Chapter Twenty: Surprise

"Ah, shit."

A soft curse escaped her. It didn't go unnoticed by the indigo-haired boy sitting across from her, whose shadowed eyes briefly darted over in mild concern.

"You need to slow down," he pointed out, watching as the dark-haired girl peered at her who-knew-how-many paper cuts. He could have sworn that she had gotten at least ten in the past fifteen minutes or so. Watching her for a little bit, he sighed as he came to a conclusion: Minamoto was rushing through the sorting of paperwork for some reason - he let out an exasperated sigh as his advice seemed to have gone unheard.

Shinsou resumed sorting out the paperwork on his desk, letting out a comment flatly. "You're hopeless."

"Yeah," she agreed amiably, not seeming to have taken the slightest bit of offense. "I like getting things done quickly. Sorry, I'll try to stop getting my blood cells on the paper."

Another piece of paper passed through an already-open cut, and the girl before him resumed her soft stream of curses.

"Why don't you put on your gloves?" He questioned, feeling almost sorry for her by now. The keyword being almost.

"Uh. I tried," she sighed. "But then I won't be able to separate the pieces of paper. I'm done, anyway. Need help with yours?"

Shinsou's eyes flickered up at that, a weary look flickering through his dark eyes as they settled on the short-haired girl in front of him.

He shot down her offer flatly without missing a beat. "You finished early, but at what price?"

"I take that as a no." With a soft laugh, Morie set the sorted stacks of paper on the table. At a small tickle on her hand, Morie glanced down to spot a tiny spider clumsily tripping its way on her hand, seemingly having crawled onto it from the dusty paper pile. Gently brushing it onto a nearby wall, the dark-haired girl straightened up and stretched, a soft crick cracking in her neck.

Thankfully, this was the only time where they would be treated like free labour, for the higher-ups in the Office merely wanted them to get a taste of the other less glamorous aspects of the Hero profession: the paperwork, the costs and the damages. Fun times, indeed - was this why they had a seemingly infinite supply of band-aids back at home?

"You want a coffee?" Dark almond eyes darted to the striking cobalt-haired boy sitting across her. As his head jerked in a curt nod, the girl swiftly disappeared out of the door and out of sight.

Working with Shinsou was an experience indeed. He was meticulous, intelligent and had a knack for conversation, despite his seemingly reserved nature - he was pretty much a model employee in that regard. In comparison, she felt very much like a bumbling mess that was trying way too hard.

At the very least, she had not gotten lost in this building. Not yet, at least.

The pantry was a cosy little space equipped with a fridge, a microwave and most importantly, a coffee dispensing machine. A die-hard coffee addict, Morie could barely resist the temptations which came with free-flow coffee. As she ever-patiently waited for the beverage to pour into the flimsy paper cups, she sensed someone behind her and shot back a glance in poorly-concealed curiosity.

"Hikaru-senpai!" Her eyes widened owlishly as she took in who it was, her cheeks flushing at the sight of the coal-haired male. An overwhelming awkwardness befell her instantly as she struggled to come up with something to say.

Hikaru smiled. The young Sidekick possessed the peculiar quirk Illusion, and had been responsible for the lifelike girl, Tsubasa who had greeted her in the office lobby the day before. A mere prank, or perhaps a test of sorts? Morie did not know, and did not dare to ask.

"If it isn't miss Continental," the black-haired sidekick greeted smoothly. "How's work so far?"

Morie settled into the small talk with relative ease, stuffing another cup onto the dispenser. "Yesterday's patrol was interesting. And Shinsou and I are still sorting out the paperwork - what do we do after we're done, senpai?"

Hikaru's blue eyes seemed to glimmer. "Take a short break after all the papers are filed. Think the program later will be more ... interesting, per say."

A secretive smile spread on his face, and the vagueness was almost infuriating, if not for the fact that he seemed to be such a kind person.

"Need help with those cups?" The black-haired assistant asked, looking pointedly at the cups of coffee in her hands, already moving to get his own cup.

"Uh," Morie shook her head out of habit. "It's fine! Thanks for the offer though."

With a nod towards the young Sidekick, Morie hurried out of the pantry before she lost her shit altogether. Needless to say, she awkwardly balanced three cups of steaming, fragrant coffee in her hands as she returned to the office area.

