Mina woke with a start, a large crashing sound having echoed through the house. For a moment, her body was as tense as steel, then she relaxed, as she heard the aftermath and the regular sound of her dad admonishing her little sister Mana for whatever it was she had done this time.
That admonishing happened once a week, and frankly, it was just something she had long since learned to live with as a regular fixture of her home.
Normally, that sound would have brought a smile to her face, but at the moment, the cheerful pink girl could only think about how much she wanted to sleep in some more, only for her to realize it wasn't gonna happen with all the noise.
So, after laying in bed for about half a minute, desperately hoping the two of them would stop making such noise, only to be disappointed, she finally admitted defeat and got out of her bed, groaning all the way.
Mina, cheerful and bubbly though she was, was not a morning person, and being woken up early when she was supposed to be allowed to sleep in for once, did not make the morning better.
There was only one thing to do about it, however, and as she opened the door to her room and began stalking down the corridor, the only thing at her mind was to sate herself on the only thing that made her feel alive in the morning.
The sweet, sweet taste of caffeine.
As she came down the stairs to the second floor, she saw what it was that Mana had done this time, having toppled a bookcase her dad used for storing research, unto its side so papers and books were strewn across the floor.
On the other side of the room, Mana stood with the usual pose, being told the regular speech by their dad, who desperately tried to imprint into her to stop being as reckless as she was.
As much as he tried, time and again, the unfortunate fact was that her dad simply didn't have the presence to make Mana take him seriously during his lectures.
It might have been his height, his complete inability to be intimidating, or just not being a confrontational guy in general, but he had never been able to instill any of his kids with discipline, despite no lack of effort.
Any discipline the 4 of them had ever gotten, had come from their mom, but she wasn't there right now.
As she walked up by them, her dad stopped his lecture and turned towards her, and Mana did the same.
"Morning Sis!" The little squirt said cheerfully, practically beaming at her.
Unlike Mina, who looked like a blend of her parents, with her dad's hair and face lines, along with her mother's physical build, and having inherited both her parents' quirks into one, Mana took looked much less like either, her hair not being nearly as poofy as her dad's, but not the smooth locks of their mom's either.
It was big, poofy, and white, but nowhere near the Fluffy mess that was Mina's hair.
Her facial structure was also more like their mom, but with a softness that hadn't been found on Black Cat's face since her early teenage years, if ever. Said face was also sporting a mischievous and chipper look, which didn't remind Mina much of mom's cool and collected look.
"Morning…" The older teenager replied in an annoyed, groggy tone.
Her dad looked at her with worried eyes, his black and yellow eyes that looked so much like hers, looking like he was afraid she was about to fall over or something.
"Morning Mina."
She nodded, then stepped past them on her quest for the sweet, brown nectar that would get her blood going.
Finally, she came to the kitchen, where Tomo, her brother's girlfriend sat with a nervous expression, reading something on her phone, as she held a coffee cup in the other hand.
She raised her head up as Mina entered, then perked up at the sight of the pink girl.
"Good morning Mina, you sleep well?"
"I was…"
Then her eyes lit up, as she saw that there was still some coffee left on the mug! YES!
She hastened over, pulled out a large cup, and poured herself some sweet, sweet nectar of Gods.
And lucky her, it was cooled off just a bit, allowing her to just start chugging it all down in one go.
Almost instantly, she began to feel her senses perk up and her mood brightened, as she chugged down the cup of sweet, sweet brown.
Tomo just stared at her as she downed the coffee in one go, then poured herself another cup, with a look that was a mix between fascination and worry.
"... You're way too young to be addicted to coffee."
She chuckled.
"You're never too young to live life to the fullest!"
After finishing her second cup, she decided that was enough for now. She felt, strong, bright, and ready to take on a new day!
"So, where's Ben? Don't tell me he's locked himself in already?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Some of his stocks fell in price during the night, and he's dealing with that since he got up."
Mina's eyes glanced over at a clock their family had on the wall. It was 11.52, so that meant Ben had been at it for almost 4 hours or so if he got up at his usual time.
