"Alright, even I have to admit they're pretty cute." sighed Sucy.
Quite a few eyes were on Akko and Deku embracing while everyone was waiting for Ursula. The two were holding hands and nuzzling each other, rubbing noses, giggling and kissing while their eyes were closed with the brightest smiles any one of them had seen in their lives.
Lotte clasped her hands together, her eyes shining with joy for the happy couple. "I've never seen anyone so in love before."
After confessing to each other, the heroes, Diana, Akko and Amanda were pretty tame for the rest of the night in the bath, parting rather quietly back to their hotel rooms. The other witches all the while wouldn't stop gossiping about the newly formed couples from what their personal futures held, to what this meant for their schools to what this meant for the world.
Some took the news better than others. Hannah and Barbara couldn't get over the fact that their idol had fallen for an egoistic brute, even though practically everyone else could have seen it coming a mile away.
It was now the morning after that fateful night and everyone was getting ready to leave for Luna Nova, their bags collected around the hotel lobby waiting to be placed on the bus.
"Hey guys! How's it going?" greeted Amanda, who was holding Todoroki's hand. While her expression was that of a cool smile, his was ever neutral, albeit one that was clearly hiding a nervous feeling underneath.
Akko glanced at Amanda happily before gazing back into Deku's her hands squeezing his tight. "Great right Deku?"
"Oh….yeah!" chirped Deku, still nervous about the whole ideal. "I mean I'm finally with a girl. Like not flirting with her or getting into awkward situations with a girl, but literally WITH a girl. I can't believe it, but here we are right Todoroki! RIGHT!"
"Right." muttered Todoroki, who almost snickered while Amanda went all the way.
Amanda pulled Todoroki close and kissed him on the cheek, which actually made him grin.
"I love it when you get all flustered." told Amanda.
"I can tell. There's going to be an interesting time ahead of us, so we might as well make the most of it until we have to head back to Japan." noted Todoroki.
"Hey, speaking of leaving, where are Bakugou and Diana?" asked Akko.
Deku raised his finger, only to realize that his explodey friend and Diana were no where around, even though everyone was told to relocate to the lobby to prepare for their return to Luna Nova.
"I thought they were with you." frowned Todoroki.
"Hold on, we can at least tell where Diana is by asking those two idiots." said Amanda as she pointed at Hannah and Barbara.
The group approached the duo who looked a little sulken with Diana being somewhere else with Bakugou. How they'd deal with this new development wasn't the pressing question at the moment however.
"Hey, know where your buddy went?" asked Amanda.
Barbara rolled her eyes. "She and Bakugou met up and went outside to talk about something."
"No guesses what." added Hannah.
"For real?" blurted Akko. The last thing she needed was to look for them outside of the hotel.
"No way those two went far away. Let's get them." commanded Amanda.
She sped out of the hotel with Deku, Todoroki and Akko following her. As Amanda looked left to right for any sign of the blond egotistic duo, Akko quickly tapped her on the shoulder.
"What?" asked Amanda, facing Akko.
Akko was about to raise her voice only for quite the site to catch everyone's eyes.
A pair of armored cars with a team of familiar looking SAS troopers sped by, any nearby civilian transports quickly darting to the side. From the brief moment they glanced at them, the students noted the SAS troopers carrying their weapons out with a few even having their quirks clearly activated and ready to fight.
Deku slowly blinked. "You think they found the villain?"
Amanda and Todoroki glanced at each other. By some sheer force of dumb luck, or not given how much this happened to them, Cynthia or Rotha or whatever she was called just happened to be in Bath at the same time they were. It shouldn't have been too much of a surprise given that Oswald was around buying up everything he could, but the thought worried them to say the least.
Not wanting to let on that they knew a secret that could get them killed by one of their most enigmatic foe yet, Amanda shrugged and gave her thoughts.
"I guess they caught 'em," said Amanda. "Maybe we'll be safe from now on...and Akko...didn't you want something."
Reminded, Akko began scratching her hair. "Uh, I still have some of my Shiny Chariot stuff from my hotel room to bring down here and I think looking for Bakugou would...uh…"
Amanda placed her hands on her hips. "Seriously?"
Deku spoke up in Akko's defense. "No worries, we can get Kaachan ourselves right Todoroki? Amanda, you and Akko can just help her unpack so that way we can kill two birds with one stone eh?"
"Yay!" exclaimed Akko. "Don't keep me waiting my little bunny."
Deku's pupils widened. "Bunny?"
"Mhm." nodded Akko who kissed him on the nose.
Even though he had been kissed a few times before this, Deku still couldn't help but blush red.
