Chapter 23: Yaoyorozu's Terrible, No-Good, Bad Day

Midoriya was immediately brought to UA for debrief. However, Aizawa knew it would be far too cruel to not allow a certain reunion to happen first.

Despite the hellish past few days he had endured and how tired he was, Midoriya broke into a run when he saw his mother. "Mom!"

Tears began to fall from Inko's eyes. "Izuku!"

They crashed together in a hug, both of them crying and laughing. "Izuku, if you ever scare me like that again, I will revoke the League of Villains' organs that count as small objects privileges."

Midoriya knew that he was safe, at least for now. Over the top threats involving the peculiarities of Inko's Quirk usually meant that he wasn't in trouble. "I missed you too, mom."

They were quickly ushered into UA to begin the debriefing. Midoriya went into detail about his time captured by the League of Villains. Out of those who were in the circle of trust, Mirko, All Might, and Yaoyorozu weren't in attendance. Things had gone smoothly enough up until Midoriya had recounted his conversation with All For One.

"Shit!" Gran Torino said.

"While I understand that All For One knowing about Tohru's change of heart is bad, why does that call for that reaction?" Aizawa asked.

Tsukauchi's expression was grim. "For any... personnel assets that All For One deems high value or at risk of betraying him he infects them with a Quirk based..." He shrugged, "There's no good way to explain it, partially because we have so little information on it. We call it Failure Clause. All we know is that if one of All For One's high-level assets betrays him, he can remotely turn them into a time bomb. Sometimes literally, sometimes a heart attack. This is usually followed with a file upload to a reputable news outlet with proof of the crimes of the individual."

Nezu sighed. "And the odds of Tohru carrying a Failure Clause are high. I would assume that his wife is as well, as he told me that All For One threatened to make young Yaoyorozu an orphan if he defected."

Midoriya slumped over and hugged himself. "You mean... Momo's parents are going to die? Because of me?"

Gran Torino opened his mouth, but caught the withering glare from Inko as she put a comforting arm around her son. He swiftly reworded what he was about to say. "Why would you be at fault for All For One being a spiteful bastard?"

Midoriya looked up. "But if I hadn't said anything..." He choked down a sob, "Then..."

"He would've figured it out eventually, Midoriya." Nezu said, "And he is hoping that you blame yourself, that you make it the millstone around your neck that drags you down to despair."

"But what if Momo blames me?" His voice cracked on her name.

No one had an answer for him.

Yaoyorozu couldn't help but laugh at herself when she looked in the mirror the morning after the battle. That shallow cut to her cheek that she had gotten from Toga had healed, but it had scarred. It went from chin level up to about her nose.

It reminded her of the morning after the Sports Festival. How she had fussed over the scars on Midoriya's hands. She shook her head, it really was amazing how futile that whole let's take it slow assertion had been.

It was odd. The idea of scars still unnerved her on an intellectual level, but now that both her and Midoriya had them in some way it bothered her less.

She put her hair up in the usual ponytail and quickly got ready for the day while humming a nameless tune. Things were looking up, yes the League of Villains was getting more bold, but with All For One in Tartarus most of their power went with him. That wasn't to say specific members of the League weren't dangerous. On their own, Shigiraki, Dabi, or Kurogiri were all threats that demanded immediate counters. But without the driving force of All For One's strategic ability and presumably his intelligence networks, the League could very well be dead in the water.

Of course, there was probably intelligence she wasn't privy to.

She headed towards the kitchens to get some breakfast. She could just call one of the family's servants, but she felt like doing it herself. Constant reliance on the staff would breed laziness. The path she had to take would take her by her mother's work from home office anyways. She needed to tell her about how last night went anyways.

She wasn't in her office.

A quick check in the neighboring room showed that her father wasn't in his study. Yaoyorozu knew that her parents always worked from the same location. If one of them worked from home, then both of them would. Even though today was Saturday, they would probably be coordinating relief efforts for the people who were displaced from Kamino Ward. And they typically did that kind of work from home.

Something was very wrong.

She tried to quell the rising panic as she moved towards her parents' bedroom. Maybe they had just slept in? No, that wasn't right. Any time there was a crisis that Sapato Corp could assist in, they were always up bright and early.

