AN: Animeguy1101 - Thanks, but I think one should be enough. Ryo's more of a side character in the end.

It sort of makes sense why there aren't a lot of OCs romancing Himiko - canonically she is obsessed with Izuku, and she also serves as a narrative foil for Ochako, so if people are pairing her up with anyone in fanfiction those two are the most popular choices. Plus it's just a problem of volume - as of this comment there are less then 500 stories with Toga as a tagged character.

RickRich809 - To finally respond to a much earlier review of yours, while Class 1-A has a bunch of shit that they're going to be dealing with, I've got a couple plot threads just for Himiko to keep her busy as well.

Himiko shouldered her bag and picked up her case, disembarking from the train. Pulling out her phone, she began following its instructions until she arrived at a generic-looking office building. Stepping inside, she was greeted by an unmanned front desk, the wall behind it decorated with a number of hero's logos showing who else shared the building.

"Carmilla! Welcome to my agency! I take it you didn't have any trouble find it?"

Himiko turned and saw Mr. Brave standing by the elevators. "Nope! It wasn't too hard to find. I was kind of expecting more though from the entrance?"

Mr. Brave laughed at that. "If I become more successful, one day! Not all of us can be as successful as All Might! Until then, many of us heroes have to work together and pool our resources. Let's go upstairs and I'll show you around." He gestured to the elevator.

The first stop on the tour was the floor containing the dormitory for the agency. While the heroes themselves have private homes elsewhere, if they were working particularly long hours, or if there is an emergency, one of them occasionally used the rooms here. Normally, he explained, the rooms are saved for students doing internships from across Japan, or for visiting heroes who are coordinating with one of the heroes working out of this building.

"Since you are the first student here, you get the spot closest to the elevator." Mr. Brave mentioned as he handed her a key card in front of one of the rooms. "Go ahead and drop your stuff off before we continue."

Himiko entered the room and looked around. It was small, but functional, with just enough room for a be, a desk, and a small closet for her things. She dropped her bag on her bed and gently set her hero case on the desk before returning to the hallway and the hero waiting outside.

He then led her through the rest of the facilities, showing off all of the basic facilities of a hero agency - from the small support department that they shared, to the meeting areas, to his own private office. He then shows Himiko the shared kitchen, dining, and recreational area she will have access to for the duration of her internship. Finally they returned to the ground floor and he leads her to a door that opens into the shared gym / training facilities of the agency. There she saw a couple of other heroes currently using the space, one working over a punching bag while another was lifting weights.

Their tour concluded, Himiko turned to Mr. Brave. "So, when do we start training?"

He smiled at her enthusiasm. "I was planning on starting right away. Go change into something more appropriate for training and come back down, I want to see what you already know."

Himiko smiled back. "Sounds great!" She rushed back to the elevator and returned to her dorm room, quickly changing into her gym uniform before returning to the gym.

When she returned, Mr. Brave led her over to a locker, and when he opened it she saw a wide variety of practice weapons. "Pick your weapon of choice."

Grinning, Himiko grabbed two particularly nasty looking knives with dulled blades. Mr. Brave grabbed another pair of knives for himself, and the two walked to center of the sparring area. He bowed to Himiko, who returned the bow, and then they slid into their respective combat stances.

The two spent the next hour sparring. While Himiko considered herself pretty good with her knifework, Mr. Brave was on a whole other level. By the time he announced that they were done, Himiko was tired and sore. Even though the knives were dull, being repeatedly hit by them hurt and she was sure she was going to have bruises afterwards. She collapsed on a bench, joined a few moments later by her mentor after Mr. Brave returned the weapons to storage, tossing a water bottle at her which she easily caught before sitting down himself.

"You have the basics down, which is great! I would say you are still lacking in experience, but in this case I would be worried if you actually had more experience." He laughed at his own joke.

Himiko laughed at that. "I've had plenty of practice over the past six months, but I haven't exactly been in a lot of real fights against villains yet."

"I'd say that may change this week, but since you are still a first year student, if we do run into a villain this week I want you to focus more on protecting yourself. I would also remind you about quirk usage laws, but that isn't really a problem for you is it?"

"Nope!" Himiko grinned. "But I can hold my own in a fight."

