Scarlet sneakers scuff solid concrete, the shabby shoes planting themselves firmly on the grounds of U.A. Beneath the outsoles is a mess of petal confetti, the after party of the school's Entrance Exam leaving a boy left in its wake. He lingers under the billowing cherry blossoms until a stronger breeze blows, the wind ruffling his green curls and knocking more of the sakura trees' corolla loose. Izuku Midoriya's viridescent gaze glimmers under the glow of a salmon sky as he's showered by the flower petals.

Some of the fuchsia specks land on his t-shirt, their gentle descent coming to a sudden halt. It's one of the spare articles of clothing his mother made him pack in the flaxen knapsack that he has hoisted over his shoulder by a single strap. Izuku's grip on the band tightens when he recalls the reason for needing another set of attire in the first place; his transformation during the physical portion of the hero school's exam comes to mind, his quirk's ability having shredded through his first outfit.

The moppy mess called hair that resides atop of the boy's head sways when he tries shaking the memory of his metamorphosis from his mind. It helps him to forget when his green gaze settles on the familiar vehicle that's slowly pulling up to the school's gates. A soft smile stretches his freckled cheeks and he begins walking towards the car. Smoke wafts from the Nissan Versa's exhaust pipe, the engine's thrumming reminding Izuku of a familiar sound and forcing his smile down. He places a hand over the left side of his chest, feeling the wire underneath his shirt. The back and forth of introspection versus assuagement resettles on the person in the vehicle once she steps out.

Inko Midoriya exits the car to greet her son at the school gate, worry written all over her expression. The greenette mother hurries over to her kid, wrapping him in a hug that puts the bear strength in 'momma bear'. Izuku wheezes as he gasps for air, his lungs crushed so long as he's caught in her grasp. "My baby! They told me what happened! Are you okay?!", she ironically frets over his well being despite being the cause of his current breathing problems.

Once released from her embrace, Izuku finally manages to inhale enough oxygen so that he can speak. "I- I'm fine, mom. Recovery Girl said that I'm fine", he stands up straight to show her that he's still completely intact as though that's proof of his good health. She critically eyes him up and down, searching for any scars or scrapes. When Inko is seemingly satisfied with her own diagnosis, she nods.

"If you say so..", though she remains wary about the final verdict. She steps aside so that Izuku can throw his bag in the car's trunk. As the greenette ventures around the grille to return to the driver's side, she sneaks a glance at the prestigious hero school that her son applied to. "You met Recovery Girl, huh? I wish it'd been under better circumstances, but that must have been neat", and smiles while thinking how excited the hero otaku must have been to meet one of his idols.

Izuku climbs into the passenger side, relishing in how soft the cushion is once his body sinks into the seat. The door slamming shut jars his memory of the eventful day he had so that he mimics her smile, "Yeah! And Present Mic was the one who read us all the rules, and Cementoss was our proctor for the written part–"

"That's great, 'Zuku, but..", Inko interrupts her son to literally point out his lack of a safety strap via gesturing with her index finger. When he looks down at his lap, she feigns clearing her throat before correcting him to look up by flicking forward, "Seatbelt."

Izuku jostles himself to sit up straight, grabbing onto the strap's clip fastener so that he can pull it down. "Oh! Right!", he begins to tug on the line to make it work. Once it reaches across his chest, he locks it in place with a click. "Sorry", he gives his mother an apologetic look before readjusting himself to get comfortable again.

"So, you were telling me about your day?", Inko locks her own seatbelt into place before turning her keys in the car's ignition slot to switch on the engine. She gives her son a quick glance to let him know that she's still listening as she shifts the vehicle into gear.

Izuku practically jumps in his seat with excitement upon being reminded of his glimpse at U.A. "Oh, yeah!", he recalls how amazing the massive estate is with not just its main building's theater auditorium but also the entire mock city the school created just for the physical exam. He continues with his recollection of the time spent there vehemently, "I met Recovery Girl last after I helped save a girl that was–"

"A GIRL?!", he doesn't expect his mother to slam roughly on the brakes. The car jolts to a stop before it even begins to move, safety strap tightening to hold him in place so that he doesn't go flying out the windshield.

Izuku is suddenly very grateful that his mother told him to wear the seatbelt. Startled by the sudden halt of the vehicle, he glances at the car's driver with wide eyes. "MOM!?", he verbally expresses his mixture of shock and confusion when he sees that she's sobbing.

