Written by Aduubo, Buckichamp, and PikachuSpartan.
I OWN NOTHING. KILL LA KILL IS OWNED BY STUDIO TRIGGER AND KAZUKI NAKASHIMA. MHA IS OWNED BY TOHO ANIMATION AND KOHEI HORIKOSHI.
Buckichamp A/N: Conservation mode is for PATROLS ONLY! I've seen too many comments about the conservation mode and thought we needed to clear this up… again. When Ryuko is in an actual fight, she'll be in her normal Sync mode. With her training from Jeanist, she can move in and out of conservation mode without much trouble.
It was also stated in Chapter 34 that Ryuko had come to terms with her body, so this isn't her going backwards in her character progression, either. We're putting the kibosh on this right now. It's been a little frustrating that some folks don't understand or just haven't read the chapters fully to understand (on this topic and others). I hate to put this note atop the chapter, but it was necessary to get people to read and comprehend.
Without further ado, enjoy the rest of the chapter. (Also hi, we're back!)
-Thursday - Midnight: Hosu Hospital-
The three U-A boys wound up in the same infirmary room after the fight of their lives against the Hero Killer. The lights were off but everyone was sitting on their beds, fully awake.
Yet Todoroki couldn't forget what happened earlier.
..~~~HLK~~~..
Izuku only looked at him in silence, not saying a word. He only furrowed his eyes a bit and looked away without even acknowledging the apology, which Shoto was quite surprised by.
..~~~HLK~~~..
While Shoto had never been one to handle delicate situations before, he wanted to attempt something.
"Hey, Midoriya."
Tenya and Izuku turned their heads toward Todoroki. The awkward, deafening silence had finally been broken.
"It may not be my place to pry, but is something bothering you?" Shoto asked.
"What are you talking about, Todoroki?" Iida raised an eyebrow, now fixing his attention on their other classmate.
"Is something wrong, Midoriya?" the speedster inquired.
There it was again. Midoriya looked away and down toward the ground, his gaze not visible from either of the other two's vantage points given the darkness.
..~~~HLK~~~..
"Okay. But, during our internships, I'll be checking up on you in our group chat. Please promise me that you'll get back to us. We're all in this together, Iida. I'm doing this because we care about you. And we want to be there for you."
Izuku extended his hand to Tenya with a stern look on his face.
"Can you do that?"
The speedster's hand tensed up, but he pushed forward and took Midoriya's hand.
"I promise. I'll be sure to let you guys know what I'm up to. Thank you, Midoriya."
..~~~HLK~~~..
Yet at the same time, these emotions were eating away at him from the inside. Izuku had to say something, despite how tense he felt.
"Iida…"
"I broke our promise, didn't I?" Tenya stated, cutting Izuku off. Iida moved his arm up to his eyes, looking at the injury he sustained during the fight.
"You and Matoi kept telling me to reach out, saying that you would help me when I was dealing with all of this. And even after that, I still went and got us all in trouble."
"Iida, what happened tonight..." Shoto started.
"Was entirely my fault, Todoroki. I was the one who went after the Hero Killer. I was the one who had to be rescued by the two of you. All of this, everything that happened tonight, was solely my fault," Iida said.
Midoirya sat and listened to the speedster, as Tenya basically touched on everything he wanted to say.
"Iida, I need to know; Why did you go after the Hero Killer?" Izuku turned his head to Tenya, who sat up to meet his gaze.
Taking a moment to collect his thoughts, Iida angled his eyes up toward the ceiling and took a breath before letting out a puff of air.
"Midoriya, have you ever been in a position where you were completely helpless? Where you were forced to see something so heartbreaking, with no choice but to sit and watch?" Iida wondered, with Midoriya giving off a somber expression.
Izuku had been helpless for several years without a Quirk. What Iida asked drudged up a number of memories. He remembered how his mother felt every day after his diagnosis, thinking that she was the one to blame for his Quirklessness.
Then darker thoughts started to emerge. What if he was in the same position as Iida? Would he have done the same thing? At first, he shook his head, dashing the idea of hunting down a villain, though a scene played out in his mind.
Izuku watched as doctors moved around in the hospital, trying their damndest to stabilize their patient. He couldn't look away from the once proper sailor uniform, now marred with numerous cuts and dried blood.
The greenette pulled himself back from the thoughts of despair and anguish. His fists clenched at his bed sheets, tightening with each passing moment.
