Hello again, readers! I hope that you're all staying safe. I want to sincerely thank you for reading this far, and for everyone who had favourited, followed, and reviewed this story, please know that I have greatly celebrated every one of you, and I'm just so glad that people are liking Koharu.

Thank you so much to Otakugirl1996, , and for your reviews; I hope you've found my replies in your inboxes. To M— thank you for your continued support! I'm so happy that you're still enjoying the story.

Chapter Nine: The Afterschool Club

Koharu's second day of highschool was officially over.

The sun was setting outside, casting the classroom in a soft glow. From her place next to the window, Koharu felt the rays pleasantly warming her and doing their best to coax her into a nap. Reaching her hands high above her head, she arched her back in a long stretch. Her eyes squinted against a pointed sunbeam.

"Gaaah," she breathed out as she released her stretch, winding back down to her desk and dropping her skull atop it with a soft thunk. Someone tittered beside her— it was Tokoyami. Lazily, Koharu turned her head until her cheek was squished uncomfortably against the wood of the desk, her flat, itchy eyes on her seatmate. "What?"

Tokoyami's voice was surprisingly mirthful through his tame expression as he replied, "I think you may have just done more damage to yourself than I did during our battle."

Wincing at his words, Koharu pulled herself into an upright position. "That's not true. You definitely got some shots in," she awkwardly consoled, and bit her lip before she added, "I hope you're not mad."

"Why would I be mad?" Tokoyami asked, either raising an eyebrow or ruffling his feathers. As more of a cat person, Koharu wasn't great at reading bird-people.

"Well," she wearily began her response, knowing that proclaiming 'I kicked your ass' wasn't the most delicate approach to take. "Because of us, you didn't really get a chance to show off your moves."

He shrugged, the movement pulling his crossed arms against his chest. "I wouldn't say that's your fault. If I had been better able to defend myself without Dark Shadow, then we could have overcome your surprise attack. I would say that it was a valuable lesson in my shortcomings." Tokoyami kicked his feet up onto his desk as he leaned back in his chair, balancing on two legs with perfect ease.

Koharu immediately appreciated the level of effort he put into looking cool.

"Hey!" Mina yelled as she jumped into the scene, slamming her palms down against Koharu's desk. She smiled with her teeth as she peered between the two teenagers. "Are you guys talking about your match?"

"Uh—" Koharu's eyes were wide. Where had Mina come from? "Yeah, we were. Why?"

Mina's smile was so dazzling that it brought its own sparkles. "I was just thinking how fun it would be if we all hung out and talked about our matches together! We can get to know each other!"

Kaminari's head popped up from behind Mina's shoulder, the boy nodding eagerly. "It'll be great!" He agreed with a large smile. "We couldn't all speak freely earlier, so now's our chance."

"What couldn't you say earlier?" Koharu asked wearily.

"It was a bit intimidating before," Uraraka piped up, trailing over to join the group alongside Iida. "I still can't believe that All Might is one of our teachers! It really made me want to give it my all."

As they stopped, Iida exhaled sharply through his nose. A hand clutched to his chest before both hands began to gesticulate wildly in front of him. "Tokoyami, I must insist that you remove your feet from your desk! We must show our respect!"

Tokoyami's eyes slid briefly towards Iida, but they landed instead on Uraraka. Iida continued to sputter as Tokoyami said, "We could tell. You fought until you were sick."

Uraraka's pink cheeks darkened with a blush. Her hand ghosted over her stomach as if being reminded of the afternoon's activities was making her feel ill once more. "Oh, yeah…" she nervously laughed. "I guess I still have a ways to go!"

"You were great, Uraraka!" Mina exclaimed, flapping both her hands towards the girl dismissively. "You guys won, after all!"

At the reminder of Uraraka's victory, Koharu's eyes slid over to the door. Uraraka's teammate had never returned after being taken away on a stretcher, presumably into Recovery Girl's care. It was hard to tell the extent of the damage done to Midoriya through the screens alone, but she hadn't thought that it had been so bad that he would be gone for the rest of the afternoon. Koharu had been looking forward to congratulating him.

