"I see you behind that plant, Asui," Jirou called out.

Asui sidestepped from behind a pot of tall grass and saw the four other girls next to Jirou. Ashido was almost jumping up and down, while Uraraka did not move a muscle. Jirou, meanwhile, was just relieved that the hour-long game of hide and seek was over at last.

"Ribbit, does that mean I win?" Asui asked.

"Indeed. You found a great spot!" Yaoyorozu said.

"There was only 8000 different rooms to choose from..." Hagakure muttered.

"What was that?" Yaoyorozu said.

"She asked when are we having dinner? We're starving!... Right Uraraka?!" Ashido interrupted.

Ashido gave a wide-eyed glance towards Uraraka, although no one else noticed. Uraraka, feeling more like an actress than a friend, then sighed and answered Ashido.

"Yeah, so am I. What are we even having?"

"Follow me to the dining room," Yaoyorozu said.

As the girls departed the room following Yaoyorozu's lead, Jirou lagged back by a few footsteps. She was not really ready for dinner, but as she learned through dorming at UA, compromising was the name of the game. Besides, this was bound to be one of the best meals she could possibly have considering Yaoyorozu's family had professional chefs in the house.

A text message is here! A text message is here!

"Huh? Oh, crap," Jirou said, reaching for her phone to silence it.

While the others continued their trek, Ashido turned around and began walking backwards. Jirou did everything she could do to not make eye contact with her. Ashido, meanwhile, did everything she could do to not make her smirk too obvious.

"That's an interesting ringtone, Jirou. Interesting," Ashido repeated.

"Thanks?" Jirou said.

"Sounds like a lot like Midoriya's, if I'm not mistaken," Ashido said.

Jirou remained silent, now choosing to look down towards her shoes. Uraraka's face lit up as well, although she dared not to look towards them. The last thing she needed was for Ashido to call on her for assistance.

"We're almost there. Just a few more steps," Yaoyorozu said.

"Wait a minute," Jirou thought. "Midoriya must have texted me. Hopefully he's okay, there's no way I can respond right now."

Back at UA, the dorm building was now shaking from the flurry of activity from downstairs. Kirashima and Kaminari blared rock music at Bakugou's request, Sato continued to churn out snack after snack from the kitchen, and a few of the others played the official Pro Hero video game that Midoriya had shared with them. Friday nights were truly something to behold at UA now that everyone lived together. If Class B occupied the same building with Class A... well, the building itself might have crumbled by Saturday morning.

While everyone else partied, Midoriya remained in his room. He laid in his bed without twitching a muscle. His eyes were glued to his phone in the otherwise dark room.

There were two reasons why he chose to be away from the rest of the group.

For one, he had found a new All Might interview that he just had to watch. And secondly, he awaited a response from Jirou.

Some response.

Any response.

But so far, nothing.

"They must be having a good time at Yaoyorozu's," Midoriya said.

Midoriya then heard a knock on his door. He paused the video, rolled out of bed, and turned on the light.

"Midoriya! Why are you cooped up in your dinky room right now?" Kirashima asked.

"Oh, sorry Kirashima, I just need to unwind. I've been... thinking about stuff, that's all," Midoriya said.

"Alright, man, but you know where we are! Well, besides Ilda," Kirashima said.

"Where's Ilda at?"

"In his room. He was down with us earlier, but he said he needed to study."

"Ah, ok."

As the conversation fizzled out, the two parted ways, with Midoriya returning to his bed to continue watching the interview. It was exactly what he needed after a long, stressful week at UA.

"A few more steps? We went through, like, a hundred rooms to get to your dining room!" Hagakure said.

"Well, we are here now, so that is all that matters. Anyways, sit wherever you would like. Our servers will arrive with our dinner shortly," Yaoyorozu said.

The long table, covered with a red velvet tablecloth, had three chairs on each side. Yaoyorozu, Ashido, and Uraraka sat on one side, while Asui, Jirou and Hagakure sat across from them, respectively.

