And the chapter is done. Not gonna be updating this again. Now it's time to work on the next chapter.

Right after my Driver's License test on Thursday. Gonna spend the rest of the week studying up on that for the knowledge test. I'll make sure I'm back on it starting Saturday, when I have the time throughout the day to write anything. And I'll try to push for that story as a one update only chapter, so you get the whole of it the day it's posted.

And since this is being reposted, I'll make sure the discord link is there too.

discord . gg/QYKaGkG

Around 40 people already. It makes me happy to think people find me that enjoyable to have joined. Thank you to all who have already.

30 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

Izuku winced at the crack that sounded when his bat made contact with the small metal ball and sent it flying off into the air. His eyes squinted after it in an attempt to follow its arch through the open sky, but found it gone not too long later. He sighed, popped his ears from the grating sound his swing made, and heaved another metal ball from the short pile beside him.

"Hatsume," he called out towards the towering pile of trash by his other side. "I'm running low on the baseballs. Have you made any more yet?"

A television halfway up the pile shuffled over and toppled down the side of the makeshift hill, and Izuku watched its tumble and the trash it kicked out on the way down. "I'll start making some!" His eyes snapped back up to the television's original spot and to the pink-haired mechanic popping out from the pile in its place. "How many do you have left?"

He looked back down at his pile. "Si" – he stopped short, and took into account the ball in his hand – "seven."

"I'll get right on it then! I've gathered enough materials to make thrice as many balls as before, and I can make them thrice the size of the original pile! Give you some real training! Be right back!"

"Wait, no, don't—" His plea fell on deaf ears as Hatsume disappeared back into the pile like a mole, leaving only the shuffling of garbage and appliances to follow his words. "Why do I even bother? I know she's not going to listen." He sighed and bore down on the ball of metal still in his hand. "I can barely lift you as it is. What, am I supposed to play golf with a bat for the things I can't lift?" Cutting his own self-directed banter short, Izuku huffed and pivoted his feet again, threw the ball up in front of him, and followed after its descent with a hard swing of his bat.

Two weeks had gone by since his scuffle with Katsuki and his talks with Hunter and his mother, culminating in almost nothing other than removing those who breathed down his neck by a few feet. Katsuki's mother had listened to Izuku's about the news of the former's son's actions, equally emotionally but more vocally displeased with the blonde boy's attitude and violent nature toward his peers. Some details were twisted, under his own pleas to his mother, but it carried enough weight that Mitsuki's voice carried through the phone that even Izuku could hear her from the other room. What she had done on the other side of the phone to work on remedying the problem, Izuku had no idea. But little fallout was something Izuku more than expected in the end.

It was the middle of January; only a month's time was left before Yuei would conduct their entrance exams for a new wave of freshmen, and under four more months left in Izuku's middle school education. It was the latter that had the most play in what happened after all the talking and explaining of Izuku and Katsuki's fight. An idea came up between the mothers to transfer one of the kids to another school for the rest of their education, but the timeframe left was too short, and removing Katsuki would only leave Izuku with the rest of his classmates who were like the explosive boy but on a lower scale, while removing Izuku had little chance of payoff with another school and other classmates being as accepting of his status as quirkless as anyone else was, and most other options were just too stressful to even think about for Izuku, so the parents agreed to let both boys stay where they were for the next few months.

Within that agreement, though, Mitsuki Bakugou must have found a way to 'convince' her son to leave Izuku alone, because the two weeks following the fight the blonde boy had barely even looked/sneered in his general direction on campus and had vanished from sight outside of school. (Izuku knew mother and son in the Bakugou household could be mistaken for parallels of the other, but he also knew Mitsuki was a world away from being as harmful as Katsuki, so he didn't humor the idea something was going on behind closed doors to keep the Bakugou son off his back.) Everyone else at the school went with the cold shoulder between the two boys too, taking quick notice of Katsuki's silent and seething attitude and Izuku's beaten body and his attempt at a stoic expression and opting to stay out of whatever was going on between them.

First best choice they ever made, Izuku joked.

"Crafting's all done, Metal Bat!"

Izuku whipped his head around to Mei's voice, finding the girl trudging around the trash pile, and with her a bin of metal balls dragging behind. Izuku looked down at his own pile a second before his before his sight whiplashed back to me and then to the empty sand by his feet. When had he run out?

He stayed staring the sand down as Hatsume approached and tossed the rope in her hands down between them. "There you are! 45 large baseballs made from scraps, ready and set for batting practice!" Her presentation went unnoticed as Izuku's head rolled from shoulder to shoulder, and his look of confusion only spiraled further with his mind.

"Wait, you actually made them that big and that quickly? I don't remember you device being that quick."

"The process goes by way faster when you use an interior mold to keep the design and shape hollow, and when you only make them half complete so you can screw them together afterwards! Just had to tweak that and the circumference changes into the machine and it was raring to go! It actually took me 10 minutes to get that all done this time, which is much better for production line value if I'm going to use it as an armor reinforcement! Which reminds me" – Mei dashed away to the shoreline, turned down its south stretch, and cupped her hands around her mouth –"you need to send me the designs of your armor so I can start the attachment and update prototypes for our first semester!"

"So they're actually hollow?" Izuku had asked the mechanic-in-training as she zoomed back over to him. "Do they weigh less?"

"Yep! Still a bit more than your average baseball, but that's to be given with the material and the thickness of the shell." She tapped a knuckle on the top ball, a ring echoing out from each hit. "I can probably make a ball the same weight and size of a normal baseball, but that would take me making a few more calculations to get right and you still need to get the batting process down so you don't flatten your toes. The bigger babies here will be good practice in making sure your hand-eye coordination is up to par with the task."

Izuku winced behind his lips and curled his feet in memory of the first few metal balls he tried hitting out to sea. "I-I see where you're coming from. Thank you, for thinking of that."

"No trouble at all! You can repay me with sponsorships and working on your costume designs once you finally give me the blueprints to work off of!"

"I'll…have to get back to you on that." Izuku appreciated Hatsume for how quickly she agreed to help him with "batting practice," an idea that came to mind after his experience with it during his excursion at the mall; it probably wouldn't become something he did too often, but maybe it could prove as situationally useful as it did then. But the experience helped him none in decided his hero costume, and Mei's baseball attire pitch wasn't exactly something to run home about.

"Send your idea to me before you send it to the Hero Association and the school so I can start working on upgrades to give it before you first wear it! The support industry thrives on punctuality!"

"There's a difference between punctuality and persistence," Izuku muttered to himself, silently glad Mei's quirk only affected her eyesight. A crack rung in his ears as he knocked another ball out into sea. He raised his voice as he turned to Hatsume, the girl digging through the side of the giant pile. "You sure your drone can withstand the water pressure too far out? I don't want to throw the litter back if it can't go any further than the first few."

"My baby is still receiving my orders and acting on them, so she'll be back any time now without failure!" Hatsume checked the box attached to her hip, clicked it open and punched down on the buttons decorating the interior. "There's still a few from the first batch she has yet to pick up, so I'll have her wash up later so we can reuse those first balls for another round of practice." Izuku had parted his lips to respond, but snapped them shut as sand kicked up from behind him with a heave of air.

