Use Your Charm

It's been two weeks of hard work for the students of U.A's Hero Course. Between the work at the agencies and the homework, they only had narrow windows to relax and wind up a little. To the girls, in particular, the matters were a little more serious, as they would need to catch up on a lot of subjects due to their 1-month long house arrest. So to mitigate this upcoming problem, they decided to make their study group a "class out of class". The only issue was the extra component, namely, Toga Himiko.

"Kyoka-chan, Kyoka-chan, can you play that song again?" The blondie pushed and pulled Jiro back and forth while the purple-haired girl focused on not poking Himiko's eyes with her jacks.

"Please, please. I heard you singing when I walked by your door, come ooon~"

"No means no. And let go of me, damn it!" She pushed her back, but Himiko insisted on keeping physical contact, holding on to Jiro's waist while her head was pushed back.

"But I'm the only one of the group that has never heard you sing! Tsu-chan, help me out here~" She whined, trying to find an ally in the frog girl.

"Don't call me like that. It's Asui for you, ribbit."

"Aw, don't be so shy, we're all friends here~ Ne, Momo-chan, we already covered a good amount of topics, tell Kyoka-chan to play something for us~"

The raven-haired teen felt her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Yaoyorozu wasn't sure for how much longer she could listen to the sound of Himiko's "adorable" voice. Her hands held tighter to the book she had in her hands.

"This study group is meant to help us prepare for the accumulated work at the end of the house arrest… We have to cover as much as we can." It was pretty obvious that she was containing herself to not lash out at the blondie.

"I know but… this is so boring!~"

"It's been only an hour and a half!" Hagakure said. It seems that the sentiment was traveling from one girl to another.

"A very, very long hour and a half. I already study a lot in the classroom, why do we have to do homework and stuff like that?" She said, flopping on the bed and letting her upper body slide and hand from the edge of the mattress. "Uuh, what a comfy bed you have here, Momo-chan~ Do you get banged in it often?"

A loud clap noise sounded, getting everyone's attention in the room. Uraraka just closed her book shut, with considerable strength. She then got up, eyes closed shut and hands balled into fists.

"Excuse me for a moment." She said, spinning on her heels and walking to the balcony. The girls looked at her with confused faces, until the brunette leaned on the guardrail and let out a loud, frustrated cry. No profanities whatsoever, just a long AAAAAH! that echoed in the cold night. She came back inside, closed the glass door after her, returned to her place, and sat again on the floor. "I'm sorry, where were we? Ah yes, this equation here..."

The girls looked at her as if Uraraka had grown a second head, but in reality, it was perfectly understandable. Ashido scratched her head a bit, trying to figure out how to solve this problem. Ectoplasm-sensei had explained it before, but she couldn't remember the way to solve it.

"Hmmm, how is it done again…?"

"Oh, this one is pretty easy. You just have to replace this term here with X squared and then solve it normally." The pink-haired girl moved away as Himiko's head popped in her field of vision from behind, pointing at the book in her hands.

"Woah! Back off!" She pushed Himiko back.

"Fufufu, no need to get flustered with me, Mina-chan~"

"Who's getting flustered?! Uuh! I swear, one of these days…" Himiko's inability to read the room, rather, her willingly refusing to do so, was something that always put Ashido on the edge of exploding. Trying to keep it cool, she focused again on the problem, and… huh, Himiko was right. She swapped that term of the equation with an X² and the way to solve the problem became much more clear.

"Huh, that was quite easy… Hey, how do you know how to solve that?" She turned to the blondie, who was once again hanging upside down from Yaoyorozu's bed.

"Well, I just paid attention to Ectoplasm-sensei's explanation, it's not that hard. All you gotta do is memorize how to solve it and–"

"No no no, why do you understand it so easily? I thought you said the classes were boring."

"And they are! But I figured out Izuku wouldn't like dumb girls with smooth brains, so I'm showing I can be smart too, just like him! Oh, and Momo-chan too~"

It was a bit of a shame and quite insulting that Himiko, a girl that dropped from school, was having an easier time handling some of the more difficult subjects. She had quite a lot of catching up to do, but ever since she started attending classes and most importantly, paying attention, Himiko showed a surprisingly good academic performance, much to the girls' dismay.

"It's really not that hard when Ectoplasm-sensei explains it so well. Oh oh, I can repeat what he taught, then we'll finish this pile of homework in no time and we can do something fun together after! What do you think?~" She asked the group enthusiastically, only to receive death glares. The saving grace of this situation was that Midoriya was so busy with the Hero Work Studies at Ryukyu's agency that he wasn't around as much to be tormented by the annoying blondie.

Uraraka excused herself and got up again, this time heading towards the bedroom's door.

"Are you done already, Ochako-chan? Are you going to see Izuku and fuck? Can I go too?~"

"Uuuh…!" Uraraka was visibly shaking, but then she sighed and simply banged her forehead on the wooden door. "Why…? Why…?"

He sat in silence at the kitchen table, with a plain face. Across it, with arms folded, Iida hung his head low in ponderation. To his left, Todoroki, with the same neutral expression as always. On the right of the tall teen with glasses, Sero. And leaning on the doorway in his typical "brooding" position, bird head himself, Tokoyami.

"So let's recapitulate. Uraraka-san was the first one to make a move on you." Iida asked Midoriya.

"Yes." He answered.

"You two kept your relationship a secret for a while, and at some point the other girls discovered it."

"Yes. Under… less than ideal circumstances…"

"They initially got mad at you for a big misunderstanding, which led to some aggressive behavior towards you."

"Yes."

"And at some point, that hate turned into… passion?"

"Umm, yeah?"

The tall teen threw his hands up in the air.

"I'm lost."

Midoriya scratched his head sheepishly.

"I gotta admit I don't know exactly how I got there either. It sort of… happened."

"So the girls simply jumped on the harem idea without questions?" Todoroki asked.

"Without questions is not how I would put it… it was more like, uh, a peace treaty?"

"Oh, sure thing. They got super possessive of you at some point, so I imagine there would be bloodshed if they decided to "fight each other" for you." Said Sero.

"Revelry in the Dark…"

"I don't know, sometimes I think about it and I can't help but wonder if I should have just picked one…" His mind seemed to wander a bit.

"You regret forming your harem, Midoriya?" Todoroki questioned.

"N-no, not at all. What I mean is that it all started because I didn't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but perhaps there was another way… Regardless, I'm happy with how things are now."

"Well, who wouldn't love to have a crowd of girls falling head over heels for them? And super good-looking girls at it." Said the tape boy.

"I guess I'm living a dream, right? Ah hahaha…"

"Even so, I would like to ask you, Midoriya. Ahem, how do you handle your time?" Iida asked albeit he looked a bit uneasy in doing so.

"How do I handle my time? As in, how do I spend time with them?"

"Yeah, among other things…"

"Well, uh… we just hang out together whenever we can. I can't see the girls from 1-B a lot, for obvious reasons, and the same goes for Hatsume–"

"And Kayama-sensei and Mt. Lady-san~" Sero added with a sly smirk, prompting a faint blush to appear in Midoriya's cheeks.

"Y-yeah, them too. We just try to make the most of our time together, at the joint training for example. Now that the secret is out, I feel like we can spend even more time together." He sounded pretty happy with that prospect.

"You also spent nights with them in deep intimacy, right?" Todoroki added with his serene bluntness, which served to make the green teen's face more flushed.

