I apologize for not updating the past few weeks. By the time Friday rolls around I'm just tired and forgetful. So this week will be a double upload if I don't forget to update again Friday.
That said, I hope you enjoy the story.
Izuku sighed when he got another text from Mina. A smile crossed his face when he saw it was some funny image of a cat making a strange face. Izuku took a bite of his omurice breakfast as he sent Mina a gif of goats just falling over.
"You've been smiling at your phone a lot lately, Izu. Did you make a new friend?" Inko said drawing Izuku's attention to her.
Izuku blinked before nodding his head.
"Yeah, I'm honestly not sure how. But she forced me to trade numbers to keep in contact, so I guess we're friends." Izuku scratched his cheek while laughing nervously.
"A girl? Oh, my baby boy is growing up," Inko said crying a waterfall.
"Whoa mom, it's okay mom," Izuku said trying to calm his mom.
It ended up taking quite a bit of time until Izuku got Inko to calm down where he felt comfortable to leave the apartment. Izuku felt a small smile cross his face, he understood that his mom had been worried for a while about him not having any friends. It had only been a week since he met Mina. Izuku ended up choosing a ramen stand that he enjoyed, and Mina apparently ended up really enjoying the spicy ramen. Izuku's leg groaned in pain at the thought of the arcade and DDR they did quite a few times. Mina was truly a skilled dancer to have been able to constantly score high while barely breaking a sweat.
Izuku hopped onto a train and let himself relax into the seat. Apparently, Mina had some family things to do today so they planned to meet tomorrow. Izuku thought this would be the perfect time for a trip to a music store that Izuku liked to frequent. Browsing the news, Izuku noted that villains seemed to be popping out of every shadow to make up for being quiet last weekend. Izuku shook his head as he wondered if he would end up seeing some heroes at work.
As the train slowed to a stop, Izuku stood by the door as he ambled his way out of the station towards the desired music store. The soft sound of pop music greeted Izuku as he entered the store. Along one wall was an impressive collection of guitars, electric and acoustics. An adjacent wall was full of guitar accessories. Towers of amps and speakers were scattered throughout the store. Izuku focused on the stuff in the middle of the store, the album records. A content smile crossed Izuku's face as he began to pick through the albums.
As he was looking at some classic rock albums, he noticed a girl about his age standing by the guitars. She had earphone jacks at the end of her ear lobes, purple hair, and wore punk rock clothes. Being the quirk nerd that he was Izuku wondered how her earphone jacks worked with her quirk. Shaking his head violently, Izuku turned his attention back towards the albums only to return his attention to the girl when a gangly teen approached her.
The teen had several piercings, black hair dyed red at the tips, and wore a studded leather jacket.
Izuku scowled as the older boy cornered the girl and was talking too softly to be overheard. The girl was pressing her back close to the wall, her jacks raised in the air ready to attack. Without even thinking, Izuku immediately made his way over there, leaving behind all the albums he had collected.
"Yo, sorry if I kept you waiting," Izuku said causing the teen and the girl to snap their heads towards him. Izuku thanked his lucky stars that the girl understood immediately and pushed past the teen and wrapped her arms around one of his.
"Ah, perfect. Now we can go get lunch. Let's get out of here." This girl said glaring at the angry teen before pulling Izuku away.
Izuku glanced back at the angry and confused teen who just moved on to check on something else.
The girl continued to drag the two a fair bit away until they were at a local park. The girl finally let go of his arm and looked at Izuku with a deep red face and a shy smile.
"I… I really can't thank you enough for your help. That creep really just came out of nowhere."
"Th-think n-nothing of i-it," Izuku said as he defaulted back to his nervous self.
The girl blinked at his nervousness before letting out a small laugh. Her blush faded away as she stared at Izuku. A coy smile started to dance on her lips.
"Oh? What happened to that confident boy who walked up out of know where?"
"I, er, I needed to be convincing. I-It wouldn't do if he called my bluff. I-it only worked so well because of how quick you were to jump into the act." Izuku blushed a little.
"Well, thanks for being my hero back there," the girl said holding out her hand. "The name's Kyoka Jiro. Why don't I buy you lunch as thanks?"
"Izuku Midoriya, it's nice to meet you, Jiro-san," Izuku said shaking her hand. "Please don't feel the need to thank me. I-I'm just happy to have helped."
Kyoka stared at Izuku with a tilted head for a moment before she stepped forward and linked up arm and arm again.
"You know what green bean? You seem like a fun person to hang with. I got nothing else planned for the day, what about you?" Kyoka said pulling Izuku down the street.
"I-I-I got n-nothing p-planed. I-I guess w-we could go get l-lunch," Izuku said blushing really heavily.
Kyoka let out a happy laugh as the two continued to walk down the path.
000
Izuku had to wonder how he kept finding himself in these situations. For the second time in only a week, Izuku found himself having lunch with a stranger that he ended up helping. At least this time the lunch was katsudon. The atmosphere around the table was awkward as the two sat there. All the adrenaline and false confidence that either had earlier was now burnt out. Leaving the two to eat their lunches in silence.