"I was going to ask you two what this was all about." Iida passed by the shorter teens to a bag by the staircase, yanking from it a squeeze bottle and pouring it down his throat. "I could hear some of them down at the end of the shoreline. A part of me was worried you two were acting off impulse, but it reassures me knowing you two put more thought into this practice than that. I assume this was all preplanned?"

Izuku nodded. "Yeah, I asked her if she could help me come up with something for hitting things at people with the bat—"

"And I was planning on using my Deep Sea baby anyways!" Mei interjected, nearly jumping on Izuku to get Iida to look at her. "There's still a lot of trash littering the sea floor, and I always see more and more little pieces wash up over the months, so I was gonna send it down to find me some more scrap to clean and reuse for future projects, and this makes for really good practice runs to test just how much water pressure it can handle before it begins to crack down there! And, what's even better, is that I've found enough material for the attachments to your uniform, Specs!"

Izuku had yet to vocalize his thoughts, but watching Iida jolt from a loose stature to something stiff and robotic in a millisecond was mildly entertaining.

"Hatsume, I've told you before that my name is Iida! And while I appreciate the gesture you are making in improving my gear for class and the field, I have told you before that I do not need engines on my arms! My quirk only applies to my legs!"

Izuku also had yet to vocalize that Iida's hand gestures did nothing to prove his latter statement.

"Nonsense! Even if the engines won't be powered by your quirk, having the same kind of mobility in your arms can only improve your actions on the field in helping civilians and getting more work done on time!"

"But the engines you are suggesting will only push my arms in one direction! Arms have a wider list of mobility options and functions compared to our legs, and they require more precision to use safely and effectively in every activity!"

"Then I should build engines on all four corners of your arms!"

"No!"

Izuku opted to tune out of their debate and focus back on his batting practice. Maybe getting the two to meet wasn't the best idea, but he would let that come back to bite him later.

As he continued to practice over their shouts, his mind lingered on the topic of a hero uniform. In all honesty, Izuku hadn't put thought into what he could wear. Aside from scrapping his older idea that took too much inspiration from Japan's number one hero, he had procrastinated on designing a proper hero uniform, simply because he didn't know what to wear. He needed something that didn't only scream "Him" physically, but would work with himself mentally. And all his mental reflection had only jumbled together into a mess he still needed to sort through for the right message.

Izuku had seen Iida's designs for his uniform, one his family's companies and ties would be designing for him once he was accepted into Yuei, or any heroics school if he wasn't admitted there. It was less than helpful, given how much of it was designed with his quirk in mind. The armor that became an icon in his bloodline was designed with enough aerodynamic angles and break padding beneath the plating to coincide with the engines in his legs. It drew attention to what made him "Him," and Izuku calling attention to his lack of a quirk was an idea that quickly found itself thrown in the bin.

Ojiro had a slightly more appealing uniform; a simple martial arts gi tailored for his body's appendages and emphasizing his knowledge of martial arts. A couple of extra details were tacked on, with a tuff matching his tail hung over one shoulder and a few designs scattered throughout looked culturally inspired, though Izuku wasn't told the story behind them. And as much as Izuku avoided pestering his judo buddy with questions and inquiries, he did too avoid copying the look for his own uniform. He wanted something unique, and that meant creating a design unlike those around him.

Izuku rolled his shoulder and sighed. The repetitious action was running him sore, but at least he wasn't missing his swings. He swiped down to pick another ball and whiffed his hand through the air with nothing between his fingers. His head snapped down in surprise and confusion, the latter only growing as he found the plate that Mei dragged along now vacant, and the pile depleted. How did he keep doing that?

"Hatsu—" Izuku turned back to his friends; only to find one of them standing there, and it not being the one he was calling for. He and Iida locked eyes for a second before Izuku's head snapped around and found no pink hair in sight. "Hatsume!"

"YEAH?" The green teen jolted with his friend as the girl's voice blasted from the other side of the pile. Why did she bring her speakers to the beach?

"I may have, uh, completely run out of the pile of makeshift baseballs you gave me. Do you know when the next pile will be ready?"

"Gonna be a while!" With her microphone off, Izuku sighed in relief. "I found a couple of computer screens with their internal wiring intact! I can repurpose these pieces for several projects on the backburner, and I need to test them and make sure they can still work at their best capacity!"

"…We're at the beach. How are—you know what? Never mind. I don't want to question it. Just do whatever. I'll be resting here." He dropped into the sand with his bat and collapsed on his back with a groan. "Don't mind me."

"I still believe you should be resting altogether." Iida dropped like an anvil to sit beside Izuku, jolting the shorter teen only slightly. "It's been two weeks since you've been released from the hospital. Are you sure you've had enough time to recover?"

"Oh, yeah, I feel fine." Izuku patted the front of his other shoulder and gave his friend a smile. "They patched me up great. I can barely feel the wound anymore – barely even have one to show for it – and it doesn't feel like I'm stretching it when I move my arm, so I think I'm in the clear."

"That's not what I meant, Midoriya." The lack of a smile on Iida's face moved Izuku's to drop and match the other's expression. "I wasn't talking about your wounds—not your physical wounds. I mean to ask, mentally and emotionally, how are you fairing after all that?"

Izuku propped himself up on his elbows. "'All that?' What do you mean?"

He took note of the shifting expressions Iida made before he responded. "My family runs multiple hero agencies in Japan, and my brother is one of the only ones that allows trainees and sidekicks that aren't licensed as a hero like himself. While my brother and those who work with him don't always run into villains and aren't always locked in battle with them, there have been occasions where they do, and that includes those who haven't tested for a license or who failed to earn one. And there have been occasion where those who make it out of those battles don't find themselves returning to my brother's agency, those who find their lives put on the line and come out of the battle stressed and harmed mentally more than they were physically. My brothers and parents have had to assist and, sometimes, even force apprentices and sidekicks into therapy before they could even return to the office.

"In that same vain, I would like to be like my family and assist those I work with in making sure that they are okay in their mental, physical and emotional health. And I want to extend that same courtesy to you, Midoriya." Iida's hand brushed against Izuku's arm and rested against it as the two boys locked eyes. "Please, be honest with me. Are you feeling okay?"

A beat of silence passed before Izuku curled in a wheeze. His hand clapped over Iida's as he laughed and earned himself a mixed look of concern and confusion from his bespectacled friend. "I-I was worried you were gonna ask something else entirely. I thought—I'm sorry for laughing, but that just caught me off guard. I—god, I don't even know what I was expecting, and I almost had a heart attack over it." His laughter only doubled down as he tried to explain himself to his still baffled friend beside him.

