AN: Thanks for reading and all of the reviews!

Maximum Rhapsody - When we get there, there's gonna be a lot of changes when it comes to AFO's plans. As for Katsuki, I'm sure he'll come looking for Izuku sooner or later.

Mugen-Muse - At some point Nejire and Mirio will workshop something better.

Planar-Walking-Entertainment - I'm sure Bakugo will get fed up and track down Izuku for answers eventually.

"So what're your plans for Golden Week?" Melissa asked as she helped Izuku load the refrigerator into the back of Toshinori's pickup.

Once Ochako joined them, it didn't take long for the three of them to settle into a regular rhythm for their morning exercise, and over the past three weeks they've made a surprising amount of progress on the beach. It turned out that when they worked together as a group, time passed quickly as they encouraged each other. Every day they also learned a bit more about each other, telling the others about themselves as they continued their mission to restore the beach to its proper state.

"I'm gonna watch UA's Sports Festival!" Izuku proudly declared. "I can't wait to see you in action, Melissa!"

"Oh! That's right," Ochako said as she carried a stack of tires over and started dropping them into the truck. "Risa's gonna be competing!"

Melissa felt herself blushing. "It's not a big deal, really! I don't expect to do well anyway."

"Why's that?" Ochako asked curiously.

"It's my support gear," Melissa admitted. "They won't let me wear my full suit, so I'm only going to have my gauntlets."

"Why not?" Izuku asked, looking visibly bothered.

"Because I technically don't need my support gear to use my quirk," Melissa looked as if she bit a lemon. "While I can use my quirk without hurting myself…"

"It's much more limited without your armor," Izuku finished. "That's not fair!"

"It's not, but that's the rule UA always uses," Toshinori said with a resigned sigh. "After all, they want the hero students to show off what they can do unassisted. If Melissa were a full-time support student she would operate under different rules…"

"I'll be ok!" Melissa insisted. "Using Overcharge helps! I'll just… have to figure something out!"

Izuku looked like he wanted to protest, but he knew it was futile. Sighing in resignation, he gave her an encouraging smile. "Even though I'll be watching from home, I'll be cheering you on!"

"Me too!" Ochako said.

"Actually," Melissa began as she felt her cheeks heating up. "I was wondering if you two were ok waiting to watch it?"

"Huh?"

"What do you mean?"

Melissa smiled at the two. "I was just thinking- wouldn't it be fun if all three of us watched the sports festival together?"

"That sounds fun!" Ochako agreed. "What do you think, Midoriya?"

"Um, er-" Izuku felt his face going red as he remembered his mom's open invitation to Melissa. "I think my mom would be ok with that!"

Ochako gave an exasperated sigh and looked at Melissa, who giggled and gave her a resigned look back. "If you think this is bad, you should've seen him when we first met!"

"I- you know I can't help it," Izuku whined as he rubbed the back of his head.

"It's just us though!" Ochako insisted. "You're fine talking to us when we're hauling trash every morning!"

Izuku felt his face turn red as he turned away. He knew that Ochako and Melissa were different from Katsuki and that they wouldn't betray his friendship. Despite that, it was still taking time for him to come to terms with the fact that there were people who genuinely enjoyed spending time with him.

Izuku wiped away the building tears before he turned back toward the pair. "You're right! It sounds fun!"

"And you promise to not watch it ahead of time?" Melissa asked, smiling coyly at Izuku.

"B-but what about you! You'll know the results already!"

"That's different!" Melissa laughed.

"Risa can't help it, but you can!" Ochako added, crossing her arms. "Besides, it'll only be a few hours, right?"

"Mhm!" Melissa nodded. "I already have plans with Amajiki and Togata on Friday, so I don't need to stick around after the awards ceremony."

Ochako's face lit up as she suddenly had an idea. "Actually, if it's ok, could I come over early? We could do our homework together, then we wouldn't have to worry about it for the rest of the week!" She smiled at Melissa. "And then I could watch him to make sure he doesn't watch it early!"

"I-" Izuku swallowed the lump in his throat, trying not to cry. "That sounds great!"

"I'll get it!" Izuku jumped up as he heard the knock on the door. Running to the door, he pulled it open to reveal Melissa, standing there in a casual pink shirt and a pair of capris, holding a duffel bag in one hand.

When she saw Izuku she smiled and waved with her free hand. "Hey, I tried to get here as fast as I could, just like I promised!"

"Come in," Izuku said, stepping aside. "We're not quite done with our homework, sorry."

"Oh?" Melissa tilted her head. "I thought you'd be done by now."

"So did we," Izuku said softly.

