The Emerald Phoenix

by Primordial Vortex

For his entire life, Izuku wanted nothing more than to be a hero. Hearing his Idol say he couldn't do it without a Quirk almost broke him. Yet when put into a situation where even other heroes were almost helpless bystanders, he didn't hesitate. And in doing so, he finally awoke what he had longed for. Quirk!Izuku Harem

12. Winding Down

Bit of a longer one, because there was a lot that needed to happen between the end of the I-Island Disaster and the start of the Sports Festival, and I absolutely was not interested in dragging it out for multiple chapters.

I hope you all enjoy!

ALSO WARNING: If you guys are not aware, Fanfiction . net changed the way they do things, and unless you ENABLE alerts you WILL NOT be notified when a fic/author you have on your ALERT LIST updates. ALSO, you have to RENEW it every 6 months or else it will disable itself.

Yes, they're fucking smooth-brained morons. Make sure you enable your alerts!

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Chapter XII: Winding Down

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Somehow, Izuku wasn't sure he should have been getting used to waking up like this. After all, they would be back home at some point, right?

Once again, Izuku was greeting the dawn of a new day surrounded by his girlfriends, and that put a happy smile on his face. He still could hardly believe this was real. He'd never really dreamed of having even one girlfriend back in middle school. Now he had several, and it still felt WAY too good to be true.

Though his mind was awake, Izuku didn't open his eyes. Quite frankly he was hoping he'd fall back asleep. He still felt pretty tired from the night's events, and things hadn't even stopped with the defeat of the Villains. Izuku had a fantastic healing ability with his Quirk and had used up quite a bit of energy healing the rest of the I-Tower Wrecking Crew, as Mina had excitedly started to call them. By the end of it, he'd been damn near ready to collapse, and the rest of the night had been a blur. Not that the rest of them were any better. Even Nejire-chan had been sagging sleepily! So, he was doing his best to not mutter or move and wake the girls up.

Alas, as the minutes dragged on and he became more alert, it became clear that going back to sleep just wasn't happening. Groaning, he opened his eyes and looked around. Ah, so it was Camie on his right today, huh? He reached his head over and pecked her forehead. She was still dead asleep, but seemed to smile. Then he leaned to the left and pecked his blonde girlfriend on the forehead as well.

Wait.

His eyes bulged as the color he was seeing registered. 'None of my girlfriends are blonde!' Powered by a shot of anxiety that was all-too-familiar, Izuku's mind came fully online, and his eyes focused completely. He took everything in, and he realized it was Melissa that was cuddling him, smiling in her sleep too! 'What in the hell?!' Feeling a screech of shock coming, Izuku desperately had to clench his jaw and damn near paralyze his vocal cords with his powers to keep from waking everyone.

Once he calmed down, still clenching his jaw shut, he started to think. What the hell had happened after he'd healed everyone?! 'Okay Izuku, calm down. Take stock of things!' He huffed at himself, still fighting back panic that somehow, things were just going to go wrong. Not wanting to wake anyone, he reached for his phone with his powers. He blinked in surprise at the time. 'Well…crap. There go our sleeping schedules…' He thought to himself faintly as he read the bright '13:21' on it. He resisted the urge to shake his head at the nonsensical thought. 'This is no time for your mind to wander, stupid!' He turned on his phone's front camera so he could see what was going on around him.

Melissa was indeed on his left, rather than a figment of his imagination powered by his newly awakened libido. Nejire was hugging Melissa tight from behind, which allowed a wave of relief to flow through him. Really, Camie on his other side should have already done that, but he'd been panicking, and as he damn well knew, panic doesn't care.

He saw a lump at the bottom of the bed by his legs and blinked. He lifted the covers with his Quirk, and saw that Setsuna was underneath, hugging his leg like a body pillow. 'How is she not suffocating in there?' He squinted and looked closer, and realized her mouth and nose were gone. He looked for them, and smirked a little when he realized they were just floating gently above them… and drooling on Mina's boobs to his right.

Now taking the risk of twisting his head around, Izuku realized instantly that this wasn't the penthouse bedroom! This was the living room. Why had they moved the bed here? He looked around more, and realized the guest bed had been moved here too, and they were surrounded by the sectional couch, which was probably bigger than his apartment! Although that barely registered to Izuku now. Dating Momo had really done a lot to remove his sense of scale…

And then he realized it wasn't just Melissa who was the unexpected addition to the impromptu sleepover. The whole crew was in here! Kinoko was with Kaminari on the other bed, and using him as a body pillow. The blonde probably had enjoyed that way too much, and Izuku was happy for his classmate. Better though was the sight of Inasa laying on the other side of that bed, with Itsuka sprawled on top of him. Seeing that put a massive grin on Izuku's face, and he quickly took a picture.

To his left (and almost falling off of their massive bed), Kodai was using Momo's boobs as a pillow. Todoroki was sprawled on the couch with one leg hang-

'Wait.'

He looked again. Kodai was using Momo's boobs as a pillow.

…

"Clever girl…" He muttered, his mind defaulting to the Jurassic Park marathon Setsuna had them watch on the plane coming to I-Island. He quickly went back to taking stock, and confirmed that yes, every single student who had been part of the assault on Wolfram and Humarise was in the room. All of them were in various states of undress, with most of the girls still wearing the catsuits Momo had made for them. Most accessories had been removed and strewn around the room, and the suits themselves were zipped up to varying degrees of propriety. They ranged from almost chaste to practically off entirely.

The guys had kept their 'fancy' clothes on for the most part, though some of them had clearly been damaged beyond repair and they were just covering themselves with sheets. Nearly all of them had at least unbuttoned the shirts, even if they hadn't all taken them off.

'Damn, everyone really had been exhausted after last night.' Shōda looked like he'd simply fallen on the couch and not gotten up. Todoroki was laying on the couch with a leg hanging off. Honenuki was sleeping while sitting upright at the breakfast table. All Might was sitting next to him with a shit-eating grin and taking pictures of everyth-

"All Might?!" he blurted out, jerking everyone awake with screams of fright, his face turning white, as if he had just seen Death coming for them. 'NOOOOOooooo! My life is over! If the girls don't kill me, then Dr. Shield will!'

"Wha?!" Melissa yelped as her eyes snapped open. She immediately realized she was hugging Izuku, and her face went beet red as she sprang away with a squeak.

This rolled her onto Nejire, who wheezed as her boobs were compressed. "Ack! Melissa-chan! Air!"

"Sorry!" Melissa hurriedly rolled off her, and almost fell off the bed as well. Momo and Yui had fallen off, and they caught her. "Uncle Might! What are you doing here?!" She asked, now completely frazzled. No less frazzled than Itsuka, who was giving her hair color a run for its money. Her hands grew large enough to cover her entire body… and Inasa too, who was now imitating a wooden board bar his eyes which were flicking all over the place.

"AHAHAHAHA! My apologies for waking you, children, but I'm afraid your debrief can wait no longer!" He laughed as he casually pulled up a chair and sat in it, "You were given more than eight hours to sleep. I-Island's Police Chief is insistent on getting your statements, and he has allowed me to step in and take them myself as your 'commanding officer.' As you functioned as a group, it was decided to do them all at once. Do you all need a few minutes to get ready?"

"Yes please!" Mina yelped, pulling at her shirt, "Seeet!" She whined, "You drooled all over me!"

"Sorry!" Setsuna was laughing, though there was a mischievous look in her eyes as she climbed out from under the covers that told everyone who knew her that no, she really wasn't.

It took a few minutes for everyone to get cleaned up and finally change into some new clothes, with Momo making more if anyone couldn't find something that fit. They also had all used the bathroom, which had taken a while, though thankfully it looked like All Might hadn't used much time at all, because he wasn't straining to hold his muscle form. "Everyone ready? Excellent. Let's begin with what you all did once you ended your conversation with me…"

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Toshinori really, really wanted to do something quite unheroic by the time the debriefs were finished. Every single one of the students in front of him had now seen death up close and personal, due to that monstrously large individual. Several of them had been injured in the line of duty, and he was so thankful that his wonderful successor had discovered his healing powers. All of that on top of what happened at the USJ… 'Even Seniors never see this much action on their internships. Damn it, I know professional heroes who haven't seen as much life-or-death combat in so short a time!'

But the thing that was making him the most furious was just how close his successor had come to dying because of these damned Villains. Currently, Izuku was almost suffocating due to how his girlfriends were hugging the stuffing out of him, and his honorary niece had been dragged into the pile as well. Her face was quite red, but she was clearly enjoying the attention. His grin did not falter even as his mind wandered to what that could mean.

But despite legitimate reasons for sheer rage, another emotion was completely overpowering it: pride. "Words cannot describe just how proud I am of all of you, young ones." All of them flushed in joy at the praise coming from him, "None of you should have been anywhere near an incident like this. No, not even you, Hadō-shōjo."

Nejire blinked in shock at that, But All Might quickly continued, "Had this been a planned operation, an assault on a Villain's homebase, no one without a legitimate Hero license would have been allowed near. Not if I had any say in it. Legally, even your provisional license would not have cut it."

"Wow…" Nejire blinked again, "I didn't think it was that bad. I've been a part of similar operations with Ryūkyū before… Though never one of this scale against so many dangerous Villains." She admitted at the end of her statement. "But it still is just me and her against a bunch of baddies usually."

"That's precisely it. Every one of the Villains you faced was B-ranked at minimum, and many of them were revised to higher rankings from the bits of collected video footage. If you HAD been part of it, it would have been in a supporting role. It most certainly would not have been a leading role, or one that put you in such danger. But none of that mattered to you. Every single one of you stepped up. You conquered the tower, your fears, and even some of your demons."

He grinned, turning to stare directly at Todoroki as he said the last word. Shōto couldn't help but quirk a smile, "As such, as I gave you all permission to fight and use your Quirks, and due to I-Islands relaxed laws on Quirk usage… all of you will be receiving rewards for the capture of the Villains, and you all are receiving official credit for each one!"

The room erupted in squeals and shouts of jubilation, "Holy crap! We don't even have provisional licenses yet!" Kaminari yelped, smiling wide and bright.

"Holy shitake!" Kinoko squealed, wiggling excitedly in her seat, "We're awesome!" The rest of them were either smiling and fist-pumping or hugging it out.

"That you are!" All Might agreed with a laugh, "Just don't let it get to your heads, you hear?" He said, turning stern and staring at all of the more excitable ones until they quieted down, "You all were quite lucky. Several of you could have died, if things had been just slightly different, such as if Midoriya-shōnen's backup just a bit slower to react in defending him. And if Midoriya-shōnen had not discovered his healing ability, your commander and one of your strongest fighters would have suffered a debilitating injury almost immediately. Even after the fighting was done, there was a possibility that any of you could have succumbed to your injuries."

That brought the mood down immediately, which he noticed, "I'm not saying this to bring you down. You all performed wonderfully. You stepped into a situation you had no business being in and acquitted yourselves with distinction!" He looked at all of them with a proud smile, "Enjoy your victory! You more than earned it! But letting this get to your heads is the worst mistake you could possibly make now. You're still students, and despite your success, you still have much to learn."

"Yes sir!" They all chanted at him. Even the more excitable members of the group were taking the number one's words to heart.

All Might smiled, dropping the stern look from his face. He then looked at Izuku and his girlfriends, silently asking a question. Izuku didn't need telepathy to tell what was going through the man's mind. He smiled wide and nodded, with Momo figuring it out a second later and smiling too, giving him a thumbs up. Most of the other students found the interaction weird, but focused on All Might again as he smiled, "It warms my heart to see such wonderful Heroes ready to step up once I retire."

The air was sucked from the room with such speed Izuku was surprised the windows hadn't bowed in and shattered. Kaminari started to stutter, "Re-Retire?" he started to laugh nervously, rubbing the back of his head with little beads of sweat flying off him, "Hahaha, nice joke, All Might! You still got another couple decades, right?"

Itsuka was nodding vigorously, "Yeah, you've been a Hero so long, and you still aren't any weaker! You'll still be punching Villains when we graduate, right?"

Toshinori's eyes turned sad, "…Not quite." They all gasped as his voice lost… something. And then steam started to engulf the greatest Hero, and when it cleared, Shōto almost overturned the sofa with how fast he stood up.

Sitting before them was Toshinori in his real form. The room was dead silent, and then the screaming started as the other students began to panic. Izuku quickly brought his thumb and middle fingers to his mouth and blew, letting out a shrill whistle that had most everyone clapping their hands to their ears, "Guys, the six of us and Inasa can assure you, that's still All Might. He's not an imposter."

Inasa let out a sigh, "Yeah, me and Izuku have known about it for… almost a year now, right?" He looked at Izuku, who nodded.

"The rest of us haven't known for very long." Nejire sighed, "But it's true."

Kinoko was trembling, her hands near her face and tears in her eyes as she asked, "But… but how? Who? What?!"

Wordlessly, Toshinori raised his shirt revealing the wound. You could have heard a pin drop in the room. Sound only picked up when he dropped the shirt, and the students started belting out questions. However, he spoke over them, hoping his words would be answer enough, "I'm afraid children, that due to this wound, it's not very likely that I'll be able to continue using my Quirk by the time this year is out." He said finally, "It's always been painful to force myself after the surgeries, but lately it's gotten worse. It's why I took this teaching job."

