The day had finally come, the results of the UA Entrance Exam had arrived. Kendo was currently in her room pacing, her nervousness was on full display as she talked on the phone.
"So… did you pass?"
"I don't know, Amajiki."
"You don't know? How do you not know? Has your letter not come in yet?"
"No, I just haven't opened it yet?"
"…"
"Amajiki?"
"Why haven't you opened it yet?"
"I told Izuku I wouldn't open it until he gets here."
"Ahh, that makes sense, but who's Izuku?"
"Oh, he's my boyfriend."
"Oh of course your boy- Wait, since when do you have a boyfriend?!"
Kendo jumped and pulled her phone away from her ear, because of the sudden outburst. She gave an annoyed scowl at her phone.
"Ok, first thing: don't scream into the phone. Second: I didn't think I needed to keep you updated on my love life."
"I'm sorry."
Kendo sighed as she looked out her window. "It's fine, I shouldn't have snapped at you like that. I'm just stressed right now."
"Is it the exam results?"
"I mean partially, but it's also Izuku."
"Right… and who exactly is he?"
"Oh, he's the friend I told you about."
"I see, so Hado was right."
Kendo stopped and stared at her phone in disbelief.
"I'm sorry, I think I must have misheard you. Did you just say your friend was right about me?"
"I needed advice on how to give you advice, and one thing led to the other- please don't hurt me."
Kendo sighed again as she fell onto her bed. A simple call from Amajiki turned into a stressful situation.
"You know what, it's fine. The fact that you wanted to give good advice means a lot. Thanks for being a good friend."
She could hear a breath of relief come from the other line.
"Phew… So can I ask why he's stressing you out?"
"Well it's not as much stress as it is nerves, we started going out two weeks ago but we haven't hung out since then. Sure we talk everyday, but I just don't know how to interact now. Also, my dad hasn't fully accepted it yet, he likes Izuku, but it feels like he's hiding something."
"I wouldn't worry too much about it, it's probably your dad just being worried about you. As for how to act around him, just be yourself. He was your friend beforehand and he's still your friend now, the only thing that changed is three letters. Just try not to over complicate things."
Outside of her window Kendo could hear the familiar sound of a motorcycle pulling up. She quickly sat up and looked out the window to see Midoriya parking on the side of the street. She clenched her shirt over her heart as its pace quickened.
"Hey Amajiki, I have to go, he just got here. I'll text you later once I find out, ok."
"Alright, soun-"
Kendo hung up and quickly made her way downstairs. There was no way she was going to let her dad talk to him first. Even though she loved her dad, she didn't want him to try and intimidate Midoriya. Not because she thought it would work, but because she didn't want him embarrassing her.
Kendo jumped down the last couple steps and ran through the living room to the front door. Her mom was happily humming while carbrying a tray of tea, while her dad was sitting on the couch trying out different intimidating faces.
'Why is he doing that? He's already met Izuku plenty of times and knows that won't scare him off. He really can't think it will work now.'
Kendo stood outside of the closed front door and hung her head dejectedly. The sound of approaching footsteps was quick to raise her head with a smile.
"Izuku, it's good to see yo-"
He put his hand on her head cutting her off mid sentence. His emerald eyes peered into her teal eyes. As they stared at each other her face began to heat up.
"I.. Izuku, wha.. what are you doing?"
"Something's bothering you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, something's bothering me, you just randomly patted my head out-of-nowhere."
He shook his head gently. "No, it's something else, isn't it."
She sighed and lowered her head. "I'm really nervous right now."
"About the test?"
"That too…"
Midoriya cocked his head to the side. "What else then?"
Kendo shook her head. "It's nothing, don't worry about it. Also, can you take your hand off my head? It's embarrassing."
Midoriya laughed as he removed his hand. "It's good to see you again, Itsuka."
Kendo took a deep breath before smiling at him and nodding. "It's good to see you too, Izuku. Now, let's go look at those results."
With her confidence restored, Kendo turned around and opened the door. Her mom was sitting on the couch next to her dad, with a welcoming smile. Her dad, however, was silently scowling at Midoriya. Before either of them could say anything, Kendo quickly spoke up.