"Well, what can I say? T-they can be quite needy." There was this hint of smugness coming from him that simply didn't match Midoriya as they knew him.

"As students from such a renowned institution as U.A, we should not engage in… carnal desires like this," Iida said, fixing his glasses. "But regardless, I'm trying to understand where this mutual sentiment came from. So, Midoriya, do you have… any more preferences?"

"Preferences, huh? Honestly no, but I do have particular things I like about them."

"That basically answers my question of whether you're an ass or tits man," Sero said nonchalantly.

"Sero-san, some less vulgar language would be good."

"What? I'm being honest."

"Particularly, I have a liking for thighs." All the eyes quickly focused on the bird-headed teen at the doorway. "It is a less common preference, I am aware."

Exchanging some surprised looks, they kept on discussing.

"What Iida wants to ask is if you have a favorite girl." Once again Todoroki came straight to the point, much to Iida's dismay.

"I never said such a thing!"

"But didn't you support Midoriya and Uraraka being a couple back then?"

Iida did the thing with his glasses, averting his gaze from the inquiring half hot, half cold teen.

"I mean, the chemistry was already there, I just pointed out the obvious."

"Wait, what?" Midoriya looked at his friends with a lost expression.

"Ah nothing, just that a while back when the girls were all up in arms protecting you, we made some guesses on who you would end with." The tape boy explained.

"We noticed all of them probably held some feelings for you. We just never imagined they would go this far." Tokoyami said, and from his shoulder Dark Shadow sprouted, mimicking its host's posture.

"Revelry in the Dark."

"Exactly, Dark Shadow."

"Looking back it was hard not to notice…" Midoriya said.

"We just took it for a fact that they liked you because it was pretty obvious. The real question was who did you like back." Sero added. "So, do you have any favorites?~"

This was an easy one. It wasn't the first time Izuku had considered it, the sum of his feelings towards all these girls that circled him and showered his person with affection and love. In fact, as the harem grew, he started to feel a deeper connection with everyone, seeing their antics when everyone was together. He was basically the common trait of all the girls involved, rather, this deep love for him. It was because of that love that the harem existed, to begin with, along with an agreement on not tearing each other's throat open.

If he could love more than one girl equally, and returning their feelings did make them happier, why shouldn't he, then? Of course, he wasn't actively looking to expand his already large number of girlfriends, but lately, his mind had been more at ease with these things, mostly compared to how he felt at the beginning. It certainly wasn't the norm, but it was what worked for him and all of his lovers. That said, Midoriya still had a lot in himself that didn't change, and one of these things was his first love for Uraraka.

"I wouldn't go that far to say she is my favorite, but I definitely have a special place in my heart for Uraraka. N-not that I don't have the same for the others! I do love them all equally, b-but… how… how do I put it?"

"The first love is always special, right? That should be expected. Usually, it is a thing that changes your entire world."

That surprisingly sentimental answer came from Todoroki, of all people, tranquil as usual. They stared at him in silence for a moment.

"Did I say something weird?"

"No, I was just surprised you would make such a heartfelt comment," Sero explained, and the others nodded.

"I see…"

"When you put it like that, yeah, I think it would be Uraraka. She was the first one I had… never mind."

"So, on the occasion of having to legally marry one of them, would you choose Uraraka?" Iida pressed further.

"M-maybe. I did think about it a couple of times, but I haven't come to a conclusion yet. P-probably because it's a little early to talk about marriage…"

"But since your situation is really special, you should keep that in mind, right?"

"Wow, you really want to see your ship sail, huh?" Sero commented from the sidelines with a smile.

"It has nothing to do with my personal preferences whatsoever, I'm just looking out for my friend's well-being in the near future!" Iida responded to the tape boy, quite excited about it.

"If I had the opportunity to be in your situation I would easily pass, Midoriya," Tokoyami said out of nowhere, looking at the green teen. "It feels too much of a hassle hanging out with sixteen girlfriends."

"I mean, I agree with Tokoyami on that. Most dudes dream of having a bunch of girls around them but… just between us, how do you, you know, sleep with them all at once?" Sero asked in a whisper and the others leaned forward to listen.

"Well," if Midoriya could get any redder now, he would have. "It involves a lot of energy. And I mean a lot. The girls can be… quite eager and… we just go one at a time and… it sort of… just works?"

The boys formed some mental images of the possible scenarios coming from this. Not necessarily the lewd part of it, but rather the logistics required in order for Midoriya's harem to work.

"What happens when you're not as willing or with enough energy to do that… big task?" Iida asked again.

"As I said, the girls can be pretty needy and… a little bit unhinged at times."

"The Dark Abyss is tempting, and invites those who seek it to an endless feast…" Tokoyami casually added, once again gathering the attention of the other boys.

"You know, you're not that far from the real deal..." Midoriya said, scratching the back of his head shyly. He used to blackout a lot back then.

"I don't know how I would feel in your place but I can see why you chose to keep them all by your side. It is not only about the sex, the girls really love every aspect of you. You must feel blessed, Midoriya." Once again Todoroki came with a heartfelt comment. For someone who was usually pretty oblivious, he was very good at this.

"Huh, I can see you getting a lot of girls after you too, Todoroki," Sero said.

"You think so?"

"Yeah, I mean. You already look like a model or a boy band member. With all that smooth talk, a lot of girls would be swooning at you." The tape boy said, confident in his words.

Todoroki meditated on that for a moment.

"Hmm, I guess you have a point. When Bakugo and I were taking the Remedial Course, we had to interact with a lot of children. Some of the girls were particularly interested in a mirage of me."

"A mirage?" Iida asked.

"Yes. One of the other students had a Quirk that created illusions. She was the girl that was impersonated by Toga during the Provisional License exams."

"Wait, that girl from Shiketsu High?!" Sero said in shock. The others also looked quite surprised.

As for Midoriya, the memories of that day sent a small shiver down his spine. With all that happened, knowing Himiko was so close to him even back then was off-putting, to say the least.

"So she had to take the Remedials because of Himiko…" The green teen thought out loud.

"Correct, but she didn't seem to mind that much."

"Even so, someone got in a lot of trouble because of her…"

The silence grew in the kitchen, so Sero tried to brighten up the mood again.

"A-anyway, what kind of illusions did she do, Todoroki?"

"Ah, just like you said, she used my image to make some young girls more cooperative. It worked pretty well for a while."

"A Quirk that creates illusions… man, I wish I could talk to her about it." The boys looked at Midoriya as he mumbled something. They could practically see the cogs turning above his head but the greater concern, if you could call it that, was about what would happen when he approached her. There was a certain pattern to follow and a lot of precedents.

"I thought it was a pretty impressive Quirk. It managed to get the attention of the kids pretty easily."

"Haha, so that's your parameter…" The tape boy laughed lightly. "Well, I think this serves to prove that it's not only Midoriya here that has a charm for the ladies~," Sero said, nudging Iida with his elbow.

"Ahem, this should not be our focus as heroes in training, but I do agree. That said…" Iida did the thing with his glasses again, flashing a confident grin. "I heard that tall guys are pretty popular among women of all ages."

"To attain yourself to the obscure minds of others is to bind yourself in invisible shackles, and plunge into a dark void…" Said Tokoyami, followed by an awkward silence as the boys tried to absorb this apparent piece of wisdom.

