Sorry for the delay, something came up in the past few days. Glad to be publishing though, considering what chapter this is.
(xx)
Izuku didn't really know what he was doing. That was an admission he had no problem at making in his mind, but in real life it was a totally different thing. He was, after all, going out on a date. A friendly date, a date with a friend, a female friend, not a girlfriend but a girl friend… Yes, he was totally on a friendly outing.
Using date was weird, after all. He wasn't on a date, really. Neither of them felt anything more than friendly feelings for one another.
Of course. His heart was just beating faster because he had his arms interlocked with that of a beautiful girl, and his eyes were drawn to her because she was beautiful. In a friendly way, of course.
"Ah, we should go give a look at that store." Himiko said, pointing to a pet store of all things. Izuku blinked for a moment, surprised, but if Himiko wanted to go there, she definitely could.
They walked into the store, and Izuku looked around along with Himiko. Most of it was actually just accessories for pets, toys, leashes and the like – 'Goddammit brain stop supplying images, I meant pet toys and dog leashes- aaand that doesn't help at all. Damn it! This is all Masuchan's fault for showing me those weird romcom anime!' – along with pet food. It did also sell animals however. The back wall was covered in fish tanks, some bigger and some smaller, hosting a vast variety of fishes that ranged from common koi fishes to more exotic tropical sea fishes, down to weirder 'pets' like a tank of piranhas. To the left side, instead, were reptiles and birds. The reptiles were only a few, small snakes, tortoises, and lizards. The birds, contained in cages that opened on the back of the store, most likely to prevent children from accidentally releasing them, were also varied in both colors and kind, from parrots and parakeets to canaries and other small birds. He watched Himiko stare at a few of the latter, almost transfixed. "Do you like birds?" He finally asked.
"Oh. Yeah, I really do. They are so delicio-delicate. They are delicate, but also free." She sighed, "Although, those birds here are stuck in a cage, so I guess they aren't really. It works better when I look at wild ones." She blushed a bit, "That was… dumb of me."
"N-No, I get what you mean!" Izuku replied, "They are nice animals, I suppose. My apartment complex has a no pets rule so I never had one, but I'd like to."
"The son of the Yakuza boss can't break the rules to keep a pet?" She asked with a chuckle.
"Uh. I guess at this point rules like those do feel a bit pointless…" He shook his head, "No, we shouldn't think like that. We aren't our parents, we should be better than our parents." He replied.
Himiko chuckled, "Really?"
"Yep. We can be better than them. Well, I'd settle for being like my mom. She has always been super kind, honest, helpful… she is great." Yep, his mom was great. He was never going to question that. Never. No matter how much is brain tried to lead him to dangerous questions.
Himiko hummed. "Yeah, I guess we can be better…" She looked at the cage a bit more, staring at the various birds, before shaking her head, "Alright, let's go, we have a whole mall to see!" She said cheerfully, walking out with Izuku in tow.
-x-
"So here is the plan…" Mustard started, before Jiro coughed in her fist.
"Pardon me, why are you deciding the plan?" She asked.
Mustard blinked, "Do you have a plan?"
"Yes. We should split up into teams and then follow the other groups to make sure they stay out of the way."
"Damn, that was my plan." Mustard sighed, scratching the back of his head, "Really, you could have given me the satisfaction."
"Sorry, I'm a bit worried." Jiro said.
"What, it's that time of the m-" Mineta asked before getting slapped on the back of the head by Tsuyu's tongue, "Ouch! Come on that wasn't even sexual!"
"It is from you." She replied.
"That's unfair!"
"Children. Please." Mustard slapped his hand together, "Let's focus on what we are here to do."
"Spying on Izuku?" Denki asked. Everyone turned to stare at him, "What, we came here for that."
Mustard sighed. "Alright. Anyway. So, we are going to break up into three teams. Tsuyu, you, Mineta and Kaminari will take the Bakugang." He said.
"The… Bakugang?" Jiro asked with an amused look, and Mustard blushed a bit. Dammit, his codenames were supposed to remain in his mind but he had been distracted. Stupid.
"It's their codename." He quickly clarified, "You three are the only ones he doesn't connect with Izuku." He glanced at Hagakure, "Well, except you Hagakure, but I figured breaking up the groups a bit was a good idea."
"Makes sense." She replied with a nod, "What about me?"
"You and me are going after Melissa, Hana, and that crazy pink-haired girl that is trying to… is she dismantling a sliding door?" They all stared at the girl, hands full of screwdrivers and a ruler, getting bodily dragged away by Melissa, while Hana bowed profusely toward the clerk of the store. "Yeah, we are taking that group."
"Ah, uhm, actually, shouldn't I take Melissa's group? I mean, we are best friends and all…" Pony asked.
"No." Jiro and Mustard both said at once.
"I find your lack of faith disturbing." She said, pouting lightly.