"Mom, this is Izuku Midoriya and he's my boyfriend. We're going up to my room to see what the results of the test are."
Kendo's mom continued to smile as she nodded. "It's nice to finally meet you, Itsuo, has told me all about you."
Midoriya laughed nervously. "Is that so, well it's nice to finally met you as wel- hey!"
Kendo took Midoriya by the hand and started to drag him upstairs. "Come on Izuku, you two can talk later. Mom, can you please keep dad from intruding."
Kendo's mom nodded, before delivering a swift chop to her dad's neck and rendering him unconscious. The sudden attack caused Midoriya to look at Kendo with concern.
"Is he going to be alright?"
Kendo nodded. "Yeah, that happens at least once a week."
"Why am I suddenly scared of your mom?"
Kendo smirked at Midoriya. "You know, she taught me how to do that as well."
Midoriya gulped nervously. "Have I ever told you how pretty you are?"
Kendo gave Midoriya a smile he couldn't trust. "Aww thank you, but brownie points won't save you from that."
Midoriya nervously laughed as Kendo's hands slightly expanded, tightening her grip. When the two of them made it into her room, she swiftly shut the door and let go of his hand. She sighed in relief as she sat down at her desk.
Midoriya softly laughed as he shook his head. "You sure that was the best idea."
Kendo looked up and nodded. "Yeah, mom will talk some sense into dad when he wakes up, so everything will be fine."
Midoriya walked over to her desk and picked up the envelope that had UA's emblem on it and put it in front of her. "Come on Itsuka, let's have something to celebrate about."
Kendo smiled and took the envelope from him. Her hands slightly trembled as she began to open it. When the seal was fully broken, she paused and took another deep breath before looking to Midoriya for confirmation. His silent nod gave her the go ahead. Inside, she found a smaller envelope and a small circular disk.
Midoriya raised an eye, looking at it confused. "What exactly is that?"
Kendo shrugged as she inspected it. "I have no clue."
The two of them carefully looked it over, before noticing the center of the circle was slightly raised. They shared a glance as they both shrugged. Kendo pressed the button and a hologram video began to play, catching both of them off guard.
"Ah ha ha, I am here, to tell you the results of your entrance exam."
Kendo's and Midoriya's jaws dropped as an image of All Might began talking to them.
"Now, I know what you must be thinking, 'What is All Might doing at UA? Shouldn't he be doing hero work?' Well, I'll tell you what I'm doing. I am going to be a teacher at UA, next year."
Kendo's eyes lit up as she turned to Midoriya. "Holy cow, Izuku, the rumors were true! It would be so cool to learn from All Might!"
Midoriya put on his best surprised face, he had already gotten confirmation about All Might but he couldn't let Kendo know that. "I know right, sounds like fun!"
Kendo tilted her head slightly confused. Something about his response didn't sit right with her. She wanted to press her suspicion, but All Might quickly drew her attention.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, let's get to the results of your exam. Ahem, Itsuka Kendo, I am pleased to tell you that you passed the written portion of the exam with flying colors."
"Hell yeah!" Kendo pumped her fist in the air with excitement at her results.
Midoriya gave her a small round of applause. "I guess you didn't need any extra help when it came to studying."
Kendo sent him a glare. "I swear it's like you're programmed to try and piss me off."
Midoriya shrugged, ignoring her glare. "It's fun to poke the bear."
A vein in Kendo's forehead began to pulsate as she saw the smug look on his face. She was about to deliver one of her mothers patented neck chops, but stopped as she was interrupted by the hologram again.
"Now, let's get to the fun part of the test, the practical exam."
Kendo's focus was drawn completely to the hologram as she crossed her fingers.
"Miss Kendo, you scored a total of twenty-five villain points, which is rather good."
Hearing this Kendo felt a weight begin to lift off of her shoulders. A broad smile began to form after hearing the number one hero say she did a good job.
"But this is UA and good doesn't cut it, we need the best."
In an instant, Kendo's world crumbled. Hearing that she wasn't good enough was even more heartbreaking than she imagined it being. As she bit her lip to fight back the tears, Midoriya took her hand squeezing it gently.