He smiled at all of them, despite the fact it didn't fill them with hope and inspiration like it normally would, "I wanted to pass on the decades of knowledge I've accumulated. I wanted to make sure there would be those ready to stand for justice once I no longer could. And I'm so proud to say that all of you embody it."

While Toshinori had been talking, Izuku and the girls had been eying the reactions and emotions flying across their classmates' faces. Devastation was a common one. Sadness and horror, equally so. But Todoroki caught his eye. The boy had silently flared with little wisps of fire. He was shocked, of course, but there was something else. The primary emotions Izuku could sense from him were sheer sadness and rage.

Despite grimacing, Izuku deliberately did not peek at his thoughts. That particular display worried him, but he wouldn't invade Todoroki's privacy like that.

Toshinori bulked up, which weirded most of them out. But his smile was back to being inspirational, despite the knowledge they all carried now. "Before I leave you, children, I would like to pass on to you the words of my late master." Every single one of them widened their eyes and sat silently, waiting for him to speak, "My master was a woman with a big heart and a bigger smile. It is because of her that I have carried it all these years. Always remember, 'When you have to save someone, it means they've just been in a scary situation! A true Hero not only saves their lives, but also their hearts! That's what I believe. So, no matter how scary things get, give 'em a smile! As if you're saying, "I'm a-okay". The people in this world who can smile are always the strongest!' If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn't be nearly the man I am today."

All of them, even Todoroki, were smiling softly at his words. "I'll leave you to it, now. We still have a few days here even despite the mess, so enjoy the rest of this vacation. I've already cleared with the principal and even your homeroom teachers that what homework you have already done is all you'll need to finish. Practical experience does trump book learning in most cases, after all." He winked at them as they let out cheers.

Seeing that Momo looked a bit put out, Toshinori laughed, "Of course, if you WANT to finish that coursework, you may feel free to. I'll leave you all to the rest of your day!" And with that, he stood and left the room.

For a moment, there was silence. Kaminari was the one who broke it, face still slack in disbelief, "Man… I just can't believe it."

"I can't either." Yui said, softly. She also looked shaken and unsure, and was rubbing her arm. Her facial expression wasn't much different, but her body language wasn't nearly as hard to read. None of them could hide how much All Might's injury had shocked them. If even the very best could get hurt like that, it was a horrible reminder that no one was perfect. No one could walk away uninjured every time.…

"None of that, now." Izuku stood, "Remember what All Might said! He shared that with all of you because he believes in you!" Izuku's normally calm, friendly eyes were blazing, and he put his own smile on his face as he clenched his flaming hand, "He feels safe in retiring because WE ARE HERE." He shouted, and just like that, all the gloom vanished from the room. "Every single one of us can become amazing Heroes! And every single one of us WILL become amazing Heroes! Got it?!" All of them started to beam at his words, and many of them even started to feel as if All Might was still there with them. There was only one thing they could do.

"YEAH!" The rest of them shouted, buoyed by his words.

Well… mostly. Izuku turned to Todoroki, who looked lost. He walked over and put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay, Todoroki-kun?"

Shōto looked up at them, and then down at his feet. He let out a shuddering breath and spoke softly, "All these years… and that man has been fighting against a shell…" Izuku was the only one close enough to hear him, and his eyes widened in shock. Shōto looked up, fighting with himself, before he stood and sat in the middle of the room where All Might had been, so everyone could see him. He looked exhausted as he spoke, "All of you were wondering why I never used my fire…"

He hesitated, clenching a fist so hard his knuckles cracked, before Shōto forced himself to relax, "Well, I suppose today is a day for secrets, isn't it?"

The rest of them realized almost immediately that this was likely going to be somewhere on the same level as the last revelation. Even so, they were not prepared for the reality of the situation, because as Shōto spoke, everyone there felt themselves grow colder and colder as if he were using his Quirk on them. By the time Shōto finished speaking, most of them could do nothing more than stare at him with their jaws unhinged.

Several of them had blurry vision from all the tears. Several others were fuming. Izuku himself was one of those most affected, clenching his fists so hard it was a miracle he wasn't doing more than lightly shaking the items around them. Inasa quite simply had his head in his hands, but instead of his friend's anger, Inasa was gripped most by self-loathing.

Mina was the one who finally spoke, her tone as cold as ice, "So, we're killing Endeavor, right?" Her expression was as hard as diamond.

"Murder isn't heroic…" Melissa said, weakly and noncommittally.

"Neither is that flaming shitheel!" Setsuna exploded, standing up and starting to pace like a caged tiger, looking like she wanted to commit violence.

"I…" Inasa looked at Todoroki, "I was such a…" He struggled to find words, "Dick to you! Making it out like it was nothing more than… than daddy issues." He clenched his fists, "How have you NOT put your fist through my face yet?!"

Shōto let out an uncharacteristic snort, "Because you were right." He looked at his hands, "And it was so bad that I equated him to his fire, and acted like simply not using it was enough to make me not be like him." He clenched his jaw, "And instead I became even worse. For all that he's an awful person, he's a great Hero. Meanwhile, all I've done is injure Utsushimi, put Hagakure and several other students in even more danger during the USJ incident, and act like a sore loser and even worse classmate."

Inasa stared at him, face blank. And then he punched himself in the face, drawing yelps from all of them.

"God damn it, Inasa." Izuku groaned in exhaustion as he reached his hand over and started to heal him. "Why do you have to be so… so… you?!"

"Seriously, will you stop that?!" Mina cried out in total exasperation. "You don't have enough brain cells to sacrifice them like that!"

Shōto himself looked shocked, before he had to raise a fist to his mouth to hide a snigger. At least it had lightened the mood. Shōto looked at Mina, "And no, we're not killing him." He deadpanned, "If I wanted him dead I'd do it myself. For as awful as he was, he's still my father… much as I hate to say it out loud."

Itsuka looked like she was a second from losing it entirely. Family was something as important as her martial arts to her, and hearing about how Endeavour, a well-regarded Hero treated his family made her furious. She snapped, "So he just… gets away with it?! He gets to keep on fooling everyone? Acting like a Hero, letting the public pour on the accolades, never realizing he's just as much a-a Villain as…"

Shōto looked tired all of a sudden as he interrupted her rant, "All Might just told us what will be happening within the year." He looked down, "What will happen if we're dealing with that as well?" That brought them all up short, making them look uncomfortable. Shōto shook his head, "Besides, I didn't share this with you because I wanted your pity. I just… you all helped me, and the revelation that for the past six years, that man has been competing with… that…" He sighed, "It was too much."

"None of us pity you." Izuku said softly, "There is a difference between compassion and pity."

"Or comradery." Momo said softly, "You are our friend Todoroki-kun. Know that if you need help with anything, I'm sure we all have your back." She stood and bowed, "And you have my apologies, for the insults I threw at you after our last spar."

"Why apologize for something you were in the right about?" Shōto asked as she straightened from her bow, "You were right. You were all right. I was only hurting myself. I just wish it hadn't taken this long to figure that out." He stood, "I… I'd like some time to myself now. Thank you for letting all of us stay the night." He quirked a smile, "Although, I'm sure you would have had more fun alone."

Setsuna gasped, "A joke from Todoroki? Progress!"

Itsuka stood, "Yeah, I think it's time we all go to our own rooms. Maybe see each other at the expo again after a break? I need a damn shower…" She said, getting some nods, "Later then!"

Slowly, the rest of them filed out of the room. Before she left, Yui softly asked if Izuku and his girls wanted to meet up later in the day to have more time at the expo once it opened up. They agreed, and she left with a soft smile, leaving Izuku, Melissa, and his girlfriends there.

Melissa let out a sigh, "I… I think I should head out as well, much as I'd like to stay and relax with all of you." She took a strand of her hair between her fingers and twirled it a little bashfully, "I think I should head out and start doing some research." She smiled, "After all, if I'm going to be going to U.A, I'll need to find a place to stay!" She went on, pushing some cheer into her tone.

"What are you talking about?" Momo asked quizzically, and Melissa turned to her, confused, "You don't need to live on your own, Melissa. I have more than enough room at home."

Melissa's eyes widened and her cheeks flushed slightly, "Wh-what? I couldn't possibly impose on you like that!"

"And furthermore," Momo smiled at her, "Having someone other than the butlers and maids at home would be wonderful."

Melissa momentarily heard 'dial up' noises in her head as she took in the words 'butlers' and 'maids.' Slowly, her brain rebooted, 'Oh yeah, she's rich rich!' She shook her head as she remembered that little tidbit. There was obviously another reason that she was hesitant to accept Momo's offer… that being that living with one of the girlfriends of the guy she was most definitely crushing on was probably a BAD idea. With caps and everything. "Uhh…I-"

"Don't worry about it!" Camie grinned, throwing an arm around her shoulder, making her yelp.

"Mhm!" Nejire did the same from the other side, "You're totally one of our besties now."

Mina was just as cheery, "You're totally awesome!"

"AND you saved our little trouble magnet!" Setsuna's disembodied head gave her a toothy grin as she snuggled into Izuku's fluff, something that was quickly becoming a favorite activity of hers.

For his part, Izuku blushed and looked away, beginning to whistle.

Seeing that, Melissa flinched minutely, "I, uhh-" She blushed, "I… should apologize… for how we… woke up this morning."

"Melissa…" Momo looked at her in a rather deadpan manner, "If we were mad about it, don't you think this would be a very different conversation?"

Melissa waved her arms frantically, looking around at the girls and wondering when the metaphorical shoe would drop, "But-But I was just… wrapped around your boyfriend! Why are you not mad?!" There was no way this could go anywhere but downhill, right?

"Well for one, you're the only reason we're not spending the rest of the day crying right now. You saved his life, remember?" Momo asked, "If nothing else, that wins you some leeway."

"I was wrapped up with you too, you know?" Nejire threw her two yen in, "So it's not like we weren't allowing it. Plus, you two totally like each other. It was pretty obvious even before the attack." Nejire stated, as if commenting on the weather, and drawing yelps and paired flushes from Izuku and Melissa. "We never did set boundaries on this thing we have, after all. We should probably do that." She told the rest of her polycule.

Melissa's face looked lobster red as she took a few breaths to calm down. She was fidgeting and worming her hands together, "S-So, just so I understand what you're saying, you-you… wouldn't mind if…?" She couldn't even finish the sentence.

Izuku's face was so red it was radiating heat. He cleared his throat, "J-just for full disclosure." He mumbled after he had all of their attention, "We should be honest with each other, right? A-After she… saved me, we…" Their eyes widened, "Well, we almost kissed… I think…?" That part of the night was still a little fuzzy, honestly. His flames had healed the damage, but there had been a good few minutes where he wasn't exactly lucid.

Some of them pursed their lips, but Nejire stared at him, "Only almost, right?"

"Yeah." Melissa hastily interjected, "Emotions were running… very high after the fight ended. I thought he'd died and then he had that concussion and the memory loss, and my foot was throbbing in agony and then he was healing it and making it all better and…" Her face progressively redder and not just because she was demonstrably running out of breath.

"Breathe, girl!" Mina shook her, and Melissa obeyed, gasping in some air.

Momo was shaking her head in bemusement as she watched the older blonde, remembering the first time Izuku had learned he could heal other people by putting Momo's arm back together. His healing flames felt good. She could easily see that influencing their blonde friend after such an ordeal.

Melissa drew another shorter, shuddering breath, "But, yeah, we didn't actually kiss. There was no way I was going to be a homewrecker to my new friends, and Izuku wasn't about to cheat. The moment we realized what we were about to do, we both pulled away and refocused on the mission."

"But if we hadn't been dating, you would have been all over each other, huh?" Mina had a smirk on her face, breathing a sigh of relief now that she knew nothing had actually happened. Izuku and Melissa both turned into tomatoes again, with Melissa even looking like some steam may have been wafting above her head.

Izuku shook off his embarrassment, "S-Sorry girls. I shouldn't have let emotions get the better of me, even in a situation like that." Looking around at the girls he had come to care for deeply, Izuku felt like he wanted to cry or scream. Maybe at the same time. He was terrified that he'd already ruined everything not even a week after they'd all gotten together.

'That would be par for the fucking course, wouldn't it?' He thought to himself with a bitterness that surprised himself.

Camie let out a huff, her face set in an unusually stern expression. "As long as we don't have to worry about it happening again, you feel?"

Mina nodded, "Honestly, I kinda called the two of you maybe having something. After that time in the lab, it seemed kinda obvious, you know? Kindred spirits and all that." Honestly, she'd be squealing about 'star-crossed lovers' right now if it didn't involve her own boyfriend and a new girl outside of their polycule, "It's the only reason I'm not really mad right now. Well, that and you not actually doing it, of course."

"Like I said, it was pretty obvious you two might start becoming interested in each other. We kinda saw it coming." Nejire giggled lightly. Melissa flushed again.

Setsuna threw herself into the couch with a bounce, "So, like Nejire-chan-senpai-" All of them grinned or giggled at the beaming smile that appeared on Nejire's face, "-said, we gotta decide on this whole polycule thing." Setsuna looked at Melissa, who had taken a seat with the rest of them, "And for the record, we're a package deal if you want in. Think you can handle that, Melissa-chan?"