"While that may be true, you never know how skilled your opponent is. It may be some low life who is used to getting away with stuff just by the mere threat of violence, or you may be facing a hardened criminal with years of experience fighting heroes. Part of being a hero is knowing your limits. It wouldn't do well for you to get severely injured during your first internship, after all!"

"That makes sense."

Mr. Brave stood back up. "In the meantime, I have a few ideas to improve your techniques. If you are ready for round two?"

With a grin Himiko downed the rest of her water and jumped up. "Bring it on!"

Mr. Brave put her through training for another hour, showing her ways to properly defend against attacks with her knives. When he was satisfied with Himiko's progress he sent her off to get ready for her first patrol. After a quick shower and changing into her hero costume, she met back up with him again, ready to begin.

The excitement didn't last however. After walking for a few kilometers, Himiko began to feel a strange nervous energy - like she was expecting something to happen, only to be disappointed when they reached the next street corner without incident.

"This isn't what you were expecting, was it?" Mr. Brave asked her, as if reading her thoughts.

Himiko felt a blush creeping into her face from embarrassment. "No, not at all."

"Patrols may not be the most glamorous thing, but it helps the citizens feel safe." Mr. Brave waved to an old lady who was standing behind a food counter. "And, since you are worried about how people will react to your style of heroism, knowing the citizens actually helps."

That surprised Himiko. "How so?"

"The people here know me and know my quirk. So when they see me leap into action with my hair weapons, they see me as 'their' hero."

"So if people see me as one of them, they'd be more inclined to see me in a positive light, instead of seeing me as scary?"

"Exactly! Even though you have embraced the 'vampire' asthetic, that doesn't mean you have to remain aloof and mysterious to the people you are protecting. Save that for the villains themselves."

"That does sound appealing." Himiko admitted. "How do underground heroes handle it?"

"I wouldn't know, to be honest." Mr. Brave admitted. "The underground heroes try to stay out of the public eye, by the very definition of 'underground hero.' So they work without fame and recognition, but at the same time tend to work at times when there aren't many people on the streets. You mentioned that was your plan right?"

"Yeah. Given my quirk, it actually works out for the best if I go underground." Himiko stopped and held up her hands. "Not that I don't appreciate the advice! I just think the less media attention, the better?"

Mr. Brave just laughed and smiled. "Of course, that makes sense! Still, I hope you learn a thing or two about heroics this week. And if you change your mind and end up deciding to work more publicly, you can consider my advice!"

The next day, in the middle of their patrol Himiko felt a tingling on the back of her neck, like someone was watching her. Looking around she noticed a tall woman staring at her from across the street - she was wearing a baggy jogging outfit, and her eyes were concealed by a large pair of sunglasses, but her pink and navy blue two-tone hair was quite distinctive. And even with the sunglasses, Himiko felt her eyes boring into her. She shuddered and turned to get Mr. Brave's attention.

"What's up Carmilla?"

"There was a woman over there watching us."

"Over where?"

"Right…" Himiko turned to point her out, but she was gone. "She was right there!"

"What did she look like?"

"She had two-toned hair and a jogging outfit."

"A jogging outfit? Maybe she is going for a run and she recognized you from the sports festival?"

"Yeah, maybe…" Himiko felt unsure, like there was more to it.

Mr. Brave put a hand on her shoulder. "You still aren't really comfortable in public yet, are you?"

Himiko felt herself blushing. "No." She admits.

"I know it must feel strange to have attention on you, but that comes with being a hero. Even if you go underground, there will always be people who recognize you. Knowing how to handle that is a skill as well."

That didn't feel like a random person though. Himiko just nodded. "I don't know if I'll ever get used to it."

Mr. Brave just laughed. "At least you're learning that now! Next year you can pick an underground hero to intern with, and learn directly from them how to deal with the attention."

The third day of Himiko's internship was when she saw her first real action. Partway through their patrol they heard a commotion, and someone ran up to them. "Mr. Brave! Villains!"

Mr. Brave and Himiko drew their weapons and rushed towards the commotion. A crowd of civilians had appeared around a pair of thugs who were holding a lady hostage. The two quickly evaluated the thugs with a glance - one had long ropey arms that he wrapped around a woman and was lifting her in the air, while his companion, a large man with a shark mouth, was threatening her with a knife.