"And the best is what you are!"
"Huh?"
Kendo looked up, still teary eyed in confusion.
"Twenty-five villain points alone is not enough to pass the exam, but that's not the only way to score points in this exam."
The hologram switched from All Might to a video of Kendo jumping into a swarm of robots to save a girl that was trapped under some rubble of a fallen building. Midoriya found the grace and swiftness of her actions amazing and he could only smile. He tightened his grip on her hand and smiled at her proudly. Kendo, who was still in shock, stared at the screen completely in awe at what she was seeing.
"Now that right there is true hero work. Prioritizing someone's safety over your own personal gain, it's truly inspiring. It would be ridiculous for a hero academy to not reward acts like this, so that's why we have rescue points!"
The hologram once again changed, but this time it was a set of numbers. The numbers twenty five, fourth, and sixty five flashed in front of them. Kendo's jaw dropped as the realization of what was happening.
"You did an amazing job out there and I am both honored and proud to welcome you, Itsuka Kendo, to your hero academia."
The dam that had been holding back her tears had finally broken, but they weren't painful or sorrowful, they were full of joy and relief. Kendo pulled Midoriya into a hug and cried into his shoulder. She was finally letting out all of her stress from the past two weeks.
Midoriya returned the hug and gently ran a hand through her hair. As his hand got lost in an ocean of orange, her soft sniffles came to an end and he found himself staring into two pools of teal. The bright smile of joy that accompanied them was almost too much for him to handle.
"You see Itsuka, I told you that you had nothing to worry about."
Kendo nodded into his shoulder as held him closer. "Thank you Izuku, thank you for believing in me."
The two of them looked into each other's eyes as their foreheads pressed together. The world around them seemed to fade away as they were ensnared by each other's gaze. Ever so slowly they began to lean in closer as their lips drew nearer to the other's.
"Ahem."
The sudden voice caught them off guard, causing them both to jump and quickly separate. They had gotten so caught up in the moment they didn't realize what they were doing.
"I really do hate to interrupt your celebration, but there are still a few things I need to cover. We sent a spare envelope and some forms along with your test results. Inside you'll find a few interesting things such as what class you'll be in as well as basic information, and uniform ordering. But that's not all, you'll also find a form for ordering your hero costume. Rember, 'clothes make the pros' so please include plenty of details of what you want as well as basic sketches. If it doesn't come out right it can always be adjusted at the support studio. Please make sure you mail back all the required documents by the end of next week and we'll see you in a month. Once again, congratulations and welcome to UA."
The hologram shut off leaving the two of them in silence. The two of them looked at each other before turning away, both in a blushing mess. They hadn't seen one another in two weeks and they nearly kissed. Even though they were hormonal teenagers, neither of them was well versed in love or the appropriate time frame for certain actions.
Midoriya nervously scratched the back of his head. "Congratulations, Itsuka."
Kendo shyly rubbed her arm while looking away from him. "Thank you, Izuku."
Again silence dominated the room, filling it with an awkward tension.
"So uh, we should go tell your parents."
Kendo perked up and grabbed the disk and paperwork off her desk. "Oh yeah, we should totally do that, haha."
As they made their way back downstairs, that awkward and unsure feeling had yet to fade. When they reached the bottom, they found both of her parents staring at them. Her mother narrowed her eyes ever so slightly with a smirk.
"Did something happen?"
Kendo and Midoriya looked in opposite directions. Kendo shook her head, but her blushing face betrayed her.
"O… of course not, nothing happened at all!"
Itsuo glared at Midoriya as his nostrils flared. "I swear if you even think of tou-"
Kendo's mom sent a glare at her husband as she raised her hand, ready to deliver another chop. The threat alone changed her fathers tune.
"So did you pass, sweetie?"
Kendo looked to the ground and took a deep breath. Her parents' faces filled with disappointment for her. As they approached to console her, she looked up with a proud smile.
"Hell yeah I did!"
