Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

35. Clover Rising: Part Two

"Alright," Recovery Girl sighed as she put the pen down on the table, "I believe that's all the information that I needed about Izuku. Thank you again, Mr. Midoriya, for staying behind to fill in those blanks."

"You're welcome, Recovery Girl," Hisashi nodded awkwardly from the seat he was sitting on beside the desk, scratching his beard a bit nervously as Midnight read through the notes that the elderly nurse had been writing over her shoulder, "I just … well, I wish I'd known that I'd be asked for Izuku's entire medical history, I would've thought to bring his folder with us today."

"We know that it was unexpected," Midnight was unable to stop herself from smiling gently at his attempt to lighten the mood with a joke, "but it's just to make sure we know where we're going to be guiding Izuku once classes start back up on Monday."

Hisashi at least smiled a bit at that, nodding in thanks to the two women as he stood up to put on his coat. Indeed, he hadn't really expected to be asked about Izuku's entire medical history today, but he had tried to recite everything as best he could, from Izuku's quirk awakening (or what he and Inko had thought to be the awakening), to all the times Izuku would get banged up throughout his childhood, whether they be bruises or burns from school or the time he jumped off a bridge, and ending at the sludge incident Inko had told him about last year. It had only taken about two hours, and even if he felt like he needed a drink from all the talking, he knew that he'd be able to head home soon and finally get a chance to rest.

Still, even if it had been a lot of talking and remembering his son's injuries, he was at least comforted that both Recovery Girl and Midnight seemed determined to get ahead of Izuku's … cellular degeneration, the two words still sending a shiver down Hisashi's spine. He had expected Recovery Girl to want to know all the details, of course, seeing as she was the school nurse, but it was a bit surprising to see Midnight sticking around, seemingly seemed interested in Izuku's case as well/

Of course, he did have to avoid looking at her for too long, seeing as she was still wearing her hero costume and her long purple hair was down, making him awkwardly clear his throat and look away from her less she caught him occasionally stealing a glance.

"Now then," Recovery Girl tapped her notes against the desk as she turned back to her folders, "I'll have to work over the weekend to make sure that your son will be ready for the physical therapy we're beginning to work out. Tenko and All Might have both agreed to assist with Izuku's recovery, so I'll be speaking with them when they come first thing tomorrow."

"I see," Hisashi slowly nodded, frowning, "and … well, I'd trust All Might, of course, but this, uh - this Tenko person …?"

"Tenko has a keen eye for quirks," Recovery Girl assured him, "and he's worked with your son before on both his own quirk and his therapy session, so I believe your son at least trusts him."

"Okay, that - alright."

"Now then, I do believe that's all I needed from you, Mr. Midoriya, so … we won't keep you any longer," She sighed as she put her notes down, "thank you again for staying behind."

"A-ah, no, thank - thank you," Hisashi put his coat over his arms and zipped it up a bit, giving the two women an awkward wave, "I'm just … I'm thankful that you both are taking this so seriously. Just, ah …" Now he felt himself go a bit red, "… I'm … not entirely sure how to leave the school."

"No need to worry," Midnight smiled at him again as she likewise stood from her own seat, stretching her arms above her head and causing Hisashi to avert his eyes from her chest (and causing Recovery Girl to roll her own eyes), "it's about time I clocked out anyway, I should probably be thinking of heading home soon to finally calm down from today. I'll show you to the gate, Mr. Midoriya."

Giving her an awkward smile of his own, Hisashi followed Midnight over to the door. Taking a moment to bow in thanks to Recovery Girl, Hisashi then stepped through out into the hallway, allowing Midnight to close the door to the nurse's office behind them, and began to follow her out of the school. He could see, in the distance, the sun nearly all the way down, the sky turning dark, meaning that the Midoriya-Uraraka-Kendou clan was probably wrapping up their celebrations, making Hisashi pout a bit that he missed the celebrations. But still, he knew that there wasn't really much to be done, and that someone had to stay behind to give Recovery Girl the information she needed - and honestly, Inko would be a better host for their party, so he knew that it was better for him to remain behind.

Now, though … he couldn't help but glance a bit stiffly at Midnight as she walked beside him down the hall. Other than her being a very beautiful woman, Hisashi couldn't help but feel a bit awkward walking beside a woman in a hero costume, one that was looking far too casual at the moment as she adjusted her mask, and couldn't help but notice that, even if she was wearing heels, he still had a bit of height to her - meaning that he was pretty much looking down at her as she turned to glance at him with a questioning eyebrow raise.

"Er …" He cleared his throat, trying to remain polite, "… I … suppose I also have to thank you, er - Midnight, uh … ma'am."

"You can just call me Kayama," She smiled over at him, trying not to show her humor as he obviously sagged a bit in relief at not having to call her by some formal hero name, "I'm pretty much off duty now, Mr. Midoriya - it's been a pretty long day, so I'm not exactly up for doing the whole persona, if you can forgive me."

"I - I see."

"But in any case, why thank me?" She turned to give him a curious look as they walked down the stairs together. "I pretty much just sat there and listened to everything. I'm not sure what I did that deserves your gratitude."

"Well," Hisashi put his hands in his pockets, "I just … you were the one who pulled Izuku out of the sports festival today. I know that my son can be surprisingly stubborn, so … so I'm just glad that you took the situation seriously enough to convince him to stand down, for his safety. I … really haven't been all that present in his life because of work, so I know that I can't really convince him like his mother can."

"Is that so?" Midnight blinked a bit, looking intrigued. "I had thought that you and your wife seemed close."

"Er … ex-wife," He corrected her, looking sheepish as Midnight flashed him a surprised look, "I actually work overseas to provide for both of them, and … well, you know, it's hard to keep a spark burning when you're constantly at work halfway across the world."

"Ah, I see."

"Yeah. We agreed to split up, and we're simply friends now. It, uh - it wasn't that hard, if you were curious, we were friends before we started dating, so we just … went back to that."

"Is that so …" Midnight hummed.

"Yeah. Although …" He felt his smile fade, "… I … might have to bother her for a bit longer, I'm not sure how impressed she'd be with that."

He paused for a moment, and then blinked, realizing that he may have said something she wasn't entirely interested in, and felt weirdly panicked at the possibility of annoying her with his problems.

"Oh, uh - never mind, I'm sure that -"

"Oh, no, please," She gave him a smile as they both reached the bottom of the stairs, "I'm intrigued. Why are you bothering her?"

"Well, uh …" Hisashi cleared his throat awkwardly again, trying not to show how out of his depth he felt at the moment, "… I … actually got an email from one of my supervisors where I work during our lunch break. They're interested in transferring me back to work at the main offices in Japan, saying I did such a good job working from here that they don't see much point in having me move back to America. It, uh … well, it just means that I might have to couch surf at Inko's place for a bit longer," He was unable to stop himself from feeling guilty, "at least, until I can find a place closer to the office. I just … you know, would rather not step on any more toes than I have to."

"Ah," Midnight nodded in understanding as they finally reached the doors that led outside, allowing the warm spring air to hit them as they walked out of the main building, "I see."

"Er - yeah. Sorry to just, uh … drop that on you," He chuckled nervously as they both breathed in some fresh air, "I'm sure that you probably have - y'know, more important things to worry about than that."

"Oh, no, Mr. Midoriya, I - I don't mind," She laughed as well, brushing some of her hair out of her face as they walked over to the gate in the distance, "I'm sure that you know that us heroes can't have the fate of Japan as our only problems. We heroes can get worried about smaller stuff, we do it all the time. In fact, I …"

She faltered, however, and Hisashi turned to glance at her. Surprisingly, there was no sultry or teasing look on her face, not anything that he had seen on the big jumbotrons today, at least - instead, there was a look of sadness there, looking a bit morose and put down that he couldn't help but feel himself blink in shock.

"… I … did have an argument with one of my friends today," She admitted, sighing as though she hadn't meant for that to slip out, "one of my older friends, someone I've known since high school. And it - well - it dug up some old wounds."

"Oh," He said in a blank voice, not entirely sure what to say to that, "I - I see."

"Well …" She sighed as they both moved through the gate, standing there as Midnight turned to give him a small smile, "… I suppose that it's also because of all the stress today - I always get like this when I have to referee, I'm so lucky that they're bringing a guest to referee tomorrow's sports festival and give me a little break before the last festival on Sunday. If I'm being honest, I could probably go for a drink right now - today's been long."

"Oh, well," Hisashi smiled innocently at her, not thinking anything of it as an idea came to him, "I do know a good bar that I used to frequent with my neighbor. I don't think it's too far from here, they serve the best shots if that's what you're interested in."

He was speaking completely genuinely, of course, only wanting this woman who was obviously having a very rough day to at least have a relaxing night, and he knew that the bar he was thinking about now was a nice and comfortable place in addition to serving some pretty good beer. He glanced around, trying to remember the exact instructions to get there so he could tell her, and completely missed Midnight straightening up a bit, blinking.

"Oh," She said simply, "a … bar, you say?"

"Yep. Has excellent beer, too." He commented in a happy tone, "I imagine it's exactly what you're looking for, Kayama - it's a pretty relaxing place, especially after a long day at work."

"Oh," She said again, and then suddenly pepped up, a small blush appearing on her cheeks, "oh! Well, I - I suppose that sounds good. I should probably get changed, though - I don't want anyone looking around and seeing Midnight of all people sitting at a booth, that might give some people ideas."

"I guess so," Hisashi nodded, and then blinked when Midnight suddenly tapped his shoulder, causing him to look around as she beamed up at him.

"I'll be just a few minutes," She told him, "and then we'll be off."

With that, she turned and quickly made her way back to the school, hurrying along on her heels.

Behind her, Hisashi stared after her in confusion for a moment, feeling the hamster wheel in his head pause. They'll … be off … together? Oh wait, he realized, she must think that he'll bring her to the bar itself, instead of just telling her where it was. Of course, that made sense!

Well … he had planned to be back to the apartment in a bit, not wanting Inko or Izuku to wait up for him, but … he supposed that, since Midnight showed a lot of concern for Izuku today, it would be polite to show Midnight where the bar was directly instead of just telling her. And, well, it wasn't every day you could show something off to a pro hero, especially someone like Midnight! Maybe he could get her autograph for Izuku, in case he hadn't gotten it yet.

Yep, Hisashi smiled innocently and looked back around at the city, it seemed that tonight was going to be interesting.

---

"Filthy."

Sitting down on the floor of the dojo, Teko merely frowned as he crossed his legs, allowing the costumed yakuza to gather near the wall while Rappa absently walked over to the punching bag hanging in the corner, throwing out a punch. Over near the other wall, Chisaki continued to pace for a moment before he walked over to one of the boards where several of the children from Teko's lessons had posted some of their pictures and drawings. Teko had reluctantly agreed to allow them to hang their art when Tenohira had convinced him to, wanting to liven up the dojo a bit, and truth be told, he would occasionally look at those hastily drawn pictures with softness on some days.

Sometimes, it was just … good to have a bit of innocence down here. Not that Chisaki seemed to agree, with his eyes narrowing as he folded his hands behind his back.

"This entire place positively reeks of filth," He shortly told Teko without even looking back at him, "far more than I remember. I remember when this dojo was a place where we could rally, where warriors could train. Where blood would flow and no one would be able to stop it. Now, it's …"

He let out a small snort as he looked around at where Teko was sitting, gesturing to one of Emi's drawings with an air of disgust.

"… it's a place where children can hang their snot-covered rags," He dismissed, "on the very same walls I was beaten into. I have to say, sensei, I feel nothing but despair for how far this dojo has fallen."

"Much has changed ever since you left us," Teko replied in a cold voice as he adjusted his legs, "I wanted this place to become more than what it was. Where children could learn discipline and self-control."

"Hm," Chisaki merely hummed, "still, it's disappointing. Thankfully, you seem to keep the place clean, at the very least - it's sickening to imagine what those children have dragged into the very same dojo that made me who I am."

Moving away from the wall, Chisaki slowly lowered himself before where the dojo master was sitting with a sigh, carefully moving to sit on his knees. Teko observed him carefully for a moment, feeling his brow furrow as Chisaki dusted himself off before looking back up at him, and then snapped his fingers. At once, the small one he had called Mimic, who had been standing near the wall silently, quickly waddled over with the folder in his hands to hand it to the boss.

As he accepted the folder without even looking back at his underling, Chisaki looked back around at Teko, only to raise his own eyebrow at the look the older man was looking at him with.

"What?"

"You've changed, Kai," Teko observed quietly, a tinge of sadness in his voice, "that much is certain, now."

"You've got that right, old man," Chisaki shook his head, keeping his voice cold, "and 'Kai Chisaki' is a name that I've left behind. My name is -"

"Please," Teko scoffed at once, frowning, "we aren't playing silly heroes and villains. We are yakuza - we are more than that. I won't be playing this game, Kai."

Chisaki's yellow eyes narrowed a fraction, enough to send the clear message to Teko - a simple warning not to get cocky. The other members of the yakuza watched the two of them carefully, while Rappa ignored all of them and continued to punch the bag in the corner, as the young yakuza head and the dojo master glared at each other, as though challenging each other.

Finally, Chisaki let out a short sigh, and leaned back slightly.

"The boss," He suddenly changed the topic, causing Teko to raise an eyebrow, "thought you'd want to know, he's sick. I'm running the Shie Hassaikai until he gets better."

"What?" Teko straightened up as well, his eyes going a bit wider as he felt his heart skip a beat. "Jōshi is sick? For how long? Why was I not told of this?"

"He's been in bed for the last … hm … two years?" The yakuza head shrugged nonchalantly, while Teko's eyes widened more. "Lost track. Anyway, he's been in and out of consciousness for a while, I've had doctors come in to look at him. I didn't want to stress him out by inviting you back to the house, so …"

Teko stayed silent for a while, his eyes turning down to the floor as he absorbed the information. Chisaki, for whatever reason, allowed the old dojo master a moment to quietly stew in his thoughts, as he tapped a finger against his leg and waited for Teko to get over himself.

For about a minute, the dojo was filled with nothing but the sound of Rappa punching the bag in the corner over and over, until finally, Teko let out a small sigh and shook his head, his expression hardening.

"You came to give me more information about this Villain Consortium." He said in a short voice. "Let's get on with it, then. Once I have it, you will all have to leave at once - I do not know when the rest of my family will return home."

Chisaki raised his eyebrow while Rappa snorted dismissively behind him, but still, the yakuza at least knew that Teko's patience was beginning to wane. The yakuza boss then moved to hand Teko the folder, the dojo master accepting it with a scowl and then flipping it open.

The first page he opened showed him a picture of a young woman with long, wild red hair, huddled in a large coat as she walked down a snowy street. The picture had been taken from what seemed to be a rooftop, pointed down at her as she stared down at the ground. Teko then glanced over at what he recognized at once as a rap sheet, moving to take it out of the folder and read through it as Chisaki leaned over to tap on the picture.

"Her name," He said, "her real name, at least, is Kiruka Hasaki. Don't have much information about her recent activities, that picture was taken about a year ago. All we know is that she used to commit some petty crimes when she was in high school - pickpocketing, threatening locals, that kind of stuff. But the curious part," He reached up to tap on the beak of his mask, "is that her father was arrested when she was about seven years old, for cannibalism of all things."