"I… I don't know." Melissa said, not firmly at all. Her face hadn't really cooled down yet, and it was clear that her brain was still in danger of overheating.

But Momo had seen the way Melissa had looked at least at Momo herself the day before, and knew the blonde was at least curious. She didn't blame the blonde for not being certain about joining something like this. None of them had been sure until they gave it a try and found that they all worked surprisingly well together. "It wasn't exactly what most of us had envisioned either. Indeed, all I really knew about romance came from my novels, and none of them involved relationships like it. My parents were also monogamous, so I didn't really know relationships like ours even existed. Nejire-chan was the only one who wanted to be in a poly relationship, even before Mina-chan brought it up as a possibility. Mina-chan didn't want to even think about us fighting and losing our friendships over a guy. Once Nejire-chan talked to us about it and shared her own prior experience, we decided it was worth at least a trial run."

Mina winced, "Now that I think about it, we kinda made our own mistake though." They turned questioning looks at her, "We wanted it to be a happy surprise for Midori if things worked out, but I think we just gave him anxiety because he didn't know what was going on."

Izuku flinched, "Y-yeah, I was really confused and just didn't know what was happening. And… kissing all of you after each date kinda made me feel like a scumbag and that I was leading you all on. Plus, it kind of hurt that none of you wanted to even talk about being… well… together before we all kissed on the beach." His hands were working themselves over as his girlfriends flinched twice in quick succession, "I'm still… over the moon that things worked out the way they did, but during our dates, half of me was just a ball of nerves, while the other half was wondering if I was just having some strange dream."

"Mou, I'm so dumb!" Nejire nearly mewled in dismay, latching onto him tightly. "I even knew communication was key, and I didn't say anything against it! I just got so excited about surprising you that I didn't think! I'm so sorry, Zuzu!"

He hugged her back, giving her a quick peck on the lips. She melted into it, but he quickly pulled back. He didn't want to make Melissa uncomfortable. "Like I said, I'm the happiest I've ever been." Izuku smiled softly at Nejire, and then looked at the rest of them in turn, "I definitely would have appreciated knowing what we were doing though."

Setsuna leaned over and pecked him too, "Sorry, Zu. We messed up, and that was really dumb of us. We should have known better…" She nuzzled into him, before turning to the rest of the girls, "So yeah," She said, "I don't think Zu deserves a stay in the doghouse for yesterday, but if he did, then I'd say we all deserved it for how we all unintentionally made him feel like we were all stringing him along." Mina and Camie nodded sharply.

He shook his head, "I still feel guilty even if nothing happened. If I need to do anything to make up for it, just name it."

Setsuna shook her head as well, "No, I think the matter is settled, right?" She looked at the other girls, and all of them nodded except for Momo.

Momo had been grimacing, mentally slapping herself for their mistake. She hesitated to say it, but she was pretty sure she was the closest to Izuku when this all started. Of all of them, she should have known that Izuku would have been a mass of confusion and anxiety over the situation. Being dazzled by the newness of it all was no excuse for forgetting that Izuku had been dealt such an awful hand early in life. He wouldn't have appreciated the feeling of being 'played,' even if that had never been their intention.

She now joined the pile for a moment, kissing him lightly, "Sorry, Izu…" She whispered, cupping his cheeks. "And like Setsuna said, we're okay. Nothing happened. Plus, Mina was right… we had… already anticipated the possibility of something… more growing between you and Melissa-chan." He tilted his head to the side, not saying anything, but she knew what he wanted to ask, "We had a private conversation while you showered that day after we started on our costumes." She clarified, and his eyes filled with understanding, "We decided to just let things play out without saying anything."

"Which was probably a mistake too." Nejire felt like smacking herself. She should have seen this coming! "Damn it, why am I making so many mistakes?! Auntie kept telling me how communication was even more important for polycules than it is in regular relationships, and this is twice I've messed up!" She whined to herself, looking like she was going to tear up.

"Yeah, no, like… let's just stop being dumbasses." Camie deadpanned, "M'kay?"

Mina shook her head in exasperation, "Yeah, we all need to talk about any big relationship stuff."

"Please do." Izuku shook his head, but it was in rather fond exasperation, "I don't think my heart will survive too many more of these 'fun' surprises."

Momo pressed her palm into her forehead, "Yes, let's not do that again. Regardless, especially after seeing how you two interacted in the lab, we… all felt Melissa was special too, in our own ways, and if you recall, Nejire wanted to 'keep her' after that first day, after all." Off to the side, Melissa let out a surprised, but pleased smile as Momo continued, "Though I don't think she quite meant like this at the time." They all giggled as they remembered their excited fairy zooming about that night after they said goodbye to their new friend. Momo went on seriously, her eyes locking on Izuku's, "That said… this was a one-off situation, and we obviously will not be happy if it happens again."

"Mhm." Setsuna nodded, "So, since you still feel bad about it…" She raised her hand and bopped him on the nose, drawing a surprised yelp, "Bad Zu." She smirked as he looked at her in surprise before he started to laugh, pulling her in for a closer hug.

"Thanks girls." He smiled at all of them, "We're all happy now, right?" He asked with a small smile.

"Yes!" The periwinkle-haired girl said cheerfully, "Realizing how badly we messed up in setting our relationship up hurts, but dating you all the past two weeks has been even more fun than I thought it would be!"

Melissa had allowed them all to work things out, curious as to their group dynamics. It looked about as complicated as she thought it could be, but she was happy to see how mature they were in working things out and talking with each other. Now that everyone seemed to have settled down, she felt safe jumping in again, "So, you all went on individual dates before you started officially dating?"

"Yep!" Mina answered for them, "We all went on dates and did fun things together, to see if it would work out!" Mina leaned side to side in her seat, winking over at Setsuna. "And boy did it!" Their date had gotten just a wee bit spicy.

Melissa nibbled on a knuckle lightly, "I… I do like all of you. A lot even. You've been so much easier to get along with than most of the other people I know, and you've done more to make me feel welcome than almost anyone." All of them smiled brightly, "I've had more fun in the past week-"

"Last night notwithstanding." Momo interjected with a grumble, making Melissa huff out in agreement, which the rest of them followed.

"Definitely!" The blonde laughed, before going on, "Anyway, I've had more fun in the last week than in a long time. But I definitely don't know if I could handle a relationship like… like what you all share. Hell, my one past relationship was a disaster and there was only one person involved. So…" She turned bashful and started poking her fingertips together. Mina nearly squealed from how cute it was, but kept the squeal inside, worried she would scare Melissa away, "So if… if you're okay with it, maybe we should… trial it?"

"YAAAAY!" Nejire beamed and crashed into her, drawing a yelp from the blonde. "Cuddle Pile!"

Mina started to cackle as she jumped in, followed by Camie. Melissa started to giggle helplessly from the bottom. "W-wait! My glasses!" She squeaked, before they floated off her nose and safely onto a different part of the couch. The rest of the girls all followed, and then were dragged into the cuddle pile by Nejire.

The next hour passed by with them simply talking, hanging out, and putting some American cartoons on the grand TV to have in the background. He had Setsuna and Camie in his arms, while Nejire was floating behind them and happily braiding Camie's hair. Melissa and Momo were almost cuddling, with Momo getting a list of things that the blonde would need for her lab at the mansion.

Despite the earlier reminder, Melissa was completely overwhelmed with just how rich 'Yaoyorozu' meant, because thus far Momo had sternly talked her into blowing her normal yearly budget on just the preliminary items and machines she would need. After getting just a small peek at Momo's personal portfolio, Melissa didn't even bother trying to argue.

When he sensed that initial discussion drawing to a close, Izuku decided now was the time to bring something up again, "So… are we… er….shutting the door, as it were?" He squeezed the two in his arms, "I know I'm already more than happy with how things turned out. I… I never thought I'd end up with even one girlfriend after… well… you know."

"Fucking exploding Pomeranian." Setsuna snarled under her breath, forcing a startled laugh from Izuku. The fact that a former bully and suicide-baiter was their classmate and even in the Hero Course still rankled. Badly. To say nothing of the fact his favorite target had been their boyfriend.

Before he could continue, Nejire spoke up. "Right, there's also that to talk about. And don't think we won't, Zuzu!"

"R-right…" Izuku agreed, though he almost wished he could just sweep the Bakugō issue under the rug and just handle it on his own at the earliest opportunity. "But I, uh, don't want to talk about that right now. Our relationship is more important than him."

He drew a couple smiles. Nejire in particular looked happy, "Right. That at least can wait until we're back on campus. For now, why don't you tell us about your thoughts on our cuddle pile?"

He grinned for a bare second, "I just… I still don't know how I even attracted you all! I guess at this point I… uhh, know that I enjoyed a lot of your hobbies and vice-versa before we started the initial round of dates. But that's a far ways away from understanding how all of this happened. How you all came to… care for me… like that. Back before U.A, no one liked me or wanted anything to do with me until my Quirk came in and I…"

"Fucking idiots." Camie snarled, looking like she wanted to spit on the floor, "Couldn't see beyond their own fucking noses."

"While I don't wish to voice the sentiment as… vulgarly as Camie-chan, I feel the same way." Momo said evenly, her frown deep and unhappy. "It took me all of a day to see your good traits, Izu-kun, and that has nothing to do with your Quirk."

But it appeared as if Izuku was in his own head because he just continued as if he hadn't heard them, "And then they just wanted to fawn over me because my Quirk was strong. They were just so… fake…"

Momo was the first to respond again, "After hearing about what you went through, and seeing Melissa in action, and how gifted she is, and how amazing her inventions are… I can't help but start to develop a deep dislike for the state of society right now. This… obsession with Quirks…" She wasn't really sure where to take that thought, but the rest of their group understood the gist of it anyway.

He seemed to shake himself in Camie and Setsuna's arms, bringing his brain back on course with difficulty. "Right. I can't help but feel the same at times. A-Anyway, by then I wanted nothing to do with any of them. S-so I never had any friends until I met Inasa, and I definitely never had a girlfriend before this all… I guess I… never really learned what signals I was sending that attracted you, or showed that I was attracted to you in turn. Beyond the, uhh, the obvious."

He looked at Momo, who blushed just a bit, beaming back at him as she remembered their brief moment of telepathic flirting after the first training session with Nejire. " S-so, if I'm doing something, please tell me."

At that point, all the girls decided that words just weren't enough, and once again, Izuku found himself in a pile of his favorite ladies in the world, "Heh, no wonder you just pulled Melissa-chan in, stud." Setsuna said in heavy amusement, drawing a 'eep' from the blonde as her finger poked something soft and round.

Mina had gotten behind him somehow and pressed herself tightly to his back for a hug. He blushed hotly as her assets pressed into him, her breathing into his ear as she spoke doing nothing for his self-control. "Midori, you're awesome, and Yaomomo's right… It has nothing to do with your Quirk. Remember, you were forbidden from using it and still blew most of us out of the water in Heroics. All of your amazing traits were in full view of everyone in the class after the attack, You're super smart, kind, helpful, determined, and fucking sexy as all hell." She punctuated the statement by rubbing his six-pack and kissing his neck.

"Indeed." Momo said silkily, blushing heavily now but wishing to add to the teasing. She was directly in front of him, and she pressed her own generous assets into his chest as she stared into his eyes from well within kissing range. "You're very attractive, Izu."

'Ah, so this is how I die. Via my blood boiling and escaping out of my head.' Izuku thought to himself with a blazing face. 'It's original at least,' Izuku thought to himself with a blazing face. Yet he could not tear his eyes away from the girls gazing at him from all around, nor could he shut out the sensations of the group hug

"Nom." Camie smirked as she gave his neck a very wet kiss, running her tongue on him and sucking lightly. "Just sexy as hell? Don't undersell our stud, Mina-chan, Yaomomo."

"Giiiiirls!" Izuku whined just a little, trying to keep himself under control. 'Don't get a boner. Don't get a boner. Fuck, I'm getting a boner.' Momo's blush deepened, though something else twinkled in her eye as she felt it growing for the first time, and he was entirely uncertain as to what that 'something' was. They giggled as he cleared his throat and most of them parted to take their seats again, "A-Anyway… I'm perfectly happy with us the way we are, and am not looking to bring anyone else in. I… I just want to be certain all of you are happy too, um that er, that you don't… like… um…"

"Darling, none of us are going to go looking for other men if that's what you're worried about." Momo shot him a rare smirk from her seat next to Melissa. He felt something warm flow through him at the pet name, and could feel his smile becoming a huge grin for a second as she went on. "You've rather spoiled us there."

Camie gave him a loving peck on the cheek, "Yep. Like, what dude would even compare?" Izuku's blush had been dimming, and it came roaring back. "Anyway, it's not like we were looking for other chicks, ya dig? Just kinda happened since we're all so hot and awesome." She winked at them.

Momo and Melissa blushed a bit at that, the former now losing her momentary courage. The more outgoing Nejire and Camie grinned impishly as they each licked a finger, cocked their hips, and poked the other's bums in a 'safe' location, making sizzling noises. That got a few scattered giggles, as Nejire laughed and pulled Camie into her lap. The others were quickly learning their fairy was a proper cuddle monster. Not that any of them were complaining.