By the time she got there, she was at a dead sprint. She skidded to a stop and threw the double doors open, allowing her admittance to a nightmare.

Her mother was splayed out over the bed, blood leaking out her mouth and a massive red stain seeping through her nightgown over where her heart should be.

Her father was facedown on the floor, unmoving. She forced herself to be calm, and walked over to him and turned him over. "Father, are you- Oh my God!"

His eyes stared at her without seeing, like her mother, blood was leaking out of his mouth. His nightshirt had fallen open and there was a gaping hole where his heart should've been.

"No, this can't..." She started to say before her voice died out. She knew why this had happened. All For One had taken his revenge for her father's change of heart. By exploding the actual hearts of her parents.

The sick bastard was probably chuckling to himself in his cell in Tartarus right now over the twisted irony.

Yaoyorozu slowly got up and walked to the intercom panel and hit the button to connect with the security office.

"Security." A male voice answered.

"This is Momo Yaoyorozu." She said haltingly, "My parents have been murdered."

The security officer tried to ask her questions, but those were beyond her at the moment. She walked back to her room in a daze before collapsing on her bed and bawling her eyes out.

At least today couldn't get much worse, right?

It got worse.

From the relative safety of UA -it had been an easy sell to say she didn't feel safe at home, really she just wanted to be able to talk freely about what happened- Yaoyorozu stared blankly at the headlines plastered across all the morning news networks.

Tohru Yaoyorozu revealed to be main source of intel for League of Villains and All For One.

Sapato Corp stock in freefall - Detnerat acquisition likely.

Tohru and Hiroshi Yaoyorozu found dead this morning - HPSC takes over investigation.

She vaguely remembered... things. Aizawa and Inspector Tsukauchi in a shouting match, with Aizawa blaming him for not taking over the investigation and Tsukauchi calmly explaining that the HPSC had ordered that they head up the investigation, leaving it solidly outside of his jurisdiction.

She remembered Bakugo bringing by some food and convincing her to eat by badmouthing Izuku until you eat or kick my ass as he had so eloquently put it. She chose the former. She didn't know if she had the energy for the latter.

She remembered Maki and Shoji coming by and offering their condolences. Neither of them were the best with words, so it was more awkward than anything. But she appreciated the sentiment none the less.

But all this begged the question. Where was Izuku? Surely he would want to be at her side through this trial. So why wasn't he? What if he couldn't? What if the same fate had befallen him? He had certainty been subject to the League's tender mercies long enough for All For One to plant something like... whatever he did to her parents. What if he was in his room, eyes glassy and unfocused, a hole where his heart used to-

She quickly banished that cursed mental image from her mind. It was more than her heart could take.

"Momo?"

There he was, standing in the doorway to the common room that Yaoyorozu had taken over looking no worse for wear. Something was... off. Normally he would rush to her side in a situation like this. Why was he holding back? And why was he refusing to meet her eyes? "Izuku, you're alright!" Yaoyorozu began to walk towards him, "I thought that he got you too..." He actually pulled back from her. Now she knew something was wrong. "Izuku?"

The damn burst and tears started flowing freely down Midoriya's face. "I'm so sorry, Momo! It's all my fault! It's my fault your parents-"

Yaoyorozu blinked, "What are you talking about? It's All For One's fault, not yours."

"That's what Gran Torino and Aizawa-sensei said, but..." Midoriya trailed off hopelessly before continuing, "But All For One was talking circles around me, and I didn't realize what I said until after I said it!"

Yaoyorozu's heart dropped like a stone thrown off a canyon's edge. He didn't...

"I kept trying to remind myself not to say anything about your father switching sides, but it didn't help! He insinuated he already knew, so I asked him how and he just..." Midoriya hung his head and let his arms flop at his side uselessly, "He just told me he knew... because I had just told him."

Midoriya fell to his knees, "I'm sorry, Momo! I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!" Between his sobs he continued to choke out apology after apology.

Yaoyorozu knew two things for sure right now. The first was that while Midoriya may have told All For One about her father, he was the type that would wait for confirmation before making big moves like this. Meaning he knew beforehand. The second was that she needed to be exceptionally delicate with her words so that she didn't irreparably damage their relationship.

"Izuku, please get off your knees."