"Is that so?" Teko narrowed his eyes.

"Her mother was deemed unfit to take care of her, so special services kept moving the little brat from foster home to foster home whenever her crimes caught up to her. Eventually, little miss Hasaki there disappeared right off the face of the earth at some point - that rap sheet you're holding is the only proof she ever existed before she vanished. I assume she disappeared into the underworld, but none of the gangs we interrogated had anything about her when we asked."

"I see …"

"Now," Chisaki turned the page over so that he could tap on the mug shot of the next Consortium member, showing Teko the angry looking young man with gray hair glaring at the camera, "this next one is actually someone I've met - or, well, to be more accurate, we're acquaintances. You'd be the one more acquainted with his group - do you remember the Abegawa Tenchu Kai?"

"Ah," Teko nodded slowly, frowning.

"Mm-hm. After you finished off their leading brass, other lower punks moved in to take over the family. This one, Hoyo Makihara," He snorted a bit while the other yakuza chuckled, "is the last of the original yakuza - was being raised to take over from his father. But of course, your little … talk … with them ended up putting a stop to that. Didn't like that he was out of the job when the other members of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai tried to take over, and ended up finishing the group off before he vanished. Don't know when he joined this Villain Consortium either, but from some of the information we gathered, it was before Hasaki did."

Teko then flipped to the third page, and stopped. Feeling his eyes narrow, he picked up the picture of the young girl posing in front of a monument, raising his eyebrow at how youthful and playful she was, grinning at the screen with a few other girls who looked to be her friends.

"That one," Chisaki shrugged his shoulders, "is apparently the newest one, only joined about a few weeks ago. Some high schooler. Don't have a name for her yet, but from what my sources tell me, she's on the run for traumatizing some of her classmates - apparently sent them to some psych ward, not able to tell reality from imagination anymore. Don't know much about her, but apparently my sources are wary of her - she's a wild one."

"She'd have to be around Itsuka's age," Teko remarked quietly to himself, frowning as he put the photo back into the folder, "these monsters don't have any qualms about dragging someone so young into this."

"There's another two members - some recruiter, and their leader - but my sources weren't able to get any information about them," Chisaki shook his head, putting his hands down on his knees, "not that it quite matters. Word is that they're sending people out to continue recruiting. Heard some small-time villain gangs are teaming up with them, but … well, I haven't heard any news of major villain organizations reaching out. That's not to say that we haven't been talking about the pros and cons of what an alliance might do."

"Considering accepting an invitation from a villain organization?" Teko looked back up at him with a frown. "Especially a group who targets children? The Shie Hassaikai would never think to do such a thing, Kai. We are above such petty titles like 'villains'."

"The times are changing, old man. You see," Chisaki grunted as he stood up, dusting off his pants with his gloved-covered hands, "I have plans. Big plans. Those sources that got me this information spread around rumors that this Villain Consortium is trying to build up an army. An army for what, well, I have no idea. But the important thing is that they're organizing something big, and we," His eyes turned amused, "have received an invitation."

"You have?" Teko straightened up, a grave look on his face.

"A few weeks ago, once we were done snooping around, one of my Eight Bullets, Hojo, got an invite," Chisaki tapped his hand against his leg, "just to talk. Nothing big, or official, but a talk in order to discuss a potential alliance. I had Hojo tell them that we would consider it."

"Very well." The dojo master closed his eyes. "In that case, you should accept the invitation, and I will accompany you to this meeting. There, we can -"

"Kill them? Make an example out of them?" Chisaki guessed, scoffing under his mask. "You aren't exactly in the prime of your youth anymore, old man. And from what I've been hearing, you're trying to pick a fight against someone with serious firepower. Rumors are going around that they came closer than anyone to killing All Might, so they aren't exactly people we can ignore. So what I'm thinking, old man, is that a meeting between us is necessary - if only to make sure they know who the Shie Hassaikai are."

"Kai," Teko's eyes snapped open, and he stood as well, glaring at the young man before him, "you are forgetting yourself."

"Oh, I didn't forget anything," He chuckled dismissively, "I remember that it was you who chose to leave - we didn't force you out. You poisoned Tenohira's mind against us, and made sure that she left us to settle down with … with that …"

His eyes narrowed, and his tone turned to disgust.

"… with the outsider." He spat. "I'll admit, we could've become grand under your leadership, old man, but that's in the past now. Where I'm planning to leave it. The ugly truth is, the Shie Hassaikai can't survive as what you and the boss tried to make it. We need an edge if we're going to thrive. And unfortunately for us," His fists clenched, "someone came and took away our secret weapon. So I have no choice but to put out all the stops to get it back, no matter who gets hurt."

"An edge?" Teko scoffed as he folded his arms together, glaring at his former pupil. "Don't be foolish, Kai. The Shie Hassaikai are supposed to protect those who the heroes neglect. That is what Jōshi and I tried to do when we joined the clan, years before you or Tenohira were born, and both of us losing that vision is the real reason why I left. Do not twist our legacy to -"

"I don't think," Chisaki suddenly interrupted, his voice growing cold, "you understand what I'm saying, old man."

He then turned to look over at Rappa still punching the bag.

"Rappa," He said in a sharp voice, "come here."

"Eh?" The fighter grunted, looking over at them from under his hood with an obviously disgruntled look. Moving over towards them, he stopped just short of Teko and Chisaki, glancing between them both with a frown as he put his hands down on his waist.

"The fuck do you want, Overhole?" He grunted, sounding bored. "You two done with your dick measuring contest yet so we can -"

It was too quick for either Rappa or Teko to stop. Chisaki suddenly whipped his hand out, having uncovered it from the glove before either of them noticed, and his hand slammed straight onto Rappa's chest. And just like a balloon, Rappa's upper body swelled, his voice cutting out with a gurgle, and then he exploded.

Teko flinched back at once as a splatter of blood hit the front of his hakama, his eyes widening and his jaw dropping open as he realized what had just happened, seeing the lower body of his son tumble to the ground with a bang after a moment of wobbling around, blood splashing against the billboard with this children's drawings. Red liquid and viscera coated the wall and floor of the dojo as the other members of the yakuza watched in stoic silence, and Chisaki let out a low growl as he flicked some of the blood off of his hand, hives breaking out over his exposed arm and face as he itched at his skin.

"Disgusting," He said in a cold voice under his breath, before he moved down to what remained of Rappa's body. As Teko let out a shaking breath as his mind slowly tried to catch up to what had just happened, Chisaki laid his hand down on Rappa's ankle, and activated his quirk again.

And before Teko could blink, the lower body of what remained of his son twitched, and several strands of skin and blood, organs and veins, began erupting and rebuilding from the open hole flooding the floor with blood. It took several long seconds, but finally, Rappa sat up again, looking confused for a moment before a thunderous expression crossed his face, and he wheeled around to where Chisaki was straightening up.

"You bastard!" He barked up at him. "That was fucking cheap! You wanna kill me, you kill me during a fight!"

"Shut up," Chisaki huffed at him, "I used you to make my point. Don't look too much into it."

He then turned back to where Teko was now staring blankly at his son, watching as the fighter stiffly got back to his feet.

"Understand this, old man," Chisaki's voice remained cold as he tapped on the beak of his mask, "you and the boss are not in charge of the Shie Hassaikai anymore. I am. And I'm not the same punk nosed brat you stomped into the floor whenever you nitpicked my stance anymore. I'm running things from here on out, so you don't get any say in how I run my organization. I looked up the Villain Consortium for you because the old man owed you a favor, and as far as I'm concerned, we're square now. But if you think you can order us around, I want you to think again.

"Now, if you want to rejoin our group again, you can be my guest. Bring Tenohira with you too, so I can convince her that she made a mistake leaving our home with you, and that she'd be better off with her real family. But know that until I get back my resource," His eyes narrowed again, "the Villain Consortium is far from the top of our priorities. I'll decide to deal with this … Nine … how I see fit - not to stroke your little vendetta against them trying to kill your granddaughter. The girl that should've been my daughter, not that outsider's."

With that, he put back on his white glove, and began moving away from the frozen dojo master, the rest of the yakuza following him towards the door while Rappa grumbled and stomped after them.

"For now, old man," Chisaki called to Teko as the old man continued to stare blankly down at the blood coating the floor and wall, "you'll wait until I call you. I'm not done with your family, not now that you're poking your nose back in our business. Like it or not, you're now under the employ of the Shie Hassaikai - and the only reason I'm going to allow this dojo to remain standing is because I still see a use for it. Remember this well, old man - don't try to order me around again."

He then opened the door, glaring at Teko over his shoulder.

"And," He said in a low voice, "remember to never call me 'Kai Chisaki' again. My name is Overhaul."

With that, he stepped out into the night with the rest of the lower members of his group, leaving Teko there to stare down at the now drying blood of his own son coating the floor.

---

"Ah!" Re-Destro stood from his seat at the end of the table, smiling brightly and gesturing with both of his hands as the doors to the dining room were opened by the aides near the wall, allowing Trumpet and Nine to stroll in. "Our fellow liberator has returned, along with our guest of honor! We can finally begin."

As the politician - apparently named Trumpet by these people, Nine thought with a frown - returned to his seat, the other members of the table brought their thumbs and index fingers up towards their faces, an obvious salute shared between them. Nine himself took a chance to look around as he stood near the one empty seat at the end of the table, presumably for him to sit in, as he took in his surroundings.

The room in the observation tower was rather bare, a simple table with black chairs surrounding it in the middle, and on the opposite wall, a large picture of a ponytailed man with black markings around his eyes was hung proudly. The large floor to ceiling windows on the side showed off the mountains surrounding them - or rather, they would, had it not been for the rain continuing to heavily platter against them with occasional flashes of lightning filling the sky. Several young people surrounded them in suits, obviously some waiters that had been dragged up to the tower to serve them, holding either wine glasses or plates of meat or sushi to treat them.

Then, he turned his attention to those sitting around the table looking up at him, and he felt his eyes narrow. The one woman furthest to the left was giving him a noticeable side eye, a fascinated look on her face as she sipped on her wine. Opposite of her, the gonkish man with long black hair covering his eyes let out a small scoff as he returned to looking at his own dinner plate, leaning back in his seat. Trumpet took off his glasses for a moment to wipe at his glasses, in order to flick off some of the rain, and on the opposite side, the man in the parka continued to sloppily use his hands to push food into his mouth. And on the end of the table, the tall, lanky looking man with the high hairline and pointy nose and chin smiled at him, his eyes closed.

On the table itself, what could only be described as a feast was being enjoyed by the group - American style turkey and chicken, various wine bottles, Japanese cuisine, what looked to be Korean beef, the works. It was probably more food than Nine had seen in months, but he could only scowl as he tapped his finger against the back of his seat.

It appeared that they were either trying hard to impress him, or flaunt their wealth in front of him. Either way, he merely frowned.

"Please, my friend," Re-Destro gestured towards the seat opposite of him, moving to sit back down and giving him a pleasant smile, "have a seat! As you can see, we've prepared quite the dinner for you - I have to say, we only had to pressure our cooks just a tad bit to get everything ready for tonight on such short notice, but luckily they had the assistance of our local university. I'll have to give them full recommendations, the students went above and beyond tonight!"

"Hm," Nine merely hummed, not really caring as he sat down in his chair, and a server came over to put sushi on his plate.

"Now then, is there anything you would like to drink? Wine? Scotch? We have a grand assortment of various alcoholic beverages for you to pick through."

"Water," Nine shook his head with a frown, "I still have work to do tonight."

"Ah, a fellow workaholic," Re-Destro lifted his own wine glass up to raise to him, "I completely understand. Well, I can hardly judge you - I have my own assignments to get through right after our dinner is concluded, but please, don't let that ruin the fun for you!"

Nine merely hummed again, accepting the glass of water from the waitress off to the side, and took a careful drink - he had no idea if these people would try and poison him, but he was fairly certain that the doctor's procedures had given him a slight poison immunity. Still, he would rather not test that.

For a few minutes, the room was quiet, filled with nothing but the sound of classic music coming from the speakers off to the side and the sound of utensils hitting the plates as everyone ate. Nine, for his part, didn't touch any of the food presented to him, merely sipping on his water and flickering his gaze around the room. Occasionally, the leaders of the Meta Liberation Army would catch a brief flicker of yellow light in his eyes, but seeing as they were also going ahead and privately psychoanalyzing him, they didn't call him out as they continued to eat.

Finally, after about ten minutes of silence, the sole woman of the group patted her lips with a napkin, and looked around at Nine as the other villain leader of the dinner party glanced at her.

"So," She put her fork and knife down, smiling at a server as she raised her glass for a refill of wine, and then turned back to look at Nine with her dark eyes, "did you have much trouble getting here? Our apologies if we had to make you hurry here from Musutafu, we're aware that we're a long way out."

"Indeed," Re-Destro smiled at his lieutenant opening up the conversation, "I know Curious here actually came straight from Musutafu herself - she got an invite to UA's sports festival, and wanted to ask around about you and those children you attacked a few weeks ago."

"Is that right?" Nine raised his eyebrow, taking another sip of water before answering. "A villain like you, just slipping by UA's security unnoticed because you looked like a reporter? Say it isn't so."

"Oh, yes!" Curious laughed a bit. "I also found it particularly amusing that they were so on guard for potential villains coming in. Well, thankfully no villains did interrupt the day's proceedings, and … well, I'm comfortable with what little information I gathered. It just means I'll have to do a bit of research."

"Very good," Re-Destro nodded at her, and then turned back to Nine, "it seems as though Ms. Curious here had quite the productive day. Now then, mister …?"

"Just Nine," He said shortly.

"Very well," Re-Destro smiled in acknowledgment, "Nine. I couldn't help but notice during our phone call today that you didn't sound very surprised or confused when we reached out to you. I take it that you've heard of the Meta Liberation Army?"

"Yes," Nine said offhandedly, putting his glass down on the hardwood table, "I've known about you for a while now. I learned about your army from one of your little foot soldiers."

That, of course, had the five leaders stop for a moment, blinking, before looking around at him in surprise.

"One of us told you?" The man in the parka growled. "Impossible. Our soldiers are loyal to our cause, they wouldn't betray us."

"Well," Nine smirked a bit as he leaned back in his seat, "this one did. Tried to arrest me due to his 'duty as a hero', but I managed to get him talking pretty quickly. Just so you know, he tried to sell you all out in order to save his skin, but … well, since I didn't have much need of him after he gave me the information I asked for, I thought it would be appropriate to get rid of him."

There was a short pause, as Trumpet and the one gonkish man exchanged a glance. And then Re-Destro raised his eyebrow, but he felt his eyebrow twitch, a small twitch of black pigment appeared on his forehead, causing the top brass to quickly look at him, and Nine to observe him with a tilt of his head.

"And …" Re-Destro's voice suddenly became stiff, "… who exactly was this traitor?"

"No idea what his name was," Nine dismissively said, "some idiot in purple and green."

There was a short pause - and then Curious blinked.