Once Izuku stopped internally freaking out, his attention was drawn to Kyoka's earlobes. After debating with himself on what to say, as all anti-social introverts do, Izuku cleared his throat bringing Kyoka's attention to him.
"I-I," Izuku had to clear his throat again to center himself, "I-if you don't my me a-asking Jiro-san, what is your quirk?" Izuku said.
Kyoka neutral look shifted into a scowl before she stopped and shook her head. She looked up and saw Izuku's gentle smile and curious eyes.
"It's called earphone jack, I'm able to plug these jacks into any object and it allows me to listen to the vibrations. I have a heightened sense of hearing normally as well. I'm also able to channel my heartbeat into an object to destroy it. Oh, and they are extendable," Kyoka said causing one of her ear lobes to wrap and her chopsticks and pick it up.
"That's. So. Cool." Izuku beamed causing Kyoka to blush her earphone jacks starting to coil uncontrollably. "What do you plan to do in the future?"
"I want to be a Pro Hero," Kyoka said softly but firmly.
Izuku blinked before he whipped out his notebook and started writing.
"I bet you would make an awesome Pro Hero. One that is amazing at search and rescue in urban areas or maybe other places as well depending on your range. You would also be amazing in close-quarter combat since you have essentially two extra appendages. Channeling your heartbeat to destroy objects? Maybe you can get speakers to plug into allowing you to shoot out strong sound waves like Present Mic. That would give you a decent range and better utility." Izuku mumbled softly before he flinched feeling something poke him. Izuku watched as her earlobe quickly retreated across the table.
"That's a bit much now," Kyoka said narrowing her eyes at the now nervous boy. Her expression lightened as a shy smile appeared. "Though, I have to admit it's nice that you think that my quirk would be so suited for hero work."
"Hehe, s-sorry about that. I tend to g-get carried away s-sometimes," Izuku said giving his sheepish smile.
"I don't mind, actually I'm really impressed at how fast you broke down the uses for my quirk. Do you have other similar notes like that in there?" Kyoka said pointing at Izuku's notebook.
"Huh, oh yeah. I got some other of the big-name Pros and local heroes in here too. Er, did you want to look?" Izuku said offering the book.
Kyoka stared at it for a moment before nodding.
"If you don't mind, you piqued my curiosity," Kyoka said accepting the offered book.
Her eyes widened at the detailed analysis and breakdown of each of the hero profiles. Kyoka let out a whistle at some of the really detailed drawings and sketches. Her eyebrow raised when she came across a profile of a girl their age.
"Oh, who's this?" Kyoka said flipping the book around to show Izuku the breakdown of Mina's quirk along with a very life-like drawing that had been colored in. "Is this your girlfriend?" Kyoka's teasing smile widened.
Izuku burst into smoke as his face glowed red.
"N-n-no, I-I m-met her l-last weekend. S-she's j-j-just a f-friend," Izuku said waving his hands about.
Kyoka laughed, "Chill broccoli boy, I'm just teasing you. Though I have to admit you did a nice job drawing her. Certainly, spent more time on this than the others."
"I-I felt like it would be d-disrespectful to not g-give it my b-best attempt when d-drawing a friend," Izuku said calming down to his normal level of nervousness.
"Well, I hope you put in the same effort when drawing me then," Kyoka said handing Izuku back his notebook.
"O-of course," Izuku said beaming.
"So, since you know about my quirk, what's yours? Is it related to your super detailed analysis? Or maybe your art skills?" Kyoka said before she watched Izuku's previous sunshine self deflate. "Y-y-you don't have to share if it's embarrassing."
"It's not that," Izuku said softly, "well maybe a little." Izuku gave a soft chuckle. "I don't have a quirk."
Kyoka's eyes widen in surprise before her eyes soften. She gently placed a hand on top of Izuku's, drawing a surprised yet grateful look from the boy.
"So, what do you want to be in the future?"
"I want to be a Pro Hero, just like All Might," Izuku said with quiet confidence.
Kyoka blinked before staring at Izuku. Izuku fidgeted a little underneath her stare but did not waver.
"So, you want to be famous like him?"
"No. I want to be like All Might because he can because he brings smiles to people's faces just by being there. To give people hope when they feel that all is lost," Izuku said his grip tightening on his notebook. "I want to be a hero that can leave a positive impact on the world wherever I go."
Kyoka could not help but stare in awe at the sheer charisma that Izuku had. One second, he was a shy stuttering boy. The next, he spoke with so much confidence that Kyoka could have mistaken him as a hero. No that was wrong, he was already a hero, at least to Kyoka.
"You know what, I bet you could do it," Kyoka said breaking Izuku out of his trance. "We have pretty similar reasons for becoming heroes."
"W-w-we do?" Izuku squeaked causing Kyoka to laugh.
"Yeah, I wanted to become a hero so I could bring smiles to people's faces. Much like how music does," Kyoka said softly.
"I'm sure you will be able to," Izuku said giving Kyoka a thumbs up causing the girl to chuckle. "S-speaking of music what's y-your favorite band?" Izuku asked.
The two began to get lost in their discussion of music. Large smiles danced on their faces as their lunch got cold.