April 17th, 201X
Momo Yaoyorozu was concerned.
The students of Class 1-A had been allowed a full week off from classwork.
Normally, this would be a godsend for any schoolchild, especially since the first week of classes had only just ended.
But for Momo, it left a terrible taste in her mouth.
"Will Izuku-kun be alright?"
"We won't know until Recovery Girl and the doctors at the hospital have cleared him. For now, just get some rest, Yaoyorozu-chan."
Her friend was hurt.
Her first friend at U.A. was hurt badly.
He wasn't dead, thank goodness.
Apparently, he had regained consciousness a day-and-a-half after receiving treatment, and he'd been discharged a day later.
So that left Momo at an impasse.
She had failed to exchange numbers with him and while, with her assets, finding his home would be child's play, it would also be a major invasion of privacy.
But even so, she really really wanted to know where he stood.
The whole class had been given a week off to 'recuperate' from the villain attack.
She knew exactly what that meant.
[?] Recuperation- The state of recovering from illness or exertion.
The only student that would need to recover from anything physical was The Class Representative.
For everyone else, they were really given a week to contemplate.
Sit down and really think through whether or not they wanted to continue their schooling at U.A.
It was the move that made the most sense.
Within a single week, their school had been infiltrated, sensitive information had been stolen, and their lives were put in danger.
Yes, one could certainly say that if someone wished to become a hero, a bit of danger was to be expected, par for the course.
That argument didn't hold water when one considered the fact that even provisionally licensed heroes had at least a year of hero training before being thrown into a life-or-death situation.
The majority of the class may have come out of the attack on the USJ with mostly superficial wounds, certainly better than some of the villains that Midnight had apprehended, but even then, there was still that… sobering feeling that hung in the air as they were escorted back to the campus.
The officers on scene asked everyone questions, and from the campus, parents were called and rides home were escorted and that feeling still hung in the air.
Jirou had asked for her number and she was glad to give it, if only to briefly take their minds off the situation.
When she got home, there was a feast of all of her favorite foods laid out on the table.
Sweet, salty, spicy, savory, no particular theme or anything like that, just foods that she liked.
She dug in, only aware of how absolutely famished she was when she had a plate put in front of her.
And when she finished eating and bathed, she collapsed into her bed, the exhaustion of the day having finally caught up with her.
And several days later, she was left to wonder who was going to return when classes began the next week.
Jirou had already told her that she intended to return, having discussed with her parents the day before.
She was certain that Iida-san would as well, seeing as his family had likely already made sure that he understood the dangers firsthand long before U.A.
Todoroki-san seemed pretty likely, he didn't seem particularly shaken in regards to the situation.
Bakugou was… loud as ever in the aftermath of the situation so she didn't doubt that he'd be back.
The rest of the class, however, was something of a mixed bag.
In the week that she'd been attending, she'd attempted to get to know as many of her classmates as possible, but only managed to formally introduce herself to a handful.
She didn't know where most of the people outside of that handful stood, but she hoped that she got the chance to introduce herself to them the next week.
Though, as much as she hated to say it, there was one classmate that she wouldn't mind seeing gone.
The ball-headed boy who sat in front of her in class.
She had barely traded more than four words with him, but the way that she had seen him look at her made her skin crawl.
She didn't know what was on his mind, but she was almost entirely certain that it wasn't anything heroic.
But even so, looping around to the issue at hand, she really really wanted to know where Izuku-kun stood on the matter of staying or going.
On one hand, it would be entirely understandable if he chose not continue schooling at U.A, seeing as he and Thirteen-sensei were the ones who were most immediately affected by the attack.
On the other hand, the less sensible and selfless part of her brain said that it really didn't want him to leave.
It wanted to have more lively after-class conversations over the humdrum of delegated paperwork.
Wanted to cringe more at the dreadful wordplay that he'd come up with to more easily remember the key details of whatever particular document he was signing.
Wanted to blush more at the playful flirting that she didn't quite know how to reciprocate.
Wanted to-
Knock! Knock!
"Yaoyorozu-sama?"
She was snatched away from her flurry of thoughts by the soft rap of knuckles at the double doors of her room.
"Yes?"
"Aoi-sama has come for a visit, are you quite fine to receive any visitors?"
Chisato's here?
She hadn't heard from her friend since the month before her entrance exam, what a sudden visit.
"Yaoyorozu-sama?"
"Oh, please send her in."
"At once."