Ashido then bumped Uraraka's knee. They made eye contact, and without anyone noticing, Ashido mouthed "Plan A" to her. Uraraka gave a quick, hesitant nod in response. Then, the servers arrived, carrying multiple dishes that were covered.

"Ms. Yaoyorozu and company, your meal is ready."

After all the dishes were placed on the table, each was uncovered one by one. And as each dish was revealed, the guests' eyes grew wider and wider. Yaoyorozu, meanwhile, remained unfazed and nodded as she saw each item.

"Here it is. Wagyu beef, and your vegetables of choice, Ms. Yaoyorozu. May we serve each of your plates now?" The head server said.

"Please, thank you very much!" Yaoyorozu replied.

The guests had no idea what to even say. A simple 'thank you,' to them would not nearly express their sincere level of gratitude. Yet they also knew that for Yaoyorozu, this was a typical day in her life.

"Th-thank you so much, Yaoyorozu, ribbit!" Asui said as fast possible, with the others mimicking her.

As the group began to dine, Ashido tapped her foot, trying to find the best way to start a conversation. Everyone was so inundated by the meal that there was absolute silence. Uraraka could tell Ashido was about to explode, yet there was no way she was going to be the one to begin 'Plan A.' Ashido held all the cards - she just had to make the first play.

"Hey Uraraka, you told me something earlier that was... really interesting!" Ashido said.

"Perhaps while you were hiding, considering Jirou and I found you about five seconds apart?" Yaoyorozu said.

"Look at you, Yaoyorozu, so intelligent! So tell 'em, Uraraka!" Ashido continued.

Uraraka had no idea how to even start 'her line.' She felt five pairs of eyes on her, though, as they had somehow been distracted from their food. If it had not been for her nerves, Uraraka would have still been awestruck by the high quality meal the house chefs prepared.

"Um... could you give me a reminder of what you're trying to say?" Uraraka asked.

Ashido pouted. Uraraka nearly fell out of her chair.

"My QUIRK - I mean, your theory about my quirk," Ashido answered.

"Oh, right! How could I forget? So, don't freak out... but I think Ashido actually has a mind reading quirk," Uraraka rattled out.

"Ooooh, really?! Why do you think that's the case?" Hagakure asked.

"Well, I just noticed some things that she said and how... uh, you know, you'd need to be a mind reader to think like she does!" Uraraka said.

Jirou gave the two of them a confused and unamused look. Yaoyorozu was intrigued, while Asui and Hagakure were both spooked.

"A mi-mind reader, ribbit?!" Asui said.

"Asui, you sound awfully worried that Ashido might know your thoughts!" Hagakure said

"It's not that, ribbit. I just think a mind reading quirk could be really helpful as a hero," Asui said.

"Well, why don't I try it out to prove it to you? I'll read Uraraka's thoughts first!" Ashido said.

Uraraka nodded. Everything was going according to plan. Maybe if the whole hero thing did not work out, they could try being professional actresses.

"Uh, no. This is just ridiculous. Uraraka is clearly in on your deal and no matter what you say, she'll 'agree' with you that you read her mind," Jirou said, trying her best to not roll her eyes at them.

"Jirou does bring up a good point. It would be difficult to prove you're actually a mind reader," Yaoyorozu said.

Ashido snapped her left fingers underneath the table, while placing her right fingers underneath her chin.

"Good thing Plan A isn't our only plan," Ashido thought.

Ashido wanted to look over to Uraraka to give her the signal to drop Plan A, but with all eyes on them, it would be far too obvious to do such a thing. She hoped that Uraraka was witty enough like her to go with the flow.

"Alright, good point. How about I read your mind instead, Yaoyorozu?" Ashido said.

"Why not? Go ahead. What am I thinking right now?" Yaoyorozu asked.

Ashido readjusted her right hand to have her thumb and index finger beneath her chin. She stared right at Yaoyorozu, trying to deduce what the host was thinking. While she might have not been an actual mind reader capable of knowing her exact thoughts, she did know her well enough to at least have some idea of what she could be thinking about. It would all come down to a lucky prediction.

