Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

24. Prep for the Sports Festival

Gently, in the distance, the sun began to rise over UA High School.

The sound of birds signing filled the currently almost empty grounds as the campus rested in relative peace, with only a few teachers and students on site so early in the morning, with the pro heroes patrolling the grounds and overseeing the work on the sports festival stadium that would house thousands of other heroes and civilians in the coming weeks. Students either stayed in the main building studying for their various tests, or out in the grounds training for the festival.

Everything was, calm, peaceful, and quiet ...

KRACK-BOOM

... save, of course, for the constant sound of electrical explosions ringing out from Ground Omega, birds quickly scattering away from the forest zone in panic from each blast of green lightning shooting out from the trees and into the sky.

Anyone near the zone, be it a teacher patrolling, a student training, or another pro hero visited, quickly whipped around in shock at each loud explosion of sound coming from the forest zone, arcs of green lightning shooting off into the sky. Anyone not around the zone would look up at the sky in confusion, wondering where the thunderstorm apparently was what with the sky slowly turning from pink to blue, with white clouds high in the air.

Thankfully, the blasts of lightning coming from the forest zone began to slowly decrease in power and sound before anyone could panic and wonder what was going on, and soon, the forest zone was silent and calm again. Save for a small celebration from a certain green haired boy standing in the middle of the forest.

"Okay! Okay," Izuku nodded happily, patting the Full Gauntlet on his arm as he turned it over to have a look at the other side of the support item, "that was … seven shots in a row, and I don't see any wear and tear in the Gauntlet … so I think it's good to go."

"Well, it's good to go for now," Melissa's hologram reminded him, the inventor dressed in her pajamas with her long wavy hair tied back in a ponytail, and suppressed a yawn as she walked over to have a look at the support item resting on Izuku's arm, "but let me have a look at it before we decide everything's fixed - I can notice any potential flaws that you might not initially see, so it's better to make absolutely sure it's fine. We wouldn't want the Gauntlet to randomly shut down on you in the middle of a fight, after all."

"Yeah, that would definitely be preferable," Ochako nodded from her spot on the side, wincing at the high-pitched ringing in her ear as she gently rubbed it, while Itsuka sat down beside her and continued to tie her hair up in her ponytail. All Might, who was on the side leaning against a tree with his suit jacket carefully folded against his arm, grimaced slightly and rubbed his eyes, looking almost as tired as his niece did, albeit for the exact opposite reason - Melissa was up pretty late, and the four of them in the forest zone were up much earlier than they would've liked.

Settling back on the tree stump, once her hair was tied up properly, Itsuka likewise rubbed her ears, wincing a bit at all the ringing - she supposed that she should be used to loud noises when it came to Izuku, mostly due to his quirk naturally being loud as all hell, but it was still a bit hard not to jump every time. At the current moment, the three of them and All Might had arrived much earlier to UA than they normally would've, mostly so that Izuku could bring the seemingly fully repaired Full Gauntlet for a test run. The crack that the hooded man had punched into it was completely resealed, but Melissa, due to the fact that she wasn't actually there to have a look at it, insisted on overseeing its test to make sure nothing was wrong and that it had been completely repaired and back to normal.

That, and it was the unspoken guarantee that if Izuku accidentally broke it again, she would board a plane straight to Japan so she could throttle him herself. So he offered no complaint for having her here to have a look at it while he tested her support item out.

At the very least, Melissa had been very excited to be able to talk to them in 'person', relatively speaking, even if she had to stay up pretty late to do so. It was much better, in her opinion, to talk to them personally rather than over the group chat, which had been … quite busy this weekend, to be the understatement of the century.

Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Nejire had failed to realize that their little chat about Itsuka supposedly 'kidnapping a child' had been their main chat, and they had woken up the next morning with Melissa, Setsuna, Tenya, Momo and Yuuyu panicking at what exactly was going on, from Tenya yelling at Itsuka for supposedly doing something unbecoming of a class representative and that there were better ways to support homeless children on the street (so the prospects of Itsuka giving him a karate chop to the back of the neck were high) to Yuuyu trying to figure out how she had left Nejire alone for an entire evening and Nejire had somehow involved herself in the kidnapping of a child.

So in the end, the entiredy of Saturday morning, after the teachers had left, had been devoted to Itsuka texting and calling everyone personally to let them know everything was alright, although they couldn't go into much detail about Eri - Aizawa, upon leaving, made it clear to the four teenagers that until their investigation was concluded, it would be important that Eri is not brought to the public eye, so they were instructed to keep things on the down low. So in the end, Itsuka had given her friends the short version of what had happened, and assurances that they had everything under control, while Eri got the chance to spend some more time with Izuku, Ochako and Nejire.

After Aizawa, Midnight and Recovery Girl had left, she had gotten a call from All Might as well, who apologized profusely to her for not getting back to her in time - according to him, he had a very busy night as well, going to meet with Gran Torino for something (so she at least understood why he sounded so shaken, not even Itsuka could think of the human sized pinball without gulping nervously), which meant that he had missed her texts entirely. Nonetheless, he had commended her for her bravery once she had explained what had happened, and that he would be assisting the Kendous with any financial problems that may come with taking care of Eri - through 'Coach Yagi', of course, but he assured her that the little girl Itsuka had saved had the full support of the Number One Hero.

At the very least, though, Eri seemed to be adjusting very well to living with the Kendous. After the teachers had left, and Itsuka had finished talking to pretty much everyone she knew, she, Ochako, Nejire and Izuku had given Eri (and Nejire, by extension) a tour around the house, taking her to the backyard to spend some time out in the sun (and trying not to feel worried about how Eri looked up at the sky as though she were unused to it). The little girl had only been a little sad when the other three teenagers had to leave at the end of the day, but thanks to her apparent talk with Izuku that the girls didn't know he had with her, she accepted their goodbyes after they promised that they would swing by again tomorrow, with Nejire and Ochako giving her two big hugs and Izuku giving her a pat on the head. By the time they all finally left for the train, Eri had been pretty much tired out, only having dinner with the Kendous before she conked out for the night, and Hakushu carried her to Itsuka's room to sleep in her bed.

The day after that had been relaxation central, with Itsuka promising Eri that they would have a pajama day and a chance to watch a few movies instead of being so busy - although she did have to do her morning exercises, with Eri sitting on the porch and watching with wonder as Itsuka practiced her martial arts in the yard. Around lunchtime, as promised, Izuku and Ochako showed up again, with Eri running over to hug Ochako, and Nejire hadn't been far after her, carrying a large box filled with her old toys and clothes, much to the Kendous' shock. The rest of the afternoon was then dedicated to Eri going through her 'new things', which seemed to be code for 'Itsuka and Nejire's old stuff', but the little girl had only shown wonder and curiousity at Nejire's Barbie dolls and Itsuka's old clothes, which had been decorated with more and more dolphins ("Say something," Itsuka had growled menacingly at the clearly struggling not to laugh Izuku and Ochako, "I dare you both, say something.")

So the weekend had been … busy, to say the least. And now here they were, awake a few hours earlier than they would've liked, so they could do a bit of training before class started in about two hours.

When they had been watching Eri looking through Nejire's old things, Izuku had mentioned that he had wanted to bring the Gauntlet for his test, and had been talking with Melissa over text to have her watch, and Itsuka had decided to ask All Might if it would be alright to train around that time as well. All Might, evidently, had agreed, texting Melissa so that all five of them could watch Izuku testing the Gauntlet - but Itsuka, for obvious reasons, had been a bit nervous about what would happen once Melissa was finished with her inspection and disconnected.

There wasn't much that Ochako could do in the forest, so she was comfortable with waiting for later to train - which meant that next would be … her turn.

And it wouldn't be Big Fist they were going to be training with, Itsuka thought nervously as she glanced back at All Might, seeing him grin as Melissa continued inspecting the Full Gauntlet on Izuku's arm. It would be … the other quirk.

The one that had shattered all the bones in her arm into several tiny pieces the first time she used it.

So … yeah. She was feeling rather justifiably nervous.

"Okay …" Melissa let out a hum as she had Izuku turn his arm again so she could have a look at the Gauntlet in full, "… looks like the nanobots have completely resealed the Gauntlet's outer hull, and has no problems with absorbing the lightning … and the meter looks like it's working perfectly fine … and there's the data feedback now, I'm getting it on my end. Alright! I think reparations are complete."

"Really?" Izuku gave her a hopeful look as she straightened herself up, smiling proudly down at her invention while tucking some of her messy blonde hair behind her ear. "So I can start using it again?"

"I think so! So for future notes, for both of us - looks like the repair process takes about a week and a bit for the nanobots to completely reconstruct a blow that could shatter the Gauntlet itself, so that'll be good to know for the next time something like this happens."

There was a short pause, and then she turned to look up with Izuku with a sudden cold glare, and he gulped and quickly straightened his back as though she were a drill sergeant about to shout him down.

"And when I say that," Melissa was sure to stare him in the eye, "that means the Gauntlet isn't going to be broken again for a good long time, right?"

"Yes, ma'am. I'm sorry, ma'am. It won't happen again, ma'am."

"Good," She huffed a bit, finally smiling at him again as he gave her a salute, and turned back to look at All Might with a grin, "so Uncle Might, looks like things are all up and running again, so we don't have to worry about the Gauntlet blowing up his arm."

"Yeah, that's - wait," Izuku stopped his eyes going wide as he whirled back around at the hologram, "blow off my what now?"

"Anyway, it's, uh … kinda very late," Melissa held a hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn, and giggling at Izuku's look of panic as he quickly shot his gaze down at the Gauntlet on his arm as though it had suddenly turned into a bomb, "and I do have a few tests to run on my own equipment tomorrow, so I should probably head off to bed. Unless you need me for anything else?"

"That's alright, Melissa," All Might chuckled, walking over to automatically pat her shoulder and blinking when his hand just sailed through instead, "I believe we've done enough testing today for Young Midoriya! And I'm relieved that the Full Gauntlet is working properly again - now we don't have to worry about Young Midoriya walking into the sports festival without it. Now then! As you said, it's late - and you need your sleep! Go on now."

"Yeah," Itsuka chuckled, "you go get your beauty sleep, girl."

"I get enough beauty sleep," Melissa giggled as she gave her and Ochako a wave, "but anyway, Izuku, if you end up testing the Gauntlet again later, be sure to send me all the data to look at when I eventually wake it up. There's nothing wrong with doing more tests to make sure that everything's running smoothly."

"R-right," Izuku quickly nodded, looking back up from the Gauntlet and giving her a smile, "thank you again, Miss Shield."

"You mean … Melissa."

"Uh - yes. Uh-huh. That's what I meant."

"…"

"… M-Melissa."

"There you go," Melissa giggled, moving her hand over her mouth to yawn again, and turned to the other three to wave, "goodnight! Or - you know, have a good day."

"Goodnight, Melissa!" Ochako waved to her, and they all watched as she reached over to press a button to disconnect their call. As she fizzed out of existence, and the blue button that they had placed on the forest floor stopped its blue beeping, All Might took that chance to immediately vanish in a cloud of smoke, emerging from it in his skinny form while trying to suppress his blood-filled coughing, while Izuku hastily moved to scoop up the hologram button and slip it into his pocket so they didn't lose track of it.

"Alright," All Might managed to wheeze, grabbing a handkerchief from his pocket and bringing it to his lips to wipe at the blood, "now that we have that out of the way, Young Midoriya, I believe it's time we let Young Kendou have her turn."

"Right, All Might," Izuku quickly nodded, quickly moving so that he was out of the way. Itsuka tried to give him a small smile, feeling her cheeks go a bit red as she glanced at him and automatically looked away as she stood up, and let him take her spot on the stump, sitting beside Ochako and beginning to play with the Gauntlet on his arm while Ochako gave him an amused look.

Well, Itsuka grimaced slightly as she turned to walk over to the spot he had been standing in, it was time for her to somehow mess this up.

"Alright," All Might clapped his hands together as Izuku and Ochako got settled, watching as Itsuka walked over to where Izuku had been testing the Gauntlet in, and looked around at their teacher, "let's go over what we know, shall we?"

"Yeah!" Izuku nodded excitedly, making All Might blink and Itsuka look around at him, "One for All."

"…"

"…"

"… Deku," Ochako giggled a bit nervously as Izuku caught himself and looked suddenly mortified, raising his hands to cover his mouth, "I … don't think All Might was talking to us."

"You're right, Young Uraraka, I wasn't," All Might had to fight hard to suppress his chuckles as Izuku quickly bent forward in apology, "but if you have something to say, Young Midoriya, I encourage you to say it - since Young Kendou brought you both in on the secret of One for All, if she's comfortable with you being here to watch, then I suppose she wouldn't mind your input."

"I wouldn't," Itsuka agreed, unable to stop herself from giving All Might a teasing smile, "especially since the last time All Might tried to advise me with One for All, he just said I should 'feel it'."

While All Might sputtered and grumbled at that unsutble dig at him, unable to really say anything back due to her being right, Izuku lowered his hands from his mouth, still looking a bit awkward and embarrassed at his outburst, but still, he at least knew that he had the go ahead to talk, looking around at Itsuka and giving her a grateful smile - one that made Itsuka gulp suddenly, feeling her face turn a bit red as she looked back at All Might quickly before Izuku could see her face.

All Might had been right that Itsuka was comfortable with Izuku and Ochako joining them for this training, but there had been … one problem with this morning's arrangement - an ongoing problem that had been going on since Friday, and definitely not being helped over the weekend.

The problem being that it was still kinda, a little bit, a teeny, tiny bit … hard for Itsuka to look at Izuku.

Ever since Setsuna and Yui had put those stupid thoughts of having a crush on him in her head, it was hard for Itsuka to shake them out. This entire weekend, anytime she even looked in his general direction, her heart would randomly start beating a bit faster, her face turning a bit warmer, and it was hard to look at him for longer than five seconds without feeling like her cheeks were on fire. It was okay whenever they were in their group with Ochako and Nejire, but … but right now, with his attention on her, she was starting to feel like there was something wrong with her, and she couldn't figure out what.

She just … had to keep her eyes on the ground, keep her voice even when she talked to him, and then find Setsuna and Yui and bonk their heads together for putting these thoughts in her head.

Because this was obviously their fault.

Entirely their fault.

"Okay, so …" Izuku let out a small grunt as he stood up again, looking around at All Might and Itsuka, "… One for All."

"Mm-hm," All Might chuckled, "that is indeed the name of the quirk."

"S-sorry, All Might, just … kind of reminding myself of what we know," Izuku gave him a sheepish, awkward smile, and while Ochako giggled a bit at his goofiness, Itsuka pouted to herself off to the side - god, how fucking dare he suddenly become cute.

Thankfully, before she could catch what she had just thought and punch herself in the face, Izuku straightened up, letting out a sigh as he raised his hand to pull at his bottom lip.

"Okay … so it's an emitter-type quirk," He reminded himself quietly while Ochako got back to trying to fix her bedhead that she still hadn't combed down yet from waking up this morning, "with the ability to be passed on from one user to the next, taking the strength of its last user and adding it for the next person to use."

"That's right," All Might nodded encouragingly, "One for All's stockpiling abilities means that Young Kendou's physical abilities have been enhanced to a superhuman level."

"And the first time I used it," Itsuka added helpfully, grimacing, "I broke every bone in my arm."

Both Izuku and All Might winced at that, while Ochako looked up at her.

"But - but you also said that you used it to save Eri," She reminded her, "and you didn't break any bones when you did that, you were just … really sore afterwards."

"Yep," Itsuka nodded, continuing to wince a bit at the memories, "and I wasn't able to have my bubble bath until like - last night."

"Y-yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, trying not to mentally picture that particular scenario while his face went a bit red, and he sat down on the stump beside Ochako again, "but - uh - so you used One for All to get out of there. Do you remember anything about using it?"

"Not really," She shook her head in disappointment, rolling her shoulder with a small sigh, "I thought someone was coming down that alleyway and panicked, and just - focused on getting Eri out of there as fast as I could. I didn't even realize I used One for All until I finally slowed down, and - and everything freaking hurt afterwards. I was also … really thirsty, but I don't think that had anything to do with it."

"But that means that, somehow, in your panic, you found a way to use it safely," All Might pointed out, "even if it was barely. Somehow, you were able to use One for All while you were running, putting yourself under strain, but not enough strain to seriously injure yourself. So that should be our goal going forward - to somehow replicate what you did Friday night, being able to use a smaller amount of One for All without injuring yourself, but not enough to strain yourself."

"Okay …" Itsuka slowly nodded, "… that sounds … well, a bit easier said than done, though. Like I said, I'm not sure what exactly I did to get Eri out of there."

"That's true," All Might gave her, "so we'll need to look at it from a different angle, then."

"And …" Ochako tilted her head, "… what angle would that be?"

"That would be … er … well …"

The three teenagers paused, looking around at All Might as he faltered, staring down at the ground - and Itsuka let out a small sigh, shaking her head and smiling as All Might looked a bit taken aback and unsure how to respond.

"You … don't really know, do you, All Might?"

"I … er … no." All Might looked down at the ground in shame, putting one hand in his pocket as he rubbed the back of his head with the other, "The truth is, Young Kendou, I really have … no idea."

"What?!" Ochako exclaimed, shocked. "You've had One for All for so long, and you don't know how to use it?!"

"W-well, I wouldn't say that, Young Uraraka -!"

"It's because he was able to use it normally from the start."

The three teenagers and All Might blinked at the sound of a low, familiar voice suddenly coming from behind them, somewhere close to them in the forest, and quickly looked around in surprise, All Might quickly buffing up to his true form.

The bushes rustled a bit, and they heard the sound of a wobbly voice grumbling, and then, from behind a tree, there came a familiar, tiny old man, holding his walking stick carefully as he slowly approached, wearing a white hero costume with yellow boots, gloves and a cape.

"S-sensei?!" All Might squeaked in terror, immediately shrinking back down so he could cough and shrink away from his mentor. "W-what - you're here!"

"Ooooooh, my, what's this?" Gran Torino looked around at the other three teenagers, all of them surprised to see him as he spoke to them in a frail, shaking voice. "Three teenagers getting ready for the sports festival? And a skeleton!"

"Gran Torino?" Itsuka's eyes widened while All Might let out a small sigh, unable to suppress her surprise at seeing him - they hadn't seen the retired hero since they had stopped working on the beach. "I - what are you doing here?"

"… who are you again?"

"I - what?!" She squeaked while Izuku and Ochako glanced at each other in confusion. "It's - it's Kendou. You know who I am."

"… what was that?" Gran held a hand up to his ear, as though he couldn't hear her.

"I - you -"

"He's messing with you, Young Kendou," All Might let out a defeated sigh, shaking his head while the old superhero looked around at him with a dopey smile, "it's just an act that he likes to do - does it with Tenko and Hana all the time, pretending to be senile."

"Peh! You're no fun." The goofy grandpa-shtick suddenly vanished, allowing Gran to frown at his student in disappointment, "I was gonna pretend that there was an accident since we last saw each other - especially since none of you bothered to call me at all since then."

Izuku, Ochako, and Itsuka winced, while All Might furrowed his brow.

"But - sensei, I just saw you on Friday. We -"

"But that was a serious conversation, Toshinori! Those don't count."

"Er - what are you doing here, Tornio-sensei?" Ochako asked, trying to get everyone back on track, "Were you walking the grounds?"

"I was walking with Tenko," Gran explained, moving over towards the stump, and nodding when Izuku quickly hopped up so as to give him his spot, "I've got a meeting with Nezu later this morning, since he wants to repeat that dumb prank All Might did on your class at the USJ with me -"

"That right?" Itsuka raised an eyebrow, turning to stare pointedly at All Might as he whistled innocently.

"So we were taking some time to catch up with each other. Which wasn't necessary, by the way," Gran tapped his cane against the groundm "since Tenko actually likes to keep me updated on what he's been doing -"

"Oh, boy," All Might groaned quietly, "he's never going to let this go."

"- and then I saw the green lightning coming from the forest. Since I only know one zygote who can do that, I told Tenko I would come investigate - you were being too obvious about where you were training, and talking out loud about One for All." Gran Torino huffed to himself, "You're lucky it was only me coming to see what was going on - anyone else, and you'd be having a very awkward conversation right about now."

"Er - right," Izuku nodded in guilt, "sorry about that."

"Anyway -" Gran looked back around at Itsuka as she stood there awkwardly, "- as I said, this doofus here was able to use One for All's full power from the start. Because of this, I taught him in a different way."

"Ooh!" Izuku looked excited, while All Might looked like he was experiencing some horrible flashbacks. "All Might as a student?! What was he like?!"

"Hm … well, he was a good student, but as for his training, that was nothing but practical training for him."

Itsuka and Ochako paused at that, unable to stop themselves from flashing back to the utter beatdown that the tiny pinball man had given the orange-haired girl on the beach. Grimacing slightly, both girls turned to look at the pale All Might and felt a bit of sympathy for him - they suddenly understood why All Might was so terrified about the possibility of having to talk to his mentor.

"Because of that, I couldn't teach this oaf half-heartedly," Gran continued to explain to Izuku, "but that can't be the case here with Kendou, because of the different circumstances behind both of your training. For Toshinori, he was trained over two years before he received One for All, right before his first year of high school, and because his mentor was careful about using her portion of One for All before it faded - and due to the fact that it was a bit weaker than it is now - it lasted her much longer than it probably would now, only completely losing it about a year after she had given it to Toshinori. On the other hand, Kendou, you were only trained for ten months before you finally received it - because of that, your body, while it can use One for All, isn't prepared to withstand it at a hundred percent power."

"So," Itsuka grimaced, "eventually using One for All at a hundred percent without hurting myself is something I've got to train more for."

"Essentially."

"Okay," Itsuka nodded, "so … I should start with using lower percentages. Y-yeah, we discussed that. So how do I do it?"