"That feeling… That bottomless pit of anger and malice. It just doesn't go away. My brother lost his ability to walk, and that thing was still out wreaking havoc all around the city. The city my brother swore an oath to protect," Iida's voice wavered slightly, turning his attention back to Midoriya.
"All of that was going through my head, playing on loop. It nearly drove me insane. You can't think straight, and everything around you turns into a blur. It was like nothing else mattered."
Todoroki sat quietly and listened to Iida speak, taking in every single word. He could relate to what the Speedster was going through, given his own childhood experience.
"I wanted to stop, Midoriya. Truly, I did. But knowing that Stain was out there and no one would stop him, I couldn't let that continue. I just… I just wanted to make it stop. I couldn't-"
"Iida."
Tenya stopped his rambling so that Izuku could speak.
"I get it. There was a time where I felt like that, too. Still, that doesn't make it any less wrong," Izuku noted with a stern gaze.
"There was so much that I thought I needed to prove. It made me blind to everything else and all it did was hurt the people I care about."
He remembered when Ryuko tried to stop him from helping All Might during the USJ Attack when he ruptured her wrist.
"I don't want that to happen to you. I asked you to make a promise and you broke it, that's why I'm upset. I know you're better than that, Iida," Izuku sighed, some of the negativity dissipating slowly from the room.
"Midoriya…" Iida spoke softly. He felt his eyes water up with tears and quickly wiped them away.
"I'm so sorry. I forgot how many good friends I have. I broke my promise to everyone. So if I can say anything, I want you to know I won't let myself or anyone else go through what we had to do in Hosu tonight."
While the discomfort didn't fully fade, Izuku finally let a small grin wiggle onto his lips, chuckling as he briefly stood up and put a hand on Iida's left arm above the elbow.
"Just come to us next time, okay?" Izuku said warmly.
Tenya sniffled one last time before he felt that he could fully face his friends again.
"I promise. And that goes for everyone else. Any and all problems, we confide in one another," Iida nodded.
All three of them smiled. With the unbearable fog lifted, everyone could start to move forward, knowing a full resolution wouldn't be reached quite so easily.
..~~~HLK~~~..
-9 a.m.- Hospital: Telephone area.
"Geez, I'm glad you're alright," Uraraka said over the phone as Izuku looked around.
"Yeah. It could have been worse. Thanks for calling to check in."
"Not a problem," Ochako whispered on her end of the line in gunhead's agency. "I need to get back to training. Talk soon!"
"Sure!" Izuku noted before Ochako hung up.
The brunette breathed a sigh of relief before Gunhead snuck up behind her.
"Oh my! Were you on the phone with your boyfriend?"
Ochako gulped hard and turned red in the face, trying to keep her composure.
"W-w-well you see, no! Just a really good friend! That's all!" She said with a bit of force.
Gunhead was taken back for a moment before nodding.
"Whatever you say. C'mon, let's get back to more counter-attack 101," he motioned over to another part of the dojo, with Uraraka following behind.
'What's been getting into me lately?' Ochako wondered, clutching at her chest. 'I don't like this…'
..~~~HLK~~~..
Back at the hospital, Izuku knew that he had one more phone call to make. And they probably weren't happy he hadn't answered them earlier.
His finger tapped Ryuko's contact info and he pressed the dial button to initiate the call.
After two rings through, the call was picked up and he heard some muffled noises in the background.
"About time you called! What the hell happened with the Hero Killer?! Why were you fighting him in a damn alley?!" Ryuko shouted, catching Izuku off guard. "Were you on a suicide mission trying to fight him?"
"How did you-"
Before another word slipped out of his mouth, his free hand smacked against his face, realizing he did exactly what the Hosu police chief told him not to do.
"I can't tell you everything from where I'm at right now. It'll make more sense in Danchi. But I was going to make it out of there alive, no matter what happened, Ryuko," Izuku tried to appease her.
"What, don't tell me you can't even tell your mom?" Ryuko scoffed.
Izuku's heart sank before he lowered his tone, a little more quiet than he was before.
"I can't."
"What?" Ryuko's eyebrows furrowed.
"Yeah, I can't tell her… again. It's still complicated. If you still want to talk about it back home, let me know."
Ryuko was stunned. Izuku didn't seem like he would go any further, especially given a little of the background noise she could hear.