Crawling out from behind Izuku, Mina took Camie's vacated cuddle spot. She stretched lackadaisically, wanting to move past this since there had already been a bit too much serious talk today for her tastes, "Still, even setting aside the fact we've got our male hottie quota filled, we probably should figure out if this is it. Even Yaomomo's bed can't get TOO much bigger, right?" She winked at the heiress.

"Lies and slander." Camie snickered as Momo blushed a bit harder.

Melissa cleared her throat, "I… think I'll sit this one out. I'm not fully 'in,' after all. Though I will say it already feels pretty overwhelming." No one pointed out that she had already willingly joined the cuddle pile more than once in just the past hour.

"I'm not interested in anyone else at the moment." Nejire chirped, "So ladies, any other girl-crushes you want to admit to?" Nejire smirked. "Because like Yaomomo, Mina-chan, and Camie-chan said, none of us are going to go looking for other guys."

Momo outright shuddered at the idea of bringing any guys in. She well remembered the young boys (and even adult men!) who had flirted with her at the parties she had been forced to attend, and the very idea of any of them trying to worm their way into her relationship with the others sickened her.

Izuku caught this, and turned in her direction, but when he reached out telepathically, Momo put him at ease quickly, saying, "Obviously I'm perfectly happy with our situation, and am not looking to add anyone to our cuddle pile." with a small smile on her face.

Slowly, the rest of them made their opinions clear. Some of them had one or two others that they found attractive, but nothing beyond that. It was a more artistic appreciation, rather than a desire to be involved with them romantically.

Finally, only one of them was left to give an opinion.

Listening to the others, Setsuna had been ready to agree, but then her lips twitched into a minute frown as she remembered one of her best friends in 1-B. '…Shit, what about Yui?'

While her silent companion had been pretty subtle most of the time, Setsuna had seen enough signals to know that Yui might be interested in Izuku and Momo at the very least. 'At least if how long it took to get her head off of Yaomomo's chest this morning was any indication. Plus, she did ask to hang out with all of us later. Is she serious or is it just her being horny like usual?'

Plus, she well knew that Yui thought Setsuna herself was hot, and they had even cuddled on multiple occasions. And it wasn't like Setsuna wasn't attracted to the mecha fangirl in turn. The quiet girl was gorgeous and an amazing person once you got to know her, and got past how quiet she was. Setsuna could well remember how hard she'd laughed (and blushed, although she would never admit it) the first time she and Yui started to text back and forth. As unemotional and hard to communicate with as Yui was verbally, in text she was an absolute riot and a massive flirt occasionally.

Nejire noticed her frown, and she stopped braiding Camie's hair. Nudging Camie, the fawn-haired girl got off her lap and Nejire floated to the center of the room, getting all of their attention, "Okay, especially after earlier, I think we all need to be super honest and open about any possible other crushes. Set? You were gnawing on your lip a bit. Anything you want to get in the open?"

Setsuna scratched her cheek, before sighing, "Yeah, you're right. It's not about someone I'm interested in, though she is pretty hot, and I like her a lot, not gonna lie. Definitely could have maybe started dating her if you lot didn't reel me in." She winked, earning a few giggles, "And I don't even know if she's actually serious about it or if she's just being horny, but I think Yui-chan might be interested."

"Wait!" Izuku gaped, "K-Kodai? I-i-interested?"

Setsuna grinned predatorily, "Oh, yes. Did I not tell you? She asked me to send her some dirty pics of you that day on the beach."

At that, Izuku went almost catatonic, and steam actually started to rise above his head. Setsuna cackled at his reaction while Melissa almost choked in shock, and Momo only didn't follow because she had seen the text that day on the beach. The other girls started to giggle.

Nejire grinned at the dino-lover, "Is she your class's horny rep?" That just got Setsuna to laugh even harder and even Melissa started to sputter and had to hide her laughter behind her hands.

Setsuna smirked, "I'd say yes, but me and Kin-chan exist, and she's hornier than Pony-chan could ever be."

It took a moment for them to parse that, and then they remembered that Pony was the one with actual horns, and they burst out laughing. Once Melissa was filled in, she could only sputter too.

Still cackling, Camie called out, "F's for Kami-bro!"

Setsuna's grin was sharklike, "His poor pelvis. F." And that set them all off again.

Momo cleared her throat once they got under control, still completely flushed, "R-Regardless, I… would definitely say she might be interested." Her blush deepened, "When we woke up, she really took a few… extra seconds… to let go of me. I'm pretty sure she wanted to just stay there and-"

"Motorboat you!" Nejire cheered, making Momo almost gag on her saliva.

Izuku was really glad he wasn't drinking anything because he would have sprayed out across the room. Poor Camie had just popped open a soda and taken a drink, and she actually did spray it out. Mina shouted in shock as she dove to the side, just barely avoiding getting some cola in the eyes.

Momo squeaked, "Oooooh, how did we even end up like that?!" She pouted heavily, "I'm pretty sure I went to sleep spooning with Setsuna!"

"And I woke up in the middle cuddling Zu's leg." Setsuna laughed, loving the chaos, "She loves your costume by the way. She's a super nerd for that sort of stuff. Only thing that could make her happier is giant robots!"

"I can't make a Gundam!" Momo immediately and firmly declared.

"Not with that attitude!" Izuku joined back in on the fun, getting Momo to facepalm and the others to laugh wildly, while Melissa seemed almost to drool at the idea.

After a moment, Momo ran her fingers down her face, sending a semi-serious glare at Setsuna. "Okay, enough. What are we going to do about Kodai-san's possible interest?" Momo asked, "Are any of us even attracted to her back?"

"I don't really know her." Izuku said immediately, "She was a big help last night in the Tower Assault, and I thought she was pretty cool. But like I said, we did just meet. I can't really say if I am attracted to her or not."

"She is hot though, right?" Setsuna grinned toothily.

Izuku paused, wondering if this was a test. Once more, honesty was the best policy, "Yeah, I do think she's really pretty. But that's not the same thing as wanting to date her right?" He said after a small pause. Apparently, he passed if it was a test because they all just smiled and moved on.

"Yup, she's as cute as a button." Mina nodded, "But like Midori said, we don't really know her."

"Hmmm…" Nejire mused, "We hadn't told anyone that ours was a closed relationship because we hadn't decided that yet, and she did seem genuinely interested in hanging out with us. It would be different if we had made it clear we weren't interested in anyone else, but…"

"…Yeah, I'd feel like a bit of a bitch if we just slammed the door in her face." Setsuna scratched her cheek, "She even asked to hang out with just us later today. That might be because we have a few couples springing up like Kinoko-chan and Kaminari and she's been left out, but I kinda doubt it."

"How 'bout this, fam? Kodai def wanted to hang with us more, so I think she really was interested. She practically asked us all out before she left." Camie threw in, "So we get to know her. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work."

"I'm okay with that." Mina and Setsuna agreed to it with some short nods. Momo and most certainly Melissa were leery of it, worrying that they were already nearly overwhelmed.

"Okay, if Izu, Yaomomo, and Meli are on board, I say we take it super slow here. We treat this as just her joining her friends as we get to know her. We don't even think of individual dates until she's actually made her interest clear AND agreed that we're an all-or-nothing team here. If we can't form a real connection with her, then we shouldn't let her join us just to keep her from being sad. And that's doubly true if she is just, as Set said, being horny." Nejire said, not smiling and looking entirely serious for once, "We have a good thing going so far, you know? I'm sure everyone has heard of what happens when there's too many cooks in the kitchen."

"Too right." Izuku muttered, getting a giggle from Mina.

"I don't think we have to worry about that. Not from Yui of all people." Setsuna said, "If she IS actually interested in joining our relationship, it'll be US that makes or breaks it. She'll absolutely respect it if we say no, even if she'd be sad for a while."

"Good!" Nejire smiled happily again, "In that case, I propose we kick this serious stuff under the bed with my bra and get out there and have some fun!" With that Nejire pulled her shirt off, revealing that she was wearing a pretty daring periwinkle-colored bikini underneath, drawing a blush from Melissa, who definitely was staring appreciatively. Even if she wasn't certain about being in a relationship like this, she would most certainly eat the provided eye candy. "Who's with me?"

"Hell yeah!" Mina cheered and jumped up, "I'm tired of sitting around! Let's hit the beach!"

"That sounds lovely." Momo stood as well, "I could do with a swim and some relaxation after yesterday! That and this serious talk has taken a toll on me as well."

"Wahoo! Let's go, fam!" Camie was already pulling her shirt off in turn.

Izuku audibly swallowed as he was once again reminded of just how drop-dead gorgeous his girlfriends were.

"Hey Melissa!" Setsuna said mischievously, a wide smirk on her face, and the blonde turned her head. "Lookie!" She caught Izuku by surprise and tore his shirt in the front, revealing all of his hard work.

"Setsuna!" Izuku yelped in shock and covered up, having not seen her maneuver her hands.

Melissa very 'discreetly' wiped her mouth of drool before she purposefully stood and followed Momo. They looked about the same size, so hopefully she had a swimsuit Melissa could slip into. The rest of them followed, with Setsuna giggling.

-]|[-

The beach had been fun for a while, but then the rest of the day was ruined by a sudden downpour. "Okay, so, like, is there some sort of conspiracy to keep us from having a good time here, or what?" Camie grumbled as they had to leave the Expo. Most of the events were outside, and they didn't want to just retrace their steps and look at the same exhibits again.

"You're telling me…" Mina pouted outrageously from under the black umbrella Momo had made for her.

"Mm." Yui, who had joined them just minutes ago, was also visibly unhappy from beneath her red and white umbrella. "Arcade?" She suggested hopefully. Those were always fun.

"Oooh, I know a good one too!" Melissa exclaimed, "Everyone on board?"

"Yes!" They all cried out as one.

"Excellent! Follow me then!" Melissa turned and marched towards their destination.

"Wow, it's huge!" Izuku exclaimed as he looked at the building, "Looks brand new, too!"

"It was recently remodeled." Melissa told him, "There's a bowling alley too, and even pool tables and tables to play cards! They've been here for decades."

"It looks great!" Mina cheered as they went inside, "Oooh, I can't wait! Do they have Dance Dance Evolution?!"

"I don't think I've ever been in one of these." Momo mused out loud, drawing gasps of horror from the rest of the group.

"What?! How?!" Mina, Nejire, and Setsuna looked at her seriously, making her jump up with an 'eep!'

Momo played with her ponytail, "No real friends, remember?" She asked sadly, "Though for different reasons than Izu. Really, mother and father would just buy me whatever games I wanted to play."

"Time to fix that. Even I've been to arcades!" Izuku firmly hooked his arm with hers, and Nejire did the same from the other side.

"Yeah Yaomomo, let's have some fun!" She said cheerfully as they started to drag the bemused heiress in.

The rest of the group followed, with Yui in the lead, looking around for something. What, they weren't sure. Suddenly, Yui jerked to a stop, and Izuku almost crashed into her. Despite her unchanging face, she hurried away from the group with single-minded focus.

"What's up with her?" Camie blinked at the girl who had so wanted to hang out with them, suddenly leaving them in her tracks.

Setsuna grinned and rolled her eyes, "Oh boy, here we go again. Come on." They followed, and saw Yui just standing there, drooling.

"…Is… is that a 1/72 scale, full-metal, Liger Zero Phoenix?" Izuku and Momo asked at the same time, eyes opening wide.

Yui nodded her head so rapidly she almost looked blurred. She whipped around, "Want." She said quietly.

"Yui where will you even fit it?" Setsuna was biting back laughter, though she couldn't keep the grin off her face, "Last time I came over to your house, your parents asked me to take some of your figures home because they were tilting the manor." Camie, Mina, and Nejire could take it no longer and started hanging off of each other, laughing.

Yui huffed, "Drama queens." She turned pleading puppy dog eyes to them.

"Ack!" Izuku gripped his chest.

"It was super effective." Melissa said in bemusement.

"Okay guys! Let's win Yui-chan this figure!" Mina cheered, pumping a fist into the air. Yui's face lit up.

"Okay, but seriously, let's play other games too." Setsuna said, "We know how often these places are rigged in one way or another."

"And no Quirks!" Melissa told them, pointing to a sign. "Those would be cheating, obviously."

"How many do we need, anyway?" Camie asked, "Also, we're lucky it wasn't a Death Saurer or a Berserk Fury or else Kodai-chan would have to fight Set for it!"

"I'm not that bad!" Setsuna protested. Yui turned to her and gave her the flattest look, "Shut up!" Blushing, Setsuna grabbed Nejire and started walking away.

Yui held up a peace sign in victory, getting the rest of them to laugh. They raced through the arcade, looking for the highest-paying games. Momo paid for everything, giving them basically unlimited tokens to play with. She just wanted to have as much fun as possible and would not take no for an answer.