"Yes," Gran nodded slowly, "how indeed …"

"…"

"…"

"… you aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"Ha! Of course not," Gran chuckled at the dismayed look on Itsuka's face, "I can't just give you the answers, kid - that's something you're gonna have to figure out on your own - or with Midoriya and Uraraka here, although they seem to be just as clueless."

"Right," Itsuka nodded to herself, grimacing slightly as Izuku likewise began to slowly pace, evidently thinking, "that makes sense. So, uh … Ochako, Izuku, you guys got any ideas? Because … I'm not gonna lie, I'm kinda stumped right now."

"Yeah," Ochako shook her head, sighing sadly, "I'm not sure either."

"I'm … the same," Izuku looked a bit frustrated, shaking his head, "I just … I don't get it. I know that there's something we're clearly missing here, but I just … can't figure out what. Maybe it has something to do with … or …"

The two girls watched him slowly pace, frowning and tapping his lip as he clearly thought. Itsuka let out her own sigh as she shook her head, looking up at the sky as the sun continued to rise in the distance.

"Well, at least I know how to activate it," She chuckled to herself, trying to clear the moody air that had arisen all of a sudden, "but I can't exactly demonstrate it right now, or I would have to go visit Recovery Girl and probably miss out on morning classes. And - you know, she's probably getting a little tired of seeing the three of us."

"This wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for that dumb mist guy," Ochako tried to joke as well, smiling a bit, "if Deku came with us to the mountain zone instead of the conflagration zone, back at the USJ, then he'd have been able to see it yourself."

"Yeah," Izuku shook his head, smiling despite himself - it was a relief, at least, that his friends could somewhat joke about what happened there and he wouldn't feel uncomfortable - and sighed, "those stupid villains sending me to the wrong …"

And that was when Izuku suddenly faltered in his pacing, his voice trailing off as he slowed himself to a stop. The two girls looked around at him, blinking as he visibly paused, one eyebrow raising as Izuku brought his hand back up to his mouth.

They, and All Might and Gran Torino on the side, straightened up - they knew that he had suddenly thought of something, seeing the gears working in his mind, so they kept themselves quiet as he looked off to the side, clearly in thought. And then he nodded, and looked back around at Ochako and Itsuka.

"… Hadou."

"Huh?" Itsuka wrinkled her brow, a small pout appearing on her face at the mention of the blue-haired girl while Ochako likewise blinked in confusion.

"What about her, Deku?"

"Back at the USJ," Izuku continued his vague explanation, his eyes widening in realization, "everyone said that she was the one who created that tsunami."

"Uh … yeah?"

"And - and Asui and Kodai said she did that by - by using her power to the maximum."

"That is what they say."

"Yeah," Izuku slowly nodded, beginning to pace back and forth again as an idea obviously came to him, "she has to manually make sure she doesn't overload herself. That's what she told me back at the battle trial - she can only use about twenty percent of her power, or else she'll run out of stamina and pass out. That's what happened during the entrance exam, and that was why she was unconscious for so long after the USJ."

"That's right," Itsuka nodded, wrinkling her brow, "but, uh … I'm sorry, Izuku, but where are you going with this?"

"I think," Izuku looked around at her, his eyes widened, "that we're trying to use One for All the same way Hadou uses her quirk."

Itsuka blinked at that, while All Might straightened up and Gran smiled to himself behind his scarf.

"I - sorry?" Ochako looked confused.

"What we're trying to do is - is to use All Might's quirk in smaller percentages," He clarified to the both of them, "the problem right now, for you, is that for One for All, it's either a hundred percent, or it's none. Except for Friday, in which you somehow used it in a smaller percentage. And Hadou - she uses her quirk in a similar way. She can use it all but it'll knock her out for a while, but she's found a way to use it in smaller percentages."

"The more she trained," Itsuka finally caught on to what he was suggesting, feeling her eyes widen as she straightened up, "the more she's able to use her power."

"And that's what we want to do here!" Izuku nodded, feeling happy that she understood. "It's like All Might said - the more you train as a vessel, the more you'll be able to use your power. We already know how to use it - you clench your butt and yell 'Smash!' within your heart."

"I … don't really think I have to do that every time." Itsuka blushed, regretting telling him and Ochako that part while All Might tried his hardest to stiffle his laughs on the side.

"So I - I think that's it," Izuku slowly realized to himself, "if we want to figure out how to use One for All - we should talk to Hadou about how she lowers her own quirk's power, and act from there!"

There was a short pause, and Itsuka, feeling herself pale a bit, asked, in an uncertain voice, "So … we're just … telling Hadou … what, exactly?"

"I -" Izuku began to explain, and then blinked. It became clear to the other four that he had not exactly thought through what he was saying - that they would be essentially bringing Nejire in on this, to essentially tell her about how Itsuka could suddenly perform feats that All Might himself could.

Nejire. The one person in class that would … very obviously … ask questions.

Lots of questions.

Thankfully for Izuku, All Might cleared his throat.

"Well, while I understand a potential flaw in this plan," He stepped in, drawing the three teenagers' attention to him again as he put his hands in his pockets, "I also see where Young Midoriya is coming from. While Young Hadou's quirk doesn't work exactly the same as One for All, she may prove to have some insight on how we can proceed from here. We'd have to approach her carefully about it, however - Young Hadou has a very curious mind, and it'll be important not to divulge anything to her that would compromise us."

"I … guess so," Itsuka nodded as well, straightening her back, "if I want to understand how to use One for All in lower percentages, I guess talking to Hadou about how she does it with her quirk - well, it's better than nothing. I'll talk to her at lunch - come up with a story so she doesn't ask too many questions. Just about what I'm doing, and if she has any advice for me about it."

"At lunch?" All Might blinked, seemingly realizing something, and they watched as he went into his pocket for his phone. After tapping on the screen, All Might let out a small noise, slapping a hand to his forehead. "Ah, I'm sorry, Young Kendou, I completely forgot to mention - Principal Nezu actually reached out to me last night, and asked to have a meeting with the two of us at lunch today."

"Huh? Principal Nezu?" Itsuka straightened up again, looking shocked and more than a little nervous. "Uh - what about? Is everything okay?"

"I'm sure it is," All Might assured her, putting his phone back in his pocket while he turned to her with a smile, "he didn't specify what we'll be talking about, but I'm sure you're not in trouble, Young Kendou. Everything is probably fine."

---

"I will be frank you with, Kendou," Principal Nezu leaned forward in his seat, an apologetic look on his face, "I have summoned you to my office today to consider having you pull out of the sports festival this year."

All Might choked on his tea.

The wracking coughs from the side, courtesy of her mentor, was all the sound that filled the room as Itsuka stared blankly at the principal sipping on his own tea, while Tenko grimaced slightly in his own seat on the side in a 'just bear with him' kind of way. This topic of conversation was … obviously not what she had been expecting to hear when she had been summoned to the principal's office when lunch began, sitting on the other side of his desk with the large window behind him displayed the city of Musutafu in the distance.

"Indeed," Nezu nodded as he put his own cup down as he poured some tea for Itsuka to drink, pushing the cup towards her, Itsuka feeling more than a little nervous and panicked as she stared at the tiny bear-mouse-something principal, "this conversation is to determine what we will be doing regarding your involvement in the sports festival coming up in two weeks. Please keep in mind that we won't force you to do anything you don't want to, of course - I just wish to use this meeting to discuss our options."

"I - I see."

"Indeed. Now then! Before anything else, please, take a sip of tea - it'll help calm your nerves."

Still not entirely sure what was going on but knowing better than to argue with her principal, Itsuka did as instructed and accepted the cup of tea, hesitantly bringing it to her lips and taking a sip. Nezu watched her interestingly as she gulped it down -

- and then, in an excited voice, he asked, "So?"

"Uh - sorry, sir?"

"The tea, Kendou - how is it? Delicious? Mediocre?"

"O-oh. Uh …" She was feeling more and more confused by the second, somewhat thinking, for a moment, that she was being pranked, but still took another sip of tea so she could gauge the taste this time before swallowing.

"It's - uh - it's very good. Is - is it raspberry?"

"It is!" Nezu clapped his paws together happily as she guessed correctly. "It's one of my own blends - I enjoy experimenting with different kinds of tea to find particularly good blends. Now then - would you like to taste something else?"

"Uh - I, uh -"

"Oh, don't be shy, Kendou - I have several different blends here for you to try, such as green tea, white tea, oolong, herbal infusions, Golden Tips Imperial, although I think that's a bit too strong for such an elusive tea, pu-erh if you were -"

Tenko, realizing that they were quickly losing their principal to his hobby, quickly cleared his throat.

"Er - sorry, sir," He apologized as Nezu looked around at him, thankful that All Might finally managed to get control of his coughs, "I'm sure that Kendou would love to try your different blends, but, uh … I think that she would like to discuss why you want to pull her out from the sports festival. She doesn't have a lot of time to taste test your teas, as it's our lunch break."

"Ah, quite right, Tenko," Nezu sighed in disappointment, putting the box of tea down, "I suppose we'll have to save it for another time, then. But for next time, Kendou - what kid of tea do you prefer?"

"Um … well, I'm kind of a fan of green tea."

"Ah, good to know! Now then - back to what we were discussing."

"Uh - yes, sir," Itsuka nodded, putting down her cup of tea as she glanced between the two teachers and her principal, "so - you want me to step out of the sports festival?"

"Not exactly," Nezu shook his head, "we will not force you to excuse yourself from the festival if you wish to compete. Please, don't think that we are trying to force you to sit on the sidelines - I acknowledge that this is more than simply a sports day. It's your chance to try and stand out amongst your peers, and gain the attention of any hero who would be willing to take you on for work studies down the line. No, as I said before, we are simply here to gauge our options."

"Right … and why is that?"

"Well," Tenko sighed, leaning forward and putting his own cup of tea down on the desk, grimacing as Nezu automatically moved to refill it, "the truth is, Kendou, the reason we're asking you to consider stepping out of the festival … isn't actually because of you. It's because of Eri."

"Eri?" Itsuka sat up in her seat, eyes widening slightly. "W-why? Is she okay?"

"Oh, no, she's fine, it's just … well …"

"After they visited your home, Aizawa and Midnight brought us up to speed so we could understand the situation," Nezu took over for Tenko, drawing Itsuka's attention back to him, "and as mentioned before, UA will be more than happy with assisting your family with her care while the police investigate - we're more than happy to work with All Might's agency to make Eri's stay at your home as comfortable as she needs it to be. However, I had my own thoughts after Midnight informed me what she told you on Saturday, and simply wish to keep it in mind for your involvement at the sports festival."

"Huh?" Itsuka furrowed her brow, blinking a bit in confusion. Something that Midnight had said? But what did she -

- oh.

Oh, that's right.

" ... we don't want to jump to any conclusions, but … from what Eri has told us, we're not going to rule out the possibility that her caretaker isn't someone who was taking proper care of her. And since you said you thought you saw someone coming out of that alleyway last night … we aren't going to rule out the possibility that he may have seen you. So please, Kendou - keep an eye out."

"Oh," Itsuka said in a quiet voice, her eyes widening slightly as she slowly nodded, "oh, I - I see."

"Yes, indeed."

"So - so you think that if I were to -"

"The sports festival," Nezu reminded her, nodding as well as he likewise topped off her cup of tea, "as you may recall, is televised. So if Eri's caretaker did catch a glimpse of you … well, I imagine that if he were to watch the festival that day and see you participating, he would be able to find out who exactly you are - and more importantly, he may begin to track down where you live, and find out where Eri is."

"I - I understand," Itsuka slowly sighed, taking her cup of tea and sipping on it again while All Might gave her a sympathetic look, "so … so you think that I shouldn't do the sports festival on the chance that the guy might've seen me."

"Yes," Tenko nodded, grimacing slightly, "just to be safe."

"Although," All Might tapped his finger against the desk, jumping to Itsuka's defense, "are we certain that he might've seen Young Kendou? From her retelling, she saw a shoe come out from around the corner and immediately ran. Could it have been possible that he didn't catch a glimpse of her in time?"

"It's certainly possible," Nezu gave him, "but the fact that we can't be certain is why we are conflicted on this. The police did go to the alleyway where Kendou found Eri, and unfortunately, there weren't any cameras, no surveillance, no witnesses, nothing at all that would give us a glimpse at whoever was coming out of that alleyway. And given Kendou's shaky recollection of what happened - no offense, Kendou - we cannot confirm that this mystery person did or didn't see her."

"And …" Itsuka furrowed her brow, "… so if I were to - if I step out of the sports festival, what am I supposed to do about internships afterwards? I did my research, that's - the sports festival is how you get noticed for field training. If - if no one sees me perform, I don't have any chance of being accepted to any hero agencies, do I?"

"Well, in that case, we do have other options," Nezu patiently explained, "in the event that you are not able to perform in the sports festival, there are alternative means to reach out to other heroes. It's normal that in the event a student doesn't receive any offers, we have a selection of around forty hero agencies around the country that would be accepting interns. And if that isn't something you're interested in - and I can hardly blame you, there have been several interns in the past that were unsatisfied with our options - we can also reach out to other specific heroes and explain the situation. As All Might is directly involved in Eri's case, he can the situation and ask to help you out."

"And don't think this is something you should keep secret from your classmates," Tenko was quick to assure her as well, reaching out to pat her with his four fingers, "you can talk to them about why you had to step out, as it isn't for your safety, but for someone else's."

"I … okay."

"But as we said," Nezu tiled his head a bit, "we will not be forcing you to do something you don't wish to. Ultimately, the decision to compete or step out will be up to you."

"To me?" Itsuka blinked, looking uncertain, "But - you said that if the guy -"

"There is that risk," Nezu acknowledged, "we acknowledge that. But we also acknowledge the fact that we know that the person you saved Eri from isn't the only threat that may be watching the sports festival. There's always the risk of villains watching the sports festival so that they may see the next generation in action, to know what they'll eventually have to face. But after what happened a few weeks ago …"

"None of the Villain Consortium were captured," Tenko frowned, making Itsuka look around at him with a noticeable shiver at that name, "and they're clearly still out there, in hiding. The HPSC has been applying a lot of pressure on us, trying to make sure we know not to do anything that would make our students or them look bad - they're trying to downplay what happened, so they wanna make sure that we don't make them look like idiots."

"Er -" All Might looked awkward, "- speaking of the Commission, Principal Nezu - were you able to -?"

"No, I was not," Nezu let out a tired sigh as he shook his head, "I'm afraid that the president of the HPSC was insistent that should we have any student act up, we are to - effectively - muzzle them."

Itsuka blinked at that - muzzle them? Was that some kind of metaphor?

"Anyway, that's not important right now," Tenko shook his head, waving his hand in the air, "what we mean, Kendou, is that it might seem unfair to you that we're asking you to step down from the sports festival because of someone watching for you, when it's probably guaranteed that the Consortium will be watching for the rest of your classmates. So yes, we're going to leave your involvement in the sports festival up to you."

"That's why I asked to have a meeting with you today," Nezu took another sip of tea, "so we can discuss what we'll be doing, and what measurements we will have to take."

Itsuka felt herself falter there, turning her stare down to the cup of tea that she had in her hand. To be polite, and maybe give herself some time to think, she raised the cup to her lips to take another sip of tea, closing her eyes as she thought to herself.

The obvious answer, of course, should be that she would step out of the sports festival without question - if it was a matter of Eri potentially being put in danger solely for the purpose of her wanting to show off her skills, then she should gracious step out so as not to put the little girl at risk. It was the smart, responsible thing to do.

But … but she knew that not performing in the sports festival …

"That's something you need to remember - you have one chance a year, and a total of just three chances. No aspiring heroes can afford to miss this event."

If she were to miss her first sports festival … then that might have some pretty big consequences down the road. Of course, as Nezu had said, there would be forty potential hero agencies that would accept her, but … but it wasn't that simple, either. She didn't just have her Big Fist quirk to think about, she grimaced, she had One for All to consider as well. She could probably learn under one of those forty heroes, but the sports festival would be her chance to try and learn under … someone more, who saw her quirk(s) in action, and would have constructive criticism for her to learn from. Someone who would know how to help her, not treat her as a footnote to be passed along to some random hero.

So …

"Quite conflicting, isn't it?" Nezu guessed her thoughts, smiling gently at the conflicted look on her face. "We understand, Kendou - it's not a simple thing we're asking you to do here."

"If … if I do want to compete," Itsuka said in a small voice, leaving it clear that she hadn't made a decision yet, "you mentioned there would be … measurements we would have to take."

"That's correct," Nezu nodded, "if you do compete, we may have to ensure that there is a police officer or hero patrolling around your neighborhood, just to be safe. We were already talking with Tsukauchi about doing that anyway, but we believe that having the police stay outside your house for the next few weeks, checking for anyone that might come by, would be beneficial to make sure that no one suspicious comes around your home. As for you competing in the festival -"

"Wait a moment."

Nezu and Itsuka faltered a bit at All Might suddenly speaking up, causing them and Tenko, who had been sitting on the side looking at Itsuka sympathetically, to turn and look at him. And yet, All Might's eyes weren't on the two talking, but on Tenko himself - or, more accurately, the top of Tenko's head, staring there and blinking as he straightened up in his seat, a thought obviously coming to him.

"Young Tenko," He realized, "you … haven't dyed your hair lately."

"Huh?" Tenko blinked at that strange change in conversation, raising his hand to his hair. Itsuka glanced around as well, blinking when she saw, sure enough, that the white roots of his dark hair were subtly growing out. "Uh - yeah, that's - it's been pretty busy, All Might, I haven't had any time to take care of it. I don't see how that … has to do … with …"

At Tenko faltering, however, Itsuka felt herself blink when three pairs of eyes suddenly moved back towards her - All Might leaning forward, his hand on his mouth while he thought; Tenko, blinking in realization; and Nezu looking intrigued. Slowly, all three of them slowly glanced at Itsuka - only for their eyes to trail up and towards her hair.

"If this caretaker ended up catching a glimpse of Young Kendou," All Might thought out loud, "then the easiest way for him to identify her would be … her hair."

"Huh? My hair?" Itsuka felt more and more confused, subconsciously raising her hand to pat her head. "Wait, are you -"

"It's definitely an idea," Nezu nodded slowly, a small smile appearing on his face, "if Kendou here did flee before he came around the corner of that alley, the most he would've gotten is a glimpse of her hair and perhaps seeing her school uniform. And if Young Kendou got out of there fast enough, he wouldn't be able to identify her quirk. So if she were to …"

"W-wait a minute," Itsuka raised a hand to pause the three of them, feeling nervous for some reason, "are - are you saying -"

"Young Kendou," All Might nodded, "you might be able to compete in the sports festival if we take the effort to disguise you. As we mentioned, your orange hair is your most obvious feature - so if we were to dye it, even just for that day …"

"That way," Tenko's eyes widened in realization, a smile appearing on his face, "she can compete with the rest of her classmates. And if Eri's caretaker is watching, he won't be able to recognize her - especially if he only caught a glimpse of her."

"I - hold on," Itsuka held both of her hands out to stop them, feeling herself begin to sweat nervously as she glanced around at the three adults, "is - is that the only way? Dying my hair? Wouldn't - I don't know -"

"It would only need to be temporary stuff," Tenko assured her, giving her a gentle smile while noticing her uncomfortableness, her hands rising up to pat her hair - obviously, she had her reservations, "I know that there are some products that only last for about day, at most - like Best Jeanist has a few brands of hair dye that can turn your hair darker, or multicolored, and I know Uwabami has some branded stuff for dyeing your hair for a certain amount of time. It's just so that while you're on TV, Eri's caretaker, should he have caught a glimpse of you, won't be able to recognize you on sight alone."

"I believe that this may be an appropriate compromise," Nezu agreed, already looking like he was on board with this plan, "if having Kendou disguise herself to perform in the sports festival, not only would she be able to compete, but we'd be able to ensure that the heroes don't think anything is the matter either - there would be questions as to why Kendou wouldn't be able to compete, not just from the potential heroes that would take her on, but from the HPSC as well. And seeing as we've only just started the investigation for Eri, we don't want the HPSC potentially poking their noses in as well. Having her dye her hair can be easily explained. It would also ensure that we don't have to switch over who would give the opening statement."

"I'm not - wait," Itsuka blinked, "what was that about the opening statement?"

"Well," Nezu sipped on his tea again, "if we had you step away from the sports festival, we would have to get someone new to give the opening statement representing the students, seeing as you came in first in the entrance exam. And if it wouldn't be you, then we would have to hand it off to the student who scored second place."

"Second place? Then that would be … Bakugou."

"That is correct."

There was another short pause - and then Itsuka, looking horrified at the hypothetical scenario of letting Katsuki represent their class (or, more accurately, making everything all about him and making everything for their class worse for anyone watching), quickly nodded.

"Okay." She gulped nervously. "Let's - let's do that, then. The - the dyeing my hair thing."

"Excellent!" Nezu clapped his paws happily together, while Tenko scratched the side of his head and All Might let out a relieved sigh. "Then I suppose that is that. Kendou will still perform in the sports festival, while we keep an eye on the Kendou household just to be safe. Now then, I believe we've taken up enough of your time today - you can return to lunch now. I have to get ready for a lot of meetings this afternoon - I'm going to be having a few pro heroes who do internships and the such come in for review, and the HPSC wants another meeting to discuss the sports festival. I would like some time to prepare my notes, as well as any advil I may need in order to get through a meeting with the Commission's representative. In any case, have a good rest of your day, Kendou."

Quickly nodding, Itsuka put her teacup back down on the desk, standing up and bowing to the principal as All Might likewise got up to leave with her, buffing back up to his true form. Both of them bid goodbye to Tenko as well, the young man self-consciously patting his own hair as though debating if he could run home to redye it very quickly, and together, Itsuka and All Might exited the office, closing the door behind them and walking down the hall as All Might let out a small sigh.

