Diana took a deep breath, trying to clear her mind in the shower as the water poured down her body. After their hectic Saturday, everyone returned to Luna Nova without incident, and their Sunday was mundane. The UA boys caught up on work, while she, Akko and Amanda hung out with their usual roommates.

In a considerable improvement, the news of what happened on Saturday's debate eased tensions at Luna Nova. Well, Deku and Todoroki were tolerated, Bakugou still set the other witches on edge. Even the school's courageous journalist Wangari dared not to interview or write about the heroes, fearing how Bakugou would react, making Diana wonder how he planned to deal with the media if he ever became a professional hero.

He was brash, rude and destructive. His flippant attitude towards magic certainly didn't help Diana's first impressions. Yet, she always saw a bit of himself in her. Bakugou was a perfectionist, gave his all, scoffed at fools who thought great power was child's play and worked hard to develop his abilities.

Diana guessed that Bakugou's strength was respected, but his perfectionism made him feared at UA. She could relate to that, and like her, Bakugou wasn't going to apologize for who he was. And now he declared a respect for magic, or at least her, and the feeling was mutual, a feeling Diana realized she appreciated more than she should have.

She still tried to move her thoughts past Bakugou, but to no avail. She tried to think about the shower water. The hot, steaming water that covered every inch of her body. Hot like the flames of Bakugou's explosions. Hot like him.

The memory of Bakugou grabbing Diana during their first broom-flying class together played through her mind. Sure he probably did it to beat her at the task, but she didn't discount the fact that he used it as an excuse to hold her with his strong grip.

Diana wouldn't have minded if Bakugou shared this shower with her now, thinking about him rubbing soap all over her.

Right before she moved her hand across her body to act on her thoughts, Diana heard a banging on the shower stall.

Her eyes shot open, blushing upon realizing what she was about to do. "Yes?"

She heard Hannah's voice. "Diana, you there? You've been showering for a while."

Barbara's voice rang too. "Yeah, you never take this long!"

"Just a second!" Diana cursed herself for losing track of time, all because she had to think about Bakugou in ways she hoped she wouldn't again.

As Diana turned off the water and put on a towel, she swore to herself that she would abandon those delusions. She opened the door and faced Hannah and Barbara, both in uniform.

"Apologies." muttered Diana, trying to forget the last minute.

"Ah, it's okay!" assured Hannah.

"We'll be on time." added Barbara.

"Of course we will." Diana headed towards her clothes to change, but stopped to ask her friends something.

"By any chance did you two actually see our debate on Saturday?" inquired Diana.

Hannah and Barbara glanced at each other, and after a small pause, began giggling.

"I mean, we were gonna!" said Barbara.

"But then news came up that All Might was gonna have his American citizenship canceled so we just had to watch that!" laughed Hannah.

Barbara tried to string some words while hollering. "I mean….he was like the ultimate reverse weeaboo….and he got screwed by the Yankees!"

"Right." groaned Diana, readying herself for the next class.

Deku, Bakugou and Todoroki stared at the array of kitchen utensils before them, the three sitting in Luna Nova's dining hall, with their table even outfitted with special microphones.

Todoroki glanced at Professor Badcock, who was checking notes on her clipboard as if the heroes weren't even there. "Is this why we were told not to eat anything today?"

"Precisely," confirmed Badcock. "You three will be the judges of a variety of magically cooked meals by our witches, each making something from their home countries."

"So our objective is to taste food?" checked Deku.

"Yes, and to give your honest judgment on what they're creating." explained Badcock. "You three have a more important role than you think. Jasminka talks about how she believes mages can reach out by opening magical dining establishments, something I believe is worth the investment. So, to make the best impression, such establishments should only serve food that is well received no?"

"So this isn't an actual class, we're being focus tested for your fucking restaurant idea?" caught on Bakugou.

"Indeed," admitted Badcock, not even bothering to look Bakugou in the eye. "Regardless, cooking food with magic requires a plethora of magical skills, especially now that they're finally allowed to cook more than magical potatoes."

Bakugou laughed. "Fucking really, it's a cooking class and they only cooked potatoes!"

"Silence young man!" scolded Badcock. "I'll have you know those poatotoes are the staple of a true magical diet, especially when I was in the trenches of the great war!"