"Purple and green …" She repeated quietly, tilting her head slightly as she thought, and then her eyes brightened up. "Ah! So you're the one who killed Slidin' Go! Ah, that makes sense, Re-Destro, we had been wondering why he hadn't been reporting in - I was concerned that he had stopped communicating with us for the last month or so."

"Slidin' Go?" Nine wondered quietly to himself, wrinkling his brow. "That's the stupidest name I've ever heard."

"Oh," Re-Destro likewise blinked, and to the relief of the other army leaders, the black pigment of his skin receded back, and a relieved smile came to his face, "I see. Yes, yes … well, I suppose that's in the past now."

Despite Re-Destro brushing it off, Trumpet quickly gestured for someone to come forward so he could whisper in his ear.

"Well," The gonkish man snorted to himself as he leaned forward to scoop some soup into his mouth, "I guess we should thank you for suppressing a traitor, but I'm still wondering if you really live up to your reputation."

The other brass of the Meta Liberation Army rolled their eyes at their fellow liberator's lack of tact, with Nine's eyes narrowing slightly over at him.

"Is that so?" He frowned. "And why would you say that?"

"Well," Re-Destro sighed, realizing that they'd have to do this now as he patted his own lips with his napkin, "Curious was sure to debrief us on what she learned from the school today, and from what we heard, you … well, apparently, from what we heard, you and your top brass were defeated by a group of high schoolers. She told us that you apparently had All Might in the palm of your hand, only for some," Re-Destro tilted his head, and both Trumpet and the gonkish man smirked a bit, "little punk that Curious is interested in to put you down before you could."

"Have to say," Trumpet was unable to stop himself, "I wish we had heard of that sooner. It seems that this Izuku Midoriya character made quite the fool out of you."

Nine could only scowl as the gonkish man and the man in the parka chortled.

"He took me by surprise," He said through slightly gritted teeth, "it won't happen the next time we meet."

"Oh, dear," The gonkish man snorted again, "sounds as though someone's reputation got a bit overblown."

Nine tapped his fingers against the table while breathing sharply through his nose, hearing the gonkish man sniggering quietly to himself. The other members of the table, however, saw the way Nine's eyes briefly flashed red, and realized that they might have been pushing him a bit too far.

With a sigh, Re-Destro tapped his spoon against his wine glass to get everyone's attention, and then, once the room was quiet again, he leaned back against his chair as he looked at Nine on the other end of the table.

"With that out of the way," He raised the glass to take another sip of wine, "I suppose we should get to business now. What exactly is it that you want? What is your goal? Your plan? Why should the Meta LIberation Army help the Villain Consortium?"

Nine stared at him for a long moment, tapping his fingernails against the table for a moment before he slowly nodded. After making sure everyone was looking at him, Nine let out a short sigh, and raised his hand into the air, the other members of the Army leaning forward with interest -

- and then Nine snapped his fingers. At once, a loud explosion of lightning outside the window caused everyone to jump, looking around to see several bolts of electrified energy slamming into the mountains around them.

The man in the parka, the gonkish man, and Trumpet whirled around in surprise as lightning flashed brightly, the noise almost enough to make them cover their ears. Curious, for her part, merely raised an eyebrow, and Re-Destro continued to stare at Nine as the other villain lowered his hand, and the sound of lightning finally quieted.

"I control the skies," He explained to them all in a short voice, "complete and utter control. I can create storms. I can form hurricanes. I can cause tornadoes. I can create anything."

"That's …" Trumpet, for his part, looked impressed, "… quite the powerful meta ability you have."

"It is," Nine nodded slowly, continuing to frown, "any yet … here I am. Crawling about on the ground, in the gutters."

None of them said anything to that.

"All of you … I imagine you've had silver spoons in your mouths your entire lives," Nine raised an eyebrow, "being fed all your money and power without doing anything to pursue it. I, on the other hand, already had everything decided for me the moment I was born. Regardless of the power I was blessed with, my circumstances kept me locked down, dragged through the mud. Suppressed. But in my travels, I found I wasn't the only one. I've seen with my own eyes so many people who don't get what they deserve, because of weaker men in positions of power to make the strong feel weak. It's … wrong."

"Wrong?" Curious raised an eyebrow. "How so?"

"Think about it. Take lions and apes, for example," Nine took another sip of water, "between them, which of those creatures would you say is the strongest?"

"The lion," The gonkish man rolled his eyes under his fringe, "obviously."

"Then why is it," Nine put the glass back down on the table, "that the lions aren't in charge? Why is it that the monkeys rule over the lions? Tell me, what is the 'meta ability' of the current prime minister?"

"I believe he's only able to dislocate his joints," Re-Destro offhandedly confirmed.

"Indeed," Nine nodded with a frown, "doesn't that seem wrong? That the strong are being ruled over by the weak? I simply intend to return the world to how it should be. Where the strong rightfully rule over the weak, and the weak look up to the strong as their saviors. And to do that," His eyes closed, "I will need more power. Enough power and status for me to reign over everyone and stand at the pinnacle of strength."

"In that case," Trumpet tilted his head as he looked at him over his glasses, "why come to us?"

"I'll answer that question with one of my own - what is a 'consortium'?"

"An association," Curious answered him, continuing to regard him with interest, "several businesses running together."

"And that's what I want," Nine nodded to her answer, "several organizations running together. There are several villain gangs in Japan, but only one force of heroes. If I am to return this world to the rule of the strong, I will need to make sure the villains can do the same - uniting under one banner. My banner."

Re-Destro let out a small hum at that, slowly folding his napkin on his empty plate. There were a few moments of silence before he slowly rose from the table, and snapped his fingers for the various waitresses and waiters to come and take away their plates. Nine studied him calmly as he fixed him with a pointed look, and the CEO finally let out a small sigh and fixed some of the reddish hair above his massive forehead.

"Well, you've given me much to think about, Nine," He informed him with a smile, "I am aware that our motivations might not align, but our interests do. I'm going to have to think long and hard about whether an alliance between our groups is in our best interests."

There was a short pause. And then Nine felt his eye twitch.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrow, glaring up at him. "You could've just said that you've wasted my time."

"Oh, don't fret, my friend," Re-Destro smirked a bit at him, which only really served to infuriate Nine, "I have much to think about, and other phone calls to make tonight. I will call you back with the number you gave me earlier today when we've decided on a vote, and we'll let you know what we have decided then."

With that, he snapped his fingers again, and the rest of the table stood, moving their fingers to their foreheads again to give their stupid salutes. Nine merely glared at them all as they turned to leave the room, the gonkish man shooting another smirk at him as he departed, and the man in the parka and Trumpet moved out together, while Re-Destro strolled after them and Curious took her time moving away from the table, turning to speak with a waitress while glancing at Nine out of the corner of her eyes.

With a small growl, Nine shoved his own chair back as he spun on his heel to storm out of the room, clenching his fists and wincing as purple veins rose in his hand and the rain outside began thundering down even harder. Well, that was an enormous waste of time.

Scowling, Nine stormed past the various guards standing near the dining room over towards the elevator of the observation deck on the other side of the hall, jabbing his finger against the button. It was as he suspected - these liberators had simply dragged him out for a conversation that probably could have been accomplished over the phone, just to rub their superiority in his face. Re-Destro was nothing but a snobby rich boy who knew nothing of real strength or power. All of them - those CEOS, cutthroat politicians, reporters - they all knew nothing about what it was like to struggle to get what they wanted.

Everything was handed to them on a silver platter, while he had to drag himself through -

"Ah, are you really leaving so soon?"

At the teasing voice behind him, Nine paused, standing there waiting for the elevator. With another scowl, he looked over his shoulder and glared as Curious leaned against the doorframe leading to the dining room, cocking her hip and smirking at him as she played with her lilac hair with one finger, and used her other hand to dismiss the guards standing by in case he tried anything - which meant that they believed she could take care of herself, not that Nine really cared.

"And here I was thinking we had so much more to talk about," She said in an obviously fake sounding voice, pouting at him sarcastically, "you weren't going to stay for dessert?"

"I'm not interested in having any more of my time wasted," He said shortly, turning to press the button for the elevator again. As he stood back, Curious sauntered up behind him and chose to stand beside him, continuing to simply regard him with a coy grin while he glared at the elevator doors and tried to ignore her. As much as he would like to wipe that smug look off her face, he knew that he was in enemy territory, and should be careful not to make an enemy of an entire town he was at the heart of - not when he didn't have any backup, anyway.

Finally, the elevator doors opened, and he tried to step on - only to barely conceal his anger when the woman decided to step into the elevator with him, moving over to the other side while he pressed the button to the bottom floor.

"Is there something I can help you with?" He snapped coldly at her as the doors slid shut, and the elevator began to descend.

"Yes, there is," Curious giggled again, "you see, I just had to wait until we were here before I could ask you a few questions. Re-Destro has eyes and ears everywhere in this tower - everywhere, at least, except for this elevator."

With that, she leaned over Nine so that she could press the emergency stop button on the elevator. The entire boxcar came to an abrupt stop, with Nine keeping his balance by putting his hand on the railing, and soon, they were both standing there in the dark as the light flickered above them, the glass windows showing off the raining and lightning filled skies around the tower.

With a sigh, Curious leaned back against the other side of the elevator, continuing to look at him with a smug smirk.

"So," She tapped her long fingernails against the metal railing, "Nine."

"Yes, that's my name." Nine rolled his eyes as he moved to lean against the other side of the elevator, deciding to humor her for the moment. "What exactly do you want?"

"Ah, is that how you treat all your potential business partners?"

"My 'potential business partner' has already wasted enough of my time tonight. And I know that you're probably going to waste even more of it."

"Ah, but I'm not talking about Re-Destro right now," She corrected him, wagging her finger a bit, "or the Meta Liberation Army. I'm talking about us. You and me."

"You and me?" he repeated, turning back to look at her as she tucked some of her long lilac hair out of her face behind her ear. She gave him an amused look for a long moment as he glared into her dark eyes, and then she let out another sigh.

"An army to serve you is all well and good," She pointed out to him, "but Re-Destro has us lieutenants for a reason. He can't command thousands of people without some of them slipping through the cracks and messing up, like Slidin' Go. Our soldiers are strong, but without guidance, they'll slip up, and make mistakes. That's why we lieutenants are in charge of different divisions of our army. Take me, for example - I have at least under two hundred liberation soldiers under my own command."

"… and?" Nine narrowed his eyes.

"And I'm saying," She leaned forward a bit, her smirk never leaving her face, "that you may think that tonight's been a waste of time, but I disagree. You see, you might want an entire army at your command - but two hundred liberation soldiers are better than none."

She then raised her hands, her fingers moving to make a square with both her index fingers and thumbs, as though to frame Nine in her eyes.

"The leader of the Villain Consortium," She mused, "the leader of the new world. Nine. The villain."

Nine regarded her quietly for a long moment - and then he was unable to stop himself from smirking a bit, feeling an idea begin to form in his mind.

He moved away from the other side of the elevator to approach Curious, who slowly lowered her hands to study him with her dark eyes. Rain continued to pour against the glass windows of the elevator, lightning flashing, but neither of them paid attention to continue studying each other, as though noticing something curious about the other.

"Do I sense amusement?" He asked her.

"Oh, not amusement!" Curious giggled, and then tilted her head. "Well, perhaps some amusement. But not what you think."

"Elaborate, then," Nine put his hands in his pockets.

"I'm … intrigued by you," She decided to use that word, raising a hand to poke her cheek as she gave him an amused look, "about the world that you want to create. Re-Destro likes to play hard to get, but he's probably going to lean in your direction - the Meta Liberation Army doesn't share your views, but we know better than to ignore a potential partner. Although I know that Skeptic and Trumpet will lean him towards trying to use you - they won't want to play second fiddle, even if they know what power looks like when they see it. But if you want my … personal opinion?"

She leaned forward, somewhat getting into Nine's face as he stared down stoically at her teasing look.

"The world you've got in mind," She said in a quiet, yet confident look, her finger raising to gently stroke the buttons of Nine's dress shirt, "sounds far more interesting than the one Re-Destro has."

Nine raised his eyebrows. His eyes flashed a brief yellow, scanning her quirk for a moment, and then he let out a small huff.

"The ability to create explosive properties on anything you touch," He commented out loud, "a strong quirk. Something that can help me."

"Oh, I'm more than just my meta ability." She shook her head playfully. "You want someone with connections? I have them. And, should our … partnership … work out, you'll find that you can cause a lot more damage than just attacking a bunch of high schoolers."

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

"I can make sure your enemies don't receive any kind of support, from other heroes and the public." She offered him with a coy smile. "It's a happy coincidence that Re-Destro mentioned our mutual friend, Izuku Midoriya - I'm actually interested in writing a story about him. What you can decide," She reached up to gently put her hand on his chest, only for Nine to stop her by catching her wrist, although that merely got a wry smirk from her, "is what my article will be about. Do you want me to flatter him? Or …"

Nine studied her for a long moment, knowing what she was offering here - and then a smirk came to his face. He leaned over to press the emergency stop button again, restoring power to the elevator, and they began to ride back down to the lobby.

"You said you can make sure my … enemies … doesn't get support," He recalled, "what do you know?"

"Just what I've been researching on the car ride here," Curious smirked, "but a little more poking, and it can be enough to make his life very uncomfortable. Should you wish for it."

Nine raised his eyebrow, and then let out a chuckle as he raised his other hand to stroke her cheek. Curious, for her part, raised her eyebrow but still leaned into the touch, her dark eyes becoming seductive.

"Thank you," Nine smiled at her, "for making sure that tonight wasn't a complete waste. Now … about your offer. I'm going to need Midoriya broken, not dead."

"That can easily be arranged. He's an emotional little boy."

"Good," He stroked her blue skin, "in that case, my dear … consider this your application to the Villain Consortium. I'm looking forward to your article."

With that, as the elevator doors opened, he moved to stroll out, leaving Curious behind in the elevator. The liberation leader merely smirked as she moved to lean against the railings of the elevator, watching Nine leave with a lustful smirk on her face as she licked her lips, and she raised her cell phone from her coat pocket to call her driver.

After all, she had to get writing.

---

What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I done.

What have I done.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

It was honestly amazing that about an hour ago, she had been completely exhausted. And now, Ochako had never felt more awake in her life - but unfortunately, it was to her determent. Because how the fuck was she supposed to go to sleep now, after she had completely and utterly screwed things up?!

Pacing back and forth beside her bed, Ochako held her face in her hands, trying as hard as she could to resist the urge to smash her forehead against the wall as she let out several loud noises of distress and embarrassment. To her, it felt like her heart was a jackhammer at the moment as she continued to pace around her room, feeling like she was about to hyperventilate as she tried to come to terms with what exactly had happened twenty minutes ago.

Izuku … had kissed her. She … had kissed him back. It was … probably one of the most fucking awesome things that had ever happened to her. And she …

… immediately ruined it by grabbing his butt.

HIs … very attractive butt, now that she was thinking about it. His very … taut … round … ass.

…

… oh god, what was she thinking?!

With a loud whine, Ochako threw herself face down on the top of her bed and buried her face in her pillow, kicking her feet up and down and making sure the pillow was wrapped tightly around her face as she screamed into it. She gets kissed by Izuku, and her immediate response was to start making out with him?! And grab his ass?!

