Reiko Yanagi wasn't what one would consider normal. She doesn't speak much, but when she does, she is quite verbose. She's someone who laughs during horror films, holds her hands like a ghost, and is apparently trying to learn Latin for what people are suspecting is a seance. Regardless of who you ask, there are many things about her that her peers are still trying to figure out. However, there is one undeniable fact that all quickly come to understand about her: whatever it is she likes, ranging from places to people, are all labeled spooky.
"My, Midoriya is quite spooky indeed; how intriguing."
Which is what led class 1-B to stare at her in shock from their seats during the sports festival as the green-bean detroit smashing machine broke another one of his fingers, shattering the glaciers sent by the peppermint master of both sides of a pillow.
"Yanagi, what do you mean by 'spooky' there? I don't think you have used it to describe a person before. Like, sure, his hands look kinda gnarly from here, but not really spooky," Itsuka Kendo asked.
Reiko spoke to her class president without removing her eyes from the fight, but a small smile could be seen growing on her face. "Quite simple. How one who presents themselves as meek and small as a woodland creature can easily shift from prey to predator while sacrificing the vessel that binds him to our mortal coil in order to overcome their foe is simply an intriguing feat. I wonder which mask he wears is his true self, the hunter, or the hunted? Quite spooky indeed," she chuckled.
"Aww man, Yanagi's got the hots for the bone breaker," one of the boys in her class groaned, earning a shout from their class's loud blonde, Neito Monoma.
"Silence! There is no way that our Yanagi would be charmed by a loser in 1-A! She is merely-"
"I am interested in him, yes," Reiko said, cutting off Monoma.
Her class once again went silent, both for the blunt admission and the lack of Reiko's normal verbiage.
"What! How could you claim to be int-" Monoma started before getting cut off again.
"It is quite a straightforward line of thought. He scored 7th on the entrance examinations with the highest hero points score, thus showing his selflessness. I've already proclaimed how his constant shifts between a calming breeze and a raging storm have captured my interest. His tolerance for self-sacrifice is also an interesting thought. How much does he deem necessary? I would like to further examine his mentality for conflicts. Additionally, and this is where my interest can be claimed to be a form of infatuation, I find his appearance quite desirable, or, as Tokage would put it, I find him cute."
Said greenette was grinning madly at the gossip, while Monoma went pale with shock. Reiko began to tune out the rest of their conversation; after all, Midoriya was still fighting.
Izuku Midoriya considered himself capable of few things, but much to his joy, he kept proving himself wrong. Born without a quirk, get one from All Might! No chance to be a hero; score in the top 10 of the entrance exam at his dream school! Have no friends; made three within the first week, and that pool had grown to four after the sports festival!
In short, Izuku was slowly proving to himself that he was capable of things he thought impossible, but the conversation he was currently stuck in genuinely confused him based on what prior notion that it was challenging.
"Master! You must teach me your ways!" pleaded Minoru Mineta while performing a full bow while his friends(?) snickered behind him.
"Yeah, 'Master Midoriya', teach us your lady wooing techniques," Denki Kaminari added with a chuckle and air quotes.
Sero Hanta followed after suppressing a snort, "Yes, 'Master Midoriya', can one as wise and generous as you teach us simple students your methods of capturing the hearts of maidens?"
Izuku blinked rapidly and tilted his head in confusion, as the notion that he was apparently proving wrong today was that nobody would ever have romantic feelings for him.
"I-I'm genuinely lost here. What are you even talking about, Mineta?"
"Your latest conquest of a woman's heart, Master!" Mineta praised pushing his head deeper into the ground as he began to spiral on about the "powerful seduction techniques" that Izuku apparently had.
Izuku simply looked over to Kaminari and Sero before the latter responded, still suppressing his laughter at the short, purple student's antics.
"Alright, rumor has it that Yanagi, the ghost girl from 1-B, has the hots for you. So our dear associate Mineta here was curious how you did it."
"I've never talked to Yanagi; how could she have a crush on me?"
"Apparently she finds you 'spooky', and according to her class, namely Tokage, she (a) only calls things 'spooky' when she is very interested in them; (b) has given you the pleasure of being the only person dubbed as 'spooky'; and (c) has openly admitted to being, and I quote Tokage here, 'having feelings of infatuation towards you'"
"Huh, not sure how I feel about that; I never had a girl crush on me before. Are you sure this isn't a prank of some sort?"
"Nope, not a prank, unless Tokage somehow got Mina, Tooru, and Monoma involved. Given how he seems to hate us with every fiber of his being, I'm guessing this is real."
"How do you know this?"