"Here we go." muttered Todoroki, bracing himself for another flashback.

"The year was 1916," narrated Badcock. "My squadron was on recon in France for enemy magical activity when a young wizard offered to share some of his magical potato salad to nourish us. We all had an unforgettable luncheon, but our momentary lapse in concentration allowed….Jerry….to get the drop on us. I had to spend the next two years in a Hamburg POW camp forced to subsist on nothing but an utterly Kraut selection of Schnitzel, Sauerbraten and three different kinds of Wurst. I came close to MADNESS mastering the courage to ask the chef out on a date when the war ended, but he came out as gay."

"Um, what about the class professor?" chirped Deku.

"Ah, Sucy should be out of the kitchen in a moment, while I'm going to observe and listen to you all from a safe distance behind explosive proof materials." replied Badcock, who skirted to the other side of the hall which housed a hastily put together observation center. Unsurprisingly, she modeled it after World War I fortifications.

The heroes realized why the microphones made sense all of a sudden. Deku checked their function with Badcock and sure enough, Sucy soon exited the kitchen doors while holding a plate she then placed on the heroes' table.

"The fuck am I looking at?" questioned Bakugou.

"Suman," told Sucy. "Basically a rice cake."

"Oh! Rice cakes are great!" chirped up Deku as he quickly grabbed a piece and began nibbling on it.

Todoroki was more hesitant to eat, as Sucy was smiling evilly. "This is potion free right?"

"Nope," replied Sucy. "I had to use magical methods right? Scared to eat a little potion are we?"

"THE HELL I AM!" twitched Bakugou as he grabbed a Suman and chowed it down, too angry at Sucy to give any real criticism about the food.

All the while in the kitchen, the witches were casting their spells and brewing their potions to make their food taste appetizing.

Akko meanwhile was banished to her own section of the kitchen separated from the main portion via another door which she slammed open to complain.

"Why can't I cook with you all in the bright and cheery part? It's a dungeon in there!" Akko moped.

Diana took a break and told Akko bluntly. "Because, you are a walking a hazard when it comes to magic, and God knows what sort of destruction you'll especially bring in an assignment when we're meant to innovate and experiment!"

"And you'll destroy our stuff too!" called out Amanda.

Lotte came to Akko's defense. "But all she's making is ramen in a cup!"

"Watch her screw that up." laughed Amanda, causing Akko to isolate herself while pouting.

Akko slammed the door that separated her side of the kitchen. "I'll show all of them! I'll make the best tasting ramen in a cup ever! Deku will love it, Todoroki will smile and Bakugou will say something nice to me! Then my magic noodle cups will be just as popular as those regular noodle cups those stupid starving college students eat!"

Akko took a deep breath after ranting to herself and stared at the noodle cup, which she had yet to work on.

"Alright Akko, how do we do this again?" she muttered. "Think, a Japanese girl like you should know this! It should be like the normal thing. Hmmmm, did you pour the water first, or make it hot, or remove the lid? Ohhh I can't remember!"

With a sigh, Akko took out her wand and readied a spell. "Well, I always burned myself when my dad made it for me, so I guess you gotta make it really hot anyway."

Akko cast the last fire-based spell she remembered casting, and the noodle cup went up in scorching, blazing, flames

"Oh my God! My noodles are ruined!" screamed Akko, as she ran in a circle without remembering to actually put out the fire.

She was ruined once more. Now the heroes were never going to tase her magical ramen cup noodles and tell her how great she was. And she was bound to fail this class too.

"But," suddenly muttered Akko. "What if, I were to purchase outside noodles and disguise it as my magical cooking. Oh ho ho ho, delightfully devilish Akko!"

Akko exited her kitchen corner and shut the door behind her so no one would discover her mess. Luckily, Diana was too busy casting the right spells to cook to bother with her. Akko had her opening.

Without being stopped, Akko rushed out of the whole kitchen, running past Sucy and the heroes in the dining room.

Ever smug, Sucy herself had been given a bloody nose by Bakugou. It turned out that her meal was laced with a potion that turned their skin green, which he did not take too well.

The heroes noticed Akko running frantically, but paid her absolutely no mind, used to her shenanigans in class. Sucy all the while became the first student to join up with Professor Badcock behind the barriers, still grinning over her experiment working despite her broken nose.