Shinsou's dark eyes spared her a glance as she hurried back into the room, before he turned back to filing his documents as if the sight of someone balancing numerous cups of coffee was the most natural thing in the world.

"Here you go." Morie slid the cup towards him, plopping down in the chair opposite him.

"So we get a break," she told him, already helping herself to the latte. "So drink up."

Bundling the last of the paperwork, Shinsou accepted the cup with a muttered 'thanks'. Then Morie's eyes landed on him as deliberately, she lifted up her cup towards him. Letting out a scoff under his breath, he raised his own plastic cup and clunked it against hers in sardonic amusement.

"Cheers."

They spoke in unison and a chuckle escaped her; she hadn't expected the guy to go along with it at all. Both of them simultaneously brought their cups to their mouths, and the dark-haired girl took the chance to enjoy the warm beverage in the almost freezing office building.

"Why the third cup?" Shinsou finally questioned, his dark purple eyes sweeping over towards her as he noted then the interesting shade of pink that had dusted itself across her cheeks.

Her voice shook in a bout of nervous laughter, causing her to sound higher-pitched than usual. "I swear, I totally didn't accidentally get a third cup when I realised that Hikaru-senpai was behind me."

"How am I not surprised," he snickered, his earlier look of exasperation returning. Her face as glowing red as Kirishima's hair, Morie brought a hand up to rub at her neck in embarrassment.

It's barely been two days, but I can't count the number of times I made him want to facepalm.

"I guess being in this place throws me off a bit, it feels unreal," inadvertently, she had started to wring her hands together, her eyes taking in the vast space around them. "I feel unqualified to be around these amazing people."

"You're being too self-conscious," her indigo-haired companion pointed out dryly. His paper cup made a loud tap against the table top as he set it down. "Relax. You're here as a Yuuei student, not a hero."

A corner of his lips were rising crookedly now, however, as he brought up his cup once more for another sip.

"Besides," he suggested, dark eyes training onto hers. "If you feel that unqualified, you can always consider handing me your spot in the Hero course." She did not miss the gleam in his eyes and the mock light-hearted tone.

Morie rolled her eyes, but smiled. "As if you'd ever accept a free handout."

"It was worth a shot," Shinsou's shoulders raised themselves in a lazy shrug. The dark-haired girl did not miss the smirk that was curling crookedly on his lips, however, and her eye-rolls intensified.

"Pft," she giggled, bringing her cup of coffee to her lips. "Anyway, thanks for putting that into perspective. I'm rooting for you, man."

"Thanks," the cobalt-haired student responded, his tone laced with self-deprecating humor. "I'm rooting for me, too."

Knock. Knock.

The interns immediately glanced up; a head of white hair could be seen peeking out from behind the door.

"Hey, Yuuei kids. You can head down now."

Calibri, the Paper Hero stepped into sight. They had made their introductions yesterday, and the woman before them was so striking that Morie could not get her out of her mind - with flowing snow-like hair and striking deep red eyes that were not unlike rubies, she was gorgeous beyond words. If she did not know better, she would have thought that the woman before them was an Idol Hero of sorts.

"Thank you ma'am," Morie managed, feeling uncharacteristically shy.

"Geez, don't call me that, it makes me feel so old." Calibri let out a laugh - a warm, delicate sound. "Anyway, any scrap paper around? I'm making my rounds."

"Uh." Startled, the brown-haired girl fumbled towards the pile of scrap paper. Without delay, Shinsou calmly retrieved the pile and passed it to the white-haired woman wordlessly.

"Thanks, Shinsou-kun," Calibri smiled, before her red gaze turned onto Morie in amusement.

The woman bent down as if to get a better look at her. Her smile grew wider and the short-haired girl could not help but notice her sharp teeth, which resembled those of Kirishima's. "You're too cute, Continental! Chill out though, no one here is going to eat you or anything."

With a final wink, Calibri sashayed out of the room, the stack of papers tucked primly under her arm. Her walk was like that of a model's - complete with a confident gait and a slight sway to her hips.

... a pretty lady just winked at me.

Morie nearly fainted. She turned to Shinsou and tried to convey her pure flusteredness, but ended up flailing her arms dumbly. Blankly, the cobalt-haired boy stared back at her, a muted perplexed look made evident through the furrow of his eyebrows.

"What the hell," the Pressure user finally managed to utter out moments later, her face glowing once more. "Dude, she's so pretty! How is that humanly possible?"

