It took quite some time to get the stadium ready for the award ceremony, as the remainder of Tyra's giant tree needed to be disposed of. Shin took care of uprooting the bottom half of the tree, and a handful of pro-heroes from the audience volunteered to help with burning up the tree. All Might came out for a bit to help break the tree down into more manageable parts. Shin moved smaller portions of wood outside the stadium to be donated to construction companies that often worked with the school.

Students were allowed to get in on the action cleaning the place too, using the opportunity to show how their quirks could be used in a disaster relief scenario. Pro-heroes provided coaching and assistance to the students where needed, helping speed the process along. Even with the collective effort, dealing with the mess still took a few hours.

Eventually the arena was cleared enough for the ceremony to begin, and the podium was prepared. Belowground Serena stepped onto a lift, and was raised up to her place in the third place podium. Shortly afterwards Shuko was lifted into position as well, standing with his eyes closed and his hands folded together in front of him as he entered with a respectful bow to the audience.

Serena glanced at the second-place podium, which remained empty. She had hoped Tyra might have recovered enough over the past few hours to receive her award during the actual ceremony, but it seemed as if that wasn't going to be an option after all. It was disappointing, but it couldn't be helped.

"Now then, I apologize for the wait everyone" Shin announced "but I do hope you all enjoyed watching the students demonstrate their disaster relief skills in the interim. In many ways being able to help clean up after a natural disaster is more important than being able to fight villains. Even so, let us now move on to the award ceremony and wrap the day's festivities up shall we?"

Shin walked over to Serena first. "To you Serena, I present this bronze medal and congratulations for your accomplishments. This is your first year at this school, and yet you made it all the way to third place. Not only that, but you and your classmate worked in tandem to send a powerful message of inspiration out to the world." He said as he placed the medal around Serena's neck. "And to you I offer this advice for the future, embrace the bonds you have formed, let them become a source of strength that drives you forward, but temper that strength and refine it. Right now you are like an unsharpened blade, you must learn to hone your edge and skill. Accomplish that, and there are few who will be able to stop you."

Serena nodded solemnly "I understand Headmaster, thank you." She said, bowing her head in respect as the crowd roared with approval.

Shin then walked over to the empty podium where Tyra would have been standing if she were still able. "To Tyra I will award the silver medal with great pride. She has overcome great adversity to come here. She showed great courage in revealing herself to the world and quietly endured abuse for it, she showed great strength battling in the tournament, culminating in a fantastic display of power." He announced "and after that, she displayed overwhelming kindness and heroism, sacrificing her well-being and dignity to protect the very people who had abused her. She has more than earned her place on this podium. Wouldn't you all agree?"

The crowd cheered again, not quite as enthusiastically as they had for Serena, as there were still many hesitant individuals in the crowd, but compared to the hatred they had felt earlier, the difference in attitude was like night and day. Shin put away the medal, then walked to Shuko's podium.

"Well this was a medal I knew you would receive once again, though it appears to be a more hard-fought victory than expected" Shin said as he placed the gold medal around Shuko's neck "to you, Shuko, I award the gold medal. Once again you have demonstrated unrivaled power, tactics, and skill. Crushing your competition with grace as you treated each foe with respect. To you there is little advice I can offer other than to continue walking the path you are now. I expect great things from you next year as well."

Shuko bowed "thank you Headmaster, I shall." He replied

"And with that our ceremony concludes" Shin announced to the stadium "so let us end the official festivities properly with a rallying cry to our students, the future heroes of their generation. All together now! Go beyond!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" The crowd cheered in unison.

Serena smiled as she and Shuko took their leave and left the podiums to return to their classes.

"Please pass on my compliments to your classmate" Shuko said "she was truly an adversary worthy of battling. And I wish her the best in her efforts to redeem her name."

"Tsk, using me as a messenger girl, just because I only made it to third doesn't mean you get to look down on me" Serena huffed indignantly

Shuko chuckled "sorry, I meant no offense. I'm sure you'd have proven to be a worthy foe as well."

"Damn right I would've" Serena said "and next year I'm going to prove it and wipe the floor with you, I'll be so much stronger you won't stand a chance."

"I've no doubt about it, you're a strong one, in body and in spirit" Shuko said as he opened his eyes and smiled "these eyes can see that very clearly. I'm sure we shall meet again, be it in the tournament next year or in the field as heroes." Shuko raised a fist and held it out for Serena "I believe this is what Japanese youths do nowadays, is it not?"

Serena looked at the fist and laughed "what do you mean 'youths?' We're practically the same age! You're a weird guy, but I don't need special chi-seeing eyes to tell you're a good one." Serena raised her fist as well and bumped it together with Shuko's. "See ya around, Mr. Monk" she chuckled, then turned and walked off towards her class

- The next day -

Serena woke up in bed to her phone's text alert chime and rolled over with a grown, fumbling for it blindly as she tried to keep her eyes shut for as long as possible. She was still completely exhausted from the previous day. The festival would have been draining enough, but to top it all off when the class returned to the classroom they discovered Law had set up a celebration party for them as a reward for working so hard and getting so far in the tournament. They'd partied for several hours before heading home for the evening, where her mom ambushed her with a celebration party of her own.