Professor Badcock sighed as she glanced at Sucy, offering her a tissue. She would deal disciplinary action for both Sucy and Bakugou at a later time, and the fallout from the punch distracted her from noticing Akko running to town.

Once the heroes themselves downed their antidotes and had their skin colors returned to normal, a skittish Lotte emerged from the kitchen doors.

Lotte tried not to look at Bakugou and placed a tray on the table the heroes were sitting on, giving them a second to look at what she had cooked up.

"Um," gulped Lotte "I made Finnish meat balls called Lihapullat and I...well...I hope you like it."

"It smells great!" encouraged Deku.

"What is this presentation!" roared Bakugou. "It looks like clods of mud sitting in a miserable pool of caramel ice cream. Your gravy is a watery mess and the fact that I can smell your strong spices ain't fucking great."

"But," chirped Lotte, already trembling.

Todoroki stood up to Bakugou. "I know you think you're a five-star chef, but how about we actually give it a taste before complaining."

Bakugou didn't reply and stabbed his fork into one of the meatballs and took a bite off of it, Deku and Todoroki doing the same.

Deku ate his piece faster than Bakugou to give some compliments to cheer Lotte up, who was sweating in anticipation.

"I really like how chewy it is! Tastes pretty good too." complimented Deku.

Lotte finally smiled. "Oh thanks,"

Todoroki bit his lip. "I'm not the person you should ask to review food, but this tastes like those Swedish meatballs I had in a furniture store cafe once."

Lotte took a breath of relief. "I can live with that."

Then came the dreaded Bakugou's turn to speak. "Clearly these dipshits shouldn't be trusted for anything. Lemme tell you something, I couldn't even taste your beef because remember those spices I was talking about?"

Lotte didn't reply.

Bakugou shoved the bitten meatball in Lotte's face. "That's because you were using them as a fucking crutch since you can't cook meat for shit. Look at this crap!"

"Wh-what?" whimpered Lotte, unable to see what was wrong.

"IT'S RAW!" pointeed Bakugou. "Look how fucking red the inside is? Were you trying to fucking poison me!

"NO!" swore Lotte.

"So, I gotta believe that your skull houses a worthless brain like an idiot sandwich?" checked Bakugou.

Todoroki and Deku began trying to restrain Bakugou, but his words kept leaving his mouth.

"WHAT ARE YOU!" yelled Bakugou. "MURDERER OR IDIOT SANDWICH?"

"AN IDIOT SANDWICH!" screamed Lotte from the top of her lungs.

"GOOD! Now get the fuck outta here." commanded Bakugou, and Lotte ran off to take shelter behind Professor Badcock's Bakugou-proof barricade.

Todoroki finally let Bakugou go and glared at him. "You're a real work of art."

"Appreciated icy hot." hissed Bakugou.

"Maybe you could be nicer next time?" calmly suggested Deku.

"Maybe when they start cooking better I just might." retaliated Bakugou.

Next up was Jasminka, who approached the group with her signature smile, eager to share what she had cooked. Magical culinary class was her favorite of course.

"How is it going everyone!" greeted Jasminka.

"Not bad." nodded Deku.

"Could be worse." shrugged Todoroki.

"Alright, what the fuck are we gonna be eating?" demanded to know Bakugou.

"I love that you're excited!" chirped Jasminka, oblivious to Bakugou's rage. "It's lamb pierogi. I know you three are going to be eating a lot, so I made one of my favorite fast foods for you all to try."

"Oh, you don't think I'm capable of downing all the shitty food you punks are gonna throw at me?" blurted Bakugou.

Todoroki uncharacteristically groaned out loud, tired by Bakugou just looking for an excuse to make himself or others angry.

Jasminka however, remained unmoved. "So you can eat a lot too? That's amazing! I guess we have something in common, so next time I'll cook more for you."

Bakugou scowled, while Deku and Todoroki lightly grinned at his anger.

Todoroki took the initiative and grabbed a pierogi. "Hope it's as good as it smells."

"I think it will." chuckled Deku, doing the same.

Bakugou munched on his too, trying to browbeat Jasminka into dropping her eyes closed smile, but to no avail.

After eating Jasminka's dish, the boys decided to hash out their thoughts.

Todoroki went first. "It was decent. I'm too used to dumplings from my home though."