"... I believe Tokoyami-kun means we should not worry that much about impressing every girl around us?" The tall teen explained, looking at his bird-headed friend for confirmation, and Tokoyami nodded in agreement. He was getting better at translating chuunibyou dialect.

"You're mostly saying that because you don't have a queue of girls after you. No, wait— you're working with Hawks, that's like the best shortcut to becoming popular!" Sero said, realizing Tokoyami could also easily outclass his popularity with the opposite sex.

"I don't see your point. I'm simply working with Hawks, I don't look like him at all."

"It's called 'looking cool by association'. Besides, I bet some girls would love that edgy side of yours."

Before Tokoyami could counter-argue by saying he was not edgy at all, Todoroki cut them off by thinking out loud.

"Maybe Midoriya simply has the strongest charm. Or something that every girl likes…"

"Uuh, bro, you sure you don't want to date him?" The tape boy teased.

"Why would I?" Once again Todoroki managed to pass as the clueless in the room. However, he did stare intently at Midoriya for a moment.

"... Is everything alright, Todoroki-kun?" Midoriya asked him, not being used to this kind of direct contact from the Icy Hot teen, of all people.

"... Yes. I just had an idea, but I have to think more about it."

"Right…"

"Anyway, Midoriya, my man, you gotta teach us how to be this likable. I'm not desperate, but it would be nice to have a tip for the future." Sero said, somewhat mimicking Kaminari in behavior.

"I honestly don't know what to say, I'm not exactly an example of confidence…" Midoriya scratched his head nervously, then he seemed to space out, focusing on the present after a few seconds. "I guess just be a nice person, show whoever you want to "impress" that you care about them, and uh… be yourself?"

"That's some really vague advice, you know? Did one of the girls tell you that?"

Well, sort of.

"Yeah, I feel like I lucked out in that… Girls like guys that work out and look fit… right?"

"Hmmm, yeah. Most of us have this covered out, so there has to be something else."

"I-I know it looks like I have some infallible secret but that couldn't be further from the truth," said the green teen.

They gathered for this "meeting" because truth be told, no one expected Midoriya to have a harem. It was more out of curiosity than disdain that motivated them, though. With the exception of the purple midget, who was seething with envy, everyone seemed pretty cool with the new situation, even Bakugo. Well, as cool as Bakugo could be, anyway.

"Well, I guess there are no shortcuts for this kind of thing. Just don't go making every girl in your vicinity fall in love with you. Leave some to your bro here, hahahaha!"

"Trust me, I don't do that on purpose. And it's not like I actively "expand" it anyway…"

"So you don't look to add more girls to your harem in the future?" Todoroki questioned. Was that… disappointment in his face, or was Midoriya seeing things?

"Not really. I'm more than fine with how things are now."

"I see."

"It still baffles me that you convinced so many girls to agree on this "sharing" thing," Iida said.

"Well, me too."

"It's almost as if you had a Quirk for that…" Todoroki eyed him suspiciously again.

"C-can we change topics now…?"

Another day came and the school was busy as usual, except for the students that were not here due to their Work Studies. It seemed many more pro heroes had admitted heroes in training this time, not only from U.A but of all schools across the board. But even so, they were still students and they had to keep up with the normal curriculum too. That said, the class period just ended, and at that time, most of the teenagers would go back to the dorms and do their homework (most of the time) or simply unwind in any way they could. However, a certain blue-haired 3rd year had very specific plans. Rather, she had questions that were begging to be answered, and right now she could only think of one person to seek this knowledge.

"Kayama-sensei!~ Do you have a minute?~"

Hado barged into the teacher's room, beaming with her adorable energy and a big smile. The teachers had told the airhead to not enter so loudly, but it was like asking Hound Dog to not act like one. Especially when he was angry. Nevertheless, Kayama perked up at the sound of her name being called.

"Hado-san, please don't make so much noise," she said as per the procedure. "What can I help you with? You barely ask for help."

The members of the Big Three were called that for a reason, they were at the top of what U.A had to offer in terms of the next generation of heroes, and that included their academic performances.

"Well, there's something I need to ask you. It's been bothering me for a while now." Despite her words, she didn't seem any less hyped about it.

"Then go on and ask away," Kayama said nonchalantly.

Given her combat style, she wasn't exactly the go-to of the majority of students when it came to things like problems with super moves and difficulties in developing Quirks. Her lessons weren't that hard either, so it generally wasn't a cause for grade struggles. Most of the time she gave counseling in choosing good hero names or maybe picking a better-looking costume, and she was fine with it. This wasn't spoken of but Kayama had a say in some of the costumes her colleagues used. Considering Hado still hadn't decided on her hero name, the dark-haired lady was expecting the young lady to ask for help on the matter, and she calmly sipped from her coffee.

"How do I seduce a boy?~"

PFFFT!

Kayama almost spate the drink in her mouth back into the mug. Needless to say, she got caught completely off guard with that question, even coughing a bit.

"Sorry Hado-san, what was that?" Perhaps she misheard–

"How do I seduce a boy?~"

No, there was no mistake here. Kayama's eyes turned to the side where the rest of her coworkers were. Ishiyama seemingly didn't pay attention as he drank his tea, or he did an impressive job not showing. Then again, it was considerably easier to conceal your emotions when you literally had a cement block for a face. Kan was less discreet, and she felt like the fanged man was trying to bore holes in her head by staring intensely.

At least Aizawa lent her a "little help", walking out of the room and dragging Yamada along, wrapping his capture bandages around the loud man's mouth while doing so. For that, Kayama was grateful.

"Umm, Hado-san, nothing personal but why are you asking me about that?"

If anyone asked or talked about it, there wasn't much Kayama could do to prevent her "little" secret with Midoriya from being spread. Surprisingly, in these two weeks that have passed, she didn't see much of a change, aside from the two classes of the Hero Course. Even then, it was only that awkward mood, not at all malicious, and for that, she was very grateful. They didn't go around commenting and gossiping about her shenanigans with the green teen, which helped relieve some of the tension she felt. So having Hado Nejire come to ask her about it did a great job at putting Kayama back on the edge.

"Well, I thought about that for a while and I think Kayama-sensei is the most confident woman I know when it comes to looks. And you're pretty popular with the guys, so I thought: there's no one better to ask!~"

The sincere and quite wholesome answer surprised Kayama once again. So Hado didn't know about her secret, or it didn't really factor in her decision to seek her advice. Truth be told, the lady felt a little honored. She didn't exactly think of herself as an example for the next generations, at least in that regard, but it felt good to be looked upon as a confident woman. The majority of the top-tier heroes were men, and she didn't see a problem in it, but it could be a little intimidating for young women starting their careers. If there was anything she could contribute to boosting their confidence, she would do anything within her reach.

"So, what is your secret, sensei?~"

"Mmm, why don't we go somewhere with a little more privacy?" She suggested with a warm smile.

"I'm fine talking here, though."

The smile wavered a bit but Kayama would not let her paranoia of being secretly judged by her coworkers stop her from helping this young lady.

"W-well then! But before that, what exactly brought you here to ask me this?"

"Well, there's this person that I know, but I want to know him better. He's a very nice person and I am so curious about the side he doesn't show!~ But he won't let his guard down around me that easily. So I thought that maybe if I seduced him, he would open up. You open up to people you like, right?"