He did so, but still refused to look at her. "Izuku, look at me."

He finally forced himself to look at her, and she saw the pain in his eyes. Pain that was probably reflected in her own. "I don't blame you. I know you did everything in your power to keep it secret." She placed her hands on his shoulders, "But right now... I'm going to needs some space. And time. Not because I don't want you in my life, but because right now... I am so indescribably terrified of saying or doing something that would irretrievably damage our relationship."

"You don't hate me?" Midoriya said in a quiet voice.

Oh, Izuku... "I could never hate you. But I just need time to process everything and... there will be things with the company and my parents' affairs..." She sighed, "I just need time." She repeated.

Midoriya stepped back. "If you're sure... then I'll just go..." Right before he left the room, he looked back at her. "If you need anything..."

Yaoyorozu forced a smile. "Then I'll know just who to call."

After he left, she waited for a count of one hundred.

Then she screamed.

If there was any time that Nezu got vicious, it was when he was defending the welfare of his students. If there was any other time, it was when he was locking horns with the HPSC President.

Which meant that right now, he was prepared to be doubly vicious as he had Katsumi Shido sitting across from him at his desk. The HPSC President herself. "You cannot be serious." Nezu said.

"What part of my expression makes you think I'm not serious?" Shido asked. That was a fair question. Even with Nezu's bias against the woman and his difficulty hashing out human emotions, the middle-aged woman was serious.

That was what Nezu was afraid of. "The part where you want me to throw one of my students to the wolves for the sake of your narrative."

"Tohru Yaoyorozu will go down in history as a villain. Nothing will change that." Shido said, "But my advisors and I firmly believe that it is only a matter of time until Momo Yaoyorozu follows in her father's footsteps."

Nezu attempted to cover his sheer fury with humor, "I'm curious, when was the last time you watched Minority Report, Madam President?"

"I don't watch movies."

Well, so much for that. To be perfectly honest, the narrative the HPSC wanted to spin was something they'd done before. It was how heroes who had villainous Quirks that made honest mistakes were run out of business. Hold them up as an example of what happens when you step out of line. But the problem here was that they wanted to include Yaoyorozu as part of that example. "Fine. The answer is no. I do not expel students for being related to criminals."

"That much is clear, given your pet project." Shido said, obliquely referencing the presence of Maki Yoshihiro at UA. Nezu suppressed a smile. She was clearly still hopping mad that Hawks had brought him to UA and not the HPSC. "But I must stress, the odds of Momo Yaoyorozu turning to villainy are high-"

Nezu had enough. If he had the height, he would've brought a steel chair over and started bashing the implacable woman over the head. Instead he had to settle for slamming his paws on the top of his desk. "I'm not the one planning on digging up America's civil asset forfeiture laws!'

"We need to show the consequences of working for All For One and the League." Shido said, "I'll admit it's close to scorched earth..."

Nezu forced himself to compromise. "As long as you do not touch any money that Tohru and Hiroshi set aside for young Yaoyorozu, I will not protest loudly." He hated it. Hated it. But picking your battles was key to winning a war, and right now this was not a battle he was equipped to win.

To do that, he would simply let Yaoyorozu speak for herself at the upcoming Provisional License Exam.

Melissa had expected more skepticism when she had showed up at the Iida residence unannounced. But it seemed like Tenya had sung her praises as soon as he returned from I-Island. She was quickly pulled inside by his mother and father, who introduced themselves as Masaki and Tencho, respectively.

"You came right in the nick of time." Masaki said, "Tenya locked himself in his room and won't come down."

Melissa had heard of what had befallen Mineta. Understandably, the situation revolving around Yaoyorozu was Midoriya's focus, so she had taken it upon herself to pick up his slack. "Is it that bad?"

Tencho sighed. "It's the burden of having a Speed Quirk." He gestured to his back, where Melissa could see his exhaust pipes as bumps straining against his shirt, "You go at it long enough, and it's inevitable that you run into a situation where you just weren't fast enough."

Tensei rolled up in his wheelchair. "The difference is that for me and father, our... crucible -as the family has dubbed it over the years- happened after we had already graduated from UA, and had gained some perspective. Tenya doesn't have that."

Melissa swallowed. "Where's his room?"