When Mina playfully asked why Momo couldn't just buy the figure, Yui looked scandalized. Her face was the funniest thing they'd seen all day, and they all burst out laughing. Yui puffed up like a chipmunk in affront, and it was the cutest thing any of them had seen all day. Momo, Nejire, and Melissa were outright cooing at the sight. Embarrassed, Yui hurried to one of her favorites: Monster Drop. It took about twenty attempts, but she won the jackpot on it for an 'easy' 2000 tickets.

The next set of games was the basketball hoops, "Heh, watch and learn, noobs!" Camie quickly tied her hair up in a ponytail.

"Them's fightin' words!" Mina jumped up to one of the other three hoops.

"I guess I could try!" Momo smiled happily as she stepped up to the last one.

They all readied their tokens, "Wait!" Setsuna grinned as she popped in, "Loser has to play a punishment game!"

Momo flushed, "Uhm… what kind? I'm probably going to lose…"

"We'll decide back at the hotel!" Setsuna grinned, and that did not set Momo at ease in the slightest, wondering how lewd this punishment was going to be.

"Okay, but then we all have to play, and the winner decides the punishment for the worst scorer!" Nejire had a catlike grin on her face too.

"Oooh yeah, tournament!" Camie beamed, "I'ma rock this~!"

"…I am making a mistake." Momo mumbled to herself, before leaning down to put her token in.

"Let's gooooo!" Mina slipped her coin in with the other two, and the balls came tumbling down.

Camie immediately proved to not be hot air, because she had scored three easy baskets before Mina had scored her second. Momo had sadly missed all three of her first shots, and only managed to make the fourth one. After that, she alternated between making a few in a row, and then missing when the basket moved until she re-learned the shot. The game's time quickly ran out, with both Mina and Camie making every shot, though Camie was the fastest and had scored two more baskets than the pinkette.

Momo was squatting on her heels, poking sadly at the floor. She hadn't even gotten half of them! Izuku was patting her on the back in comradery. "Nooo…. What are they going to make me dooooo?"

"Come on, Momo, maybe someone will do worse?" He winced, realizing how bad that sounded. Yui meanwhile was pretty happy, since Mina and Camie had won over 500 tickets between the two of them, and even Momo had won a couple.

"Our turn!" Nejire hopped up to the right lane, with Yui in the middle and Izuku on the left, "Ready?"

"Mm!" Yui confirmed, looking fired up.

"Let's do it!" Izuku said, and slipped his token in.

They all sucked. Setsuna was sniggering, "I think Nejire's boobs are in the way."

Momo looked down at her own chest, "Betrayal!" Melissa immediately sputtered to her side.

Nejire did the best, scoring three out of every four shots. Izuku and Yui were about tied at half of their shots, but Izuku was faster and had scored a single point more than her.

"Drat! No punishment game for Zu." Setsuna snapped her fingers, pouting. Izuku sighed in relief. "Looks like it's me and you last, Meli!"

Melissa smiled at the new nickname, "Ready to lose?" She smiled at the other verdette of the group, eyes shining with surprising competitiveness.

"Oooh, you better be ready to back that up!" Setsuna grinned back as she got ready.

And Melissa most certainly did, coming close to beating Camie. That did indeed make Momo the worst one. They played a few more rounds tournament-style, and Camie was ultimately the winner. The fawn-haired girl was grinning, already knowing what the punishment for Momo would be.

The next set of games was the Two-Minute-Drill, and Melissa blew all of them out of the water, since they were completely unfamiliar with American Football. That had the blonde smiling smugly, "Maybe you ALL should do a punishment for me, hmm?" Melissa joked, laughing at them stewing at the defeat.

They then took a break from ticket-earning, and found themselves at the air hockey tables. Yui paired up with Izuku with a surprisingly intense look on her face. The silent girl then spent the next twenty minutes with Izuku in a game. The two were surprisingly skilled at it, to the point all of the other games had finished, and their game was still 2-2.

"Wow, you both are good!" Mina gawked, before shaking her head and grinning, "You're not making the paddle bigger, are you Kodai-chan?" She needled Yui, hoping to get a nice reaction.

Yui sadly denied her, "No." She said, flatly, not taking her eyes off the table. She was not going to lose!

Mina pouted at having been denied her fun, "Stop for a moment!" Yui put the paddle on top of the puck, looking at her questioningly. "The rest of us finished like five minutes ago, so we're off to the dancing machines. Come find us when you're done, okay?"

"Sure thing, Mina-chan."

Yui nodded, "Okay…" She said quietly.

The two continued to play, and the next ten minutes saw the score go up to 4-4. Izuku smiled, 'Nice shot, Kodai-san.' He thought at her, and she twitched.

She blinked at him, tilting her head to the side, before thinking back, 'Thanks? Can you hear me?'

'I can if you want me to.' Izuku confirmed, making sure she understood that he wouldn't pry if she didn't want him to.

'…Wow, your Quirk is so cool!' She almost gushed, smiling as they prepared for the next round.

'Thanks!' he chirped back, 'Yours is awesome too! Especially when you wrecked that entire hallway of Villains last night! I had no idea you could do that!'

Her smile turned a little smug, 'If it's physically connected to something I'm touching within a certain range, I can affect it. Like this floor isn't one solid piece, but the slabs are touching the slab I'm on, so as long as they're in range, I can grow and shrink them too.'

'Really cool!' Izuku exclaimed, as they continued their game, chatting lightly. After she scored one more point, Izuku couldn't help but ask, 'So you don't have to answer, but I was curious. You're chatting pretty animatedly with me right now, so how come you don't like talking out loud?'

She let out a sigh, 'I was homeschooled until the start of Middle School.' She replied, 'Parents were pretty protective and wanted to make sure I was getting the best education. I didn't really have any friends, and my hobbies involved TVs, computers, and arcade games that my parents had at home. When I finally went to school, I pretty much had zero filter, and didn't really know how to talk to people my age. Plus, I found them really childish and didn't like any of the dumb challenges they kept doing, and none of them were into the things I was. A bunch of them ended up thinking I was rude, or snooty. I was already pretty quiet anyway, but after I just stopped trying because they all started making fun of me.' She looked sad, and Izuku's eyes were narrowed in anger, 'When I came to U.A, I actually made a few friends. They got me into texting since they saw I didn't really like to talk unless I needed to, which helped a lot.'

'Well, I'm really glad you got away from those jerks, Kodai-san.' He said firmly.

'Me too.' She smiled softly. 'And call me Yui.' She said, making his ears pink a little bit.

The two of them wrapped up their game, with Yui making for a very funny image when she scored the final point, and threw her fists into the air in victory, with her face unchanging. They quickly met up with the rest of the girls, and both started drooling a bit as they saw Momo, Camie, and Mina dancing. Momo's classical dance training transferred decently well to Mina's more energetic style, and the heiress had delighted in finding common ground with her pink girlfriend. After a few weeks of practice, she was already well on her way to learning some of Mina's favorite choreographies. Which meant they were now getting the treat of seeing three gorgeous ladies shake it.

"Yahoo!" Mina cheered when the song ended, getting some clapping from the rest of them, "I love the arcade! Kodai-chan, Midori, you guys have to try it!"

"I have two left feet." Yui shot her down immediately, blushing and looking away.

Setsuna snickered, "Can confirm. Tried to teach her a few steps the first week and she fell over and took Itsuka-chan with her."

"Daww… okay." Mina pouted at having been denied.

Izuku was game, however, and joined Nejire and Melissa on one of the platforms. He then conclusively proved that a few lessons with Mina did not a master make. Thankfully, he managed to at least not fall on his face, and gamely just sprang back up and continued trying. They all cheered him on.

After the dancing wore out its welcome (with Mina setting a conclusive high score for the arcade that would stand for years), they went back to ticket hunting.

After a few hours passed, they finally had enough, and Yui was the elated owner of a heavy, new, heavy-duty case containing her prize, which she was happily snuggling. It was getting dark, so it was time to go back to the hotel. "Want me to carry it for you, Yui-san?" Izuku asked her.

"Mhm." She shook her head, casually shrinking it and dropping it into her purse.

Izuku's eyes widened, "Wait, it changes the weight too! That's so cool!"

Yui smiled smugly, shooting him a peace sign.

"Okay guys, I'd love to stay with you another night, but I'm going to go spend some time with papa." Melissa asked, smiling a little. "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Ah, that's right. Professor Shield isn't leaving." Momo said, "Yeah, you should go spend time with him."

"Since we're leaving first thing in the morning the day after tomorrow, is there anything you wanted to do before we leave?" Nejire asked her, smiling brightly as usual. "Or will you be with your dad instead, since you won't see him again for a while?"

"No, he wants me to get to know you all better. He's super thankful you've all managed to get me out of the lab." Melissa giggled over how happy he looked when he found out that they were already growing close. Her smile vanished and she tapped on her chin, "Hmm… anything I want to do…?"

"Anything you won't be able to do once we go home, maybe?" Izuku threw in his two yen.

A light bulb went off above her head, and she smiled devilishly, her glasses glinting. She then conclusively proved she was American, "How do y'all feel about guns?"

Everyone but Momo gulped.

…

"It was a great day." Momo said, stretching and feeling her back pop rather deliciously, "I think I'd like a nice, long soak before bed."

"Ahp, ahp, ahp!" Camie snagged her arm as she started walking away, "Aren't you forgetting something, Yaomomo?" She had a Cheshire grin on her face, which was rapidly mirrored on Mina and Setsuna's faces.

Momo internally started to sweat, "Nooo, of course not." She said, through a clearly manufactured smile, 'Drat! I thought I could get away with it too!' She mentally cried some crocodile tears. "What would you like me to do, Camie-chan?" She asked, hiding her dread. Camie leaned closer and started whispering in her ear. Her face instantly flamed red, and she made a very unladylike and very much uncharacteristic squeal, "Nooooo! T-t-tha-that's too embarrassing!" She clapped her hands to her face, hiding behind them.

"Yep! Come on, Yaomomo!" Camie dragged her away, grinning.

"Noooo! Save me, Izu!" She cried piteously as Camie took her into the bedroom.

"Uhh, maybe we shouldn't-" Izuku tried to get up, but Setsuna plopped herself in his lap.

"Nope, you stay right here, stud." She then grabbed his chin and brought her lips to his.

"I'll remember this!" Momo yelled, before the door slammed shut, sealing Camie and Momo away from the rest.

…

"I'm getting excited! I wonder what Camie-chan is having Yaomomo do?" Nejire asked, bouncing lightly on the couch.

"Well, you won't have to wait any longer!" Camie's savage grin was back as she entered the room once more. The polycule all zeroed in on her, "I present to you, our lovely maid for the night~!"

She stepped out, pulling on Momo's arm. The heiress was revealed in her full glory…

Wearing a French Maid cosplay.

Her eyebrow was twitching, and her face was almost purple from how embarrassed she was. She looked at Izuku, and he looked like he was mentally taking pictures. That almost eased the embarrassment a little bit.

"Say the line!" Camie was still smirking, but only able to hide how much she loved it due to having already seen it.

'Oh, why did I join in on this dumb bet!' They all stared open-mouthed and almost drooling as Momo tripped over her words, "H-How m-may I serve you t-tonight, goshujin-sama?" She managed to force out.

That did it. Mina and Setsuna started drooling, Nejire hunched over, trying to stem a nosebleed, and Izuku almost passed out.

Setsuna's own face went red, "Oh my, I think daddy likes." She said, starting to levitate and leaving absolutely zero ambiguity as to what she was referring to.

"I'll get you for this!" Momo dropped her duster and clapped her hands to her face again, hiding behind them.

"Camie, you're the greatest…" Mina said in complete awe. She launched herself at Momo, wrapping up her girlfriend in a surprise hug, "You look amazing, Yaomomo!" She snuck a kiss, getting a surprised moan from the heiress, and that turned into a deeper kiss quickly.

"You know it!" Camie cheered, "I think we killed Zuku though. Haven't done that in a while." She sat next to him and Setsuna, and started to poke him.

"Eeeeeee….." Nejire started to fan herself, staring at the two girls without blinking.

-]|[-

"Hey everyone!" Melissa let herself into the penthouse, before blinking, "Why is there a French Maid costume in the trash?"

"French Maid?!" Yui jumped in, looking at the trash. She hurried to Setsuna, "Tea. Spill."

"Heh, no can do." Setsuna laughed nervously, feeling the daggers being glared at her head.

Despite how pleasant a night it had ended up, Momo had still been way too embarrassed about the whole ordeal. Especially as she had to actually maid for them until after everyone had already showered before she got her soak. She was currently being pampered by Izuku, and Setsuna didn't need to detach her eyes to know she was being glared at.

Melissa's eyes widened, "The bet! Wait, did you-" She watched as Momo let out a wail and buried her face in Izuku's neck.

"Pics!" Yui said, hungrily. She turned her powerful puppy gaze on Setsuna.

"Ehehehe…" Nejire laughed nervously, "Yaomomo-sama said if any of us took pictures, we'd be target practice today."

"Serves you right." Melissa laughed, hiding how much she wished she could have seen it herself. Momo in a maid costume had to be dangerous. She cleared her throat to try to hide how dry it currently was, "A-Anyway, shall we?"

"Yes, I think we shall." Momo stood, a glint in her eyes, "I think I would quite enjoy a day at the range."