"Just stay in touch, okay?" Ryuko asked, wanting to make sure he knew she'd be there for him.
"I will. I'll see you in a few days. I lo-"
The greenette stopped, fumbling over his words. Why did he suddenly get tongue tied?
"Izuku?"
"I'm fine, sorry. My head just froze up for a second there. I'll text you later when I leave the hospital."
Ryuko let out a content sigh on the other end of the line. She at least wouldn't have him completely holed up over this matter.
"Alright. Later, Izuku."
And just like that, the conversation was over. There was one problem.
'What was I going to say? Why did I freeze up like that?' Midoriya wondered as the fingers of his left hand gently clasped at his throat, trying to shake it off.
'It's all a blank… I better get back to the others.'
..~~~HLK~~~..
-9:20 a.m., UA High-
"A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE!"
"Yes, hello?" Toshinori quickly answered his phone.
'What the hell is that ringtone?' Shota stared with a confused look.
"O-Oh! Sir!" Toshinori stood up, covered his mouth, and immediately left the room. "How are you?"
"You should have told me about Midoriya!' Gran Torino exclaimed. "That kid's shenanigans got my pay cut in half, and my teaching license suspended for six months! How am I gonna get my fill of Taiyaki?!"
"I-I humbly apologize sir! I didn't mean to have my protege cause you trouble because of my poor teachings!" Yagi said as he walked down the hall.
"Ah, I'm not too worried about that. I only got the license because of you and Shimura. Plus, it can't be helped since Midoriya's a lot like you."
"And I'm grateful that you even put in an offer for him in the first place. There's no one else more fitting to teach him than you," Yagi stopped at one of the teacher lounges.
"Well, I haven't really taught him that much. He seems to have a grasp on how One For All works, so all I did was help him hone his skills. This is a significant development for a first year," Gran Torino smiled.
"You've really been putting in the work in getting him this far, haven't you?"
"I… Umm…" Toshinori stuttered.
"Heh, I didn't think so. You're a prodigy, but you're a lousy teacher. I hope you plan on properly thanking that Matoi girl for picking up your slack," Torino chuckled.
"I do plan to at some point when I have free time. She's been so helpful to Young Midoriya. And him to her. I'm so happy for them," Toshinori smiled warmly as he sat down on the couch.
"Knowing you, you'll find a way eventually. Anyway, that's not what I called about. It's the hero killer. I met him briefly for the first time last night, and I'm still shaken up from it," Tornio scoffed.
"Really? I can't believe someone was actually able to scare you, Gran Torino. He must have been tied up at that point, so what happened?" Toshinori said.
"It's probably his fanatic ideology. His obsession, it's intimidating. Not to praise him or anything, but he's got the same determination as you when it comes to your "symbol of peace" thing."
"What do you mean?"
"To put it simply, you've both got charisma. As the investigation continues, his ideology and opinions will be all over the media. And knowing how nosy people can be, for better or worse, they'll want to know about his motives. There will be people around the globe that will be influenced by these things."
"If that's true and he inspires copycat villains, they'll probably strike out on their own. Heroes will be able to stop 'em, just like they did last time."
"That's where the League of Villains comes in. The Hosu incident suggests that Stain and the League are connected somehow. That means they will go from just a bunch of juvenile delinquents to a group with an ideology. In other words, these new converts will seek them out."
Torino took a heavy breath as his worries were starting to surface.
"Or worse, this whole situation getting REVOCS' attention."
Toshinori gasped, staring at his phone with wide eyes.
"That amount of evil under one banner will rise to unstoppable proportions. If whoever planned this knew this would happen, then he's one brilliant strategist."
"Damn it. This is bad. What if… What if he's back?" Yagi gripped his pant legs hard.
"You're talking about…?"
"Yes. All For One."
Toshinori could feel his entire body shaking. Just thinking about this was putting him completely on edge. Gran Torino knew just how much this affected his pupil, and how worried he was for what was to come.
"Toshinori. That child admires you so wholly and fiercely. You need to tell him about you and One For All. Be honest. He deserves to know the truth."
Toshinori remained silent, thinking about everything that led up to today. So much had happened throughout the years, with so many people that he cared about.
"Not just him, sir."
"Hmm?" Gran Torino raised a brow.
"There's someone else that deserves to know the truth, too."
