Hello everyone, as promised, here is ch 15. This has more interaction between some of our favorite characters, so I hope you enjoy.

Also to answer Aedwards179's question - Midnight was reminded of Bakugo because Class 1A is Class 3A in my story. She was his teacher for two years before she died. I decided to make them older due to the rating of my story. They're 17/18 at this point instead of 15/16.

I also didn't clarify when Midnight evaluated Noriko, so that is on me. I'm gonna say that the evaluation happened a little less than a year before she died, so when Noriko was 16.

The war still just happened (5 months before the start of my story) but it just happened during their 3rd year - aka their last year in UA.

Hope that clarifies things a little more!

Chapter 15:

Feeling a presence gaining behind her, Noriko pushed herself to run faster, determined to not let him catch her. She grits her teeth when she felt his fingers graze the skin just below her sports bra. Looking round briefly, she switches directions suddenly, turning sharply to the left.

The suddenness of the change in directions, made her duck to maintain her balance. As she did, she felt the rush of wind above her head from where her attacker had sung his arm in an attempt to catch her. Feeling a rush of adrenaline from how close he was, she jumped away slightly without breaking her stride.

She didn't dare look back, and instead focused on the wall straight ahead of her, knowing she would have only one shot. Pumped full of adrenaline, she was able to speed up just a little more, determined to execute her plan.

Once she was within range, she jumped up and kick off the wall, flying over his head to land in a crouch behind him. Smirking she shot up, sending a swift punch to his surprised face when he whirled around to face her.

She didn't stop her attacks, knowing that if she gave him a second to recover, it would be game over for her. Throwing another punch to his gut the second time, knocked him back enough to give her more space to move. Spinning in a 180-degree turn, she followed through with a round house kick dead center of his chest.

She watched satisfied as he fell back against the wall she had jumped off from. He was wheezing from having all the air knocked out of him, slumping down the wall until he was half seated on the ground.

Not wanting to give him a chance to catch his breath, Noriko held her hand away from her body. She felt the tingle of the molecules in the air around her as a short crystal spear formed in her hand. His head lifted slightly and she quickly held the sharp end to his neck in a threatening manner.

"And this round goes to me." Noriko huffed with a cocky smirk, breathing heavy from the exertion.

"What happened to no quirks?" Shinso grunted, glaring up at her while shoving the spear away from him.

"Unlike you, I don't have support weapons unless I use my quirk to make them. So, I think it's only fair for me to do so since you've been using your capture weapon the entire time we've been training." Noriko sassed, letting the spear dissolve, and putting her hand on her hip.

"Unlike you, I don't have a flashy quirk made to attack. That's why I use my capture weapon to even out the playing field." Shinso muttered dryly, pushing himself off the ground.

Anyone else that didn't know him as well as Noriko had gotten to know him, would have thought he was bitter. But during the past two weeks since they started training together, they had formed a solid friendship. Of course, there were still things they hadn't opened up about like her past and his quirk.

"I wouldn't know, since you still refuse to tell your best friend in the entire world, what your quirk is." Noriko rolled her eyes, moving to pick up a water bottle.

"Bold of you to assume you're my best friend in the entire world."

It was obvious he wanted to avoid talking about his quirk, so Noriko let it slide again. Instead of calling him out on it, she put her hand on her chest and let out a dramatic gasp. "Are you saying I'm not?!"

"After you punched me earlier when you were on the phone with your sister, it's not looking good for you." Shinso said with a short laugh, shaking his head as he snatched the bottle from her hands and taking a sip.

Thought he was usual very stoic and, well, tired, he had moments when he relaxed in her presence and let himself just be himself. It's why she wasn't too surprised to hear him laugh, even if his laughs and smiles were still pretty rare.

It had taken about a week of training together before Shinso had started relaxing around her. It had started when one day Noriko had wanted to fight using quirks and he refused. He had shut down so suddenly, that it had startled her a little. But she had simply said okay and moved on.

When Shinso questioned her easy acceptance, she simply responded with "I won't push you if you're uncomfortable. It's your world, Shin, I just live in it."

And just like that, they went from training partners to friends.

"You deserved it since Yaeko, and you were bullying me!"

"Stop being a drama queen and let's go eat." Shinso said after he downed half his water.

Noriko rolled her eyes but picked up her phone to look at the time. It was barely 12:30, which was early for them to eat lunch the days she didn't have lunch with her sisters.

"Isn't it too early?" She asked, opening her chat with her sisters to read the unopened messages.