"Uh...haa...we won't take long right...Todoroki?" dreamily said Deku.
"Of course not," muttered Todoroki, receiving a nod from Amanda in return. "If the situation was that bad they'd lock the town down."
"See you soon!" exclaimed Akko, who still looked a little worried, and grabbed Amanda's hand as they raced back in to take care of Akko's stuff.
Todoroki faced Deku. "I'd rather not split with a villain possibly nearby."
"Right, and like we said...Diana wouldn't go too far away, so we'll just look across the street." replied Deku.
Todoroki placed a finger on his chin. "I think Bakugou must be somewhere on the path we took when going to that restaurant or that….prison..to the hotel."
The two ran off while the duo they were looking for had managed to find a relatively calm place nearby to begin their conversation.
For a few minutes, Diana and Bakugou tried to make small talk to no avail, and spent more time admiring each other's appearance, with haughty glares of course. Bakugou needed closure, but deep down he felt a little hesitant to move through with an important part of his life, and Diana likewise felt the same.
"So last night huh?" remarked Bakugou, finally getting to the point.
Diana raised her eyebrows. "Yes, that truly was something...I can't find the right words for it."
"Magical?" guessed Bakugou.
"Come now Bakugou, you have to give me credit for being more original than that." retorted Diana. "Besides, I belive that you and I are the first witch and hero, at least in training, to embrace so we have to take into account that this is a landmark in human progress."
"Pretty much. At least we won that round and not...those two idiots." groaned Bakugou.
"Whether we like it or not, they are certainly going to be together. Now maybe I'm less cynical than you, but I hope they bring out the best in each other." pondered Diana.
"Well, what they do best is piss me off." said Bakugou, almost smiling.
"I'm at least optimistic that they can grow." mused Diana.
"And us?" asked Bakugou.
Diana bit her lip. "What do you mean?"
"Are we gonna being doing this...us...for God knows how long?" impatiently asked Bakugou.
Diana rolled her eyes. "Of course we are. I think it would be a complete waste if we were to treat last night as if nothing happened, so I guess we're going to have to make the most of our next relationship. I do believe though that we should make it more official that we are together. We hardly exchanged meaningful words after we kissed."
"Well I got a surprise for you." said Bakugou, his face still looking like a scowl than an attempt at flirting.
Diana crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall, finally creating some space between them even if they were still rather close. "I'm not one for surprises, but please, show me."
Bakugou took a small breath. Now was his time to ask her out on a true date and he hadn't the faintest idea of how to do it aside from dumb romance shows and movies he only saw trailers and ads for online. He thought of that typical shoujo esque scene popular in Japanese love stories and hoped to God it would work in this situation. If not, Diana had every right to take it out on him and she'd be the only person on Earth who he'd ever grant the privilege to.
Until then, an awkward silence was maintained the two silently staring at each other's eyes like it was a showdown instead of a romantic outing.
Bakugou finally acted and extended his arm onto the wall, right next to Diana's face. Not a slam and not with both hands like a typical kabe don wall pin of love, which he thought would force ungenuine nervous thoughts. One hand would at least show he was dedicated, and he knew for a fact Diana had just confirmed her interest in him.
Diana remained unmoved and raised an eyebrow at him, breaking the silence as she waited for him to act. "Is something holding you back?"
And with a determined look on his face, Bakugou shot his arms forward and grabbed Diana, his hands placed firmly on her hips and lifted her up, immediately causing Diana to drop her stoic expression.
As intended, Diana quickly grabbed both of his shoulders in order to keep steady and the two were locked into each other's eyes. Bakugou tried his hardest to make the best romantic expression he could even though he was completely clueless on how to do so.
Diana's heart meanwhile pumped furiously, taken by Bakugou's sudden motion. Her momentarily confused look caused Bakugou to question his action immediately, cursing himself for making such a motion out of the blue. If she was angry with him then, everything he had worked for last night and this morning would be wasted.
Bakugou bit his lip. "Wait, should I…"
"NO!" yelled Diana, immediately knowing what Bakugou was about to say, as she then tightened her grip on his shoulders. "This is more than fine."
Sure it was a sudden motion, but Diana had been obsessed with the idea of Bakugou holding her with his perfect body ever since he knocked her out of the sky weeks back during their first joint broom flying exercise. For her, this was perfect.
Relieved, Bakugou took a deep breath and was about to raise his voice, only to hear Deku's voice call out.
"Kaachan!" yelled Deku, who began approaching the couple alongside Todoroki.