Parties were fun, and the food at both parties had been delicious, but for an introvert like Serena they were definitely tiring. After two back to back parties and a fierce tournament, she'd passed out on her bed without even changing out of her school uniform. Slowly opening one eye she glanced at the clock, it was just after noon now, much later than she usually slept in, and she still felt drowsy. Her hand finally brushed against her phone and grabbed ahold, pulling it from her nightstand and bringing it to hover in front of her half-open eye. She squinted as the light from the screen shone into her eyeball, still adjusting to being awake, but as her vision focused she saw she had a text from Ayane.

"Hey Serena, Law sent out a message saying we could take the day off and rest today, and we'll be back to our normal routine tomorrow. Considering how busy that'll make us, I think we should probably go on our date today, that good with you?" the message read

That woke Serena up quickly, her eyes shooting open as she sat up and unlocked her phone, opening the message app and selecting the conversation. "Yeah, sounds really go…" she began to type, then backspaced. "Eh, don't want to sound too overeager" Serena mused "how about… 'I guess so, do you have reservations somewhere?' AGH that sounds like I don't wanna go at all!"

Serena flopped back on the bed with a sigh "damn it dating is hard."

- meanwhile, at Ayane's home-

"Oh no, she's not responding, it's still only noon maybe she's sleeping?" Ayane panicked "or maybe my text woke her up and she's drowsy? Or what if she's changed her mind and doesn't want to go out anymore! Maybe my message was too forward, I could've started up a conversation first and brought it up casually! Damn it all!"

Ayane flopped onto her bed and buried her face in a pillow "Damn it! Dating is hard!"

- a few hours later, at Serena's home-

After several hours of agonizing over each message they sent to each other, followed by agonizing over what scent shampoo and soap to use in the shower, and subsequent panicking over a lack of good clothes to wear for a date, a thoroughly drained Serena sat down at the dining room table and rested her head on the cold hard wood.

"Are… you ok?" Leona asked, walking out of the kitchen and standing in the doorway as she looked at Serena's slumped over form.

Serena lifted her head and looked at her foster mother. The woman was dressed casually today, allowing her long golden locks of hair to fall freely, a single lock of hair falling across her face between her striking green eyes. She was a relatively average sized woman, standing at only 5 feet and 3 inches tall, and was of an average build. She wore a simple blue blouse and loosely fitting jeans.

"Dating needs a video-game style tutorial to walk through the steps" Serena groaned, letting her head sink back to the table.

"Dating…?" Leona asked, processing the statement for a moment "you're… planning on going out on a date?"

"Oh… I forgot to mention in the excitement yesterday huh?" Serena said "Ayane asked me out, I was planning on asking her soon anyway but some stuff happened and then…"

Serena was cut off by Leona rushing over and grabbing her by the shoulders. Normally she'd have violently recoiled from the sudden physical contact, but Leona was a special case who she allowed to touch her freely. Still, the sudden grabbing made her head snap up in surprise and meet Leona's intense gaze.

"Ayane, that nice silver haired girl you've been doing homework with lately? The one you've been talking about almost nonstop the past few months? That Ayane?" Leona asked seriously

"Y-yeah…?" Serena replied nervously, taken aback by Leona's sudden intensity.

Leona closed her eyes slowly "I see" she said, her voice heavy with determination as her grip tightened on Serena's shoulders "and when is this date?"

"T-this afternoon a-at 6?" Serena said "w-why?"

Leona's eyes shot open "So soon! Then we have no time to waste! Come here!" she exclaimed as she ran off, dragging Serena behind her back to her room.

"I wish you'd given me more notice" Leona said as she began tearing through Serena's closet, tossing out various articles of clothing into the room "I would've brought you shopping for some nicer clothes and given you coaching! But there's no time for that now, we're just going to have to make do with what we've got."

Serena stared at the frantic form and ramblings of her mother, dumbfounded. She wasn't sure exactly what she'd been expecting Leona's reaction to be, but this was almost certainly not it.

"Here, put these on" Leona said as she threw a handful of clothes at Serena "quickly now! Change!"

"U-uh, aren't you going to leave first?" Serena stammered

"No time! Plus I need to examine you and heal up any remaining scrapes and bruises from yesterday, you might be sitting or laying in a variety of positions and we don't want any injuries making you uncomfortable in whatever romantic position you find yourself in!" Leona rambled "now go on! Strip down! Go go go!"

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Serena exclaimed, leaping into action, Leona's energy was infectious, jostling her drained and exhausted body into her whirlwind pace. She stripped down and began to change into the new outfit that had been selected for her while Leona carefully examined her body for cuts and bruises. Each time she found one she placed her hand on it and a soft green light enveloped the injury, healing it up.