"Sorry, sorry!", Inko apologizes in a quavering voice while trying to wipe away her tears with the back of her hands. She sniffles as snot hangs from her nose, the crying becoming overwhelmingly hysterical. Izuku knows from experience that the waterworks are about to flood the car and drown him like a dam bursting. She can hardly get any words out, "It's just.."

Inko watches through blurred vision as her son searches frantically in the glove compartment for a box of tissues. When Izuku finds nothing to dry her tears, his panic escalates and he fumbles with the door handle. Realizing that the child lock is in place, he has no choice but to resort to begging her not to turn the car into a death trap, "Oh no, mom, don't–"

"My little Zuzu is growing up!", but her wailing is like an alarm ringing to warn everyone on a ship that the boat is sinking. There's nothing to plug the leak as water starts to fill up the car's interior. Inko's delirious weeping threatens both of their lives until he manages to roll down the window. At the last second, he saves them from a flooded enclosed space.

"MOOMM!", Izuku groans in exhausted exasperation. His fatigue turns him languid, his body sliding down the seat. He shakes his head with what little energy he has left to muster for the motion, "It's not like that! After I rescued her is when I passed out."

Inko pauses her dramatic sniveling, sinuses suddenly cleared. She has some sort of backlash reaction before doing a double take. "Wait, this girl never thanked you?", one of her eyebrows raises scrutinously and her tone changes tune.

Izuku fidgets in place, his mother's hard gaze suddenly making him feel as though he's being watched closely under a microscope. He avoids her stare while trying to come up with an answer that'll keep both him and the girl that he saved off his mom's chopping block, "Well–"

"You're telling me that you never even got her name?!", Inko's obtrusive outburst startles Izuku just as much as when she slammed on the car's brakes. Seeing that his mother is on the verge of crying yet again, albeit for a different reason over her son's interaction with a girl this time, he's quick to shout over her too.

"Mom, would you just let me finish what I'm saying?!", he tries not to sound too desperate to get a sentence in but his plea comes out as a whine anyways. The sudden cry surprises Inko just the right amount that it manages to snap her out of her delusional state of mind.

"You're right, you're right", she nods as she acknowledges how crazy she was acting. Inko shifts the car back into gear, mirroring her headspace returning to normal. As she starts to pull forward, she prompts her son to explain further, "Sorry, Izuku. Continue."

Izuku falters, partially because he hadn't expected her to actually let him talk and slightly due to the next part of his story. "My, um..", he anxiously fiddles with the cord under his shirt. When he finally settles on the right word, "My quirk", he quells his nerves enough to say, "I only passed out because I exceeded my runtime with my chainsaws while using it."

Inko stiffens in her seat. As soon as she does, she tries hiding the discomposure by pretending to slouch. "Oh.. I see", she mulls over what her response will be very carefully. She knows that her son is watching her closely just as much as he's listening. Internally, the woman doesn't know whether to be relieved or not. She wasn't sure what she had thought when she heard her son had saved someone, but the usage of his quirk hadn't come to mind for whatever reason. Ultimately, her boy made a choice and it's up to her to support him should he choose to stand by it for the proper cause. "You made the right decision, Izuku. Never doubt that", she spares him a quick glance so that he knows the matter is important enough for her to risk taking her eyes off the road for a moment.

Izuku looks away, his gaze breaking contact from her and falling into his lap. "I just.. Moved on my own", his fingers curl around the fabric of his shorts until he has handfuls of the material bunched up in his palms. Whatever he's feeling transfers over to the touch of his chest. He raises one arm, placing a hand over his sternum where a wire resides. "I didn't think.. I just pulled on my cord", he feels a heartbeat as though it's still active.

Inko pulls up to a red light, utilizing the opportunity as a chance to look over at her son and gauge his expression. If her motherly instinct weren't enough, she can see as clear as the day being lit by sunbeams with her eyes that he has a lot on his mind. "You know, Izuku, I understand that kids stop caring about their parents at a certain age. But it's still rude not to ask your mother about her day too", she thinks that the best course of action is to change the subject.

Once Izuku registers the drastic change in conversational topic, he's none the wiser to her strategy, mistaking the switch up for a revival of his mother's moodiness. "Ah! Sorry, mom!", he stammers out an apology and awkwardly forces out a fake chuckle, "So.. How was YOUR day?"

