.

"Which one, Nagant?" She said in a low voice, pushing the gun completely away and stepping up to the assassin - and despite being a tad bit shorter, she showed no hesitation in getting in Nagant's face and sneering up at her. "Answer me. Prison, or mentoring your daughter - which do you want?"

"…"

"Answer me. Now."

"… mentor her." Nagant muttered.

"There you go," Kanshi's smile returned, "good girl. You had me worried for a moment that you were seriously considering your answer - I'd have thought you would have agreed to mentor your daughter at once. Maybe that's the real reason why you left her - you just didn't love her enough to stay."

Nagant's free hand clenched tightly into a fist, her nails digging into her skin.

"Now then," Kanshi took a step back, flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder, "she'll be your intern for the hero work program, and you'll make sure that she agrees to sign paperwork by the end that says that she'll begin working for us after school."

"No," Nagant shook her head slowly, a tinge of desperation in her voice, "no, I - I won't do it."

"You really don't have a choice in the matter," Kanshi replied coolly. "If I say bark, you'll bark. If I say jump, you'll jump. And if I say that you'll get your daughter to work with us … you'll do your damndest to do so. And if you don't, then I'll just have to lean on her other parents."

"…"

"This is happening, Nagant, whether you approve of it or not. What you can do is get with the program and help your daughter, or I'll just toss you back into Tartarus once your contract with the Hero Killer is done."

Nagant, for her part, glared down at her bare feet, but slowly, the gun slipped back into her elbow, the hand on her shoulder flopping down at her side.

"There you go. Now," Kanshi turned away from her while Iguchi glared at her, "for pulling a gun on me, you will not be able to leave this hotel room on your own unless Agent Iguchi here escorts you. You'll have a shoot on sight order put on you if you step outside this room without permission or supervision. We'll also be taking your phone - you won't be needing it. We'll brief you on what you'll be doing with your daughter once the time to assassinate the Hero Killer comes, so be on your guard. And Iguchi," She turned to the other agent, "I'll make sure to get you a sharp sight quirk, so you can keep your eye on her in case she tries anything stupid."

"Thank you, ma'am."

Moving to scoop up the phone from the bed, Kanshi began strolling out of the room with Iguchi, with Nagant glaring after her boss with such hatred that the lizard agent didn't holster his gun, glaring at her back as he backed the young woman out of the room, and spoke into his earpiece to relay the boss's order.

"Now then," Kanshi resumed her usually cheerful voice as she opened the door, looking around at Nagant with a happy smile, "get ready for tomorrow. We'll be having you do some internship paperwork to send to UA. How exciting!"

"Fuck you!" Nagant shouted at them both as loudly as she could. Kanshi, of course, merely giggled as she stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind Iguchi, leaving Nagant as the only occupant of the room.

Letting out several shaking breaths before grabbing her hair and pulling at it, Nagant let out another frustrated scream before she stormed over to the wine cabinet that she had ordered be put into the room. Grabbing the first bottle she saw, she stormed out onto the balcony, not caring in the slightest as red dots appeared on her body - a sign from the HPSC snipers around the hotel for her to behave.

Instead, she ripped the cork out from the bottle, and threw her head back as she took a long, deep drink. Once she was satisfied, she dropped the bottle and let out a sobbing breath, covering her eyes with her hand as she leaned heavily against the railing.

"Fuck," She bit her lip hard enough to draw blood, "just … fuck. Baby girl, you - you fucking idiot! Fuck!"

And with that, she took another drink, more than aware that all the sacrifices she had to make to keep her daughter safe were decaying before her eyes.


Melissa … wasn't really sure how she had gotten here.

"Now," The grandma sitting beside her, who gave her a wobbly grin while adjusting her hair, angled up into spiraling pigtails that stuck above her head, "Melissa, was it? Or was it another name? Angela? Linda? Maria? Cassandra?"

"U-uh - it's Melissa, ma'am."

"Oh, just call me Granny!"

"Er - right. Granny."

"Y-yes, dear, she - she - she did say that," The old, bald man with the big beard sitting across from them nodded rapidly, his voice continuing to tremble from what she presumed was age, "n-now - now - now, M-Melissa, t-tell us - how have you - you been finding Japan? H-hmmmm? Nice? T-tropical? Warm? C-cold? Rainy?"

"Give her a second to think of an answer, Grandpa!" Nejire lightly reprimanded her grandfather, before she turned back to grin at Melissa sitting beside her at the table. "Buy, hey, that's something I never did ask you, Melissa, how is the weather here compared to I-Island? Is it a bit warmer? I thought it was pretty warm last spring when we got back from our trips to one of the islands - er - which island did we visit again, Mom?"

"We visited Okinawa," Mami Hadou confirmed, using her chopsticks to push one of her rice balls into her mouth, "and that was during our vacation in the summer, not the spring."

"Oh! Right! So in that case, Melissa, is I-Island usually cold? Is it warm? It has to be warm, if the island moves around the ocean, it would have to make sure nobody freezes! But wait, hold on, if it's a city that moves through the ocean, it should probably protect everyone from tidal waves, right? How does it do that? Like a force field?"

"Y-yes, dear," Grandpa Hadou nodded encouragingly at Melissa, "tell us about - about the force field."

"And the weather!" Granny Hadou happily added in.

Now, as one could guess, Melissa was, at this point, starting to feel a bit overwhelmed. And seeing as Yuuyu was too busy eating her own supper quietly on the other side of the table, she wasn't getting a lot of support. Indeed, as soon as they had left Gym Gamma, Melissa had been all but dragged by Nejire all the way back to her home in the Akita prefecture - a nice, big house in a suburban area, where Melissa was brought inside to meet the blue-haired girl's family while Yuuyu was silent and listened to her music instead of talking.

There, Melissa had gotten to meet Nejire's mom, Mami - a nice, albeit tough looking woman with muscular arms and blue hair like her daughter's tied back into a spirally ponytail. She had also met Nejire's grandparents on her mom's side, who apparently lived in the upstairs rooms, who had happily greeted her and … proceeded to show where Nejire had gotten her natural curiosity from, bombarding her with question after question. Nejire's father hadn't been there, on the other hand, apparently being a defense lawyer that stayed for long hours at work, but somehow, Nejire's mom had convinced her to stay for dinner and be bombarded by questions on three different sides.

Which … admitted wasn't that bad, seeing as the food was absolutely delicious. Still, it was kind of hard to chew and talk at the same time.

"So, Melissa," Mimi sighed as she gave the blonde girl a kind smile, "thanks again for staying for dinner. It's nice to see that Nejire's friends are interested in finally meeting us."

"Oh, uh - of course, ma'am," Melissa quickly nodded, swallowing her rice and smiling while Nejire turned to beam at her, "I'm - I'm more than happy to - to be here. I think."

"Yeah, it's a bit overwhelming, I know," Nejire's mom guessed Melissa's hesitation there, chuckling when Melissa went red, "our family definitely doesn't know how to shut up."

"H-h-how rude," Grandpa Hadou shook his head, "we - we - we know how to stay q-quiet!"

"You're welcome to prove me wrong, Dad, but it'll never happen! Anyway," Mimi's grin suddenly sharpened, making Melissa blink as the older woman looked back to her, "tell me something, dear - have you heard of some guy named Midoriya yet?"

Nejire felt herself stiffen. On the other side of the table, Yuuyu let out a small humming growl as she poked at her rice.

"Uh … Midoriya?" Melissa repeated, her eyes glancing over at Nejire for a moment before moving back to her mom. "Oh, uh … yeah, I - I know him."

"Hm," Mimi nodded, her eyes narrowing a fraction, "he a friend of yours?"

"Well, uh … yes. I'm … I'm actually rooming with him right now -"

"Huh?!" Nejire's mom suddenly gawked, her eyes widening. "You are?! With Midoriya? Wait, you mean that you're staying in another room than he is, right?"

"Er …" Melissa hesitated for a moment - and then she made the mistake of saying, "… uh … n-no. We - we stay in the same room."

"Huh?!" Mimi's eyes blew open even wider.


"A-a-a-ah, youth," Grandpa Hadou reminisced, still shaking a bit as he turned to where his wife was eating, "do - do - do y-you remember wh-when we w-were that age? W-we used to - to to sneak around a-and mess around?"

"H-huh?!" Melissa squeaked, whipping around to stare at the older man with a heavy blush - and the fact that her dream of Izuku last night also used the term 'mess around' only made her blush even hotter. "O-oh, no, that's - uh - that's -"

"Aaaaah, yes, I definitely remember that," Grandma Hadou giggled, "oh, how we used to get in your car and sneak around all the hero and villain fights … going to our little home away from home and spending the night -"

"Mom, Dad, put a sock in it, you're traumatizing the kids!" Mimi barked suddenly, making the entire table jump a bit at the volume in her voice.

She then turned back to the taken aback Melissa, an assuring smile immediately replacing the snarl.

"Now, then, sweetie," She said in a kind voice, "you don't need to worry - I'd be more than happy to let you stay here, just so you don't share a house with a boy. We'll swing by Midoriya's place after I'm done with the dishes to grab your stuff -"

"Oh, uh - no, that's - that's okay!" Melissa quickly tried to placate her, trying to make sure that whatever misunderstanding had just happened was cleared up at once. "I - I don't really mind sharing a room with Izuku. He's very - he's very courteous, and polite, and -"

"And that's not the problem!" Mimi suddenly snapped, banging her fist against the table. "The problem is that I don't want anyone seducing Midoriya other than my daughter!"

There was a long pause at that proclamation. Nejire suddenly went bright red and hid her face behind her hands. Melissa stared blankly at the older woman as Mimi stood up and clenched her fist. And then Yuuyu let out a long groan.

"I've lost my appetite," She said shortly, putting her chopsticks down on the table and clapping her hands together before she got up, and moved to leave the dining room.

"I …" Melissa said in a blank voice, "… I'm … sorry? I'm … seducing who?"

"You're seducin' Midoriya!" Nejire's mom threw herself back in her chair, looking positively horrified at the very idea. "You know how often my little girl here talks about him? That's her future boyfriend we're talking about here -"

Nejire let out a small squeak behind her hands.

"- so I wanna make sure that no one sneaks in and seduces him away from Nejire! Bad enough that he was pretty much clinging to that Uraraka chick during the entire sports festival! Why couldn't those idiot teachers have paired him up with Nejire?! We'd be having him over for dinner by now if those damn teachers weren't so biased against my daughter!"

"Uh …" Melissa managed to get out, unsure if Aizawa would really be as 'biased' as to put Izuku and Ochako together during the sports festival.

"Now," Mimi gave her a serious look, "we'll go to the Midoriyas after this, you grab all your stuff, and you'll stay here. I'll convince the hubby to abandon our bedroom, if you want to stay there, we'll take the couch. Better that you stay here than over there, where accidents could happen and babies could be made!"

"B-babies?!" Melissa squeaked, her already red face burning even hotter.

"A-ah," Nejire's grandpa sighed, "like how we -"

"Dad, zip it! Melissa, do you get me?!"

"I - I -"

"Oh!" Nejire suddenly jumped up from her seat, grabbing Melissa's arm and yanking her up with a yelp. "I almost forgot, Mom! Melissa and I have homework! About something! Something important! Like, 'end of the world' important! We should probably get on doing it before Aizawa-sensei comes into our house and tries to stitch my mouth shut in my sleep! Which would be really bad! So, we're gonna go do it now! Bye-bye!"

With that, Melissa was pulled roughly away from the table, with the two small older grandparents giving her a wave bye-bye while Nejire's mom continued to aim a suspicious look at her retreating back. It didn't take long for the two teenage girls to go through the nice looking, albeit chaotic living room, up the stairs, and then into Nejire's room, with Melissa pushed inside and immediately looking at the Siamese cat napping in the window as Nejire closed the door behind her.

Looking back around at her, Melissa saw Nejire slump against the door, holding her hands over her face again.

"Sorry about my mom," She apologized, her voice muffled by her hands, "she's super cringe."

"Er … no, no, your mom's not - uh - 'cringe'," Melissa gave her a weak smile, "she's just … enthusiastic about your love life, apparently. Very … very … enthusiastic."

"Yeah, and she's super cringey about it!" Nejire threw her hands up as she pouted up at the ceiling, hopping up and down in her frustration and embarrassment, "I talk about one guy, and she's all 'oh! That's your boyfriend, isn't it? Let me get the wedding bells ready!' And, like, sometimes it's funny, but when it's in front of other people, it's humiliating! Like, Midoriya's not my boyfriend! He's adorable and cute and hot and sexy, but he's not my boyfriend!"

"Mm-hm," Melissa slowly nodded, choosing not to comment on the 'hot' and 'sexy' points in Nejire's little rant, and looked around.

Looking around at Nejire's room, she felt her shoulders sink a bit in relaxation at how normal it looked - there were, of course, a few posters of idol singers or bands lining the walls, a messy looking desk with papers everywhere and a laptop with a nice looking spiraling screensaver, and her bed a bit of a mess as well. And above the desk was a board nailed into the wall, and on it, several photos were pinned there.

Blinking a bit, Melissa approached the board, looking at the pictures as a soft smile appeared on her face. The photos were from various points of Nejire's life - there were a few of Nejire with her mom and dad, a thin, pale guy with long purple hair and a narrow face, smiling goofily as he held his fingers up as a peace sign; one of Nejire sitting in a skatepark beside a bruised but smiling Yuuyu; one of Nejire as a little girl, laying on her stomach on the floor and drawing. Melissa found herself smiling more as she looked around the board, aware of Nejire walking over to see what she was looking at.

"Oh? Having a look at all my stuff?" She asked in an interested voice, leaning against the desk and beaming over at Melissa. "I like to have everything up here so I can look at them when I work! It gives me all the happy feels whenever I need it. So, which one's your favorite? Or wait, is that a weird thing to ask about photos of me? Well, in any case, which one do you think looks the nicest?"

"Uh … well …" Melissa shrugged a bit, her eyes trailing back around the photos again - and then one caught her eye, making her blink. Moving her hands over to carefully take it off the board, she stared down at the picture of what looked to be a toddler Nejire, who was looking up at the camera and crying as she laid on her stomach and looked up at the camera as though in betrayal.

Raising her eyebrow, she showed Nejire the picture.

"Oh!" Nejire let out a giggle, taking the photo from her and smiling down at her crying younger self. "Yeah, my mom took this picture after I first started flying with my quirk, and I fell to the ground for the first time! I was so upset when Mom just took a picture before she came to comfort me. I swore that I would never forgive her!"

Melissa let out a small laugh, which was helped by Nejire giggling along with her as well.

"So I assume you eventually did forgive her?"

"Well, she said sorry! And then took me inside and made me jasmine tea! So yeah, all was forgiven!"

Melissa giggled a bit at that, watching as Nejire put the photo back on the board before heading over to the windowsill to pet her cat. Melissa watched her friend for a moment as she cooed and stroked her pet's head, feeling her smile fall just a little bit.

Mostly, of course, because of the reminder of why she had agreed to come to Nejire's place to begin with. And … well, they were alone now, so …

"So, uh … Nejire," Melissa carefully put her hands behind her back, keeping her face neutral, "thank you so much for inviting me over to dinner tonight."

"Oh, you're welcome!" Nejire smiled. "Did you like it? Mom's a great chef, but sometimes she'll feel lazy and cheat and bring home fast food for us to eat. Would it have been okay if it had been one of those nights? Our cheat nights? It probably would've seemed rude, wouldn't it?"

"Um - well, no, not really," Melissa chuckled self-deprecatingly, "I'm not gonna pretend that I haven't had my own fair share of fast food instead of healthy food over the years."

"Oh, same!"

"But, uh … well, with that out of the way, I guess that I do have one question for you, Nejire, that I was hoping you could answer."

"Huh? A question?" Nejire blinked, looking around at Melissa in surprise and delight. "Sure! Ask away!"

"Okay," Melissa nodded, her eyes staring at Nejire from over the top of her glasses, "so … why do you keep getting in between me and Izuku?"

As her question hung in the air, she saw - granted, through blurriness since she wasn't looking through her glasses - Nejire suddenly went still. Melissa was still willing to wait a few seconds for Nejire to get over her surprise, crossing her arms and giving her an expectant look.

Finally, Nejire straightened her back, and let out a nervous giggle.

"Uh … ha, ha, ha!" She laughed weakly. "W-what do you mean, Melissa? I mean - uh - I - I think I do know what you mean, but I - uh -"

"Every time I've gotten close to Izuku in the past two days," She raised her eyebrows, "you always find a way to push in between us."

Nejire was doing a very good job staring nervously over Melissa's shoulder.

"If it had happened only once? Then I probably would've thought it was nothing," Melissa shook her head, "but we walked to the gym today and you made sure that you were between us. And when I asked Izuku if he wanted to come with me to the arcade, you instead jumped in to invite me over. That," She looked through her glasses to make sure Nejire knew that she was looking straight at her, "makes me suspicious."

Nejire continued to sweat nervously, her smile shaky and weak, and she flinched a bit when Melissa leaned slightly forward.

"So," She tilted her head, "spill, Nejire. What's going on?"

"Er …" Nejire hesitated for another long moment, very much aware of how guilty she was starting to look under Melissa's suspicious and skeptical eye.

There was a long pause, in which Nejire stared nervously over Melissa's shoulder at the door while Melissa gave her an unimpressed look - and then the blue-haired girl sighed, and looked down at her feet while twiddling her fingers together.

"Er … darn," She giggled anxiously, "you, uh - you're really observant, Melissa. Super, super observant."

"Mm-hm," Melissa nodded, "so … explanation?"

"R-right," Nejire nodded rapidly, continuing to sweat nervously, "explanation. Yeah. So … um … there's … obviously an explanation for what I'm doing. And - and it's really important! So, so important! But the thing is, uh … I'm … not allowed to say."

“…”

“…”

"… huh." Melissa slowly nodded, looking clearly unimpressed.

"I mean it!" Nejire clapped her hands together in apology. "It's just - well - it's not really my secret to tell! But I promise that I wasn't doing it to offend you or make you feel bad! Cross my heart!"

Melissa slowly nodded, still not really impressed by Nejire's weak attempts to push off her questions, but she still sighed and moved to sit down on the edge of Nejire's bed, giving her friend a moment to stammer her way into silence. However, when she looked up at how Nejire was starting to blush, Melissa felt her brow crinkle.

And then, suddenly, a thought occurred to her.

Wait … the way that Nejire was trying to avoid meeting her eyes. The way her fingers were twiddling together. The way that she was blushing. The way that she … kept blushing. While they were …

… talking … about Izuku.

Hold on, Melissa felt herself blink, does … does Nejire …?

"I … know that I must seem really confusing," Nejire mumbled, unaware of Melissa sitting forward and widening her eyes while staring up at her, "me being all confusing and getting in the way. I just … don't want you to accidentally realize that … you know …"

There was a pause. And then both Nejire and Melissa spoke at the same time.

"You like Izuku."

"… you like Midoriya."

As they both realized what the other had said, both girls blinked.

Turned to look at each other.

And then they felt their jaws drop.

"Huh?" Melissa squeaked, her face going red.

"Huh?" Nejire gave her a look of surprise. "Wait, you know that I like him, too? How long have you known? Wait, was it obvious? I was thinking that I was being subtle!"

"I - wait, what?!" Melissa quickly stood up from the bed, her face now looking like it was turning into a tomato. "No, I - I don't like Izuku! No way!"

Both girls paused as what Melissa said soaked in. And then it was Nejire's turn to give Melissa a skeptical look, while the blonde girl quickly aimed her gaze down at her feet.

"I just - I mean - I - uh - I - okay, look," She sighed, twiddling her thumbs together, "I know that … you know … Izuku is … really attractive -"

"Mm-hm, yes, I do know!" Nejire confirmed with a nod, beginning to smile as she leaned in, and Melissa leaned back so that the blue-haired girl's face wasn't in hers. "It's frustrating how much of a hottie he is, isn't it? He's so cute, and he doesn't even notice! But wait, how long have you liked him? A long time? Only recently? Has it been since before you came to Japan, or after?"

"N-neither!" She tried to protest. "I just - I -"

She felt herself trail off after a moment of trying to stutter out an answer, her face burning bright hot as she looked away. She knew that she was lying through her teeth, she blushed, but it wasn't like she could just tell Nejire that she had a naughty dream about Izuku last night!

However, as she opened her mouth to try to find something to say, while Nejire gave her an expectant look, something in her memory poked at her. She felt herself blink as she looked off to the side - and then it suddenly came back to her.

“I kissed Deku.”

… wait. Wait. Oh, no.

Melissa felt her blushing cheeks slowly fade, turning to look back over at Nejire standing before her in horror and shock. Wait - wait, how could she forget? Even last night after her dream, she had remembered her conversation with Ochako - the one that pointed out that she was in love with Izuku? And had kissed him? They - they had a gossipy talk about it! And now here she was, in front of Nejire, who had just confessed that she liked Izuku too. And … probably had no idea.

Oh, god! How was she supposed to explain and make sure Nejire didn't do something stupid with Izuku without knowing about Ochako?! Especially when - when there was also Itsuka to -

- to -

- wait a minute.

Suddenly, Melissa found herself pausing. Blinking. And then turned to look away, unaware of Nejire looking confused as the embarrassment suddenly fell off of Melissa's face. But she couldn't concentrate on that, because she had just … remembered something.

Something important. Something …

"I just … I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku …"

Ochako … liked Itsuka. And she liked Izuku. And Setsuna this afternoon …

"How about you three? You in?"

"Tempting, but I'm gonna have to pass - my parents are taking Eri out for dinner tonight, so they want me to hold down the fort. And before anyone asks, no, I'm not gonna be throwing any parties. Just pizza and a movie for me tonight. Sorry."

"How about you, Midoriya? Uraraka? Melissa?"

"Oh, uh - I actually gotta make a call tonight for internship stuff. Don't know how long I'll be, so … I'll probably be staying home. Sorry."

The three of them … had declined the offer to hang out with the rest of the group. So Itsuka could go home. So Ochako could go home. So Izuku … presumably could go home. So the three of them were alone.

But that was when Melissa's mind began connecting the dots, feeling her jaw begin to drop.

The way those three were always together. How they had come back nearly late from lunch the other day, looking weirdly flushed and embarrassed from everyone looking at them. How red Itsuka and Ochako were when Izuku came over in his new hero costume. How … how she had freaking met them when they were doing a stay over at Itsuka's. How close they were …

… but … that could only mean …

“… oh my god.” She whispered, her eyes going wide behind her glasses.

"Hm?" Nejire gave her a confused look, crinkling her brow at how quiet she had gotten. "What's up, Melissa? You went kinda quiet for a minute! Is everything -?"

"They're together."

Nejire stopped at that, her face falling and her eyes becoming a bit confused. Melissa then looked at her, one of her hands shaking as she pointed.

"I-Itsuka." She stammered. "Ochako. Izuku."

That was when Nejire stiffened up.

"They're … they're dating," She whispered, face going red, "they're - they're together?"

For five long, tension filled seconds, the room was quiet.

And then Nejire let out a loud squeak, her face transforming into horror, and she quickly charged forward to cover Melissa's mouth with both of her hands, causing the inventor to yelp as well as Nejire slipped on a shirt left on the floor. Collapsing into Melissa, both girls fell onto the bed, making the cat in the windowsill jump a bit and then aim a glare down at the two struggling girls.

"Shhh!" Nejire begged her, trying to keep her hands over Melissa's mouth as the American girl continued to stammer, raising her own hands to grab Nejire's wrists. "Shhhh! No one is supposed to know! Shhhh!"

"You - you knew?!" Melissa managed to get out, raising her hand to grab Nejire's own mouth in turn as they rolled over onto their sides, continuing to struggle against each other. "I - how did this happen?! When did this happen?!"

"I - I can't say! Shhhh!"

"You shush! I just - ew! Did you just lick my hand?!"

For about two minutes, the girls continued to struggle against each other, one wanting more answers and the other one ironically wanting to stop the questions. They both rolled around a bit while trying to keep the other one quiet enough to talk, the bed squeaking under their weight, and the struggle only continued when they inevitably rolled off the bed, both of them yelping as they fell to the floor, and then continued to roll around trying to silence the other, with Nejire squeaking when some of her hair got caught under Melissa's back and pulled, and Melissa panting in exhaustion as she was forced to fight against someone else for once her life and coming to the realization that she absolutely no stamina.

"I - agh -!"

"Ow! My hair!"

"S-shit, sorry, I - ow! Okay, hold on, time out, time out!"

Both girls stopped wrestling for a moment, panting as they both sat up. Melissa, for her part, quickly took off her glasses and strained to put them over on Nejire's desk, while Nejire tied her hair back into a big bun, hoping to get it somewhat out of the way. They both also took off their school jackets and tossed them over to the bed, before they turned back to each other.

"You good?"

"Yep!"

With that, they both grabbed at each other and flipped back onto the floor, grunting and yelping quietly as they began wrestling again. The cat above them merely stared down in disapproval as both of them rolled around for another few minutes, Melissa trying to get her answers while Nejire tried covering her mouth.

Eventually, though, they both ran out of steam and collapsed onto their butts against the opposite wall, panting and rubbing their backs where they had hit the hardwood floor. Melissa's hair was absolutely crazy, while Nejire looked likewise disheveled as they both tried to catch their breaths, and then turned to look at each other.

“…”

“…”

"… okay, I know that was supposed to be super serious," Nejire was unable to resist giggling, "but wrestling with you was kinda fun!"

Melissa sputtered a bit, and then she laughed as well as she shook her head.

"Yeah, I'll admit, that was pretty fun," She chortled as Nejire giggled along with her, both of them sitting up to lean against the wall as they tried to recover from the unexpecting wrestling match. As soon as she caught her breath, Melissa let out a sigh as she started fixing her hair.

"So, uh …" She glanced at Nejire, "… those three?"

Nejire blinked a bit - and then suddenly rolled around with a pout, as though threatening to roll Melissa back to the floor.

"I'll still wrestle you to keep quiet!"

"I - okay, yes, I believe you," She gave her, "but I also think that us 'wrestling' wasn't exactly quiet either."

Nejire paused at that.

"Oh," She said, a tinge of red on her cheeks, "ah. I … guess I'll have to explain to Mom that I wasn't … uh … playing around with … you …"

Melissa cleared her throat at that, going a bit red before she shook her head and tried to dispel the image of her and Nejire … 'playing around'.

"Yeah, uh … a-anyway. I'm - I'm not gonna tell anyone that I know," She shrugged, "I mean, I - it's not like you're the only one who doesn't know stuff."

"Huh? You do?"

"Y-yeah. I, uh - I know that Ochako kissed both of them -"

"Wait, you do?!" Nejire gasped, her eyes going wide again.

"Yeah, she - she told me," Melissa nodded, "and I just - well, I knew that she was going to do something about it, but … well, I never got a follow up. But now that I know that they're together …"

"You won't do anything about your crush on Izuku?" Nejire asked hopefully.

Melissa let out a small sigh, moving to wrap her arms around her legs as she pouted.

"I - okay, look," She felt her cheeks turn a bit redder, "so, I - well - okay. So I don't have a crush on Izuku. Honestly, I just … there's been times where I thought that he was attractive, and cute, and his butt is … really, really nice, and … and …"

Nejire raised her eyebrow a bit higher.

"… and this is really not helping my case."

"Nope! Not really."

"Well," Melissa let out a defeated groan, "shit."

"Oh, no, you don't have to feel embarrassed about it!" Nejire patted her shoulder comfortingly. "I mean, I like Izuku and Itsuka, and I don't know how I feel about Uraraka yet, but I wanna find out! I'm not embarrassed to be attracted to any of them! They're hotties!"

"I …" Melissa paused for a moment, feeling like she was having a small overload of information - from Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka apparently going out, to Nejire apparently having feelings for maybe all of them, to having accusations of herself having feelings for Izuku thrown at her - and then she shook her head.

"Okay …" She nodded slowly, "… so I - I think I need to get caught up with this whole thing. I - I'm not really asking for details on those three, because - because if I want to know something, I'll just ask them - but I'm not really sure how you fit into all of this, Nejire."

"Oh!" Nejire blinked. "So you just wanna know about my feelings for them?"

"I guess," She shrugged.

"Well, in that case, sure!" She giggled lightly. "As long as I don't have to tell you about - uh - anything they want me to keep secret."

"Of course," Melissa smiled, "yeah, that's fine."

"Okey-dokey! So -"

However, before Nejire could get going with her explanation, the door near them creaked. Both girls blinked a bit, and quickly looked around to see Mimi slowly poking her head in through the crack, her normally kind eyes narrowed into slits as she looked down at the two girls on the floor, with their hair a mess, their clothes ruffled, and looking flushed.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… Melissa," Mimi looked very disappointed in her, "I have a strict rule in this house that Nejire's not allowed to be involved with any hanky-panky if the person she's hanky-panky-ing with isn't named 'Midoriya'."

"N-no!" Melissa immediately went redder. "That's not it at all! I can explain!"

"Yeah, Mom!" Nejire balled her fists, also going red. "We weren't making out on the bed and rolling around on the floor! We were wrestling!"

"'Wrestling' is exactly what I assumed you two are doing, little missy!"

"A-a-a-ah, y-youth -"

"Dad, shut it!"


Letting out a small hum of excitement, Itsuka bumped the upstairs door closed with her hip, carrying the two boxes of pizza, with its delicious smell wafting up to her nose and making her stomach growl, into the living room to set down on the coffee table. Straightening up and heading back to the kitchen to grab their plates, she continued to hum to herself as she put the plates down on the counter, aware of Gūdo slumbering into the kitchen so that he could bump his head against her leg with a whine.

"Yeah, yeah, I got you too, boy," She giggled, grabbing the bag of dog food and pouring some into his tray on the side. As the dog bent over to start eating, Itsuka put the large bag back down and went over to grab the three plates to bring into the living room.

As she set them all down beside the pizza, she heard the sound of her family continuing to get ready to go. Her parents had already told her that they had wanted to grab an early dinner with Eri before they went to go see a movie with her, a move that made Itsuka blink a bit in confusion but she knew better than to complain. It was more surprising, on the other hand, that her grandpa had agreed to go with them, but maybe Teko just wanted to spend a bit of time with the family, even if he had to sit through a kid's movie afterwards, before he went to buy his new mats for the dojo.

Either way, that meant that Itsuka had the house to herself for a few hours. And that, Itsuka grinned to herself, was something that she was going to enjoy with her partners once they got there, any minute now.

"Seems like someone's in a good mood," Tenohira noted with a smile as she poked her head into the living room, seeing the way Itsuka was practically bouncing around, "that excited for Izuku and Ochako to come over? What's the occasion?"

"Well, it has been a while since it's just been the three of us," Itsuka half-fibbed, still smiling happily as her cheeks went a bit pink, "so yeah, I'm excited."

"Well, that's good," Tenohira sighed as she put on her coat, Hakushu coming into the kitchen behind her while still scrubbing some grease off his face, "because we'll probably be back at around nine-ish, so it'll just be the three of you for a while. Try not to burn down the house, please."

"That we will," Itsuka muttered to herself, going a bit redder at the thought of what they could get up to for a few hours of alone time.

"Anyway, uh …" Hakushu suddenly spoke up, sighing as he put the towel down on the back of his chair and looked around at his daughter, "… Itsuka, there's - there's something we wanted to talk to you about."

Straightening up and blinking a bit, Itsuka looked around at both of her parents as they stepped into the living room. For their part, they didn't look upset or angry or anything, but there was still a seriousness on their faces that made her tilt her head a bit in curiosity.

"Uh … yeah, sure," She shrugged, "what's up?"

"Well," Tenohira sighed as she approached her daughter, "we wanted to talk to you about Midnight coming to talk with us a few days ago."

Itsuka gave her a look of surprise.

"Midnight-sensei?"

"Yes. So, uh, we got a lot of info we didn't really understand, but," Hakushu grimaced, "to sum it up, she basically informed us that the police have been looking into whoever Eri's caregiver is."

That, of course, caused Itsuka to pause fully, quickly looking over at her dad in surprise. But when what he said sank in, she felt her face fall as she glanced between both her parents.

"… oh."

"Yes," Tenohira likewise looked a bit awkward, "they - they haven't gotten any leads yet, but they've been talking about it with Principal Nezu."

"Is -" Itsuka felt herself shrink a bit, a twinge of fear running through her, "- is this because of me being in the sports festival?"

"No, no, sweetie," Her mother quickly assured her, shaking her head and reaching up to rub her arms, "from what the police have been looking into, there haven't been any leads after you appeared during the sports festival, so they think you're fine. It's just, the police were discussing things with the principal, and …"

"He had the thought," Hakushu took over the explanation, "that having Eri stay with us may - well - it's not like she's in any danger, but he thought that it might be safer for Eri to stay somewhere with plenty of heroes to look after her, just in case. But since they know that you and Eri have grown close, they figured that she wouldn't want to be separated from you …"

"And basically," Tenohira gave her a weak smile, "Principal Nezu wants you and Eri to move to Heights Alliance together."

"Oh," Itsuka nodded slowly, glancing away, and thinking about how that kind of made sense -

- and then what her mom said actually registered in her mind, and she felt herself blink.

"W-wait," She quickly looked around at her parents again, looking surprised, "so - so the school wants me to move to Heights Alliance? With Eri?"

"Mm-hm," Tenohira nodded, giving her a soft look, "the teachers are thinking of having Eri stay at their dormitories full time, so they can watch over her a bit more closely, and maybe start giving her an education. And since they know that Eri loves to be around you, and … probably won't take it very well if she has to live with the teachers -"

"Yeaaaah," Itsuka winced, thinking of what would happen if Eri had to stay with Aizawa and Midnight all day long and cringing.

"- so they're wondering if you would be okay with living with her full time at the school - you know, basically the same deal now."

Itsuka let out a small hum at that, turning to look down at her bare feet as she thought for a moment. As though sensing her daughter's hesitation, Tenohira reached out to gently brush her hand against Itsuka's cheek, drawing her attention again.

"It's just so that she feels comfortable," She said in a soft voice, "we'll still need to ask Eri about it, after all. That's why your grandpa wants to come with us tonight - he wants to help us make her feel comfortable when we ask, it's a big thing that we're asking of her."

Itsuka slowly nodded, turning to glance down at her feet again - and then she let out a small sigh.

"So …" She looked back up at her parents, giving them both a weak smile, "… I … guess I'm getting kicked out a few years earlier than I thought I would?"

"I - okay, you don't really need to put it that way." Hakushu chuckled at his daughter's snark while rubbing the top of her head. "The teachers are just asking that you live with Eri at the school while they try teaching her. We'll be expecting you to be coming home every weekend, young lady - especially since Eri will be taking your grandpa's classes."

"That's right," Tenohira giggled as well, "I know it's tempting to try living it up living at a boarding school, but that won't be stopping us from grounding you if you get yourself into trouble, little missy."

"Me, get into trouble? Yeah, because I'm such a troublemaker."

"That you are, Miss 'Jump into a burning building'. Oh, and you'll be bringing the dog with you. We love Gūdo, but he's your dog, not ours."

"Yeah, yeah, I get that," Itsuka gave her mom a far more genuine smile, "and … well, I was kind of expecting to have to stay at Heights Alliance anyway, since I'm the class rep. So … yeah, I guess I'll be keeping everyone out of trouble anyway."

"Okay," Tenohira reached over to give her daughter a hug, to which Itsuka rolled her eyes but hugged her back, "that sounds fine to me. Just expect me to be clinging to you until we leave Saturday."

"Yeah, that's - wait," Itsuka blinked a bit, moving out of her mom's grasp to look at her, "Saturday? I thought Heights Alliance opened next week."

"Yeah, that's what Midnight told us was officially happening," Hakushu chuckled, "but for you and Eri, they'll be making an exception. They'll be opening one of the 1A houses early for you two to share - she also said that if you come up with any roommates you want to stay with, you just need to let her know before Saturday so that they'll have their doors open."

"Ah …" Itsuka paused, beginning to think, "… wait, so how many roommates would I be allowed to grab? Me, Eri … so … three more roommates?"

"Honey," Tenohira sighed, "let's not pretend that Eri's not going to be staying in your room all the time. Your dad rearranged the guest room for her to stay in and she's been in there a grand total of once."

"Perfect waste of my weekend," Hakushu grumped.

"Yeah, that's fair," Itsuka slowly nodded as she backed out of her mom's embrace, "so … I just gotta grab four roommates. That's … easy peasy, I guess."

"Yeah, I'm sure that you can just grab Setsuna and Yui. I'm sure -"

"Dad," Itsuka gave her father a dry look, "I love those two, but I'm also aware of what their rooms normally look like. I refuse on principle to live with them, because I know I'll tear them both apart if I have to clean up after them."

"Fair enough," Tenohira giggled, "anyway, we'll be going over everything with Eri over dinner - we think that it'll go well, but we're hoping that she'll be okay with moving out with you."

As though they had summoned her just by mentioning her, they heard the sound of socked feet shuffling on the floor, and the three Kendous looked around to see Eri coming into the living room. She looked very nice, wearing a red dress with a t-shirt and shorts underneath, and her long gray hair was tied back into a ponytail.

However, since the little girl's hair was out of her face, Itsuka felt her eyes be drawn up to her forehead, and she felt herself blink.

Wait, she thought to herself, is it just me, or has her horn always been that big?

Before she could even think to ask the little girl, Tenohira let out a small giggle as she straightened up, and walked over to take Eri's hand.

"Seems like we're just about ready to be off," She grinned down at her, "do you know if Grandpa's waiting for us?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded, "he's downstairs."

"Alrighty, then, we better not keep him waiting," Hakushu grinned as well as he gave Itsuka a side hug, and then walked over to escort the other two ladies out of the living room, "are you excited for the movie tonight, Eri?"

"Yeah. Is it going to be good?"

"Well, we hope so!"

With that, Itsuka heard the sound of her parents moving out of the top floor with Eri, the sound of their voices fading as they closed the door behind them. Now alone in the house, and hearing the distant sound of the door downstairs sliding open and closing, Itsuka let out a soft sigh, leaning against the end of the couch while looking around, feeling herself frown.

So … come Saturday, she was going to be moving out. Or at least, she would be staying at the school full time. She wanted to say that she was excited, but … well … truth be told, she was starting to feel a bit nervous, and sad. Not just because she would have to pack all her stuff and move it to UA come the weekend, but … because it would just be her in the house with Eri, having to take care of her. And …

… well … it wasn't like she minded doing that, but she knew that it was going to be a challenge, living with Eri on her own. The teachers would be there to help, of course, but … but it would be lonely, in a big house with just her and Eri.

… unless …

… Midnight did say that she could have roommates, didn't she?

Itsuka blinked a bit and straightened up, feeling a twinge of hope enter her chest. From what her parents said Midnight told her, she … could get a few roommates, to help her take care of Eri. And - and that would mean that she would have to get people that she knew Eri would be comfortable around.

And that … Itsuka thought, feeling a blush appear on her cheeks again, … that would be …

And again, as though she had summoned them by mere thought alone, she heard the upstairs door open again.

"Er - Itsuka?" She heard Izuku call out for her, making her jump a bit as she was yanked out of her thoughts. "You up here?"

"Huh? Oh, uh - yeah!" She quickly tried to shake herself out of her fluster and get back to her excitement. "I'm in the living room!"

Hearing them coming into the kitchen, she hurried out to meet them, feeling her smile from earlier return, and at the sight of her two partners stepping around the corner and brightening up at the sight of her, her smile widened. They had both gotten changed out of their school uniforms, with Izuku wearing a nice green sweater and jeans, and Ochako wearing a pair of track pants and a pink t-shirt. Of course, Itsuka couldn't judge, seeing as she likewise changed into a pair of tight jeans and a black t-shirt, but at the way they both glanced up and down her and went a bit red, she felt a bit proud of herself.

So - apparently both Izuku and Ochako liked tight jeans. Good to know.

"Uh … hey," Izuku gave her a dorky wave, which of course made Ochako roll her eyes good-naturedly and Itsuka giggle, "we, uh - we ran into your parents, and they said that you were waiting for us."

"That I have been," She nodded with a grin, "pizza arrived about five minutes ago, so your timing is impeccable."

As they both approached her, Itsuka quickly stepped forward to wrap both her arms around their necks, and brought them in for a hug. Both Izuku and Ochako squeaked a bit, going red, but they still shook themselves out of their fluster to hug her back as she giggled and squeezed them gently.

"Sorry," She said, her voice muffled by how she pressed her lower face into Izuku's shoulder, "just happy to hold you both without having to make it quick."

"Yeah," Izuku sighed, "yeah … secret relationships suck."

"They dooooo," Ochako groaned, "I wanna cuddle!"

"Well," Itsuka stepped out of their embrace to beam at both of them, "since we're all alone for a few hours, we'll get all the cuddling we want. Now then, you two - date night begins now. If you both will come with me into the living room, our dinner awaits - and a nice surprise for you, Izuku."

"F-for me?" Izuku blinked, looking intrigued. They both quickly followed their girlfriend through the sliding doors into the living room, taking a seat on the couch in front of the pizza, and Izuku watched in curiosity as Itsuka quickly retreated around the corner to grab something, while Ochako reached down to pat Gūdo's head as the dog wandered into the living room after them.

And once Itsuka came back, a huge stack of papers in her hands, Izuku's eyes widened in surprise and delight while Ochako snorted.

"Is that …?"

"Yep," Itsuka grunted as she put the huge amount of papers down in front of Izuku, "my internship offers. All three thousand, four hundred and fifty seven internship offers from heroes all across Japan. Have fun, sweetie."

"That I will," Izuku eagerly rubbed his hands together, while Itsuka giggled and kissed his cheek. 

With that, Izuku quickly got to work, flipping through each page and muttering under his breath as he pulled his notebook out and began scribbling. Itsuka, meanwhile, moved around him to sit in the middle of the couch, allowing Ochako to lean fully against her as both girls sighed in contentment and started eating, Itsuka flipping on the TV so that she could turn on some music to give them ambient noise.

As Gūdo slid in to rest under their feet and snooze, the two girls relaxed as they stretched their legs out to rest on the coffee table beside their pizza and drinks, Itsuka lazily wrapping her arm around Ochako's shoulders as the brown-haired girl sighed and nuzzled her head against Itsuka's shoulder.

"So, uh …" Itsuka looked down at her in concern and curiosity, "… did you get the whole Nagant thing sorted out?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded slowly, letting out a low huff as she lifted her slice of pizza for another bite, "it was, uh - it was kinda like pulling teeth, but I eventually got to talk to the HPSC president -"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked in surprise. "Wait, really? Why?"

"Yeah, I was surprised too. Apparently, the HPSC president handles Lady Nagant's internship offers. No idea why, but … uh … yeah. Anyway, she told me that I could intern with her, as long as I'm okay with going on some kind of assignment with her. She tried to get me to sign paperwork, though, but I told her Aizawa-sensei's thing about not signing any official papers, and she backed off."

"Huh. So …"

"So, yeah," Ochako grinned nervously, "I'm … interning with Mom. Yay."

"You …" Itsuka turned to give her a concerned look, "… don't sound very happy with that."

"Well," Ochako pouted, shaking her head and cuddling a bit more into Itsuka, "I'm not - well, I'm not gonna pretend that it'll be easy working with Kaina. She kept shouting that I wouldn't be interning with her until her boss completely overruled her."

"Eesh."

"Yeah, it's - it's pretty obvious that she doesn't really like me. But," Ochako looked more resolute, "I'm not there to be liked. She's got answers, and I want them. So if she wants to act like a jerk to me, then I'll just act like a jerk back."