His … his very nice -

No! Stop it!

Rolling around and flopping on her back, Ochako stared up at the ceiling in complete and utter horror at what she had done. She went ahead and kissed Izuku. She had made out with him. And then she groped him. What on earth would he be thinking about her right now?! She could imagine it now - Izuku sitting at his desk with a disturbed reaction, thinking 'Oh, wow, the best friend I've had since we were kids is kind of a freak, isn't she? Grabbing by butt out of nowhere, huh, even if she isn't attractive enough to do that? I mean, I could see Kendou doing that since she's so pretty, but then what would Occhan's excuse be, especially after -'

…

Wait a second.

Ochako slowly stopped her angsting thoughts, feeling herself sit up on the bed and her eyes widen in horror. Slowly, she turned to look over at the empty futon that had been placed on the floor beside her bed, where Itsuka was supposed to be.

Who was … not in there. Who was … probably … still sleeping on Izuku's bed next door.

…

Oh. Oh, fuck!

Quickly rolling back onto her stomach, Ochako slammed her face into the pillow and screamed again, wishing that the ground would just swallow her up at this point. So not only would Izuku probably be freaking out right now, there was a high chance that Itsuka was - no, a definite chance - she was going to find out about what they had done! And now she wouldn't just be in the doghouse with Izuku, but probably with Itsuka, too!

She - what had she done?! She's kissed both her best friends today! What the hell was Itsuka going to think about Ochako getting kissed by -

- kissed by -

- wait.

A sudden thought came to Ochako, causing her to blink and raise her face from the pillow, still red but now contemplative. Wait a second, she - she didn't - she wasn't the one who initiated the kiss, she remembered as her eyes widened. Izuku - he kissed her.

She was - she was safe, wasn't she? Izuku probably wouldn't scapegoat her to Itsuka, not at all! He would probably blame himself for -

- for -

- oh. Oh, now she felt bad.

Frowning, Ochako slowly sat up in the bed again, curling her arms over her knees as she stared off sadly into space. Here she was, freaking out about what just happened and what she had done, when she had to know that Izuku was probably freaking out even harder than she was right now. Knowing that he had to be worrying about why she had clung to him so tightly, grabbed his butt, probably making him feel all confused with why she -

- she - gah!

Flopping back down on the bed, she raised her hands to cover her eyes, feeling absolutely overwhelmed. The burn on her arm was still itching, which only really fed into her irritation at the moment as she rolled onto her side and frowned. She still felt awful, like her body was in conflict - the part of her that was desperately trying to scream that she was too fat and ugly to have had Izuku initiate the kiss, and the other part of her that …

… really … really … wanted to kiss him again.

There were too many conflicting feelings dwelling in her right now. Horror at how she had ruined that moment; fluster that she had felt in her chest from what happened; terror at what imaginary walls could potentially be built between her and him right now; and the utter mortification she'd probably feel when - not if, when - she had to see him again tomorrow. Would they just … pretend it didn't happen, like Ochako and Itsuka were subtly trying to do with their own kiss?

No, she frowned, no, he wouldn't. Izuku would at least try to talk to her about it. She knew him, she knew that he'd want to talk to her and she'd probably try to float herself into the sun if he so much as looked at her differently. But - but she knew that he'd want to at least try to clear the air between them.

And - and if they try to do that, would he -

- would he try to - to kiss her again?

She hated the way her heart did a backflip at the very thought. She hated that she could still feel his lips on hers, something that she already knew was burned into her memory. She hated the way her stomach was twisting, her heart skipping happily at the thought of her best friend's stupid, cute face. There … there was no way she could try to deny it at this point, Ochako frowned. Itsuka had been right. Himiko had been right. Both those pains in her ass had been right.

There was no way … there was no way that Ochako wasn't in love with Izuku. She'd probably been in love with him for a long time now, if she was being honest. She had feelings for her best friend, and … and since he had been the one to kiss her … to look down at her with those eyes, those soft, adoring eyes …

… but …

… but she knew that there were … several complicated issues with this. She had feelings for Izuku … but she knew that she wasn't the only one who had them.

Itsuka's feelings for Izuku - those were obvious to Ochako, she frowned as she leaned against her pillow. And it wasn't like she didn't understand why - hell, the reasons Itsuka had fallen for Izuku were probably the same reasons she fell for him. But tomorrow … tomorrow, they were supposed to go and have a talk about their complicated feelings for each other, whenever that was supposed to happen.

And … and …

"Look, Ochako, I get what you're trying to do. You're trying to - to pair your friends together because you think sharing one look is enough for Izuku to fall head over heels for me. But it doesn't. It doesn't matter how I might feel, because I know that what you two have is way more special than what could come out of - of me asking him out and ruining everything."

If Itsuka found out about the kiss … would she … try and bow out of whatever was going on between the three of them? She felt her heart hurt at that thought. She didn't want Itsuka to just give up on them both so that she and Izuku could be happy together. Not when …

Okay, Ochako sighed to herself, feeling tears begin to build in her eyes. She wasn't an idiot. She knew that the two kisses that she had shared with Itsuka weren't exactly something that she could shuffle off to the side, like she had done with Himiko when her senpai had kissed her. There was something going on between them, despite the doubt in Ochako's heart that anyone would be interested in her. She and Itsuka weren't …

… it was clear that neither of them were interested in the other in a platonic sense. She knew that she had feelings for Itsuka, and … and despite feeling like scoffing at the very idea, there was probably a part of Itsuka that was attracted to her.

And now, with her and Izuku kissing, she …

… she …

… really wished she had someone to talk to about this, Ochako sighed unhappily. Itsuka might know what to do. Or hell, she even wished she had Himiko here, because even if her senpai would tease her about it, she would at least agree to act as a sound board for this rather than just keep it in her head.

Especially when … when she was doubting everything about this.

Ochako sighed, and looked down at her stomach. Frowning, she slowly rolled up her school uniform, staring down at her stomach for a moment, and reached down to gently pinch at the belly fat that was still there, no matter how much she exercised. That no matter how much she trained or tried to improve her body, none of the miserable thoughts she had about how weird she looked … none of them left her alone.

Her expression falling into a miserable look, Ochako slowly moved to her feet, taking off her shirt and putting it in the hamper as she reached over for her bed shirt.

Which … was Izuku's, she realized while going red. Staring down at the kanji for 'bed sheet' on the t-shirt, Ochako let out a small sigh as she moved it over her head, and then undid her skirt to grab her pink shorts. Glancing over at the mirror as she pulled her shorts up, she felt herself blush again - wearing Izuku's slightly larger shirt, she never really put much thought into how many of his clothes she had stolen over the years for herself, but now that she had the feeling of Izuku's lips on her mind, she suddenly felt self-conscious.

I … really should return some of his stuff, She thought to herself, so I don't look like a - a - a girl who steals all her boyf-

Freezing in place, Ochako stared at her reflection in horrified realization - and then had to stop herself from seriously moving to the wall to smash her forehead against it. Before she could give in to her urge to knock the kiss out of her head the hard way, however …

… she suddenly heard it.

The sound of something beeping.

Blinking a bit, Ochako quickly looked around, her eyes trailing as she suddenly realized that there was an insistent beeping that had … probably been going on ever since she had hurried back into her room from outside. It was - she quickly realized that it wasn't some kind of alarm, thankfully, and it wasn't coming from somewhere in the house. It was … it was coming somewhere from in her room, sounding oddly muffled.

Looking around a bit, Ochako tried to figure out where the sound was coming from, letting her mind drift from the kiss, and slowly walked over until she finally came upon where her backpack was leaning against her desk. Kneeling down and furrowing her brow, she zipped the bag open and glanced inside, moving some of her textbooks and Izuku's books, until she finally saw a flashing blue light.

After a moment of fumbling around inside, she felt herself grab something small, at least the size of a button, and feeling metallic - and then pulled it out, allowing the small metal disc with the blue flashing light to lay in her palm, beeping insistently. Ochako stared at it incomprehensibly for a moment, confused as to what exactly it was - and then she suddenly realized what it was.

It was - this was Melissa's device. And if it was beeping, that meant that it was - she was calling? But … but why? What was going on that she needed to contact Izuku so late at night? Was there something wrong?

Feeling her brow furrow in worry, she quickly moved back to her bed, sitting down and then pressing the blue button. As she settled back, she saw a brief blue flicker appear in the air, feeling briefly worried about what might be happening - and then suddenly, Melissa's image appeared in thin air, her back to her as she slammed something in the background, and then suddenly whipped around a look of absolute fury on her face.

"FINALLY!" Melissa screamed, her ponytail flying around and smacking her in the face while Ochako jumped in surprise at the loud shout directed right at her, "ALRIGHT, YOU LITTLE BASTARD, IT'S TIME FOR … you to … answer …?"

Very thankfully, the moment she saw that it was Ochako instead of Izuku sitting there, leaning back with wide, alarmed eyes, Melissa's rant abruptly came to a stop. The American inventor stared blankly at her for a moment as Ochako awkwardly cleared her throat, and then went a bit red as she offered a weak wave, putting the small disc down beside her on the bed.

"Uh … hi, Melissa," She greeted her awkwardly, "sorry, uh - I saw the device beeping and thought that there was something - er - wrong. Deku's, uh - he's not here."

"Oh," Melissa said in a small voice, and even with her image appearing completely blue to Ochako, she could see that her friend had gone red in embarrassment, "I … I see. Huh. S-sorry about that, Ochako."

"N-no problem," Ochako leaned back, feeling privately relieved that her parents weren't in the apartment at the moment to have heard that screech, and awkwardly cleared her throat as Melissa continued studying her bare feet. She was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, looking far comfier than in her usual school vest and pants, and her long blonde hair was fixed in a messy ponytail on the back of her head, giving Ochako the impression that she looked oddly stressed at the moment.

"So, uh … why did you have the hologram projector?" She asked her curiously, causing Ochako to blink and go a bit red this time.

"Oh, uh - well, Deku's bag had a rip, so I took a few of his notebooks. G-guess that the device just kinda slipped into my bag, I didn't even notice."

"Oh, I - I see," Melissa was unable to stop herself from stammering a bit, still looking embarrassed as she put something down on the side and glanced over at Ochako with a nervous grin, "again, I'm really sorry, Ochako. I was just … well, I sent the call to Izuku earlier, after he …"

She briefly paused - and the embarrassed face Melissa was making melted away, being replaced by a smoldering rage that Ochako automatically straightened her back in attention, gulping nervously at how the previously kind look on her face shifted into one of pure, unadulterated fury.

"… broke the Full Gauntlet," She explained in a suddenly short voice, "tore it … right off his arm and onto the ground into pieces. And I had to watch them sweep my invention into the … you know … trash can."

"A-ah," Ochako felt herself begin to sweat nervously as though she was about to be once again on the receiving end of a rant that wasn't really her fault. Still though, she remembered how damaged the Full Gauntlet had been during their match with Katsuki and Fumikage, and how … how it …

… oh. Right. It - it didn't get damaged, she remembered when Setsuna had shown her some of the footage of their match. It had gotten destroyed.

"… oooooooh," Ochako cringed a bit.

"Yeah," Melissa pouted, "oh."

"Oh, man," Ochako felt herself pale, and then, in a hopeful voice, asked, "I - Deku can fix it though, right? I mean, he managed to fix it after the USJ, he can just do the same thing, right?"

"Nope," Melissa shook her head with a pout, tossing what looked like some kind of shirt off to the side as she sat down on a stool she pulled out of nowhere, "as much as I wanna say, 'oh, no big deal, we can fix it!', we really can't this time."

"R-really?"

"Yep," Melissa scowled a bit more, "the Gauntlet's previous damage had been pretty … aggravating, but it had only received enough damage that we could've made immediate repairs. This time, though? The Gauntlet's in pieces. And as much as I'd love to come up with a way to just super glue it all back together - I'm afraid it's beyond repair at this point."

"Oh," Ochako stared at her in slight horror, "shit."

"Yep," Melissa nodded, "shit."

"Oh, man …" Ochako glanced off to the side, feeling her insides begin to crawl in anxiety - not for herself, of course, but for Izuku. The Full Gauntlet was the only way Izuku could use his quirk safely, and now that it was gone … with Izuku's cellular degeneration now a threat …

Before she could speak again, however, Melissa let out another sigh.

"So," She shrugged, "that's why I'm going to come to Japan."

Ochako slowly nodded at that, still wrapped up in her worry to properly acknowledge that - and then what Melissa had just said clicked. Blinking a bit, and feeling her back straighten, Ochako quickly looked back around at Melissa with her jaw dropping, and the American inventor was unable to resist flashing her a small, trollish grin.

"Oh, what," She smirked, giggling, "didn't I mention that bit?"

"I … wait, you're coming here?" Ochako almost hopped out of her seat in surprise. "Isn't that - but - but don't you have school? C-can you really afford to - to take some time off?"

"You're right, I would have school," Melissa shrugged a bit, still smiling, "but I had a talk with my dad after the sports festival finished up, and he agreed with me that if I'm going to get the best education in support item creation - and getting the experience working with heroes who specialize in using support items - I should probably go to a school that has hands on work practice with support items. And that place," She giggled, "is UA."

"Wait, really? I would've thought that … you know, I-Island would be -"

"Normally, yeah, it would be," Melissa interrupted her, her smile fading, "but … well, there's also a lot of red tape that comes with working on I-Island. If your work ends up going into production, it's the board of directors' property, not yours. Hell, the only reason Izuku got the Full Gauntlet in time for your entrance exam is because we explained it to the board of directors that the Gauntlet was being designed to help a specific person with their quirk, not as a weapon that could be used by just about anyone. And seeing as I have to probably work on building a new one," Her eyebrow twitched, "we really don't need anyone breathing down our necks, so my dad is going to talk to Uncle Might, and … well, I'm actually leaving tonight and going to UA the moment I touch down in Japan to do some quick exams. Honestly, I might be in class by Monday."

"I …" Ochako felt her eyes widen again, a smile coming to her face, "… wow, Melissa! That - that sounds amazing!"

"Yeah," She snorted a bit, "it does sound amazing on paper. But I'm not really looking forward to all the tests I'll have to do - I usually suck at tests, so I'm going to be studying the whole plane ride over to Japan."

"Wait, really?" Ochako blinked in surprise. "I'd have thought that - y'know - since you were a genius, you'd ace tests left and right."

"Oh, no way, I used to get horrible grades," Melissa laughed and shook her head, "the only reason I didn't end up flunking out of the Academy at one point is because I spent literally every night forcing myself to study after I nearly bombed my exams. Usually it was because Uncle Might promised to come visit if I did well, and …"

At the way Melissa trailed off there, however, Ochako found herself blinking, having reached over to tap on her phone's screen to see the time. Glancing back at Melissa, she faltered at the way her face dropped, looking briefly conflicted for a moment, but before she could ask, Melissa suddenly looked back at her.

"Actually," She said in a suddenly quiet voice, "there was - uh - there was something I actually wanted to ask you, Ochako."

"H-huh? You wanted to ask me?" Ochako felt surprised - she knew she and Melissa were on friendly terms, but there was something that she specifically wanted from her?