Iida's grip on Izuku weakened as he watched but his hand went nowhere as Izuku's own shot out to grab it and hold it against his arm. The green teen's laughter died by the second, but his smile held strong along his grip. "Iida, I…thank you for worrying about me. It means a lot to me that you do, believe me. But I promise you, I'm fine. You'll know when I'm not." His eyes held the unspoken apology when they locked with his friend's, and he threw his hand in the air to let Iida's go. "Here, how about this? The next I'm not doing okay – when I'm actually not fine – I'll come to you. You'll be the first person I turn to if I need help, okay? How does that sound?"

Another beat of silence passed before Iida puffed his chest and the sun glistened off his glasses. "Then I shall not let you down! When that day comes, I promise to be there for you and help you recover however I can." His free hand slapped against his chest in a salute, helping to adjust his back upright in the accompanying pose.

Izuku's smile only grew, until it took a second to falter. "You know, I think I'd rather it be an 'if' than a 'when,' if it's all the same to you," he joked.

"Of course, Midoriya! I would never wish harm upon a friend, you included! Let me, if you will, rectify my oath to you; I promise to be there for you, if the day comes that you need the help I have extended towards you and informed you of!"

"That's actually a bit of a mouthful, now that I think about it," Izuku told his friend from the side of his mouth, tapping his elbow against the taller boy's side. It wasn't much better, trying to tease Iida's 'formal' attitude at such a time, but it lightened his mood and the heaviness of his shoulders immensely. "But I'll just say you got my back…and I got yours. Friend for a friend. Sound fair?"

Iida didn't take even a moment to think before his hand clasped Izuku again, gently atop his shoulder. He shared Izuku a smile, and the green teen kept his up to meet it. "Of course!"

The living room couch was a stressful place to be for Izuku, sitting directly beside his mother, All things considered, Izuku's mother took in everything he told her better than he thought she was going to. Given, the worst case scenario was bringing all the evidence he gave her to a court to charge illegal use of a quirk out in public (the outcomes of which varied in his head, from nothing changing given his quirkless status holding more precedence in the eyes of others as unworthy to defend, to using that same status as a means of garnering pity and turning a ruling in his favor, to just getting shot in court so he didn't have to deal with the attention of people taking pity or putting blame upon him (crime dramas of the past decade really were trying to push boundaries that Izuku couldn't understand being aired on national television)), so it wasn't supposed to be hard for his mom to break his expectations. But that didn't mean she was at the other end of the spectrum, shrugging off the accounts of physical and verbal bullying Katsuki had focused on him near a decade long; no, she acted as terrified and worried and overprotective as Izuku thought she would.

A tissue box sat empty between their legs. "I-I thought Mitsuki was able to keep her son from developing an attitude worse than her own," his mother had muttered by the end of his recounting. It was a miracle she had run herself through the tears.

Izuku licked his own lips, wiping away the salty taste. He'd done the same. "I…don't think Aunt Mitsuki knows about it," he admitted. "I never thought of her as someone who would allow Katsuki to do that willingly."

"Well, she could be pushy herself, too, but she was trying more to tease people than harm them." She hummed to herself, a hand gently squeezing her son's. "That's actually how she got Masaru to marry her. I don't see that working out for Katsuki with the way he's been acting."

Izuku would have loved to add his own two cents into that conversation, but he relented. It wasn't worth being that petty, not now.

His mother took the hint when he didn't respond. "So…is that really everything?"

He nodded in return. "I promise you, that's all he's done. It's all anyone's done." Any humor in his mother vanished after her failed attempts, setting in stone the revelations. Of Bakugou's bullying, of their classmates' encouragement of the blonde, of their teachers' ignorance, of strangers' cold shoulders, and of Katsuki's urging of Izuku's demise. Everything he had told her – and he made sure he told her everything – was all true to the core.

His mother shook her head as she looked at him. "I can't send you back to that school. I just can't allow that." It was an urgent call with a dead serious tone that jolted Izuku's back upright.

"Wha-mom, I can't just drop out of school in the last trimester of the last year!"

"We can transfer you." She pivoted in her seat, bringing her other hand around to meet the pile they had started. "There are plenty of schools that would love to take in someone with your tests scores and say they graduated into Yuei's education."

"They'd accept someone four months before they would enter high school?"

"If they don't, we can always enroll you in online classes to complete your education."

"Mom, you don't have to pull me from the school!"

"But I can't just leave you in it either!" Any attempt she was making to look calm in front of him wilted away as her voice rose. "Not now! Not when I know you're in danger! Not when I know no one there will help you when Katsuki or those other boys try to hurt you again!"

"They can't do anything to me on campus, and other than Katsuki, no one's done anything to me in months!"

"It's been two months, Izuku! Two! And you still have four more until the school year is over!"

"And just one and a half months until Yuei's entrance exam!" Izuku clasped his other hand on the pile between them, topping it off and shaking their hands as he turned to face her directly. "Mom, please, you don't have to do any of that. Katsuki and I are the only two people in our entire school who send admissions to Yuei, and if I'm accepted then I won't see any of them again. And then I'll be surrounded by heroes, all working as Yuei's staff, and I have more than enough faith in them to at least not let Katsuki do anything to me if he gets in too."

His breathing punctured the silence between them. He could feel their hands continued to shake after he stopped forcing them too; whether it was his own nerves carrying on the action or his mother's, he didn't know. He didn't know when his height had eclipsed hers, either. He just knew what he had to do.

"Okay, mom, how about this? If I get accepted into Yuei, for the two months after until I graduate I'll come straight home and not go anywhere else. I will come right here where you know none of them can reach me. Then I'll be in Yuei and I'll be safe." He gulped and darted his eyes down to their overlapping hands. "And if I don't get into Yuei, then you can choose what I do next and where I go next, if only to make sure I'm safe and you know it. And I won't argue or fight with you on whatever you choose. I promise." He forced his gaze back to hers, softening when he saw the distraught that had washed away her fierce concern. "I will do whatever you ask then. Okay?"

Izuku knew he was forfeiting some free will over his future with his promise, and he could see his mother struggle knowing it too. But he knew he had to make it – or at least any – after promising to be forward and honest with her. And he knew nothing would convince her better than letting her help and control instead of hoping or forcing her to confide in his own decisions.

His mother seemed to understand that, as she nodded slowly. "Alright. You can stay in the school until you graduate – of course. But" – her finger shot up between them – "I'm still calling Mitsuki to tell her to keep you and Katsuki apart. If you don't want me to tell her everything you told me, fine, I can tell her the two of you are "having a fall out" and he's being aggressive about it and to have as small a leash on him she can. And I want you to text me every time you get out of school, and where you're going and when you get there while I'm at work, okay? I-I'm sorry if I sound like a helicopter parent, or I'm being overbearing on you—"

"It's fine, I'll do that. I promise." Izuku initiated the hug his mother returned. "I'll make sure to be safe, and I'll be sure to let you know. I love you."

"I love you too Izuku," his mother whispered as the hug tightened. Her volume stayed as she pulled away. "I should let you get to bed; you've had a long day. I'll deal with the doctor's appointment and Mitsuki. You, rest."

"Alright," Izuku submitted, lifting them both off the couch. "Thanks, mom. Have a good night."