"What's the problem?" Melissa asked.

"English!" Ochako yelled loudly in frustration.

Slipping off her shoes, Melissa followed Izuku into the living room to continue the conversation. "You're having problems with English?"

Ochako held up her notes in frustration, and Melissa saw her sentences were riddled with misspellings and grammatical errors. "Nabari's English program fucking sucked!" She complained in exasperation. "And I feel like I'm behind everyone at Chandrila."

Melissa gave her a bemused smile. She had her suspicions ever since Ochako had trouble pronouncing her name, but she didn't realize how bad the girl's English really was. "Ochako, why didn't you ask me for help?"

"Huh?" Ochako looked at her in confusion.

Melissa began speaking in English. "I do speak English fluently, after all! It's my primary language!"

"I um," Ochako bowed her head to hide her spreading blush. "I maybe sorta kinda missed that."

Melissa laughed and knelt beside the other girl, patting her on the shoulder. "I don't mind helping you! In fact, I'm already helping one of my classmates practice his English!"

"Really?" Ochako asked in excitement.

Melissa smiled as she grabbed the notebook out of the other girl's hands. "Let's see where you've got already."

It took almost an hour, but with Melissa's help, Ochako was able to finish her English homework.

"Finally, I thought I'd never get done," Ochako said in relief as she packed her school bag.

"If you want, I can start tutoring you," Melissa offered.

"Really?" Ochako asked excitedly.

"Mhm!" Melissa nodded. "That's what friends are for, right?"

"You're a lifesaver!" Ochako said, throwing her hands in the air. "That sounds amazing!"

Izuku smiled at the two girls as he set the tray containing the teapot on the now-cleared table. "Do you two want anything else?"

"I'm good!" Ochako insisted.

"Same here," Melissa said as moved from the floor to the couch. "I hope your mom's cooked plenty of food though!"

"Ehehe," Izuku laughed nervously. "Mom may have gone a bit overboard. It's been a while since I've had people over for dinner."

"Great!" Melissa smiled at Izuku before she grabbed a throw pillow and got herself comfortable, trying various positions to mitigate her soreness.

"So how'd you do?" Ochako asked as repositioned herself on the opposite end of the couch.

"That's a secret!" Melissa said dramatically. "You'll find out soon."

Instead of sitting on the couch between the two girls, Izuku positioned himself on the floor, hovering over his notebook in anticipation of seeing all of the new quirks in action. Sure, Melissa had told him about several of her classmate's quirks, and she would have gladly told him more if he asked, but there was something about seeing the quirks in action that excited him in ways that simple words couldn't.

"Not going to join us on the couch?" Ochako asked curiously.

"Nope!" Izuku said quickly. "I want to make sure you two have plenty of space!"

The two girls looked at each other in disbelief before they examined the couch, seeing a much-larger-than-Izuku sized gap between them. "I think we'll be fine."

"I-it's ok!" Izuku assured them. "Besides, it'll be easier to take notes down here."

Melissa let out an exasperated sigh. "He's hopeless."

"He really is," Ochako said before she giggled.

Izuku felt his face heating up as he fumbled with the remote, ready to use the Sports Festival as a distraction. It only took him a few moments, but he had managed to pull the recording up before he dared look at the two girls on the couch, hoping his face wasn't bright red anymore. "You two ready?"

"Yep!" Melissa said as she set her phone down on the arm of the couch.

"I'm ready for the distraction," Ochako admitted as she wrapped her arms around a pillow and leaned forward.

Nodding to the pair, Izuku turned his attention to the television and hit the 'Play' button, before trading the remote for a pencil. The three settled in and watched as Present Mic announced the classes and the first years appeared on the field, each class standing separately in their gym uniforms as they waited for the ceremony to proceed.

"Nejire Hado? Who's that? Oh! Risa, she's in your class!" Ochako said as they invited the student with the highest score on the entrance exam to the stage.

"She is," Melissa confirmed. "She's kind of quiet though - every time I see her she always seems distracted or deep in thought," Melissa put her index finger on her cheek as she thought about her classmate. "She's nice though, the few times I've talked to her."

"Nejire must have an amazing quirk if she came in first!" Izuku exclaimed from his position on the floor.

"She does," Melissa confirmed. "Her Wave Motion packs a punch! Kind of short range though. She needs to be pretty close to hit someone with them."

Izuku was already taking notes as Melissa talked. "Do you know if the limitation is part of her quirk, or if she's like you where she just needs more training?"

"She probably just needs more training. After all, Japan isn't like I-Island, so it's not like she's had a lot of chances to practice with it."