"It is earlier than we usually go, but I didn't have breakfast." Shinso declared, walking over to where their things were.

"That sounds like a personal problem. No one told you to skip breakfast."

"Unless you're carrying me all the way to the hospital when I pass out from hunger, it's also a you problem."

"Not if I just pretend I didn't see anything and just left you laying there."

"Thanks for the concern bestie, but I was running late." He sneered while picking up their things, aggressively tossing Noriko her shirt. "Now cover up and hurry up, we're going to the ramen shop down the street."

"Hey! Dammit, you annoying purple Edward Scissorhands doppelganger! I'm trying to get the details on Aizawa-Sensei's surgeries." She snapped, snatching the shirt that had hit her square in the face.

"Is he out already?" Shinso asked leaning over her shoulder to read the messages, while also guiding her out of the training room to the elevators since she wasn't paying attention.

"No, Yaeko just said that he passed all the tests they ran on him and that he'd be in surgery for the rest of the day. Her plan was to work on his eye first and then his leg."

"Makes sense, prioritizing his eye in case she runs out of energy and can't perform two surgeries back-to-back." They got into the elevator.

"Yeah, but she'll get them both done." Noriko said confidently, pulling on her tank top after putting her phone away.

Before Shinso could respond, the elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal Bakugo, Midoriya and Todoroki. Noriko tensed besides Shinso, pausing in the middle of putting her shirt on. She felt Shinso side eye her, trying to gauge her reaction to their current situation.

She hadn't seen Todoroki and Bakugo since the incident with Burnin', but she knew that things had gotten tense. She had run into Midoriya two days after, and he had told her how Endeavor had been pissed about the little showdown and put Burnin' on desk duty for the rest of the month. That had led to her losing her shit, yelling at Todoroki and Bakugo to tell their boss that it had been all Noriko's fault.

Thankfully, Aizawa had already spoken to Endeavor and told him the whole story, which Shinso had relayed to Aizawa. Since then, she's avoided interacting with any of them, besides Midoriya who she had exchanged numbers with. Mostly she was embarrassed that she had acted like some jealous girlfriend and stooped so low as to fight with a whole grown ass woman.

"Imai-chan! I was hoping to see you since I hadn't heard back from you." Midoriya's sweet face smiled at her expectantly.

Dread began to flow through her at his words, knowing that he was referring to the text he had sent her two days ago. Since she had canceled on the karaoke invitation last minute, she had agreed to go out the next time they planned something. Coincidentally, they were planning on going to the summer festival tonight and he had invited her.

"My bad Broccoli Boy, I was so focused on cramming for my midterm, I forgot to answer." She sent him a small smile, tugging her tank top down the rest of the way, so she could bring her hand back up to rub the back of her neck.

It wasn't that she didn't want to go, but between her studies and trainings, Noriko was exhausted by the time she was done with her day. Shinso was very aware of this, since the entire time they were training the day of the karaoke, she had been driving him crazy with her overthinking.

"I get it, that's why I didn't bother you again. How did the midterms go?" Midoriya stepped a little closer to her.

"Perfect score." She smiled, ignoring the way Bakugo was staring so intently at her.

"Perfect reason to come out to the festival with us then." This time it was Todoroki that spoke up. Noriko looked over to lock eyes with two different colored ones. "You deserve to relax after spending so much time training and studying."

"Aizawa-Sensei is very dedicated and strict." Noriko chuckled, nudging Shinso discreetly. "Isn't that right Shin?" She looked up at him with eyes that were screaming 'Help me!'.

"Nothing we can't handle." He yawned, making her sweat drop.

"Have you two been training together?" Todoroki asked, his head cocked to the side.

"Yeah, Aizawa partnered us up." Shinso's tone was back to his usual monotone.

"Why the fuck would he pair you up with her?!" Bakugo growled out, glaring at Shinso.

"Why wouldn't he?" Shinso raised an eyebrow at him.

"It makes sense to put her up against someone stronger. Her quirk is combat compatible, your brainwashing quirk wouldn't help her increase her endurance or mobility."

Noriko's eyebrows shot up in surprise; both because Bakugo was complimenting her, sort of, and because she finally learned Shinso's quirk. She looked over to Shinso, and bit her lip when she saw how pissed he was.

"He's actually a perfect partner." Noriko jumped in, looking over at Bakugo with a forced nonchalant look. "His fighting abilities are actually pretty good, that and he's almost as good as Aizawa-Sensei with his capture weapon. And who wouldn't need to learn to go up against a powerful quirk like that?"