Masaki gestured to the staircase behind her. "Up the stairs, hang a right, second on the left."

Melissa chewed on the inside of her cheek. "How do you feel about minor property damage?"

Tencho chuckled, "Tenya will probably be livid if you break any of his models..."

"Pretty sure she means the door, dad." Tensei said.

Masaki rolled her eyes. "Yes, minor property damage is fine, dear."

She headed up the stairs and followed the directions she had been given. The door was completely nondescript, and bore nothing denoting it as Iida's bedroom. That tracked. Melissa knocked on the door and waited.

No response.

She knocked again. "Tenya, it's me. Open up!"

"Go away!"

Melissa was merciless. "Why?"

She heard mumbling from the other side that vaguely resembled "I don't want you to see me like this."

That only strengthened her resolve. "I'm going to give you one minute, Tenya. If you do not open the door during that timeframe, I am going to break it down. And then we are going to talk. This is happening no matter what you do."

Ten seconds.

Twenty seconds.

"Leave me alone!" Iida yelled through the door.

"No."

Thirty seconds.

Forty seconds.

"Out of curiosity, what color do you want your new door to be?" Melissa asked.

"Just go away!"

Fifty seconds.

"Nope, not happening!" Melissa said. She cracked her knuckles. It was a good thing that she'd started taking those self-defense classes. She was approximately sixty-five percent sure that the instructor was a recruiter for the QLF, but that just meant that she was getting the actually useful self-defense training.

Also, Uncle Might had taught her how to kick a door down if she had to.

Sixty seconds.

Melissa kicked the door right next to the lock.

Tenya Iida realized that in the few short weeks that they had been back in Japan, Melissa had fully acclimated to being Midoriya's step-sister. Right down to the borderline insane ways of dragging friends out of their own heads.

She kicked the door again. It started to splinter.

By now, Tensei had used the chairlift to ascend the stairs and watch the show. He nodded, then proceeded to his own room, confident that his brother was in good hands.

She kicked the door one last time. It finally gave up the ghost. The body of the door separated from the lock in a shower of splinters. She marched into the room, to find Iida sitting at his desk doing... nothing.

"Hello, Tenya." Melissa said. "Would you like to explain what's gotten into you?"

"No, I would not." Iida said. "You wouldn't understand anyways."

The unspoken because you're Quirkless did not go unheard. That only proved to Melissa that what she was doing was necessary. The Tenya Iida she knew would never be so callous. "That's fine, I can infer from context."

Iida shot her a look. Her body language made it clear that she wasn't leaving until she had her say. "I'm a failure."

"Bull." Melissa said, "You were the one who led us to victory on I-Island. Sure, All Might and Izuku beat Wolfram, but without your leadership we would've been dead in the water."

"That was an outlier."

"No, I don't think it was."

Iida got to his feet in a flash, knocking his chair back. "You don't understand! Mineta died because of me!" He went to tear out his hair but stopped short, "He died because I wasn't fast enough, because I wasn't good enough! Because I thought that after I-Island, the USJ, and Hosu that we were invincible! But I was wrong, and Mineta paid for that with his life!"

"And that gives you permission to lock yourself away from the world and waste away?" Melissa advanced on him, "Is that what Mineta would want? What your friends would want?"

"It doesn't matter!" Iida shouted, "I don't deserve them, and I don't deserve you!"

Melissa nearly slapped him. "Excuse you? Do I look like a present to you?"

Iida was flabbergasted, "Err... no?"

"Good, because I'm not. You got me hooked on you not because life decided to hand you a smart, hot, American girlfriend. You got me hooked because you're dorky, you're smart, I can talk with you about Gundam for hours on end because I don't have to worry about you freaking out at me for not liking Gundam Zeta, because you are literally my knight in shining armor!" Melissa grabbed him by the collar and continued her tirade, "I love you, Tenya Iida, and I refuse to let you drown in your sorrow like this!"

Iida fumbled around for words, "But I wasn't fast enough..."

"We can fix that later. But right now, your classmates need Ingenium. Especially with what's going on with Yaomomo."

Iida frowned, "What are you talking about?"

"Check your phone."

Iida picked up his phone and looked at his messages, then the trending news stories.