Melissa, meanwhile, looked a bit embarrassed, fixing a few strands of her long blonde hair behind her ear as she glanced awkwardly to the side. And then her expression darkened, Ochako blinking a bit as Melissa glanced back to her, looking troubled but resolute.

And then she asked, in a small voice, "Is Uncle Might sick?"

For a long moment, Ochako sat there, slowly blinking at her question and her mind not really catching up to what Melissa was asking. However, as Melissa began to look uncomfortable and worried, Ochako found her mind suddenly snap to what Melissa was asking, and she felt herself go a bit stiff.

"Uh … All Might … sick?" She repeated, feeling her brow furrow and a bit of sweat begin to form on her back. "W-what do you -?"

"My papa," Melissa explained in a quiet voice, hunching over slightly on her seat, "today, he … uh … he mentioned something to me that I've … I've kept thinking about. He said that - that Uncle Might's sick. His quirk is - it's starting to disappear, for some reason."

… oh.

Oh, shit.

At what Melissa just said, Ochako felt her stomach drop. All Might's quirk disappearing … that was what Melissa meant? She felt herself pale in horror, relieved that Melissa probably wasn't able to tell with Ochako's own projection on her end being blue as well, as the brown-haired girl suddenly remembered what All Might had said on the beach a few weeks ago, on the day the sports festival had been announced.

"We both quickly agreed that I have … overdone it far too many times lately. Not to mention that Nomu villain I faced was far tougher than I had expected when coming to rescue you all. We did a few tests, and we have decided that I now only have about … well … about up fifty minutes to an hour and a half left to use my power each day. That's if I push it."

Melissa's dad was suspecting All Might was sick … and Melissa was worried as well … and Ochako knew the real reason why All Might's quirk was disappearing.

She felt herself gulp nervously as Melissa's face changed a bit, looking as though she were suddenly feeling suspicious of the silence and clear deer-in-the-headlights look on her face, and Ochako felt herself gulp. She knew why All Might was 'sick' … but she couldn't just tell Melissa that he gave his quirk to Itsuka! She had to come up with something quick to throw Melissa off the trail, even if she felt bad about lying.

But … but that was the problem! She was a terrible liar! Nothing Ochako could say right now would probably convince Melissa that everything was fine, and would probably just cement to her that something was wrong! Which meant that - that if she was going to get Melissa to calm down and think of something else, she would have to change the subject.

But what would do? What would be enough to get Melissa's mind off of All Might?

"Ochako," Melissa tilted her head a bit, sounding frighteningly calm, "do you … do you know -"

"I kissed Deku."

And with those three words, silence fell in the room.

Ochako stared blankly at Melissa for a long moment, feeling her jaw drop as she realized what had just fallen out of her mouth, and her face began to heat up again, this time not stopping at her cheeks and covering her entire face with red. Melissa, for her part, felt the troubled and slightly suspicious expression shatter in that moment, staring blankly back at Ochako for a long moment as her own jaw slowly dropped.

And then Ochako grabbed a pillow from the side, slamming it into her face, and flopped back down onto the bed with a loud groan, kicking her feet up and down. She had wanted to change the subject, but not that abruptly! And not with that subject!

"… you what?" Melissa asked in a blank voice.

"I - mmmmmmmph!" Ochako squirmed around some more, hiding herself fully in the pillow while rolling around on the bed, and the hologram of Melissa quickly came forward, Ochako glancing up to see her friend looking down at her absolutely slack-jawed.

"You - you kissed Izuku?" She asked in a shocked voice, raising a hand to her mouth. "You two - wait, are - are you guys going out? When did that happen? Did I miss something?!"

"N-no!" She squeaked at once, feeling her face burn hotter while simultaneously feeling bad for how she put that. "I - I mean, we aren't going out, he - well, I - he kissed me, but I -"

"He kissed you?!" Melissa gasped loudly, now fully covering her mouth with both hands. "Did - did I hear that right?! He kissed you?!"

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, and then groaned and flopped back over on the bed, continuing to hide her face in her pillow, "… yes."

"… we're … talking about the same Izuku, right?" Melissa looked concerned. "The - the dork I made the Full Gauntlet for?"

"Y-yeah. Him."

"Who stutters over every other word?"

"Yes."

"The guy who blushes every time I bend over and tries to pretend he wasn't looking when I glance up? That Izuku?"

"Yeah - wait, he does what?!" Ochako quickly whipped her head up, staring at Melissa in both shock and mild jealousy. Izuku was checking out who's butt?!

"I - well, okay, let's be real," Melissa was unable to stop herself from snorting a bit at the look on Ochako's face, "I am well aware that I have a great ass. And he is also a teenage boy, so I'd be more surprised if he didn't steal a look once or twice."

"Hmmmmm …" Ochako took this moment to pout into her pillow, looking off to the side with a scowl and knowing that she and Izuku would have to talk about this at some point. When they wouldn't burst into embarrassed flames when they saw each other, at least.

Before she could reply, however, Melissa moved to sit back down on her stool, and Ochako glanced over, gulping nervously at the expectant look on her face.

"Sooooo …" She tapped her fingers against her knees, "… how was it? Was it hot?"

"Eek!" Ochako squeaked, panic immediately taking over, and she quickly tried to dive under her covers to avoid the question.

"Oh, no, don't you dare try to hang up on me!" Melissa shot down that idea the exact moment it came to Ochako, looking far more excited about the conversation than perhaps necessary. "I wanna hear everything! Come on, what happened?"

Ochako let out a small noise at that, glancing away from Melissa for a long moment - honestly, the temptation to just bury herself in her bed and die rather than think about her problems was very tempting. But … well … Melissa seemed to have forgotten about All Might's 'illness' when she had brought it up, and she … seemed interested …

… and … she had wanted to talk about it with someone earlier … so …

"I …" Ochako swallowed a bit, poking her head out from under her covers to see Melissa smiling hopefully down at her, "… okay."

Quickly, though, she hopped out of the bed to point at Melissa, suddenly panicked.

"But you can't tell anyone!" She immediately made it clear. "Nobody can know!"

"Got it!" Melissa nodded in understanding. "Everything stays between us. Cross my heart."

Ochako nodded slightly at that, letting out a small sigh. And then, at long last, after weeks and weeks of drama and heartache and having to hold it all in, she completely broke, and started to explain everything.

And by that, she meant … everything. Excluding the parts including All Might and One for All, of course.

She told her about how she had met Itsuka on the beach, the friendship the three of them had formed, how comfortable Ochako had gotten over the last year to the point that the orange-haired girl was one of her closest friends. She told Melissa about the body issues she had been dealing with since middle school, something that had made Melissa go wide-eyed with sympathy. She had told her about the complicated feelings she had been having about Izuku hanging out with Nejire, and how the USJ had shaken things up for both her friendships with Izuku and Itsuka, what with Izuku nearly dying and Itsuka kissing her.

She talked about her brief flirtation with Himiko that hadn't gone anywhere, the sports festival that had only complicated her relationships with her friends even more, the kiss she and Itsuka had shared just today. She told her about the closeness they were starting to have after their talk, the intensity of how much she had wanted to protect Izuku from Katsuki in the ring, and Itsuka's promise to take them both out tomorrow to talk. She had only just gotten to her kiss with Izuku and was continuing to melt down over how intense it got as Melissa continued to sit there, looking almost overwhelmed by the amount of information that Ochako was dropping on her without any warning, if not for the borderline gleeful expression on her face.

"… and then I just - I got so caught up with the fact that my best friend was kissing me," Ochako continued to break down on her bed as she held her face with both hands, sitting there cross-legged, "I just jumped right in it and kept going! Like, I - I know I had a chance to back off, but then he - he kissed me again, and my brain just freakin' went, 'ooh, Deku's kissin' me, better keep goin'!', and I kept - I kept feeling him up! He pushed me up against the freaking street lamp -"

Melissa continued to hold her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"- and we just kept making out, and I - I just grabbed his butt!"

Melissa let out a small shriek that she thankfully managed to muffle with her hands.

"Oh, my god!" She giggled nervously, while Ochako held her face in both hands. "You just - you just grabbed his butt?!"

"I did!" Ochako lowered her hands from her face so that she could stare at them in horror. "I just - I didn't even think about it, I just thought, 'wow, this feels great!' and then went and grabbed his ass! And - and he moaned!"

Her holographic friend continued to hold her hands over her mouth, as nervous, slightly hysterical giggles slipped out. Ochako, for her part, was unable to stop herself from giggling along with her, grabbing her hair in her hands.

"He moaned!" She repeated herself, as though doubting it had actually happened. "My best friend moaned into my freaking mouth! And it was -" She let out a shaking groan, unable to stop herself from saying this, "- it was so freaking hot. Like - holy fuck!"

"Oh, my god!" Melissa gushed, scooting her stool a bit closer and managing to get control of her giggling. "I - wow, did you have an exciting day, apparently!"

"I - I guess!"

"I - w-wait, so you - you've kissed both Itsuka and Izuku? And - and you're having a talk tomorrow?" Melissa tried to clarify. "Are - are you gonna tell her about this kiss? Itsuka?"

Ochako felt her smile falter there, and she glanced down at her knees for a moment. After careful contemplation, she felt her shoulders shrink and let out a small sigh.

"I … I don't know," She bit her lip, "I mean, I - I know that I should, but … I don't know."

"I mean, it's up to you," Melissa told her, "but I don't think this is something you should hold back, Ochako. I mean, it - it happened, you guys kissed. I - I bet that Itsuka would understand, if - if you say that she's in the same boat as you are."

"I mean, she is, but …" Ochako glanced away, "… but I feel like … I've done something wrong, and - and I don't wanna hurt Itsuka any more than I already have. I mean, I - I like her as much as I like Deku, but - but wouldn't that just - you know -"

"Upset her?" Melissa guessed, raising her eyebrow. "Well, I don't know - would it upset Izuku to know that you and Itsuka have already kissed?"

Ochako paused at that, feeling herself blink. She … really hadn't thought of it like that.

"I mean," Melissa shrugged, smiling a bit at the confused look on Ochako's face, "I don't know why you would panic, Ochako. Honestly, I'd just consider yourself lucky that you got to kiss two hotties today - honestly, what is your luck, girl?"

"O-oh, I - I don't know," Ochako shrugged, glancing away with yet another blush, "I don't think that …"

"I mean, you definitely grabbed Izuku's butt, but did you grab Itsuka's? Fair's fair, I guess -"

"No!" Ochako squeaked out at once, going even redder. "N-no, we just - we - uh - tongue kissed. That's it."

Melissa raised her eyebrows at that, as though mentally questioning the real difference between grabbing one person's butt and pushing their tongue into another person's mouth. Ochako, for her part, merely glanced away with a nervous whistle, while Melissa's smile ended up growing a bit more teasing as she leaned forward.

"I mean," She cleared her throat, smiling bashfully, "I don't think either of us would be lying if we said that Kendou has a great ass. I wouldn't blame you for wanting a handful."

Ochako sputtered a bit, her cheeks going red but a nervous giggle escaping her lips. "Melissa!"

"Oh, come on! You know it's true!"

"I do know it's true! But I won't say it out loud!"

"You just did."

Melissa tried not to smile too smugly as Ochako let out another squeak, now going so red it looked like she was about to pass out. After a moment of Melissa smiling smugly at her, Ochako let out another sigh as she moved her feet onto her bed, wrapping her arms around her legs, and Melissa's smile faltered at the way she stared off sadly at nothing.

"I just …" She pouted, "… I know I like Itsuka … and I like Deku … but I just … there's just a part of me that doubts that they'd really like me. Not if they both like each other, and they can just - they don't have to include me to be happy."

"What? Why not? Ochako, I know that Izuku and Itsuka would be lucky to have you like them."

"Because I'm … I'm just me," She gestured down to herself, frowning again, "I'm not pretty at all, not like - not like Itsuka is. I'm - I'm all frumpy, and - you know."

"Ah," Melissa suddenly straightened up in her seat, looking like she suddenly understood, "so that's why you're so unsure about this. Because of your - your body."

"Yeah," Ochako sighed, closing her eyes, "I'm just … I know I'm not all that -"

"And I'm pretty sure that both Itsuka and this Toga girl told you that you're beautiful," Melissa interrupted her, "and you didn't believe them?"

"I …" Ochako faltered a bit at that - or rather, she faltered at the knowing way that Melissa had said that - and glanced over at her in confusion, "… well … y-yeah, I - I didn't."

"Mm-hm," Melissa nodded again, and moved to pick up her stool to scoot a bit closer once again. Settling it down and taking a seat, Melissa smiled at Ochako's slightly flustered look - had she actually been in the room, they would've been so close their knees would've been touching, but Ochako was still giving her a confused look as Melissa gave her another knowing, yet sympathetic look.

It was then, though, that Ochako had a thought, one that made her sit up a bit. It was the way that Melissa was nodding slowly, not looking entirely pleased with what they were talking about, that gave Ochako a weird suspicion that made her blink in realization.

"Melissa," She said in a shocked voice, feeling her eyes widen, "do … you … also …?"

"Have body issues?" Melissa guessed for her, smiling a bit ruefully as she tucked some hair behind her ear, "well, I … I wanna say I 'used to', but honestly … that stuff never really goes away."

"I …"

"Yeah, it's … it's true. Sometimes I look in a mirror and go 'man, I wish I was skinnier'. Or someone at school calls me a fat ass, and - well, it's hard to ignore that kind of stuff." Melissa's eyes turned sad. "I just kinda … got used to it, I guess. Dad took me to therapy when I was younger and was struggling with it the most, and my therapist helped me figure out some self-help tips."

"But …" Ochako shook her head, still unable to believe it. She looked down at Melissa's body - she tended not to try and deliberately stare at someone, but it wasn't as though Melissa was out of shape. With curvy hips and thicker thighs, she still looked great!

"Wondering how I could think that when I'm so pretty?" Melissa guessed, giggling when Ochako went red again, "Well, I could say the same of you, but you'd probably not believe me, would you?"

Ochako froze up a bit, realizing her own contradiction.

"But Ochako, believe me," Melissa gave her an understanding smile, "I get it, I really do. Sure, people telling you that you look pretty might feel good in the moment, but … but your stupid thoughts never let you convince yourself they're right. I always found ways to nitpick through compliments about my appearance, and I always focused on the people who called me ugly. I was always convinced that I was some … you know … fat loser."

Ochako pouted a bit at that comment - she realized the hypocrisy of trying to convince Melissa she was pretty when she had those exact same thoughts about herself, but the way Melissa looked so … accepting about it made her feel weirdly defensive of her.

"But …" Ochako shook her head, scooting a bit closer, "… Melissa, you - you really are pretty."

"Thank you," Melissa gave her a sad smile, "but you of all people would know that it's - it's really hard to think of myself that way. It sucks, but - y'know, it's something I've had to live with."

"I - but - but who wouldn't think you're pretty?"