"You too." Mother and son shared another soft smile as they parted ways, one to the kitchen, and the other down the hall to his room. But his door only opened an inch before his mother spoke again. "Izuku?"

The green teen looked back down the hall, finding her peeking around the corner with the dining light illuminating another worried expression.

"Yeah?" He called back.

"Your friends" – her fingers flinched in hesitation – "I'm sorry if it feels like I'm pressing you about all this – I just want to make sure you're okay – but…you trust Ojiro and your friends at the beach, right?"

Izuku's eyelids flickered. Do I trust them? "Yeah…I do. I trust them. They're nothing like Katsuki. You don't have to worry about that."

"And they all know you're…"

"Yes. They do."

"Okay, I'll trust you on that, just…be careful, please, when you try to make more?"

"…I will."

20 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

Sitting in a public space, doing absolutely nothing other than waiting, was something Izuku just did not do often. He loved jumping around from place to place, following the news and the heroes it covered in real time, trying to follow along on foot when he could. Running from was something he was used to, too, growing up around dangers and "dangerous" people (if he felt like lumping Katsuki under that label). After finding a (albeit late) training regimen to increase his chance of getting into Yuei months ago, being on the move or lounging in more isolated and empty places became the new norm, subjecting his hero notes to only gather from news feeds. Sitting on a beach far from most wanderers, hiding on the ends of the trains to get from place to place, and running home to the confines of his room; they were what made sitting on a bench in the middle of the day waiting for Yaoyorozu to come by feel awkward.

The music blasting in his ears was a quick way to tune all that out, for the most part. He didn't think he'd have to use his headphones beyond the train ride into Tokyo, but he was happy he brought them all the same. That gratitude extended through the rest of his phone, scrolling through the news of heroes he missed quadruple-checking the map during the ride over and sending his mother a message of his arrival with a forced smile in his selfie to prove the claim. His uneasy was only punctuated by the supportive response to be good on his "date" with the girl. He was happy she was comfortable enough to make the joke with him, but the last thing he wanted was anyone believing it was anything like that. All he wanted was to finally spend a day getting to know the girl he texted with so little over the phone, and hopefully the universe would go easy on him and allow that.

The limo parking across the street was only conspiring against him.

"Please don't," Izuku groaned out, slumping into the bench and popping an earbud out. He could see the small crowds of people pointing out the vehicle as they passed or stopped, and he only wished they recognized it better than he did. But didn't seem the case, and the driver nodding in his direction as he left the vehicle didn't help his case either. Izuku only whined a little as the chauffeur circled around the limousine and helped out the tall girl with the ponytail that Midoriya was expecting to see. He waved weakly when she waved to him brightly. "You dug yourself this grave, Izuku. You wouldn't have reached the surface vertically anyways."

At least the time it took Yaoyorozu to cross the street was spent picking himself up to greet her proper. He was patting his wrinkles down by the time she arrived, and he pushed a smile to match the life of her own. "Good afternoon, Midoriya," the tall girl greeted him.

"A-afternoon, Yaoyorozu. I wasn't aware you were taking a ride to get here."

A sigh dipped away the cheer across her face as she watched the vehicle turn the corner down the road. "Yes, well, after the incident at the mall, my parents have been less keen on allowing me to travel outside of our home and into the city without a chaperone, but they were at least kind enough to only restrain how I get around and not getting to be."

Izuku's light chuckle fought to keep up the spirit. "Yeah, I'd rather not have someone breathing down the back of my neck when getting to know someone." He itched the back of his neck and looked around the street. "Sorry I haven't texted you much, by the way. Not really used to talking to people outside of face to face."

"You don't have to worry about that, Midoriya." Yaoyorozu waved a hand towards the green teen. "I understand any unease with online interaction, especially in conversing with new friends."

She sounds a lot like Iida, Izuku noted, before gazing down the mono-colored knee high dress she wore. She does come from a family like his though.

"So" – Izuku patted a balled fist and looked down to the other end of the street – "walk and talk?" The look of confusion that crossed Yaoyorozu's face mildly concerned him, but it washed away quickly with a smile and a nod.

"I'd be delighted. Let's." With the tall girl's approval in hand, Izuku stuffed both of his in his pockets, spun on his heel, and walked past the small sects of people still taking note of the girl who came from the limousine taking step by his side.

The conversations of others and the passing traffic of people and vehicles provided as the only source of sound as the two walked along. Izuku looked anywhere other than the girl by his side as they made their way down the second street. That conviction only lasted him so long, every now and again stealing a glance over to the tall girl as she inspected and muttered to herself about the shops and stores and signs that caught her eye along the road. Or she was, if he was reading her lips right. It was still more conversing than he was managing. At least he had the walking part down.

He was an idiot, he told himself as they passed several more shops and another two streets, for not even knowing how to start a conversation with her. Where we they supposed to? Should he have asked how her day has been, something that felt way too mundane after the last time they had even seen each other? Should he even bring up the mall or the hospital as a starting point for a conversation? The last time he talked to her was telling her he was discharged from the hospital after recovering from a bullet wound; how could he pick up a conversation from that? Fuck, how did I make my friends?

Similar interests. Yeah, okay, yeah. I can start from there.

Once they reached the next crosswalk and waited for the light to change, Izuku finally broke the silence between them. "So" – he opened, flapping his elbows and lifting to the ball of his feet as though to fly, all of which worked in tandem to get the tall girl to look down at him – "last I remember, you were trying to get into Yuei through recommendations, right?"

The first expression that crossed Yaoyorozu's face was confusion, of which Izuku was prepped to berate himself for still not finding the option that worked, until that expression eased into a small smile and a nod. "Right, I had told you about that when we first met." She bowed slightly in his direction. "Apologies; I forgot I had shared that with you already. And, actually" – the onyx-haired girl turned forward again, her head tilted into her cupped hand – "the school's final verdicts came in about a week ago. And I've been accepted."

A bell went off in Izuku's head as his neck snapped in the tall girl's direction, the words of her already taken test and her now announced acceptance ringing in his head. The people around him crossed the street as the bell sounded for them too, and it took a few seconds for Izuku to notice Yaoyorozu making her way with the crowd before he snapped back to reality and hurried after her.

"Holy shit," was the first thing he said once by her said, startling and jumping the girl who seemed to have been lost in thought before his return. "Congrats. I had completely forgot you had already applied and taken the test already. You made it in. That's amazing."

Yaoyorozu caught her breath as they made it across, side-eyeing Izuku and flattening out her skirt. "T-thank you, Midoriya. My apologies I did not inform you over text when I had gotten my acceptance letter. I did not know if you would have wanted to hear it, or if it would have felt like gloating after Gang Orca's offer to you."

"No, it's fine. I turned that down intentionally. I don't think I could have convinced them, not with someone like you applying for it too." He brushed a hand along his cheeks, ignoring the heat he felt building. "And, besides, I think a late application would have only marked me down at the start. It's probably better for someone like me just to take the normal entrance exam."