"Right," Itsuka nodded slowly, looking around at where Izuku was continuing to do his notetaking, and then reached up to rub the side of Ochako's head, "but I know that this has gotta be stressful for you. So - so if you ever do need to vent to someone, don't hesitate to give us a call, right? Me or Izuku."

"I know," Ochako nodded at her, and smiled, "and - and I will. I promise."

Itsuka smiled, and then leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Ochako's cheek. Moving back and letting Ochako blush and begin studying her pizza in her fluster, Itsuka leaned back again and looked around at Izuku continuing to excitedly mutter under his breath as he scribbled in his notebook, flipping one of the pages off the stack.

"Izuku?" She called to him, and smiled in amusement when he clearly didn't hear. "Izuku? You still with us?"

Of course, she didn't get an answer.

"Hm? What's up?" Ochako looked over her shoulder at Izuku.

"Time for talks," She grinned, "but I think Izuku's lost to us."

"Oh, no," Ochako tsked in mock sympathy, "poor him. How will we ever go on?"

"Well," Itsuka smirked, still observing Izuku with amusement, "I guess we could just … keep moving on with the date and hope that he eventually realizes that he's missing out!"

With that, she used her arm around Ochako's shoulder to slip down to her waist, and pulled her. Ochako let out a squeak as she was roughly laid onto Itsuka's lap, and she let out a loud laugh as Itsuka immediately began peppering her cheek with kisses. The two struggling girls eventually bumped against Izuku's side, who blinked a bit at the elbow he got in the side, and looked around to see Itsuka kissing Ochako's laughing face as she was half-flopped in her lap.

Staring down at both girls with a light blush, Izuku awkwardly cleared his throat, drawing their attention up to him.

"Uh … hi," He waved weakly to them, still blushing, "I've … missed out on something."

"I mean, you almost did," Itsuka giggled as she pressed another kiss to Ochako's temple, "here we were, about to make out while you were distracted by paperwork. Such a neglectful boyfriend we've got here, Ochako."

"H-hey! That's paperwork you gave me!"

"Well," Itsuka smirked a bit as she pressed another kiss to Ochako's head, "if you wanted to get back to the paperwork, and we can get back to making out …"

Izuku paused, his eyes drawn back to the large stack of papers before him.

"The fact that you're hesitating doesn't bode well for our kissy times," Ochako pouted at him, and then giggled when Izuku quickly shook his head and quickly tossed his notebook and pencil onto the table beside the stack of papers.

"N-no, the list can wait," He tried to give both giggling girls an adorable look, "I - I want kissy times."

"Yeah, yeah," Itsuka snorted, angling her head up to press her lips against his jaw, while Ochako likewise hoisted herself up to lean over Itsuka and kissed his chin.

 Both girls then moved to lean on him, Itsuka putting her head down on his shoulder and Ochako moving to lay down on both their laps, keeping her head on Izuku's thighs while he absently put his pen down to stroke her hair. The three of them were comfortable enough to lay like that for a few minutes, Izuku taking this moment to take a bite out of his pizza, and Itsuka mischievously tickled Ochako's side and got a warning elbow to the ribs for her troubles.

They settled down a bit as they simply listened to music, Izuku enjoying the ticklish sensation of Itsuka's hair on his cheek while he stroked Ochako's own hair, Itsuka enjoying slowly rubbing Ochako's knee, and Ochako enjoying laying down on both of them. And then Itsuka let out a soft sigh, her smile fading.

"So, uh …" She cleared her throat, "… I guess if … we're not distracted, we can talk about … you know …"

Both Izuku and Ochako blinked, looking around at their girlfriend as she glanced away.

"… the … 'Nejire-sized hole' in our relationship," She finished in a weak voice.

Both of them paused at that, with Izuku's slow stroking of Ochako's hair stopping and Ochako feeling herself stiffening slightly in their lap. They both turned to stare at Itsuka for a moment as she grimaced slightly at them, and then they both sighed and nodded.

"I, uh …" Izuku gulped nervously, his cheeks going red, "… yeah. Right. We should, uh - yeah."

"M-mm-hm," Ochako nodded slowly as well, "let's, uh - let's talk Hadou."

"Right," Itsuka sighed again, adjusting herself slightly in her seat as she moved to lean against Izuku a bit firmer. They stayed like that for a moment, and then Itsuka went a bit red.

"Er …" She winced, "… sorry that I brought the mood down."

"N-no, no, it's okay," Ochako quickly assured her while Izuku nodded, "it's … yeah, it's something we knew we had to talk about, so - so we should just get it over with, right?"

"Yeah," Izuku agreed, "it's … yeah, it'll probably be awkward, so … so let's talk it through."

"Okay," Itsuka bit her lip a bit, "okay, yeah. So … okay. Nejire."

Both of them nodded.

"So … what do you two think?" She grimaced a bit again. "How … do you two see her fitting into all of this?"

Both of her partners were quiet for a moment, glancing between each other - and then Izuku sighed and adjusted himself, trying to keep his girlfriend's head in his lap.

"I, uh …" He stroked Ochako's hair while moving his other hand into Itsuka's, "… I guess since … since I'm technically at fault for Hadou being - you know - into us? I guess? I - I guess I'll go first."

"Right," Itsuka nodded slowly, "since you're the first one she - uh - yeah, since you were the one she started being friends with first."

She had to fight off the temptation to say 'the first one of us she started liking', seeing as she wasn't sure if telling Izuku that Nejire had feelings for him was something that the blue-haired girl wanted her to do. Thankfully, Izuku didn't seem to catch on to it.

"So … uh …" His face turned red, "… so … okay. Can - can I be honest with you guys?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded at the same time, trying to remain completely non-judgmental.

"I … well … I don't really have an - an answer for how I feel about Hadou," He admitted to them both, looking a bit guilty about that, "I … well, I'm not gonna pretend that there haven't been - uh - moments where I've been … you know …"

"Attracted to her?" Itsuka guessed, and smiled when Izuku blushed and nodded.

"Yeah. She's - you know, she's nice, and kind, and beautiful, and - and -"

He hesitated for a moment.

"- and - if I'm - I'm being honest, there's - there's been times where I - I feel like she gets me."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked a bit. "'Gets you'? What do you mean, Deku?"

"I mean …" Izuku felt himself hesitate again - he wasn't sure how much he could share of what Nejire told him about his past to his girlfriends, but he knew better than to go behind her back. But at Itsuka and Ochako giving him a curious look, he let out a small sigh and sat forward a bit, continuing to pet Ochako's hair.

He couldn't … tell them everything, but …

"It's … not really my place to tell," He admitted, "but … but Hadou … Occhan, me and you haven't been the only ones that - that had a rough time when we were kids. I - I can't really go into it, but she told me a bit about her past, and - and I can't help but feel like we have a lot in common. And she told me that she wanted to be my friend, someone who's close to me, and I … well …"

Both Ochako and Itsuka were quiet, letting him talk.

"… if I'm being honest … I want to get closer to her, too," Izuku admitted quietly, "and I don't know if I mean that in a - a platonic or a non-platonic way. But … but there's a part of me that does want to explore that. I haven't been able to, since - you know, everything happened after we went to the beach that day, with Eri and then Nighteye and then the sports festival and - and all that chaos."

"And then us," Itsuka guessed for him, smiling when he went red, "you're not sure about exploring your - uh - feelings for Nejire while you're dating us."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, "I … I want to make sure that you two are my priority. I - I wanna explore my - my feelings for Hadou, but I - I don't want to do that at the expense of you two."

Both Ochako and Itsuka nodded at that, smiling softly at the look of guilt on Izuku's face, and Ochako raised her hand to brush against his cheek, letting him lean against it. With her own sigh, Itsuka adjusted herself against him.

"So," She brushed some hair behind her ear, "I guess … it's my turn now."

Both Izuku and Ochako looked around at her as their girlfriend went a bit red, squeezing on Izuku's hand and Ochako's knee.

"Yeah, uh … so I guess that I'm kinda in the same boat as you, Izuku," She told them, "my feelings for Nejire just kinda … snuck up on me. You guys know that Friday was - it got really emotional at times, and - and looking back, when I was hurting, it was Nejire I started clinging to. She was understanding, she heard me out, she understood me. I've had … well, a lot of complicated feelings about her before, but - getting everything out of the way and sorted out, it - it helped. I thought I had gotten a really good friend that day …"

Both Izuku and Ochako raised their eyebrows.

"… and then the next thing I knew," Itsuka groaned, "Nejire's tongue was trying to get in my mouth. And that threw all my 'oh hey new friend' plans completely out the window."

"I - I can't believe that she just kissed you, though," Izuku went red, holding a hand to his mouth, "she - she just asked if I checked her out when we were in swimsuits. I - I have no idea what would've happened if she asked me to k-kiss her!"

"… and did you?" Ochako turned her skeptical look up to his face.

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked. "What do you mean?"

"She's asking," Itsuka turned to give him an amused look, "if you did check her out."

"…"

"Your silence will be accepted as a 'yes'."

"I plead the fifth."

"We're in Japan, Deku, there is no fifth to plead."

"Crud," Izuku winced, glancing away while both girls smirked at him, "well, uh … I … I tried not to."

"Uh-huh," Ochako snorted, "and I imagine that was a struggle."

"It was!" Izuku raised his hand from Ochako's hair to cover his face. "You saw what she wore during the beach party! Imagine that but with her attention all on me! I thought I was going to die!"

"Well," Itsuka giggled, turning to look down at Ochako (and trying not to betray how her own eyes had been wandering in the changing room today, something that made her go red), and then asked, "so … Ochako."

"Hm?"

"What, uh - what are you thinking?"

Ochako felt herself pause at that, her teasing smile fading as both her partners looked down at her. She then turned to look up at the ceiling for a moment, and both Izuku and Itsuka gave her a moment to think quietly.

Finally, she let out a soft sigh.

"Well …" She bit her lips, "… I … know that you two know I've been having thoughts."

"Uh-huh."

"So," She grunted as she slowly moved to get off of their laps, both of them watching as she adjusted herself and was careful not to put her feet down on the dog's tail as she sat up beside Itsuka, "I'm aware that - that Hadou and I aren't exactly close. Not like you two are with her."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, clearly worried.

"All the times that me and Hadou have interacted, it's either been in a group, or - or we fought, like in class or at the sports festival. And … and I'm not gonna lie when I say that I'm -" Ochako gulped a bit, "- I'm a little insecure about that. With - with Hadou being closer to you two than she is with me, and - and how she wants to be - uh - maybe romantically involved with you two. It feels like - like it's a recipe for disaster, if - if she wants to hook up with you two while I'm off in the corner sulking."

Both Izuku and Itsuka looked completely understanding of her points - they both knew, of course, that they would likewise feel as Ochako did if Nejire had been flirting with her and not them. However, before they could think of a way to make her feel better, Ochako nodded.

"So," She shrugged, "I, uh, I had the thought that - that if you two are gonna be attracted to her, and - and just maybe, we start something with her, whatever that is - I should try to get to know her better. To - to try and understand why you two are attracted to her."

Nodding surely to herself, she reached out to gently take both their hands, giving them both a smile.

"I … I don't know exactly how Hadou's going to be fitting in with all this," She told them, "but … well, I'm not gonna knock something I haven't tried, right?"

"Er …" Itsuka felt herself sweating a bit, "… I'm … not exactly sure how much of Nejire I've 'tried' myself."

"Well," Ochako shrugged again, "we might as well - you know - try a bit more."

They all slowly nodded amongst themselves for a moment.

"So …" Izuku glanced between his girlfriends unsurely, "… what does this mean, exactly? Are - are we going to consider letting Hadou … you know … join our relationship? If she wants to?"

Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked at that, going red and glancing between each other. Truth be told, however, all three of them were feeling a bit concerned themselves - they knew where each of them individually stood with Nejire, what with Izuku being confusedly infatuated with her, Itsuka having shared a kiss with her, and Ochako knowing that she needed to get to know her better.

But … what exactly did that mean? Their relationship wasn't even a week old yet, and now they were considering a fourth member?

They were all quiet for a moment - and then it suddenly came to Itsuka.

"… we take it slow with her."

Izuku and Ochako blinked, and looked around at their girlfriend in their confusion. They watched as Itsuka leaned slightly out from Izuku, her hand moving to her mouth as she thought.

"We … all have some pretty mixed feelings for her," She reminded them, "and we aren't all on the same page with her either. I'm pretty sure I like her, you want to explore your feelings, Izuku, and Ochako, you want to build a connection with her. So … so in this case, there's only one thing we can do."

"A-and …" Izuku asked nervously, "… and what's that?"

"Well," She glanced between them with a small smile, "how did the three of us get together?"

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, leaning over Itsuka to look at each other in confusion.

"You two," She pointed out, wrapping her arms around their shoulders, "have known each other since you were little kids. And you only met me last year. You two had your entire lives to fall in love with each other, but … well, I've only had the year. But would you say that your love for each other is stronger than your love for me?"

"No." Ochako shook her head at once, and then winced at the speed she said that, glancing at Izuku in concern. "I - I mean -"

"No, no, I agree," Izuku shook his head, smiling at her, "I … I agree. I love you, Occhan, and … and I love you, Itsuka, just as much."

"Right," Itsuka nodded, "so … in that case, why can't we do the same thing for Nejire?"

"Huh," Ochako tilted her head, thinking, "so … basically, we're going to just … romance Hadou?"

"Pretty much," Itsuka shrugged.

"Huh," Izuku glanced between both of them with his cheeks turning red again, "then - then in that case, if Hadou ends up … you know … wanting to go on another 'date' with one of us …?"

Itsuka gave him an innocent smile.

"And if she wants to kiss one of you?" Ochako raised her eyebrows, and then went red. "Or - or me?"

Itsuka shrugged.

"… this kind of sounds like we're gonna let Hadou do whatever she wants with us."

"Nejire knows how to restrain herself - well, okay, I should say that she knows how to restrain herself when it's important," Itsuka quickly corrected herself when Izuku and Ochako raised their eyebrows, "she knows better than to cross any real boundaries. If you tell her to back off, she'll back off. But if you give her the go ahead …"

"She'll … 'go ahead'," Izuku blushed.

"Yep." 

She looked between both of them, her eyes soft. 

"We shouldn't do this if one of us isn't comfortable with it," She said quietly, "so … what do you both think?"

Izuku stayed quiet at first, slumping down and moving his hands to cup together for a moment in thought - and then he let out a sigh.

"I mean …" He shrugged a bit, "… like Occhan said … I can't knock something I haven't tried."

"And I … did want to get to know Hadou better," Ochako sighed as well, "… so …"

The three of them paused - and then they all snorted.

"Okay," Itsuka giggled, "so … I guess we've become Team 'Fill the Nejire hole with a Nejire'?"

"I - okay, no, I'm not gonna refer to it as that," Izuku chortled at her joke, "but … yes. Okay, we - okay."

"Yeah," Ochako nodded in agreement, "so I guess … we'll talk to Hadou about it when we see her next?"

"Yeah," Itsuka leaned forward to scoop up her pizza, "like I said, we'll - we'll take it slow. Or - you know, however slow Nejire takes things. But, uh - but that'll be for another time. So - do you guys wanna hear about how I'm gonna have to move to Heights Alliance this Saturday?"

“…”

“…”

"… okay," Ochako shrugged, "really random change of topic, but at least you got our attention. Why are you moving to Heights Alliance?"

"Well …"

From there, Itsuka managed to swerve them from their Nejire talk to get back on track, explaining what her parents had dropped on her before leaving for the movie with Eri and Teko. After getting permission from the chortling girl, Izuku went back to reading through Itsuka's huge list of offers, occasionally letting out a small 'ooh' and writing something down, while Ochako listened to Itsuka's explanation while continuing to eat her pizza.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, chewing on her slice, "so … basically, you and Eri are gonna be living together? By yourselves?"

"Yep," Itsuka grumbled, chewing on her own slice of pizza glumly, "one giant house, all to myself and Eri. It's … definitely not what I was expecting."

"Well," She tried to give her girlfriend an optimistic smile, "maybe it won't be that bad. It's your own house! You're in charge!"

"Yeah, but if I wanted to be living alone, I probably would've asked for one of those apartments," Itsuka sighed, "I don't think I'm ready to be living in a giant house all by myself. I'd much rather live with other people - and I mean, as much as I love Eri, I have a feeling that I'm gonna be her caretaker, and - and that's a lot of responsibility for just me."

"That's true." Ochako slowly nodded, thinking for a moment before she turned back to Izuku. "So what do you think, Deku?"

They didn't get a response from him. After a moment, Itsuka then turned to look around and saw him staring down at something on a piece of paper, his other hand raising to tug at his lip while keeping his notebook and pencil in his lap.

"Uh … Deku?" Ochako tilted her head, leaning over Itsuka to poke his shoulder. "Are you still with us?"

"… huh."

"Hm?" Itsuka let out a hum, turning to grab another slice of pizza from the box. "What's 'huh'?"

"Well … uh …" Izuku let out a small, nervous chuckle, and looked around at both girls to show his face with a surprised, nervous look, "… I was … looking through your papers, Itsuka, to - to see if I could identify the hero with the highest ranking. And, uh - and I found her."

"Her?" She raised her eyebrow.

"Yeah," Izuku gave her a nervous grin, "Miruko sent you a request."

“…”

“…”

"… you're shitting me." Itsuka felt her jaw drop open.

"Nope," Izuku shook his head, and scooted over as he passed her the paper. Quickly, Itsuka took it and began giving it a read over, with Ochako picking her own jaw up from the floor and looking over her shoulder.

And indeed, sitting there on the page with a short phone number and email, was a certain bunny hero's contact information.

"Holy shit," Itsuka breathed out, shaking her head, "that's … wow."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded, "now, uh - now read the message she sent."

Blinking and wrinkling her brow, Itsuka turned to see what the small blurb the Number Six Heroine left her. She knew that some of the pros who sent internship requests also sent a short message, either encouraging them to take their offer or giving them advice on what they could work on under their tutelage.

But what she saw briefly scribbled down in the box underneath Miruko's name made Itsuka raise her eyebrow again.

"'Your kicks are shit,'" She read out loud, "'come intern with me so that I can make sure they're less shit'."

"Ah," Ochako felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "so … that's … specific, but also not really specific."

"Yeah," Itsuka chortled, putting the paper down and looking around at both of them, "it kinda sounds like I'm getting a request from Bakugou. All that's missing is the degenerative 'Ginger' every other word."

"Well …" Izuku winced a bit, shaking his head, "… I … wouldn't exactly say that. Sure, Miruko's - she's reported to be someone who loves getting into fights, and … you know, not really do any rescue missions … or be … very friendly. Honestly, I'm shocked that she sent you a request - usually, she's reported to prefer operating alone."

"Ah," Ochako nodded slowly, "so Bakugou, but a grown ass woman."

"But she is considered the best hand-to-hand combat hero in Japan," He still pointed out, "she's up there with All Might - hell, I think she's reported to be even better in a fist fight than Endeavor."

"And …" Itsuka tilted her head as she thought, "… as I'm someone who also tends to get into fist fights, she's someone who would know her stuff that I can learn things from."

"I don't think there's another hero that has a win-ratio as Miruko," Izuku nodded, "besides All Might and Endeavor, of course. Sure, she's - she's got a bit of an attitude problem, but she's also good at what she does."

"Well," Itsuka sighed, sitting back and putting the paper down on the table, "as Bakugou-sounding as she seems to be … I can't deny someone who could teach me some new moves. I mean, I already know how to fight, but I'll admit that a lot of my martial arts are based around my hands and punches."

"And she's a kicker," Ochako pointed out.

"Exactly. As much as I might not want to deal with someone who acts like Bakugou, I can't exactly deny that I could learn something from her."

"Right," Ochako nodded, leaning forward as well, "so …"

"So," Itsuka shook her head and grinned nervously, "I guess it would be stupid to turn down an internship offer from the Number Six Hero. I'll give my internship request to Aizawa-sensei tomorrow."

Nodding, she got up, moving around Gūdo and trying not to step on him as she headed into the kitchen. After grabbing their drinks from the fridge, she came back and handed them to her partners, all three of them sighing and taking drinks before Itsuka put it down on the table and looked around at both of them.

"So," She sighed, "I'm probably going to be interning with Miruko. Ochako, you're gonna be interning with … uh … your mom. And Izuku, you'll be interning with Ryukyu."

"Mm-hm," Izuku slowly nodded, putting his own soda can beside hers while Ochako took another sip, "with Hadou."

Both girls nodded - Izuku had, of course, told them about Nejire talking to him about Ryukyu sending her a request as well when they had been walking to the train station, so they were well aware that their blue-haired friend was going to be working with him for the internship week.

"So," Itsuka smiled a bit sadly, "it kinda sounds like the three of us are gonna be pretty lonely for about a week or so."

Both Izuku and Ochako sighed, looking unhappy about that fact - it was true, with them having three different internships, they'd have to go an entire week without seeing each other. Still, Itsuka reached out to gently take both their hands, interlocking their fingers, and they both looked around as she smiled at both of them.

"So, uh …" She felt her cheeks turn a bit red, "… in this case, I - I have a question for you both. Do you remember what I was saying about having to move to Heights Alliance this Saturday?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking surprised.

"You weren't listening, Deku, you were going over her internship offers. Just go with it for now and I'll explain later."

"Er - right. Sorry."

"It's all good," Itsuka giggled, "anyway, uh - I'm … well, I'm allowed to pick my own roommates."

Both Izuku and Ochako went quiet at that.

"And since … you know …" She licked her lips, " … Set and Yui are probably no-go's, and Kirishima's already living with a few other guys … and it sounds like the other girls are trying to organize their own houses …"

They were all quiet for a moment as Itsuka hesitated - and then she let out a laugh and shook her head.

"Oh, who am I kidding?" She looked between them both with a grin. "You both know what I'm gonna ask. And, uh - you'll probably say yes, won't you?"

"I …" Ochako paused for a moment, and then she giggled as well, "… well, yeah."

"Y-yeah," Izuku chuckled, "we - we do."

"So," Itsuka smiled at them both, "you two are living with me and Eri?"

At once, both her partners nodded, smiling happily back at her. With a joyful giggle, Itsuka leaned over to kiss Izuku's lips, and then she turned to give Ochako her own kiss.

The three of them paused for a moment as Itsuka moved back from Ochako, her eyes slowly opening and glancing between both of them as they all went suddenly still - aware of their hands still intertwined, and how close they all were on the couch. Gūdo, who was still napping beneath their feet, let out a small groan as he flopped down on his side, unaware of the silence between the three of them.

And then Itsuka grinned.

"So," She smirked coyly, "is it time to get to the … uh … kissy parts of this date?"

Izuku and Ochako audibly gulped at the alluring tone in her voice, but still nodded rapidly all the same. Feeling herself smirk a bit, Itsuka let out a tired groan as she carefully got up from the couch, stretching briefly - and then a mischievous idea came to her mind. Smirking, and feeling her cheeks turn red, she turned back around to look down at both of her partners for a moment -

- and then she said, "So just to make it clear - the bra stays on."

Both of them blinked a bit in confusion, but their questions died in their throats as Itsuka suddenly grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt, and began pulling it up. 

Izuku made a sound similar to a frog croaking while Ochako felt her jaw drop, and they stared up as Itsuka pulled the t-shirt over her head, showing off her hard stomach, and the nice black sports bra that she was wearing underneath. Finally getting it over her head, Itsuka tossed the shirt aimlessly behind her shoulder, continuing to smirk coyly down at both of them

“Holy shit,” Izuku muttered, face bright red.

Ochako audibly gulped, her eyes staying on Itsuka's chiseled arms.

Snorting a bit at that last comment, Itsuka still brought her hands down so that she could scoot the two of them closer. Gūdo grumbled and moved out from under their feet to find someplace quieter to nap, and soon, both Izuku and Ochako were pressed firmly side by side, both of them going redder as they were pressed so tightly together they wouldn't be able to move at all. Once she was content with how close they were, Itsuka let out a long sigh as she spread her legs – and then she moved back onto the couch, this time with one leg laying over Izuku's, and the other over Ochako's.

It wasn’t entirely comfortable, and there was a bit of a strain, but the looks on both Izuku and Ochako’s faces as they realized what she was doing made it all worth it, causing her to smirk even more as she leaned forward, and Izuku gulped as her chest pushed just under his chin, while Ochako began to tremble as their girlfriend straddled them both at the same time.

“So,” Itsuka giggled playfully, “you got me on your laps. Now what?”

Both Izuku and Ochako paused, glancing at each other - and then Ochako asked, "What's the rules on hickeys?"

"Nothing in an obvious place."

"A-and butt grabs?" Izuku sweated nervously.

"All yours, baby."

"And boobie grabs?"

"Perv," Itsuka chortled at Ochako's pouting, "but … yes."

Both Izuku and Ochako gulped - and then at once, they grabbed a laughing Itsuka by the back and pushed her down on top of both of them. Itsuka let out a loud giggle as Izuku grabbed the back of her head, her mouth opening as it approached his and Ochako's mouth hovered over her neck -

- and then they all heard it.

The distant sound of knocking on the downstairs door. 

At once, the three of them froze, their eyes snapping open. They stayed like that for a long moment, Itsuka's eye beginning to twitch, until she let out a low growl, and slowly, she put her hands down on the chests of both her partners to slowly get up, Izuku and Ochako missing the weight of her on top of them, and slowly looked around for her shirt.

"Excuse me," She said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to go see who that is and then kick their ass."

Izuku and Ochako gulped a bit, feeling disappointed as they saw Itsuka march over to grab her abandoned t-shirt and put it back on, but they knew better than to interrupt their girlfriend as she blindly got dressed again and then march out of the living room, both of them glancing at each other but choosing not to say anything as Itsuka began marching downstairs.

Once she was down on the ground floor, she quickly realized that the knocking was coming from within the dojo, which meant that there was someone obviously thinking that her grandpa was holding lessons tonight. Grumbling lowly under her breath, she marched inside, her footsteps echoing on the hardwood floor as she approached whoever was rhythmically and loudly knocking.

"I'm sorry," She called to the paper door, and whoever's shadow was standing there, "but the dojo is closed for tonight. Sensei Kendou is currently -"

And then, as she approached the door, a beaming face suddenly pushed through the wall, grinning widely at her.

"Hey there, Sensei Kendou!"

"Gak!" She squeaked in surprise and terror, slipping backwards and tumbling to the floor with a grunt.

"Oops!" The face blinked, eyes going wide, and then suddenly, he pulled back and the face vanished through the wall. After a moment, the dojo's door slid open, and Itsuka looked up to see Mirio standing there, grimacing awkwardly as he flashed her the peace sigh.

"Uh … hey there, Kendou!" He looked sheepish, stepping into the dojo and quickly lowering a hand to help her up. "Sorry about that, I thought I'd make a joke and surprise you! But, uh - well, I'm still working on my comedy."

"Er - t-that's fine, Togata-senpai," She winced, taking his hand and grunting as he pulled her back to her feet, but gave her senpai a surprised look, "but - but what are you doing here? H-how do you know where I live?"

"Well …" Mirio chuckled weakly, moving to look back at the door - and then, as though waiting for the cue, the door slid open, and the second man standing there looked inside. 

And at the pair of yellow eyes looking into hers, Itsuka felt her back stiffen and her eyes go wide.

"Good evening, Kendou," Nighteye nodded as he stepped inside, sliding the door shut behind him, "I was hoping that you were still home. We were in the neighborhood, and I wanted to talk to you."

"N-Nighteye?" Itsuka glanced back at Mirio, seeing him standing there grinning at her in his school uniform, and then back to the pro hero standing before her in his hero costume. "I - but - what are you doing here?"

"Oh, I wanted to swing by!" Mirio explained to her, moving away from her and grinning at the dojo around him as he put his hands on his hips. "There was something that I wanted to talk to you about, and since I was out with Sir, he agreed to show me where you live. Man, this place looks cool! I should probably come check it out when it's open, I bet it's really cool to see everyone doing kung fu fighting!"

"I -" Itsuka hesitated, and then let out a small sigh as Nighteye slowly moved to stay near the wall, and she turned her attention over to Mirio. "- I'm really sorry, senpai, but we are closed. I'm - is it possible for us to talk at school tomorrow? I'm kinda - I'm kinda busy."

"Oh, that's fine," Mirio chuckled, "it won't take long."

"I - okay, seriously -"

"And I mean," His voice suddenly turned light, "I don't think you wanna talk to me about One for All at school tomorrow."

And that was when the dojo filled with silence.

Itsuka, for her part, froze, staring blankly at her senpai as he slowly turned to look at her. There was still a smile on his face, but his blue eyes had suddenly turned serious, making him look oddly sinister. Nighteye, for his part, frowned and leaned against the wall, staying silent as the two students observed each other."

"Yeah," Mirio nodded slowly, "Sir let me know everything. About All Might's quirk, about how I was supposed to get it, how … you have it now."

"I …" Itsuka swallowed a bit, feeling as though she had suddenly gotten trapped, "… I … I don't know -"

"Yeah, no need to play dumb," Mirio laughed, "it's not like you, Kendou. You're a smart person, and I acknowledge I can be pretty dumb - but seeing as you were using two quirks during the sports festival, I kinda put the pieces together. And Sir explained everything to me - how I was supposed to get One for All, until All Might made a mistake … and chose you."

He then turned back to Itsuka, who was still sweating nervously but her face tightened at that veiled insult, and his grin widened as he lifted his hand up to her, as though he were requesting she hand him something.

"Now," He smirked, "I'm gonna give you a choice, Kendou. You're either gonna give One for All to me right now … or I'm gonna take it from you."

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/wbswA1d.png
And that was Chapter 40! And now officially one million words put into this project! *slumps over and is ready to die at this point but will continue writing regardless* XD

And my, oh my, did we get some developments here! From Melissa having naughty dreams and late night heart-to-hearts, to Izuku practising with his quirk and learning more about his limits, to everyone having a nice night to party, to Shouto going on a big five-person date, to Ochako having an uncomfortable call, to Nagant's world falling apart around her, to Melissa meeting the absolute insanity that it Nejire's mom and her grandparents, to a silly wrestling match, to Clover having a much needed heart-to-heart, to near make outs, and then, to our horror, our favorite boy coming to make demands of One for All! Things seem pretty grim now, don't they? And only slightly out of character ... hm ...

Oh, and before anyone asks, Nejire's mom? She's
Shounen Hero Book 10!! - Akemi, Tomo's Mom!!! - Wattpad
but blue XD
In any case, thank you guys for reading, and see you next time!

Chapter 41: Challenges and Hickeys and Zombies, Oh My!

Summary:

With an uncertain challenger approaching, Itsuka stands up for herself, and as strangers swirl around UA, truths will be revealed.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Why … why does …

… why does everything hurt?

He couldn't see. He could barely breathe. His arms felt like lead as he tried to raise them to cover his eyes, a bright light burning through his closed eyelids. His entire body was in pain, feeling like he had been run over by a truck. His head was throbbing, there was something wet dripping down his forehead, and …

… and he was scared. He felt terrified. He had no idea what had happened, or - or where he was.

And that was when he heard the two voices above him.

"Hm … it seems as though the process was a success, Doctor. You've brought him completely back to life!"

"Well, only just, master - I didn't want to risk bringing him back to full health, in case he decides to try and run, so I chose to simply heal the more life-threatening injuries. A bit of Hyper Regeneration to fix the broken pieces of his skull, and prevent any brain damage from hindering him. A simple blood transfusion, and - voila! We now know what to do should we ever confront All Might."

"Yes, yes, this certainly takes a load off our backs now. Excellent work as always, Doctor. Now … it would be easier to allow Hyper Regeneration to heal him completely of his injuries, but seeing as we have yet to make copies of it … I think I'll be taking it back and allowing him to heal the good old-fashioned way."

He then felt a strange sensation - as though someone was laying their fingers, one by one, on his face, and then felt the weird pressure of the palm of a hand touching the tip of his nose. He barely managed to restrain a low moan of pain as he felt something lurch within him - as though there was a part of his soul being ripped out of him and out of his body.

Still, as he cracked his eyes open, he saw, through the blurriness in his eyes, the hand with the strange hole in the palm move away from his face, allowing him to look up at the distant shapes standing near the operation table he was on before he was forced to snap them shut again.

"There we go," The deep voice chuckled, "he's back down to quirkless. Now then, have you begun the combination of Cloud and Warp?"

"Indeed! I'm working on copying the quirk for your own use as we speak. There's still so much that we need to learn about Warp, I can't guarantee that we'll be able to understand it even years down the road!"

"Hm … then perhaps I should hold off on taking Warp for now, until we get an understanding of how it works. I want to make sure that we can create a quirk that can transport us to farther distances than Warp - it'll be a useful ability to have on our side."

"I'll continue my work on it soon, master - I'll be needing to return to Musutafu soon, if we will be observing the Midoriyas closely."

"Ah, yes … tell me, how is little Izuku doing?"

"He's … well, I'll say that he's relatively a normal baby boy. But I'll continue to keep an eye on him - there must be some reason that All Might chooses him as his successor, if your visions were correct."

"Excellent, Doctor … our plans will be continuing to go forward, then. If All Might is to choose this boy as his successor, it would serve me well to choose him as my successor as well! He would make a fitting Vessel, would he not?"

"Yes, master. I'll be keeping our other candidates in mind as well - ah! Look, it seems like he's beginning to rouse."

Letting out another small murmur at the voices quieting down above him, he tried to open his eyes again. The light shining brightly over him caused him to groan again, still unable to properly make out the two men standing over him as he tried to lift his hand to cover his eyes.

It felt as though his arm was tied down by weights, moving slowly up to his face as he raised his hand up towards his blurry eyes and -

- and -

"Oh, dear," The deep voice chuckled, "look, Doctor, it appears that he's starting to become coherent again."

The way the voice sounded almost amused by that went completely over his head as he focused on his arm, feeling himself freeze as it came into focus. He saw the blood seeping out from the open cuts on his arm, deep enough that he could see the broken veins and the hint of bone. 

He continued to stare for a long, horrified moment. And that was when, suddenly, the pain registered to him.

And he began screaming.

"Aaaaah! Aaaaaaaaah!"

"Ah, there he goes," The other voice groaned unsympathetically over his shrieks of pain and terror, "take Hyper Regeneration away, and he begins crying like a baby."

"Oh, come now, Doctor, let's be understanding! Such a poor boy, not used to the pain of reality. You don't see this being taught at UA, after all."

"Of course, master. Let's put him back to sleep, and once I've returned from Musutafu, we'll get started with the brainwashing treatment."

"Excellent."

As he thrashed on the table, slobber coming out of his mouth and tears streaking down his face, he felt a hand once again grasp his face.

"It's time to go back to sleep, now," The deep voice commanded, "and we'll begin to put you to work later. Quiet now … Kurogiri."

And when darkness swirled around his blurry vision, hiding from him the shark-like grin and red, empty eyes of All For One above him, Oboro Shirakumo gasped as his eyes snapped open.

Panting raggedly, he stared up at the dirty ceiling above him with wide eyes as he grasped at his heart, unable to catch his breath. As he grabbed at his t-shirt, he tried to remind himself that it wasn't real - he wasn't in some underground lab, he wasn't on an operating table. He was resting in one of the cots in the base, staring up at the distant pipes that lined the roof, and trying to remind himself that the pain he felt throughout his body was a mere phantom of what he once felt.

Once he managed to steady his breathing, he heard the sound of shoes on the floor, and his gaze flickered around to see Pop standing above him, her one eye looking worried as she adjusted her glasses on her face as she worked to get her fuzzy hair out from her ponytail.

"Nightmare?" She guessed in a quiet voice.

"Y-yeah." He nodded, frowning at his stutter.

"Want some rice and teriyaki?"

"Please."

Nodding, she moved to head back to the kitchen, leaving him alone for a moment before he grunted, and pushed the thin blanket he had over him off.

With a grunt, he slowly moved to get up, careful to keep himself quiet as he glanced around the room. Other than Josei napping at the desk, using her arms as an impromptu pillow, and the sound of Pop humming one of her songs under her breath in the kitchenette around the corner, the base was empty, probably meaning that everyone was out. After taking a moment to wipe at his sweaty brow with the back of his hand, he got up from the cot and walked over to where the large woman was resting.

Having grabbed his blanket from the cot, he wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, letting out a sigh as she muzzled a bit firmer into her arms as he made sure that the blanket wouldn't fall off.

"Has she been asleep for very long?" He asked Pop as he glanced around at her, seeing her stand at the small oven while carefully flaking at the rice that was still bubbling in the pot.

"Nah," The eyepatch-wearing woman shook her head, "she conked out after doing a bit of homework about twenty minutes ago."

"Jeez," He shook his head, looking back down at the young heteromorph woman with a soft look, "and there I was, telling her that she should just head home. I just … I hope that I'm not making her as paranoid as the rest of us."

"Well, going on and on about the secret villain conspiracy controlling the country might do that."

"I'm trying to be morose, Pop."

"Well, you really suck at it."

"Why, thank you."

As she rolled her one good eye and continued making their dinner, they then heard the sound of footsteps on the metal staircase. Shirakumo looked around to see who was popping their head in, and nodded when he saw a pair of combat boots appear before their fellow vigilante poked his head in.

Standing there, the man with the seriously scruffy beard and scar moving up from his cheek to in between his eyes grunted in acknowledgement, his hands in his pockets as he looked over at the leader for a moment.

"Well," He grunted as he walked into the base, "you look like shit."

"Heh," Shirakumo shook his head while chuckling, "well, I definitely feel like it. But I'm not gonna take the guy who looks like he just went dumpster diving very seriously when he insults my looks."

"You'd be surprised at what people will just throw away," Knuckleduster pushed that aside as he tossed his phone down on the abandoned cot, and glanced down at the dozing Josei, which caused him to lower his volume just a tad bit.

"So?"

"Nothing," The older vigilante grunted, "my visit to Jakku didn't get me anything. I used La Brava's listening device and tried to do a soft hack of the system - just the same shit about those Nomu freaks, but nothing else. Nothing about this … Vessel shit."

"Damn it," Shirakumo shook his head, frowning and sitting down in the computer's chair while Pop hummed and continued to make dinner, moving to flip some steak that was cooking in the small pan beside the rice, "I'd have thought that if the Doctor was in charge of this Vessel project - and if it involved giving someone multiple quirks - it'd be taking place at the hospital. If it's not at Yaoyorozu Corporations or the hospital …"

"Maybe the HPSC?" Pop threw out there.

"A public place like that?" Knuckleduster huffed, shaking his head. "Unlikely. The bastard might be flaunting that he's a public speaker now, but he knows to still do all his dirty dealings in private. He wouldn't put whatever this machine is in a place as obvious as that. He'll be wanting to make sure that it's constructed out of the public eye, not in a place that anyone can walk in on at any time."

"That's based on the theory that not all of the HPSC is in on it, though."

"Well, even if there aren't people who are aware of who they really work for, All For One isn't going to risk it."

"True," Shirakumo slowly nodded, sighing as he turned to stare down at his knees. Pop sighed as she flaked the rice, and then turned to flip the meat out of the pan onto a plate, and then added a bit of teriyaki sauce into the rice before starting to cut the steak up into smaller pieces.

"Anyway," Knuckleduster sat down as he shrugged off his green long coat, "I investigated the China branch of the Inner Circle enough - all I found out is that they're gonna start their plan in the summer. So don't start hoping that they'll wait until after the election."

"And we still have no idea who - or what - the Vessel is," Pop sighed as she finished getting everything ready, and carried the four plates into the room, handing one to Knuckleduster, then Shirakumo, and then putting one down beside Josei's sleeping form before she sat down on the desk between the two men, "only that All For One is going to be running for prime minister -"

"Yeah, right," Knuckleduster scoffed, "just watch. He's not going to wait until the election before he takes over."

"- and we don't know if the Vessel is someone, or if it's just some kind of … super advanced Nomu. So basically, we're in the dark about pretty much everything."

"Yeah …" Shirakumo frowned as he scooped a spoonful of rice and beef into his mouth, "… yeah."

They were all quiet for a long moment, chewing slowly on their food. And then Pop let out a small sigh.

"Is …" She hesitated for a moment, quiet, "… is there really a point to - to any of this?"

Both men blinked, and looked back around at her as she stared sadly down at the plate in her lap.

"I mean … we're just about ten people," She pointed out, "against, like - three entire armies of villains. They've got everything under their control already, and we don't even know if the police have been compromised yet. And the heroes are more likely to just arrest us than listen to us."

Neither Shirakumo or Knuckleduster offered a counterargument to that.

"So … what exactly is the point of doing all of this? Nothing we're doing is working, Rapt is … he's gone … and All For One gets to do whatever he wants while we try to figure out what he's really doing."

Shirakumo frowned, but he didn't do anything to put down Pop's thoughts or make her feel bad. Instead, he merely chewed on his food for a moment before swallowing, and then sighed as he put his plate down on the desk beside them. He then leaned forward to rest his arms on his knees.

"Yeah," He nodded slowly, "yeah, you're right, Pop. Everything's pretty fucked. Honestly, I … I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to step out."

"Yep," Knuckleduster grunted.

"I - okay, I didn't say that," Pop went a bit red, "I'm not quitting. I just -"

"I know," He smiled up at her, "and … it's not like I haven't been in your shoes before, you know. I seem to recall that I wandered the streets for a good few years before you two found me, and I was ready to give up, too."

"Making fun of me for dumpster diving," Knuckleduster chuckled, "when you looked like you'd been living in dumpsters."

"Yeah, laugh it up," Shirakumo snorted as well, "but anyway, I know how you feel, Pop. But … well, I made a promise to Sako that I'd eventually get my life back after All For One and Garaki took it from me. He …"

He paused, feeling his smile fall, before he sighed.

"… I'm not an idiot," He sighed, leaning back in his chair and looking up at the ceiling, "I'm well aware that Garaki probably killed him after he helped me escape Jakku. But I … I still want to honor his request. I want to be able to walk around when it's light out, and - and get a job, and get married, and … and …"

He went quiet for a moment, unsure about what he was even saying and feeling a bit embarrassed. But then, a fist bumping against his shoulder caused him to look down from the ceiling back to his two fellow vigilantes.

Settling back in his chair, Knuckleduster leaned back and sighed.

"Can't exactly see Tamao if I just give up here and let All For One trample all over us," He pointed out to Pop, "so we better keep fighting until it's done."

"And …" Pop hesitated for a moment, and then she sighed and smiled at their leader, "… I guess that Makoto can't exactly ask Koichi and the Captain to bring the cavalry if I just slink off and hide somewhere."

Giving her a soft smile, Shirakumo nodded, and got up, cracking his back as he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.

"I know that things are pretty grim right now," He told Pop, "but it's not like we can just roll over and give up. We haven't made our move yet, but when we do - and we have enough evidence - the heroes will have no choice but to listen to us. Because if we're going to take down All For One, we're gonna have to make sure that all the heroes are on board, and willing to work together."


"It's finally time, Kendou." Nighteye said gruffly from his spot near the door. "You've had your fun, but there are forces at work that you couldn't even dream of comprehending. The time for silly playtime is over. Give One for All to Mirio - now."

Standing there in the middle of her dojo, with one of them on the side and one of them right in front of her, Itsuka still felt completely surrounded. Feeling herself pale, her gaze flickered between Mirio, who was still giving her that odd, aggressive look, and Nighteye, who was giving her an unsympathetic look, even if there was a strange amount of guilt in his eyes. She could distantly hear the sound of Izuku and Ochako moving around upstairs, but she found herself suddenly at a loss for words, merely turning to stare at Mirio raising his hand out to her, as though expecting her to just hand him the quirk.

Unfortunately, Nighteye didn't quite like how she had frozen up.

"Kendou," He said in a stern voice, "we don't have all night."