"Well, that was certainly a roller coaster," He joked lightly to his pupil, "it looks like you can still compete, Young Kendou. My apologies about the scare."

"I get it," She shook her head, frowning a bit, "I know I had my reservations, but I'd … much rather not risk Eri. It was just …"

"I do understand," He patted her shoulder to comfort her, "it's a difficult choice to make - I know that you don't like taking the easy way out of things, but I'm happy to see that you still kept your mind on Eri while making your decision. I'm glad that you will be able to attend the sports festival.

"Yeah, I'm ... I am too."

"Indeed," All Might smiled at her, and then straightened up, throwing his hand into the air. "now then! If you'll excuse me, I have to get ready for our next class. I'll see you -"

With a sudden burst of speed, All Might suddenly began sprinting down the hall, making Itsuka yelp as she was pushed to the side by a gust of wind as he ran away from her.

"- in the afternooooooooon!"

With a small sputter, Itsuka straightened herself up, dusting off her school uniform slightly as she glanced around at where All Might had vanished around the corner, and let out a small sigh. With that, she began making her way back to her classroom, walking a bit quicker so she had time to get there and eat her lunch before Hero Basic Training - she'd much rather not have to train on an empty stomach.

She supposed that she should look at the silver lining, Itsuka thought to herself - instead of being forced to sit out of the competition this year, and potentially mess up her future aspirations, she would be able to compete with all of her friends, and all it would take is to dye her hair for the day. It was just … she really liked her orange hair, she pouted as she reached up to stroke her ponytail.

She knew she was being dumb, and that it was for Eri's safety, and it would just be for one day. But … well …

…well, but nothing, she frowned at herself as she shook her head. She would have to put up with having a different hair color for a day. It was for Eri, after all.

So she supposed, Itsuka sighed again as she walked down the hall towards the stairs, that once she, Izuku and Ochako were done with training for today, she'd have to make a stop by the department store so she could look at a few different types of -

"You and All Might seem close."

At the stoic voice suddenly speaking up from behind her, Itsuka let out a small squeak, jumping a bit in surprise. Quickly turning around, she felt her cheeks go a bit red - she hadn't even realized that she wasn't alone in the hallway, her eyes trailing over to the boy leaning against the wall near the principal office behind her, having been there this whole time and watching her with a raised eyebrow and calculating eyes.

At once, her own eyes unintentionally zipped right to the burn mark on his left eye, although she was quick to look away from that, fearing that it would come across as rude. Instead, she glanced up at his hair, one side white and the other side red, and then glanced down to his face as she regarded his appearance. He was a bit taller than her, lean but still a tadbit bigger than her, and watching her carefully with his hands in his jacket pockets.

"Sorry about scaring you," He apologized, his voice monotoned like Yui's but far different - while Yui had a lack of emotion in her own voice, this guy's voice sounded oddly cold, "I noticed you and All Might were talking, so I thought I would come over and speak with you."

"Ah," Itsuka nodded blankly, not exactly sure what to say in response to that.

"And like I said," He tilted his head a bit, "you two seem to be close. You and All Might."

The way he said that, however, made Itsuka straighten up a bit, feeling a small chill crawl up her spine. Staring up at the boy giving her his own blank, yet somehow suspicious, look, Itsuka felt herself become a bit defensive, but still tried to shift her face into a far more neutral expression.

"I'm … sorry," She managed to say in an even tone, trying to smile, "but I don't think we've met."

"No," He shook his head, "we haven't. I'm Shouto Todoroki, from Class 1B."

"Todoroki," She repeated his name, nodding, "well, uh - good to meet you, Todoroki. I'm Itsuka Kendou, the class representative from Class 1A."

"I know."

"Uh … yeah. And, uh, about what you saw there - you think All Might and I are … close?"

"That's right."

"Well," She smiled awkwardly, feeling a bit bad for lying about this but knowing that she really needed to come across as not suspicious, "that'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Being close to the Number One Hero. But, uh, I was actually just having a meeting with him and Principal Nezu - we were talking about me participating in the sports festival this year."

"That right?" Shouto repeated, "but from the sound of his voice, he wasn't that interested."

"Yeah. It's kind of a long story, but … well, everything's gonna work out." Itsuka nodded, and then turned back around so she could walk back towards the stairs.

"Anyway, I should probably head back to my class - lunch break is probably halfway over by now, and I still need to -"

"I'm not sure what is actually going on."

Her step faltered at the sound of his cold voice speaking behind her. Itsuka stared blankly ahead for a moment ,and then turned back to look at her classmate. Shouto was still giving her a cold, unemotive stare, but she had a feeling that something was going to happen, and for some reason, her hands tensed.

"I know that you're probably lying about something," He turned to the side as well, not really looking at her but still making it clear that he was talking to her, his heterochrome eyes never left hers, "but honestly, I don't quite care at this point. All I know is that you were the one who told everyone else to bring it, weren't you? When all those students came to your class a week or so ago - you were the one to put that Shinsou guy in his place, and told everyone else that you don't get scared easily. Didn't you?"

"… that's right," She slowly nodded, a frown appearing on her face as she turned back to look at him properly, "I did."

"Well then," Shouto narrowed his eyes, "I just want to make sure you know that I don't scare easily either."

Itsuka blinked at that.

"If I'm to be honest, I believe that I'm easily stronger than you," Shouto bluntly stated, which only made Itsuka narrow her own eyes as well, "but I know that you're downplaying whatever relationship you have with All Might. He sees something in you, doesn't he? He came to save your class at the USJ - came to save you."

"Uh … yeah," She tried to keep her tone even, "he did. But I imagine that he would've done the same for your class if you were in our shoes. I'm sorry, Todoroki, but I'm not exactly sure where you're going with -"

"You two were talking with each other like you were pretty familiar with each other," Shouto pointed out, which made Itsuka freeze slightly, "just now, leaving Principal Nezu's office. He's pretty open with both our classes, sure, but he talked to you like he's known you for a while. That, and it would make sense for the principal to summon you for a meeting - but All Might had to be there as well? To talk about the sports festival of all things?"

Itsuka silently cursed herself, glancing down at her feet. It was pretty clear that, unlike that Tetsutetsu guy who had shouted at her class and then got dragged away by Yuuyu, this guy was pretty smart.

"Like I said," Shouto shook his head, "I don't know what the relationship between you two is, and I won't pry. But know this - at the sports festival, I'm going to beat you."

Itsuka met his cold glare again, seeing him give her a frown.

"I'm going to defeat you," He declared, "be certain of that."

"I … see," She slowly nodded, her neutral tone finally fading away as she put her own hands in her pockets, "and … I assume you're not going to tell me why."

"I have my reasons."

"Reasons …" She repeated in a slow voice, her own voice becoming colder, "… that I assume you aren't going to tell me."

"No," He shook his head, "there wouldn't be much point."

"I figured," Itsuka nodded, letting out her own sigh as she straightened her back, and then turned back around to face him properly.

Shouto, for his part, merely stared as Itsuka took a deep breath, and then exhaled, opening her eyes to meet his.

"I don't know what exactly your problem is with me," She said in a tone as blunt as his, "and to be honest, I don't quite care either. I have my own reasons for doing the sports festival. So … at the risk of sounding standoffish …" She sank into a small bow, "… alright. I accept your declaration of war. And just so you know - I won't lose to you."

Shouto studied her carefully for a moment, his eyes narrowing again as she straightened back up and returned his glare tit-for-tat - and then he nodded.

"Good." He said in a quiet voice, and then turned and began walking away.

Itsuka let out a small sputter at how anti-climatic that weirdly tense conversation had ended, but before she could call back out to him, Shouto turned around the corner at the other end of the hallway and vanished from sight. Letting out a small sigh, Itsuka shook her head, feeling her heart start to calm down from how quickly it had beat from that sudden tension -

- and then her gaze fell to the clock on the side, and she felt her eyes widen.

"Shit!" She cursed at the sight of her lunchbreak being already halfway over, and quickly whirled around to begin jogging towards the stairwell, wondering if she could get back to class in time to eat and wonder what the hell just happened there.

---

"Oooooooooh!" Nejire clapped her hands happily together as Izuku put the Full Gauntlet down on the table, this time not around his wrist, and allowing the small group surrounding it to lean forward and have a look at it. "It's all back to normal! Well, I assume it's back to normal, since you said it was fixed, but I don't know, maybe you made some adjustments since we last saw it! Like lasers! Lasers would be cool, wouldn't they, guys? Or maybe there's a speaker in there that plays music! That'd also be cool, you can go around and fight crime while you have some theme music playing! I think Present Mic did that once with ads for his show, but people tried to sue him for blowing their ears out with - wait, hold on, I just had a thought. If you do your lightning thing, wouldn't that just make the speaker explode? Don't do that, then, you don't want the speaker to blow up while it's on your arm, that'd be bad!"

"Why do people keep saying that stuff that's attached to my arm is gonna blow up?" Izuku groaned lowly, Ochako letting out a small giggle and patting his shoulder.

At the moment, it was pretty close to the end of lunchtime, with Izuku, Ochako, Nejire, Tenya, Momo, Setsuna, Yui, Kyouka and Yuuyu moving some of the desks to make a large table for them all to eat at. Currently, Yuuyu was resting her head on the table with her arms wrapped around it, groaning lowly at whatever must've happened in her class that day, while Tenya and Yui were sitting together, Tenya looking oddly awkward and Yui nonchalant as she occasionally turned to glance up at him. Setsuna, meanwhile, leaned back in her seat, chewing on her carrots, while Nejire sat on Izuku's left, looking over the Full Gauntlet excitedly, while Ochako sat on his right, opening the lunch Inko had made for her this morning and clapping her hands together to thank his mom for the meal - she had a bit of math to do, so now that it was all done, she would enjoy eating her lunch as quickly as she could.

Still, Izuku's attention right now was on the Full Gauntlet, as Tenya, Momo and Kyouka leaned forward to have a look over the support item, while Eijirou, Yosetsu and Pony left the classroom so that they could run and grab their things from the vending machines.

"Well, it is spectacularly well made," Tenya nodded in approval, carefully picking up the Gauntlet to turn it and have a look at the red meter, "it looks like Miss Shield did a fantastic job on its construction! And you're saying it only takes a few weeks to fully repair?"

"It looks like it," Izuku nodded, watching as Tenya passed the Gauntlet for Momo to inspect, "although that was just because of how damaged it was - I think Miss Shield said something last night about more minor repairs taking less time to fix itself up."

"Cool," Kyouka experimentally slipped her hand into the Gauntlet, Momo giggling as it was a bit too big for her and left plenty of room for her fingers to wiggle around, "so that means you can use this thing for the sports festival?"

"I'll have to talk to Midnight-sensei to get it officially registered," Izuku nodded, smiling a bit as he was handed back the Gauntlet, which Nejire immediately took so she could have a closer look, "but yeah, once I get it petitioned, but I'm sure Midnight-sensei will let me use it. We tested it out this morning, so it's not gonna break on me -"

"Or explode," Yui pointed out helpfully.

"- or - explode on me," Izuku winced slightly, "anyway, yeah, it's - it's all good."

The door to the classroom suddenly slid open, and everyone looked around to see Itsuka reentering the room, letting out a small, tired sigh as she flipped her ponytail back behind her shoulder.

"Hey," She greeted them as she stopped by her desk to grab her lunch from her bag, "sorry I'm late, Principal Nezu likes to talk, and - someone stopped me to talk. So what did I miss?"

"Not much!" Setsuna confirmed as she munched on her carrots, "Midori over here was just showing off his shiny, brand-spanking new support item. And, y'know, confirming it wasn't going to blow up his arm."

"Oh, god, please stop putting that thought in my head," Izuku shivered while Ochako giggled again through her mouthful of lunch, and Itsuka shook her head as she sat down in the seat between Ochako and Momo, taking a second to stretch her arms.

"Anyway," Kyouka leaned back in her own chair as Yuuyu raised her head somewhat, still looking disgruntled and absolutely done with the day as Nejire patted her head, "what did Nezu want with you, Kendou?"

"Oh, right," Itsuka nodded, sitting back as she broke her chopsticks apart, "well …"

From there, she explained the reason why Nezu had summoned her to his office to have a talk, with her friends around her blinking in surprise and shock that the teachers had wanted her to drop out of the sports festival, and relieved when they figured out a way for her to compete anyway. Once she was finished confirming that she'd have to start looking for hair dyes, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she scooped some rice into her mouth, glancing up at the clock and wincing at how little time she had left to eat before classes started again.

"So," Ochako felt herself frown as she leaned forward slightly, "they think that whoever Eri's caretaker is could recognize you if he saw you on TV?"

"It's not something they're certain of," Itsuka slowly nodded with a frown, "but - yeah, the fact it's a possibility in the first place is why they wanted to talk to me about it."

"Huh," Izuku likewise frowned down at his desk, accepting the Full Gauntlet back from Nejire and swiping his finger across the blue panel to restore it to its bracelet form, "that's … something that we didn't consider, did we?"

"Nope, we didn't. But now that they've pointed it out … well, it's not like Principal Nezu was wrong to consider having me pull out of the sports festival, right?" Itsuka shook her head, "If the guy really did see me, or at least caught a glimpse of me that would help him identify me if he saw me, and then suddenly saw me giving a speech on TV - well, then that's just putting Eri in danger, isn't it?"

"So they want you to dye your hair?" Yuuyu raised an eyebrow, keeping her head down in her arms even as she addressed her fellow class rep. "Is that really necessary? From how you explained it, you pretty much grabbed Eri and booked it the moment you thought something was wrong."

"I did," Itsuka nodded glumly, "but I also didn't look back at all once I thought someone was coming. So we … honestly, I don't know if whoever was in that alley saw me."

"Honestly, girl, what is it with you and doing crazy shit?" Setsuna shook her head, leaning forward to rest her elbow on the table as she gave Itsuka a slightly concerned, slightly amused look. "Last time you left my house after a hangout, you ended up jumping into a burning building. And then when you leave us after we go get dinner, you end up saving a runaway? Is this some kind of sign?"

"Yeah," Itsuka smirked a bit, "it's definitely a sign. I've gotta stop going places with you, Set, it just gets me into trouble."

"Ouch! But I can't deny the pattern."

"So you're gonna dye your hair?" Yuuyu seemed interested in that, raising her head from where she had been slumped over in her seat at last. "Like - permanently?"

"From the sound of things, they were recommending it be just for the day," Itsuka explained, pouting a bit, "so I guess I gotta find some temporary stuff - I've got no clue about hair dyes, I've never done anything with my hair before. And I ... really would rather not dye my hair permanently, I really like my hair as it is."

"In that case, I could send you some stuff on different brands, if you want," She offered, "I dye my own hair, so I've done all the research on this kind of stuff. Uwabami has a bunch of sponsors for hair dye companies, I know a few that last like - twenty-four hours."

"Oh, I'd love that, thank you. I'm completely lost when it comes to hair stuff."

"Don't you just tie your hair up into a ponytail every day?" Ochako cheekily giggled, drawing Itsuka's attention to her as the orange-haired girl pouted at her. "I don't even think you comb your hair."

"Watch it, bedhead," Itsuka reached over to mess with her hair with one hand, making their group shake their heads at Ochako letting out a small grunt of annoyance and smiling at their antics, "anyway, I guess that's enough talk about dyeing hair - what are you guys up to after school? Me, Ochako and Izuku are gonna stick around and do some training - and, uh, I was actually wondering if you could stay around too, Hadou?"

"Me?" Nejire blinked in surprise as Itsuka suddenly turned to her, while the other members of the group gave their class rep a surprised look. "I mean, of course! I'd love to stay around! But what's up? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Itsuka nodded, aware of Izuku and Ochako studying their lunches very carefully and subtly rolling her eyes at their inability to stay cool, "just been kinda … experimenting with my quirk, and I came across something I wanna try. I was wondering if I could ask you a few things about your own quirk - do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Oooooooh!" Nejire squealed, immediately sitting up in her seat. Izuku and Ochako squeaked as she suddenly leaned over them so she could grasp both of Itsuka's hands, the orange-haired girl letting out a sputter as Nejire quickly and enthusiastically nodded. "Yes! One hundred percent, Kendou! I'd love to answer your questions! And I can ask you a few things too, right? Like how much you can carry when your quirk is activated! I bet it can be a lot! Like, they're really big, so I imagine you can carry someone easily! Oh! Can that person be me? Would you carry me? That sounds fun!"

"Er - sure," Itsuka grimaced weakly, while Izuku went redder and redder with Nejire laying in his lap and Ochako looking awkwardly down at her, "we can - maybe do that later."

"Yay! Ooooh, and what about - ow!"

Nejire let out a yelp as Yuuyu suddenly reached out to grab her hair, giving it a small tug. Nejire was pulled right off of Itsuka's two training partners, forced to sit back in her seat and letting Izuku breathe a sigh of relief, while Ochako trying to pat her own slightly pink cheeks.

As Yuuyu gave Nejire a good electric shock to the neck for her troubles, Momo let out a small sigh as she looked over at Itsuka.

"Well, er … back to our conversation about what we'll be doing after school," She gave Itsuka an apologetic look, while Kyouka went a bit pink herself and looked away while clearing her throat, "Jirou and I are planning to do a bit of training over at Ground Beta once Hero Basic Training is finished - we're going to be joining up with Ashido and Tsunotori once they're done at Gym Gamma, so we can practice aiming at moving targets."

"Yeah," Setsuna nodded, "and I promised Sero we're gonna play a game of tag at Ground Gamma with our quirks. Gotta practice maneuverability, y'know."

"And I will, unfortunately, being doing a full sprint around the campus," Tenya bowed his head in apology, unaware of the girl in the seat beside him turning around so she could look at him, "so it appears that I will not be able to -"

"Huh?" Yui raised her eyebrow, and Tenya found himself sputtering to a stop, looking around at her in confusion.

"I - er, Kodai?"

"You don't wanna do some training with me at the USJ?" She asked in a blank, emotionless tone, and the group blinked at Tenya suddenly going stiff as a board, his face going a bit red, "I was gonna ask if you wanted to come do something with me in that stupid fire zone."

"I - well, uh -" Tenya continued to sputter for a moment, unsure whether or not to agree - it was important that he be able to get a few laps in - but the slightly dangerous look in Yui's eyes, staring at him almost soullessly, suggested to him that going against her wishes would be detrimental to his health, so he quickly nodded in agreement.

As everyone went back to talking about their plans after school, unsure as to what that was but not wanting to point it out in fear of … something weird happening, Yui scooped up a tomato from her bento box with her chopsticks, pausing for a moment, before she leaned over.

"Sorry," She muttered to Tenya, drawing his attention back to her, "I shouldn't tell you what you should do, but … there was something I wanted to talk to you about. Alone, preferably."

"I … understand," Tenya slowly nodded, feeling himself go a bit red as he gulped nervously, but still picked back up his own chopsticks, "well, then … uh, perhaps that was an unorthodox way of asking me, yes, but … well, I have no … qualms about spending time with y-you."

"Mm," Yui nodded as well, her face still blank, but the way she said, "Good." afterwards told Tenya that she was pleased.

Which … definitely made him shake a bit in anticipation, fear, or some combination of the two.

"Anyway," Yuuyu shook her head, finished giving Nejire her shocks for laying on Izuku and Ochako and watching the blue-haired girl sulk in her seat, "as much as I'd like to stick around, I gotta head to my part time job right after school, so I'm gonna have to dip out of any training you guys are doing today. Nej, I'm also probably gonna be late getting home tonight - make sure your parents know to leave some dinner for me in the fridge, okay?"

"Sure thing, Yuuyu! Oh! But that reminds me!" Nejire suddenly perked up, looking excitedly around at Ochako, Itsuka and Izuku. "We're gonna try and find some more things for Eri! I know I brought a box yesterday, but I think I might have more stuff in the basement - she likes whales, right, Kendou? I think she likes dolphins now that she wears all of your old shirts, but maybe she'll like whales too?"

Itsuka let out a small grumble as Izuku, Ochako, Setsuna and Yui tried not to smirk too much to incur her wrath, but she still gave the blue-haired girl a smile.

"I mean, if you have more stuff to bring her, we won't turn it away," She nodded, "if you wanted to swing by this weekend to give them to her, you're more than welcome to - Eri's been wondering when you'll be coming back to visit after you guys left yesterday. Hell, I was barely able to get out the door today because Eri woke up early with me - she tried to give me the puppy dog eyes to make me stay."

"Awwww," Setsuna cooed a bit, smiling, "when are the rest of us gonna be able to meet her, anyway? I bet I can convince my parents to bring Sera along for a playdate."

"Maybe not yet," Itsuka shook her head, her smile fading somewhat, "she's still a bit cagey around new people, so … well, we're just trying to get her used to living with us before she meets anyone new. Besides, she still has to meet Izuku and Ochako's parents, and Coach Yagi too. We don't wanna end up overwhelming her - but hopefully soon, we can arrange a playdate."

"That's fair."

"Anyway," Yuuyu suddenly spoke back up again, causing everyone to look around at her as she sat back up in her seat, and she turned her gaze towards Ocahko, "sorry to kinda backtrack, but I wanted to go back to the sports festival - there was something I wanted to ask you, Uraraka."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked in surprise, looking around at the pink-haired girl as she leaned back in her seat, "Me? What's up?"

"Well," Yuuyu raised her eyebrows, "I wanted to ask you about something I saw last Friday."

She already got her answer from how Ochako immediately winced, grimacing.

"Mm-hm. I think you already know what I'm about to ask you here."

"Huh?" Kyouka raised an eyebrow, intrigued as to why Ochako was sinking down in her seat looking embarrassed. "What's up?"