"Tell me about it," Ochako grumbled as she crossed her arms. "I'm never going to get over my nausea when I use my quirk."

"Hmm," Melissa looked at the other girl thoughtfully.

"Oh, the first round is about to start!" Izuku said as he turned his attention back to the television.

Sure enough, they see the students gathering in a staging area, only for Cementoss to stand in the middle of the arena. Moments later, the hero raised his arms and a small mountain grew out of the ground, right in the middle of the stadium. Meanwhile, Present Mic excitedly explained that the first forty-two students to reach the summit would advance to the next round.

"They made you rock climb?!" Izuku exclaimed.

"Oh wow, now I wish I was a freshman!" Ochako said. "I could've won this event easily!"

"You'll just have to hope they repeat the event when you get to UA!" Melissa said as she looked at the two.

"I bet all of our training really paid off."

"It did," Melissa smiled at the screen. "Especially since I couldn't use my quirk fully."

Izuku shot a sideways glance at Melissa and understood what she meant. All Might could have easily jumped to the top of the mountain in a single leap. If Melissa's copy of One For All was the same, that meant she should have been able to duplicate that feat. However, without her support equipment, she'd shatter her legs in the process.

He shuddered at the thought.

"Hey, there you are Risa!" Ochako said excitedly as she pointed to the screen.

"Oh, they caught this on camera," Melissa said with a bit of excitement in her own voice. "I'm proud of this." The two middle schoolers gave the television their full attention as Melissa on the screen slipped on a loose rock and slid off, only to catch herself from falling further. "Ok, maybe not that part."

As they watched further, they saw the lights on Melissa's gauntlets glow a bright blue, indicating she was using her quirk. With a determined look, she pulled, using her enhanced strength to launch herself upward, landing on a ledge much closer to the top. The girl quickly stood up and dusted herself off, before resuming her climb.

"That was amazing!"

"You were so cool!"

"I was a little worried," Melissa admitted, before forcing a smile to her face. "But it all worked out in the end!"

The three watched as the race came to its conclusion while Izuku frantically scribbled away in his notebook, while Ochako watched for any more indications of Melissa. While Ochako normally didn't pay too much attention to specific competitors, this time was completely different since she knew one of the students in the race personally.

"Yay, you made it!" Ochako cheered as she saw Melissa land on top, finishing the race in seventh place.

"I did," Melissa laughed. "I thought I was going to be further back."

"No way! You did great!" Ochako said. "If you had your suit you'd have won easily!"

Melissa felt her cheeks heating up as she smiled at the younger girl's enthusiasm. "Thanks." Turning her attention back toward the screen, she watched as her classmates all finished their own ascents. "Next year will be even tougher though! I can't let myself fall behind."

Taking the opportunity to stretch and retrieve snacks, the three returned to the couch as the students on screen were getting ready for the second event - a relay race.

"Something I never understood," Ochako said as she settled back on the couch. "Why teams for the second event? I thought hero teams were really rare?"

"Even though most heroes work on their own, there are often a lot of informal team-ups on the scene of a major villain attack or disaster," Melissa explained. "After all, not everyone is like Unc- All Might. Often heroes have to work together to save the day!"

"Oh," Ochako sat there and thought about it. "I guess I never realized that."

"Mhm," Izuku said as he settled back onto the floor. "Even among the top ten, heroes often have to help each other. I think the goal here is to remind people of that."

"Yep!"

"So who are your teammates?" Ochako asked as she pointed to the group on screen.

"Well, I've already told you about Togata and Amajiki plenty of times. I don't think I've mentioned Akari much. She's got a fire manipulation quirk - she can create objects made of fire, and passively control their heat level as long as she's touching them."

"That sounds super useful!" Izuku said.

"Mhm!" Melissa nodded. "She's figured out how to create a pair of boots with her quirk and they make her super fast!"

As they watched the race begin, the first two members of the team began running while all of the others were waiting at the starting line.

"Why aren't you starting yet?" Ochako asked.

"It's a handicap - they totaled our placing from the first round, and the lower your team's number, the longer you had to wait at the starting line. They wanted to balance everything out so people who scored lower in the previous round had more time to show off here."

"I see," Ochako nodded before she turned her attention to the screen.

Eventually, Melissa was only one of two people on the starting line, before she started running. The first part of the course was a fairly straightforward sprint, with only a few large obstacles to avoid. It was faint in the open sunlight, but they saw Melissa glowing a dull gold as she wrapped herself in One For All's power with her Overcharge technique. It didn't take long before she slapped her teammate's hand, and they saw a bright blue flame flare up around Akari's feet as she took off across a dangerous minefield.

