"I might as well just go dumpster diving again with how expensive these materials are…"

Muttering to himself, Leizcio was looking through materials on his phone for his project but was irked by its high prices. His mind was thinking about the capture item he's been planning on making.

It was also just a little thing to kill time as he waited for Yaoyorozu. Today was the day that they were going to go to Blink's agency. It worried Leizcio a tiny bit, but not because of the fact he's training with someone else mostly because he didn't really bring this up with Blink so he's just hoping that Blink will be okay with the extra student.

'Wonder what we're going to train this time around…'

Looking outside, he saw that infamous limo pull up and grabbed his backpack, and went out of the cafe, greeted by Yaoyorozu.

"Hi Esperanza, have everything?"

"Yup! And you got the directions I sent you for the place right?" To which Yaoyorozu nodded in response. Getting into the limo, the two were headed off to Blink's agency.

'I'm never going to get used to being in a limo…'

The two exited the limo and grabbed their things, standing in front of Blink's agency.

"Alright, they should be here so we should be fine to just enter?" Leizcio said as he began to walk towards the building.

"Wait, does he not have other staff working with him?" Yaoyorozu asked, recalling that Uwabami had a crew that worked the entrance.

"Well… about all I know is that it's just him and his sideki- uhm, partner?"

"Ohh, interesting!"

The two entered the building and looked around a bit, no sign of Blink or Spectro around.

"Y'know, they're probably in his office, we can probably check there."

"Esperanza?"

Leizcio and Yaoyorozu look behind them and see Spectro with a bag of food in his hand as well as some paperwork in the other.

"Hey Spectro! Here, let me give you a hand with the papers. You know where Blink is?"

"Thanks! And he's probably in his office right now. But uhhhh, who's she?" Spectro asked, looking at Yaoyorozu.

"Oh, she's a friend of mine from UA! I… actually, I'll just explain it when we go to Blink."

Spectro just shrugged and led the two over to Blink's office. With that statement though, it had Yaoyorozu wondering something.

"Did you forget to tell him he should be expecting another student?" She whispered to Leizcio as they were following Spectro.

"Maybe…"

"Esperanza!"

"What? He'll be fine with it! He's pretty laid back for the most part so I don't think it should be a problem.

Entering the office, Blink was looking at a whiteboard that had images of different pro heroes that were all labeled as 'possible recruits'. But hearing the door open, he fixated on Spectro and the bag of food he had.

"Oh, thanks for picking up the food Spectro!" Blink said as he quickly took it from his hands, already digging into his food.

"Clearly hungry huh?" Esperanza commented, grabbing the attention of Blink.

"Kid you're back! And with some other person that looks vaguely familiar!"

"Ah, well, she's a friend of mine from U.A.!" Leizcio said, leaving the rest to Yaoyorozu.

"I'm Momo Yaoyorozu, like Esperanza said, I'm from U.A. as well and he told me that he was going to train with you during the summer for more experience."

"And I wanted to know if you'd be okay with training her as well as an extra student?"

Leizcio and Yaoyorozu bowed, hoping that Blink would give them the green light to let her train as well.

"You know, I think I remember you now…"

"You do?"

"Yup, you made it into the tournament from the sports festival. Pretty impressive I gotta say."

Even though it was a compliment, his odd switch of tone made it come off as cold. It left both Yaoyorozu and Leizcio worried. As for Spectro, he looked like he had a sudden revelation.

"Just drop the act Blink…"

"What act?"

Spectro just sighed and smacked him upside the head, surprising Yaoyorozu but not Leizcio as it wasn't really odd behavior from Spectro.

"Sorry kid, but from what I remember, I think you were the other student that he sent an internship offer to other than Esperanza over here."

"Wait really?"

Blink dropped the act and answered Yaoyorozu's question with a simple nod.

"Well, let's discuss whether you can come train with Esperanza over some lunch, I have no doubt you two are hungry as well!"

Blink got up from his seat and started walking over to Leizcio and Yaoyozou, telling them to come with him to go get some food. Spectro decided to stay behind since he wanted to work on a few things for the day.

"So, are we going to the buffet today?" Leizcio asked, remembering his first day of the internship.

"Nah, feeling like eating some junk food today so we're gonna get some Wacdonalds. You two okay with that?"