Bakugou twitched. Of course it was little Deku of all people who had to ruin his glorious moment with Diana. There was always a way for him to ruin everything. As if him and Akko trying to hijack his and Diana's rightful position as top hero and witch was bad enough.
"Piss off you losers!" roared Bakugou as he hugged Diana tight. She almost screeched in embarrassment and shock, totally flustered from the sudden interruption.
At least she got to feel his toned body a little closer.
Bakugou scowled and finally yelled out loud what he wanted to say. "DIANA CAVENDISH! Will you go to the Dance With The Witches with me as my date!"
"Of course I will!" yelled Diana, almost annoyed. "What kind of question was that? Now put me down Katsuki."
As much as she loved Bakugou holding him, this was getting a little wild, so Bakugou complied and finally placed her down.
Todoroki raised an eyebrow at the sight, and what else could he say other than "Interesting."
"Why do you freaks have to make everything shit?" twitched Bakugou, who calmed down as Diana placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry, the combination of you dragging me here, lifting me up and then angrily asking me out to the dance made this memorable, for the right reasons." drly, but affectionately told Diana.
Bakugou gave a toothy smile. "All right then. If we're not the power couple in that dance then what's the point."
Diana gave a typical noblewoman's laugh. "You say that as if there was no other outcome. Don't worry, we'll show up everyone because otherwise I wouldn't be caught dead going there."
And suddenly Diana gave Bakugou a kiss, which Deku and Todoroki found oddly charming despite their issues with Bakugou.
Diana stepped closer to Bakugou and eyed his arm. "May I hold it as we walk back."
"Don't even need to ask," confirmed Bakugou who then called out to his classmates. "Come on you two, we need to head back before our fucking bus leaves so stop standing around"
Deku raised a finger to protest, since Bakugou and Diana stepping aside was the whole reason they were worried about being late, but decided against saying anything as the two walked by him.
All the while, Bakugou asking Diana out to the Dance With The Witches made him recall one of his biggest fears, that Akko had already asked Andrew out to that dance. Akko was the only one who seemed excited about it and since the whole point of the event was for Luna Nova and Appleton students to bury the hatchet for the night, she would have certainly asked Andrew.
But then again, he always took to her kissing and hooking up with him to be a sign of nothing going on between her and Andrew, but he didn't discount the fact that Akko was the forgetful type with a penchant for drama.
Regardless, he shoved those thoughts aside and kept moving.
Without much fanfare, the four returned to the hotel and reported back to Ursula, who was relieved that all students were virtually ready to go. Akko and Amanda also caught up, splitting off from their roommates to make sure everything was okay.
Akko wasted no time hugging Deku. "Great to see you back safe my little bunny!"
Bakugou glared at the blushing Deku. The guy would never learn. "He's a nerdy runt but why the fuck wouldn't he be safe?
Akko frowned. "Didn't you two see it?"
"See what?" asked Diana.
"There was like a bunch of cars with those elite soldiers going around. I think they caught the villain." told Akko.
Bakugou and Diana were taken by surprise.
"Come to think of it, we did hear a rather loud car while we were alone, didn't we Bakugou?" recalled Diana, closing one eye as she tried to remember.
"Thought it was just some jackass speeding." said Bakugou.
"And there weren't any signs of a struggle on our way back. Everyone was normal." stated Diana.
Amanda then looked at what was outside of the hotel lobby's windows. "Son of a bitch, there's two of those operator guy things walking outside right now. They're not fighting but…"
"I wanna ask what's going on." remarked Bakugou, who once again dragged everyone outside.
"Hey!" yelled Bakugou to the two SAS operators, causing both to stare at him with the blank expressions of their gas masks.
"Kaachan! You can't just yell at two elite soldiers like that!" screeched Deku.
"Oh it's explodey boy!" remarked one operator, reminding everyone that the UA trio were still known to Britain's elite.
Bakugou's mouth hung agape. "What did you call me!"
The SAS trooper ignored his outburst. "What do you want kid?"
Diana stepped forward. "We were just wondering what the commotion was about, but of course given the sensitive nature of your work, we understand if you refuse to divulge any information."
"Hear that Sledge, they wanna know what we're up to." said a SAS operator.
"You tell them Smoke. I've done my share." replied Sledge.
Smoke groaned. "We thought we had Rotha Mosley under wraps for good. Location and everything and stormed her position only for the entire thing to be a dud."
"A dud?" frowned Akko.
"Yeah," continued Smoke. "We were so bloody sure that we had her but no. Nothing. This has been happening for the last few days. I don't want to alarm you young ones but…"
"You think you're compromised?" guessed Todoroki, knowing of Cynthia's true power to alter memories.
