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!

39. Missing Moms and Support Chaos

"Well, well, well," Principal Nezu sighed dramatically, "I should've known."

Sitting in the three seats in front of the principal's desk, Katsuki, Shinsou and Mineta continued to fume. All three of them were covered in cuts and bruises, with Katsuki sporting a shiner near his eye, Shinsou having two balled-up kleenexes plugged up his nose, and Mineta having a pair of nasty bruises on his cheek and along his jaw. Their clothes, of course, were absolutely covered in dry grass and mud, and their hair was filthy as well.

Standing above their chairs, Aizawa and Present Mic were frowning, with the quirk-erasing teacher aiming his glare particularly at the back of Katsuki's head. Midnight and Tenko had already gone home, with Aizawa volunteering to escort the three boys to the principal's office, and Mic had tagged along for 'the drama', as he put it. Nezu, meanwhile, merely sighed as he put his teacup down on the saucer near the computer. With the sun having set a few minutes ago and having three lights shining above the three brawling boys, it felt less like a meeting with the principal and more like an interrogation.

After tapping the keyboard on his computer for a few seconds, Nezu looked back up at the three frowning general studies students.

"Now, then," He tapped his paw against the desk, "before we get to the subject of punishments for brawling near the campus, I'd like to hear from all three of you what happened."

"You know what happened," Katsuki snapped at him, "these two fu-"

"Bakugou, I believe we have covered last Friday on how thin the ice you are on is," Nezu interrupted him lightly but with steel in his voice, "so I would be careful of the language you use around me if I were you."

Katsuki felt his teeth grit but knew enough of the threat in Nezu's voice to quickly close his mouth before he said something he couldn't take back.

Nodding, Nezu then turned towards where Mineta was sitting.

"Now then," He said to the smallest student on the right first, "let's hear from you what happened first, Mineta."

The smaller student hesitated for a moment, rubbing his cheek and glancing around, before he let out a small sigh.

"Well, uh … we went to go and talk to the new student in the hero course," He explained, "some people in our class saw someone new in Bakugou's old seat, and … well, since it was a new girl, I wanted to meet her."

"Oh? For what reason?"

Mineta hesitated again – he, of course, knew the real reason why he had approached Melissa, but he knew that the teachers wouldn't be very impressed by that. However, feeling Aizawa's glowing red eyes boring into him, he knew better than to try to come up with a lie.

"I …" He gulped nervously, "… wanted to see if I could … uh … maybe … hit on her."

"Oho?" Nezu tilted his head inquisitively. "And when you say that you wanted to 'hit on' Miss Shield, are you referring to hitting on someone in the same kind of way you 'hit on' Yaoyorozu during the sports festival?"

Mineta cringed.

"Yes, well … I'm sure that your parents have already given you an earful of what you'll have to deal with from Yaoyorozu's lawyers, so I'll leave it at that for now, with the understanding that any further attempts to 'hit on' your female classmates will result in … well," He let out a short laugh, "let's just say that dealing with Yaoyorozu Corporations will be the least of your problems."

He allowed a moment to let Mineta gulp nervously before continuing the interrogation.

"Now then, moving on. What happened after you 'hit on' Miss Shield?"

"W-well, uh … Shinsou was bugging her about her quirk, and – and she told us she was quirkless." His face fell at that. "When – when I thought that Bakugou was going to keep trying to push her around –"

He was aware of both Shinsou and Katsuki glaring at him, and cringed. Still, he kept going under Aizawa's glare.

"- I told him to back off, and he – he kicked me away. So, I kinda … uh … lost my cool, and started hitting him."

"Hm …" Nezu hummed a bit, typing at his computer, and then turned to where Shinsou was glaring down at the floor. "And what about you, Shinsou? Similar story to your classmate's?"

Shinsou merely stared down at his feet.

"Shinsou?"

"… I heard someone got into the hero course," He said in a low, angry voice, "and I went to confront whoever it was, since no one was missing in my class. I was the only one besides Mineta to make it past the first round, so I knew that if anyone was going to move from general studies to the hero course, it would've been one of us."

"Huh," Present Mic scoffed a bit under his breath, "how very presumptuous."

"Mic …" Aizawa warned under his breath, while Mic cringed and clapped his hands together apologetically.

"So what happened next?" Nezu asked.

"I saw Bakugou confronting her, so I went over to have a look. Saw it wasn't someone that I recognized from the festival, so I assume it was someone who got your special treatment," Shinsou spat out, glaring down at his feet in his anger, "and I went to confront her about it. Assumed they had a flashy quirk that bought their way into the hero course. When Bakugou shoved me over, I retaliated."

Nezu slowly nodded again, tapping his paw against his computer, and then turned to the last student who had yet to speak. "And Bakugou? What's your side of this?"

"…"

The teachers didn't bother to repeat his name, simply waiting.

"Heard someone took my spot," He growled under his breath after a moment, "went to confront them."

Nezu looked like he was unsurprised by that simple explanation, letting out a small sigh as he rolled his chair back to glance out the window.

The principal's office was quiet for a long moment as the three boys waited for what Nezu would say, seeing him pluck up his teacup from the saucer and sipping on it before getting started.

"Ah, delicious," He mused as he put the cup back down on the saucer, before looking back at the students, "now then … we'll start with you, Mineta."

The smaller boy cringed.

"I've already made clear that we're aware of your treatment of Yaoyorozu and its own legal consequences. While we were unable to confront you during Friday's events, I will make it clear – harassment of female students may be ignored in other schools, but it will not be at UA. We take this matter very seriously, so I will let you know that you are now on very thin ice with us. Another noted harassment will result in your unquestioned expulsion."

Mineta gulped, loudly and nervously, but still nodded.

"Now, as for you, Shinsou –"

However, before Nezu could turn to the young man sitting in the middle, he was interrupted by Shinsou scoffing.

"You don't need to sum it up for me," He spat, "I know what happened."

"Oh?" Nezu looked intrigued – which, of course, sent warning bells off in everyone's head about how bad that was. "Then educate me, young man. What did happen?"

Shinsou hesitated for a moment, very much aware of the danger with the principal's dark eyes staring directly into his – and then he shook his head, knowing that he couldn't back down now, especially in the face of the person who was so clearly biased against him.

"I'm aware Shield wasn't at the sports festival," He made clear, "she wasn't in the business course, or general studies, or support course. You – you took someone from outside the school and gave her a spot in 1A without any strings attached. My class was talking about it – no one would just come in to the hero course unless they had connections, and –"

"Aaaaah," Nezu chuckled, interrupting the student, "I see what you're talking about. You believe that Miss Shield being placed into the hero course was a case of UA pitying someone who's quirkless, and giving her a spot without questions. Is that it?"

Shinsou was quiet for a moment – and then he nodded.

"Well," Nezu adjusted himself in his seat, "allow me to correct you, then. Miss Shield did not receive any 'special treatment' from us. Other than a standard recommendation from a pro hero, it was quite the contrary, in fact."

"Pfft," He rolled his eyes, "yeah. Right."

"Oh, it's very true. In fact," Nezu leaned forward with a smile, "Miss Shield joining the hero program was not her original intention, nor was it UA's. We were actually going to enroll her into the support course, but it was the request of the Number One Hero that had us test her for the hero program."

That caused all three boys to look around at him in shock.

"Huh?" Katsuki's eyes widened in shock and a bit of rage. "All Might recommended her?!"

"All Might?" Nezu raised his eyebrow, and chuckled. "Well … in any case, the hero who recommended her actually suggested that I place her in the hero course, believing that she would benefit more from that course than support. I was, of course, intrigued – Miss Shield is considered a certifiable genius when it comes to support work, so much so that she helped your classmate Midoriya with a support item of his own – you'd know it, Bakugou, as you destroyed it during your match with him."

Katsuki merely flared his nostrils.

"In any case, I still advised Miss Shield's recommender that she would be walking in completely unprepared for the hero course, but her recommender insisted, wanting to see what she was capable of. And would you all like to know her scores? Bakugou? Mineta? Shinsou?"

None of the boys replied.

"Well, I can't give exact marks, as that would be an invasion of privacy," Nezu waved his paw in the air, chuckling good-heartedly, "but if we were comparing her marks to those who wrote the entrance exams back in February, she would've ranked quite highly. Add to the fact that we placed her in the same practical exam that you three participated in – and with increased difficulty, mind you, seeing as she was firmly on her own in a city filled with robots with no chance of getting rescue points, and doing so without a quirk – she scored quite highly as well."

"That's –" Shinsou was about to call bullshit, but feeling Aizawa glaring at him, he managed to stifle himself.

"So in short?" Nezu leaned back. "Had Miss Shield been with us back in February, I don't have any doubts that she would've earned herself a place in the hero course, without a quirk."

Shinsou kept quiet for a moment, fuming.

"As well," Nezu shook his head, "I also want to correct one thing that you said, Shinsou. You suggested earlier that it would've been either you or Mineta here that would've placed in the hero course, as you were the only two boys from general studies to go onto the next rounds. But why would we give either of you that, seeing as you in particular cheated during the sports festival?"

That, of course, got Shinsou to stop, his eyes widening, and he leapt out of his chair to slam his hands on the desk.

"What the hell?!" He snapped indignantly. "You think I cheated?! I earned my spot at the sports festival!"

"Did you?" Nezu coldly replied, smirking in a way that sent a chill down Shinsou's spine, realizing too late that he just sprinted headlong into a trap. "Tell me, Shinsou, do you remember the rules Midnight placed during the first round?"

"…"

"No? Well, Mic," He looked up at the teacher behind the boys, "why don't you remind us?"

"Direct quirk usage was forbidden," Present Mic recited, all the adults in the room aware of Shinsou straightening up with sweat probably beginning to bead on his back, "using your quirk to force your classmates into the pit would get you disqualified."

"Thank you, Mic," Nezu smiled at him before returning his beady gaze to Shinsou, "now, Shinsou – we weren't able to catch it during the chaos of the first round, seeing as we were more concerned with Midoriya and Uraraka's fall – but rewatching the footage, we noticed that many people around you ended up suddenly jumping into the pit. Strange, isn't it? Now, why would they do that of their own volition, seeing as you weren't allowed to use your quirk against others during the first match?"

Shinsou didn't reply, instead continuing to sweat even more.

"And that's not even to mention how you blatantly used Kendou during the second round - using your quirk on her, forcing her to go over and … what were the words you used? Ah, yes - 'go over there and give Midoriya a concussion'. And that's only covering you blatantly using your teammate as a pawn - should we also discuss your willingness to help Monoma remove students from the sports festival altogether?"

Once again, Shinsou didn't say anything to defend himself.

"Please sit down, Shinsou, and don't interrupt me again."

Without a word, he sank back into his chair.

"Now then," Nezu sighed, adjusting his tea set, and finally turned to where Katsuki was quietly fuming, "onto you, Bakugou."

"You don't need to –"

"Oh, but I believe I do!" Nezu cheerfully interrupted his snarl. "You see, I wanted to make a correction to what you said. You see, you seem to think Miss Shield 'took your spot'. But that 'spot', as you put it, isn't yours anymore."

"That's -!" Katsuki began to snarl.

"We made it very clear on Friday," Nezu tapped his paw against the desk, interrupting Katsuki's shout, "that you were expelled from the hero course. You have no option to return. Even if we were open to the idea of eventually letting you back into the hero program, confronting the person you believe 'replaced you' and threatening them would have completely vetoed your chances. As it stands now, you have been given three strikes, Bakugou – your first was on Friday when we punished you, and your second is over what happened today. I would not recommend trying to see what will happen if you hit your third strike."

Katsuki looked like he wanted to argue further, but, aware of the principal's cold eyes on him, he forced himself to swallow the venomous words he wanted to spit at him.

"Now, then," Nezu took a stack of papers from the desk and tapped them on the surface to straighten them up, "onto your punishments. Shinsou, Mineta, you will have detention for the next two weeks for harassing a new student and getting into a fight near school grounds. Bakugou, another week of detention has been added to your punishment. Should we hear any more of you three harassing Miss Shield again, your punishments will become more severe. Keep that in mind the next time you're feeling as though someone is looking down on you."

With that, he put the papers back down, and looked up to smile at the three boys.

"Now then, we've kept you at school for long enough. Please start heading home, and don't let us catch you fighting again."

With that clear order, the three boys stood up, Katsuki aware of the teachers staring at him in particular, as they shouldered their backpacks and headed out of the office. As the door shut behind them, they heard Nezu let out a small sigh and Present Mic huffing a bit, while Aizawa merely glared at their backs until the two oak doors closed behind them.

All three of them were deadly quiet as they went back down to the ground floor and left the school grounds, not one of them looking at the others as they walked through the gate, and stomped their way down the mountain towards the train station. Katsuki continued to fume, Mineta stared forward in shock and frustration before he shook his head and stared down at his feet, and Shinsou clenched his fists tightly at his sides.

As they continued to walk down the dark streets, the streetlights displaying the path, Katsuki gritted his teeth while Shinsou scowled and Mineta sulked.

"Fuck," The blonde boy growled, "fucking … fuck."

"Yeah, well," Shinsou huffed at him, "you're a fucking moron, so it makes me an even bigger moron that I didn't just let you be stupid and fuck yourself over."

"Fuck you, indigo," Katsuki snapped at him, more than happy to have someone to vent his anger towards as he jabbed a finger at him, "you don't get to fucking judge me. You act like you're the king of shit mountain when you couldn't even pass a simple sports festival without cheating. And then you get pissy when people remind you of what a weak piece of shit you are."

"Pot, meet kettle," Mineta muttered to himself while Shinsou glared at Katsuki.

"Oh, don't you fucking say anything either, grapist."

"G-grapist?!" Mineta squeaked. "That's –"

"Say that it isn't accurate," Shinsou rolled his eyes, "I fucking dare you."

There was a moment where Mineta simply sputtered. And then he started crying.

"It's not my fault that I'm so weird looking!" He began to bawl at both of them, making Katsuki and Shinsou recoil at him in disgust. "It's just my character design! If I were maybe a little buff and a little more handsome, I wouldn't have to –"

"Assault girls?" Shinsou shook his head. "You're fucking gross, man."

"B-but – but -!"

"Oh, shut the hell up!" Katsuki barked at Mineta, making him squeal and immediately stop with the pity tears. Quickly stomping forward, the blonde boy whirled around and pointed at his two classmates with a sneer.

"Listen here, you fucking extras – like I told Shitty Deku, I'm not gonna be wallowing around on the sidelines forever!" He made clear. "I'm gonna be the next Number One Hero, so if you two ever try to get in my way again, you better get ready for a world of hurt!"

"I mean," Mineta wiped his eyes, looking suddenly unimpressed by Katsuki's threat, "didn't Principal Nezu just say you'd get another strike if you did something again?"

"Shut up!"

"He doesn't want to accept the truth," Shinsou huffed, equally unimpressed, "sad."

"I said shut up!" Katsuki whirled back around to continue stomping away from his classmates. "At least I'm not a pathetic loser who tries manipulating people to get what he wants and whines when he gets caught, and a little freak that tries groping girls because he's ugly!"

That made both Shinsou and Mineta glower at him.

"At least," Shinsou snapped, clenching his jaw, "I'm not the pathetic has been who only gets by because of his flashy quirk!"

Katsuki's step paused for a moment – and then he ripped his backpack off, tossing it down to the ground, and then whipped around and snarled as he charged Shinsou. The indigo-haired boy had enough time to throw off his own backpack as Katsuki tackled him right off the sidewalk, both boys landing hard in the ditch off the road and starting to fight again.