That, thankfully, snapped Itsuka out of her shell shocked state. Unfortunately, it only allowed the fear that she had hit her when Mirio had unexpectedly name dropped her second quirk to really settle in.

"I -" She managed to get out, turning towards the pro hero near the door. "- but - but I don't -?"

"You don't understand?" Nighteye scoffed. "Of course you don't. You never bothered to try looking at the big picture."

That condescending remark, of course, caused Itsuka's eyebrow to twitch in annoyance, and thankfully, her fluster died down. 

Instead, it was replaced by an anger - anger that Nighteye had dared to do this shit in her home, and the fact that not only was Mirio brought in on it, he was onboard with harassing her into giving up One for All. Even if … the look in Mirio's confident eyes was strange. 

As though … as though he was watching her face, closely, for something.

But one thing at a time, she reminded herself - she needed to keep her head.

"I -" She tried to steady the shaking in her voice, "- does - does All Might know that you two were going to come here?"

"Nope!" Mirio cheerfully said, shaking his head as he took off his school blazer and tossed it to the side. "This is something Sir thought he needed to do without All Might interfering. Like he said, we can't exactly play around with this thing anymore, and All Might would just get in the way. But you're avoiding the question, Kendou," His head tilted his head to the side, the sneer on his face even more menacing than before, "are you gonna give me One for All, or am I gonna have to take it from you?"

At the menacing undertone in his voice, Itsuka gulped. She knew a threat when she heard one, and she'd sparred with Mirio once. A hypothetical fight with him - even if it wasn't serious - would be ending in a massive curb stomp in his favor. And seeing as her phone was upstairs, it wasn't like she could just give All Might a quick call to come rescue her.

So … maybe he could be talked out of this. Maybe.

"It - it doesn't work like that," Itsuka tried to convince him, watching as he began to stretch in a similar way to when he had sparred with Izuku the first time, "you can't just - take One for All from me -"

"Without you wanting to actually give it to me!" Mirio finished for her, grunting as he cracked something in his leg. "Yeah, I know. Nighteye told me everything about it - you know, the ins and outs of One for All - which, you know, kinda makes it seem like he did a better job educating it to me than All Might did for you!"

Again, Itsuka felt her stomach clench in anger.

"So yeah, no worries, Kendou - I know that I can't just take it from you by force. Which just means that if I want to make you give One for All to me … I'll just have to beat you down until you're begging me to take it off your hands."

Itsuka went still at that, staring at Mirio for a long moment while Nighteye merely gave her a look of disdain -

- and then she asked, in a low voice, "Do you - do you even hear yourself, senpai?"

"Hm?" Mirio blinked a bit, looking back up at her in confusion. "What did I say again?"

"You're - you're gonna beat me up until I give you One for All?" She scoffed a bit, unable to even really believe it as she put her hands on her hips. "That's your plan? Intimidate me? Beat me up when I don't do things your way?  Is that what All Might would do?"

At that last question, she did see a small flicker in Mirio's eyes - something that looked almost like surprise, and guilt - but before he could defend himself, Nighteye stepped in, his eyes narrowed into a glare.

"You don't get to use that trick, Kendou," He pointed at Itsuka in warning, "you refuse to understand -"

"You keep saying that!" Itsuka was unable to stop herself from snapping at him. "You say that I refuse to understand anything, but you're not bothering to try to explain! So go ahead, and make me understand!"

That, of course, didn't seem to be what Nighteye wanted her to say, as his already narrowed eyes seemed to turn into slits behind his glasses as he pointed right in Itsuka's face.

"There it is," He spat, "there's the reason that I will never accept you as the successor. You're nothing more than an immature child - you seem to regard One for All as little more than a toy that you can pull out whenever you need it. One for All should be yielded by someone willing to devote everything to continuing its legacy - and that is clearly Mirio, not you."

"You -"

"All Might's time is ending, Kendou. And as I told him, the people of Japan will need a bright and burning light, not a small spark. Now, the time for games is over - give Mirio One for All, or face the consequences."

Itsuka took a deep, frustrated breath through her nose, glancing back over at Mirio as he finished rolling his sleeves up, and grinned as he clearly got himself ready to fight. 

She knew that her chances of just walking away from this without having the crap kicked out of her was little - she could try calling out to Izuku and Ochako for help, but they probably wouldn't get there in time, and she had a feeling that Nighteye wouldn't quite care for them trying to get in the way, or use that against her again. And even if she escaped upstairs … she had no guarantees that Nighteye and Mirio wouldn't just pick this up another time, when she was truly alone with no one to back her up.

So right now … she had to resolve this by herself. And make sure that Nighteye never did anything like this again.

She felt herself shiver a bit at the look in Mirio's eyes as she looked at him again - an expression that made it clear that he wasn't going to walk out of her house without Itsuka's quirk. She knew that there was no way in hell that she could hit him - he knew how to fight with his quirk, he had experience, and he already knew all of her moves, seeing as he kicked her ass when she had been sparring with him with Izuku and Nejire by her side. With his attention now focused entirely on her, there was no chance in hell that she was going to walk out of this unscathed.

Hell, it might just be easier to give up, transfer One for All to him, and then tell him to fuck off. But …

"I-Itsuka?"

At the uncertain voice off to the side, both Itsuka and Mirio, and Nighteye off to the side, looked around. Both Izuku and Ochako were standing at the entrance of the dojo, both of their smiles from before slipping from their faces at once as they took in what they were seeing. But it was seeing Izuku standing there, his eyes wide and blinking rapidly as his gaze flickered between Mirio and Nighteye, that reminded Itsuka of what had happened the last time Nighteye had tried this.

"She's still worthy."

Her boyfriend's voice echoing in her mind, Itsuka let out a quiet breath - and then she raised one hand to stop them as Ochako took a step into the dojo, trying to communicate to them both silently that she had this. 

Once both of her partners stopped, their eyes confused but making no further movement, her hands clenched into fists, and she turned to look Mirio straight in the eye.

"Senpai," She said in a quiet, yet resolved voice, "I … I'm not gonna lie and say that - that you wouldn't probably use One for All a lot better than I could. I'm still learning how to use it - and Nighteye is right, I haven't been using it properly. But …"

"All Might had Kendou work her hardest to earn it, and she did.”

"… but I earned it," Itsuka narrowed her eyes into a glare, "and I'm tired of your teacher trying to make me think that I didn't. All Might believes in me. He gave me the chance to earn it. I could've quit at any time - but I didn't."

Clenching her fists tightly, she glared venom into Mirio's arrogant eyes.

"All the blood, sweat and tears that I shed … I earned this quirk," She made clear, "I worked my ass off for it, and I earned it. And you, senpai - no offense, but you didn't. You don't deserve One for All."

"How dare -" Nighteye began to snarl, but then Itsuka wheeled around and pointed straight in his face this time, making the pro hero blink.

"You," She snarled, "you stay out of this. You wanna throw your successor at me? Fine. This is between me and him. Stay to the side and shut the hell up."

Nighteye looked like he was about to shout at her, but she then looked back around at Mirio, who had tilted his head a bit at the aggression coming from her mouth. Off to the side, Izuku and Ochako straightened up, shaken out of their shock to go a bit red at how … 

… well, to be honest, incredibly hot Itsuka sounded when she was pissed off.

"Togata-senpai, I didn't see you anywhere when I was clearing the beach." She narrowed her eyes. "Or fighting maniac villains. Or do anything to earn All Might's approval. You had to learn about it behind his back, and I bet if he were here right now, neither of you would dare to try any of this shit."

She then moved into a fighting stance, raising her fists and squaring her feet.

"But since he isn't here," She rolled her shoulders, "I'll speak for him. And I don't think either of you can complain, since you're coming here and acting like you know better than him."

Off to the side, Nighteye clenched his own fists.

"I earned One for All," Itsuka repeated, being sure to make it clear, "and if you want it, you're gonna have to kill me to get it."

With that declaration, the dojo went dead quiet. Both Izuku and Ochako looked like they wanted to sprint forward to join their girlfriend, but knowing that she wouldn't appreciate it, they kept to themselves, even if Ochako had to wrap her hand around Izuku's wrist to stop him from moving forward. Nighteye breathed heavily through his nose at Itsuka's insubordination, but Mirio was the one Itsuka kept her eyes on, seeing how still he had gone.

And then, as Itsuka got herself ready to fight, she saw Mirio's grin widen, and he lowered himself to charge, his eyes never leaving hers.

Itsuka let out a small, shuddering breath, but she still hardened her eyes, and got herself ready to charge across the dojo as well. For a moment, both of them waited for the other to make the first move, sweat beginning to slowly slide down Itsuka's forehead while Mirio's shoulders tensed. Izuku tensed as well, his eyes flickering between his senpai and his girlfriend, and Ochako had to bite her lip to suppress her terror at whatever the hell had just happened in the last five minutes.

And then, without warning, Mirio began running across the dojo towards Itsuka, moving a lot quicker than she had been anticipating.

Still, Itsuka squared her shoulders, anger coursing through her and suppressing her fear, and she began charging as well. Her hands grew out to their full size as she threw her fist back, knowing that her chances of hitting Mirio were slim to none, but still wanting to take the risk. Feeling One for All suddenly flare within her, she narrowed her eyes, and tried to focus on the egg in the microwave.

Feeling her skin begin to glow, with teal lightning flickering, she threw her fist towards the charging Mirio as he grinned - 

- and then, without warning, he suddenly jumped sideways, activating his quirk, and he sailed straight through Itsuka's torso while saying, in a singsong voice, "Siiiiiiike!"

As Mirio's naked, translucent body sailed through her, Itsuka felt herself freeze, the anger that had been coursing through her body halting at once and being replaced by confusion. Unfortunately, her bare foot slipped on Mirio's abandoned shirt, and she let out a loud yelp as she tripped, losing her balance and crashing down onto the floor.

Both Izuku and Ochako winced as their girlfriend hit the floor hard, only being really cushioned by her large hand hitting first as she hit the hardwood floor and landed on her back. Letting out a small sputter, Itsuka quickly looked around as Mirio quickly slipped back on his pants, sparing her the horror of seeing something she really didn't want to (again) by grabbing his pants while in midair and securing them on as he looked around at her.

And the sneer that he had been wearing ever since coming into the dojo was gone, replaced by a far more easy-going grin.

"Ah, sorry about that, Kendou!" He quickly walked over to where she was flopped over on the floor, and offered her his hand. "Just wanted to prove a point. Need a hand up?"

Itsuka gave him an extremely confused look for a moment, feeling her hands automatically shrink back down as One for All's effects dissipated around her body - and then she grunted as she moved up a bit and took Mirio's hand, allowing him to pull her back up to her feet. Izuku and Ochako were knocked out of their shock as well, quickly hurrying over to their girlfriend and giving Mirio twin looks of confusion before they returned their attention to Itsuka.

"Are - are you okay?" Izuku quickly asked her.

"Yeah, I'm - I'm fine. Just -" She then turned back to Mirio, "- w-what's going on, senpai? Why did you -?"

"M-Mirio?"

At the confused voice over at the wall, the four teenagers looked around. Having come off of the wall, Nighteye was looking absolutely gobsmacked, staring at his pupil in shock.

"Mirio," He called to him, "what are you doing?"

"Ah, sorry about that, Sir!" He chuckled as he patted Itsuka's shoulder, and then turned to his mentor. "Just had to do a quick test before we got to the point of this trip. See, uh … well, actually, I should probably apologize to you first, Kendou."

He then turned back to bow to the orange-haired girl, making Itsuka sputter a bit in confusion and Izuku and Ochako steal an uncertain glance between each other.

"I was, uh - well, truth be told, I was kind of testing you," Mirio winced, "just to see how much you would protect One for All from someone trying to take it from you. And you did! Seriously, that glare that you were sending my way at the end? I felt like I was gonna pee myself! So, good job!"

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit, "… thank you?"

"You're welcome!"

"Mirio, what - what is this?" Nighteye finally made his way across the dojo, hurrying over to Mirio with a shocked, betrayed look on his face as he took his pupil's shoulder. "You said that you were going to help me convince Kendou to surrender One for All!"

"Yeah, I did say that," Mirio sighed, bending over to retrieve his shirt from the floor, "and … well, I kind of lied. Sorry, Sir."

"But - but I don't -"

"Sir," His apprentice straightened up, giving him a tired smile, "I don't want One for All."

That, of course, caused Nighteye to freeze in his tracks. His eyes behind his glasses widened, looking as though Mirio had just slapped him, and he took a small step back as Mirio put his shirt back on, aware of Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako also staring at him in surprise as he started getting dressed again.

"See, uh … I've been thinking a lot about it," The blonde boy shrugged as he started buttoning up his shirt, "ever since you told me about it a few days ago. And, you know, I did the whole 'hey, what if I do a list of benefits of having this new quirk?' thing, and, uh … if I'm being honest, thinking it over, I found that there would be a lot more disadvantages of having another quirk than having advantages."

"But -"

"If I get One for All, then - well, what would all the work I put into my actual quirk mean?" Mirio laughed a bit. "I mean, they're both really different quirks - I'd have to start all over again to train myself to even be able to use One for All, and there's no guarantee that I'd even get it. And honestly, well … I don't really want to! It sounds like a lot of hard work, and I've already put in a lot of effort to make Permeation work, so …"

"But - but Mirio!" Nighteye protested, looking utterly desperate. "You deserve One for All!"

"Do I?" He shook his head, turning to look at Itsuka for a moment. "Because from what it sounds like, Kendou did more to get One for All than I did."

"That's not true!"

"Sir," Mirio sighed, turning back to his mentor, "we've known each other for a while, right? You know me almost as well as my dad does. Tell me, do you think that I was going to beat Kendou down until she gave me this quirk? Does that sound like something I'd even want to do?"

Nighteye looked stunned for a moment, his mouth opening and closing rapidly for a moment as he looked between his apprentice and Itsuka off to the side, who's confusion at Mirio had finally faded and was now replaced by her giving the pro hero a glare.

And then, after trying to find his words, Nighteye finally managed to get out, "Mirio, you - you know what we're up again. You need One for All!"

"No, Sir, I don't," Mirio frowned at him, "I don't need One for All. I don't want One for All. Sorry, but … but it's not going to happen. Ever."

"…"

"But what I am going to do," Mirio turned to look around at Itsuka, giving her a soft, assuring grin, "is make sure that Kendou here is ready for all the bad crap that you told me about. I mean, you talk a lot about how Kendou isn't ready, but … well, why don't you get her ready? She would've probably been ready for everything you told me if you weren't trying to insist on getting All Might to see things your way. It kinda sounds like you're putting your pride before everything else."

Nighteye, for his part, flinched at that subtle accusation.

"So, uh … let's make it clear, Sir," Mirio put his hand in his pocket as he reached down to retrieve his school blazer from the floor, "I'm … actually kind of upset that you used me this way. Honestly, I think we both know that I'd be justified in walking away from your agency, and joining up with Tamaki -"

Nighteye looked crushed by that, his hands clenching.

"- but I won't," Mirio looked back up at him with a small smile, "because honestly, I think that I still need you to teach me more."

"M-Mirio -" 

"But Sir," He interrupted, "if I'm gonna stay at your agency, you need to figure out that me and Kendou here aren't pawns in some game between you and All Might. You two should be working together - you shouldn't be sneaking around and doing whatever you want behind his back because he won't agree with you on a decision."

With that, he turned back to Itsuka, putting his school blazer on and putting his discarded tie in his pocket.

"So, uh … again, sorry about intruding, Kendou," He apologized sincerely, "I didn't mean to ruin your guys' evening. We'll just be on our way."

Itsuka slowly nodded, her face fallen, and then she turned to look at Nighteye again as he stared blankly at Mirio. There was a moment's pause, and then he felt her eyes on her, and the pro hero turned to look at Itsuka as her eyes narrowed into a glare and her lips thinned.

"Nighteye," She said in a low, dangerous voice, "get the hell out of my house, before I call the cops."

Nighteye opened his mouth to say something to that, his brow furrowing - but luckily for him, he caught himself, seemingly aware that he didn't have any moral superiority here. 

With Izuku and Ochako also glaring at him, Nighteye's eyes moved down to his shoes, turning remorseful, and he then turned on his heel to walk out the door of the dojo, back out into the night. Grimacing slightly, Mirio turned to give the three of them another small bow, before he quickly turned to follow his mentor out, closing the door behind him.

Now that they were alone, Itsuka let out a shaky sigh, and moved to slump over, her hands on her knees. Both Izuku and Ochako looked down at her in worry, seeing how she kept her head down.

"I-Itsuka?" Izuku asked in a careful voice, moving to put his hand down on her shoulder. "Are you okay?"

"…"

"Itsuka?"

There was another long pause. And then Itsuka suddenly stood up, turning to look at Izuku, and he blinked at the sudden fire in her eyes.

"H-hey, uh - are you okay?" He asked in concern, while Ochako glanced up to see Itsuka licking her lips to moisturize them, and gulped as she took a hesitant step back from Izuku. "Listen, uh - I - I don't know what exactly is going on, but if you wannaaaaaaaaaa MPH?!"

His worried question faded into a high-pitched grunt, however, as Itsuka suddenly grabbed Izuku's face with both hands, and practically slammed her lips against his, moving to press her body flush against his. Ochako squeaked and went bright red, her eyes wide as Itsuka shoved Izuku back and right up against the wall near the door, Izuku's back meeting it with a thud.

His eyes practically bulged out of his head as Itsuka shoved her tongue into his open mouth, kissing him a lot deeper than he was expecting as his hands automatically grabbed her hips. Itsuka let out a low moan at that, causing both of her partners to tense as Itsuka's tongue eagerly pushed around inside his mouth.

Finally, once she was somewhat satisfied, Itsuka let Izuku go, bringing her head back with a smack of their lips and a soft gasp, and let go of Izuku, allowing him to slowly slide down the wall to sit on the floor in a flustered and catatonic state. She then wheeled around to where Ochako was staring at them both in shock. 

Upon Itsuka's hungry eyes staring into hers, Ochako took an automatic step back.

"U-uh -'' She managed to get out, but then it was too late. Whether it was through the power of One for All, or the power of horny, Itsuka had crossed the dojo in an instant, and she caught Ochako's lips as she brought her in for her own embrace. Unlike the way she had shoved Izuku around, however, Itsuka instead bent her knees and grabbed the back of Ochako's thighs, and with a grunt, she lifted her girlfriend right off her feet.

Ochako let out a gasp as Itsuka's hands raised to better secure her in her embrace by grabbing both of her buttcheeks, and soon Itsuka brought her to the wall to press her against it like she had done to Izuku, her tongue pushing and playfully fighting with Ochako's. Izuku, who had recovered somewhat on the floor, looked up and blushed bright red at the sight of his girlfriend pinning his other girlfriend against the wall and doing her best to suck the life out of Ochako through her mouth, just as she did with him.

Finally, Itsuka moved her face back, giggling a bit breathlessly at Ochako's attempt to follow her lips, and slowly lowered her knees and moved one of her hands off of Ochako's butt to grab at Izuku's t-shirt. He let out a small, confused yelp as Itsuka pulled him back to his feet, and then she pinned him to the wall with one hand while she buried her face between Ochako and his shoulders, letting Ochako wrap her legs around her waist to keep her balance.

For a moment, the three of them were quiet, letting Itsuka pant a bit as both of them confusedly stroked her hair.

"Sorry," She finally muttered, "I was … really fucking pissed off by everything that just happened. I just … needed an outlet."

Both Izuku and Ochako paused at that, stealing a glance over Itsuka's head, and then Ochako let out a nervous giggle.

"So, uh …" She gulped, "… that was you … frustrated?"

"Yeah."

"You … got pissed off … and you decided to take it out on us by kissing us?"

"Mm-hm."

"…"

"…"

"… we should make you frustrated more," Izuku said without thinking.

Before he could squeak and apologize for that careless observation, Itsuka let out a small giggle, and then she moved her head back to look between them for a moment. And then, they both gulped at the suddenly seductive look that appeared on her face, and Izuku went red as she gently took his hand, which had automatically been laid on her hip, and slid it down to her butt.

"We can talk about … all that … another time." Itsuka had a dangerous look on her face as she licked her lips again. "Now then, where did we leave off before we were so rudely interrupted?"

Both Izuku and Ochako gulped, both nervously and excitedly.


Okay … okay.

Hickeys were kind of awesome. A bit sore, and embarrassing, but awesome.

Izuku couldn't help but smile a bit dorkily as he sat back down in his desk, the bell above him ringing while he absently rubbed the small bruise on his neck that was hidden by his shirt's collar that Itsuka had 'gracefully' given him two days ago. At the moment, it was Friday, and lunch time had just concluded, meaning that it was time for their Hero Basic Training. 

After a long morning stuck inside for English and Modern Literature, everyone was ready to get outside to where the sun was shining. Everyone seemed a bit restless as well - Itsuka and Ochako, for their parts, were also trying to hide similar bruises to his under their collars, with Ochako grinning a bit goofily and Itsuka smirking a bit smugly. Nejire, for her part, was bouncing a bit in her seat as she leaned forward to talk to Melissa, who had swung around in her chair to chat happily with her (Izuku didn't know when they had become such good friends, but he was happy to see it). 

On the other side of the room, Setsuna and Yui were looking weirdly disgruntled, owed to the fact that their party from Wednesday had taken an unexpected twist that none of them had enjoyed ("Todoroki literally kicked our asses in every game!" Setsuna had decried. "We're never inviting him out for anything ever again!"), and Kyouka was tapping her fingers nervously against the desk while pretending not to look back at Momo as she fiddled with something in her pocket that looked weirdly like a letter.

Of course, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka weren't completely consumed by their giddiness of making out Wednesday night - they all had their little encounter with Nighteye and Mirio still on their minds, something that made Izuku frown a bit as he looked down at his desk. They had agreed to talk more about it with All Might when they next saw him - but he had been so busy this last week, it was kind of hard to get him alone. Still, at least Itsuka was trying to keep it out of her mind, knowing that Mirio had probably handled that better than she would've - even if Nighteye deserved to be grabbed by her large hands and shaken around a bit.

So … they would just have to focus on the present. That, and the fact that tomorrow, the three of them would be moving to Heights Alliance with Eri, something that brought a smile back to Izuku's face in his excitement.

As the bell rung above them again, the front door slammed open, and Aizawa walked back into the classroom with a frown, followed by a smug looking Himiko, who was dressed in yet another naughty nurse outfit that showed off her cleavage and legs.

"Helloooooo, cute kohais!" She eagerly waved to them, smiling smugly.

"Hi, Nurse Toga," Class 1A said in a drone-like voice, entirely used to her provocative outfits by now, something that made Himiko pout (although she did wink at Tsuyu blatantly staring at her legs with a bit of her tongue poking out from the side of her mouth).

However, as Hmiko sauntered her way over to the podium beside Aizawa, the class's attention was quickly drawn to four more people coming into the classroom, making them blink - mostly due to the fact that they weren't wearing the same uniforms as them. Indeed, they were wearing pretty much the same uniform, a white dress shirt and red tie worn underneath a dark blue blazer. Both boys who came in were wearing their ties normally, while the two girls, one with white hair and glasses and another one with red hair hiding shyly behind her, were wearing them in bows. They all had plain, gray dress pants or skirts, and brown shoes to accompany them.

At the sight of these obvious outsiders, and Aizawa aiming all of his 'you better stay quiet' energy at Nejire, Class 1A wisely decided to shut up at once even without Aizawa's menacing aura pointed at all of them, with Nejire having to hold her hands over her mouth to quickly stop the barrage of questions that almost escaped her without warning.

"Alright," Aizawa sighed when he was sure that Nejire had control of herself, and turned back to the class, "so today's hero class is going to be a bit different. The Hero Public Safety Commission has … 'asked' Principal Nezu to have a joint-exercise with a class from one of their schools, and he's given permission for four students to participate in our next class as a visitation program. So please welcome these four students from Isamu High School."

Now, typically, the reaction to new students would be loud cheers and happy greetings. However, at the way Aizawa was clearly in a bad mood, scowling to himself as he tapped his papers sharply against the podium, they all decided to settle for polite clapping and carefully making sure that their teacher didn't aim that nasty glare of his at any of them.

"Good," Aizawa then turned to the four students standing awkwardly in front of the class, "now introduce yourselves, and we'll get to work."

"O-of course, sir," The girl with white hair and glasses politely nodded, and then turned back to the class while allowing the other girl to hide behind her. "So we'll be running this exercise with you all today. I'm Kashiko Sekigai, the class representative from our school."

She got a few 'ooh's from the class.

"I'm from the same class," One nervous-looking boy said as he wiped at his sweaty face, and then moved down to a bow, "I'm Dadan Tadan. N-nice to meet you all."

He got a few 'ooh's from the class as well.

The boy with narrowed eyes and gary hair merely grimaced, glaring down at his feet.

"Fujimi." He growled.

He got a few 'oh's from the class.

"I'm pretty sure that there was another one of you," Aizawa gave all three students a suspicious look.

"Oh, yes," Kashiko quickly nodded, leaning slightly forward and letting everyone have a look around at the last student. This girl had red hair, and a … very detailed snake head, making everyone blink a bit as her yellow reptilian eyes flickered around briefly - and then they suddenly settled on Tsuyu.

From her seat, Tsuyu bolted straight up, a surprised "Kero!" leaving her lips. The snake girl, meanwhile, also let her yellow eyes widen for a moment as a small gasp escaped her. And then, before anyone else could blink, Tsuyu was out of her seat, and the snake girl was out from behind her class rep, and they were hugging tightly, making everyone in both classes gawk, Aizawa flash a warning look to Tsuyu, and Himiko, who had been sipping on one of her blood boxes absently, choked.

"Tsuyu!"

"Habuko!"

"Huh," Ochako looked surprised at the happy hug before her, "I … guess they're friends?"

"I … guess so," Izuku gulped, feeling a bit off-put - from all the nature documentaries he and Ochako had watched over the years, seeing a snake and a frog so close together made him a bit nervous. He still had nightmares about one of the videos of a snake devouring a poor, innocent frog, after all.

"Ooooooh!" Nejire gushed quietly, looking delighted by the warm and … somewhat tight embrace shared by the two girls. "I guess they know each other? Or maybe they really like each other! I don't know, is it weird to hug someone you don't really know? I kinda hugged you, Midoriya, before we really knew each other, but you also saved my life! So it's not -"

"Oi, Mongoose!" The guy named Fujimi suddenly snarled at his classmate, causing Nejire to let out an 'oop!' and close her mouth. "Don't get all friendly with these UA guys! They're supposed to be the enemy!"

Everyone in Class 1A winced slightly while Kashiko and Dadan looked embarrassed. Indeed, everyone had somewhat expected it from how standoffish he had been introducing himself, but it was clear that they were looking at a Katsuki but with gray hair - and somehow, seemed even nastier.

Still, at the sound of the bell above them, Aizawa decided to cut any potential awkwardness short by moving away from the podium, leaving behind Himiko, who was staring at the two embracing girls with a noticeable emptiness in her eyes while red liquid absently slid down her chin from her mouth.

"Alright, enough playing around, it's time to go," Their teacher waved his hand to the class, "All Might will be meeting us out in the field. Go change into your costumes and meet us out at Ground Omega. Kendou, be sure to guide the Isami students."

"Yes, sir!" Itsuka quickly stood up, and soon the rest of the class followed suit, gathering up their hero costumes. 

Ochako had to pretty much bring Tsuyu's briefcase to her, seeing as the frog girl was still holding her friend's hands tightly and refusing to let go, and soon they all made their way to the changing rooms to start getting ready for the exercise, Izuku and Eijirou agreeing to help Dadan and Fujimi find out where they would have to go while Itsuka smiled at them in gratitude.

As the girls got changed into their hero costumes, with Itsuka trying as hard as she could to hide the hickey on her neck from everyone around her and also not stare at Nejire getting changed beside her at the same time, Ochako brightened up as she looked around at the two girls still holding hands.

"Oh, I see!" She smiled at where Tsuyu and Habuko were staring happily at each other, with her eyebrow only raising a little at how they somehow managed to get into their hero costumes if they were so busy staring into each other's eyes. "So you two went to the same middle school?"

"Yes!" Tsuyu croaked happily. "We're very good friends!"

"Best friends!" Habuko eagerly agreed.

"'BeSt FrIeNdS'," Himiko mocked under her breath so no one could hear, growling as she changed into her own hero costume, even if it didn't seem necessary (as she was going to be with the teachers the whole time in case of injury).

The girls also decided to ignore how their senpai was particularly sharpening one of her knives while staring at the snake girl in barely disguised contempt. Truth be told, Ochako felt herself gulp a bit nervously as she glanced at her senpai, having no idea how exactly Himiko had gotten into UA's rehabilitation program but starting to get an idea from how hard she was glaring at Habuko.

So … most of the girls were hoping that Tsuyu and Habuko were really 'very good friends', for their sake. Or they might become witnesses to a stabbing.

On the other side of the changing room, Itsuka continued to tie up her boots, and looked over at where Kashiko was putting on her own boots beside her.

"So," She sighed a bit, "you're a class rep as well?"

"Yes," She nodded, giving her a small smile, "even if - you know, it's stressful because of a few troublemakers."

"Oh, tell me about it," Itsuka groaned, rubbing her forehead, "I know exactly what you mean."

"Indeed," Momo rubbed her forehead while looking troubled, "we recently had a troublemaker as well, but … well, we're hoping that we won't have to repeat something like Bakugou again."

"Well, Fujimi isn't … that bad," Kashiko had to lie through her teeth, "he's just … very enthusiastic about proving himself to the HPSC."

"Yeah … a HPSC school, huh?" Melissa asked curiously from the side, zipping up her gym shirt over her black t-shirt. "I know that my old school was sponsored by I-Island's board of directors, but they were usually pretty hands off. Does the HPSC do things differently at Isamu?"

"It's … well, if I'm being honest, it's not all that much fun," Kashiko sighed unhappily, putting her visor over her eyes as she stared down at her knees, "there's a lot more rules to follow, at least. And it's not even like here at UA or Ketsubutsu where they have heroes teach the students - all of our classes are taught by people from the Commission."

"Huh …" Ochako let out a small hum, looking over at the other class rep in concern - honestly, from how she was speaking, Isami didn't sound like a very fun school to be at. Kashiko seemed to pick up that she was making the other girls uncomfortable, however, since she quickly sat up and flashed them a smile.

"Well - well, it's not that bad," She assured him, "I'm just being whiny. We get to go out and do hero work a lot earlier, and Hawks occasionally comes to visit, too!"

"Oh, uh - wow, that's - that's cool!" Mina tried to cheer her up as well, while Ochako nodded a bit, and Nejire walked over to ask her a few more questions. 

The brown-haired girl then walked over to where Itsuka was standing up and putting on her mask, and then they both glanced over at where Himiko was hunched over on her bench, continuing to sharpen her knife while glaring metaphorical daggers at Tsuyu and Habuko.

"So, uh …" Ochako was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit nervously as she leaned in to whisper in her girlfriend's ear, "… how's it feel to see Toga-senpai be jealous for once?"

"Honestly? I'd enjoy it more if it didn't seem like she was going to stab someone," Itsuka smirked a bit at Ochako's snort, and began to guide her out of the changing room, "so let's enjoy it at a distance. Now c'mon - it sounds like we got a lot of work to do today, so let's just hope that these new guys don't have any tricks up their sleeves."

"Right, right."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… you're actually living for how jealous Toga-senpai is, aren't you?"

"Woman, like you wouldn't believe. I would be cackling right now if it didn't mean I'd be getting a knife to the head"

"Oh, you jealous, jealous girl."

"Only for you, baby. And a certain green-haired cutie. Now c'mon - let's go meet up with Izuku and head out to Gym Omega. I'm just hoping that we don't have to deal with anything serious today, like -"


“- Z-ZOMBIES?!”

The sound of utterly terrified screams filled the air of Ground Omega as the few members of Class 1A standing at the top of the hill stared down in horror at the scene below them. Several of their classmates had just come staggering out of the forest, pale as sheets with their eyes black and vacant, and their mouths dropped open. They let out several loud moans as they smacked off trees or fired their quirks without any regard for each other - but one thing was for certain. They were staring up at the few uninfected people up on the hill, and slowly making their way over.

Up on the top of the hill, Izuku grimaced nervously, quickly looking around to do a headcount of the group that were 'still alive', so to speak. Both Itsuka and Nejire were looking shocked and more than a little nervous at the group of zombies heading their way; Ochako, on the other hand, was gripping Izuku's arm tightly as she took a hesitant step back, looking like she was ten seconds from floating him and booking it. Tsuyu stayed near the edge of the cliff while looking for her friend with obvious worry in her eyes, and Kyouka and Eijirou were looking like they were on the verge of running, Kyouka looking terrified of the zombie Momo sitting in the collection of matryoshka dolls she was popping out of her body and Eijirou squeezing his hand into a fist, tearing up and muttering about something being 'unmanly'.

But it was Melissa's clearly terrified look at all the zombies that was making Izuku feel himself tense up - and he knew exactly why. Unlike any of them, she didn't have a quirk to defend herself from these guys, so she was the most vulnerable one there, with no support items or anything to protect her should she get cornered.

Which meant, of course, that her safety was now his top priority.

"Everyone, why …?" Ochako gasped lightly as she stared down at the scene below.

"Habuko …" Tsuyu teared up when she spotted her friend amongst the zombies.

"It has to have been because of that gas," Izuku realized, his eyes sweeping along the forest to look for anyone else approaching, "it looks like it's completely zombified everyone!"

"Holy crap …" Itsuka gulped a bit nervously at the zombies slowly making their way up the hill - truth be told, she had never been all that comfortable with the various zombie movies she had seen when she was a kid, remembering the times she would hide behind her dad when they came on the screen. So seeing all of her classmates shambling up the hill while either electrified, or bound in tape, or running into trees (as poor Tenya was doing) unnerved her. Especially when she spotted Yui and Setsuna among the dead, both of them tripping over themselves and making her heart ache.

At the sound of a taunting laugh suddenly erupting behind them, the group of eight quickly looked around to see that Fujimi guy from Isamu sauntering up to them, sweeping his arms wide as he looked a little too proud of himself.

"So, what do you people think of my quirk?!" He boasted at them, his sneer wide on his face as he swept his gaze throughout the crowd, and somehow missed both Izuku and Ochako paling as they pointed at something behind him. "It's nothing that you would see at your stupid school! Only those belonging to the Hero Public Safety Commission can use these quirks to continue to spread justice throughout Japan! UA's really not all that -"

However, before he could continue to taunt them, a familiar zombie floated down beside him, balanced unevenly on a pair of horns. And, lo and behold, he let out a gasp as the zombie Pony leaned forward and sank her teeth into his shoulder.

"- OH, MY GAWD!"

With that, he dropped unceremoniously onto his face, while the zombie Pony wobbled a bit in the air above him.

"Tsunotori …" Izuku gulped nervously, "… you were a little too quick to get revenge!"

As the group took a hesitant step back, they felt themselves pale (although not to the extent of Fujimi) as he slowly looked up at them, his eyes becoming vacant and his mouth dropping open as he began moaning.

"Oh, of course they can infect other people," Itsuka groaned, "because today couldn't get any worse!"

"This isn't good!" Izuku looked incredibly nervous, everyone looking around to see the other zombies growling and slowly but surely coming up the mountain slope towards them. "What do we do? If the quirk user is down, then we might not be able to reverse this!"

"I - no, there has to be a time limit," Itsuka shook her head, "so we just have to avoid being bitten by … any of them."

She paused.

"Crap. Shitting fuck! This is going to suck, isn't it?"

"Er …" Melissa gulped nervously, "… yep. It is."

"Well, uh … I think it'll be easier for me to dodge than the rest of you guys!" Nejire looked a bit timid as she started floating up into the air, although she admittedly didn't abandon them. "But don't worry! I'll cover you from up here! I can use my quirk to - oh, but wait, should we hurt them? What if they're still in there? I shouldn't hurt them if they're just in there and not in control of their bodies! That'd be mean! But then they might bite us, wouldn't they?"

"So, uh … what are we doing, guys?" Kyouka looked nervously around. "Running? Fighting?"

"Screaming?" Nejire helpfully added in. "I kinda feel like screaming, zombies are scary!"

"I - I don't think we can fight them," Melissa shook her head, carefully stepping back while sweeping her gaze for anywhere they could escape to, "they keep using their quirks without warning, we could get hit and then … uh … become zombie food."

"Oh, god, don't put that image in my head," Kyouka groaned.

"No, Melissa's right," Itsuka carefully looked around as well, "they're all out of control, so I'm not counting on our chances in a fight. Besides, Nejire's got a point - they're zombies, but they're still our classmates. We don't wanna hurt them if we don't have to. So it's better to retreat and get somewhere where we won't be at a disadvantage."

"Right," Eijirou slowly nodded, looking around at Melissa, "so … so we should definitely get Melissa out of here. She doesn't have a quirk to defend herself with, so we need to make sure that she gets to safety."

Melissa winced a bit, but she didn't offer any complaint, seeing as he was somewhat right.

"There, kero," Tsuyu pointed down the hill, "none of the zombies are coming up this part of the hill, so we can escape here!"

Nodding, and pushing down his fear, Eijirou stepped forward, and everyone turned to see him squaring up to the advancing horde as he turned to look at them over his shoulder.

"You guys get going," He nodded, hardening his body, "it'll take them a while to chew through me, and I can distract 'em to give you guys a head start!"

"Kirishima …" Izuku teared up a bit.

"Ah, fuck it," Kyouka growled as well, quickly pushing through her fear as well and raising her earphone jacks threateningly at the zombies as they finished crawling up the hill and started coming towards them, "I'll help him out. If this isn't permanent, though, I'm coming after your asses myself. Now go!"

Izuku felt a protest begin to rise in his throat, but with Melissa and Ochako quickly holding onto his arms to stop him from moving forward, he knew that it would be a waste of time to attempt to convince them to come along. He could only pray that the two of them could hold the zombies off, and their sacrifices wouldn't be in vain.

Letting out a shuddering breath, he quickly turned with the rest of the group to start heading down the hill away from their zombified classmates. As they began quickly sliding down the rocky terrain, they heard Eijirou roar in challenge as he leapt into the zombie horde, and Kyouka only managing to hit a few of them with her sound waves before she came under the zombified Momo's grasp, and got a pair of teeth biting into her shoulder as a reward for her sacrifice.

And even as they retreated, they tried to pretend that they didn't hear Kyouka unintentionally groaning something that sounded suspiciously like 'harder' under her breath even as she fell to the ground under Momo's might.

Quickly, they all slid down the hill, Melissa careful not to slip by holding onto Ochako's hand on the way down. In the back of the group, Tsuyu ribbited to herself, and then looked back around at where her friend from middle school was lumbering after them, slipping down the hill behind them -

- and then Tsuyu's foot caught on a rock, causing her to ribbit in shock and pain as she fell down the rest of the hill and landed on her face.

"Tsuyu!" Ochako called desperately back to her, and Izuku and Itsuka made to go back for her, but it was too late. 

As Tsuyu got up on her hands and knees, the zombie Habuko dropped down onto the ground from the hill, and moved to stand up, with her wide mouth dropped even more unnaturally wide.

And yet, after a tense moment where the other five winced in anticipation … she didn't make a move towards her, which made Tsuyu blink a bit.

"Habuko, do …" She stood up carefully, reaching hesitantly out to her with both hands. And to Izuku and Ochako's relief, the zombie took them, in an imitation of what they'd been doing all day.

"… you do recognize me!" Tsuyu looked like she could cry in relief. "Even when you're a zombie! Oh, Habuko … kero …"

"So, uh …" Nejire gave Itsuka and Melissa a raised eyebrow, pointing between the frog girl and the zombie snake girl, "… is it just me, or … is there no heterosexual explanation for those two?"

Both Itsuka and Melissa paused, glancing between each other for a moment, and then shook their heads, agreeing with her.


"Bite her," Himiko growled as she glared through the binoculars on the top of the hill, All Might already on his way to help the students while Aizawa just looked tired beside her, "bite her, you snake asshole. I swear to god, you better bite her and not kiss her, or I swear to god I'll be having grilled python tonight!"

"Right," Aizawa shook his head, "that's it. You're going to have another session with Midnight in case you start relapsing."


"Oh, thank you, Habuko," Tsuyu smiled froggily up at her, leaning in closely, "I knew that we'd always -"

And of course, such a heartwarming moment was cut short by a zombie Denki, sliding down the hill on his stomach, stopping just beside Tsuyu's foot, and then turning his head to bite her ankle.

As Izuku and Ochako's jaws dropped simultaneously in horror, they watched as a zombie Tsuyu and Habuko moaned together, still holding hands as they turned towards the still 'living' members of the group.

"They're friends even when they're zombies …" Ochako gulped, taking a small step back.

"I … guess we could call them 'zombie roommates'," Melissa was unable to stop herself from snarking even as she was looking increasingly nervous about their chances.

"Oh my god, they were zombie roommatessss," Nejire completed the joke weakly.

"Okay, I think that we're kind of boned right now," Itsuka grimaced weakly as more zombies began making their way down the hill towards them, "so, uh … anyone got a plan?"

Near the front of the group, Izuku made sure to stand in front of Melissa, who was looking more and more nervous by the second as she looked around for anything she could use as a weapon. His brain was currently scrambling for a plan - they knew that their classmates had been transformed, but they didn't want to hurt them at all, which meant … 

… well, it meant that him using his quirk against them was out of the question. Lightning, of course, and he didn't know how they would react should he try to ice them, and seeing as he needed physical contact to freeze something, getting close to their teeth was out of the question. Same went to Ochako and Itsuka, since they couldn't touch them with their own quirks due to the risk of them getting infected as well. 

Their only real hope right now was Nejire, who could theoretically keep them back with her quirk, but -

However, before Izuku could start trying to come up with a plan, the small group suddenly heard a familiar laugh coming from above them.

"HA HA HA HA HAAAA!"

"That voice -!" Izuku gasped excitedly, quickly looking around up at the sun shining in the sky above them.

"Uncle Might!" Melissa looked like she was going to cry from relief.

“IT’S ALRIGHT NOW! WHY, YOU AAAAASK …?!”

From the blue sky, the silhouette of a large man suddenly slammed hard into the ground, kicking up dirt everywhere. They all shielded their eyes for a moment, and then looked up to stare in awe at their savior, standing to his full height …

"… I'm here to help!" All Might gave them a choppy chop, clearly in his weak form as blood spat out of his mouth.

There was a long pause. Izuku grabbed the sides of his head as he comically paled in horror. Ochako and Itsuka stared blankly at him, although there was a vein beginning to clench near Itsuka's eye. Nejire merely tilted her head in confusion, crinkling her brow.

But it was Melissa's face that All Might's eyes were drawn to, seeing her jaw drop and her eyes widen.

They were, of course, shaken out of their state of shock by the sound of moaning behind them, and they all quickly looked around to see the zombies continuing to make their way down the hill towards them.

"Oh, crap!" Itsuka squeaked, and wasted no more time, grabbing both Izuku and Ochako in her giant hands while twirling around and starting to run. "Sorry, but we are not being the protagonists of a zombie movie! Let's go, everyone!"

Nejire was quick to follow, but Melissa sputtered as the tall, frail man stared incomprehensibly at his hands, as though they had betrayed him, before he looked up to see his pupils retreating, his eyes widening in actual betrayal.

"W-wait, kids!" The frail man tried to beg the retreating students from abandoning him. "I'm not actually a zombie -!"

However, at the sound of the zombies moving right behind him, he froze, and then whirled around.

"- shiiiiiiiiIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

"H-hey!" Melissa came up in front of him, grabbing his frail arm and starting to pull him away from the zombies. "C-c'mon, let's go!"

"I - hold on, Me- I - I mean, miss! I don't -!"