Kayama didn't expect a reason like that. Or maybe she should because this is Nejire we're talking about. Regardless, the bluenette's reasoning led her to think "seducing" this someone, who she assumed was either one of the two boys forming the Big Three with her. Personally, based on her brief description, Kayama thought she was talking about Amajiki. The adult lady was no stranger to being confused and unsure about her own feelings, so she decided it would be in the girl's best interest to sort out Hado's real feelings first.

"That's really nice of you, Hado-san, but why try seducing him? You could simply befriend him, don't you think?"

"Well yes, and I think we're friends. We've been working together for a while now, and we're pretty good at it if you ask me. But still, he won't show me his other side, you know? It's like he's always strict when around me…"

"Not everyone feels comfortable to expose themselves like this."

"That's why I thought of seducing him."

"That's a very, uh, interesting choice of words… You do realize seducing implies making him like you, right?"

"I thought he already liked me, but he's always jumpy when I'm around. I know I can be… overwhelming at times, but shouldn't he get used to it after some time?"

"Well, everyone has their own pace for these things."

"Sensei, do you think… he doesn't like me?" It was rare to see Hado sad, and even though she still looked like a ray of sunshine, there was a hint of sadness in her eyes.

"I wouldn't jump to that conclusion. Maybe they're struggling with their own nature, trying to open up to you. These things are delicate and not that easy to sort out. That's why I don't have any secrets to share." Kayama said, trying to comfort the bluenette.

"So how come you have so many guys fawning after you?"

"Well, to be honest, it is mostly my looks. I am well aware I can be alluring with my body, and I'll totally use it to my advantage when the time asks for it. But this is not the kind of "seduction" you're after, are you?" She simply couldn't picture Hado dragging boys into a love trap, just to break their poor, young hearts when their expectations were not met.

"Now that you said it… I guess not. This is pretty confusing, I was never rejected before~"

"Rejected? How come?"

"I asked if we could go on a date and he said no. Usually, I'm the one who declines because I know the boys and girls that asked me really wanted to "be serious", as Mirio said once. But now that I'm the one asking, I don't know exactly what I want…"

Kayama smiled softly. It seems Hado was going through her first love experience.

"Hmm, if you already asked them out and you two work so well, you probably know this person, right?"

"Hai!~"

"And now you want to know him better. Why is that so?" She wanted Hado to realize on her own how she really felt. Kayama was just giving her a push in the right direction.

"He's very fun to be around, being all flustered at times, but he's very reliable, and an awesome hero. I know how he is when he's "on duty", but I'm curious about how he is when he's not being a hero. Also… he looks so cute~"

"And you want to "seduce" him so he gets closer to you and opens up. That's your plan?"

"Yeah. I mean, it was until now, but I'm not sure anymore…"

"Hahaha~ don't worry, it will become clear soon enough. The way I see it, what you really want is to get closer to him, right?" Hado nodded. "Well, there's no true secret for making a guy fall in love with you." She said, getting up and walking outside the teachers' room with the young lady by her side. Kayama continued.

"Sure, your looks help, but it has to come with a good measure of your personality, lest you want to be a plain pretty face."

"So what do I do?"

"Asking directly doesn't seem to get through to him, probably because he's nervous about it and too self-conscious. You have to make him comfortable around you. Then, he'll want to spend more time with you, and then you can use all your charm~"

"My charm…" Hado said to herself, trying to figure out what it was for her.

"Here's a tip, you have a thousand-sun smile, make use of it. Oh, and try thinking about why exactly do you want to know him better and spend more time with him~"

With that said, Kayama dismissed the blue-haired girl, having a good feeling of warmth and mission accomplished in her chest. It wasn't exactly pertinent to the Hero Work of her students, but it was just as good since she was helping them grow in their personalities.

At the 1-B dorms, the building was quieter than usual. Just like with 1-A, most of them were out in their Hero Work studies. Surely Monoma would say something comparing both classes in any way possible, if he was around, that is. Right now, it was practically just Honenuki in the common room, switching through the TV channels. One day of slacking off wouldn't kill, right? Unfortunately, until now there wasn't anything in particular that caught his attention, probably due to the hour of the day. The middle of the afternoon was quite uneventful unless you tuned in to some news channel. And the young man mindlessly flicked through the channels, a short blondie passed behind him, minding her own business.

Tsunotori was heading to the kitchen to grab some apples, but then she caught a glimpse of something on the screen, something with a familiar shade of green. Her brain barely registered but then she did a double-take, just in time to confirm before Honenuki skipped to the next channel.

The shortie jumped over the back of the couch, balancing on it as she stretched and took the remote from his hand, much to the boy's surprise.

"Oi, everything okay, Tsunotori?" He asked, astonished and mildly concerned. The girl with horns didn't answer, staring intensely at the TV and when she flicked back to the previous channel, there it was. Rather, there he was. Before Honenuki could even ask why she did that, Tsunotori rushed upstairs, shouting along the way.

"Komori-chan! Izuku is on the news!"

Honenuki only caught the part where she said Midoriya's name. Looking back at the screen the images showed an aerial take of him and Hado-senpai, both facing a tall guy with large arms, upper chest, and a comically square jawline. According to the texts rolling at the bottom, the criminal was convicted for multiple ATM thefts.

Hasty footsteps sounded from upstairs and before Honenuki could notice, he had already been kind of kicked out to the corner of the couch as Tsunotori charged and sat right in front of the TV, followed by Komori and Ibara. The vine girl snatched the remote from his hand with her hair and raised the volume, then proceeded to nest with the other two like a tiny flock of birds, giggling like kids excited to watch their favorite anime.

At the actual location, a couple of minutes ago…

So far Deku and Nejire-chan prevented the situation from escalating too much. Good thing this guy decided to steal the ATM when they were passing by. Their quick reaction time allowed Deku to take the nearby civilians to a safer place while Nejire-chan knocked the thief to somewhere more open. Now, normally when she sent someone under three meters flying like this with her waves, they were knocked out for good, or at least dizzy. This fella, however, looked like he could take some hits. Mind you, when the news informed of his streak of crimes they were quite literal, as he used his large hands and arms to yank the ATMs from the concrete base or wherever they were attached to.

"What do you think, Deku-kun?" Nejire-chan asked him in a low voice as they held a defensive stance.

"It looks like some form of strength enhancement. I've dealt with someone like this before, but I don't know if this dude matches the other." Deku gave his first analysis. This thug reminded him of Muscular, but the fibers were not all exposed, and the increased mass was way more pronounced in the upper body, forcing the dude to lean forward a little.

"I sent him flying with my waves but he didn't seem phased out. Shock absorption, maybe?"

"Maybe, but he tore the ATM from the wall before you hit him. Even if it was some sort of stockpiling, where did that initial strength come from…?"

"Oi! How long do you plan to whisper over there?! Get out of my way already!" The dude shouted, making some of the onlookers take a step back in fear.

"Well, we didn't surround you yet, mister Gorilla, so you could have run away already." Nejire-chan casually explained, proceeding to float to the other side. The villain seemed quite troubled that she pointed it out.

"Tch! Y-you'll never catch me alive, you hear me?! I'm not going to prison so you'll have to kill me if you want me to stop!" He said, smashing a big fist on the floor.

"We'd rather not come to that point, right, Deku-kun?~" She said, poking her head to the side so she could look at Deku and wave a hand, her smile never leaving her face.

"Hai! Surrender now and just come with us peacefully." Deku agreed, holding his defensive stance, eyes focused on the large guy.