"Oh, I don't blame you, Japanese dumplings are amazing!" understood Jasminka.

"Well, I think Russia and you did a great job!" beamed Deku.

Bakugou slammed his hands on the table. "Listen, I ain't gonna be a fucking softy on you."

"No worries, I need to improve of course!" agreed Jasminka.

Bakugou took a deep breath. "I'll give you this. The meat inside was cooked perfectly, everything was spiced right, the temperature was great and your dough's extra crisp was not bad at all. BUT, you wanna know what you fucked up!"

"What?" inquired Jasminka.

"WHERE THE FUCK IS THE LAMB SAUCE! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO EAT ANYTHING LAMB RELATED WITHOUT IT!" raged Bakugou, smoke coming out of his nostrils.

Jasminka laughed. "Ah, it's not necessary for these pierogies, but everyone's taste is different. So maybe I'll try to make it with lamb sauce for you next time?"

"DOES ANYTHING BOTHER YOU?!" screeched Bakugou, who was almost pleading for her to get angry at that moment.

Jasminka still smiled. "Well, when I'm feeling down I like to make and eat some of my pierogies. It's real comfort food."

"Didn't work on him." muttered Todoroki.

A few witches later, it was Diana's turn to have her food judged by the less than stellar jury. It was evident that there was no real lesson to be learned other than magically tasting food just ending up like the conventional thing. Regardless, when Diana strutted out of the kitchen, she only had the intention to show off what she believed was perfection.

At first, the heroes saw her bring only what appeared to be a loaf of bread or pastry, which seemed too simple for Diana especially. Regardless, she appeared to have been rather proud of what she was about to serve. They guessed correctly that there was more to her meal than what meets the eye, and figured she made beef wellington.

She began setting up the meal, using her magic to levitate the plates and utensils for the heroes to use. They themselves waited in anticipation to try whatever she made, hoping it was as appetizing as it smelled and looked.

Diana looked serious about the presentation and began inspecting the beef wellington for any part that didn't align to her tastes like it was a prized artifact in a museum.

Bakugou took the time notice that Diana was humming once again as she made the final touches. Granted, it was for a briefer period compared to last time as Diana wrapped up everything, but Bakugou enjoyed it nonetheless.

He even noticed that Diana's frame had changed quite a bit since Monday, evidently having taken up his advice to work out a bit. Since chasing the witches on the broom flying courses always tired the heroes out, they never had a chance to check out the gym. Regardless, she didn't look like she was at Amanda's level, but she was getting there.

Before he could dwell on her appearance, Diana literally snapped Bakugou back to reality with the flick of her fingers as she announced her dish.

"I present to you three the finest British beef wellington magic can cook." haughtily said Diana.

Via magic, she controlled a fork and knife to cut a portion of the beef wellington to reveal the juicy and tender steak underneath it. The fact that she had her eyes closed and used her wand instead of her hands to utilize the fork and knife made the entire thing far more uptight and snobbish than it needed to be, but the heroes found it charming nonetheless.

Inside the loaf was a steak whose cut revealed a nice pinkish center. Taking their own forks and knives, the heroes began diving the beef wellington amongst themselves.

Diana all the while stared at them like a mother watching her children eat their food, and a chef awaiting inevitable praise.

One they finished, the heroes looked at Diana and tried putting their thoughts together. She raised an eyebrow, hoping to hear some good words, and the heroes knew what she expected.

Todoroki shrugged. "Can't say much. Kinda like those pierogies we had with Jasminka."

"Yeah, I don't really know how to judge since I've never had anything like it before." muttered Deku.

"Ignore those two assholes!" ordered Bakugou, standing up tall and looking Diana in the eye, catching her off guard.

Diana's own eyes widened as she stared at Bakugou, guessing that he was about to deliver a major rant at her, right when she was starting to like him.

Bakugou paused before speaking, building up tension. "Diana, let me be honest when I say that your beef wellington was the best fucking thing I've eaten all year."

Everyone's mouths dropped. It was so vulgar, and yet perhaps the greatest compliment Bakugou would give that day. Diana almost forgot to breathe when she heard those words.