Her father had practically begged for to take at least a short break from the excessive amount of studying and training that she had thrown herself into to better train her quirk anyway, so at that moment, she had nothing entirely pressing to occupy her thoughts other than the thought of what her classmates' next moves would be.
Knock! Knock!
Knock!Knock!Knock!
Tap! Tap!
The strange quirky knock on her door made the ravenette smile.
"Come in, Chisato."
The doors burst open and a blue blur was through them and across the room at sonic speed.
"MOMO!"
As she found herself in the strong embrace of a girl with lovely blue hair, Momo wondered if her friend didn't actually have a latent speed quirk that had activated recently.
Returning the embrace with a firm, but gentle clutch of her own, she decided that it didn't matter at that moment.
"We are simply a call away should you need anything more, Yaoyorozu-sama, Aoi-sama."
"This is more than enough, thank you."
The servant, having delivered a tray of assorted sweets and tea, bowed and made his leave.
"Y'know, I sometimes forget just how rich you are, and whenever that happens, I'm reminded immediately."
"Hm? How do you mean? I like to think that I live a relatively normal lifestyle, heroic aspirations notwithstanding."
Chisato smiled and shook her head, as she took up a macaron.
"Ah, never change, Momo. Never change."
This was not the first time that the two girls had had this conversation, it would surely not be the last.
As it was, Momo had gotten used to shrugging off the strange things that her friend sometimes said and moving on to a different topic.
"So what brings you here, Chisato?"
Chisato, who had taken a huge bite of the snack in her hand, gave her a smile with puffed-out cheeks before swallowing.
"I just wanted to see my friend since it's been a while. That… and I heard about what happened a few days ago."
Ah, of course.
"I didn't hear until today, but yeah, the principal at U.A. released a statement. It's a scary thought honestly, I could feel my heart almost beat out of my chest when I heard about the one student in critical condition. They didn't release any names, so I didn't know if it was you or what, you know."
The girl was starting to speak at a mile-a-minute.
Momo let her talk, she could keep up, and she could feel that Chisato needed to get all of this out, lest she explode.
"So um, I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm glad that I came here today and that you're not hurt or dead or in a vegetative state or anything like that."
At that moment, Chisato seemed so small that Momo didn't know what to do other than hug her again.
"I'm glad that I'm not hurt, dead, or in a vegetative state either, Chisato. Thanks for coming to see me."
For a moment, all was silent as the two girls sat, comfortable in each other's company.
"But, um, Momo?"
The silence was broken by the blue-haired girl.
"What's up?"
"Is the kid in your class who got hurt alright?"
Momo smiled.
Chisato hadn't even met Izuku-kun and she was asking after him.
My friends are good people.
"Yeah. Izuku-kun's fine, Chisato."
The reaction that she received from the girl in her arms was… unexpected, to say the least.
She went stiff and slowly pulled back before looking her in the eye and asking one question.
"Did you just say Izuku?"
And at that moment, as Momo Yaoyorozu nodded her head, she was confused.
Hatsume Family Residence-April 21st, 201X
Twist! Twist! Twist!
Twist the bolt tight, don't let it get loose.
Click! Snap! Clack!
Keep the joints springy, they can't get loose.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Lay the metal down, make the layers thick.
This was her workshop.
This was her room.
She'd been in her room for days.
Working nonstop.
Her eyes were tired.
Her arms were sore.
She was covered in dirt and sweat and grease.
Was it her birthday a few days ago?
She couldn't remember.
It didn't matter, she needed to work.
She needed to get more babies finished so she could get them to him.
He needed more babies.
He'd be safer if she had more babies to give him.
She didn't have enough for him last time, he needed more.
More!
As many as she could possibly make and then even more.
"Mei… will you make... babies... with me?"
More.
"Came to see if you were feeding yourself alongside your babies. Turns out you weren't. Here, open up."
More!
"Well, fine. But if you're gonna be makin' inventions for Izuku Midoriya, you better bring your A-Game. Got it?"
MORE!
CLANG!CLANG!CLANG!
She needed to produce.
She needed to make more.
She needed to make more for him, so that he didn't die.
She was his best friend.
He was her only friend.
She needed to keep him.
She needed to-
"You need some rest, MeiMei."
Her hand twitched.
CLANG! CLANG! TWIST!
She didn't stop working.
"Mei, you need to rest."
Her hands quaked.
She steadied them and kept working.
CLACK! SNAP! CLICK!