"I find your lack of subtlety equally disturbing. But aside from that, you and Jiro should go with Uraraka's group. They know you are some of Izuku's closest friends, you can figure out why they are tailing him and see what to do."
Everyone nodded, splitting up in the groups. Mineta's suggestion to tell Bakugo they were out on a date was rewarded with another slap from Tsuyu – and Mustard repressed hard the question on whether he was doing it on purpose – and he gave a thumb up to Kaminari, before splitting up.
"Alright, Operation Mall is a go." He said.
"You realize you just said that out loud, right?" Hagakure, next to him, asked.
"Yes. Please don't tell anyone."
"Sure thing, General Masutaro." She said. He wondered if she had also winked. Hard to say when she was invisible, after all. "So, what's the approach?"
"Well, I know Melissa. We can probably just pretend we were visiting the mall and stumbled into them."
"Do you think they will believe us?" Hagakure asked.
"Hopefully. I can't think of a better lie." He admitted, "Let's just go with this."
Hagakure hummed, but then moved closer to Mustard. Suddenly, he felt acutely aware he was, for the moment, alone with a girl. It was easy to forget, considering they were talking casually and all, but Jinta, his previous self, had been far from successful with girls. Or with making friends in general. Really, he was a bit of a loser.
So finding himself with a girl that wasn't the boss' daughter and his charge was new.
"Oh… hey… Masutaro!" Melissa said panting when she noticed them, waving with one arm while the other desperately held the pink girl by the waist, "It's nice… to meet you."
"Uhm… Are you ok?"
"Oh… Yeah… This is f- Mei did you just bite my arm?!"
"Let me go Melissa! Let me unleash upon the world the beauty of my babies!" The pink haired girl – Mei, family name unknown – was actually slobbering, "So many people in need of a personalized baby! Look at that guy that is staring at me like I'm insane, I bet his Quirk could use a pair of protective and enhancing goggles."
"Mei, that's not your- wait, why goggles?"
"Well, my eyesight is supergood, and I can tell his pupils are weird. Considering he is also blushing while staring at us, I think he can see through our clothes."
"He can do what?!" Melissa let her go in surprise. "Oh no!"
Mei all but charged at the guy, an older teenager, starting to loudly shout that his Quirk to see through clothes was super good but could definitely use a baby or two. The poor bastard slowly stammered a varied series of apologies mixed with just general attempts at deflecting and then high tailed it. Mei was going to pursue him, save for Melissa bodily tackling her.
"A-Alright Melissa, I have c-convinced them to not call the p-police…" Hana looked at the two people that were staring at Melissa once again dragging Mei toward the group. "Uhm, h-hi I'm Ha-Ha-Ha…"
"Hana Shindo, right?" Mustard waved, "I'm Masutaro Sako, a friend of Izuku."
"Nice to meet you!" She went bright red and grabbed his hand, waving it wildly for a few seconds without so much as glancing at his face, more interested apparently in the tiling of the floor.
"I'm Tooru Hagakure!" Nice to meet you as well!" Tooru added, shaking her hand. Hana stammered another introduction while Melissa dragged Mei back to the group, ignoring the girl's attempts at running away.
"So yeah. Nice day, uh?" Melissa asked. Mustard looked down at Mei trying to once again get free.
"Is that normal?"
"She has been locked out of the school labs for a whole day, and her home is all the way in Osaka, so she doesn't plan to go back until tomorrow. Which means, she is stuck on inventor mode." Melissa explained, "She needs to build something or she will explode."
Mustard looked at the pink girl, then at Melissa's frown, and sighed, pulling out his gun. Melissa's eyes went wide, along with those of a few passer-byes.
"Oh my god he has a gun!" One shouted.
"Get down!"
"I'm too young to die!"
"Wait, wait!" Mustard shouted, "This isn't a gun, it's a Projectile Launching Multifunctional Support Item! Everything is fine!" For a long moment, he expected someone to question it. Then everyone just shrugged and walked away.
"Could have said so earlier…"
"Man, I got scared to death."
"Don't scare me like that ever again!"
The crowd quickly moved back its own way, and Mustard felt the need to just shoot a few people. 'My god, why does everyone believe it? Izuku has literally been the only one not in the know that called me out on it! I should-' His thoughts however were interrupted as he felt a chill down his spine. Slowly, he turned around to see Mei's eyes completely focused on the gun.
"Gimme." The girl said.
"Uhm, I-"
"Gimme."
He sighed, "Here, have fun." And with that he tossed the gun that was definitely just a support item at her. He watched Mei catch it and- wait when had she dismantled it?
Melissa sighed in relief, taking Mei's arm under her own to drag her around while she studied the weapon that, again, was definitely just a support item. "Thank you, this should keep her busy for a while." She replied, "I promise I will get it repaired if she breaks it."
Mustard nodded, hoping it wasn't the case. It was dumb, but he had grown to like the weapon.