"I-I'm positive you would have given many other examinees a challenge to over perform—wait, Midoriya." The tall girl collected herself once again, turning body to face the shorter teen. "I do not mean to be insensitive by asking this, but what do you mean by 'someone like you'?"

Izuku caught a yelp before it could rise past his throat, but only succeeded in starting a coughing fit in its place. He was grateful Yaoyorozu wasn't as caught up in their words as he was, as she guided him out of the moving crowds of people and into the entrance of a nearby alley. He rested on the wall opposite of Yaoyorozu, who only swayed towards the other wall without touching it. "I'm sorry," he coughed into his shoulder. "I didn't—I think I might have swallowed something I shouldn't have."

"It's alright, Midoriya," she consoled him. She flinched a moment before her hand glowed and passed a tissue over to the green teen. "Just try to get it out of your throat for now."

He took the offered item and threw it into the trash bin beside them once his throat was cleared. "Thank you for that. Sorry for worrying you with that…and for startling you. Didn't mean to do that, just wanted to congratulate you."

"Midoriya, it's okay. You don't need to apologize for any of that, and…thank you for your kind words." The smile she sent him didn't look all too real. "But you don't need to say anything like that to me. It's not all that necessary."

"I think it is," he countered. He winced softly to see her startled again by him. "Sorry, it's just, I think not praising you for getting in would kind of be rude. It's Yuei; the acceptance rate into that school is like a gacha game's. Hell, getting into recommendations and then through it is even harder. You did both. I can't think of a reason you shouldn't be celebrated for that." The blush on Yaoyorozu's face was bright enough to see, even under the alley's shade. Izuku could feel his own building up, realizing how his sentence sounded.

"I-uh-thank you, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu stuttered out before Izuku could muster another apology. "That's very kind of you to see it that way. I…I was initially worried I'd offend you if I made it sound like I got in easy."

"I'm pretty sure you got in the hardest way. I've heard they're probably more stressful than they are challenging, and I know stress makes everything worse, believe me. I'm happy you got in, I swear." Izuku gave a small smile back to the taller girl. "I'm pretty sure I'm the one taking the easy way out and going with the regular entrance exam. I would not have passed that recommendation exam if I took it."

Yaoyorozu's sigh was loud, sounding a mix between tired and exasperated. "Is…does that have something to do with the comment you made about yourself earlier?" Her question had Izuku hitch his breath, holding the gaze with her despite the voice in his head telling him to turn away. "I don't want to force you to talk about something you don't want to, so you don't have to answer that question—"

"No, it's…it is fine. I can answer it." Izuku's hands folded over his stomach as he settled himself against the wall enough to hold himself up with more control. "I…what I mean, when I say 'someone like me,' it's…I'm a normal kid. I live in an apartment with me mom. I attend a public junior high school in Musutafu. I barely do anything in my free time other than study and train and relax. There isn't anything special to me, nothing like what you have."

"I…I think you're greatly undermining yourself, Midoriya. As plain and normal as you might be, I think your actions and words make you a far greater person than many others. I think you'll pass the entrance exam with ease. With the control and flexibility you have of your quirk, and what I remember about you from the mall, Yuei would be hard pressed to find someone else like you."

There's probably a billion other people in the world missing what I am, they just have to spend the time actually looking for them. Izuku let out an audible sigh as his head bounced down. But you still think I have one…"'With ease' might be a stretch. But thanks. I'll try my best." He returned the real smile she gave him as she straightened her posture. Izuku patted his knees as he stood up too. "This…is actually something I've been wanting to talk with you about since…we first met, actually, but would you be alright telling me a bit about your quirk? I've been meaning to learn about it since I saw you use it."

She pondered the question a moment, or at least Izuku hoped she did as she turned back to the crowds passing them by on the sidewalk, before she turned to him again with a brighter smile than before. "I have no problem talking about my quirk with you, if you're alright with returning the favor."

Izuku puffed up his chest as he pushed off the wall, and let it fall back down as he turned to the street with her. He could only hope his smile bought her off. "Fine by me." He stood by her side and gestured to the moving packs. "Walk and talk?"

She nodded, and he only hiccupped in his chest when a faint giggled reached his lips. "I'd be delighted."

Maybe it's better you do.

Izuku didn't know if it was good or bad that no one at school decided to bring up his new bandages, the bruise Katsuki sported over the bridge of his nose, or even send either of them to the school nurse when the teacher laid eyes on both, but with the day over it at least meant he was a few hours away from getting them off. No physical activities had him pull any of his bruises, and no more were added on to his body, so he considered his day better than the norm for the occasion.

Even better was the quiet and vacant walk home, as the constant chatter of his school mates disappearing behind him and overtaken by the rustling leaves and the every so often passing car. The near emptiness of a week day's middle hours never surprised him, and he remembered the days he thanked they existed in his younger school years, growing up with Katsuki.

He remembered the tree he was once small enough to hide behind, one he used several times to trick the chasing Katsuki and his friends when they weren't done picking and beating on him. It was beginning to wither with age. He heard it was to be pulled and replaced soon. He was gonna miss it.

He remembered the empty shop he made his second escape, vacant and open enough for him to enter but littered to the brim for him to hide and lose Katsuki's pursuit, probably more than it should have worked. A year after relying on it was the structure bought out and filled in with a family-run café owned by a gentleman who didn't allow loitering or children hiding for their safety. Izuku found another route to take home after figuring all that out, but he decided to be a gentleman and pass by again just to wave at the owner through the window while probably being cursed at on the other side. They hadn't gotten a penny out of him yet.

He remembered the park he tried running through, once, until Katsuki had his quirkless identity outed around other kids who laughed and picked on him for it and adults who either did nothing or pulled their own kids away to leave Izuku to the clutches of his bully. He had only ever visited it one other time, and it still looked as worn and rusty as he remembered it. He'd rather it evicted and raised than the tree.

Yeah, the more he thought on it, the less his stroll down memory lane excited and pleased him.

"Hey Deku!"

God damnit.

Who else to follow him home the day after he was probably warned and more than likely threatened so he wouldn't again than Katsuki. Izuku couldn't say he was totally surprised to see the blonde hunched over and sparking from his palm, nor was he at all happy to know his guess that it would happen was right.

"What?" Izuku asked him dryly. Reliving their past had already killed his upbeat.

It didn't seem to please Katsuki any to hear. "The hell you mean, what?" he seethed. "I know you're the reason my old hag yelled at me last night about leaving you alone! Did you really think you can run away crying to try and stop me?"

"I don't remember being the one that ran away yesterday," Izuku reminded him. "Definitely not from you. I do remember watching you run, though."

Katsuki's arms shook violently, steam bellowing from his palms as he stalked forward. "So the coward finally grew a spine?"

"Least I don't look like I'm going to shit mine out."

Had the day been anything normal, Katsuki would have launched himself then and there, tackled Izuku to the ground and beat the shit out of him ruthlessly. No amount of self-defense Izuku learned would have worked against explosions and first degree burns and still be capable to fight back against someone whose quirk helped him deliver backhands like bullets. The short-tempered blonde would have wrung his neck for his back talking, and behind offended by a few short words were nothing new to Katsuki, and seeing it in action was nothing new to Izuku either.