She watched as Bakugo's jaw twitched as his anger grew. She wasn't sure why he was so pissed, but she was grateful when the elevator dinged. Looking over, she was grateful to see that they were in the lobby. She grabbed Shinso's arm roughly and dragged him out after her.

"Well, it was nice seeing you guys, until next time!" She really hoped there wouldn't be a next time because Shinso and Bakugo looked ready to throw hands.

"Yo, Sparks, slow down dammit." Shinso hissed, forced to keep up with a light jog when she ignored him.

"Imai-chan, wait!" Midoriya called after her but was shoved aside by Bakugo who stalked out of the elevator.

He was pissed at how friendly Noriko seemed to be with Eyebags. Especially when if anyone should be her training partner, it should have been him. He was currently first in his class, having beat Deku and Icy Hot in their finals by the skin of his teeth.

"Oi, short stack, I wasn't done talking to you!" Noriko was forced to stop when Shinso yanked her to a stop after he twisted his arm in her hold to grab her wrist instead.

"Clearly we were." Shinso drawled, his eyes narrowing on Bakugo.

"I wasn't talking to you, you purple shit." Bakugo growled dangerously, stepping up until he was toe to toe with Shinso.

"Alright, what the hell was so important you had to talk to me about." Noriko asked loudly, pulling her friend back by the hold he still had on her.

She inserted herself in between them, leaning more into Shinso in order to keep some distance from the explosive blonde who confused her. Even with the space between them, she could smell the sweet burnt caramel scent of his. She cursed his quirk for making him smell so good, while raising her blue green eyes to meet his red ones.

"I want that rematch." He spit out, glaring at the basically nonexistent space between eyebags and her.

She scoffed, bringing his attention back to her face in time to see the eyeroll. "Are you kidding me? Are you still on that?" She glared at him.

"Yes, we didn't finish that fight. Unless you're too scared to go up against me because you know you're gonna lose if you do." He smirked, knowing he was baiting her into accepting the challenge.

Her eyes were practically glowing with anger when she took stepped closer to him, her hands flying to her hips. "Excuse me? You think I'm scared of you? You couldn't even put a scratch on me."

"Then why do you keep dodging me every time I ask for a rematch, sweet cheeks?" He leaned down closer to her, his smirk widening.

"I'm not dodging shit. You'll get your rematch after lunch. But what's in it for me when I win?" An eyebrow rose expectantly, her face determined and not at all bothered by the lack of space between them now.

"If you win, I'll actually replace that stupid shirt of yours." He rolled his eyes, offering the first thing that came to mind before continuing. "But since we all know, I'm going to win, you will have to go with us to the festival tonight, no excuses."

If Kirishima and the rest of them were forcing him to go to the festival despite his protests, then at least he was going to make it worth his time. Though, part of his was grateful he missed the outing last week since she hadn't gone and now, he was going to have a chance to be around her without those idiots making his eyes bleed.

"Fine, I'll meet you in the same training room as last time in an hour." She agreed easily, turning around so quick her ponytail swung around hard. He barely had the chance to move to avoid it hitting him in the face. Instead, he felt the soft strands hit his upper chest, rushing his bare skin where his tank top didn't cover him.

His eyes flew down to look at where she hit him, only for his eyes to immediately focus on the sway of her hips and she sauntered away. Her sleeveless work out shirt was tight and ended just above the seam of her joggers, giving him an unrestricted view of her ass. He could feel heat pooling low in his belly, and he had to shift when he felt his cock stirring.

"Kacchan, do you really have to fight her? Couldn't you just ask her to come with us instead?" Deku's voice broke him out of his trance.

Reluctantly looking away, he turned to his best friend. He was looking at him with a tired look, concern shining in his green eyes.

"She can handle herself in a fight against me. We've seen as much already." Bakugo muttered roughly, rolling his eyes. "Plus, it didn't look like she was going to accept your offer, so this was the only way she would have to go."

He started walking out of the agency, letting Todoroki and Deku where they were standing in the lobby. They had agreed to go out for lunch at Bakugo's favorite curry spot since it was his turn to pick where they ate.

Rushing to catch up to his childhood friend, Deku jogged to reach his side, quiet for a moment as he thought about what he was going to say. "You like her." He finally said softly.

Bakugo's shoulders tensed up, making Midoriya wince as he prepared for him to go off on him for saying that. Surprisingly, nothing happened, so he glanced over at Bakugo, seeing that he was staring at the ground in deep thought.