"I don't think there's any way that we can stop them, sir! We need to get the hell out of here!"

With that, she began roughly pulling All Might along, aware of him sputtering and looking panicked as his niece pulled him along with them into the forest. Still, he wasn't able to convince her otherwise, seeing as the sound of the zombies moaning loudly behind them was causing the two of them to run along with the group as fast as they could.

"Nejire!" Itsuka panted as she put Izuku and Ochako down to allow them to run alongside them, looking up at their friend flying alongside the fleeing group. "Go find Aizawa-sensei! Maybe he can put a stop to these guys!"

"Right!" Nejire saluted her, taking a moment to instinctively look over her shoulder -

- and then she let out a loud squeak as she saw, floating there menacingly, both the zombie Pony and Setsuna flying beside her. Setsuna's arms came off to reach for Nejire, and her head came as well to try taking a bite out of her, it was only due to Nejire turning on her side that she managed to avoid getting zombified.

"Ah! Ew, ew, ew, no, thank you! I don't wanna be bit! Not like that, anyway!"

Soon, Melissa and All Might caught up with the rest of the fleeing students, with Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka looking around and seeing All Might trying to keep up with Melissa pulling him along. Although, with the way he was staggering and clutching at his side, it was clear that he wasn't used to running in this form, looking absolutely pitiful as he tried to keep up with them.

Quickly moving back, Itsuka grew out her hand and grabbed ahold of her mentor, yanking him off his feet and running a bit quicker than Melissa had been while dragging him. Although she had to make sure not to bang his head off the ground as she ran with the frail man so close to the ground, All Might letting out several yelps as some stones were kicked into his face by their running as they fled through the forest.

"Where are we going?!" Ochako panted as she caught up to Itsuka, glancing up to see Nejire continuing to dodge around the zombie Setsuna and Pony. Itsuka, meanwhile, swept her eyes along the forest and up towards the mountains that lined the zone –

– and then her eyes fell to a small cave atop a cliff, and she pointed.

“There! Everyone head to that cave!”

With Izuku and Ochako looking to where she was pointing, Itsuka took a deep breath, and concentrated on the imaginary egg in the microwave. Feeling her body flare up with One for All, she took a deep breath and reached out to grab Melissa with her other enlarged hand, and Ochako reacted quickly as well, reaching out to grab Izuku’s arm and float him.

Together, both girls jumped, Itsuka using her strength to carry both Melissa and All Might up to the cliff, and Ochako floating herself as well as she pressed on a button on the gauntlet, and a wire suddenly shot out and attached to the edge of the cliff. Nejire saw them floating up and quickly followed, flipping around to fire two weak shots at Setsuna and Pony to send them flying backwards, and soon the six of them reached the cliff, Itsuka quickly putting both her classmate and her teacher, while Ochako reached the cliff and released her quirk on both herself and Izuku to land.

Once they were on the cliff’s edge and away from the zombies’ eyesight, they hurried to the cave, Itsuka putting down Melissa and All Might and racing over towards a large boulder. Catching on, Ochako floated it for her girlfriend to lift and carry, and as soon as everyone was inside the cave, Itsuka carefully put the boulder down with Ochako releasing it so that they were protected from the zombies.

As the sound of the zombies was muffled by the giant rock, everyone let out a long sigh of relief as they sagged over, panting in exhaustion. Nejire flopped down on the cave floor with a sigh of relief, holding her hair in her lap so that she didn’t end up sitting on it, while Izuku slid down the cave wall to sit beside her. Ochako didn’t take long to follow him down, flopping down on her butt and trying desperately to catch her breath.

“Okay …” Itsuka panted a bit as well, moving around the group and sitting down beside Ochako, “… okay, I think we’re good for now. As long as we keep quiet, hopefully they won’t realize where we are. I don’t think that boulder will be enough to keep us trapped inside, but …”

“But it might not be enough to protect us from the zombies,” Izuku grimaced, leaning back against the wall with Ochako.

On the other side of the cave, All Might let out a long groan as he sat down on the ground with the rest of the students, holding one hand over his eyes and the other rubbing his side. However, he couldn’t help but feel himself pale as he felt rather than saw Melissa’s eyes staying on his face, making it clear that she was staring at him. After a moment, he cleared his throat awkwardly as he lowered his hands, and unintentionally drew everyone else’s attention to him.

And … well, seeing as the living embodiment of curiosity was present, it didn’t take long for questions to start.

“So … um …” Nejire tilted her head in intrigue at the apparent stranger, “… sorry, sir, but where did you come from? You kinda showed up out of nowhere, you know! And wait, who are you? Are you a teacher? Or maybe you’re a student! But wait, if you’re a student, why are you wearing a suit? Is it your hero costume? It’s kinda baggy, you know!”

“Er …” All Might felt himself pale a bit, aware of Izuku and Ochako studying their feet rather than look at him, Itsuka whistling innocently, and Melissa continuing to stare blankly at him, “… well, uh … Young H- I – I mean, miss … I’m … actually a – a guest.”

“A guest?” Nejire looked a bit surprised. “Wait, so you don’t go here? You’re not a teacher? What do you do? Wait, now that I’m thinking about it, I kinda recognize your voice … and your suit … but from where? Have we met before? You’d think that I’d know you if we've met before, but I don’t!”

“Er …”

“Oh! Wait! I think I know where I heard your voice! From the sports festival! So, what’s your name? Huh? Huh?”

“I – wait, you heard me during the sports festival?” All Might blinked in surprise, taken aback.

“Yeah! You were talking with Itsuka!”

“Erk,” Itsuka winced, feeling herself pale in horror when she glanced at her friend and saw the way gears were moving in her head.

“W-well, uh …” All Might gulped a bit while trying to come up with a cover story, still staring awkwardly at Nejire’s shoulder instead of into her eyes while scratching the side of his head, “… I’m … I’m actually part of – uh – All Might’s agency. Y-yes, that’s it. You see, I’m –”

“He’s All Might.”

At Melissa's quiet statement - not a question, a statement - the cave went deadly quiet.

Nejire, for her part, blinked and looked around at her friend in surprise. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, went rigid and whipped around to stare at her in shock and horror. All Might himself went still, his eyes blankly staring ahead for a moment as he realized who had just said that. And Melissa herself turned to stare down at her feet, her hands clenching at her sides.

The cave was quiet for a long minute, Nejire having seemed to realize that a certain truth bomb had just been dropped and zipping her mouth closed before she could unleash a question vomit that probably wouldn't help with everyone's stress. And then, slowly, All Might turned to look at where Melissa was staring at her feet, feeling like his heart was trying its best to beat its way out of his chest.

"Er …" He let out a shaky, nervous chuckle, "… s-sorry, miss? What did you say?"

"You're All Might," Melissa repeated in the same dull, emotionless voice.

"I - uh - well, I - I certainly wish that I was All Might, h-ha, ha!" He weakly and fakely laughed. "But I - er - well, if I was All -"

"Uncle Might, are you gonna treat me like I'm an idiot?"

All Might flinched at the hurt in her voice. Even more so when she finally flickered her gaze to him, tears in her eyes as she looked up and down at his frail and bony body.

"Is … is this what Papa was talking about?" She said in a quiet, painfilled voice. "When he thought you were sick, is … is this what he was talking about? How … how did this happen?"

"Er … M-Melissa -"

"He told me that you weren't well, but … but I thought you were just sick. How … is this what you normally look like? Have - have you always looked like this, Uncle Might?"

"I - no, I -"

All Might hesitated for a moment, his gaze flickering around to the other people in the cave. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were a bit too busy staring at their feet, while Nejire was looking between him and Melissa with wide eyes. There was a moment where All Might briefly considered his options, knowing how bad an idea it would be to confirm his niece's suspicions -

- and yet, when he looked back over at Melissa, who was looking like she was about to cry, he knew that he couldn't lie to her.

With a small sigh, All Might scooted a bit closer to her, and after a moment of hesitation, he wrapped his arm around his niece's shoulders to pull her in for a small embrace. He allowed her to rest her head on his bony shoulder, and he rested a sunken cheek against the top of her head while he closed his eyes.

"- I … I'm sorry, Melissa," He said in a quiet voice, "I … I never wanted you to find out about this. I just … didn't want you to worry about me."

"I - wait a minute!" Nejire gasped at last, her eyes wide as saucers while Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka winced, "So - so you are All Might? Melissa's right? But I don't get it! You're usually so big! I mean, you're kind of big right now, but in a scrawny way, but - what? What?!"

"It's … true, Young Hadou," All Might sighed again, "I am indeed All Might. This is … well …"

He paused for a moment, glancing between his three pupils remaining quiet in the corner, and then he let out a small groan, raising his other hand to hold over his eyes.

"You know what?" He shook his head. "We … we shouldn't be having this conversation here. Not now, when we're all so stressed. I promise, I'll explain everything, but - but not now. After this exercise, I want you five to - to meet me at the Nap Room, after school. I'll talk to you all -"

He was interrupted, however, by the sound of the boulder near the entrance of the cave shifting.

Squeaking, they all looked around, eyes widening in complete and total horror, as the boulder was completely rolled to the side, and poking their heads in was all of Class 1A and their guests from Isamu - all of them currently moaning and zombified, easily shoving the large boulder out of the way to get to the survivors. Joining their ranks was Eijirou, who's red hair stuck out even more with his chalk-white skin, Momo, tugging along Kyouka on what looked to be some kind of rope wrapped around her neck, and Yui and Setsuna, both of them turning their gazes slowly to Itsuka and making her squeak a bit as she quickly began backing up with the rest of the still alive teenagers.

At once, All Might leapt to his feet, standing in front of the massive horde with his arms thrown out while the surviving kids quickly moved towards the back of the wall.

"Uncle Might!" Melissa gasped, worried but unable to move to him as Izuku quickly grabbed her wrist to hold her back.

"It's alright!" Her uncle looked back and nodded surely at her, setting his jaw in determination. "You kids find a way out. I'll hold them off and -"

However, before he could complete his heroic sacrifice, the zombie horde was upon him. And instead of biting him, the zombie Mezo merely patted his shoulder, and they slowly made their way around the adult towards the still living kids.

There was a long pause for the six surviving people. And then All Might whirled around to look at them, looking a mix of shocked, relieved, horrified and insulted.

"They already think I'm one of them!"

"Fucking shit!" Itsuka gulped nervously, grabbing both Izuku and Ochako's hands as her eyes darted around for some way to escape. "I never wanted it to end like this - going out in a fucking cave to fucking zombies!"

"Oh, gosh, oh, gosh, oh, gosh," Nejire whimpered a bit, looking around at Melissa, "this is scary! What do we do? Are we about to die?!"

"I - I don't know," Melissa shook her head, looking at All Might standing in the middle of the horde for a moment in worry, even if the zombies were surrounding him, before he blinked and quickly began moving through the crowd -

- and then she dropped her head, screwing her eyes shut.

"I - shit, I never got a hug from Ochako, and I'm pissed about it! I really wanted to get hugged! She looks like she's very comfy!"

There was a pause, with the four teenagers blinking and slowly looking around at Melissa as she froze, staring forward in horror at what she just admitted, while Ochako blinked and went bright red. And then she looked around at them.

"So, uh …" She went bright red, blushing even amidst the groaning of the zombies making their way towards them, "… anyone else want to get something off their chest before we die?"

The four of them blinked, and then glanced between each other.

And then Izuku squeaked, "Occhan and Itsuka gave me two hickies and they're freaking awesome. I haven't been able to say it at all, but I am so fucking proud of them and I wanna show them off."

"I am ridiculously down bad for both of these two," Ochako pointed between her partners, face burning, "I want them both to get me in between them and make me the meat of an Izuku-Itsuka sandwich!"

"I totally checked Nejire out in the changing room today," Itsuka cringed, "I know I shouldn't, but her ass is fucking beautiful! I wanna hug it!"

"I keep wondering if I have to put my boobies in Midoriya's face for him to notice me," Nejire went red as well, twiddling her thumbs, "and I also really wanna kiss Itsuka again!"

There was another pause.

"I touched Itsuka's butt!"

"I touched Deku's butt!"

"I wanna touch both your butts!"

"Why hasn't anyone touched my butt?!"

"I totally had a sexy dream about Izuku!"

With those last truth bombs (and Izuku's face practically smoking from how red it had become), they all threw their arms around each other and cringed, squeezing their eyes shut as Izuku made sure his back was to the zombies to protect the girls as they all clung to each other -

- and then there was the sound of a loud laugh from outside the cave.

"HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAA!"

At the loud cackle of laughter, all the zombies stopped lumbering forward, letting out confused moans, and looked around. The five still alive, meanwhile, looked around and squeezed one eye open to see All Might standing outside the cave on the cliff in full glory - or at least, in half-full glory, seeing as part of his face and his arm began deflating a bit, leaving the five cave dwellers a bit horrified at his appearance as he began steaming up.

"Ha, ha, ha!" He laughed triumphantly. "Come then, zombies! Let a pro show you how it's done!"

There was a pause, and then he shrank back down to his smaller form, spitting out some blood (and making Melissa stare in absolute horror) before he puffed back up.

"Come, then! Show me what you've got!"

The zombies let out long groans, but still stumbled out of the cave, arms out and wandering towards All Might as he flexed in front of them and desperately tried to keep his true form up. The five teenagers stared in shock at All Might's ultimate sacrifice, making sure to lean to the side so that the zombies only saw the one side of him - and then Melissa felt her eyes narrow.

"No," She shook her head, "no! We can't let Uncle Might sacrifice himself!"

"I - but what can we do?" Izuku turned to look at her, his face practically glowing in the dark (mostly because of that last little comment from Melissa finally registering in his mind and making it hard to stare at her). "We can't stop the zombies, can we?"

"We can," She nodded, looking around at Nejire in determination, "because I - well, think about it. Our classmates aren't normally strong enough to roll a boulder out of the way, are they?"

The four of them blinked - and then Nejire felt her eyes widen.

"Oh. Oh!" She gasped. "So they're a lot more durable in these forms!"

"Yeah," She nodded, smacking her fist into her hand, "and if they're more durable …"

"They can take more punishment!" Itsuka caught on, nodding at once, and then she turned to Izuku and Ochako. "You two stay back - we don't know how your lightning will hurt them, Izuku, and we don't want you to get infected, Ochako. Nejire!"

"Yeah!"

Quickly, both girls ran in front of the other three, Itsuka throwing her fist back and Nejire throwing her hands up. As Izuku made sure both Ochako and Melissa were safely back, Itsuka allowed One for All to power up her arm, wincing a bit in anticipation - she'd rather avoid using it at full strength, but if they were going to protect All Might, she would have to go full one hundred percent, and face the consequences afterwards. Nejire, meanwhile, bit her lip, charging up her quirk.

As soon as All Might noticed them powering up, realizing what they were about to do, he nodded and quickly jumped away, out of the firing range. The zombies paused for a moment as their prey disappeared, slowly watching the hero vanish from sight into the forest, and turned just as Itsuka balled her fist.

"Alright," She nodded, "let's do it!"

"Yeah!" Nejire agreed.

And together, both girls threw their hands out, Itsuka wincing as a large amount of air left her arm and Nejire firing off a blast -

- just in time for a large gust of steam to suddenly erupt off of the zombies, and Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire and Melissa blinked when the pale skin suddenly vanished, and everyone was back to normal, blinking in confusion.

All in time for them to look around in surprise and shock as Itsuka and Nejire's quirks hit them.

And in the distance, Aizawa groaned, and Himiko raised an eyebrow, as the side of an entire mountain blew up in a large gust of wind and yellow spiraling energy.


An hour later, as Recovery Girl made her way out of the classroom while shaking her head, Itsuka and Nejire quickly went down into apologetic bows, lowering themselves so far down in front of the class that their noses almost touched the ground.

"We are so sorry!" Itsuka apologized sincerely, minding her arm in the cast.

"We didn't mean to!" Nejire whined, tears in her eyes.

"Nah, nah, it's good," Setsuna groaned, holding an ice pack to her head, "from the sound of things, we were gonna kinda about to eat you alive, so … yeah. Ow, but yeah."

"Mm," Yui nodded as well, poking experimentally at her nose and wincing, "ow."

"We should be the ones who should be apologizing," Kashiko looked ashamed, her arm wrapped up in a cast and bowing her head, "we're the ones who are responsible for this spiraling out of control."

"All good," Denki gave her a thumbs up, along with a hopeful look, "but maybe, uh … you can apologize a bit more if we all go and hang out after -"

"I'm gay."

"Oh." Denki blinked. "Darn."

"Ouch," Yosetsu chortled, "shot down."

"Shut up!"

Indeed, after Recovery Girl and Himiko had gotten done wrapping everyone up, all of Class 1A and the four from Isamu returned to 1A's homeroom, where Itsuka and Nejire could began profusely apologizing for causing injuries to a good three quarters of the class from blasting them all the way across Ground Omega with the combined power of their quirks. Everyone, thankfully, seemed relatively alright, regardless, with only a few bandages on some people's faces and others just needing their arms or legs in casts until Recovery Girl's gummies kicked in. 

Of course, there were a few people who were looking disgruntled, like Tenya holding a crutch under his arm, to Dadan being in a full body cast, but … well, they didn't seem like they minded all too much, being relatively understanding of the circumstances, while Izuku, Ochako and Melissa cringed off to the side.

No, they didn't mind all that much, not when their attention was turning towards the one boy with gray hair in the corner, looking disgruntled and positively bored.

"Fujimi, you need to apologize, too!" Kashiko turned to scowl at her classmate, who was too busy staring off to the side. "This is all because you couldn't keep your cool, and it blew out of proportions! So say that you're sorry!"

There was a long pause in the classroom.

"Apologize!" She barked, making several people jump.

"Gek," Fujimi growled, "sorry about that."

Class 1A, thankfully, didn't seem to take it as personally as Kashiko was, waving off his apology in low grumbles. Truth be told, everyone was a bit too tired to get into it, so they all elected to simply grab their backpacks and start heading home, limping out of the school in defeat. Momo, for her part, was unable to look at Kyouka due to the realization that her zombie self had apparently put the zombie Kyouka on what was essentially a leash, limping out of the classroom timidly while Kyouka kept the strange envelope in her pocket, blushing furiously. Himiko, who was leaning against the wall on the side, scowled as Tsuyu and Habuko walked out together, and got off the wall to follow them, and the Isamu students eventually bowed as well as they followed the rest of the class out.

Soon, it was just Itsuka, Nejire, Izuku, Ochako and Melissa left, all of them staring at their feet.

"So, uh …" Itsuka gestured with her head, "… time for the Nap Room, I guess. All Might's probably waiting."

"Yep."

"Mm-hm."

"Sounds good."

"Kewlio."

With that, they all grabbed their stuff from their desks and started walking out of the classroom, all of their heads down and avoiding each other's gazes.

They were, of course, remembering what exactly each of them had admitted in the moment where they thought they were going to be devoured by the zombie horde. Izuku, for his part, was avoiding looking at both Melissa, who he was wondering how he would even be able to look her in the eye, much less stay in the same room for one more night with the knowledge that she had a sexy dream about him, and Nejire, who he was definitely avoiding looking at - or, more accurately, glancing down at her chest. Ochako, meanwhile, was tapping her fingers together while avoiding looking over at Melissa as well, while Itsuka blushed and stared at her feet while making sure she was in front of Nejire, so as not to be tempted to look at something she shouldn't.

Nejire, meanwhile, was scratching the back of her head awkwardly at what she had admitted, staying eerily silent and avoiding looking at both Izuku and Itsuka. Melissa was also quiet, feeling like smacking herself in the face with what she admitted, and it was the fear of making both Izuku and Ochako uncomfortable that was encouraging her to stay quiet as they all walked down the hallway towards where All Might had told them to meet with him.

And then, after a long few minutes of quiet after moving up the stairs and down the hallway, Itsuka let out a sigh.

"Okay," She nodded slowly, causing the four of them to turn their heads slightly in her direction, and then looked up as she moved to the front of the group and faced them, "okay, guys, we - it happened. What happened in that cave, happened. It's embarrassing, and - and I wish I would just fucking die, but - but we can't keep avoiding looking at each other forever. Let's just - let's just get everything off our chests now before we meet with All Might so it's not awkward."

The four of them paused, and then turned to glance at each other, going red.

"Er … right," Melissa tapped her fingers nervously together, "okay. So, uh … Izuku."

Izuku merely squeaked to acknowledge that he was listening.

"I'm … really sorry for dropping that on you," She went red and glanced back down at her shoes, "I just … yeah."

"R-right," Izuku nodded, still staring down at his shoes, "yeah. It's - it's cool. It's not like - you know - you can control what you dream, r-right?"

"Yeaaaah …" Melissa slowly nodded, grimacing, "… y-yeah. Heh. Heh heh."

"Heh heh …"

After they both trailed off into silence, Izuku then glanced over at where Nejire was nervously twiddling her thumbs, and he let out a sigh.

"Uh … Hadou."

"Eek!" She squeaked a bit, looking around at him with wide eyes and a blush. "Y-yeah?"

"It's, uh …" Izuku hesitated for a moment, flickering his gaze over to Ochako and Itsuka as they both gave him encouraging thumbs up - but it was Melissa's presence that caused him to stop his thoughts on what he could say here, and let out a small sigh.

"… so, uh … I … was wondering if … with what you said, we … we could talk about that later. With - with Occhan and Itsuka, of course. We've been … talking, and … there's something that we wanna tell you about it."

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded awkwardly as well, "we're, uh …"

There was a pause. And then, the trio paused, all registering something at the same time, and their eyes all turned to Melissa.

"… you …" Ochako hesitated, sweating a bit nervously, "… seem … to not be that shocked about … what we admitted, Melissa."

"What," Melissa tilted her head, blushing, "about the … hickeys?"

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka went red again, but they still awkwardly nodded

"Well, uh … yeah," Melissa nodded, smiling a bit weakly, "you guys are … together. I figured it out already."

"W-what?!" Itsuka squeaked. "Wait, when?!"

"Oh, like … two days ago. Don't worry, Nejire already wrestled me to the ground and threatened me to not reveal it to anyone."

"I didn't threaten you!" Nejire protested. "Okay, I wrestled you, and that was fun rolling around and fighting you, even if I had to talk my mom down from kidnapping you from the Midoriyas, but - but I didn't threaten you!"

"Huh?" Izuku blinked. "Kidnap Melissa from my apartment? Why?"

"Uh …" Nejire froze, going bright red.

"Oh, uh - h-hey!" Melissa suddenly interrupted the conversation, pointing. "We're here! Let's shut up now!"

Quickly, she began speed walking over towards the door to the Nap Room, with Itsuka raising her eyebrow even further up her forehead while Izuku and Ochako looked confused, and they didn't notice Nejire looking relieved that Melissa had stopped that conversation there. Still, the four of them were quick to catch up to Melissa as they approached the Nap Room, and after knocking, they slid the door open.

Sitting on one of the couches, All Might raised a hand in greeting, now in his weak form as he poured a few cups of tea for them all. He was, of course, looking a bit nervous as Melissa quickly stepped into the room and turned her gaze to him, and immediately chose to sit down beside him on the couch, but at least she wasn't looking as betrayed as she had been looking earlier - now, she simply looked worried.

"Welcome," He greeted everyone as they moved into the small room, "I made you all some tea."

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka grimaced a bit, picking up a cup, "… thank you, All Might."

"Yes. And … well, sorry about this afternoon, you lot," He sighed, shaking his head a bit as the four teenagers moved around the couch, "I had thought that I could help you out against your reanimated classmates, but … well, I wasn't exactly keeping track of the time I had left today. My apologies for making you drag me around Ground Omega."

"Oh, it's - it's no problem, All Might," Itsuka shook her head as she sat down on one of the stools, with Izuku and Ochako quickly joining her on the other stools, "just glad to see that we didn't have to deal with a zombie … well … you."

"Yes, well," He chuckled despite himself, "I'm … not entirely sure if I'm relieved or insulted that a group of zombies seemed to have trouble confirming if I'm one of them, but … well, I'll just say that I'm glad that I didn't have to get bitten twice in one week."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked. "Twice?"

"Ah, er …" All Might suddenly flinched, going red and avoiding looking at Izuku while adjusting the collar of his dress shirt, "… never mind that. N-now then, now that everyone is here …"

Putting his tea cup down on the table as Nejire took a seat on the opposite couch with Izuku and Ochako, he grimaced slightly, glancing over at Melissa as she sipped on her own tea while still staring at him, taking in his new appearance.

"… back to … our conversation," He sighed, "from the cave."

The five of them nodded, with Melissa scooting a bit closer to her uncle to make sure that he knew she wasn't pushing him away. Even if she was taken aback and horrified by the state he was in, she still moved to lean against him, to let him know that she wasn't rejecting him. All Might, for his part, gave her a small smile and wrapped his arm around her shoulders again, allowing his niece to lean on him.

"Alright," He sat up properly, looking back around at Nejire as the blue-haired girl nodded and gave him her full attention, "so … the truth, before we were … interrupted. The truth, Young Hadou, Melissa, is that this is my … current form. You see, I was injured in a fight with a villain about five years ago, and … because of the surgeries I had to go through, I … eventually became this."

"So …" Melissa frowned, "… this is … this has been you for five years?"

"Yes."

"Whaaaaa …?" Nejire looked absolutely gobsmacked, looking almost tempted to crawl over the table to inspect All Might in detail. "But - but you're All Might! You never lose a fight, right?"

"Well," He huffed to himself, frowning, "this was no ordinary fight, Young Hadou. Although … well, I'd much rather not go into it right now, if that's alright."

"Oh, of course!" She quickly nodded, settling back in her chair, "If you don't wanna talk about it, then we don't have to talk about it! So we'll find something else to talk about! Um … hm … maybe … oh! I know! Maybe you could tell me about One for All, huh? That was you, wasn't it? Back in the nurse's office! I recognize your voice!"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… Young Kendou -"

"I have an explanation!" Itsuka quickly interrupted All Might, gulping nervously at the low, dangerous tone in his voice as he slowly turned to look at her, feeling a panic she would normally feel if her grandfather had thought she had done something wrong. "She - she overheard us when we were talking in the nurse's office, but she doesn't know anything! Just about the traces!"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking around at her. "Traces? What traces?"

"Gek!" Itsuka cringed.

"Wait, wait - what's going on?" Melissa looked around the group in confusion. "Traces? One for All? What exactly are you guys talking about?"

All Might, for his part, was massaging the bridge of his nose while Itsuka looked sheepish at her slip up, Izuku cringing and Ochako confused. And then the pro hero let out a long groan, moving to look up at the ceiling for a moment.

"Well," He shrugged, "this isn't exactly the kind of location I'd normally talk about this, but … alright. Fine, let's get into it."

"W-wait, are you sure?" Izuku balked, completely taken aback by how easily his mentor had given up. All Might, for his part, merely shook his head.

"It seems the cat is out of the bag, Young Midoriya," He brushed some of his long bangs out from his face, "so … well, I know that Melissa can keep a secret. Young Hadou, if I were to tell you something I want you to keep strictly to yourself, I expect you to do so. Understood?"

"Of course!" Nejire nodded at once, zipping her mouth closed. "Your secret's safe with me! Whatever it is!"

"Alright," All Might sighed, scooting a bit in his seat, "so … One for All."

And, from there, he explained everything to the two girls not caught up with his secret. Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were sure to keep quiet, their eyes on their knees as All Might went into everything that had happened in the last year or so. Nejire and Melissa, for their parts, kept quiet as All Might brought them both up to speed on how he met the other three, what he offered them, what he offered Itsuka, and the steps that they took to get here. He also went over what Itsuka had told him in Recovery Girl's office last Friday, so Ochako and Melissa were caught up.

By the time he took a deep breath from all the explanations he had to do, both Nejire and Melissa looked as though they were having their minds blown, glancing between the pro hero and Itsuka looking a bit red off on the side as she scratched the side of her face. Once All Might settled back in his seat, he glanced at Itsuka as well, a look of guilt flickering on his face before he managed to calm himself.

"There is a bit more to explain," He sighed, "things that Young Kendou, Young Uraraka and Young Midoriya don't know yet, but … I believe that conversation should be between myself and Young Kendou to start, and then it will be up to her to inform you all. It's not that I don't trust you all, it's simply … well …"

"I mean," Itsuka looked a bit surprised, but gave All Might a certain look, "I'm gonna tell them anyway, All Might. So why not -"

"Young Kendou," All Might gave her a serious look, one that took her aback, "I don't ask much of you, but I would ask that you at least honor this request. It'll be up to you afterwards, but … please."

"I …" She paused, and then nodded, "… okay, All Might."

"Thank you," He gave her a small smile, and then turned to where Melissa was sitting with her hands clasped together as she leaned forward in her seat. She stole a glance up at her uncle, uncertainty and alarm on her face making him want to hug her again, but he held himself back so that she had time to properly absorb the absolute bomb of information he had just dropped on her.

Finally, she turned to look down at her shoes.

"Does … Papa know?"

"No," All Might shook his head at once, frowning, "he knows of my condition, but … but he doesn't know anything about One for All."

She slowly nodded. "Makes sense."

"So," All Might then turned to Nejire, who was now practically trembling in excitement, "I … guess it's time to let Young Hadou ask her questions, unless there's anything else -?"

"W-well," Itsuka suddenly jumped in, causing everyone to look around at her, "if - if we're sharing stuff, there was, uh … something that came up two days ago. I was, uh … I wanted to tell you about it, All Might, but I wasn't able to see you at all yesterday, and … yeah."

"Alright," All Might nodded slowly, "so …"

"So, uh … Nighteye and Togata-senpai came to visit me at the dojo."

There was a pause.

"Oh, no," All Might groaned, "what happened this time?"

Grimacing, Itsuka quickly summed up what had happened when All Might's former sidekick and his apprentice had swung by the dojo. Izuku and Ochako, who had been witness to Nighteye's latest scheme, merely frowned and kept quiet while Itsuka told their mentor what had happened. Melissa, who was being quiet to listen, looked a bit insulted on Itsuka's behalf, and Nejire grew quiet but pouted a bit at the description of this Nighteye she clearly didn't like much. Although neither of their reaction's compared to All Might's, his expression growing colder and angrier with each word Itsuka spoke.

When she was finally done, her mentor let out a low sigh and leaned forward to rest his arms on his crossed legs.

"Nighteye …" He growled under his breath.

"Yeah," Itsuka frowned sadly, "I'm … sorry, All Might."

"It's not your fault, Young Kendou, and it never was. To know that he went behind my back and told someone about One for All … this is going to be something that I'll be discussing with him, in length."

"R-right."

"In any case," All Might's expression softened a fraction as he looked around at Itsuka, "I'm sorry that you had to deal with that on your own, Young Kendou. If Nighteye ever approaches you again, just call me - I'll come and deal with it."

"I don't know," She sighed, "I'm not sure if Nighteye's gonna be a problem anymore, with the thrashing Togata-senpai gave him. Not that I want anything to do with him, anyway."

"And I don't blame you, Young Kendou. Don't worry, I'll be making sure that Nighteye doesn't try anything like this again. And I'll also talk to Young Togata as well, just to be safe."

He shook his head to himself again, and the five of them kept quiet - they knew that he was probably reeling from how Nighteye had betrayed him, and gave him a moment to fume before he shook his head.

"Now," He sighed, looking back up at the group with a small, weak grin, "I realize that my little … er … 'reveal' kind of dominated this conversation. Why don't we try changing the topic a bit to something lighter?"

"Er … okay?" Izuku gave him a look of confusion. "What … about?"

"Well," All Might glanced between him, Ochako and Itsuka, smiling, "I hear that you three are moving in with Young Eri this Saturday. I'll be helping with the move, of course, but … well, did you three have any thoughts about who else you'd like to live with as well?"

"Er …" Itsuka paused at that, glancing at Izuku and Ochako as they both likewise looked uncomfortable. True, the thought of the three of them living alone had enticed them for the last two days, but it wasn't like they were aware that they were technically taking an entire house that was supposed to be for five all for themselves. They hadn't gotten around to talking about who else they'd want to live with, but …

"Huh," Melissa leaned forward, her eyebrow raised as she knocked the three out of their thoughts to look around at her, "so … you three are moving in tomorrow as well? Which house are you picking out?"

"Oh, uh … well, we don't know for sure yet," Itsuka shrugged as she looked around at their other friend, "Aizawa kind of skipped through the explanation when I talked to him about it yesterday. We just know that we're supposed to meet up at the gate tomorrow, and then Midnight-sensei is going to bring us over to where Heights Alliance is - y'know, wherever it is on campus. Then we're gonna pick a house, and …"

"Huh," Melissa slowly nodded, leaning back beside All Might, "well, I'm in the same boat, apparently - I was talking to Aizawa-sensei, and he wants me moved to Heights Alliance as quickly as I can so I can get started on my project. I'm moving in tomorrow, and, uh … well, I don't know where I'm living, either."

Both girls paused - and then they looked over to All Might. Their teacher, for his part, merely shrugged.

"As far as I'm aware, I'm not sure where you both are moving, either," He quickly clarified, "I assume that Principal Nezu will let you pick your own house when you get here tomorrow, Melissa, as I believe he has somewhere in mind for Young Kendou and Eri to live."

"Oh," She said, glancing down at her knees. 

On the side, meanwhile, Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka glanced between each other, their expressions falling - they could pick up on the loneliness in their friend's voice, apparently having to pick her own house and live there on her own. They all glanced between each other for a moment, Izuku seeing Ochako and Itsuka looking between each other for a moment -

- and then he let out a small sigh, and cleared his throat.

"Er … Melissa?"

"Hm?" She hummed, glancing up at him.

"Well, uh … we've been thinking," Izuku gestured between himself and his partners, looking a bit awkward as his cheeks went red, "and … we realize that we're kind of … taking up a lot of space, taking a house with just the three of us, and we were talking about maybe having other roommates, since Eri is probably going to stay in one of our rooms. And, uh … if you haven't … found anyone …"

Melissa blinked a bit, catching on what Izuku was saying and sitting up. Her gaze flickered between Itsuka and Ochako, who were likewise looking awkwardly at their feet but glancing up at her hopefully. Feeling her heart thump in her chest, she glanced between them all with a surprising fluster.

"Oh," She said simply, going a bit red (and unaware of All Might glancing between her and Izuku, his shoulders straightening at the blush on Izuku's cheeks as he looked almost comically shocked, for some reason), "well, uh …"

She then glanced at Nejire, who was being quiet and glancing between them all with surprise. There was a pause - and then she sighed.

"… I … think I get what you guys are asking," She said in a careful voice, "but … I already promised Nejire that I'd move in with her."

"Huh?" Nejire blinked. "You diiiii-?"

At Melissa throwing her a sharp look, however, she quickly got with the program, thankfully.

"-iiiiiiiiiiid! Oh, y-yeah!" She quickly nodded. "Yeah, we - yeah. Totally! Besties! Living together! Mm-hm!"

"Yeah," Melissa had to resist the urge to roll her eyes as she looked back at the other three confused classmates, "we're gonna be living together. So, uh … well, I would like to accept your offer, just … it'll have to be a packaged deal."

The three of them blinked at that, turning to glance between each other as they realized what Melissa was implying. That if she was going to be living with them … Nejire would have to as well.

They were all, of course, thinking of their conversation from their date night, what with Izuku going red and Ochako and Itsuka raising their eyebrows - but after a moment, they all nodded, and then turned to smile at the two girls.

"Right," Itsuka shrugged, "so, uh … I guess you two are with us, huh?"

"Ooh!" Nejire gasped, looking absolutely delighted as she clapped her hands together, and then quickly reached over Ochako to grab Itsuka's hands in between hers. "Yes! Yes, yes, yes, yes! It's gonna be so much fun! I'll persuade Mom to let me move in with you guys, don't worry, I can get everything packed up and ready to go before tomorrow! It's gonna be great!"

"Right," Itsuka nodded, smiling a bit weakly, "so that's - that. I guess if you guys are cool with helping us out with Eri …"

She faltered there, and glanced back at All Might.

"… er … out of curiosity," She went a bit red, "there's … gonna be teachers who help us out with Eri, right? Or is she coming to all our classes with us?"

"No, no," All Might shook his head, chuckling, "both Thirteen and Recovery Girl have volunteered to look after Young Eri while you are all busy at school - Thirteen will try teaching her while at the USJ, and Recovery Girl is simply hoping that the presence of a little girl in the nurse's office may … er … 'encourage' Young Toga to dress more appropriately."

"Oh, great," She sighed in relief.

"Now then," All Might leaned forward, smiling, "how excited is Young Eri? I imagine she's happy to be living with you?"

"Well …" Itsuka's smile turned weak, "… she's … cool with it, because she gets to come back to the dojo for lessons on Saturday, and Gūdo's coming with us. But, uh … well, I asked if she had any ideas for what she'd like for our room, and …"

Pulling her phone out of her pocket, she brought up a picture and laid it down on the table.

"She …" Itsuka giggled nervously, "… had thoughts."

Crinkling their brows, Izuku, Ochako, Nejire, Melissa and All Might leaned forward together to read through what was on the screen. It took about a minute, but Itsuka grimaced as she saw both their eyebrows begin to retreat into their hair as they read more and more of the small list that Tenohira had done with Eri.

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… she …” Ochako tilted her head curiously, “… wants a pool?”

“Apparently,” Itsuka shrugged, “guess she saw something on TV advertising a pool and became curious about it.”

“And a … jungle set?” Izuku sweated a bit.

“Mom took her to the playground a few times. She wants a properly working swing. And a slide.”

"And teddy bears?" Melissa questioned. "And plushies?"

"She found my old teddy, and he's hers now. She wants more."

“And … she wants to be able to stay in our rooms?” Ochako shook her head. “Okay, but – but what about her own room? Doesn't she -”

“She doesn’t want one,” Itsuka sighed dramatically, “and she’s okay with sharing with me, so …”

“Bunk bed?”

“Yep. That’s assuming she’d even stay in the top one, though, and just snuggle up to me.”

“Movies … games …” All Might read from the list, “… hm … it seems as though Young Eri wants to run UA's budget dry.”

“I mean … what baby wants,” Itsuka giggled a bit, “baby gets. That’s what my mom said.”

"I suppose so," All Might chuckled, "in any case, I can handle some of these purchases, at least. Just send me the list and I can get it all to the house you'll be picking out tomorrow. As for a pool …"

"That's not really necessary, that was Eri shooting for the stars."

"Don't let Nezu and Cementoss hear you say that," He shivered, "they'll take it as a challenge to remodel the house in a night."

The intercom creaked above them, and they looked up just in time to hear Nezu's evil laughter fill it before turning off.

"… never mind," All Might sweated nervously, "sounds as though you six will be having a pool for yourselves."

The five of them groaned a bit, but knew that there wasn't much to be done about it now. Either way, All Might let out a small grunt as he stood up from the couch, moving his arm away from Melissa's shoulders but still keeping his hand on her head.

"Now," He turned to give them all a tired smile, "I think this old man has kept you here for long enough. You're all free to head home if you want - Melissa, I realize that I haven't exactly spent any time with you since you moved here, so … why don't I treat you to dinner? I'll drop you off at the Midoriya's afterwards."

"Oh," Melissa blinked, and then a small smile appeared on her face, "oh, of course, Uncle Might. Yeah, let's - let's do it."

Nodding, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire got up, bowing a bit to All Might as he gave them a wave goodnight. Together, the four of them trooped out of the Nap Room, giving Melissa a bit of privacy with her uncle as he sat down beside her again and turned to talk to her, but they closed the door behind them before they could hear anything, and began walking down the hallway.

After a few seconds of quiet, Nejire let out a small giggle and jogged in front of them, turning to beam at them.

"So …" She balled her fists, "… we're gonna be living together?"

"Seems like it," Itsuka smiled at her.

"Oh, I'm so excited!" She gushed. "Gosh, we're gonna have so much fun! So tomorrow, we'll be moving in, and then … hm … what should we do? Hang out? Watch a movie? Swim in a pool? It sounds awesome that we're gonna have a swimming pool, I've never had one! Oh, but wait, maybe we could get a hot tub too, that'd be nice, wouldn't it? Oh, this is gonna be great! Oh! And maybe we can order food for dinner! That'd be nice, wouldn't it? A full day of moving stuff, and then we get to have take out?"

"Er … yeah," Ochako nodded a bit, smiling over at her friend - and then she let out a small grunt as Nejire suddenly zoomed over and enveloped the three of them in a hug, Itsuka letting out a small 'oof' and Izuku freezing as his face went bright red.

"We're gonna have so much fun!" Nejire happily giggled, and then stepped back to beam at them. "I'm gonna have to run home and ask Mom and Dad if it's okay, but I think they'll be fine with it! So I'll see you guys tomorrow! We're gonna have a great time being roommates! And we'll talk about my 'Midoriya and my boobs' thing later! Bye-bye!"

With that, she spun on her heel and happily skipped down the hall, humming a sweet tune to herself. As she ran around the corner and out of sight, Ochako and Itsuka both let out sighs, and then turned to where Izuku was standing, stiff as a board as his face went bright red.

"Deku?" Ochako raised her eyebrow. "You good?"

"Y-yeah, I'm - I'm good," Izuku gulped a bit, "I'm just … coming to grips with everything."

"Uh-huh?"

"Yeah. So … uh … we're going to be living with the girl who … wants to push her … chest in my face."

"Mm-hm." Itsuka nodded.

"And … the girl who had a sexy dream about me."

"Yep," Ochako nodded.

"And then … you two … beautiful ladies."

"You flatter us, Izuku."

There was a pause.

"Yep," Izuku sagged his shoulders while Itsuka and Ochako hooked their arms through his, giggling, "I'm gonna die."

"Well, die when you get home," Itsuka giggled, "right now, I wanna cuddle on the train. Let's get going, mister."

With that, the three of them walked - or, more accurately, Ochako and Itsuka frogmarched Izuku - down the hall towards the stairs. They were all pretty happy with themselves, happily walking out of UA after an exhausting day and knowing that they would be up to an even more exhausting one the next day, they weren't aware of the feeling of eyes on them.

Around the corner, the boy let out a low chuckle as he moved his head back, leaning against the wall. Beside him, Kashiko didn't look very happy with what they were doing, with her hands in her pockets and staring down at her feet with guilt, while Dadan was likewise looking pretty ashamed of himself.

The only two boys who were looking pleased as rain, however, watched until the trio was out of sight.

"So that's them," Fujimi smirked over at his friend, "the three idiots we have to look out for?"

"That's right," Monoma nodded, pushing some of his hair back, "my sister wants to make sure that the one idiot joins up with the HPSC, and the other two are collared, too. I'm not worried, though - once her little doggy gets that family to sign over their daughter to the Commission, those two will probably follow. So, in any case, how did the exercise go today, Romero?"

"Excellent," Fujimi grinned, "I can get them under control without any problem. Be sure to tell your sister, I'm looking forward to participating in the Day of Genesis."

"That I will! And be sure to give Agent Hasaki my regards, as well."

There was a pause. And then Kashiko, who had been glumly staring at her feet, blinked and looked up.

"Wait," She tilted her head, "who?"

Monoma straightened his back and looked around at her, confused.

"Agent Hasaki?" He repeated. "The agent I gave the USJ schedule to, a few weeks ago? She came in with those reporters in disguise."

"Oh," Fujimi seemed to realize, "right. Yeah. Her. We will."

With that, he spun on his heel and pushed the other two away from Monoma.

"Thanks, bud," He nodded, "we'll just grab Mongoose and head out of here. She doesn't know why we were really here, so it's better to keep her in the dark. Just tell the president that I did good, and my quirk is hers to use for when Genesis arrives."

"Er …" Monoma nodded, still a bit uncertain by their reaction, "… right. I will."