While both boys wrestled and rolled around on the wet ground again, Mineta decided to stay out of this one, sighing as he walked over to their discarded bags and brought them together, and stood guard in case someone came by and asked what they were doing. While he waited, he checked his phone, ignoring the sound of blows being landed, grunting and snarling, and the ground squeaking as they rolled around the wet grass, filling the air.

It took them about five more minutes for the two boys to stop brawling, eventually climbing out of the ditch dirtier and muddier than ever, and they picked up their backpacks and started walking again while Mineta let out a small sigh and followed them. While Katsuki bridged his nose and Shinsou tried to get the twigs out of his hair, the three of them glared ahead for a moment.

And then Katsuki let out a huff.

"Oi. Mute."

"What?" Shinsou grumped.

"Why do you wanna get into the hero course? Not that I care, but you keep going on and on about it."

Shinsou hesitated at that question, his expression falling, before he sighed and responded, "Can't help what you want."

Katsuki huffed again at that, while Mineta simply kept quiet. The blonde boy kept his hands in his pants pockets –

- but inside, to his chagrin, he felt his mind begin to work.

He wasn't stupid, of course – he knew quite well how screwed his chances were to get back to the hero course, but he knew that there had to be an exception. He had done thorough research that very weekend on how general studies students could get into the hero course – he knew that the teachers would observe when general studies students were training and could give them the chance to show what they've got and join the hero course through tests.

He also knew, he scowled, that him acting like a jackass was making his chances of getting back in his seat slimmer and slimmer by the day from how biased the teachers were against him. But …

Slowly, he looked back around at the other two purple idiots. He knew that neither of these guys had high chances of getting in either, but … but they did have better chances than he did right now, as loathe as he was to admit it. But they were both weak as shit, at least physically – he brawled with both of them, and knew that they had no idea how to throw a meaningful punch with any technique, let alone landing a punch. Probably half the bruises on his face were due to lucky shots. At the rate they were going, they wouldn't make it into the course either.

But … if they had someone training them … and the teachers noticed the person training them, and thought they had a change of heart …

… then his dreams of being the Number One Hero weren't forever out of his reach. He just had to be smarter.

Katsuki frowned for a moment – and then he let out a low growl as he stomped forward again, and turned to face the two purple idiots, pointing at them again and causing them to stop in their tracks again to see what he wanted this time.

"Oi, shitheads," He snapped, "listen here. You're both weak as shit. If you wanna get into the hero course, then you're gonna have to learn how to fucking fight. And neither of you can throw a fucking punch to save your lives."

Shinsou and Mineta crinkled their brows, but frowned as they acknowledged they were being insulted again.

"Yeah?" Mineta shouldered his bag, "What's your point?"

"My point is that if you two wanna get into the hero course, you're gonna need someone to whip you into shape. Kick your ass when you're being smug and pretentious, someone to punch you in the face when you're checking out girls. And that person –" He used his thumb to point at himself, "- is me. Starting tomorrow, I'll be whipping you two shitheels into shape."

Both Shinsou and Mineta paused their walking and blinked at the offer as Katsuki gritted his teeth behind his closed mouth, glaring at them to challenge his decision. There was a long pause –

– and then they both snorted.

"Yeah, right," Mineta walked straight past him.

"Yeah," Shinsou likewise moved around Katsuki, "like we'll take tips on how to get into the hero course from the idiot who got expelled from the hero course. Thanks, but no thanks."

"I got fucking second in the entrance exam!" He barked indignantly at them, quickly charging after them as they walked down the road. "Higher than you two dipshits!"

"Yeah, but you're still an awful piece of shit."

"Ha?! Say that again to my face, mute!"

Ochako's world - and her mind - were crashing.

For a long moment, she stared blankly at her mom with her mouth slowly beginning to drop open, the hamster wheel in her head squealing to a halt. On the other side of the table, Taiyo and Miwa were giving their daughter a pair of serious but equally nervous-looking expressions, with her dad clenching his hands into tight fists and Miwa staring straight into Ochako's eyes. Their daughter, meanwhile, continued to stare at her mom like a goldfish, her mind desperately trying to absorb what her parents had just said.

"Kaina Tsutsumi is … our ex-wife."

"She's … she's your mother, Ochako. Your biological mother."

The room was silent for a tense-filled minute – and then Taiyo let out a shuddering breath and unclenched one of his fists to hold his hand over his eyes.

"I'm …" He swallowed loudly, "… I'm sorry, Chipmunk. I'm jus' … sorry."

At her father's quiet voice, Ochako's mouth snapped closed.

"We …" Miwa hesitated for a moment, looking like she wanted to reach across the table for her daughter's hand but holding herself back, "… we've been wanting to tell you this for a – a long time. But we were under a contract, and – and – oh, this is not how I wanted to do this."

"I …" Ochako managed to finally squeak out, her gaze flickering between her parents as they looked more and more guilty by the second. After another moment, she let out a shuddering breath, and tried to push the folder away from her.

And not glance down at it and read what she just read again.

"I … I don't understand," She finally managed to get out, "this … y-you're saying that – that this – this Kaina woman – she's my mother?"

"Yes."

"I … but … but what does that mean?" She looked between both her parents, but her gaze kept flickering more to Miwa. "How can I be – but – but I look just like you, Mama. How can I – how can I be someone else's … I – I don't understand."

"R-righ'," Taiyo quickly nodded at his daughter's questions, noting how quiet his wife had become (and the way her hands were trembling on the table) and deciding to take over the explanation for now, "so … well … it's a bi' of a long story, sweetie, bu' – bu' I'm willin' to answer anythin' you wanna know."

Ochako nodded, letting out a small, shaking breath, and sat up in her seat.

"S-so … so who is … who is Kaina Tsutsumi?"

Both of her parents were quiet for a moment, and then Taiyo sighed.

"Kaina …" He swallowed loudly, "… she was … one of our classmates, back when me and your mom were in high school. She was – well – she was th' most popular girl in school, 'cause she was scouted by the Hero Public Safety Commission as a potential new hero. They pretty much sent someone out tah train her after school an' everythin'. An' everyone loved her – she was cool an' snarky, but calm, kind, an' – an' beautiful."

Ochako nodded slowly, feeling her stomach continue to churn.

"An' …" Taiyo hesitated, glancing at the silent Miwa once before looking back to Ochako, "… an' she and Miwa … they were best friends."

Blinking a bit at that, Ochako looked to her mom again, who was still for a moment before she nodded and looked up at her.

"We'd known each other since middle school," She explained in a quiet voice, "neither of us were afraid of - of getting into fights for people who needed to be stood up to, so we usually got in trouble together, and – and we became friends when we got to know each other in detention. She was my closest friend by the time we got to high school, even if … even if I felt that she'd become way too cool for me to hang out with."

Ochako nodded again.

"When we got to high school, we both met Taiyo," She put her hand down on her husband's, and we were … well, I wouldn't have called us friends, more – more mutual acquaintances."

"See," Taiyo shook his head and sighed, "everyone in school was interested in Kaina. But I … well … I might've ha' a huge crush on yer mom, Chipmunk. Everyone though' of Kaina as the mos' beautiful girl in school, bu' tah me? Miwa was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."

Miwa sighed, but she still smiled a bit bashfully and swatted her husband's shoulder.

"Taiyo was a lot shyer back then," She explained to a slightly 'disgusted-at-parental-affection'-looking Ochako, "we were friendly with each other after being paired as partners in chemistry class, but we wouldn't exactly say we were in each other's friend circles enough to hang out. If I'm being honest, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize that the big teddy bear guy who liked talking to me in science class had a crush on me."

"S-so …" Ochako glanced between them, "… how does … w-what does Kaina have to do with this?"

"Well," Taiyo folded his hands together, "one day, when I was gettin' ready for my wrestlin' club, Kaina confronted me on th' crush I had on yer mom. An', uh … it turned out tha' I wasn' the only one who was crushin' on her."

Ochako paused for a moment. And then she blinked.

"Oh.." She glanced over at her mom again, "So … she …"

"Yep," Taiyo nodded slowly, "Kaina had a crush on yer mom, too. She'd been crushin' on her longer than I had, an' … well, she recognized the looks I was sendin' Miwa, and called me out on it."

"Like I said," Miwa sighed in disappointment at herself, "I had no idea - for either of them."

"S-so," Ochako glanced over at her dad, "Kaina told you to – uh – back off?"

"Heh! She tol' me that she wanted to tell me that," Taiyo smiled ruefully, "bu' in th' end, we ended up bondin' over us havin' a crush on th' same girl. Honestly, it's funny that I wanted to be close to yer mom, bu' … well, it ended being through Kaina that I became proper friends with her."

"And … you both confessed to Mama?" Ochako asked, feeling a strange sense of déjà vu.

"Well, er … no' exactly," Taiyo looked sheepish, "see, Kaina and I … we were both nervous about getting' rejected - me for bein' a big awkward idiot, and Kaina because she wasn't sure yer mom even liked girls. So, while we were angstin' about it, th' two of us started gettin' closer. I'll tell ya, Chipmunk, Kaina acted like the cool, calm an' collected student, but in private? In private she could get in trouble like no one's business, an' she liked tah drag me along."

"U-uh huh," Ochako nodded, kind of finding it hard to imagine her dad being a troublemaker.

"So we got pretty close after a while, and … er …" He cleared his throat, looking awkward, "… we couldn' really deny tha' we were – uh – gettin' closer to … uh …"

"What your father's trying to say, Ochako," Miwa sighed, "is that he and Kaina realized they were attracted to each other, and before I knew it, they started going steady. And I was shocked."

"I mean couldja blame us?" Taiyo laughed a bit while Ochako looked awkwardly between them. "She was beautiful. Almost' as beautiful as ye are, Miwa."

"Nice save, Taiyo."

"An' yeh know how feisty she was back then! I had tah be careful half the time or she'd have taken a bite out of me, even before we started dating'."

"Oh, I'm aware, Taiyo. I'm very well –"

"C-could you guys please continue on with the story?" Ochako whimpered, feeling mortified at the thought of her parents … courting … and wanting to move the conversation on.

"Hm? Ah, er, righ'," Taiyo nodded quickly, realizing that he was getting carried away, "so, uh – me and Kaina. We, uh – we started goin' out, bu' we were both aware that we still had feelin's for Miwa. An' … well, we had a bit of a talk, and since Kaina was … well … ten times more confident than I was when it came to yer mom, even if she wasn't sure about how Miwa felt. She was the one to bring up the possibility of … well …"

He paused for a moment to figure out how to phrase what he wanted to say without traumatizing his daughter.

"… she made it clear," He gulped a bit, "tha' if she had feelin's for yer mom and me, she was gonna have us both. An' … well, we talked it through, an' she ended up propositioning Miwa."

"'Propositioned'," Miwa shook her head and smiled, "right. As though she hadn't gone up to me at Sako's party and just said 'I've liked you for a while, Taiyo likes you, so you're dating both of us now'."

"R-really?" Ochako blinked, feeling surprised. "Just like that?"

"Well … it was a bit confusing for me," Miwa shook her head, while going red – she knew that she didn't need to mention how her ex-wife had 'persuaded' her into joining her relationship with her husband – "I hadn't thought of ever dating members of my own sex before. But … well, I'm not gonna lie and say that your father was the only one taken in by her charms. Kaina was a – she's a force of nature when she wants to get something, and there wasn't much we could do to stop her - and that's implying if we even wanted to stop her."

She lowered her gaze back to the table, a soft smile on her face.

"I thought that we'd go on one date, the three of us, and we'd realize it's a bad idea, but … well, a date turned into two, into three, into five, into ten. We kept our relationship under the radar until after we graduated, and eventually, we moved to another city in Mie and got an apartment together."

While her mother explained that, Ochako felt her heart hammer a bit. Oh, where, oh, where had she heard that kind of story before? Three friends deciding to give a three-way relationship a try.

And … well … seeing as only two members of that polyamorous relationship were sitting in front of her and only now explaining how there had been a third …

… well … she couldn't deny that it kind of stung in a way she didn't expect.

"Soon enough," Taiyo smiled in reminiscence, unaware of his daughter growing quiet, "things were serious enough that I proposed tah both of 'em, and they both accepted. We got married at city hall, and – well, tha' was tha'. Miwa and I got started on our construction company, and Kaina officially joined the Hero Commission as the next upcoming hero. An' she got … well, she got popular. A lot of our money, our comfortableness, was because she was bringin' in a lot of it."

"And she never minded," Miwa shook her head, "even if we felt like we were dragging her down or forcing her to cover us if work wasn't bringing in a lot of money. She just wanted us to live comfortably, so she never minded, as long as we were happy. And, well, for a few years we were – but then everything changed after – after you were born, sweetie."

Ochako felt herself wince at that, and Miwa seemed to realize at once that she had worded that wrong, reaching out to hold her hand over her daughter's before she caught herself and moved it back, still looking remorseful for how she said that.

However, before she could say anything, Ochako spoke up for the first time in a little while.

"I … I still don't understand," She said in a quiet voice, "you said that this – this Kaina woman is my – my bio mom. Like – like she's the one who gave birth to me."

"Yes, sweetie."

"But … but I look just like you, Mama," She looked up at her, "so – so how is that possible?"

"Well …" Miwa sighed, folding her hands together on the table, "… truthfully, Ochako, we – we decided soon after we got married to have children, and figured that since Kaina was a pro hero, I should be the one to carry our child. But after a few tries, we – we found out that I'm infertile. No matter how many times we tried, I – I wasn't able to get pregnant. But then we found out about a procedure – some early medical experiment that allowed the egg of one woman to be implanted into another woman, and … essentially melded together. It was a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo that your father and I really don't understand even now."

"Er … okay, do I really wanna know how this works?" Ochako looked grossed out again.

"W-well, we'll try and skip the details," Taiyo was unable to resist a small smile at his daughter's clear horror of anything sexual happening between her parents, "in any case, we talked it through with Kaina, and … we decided tha' –"

He paused, however, when he glanced down at his wife's clenched hands again, and noticed her beginning to shake again. He quieted down for a moment, his smile fading – and then he sighed, and moved to wrap his arm around Miwa's shoulders, feeling her shake, and brought her in.

"- Chipmunk," He said in a serious voice, making Ochako blink a bit, "I jus' … even if yer mom here wasn' the one who gave birth tah ya, she's yer mom. Jus' as much as Kaina is. Nothin' will ever change that."

Ochako found herself sitting still at that, her eyes trailing over to where Miwa was sitting. Her mom, for her part, stared down at her hands while avoiding her daughter's gaze.

"I know that …" Miwa hesitated, a wobble in her voice, "… it might … it might make you look differently at me now, Ochako, but … I just …"

Ochako stared at her mother for a long moment as she kept her face hidden from her – and then she shook her head as she stood up abruptly from the table. Both parents briefly feared that she was about to walk away from the table, but instead, Ochako moved around it so that she could crouch down beside her mom, and bring her in for a hug, Miwa quickly unclenching her hands and hugging her back as she sniffled.

"Of course," Ochako mumbled, "of course you're still my mama. Nothing's going to change that."

"I know," Miwa nodded slowly, kissing her daughter's hair, "I know, I just …"

They were both quiet for a long moment. Ochako then glanced up at her dad as he rested his hands on his wife's shoulders and rubbed them.

"What … what happened after that, Daddy?" She asked him. "Why did … why did …"

She hesitated for a second to figure out what exactly to call the woman they were talking about.

"… why did … Kaina … leave?"