A couple of minutes later, Melissa saw Tamaki approaching Mirio and slapped a hand over her eyes as she felt her cheeks heating up. "You two may want to cover your eyes."

Ochako looked at Melissa in confusion. "What do you mea- EEEK!"

"Sorry about that," Melissa apologized. "I should've warned you sooner!"

"I'm scarred for life," Ochako complained.

"Is his quirk really that hard to control?" Izuku asked. "I know you mentioned it gave him trouble, but you didn't say it was that bad."

"It is," Melissa confirmed as the three were waiting for the single elimination rounds to start.

The three missed the finale of the relay race as Ochako and Izuku turned into blushing, stuttering messes at the sight of a naked Mirio, who later apologized to the crowd - saying he tried his hardest to remain decent for them.

However, they celebrated once everyone calmed down and they saw that Melissa's team took first place.

"Jousting, huh?" Ochako asked as she watched the hero Midnight explained the rules on the screen. The two students would each be given a Pugil stick and then the competitors would face off on a bridge over a pit of water as they tried to either knock their opponent into the water or force them back across the starting line.

"Yep!" Melissa smiled. "It was actually a lot of fun!"

"It's an interesting idea," Izuku agreed. "The Pugil stick works as an equalizer for the students whose quirk isn't suited for this sort of competition."

Ochako sat there and thought about how she would have used quirk. "I guess I could have just removed someone's gravity and shoved them off the bridge?"

"That's a good idea!" Izuku agreed. "Although people might underestimate your strength and be surprised by how much power you could put behind your swings, too!"

"Yep!" Ochako flashed a bright grin as she balled her hands into fists. "All thanks to our super secret beach training!"

Melissa smiled at the two. Seeing them like this reminded her of just how far behind she was in comparison. However, they also served to inspire her - she was their mentor after all, and when she saw them like this, she wanted to become the hero they thought she was.

They watched the first two matches in silence, and then it was Melissa's turn - she was facing off against Masako Kawauso, an Otter Mutant from 1-B.

"Wow, she looks intimidating," Ochako said.

"Mhm," Izuku nodded. "Otters are predators, after all."

"Trust me, she's even scarier in person," Melissa admitted. "Her tail was no joke. At least I didn't have to worry about her biting me."

"She would do that?!" Izuku asked, wide-eyed.

"Kawauso at least implied she would've if she could."

"H-hopefully she was just trying to scare you," Ochako suggested.

"Mmm, maybe," However, Melissa was pretty sure the other girl was serious at the time.

The two dueled in the middle of the bridge, with Melissa's powerful swings countered by Masako using her tail to keep herself steady. The tables turned when Masako began trying to attack Melissa with her tail, swinging it around her wildly in an attempt to knock the blonde-haired girl off the bridge.

"Oh no!"

"Keep watching," Melissa said with a smile.

After a hit almost knocked Melissa off she stumbled back several steps, Masako approached to go for the kill. Melissa was able to recover at the last second, hopping backward and out of reach of her tail. It put her dangerously close to the edge of the bridge, but that was ok. It did the job, and Masako hadn't expected the move and was thrown off balance as her tail hit nothing but air.

Melissa took advantage of the moment and charged in, her gauntlets glowing brightly as she put her full power behind the swing, hitting the mutant in the back and sending her careening off the bridge.

"Shield wins!" Midnight announced on the television, to everyone's cheers.

"See, told you!" Melissa said, smiling at her friends.

"That was cool!" Izuku exclaimed.

"I couldn't have done it without Akari beating me up these last three weeks. After dealing with her, Kawauso seemed slow."

"Your class is scary," Ochako said nervously before she looked down at her hands, staring at the pads of her fingers. "I hope I can keep up."

"I'm sure you will!" Izuku said confidently. "We've got plenty of time to figure out how you can use your quirk!"

"I-" Ochako's head snapped up to look at Izuku. "Thanks, Midoriya."

The three continued watching the rest of the first-round matches, and eventually it was time for Melissa's second-round match: against her classmate Tamaki.

"But he took out his first-round opponent so easily!" Ochako said.

Izuku nodded in agreement. "Yeah, between his ability to replicate tentacles that kept him securely bound to the platform and his ability to turn his arms into claws, it looked hard to move him."

"You saw that huh?" Melissa gave a resigned sigh. "Yeah… I didn't look forward to this fight."