"I already said! I'm not going to prison today, so you better hurry up and kill me or else someone will get hurt!"

As the villain said that, he held the ATM that was under his arm in his right hand, bringing it back and taking aim. The target, the green teen in front of him. With puffed cheeks, he tossed it at a surprising speed. If it wasn't for Deku's enhanced dexterity he would be in trouble. However, the strength was so much that the machine kicked off the ground, flying towards the onlookers who insisted on being nearby to film with their smartphones.

"That's bad!" Deku had to focus quickly, spinning mid-air and launching the Black Whip with one hand while he used the other to anchor himself at the nearest object, a lamp post. He managed to stop the deadly object a couple of centimeters from the crowd. "Everyone, please step back! This place is too dangerous!"

That seemed to knock some sense of self-preservation into their heads because they gradually turned around to flee the location. Meanwhile, Nejire-chan sprung into action, ready to knock the villain out for good this time, but she missed her next attack as the criminal used his powerful arms to hit the floor and "jump", evading Nejire-chan. That was only possible because of those disproportionately large arms. A little surprised that she missed, even more, a large target like this, the bluenette reacted one or two seconds slower than usual, turning around to face the villain yet again, and she would have been hit with a signpost if it wasn't for a green bolt pushing her out of the way.

"Wah! That was a close one! Thanks, Deku-kun."

"No problem! Let's circle him again, senpai." He said, quickly making his way around the large villain. This time Deku was blocking the escape route, one arm raised and two fingers held behind his thumb. If Nejire-chan didn't manage to knock him out with the usual shockwave, then he had to increase his output too.

"Maybe we'll need Ryukyu here to pin this guy down. Or I could try knocking his lights out… but if he's as resistant as Muscular, I'll have to go overboard—"

"Cut that thought out, Izuku. Use your brain before using your arms, remember?" Nana's voice sounded inside his head. Now that he was used to it, her presence was kinda relaxing and helped him focus at times. When she wasn't actively teasing him, that is.

The villain's eyes darted left and right, from Deku to Nejire-chan. The civilians were all gone now and a news helicopter surveyed the area.

"Tch, this was not part of the plan…" The large guy grunted.

"Plan? Does he have help?"

"We didn't see anything suspicious yet."

"But he could be stalling for reinforcements."

"No use in worrying about that if you don't solve the problem at hand. Now, focus on the tall, broad, and ugly in front of you."

"Hai!"

This stalemate didn't drag for much longer as the criminal made his move, deciding that attacking Deku would be the best course of action. He easily tore a fire hydrant from the sidewalk and threw it at the green teen. Deku was forced to dodge as expected and the large villain took the opportunity to slam his hands on the floor again and launch himself, but not before being struck on his side by a powerful blast of compressed air.

"You will not escape!" Deku shouted, rolling as he landed and dashing after the villain. Once again the blow didn't seem to harm him, only send him flying.

Instead of running, the criminal used his large arms to gain distance from the two heroes in training, akin to a gorilla. Deku could easily catch up to him with his Full Cowl but Nejire-chan couldn't fly as fast, so he had to take that into consideration.

"Nejire-chan! Hold on to me."

"Got it!"

The bluenette latched onto his backs, legs locked around his waist and hands holding firmly on his shoulders. Green sparks flew from his body and Deku gave chase. It didn't take that long to catch up with the thief since it was pretty hard to miss such a disproportionate figure from sight. Still, he wasn't moving with the same freedom as usual. Regardless, once they got a clear line, Deku dashed forward, twisting his body to deliver a strong kick and halt the villain in his tracks.

"St. Louis Smash!"

The villain was sent flying again, skidding on his feet to a halt. He managed to raise his arms at the last second to block the hit. They were facing each other again and Nejire-chan jumped from her place on Deku's back. This time they had him against a narrow alley. No way he would go through there with all that extra muscle mass. Speaking of which…

"Deku-kun, did you notice the size of his arms?"

"They look quite dangerous, but I'm taking that into account—"

"No, not that. Every time he makes those leaps, or when he is going to attack, it almost looks like his arms grow. Weird, isn't it?" Nejire-chan explained.

"You're right… probably it has to do with his strength enhancement."

"I noticed something too, Izuku. Look at him now, doesn't it seem that he is holding his breath?" Nana added, and some gears started to turn inside his mind.

"Aaah! Fuck it! I'll do this my own way then!" The villain shouted, once again using his arms to move in a leap. This time he launched himself at Deku and Nejire-chan, making a small crater between them as he hit the floor with both hands turned into fists. As the two teens scattered, the villain went after Deku, throwing punch after punch with frightening speed.

"What's up with this guy? With that increase in mass, he shouldn't move that fast, even with enhanced strength! It's as if he didn't have any weight…"

Something wasn't adding up. At this point the criminal had his arms sized to Muscular, but he was moving at least twice as fast. The punches kept coming after him but Deku could evade them rather easily.

"Get down, Deku-kun!" Nejire-chan snuck up behind the tall villain, hitting him with a point-blank Gring Wave.

Once again the villain was sent flying, hitting the street, and rolling a couple of meters.

"Whoops. I think that was too much…" Nejire knew she had to increase her energy output since that guy tanked her hits already, but perhaps the attack that took down someone with a giantification Quirk was overkill.

"Not yet, look!" Deku pointed where the thief landed and he was getting up, apparently dizzy and holding his head. His arms were back to normal size.

"Eeeh? How come? This wasn't a light hit at all."

"Perhaps there's a component to shock absorption. But what Hado-senpai said before…"

"Hah? What?"

"About the increase of mass. Hmmm… I think I have an idea."

The bluenette looked curiously at Deku as he kicked into analytic mode. As for the villain, he was already back on his feet. The news helicopter surveyed the area, catching his attention.

"That's bad, this wasn't part of the plan… I'll have to improvise then!" His arms enlarged again and he easily yanked a lamp post from the floor, aiming it like a spear at the helicopter above. "Sorry about that, you didn't ask if I wanted to appear on television!"

"Stop!" Deku reacted as fast as he could, charging One for All to the highest percentage he could handle and letting out a powerful blast of compressed air that hit the villain square in the abdomen.

The villain, caught off guard, staggered a little, holding his sides as he gasped for air. His arms seemed to deflate like balloons and he gasped for air.

"~gasp~ Shit… you son of a bitch, that was dangerous!" But before he could let loose another profanity, Deku and Nejire already covered the distance between them.

"Nejire-chan, don't let him hold his breath!"

"Got it!"

She was ready to hit him with another wave, but the villain quickly inhaled air and his arms enlarged again, taking a defensive stance. However, he didn't see Deku approaching by a blind spot, crouching and hitting a solid punch to his guts, literally knocking the air out of the tall criminal. Without the shielding, Nejire-chan easily made him drop, hitting with two weak waves on the sides of his skull for extra impact. Another incident, closed by the young duo of heroes.

At the U.A dorms, the three girls watching the entire thing were cheering and shouting like it was the finals of the Super Bowl. Well, Tsunotori was, anyway.

"Good job for us, Deku-kun! Another mission complete, right?~" Hado said, raising her hand for a high-five.

"Yeah, I feel like we're getting much better at this, senpai." Usually, Midoriya would feel mildly embarrassed or self-conscious when receiving a compliment, but this felt really right. They did a pretty good job, with minimal damage and no casualties.

