Quick note: Last week I did an extra update on Thursday. So if you don't remember reading about Mic's reaction to meeting Izuku, read the last chapter!

Chapter 74

.::One Hell of a Morning::.

Momo felt tired as she entered Munakata High School. Not physically tired, but tired of all the looks and questions. Her chauffeur had dropped her off a block away from the campus at her request, and almost immediately one of her classmates appeared to ask her how she felt. It was the first of many classmates to ask her in the short walk to the gates, and then even more from the gates to the actual building.

Maybe it shouldn't be surprising with her perfect attendance record. Since getting elected as class representative Momo made a point to attend class every day, in part due to Iida's passionate speeches about the responsibilities of the role. She was pretty sure he wanted the position for himself, and was greatly disappointed remote students couldn't run. Momo admittedly felt guilty since she was sure he'd do a better job than her, and tried her best to fill the shoes he would've had.

So given she hadn't missed a day yet, as well as how she'd regularly check in with her classmates to make sure everything was okay... Well, it seemed her classmates had noticed her first absence of the year more keenly than she'd expected. And they apparently seemed to think a two-day absence must mean she was on her deathbed. Literally, going by some of the questions she was getting.

As more people noticed her arrival and gathered at the entrance to worriedly ask about her health, and—freak construction accident...? Really?—anyway! She noticed Tokage talking to another girl not too far away. The sudden hubbub made the green-haired girl glance over and their eyes met, Momo silently sending panicked pleas to help her.

Tokage looked at her surrounded by the horde of classmates, and then turned back to the other girl. "See, I told you she wasn't dying!" she said, and then she just walked away because she was a horrible friend and would never be as good as Kyouka.

By the time Momo finally entered the building, she felt pretty done. Any guilt at missing two days to first freak out over Kyouka's situation, and then just process it and look into Gentle Criminal, had long since faded. The last little shred of guilt for worrying her classmates vanished when two boys asked if her nonexistent uncle had really fallen into a pool of Quirked piranhas that could turn into liquid. She wished they were just joking, but based on past interactions with them she knew they were serious.

So, yes. She had already filled her social interaction quota for the day, and the first bell hadn't even rung yet.

And of course, she couldn't even get to the classroom before someone else accosted her.

"Hey, Yaoyorozu-san!" someone called, and Momo had to restrain an uncharacteristic groan of frustration. She turned around with a small frown, bracing herself for another round of ridiculous questions. She relaxed a bit though and even smiled when she saw the one to call out was Onada-kun, a rather quiet, reasonable boy from her class. If anyone would ask her a sane question, it would be him.

Her guard went right back up though when she saw he looked rather frazzled, which was unusual for him. Then her guard went even higher as she realized he wasn't alone, and had a pink-haired girl with him.

"Hello, Onada-kun," Momo greeted with a nod, adding to the girl with him, "And... Hatsume-san, right?"

"Correct!" Hatsume Mei replied with a single bob of her head, a manic grin on her face as her eyes flickered over Momo. "So you're Yaomomo-chan, hmm?"

"I am," Momo confirmed, her smile still present but a bit more cautious.

"Excellent!" Hatsume spun to face Onada-kun and said, "Okay, you can go now." Onada scrambled to flee without even saying goodbye, the sight almost comical given his usual demeanor. Momo couldn't really blame him though. At this point, Hatsume Mei had developed a bit of a reputation within the school for her eccentricities and passion for inventing. A passion which tended to end in explosions and other forms of damage.

That, and for blackmailing people into working for her if they broke or damaged one of her "babies."

Kaminari had the highest monetary debt, but he wasn't the first one to incur her wrath. Most of the "debts" were pretty minor, just repaid through small favors like "hold this" or "bring me this" (favors which were admittedly pretty hazardous when it came to Hatsume). The week before summer break though, someone had purposely damaged one of her inventions. He'd just shoved it off a table so it broke on the floor, and brashly asked what she'd do about it.