…

"Okay, so has anyone other than Yaomomo ever shot a gun?" Melissa asked once they got to the range. The other shooters raised eyebrows at the large group, and one of them even waved at Melissa, recognizing her. The staff had started to sweat a little at the large group of newbies, but Melissa was a bit of a regular there with her dad, and Momo had accreditation to show she was trained. Melissa and Momo had assured them that they'd be starting slow and with safety lessons first. Despite that, the staff did warn them that someone would be nearby in case they needed help.

She got a chorus of 'no's,' before Setsuna reminded them that she, "Never shot a gun, but I like archery."

"That must be pretty fun too!" Melissa beamed, "Okay, then some rules. Number 1, and perhaps most important, NEVER point a gun at something you're not willing to destroy. For example," She grabbed her Glock 9 from the table and made a show of removing the magazine. She then pulled back the slide and a bullet popped out from the chamber, which Melissa caught and put back in the magazine, "This is empty right now. You all saw how there was that extra bullet in the chamber? That means that even if you remove the magazine, there COULD still be a bullet in there." She grabbed a bore sighter and stuck it in the barrel before turning it on, "See the laser?" She then adopted a lazy carrying stance, and turned around. The laser swiped across all of their legs. She turned back, "In that quick turn, if this were loaded and the gun misfired, I could have shot one of you six in the leg."

"Man… that's so dangerous!" Mina gasped, "You have to pay so much attention!"

"Scary." Yui quietly agreed.

"Yup, it's super dangerous." Nejire said, "Snipe-sensei teaches this too at U.A, but it's an elective and you can only take it in your final year. Even Heroes are hard-pressed to get guns in Japan."

"Good to know." Melissa chirped with a smile, "Anyway, Yaomomo? Want to give them the next rule?"

"Yes!" Momo beamed, happy to be included in the lecture, "If a gun leaves your sight, it is loaded. I don't care if you only put it down for a single minute. If it has left your sight, it is loaded."

"Yup! Rule 3, keep your finger OFF the trigger until you're ready to fire." Melissa moved onto the next one, putting the Glock back down, "Those are the most important ones. Now, you should also wear eye and ear protection when firing because these things get loud. If you have any questions, ask."

"Is there any particular way we should hold them?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Good one." Momo smiled, "You absolutely do need to hold them in a particular way. The recoil can be pretty strong, so if you're not prepared, well…"

Melissa smirked, and held out her arm with a finger gun, "Bang!" She said, and then jerked her hand back and lightly smacked it into her forehead.

Mina erupted into giggles, "Is that experience talking?"

"No." Melissa shook her head, "Not personal experience. Sam-" She started to giggle before her merriment died and she flinched. "Ah…" She trailed off, remembering the fate of someone she thought she could trust. She was very quickly hugged by Momo, and the rest of their group followed soon after. "S-sorry guys…" She dipped her head, "I… I had been trying not to think about it…" Tears prickled in her eyes.

"It's okay…" They told her gently, "No one is going to think less of you for it."

She took a deep breath, trying to center herself. She swallowed, trying to put a smile back on her face, "Papa… papa brought him to the range once. He was cocky and thought that because he was big, he could handle one of the big guns." She looked sad despite smiling, and even her giggle was melancholic, "The recoil was so bad he smacked himself in the face and needed to have his nose reset." They giggled in response to the story, trying to project warmth at her. She smiled, hugging the two closest (Izuku and Momo) tighter, "Thanks guys."

"It'll be tough." Izuku said softly, "You had many good memories, I'm sure…"

"Yeah." She drew a shuddering breath, squeezing her eyes shut as she leaned into them, "But I'll get past this." She told them. 'I have to.' Went unsaid. She pulled away, "Well, come on then! Momo and I will show you all how to do it! Pick whichever one you like." She said with injected pep, and was quick to turn around and go back to the table. She grinned at them, "Though I would recommend not going for one of the big ones immediately." She grabbed one of her favorites: an old Garand that had survived the proceeding wars and then the revolution at the start of the dark age. It was an antique for sure.

"Nah, I got this! I shot a bow before, remember?" Setsuna grinned as she grabbed the big shotgun from its case on the table. Melissa shook her head in response in response before her eyes widened as she got a closer look at the gun.

Before she could tell Setsuna to put it down, "I am here!" Small Might popped in, "To tell you that is a very bad idea!" They all jumped, before greeting their grinning teacher, most of them unsure of how to refer to him when not in his Hero form. "Hahaha! Ah, that's right. Call me Yagi-sensei when you see me like this." He held his hand out, and Setsuna pouted as she handed All Might the shotgun. He eyed it, before turning to Melissa quizzically, "Melissa, where in the world did Dave find a 4-gauge?"

Melissa giggled a little helplessly, "I'm… not sure. I think I might have grabbed the wrong case. I definitely didn't mean to bring that one."

"Yes, this certainly isn't for beginners." All Might laughed, "Shooting this one would feel like you got slammed in the shoulder with a hundred-pound weight."

Setsuna paled, "Oh crap!"

"I don't think I even brought ammo for it… I think." Melissa double-checked the table, and indeed found no 4-gauge ammo, "Yeah, I definitely grabbed the wrong case."

All Might shook his head in bemusement, "Here, Tokage-shōjo, if you're going to play with the shotguns, start with the 12-gauge." He handed her one of the others.

"Thanks Yagi-sensei." She grinned, "My shoulder thanks you too." That got another laugh.

"Mhm…" Yui carefully picked up a small pistol, unsure of what it was.

"That would be a Glock 21." Melissa told her.

"This looks fun." Mina exuberantly went for one of the larger revolvers, a .500 Magnum.

"Nonono, bad idea!" Momo came right in and put a stop to that, "Take the smaller one, Mina-chan. That one is WAY too much for a beginner." Momo told her, before leaning in and whispering in her ear. "I need to use One For All just to be comfortable with one. I really didn't like them before, and you know how strong I am."

Mina pouted, "Okay." She put it down and grabbed the smaller Model 10.

"Huh, it's kinda light." Camie commented, looking curiously at the HK SP5 in her hands.

"I should be good, right? I'm pretty strong." Nejire mumbled, going for the S&W Lever Action. "This one looks really cool!"

All of the pistols were taken, so Izuku carefully approached the more 'military' rifles laid out and grabbed one. "Good choice, Midoriya-shōnen." All Might grinned at his successor's choice of the Ohio Ordnance HCAR, "That one has surprisingly little recoil for its power. Pretty well designed." Izuku smiled back.

"Okay." Melissa was grinning, "Let's show you how to load them, operate their modes and safeties, hold them, and aim them. We'll also show you how to stand, and how to make sure you're safe using them." She, Momo, and All Might spent the next several minutes showing them all how to do just that. As funny as it could have been, none of them were willing to let Mina bash herself in the face with the way she was holding her revolver. "Okay, everyone comfortable?"

"Yep!" They all chorused at her.

"Great! The targets are all downrange, so let's go hot! Remember, one bullet only!" They had all only loaded one round each, just to be safe, "If you like it, we can load some more."

"I'll leave you to it." All Might said, before grabbing one of the rifles himself. "It's been a while since I got to shoot. Have fun, kids!" They waved him goodbye as he went off to another section of the range, where there were other shooters.

"Actually Melissa, why don't you give me that one?" Momo smiled, holding out her hand for the Garand.

"Ehh? Why?" Melissa asked curiously. And then her eyes bugged out as Momo casually created a gun even her papa hadn't been able to get his hands on, "Is that a-?!"

".50 Cal?" Momo smiled, "Yes, it is."

"Okay, I never got to ask. HOW do you know so much about guns?!" Melissa drooled as she stared at the rifle, "They never sell these!"

"Well, when my family registered my Quirk, we immediately got dinged because of its potential as well as the potential for abuse." Momo explained, frowning as she remembered being afraid of the strange people in suits her parents had been forced to allow into the manor, "We had regulators over at the house, and they explained how dangerous my Quirk could be if I wasn't aware of the dangers. Like if I were to create tons and tons of gold, I could casually wreck the economy with very little effort."

"But you are the economy!" Mina let out a giggle. Momo blushed.

"I'm sure Yaomomo wishes Zu would wreck the economy." Setsuna waggled her eyebrows, a big grin on her face.

"SET!" Momo and Izuku flamed red. The other verdette burst into laughter, followed swiftly by the others.

"Ugh, you lot are impossible." Getting her blush under control, Momo continued, "Regardless, with my Quirk able to create anything that I was tested on, other than anything living, they mandated that I be taught weapon safety. After all, nothing could be worse than a child who didn't know better being able to run around and casually create guns out of her belly. I had never had an interest before that, but after I did a lot of research on them. My parents allowed me to create the guns for practice, since they had a lot of parts and were a challenge to get right. After I succeeded with my first one, my parents went overboard and hired an ex Special Forces member to teach me. I ended up liking it after I got past the initial fright, and realized I could use them as a Hero if I ever needed to. That's also where I learned my breaching tactics that we used in class."

"Wow, none of that ever happened to me!" Setsuna gasped, and Yui, Nejire, and Camie nodded. Melissa and Izuku didn't bother, since really, they had no need to.

"It did to me." Mina said casually. They snapped their gazes to her in confusion. She raised an eyebrow, "Really guys? I make acid."

"Point." Izuku let out a laugh, hugging the pinkette from the side. She smiled, leaning into him.

"Well, thanks for sharing, Momo!" Melissa carefully took the .50 cal from the heiress and handed over her Garand. "Ooof. It's heavier than I thought!" She grinned, "You know, I think I'll sit this one out. I'll need to lie down with this puppy."

"Okay." Momo led the rest of them over to where they would be shooting, "Everyone pick a target, and then get your earmuffs on. Remember, be ready for the recoil! Especially Mina, Nejire, and Setsuna!" Once everyone was ready, she yelled, "Fire!"

A chorus of bangs erupted, before going silent. There was also a really nice 'ping' when Momo pulled back on the lever on the Garand. Most of them had weathered it to varying degrees of 'okay,' But Setsuna had let out a loud yelp as she was forced back a few steps. "Oh, holy crap! That was SO much stronger than I thought it would be!" Setsuna said, realizing that if All Might hadn't stopped her, she very probably would have been injured.

"Imagine if that had been the 4-gauge." Momo said, dryly.

"Yeah, that was crazy." She scratched the side of her head. "How bad is that?"

"My dad only let someone try it once." Melissa laughed, "The guy almost got knocked over"

"Owie…!" Off to the side, Nejire nursed her shoulder, "Was not expecting that. It kicks like a mule." She sighed in relief as Izuku put his flaming hand on the spot, and the soothing, very arousing flame went to work. "Mhmm, love ya, Zuzu." She mumbled, pulling him in and kissing him. Izuku blushed, but kissed back gently. After a moment, he hurried to help Setsuna too.

"So, what did you think?" Melissa asked curiously, wondering if any of her… perspective beaus (holy crap, that was weird to think about!) enjoyed it.

"Maybe once in a while…" Yui demurred, unsure if she liked it or not.

"Yeah fam, it was kind of fun!" The HK didn't have much kick at all. "Not sure I'd do it regularly, but I'm down to try some of the others." Camie threw her two-yen in.

"I thought it was okay. My aim was awful though." Izuku smiled, wondering if he could actually hit the same area code as his target next time.

"I hit mine!" Mina cheered, throwing her arms into the air cheerfully after making sure the gun was put down. "Let's go again!"

"I think I'll stick to archery. Yikes!" Setsuna laughed, rubbing the back of her head sheepishly, "Thanks for not letting me break my nose, Meli, Yaomomo."

"Hehehe, maybe once in a while! I have my own gun!" Nejire charged a bit of her quick to her middle and index fingers, smiling playfully.

"Let's try it again." Izuku said, already grabbing a loaded magazine.

"Yaomomo, can you make a bow and some arrows? Maybe Camie and Yui would like those more?" Setsuna asked the heiress, who agreed.

The next hour passed relatively relaxed, with Setsuna showing Melissa, Yui, and Camie how to use a bow, and Izuku, Momo, Mina, Nejire, and Melissa all getting used to shooting, with Nejire downsizing to a smaller rifle with less recoil. Finally, they got a little bored, and it was almost time to wrap up.

"Not before I get to use this one!" Melissa had waited patiently, and now was accepting a magazine from Momo filled with .50 cal bullets. She brought it to a more open part of the range, where Momo had prepared a mat for her to lay down on. Izuku's eyes immediately fell on her butt as she laid down, and his weren't the only ones. She looked great in those tight khakis.

"Oh, one more lesson for you all on gun safety!" Momo said, before creating a… kite? The object looked like a frame with some stands that just contained some thick paper, which she put next to the muzzle of the rifle. "Okay, an important thing to know is that the bullet itself is not the only danger. The escaping gasses can be too. There are 'pop' rounds that don't actually shoot anything. They're usually used as props in movies. They give off the flash and smoke without actually firing. But just because there's no bullet involved doesn't mean there can't be danger. Watch." She walked back and grabbed her earmuffs. She gave Melissa a thumbs up.

Melissa turned, aimed, and fired. The paper shredded from the escaping gasses, revealing just how dangerous the backblast could be. It was almost enough to distract them from Melissa's booty jiggling as she fired the massive rifle again. She adjusted, and fired again.

