Month one of Izuku's training ark was over in a blink of an eye, literally. I missed a whole month of school and now have to catch up on what I missed. Going back to school was tough since I had to do work that I knew that I knew how to do, but don't remember how to do them. Another thing was that the old rumors were popping up again about me and my quirk possibly going out of control like during my first days of school.

But this doesn't really matter since it was nothing new. I'm sure that it will be gone by next month. It has been three days since I've woken up and nothing bad has happened to me or my quirk. Right now we are at Akari's room and Akari is reteaching me all the subjects that I had missed.

I sigh "Akari can we stop now?"

"Come on Akumi. This is the sixth time now. We need you to get these things in your head before the test, two weeks from now."

"But that's two weeks from now. Can't we skip this," I whined.

"Yeah, we can skip it. But you'll have a no quirk usage until you finish your studies."

"Fine, what was the question again."

"Good. The question was, what is two plus two?"

"Really. I'm not that dumb. The answer is four right?"

"Wrong." I deadpan at Akari and she is just smiling. "The correct answer is two plus two."

"How is two plus two, two plus two," I argue.

"I wasn't asking you what two plus two equals to. I asked what is two plus two and since we don't have a definitive answer to what is two plus two. Two plus two is simply two plus two."

"How was I supposed to know that."

"Well maybe if you read the worksheet you might have known."

"Yeah, right," I take a look at the worksheet reading through every problem, "Wait a minute..." I flip the page back and forth carefully looking at each problem, "That question isn't even on the worksheet."

"Of course it wouldn't be on the worksheet," she says. "I made it up. But that's besides the point. You need to pay more attention to what the question asks, not how it sounds."

"I'm trying but I don't think I can absorb stuff like that," I gesture towards my head with my index finger. "Wait actually I should try that,"

I closed my eyes and focused on what I wanted to absorb but Akari bonked me on the head with rolled up paper, "I thought I said no quirk usage until you finish your studies." I was about to object but she bonked me on the head again, "No complaining now get back to studying."

"Ok, I get it. Stop hitting me," I sighed and picked up a pencil and the worksheet and got to studying.

(The Next Day)
I yawn as we walk down the same street Akari and I always do to get to school. After making a turn Youta would be waiting for us if we were there before it got too late. As for Izuku, he started taking a different route since his training with All Might. But we were early this time as I can see Youta is missing. There was still a good hour and a half or so left before school and Youta would usually be here waiting for us.

"So do we wait for Youta," I asked Akari.

"Why not just call him," Akari replied.

I took out my phone and called Youta but he didn't pick up. "He's not answering."

"let me try." Akari got her phone out and called but he didn't pick up. "Not answering here either. I guess we wait for him."

"Maybe he already left," I say.

"Impossible. Not with our track record," we both sighed then waited. An hour goes by and Youta finally shows up. "Hey Youta where have you've been?"

"Huh, oh me," he yawns, "Nowhere. Just overslept a bit, that's all."

"Right," I lean in towards Akari's ear and whisper, "Is he telling the truth?"

"I mean, it wasn't a lie. But that wasn't all to that story. I can see it," Akari whispered back.

"Oh come on guys we might be late if you conspire here for too long," Youta said.

"He got us there," I whisper.

"It should be fine. We'll question him later," Akari whispered back. "Right, Akumi we should head off to school now that Youta is here. Stop spouting nonsense and focus on the test we studied for."

"Crap. I forgot about that," I yell as I race off towards the school, "Come on we got to go."

"Way ahead of you," Youta said as he appeared next to me running along with me.

"Ok you're here but what about Akari? '' Youta points behind us and I look and Akari was sitting on Youta's red light trailing us and waved at me. "Hey, you can't do that."

"Sorry but I didn't make the rules," I hear Akari laugh.

(At Lunch After The Test)

"I think I did well on the test,' I say as I take a bite out of my sandwich.