"Yes, I can attest to that. In fact, I wonder if I even need to keep an eye on you two." Arriving at the location, the Dragon Hero transformed from her dragon form and came to check on the two teens under her tutoring. "Your teamwork is improving, and in a relatively short time span. Not everyone can do this." Ryukyu complimented them. As if listening to her words, and in a sense of irony, Miruko also arrived at the scene.

"Yo, I heard you two were dealing with a big one this time." The dark-skinned woman approached the group, wrapping one arm around the boy's neck. "You two are getting pretty busy lately, huh?" She said with a wide grin on her face.

"Mmm, we had an incident almost every day, sometimes more than one…" The green teen recalled.

"Well, it's not like we don't have spikes in criminal activity now and then, especially the ones of smaller scale, like this one." Said Ryukyu. Having the two students with her allowed the Dragon Hero to focus on bigger problems that she was better suited for.

"Hmm, I wonder why. It's like they're asking for jail time." Hado added her thoughts on that and as she did so, the police were halfway through tossing the villain in the back of the truck. He was still pretty disoriented, but aware enough to put up a weak struggle.

"That's not fair! Hey, do you hear me, heroes?!" The four of them turned to the source of noise, as well as the citizens that returned to the streets. "Your time will come! And you'll have to pay for using your Quirks however you like! Just wait for it!"

The dude was silenced with a mask that also restricted how much air he could breathe in, and was pushed inside the truck. This wasn't something as unusual as you may think, as a lot of these lowly criminals were more talk than action, but there was something unsettling in the way he phrased it. Not to mention, it was as if every villain arrested these two weeks had something to say. Miruko rolled her eyes in annoyance and the two teens didn't think much of it, but Ryukyu had a bad feeling about this.

"This one has a Quirk called Piston Muscle. Basically fills the muscles with air and increases strength, but he has to hold his breath most of the time. The police said this is his fourth time being arrested but the incident list goes way longer."

"Ah, so that's why he went flying and moved so fast!~" The bluenette concluded.

"Well, whatever. Hey, Deku, come patrol with me now, I'm going to show you how to properly move around."

Miruko did less of an offer and more of a demand as she was already dragging the surprised green teen with her by his neck. She also got fond of poking his sides while doing it recently, much to his embarrassment, but a lesson from a hero like Miruko wasn't one he could pass. That's why Ryukyu intervened, holding his wrist and softly prying him from the rabbit hero.

"Actually, I think it would be more productive if you focused more on your secondary Quirk ability. You can do that while patrolling with me." She said, glaring briefly at the dark-skinned woman.

"Nah, you can train that at your school. Learning from me is an opportunity you don't have that often." Miruko said, pulling him to her side.

"His second ability is at a more critical point, so he should focus on that instead." Ryukyu insisted, this time being a little rougher in releasing Midoriya from Miruko's arms.

"What's going on here…?" Midoriya said to himself. Of all things that could happen today, he didn't expect to be used as a tug of war by two pro heroes. And honestly, he couldn't decide for himself. Both options were pretty interesting.

"Hmmm, I wonder why, fufufufu~" Nana's voice sounded in his head, but Midoriya was too busy being lost to question her about it.

Before this could escalate into an open fight between the Bunny and the Dragon, Midoriya got pushed away from both of them. None other than Hado simply walked between them and dragged Midoriya with her, without a care in the world.

"We'll keep patrolling the area and you two can train after that, okay? See you later, Ryukyu-senpai~ Miruko-senpai~" Hado said, waving a hand at them and with the brightest smile adorning her face. Meanwhile, Midoriya looked even more lost than before. Mind you that she firmly hugged his arm the entire time.

Such was the "boldness" of the move, Ryukyu and Miruko froze for a moment, watching as the duo walked away with hasty steps.

"Whew, that was close," Hado said, slowing down as they turned a corner and got out of their line of sight. Letting out a small sigh, she let go of his arm and resumed her walk, being followed by Midoriya shortly after.

"Senpai… what was that?" He asked the bluenette, confused.

"Hmm… you were doing that face again." She answered shortly.

"What face? Do I… make a face?"

"Yeah, that face you do when you're getting nervous. Like when I get too close like this!" She said, taking over his entire field of vision with her bright blue eyes. "See?~"

Midoriya leaned back, but it wasn't really needed because Nejire kept on walking.

"You looked like you needed a little help there, so I just did it."

"O-oh, I see…"

Midoriya took some hasty steps to catch up with her and they walked down the streets in silence, vigilant eyes scanning the surroundings for any signs of problems.

"Ne, Deku-kun."

"Hmm?"

"I'm sorry."

He perked up at this.

"Eh? For what, senpai?"

"You know, for being overwhelming all the time and making you uncomfortable. Normally I would say it can't be helped, but it must be a real drag for you to have me around, so… sorry for being annoying."

"What? No, I don't think you're annoying, senpai. I mean, I do get a little uncomfortable at times but… that's more a 'me' issue." He said, scratching his neck sheepishly.

Midoriya was making progress for sure, but his social skills didn't advance as fast as his physical ones. He still felt anxious whenever he entered a new environment or met new people. It wasn't as crippling as in the beginning but still presented an obstacle to overcome.

"Haha, you always do this, dragging the problems all to yourself. I'm trying to be nice here, you know?~"

"Sorry…"

"No, I'm the one that should feel sorry. Mirio and Tamaki always tell me that I shouldn't be so straight to the point when talking to others. I don't want this work to be a pain to you."

"It's not, senpai, I can assure you that! If nothing, you being this upfront somehow helps me to open up. I really admire your positive attitude."

"Really? You don't think I'm too nosy or anything?" She said, turning to face him while walking backward. She was clearly excited about this news.

"Well, maybe a little bit too curious, but even then, I like this about you, Hado-senpai. You're always full of energy and, how can I say… it's like some of it gets to me. Does that make sense?"

"Yes," she said, beaming a smile that dared outshine the sun. "I'm glad we're good. Let's keep working together and getting along well, Deku-kun~"

"Mmm, let's do it."

They exchanged warm smiles. Even if being a pro hero was a serious business, it didn't mean they couldn't make a good time out of it, especially if they wanted to make people more at ease around them. It was like Hado said before, Midoriya could look really tense at times, and this could make those looking feel worried. So not only was Midoriya learning from two pros from the Top 10, but he was also learning with her how to ease up, even if only a little. Perhaps he should allow her to enter his personal space more often, bit by bit. If he could survive Nejire-chan without turning into a stuttering mess, then he could take on any social situations head-on—

Your phone is here! Your phone is here! Your phone is here!

The green teen died a little inside as he forgot to put his phone on silent mode. The duo froze in their tracks as Hado stared at him with curious, expectant eyes, tilting her head and placing a finger on her cheek. Meanwhile, Midoriya slowly retrieved his phone from the secure pocket in his costume, not daring to turn his eyes to the side. He knew she was looking at him, which only mortified him even more. He tried to answer as collected as possible.

"M-Midoriya here."

"Ah, it's you." Sounded an unknown voice from the other side of the line. It was rather raspy and tired, like someone who hasn't slept well in a couple of days. Midoriya instinctively looked at the caller ID and to his surprise, it showed Mei's phone number.

He tensed up immediately.

"Who is that? What do you want and where's Mei?" He immediately realized this wasn't the best course of action, as he must have sounded pretty distressed, so Midoriya tried to backpedal a little, using a more relaxed tone. "T-this is Hatsume's number…"

The voice on the other end of the line let out a light laugh.