"Koharu?"

She hadn't even realized that she was standing. It had been Uraraka that called to her, but the entire group had their eyes on her. "Ah," Koharu said, her shoulders drooping. "I'm sorry. I guess I feel badly that Midoriya isn't here for this. He missed all of our fights, and I'm sure he would have liked to hear about them."

Uraraka was nodding, her bright expression dimming into something more solemn at the reminder of their friend's condition. "Were you going to go find him?"

"I think so," Koharu replied as she gathered up her backpack. She hadn't realized that it was her plan, but it sounded like a good one, so she might as well use it. "If he's up for it, I think he'd like to be here."

Mina clasped her hands under her chin with a brilliant smile. "Aw, that's so thoughtful of you, Haru!"

"H— Haru?!" Koharu stammered loudly, pointing a finger towards her own chest. "Is that supposed to be me?"

"I think it's cute," chimed Uraraka, hair bouncing as she nodded her head.

"Right? I thought so!" Mina's head was eagerly bobbing along. "It's a cute name for a cute girl! Don't you like it? Besides—!"

She kept talking, but Koharu's brain had already short-circuited from the words 'cute girl'. She mouthed them back silently to herself, the finger still poised at her chest wobbling. A hot blush began creeping up from her neck.

Someone tittered. Tokoyami.

Koharu's eyes slid to her seatmate, seething. He met her gaze unflinchingly, and Koharu didn't need to know a thing about birds to know the bastard was smug. "I'm going to go find Midoriya," Koharu abruptly interrupted, social grace be damned. Her blush had already reached her ears.

Shaking her hair in front of her face, Koharu mumbled a quick "be back soon" before she scampered away, nearly tripping over her feet in her haste to exit the classroom and ignoring the salutations of her classmates. When the door closed behind her, Koharu patted her flaming cheeks and willed her embarrassment away. She let her feet lead the way as her head stewed.

"I'm not cute," she huffed to the empty hallway, the only sound in response being the patter of her footsteps against the tiled floors. "I'm ferocious. Deadly, even."

"Koharu?"

Letting out a startled yelp, Koharu looked up from under her hair to find an equally spooked Midoriya. His face was about the same shade of red as her own, which wasn't altogether unusual for Midoriya, and he was still wearing his tattered Hero costume. One of his arms was secured in a sling against his chest, and while bandaged, at least the other hung loose.

Feelings of relief helped to stamp down her feelings of embarrassment, and Koharu pushed enough of her hair out of her face to speak clearly. "Either we have to stop meeting like this, or it's my turn to scare you again next," she joked with a hesitant smile.

When Midoriya laughed, his face flared up again and he rubbed the back of his neck with his free arm. "S-sorry about that. I didn't mean to startle you, b-but uhm, I— I heard you talking to yourself…"

Koharu's ears rang as her blush returned full force. Her eyebrow twitched. "Just remember, Midoriya," she started in an even voice. She lifted a finger to wag in his face for emphasis with each word as she declared, "I'm not cute."

Tomato-faced, Midoriya was staring at her with wide eyes.

Koharu did her best not to pout as she wagged her finger closer. "I'm not cute. I'm deadly, okay?"

He gulped. His posture was straighter than an arrow as he squeaked out his affirmation, a loud, "O-o— okay, Koharu!"

"Good," she said firmly, dropping the topic as quickly she dropped her hand. She tucked her hair behind her ear, pointedly ignoring her flushing cheeks. "I was looking for you, actually. I wanted to congratulate you on winning against Bakugou and Iida."

If Midoriya was put off by how quickly Koharu changed the subject, he didn't show it. His lips twitched up into a pleased smile, twinged with enough of his usual humble attitude to avoid being smug. "Well, I wouldn't have been able to do it with Uraraka's help..."