As they watched, Tamaki replicated his first-round performance, sprouting tentacles and securing himself to the platform. They watched Melissa put up a valiant effort, but Tamaki refused to budge from his spot. As the match went on, they could see Melissa visibly slowing down as she wore herself out, before Tamaki managed to get a lucky hit in on her leg, causing her to collapse before she fell off the bridge to land into the water below. All three winced as they saw her hit the surface.

"Ow."

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Melissa said with resignation in her voice. "I wasn't expecting to win that match."

"It's still gotta be frustrating!" Ochako insisted. "Knowing that you're going up against such impossible odds."

"Sometimes that's the job of a hero," Izuku said softly. "To stand against the impossible, making sure everyone else is safe."

The two girls both looked at Izuku, and Melissa felt her heart cracking. She didn't know how much of his history he shared with Ochako, but she knew what he went through, and to see him display that attitude…

She'd have to find some way to show him he mattered too. More than he realized.

The three watched the rest of the matches. Tamaki ended up facing Nejire in the third round, and his final match was against Rika. Both girls put up a valiant fight but were unable to break through his defenses, allowing him to ultimately overcome and win.

As the three watched All Might handing out the medals to the winners, they could see Tamaki standing on stage with his hands covering his face.

"I bet he regrets not eating turtle today," Melissa said jokingly.

"He really doesn't do well with people, does he?" Ochako asked curiously.

"Not at all."

"I almost feel bad for him," Izuku said as he looked down at his notes.

"Worried about your own anxiety?" Izuku looked up sheepishly at the blonde girl, his face turning bright red. Melissa couldn't help but laugh when she saw him. "I'm kidding! But as a hero, you do need to put yourself in front of a crowd."

"N-no, you're right," Izuku sighed. "I need to work on it. Just like Amajiki."

"Maybe I can introduce you two sometime?"

"That sounds fun!" Ochako said. "I'd love to meet more UA students!"

"Y-yeah," Izuku agreed. "That could be fun."

As dinner was winding down, Melissa looked around the table at Izuku and Ochako. She had a lot of fun spending time with them this afternoon and wasn't quite ready to go home yet. Sure, her dad was flying in tomorrow, but the thought of spending the evening alone in her apartment left her cold.

"We should go out!" Melissa announced.

"Huh?" Izuku looked up, startled by the declaration.

"You," Melissa pointed to Izuku. "Ochako," Melissa pointed to the other girl, "and I should go out! While you've told us about all of these places around Mustafu, you haven't shown us anything yet!"

"I- never thought about it that way," Izuku looked down at his plate and rubbed the back of his head.

"That sounds fun!" Ochako smiled at the older girl. "Just let me call my parents to make sure it's alright!"

Jumping up from her chair, Ochako ran off to grab her phone while Inko smiled at her son. "You should go out with your friends! It's been so long since you've done something like that."

"I-" Izuku swallowed nervously. "You're right!" Izuku turned to Melissa, fresh determination on his face. "Let's do it!"

They waited for a few minutes until they saw Ochako run back into the room, a smile on her face. "My parents said yes! I can stay for a while longer!"

"Yay!" Melissa threw her arms up in the air. "Let's go have some fun!"

Once the three had helped Inko clean up and said their goodbyes, they left the apartment.

"So where do you want to go?" Izuku asked the two girls.

"Someplace different!" Melissa said. "You've told me all about the shopping districts and the best places to get video games, but you haven't really told me about the local spots yet!"

Ochako looked skyward. "Is there someplace we could see the stars? That's one thing I miss about Nabari."

Izuku pressed his thumb to his lips as he thought about it before his eyes lit up. "There's a cliff overlooking the beach! I bet we can see the stars there! It's a little far though."

"Oh! I have just the thing!" Melissa said. She reached into her bag and pulled out what looked like a pencil case, before handing a blue and purple cylinder to Izuku and Ochako.

"What are these?" Ochako asked curiously.

"Pogo sticks!" Melissa smiled proudly as she pushed the button at the end, and the red cylinder began to glow before it expanded to its full size.

Staring at the devices in wonder, Izuku and Ochako pressed the buttons on their own, and moments later had full-sized pogo sticks in their own hands. Melissa set hers on the ground and mounted it.

"Now this switch here controls the motor, and this dial adjusts the speed while this lever controls the brake," Melissa explained as she pointed to the controls on her device. "We'll start slow and speed up as you get more comfortable."

The two nodded in understanding as they mounted their pogo sticks, turning them on and bouncing around the parking lot. Once they felt comfortable they returned to Melissa.

"You two ready?"

"I think so."

"Yep!"

"Well then, lead the way Izuku!"

Nodding in confirmation, Izuku started down the road, the two girls falling in beside him as he lead them on their adventure.