..~~~HLK~~~..
-Sunday, 7:35 a.m.; Tokyo-
It was the last day of the UA internships with Pro Heroes. Ryuko stood by the printer, waiting for the paper that All Might assigned her to print. She exhaled sharply and smiled, feeling proud.
"You finally did it, Ryuko. I'm betting you feel real accomplished about yourself," Senketsu said.
"You know it," Ryuko chuckled as she walked around trying to find the folder that was lent to her.
Waking up this early still felt like a new thing to Ryuko. But, it felt nice to be working in peace and quiet. She now had time to spare before she had to return to Danchi. Best Jeanist walked down the stairs to enter the office, stopping once he saw the teen.
"Oh, Matoi. Good morning!"
"Good morning, Jeanist," Ryuko greeted back.
"I didn't expect to see you up early. Thought you would have taken advantage of sleeping in a bit more before you all had to head back," the denim hero walked over to the kitchen to brew some coffee.
"This is my last day to work on my homework. And since I've had a lot of practice waking up early, I thought I'd just get this out of the way today," Ryuko said before putting her papers into the All Might folder.
Jeanist saw this and was rather curious of her choice of aesthetic.
"I take it All Might was the one who assigned you that paper?"
"How did you-?"
"I remember you said that the hero business didn't interest you for quite some time. So it made sense that you wouldn't have that kind of folder unless it was given to you. And I know that All Might has his own voice as his ringtone, so…" Jeanist rolled his eyes.
"Wait, -snnk-, seriously?" Ryuko stifled before full on laughing.
Best Jeanist chuckled as well. There were many pleasant experiences he had with other interns, but Matoi was one of his favorites. For all of the brashness that was there at first, she made up for it with the willingness to learn. It was quite rare to see.
Some time later, the interns had to pack up their things for their eventual return home. Ryuko sat on one of the sofas, waiting for everyone else. Even if it was just a week, it felt like she was there for a while. It was fun, but she missed her friends, and was eager to see them again.
Katsuki was just eager to get the hell out of there, as he stomped towards the door. Ryuko frowned when she saw him come into view. The way he acted and disregarded what she told him during the attack on the studio still bothered her a lot, but she didn't talk about it, not wanting to stir up any trouble.
If he was like this with her, it only made her worry about what would happen once he and Deku met again.
"Hold it right there, Bakugo!" Best Jeanist called out.
"The hell do you want?" Katsuki stopped before he went outside to wait.
"There's just one more thing I need to do before you go."
..~~~HLK~~~..
"God… DAMN IT!"
Bakugo held onto his duffle bag with so much force that he would have ruptured something had he carried any other item. His hair was combed over once again. But this time, Jeanist used even more gel so that Bakugo's hair wouldn't blow back to its original shape. Matoi stood on the sidelines, trying not to laugh too hard.
"There's no way I was going to let you go back out there looking like a delinquent," Jeanist proclaimed proudly as they waited for the cabs.
"Why the hell is she not getting dolled up?!" Katsuki snarled.
"As I said before, Matoi does well enough to maintain her relationship with the general public. She does not need anything more from me," Jeanist sighed.
"Tch!" the blonde scoffed before turning away from everyone.
The cabs finally arrived, with Bakugo being the first to get in the passenger seat. Matoi shook her head before heading to the cab as well.
"Matoi," Jeanist called out before she entered.
"Yeah?" she turned to face him.
"Good luck continuing on the path ahead of you. There are a lot of things you have yet to learn, but I have no doubt that you will persevere," Jeanist said with an earnest smile.
Ryuko was silent for a moment, as she was thinking over what had happened the last few days. She felt that she accomplished a lot. She achieved a new form with Senketsu, patched things up with Yaoyorozu, and survived a terrorist attack.
But most importantly, she found an ambition she wanted to chase. Ryuko held up her folder and analyzed it; everything about why she wanted to be a hero was right here. She looked back at Jeanist with a grin on her face.
"Thank you, Jeanist. Hopefully we'll meet again."
"One day," Jeanist nodded.
Once they said their farewells, Ryuko climbed in the back of the cab before it drove away. She leaned back into her seat and waited with excitement to return home.
..~~~HLK~~~..
After arriving back at the train station with Katsuki, Ryuko made the short trek back to Danchi on her own while the blonde bomber fumed about the hairdo Jeanist left him with as he made his way back to his own neighborhood.