"Honestly? A bunch of girls at the Academy," Melissa's smile fell, replaced by a small, angry pout, "when you're the daughter of All Might's former sidekick, you - you know - you get as much negative attention as you get positive attention. A lot of the girls in the Academy's hero course like to put me down, make me feel like just an ugly loser." Melissa's scowl deepened. "You'd think when someone's training to be a hero, they'd try to be nice, but … well, you'd think wrong. Especially since I'm also … well … anyway, yeah."

"That's …" Ochako shook her head with a frown.

"Well," Melissa shrugged, still smiling, "they're not gonna be a problem come Monday anyway, right? I'm gonna be at UA then anyway. I, uh - I don't think a lot of people are gonna miss me here. And I'll just need to come back during I-Expo to present my device, and … well … that'll be it."

Ochako stared at Melissa - while her voice remained light, she could feel that there was a heaviness there, a way that her smile wasn't exactly meeting her eyes. Honestly, from the sound of things, Melissa didn't seem like she particularly … enjoyed her time at the Academy. From the sound of it, it almost seemed like her and Izuku's time at Aldera - where everyone treated them like dirt, like they were stupid for thinking they could be anything more than they already were.

But … but at least they had each other. From the sound of things, Melissa didn't have anyone in her corner.

And that … that made Ochako feel weirdly protective of her, feeling like she was about five seconds from going to I-Island and putting those girls in their place.

"Well, anyway," Melissa sighed, adjusting herself in her seat, "after I started going to therapy, my therapist advised me that - y'know - whenever I had those negative thoughts about myself, I'd try and convince myself it was wrong. Like, uh - my comment about my ass earlier? That it's great?"

"Uh -" Ochako blinked a bit, jerked out of her angry thoughts, and then nodded, "- yeah, I - I remember."

"Well," Melissa shrugged as she stood up from the stool, "part of me might doubt it, but when I compliment my body, I try to make sure I believe what I'm saying. Any bad thoughts I have about my body? I say 'fuck you!' and think about how fucking hot I am. I grew out my hair this long," She tapped her large ponytail, yanking on the hair tie to let it fall down to her mid-back, "because I thought, hey, long hair's pretty, so I bet I'll look pretty with long hair. You know, general stuff that compliments my appearance, and something that boosts my confidence."

"Huh …" Ochako felt her brow furrow again, "… so … so did you feel better about yourself after you grew your hair out?"

"Well, yeah! But I also understand that growing your hair out might not be your thing," Melissa shook her head, "so my advice? Do what makes you feel pretty. Grow out your hair, wear flattering clothes, stuff like that. And, well, also talking to someone about how you feel about yourself … you might not believe it, but it definitely helps. I talked to my papa about how I felt about myself, and he and my aunt always tell me how nice I look when they see me. It gets kinda annoying and embarrassing, but … you know, it helps, even if I don't admit it. And if I'm being honest, this is probably something you should share with Izuku or your parents," Her eyes turned soft, "so they understand how you feel about yourself. I know that you probably don't wanna burden them with this, but … it helps, Ochako, it really does."

There was a long pause as Melissa took this chance to breathe, letting Ochako sit there for a moment quietly. Her thoughts were moving a mile a minute, and she felt her eyes sting with tears as she clenched her fists tightly together. Melissa, for her part, sat back down on her stool and waited for Ochako to calm herself down.

After about a minute, Ochako let out a weak laugh, and moved to wipe her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Gosh," She shook her head and giggled wetly, "I … really wish I could give you a hug right now."

"Me too," Melissa smiled sadly, "but … you know, it is what it is. I'm stuck in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and you're over in Japan. So, uh … no hugs yet."

There was a small pause.

"I wanted to be there today, you know," She admitted in a small, embarrassed voice, "to cheer you guys on in person. It gets … well, it gets kinda lonely over here, what with all of you guys over there."

"Jeez," Ochako wiped at her eyes again, moving her hand down to give Melissa a teary smile, "this got so depressing."

"I know!"

"W-well," She giggled a bit, shaking her head and smiling at her friend, "I guess that just means I'm gonna squeeze the life out of you once you're here. That's - well, that should be by Monday, right?"

"Yeah, Monday," Melissa nodded, smiling, "so try to keep it secret until then, okay? I wanna be able to jump out of a closet and scare the hell out of Izuku, and then go strangle the asshole who broke my Gauntlet without either of them suspecting I'm lurking out of a corner."

"Alright," Ochako smiled at her through her tears, and clenched her hands together while beaming at her, "yeah. We're gonna hug so hard. Like - for hours if we need to."

"Oh, good lord," Melissa laughed, "well, I'll - I'll try not to complain about getting squeezed too much."

Both girls smiled, and then Melissa looked over to glance at something off screen.

"Hey, I should probably get going soon," She shrugged, looking a bit sad about that, "but let me know what happens with you three, okay? I … know we kinda got derailed, but I wanna know what happens."

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, and then nodded and smiled, "… I will. I just … I think I need to sleep on it. Maybe I'll - I'll feel calmer about it tomorrow."

"Awesome."

"And, uh …" Ochako felt her smile fade slightly as she remembered what they had been talking about before that, "… Melissa?"

The inventor let out a small hum, glancing over at Ochako inquisitively.

"About … you know … All Might," She said, wincing when she saw Melissa's smile fade slightly, "I think, uh … I think that it's not really my - my place to say anything, but … but if … if you're worried about All Might's health, you should - you should ask him yourself. I know that he doesn't want to worry you, so - so he'll talk to you. I know he will."

Melissa stared at her in surprise for a long moment - and then she sighed, and slowly nodded.

"Yeah," She tried to smile at her, "yeah, you're - you're right, Ochako. If I"m worried about Uncle Might, I probably shouldn't drag you into it."

"Oh, no, I - I don't mind hearing you out when you're worried," Ochako quickly assured her, "it's just … I'm not entirely sure what's going on, but it might not be my place to tell."

"No, you're right about that. I'm … I'm going to see him Monday after school anyway, so … so when I see him, I'll ask."

"Okay," Ochako smiled, but before Melissa could stand again, she reached out. While her hands didn't touch Melissa's, seeing as she wasn't actually there, she still held them just above where they'd be to give the sensation that she was holding her hands. Melissa, for her part, blinked a bit as she glanced down at Ochako's hands, and then back up into Ochako's eyes, her smile faltering.

"And … and I'm serious," Ochako smiled warmly at her, "thank you, Melissa. For - for everything. I was having, like, three panic attacks until you calmed me down. And … and you talking to me about your … issues … it helped. I'm … I'm going to really try seeing myself more positively. I - I really wish you were here right now, but - but we'll settle for Monday, okay? I'm looking forward to finally meeting you in person, so I can - I can hug you."

For a long moment, both girls were quiet as they stared at each other. Ochako felt her smile falter, of course, as Melissa didn't respond at all for a moment, instead staring blankly at her for a moment. And then an … unknown expression crossed the American inventor's face.

She looked surprised, of course, and … a bit … flustered, was that the right word? She couldn't really tell exactly, but there was a weird darkening on Melissa's cheeks at the moment, staring at Ochako with her mouth slightly open.

"Er … Melissa?" Ochako asked in a confused voice, which made her friend jump a bit and yanked her out of her silent staring. "Are you okay?"

"Huh? O-oh, yeah, I'm - I'm fine!" Melissa quickly nodded, glancing away from Ochako and abruptly standing, making Ochako blink in surprise. "I just, uh … I just remembered that I have to finish packing before - uh - yeah! I'm - I'm gonna have a pretty busy weekend ahead of me, especially if Aunt Cathy is coming to pick me up soon, so, uh … I'd … better get ready for that!"

"O-oh," Ochako blinked a bit, sitting back as Melissa hurried around her stool, "I - yeah, I - I've probably been distracting you, haven't I?"

"N-no, I'm - I'm glad we talked!" Melissa reached over for her holograph device on the other end, but still looked up at Ochako. Her panicked expression, after a moment, faded into something softer. "I'm … I'm really glad we talked, Ochako. I'm - I'm really looking forward to our hugs on Monday."

"Me too," Ochako smiled at her, "have - I'll see you soon, Melissa."

"Yep. I'll see you soon, too."

With that, Melissa turned to turn off the device. Ochako let out a soft sigh as she briefly closed her eyes, opening them again as Melissa picked something up in the background to look at it - and then, for some reason, her gaze flickered down.

She stopped for a long moment, feeling her smile falter, as she stared down at Melissa's lower half. The inventor, of course, was wearing a pair of shorts, not the Capri pants that she assumed were part of the Academy's uniform, but Ochako stared, for a long moment, at her butt as Melissa leaned forward - and then, before she could realize what she was doing, Melissa pressed the button for the hologram, and her blue flickering form vanished.

There was a brief pause - and then Ochako realized what she had done, feeling her cheeks go red as she quickly shook her head and stood up from the bed.

Okay, She thought in her fluster, rubbing both her cheeks, I'll have to interrogate Deku about checking out Melissa's ass, but … but I won't judge him too much.

After a moment, Ochako sighed and moved out of her bedroom, wanting to take this chance to brush her teeth - it was late, and she knew it was almost time to settle down and go to bed. Flipping the bathroom's light on, Ochako sighed as she walked over towards the mirror, staring at her reflection for a long moment.

And then, she slowly turned her head, staring up at her hair as she experimentally reached up to brush her fingers through it, wincing slightly as she came across a knot.

Melissa grew out her hair to feel pretty, huh? Ochako had never really had the thought of growing her hair out, but … well …

… she could think about it tomorrow, Ochako smiled to herself as she brushed some more of her hair aside, moving one of her longer bangs out of the way. She had … honestly, she'd had a lot of thinking to do tomorrow. About Izuku, about Itsuka, about - about everything. Even if her stomach clenched tightly in anxiety at the thought of their talk tomorrow, she knew that … she knew that she could do it.

She'd talk to them both tomorrow about - about their kisses, she blushed. No matter what happened, and whatever they all decided to do, she would enjoy just having …

…

… pink.

Ochako felt her wandering thoughts suddenly screech to a halt, staring up at the parts of her hair that was hidden by her longer bangs, and faltered. After a moment, she pushed a bit more of her hair back, and she stared in shock, blinking slightly, at what had been hidden by her bangs for - for who knows how long, she thought.

Because there - amongst the sea of brown hair on her head - were several strands of pink hair.

---

They were late. They were never late.

Leaning against the railing of the balcony, she let out a soft sigh as she raised her wine glass to her lips, taking another long sip as she stared up at the black skies and enjoyed the wind blowing through her short hair. She hadn't realized it until she had gotten out, but she had fucking missed alcohol. It used to be what comforted her whenever she got back from the Hero Commission's … 'assignments' … and she didn't have some hooker on dial up to come and make her forget the day. Even if the sex had been awful, or dissatisfying, it would at least help take her mind off what she had done for an hour at least, and it was something to do.

But alcohol … god, she missed this.

The first awful thing that had happened to her in Tartarus was having absolutely no choice but to go cold turkey. She remembered the first weeks thrashing on her bed and screaming bloody murder on the uncomfortable mattress that had been referred to as 'her bed', which had probably pleased the sadistic little shits that called themselves 'guards' in that place when they heard her sobbing and begging for something to take the pain away. After that, thankfully, her imprisonment at that godforsaken hellhole had been silent for years, even when they got rough cutting her hair down or keeping the cuffs on her ankles and wrists and neck during her showers, or the times they took their anger of the prisoners out on her, they never got another scream out of her.

Now, though … well, she heard all that shit about 'gilded cages' being no better than prison cells, but fuck, at least here she could take a shower without someone having to watch her. And she could drink her nightmares away.

Letting out a small sigh, she finished her drink and moved back inside the hotel room, her bare feet cold on the hardwood floor. The room was nice, at least - big enough for a large bed near the floor to ceiling windows that stretched across a balcony, a nice looking bathroom with a shower and bathtub, and a flat screen TV on the wall. It wasn't super fancy, but she was never one for fanciness - honestly, she preferred things like home, where practicality was favored over comfort.

She had thought about maybe putting on something fancy, like a dress, but … but this wasn't supposed to be a nice visit. This was a 'I'm back, I'm not dead, now leave me alone' visit. So she was comfortable in her tank top and track pants, her now neck-long hair uncombed and messy.

She … honestly, she knew that this was a mistake, but … after the sports festival today, and seeing … no. This was a mistake. An impulse. Just something that she had to get over with now that there wasn't any way to turn back, and then get on with her job.

But … after what happened, and the fact she wasn't allowed to go down in the nurse's area to check on her, she - this would have to do.

With a small sigh, she moved over to the bed and sat down, sinking into its cushiony-feeling mattress and sighing. On the TV, it showed that one loud-mouthed boy, the one who had injured her, and she glared up at him as though he could feel the heat of her glare through the screen. During the time that she had been … watching her unmoving out on the ground, she had never been more tempted to pull out her quirk and put a bullet in between that boy's eyes. But her new boss had forbidden it - apparently, the new president knew a good new pet project when she saw one, and she was already reaching out to the rat principal to have him reinstated.

Yep, she scowled - the HPSC wanted that brat rewarded rather than punished, just so that they'd have a new toy to play with.

… god, she sighed as she scooped up the wine bottle off the table beside the bed and debated the pros and cons of just drinking from it, not feeling drunk but definitely about to be if this kept up, this fucking sucked. This fucking -

Before she could just pop the bottle open and drink right from it, however, there was a sudden rap on the door. She found herself sitting up, the alcoholic buzz she had been feeling washing away and being replaced by anxiety, and she quickly stood up. Taking a shaking, deep breath, she slowly walked over to the door, looking through the peephole -

- and she scowled when she saw that one stupid agent - Agent Iguchi, she remembered, standing there with a frown. After a moment, she took a step back, and opened the door, keeping the chain locked so that he couldn't properly come in.

"What?"

"We have two people here to visit," He said in a short, cold voice, smoothing back some of his purple hair, "claim to have been asked here by you. We've done a search and interrogated them, but I want confirmation from you that you did invite them."

"Hm," She scoffed, "two people? Man and a woman? Guy's got muscles that can pop my head off if he chokes me, and a woman with an ass that can suffocate me if she sits on me?"

She tried not to smirk when she heard two voices choking briefly, out of view, of course. Iguchi, for his part, merely scowled as he shook his head.

"You only have ten minutes," He said coldly, and took a step away.

She took that as her invitation, of course, and closed the door so that she could properly unlock it. Opening it wide, she took one step out into the hall and took both of their wrists, seeing as they were both standing there looking slightly uncomfortable under the HPSC agent's glare, and dragged them into the hotel room, sending a wry smirk at Iguchi one more time before she used her hip to hit the door closed behind them.

Once they were inside the room, of course, her smirk faded, and she let go of both their wrists so that she could lock the door again, and then moved past them into the hotel room.

"So," She sighed as she leaned over to scoop up the bottle of wine, "I was wondering what was taking you two so long. Forgot that HPSC would wanna make sure you two aren't carrying in - I don't know, bombs or guns or something like that."

"Er … y-yeah," Taiyo scratched his scruff nervously, while Miwa merely stared at her with a neutral expression and held the binder underneath her arm, "sorry 'bout that - we wanted ta come early, but - er - we got held up a bit."

"It's fine," She waved her hand as she reached for the wine glass, "drink?"

