When Minoko wakes up, she finds herself inside a parked ambulance. Her left hand was hooked up to an IV, and the injuries she sustained were all healed up. "What…"
"Kaeda, you're awake," Kirishima grinned from the door of the ambulance. "They said fatigue got to you and you were gonna be okay, but it's nice to see you actually awake."
Oh, right. I passed out.Minoko sighed internally, and nodded at the boy, "What happened? Is everyone alright?"
Kirishima nodded, "Mr. Aizawa and Thirteen had been sent to the hospital, but they'll be alright. All Might and Midoriya are still in there, getting healed. And everyone else is fine."
"Midoriya?" She slowly sat up. Last she remembered, Midoriya was just fine.
"You were passed out by then, but Shigaraki ordered Nomu for one last attack at All Might and Midoriya jumped in, trying to help. He managed a hit on the Nomu—a really good one! It blew its arm back—enough for the teachers to reach the area and help All Might with the Nomu."
Kirishima's proud face was replaced with a sheepish one as he brought his hand to the back of his nape, "They still got away though—Shigaraki and Kurogiri, I mean. Everyone else was arrested, and the Nomu was captured."
"Quirk damage again, huh, his quirk is very self destructive," she relaxed onto her bed. "Well, in any case, I'm glad no one was injured beyond healing."
"Oh, you're awake," a paramedic said, hopping into the ambulance. "I'll do a quick check up and if you're all clear, you can get going."
The check up finished quickly. "I am a bit concerned about the contacts you're wearing," the paramedic said.
Minoko shook her head, "It's fine," she said, "these are specialized contacts my mother—a support tech engineer—made. It's fine to sleep with them on. Just have to change them a lot more often."
The paramedic nodded at her, "That's good to know," they said, "I'm giving you the all clear now, but rest a lot when you get home."
Minoko thanked them and got out of the ambulance. She grabbed the gloves from her costume's utility belt and wore them, 'cause even if she wasn't kneeling over because of it, the migraine is still pretty present. She doesn't want to make it worse by accidentally using her quirk. But apart from that, she was feeling alright, not even a single bandage was visible.
She joined the rest of her classmates who were gathered where a detective was speaking to some of the teachers."Kaeda! You're alright!" Hagakure exclaimed, hopping towards where she was. "Here," she handed the girl her cloak, "Thanks for letting me borrow it."
"Ah, it's no problem." She wrapped the cloth around herself. "Areyoualright? Shigaraki was—"
"I'm fine," Hagakure laughed, "All Might was so fast, I didn't even realize I was out of his grip."
"Kaeda! We saw what was happening!" Ashido jumped on her, hugging her close. "I can't believe you talked back to that villain." Some of her classmates gathered around her asking if she was alright.
Minoko narrowed her eyes at the memory, "Horrible idea, really. 0 stars, would not recommend."
"Oh! That reminds me," Kaminari said, latching a hand on her arm," the detective handed it over earlier. He said he found it at the sight. I recognized some of the things so I took it from him." He led her, and the others, towards the front of the bus. "These are yours right?"
In front of the bus was a box. Inside were her hero costume accessories, a crowbar, a bunch of crumpled paper, clothes, water bottles, two pens, a shovel still covered in ice—though the wet spot at the bottom of the box showed that it had somewhat melted—and many more.
"What are they?" Jirou asked.
"The stuff in my pocket dimension," she said, sorting around the box. "They pour out when I'm unconscious. Though, it doesn't happen when I'm sleeping—maybe 'cause it's voluntary," she murmured.
"You keep a toaster in there?" Todoroki asked, messing around with the box to see what else was in there.
"No? What—" she peered further inside, and indeed there was a toaster, "So that's where that went."
Jirou looked at her with disbelief, "How do you not know about a toaster being in there?!"
"I usually wander in the kitchen in ungodly hours, probably touched it without meaning to," Minoko said, "It's been a while since I cleaned up my inventory."
"Everyone! Gather around, we'll be heading back to the U.A. Campus now," Iida called.
With Midoriya not with them, Minoko was able to sit next to Kirishima—who helped her load the huge bulk of items inside the bus, as well as let her lean on him as she slept on the way back.