It wasn't too long before she finally arrived home. While Jeanist's beds were comfy, she certainly liked the extra space her own unit afforded her.
But first, she had to make one stop.
Coming up to the landing with the "Midoriya" kanji affixed to it, Ryuko rasped the door four times before she heard frantic shuffling barreling toward her.
"Senketsu," Ryuko chirped through gritted teeth.
"I'm woefully unprepared," he groaned as his worst fears were about to be realized.
"IZU- Oh!" Inko stopped as soon as she saw it wasn't her son standing at the door, but their frequent visitor instead.
"Ryuko! Welcome back!" the elder Midoriya opened the door further and beckoned towards the living room. "Come inside while we wait for Izuku. I can't wait to hear how your internships went."
Ryuko chuckled and gladly accepted the invitation to join Inko inside. If there was anything she missed for the past week, it was her godly cooking.
With some fresh snacks set on the table, the two caught up over the initial days of the internship, including some of Katsuki's antics, her new abilities, and even the villain attack.
"Are you sure you're okay? I can't imagine getting up and walking all of that off," Inko tried to show her concern.
"It was a little unnerving," the girl admitted. "But we saved everyone in the building. I'm just glad we were better prepared than we were back at the USJ."
As the two talked, that last point brought the missing person to the forefront. This was a somewhat curious development.
"Honestly, I'm surprised Izuku didn't beat me back here," Ryuko sat back in her chair a little and looked at the ceiling. "Have you heard anything from him?"
"He sent me a text earlier this morning saying he should be back by the early afternoon. At least it seems he's doing well after being around whatever happened in Hosu. He must have been terrified, but he seems to be in good spirits since Endeavor helped save everyone there."
Hosu. She hadn't forgotten about that whole conundrum. She knew Izuku had gotten involved with Stain, but Inko had no clue?
"Yeahhhh… Good thing Endeavor showed up," Ryuko looked around the room, trying not to say anything more. This caught Inko's attention, but all thoughts were interrupted shortly after.
"Mom! I'm home!"
Both ladies looked toward the doorway to find Izuku taking off his signature red sneakers as the mama bear bolted over to grab her boy.
"I'm so glad you're back!" Inko exclaimed as she nearly squeezed the life out of him.
"Bullet dodged," Senketsu let out a sigh as Ryuko stifled a laugh.
"Air! Mom!" Izuku wheezed before being set back down.
Soon enough, his attention moved toward his best friend. He beamed with glee, a brightness that nearly blinded Matoi and made her heart almost melt.
"It's good to see you, Ryuko!" Izuku approached with open arms.
For once, she didn't hesitate. She stood up from the chair and met his embrace with her own, smiling as the two were wrapped in each other's arms.
"It's good to see you, too, Izuku," Ryuko chuckled before the two eventually separated, but not before Inko caught the whole exchange.
It played back on loop in her head. When was this ship going to set sail?! She could see it, but it was going to take more time for these two teenagers to recognize the bond they had.
"It's so nice seeing you two together like this. And after all of these years. You both really are inseparable."
Izuku and Ryuko's faces heated up slightly at Inko's comment.
"U-Umm… right," he said softly.
Izuku was running his hand through his bushy hair, while Ryuko tucked one of her hands into her pockets and stroked her red highlight with the other. As expected, they were both quite flustered. But from what Mako told Inko during their time together, it's nothing like how they reacted before.
Inko smiled, seeing the clear spark between the two angels. She decided to not push the envelope further and let fate run its course for the future.
"Oh mom, there's something I need to talk to Ryuko about in private. I'll be in her apartment for a bit," Izuku said as he put his shoes back on. "We won't be long!"
"Oh, okay! Hope you both have a good talk!" Inko waved them both off.
As they closed the door, she sat down on the sofa, pondering something.
'They've been going up to her apartment alone a lot lately… I wonder what's going on between those two?'
Inko's chin rested into her palm as she thought more and more. Whatever sensitive subjects they had to talk about, they seemed to have it taken care of already. So what else could be a reason to go up there?
It wasn't until her cheeks quickly flushed red that she came back to reality.
"Oh my! They…They couldn't possibly be…"
The elder greenette slapped her cheeks and shook her head from side to side.
"I knew they were close, but-No! Put those thoughts to rest, Inko! T-They're good kids that know boundaries!"