"So, what are you doing?" Melissa asked, "I'm… just out with my friends."
"Didn't you say we were here to spy on that Izuku guy?" Mei asked monotonously while staring at the gun's barrel. Everyone stared at her in turn, though she didn't seem to even notice. Melissa took a moment to calm herself down, then coughed in her fist.
"Ahah, silly Mei, I don't even think Izuku is at this mall, Ahahah." She desperately tried to look away from Masutaro and Hagakure. Mustard sighed and looked at Hana. "You too?"
"Sh-She asked me."
Melissa made to reply, but Mustard stopped her, raising a hand. "Alright, I'm coming with you."
"Wh-What?"
"I will prove you that Izuku and Himiko are dating happily, and then you will be satisfied, right?" He asked. Melissa looked at him, and he gestured to Hagakure, hoping to be understood. Apparently he was because Melissa sighed.
"Alright, sure, why not?" She sighed, before pausing a moment. "Oh, by the way, why were you and Hagakure here? Spying on someone?"
Mustard was about to ask what she meant, but then he realized what she actually meant. Had it been Mustard alone, she could have thought he was here to do his job as a bodyguard for Himiko. But Hagakure wasn't part of the Clan or the League, as far as Melissa knew. "No, I was…"
"We are out on a date." Hagakure blurted out. Everyone else just stared at her.
Except Mustard, who was internally rebooting the PC known as his brain after it had gone straight to the blue screen of death.
Melissa and Hana both blushed. "Oh. Oh! W-We are sorry for interrupting your date!" Melissa shouted, while Hana frantically nodded, before Melissa turned to him, "And you! You never told me! You never told anyone!"
"Ahah, well, it's a very… recent development." He said, "Mind if I talk with her for a moment?" He asked, before dragging the invisible girl away. He looked around to make sure no one was listening and then took a deep breath before asking. "Why did you like like that?"
"W-What was I supposed to say? 'Oh, we are following Izuku'? I don't even have the excuse Melissa has of being in love with him!"
She wasn't, by Mustard's metrics, but he got Hagakure's point. From her perspective, without knowing about the Clan and the League, this meant that Masutaro wanted her to admit she had decided to spy on a classmate to a girl she didn't know, which would have sounded… well, it still sounded weird. He understood Kaminari and Mineta, those two were there because they really wanted to learn from Izuku, but unless Hagakure planned to spy on Himiko, he couldn't see her point in all of this. Questions for later. "Alright, I get it." He nodded, "We will pretend to be on a date."
She nodded, and he passed a hand on his face. Somehow, he felt this was Izukun's fault. Damn harem protagonists dragging their best friends in their shenanigans.
-x-
"Tsuyu!" Mina hugged the girl with far too much enthusiasm, sending both of them several steps away from the rest of the group.
"What are you doing here guys?" Kirishima asked after fistbumping with both Mineta and Kaminari.
"We were out and ran into Tsuyu." Kaminari replied with a shrug, "Then we spotted you as well."
"Cool man, wanna join us?"
"What are you doing?" Tsuyu asked.
"None of your fucking business." Bakugo said.
"Oh we are just helping Bakubro. He is trying to prove Shimura is a serial killer or something." He leaned closer to Kaminari and Mineta, "He is actually super into Izuku but don't say it out loud." He whispered.
"What did you just say?!" Bakugo shouted, before Mina put a hand on his mouth.
"Shush, Bakugo, they are going to spot us." She turned to Tsuyu, Mineta and Kaminari, "Wanna join guys? It's really fun."
"You think spying on a pair of friends is a good thing?" Tsuyu asked, confused.
"It is, if it's motivated by love." Mina nodded, "I love those guys and want to make sure their date goes well. And I also…" She leaned closer, "Think Bakugo needs some love too, and maybe once he realizes Midoriya and Shimura are happy together he can move on to some other boy."
Tsuyu hummed. Put that way, it wasn't much different from what they were doing. "But won't the group be too large if we join?"
"Frog Girl is right. We need to split up. We can also cover more ground that way." Bakugo grumbled, "I'm going with her. Kirishima, you go with Mina. Dumb and dumber work together."
"Ehi!" Mineta shouted, "I'm not dumb like Kaminari."
Kaminari nodded, "Yeah dude, he isn't dumb like- wait a minute…"
"Go." He growled. Kaminari and Mineta, wisely, decided to do just that.
-x-
"They are splitting up, agent Uraraka!" Iida exclaimed, eyes fixed on the group of classmates, "It appears the targets are forming three groups of two."
"I can see that, Agent Iida. Agent Yaoyorozu, suggestions?"
"We should split up too." Yaoyorozu said. "Iida, you go with Jiro after Kaminari and Mineta. Uraraka, with Pony after Mina and Kirishima. I will go alone after Bakugo and Tsuyu." She quickly said.