"Lady, all you had to do was give us your wallet! Now look at the mess you've made!"

"Stop!" Mr Brave pushed through the crowd and faced down the thugs. "Unhand her at once!"

"Oh great, heroes!" Rope-arms said.

"Stay back, or this woman gets it!" Shark-teeth yelled out, moving the knife closer to the woman's face.

Himiko slowly put her knives away and began backing away into the crowd. Mr. Brave looked at her with a confused look on his face.

"I'll create a distraction, just get their attention off of me!" Himiko responded.

Mr. Brave took a moment to process what she was saying, and gave her a nod in understanding. "Be careful!" He whispered back, and then stepped in between Himiko and the thugs.

"Seems your companion is smarter than you are, drop your weapon and back away, and nobody's gonna get hurt."

"You know I can't just let you go, villains!"

"You heroes are all alike, you know that. All you care about is putting villains away. Well you've got a choice to make. Either let us go, or this lady gets hurt."

While Mr. Brave was trading words with the villains, Himiko carefully made her way through the crowd, trying to get as close to shark-teeth as she could. She also felt extremely nervous - while she's used her blanking technique many times before, even in combat situations, those were all practice. This is the first time she's done with real consequences! If she messes this up, the woman who was currently tied up could be hurt - or worse.

There is also the fact that while she told Mr. Brave she was going to make a distraction, she didn't exactly tell him what the distraction would be. She hopes he's not too angry with her after this.

Too late now though. Don't fall into Izu's habits of overthinking things, there is someone who needs me. Himiko shoved all of the thoughts out of her mind and calmed her breathing, and in the next moment she was stepping out of the crowd towards shark-mouth.

Shark-mouth yelled in surprise as Himiko grabbed his arm and pulled it away from the lady, and out of the corner of her eye Himiko saw Mr. Brave charging rope-arms.

Rope-arms yelped in surprise and tried to move the woman to be between him and Mr. Brave, but the pro hero was expecting that. He quickly stepped to the side and drove his hair-sword into the villain's shoulder, causing him to yell in pain, the wound causing him to loosen his grip around the woman. Without hesitation Mr. Brave wrapped an arm around the woman's stomach and pulled her free.

Himiko, meanwhile, had completely underestimated the strength of shark-mouth. It only took a moment for him to recover and once he realized she was there, he drove his arm into Himiko's stomach. With the wind knocked out of her, she fell onto the sidewalk with a thud. With an angry snarl, shark-mouth reversed his grip on his knife and tried to stab her with it, and she was barely able to draw one of her own knives in time to knock it away.

This isn't good, gotta stand up. Himiko lashed out with a kick, forcing shark-mouth back a couple feet, giving her the few precious seconds she needed to stand. She pulled a second knife out from her coat and suddenly felt more confident. She was able to use her speed to get a few cuts on his knife arm, but a wild swing from him sent her hopping backwards - she did not want to get knocked on the ground again.

While she had shark-mouth's attention, Mr. Brave was able to disable rope-arms, a second blow from his hair-sword in his other shoulder enough to make the guy surrender. Quickly slapping quirk-supressing cuffs on the villain, Mr. Brave pulled out another chunk of hair, ready to support his intern.

Shark-mouth growled threateningly at Mr. Brave. "You stay out of this hair freak! First I'm going to finish off this kid here, and then you're next!" He charged Himiko, who barely was able to jump out of the way in time. If he was feeling pain from her cuts he wasn't showing it yet.

Mr. Brave advanced towards him. "What kind of hero would I be if I left you alone with my student?" He swung his hair-sword only to see shark-mouth block it with his knife and step back.

With shark-mouth's attention momentarily focused on Mr. Brave, Himiko had a chance to breathe. It was then that she noticed someone trying to sneak up on him. There was a third thug! "Brave, watch out!"

Ignoring shark-mouth, Himiko dashed in-between Mr. Brave and the third attacker, slamming her knife into the palm of his outstretched hand. He shouted and she felt as if she was hit with a taser through the hilt of her blade, going down. Her opponent didn't fare much better, and it looked like he was also affected by the shock. Guess he can generate an electric shock through his palms, and my knife meant he felt it too!