"Well," Yuuyu smirked a bit as Izuku and Itsuka looked down at the mortified Ochako between them in confusion, "Friday afternoon, my class was having a meeting about what strategies we were gonna use during the sports festival - y'know, the usual stuff - and I was up front talking to them. Towards the end of the meeting, though, I thought I saw someone poking their head in through the backdoor, and only left when one of us was about to leave."

"Eugh." Came Ochako as she slowly began to crawl under the table in embarrassment.

"And that person," Yuuyu tapped her foot against the floor while looking at the top of Ochako's head, "was you, Uraraka. Wanna explain yourself, young lady?"

"Mmrgh."

"You spied on Class 1B?!" Tenya gasped in shock, looking absolutely scandalized as he immediately threw his hand out to point at the barely hidden Ochako. "Uraraka, I am surprised at you! I had thought that you were above such underhanded tactics such as eavesdropping! The fact that you were apparently so easily caught as well does not reflect well on you! What were you thinking?!"

"Yeah," Setsuna chortled, looking mischievous, "such a bad girl, Uraraka. Ken, you wanna spank her for being naughty?"

"Huh?!" Ochako squeaked, face exploding in a blush.

"What?!" Izuku looked shocked at what Setsuna said, his face going red as well - although he didn't seem as mortified as Ochako was by the suggestion, glancing between his two training partners and gulping nervously.

"Shut up, Set." Itsuka shook her head, knowing what she was doing and giving her a glare.

"You can spank her later, Kendou," Yuuyu joined in the teasing, smirking as Itsuka whipped around to glare at her while her face went red, "Uraraka? Wanna say something that'll convince me I was seeing things? Or is there something you wanna admit?"

Slowly, Ochako rose back from where she had been hiding under the desk, looking sheepish and trying to give off an innocent expression, while Izuku shook his head while trying to shake away the thought of Itsuka and Ochako … nope, nope, nope, don't think about that.

"In … uh … in my defense," Ochako weakly said, "that Monoma guy had been talking … pretty loudly about us. And - and not in a good way. That sort of got my attention."

Yuuyu paused for a moment while Ochako squirmed a bit in her seat - and then she let out a sigh, nodding.

"Yeah, okay, I'll give you that one," A small scowl appeared on the Class 1B representative's face, "that guy definitely loves the sound of his voice. Almost as much as he loves shittalking you guys."

"That right?" Itsuka snorted a bit. "Monoma, huh? Need me to go over and give him a smack?"

"Nah - if anyone's gonna be smacking that guy, it's gonna be me. But I'm content with just giving him a zap if he acts up for now."

"A-anyway," Ochako tried to get back on track, blushing, "I was gonna talk to you about it later, Haya, before I told anyone else."

"Yeah, yeah," Yuuyu chuckled, waving her hand aimlessly in the air while Nejire continued eating her lunch, "that's cool, Uraraka. And I mean, it's not like I can tell you not to tell anyone else about how the students next door are planning to throw you guys under the bus."

"Wait, what?" Yui turned to her, raising an eyebrow, "we're getting tossed under the bus?"

"Yep, that's our strategy," Yuuyu shrugged, not really caring about revealing her class's nefarious schemes, "we're gonna deliberately underperform in the first round, and then, when you guys are underestimating us, completely overwhelm you during the second round and screw you completely out of the third round. That's Monoma's 'genius' plan."

"So …" Ochako gave her an uncertain look, "… you guys are going through with that plan?"

"Yeah," Yuuyu shook her head, looking a bit peeved, "Monoma's annoying, but it's not like it's a terrible strategy. Of course," She suddenly smirked, "you were listening in, Uraraka, so you know I said that if you guys ask me if we were planning something, we'd tell you."

"Y-yeah, you - you did say that."

"Plus," Itsuka suddenly smirked as well, "now that we know, you aren't gonna tell your classmates that we know, are you?"

"Well … if they ask. It's only fair."

"Gotcha," Itsuka nodded while the girls around the table giggled and Tenya looked aghast at their scheming, but before he could protest, Itsuka's smirk faded a bit, "actually, Haya - speaking of your class, I wanted to run something by you."

"Yeah?" Yuuyu looked intrigued as she leaned back in her seat, "What's up?"

"In your class, do you know a guy named Todoroki?"

For some reason, the mood of the table … suddenly shifted when that name left her lips. Setsuna, who had been pretty busy chewing on her carrots, blinked, and looked around at her best friend in surprise. Ochako, meanwhile, straightened up in her seat, feeling her eyes widen a bit as Izuku blinked at that look in confusion and glanced around at Itsuka curiosity. Momo, who had been putting away her lunch bag, faltered, and looked back up at Itsuka while her mouth slowly closed, and Yuuyu's curious gaze faded into a far colder one.

"Todoroki, huh? Red and white hair? Burn mark on his eye?"

"Yep, that's the one."

"Yeah, I know him," She nodded, scowling a bit, "one of our two recommended students. A real jackass. Why?"

"Well," Itsuka sighed, putting her chopsticks down, "he approached me after my meeting with Principal Nezu today. Introduced himself, and then pretty much immediately told me he was gonna beat me in the sports festival."

"Huh?" Setsuna blinked incredulously, "Just like that?"

"Pretty much. He, uh … well, he seemed pretty serious about it."

"Yeah, that tracks," Yuuyu nodded while leaning forward in her seat, "if you had told me he was just joking around, I'd accuse you of being a dirty liar. The guy's … well, he's an asshole. It's pretty clear he looks down on everyone in my class, and he doesn't even try half the time."

"Huh? What does that mean?"

"He's got a killer quirk," Yuuyu shook her head, "he can create fire and ice. He's pretty freaking powerful too - he froze the entire building we were using for our battle trial in seconds, and dethawed it just as quickly. But the thing is, he only insists on using his ice quirk - he barely uses the fire side. He only uses it to melt us out of the freaking ice blocks he freezes us in."

"Is that right …?" Izuku said in wonder, slowly pulling out his notebook only for Ochako to absently take his hands and push them back down, acknowledging that now was probably not the best time for note taking.

"Yeah, he's a real douche-canoe, that's for -"

"I wouldn't say that."

At the quiet voice speaking from the side, Yuuyu's insults of her classmate paused, and everyone glanced over in surprise. Momo, for her part, looked a bit uncomfortable at the attention being suddenly all on her, but she still let out a sigh as she straightened up, keeping her hands folded on the desk as she looked around.

"Shouto Todoroki," She hesitated for a moment, and then cleared her throat and continued, "may seem to be quite standoffish, but … well … I assure you, that's mostly a front. I believe that he is quite the compassionate person, once you manage to get past the coldness."

"I mean," Setsuna raised her eyebrow, as though she doubted it. "I saw him during our exam - he pretty much scoffed whenever someone tried to talk to him. You saying he's got some hidden heart of gold we all don't know about?"

"That is very much correct. I would know, after all."

"Oh," Ochako's eyes widened a bit as she remembered, "oh, that's - that's right. You do know him, Yaoyorozu."

"Is that right?" Itsuka blinked. "So you two are - you're friends?"

"My friend? I … wouldn't say that," Momo sighed a bit, "we haven't been friends for quite a long while. Shouto is … well, to put it in simple terms … he is my fiancé."

There was a very long pause at the group as everyone blinked at the last word Momo said. They all slowly turned to look at Momo, seeing her stare down at her desk uncomfortably.

"He's your what now?" Yuuyu said in a blank tone, while Nejire's eyes widened.

"My … fiancé," Momo repeated, pouting a bit, while being unaware of Kyouka staring at her in complete and utter shock, "we are … well, it's a very long story. But when we were children, his parents and mine got together to discuss the possibilities of an arranged marriage between us. There was an … accident in the past that I am afraid that I can't get into without his permission, but after that, the relationship between myself and Shouto … deteriorated."

Turning to look at the utterly taken aback Ochako on the side, Momo tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"What you saw on Friday, Uraraka," She continued to explain, "is an example of the type of relationship Shouto and I now have - I would like to say that he's the only one acting cold, but I definitely don't make things any better. I'm not sure why he decided to distance himself from me, but … well, as much as I would like to try and patch up our friendship, he constantly pushes me away, and … well, a bit of resentment built up within me towards him. So our relationship is now … fairly frosty, pardon the pun."

"H-huh," Setsuna looked somewhat uncomfortable, "so, uh … if you two don't get along anymore, can't you … tell your parents you don't wanna go through with the - the marriage thing?"

Momo let out a sad sigh, shaking her head while Izuku and Itsuka shared a small, uncertain glance.

"I'm afraid that it isn't that simple, Tokage. My parents and his father are convinced that we still get along well. And it's … very difficult to talk to my father these days. He's the CEO of Yaoyorozu Corporations - he's barely home as it is, and even then, he always has guests over so I can't exactly ask him to talk alone so I can make my feelings about my engagement clear. So, as far as I am aware, I am still engaged to marry Shouto when we both turn twenty - once we've both gotten our rankings in the Hero Billboard Chart."

Once again, silence fell on their group as everyone either stared down at the desks, or at Momo in complete shock and sympathy, and Kyouka quickly closed her mouth as she glanced away. Even Nejire seemed speechless, if for a moment.

And then Setsuna pretty much summed up all of their thoughts by saying, "Well, that sucks."

"Set …" Itsuka groaned.

"No, I admit, that is the reaction I expected," Momo slowly nodded, sighing and glancing off to the side, "and I agree. It … sucks."

"Is … well, I wanted to ask if there's anything we can do," Yui shook her head, pursing her lips, "but there really isn't, is there?"

"Unfortunately not," Tenya shook his head as he sighed, putting his cup of orange juice down on the table and drawing the attention of the group over to him, "I will admit that I am not quite as well versed as Yaoyorozu is on the subject of arranged marriages, but they aren't easy to break, especially if a contact between both families is somehow involved. That would require a lot of time and effort to break that her parents, or Todoroki's parents, would probably prefer not to go through."

"Oh," Yuuyu weakly nodded, "well, shit."

"But Yaoyorozu," Tenya suddenly looked serious, leaning forward in his seat, "there is one thing I must ask."

"Yes?" Momo looked uncertain, "What is it, Iida?"

"This … isn't a quirk marriage as well, is it?"

"What?!" Momo let out a gasp, her eyes widening, and she quickly shook her head. "Oh, no! Goodness, no! I - I do not believe so! Goodness gracious."

A quirk marriage?" Ochako repeated, looking confused while Izuku looked a bit squicked out and Itsuka shook her head with a frown. "What's that?"

"It's, uh … it's when people would choose a spouse based on their quirks," Itsuka explained with a noticeable grimace, "like, they specifically choose to marry someone so that they can strengthen their quirks by passing it onto their children. It's like forcing someone to …"

From there, an icy chill passed through the group. Tenya, for his part, let out a small sigh as he turned back to Momo with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry for bringing it up," He sincerely said to her, "I'm aware that quirk marriages are rather frowned upon these days, but from some of the stories Tensei came home with … well …"

Momo shook her head, giving her classmate a smile.

"I thank you for your concern, Iida," She kindly said, "and I understand that all of you are concerned about me."

Everyone nodded, at least relieved that Momo seemed okay with everything.

"But," They then turned as Momo gave everyone a more serious look, "I know Shouto. I understand that you're all concerned, but I know that no matter how cold our relationship has become, there will be no chance that he will force me to do anything against my will."

"You're … sure?" Setsuna asked with clear uncertainty.

"I am positive."

Everyone wasn't exactly convinced, or comfortable with leaving it with that, but when they saw the more uncomfortable look on Momo's face, everyone got the clear message to drop the conversation for now. Itsuka, meanwhile, gave her friend a concerned look and made a mental note to talk to her about it later, while Kyouka likewise glanced up at Momo with a small, sympathetic gaze, glancing down at her hand on the table and resisting the urge to reach down and pat it.

Thankfully, before the awkward silence could go on any longer, they heard the sound of the bell ringing above them, making them jump and look around in surprise at the clock on the wall.

"Ah, crap," Yuuyu grimaced, standing up at once, "we lost track of the time. I should probably head back to my classroom - I've got hero training next, so I'm gonna check that my support items are still good to go from what happened last week."

"Oh, that's cool!" Nejire nodded with a big smile, "Then I guess I'll see you at home, Yuuyu!"

"Yeah," Yuuyu grinned at her, "see you later, Nej."

With that, everyone got up so they could move their desks back to their normal spots - they knew that Aizawa would probably not like them messing around with the seats, so they were quick to begin moving everything back to where it should be before he returned to the classroom. Yuuyu, meanwhile, gave their group a small wave as she made her way to the door, sliding it open so she could head back to her classroom and check out her gear -

- but then she felt herself pause with one foot out the door, and turned to look back in the classroom.

Her eyes fell to Nejire as she carefully carried her desk back to its usual spot, putting it down with a small grunt, and then quickly turned to look back at Izuku as he likewise put his desk back behind her in their usual spots. Yuuyu watched as Nejire visibly brightened up with excitement as she moved to put her hands down on his desk, excitedly beginning to talk to him as Izuku sat down in his seat, going a bit red but still smiling up at her.

Glancing between the both of them, Yuuyu felt her small smile from before fade at once, and be replaced by a scowl. Finally, she turned to finally leave the classroom, closing the door behind her with a little more force than necessary.

---

"Okay!"Pony pumped both her fists into the air as she turned to give her senpai a vicious yet somehow adorable smile as she hopped back and forth on her hooves, "I guess it means it's my turn now! Please take care of me,Amajiki-senpai!"

"How did this happen?" Tamaki shook in terror, his gaze immediately zipping down to the floor as he realized that he had no choice but to fight Pony as well, "I didn't even want to come today … I had homework to do … I feel like everyone's just staring at me … r-right, potatoes … s-she's not a person, she's a v-vegetable …"

"Huh?" Pony blinked in confusion, "I'm a what?"

"… I wanna go home …"

Indeed, Gym Gamma was fairly busy this afternoon for Class 1A's hero training - or, at least, the end of it, as the bell had rung about twenty minutes ago. All Might had decided ultimately to give them the afternoon to themselves to do some independent training for the sports festival, emphasizing not to slack off while he was summoned to another meeting with Nezu (although Izuku, Itsuka and Ochako saw a bit of steam rising from their mentor, clueing them in as to why All Might would want them to do a bit of training by themselves). So that meant that about half of Class 1A had decided to take their senpais up on their offer to do some training with them, with a good chunk of people more than willing to throw down with Mirio as he dodged and weaved through their attempts to hit him, laughing all the while.

At the current moment, the rest of their classmates were spread out throughout the campus - Katsuki had immediately went off by himself, while Yui and Tenya had gone off to start training at the USJ together, which made Itsuka a bit confused when Yui pretty much pushed Tenya out the classroom door, while Setsuna threw their friend a knowing grin. Yosetsu, Denki and Fumikage likewise headed out to one of the fields to train together as well, and Setsuna, Momo, Hanta and Kyouka headed out to the various zones to begin their exercises, with Momo and Kyouka going to Ground Beta to get some training done and wait for Mina and Pony to be done at Gym Gamma, and Hanta and Setsuna moving over to Ground Gamma.

The rest of the class, meanwhile, were busy trying to either tag team Mirio, spar with Tamaki (when the nervous guy could even look at them to fight, anyway) or else just sitting near the wall and waiting for their turns.

"Ha! C'mon guys, I saw that coming from a mile away!" Mirio laughed as Eijirou's fist easily sailed through his face, making the redhead stumble in his step. "You gotta do better than that!"

"Damn it!" Eijirou gritted his teeth, turning back around to run after their senpai as Mirio laughed happily and ducked underneath Tsuyu's attempt to kick him, the frog girl letting out an annoyed ribbit as she skidded across the floor, and Reiko hummed in annoyance as the bench she tossed at him telekinetically easily passed through him, with Mezo staying back to gauge his options to sneak up on Mirio.

On the other side of the gym, Izuku sat down on the floor beside the bench his training partners and Nejire were sitting on, in complete conflict as he flipped quickly between pages and tried to keep his ears open. He was trying to multitask - on one page, he would scribble down notes about Mirio's abilities as he saw their upperclassman use them, and on the other, he was trying as hard as he could to listen to what Nejire was saying as Itsuka explained a very watered down version of what she was dealing with.

"… and when I hit the mountain," Itsuka continued to explain to the curious and bright-eyed Nejire, "I ended up shattering it. I wasn't … aware that I could use my quirk with that much power, but it ended up breaking every bone in my arm."

"Woooooow …" Nejire quietly gushed, shaking with excitement as she held her hands up to her mouth, "… that sounds so cool, Kendou! So you didn't know how strong you were until your life was in danger? I mean, that sounds like it really sucks, and I'm sorry to hear that, but - wow!"

"Yeah, it was - it was really something," Ochako weakly nodded, trying not to give away what a ridiculously bad liar she was. Which … Izuku couldn't judge, there was a reason he was keeping quiet too.

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, "so I was doing some training, and I think that I can figure out how to use that strength without - y'know - breaking my arms. I figured out that it kinda works like - I need to manually control how much power I use each time. So I was wondering if you'd be able to give me a few pointers - from how Izuku described it, you use your quirk kinda like that, don't you? Having to make sure you only use your quirk at a certain percentage."

"I do!" Nejire nodded in confirmation, quickly hopping up and spinning around. With a bit of spinning energy, she hopped up into the air, floating carefully as she smiled down at the three training partners.

"So right now," She explained happily, "I can use my quirk's output up to twenty percent at maximum! Any more than that, I'll run out of energy and fall asleep - when I was going through the entrance exam with Izuku, I ended up using a bit more power than I normally would to keep him up in the air while he destroyed the zero-pointer - which was really awesome, by the way! - and then afterwards I was in and out of consciousness. And that wasn't good, because we were falling at the same time. Eesh."

"Yeah, it sounds like it," Itsuka nodded, trying to play along, "but, uh … so how do you …?"

"Oh! Right! Well, Kendou," Nejire kept her hands behind her back, "so how I do it is kinda … well, how do I explain it? Hm … oh! I know! So basically, how I started it was - well, I worked with my parents with my quirk, so what we did was figure out a plan. Back when I was little, I could use my quirk at full power, but it'd drain all of my stamina and I'd be in a mini-coma all day. And that wasn't good! It scared the crap out of Mom and Dad! So we needed to figure out a way for me to use my quirk safely - so we decided to treat it as me having to use my quirk in smaller percentages!"

"Percentages," Izuku repeated quietly, snapping his gaze up to her as more information about her quirk was revealed, and began to scribble excitedly in his notebooks while both Itsuka and Ochako sat up - given how All Might and Gran Torino described using One for All with certain 'percentages', all of their attention was focused on their classmate as they prayed that what advise she could give them would help out with Itsuka's current predicament, "so - so how do you do that? Use Wave Motion in smaller percentages."

"Well," Nejire clapped her hands together, "how we figured it went is pretty much - like I said, I had to figure out how to use my quirk safely. So I ran through what I knew - my quirk converts my stamina into energy, and releases it in spirals. And since it drains my life force, I had to really train my stamina so that I could get over all the drawbacks. So here's how I considered it - you guys know those weird volume knobs on computers? Or - or just like volume in general!"

"Uh … yeah?"

"Great," Nejire continued to excitedly explain, "so you know how there's volume control, right? Like - turn it down all the way, you can't hear anything. Turn it up around the middle, you can hear just fine. But if you turn it up all the way, it's too loud and it hurts your ears!"

"Yeah?" Ochako nodded, while Izuku quickly wrote in his notebook.

"Well, I figured my quirk was like that! Turn my quirk down low enough, I can't really use it. Turn it up to five percent? I can use it, but it's not loud - or, in that case, it's not too powerful. Twenty percent? I can hear! Or - you know, I can use my quirk just fine. But 100%, all the way? Ouch, my ears! Or - you know - my stamina."

"So," Itsuka leaned forward, feeling that she might understand, "that's the secret to how you use your quirk? You visualize a … volume control thingy?"

"Pretty much! But it's also not that simple," Nejire pointed out, raising her finger into the air, "because I'm also trying to train my body so that I don't hurt it too much with my quirk! So it's like - uh - well, if I'm going with the volume analogy thingy, it's like I'm trying to train my ears to better take louder noises! Except it's with my body, and trying to build up my stamina so that I can use my quirk better! Does that make sense?"

Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku stared up at her in wonder again, Itsuka's mouth opening slightly as a smile began to appear on her face -

- and then it dropped.

"Kinda? Not really?"

"Huh?!" Nejire blinked in surprise. "I thought I explained that well!"

"I - well, maybe you did, but I probably just don't get it," Itsuka sheepishly scratched the side of her head, shaking her head, "so, uh … I don't know. Maybe I'll understand a bit better if I try it out for myself - the, uh, volume analogy thingy."

"Ooooh! Can we do it right now?" Nejire excitedly asked, "We can go out in the field, maybe! And then we can -"

"Yo! We talking about quirks over here?"

The four teenagers jumped (or in Nejire's case, bobbed up a bit in the air) at the sound of a joyous voice behind them, and looked around. Mirio was jogging over towards where they were sitting, panting a bit as he reached out to grab his discarded gym shirt from where he had dropped it to spar with everyone, and gave them all a grin.

From the looks of things, they were taking a break from sparring, with Eijirou taking a long drink from his water bottle while Tsuyu patted Reiko's back, the pale-haired girl on her hands and knees and clutching her stomach, and Mezo returned from grabbing a water bottle for her to drink, all of them looking quite frustrated and tired. Evidently, things hadn't exactly gone their classmates' way in their spar

Once his gym shirt was back over his head, Mirio let out a small grunt as he moved to sit down on the floor beside Izuku, looking up at the three girls above them with a grin.

