After the blonde and the redhead finally leave (Kirishima apologized to them for interrupting), the girls are of course all a'chatter.

"OMG! OMG!"

"That was Katsuki Bakugo?! He was like a different person!"

"It was like… a shojo manga or something!"

"Right?! My heart was all 'dokkyun'!"

"Midoriya-chan, you were so cool!"

"Did you see how red his face got?!"

"Cute…"

"'I'll wait forever for you, Kacchan!'"

At this point, Midoriya really can't take it anymore. "Stop! Stop! Don't repeat it!" He thinks he might die of embarrassment, but the girls giggle shamelessly at his blushing face.

"But seriously, congratulations, Midoriya-chan!"

"It's like you're a real girl now!"

Midoriya pauses. As the girls continue chattering, he zones out and looks down at his hands again. "A real girl"… He's still not sure how to feel about that. He still doesn't really see himself that way. Even if he happens to be in love with a boy, it certainly doesn't make him a real girl… right?

As Midoriya ponders this, she gets a harsh reminder that things will still be… "awkward" between her and Kacchan. After school, Todoroki stays behind a little longer to talk over something he didn't understand in class with one of their teachers. Given the choice between staying with him where it's comfortable and walking home awkward and nervous with Kacchan, even Midoriya thinks she's crazy to pick the latter. But she does. She can't help it. Even though neither of them are able to say a word the whole way back. All they have are a couple of nerve-wracking glances at each other before abruptly turning away. It's not long before they both start to feel dizzy and feverish, but neither could bear to break down and expose themselves. After all, Bakugo would rather die than admit that this nerd makes him nervous. And Midoriya overthinks the tiniest little gestures. A million things come to mind that she could say, but in the end, she can't get up the courage to say any of them.

It isn't until they're on the path in front of the dorm entrance that she finally asks, "Kacchan… Have you been petting Yuwai-chan still?"

"…Yeah."

"G-Good. I feel like I haven't been there to watch in a while…"

"…Don't really need you to."

"No, I want to. I need to see how much you've improved." Or some bullshit like that. To be honest, she's making up an excuse that she thinks he can accept so he doesn't tell her to buzz off.

"You saw while I was recovering, remember?"

Erk… "W-Well, that was different. You were injured, so of course you were gentler."

"…Stop looking for excuses to be around me, you little freak."

Ah. There it is. His all-too-familiar bluntness. It stings, but it's still somewhat nostalgic. The first thing that crosses her mind is to apologize, but she stubbornly refuses to apologize for her feelings. Instead she looks him dead in the eye, regains her composure, and firmly replies, "No." The look in her eyes is so defiant that it makes him irritated on reflex. But then point blank she asks him, "Tell me, Kacchan, can you give me a good reason why I shouldn't try to spend time with you? If you have a real reason, I'll listen."

For a moment he can't answer as his heart flutters. He looks away and struggles to think. "…I need a break from you. M'tired."

She blinks and realizes he means it. "Oh… Okay. Yeah." Now she really does feel bad for asking. "That makes sense… Then I'll see you tomorrow. I'll work on our team move tonight."

"Yeah."

She quickly walks away, towards the dorm entrance, not wanting to spend one more humiliating moment with him. But then right when she gets to the door, before she goes in, he yells, "Hey!" She turns around to look at him, but he takes his sweet time walking up, making her wait for him. She even has to get out of the way of one of the pairs of doors, so that other people can enter before her. When he gets to her, she looks a little annoyed and all the more embarrassed, but he stares at her for a moment like he's getting up the courage to say something. He says, "The whole point of that rabbit training was to make sure I can be gentle when I deal with civilians, right?"

"…Y-Yeah."