Shinsou sent her a deadpanned look. "Minamoto, we literally live in a world full of Quirks."

"I know," she huffed. "But how are you so calm, anyway?"

"Well," the cobalt-haired boy's eyes trained on the disappearing figure of the woman, before glancing back towards Morie with a shrug. "She is attractive, I guess. But fanservice from heroes is nothing new."

"Right."

Morie slumped herself over the side of a chair, now brooding. An idea struck her far too late and she groaned out loud. "Shit man, should've given her the third cup of that coffee."

"Yes," Shinsou was clearly just humoring her at this point. "You really should have."

"Alright, next time!" The brown-haired girl jolted up again, feeling a lot less embarrassed and red-faced. She clenched her fists in a 'fighting!' gesture. "Sorry for the delay, let's go down now."

Her companion followed her out the door, with a sigh and a rub to his neck, eyes landing on the back of his eccentric companion. Morie could almost feel his gaze of Judgement on her back, the exasperation seemingly radiating off him in waves.

Honestly, same. I really gotta stop falling for everyone I meet.

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(,,꒪꒫꒪,,)(,,꒪꒫꒪,,)(,,꒪꒫꒪,,)

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Her mouth fell open in a silent gape at the person who was standing in the lobby. Morie would recognise the guy anywhere, but at the same time he looked utterly ridiculous.

Her hands raising up towards her face, she rubbed her eyes. Once. Twice.

Maybe she had to pinch herself, too. There was no way this scene was real.

"... Bakugou?"

Her voice ultimately echoed out. The dark-haired took a few hesitant steps forward, peering at him in sheer confusion.

"Uh. What the hell happened to your hair?"

Mr Spiky Hair was suddenly an unfitting name for him- all of his spiky hair was perfectly smoothed and gelled down to the side, in a fashion similar to Best Jeanist himself. It looked so laden with hair gel that Morie was almost concerned that he would accidentally set himself on fire. What was even more hilarious, however, was the the contrast between the twitching-eyebrow look Bakugou got when he was highly aggravated and the sophisticated, shiny hairstyle that did not suit him one bit.

(It was almost worth mentioning that he was wearing loose denim jeans with his Hero costume. The wrongness of his appearance was hitting her on all levels. He was in all essence a true walking fashion disaster.)

" - not a fucking word, dipshit," he warned, sending her the most venomous look he could muster, and Morie's mouth snapped shut and she turned away, slapping her hand over her mouth.

If only I could take a picture without him blowing up my phone to smithereens. That would be pure gold.

Shinsou's footsteps fell to a stop beside her. It dawned on her then that to Bakugou, he was the guy who had declared war on their class just before the Sports Festival started.

Shit.

As expected, Bakugou's expression darkened significantly at the sight of Shinsou, who was staring back at him with cool indifference. The slight narrow of his shadowed eyes did not go unnoticed by her.

"... You're the shit who showed up at the classroom," the ash blonde sneered, red eyes narrowing at the blue-haired male. His posture seemed to shift, now tensed up and hostile, his loathing for the other boy being let off clearly. In return, a humorless smile spread on Shinsou's features at his statement as he took a slow, threatening step forward.

"Bakugou Katsuki," came his even response, an unreadable look in his dark purple eyes. "As arrogant as ever, I see."

The tension was skyrocketing and almost choking. Morie, feeling very much caught in between the two, was getting the distinct feeling that a brawl might just happen if she did not intervene: Bakugou was riled up too easily, Shinsou too good at provocations - and both of them were unpredictable as hell.

Walking forward, she lightly brushed past Shinsou as she stepped towards her classmate.

("Contact disrupts a person's focus," her father had mentioned once when he was talking to her about his arts of mental manipulation. "Do it so that your targets only react to your touch on a subconscious level.")

Following which, she stopped near Bakugou, giving his hand a soft nudge. She swallowed down the awkwardness which bubbled within her at the sight of the regrettably former spiky-haired boy, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Hey, wasn't your hero office on the other side of town?"

His red eyes focused on her, and Morie mentally gave herself a pat on the back as she considered the crisis averted.

"It was," he growled. "Before it turned out that Best Jeanist and Coriolis were goddamn besties."

She chortled at that a little.

Somehow, I don't doubt that.

Then:

Holy shit don't tell me that's why Mom brought those denim pants for my last birthday?