Her parents immediately brought their daughter into hug as they celebrated her passing. After rewatching the news with her parents, everyone sat down to eat. The conversation was completely steered away from Midoriya and was completely focused on Kendo and what happened during the exams. Everyone was enjoying themself, especially Midoriya who hadn't had a family meal like this since before his parents died.
By the time they had finished the meal, the sun was starting to set. As much as he wanted to stay, Midoriya knew he needed to start heading back home. Kendo's mom wasn't too happy, since she had yet to be able to learn more about him, but she understood that it was starting to get late. Itsuo didn't say much as he was walked out by Kendo.
Once outside, Kendo let out a sigh of relief. The night had been a whirlwind of emotions for her, but now she could finally relax. When they made it halfway down the driveway, Kendo stopped. Midoriya looked back at her confused.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, I'm just exhausted. Between the fake out by All Might and worrying about how my parents would react to you, I feel completely drained."
Midoriya laughed softly. "Well, I guess you'll sleep well tonight."
She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but I won't go to bed until I know you get back safe."
"I'll text you the minute I get home."
Kendo smiled at him, quite satisfied before gasping. "Crap, I forgot to call Amajiki back. He's probably sulking because I forgot about him."
Midoriya laughed and spun her around so she was facing her house. "Go call him, I promise not to get too jealous."
Kendo fought back to face him again with a pout. "You know it's not like that."
Midoriya smiled. "I know, I just wanted to see your pouting face."
Kendo crossed her arms and grumbled to herself. "Dumbass."
Midoriya's smile softened as he placed a hand on her head. The feeling of his hand caused Kendo to relax.
"Thanks for tonight, Itsuka, it was a lot of fun."
She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, we'll have plenty of chances to do this again."
He laughed softly. "I'll wait with baited breath."
Kendo looked down to the ground as she started to draw circles in the ground with her toes. "Hey, are you free tomorrow?"
Midoriya stopped to think. Even though it was his week off from Yakuza work he knew Kai was close to the first test run on his new project. Not only that, but the League could call at a moment's notice as well. He knew that he couldn't let Kendo get involved in these things, her future was too important. As much as he wanted to say no, when he looked into her teal eyes, he knew he couldn't deny her.
"Yeah, I'm free."
Kendo's eyes sparkled at the answer. "If that's the case, could I come over tomorrow? I could use some help with my costume design."
Midoriya sighed. "Sure, does the afternoon work for you? I have something to take care of in the morning."
Kendo nodded excitedly. "Yeah, that's perfect! I'll see you tomorrow, Izuku."
Kendo threw her arms around Midoriya, bringing him into a tight hug before she quickly made her way back inside. Once she was back inside, Midoriya couldn't help but laugh to himself. It never ceased to amaze him how she could be so mature one second and childish the next, but he'd be lying if he said he didn't like that about her.
As Midoriya started on his way towards his bike, the door opened up again. This time it was Itsuo, who was approaching him. Midoriya instinctively went on guard, he had expected something like this to happen.
"What happened to being just friends?"
"We were when I said it back then, but some things changed."
Itsuo crossed his arms and nodded. "I can see that. I hope you remember what else I told you."
Midoriya nodded. "I do and I should be out real soon, I just need a little more time."
Itsuo shook his head. "Midoriya, I gotta be honest, I don't want you dating my daughter. It has nothing to do with you personally, hell I watched you grow up in the shop, but you're a huge risk for my daughter. Ken was lucky to get out, but we both know he's under constant surveillance. I don't want that for my daughter."
Midoriya nodded. "I understand."
Itsuo sighed before running his hand through his hair. "As much as I want to, I know I can't control Itsuka. If I tell her not to see you, she'll hate me and then find a way to see you."
"You could always tell her the truth about me."
"You want me to break my baby girl's heart? Itsuka is my world, I want to keep her safe, but I don't want to see her in pain that I caused."
Midoriya looked Itsuo in the eyes. "So what do you want?"
"I want my daughter to be safe."
Midoriya stopped to think. He completely understood why Kendo's father was against him dating her. Midoriya even agreed with him, it didn't make sense for a known villain to be in a relationship with a hero in training. If the roles had been reversed, Midoriya would be the one telling Itsuo all this, but that was the issue. The roles weren't reversed and Midoriya liked Kendo, but he also knew what he needed to do.