"Don't you think you should be a little bit more worried? Aren't you trying to enter UA," said Youta.

"Yeah but," I finish chewing, "I don't think I have to worry about that."

"You do seem to always do well on tests even without studying. Are you cheating," said Akari.

"I don't think I'm cheating. I guess I'm just lucky," I laugh as I take another bite into my sandwich.

"Right. But what are we going to do this weekend? If you guys got nothing else to do we could check out that new cafe that opened up," said Akari.

"Sounds tempting but, I have training to do," said Youta.

"Right. This test almost made us forget. Why were you late this morning," I say.

"Huh. You're still on about that. I just overslept a bit," said Youta.

"But what did you do before you overslept," I say. The bell rings before we can get an answer from Youta.

Class continues as usual and ends. Youta quickly left the school before we could question him any further. Akari and I walk outside to the school gate. Akari was worried and said that we should follow him but I disagreed saying that he should be fine. "But how do you know. You're usually the one to jump straight into this kind of thing," said Akari.

"I want to relax a little after, you know. Almost dying twice now," I say. "Besides, Youta is not as weak as I am. I'm sure he's just overworking himself."

"Isn't that the perfect reason to go help him," said Akari. "I know that Youta's quirk is strong but that doesn't mean that he won't hurt himself like you did."

"Fine, I guess it wouldn't hurt to go check up on him. But you're going to pay for our cafe trip," I compromised.

Akari looks at me with disgust "Are you seriously saying that right now." Akari sighs, "Fine, but only the drinks, anything else is on you."

"Deal," I smiled and shook hands with Akari. "So where do we start our little investigation on Youta?"

"Hmmm. I guess we can start by going to his house," said Akari. I agreed so we headed over to the station to Youta's house.

"Now that I think about it. This is my first time going to his house," I say to Akari as we got off the train heading out.

"Oh, right. We never went to his house together," Akari laughed. "Well it's not that extravagant I think. Now that you mentioned it, I don't remember much either."

"Do at least know where it is," I asked.

"Yeah, I think. It should be that place." Akari points to a stone staircase leading up to a mansion.

"Wow. Are you sure that's where he lives? It's more like a mansion than a house."

"I think so. I don't remember much. I've only been to his house two or three times. But that was when we were still kids."

"Well, I guess it's a place to start." We walked up to the front gate and there was one of those speakers that they would use to communicate with the people outside in a stone pillar. There was a button above it so I pressed it.

After I let go of the button, part of the stone pillar slid open revealing a camera. "Yes, how may I help you," a female voice came from the speaker.

"We're here to see Youta," I say.

"Oh. You must be Youta's friends. He is currently not home at this time."

"Do you know where he is," I asked.

"Hmm. I'm sorry but I don't know where he is at, at the moment. You two are more than welcome to wait inside for him if you want."

I think about it and look at Akari to see what she wants to do. "I think it would be best if we waited for him so that when he comes here he will have nowhere else to run," She says.

I turn to speak into the speaker, "Alright. We will like to wait inside please."

The gate opens up, "Then please come inside." Akari and I walked inside the gate to the front door. It opens and a butler opens the door, "Hello I am Ryoto. The head butler. I'll guide you to the living quarter." We followed him inside to their living quarters. The room had a sweet aroma in the air with two couches set up across from each other with a table in the center of the room, a window door leading into a yard, and a shelf filled with books by one of the corners in the room.

"Make yourself at home. If there is something you need you may ring this bell and one of the maids will come," said the butler and he hands us a bell.

Akari took the bell, "Yes thank you for the hospitality." The butler smiles, bows then leaves the room. "Well. What do you want to do while we wait."

"We make ourselves at home," I walked to the couch and sat down. "Besides that, I have no idea."

Akari also comes and sits down next to me "We don't know how long he's going to take but we have time so I guess we just have to wait."