"…Hold still." He reaches out his hand, and while she's not scared, she is baffled. He couldn't be… No. No way…

He does. He gently lays his hand on her head and pets her. Her curly, fluffed up locks tickle his palm as he smooths over them, going with the grain, carefully adjusting a few strands so that it looks a bit neater. Even using his thumb to brush a bundle of her hair away from her eye. And he does it so smoothly that Midoriya doesn't even feel the urge to flinch. Instead, she's in a trance, like her body is recording every subtle movement of his, every touch, memorizing it so that she never forgets this miracle. Or the way he's looking at her right now. It's the same way he looked at her after they finished their paired assignment… like she's something so precious and irreplaceable to him, he couldn't seriously hurt her even if he wanted to. And when he's more or less done, his hand slides down a bit. She feels it hesitate for less than a second before it ever so lightly pinches her cheek, so lightly, it might not even be called a pinch, just some kind of accident or slip of the fingers.

Finally his hand drops completely, and he looks just a little pink as he asks, "So? How was that?" like he's daring her to say that wasn't gentle.

Finally snapping out of her daze, Midoriya's heart finally jumpstarts and beats like there's no tomorrow, turning her face red as a cherry. She openly pouts as she turns away from him and twirls some of her hair between her fingers. "Y-Yeah… That was gentle… You pass."

Satisfied with that, he gives a bit of a relieved sigh through the nose and concludes, "I don't have to do it every day anymore. I'll probably do it again every once in a while for a refresher. Let that thing get a break from me too."

She barely has the composure to answer anymore, but she agrees. "Yeah."

And with that, he turns and walks inside first, leaving her there to deal with the stares and whispers of their classmates while she does everything she can to compose herself.

Kacchan truly is a formidable foe. An amazingly talented rival, good at everything he tries. He's even this good at flirting and at playing hard to get and doesn't even realize it.

And so the real challenge begins. She's going to prove that he's not the only one who can keep cool while juggling these feelings. The next day, Midoriya is rested and ready to show her teammates her new idea, the one that excited her the most just thinking about it. In their hero training period, she starts, "Okay. This ended up being kind of complicated, but I think we have enough time to practice it. Basically…" She opens up her notebook to show them a two-page spread of a picture she meticulously drew. "It's an ice wall. The ice surrounds the civilians to keep them safe, but there's a catch. It has a deep curve in it where Kacchan can stand, and Kacchan, you'll have to learn to slide on the ice like Todoroki-kun does, in this curve that goes all around. See?"

They see it. The curve itself is shaped like a skateboarding half-pipe and goes all the way around in a full circle so that the very center is totally protected by the height of an innermost wall. Then the shape curves down and comes back up to form the outer wall. If Bakugo can learn to use his explosions to steer himself, he can slide along the rim. "And I'd blast any villains that try to get over the wall…" he concludes.

"Right! And the faster you slide, the faster you can attack!"

"I see," Todoroki says, "It's a good idea. And while Bakugo's attacking, I can make the inner wall even taller."

"Yeah! And then you'll have time to give any injured civilians first aid! You'll be totally safe!"

So it's settled. They begin practice immediately, and all of the sudden, there's just no more time to worry about feelings. In fact the only feeling still left behind is the fun of the assignment itself, Todoroki challenging himself to create a smooth enough ice wall for Bakugo to slide on, Bakugo quickly learning how to balance himself on that ice from any angle, and Midoriya making sure the whole picture comes together in a stunning and heroic fashion. Some of their classmates can't help but stop their own training to watch, and Aizawa has to yell at them to get back to work, making Midoriya smile proudly as she overhears it. All this time, she was worried about nothing. These two are so amazing that even though they've started late, she's still certain they'll get first place.

Thursday, Friday, they continue at this pace, sharpening themselves more and more. By the end of Friday, there might be a couple of places where they wish they could do more (they'd even taken time the previous two days to practice after school), but they more or less have it down, and they scout out their location for their presentation and practice the move their one last time before Midoriya hurriedly shouts, "Okay! If that's all, I have to go! See you both tomorrow! We're gonna ace it!"