Himiko managed to recover and drove a knee into his stomach as he was trying to remove the knife in his hand, sending him back to the ground. She got on top of him and pinned his good arm behind his back, careful to make sure she wasn't touching his palm.

With the other two thugs taken care of, Mr. Brave was able to quickly subdue shark-mouth one-on-one, wearing him down enough to get him to surrender before slapping quirk-supressing cuffs on him. With both of his friends secured, taser-hands gave up struggling as well, allowing Himiko to handcuff him before allowing him to stand.

"Good job Carmilla. I would have been in a world of hurt if he was able to touch me." Mr. Brave congratulated her as she guided taser-hands over to his friends.

"Thanks!" Himiko grinned.

"Although, we need to work on your communication skills."

Himiko felt her face heat up in embarrassment. "I-I don't know what you're talking about."

"When you said distraction, I thought you were going to use a smoke bomb or something from your support gear. I wasn't expecting you to attack them directly!"

Himiko tried to shrink into her coat. "Remember the stealth technique I told you I have? I-it seemed like a good use for it."

He frowned at her. "But it could have also ended poorly for you. Or for the lady they had taken hostage."

"I-I know. I was thinking about that before I did it. It still seemed like a good idea at the time."

Mr. Brave sighed and looked at his intern, the ghost of a smile on his face. "At least you seem to acknowledge the consequences if things went wrong. Go check on the civilian while I call this in."

Straightening herself out, Himiko walked over to where the lady who was attacked was sitting on the ground and knelt down next to her, asking if she was ok. The woman said she was ok, if shaken up. According to her, shark-face forced her into an alleyway where the three were trying to shake her down for money. She got scared and tried to run for it, but they were too fast for her, and things escalated from the commotion she caused while trying to escape.

After hearing her story, Himiko was able to reassure her that everything was going to be ok now, that she was safe. The police and EMS were both on the way to check up on her, and then she will be free to go. Despite feeling like talking to civilians was still one of her weaker points, the woman seemed to relax under her assurances and calm down, patiently waiting for the authorities.

While they were waiting, Himiko felt the sensation of being watched again. Looking around, she once again spotted her. The lady with the navy-and-pink two-tone hair and jogging outfit. Once again, she felt her piercing gaze through those giant sunglasses. She stole a glance back at Mr. Brave to make sure everything was under control, and once again when she looked back the lady was gone.

Himiko couldn't help herself - she ran over to where the lady was previously standing and looked around, but the woman had just disappeared. Confused and disappointed, Himiko returned to Mr. Brave's side.

Thankfully she didn't have much time to think about the strange encounter, because shortly after that police and EMS arrived on scene after that and took over the arrests. Himiko and Mr. Brave gave their statements, and Mr. Brave had EMS check Himiko over, but other than a shallow gash and some scrapes she was fine.

Their job complete, Mr. Brave turned to his intern. "Well, it looks like our patrol is going to get cut short today, Carmilla. And I figured out an appropriate punishment. We are going to go back to the agency and I am going to give you firsthand experience in an aspect of heroics that I know you will absolutely love." He flashed her a cheeky grin as he emphasized that last word. "We need to return to the agency and fill out a report for the police."

Himiko could only groan, knowing she was going to hate this already.

The next morning when Himiko walked into the gym, Mr. Brave tossed her a small cylinder. "After yesterday, it is time to expand your arsenal a bit."

Himiko stared at the cylinder for a moment before she realized what it was. Pressing the button on the base she flicked her wrist, and the baton extended to its full length. "An extendable baton?"

"Yes. It will give you some reach over someone who is also using knives." He then tossed her a practice knife, while picking up two more for himself. "Even if you mix up your fighting, giving up one of your knives for defense will give you a reach advantage."

Himiko examined the baton and swung it a few times before transferring it to her left hand. "So you want me to block with the baton?"

"Exactly!" Mr. Brave gave her a grin as he slid into a combat stance. "Later we can talk about how to properly wield the baton, but for right now I want you to focus primarily on learning to block my attacks with it. However, if you see an opening, feel free to try and attack back with your knife."

Himiko took some practice swings with her left hand, trying to get a feel for the unfamiliar weight, before sliding into her own combat stance. "Ok, I think I'm ready."

After an hour of practice Himiko's left arm felt like it was on fire from the shock of deflecting so many blows.