She shook her head. Ben had been working every day, nonstop for the last 4 months, ever since Tomo had moved in with them. The noticeable bump on Tomo's stomach probably being the main reason for his almost slave-like adherence to work.
"So, how much he lose this time?"
"About 3 million yen or so."
Tomo tried to say it nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal, but Mina still winced.
"It'll be fine." Tomo quickly added, in a tone that was as forced a "fine" as they came.
"He's lost just as much before."
Yeah, but the last time he didn't have a girlfriend who was only 3 months before birth.
Not that mom would ever let them starve, but still…
"Anyway, don't worry too much about us Mina. How are you doing?"
Again?
How many times were they going to ask that question before everyone stopped asking?
She had come home after the whole invasion mess, and with the school being closed for the rest of the week while they changed their security, she'd generally stayed at home, where she had been bombarded with questions from both her dad, Tomo, and even occasionally Ben(Who usually only traded teasing insults and quips with her) about how she was feeling.
Like, she got it, the whole invasion stuff had been really taxing, dangerous, stressful and all that stuff, but the way the three adults in her home acted, it was like they expected her to have a complete mental collapse or something.
The only one who didn't was her mom, who seemed to be the only one who had really got it.
She was fine. Honest. Right now, she just really wanted the school to start up again so she could get back into things, and get things back to normal again.
Not to mention this kinda thing was what she was training for anyway right? Like, being a hero was a nice thing to be, but part of the reason they were so adored was because they actually did go through situations like these.
You didn't make it as a hero if you weren't able to handle a bit of danger.
Mom had gotten that.
She'd had some harsh words about Yuei for letting this situation happen at all, but her mom had been proud of her and how she'd handled herself, and hadn't minced words telling her so.
Admittingly, Mina couldn't help but feel her mom hadn't quite bought that she hadn't played a massive role in taking down Rhino. The way she talked about it and the way it had been written in the news kinda sold her on that.
"Black cats daughter and fellow student defeat the infamous Villain Rhino" Wasn't exactly wrong, but it kinda shifted the majority of praise over from Midori and to her.
Not that those news had been long in the spotlight, as the whole mess that happened afterward had blown away any enthusiasm the news had had about Rhino's capture.
Frankly, it had soured her mood about it as well.
"I'm fine Tomo. Really." She said as she went over to the fridge, fishing out what she intended to eat for breakfast.
Said breakfast was 4 eggs, 3 large slices of bacon, a pack of Sushi as well as 5 spring rolls.
Bringing some butter as well, she began to cook her eggs, while she threw the spring rolls in the microwave.
It took about 6 minutes before she was done, and plopped down all her food on the table.
The sheer amount did not make Tomo surprised, worried, or fascinated. She'd gotten used to the amount of food Mina and her mom ate long before she'd moved in with them.
"Any plans for today Mina?" She suddenly asked as Mina had begun tearing into the Sushi.
The pink hero in training looked up, still chewing the fish in her mouth, got an expression of thought, before swallowing.
"I was planning to head out and hang with some friends yeah, why do you ask?"
"Eh, I was planning on getting some fresh air at Oden's later, and I wondered if you wanted to tag along."
The thought of going to the sweetest soup kitchen she knew was very, very tempting, but no, she couldn't.
"Sorry, but I've kinda agreed to meet up with someone already."
Tomo got an annoyed look, but left it at that, as she returned to whatever it was on her phone that bothered her.
As Mina was finishing her meal, the youngest member of their family, her sister Mika came in.
While Mina and Mana were a mixture between their parents with varying degrees, Mika was as close to their mother in looks as could be imagined without sharing her quirk.
Like Mina she had long flowing hair, her's just as white as Mana's but with absolutely no hint of the big poofy hair of her father.
Her facial structure was also so alike to her mother that hadn't it been for Felicia's blonde hair in her younger days, she would have been a mirror image to pictures from their mom's youth.
The only area where Mika didn't share her mother's look was her build, as her quirk was nothing alike what either of her parents had.
