Chapter 18

As I walked down another aisle to take a look at some of the new perfumes that were on display, I couldn't help but think, 'God, there should be a limit to how cute or attractive someone can be!'

Izuku had seen Melissa and me off once she had arrived at the reception. He had made a great show of being apologetic—he probably was genuine; I simply looked at it as a great show—because of having to study and complete his pending homework. We said our goodbyes and went our own ways.

As for Melissa herself, she wasn't all dressed up or anything. She was simply wearing a black tank top and jeans, but it was something about that regular, casual look with slightly tamed messy hair that ticked all the right boxes for me, and just gave me an instant boner about her beauty because goddamn, she could carry that look like nobody's business.

I had a particular fondness for casual wear—be it men or women—but rarely did anyone look so comfortable, confident, and natural in it like Melissa did. And that was without considering the fact that the black tank top was just the right fit and exposed her midriff just enough to be sexy but not lecherous. She looked outright stunning in it.

I couldn't help but keep on sneaking glances at her as she walked beside me or ahead of me.

She must have caught me a couple of times because she did ask me what I was looking at. I had replied that I was appreciating the way she carried that casual look. She took it as a compliment with a slight smile that said she knew it.

That ticked off yet another box.

Was it wrong of me to have the hots for a high-school girl? I mean she was designed to be like that, wasn't she?

…

…

Eh, morals and ethics was not something I wanted to get into. That can wait for when the time comes.

"Haru, I wasn't aware you were into perfumes," she said as she came up to me and pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Just looking," I replied, glancing at her before returning my attention back to the perfumes. "Frankly, I don't understand perfumes in the least. It just sounds… I don't know, needless?"

"What, to smell good?"

"I guess… I mean I've never felt the need to put it on. I don't like artificial smells in general."

"Oh?" Her interest seemed piqued. "Has that got something to do with your quirk?"

"Not really, no. I just think that perfumes are not really needed even on dates or anything."

"You must not have been on many dates."

I glanced at her, considering for a moment. Then I spoke. "You're right. This is the first."

She didn't look the least bit fazed or surprised. She simply chuckled. "Glad to have been your first."

If I hadn't seen her little smirk after she had spoken, I would've joked by calling it out as an innuendo. But she knew. That girl knew…

"You are just doing this on purpose, aren't you?" I asked, an eyebrow raised.

She gave me an innocent look. "What?"

After a moment of staring at each other, both of us started chuckling.

"Anyway," I said as we left the perfume shop of the mall, "I'm fairly sure perfumes weren't your goal. What are you looking for?"

"Oh, actually, perfumes were my goal," she corrected me, holding up a paper bag with the shop's logo on it. "Dad likes perfumes. He has ever since he got married to Mom."

I had expected a more… quirk-focused reason but I guess people do have hobbies and likes/dislikes; they weren't one-dimensional beings.

"I'd thought you'd need some tools or some such that aren't available in US or something."

Mel laughed at my words. "Nah, you can always import as needed for things like that. This perfume though is something Dad has seen only in Japan and he feels that it's too expensive to order it online. So, he asked me to buy it now that I was here."

I raised an eyebrow at her words but took them at face value. No need to go digging in deeper for no reason. Especially since I wasn't aware of how things worked internationally.

"So, do you like a particular perfume or something?"

"Not really, no. I find them too distracting," she replied. "Not many people know how to effectively use perfumes."

"So you're saying that you're an expert in perfume application."

"I obviously did not mean that."

I'd thought that my date with Melissa was going to last longer but as it turned out, she wasn't exactly a shopping-spree kind of a girl. I appreciated that honestly. I was somewhat concerned about having to lug around bags full of clothes, considering how often I'd been surprised by the anime-like tendencies of the characters and the universe. Guess that wasn't the case for Melissa.

In fact, I'd hazard a guess that I was the one more interested in exploring the shops than her. I found window shopping fun and as a way to explore the new launches of whatever product I was looking at. The product or its genre itself never mattered; I just found it fun.

Mel must have been exasperated by the time I was done exploring every shop. I mean, who spends upwards of five hours exploring malls?

That's right, me!

Nonetheless, we had a good time with each other. Mel was pleasant company and fun to hang out with. Not gonna lie, would date again.

It was well into the night by the time I dropped her off at her hotel. I'd say we had had a good rapport before and now were definitely close enough to be called good friends… oh wait, did I just friendzone myself?

'Such a mistake, Haru. Never again!'

As I made my way back to my home, I realized that we never really talked about Izuku's quirk. Like when Izuku wasn't there. I was expecting Mel to have some questions regarding Izuku but the topic never came up. Instead, we talked about a whole lot of nothing and everything. I'd probably look back on this day as the day I dated one of the hottest future celebrities in this world.

Long story short, unlike what I expected, this wasn't going to be categorized as a day to remember.

The few remaining days went by quickly during my internship. Mel was there only for a couple more days but we exchanged contacts when she left. I'd like to think that I at least piqued her interest if nothing else.

Only a few new things happened during the last couple of days of Mel being in Japan: first, she got Mirio to confirm his visit to SRI at the I-island, and second, she spent some time with Nezu on a 'personal quirk-related problem' he needed help with.

I had a sneaking suspicion that it was related to Eri but well, it was a suspicion at best so…

I also realized it'd been quite some time since I had discussed anything with Nezu regarding… well, anything of the future. Considering that Melissa had visited Japan and had already met the heroes-in-training, I wasn't sure how much things would change from here onwards.

But first…

"Hey guys!"