They reached the school just as the sun started to set. Minoko followed the girl to the locker room to get changed back into their uniform. She decided to leave the stuff at the classroom rather than drag them back home with her on the train—and she wasnotrisking using her quirk after all that. After that, she wanted to visit Midoriya at the infirmary, but Recovery Girl didn't allow visitors, so she waited for Kirishima and the two of them headed to the train station.
"I'm home," Minoko called, not really expecting a reply.
"Mikko!" Both her parents stumbled to the front door, engulfing their daughter in a hug.
Minoko flinched in surprise, "What are you two doing here? Don't you have work?"
Her mom pulled away and held the girl by her shoulders, "I would've picked you up if my boss wasn't so stubborn!"
"We received a call from the principal who told us what happened!' Her father said, "He said you fainted. Are you alright?"
Minoko nodded, "I'm fine, a bit of a headache, but fine."
"And your stuff?" Her mother's face became stern, "Did you put them back in the pocket dimension?"
"Of course not!" She shook her head, "I left them at school. I'm not a kid anymore, I know my limits."
"Says the one who fainted," dad said.
She looked at him in disbelief, "Who's side are you on?"
"Well," mom started, "We'll leave you to get changed. Afterwards, we'll eat dinner."
"We're having Karaage," dad said, "But I also made my super special Takoyakiandbought you strawberry parfait from that shop you went to the other day."
Minoko's eyes instantly brightened, "You made Takoyaki?!" she immediately rushed up the stairs.
"I knew I was the favorite."
"Don't push your luck, hun."
The living room door burst open, Aki's voice echoing through the house, "WHERE IS MIKKO?!"
The next day, school was closed temporarily. Minoko decided to take this time to relax.How am I supposed to relax?She flicked through the channels, raising her glasses back in a comfortable position.
"U.A. was attacked—"
"Villains at the Unforeseen—"
"72 villains were caug—"
"Hero Course students—"
"—are injured, including students—"
"—All Might was—"
Wow, suddenly, all the channels were news channels.Minoko let out a loud sigh. The media's been all over it since last night. No wonder Aki was over so fast, he'd seen them all. She looked around at the empty house wondering what to do. Her parents were both back at work and won't be home until later, so she's all alone. She pulled out her phone and went through her contacts. She had nine listed, two of which are her parents' and one is her grandmother's.
This is kinda sad at this point,she thought as she scrolled through who to pester. Aki was the first name she came across, and he had classes right now, so not really an option. Besides, he had just come unannounced yesterday during dinner, so she thinks they'd pestered each other enough.
She needed to go for someone who went to U.A. Kirishima was the first one to come to mind, but when she opened their chat log, she remembered he already had plans.
Kirishima Eijirou
Yeah, we're going fishing tomorrow
Somehng about releasing
relaxing*
She sighed.Well, there goes that idea.Minoko decided to message Kaminari—who for the record, she didn't even give her number to, but he messaged her one night and apparently got it off of Kirishima. In Kirishima's defense, he was tricked. It's not that she minded that Kaminari had her number, but considering how many girls he tried to get the numbers off, she was surprised he didn't get it himself.
Kaeda Minoko
I'm bored.
Kaminari Denki
hi bored im denki
Kaeda Minoko
You did not just turn that into a dad joke.
Kaminari Denki
that was no dad joke
it was a certified kaminari denki original
Kaeda Minoko
Whatever.
Seriously though, I'm bored.
Kaminari Denki
as much as id like to take this precious opportunity i am alas at a date rn
Kaeda Minoko
Keep telling yourself that and it might come true.
Despite everything, I don't think you're bad enough that you'd have the nerve to message other girls—or anyone for that matter unless it's an emergency— while already on a date.
Kaminari Denki
you just couldnt give me a moment of glory could you
Kaeda Minoko
Busted.
Kaminari Denki
freaking hate that
im getting back at sero one of these days
he better wacth his back
but seriously though im in the supermarket running errands rn lol
unless you wanna travel two and a half hours to go grocery shopping then feel free to join me
Minoko was bored, but notthatbored.