"Ah! Same reason these two found out," he said, gesturing to Mineta, who was still bowing to Izuku, and Kaminari, who was wheezing at his friends' antics. "We were eating lunch near Mina and Tooru when Tokage came over to gossip. They seem to be friends. Then Mina squealed, catching Monoma's attention, where he screamed something about Tokage 'associating with the enemy' and how 'she should return to save Yanagi from 1-A's clutches' before he got neck chopped by the 1-B prez."
"So that's why he was unconscious in Recovery Girl's office last Tuesday."
"Yup, so as the only one of us who is still in good favor with a majority of the girls in our class after the Sports Festival, I decided to ask Mina what they meant when Tokage answered about how Monoma was mad about Reiko being 'infatuated' with you and that she was trying to figure out how to hook the two of you up."
"W-why would they want the two of us to hook up?" Izuku sputtered
Sero rubbed the back of his head and shrugged. "I dunno, guess those three just like watching romance."
"Huh. I now have a lot to think about; I still can't believe anyone would have a genuine crush on me though" Izuku said, walking away, muttering, eventually followed by Sero and Kaminari, leaving Mineta, who hadn't noticed they'd left, on the ground, still in full dogeza, waiting for the "wisdom to be imparted on him."
Reiko Yanagi fully acknowledged that she had a crush on Izuku Midoriya; unfortunately, she has not had the opportunity to act on those feelings. And she has tried.
She tried to ask for his contact information through Itsuka, who talked to the 1-A class rep, Momo Yaoyorozu, after their internship together, but she didn't have his contact information.
She tried to approach him during the summer camp, but he was either off somewhere in the woods trying to talk to Mandalay's nephew Kota, who was on site, or passed out after training. And that was before villains attacked and the camp was cut short, with Izuku being hospitalized.
She tried to pay a visit to him now that they were in dorms on campus, but she was either impeded by Monoma, who would proceed to pester her for weeks if he caught her leaving, teased by Setsuna, who was acting in the strangest mix of poking fun and being encouraging, stopped by someone else who asked for help, or, in the worst scenario, encountered Ochako Uraraka on the way there, where she glared at her as if she had shot her dog before informing her that Izuku wasn't there.
Reiko was still unsure how many times Uraraka was fully truthful about Izuku's whereabouts, but she deemed it better to walk away and try again later, then escalate the situation. After all, Izuku was still single, which she knew from Setsuna, who talked to Ashido and Hagakure from the other class, and they still had two more years together where classes would be shuffled and they could have more chances to interact.
Today was not a day where she ventured to the 1-A dorms in an attempt to approach her crush; instead, she was joined by her friend Shihai Kuroiro to meet with their mutual friend Fumikage Tokoyami to aid him with something. Their avian-headed friend would not specify exactly what it was, but that it would be interesting and a "mad banquet of darkness."
Said friend welcomed them into the building and guided them to his room, passing Izuku, who was sitting in the common room reading.
Of course, the one day I come here and am not stopped by anyone, I've already agreed to aid Fumikage in his endeavors when Izuku is here and free.
Upon entering his room, they could see that most of the furniture had been moved so that there was plenty of space in the middle. Space that was currently occupied by a sigil.
"Fumikage, may I ask what banquet of darkness you have brought upon us by summoning our presence here?" Shihai asked.
"Of course, my dear companions. I have brought the two of you here today to aid me in my goal to bring forth a being from beyond our mortal realm, a being who would be able to impart on us knowledge and power beyond our mortal comprehension." Fumikage spoke proudly before his quirk, Dark Shadow, emerged behind him and chimed in.
"Fumi here wants to summon a demon because he doesn't understand Ectoplasm's math homework, and he's panicking even though it is due next week."
"SILENCE, DARK SHADOW!"
Reiko decided at this moment that if they do summon a demon, she would request that it constantly annoy Fumikage through minor inconveniences.
Sighing, Reiko spoke, "May I perchance come to learn as to why we are going through the tumultuous task of a summoning ritual instead of working together to solve the assignment in question?"
"Fumi thought this would be easier and more interesting!" Dark Shadow cheered
"SILENCE! MY REASONING IS NOT TO BE QUESTIONED, DARK SHADOW!"
Taking a deep breath, Reiko looked to Shihai, who shrugged before they got into position.
Fumikage smiled before walking to the door, saying, "Thank you, my companions. Now let me gather the final component necessary for our task."
After he left, Shihai spoke up. "We are totally going to do that homework together after this, aren't we?"
"Most likely"
Both students could only sigh.
"At least the demon summoning could be kind of cool; sucks that one of the few times you get in here, we're going to be working on math homework and not you finally getting to talk to Midoriya."
Reiko had a soft smile as she spoke. "Your support regarding my romantic endeavors is appreciated, but I am certain that our paths will intertwine and that we may finally have our encounter that will begin our relationship."
It was then that Fumikage returned, followed by a certain green-haired individual, causing Reiko's eyes to widen in surprise as she went silent.