"She's still in her room, and hasn't left for two days now."

"I-is she alright?!"

"Alright as in breathing and eating? Sure thing, but Hatsume is never alright in the head, you know…"

That released the tension in his body, coming out as a huge, relieved sigh.

"Then what is the problem and with no offense, why do you have her phone?" Midoriya was more intrigued than worried now.

"Right, how do I tell you this…? Look, can you do something about your girlfriend? Please?"

"Eh?"

"Look, I know the Hero Work Studies are a huge deal to you guys from the Hero Course. Trust me, the senpais from the third year get hit with a ton of requests for modifications in support gear, but can't you spare like, 30 minutes to come here and, I don't know, talk to her or something?"

"Ummm, what exactly is happening, uhh… sorry, I didn't get your name."

"Ah yeah, just call me Muchiro. Anyway, Hatsume usually does her crazy stuff at the Development Studio but now that she's locked here for a whole month… The girl is really trying to blow the entire building, I swear."

Midoriya deadpanned, seeing where this was going.

"And… why exactly did you call me?"

"You're her boyfriend, aren't you?"

"W-well… not exactly, I… hold up, you don't know?"

"Know what? About you two? I mean, she never said anything but it is pretty obvious, at least to me."

"And you know why exactly Hatsume-san is under house arrest...?"

"For messing with school equipment and blowing stuff up. What else would she get grounded for?"

Huh, so they didn't know about, well, everything. Perhaps Power Loader didn't tell them the whole story, or maybe her classmates simply didn't ask, as Hatsume getting in trouble was kind of the norm over there. But then, that begged the question. If they didn't know about the whole harem thing, why would they assume he was dating Hatsume?

"Did… did she tell you guys we were dating...?"

"What? Haha, no. All she talks about are her "babies" and stuff. I'm telling you, she's going to marry a machine man one day. Well, I used to joke about it, but then came you."

"Me?"

"Yeah, you. Ever since you two started dating or whatever, Hatsume has been taking regular baths, sometimes more than once a day. She stopped skipping meals, working overnight on her babies, to which our sleep schedule thanks you a lot. Damn, she's even following the safety protocols for testing. Most of the time. Whatever you did, my dude, it has changed her a lot."

"O-oh, that's a surprise…"

"I know, right? At first, we didn't understand why. It's not like Power Loader sensei's lectures changed a thing before. But then, one of our classmates saw her rushing around with a set of gloves, and then saw Hatsume handing them to you. Given how she doesn't usually spend that much time making sure something won't explode, and how she kept hanging around you, we all concluded you two were dating."

"Oh. I see… I didn't know she changed that much. Still… Why do you have her phone, Muchiro-san?"

"Because that crazy pink head is losing her brilliant mind here. It took a while because she was still tinkering in her room but now she ran out of pieces and sensei told us to not bring her any spare parts. So, basically, Hatsume has nothing to build nor do and this is driving her insane, which will inevitably drive us insane too."

"Don't you think "insane" is a bit too much? It's been half of the time already."

"She's talking non-stop about servos and lightweight alloys, regardless of whatever we're doing. All-day."

"O...kay?"

"And I saw her glare at the AC the other day. Please come here and do something, it's too cold to risk her busting it."

"B-but what should I do?"

"I don't know, whatever you guys do when you are together. You know, boyfriend and girlfriend stuff."

Yeah, that wasn't going to happen so soon.

"I'm afraid I can't drop by anytime soon…"

"Ugh, at least call her or something. Like, those 3 hour calls that couples make. I'm begging you, dude."

"Ah haha… I'll try. But, if you don't mind me asking, how are you calling me from her phone?"

"Oh, this? I specialize in programming. Cracking phone locks is kid's play. It's not that hard, really. Hatsume is the type that uses those dumb passwords like the name of her pets or something like that. It is your name, by the way. ~snort~ IzukuBabe..."

So class 1-H wasn't aware of his harem. In hindsight, it sort of made sense, since Hatsume sort of hogged all the attention to her when it came to supporting gear. Despite the tendency to catastrophic failure of her inventions, everyone agreed she was one of the best in that matter.

"Alright, I'll try keeping in contact. I admit I didn't have a lot of free time to talk to her…" He admitted in shame.

At the dorms, he still got to hang around with the girls on separate occasions, when their schedules allowed. With 1-B, they kept on texting him at night, so there was that. But with Hatsume, she wasn't one to call him that often, almost only when she had something to show him. It could be a new baby or… something else. It wasn't that surprising, considering how invested she was with her projects. As Muchiro said, she would easily skip meals and proper rest whenever she got "in the zone" with some new idea.

"Thanks, man. You're saving our lives here. I'll try to make sure she has her phone on her at all times so you can call whenever you want. This time it was tossed on the couch. ~sigh~ Good luck with her…"

And the call was over. It went from a concerning surprise to a pretty innocuous one. For a moment, Midoriya felt like he was in big trouble, rather, Hatsume was. Well, now that this was over he could resume his scouting with Hado-senpai.

She was still staring at him with a wide smile across her lips, blue eyes twinkling with excitement and curiosity. However, Hado wasn't as close to him as usual. In fact, it kinda looked like she was restraining herself. Was she trying to give him some space? Huh, she did say she would try to be more considerate of his social awkwardness, but he didn't expect that to happen so fast.

Deciding to go in the same spirit, Midoriya moved a little out of his shell. This time he invited her to barrage him with questions.

"Senpai… do you have something you want to ask?"

If her face lit up any more, it would probably blind him.

"Ne, ne, who was this person on the phone? What did it say? You said something about dating. Was that Kendo-chan? Why the house arrest? Did someone piss off Aizawa-sensei again? Are you dating someone else now? That Hatsume person, it is Hatsume-san from the Support Course, isn't it? Did she make all of your gear? Did you break up with Kendo-chan? Are you and Hatsume-chan dating now? Do you want to play some games with me later on? Are you dating someone?"

Needless to say, Midoriya had to struggle a little with his own nature right now, but as his brain processed the storm of questions, something caught his attention.

"Wait, did you just ask if I want to play games with you?" He asked, incredulously.

"Mmm, yeah. Tamaki has a lot and he doesn't mind sharing them~"

"Uhh, right. But why ask me, exactly?"

"I thought it would be fun. Don't you like playing games?" She questioned, tilting her head in confusion.

"Oh, no no, I do like to play, especially the All Might titles. It's just that, how do I put it? It sort of… came out of nowhere?"

"Well, I was thinking about it, and… you always seem tense around me, so I wonder if we do something together that's not work, we could get more used to being around each other. What do you think?~"

She had wide, sparkling eyes filled with anticipation, waiting for his response. If he had to be honest, Midoriya would avoid being anywhere closer to her, or any other girl, for that matter. He wasn't superstitious or anything, but the idea that he had a natural charm or something of the likes was starting to become less of a fantasy and more like an accurate depiction of his reality. However, what Hado said did make some sense, he did feel tense around her. For this matter, and for other things like the usual pressure to make progress at all times.

For the better or worse, the Hero Work Study was consuming his attention. The fact that he forgot about Hatsume solidified the idea in his mind. So in light of the active efforts, Nejire was making to not trigger his usual awkward responses, perhaps he had to wind up a bit too. Plus, he also had the "ruse" of Kendo being his girlfriend, so this should be enough to not give Hado the wrong impression.