But today wasn't any normal day, and it seemed last night had an effect in some way, and those facts were only cemented when the smoke blew away in the wind and Katsuki corrected his posture. He could do nothing to save face, or decontort his vile expression, but he put what power he had in dragging his feet around and stomping away from Izuku instead of jumping him.

"Don't think this changes shit, Deku," Katsuki shouted out over his shoulder. His face was turned just enough for Izuku to see even half the glare sent his way. "If I can't stop you from this childish dream of yours, you can bet your ass Yuei would never let some quirkless shit who can't even protect himself correctly ruin their reputation as the best. Don't think for a second anyone is on your side."

Izuku chose not to reply as Katsuki stomped off in the distance, keeping straight down the road and never taking a turn until the street made him. Izuku didn't even wait for Katsuki to disappear from his eyes before he turned his own way and continued on the path he was before, started by as sigh.

"Even I know that's a load of shit, Katsuki," Izuku grumbled to himself. "I got mom, and Iida, and Hatsume, and Ojiro, and…even Hunter. I know they believe in me." He threw his bag from his shoulders and let it hang just barely over the ground in the grip of one of his hands. "I know they're on my side. They like me. They support me." His other hand hovered over the bandage beneath his shirt. "…In their own ways."

But would anyone at Yuei support me? Yaoyorozu assumes I have a quirk – or I think she still does – and Gang Orca and some news sites think I do. How many would still care about me if they knew the truth, though? He hesitated at a crosswalk, and allowed a car to pass the road before him. That doesn't exactly have the best track record so far…

Two blocks later and his apartment complex was right around the corner. He waved to the one neighbor he saw on the way, an old man on the first floor who was probably the only one who knew who he was, if anyone else in the complex even knew he existed. The gentleman watched him walk away with a hard stare, of which Izuku only weakly smiled at in his passing.

"Who am I kidding; barely anyone cares," he groaned as the elevator doors closed on him. "Either no one knows who I am, or anyone who does – most anyone – wishes they didn't have to know me. Even those that come from Yuei treat me like shit. How is it supposed to be any different being there?" He wiped the frustration off his face as the doors opened to his floor.

"…Maybe I make it different, then."

10 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

"You want me to lie?"

"It's not that you have to lie; I just need you not to talk about it. And it's not like we're going to be doing it our whole time at Yuei, just for now, until I know it's safe."

Ojiro sighed heavily, the towel draped over his head weighing down one side more prominently until it fell off completely. The tailed martial artists didn't bother to pick it off the seat, preoccupying his hands with massaging his face, and Izuku couldn't relate more. The idea was stupid, no question about it. The green teen just couldn't find a better alternative.

"Midoriya, that's not going to work," Mashirao whined into his hands. The bell to the dojo's door rung as a father walked out with his two daughters behind him, ranting aimlessly about their day of class. "I can see maybe three flaws with this already."

"Yeah, and I gave them thought," Izuku countered. He wiped the towel off his shoulders and threw it onto his bag. "Katsuki knows already, and he can still get into Yuei. But he's not going to say shit, because his mom has told me she's going to keep a tight leash on him, which means anything he starts that causes problems, he gets in trouble for, and I'm pretty sure the looming threat for that is expulsion from Yuei. It's not exactly a win-win scenario for him."

"They're still letting him apply for Yuei?" Ojiro asked in bafflement. "Last I checked, he attacked you and you defended yourself."

"Yeah, and that's about where my story ends, with a handful of people that can vouch for my innocence and a school of others who would have no problem framing me as the problem. There isn't much evidence other than word against word for me to take this any farther in getting him pulled from Yuei's applications. He probably has a mark on his "perfect record" courtesy of Aunty Mitsuki, but I don't know what that'll cause for his application, if it even is there. He doesn't exactly have anything to gain trying to 'expose' me at school.

"And the Yuei staff know I'm quirkless," Izuku continued. "They've seen my enrollment application. So they know a quirkless kid is applying for the heroics department at their school. And they haven't publicized anything about it? This is the school that brags about it students to the public. A majority of their students make up the top ten heroes of the world, make up the majority of examinees for heroic licenses, hold showcases for their students in the Spring and just this last year bragged about opening the door for people like me to enroll for the programs. And then it got drowned in the news. No one cared about it. And Yuei hasn't done anything since to talk about their offer. They're radio silent on the whole ordeal, because no one cares or believes it would happen. If I don't only get into Yuei, but also make it to the heroic's course, people will only doubt my ability to stay in the class. No one's going to talk about me otherwise, and why would they?"

"Because you're a quirkless kid who got into the best high school for aspiring heroes all around the world by swinging a baseball bat and saying the word 'fuck.'"

Izuku gave his friend an unamused look. "I do not say fuck all that often."

"Midoriya, the amount of times I've heard you mutter swear words here the past few weeks tells me otherwise."

"Hitting the floor isn't exactly like jumping on the bed—okay look, you're missing my point. They don't exactly have any headlines to sell if I get in. I pass the written exam, fine. I pass the physical exam, fine. Most applicants pass the written tests, that's nothing special. And somehow I outperform the majority in, what, a normal endurance test or whatever their physical exam is going to be this year? Maybe someone looks over, but it isn't like there's anything beyond me to sell papers or drawn attention to. It proves nothing about me being capable enough to make it through even the first semester."

"But you do think you'll make it through, right?" Ojiro interrupted. "Asking as a friend, here. You're not doubting yourself because, hypothetically, people might not be interested in making you a headline, right?"

Izuku shook his head as he plopped down on a seat along the side of the dojo. "No, I don't think I won't get in, I just…I accept the fact I'm not going to be paraded around for doing so. I know it probably won't matter, despite all this other stuff around it." He slumped against the wall behind him. "Still gonna try my hardest though."

Ojiro's tail swung at Izuku's arm, the tuff at the end lightly smacking against his shoulder. "You better. I don't want to hear your internal debates and whatever else your brain does somehow turned you away from trying to get in like you promised." He plopped down in the seat beside Izuku. "Okay, fine. Bakugou probably won't blabber it out to anyone and 'expose' you day one, and the teachers at Yuei probably don't think it's a big enough story to draw attention to no matter what you do. So what does that leave?"

The greenette sighed and bumped his head against the wall. "Literally everyone else at the school."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." The snide to Ojiro's words was playful, Izuku could tell, enough to get him to chuckle despite the gnawing in his stomach. "And your idea is that we just lie about you having a quirk and hoping they believe you?"

"What else can they do? It's a hero school, the best in the world, and they know how to uphold the laws. That includes unpermitted usage of quirks. I don't have to show anyone anything if they asked me to. I'd just have to act like I have one helping me in the sparring matches and whatever other training we go through. They believe it, then it's their fault." Izuku sent a frown his friend's way. "I'd rather not have to go through another year of school being outed out the gate."