"Oh no."

It was difficult not being able to visit All Might in the hospital. Not impossible, just difficult. Inko knew better than most, due to being an ER Nurse, that every hospital in Japan had a Symbol of Peace protocol. Fake names, fake injuries, the works. That way no one could sneak up on him while he was recovering.

But that was meaningless now, as he was finally home.

"Don't worry, I look a lot worse than I actually am." All Might joked.

Inko raised an eyebrow. The bandages covering his arms and peeking out from under his shirt told a different story. "And the bandages are because..."

"Because I didn't want to scare small children?" All Might suggested.

Inko hummed, clearly unconvinced. "That seems plausible." She said with mock formality before dropping the pretense and pulling him into a gentle kiss. "Welcome home, Toshi."

The relief in her voice was palpable. Now there was one less member of their family running off and trying to vibe check villains. They had a quiet evening, even if Midoriya was restless.

Later, as Inko was preparing for bed, All Might decided to check on him. He knocked on his bedroom door. "Izuku?"

"Come in!"

All Might entered his room and was slapped in the face with how much of his own merchandise adorned the walls and shelves. If he wasn't mistaken, Izuku had collected just about every piece of All Might merchandise that was available at mass market in his lifetime. "I wanted to check on you. It seemed there was something you wanted to talk to me about. Something you didn't want Inko to know."

He understood why Inko had the no more secrets in this family rule. All Might also understood that Izuku was a teenage boy who wanted to spare his mother from hearing all of his troubles.

"Um... yeah. There's really no good way to put this..." Midoriya said.

Oh God, it's going to be The Talk. All Might was not prepared for this.

"Have you ever had to kill someone?" Midoriya asked.

All Might sighed and sat on his bed. "Sit with me." Midoriya sat next to him. He took a moment to order his thoughts before he continued. This was clearly about Muscular, so there wouldn't be any beating around that bush. "How do you feel about it?"

Midoriya frowned. "I feel terrible that I had to kill someone, even if it was a villain like Muscular. But I'm glad he can't hurt anyone else."

All Might breathed an inward sigh of relief. "Okay. Listen, I'm not going to sit here and tell you what you did was right or wrong. What I am going to tell you is..." He lost his train of thought to a sudden sob.

"Dad? Are you okay?"

All Might looked at Midoriya., "No, I'm not. I'd hoped to never have this conversation with you. I wanted you to be better than me." He paused for a moment. Midoriya would never look at him the same after this.

So be it.

"What you need to understand, Izuku, is that it was a very different time. What you might've seen on the news was only a fraction of the villain attacks that were actually happening. To stop it all, to allow everyone to finally know peace... I waged a war against All For One and his criminal empire. And make no mistake, it was a war."

Midoriya had found a patch of carpet that looked particularly intriguing. "How bad did it get?"

"Do you know the law that protects heroes if they have to kill a S-Rank or higher villain?" All Might asked.

"Yeah."

"It was put in place to protect me."

Midoriya realized what that meant. "Oh."

"Now, most of the Top Ten heroes have had to kill at some point in their careers -Washi might be an exception, but I'm not sure- but it is always because every other option is exhausted." All Might took a deep breath. "And to defeat All For One the first time, I had to climb a mountain of rubble, blood, and filth."

"I just... feel like a monster." Midoriya admitted, "For being glad that someone is dead. Even if it's someone like Muscular, even if he threatened to... hurt Momo..."

All Might's expression darkened. The emphasis that Midoriya used left no doubt in his mind as to why Muscular was dead. "Izuku, here's the thing." He spoke as softly as he could while still getting his point across, "Monsters don't care about the blood on their hands."

"Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night and run to the bathroom and start scrubbing your hands?" Midoriya asked, "Like there's something dirty under the surface, you can't see it or anything. But you know it's there and you have to get rid of it?"

All Might flopped back onto the bed. "Huh. You actually put it into words."

"I've decided." Midoriya declared. "I'm not going to say I'm never going to kill. That's just irresponsible. But I will do everything in my power to not kill. With all the power I have... it would be so easy to just snuff out lives. Too easy." He fell back on the bed too.

"Any other burning questions I can help you with?" All Might asked with a weak note of humor in his voice.

