Chapter 20 - The Inventor
Milo and Ashido made it back to their group, with Ashido winning the race and Milo gladly admitting defeat. As for their group, they were waiting in front of two giant steel doors, and there was a sign on the wall that said 'DEVELOPMENT STUDIO'.
"Development Studio." Matthew spoke, reading the sign. "So, this is where your friend is?"
"Yep." Midoriya replied. "If there's anyone I know who can help improve a costume, it's her."
"Nice. Well, what are we waiting for? Less talk, more knock!"
Matthew walked up to the steel doors and was about to knock, when suddenly-
BOOM!
"Yikes!" Everyone yelled, dodging out of the way of the explosion that blasted the doors open.
"I was about to mention that…" Midoriya spoke, wincing a small bit.
"Matthew!" Sunshine yelped, realizing her friend was caught in the explosion. "You alright?"
The smoke cleared somewhat, and they all saw Matthew lying on the ground in a dazed state. Also, there was a girl fallen on top of Matthew, as she crashed into him during the explosion, which explained his dazed state. The girl had long pink hair, fair skin, and yellow eye pupils that had a cross in the centre, like how a scope lens looked. Her attire consisted of red and gold steampunk goggles, a black tanktop, black and tan work gloves, dark green coveralls tied around her waist, and black boots.
"WOO!" The girl hooted, still lying on him. "I probably shouldn't have done that, but what the heck, it was fun! Oh, what do we have here?!"
Matthew shook his head to get him out of his daze and, upon seeing the girl lying on him, said in a nonchalant tone, "Hi there."
"HI THERE!" The girl replied confidently, getting up so that she was now crouched over him. "You new here? I haven't seen you here before, have I? I don't know, I don't remember names that easily, but still-"
"Uh, Hatsume…" Midoriya spoke up.
The girl, Hatsume, looked up and saw Midoryia, and instantly rushed over to him. This startled both Midoriya and Uraraka, who was standing beside him.
"Midoriya!" Hatsume said in an excited tone. "How's my favorite customer doing?! And you've brought your friends! And… people I haven't met before…"
"I remember you." said Ashido, her tone inquisitive. "You were at the sports festival last summer, during the obstacle course, and the calvary battle. You were on Midoriya's team, if I remember correctly."
"Correct!" Hatsume replied. "Mei Hatsume, at your service! And you are…"
"Mina Ashido. Remember? I made it to the finals of the sports festival as well."
"I can't be expected to remember everything! Anyway, who's your new friends, Midoriya?"
"I'm Matthew Noble." Matthew spoke up, brushing himself off. "The girl with pure white hair and skin is Sunshine DeMorris, and the other guy is Milo Shiloh; We're American exchange students currently spending time here at U.A."
"Oh, that explains it!" Hatsume replied, snapping her fingers. "But if you've come just to introduce yourselves, I have no time to get friendly; I have work to be done!"
"Hatsume!" An angry sounding voice yelled from inside the development studio.
The owner of the angry voice came out of the development studio. It was a man with spiky ginger colored hair and a large mouth. He was also somewhat small, and he had large hands, which had orange L-shaped pieces at the ends of his fingers. His clothing consisted of a yellow helmet that looked like an excavator claw and just a pair of cyan colored pants.
"I swear, Hatsume, you're going to put me in an early grave!" The excavator man continued angrily. "I'm gonna ban you from this place if you-"
The man then stopped, upon noticing the seven others standing with Hatsume.
"Midoriya." said the excavator man, his tone now calmer.
"Hey, Power Loader!" Midoriya replied, before turning to the American students and saying, "Guys, this is Excavation Hero: Power Loader. He runs the development studio. Power Loader, these are-"
"The American exchange students." Power Loader spoke. "I know; Aizawa informed me about them. So, what brings you to my development studio?"
"Well, I was hoping to get some modifications done to my hero costume, and Midoriya said that this would be the best place to go." Matthew replied. "You see, my hero costume's good and all, but it's kind of hard to move around in. I need something that provides an ample amount of protection, but also mobility."
"Ooh! Sounds like a challenge!" Hatsume spoke up, her tone excited. "Perhaps I can-"
"Easy, Hatsume." said Power Loader, interrupting her. He then turned to Sunshine and Milo and asked, "You two thinking about updating your costumes as well?"
"Come to think of it, I think I will have a crack at having my costume modified." Milo replied. "Has Aizawa informed you of our quirks?"
"Yep."
"Okay. Well, I need something for my slime, so to speak. I was hoping for some gauntlets that would allow me to store it up for future uses, and also give me a variety of ways to shoot my slime. Stuff like rapid fire, shotgun blast, stream, stuff like that."
"Hang on a second." Power Loader spoke, before going back into the workshop to retrieve a small note-pad. "I'm gonna have to write this down. So, costume with more movement, slime gauntlets, and… what will you have, young lady?"