"Mmmm, I don't know about that, Tiger. Nejire-chan looked really interested in knowing if you were dating~"

"It's okay, Nana-san, she already gave up on the idea when Tsunotori basically yelled to everyone present that I was Kendo's boyfriend, remember?"

"Yeah right, and she's inquiring you repeatedly about that because…?"

"She's just curious. Besides, I can't just tiptoe around her, it would be kinda rude."

"Alright, if you say so. But I want to remind you, my sweet little boy, that you have precedents on this. A lot of them. And I swear if you even try to repeat what you did to Pony I'm going to find a way to physically smack you!"

"I already apologized to her! And t-this is different. Hado-senpai is only curious about me, that's all. She's like that with literally everyone."

"Sure thing, precious. Just try to be a little more conscious about it."

"About what?"

"About the effect that you have on women~"

Before her voice faded out into the back of his mind, Midoriya felt a chill run down his spine with the ghostly sensation of a hand gently raising his chin and cupping his cheeks. Had it been real, he would expect a deep, long kiss on his lips to follow that motion.

"So, did you have enough time to think?" Hado was still waiting for his answer. She apparently accepted that zoning out like that was a common thing to Midoriya.

"A-ah, well, about that… I'm kind of unavailable for a while…"

"Oh really? What happened?"

"I… am under house arrest too…"

"Aww…" Hado drooped like a wilting flower but got back to her normal hype self in a heartbeat. "So how about when you're off the house arrest?"

"Ummm, I… guess so? I'll probably have a lot of lessons to catch up on and—"

"I can help on that too. It may not seem like it but I'm pretty good with this school stuff, you know."

"Well, when you put it that way, I guess once in a while it wouldn't hurt…"

"Really?! Yay!~"

Despite the usual lack of direct contact with the girls recently, he expected them to become angrier or something, but they were actually pretty happy, considering their situation. Sure, no sexy fun time was a bummer, to put it lightly, but the girls were now allowed to publicly show their affection for him. No more need to sneak around to plant kisses on his cheeks or hug him. No need to fake when they were staring at him when he was working out. They could tell anyone now that they loved him.

Well, not everyone, actually. They didn't spread the word to the entire school, but it was already pretty liberating that their classmates knew about it. Gossip was inevitable, but at that point why bother? That's why the girls looked happier recently, despite the house arrest and ban on their former love nest. So Midoriya imagined casually hanging out with Hado-senpai, who wasn't into him, wouldn't make them mad or anything.

So the giggling girl spun on her heels again and resumed walking ahead again, quickly followed by him. It felt nice for him to do something "normal" for once since they didn't have that many opportunities. As for the bluenette, a warm fuzzy feeling was bubbling inside her chest.

Her yellow eyes ran through the documents on the desk. Her sharp nails tapped on the wood in a rhythmic repetition as she tried to make sense of what she was seeing. Late at night, Ryukyu decided to stay for a while longer to check on something she noticed. The increase in small crimes during the past weeks. The numbers normally fluctuated, based on bigger events like gang fights and the heroes dismantling some groups, but this was an unusual steady increase in numbers.

Small thefts like purses and phones, assaults on convenience stores and small banks. The boldest move yet was the ATM attempt today. All cases were dealt with swiftly and without casualties. It really wasn't that hard with Miruko, Nejire-chan, and Deku helping her, but something felt off to the dragon hero. It was like they were asking to be locked up. Perhaps it was a side effect of the fight with the High-End Noumu, or maybe the vacuum left by the Shie Hassaikai was finally creating ripples.

Regardless, there was an increase, and she didn't like how ordered it was, both in frequency and severity of cases. Ryukyu was staring at these papers for an hour and a half now, and nothing came out of it. She leaned back in her chair, rubbing her tired eyes. Perhaps she was overthinking it. Perhaps Miruko was right for once in her opinions and Tatsuma was trying to read into something that simply wasn't there. Small fish criminals are simple to understand, they all want the same things. It wasn't anything important. Yet…

"~sigh~ What is this feeling…?" She said, looking up at the ceiling.

Ever since she got young Midoriya under her wing, she has been feeling something different about him, something that she instinctively tried to push back, repress. But what was it then?

Yes, he was talented and yes, she saw a lot of potential in him, but that weird feeling kept there in the back of her head. It was slightly different from the usual wish to protect kids she usually felt. I mean, she did want to protect him, but it was like this wish came from a different place. Not completely, but it was there.

The Dragon hero frowned, still staring at the ceiling.

"It can't be because of Kayama and him… can it?"

She promised to keep it a secret for her friend, and honestly, Tatsuma tried to erase that spicy piece of knowledge from her memory altogether, but she never made up her mind over the topic. Which also brought up its own set of problems. Should she spend that much time thinking about it, to begin with? Wasn't the answer pretty obvious? She supposed so, but then why the doubts?

Perhaps Tatsuma should question Midoriya about it and hear his side of the story. As far as she was concerned, Midnight wouldn't cross the line and force him into a relationship if he didn't want to. The dragon lady knew better than to take her friend's dominant persona for anything but what it was, just an act.

"~sigh~ Why should I even bother? It's none of my business, and not at all related to the Work Study…" She murmured, running her fingers through her blond strands.

It was easy for her to go overboard sometimes. A minor downside of having the power to transform into a dragon was having the personality traits of one. It wasn't a strong influence like what you see in mutant type Quirks, but it was there. In her kid days, sometimes she would feel an impulse to hoard things she liked, be it plushies or her favorite toy at the playground. It wasn't that hard to suppress the feeling, and she eventually grew out of it, but the reason why she was thinking about it now was exactly the similarities.

How she felt back then… and how she was feeling now. It wasn't that different, at least as far as her memories went. Much akin to many fantasy stories, it was as if something awakened inside her, like an ancient dragon being disturbed from its slumber. Her young self would joke about it, taking the role of a mighty and proud dragon, full of greed and with an unwavering desire to protect its hoard at all costs. The blondie entertained the thought a little further: what was it that she desired to protect now…?

Shaking her head and with a soft smile on her lips, Ryukyu returned to the reports in front of her. It wasn't like the answer would jump in front of her so she might as well call it a day and take some rest. Perhaps Centipeder could make some sense of this, considering he had more experience with this kind of stuff.

As for the weirdly nostalgic feeling in her chest, she decided to not make too much out of it. It went away back then, it would go away again now, no worries. She should be more concerned about making the most of this period she had with the two heroes in training. The goal here was to give them experience, so Ryukyu wanted to make sure they've learned as much as possible from her.

"Hmmm, maybe we could take a day to focus on his secondary Quirk ability…" She thought out loud as she closed the office. It has been a long time since she last trained with someone. It should amount to an interesting experience.

End of Chapter

It is I, 23! At last, Nejire is entering the game, as many of you have been waiting for. Of course, I'll try to make it as smooth as possible. To answer a few questions, yes, I plan to cover the Paranormal Liberation Arc. How am I gonna do this? No idea yet, but we'll see where it goes. Also, sorry if I don't answer them all, I think the end section would get really big, but I still read them! There's probably a bigger chance finding me at this Discord server (gg / nbvVH6aUTc).

Anyway, as always, thanks for reading this chapter, hope you're having a great time with the story. See y'all on the next one (hopefully in a month). Bye~