He then looked back around, alone in the hallway for a moment, before he let out a small sigh and shook his head.

It was natural to not have his sister's entire plan, Monoma told himself as he began walking down the hallway. He knew that there were things that she was keeping from him, and that was to be expected. But once this Day of Genesis came, everything would be put together. He'd help her gain control of UA, and things would be done her way. The correct way.

And everything - UA, heroes, Japan in general - will improve once things start going their way.


Hm … how fascinating.

Tapping her bare foot against the end of her couch, Curious let out a hum as she tapped her pen against the side of her face, continuing to read the article before her in curiosity. She was currently in her pajamas, having decided to stay in today to continue writing her article, so that meant that she didn’t put much thought into her appearance – a nice blue long shirt and a pair of pajama pants, while her long lilac hair tied back into a messy bun.

But still, at least she felt relaxed as she typed at her computer, her curiosity piqued as she read through the older articles.

"Ooh, what a little shit," She giggled gleefully at the picture of a young man with pointy blonde hair, compared to his feral looking teenage self. Yes, yes, on any other day, this young man would be an excellent target or scapegoat, but … well, that's not the point of her article. Her article was to take this other boy and make him appear in a very unflattering light. And this boy … well …

… this is an angle she could use.

Letting out a hum, she continued typing at her computer, opening up another article - and then she suddenly felt it.

The foreboding sensation of no longer being alone.

Blinking, she straightened up as she felt rather than saw someone approach the couch from behind. As a hand slowly moved down to rest beside her head on the couch, she let out a hum and saved her work before closing her laptop.

"That's very rude," She sighed, "trying to sneak up on little old me?"

"Just making sure you're working."

At the familiar cold, lethargic voice behind her, Curious felt her smirk widen. Moving to flex her head back, she saw Nine standing there above her, frowning. Behind him, a woman with red hair was giving her a dull expression, frowning as she stood there with her arms firmly crossed. Curious, for her part, raised an eyebrow at Nine's get up - he was wearing a long, gray coat that looked like it came out of a trash bin, but underneath, he was wearing what looked to be black pants, armored leggings, and a strap across his chest with two vials of glowing purple liquid in them.

"Hm," She tapped her pen against her cheek, "someone's been busy since we last saw each other."

"Had a bit of a complex surgery done on me," Nine shook his head, "never you mind. I'm here to make sure that you're fulfilling your end of the deal."

"Oh, of course!" She giggled, tossing her laptop to the other side of the couch and stretching her arms. "I'm actually taking a break from it now to talk to you. Now then, who's your friend?"

Nine took a step back, allowing Slice to step forward as Curious stood up to face her. There was a moment’s pause as both women stared at each other dully. Nine, for his part, was weirdly silent as he stood near the window, allowing both long-haired women to give each other a look up and down, and while Slice’s scowl only deepened, Curious’s smirk widened.

“Ladies,” Nine sighed from the side, “play nice. Please introduce yourselves to each other.”

There was a pause.

“Slice,” Slice glared.

“Curious,” Curious smirked.

“Lovely,” Nine snarked, “now then, let’s get down to business. I believe I requested an article on that brat from UA that you haven’t delivered yet.”

“Patience, Nine, patience,” Curious giggled, stepping away from the redhead to smirk up at him, “I have all the information I need, and my article is in its second draft. Even so, I can’t just drop it! I have to wait for the right time.”

“Nine says that the right time is now,” Slice huffed, “are you saying you can’t deliver?”

“Oh, calm yourself, love,” Curious laughed haughtily, “your … oh, what do my aids from the college call it? Ah, yes – your ‘small dick energy’ is showing.”

Slice’s hair sharpened.

“Let’s calm down,” Nine moved in between both of them, careful not to let Curious suddenly touch him and careful of Slice’s hair pretty much turning into a collection of swords pointed in his general direction, “before someone loses their temper.”

With Slice biting her tongue to prevent her from saying something snappy back, Nine turned back to where Curious was sitting down in her chair, regarding both villains with an interested eye.

"You told me that you would be able to get a story on Izuku Midoriya," He reminded her, "and that you could publish it to ruin his reputation. I had expected some big time reporter like yourself to be able to do this within a few days, but it's been a week. I'm starting to wonder if you're taking my deal seriously."

"Oh, I am," Curious nodded, "I'm just waiting for the right time to publish it!"

Nine raised his eyebrow at that.

"See," She tapped her foot against the floor, "I could publish this article attacking him out of the blue. And it would get views, of course. But the attention on the sports festival is going towards Kendou and Hadou, the winners. Midoriya is - well, he's a bit of a joke online, but all that he has going for him is that he did very well in the first two games, but then he got in a pretty bad fight and had to be pulled out. The world doesn't know what to think of Izuku Midoriya - is he an upcoming star? Is he a boy who got in over his head? Was he skilled? Was he lucky?"

"So you're waiting until he does something that gives him an actual reputation."

"Exactly! See, if I publish it now, I'm just going to be poking someone who's not in the center of attention - it'll get views and might harm his reputation, but it won't really hurt him. But wait until he does something that catches the public's attention? Make him a golden boy? Then I release the information, and his reputation …"

She mimed an explosion with her hands.

"It's just a matter of patience," She giggled, "once he's on top of the world, we'll yank the carpet out from under him."

Nine stared at her for a long moment, his eyes narrowed slightly while she gave him an innocent yet amused look. And then he turned to Slice, who was still fiddling with her hair while giving the other woman a catty look.

"Slice," He got her attention, "return to base and make sure your father isn't trying to kill anyone. I'll be returning once I get my answers."

Slice didn't look like she liked that, glancing between both of them with a suspicious eye, but with Nine giving her a certain look, she spun on her heel and headed out the door, pulling out her phone to have Kurogiri pull her out.

Once they were alone in the apartment, with the door snapping closed behind his second-in-command, Nine let out a low huff, and then turned back to where Curious stood up, stretching her arms again as she walked around the chair towards a bedroom off to the side, a dark and green eye turning to coyly and silently invite him over. And despite Nine rolling his own eyes, he moved to follow her towards the room, keeping his hands in his pockets.

"You know," She giggled as she stepped into the master bedroom, "I wish you'd let me know you were going to visit little old me - I'd have made sure I was prettied up."

"I don't quite care for that," Nine bluntly said, looking around the large windows and bed before him as Curious walked over to the closet, "I'm here to get answers."

"Oh? Answers about what? I'm curious."

"Ignoring that pun," Nine rolled his eyes, "I want to know what exactly you want out of this partnership."

"'Partnership', we're calling it?"

"You're allying with me behind your fellow liberators' backs," He pointed out, "people you've known for years now. You're showing absolutely no problem with betraying them, and, well … that makes me feel a bit nervous."

"Oho? How so?"

"If you're so willing to betray people that you've been working with for years, then I don't have any doubts that you'll turn on me if you get another opportunity. So I want to know what your angle is. Why are you allying with the Consortium?"

Curious fell silent at those questions, allowing a moment of silence between them as she stared into her closet while Nine waited. And then, with a small sigh, she took the hem of her shirt and began pulling it over her head, with her back to Nine, and using the fact that her hair was up in a bun to show that she wasn't exactly wearing a bra.

Nine, for his part, didn't say anything as she deliberately worked her shirt over her head slowly, eventually getting it off and tossing it onto the bed. She then undid the bun on her head to let her hair loosen and fall down her back, and she began working her way out of her comfy pants. Once she was fully stripped, she turned towards the bathroom and sauntered inside, humming a tune to herself as she flipped on the light, and sat on the edge of the tub to turn on the water.

She heard Nine step into the bathroom at the door, keeping his distance. She felt herself smirk a bit - she was aware of the blatant power play she was making here, and she knew that Nine was thinking the same. He was just waiting to see what she was doing before making a move.

Smart. She liked that.

“You know something, Nine?” She sighed as she gently brushed her hand under the running water, determining it was warm enough to reach over and put the plug inside the tub to start filling it. “It’s hard being the sole woman of the Liberation Army’s commanders. All those big men and their toys, pretending they aren’t looking at me … or pretending that they can take me seriously …”

"And I assume," Nine said sarcastically, "this is to make me feel pity for you?"

"Oh, no, it's an explanation," Curious shook her head, her smile fading as she scooped up a bottle to pour it into the tub, allowing it to start filling it with bubbles, "you see, I'm well aware of my status in the Meta Liberation Army's top brass. In a group of politicians, CEOs and family heirs, I'm the one who stands out. I might roll out all the books for them, but to them, I'm just a reporter. Re-Destro knows how to treat me nicely, but … well, I'm aware that Skeptic, Trumpet and Geten aren't as nice to me when I'm not listening. And I'm always listening."

Nine didn't say anything as Curious scooped up some water with her hand.

"I'm aware that I'm the dispensable one," She frowned, "the one that wouldn't cause any disruption to the Meta Liberation Army if I were to be captured, or tortured, or killed. And I seek to change that."

"Is that right?" He huffed. "How?"

"Well, you do have a point," She shook her head, "in that it's odd that I'm working to screw over people I've known for years in favor of someone I just met. But I didn't lie to you when I said that your world sounds far more interesting than Re-Destro's. Those idiot men worship Destro like he's the second coming - like he's a god. But I know that their 'god' hung himself in his prison cell because he was afraid of being someone's prison bitch."

She then leaned up, raising her hand as water fell back into the tub, and she reached for Nine's face. Before it made contact, he gave her a certain look, his eyes glowing yellow.

"I want you to know," He made clear, "that blowing me up won't kill me. I'll know if you decide to backstab me, and who I'm coming after if I randomly explode."

She merely giggled at that, ignoring the threat, and she finally made contact with his face. She gently stroked his cheek, and Nine, for his part, didn't seem to mind that she was getting him wet.

"Destro," She made clear, "is just some revolutionary that those idiots worship as a god. But you? You consider yourself to be a god. That's why I'm more interested in your story. I don't care that Re-Destro wants to manipulate his new master into making some quirk paradise. What I am intrigued by is what kind of world you desire to make. Where the strong …" 

She stroked his collar.

"… rule over the weak. And the weak …"

She gave him a coy smile.

"… treat the strong like gods."

Nine considered that for a moment. And then he slowly nodded.

"So …" He smirked, "… that is definitely intriguing. So you're looking to betray your loyal … 'liberators' … for me. Out of sheer curiosity."

"The only one I really owe any real loyalty to is Re-Destro, and he's been a bit too busy lately sucking up to other big shot villains. A bit disappointing for the man I once considered a mentor. I want it all," Curious gave him a hungry look, "the entire army, under my command. I want to rule alongside you."

"Hm …" Nine hummed, moving to sit down on the tub beside her. Curious simply gave him a seductive look as he thought for a moment - and then her smirk widened as he reached out to gently cup her breast, as though giving it a small feel to see how he liked it.

"You're breaking my heart here," He chuckled, "and here I thought it was my wonderful personality that was intriguing you."

"Oh, I can think of …" Curious scooted a bit closer, leaning in, "… several things that can intrigue me. I think we both know that this … bathtub … is big enough for the both of us."

Nine merely smirked at that - and then he raised his hand to grab the back of her head, and brought her in. Curious, for her part, giggled as she closed her eyes, and opened her mouth as they both leaned in -

- and got interrupted by the sound of a vibrating phone off to the side.

They both paused, opening their eyes, and Curious looked over with a small pout. Letting out a grumble, she reached out to grab the phone from the side table, and lifted it to her ear, scowling.

"Yes?" She said in a curt voice, "I'm a bit busy right now making a business deal, so make it quick."

Nine watched, with his eyebrow raised, as Curious listened to whatever it was that the other person on the phone was saying. And then she blinked.

"… what?"

"…"

"You're sure?"

"…"

"I'll be right there." She nodded, and then sighed and disconnected the call. She stood up from the bathtub, grumbling as she stretched, and then looked around at Nine with a hint of regret in her eyes.

"Sorry," She shook her head, "but something's come up. Something important that will affect both of us, so I should head out."

"Oh?" Nine raised his eyebrow. "What's going on?"

"One of the Liberation Army's leaders is … well, I want to confirm it first with my own eyes, but they're saying that he's dead. So I'm going to head to Deika City to confirm, and I'll let you know. You enjoy my bath," She reached in to stop the water, smirking up at him, "because if I'm being honest, you kind of need it."

With that, she spun on her heel and made her way out of the bathroom and back into her bedroom. Nine, however, didn't pay heed to her subtle insult. Instead, his eyebrows furrowed, standing up from the tub.

"A liberation leader … dead?" He repeated, almost taking a step towards the bedroom to demand answers out of Curious for who exactly was suddenly dead -

"Patience, Mikumo Akatani."

Feeling the icy chill running up his back and the deep, amused voice in his ear, Nine felt himself pause. He could feel the vestige's presence behind him, feeling phantom hands on his shoulders as the eyeless face of All For One stared down at him, chuckling.

"We can't go and sabotage our efforts of having a worthy pawn now," All For One's vestige advised him, "we must have patience, and manipulate her into your service."

"Hm," Nine scoffed, "and am I to understand that you're responsible for … whatever's going on?"

"Oh, I have no idea what my main body is up to now … I'm simply waiting until I can get my vessel. But for now, enjoy her bubble bath, and wait patiently for her to reach back out to you. The Day of Genesis will soon be upon us … and it'll be easier to control one of them than five of them. This Curious woman is planning to use you, so you should wait to use her in turn. We just … need … to be … patient."


“Alrigh’,” Taiyo gulped a bit nervously as he sat down at the table,  “so … I guess once all th' plates are washed, we’ll be off.”

“Yep,” Hisashi slowly nodded, staring down at the three teenagers eating their breakfast quietly while Miwa silently washed the dishes near the sink, “just gotta … zip over to UA, and … yeah.”

There was a pause. And then Inko burst into tears, water spraying from her eyes like geysers.

“Oh, my baby!” She wailed, throwing her arms around Izuku’s neck and briefly choking him. "I'm gonna miss you so much!"

As Izuku strained to get free of his sobbing mother, both Ochako and Melissa sighed, continuing to eat their breakfast. 

At the moment, it was Saturday morning, and the day that Izuku, Ochako and Melissa would be moving to Heights Alliance with Itsuka, Eri and Nejire. They'd already communicated with the Kendous the night before - Tenohira and Hakushu would be bringing Itsuka and Eri directly to UA with all of their stuff, seeing as Itsuka was going to be bringing not only Gūdo, but her motorbike from the garage as well, so they thought it would be smarter to just have the families at the apartment bring most of the kids' stuff over by Teko's truck - and, knowing how many things they needed, Teko would be taking a few trips.

The three teenagers, meanwhile, were in somewhat varied states of exhaustion, munching slowly on their breakfast. They had been spending all night long making sure to pack everything they needed to bring - Izuku had to be talked down from packing up his entire All Might collection, Ochako packing and unpacking stuff that she debated she really needed to bring to UA, and Melissa having to try to sleep through both of them panicking. So they were looking forward to just getting their stuff to UA and then passing out the moment their parents left.

As Inko finally let go of Izuku's neck to wipe at her eyes, there was a knock on the front door, and they heard the door open. Soon after, walking into the kitchen, Rei gave them all a smile as she strolled in, wearing a nice cardigan as she looked around.

"Good morning, everyone," She greeted them as she stepped over to the table, looking down at the teenagers who were slumped over their breakfast with a small smile, "I assume everything is ready to go?"

"Tha' it is," Taiyo sighed as he sipped on his coffee, "just had a bit of panickin' to get through las' night, but … well … I'm sure ya know tha'."

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Rei," Inko sighed as she wiped at her eyes, "I'll - I'll pay for anything I accidentally flooded."

"It's fine, I managed to get everything moped up and put in the dryer," Rei chuckled a bit as she sat down, and smiled as Miwa gave her a small plate of pancakes, "no repayment necessary."

"Well, in any case," Hisashi sighed as he put down the newspaper that was still a bit soggy from Inko's tears, and gave their neighbor a smile, "we'll probably be out of here soon. Are you sure you don't want to come along, Rei? We won't make you work or anything, and it might be nice to see UA for yourself!"

“Er … thank you,” Rei smiled, although she did look a bit strained all of a sudden, "but I should probably pass."

Thankfully for Rei, before anyone could think to ask why, there came the sound of more footsteps in the apartment, and they all turned to see All Might poking his head into the kitchen, smiling happily as he walked in.

"Good morning, everyone!" He greeted them all. "I've been talking to the Kendous, and they'll be heading to UA soon - they'll be meeting us there. Now, is there anything I could bring down to my truck?"

"Oh, hello, Toshinori," Inko beamed up at him, and ignoring how Izuku stopped chewing on his bacon for a moment and blinked at the lack of a 'Coach Yagi' from his mom before he looked quickly over at her, "well, we have a few boxes in the living room, if you wanted to help out! I'm sure Izuku would love to bring them down with you."

"Er … right," Izuku slowly nodded, turning to look suspiciously at All Might, "yeah. I'll … do that."

"Ah!" Inko suddenly blinked, looking around at Rei as she gave All Might a surprised look. "I almost forgot - Rei, this is Toshinori Yagi. He helped coach Izuku and Ochako to get to UA. Toshinori, this is Rei Himura, our new neighbor."

"Ah! Good morning!" All Might bowed to her. "Like Inko said, I'm …"

Thankfully for All Might, what with Izuku starting to have his eyes blown wide open at the sudden use of first names, Ochako and Melissa got up, taking his arms gently, and pulled him from his seat, walking him out of the kitchen so that they could get started with moving all of their boxes down to both All Might and Taiyo's trucks in the parking lot.

As they moved around the corner and into the hall, Izuku looked back at All Might wildly, before pointing at the kitchen to his girlfriend.

"'Toshinori'?" He repeated in a shocked and horrified whisper. "'Inko'?!"

"Yep, those are their names," Ochako nodded, unable to stop herself from giggling.

"I'm aware that's their names! But why are they calling each other by their first names?!"

"Yeah," Melissa chortled, unable to stop herself from smirking, "so intimate, I'm shocked at Uncle Might. You don't suppose they're …?"

"Oh, god, don't even put that in my head," Izuku groaned, raising his hands to his eyes. "I'm still not over what Aizawa-sensei said back at the sports festival, don't put that thought in my head!"

Ochako let out a small 'pfft', and quickly looked away as Izuku turned to give her a betrayed expression.

"Anyway," Melissa snorted as she brushed some hair behind her ear, "so we'll get there, we'll have all day to set up our stuff, then … what? Games? Movies?"

"I'm good with just a movie," Ochako sighed, beginning to pout, "'cause after tomorrow, we'll have to start studying for midterms, and that's gonna be -"

Her bemoaning, however, was interrupted by a sudden and loud knock on the door.

Blinking, all three of them looked around at the closed door, feeling their brows furrow. It was somewhat surprising - they knew that All Might was going to swing by that morning to help them get their stuff to UA, but … well, who else would that be?

BAM BAM BAM

And now the knocks sounded … weirdly loud. As though whoever was on the opposite side was getting impatient.

"Izuku?" They heard Inko call in confusion. "Is someone knocking on the door?"

"Uh …" Izuku wrinkled his brow before looking back to the kitchen to call, "… I think -"

BAM BAM BAM

BAM BAM BAM 

CRACK

Izuku, Ochako and Melissa barely had a second to register that the 'knocking' was what made the wood surrounding the door crack - and then, with another almighty slam, the door was shot straight off its hinges, sent flying down the hall.

Squeaking, Izuku acted fast, grabbing both girls by the waist, and immediately pulled them towards his closed door. He pressed them both hard to the door as the large, rectangular piece of metal soared past them and collapsed on the floor with an almighty crash, causing the adults in the kitchen to yelp or shriek in surprise.

“What’s going -?!” All Might quickly charged into the hallway, Izuku and Ochako noticing at once that smoke began to blow off his shoulders to indicate he was ready for action.

Realizing that the door had been dodged, Izuku was quick to move away from both girls he was pinning to the door, neither of them flustered as much due to thinking they were under attack, and they quickly moved to look at the door -

- and then they both froze at the large figure standing in their doorway. Someone easily big enough to rival All Might in size, standing there with the early morning light blocking out their features . Large enough that not even their arms were visible for a moment, with one hand - large enough to easily wrap around one of their heads - braced against the door, making all three teenagers gulp nervously.

And then, before they could blink, another arm came around to be viewed in the door frame - and hanging off the hand, his brown hair messy and whipped around, glasses askew on his face, wearing a long coat and clutching a suitcase to his chest while looking positively traumatized, was an older man with brown hair, glasses and a goatee, being dangled in the air before being placed carefully down on the ground, where he began hugging the floor.

"I'm sorry, floor," He muttered as Izuku and Ochako stared down in shock at the man, "I will never leave you again."

“Papa?” Melissa gasped.

“Dave?” All Might looked surprised.

"Ah, don't be like that, Dave!" A deep but feminine voice laughed behind him. "It was just a hop, skip and a jump across the ocean! You'll be fine!”

The large hand then moved back, and someone poked their head in through the door – a beautiful woman with long blonde hair in truffles coming from each side of her head, with the red mask she was wearing showing off her beautiful brown eyes. And Izuku, and Ochako squeaked in surprise, and Melissa took off her glasses to hold a hand over her eyes.

"Oh, my god," She groaned, "Aunt Cathy, what the hell?!"

“Hey, Melissa!” Star and Stripe laughed. “Nice to see you again, kiddo. Now go find whoever owns this apartment, so I can apologize for the door.”

Notes:


https://i.imgur.com/MXD9CGl.png

And that was Chapter 41! Quite a bit happened this chapter, what with the secrets begin revealed, Mirio being Mirio, Nighteye getting served (and this isn't the end of his karma smack, naturally XD), Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire and Melissa being ridiculously down bad for each other, Isamu students being lowkey sus, and now two new members of Team Clover are now in on the secret of All Might! That, and some sexy villain times and a surprising appearance from our dear Aunt Cathy!

Oh! And one of the people who edits the TV Tropes page gifted me this hypothetical poster on Discord! Admire it! XD

https://i.imgur.com/bwXptbw.jpeg

Thank you so much, ebroo019!

Oh, and btw,

https://i.imgur.com/hpUaTuC.png

just to be vague :P

In any case, thank you guys for reading! We've got one more chapter of this arc before we're into the Internship arc! See you then!

Chapter 42: Stars and Movements

Summary:

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka are excited to finally move into the mysterious Heights Alliance, although they end up getting help from a source none of them really expected. Curious becomes far more curious, Kyouka takes a leap of faith, stars will shine, and a buzz around UA will set up dark tidings in the future.

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

“…”

“…”

“…”

“…”

“… so …” Curious tilted her head as she stared down at the body laying on the main table, “… how did this happen?”

Outside of the observation tower, the town was in complete disarray. Several buildings had been knocked over in the battle, with the sounds of shouting and screaming from the town's residents in the square heard even from the top of the tower. Even as smoke rose from the burning buildings, the sky remained clear outside, sunlight shining through the windows as the four remaining leaders of the Meta Liberation Army stood around the table, the large painting of Destro above them staring down at the scene before them,

And what that was … well …

… none of them could honestly really believe it.

Laying on his back, with his feet dangling off the table, the body of Re-Destro stared vacantly up at the ceiling before them, his eyes faded and vacant. His mouth was hanging open, blood dry along his pointy chin and sliding down his mouth. He was shirtless, the remains of his dress shirt hanging limply from where it had been tucked into his pants (probably due to the strain of using his meta ability), and his shoes and lower legs exposed as well.

But what was drawing their attention was the four large, uneven puncture holes in his chest and stomach, the blood that had been leaking from them already drying on the table. Each of them were easily the size of Curious' palm, stabbed through him in the chest and out through the back. There were tinges of black pigment in patches of his skin, making it clear that he had been using his meta ability when he had died.

And yet … and yet …

"He's dead," Geten's eyes narrowed, slowly taking off his parka hood and allowing his long, white hair to fall over his face as his shoulders shook in barely restrained shock and grief, "Re-Destro is … dead."

"How did this happen?" Curious asked again, stepping forward and observing the dead body of the man she once admired with a raised eyebrow. "What even happened?"

"No one knows," Trumpet shook his head, his mouth agape as he took off his glasses with a shaking hand to wipe them on a handkerchief, "it just … according to my men, it apparently happened so fast. Re-Destro was being escorted by his guards, they disappeared down an alley, and … and then the next thing we knew, the entire neighborhood exploded. We know that he was fighting someone, but - but by the time we arrived, he was bleeding out in the alleyway. He wasn't even coherent enough to give us a name."

"But that's impossible," Skeptic's eyes narrowed under his ugly bowl cut, "Re-Destro was the most powerful of the Meta Liberation Army's top brass … who would've been able to strike him down and escape?"

"Someone who knows how to fight, obviously," Geten snapped at him, storming over to glare down at Re-Destro's unmoving face, and he slammed his fist against the table, "what difference does it make? The only thing that matters now is hunting down the bastard who did this and make him suffer."

"No," Trumpet shook his head, letting out a small sigh as Geten whirled around at him in fury, "what matters now is that there are thousands of people out there that are expecting us to come out and say that Re-Destro is alright."

"You'd let this bastard get away?!"

"To make sure the Meta Liberation Army doesn't spiral down into chaos? We must prioritize making sure that our army won't run rampant in light of our leader's death. It will ruin everything!"

"And what about our deal with the Inner Circle?" Skeptic scowled.

"It was through Re-Destro that they were dealing with us," The politician pinched the bridge between his eyes with two fingers, "and now … oh, god, do we tell them that he's dead?"

"And risk them deciding that the Meta Liberation Army is useless to them? Not a chance! These are not people that we want to make enemies of."

"Damn it!" Geten slammed his fist against the table again, making Curious roll her eyes a bit at the dramatics as she continued to inspect the holes in their dead leader's torso.

"First things first," Skeptic turned to his computer resting on the table, and began quickly typing, "before we officially announce his death, we need to make sure that we can secure Deternet. I have plenty of stock with the company, so it shouldn't be hard for us to take complete control of it. It's really Deternet that the Inner Circle wants, so we need to make sure that we can appease them by continuing the plan in Re-Destro's stead."

"What about the Genesis machine?"

"The major parts have already been shipped out, Re-Destro confirmed it to me Tuesday. And Claustro is still in the prototype stage, but it should be finished soon. God knows what we'll need it for."

"Good," Trumpet nodded slowly, "good. Now then … as for the terms of leadership in the Meta Liberation Army -"

Still bent over and inspecting Re-Destro's wounds, Curious raised an eyebrow.

"- I was Re-Destro's second in command. I am also in direct support of All For One's political party in the Diet. So for now, it should fall to me to assume leadership."

Off to the side, Geten let out a scoff.

"You, Trumpet?" He sneered, clearly challenging him. "Re-Destro was my mentor, and he was preparing me to take a more active role in the Army. If anyone here should lead -"

"It'll be the child who's only good for being our attack dog?" Skeptic shook his head while grinning smugly, nonplussed about the young man whipping around to glare at him. "I'm in agreement with Trumpet - he was second in command, so he should lead in Re-Destro's stead. I'll be busy making sure that the Meta Liberation Army continues our plans without a slip in schedule."

"Oh, give me a goddamn break -!"

As the three arrogant men kept squabbling among each other, Curious merely rolled her eyes as she gently prodded at the body laying on the table. 

It seemed as though this was inevitable - three men with large egos, fighting for the top spot now that the real top dog was down for the count. She knew, however, that any attempt to throw her hat in the ring would get her laughed out of the board room - she was outnumbered at the moment, so she wisely kept her mouth closed as she continued to look over the wounds on their former leader.

Finally, as he shook his head, Trumpet threw his hand up into the air to silence Geten and Skeptic.

"Enough," He said in a sharp voice, "we have no more time to argue. The people down there are expecting Re-Destro to come out onto that balcony, and that clearly isn't going to happen. There needs to be someone that can assure the crowds and calm them down, and unfortunately, Geten, you are clearly not in the correct mindset to do so. I'll address the lower members of the army, and … bring them up to speed."

Geten merely glared at him for a moment, and then he let out a small growl and flipped back up the parka, hiding his face as he turned around and kicked the chair out of his way as he stormed away.

"Now then," Trumpet sighed, turning back towards the open doors that lead to the balcony, "for now, we will have to convince the army that Re-Destro died defeating his attacker - as far as they should know, whoever assassinated Re-Destro died under his blows, but our leader's wounds were too great. He died for his people, and we will make him a martyr for our cause. While our army will honor our fallen leader, we'll begin investigating whoever killed him, and take care of him in secret."

"Fine by me," Skeptic shrugged as he typed on his laptop, "I'll edit up whatever footage the cameras caught, and see if I can identify the attacker."

Geten, rather than respond, merely stormed out of the meeting room, slamming the door shut behind him. While Trumpet scowled at his immature exit, he then turned to the one woman who hadn't spoken up in a while, feeling his brow furrow at the curious look on her face as she stared down at their fallen leader's face.

"Curious?" He said in a suspicious voice. "Have you even been listening?"

"Of course I have," She sighed and rolled her eyes, "I just didn't want to get in between you boys and your dick measuring contest."

"Just -" Trumpet gritted his teeth at her insubordination, and then let out a tired sigh, "- see if you can find out anything about Re-Destro's death through your sources. We don't have much time left before the Day of Genesis is upon us, and I refuse to allow the Meta Liberation Army to be the weak link."

"Whatever," She shook her head, "I'll be in my office."

With that, the official 'meeting' of the Meta Liberation Army's top branch was finished. Trumpet and Skeptic made their way over towards the balcony where they could hear the screaming cries for Re-Destro as Trumpet pressed the button on his watch to summon his Sevens Loud helmet, while Curious merely rolled her eyes at the dramatics and straightened up. No, her attention continued to focus on the dead man laying on their table, and who may have killed him.

Because … well … she had a feeling that she knew.

Leaving the meeting room as she heard Trumpet call for the crowd's attention, she made her way towards her office on the other side of the tower. Pressing the button near the door to dim the window, giving her relative privacy, she strolled over towards her desk. She could distantly see the plumes of smoke that were still rising from the city below the tower, but her attention was now focused on her computer as she sat down in her comfy chair and began researching.

After a few minutes of bringing up several old police reports from the last few years or so, research papers and news articles, Curious had painted a picture of what may have happened. And that, of course, made her eyebrow raise in intrigue.

"The Hero Killer …"

Truth be told, the identity of this mysterious villain had been a mystery even to her for quite a while, and of course, that had made her curious. Someone that was giving the heroes and the HPSC some serious headaches, being able to sneak into populated places, find heroes that apparently fit their code, isolate them, torture and butcher them in dark alleys, and then leave without a trace, no evidence to tie back to them. 

The victims were usually vain heroes, those who enjoyed the fame of their profession far more than they probably should. Heroes that many thought more of as celebrities than public servants, and heroes who let that popularity go to their heads.

And they all … had one thing in common.

Large puncture holes, with no indication of what had stabbed them. Usually four or five stabs to major organs, leaving little to no chance of survival. Those who did were crippled for life, and couldn't tell anyone what their attacker looked like as they had been attacked from behind.

So … unless she had missed something … it was clear. Re-Destro was attacked - and murdered - by the Hero Killer.

But that only raised the ten million yen question … why?

Re-Destro wasn't a hero, nor did he identify as one, Curious thought as she let out a small hum and leaned back, tapping the back of her pen against her lip. To the world, Rikiya Yotsubashi was just another oddball billionaire running a support item company. He didn't even have ties to any major heroes, focusing more on people whose meta abilities made their lives difficult. To the world, he was a philanthropist, a down to earth and goofy guy.

And if the Hero Killer did know about his true nature … then why switch it up? If they were only after corrupt heroes, then why randomly go after a villain?

Could this be a copycat? No, Curious shook her head at once as she looked over the old pictures of past victims, the wounds were too close to the usual Hero Killer cases to consider it to be an amateur getting inspired. Did Re-Destro somehow earn the Hero Killer's scorn? If that were the case, what did he do to get the Hero Killer to come all the way out here to punish him? From her underlings, she got the impression that the Hero Killer had just made a victim of Ingenium in Hosu, and … Hosu was pretty close to Deika, she realized. At least, it was closer to Deika than Musutafu was to Deika.

That would mean … hm.

Well, either way, Curious sighed, the mystery of the Hero Killer wasn't something she was quite concerned about. If the Hero Killer had been the one to kill Re-Destro, only one thing was important to her. With him gone, the foundation of the Meta Liberation Army was about to be shaken.

… and that … was something that she could take advantage of.

Feeling herself smile, Curious spun away from her desk as she thought, humming quietly to herself. She hadn't been lying to Nine when she said that she was tired of being the expendable one in the Meta Liberation Army. And now that Re-Destro was out of the way … he had been the one biggest obstacle in her path towards power. Try as she might, she knew that unless she could have slit his throat in his sleep (and that would've been next to impossible not to pin to her), there had been nothing that she could do to get the top position.

But now that he was dead … and it seemed as though Trumpet was to become the leader … she had a chance.

Skeptic would be difficult to fully get rid of - his connections were useful, and he was naturally paranoid, so manipulating him would be a challenge. But she knew that, out of all the leaders in the Army, he was the one who had difficulty keeping his ugly eyes under that dumb bowel off of her. She just needed to throw out a little bait, and she'd be able to get him under her thumb, hook, line and sinker.

Trumpet … well, try as he might, but he wasn't exactly the type of leader he was jumping to be. There was a difference between leading a political party, and leading an army. But he was also aware of her, and what she could do. So he would be more difficult to manipulate, and perhaps easier to just get rid of outright … had it not been for his part being important to All For One's schemes, Curious pouted. So she'd have to think of a way to manipulate him into doing what she wanted.

And that just left Geten. Leader, he was not, with how angry he had been being passed over for the top spot being evidence enough.

But usable muscle … that, he definitely was.

Curious let out another hum as she stared out the dim windows, thinking. Now that she was putting some thought into it … Re-Destro, Trumpet and Skeptic had scoffed at Nine's proposal when she had returned to their party that night, with those three talking of ways that they could simply use him and his connections as the Liberation Army's attack dogs. But Geten … he had been quiet. And she knew, from his own rants during several dinner parties, that he was for a society where meta abilities would determine one's place in society.

The more powerful the meta ability, the higher the person's standing. And that sounded … quite like what Nine wanted.

So … she'd play this safe for now, Curious smirked. Wait to see how Trumpet reacts as the new leader, and comfort him if necessary when the stress of leading the army, his political party, and being All For One's newest pet project gets to him. For Skeptic, get him to lower his guard around her. And for Geten, as his loyalty was to Re-Destro above all, see if she could get him to consider Nine as someone new to follow.

And then … when the time came … get them out of her way. And she would take her rightful place as the queen of the Meta Liberation Army.

Before she could begin to scheme more about it, however, there was a small knock on the door, making her blink and look around at it.

"Come in."

The large oak door opened, and Trumpet stepped into her office, his face grim as his helmet shrunk back into his watch. Distantly, she could hear the screams and cries of the town below them, making her roll her eyes just a tad bit as she stood up.

"So?" Trumpet frowned, putting his hands in the pockets of his black long coat. "What did you find?"

"The wounds match the Hero Killer's murders," She said dismissively as she came up with a half-truth on the spot, "but the motives don't match up. My guess? Some copycat who got lucky."

Trumpet let out a deep sigh, moving towards the desk as Curious walked around it towards him. Before he could open his mouth to say anything else, or bark a new order at her, Curious shuddered, turning away from him for a moment before she suddenly moved in to embrace him, making the politician grunt in surprise as she clung to him.

"Er … Curious?"

"I … I'm sorry," She sniffled, "it's just … getting to me. Re-Destro … after helping me get to where I am … oh, what are we going to do?"

"It's … it's alright," He said after a moment of clear hesitation, his hand awkwardly patting her lower back - and probably pleasure at such a beautiful woman clinging to him so tightly. "I'll be taking command from here. Geten will come around, we just - we need to let him grieve."

"Of course," Curious nodded against his shoulder, "it's just … it's hard."

"It's … it's alright, Curious. I'll take care of everything."

"Yes," Curious nuzzled into his neck slightly, her emotional voice not matching her calculating smile as she laid her hand against his upper back, "I … I believe you, Trumpet. I truly, truly believe you."


"Huh," Hakushu raised his eyebrow, looking down at his watch before glancing over at his wife, "I … guess they're running a bit late?"

Humming a bit off to the side, Itsuka paced up and down near the truck, careful to mind the propped open door with Eri sitting in the seat with her legs sticking out, and stroking Gūdo's back as he sat in the small space beside her. Tenohira, meanwhile, was opening the tailgate of the truck so that she and Teko could start pulling a few boxes closer to the end so that they could start getting everything ready for when the teachers brought them to Heights Alliance. 

They had parked at a small gate on the other side of UA, a small dock that would open to some of the roads that usually led to the fields out on the grounds, and they were waiting for a teacher to arrive and let them in so that they could drive their stuff over to … wherever Heights Alliance was on the campus. And … indeed, Izuku, Ochako and Melissa were running a little late, with Itsuka having no idea when Nejire and her family were supposed to get there either.

And that, of course, was making Itsuka feel a bit nervous, since she could see, from her spot near the truck, a few of the teachers leaving the main building to start coming their way to let them in.

"Maybe … you know, they got lost?" Hakushu offered as a possibility.

"No, no, they would know the way," Tenohira shook her head as she pouted at her husband, "and even if they didn't , they do have a GPS, honey. You know Taiyo, he wouldn't leave the apartment without knowing where to go first."

"Then … maybe there was an accident?"

"Oh, god, please don't put that thought into my head. Not today."

"I'm sure that everything is fine," Teko shook his head as he put his hands in his pockets, "they'll be here."

"Yeah, but …" Tenohira hesitated, before shaking her head and pulling out her phone, "… well, maybe I should give Inko or Miwa a call, just to see if there's anything wrong."

"Tenohira, they're only running five minutes late. It's not going to be the end of the world if they are not here on time."

"Oh, but Dad, they're always about ten minutes early! They always make sure they're early! Come on, I'll just - I'll give Miwa a call -"

"Daughter, please calm down."

As her parents continued to fuss, Itsuka let out a little sigh as she walked back around to the other side of the truck, where Eri was sitting quietly. The little girl was looking as nervous as her parents were, staring up at the distant main building of UA while absently stroking Gūdo's head. The dog, at least, was more excited than the other Kendous, wagging his tail in excitement at the place he'd never been before. Thankfully, Eri was holding onto his leash, meaning that he wasn't going anywhere.

Which, of course, was good - Itsuka wasn't looking forward to when Gūdo would inevitably run off into UA, and it would take her forever to find him.

But still, with Eri looking far less excited than the dog, Itsuka tried to push down her anxiety and smiled at her as she leaned against the truck beside where the little girl was sitting.

"Hey," She said gently as she tapped on Eri's horn to get her attention, noting its weird size now but choosing not to comment, "how are you feeling, Eri? Excited?'

"Mm," She shrugged a bit, "yeah."

She definitely didn't sound excited, Itsuka winced slightly.

"I mean, I'm definitely excited," She tried to infect Eri with her energy, wanting to pump her up, "we get to live in a big, fancy house with Deku, Occhan and Nej? It's gonna be awesome!"

"Yeah," Eri nodded slowly, "it is. But … um … what about … the other girl?"

"Huh?" Itsuka blinked a bit in confusion for a moment - and then she suddenly got what Eri was asking, and everything suddenly made sense. "Oh, you - you mean Melissa. Are you nervous about her coming to live with us?"

Eri looked awkward, but she still nodded.

"Oh, well … Eri, I definitely know that it's gonna be fine," She smiled as she reached out to give Eri's nose a light poke, giggling when the little girl crinkled it in reflex and looked around at her in surprise, "Melissa is great. And besides, you met the rest of my classmates, right? And you thought that they were pretty cool, didn't you?"

"Yeah," Eri nodded slowly, still frowning, "but … but I don't know Melissa."

"Well, you'll get to know her pretty soon, won't you? She's really nice, Eri. And, uh - well, she builds robots, so that makes her pretty awesome in my book!"

"Robots?" Eri blinked, sitting up in her seat and staring at her in surprise. "What, um … what kind of robots?"

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka hesitated, taken aback that Eri seemed to take specific interest in this and feeling her mind briefly draw a blank, before she tried to remember Melissa's project, "… well, uh … she makes robots that - uh - that she wears as superhero costumes."

"Oh. Like Iron Man?"

There was a pause.

"Uh … yeah. Like Iron Man."

Eri slowly nodded at that, turning back to look at her knees for a moment as she thought, while Itsuka briefly wondered how on earth Eri knew about an ancient fictional character like Iron Man. And then the little girl nodded, and looked back up at Itsuka as she carefully jumped out of the truck.

"Okay," She nodded, letting Gūdo climb out of the truck with her as she balled her free fist, "if … if Melissa is nice, and makes cool robot suits … then I wanna get to know her."

"Oh, uh … great." Itsuka tried to smile encouragingly at her. "That's great, Eri."

"Do you think that she'll let me wear a robot suit?"

"Uh …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit nervously at that foreboding question. "… I'm not sure, Eri. Maybe?"

"Well, I hope so!" Eri gave her an excited look.

"Oh, boy," She muttered to herself as she shook her head, "this seems like it's gonna be a recipe for disaster."

Still, she shook off the scary thought of Eri flying all over in a metal coffin of death as she turned to smile down at Eri.

"Well," She shrugged a bit, "that'll be a conversation for another time, sweetie. Melissa's gonna be pretty busy building her own stuff, but maybe she'll be okay with letting you watch her build? I'm sure that Deku and Occhan will be happy if you two get along."

Thankfully, Eri seemed to be okay with that, her mood seemingly significantly brightened as she looked excited for the first time. Itsuka, meanwhile, was at least happy that the little girl was feeling better as she reached up to take the orange-haired girl's hand, and smiled down at her as she let Eri guide her over to where her parents and grandpa were standing near the back of the truck, glancing up at them both as they approached with Gūdo.

And that moment, of course, was when Eri randomly and inadvertently chose to betray her, the little girl blinking a bit as she clearly thought of something, and then looked back up at Itsuka.

"Oh, yeah," She seemed to remember, "hey, Ken?"

"Hm?" Itsuka hummed. "What is it, Eri?"

"Did you guys ever friend smooch at the beach? I never asked."

"Oh, well …" She trailed off for a moment, still smiling happily as she opened her mouth to answer -

- but then, when she glanced up and saw both Hakushu and Tenohira blink and look down at the little girl in surprise, it finally registered to Itsuka what exactly Eri had asked. And she felt herself freeze, eyes blowing wide in shock and horror as even Teko looked around at the little girl in confusion.

"'Friend smooch'?" Hakushu repeated, his brow furrowing as he glanced between his daughter and Eri. "Er - sorry, Eri, but - but did you say 'friend smooch'?"

"Mm-hm," Eri nodded in confirmation, holding tighter to Itsuka's hand while the orange-haired girl stared blankly ahead.

"O-oh," Hakushu furrowed his brow, "I - I see."

"And, uh …" Tenohira slowly tilted her head, a dangerous gleam beginning to appear in her eyes, "… Eri, what exactly is a … 'friend smooch'?"

"Huh?" Eri looked around at her, not noticing Itsuka slowly and surely becoming more and more horrified by the second as she turned to stare down at the little girl. "Oh, um … it's when you're good friends with someone, and you give them a little smooch."

"Oh, god," Itsuka whispered in terror, quiet enough that no one could hear.

"And …" Hakushu felt himself pale a bit, taking a careful step away from his wife as she began trembling, "… and … Itsuka's the - the one giving people friend smooches?"

"Yeah." Eri nodded.