"No," Miwa shook her voice, sounding a bit colder than her husband, "no, thank you."

"Mm."

There was a short pause.

"We, uh … we though' about bringin' flowers," Taiyo admitted, blushing again, "bu' - well, you were never a - a flower girl."

"Nope," She shook her head as she refilled her own glass, "I wasn't. How kind of you to remember that."

"O-of course we'd remember. I'd - we'd - well - we wouldn't forget."

"Hm," Miwa hummed, continuing to frown at her.

There was a long pause for several moments as she lifted the wine glass to her mouth, taking a deep drink for a moment as the two civilians stood there. And then Miwa let out another sigh, moving to cock her hip as she frowned at her.

"… so when are you going to actually look at us, Kaina?"

She paused for a long moment, and then let out a short sigh, and put down the wine glass before looking at her over her shoulder.

"Don't know," Nagant narrowed her eyes, "how long are you gonna -"

"Okay, let's - let's slow it down," Taiyo quickly interrupted before things could spin out of control, moving to put his hand down on both women's shoulders. They both shot each other a glare for a moment that would've sent any other person screaming for the hills had it not been him, before Nagant sighed and looked away, picking up the wine glass to pour some more, and Taiyo felt himself frown down at it.

"So, er …" He cleared his throat awkwardly, watching as Miwa stood near the wall as though fearful his wife was going to do something stupid, "… how, uh … how have ya been?"

"Good," Nagant said in a short voice, reaching over for the television remote to turn the news down, "I've … been good."

They all paused again, and then Miwa sighed.

"Where did you go?" She asked, her voice still cold but an edge of concern there that made Nagant tense. "You disappeared after you announced your retirement. We … thought you would try coming home, but you never did."

"I've been up north," Nagant lied naturally as she topped off her glass, putting down the remote in her other hand, "HPSC was adamant that I didn't have my own phone. Sorry about that."

"And … the fact you texted us to let us know you were back?"

"They gave me a phone," Nagant didn't quite care for thinking up a logical answer, "said they needed me to do a mission with another few heroes. So I'm out of retirement for the moment, thought that I'd let you two know that I'd be in Musutafu for a few weeks, and then - don't know, probably'll head back up north when the Commission's done with me."

Miwa didn't look like she liked that answer, clenching her fists, but Nagant chose to ignore that for now, moving over to the doors to the balcony. She stood there for a moment as they both stared at her back, and she sighed.

"I … shouldn't have asked you two to come," She muttered, staring out into the city and biting her lip, "this was … I just … saw you two at the sports festival, and … and thought I'd at least let you two know that I'm gonna be around."

"I - I see," Taiyo nodded a bit stiffly, glancing off to the side - and then he sighed as well, "well, we … we're glad ya did, Kaina. We - we missed you."

Nagant glanced back at the both of them as Taiyo scratched his face awkwardly again, and Miwa remained as neutral faced as ever, although the way she looked down at the floor said as much. And then she nodded.

"I … missed you too. Both of you."

Taiyo slowly nodded as well, opening his mouth again, but before he could speak, Nagant looked back out the window.

"So you're in Musutafu now?" She asked, changing the subject. "Saw that you two used the money I left."

"We are," Miwa nodded, frowning as she took the folder out from under her arm and held it with both hands, "we thought that we could get more work if we moved here, so we used the money to buy an apartment. We … also thought we could get Ochako to a better school, for when she applied for UA."

"Hm." Nagant was lucky she was staring out the window, because the scowl that came to her face was something fierce. Before she could think up a response to that, however, Miwa came up behind her, as reflected in the window.

"But … now that we're on that topic," She held the folder up, "we actually wanted to talk to you for another reason. We were talking to Recovery Girl this afternoon, after Ochako … well …"

"Yeah," She nodded, her face falling and her free fist clenching slightly, "is … she okay?"

"Y-yeah, she'll - she'll be fine," Taiyo stepped in, walking over and putting his hand on Miwa's shoulder again, "she's tough, jus' like … uh … a-anyway. The, uh - the doc gave us this -" He gestured to the folder in Miwa's hands, "- and - well, since you asked for us tah come, we - thoug' - we thoug' you'd like tah see this."

Feeling her brow crinkle, Nagant looked around at the folder Miwa was now holding out to her. Putting the wine glass down on the desk again, she accepted the folder from her, flipping it open, and started reading.

Both Urarakas watched as she read through the paper, watching as her face changed a bit as she read through what Recovery Girl had been noting. After about a minute, Nagant let out a long sigh, and closed the folder again, handing it back to Miwa.

"Well, shit," She said simply looking back out the balcony window.

"Yeah," Taiyo nodded, frowning, "shit."

"She's … gonna show side-effects soon?"

"There's nothing guaranteed," Miwa sighed, "but … that's what Recovery Girl was leaning towards."

"Shit," She said again, scowling.

There was another pause - and then Miwa said, "We think we're going to tell her -"

"No."

Miwa inhaled a bit sharply at that while Taiyo cringed, feeling like backing away as Nagant looked back around at Miwa with a pointed glare. Both women were obviously shorter than Taiyo, but he felt the fear of god enter him the moment both women locked gazes, with Miwa's eyes opening to show how cold and angry she was.

"'No'?" She repeated, taking a step towards the other woman. "What do you mean, 'no', Kaina?"

"I told you," Nagant pointedly told her, "that she doesn't get to know. It's better for her that way."

"So, what, she'll start showing changes and we'll just shrug our shoulders and go 'oh, it must be puberty'?"

"I - no, but you don't tell her about our connection. She doesn't - you don't understand, Miwa."

"You're right!" Miwa's voice was beginning to raise. "I don't, Kaina! So please, explain it to me!"

"I - okay, whoa, whoa," Taiyo hastily stepped in as Nagant's nostrils flared, putting his hand on both women's shoulders before an argument could break out, "let's not get -"

"No," Miwa said coldly, suddenly ripping out of her husband's grip and moving towards the door as both Nagant and Taiyo looked after her, "no, you know what? Forget it. She's never bothered to explain anything to us before, so why should we expect her to start now? I should've expected - I - god damn it."

"M-Miwa, hol' on -"

"So just so you know," Miwa looked around at Nagant, positively shaking in anger as she stared coldly at her, "we're going to tell Ochako, no matter what you want. Because our daughter deserves the truth, even if you're not willing to give it to her. We're not asking for your permission, we're telling you it's going to happen."

"Don't you -" Nagant began to snarl, feeling her chest tighten in both anger and anxiety.

"I'm going to wait outside, Taiyo," She ripped the door open, "I think Kaina's right, I want a drink. We'll go and get one after this. Goodnight, Kaina."

With that, she slammed the door hard enough to shake the wall. Taiyo winced a bit, glancing over to see Nagant glaring at the door his wife left through as her fists clenched, and before he could say anything, she turned around to grab the wine glass that she had filled up, and immediately began chugging it down, throwing her head back and taking it all in one go.

"Oh, god, hol' on -" He quickly reached out to stop her, only for Nagant to drop the glass from her mouth with a gasp, slamming it on the desk hard enough to crack the thin glass and whipping around and glaring back out the window - although Taiyo could see how her shoulders were shaking.

"Well?" She said sharply, but her voice shook as well. "Go after her. Go have your drink and - and - fuck!"

He winced again as she slammed her fist against the desk, her shoulders continuing to shake - and then he took a deep breath, his own shoulders straightening back, and his face became resolved. He moved forward, and after a moment of hesitation, moved to gently take her arm. Before Nagant could say anything, he spun her around so that she was facing him, and moved a hand to the back of her head before bringing her in.

Nagant only had one moment to stare blankly into Taiyo's chest as he hugged her, before she let out a shuddering breath and grabbed the back of his coat, burying her face there. They both stood there for a moment, before Taiyo let out a soft sigh, and pressed his chin against the top of her head.

"I, uh … it's okay, Kaina," He said quietly, "Miwa didn' mean anythin' by it, she's jus' … she's jus' frustrated. We - we both are. It's … it's not yer fault -"

"It is," Nagant muttered, her voice muffled, "it is my fault."

"Nah," Taiyo shook his head, gently moving her back so that they could look at each other, "I … I don' know wha' happened, Kaina, bu' … bu' I know Miwa, she'd - she'd forgive yah if yeh jus' - if yeh jus' told us wha' was wrong. You'd …" He hesitated for a moment, and closed his eyes before saying, "… yeh can - yeh can always come back home."

Nagant stared up at him for a moment, her heart hurting - honestly, everything hurt, from the throbbing headache the alcohol was beginning to give her to her heart beating quickly - and then she let out a shuddering breath, throwing caution to the wind, and reached up to grab his face with both hands. As Taiyo stuttered a bit, his cheeks going red, Nagant moved up to her tippy toes.

"K-Kaina -"

"Just shut up and kiss me." She growled, and before he could protest, her mouth was on his, and god, fuck, she missed this. It had been years since she'd felt this, and - and it felt addicting, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and letting out a muffled moan. Taiyo, for his part, only paused for a moment, his eyes wide - and then his own eyes slowly closed, and she felt his hands land on her hips.

Encouraged, Nagant pressed herself closer, deepening the kiss as Taiyo's hand moved up to her hair. She continued to hold the kiss as long as she could, feeling Taiyo rub her hair up and down for a moment as one of her legs moved to curl around his waist -

- and then she heard a sharp knock on the door, making both of them jump and part from each other with gasps.

"Time is up," They both heard Iguchi say coldly through the door, "sir, please come out and I will escort you from the hotel with your wife."

Taiyo paused for a long moment, staring down at Nagant as she panted and stared up at him in desperation, before he let out a soft sigh and nodded. Taking a second to press a kiss to her forehead, Taiyo stepped back, and began walking towards the door as she watched him go.

"I'll … I'll let ya know when we - when we tell Ochako," He said in a small voice, and then opened the door.

Nagant watched him step through it, feeling herself shake a bit, and then, when the door closed and left her alone in the hotel room, she let out a shuddering breath and grabbed the wine bottle again, raising it to her lips and beginning to down it. It didn't take long, of course - feeling her heart hammer in her chest, and just wanting to stop thinking about so many complicated things, she just … drank until there was nothing left.

As soon as the wine bottle was empty, she let out a gasp, feeling herself sway a bit as the effects of the alcohol hit her all at once, and she tossed the empty bottle on the bed before she sat down heavily on the edge of it. Absently wiping her mouth with the back of her hand again, she turned to look at the television on the wall, and blinked several times when she saw a rerun of the awards ceremony, focusing on the winners of the day.

As the camera focused on the two bandaged students on the third place podium, Nagant felt tears fill her eyes, and she flopped onto her side, staring at the television as her vision blurred - whether it was unconsciousness starting to overcome her or tears, she had no idea.

"Are …" She managed to get out in a slurred voice, "… are you havin' … as bad a day … as I'm havin', baby girl …?"

Thankfully for Nagant, consciousness fading from her vision would prevent Nagant from figuring that question out, and she fell asleep.

---

Well … this was a mess.

The airport's lobby was in shambles. Splashes of blood were over on one wall while several shaking citizens were being comforted by the police, having taken them over to the seats near the luggage pickup to try and calm them down, and ask them what they had witnessed. Several of the windows had been smashed through with the hero's projectiles, with crunches underneath his boots as he walked along towards the doors that had been smashed open. Outside, ambulances flashed as several people were looked over by the paramedics, with injuries ranging from glass sticking out of their arms from the shots and general concussions, but no one had died, fortunately.

All in all? It looked like a fire fight had started here, and now it was up to him to pick up all the pieces.

Not that he didn't already know what had happened.

"So let me see if I get this straight," Hawks sighed as he flipped open the police officer's notebook that he had nicked to read through, raising his goggles up to his forehead so he could read it, "you thought you caught sight of a group of vigilantes, decided to try apprehending them by yourself instead of waiting for any backup. You endangered the lives of most of the people here, firing through the windows and trying to mortally wound them instead of taking them in alive. And the resulting firefight ended with … let me see … ah, there it is. Eighteen people were injured, and none of the criminals apprehended."

Tossing the notebook back to the officer who was lowkey fanboying over him, Hawks slid the visor back down over his eyes to give his fellow hero a skeptical look.

"So, uh … were you aware that we're supposed to try capturing villains alive?" He joked but also didn't joke. "I'm amazed that they managed to slip away if you were trying so hard to stab them through the head."

"They were a slippery bunch."

Standing off to the side, the woman who Hawks was lowkey interrogating turned away from him, her green cape hanging over her shoulders. Hawks sighed a bit as she adjusted the half-mask over her lower face, the clunk of her boots filling the room as she moved over to the splash of what looked like mud on the wall, kneeling down and swiping at it with her gloved hand. Hawks tapped his foot against the floor as she took her time responding to him.

"They were attempting to bring in another vigilante from across the seas," She told him in a short voice, "and I chose to apprehend them at any cost rather than let them slink off to the shadows. Had it not been for the police interfering, I would have been able to capture one, and the Commission would've been able to interrogate them."

"Well … I'm sure our dear president will be happy to hear that you're so …" Hawks paused to consider his insult for a moment, wondering if it should be subtle or obvious, "… invested … in capturing random civilians."

"These … vigilantes … cannot be considered mere civilians," Beros turned to give him a small glare, "they're merely villains who pretend that they're righteous. Trying to draw on the public's sympathy to make them appear appealing, to defend them from their criminal actions. I treated them as I would treat any villain standing in a crowd."

"Huh," Hawks chuckled, scratching the back of his head, "and here I thought the HPSC brought you on to fill the hole Nagant left us - y'know, the sharpshooter with the lovable personality! C'mon, kids loved Lady Nagant, you just kinda traumatized them. You gotta be a lot nicer and less trigger happy."

"I'm not here to entertain children," Beros answered him in a low voice, "I'm here to stop villains. You can act like a court jester in front of the parading crowds all you want."

"Huh …" Hawks turned back around to look around, "… well, anyway, did you get any id's? Any faces?"

"None. They were masked and the airport's cameras were being interfered with. But I will recognize the one," She narrowed her eyes, "the one who wouldn't shut up, who wouldn't stop making the clones. I'll be sure to report it to President Shiryoku so she can get a warrant out for them. Has Wolfram and his men reported anything from the south side?"

"Wolfram? Oh, right," Hawks laughed a bit, "the, uh - special guest. Surprised you're playing along with our beloved president's attempts to bring in interns."

"President Shiryoku says that Wolfram is the best at what he does, so I will use him as I see fit. In the meantime," She pointed over towards the wall, where blood was beginning to dry, "have the forensics look over that blood and do a DNA test, and then tell me. If I can get a name, I'll get the rest."

With that, she stood up, her green cape fluttering around her as she spun around, and walked off in order to bark more orders at the police, despite their attempts to tell her she wasn't actually in charge. With a weary sigh, Hawks adjusted his goggles again, moving over to the wall and kneeling down with a small grunt, feeling his knees pop, before he spread out his feathers to start listening around to what the other civilians and police were saying.