He continued. "The beef inside was perfect. You knew how well it should have been cooked, the spices were great, and you clearly used some fucking beef sauce appropriately unlike that ass Jasminka. The pastry around it was also so fucking fluffy and crisp, the best combo possible. Honestly? I'd fucking kill to eat more of it."

Diana gasped, her face turning red. As odd as he put it, Bakugou's praise got to her, making her smile like she never did before. Truth be told though, most of that smile came from Bakugou's rather hammy delivery.

Even then, Bakugou wasn't exactly as enamored by Diana's cooking as much as he made it out to be, but he just had the sudden urge to go ballistic with his compliments to see if he could win Diana's smile, and he did.

All the while from the makeshift hero-proof shelter and pseudo-trench, the huddled witches and Badcock listened in on the conversation while also spying on the scene from a safe distance.

Lotte said what was all on their mind. "Oh my God, they're totally in love."

Hannah and Barbara pouted. They knew Diana was now on good terms with the heroes, but they refused to believe there was anything more.

"No way!" chided Hannah. "Our Diana would NEVER fall for someone like that demon."

"And it's not like Bakugou can even feel what love is!" yelled Barbara.

"Oh please," joined in Badcock, who was reading some romance novel, having given up on the heroes giving any real criticism. "They were doomed to fall in love since day one."

"Huh?" went every witch observing her.

"Think about it." sighed Badcock. "What do you notice about Deku, Todoroki and Bakugou?"

"That we're doomed if they're the next generation of top heroes?" muttered Sucy.

Badcock shook her head. "Akko, Amanda and Diana are the only ones who those three fools even remotely have a chance with. Bakugou and Diana's giant egos cancel each other out and I'm afraid they're the only ones on Earth who can look past their vicious glares for more than a second to appreciate the twisted beauty underneath. It's a matchmaking of prideful perfectionists."

Hannah and Barbara glanced at each other in despair.

Badcock shook her head. "Search your feelings, you know it to be true. For all of his earlier bravado against magic, most boys can't resist the allure of dating a magical witch. I'm sure she's tapping into one of his hidden fantasies."

"Ohh what about Todoroki and Amanda?" chirped Jasminka.

"Todoroki is a man of contrasts, and Amanda exemplifies that," said Badcock. "She can act like the most refined and graceful woman on Earth, but that's all her front for the fiery trickster she is. Besides, Todoroki would be utterly boring to deal with on dates, whereas Amanda can make anything remotely interesting, and I say the more boring it is, the more she'll try to make something out of it. That, and they always act like they're too good to care about anything."

"And Akko and Deku?" inquired Lotte.

"Easy!" laughed Badcock. "Both are passionate and obsess over their idols. Truth be told, Akko is lucky she has Deku to herself here. His pathetic look is what drives the ladies in Japan crazy these days, so Akko doesn't have to fear about confessing without a thousand Japanese love rivals ripping her apart."

"I'll disagree one thing though." piped up Sucy.

"And what's that?" checked Badcock.

"Akko lacks brain cells, while Deku is socially screwed." remarked Sucy.

Badcock nodded. "I agree! In any case, I expect those six young ones to get over their denial within a week."

Just then, the witches observed Diana heading towards the observation point, still flustered from Bakugou's exaggerated praise. As she approached, they silently knew not to discuss anything with her regarding her feelings.

After a few more witches went by it was then Amanda's turn to show off what she had, making her way to the boys while carrying a plate filled with hot proteins and bread toasted to perfection. The heroes smelled what had to be a breakfast fry they heard was popular in this part of Europe, and they were about to be proven right.

A smug grin on her face, Amanda placed the hot dish on the dining table. "All right boys, let's get to the good stuff. One full breakfast loaded with fried eggs and meat, some sweet beans, juicy cherry tomatoes and mushrooms, all rounded up with some crisp toast. What do you think?"

"We need to try it first dumbass." hissed Bakugou.

"Great presentation though." encouraged Deku.

Todoroki wanted to give her a bit more praise. "I agree, it looks simple, but delicious and efficient for filling you up."

Amanda nodded. "Makes it easier on my end since while the others were whacking out every spell they know to make something fancy, all I really gotta do is load up the burning magic."

The heroes were about to eat, only to jerk their heads to the sound of loud footsteps.

"Hold it!" yelled Diana, marching on over to the heroes and Amanda before anyone could take a bite.