We wait for a few minutes then we see a woman come in. She exudes an aura of confidence and authority. Her dress was a beautiful shade of blue. Her long yellow hair was flowing slowly in the air. Her eyes yellow with just a hint of gold glistening from them. "You two must be Youta's friends right?"

I recognized this voice as the voice that we talked to from the gate. Hearing her voice in person had me entrance at how soft and gentle it was. I didn't even realize I was staring until she giggled. I snapped out of it and replied, "Oh sorry for staring. Yes, we are Youta's friends. We are here to wait for him to return to ask him a question."

"Oh no, don't apologize. It's my quirk's passive ability again. It always seems to slow down people's perspective of things." She came and sat on the couch across from us, "But let's put that behind us. What are your names?"

"My name? Ah yes, my name is Midoryia Akumi and she is Shimizu Akari," I say. I see Akari was somewhat slow moving.

"Oh, Akari. Is that you? My, you've grown so much since the last time I saw you," said the woman.

"Akari, you know her," I asked Akari.

Akari blinked and seemed like she snapped out of whatever caught her attention, "She's Youta's mom," I hear her say.

"Right, I have to introduce myself. I'm Kaede Okazaki. Youta's mother." She puts a hand on her cheek, "I still can't believe it, you've almost grown yourself into a woman."

"Yes, Okazaki-sama. I-it has been a long time," Akari said.

"Wait if you're Youta's mother then why does Youta look nothing like you," I cover my mouth as I just said what I thought out loud, "Sorry I didn't mean anything bad by that."

Mrs. Okazaki laughed, "No no. That is something everyone asks when they first see us. To tell you the truth I don't quite understand myself. I have yellow hair and eyes while my husband has green hair and eyes but Youta ended up with red hair and eyes. Now isn't that funny."

"That is somewhat funny," I giggled.

"But to get down to business. What did you want to ask my son," said Mrs. Okazaki.

"We just wanted to ask what he was up to since he was late this morning," I say.

"Hmmm. I see. A little bit curious now are we. Don't worry I was like that myself. But what type of relationship do you have with my son. More than friends perhaps."

"N-no. Not at all," Akari piped up, "We're just friends and we wanted to make sure he is alright."

"Is that so. What about you Akumi?"

"Me. Hmmm." I take a good minute to think about it, "Well I guess the three of us had always been friends. I never felt anything more from them but I do know they care for me as much as I care for them. And to answer exactly what we want to ask him. That I'm not sure. We just wanted to make sure he's not overdoing himself."

"I see and I approve," Mrs. Okazaki nodded her head.

"Approve?" Akari and I both said at the same time.

"I can't believe it. Youta have such lovely ladies by his side," Mrs. Okazaki cried.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean. Approve?" I say.

"Oh don't worry about that. Youta should be arriving about now."

After she said that, we heard Youta's voice shout "Hey Mom, Why Did You…" Youta walks in the room and sees us. He then begins to slowly walk back.

"Hey, don't just leave," I got up to go chase him but it seems like I didn't have to since he was moving so slow. I walk up to him with him not reacting at all, "Umm. Youta? Are you ok," I poke him in the cheek.

"Oh, he's fine. It looks like he was about to run so I just used my quirk to slow him down," said Mrs. Okazaki. "What a heartless boy that one is. Two lovely girls come to him worrying about his safety and his first instinct is to run away," Mrs. Okazaki sighs and takes a bell out and rang it.

A girl in a maid uniform suddenly appears by Mrs. Okazaki, "You called me, madam."

"Yes, Fumi-chan. Would you so kindly tie Youta and place him on the couch," said Mrs. Okazaki.

"Yes Madam," She took out a rope from who knows where and tied it around Youta.

I walked over to Akari and whispered to her, "Is this normal?"

"I don't know," she whispered back.

After the maid finished tying Youta's arms and legs, she carried Youta with ease and place him on the couch next to Mrs. Okazaki. Youta was still moving very slowly. "That is all now Fumi-chan. You may go back," said Mrs. Okazaki.