Mashirao sighed with a dip of his head. "Yeah…fine, I get that. Not really something I can argue with." He bit his lip and drummed his fingers on his arms, leaving Izuku in a minute of silence and worry. Two more students from their class walked out the door, tailing their father and gushing about their matches as the door closed behind them. "I don't like this, I hope you know that. My parents would not approve of me acting like this behind people's backs. But I'll do it. As long as" – he threw a hand at Izuku, his finger outstretched and pointed at Izuku's nose before the boy could share his thanks – "when they find out, because you know they will, you have to explain it. When you're ready for people to know, that's for you to tell. I'll only step in if someone has a problem with it or you, but I'm not letting you put any more responsibility on my shoulders for this. Alright?"

Izuku gulped before he nodded. "Yeah, yeah I can do that. And I know I'll have to tell them eventually, but…I'd rather they care about me first before they care about what I have." Izuku stared a moment at the ceiling, blinking at the florescent lights flickering above, before a chuckle escaped his lips. "That sounds…so wrong, and I don't know why I said it that way."

"I wasn't going to say anything. I really wish you didn't."

Izuku cracked another laugh, hearing the light tone to Mashirao's words. "So…you'll keep it a secret?"

"As long as everyone else does," Ojiro answered.

"Thank you. Iida and Hatsume agreed to it too, already. Iida's in the same boat as you, by the way, if it makes you feel any better. You two can bond over disapproving of my questionable opinions. And Mei won't even be in our class, so she's not gonna do anything about this either. She's more focused on making things for people to use than the quirks or people behind them, but if she makes anything for me that I can actually use, she's promised not to use me as a selling material too."

"Good. The only one I don't have faith in for this is Bakugou." The two teens nodded in unison over Ojiro's statement. Another kid left the dojo, while the only students other than Izuku and Mashirao joined their mother in their sensei's office across the room from the two boys.

Ojiro snapped over to Izuku with a quizzical glance. "Wait, what about your new friend? The, uh, tall girl you said was going to Yuei too."

"Yaoyorozu?" Izuku clarified, eliciting a nod of a response. "Yeah—actually, she already got accepted. Recommendation applications and all that. Yeah." Fuck. Izuku could feel the sweat building up on his brow again under his friend's stare. "Yeah, about that—"

"…What?"

Instead of meeting his friend's eyes, Izuku kept his head tilted back and stared at the ceiling. "Yaoyorozu thinks I have a quirk." He could almost feel the heavy sigh that escaped Ojiro.

"Guess we had to start somewhere…" the tailed teen huffed. "You already told her you have a quirk?"

"No, I just…went along with the idea that I did. She was the one who assumed I had one; I just thought it was safer to play along."

"What about it would have gone wrong?"

"What do you think?" Izuku didn't mean the snap in his voice, and took a moment to breathe and collet himself. "I got lucky with you and Iida and Hatsume. You three don't give a shit about me not having a quirk, and finding people like you is harder than you think. And even having you three, it isn't exactly like things have changed." His point was only proven as their sensei walked out of her office with the family in tow, sending the mother and her son and daughter out the door with a kind parting. The daughter of the family caught Ojiro and Izuku's eyes, and the quick finger she gave in their direction before flipping back to a smile and running after her family caught theirs.

Izuku gestured after her and looked at Ojiro. "And I don't know if Yaoyorozu is going to be anything like that when she finds out. I've talked with her twice since I met her, and one of those times was over the phone. I don't know if I can trust her, if she's so quick to think what I do is because of a quirk. I don't know if I can consider her a friend yet."

"That doesn't mean you should be treating them like the enemy."

"I'm not going to treat any of them like the enemy." Izuku curled his legs up to the chair and rested his arms over his knees. "Just because I have you guys watching my back doesn't mean I shouldn't too."

Mashirao sighed heavily, turning his gaze away from Izuku and through the glass walls of the dojo. Izuku could tell his own "reasonability" for his arguments had flaws; so much of what he was building framed by assumptions. Maybe Yuei wanted to dance him around for being the first quirkless student to attend. Maybe Katsuki had no restraints and he would announce to the whole student body that a kid with no quirk was attending their prestigious school. Maybe Izuku wouldn't even pass the test and be admitted; he had thought that too, that his preplanning wouldn't be necessary in the end, and he was probably putting pressure and worry on his friends' shoulders that they could shrug off in a few weeks.

Izuku's hope was strung between him being right or wrong, or maybe even both.

The two boys blinked as headlights passed over their eyes, and the car they emitted from parked outside the building. Ojiro rose to his feet with another heavy breath. "Either this goes how we want it to or it blows up in our face. I don't see us getting a middle option."

Izuku wished there was, too.

30 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

Izuku waved back as he ran off and Hatsume and Iida returned the gesture, the latter squinting to watch his friend disappear in the sunset.

"Metal Bat sure works fast," Hatsume commented, and Iida looked to find her marveling at the shorter pile of rubbish beside them. "If my machines worked more like a production line, I'd be able to keep up with his batting practice requests. Guess I get to spend another all-nighter catching up to him!"

"Hatsume, I highly doubt that would be healthy for you," Iida deadpanned. "Unless you were able to pick up a mutation from your parents that allows your body to function normally on a minimalistic amount of nutrients and sleep, missing out on more is only going to be unhealthy. How you're even standing now has me questioning what you do to keep yourself upright."

"Caffeine and quick naps!"

"I still don't believe that."

"Eh, believe what you want, Nitro," Hatsume shrugged with a smile. She jumped onto the pile and scaled it halfway. "All I care about is the outcome of my labor. How I get there doesn't bother me at all, and you shouldn't have to worry yourself about it either!"

"It would be wrong of me not to worry!" Iida interjected. "Worrying about the mental and physical health of you and Midoriya is exactly what a friend would do!"

"I'm sure Metal Bat's fine in both of those departments!" Hatsume had to shout over the rubble clashing together as she dug through the pile, and Iida had to dance around not to get steamrolled by tumbling trash. "All he needs are enhancements! I could make him an exoskeleton he could wear under his uniform – once he gets around to sending me the drafts of his ideas – to help put some power and speed behind his swings, and I could structure it to assist his mobility for running and dodging too! If he let me, I could just design him a whole suit of armor to perform those functions for and with him! What am I saying; I don't need his permission! I can totally make that!"

Iida sighed at the hyperactive girl's attitude. "I would rather make sure he's reinforced before you make his costume that too." Dusting off any kicked up sand, Iida made his own trek up the stairs before he looked again at Hatsume. "I'm heading home as well. My family will be expecting me for dinner. I suggest you head home as well, Hatsume. Good night."

"See ya next week, Pietro!" Hatsume ignored Iida's comment about his name and continued to dig through the pile as he gave up his explanation and headed home. "Gotta make sure I pull the last of what's valuable in here so Midoriya can remove the rest of it and leave us with more space to run our tests. With how poorly managed this beach is, I doubt it's privately owned by anyone, so there should be no problem in me buying it out and using it as a playground for my babies—huh?"