"How're you four doing?" He asked as Nejire floated back down onto the gym floor. "I noticed that you guys weren't fighting with either me or Tamaki - everything good?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine," Itsuka confirmed, giving their senpai a smile as she leaned over Ochako to speak with him, "we were just talking about our quirks - I was asking Hadou for advice."

"That right?" Mirio brightened up, sitting forward as he glanced at Nejire. "About what? Is there something going on? Like Midoriya here?"

"Uh -" Izuku sputtered a bit, going red while Mirio gave him an encouraging grin and patted his shoulder, "- well, uh, not - not really. Or - kinda. Just - Kendou here is - uh -"

"I'm having trouble with an aspect of my quirk I never realized I had," Itsuka quickly took over for him lest Izuku sputter his way through an unbelievable explanation, "turns out my quirk has, uh, a lot more punch than I thought it did, and I only realized how strong I am during what happened at the USJ."

"Huh …" Mirio's smile faltered a bit, turning to look down at his knee as he let out a small sigh. All four first-years blinked at the look of disappointment on his face as he glanced back over at them.

"I know that you guys probably don't wanna hear anything like 'I wish I had been there to stop those villains'," He grimaced, "or - y'know, anything that sounds arrogant like that, but … honestly, I do wish I had been at school that day to come help you guys out."

"I -" Izuku faltered for a bit, and then tried to smile assuredly at his upperclassman, "- I bet you would've been amazing, Togata-senpai. Especially with your quirk - there's not a lot of things a villain using Trigger can do to someone who can make themselves intangible."

"Maybe," Mirio nodded, letting out another sigh, and then sat back up, trying to smile again, "anyway, uh - don't let me spoil the fun with my moodiness. So Kendou, you're having trouble with your quirk, huh? Anything I can do to help you out? I know my quirk might seem relatively simple in comparison to your own quirks, but trust me, I've been there with having complications with my powers."

"Huh? Really?" Nejire looked curious, leaning around Itsuka as she sat back down beside her, and Itsuka tried to lean back so that her classmate wasn't leaning across her. "That's surprising! Is your quirk hard to use? You make it look so simple!"

"I guess I'll take that as a compliment!" Mirio laughed, slapping his hand to his bicep as he lifted it up to flex. "But to be honest, yeah, it kinda is."

"Is that right?" Ochako blinked in surprise. "That's - well, that's surprising to hear, senpai. Your quirk is amazing - you make using it look so easy when you spar with us."

"Well, that's only because I made it amazing," He explained to her with a smile, "When I activate my quirk, I can go through everything - but the opposite is also true. I can go through anything, but anything can go through me. So whenever I use my quirk, I'm pretty much going in blind every time."

"Oh, yeah!" Nejire let out a gasp. "You told me about that! Back when you were naked!"

"Er … yeah," Izuku grimaced, flipping his notebook back to Mirio's page, "I remember you telling us about it when we were testing out my quirk - your senses don't work while you use your quirk."

"Yep! My lungs can't take in any oxygen, I can't hear anything because the vibrations can't go through my eardrums, and light can't go through my retinas. It's freaky!"

"Is … that right …?" Ochako slowly said, feeling herself gulp slightly as she thought about what that would be like. Essentially slipping into a state where all of her senses didn't work, unable to see, hear, or breathe …

Both she and Itsuka shared a small glance, the orange-haired girl likewise looking like she was having the same thoughts and grimacing slightly. They had been impressed by their senpai's quirk when they had seen it in action, but now that they knew what he had to go through every time he had to use it … well, they didn't exactly feel envious of him, that was for certain.

"So that's why, if I wanted to learn how to use my quirk," Mirio continued to explain, letting out a small chuckle at Itsuka and Ochako's clear looks of discomfort, "I had to start practicing. I pretty much had to work my whole life to learn how to even walk through walls. You'd think it'd be simple to do that, but there's actually a lot of steps involved. And because my quirk's so complicated, I ended up being dead last in my class during first year. I was always behind everyone else."

The four first-years didn't really know what to say to that, even Nejire, but at least Mirio seemed pretty serene about it.

"So you guys wanna know what I did?"

"Mm-hm," Nejire nodded excitedly.

"Well," He grinned, "if I was to improve my marks, I realized it - I had nowhere to go but up. So that meant that I needed to get experimental with my quirk! And lucky for me, I ended up getting scouted by my mentor after what happened at the sports festival."

"Your mentor?" Itsuka blinked in intrigue. "You mean, someone you interned with."

"Yep!" Mirio nodded in confirmation. "He's the reason I'm where I am today. He reached out to me after I messed up at the sports festival - took me in, told me that he could help me figure out my quirk, and help me master it. And you know something? That's exactly what he did! Taught me how to predict everyone's movements before they even made them, so that I knew what to do, and how to use my quirk, before they could even have a chance to think it themselves."

"Wow …" Ochako slowly nodded, "… your mentor sounds pretty cool, Togata-senpai."

"He is!" He laughed. "He's actually gonna be here today - Principal Nezu is talking with a bunch of pro heroes about field training after the sports festival, so he's gonna let me know when he's gonna stop by so he can say hello! If you want, I could introduce you guys."

"Really?" Izuku gasped, sitting up with a wide smile. "Y-yeah! That sounds great!"

"Awesome!" Mirio jumped up to his feet, smiling down at his kohai as he threw his arms up in the air to stretch. "I think he mentioned something about not being in for about another hour or so - so in that case, you guys ready to fight? I'm sparring with everyone today, so I'd advise you take my offer and try to kick the crap out of me!"

"Oooh!" Nejire jumped up as well, excited. "Let's do it, guys! Preferably together, so he doesn't just beat me up. Which would suck. Please?"

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded with a smile, standing up from the bench as she turned to look down at her training partners, "I'm game. How about you two? Wanna come get the crap kicked out of us?"

"Well," Ochako giggled, "I guess if -"

"Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!"

At the sound of someone shrieking in English, the small group near the wall jumped in surprise and looked around. Pony was quickly running away from where she had been sparring with Tamaki in panic, her hooves clopping loudly against the gym floor, as she ran behind Mezo to hide behind him, the taller boy looking around at her in surprise.

On the other side of the gym, Tamaki froze, his fingers transformed into octopus tentacles and looking mortified by her outburst.

"Oh -" Mezo realized what was going on, turning to give their senpai an apologetic look, "- that's - she's just a bit afraid of octopuses, Amajiki-senpai, she didn't mean to -"

Alas, it was too late, as Tamaki quickly turned to speed walk over to the wall so he could press his forehead against it and mutter his intent to go home under his breath, shrinking in on himself. Pony, for her part, realized her mistake and began panicking even more, quickly hurrying from around her friend's back to run back to her senpai on the wall as he looked like he was about to go into the fetal position.

"Oh, no, I'm - I'm so sorry, Amajiki-senpai! I didn't mean - I just -"

"Iwannagohome, Iwannagohome, Iwannagohome …"

"Oh, boy," Mirio let out a sigh, straightening himself up, "I better go help out with Tamaki before he decides to run away. Anyway, you guys wait for me on the gym floor!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku quickly nodded, watching as Mirio began jogging over to his best friend. The group watched as he made his way quickly across the gym to go pat his best friend's shoulder and get his attention, and then turned as Nejire spun around.

"Okay! I'm gonna go do some stretches!" She informed them excitedly. "Don't wanna fight without doing those!"

With that, she quickly hurried across the gym so she could begin stretching, Izuku watching her go for a moment as she stopped and threw her arms over her head - and then quickly blinking as she moved down to touch her toes, letting out a small noise as she bent over, and quickly turning to look away.

It was an action that didn't go unnoticed by Itsuka and Ochako, both girls blinking and turning to give him a slightly suspicious stare as he quickly brought his hands together to wring them, his face going a bit red. With a sigh, Itsuka shook her head, and glanced back around at Mirio as he talked to Tamaki, patting Pony's shoulder to assure the clearly panicking girl that everything was okay.

Despite herself, Itsuka couldn't help but feel herself begin to frown, her brow furrowing slightly - but not at Mirio, of course, he hadn't done anything wrong. It was just … it had been about a week and a bit, and yet, she still felt that she should recognize something about Mirio.

She was certain that she had heard about him before - that, she was convinced of - and yet, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't match his face or his name to anywhere. It had almost gotten to the point of annoyance for her, like she should know who he was, and yet, it wouldn't come to her. Almost like she was experiencing some kind of déjà vu that she couldn't quite figure out.

With another sigh, Itsuka tried to shake the annoyed feeling out of her, turning back to her training partners as she hopped up to bounce a bit on her tippie-toes.

"Okay," She shook herself slightly as she glanced between them, "I guess this means we're fighting Togata-senpai now."

"Yep!" Ochako cracked her knuckles, that fierce look from when she had been pumped up about the sports festival back on her face. "Let's kick some ass, guys! Deku, you ready to use the Full Gauntlet?"

"I … don't think I should," Izuku shut that down, looking sheepish as both girls looked around at him in surprise and Ochako's fierce expression faltered a bit, "I don't wanna get into a fight with the four of us and - you know, accidentally miss Togata-senpai and hit one of you. Which … I think would definitely happen, since he can make himself intangible. So I think I'm just gonna stick with trying to hit him with my fists - there's too much of a risk otherwise."

"Oh," Ochako blinked, "I didn't think of that."

"… that," He suddenly glanced down at his shoes, not meeting either girl's gaze, "and I … may have forgotten the Gauntlet back in the classroom."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"… dude." Itsuka gave him a deadpan look.

"I just forgot!" Izuku waved his hands in the air as he tried to defend himself, with Ochako letting out her own exasperated sigh, and gave her head a shake.

"Well, I guess there's nothing we can do about it now," She shrugged, "unless you wanted to run there and back. So let's get out onto that gym floor and kick some senpai -"

"Oh, I don't think so, cutie!"

Ochako let out a small squeak of surprise as a pair of arms suddenly wrapped themselves intimately around her waist, and someone rested their chin against her shoulder, embracing her from behind. Both Izuku and Itsuka looked around at her outburst, blinking (and Itsuka beginning to suddenly scowl) as Himiko let out a small giggle, hugging Ochako from behind, and the brown-haired girl quickly looked around in surprise at their senpai, not even hearing or seeing her come into the gym.

"Sorry to interrupt you three while you were getting pumped up," The school nurse gave them a cat-like smile, "but I believe it's time for us to do a bit of training on our own, cute kohai."

"I - uh -"

"Training?" Izuku blinked in surprise, glancing between both girls, "Wait, you're training with Toga-senpai, Occhan?"

"That's Nurse Toga," Himiko corrected him with a giggle, "I'm on the clock right now! And yes, she is! Occhan here asked me to show her the ropes back on Friday, and me, being the kind and gracious senpai I am, gave in to the puppy dog look pretty easily. So now we're gotta go on a bit of a jog around the campus - I hope you two don't mind me stealing her away for the rest of the afternoon."

"Oh, uh …" Itsuka felt herself falter, glancing between her two training partners as they looked around at her.

There was a small pause between the three of them as they glanced between each other - Ochako blinking and realizing that she would have to leave them on their own for a little bit, seeing as she had no idea how long she was gonna take and when they'd be able to meet up again; Izuku glancing between the both of them and seeing how Itsuka looked a bit taken aback by Ochako leaving, which made him shrink slightly in on himself; and Itsuka glancing between them both and realizing that there was a high chance she and Izuku were gonna have to be left alone for a bit, when she still had problems looking at him without her face turning red.

Himiko felt her eyebrow raise as they stayed silent for a moment, glancing between each other again - and then Itsuka let out a small, weak laugh.

"Uh … yeah! Yeah, it's - it's cool, Toga-senpai," She managed to get out, turning to Izuku as she tried to grin shakily at him, "it's - yeah, it's cool. Uh - anyway, Izuku, let's - let's go get ready for our spar with Togata-senpai. And - uh - I should go refill my water bottle."

"Oh, uh - yeah, sure," Izuku nodded quickly as well, still unsure if it was a good idea for Ochako to leave as he cleared his throat awkwardly, "let's, uh - yeah. I'll start getting ready."

With that, the small trio broke up, Ochako's two training partners turning stiffly away from each other and beginning to head to their spots - Itsuka scooping up her water bottle from where she had their bags and jogging over to the refill station, and Izuku moving over to where Nejire was stretching to begin getting himself ready for the fight as well.

Ochako glanced between the two of them again at how awkward they were both acting, her head slightly tilting as she glanced after wasn't exactly sure … what the hell that was, she thought as she felt herself pout a little bit, but it was clear that Itsuka was hesitant to be left alone with Izuku, for some reason. Was … was there something going on between them? Did something happen this weekend? She had thought that Itsuka seemed to be avoiding Izuku's gaze while they had been spending time with Eri - but what could've happened that made them both feel awkward to be around each other?

After Itsuka stopped at the refill station to put her water bottle beneath the tab, Ochako's gaze flickering down her friend's body automatically before glancing away, she let out a small sigh - although she couldn't concentrate on what might be going on between her friends for long, as Himiko squeezed her arms around her waist again to get her attention. As Ochako looked around at her senpai in surprise, Himiko thankfully let go of her waist at last with a giggle, taking a step back and grinning at her.

"So!" She clapped her hands together. "Here's what I'm thinking, cute kohai - you and I are gonna go on a little run together. Or, to be more accurate, we're going to have a little chase between us. I'm gonna be 'it', so you need to make sure I don't catch you."

"Oh," Ochako blankly said, for a moment - and then a thought suddenly came to her.

Reminded of what had happened on Friday when they had trained together, Ochako felt herself pale a bit, gulping as she began sweating a bit, and glanced up at Himiko's seemingly innocent face, feeling herself begin to shake as nervousness filled her.

"And … when you say that, you don't mean that … you're … not gonna throw knives at me again, are you?"

Himiko merely let out a girlish giggle, and pulled out a knife from her pocket, flipping it open, and then playfully balanced the tip of the blade on her fingertip.

---

The one bright side of having Himiko as a trainer was that she, at the very least, made sure that the knives she threw at Ochako were extremely blunt, not sharp at all. So rather than having knives lodging themselves in her skin and causing damage, Ochako was simply being hit very hard by thin pieces of metal getting thrown at her back.

That ... was the down side to having Himiko as a trainer.

"Ow, ow, ow …" She hissed as she moved her now bruised arm a bit too quickly to reach for her water bottle on the ground, while Himiko merely giggled behind her.

"Shoulda been fast-errrrrr," She teased her kohai in a sing-songy voice as she reached the water fountain where they had left their bags, scooping her own water bottle off the ground and sitting down on the bench.

"I'm sorry that I can't run and dodge knives being thrown at my back after just two days of training," Ochako grumbled as she finally managed to snag her water bottle from the ground, lifting it and uncapping the top to take a deep drink.

"Heh, heh, heh, sarcastic little minx."

"Huh? I'm a minx? What's a minx?"

Himiko merely wiggled her eyebrows, making Ochako roll her eyes a tad bit at her teasing senpai as she finally raised her water bottle to her lips to drink.

As she had said, Himiko had taken Ochako out for a small 'jog' for their training that day, running from one spot on the campus and back. She just failed to mention that their little 'chase', as Himiko had called it, would include the older girl hurling knives at Ochako's back, giving her kohai all the motivation to keep her eyes over her shoulders to quickly dodge out of the way. In the end, Ochako supposed that she should just consider herself lucky that Himiko was either somehow skilled enough to always hit her with the handle of the knives, or she had chosen to use the bluntest knives she had to hit Ochako in the back of the head.

Either way, Ochako knew she was seriously going to need an ice pack when she got home tonight.

At the moment, Himiko decided to give Ochako a small break from all the running around and getting hit by knives, standing near the road that would eventually lead to the USJ, and stopping near a water-refill station, much to Ochako's immense relief. As they looked out onto the various fields of UA from their spot near the bench, they could make out other students training for the sports festival or heading towards the gate to head home, while Ochako slowly rubbed her legs to get some of the feeling back in them from all that running, continuing to pant slightly even after taking a deep drink of water.

"Is it … is it really necessary to make me run all the way across campus and back? Why couldn't we just use the gym like last time?"

"Uh, because other people were still using it?" Himiko teasingly smirked up at Ochako as she leaned back against the bench, watching as Ochako rubbed her legs as the blonde girl unzipped her gym uniform a bit. "And the last time I got caught throwing knives around in there, Midnight walloped me over the head with that stupid flogger and dragged me off to a lecture. Trust me, cutie, as someone who's been lectured by her for years, you do not wanna spend any more time talking to Midnight than you have to."

"Er … I guess so," Ochako slowly nodded, watching for a moment as Himiko absently played with the zipper of her gym uniform - a gym top, by the way, that had the bottom cut off to expose her abs, and Himiko playing with the zipper meant she caught a small glimpse of her blank training bra - and hurriedly turned back to the refill station to top off her water, feeling weirdly nervous for some reason.

Training with Himiko for two days now meant that Ochako got a better glimpse into how the older girl acted - specifically, that she very much enjoyed teasing. Whether that be through sultry tones and giggling remarks, or trying to feel herself up to catch Ochako offguard and hit her in the face with a knife, Ochako was starting to get the picture that Himiko especially liked teasing her, for some reason. She knew that it was normally how Himiko acted - she'd seen Himiko make similar remarks to Izuku and Nejire, after all, so she knew that it wasn't like she was special or something.

Still, it kind of made her nervous to get those kinds of remarks from her senpai, despite how she felt that she didn't deserve them, so most of the time she responded to those flirty remarks with nervous laughter or just not saying anything. Which … she knew must make her look pretty dumb, she thought with a small grimace.

Himiko, for her part, seemed content for now with sitting back and looking up at the orange-ish sky as the sun set in the distance, tapping her feet against the gravel ground as she put the blunted knives down beside her on the bench. Soon enough, Ochako sat down on her other side, sighing in relief as she rubbed her sore legs again, and took a small sip of water.

"So," Himiko said conversationally as she leaned back on the bench, glancing at Ochako out of the corner of her eye, "question, cute kohai."

"Uh … okay?" Ochako shrugged, raising her water bottle back up to her lips to take another sip, and completely missing Himiko beginning to smile mischievously. "What's up?"

"Why is it that you keep looking at Kendou's butt?"

Ochako then proceeded to, as one would guess, completely and utterly choke on her drink.

"Pfft! I - *cough* *cough* *cough*!"

Himiko watched with great amusement as whatever water Ochako drank violently exited her nose as her senpai asked her the million dollar question, leaning back and enjoying as Ochako was subjected to a violent coughing fit not unlike what All Might would go through when he shrunk down from his true form, her face going blood red. It took a little while for Ochako to calm herself down, with Himiko continuing to patiently wait for her kohai to get her shit together and sputter herself back to coherency.

"I - *cough* - I - w-what?!"

"I asked," Himiko cheerfully repeated herself, "why is it that you seem so interested in grabbing your best friend's ass?"

"I - I w-what -" Ochako let out another cough, her face turning redder and redder by the second, and Himiko let out a cheeky giggle as she turned to look up at the sky again.

"I'm just surprised, that's all!" She went on as Ochako covered her mouth to contain her coughs, "A few weeks ago, I noticed that all you did in your spare time was check out that other cutie you hang out with -"

"I - who?!"

"Oh, you know," Himiko wiggled her eyebrows suggestively again, "your certain green-haired friend."

"I - n-no!" Ochako quickly protested, shaking her head and hiding her face in her hands, unintentionally using her quirk on herself. Himiko raised an eyebrow as her kohai began floating up into the air, and absently reached over to grab her shoe to prevent her from flying away, looking like a little kid holding an oversized balloon. "I - I don't know what you mean! I don't - I don't look at Deku like - no way! He's just my - he's - you've - you've got it all wrong!"

"Do I?"

"Y-y-yes! And - and I don't - I don't look at Kendou like -"

"Oooooh, yes you do," Her senpai giggled menacingly, "you literally did it before we went off to train today. You looked like you wanted to slide across the gym floor and give her butt a great big hug."

"I - I don't -! I don't wanna -!"

"And I can't blame you!" She let out a small sigh, using her other hand to hold her cheek as she smiled happily, "I'll admit that Kendou isn't really my type, but I can appreciate a good looking girl when I see one. And hoo boy … I'd love to find a way to sneak in between those legs, but I'm afraid of either being suffocated to death or getting my neck snapped by those thighs."

"I - No, I -" Ochako shook her head again, her face continuing to burn bright red while Himiko gave her a very entertained look. Finally, she lowered her hands from her face so she could grab the bench and lower herself back down, looking extra embarrassed at accidentally using her quirk on herself.

Once she pressed her fingers together and restored her weight, she let out a sigh as she quickly looked down at her pink shoes, anywhere but at her senpai as her face remained very red.

"- l-listen, Toga-senpai, I -" She cleared her throat briefly, "- I'm - okay, listen."

"I'm listening," Himiko giggled.

"I - okay," She let out another breath to try and calm herself, "I … I'll admit, I might have been … kinda … sorta … looking at Itsuka's butt."

"Mm-hm," Himiko cheekily hummed as Ochako fidgeted, tapping her fingers together.

"But - but we aren't - we aren't together," She clarified in a quiet, embarrassed tone, "and - and I shouldn't be checking her out anyway. It's - it's rude of me, I know that."

"Why would that be?" Himiko titled her head curiously, seeing Ochako let out a small sputter, "I wasn't aware that you had to be in a relationship with someone to check them out. No harm in letting your eyes wander, cute kohai."

"But -"

"Don't you like her?"

"I …" Ochako felt herself go still at that question, faltering as her face continued to burn … and then she shook her head. "... no, I … I don't like her. Like - I don't like-like her."

"…"

"…"

"… yeah, no." Himiko shook her head, her smirk fading somewhat, "I'm gonna call bullshit on that."