"I think we've said enough actually," blurted Sledge. "Now we're gonna keep patrolling to discourage her in case she really is here."
Without even saying goodbye, the two SAS troopers continued onwards, leaving the students sans Amanda and Todoroki dumbfounded.
"Well that's odd. There's no way a villain whose only power is to switch people's morality would be this good at hiding eh?" said Deku. "There has to be something more going on if this isn't the first time there's been a failed raid."
"Can't say I disagree." shrugged Todoroki, who knew Deku was really on point.
Akko then suddenly gasped and pointed at the other side of the street, where two familiar faces were walking by. "Oh my God! Guys! It's Oswald AND Cynthia this time!"
Todoroki and Amanda tried their hardest not to flinch the moment they heard Cynthia's name. As expected, she had used her memory altering magic to somehow convince the SAS soldiers that what they had been doing was wrong and to leave her position. Clearly she had also altered their memories to make them think they weren't running into Cynthia all the time, as that would create an obvious pattern.
Diana began heading back inside of the hotel. "Well, I'd rather not deal with the more eccentric part of the elite if you ask me."
"Fuck yeah, we have more important shit to do like not pissing off Ursula by being late." agreed Bakugou.
And with that, everyone's focus returned to heading back to Luna Nova. For the rest of their time together, the two topics that were on everyone's mind were the approaching dance and just what that failed SAS raid meant. And just because those topics were on everyone's minds, didn't mean that anybody bothered openly discussing them.
Finally back in Luna Nova, Todoroki headed down the hall to Amanda's room after unpacking and resting for an hour. According to Jasminka and Constanze, or rather just Jasminka, Amanda wanted to see him privately to discuss something.
To say Todoroki wasn't nervous would be a bit of a lie. Him, Deku and Bakugou may have only recently been thrust into the world of sexuality, but he wasn't oblivious to the implications.
Did Amanda want to have sex with him? Already? Out of the six lovebirds he certainly thought of her as the most mature when it came to sexuality for the lack of a better term. Memories of her seductive acts near Appleton were always on his mind, even though it always then got him thinking of Cynthia or Rotha...basically the villain who still evaded capture.
And then Todoroki thought that's what Amanda really wanted to talk about. Still, he wouldn't object to a more intimate encounter with Amanda.
Finally approaching her dorm, he took a deep breath and knocked on her door, which opened up magically.
And with that, Amanda greeted Todoroki. "Hey cutie, glad that you could make it."
"Of course, so what did you want to do?" questioned Todoroki. He noticed that Amanda was wearing a robe, and guessed that there was nothing under it.
To his surprise, Amanda's expression turned a bit more neutral, even though she was clearly noticing his body half heat up and cool down as he got a little nervous.
"Right, I don't think I need to bring up the fact that we have to discuss Cynthia...Rotha...you know, that stupid villain." explained Amanda.
Todoroki gave a quick sigh. "I see."
"Hm, you said disappointed," mused Amanda her voice turning seductive again and her expression changing to a playful tease that Todoroki knew all too well. "Did you think we were going to do something else."
Not knowing how to reply other than being dryly honest, Todoroki told the truth. "Yes, I assumed you wanted to get more intimate with me to put it lightly."
Amanda laughed, which would have made Todoroki uncertain until he noticed her hands reaching for the knot holding her robe.
"Don't worry Mr. Shoto," winked Amanda. "Who said we weren't going to get a little spicy?"
She stripped off her robe and to Todoroki's surprise, she wasn't naked but may as well would have been. Underneath that robe was a red and white bikini that left little to the imagination.
Amanda ran her hands down her body, stopping at her hips, making sure that Todoroki was following her motions. "What do you think? Hot right?"
"Yeah." quickly said Todoroki, awestruck by her beauty and body.
"You know, I'm not really certain about this bikini. It's a little small on me don't you think?" asked Amanda.
Todoroki looked up to her chest where she had used magic to make a certain modification, causing more skin to be exposed than normal. "That's because you used magic to…."
Amanda caught him off guard with a groan. "I didn't, I just don't think you were looking there enough."
Todoroki blinked slowly. "All I'm saying is that I wouldn't mind if you used that spell on..."
"No...you're fine, trust me." winked Amanda.
"Really?" curiously asked Todoroki.
Amanda began walking towards Todoroki, sashaying her hips and emphasizing her legs and thighs, although Todoroki didn't know what to keep his eyes on since there was so much of her body to love. "Remember when I tackled you outside of Appleton a while back?"