Inko rolls her eyes over her son's dramatics, not realizing that he takes after her. She knows better than to bore him with details about how she did laundry and cleaned the house all morning. So she decides now is as good a time as any to mention the supper situation, "Well.. I didn't really have the chance to start cooking dinner since the school called around that time" She notes her son's surprised reaction from her peripheral vision. "Do you want to pick something up at the store?", then makes a turn with the steering wheel to head downtown.

Izuku blinks as he processes the information coupled with her question. "Oh, um–", it takes him a moment for his brain to catch up with his words when he has a great epiphany of a solution, "Oh! Can I get one of those pre-made Katsudons?!"

Inko casts her son a withering look through the reflection of the rearview mirror. "You know those aren't healthy", though her tutting tone doesn't quite match her expression in the sense of sounding serious.

Izuku takes it seriously anyways, "Come on, pleaaasse!", serious enough that he puts his hands together in a begging gesture to go along with his whining.

Inko has a difficult time stifling her laugh over how ridiculous he's being, "Fine!", she gives in to the pleading puppy eyes that haven't changed since he was a baby. "But just because this is a special occasion", his victorious smile is contagious and she thinks his spirits have been lifted high enough to venture back on topic to U.A, "How well do you think you did on the exam?"

"Oh.. I'm..", but she reconsiders that thought when she hears him hesitate. She worries for the worst until he says, "I'm not so sure", he scratches the back of his head as though he'll find the answer buried in his thick curls of hair, "I guess we'll find out."

She shoots him a sidelong stare, seeing that he's taken to watching other cars whiz by outside the window. "I mean, you have to have SOME idea of how you did", she tests her luck by attempting to pry a little more in case he's trying to hold out on her for some reason.

"Good, I guess", but his demeanor continues to droop the more that she persists, "Probably the same as anyone else" He shrugs noncommittally before reaching over to turn up the volume dial on the system head unit, "Can we turn on the radio? Present Mic's podcast is starting soon."

Inko opens her mouth to say something more, but closes it just as quickly. Her son has already raised the audio too loud for them to continue talking. So, she relents and whispers more-so to herself, "Yeah.. Okay.. Sure.."

Like the continuous spin of the car's tires, Inko's mind does loops as it tries to figure out why her child has become so despondent. The gentle rise and fall of the road beneath the vehicle does little to sooth her as she overthinks. Part of her hopes that Present Mic will mention U.A's Entrance Exam, but the other side of her knows that she needs the radio as a distraction just as much as Izuku does. The hero's podcast usually consists of jokes that are good for easing any sort of tension. With how increasingly frustrated she's becoming due to so many people cutting into her lane without turn signals, Inko figures she could use a wisecrack or two.

"Yesterday, I caught the sinister villain 'Bomber Bear', and couldn't help thinking to myself..", Present Mic's voice transmits through the radio and already captivates Izuku's interest at the mention of hero work. Inko can't help but listen closely as well, intrigue getting the better of her, past experience from tuning in to the podcasts leaving her in anticipation of a punchline. "What do you call a bear without ears? ..B!", the joke's landing is a bit rough at first but both Midoriyas wind up howling with laughter once they comprehend the humor behind it.

Inko is grateful for the dumb gag, her stress already alleviated. Suddenly, exams and quirks seem like less of a hassle than they originally were. If her son who's on the direct receiving end has already forgotten about those issues, then she can too, for his sake if not her own. Inko instead focuses on her first and foremost priority, which is being a mother, and that means feeding her boy. The woman turns into the parking lot of a grocer with the idea that they can quickly run in. It's hard for her to find a space at this hour, so she pulls alongside the front entrance.

"I'll be right behind you if somebody pulls out of a spot, but wait right here if you finish first", Inko reaches over the headrest of her chair to grab the purple purse she keeps in the backseat. There's just enough yen in her pocketbook to afford a frozen meal. "Go to self checkout and ONLY buy your Katsudon. No candy or treats, young man", the boy's mother withholds the money from his reach until she finishes giving him instructions. Once he stops rolling his eyes and nods in agreement with her laying of ground rules, only then does she allow him to have it.

"What about you?", he pauses halfway out the door to look back when he realizes his mom didn't request anything for herself. The yen that the boy is holding suddenly feels light in his very heavy hand.

Inko closes her eyes with her smile, concealing the chagrin of not being able to afford something for herself. "I'll just have leftovers, sweetie", she then tries shooing him out of the car before he can see through the facade, "Now hurry along."