Both her and Mana had quirks that related to luck, only in opposite ways.
Whereas Mana had supernaturally good luck that her mother had always compared to Gladstone Gander, Mika's quirk was instead one that allowed her to inflict horrible, horrible bad luck on whoever she desired, so long as she could see them directly.
Both potentially very, very powerful quirks though less straightforward and practical than Mina's.
"Morning Squirt." Mina said in an affectionate tone, her hand shooting out and ruffling the 10-year old's hair as she passed
Said 10-year old laughed and returned her cheerful greeting before heading out to the balcony, presumably to do whatever it was 10-year-olds did on Sundays.
As she finally finished up her food, put it in the wash, and went back to her room to go grab some clothes before heading out, she passed Mana, cheerfully whistling a tune as she was standing on a chair while putting back all the books in the bookcase she had toppled.
"Need help?" She offered, stopping right behind her.
"Nah, dad told me I had to do it myself." The 12-year-old turned around, looking at her curiously. "You heading out?"
"Yeah, I've got a meeting planned with some friends."
Mana's look got sly all of a sudden.
"So, just to hang out or is it-" "It's not a date" She cut her little sis off, though not harshly so.
"I'm just gonna hang out with Uraraka and some other guys."
Mana's face got a look like she was trying to remember something.
"Uraraka… That's the brown-haired girl, right? The one who's as ripped as mom? Obsessed with food?"
Mana had never had much tact. But Mina could hardly disagree with that last statement. Uraraka had almost cried from joy seeing their dinner the last time she was here, and she had eaten just as much as Mina had.
"Yeah, she's the brown-haired one. I'm gonna go hang out with her at the arcade."
"You gonna be out all day?"
"Yeah, I should be back around six-" She stopped immediately, and narrowed her eyes at Mana's innocent looking face.
"Why do you wanna know?"
Mana in response doubled down on the pure, innocent expression of a green-eyed maiden that had never done anything wrong in her life.
"Just wanna know when you come back, that's all."
"Uh-huh. Well, have fun with the books. Later."
As she walked away, Mana resuming her cheerful tune, Mina decided that she was locking the door to her room before she left. As in, she was both locking the door, then putting stuff so heavy Mana couldn't open the door, even if she managed to get the lock open.
She had no plans of coming home after a fun outing with her friends, only to get pranked as she set foot inside her own room.
She loved that sister of hers, but her love of pranks had made Mina want to throw her out a window more than once.
After getting herself dressed for the occasion, she moved the bed over with just a bit of effort so it blocked the door, then she locked the door. There, let's see Mana get past those!
After that, she opened the window and made sure to take some precautions so the window would remain open. She'd screwed that up once before and come home to a locked window, and no way to get inside other than destroying the lock on the door.
Mom had not been happy about that.
Then, having made sure the window wouldn't close, she jumped out the window out into the void of 3 stories above the ground.
I
When Izuku had decided he needed more experience in using his powers, he had thought the first thing he would be doing would be combat maneuvers, how to use his web, maybe wall-running, which Venom had said was a skill he'd need to work on to really be able to move as he'd like.
He had not expected his first new training exercise to be walking through a crowd with his eyes closed.
It was a… Bizarre experience.
It wasn't like he had some radar sense, that allowed him to "see" everything around him.
Rather, he was feeling the lives around him, their emotions, their souls.
It was an aspect of his powerset he hadn't really thought about, but he had realized how potentially useful it was. Sure, it wasn't perfect, but hot damn this thing would be useful in rescue work.
Being able to feel where people were located would be invaluable in say, a ruined building.
Of course, there were drawbacks. For one, this wasn't a passive power. Not for him at least. Venom felt like this all the time, but Izuku had to concentrate and focus to make it happen.
Then of course there was the training. His first lesson was to simply sit and take in all the people around him on this Sunday in Mustafa.
That had gone just fine enough. The feelings of sensing the emotions of the people around him was a truly emotional experience.
The next step was less so.
"OWW!"
This time he had slammed his head into a shop sign that was on the side of the road.