"Indeed." remembered Todoroki.
"I felt it." answered Amanda, who too was looking down. She had finally made it to Todoroki and tugged on his shirt, which he took off when prompted.
After admiring his toned upper body for a good moment, Amanda spoke up. "Now look, we're not going to go any further than this. I figure you and the boys need to be eased into this right?"
Todoroki gave it a second of thought before nodding. "Yeah, I'd say that."
"Good," smiled Amanda, who guided Todoroki's hands around her own toned belly and hugged him close. "Feeling good?"
"Certainly." replied Todoroki, who finally began to embrace the feeling of hugging a half naked girl.
After a deep kiss, where for a moment it felt like they were the only two people in the room, Amanda had to bring them back to reality.
"So before we continue, I think we need a plan for Cynthia." reminded Amanda.
"We do. She's gonna strike for certain and she always knows how to outmaneuver Britain's elite." noted Todoroki.
"Exactly, so throwing in more soldiers or heroes at her ain't gonna work, especially if she can change people's minds to make them think they've always been evil or her slave. We have to catch her by surprise." figured Amanda.
"I like the way you think," complimented Todoroki. "Especially since we don't know for certain if she knows about us knowing."
"Wordy, but I figure that since we're talking about her now, there's no way she knows." guessed Amanda.
"If that's the case, she's still trying to find a way to snag us by surprise," inferred Todoroki. "If my experience on I-Island is any indication, villains like to attack us in social settings with lots of civilians around."
Amanda's eyes widened. "The dance is one of the biggest socials around. A lot of older rich folk go there to convince Appleton students to work with them in some way or ask one our teachers for help on something."
"So people like Oswald, Cynthia, and Norah are going to be around?" checked Todoroki.
"With merc companies being all the latest craze, hell yeah. And lucky for us, Bakugou and Diana decided to be social for once." confirmed Amanda.
Todoroki nuzzled her cheek as he talked. "Then she probably expects us to go there too because I just know she saw that picture of us together in the hot springs."
"Thanks a lot Constanze," joked Amanda. "All right, but are we going to do from there? Attack her out of the blue."
"As dumb as it sounds that might be our only bet. Stop the villain before they put their cliche plan in motion. I can freeze her and we can use some truth magic or quirk to make her confess." figured Todoroki.
"That might work. I have a knack for trouble, but they'll believe you won't act without good cause." nodded Amanda.
"At least I hope that's what they think." remarked Todoroki, which caused Amanda to laugh.
Once she stopped, she returned to her serious tone. "But what do we do if she does manage to snag someone or turn them evil? You're powerful. That's why I like you, but your power in the wrong hands is gonna suck."
Todoroki bit his lip. "I guess we'll need some form of security to take me, the others, or anyone powerful she hijacks down."
Amanda hugged Todoroki tighter. "I don't want it to come to that."
"It won't if we just act accordingly, but I don't want my powers to be used for the wrong reasons." shook Todoroki.
Amanda nodded. "Right right. Any ideas? We're in a who watches the watchmen situation here."
Todoroki gave it a moment of thought. "It probably wouldn't work if we just called the army without a good bit of evidence and God knows how many agents Cynthia has within its ranks. We might have to go private for this."
"Like hiring a hero? They're not as common or strong here as they are in Japan." frowned Amanda.
"Nah, more like going private. I think a certain rival billionaire might be willing to provide it." hinted Todoroki.
"Oswald?" guessed Amanda.
"Exactly. My dad is looking into private security for his own stupid army, so I might as well make him the recommendation for the greater good," planned Todoroki. "He provides security as a test run in case Cynthia and her men go haywire, but if not, we just snag Cynthia or with any luck, she decides not to show up after all."
"That last part isn't gonna happen if she can dodge MI6 and the SAS for a long time." inferred Amanda.
"So I'm gonna have to call my dad. Dreading it already." Todoroki hated to think what Endeavor would do with a private army, but his thoughts quickly shifted to Amanda kissing him and being reminded that she was hugging him in a tiny bikini.
"Before you talk to that hack, let's enjoy each other." recommended Amanda.
"I'd like that." agreed Todoroki who began kissing her back.
Amanda guided him down to her bed, where he laid down on his back while Amanda crawled over him. Both of their bodies were tingling with excitement as they made out, glad to be in each other's presence.
The thought of having Todoroki pinned down like this drove Amanda crazy with love as she kissed him, while Todoroki found himself enjoying exploring her exposed skin.
After a long kiss, Amanda stared Todoroki lovingly in the eye. "If this is good, then I can't wait for the next level."