"Yuki! Well this is a surprise! Tamaki, you didn't say anything about her dropping by today!" Fat Gum stood from behind his desk and greeted the two with a grin. "I know you can't technically patrol with us, but I'm sure there shouldn't be a problem with you tagging along for a walk."

"…th-thank you, sir…" She bowed, gripping her bag tightly and chewing at the inside of her cheek behind her mask. Shirayuki had wanted to visit for a number of reasons. It was her grandmother's suggestion that she spend some time with the hero since he had known her father. She felt it would be good for Shirayuki to look up to him like a mentor.

Her grandmother's other reason was that she wanted Shirayuki to be away from the house for a while. The girl's mother had started calling more often; trying to assert her authority as Shirayuki's parent. Her grandmother did her best to tell the woman off, but Hikari was relentless.

"Hey! You don't have to be formal. So are you up for walking with us?"

"…ah…y-yes, I want to walk…with you…" Shirayuki fumbled with her bag, digging in it for a moment. "…um…b-before we go out, though…I wanted to give you both something…"

The girl retrieved two bags from within her bag. One contained small, butterfly-shaped butter cookies. The other contained chocolate cake pops. She felt like her face was burning as she held out the gifts, closing her eyes to try to fight down her embarrassment. "F-Fat Gum, these…are for you." She handed him the cake pops and bowed. "A-And these…are for you, Tamaki."

The boy blinked in surprise and the faint pink hue on his face spread to his pointed ears. Rubbing the back of his neck, his eyes shifted away from her. He reached out with a hesitant, trembling hand and accepted the bag of cookies. "Th-thank you…"

"Thanks, Yuki! These look great, right, Tamaki?"

"Yeah…they're…perfect."

She had wanted to make something for them. Shirayuki felt a little guilty about going to the hero agency. She felt like she was being kind of pushy. I…don't have my hero costume and…I'm not licensed yet. I can't do the same things I did as an intern. But…it shouldn't be a problem. Right? I can still…walk with them like this…in my school uniform.

The sky outside was overcast. A lot of clouds, the air smelling of rain. Despite the clouds, Amajiki still tugged at his hood to keep his face in shadow. He walked behind her and Fat Gum; his head bowed and mouth turned down into a frown.

"Oh! Hey, I remembered some Umetarou stories I haven't told you yet, Yuki! What do you want first? A patrol story or the hair incident?"

"…hair…incident…?" She tilted her head slightly, crimson eyes going wide. Hair incident? Did my father...? What sort of story is this?

His grin spread wider. "Suneater, come up here and listen, too! This story's pretty good!" Fat Gum waited for Amajiki to come up on his right side and casually put a hand on his shoulder to guide him around to the same side as Shirayuki. Now that he could face them both on his left side, he proceeded with the story.

"Umetarou got called in to help with a bunch of troublemakers in a shopping area. He was supposed to have the day off so he was in a pretty bad mood when he got there. I don't think I've ever seen him that ticked off before! He showed up with this serious, angry face and he was in full costume, but his hair was full of little clips. There were little smiley face ones and cat face ones and some bows and ribbons!

"Watching Umetarou fight a bunch of gang members with those clips and bows in his hair was the funniest thing I've ever seen! Afterwards, he told everyone off for ruining his day off with you and your mom. I guess you were doing his hair when he got the call!"

Shirayuki covered her mouth, her hand over the mask she was wearing. It did nothing to quiet her giggling. The idea of her father rushing to fight off bad guys with his hair full of little clips and ribbons. It was so funny that there were now tears forming at the corners of her eyes.

The next story he told was about patrolling with her father. Umetarou kept stopping and going into alleys or crouching down in weird places. When Fat Gum finally asked about it, Umetarou had revealed to him that he had been spotting kittens along their patrol route. He kept picking them up and putting them in the snack bag he had hanging from his belt.

"…my father…was collecting kittens…?" the girl asked, trying to imagine how that must have looked to passerby.

"He always had a soft spot for cats! I remember one time when he went out of his way to climb out onto this ledge really high up because a lady's cat had gotten out of her apartment window. Your dad almost fell, but he was determined to get that cat!"

"He…must have really loved cats," Amajiki shyly joined the conversation.

"Well here's the best part! I asked him if cats were his favorite animal since he was always going out of his way to help them. He told me they were actually his wife's favorite! He knew how much she loved cats so he wanted to help as many as he could!"

Shirayuki stumbled, her eyes going wide. Wait…what? My mother? She…liked cats? Is that…why my father loved cats so much? That's…that's so…The girl bowed her head and tried to hide her eyes behind her hair. Tears were blurring her vision as she let this new information sink.

Since her father's death, she and her mom were never close. Her mother had verbally wounded her on so many occasions and even hurt her physically a few times. This being the case, Shirayuki actually knew few details about the woman's past likes and dislikes. To think that her father loved her mother so much that he took up rescuing cats, and the fact that he had done this for years before he even married Hikari, was incredibly sweet.

"Y-Yuki…are you okay?"

The girl felt a hand gently rest on her shoulder and she attempted to quickly wipe away her tears. "…I…I'm fine…I just…um…I-I didn't know…that my mother liked cats…" Shirayuki's face was turning bright red with embarrassment. "…we're…not close…we haven't been close since…m-my father…"

Fat Gum's smile fell and an arm wrapped around her to pull the girl into a sideways hug. "Hey, it's okay! Sometimes it's hard to deal with grief. People deal with it all kinds of ways and some people just don't know how to handle it. You wanna go back to the agency early?"