With frustration, the feelings of the people around him vanished, like a puff of smoke, and it wasn't until he took a deep breath, eyes still closed, that they returned.
Around him, the emotions came back, like torches in the night, if there had been absolutely nothing else existing than those burning flames.
Annoyance directed at something not here. What was it?
Two lovers intertwined, hand in hand. Happiness unlike any else he had felt.
Two other souls, also intertwined, but only one beaming with love, the other a hatred towards the other. Why?
Pity, directed in his direction, many felt it. It was a common occurrence today. He had long ago realized he must look like he was a blind teenager where he awkwardly tried to walk without hitting things.
Why didn't they stop to help, if they thought he was blind?
-You're doing well.- Venom said in his mind.
Izuku didn't answer. People might ignore a blind guy, but a blind guy who looked like he was crazy?
That was going to attract attention of the kind he didn't want.
-You're not the quickest we have seen, but far from the worst either. Generally, our hosts tend to have a talent for this, or they don't.-
He kept walking again, moving past the steel sign.
There were so many people around him. Lives. Human beings.
Old men, old women, young men, young women, children. It didn't matter. They all burned.
The only one who was different was Venom, whose soul was so, so different than any human soul around.
Souls.
God, Izuku had never believed in a deity before he met Venom, not really. He might have sworn by some vague God or spirit, but he hadn't actually believed in things like an afterlife, or a soul as a physical and real tangible thing that existed beyond some vague idea.
Like many things, it was a worldview that Venom had obliterated after their final bonding.
Souls were real, actual things. They burned, strong and true, and in them at least, the old saying that all men were born equal was true enough. All those who felt emotions had a soul.
Whether an afterlife of some sort existed for those souls to go after death, Venom could not enlighten him.
It was as he walked by a house, that he felt an entirely new emotion. One he hadn't felt before.
It was strong, powerful, a strange mixture between love, satisfaction, and that feeling that he was so hypersensitive to above all others, adrenaline.
What was it? There were tons of people with those feelings beyond the walls. What was that feeling?
He opened his eyes to look at this building, where this strange, strange feeling was so commonplace.
As Izuku looked up over the entrance, and read the words, he froze in place. Then, slowly, but surely, the blood once more rose to his cheeks. He felt like he was going to die of shame.
Above the entrance were large, red English letters spelling out two words that were innocent on their own, but taken together had a far different meaning.
Love Hotel.
He wanted to Die from shame.
It wasn't before Venom made some crack about it that he finally woke up, and got a move on.
This time with open eyes.
He had had enough of this kind of training at the moment.
As Izuku moved down the street, hearing the sounds of shops all around, he desperately tried to forget what had just happened.
Instead, he just wanted to find Uraraka, and do something fun, hang out, do whatever. Anything to take his mind off of what had just happened, and the fact that if he wanted to actually master these powers, he'd have to open himself up again to all emotions around him.
Instead, he tried to focus on everything around him.
After the whole invasion had happened, he'd spent the week at home, while helping out at home.
His mother had acted the way he would have expected her to do, with quite a lot of crying out of worry and gladness that he was okay.
It was another level of stress his mom didn't need on top of having to deal with work again.
There wasn't a day where she didn't come home with a stack of documents to review for her job.
Izuku had done what he could to help her out this week, but he could tell that what was at her mind wasn't her work, but rather him, or rather the thought of him going back to school.
There wasn't really much he could do about that. He had no idea how to make his mom feel better about this whole mess. At the very least, she had been really, really happy when he told her he was heading out to meet some friends.
OK, so that was an understatement. She'd almost cried from joy when he told her.
She was way, way too enthusiastic about the fact Izuku actually had friends.
In any case, Uraraka had invited him to hang out at an arcade, along with some other of their classmates.
Izuku, having come to the agreed-upon place 2 hours early just to be safe, had hung around awkwardly at the entrance for a while, just chatting with Venom, before the alien had suggested they spend the time they had left training their senses.