Leizcio just shrugged since he was fine with the decision. Yaoyorozu on the other hand…

"I've never been to one of those before, what's it like?"

'Don't tell me…'

"What, not big on Wacdonalds?"

"Oh no, I mean that I've never been to one of these 'fast food' places before."

'Oh…'

"One meaning this brand specifically?" Blink asked, confused.

"None of them actually."

"..."

"..."

Leizcio and Blink stopped walking and just looked at Yaoyorozu in heavy concern.

"W-what?"

"My god did you have a childhood?" Blink blurted out.

"Yes! It's just that… I never really had the chance to try one of these 'fast food' places before…"

Now Leizcio and Blink felt a bit bad for her.

"Well, at least today you'll get to try one of them!" Blink cheered her up a bit.

"And we have the whole summer to go to different ones!" Leizcio added,

"Right!" Yayorozu said, suddenly more excited to try 'fast food'.

"You sure you can eat that much now kid?"

"What do you mean?"

The three returned from the trip and Leizcio had multiple stacks of food as he chowed down on them.

"I still have my healing to an extent. That and I've been eating a bit more lately so it's probably from that aspect I imagine." Leizcio explained to Blink as he bit into a burger.

"Ah I see. So, Yaoyorozu."

"Yes sir?"

"Okay first, you can just call me Blink. Second, I'm sure Esperanza already told you that he'd be training with the same guy in his internships right?"

"Yes, but if I'm being honest, I don't really know that much about you other than what Esperanza told me and how your quirks are similar in the way they could be used."

"Fair enough. But tell me, why did you want to train? Other than Esperanza, most students want to spend their summer vacation relaxing!"

"Hey!"

"Ah I'm just kidding kid. Mostly."

In that little exchange with Leizcio and Blink, Yaoyorozu had clarified her thoughts of why she wanted to.

"I wanted to train because getting the opportunity to be trained by an experienced pro hero isn't something that happens frequently, especially for as long as we've got before we head to training camp. I want to make as much progress as I can before then and strengthen everything, even my quirk."

Blink looked at her with a poker face that neither Leizcio nor Yaoyorozu could see through. He was processing her response in his mind.

"If I do allow you to train under me as well, are you ready for a gruesome regiment? It will push the capabilities of your quirk and strength to high levels practically every day. I'm not here to train casually, I'm here to train past the limits you have now." Blink explained in a serious tone, looking her dead in the eye.

"Yes! If I can get even the slightest bit better, I will put in as much work as I need to!" Yaoyorozu fiercely responded, her eyes lit with determination.

'Never thought I'd see her this excited about training before.' Leizcio thought as he watched the two.

"... Yaoyorozu."

"Yes sir?"

"You can train under my coaching with Esperanza."

"Really? Thank you sir!"

"And again, it's Blink…"

The three finished their food pretty much after Blink confirmed that Yaoyorozu could join in on the training. He dismissed the two and just told them to get ready tomorrow since that was when it would start. With that, Yaoyorozu and Leizcio were back at the cafe, relaxing before she went back home.

"Swear that man can just switch his vibes in like seconds. He almost had me worried there." Leizcio said, drinking some tea.

"I'm just glad he's okay with me joining in on training…" Yaoyorouz said with a sigh of relief.

"Same. I don't think I could've gone the whole summer on my own dealing with his antics."

"...Antics?"

"He's an interesting guy to say the least. One minute he's a nice and laid back guy, the next, he can be a real strict coach."

"Oh, that makes sense."

Having explained that, it seemed that Yaoyorozu had begun to look forward to starting training. At least more than before when they came back, she had a small smile practically the whole time on their way back to the cafe and even now. But seeing that also made Leizcio wonder something else.

"Actually, can I ask you something Yaoyorozu?"

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why do you want to train? Wait, no, that's now how I wanted to phrase it…" Leizcio said, trying to get the right words out. Yaoyorozu just waited a bit as Leizcio sorted it out.

"Right. Do you have a goal for this? Like a specific thing you want to achieve?"

"Definitely. It's not just wanting to make good use of the time I have before training camp but also wanting to get better. I think that if I can become even just slightly more proficient, I'll be more than satisfied. I missed out a bit when it came to internships I think so I hope I can make up for it now…"

"Don't worry Yaoyorozu, I think you're going to get that and more! I don't have a doubt that you'll be able to get stronger by the end of this!"