"Uhm, wouldn't it make more sense to send two people after Bakugo, since he is the most dangerous? Kaminari and Mineta together can't even hope to do as much damage." Jiro pointed out. 'Not the mention that they are the harmless ones.' "I'll come with you instead."
"That seems… Fair?" Momo decided. "Alright, don't miss your target, and if they get in the way of the date drag them away. Gently." She added.
"Alright Agent Yaoyorozu. Agent Iida ready to deploy." Iida declared, before marching into the crowd.
"Agent Uraraka off too!" The brunette added, dragging Pony away.
"Why do they call each other Agents again?" Jiro asked.
"Oh, I think Uraraka started as a joke, Iida got into it immediately and then they never stopped." She sighed, "It's an interesting experience to have friends."
"Eh. Never a boring day." Jiro smiled, "Shall we go?"
Yaoyorozu nodded, and the two started moving to follow Bakugo and Tsuyu.
-x-
Izuku looked around. They had spent the last hour walking together from store to store. Himiko had bought a few clothes – and he had to help her choose, which meant he got to see her in even more outfits, aside from the collection Uraraka had sent him the day before – and he had tried a few too on her insistence, though in the end, he hadn't bought anything. Then they had visited a Hero store, where he had bought a new figure of Wash, All Might and Miruko. He also found in a bin of old gadgets on extreme sale an artifact he never expected to see.
"What's that?" Himiko asked.
Izuku showed her the pin with a picture of Stendhal. It was really just a grainy picture someone had cut from the news and printed on top of the pin, but still, the mask of Stendhal was clearly recognizable, which meant it was a rather amazing job. In fact, Izuku had to wonder if it was the result of a Quirk.
"Oh, cool." Himiko said, "You should definitely show St… Endhal next time you meet."
"I definitely will." Izuku replied, nodding, as they left the store after paying for everything. Apparently, his dad thought that now that he was aware of the Clan, there was no reason to keep Izuku from using the Clan's money, and he had free access to his dad's bank account.
Of course, he was using it responsibly.
Buying Hero merch, after all, was returning Yakuza money back to a worthy industry.
Definitely.
"Where do you want to go for lunch?" Izuku asked, noticing they had been at it for long enough he was starting to get hungry. There were a lot of restaurants in the mall, Japanese, Asian or Western-themed alike.
"Uhm… Think that one? The name sounds familiar at least." She asked, pointing to a simple Chinese restaurant. Izuku nodded and they walked in, sitting down at the table and ordering quickly their lunch.
"So… It's been a nice day, right?" Izuku asked.
Himiko snorted, "You know, if this was a romantic date I would have to ask if that question means you aren't having fun."
"R-Really? No, I liked spending time with you." He said, before shaking his head, "Uhm, as friends, of course."
"I do too." Himiko nodded, smiling. Izuku noticed her look away for a moment, before coughing in her fist and passing the other hand in her hair, "So, uhm, any… reason why we decided to come here today?" She asked.
"Oh, well…" Truly, Izuku had been convinced by his mom, who had said he had to at least try to put up the façade of someone dating, if he wanted to be convincing – and surely his mom had no ulterior motives for wanting him and Himiko alone – but he knew that there was a truth in that. At the same time, he couldn't really admit it had just been his mom's suggestion. It made it sound like a chore, and while it was a purely friendly date, spending time with Himiko was far from a chore. He racked his brain for an answer, then… "I just thought we should spend some time together." He admitted honestly, "I mean, usually it's me, Masuchan and you, or the girls joining us, but well we are… supposed to be together."
"Oh." She pouted for a moment, before sighing, "Alright."
"D-Did I say something wrong?"
"I didn't say that." She said, grabbing a glass of water. "I just… thought maybe it had some other meaning, considering what time of year it is."
Time of year? Izuku thought hard. His birthday was still far away, and Himiko's was three weeks later, so that wasn't it. It was April… uhm, April was when school started – duh – and when he first found out about All Might and One for All.
Wait, All Might.
That day.
Was that…
"Today is the anniversary of when we first met!" Izuku shouted a bit too loudly, getting several people to turn his way from all around the restaurant. He blushed bright red and Himiko did the same, before he heard a high-pitched squeal that got smothered. He looked around. That had sounded suspiciously like Mina, but of course the pink girl wouldn't be there. Would she? He tried to look around, to see if he could spot any familiar face.
-x-
"Shit, he is going to look this way." Bakugo muttered. The restaurant was large, so he and Tsuyu had sat in the opposite direction from Izuku, but the teen now was looking around, all because the treacherous Pink had decided to basically announce herself. Kirishima had muffled her mouth, but Izuku had started to look around and now would turn their way. If he saw them, they were fucked. At worst, he would do something shitty like invite them at his table! He watched around, trying to find a way out, but the only door required to walk past them or go all the way around the counter, and that would get him noticed. Worst still, one of the menus was gone, so he couldn't cover his face, and they were both sitting with their back to the wall. Hindsight, probably not the best choice, but the restaurant had filled up fucking fast.