Taking a second to slowly move his finger through the mud-like substance as he heard the same thing being repeated over and over again by the victims, Hawks let out a small sigh as he stood up again, and waved to a few of the other police officers, letting them know without words that he was taking off as he quickly jogged out of the airport. After a moment of shaking a few kids' hands and signing one person's backpack, Hawks took off into the air, giving the small cheering crowd another wave as he turned to look up at the dark sky, the moon shining above him and giving everyone a cool thing to look at as he flapped his wings and flew away -

- and then, as he flew away from the airport, hearing the police sirens continuing to wail behind him, he reached into his pocket for his phone, taking it out and starting to text.

YOU

How is everyone?

LEADER

Some injuries, but we all got away fine

Let us know if you find anything out, or if we slipped up

YOU

Heading to you guys now

Frowning, Hawks sighed and put his phone back into his pocket before flapping his wings and heading off. It wouldn't take long to get back to their hideout, but he had to make sure he looked inconspicuous.

Thankfully, because of his speed, it didn't take long for him to reach their hideout. Heading onto a rooftop across the street to change into the white t-shirt, jeans, and leather jacket that he left in the duffel-bag in the small compartment hidden in the rooftop's tiles, Hawks sent his feathers shooting out so that he could walk around with smaller, less easy to notice wings for the moment, just to be safe. Putting on a pair of sunglasses as he headed down the stairs, Hawks eventually moved out of the apartment, and then quickly crossed the street towards the supermarket, raising his sunglasses above his eyes just like his goggles.

It was late, of course, and there weren't any cars in the lot, but he was still conscious enough to keep his head down as he approached the large store, and knocked on the glass doors of the mart. He allowed his feathers to continue floating in the air above the mart, listening for any car or person that might be approaching, but he wasn't worried - this part of the district tended to be abandoned this late at night, everyone knowing not to mess with potential villains stalking around, and he knew how to handle himself if he heard anyone coming.

It took about a minute, but eventually, Hawks saw who he was looking for walk up to the front and coming towards the doors to let him in - a woman with a muscular build, with shoulder length reddish hair, a square jaw, and big lips carrying a broom. She was wearing a t-shirt and jeans under her apron, something casual to wear for her overnight job, and she wore a pair of triangular, white-framed sunglasses to cover her eyes. But it was the slightly dark expression that was on her face that caused Hawks to know that everything wasn't well, watching as she quickly pushed the door open for him to enter, and then moved to the security pad on the side to stop the beeping.

"Evening, big sis," Hawks waved to her as he stepped in, allowing her to close the door behind him with one hand as she finished disabling the alarm with the other - but not before his feathers quickly made their way in through the small gap the door made, reconnecting to his back, "I assume the cameras are off?"

"Of course they are, silly," Magne waved her hand as they walked into the store together, "turned them off and started running Aiba's feedback loop once Leader texted that they were coming. You better get down there, though - tensions are pretty high, seems that it was a close call tonight."

"Yep, I figured. Thanks."

"Now then - are you bein' monitored?"

"Nope, I 'mused some of La Brava's tech to make them do a feedback of last week's events. As far as the HPSC's concerned, I'm at home right now."

"Aw, that's a good boy!" She rustled his hair, making Hawks grin a bit at the big sister vibes the vigilante always gave him. "Now you better get down there - I bet Leader's gonna need your help wrangling them."

"Gotcha," Hawks gave her a thumbs up, "thanks again, Magne."

With that, he quickly made his way through the aisles, allowing Magne to resume sweeping along the shining floor. Quickly making his way straight to the back, Hawks moved through the doors and into the small area where the frozen food was kept, yanking the freezer door open and shivering slightly at the cold rush of air that hit him as he stepped in.

Making sure to swing the door closed behind him, he moved to the light switch, and flipped it up and down quickly three times, before flipping it down once, waiting three seconds, and then back up.

At once, the small door hidden along the wall popped open, and Hawks was quick to step over and push it open so that he could get inside. Already, he knew that Magne was underselling the situation downstairs as he stood at the top - he could already hear the sounds of shouting and yelling, knowing that things had probably gone downhill. With a small sigh, Hawks quickly made his way down the stairs, and into the small bunker.

Automatically, he knew that this was going to suck as soon as he got a good look inside at the group - for one, Kugisaki was shouting at Twice as he had his duster coat hanging off his arms, exposing the bloody arm the arrow was sticking out of as Twice poked experimentally at it, which only got another few roars of anger at him. In the other corner, Gentle was raising his hands while trying to palate Kazuho, who was far too busy chasing a terrified La Brava in a small circle around the bunker, the smaller woman yelping apologies over the shouts. And thirdly, poor Josei was in the corner, looking lost and confused as she glanced over at the large computer in the corner, where their fearless leader was scrolling through what looked to be news websites and ignoring the pandemonium behind him at the moment.

So … okay, one thing at a time, Hawks decided. Start with the loudest thing.

"La Brava!" Kazuho screeched as she chased La Brava around.

"Listen!" She begged her. "It's not my fault!"

"La Brava!"

"Listen, listen!" La Brava quickly dived behind Gentle, who bravely decided to lay down his life by standing in Kazuho's way, looking incredibly nervous as Kazuho finally stopped chasing her around and instead chose to just continue berating her.

"Are you kidding me?!" The older vigilante shouted at her, quickly trying to fix her eyepatch under her glasses as she worked her hair out of her regular Pop Step hairdo. "We told you not to poke around in the Inner Circle's network anymore than we already did! How do we know that wasn't what alerted them to what we were doing?!"

"I - I didn't think there was much harm!" La Brava tried to defend herself. "I ran a few viruses! I set up my firewalls! I was ready for anything they would've thrown at me!"

"And then you think it's weird that they somehow knew that Knuckle and the jerk was getting off the plane?!"

"Hey!" Kugisaki barked at her. "I'm right fucking - ow! Stop fucking poking it!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Twice clapped his hands together in apology as the angry man wheeled around at him. "No, I'm not! You don't deserve her yelling at you! You're a dog!"

"Okay, so if it's not your fault," Kazuho gritted her teeth, ignoring the argument behind her, "then who's fault is it?! Do you realize how close the FeatherHATS came to getting arrested tonight?! Daiki and Hiroto barely managed to get themselves out of being cuffed by the Commission's goons! So if it's not your fault, then who's is it?!"

She then looked up at Gentle, who gulped as she stuck a finger in his face.

"It's yours, isn't it?!" She accused angrily. "Is this because she wanted to impress you?! God damn it, La Brava, what is it about this brushy mustache that gets your panties in a twist?!"

"I - my dear!" Gentle gasped, appalled and insulted. "I put effort into making this mustache pristine!"

"Yeah, yeah!" La Brava pumped her fists behind Gentle. "You tell her, Gentle! I don't have to defend my taste in men from the person who thinks Skycrawler is attractive!"

"Hey!"

As amusing as the arguments were, Hawks observed as he leaned against the wall, he knew that they were getting nowhere just shouting. Raising his wing, several feathers flew in, brushing underneath everyone's noses, and making them all crinkle them out of reflex. Quickly, the continuing arguments died down, and they all looked around to see Hawks leaning against the wall, waving to them as his feathers returned to his back.

"Yo," He nodded, "how about everybody calms down a little bit? I swear, I could hear you all from the freezer upstairs."

Blinking, Kazuho went a bit red, realizing that she had been shouting pretty loudly, and sighed as she backed away from Gentle and La Brava. Once he was sure that no one was going to continue shouting, Hawks let out a small sigh as he hopped the last four steps and floated down to the floor, looking around at the group of vigilantes as they all looked sheepish - with the exception of Kugisaki, who merely gritted his teeth in pain and annoyance.

"Look," Hawks put his hands in his pockets, "tonight was a close call, but none of you got captured, so we don't have much to worry about them tracking us down. They got who I assume is Kugisaki's blood, but since he was already known for vigilantism, and he's off the streets, we don't have that much to worry about. The hero at the scene saw Twice's quirk in action, but as long as we keep the other clones on the downlow and don't do anything to stick out, we don't have much to worry about. Now, where's Knuckles? And Tochi and Tokage?"

"Knuckles went to scout," Twice reported, quickly saluting the pro hero, "wanted to make sure we weren't followed! It's smart, of course! What an idiot, right?"

"Right," Hawks nodded, "and what about the other two?"

"Tochi took the car, wanted throw them off our trail,," Kugisaki shook his head, scowling, "Tokage, I don't know. He hasn't answered any of my texts. I don't -"

"He's dead."

At once, everyone stopped what they were doing, blinking. Quickly, they looked around at where the leader was leaning over the chair, and up on the screen, Hawks could see what looked to be some news report, playing a video of several police officers answering questions outside of what looked to be a downtown building. Kugisaki quickly rose up from his seat, his eyes wide, and stomped over.

"The fuck?" He grunted, and the leader sighed and moved back. "The fuck do you mean? Rapt's not - he's not -"

"Says here that he committed suicide," The leader reported grimly, "jumped off the roof of Yaoyorozu Corporations, they said that they found a suicide note on his desk and everything. Police are considering it a one and done deal, said that they saw the tapes and how he went up to the roof."

"He's … not …" Kugisaki shook his head, clearly in denial, as the leader gently took him by the other arm and guided him into La Brava's seat, clearly needing him to sit down. After a moment, the leader sighed, and looked around to the other members of the resistance, adjusting the strap containing his bo staff around his shoulder, and looked around at all of them, putting his hands on his hips as his brown leather coat crinkled.

"I know that we're all frustrated," He put his hands in his pockets, "but we can't fight amongst ourselves. La Brava," He glanced over at where the shorter woman was looking ashamed, "you shouldn't have poked back in the Inner Circle's network, even if it doesn't seem to have done anything. And Pop," He looked up at where Kazuho was looking apologetic, "we can't just point fingers. We're all angry, and tired, and that's not gonna help us. I'm gonna head upstairs and get us all something to eat. We'll wait until daybreak before we can get away, and then we'll regroup."

He paused for a moment to let his words sink in, and then raised a hand to brush through his white hair.

"Now," He looked around at Josei, his voice becoming softer and less commanding, "do you need to get back home soon?"

"No," She shook her head, frowning, "school's not - it's - well, I don't have to head in until Monday, anyway. I've got the weekend free, so - so I can stay with Kugisaki."

"Are you sure?" He said softly. "You've done good work, Josei, you don't need to push yourself."

"I'm - no, I'm sure," She shook her head, balling her fists. "I know a bit of first aid, I can - I can help him when we get the arrow out."

"Okay." He smiled at her, and then looked back around at where Hawks was standing. "They have any leads?"

"Other than Kugisaki's blood and a bit of residue from Twice's quirk, nothing," Hawks shook his head and frowned, "but the Humarise agent - name's Beros - she caught sight of Twice. She's not nice like I am, she was throwing out the dehumanizing comments all over the place. She's gonna be trouble if she's working at the HPSC. Not to mention that the mercs Shiryoku brought in are already working - we didn't anticipate that."

"Erk," Twice winced a bit, adjusting his black and gray mask, "sorry about that, guys. YOLO!"

"Well, at least we can keep an eye on her and the mercenaries," The leader shook his head darkly, "if Shiryoku is having Humarise agents helping out her other heroes, that means we'll have to tread carefully from here on out. We just need to lay low for now - tonight was a hiccup, but at least we got Knuckles back. He's got experience dealing with All For One - he'll be vital for when we make our move."

"That's if All For One doesn't make his move first," La Brava shook her head, but the leader merely smiled and reached down to pat her shoulder.

"Don't worry," He assured her, "we'll be careful. And we're planning around that. Now - Hawks, a word real quick, before you head out."

The pro hero straightened up and nodded, moving to follow the taller white-haired man back up the stairs. Behind them, Kazuho moved to apologize to the two tea lovers for her accusations, while Gentle laid his hand on La Brava's head and Josei moved tenderly over to where Kugisaki was now holding his head in one hand, and Twice walked over with a first aid kit.

At the top of the stairs, Hawks leaned against the wall while the leader sighed, and rubbed his eyes.

"Any leads on Yaoyorozu?" He asked, and Hawks sighed as he shook his head.

"Nothing," He frowned, "I've been looking all week long, just so no one suspected me, but … guy's squeaky clean. I've checked his records, his company's flight plans, any businesses he bought up or got a stock in - nothing indicating what he's doing for All For One, other than bringing in some weird parts."

"Shit," The leader frowned, "well … Soga's gonna be hard to try to calm down once he gets through this - if Tokage is dead, then there's no way it was a suicide. Yaoyorozu must have found out we slipped him inside - it wouldn't surprise me if they went through his stuff and found out what we were doing tonight, that's why Beros was there."

"And you're sure we can't find any reason to search his manor? I bet that's where Humarise are doing all their meetings."

"Not without throwing out a lot of suspicion on you, no. Shiryoku doesn't trust you like her mother did - we'll have to be careful, or we'll lose the one mole we have in the top brass of the HPSC." He then paused, and added hastily, "Oh, and we don't want you to die."

"Oh, gee, thanks. So … what now?" Hawks sighed, leaning against the wall. "Do I bite the bullet and tell All Might? And Endeavor and Best Jeanist? They probably won't take me working with vigilantes very well - hell, Endeavor would probably cook me."

"Trust me," The leader removed a hand from one of his pockets to adjust the goggles jostling around his neck, "once we come forward with our evidence - All Might will have to believe us. But the key," He leaned forward, "is Eraserhead. We get him on our side, then we have an ace up our sleeve."

"An underground hero over the Top Four? I don't know …"

"Don't worry," He smiled, "I know Shouta like the back of my hand. Once we show him what we've found, and what's gonna happen, he'll be fighting like hell to protect the kids of UA. The only thing that's gonna happen definitely is that I'm gonna get punched, though."

"Ah, come on, Shirakumo," Hawks laughed and clapped his shoulder, "you gotta admit, you've got a pretty punchable face."

The leader laughed again as he looked back down the stairs, nodding slowly to himself for a moment, before he scratched the bandage across his nose and made to head back down the stairs, giving Hawks a wave as he quickly moved back down into the bunker. Watching him leave, Hawks let out another sigh as he brought his sunglasses back down over his eyes, and then pushed the door to the cooler to head out of the vigilante's hideout, closing the door behind him.

---

He … didn't know how this had happened.

There wasn't any light on in the room, other than the moonlight shining in through the open window, where they could hear the crickets continuing their unending chorus. Neither of them moved, either because they were still in confusion about what had just happened or if they realized what position they had landed in - but after a long moment, he inhaled sharply, finally coming to terms with what had just happened.

… oh. Oh, no.

Izuku couldn't help but stare down in shock as he realized … where he had landed. Or, or accurately … who he had landed on.

Laying below him, with both of his hands effectively pinning her there by pressing against the bed on both sides of her head, Itsuka stared up at him in shock, her eyes wide and her orange hair pooling behind her head. He was … he was half laying on top of her, he realized at once, feeling his eyes widen in horror. His leg was in between hers, so he wasn't entirely on top of her, but he was close enough that they were both far closer than they had been ready for. Close enough that their noses were almost touching, and both could tell that the other was starting to get red in the face.

And … and the weird feelings that he had been experiencing all day with Ochako … were currently going crazy right now, close enough that he could feel her breath on his lips, and he felt his arms begin to shake.

How … how did this happen?!