Momo didn't know the answer to that, and even Munakata's ridiculous rumor mill was afraid to speculate. All they knew was that on the last day before break he'd flung an envelope full of money at the inventor while literally crying, "That's all of it!" And since then, he'd been exclusively doing remote learning.

Hatsume's reputation had already spread throughout their year by that point, but that incident had spread it to the rest of the school. The end result meant that many students tried to avoid her when possible. They didn't ostracize her, but they were careful not to get too close and give her space, especially when she seemed particularly excited. And right now, Hatsume seemed to be directing her focus at Momo, which meant people were giving them a wide berth.

Given how her morning had been so far, Momo fully welcomed this.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked. She had no idea why Hatsume wanted to speak to her, but she at least knew the other girl wouldn't ask any ridiculous questions about why she'd missed school. Anything would be better than that.

"Well, Battery-kun and Jirou tell me you're in the loop," the inventor said in an almost sing-song voice, and Momo frowned, now wary again.

"Um, yes, I am," she confirmed. Kyouka had mentioned they'd informed Hatsume about their situation (literally right before confronting Momo about her spying), so this wasn't a surprise. If anything, she felt confused that Hatsume approached her about it at all. From Kyouka's comments, the other girl hadn't really seemed to care about the situation, more focused on her inventions as always.

Going by that line of thought, she started leading Hatsume back outside towards a less crowded area. "Do you need my help with something, then?"

"Glad you asked!" Hatsume replied with a grin. "Because see, they also said you have a very useful Quirk."

Oh dear. "I see," Momo murmured with a small frown, and left it at that for the moment as she glanced at their curiously watching classmates. None were too close, but she didn't want to talk in front of them and risk being overheard. She led Hatsume towards a large tree, located away from any convenient hiding spots with bare branches that left no foliage to hide eavesdroppers. Hatsume's reputation guaranteed no one would try to get too close, and they could see if anyone approached.

Only after they reached it did she turn to face Hatsume with a serious frown. "I am not helping you make vigilante gear," she whispered sharply. While she had agreed to not report Kyouka's illegal activities and even help look for Gentle Criminal, she wouldn't be directly party to it. Assisting in the production of their gear would make her a direct accomplice, and that was where she drew the line.

"I'm not asking for that!" Hatsume scoffed with an eye roll. "I'm doing perfectly fine making babies without your help. I need your help with another little project they gave me."

"Another one?" Momo asked warily, and then Hatsume pulled out a paper from her pocket.

"You need to know about how stuff is made to make it with your Quirk, right?" she asked, an almost predatorial glint in her eyes. "Tell me, have you ever made any explosives?"

Momo was only marginally relieved when Hatsume clarified she wasn't asked to make a bomb. Marginally, because she still had serious questions about why they needed to analyze a bomb anklet and where it even came from. But this? This, she could do.

Izuku started his day by waking up to Seiko standing next to his bed.

He was not ashamed to admit he screamed at that. Seiko was unsettling enough literally every other time they interacted, always feeling wrong, and that sense had somehow only gotten worse with more exposure to her. Seeing her face first thing after opening his eyes, brain still struggling to switch out of sleep, and with her face literal inches away from his, made it worse.

"I can't believe no one came to check on me," he muttered around ten minutes later as he brushed his teeth in the bathroom. Given how protective Shigaraki was, he'd expect him or one of the other Alliance members to come running when he screamed, but no one did. Izuku was left to deal with Seiko, alone, with no moral support. The fact she'd just kept staring the whole time he tried to calm down really didn't help.

"No one else stays in this hallway," she remarked from the bathroom doorway, where she still watched him. "Shigaraki and Kurogiri wished to give you privacy, and do not trust most people to be near you. I suppose that's an oversight on their parts in the event of an emergency."