"Just to be clear, I'm gonna hate this a lot more than you will." Tsuyu said, and then grabbed his head, turned it around, and slammed his face against her own, covering hers with his, leaving only his back. Thanks to that and the hat Bakugo had put on and was still wearing, there was nothing for Izuku to recognize. A muffled scream and the sound of glass shattering accompanied the moment.
Not that the teen could realize, considering his brain was currently busy processing that Tsuyu was Frenching him. Granted, that was probably because her tongue was too longue- long, dammit, but it didn't change the fact he could feel the unexpected visitor in his mouth. He noticed her left eye focused not on him but on Izuku – uh, that was a weird sentence to think – and a moment later she let him go, dropping him back on his chair.
"What the fuck…" He murmured, while the girl promptly grabbed the bottle of water at her table and filled a glass to clean her mouth. "Kinda rude…"
"Don't say anything."
-x-
"What the fuck Tsuyu…" Mustard muttered from the table where him, Hagakure, Melissa and the others were sitting, staring wide-eyed.
-x-
"What the fuck Tsuyu…" Mina muttered – only because Kirishima's hand was still covering her mouth – her mind adding Tsuyu in the growing 'school love drama' diagram in her brain.
-x-
"What the fuck Tsuyu…" Jiro said, and she noticed Momo had dropped her glass of water, wide eyed. "Uhm, are you ok Momo?"
"Who, me? Oh, yeah, pffft, perfect." She said, without removing her eyes from Tsuyu and Bakugo as the two awkwardly looked away from each other.
"You know it wasn't anything important, right?" Jiro asked.
"W-Well, yes, but, I mean, she just kissed him." She whispered. Jiro rolled her eyes. Yaoyorozu was super cute in that 'innocent and pure' way, but Jiro was sure Tsuyu didn't have the hots for Bakugo. They had barely interacted after all. It was just a matter of making Momo understand that.
"I'm sure it's nothing."
"But a kiss is…"
Jiro grabbed Yaoyorozu's face and smashed her lips on hers for a moment, a small peck before moving back. "See? A kiss is nothing much." She said casually, before looking back at the menu, noticing a plate she had never seen before, "Say, you think this is good?"
"Abababughr." The girl managed to reply. Jiro snorted.
"Yeah, I guess I should try something new sometimes."
-x-
"Uhm, guess it was nothing." Izuku said, sitting back down.
"Something wrong?"
"Yup." He wasn't sure, but the people kissing at another table looked somewhat familiar. Then again, he had only seen an eye of the girl and the back of the guy, so maybe it was just being weirded out by two people kissing in public. Definitely only that. The blonde hair he had seen under the hat and the long green hair were nothing to worry about. "So, uh, anniversary?" He asked.
"Yeah." Himiko scratched the back of her head, nervous, "Yeah, uhm, it's stupid, I know, I just… I thought maybe you had that idea…"
"Oh, uhm…" He hated to admit it, but he hadn't thought about that. Maybe because it was technically only a month later that they started to actually spend time together, maybe because the day they first met was a really complicated day. 'Is it bad that I forgot?' He thought. In a sense, sure, but they weren't in a real relationship. He hadn't even expected Himiko to remember when they had first met. "I'm… sorry."
"No, no, I get it. I guess it wasn't that important-"
"No." He stated firmly. Himiko blinked.
"Uh?"
"Uhm, Himiko, I'm sorry for forgetting our first meeting was… well, today, but let me make this clear: you are really, really important to me." He sighed, "I'm sure it sounds weird, but the last year, despite… everything, was the best in my life."
"Well, yeah, you finally awakened your Quirk-"
"No." He shook his head again, and took a deep breath, "Uhm, the real reason why this was the best year of my life is because… Because I met you."
Himiko's breath caught in her throat.
"I… I didn't have many friends. I had Kacchan… sort of. Maybe. But the point remains, until I met you, I was mostly alone." He thought back to those days. Thinking back, he wasn't miserable just because he didn't have a Quirk. He was miserable because he didn't have anyone to rely on. He just never realized until he met Himiko and Masuchan. "I… I was always alone, until we met. And then thanks to you I met Masuchan, and thanks to that I finally had friends."
"Izuku…"
"And, and we became close, and I finally got to hang out with more people, and I found out what having friends is like, and… and…" He looked at the girl, "Thank you, Himiko."
A moment later she was hugging him, and he was speechless, looking at the black hair of the girl right under his chin. "I don't know why the most awesome person I've ever met never had any friend." Himiko said, "But Izuku… You are really important to me too. You… I lost all my friends when I did… something really bad, and I was all alone. Then dad introduced us…" She blushed, "Well, we became close, didn't we?"
Izuku felt his heart beat a little faster, and reflexively hugged her back. "I'm sorry I forgot what day it was."
She shook her head, "I'm sorry I brought it up. The real important day was a month later, right?"