"Hmm... right now, Momo Yaoyorozu is thinking about whether her guests are enjoying dinner. She's also calculating the amount of food she still needs to consume to maximize her quirk's ability," Ashido said, hoping her plans would not be foiled.

"Huh?! That's exactly what I was thinking! How did you know?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"I'm Mina Ashido, the Mind Reader, that's how! Maybe I should have made that my hero name, eh?" Ashido said while full of relief.

Asui and Hagakure were stunned at Ashido's mindreading. Although Asui originally had her doubts, she was starting to believe her claim was true after all. Uraraka was also stunned, although for different reasons. Ashido's lucky guess did not make her believe she was an actual mind reader, but she was impressed by her friend's quick thinking.

Ashido then looked over to Jirou. Ashido's adrenaline drained instantly as she saw Jirou's expression.

"There's no actual way any of you believe Ashido actually read Yaomomo's mind. I mean, come on, even I knew that Yaoyorozu was thinking about those things!" Jirou said.

"If you're so insistent that I'm a fraud, Jirou, how about I read your mind next? You aren't scared if I see what's on your mind, right?" Ashido said with a grin.

Uraraka tried her best to not change her facial expression. She refused to be the reason for this plan failing. Blackmail or not, there was no way she wanted her crush on Midoriya to be revealed.

"Scared? Ha, gimme a break. Go ahead and 'read' my mind, Alien Queen," Jirou said with as much sarcasm as possible.

Just like she had done with Yaoyorozu, Ashido stared right at Jirou. Jirou then made a slight glance downwards before returning to their eye contact. This time, however, Ashido closed her eyes after a few seconds. After a quick nod, she opened them and prepared to deliver the verdict.

"Right now, Kyouka Jirou is thinking about the wagyu beef on her plate, because she's trying to trick me!" Ashido said.

"Wait, what?! T-That's what I was actually thinking about! What the heck?" Jirou said.

Ashido then noticed Jirou's face had a slight pink tint. Jirou then twirled her right earphone jack and tried her best to avoid any contact with Ashido. A blink and a nod later, Ashido stood up, pressed her hands against the table, and made an exaggerated gasp.

"Oh my goodness! Kyouka Jirou likes Izuku Midoriya!" Ashido yelled in the loudest voice she could possibly make.

Jirou's eyes widened. Her mouth opened, wanting to say a sentence that began with the word "what," but it was frozen on the motion of the first syllable. The color of the red velvet tablecloth would not even be an apt comparison as to how flushed her face became. With hands shaking, Jirou tried her best to stand up to counter, but her body refused to obey her brain. Emotionally, she was red hot, but physically, she was frozen.

Between their previous conversations with Jirou regarding Midoriya and her reaction to Ashido's claim, both Yaoyorozu and Asui knew what was going on instantly. They both remained as silent as they could be, though. Hagakure was bouncing up and down from her chair upon learning of the now open secret.

Ashido continued to smirk, as she enjoyed watching Jirou's reaction to her long suspected matchmaking claim. After all of her hard detective work, she could not help but feel pure joy over the matter. Love was the reason she kept going in life.

Mina Ashido had cracked yet another crush.

"U-Um... if you c-could excuse me, I need to use the re-restroom..." Jirou finally stumbled out, rolling out of her chair to exit the dining room.

Jirou had no clue where the restroom even was. She just had to get out of there. Anywhere would have been better than that dining room in this moment.

While everything unfolded before her, Uraraka sat motionless. It was true. It was all true.

Mina Ashido had correctly proven another case.

A/N: It's been almost seven months since my last update... I'm so sorry for the long delay. To those who read this chapter, thank you for sticking with me, I truly appreciate it! Hopefully this chapter was worth the wait.

Feel free to leave a comment, favorite and/or follow if you'd like! See you next time for Chapter 22!