It was now October with only 4 more months until the U.A Entrance Exam. School was currently in session and something strange has been going on concerning a certain boy.

Kyouka had been noticing this for the past month since the 2nd term had started. Izuku had been acting strange this entire term and it's only been getting worse since then.

She noticed it right away when he seemed to have less energy than usual, but she figured that it was just the nerves getting to him since the exam was getting closer. But for the past couple of weeks, it's been getting more obvious that it's been impossible to ignore.

Of course, since Izuku had started training with his 4 hour sleep schedule for school days he's been obviously getting more tired. But it wouldn't be enough to really affect his performance at school and he still acted relatively normal everyday.

However, recently he's been seeming more and more tired with each passing week at an unnatural rate.

He would be falling asleep in class which became more often each week and most days he would even be late to school, making the excuse of oversleeping or losing track of time.

Every time she questioned him about it, he would always laugh it off and act like it was only a one time thing even though he would continue it the next day.

With the 7 years that she's known the boy, she's never seen him like this before. With the amount of time she's spent watching him, she knew damn well this isn't how he should be acting.

She knew something was wrong and that he was hiding something from her and she had to know what it was. She couldn't let this continue without her knowing or doing anything.

Soon the lunch bell rang and all of the students got up from their chairs to leave the classroom except for 2 students. Izuku was currently taking a nap with his head on the desk and his friend had her arms crossed as she stayed seated, looking at the boy.

Usually, his reason for staying seated was putting all of his stuff away or taking extra notes in his notebook. She could certainly understand dozing off in class once in a while, she's done it a couple of times before, but this was too much especially for him.

Every day she would hope that he would wake up on his own to show that he wasn't in that deep asleep, but it just hasn't happened yet.

Kyouka then stood up and walked over to the boy before gently shaking his shoulder. "Izuku?"

She got no response as the green haired boy stayed asleep with some drool running down his chin.

She was hoping this would be enough to wake him. She's seen him take small naps before and usually he would wake up from his shoulder being shaken.

The purple haired girl sighed before continuing to shake his shoulder, only going a little more rough than usual. "Izuku, wake up."

The quirkless boy's eyes started to slowly open as he raised his head with a tired look on his face.

"W-What…?" He muttered in a tired sounding voice as he looked up at his friend. "Oh… hey Kyouka…Did I doze off again?"

'It shouldn't be this hard to wake you up.' She thought to herself, wanting to say those words out loud to her hero.

The teen girl nodded as she put her hands on her hips. "Yes you did Izuku, it's been a minute since lunch started and everyone's gone."

"Oh my bad, I seriously need to stop dozing off in class." The young boy said as he laughed it off before standing up, putting everything in his backpack.

It's been like this pretty much every day recently and on the days he doesn't fall asleep, he just seems to be lost in his own head while using a hand gripper with a blank look on his face as if he was hypnotized.

One time she saw him fast asleep while using the hand gripper at the same time. Usually, she would be impressed at the fact that he can workout while asleep, but this just wasn't normal.

She had been trying her best to ignore it, telling herself that it's only a phase and that he'll be back to normal soon, but now she knew that she couldn't let this go on any longer.

"Well let's go to lunch now, we don't want to stay here forever." She said, pretending like everything was normal.

"I'll be right behind you." The boy said before he yawned and stood up.

The two friends then walked out of the classroom together, going to their usual spot on the roof before sitting down against the wall.

As the green haired boy rested his head against the wall, he started to feel tired already. He didn't want to sleep when Kyouka was right here, it would be extremely rude. But maybe she won't mind if he rests his eyes for a couple of minutes.

He began to slowly close his eyes as he got comfortable before hearing someone snapping their fingers.

"Izuku, what's wrong?" His best friend asked as she looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

He fully opened his eyes and tilted his head, prepared to keep up his act. "What do you mean Kyouka? Nothing's wrong at all."

Kyouka sighed as she looked him dead in the eye. "Please, I know something's up. You've been acting strange recently and I want to know why."