Leona's quirk was a rather weak healing quirk that drew from her own energy reserves instead of the reserves of her patient, which ordinarily would be a great asset for a doctor or nurse, but since it was only strong enough to heal minor injuries with any degree of urgency it wasn't very practical. It was perfect for patching up her adopted daughter's continuous collection of injuries from school however, and she made good use of it here.

Leona finished her first aid as Serena pulled on the last article of clothing, then dragged Serena to her own room and sat her down in front of a makeup mirror. "Now stay still, Ayane is a sweet girl and probably wouldn't mind a sloppy makeup job but I'll be damned if a daughter of mine is going to go on her first ever date looking like someone assaulted her with a makeup brush" Leona rambled as she began pulling out various bottles of makeup and powders.

"Um…" Serena tried to protest, but Leona was already starting to apply foundation to her cheek.

"And a little here, a bit there" Leona hummed "oh and we can't forget here yes yes."

Serena sighed and stood still, accepting her fate of being doted on by her mother as she expertly did Serena's makeup. Luckily Serena didn't need much as her skin was mostly free of blemishes in the first place, but as she looked in the mirror she had to admit the makeup did look nice.

"Now let's cover up your scar, your clothing will cover the rest and a nice dose of makeup will make that eye-scar just…" Leona said, but it was here where Serena raised her hand and gently grabbed her wrist to interrupt.

"Actually… Ayane knows about my scars… all of them, and she said I look beautiful even with them… I'd like to leave my scar untouched" Serena said, making Leona's eyes widen in shock.

"You… showed her?" Leona asked

Serena nodded "not… intentionally… not at first, but she and Freya saved my life from a venomous creature out on the camping trip, and to do so I needed to be stripped down to keep me cool. So she saw my back… and then my gloves fell apart so I just kinda went with it and showed her those too."

Leona slowly put down the makeup brush "you don't even like me looking at those…" she said softly "this girl… she's really special to you, isn't she?"

Serena hesitated, then nodded "yes… she is." She said firmly

Leona nodded and walked over to a locked box on her dresser, then looked around and found a key laid nearby and inserted it into the lock. "My mother gave me this and told me it was a family heirloom." She said as she opened the box "told me to wear it on my first date to bring me good luck and guarantee a loving relationship. I, being a rebellious teenager, wanted nothing to do with it at the time, and went on dates without it. But I never threw it away."

Leona lifted something out of the box and brought it back to Serena, then draped a beautiful golden necklace around her neck and adjusted the chain to make it fit. The golden chain led to an ornate butterfly shaped pendant encrusted with jewels carved perfectly to replicate the beautiful patterns of a butterfly's wings. The necklace must've been worth a small fortune, and Serena's eyes went wide at the sight of it.

"Now I'm long past my prime dating years" Leona said, a hint of sadness in her voice "I doubt that a woman in her late 20s and married to her job like me will have much use for this anymore. I think it's about time I passed it on to a new generation."

Serena gingerly lifted a hand to touch the necklace "M-mom… I can't accept something like this!" she said "I don't…"

"If you say you don't deserve it you're grounded" Leona said firmly, wrapping her arms around Serena and hugging her, resting her face on Serena's head and kissing it gently "you are my beloved daughter, you deserve everything in the world I can give you and so much more, so at least let me do this much."

Serena felt tears welling up in her eyes "haha, and after you went through all this trouble doing my makeup too" she said, scrunching her eyes shut and trying to wipe the tears away.

"It's ok, we can always redo it" Leona whispered, "I'll redo it as many times as you want, now and forever, ok?"

Serena nodded "yeah… I'd like that" she said as the tears began flowing.

- 5:00 pm, Serena's home -

After extensive preparation and grooming from Leona, Serena was finally ready to go. She'd been dressed up in a nice white shirt with a denim vest left unbuttoned and open, covering her shoulders nicely, along with one of her nicer pairs of jeans. Her hair had been meticulously combed shampooed, and her new butterfly necklace gleamed in the light as it hung around her neck. Her usual fingerless gloves were still present, but she'd put on blue ones to match her vest. She'd been doused with a tasteful amount of fancy perfume, and she wore a nice belt to accessorize further, despite it not being necessary for the outfit.

"Well this is all I can do on such short notice" Leona said as she examined Serena, looking her up and down "you never were one to have a lot of 'nice' clothing, but this look suits you. You look beautiful dear."

Serena smiled "thanks Mom, this means a lot to me." She said, absent-mindedly reaching up to touch her new necklace.

Leona smiled "I'm just glad your date was today, the chief finally gave me a day off for a change so I actually had time to help you thoroughly. I'll stay up and wait for you to come home so you can tell me all about the wonderful time you had ok?"

Serena nodded "I'll try to avoid getting home too late then, I know how cranky you get when you don't get your sleep"

"I don't know if I should smack you for that or thank you" Leona joked, bringing Serena in for a hug "now go on, don't keep your date waiting."

Serena nodded, then turned and ran out the door "thanks Mom, I love you!"

Leona smiled as she watched Serena leave "love you too dear" she said to herself.