"A more battle-ready costume." Sunshine replied. "My costume's a kimono and a kabuki mask, so it's not exactly something to be wearing during combat. I would like something that, just like Matthew's request, allows more freedom to move and is sturdy in battle. However, keep the kabuki mask; I think it looks cool."
"Alright." said Power Loader, writing down the last of the requests. He then turned to Hatsume and asked, "You got that, Hatsume?"
"Got it!" Hatsume spoke, her tone excited. "Two battle-ready costumes, and a pair of slime gauntlets! Ooh, I'm gonna have so much fun designing those! I'm gonna add a lot of gadgets and-"
"Uh…" said Matthew, interrupting her. "No gadgets for me, thank you."
"Aww, why not?!" Hatsume asked, her tone somewhat disappointed.
"I've gotten pretty far in my hero career without any gadgets or anything, so I'm quite fine with not having them. Besides, I don't want to rely on gadgets; if they end up failing and I've relied on them too much, I won't know what to do, you know what I mean?"
"Are you saying that my babies are failures?!" Hatsume asked, her tone offended.
"No, nothing like that!" Matthew replied, his tone defensive. "I'm just saying, I prefer to do things the old-fashioned way, you know?"
"Come on, you're no fun!" Hatsume grumbled, folding her arms and looking angry, like a child that was told she couldn't have a toy.
"Hatsume, it's his choice for what he wants on his costume; it's our job just to build it." said Power Loader. "And if he doesn't want any gadgets, then we don't put any gadgets. I'll handle Matthew and Sunshine's costumes, and you handle Milo's costume, as that has gadgets in it. Okay?"
Hatsume still looked angry, but then suddenly perked up with excitement and happiness and said, "Okay, I'll do it!"
"Good." Power Loader replied. He then turned to Matthew and said, "We'll work on your guys' costumes. Now, normally, you would have to fill out a form for costume design and development. However, due to your status as foreign exchange students, the forms are already filled out."
"Alright." Matthew replied.
"And, do you happen to have your costumes on you?"
Matthew was about reply again, but he froze; he didn't think of that at the moment. He then said, "Not exactly. Can you give us a minute or two to get our costumes?"
"Sure." Power Loader replied, folding his arms.
Matthew looked to Midoriya and said, "We'll be back; wait here."
"Got it." Midoriya replied.
After he said that, Matthew, Milo, and Sunshine disappeared down the halls for a few minutes. The U.A students and the development studio team made idle chit-chat for the time they were gone, and soon the American students came back. This time, the American students were carrying the cases that had their hero costumes in them.
"Here we go." said Milo, handing his case to Hatsume. "Three American hero costumes."
"Thank you!" Hatsume said excitedly, as she also took Sunshine's case. "I'll make sure to give you some of my best babies!"
"Babies?" asked Sunshine, a confused look on her face.
"That's what she calls her inventions." Uraraka spoke, her tone quiet.
After handing the cases to Power Loader and Hatsume, and giving their thanks, the group of seven left the doors of the development studio. Power Loader watch them walk down the hall, turn the corner out of the sight, and then turned to Hatsume.
"Hatsume, get the tools!" Power Loader spoke. "We've got some work to do!"
"Yay!" Hatsume cheered excitedly, disappearing into the development studio.
When lunch was finished, the students of U.A were let out for the rest of the day. Class 1-A, along with the American students, went to Heights Alliance to get out of their school uniforms and into their everyday clothes. Since it was spring, and the weather was warm, they all wore light clothing. After getting dressed, the twenty-six students left the dorms and walked to the mall. After a couple of minutes of walking and chatting with each other, they finally made it to the mall.
"Okay, since there are twenty six of us, we will split into groups of two!" Iida spoke up, his tone like a commanding officer. "We'll meet back here around dinnertime! Understood?"
"I think we got it, boss." Matthew replied, doing a mock salute, before turning to the other students and saying, "Alright; find someone you like and buddy up with them."
Class 1-A and the American students then picked their shopping partners; Milo went with Ashido, Matthew went with Bakugo and Kirishima, Sunshine went with Kaminari, Murdock went with Tokoyami, Annabelle went with Asui and Hagakure, and Joshua went with Jiro. After everyone else found a partner, the class then split up and began going around the mall, looking for different and interesting shops to go into.
Milo, deciding to be Ashido's servant while at the mall, allowed her to pick out whatever stores they were going into. So, Ashido mostly picked clothing stores, to which she and Milo both tried on different clothing and had a good time doing it. Afterwards, Milo bought some clothes for her and himself, and they moved onto some more stores. The two then went to an arcade, where they played a couple of games, including a dancing game where you have to step on the arrows. Milo tried his best to keep up, but in the end, Ashido won with her superior dancing skills. But Milo was find with that, despite being tired from it. Afterwards, the two retired to a bench outside the arcade, where they decided to talk and hang out.