"H-huh?!" Ochako squeaked, quickly looking up at her senpai again. "But - I -"

"There's no way you don't like her," She leaned back with a small smirk, "trust me, cutie, I've got an eye for this kind of thing. I take love very seriously, you know. And how you look at Kendou … you aren't subtle. It's not just her butt you're looking at. From how you look at her? You're in it deep, girl - which is why I'm surprised that Kendou isn't the only one you look at like that. You're just … not very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in."

"I - n-no, I -" Ochako stuttered, feeling her cheeks continue to turn bright red. "- s-seriously, Toga-senpai, I don't -"

"Er - I understand the desire for privacy, but do we really have to go in here, Kodai?"

Both girls blinked at the sound of a familiar voice coming somewhere from their left, well into the forest they were sitting beside. Looking quickly around, Ochako squinted her eyes a bit into the slightly darkened area - and then felt them widen at the sight of a familiar girl with shoulder-length black hair leading a taller boy deeper into the forest.

"Kodai?" She wondered out loud, "And … Iida? What're they doing?"

"Ooooooh, you know them?" Himiko asked in an interested voice.

"Y-yeah, they're - they're my friends."

"Is that right?" Himiko slowly nodded - and then clapped her hands together. "Okay, then. Let's go!"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked in surprise, looking around at her senpai as she abruptly stood up from the bench, but before she could ask what she meant, Himiko reached down to grab her wrist, and began dragging her to her feet.

Ochako sputtered a bit as she was pulled off the bench, and Himiko began walking towards the forest, her eyes on Tenya's retreating back as she began tiptoeing quietly so as not to alert them to their presence.

"I - wait a second, senpai -!" Ochako began to protest.

"Shh!" Himiko giggled quietly as she raised her finger to her lips to shush her, "It sounds like something juicy is coming up if your friends over there wanna talk in private. Let's listen in."

"But - but -!"

"Consider this one of your first tests to become a stealth hero," Himiko gave her a wink, "we're gonna eavesdrop on those two without them ever noticing we're there. Follow my lead."

Ochako still had her clear hesitation about doing something like this - she didn't feel comfortable spying on her friends - but Himiko was really offering no alternative, keeping her surprisingly tight grip on Ochako's wrist as she guided her through the forest where Tenya and Yui were going. Ochako took a small, deep breath, realizing that she probably didn't have a choice in this, and glanced down to the ground to make sure she didn't step on any twigs or discarded leaves, anything that would alert the other two to their presence.

Thankfully, it didn't take very long for them to catch up with Yui and Tenya, although that was less to do with how fast they were walking and more to do with Yui apparently finding the spot she had been searching for - a small clearing with two trees relatively close together that they could stand near. Both Himiko and Ochako managed to hide themselves behind a larger tree that gave them plenty of cover, peeking their heads out slightly to see Yui leaning against one tree while Tenya stood stiffly before her, his face looking weirdly flushed.

Ochako knew that she probably shouldn't be doing this, listening in on them, but … well, for some reason, she remembered what had happened at lunch, with Yui pressuring Tenya into going to train with her. Their reactions had been a little odd, so she was admittedly curious as to what they were doing.

"So … ah …" Tenya cleared his throat, his voice sounding oddly stiffer than usual, "… is … this an appropriate place to speak to each other? I didn't realize that we needed so much privacy, Kodai."

"Yeah, this is cool," Yui nodded, speaking with that same blank tone that gave away nothing, "sorry to make you walk out all this way, I just wanted to make sure no one overheard us."

Ochako tried her hardest not to feel too guilty while Himiko let out another quiet giggle.

"Well, if - if it's to make you more comfortable talking to me, then I will not judge you!" Tenya quickly assured her, "Especially since you helped me get a good amount of training done in the conflagration zone - I hadn't thought of using it as an obstacle course to practice stopping abruptly. Thank you very much!"

"Mm-hm."

"Well - so, er -" Tenya suddenly faltered, his grateful smile turning a bit nervous, "- you … mentioned at lunch that you would - uh - like to discuss something with me."

"Mm-hm." Yui hummed again, nodding. "Do you remember what we talked about? After what happened at the USJ?"

Ochako felt herself blink at that, her guilt at eavesdropping on this fading a tad bit as Himiko let out an intrigued murmur. She felt herself lean out a bit further - she had no idea that Tenya and Yui had apparently talked after what happened at the USJ - or, more accurately, the few times they did visit the USJ, between the Villain Consortium attacking them and All Might playing a prank on them.

She couldn't help but feel intrigued herself as Tenya somehow stiffened up even more.

"I - yes," He nodded, his face turning as red as Ochako's had been a few minutes ago, "I - I recall what we discussed. P-perfectly, Kodai."

"Good." Yui nodded, and then tilted her head curiously, "So then - I wanna know if you've put any thought into it."

"Er … any … thought into … p-pardon my manners, but could you explain -"

"I wanna know if you've put any thought into how you feel about me."

Ochako stared blankly at her friend from her spot hiding behind the tree, her eyes widening slightly as Tenya let out a small squeak. She felt like she had missed something here, some important piece of information that would help her understand what exactly was going on, but before she could collect her jaw from where it had fallen to the forest floor, Himiko let out a small 'ooh' and leaned out slightly to listen better as Tenya cleared his throat again.

"I … I see," He managed to get out, his voice cracking, "you'd, uh … like an opinion on - on how I - on my feelings towards you? If - if I understand you correctly."

"Yep," She nodded, crossing her arms across her chest, "I was talking a bit about it with Set on Friday, and I figured I'd at least ask you about it now that you've had some time to think."

"Y-yes," Tenya quickly nodded, his face continuing to burn in reds Ochako had only seen Izuku, the blush master, have on his face, "as I - as I thought you would. It makes sense, of course, what with me making you wait for an - an answer."

"I mean … it's okay if you don't have an answer," Yui said, a small frown appearing on her face, "like I said to you before, I'm not expecting you to ask me out or anything like that - you don't owe me an answer if you don't have one. I was just … curious."

"I - I understand that," Tenya quickly said, glancing down at his feet, "but … well, I … did put some thought into what you told me. And … well, the truth is …"

Yui straightened her back a bit, staring at him blankly but with an air that she was completely focused on him. Ochako suddenly found herself waiting with baited breath, never one for gossip before but all for whatever was going on here.

"I … I shall not deny that you are … certainly physically attractive," Tenya managed to finally get out, one of his hands at his side shaking a bit, "you're … you're very beautiful, Kodai. But - but that isn't what matters here. The truth is, I've been thinking about - about how we've spent time together, and - and I find that I - I enjoy being around you, K-Kodai. You're - well, I do find your jokes humorous, even if they are a tad bit inappropriate, and thinking of you does - uh - warm my heart a bit."

"Holy crap," Ochako's eyes widened as she softly muttered under her breath, never expecting Tenya of all people to say stuff like this.

"And - and the fact that you seem to regard my … admitted odd behavior as attractive is very - er - well, it certainly is a confidence booster. I will admit that my experience with the opposite sex is quite limited, as many people have told me that they are quite turned off by my personality -"

"That doesn't surprise me." Yui muttered under her breath, scowling a bit on his behalf. Those four words alone were enough to convince Ochako, right then and there, that she was a hundred percent on board with whatever was going on with these two.

"- so the fact that it doesn't seem to be a - well, a deterrent for you is quite - well, it means a great deal to me."

"Okay." Yui nodded. "So?"

"So …" Tenya faltered again, "… so … er …?"

"I'm wondering," Yui took a small step forward, seeing Tenya stiffen up once again as she moved slightly towards him, "what exactly we're supposed to do with this now."

"I - what do you mean?"

"I mean," Yui raised an intrigued eyebrow, "I find you attractive. You find me attractive. You like spending time with me. I like spending time with you. I like you. And I think you just admitted that you like me. So what does that mean for us going forward?"

"I'm …" Tenya paused again, evidently not thinking things through as his face continued to pretty much glow magma.

Behind the tree, Himiko let out a small, impish giggle as she raised a hand to her mouth. Ochako managed to tear her gaze away from the two to look up at her from the older girl's stance behind her, and felt herself blink at the mischievous look on her senpai's face as she straigthened up, beginning to lean a bit more out from behind the tree. Almost as though she were about to …

Without thinking, believing that Himiko was about to go around the corner and interrupt them, Ochako's hand went down to grab her wrist. The older girl blinked at the four fingers squeezing around her wrist, looking down at Ochako with a raised eyebrow and the side of her mouth moving up slightly as an intrigued smirk crossed her face.

Ochako felt her face go a bit red at the action, but was still sure to raise her finger to her lips to shush her this time, hoping that it would somehow convey her wish for her senpai to stay put.

Thankfully, before Himiko could do anything, Tenya let out a small sigh.

"I believe that … I understand what you're asking, Kodai," He said, getting all three girls' attention back on him (unbeknown to him or Yui), "you're … asking about the possibility of us beginning a - a relationship?"

"Mm-hm."

"I …" Tenya stopped for a moment, glancing away with his face continuing to flush bright red - and then he let out a small sigh.

"… Kodai, if I … if I am being honest," He said in a quiet voice, "I am not … opposed to forming a relationship with you."

Yui straightened up again, a small flush appearing on her cheeks, and both Ochako and Himiko's eyes shot open at what Tenya was saying.

"It's just …" He frowned, staring down at the forest floor, "… and I don't wish to offend you, but - but I also acknowledge that things are going to be - well, they'll be quite busy going forward. What with the sports festival in a few weeks, and then midterms, and then whatever assignment Aizawa-sensei would like us to focus on after that - I must say, there won't be many opportunities for us to …"

"That's fair," Yui finished for him, staring down at the ground, "not a lot of time to go on dates if we're both getting ready for the sports festival."

"Y-yes, indeed."

"Then how about this?" She offered, making Tenya blink and look around at her in surprise. "You don't have to give me a genuine answer until after the sports festival. I know that we're both supposed to be getting ready for that, and you don't need me distracting you. So we'll leave it as this - acknowledging us as being attracted to each other. And once the sports festival is done, we can talk about where we want our relationship to go from there."

"That's …" Tenya paused for a moment, evidently thinking things over. The three girls watched as his gaze fell to the ground again, tapping one foot against it as his eyes narrowed behind his glasses, and his cheeks remained rosy.

After a few seconds, he began to slowly nod.

"Y-yes, Kodai, that - that seems reasonable," He confirmed, looking back up at her. "I will - I will put some serious thought into how our r-relationship will progress after the sports festival."

"Good." Yui nodded as well. "In that case, I guess we're putting a pause on this conversation."

"Y-yes, we are."

"Mm-hm."

"Yes."

"…"

"…"

" … wanna grab my ass before we do?"

"I - what?!" Tenya let out a squeak, looking mortified and scandalized as Yui began to turn and walk away, being sure to purposefully sway her hips a bit to tease him and making Himiko force herself to suppress an amused and approving snort. "Kodai, that is entirely inappropriate! We are still on school grounds, despite being relatively in private! I wouldn't dare touch you in any inappropriate ways, even if we had just begun a relationship! Those actions are for when a couple are in the safety and comfort of their bedrooms, and even then -!"

"So you aren't saying you don't wanna grab my ass."

"How did you get that from there?! And another thing …!"

He was quick to follow after Yui as she looked over her shoulder to give him a deadpan yet somehow amused look, walking away from the tree and letting him rant at her as they walked out of the clearing back towards the road that would lead back to the main building.

As soon as the sound of Tenya's reprimands began to fade in the distance, the two girls that had been taking cover behind the tree straightened up and came out from their little hiding spot, Himiko leading the way with her eyebrows raised, and Ochako still in a bit of shock that Tenya and Yui had apparently being flirting this whole time and she never noticed. As soon as his voice finally faded away, there was a small silence.

And Himiko let out a small giggle, drawing Ochako's attention and looking around as her senpai stared down at where Ochako still had her hand around her wrist, one pinkie out, and a coy smile appeared on her senpai's lips.

"Oh," Ochako blinked a bit, feeling herself blush as she realized she had been holding onto Himiko this entire time, "I'm - I'm sorry, senpai, I'll just -"

But before the apology could leave her lips, and Ochako could let go of her wrist, Himiko moved her arm. Ochako found herself faltering as Himiko easily slipped her hand out from Ochako's loose grip, but instead of moving away, slid it up so that she could entwine their fingers together. Ochako felt herself go a bit red again as Himiko held her hand, her gaze snapping up to her senpai as Himiko giggled mischievously.

"Well?" She gestured with her head, "I think it's time we go take a shower, cute kohai. Let's get moving - we can go to the nurse's office and use the showers there, I've gotta stop by there anyway to check on something."

"I - uh -?"

Before she could ask, however, Himiko turned to begin walking away, Ochako squeaking as she was suddenly pulled along again, and quickly began trying to match her senpai's pace so that she wasn't dragged along. She glanced back down at where Himiko was holding securely to her hand, feeling her face continue to burn, but she didn't say anything as Himiko led her out of the forest, unaware of a small smirk on the older girl's face.

After stopping to grab their discarded bags from where they had left them at the bench, Himiko continued to lead her back through the school grounds to the main building, holding her hand the entire time. They walked in relative silence, Ochako staring down at the ground while Himiko counted her knives to make sure they were all there, and both girls kept quiet as they entered the building. Himiko led her all the way upstairs towards the room that she and Itsuka had been treated in after what happened at the USJ, pushing it open and glancing inside.

Seeing the room being apparently empty, she glanced over at the desk, seeing a note placed there with her name on it, and tilted her head in curiosity. Walking over, she grabbed the note, keeping her other hand in Ochako's, and flipped it open to read whatever instructions Recovery Girl had left for her.

Toga,

I'm heading out into the field - some first years messed up and ended up getting entangled in vines, so I don't know how long it's going to take until I get back.

Please clean off the tables when you get back, I've cleaned everything else. And if you do anything naughty with one of the students, I will know. I will hit you with my cane.

Do not test me.

"Oh, good," She muttered to herself, smirking as she tossed the note onto the desk and completely ignored the not so subtle threat, "so Granny's not coming back for a while, huh …?"

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "Did - did you say something, senpai?"

"Nope! Anyway, make yourself comfortable," She giggled, leading her inside and finally letting go of her hand, letting Ochako sigh in relief a bit as she glanced around the empty room, "I figured we'd better use the showers in here, just so we can have a bit of privacy."

"Uh … sure."

"Anyway," Himiko sighed as she moved towards the nearest bed, putting her stuff down on it while grabbing the curtains, "it seems like there's someone in your class that's being proactive."

"Huh?"

"You know," She gestured airily with her hand, "Little Miss Suave back there. Taking her boy to the forest to get answers out of him."

"Oh. Uh …" Ochako felt herself stutter for a moment, unable to stop herself from giggling slightly, "… honestly, I had no idea she was into Iida. That's - well, good for her. I thought it was kinda weird how they were acting around each other, but maybe it was just crush stuff?"

"Hm," Her senpai absently hummed as she drew the curtains closed, "well, at least she knows what she wants. Unlike someone else I know."

"H-huh?" Ochako blinked.

"I mean," Himiko looked over her shoulder to give Ochako an amused, pointed look, "at least Kodai had a look at 'Mr. Ruler Up His Ass' and decided to go and get it. Unlike you, Miss 'I Wasn't Looking At Kendou's Ass, I Swear On My Life'."

Ochako sputtered at that, her face going a bit red, and she quickly aimed the Danger Pout at Himiko with an annoyed hum. Rather than be intimidated, Himiko merely giggled again, moving to sit down in the small gap she had created with the curtains at the foot of the hospital bed.

With a smirk, she patted the spot next to her, inviting her kohai to sit down, and Ochako didn't think much of it as she dropped her stuff on the bed beside Himiko and sat down, letting out a sigh.

"I … look, senpai," She muttered, lessening the Danger Pout a bit so that it was just a regular pout, "I … like I said, I know that I've been … I've been checking out Itsuka. It's - it's not like I want to, or - I know that I shouldn't do it. It's just … something happened between us, and it's been kinda hard to forget."

"Oh?" Himiko wiggled her eyebrows once again, leaning forward interestingly. "Something … a little gay?"

The blush on Ochako's face told her everything, and Himiko felt her smirk widen.

"Well, well, cutie … I'm surprised. So what happened?"

"She …" Ochako hesitated, and then dropped her head to look down at the floor, unable to meet her senpai's eye, "… she kissed me."

"Ooooooooh …"

"And … I may have … kissed back."

"Oh, my," Himiko giggled, "so romantic."

"S-see, that's - that's the thing," Ochako shook her head, sighing sadly, "I - I don't think it was. I think it was just - it was pure adrenaline. We - we haven't even talked much about it afterwards, either. So I - I think we're just trying to forget it ever happened."

"I see," Himiko nodded slowly, pursing her lips slightly, "so the regular 'I didn't mean to kiss you, it doesn't mean much, we're still friends' kinda thing."

"I … yeah."

"Hm. But do you want that?"

Ochako felt herself pause at that quiet question, and glanced up at Himiko. For once, the cat-like smirk wasn't on her senpai's face, giving Ochako a serious, understanding look as she leaned forward slightly.

For some reason, the way she was looking at her, her yellow eyes scanning Ochako's face, was making her feel … something, her heart going a bit quicker and a blush starting to appear on her face again, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

"W-what do you mean, senpai?"

"I mean," Himiko raised an eyebrow, "do you wanna forget your kiss with Kendou?"

"I …?" Ochako faltered again.

"Or maybe," She tilted her head, "you do wanna forget about it, so you can concentrate on your other cutie."

"My other -?" Ochako began, and then blinked, her face continuing to go red. "Wait, you - you mean Deku?"

"Mm-hm. Deku."

"I - no," She quickly shook her head, Himiko raising her eyebrow at her shaking her head in disagreement a little too fast, "I don't - I don't feel that way for him. He's - he's my best friend, we're pretty much family."

"Hm," Himiko hummed, "sounds kinda like denial."

"I - no, Toga-senpai -"

"But if that's what you say, then that's what you say," Himiko shrugged nonchalantly, making Ochako falter, "if you say you're just friends, then fine. I won't argue with you. But like I said before, I take love very seriously. I can always see when people have feelings for each other. And you -" She tapped her finger against Ochako's nose, making her scrunch it, "- love him. Even if you don't realize it."

"I'm …" Ochako trailed off, having absolutely no idea what to even say to that.

Himiko thought that she was in love with Izuku? That was - that was stupid, wasn't it? There was no way that she felt that way for him! There was … there was no way that she felt …

… but then she felt her mind wander.

Her thoughts returned to the beach the day after they returned to school, with Itsuka going off with All Might to talk about One for All. When she had admitted that she was insecure about her motivations to be a hero, wanting to earn money for her parents, and Izuku had comforted her like he always had. How Izuku had put his hands on her shoulders, and how … weirdly good that felt. How weirdly that interaction had ended, with both of them realizing how close they were, even if they'd been much closer than that before - they've actually hugged so many times she lost count, for god's sake - and quickly backed away.

How she felt while he was around Itsuka and Nejire … she had dismissed it as her feeling insecure about him meeting new people, and considering herself selfish. But was there … was there something … more there? Did she not want …

… could she …

Ochako slowly looked away, her eyes widening slightly while Himiko kept quiet for once, letting her think. There was … there was no way that she … that she liked Izuku, was there? There was no way! There was …

… there was …

"… senpai," Ochako slowly said, "I think you're full of crap."

Himiko snorted, and shook her head. Still, she didn't say anything, even as she smirked - she could see the conflict in Ochako's eyes, and even if she was still in denial, she could see a seed being planted there.

So she would leave it there for now, and not push the issue.

"Heh. Well, aren't you a funny one?" Himiko smiled as Ochako glanced back at her as she raised her hands to the buns on her head, beginning to play with them to let her hair loose, "Here you are, checking out one of your best friends and being in denial about your other one. Whatever shall I do with you, my dear cute kohai?"

"I'm …" Ochako hesitated for a second, and then sighed as she realized Himiko was just teasing her again. Shaking her head, she let out a shaky laugh, looking away across the room again as Himiko began to undo her hair. "… I think you're just messing with me at this point, senpai."

"Oh, am I?"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, smiling a bit, "you like to tease, but … well, I don't think you actually mean it, do you? That Deku or Itsuka would look at me like that."

"Hm?" Himiko blinked, pausing her attempts to let down her hair. "Why would I do that?"

"Well, I'm just … me." Ochako shook her head, smiling ruefully.

"…"

As silence suddenly fell in the empty waiting room, Ochako found herself blinking at the lack of response or tease from her senpai. Turning to look at her again, she felt surprised that Himiko was watching her with a skeptical, surprised look, one eyebrow raised as she stared at her. However, before Ochako could ask what was wrong, she spoke again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her senpai asked in a deadpan voice.

"H-huh?"

"What does 'I'm just me' mean?"

"I'm -" Ochako faltered, feeling a bit confused - why was Himiko acting so weird about that? - and shrugged her shoulders a bit as she glanced away, "- well, uh - I'm just … you know … not all that attractive."

"Huh?" Himiko narrowed her eyes, looking a bit confused and unamused. "What the hell does that mean? You're attractive. You're hot."

"No, I'm … no, I'm not." Ochako shook her head, letting out a sigh as her face fell, and her hands wrung together. "I'm just … you don't have to do that, senpai, I know already. That's what everyone told me back in middle school - I'm not all that good looking. I'm … I'm pretty ugly. I'm frumpy and - and weird."

"…"

"Like … look at this," She sighed as she moved her hand to her gym shirt, lifting it and the tank top she had on underneath it to expose a bit of her midsection. Rather than focus on the abs in her stomach, however, she went to her side, lightly pinching it and showing a bit of excess skin there as she pouted. "See? I've been training for a year now, and I'm still … cushiony."

Himiko remained deathly quiet as Ochako lowered her shirt again, letting out a small sigh as she shook her head. Instead, Himiko's gaze fell to her face, staring at the acceptance there. As though she sincerely believed in what she was saying, and she was alright with it.