Kaeda Minoko
I think I'll pass.
Kaminari Denki
good choice
save yourself
Kaeda Minoko
It's grocery shopping; it's not gonna kill you.
Kaminari Denki
tell that to the cashier that speeds up the scanning when they see you struggle to get money
oh ive been standing in the milk aisle for five minutes now lmao
Kaeda Minoko
Shit, I didn't mean to hold you up.
Kaminari Denki
is fine
ttyl
Kaeda Minoko
Kayy!
Minoko sighed, letting herself plop on the couch. She scrolled a bit more and found Tooru's number. After yesterday's fiasco, she had insisted on being more familiar with each other and using each other's first names. She didn't have problems with it, actually, she doesn't mind if people use her first name at all. Unless she hates you that is.
Kaeda Minoko
Tooruuu, I'm bored.
Save me from my misery.
Hagakure Tooru
Me too!!
I was just chatting with Ashido and she was thinking of gathering the girls for a mall trip
Bonding experience she says
Before Minoko could reply to her, another message popped up. It was the last one saved in her contacts.
Ashido Mina
Get ready! We're going to the mall!!
Minoko chuckled at the message,She didn't even bother phrasing it into a question.
Kaeda Minoko
Which mall?
She then went back to Tooru's message.
Kaeda Minoko
She just messaged me hahaha.
I'll be going. What about you?
Hagakure Tooru
Of course!
See you there
Finally,she thought, standing up.Something to do.
When Minoko arrived at the mall, she was the last one to get there. To be fair, she lived the furthest. "Ah! Kadea's here." Uraraka waved at her. Minoko smiled, waving back at her as she walked. She eyed the girls who were all wearing casual clothes. Minoko herself was in casual attire—a black shirt with the word mango in the middle, tucked into a black and white checkered shorts, white sneakers, and her gloves.
"Ah! You wear glasses?" Uraraka asked.
Minoko nodded, "Horrible eyesight. I decided to give my eyes a bit of a break after passing out wearing contacts yesterday."
Tooru hummed looking the girl over, "You know we're going to the mall and not doing hero training right?"
Minoko tilted her head, "What do you mean?" Tooru vaguely gestured to her.
She looked down and realized what she meant, "Oh! The accessories?" She, as usual, was littered with accessories including her usual hair clips, bracelets, and a gold plated sun necklace. "It's become a habit to carry small trinkets with me just in case."
Yaoyorozu nodded at her, "Preparedness is always a must."
"Enough of this!" Ashido exclaimed, dragging Asui and Jirou's arm, "Let's head in!"
The seven of them passed security and headed to eat lunch. They ended up at a fancy restaurant—by Yaoyorozu's insistence, since her parents were friends with the owners, so they were getting ahugediscount. They placed their orders in, and Ashido immediately started a conversation. "So! We're all teenage girls right? And you all know what teenage girls talk about!"
"Which hot packs are cheap but really effective?"
"How unfair the system is?"
"What alternatives to yell when no one comes out when you say 'fire!'?"
"What code names to give their male classmates?"
"Yes, boys!" Ashido exclaimed. "Thank you Hagakure." She looks at the rest of them. "We're here to have fun! Stop with the depressing realities!"
"You're very enthusiastic about this, Ashido," Jirou commented.
"Have youseenour classmates?!" She exclaimed. "Have youseenTodoroki?! Kaeda, you've fought with him, back me up here!"
Minoko leaned against her hand, "Well, I can't deny that Todoroki's good looking…" she hummed, "Actually alotof our classmates are."
"That should statistically not be possible!" Tooru exclaimed.
Jirou hummed, finally getting their enthusiasm, "And that's not mentioning us girls."
"That makes things a whole lot more improbable!" Ashido exclaimed. She pulled out a notepad from her bag. "Now, onto business, code names."
Ashido had listed the boy's names alphabetically in her notebook and they started brainstorming for code names. They almost had everyone except for Bakugou, and Midoriya. "The final two, ribbit," Asui said.
"Deku could be something like Brightly," Uraraka suggested, as she munched on her Mochi.