"Yes, that's right," her mother chose that moment to state as she stepped into view, and Morie nearly choked out loud. "It's last minute, but Jeanist and I decided on an little exchange - just so you kids will be able experience offices and cultures of different heroes, not just the few you get sent to in your time at Yuuei. Hikaru will be giving you guys the official building tour."

The black-haired male smiled at his cue, before stepping forward from his spot next to the Wind Hero. He flashed them a bright grin before lazily raising a hand in a 'follow me' gesture.

Morie beamed at the black-haired assistant, stepping forward just in time to catch Bakugou muttering 'damn pretty boys' under his breath. Falling into step with Shinsou, she glanced up at him questioningly at the wry look of amusement on his features. It seemed that whatever animosity the boy had held had been cleared - for now, at least - and the small girl hoped that it would stay buried.

"Looks like that extra cup of coffee will be good for something after all," the indigo-haired boy commented dryly, pointedly referring to Bakugou's unexpected arrival.

A smile split onto her features as she mockingly rolled her eyes. "Glad to be of service, then."

"Now, now, stop with your flirting! We're on business here." Hikaru called out metres in front of them. He turned around to shoot them a glance and- oh gosh, was he smirking?

My eyes have been cleansed, she mock-swooned, until the implications of his words hit her. Almost in indignation, her cheeks flushed red.

"Hell no, I talk like this to all my friends," the protest escaped her, eyes wide at the absolutely absurd idea. Then her voice dropped to below a whisper, and a horrifying realisation struck her.

"Does that mean that I've been," Morie slowly swallowed. A hand raised to rub against the back of her neck - maybe she was actually dense, after all. "F-flirting with everyone? Shit."

"You hang out with the fucking Pikachu, but you seriously didn't notice?" Bakugou scoffed out loud, and another flush of pink rose up in her cheeks defensively.

"Don't even- Kaminari flirts with everyone and everything," the dark-haired girl muttered under her breath, glaring at the back of Bakugou's gelled head.

... so I'm actually a hoe.

"Flirting would imply that you are attracted to someone," Shinsou interjected. He sounded resigned, as if he was not even questioning how the conversation managed to take this downward plunge.

Morie fiddled with her fingers, dark eyes shifting over to him in appreciation. "Yes, thank you! I always thought of my conversations as more of... banter."

The indigo-haired boy was evidently bemused as a smirk curled upon his lips. "So you actually think about what you say? I'm surprised."

Her arms defensively flew up and her eyebrows knitted in a scowl. "Ouch, would you stop roasting me for a moment? We're having a debate over the semantics of flirtation. Anything else you have to say?"

Bakugou spun around at that moment. His red eyes landed on her and narrowed slightly.

"I think," his voice came out as a low growl, and she chuckled nervously at his glare. "That you need to shut the hell up."

He walked on ahead without another word, aggressively shoving his hands in his pocket, before following Hikaru up the stairs. She trailed behind hesitantly, before shrugging in nonchalance.

"He tells me that a lot," Morie remarked at Shinsou's questioning look, watching the Explosion user stomp up the stairs. At some point she caught sight of Hikaru glancing back at them with an appraising look, a bemused glint reflecting off his glasses. Morie could only wonder what kind of impression they were making on the young Sidekick.

"Aren't you kind of a tsundere, Bakugou-kun?" The black-haired assistant drawled out loud.

"No way in hell, shuddap!"

Hikaru laughed out loud, before pushing open a door. It led to a modestly-sized training room, with one section cordoned off into a miniature gym.

"Currently, no one's here yet, but this is normally where we train." The coal-haired assistant shut the door as quickly as he opened it, and the group was hurried off to the other facilities in the area. "You can imagine that normal gyms don't really have the facilities that Heroes need."

The trio was then hoarded through different meeting rooms, offices and rest areas before eventually ending up back at Coriolis' Office on the top floor. There, her mother exchanged rather one-sided pleasantries with Bakugou, who in spite of his track record was surprisingly civil - he visibly tried and managed to refrain on exploding when Coriolis made a passing comment about how 'Jeanist had gone overboard with his hair salon treatment'.

When the official tour of the building ended, they were promptly transported to Best Jeanist's agency to drop off Bakugou and to explore his agency as well.