"That was good Carmilla! You were able to block a lot more of my attacks then I was expecting."

"Thanks!" Himiko beamed from the praise as she began massaging her arm. "I will need to change my practice routine though."

"That is ok, before you leave I can teach you some practice routines to develop different muscle groups."

"I think I still prefer my knives though." Himiko admitted.

"It's not about preference, it's about flexibility. If you have additional tools available, that will give you more options on the field. And more options means a higher chance for success! For example, if you use your stealth move? You could try whacking someone with the baton, knocking them unconscious."

"I guess that makes sense." Himiko extended the baton with a flick of her wrist, trying to decide what she thought of it.

After their final training session, Mr. Brave led Himiko to the entrance of his hero agency, where a man dressed in business casual was waiting for them, a small girl, presumably his daughter, hiding behind him. "Mr. Brave! I'm glad you are able to meet with us on such short notice."

"It's my pleasure! You are lucky though, today is Carmilla's last day before she returns to school."

"M-me?" Himiko was confused.

"Yes. This family found out that you were interning with me thanks to a news article on the attack a few days ago. So they contacted me to arrange a meeting." He was giving her a knowing smile.

"W-why would you want to meet with me?" Himiko asked as she stepped forward, suddenly feeling as nervous as her brother.

"It's about our daughter, really. I am Dr. Andou, I work at a hospital as a trauma surgeon. My quirk is well suited for that kind of work." He held up his hand and it glowed with a warm red light. "If I activate my quirk, I can numb all feelings around where I am touching. As you can imagine, it is very useful for my line of work. My daughter has inherited my quirk - and she can probably do even better than I could. However her quirk also mutated - specifically its activation condition…"

Himiko realized what he was talking about. She knelt down to be at eye level with the little girl. "And what is your name?"

The girl looked up at her dad, who merely nodded, and she stepped around them, still hugging her dad's leg. "I am Kyoko, Kyoko Andou."

As she talked, Himiko saw them. Four little fangs in her mouth. She looked up at the parents. "The activation trigger is someone's blood?"

"Yes, if she drinks someone's blood, she can completely control that person's ability to feel pain."

She looked at Kyoto. "And you wanted to meet me?"

"I saw you at the sports festival. It was the first time I've seen someone like me!"

Like me. Someone with fangs and a blood-based quirk.

Himiko knew she probably should have asked, but she pulled the girl into a hug anyway. She felt the girl stiffen up in surprise, before she hugged back.

Himiko looked back up at the father, who didn't seem to mind the action. "When she saw you on TV and realized what you were doing, she broke down in tears. She has never met anyone else with a blood-based activation quirk before, and we know it is rather uncommon."

When Kyoto pulled away, Himiko looked at her. "Can you smile for me?" Kyoto responded by giving her a wide smile, and she could see her fangs. Himiko smiled back, showing off her own fangs. "You have the cutest little smile! Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!"

Himiko stood up and looked at the parents again. "What about her dietary needs? Are they being met?"

The father smiled at Himiko's concern. "Yes. Shortly after her quirk properly manifested, she began to complain about headaches, but we couldn't find a cause. When we took her to the doctor we discovered signs of malnourishment. Once we figured it out, we started giving her a glass of special juice at every meal."

"It's really tasty! And mom and dad say it has stuff I need in it!"

Himiko found herself smiling fondly at the little girl. "Yes. It will help you grow up into a big, strong girl someday. And your quirk sounds like it can help lots of people."

"Yes, daddy says I can be a great doctor, just like he is!"

Himiko felt tears running down her face. "Thank you for coming by today, I'm glad to have met your daughter."

"No, Really we are the ones who should be thanking you. I think she may be your first fan."

Himiko gave the family her autograph and once she was done crying they took several photos of her and Kyoto, before the family left. Twenty minutes later after taking a shower and changing into her hero costume, Himiko was in her room, sending the photos to her mom and group chat, when she heard Mr. Brave knocking on the door. "Ready for your final patrol Carmilla?"

Himiko opened the door, a smile still on her face. "Yep, I'm actually looking forward to it today!"

AN: Being as spoiler-free as possible, but in honor of the new chapter of the Manga, I wrote some shameless self-indulgent fluff for the final scene.