"Brightly?" Yaoyorozu questioned, "Why that specifically?"
"When he smiles…it's bright, isn't it?" Uraraka said.
Minoko nodded, "Thatistrue. Especially when he's talking about something he really likes."
"Everyone in favor of Brightly as Midoriya's code name, say I," Ashido said.
"I!"
With no objections, Ashido wrote down 'Brightly', just above the other code name.'Code Red'. "We only have Bakugou left."
"Let's just call him 'Inflated Ego'," Minoko suggested.
"Isn't that a bit obvious?" Tooru asked.
"It won't be to him," Minoko said.
"That is true," Uraraka agreed.
"That should work, right?" Jirou asked, "The purpose is not to let the person know we're talking about them specifically. No one said about anyone else knowing."
"I believe that should be fine," Yaoyorozu said, "As long as he won't know."
"Oh, he won't," Minoko said.
"Inflated Ego it is!" Ashido wrote down the last code name.
They snickered at what they have created. Once they finished eating, they were brought the bill and they paid for their share.That was a hefty discount,Minoko thought. She was sure she didn't even pay half the amount she was supposed to.What family connections does Yaoyorozu have??
"Where should we go now?" Minoko asked.
"Well, there's this movie that premiered the other day," Jirou started, "from what I heard it's pretty good."
Yaoyorozu scrolled through her phone, "According to the mall's website, the next showing isn't gonna start for another hour."
"How about that arcade, ribbit?" Hagkure pointed to an arcade on the second floor of the mall.
"I could get my siblings a souvenir there," Asui agreed.
"Well how about we go to the arcade while waiting for the movie?" Uraraka suggested.
"Arcade it is!"
The seven arrived at the arcade, "Uraraka, aren't you playing?" Minoko asked the girl who stepped aside when they fell in line to buy tokens.
The girl waved her hand, "Not today, sorry," she said clutching her bag close, "I can only afford to either watch the movie or play games, and I'd rather go for the movie."
Minoko hummed, "How about we share my tokens then?" she asked.
"Oh, I can't—"
"It's fine," Minoko insisted.
"Are you sure," Uraraka flailed her hands around in protest, "I mean, it's your money."
Minoko nodded, "I'm sure. We're friends, right? It wouldn't be right to go all out without all of us stealing the machines from little kids!"
Uraraka couldn't help but chuckle at her words, "Okay then," she said. "I promise to do your tokens justice!"
"That's the spirit!"
Once everyone had their fair share of tokens, they wandered around the arcade, strategizing which games to play to get the most tickets in order to obtain that giant penguin plush at the prize corner.
"We'll play our best games, then come back here in the middle," Ashido instructed. "Girls, scatter!"
Minoko walked away with Uraraka who decided to tag along with her. "I'm pretty good at the racing games," Uraraka said. "What about you Minoko? Ah! Is it alright if I call you that? You can call me Ochako if you want."
Minoko laughed, "I don't mind, Ochako," she said. "Well, when my parents took me to the arcade when I was younger, I was scarily good at first person shooting games. My mom blames dad for teaching me how to aim."
"You've held a gun?!" Ochako exclaimed, as quietly as she could.
Minoko hummed, "No, not a gun," she shook her head, "My dad's a firefighter, he taught me how to aim a water hose."
"And that skill just passed down to your arcade skills?" Ochako questioned.
"Well, apparently," she laughed. "Look, Ochako, it's a Mountain Racers."
They walked over to the racing game and watched as the top scores appeared on the screen. It was under the name LEM, and apparently it was set not even a few minutes ago. "I can beat that," Ochako said, handing Minoko her bag and hopping onto the seat. She inserted two tokens and gripped the steering wheel.
"Um, Ochako," Minoko started when she noticed how hard she was gripping the wheel, but the game started and Ochako immediately pressed on the gas pedal, making the character speed up. She let out a nervous chuckle, "Nevermind."I hope she doesn't break anything.
Minoko watched as the girl sped through the tracks, eventually reaching the finish line. Ochako's score appeared on screen, just as tickets poured out of the machine. "20 seconds slower?!" Ochako exclaimed. "Minoko! You can go ahead, I'm not leaving until I beat that!"