Izuku turns his face away, hiding his rueful expression from her as he gets out of the vehicle. He's seen the overdue bills piled up on the kitchen counter to know his father's checks haven't been covering their finances anymore. He's well aware of her monetary problems. Though, his mother doesn't know that. He knows better than to say anything to her should he spare her the shame. And yet, he still feels guilty as he goes to spend her hard earned yen for himself.

As Izuku's threadbaren sneakers slap the store's tiled floor, he begins weighing his options with the money in his hand. The boy figures there may be some yen leftover if he buys the cheaper stuff. Grocers sometimes keep expiring meals at the back of the shopee with marked down prices. Each aisle he passes has something different. There's fruit, veggies, bread, canned goods, and finally at the end is when he reaches the discounted stock. Shelves with different microwaveable meals give him his own variety of food to select from.

Izuku lucks out and breathes a sigh of relief when he finds a box of Katsudon. Except, when the boy reaches for it, someone's hand brushes up against his own. He realizes when he sees nails painted in a coat of purple polish that it's a soft, yet firm, FEMININE hand. Retracting his own hand like the girl's fingers were the fangs of a serpent that tried to bite him, Izuku yelps in disconcertment. He feels his face heating up in embarrassment, turning as bright red as his shoes by now.

The boy's mild case of gynophobia really takes hold when he sees the rest of the girl. The hand that touched his own is connected to a fair skinned teenager that must share his age. She's so petite that it's cute, her violet hair short the same as her height, and he can't help but be captivated by her triangular eye shape. What really amazes him about the girl is how cables hang from her lobes like earrings. He places his hand over his chest, feeling his own cord extension from his body and sensing a kindred spirit in that odd sense; he also feels the rapid rhythm of his heart trying not to explode from pumping so much blood all at once.

As for how the girl responds to the accidental contact, her initial instinct is to apologize for startling him so badly. However, she too feels an extreme amount of shock when she sees how the boy looks. She recognizes him from the Entrance Exam and blurts out, "Chainsaw boy?!", before she can stop herself. The hand that touched said chainsaw boy's flies over her mouth to stifle the words that already came out. A blush of her own, though not as extreme as Izuku's, fades in as a pink hue to shadow her cheeks.

Izuku sobers up when he hears the way that she referred to him. "Wait..", he does a double take before making sure he heard her correctly, "What did you call me?"

And that reaction from him only embarrasses the girl even more, her blush darkening. Hesitantly, a muffled whisper comes from behind her hand, "Chainsaw boy.." After a moment of blinking at one another, both failing to gauge the other, the girl bows and shouts, "I'm sorry!" Izuku jumps in place, startled by her a second time. She winces before toning her voice down, "That's not your name", and remains tentative about what she says, "..is it?"

Izuku stands there staring at her dumbfounded like a fool, blinking a few more times for extra measure to make sure the girl is real and that this is actually happening. When he realizes that the gradually growing silence between them is becoming awkward, he shakes his head to both answer her question and jumpstart his mouth. "No, it's not", a weak laugh slips out on its own before he introduces himself with a small bow, "I'm Izuku Midoriya."

"I'm Kyoka Jirou", the girl returns the gesture as she laughs along. Now that the strange tension between them has subsided, she loosens up a little. "Sorry again, for the whole 'chainsaw boy' thing.. and startling you", Kyoka twirls one of her ear jacks so that it wraps around her finger the same way one would normally play with their hair.

"No, no! It's fine!", Izuku fans away her apology with each of his frantically flapping hands. But still lingers on the matter to an extent, rubbing the nape of his neck nervously while wondering aloud, "Just.. How do you know about.. ?"

Kyoka raises an eyebrow when he doesn't finish his sentence. "The chainsaws?", she tries concluding it for him when she realizes that he doesn't plan on saying the rest. He sheepishly nods in response. "Dude, we were at the same test site during the U.A Entrance Exam. It was literally today. You didn't notice me?", her hands go on her noticeably curvaceous hips and Izuku can't help but follow the motion with his eyes.

"I don't know how I could've missed you..", his mouth moves on its own to convey his thoughts. He realizes after the matter of speaking that he's being lewd and diverts his gaze to the ceiling in an attempt to cover his tracks. The tomato faced blush returns full swing.