"Well …" Taiyo hesitated, and then sighed, "… if … if we're bein' honest, Chipmunk … we don' know."

"After you were born, and Kaina's maternity leave was up," Miwa said in a slightly choked voice, "she … started staying for longer hours at work. Sometimes she wouldn't come home at all, and we'd go days without hearing from her. It … it caused a strain on us, and – and we weren't sure what was going on, or how to confront her on it. But then, one day, she came home, and … and it was like we weren't even there."

"W-what do you mean?"

"She jus' … she wasn' respondin' to us," Taiyo closed his eyes, frowning sadly, "it was like she was in – in shock. She couldn' tell us wha' happened tah make her like that, or talk to us at all. She ended up holdin' you for a few minutes, and then she jus' …"

"She broke down," Miwa said, "and cried like we had never seen her cry before."

Ochako's gaze flickered between her parents, her stomach continuing to tighten.

"Th' next day …" A flash of pain crossed her dad's face, "… she lef' divorce papers on the table, and moved out of the apartment. Said she needed time for herself, an' – an' that left us a sum of money fer ya, tah make sure yeh were comfortable. We never heard from her again after tha' – no' until las' Friday, when she saw us at the sports festival."

"Is … is that where you guys went that night?" Ochako asked quietly.

"Yeah. We … we go' tha' binder from Recovery Girl," He explained as he gestured towards the folder on the table, "an' we heard tha' somethin' from yer other mom migh' happen tah ya, as a result of the procedure. So we – we let her know, and – and told her that we were gonna tell ya the truth. But please, please understand, Chipmunk …"

He reached out to place his hand on the top of Ochako's head, while Miwa moved out of her embrace as well to give her a desperate look.

"… Kaina, she loves ya," Taiyo said quietly, "I know she loves ya."

There was a pause.

"If she loves me," Ochako muttered in a small, defeated voice, "why am I only learning that she's my mom now?"

Both Taiyo and Miwa winced.

"Ochako," Miwa gently said, "it's … it's not that simple."

"Seems pretty simple to me," Ochako said in a blank, matter of fact voice, "she didn't want to be my mom, so she left us. That's -"

"No," Taiyo suddenly interrupted her, and Ochako blinked at the heat in his voice, even if he was audibly attempting to temper it, "no, Ochako. I – I know that this is shockin' tah ya, and I don' blame ya for bein' – bein' angry at her, yer mom and I have been angry with her too – but I know tha' Kaina loves ya. We don' know why she left, an' why she hasn' contacted us until now, but – but I saw her eyes when we talked about ya to her on Friday. She cares about ya so much."

Ochako was quiet again for a long moment, squatting beside her mom's chair while Miwa stared down at her in worry. And then, with a soft sigh, she straightened up.

"… you said that she's a hero," She said quietly, staring down at the table and avoiding her parents' gazes, "who … who is she? What's her hero name?"

Both Taiyo and Miwa paused, turning to give each other a look as though debating whether or not to answer their daughter. And then Taiyo let out a shaking sigh.

"… Lady Nagant." He said. "Her hero name is Lady Nagant."

And that name, of course, made the already tight feeling in Ochako's stomach squeeze even tighter. She let out a soft gasp, her gaze flickering down to the backpack that she had left beside her chair, and for a few seconds, she stood there in silence.

And then, with a shaking breath, she walked over to the backpack and picked it up, and started heading out of the kitchen towards the front door.

"Ochako?" Miwa stood up quickly from the table, a tinge of panic in her voice.

"I just …" She said in a quiet voice, shaking her head, "… I just need some time alone, Mama. I'm not gonna go far."

With that, she stepped back into the main hall, moving out the front door, and then gently and quietly closed it behind her.

Now outside in the warm spring air, Ochako let out another sigh as she stood there for a moment, her gaze flickering over towards Izuku's door as though tempted to go in and spend time with her boyfriend – but then she shook her head and began walking the opposite way, walking down the hall towards the stairs. She'd love to get Izuku's thoughts and opinions on this, but – but she knew that her mind was moving a mile a minute, straining to grasp everything that was just told to her in the last ten minutes, and she needed time to get her thoughts organized and to calm down.

Making her way down the stairs to the ground floor, walking across the parking lot and moving underneath the line of yellow police tape, Ochako put her backpack down between her feet, and sat down on the abandoned swing of the playground, her hands gently grasping the thin and worn-out ropes, and stared blankly at nothing. She ignored the melted plastic lump beside her as she absently swung back and forth for a few minutes.

And then she shook her head and reached down to her backpack, pulling out her internship requests.

Flipping through the pages, she found what she was looking for quickly. Her finger trailing down to the name on the sheet of paper, accompanied by the phone number and email beside it, and frowned.

My mom … is my mom, but she's not really my mom. Kaina Tsutsumi … Lady Nagant … is my bio mom.

That was important for her to differentiate, Ochako frowned. It was important to make that difference. Miwa might not have been the one to give birth to her, but – but she was her mom. Nothing was going to change that, like she had said upstairs.

Kaina … to her, she was a stranger. But staring down at the sharpshooter's name on the sheet … Ochako couldn't help but feel her heart thumping uncomfortably in her chest.

Lady Nagant is my mom …

… and … she doesn't want anything to do with me.

She hated that tears began to spill from her eyes at the thought, sniffling as she bowed her head and sat there. Everything that she knew – everything – had been changed in the span of about ten minutes. Her parents … they had been married to someone else before she had been born.

That woman … she was the one who gave birth to her.

She was a hero.

And for some reason, she had come home one day, held Ochako, cried her heart out, and then walked out of their lives without giving them a reason why.

This … this was …

"I know that this is shockin' tah ya, and I don' blame ya for bein' – bein' angry at her, yer mom and I have been angry with her too – but I know tha' Kaina loves ya."

Her dad said that her … her other mom … loved her. But god, it didn't feel like it from where she was sitting.

She gently shook her head, and her gaze raised back up to the paper where Lady Nagant's contact info was. The email, of course, was obviously not hers, what with the HPSC's name in it and nowhere indicating Nagant's name, but … but maybe the phone number …

She pulled her phone out from her pocket, staring down at the number on the sheet for a second, and then dialed it in. Once her finger was hovering over the green button, Ochako found herself hesitating, using the back of her other hand with the paper to wipe at her teary eyes, and then, after taking a deep breath and feeling her stomach and heart clench, she pressed the button and raised the phone to her ear.

The phone only rang once before it connected.

"Hello!" A cheery, female and clearly automated voice spoke at once. "You've reached the Hero Public Safety Commission's official line. If you'd like to speak to a representative, please press 'one'. If you –"

Not even bothering to hear the rest of the response, Ochako pressed the red button on the phone and sighed as she put it back in her pocket and put the piece of paper in her lap, raising her hands to hold the swing's ropes again as she took a deep, unsettled breath.

She knew that it wouldn't be that simple to call Nagant – and hell, she wouldn't even know what to say if the phone had picked up and Nagant had been on the other end. All she knew was that her heart hurt, and she wasn't sure if she even wanted to hear this woman's voice – either to tell her that she wanted to meet her or tell her to go fuck herself. She felt like her heart was tearing in two, her mind telling her to call Nagant and tell her that she knows, or … or …

… fuck.

Ochako shook her head again, staring down at the paper and feeling tears begin to build in her eyes again. She reminded herself that this wasn't some special thing she should be looking into – everyone in class got the same request. This wasn't her – her other mother sending her a request so that they could meet. She sent everyone a request. Or – or it was the Commission that sent the request under Nagant's name, either or. She wasn't special.

But … but then, she remembered what they discussed this afternoon.

"But her career ended up stopping when she accidentally shot one of the heroes she was on duty with."

"Wait, you're saying that this chick actually killed someone?"

"It was an accident, and she pretty much immediately went into retirement not long after it happened. I guess … I don't know, she felt guilty, and had a press conference announcing that she was quitting hero work. I remember the day it happened – she pretty much disappeared right off the grid, the hero forums called it an 'self-imposed exile'."

Izuku said … that she killed someone. A fellow hero.

Was … was that why she left?

Ochako felt herself frown at the thought, but to her disgust, hope began to fill her chest. The timeline … it might match, she considered. Did … did Nagant make that horrible mistake, come home, and – and the guilt of what she had done caused her to leave?

She knew that this was just her trying to come up with an excuse for Nagant, Ochako realized at once as she sighed. She was attempting to find a rational reason as to why her birth mother hadn't stayed around, to assure herself that her dad was right and Nagant maybe loved her. But … but what she was thinking … a part of it made sense, she thought.

If … if she had killed someone and went into exile … she wouldn't have wanted to have her husband, wife and daughter around. But … but if what she was thinking was right, if Nagant had left when she was a baby, then – then it would've been at least fourteen or fifteen years, and – and she only reached out to her parents for the first time this Friday.

But why? Why would she do that? Why would she –

"Ochako?"

Letting out a small yelp at the quiet voice above her, Ochako quickly looked up. Standing near the swing, Miwa was frowning as she put her hand gently down on one of the swing's metal poles.

"Sweetie," She said in a quiet voice, "are you okay?"

"I …" Ochako hesitated for a moment, glancing down at the paper in her hand for a moment before quickly wiping at her eyes, sniffling and glancing away.

"… I'm fine," She lied, "just … thinking. W-where's Daddy?"

"He was, uh … he was worried you were gonna run off," Her mom admitted, moving around the metal pole to sit down in the swing next to Ochako's, "so I convinced him that I'd check the parking lot and park before he went searching with his truck."

Ochako nodded numbly, staring down at her backpack. The two Urarakas were quiet for a long moment, and then Miwa sighed and stared down at her feet – better that than look up at the pink strands in her daughter's hair that were growing out, and be reminded of her guilt.

"Ochako," She said in a quiet voice, "I … I'm so sorry that we kept this from you."

Ochako was quiet for a moment before she responded.

"Why?" She asked quietly and shook her head while attempting to keep her voice from shaking. "How … I … I'm not angry about that, Mama, I – I don't even know how you would explain all that. But … why didn't you tell me?"

"Because the Hero Commission made us."

Ochako blinked a bit at that, looking up at her mother. Her face was still even, but there was a notable sound of disdain in her voice.

"The Hero Public Safety Commission," She said in a low voice, "they've been … I've always had my suspicions about them and your mother. We couldn't do much with Kaina without the Commission giving us permission – we had to keep our marriage with her a secret, we had to write a contract with them when we relocated for the first time. And – and then when we decided to have you, Kaina – she was forced to write something in secret, and not tell us about it at all. We thought – we thought it was just something to excuse her from hero work while she was pregnant, but – but after Kaina left, we were confronted by another few agents, and they made us sign a contract that forbade us from telling you the truth about your mother."

"I …" Ochako shook her head, biting the inside of her lip gently, "… but why?"

"I don't know," Miwa shook her head, "but we have the expenses or the willpower to fight someone bigger than us, so … so we just agreed to their demands. But when we saw that folder, and your results … I knew that it was time to tell you."

She hesitated for a moment, and then reached out to gently put her hand on her daughter's on the swing.

"Ochako," She stared at her, "I love you so much. The day you were born was one of the happiest of my life, and I know that Taiyo thinks the same. We both love you so much, and we're so sorry that we kept this from you. I know that … if you want your distance from us –"

At that moment, Ochako broke. Quickly getting off the swing, she was quick to throw her arms over her mother's neck and hug her tightly again. Miwa let out a surprised grunt at the sudden force that nearly sent her off the swing, but realizing that her daughter was hugging her, she was quick to hug her back, getting up from the swing and standing there with her daughter.

They both stood there in the park for a long moment, Ochako sniffling while Miwa stroked the back of her head, before she took a step back, wiping at her eyes and then grumbling when Miwa insisted on wiping them away for her.

"I …" She managed to get out, "… I love you too, Mama."

Miwa nodded slowly, taking a shuddering breath as she stroked Ochako's cheek. And then she let out a small sigh, and reached down to take Ochako's phone out of her pocket. The brown-haired girl blinked as her mom brought out her own phone and gave Ochako a soft look.

"Ochako," She said in a gentle voice, "I … know that if you don't want to know more about Kaina, we won't make you. It's your choice, and we wouldn't hold it against you if you wanted to just forget about everything. But I … I do have her phone number here, the one she used to contact us on Friday. If you want … I can give you that number."

Ochako found herself pausing at that offer, realizing what her mother was saying. She was giving her the option of calling Nagant, of hearing everything from her, of – of making the first step of connecting.

For a moment, the thought of that shot a wave of anxiety through her – but then, after taking a deep breath, Ochako pushed past that fear and nodded. Smiling at her, Miwa inputted the new phone number into Ochako's contacts, and gave it back to her.

"You take your time," She told her, "and contact Kaina on your own terms. Now … I'm tired, and hungry after moving things all day long. Wanna go calm your dad down and force him to take us out for cheeseburgers?"

Ochako let out a small giggle at that, and nodded, letting her mom wrap her arm around her shoulders and guide her back towards the apartment, Miwa plucking her daughter's backpack off the ground and carrying it for her. As they walked back home, Ochako glanced down at her phone, and then sighed and put it back into her pocket.

Not yet, she decided. She … she wanted to get a bit more advice before she decided whether to make the call or not.

But … soon.

… yep. He should've gone to sleep a lot earlier last night.

With a long, tired groan as he turned off his phone's alarm, Izuku rolled onto his back, staring blankly up at the dark ceiling of his own room from where he was lying on his futon. The lull of sleep was attempting to pull him back under, but he could hear the distant sound of the shower going, meaning that people must already be up and about – and he also needed to make sure that Melissa got to school on time, so it would probably be for the better that he got up and started getting ready.

Flipping the sheets off of him and shivering in the early morning air, Izuku sat up and looked around the dark room, realizing that he hadn't heard Melissa reacting to the alarm at all. Glancing around at his own bed, Izuku saw that it was empty, and understood that she had probably already gotten up – he could see a faint light under his door, which, in his still sleep-addled mind, probably meant that she was probably out having breakfast.

Well, that was good. Maybe she handled getting a lot less sleep better than he did.

Last night was … whew. The moment she had asked him to help her design a robot, Izuku's curiosity had turned into what could honestly be described as a nerdgasm, and they had spent over four hours going over potential designs for a mechanical suit of armor, using some of Izuku's notes about All Might as a starting line for how powerful they could make it. Melissa had pondered the different kinds of technologies that she could use to replicate a few of her uncle's moves, and they spent a lot of time wondering and being excited over what other designs they could come up with.

After that, while Melissa had been busy making a list of parts and gear she would need to build her suit, Izuku had finished going through his internship list – and one specific name that had caught his attention had caught him completely off guard, making him yelp so loudly it distracted Melissa from her own note taking. Unfortunately, since it had been around one in the morning, Hisashi had knocked on their door to remind them that they had school the next day, so they both reluctantly got ready for bed so that they weren't complete zombies in the next morning. Still, Melissa planned to visit the support studio later today to look over what kind of space was in there for her work, in addition to the kinds of materials UA offered, and Izuku had gone to sleep pondering the benefits of interning with the hero he had seen.

In any case, it was great that Melissa seemed to have finally found her groove. Izuku smiled tiredly to himself as he stood up from the floor and stretched, still half-asleep as he began stumbling his way out of his room. The excitement on her face when she had realized a way that she could keep up with the rest of their classmates had definitely infected him, filling him with a happiness that made his chest swell even now. Add to the fact that Melissa also made the time to design a few new support items for Izuku that would be ready to go before internships, he couldn't help but feel like everything was going upwards for him right now. Heck, he had been so happy for her, he hadn't even felt uncomfortable sleeping in the same room as a different girl than Ochako or Itsuka!