"Mei, please. Come on. Let's go upstairs."
A hand grabbed hers.
It was familiar to her.
She looked to her side.
Green eyes and freckles.
Warmth, different from the heat of the machines in front of her, washed over her.
The hand released hers, grabbing the tool in her hand and laying it down on a workbench.
Then, that same hand pushed her goggles up and then moved to rest itself on the small of her back.
And from there, Mei found herself being gently guided up the stairs from the workshop, into her home proper.
She didn't remember closing her eyes, but when she opened them the next morning, she felt more refreshed than she had in a week.
U.A. High School- Class 1-A- April 24th, 201X
Returning to class on Monday was a quiet affair for Class 1-A.
It was understandable, really, seeing that the lot of them had been subject to a somewhat sobering situation.
And it was likely that a few of their classmates wouldn't be returning.
The one who arrived earliest was Tenya Iida, followed soon after by Momo Yaoyorozu.
Next came Yuga Aoyama, followed by Katsuki Bakugo and Eijiro Kirishima.
After them came Tooru Hagakure, Denki Kaminari, Minoru Mineta , and Tsuyu Asui, followed closely by Fumikage Todoroki, Hanta Sero, and Ochako Uraraka.
More and more of the twenty students filed in, some in groups, others solo.
And as they all filled the room, the majority of them broke off into smaller groups, partaking in quiet conversation.
All until a certain somebody that none of them expected them to see slid open the door and slid in.
"What the- Midoriya, you're here!?"
"'Course, I am. We've got class, don't we?"
"Well yeah, but-"
"Ah, don't worry about it, Kiri-chan! Hey, wanna sign my cast? Limited time opportunity, you'll only get the chance today."
"Huh? Well, I mean, alri-"
The redhead was quickly shoved aside by the pink girl to his side.
"I wanna sign!"
"That's the spirit, Mina-chi!"
"H-hey, don't leave me out. He offered me first!"
"Hey, I wanna sign too, Green!"
"Hold on, lemme find a marker, Dekkun!"
"Everybody calm down, just form a nice, orderly line and everyone will get their chance!"
"If you wanna socialize, do it later. Homeroom is my time."
When the freckled greenette turned around, he gasped.
"[Oh my god]! Hobo-sensei, you're upright today!"
Aizawa didn't respond, simply breathing in and holding that breath for a full ten seconds.
When he released it, he simply said, "Midoriya, go see All Might. The rest of you: sit down."
The class at large was cowed, but the young Midoriya simply smiled and offered back a, "Yessir!"
Minutes Later…
"Thanks for agreeing to meet with me so early, sensei."
"Don't mention it, young man. I figured that the least I could do was spare you a bit of time after what happened."
"Stop puffin' your chest out at me, there's only so much time you've got in that form to be wastin' it on a talk between the two of us."
Cough! Cough!
The pro hero deflated, literally and metaphorically. He graciously accepted the pack of pocket tissues offered to him by the greenette in front of him with a quick thanks.
"Right, so what did you want to talk about?"
"Quick to get to business, huh?"
"You've still got classes to attend."
"It's just homeroom."
"Young Midoriya…"
The greenette sighed, but put up his hands.
"Alright, alright. I guess I should start by askin'… Toshi-sensei, how long has it been since we first met?"
The scrawny blonde blinked.
"Eh?"
"How long has it been since the day that we met?"
"Um… a little over a year, I think. Why?"
"Do you remember the deal that I made with you on the day that we met?"
"The deal? The deal, the deal, the- oh…"
"That said, All Might, I'm not the best choice of a successor, I know that for a fact. But if you somehow can't find a candidate better than me by next year, I'll gladly take on the torch and tell the world that I am here."
The greenette smiled, it was cheeky as always, but Toshinori could see something… complicated swirling in the young man's eyes.
"I see you remembered. Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about our deal. Don't worry I still intend to fulfill it, I'd just like to make a slight alteration to it."
Toshinori raised an eyebrow.
"And that alteration is?"
"I fully intend to accept One-For-All, and even accept the title of 'Successor' from you fully, however-"
Izuku stood up from his seat with a small grunt, reaching forward with his uncovered hand and clenching fist.
"-I'll only accept it after I win the Sports Festival this year. And not a second before."
He looked his friend and mentor directly in the eyes.
"That sound okay to you?"
That friend and mentor looked back at and said,
"Of course."
The boy is back in town and will be here every week until this arc is over. Alongside my other projects, of course.