Mei put her digging on hold as her belt beeped, sending her bouncing out the pile and rushing down the hill to the shore. "My baby is back! I can start putting the scraps together again and make a new collection for his practice!" She skipped over to her rover, the small box on wheels clattering as its bounty fumbled in its container, before the machine poured it loot onto the sand. "Guess my babies can wait a mo—oh?" Hatsume fell to her knees as she picked one of the metals balls she had crafted earlier. "What do we have here?"

What had once been a near perfect orb of metal had been dented, and violently so, nearly recreating the shape of a crescent moon when she looked at it from the right angle. And the closer she looked, the more she found each of the balls it collected had found a similar fate of destruction.

"Huh. Wonder how that happened."

20 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

Momo groaned as she sank into her seat, slapping her hands over her face. "I messed that up, didn't I?"

"What seems to be troubling you, young miss?" Yaoyorozu looked over to the small opening connecting her to the driver up front, staring back at her through the review mirror.

"It's nothing, Batorā," Momo sighed and tried to recollect herself and her dignity. "I'm just…reflecting on the time I had spent with Midoriya."

"Did something go wrong?"

Momo shook her head and looked to the heavily tinted windows across from her. "Nothing other than a small moment of miscommunication at the start. After that, I believe everything was going well, I just feel…uncertain, I believe. It's harder to talk with people than I remember it being."

Her chauffer gave her a confused look. "You talk with quite a lot of people, my lady. Not a month goes by where I don't see you joining in on the conversations with the visitors and families your parents bring inside."

"But those are focused conversations," she countered. "They only ever talk about one thing at a time, and I'm made aware of the topic beforehand so I may study up on them and be adequately informed to add to the discussions. Mother and father do want me to grow up to be a figurehead for the family too. But with Midoriya" – she let out a longer sigh – "the conversations we had continued to jump around and change. They were nice, and…and I think he had a good time. He's a very kind person, though a tad bit looser than father would approve of."

"Oh, looking for your father's approval of the boy so soon?" Batorā chimed from his seat. "I was under the assumption you wished to spend more times with the boys that are your age before you pursued a relationship like that."

"Y-you know that isn't what I meant, Batorā!" Momo crossed her arms with a huff, turning her red face towards the back of the limousine. "And I don't want you making that sort of joke around father, either. The last thing I need is he or mother thinking we were on a date. And I doubt Midoriya saw it that way, anyways. Or would even want to."

"I wouldn't be so sure. With as generous of a young girl as you are, I would be more than surprised to hear a middle-class boy wouldn't find you attractive or hope to date you."

"I'm not gracing any of that with an answer." Momo did little to hide her blush as she glared in the mirror to him. "And I believe Midoriya was more unsettled by the class difference between us. He brought up often the differences in how we've been raised and what we have been given, and he never showed he was offended or imitated by me. But he did look less than convinced when he spoke…"

"Maybe he was hoping not to offend you, of downplaying your importance or value."

"My value, right…I don't know if I was able to make him see the same of himself. The way he spoke came of as very belittling of what he did, and what he can do. I attempted to share with him the same amount of praise he had given me, but he seemed to avoid talking about it more than anything." A whimper escaped through another sigh. "I shouldn't have called him a delinquent. I shouldn't have brought it up in the first place, that I had initially mistaken him for one when I first saw him at the mall. I should have made my words clearer than that."

"Should I be concerned that he is, young miss?"

"No, he's anything but. If you talked with him like I did, I think you would have found him as nice as I did. He's a wonderful person." Absently, her hand pulled out her phone, checking it for any sign of a text and only coming face to face with an empty screen. "Maybe a bit shy, but very kind. I do hope I was right about him."

"Right about what for him?"

"He'll sweep the competition at Yuei's entrance exam."

10 days until the Yuei Entrance Exam

- Sorry, forgot to bring this up when we were sparring. Do you have an opinion on what I could wear for a hero uniform?

Do you not have one? -

- No

Ojiro exhaled as he dropped on his bed. "Of course you don't."

Why are you bringing this up so late? Thought you of all people would have an idea already. –

- Yeah, no.

- I can't use any of my old material or designs.

- That's

- That's an awful idea.

"I doubt they're that bad," Ojiro muttered, typing out his words in another message.

- They are all All-Might themed and I made them when I was three.

"I stand corrected."

Alright, and you haven't come up with any ideas since then? –

- It's not that easy, ya know. I can't just dress up in a regular Hakama and fight with a baseball bat – that would be disrespectful to the uniform. But I want to keep that style, so I've been trying to figure out something that blends it with something else, and I just can't figure out how to not overdo it.

You mean not look flashy and pompous? –

- Exactly. I don't want to hide behind layers and a look either. I want to show my face when I'm in uniform.

"I'm pretty sure you'd grab attention either way. That baseball bat doesn't exactly blend in."

You could dress like a baseball player. –

- I have turned that idea down like five time. Hatsume brings it up like twice a week. I don't even watch baseball.

- And no, I'm not going to study and watch baseball just for the uniform.

- How would that even blend with a Hakama?

Baseball cap and a team logo on the back. Could just be your name. –

- Yeah, true.

- Still no

"Mashirao!" The boy in question look up to his door at the sound of his mother's voice over the rush of running water hitting metal.

"Yeah?"

"Dinner won't be for a while. Your father is closing the studio late tonight, so we'll start making it once he's done."

"Okay. Thank you."

The bat is going to stick out if you don't try to theme your look around it too. –

- I know. I've been trying to, but there isn't much defined by a baseball bat.

Mashirao hummed in agreement and tapped his phone against his chin. He looked around his room, finding it bare for the most part, save his desk, his trophies and his closet of uniforms.

You could dress up like a delinquent. Put on a school uniform, mess it up a bit. The bat would help sell the look. You even got the mouth for it. –

- I'm not dressing up in a school uniform by the time I'm 30.

- I would like for my hero costume to be wearable at all ages, thank you very much

- And I don't swear that much

You swear more than anyone else I know, and it's weird watching you talk like that, knowing you. –

- The hell is that supposed to mean?

Yeah, like that. –

- Alright, thanks for the input, Jeff.

Mashirao cracked a grin at the comment, watching Izuku follow up with a reply of departure and wishing the tailed teen a good night. He returned the text before he tossed his phone to the other side of his bed. Though nothing was cooking, he could smell the ingredients his mother was putting out to prepare and changed from his uniform into more relaxed clothes for dinner.

His eyes drew over to his desk, to his own drawings of a hero uniform he designed off of the martial art attire he dropped into the hamper. A bit bland, maybe, but one that expressed well just how much he had been trained in without needing much more for the job. The only extra attention it got was for his tail, to let his extra appendage slide into the uniform like his arms and legs would, making the gi designed specifically to be worn by him.

He wondered a moment if that same thought was going through Izuku's head, to make a design only he could pull off, designed for his quirkless identity. Least without the baseball attire, he couldn't make that his team name.

Ojiro made the comment to Izuku in another text as his father entered the house, and was met with the resounding 'no' he expected for his joke.