… well, okay, that wasn't entirely true – he had felt a little nervous when he had laid down and calmed down from their creative high, but they had both been so tired they pretty much fell asleep at once. So it wasn't like when he had gotten into Itsuka's bed with her and Ochako and woke up snuggling with both girls, or …

… or when … he and Itsuka had gotten into his bed and …

… and …

Stepping out into the hallway, Izuku found himself pausing, glancing back into his room at the empty bed, and felt himself go a bit red. Clearing his throat and feeling himself blush more, he quickly closed the door behind him, and started wandering towards the bathroom.

Indeed, in all of the excitement of the weekend, he had … kind of forgotten about how he and Itsuka had gotten together. And when he thought, 'gotten together', he meant 'make out under his covers'. Gulping, Izuku shook his head at how embarrassingly easy it had been to get lost in his passion for Itsuka, something that made him blush with mortification. Usually, love confessions didn't involve the guy taking off his shirt and then blatantly grabbing the girl's butt, he reminded himself.

He was at least thankful that the alarm had stopped them before anything else had happened.

… but … that raised the question of what would've happened if Izuku had remembered to turn off his alarm that night.

Pausing in the hallway again, hearing the sound of the shower turning off but not properly registering it, Izuku felt himself go red. If … he and Itsuka hadn't been interrupted by the alarm … how far might they have gotten? He wanted to say that he would've stopped it before it got too far, but … well, he knew better than to try thinking 'oh, I would've done better' when he knew that what had happened had been pretty emotionally charged. He knew, due to the love confession and the overwhelming love he had felt for Itsuka, he hadn't … exactly been restrained when they started kissing. And neither as she, seeing as she had been the one to begin their make out after he kissed her so enthusiastically.

He wanted to say that Itsuka would've known when to stop it, but … but was there …

… was there maybe the chance of them doing … more with each other if they hadn't been stopped by the alarm?

Squeaking a bit at that thought, Izuku shook his head and started making his way towards the bathroom again, unaware of humming coming from the kitchen or snoring from the couch in the living room.

He … supposed that this was something that he had to think about as well. In the euphoria of starting to date Ochako and Itsuka at the same time, he kind of … forgot about the obvious fact that his two girlfriends were insanely attractive, and were clearly attracted to him, as hard as it was to believe. And there was also the fact that they agreed to keep their relationship a secret from everyone for now, which meant that they were waiting until they were behind closed doors to do anything together.

So that meant that … it was very much possible that as soon as they had the chance, there would be … more kissing. More being lovey-dovey together. More … well … experiments with what they could do together.

Feeling himself shake a bit at that, Izuku pulled open the door to the bathroom, not even registering the steam in the bathroom fogging up the mirror as he stepped up to the sink to grab his toothbrush, lost in his thoughts. It was – it was true, the possibility of the three of them getting together and deciding to have some … 'fun' … was high. Between his first passionate kiss with Ochako, and his make out with Itsuka after that, he now knew that both of his girlfriends weren't exactly shy about getting to the … er … physical parts of their relationship.

Which meant that one thing was clear: if he was going to get to do this – he would need to do some research. Some very … inappropriate research, he blushed as he put toothpaste on his brush and raised it to his mouth to start scrubbing. But important research nonetheless –

"I-Izuku?"

At the quiet, embarrassed voice right behind him, Izuku paused yet again, his hand moving his toothbrush back and forth halting. Staring blankly at the fogged-up mirror for a moment, as though only now realizing how steamy the room was, Izuku felt sweat begin to slide down his neck as he registered one very, important fact about that voice.

It didn't … belong to his mom or dad.

Slowly, as though he had only realized he was in the same room as a horror movie villain, Izuku turned his head to look over his shoulder, his toothbrush dangling loosely from his mouth, and standing there, near the tub and staring at him in surprise and embarrassment, was Melissa.

She was … well … to get it out of the way, she wasn't naked, of course. But she was still alarmingly close to being so in the fluffy white towel she had wrapped around her upper body and just above her thighs. Her long hair was tied up in a second towel on the top of her head, her glasses off but still staring blankly at him. And then there was the fact that one of her feet was up on the edge of the tub, which gave him a … very good look at her long, bare leg.

And Izuku's gaze subconsciously flickered down to it, looking at how plump it looked and how it led up to the towel where a hint of her … her …

Very quickly, Izuku realized what was doing.

"Gak!" He squeaked, immediately slamming his hand to his eyes to cover them as Melissa let out another quick gasp of surprise. He tried to quickly make his way out of the bathroom while blind, but due to the fact his eyes were covered, his shoulder bounced against the doorframe, making him yelp in pain and automatically lower his hand so he could see, making him glance over at Melissa again as she quickly brought her leg down from the tub.

"O-oh, no, it's -!" She tried to raise her hands to stop him – and then, to both their horror, the towel around her waist loosened. Thankfully, she managed to quickly catch it before it fell, trying to tie it back up to cover her, and Izuku was quick to spin on his heel to face the opposite direction before he caught sight of anything he definitely wasn't supposed to.

"S-sorry!" He managed to finally get out while his face burned bright red. "I – I wasn't thinking, I – I – sorry!"

"N-no, it's – it's fine!" Melissa hurriedly wrapped her towel firmer around her and felt the blush on her own neck and ears deepen. "You're good!"

"G-great!"

"Yep!"

With that, Izuku blindly tossed his toothbrush over his shoulder to land back in the toothbrush cup – it would've been impressive how he got it effortlessly if not for the fact it landed on the opposite side down – and all but ran out of the bathroom, shutting it quickly and then sprinting back to his room, only now aware of Inko humming as she made breakfast in the kitchen, and Hisashi still snoring on the couch as he fled.

Slamming his door shut, wide awake now, Izuku slid down to the floor of his room, holding his hand over his mouth as he hyperventilated, realizing what he had done and how he would never be able to look Melissa in the eye again. And back in the bathroom, Melissa wiped the foggy mirror with her hair towel and put Izuku's toothbrush back into the cup correctly, putting her glasses on and catching sight of how red her face was in the mirror, and feeling herself shake.

So … well, it was safe to say that they were both very much awake now.

"Uh …" Ochako tilted her head a bit as she stepped through the door to the roof, staring down in confusion at the odd scene before her, "… Deku, why are you … bowing?"

Indeed, what she was looking at right now was a bit confusing – Izuku was, once again, bowing low in dogeza before Itsuka, who was sitting on the bench before him and giving him a dry, amused look as she ate her lunch. It had only been a few minutes after the lunch bell rang, and Ochako had asked both her partners to eat privately with her today before they had gotten to school so that she could talk to them about … well … what she had found out about herself last night.

She had noticed, of course, that Izuku had been acting a bit weird all morning – ever since he had greeted her out in the hall with Melissa, both of them pointedly looking away from each other. And … well, it became a bit obvious by the time they had gotten to UA, where Izuku was huddled on his desk in defeat and not saying anything, even as Nejire noted how quiet and withdrawn he had been and gave him several pokes with her fingers that he hadn't responded to at all. It was kind of the reason she decided to try eating up on one of UA's rooftops, where there was a small training ring for people to practice their quirks while it was patrolled by small drones, which were probably there to catch anyone if they accidentally fell over the side. If Izuku needed somewhere private for them to figure out what was going on, no one would've bothered them up on the somewhat windy rooftop of the school.

Which … well … was maybe a good idea after all, seeing as Izuku had taken this time to begin kissing the ground with how low his head was right now.

"Well, Ochako," Itsuka turned to smirk over at their partner as she made her way over to the bench, "Mr. Spark over here has apparently been having some adventures this morning. According to him, he accidentally walked in on Melissa getting out of the shower this morning."

Ochako let out a small sputter at that, quickly looking around at Izuku in surprise and … let's be honest, a bit of the unmistakable girlfriend energy of 'I'm sorry, you did what'. Izuku, for his part, didn't look up at either of them at all, but he did press his face harder against the ground.

"I – I am so sorry!" He sounded completely ashamed of himself. "I wasn't paying attention at all, it was – it was really early, and I was still half-asleep, and – and – oh, what am I doing, I shouldn't be giving you both excuses, there's nothing excusing me from being an awful boyfriend! I'll – I'll let you both do what you want to –"

"W-whoa, wait a second, Deku," Ochako quickly interrupted him, sitting down on the bench beside Itsuka as both girls began to look a bit exasperated, "we aren't gonna beat you up, Itsuka's just messing with you."

"Yeah," Itsuka dropped her smirk to give him a more genuine smile, "I'm just poking fun at you, we're not actually mad - just tell us what happened, Izuku."

"I … well … pretty much what I just said," Izuku glanced up at both of them, still looking guilty as he glanced to the side, "I was half-asleep, I walked into the bathroom when she got out of the shower, and – and when I noticed her, I ran out of there as fast as I could. S-she was wearing a towel, so I didn't see much, but – well – yeah."

Both girls paused, glancing at each other briefly before Itsuka shrugged.

"Well," She scooped some of her sushi out from the bento box, "that doesn't sound too bad, Izuku."

"Of course, it's bad!" He despaired, throwing his head back to the ground. "She probably thinks I'm a pervert now!"

"I mean –" Ochako shrugged, feeling her cheeks go a bit red, "- what did you get a look at?"

"H-her leg," He glanced away from them, his face burning hotter, "and … maybe a bit of her butt."

Itsuka and Ochako, despite the despair on their boyfriend's face and the guilt in his voice, were unable to stop themselves from snorting a bit.

"Naturally, it's her butt," Itsuka chortled to herself, "everything with us has to do with butts - first Ochako grabs yours, and then you grab mine … we're currently two for three. We just have to see which one of us ends up grabbing Ochako's butt first."

Ochako cleared her throat, going a bit redder at that … very tantalizing thought, although she quickly glanced down at her boyfriend and giggled.

"Still," She shook her head and leaned over to smile down at Izuku, "Deku, you perv. First you check out Melissa's butt, now you're walking in on her in the shower?"

"We should've known," Itsuka joined in on the joke.

"Guys, it's not funny!" Izuku groaned. "I thought for a second that she was gonna kill me!"

With a soft sigh, Itsuka put her bento box down on the bench between her and Ochako and stood up. Walking over to Izuku, she knelt, and took his shoulders to raise him out of the dogeza bow, making him blink as he glanced up and saw her smiling down at him.

"Izuku," She comforted him, raising her hand to brush some of his hair out of his face, "was it an accident?"

"Of course!" He answered at once, going a bit red with her fingers brushing against his hair.

"And does she know that?"

"I – I think so?"

"Well," She gave him a smile as she tried to help him stand up, "if she knows that it's an accident, then you shouldn't be worrying about it. I'll be honest, yeah, Melissa seems embarrassed, but it doesn't seem like she's angry at you over it. It doesn't have to be a big deal, unless you act like it is. Just treat it as an accident – which it was – and apologize to her, and Melissa won't think you're a pervert."

Izuku didn't seem entirely sure about that, but he still sighed and nodded, getting up from the ground with his girlfriend's help. After taking a moment to brush some dust off his pants legs, he walked back to the bench with Itsuka to sit in between both girls, who both smiled and leaned against him, which made him go a bit red but was clearly something he didn't mind, if the smile that appeared on his face was any indication. Seeing as they were all alone on the roof, they certainly didn't mind indulging in a little bit of PDA.

Once Izuku had calmed down enough to start getting into his lunch, Itsuka let out a sigh, and looked around at Ochako as the brown-haired girl with pink stripes slowly but gradually appearing in her hair opened her bento box.

"So," She leaned around Izuku to look at her girlfriend, "was there a reason why you wanted us to eat alone today, Ochako?"

"Huh? Oh, uh – right," Ochako quickly straightened up, feeling her stomach tense a bit as she paused her attempts to eat so that she could look at her partners, "so, er – there was, uh – there was something that my parents talked to me about when I got back to the apartment last night. It, uh – it's kind of making me question everything right now, so I – I was hoping that I could get your advice."

"Oh," Izuku blinked, looking around at her with a small smile while Itsuka nodded, "well, sure, Occhan. What's up?"

Ochako grimaced a bit, and then took a deep breath.

"So, uh …" She shrugged her shoulders, "… to put it … simply … I found out last night that my mom isn't … uh … my exact mom."

"…"

"…"

"I actually … have two. Mama is – she's not the one who gave birth to me."

"…"

"…"

"And, uh – the mom that gave birth to me – do you guys remember when we all talked about Lady Nagant yesterday? Apparently, it's – it's her. She's the one who gave birth to me."

There was a very long pause. Ochako felt herself cringe as Itsuka stared blankly at her, and Izuku's mouth dropped open.

And then Itsuka, in a very confused voice, said, "I – okay, can we – can we get that again? Just – I don't think I understand."

Nodding quickly, Ochako decided to simply cut to the chase, and explained everything that her parents had told her last night. Going over the history between Taiyo, Miwa and Nagant, how they met, how they got together, the HPSC's apparent connection in all of this, the works. She told them how her parents had gotten married, had her, and then Nagant abruptly walked out of their lives. She talked about the conversation she had with her mom out on the swing, and how she now had Nagant's number to call her when she felt ready.

By the time she was done explaining everything, Izuku had gotten up again, tugging at his lip and pacing in a small circle while he looked absolutely gobsmacked, and Itsuka was rubbing her forehead as though she had a headache.

So … pretty much the reactions she had expected, Ochako thought as she felt a bit embarrassed.

"So, uh …" She shrugged her shoulders, "… sorry that was how I – I dropped all of that on you. I know it's a lot."

"No, no, it's – it's cool, sweetie," Itsuka shook her head, "I'm just … trying to wrap my head around all of it. So – so your mom is still your mom, but – not your mom? And this Lady Nagant is your other mom?"

"Y-yep."

"And … wait, so Taiyo's still your dad, right?"

"Y-yeah, he's definitely my dad."

Both of her partners were quiet for a moment – and then Izuku let out a sigh.

"I …" He shook his head, turning to stare down at Ochako a bit blankly, "… I have so many questions."

"Yep," Ochako nodded slowly, "so do I, Deku."

"So – so she's – Lady Nagant is your mother? I – I heard of cases of some people being born through artificial insemination, but – but you look just like Miwa!"

"Yeah," Ochako sighed, playing with a bit of the pink showing through her hair, "and before the pink stuff, I'd have thought so too. But apparently, Mama's … she's infertile, so Kaina was the one who – yeah."

Izuku went a bit quiet at that, staring up at the pink hair showing through her brown locks – and then he let out a sigh, and moved to sit back down between both girls as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Of course," He shook his head, "of course, now that I – I know about her being – of course, that makes sense."

"Huh?" Ochako blinked. "What are you saying, Deku?"

"I mean … when we talked about your hair, when we went to go get ice cream on Saturday," Izuku explained as he typed in a few words on his phone, "I was pretty stumped when we were talking over why you were growing pink hair, but – but if your mom is Lady Nagant, then …"

Finishing looking up what he was searching for, he turned the screen so that both girls could look over his shoulders. They both blinked at the picture shown – a beautiful woman in a black bodysuit leaning to the side, her tongue out as she aimed at something. A long rifle poked out from her elbow, clearly demonstrating a shot as she looked confident and smug, her eye screwed shut.

But it was her hair that the girls looked at – long, beautiful purple hair, but with several pink strands.

"That's her quirk," Izuku explained, "she can turn her hair into bullets that fire from the rifle in her elbow."