"That's the point of teams, isn't it?" asked Koharu rhetorically, waving Midoriya's response away. "But really, I thought you were super cool all by yourself!" Her eyes, still feeling puffy from the use of her Quirk, shone brighter as she remembered watching the boys' battle. "The way you were dodging Bakugou's attacks, and oh man," she was gushing now, lost in her memories. "When you flipped Bakugou, and then he flipped you back? That was awesome!"

Midoriya was gaping when she looked back at him, his lips parted and trembling to find words. "...you… really think so?"

"Yeah! Of course I do. We all think so."

Emerald eyes fluttered as Midoriya blinked in shock. "A— all? What do you mean?"

"Oh!" Koharu slapped a palm against her forehead. "Here I was coming to get you, and then I keep you all to myself." She smiled, and gestured for them to keep walking back in the direction she had just come from. Midoriya looked to be on auto-pilot as he followed her, his eyes dazed and feet shuffling across the floor.

Koharu's eyes caught again on Midoriya's arms. "Recovery Girl wasn't able to fix you?"

"Oh, uh," he looked down, as if just realizing that he was walking around like a half-baked mummy. "It's because of how much stamina I have. Recovery Girl told me that I would have to come back again tomorrow."

After nodding in understanding and contemplation, Koharu said, "I see. Do you think you'll have to come early tomorrow for that?"

"I, uh, I hadn't really thought about it…" Midoriya responded with a small shrug of his shoulders. He looked quick to regret it when the movement jostled his bound arm, a grimace briefly blossoming over his features. "I don't want to go longer than I have to like this, even if it is my own fault…"

"I can understand that," Koharu murmured as she eyed the boy's bandages. She had never been so hurt, and she could hardly even imagine the pain. She shook her head to get rid of the thought, and offered Midoriya a smile. "I'll come early with you! I'll even bring you a treat."

"What?!" Midoriya yelped, his voice nervous and high-pitched. "K— Koharu— you don't—"

"Nonsense!" Koharu bellowed, borrowing Hizashi's favorite tactic of simply speaking louder over rejection. Midoriya's cheeks, already a light pink, flared red when Koharu granted him a bright grin. "I owe it to you. You totally fired everybody up with that performance of yours, and I got some great notes out of it."

At this point, Midoriya's voice was so high that it was lost to the dogs. Koharu would just have to assume that he was telling her how thankful he was for her gracious offer.

They had already reached the door to their classroom, but Midoriya hardly seemed to notice. Koharu giggled as she grabbed the door handle. "Anyway, you'll see. Everybody's inside; we've all been waiting for you!"

Both of Midoriya's arms raised, his pinned arm doing little more than shaking and pathetically wiggling its fingers. "Wai— wait, Koharu, e-everybody—?"

Willfully ignorant of Midoriya's nerves, Koharu quickly slid the door open with a serene smile. Unlike their first meeting, today Koharu was anticipating the bombardment and she took a step back to let Midoriya enter first.

Kirishima was the first to notice their arrival. "Oh, Midoriya's here!" Kirishima shouted to the scattered groups across the classroom. A friendly grin in place, he was quick to cross the room to them, joined by Mina, Sato, Sero, and a mysterious blond named Aoyama. The group crowded eagerly around a shocked Midoriya.

"Man, I don't know what you were saying during the match, but you were fired up!" Kirishima eagerly praised, pumping one of his fists into the air.

Sero leaned zealously over the redhead's shoulder. "I can't believe you fought evenly with Bakugou! That guy was first in the entrance exam!"

"You did a good job dodging!" added Mina as she bounced in place next to Midoriya.

"You guys did that in the first match, so the rest of us had to go all out, too!"

"It was far from elegant—"

"You did a good job dodging!"

"H-Huh?" Midoriya took a nervous step back. He was halted by a steady hand at his back, making him whip his head around to Koharu. I've never seen someone so red, she thought. With a deighted grin, Koharu pushed Midoriya forwards towards their classmates.

She had a feeling that he would need to get used to the spotlight.