"…n-no…I want to…I need to keep walking…so I can learn from you both…thank you…" She was released from the hug and wiped at her eyes again. "…I'm sorry…heroes sh-shouldn't cry…"

"First off, whoever told you that is full of crap! Second, if crying helps then cry all you need to! It's stronger to show emotion than to hide it. Especially if you're off-duty and don't have to hide it. And third; these cake pops are amazing and you're gonna have to bring some more the next time you visit!"

She blinked away more tears and raised her gaze from the ground. To her astonishment, Fat Gum had opened his bag of cake pops without her noticing and was now enjoying one after another. "…I…I'm glad you like them…"

The rest of Fat Gum's stories were pretty funny. Little stories about Umetarou's appetite and one time when they went for food and Umetarou ended up with a huge bill that he had to work off by washing dishes. The area they were patrolling was very peaceful that day so there was plenty of time for them to just talk. At the end of the day, Fat Gum asked Amajiki to walk her home.

The girl kept her head bowed during most of their walk to the station. She was embarrassed about crying in front of him and Fat Gum. She was embarrassed about the cookies she had given him, too. They seemed like a good idea at the time, but now she worried they might have been too sweet.

Taking a seat beside him on the train, Shirayuki tried to take her mind off of the horrible embarrassment. Next time…I'll make something else. Maybe…I could make a bento for him…since he needs food for his quirk. She nodded to herself and started pondering what sort of things she could make for it.

"You have…exams coming up, don't you?"

"…ah…y-yes…we have exams and…the summer training camp…" Glancing over, she saw that Amajiki had his head down.

The boy's dark indigo eyes were narrowed, his whole body tense. "You're…probably going to do really well. But if you need any help w-with studying or…with your quirk…I can try to help."

She felt her pulse quicken a little after hearing this offer and her blush intensified. Behind her mask, Shirayuki could not help but smile a little. "…th-thank you…um…if there's anything I could d-do for you…"

"Th-thank you." Beside her, Amajiki was now fidgeting with his phone. There was a warm hue spreading across his face and to the tips of his ears. A small, almost relieved, smile took form and he lowered his head a little more. "During summer…first years usually have some free time. Um…d-do you have plans already?"

"…ah…n-no…not yet…" she confessed.

"Right. Uh. Maybe…maybe we could…hang out? Mirio and Nejire would probably like to get together."

"…I…I'd like that…" she agreed, smiling more.

The station was extremely crowded when they got off the train and she did her best to stay close, but soon found herself being separated from Amajiki. Someone bumped into her roughly from the right, making her stumble and nearly lose her balance.

"Hey! Watch where you're going! What if I spilled my coffee?!" a gruff voice demanded. A college age young man glared down at her, gripping his can of chilled coffee so tightly that the metal started to bend inward. "Are you gonna apologize or what?! Don't just stand there staring like an idiot!"

A hand gripped Shirayuki's and Amajiki pushed himself between her and the stranger. The boy's narrow, intense stare made the bully take a step back. No words were needed. The older boy looked him up and down before deciding this fight was not worth it. Turning away, he left the two teenagers alone.

"Are…you okay?" Amajiki looked at the girl and saw that the color had drained from her face. "Yuki? He didn't hurt you, did he?"

"…n-no…I just…I was surprised…ah…th-thank you for saving me…"

"No. I didn't actually do much," he insisted. He turned his head to the side, the grip on her hand tightening a little. Not so much that it hurt; just tight enough to make sure they stayed together as he began navigating his way through the crowded station to get out to the street.

The warmth of his palm against hers made her feel oddly safe. She decided to put all of her trust in him and walked with her head down. Why couldn't I just stand up for myself? I can…stand up to Bakugou-kun…sort of. And he's scarier than that man was. Why couldn't I say something to defend myself? It…isn't right to make someone else defend me. Especially if I want to be a hero.

They had been walking in silence with Amajiki still holding her hand. It was as they reached the corner to Shirayuki's street that he finally spoke up again. "Yuki…does your grandma have a car?"

Her eyes lifted and focused on a shiny black car parked in front of her house. The girl's grip tightened on his hand subconsciously and it felt like her heart was dropping into her stomach. "…th-that's…my mother's car…um…I-I don't know…if I can do this right now…I don't know what to do…"

The driver side door opened and Hikari stepped out onto the sidewalk. She was dressed in a stylish outfit. Her pale blonde hair was pulled back in a tight and sleek ponytail. Perfectly applied purple lipstick and eye makeup. She appeared confident and cold as she started up the sidewalk to the house; not yet aware that her daughter was just down the street.

It was seconds later that the door to the house opened. The person who stepped outside was not her grandmother. This was a woman younger than Hikari, but older than Shirayuki. She had long, snow-pale hair and rather pale eyes. She was wearing a paint-stained sky blue t-shirt and gray pants. Thick, painful-looking scars marked her exposed arms and she had a fierce look in her eyes.

The strange woman approached the gate and gripped the bars to prevent Hikari from trying to enter. The teenagers were just close enough to hear the two women speak. Hikari was first, speaking with venom as she crossed her arms. "Oh look. If it isn't the old woman's trashy niece. Don't tell me that she recruited a failed hero like you to try to stand between a mother and her daughter. Honestly-"

"You don't know…do you? To fail at something, you have to try at it first." The stranger smiled sadly and shook her head. "You know…Auntie Sumire is more of a mother to her than you are. You have no idea…how much it hurts…to have a parent abandon you."

Amajiki turned quickly and started walking down the sidewalk with Shirayuki, taking her further away from her house. He was unsure of what was happening, but had a gut feeling that it would be better to keep her away from it. "Do you…um…do you want to…g-get dinner or something? I know a place and…Mirio can probably meet us there. He's better at these kinds of situations."