Fortunately for him, Kyoka misinterprets his response as a regular reply. "Well, you WERE pretty occupied with taking down the Zero Pointer and saving that other girl", she recalls his shirtless rescue and blushes while thinking of her own semi-lewd thoughts.

"Ah, anybody would have done the same in my position", Izuku tries brushing away her praise with one hand while bashfully running the other hand through his bushy green mess of hair.

"Are you kidding?", Kyoka looks at him incredulously. "Everyone else ran off like a bunch of pansies", she shocks Izuku with her terminology and zeal, "You were the only one rockin' enough to actually be a hero like we're trying to become!"

He worries that he'll faint in front of her again due to how much blood keeps rushing up to his face. "Oh.. Thanks, I guess..", Izuku tries staring down at the floor to avoid facing the influx of emotions that he's feeling. He's not used to such praise, and from a girl no less. Heck, he's surprised that he's even lasted this long talking to one in general.

"By the way, are you doing alright?", Kyoka's question snaps him out of his musings and causes him to look back up at her with confusion.

"Huh?", he tries not to scrunch up his face too much as he tries to figure out what she means. He does a poor job.

Seeing the boy's bewilderment, Kyoka elaborates a little, "I was also in Recovery Girl's office afterwards and you didn't wake up the entire time that I was there."

"Oh! THAT!", Izuku's eyes almost pop out of his head from how large his epiphany is. "I'm fine. Just some quirk overuse backlash", he gestures towards his face with his hands as if she hadn't noticed the lack of bloody oil soaked chainsaws until now. Then he thinks about what else she said and asks, "Wait, what were you in there for?"

Kyoka wavers, suddenly self conscious about herself the same way that he had been. "Oh, I.. Uh, I have pretty sensitive ears, so..", she shyly twists and untwists the jacks hanging from her lobes before explaining, "You kinda did a number on my hearing when you went all 'Chainsaw Massacre' on the Zero Pointer."

Izuku feels like he's been struck across the face. Or maybe stabbed in the chest. Both. He feels both. He holds his hands out in front of himself, unsure of what to do with them. Realizing that he's just standing there and hasn't apologized, he bends down to his waist to bow, "Oh no, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to–"

"I- It's okay! I'm fine now too! Really, it's alright!", but Kyoka interrupts him with a mimicry of Izuku's earlier frantic double hand wave. "Just, keep that in mind the next time you decide to transform", she winces at the memory of the sound but tries to assure him with a delicate smile that it's okay anyways.

Izuku looks up at her, confused yet again, "Next time.. ?"

"Do you not think you did well enough on the exam to get in?", Kyoka tilts her head to the side in mutual miscommunication. She then tilts her head upwards as she thinks, "I'm pretty sure I, at least, racked up about thirty of the three pointers."

Realizing Kyoka is talking about the score required to get accepted into the hero school, Izuku's shoulders slump with sorrow. He hadn't told his mom why guessing the exam results was such a touchy topic for him during their drive to the store, but he supposes it doesn't hurt to discuss the matter with a fellow examinee. "I didn't, um.. 'Transform' .. until the end..", he unconsciously places a hand over the string that dangles from his sternum under his shirt.

Both of Kyoka's brows raise in a mixture of surprise and confusion. "Dude, really? Why not?", she finds herself taking a step back in an attempt to better assess the boy's downtrodden demeanor.

Izuku looks away, avoiding eye contact. His fingers trace the cord under the fabric of his shirt as he tries thinking of a good response for her. After a moment, he gives her a halfhearted shrug and mumbles, "I dunno.."

Seeing how uncomfortable he is, Kyoka decides not to pry any further. "Well, that's a bummer", she crosses her arms and tries cheering him up instead, "I think you would have made a pretty hardcore hero."

"Th- Thanks..", Izuku cracks a small smile after hearing her say that. The hand hovering over his chest falls away, hanging in front of him next. "Most people don't say that about my quirk..", his fingers curl in to cover his open palm and form a fist before he looks up from it to return her sentiment, "But you seem pretty 'rockin' too."

Flabbergasted by the boy using her own terminology on her, Kyoka turns as stiff as a board painted red. "Rockin?! Sh- Shut it!", her ear jacks start twisting around eachother and the flush faced girl has to struggle not to let them get tangled.

"Ah! S- Sorry! I didn't mean to offend you!", Izuku begins to match her state of panic minus her quirk's ear extensions intertwining. The blushing and stammering mess of a boy hides his face behind his hands.