'I think I love the gun range.' Izuku couldn't help but muse, trying to keep from drooling at the sight. The next target was, of all things, a gigantic jar of mayonnaise. Barely any time after Melissa squeezed the trigger, the entire jug exploded, throwing splashes and dots of mayo everywhere. A quick shot at a ketchup jug and then a mustard one no doubt had the entire area smelling like a sandwich.

Melissa was practically vibrating as she launched herself to her feet and squeezed the stuffing out of Momo. Once she let go, she beamed, "Who else wants a shot?" Izuku smiled as he went to lay on the mat, accepting another magazine from Momo. Melissa started to laugh, "You know, it's a good thing you can make those, otherwise we'd be broke." The rest of them started to giggle as well.

-]|[-

Everyone who wanted to try the .50 had a chance to, but before long, it was time to go. Melissa and Momo quickly disassembled the rifle, and Momo made a case for the parts. They couldn't bring it back to Japan with them, and Momo had 'disconnected' from it, so she also couldn't reabsorb the weapon. That left it in limbo, so they would be leaving it safely with her father. The rest of the group helped pack up all of the Shield family's collection as well, and brought it back to David's quarters, where they met up with the man himself and All Might. It was rather late already, so they all went for dinner at one of I-Island's most popular restaurants.

After dinner, they finally got to have some of those promised dances, as the joint doubled as an entertainment complex. And that was… basically it. Their little vacation was over, and it was time to say goodbye.

Said goodbye involved Melissa clinging to her father, hugging him so tightly he was practically tapping out, "I'll miss you so much, papa!" The blonde couldn't help the tears soaking into her father's shirt.

"I'll miss you too, Melissa." He patted her head, fighting back tears of his own, "But you're ready for this. I'm sure you've been dreaming of this for years. It's time to make all of your dreams come true. Not just some of them."

She sniffled, still clinging to him, "Love you, papa…" She mumbled.

"Love you too." He sniffed, "Love you too." He looked up, "You take care of my little girl, you hear?"

"She's in good hands, sir!" Mina cheered, throwing him a thumbs-up.

"Go on then." He patted his daughter's back, pulling away. He didn't even get a word out before Toshinori was popping his spine, "Gah! Damn it, Toshi!" The rest of them giggled as All Might manhandled the much smaller man.

"Bye, professor!" They all waved as they made their way into the terminal, so they could be cleared to fly and make their way to Momo's jet.

"Don't forget to vidcall, Melissa! Don't let her spend all day in her lab, you hear?!" David waved after them.

"We won't!" Izuku promised.

Setsuna laughed, "Yeah, we'll put a strict 30-minute time limit and have her in bed before 9!"

Melissa playfully smacked her arm, rolling her eyes. "Bye papa! I'll miss you!" She waved, up until the moving floor put them out of sight. She sighed, "Never thought I'd be flying the coop so soon." She mused.

"You're taking your first steps into the wider world." Toshinori smiled at her, "And you couldn't have picked a better way to do it." He put his hand on her shoulder.

She smiled back at him, "No…" She took a step and hugged Nejire and Mina, who were the closest. "I don't think I could have." She agreed with her uncle. "I wonder what U.A. will be like?"

"You're going to love it." Mina assured, getting nods from everyone.

Izuku was the only one who had a dark thought stray into his mind as he considered a certain someone's reaction to his blonde maybe-girlfriend, 'And if he tries a single thing… he's going to regret it.'

-]|[-

"Izukuuuuu!" Inko was hugging the stuffing out of her son, "Oooh, you little rascal! I'm going to get gray hairs before you're even out of your first year!" She finally let him go, letting out a little surprised giggle at the swirls that had replaced his eyes, "Welcome home, Izuku." She smiled brilliantly at him, "Other than my heart attack, how was the trip!"

Izuku's expression cleared up, "Oh, it was great!" He beamed at her, "And mom, we even got official CREDIT for the capture of all of those Villains! We're all officially Heroes!"

Inko smiled at the sheer excitement in her son's gaze, "Oh, I don't think I'll ever get used to you being in danger like that, but at least you're happy." She turned her gaze to his arm, "No luck yet?" She asked softly.

"Honestly?" He looked at the arm, "I'm… kind of used to it, actually. Not that I wouldn't mind my real arm back, but this works more than fine." He articulated all of his fingers, revealing that there was really no loss of dexterity.

She smiled a little hesitantly, "As long as you're okay." She smiled a lot more genuinely, "Well? How did it go?" The smile turned sly, "Do you have a girlfriend or two now?"

Izuku blushed, "It was amazing." He said a little dreamily, "And…" He blushed, "…Yeah. We're together now…"

"Oh, my baby!" She seized him in a hug and started to spin again. Once she stopped, she had to ask, "I'm not going to be a grandma yet, am I?"

"Moooom!" Izuku whined, causing her to let out a delighted laugh.

"Come on. Tell me everything." She grabbed his hand and led him to the couch, eager to hear about his (non-dangerous) adventures. Several minutes later, the neighbors flinched from the cry of, "ALL FIVE OF THEM?! WITH MAYBE TWO MORE?! WHEN DID MY SON BECOME SO MANLY?!"

-]|[-

"Hey everyone!" Izuku flashed into existence in his designated teleportation spot (given to him by Aizawa-sensei) and stepped into the classroom proper.

"MIDORIYA!" The wall of volume almost blew him over as his classmates greeted him.

Kirishima jumped up to him, hand raised for a high-five, "Bro, that's so manly! I'm SO jealous!" Izuku was not entirely sure about what he was talking about, and it must have shown on his face, "You all got to fight Villains and got official credit! That's amazing!"

Ah. That made sense. Izuku smiled, "We just did what we needed to do. I-Island's system of restraints meant that only All Might could have busted out of them, and doing so would have caused massive collateral damage."

"Still, that's so hardcore." Kyōka twirled her earjack, smiling, "You guys have even more experience than the rest of us now."

Yes, that was certainly true. Izuku saw out of the corner of his eyes how angry Katsuki looked. He looked like he was going to blow a gasket… and if he knew Aizawa-sensei at all, he probably could guess where it would be coming from. He purposefully did not look at the ash blonde, and mentally prepared himself, because he would not stay silent any longer.

Momo smiled at Kyōka, "Yes, but don't let our success mistake you. Every single one of us was in a lot of danger. Even Nejire-senpai got hurt."

"Wow, and she was so strong! She beat all of us!" Ochako gasped, amazed at the thought.

"Yeah fam, the lead jerkoff had an OP Quirk!" Camie threw in, "It reflected anything and everything you threw at him back at you. Busting through it suuucked."

"Yeah, I almost flattened Camie-chan's tits when I got launched into her." Mina chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. This earned several blushes.

"Kero, still, getting credit for the capture of such dangerous Villains is going to put all of you on the radar even without the sports festival." Tsuyu mused, tapping her chin, "Kero, don't slack off."

"Yeah." Ochako looked fired up, "Don't think I'll lose to you all just because you got ahead! I'm going to do my best!" She threw her fist into the air… and several of them swore she ignited in flames.

"Settle down, brats." Aizawa came in, still sporting his cast.

"Huh? Aizawa-sensei, you're not healed yet?" Izuku's eyes widened as he saw him.

"I'm mostly good. It's just my arm." Aizawa said blandly, "In fact, the old lady has a test for you, once we're done for the day."

"Ah!" Izuku smiled, "You got it, sensei."

"Good. Now in your seat." He stood at the front of the class, "Homeroom will be short today. We'll be going to the field again today."

"Eh?" Kirishima blinked, "You mean like when we did the Quirk Assessment test? What for?"

"Exactly, and for another assessment." Aizawa replied without feeling, "Come in, and introduce yourself already." He raised his voice, and the door opened again.

Izuku and the rest of the polycule smiled as Melissa walked in, "Hey everyone! I'm Melissa Shield. Please call me Melissa." She looked so good in the uniform! The rest of the class were really glad the purple menace had been expelled, because they were a hundred percent certain he would have been immediately getting his perv on. "I'm from I-Island, and officially, I'll be joining your class for Heroics. Just the Heroics classes though. I'm a bit older and have already taken many of the educational courses, so I'll be with the third years for those."

"Nice to meet you, Melissa(-chan)!" The class chorused out, and before they could say more, Aizawa interrupted.

"Good. You can play meet and greet on your own time." He said blandly, "Go get your uniforms on and meet on the field in fifteen." He stood and walked out. "Don't be late."

"I see what you mean, Izuku-kun." Melissa chuckled at their teacher's antics, "He is rather intense."

"That's putting it mildly, kero. Nice to meet you, Melissa-chan. I'm Asui Tsuyu. Please call me Tsu." The froggy girl smiled as she got out of her seat.

"And I'm Uraraka Ochako!" Ochako beamed at the new girl as she hopped up.

"Move it people!" Izuku called out, smirking, "Don't want to give sensei an expulsion target already, yeah?"

…

"Normally, we wouldn't repeat these tests until after the final exams." Aizawa started, "Or after the sports festival at the earliest, if we got any new students joining in due to good performances. But you lot have been through more than most students, and transfer students are not common, so I'll make an exception. We'll see how all of you improved, and get a read on Shield as well." He stared at Hagakure, "Let's see some improvement, shall we?"

"Yes, sensei!" Tōru said firmly, standing confidently, unlike last time.

"Good." He turned to Melissa, and took a moment to remember their first conversation.

"So, you're my new student." Aizawa said, having walked into Nezu's office to meet the girl.

"That I am. Nice to meet you, Aizawa-sensei." Melissa smiled brightly at him, already aware of what to expect from the man from her new friends' testimonials.

"Likewise." His voice was as bland as ever, "I will put it bluntly, Shield. Regardless of whether you earned the spot during the I-Island takeover, I don't appreciate having a student inserted into my class without ever having a chance to see what they can do myself. And especially not as a favor to one of the teachers."

Melissa smiled more pleasantly, "Well, I suppose I'll just have to earn my spot then, won't I?"

"That you will. We teachers have carte blanche to run our classes the way we wish. First thing in the morning, I'll be running you lot through a Quirk Assessment Test. Be prepared."

Nezu was simply sitting there and watching the interaction, but at this point, he turned his eyes to the ceiling in exasperation.

"Well, that will be rather difficult, sensei." Melissa commented evenly, "I take it you didn't even glance at my file?"

"I never do." Aizawa replied, equally blandly, "I prefer to go into these assessments with no prior biases and form my own opinion before I read them."

"I do believe I warned you not to do that this time, Aizawa-kun." Nezu let out a suffering sigh, "I admit, I am beginning to lose some patience with your methods."

Before Aizawa could say a word, Melissa handed him her file, "You may want to listen to him, sensei. Before you end up looking like a fool in front of your entire class."

He narrowed his eyes at her, and glanced at his boss, who did not say a word, and merely sipped at his tea. He took the folder and flipped open to the first page. Not even five seconds later, his eyes narrowed, "I see." He clapped the folder shut and looked at Melissa, who smiled thinly at him. "My apologies." Yes, that would have made him look like a fool in front of his entire class.

"Forgiven." Melissa replied magnanimously.

"My next question is: will you be revealing this to the class or keeping it secret?" Aizawa asked her.

"Hiding it would imply I'm ashamed of it." Melissa replied, "And I absolutely am not."

"Good." Aizawa smiled thinly, "I'm even more interested to see how you handle yourself now. Welcome to 1-A. Let's see if you'll last."

"Shield." Aizawa called out, beckoning her to come forward, "How far can you toss a ball?"

"Around 165 ft." Melissa replied, "I rather enjoyed softball."

"Good." He tossed her the ball, "I'd tell you to use your Quirk-"

"But I don't have one." Melissa finished for him, declaring it loud and proud. Behind her, the rest of the class gasped. 'Oh, that's right, only Izuku and the girls knew! I thought he would have mentioned it to at least Inasa. Must have slipped his mind.' She mused, before saying out loud, "Not to worry. I came prepared."

"What the fuck?! She's Quirkless?!" The explosion that she had anticipated but had hoped otherwise came from the, as Camie-chan put it, 'hateful little Nitrogremlin,' "How the fuck did she chea-"

Now that hurt to hear, but she and Aizawa never got a chance to address it, "Bakugō." The voice was disturbingly calm coming from Izuku. Everyone in the class immediately shut up as their Class President turned to Katsuki, and for once, did not use that cutesy nickname. Point in fact, Izuku was staring at the ash-blonde without blinking, and small wisps of his psychic power were blooming near him. It was perfectly clear that the verdette had had enough of his old friend's hate and wasn't going to put up with it any longer.

"Oh shit… I'm hearing the Mob Psycho's theme!" Kyōka whispered, her spine stiff.

Katsuki snarled, glaring at Izuku, "You got something to say?"

"Yeah." Izuku said, glaring back for once, "Finish that sentence and you're not making it to the Sports Festival." The promise of violence was practically wafting like a bad odor in the air.