Bakugo almost started yelling at Deku for the stupid comment but caught himself as he thought about the question. He definitely found her attractive, no doubt about that, but that was obvious. Any guy with eyes could see she was painfully beautiful, and her toned body was something that Bakugo couldn't help but admire anytime he saw her.

But then it was her personality, that fully did it for him. They hadn't interacted much, or at all really, aside from the day they fought and then again when shit went down with Burnin'. But it was obvious that she had a strong personality, one strong enough to keep up with his, which was saying something.

"She's interesting." He finally manages to respond, his voice much quieter than his usual tone. "Not a lot of girls that can keep up with me."

Most girls found his abrasive attitude off-putting, but she didn't. Not only that, but she also had a pretty tough attitude from what Deku had told him. On top of that, she was one of the only girls that could keep up with him in a fight. Uraraka had done decently against him back in first year, which was why he had caught a bit of a crush on her. But then eventually he realized she was interested in Deku's nerdy ass, and that had pissed him off at the time.

"It's been a while since a girl caught your attention." Deku murmured thoughtfully.

But it was refreshing to meet a girl that was even more capable against him. Not that he had anything against Uraraka, but again not many women were interested in him because of how he was. The only other woman, aside from Imai, that wasn't intimidated by him had been Burnin' and that was something he had deeply regretted. She wasn't his first, but she was still much more experienced than him, which in the moment he had enjoyed.

It wasn't until after they had hooked up right after they had arrested Mr. Smiley, she had become obsessively clingy. They hooked up one more time after that, and he had had enough. He was grateful when she was sent on a mission in a different city right as summer started and he was back at the agency full time for the break.

But now she was back and much to his bad luck, she had been with the one girl that wouldn't get out of his head: Noriko Imai. Despite having avoided Burnin' for so long, he still held a bit of a soft spot for her, because they had gotten along very well before their relationship had changed. They had been good friends, and even better training partners. It was the only reason he hadn't pushed her away when she started getting closer.

But after he had followed Imai and she shoved her out of the way, Bakugo, for the first time, felt anger towards the flaming sidekick. He had just about to say something when he saw how the purple freak had caught Imai and was holding her.

That's when he really felt pissed off. But of course, Imai wasn't one to stand back and be a damsel in distress. She had squared up to Burnin' and then him. If he was honest, watching her go up against Burnin' the way she did had turned him on. That had bothered him so deeply, he couldn't move to stop them because he was so confused about his feelings.

He hadn't been able to react until Burnin' had gone to attack Imai that he had reacted. In the end it hadn't really mattered because Imai hadn't needed anyone's help to block the attack.

"Imai-San is indeed interesting. A much better choice than my father's sidekick." Todoroki commented off-handedly, causing both boys to turn to him.

"NO ONE FUCKING ASKED YOU ICY HOT!"

"I told Momo about her, and her quirk and she agreed with me. She also got very excited and wanted me to extend an invitation for her to come over for tea." Todoroki completely ignored Bakugo's outburst, as per usual.

"What the hell is Ponytail so excited about someone she doesn't even know?! And in what world would that be a good idea?! If this girl didn't accept Deku's invitation to Karaoke and the Festival, what makes you think she'll want to go to a stranger's house?!" Bakugo practically yelled.

"Well, I'm not a stranger and I'd be introducing my girlfriend to her. I don't see anything wrong with that." Todoroki's soft voice sounded confused, which made Midoriya sweat drop and a vein pop on Bakugo's forehead.

"How about we try and convince her to come tonight first and then we can see if she would be up to going over to Yaoyorozu's for tea?" Deku suggested with a weary smile.

"We don't have to convince her because I'm going to win." Bakugo stated aggressively, yanking the door open to the curry restaurant.

"Your explosions didn't do anything to her. Maybe the force behind them would cause some damage, but it doesn't seem likely that this will be an easy match." Todoroki pointed out, pissing Bakugo off all over again.

"It's not meant to be easy, but I'm still the number 1 student of Class 3A and I'm going to be the number one hero." Bakugo snarled.

"So, how do you plan to convince her to come tonight?" Todoroki turned to ask Midoriya, making Bakugo loss his shit.

Deku spent the rest of lunch playing peace maker while Bakugo tried to fight a confused Todoroki. At the same time, Deku was honestly hoping Imai-san wouldn't deny their invitation should their match end the same as before or, God forbid, Bakugo loses.