Now, there was half an hour left, so as Izuku once more saw Portgas Arcade, he had expected to have to wait a while yet, for the rest to show up.
As it was, however, he was greeted by the enthusiastic call of Mina, where the pink girl stood alongside Uraraka and Tenya, waving at him.
Uraraka was dressed in the same outfit she had worn during the entrance exam, black training pants, and a jacket with a black t-shirt under it.
Tenya, showcasing what kind of guy he was, was dressed in an outfit that looked more like an off duty salaryman than a teenager out on the town with his friends, wearing a set of perfectly pressed blue jeans, and buttoned-up white collar shirt that just seem didn't complete without a business jacket covering it.
Mina, on the other hand, wore an outfit that made Izuku immediately blush once more, something the pink girl seemed to have a talent for making him do.
Mina wore a set of jeans with legs cut so that they were effectively shorts, showcasing her very toned legs in great detail all the way down to her shoes. Over her upper body, she wore a black t-shirt with the words, Acid-Cat, written in pink English letters. Back behind her neck she had taken her enormous poofy mane, and fastened it in a ponytail, giving the rest of her hair an appearance not too dissimilar to Izuku's hair.
Izuku came to a complete halt, then, after a second of being mentally and physically frozen, he forced his body to move.
His cheeks were still quite red, as he timidly waved his hand back at the three.
Thankfully, it was Tenya who stepped forward to greet him.
"Midoriya! I am glad you are well my friend!" As he talked he motioned towards Izuku, both his hands extended towards him, and hands straight forward, like he was karate chopping the air.
"Y-You guys are a bit early…"
"Indeed! I met up with Uraraka-san half an hour or so ago, and we found Ashido-San here already! How great luck that we are all here before schedule!"
Isuku nodded, the heat in his cheeks fading out slowly.
"So, what games are we gonna play first? We ain't playing music games if that's what you've planned."
Venom asked as he popped up from Izuku's shoulder. He hadn't exactly been thrilled about it and had made it clear he'd much rather they stayed at home watching movies(Or rather he watched them, Izuku didn't usually join him at the couch.), but Izuku doubted he would mind.
Uraraka and Mina both looked puzzled, Mina tilting her head before Uraraka responded.
"Ummm… NoT really, but… Why not?"
"We… We're hypersensitive to loud sounds. It hurts like hell above a certain volume." Izuku explained.
"Whaaat?" Mina said the normally cheery girl got a comically horrified look in her face. "But we were gonna head to a karaoke bar later.".
Izuku, suddenly feeling very awkward, could simply apologize for him not being able to participate at said activity.
Mina pouted for a second, then she immediately changed into a more sad look.
"Well, then we'll just have to find something else we can all do!"
Her cheerful smile returned.
"Anyway, right now we're gonna play some games!" She motioned for them to follow, as she turned and walked inside Portgas Arcade.
"Uraraka asked me to find a team game 4 people could play, and I've got several. So, what do you guys want? Beat em ups, shooter, or tank games?" As she walked, she turned around, and as she walked backwards, motioned towards each game in question.
She was obviously well familiar with the place.
Izuku being Izuku, wanted to ask if they had any hero themed games, but he held it in, given his experience with gaming was almost exclusively with phone games, whereas he guessed the rest of the group had some more familiarity with this kinda thing.
He knew pretty much none of the genres Mina had just brought up, other than the basic concepts.
Tenya stroked his chin. "I would prefer the shooter game personally, what about you two?" He looked at Izuku and Uraraka.
"Sure we can go with that!" Uraraka said with a grin, then she turned towards Izuku, what do you think?"
"Um… Okay," Izuku said, feeling kinda awkward.
"Sweet!" Mina said with a pearly white grin, then she walked over to a console, where there were two sets of screens, one set on each side of the console.
Pulling out some coins, Mina inserted coins inside, and some green numbers appeared on what had been a blank black screen on the side.
With each coin, the number went higher, until it was 20.00.
"Alright, then we have 20 minutes. Should be plenty of time for us to have a great time!"
She flashed them a mischievous and kinda smug grin.