"Understood. Call me anytime you need me," I hear a button press and a bell ring from somewhere else in the building, and the girl is gone.

"Now. Let's get back on topic," she claps her hands and Youta suddenly jolts forwards falling off the couch hitting the ground surprising Akari and me, "Oh dear. I always forget that happens." We could hear Youta take a breath. Mrs. Okazaki helps Youta back onto the couch. "Well, Youta. Don't you think these two deserve an answer to what you've been doing?"

Akari and I awaited his response. After a bit of silence Youta finally talked, "I… I was thinking... Last night. I thought long about if I wanted to be a hero or not. I know that Akumi wanted to be a hero and seeing how Izuku is working so hard to also become a hero made me think even more on what a hero should be. I came to a realization that I don't have what it takes to become a hero. I first looked at being a hero as a title given to people who have amazing quirks, but now I'm not so sure."

"Wait, so the reason you arrived late was because you just overslept thinking about whether or not you want to be a hero or not," I say.

"Th-that's all of it," Youta stutters, "I also tried finding what I would do. And that's when it hit me. What job was like a hero before heroes… It's the military."

"You want to join the military," questioned Akari.

"I'm not sure actually. I don't want to leave and not be able to see any of my friends and family, but I also want to protect the people I care about."

"Then why not a hero," I ask.

"Because Akumi, you and Izuku will become great heroes, I know it. You two will stand out painting a target for villains to target everyone you know and love. I know there is a low chance of a villain ever attacking but I don't want to triple that chance by me also becoming a hero," Youta sounded sad. "So I decided I want to become something that would stand out less. The perfect job would be the police since it would allow me to work alongside you and Izuku sometimes."

"What's with that attitude? Unlike Izuku, you have an amazing quirk. You might now think otherwise but just because Izuku has to work harder than anyone else since he's quirkless does not mean that you should have to work as hard as he does," I crossed my arms. "You seem to be thinking that you are not worthy to become a hero but you have every right to be a hero. But I won't force it on to you. If you want to be something else, be something else. And besides, unlike me, you need to find your own hero because a real hero won't just appear in front of you and give you all the answers."

"Akumi's right Youta. And besides, you're already a hero," Akari said and I noticed she activated her quirk. "To me. You are my hero. Like how Izuku is to Akumi. You help me way back then. You may have thought of it as nothing but if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have been the me you know now. You can't just give up and do something else."

Youta went quiet again. Then after a moment goes by Youta hesitantly decided to speak again, "Th-there's a lot to think about. I-I'm not sure what to even think anymore."

"It's fine Youta. Take your time, I'm sure they could wait. They seem to care for you enough that they are willing to lay out how they feel about you without any restraint even while I was here," Mrs. Okazaki said and hugged the still tied up Youta.

"Take as much time as you need. Akumi might not be able to wait for too long but I can."

I look at Akari confused but then it hits me, in the hero business you never know what will happen, "Right, I'm going to become a hero and there is only so much time I have until I disconnect from my friends and family."

I hear Youta muffled something to his mother and she lets go of him. "I don't know what I want to be anymore but I do know where I want to go. Thank you Akari, Akumi. I think I have a more solid idea of what I should do."

I clap my hands together, "Alright that wraps that up. Let's leave now Akari."

"Wait, what? Why now," said Akari.

"Well I don't know how long we have left but that cafe might be closing soon."

"Wait if you two don't mind. Would it be alright if I come along," said Youta.

"You to Youta." Akari sighs, "I mean I did invite you both but Youta, you have to pay for what we order since you made this all complicated."

Youta smiles, "Alright, but can you untie me first."

"I'll leave you three to it. I will be taking my leave now," said Mrs. Okazaki as she got up to leave. After she left we tried to untie Youta but accidentally made it tighter. Eventually, we got the ropes off Youta and left for the cafe.