Hey everybody, Sushi here.

Worry not, the story is still continuing. I just have a word of notice.

On my AO3 posting of this story, I have begun to receive comments for a platform called "Webnovel." DO NOT JOIN THEIR DISCORD.

The reason I am saying this is that even though I am deleting the comments, they may still pop back up. Instead of just randomly clicking the shady link and blindly trusting what was shaping up to be an internet scam, I did my research.

Webnove is a platform that promises authors pay for basically writing fanfiction. It does sound too good to be true, and that's because it is. The entire business doesn't actually pay writers, and if they do it isn't actually that much. The chapters that you publish are locked behind payment barriers, so that others cannot enjoy your work without paying for each individual chapter.

This is not only illegal for copyright purposes, but it also takes away from the freedom of websites such as AO3 and FFN, where aspiring authors are able to publish works simply for feedback and the enjoyment of others. I am continuing to do my research, as I do not know if this scam also attempts to block you from cross posting on open forums.

Please do not pay comments from this platform any heed. I do not want my work to be the reason that an aspiring author gets their creative freedom repressed.

Thank you, and without further ado, onto chapter twenty four.

)=(

Izuka rubbed her wrist beneath the surface of her desk. It was Monday, and she was back at school. Tonight would be the night she met Mustards family.

She hoped beyond belief that they would accept her. Amidst all of the hectic activity of UA classes and quirkball, followed by her own project with the Shields, and not to mention her new slew of nightmares, the one thing that the girl hoped for was a normal visit.

Speaking of her dreams.

The young woman was caught between them being real or not. For some, she knew that they had definitely happened. The first, where she followed the faceless man… she still had the mark on her stomach from the drunk slave quirk holder. But beyond that, she couldn't remember which events were real or which ones were fake.

She remembered her mother walking towards her, but her mother was dead… The faceless man had said something about holes in her memory, but her mother seemed too real, too in-focus to be just a vision.

But even so, she definitely remembered breaking the mirror. She remembered the cut on her hand, and there was even still a spot of blood on the edge of the bathroom countertop, yet the mirror was completely intact. There wasn't even a single hairline fracture upon its surface.

Last night's dream was also confusing. She woke up and had the urge to go on a run. Mustard had returned home to be with his family that night, and the Bakugo's were all asleep.

So Izuka went for a run.

At first, she just started by walking at a slow pace. That walk eventually turned into a jog, which eventually turned into a full sprint. Izuka didn't know why, but it just did.

She could hear laughter that night. She could feel the breath of the rapist on her face, but for some reason she wasn't afraid.

The faceless man had protected her. For some reason, she knew that he would continue to protect her. He would turn quirks against their users and destroy them from the inside. Was that villainous?

Izuka didn't know. And the more she thought about it, the more she would wonder why she didn't really care. The faceless man said he owned the streets of Kamino, giving the impression of a gang leader or mafia boss…

But regardless, Izuka found that she didn't care. If he was a villain, he didn't seem to harbor any ill intent towards her. He wished to protect her for some reason, which was strange, but it was always nice knowing that one was protected.

As she ran that night, in that dream-like state, she hadn't noticed that she never slowed down. Not until Monday morning, that is. Now that she thought of it, she had done a full sprint for an hour and a half, before returning home and going to bed.

That had to be a dream. She didn't have a stamina quirk or anything like that…

But the ache in her legs betrayed her denial.

"Izuka… you ready to go?"

The young woman looked up from her desk to find Mustard standing in the class doorway, a smile on his face.

"Yeah, I'm ready when you are!"

"Let's go get changed. Question…" The boy held up an abhorrent yellow day dress. "Do you think you'd make a good impression in this?"

Izuka retched at the sight, before shaking her head in horror. "Who even made that? It looks like someone threw up street ramen all over a third graders art project…"

Mustard laughed. "That bad? I tried my best, you know."

"You made that?"

"Mustard yellow is my color, you know. Kinda the whole shtick." Kiken chuckled.

Izuka banged her head on her desk. "Why on earth did I have to fall for the guy with absolutely no home skills. My aunt is a bloody fashion model for gods sake!"

"Hey, they say love is blind." Mustard smiled.

"Yeah…" Izuka nodded with a chuckle. "Wait, say that again?"

"What? Love is blind?" Mustard blinked.

"Yeah…" Izuka nodded.