'Crap. Is she catching on to me? I really hoped she wouldn't notice.' He thought to himself, doing his best to act normal.

"Strange? Me? I don't know what you mean by that." Izuku said as he rubbed the back of his head, giving her a wide smile.

"Of course, you haven't been your usual self lately. It's like you've lost all of your energy." The young girl responded as she crossed her arms.

The green haired boy ruffled his hair a little as he kept his smile on. "If it's only about me seeming a little sleepy then it's only because my body is still adapting to the new sleep schedule. Maybe it's because of my workout plan, 4 hours of sleep has been a huge drop from my usual 8. But tons of people our age don't have a great sleep schedule. Don't worry, it'll be over once the exam comes. Then after that, I'll get back to normal."

He knows that he should just tell her the truth, that he's been overworking himself. But if he does that then she'll start worrying about him. The last thing he wants is to be a burden to his best friend. He wants her to focus on herself for the entrance exam instead of worrying about him.

The teen girl knew there was no getting to him now, not without anything else to say other than him being tired. Sometimes she wished that he wasn't so persistent so she could find out what exactly was going on with him.

The purple haired girl lowered her head in defeat for a moment before raising it back up. "Okay fine… but try to be better tomorrow."

The young boy nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "Of course, I'll be as energized as I can be. But I hope you don't mind if I take a mini nap right now, it'll only take a couple of minutes."

"No, I don't mind…" Kyouka said with reluctance as she twirled her earphone jack around, watching as her hero started to fall asleep.

She hated this so much, Izuku was here falling asleep at school constantly and here she was just watching helplessly. She knew he was going to be asleep the whole duration of lunch instead of a couple of minutes like he said.

She wished she could say that this was the first time he's done this, but it would be very often that he would take a nap or be lost in his thoughts with a blank look on his face every time they hung out. She missed having her daily conversations with him that continued almost nonstop. She knew she sounded selfish for saying that, but she didn't care. This was also about Izuku's health, it can't be healthy to have to take so many naps in one day.

She was going to find out what exactly he's doing to become so tired. She didn't care what methods she had to use to find out, she wasn't going to let her hero keep continuing whatever he was doing to make him like this.

The Next Day

The moon was now out as a cool breeze blew through the trees, making them lightly rustle. It was now 1am and it was the perfect time for Kyouka to enact her plan.

The teen girl got up from her bed and grabbed a jacket, putting it on before quietly walking downstairs. 'I hope this works out. I can't be too loud or else mom will notice.'

She made sure to be careful with her steps, not wanting to make the wooden floor creak by accident. This was the most scandalous thing she's ever done and she didn't want it going wrong this fast.

Soon she made it to the door and started to open it very slowly, luckily not making much noise. She then put on her shoes and slowly closed the door before taking a deep breath.

"Made it, now to see what he's up to." She whispered to herself as she walked to a certain apartment complex.

As the purple haired girl walked through the empty streets, she looked around the area with a small smile on her face. She couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful nighttime could be especially when there's no one around. She could imagine a day where it's just her and Izuku out this late, just enjoying each other's company the entire time. It would truly be a blissful moment for her and maybe one day she can experience that with the boy. The thought of this made her smile as she closed her eyes for a few moments.

After a while, Kyouka was now standing in front of the apartment complex. In her mind, this was the only way to find out what was going on with Izuku.

She then walked up to the complex and plugged her earphone jack into the wall. Luckily, everyone in the building was asleep so there was no need for her to hear other noises. She had to admit a small part of her found this exciting, listening in to her hero's home at 1am without anyone knowing. Under different circumstances this would be much more exciting.

The young girl now started to hear grunting from a familiar voice as her hand was pressed against the wall. 'Izuku? Is he working out this late?'