"Seriously," Ochako shook her head again, with a small, accepting smile on her face, although her eyes were more than a little sad, "you don't have to try and tease me, senpai. Don't worry, I can take a joke."

There was a good few seconds of silence - and then Himiko nodded to herself.

"Okay," She said in a quiet voice, "I was gonna leave this as an option for later, but now, I have to do it."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked, looking around at the older girl as she straightened her back, "Sorry, what was -?"

"Uraraka," Himiko suddenly sounded like she meant business, turning to look at her, "get in the bed."

There was another good few seconds of silence as Ochako stared blankly at Himiko - and then she blinked, finally registering what her senpai had just said, and felt more than a little confused as Himiko stood up from her spot on the end of the bed, letting out a sigh as she cracked her knuckles.

"Uh - what do you -?"

"You heard me. In the bed. Get in."

Feeling herself become more than a little taken aback by the weird direction this went, Ochako glanced behind her at the bed that Himiko had drawn the curtains for - and then back up at Himiko, who gestured for her to do as she said and get in, looking unusually serious.

Feeling herself become more confused by the second, Ochako still did as instructed, slowly slipping out of her shoes, and began crawling into the bed on her hands and knees. She wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but she could hear Himiko taking off her own shoes for some reason, not knowing that Himiko had taken the precaution to hide their shoes underneath the bed.

Soon, Ochako reached the pillow on the other side of the bed, still unsure as to what was going on.

"Uh … okay," She slowly nodded, "I'm in. So what's exactly -"

SWISH

She heard the sound of the curtains being suddenly pulled closed, and blinked as they were cast somewhat into darkness, the sun setting outside the window giving them a darkened, orange hue. Feeling herself blink, Ochako looked around her shoulder, and felt surprised to see that Himiko was sitting in the bed with her, having drawn the curtains shut, and turned to look at her - and in the shade, her yellow eyes were practically glowing.

And Ochako felt suddenly nervous, as though she had stumbled upon a predator that was now sizing her up.

"Uh … senpai?"

"Let me make something clear."

Ochako merely stared, feeling her heartbeat begin to pick up speed for some unknown reason as Himiko turned fully around to slowly begin crawling towards her on all fours, and Ochako slowly began to automatically attempt to back up on her hands and feet as well.

"You mentioned earlier," Himiko's smile began to slowly reappear on her face, but there was something … new there that made Ochako gulp, especially from the way her senpai's eyes were quietly studying her face, "that I like to tease. I won't deny that, but there is something not a lot of people know about me."

"O-oh …?"

"I like to tease everyone," Himiko slowly licked her lips, "but I don't just flirt with anyone."

"I - huh?" Ochako was sure she was blushing again, feeling her back suddenly press against the wall as she ran out of room to back up, and Himiko reached her ankles - and then, as her hands landed on both of them, Ochako could feel Himiko take a firm grip, and began to pull down.

Ochako did little to resist, staring up in shock and another feeling that she couldn't quite describe, as she was gently tugged from where she had been sitting up, and pulled so that she would lay flat on her back, quickly moving to sit up on her elbows as Himiko finished laying her out, and then began to continue crawling, this time overtop her.

"What," Himiko giggled lowly, "you think I just flirt with everyone I come across? Sure, I call them sweetie, and honey, and that kind of stuff … but I don't just suddenly grab people's hands. I don't bring them up here, where Recovery Girl can't find us …"

Oh god, Ochako shook, feeling herself definitely begin blushing again as she began leaning back.

"… I don't pull the curtains shut so no one can see us …"

Oh, my god, Ochako trembled as Himiko's hand slowly pressed down beside her head.

"… and I don't crawl over them …"

Now that Himiko was completely overtop her, both hands beside the sides of Ochako's head to effectively pin her, she began to lower herself. Ochako did nothing to resist, merely staring up in shock as her face went redder and redder, and watched as Himiko practically laid overtop her, their faces close together as Himiko gave her a serious look.

"… if I don't find them attractive."

"I - s-senpai -"

"I know what you're thinking," Himiko said in a quiet, yet intense voice, one that made Ochako continue to shake underneath her, "it's weird that I'm telling you to go after your friends while I do this. But you don't have to think much about it - I've had years of therapy with Midnight, and all her and Granny's sex-ed classes. I'm not looking for some kind of romantic relationship here."

"I -" Ochako stammered, "- I'm -"

"But I hear that shit about you not thinking you're sexy as fuck," Himiko narrowed her eyes, "and I'm not gonna let that stand."

"I'm - senpai -"

"After all," Himiko leaned down, and Ochako felt herself lose her breath as they stared at each other, their noses barely an inch apart as Himiko's hands slowly slipped up to take Ochako's wrists, pinning them to the bed, "what kind of senpai would I be if I didn't help my adorable, beautiful kohai out?"

"I - I'm not sure - I don't -"

"You remember what I said," Himiko raised an eyebrow, "about you not being very subtle when it comes to looking at people you're interested in?"

Ochako gulped, and found herself nodding.

"Well," She suddenly smirked, "you really think that I wouldn't notice you looking at me like that?"

"I'm - I don't -"

"Cute kohai," Himiko muttered, "I'm gonna give you ten seconds to say no to me. I won't breathe a word of what happens here to anyone. If you say no to what I'm offering, I'll get off you, and we'll go get in our showers and pretend this never happened."

"I …"

"But if you say nothing," She leaned down, "or if you say yes … then I'm gonna kiss you."

Ochako let out a small sputter at that, feeling her face continue to burn bright hot at the feeling of the girl on top of her. She had utterly no idea how this had happened. Not two minutes ago she was talking about how unattractive she was, and suddenly, she was being pinned down on a bed by her senpai, talking about getting kissed. Her head felt woozy, it was hard to think, it was hard to breathe. She could feel Himiko's cool hands slowly slip into hers to hold them again, careful not to float herself.

She had no idea where this was coming from. She had no idea that Himiko had apparently been flirting with her this entire time. She had no idea what she even wanted to say to what Himiko was going to do unless Ochako told her otherwise.

"Senpai, I don't … I'm not sure …"

"You don't know how you feel about me," Himiko finished for her, nodding slowly and smiling, "and that's okay. You don't need to know. But let me ask you something, Ochako …"

She found herself gulping nervously at her first name coming from her lips.

"… do you think you could live with this if you did nothing?" Himiko raised an eyebrow, "Your attractive, beautiful senpai is offering to kiss you. You can say no … but do you wanna say no? Even if you don't know how you feel about me, don't you wanna see what it'd be like? You aren't hurting my feelings if you say no … but even if it doesn't lead to anything, don't you want to see what happens next?"

Ochako let out a quiet noise at that, staring up at Himiko as she leaned down, her yellow eyes beginning to flutter closed - and Ochako felt her own eyes begin to close as well.

"Ochako," Himiko whispered, tilting her head, "I'm going to kiss you now."

"…"

"…"

"… okay," Ochako muttered, and Himiko smiled as she leaned down, and their lips met.

Ochako let out a muffled noise as Himiko slipped her hands out from hers, moving them down to hold her face. Himiko's lips were chapped, a bit dry, but there was something about them that made Ochako close her eyes and kiss back, albeit as awkwardly as she could. Her own hands slowly lowered to Himiko's face as well, feeling her long, sweaty hair fall out of their messy buns at last, trailing down and falling along Ochako's hands and face. Their lips disconnected briefly before Himiko went back in, kissing her a little harder as Ochako grunted, feeling something wet push at her lips, and opening her mouth slightly to let Himiko's tongue in to explore.

This was … much different than kissing Itsuka, Ochako realized as her tongue hesitantly fought with Himiko's. It was much slower, less intense, more sensual with Himiko laying on top of her. The feeling of Himiko's hands cupping her cheeks made her heart beat hard, her weight on top of her adding a certain thrill. The temptation to run her hands across Himiko's body was definitely there, with one of her hands moving to hold the back of Himiko's neck while Himiko's own hands moved down to rub her sides.

Their lips moving away once again was remedied by Ochako this time, moving her head up to catch Himiko's bottom lip between hers, sucking timidly on it, and letting Himiko purr as her hands moved between them to feel up Ochako's stomach beneath them, making the younger girl groan into the liplock as her own hand moved down to rub the small of Himiko's back.

Kissing Himiko was … definitely nice.

But …

… but that was just what it was.

Nice.

Her heart wasn't palpitating at the feeling of kissing Himiko. There were no nerves. There weren't any fireworks exploding within her. There wasn't the sudden exciting feeling of seeing Himiko in a new light.

It was nice, and she'd definitely like to kiss her senpai more, but … but it wasn't like when she kissed …

… when she kissed Itsuka.

Slowly, their lips moved away from each other, but this time, neither one moved back in to resume the kissing. They both took a few seconds to pant lightly for air, Ochako feeling like she had just run a marathon while slowly opening her eyes, staring up at Himiko studying her quietly.

And then, before Ochako could speak, her senpai let out a giggle.

"Disappointed that I wasn't someone else when you opened your eyes?"

"I -" Ochako stuttered, her face still feeling rather hot, and quickly looked away, "- no, I - I'm not, Toga-senpai. It's just -"

"No, no, no need to spare my feelings," She giggled again, shaking her head while smiling, "it was just a kiss. No need for you to suddenly ask me out if you don't want to."

"It was … it was nice."

"I sure as hell hope so! I'll have you, I'm very well versed in making out."

"I … take it I'm not the …" Ochako paused, realizing something and causing her to pout slightly, "… I'm not the first of your … patients … to get to do something like this with you?"

"Not the first, and not the last," Himiko shook her head, licking her lips a bit, and giggling as Ochako gave her an adorable pout, leaning down to hug her, "but don't let that get you down - you're definitely one of the cuter ones."

"Ugh," Ochako groaned.

"Plus, if it makes you feel better - you're a much better kisser than I was expecting! I was expecting teeth clacking together."

"I'm glad to hear that, jerk."

"Like I said … sarcastic little minx," Himiko teased with a small giggle, and then, with a sigh, and turning her head to deliver a quick kiss to Ochako's cheek, slowly began to sit up so that she was no longer laying on top of her kohai, "so - I shouldn't be expecting us to be suddenly sharing a shower in a little bit, should I?"

"I … no," Ochako shook her head, pouting a bit as she likewise sat up on her elbows again, "I'm sorry, senpai, but I don't … I'm not sure …"

"Nope!" Himiko giggled, raising her finger to tap on Ochako's nose again to interrupt her. "None of that. It's like I said - years of therapy from Midnight and Granny have made me gag at the prospects of relationships. I just thought you needed a well deserved reminder of how attractive you really are."

"I'm …" Ochako shook her head, frowning a bit, and Himiko rolled her eyes.

"I'm not gonna pretend a little make out session is gonna cure … all the stuff you dropped on me," She said in a blunt voice, "but I want you to remember this, the next time you start thinking you're unattractive. The next time you think you're ugly, remember your gorgeous, bombshell senpai who pinned you to a bed and shoved her tongue into your mouth. Try to let the stupid voices in your head counter that."

"I …" Ochako hesitated, and then let out a small sigh, shaking her head and smiling despite herself, "… I guess I will."

"Mm-hm. Now then," Himiko suddenly rolled off of Ochako completely, making the younger girl blink as the older girl flipped up to sit on the edge of the bed, and drew the curtains open, "it's time for a shower! Let's go, cutie!"

Ochako slowly nodded, beginning to sit up -

"Oh, and one more thing."

Blinking at the sudden interruption, she glanced up - and felt her face, which had been feeling a little hot from the last few minutes, exploded back into a violent blush as Himiko ran her hand slowly up her butt, giving Ochako a lecherous look behind her shoulder.

"Don't think this is the last time I play with you," She licked her lips, "until you get your - whatever's going on with you, Kendou and Midoriya sorted out - you'll be expecting me trying to fluster you in more ways than one. And then once you do … well, don't forget that I've been flirting with both of them, too. Something to keep in mind for when you might wanna play with … more than one person."

With that, she turned to begin heading towards the bathroom, being sure to imitate Yui from before and sway her hips so she could give Ochako a bit of a show as she slowly zipped down her gym shirt, slowly working herself out of it as she went.

Ochako stared blankly at her as her senpai entered the bathroom, being sure to toss the discarded gym shirt on the floor, as she registered again just what Himiko was implying -

- and then she promptly fell down onto her back, staring at the ceiling as her face felt like it was on fire.

---

"Hey … Kendou."

"What is it, Izuku?"

"We … we won that, right …?"

"Nope," Itsuka grunted, cringing from their spot on the gym floor, both of them laying flat on their backs and bruises littering their bodies, "we got our asses kicked."

"Okay," Izuku nodded, likewise grimacing, "so the memory of us winning - that might just be brain damage."

"Oh, most definitely."

With a small groan, Izuku slowly looked up and cringed as he began to try and sit up, his stomach feeling bruised from where his senpai had hit him repeatedly. Itsuka was laying beside him, grumbling and holding her arm over her eyes as she slowly rolled onto her side, and across from them, Nejire was laying flat on her face, her long blue hair covering her entire head as she laid there in defeat - or maybe she was playing possum so Mirio didn't hit her anymore, that was a definite possibility.

On the other side of the gym, Mirio was bouncing up and down, none the worse for wear as he looked around at the three teenagers he had just defeated.

"Well, that was fun!" He laughed loudly, putting his fists down on his hips. "You guys put up a pretty good fight! Hadou, you almost hit me a few times there - it's harder to get the flyers! So! Anyone need ice?"

Three groans on the ground told him that yes, they all needed ice, so he jogged over towards the water fountain where bags of ice would probably be located.

The sun was beginning to gently set outside the gym, with the lights above being flickered on so that they could see properly. At this time, they were the only ones left in the gym, everyone else having headed out to either go home or do additional training around the campus, so that left the four of them to have the entire gym to themselves. Their fight had taken about an hour to get through, and no matter what Izuku, Itsuka and Nejire did to try and catch him off guard, trapping him in a corner or just ganging up on him, he managed to slip out every single time and deliver them a completely one sided beatdown.

So … pretty much what they had expected going into this fight.

But luckily for them, since they had walked in with those expectations, their prides weren't as wounded as they could have been, accepting Mirio's hands to help them stand up, Izuku wobbling a bit and glancing over as Itsuka climbed awkwardly to her feet, taking the ice from Mirio with a grateful smile and immediately moving to press it against her stomach as Mirio went to help Nejire up.

"So!" He happily clapped his hands together as he looked between the three first-years, Nejire's hair covering her face as she pressed the icepack he had given her to her side, "You guys up for round five?"

"Nope," Itsuka shook her head, trying to remain positive as she raised her shaking fist to give him a thumbs up, "I think we're good. Thank you, Togata-senpai."

"Mm-hm," Nejire agreed with her, beginning to take a few pain-filled steps towards the changing room and drawing their attention to her, "that was fun! Very intense. I think I almost threw up a few times. But I also think it's getting really late - Yuuyu's probably at her after school job by now, and I need to go home to let Mom and Dad know to leave food out for her. Just so I'm nice! So I'm gonna go take a shower."

"That right?" Mirio shrugged. "Well, it's up to you guys! I thought you all did great today!"

"Yaaaaaay," Nejire cheered a bit unenthusiastically, which made both Itsuka and Izuku blink and look after her as she wobbled away from their group.

"Er - Hadou, are you sure you're okay?" Itsuka asked, feeling a bit worried. "Do you need help walking?"

"Nah, I'm fiiiiine!" She managed to say in a sing-song voice, albeit very stiffly as she took another slow step, "Just … kinda wobbly. I'll be okaaaaaay …"

And that was when, with another step forward, she ended up toppling over, collapsing on the floor. Both Izuku and Itsuka squeaked in concern, and Mirio blinked in surprise, and together the two first-years ran over to make sure she was okay, with Itsuka sinking down and quickly taking Nejire by the shoulders to lift her up.

Thankfully, Nejire seemed fine, but a bit woozed, and raised her hand to pinch her nose as a bit of blood began leaking out of her nostril, presumably from her smacking her face against the floor just now.

"On second thought," She managed to say in a clearly pain-filled voice, "I think I need help to get into the bathroom."

"Oh, jeez," Itsuka winced while Izuku fretted above them, and Mirio grimaced weakly in apology. "In that case, uh … hold on, Hadou, I'm gonna take you to the bathroom so we can get you cleaned up - and stuff some toilet paper up your nose. Do you think we can go grab Recovery Girl? Would she still be here at this time?"

"I'll go get her!" Mirio volunteered, saluting the two girls and Izuku while looking extremely worried for his fallen kohai. "This is technically my fault, so I'll go and grab her!"

Quickly, he ran away from their small group, Izuku and Itsuka watching as he quickly sprinted straight out the door and began running presumably towards the nurse's office. As the door shut behind him, Itsuka let out a small sigh, and looked up at Izuku.

"Izuku," She asked in a slightly awkward tone, glancing down at her own bruised arm and wincing, "do you think you can pick her up? My arm's still pretty bruised, so I don't think I can carry her all the way. We just need to bring her over to the shower room - I'll be able to help her inside then."

"Uh … sure," Izuku nodded, pushing aside what awkwardness could come from this as he looked at how woozy and out of it Nejire was, and quickly moved to kneel down. Nejire herself, who was still a bit out of it, blinked as Izuku moved to wrap her arm around his shoulders, and after a moment of debating with himself - feeling his cheeks go a bit red, but shaking it when he looked back down and saw how injured she was - tucked his other beneath Nejire's legs.

With a small grunt, he lifted Nejire up, Itsuka keeping close by to support her head, and together, they both began walking towards the showers. In his arms, Nejire stirred a bit, looking up at Izuku, and then down at how she was being carried. There seemed to be a switch that was flipped in her mind as she realized what was happening.

"Ooooooooh …?" She said in a drone-like voice, looking up at Izuku with a dusting of red on her cheeks, "Bridal carry …?"

"Uh, yeah," Izuku nodded, going a bit red himself, "Occhan usually needed help moving when we were training together, and sometimes it was just easier to carry her. Are you comfortable, Hadou?"

"Um …" She thought for a moment, Itsuka glancing around at her curiously as the blue-haired girl debated what to say - and then, with a small sigh, moved to lean her head against Izuku's shoulder, closing her eyes. Izuku sputtered for a second, staring down at the girl in his arms in shock for a moment and feeling his cheeks burn a bit hotter, while Itsuka's face fell at the intimate action, although she was quick to shake it off and raised her hand to shake Nejire's shoulder.

"Don't close your eyes," She softly told Nejire, the other girl lazily opening them to look at her, "we don't know if you hit your head, Hadou - we don't need you passing out if you have a concussion."

"Another concussion?" She whined childishly. "But I already dealt with concussions back during the … the battle trial. That was fun, right? We all got to fight together … I had a lot of fun chasing Uraraka around, even if I hit my head a lot."

"Yeah, it was … it was fun," Itsuka nodded, smiling a bit, "I'm sure we'll get a chance to do it again."

"Yaaaaaaay …"

Soon, they rounded the corner out of the gym and towards the changing rooms, with Itsuka leading the way and glancing back to see Izuku continuing to look a bit red with Nejire in his arms, with Itsuka frowning and trying to push down the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach as she opened the door to the girls' changing rooms.

"Uh …" Izuku faltered then, blinking and turning a bit redder - but luckily, Itsuka seemed to read his mind, her small pout disappearing as she let out a small giggle.

"No, Izuku," She shook her head, "I'm not gonna make you go into the girls' changing room. Even though that would be okay for you to do. Hadou," She asked the girl in Izuku's arms, "can you stand?"

"I think so," Nejire slowly nodded, and Izuku took that as his cue to begin lowering her down back onto her feet. As soon as her feet met the ground, Itsuka reached out, carefully wrapping Nejire's arm around her shoulders, albeit with a wince, and lifted Nejire up, looking over at Izuku with a small smile as he backed away.

"I can take care of her from here," She confirmed, "I just need to get her inside on the bench, and then we can wait for Togata-senpai to come back with Recovery Girl. Izuku, do you mind grabbing my phone from my stuff on the bench and bringing it to me? I just wanna text my mom and dad to let them know that we may be a bit late."

"Sure," He nodded, straightening his back now that he wasn't carrying Nejire anymore, "I'll go do that."

Nodding, Itsuka led Nejire carefully into the changing room, the blue-haired girl letting out a few mutters and asking slurred questions as she was brought inside. Izuku let out a small sigh as he watched the door close behind them, and nodded quietly to himself as he turned to walk back to the gym.

He smacked his cheeks a little bit to lose some of the color there - having Nejire unexpectedly rest her head on his shoulder was making him feel even more embarrassed than he had been just carrying her in the first place, so he needed to work on how hard he was blushing so that no one noticed him looking weird, as he rounded the corner -

- and almost ran into the guy standing at the back of the gym, with his back turned to the small entrance leading to the showers.

"W-whoa!" Izuku let out a small gasp of surprise as he nearly walked straight into the back of a guy facing away from him, quickly stumbling back and almost tripping over himself. Thankfully, he managed to catch himself before he fell over onto his butt, only managing to back up so that he was leaning heavily against the wall, having smacked his back against it and blinking and shaking his head a bit.

"Oh, I'm - I'm sorry -" Izuku began to apologize, looking back up at the newcomer as he likewise looked around at the teenager - but then he found himself faltering, blinking at the familiar face before him as he turned and looked at Izuku through his glasses.

"Ah," Nighteye nodded, "there you are, Midoriya."

"I - Sir Nighteye?" He managed to squeak out, unable to hide his surprise as Nighteye reached over to help him straighten up, and after a moment of hesitation, accepted the pro hero's hand and allowed himself to be lifted off the wall and back onto his feet. "W-what are you doing here?"