Morie quivered in excitement upon seeing the Denim Hero in person for the first time. Honestly, he somehow pulled off an entire outfit made of denim while looking classy - he was so cool, with the way he was able to make full use of his quirk's versatility. Not to mention, the mysterious aura he had with one of his eyes hidden by his combed blond hair. Perhaps he did not seem as warm and gentle like Thirteen, but he was an impressive presence nonetheless.

"Seeing Best Jeanist in person... " The gush of admiration was let out as she felt moved beyond measure. "Man, I love Yuuei."

Shinsou's dark eyes flicked over to her impassively, though she could tell that he was somewhat amused. "Did you react that way too when you met Coriolis?"

"Duh," she didn't have to fake her enthusiasm about her mother at all. "She's the best female Hero in Japan!"

"What the hell," Bakugou interjected, rolling his eyes. "You're seriously as bad as that Deku."

"S-shuddap," her face turned pink defensively. "Like you didn't freak out when we first knew All Might was teaching in Yuuei."

Morie could tell she hit the nail on the head as the blonde scowled at her, unable to refute the claim.

"Fuck you." The blonde's scowl only intensified at the triumphant grin forming on her features.

"No thanks," the response shot out of her mouth almost by instinct and Morie quickly slapped her hand over her mouth. But the damage was done. Beside her, Shinsou let out a snort and she got the faint feeling that he was enjoying the ongoing shitshow.

Inwardly bracing herself for Death by Explosions, she was met by the sight of Mr Spiky Hair quivering with rage. However, unable to come up with an appropriate comeback, the great Bakugou Katsuki promptly refused to speak to her for the rest of the day.

(Needless to say, her shit-talking had been sorely worth it.)

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t(=n=)

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For the lack of better words, Best Jeanist's place was high-class. Or fancy-schmancy. Whichever was the flashier descriptive word.

Adorned with bright blue windows and a similarly denim-like interior, the Genius Office sat prominently downtown, not too far away from the train station and near enough the center of town which buzzed with activity.

Personally, Morie was grateful for the chance - it was intriguing to draw the differences and parallels between the two agencies and their styles. Best Jeanist's office stood out a lot more in terms of design, its flashiness yet elegance seemed to be reflective of the denim hero himself.

It was also interesting to note that Best Jeanist had a lot more sidekicks than Coriolis, who were notably more open in showing their loyalty (everyone had neat gelled hairdos and denim pants) while back in her mother's agency, it was generally seemed more lax, for the lack of a better word. Morie was sure that she had not met all of Coriolis' sidekicks but for the most part, they seemed to do their own thing. She could definitely see how Best Jeanist and Coriolis complemented each other when they both shared looking after the same town.

After Bakugou was whisked away by Best Jeanist, much to his miffed protests, the duo was swiftly returned to Coriolis' Office. To be honest, they were not sure what was the agenda for the rest of the afternoon, but it was made clear the moment they pushed open the twin glass doors.

"Ah, you're back!" Hikaru materialised out of thin air before them, a shiny grin on his face. They were barely past the doors when he immediately started to push the both of them up the stairs. "C'mon, it's training time!"

They found themselves back in the training room they had visited earlier. While it had been empty the last time, there was now a lone, large man in the gym area who was lifting weights, his bright bubblegum pink hair a splash of color compared to the monotone colors of the gym - eye-catching as he was, the man himself did not seem to pay them any attention at all.

"That's Risk, he's one of the oldest here," came Hikaru's cheerful comment. "Best not to disturb him, he takes his workouts very seriously."

As they stepped into the room, hardly anyone noticed as Coriolis entered the room without a word. Hikaru decided to address them, and her eyes shot towards him as he cleared his throat, as if he was about to tell his life story.

(It wasn't that far off.)

"If you wish to be trained physically in the art of fighting, you may approach me. As you both have experienced firsthand, my quirk is Illusion. For context, my quirk allows me to tailor what you perceive, and for as long as I want," his hands parted. "But like most quirks, mine has its own limitations as well. Crafting illusions is tricky business, not to mention taxing on the mind. So what happens is my mobility just shuts down on me. Short, clear cut illusions are fine - but anything longer than a few seconds though, I'm completely unable to move. In other words, if anything happens, I'm completely defenseless."

Tsubasa, his elaborate Illusion counterpart came to mind. A morose feeling settled in her gut as she realised that even then, Hikaru had been rendered completely immobile. The dangerous implications of not being able to move when one was a Hero flashed through her mind in so many different ways and scenarios. His Illusion was like a double-edged blade, the most dangerous when fully sharpened.