According to the schedule, he should've been asleep by 12am so this made no sense to her. She kept listening and soon heard a painful grunt as she heard a heavy dumbbell fall onto the floor before hearing the teen boy speak. "Dammit… not good enough. I'll just have to ignore the pain for now…"

She heard as the dumbbell was picked up before the grunting started again. Was he pushing himself over his limit to the point of hurting himself? Has he been doing this every night?

Right now she just wished she could go into his apartment and demand that he stops working out this instant so he can stop hurting himself. But she knew she couldn't do that since that would mean he would find that she's been spying on him. She couldn't risk ruining this friendship when she's come so far.

Unfortunately, this meant that she had to wait until tomorrow to talk to him about it and it was torture knowing that he's hurting himself this late at night while she does nothing.

Kyouka leaned against the wall and sighed, continuing to listen in, just hoping that he would stop any minute now

Sadly, Izuku continued to work out until 3am before finally falling asleep, groaning at how much pain his muscles were in.

The teen girl finally unplugged her earphone jack from the wall and her face was filled with sadness at the fact that this is what he's been doing to himself recently.

She ran her hands through her hair, already thinking about the talk she'll definitely have with Izuku at school as she walked home in a tired manner.

'I have to get him to stop. I don't know what'll happen if he continues to do this.'

It was now lunchtime and Kyouka kept going through what she should say to Izuku as they both walked to the roof. She hadn't slept much the night before, only getting around 4 hours of sleep, but she managed to keep herself awake during class.

Izuku also stayed awake during class, but it was obvious that it was only because he was forcing himself to stay awake.

Once in a while, she saw him pinch himself when his eyes started to close. At one point he started muttering random facts about heroes to keep him distracted, but it annoyed many of his classmates.

Usually, she would love his muttering, but she just couldn't stop focusing on the fact that all of last night he was overworking himself. Nothing could distract her from that right now.

When the two teens finally reached the roof, Izuku sat down against the wall before looking up at his friend who was still standing up.

"Are you going to sit down Kyouka?" He asked as he looked up at his friend.

He was hoping that today he could hold up a conversation with her considering that yesterday he told her that he'll be better the next day. After all, he did everything he could to keep himself during class so he wouldn't be more tired than he'd have to be.

Maybe if he kept this up she would ask fewer questions so he wouldn't have to keep lying to her which he hated enough.

The teen girl put her hands on her hips, giving the green haired boy a bit of a stern look which obviously made him a little worried. "Izuku I want to talk to you… and I'm not taking no for an answer."

The young boy flinched a little at how she was acting before smiling at her to hopefully calm her down. "Okay, What do you want to talk about?"

"It's about you being tired and I'm not taking any bullshit answer like usual. You're going to tell me exactly why you've been so tired." The purple haired girl demanded, trying to see if she can possibly make him say it before she does.

Izuku gave a small laugh before sighing. "Is that it? I've told you that it's nothing, it's just me getting a little sleepy. I'm already getting better since I haven't taken a nap all day. I think you're just seeing th-"

"Just stop it Izuku. I'm serious." Kyouka said in a serious tone, cutting off the boy which made him widen his eyes. "I know it's more than the workout plan. You were just fine the first couple of months in training. It makes no sense for you to get worse like this. I hate to say this, but you've been an absolute mess lately. You always fall asleep in class, you're usually late to school, and you're not talking to me as much as before. Every time we hang out, you're usually taking a nap or have this blank look on your face. I'm sick of it and I want to know what's going on."

If she had to be honest, she hated being this strict with him. She would much prefer being gentle with him instead, but she knew this was the only way for him to seriously listen. Especially when he's in so much denial that something is wrong.

Izuku was obviously shocked as he just stared at her in silence for a few moments. He didn't think she would bring everything up so suddenly. She was definitely on to him now, but how could he explain it to her?

"I-I… I don't want to talk about it…" He simply muttered as he looked away from her.

"I don't care, you're going to talk about it. I am your friend and I won't stand by knowing something is wrong." The purple haired girl stated, not planning on letting this go.