"So, tell me about yourself, Shiloh." said Ashido. "Or, is it alright if I call you Milo?"
"Calling me by my first name is fine." Milo replied. "Besides, you let me call you by your first name."
"Alright. So, tell me about yourself. Do you have any siblings?"
"Nope, I'm an only child. Sadly, I never knew my parents either."
Ashido gasped a little and asked, "You're an orphan?"
"Yep." Milo replied. "I was abandoned in an orphanage when I was three."
"I'm sorry, Milo…" Ashido spoke apologetically.
"It's fine; you didn't know. Anyway, the orphanage was my home until I turned fourteen. When I was that old, I heard about Justice High in New York and decided to go there; That's where I met my friends. However, Joshua wasn't there until about two weeks before we came here. I don't know much about him, but I know he's a transfer student."
"Wow, that's sounds like quite the story."
"Yeah. So, how about you, Mina? Where are you at with the sibling spectrum?"
"I have a brother; He's older than me by a few years. He's also an athlete, and he won a good medal in the quirk olympics!"
"Wow, now that's impressive!" said Milo, his tone amazed. "What event did he do?"
"Surfing." Ashido replied proudly. "He's a great surfer, and he holds his own pretty well on a board! You should see him when we go on vacation; he goes out there early and morning and catches air on the waves!"
"Sounds quite impressive. So, why did you want to become a hero?"
Ashido didn't reply right away when she heard that question; she needed some time to think about answer. After half a minute or so, she replied, "People were always telling me that I would make a great hero, because of my looks, my quirk, and who I was. But, I wanted to become a hero to help people; I wanted to stop bullies, and save those who were being bullied. I guess, that's my reason for why became a hero."
"Interesting." Milo spoke, his tone thoughtful.
"How about you, Milo?" Ashido asked. "Why did you want to become a hero?"
"I became a hero, because I didn't want anyone to go through what I went through as a child." Milo replied. "I don't want some kid to lose his or her parents and end up as an orphan, so I decided to become a hero to make sure that doesn't happen. And I know I have a long road ahead of me before I make it as a hero, but still, I have friends who will help me. In fact, they're more than friends; they're my family. I know it's sounds cheesy and all, but they are like my family: Sunshine is like my mother, Matthew is like my father, Murdock, Annabelle, and Joshua are like siblings to me. I would do anything for them."
"You're really close with your friends; I like that about you." said Ashido.
"Thank you." Milo replied. He then said hesitantly, "Hey… I know that we've only known each other for like… four days, if I had throw a guess. But, would you be… my girlfriend?"
"Your girlfriend?" Ashido asked. "You have feelings for me?"
"Yes." Milo said, his tone suddenly becoming nervous. "I mean, I like you; You're obviously very pretty, and very cheerful, it's no wonder why you would make a great hero! And, I know I'm from a different country and whatnot, but still… I'm laying it all on the line, make it or break it. What do you say?"
Ashido was quiet for a few seconds, and then a smile spread over her face as she said, "You're so helpful to me, and you're kind… yes, I'll be your girlfriend."
Milo breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Boy, talk about anticipation; I think my heart was beating a mile a minute right there!"
Ashido giggled when he said that, and she slid over and gave Milo a kiss on the cheek, which made his cheeks turn red.
Milo gently wrapped his arm around her and stroked her hair, saying, "I am so in love with you, pink puff."
"Pink puff?" Ashido asked, her eyebrow arched in a goofy way.
"Uh… it sounded better in my mind…" Milo replied, taking his arm off quickly and turning bright red.
"I like it." Ashido replied, getting up from the bench. "It's a lot better than what Bakugo's been calling me, anyway."
"Really?" Milo asked, also getting up. "What does he call you?"
"Raccoon Eyes."
"Sheesh, what a grouch. But, not to offend you or anything, it does kind of sound cute."
"The way he make it sounds is not cute." Ashido grumbled.
"If you look at it a different way, rather than he says, it sounds cute. Besides, you would probably make a cute raccoon."
Ashido laughed and said, "I probably would, wouldn't I?"
"See, there you go!" Milo laughed.
The two laughed some more and then sighed happily, becoming quiet. As they walked along together, Ashido held Milo's hand, a smile on her face. Milo was smiling as well; he had definitely fallen in love with the pink girl. The two then walked through the mall together, seeing if they could find any of their other classmates and join them.
Author's Notes: So, as you can probably guess, my favorite character of MHA is Mina Ashido (I mean, what's not to like about her, if we're being honest). I've been trying to do some OC / Ashido for this story, but romance is not one of my strongest suits. However, I will keep trying. Also, don't worry if you're an OC / Jiro, because some of that shipping is coming up in the next chapter.
R&R,
Heroboy005