Seeing that he's just as embarrassed, Kyoka spares him from getting jabbed by the jacks she finally manages to straighten out. "Tch. Whatever", she tries to play the moment off by holding out her cellphone for him to take, "Here."

Surprised to see the gesture, Izuku spreads his hands just enough to peek out and look at the foreign object. The case is bedazzled with musical notes and has a glittery effect. "Huh?", he looks up from it to her with a perplexed stare.

Kyoka shakes the hand holding the phone to urge him on. "Your phone number. Put it in so we can keep chatting", but avoids meeting his gaze out of lingering embarrassment.

"O- Oh!", Izuku realizes what she intended then and takes the phone from her to put in his contact. While he's at it, he inputs her phone number into his cell as well.

While he's busy looking at the phone screens, Kyoka chances a glance in his direction to take in his appearance. Now that the boy isn't covered in blood and has his complexion back, he's even handsomer than he was before. He also has a cool sense of style. Kyoka stifles a giggle when she reads the small fonted kanji text that simply reads 't-shirt'. It really is just an otherwise normal white short sleeve top that he's got on. "Nice shirt", she compliments him with a nod.

"Thanks", Izuku hands the girl her phone back as he returns the nod, "I like yours too."

Forgetting which outfit she picked out for that day, Kyoka looks down at herself to see how she dressed. The top she chose is a purple tee with bolded English text that says 'DEEP DOPE' in yellow, but the catch is that the P on the end extends into an arrow that points down to her crotch. A blush so radical that it covers her entire face overwhelms her. "Perv!", and she snatches the box of Katsudon off the shelf between them before hurrying away. Just as she's about to round the corner, she pauses to shout over her shoulder, "You'd better text me!"

And poor Izuku is left discombobulated by the girl's sudden reaction. Not only did he receive mixed signals, but he had his dinner stolen from him. He stretches out an arm as though he's reaching for the girl and his food, "W- Wait.. What?!", but ultimately surrenders to common sense being that there is no sense to what just happened.

Suddenly, an eerie aura starts to creep up behind the boy. "Who was that nice sweet kind gorgeous girl, 'Zuku?", his mother materializes seemingly out of thin air behind him to be the world's biggest jumpscare.

Izuku screams. "MOM, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN STANDING THERE?!", he feels faint after a violent vertigo assault on his mind from how she just magically appeared.

"Long enough", Inko smirks as she folds her arms over one another. "Now tell me how long until I get my grandchildren, 'Zuku. When do I get to meet her or her parents?", the atmosphere becomes heavier as she somehow increases her aura's output. The overwhelming motherly force nearly crushes Izuku from how strong the amount of pressure is.

The poor boy almost falls to his knees, legs wobbling as he struggles to remain standing in retaliation of the weight against him. "SHE'S JUST A FRIEND!", he cries out in a desperate Hail Mary attempt to stop his mom from smothering him in her emanating aura.

Fortunately for him, the effort works and the dense fog lifts. He's able to breathe again, heavy intakes of air, as he bends forward with his hands on his knees. "My little Zuzu is 'just' friend's with a giiiirrll!", Inko squeals with delight as she does a celebratory dance that has her wiggling in place. She's completely oblivious to her son's suffering as she commemorates the milestone in his life.

Once Izuku has finally recovered enough oxygen to speak again, he forces himself to stand up straight and tries to stop her from embarrassing him any further. "Mooommm!", but there's a small smile that graces his lips despite his protests to her happiness. He too feels like celebrating, even if he'd never admit it.

Afterall, Kyoka Jirou is his first friend since he lost Pochita.

AUTHOR'S NOTE

To celebrate the return of Chainsaw Man, here's my own new chapter! I know that it's a bit too wholesome and fluffy for a Chainsaw Man hybrid story, but I hope that it's still to your liking. (And there's always time for tragedy in later chapters!)

Now, onto reading your reviews!

To The True Wild Thing:

I dunno why I didn't think of that myself.. That's a great suggestion, and as you can see, I decided to do it!

To Guest:

Thank you! I know it's a bit of a slow burn right now, so I appreciate your patience!

To Slippyboii:

I tend to overthink stuff lmao

To iron-slayer-dragon:

I'm glad you like it so far! While the story will relatively follow canon, I do have some alterations I look forward to implementing with later chapters!

I'm glad there were no objections to the flashback chapter concept and appreciate your reviews! See you all next time!