Izuku just grunted, not really able to respond with a toothbrush in his mouth. He spit into the sink and rinsed off the brush before turning to her. "Okay, what do you want?" he asked tiredly. He still didn't feel awake enough to deal with this, but he had no choice.

"I came to warn you that Kurogiri is likely having an 'off day' today, so you won't be able to leave." The remark had Izuku pausing, eyebrows furrowing in confusion.

"An... off day?" he repeated. Something about her intonation made the phrase feel a bit more meaningful, like a formal title or term.

"Occasionally, he will feel 'off' and choose to stay in his room for the majority of the day and avoid interactions," Seiko explained, bland and inflectionless as ever. "He is largely fine, it seems to be purely mental. I do not know what triggers them. I noticed he started showing signs of having one last night after dinner, and he left the bar quite early. Usually by this time he would prepare breakfast, but he has not started, so I assume he's having one."

"Breakfast?" Izuku muttered, glancing at a clock for the first time. Sure enough, it was already past eight-thirty, well after Kurogiri would usually start breakfast. More than that, it was after Izuku would usually wake up, much to his surprise. He wasn't sure of his counterpart's schedule, but he usually got up closer to six to do some light exercises in his room. He couldn't do his full daily training regiment from UA without drawing suspicion, but he wanted to at least keep his body in shape.

Usually he'd go to bed at a reasonable time to account for the early morning, but last night he and Shigaraki had stayed up pretty late playing video games. It was clear Shigaraki really had missed him, and he hadn't let Izuku leave except to use the bathroom. They'd gotten pretty caught up in the games, to the point they actually forgot about dinner until Magne had brought in some sandwiches around nine—

"Dinner!" he gasped in sudden horrified realization. Last night he'd forgotten to take dinner to Aizawa-sensei! Oh no, had he eaten anything? Izuku had delivered lunch, but it wasn't much, just a sandwich. That thought made Izuku feel even worse because that meant he'd probably spent all night waiting for him. And ever since Aiko visited, sensei had seemed so anxious and desperate for Izuku's attention, what if he thought Izuku had skipped visiting intentionally and started to spiral—

"Kurogiri delivered dinner, and most likely told him you were playing games." Seiko's flat voice cut into Izuku's own spiral, and he snapped a startled look at her. Seiko just stared back, face blank and empty as ever.

"...I was mumbling, wasn't I?" he asked with a sigh.

"Yes." She didn't even try to spare his pride. Great, just great. "So you call him sensei?" Double great.

"Well, he's the closest thing I have to a teacher, so yeah," Izuku replied, hoping he hadn't also mumbled Aizawa's name. "But wait, so Kurogiri took him dinner?"

"He would not harm or psychologically torment Eraserhead-sensei." Okay, was Seiko mocking him for that slip? Izuku genuinely couldn't tell. "He would also try to assuage any concerns. However," and here she inclined her head, "If Kurogiri is having an off day, Aiko will likely be called to visit."

And now things got worse, a spike of panic cutting through him. "Aiko? Why?" Then Izuku remembered his first time at her apartment and asked, "Wait, is it because she has that emotional-regulating Quirk?"

Seiko didn't answer right away, but then, her lips briefly curved upwards. "...Sure," she said, voice oddly light, and Izuku shuddered. Why did her smiles always look so wrong? And why she was still smiling? Usually she only did that for a couple seconds before her face went back to its usual eerily blank expression, but this time that weird little smile just stayed there. That—that was bad, right? That had to be a bad sign, oh no.

No, that's not important right now! Izuku shook his head and tried to focus on his next move. Right. Today's top priority: keep Aiko away from Aizawa-sensei. Looks like he would be spending the whole day in the cell. Good thing they had that every-other-day tutoring schedule set up and today was one of those days.

"Okay!" he said, voice more high-pitched than usual. Seiko was still smiling, why was she still smiling, nope he was going to ignore that. "I'm going to make breakfast and take it to him, and then grab Kacchan and Shiiiiijack for morning lessons!"