"What's with you?" frowned Amanda, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you were supposed to cook something traditional, from YOUR homeland, am I right?" sarcastically remarked Diana.

"That's why I made an Irish full breakfast." glared Amanda.

Diana gave a fake laugh. "That's ridiculous, because last time I checked, the full breakfast is a staple of British cuisine, not Ireland's!"

Amanda rolled her eyes. "Not this again! What I made is pure Gaelic goodness with none of your Anglo stuffiness attached."

Diana clenched her fists, but refrained from raising her voice. "Is that so? Because from what I see from the beans to the eggs to well, EVERYTHING ELSE, you've just copied what we did. Of course, I could smell the oil from the barricades, so lord knows how much you've greased up that dish!"

"Really? Well, explains why they looked so eager to feast on something practical instead of pretentious show off food.." prodded Amanda.

"Girls! Can we just forget our troubles for a second!" pleaded Deku, whose eyes widened upon realizing what he just said. "Oh God, why did I have to say the word troubles!"

Before anyone could respond, Badcock called out to Diana on the microphone. "You get back here this instant Diana!"

Diana bit her lip, glared at Amanda who returned the gesture, and made her way back to the barricades.

Amanda winked to the heroes. "Alright, now that she's gone, let's get to business."

The heroes divided the different portions of the full Irish breakfast amongst themselves, making sure that they each got to try a piece of everything for a real judgment.

The first person to finish this time was Bakugou, who wanted to see Amanda's haughty face drop for the hell of it.

"Listen ginger," began Bakugou, which instantly earned him the scowl from Amanda he wanted to see. "You bragged about only using your flaming magic to fry this shit and it fucking shows! This thing tastes blander than Todoroki's sense of humor or Deku's little shit face. I mean come the fuck on! This is the shit I can cook up every day while your other witches at least made shit I've never heard of!"

Suddenly, Todoroki grabbed Bakugou's arm.

"What the?" recoiled Bakugou, who didn't have time to comprehend what was going on as Todoroki encased him in solid ice, freezing him in his startled expression.

Amanda raised her eyebrows, but otherwise wasn't going to complain about Bakugou's situation.

Todoroki all the while tried to articulate his thoughts. "You know, this is simple, but that's why I love it. It's a great source of protein all packed into one and it's really easy to eat. Everything tastes fresh and the grease is delictable. Therefore, I give this my praise."

Looking surprised for a moment, Amanda chuckled. "You have a way with words I guess. Thanks for the feedback though."

"Uh, I liked it." muttered Deku, his words ignored by Amanda since she was too busy basking in Todoroki's praise. The two looked at each other for a solid minute, Amanda mastering a compelling expression to turn Tododroki's own into an embarrassed grin she found attractive.

Amanda broke the silence and began heading the other way. "That was fun, but I gotta head back. Akko should be last and God knows I wanna be behind the barricades with whatever she thinks about."

Todoroki called back to her. "That was fun indeed."

He then glanced at the frozen Bakugou, who watched the whole thing with intense rage if his furious eyes were anything to go by.

Hesitantly, Todoroki freed Bakugou from his icy prison with his flaming quirk, wondering what punishment he'd have to endure from Badcock more than Bakugou's retaliation.

Bakugou readied an explosion to take out Todoroki. "I'm gonna fucking kill you icy hot!"

Akko's voice suddenly called out, stopping yet another fight in the nick of time. "You can't go killing on an empty stomach!"

The heroes observed Akko returning from her journey, which evidently was a restaurant in Blytonburry town given the bag she was carrying.

Todoroki noticed something peculiar about the logo. "Hey, doesn't that bag have the same mark that White Wolves Enterprises has? The mercenary company?"

Deku nodded. "Yeah! They do fine dining too."

All the while, Akko acted like there was nothing wrong at all, as she began frantically setting up her display. The heroes decided not to blatantly question her just yet.

"I hope you guys are ready for a taste of home with some mouth-watering soba noodles!" chirped Akko as she hastily removed the meal from its container.

"I thought you were making ramen in a cup?" frowned Deku.

Akko laughed nervously. "Oh no, that's just what I call soba in a bowl."

The heroes were not convinced at all, especially since they started noticing smoke coming from the kitchen room, quickly figuring out who was behind it. Deku played along for the sake of getting Akko a passing grade however, while his two classmates were genuinely entertained by Akko's demeanor, and were eager to see how far she could take the lie.