"We just started dating so nothing is too serious yet."
Itsuo pinched the bridge of his nose. "The seriousness of the relationship isn't the issue, it's the relationship itself that's the issue."
"Mr. Kendo, I like your daughter a lot, like a lot a lot."
"You're quite the poet."
Midoriya took a deep breath. "If things start to get serious, I'll tell her about me and I'll let her decide if she wants to keep a relationship with me. Does that sound fair to you?"
Itsuo shook his head. "I don't like it at all, but I feel like that's the best thing I can hope for."
"Alright, well I should get going now."
Itsuo nodded. "Yeah, drive safe."
Itsuo walked inside to find his wife sitting on the couch with a cup of tea in hand. She gave him a concerned look as he sighed.
"Is everything alright dear?"
He shook his head as he sat next to her. "Why did it have to be him of all people?"
"Midoriya seems like a fine boy to me."
Itsuo shook his head. "He's in a bad crowd, I don't want Itsuka involved with it."
She began to laugh at his remark. "Didn't my dad say the same thing about you?"
"This is completely different, the people he knows makes me seem like a samaritan."
"Oh it can be that bad, you must be exaggerating."
Itsuo sighed again. "I wish I was… I really wish I was."
"Hey Kurogiri, I'm gonna be busy today, so I don't know if I'll be available till later."
Midoriya was currently walking around his apartment making sure everything was in place. He had received a text from Kendo earlier saying she was on her way, so she could be arriving at any moment.
"Alright Phoenix, that shouldn't be a problem. We weren't planning to meet until late tonight."
"Thanks, Kurogiri."
After hanging up, Midoriya went to his shelf and grabbed a lighter out of the box, the flame that sparked was a deep purple. He slowly ran his fingers through the flames as he sat down, thoughts of his conversation with Itsuo ran through his head. Truth be told, he had been thinking about that ever since the conversation ended.
Midoriya pulled the purple flame into his hand and watched as it danced around his fingers. Fire was such a beautiful yet dangerous thing, it reminded him of himself. One small mistake and everyone gets burned, and the only person to blame would be him.
As he stared deeply into the flame, the ring from his doorbell broke him out of his trance. The flame extinguished quickly as he looked at the clock, and noticed that half an hour had passed since he sat down. With a deep sigh, he got up and opened the door to find Kendo standing in front of him, with a bag thrown over her shoulders. He smiled as he stepped to the side.
"Come on in, Itsuka."
Kendo smiled as she walked in. "Thanks Izuku, man I still can't believe you live here."
Midoriya laughed as he locked the door behind them. "Sometimes, I can't either."
Kendo looked around the room again and found herself drawn to the terrace. The view was breathtaking, she could only imagine what it looked like at night when the city was all lit up. With a deep breath she turned around to face Midoriya who had two glasses in his hands.
"Alright Izuku, let's get started."
"Sounds good, what's first?"
Kendo sat down on the floor, in front of the coffee table. Out of her bag, she pulled out a notebook and the papers regarding her costume design.
"First: let's talk about the design of my costume. Because I use martial arts, I was thinking about something along those lines. That being said, I'm not going to run around in a gi, that's way too boring."
"What about something like a Shaolin monk wears? It's breathable and easy to move in."
"Mmm, I don't know, it doesn't really feel like my style."
Midoriya stopped to think before a smirk spread across his face. "I got it! You should wear a kendo uniform!"
Kendo looked at him with a deadpan expression. "Give another stupid suggestion and I'll hit you."
Midoriya sighed as he leaned against the couch. "Well, do you have any better ideas?"
"Maybe, I remember when I was younger I looked up fighting clothes and I saw some really cool outfits. I think they were from some old video game, but I remember thinking some of the characters looked really cool."
Midoriya pulled out his phone and decided to try and find the game she was talking about. He didn't think it would be too hard to find it, but that was before a list of hundreds of fighting games popped up on his screen. With another sigh he narrowed his search to 'street fighting games', and the first thing to pop up was an old game called Street Fighter.