"And …" Tenohira could barely stop herself from shaking in excitement, while Hakushu was glancing between both his pale daughter and his ready-to-explode wife nervously, and Teko was looking more than a little alarmed and furious as he stared at his granddaughter, "… who is … Itsuka giving friend smooches to? Exactly?"

"Oh. It was -"

"Oh-hoooo? Indeed, who is getting this friend smoooooooch?"

At the unfamiliar voice speaking up right behind Itsuka, she let out a small yelp of surprise as she was yanked out of her terrified state to look around in shock. Standing near the truck was a tall, pale man with bright blue eyes, a curious grin on his face, and long purple hair tied back into an impressive ponytail that nearly down to his thighs. He was a lot thinner than any of them there, with narrow cheekbones and thin glasses that were pushed up to the bridge of his nose. He was wearing a nice purple suit, with a frilly tie and faint yellow spirally designs lining his suit jacket and pants.

"My, myyyyy," He giggled a bit, his deep voice throwing them all off a bit, "I must say, this sounds very entertaaaaaaining! Aaaaah, young love, I forgot how niiiiiiiiice it is to hear!"

"Er …" Itsuka felt herself pale a bit as both Tenohira and Hakushu briefly wondered if he was some kind of teacher, "… sorry, but … who are you?"

"Ah! Forgive meeeeeee, I forgot my manners!" The pale man quickly bowed to them. "My naaaaame is Hideaki Hadou. A pleasure to meeeeeeet you all, at last."

"Er, n-nice to - wait," Itsuka blinked, "did you say your name was 'Hadou'? Then - then that means you're -?"

"Oi! Hubby! There you are!"

At a loud, feminine bark coming up from behind them, the Kendous jumped again, and looked around. Walking up to the truck was a small group of people, all of them very blue. At once, Itsuka's eyes fell to Nejire as her friend gave her a cheery wave, holding the handle of a suitcase in her other hand while she wore a positively gigantic backpack strapped to her - one that was at least the same size as her - that she seemed to be somewhat struggling with its weight as she awkwardly made her way over. Behind her came another girl, a bit older looking, with the top of her blue hair fading into purple as she held another few backpacks, and a blue gem shaped like a heart bounced around from the necklace she was wearing as she walked over. And behind them came an older woman with short blue hair tied back into a ponytail, wearing a leather jacket and jeans, and carrying a large duffle bag. 

And, of course, she was aiming an angry look at the man standing behind the Kendous.

"Hidie!" She walked over to dump the bag into her husband's arms, the skinny man nearly toppling over from its weight with a high-pitched squeak. "Don't go running off on us, we still have to unpack the rest of the car!"

"Soooooo sorry, my dear!" The man giggled flamboyantly as he struggled to hold up the heavy bag. "I sensed dramaaaaaa, so I had to come investigate!"

"Yeah, and that's fine, but, just make sure you're carrying something while you go investigate drama, or we're gonna be here all day!"

"We probably are, Mom," The older girl pointed out to her, walking over and dumping another bag on top of the duffel bag Hideaki was struggling to hold, nearly knocking him onto his back, "there's no way we won't be here until at least supper time. In which case, I'm wondering if we'll be going out for dinner. But for what? Sushi? Some tofu? Natto? I'd enjoy a bit of oden, if we're allowed to choose."

"Eh, I'll decide later."

"As long as it's not WcDonald's. We already had that last night."

Nejire's mom scowled.

"Hey, there!" Nejire happily greeted them, quickly collapsing onto her knees and throwing the backpack off her shoulders so she didn't end up falling on top of Eri as she gave her a hug, and Gūdo barked excitedly as he jumped up to meet the other new people as Eri let go of his leash. "How are you feeling, Eri? Good? Fine? Fantastic? Awesome? I feel awesome, at least, I'm so excited! We're gonna be living together from now on! Aren't you glad? Or, wait, maybe you're a bit nervous? Well, don't feel nervous! It'll be fine!"

"Mm," Eri shook her head, hugging her back, "I'm okay, Nej. We're gonna be living with someone who can make us Iron Man suits."

"Huh? Really? Iron Man suits? But who - oh, wait! I know Melissa was gonna make a suit, so … ooooooh! She's gonna make us all cool suits?! That's awesome! We could fly all around UA together! I mean, I could do that already, it's my quirk, but it would be super cool to fly around with you, Eri!"

"Er …" Itsuka weakly interjected before they could get any more carried away, "… let's make sure that Melissa makes her own suit before she thinks of making us anything, okay?"

"So, you're the Kendous, huh?" Mimi smiled as she turned to shake Hakushu's hand, ignoring her youngest daughter's joyful yammering below her and patted Gūdo's head as he eagerly rubbed up against her leg. "Thank you for letting Nejire stay over at your place a few weeks ago. I'm Mimi, and this is my husband, Hideaki. And this," She turned to the college aged girl, who smiled and put the bag she was still holding down on the ground, "is my oldest daughter, Niyuki."

"A pleasure to meet you," Nejire's older sister bowed, "truly a pleasure. Simply great to meet you."

"Er … the same here," Tenohira smiled a bit awkwardly as Hideaki likewise bowed again, "it's a pleasure to meet you at last. I'm Tenohira Kendou, and this is my husband, Hakushu, and my father, Teko. Your daughter has been a good friend for Itsuka."

"Well, I sure as hell hope so," Mimi grinned, reaching out and wrapping her arm around her eldest daughter's shoulders, "I pretty much had to bribe this one into coming back to help us out. I'm starting to think that she's avoiding coming home!"

"That I am," Niyuki nodded in confirmation, making Hakushu and Tenohira blink at the bluntness as she turned to look at her mother, "I'm tired of you trying to dig into my love life, Mom. I'm concentrating on school right now. I'm not exactly in the mood to be bugged by you wanting me to get a boyfriend in my first semester."

"But that's boring as hell!" Mimi complained. "Besides, Nej here is lookin' for a boyfriend, and she's in a hero school! A law school girl like you doesn't have an excuse, you could easily get yourself a boyfriend. Or girlfriend, whichever one!"

"No, thank you."

"Don't be that waaaaaaaaaaaaay, Niyuki," Hideaki drawled, "I met your own mother in law schooooooool, and I didn't waste any time falling in loooooooooove with her!"

"I'm not interested in talking about my love life, with you Dad. But if you wanted to discuss my sex life, on the other hand -"

"That is not something we need to knoooooooooooow! Unless you get a boyfriend, in which case, we need to knooooow just in case of pregnancyyyyyyyyyyy!"

"That's a different problem in its entirety."

Mimi let out a long suffering sigh as she stepped away from her older daughter as she lightly argued with her father, while Hakushu and Tenohira awkwardly watched and Teko moved to return to the truck, evidently already having enough of this family. After a moment stretching, Mimi then turned to look down at the little girl still being embraced by her youngest daughter, who had turned to give her a nervous look. 

Her tough look fading away, Mimi let out a small grunt as she went down to her knees, lightly tapping Nejire's shoulder to get her to stop hugging the little girl and sit back so that Eri could turn to face her.

"Hey there, little missy," She said in a gentler voice, "I'm Nej's mom, Mimi. I'm guessin' you're Eri, huh?"

"Mm-hm," She nodded, looking at Mimi's blue hair as her nervousness faded a bit, "you're Nej's mama?"

"Yep," She smiled, "that's me."

"Wow …"

"Yeah … now then, kiddo," Mimi's gentle smile suddenly sharpened, "what was that you were saying about 'friend smooches'?"

"Hm?" Eri looked up at her in surprise, while Itsuka, who had managed to calm down a tad bit, paled comically again and Nejire looked around at the little girl in surprise. "Oh, well -"

Thankfully for Itsuka's sanity, her salvation came in the form of the loud honk of a truck horn behind them.

Blinking, the Kendous and Hadous all looked around towards the street - and then they all felt their eyes blow open at what looked to be a small army of military vehicles driving down the street towards them, all of them moving towards UA. From jeeps to large UAVs, they all pulled over to surround the Kendous' smaller truck, with Hakushu debating put his hands up in the air just to be safe, while Tenohira gulped nervously but stepped forward to stand between the trucks and Itsuka and Eri. Near their truck, Teko frowned as he quickly straightened up, and Eri zipped behind Nejire to hide behind her hair while both Niyuki and Hideaki paused their argument to look around in curiosity.

Finally, all of the trucks and jeeps were parked, turned off, and several muscular men and women stepped out - all of them foreigners, Itsuka quickly noted from their facial features, matching black t-shirts and camo pants - and they all stood at attention for a moment in front of the vehicles -

- and then, from the drivers' seat of the largest truck, out hopped a woman who looked about the same age as her parents, with long blonde hair falling down towards her butt while she wore a pair of tight blue jeans and a dark t-shirt along with a pair of brown boots. She was beautiful, muscular and confident, but still … definitely smaller than all the guys who had stepped out of the jeeps, and seemed to defer to her as she walked around and knocked her fist against the end of the truck.

"Alright, kiddos!" She barked. "We're here!"

And with that, hopping out from the back of the truck, came Izuku, Ochako and Melissa.

Both Itsuka and Nejire felt their eyebrows shoot up at the surprising way that the rest of their little household had appeared - Izuku, for his part, was looking absolutely blown away for some reason as he glanced over at the blonde woman again, with his jaw still struggling to stop being slack. Ochako, meanwhile, was blushing in embarrassment as she awkwardly waved to everyone, and Melissa seemed to be nursing a serious headache, tossing some ibuprofen into her mouth and taking a large swing of water from an aluminum bottle.

From another jeep, Inko, Hisashi, All Might, Taiyo, Miwa and Rei stepped out as well, along with another man with wild brown hair, a goatee and glasses, and they were likewise looking as confused as Izuku and Ochako. All Might, at least, shot a nervous glance over to the blonde woman, while the brown-haired guy patted his shoulder and looked like he had a similar headache to Melissa.

So … clearly, to Itsuka, something had happened to keep them from getting here early, and it was probably this mystery woman. Itsuka's confusion only grew when the blonde woman stepped over to wrap her arm around Melissa's shoulders and grinned mischievously at her - at least, of course, until a bark drew her attention to the ground, and the woman's smirk turned into a smile of surprise and delight at Gūdo jumping up on her.

"Oh, no, Gūdo -" Itsuka tried to reprimand her dog and hurry over, but before she could blink, the blonde woman suddenly scooped her large, easily a hundred pound dog up off the ground and held him easily in her arms, making her stop and feel her eyes bulge out of her sockets.

… uh. That's … huh.

"Well, look at you!" The woman looked delighted as Gūdo barked in her ear and licked the side of her face, making her giggle. "You're a good boy, aren't you? You remind me of my husky back home! Such a good boy! Wait, you are a boy, right?"

"Er …" Itsuka sweated a bit nervously as she quietly approached, "… y-yeah, he's a boy. Er … sorry about him, he gets … really excited about strangers."

"Ah!" The woman looked at her with a grin, still holding the heavy dog easily in her arms. "So this is your dog? Sorry, he just kinda jumped on me, and I wanted a bit of a closer look! You don't mind, do you, boy?"

"Bark!"

"Er …" Tenohira confusedly raised her hand in greeting, while the two Hadou adults behind her looked questioningly around at the professional looking Americans, "… hello?"

"Hey, there!" The American woman barked at her, smiling joyfully as she gently put Gūdo back down on the ground, and then wrapped her arm around Melissa's shoulders again to frogmarch her over to where the Kendous and Hadous were standing and looking absolutely lost. "Sorry about being late - traffic was awful, and I wanted to enjoy a bit of Inko's coffee - whew! That was the good stuff, I'm kinda jealous that you guys get to have it whenever you want. Anyway, my name is Cathleen Bate - I work as Star and Stripe's personal manager, take care of her crew."

"W-wait," Hakushu blinked, his eyes widening, "Star and Stripe? As in -?"

"The American Number One! Yep! She wanted to make sure that Melissa was all moved into her new place, so me and her boys are yours to command for the day while she's busy at the World Heroes Association agency."

Behind her, Star's crew merely chuckled quietly or aimed knowing smirks at their shoes.

"Er … well, it's nice to meet you," Tenohira nodded awkwardly, glancing over at the man in glasses as he approached them as well, putting his hand on Melissa's head as he gave them a weak, apologetic smile, "but … sorry, how do you know Melissa?"

"Oh, well -"

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" Hideaki suddenly looked like he understood, glancing between the three Americans and clapping his hands. "You must be Melissa's paaaaaaaarents!"

There was a long pause. And both Melissa and David suddenly looked horrified at what he said, while Cathleen's grin widened.

"Oh, uh, no -" David tried to refute.

"God, no -!" Melissa looked like she was about to gag.

"Yes, I am!" Cathleen quickly wrapped her arms around both their shoulders and brought them in for a hug. "This is my hubby, Dave, and my baby girl, Melissa. Nice to meet you all!"

"No, she's not!" Melissa struggled to get out of the larger woman's embrace to explain things properly. "This is my aunt! She's not my dad's - not - no! Ugh!"

"Ah, what, you think Dave's out of my league? That's not a nice thing to say about your dad."

"He's twelve years older than you!"

"What can I say? I always did like the DILFs."

While Melissa tried her best to reign in a scream of utter horror at that awful thought, and Gūdo ran around the other American troops as they broke character and bent over to give him a few pats, Itsuka made her way over to where her partners were standing. Her eyebrows couldn't help but keep high on her head as she looked at Izuku's continuing struggles to keep his jaw up off the ground.

"So …" She glanced between them, "… Star and Stripe's crew are helping us? Uh … what exactly happened since I last saw you two?"

"I …" Ochako gulped a bit, "… we'll … explain things later. We had, uh … yeah. We definitely had a weird morning."

"Yeah, I'm - I'm kinda expecting an explanation for all this. It looks like you rolled in with the whole goddamn US army."

"Nah, nah," Ochako shook her head slowly, "maybe just the air force."

Before Itsuka could respond with any kind of wit to that, the gate of UA behind them suddenly opened, causing the small crowd of people to look around. Standing in the open gate wearing a nice black shirt and jeans, Midnight gave everyone a wave as she stepped out to welcome everyone, and smiled when Gūdo barked excitedly at her and ran over, with the teacher bending down to scratch him behind the ears while she sent a quick but frosty look at Hisashi as he wilted at the sight of her.

"Good morning, everyone!" She greeted them all as she straightened up, allowing Eri to hurry over and grab Gūdo's leash. "Principal Nezu got the message from Star's agency that you all would be helping with the move-in - if it's alright, we'll only take a few vehicles over so we don't cause too a big scene. Well, a bigger scene than this," She gestured around the parked cars with a raised eyebrow.

"Gotcha!" Cathleen nodded, letting go of Melissa and David and looking towards a man with a buzz cut and mustache. "Ethan, we'll bring in the big trucks - unpack the Kendous' truck and put everything in the main one, and then we'll start unpacking everything. So, Mr. Kendou," She turned back to Hakushu, who quickly straightened up at attention unintentionally, "you got everything you needed from home in here?"

"Er … well, no." He shook his head, glancing around as the Americans quickly headed over to start getting out all of Itsuka's stuff and carrying them over to the other, bigger trucks. "We were - we were gonna do another trip back home so that we could get the rest of her stuff - she's still got her bike in the garage to bring."

"Ah! Well, in that case, we'll send a few of the boys with you to help out."

With that, Cathleen surprisingly took command of the entire move (well, All Might, David, Melissa and Midnight weren't really that surprised), and everyone moved to get back in the vehicles. Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka, Nejire and Eri decided to sit in the back of one of the pickup trucks that Ethan was driving with Gūdo, while Melissa sat with Cathleen, Taiyo and Miwa in another one of the jeeps. Off to the side, David was a surprising gentleman as he helped Rei into another truck with All Might and Inko, while Mimi, Hideaki, Niyuki and Teko sat in another truck. 

Finally, Hisashi and Midnight climbed into the last truck, and they all pulled into UA, the truck Midnight was in leading them as she had to guide the driver to Heights Alliance. As one, they all drove through the gate, with Snipe on the other side shaking his head as he pressed in a few commands on the console to slide the gate shut behind them.

As the trucks began moving into UA to start heading into the grounds, Hisashi awkwardly stared out the window for a moment as he gulped nervously in the backseat of the truck, while in the seat opposite of him, Midnight was giving him a pointed look.

"…"

"…"

"… er," He cleared his throat weakly while glancing at the teacher, "g-good morning, Kayama."

"Good morning, Mr. Midoriya." Midnight replied coolly.

"Uh … yeah," Hisashi clasped his hands tightly together in his lap, "so, uh … h-how have you been?"

"Fairly well. I was just wondering, however, why I didn't get a response from you after my last few texts."

Hisashi winced. In the front of the jeep, the Americans pretended to not be listening.

"Somewhat rude, isn't it?" Midnight scowled as she tapped her foot against the floor of the vehicle. "How I asked you to get coffee, but got left on read? That's a bit immature, isn't it? Something that you would expect from a teenage boy, not a grown-ass adult."

"Erk."

"So. Care to explain?"

Hisashi grimaced helplessly for a moment, aware of the two soldiers at the front of the car being oddly quiet as they drove down the road - and then he let out a small sigh, glancing over at where Midnight was glaring out the window now, and looked back down at his hands.

"I … I'm sorry, Kayama," He apologized quietly to her, "I …I could say that I've been too busy at work to respond to you, but - but that would just be an excuse. I wanted to respond to your messages, I just … I just lost my nerve."

"Your nerve?" She huffed a bit, although the coolness of her voice did lessen a bit.

"Yeah. I mean -" He shook his head, unable to stop himself from scoffing a bit, "- I had a great time with you last Friday, of - of course I did. But I'm just - I'm just a salaryman working at some company. You're freaking Midnight. I just … I just thought that I lucked out, and … and I lost my courage. I'm a coward, Kayama. I'm sorry."

He awkwardly ended his apology at that, and Midnight was quiet for a long moment. And then she let out a long sigh, leaning forward to point at a fork in the road for the driver to turn on, and as she sat back in her seat, she turned to look at Hisashi.

"Well," She tapped her heel against the floor of the truck, "I'm sure that you should know that I didn't have you walk me home and kiss me goodnight because I thought you were lucky to do so."

Hisashi went a bit red.

"So," She turned to look out the window again, crossing her legs, "I'm expecting you to make this up to me, Mr. Midoriya. Once we're done with the move-in, you'll be taking me out for dinner, so we can discuss this cowardice of yours in length. And we'll also be having another talk when you walk me back to my apartment again - be prepared to spend the night."

"Yes, ma'am," Hisashi slowly nodded in defeat as Midnight laid out her demands -

- and then, suddenly, the last comment registered to him, causing him to blink, go bright red, and whip around to look at the R-Rated Heroine in surprise and fear.

Up at the front of the vehicle, both soldiers chuckled.

"Guess it's about time for them to make out," The one on the passenger side snarked in English.

"We'll just pretend to not hear them," The driver chuckled as he turned up the radio.

While Hisashi was almost breathing fire from how embarrassed he was while Midnight merely smirked to herself, another car passed them by. In it, Inko was giving her seat partner a nervous look at how unnerved All Might appeared to be, glancing back at David and Rei in the backseat of the large truck before she leaned over to mutter in his ear.

"So … er … this Star and Stripe person doesn't know about this form?"

"No, she doesn't," All Might shook his head, keeping his voice low due to Rei sitting in the back, "no one from America or I-Island outside of Dave back there knows about my … er … condition. I - I'm not surprised that she sent Ms. Bate to help us out instead of - um - coming herself. And, uh … well, maybe it's for the best that Star doesn't see All Might at all."

"Huh?" Inko blinked in surprise. "Why not?"

"Well," He grimaced slightly, a bit put-off for having to lie to Inko about 'Cathleen' but knowing that it wasn't his secret to tell, "I've gotten the impression that Star and Stripe … doesn't quite like All Might, honestly."

"Wait, really? That's surprising - I'd have thought that … you know, with her costume …"

"That she'd like me? Yeah, I thought so too - I met her when she was a little girl, after I saved her and her family," He explained in a quiet voice, "and she seemed to quite like me then. But now, whenever I try to talk to her when the top heroes in the World Heroes Association meet, she's very … er … aloof around me. And only me."

"Oh," Inko gave him a sympathetic look, "well, I … don't suppose you might have done something?"

"I don't know!" He threw his hands up, looking disappointed either way. "But if she just doesn't like me, I won't try to annoy her into liking me. I just wish I understood what I did wrong …"

In the back, David whistled innocently to himself as he wiped his glasses on the end of his shirt. He, of course, knew why Star and Stripe 'hated' All Might - which was to say, she didn't at all. In fact, he sighed a bit when remembering the utter size of her All Might collection in her home. When she wasn't busy absolutely fangirling over him, she'd frequently ask about stories that she'd heard a hundred times before about his adventures with All Might in college, with it being almost impressive how the massive woman looked like a fangirling teenager whenever he spoke about their various adventures. 

Still, she tried to come across as cool and professional when she knew that he would be around, wanting to come across as a stern and capable top hero around her idol. David also knew that Star would kill him if he told his old friend why she came across as aloof in front of her hero, so he decided to keep it to himself.

After a moment, he turned back to the white-haired woman sitting quietly beside him. Grimacing a bit when he realized how awkward he was being, he cleared his throat.

"Again, I'm … very sorry about Cathleen," He apologized to her, getting her to look around at him, "she gets very … well … excited when it comes to Melissa, and she also tends to be very headstrong. Doesn't quite like taking 'no' for an answer."

"O-oh, that's - that's alright," Rei tried to assure him, although the dark look in her eyes remained, "I've … I've known my own fair share of people who refuse to take 'no' as an answer."

David felt himself falter at that - he knew enough to read between the lines, and knew that she didn't mean that as a good thing. However, Rei seemed to catch that she was bringing the mood down, and quickly sighed as she shook her head and tried to smile at him.

"A-anyway," She put her hands down in her lap, "so you're a friend of All Might's?"

"Oh, uh, yes," He nodded awkwardly, "we went to college together, and … well, I was an inventor, and he needed a durable costume to fight crime with. We struck up a friendship, and … well, the next thing I knew, I was helping him fight villains. Not quite what I was expecting, getting into the support item business."

"I suppose not," She giggled, which made David blink a bit at the cute sound, "but … it doesn't sound like you're complaining."

"Well," He gave her a sheepish smile, "it definitely had its ups and downs - I got to have first hand experience in what my inventions had to do, and I'll admit, it was fun at times. But … I think it might not have been worth barely passing college by the skins of our teeth."

Rei laughed again, making David smile at her.

"So, er …" He racked his brain briefly to try and find a way to keep this conversation going, "… is this your first visit to UA? It's not mine, but … well, it's always a pleasure to come here, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is," Rei calmed down and nodded, and then blinked, going red, "er - for both your questions. It's my first time being here, and … well, yes, I'll admit, this place is impressive."

They both trailed off for a bit, and then she blinked again, looking back around at him with a smile.

"Oh, goodness, please forgive my manners," The white-haired woman smiled as she extended her hand to him, "we haven't been properly introduced yet. My name is Rei Himura, but you can just call me 'Rei'."

"David Shield," The inventor smiled as he reached out and shook her hand, "and 'Dave' is fine."

He was also going to pointedly ignore how All Might had turned in his seat to give the two of them an intrigued look.

As the truck pulled around another corner, moving down into the fields of UA, the third truck tugging along pushed forward, allowing the teenagers in the back of the truck to sit there in silence as they all absorbed everything Ochako had just told them, while Gūdo eagerly pushed his face outside the truck to enjoy the breeze.

"So …" Itsuka gulped a bit nervously, "… Star and Stripe just … busted down your door and shrank down to … that?"

"Pretty much," Izuku shivered a bit, still blown away by it even an hour later, "one second she was - she was a giant, and wearing a mask and grinning at us - and then the moment my mom came to see what was going on, she just - she shrank! She just pretended like she hadn't given us heart attacks and offered to fix the door she knocked down!"

"And I mean … she did fix it," Ochako added in unhelpfully, "it was honestly kind of amazing how she fixed a door in six seconds, but … maybe it's not that impressive and more worrying if she knows exactly how to do it."

"Huh. So … if she ever comes to visit -?"

"Yeah, she's gonna probably break the door down."

"Oh, fantastic."

"Oh … my … gosh," Nejire shook in excitement, her hand staying on the leash in case Gūdo suddenly got any bright ideas, "Star and Stripe! She's awesome! I don't even really keep up with a lot of hero gossip outside of Japan, but even I know how many times she's been on the news! Do you think it's true that she dated that one hero? What was his name, uh … Matrix Man? Ooh, or how about the time she apparently punched out Captain Celebrity! When he tried to hit on her? You know, before he started being a lot less stupid?"

"Er … yeah," Ochako nodded a bit awkwardly, "just … don't ask her about any of that. We don't know how she would react."

"Awwww, but she seems cool!"

"Anyway," Itsuka tried to keep the conversation moving, "how does Melissa know America's Number One Hero, exactly?"

"She's …" Izuku gulped nervously, "… apparently 'Aunt Cathy' to Melissa."

"… 'Aunt Cathy'."

"Yep.

"So …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "… Melissa's apparently close enough to Star and Stripe … to be her aunt?"

The four of them paused for a moment, and then looked around at the truck that was currently carrying America's Number One Hero beside them. Passing by, they caught Melissa talking irritably to Cathleen as the older woman leaned back and smirked at her - and all of them stared at their near identical blonde hair, similar skin tones, and similar facial features as the car drove ahead.

"… yeah," Itsuka slowly nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly in suspicion, "we're gonna need to interrogate her after this."

"Mm-hm," Ochako nodded in agreement.

"This conversation's weird," Eri commented, sitting cross-legged between Itsuka and Gūdo as she patted the dog's side, and looked around, "are we almost there?"

"I'm not sure," Itsuka sighed, leaning back and having a look around as they drove down the road. She could see UA's main building coming up through the small forest area that they were passing through, shading them a bit with the trees above them, as they drove out -

- and then something caught her attention, causing her to turn to look at it properly, and then she felt herself pale.

"… I think I see it."

"Huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at where Itsuka was staring. "Where?"

"You, uh … you see the collection of houses over there?" She pointed with slight defeat, already knowing that the teachers went too far. "I think we're the mansion coming up on the left."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… we're the what?" Ochako squeaked.


YAOMOMO

Good morning, Jirou. I know that yesterday might have ended … a bit awkwardly after we came back to consciousness from the gas, but I was wondering if it would be possible to see you today. There was something that I wanted to ask you, in person.

If you want, you can come by my home - Mother and Father want me to head to their tower during their party this afternoon, but they're happy to let you stop by before I have to leave.

 

Staring down at her phone for a long moment, Kyouka gulped a bit before she raised her gaze back up to the large gate before her. She knew that her friend was rich, but … but seriously, the huge fence stretched for what was almost three freaking miles. She had turned on the street about fifteen minutes ago, and only now got to the main gate, which made her sweat a little - seriously, how big was this place if it took that long to get to the gate?!

She knew that Momo was rich … she didn't know that she was this rich.

But still, Kyouka shook as she put her phone back in her pocket, this was it. This was her chance. She hadn't had her chance yesterday, but … but this was it.

After the … predicament that she had found herself in yesterday after that asshole's zombie quirk wore off, she hadn't been able to go through with giving Momo her letter, seeing as it had been kind of hard to even look her in the eye after coming to and being on a literal leash held by her. But this was … this was her chance now, to give Momo the envelope in her pocket, and then … yeah. That would be that. She'd go and dig her own grave and then just freaking die, but Momo would know how she felt.

She was able to tease and make fun of everyone with every ounce of bluntness in her body, but this … this was something that she'd have to have courage to do. And seeing as she knew that she sucked with being genuine and not a sarcastic little shit, a letter would have to do, even if she wasn't exactly dressed for the occasion, what in her dark purple crop top and short-shorts and sneakers.

Clenching her hand in her pocket where the note was and taking a deep breath to settle her nerves, Kyouka raised a finger to the intercom and pressed the button. At once, it crackled, making her yelp a bit.

"Name and reason for being here?"

She grimaced slightly at the blunt, drone-like voice on the other end of the call.

"Uh …" She said in an uncertain voice, "… Kyouka Jirou. Yaoyorozu invited me."

"Which one?"

"Er … Momo."

There was a pause on the other end, before the voice spoke again.

"Stand back. I am opening the gate."

Without any other warning, the golden gates with the two 'Y's on it creaked, and Kyouka stepped back hastily as they swung open, Kyouka awkwardly stepping out onto the road so that she didn't get hit. Once they were opened, the intercom crackled again.

"Come in."

Nodding awkwardly, Kyouka walked through the gates, trying not to wince as they swung closed behind her with a clang, and made her feel like she had been trapped inside. Still, she tried to straighten her back, her earphones clicking together, and she began walking up the neat path through the forested area, the branches of the trees casting her into shade and protecting her somewhat from the sun.

It took her about five minutes to get down the path, but eventually she escaped the trees, and felt herself gulp at the sight of a large, fancy mansion - one that was probably large enough to easily rival UA in size. The mansion had to be tall enough to rival skyscrapers in the city, made of stone and decorated in red drapes along the huge windows. The road before the staircase leading up to the main hall had a few limos and sports cars along the grass, indicating that the Yaoyorozus either wanted to flaunt their wealth or they had guests over, and in the distance, she could see a few groundskeepers - all of them looking the same, with a gaunt-like face and blonde hair - took care of the grass, which spread out easily into large fields leading to more trees surrounding the house.

She stepped up the large staircase towards the doors, gulping a bit as she glanced around - and feeling as though there were eyes on her - and then, ahead of her, she heard the sound of the large doors creaking open. Jumping a bit, she looked around, and blinked when she saw a tall, somewhat muscular man with black hair, a narrow face, and a welcoming smile standing before her on the top of the stairs.

"Kyouka Jirou, is it?" He asked her, smiling a bit wider when she awkwardly nodded, and he stepped out onto the staircase to greet her. "Good morning, my dear, Momo mentioned that you'd be swinging by."

"Er … yeah," Kyouka grimaced sheepishly.

"Well, she's still getting things ready in her room - sadly, you won't be able to stay long, as I'm having her sent over to our tower to study for the rest of the day. My name is Daikoku Yaoyorozu, Momo's father - she's mentioned you, of course, but it's a pleasure to finally meet one of Momo's friends in person, especially after Midoriya, Uraraka and Kendou were unable to celebrate the sports festival with us."

Stopping on the stair just short of Kyouka, the billionaire took a moment to give her a look up and down, observing her casual attire, before he nodded and put his hands on his hips.

"Hm," Daikoku hummed, "well, I must say, you are … pretty much what I expected you to be, Jirou."

Kyouka didn't know what that meant, but she knew from his tone that it wasn't really a compliment.

"Now then," He turned back, smiling at her as he gestured towards the door where another young man with white hair was waiting, "please, come on in! It'll take a few minutes for Momo to reach the main hall, and I'm waiting for a report for work, so I imagine that we can keep each other company."

Grimacing a bit, Kyouka still nodded, not wanting to be rude to the master of the house, and followed him up the rest of the stairs and through the doors, which closed behind her with a small 'boom' that made her jump a bit.

The main hall of the mansion was … well, unsurprisingly, it was freaking huge, at least big enough to fit her entire house. The porcelain floor was shiny enough to see her own reflection in it, the ceiling large and sphere like to stretch far above her head. A pair of stairs led up to a second floor that circled around the entire hall, with its walls lined with thousands upon thousands of books. Glancing up at the ceiling far above her revealed a large painting of what looked to be a three headed dragon roaring at something, making her wrinkle her brow at what that was doing all the way up there. 

And towards the front of the landing on the first floor was a large, gold statue of a baby laying in some kind of cradle, dark roses littered around it. Staring at the statue for a long moment, Kyouka felt herself sweat drop.

"That's not … baby Yaomomo, is it?"

Daikoku blinked for a moment as he followed her gaze to the statue. And then he let out a loud laugh.

"Oh! That would be embarrassing if it were that, wouldn't it?" He smacked his knee, wiping at some tear in his eye while Kyouka grimaced again. "You're right, that's not Momo - goodness gracious, she would be utterly mortified if we brought guests over and the first thing they saw was a statue of herself as a baby right in the middle of the main hall, wouldn't she? No, no, that is the Shining Baby."

"Huh?" Kyouka blinked, looking around at the statue. "You mean that - uh - luminescent baby?"

"That's correct!" He gave her an intrigued look. "Are you a student of history, Miss Jirou?"

"I mean … I've picked up a thing or two."

Daikoku slowly nodded, chuckling as he clasped his hands behind his back.

"Well," He sighed, "I'm quite a history fan myself, and the story of the beginning of quirks always intrigued me. Can you imagine the reaction of the father when he saw that his child was glowing? How frightened would you be?"

"Uh …" Kyouka went a bit red, wondering if this was supposed to be a rhetorical question.

"Well, I've done my research - I was a bit of a nerd when I was in high school myself, and was intrigued by the beginning of our society. For example, did you know that the Shining Baby ended up gaining a massive following when he grew up? Tried to help bring peace between the ones with quirks and the ones without before his death. He also became quite affiliated with the Quirk Singularity Doomsday Theory, a few hundred years ago."

"Oh, uh - yeah," Kyouka crinkled her brow. "That's the … Humarise stuff, right? Back from a few years ago."

"About two years, now," Daikoku nodded, frowning, "indeed. It's truly a shame, how that theory is now heavily tied to the cult - it was a rather interesting piece of research, but after Humarise brought attention to it, it's rather difficult to discuss it without being derided as a quirkist."

"Er … yeah."

"Yes … but now that I'm thinking about it, it was one of your upperclassmen who put a stop to that Humarise business, if I'm remembering correctly."

"Er -" Kyouka blinked a bit in surprise, looking up at the man as he stared up at the statue, "- really?"

"But, of course!" Daikoku nodded. "You know the young hero calling himself Lemillion, don't you? Well, from what my … unofficial sources told me, he ended up getting in a bit of trouble with a few of his classmates when he had been branded a fugitive, and … well, with the help of someone from Otheon itself, he ended up confronting the leader of Humarise."

Behind them, Skip remained oddly poker faced.

"Is - is that right?" Kyouka tried to keep up with the rather odd man standing with her.

"Yes … I'm not sure how it really went down, of course, but …" Daikoku's smile remained on his face, but his eyes turned suddenly cold, "… from what I heard, I believe that the young man's quirk was … a rather perfect counter to the villain's. Nothing he could do could harm him. Eventually, the mansion collapsed, and the leader of Humarise was arrested. Unfortunately, his wounds were too great, and he died of his injuries while in custody."

"Oh …"

"Yes. Now … what was the leader's name again?" Daikoku thought to himself for a moment, frowning as he tugged on his lip, and then looked around to his chauffeur. "Skip, would you mind reminding me? I know you were from Otheon yourself."

There was a pause.

"Skip?"

"… Soul, sir," Skip replied quietly. "Edward Soul."

"Ah, yes, thank you," Daikoku smiled at him, "Edward Soul. May he … well, I want to say may he rest in peace, but after those terrorist attacks in Otheon, I'm not sure if anyone would agree with me."

Kyouka grimaced a bit awkwardly - whoever this Skip guy was, she could feel mixed feelings coming off of him, and none of them were good. 

Luckily for her, she then heard her name being called from above them.

"Jirou!"

Blinking, Kyouka quickly looked up at the second floor. Leaning against the railing, Momo raised a hand in greeting, looking oddly awkward as she stood there. Kyouka, however, felt her heart clench - her friend was wearing a comfy beige sweater and black pants, and her hair was down, looking far more relaxed and beautiful than ever - although the way she was glancing fearfully between her and her father made Kyouka falter.

However, before she could ask if everything was okay, Daikoku took a step back, smiling down at her.

"Ah, I see that my daughter has finally arrived," He chuckled, "now then, I've taken up enough of your time, Jirou. Thank you for entertaining this old man's ramblings. Now, sweetie," He looked back up at Momo, "please remember that I'm going to be having quite a few people here in an hour, so whatever your business with Jirou is, please be sure to be quick, alright? I'd hate for her to come back down and see a bunch of people in weird clothing, after all."

Chuckling at his own joke, the Yaoyorozu patriarch turned to speak to Skip.

"Skip, Momo has to be at the tower in half an hour. Once Jirou's business here has concluded, please bring her back and make sure Momo's ready."

"Yes, sir." Skip said quietly. "And a representative from Deternet called - they want you to call back as soon as you can."

"Hm."

Nodding, Daikoku turned and walked away, pulling his phone out from his pocket to call back. Now that he was gone, Skip gestured to Kyouka, who quickly made her way up the stairs, and soon met with Momo as she stepped around the railing and took Kyouka's arm, making the punk girl gulp nervously as she turned and began walking down a hallway.

"I'm so sorry," Momo muttered, looking ashamed of herself as she hurried Kyouka away from the main hall, "I only just got word that you had arrived. If I had known, I'd have run to come get you."

"It's - it's fine," Kyouka shrugged, gulping a bit as Momo led her down the fancy hallways past several old paintings, "I … guess your dad was cool with keeping me company."

"Again, I'm sorry."

"Yeah, it's cool. Your … your dad's …" She paused, trying to think up a compliment for him but not really finding anything to compliment, before she shrugged, "… kinda weird."

"That, I know," Momo sighed, "in - in any case, please, come along - Father's right, I'll have to leave soon, so … so it's better to make this quick."

Kyouka only grimaced slightly at that - truth be told, knowing that her time was limited now made her feel nervous - but she still wordlessly followed Momo through the mansion. It took a few minutes, but eventually they reached a door with Momo's name engraved on it, and the heiress smiled awkwardly as she opened the door.

"Please, come in," She smiled at her, and then turned to where Skip was hanging back, her smile fading and turning frosty, "and I'd like some privacy, please, Skip."

Shrugging, the chauffeur merely sent her a flirty wink, and turned to stand over at the other end of the hall. Momo rolled her eyes while Kyouka glowered at him quietly, and after a moment of shaking her head, she pulled Kyouka into her room.

Standing there, Kyouka gulped a bit as she looked around, hearing Momo close and lock the door firmly behind her. Momo's room was easily three times bigger than her own, with a wide window showing off the forest in the backyard, a large bed at the end of the room, and then an entire wall literally lined from the floor to the ceiling with books. A large desk and computer was in the corner, along with a comfy looking couch and a projector above it that had a movie paused on the opposite wall, instantly making Kyouka envious of how cool it was. 

Still, her attention was drawn back to Momo as she stepped over to turn off the monitor with her remote, before turning to give Kyouka a weak smile.

"Thank you for coming, Jirou," She said in a small voice, sounding a bit nervous, "I, uh … I had thought that you would've had something to do today, so … so I didn't get my hopes up too much."

"Well, uh …" Kyouka went a bit red at Momo actually admitting that she hoped she could come over, which made her heart backflip a bit, "… I didn't have much going on, and, uh … I wanted to see you, too."

Momo let out a small hum at that, her face turning a bit warm, and then she sighed as she sat down on the couch, patting the seat beside her. Taking her cue, and blushing a bit brighter, Kyouka moved to sit down beside her friend as she put her hands in her lap.

"So, " The heiress let out a small sigh, "I … I suppose we should get to it. Truth be told, Jirou, I wanted to speak to you about our workplace internships."

Kyouka blinked a bit - of all the things Momo could've asked her to come over for, she hadn't expected that.

"Oh. Uh -" She gulped a bit, "- sure. What about it?"

"Well," Momo let out a small sigh, her red cheeks deepening, "I … overheard you asking Aizawa-sensei yesterday if you could have the weekend to decide on your internship."

Kyouka grimaced a bit at that - it was true, she had asked Aizawa for the weekend to think more about who she wanted to intern with. Izuku had looked through her offers and pointed out who she could intern with, but if she was being honest, she didn't really like that her main option was Death Arms - not only did he have some rumors online that he was a bit of a tool, but every video she had seen of him was just non-stop running from place to place, no breaks and being mean to the sidekicks under his employ.

So, er … she wasn't really looking forward to that.

"Uh … yeah," She nodded a bit stiffly, "I was … gonna look over my choices again before I make my decision."

"Yes, well," Momo bit her lip a bit, keeping her hands in her pockets, "I … actually turned in my own application, at the same time as Shouto. We'll be both interning at the same place."

At the mention of the boy's name, Kyouka couldn't help but feel her eye twitch. And realizing what Momo was saying, she couldn't help but turn to look down at her knees, feeling her stomach churn.

"Oh," She tried to say lightly, "cool. So, uh … where are you two going?"

"Endeavor's agency."

There was a pause. And then Kyouka blinked a bit, looking back around at Momo as she likewise nodded slowly, as though hearing Kyouka's unspoken question.

"Yes, I … I am aware of what Shouto told us," She said lowly, "and I would like to intern anywhere else more than anything. But Shouto is insistent on going to his father's agency, and has asked that I … come for moral support. He assured me that he'll force Endeavor to help me improve as well, and … and I would wish to support him in any way I can. That, and I know that interning with the Number Two Hero will very much benefit me, even if I don't like him very much. So, I will be interning with him."

Kyouka began to frown, turning away with the annoying feeling of moisture beginning to pool in her eyes. She should've known, she bit the inside of her cheek as her hand clenched in the note - she should've known that she was being an idiot. From the light way she spoke about Shouto, and the way she was going up to bat for him because he was going to be interning with his abusive father … Momo was still clearly infatuated with Shouto.

It was obvious, and she should've known better than to get her hopes up. She was stupid, thinking that there was a chance that she could -

"So I was wondering," Momo suddenly spoke, sounding quiet, "if you would … like to come with us to Endeavor's agency. I can put in a good word for you."

Kyouka … honestly, she paused at that. Blinked. Looked up. And then she looked around at Momo in surprise.

"… s-sorry?"

"I'd …" Momo bit her lip a bit, "… I'd like you to come with Shouto and I to Endeavor's agency. I can tell him to send you a request."

"I …" Kyouka was entirely caught off guard, staring at Momo in surprise and shock, "… but … but what about Todoroki? Wouldn't he -?"

"I am aware that I am mostly going to provide support for him," Momo wrung her hands together, "I intend to learn much from Endeavor, but I'm … I'm very motivated to make sure that my childhood friend doesn't have to suffer more abuse from his father. I am very happy that we're on speaking terms again, but … but I know that our relationship is not what it once was, Jirou. I'm afraid of having to help Shouto alone."

"…"

"And … and you did go with him to the arcade," She pointed out, "and he told me that he enjoyed spending time with you. So I'm just asking, if you would - er - if you would be opposed to helping me … help him?"

"I - I mean, no, I wouldn't," Kyouka shook her head - and honestly, she was telling the truth about that - but still, she was uncertain, "it's just … it's unexpected."

"Well, you don't have to say yes, Jirou -"

"No, no, I am, just - I'm -" Kyouka shook her head, and stood up. Momo watched her worryingly for a moment as her friend paced up and down for a moment - and then she sighed.

Pushing some of her hair out of her face, Kyouka looked down at Momo with a worried look.

"- you're … you're sure you can get me an in?" She winced. "I mean, I'll - I'll go with you both if you need me, it's just … I'm not really sure if Endeavor would like it if I treat him like the piece of shit he is. I mean, I'm not gonna pretend that I like him or anything."

"Nor will I," Momo shook her head, standing up as well as she frowned, "I am under no certain terms going to pretend that everything is fine. But if Endeavor wishes to teach me something, I will take advantage of him to learn."

Kyouka let out a small snort at that, but still, she nodded and smiled.

"Alright," She looked up at her, "okay. What the hell? If you need my help making that shitty old man's life a living hell, I'm in."

Momo's smile at that completely sold Kyouka on the idiotic plan. She grinned up at her, but before she could say anything, Momo quickly wrapped her arms around her neck and stepped forward to hug her, Kyouka freezing slightly as Momo pressed herself against her.