She then quickly turned on the tv to get her mind off of things.
"At least, when they do get to it, they'll be safe about it…"
Inko groaned loudly before flopping down on the couch.
..~~~HLK~~~..
The two entered the unit upstairs as Ryuko locked the door behind her and Izuku took a seat on the purple carpeting in the living space. It was nice to finally be back home, with her own bed to sleep in before classes started back up the next day.
"I'm sorry if I seemed pissed off the other day, Izuku," Ryuko rubbed at her eyes with a slight yawn. "When we talked after the Sports Festival, I apologized for barging back into your life again without any thought."
"I remember," he nodded, letting her know to go on.
"When I saw the ping and figured out what was happening, I- I couldn't stop thinking about what happened at the USJ. I got so worried that you'd-"
She stopped for a moment before sitting down across from Izuku, trying to recollect herself. He tried to be more in tune with how his actions could affect others since then, knowing death wasn't an easy topic for Ryuko. He leaned forward and put a hand on her shoulder as she looked up to meet his gaze.
"I know. You don't have to say any more."
Izuku's expression was far more serious than normal, understanding there was a lot to unpack here. He couldn't just skim the details.
"I'm basically under a non-disclosure agreement, though we didn't sign any papers. I'm serious when I said mom can't even know, and only the people who were there have any idea. But since you already know about One For All and figured out what happened, I'll tell you. It's not like I could exactly avoid it."
The last part of his speech made Ryuko chuckle, straightening her posture a bit as she felt somewhat comforted that he wasn't going to dodge this.
"So… What happened?"
Izuku went into detail, briefly for him, how he'd improved his overall output usage of One For All over the first few days of his internship, thanks to Torino and a Top Ten hero in Miruko. They were heading to Shibuya when Nomu attacked the bullet train. He and Miruko went to help civilians and fend off the attackers.
"Not long after, I heard that Tenya went off by himself, and I went around the area trying to find a back alley since the Hero Killer's victims were often found there. I landed a hit on him before he could kill Iida and got him to back off. Though once I saw the other pro hero there, I knew I couldn't run with Iida."
Now this made a little more sense as to why he pinged for help. Even with that explanation, it wasn't exactly comforting to hear how ingesting Izuku's blood froze him in place. It made Matoi's skin crawl.
"Then before anything else happened, Todoroki came in for the save. A lot of that fight was a blur, because it felt like we were back there forever instead of a couple of minutes. If I hadn't been able to use 8%, I'm not sure that fight would have ended as smoothly."
"Wait, you're up to 8% power?" Ryuko's eyes widened slightly.
"I can actually use 10% now," Izuku chuckled. "Gran Torino and Miruko's methods were… unorthodox."
He visibly shuddered a bit from the shock of everything he'd gone through. Ryuko's face grew a little pale, wondering what got him so bent out of shape to have that reaction.
"But Iida and I knocked Stain out cold after I tore my new costume's sleeves off to stop Todoroki's bleeding. He had some nasty wounds. The one thing throughout that fight I keep thinking back to was the Hero Killer never actually tried to kill me."
"Huh? He went after Iida and all of you. That makes no sense," Ryuko scrunched up her face, not sure how to take this.
"He called me a true hero. It sounds weird coming from a guy like him. He told me I was good enough to stay alive because I wasn't 'a fake.' It sounds like first impressions are what he judges people by, so the other two didn't end up on his nice list."
Sitting back and absorbing it all, Ryuko at least had a better handle of the situation. Though something still ate at her.
"How's Iida doing?" She asked, with Izuku's eyes refocusing.
"He's… doing alright. He has some nerve damage in one of his arms, but he's not going to try and undergo surgery to fix it until he thinks he can be the hero he wants to be," Izuku demurred with a half-hidden smile.
This wasn't like him at all. Ryuko caught on immediately.
"You're upset with Iida, huh?"
"More in the past tense, but yeah, I was," Izuku admitted. "We talked about it at the hospital. I won't go into detail, but we're working to move past it. It's not completely under the bridge yet."
Ryuko sighed, seeing there probably wasn't too much more to get out of this, with some of her concerns abated.
"It kinda sucks you can't take the credit. I mean, you brought down a freaking psychopath!" Matoi exclaimed.