Her determined look was enough to convince Minoko that she won't get to play anything if she stays here any longer. "Okay, I'm leaving your bag here," she said, dropping the peach bag on the seat with the brunette. "I'll come back in a bit!"
Minoko searched the arcade for anything she wanted to play. To her delight she found a zombie shooting game, and to a less delightful news, she saw the other player.Inflated Ego,she thought.
"Hey Bakugou," she greeted, taking her place next to him and inserting tokens to start the game.
"Oi! Go somewhere else!" Bakugou yelled, and scowled when he realized who it was. "Hair clips."
"No can do!" Minoko said, "I'm not waiting for you to finish before I can play. I have 40 minutes to get as many tickets as I can so we can get that giant plush!" Bakugou rolled his eyes at her. It wasn't like he could do anything, Minoko had already pressed play.
Minoko held the gun in her arm and aimed at the incoming zombies on the screen. She hadn't played in a while, so she was a bit rusty but as the game went on, she got the hang of things again. Beside her, she can hear Bakugou cursing out the virtual enemies, and if she's being honest, it's kinda embarrassing since people were looking at him—and her by extension—with judgemental stares.
The game over screen appeared for the both of them at the same time. Minoko smirked as she gained the new highscore of 1988, and the tickets came flooding out. She is placed under the name, "KM", she isn't very creative, she's well aware. "Ha?! How the fuck did you score higher than me?!" Bakugou exclaimed.
Looking at the boy's screen she saw she was seventeen points higher than him. "Wait a minute," she said, taking in the name, "You're LEM?!"
Bakugou clicked his tongue, "What about it?"
"What does it even mean?" Minoko asked, earning a growl from the boy. "Nevermind, it's just, Ochako's trying to beat your score at the racing game right now."
Bakugou let out a scoffed laugh, "She can try." He turned back to his machine, "Put in your tokens, hair clips. I'm beating your shitty score!"
Minoko couldn't help but step back at the dangerous energy Bakugou was emitting, "Ha?"
35 minutes, 14 tokens, and 7 games later, Minoko's arms were tired from holding the toy shooter. The score appeared and Minoko was still 2 points higher than Bakugou and she was sure the entire high score screen was filled with her name at that point.
"I'm not done yet!" Bakugou yelled.
Minoko whined, "I don't even have tokens left, please let me go!"
"You still have five minutes before meeting up with those other extras," Bakugou inserted two tokens on his machine, then in hers. "Which means, you still have time for another game. Don't fucking chicken out now."
"I'm not chickening out," Minoko grumbled, grabbing the shooter again, "It's not my fault you still haven't won."
"Fuck you!"
The game started. Minoko proceeded to shoot the zombies,Maybe I should just throw the game and get this over with."DIE!!"Nevermind, he'll keep me hostage forever if I do that.She took a moment to glance at the boy beside her.What the heck? How is he hitting all of them?Minoko was a great aim and she got better after every game, but even she misses some zombies that are too hidden.
Minoko focused back on her game, with no intention of losing. She shot all the zombies she could see and then some hidden under cars and in the sewers. Too focused, she didn't even realize five minutes had passed until the game over screen came on.
The two stared at the screens intensely waiting for the final score to show.
"Dang it!"
"Fuck yeah!"
Bakugou beat her by one point. Minoko let out a sigh. In all honesty she doesn't feel like she lost. She literally won 7 out of the 8 times they played. But, she'll give him this. Hedidwin after all. "Yeah, yeah, good job Bakugou," she pats his shoulder, making him scoff and shove her hand aside. She watched as his eyes lingered to her gloves before turning away and collecting his tickets.
"Whatever, you still lost to me, extra," he said.
"Sure," Minoko said with a small chuckle as she crouched down to collect her own tickets, "Whatever helps you sleep at night."
He flipped her off as he walked away. Minoko shook her head at the boy's childishness. "Minoko!" Ochako full on toppled over her. "I won! I finally beat that 20 seconds! I did your tokens the justice they deserve!"
Minoko smiled, "Really? Ahh, that's great. Good job, Ochako!"