"That pink …" Itsuka absently reached over Izuku's shoulders to brush some of Ochako's hair aside, letting her look between it and the picture on Izuku's phone, "… it's the exact same shade. And … if we replace the brown in your hair with purple …"

"Yeah," Ochako nodded, staring down at the confident looking woman for a long moment, before she sighed and shook her head, glancing away, "that … yeah. That make sense, now that we're seeing it."

The three of them were quiet for a moment, Izuku and Itsuka sensing Ochako's mood plummeting when she saw the picture, and letting her stew. After a few minutes of letting Ochako be silent, Izuku sighed and put the phone back in his pocket.

"So …" He glanced at his girlfriend, "… what now?"

"I … I don't really know," She admitted quietly, clasping her fingers together and frowning, "I – I'm not angry at Mama or Daddy, they – they apologized for keeping it from me. But Mama, she – she gave me Kaina's phone number, in case I wanted to talk to her myself, and - ugh."

"And …" Itsuka hesitated, "… do you want to call her?"

"I – I'm not sure," Ochako sighed, "I'm … I know that I probably should if I – I wanted to get answers from her. But I'm … honestly, I don't know how to feel about her yet. I wouldn't even know what to say to her."

"That's fair," Itsuka gently assured her, "I know I wouldn't know how I'd react if my parents kept something this big from me."

"Yeah … I just – I don't know if I want to be angry at her, or – or just get an explanation from her and move on. But I – I still don't know how to feel about Kaina yet, and if I – I should even be angry at her. I mean –" Ochako looked up at both of them, "- I did the math – if Nagant killed a guy, and then left my family, it must mean – it means that she probably felt guilty enough about what happened that she didn't want to be around us, right? Maybe – maybe after fifteen years, things have changed, and – and the reason she contacted my parents is because she's thinking of reconnecting. At the very least, she can tell me why she left, and maybe after that, I can just … move on."

Itsuka slowly nodded at that answer, looking back down to the bento box in her lap. Izuku, however, blinked a bit, straightening up and opening his mouth –

– only for the sound of the first bell above them to suddenly ring, shocking the three of them out of their conversation.

"Oh, crap!" Ochako squeaked, immediately beginning to scoop her rice into her mouth as quickly as she could as the three of them realized that their talk had distracted them from eating. Quickly, the three of them got up to start heading back to Class 1A, so they wouldn't be late for their heroics class.

As they went through the door and headed back down the stairs, Itsuka glanced back at Izuku following both girls down the stairs – she knew that their conversation about Lady Nagant had probably tired Ochako out, so she decided to try changing the topic now that she had the chance.

"So, Izu –" She stuffed some more tempura into her mouth as they hurried, "- did you get a chance to look over your offers last night?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah," Izuku nodded, quickly eating another piece of pork and carefully swallowing, "I got through the offers pretty quickly, honestly – I got everything sorted from hero on the bottom of the rankings to the top who sent me offers."

"Oh, well – who's the top hero who sent you an offer?" She asked curiously, quickly closing her bento box as they got off the stairs on their floor and began hurrying through the halls.

Izuku paused for a moment before answering, swallowing the rest of his lunch, and then he said, in a slightly awkward voice, "Uh – Ryukyu."

"Eh …" Ochako hummed a bit and Itsuka nodded along, all three of them starting to make their way down the hall alongside Izuku –

– and then what their boyfriend said suddenly registered.

Both girls blinked, and paused for a moment, looking back around at Izuku as he put his chopsticks back into his bento box and closed it.

"… Ryukyu?" Itsuka repeated incredulously.

"Yep."

"The … number nine hero. That Ryukyu."

"Yeeeeep," Izuku groaned, nodding slowly and giving both girls a nervous grin, "I am … very well aware of what a big deal this is."

I … wow," Ochako shook her head in amazement, "so you really impressed a top hero? That's amazing, Deku!"

"I – yeah, it is."

"Yeah, but," Itsuka gave him a small look of concern, "do you think that interning with Ryukyu would be a good fit? I mean, you've got your whole elemental power thing, and – and she has a transformation type quirk."

"Yeah," Izuku agreed with her, still looking contemplative, "but … well, like I said yesterday, I'm looking to find a way to control my quirk over improving it. From what I've researched, Ryukyu hasn't taken on interns from hero schools before, but she does have sidekicks that have been interviewed, and they say that she's a good mentor who takes the time to understand their quirks."

"And …" Ochako looked unsure, "… they don't have quirks like hers, right?"

"No, they don't," Izuku shook his head, "so maybe … maybe Ryukyu would be a good fit for me. I'll have to look up a bit more about her later."

Both Itsuka and Ochako shrugged a bit about it, but they didn't have enough time to try advising him on whether or not to accept the request, seeing as they had reached Class 1A as soon as the second bell rang. Quickly putting their bentos away, they made their way back to their desks as everyone sat down, Izuku avoiding looking at Melissa in front of him while she likewise awkwardly studied her own notes, and Setsuna and Yui raised their eyebrows as Itsuka sat down in her desk, which she tried to ignore.

Thankfully, just as Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka were aware of the rest of the class looking around at them returning at the same time curiously, a distraction came at the door at the front sliding open.

"I am here!" All Might announced as he enthusiastically made his way up to the podium, his grin wide as he looked around Class 1A. In her spot, Melissa glanced up and then sat up a bit, her eyes brightening when she saw her uncle in the flesh for the first time in two years, but she knew that it would make a scene if she were to greet him how she usually would.

However, seeing her uncle happily standing at the podium, she thought of her conversation with Ochako on Friday, and felt her smile fall. Still, she kept quiet, simply moving to fold her hands together on the desk.

"Good afternoon, students! My apologies for not being able to take you out for class yesterday," All Might clapped his hands together in apology, "I ended up getting dragged into every meeting under the sun yesterday, so it was to my disappointment that we didn't get to do an activity together after your terrific performances at the sports festival. But worry not, for today, I am here with a few exercises for us all to get back into the swing of things! Before we get started, I have a few instructions for some individual students."

He then looked around at where Melissa was sitting, who was unable to stop herself from smiling when she saw his own grin widen at the sight of her.

"Miss Shield," He gestured to her, "Aizawa received your request to inspect the support studio this afternoon, and has given his approval for your reasoning. You'll be able to spend this afternoon inspecting the lab and its technology for your project."

Several students glanced between each other, muttering curiously at what Melissa could be up to.

"And Young Midoriya, Young Kendou, and Young Uraraka," Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka sat up at attention when their mentor called their names, "we received word that your costumes have been completely repaired and are ready to go. As such, I'd like to ask you three a favor and escort Miss Shield to the support studio while you pick up your costumes! Once you're all done, meet us all at Gym Gamma for training!"

The three of them quickly nodded in agreement, more than happy to show Melissa around (even if Izuku's cheeks did go a bit red), and feeling their backs straighten at the mention of their costumes being repaired. Nejire, meanwhile, looked curious as she raised her hand into the air.

"Ooh!" She quickly squeaked to get their teacher's attention. "Can I go with them, All Might? Please, please, please? I haven't been able to look at the support studio yet, so I'm curious! What kind of stuff do they do there? Do they have robots? Laser swords? Wait, do you think I could request a laser sword? That'd be pretty cool, wouldn't it? Maybe they've got a big old wave motion gun too! Oh, my gosh, maybe we could – ooooooh! Can I go with them? Please, please, please?"

"Hmmmm …" All Might paused for a moment to think, raising his hand to cup his chin – and then he let out a laugh.

"Well, Young Hadou, I don't see why not! We'll be doing plenty of work out in Gym Gamma today, and as I was under the assumption that since a few of us wouldn't be there with us at the start … well, I'll allow it! If any of you would like to make a small detour to the support studio as well to have a look around, I don't mind! Just be sure to make it back to Gym Gamma, so we can get in some training today, and remember to mind your manners!"

With that, the class was excused to go and grab their costumes to head towards the changing room. Quickly, Izuku, Ochako, Itsuka and Melissa went to get changed into their gym uniforms, with the former three aware that they'd be getting changed into hero costumes once they got them back, and Melissa was sure to bring along her sketchbook with her notes inside. Once they were out of their uniforms, they were quickly joined by Nejire, Pony, Eijirou, and Denki in their own hero costumes, while the rest of the class followed All Might towards the gym.

As soon as everyone was ready to go, the small group began making their way towards the support studio. As they walked in a massive group, Pony looked around at both Eijirou and Denki.

"So, uh …" She tapped her fingers together, "… back to our conversation at lunch, Shouji-kunis gonna be rooming with you guys?"

"Yep!" Eijirou nodded, grinning and moving his hands down to his belt to adjust the skirt around his waist. "We were texting last night, and he said he was interested. So far, it's me, Kami-bro, Shouji-bro and Awase-bro!"

"Oh, cool," Denki looked around at him with a grin, "so your moms are cool with you moving to Heights Alliance?"

"Yeah! So long as I come home every other weekend. We're gonna be the manliest house at UA!"

"Right, right …" Pony slowly nodded, turning to glance off to the side while clearly thinking – and then she asked, "… so you guys have one more room in the house to fill?"

"Hm?" Denki looked back at her curiously. "Oh, uh, yeah, we do! We weren't sure what the other guys would be doing, so we were thinking –"

"Do you mind if I take it, then?"

Both boys paused at that, blinking a bit, and then they looked back around at the smaller girl. She was clearly blushing, but she still looked determined as she glanced between both of them again.

"W-wait a second," Denki realized, his eyes widening, "you wanna come room with us? Are you sure?"

"Y-yeah! It'll be cool, right? T-the really manly house!"

"Er … we guess?" Eijirou shrugged, still looking a bit taken aback. "I mean, we – we do have the spot open, but – I mean, it is gonna be a house full of guys, you'd be the only girl in the house. Are you sure, sure?"

"I'm sure, sure," Pony slapped her hand against her arm as she flexed it a bit, "it'll be fine! I mean, you guys will need someone with – uh, what's Japanese for – oh, right– femininity in the house, right? Four guys, you'll – you'll probably make the house look like a pig's pen, so I'll be the one who makes sure you guys keep it clean!"

To emphasize her point, she kicked out with her hoof – and immediately hit the nearby garbage can, knocking it over and sending its contents right out onto the floor.

"Oh, shit!"She squeaked, quickly moving to try and clean everything up while both Denki and Eijirou looked frantically at her, quickly joining her in her attempts to clean up the mess.

Ahead of them, Melissa let out a small giggle at their actions and looked back around, putting her hands in her pockets as she tried to remember where All Might had told her the support studio was. She was, of course, unaware that behind her, Izuku was giving her an increasingly nervous look while Ochako and Itsuka pointed at her back and gave him certain glances, while Nejire looked between them quietly with a curious look on her face.

Finally, Izuku took a deep breath, and quickly moved forward to walk beside her.

"Hey, uh …" He squeaked, "… Melissa?"

Melissa glanced over at him, quickly realizing who it was, and straightened her back, her cheeks going red again.

"Oh, uh … hey, Izuku," She managed to get that out without her voice cracking, "what's – what's up?"

"N-nothing much," He shook his head, "just, uh …"

He paused awkwardly, before he let out a small sigh.

"I'm … sorry about this morning," He muttered, glancing down at his shoes (which were about as red as his face was becoming), "I wasn't paying attention to anyone being in the bathroom, and – and – sorry."

Melissa blinked a bit at that, looking over at how ashamed Izuku was starting to look. She paused for a moment, and then she let out a small giggle, and used her shoulder to bump against his, getting his attention back on her as she smiled.

"I, uh … I guess I should consider myself lucky," She joked, "if you'd stumbled into the bathroom like – a minute earlier, we'd have been in real trouble."

Izuku let out an awkward chuckle at that – even if his cheeks burned brighter at that implication – but since she was giving him a much softer look, he tried to get control of his blush.

"Seriously, though," She assured him, "it's okay. I know it was an accident, and, uh – well, you were at least respectful enough not to gawk?"

"Erk," Izuku winced, the memory of a very shapely leg kind of combating her comment of not checking her out. Luckily for him, she seemed to be humored about it, smiling and giving him a small shoulder check again.

"Still," She giggled, "if that's gonna be a recurring problem, we should probably talk about morning routines and pajama times until I move to Heights Alliance. No need for you to walk in and see anything you aren't supposed to, right?"

"Oh, jeez," Izuku sighed, "you aren't gonna let this go anytime soon, are you?"

"Hey, man, I'm just saying. You're lucky that I don't sleep naked because some Americans do."

That, of course, made Izuku blush even redder at that thought, shrinking up and looking like he was about to pass out, while Melissa merely giggled at his reaction and tucked some of her loose blonde hair behind her ear.

Behind them, Ochako and Itsuka smiled a bit at the two of them clearly making up from this morning's awkwardness, if Izuku chuckling along with Melissa's giggles was any indication, and Itsuka turned to chat with Ochako about what she was expecting in the support studio. However, behind them, there was one girl that wasn't as happy to see those two getting along – but not for the reason one would suspect.

Indeed, glancing between Izuku and Melissa, Nejire couldn't help but feel a bit confused and concerned at how close Melissa was walking beside him. She had known that Melissa had ended up going home with Izuku when they left the hotel last night, but … well, she had thought she had imagined it when they had gotten to school that morning, but both Izuku and Melissa had been a bit awkward around each other this morning.

Adding to how Melissa was looking around at Izuku with a bit of light and joy in her eyes … well, Nejire was having suspicious thoughts. The way she played with her hair … the smile on her face … was it possible that …

… no. Nejire recognized that look in Melissa's eyes, she realized at once. She might not know it, but Melissa was starting to have a crush on Izuku.

And … well, it wasn't like she could judge her for it! Izuku was very cute. And lovable. And kind. And caring. And lovely. And strong. And confident when he got into it. And sincere. And dorky. And muscular. And sometimes sexy when he got that look in his eyes. Like that time when he and her were floating above the trees during the second round of the sports festival, and he was on his guard? Things had been pretty tense at the time, but when she saw it on reruns during the weekend … oooooh. Oh, that had been sexy. And also, when he had lifted his shirt when they had trained on the beach, and she got a look at his awesome abs and …

… wait, what had she been thinking about? Oh, right! Melissa having a crush on Izuku. Which was … okay, like Nejire thought, she couldn't judge.

But the problem was … Izuku was kind of taken. By two girls, in fact! And Melissa, more likely than not, probably didn't know that. And Nejire didn't want things to get awkward with her friends! What would happen if Melissa tried asking Izuku out, but he would have to explain that he was already taken? That would hurt Melissa's feelings, and probably Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka's, too!

So Nejire wanted to try to help her friends avoid that awkwardness, and that meant …well, that meant Nejire would have to be the one to make sure nothing awkward happened with her friends. Because she didn't want Melissa to get her heart broken!

So, straightening her shoulders, Nejire quickly hurried forward around Itsuka and Ochako, to move in between Izuku and Melissa. At Nejire quickly sliding between them, Izuku blinked a bit and looked around at her in surprise, while Melissa looked around at Nejire's curious look with her eyebrows raising.

"So, uh – Melissa!" The blue-haired girl clapped her hands happily together, trying not to sound silly. "I have questions! Lots of questions! Er – uh – oh! So, what have you been thinking of Heights Alliance, huh? I was talking to my mom and dad about it last night, and – and they're all cool with me staying there, so I'm excited! I know that I can have my own apartment, but a house seems interesting, right? I'd love to live in one with roommates!"