It was then, during that warm and soft hug, that Kyouka suddenly remembered why she had pretty much run here from the bus stop. Why she was more than happy to be standing here, letting Momo squeeze her to her, why this felt more incredible than any other hug she'd ever received. She felt her heart begin to beat even faster, her face turning bright red, and her hands tensing as Momo let her go, seemingly oblivious to why Kyouka suddenly went as stiff as a board.

"Now then," She walked over towards the door, smiling happily, "I'll get Skip to send you back to the front - I'm sorry to have made you come all the way out here for something as simple as this. I just … wanted to ask you this in person. P-perhaps tomorrow, if you want, we could go out and have a bit of lunch together, if you're not -"

"U-uh, hold - hold on, Yaomomo."

Blinking a bit at the interruption, Momo looked around, seemingly only now aware that Kyouka had frozen up a bit and stared blankly forward for a moment - and then the punk girl suddenly took a deep breath, smacking her cheeks briefly, and turned to walk up to Momo, putting her hand in her pocket.

"Listen," Kyouka went redder and redder, but she tried to keep her voice even, "there's, uh - there was actually something that I wanted to - to say to you yesterday, but - but we didn't really get the chance. And, uh … if you had the time, I - I wanted to try and talk to you about it now. So - uh - well -"

She stopped for a moment, her face now practically red as a beat - and then, inhaling sharply, she took the envelope out of her pocket and held it out for Momo.

"- here," She finished lamely, "I … suck with words."

Momo looked down at the letter in confusion for a moment, obviously taken aback, but still, she gently took the letter from Kyouka (even if the punk girl had a moment that her hand tensed, wanting to yank it back briefly and run away forever before she forced herself to let it go), and turned it over. Kyouka stared at her feet as Momo carefully opened the envelope, pulled out the letter, and turned it over to read, making Kyouka's heart begin to tango dance in her chest.

After a few seconds, she heard Momo lightly gasp.

"Oh," She said in a quiet voice, her face becoming red, "this is …"

"Yeah," Kyouka grimaced, scratching the back of her head while her cheeks went redder, "I … I kinda suck at saying what's on my mind, so … thought I'd write everything out for you. It's - it's cheesy, but - but yeah."

"Oh …"

Kyouka felt her heart thump in her chest. These … didn't sound like good 'oh's.

Momo took a while to read through the letter, moving so that her back was to Kyouka for a few seconds so she could read it. Finally, after a tension-filled minute, she let out a small sigh as she turned back towards where Kyouka was standing, and the punk girl winced at the crestfallen look on her friend's face.

"Jirou, I …" Momo faltered, staring down at the note for a moment before looking back up at Kyouka, "… I'm not …"

And just like that, Kyouka's heart shattered. And immediately, her mind flipped from hopeful to defensive.

"It's fine," She quickly looked away, feeling tears burn in her eyes, and being unaware of Momo quickly looking up at her in shock when Kyouka's words sounded briefly choked, "it's cool, Yaomomo, I didn't - I didn't expect you to - nah, forget it. Seriously, it's fine. I'll just … get out of here."

With that, she tried to hurry around Momo and out the door, hoping that she wouldn't get lost in this big house and have to ask a servant to guide her to the door. However, before she could reach the door, she let out a small squeak as a pair of arms suddenly wrapped around her shoulders, and she was stopped from running off by Momo grabbing and holding onto her from behind.

"I - no," The heiress shook her head, "please don't go, Jirou, I … please."

Kyouka hesitated for a moment - she didn't want to have to deal with this right now - but at the desperation in Momo's voice, she heeded her and stopped, even if she didn't have the courage anymore to face her.

"Please, listen," Momo took a deep breath, "I … I understand what you're trying to say, Jirou. And I'm flattered, truly. I wish that I could … I could answer these feelings. But you - you know about my engagement. And my father's insistence that it goes on."

Kyouka grimaced. She didn't need to get shot further down.

"Jirou, I - I don't even know if I like girls. I … I'll admit that you are very pretty, and - and again, I am extremely flattered that you - you like me. It makes me so happy to hear that. It's just …" Momo let out another unhappy sigh, "… I don't want to do something that will give my father inspiration to - to punish me."

"Punish you?" Kyouka muttered.

"Yes. I … I told you how my father has my future planned out. Wanting to go out with my best friend is … not a part of that plan."

The two girls were quiet for a long moment, Kyouka staring down at her shoes and Momo staring at the back of her head sadly - and then Kyouka blinked.

"Wait," She looked around slightly, her cheeks going red, "'want to go out with my best friend'?"

"Hm?"

"You - you want to?"

Momo faltered at that, her sad look being replaced by fluster that … god, it made Kyouka's heart ache.

"I …" She cleared her throat, moving her arms away from Kyouka to let her back up a bit, "… I … don't know. L-like I said, I - I'm not not sure if I even like girls."

Kyouka hesitated there - she heard the wistfulness in Momo's voice, and it made her want to do something to appease that unspoken curiosity.

And that was about the time when the reasonable, cautious part of her brain was kicked out, and replaced by the dumb, utterly gay part of her brain that was completely and totally enthralled by her friend.

"You know …" Kyouka gulped, "… you could … find out if you like girls now."

"R-really?" Momo blinked, looking surprised. "How?"

There was a pause. Kyouka shrank a bit. Momo looked at her curiously for a long moment as though waiting for an answer. And then that was when it clicked in for Momo, making her go suddenly still.

"… oh." She said blankly, her face turning red. "You .., mean …?"

"Yeah," Kyouka gulped awkwardly, "if you, uh … if you want, we … could … kiss. If you want."

And with that, a long silence fell. Kyouka studied her feet for a moment, unable to even look up at her best friend until she could summon her courage, and her gaze flicked up - just in time to see Momo's own eyes returning to Kyouka's face, making her turn redder.

It was then that Kyouka blinked, and looked back down at her attire. Honestly … she had the sudden thought that she was probably showing more of her body to Momo now than she had ever before, whereas she usually stuck to her school uniform or hero costume. Her current attire showed off her legs, her stomach, her bare arms, and Momo …

… seemed … to have been looking at them. 

It was only then, Kyouka felt her heart skip a beat, that she had a sudden thought.

Wait … did Yaomomo … just check me out?

Feeling her cheeks and ears burn even hotter, Kyouka glanced back up at Momo's face, seeing how it had frozen for a moment - and then she cleared her throat.

"Uh …" Kyouka licked her lips, "… w-well? How about it?"

Momo flinched a moment, taking a hesitant step back.

"I …" She got out, gulping audibly, "… it's … not part of my father's plan."

"Fuck your dad's plan, Yaomomo." Kyouka shook her head, too flustered and kind of hyped up about potentially being checked out to really care. "Do something that you want to do. Do - do you want to kiss me?"

"I …" Momo hesitated, her face burning brighter and brighter - and then she let out a soft sigh, looking around at the door as though to make sure it was closed. Upon seeing how it was locked, Momo took a hesitant step forward, and held her hands to her stomach while Kyouka's face burned as well.

"I … would maybe …" She licked her lips, "… like to try. I just … don't have … much experience. Other than … no, no, that doesn't count."

"Huh?" Kyouka blinked, a tinge of jealousy suddenly rising within her. "What doesn't count?"

"Well," Momo went a bit red, glancing away, "back when we were young - very young - Shouto and I used to play princess and knight, you know - standard small child playtime. Sometimes, when he would … er … 'save me', I would give him a kiss as a reward."

Kyouka began pouting.

"But - but I don't believe that really counts," Momo shook her head, "it was usually on the cheek, and he never really - er - reciprocated. So this would be … uh …"

They paused.

"Your first kiss," Kyouka guessed for her, and felt like her heart did a backflip when Momo timidly nodded.

"Er … how about you?" She asked. "Have … have you ever …?"

"No," Kyouka shook her head, "if … if we do this, it's - it's gonna be my first, too."

"Ah … I see …"

They paused again.

"Then …" Momo tried to give her a nervous grin, "… I … guess we'll - we'll have to make this memorable, if - if it'll be our first kiss."

Kyouka slowly nodded, feeling herself begin to tremble.

"Just … just don't fuck with my feelings." She tried to remain tough, despite her heart hurting at the very thought.  "I'm not here to be your 'maybe I'll experiment' girl."

Momo went still at that - but then she shook her head, and moved forward. Before Kyouka could blink, the heiress wrapped her arms around her neck, which only made the punk girl blush even harder.

"Jirou," She said in a quiet voice, "I would never do that to you."

With that, there was nothing more to be said. Taking a small breath, Momo leaned in, and Kyouka quickly moved up onto her tippie-toes, her heart practically beating out of her chest as she immediately threw caution to the wind and pushed her neck forward, Momo inhaling sharply through her nose as …

… their first kiss completely sucked, what with Momo pursing her lips and Kyouka opening her mouth a bit wider than necessary, so that Kyouka's mouth ended up wrapped around her lips.

Blinking at the odd sensation, both girls snapped their eyes open, staring at each other for a moment as Momo hesitantly moved her head back, her face turning bright red - and then Kyouka, unable to stop herself, let out a short laugh, while Momo began pouting at her adorably.

"N-no, here, let's - let's try again," The punk girl got out through her chortles, "mouth open this time."

"Fine, fine," Momo hmphed, still pouting a bit, but she shook her head and went in again, this time with her mouth slightly opened so that this time, Kyouka's upper lip could press in between hers as they shared their first kiss.

As Kyouka's shoulders relaxed from the tension, so did Momo's suspense. They both let out a quiet hum as they enjoyed their brief liplock, and as soon as they moved back a bit for air, it was Momo this time who went in for the second kiss, her arms tightening around her Kyouka's neck. And in turn, Kyouka's earphone slowly began sliding around Momo's own neck - 

- and then, as Momo's tongue suddenly darted out to brush against Kyouka's mouth, she tensed.

And so did the earphones, squeezing on Momo's neck.

"Gak!"

Kyouka jumped a bit at the sudden choking noise coming from the girl she was embracing, and opened her eyes - and then they blew open as she saw Momo clenching her eyes shut, biting her lip as her very own earphone jacks squeezed her neck.

"Oh! Oh, shit, I'm sorry!" She said in a hurried, panicked yet low voice, trying to undo her earphones and apologize. However, Momo was quick to snap her gaze open, only showing Kyouka briefly the sudden arousal in her eyes, and before Kyouka could think to speak, their lips slammed together again.

"Mmph!"

Momo's muffled whine almost completely paralyzed Kyouka, her eyes widening to saucers and her blush turning full blown as the girl she'd been crushing on for weeks flat out moaned into her mouth.

And that, of course, was when Kyouka felt herself relax again, her eyes slowly shutting, and she embraced whatever the fuck was going on happily as she attempted to kiss back twice as hard.

With a deep-throated moan, Momo tightened her arms around Kyouka's neck and pushed herself firmer into the kiss. Kyouka didn't expect such passion from her crush, but she wasn't looking a gift-horse in the mouth, tightening her grip on Momo's back as she opened her mouth and allowed Momo to push her tongue inside.

"Oh, my goodness …" Momo groaned into her mouth.

"M-Momo …" Kyouka answered back shakingly.

"I … mmph … Kyouka, this is …!"

Hearing Momo's muffled moan, Kyouka pushed back, and Momo's back met the wall near the door lightly as they both deepened the kiss. While one of Kyouka's hands buried itself in her silky-smooth hair, Momo unwound her arms so one would wrap around her midriff, and her other hand surprisingly went down to blatantly squeeze on Kyouka's more modest butt.

Kyouka only squeaked a bit in surprise before she enjoyed how Momo gripped it a bit tighter, and used her other hand to squeeze on Momo's chest between them, drawing out another moan from the heiress and a thrill of excitement shot through Kyouka as she realized, from the firmness under her palm, that Momo wasn't wearing a bra. They both spun, Kyouka's hand blindly moving down to swat at Momo's butt before it was her turn to get pressed against the wall - a bit harder this time, the sound of a book falling over their head and thumping on the ground making Kyouka jump a bit, but Momo continued to hold her in place, her tongue pushing so deeply into her mouth it was like Momo was trying her best to imitate Tsuyu and push it down her throat.

"M-Momo …!" Kyouka moaned, her hand on Momo's breast squeezing a bit tighter, and her earphones squeezed a bit tighter around Momo's neck.

"Oh, yes," Momo giggled lowly, her voice sounding strained, "oh, yes, right there, Kyouka, choke me more!"

"Mmph … M-momm-"

However, before that little nickname could leave Kyouka's lips (as hard as it was trying, what with Momo's mouth sealed around hers) and ruin the mood, another mood ruiner introduced itself by knocking on Momo's door, right beside where the two girls were making out.

"Sorry to interrupt, Miss Yaoyorozu," Skip's cheerful voice came from the other side of the door as both girls blinked and quickly jumped apart, "but Mr. Yaoyorozu has asked that I make sure our guest is on her way - the guests for your father's meeting at noon should be here soon, and you will need to be on your way to the tower soon."

Both girls panted, turning to stare at each other with red faces as Momo unconsciously wiped at her lip. They both were extremely red, their clothes a bit ruffled and their hair wild. Momo, as she tried desperately to calm down her breathing, seemed to realize what they had been doing, letting out a little gasp as she glanced away.

"I will - er -" Momo spun on her heel, her long black hair flipping around her shoulder a bit, "- I will see you at school, Ky- I - I mean, Jirou."

Kyouka tried not to wince at how awkward it sounded to hear her family name leave Momo's lips again.

"Y-yeah," She waved awkwardly, "see you then."

With that, she walked out of the room, leaving Momo behind to hurry over to pick up the book that had fallen over. Stepping out of the room, Kyouka avoided looking at Skip as he closed the door behind her, clearing his throat a bit as he turned to her.

"This way, miss," He gestured, and he began escorting her back down the hall towards the main hall.

For a few minutes, both of them were quiet as they walked together. Kyouka had managed to catch her breath, staring at the floor instead of Skip as he kept his hands behind his back. And then, finally, Kyouka let out a shuddering breath, trying to concentrate on how good Momo's lips had felt on hers, as her face went even redder at the way Skip was lowly smirking to himself.

"…"

"…"

"… you heard all of that, didn't you?"

"…"

"… didn't you?!"

Skip cleared his throat, which sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.

"If it makes you feel better, miss," He smiled good-naturedly, "I heard what you two were saying beforehand, and … thought to give you a little privacy."

Both of Kyouka's hands smacked against her face as leaned over and groaned.

"I'm sorry about interrupting things when they were getting exciting, miss," The chauffeur sighed, his smile fading, "I just thought it would be better for me to overhear you two than the owner of the house."

"Great. Just … great. The family chauffeur overheard us …"

"Well, you two weren't being exactly quiet," Skip was unable to stop himself from smirking a bit, "tell me, what were you about to call Miss Yaoyorozu? 'Mommy'?"

"None of your business! Shut the hell up!"

Chuckling, Skip still honored her request and kept quiet, allowing them to walk a few more steps in silence.

"…"

"…"

"… seriously, dude," She grimaced, "could you not have waited, like - two more minutes before you interrupted?"

Skip, for his part, snorted at that.

Alas, he wasn't able to answer, seeing as they had finally arrived in the main hall again and began making their way down to the bottom floor. Down there, Daikoku was frowning as he put his phone back in his pocket, but glancing back up at Kyouka returning, his stiff smile from before returned.

"There you are," He smiled, "and here I was wondering what was taking you so long."

"Er … yeah, sorry," Kyouka went a bit red, "we, uh … got caught up talking."

"Oh?" He hummed, and then looked to Skip. "And what about, Skip? Tell me."

"They were discussing the internships coming up next week, sir," Skip confirmed at once, "I believe Momo and Miss Jirou here will be interning together with Endeavor."

"Is that so?" Daikoku smiled in surprise. "While he's in Hosu?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, then, Miss Jirou," Daikoku turned to her with a chuckle, "I hope you enjoy yourself. I have a feeling that it's an internship you won't forget. Now then, I have some more business to take care of, and a few phone calls to make - Skip, please escort Miss Jirou back to the gate. It was a pleasure to meet you, my dear - good luck on your internship."

Kyouka blinked a bit at the way he had said that - as though he was in on some joke that she didn't know. Still, she knew that she had probably overstayed her welcome, and should get moving - especially since Skip was apparently covering for her. So, she followed Skip over towards the doors -

- but before they could reach them, the large oakwood doors opened before them, and stomping her way inside was another woman, dressed up in a black suit, with a tie, and her short, mint green hair tied back into a small bun on the back of her head.

But what drew Kyouka's attention, however, was the scarring near her mouth. It looked healed over and pale against her skin, but she could make out the sight of what looked to be teeth exposed from a half-glascow mouth. Kyouka quickly caught herself, however, and glanced away before the woman could see her staring, and walked past her as she stomped inside and up to the master of the house.

And as Kyouka glanced backwards, she saw Daikoku frown coldly at something she said, and the sight of the glare in his eyes sent an unexpected shiver up her spine as the doors of the mansion shut firmly behind her.


Okay, maybe calling it a 'mansion' was … a little over-exaggeration. But it was definitely bigger than the other houses on the 1A block.

Staring up at the giant house somewhat dully, Itsuka turned to look at Midnight hopping out of her own truck, looking far more excited and joyful than she had been getting into it with Hisashi, strolling over to where the teenagers were getting out of the back of the truck. Near the other trucks, the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan had paled comically while Teko gave the house a concerned and skeptical look, while Eri bounced up and down in excitement, and David, Rei and the Hadous were looking a bit blown away.

And … well, it wasn't hard to blame them, seeing as their house was easily two times bigger than the rest of the houses on the block. Whereas the other houses were rather large themselves, their house was definitely wider, taking up the most room aside from the glass building in the center of their little complex, presumably the place where the entire class could spend time, with the single apartments above them. The garden of their building was huge as well, the flowers and plants being watered by some of UA's smaller robots, while off to the side, the garage doors were at least two times wider and taller than Itsuka's garage back home, something that was making both herself and Hakushu gulp.

"Sooooo … what do you think?" Midnight gave them all an excited look. "Isn't it great?"

"It's … it's like a mansion!" Ochako almost fainted on the spot, only being caught hastily by Izuku at the last second while Nejire continued to fangirl beside him.

"Occhan! Get a grip on yourself!"

"It's, uh … it's … big," Itsuka glanced over at the house on the opposite side of the street, wincing at how small it looked compared to theirs, "I'm not sure that we needed all this space, Midnight-sensei. Did - wait, Principal Nezu did this on purpose, didn't he?"

"Oh, yes, you are correct!" Midnight giggled when Itsuka's shoulders slacked. "Principal Nezu apparently told Cementoss about your joke of needing a bigger house, and he said, and I quote, "Bet'. So … here you are!"

"Oh. Great."

"Ah, don't be that way, Ken!"

Blinking at the familiar voice behind her, Itsuka looked around and felt surprised at the small group approaching them. Moving towards the trucks and giving them a curious once-over was Setsuna, Yui, Eijirou, Mezo, Pony, Fumikage and Reiko, all of them dressed casually in t-shirts and track pants with backpacks, and was giving their house an interested look. Coming up behind them was Aizawa and Present Mic, with Aizawa looking the same as always in his dark clothes (even if he was missing his capture clothe, making him look weirdly bare around the neck) and Present Mic looking surprisingly odd with his tall blonde hair gone and replaced by a messier bun on the back of his head, with him wearing a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and a dark jacket.

"Set?" Itsuka looked around at them in shock. "Yui? What're you guys doing here?"

"Well," Setsuna shrugged with a grin, bending over to pat Gūdo's head, "remember when you were talking yesterday at lunch about coming here to get all your stuff set up? Well, we talked to Aizawa-sensei, and he said it would be cool if we came to help out!"

"We sent a few messages asking if anyone was interested," Yui explained as Eijirou, Mezo and Pony walked over to help Ochako straighten up from where she had nearly fainted, and Reiko and Fumikage bent over to greet Eri as she ran up to them, "and mostly everyone was busy, but we got a few volunteers. We figured that since it'll probably take all day for you guys to unpack your stuff, we could come over and help you out."

Itsuka smiled between both her best friends, her heart swelling, and she tugged them in for a group hug. They both hugged back happily for a long moment -

- and then Itsuka, in a deadpan voice, asked, "And this is also so I'll be indebted to help you guys out with unpacking your own stuff?"

"Oh, of course," Setsuna giggled lightly, "we need them big hands to hold all our stuff."

"Lizard bastard."

"Glad you're aware of your purpose," Yui patted her back.

"Stoic asshole."

"We love you too, Itsuka."

"So, you guys lucked out, Midori-bro," Eijirou gave the house a nervous grin as he looked around at him, "seems like you guys are gonna be living the life, huh?"

"I don't know," Melissa gulped a bit as she approached the group, Cathleen sticking back to start barking orders at her boys, "this place seems like it's gonna be a bitch to clean."

"Oh, uh - yeah, we aren't helping there. You're on your own for that."

"Oh, gee, thanks."

"A-anyway," Izuku smiled a bit wobbly as he looked around at his classmates, feeling extremely flattered at their generosity, "thanks for coming to help today, guys."

"It's no problem," Mezo shook his head while Pony gave him a happy grin, "we didn't have anything going on, and I don't mind helping you all unpack. Although we weren't aware that you would have so much help coming already."

"Er … yeah," Ochako grinned weakly, "it was kinda sprung on us, too."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded as well, smiling happily at Pony as she gave her a quick hug. "Thank you guys so much for coming! This is gonna be great! Ooh, maybe afterwards we can have a little party! A pizza party! Maybe we can watch movies, or play video games, or watch TV, or do something! It'll be great! What do you guys think? What do you wanna do? Oooh, but wait, if you guys stay over, do you have pajamas? I can let all the girls borrow something from my closet if they need it, and maybe Midoriya can let you guys borrow something - but wait, would anything Midoriya has fit you, Shouji?"

"Er … probably not," Mezo shook his head at Nejire's rambling, although a few of the mouths on his arms did smile endearingly at her, "but if I am invited over for the evening, I'll make do with what I have."

"Anyway," Aizawa suddenly interrupted, causing everyone to look around at him as he put his hands in his pockets, "everyone who's not living in this house, we've given you permission to stay all night if you need to. Just make sure that you use your student cards if you're leaving tonight or tomorrow."

"Hm," Teko grunted, and Aizawa looked around to see him pointedly staring at him, "so you're still here?"

Aizawa paused, clearly remembering the verbal lashing that he got from this old man the last time they met - and then he nodded, and turned to him.

"I am."

Teko merely glared for a moment. And then he huffed.

"I assume," He said coldly, "that you've been trying to fix how you've been treating your students?"

"I am."

"And how is that going?"

"It's …" Aizawa paused, and then frowned and looked down at his feet. "… going. But I've taken what you said to heart."

"Mm," Teko turned away to walk back to the truck, "good."

While the teenagers glanced between both of them while feeling clearly confused (and Itsuka a bit embarrassed that her grandpa apparently had beef with her teacher), they all heard the sound of the front door opening. They all looked around to see Thirteen walking down the porch and giving the small group a wave.

"Good morning, everyone!" She greeted them. "I've unlocked all the doors, so we'll be able to do the tour soon. Ah," Her visor turned down towards where Eri had quickly and awkwardly shuffled behind both Itsuka and Gūdo at the sight of her, "and this must be Eri."

Nodding, Itsuka reached around her to hold Eri's hand as their teacher approached them, patting the dog's head briefly when he barked at her, and moved to kneel down. Behind Itsuka's leg, Eri looked up slightly at the masked woman, and let out a small mumble.

"Hi there," Thirteen's voice became a bit softer from behind her visor, "I'm Thirteen. I hear that I'm going to be having you as my assistant while everyone's at school."

"… um … hi," Eri muttered awkwardly, and then glanced back up uncomfortably at the white eyes of Thirteen's helmet. Thankfully, the teacher seemed to understand why she was looking so put off.

"I look a bit weird, don't I?"

"Um …"

Thirteen let out a small, warm laugh at Eri's clear embarrassment, raising her finger to her visor and pressing on a small button - and then, to Ochako's comical shock on the side, the visor flipped up. Inside the helmet was a smiling woman with short, navy blue and blonde hair, and hazel eyes with rings around them.

"Hi there," Her voice sounded far more human without the visor's filter, "my real name is Anan. Sorry about the creepy mask, it's usually what I wear when I'm at work. Would it be alright if I didn't wear it around you today, just so you'll know what I look like underneath when you see me later?"

"Don't worry, little listener," Present Mic joined in as he knelt down beside Eri, keeping his voice down, and the little girl looked around at his warm and comforting smile as he reached out to lightly ruffle her hair, "Anan here is the nicest person at this school - even nicer than me! You don't have anything to be afraid of."

Eri, at least, seemed a bit comforted by that, looking back at Thirteen as she smiled at her. Izuku and Ochako, meanwhile, were having trouble keeping their eyes from bulging out of their sockets while Itsuka rolled her eyes at their worlds being rocked by a simple face reveal (even if she was somewhat taken aback too - she had kind of believed the rumors that Thirteen was some kind of celestial entity in that suit of hers).

Straightening back up, Thirteen clapped her puffy hands together and looked around at the crowd of people.

"Now then," She began to explain to everyone, "we'll start by doing a small tour of the house before unpacking, just so the kids have the option of choosing where they'll be putting their stuff, and which rooms they'll be wanting. It shouldn't take very long, and after that, we'll start bringing everything in and start setting up. Aizawa, Mic Midnight and myself will be helping oversee everything, and we'll be helping you all leave once everything's been unpacked."

"Alrighty, then!" Cathleen turned to the troopers, who immediately stood at attention. "In that case, guys, get started with unpacking the trucks! Once we're done with the tour, we'll start getting everything moved inside. Ethan, get some guys ready to head out to the Kendous' for the second trip!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Er …" Setsuna sweatdropped a bit and leaned over to mutter to Itsuka, "… sorry, but who is that?"

"Melissa's …" Itsuka let out a small, exasperated sigh, "… aunt. It's a really long story."

"She looks kinda familiar," Pony hummed, tilting her head, "but I'm not sure from where."

"Uh …" Izuku chuckled nervously, "… we'll … try explaining later."

With that, everyone started getting organized, Mezo, Eijirou, Pony, Fumikage and Reiko moving to help the Americans with unpacking all the trucks. While Setsuna and Yui hurried over to help, and the Midoriyas, Kendous, Urarakas, Shields and Hadous began walking along the garden to have a look around, Melissa pouted a bit, and quickly hung back so that she could chase after Cathleen, giving her a wild glare as she grabbed her arm.

"Seriously, auntie," Melissa growled through gritted teeth, "what the fuck?!"

"Ah, chill out, Mellie," Cathleen chuckled as she patted Ethan's shoulder before turning towards the house, "we're just gonna do a quick tour, what's your damage?"

"You know that's not what I'm talking about! I'm talking about the fact that you're here, and - and you dragged Papa along with you!"

"Well, I am on vacation for the next few weeks! And I was on I-Island while he was talking about how to send all your stuff over, so I decided to give him a lift. Oh, and speaking of that," Cathleen realized, "I already had the All-Mobile shipped over with all your stuff to UA's support studio - I'll have some of the boys drive it over here when they head out to the Kendous. Honestly, what did you need it for?"

"Don't change the subject!"

"Nah, I think I will. What do you need the car for?"

 "I - ugh -" Melissa pouted up at her as she turned around and looked at the rest of the tour heading towards the house, and both blonde women began heading over to join them, " - I just need to take it apart so I can build my suit. But seriously, don't change the -"

"Hey! Whoa, whoa, hold on!" Cathleen stopped, her grin faltering and looking around at Melissa in shock and outrage. "You're gutting the All-Mobile?! The car my master saved me in?! Hell to the no!"

"Okay, first of all, don't call Uncle Might your 'master', that's creepy. Secondly, it was rotting in a garage in the middle of nowhere, so at least I'm putting it to work."

"It's a collector's item! Over my dead body, you're taking it apart!"

"Don't you have a country to serve in?"

"Like I said, I'm on vacation!" Cathleen huffed, shaking her head. "You little shit, thinkin' you can take that car apart … hoo, boy, that ain't happenin' anymore."

"Anyway," Melissa rolled her eyes at her aunt's fangirlish outrage, "you really didn't need to drag out all the boys to help us move. And you didn't need to take on your small form! Now you're going to be aching all weekend long!"

"Ah, don't even worry about it," Cathleen scoffed, looking down at her scrawnier form with a chuckle, "I get to hang out with you this way, so I don't mind. I mean, it's gonna be a game of twenty fucking questions if everyone saw freaking Star and Stripe hanging out with you, so this way, no one's gonna question you spending some time with Aunt Cathleen. Come on, can't my favorite niece just admit that she's happy to see me?"

"I'm your only niece."

"That's because Bianca hasn't had any babies yet! Then you'll have to concede the title, unfortunately."

Melissa let out a small sigh, but she did smile indulgently as Cathleen wrapped a muscular - but not super muscular, like her true form - arm around her shoulders again. She then shook her head, and wrapped her arm around Cathleen's waist.

"Fine," She shook her head, "I'll admit it. I'm really happy to see you, Auntie."

Cathleen grinned down at her and gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"And I'm happy to see you, kiddo," She chuckled lightly as they joined the group at the back, "now, let's do this tour, get you unpacked, and I'll have the boys start sending the All-Mobile back to I-Island."

"That car is mine, Auntie. It's gonna get Frankenstein'ed."

"Do that, and I'm gonna buff up back to my true form and tell these families that your dad totally fucked America's Number One -"

"Okay, okay! Just shut up! And make sure you go to the bathroom if you think you can't hold this form!"

"Nah, now you're changing the subject! You aren't guttin' that car!"

"It's a relic!"

"It's an antique!"

Luckily, their argument was quickly brought to a halt as they stepped onto the porch with the rest of the families, Thirteen being quick to point towards the small panel near the door that would be their mailbox, before she opened the door to let all of the families in. Quickly shutting up, Melissa moved to join the group while Cathleen shook her head and pouted at her, and followed.

Stepping into the house, Thirteen was quick to begin the tour. The main hall of the house was fairly big, with a shoe rack on one side next to a small dresser for keys and the such, and a closet for their coats. On the right side of the house, opening up and peaking inside, was the bathroom and shower room - one end had a beautiful looking bath, built into the floor almost like a jacuzzi, while shower heads lined the walls, while on the opposite wall was a long mirror and about five sinks, probably for washing their faces and brushing their teeth, while around the corner were the toilets and such. 

On the other side of the main hall was the garage, Itsuka's eyes almost shooting out of their sockets at how big it was - honestly, they could fit at least three trucks in there, with all her stuff able to be put on one side while Melissa's things could be put on the other. After closing that door (and somewhat dragging both Itsuka and Hakushu away from opening it again to peek inside), they headed into the kitchen, with its large oak table built for multiple people, with the counters and ovens neatly side by side near the wall for when they needed to cook.

The laundry room was next, fairly normal looking with a few washing machines and dryers, and then next was going outside to the backyard, where the kids felt their jaws drop at the size of the swimming pool, and the large hot tub off to the side while on the grass was a fairly big jungle gym. At this point, even the parents were beginning to pale at how fancy everything was, with Miwa absently fanning herself and Taiyo gulping nervously as he held her waist, just in case she started fainting like their daughter was on the verge of doing.

"So, er …" He glanced at his wife as they made their way back inside, "… is this tha' part where we ask if we can move in with them?"

"Oh, Taiyo," Miwa giggled weakly as she smacked his chest, yet didn't offer a way to push off his joke.

Soon, they made their way into the living room, with comfortable leather couches and seats and a large TV on the side (large enough to nearly cover an entire wall, while made Tenohira mutter something that sounded like 'holy fucking shit' under her breath), and then they made their way upstairs, towards the rooms. On the second floor, Thirteen opened the nearest door that they came to, causing them all to poke their heads in to see the large empty space with nice windows and closets large enough to keep all of their clothes in.

"We'll be leaving the choice of who lives in each room up to all of you," Thirteen explained in a happy voice as she looked down at Eri, who was looking around the house in amazement, "as we don't know if you all had someone in mind to live in the room next to yours. There's two rooms per floor, so there's plenty of space."

From the side, Mimi hummed, thinking for a long moment - and then she turned to Izuku.

"Hey, Midoriya," She bluntly asked, "which room are you gonna be in?"

"H-huh?" Izuku blinked, looking around at Nejire's mom as she gave him a curious look. "Oh, uh … it doesn't quite matter to me, but … I might do this floor."

"Oh, that's good," Mimi smiled at him, and then she looked around at Nejire, looking suddenly business-like, "okay, hon, you'll be on this floor too. That door right there's yours."

"Er …" Izuku blinked a bit in confusion, while off to the side, Nejire burned bright red as she hid her face with both hands, Miwa and Tenohira blinked and looked around at the other mother in alarm, and both Hideaki and Niyuki shook their heads in exasperation, "… okay …?"

"Good boy," Mimi smirked as she patted his shoulder, and unknowingly caused Tenohira and Miwa to begin glaring.

"Ah, daaaaaaaaaaaarling," Hideaki sighed dramatically.

"Guess I know where Midoriya will be finding random condoms," Niyuki muttered quietly to herself.

From there, everyone slowly made their way up the stairs, picking who would be living on which floor. Eventually, it was decided that Izuku and Nejire would be taking the rooms on the second floor, Ochako and Melissa taking the third, and then Itsuka and Eri taking the fourth and top floor. Upon reaching the last floor of the house, Thirteen stopped as she approached the last room, and smiled as she pushed it open.

"Now," She advised, "I'd make sure that none of you are wearing shoes when you step into this room."

Blinking a bit, they all complied and took off their shoes to step into the room - and of course, the moment they stepped in they realized why. Unlike the hardwood floors around the house, this floor felt surprisingly spring-like and soft, as though they were stepping on a mattress - and, of course, they quickly realized that they were, much to their surprise. The room, with three huge windows on each side showing off UA's forest beautifully, had a floor that was seemingly a large mattress, with the bottom of the walls curved down to act as head and shoulder rests.

"This room," Thirteen said informatively as everyone gave it an intrigued look, "was designed especially by Nezu to have a mattress as the floor. Basically think of it as a giant nap room - you can just bring in a blanket and pillow, lay down anywhere, and go to sleep. He figured that Eri would enjoy having this as her own little room."

"Ooooooh!" Nejire clapped her hands, looking delighted as she hopped in and bounced up and down. "This is nice! We could do lots and lots of sleepovers in here, couldn't we, Eri?"

"Uh-huh!" Eri nodded, looking excited as well as she looked around.

"Now then," Thirteen shook her head as she looked around, "other than the basement - and Miss Shield has requested that to serve as her other workshop - that will conclude the tour. All of Eri's toys will be down there, and we'll have someone go down to bring them up to wherever Eri wants them. We can begin getting everything else put inside and set up, if you want."

"Right," Hakushu smiled at her, "in that case, I'll get started with unloading the truck, and then I'll head back home for the rest of Itsuka's stuff."

"Sounds fine to me!" Cathleen grinned at him. "I'll get the boys to start bringing everything in. Don't worry, y'all, they know that if they break something, they pay for it. They'll be careful."

"That's …" Itsuka felt herself sweat a bit nervously, "… good to know? I guess?"

With that, everyone started making their way back downstairs, wanting to get the move-in started. As the parents quickly started heading downstairs with Cathleen, the kids paused for a moment, watching as Eri hurried after them, and then they turned to look around the room.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… I know what you three are thinking," Melissa turned to pointedly glare at the blushing Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, "and no. This is going to be Eri's cuddle room. This will not be the make out room."

"W-we weren't thinking that!" Izuku immediately protested.

"Right," Melissa nodded slowly and suspiciously, "riiiiiiiight. You keep telling yourselves that."

Nejire let out a nervous giggle, bouncing up and down as she looked around.

"So, um," She balled her hands into fists, "when we have to inevitably move out, we're gonna convince Principal Nezu to let us take the house with us, right? Right?!"

"I mean," Ochako giggled nervously, still looking a bit faint as she looked around, "yeah, I'm - I'm with you, Hadou. This place is … wow."

"Yeah, well …" Itsuka chuckled, " … I'm sure that the charm will wear off once we're done unpacking. Even with the small army outside, it's probably gonna take us all day to -"


It only took them an hour and fifteen minutes to get the trucks unpacked and set up in the house. Cathleen's boys worked like a well oiled machine, getting everything inside at once and set up within the blink of an eye before heading back out for more boxes. Once Hakushu and the other guys came back with the second load of things from the dojo, Itsuka's bike was placed in the garage off to the side, with the entire place wide enough that Itsuka could have plenty of room to tinker with her baby while Melissa had her own space to work on her suit. Izuku's stuff had been neatly unpacked and his collection of All Might merchandise displayed proudly (he had gone bright red when Cathleen's boys high fived after making sure the All Might posters were perfectly displayed on the walls). Ochako's things, luckily, were simpler to set up, so the brown-haired girl had chosen to help her classmates with getting everything else inside.

All of Eri's things that she had requested had been purchased and delivered, all of them unpacked and set up, with the little girl running through the halls in happiness with the dog. Melissa's workshop had been completely set up, both in the garage and in the basement, and Nejire had helpfully carried a bunch of Eri's toys all the way up the stairs to what they were now calling the large mattress-floored room the 'Naptime Room', helping her neatly sort them up in a corner along with a few comfortable pillows and blankets. 

Finally, the house was set up and ready to go, and everyone started getting ready to leave. After they profusely thanked Star and Stripe's crew for helping, with all of them gracefully playing off their gratitude, the troopers and Cathleen headed out, the blonde woman trembling slightly but keeping on a brave face until she got into the truck, and drove off (and if anyone saw the way the windows of the truck suddenly fill with a white puff of smoke and make the truck lean forward, as though something heavy had just appeared in it, they didn't comment). Then, the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan, the Hadous, and David and Rei got ready to go as well, with Nejire's parents and big sister giving her hugs before they went off. 

Inko had clung tightly to Izuku while he promised to call and visit soon, thankful that they were doing their goodbyes outside so that Inko's tears could water the garden, while Hisashi ruffled his hair; the Urarakas, meanwhile, hugged Ochako tight enough to almost squeeze the life out of her. David paused his happy chatting with Rei to give his daughter a hug, promising to be by UA for the next couple of weeks to help with the suit's construction, while Tenohira and Hakushu promised to see Itsuka and Eri next weekend, and Tenohira hugged Eri tightly while Teko nodded and ruffled his granddaughter's hair.

After a chat with the teachers, the parents agreed to take them out for lunch for their help, and soon, all the teenagers watched as the large group of adults led Aizawa, Present Mic, Midnight and Thirteen away from the house. On the front porch, the twelve teenagers plus Eri watched them vanish from sight, and Itsuka smiled as Eri gently took her hand, the little girl tearing up.

"I'm gonna miss them," She sniffled a bit.

"Oh, honey, don't worry," Ochako tsked, kneeling down and rubbing her shoulder, "you're gonna see them next weekend, right? You'll get to go back to the dojo and see everyone."

"I know," The little girl shook her head, "but I'm still sad."

Pony let out a small 'aww', and bent down to give the little girl a hug, smiling when Eri wrapped her little arms around her neck. After a moment, they all made their way back inside to the living room, where they all sank into the couches with small sighs of relief or stress, and Izuku and Ochako brought a few chairs from the kitchen for Fumikage and Reiko to sit on, while both Eijirou and Mezo sat on the floor, and Nejire, Melissa and Pony shared one couch, and Ochako, Itsuka and Eri the other.

After a few minutes of quiet, Itsuka flopped back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

"So," She said to no one in particular, "I was expecting us to still be unpacking right now. So I have absolutely no clue what we're going to do for the rest of the day."

"I mean," Setsuna smirked a bit, "I can think of a few … 'activities' … we can do."

"Those activities have to involve Eri."

"Ah. In that case, I recant my teasing ideas."

"Good girl."

"W-well," Pony tried to brighten up as she looked around the group - not the people she would normally hang out with, but she was more than happy to - "maybe we can go out and swim for a bit? And then have lunch!"

"You know," Yui nodded, her eyes darting around everyone wryly, "that sounds like a fantastic idea, Pony."

Itsuka, pouting, pointed at the clueless Eri.

"Eri doesn't mind if I look."

"Hm?" Eri glanced over at her. "Look at what?"

"I like looking," Yui shrugged, not elaborating on her answer at all while Eijirou chuckled a bit nervously at Itsuka's glaring at her best friend.

"Anyway," The orange-haired girl sighed, standing up and looking around, "I guess if we've got the whole day to break the house in … we might as well break in the pool and the hot tub."

"Oooh! I knew bringing my swimsuit was a good idea!"

"I suppose I could dip my feet in."

"I concur."

"Well, it seems like we're doing this."

"Ooh! Ooh! I got bikinis and swimsuits for everyone to borrow if they want! Unless you aren't my size, but we'll figure something out!"

With their minds made up, everyone got up to change into their swimsuits and other gear to head outside and start swimming. Once they were outside, they all realized the possibility of the water being too cold to swim in, only for Itsuka to find a switch to turn on the heat, which caused Pony to pout and half-heartedly beat on Izuku's chest for the unfairness of living in paradise. Still, everyone were more than happy to enjoy the water outside, with Eri, Nejire, Setsuna, Pony and Eijirou jumping into the pool via the slide or the diving board, while Mezo, Fumikage, Yui and Reiko dipped their feet in on the side, and Itsuka, Ochako, and Izuku enjoyed the hot tub, letting out sighs of relief as they dipped their feet into the bubbling hot water.

Melissa, meanwhile, chose to sit down at the table under the umbrella and get to work on sketching for Izuku's Full Gauntlet replacements, although she still looked up and occasionally laughed when the playfulness of their little party caught her attention. As for Gūdo, the dog enjoyed rolling all over the grass, running into the pool and swimming over to the laughing Eri as she saw him doggy-paddling over in a similar way to how Eijirou was swimming.

After a few minutes of splashing and playing around, Izuku let out a sigh as he looked around at his girlfriends, smiling when he saw how relaxed they were.

"So, uh …" He tapped his fingers against his chest, "… thoughts on the house?"

"Nezu has spoiled us rotten," Itsuka said in an airy voice, "but you're not gonna see me complain."

"Me neither," Ochako had stars in her eyes as she looked up at the nice blue sky, "I'm living in a palace!"

"Okay, well, I don't think it's a -"

"Deku, don't ruin this for me."

"Okay, okay," He chuckled, "and … yeah, this is awesome. So, what's gonna be the plan for tomorrow?"

"Well, we're gonna probably party all day," Itsuka pointed out, "so tomorrow, I'm gonna be working on my bike. Did you see the size of the garage? That place is going to be my home."

"I mean, I guess one of us will have to be on Eri babysitting duty," Ochako smiled, "so that'll be either me or you, Deku. Just don't try to wake me up early or I'll destroy you."

"Yeah, yeah," Izuku chuckled - he knew Ochako had been in a cross mood for having to wake up extra early this morning, and it took her a while after sipping her coffee to get to her normally happy self.

"Well," Melissa sighed off to the side, catching their attention, "I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna be going hardcore getting all of my stuff ready. I'm gonna be working on the suit, and Izuku's new support items, so … well, you guys probably won't see me much tomorrow."

"We'll be sure to remind you to eat something," Itsuka smiled, "besides, I bet you'll probably enjoy having a bit of privacy now. You gonna miss living with Izuku in the same room?"

Izuku turned to give her a small pout while she giggled, but to his surprise, Melissa shrugged.

"Well, I mean …" She turned to smile at him, "… I could think of worse roommates."

Izuku faltered a bit at that, his cheeks turning a bit red as his heart thumped in his chest at the unspoken compliment. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, seemed to catch the small falter on their boyfriend's face, blinking a bit. 