Bakugou ignored the smoke coming from the kitchen. "Who the hell calls soba ramen in a cup?"

"It's a nickname we use back in….Hyogo prefecture." twitched Akko.

"Hyogo? I have family from Kobe. No one fucking calls it that." smirked Bakugou.

"Oh not in Kobe, no...it's...uh from Akashi city." defended Akko.

Deku nervously tried to help Akko out. "Wow Akko, I didn't know you were from Akashi!"

"I don't think she is." bluntly remarked Todoroki.

"Aren't you guys gonna eat?" frowned Akko.

Bakugou readied his chopsticks to take the first bite out of the so called soba. Todoroki followed, and Deku prayed the professor didn't connect the kitchen fire to Akko.

Akko watched with anticipation as the heroes ate. She really wanted to pass this course for the sake of her dream, and that meant convincing non mages that magically cooked food was a true delight, even though she didn't actually cook the noodles.

Finishing his bite, Bakugou decided not to devolve into one of his signature rants, but instead decided to fuck with Akko further. "You know these noodles taste like the ones I had at that restaurant in Blytonburry the other day."

"Oh no! Purely magically made soba noodles." sheepishly smiled Akko.

"And you call it soba despite the fact that it's obviously udon?" checked Todoroki.

Akko noticed Todoroki holding up the noodles, which were the thick and white flour noodle instead of the brown buckwheat noodle found in soba.

"Um, you see...I think...one thing….yeah." blurted Akko.

Todoroki almost looked sullen, soba was his favorite food and here he was chewing on udon. "My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined."

The pupils of Akko's eyes shrunk. Yet another class where she could kiss a good grade goodbye.

Bakugou rubbed further salt in the wound. "Yeah what the fuck did you think we were gonna say when you dared to give us this shit!"

Just then Deku charged up his quirk and slammed Bakugou and Todoroki's heads onto the table, temporarily knocking them out for just a moment.

Akko's mouth dropped. "Um, Deku?"

Deku took a deep breath. "IGNORE THEM. Those...noodles you gave me were the best thing I've ever eaten! They were so firm and chewy, sucking up all the flavor from that amazing broth you cooked up! It did more than warm my stomach Akko, it warmed my heart! It's just amazing to know that there's someone out there who can use magic to cook just like you! I hope that one day when you're just as successful as Shiny Chariot, your noodles will be a staple of everyone's diet just like every brand of cereal All Might put his face on."

"Yay!" cheered Akko, tears practically in her eyes. "Thank you so much Deku!"

It especially meant a lot to Akko that it was Deku praising her. Sure, she wanted to stick it to Bakugou and Todoroki's face whenever she could, but the only opinion she really cared for was the sweet and brainy Deku's.

Deku smiled widely, trying not to look at the obvious restaurant logos on the bag Akko bought her noodles in. Of course, that was an easy task when he could just look at her happy eyes.

Their moment was cut off however, when Bakugou and Todoroki regained their senses and faced Deku with venomous glares.

"Why!" yelled Todoroki at Deku, who was too busy still staring at Akko to pay attention.

Bakugou readied an explosion in his hand. "You're so fucked!"

Just before Deku's classmates could dish out their revenge on him, Professor Badcock and the rest of the witches came storming down the dining hall. They finally noticed the smoke.

"Good Lord, what is happening in there!" yelled Badcock as she opened the doors of the kitchen, revealing the hellfire that was blazing within it.

Amanda facepalmed. "Akko really did screw it up!"

Diana readied her wand. "We'll deal with consequences later, let's put out this fire first."

With Akko's poor luck, the fire, of course, had to spread the moment she presented her own dish. She was at least thankful she went last, which left no one in the kitchen exposed to harm. She sighed and moved towards her professor and classmates to explain herself. Yet another class she would have to find some way to make up on.

Deku and Todoroki rushed to aid in helping put out the inferno, which was clearly resistant to quite a few of the anti-flame magic the witches were desperately using. Akko evidently did not cast a normal fire spell.

Bakugou on the other hand just observed the chaos before him. It played out more excitingly in his head, so he nonchalantly turned away and headed the other direction, muttering "Wonder if Kirishima's online."