"Woah, Midoriya, what are you doing here?" Shihai asked
With a beaming smile on his face, Midoriya cheerily responded, "Oh! Tokoyami said that he needed someone who could speak Latin to help him out with a demon summoning!"
Reiko, who managed to somewhat compose herself, spoke up with a small blush. "A-and perchance, what manner of circumstances led you to learn that ancient tongue?"
Izuku simply chuckled. "Well, this isn't exactly my first demon summoning."
The two 1-B students were momentarily stunned before Reiko responded, "What fate could have possibly been so cruel for a soul as kind as yours to turn to demonic arts in order to seize victory?"
Izuku's smile dropped momentarily before his face turned more somber as he replied, "Tokoyami said he trusts you, so I'll trust you two to keep this to yourselves. I didn't get my quirk until a lot later in life; in fact, the first time I used it was the entrance exam here.
Izuku continued as Reiko and Shihai listened. "Back when I was a kid, I tried everything I could think of to make my quirk appear; eventually, that led me down a rabbit hole of research where I heard of a demon that could give and take quirks, so I thought, 'Hey, this could work' and I went about learning enough Latin to do a summoning; it didn't work, but learning Latin was kind of fun, so I ended up continuing, and now I'm fluent, and I guess I just continued learning more languages from there."
"How many languages can you speak?" Shihai asked
"Oh! Lemme count off real quick: Japanese, Latin, English, German, Spanish, French, and I'm trying to learn Russian now, so six plus one in progress, I guess."
"What a mad banquet of darkness." Shihai mumbled
Dark Shadow popped out and decided to chime in. "You should have seen how Fumi learned this! Zuku here was watching the entire series of The Ring in English because he was curious about the differences in translations. Then Fumi walks in and is all like, 'Midoriya, through what manner of sorcery can you understand that?' and Zuku was all like, 'Oh! English was the language I learned after Latin!' Then Fumi goes, 'You speak the ancient tongue! You must help me in communicating with the realm beyond our own!' and I was worried Fumi would scare off Zuku, but then he gave that big sunshine smile of his and said, sure and now here we are!"
Tokoyami tried again to silence his quirk, while Izuku smiled at their antics before turning to Shihai and Reiko. "Regardless of how I got roped in, this sounded like a fun way to take my mind off of everything that's been happening. So thank you for including me and for allowing me to open up a bit. Very few people know about my late bloomer status, but Hound Dog recommended I try to expand the number of people I trusted to build my support system, so when Tokoyami told me how much he trusted you two, I knew that it would be safe to tell you two as well."
Izuku was met with a toothy grin from Shihai and a gentle smile, accompanied by a blush from Reiko, as she thought to herself.
Izuku trusts me! And he speaks Latin; he could study with me! And if that wasn't good enough, he also has experience in the occult and an interest in horror films; he truly is very spooky! Clearly, our fates were destined to intersect.
Reiko then decided that it would be unheroic to subject a fellow hero in training to the mischief of a demon in the event of a successful summoning.
Izuku clapped his hands together and smiled at the group before speaking, "Alright! Now, why are we summoning a demon?"
Shihai and Reiko could only sigh.
Midoriya Izuku had several quirks about him, both in the figurative and literal sense. Following their unfortunate, read obviously, failed demon summoning and the subsequent study session that followed, Izuku began to mingle more with Fumikage, Shihai, and Reiko. He was even on a first-name basis with them!
During this time, the three bore witness to several of his quirks. His habit of analyzing quirks. His muttering sprees. His overall reluctance to accept praise directed solely at him. But the one that currently has their attention is Izuku's tendency to hyper-focus on whatever task he is doing.
Case in point: a horror movie marathon on a Sunday night, in which Reiko and Izuku sat shoulder to shoulder on the couch in the common room of the 1-B dorm. Reiko casually held his hand, while Izuku's eyes never wavered from the TV. The only noise in the room that the other students heard was the screams of the movie victims, the somewhat chilling laughter Reiko let out at scenes where the average viewer would scream in fear, and the occasional crunch of popcorn. However, not one sound was heard from Izuku. Some concerned passersby braved to peek in to ensure that he was still alive, only to witness a blushing Reiko next to Izuku with an intense look on his face, solely looking at the screen, analyzing every detail of the film, completely ignorant of the world around him.
Once the credits began to scroll after their latest film, Reiko nudged Izuku in order to gain his attention, gesturing to the empty popcorn bowl, nodding to the kitchen, then followed by a point to the hallway. Izuku understood this as a request to reload their snack while she went to the restroom.
Standing up, he went over and began preparing another round of movie snacks when he was approached by another greenette in the building, Setsuna Tokage.