Yeah, when Himiko had barged out of his wardrobe for the first time. Weird to think how back then that had seemed weird. By now, the fact it didn't happen all the time anymore felt almost weirder. "It's still important."
"It is. We met that day." And he suddenly realized the situation he was him. They were hugging, he had just cried, she looked teary eyed too, her head under his chin.
His heart beating a bit faster, was something he really couldn't ignore anymore. The fact that spending time with Himiko had become so important to him, was something he couldn't ignore anymore.
The fact that calling her his girlfriend felt normal was something he couldn't ignore anymore.
'Uh-Oh.'
-x-
Inko suddenly stopped pulling one of the plates, feeling a smile spread on her lips.
"What is it, dear?" Her husband asked.
"Today is a really good day, Hisashi." She declared. Hisashi didn't know how to take that, so he just hummed.
-x-
After a minute, Himiko suddenly realized what she was doing and backed off, blushing uncontrollably, and Izuku felt like he really wanted to hug her again. He shook his head. 'Alright, calm down Izuku, you are just letting this go to your head.'
The rest of the dinner went peacefully, with Himiko and him going back to more friendly arguments. School, friends – apparently Himiko was becoming really close to Uraraka and Yaoyorozu, and Izuku felt like Iida and Tsuyu were good friends, even if with Tsuyu things were a bit different after the USJ. The USJ itself also got discussed, though in public they figured just talking about what they had done was a bad idea, so they stayed vague. Himiko had already told him the entire story on the phone before, so they rather talked about the other students.
"... And then Hagakure kicked him in the balls." Himiko concluded.
"Ouch." Izuku flinched, "That must have hurt."
"I bet, but it was deserved." She said, as they stood back up after dinner. Izuku followed her, paying quickly the cashier before walking out.
Only to run straight into Tomura Shigaraki, along with at least ten other people.
They stared at each other for a long moment, then Shigaraki brought a finger to his lips. Izuku looked at Himiko, then back at Shigaraki, and moved away, letting them into the restaurant. No one would recognize Handjob without the mask, anyway, and his goons – that he realized were people from the USJ incident – were much the same. He could only recognize the guy with water control from the pool, because he was an heteromorphic type with a very noticeable mutation.
Part of him wondered what his life was like at this point if he wasn't immediately calling the police, but what was he supposed to say? 'You are under arrest, brother of the girl I might be actually falling for'?
'Yes!' Seven voices shouted in his mind for a moment. Uh, weird. Accurate, but he couldn't. If he got Tomura arrested, All for One would probably not appreciate it and most likely break the deal with the Clan, which would have been bad not only for him, but for Himiko, and for the entirety of Japan.
-x-
"Stupid criminal logic…" Yoichi grumbled.
-x-
They walked away, and then Izuku turned to Himiko, who just coughed. "Uhm, I might have recognized the restaurant from something dad said this morning to Tomura, but to be fair it was like, six and a half, I was barely conscious."
Izuku sighed. "No problem. So long as he isn't here to cause trouble…" Actually, he glanced back once again, in time to see Tomura sit down at a table outside with some of his men. Izuku was really tempted to ask how nobody was recognizing him, but then realized that Tomura's long hair, average height, and the fact he always wore a hand on his face, meant that Handjob and Tomura Shigaraki were really hard to recognize as the same person. He only could because he knew what Tomura looked like in the first place.
"Well, I suppose he is out for lunch."
"Actually, now I remember. Dad said that since he is hiring all those new goons, he needs to also manage them. I guess he is taking out the high-ranking ones, or something like that."
Uh, that seemed oddly sociable of Tomura. Then again, he was raised to be a criminal mastermind. Maybe he wasn't completely hopeless.
-x-
Tomura Shigaraki had no idea what to do. First, the Midoriya brat and Himiko had ran into them. Then, a whole lot of other teenagers from that cursed 1-A, all filing out after the guy. When the invisible girl passed by, Tesla – now with the face in plain sight, having left the skull mask home for rather obvious reasons – had winced and reflexively grabbed his balls. Mustard, that was walking next to her, had clearly noticed, if the smirk he sent Tesla's way was any indication.
Luckily, the other brats seemed too busy thinking about something else, or were allied with the Clan, to bother him. The Frog girl he vaguely remembered and the explosion brat that had captured Kurogiri, in particular, had clearly their mind somewhere else as they walked out, followed soon after by the girl that had bombed him – and by that he meant she had bombed Dabi, which made it hilarious.
Finally, the last of the teens trailed off, with the annoying speedster and a girl from the Clan, the one with big horns, leave. Tomura took note of that. Despite everything, he wasn't dumb. His father had taught him how the Green Valley Clan worked, and if so many people from the Clan were walking around with regular Heroes-in-training, he had no doubts the Midoriya brat was probably starting to recruit.
Tomura had thought long and hard about the USJ failure, and it all came to one thing.