They wish her luck as she goes to her second therapy session. She didn't think she'd be this excited to catch up with Dr. Shinbyou on everything that's happened, and she's not sure where to start, but as usual, stepping into the doctor's aura calms her and centers her enough to start, "First, I… I want to thank you for the advice… about all the people I liked."

"Oh? Did you make some progress?" The doctor asks even though she can already tell he's practically bursting with good news.

"Yeah! Well… Maybe… I'm not totally sure. Um… I… I picked Kacchan. I… told him I love him. I still love a lot of other people, but thanks to what you said, I know that Kacchan is my number one, and no matter how many other heroes I end up loving, he'll always be special. I've decided… to be selfish. Just with this one person. He makes me want to be selfish for once."

"…I see." She's impressed. His energy is remarkably stable, like it's gone through yet another transformation in just the few days since they last talked. "But you said you're still not totally sure you made progress?"

"Ah. Yeah, that's because… Kacchan is… things are complicated. I know he loves me back, but he's too stubborn to admit it. I know that sounds conceited, but he's definitely never acted this way with anyone else before. I just know… that I'm just as special to him as he is to me. I just… don't know how to make him say it."

"Interesting. Do you need him to say it?"

Midoriya thinks about this for a moment. He's started to get used to her deep, probing questions that force him to stop and think before answering. "I… Yes. I want to hear him say it. It would make me really happy if he did, and I don't think our relationship can really go anywhere until he does."

"Hmmm. Agreed. From what I remember, Katsuki Bakugo isn't exactly shy, but he's slow to open up about his emotions. At times, it can feel like you have to force it out of him in order to get anything at all."

"Exactly!"

She giggles a bit. "But unfortunately, I can't help you in that area. First of all, because love is very tricky, and in order to proceed without regrets, you'll have to make almost all of the decisions yourself. And second, well… because what kind of adult would I be if I encouraged two children your age who live together to start dating?"

Midoriya flinches. Ah. Right. There's that.

"I hope you don't misunderstand. I want to trust you both, but you can never be too careful."

He blushes, staring down at his lap. "Y-Yes, ma'am… Ah, but there might be nothing to worry about. Kacchan insists that doing anything… like that is gross. He's been saying the whole time that he doesn't want to do stuff like that with me."

…No response. Midoriya looks up and is startled a bit at how she appears to be looking straight at him with the most incredulous, sarcastic kind of expression, as if she wants to say, "Really? You seriously believe that? Really?!" He flinches again, and she can feel the nervous, confused energy rolling out of him.

Finally she gives sort of an amused sigh before carefully replying, "He says that. But do you sincerely believe it?"

Midoriya looks back down again, clutching his skirt. "…No."

Well done! she thinks, Points for honesty! "Then I advise you to be careful. Children your age tend to have some kind of… 'awakening'. You won't be able to predict when it happens, so the best thing is to be prepared."

"Yes, ma'am."

They spend the next hour talking through any other difficulties he's had, a few things he's discovered about himself other than his recent affections. And as they approach the end of their time, she finally brings up the most difficult topic.

"…The school received the call from the police department. They're ready to ask you some questions about the incident."

"…Right." Midoriya had been waiting for this. After they finally got Taka Nobita arrested, he's been confined but not yet convicted. The police wanted to make sure they got as much information and as many testimonies as possible from the numerous victims that Nobita himself admitted to attacking, even students who no longer went to UA, and even a few strangers who's names he couldn't bother to remember (but he still remembered the trouble he had to go through to pick the right place and time to do the deed). The police had already interviewed some of the girls Midoriya had been eating lunch with, so this whole time, he's been waiting for his turn. In theory, he shouldn't be worried or nervous, but given some of the things he's heard from the girls…

As they wrap up their session, Midoriya settles on a day to talk to the police: Monday. It's the soonest day they can take him, and once he finds out which new classmate will be added to his group next (since obviously they're going to ace their trio presentation), she'll have time to think of their next strategy even while she's away from school.