"I ran into Mirio outside," Nighteye nodded, putting his hands in his suit's pockets as he took a step back, letting Izuku walk a bit into the gym with him, "and he informed me of what happened, and that he needed to go find Recovery Girl. Luckily for him, she's out in the grounds - some students got tangled up with vines, so they needed her to heal them. She should be back in a few minutes or so."

"Oh, uh - that's - that's good. But … why are you here? At UA?"

"I had a meeting with Nezu," He explained, "and it ran a bit late. We were discussing work studies for this year. But I came here for another reason," He tilted his head, staring down at Izuku as he brushed himself off lightly, his gym clothes having gathered a bit of dust from having been laying down on the gym floor, "is Kendou here, Midoriya?"

Izuku found himself pausing his attempts to dust himself off at that question, staring down at his feet for a moment as he registered what Nighteye had just asked - and, unable to control himself, felt hims awkward look fade away as he began to scowl down at his feet.

It had been mostly due to Nighteye's surprise appearance that he didn't immediately remember, but at the name of his training partner leaving Nighteye's lips, Izuku couldn't help but think back to what Itsuka had said when she had told him and Ochako about One for All.

"Izuku, you defended me from Nighteye - you don't know this, but this is the real reason he doesn't approve of me - he doesn't think I'm worthy of One for All."

"What?! Then - then when he came to the beach -?!"

"He was there to convince All Might to change his mind."

Attempting to keep control of himself, Izuku straightened his back to look back up at Nighteye, trying as hard as he could to keep his face even. This entire time, he had thought the only reason Nighteye had kept coming to the beach was because he wanted All Might to change his mind about making Itsuka his successor - but it had been so much more than that.

All Might had chosen to give One for All to her, and Nighteye had been trying as hard as he could to convince him that giving it to Itsuka was a mistake.

And that … very much did not sit well with Izuku, obviously. But he had to try and keep his manners.

"She's … in the changing room," He explained in a short tone, "our classmate got beat up pretty bad, so she's going to stay with her until Recovery Girl gets here."

"Hm," Nighteye nodded, looking away from Izuku to where he had emerged from the small hall that led to the changing rooms, "that's good. In that case, I'll wait here - I want to speak with her once Mirio and Recovery Girl come back."

"If …" Izuku hesitated for a moment - and then shook his head a bit and took a deep breath before responding, "… if there's something that you want to tell her, I can tell her for you. I'm sure that you're busy."

"No, I'm afraid it's important -"

"I can do it."

Nighteye felt himself blink at how … intensely Izuku had said that. Sounding absolutely sure, as though there was nothing Nighteye could say to change his mind. Slowly, he looked back down at Izuku, seeing the young man's clearly struggling attempts to remain composed, although there was a small, angry look in his eye.

Subtly, Nighteye's own face fell a bit, frowning as he straightened himself up and removed his hands from his pockets.

"I am to assume," He said, his voice sounding a bit cold, "you know what I wish to discuss with her?"

There was a moment's pause - and then Izuku nodded, glancing around as though to make sure they were both truly alone, and then said, in a low voice, "One for All."

Nighteye regarded him for a moment, and then let out a small sigh, taking off his glasses and bringing out a cloth to wipe them.

"I see," He slowly nodded, "so … was it Kendou who told you? Or All Might?"

"Kendou," Izuku confirmed, still attempting to keep himself composed, although there was a small bead of sweat running down his forehead, "but All Might knew she was going to tell us. And he approved."

"'Us'." Nighteye noted. "So I'm to assume Uraraka knows as well."

"That's right."

"I see." He nodded again, putting the cloth away and moving his glasses back onto his face, "Well, Midoriya - I understand. I won't voice any complaints - All Might seems to trust you and Uraraka, so I will not disprove of you knowing the secret. Of course, that's to assume that he would've even listened to me. Just so you know, what I wish to discuss with Kendou isn't about her holding One for All - although it does concern it."

"In that case," Izuku tried to stick to his guns, "I can tell her for you when she isn't busy."

Nighteye let out a small sigh, turning to look back into the gym, and frowned.

"I'm … Midoriya, I'll be honest with you," He decided to admit, "I'm a bit saddened that you're choosing to disregard me as All Might is. You and I, we're on the same side here - we only want what's best for All Might. We just … have different people in mind that we want to continue his legacy, and let him rest."

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, "and that person is Kendou."

"Yes," Nighteye nodded as well, looking back at him with a frown, "and I say the best choice is Mirio."

Izuku opened his mouth to argue his point further, not wanting to give any ground to him - and then he blinked. The name that left Nighteye's mouth made him pause, feeling himself falter off as he stared ahead for a moment - and Nighteye nodded as well, turning to look at him fully again.

"Yes," He nodded, "Mirio Togata. You've obviously met him."

Standing there for a moment, Izuku stared ahead, his mind slowly grinding to a halt - and then, he felt his eyes widen as he recalled a conversation he, Ochako and Itsuka had about a week ago.

"… Mirio Togata."

"Er … yeah? What about him?"

"I'm … I was just thinking, but … is it just me, or have we heard that name before?"

"Wait … now that you mention it … I … think we have?"

"Yeah, I - yeah, we have. Now that you mentioned it, Kendou, yeah, we - we've definitely heard his name before. But … from where?"

As that conversation relayed in his head, at long last, Izuku finally remembered where they had heard Mirio's name before.

"As I've been trying to tell you, you're making a mistake, All Might. I've told you, time and time again, I have been training Togata for years now for exactly this, and he's ready. You don't need this girl as your successor when I've already got one prepared."

And the words Mirio had told them just a few hours ago suddenly reverberated in his head.

"So you guys wanna know what I did?"

"Mm-hm."

"Well, if I was to improve my marks, I realized it - I had nowhere to go but up. So that meant that I needed to get experimental with my quirk! And lucky for me, I ended up getting scouted by my mentor after what happened at the sports festival."

"Your mentor? You mean, someone you interned with."

"Yep! He's the reason I'm where I am today. He reached out to me after I messed up at the sports festival - took me in, told me that he could help me figure out my quirk, and help me master it. And you know something? That's exactly what he did! Taught me how to predict everyone's movements before they even made them, so that I knew what to do, and how to use my quirk, before they could even have a chance to think it themselves."

"Wow … your mentor sounds pretty cool, Togata-senpai."

"He is!"

Slowly, Izuku felt his mouth, which had been hanging open slightly, close into a thin line, and he slowly looked back up at Nighteye as he moved his hands behind his back, nodding slowly at the look of realization on the young man's face.

"Yes," He repeated himself, "Mirio Togata. I believe you're well acquainted with him by now. He mentioned to me that he sparred with you last week, Midoriya, and that he would be helping your class get ready for the sports festival. I'm happy to hear that you accepted his offer to help you with your quirk - you two have a lot in common, and I imagine that you'll be a great hero as well once you master your quirk like Mirio did."

"I …"

"Mirio also mentioned Kendou," He looked away again, seeing Izuku pale a bit out of the corner of his eye, "said that she seemed enthusiastic to spar with him. I assume that the same fight he was in with you and your classmate, Kendou was involved in as well?"

"… yes." Izuku said in a quiet voice.

"And did she hit him?"

"… no. None of us did."

"I see," He nodded again, turning to face the doors to the gym that would lead outside and let out a sigh, "I'm not trying to drive a wedge between you two, Midoriya - believe me, that's not my intention. I think it's good that you and Kendou can rely on each other. But surely, you can see it? You can see why I'm pushing for Mirio to be the one to receive One for All?"

"…"

"I'm sure that given time, Kendou will become a good hero," Nighteye gave the girl not even present to defend herself that, although he still frowned as he stared up at the ceiling, "but you can see the potential of what One for All could be in the hands of Mirio, can't you?"

"…"

"I'll let you think on it," The pro hero nodded, beginning to walk away from the silent Izuku across the gym to the exit, "and eventually, I think you'll agree with -"

"She's still worthy."

Nighteye's step faltered at the quiet statement coming from behind him, the pro hero staring at nothing for a moment as he blinked. Turning to look back around at Izuku, he felt himself wrinkle his brow - Izuku's fists were clenched, his eyes on the ground, and sweat was moving down his forehead.

And yet, when Izuku looked up at Nighteye, meeting his analytical eyes, the young man's were filled with defiance.

"It doesn't matter if - if Togata-senpai is great as well." Izuku told him, trying to keep the shaking out of his voice as he met Nighteye's eye, "What he told me about his quirk, he's - he's amazing, of course, I - I won't deny that. But he also told us this afternoon about - about how he met his mentor. Which … I suppose he meant you."

"That's right."

"He told us …" Izuku took a deep breath, and then let it out, "… how awful he was with his quirk before he met you. He didn't know how to use it, so he was always behind the rest of his classmates."

Nighteye frowned at that.

"The reason he is where he is today - he credited you. He told us that you gave him a chance - the very same chance you keep denying Kendou. I know what you're trying to do - you're trying to make me compare her to Togata-senpai. You're trying to make me realize that she's inadequate when it comes to him. You want me to help you convince her to give up One for All."

"That's -" Nighteye began to deny.

"But she earned One for All." He was sure to emphasize his words, clenching his fists tighter together as he glared into Nighteye's eyes. "All Might had Kendou work her hardest to earn it, and she did. Unlike you, I was there. I saw everything. I saw every piece of garbage she picked up, every hit she got from Kendou-sensei in the dojo - she worked her butt off to prove to All Might that she was worthy of being his successor. And she did."

"…"

"She wasn't handed One for All. She earned it. And that's why," Izuku took another breath, and then exhaled, feeling his cheeks go a bit red as he said, "Itsuka shouldn't give it away because you want her to. She earned it."

There was a long silence in the gymnasium as the two stared at each other - Nighteye beginning to regard the boy coldly, and Izuku glaring at him with all the fire he had. And then, with a small sigh, Nighteye turned back on his heel and began walking out of the gym. Izuku watched him go, seeing the pro hero not even bother to look back at Izuku at all as he pushed the doors open, and moved out into the twilight, the gym's doors closing behind him.

There was a moment's pause - and then Izuku broke.

"Oh, holy crap," He wheezed, bending over a bit and clutching his hammering heart, "that was the most stressful thing I've ever done!"

Letting out a few pants, and allowing his nerves to get the better of him at long last, he began to mutter worriedly to himself.

"Oh, god, I just talked down to Sir Nighteye. I just talked down to Sir Nighteye. All Might's former sidekick. Oh, god, why did I do that?! How did I do that?! I mean, I would do it again, but - but oh, god, I just made an enemy out of a pro hero! What was I thinking?! I could've done that in a much less confrontational way, but - but he was shittalking Itsuka!"

There was a moment's pause.

"Wait. Oh, god, I called her Itsuk- I - I mean, I called Kendou by her first name!" He let out a groan, feeling his face explode in a blush. "What was I thinking?!"

He continued to bemoan and mutter to himself for a few more minutes, pacing back and forth and muttering to himself at speeds previously unknown to himself or Ochako as he tried to calm down how hard his heart was beating. He was so busy in his panic, raising a hand to his eyes to cover his vision, he was unable to see that he wasn't … technically alone.

Mostly due to the fact that a specific orange-haired girl poked her head out slightly from around the corner near the changing room, and then moved it back so she was hidden again.

Around the corner, Itsuka's hand found her heart, feeling it beating almost as hard as Izuku's probably was right now. Her face was completely red, staring blankly ahead at the wall opposite of her. She even found herself breathing a bit unevenly, breathing in and out a bit shakily and sharply as she tried to calm herself down … and yet, she couldn't.

She had come out of the changing room to find out what was taking Izuku so long, once she was sure that Nejire wasn't going to pass out from the concussion she might have, only to hear a very familiar voice. Having hidden around the corner, she had listened to the conversation between Izuku and Nighteye, frowning when she heard Nighteye wanting a word with her - and then hearing her confirm where they had heard Mirio's name before.

She had been disheartened, listening to Nighteye compare her to Mirio, and she had unintentionally begun to do the same. Realizing that the guy she couldn't even land a hit on was supposed to be All Might's successor. There had been a part of her that had almost rounded the corner to admit that Nighteye had a point - and then Izuku had spoken up for her.

She remembered watching the scene carefully, hiding behind the corner, as Izuku had passionately defended her. Sounding like he was about ten seconds from going over to smack Nighteye in the face for badmouthing her, and trying to plant seeds of doubt in her friend. How he threw Nighteye's comparisons of her to Mirio back in his face. How he made it clear that he considered her worthy of One for All.

How he called her by her first name for the very first time.

And her heart wouldn't calm down, no matter what, and her face continued to burn.

Hearing Izuku defend her … how much he truly valued her … Itsuka felt her eyes close as tears began to well.

Last Friday, Setsuna and Yui had brought up the possibility of her liking him. Itsuka had denied it with every fiber of her being, pushing aside any stupid thought that suggest that she viewed Izuku as attractive. She had told herself that there was no way.

But who was she kidding at this point?

Itsuka looked back up, letting out a shuddering breath as she finally accepted what she had been attempting to deny all weekend, probably all year, ever since she met him on the beach that day. She knew that this would change nothing - it was clear that he and Ochako liked each other, and there was no way she would stand in the way of that. She knew that she had to work on being able to face him without going red in the face, talk to him normally without giving away anything was wrong. That everything was still fine, and that she still considered him her friend. Her best friend.

But … but as the doors to the gym opened again, with Mirio walking in with Recovery Girl and Izuku squeaking and jumping at them as though he had forgotten that they had been coming, Itsuka finally forced herself to admit, even if it was just to her, the one thing she had been afraid of all weekend, as she slowly turned to walk back to the bathroom and pretend she had been in there the whole time.

She loved him.

She was in love with Izuku Midoriya.

And her heart fluttered at that thought.

---

"Oh! Shouto!" Fuyumi exclaimed in surprise, standing at the counter with her plate and looking delighted to see him. "Welcome home! I didn't hear you come in!"

"Hello, Fuyumi," Shouto stoically greeted her, frowning a bit as he adjusted the loose blue training shirt he had changed into, and opened the fridge to retrieve his water bottle.

It was true that he had come home relatively quietly - once he was inside, and Endeavor wasn't there to greet him and take him into the study for another one of his lectures, he had headed right to his room, changing out of his school uniform and into his exercise gear. He had stayed behind a bit longer after school than usual, so he could practice with his mother's quirk - it was still a bit difficult, but he was confident that with his ice alone, he would be able to win the sports festival with ease.

His conversation with Itsuka at lunch had lit the fire in his stomach, as much as that thought made him frown. Now that she clearly reciprocated his challenge, he had to be ready - he wasn't sure what she was capable of, only that she had clearly caught All Might's attention. But he couldn't hold back in his physical preparations - knowing how to use his quirk was well and good, but he knew that it was also important to practice how to throw a punch.

"Are you headed out to the yard?" Fuyumi asked him interestingly as she walked by him, carrying her plate of food as she tried to make conversation with her distant youngest brother. "If you want, I can cook you something for after - it's been a while since we've all been home at the same time."

"That's okay," He shook his head, closing the fridge behind him and heading towards the door leading outside with his water bottle, "I can make myself something later. I don't know when I'll be back in."

"Okay," She nodded, although her smile faltered, "but, uh - just so you know, he's outside too."

"Endeavor?"

"Uh … no."

Shouto stopped at that, blinking slightly as he turned back to look at Fuyumi, who was giving him a small, sympathetic look.

"… brother's home?"

"Yeah," She slowly nodded, putting her plate down on the table and straightening up a bit, giving him a soft look, "we went to visit - uh - anyway, yes, he's outside."

"Oh," Shouto slowly nodded, his face turning into a scowl as he turned back towards the door, "I see."

"Shouto -" Fuyumi moved back into the kitchen, reaching out to touch his shoulder, but Shouto was quick to move away from her, towards the door. The young woman stared after her youngest brother, a frown appearing on her face as he walked out of the kitchen, and then dropped her hand sadly down to her side.

As Shouto moved to the door, he let out a small sigh as he paused, closing his eyes. Having his brother visit their was … not what he was expecting to happen tonight, but maybe …

… no. Don't walk into this with expectations. That was his mistake last time.

With one last deep breath, he nodded to himself, and slid the door open to step outside.

As it was when he had gotten home, the sun had completely set on the Todoroki household, the clouds still visible in the dark sky as stars began to twinkle above, and there was enough light coming from inside the house that he didn't need to turn the porch light on. Stepping out the porch, he slid the door shut behind him, nodding to himself and taking another breath.

He was aware of the smell of smoke coming from the side before his brother spoke up.

"What do you want?"

Closing his eyes briefly at the low, irritated voice, Shouto breathed out, trying to ignore the bad smell on the side, and turned to look at his brother. As he had expected, Touya was leaning against one of the pillars of their home as he kept his cigarette in his mouth, sucking in a bit of smoke before exhaling. At the very least, he wasn't wearing his hero costume, instead wearing a loose white t-shirt and jeans, making it clear that he was at the very least staying the night. Raising a hand to scratch the side of his face, where one of the scars he had from his various surgeries was, he glanced over at Shouto, his icy blue eyes narrowing slightly as Shouto looked back around.

"I'm just doing some training," Shouto informed him, knowing that his brother didn't like long answers coming from him, "I didn't mean to bother you."

"I'm sure you didn't," Touya huffed, turning to suck on his cigarette again.

Nodding, Shouto moved down to the yard, putting his water bottle down on the porch, and walked over to his spot, his shoes crunching against the dirt as he walked out a good distance away. He could feel Touya's eyes watching him, but he knew better than to comment - he didn't need an icy remark or insult thrown his way, so he was content with working in silence.

Taking a stance, Shouto threw out a punch, practicing the moves that his father had drilled into his head for years, as he took a few deep breaths before continuing to practice, throwing out a kick. During that time, he could tell that Touya was continuing to silently watch him, but Shouto kept quiet while feeling the tense atmosphere - there was a part of him that wanted to talk to his older brother, but he knew that if Touya wanted to speak with him, he had to be the one to speak first.

Luckily - or unluckily - for him, Touya took a long drag of the cigarette and exhaled.

"So," He said, "you're training for the sports festival."

"Yeah," Shouto nodded, keeping it simple, and throwing out another punch.

"Heard the old man is coming to watch."

Shouto felt himself pause at that, staring ahead for a moment - Endeavor was coming to watch the sports festival? The old man hadn't informed him of that - but he shouldn't be surprised, his eyes narrowed as he threw out another punch. Of course Endeavor would want to stand as close as he could to the arena while his masterpiece was off fighting.

Probably so he could shout at him from the sideline.

Although that did raise the question …

"Are … you going to come too, Touya-nii?"

"Me?" Touya scoffed, shaking his head. "Hell no. Why would I wanna come watch you?"

Shouto tried his best not to wince at that.

"But keep this in mind, little brother," Touya leaned forward, drawing Shouto's attention to him as his older brother gave him a pointed, unimpressed look, "you're not just representing Endeavor when you get out onto that field. You're representing me. And I'd much rather not have to answer questions from reports about why my little brother stumbled over the finish line at a stupid school contest. So you better be aiming to win."

"Of course I -"

"No," Touya suddenly interrupted him, forcing Shouto to quickly silence himself as his brother tossed the cigarette onto the ground, stomping on it with his foot while glaring into Shouto's eyes, "when I say you better win, you should say, 'Yes brother, I will win'."

"…"

"Say it."

"Yes, brother," Shouto repeated dully, turning to stare at the ground, "I will win."

"Good." Touya nodded, looking off to the side. After a moment's pause, he spoke again.

"Fuyumi and I went to see Mother today, in case you didn't know."

"…"

"And before you ask, no, she didn't ask about you." He let out a scoff as he glared at his youngest brother. "I'm not sure why she would even -"

"Hey, Touya!"

Both young men blinked at the sound of a voice suddenly coming from the door, and looked around as it slid open. Fuyumi quickly poked her head out from the house, smiling happily - although, as Shouto looked around and saw, it looked a bit strained.

Thankfully, though, at the sight of his younger sister, Touya's scowl vanished at once, giving her a happy grin as his mood did a complete one-eighty and Shouto continued to stare at the ground so as not to show her his frown.

"Hey, Fuyumi," Touya grinned, "what's up?"

"Just wanted to let you know that dinner's ready, Touya," She informed him, "you should come get it while it's hot."

"Oh, damn, that was quick! I'll be in in just a sec."

Nodding, Fuyumi began to move back into the house, stealing a small glance at Shouto again. While her smile faded as she stared sadly at her youngest brother, she still knew there wasn't much she could do - knowing how Touya was talking before, while she hid behind the door, she knew that it was useless to try and interrupt her oldest brother - but thankfully, she knew that giving him something else to do would have him wrap up his lecturing very quick.

As the door shut, there was a moment of silence between the two Todoroki brothers.

"Like I said," Touya's voice suddenly became drone-like and monotone again, "don't fuck up."

With that, Touya began moving towards the door Fuyumi had gone through, wanting to go and have some dinner. Shouto stood there for a long moment, his fists clenched at his sides - and then he took a deep breath.

"I'll make you proud, brother."

Seeing Touya pause at the door out of the corner of his eye, Shouto turned to look up at him. His older brother didn't look back at him at all, but he knew that he was listening.

"I … know that there's expectations on me," He quietly admitted, "from both you and Father. I don't care what that bastard wants, but … but I know the media likes to go after you. I don't want to make things harder for you, so I'll … I'll win the sports festival, just to rub it into Endeavor's face. I'll make you proud."

Touya stood there for another moment while Shouto stared at his back, waiting for a response. And then, Touya let out another scoff.

"You'll make me proud, huh?"

"Yes."

"Heh." He shook his head, and straightened up, "I sincerely doubt it."

And he opened the door, stepping inside, and then slid it shut, leaving Shouto out in the dark.