For some reason, when he said that, the only thing that came to Izuka's mind was the faceless man.

He had no eyes to see with, but still watched over her. He had no way to hear her cries for help, as he didn't even have ears… and yet he still found a way to her pleas and cries for help that night… The faceless man was blind, yet could see. Deaf, yet he could hear.

And he protected her, without hesitation. He blindly struck down the ones who had tried to harm her.

Did that mean that the faceless man was Love?

It was quite an odd thing to think about. When people thought of love, they would think of a beautiful woman, or a man with perfect features.

Izuka snorted a bit as she pictured the faceless man in a rocking chair, with a mug of hot chocolate, like a parent, or him in a dress with shining gold hair upon his scarred head.

There was of course, the stunningly funny vision of the faceless man with a chiseled jawline and perfect eyebrows, with no eyes or nose to go along with said features.

The idea made Izuka laugh out loud.

"What's so funny?" Mustard blinked.

"Nothing," Izuka chuckled. "Nothing at all."

The young woman stood and shouldered her schoolbag, before walking over to Kiken and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Love is definitely blind."

Kiken blinked. "Wait… does that mean I'm attractive?"

Izuka chuckled. "No, that's not what I'm saying… Come on. I'll see if I can fix this thing you say is a dress… Maybe I can make it look nice."

)=(

Izuka held her breath as her and Mustard walked up to his family's doorstep.

"You'll be fine. You made the dress look good." Mustard spoke.

"Yeah well, fixing up your stitching took time… The recoloring was easy enough."

Izuka had fixed the dress so it was now a nice, jade green. The color matched her hair wonderfully, and although she would have almost scrapped it with mustards terrible stitchwork, his mistakes gave the perfect little opportunity to make a small slit song the side of the dress, allowing her to show off a bit more leg than usual.

Mustard pouted. "You don't have to make fun of me…"

Izuka chuckled. "You're too cute. How about this, I can help you learn how to sew better. Honestly though… how can you be so good at making sports uniforms, and so bad at making a dress?"

Mustard grumbled. "I made it by hand, okay? I wanted it to be special."

Iuka smiled and gave the boy a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you. It's very special."

"In the way that it was downright horrendous?"

Izuka snickered. "No. Because technically, we made it together."

The conversation was cut short as the front door swung open, revealing Mustards mother.

"Ah! Izuka! I'm so glad you got to come for dinner!"

Izuka chuckled as the woman gave her a hug. "It is good to see you too ma'am. Sorry if we're a bit late."

"Nonsense! And you look so beautiful!"

Izuka smiled. "Thank you. Mustard made me the dress."

"Did he now? I'm surprised at the color."

Izuka smirked at her boyfriend, who rolled his eyes. "No. He did a really good job."

"I see that… I never knew he was this good with a sewing needle… Well enough of that. Come in! Come in! We have food to eat!"

Izuka chuckled and allowed Mustard to lead her into the house. While it was smaller than the Bakugo home, it still had plenty of space. Izuka could tell which room was Mustards as the door had caution tape on it.

"Yeah… I wasn't allowed to take that off after my quirk came in. Used to fight villains in my sleep and almost caused an incident. Lucily, dad and mom were… well… haha."

Izuka giggled a bit as Mustard tried to push the vision away, and his mother turned a vibrant shade of scarlet.

"So your quirk walked in on your parents?"

Mustard blushed and steam came off of his mothers head from embarrassment.

"W-well… we were very lucky that we were still awake." The woman said embarrassedly. "We took precautions with Kiken ever since. We even made sue he had a special mask to sleep with, until he could control his power."

"Incidents like that don't happen much anymore." The young man shrugged. "I just feel like the tape fits my overall presentation."

Izuka nodded. "Yeah. You always do give off a bit of a hazmat vibe. That along with the world war two era vibe… but that can be a bit creepy sometimes."

"It's because of my great great great… too many greats, grandfather." Mustard smiled. "He fought in the war when he was in europe. It's been family tradition to hand down his gas mask as a keepsake."

Izuka blinked. "You mean you have a pre quirk era antique?"

Mustard chuckled. "I'll show it to you at some point. It doesn't work as well as it used to. They don't make the filters it needs anymore."

"Kiken, while I finish up the food and we wait for your father to get home, why don't you introduce Izuka to your brother?"

Mustard smiled and grabbed Izuka's hand. "Come on. Let's go meet him!"