"Enough." Aizawa barked, hiding a smile behind his scarf. He had honestly let that play out because he wanted to see how far Midoriya had come from that first day. He was glad the problem child had moved past some of his issues. But Bakugō had apparently relapsed for some reason. Likely that inferiority complex rearing its ugly head due to his presumed rival having such success at I-Island, "If you two want to beat each other black and blue, save it for the Sports Festival. Bakugō, another word and you'll be in detention until the event. This is U.A. boy, and you're here to learn to be a Hero. Heroes don't discriminate." He glared hard at the ash-blonde, his Quirk active.

"That was fucked, Bakugō." Kirishima looked disgusted.

"Asshole." Mina and Camie sneered at him.

"Fuck off." Bakugō replied, stomping off to be at the edge of the group and as alone as he could get.

Aizawa sighed, wondering if he really was going to have to end up expelling someone with actual potential because of his absolutely awful attitude. "Well, let's get on with it. Shield."

Melissa smiled, having used the commotion to roll up her sleeves. She put the ball between her legs, and raised her left arm. She tapped on the face of her smartwatch, and the device came alive. Her watch, the bracelet on her other arm, and her anklets all activated, her nanotech engulfing her body and revealing her v1.5 Hero suit. Or at least parts of it, seeing as the gym uniform was covering most of it. She flicked her right wrist, and her hard-light projectors created a golden baseball bat. She grabbed the ball, tossed it up in the air, and hit an absolutely perfect home run. Her suit enhanced her strength to low superhuman levels. The ball flew rapidly and grew smaller and smaller as it traveled away from them. "How'd I do, sensei?"

Aizawa looked intrigued as he held out the measuring device, "Good job." 524 meters. WAY out of the park for a home run, back in the day.

Off to the side, Bakugō was staring in dumbfounded shock. 'What the fuck is this shit?!' he snarled mentally, 'This Quirkless bitch managed more than half of what I managed on the first day?!' For the first time in a while, some doubt started creeping in from the edges, 'How the fuck did she do that?! Why the fuck is she allowed to use her shitty toys while the rest of us are out of costume?!' He then realized what he had just thought of, and it was like a bucket of ice had dropped down his shirt.

In the middle of the pack, Izuku almost wanted to go over to punch him in the nose due to his first thoughts. But then he heard the rest of it, and smiled vindictively, 'Yeah, that's right, Kacchan. You might have beat me down so much I believed I was worthless, but you'll never do the same to her. So much for Quirkless being 'useless,' huh?'

He wasn't feeling like disrupting the class any more than it had already been, so he didn't speak to the ash-blonde mentally and simply pulled out of his mind. That had been the first time he had used his telepathy on the ash-blonde since that first time all those months ago. He had needed to know what his old friend would think about Melissa's showing, and if he was going to be a problem because of it.

Instead, he mentally tapped on Melissa's mind, 'Great job, Melissa! You knocked it out of the park!'

'Hehehe, thanks, Izuku-kun!' Melissa responded, smiling brilliantly as she turned around.

"That was stinking awesome, Melissa-chan!" Ochako cheered, "How did you do it?!"

Melissa smiled at her, "I don't have a Quirk, so I needed my own edge. All of the technology in this suit, I made myself. This way I always have my costume ready in the event of an emergency!" She said cheerfully. "That's also why I'm allowed to use it. I'm basically dual majoring as a Hero Student and a Support Technician. Hero Course students are only allowed to use their gear if they need it to aid in their Quirk functions," Aoyama's belt was an example of this, "-or if they get it signed off on. But any support gear you make yourself is free game in all school events! And you can be sure that the students from the Support Course will be using that to their advantage during the Festival."

"Correct. On all points. And that reminds me; Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, make sure the class has the forms to make requests for the Festival. Keep in mind that you're not guaranteed to have a support item approved just because you request it. Hagakure's full costume would be approved, but requesting something like a grappling hook would likely be denied. The goal is to even the playing field for the entire school, not to give you all more advantages." Aizawa stated getting nods from the two representatives, "But we're burning daylight, so let's get going. We have tests to run." He beckoned the next student forward, and off they went.

And when they were done, most of the updated rankings hadn't changed. Melissa herself was elated to see just how well she had done. She had placed in the upper half of the class, albeit barely! Tōru was cheering happily, outright jumping up and down. She had worked hard enough on her physicality that she had knocked Aoyama into twentieth! Momo and Izuku were beaming at each other, having come in a dead tie this time, unlike her clear victory and his tie with Inasa the first time. Inasa himself had tied with Todoroki, and the two shot each other some small smiles. Katsuki was fuming. HIS score had barely improved at all! He was in fifth place, and not even solidly either! Iida had just barely missed on knocking him down to sixth! The arrogant blonde was starting to almost feel like his throat was getting tight.

"Excellent work, all of you." Aizawa said, "As most of you saw, improving the strength of your Quirk can be difficult, as shown by Bakugō's ball toss." He probably shouldn't have singled the ash-blonde out, but the boy frankly needed a kick in the pants. His complexes were either going to help him once he overcame them or they were going to break him. "Keep working hard. Now get back to class. That didn't take as long as I thought, and there's still enough time for English." He almost snorted at the chorus of groans. Almost.

As they trudged back to the school, Aizawa went up to Todoroki, "Still no fire, Todoroki?" He asked in disappointment.

But he was surprised to see a slight smile from the heterochromic boy, "Not this time, Sensei. I wanted to gauge my own improvement without it."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrow.

Todoroki looked satisfied, "I-Island was an eye-opener in more ways than one."

Aizawa finally let out a prideful smile as they continued to walk, not asking any more. 'This is a good class. Finally.' Any future classes he had sure would have some large shoes to fill.

-]|[-

"Ughhhhhh, it's finally oveeeeeeerrrrrr…" Mina moaned, dropping her head onto her desk, "Can we go back to I-Island?" Her voice was rather muffled.

"It wasn't that bad, Mina." Izuku chuckled, patting her on the shoulder.

"Speak for yourself, fam." Camie slung herself onto his shoulders, and several in the class gawked as he didn't flinch or start blushing and stuttering. "Class suuucks." She nuzzled into him.

"Kero." Tsu ribbited, "You two look much friendlier."

"I would hope so." Momo smiled as she sidled up and took his hand, "We are all dating, after all."

"PFFFFTTTT!" Almost everyone in the class did classic spit takes. "WHAT?!"

"Midoriya!" Sero clenched his fists, "You lucky bastard!"

"My, Midoriya's sparkle is so bright!" Aoyama couldn't help but cry out. Perhaps he should make some wine suggestions for dates?

"Jeez, didn't take you for such a boss, Green." Kyōka smirked, "Three smoking-hot girlfriends."

Izuku blushed and chuckled a little nervously, "Ehehehe… about that…"

Mina sprang up, smirking devilishly, "We also got Setsuna from 1-B, and Nejire-chan-senpai in our little group." She didn't mention Melissa or Yui quite yet, since Melissa hadn't fully committed to the idea yet, and they were still entirely unsure about Yui, despite her joining their dates.

"WHAAAAAAAAT!" The class nearly blew them over with sound. Even Tsu looked uncharacteristically gobsmacked.

Kirishima rubbed the back of his head, "Damn bro, that's so manly. You treat them right, you hear?"

"Of course!" Izuku looked affronted.

"Also," The redhead continued, "Kinda even more glad Mineta isn't here anymore."

"Ugh." Camie wrinkled her nose, "He would be making a big deal about it, wouldn't he?" She pecked Izuku on the cheek, making him blush just a little.

Bakugō looked like he wanted to hurl, standing up with his chair making the floor screech. "Whatever. I'm out of here." He threw the door open with a slam, still in an awful mood, and the sight that greeted him didn't help that at all. "What the fuck do you all want?" He snarled, glaring daggers at the wall of students blocking his way.

"I don't recognize any of you. You must be from General Studies." Izuku asked, coming up to them.

"Sup fam?" Camie smiled at them, before jerking her head at Katsuki, "Don't mind the Nitrogremlin. He hasn't had his shots."

"Fuck you, bimbo." Katsuki snarled, a little crackle of explosions racing along his left arm.

"Not even if you were the last guy on earth, you fucking cactus." Camie shot back. Several of the other students bit back startled laughs.

"Really? This is the vaunted Hero Course?" A new guy came through the crowd, interrupting the sniping. He was lanky, looked like he hadn't slept in months, and had vivid purple hair. "A bunch of squabbling children? If this is the best you have to offer, I'm not impressed."

"And why should we care what you think, extra?" Bakugō stared at him, unimpressed.

"Can you NOT refer to others as extras, Bakugō?!" Iida chopped his hand furiously.

The purple-haired boy stared glibly at him, "Most of us who didn't make the Hero Course, and were stuck in general studies or the other tracks. Depending on the resu-"

"Yeah, yeah, they might transfer you in if you do well. We know that." Mina said, coming up to them with Momo.

"That's right." The kid looked a bit put out at having his speech interrupted. "Consequently, it means you lot can lose your spots too. For a General Studies kid like me, this will be a perfect opportunity to knock you off your pedestals. Consider this a declaration of war." His face didn't change, but somehow it was pretty clear that he was glaring.

"We knew that as well." Momo said, staring at him nonplussed, "I do wonder why you're speaking as if this is a foregone conclusion. Much as I'd like Bakugō gone, you'd be hard-pressed to take his spot."

Katsuki's teeth started to grind, 'Now the fucking rich bitch is talking shit too?'

Purple's eyes narrowed, "Don't be so haughty just because your Quirks worked in a fight against robo-"

"Ha!" Tōru came up, "Is that what this is? A pity party? Whining because your Quirk didn't work against robots? Newsflash: I'm invisible and I made it in. I didn't even have a costume at the time, so to even use my Quirk, I had to get completely naked." She said bluntly, and the General Studies students all gawked at the revelation. "Did you just roll over and cry when it was clear your Quirks didn't work? Did you even get any Hero Points?" Several of the students looked away in shame.

Camie started to laugh, "LOL, you guys sure are idiots. Do you even know what a weight room looks like? My Quirk didn't do anything to the bots either. It's a Support Type, not a Direct Combat Type." She rolled up her sleeve and flexed, revealing a fair bit of muscle. "Git gud, scrubs."

"Not to mention," Izuku looked several of them dead in the eye, "Our newest member is Quirkless, and earned her spot by helping to capture several B, A, and S rank Villains during the I-Island incident last week." Now even the purple-haired kid couldn't keep the shock off his face. Katsuki's eyebrow pulsed with fury at this revelation, though he probably should have realized it already. "Honestly, I was worried about how fair the entrance exam was. It certainly skewed heavily towards those with heavy combat Quirks. But now?" He shook his head.

"Indeed. You might want to consider what being Heroes mean and what Heroes actually do before you arrogantly come barging in here and 'declaring war.'" Momo was entirely unimpressed. "Now please move. We need to meet up with the rest of our group and get to training."

"Think I can join in?" Kyōka asked, and almost the entire rest of 1-A joined in.

"Of course!" Momo smiled at them as the student sea parted and they met up with Setsuna, Yui, and several other I-B students, "You know the manor is open to you."

As the noise from 1-A dimmed, the General Studies students dispersed. Those who most wanted to be Heroes could only clench their fists and stomp away.

…

The next two weeks passed quickly, with all of the Hero Course students training their hearts out. Every day, they were in the weight rooms, or running on the track, or sparring with their Quirks under Nejire's supervision. At Momo's house, Izuku and his girlfriends and maybe-girlfriends put in the most amount of work. They were super glad that the heiress had so much private property because there was no way they would have been able to train like they did otherwise. Izuku and Momo clashing in the skies were a common fixture, with Melissa using the data to fully iron out v2 for Momo's costume.

Izuku even trained in semi-secret with Nejire, trying out a new technique that he had brainstormed after consuming more ancient media. It wasn't going super well, as Nejire seemingly had a sixth sense for the technique, and never quite got caught in it.

Melissa worked on her combat skills wearing her full costume, which was rapidly approaching the complete v2 design that she would reveal at the Festival.

Momo and Izuku also did their work as class leaders (along with Itsuka and Setsuna), and made sure everyone had their forms filled out and processed in the event they needed some special allowances for the games. Even if they hadn't been reminded by Aizawa-sensei, there was no way they would have let poor Tōru go naked. They made sure she would have her costume available.

Finally, as the final day before the Festival came to an end, Izuku went to sleep, completely relaxed, and surrounded by his polycule. Everything had changed in only a few short months, and tomorrow, they would all see just how far they had come.

-]|[-

And that's a wrap! Hope you all enjoyed! Big thanks and shoutouts to all my usual betas and idea bouncers, as well as a huge shoutout for Vimesenthusiast for the help with several sections. Go check his works out! They're even bigger doorstoppers than mine. LOL

No, that gun date scene was not written for the express purpose of a booty jiggle, and you can't prove otherwise. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) Thanks to Sleep for helping with that one. I'm a complete and utter noob there.

This month you'll be getting two updates! I'll be updating OPD in the middle of the month.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to review!

If you're interested in getting early access to all of my content, just search "Primordial Vortex" and you'll find my Pa Tre On! I've got quite a bit of content available, including some that are temporarily exclusive such as the first three chapters of my mass effect fic, ch2 of my mha/DxD crossover, and more.

June's update will be Thunderous Soul III.