"Let's see if you can beat the queen of this arcade!"
Then she went over to one side. Izuku, not really knowing what he was supposed to do, felt relief when Uraraka grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him over to the other side, opposite Mina, while Tenya went to the other side joining Mina.
"Ever played this kinda game before Izuku?"
"... No."
She looked over at him, worry across her face for a moment, then her face shifted into an encouraging smile.
"Eh, it's not too hard to learn. You move with the joystick, Fire with the gun, which is kinda self-explanatory, and you reload with the red button at the side. Just don't loadout in the open, you're a sitting duck when you reload."
The gun in question was a plastic gun, connected to a small handheld joystick. It also had a wire connecting it to the machine, presumably to power both the gun and the joystick.
As he held it, feeling incredibly awkward, Izuku mentally compared the gun in his hand for the ones that his enemies had used.
No… There was no comparison. This thing was a toy, a thing of plastic, which couldn't be used to harm anyone. Nothing like the guns that had almost killed him back around the new year.
Then suddenly he was snapped awake as the screen lit up, and he was dropped off in a first-person perspective. The words "Eliminate the Red faction" flashed over the screen, then the game started.
He found himself in some Aztec like ruin, the only part of his character he actually saw was the gun that went where he pointed it.
At his side, Uraraka was playing on her own screen, having started by a waterfall, which he had absolutely no idea where it was in relation to him.
One thing he learned was that his character felt… Off. Maybe he was just growing too used to his own speed, but the game had this weird relation with how you moved in regards to the almost twitchy way you turned around.
You moved at an average pace, but you had to be careful with how you turned, cause if you moved the gun too quickly around, you'd completely lose control, due to how twitchy and sensitive the camera was.
He learned that quickly the first time Mina ambushed him from behind.
As the screen flashed red, he desperately tried to turn and fight back, only for the camera to disorient him, so out of his 4 shot, only one hit.
As he died, and the extra life counter flashed down, Mina let out a "YESS!"
As he continued playing, he very quickly learned that Mina hadn't exaggerated how good she was at this game.
Whereas both Him, Uraraka, and Tenya were affected by the disorienting camera turns, Mina instead seemed to thrive on them, having no difficulty fighting back even as she turned.
This made her very hard to handle in an all-around gunfight, but the fact her playstyle was incredibly hyper-aggressive style also meant that if Izuku saw her coming, he could position himself well enough to down her, despite her reflexes.
Still, despite that, when the 20 minutes were up, he had lost 9 of his 10 lives, while Mina had only died 2 times. Uraraka had died 6 times, while Tenya had lost all of his.
Despite losing, the game was pretty fun, especially at the end, where he had figured out the places to hide and wait for his enemies.
Tenya in particular had been incredibly easy to ambush.
As Mina celebrated her victory, the scores from the game flashed over the screen. Then, a short while later, the top scores of the cabinet's history replaced it.
All 10 top spots were claimed by some guy named, the SuperiorParker. Not even Mina's score had reached his.
3 hours later, they had finally gone through all the team games, the arcade had to offer, and wanting a break, they had headed to a nearby McDonald's.
As they walked, Izuku gently clapped Tenya on the back.
The taller boy was in quite a funk, having proved himself absolutely abysmal in every game they'd played.
As they entered the Macdonalds, it was, as one could expect absolutely full, so it took 10 minutes just to get to take their order.
Mina had declared she would pay for all of them, which was just fine with Izuku, not having all that much extra cash to spend.
In the end, he took one of the larger burgers, along with a chocolate milkshake.
Tenya also took a simple meal, but Mina and Uraraka both ordered 3 massive burgers.
Izuku had gotten used to Uraraka's massive appetite but was a bit surprised that Mina ate just as much.
"So, we assume you've frequented the Portgas Arcade for quite a while, Mina?" Venom asked as they sat down, to enjoy their milkshakes, though Izuku let his remain untouched, instead wanting to save it so he could enjoy it together with the food.
Mina, who was slurping down her milkshake looked up, then answered.