Perhaps Hikaru was used to the looks of alarm directed at him, for he did not dwell on his words any more. Completely unfazed, the man continued to speak.

"My point is - I had to figure out ways to get by without depending too much on my quirk. Especially for quirks which grant you no physical enhancements- " His blue eyes seemed to land on Shinsou in a knowing stare. "- I'd like to drive home the importance of mastering your close combat skills. However, if you wish to hone your quirk, you may approach our boss herself - she's one of the oldest in this field, and if you need pointers or ideas, she's the most qualified to help you."

Morie's eyes landed on her mother standing at the side of the room; Hikaru's words were no longer registering even as he was still addressing them. "Though of course, you're free to talk to either of us if you're seeking advice in any way. Honestly, anything goes. We'll do our best to help you."

The black-haired assistant grinned and looked around, his bold black glasses seeming to take on a manic shine; she missed the curl to his lips as he plucked them off his face and tucked them safely away from harm.

"Any questions? No? Then let's get started."

Unsurprisingly, Morie found herself shuffling towards where her mother was standing. It seemed that Coriolis had thought the same, for at the corner of the room she stood, patiently waiting for her approach.

The duo stood face to face, almost understanding each other without words. Beneath the mask, Minamoto Fū smiled.

"The easiest way to go about this is for you to fight me directly. I won't use my quirk, though I want you to use yours as much - and as creatively - as possible," Coriolis spoke, gesturing to the empty side of the room allocated to them. "We'll exchange our thoughts after the spar."

The older woman dropped her black cape to the side of the room, then straightened up, stretching a little.

"Alright, let's do this."

A telltale clink of metal made Morie realise that the woman was wearing weights - similar to the ones Midoriya wore daily - the difference being that the weights looked a lot heavier than Midoriya's thinner bands. The amount of handicaps that Coriolis was giving herself made her nervous; she was obviously aware of her mother's prowess but experiencing it firsthand was another matter altogether.

"Could you help time us for five minutes?" The Wind Hero called out to her, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Yes ma'am," Morie pulled out her phone and resisted the urge to giggle. It felt like she was at home, agreeing to do the chores. Her mother was clearly having the time of her life as well, pretending that she did not personally know the teen who stood before her. Coriolis seemed to be able to tell what was going through her mind at that moment, for she chuckled out a low warning.

"Be prepared, Continental. I don't go easy."

Hurriedly setting her phone timer, Morie started it before quickly sliding it towards the side of the gym. Without missing a beat, the dark-haired girl fell into position and leapt towards the dark-cloaked Hero before her, a gust of air and dust swirling around her as her arm raised itself in a punch.

"Five minutes start - now!"

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o(*ω*)oo(*ω*)oo(*ω*)o

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It felt like a long, long day.

Morie had barely been able to drag herself back home, even though it was only day two of her internship. She reached into her bag to grab the keys to her gate, but paused when she noticed the all-too familiar little black cat, affectionately dubbed 'Kuro-chan', nuzzling against her ankle.

Pausing, the girl knelt down to scratch the back of his ears, her dark strands falling unkemptly into her face. A wince promptly escaped her as her back felt sore from the effort; the memory of how Coriolis had kicked her down from behind flashed across her mind.

Kuro-chan mewled, his green eyes squeezing tight. He nuzzled against her hand, and the Pressure user suddenly felt like she had been completely healed, inside and out. The cat was just that adorable.

Getting up once more while promising to set out some canned tuna for him later, Morie gave him a final pat before standing back up and wincing all the same. She stepped into the house, and the weight of the day's events seemed to crash down onto her.

"I'm home!"

Morie went straight to the kitchen to wash her hands, noting that it was empty. Then she set down her bag and plopped herself down at the dining table.

"Dad," Morie called out, unsure of where the man was. Vaguely, she could make out his presence upstairs with her quirk. "Does mom have any spare weights I could use?"

"Give me a sec," came his reply, his voice echoing through the otherwise empty house. Moments later, Chika appeared from the top of the stairs, levitating some weighted bands of different sizes. He placed them on the table in front of her, arranging them according to size. Her dad frowned over them, clearly contemplating, and Morie was grateful that he had not questioned her random request. "Think you could probably handle the four to five kg ones at most."