The quirkless boy continued to resist, not wanting to give up. "I said I don't want to talk about it… please stop it…"

Kyouka shook her head, ready to finally tell him what she knows. "I'm sorry, but I won't and I think I know what's going on… You're doing more work than you have to, you're overworking yourself aren't you Izuku? You know that's not healthy for you and it's not going to help you. Why do you think that's the best solution? Why do you think it's necessary to harm your bo-"

"Because I have to dammit!" He shouted suddenly with an intense look on his face, not being able to hold his emotions in any longer as he pounded his fist against the wall.

"I-Izuku…" Kyouka widened her eyes at the sudden outburst, almost not believing it from the boy. She watched as he looked down, seeing some tears landing on the ground before he began to speak again.

"You don't understand Kyouka… We're going against hundreds of other applicants and I can't just continue doing the plan as it is. So many strong people will be there, trying to get a spot in U.A as well. I just have to work harder than anybody else to get in. I don't want to just get into U.A, I want to excel. What I'm doing now isn't enough, I need to do the most I can even if it harms my own body. That's what I'm willing to do to be the greatest hero in the world. I don't care about the consequences, I will keep working hard until I've got what it takes to reach my goal." Izuku said with pure determination as he clenched his fist, letting his tears continue to fall.

The young girl continued to stare as she let all of those words process through her mind. She didn't know he was thinking about it this much. She knew he would try his hardest, but she didn't expect him to go this far. Did he really have this much pressure on him?

She then crouched down and placed a hand on her hero's shoulder before talking in a more gentle voice. "I know you must feel pressured with the exam being in 4 months. But we've been training for 6 months now and look at how much we've improved. I mean just last week you were giving All Might a piggyback ride and he weighs 560 pounds. Even I've improved with those breathing exercises and I've also improved on my quirk's destructive power. What I'm saying is that you're on the right track so far and personally, I don't think you need to overwork yourself. You also have to remember that there's a written exam as well and you can't learn very well if you're falling asleep in class."

The green haired boy started to calm down a little as he raised his head to look at her. "I understand what you're saying Kyouka, but that still doesn't change the fact that I need to work at my max potential."

"I know that, but overworking your body just isn't worth it. How would you feel if you found out I was doing that to myself? Would you just let me continue?" Kyouka asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Izuku shook his head slowly as he sighed, wiping his tears. "No of course I wouldn't… You're my best friend and I have to look out for you…"

The purple haired girl couldn't help but blush a little at his response, but she managed to keep her composure. "This isn't a one way street you know. I have to look out for you too. That's how it's always going to be, you and I looking out for each other."

"I'm grateful for that Kyouka, but I can't just stay at an adequate level. I have to push myself to my limit. Plus it's not like there's an efficient way for me to get extra work done." The teen boy said as he pulled out his workout plan looking at it. "The plan just doesn't account for that."

"Wait, maybe there is a way, we could talk to All Might and ask him if there's a way to modify your plan." She suggested as she raised an eyebrow.

The teen boy widened his eyes before shaking his head immediately. "N-No I don't think that would be a good idea… I don't think All Might should know that I haven't been following his plan. What if he gets mad?"

"I'm sure he'll understand, but only if you explain it to him properly. It'll all work out, I promise." The purple haired girl said as she smiled at the boy.

Izuku sighed before reluctantly nodding. "Alright, I'll do that when we see him later. Also, I'm sorry for shouting at you… I was just feeling a lot of emotions I had to let out. I didn't mean to come off as rude."

"Hey it's okay, I understand. But please don't try to overwork yourself again if it's going to harm your body." She said with a concerned look on her face.

"I'll try…" The boy said with a little hesitation before giving her a small smile.

School had ended not too long ago and both friends walked to the beach and the whole time Izuku looked down at the ground while cupping his chin, wondering how All Might would react to his situation.

"Hey don't be so worried Izuku, if All Might can understand me finding out his secret then I'm sure he can understand that you've been overworking yourself." Kyouka said as she looked at him with a smile.