Melissa blinked a bit, clearly taken aback by the onslaught of questions – she had, of course, been used to the kind of word vomit Nejire could unleash at the drop of a hat in the group chat, but it was pretty different to experience it in person – but she still smiled and nodded.

"Oh, uh – yeah," She said, "I think I'd prefer to live with someone, too. Makes it more fun than living on your own, you know?"

"I agree!" Nejire happily nodded, glancing behind her at Ochako and Itsuka listening in to their conversation. "My only problem is that I don't know who I'd want to live with! I mean, normally, I'd say Yuuyu, but she hasn't … uh … really been talking to me, and I don't know if the teachers would let guys from the other class live with us, so …"

Both Ochako and Itsuka blinked a bit behind her, taking a moment to glance at each other as they clearly remembered their thoughts about Nejire and her best friend last night, and they moved to join the other three in walking down the hall.

"Hey, uh … listen, Nejire," Itsuka said softly to her, "I know you said yesterday that you and Yuuyu were fine, but … well, it's kind of obvious that you're not fine. Are you sure that everything's okay between you two?"

"Well …" Nejire felt her smile fall a bit, and she let out a small sigh as the three girls and Izuku gave her a concerned look.

"… I mean, I wanna say that everything's fine, but …" She shook her head, "… I don't know. She's been avoiding me all weekend and … and it's like she doesn't really wanna hang out with me for some reason. And I don't know why!"

"Oh, well …" Ochako gave her a worried look, "… maybe … have you tried texting her, or -?"

"Yeah, all the time!" Nejire childishly stomped her foot. "I knocked on her door, but she locked it so I couldn't get in! I tried going through the window, but she locked that, too! I texted her, but she left me on read! I try to walk to school with her, but she leaves before I wake up! It's frustrating!"

"Well, uh – maybe after heroics class, we can try hanging around 1B before they're excused?" Itsuka threw out as a possible option. "And when she leaves, we could try going home with her? I think it'd be harder if she's trying to leave and the entire group leaves with her."

"Maybe," Nejire sighed as they turned around another corner, "but I'm not sure. She's really good at slipping away, and I can't figure out where she goes to work, either! And she knows that she can avoid me there, too! Knowing my luck, it'll take an entire month before I can talk to … Yuuyu?"

At the way Nejire had suddenly said her best friend's name as though it were a question, Itsuka, Ochako, Izuku and Melissa blinked, and looked around at her. Seeing Nejire staring ahead with her eyes going a bit wider, they looked around as well, hearing Pony, Eijirou and Denki catch up with them from behind, and they all felt their eyes widen as well.

Indeed, standing near a large metal door with the yellow 'DEVELOPMENT STUDIO' sign above it was a pink-haired girl in a black hero costume, her arms exposed and wearing a yellow strap around her shoulder in conjunction to a belt, a domino mask secured around her eyes and giving the door itself a serious look. However, hearing the sound of her name being called, Yuuyu looked around at the small group approaching her – and then she froze in surprise and terror when she saw Nejire's eyes beginning to shine in delight, and kicked off the ground to start floating down the hall towards her.

"Yuuyu, hi!" She waved happily at her. "What are you doing here, what's going on? Are you here to look at pretty hero costumes, too?"

"I, uh –" Yuuyu stammered, her eyes behind the mask darting around wildly for a moment as though she were trying to figure out an escape route, "- I was –"

Whatever the Class 1B representative was going to say, however, was very swiftly interrupted by an explosion. The large metallic door beside her was blasted straight off its hinges in a huge blast of fire, the explosion immediately consuming the embarrassed Yuuyu, and they heard the distant sound of metal parts crashing against the floor.

As black smoke filled the hallway through the door, Izuku, Ochako, Melissa, Itsuka, Denki, Eijirou and Pony felt their jaws drop open in horror, and Nejire felt her eyes widen.

"Yuuyu!" She squealed, quickly charging into the smoke and immediately beginning to cough as she tried to wave it out of her face. "Are you okay? Are you fine? Swear if you can hear me!"

"F-fuck," She heard Yuuyu grunt, sounding weirdly muffled.

"Oh, thank goodness," She sighed in relief.

"Ten times!" They all heard someone bark, and as Izuku, Itsuka, Ochako and Melissa hurried forward to help Nejire blow some of the smoke away from where Yuuyu was presumably laying as a short, scrawny man with L-shaped pieces at the end of each finger, wearing a giant yellow helmet in the shape of a rectangular excavator claw, stormed out of the room. "We've only been in class for a month and a bit, and you've blown off the door ten times!"

"Hee hee hee," They heard a mischievous voice come from their feet, one that made Izuku and Ochako freeze in horror at the very sound, as more coughs came from inside the room, "come now, Power Loader-sensei, you know that some of my babies can be wild, especially when they're at that age …"

"I don't care about your babies! I care more about how my budget is disappearing because you keep blowing up the door, and I have to replace it! At this rate, I'll ban you from the support studio if you don't stop blowing stuff up!"

Their brows crinkling, Itsuka and Melissa continued to try waving their hands back and forth to dispel it, before Itsuka sighed and simply grew her hand out to full size, and with one sweep of her hand, swept the smoke out through the open window near the wall. They soon were able to see the hallway again, looking around at Power Loader as he stared down at something on the floor.

And then, they all turned their gazes down, and saw …

"… oh," Nejire felt her eyebrows rise, "her boobies are right in her face!"

Indeed, groaning as she slowly pushed herself up with both hands, Mei looked up at the group of students surrounding her, raising her eyebrows a bit at how Melissa's eyes immediately narrowed into a glare behind her glasses at the sight of her, and how Izuku and Ochako squeaked and moved to hide behind Itsuka. And lying beneath her, Yuuyu was frozen with the inventor laying on top of her, Mei's impressive chest as displayed in her dark gray tank top hovering just above Yuuyu's face as she was pinned to the floor by Mei's body weight.

And that was when Yuuyu caught herself, her face exploding in red – and rage.

"G-get off me!"

While Eijirou looked confused, Denki envious and Pony curious, the group watched as Yuuyu quickly shoved Mei off her and onto the floor, scrambling back to her feet while blushing furiously, and immediately moved to put Nejire in between herself and the insane inventor, Nejrie looking happy to see her best friend even as she cowered behind her flowing blue hair. Mei, for her part, merely giggled again as she rose up to her feet, brushing some soot off her coveralls that the top part was currently tied around her waist.

"Sorry about the sudden explosion!" She sheepishly brushed some more soot off her face, "It's been a long time since we've seen each other, hasn't it? Hero course students … uh …"

There was a pause.

"I've forgotten all your names!" She declared.

"W-we fought at the sports festival!" Izuku squeaked.

"You're building me stuff!" Ochako looked shocked.

"It hasn't even been a week since we last saw each other." Itsuka looked confused.

"Er …" Mei tilted her head in confusion as she looked around the group again – and then, when her gaze stayed on Ochako for a fraction of a second longer than the others, her manic eyes lit up again,

"… oh! Yes, of course! Ochako Uraraka! You're the one interested in my electro shoes!"

"Y-yeah," Ochako nodded nervously – and then squeaked when Mei suddenly moved faster than they could blink, grabbing a hold of her wrist from where she was hiding behind her girlfriend, and began dragging her straight into the lab.

"Excellent, excellent!" She cackled in delight while Ochako looked around at her partners in terror. "I've been busy redesigning your costume all weekend, and it's ready for testing! Come, come, we'll get started immediately, I have twenty other babies for us to go through!"

"I – uh –" Ochako stammered as she was dragged inside the support studio.

While Izuku and Itsuka tearfully waved Ochako goodbye as she was unfortunately dragged to her doom (all while mouthing 'Help me, assholes!' at them), Power Loader sighed and looked over at the other students.

"Well, I received word from All Might that you lot were coming," He gestured with his hand into the studio, "so you all can come in, and we'll get started. Miss Shield, I was told you had designs for me to look over, so I'll help you with what materials you can use. Kendou," He looked around at her, "your costume's been repaired, so I'll bring it to you so you can get changed and make sure everything's fine. And Midoriya," He looked at the other boy, "Furasu is the one who handled your costume repairs, so you can talk to her about it. Haya, I'll talk to you about the support upgrades you wanted after I handle Miss Shield. The rest of you can have a quick look around, but I'd advise you not to touch anything – like Hatsume just demonstrated, one wrong hit can blast down steel doors."

Everyone nodded awkwardly, glancing down at the ruined remains of the previous door and learning their lesson, and together, they walked into the support studio to have a quick look around. There were still a few students coughing from the earlier explosion, but most of them got back to work, pulling tools off the wall to hammer bolts into curved pieces of machinery, drilling screws into pieces of metal or otherwise strapping each other into what looked like pieces of armor, connecting them to laptops and running diagnosis.

While Nejire immediately went 'oooooooooh!' and ran off like a kid in a candy store, Power Loader approached Melissa as she stood back a bit, letting the rest of her classmates go ahead of her to start looking around.

"So," He gestured to the sketchbook, "are your plans in there?"

"Yes, sir," Melissa nodded, flipping the book open and turning it for the teacher to look at. Power Loader took it from her and had a look over, letting out a low hum. After a few moments of reading, the teacher's eye raised under his helmet.

"I see," He mused, "so you're looking to design a mechanized suit of armor."

"Yep," Melissa nodded, sounding surprisingly business-like as she stepped forward to talk to the teacher, and letting Itsuka look over her shoulder to see the surprisingly detailed sketches on the sheet of paper, "I'm looking to create a suit that can protect me and operate under extreme combat, weather and rescue operations. I'm basically looking to make a suit that's a jack of all trades – something that might not be the expert in every field, but something that can do rescue and villain fighting as easily as someone with a quirk can."

"Hm," Power Loader hummed, "it'll be a complicated piece of machinery – I've seen power armor be designed here, but nothing this extreme."

"Well, it's nothing like I've built before, either," Melissa smiled, "but I'm always willing to take on a challenge."

"Heh! You'll fit in here well, Shield," Power Loader grinned and handed her back the sketchbook, and Melissa took that moment to look around, "we'll talk about some space you can work in here for yourself."

"Er – while I am here, would I be able to look at one of Midoriya's support items as well? The Full Gauntlet? I'm the designer, and I wanted to assess the damage of the old device before I think of making replacements."

"Ah, so you're the designer! Gotta say, I'm starting to think that it was a mistake to put you in the hero course. Anyway, it's over here. Midoriya," He looked around at Izuku as the green-haired boy worriedly watched an increasingly nervous Ochako get strapped into a familiar pair of metallic boots by Mei, only to glance away when he heard his name being called, "Furasu's the one over there, she'll get you your costume. Kendou, your costume's here."

Nodding, Itsuka went over towards where one of the briefcases was on a table, and Izuku looked around at where Power Loader was pointing. Standing near another counter where several metallic briefcases were standing, a girl with black hair tied back into a ponytail with a headband was leaning against it, humming as she checked something on a tablet as she adjusted the collar of her coveralls around her neck.

Gulping a bit nervously, Izuku walked over to the counter where the smaller girl was still working.

"Uh – excuse me?"

"Eek!" She squeaked a bit, jumping at his voice right behind her, and looked around at him with wide eyes and a nervous look. "U-uh – yes? Can I help you?"

"Er … y-yeah, Power Loader-sensei said that you were the one who handled my costume's repairs?"

"Your costume … uh … sorry, who are you again?"

"Uh … Izuku Midoriya?"

"Midoriya …" Maina looked confused for a moment, glancing down at a few of the briefcases before her – and then she blinked, and looked back around at him. "O-oh! Izuku Midoriya! Y-yes, I – I'm the one who repaired your costume, and made the – um – improvements."

"Y-yeah, that's – wait," Izuku blinked, realizing what she had just said, "'improvements'?"

Maina suddenly looked awkward, nodding and walking over to one of the heavy briefcases on the counter. Izuku gulped nervously when she lifted it with surprising ease for a girl of such average build, and brought it over and put it down on the table before Izuku, all while giving him an apologetic look.

"Um … yes. Improvements." She glanced awkwardly to the side. "I don't mean any offense, but I was looking over your costume's design, and I thought that it could use … um … some upgrades."

"U-upgrades?" Izuku gulped nervously. "How so?"

"Well …" Maina tapped her fingers together, looking embarrassed, "… I was just … thinking that your design was a bit … um … lacking?"

"L-lacking?! How could it be lacking?! My mom made my costume for me!"

"Yeah, that's what I thought when I first saw it," Maina muttered to herself, before she shook her head and tried to get back on track. "Uh – anyway, I was just thinking that – you know – as I was watching the sports festival, I noticed a few problems you had with your quirk and how it affected your body. So I made sure that the material of your hero costume could better resist the effects of your lightning. And since the design was … um … kind of lacking in coolness factor, I decided to give it a small redesign. I still stayed true to your base design, just made some improvements on the look."

Izuku blinked a bit at the sudden speed she said all of that, the smaller girl looking like her timidness was slipping away as she suddenly looked a lot more confident and sure of what she was talking about. Glancing down at his briefcase again, Izuku shrugged a bit, and sighed as he slowly took the briefcase from her and gave her a nervous grin.

"Uh … well …" He sighed, "… I might as well try it out? Just to see how it fits?"

"Good!" Maina quickly nodded, pointing over towards a small dressing room. "In that case, we'll – we'll have a look and see if anything else needs to be upgraded."

Nodding, Izuku stepped around the counter with the hero case, and Maina quickly tapped another button on the tablet before a look of excitement swept over her face, hopping up and down and trying to hype herself up for her product about to roll out of the support studio.

On the other side of the support studio, Itsuka let out a small sigh as she stepped out from her own dressing room, making sure that her hero costume's vest was securely around her waist. Honestly, after weeks and weeks of doing hero class in her gym clothes, it felt good to be back in her hero costume, the gloves fitting securely and the elbow and knee guards not uncomfortable. The only addition, she found, was that her pants felt just a bit more saggy and less constraining than her original pair – although she didn't quite mind, seeing as she felt like she had a bit more leg room now to do some kicks.

Looking around the support studio again, she raised her eyebrow at Melissa looking like she was the one in charge as she talked professionally to Power Loader, pointing at a few different pieces of scrap metal on a table. On the other side, Nejire's hands had to be held back by another support student from touching an ominous looking device on the table, the blue-haired girl not minding at all as she continued excitedly chatting and asking questions to every support student she could find, all of them noting her floating around and frantically writing notes on small pads of paper. Pony, Eijirou and Denki, meanwhile, were looking around at the other devices, some support students surrounding them and attempting to measure them; and on the other side of the studio, Ochako was …

… oh. So that must be her new hero costume, Itsuka realized.

Walking around a curtain, her new silver boots clanking a bit against the porcelain floor, Ochako flashed Itsuka an awkward smile as she raised her fingers in a peace sign. Her formerly skintight hero costume had been replaced by what looked to be a white coat, white on the front and black on the sides, with a pink line separating the two colors. She still wore the two round gauntlets with handles on her wrists, but her pants were replaced with a black leather-like fabric. Her new helmet was cute as well, the same based design on each side but instead of a glass visor, there was a flicker of blue over her face that allowed a holographic screen to appear over her face.

"So, uh …" She raised her hands, "… what do you think?"

"Cute," Itsuka smiled at her, quiet enough that no one could overhear, but Ochako still went red as she smiled bashfully.

"Indeed, my babies are cute!" Mei happily skipped around Ochako, giving her an excited grin. "I kept your request of being a stealth hero in mind for these designs and made improvements to the hoversoles. Now then – babies! Engage stealth mode!"