"That's fine," Morie echoed from her slump on the table. "Could I borrow the four kg ones then?"

The man passed over four silver weighted bands, which Morie accepted gratefully. Then, in spite of already knowing what happened, Chika piped up. "You alright, Mori?"

The younger girl sighed. Her dark eyes landed on the silver weights in her hands and she fiddled with them instinctively. "Yuuup. Just got thrashed by Mom just now. I kind of feel bad."

Chika patted her head gingerly, settling down in the chair beside her. "There, there. You'll get there one day. Give it ten years and you could probably give your mom a run for her money." He chuckled as Morie shot him a thumbs-up as she remained face-planted in the table.

"Thanks dad," his young daughter spoke, her voice sounding muffled. "Damn, she really hits hard. At least I managed to pick up a couple of pointers about how air works..."

"Language," Chika chided in jest - though more than anything, he was feeling sympathetic towards his daughter. After all, his wife (for the lack of better words) was a literal, terrifying force of nature. He knew that much, after witnessing her quirk firsthand so many times before.

Poor Mori.

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ლ(。-﹏-。 ლ)ლ(。-﹏-。 ლ)ლ(。-﹏-。 ლ)

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[an extra scene]

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"Hikaru, have you received the documents yet?" Coriolis asked aloud, typing away at her desk. Overtime was the norm in the Hero business, but Fū was hoping to be able to at least make it home for dinner, and hopefully check on how Morie was faring.

"Yup," the younger male refreshed his phone. "Calibri just forwarded them to me a while ago."

A detailed profile for the student interns, he realised. Skimming through them, the Sidekick froze slightly as he reached Continental's particulars.

"I thought it was a coincidence, but you're actually… ?"

Blue eyes jolted up to look at Coriolis in wide-eyed curiosity. The older woman's head jerked in a silent confirmation, before a gloved finger placed itself on her lips.

"Hush, Hikaru," she smiled, dark eyes full of hidden mischief.

Her youngest assistant slumped back in his seat, still somewhat in awe. His reaction caused a chuckle to escape from her as she resumed her work, fingers flying across the keyboard with a certain ferocity.

"Considering that I know you didn't pull any strings to get her nominated, this is pretty amazing," he admitted, fingers tugging through his smooth coal-like hair. The Sports Festival Committee had Coriolis out on patrol duty, so Calibri and Risk had been the ones who highlighted Continental for a nomination (though it was possible that they had known about the girl's identity from the get-go.)

Continuing to scroll through his phone, his blue eyes landed on a picture of a serious-looking boy defined eye bags and bright, indigo hair. "I'm glad the Shinsou kid was nominated, too - you're thinking of recommending him, right?"

"That's right," the older woman responded evenly as a soft chuckle escaped her. "I'll be damned if this kid doesn't get into the Hero course."

Listening to her words, the young Sidekick smiled at the familiarity of her words. There was still something which bothered him about the mother and daughter's surname, however, and it bugged him. It was right at the tip of his tongue, but yet he could not place it into words.

Ah, there it was.

Now that he thought of it, hasn't he seen another 'Minamoto' somewhere in the agency documents before?

.


A/N:

Finally more OC characters! Hikaru's existence has already been hinted a few times by Fū both in SD and in Kerosene Hearts. Calibri is my fav sidekick. I'm not sure if you'll get to meet the other sidekicks, but we'll see how it goes :D I also really enjoy writing out interactions between Shinsou, Morie and Bakugou? Like I found myself a new unholy trinity.

Also about that extra scene; do note that most of this arc was planned 2 years ago. I was set on the theory back then that Aizawa was going to teach Shinsou - I'll leave it at that because I don't want to spoil anyone. And also, Hikaru's quirk was planned out before Camie made an appearance - their quirks have differences, of course, so I left it as similar quirks are not uncommon in the BNHA-verse.

As I've mentioned - this internship arc is based off my own internship experiences. Basically, jam-packed schedule, rushing to places to and fro, highkey chaotic. And feeling lost a lot of the times. I'm sorry for making rie lose a few brain cells this chapter HAHA.

tldr; Shinsou is Done, Bakugou is also Done (rip my spiky hair), and Rie gets beat up, then she's comforted by a cat and her dad.

Do let me know what are you thoughts on this chapter! And thanks for reading (and listening to me babble!)

- C