Try as he might, Midoriya was unable to keep the details of the situation with Momo from spilling out. Including how he blamed himself for her parents' deaths and how he had told her that.

There was nothing left but bluntness. "Izuku, if I had blamed myself for everything that All For One said happened because of my actions, I would have killed myself years ago." He placed a hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "As for Momo, she'll come around."

"How do you know?" The undercurrent of worry in Midoriya's voice was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"The sky is blue, taxes come every year whether we like it or not, and you and Momo Yaoyorozu are hopelessly in love with each other. Just give her time."

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes. All Might broke it. "Is it weird, calling me dad?"

"Kinda." Midoriya admitted. "It's weird, but it's good? I don't know. I might not do it all the time. Is it weird that I don't name my Smashes after states?"

"No, I think it's wonderful that you've found your own niche."

The longer that their conversation went on, the more Midoriya felt like everything was going to work out. Eventually.

Shoto Todoroki thought that the dorms were a wonderful idea. It meant he didn't have to go home, not that home was as toxic as it used to be. It was more that school was where his friends were. Both Natsuo and Fuyumi had noticed how he was happier while he was preparing to go to school than when he had just come home.

Even his new common ground with his father was eclipsed by this. Although it had been a novel sight so see his father roar with laughter at Todoroki's theory that Vlad King and Stain were long lost brothers.

One thing that his objectively terrible home life had taught him was how to be observant. And right now, there was something downright peculiar going on. No, not Bakugo and Uraraka.

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu were not talking. At all.

Iida and Yaoyorozu were directing everyone to which rooms were theirs and when Midoriya walked up, Yaoyorozu pointedly went somewhere else. Iida looked just about as confused as he was.

Also, Iida hadn't paid very close attention when getting ready for the day, as he forgot to clean off the lipstick mark from his neck. Likely from Melissa. Good for him.

Todoroki walked up to them. "Good morning, Todoroki!" Yaoyorozu said cheerily. It was pretty obvious that said cheeriness was forced, even if one hadn't watched the news recently. "You'll be on the fifth floor, in between Sato and Sero."

Wonderful. Some peace and quiet.

"Why aren't you and Midoriya talking?"

Iida tried to be subtle and take a step away from Yaoyorozu, but failed miserably. Her smile became wooden and there was an undercurrent of something in her expression. Anger? Doubt? Guilt? "Leave it alone, Todoroki."

Even Todoroki realized he wouldn't make any headway like this. "We're friends, right?"

Yaoyorozu was stymied by the pivot. "Y-yes, Todoroki. We are."

"And friends tell each other if something is wrong." He prompted, "If something's bothering them."

Yaoyorozu pinched the bridge of her nose. "You're going to go to Izuku if you don't get a straight answer from me, aren't you?"

Todoroki let silence and an intense stare answer for him before he left to unpack. Yaoyorozu could feel Iida's eyes on her. "What?" She said sharply.

"I didn't say anything." Iida said. "But as your class President, I am obligated to inform you that your friend Tenya Iida considers Izuku Midoriya one of his closest friends. He is also dating Midoriya's future step-sister."

Yaoyorozu lost what little patience she had left. "Get to the point, Iida!" She snapped.

"If you break his heart, you're dead to me."

"It's not like that, Iida! It's..." Yaoyorozu racked her brain for an explanation, "Imagine your brother actually died to Stain. Now imagine that Stain kidnapped and interrogated Midoriya until he gave up your brother's location."

"I see." Iida said. "You believe that your parents are dead because Midoriya -while under heavy duress- revealed something about them to All For One. And you're blaming him."

"And I'm distancing myself from him to ensure I don't say or do anything that will break his heart until I can process all of these emotions." Yaoyorozu said. "Yes."

Iida stared off into space for a moment. "I'm sorry for my... intensity earlier. I'll do my best to keep Mina off your back so you can... figure things out." He glanced at her. "But my previous point stands."

She nodded uncertainly. "Understood, Iida."

Bakugo stared at the ceiling of his dorm room, mildly annoyed. He had tried reading the latest volume of a shonen manga that Kirishima had recommended to him, but it had actually reminded him of his real life too much. Also the protagonist... was an idiot! You're literally going up against the demon lord or whatever, why are you waiting to confess to your one true love? Character development? No! Love isn't a vehicle for freaking character...