"How original…"
Kendo looked up at him confused. "What's original?"
"This."
Midoriya handed her his phone and she gasped when she saw what he was looking at.
"Izuku, this was what I saw back then! This was the game!"
Midoriya laughed as moved next to her to look at the phone together. They started to look through the character list to see if there was anything that they liked. As they looked through them one thing became glaringly obvious.
"These girls don't wear a lot of clothes."
Kendo nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I mean I guess it would be easier to move around in, but I don't want to be in a leotard or a body suit."
"I guess that means Cammy's out of the question."
Kendo raised an eye at Midoriya with a threatening intent. "You say that as if it was ever an option."
Midoriya threw his hands up defensively. "Hey, we have a hero named Midnight that looks like a dominatrix. I'm pretty sure no one would bat an eye at that."
"Yeah, I'm never gonna wear something like that."
"I never said you were."
Kendo sighed again as she rested her head on the table. "I remember these being a lot cooler, when I was younger."
"It's not just you, I'm pretty sure that happens to everyone."
"Izuku, that's not helping me at all."
"Alright, alright. Why don't you go with something like Chun-Li? I mean it's just a modified qipao. Sure, it may be a Chinese dress, but I think you'd look good in it."
Kendo's head perked up at that. She leaned over and looked at his phone again. "Yeah, I could see that. I could lose the weird puffy sleeves and shorten the length to just above my knees."
Kendo took his phone as she started to imagine what all it would have. While he listened to the ideas, Midoriya began to sketch a rough idea of what she would look like.
"I could have a thin belt that sits on hips that has a pouch in the back. Oh and a matching belt that goes around a single thigh."
Midoriya looked perplexed. "Why the thigh belt?"
"It's called style Izuku." Kendo finally looked up from the phone and saw Midoriya sketching away. "Um… what are you doing?"
"I'm doing a rough draft of what you asked for."
"Alright, but can you actually draw?"
"A little bit."
He picked up the notebook and showed her a quick sketch of what she had said so far. Kendo was actually impressed at what he had done.
"Izuku, I didn't know you could draw."
He blushed slightly as he rubbed his head. "Sort of, I used to have hero notebooks. I'd draw the hero and include notes about them and how they fight, but I lost them all in the fire."
Kendo looked down. "I'm sorry."
Midoriya shook his head. "It's no big deal."
Kendo and Midoriya spent the next hour or so working on her hero costume. Once they had finally gotten something that Kendo was happy with, they both let out a sigh of satisfaction.
"Alright, time to get this baby sent off."
As Kendo began to put away all the forms and papers she brought, Midoriya went to get them refills. He watched her as she carefully put everything neatly into a folder. He was captivated with how her eyes peaked through her hair, he couldn't help but smile that this was actually happening.
"Is everything alright, Izuku?"
Midoriya shook his head, coming back to his senses. "Huh?"
Kendo stood up and started to make her way over to him. "I asked if everything was alright, you looked like you were spacing out."
Midoriya nervously laughed. "Yeah everything's…"
In his pocket Midoriya felt the lighter he was using earlier. He thought of the purple flames which reminded him of the conversation he had with her father last night.
"Hey Itsuka, can I ask you a question?"
Kendo leaned on the counter and tilted her head slightly confused. "I don't see why not?"
Midoriya gripped the lighter in his pocket as he took a deep breath. Her fathers words were echoing in his head.
"Itsuka, what would you do if I told you I'm not the person you think I am."
Kendo's head tilted even further to the side. "I think that's pretty normal for all relationships. I mean it would be crazy to think we already knew everything about each other."
Midoriya shook his head. "That's not what I meant. What if I wasn't a good person?"
Kendo straightened up and looked into his eyes. "But you are a good person."
"What if I'm not? What if this is all just a facade."
Kendo walked around the counter and hugged Midoriya from behind, her forehead resting on the back of his neck.
"Then I'd just have to help turn you into the good person I know you are. I mean that is part of a hero's job isn't it?"
Midoriya let go of the lighter in his pocket and placed that hand on her's. He smiled softly as he closed his eyes.
'I'll be counting on you for that, Itsuka.'