He gave a strained laugh, mentally screaming at how he'd nearly—no not nearly, he pretty much had slipped with Shinsou's name, and oh gods her smile was a little bigger, how was this so much worse than her usual face? "Okay," she agreed, voice still weirdly light, and Izuku internally screeched.

Seiko trailed him to the kitchen, hopefully not smiling anymore but Izuku didn't dare look back to check. He avoided looking at her as he went to the fridge to get the ingredients to make a sandwich, because while he was technically banned from cooking, he was not actually a bad cook. Kitchen incident number three was all on this world's Izuku and Toga, he could make food just fine.

When he finished he very pointedly made sure to turn in a way so he wouldn't see Seiko's face, keeping his eyes steadily locked straight ahead and well above her head. He marched down the halls with Seiko at his heel, actually walking and not hiding in shadows to stalk him like usual because apparently she hated him or something. Aiko-nee was right, she really was a demon.

...Izuku had no idea where that thought came from, but it just added to the continuous scream that currently composed his thoughts.

Only when he reached the hallway with Aizawa's cell did Seiko finally recede into the shadows, and at that point his nerves were fully frayed. They were so frayed, in fact, that he didn't even think to knock before entering the cell. Izuku always knocked because that was just polite, and also Aizawa deserved at least some warning when his situation was bad enough, but this time it just slipped his mind.

That little slip meant that he opened the door to see Aizawa-sensei jolt awake with a gasp, followed by a sharp hiss as the motion jostled his bad leg. Only then did Izuku snap out of his trance-like state as guilt crashed over him, wincing sympathetically while hurrying to his not-teacher's side.

"I'm so sorry for not knocking!" he apologized profusely, putting down the plate as he knelt next to him. "I didn't mean to wake you up, I mean knocking would've done that too, but it's way less jarring than the door suddenly opening and you're also probably more used to it and I am so sorry!" Aizawa just grunted, sitting up with a brief grimace.

"It's... fine," he muttered, reaching to rub at his eyes. It reminded Izuku he hadn't had access to his eyedrops in probably half a year now, which just further compounded his guilt. Maybe he could try to get some? He didn't know what prescription he used though, and those were definitely prescription, almost all Quirk-related eyedrops were, but maybe some would be better than none? Erasure mostly caused dry eye, so maybe he could just find a standard formula for dry eye, but that would also mean going to a pharmacy, so maybe he could get better painkillers too? Wait, they already had painkillers, he should probably get some now—

"I am not awake enough for this." Aizawa's groggy grumble cut into Izuku's thoughts, and the teen then winced as he added, "But I'll take the painkillers."

"I was mumbling again," Izuku groaned, hanging his head in shame. Twice in one day now? And he'd been doing so good about it, wait, mumbling about prescriptions must sound super creepy—

"I am really not awake enough for this," Aizawa repeated, and Izuku promptly clamped his mouth shut. Aizawa just sat there for a moment, mittened hands pressed against his eyes, before peeling them away with a heavy sigh. He turned to look at Izuku and yep, his eyes were really bloodshot, they must be so dry and nopenope, time to stop thinking before he started mumbling again.

"Rough morning?" Aizawa drawled, and Izuku sagged with a quiet groan.

"I guess so," he admitted wearily. Seiko had seemed hellbent on unsettling him, and she'd definitely succeeded in that regard. "But I really am sorry for not knocking and startling you. And... also for not showing up last night." He hung his head guiltily as he continued, "I didn't mean to forget you, but Tomura-nii and I haven't spent much time together lately, and he really wanted to play some games. I honestly forgot about my own dinner, I swear I didn't mean to forget you, too!"

"Kid, it's fine," Aizawa muttered, reaching for the plate. Only then did Izuku realize how close he was to the man, much closer than he should be by Shigaraki's rules. He froze as he realized this, knowing he'd be in trouble on the off-chance Shigaraki entered, but... he also didn't really want to distance himself. This was the closest he'd gotten to Aizawa since meeting him in this world, and...