"Yeah, I've been going here with my bro, since I was 9." A grin found it's way back on her face. "Been around ever since."
"Your bro?" Izuku asked, just realizing he didn't really know much about Mina's family.
"Yeah, my big brother. We used to come here all the time to compete before he started working."
"I… I've never heard of him, what agency does he work at?"
Mina burst out laughing.
"He's not a hero Midori. He makes a living by gambling on the stock market."
"Oh."
Suddenly he felt like a complete moron. Of course, being a pro hero's son didn't mean you would necessarily follow in her footsteps.
Tenya, apparently had similar thoughts.
"So, he isn't part of the family business?"
"Nope. Not that mom would have taken him in, even if he had managed to get into a hero academy, but he got crushed at the Yuei entrance exam, and didn't try another school."
Izuku stared, and so did the other two.
"Black cat- I mean, your mom wouldn't have taken him in?"
"Nope. She's been pretty clear she has no interest in taking any of us in as sidekicks. She wants us to just forget about that stage entirely, and just go straight out from the academy as full heroes."
Following that, a silence followed, only interrupted by slurping from her table, and the indescribable chatter from the other people in the establishment.
"That's… rather unorthodox of her." Tenya said all slowly.
"What's wrong with being unorthodox? Tons of the really big heroes jumped straight out into the game without bothering spending so much as a year as sidekicks. Mom, Hawks, even All Might. All of them did amazingly well without ever being sidekicks."
"Still, there is nothing wrong being a sidekick." Tenya argued, the insinuation seemingly having woken real annoyance in him.
"My brother has 65 Sidekicks, each of them, a hero in their own right."
"Yeah, and my mom has 27. I never said there wasn't anything wrong with being a sidekick Iida, just that I'm not planning on being one."
Tenya seems to want to say something more, but Izuku interrupted.
"27? I thought she only had 25?"
Mina turned her face towards Izuku, though he didn't instantly flush over as their eyes met this time. That was a good improvement.
"Yeah, she hired on a couple more heroes after the invasion."
"Really? What's their names?" He asked eagerly."
"I… Don't really know Midori, I haven't met either of them. I know they're gonna be using our "silk" though. Dad's been working on two new sets of wrist launchers."
Izuku and Iida, both familiar with what she was talking about didn't need clarification, but Uraraka apparently had no idea what she was talking about.
"Wrist launchers? Silk?" She asked, a curious expression on her face.
"Black Cat uses a kind of white, sticky substance to travel around cities, and in fights. She launches them from these devices around her wrists, forming incredibly long and strong lines, easily capable of holding up human beings." Izuku explained enthusiastically.
"WOW. And that's not related to her quirk at all?"
"Not at all." Mina answered in a proud tone. "My dad invented the stuff a bit after my big bro was born. It's pretty much his one and only claim to fame."
She made a face.
"He pretty much devoted his entire life to the stuff. You should see the lab he's got for it, under the house. Actually, you know what, you can see for yourself, I'll show you next time you're at my place!"
As Mina kept talking, their food was finally finished, and Tenya went to go pick it all up.
Izuku, instead sat back, and just listened to Mina tell Uraraka about how her dad had tried to adapt the stuff for all kinds of things, all without any success.
He had a subdued, but still fully visible smile on his face. Yep. He was getting better at this interacting with the opposite sex stuff.
He'd actually managed to talk to Mina without tripping over himself for the entire day. Even at the start, he hadn't made a fool of himself, despite how close he had come.
As Tenya sat down the food and divided out each person's meal, he was in the process of handing Izuku his, when he stopped, and just stared at Izuku.
Mina and Uraraka, both of whom had been about to eagerly dive into their respective meals, noticed him, then turned to look what he was staring at.
"Midoriya… Are you… Well..?
Izuku looked like he had just gotten high, and was in complete and total bliss, the way his eyes rolled up into his skull. It was an incredibly unfitting expression for anyone who was slurping on a milkshake.