The Midoriya brat.
No, he hadn't made several mistakes in his handling of the situation. Clearly, an outside force had been the one that ruined his otherwise perfect plan, and that entity was none other than the green haired teen that always played innocent. It was his arrival in the plaza that turned the tide at first, when his bodyguards had damaged the Noumu and then all the other kids had rushed in, probably on his orders. From what the other villains he had hired said, he changed completely when he acted as the heir of the clan. They had described him as violent, brutal, and terrifying.
Of course. His dad wouldn't have put him through a test with a lousy opponent. It didn't make sense for him to fail like this, nor for his father to choose Izuku as his adversary, if he wasn't at least an opponent worth challenging.
He would crush him, and as he looked at the people around the table, he knew where to start.
"So, guys. Any plans for about twelve days from now?" He asked.
"Uh, yeah, I got tickets for the UA Sports Festival actually." One of them answered, the big one that could cover his skin in bronze and spikes and for some reasons was terrified of shadows and crows.
"What a coincidence, me too." He grinned.
-x-
"So. What do you think?" Mustard asked with a smug look on his face. Melissa really wanted to punch it away, but she knew it was useless. She could tell from the get-go that he was probably right, more than he realized.
His dad and Cow Lady had both told him that the relation between Himiko and Izuku was fake. That had been the basic of the plan to make her fall for Izuku, and then Izuku fall for her. In that order: Melissa wasn't going to try to seduce someone if she wasn't interested in that person.
Spying on their date had been weird to organize, but Melissa had noticed that Izuku seemed to be acting appropriately. She couldn't say she was falling at first sight or anything, but his behavior did make her think it would have been nice to date him.
And that was the problem: him and Himiko were very, very close, but until earlier that day she would have said it was more friendly close. However at the restaurant, when they had hugged, she had seen Izuku's face. That wasn't just friendliness. It was too sweet a look.
Had he fallen for Himiko? Possible. So, what did that leave her with?
"I admit they look really close." She whispered back to Mustard, while Hagakure was busy talking with Hana. She had to wonder if the invisible girl had told the truth earlier. Was she really in love with Mustard? It didn't seem Mustard was acting like someone whose date was interrupted for work, so she doubted it. 'Did Izuku recruit someone for the Clan? That seems like something Uncle Hisashi would tell him to do.' She thought.
"They are together." Mustard mentioned.
She sighed. "I know, I know. I won't ruin their relationship Mustard, trust me." She meant that. Melissa Shield was no homewrecker. If she fell for someone, she wouldn't pursue them unless they were free.
Mustard hummed, and Melissa blushed a bit. "N-Not that I intended to pursue Izuku in the first place."
"Of course. Sure you didn't."
-x-
The rest of the day went by quickly. They stopped a bit to an arcade, playing some DDR together and a few other games like whack-a-mole or that rhythm game with the chibi red hammer that originated pre-Quirk world. Weird to think that most Videogames had been completely changed by the rise of Quirk, but rhythm games seemed immune despite everything.
Then, they had stopped to eat some ice cream at a park, and there Himiko stopped as they were walking. "Uh, interesting."
Izuku stopped too. The poster Himiko was looking at was for the Tokyo Summer Fair. It was a big event, he remembered, with lots of games and even a full ferris wheel assembled for the occasion to see Tokyo from above. And then of course the classic stalls and the like. Looking at the date, it was during summer vacation too. "Want to go there on the next date?" He asked without thinking.
"Sure, sounds fun." She replied, equally without thinking.
A second passed.
Another.
Another.
Then what they had just said sunk in. "As f-f-f-f-f-f-friends of course!" Izuku exclaimed, stammering wildly.
"Y-y-y-y-yeah, of course, as friends." Himiko replied, equally stammering and looking anywhere but at Izuku.
-x-
"Awww, they are so cute." Mina commented from her hiding spot behind the tree.
-x-
"Awww, they are so cute." Ochaco said, Pony nodding, though she also sighed a bit. Ochaco wondered why, though she had to admit that it did make her a bit jealous for them to have that.
-x-
"Lucky bastard…" Denki and Mineta said in unison from their own hiding spot.
-x-
After that, Izuku accompanied Himiko to the station. "This was fun." Himiko said.
"It really was." Izuku replied, though he did knew now that he had something more to think about. That he had some feelings he had to look into to figure out what they were exactly.
Himiko entered the train for Yokohama, waving at Izuku. The moment the train started speeding up, she grabbed the thermos and downed all her blood, gasping. That was… phew. A couple times she had thought she was starting to fall for Izuku for real.
Only her imagination, of course.
Definitely only that.
Her bloodthirst growing was just a coincidence.
-x-
Mustard and Hagakure boarded the train, saying goodbye to Hana, Melissa and Mei. The teen sat down, took a deep breath and grabbed his gun. Mei had dismantled it and then put it back together, but she had also given it a full touch-up. Somehow it looked cleaner than any time before – weird, because Stain had basically drilled into Mustard the importance of proper care of his weapon – and… he didn't know why but it looked subtly different. He'd have to make sure she hadn't broken something.