Honestly, he... kind of... wantedtohughim.

Aizawa remained oblivious to Izuku's internal dilemma as he continued, "That guy last night told me it wasn't intentional. It's irrational to expect you to bring every meal since ultimately you have a life outside my captivity."

And now the guilt was back stronger than ever. What made it so bad was that Aizawa didn't even sound resentful or accusing, he stated it like a basic fact. He was used to being relegated to the background and having no importance in people's lives, used to being an afterthought now. That was probably one of the worst parts of all this, that Aizawa viewed this as normal.

Izuku knew Aizawa wasn't intentionally trying to make him feel like garbage, but he succeeded.

"It shouldn't be that way, though," he muttered miserably, bowing his head. "It's just not—"

"Mew."

They both snapped their heads to the side to find Sushi sitting near Aizawa's feet, head held high and the tip of her stubby tail pointed upwards. She seemed to perk up now that she had their attention and gave another mew, her large, blue eyes focused intently on Aizawa's sandwich. For a moment they just stared in silence, taking a moment to process her presence.

"She, uh, didn't sneak in with me, did she?" Izuku asked. He had been kind of distracted, had he not noticed her following him?

"No, I'm pretty sure you came in alone," Aizawa replied. "And I know she wasn't here when I went to sleep last night." While he spoke Sushi got up to trot over to him, mewing again and still staring at his sandwich. He quickly lifted it out of her reach with a frown. "No, I'm not giving you this either."

"Wait, Sushi's supposed to be with Hijack," Izuku realized with a frown. "Did she escape this morning?" While he spoke Sushi crouched and hopped upwards to try to nip the sandwich. Of course she missed, and Izuku caught her before she could land and placed her on the floor away from Aizawa so he could eat in peace.

"She was begging for dinner last night, too," Aizawa commented between bites. "Does she get fed properly?"

"Yeah, I pay for her food with my allowance—wait, she was here last night?" Now Izuku was really confused. "Did Kurogiri bring her?"

"No, she snuck in," Aizawa replied, and glanced towards Sushi only to blink. "Wait. Where did she go?" Izuku turned to look but sure enough, Sushi was gone. Not just from the spot he'd put her, but seemingly from the whole room. Given the cell lacked any furniture and the bathroom door was closed, it only took a quick look to tell she wasn't there.

Before he could start to panic they both startled as a soft meow sounded next to Aizawa. The hero twisted his torso only to hiss in pain as the motion jostled his leg again, getting another sympathetic wince from Izuku. Right now though he was more focused on the fact he still didn't see Sushi, despite the fact they clearly just heard her.

"What's going on?" he wondered, his confusion starting to turn to agitation.

And then suddenly Sushi was there, blinking into existence at the spot they heard the meow just as she leaped towards the sandwich. In his shock Aizawa failed to move it out of her reach, allowing her to successfully nip it. Sushi then plopped back to the floor along with several ingredients because a sandwich wasn't stable enough to hold a kitten's weight.

She got to her feet and shook herself off while they just stared at her. Her eyes narrowed at the now-ruined sandwich in obvious disdain before she turned away, tail lifted high in a very pointed snub.

Then she vanished again right in front of their eyes.

"...Um," Izuku said after a moment, at a loss for words. "Y-you saw that too, right?"

"You mean her being invisible?" Aizawa asked, sounding just as shocked and bewildered.

"Oh good, I'm not crazy," Izuku replied faintly, and the two began turning to survey the room with a newfound wariness. Between waking up to Seiko and now this, it seemed that today would just be full of surprises.

Surprise, Sushi has a Quirk! Kudos to everyone who guessed last chapter. Also, Hatsume and Momo have made contact. Hard to say which part of this chapter will lead to the most chaos.

Question for next time: what would be the most problematic Quirk for an animal to have? (Problematic for the owners, of course~)