He sat upright on his bed. Demon lord. One true love. Confession. Not wanting to wait. He glanced over at his desk where his phone and holographic All Might trading card -now framed- sat. He got up and checked his phone.

He looked at it in disbelief. Uraraka had hit him with the "Hey, you up?" text message three minutes ago.

He had never sent a text back faster in his life. He had a mission. He was gonna do it. He wasn't a dumbass shonen protag who doesn't see how the main female character feels about him! "Yeah, I'm up. Can we talk? Face to face? It's important."

Almost instantly the three little dots that indicated that Uraraka was typing appeared. Bakugo held his breath. He really hoped she said yes, doing this over the phone would be so lame. "Sure, come on over."

He slipped his phone and wallet into his pockets -cause he had to keep his UA ID on him to be able to get into his room- and walked over to the girls side of the fourth floor. He eyed the end of the corridor, the last thing he needed was Ashido crashing in. When he was satisfied that the captain of all shipping ever would not appear, he knocked on Uraraka's door.

She opened it immediately, "Hey, Bakugo, what's up?"

"We need to talk, can I come in?"

Uraraka's tilted in confusion. "Sure, come on in."

Her room was... undeniably her. Fluffy and pink. As soon as he heard her shut the door, he started talking. "So, I've been thinking. The training camp attack and Kamino Ward were on a whole other level than everything else we've done this year. And our main enemy is an actual self-proclaimed demon lord." He turned to face her, "We could literally all die tomorrow, and if I die tomorrow, I don't wanna say I waited too long, I have regrets. If I die tomorrow, I want to be able to say that I lived my best life, that I was the Hero that I always dreamed of being, and... that I loved as fiercely as I fight."

A soft smile blossomed on Uraraka's face. She tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear like she had after the final exams. "Just what exactly are ya sayin', Katsuki?" She batted her eyes at him.

His heart skipped a beat. Her usage of her accent and his first name meant that she was absolutely picking up what he was putting down. "I'm saying that I love you, Ochako." He stepped forward and ever so gently took her hand, "I love the way your dimples show up when you smile, I love how you never give up even when your body's failing you, I love how I can just get lost in those big brown eyes, I love how never give up, no matter how hopeless the situation... and I love how you've never given up on me."

She grabbed him by the hands and started pulling him towards the balcony. "Come on."

"Why are we going out there?" He asked as she pulled him along.

She winked at him, "Don't you want this to be special, sugar?" As soon as she was touching the guardrail and they were out in the summer night air, she pulled him towards her causing him to slam into her, pinning her to the guardrail. She wrapped her arms around his neck and her smile turned sultry. "Don't you wish we could just..."

Uraraka activated her Quirk, making both of them float.

"Float away?" Bakugo asked, arms wrapping around Uraraka's waist. He kissed her lightly, just a feather touch of their lips pressed together. He kissed her again and she pulled him into it, kissing him deeply with just the barest touch of tongue. Uraraka wrapped her legs around him as they began to slowly spin in midair. As they broke apart, she teased him by licking at his lips. "I love you, Katsuki. But I just have one question."

He frowned. "What is it?"

"What took you so long?"

There was a beat of silence. "Was that question rhetorical, or..."

She laughed, and it sounded like music to his ears. "Shut up and kiss me, you dork."

"Don't gotta tell me twice, Angel Face."

A/N: Short chapter this time.

Yes, this drama between Izuku and Momo might not be needed. Techinally I can wave my magic wand and make it disappear. But then the payoff falls flat. Don't worry, their reconciliation is coming soon.

Yaoyorozu is not in a good place right now. And she's bottling up all those feelings. And poor Izuku is just blaming himself.

Look at that, the HPSC President is someone without a sense of humor. Who would've thought.

Melissa takes no shit. You don't get to hide from your feelings, she'll drag you out and make you deal with your problems.

Todoroki and Iida make it clear where they stand.

Love is in the air. Literally. Even though Izuku and Momo are in a rough patch, the lives of others keep moving.

Next chapter will have the lion's share of reactions to Mineta's death and Izuku and Momo's reconciliation. I'll try to get it out soon.

Until next time.