"Phew, that was a thing." Hagakure said. Mustard nodded, before looking at her. The invisible girl was looking out of the window.
"So, where are you going?"
"Oh, I live in a ward to the south, so I'm going out at the next station."
"Ah. I live in Kamino, in Yokohama." Mustard replied, and Hagakure hummed. No one spoke for a bit, just both teens watching outside.
"It was nice of you to do this for Izuku." Hagakure said, "I didn't catch it all, but if I understand correctly Izuku is the son of some big company boss and the other big shots at the company want their daughters to marry him, right?"
"More or less…" Had that been Hana's explanation? Wow, that was a surprisingly good lie from a girl that seemed always on the verge of passing out from sheer embarrassment. "Izukun is a friend, you know? I have to help him out when I can."
"Yeah, that was really nice of you." She looked up, "Uh, my station is already almost here. Two minutes."
He nodded. "So… About the cover…"
"We can just pretend it never happened." Hagakure quickly said, "If we meet Melissa or Hana again we can just say we broke up or something, right?"
"Sure." Mustard nodded, "If it's fine with you…"
"It is." Hagakure nodded, then she slammed a hand on her forehead, "Oh my god, I forgot Kaminari and Mineta!"
"They will probably be fine, right?"
-x-
"… And I can't believe you two would try to spy on such a personal event! You realize how important this is for a young man or woman's growth? Relations in high school can very well shape the perception of normalcy in a relation for the future. Surely you know…" Iida went on, chopping air angrily.
Kaminari and Mineta had their heads against a nearby wall. Why did they only get Iida when everyone else got at least a girl partner?
-x-
"Probably." Mustard agreed. "So, uhm, see you on Monday, right?" He said, pointing at the station.
Hagakure nodded, standing up as the train stopped and walking to the door. She quickly walked out, then turned around. "Oh, and Mustard. It was a fun 'date'." She emphasized the last word, and Mustard, as the door closed, found himself wondering why a joke made him feel so happy.
-x-
Bakugo walked home alone. He had managed to get away from Mina's inquisitive looks and Kirishima's congratulations – accompanied by Tsuyu slapping him – before he had jumped on the train, telling the others to see him on Monday to review their investigation. Phonecharger and Grape Head were completely gone, so probably just got tired and went home.
What a fucking waste of a day. He had gotten nothing out of it.
He touched his lips and frowned.
Yeah, nothing.
-x-
Momo looked up at the ceiling of her room, touching her lips for a moment, before thinking at Bakugo's own kiss.
Uh, was it weird that he felt like he both wanted to trade place with Tsuyu and very much didn't?
She looked at the screen of her phone, checking the last chapter of MyHeartIsAFurnaceWinkWink's fic.
It was the story of a girl in love with both a boy and another girl.
She had always thought it was just fiction.
But she found herself hoping it wasn't.
-x-
Tsuyu looked up at the sky, thinking back at the day.
She had done something really dumb.
Rationally, there were probably other ways to hide her face, but she had panicked and thought back to spy movies for a solution, settling on the only one she could use on the moment.
As she walked home, she couldn't help but find herself thinking that Bakugo's breath didn't smell at all, and his lips tasted good.
'Oh no.'
-x-
Jiro looked up at her ceiling.
She had kissed Momo as a joke.
It didn't feel like a joke anymore now that she was alone.
She didn't know it, but she, Tsuyu, Mustard, and even Bakugo were sharing one single thought.
-x-
'Goddammit Izuku/Izukun/Deku, somehow this is your fault.'
Alas, such is the fate of the friends of a romcom protagonist. Contagious like the worst of plagues.
-x-
Aizawa sighed. He could feel that starting on Monday teaching would be much, much worse.
(xx)
Alright, nothing much happened there, I suppose. Pretty much a filler episode, definitely nothing important. Aside from Bakugo-Momo-Jiro-Tsuyu finally ending up in that situation I teased oh so long ago at the cinema date, Izuku finally realizing that hey, maybe he does like Himiko, Tomura falling for the Hiryu Rin fallacy (though in his case it's just being in denial of his own failures) and general teenage drama. Mina is probably dying of happiness right now. Yeah, nothing much.
You know I got called 'chaos writer' by a comment last chapter (in a positive way, I think) and I feel like this fic deserves it. Not because I write it chaotically but because I seriously think this is one of the most chaos imbued fics I've written.
Honestly this story is a shonen romcom with a subplot straight from a romance shojo that then gets comedy thrown in the mix. My girl Momo basically is just the protagonist of her own fic.
The only person I feel bad for in this story is Aizawa. Everyone else at least has a chance to come out of this in a positive relationship or deserves what happens to them. He has to teach those teens.