"Hey Freckles, how's your date night with Casper?" she teased
Izuku chuckled. "It's not a date night, Tokage; besides, Shihai and Fumikage are there too."
Tokage's grin only grew wider. "Oh, really, so it's not a date because the whole cult is there with ya huh?"
"I wouldn't word it like that, but yes, I suppose."
"Well then, no worries for you; after all, the two edgelords left halfway through the second movie and have been listening to My Chemical Romance in Shihai's room since."
Izuku quickly looked back to the common room, and sure enough, Fumikage and Shihai were nowhere to be seen. They had watched three movies by this point; how had he not seen them leaving?
"Man, what a date night!" Tokage began, "huddled together, watching her favorite genre of movies while she holds your hand the entire time."
Izuku blushed and began to sputter, "S-she hasn't been holding my hand the entire time!"
Tokage's smile turned devilish. "Oh contraire, my fellow mosshead! Behold!" She held out her phone, showing several pictures of Reiko holding Izuku's hand, snuggling closer to his arm, and even resting her head on his shoulder. Seriously, how did he not notice!
"W-well this doesn't prove it's a date; besides, maybe Reicchan is just physically affectionate."
"Oho, so you are aware of her affection towards you?"
Izuku paused before speaking. "I-I mean, kind of. I heard rumors that she might have a crush on me, but that was closer to the sports festival. Besides knowing her, she would have spoken to me sooner about it and not done, well, nothing; it's been months since then."
That got Tokage to pause before speaking "Wait, nothing? What about all the times she managed to get past Monoma in order to go see you? Before you started hanging out with the cult, I mean"
Izuku showed a look of genuine confusion before responding, "I'm not sure what you mean; the first time I even saw Reicchan in the 1-A dorms was when Fumikage wanted to summon a demon to help him with his math homework."
"Huh, that's pretty spooky; wonder what stopped her then. Well, before you started hanging out with those three, Reiko was constantly trying to go over and see you to try and get closer."
Izuku blushed and covered his face with his hands. "Are you sure you should even be saying this? shouldn't Reicchan be the one to say it?"
The devilish smirk returned, not that Izuku could see it. "So, Mr. Mean Green Fighting Machine, you're saying you'd say yes if Spooky was the one to profess her feelings to you?"
Izuku only nodded as a third voice spoke from the doorway. "I was unaware that I had failed to properly express my affections towards you, though that does explain the lack of a response to mine physical acts of intimacy."
Izuku froze as he recognized Reiko's voice. "A-Ah Reicchan, s-sorry I did-"
Reiko simply walked up to Izuku and put a finger on his lips, quieting him before grabbing both his hands into hers. "Please, Beloved, allow me to profess my love towards thyself. You, Izuku Midoriya, are a being with a truly kind soul and a fascinating mind to accompany it. You first caught my gaze unintentionally with your performance during the entrance examinations, where your acts of heroism are what determined your place here. Once I saw how your personality shifted depending on the circumstances, I became intrigued to figure out which was the real you. But as I came to see, they are both you. Your kind and gentle mask that you wear to comfort others, and your fierce and protective mask that you don when a crisis occurs. Both are facets of you, and both are parts that I have come to adore. Your very presence puts my heart at ease, your laughter causes my soul to soar. Izuku Midoriya I am completely enamored with you, and I hope that you will return my feelings."
Izuku was silent, blushing, and appeared to be focusing on Reiko, all of her, as he simply stood there and held her hands. Reiko began to fidget nervously, but Izuku's grip did not loosen before he took a deep breath and planted a quick kiss on Reiko's lips.
"I-I'm a little overwhelmed right now, so I hope that can serve as a response. I promise to properly express just how amazing you are later and just how much you mean to me, but words are kinda hard at the moment," he stammered.
Reiko simply beamed and pulled Izuku into a deep kiss before speaking, "Your feelings have been properly conveyed to me, Beloved. Do not worry about thyne immediate response, as you and I have the rest of our time together to properly express the true depth of our feelings for each other. Now I believe we have a date to return to, do we not?" She finished, grabbing the snacks and walking back to the common room.
Izuku turned to Tokage, who was watching with a giant, toothy smile, when he spoke, "Did, did that really happen?"
"Yes, my good sir, you do indeed now have a girlfriend. Now you better get back to your date, Romeo," she teased.
Izuku smiled and jogged back to the common room where Reiko was putting in the fourth movie of the night before returning to the couch, where she snuggled close to Izuku as the movie started. Unfortunately for him, Izuku had no idea what was going on as his attention kept returning to his now-girlfriend, who clung to his arm.
He took a deep breath and parted her silver bangs in order to plant a soft kiss on her forehead. She simply turned and smiled at him before returning her gaze to the screen, his unable to follow as he solely looked fondly at her.
"Oh well," he mumbled. "I can't think of anything nicer to focus on."