At once, the boots on Ochako's feet quivered, and in the back, several metal panels opened to let her feet out. Quickly, Ochako stepped out of the two boots, revealing a pair of pink sneakers underneath, and the iron boots quickly began floating up into the air gracefully - or, well, somewhat gracefully, with one accidentally smacking Mei in the side of the head as it went up, causing her to grumble.

"That can be adjusted," She shook her head before her excited grin came back to her face, Ochako and Itsuka watching in fascination as the metal boots suddenly began shifting, and before their eyes, they began to undergo a small transformation, the silver panels sliding back and the tops of the boots sinking in until they were transformed into what looked like a silver version of the drones that Mei had at the sports festival.

"Whoa," Itsuka, for her part, was impressed.

"Indeed, indeed, now when you need to go stealth mode and need back ups," Mei grinned maniacally, "these babies can act as your backup!"

"Ooh," Ochako raised her hand to poke one of them – and then squeaked when something short circuited in the drone the moment her fingerpad tapped it, and it dropped down to the floor like a stone. Ochako only barely managed to step out of the way before it crushed her feet.

"Ah," Mei tilted her head, "that can be fixed as well."

"Yeah, I hope so," Itsuka sighed, and then looked around to see Melissa walking back over towards them. There was a small pout on her face as she tucked her sketchbook back under her arm, and she let out a sigh as she joined the small group of girls.

"So," She shrugged, "I looked at the Full Gauntlet, and it's definitely not getting fixed. It's in so many tiny pieces I don't think I'd even be able to get them all back together in a year, much less two weeks."

"Ah, man," Itsuka winced, "so Izuku's out of luck?"

"Not necessarily," She did at least smile at that, "there's enough pieces that are big enough for me to use as a starting base, and I can construct a new couple of Gauntlets. I'll need to ask Papa to send me the nanobot design to get started though, but once I have them I should be able to work quickly before he heads out for internships."

"So how long would that take?" Ochako asked, curious.

"Well … I'm hoping I'll get the stuff by the end of the week, but that depends on if I-Island will allow him to send me my stuff," Melissa sighed in disappointment, "can't believe that I forgot it."

"Well, you were pretty distracted by having to pack," Ochako gave her a sympathetic look, "but hopefully you can get it back soon."

"Yeah. Well, anyway," Melissa shrugged, "once I get it, I'll be able to work at my house in Heights Alliance - Power Loader-sensei said that each house has a garage, and enough space for support students to use the basement as an impromptu workshop."

"Then …" Ochako gave her a curious look, while behind them, Mei frowned and looked at Melissa in confusion, "… your project's a go?"

"I think so," Melissa nodded with a grin, "I probably won't have enough space to work in here, but hopefully, whoever my roommates will be won't mind me using the garage space."

"Oh, that's -"

"Excuse me," Mei suddenly interrupted, causing the three girls to blink and look around at her as she tilted her head, "but why are you using the red toilet paper as a base? I'm a bit confused by that."

Melissa felt her smile slip from her face, and be replaced by a sudden cold look.

"Because," She put her hands on her hips, "that 'red toilet paper' is my design."

Mei paused for a long moment, her gaze flickering - and then, slowly, her own eyes became cold, and a smirk appeared on her face as she crossed her arms.

"Ah," She nodded slowly, "I see. So you're the competitor."

"That I am, apparently," Melissa scowled at her.

Both Itsuka and Ochako blinked a bit, taking an uncertain step backwards. It seemed as though both support girls were glaring at each other with such intensity, it wouldn't be surprising to see lightning bolts flashing between them.

Thankfully to prevent the obvious confrontation coming up, however, a distraction came at the end of someone clearing their throat behind them.

"So, uh … what do you guys think?"

Ochako and Itsuka straightened up, hearing their boyfriend's voice behind them, and looked around - and then they both stopped, their eyes widening and their cheeks going red.

Looking awkward, Izuku raised his arm to the back of his head, giving them a sheepish smile. His silly green suit had been replaced by one of a darker green color, made of a stronger material. It now looked as though he were wearing a pair of dark green combat pants with his usual red shoes, a sleek red belt wrapped around his waist, and the top now being replaced by a dark t-shirt underneath a green armored vest, with the sleeves uncovered to show off his muscular arms. The large red shoulder guards connected together from before were replaced by only one guard, a strap connecting it around his chest and under his left arm, while the other shoulder was uncovered but still clearly protected. The silly smiley mask that was around his neck had been replaced by a more metallic mask, and the green hood hanging from his neck now had shorter ears and looked to be made of a more leather-like material instead of cloth.

So in short? Izuku looked like he had been militarized, going from a silly looking silver age hero to a hero who wouldn't look out of place in America.

While Ochako and Itsuka subconsciously began to drool, their eyes locked on his muscular biceps, Izuku glanced around at where Maina was shuffling up to him from behind, looking a bit timid in front of the other girls but still inspecting his hero costume.

"I used your fights in the sports festival as motivation for how flexible your hero costume should be," She informed him as she poked at the vest, "so now, you'll be able to do your lightning fling thing where you blast yourself off the ground in a hero costume that can protect your body from the whiplash."

"Yeah, I guess - hey!" Izuku suddenly looked around at her, blinking and smiling happily. "'Lightning Fling'! That's a pretty good name for that move! Thank you!"

"Er - y-yeah. You're welcome."

"Anyway!" Mei suddenly interrupted, charging over to Izuku while Maina squeaked at her far more confident classmate and quickly slinked away, while the pink-haired girl grabbed Izuku's shoulder as he squeaked. "Whatever your name is! You'll be coming to me for help with your quirk from now on, right?"

"E-eh?" Izuku squeaked a bit. "Oh, uh - it's Midoriya, by the way, and -"

"Irrelevant!" You'll be coming to me for help with babies, right?" Mei gave him a small pout, and made sure to lean against him so that her chest pressed against his arm. While Izuku squeaked, and Ochako and Itsuka snapped out of their drooly to aim wild, alarmed, and dangerous looks at Mei, the inventor continued to give him a pleading look. "Please~? I bet we'll have lots of fun making babies …"

"I … uh …" Izuku glanced back at Ochako and Itsuka, who were both tilting their heads and thinning their lips while Itsuka's hands began to ominously crackle with teal lightning, which made him gulp even more nervously.

Before any blood could be shed, however, Melissa cleared her throat, causing everyone to look over at where she was aiming a cold look at Izuku.

"Is that what's happening, Izuku?" She huffed, making the small group look over at where she was giving him a scornful look. "You're letting yourself be seduced away from my inventions? And here I was about to ask my papa to send over designs to get the Gauntlets built again, but if you wanna give Miss 'Items Fall Apart At A Moment's Notice' a shot, I'll step back."

"Eugh - uh -" Izuku stammered, taken entirely aback by the cattiness in Melissa's voice, and the way Mei was beginning to look smug and haughty as both girls glared at each other. Ochako and Itsuka, meanwhile, felt their jealousy melt away as they shared a small glance, guessing that this was probably something all support item inventors went through - being very proud, and possessive over their 'test subjects'.

Luckily for Izuku, before the literal tug of war could begin, Yuuyu let out a low grumble as she walked over to their little group with a scowl, Nejire pausing her happy chatting with one of the support item students that was trying to measure how far her feet could push out her spirals to come over as well.

"Yo," She nodded to Maina, who was watching the ensuing 'marking territory' fight with wide eyes, and jumped and looked around at the other pink-haired girl, "I was told by Power Loader-sensei that you had experience building electric-type quirk items. I was thinking of doing something with my electric quirk, so could I bother you to help me out?"

"O-oh? Well –"

However, before Maina could offer her services, a hand suddenly shot out and shoved her out of the way, making the timid girl yelp as she tripped over her feet and fell into a small pile of discarded support items on the floor. Mei, her eyes widening madly and her grin spreading unnaturally wide across her face, wrapped her arm tightly around Yuuyu's shoulders, making the class rep yelp as she was suddenly dragged over to where Melissa had quickly stepped in between her fellow inventor and Izuku protectively.

"Fine, then! You can keep Midoriya!" Mei pointed her metallic finger straight in the American girl's face. "If you insist on having lightning boy over here as your client, I'll just take pinkie here as my own!"

"P-Pinkie?!" Yuuyu growled, trying to shove Mei off her and being alarmed at how tight her arm was around her shoulders. "You're pinker than I am! And let me go!"

"Oh, don't you worry!" Mei whipped around to grin dementedly at her, sending a chill down Yuuyu's spine. "My babies will help you outshine this other electric person! Now, come! You want electric-type tech? I have lots of those! Let's get inventing!"

Ignoring Yuuyu's snarling insults, Mei simply frogmarched her over to her own corner of the support studio, with Yuuyu looking back at Nejire with a clear 'help me' expression as she was yanked over to her own doom. Nejire, blinking a bit at her best friend needing her help, looked back around at the group as she gave them a weak giggle.

"I, uh - I better go save her!" She gave them a salute, "I'll see you guys at Gym Gamma!"

With that, she took off towards where Mei was starting to dig through her stuff. While their other friend fled, Melissa looked back around at Izuku, who gulped at the glare she was sending him, and watched as she gave him a 'I'm watching you' hand gesture, pointing at her eyes with two fingers and then at his.

"I won't forget your hesitation," She made clear, and then turned to make her way over to where Power Loader and a few students were trying to dig a disgruntled Maina out from the pile of support items.

Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka, now alone, all glanced between each other before coming to the same conclusion, and started making their way towards the door. Pausing at the open door, they took a second to wave bye to Pony, Eijirou and Denki as Denki tried to hit on a support girl who was bluntly shaking her head, Eijirou waving back happily as he was dragged towards what looked to be a massive, dangerous looking minigun, and Pony tried to awkwardly trot away from where another few support students were trying to measure the length of her horns with tape.

Stepping outside the development studio, the trio began walking together down the hall towards Gym Gamma, all three of them letting out tired sighs.

"Support students," Izuku shivered, "are really freaking scary."

"Yeah, you got that right," Itsuka giggled while Ochako shook her head as well, "there was a few seconds there that I thought Hatsume and Melissa were gonna start trying to mark their territory."

Izuku chuckled as well, looking away as he sighed and tried to figure out how Melissa had gone from 'friendly new roommate' to 'this woman apparently owns me' so quickly -

- but before he could, he suddenly felt his arm be gently taken, and he looked over just in time to see Ochako leaning against him, making sure to press his arm between her chest.

"I - uh -" Izuku suddenly stopped, going red very quickly as he realized what his girlfriend was doing, and Itsuka likewise looked surprised. "- Occhan?"

"Sorry," She mumbled, going red as well, "but seeing Hatsume do this, I … wanted to make sure that … you know …"

She trailed off, not entirely sure what to say - but thankfully, Itsuka seemed to catch on to what she was doing. With a small sigh, Itsuka took Izuku's other arm, and was sure to hug it to her chest as well, making Izuku turn even redder as he flickered his gaze between them.

"Yeah," She smiled, "these arms belong to us, thank you very much."

"Ergh," Izuku grunted, looking embarrassed and pleased at the same time, as he ducked his head. Both girls giggled a bit at that, and felt some of the awkwardness be relieved.

"Yeah, Deku," Ochako giggled, "gotta say, you're lookin' pretty hot here."

"I mean, whew, mister," Itsuka laughed as well as they continued walking down the hall, "here I am, thinking it's a crime that you've been hiding the gun show from us. Are we allowed to shred all your long-sleeved shirts so we can admire the view forever?"

"I - oh, my god," Izuku groaned, unable to stop himself from laughing along with them as he blushed a bit hotter from their flirting.

Both girls giggled again, and after a moment of glancing up and down the hall again to check that they were really alone, moved to squeeze him between them with a big hug, their hands moving to lay over each other as well. Izuku, for his part, was coherent enough to free his arms and wrap them around their waists, giving them a brief squeeze before letting them go.

"Oh, yeah," Itsuka grinned at him as she took a step out of their embrace, "like I told Ochako last night, Izuku - I got the house to myself tomorrow night, so you two are gonna come over. We'll have some pizza and hang out."

"Ah, uh … that, uh … that sounds fine to me," Izuku grinned nervously, and then glanced back at Ochako. The three of them walked quietly down the hall together, content with not speaking after the chaos of the last twenty minutes - and then Izuku let out a sigh as he cleared his throat.

"Hey, uh … actually, do - do you guys mind if we - we talk about something we were discussing earlier? I just … was having thoughts."

"Hm?" Ochako hummed, looking up at her boyfriend with a smile. "Yeah, Deku, what's up?"

"It's … about Lady Nagant."

That name, of course, made Ochako pause in the hallway, blinking a bit at him. Itsuka also stopped at the mention of her girlfriend's mother as well, looking around at her boyfriend in surprise as he frowned.

Still, as Ochako gave him a hesitant nod, Izuku sighed, and rubbed his eyes with one hand.

"So, uh … I was just … thinking about something you said earlier, Occhan," He explained, "you mentioned earlier that you - you were thinking that Nagant left your family after she killed that hero?"

"H-huh? Oh, uh … yeah," Ochako nodded unsurely, turning to look out the window, "I mean, it - it makes sense, right? That she left us after what happened."

"I - yeah, I - I guess that makes sense," Izuku acknowledged, still frowning, "but … well, there's just - there's just something I thought of, and - and wanted to run by you. You - you said that she left when you were a baby?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, uh - from my notes, uh - I just … wanted to say," He gave her a serious look, "the - the incident that made Nagant retire?"

"Yeah …?" Ochako gave him an uncertain look.

"Well, uh … that only happened four years ago, Occhan."

And that, of course, made Ochako stop in her tracks, making her stare blankly at her boyfriend. Itsuka, for her part, blinked a bit, glancing between both of her partners. And then Ochako turned to stare down at the floor.

"... four years?" She repeated. "So … she … retired from hero work when we were - we were eleven?"

"I …" Izuku gulped. "... yeah."

Ochako continued to stare down at the floor for a moment - and then her brow furrowed.

"Okay," She said slowly, turning away from them both, but they both could hear the frustration in her voice, "okay. I - I need to get answers."

"Y-yeah," Izuku nodded as well, "so … uh …"

"So," Ochako turned to look up at both of them with a determined look, "Lady Nagant sent me an internship request, right? And my mama gave me a phone number to contact her."

"Yeah …?" Itsuka looked uncertain.

"So - I'm gonna call her," Ochako clenched her fist, "and tell her that I'm going to accept her request."

With a loud beep, the oval device let out a small hiss of steam as it finished its operation, and slowly opened the multiple panels surrounding him. Panting heavily, his voice muffled by the breathing apparatus around his mouth and nose, Nine leaned out of the device heavily, feeling his body tremble as purple liquid slid into the grate beneath the device, and continued to pant as the various cables and needles connected to his back popped out with several snaps, hanging in the top of the sphere above him.

He felt … exhausted, he admitted to himself. The electric scar on his chest felt like it was burning bright hot, his limbs and bones were sore, and his mind was screaming in pain from the rampaging migraine – and yet, he still looked up to see All For One standing near the desk looking at him while Garaki typed at a computer beside him, and the loud whine of the machine slowly died down as it turned off.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," All For One smiled.

"Did it work?" He asked, his voice coming out muffled and metallic from the breathing mask.

"Indeed," All For One's smirk widened as he leaned against the chair, "the operation was a success. You now have the ability to store two more additional quirks in the duplicate All For One – though I'd advise you to rest and recover from the operation before you go out looking for more power, or you'd risk ripping your body apart even further."