Venom, who manifested on Izuku's shoulder, just made the whole scene worse, as he flat out looked like he was having an orgasm, the way he twisted around. His voice did not help dispel that notion.
"What… what is this Wonderous, WONDEROUS substance?"
"A… A chocolate Milkshake?" Uraraka said carefully, looking down on said brown milkshake like she wondered if mayhaps it was some darker substance in the container.
"Chocolate…? This… This is ADRENALINE GIVEN PHYSICAL FORM! It is HEAVEN incarnate!"
Mina, Tenya, and Uraraka just stared at the two of them, along with everyone around the nearby tables, having turned their head at Venom's voice and it's volume, and all of them were now watching the two of them sitting there in complete ecstasy. At least until Izuku had sucked up all the chocolate milkshake.
Then, he seemingly instantly realized it was empty, and his eyes shot downward in an annoyed look.
Then he stiffened, as his eyes went wide as he stared at the 3 of them. Whatever spell the chocolate had had on him seemingly broke, and reality asserted itself again.
I
Mina clapped Izuku gently on his back in a consoling manner, though her face was one of someone who had so much difficulty not bursting into laughter.
"I wanna die…"
The 4 of them had hastily taken all their food with them and had left the shop to find some other place to eat.
"It's all right Midoriya!" Iida said in a strong voice, with no hint of laughter.
"We all make mistakes and thusly and completely humiliate ourselves for all the world to see sometimes! Our lives do not come to an end from such moments!"
Izuku just buried his face in his hands even more.
"Well… Look at the bright side Izuku. At least now you know never to eat chocolate in public anymore."
"Yeah." Mina barely managed not to make her voice crack. "Imagine if you'd done that in the school cafeteria. Better it happened, here amongst friends."
It was a scene that had been so, so funny, that Mina had barely managed not to roll over laughing.
She was very, very glad she hadn't though. Midori was taking the whole thing really, really hard. The last thing he needed right now was for friends to laugh at his humiliation.
"You really never had chocolate before?"
"Not since… Me and Venom bonded…"
Ah, so it was due to Venom then.
Venom for his part had completely blown off the humiliation, and just wanted to know more about chocolate.
"So, this wonderous thing is a plant? Something one can grow?"
"Yeah, Cacao tree is used for all sorts of awesome things. Like Coffee."
"We must obtain a regular source of this material! AT ONCE! How much does a Cacao tree cost? What is required for it's well being?"
"Dude, you don't buy a whole tree. Chocolate is cheap, so is coffee. Don't you guys have that stuff at home?
"No, we do not! This is a grave error that must be corrected!
Izuku for his part just ignored Venom's outburst, and just kept his head in his hands.
He kept that up, as the rest of the 4 ate, and it wasn't before they were at the arcade again, that he finally managed to bring his hands down.
His face was still blood red, but his expression had calmed down a bit, now just looking kinda aimless.
Well, that wouldn't do at all.
"Hey, Midori." He turned his head to look at her. "Why don't you take some time out here and eat your meal, then you can join us when you're done okay?"
She pointed over her shoulder with her thumb.
"We'll be over at the dark souls cabinet when you're, ready okay?."
Izuku stared at her, then nodded, taking the bag she offered him.
"Are… Are you sure that's the best thing to do?" Uraraka asked as they left him by the entrance.
"Yeah, he just needs some time alone. He'll be with us when he's ready."
I
All in all, Mina thought it had been a nice day, as she prepared to get back inside her room.
She'd had fun along with friends, and despite the rather awkward hiccup at the Macdonalds, Izuku had actually come and rejoined them of his own volition after some time alone. It wasn't THE best outing she had had, but it had been fun.
And tomorrow she would finally get to go back to school. And that would bring an end to this entire experience of being cooped up at home.
Yep. It was all going great.
The finale of the day was jumping in through her window, and since she always took off her shoes before jumping into her room, she wore absolutely nothing as she sailed in through her window and landed feet first on about a dozen Lego pieces Mana had thrown in through her window from the outside.
Yep, it had been a great, great day.
And would be even better when she got her hands on Mana.