However, before they could think to comment on it, a pair of arms suddenly and tightly wrapped around both Izuku and Ochako's shoulders, making them yelp a bit. Quickly looking around, they blinked in surprise at the sight of someone that hadn't been invited to their party standing there, smiling and giggling.

"Well, well," Himiko smirked, "looks like I caught a few fishies."

"Oh," Ochako blinked, calming down and giving her a small wave, "hey, senpai."

"… you know, I liked it more when you guys were more scared of me popping out of nowhere," Himiko began to pout.

"Er - sorry. It got kinda old after a while. Not really all that impressive now I know the trick."

Shaking her head in disappointment, Himiko let go of them both (especially since Itsuka was looking like she was close to chopping her way in between them with a scowl), and turned to kick off her sandals, not even caring about her clothes as she eagerly climbed into the hot tub with them. Letting out a sigh of bliss, Himiko sank down into the warm, bubbling water, smiling in satisfaction.

"Ooooooooooh," She giggled, her voice vibrating as her lower back was hit by the stream of bubbles, "this has become my new favorite place. I'm coming here every day!"

"Oh, joy," Itsuka rolled her eyes.

Both Izuku and Ochako chuckled a bit nervously, keeping their feet in the hot water while Itsuka pouted a bit to herself. 

After a few seconds of letting Himiko soak in their hot tub uninvited, the satisfied smirk on her face faded a bit, and she let out a small sigh as she slipped down a bit so that her head was the only part of her visible. Blowing in the water for a moment, she turned to glance over at the three of them sitting together around the tub.

"Er … hey," She said in a quiet, glum voice, "kinda random thing, but I was actually wondering if … I could ask you guys for advice."

That, of course, made the trio in the hot tub blink a bit. They looked around at Himiko as she pouted a bit, turning to look down at the water and avoid looking up at them at all.

"Uh … yeah?" Izuku nodded unsurely. "What's up?"

"Well," She squirmed a bit under the water, "I just … uh … was wondering …"

There was a long pause. And then she let out a small curse.

"… ah, fuck it!" She shook her head, looking around at Ochako and Izuku with a twitch in her eyebrow. "How the fuck do I ask out Tsuyu?!"

There was a pause in which Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka stared blankly at Himiko, what she just said making them feel as though they were missing something important. Ochako's jaw dropped, Izuku stared in surprise, and Itsuka looked confused.

And then, unhelpfully, Setsuna's head slowly slid into view, giggling a bit and drawing Himiko's attention, the ninja girl looking around in surprise and slight horror/anger that she realized that she had said that pretty loudly, drawing the attention of the entire small party.

"Oh, cool," Setsuna gave her a huge, shit-eating grin, "so I guess you were really into getting dommed, huh, senpai -?"

"I was power bottoming!" Himiko yelled at once, causing Pony to quickly cover Eri's innocent ears as the little girl looked confused, and Himiko grabbed the top of Setsuna's floating head to shove under the warm water.

"Aah!"

"No, Toga-senpai, don't drown her!"

"Set deserves it, but don't kill her!"

One murder-being-prevented later, everyone trooped back into the house, drying themselves off while Setsuna continued to sneeze from all the water that had ended up going up her nose. Sitting in her wet clothes on a towel, Himiko continued to pout on the floor as Reiko and Pony sat down beside her, and Yui allowed Setsuna to lay her wet, pouting head on her lap, brushing her green hair out of her face while Izuku, Ochako, Melissa, Nejire and Itsuka distracted Eri by bringing her into the kitchen with their laptop and the house's credit card to pick what they were going to eat for lunch.

"So," Reiko tilted her head curiously, "you have feelings for Tsuyu?"

"Yeah, yeah," Himiko glowered as she wrapped her arms around her legs, "fine, I'll admit it. I'm down bad for her. Like - bad, bad. I thought hooking up with her at the beach was just gonna be a fun little fling, but - but - but goddamnit! She freakin' caught me!"

"Huh," Pony felt herself sweat a bit, "I mean, you two were making out pretty hard when we were - y'know -"

She stole a brief look at Mezo as he kept helping Eijirou and Fumikage set up the video game console near the TV, feeling her face go red.

"- hanging out," She finished lamely in English.

"Yeah, well, she just - caught my attention, and she hasn't let go," Himiko sighed unhappily as she leaned back against the couch, "she pretty much came up to me and was all blunt, so I thought, hey, maybe it'd be fun to hang out a bit. And then it became clear that she wanted me, and I teased her, and she ended up flirting with me, and I flirted back, and then - then -"

"Then you two went to that pier," Reiko guessed, her cheeks going a bit red.

"Gotta say," Setsuna finally stopped pouting enough to roll over on Yui's legs, smiling down at their senpai, "I wasn't all too surprised to see you at the make out spot, senpai. I just didn't expect Tsuyu to be into that kind of thing, either."

"I'm so mad I missed it," Yui shook her head, her disappointment evident even in her stoic voice, "Iida's gonna have to make it up to me at some point."

"Yeah, that's a whole you thing, girl, just fill me in when things get serious, cool?"

"That I will."

"Anyway," Himiko rolled her eyes, pouting as she turned to glare up at the ceiling, "now I'm crushing, and it's clear that Tsu's moved on with her snake asshole."

"I …" Reiko paused for a moment, not sure if Himiko had a knife on her to shank her if she said something she disagreed with, and then sighing, "… will not deny that those two were being very gay with each other."

"Fucking right?!"

"But I also think that you still have a chance," Reiko patted her senpai's shoulder, "while they were leaving UA yesterday, I saw Tsuyu and Mongoose embracing, but it didn't seem romantic in nature. Perhaps there's sparks between them, but you shouldn't just give up on your feelings, Toga-senpai - you should chase after them."

"I'm not giving up on my feelings!" Himiko threw her hands up in the air. "The problem is that I'm too nervous to face Tsu, and I'm afraid I'm gonna wait too long, and she'll lose interest!"

"Then, as I said - you should chase after her."

"This ain't a romantic movie! I've already got my throat fuc-"

"Please remember that there is a little girl in the other room."

"- gheghefjefhgmg,"

"Ooooooh!" Nejire giggled from her spot near the kitchen, poking her head back in where Itsuka was typing on her laptop placed on the counter. "This is so exciting! I'd have never expected Toga-senpai to have a crush on someone else! Well, maybe it's not that weird, but it's surprising!"

"Yeah, well," Itsuka smirked a bit to herself as she finished ordering the food, "I'm just gonna enjoy her being the one struggling for once. Anyway, that's the pizza ordered, so I'm gonna see if Set's recovered enough from drowning to float over to the gate to pick it up for us. And then … well, I guess I'll give Toga-senpai some advice, just so she'll stop trying to drown us."

"Or stab us," Melissa shrugged, "she seems more like the kind of person that would stab us."

"Don't tempt her," Itsuka sighed.

With that, she picked up the laptop and made her way around the table and back into the living room, followed by Izuku, Melissa and Eri as the little girl finished drying her gray hair with the towel. Back in the kitchen, Ochako let out a small sigh as she glanced back into the living room, seeing Himiko pouting and crossing her arms and legs like a petulant child, and glanced back at Nejire as the blue-haired girl giggled and walked over to the cabinets, looking for plates.

"Oh, uh - it's the one to the left," She advised her, making Nejire blink and open the one she was pointing at.

"Oh! There it is!" She giggled, looking back at Ochako with a happy grin. "So it's fourteen people, right? Me, you, Itsuka, Midoriya, Melissa, Kirishima, Shouji, Tokage, Kodai, Yanagi, Fumikage, Tsunotori, Toga-senpai, and Eri, right? Or am I missing someone?"

"N-no, that's it," Ochako confirmed, walking over to the counter to help her get the huge amount of plates down, "gotta say, I wasn't expecting a full house party today."

"Oh, but that makes it so much more fun!" She gushed happily, giggling as she took half the plates and began putting them on the table. "I just wish Yuuyu wasn't working today, she'd be here having fun, too!"

"Right," Ochako nodded, her smile fading a bit as she carried her own pile of plates over to help Nejire set the table, "so, uh … how is it with her? Are you two talking again?"

"Um … kinda," Nejire's own smile faded a bit as she sighed, "we're definitely walking home together again, but it's … kinda awkward. But she'll be moving to Heights Alliance next week, so I'm gonna try to make sure she comes over more, so we can get talking again! I miss her! I wanna have her over so we can do a sleepover!"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded slowly, continuing to help her set the table quietly for a moment as Nejire talked absently to herself. However, while hearing the voices coming from the living room as they tried to advise Himiko on asking out Tsuyu as best they could, Ochako glanced up at Nejire for a moment as she slowly replayed the conversation she and her partners had about Nejire a few nights ago.

"So, I, uh, I had the thought that - that if you two are gonna be attracted to her, and - and just maybe, we start something with her, whatever that is - I should try to get to know her better. To - to try and understand why you two are attracted to her."

Seeing as they were alone … and the party was a good enough excuse …

"So, uh …" Ochako felt herself go a bit red from embarrassment and fluster, "… Hadou."

"Mm-hm?" Nejire hummed as she continued moving the plates around. "Yeah, Uraraka?"

"Well, uh … I was … wondering what you were gonna be up to tomorrow?" She decided to try starting off light. "I know Itsuka's working on her bike and Melissa's working on her suit, but, uh … well, do you have any plans?"

"Hm … actually, I don't know!" Nejire looked up thoughtfully, looking intrigued. "I was thinking that I might take a walk around the school grounds, maybe see more of the neighborhood … but then we also might wanna sleep in, so I'll probably do that! I get tired really easily, you know, and we might stay up late - but wait, Eri's gonna probably want to go to sleep early, so we'll go to sleep with her … huh! Well, I don't know. What about you, Uraraka? What're you up to?"

"I'm … not sure either," Ochako shrugged, still going red, "but … your walking around UA thing sounds like a good idea. Maybe - maybe I could go with you?"

Nejire blinked, and then looked over at her with a small gasp.

"Ooh!" She nodded happily, smiling widely. "Sure, of course! We can totally take a little tour of UA! It'll be fun! Maybe we'll get lost, too, and - wait," She stopped, evidently thinking of something, "maybe if we're touring UA, we shouldn't go alone, because maybe Midoriya or Melissa or Eri wants to come, too? Should we invite them? I think -"

"N-no!" Ochako quickly interrupted, going a bit red as Nejire looked around at her in surprise. "I mean - well, they probably can, but I was just … I was thinking we'd go … you know … alone."

Nejire looked a bit taken aback by that, tilting her head a bit - and Ochako felt whatever nervousness she had from earlier fade, and she let out a small sigh as she put down the last plate, and moved around the table to lean against it beside her new roommate.

"Listen, Hadou," She said in a quiet voice, glancing around just to make sure no one was eavesdropping, "I'm … this is … well, we've - we've been talking. Me, Itsuka and Deku."

"Oh," Nejire said in a quiet voice, evidently catching onto the implication of 'the big three' talking together about her, and leaned over so that Ochako could whisper directly to her without anyone overhearing.

"Yeah. And, uh … I pointed out," Ochako grimaced, "that it's clear that you're more attracted to them than you are to me."

At that statement, Nejire blinked a bit, looking a bit surprised.

"Huh? Really?" She gave her a confused look. "I mean, I haven't really thought about it, but … you are really cute, Uraraka."

"Yeah, I - no, you don't need to do that," Ochako sighed, setting down the last plate before looking back up at the blue-haired girl, "I know that you and I aren't exactly close."

"Oh, but -"

"N-not like that," Ochako quickly interrupted her, just wanting to get it out there, "and it's not either of our fault - we just - you know - haven't spent a lot of time together, alone. We don't really have a relationship outside of our group. So, uh … I figured that …"

She paused.

"… if … you're gonna keep going after Deku and Itsuka …" She went even redder, "… I'd … like to know what they see in you."

From there, a short silence fell. Nejire stared at Ochako in surprise while the brown haired girl stared down at the table, feeling a bit awkward about what she just confessed. And then, suddenly, Ochako felt a hand tug on her arm, and she looked around to see Nejire giving her a small smile.

"Oh," She said simply. "I see."

"Y-yeah?" Ochako gulped a bit. "You do?"

"I think so. So … um …" She glanced down at her feet for a moment, the blue-haired girl's cheeks turning a bit more crimson, and then she nodded and glanced back up at her, "… yeah. We'll, um - we'll go tour UA tomorrow. Together. And … um …"

She paused again, glancing around as though to make sure that they were really alone - and then she let out a sigh, and leaned over to whisper in Ochako's ear.

"… when you say, um … that you wanna know what Itsuka and Midoriya see in me," She muttered, "do you mean … like … why they … might … like me? In - in that way?"

Ochako faltered a bit, feeling her cheeks turn red - both from the question, and also from the way Nejire sounded whispering directly in her ear - but she still nodded stiffly. Nejire was quiet for a moment as Ochako glanced at her slightly red face - and then, without warning, a smile appeared on her face.

A mischievous, almost seductive look, one that made Ochako's heart backflip in her chest, and she gulped nervously.

"Okay," Nejire slowly nodded, smirking, "in that case … um … I'll let you know something, Uraraka - or, no, can I call you Ochako? Or Occhan? I like that nickname for you, but if only Midoriya can call you that …?"

Ochako felt herself turn redder, but shook her head.

"N-no," She said with a slight stutter, "you - you can call me whichever, it's fine."

"Okay," Nejire nodded, licking her lips, "Occhan. So … I guess … I just want you to know that - that I think I'm a bit of a romantic."

"O-oh?"

"Yeah. See, I … tend to kind of … fall in love easily," Nejire looked a bit sheepish as she blushed, "like, I was friends with Itsuka a whole afternoon before I decided I was gonna go after her. So, um …"

She paused again. And then, without any warning, she suddenly reached up. 

Ochako flinched a bit but stayed still as Nejire tucked her bang of brown and pink hair behind her ear, tucking it. The casual intimacy made Ochako stiffen up, going bright red as she glanced back up at Nejire as the blue-haired girl smirked at her.

"… just be careful," She giggled, her hand slowly sliding down to brush against Ochako's cheek, "and try not to steal my heart like your boyfriend and girlfriend did. Or you're gonna be in trou- ble."

With that nefarious giggle, Nejire straightened up and made her way back into the living room, her low and seductive tone immediately breaking into a happy question about what they were talking about. Back in the kitchen, Ochako stared blankly at where Nejire had been for a moment, her face bright red as she absently stared down at Nejire's retreating back, her hair swinging back and forth showing hints of a rather … nicely toned …

Squeaking, Ochako glanced around, and thankfully found a distraction in a bee that was buzzing around the window. Quickly focusing on it, she hurried to open the glass door and gently waved her hand to get the insect back outside, her face feeling like it was on fire.

"Oh, my god," She whispered to herself, her cheeks bright red, "I really am in a fucking palace!"


After that little … er … scene in the dining room, Ochako quickly returned to the party after having calmed down enough to not have questions asked about what took her so long, just in time for Himiko to look a tad bit better from the girls giving her advice on how to approach Tsuyu. From there, their party went into full swing, with Setsuna and Itsuka dipping at one point to grab their pizzas from the main gate and bring them back. Once everyone had eaten, having a fun time eating and laughing at the table while Gūdo begged them with pathetic whines for food, they decided to host a small video game tournament, with Pony and Ochako being far more aggressive and competitive in the games they played together, all while everyone tried to pretend that they weren't ten seconds from leaping across the living room to start fighting in person.

Once they were finished playing games, they decided to have a bit of fun out in the pool in the afternoon sun, this time everyone climbing into impromptu swimwear (while Setsuna and Yui got back in their swimwear, Pony and Reiko elected to just jump in with the old clothes they were wearing) and they all had fun swimming around, with Gūdo more than happy to sit in the sun and rest after all the excitement. Indeed, it had been pretty fun to play chicken, with Izuku blushing crazily with Itsuka's bare thighs on either side of his face while she wrestled with Ochako sitting on Eijirou's shoulders. After that, they all watched as Eri had fun on the swingset, being pushed by Melissa and Nejire while she giggled joyfully.

After that, they spent enough time outside to eventually come in for dinner, eating the rest of the pizza that was still left over. And then, when Eri started yawning, they all decided to grab the blankets that Tenohira had left in the various closets to head up to the Naptime Room after getting changed into pajamas that they either brought or borrowed from Izuku and Itsuka, spreading the blankets along the floor where they felt comfortable, and laid down, impressed by how comfortable the floor was. Eri was sure to pass around all of her new stuffed animals for everyone to hold onto, with Eijirou tearing up when handed a stuffed giraffe and beginning to sob about her manliness.

When Eri finally laid down for bed, nuzzling into a pillow while Itsuka held her side, and Gūdo likewise rolled onto his side and passed out, the teenagers ended up just … talking after that. To their surprise, after the long day of partying and hanging out, they didn't feel quite as awkward about letting go of their hesitation about talking about deeper things, and just kind of talked about life in general, or things that were bothering them.

"… and … I'm still kind of struggling with my quirk," Izuku frowned down at his hands as he talked about his problems with it, Ochako rubbing his wrist a bit to comfort with him, "and it just - it sucks that the teachers think it's such a big problem I have to be careful. I don't know, I just … I just want to be able to use my quirk without worrying about myself for once."

"I sympathize with you, Midoriya," Fumikage nodded, giving him a solemn look while Reiko patted his shoulder, "growing up, Dark Shadow was difficult to control without being injured. It took me plenty of years of work before I was able to control it, and even now …"

"Yeah, sorry about that, Fumi," Dark Shadow, for its part, looked ashamed of itself as it rested its beaked head in Reiko's lap, letting her pet it, "I just kinda … you know, get all nuts when it's dark out. I don't have anything against you, and I don't like hurting you! I just get all nutty when there's too much darkness."

"I am aware, Dark Shadow. Do not worry yourself with apologies."

"Still," Himiko smiled a bit more naturally than her usual pointy smirks as she looked down at Dark Shadow, "even if it can get dangerous, it must be nice, knowing that no matter what, you'll never really be alone."

"Yeah," Pony sighed, leaning against the opposite wall with Mezo, "it can get … really lonely here, you know."

"That's right," Melissa looked around at her with a soft expression, "you don't have any family here in Japan, don't you, Pony?"

"Yeah," Pony looked down at her knees, frowning, "I was born here, but I ended up moving to America when my dad got a job offer. I've been here by myself for the last two years, and … honestly, uh …"

She paused, glancing around at everyone staring at her, and then she returned to studying her cloves.

"… I … got scoffed at a lot," She muttered, "because I'm a mutant wanting to be a hero. A lot of people liked to point out that my quirk was really weak, and I wouldn't get into UA. They liked to tug on my horns, and my tail, and - and it hurt a lot. You know - physically, and - and emotionally."

Everyone gave Pony a sympathetic look as she buried her face in her knees. Mezo, sitting quietly for a long moment, finally took a deep breath as he scooted closer, and wrapped his arms around Pony, embracing her to him. As she glanced up at him, Mezo reached up for his mask, and slowly pulled it down, showing everyone the scars along his mouth.

"Tsunotori," He said gently, "when I showed you these scars, you said that you thought they made me look heroic. I … wasn't exactly sure how to take that at first, honestly, but the fact that you looked at them and thought something positive of them made me feel happy. So … so I am sorry that your old classmates bullied you. It's not going to happen again, not while I'm here."

Pony paused at that, and then let out a shuddering sigh, and leaned fully against her friend as Mezo rested his head against the top of her head, careful to mind her horns.

Everyone was quiet - and then Himiko raised her eyebrow.

"So, uh …" She tried to say lightly, wanting to change the topic to something lighter, "… screw it. What exactly is going on with you two?"

"Hm?" Mezo glanced up at her while Pony nuzzled into him.

"I mean, at first, you two act like you were scared of each other when I looked over you during your battle trial," She pointed out, "then you're all buddy-buddy when I saw you when you were training with Togata for the sports festival, and then the next, you two are making out like your lives depended on it when we were at the beach party. So? Are you two dating?"

Mezo and Pony paused, Pony's face going red and Mezo looking embarrassed - and then, before Itsuka could step in and get the attention off of them, the horse girl suddenly nodded.

"Uh … yeah," Pony awkwardly said, "Shouji-kun is … he's … he's my boyfriend."

"H-huh?" Mezo blinked, going red as he quickly looked down at her. "I - I am?"

Pony was quiet for a moment.

"I mean," She said quietly, "aren't you?"

Mezo hesitated, glancing around at everyone around them - what with Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku with their jaws dropped, Setsuna looking excited, Yui intrigued, and Nejire staring with stars in her eyes and her hands up to her mouth - and then he let out a small sigh. Turning back to Pony, he hugged her tighter, and leaned down to press his lips against the top of her head.

"I … guess I am," He muttered.

"Good," Pony mumbled, "I'd have kicked your butt if you said no."

"Of course."

"Oooooooh, that was cute!" Nejire squealed. "You two are cute! That's so cute!"

"Er - thank you, Hadou," Mezo smiled weakly at her.

"Well, uh -" Itsuka chuckled awkwardly as she straightened up, looking around, "- I guess if that's that -"

"Hold on," Himiko giggled nefariously, which only sent an icy chill up her spine, "now that we're on that topic - Tokage."

"Mm?" Setsuna hummed from her spot on the floor, letting Yui have a turn laying her head in her lap. "'Sup?"

"What's up with you and - what's his face - uh - tape guy?"

"Hm? Oh, you mean my tush bro," Setsuna chuckled, going a bit red now as she leaned back, "yeah, uh - well, what you saw is what you saw. He's hot, he was into me, and I decided to hook up with him. I think we're cool with just pretending it didn't happen, but man - I thought my ass was gonna bruise with how hard he was squeezing it, you know? Not that I'm complaining, mind you, just … whew."

"Yeah," Himiko giggled while the other members of their group looked awkward, "there were a few points I looked up and was like '... girl, are you trying to compete with me for the horniest make out'?"

"I mean," Setsuna smirked, "I'd have won, y'know."

"Doubt it!"

"Anyway," Setsuna looked around their group, grinning a bit goofily, "that's my thing. Since the ice is totally broken, anyone wanna throw out crushes that they got? Nothing will leave this room, by the way, so it's cool."

Everyone paused for a moment, avoiding looking at each other - and then Eijirou sighed, awkwardly getting up from his spot.

"So, uh …" He cleared his throat awkwardly, "… I'm not sure if it's a crush, but … but Ashido's kinda … uh …"

"'Ashido'?" Setsuna suddenly looked around to him, her eyes wide with outrage. "Wait, are you crushing on my ex?!"

Eijirou froze, realizing that he had done goofed up.

"Dude, I'm kidding." Setsuna chortled after a second of letting the tension build and Eijirou look like he was going to have to dive out of the window to avoid confrontation. "Me and Mina better as friends, so I don't mind you crushing on her. But seriously? Here I thought that you'd be looking for someone that was manly."

"Ashido is manly!"

"I mean, most girls don't really see that as a compliment, my dude."

"Eri thinks it's a compliment! And her opinion's the only one that matters."

"Okay, I'll agree with you there, but …"

While the rest of the group giggled and shook their heads, Itsuka felt herself gulp as she went red, realizing that their talk was getting a little out of hand. Well, that, and there was also the fact that they were talking about relationships, and her two partners were looking about as awkward as she felt, glancing down at their knees and trying to avoid each other's gazes.

And seeing as there were at least three people in this room that definitely knew about their crushes on each other … they really needed to try and pretend they had no idea what a 'relationship' was. Easy peasy.

Nodding slowly to herself, Itsuka leaned a bit to the side, glancing over at where Melissa and Nejire were cuddling off to the side, and then whispered to both Izuku and Ochako, "Hey."

Both of them jumped a bit, looking around at her.

"Just play it cool," She advised them, "I got this."

"Y-you do?" Izuku gulped nervously. "I, uh - I'm not really sure how we're gonna get out of this, if - if Tokage and Kodai and Toga-senpai know … stuff about us."

"True," She nodded, "but I think I've got this. Just follow my lead."

"Er … okay," Ochako nodded awkwardly, "what you do, we do. Easy."

Smiling at them both, Itsuka turned back to once again pay attention to what everyone was laughing about.

"… and the fact that she's probably got the best ass in class?" Setsuna giggled while Eijirou went as red as his hair.

"T-that's got nothin' to do it me liking her!"

"Oh, buddy, usually it is," Himiko snorted, her gaze sweeping along the group. From Fumikage and Reiko avoiding looking at each other, to Pony and Mezo cuddling and somewhat ignoring everyone, to Eijirou looking extremely embarrassed, to Setsuna and Yui cuddling, to Melissa and Nejire absently leaning against each other, and then over to Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka sitting side-by-side close to where Eri was sleeping and cuddling Gūdo through their chaos.

And unfortunately for the trio, Himiko's eyes became teasing as her eyes settled on Ochako.

"So," She leaned forward, "you three got something to share with the class?"

"H-huh?" Ochako squeaked. "Uh -"

"Hm?" Setsuna looked around from where she had been teasing Eijirou. "Who are we talking about now?"

"These three," Himiko giggled nefariously while Itsuka shot her a warning, wild glare, which Himiko completely ignored as she blatantly pointed at them to get everyone to look around, "I'm just … wondering what's going on with them. I mean, they are being awfully quiet, and they do tend to go everywhere together."

"Really, huh?" Setsuna leaned forward, while Yui turned in her lap to look around at Itsuka as she froze.

"Yeah," Himiko smirked, "see, no one really tends to notice me unless I want them to. So sometimes, when I'm walking the halls, I get to see … well, stuff that a lot of people don't want me to know. And … well …"

She trailed off, of course, but to the trio sitting together, they felt themselves freeze as horror began to fill them. 

Wait. If … Himiko had a habit of appearing and disappearing out of nowhere … even if Ochako somewhat knew her tricks from training with her … that might mean that … it wasn't just limited to their classroom or out in the fields that Himiko could go unnoticed by them. It could've been … anywhere. 

And despite their promise on the beach to keep it secret, they knew that it was … kind of hard not to do something romantic at school. And from the teasing, knowing look in their senpai's eye …

Shit! Itsuka paled in horror. She knows! She totally fucking knows!

"So," Himiko tapped her fingers against the floor, "got something to confess? Or was I imagining things?"

Itsuka was lost for a brief moment, looking around the group as they all turned their attention to her in their confusion. Setsuna and Yui, at least, seemed to be catching on to what Himiko was implying, their eyebrows raising as Itsuka looked more and more nervous. Melissa and Nejire, for their parts, realized what was going on, both of them looking around at them in shock and panic. Eijirou, Pony, Mezo, Fumikage and Reiko simply looked confused, looking around at the trio in concern. And Izuku and Ochako went stiff, but seeing as Itsuka had instructed them to follow her lead, they left it to her.

There was a pause in which Itsuka weighed her options. But at Himiko's challenging look - and the way she was smirking at Ochako, as though she were about to do something - she felt her hesitation and terror fade, and be replaced by something that felt oddly like defiance.

And then suddenly, she straightened her back.

"You know what, senpai?" She said quietly while Himiko flashed her a challenging smile. "You're right. There is something I wanna confess."

With that, she scooched a bit closer to her partners, taking a deep breath as she was aware of everyone looking at her in confusion - and then, before she could realize how bad an idea it was, she swung around Ochako to grab the back of Izuku's head, and brought him down so that she could slam her lips against his.

She was aware of the sound of everyone either squeaking or letting out sputtering noises behind her, and Izuku letting out a loud, muffled squeak of surprise, but before anyone could say anything, Itsuka moved back, and then it was Ochako's turn to get kissed. She was aware of Eijirou sounding like a fish out of water and Setsuna stammering out something, but she felt a sudden wave of power wash over her as she felt Ochako's tongue awkwardly fighting with her own before she moved back with a satisfied noise, leaving both of her partners stuttering while bright red.

With that, she moved to lay down in both of their laps, stretching her arms above her head for a moment before turning to smirk at Himiko as her senpai gave her a surprised look.

"I'm dating them both," She informed the group smugly, "they're both mine. So hands off."

The room was silent for ten long seconds.

"Fat chance," Himiko giggled, looking oddly proud of Itsuka, "I'm gonna keep hitting on them no matter -"

"WHAT THE ACTUAL SHIT?!" Setsuna screamed in shock.

"WHAT IN THE FUCKING FUCK?!" Pony likewise went bright red.

"MIDORI-BRO, YOU'RE SO MANLY!" Eijirou burst into tears.

"FUMI, THAT'S NOT FAIR!" Dark Shadow complained. "IF MIDORIYA CAN HAVE TWO GIRLFRIENDS, WHY CAN'T YOU ASK REI-REI OUT?!"

"Dark Shadow, cease!" Fumikage bellowed, leaping up in horror and rage while Reiko went bright red, and slowly dropped back to grab a pillow and shove her face into it.

"That was …" Yui wiped a bit of drool off her lip, "… very hot."

As the entire room melted down in screams and demands for answers as Setsuna crawled over and began shaking Itsuka back and forth while Izuku and Ochako melted into piles of embarrassed goo, Melissa staring in shock at the trio while her face went bright red (while also subconsciously rubbing her thighs together at what Itsuka just did) and Nejire began giggling loudly and crazily, Eri let out an annoyed, sleepy hum as she rolled over and tried to sleep through the chaos, clutching Gūdo to her as she nuzzled into his fur.


With the small ringing of the bell, the glass door of the convenience store opened widely and then closed, allowing the blonde girl with the Shiketsu hat on the top of her head to stroll out into the night. She was pouting somewhat in disappointment, having just gotten back from UA while being invisible all day spying, and she was more than a little hungry as she angrily tried to open the plastic box that had her sandwich in it.

Once she had ripped it open and tossed the plastic container into the trash bin, she took a big bite out of it, and then held it in her mouth as she opened the door of the old pickup truck. With a grunt, she stepped up, sat down in the passenger seat as she dropped her backpack on the floor, and then swung her legs inside as she climbed in, reaching to grab the door and slam it shut as she continued to chew on her dinner.

In the driver's seat, Chimera tapped his talons against the wheel as he turned to look at the young girl pouting and chewing at the same time.

"So," He huffed as he pulled a cigar out of his coat pocket, "I'm assumin' today wasn't good?"

"Nope," Camie shook her head with a dramatic sigh, swallowing her mouthful of sandwich loudly as she slumped into the seat, "no, it wasn't! Everyone was looking like they were having so much fun at that house, and I wanted to jump in so badly!"

"Heh," He snorted as he turned the key in the ignition, starting up the truck and beginning to back up out of the convenience store parking lot, "well, too bad, kiddo. We aren't sendin' you to have fun with the kids we're eventually gonna kill, we're sendin' you to spy on 'em. But you got the house they were in."

"Yeppers. Midoriya, Uraraka, Kendou, Hadou, and then a fifth girl I don't know," Camie pouted, "but I'll figure out who she is soon enough.'

"Good. And you figured out a way inside, right?"

"Yeah, another gate on the other side of the campus," Camie rolled her eyes as she continued to half-heartedly report her findings, more interested in her sandwich, "some kind of place big trucks can drive to and from, but it's got security cameras all over the place. Plus, the teachers are the ones who operate it from the inside, so we'd have to climb over the wall to get to it."

"Well," Her handler grunted, putting his cigar in his mouth and puffing out a bit of fire to light it up, keeping his yellow eyes on the road, "that's a damn shame."

From there, the two of them drove in relative silence. Camie sighed as she finished eating her dinner, and then reached into her backpack for her phone. Chimera, for his part, kept his eyes on the road as they drove off into the dark night, the sun having set a long time ago as they drove away from the houses of Musutafu and towards the industrial district of the city. 

After getting her phone out of her backpack, Camie tapped on the old video she had been watching before heading to UA, and leaned back and smiled as her hair shadowed her eyes.

"- the location of the missing girl is still unknown," The reporter with weird fingers said, "but the parents of the victims have been working with the police to find where the villain went. The parents of the villains, meanwhile, have only this to say."

"Please," The crying woman said pathetically to the camera in her living room, "my baby Camie … there's no way that she would do any of that! She wouldn't hurt those girls! Please, please believe me, they were her friends, she wouldn't -"

"Eh? Why the fuck are you still watchin' that?" Chimera snorted in annoyance.

"Nostalgia," Camie giggled a bit, turning down the phone as she watched the sobbing woman on the phone with little to no sympathy.

"Yeah, well," He shook his head as he turned down the street, "whatever gets you off, I guess. But don't just sit around and keep watching everything about your first crime, or Nine's gonna think you're useless. I'm sticking my neck out for you, kid, so make sure you're pullin' your weight."

Camie merely hummed, not quite caring as she put her phone back in her pocket. Soon, Chimera pulled into the large parking lot of the abandoned warehouse that Camie was staying in, making her sigh in happiness - it had been a while, and it was good to see her home again. After a moment of driving through the empty lot, Chimera pulled up in front of the rusting building, shifting the car in neutral, and then he let out a sigh as he puffed on his cigar.

"So," He rolled down the window to blow the smoke out (even if it didn't quite help with the stink), "how are you doin'? Good?"

"Hm?" Camie hummed, glancing back at him. "What do you mean?"

"I mean," He grunted, "workin' with us. The Consortium. How's it goin' for you?"

"Oh," She blinked a bit, sitting up and smiling, "well, it's fun! I like getting to follow people around and stalk them."

"Yeah, well," Chimera grunted, "I know that we're puttin' a lot of pressure on you, gettin' in close with the rat and infiltratin' the school. And I know you can take care of yourself, but I don't want you gettin' in any trouble that you can't get yourself out of. So you end up runnin' into problems, let me know, and I'll come rip their fuckin' heads off."

"Huh?" Camie looked around in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah," Chimera gave her a serious look, "I know that Nine's testin' ya, but I'm also aware that you're just a kid. I'll cover ya if you need it."

Camie blinked for a bit, taken aback, before a big smile appeared on her face.

"Ah, you big scary man, I knew you cared!" She squealed, and Chimera rolled his eyes as he turned to look back out the window. "But I'm fine! I passed your test to join the Consortium, didn't I? Means I know how to take care of myself."

"Yeah, yeah. Just tell your friends that I'm gettin' ready to test 'em, soon."

"That I will!" Camie giggled, opening the passenger door to step out of the truck.

"And be sure to report back to the mansion soon," Chimera gave her a serious look, "Mummy's scheduling a meeting with potential allies, so we want to make sure everyone's there."

"I will! And hey, maybe I'll bring the guys?"

"Hm … well, I'll probably be testin' them by that point, so … sure, why not."

Smiling happily at that, Camie closed the door and then merrily waved to Chimera as he drove off. Once his truck left the parking lot and pulled away, Camie let out a long sigh as she stretched, grunting when she popped something in her back, and then turned towards the warehouse and pushed open the doors, ready to just take a long night off and chill after a long day of spying on UA. That, and she needed to bring her boys up to speed.

Because, of course … the Villain Consortium wasn't the only gang Camie was running in.

Slipping into the warehouse, Camie let out a long sigh as she looked  around. It had been a long while since she'd been in here - there was still scraps of metal and abandoned equipment everywhere, but her attention moved to the office up above the bottom floor. She could hear a familiar laugh and shout coming from the office upstairs, making her grin a bit as she jogged up the creaky stairs two at a time, and then pushed the door open.

"Heeeey~!" She waved. "I'm back!"

Around the large office with black drapes wrapped around the windows, the two teenagers resting on the couches looked around at her in surprise. On one side, the guy with purple hair, squinty eyes and the permanent scowl merely let out a disappointed sigh as he returned to scrubbing some of the blood off his 'hero costume', his Shiketsu cap taken off and thrown unceremoniously off to the side. On the other couch, the large guy with a buzzed haircut and muscular frame looked far happier to see her, jumping up and throwing his arms out while displaying his huge body in the small tank top and jeans he was wearing.

"Camie!"

"Baby!" Camie squealed, tossing her purse to the ground, and leapt up to wrap her arms and legs around Inasa. Grinning lustfully, she smashed her lips to his with a loud moan, enjoying Inasa's large hands grasping at her butt and pinching it, while off to the side, Shishikura let out a long groan and tossed his black apron down on the table in between the couches.

"Do you two mind?" He asked through gritted teeth, leaning back and crossing his arms at his idiot partners. "I'm trying to concentrate here - no hero's gonna believe we're legit if I'm walking around covered in blood."

Completely ignoring him, Inasa collapsed on the couch and pinned Camie to the couch, loud, sloppy kissing noises filling the air.

"I will turn you both into meatballs and toss you in the trash, I swear to god."

After another loud smack, Inasa leaned back up with Camie still in his lap, the blonde girl giggling as she threw her own Shiketsu hat away and smoothed out her hair as she nuzzled into him.

"Ah, can you blame me?" Inasa grinned happily as he continued rubbing Camie's butt. "She's been busy for an entire month! And she's probably been sneaking around those UA idiots, with them wanting to grope her and take her for their own. I gotta make sure she knows who she belongs to!"

"Aw, babe," Camie giggled, stroking Inasa's chin, "it's okay! I was invisible the whole time I was scouting."

"And you don't have any room to complain," Shishikura glared at Inasa as he grinned stupidly at her, "if you hadn't dropped out of the entrance exams, we could've had you on the inside. You got that damn hero to recommend you, and you blew it!"

"You kidding?" Inasa's smile slipped off his face, replaced by a rather unnerving glare as he turned to scowl at the third member of their little trio. "Endeavor's spawn was there. No way I'd be able to sit through those classes without trying to rip his head off."

"Aw, don't worry, baby," Camie giggled as she stroked her chin, "it doesn't seem like you missed out on much. I was in UA all yesterday, and things were so boring! They were zombies for some reason, I couldn't wait to leave."

"Huh? Zombies? That sounds awesome! What are you talking about, that being boring?!"

"Anyway," Shishikura tossed the scrub down to glare at Camie, "why are you back here, Camie? Did the Consortium kick you out?"

"Nah," Camie pouted, "I got a job. I gotta find the stupid rat at UA."

"Is that right?"

"Yeah, and that was easy peasy - I just asked Slice who she got that schedule for their attack from, got the physical description, sent some little spies into UA with the kids from one of the HPSC schools, and I got a name. In and out, nothing to worry about."

"Oh? And what's his name?"

"Neito Monoma," Camie frowned, "some guy related to the president of the HPSC. According to Slice, she got instructions to act as an agent and he straight up gave it to her. E.Z. to find."

"Alright," Shishikura sighed, "and what exactly is the problem?"

"The problem is that I'm supposed to get close to the guy!" Camie threw her arms immaturely in the air. "And there's no way I'll be able to do that in a way that doesn't give me away! I could do one thing … but that's just for spying. No way that this arrogant a-hole is going to befriend a tiny little -"

"Okay, okay, we don't really need to know," Shishikura scoffed as he picked back up his costume to keep cleaning, "just make sure to work hard and actually get something of use to them. If the Consortium finds out that you're slacking …" 

"Nah, she's got it!" Inasa pumped his fist, grinning happily at Camie as she turned to beam at him. "Camie's never let us down, has she?"

"Oooooh, Inasa, you always know what to say!" Camie raised her arms out, letting him flop into them. "Lemme give ya a reward!"

Shishikura merely rolled his eyes and continued to clean his costume as his two partners made out on the couch opposite of him, with him eventually tossing it aside again to get up and find something to eat while they got their aggression out. Once he came back with a box of crackers, he sat back and chewed absently on his food while his two villainous partners tried to suck each other's souls out through their mouths, and then sighed as they finally took a moment to breathe.

"Anyway," The 'leader' of their little trio shook his head, "just be sure to do what the Consortium wants. I'm done with living off convenience store food and stealing from people - I want power, and I want it soon."

"Oh, don't worry," Camie giggled as she pushed Inasa lightly off of her, getting up from the couch, "I'm getting us all in. Chimera wants to test you two, and that'll be super easy for you two to do - he's so angry about the other recruits being dummies, once he sees our talent, he's gonna be begging us to help them out. And once I get close to UA's little rat … I'll know what to ask for my reward."

"Do you?" Shishikura frowned as Camie sat down in his lap. 

"Yep! See, I'm dealing with people who can give bonus quirks," Camie traced his jaw, knowing that she caught his attention and smirking as she took the scrub from his hand and tossed it aimlessly behind her on the table, "so when I'm done getting in this little rat's pants … and let him feed the Consortium all the info he knows … I know what my reward's gonna be."

Shishikura stared at her for a moment - and then he smirked as he raised a hand to stroke her collarbone, making her purr.

"You'll get us an extra quirk," He guessed.

"One extra quirk," Camie raised a finger, biting her lip, "and that way ... the three of us can have loads of fun."

With that, she straightened up, stretching and pushing her chest in the purple boy's face, before she abruptly got up, both boys blinking and looking around at her.

"Now," She flipped her hair behind her back, "I'm gonna go have some me time. Try not to bother me, or I'll tell you to buzz off."

With that abrupt exit, she sauntered her way over to the window, pushing it open and stretching her arm out to grab the ladder on the side. Once she had a grip, she neatly swung her body out of the office and began to climb, pleased with the natural flexibility she had as she began climbing up to the roof. From what she could hear as she exited, Shishikura huffed while Inasa got up to go grab something, but for what, she didn't quite care.

Getting up onto the metal roof, she carefully walked up it, moving past the solar panels, until she reached the top, letting out a small sigh as she sat down and looked up into the starry sky. Of course, she couldn't help but giggle to herself as she thought of the two boys down below, probably scheming for whatever daddy issues they had. It was handy to have them - Inasa was strong, both physically and with his quirk, and Camie offering him revenge for a slight he had a long time ago meant he was petty enough to go along with her schemes. And Shishikura thought he was smarter than her, and smarter than he actually was, so she'd let them think she was the blonde bimbo with the weakest quirk between them.

Of course … her two boy toys didn't know the truth.

Smirking, Camie leaned against the roof of the warehouse, and dissipated the illusion around her left eye as she brushed her hair out of her face. Once the concentration she was keeping on her face was gone, Camie rested as she stared up at the sky for a long moment, and then felt them begin to crawl out, making her smile when she heard the buzzing.

Oh, Tartarus … thinking that the silly gross queen bee they had was enough to keep her restrained. Nope, she giggled as a bee crawled out of the hole in her eye and buzzed, she was made of stronger stuff. Stuff strong enough to restart the hive and get herself a new host.

And now … she was going to get back into the graces of someone with All For One. But this time, she smirked, she'd know how not to fail.

This time … things were going to be going her way.

Notes:

https://i.imgur.com/VCC7wOj.png

And that was Chapter 41, and the conclusion of the Heights Alliance arc! This one was a fun little breather episode after the intensity of the Sports Festival and the tension of the Clover Rising arc, and I'm excited to be setting you all up for another tension filled adventure in the upcoming Internship arc! As you all can see, we're setting it up so that our heroes will finally get to be on the front lines of the Inner Circle's machinations, and Hosu's about to be crazy!

Now, we had a bunch of neat little developments on the relationship side of this chapter, didn't we? What with David and Rei being all 'oh, hey, divorced mom and widowed dad? SHIP!' and then Pony and Mezo going 'eh, we'll lean into it' and getting together, and then Itsuka deciding to flex on Himiko (and maybe turn her + Melissa on a little bit with her power move), and finally, our Shiketsu Trio! I know that we were all curious about villains wearing Shiketsu uniforms, but I imagined a few of you were surprised that Camie wasn't the only one getting a little case of adaptational villainy!

Or at least ... Camie being the *only* one not really being a villain, but she doesn't quite have a choice in the matter. >:D

Also, 'Cathleen Bate' is totally inspired by https://twitter.com/sonchapoo/status/1762266086328672399 XD

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GHTTqidWIAAwP9f.jpg

 

In any case, thank you guys for reading, and I'll see you next time for the Internship Arc!