"Is this the only game you played?" Ochako asked, eyeing the leaderboard.
Minoko nodded, "I didn't really have a choice," she muttered. "Not that I minded anyway. Oh! I just remembered," she pointed to the leaderboard of the machine next to her's. "Guess who LEM is."
"Who?"
"Inflated Ego."
"Bakugou?!" Ochako exclaimed as they walked back to the meeting site, "He was here?"
"Yeah, he wouldn't let me leave after I beat his score."
"Did he?"
"Sadly," Minoko sighed, "Then again, it took him 8 tries, so I'm not all that dejected."
"Oh he isnotgonna be happy when he sees the racing game leaderboard."
Minoko let out a laugh. "Ah, there they are," she waved at the other girls who had tickets to fill their arms. "Let's get that penguin!"
They didn't get the penguin.
"212 tickets short," Jirou said, staring at the receipt.
Asui sighed, "and it was a very cute penguin as well, ribbit."
"Can't we buy more tokens and get those 212 tickets?" Ashido asked.
Yaoyorozu shook her head, checking her phone, "The movie starts in fifteen minutes," she said. "We still have to buy tickets and snacks and find decent seats."
"I guess we can just use the tickets for other prizes," Uraraka sighed.
Minoko frowned, "Bye Mr. Penguin." Just as she was about to approach the stand to see what other prizes they have, something was shoved into her hand, and someone bumped into her shoulder as they passed, muttering something about prizes being for little kids.
"Was that Bakugou?" Tooru asked, gaining the attention of the other girls.
"Yeah," Minoko looked down at her hand and she brightened up. "He gave me his tickets."
Yaoyorozu raised an eyebrow, "It's a bit unexpected."
"Out of character, you mean?" Asui asked.
"Well, Minokodidsave him from that Nomu," Tooru said thoughtfully.
"Maybe it's his way of thanking you!" Uraraka exclaimed.
"Still very odd though," Jirou commented.
Minoko shook her head, "It was a capturing situation,remember?"
In the end, they did get Mr. Penguin and a couple of other trinkets, as well as gifts for Asui's siblings. The seven of them headed to the cinema and bought tickets, food and found comfortable seats on the second floor, near the middle.
Minoko tilted her head at the movie scenes, "You know, this reminds me of a pre-quirk novel that I found in the backshelves of the old rundown library at the edge of Musutafu."
"Why were you even in an old rundown library?" Jirou asked.
Minoko shrugged, "I had nothing to do."
An hour and a half later, they left the cinema with Ashido hanging off of Minoko's back and still crying. "I still can 't believe they both died!"
"It was literally in the title," Jirou pointed out.
"Yeah…" Tooru whined, "but these things were supposed to have a twist!"
"Isn't the fact that it didn't have that twist, a twist in itself?" Asui tilted her head in wonder.
Yaoyorozu nodded, "Precisely. It really adds to the suspense."
"This isalsohow that pre-quirk novel ended," Minoko said, "Very suspicious."
It was nearing five pm by the time they headed out of the mall. Yaomomo offered to bring them home once her family driver comes with the limo, but they politely disagreed, not wanting to take up too much time as they did live far from each other.
"Wait!" Ashido exclaimed, before anyone could leave. "We have one serious problem."
Minoko tilted her head at her, "Which is…"
"Who's taking Mr. Penguin home?"
Notes:
Hey guys! I'm seeing some comments and I wanna say thank you and I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far! So yeah, this chapter we got a little well needed girl bonding! Also, I hope Bakugou wasn't OOC here, just figured that (since hedidleave Izuku alone after the Slime Incident and he got Kirishima money after Kamino) he can still SOMEWHAT appreciate getting saved from a life or death situation. Also, it's not like he had childhood issues with Minoko so I think it's fine lmao.
TRIVIA!!
The pocket dimension is connected to Minoko's subconscious. That's why head related injuries are bad for her quirk and makes things pour out when she is unconscious (though doesn't include sleeping because there is still some consciousness left when sleeping). At the same time, damage done to her pocket dimension can cause head related issues (ex: migraine quirk drawback when overused).