"We were given a choice: We could take the credit and then be reprimanded and our hero careers taken away, or give Endeavor the credit and only a few people will ever know what happened in that alley. I think you know what we all chose."
Ryuko mouthed out an "Oh damn" in response. They really needed a license in order to do actual hero work, huh?
"I probably wouldn't tell Todoroki or Iida you know, either. I never told them you figured it out since I couldn't really talk about it much at the hospital."
"Heh. If I have to keep one of the biggest secrets ever under wraps, I think this should be a piece of cake," the girl laughed, drawing a snicker out of the greenette.
The two felt worn out, but at least an individual weight had been lifted off one another. With the sun filtering through the windows and striking in segmented blocks on the floor beneath them, they sat there for a few more minutes, content on being in the other's company.
A few more minutes turned into a while, as the two smiled and seemed completely out of sync with the world around them.
"RYUKO!"
"Gah!" She shouted as soon as her name was called, snapping Izuku out of his trance as well.
"I've been trying to grab your attention for the last 20 minutes," Senketsu said. "You both have been staring off for a while now without saying a word."
"Twenty minutes?! We didn't say anything for that long?" Matoi wondered in a daze while Izuku clutched at his chest, which she didn't see. What the hell was wrong with her?
"You could show Midoriya what we were working on with Jeanist," Senketsu offered, bringing a geeked out smile to the Kamui Wielder's face.
Izuku wondered what was going on. All he could discern was that Senketsu was talking to Ryuko and then she seemed to get really excited.
"You wanna see something cool, Izuku? Or rather…" she blushed, thinking about the second thing. "I guess, two things?"
The boy nodded and looked on with intrigue. With him paying full attention, Ryuko immediately synced up in the room.
"Okay?" Midoriya wondered aloud. "What's different?"
Suddenly, Senketsu's form began to move and shift, covering up more of Ryuko's skin with some slight alterations to the overall design.
"WHOA! Is this some kind of conservation mode?!" Izuku's eyes lit up as he grabbed his notebook to jot it down.
"Yeah! Pretty cool, huh?" Ryuko smiled as she desynced. "I'll still be in my normal sync mode when I'm fighting, but this allows me to be a little more presentable when I'm on patrols."
The girl paused as her face grew warm, drawing a curious glance from the boy seated on the carpeting.
"The next thing… Look, it's going to be a little embarrassing. Just promise to not freak out like the one time you came up to get me!" Ryuko suddenly blurted out.
"Uhh…" Izuku muttered, trying to prepare himself for whatever came next. "Okay?"
"Are you sure, Ryuko?" Senketsu asked.
"I don't wanna go to the other room right now. Just make it quick!" She squirmed.
"All right then."
With a flash of red light enveloping Senketsu, he hopped off Ryuko's body, leaving her in her underwear, bra and tennis shoes.
"Ghkk!" Izuku bit on his lower teeth hard before seeing what was happening to Senketsu.
His body began to shrink and change shape. Not long after, Ryuko held him in her right hand as a red scarf, his one eye still visible and her being red like a tomato.
"Okay, Senketsu! Back!" She yelped as Izuku was as flustered as she was. A few seconds later, she was fully clothed, but neither of the teens could stop blushing.
"Th-That's incredible, but a little more warning next t-time," Izuku stammered out, trying to catch his breath.
"Hehehe… It's like I said before when I told you not to freak out after that Tsumugu guy attacked us on the beach. You've seen me in… way less. Not freaking out as badly as you did last time is progress, I guess?" she shakily laughed.
"Yeah," Izuku mimicked her laugh to an extent.
Once their heart rates settled down, Ryuko finally broke the ice.
"So yeah, we figured that out, too. I can wear other clothes, but I'll still wear Senketsu sometimes, just in case," Ryuko explained, still slightly blushing.
"When I'm not so flustered, I'll need to take some notes on that, too," Izuku deadpanned as he slowly rose from the floor.
"Anyway, I'm beat. If you want to come on down for dinner, be my guest."
"Like I'd miss it!" Ryuko chuckled as she saw Izuku over to the door on his way out.
"Alright! I guess I'll see you later," Izuku smiled with a slight blush.
As soon as Izuku left, she slumped down against the door, remembering the twenty minutes of silence. It felt comforting and she didn't ever want it to end. But the butterflies inside her fluttered like crazy, making her heart beat faster.
'What's going on with me?'
To Be Continued…