The boy pulled her over to a closed door and knocked. "Rida, can I come in? I brought a friend!"

The door clicked and slowly swung open. Izuka blinked as she beheld a boy that seemed to be a bit younger than Katsuki. He couldn't be more than ten.

He was very similar in appearance to Mustard. His hair was white, and he was skinny. His eyes were a deep purple, which seemed to dissect everything he took in.

"Hi. My name is Izuka Midoriya, what's yours?"

"My name is Rida…"

Izuka smiled. "Well Rida, can I come in?"

The little boy nodded and let the two young adults enter his room. The room reminded Izuka a lot of her own when she was little. Hero merchandise decorated shelves and walls. A few notebooks sat on a small table at the side of the room.

"I see you like the wild wild pussycats." Izuka smiled.

The boy nodded. "Mandalay is my favorite."

Izuka couched down and gave the boy a smile. "Guess what, Mandalay is my favorite too."

The boys eyes glimmered a bit at that. "Really?"

Izuka nodded. "Yeah! In fact, I have something for the next time I visit, okay? You'll have to be good so I can come over again soon."

The boy nodded causing Izuka to giggle. The young woman ruffled the boys hair a bit. "Mind if I sit down?"

Rida nodded and Izuka sat down on the floor with Mustard.

"So… how do you know my brother?"

Izuka smiled. "I go to school with him!"

The boy blinked. "You go to UA? That must be really cool!"

Izuka nodded. "Oh yeah!"

Mustard smiled. "Izuka and I are gonna be hero's some day."

Rida's eyes sparkled. "So cool! I hope that I can watch you guys be heroes!"

Izuka nodded. "Do you want to be a hero, Rida?"

The boy shrugged. "Yeah… but I have to be realistic. I don't have a quirk, so I'd just be a liability."

Izuka blinked. "Rida, who told you that?"

The boy shook his head. "Just kids at school and people online."

Izuka shook her head. "Don't listen to jerks like that. You can be a great hero!"

Mustard nodded. "Of course!"

"Your friend is really nice for saying that big brother…"

Mustard nodded. "Well Izuka is a special hero. Of course she would tell you you can do it!"

Rida looked at Izuka. "You're a special hero?"

Izuka looked back and forth to make it seem like she was checking for anyone listening, before leaning over and whispering to Rida. "I don't have a quirk either."

Rida gawked at the young woman. "Really? So I could really do it?"

Izuka smiled. "Of course you could! You've got to work hard! Anyone can be a hero, as long as they are willing to put their heart on the line for the sake of others."

Rida nodded and steeled his features. "I'm gonna be the best hero in the world!"

Izuka nodded while holding onto her phone behind her back. "Can you tell me about the people who said mean things to you?"

Rida nodded. "They have okay quirks… One of them is the daughter of a member of the public safety commission. Torada Hayamune is her name. She's the worst because her quirk actually hurts…"

Izuka narrowed her eyes. "Tell me about Hayamunes quirk."

Rida nodded. "It's called Thermometer. She can influence the temperature of whatever she touches, and she can go a pretty long ways too. I have marks from where she gave me frostbite on my arms, but her favorite thing to do is to burn me by incinerating my clothes."

Kiken leaned forward. "You never said anything!"

"She threatened to get the commission to take action on mom and dad. That's also how she keeps the school quiet. Her dad actually came in to back her up at one point."

Izuka frowned. "From what I know… Mrs Hayamune of the public safety commission is heavily against discriminatory practice. If she knew her child was using her quirk on you."

Rida nodded. "I know… but her husbands involvement has kept the school quiet."

Izuka stopped the recording and nodded to Mustard. "Thank you for telling me Rida."

"I'M HOME!"

Mustard smiled. "Just in time. How about we go have dinner?"

Rida nodded. "I'd like that. Do you think you could tell me about your classes?"

Izuka and Kiken smiled. "Of course! Now, do you have any idea what your mother was making?"

Rida nodded. "She makes a really good beef wellington. Even if she's a waitress, she's a great cook."

Izuka drooled. "I love a good wellington…"

Mustard chuckled. "You just like food. Let's go meet my dad."

)=(

I really hope that everyone enjoyed meeting Mustard's brother. That'll develop more as the story progresses, so I'd love to hear some theories as to what you all think I have planned :)

Chapter twenty four, done and dusted. Next up is twenty five!

Until then, Sushui Out!