'He better not try to punish Izuku. I don't care if he's the number one hero, I will find a way to make him regret the punishment. He's already been through enough.' She thought to herself as she crossed her arms

The quirkless boy smiled back at her before giving a small nod. "Yeah, I guess you're right… Nothing to worry about…"

Clearly, he was still worried, but having Kyouka with him brought him a certain peace since he knows that she'll look out for him.

Soon both teens reached the beach to see All Might in his scrawny form wave at them with a smile. "Are you two ready for some more training today?"

"Actually All Might, Izuku wants to talk to you about something first." The purple haired girl said as she gently bumped her hero with her elbow.

The green haired boy widened his eyes for a second before nodding. "Y-Yeah… To tell you the truth All Might, recently I haven't been following the workout plan you gave me. I've been overdoing it, trying to push myself over my limits."

The scrawny man raised an eyebrow as he looked down as his successor. "Young Midoriya, are you serious? I made that plan with your body in mind so your progress was swift but manageable. Overworking yourself is gonna have the opposite effect."

"I'm sorry All Might, I thought it was the only way for me to achieve my goal." The teen boy said as he clenched his fists. "I told you that I have to work harder than anybody else and that's what I plan to keep on doing. I want to be just like you so I'll do whatever it takes until I get there. I admit that I regret not telling you or Kyouka, but I don't regret overworking my body…"

The number one hero widened his eyes a little and smiled a little before turning into his muscular form. "That fighting spirit's what I like about you fanboy, it suits you well! I understand your concerns very well!"

Kyouka couldn't help but be a little disappointed that All Might seemed a little proud of Izuku for overworking himself, but at least he wasn't directly encouraging it. "Could you help modify his plan so he can do more work without it being too much for him to handle?"

All Might nodded as he gave a thumbs up. "Of course I can young Jirou! Fear not, I can help young Midoriya get back on track!" He smiled widely before patting the boy's shoulder. "Leave it to this old man to adjust your plan!"

"You're not that old All Might. Right? Izuku asked as he smiled at his idol.

"HA HA HA HA HA! No need to worry about that right now! Now we train our butts off! Only 4 more months left, give it your all!" The Symbol of Peace shouted as he pumped his fist into the air with the green haired boy doing the same.

The teen girl gently grabbed her arm and smiled at the sight before her. Even after all of this, these two are just staying positive. Well, it only makes sense for the future number one hero to be this positive.

She knew that Izuku's workout schedule would be much better now with getting a modified plan. No longer would he have to be harming his body so late at night. Maybe with this new plan, he can clean up the beach even faster. She couldn't wait to see the results of his training.

'You're almost therem Izuku. You're heading towards the finish line now.'

A/N

Okay that's chapter 17 done! Finally! I felt like it took me forever to write this chapter and sorry for the wait! I'm sorry if this chapter seems very sloppy and rushed, today has been pretty terrible and I wasn't feeling like proofreading as much today, but I wanted the chapter to come out today cause you guys have waited long enough. This was definitely my most poorly written chapter in my opinion in terms of structure and pacing. Maybe in a couple of days I'll fix up this chapter to make it more presentable. I even wanted this chapter to be longer as well. Last week has been absolute hell and it'll probably be worse this week as well. At least I managed to binge Parks and Rec while doing some work so at least that's a positive. I've had almost no free time to work on this chapter and I hope no one minded the wait.

Now this chapter went through an interesting process compared to most chapters. I added in the Kyouka spying on Izuku late at night at the last second so that required some rewrites. The issue I had with this chapter wasn't that I couldn't find a way to go about it , it was that I was thinking of too many ways to go about it. Originally Kyouk was going to say Izuku was overworked purely on speculation, but that seemed way too specific and way too bullshit to me so I changed it to her finding out.

Also, I'm not sure how many of you have noticed, but Izuku's schedule was modified a month earlier because in canon All Might finds out Izuku has been overworking himself with 3 months before the exam and here Kyouka finds out 4 months before.