In a flash, Saturday arrives again, and it's time to present their move. This time, they chose a city-like landscape and used robots as the enemy to prove that no matter where the enemy attacks from, no matter how many there are, their defenses are impenetrable. Sure enough, even under the siege of well over 20 1-point robots from their entrance exam, they couldn't even come close to breaching the barrier. They might've put a few dents and cracks on the outside, but Bakugo slides around so fast that his AP shots take them out before they're able to do any real damage. Without Todoroki ever having to leave the inner circle, Bakugo cleanly obliterates all of them. And he does it even faster than their paired assignment record.

This is it. A clean, easy, indisputable victory!

At least, until Monday. Putting even more pressure on his beloved students, Aizawa waits until their hero training class to reveal their grades. And when he does, Midoriya and Bakugo gape in horror as they see their faces lined up in… second place! Of course, the first question on their minds is who took first place, so they glance up a little more and find the trio of Yaoyorozu, Oojiro, and Mr. Aizawa himself! Since turning a class of 20 people into trios would leave one group with only two people, Aizawa himself became a member of one. Of course, they all remembered that and had secretly felt bad for Yaoyorozu and Oojiro, knowing that having Aizawa breathing down their necks would make the average student choke, but Midoriya remembers two things. First of all, their group move was brilliant. Getting another teacher to play the villain and letting Aizawa disable their quirk from the shadows while Oojiro fights head on as bait and Yaoyorozu quickly creates a net to capture the villain while he's confused and distracted was a stroke of genius. Not to mention the absolute fastest performance. It was over in less than 30 seconds.

At the time that Midoriya and Bakugo saw it, they wanted to convince themselves that it was a very limited attack that assumed there was only one villain. But they couldn't deny how clean and efficient it was, how it minimized space and damage and possible involvement with civilians. It was over so fast that a civilian could never have gotten involved. As opposed to Midoriya's trio, where the ice barrier was big and flashy and took up way too much space in an obviously crowded city landscape. They were operating under the assumption that there'd be more than one civilian to protect, but still.

Assuming that Oojiro has the speed and stamina to fight with more than one villain at once, all he really has to do is distract them. He doesn't have to win. He just has to buy time for Yaoyorozu to give the signal so he can jump out of the way in time, and she can capture the villains in an electrically charged net. If she actually spent the week learning how to use her quirk to create that, learning to match her timing with Oojiro's fighting style, and practicing over and over until their execution time was as short as possible, then it's a well-deserved win. But above all else, it was simple, straightforward, efficient, and as Aizawa would say… logical. It's not like their attacks ever had to be big and flashy from the beginning. They just had to work.

And the second thing Midoriya remembers is that Yaoyorozu was also in the winning pair last week. That means she's on a winning streak. It's not surprising since coming up with detailed plans is even more her forte than it is Midoriya's, but still, this means Midoriya has a lot of work to do if she really wants to beat her.

As Midoriya ends up mumbling her analysis out loud, she eventually starts to notice a dark, threatening aura surging next to her. She looks over and flinches a little at Kacchan's impending explosion. Todoroki tries to remind him to calm down, and it's clear that Bakugo's trying, his attempts at deep breathing turning into barely controlled seething.

"K-Kacchan…" It's been a while. Certainly a while since she's seen him like this. Immediately, she tries to think about how to calm him down. It comes to her in a flash of inspiration, like her brain suddenly pieced everything together. It sounds crazy but…

She takes his hand, lifts it, and places it gently on her own head. At first, he's obviously startled by her and tempted to pull his hand away, but as she looks into his eyes, he understands that she's silently telling him not to run away. Instead, remembering the rabbit exercise, remembering that he has to be gentle with her, he's able to take deeper breaths, more and more, until he fully calms down faster than he expected. It worked. Knowing that she's in direct danger if he loses control is enough to force him to calm down.

"…Sorry," he mutters.

"Yeah," she replies understandingly as she lowers his hand back down again.