Letting out a low groan of exhaustion, Nine put both his hands down on the device, and grunted as he stood up, ducking his head so as not to bump it against the top of the pod. Feeling as though the medical pants and gauntlets around his arms were weighing him down, he awkwardly climbed out of the device, staggering a bit but managing to keep his balance as he stumbled his way over towards a free chair in the dark room filled with low purple light, the computers and dark humming of the lab filling the air, panting and feeling his eyes grow heavy from the strain.

Still, he managed to sit heavily down in the chair, reaching up to undo the medical mask around his face, and once it was off, he breathed in deeply, leaning against the desk.

"So, how are you feeling?" All For One took off his suit jacket, giving his test subject a curious look. "Tired?"

"I just got done with three days of you two ripping my body apart and putting it back together," Nine grumbled, "how do you think I feel?"

"Well, you did sign on for this," Garaki reminded him in a haughty, smug voice.

"I did," Nine nodded, "I know that. Doesn't mean that it doesn't hurt when you poke and prod at me. But I'll live."

"Excellent, excellent," All For One swung another chair out from the desk to put his jacket around the back of it, and moved to sit down in front of Nine, "I'll be needing you in fighting shape in the next few weeks, so that'll give you enough time to recover from the operation. I believe that the Villain Consortium has laid low long enough – it's time to begin the next phase of our partnership."

"Right," Nine huffed, massaging his forehead.

"Now then - how did your meeting with the Meta Liberation Army go?"

"I'm working on an angle," Nine shook his head, frowning at the memory of the smug villains that had been at the table and then thinking of Curious, "Re-Destro said that he would get back to me at some point, but I'm not going to wait until he can figure out a way to manipulate us into working for them."

"Heh," Garaki chuckled at that, which caused Nine to throw a scowl at him and All For One to ignore him.

"Well, I believe that my own conversation with Destro's descendant was similar," He pointed out, smiling, "I believe that he believes me just as gullible as you – he'll be trying to manipulate me into taking the prime minister's seat, and then I wouldn't be surprised if he tries to double cross me to take control of Japan. Well, I'll get some use of him until I have him completely under my thumb, or he'll try to make a move and I'll get rid of him."

"Hm," Nine hummed, unable to stop himself from raising an eyebrow, "you know, it's starting to seem to me like your little Inner Circle is made up of nothing but cutthroats and backstabbers."

"Well, it's to be expected when you have two terrorist organizations and a law enforcement agency working in the same room," He sighed, "I'm terrified of being betrayed at every turn constantly. It's rather exhausting, really."

"Well, why bother, then?" Nine tilted his head. "I hear you used to run things fine on your own. Why keep a bunch of top tier villains as your minions if you're expecting them to turn on you at some point?"

All For One tilted his head curiously at that, letting out a small hum. After a moment, he smiled again and shrugged.

"Well, then," He leaned back in his chair, "I suppose that if you're curious, I can tell you the story. And here I thought we'd only be having a business relationship, I wasn't aware that we would be sharing secrets with each other."

"Yeah, well, I don't really care. Tell me what you wanna tell me or let me head back to the Consortium."

"Very well, I'll skip the theatrics. Tell me, Nine – have you heard of precognitive quirks?"

At the question, Nine tilted his head.

"Precognitive quirks?" He repeated. "You mean quirks that can predict the future."

"Or guess them, whichever one," All For One shook his head, "in this day and age, they're practically unheard of – I believe that the only person currently on record with a precognitive quirk is Sir Nighteye, and he has too close a connection to All Might for me to think of stealing it without retaliation. And in the past, these kinds of quirks were especially rare – I believe only seven precognitive quirks have been officially documented in the past hundred and fifty years."

"Hm."

"Well, in any case, about … say … forty or so years ago now," All For One let out a long sigh, "while All Might was still in his heroic diapers, I came across a woman with such an ability – to show multiple possible futures, with one being the correct vision. Should she lay a hand on you, she would be able to see up to five possible futures for you – but of course, she wouldn't be able to tell which one was the real one until it came to pass. She tried her hardest to keep her quirk out of my hands, but I could see how it burdened her so – and being the kind man that I am, I made sure to relieve her of her burden."

"Right," Nine huffed, "you did that because you were such a nice person."

"Well, it was also out of curiosity," All For One's smile fell, "I will admit that there's been … a quirk that I've been after for a while now, so I wanted to have a small peak at my own future, and see the road I would need to take to getting it. So, I used the quirk on myself, to determine the future where I got what I wanted – and I discovered something quite alarming. Tell me, Nine, in the five futures I saw, how many do you think I saw my story ending in victory?"

Nine raised his eyebrow as his benefactor turned to glare down at the floor, and noticed how Garaki was being unusually quiet.

"I don't know … one?"

"None." All For One said in a displeased voice. "In the five futures I saw – all of them ended in my death."

There was a pause. And then Nine, in a deadpan voice, merely said, "Womp, womp."

"Yes, indeed," All For One sighed again, "when I realized what the visions were telling me, I was quite … infuriated … for a while. But you know something, Nine … I believe in the concept that destiny is not set in stone. I was unable to see the one who would ultimately defeat me, but I knew that it would happen in forty years' time, and that meant that if I was to avoid my fate …"

"You'd have to change the future," Nine guessed.

"Correct. And that is what I did," He grinned, "I allowed All Might to dismantle my empire, while I built a second one in secret. I made a little private club for all of my friends, with all of them having hands in villain organizations and local law enforcement, and their children would serve as my new friends once they retired."

"An inner circle."

"Precisely. That is why I have such close friends now, Nine – so that we can subvert destiny together. And I made sure that, in the event that my destiny comes sooner than what I predicted, I would have the quirks necessary to survive it. And seeing as All Might very nearly killed me a few years ago, I had the perfect excuse to fake my death."

"Imagine," Garaki sighed behind him, "what would've happened if we hadn't gotten our hands on super regeneration."

"Oh, that would've given me nightmares, good doctor!"

"Huh," Nine scoffed a bit, "well, it seems like you've already subverted destiny, if All Might failed to kill you."

"Afraid not," All For One shook his head, "the visions that I had all had one thing in common – I'm staring up at something in the sky when I die. And All Might … well, the image I constantly see in my dreams certainly showed that I was not allowed to do that. So, after my recovery, I laid low and began planning for my return – and once everything has been set into motion, I'll be getting the quirk that I want."

"Fine," Nine raised his eyebrow, aware of the doctor continuing to sit silently behind them, "but in that case, why not use this precognitive quirk on yourself again? You'll be able to see if the future has changed."

"You would think so," His benefactor sighed dramatically again, "but I'm afraid that the vestige of that dreadful woman – she doesn't quite like me. So, every time I try to use the quirk on myself, I get quite the verbal lashing!"

"A rebellious vestige? That doesn't make sense."

"Well, it's hard to explain in general, but vestiges are hardly just afterimages of those who's quirks I stole. They can appear in my dreams and berate me! It gets me quite upset, you know – like any normal person, I feel guilt. Still, even without the vestige's cooperation, I'm confident that the actions I've taken after four decades are leaning the future heavily into my favor – I am in the position that I pretty much already control Japan. My participating in this election is to simply make things official before we go global."

"So this campaign," Nine nodded slowly, "it's simply a front."

"Something simple for All Might and the rest of his minions to devote their time and attention to try and figure out," All For One nodded with a grin, "while I work on my true project. I'm sure that the principal of UA is already trying to figure out my real angle, but seeing as they're only working off the information I've provided - including my face - they'll be blind to what we're really doing. In any case, I'm not worried – the prime minister's seat will be mine either way."

"Hm. Well," Nine sighed as he slowly stood up from the chair, still a bit wobbly on his feet, "you do you, I suppose. I'm just not sure if having all these high and mighty villains work for you will be beneficial to me – especially once I take control of Japan."

He made very sure to emphasize his words, staring right into All For One's blank eyes. Garaki, his brushy mustache furrowing, opened his mouth to begin berating the young villain for getting ahead of himself, but his master simply raised his hand to silence him, unable to stop himself from chuckling a bit as he stood up as well.

"I didn't forget our deal, Nine," He confirmed, "you will be the Future King, and the world will bend to your will. Simply consider my plans a retirement scheme – taking control of Japan is just for my amusement. I know that the other High Generals won't be sticking around Japan once we get things started, so you don't need to worry about them getting in your way – besides Re-Destro, of course, but he's someone that we'll both handle when it comes time for that."

Nine was sure to stare suspiciously up at All For One's face for a few moment's longer, his eyes narrowing slightly – and then he huffed again.

"Fine," He grunted, "that's a bridge we'll cross when we get there. In any case, I've heard enough. What is it you want us to do for you?"

Nodding and smirking, All For One moved over back to the table and snapped his fingers together. At once, a bright light above them began shining down on the table, and a hologram of a small model city appeared, Nine narrowing his eyes at the appearance of what looked to be a business-centered ward.

"Now then," All For One tapped his finger against one of the hologram's buildings, "our plan will be taking place when a few select members of the Top 10 will be in Hosu, investigating the Hero Killer. I've arranged the HPSC to send as many heroes as possible – I would like you and your little band to be on scene, while our High-End goes on a rampage and kills the Top 10 and as many heroes as it can. I'd like you and your crew to cause a bit of chaos as well – we'd like our High-End to appear to be your minion, and for the Villain Consortium to take responsibility for the deaths of the pro heroes."

"So, you're arranging a terrorist attack," Nine raised his eyebrow, "and you want us to serve as the scapegoats."

"This will only be the beginning," All For One smirked, "once our High-End is brought back to the lab and you escape the chaos, we'll arrange other High-End attacks across Japan in the next coming weeks, and it will spread your notoriety far and wide. While you gather more followers, I'll use the chaos your Consortium spreads to gain popularity from the masses, and the Hero Commission can kill who they believe to be the Hero Killer to gain more control over the heroes, for not doing their jobs."

He clenched his fist, smiling in excitement.

"The people will be thrown into chaos," He grinned, "unable to trust the heroes to keep them safe. Deternet will supply them with support items, weapons to defend themselves. Humarise will bring in those disillusioned with hero society to fill their army. The people will look for a savior, someone who will make sure they're safe when not even the Top 10 can – and that's where I will step in."

"And All Might?" Nine tried to remind him, feeling like his benefactor was missing an important part of that plan.

"You saw for yourself how weak All Might's become. His days are numbered, Nine, and he'll be distracting himself with my campaign, believing it to be my main scheme. And when I give him just the right amount of bait, it'll give us enough time for him to run out of his time."

"Sounds interesting," Nine frowned, "but I'm still more interested in gaining power, now that I have the two new slots."

"Well then, you're in luck. I've had Intelli make sure that there will be plenty of heroes around Hosu for you to inspect, and pick from what you want."

Nine slowly nodded, putting his hand on the table before looking away.

"So which members of the Top 10 will be there?"

"Endeavor, Miruko, and Ryukyu," All For One smirked, "well known for their talents, strength and power. Seeing them all fall to our High-End will break Japan's spirit – and then I'll step in to comfort them."

"Fine," Nine nodded, "we'll begin organizing. I have a few recruits I can throw into the thick of things as a test – we'll be able to plan together again. Have your chauffeur act as our means of communication again – and let me know when to be ready."

"Very well, Nine," All For One smiled, "I'm eager to see what grand things we'll do together again. Kurogiri, return Nine to his comrades – they have work to do."

At once, black mist swirled around Nine as he lowered his head, and soon vanished into the portal. Once the test subject was fully engulfed, Kurogiri then reformed around where Nine had been standing, placing one hand into his pocket and then plucking up a cane to the side, giving it a small twirl as he turned to walk back into the lab.

"You didn't tell him the entire truth," Garaki smirked, not accusing his master but finding amusement in it.

"Well, no need to cross that bridge until we get there," All For One sighed to himself, "if Nine would like to think that the Inner Circle will eventually fight over Japan, we'll let him. Truth be told, doctor, I would find Japan to be quite suffocating if we simply fought over this small country."

Turning on his heel, he began walking back into the lab, with the doctor's automatic chair sliding beside him keeping pace.

"Flect will be looking to advance his own plans on Europe," All For One grinned, "and we received word that Intelli will be looking to North America to set up her surveillance. We'll let them fight their little war if they want to poke at each other, but while I rule Japan as the new capital of our empire … the Vessel will rule the world outright. But that's for the future – for now, we focus on Hosu."

"Yes," Garaki agreed as they wheeled into the laboratory. As they stepped through the doors, they saw the next part of their plan continuing to be underway - and being quite loud about it.

Stopping in the small part of the doctor's laboratory, the two men stared apathetically down at the writhing monster on the floor as it cringed and ripped at the back of its head with its large fingers. Released from his vat, the hooded man let out a low moan as it cringed on the floor, holding the back of his head with both hands as it rolled onto its side.

"Oh, dear," All For One let out a sympathetic tsk, "what a pitiful sight."

"D-don't … don't …"

"Come now, Imasuji, I thought you were over this," All For One approached the large monster, "the beast who wants the taste of blood, a crippled mess on the floor? I thought you were the strongest of the High-Ends - the one who kept his mind, who I see being the harbinger of death and destruction. How will you find those strong enough to fight you down here, while you whine and sob? Hosu will have plenty of blood for you to dine in, but you'll need to be strong enough to take it. Are you strong, Imasuji?"

"I … I …" The hooded man's eyes widened insanely.

"Come now," All For One whispered, "get up. And get to work."

The hooded man on the floor froze again, staring blankly forward – and then All For One sighed, and activated his Rivet Stabs, in addition to his Forced Activation quirk. Black tendrils brimming with cracks of red light, they flew up into the air briefly before sinking down into the High-End's back.

With a loud scream of pain and rage, the hooded man threw his head up as his body flailed on the floor, blood and saliva leaking from his mouth as All For One used Forced Activation. The political candidate and Garaki watched, completely unimpressed, as the beast continued to thrash, even as All For One ripped the tendrils out of his back with an unimpressed huff, and turned to walk away, to leave the High-End to suffer on the ground –

– and then, they both heard it.

The sound of flesh beginning to ripple.

Looking back down at the High-End, they watched as blood shot out of the beast like a geyser, drenching the floor and splashing the front of All For One's white button-up shirt, but to their pleasure, the skin of the beast began to ripple, and change. The hooded man's true face poked out from under its hood of black skin, showing the exposed brain, yellow insane eyes, and jagged teeth as the creature clawed at himself again, shrieking in agony as it rose up to its knees and roared at the ceiling -

- and then, from under the hood of black skin that made up its head, came several strands of pink fiber muscles.

All For One and Garaki watched in curiosity as the muscles spread across the High-End as he fell and thrashed around the ground, bones crunching and blood splashing against the floor as its body began to shrink down. Its hunchbacked spine crunched as it forced itself back down to the normal human curve, the clawed hands shrank down and the nails shrank, and from the exposed brain that made up the creature's head, blonde hair began to grow out, and the pink fibres slowly allowed skin to crawl out from it. Its inhuman growls slowly quieted down into low, agonized grunts, until finally, the transformation was complete.

And laying there on the floor, naked and sprawled out on the floor, was a large man, who slowly moved to roll onto his hands and knees and breathing heavily through his nose and mouth.

"Imasuji," All For One leaned forward as Garaki let out a sinister laugh, "can you hear me?"

The man before them panted for a moment - and then he raised his head, showing them the cruel eyes of the man before them. One was a normal, red pupil staring at them, while in the other formerly empty socket, scar tissue still surrounding it, was a yellow, glowing orb.

"Yeah," Muscular nodded, an insane grin filling his face, "yeah. God, that felt good."