"Hey Haru! How was your internship?"

"It was awesome!" I replied. "Though nothing to write home about. I'm still not sure if I did the right thing when I chose SRI."

"Well, it will spice up your resume just fine," Kaminari replied as he looked up towards me when Mina had asked me her question.

"Honestly, that shouldn't be your only goal…" Momo murmured in a rather low voice that only I heard as I took my seat near her.

A loud cackle interrupted our discussion as everyone turned to see Kirishima and Sero laughing at Bakugo's well… perfect hair. Everyone in our group chuckled or smothered their laughs at his ridiculous look. Even I had to… the hair really did look out of place for Bakugo.

It was even funnier when Bakugo's anger boomed that hair of his back to its regular shape. I'd really like looking into what exactly the reason was for the entire thing to happen; it was interesting.

"Ochaco-chan must have had an awakening."

I turned my attention back to see Asui standing by Mina, both of them staring at Uraraka… who had a weird and visible aura around her as she went through the Gunhead Martial Arts exercises. I didn't know even the aura thing had a base in reality but then again, this was an anime world so…

As per the original timeline, discussion would have turned towards Stain now but given that he was already arrested without so much as a whimper, I was curious to know how things would pan out from here onwards.

Classes started soon afterwards and things didn't get interesting till All Might's class that day on rescue-training at Field Gamma.

My suit was ready by this class thankfully. It took way longer than I liked but at least Power Loader gave it due thought and care when making it because it sure was comfy as anything. My friends seemed to like it just fine.

It was a black suit that directly stuck to my skin and covered me from my neck to toes. One green stripe made its way down each of my arms. The back side was plain black but the front side had a bright green capital 'H' — not filled with green thankfully — covering the entire front. Just like I had told him before, he left my fingertips and face open. There seemed to be a wire mesh or something of the sort inside the layers of the cloth used to make the suit. Surprisingly enough, the suit didn't feel too restrictive either, and I could use my quirk at any part of my body if I tried without it affecting the cloth.

He had told me that the gadgets to amplify my quirks were still in the works but this suit 'would help'. I hadn't had the time to test it but the initial impressions were excellent. I was looking forward to how it would work out.

All Might was already done explaining the exercise and had already divided up the class. I was with Sero, Izuku, Bakugo and Iida. Sheesh, just my luck to be with the fastest or most versatile of them all…

We were all on our marks at the starting point waiting for the buzzer and the finish line that was All Might. Thankfully, I was already well-aware of the type of exercise this was. All I needed to get was a feel for where All Might was and fly there… perhaps run on the air there. After all, I wasn't just observing my quirk under a microscope all the time at SRI, y'know?

I quickly extended my quirk to get a feel for the entire Field Gamma and already found All Might who was on his way to his destination — our finish line. As soon as he stopped, I prepared to race, ensuring with my eyes the exact direction I needed to go to.

"START!" The call sounded and we all moved.

Considering how my quirk clumped up, I figured out that I could make air solid enough to jump off of. Hence, I could technically create a path of air—as ludicrous as that sounded—and run over it like it was a regular road. Which is exactly what I did.

Air clumped up in front of me in the direction I wanted to go to and I took a leap of faith. My weight made the air sag beneath me and my heart almost immediately went to my throat before the solidified air platform bounced back against my weight and threw me ahead and upwards.

'Oh. Hell. Yeah.'

I continue creating a path straight towards All Might and ran while moving air out of my way, similar to a few months ago on the first day of the school. I could see Bakugo flying with his explosions and Izuku following behind me, copying the explosion's moves. It was a close call initially but I could see that Izuku was slowly falling behind me while Bakugo was getting farther ahead of me. Iida would have a lot of advantage but it wasn't an open field so I wasn't expecting him to give it his all (he simpy wouldn't be able to), and Sero… well, spiderman, pretty much. And in such a dense construction like Gamma, spiderman can't freely move all that easily.

The race ended with Bakugo in the first place—something that'd do wonders for his superiority/inferiority complex I imagine. Iida came up second, I third, Sero fourth and Izuku fifth. He slipped while doing his parkour moves. Nothing surprising to me.

I could see Bakugo looking stunned and infuriated at Izuku. Also, nothing surprising. In fact, it would have been weird if he hadn't been like that. I could only shake my head.

"Good job, Izu-ya," I called to the MC.

He looked up at me, disappointed. "I can't believe I lost because of that. I should have been more careful."

"Eh, it's fine," I said with a wave of my hand. "You're in school to learn. If you could do everything on the first try, there wouldn't have been a need for you to be here. You'd have already been a hero."

There was a pause as he shook his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right," he replied, extending his hand.

As I pulled him up, I noted All Might whispering to him to join him at the teacher's lounge. My eyes met the No. 1 Hero and I too raised an eyebrow at him. "Can I?"

All Might seemed to debate internally for a moment before he gave a brief and short nod as the class ended.

Izuku had watched the exchange as well and asked me curiously, "It's rare for you to ask a teacher about anything. What's up?"

"You'll know when we get there," I replied with a secretive smile.

I was feeling more productive this month. Hence, an additional surprise chapter!

Thanks a lot for the support so far. This is my first story with 500+ faves and follows. Woo hoo! \o/

Even as I write this AN, I feel that the pacing of this chapter was off and not quite what it had been before. It also feels inconsistent. But there's not much I can do to improve this chapter. Hence, this stays here. Until the day comes when I have time to consider rewriting my story (or stories).

Hope y'all have an enjoyable Sunday.

Signing off!