"I hope so, thanks Esperanza. But I must ask, what about you?"

"Oh, a goal? Well, I do have one but it's… heh, it's kinda unrealistic honestly." Leizcio said with a bit of embarrassment.

"What is it if you don't mind telling me? I won't judge." Yaoyorozu assured.

"... I want to try and get my speed back. It sounds impossible but… it felt like a part of me and now it's just gone. Sure I can use my pulse ability to try and mimic a fraction of it but it just feels like a cheap trick of the real thing."

"Even when I was 'quirkless', something felt off about me and I felt like I wasn't who I was. It almost feels like that again. I'm grateful for my quirk, even if it manifested late, but I want to fight, even if it seems hopeless to try and get that other part of me back…"

'Wow Lei, you sure overshare when you don't think do you?'

Leizcio's own thoughts were running rapidly in his mind, sharing this much with anyone. Practically just dumping all this information on someone all because he got lost on a tangent. And to drop the fact that he was quirkless at one point was just the icing on that disastrous cake.

Yaoyorozu on the other hand was just listening to him, mostly understanding him. But anyone being told that someone with a strong quirk was quirkless at a certain time in their life is a bit surprising. She wanted to say something but it looks like Leizcio was already trying to change the topic.

"Hah, sorry about that! Just kinda rambled there! Your drive- I mean ride should be here soon right? Want any pastries to take with you or anything?"

Leizcio was clearly a mess and Yaoyorozu didn't want to make it worse so she went along with it.

"Sure, whatever you recommend would be fine."

'Oh god, now I have to make a decision…'

"Okay, I'll go get some!"

Leizcio got up and went over to get a bag and tongs to go and look at the selection. It really didn't help that they had a wide variety so Leizcio just thought. Luckily he had something in mind and grabbed some pastries and neatly put them in the bag.

"Okay, I hope you like these ones!" Leizcio said, giving the bag to Yaoyorozu nervously.

She peeked in the bag and was slightly surprised by the chosen pastries. But of course, Leizcio's mind was running on the negative so he thought she didn't like them.

"Sorry, do you want different ones? I can get them quick!." Leizcio said to which Yaoyorozu just shook her head and giggled a bit.

"No don't worry about it Esperanza, these are actually my favorites!"

'Oh thank god.'

"Ah, I just figured that since you'd chosen them a bit more often when we had our study sessions before the finals you preferred these ones. Glad you like them! …Wait, what are you doing?" Leizcio asked, noticing that Yaoyorozu was pulling out her purse.

"I'm going to pay for it?"

"But you don't need to?"

"Esperanza I appreciate the offer but this is for the cafe since it's an establishment and I can't just take it for free!"

"But as a person who is your friend and technically as a co-owner of the cafe, I'm saying that you don't have to!"

"But I feel awful for just taking this for free!"

"Don't! Just consider it as a gift!"

In the midst of their bickering, Yaoyorozu's limo pulled up outside. It took the two a good, solid, three minutes for them to notice that it was there. Leizcio was able to convince her to take them and the two headed outside.

"Thanks again Esperanza for letting me join you for the summer."

"No problem, I'm looking forward to it. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Indeed. Also, Esperanza?"

"Yeah?"

"Whether you have your speed or not, you're going to be an incredible hero. I know that's for sure."

Leaving and waving bye to him, Leizcio was only able to wave back awkwardly. Hearing that felt… reassuring to him. Soon as her limo was gone, Leizcio walked back into the cafe and just headed into his room. He quietly closed the door as he just slowly sat down on the floor.

In there by himself, he stopped fighting the urge to not tear up a bit. He could feel the tears form around his eyes as he just thought of those words.

Words like that are small and don't hold much value to most people. In a way, it would be practically meaningless.

But for Leizcio, it couldn't have been more meaningful.

He thought his speed was integral to him, that it was part of the reason he wants to become a hero. Hell, he even became a vigilante as a way to try and become faster.

While it might've been a part of him, it wasn't why he wanted to become a hero, it was just a stepping stone into that world.

He's someone whose heart is that of a growing hero.

Chapter 52

End