I'm trying to decide how to handle the next chapter. I mean I know how it's going to end, but I don't know if I should make it a short chapter or one that's normal length. Because I think it's obvious what the next chapter will be about and I don't know if I want to add more than what's necessary. And I can confirm the entrance exam will happen chapter 19 which will cover the rest of episode 3 and most of episode 4, at least that's the goal. Chapter 18 will be Izuku training with One For All since he'll get it early and I have an idea on how I can handle that. Feel free to PM me about that so I can have some feedback once I tell you my idea.

Okay now it's time for the reviews!

Jack Redhawke: Don't worry those kinds of moments will come once they get to U.A, but I'll try not to overdo it so it won't be too much. And thank you for thinking it wasn't too creepy at the beginning.

Drakolf: There will be scenes of Kyouka owning Bakugo, but maybe in the future she can kick his ass.

dovah117: Oh okay I see what you mean now by Hamon. I'm still leaning towards having Ochako call Izuku, Midoriya, but we still have a couple of chapters left before I make my decision.

25NaMi: Thank you so much for saying that, you have no idea how much that made me smile. It's an honor having my story loved so much even if it's only by one person.

Drouppi: Alright I'll keep it at M, it definitely seems easier to keep it that way as well. Also, a part of me wishes to still use Deku, but I don't want to be biased on my own story lol.

Im The Person: Oh yeah definitely, a small part of me was tempted to make something happen in her house just for the troll. Yeah that's exactly how I plan on having Kyouka react, angry that someone else is using a name that insults Izuku. Wow you actually made a good point regarding Aizawa. He's not someone I plan on giving a big part in this story, but I wouldn't mind having him know the secret. But let's be honest, he really couldn't care less about the secret as long as it doesn't affect anyone's performance. I've been having ideas on how I'll handle that scene, but I'll come to a decision once it comes. Oh yeah I saw the last episodes and they were just beautiful.

Naoto Koizumi: Thank you, I was hoping that I wasn't doing the parents wrong. Maybe one day I'll give a peek into what's in her books, but that'll probably be a filler chapter or something. I think Mika would be the kind to lightly tease, but maybe not meddle much. Oh the M rated stuff won't come for a very long time. And originally this story was going to be very different. Oh yeah I'm the same with enjoying writing Deku, but it is not fitting with my story. Writing Deku is one of the things I enjoy most when writing lines for Bakugo. If I didn't care about the story then I'd have everyone call him Deku lol.

SonicMax: Yeah that's one of my main reasons for not using Deku.

Chuck Winanaki: Thanks for thinking that chapter had a great flow, it's always a relief. It just sucks this chapter couldn't have that same flow. And hey no need to ever feel like your overstepping, I appreciate any idea no matter how silly it may seem. Midori isn't a bad one, I think I'll add that to the list of names to consider. But please don't feel bad if I don't end up picking it.

xXkapow1227Xx: That's actually one of the ideas I have Izuku's hero name, but I'm still very unsure about it.

Ability King KK: You know actually had to read your story "Love Blossoms in Shizuoka" to get a good feel for the parents since that was my best source. It would be funny to have her keeping calling Izuku Deku and Kyouka not liking it.

StaggedWhale OverClouds: Oh don't worry her love for him won't grow because of his muscles, but that doesn't mean her hormones won't take over once in a while lol.

BBWulf: Oh I had fun writing those chapters, some of my favorites honestly:

shadowwriter01: Thank you, I hope I can provide more good chapters for you in the future.

That's it for reviews!

Okay before I go, I want to give you guys a quick story recommendation. This is one I just discovered and I'm loving it. It's called "The Color Brown" by KanoWillow and it's a great piece of IzuJirou fanfiction. Check it out.

If I'm being honest the next chapter won't come out until this weekend since I want to put all of my attention into my school work for now. So I apologize in advance.

Well that's it for this chapter! Please feel free to leave a review!