"Wait, Midnight-sensei really gave you tickets to Pop Step's next concert? Seriously?" Midoriya asked his girlfriend with a look of genuine shock plastered all over his face.
"Sure did!" Tokage said with a smug grin. "She even got us a couple of backstage passes."
"How? All of her shows have been sold out for the last six months. Even the ones in South Korea!"
"Aunt Nemuri's actually friends with Pop Step." Tokage then told the green-haired teen. "Apparently they go way back."
"Wow..." Midoriya couldn't help but feel impressed by that. Of course, it made sense that Kayama would know some pretty famous people. She was one of the most popular heroines in the country after all. So having major connections like that was to be expected. Even so, managing to score some valuable tickets like this was nothing short of amazing.
"Anyways...I hope you don't have anything planned for next Saturday. Because I'm taking you with me."
"Sounds good to me!" The boy replied with a smile. "We haven't gone out on an actual date in a while. And this seems like as good a time as any."
"Exactly what I was thinking!" Tokage nodded her head in approval.
The two teens were currently chilling out inside Midoriya's room. Classes had just ended for the day and the young couple had nothing better to do besides hang out and watch a bit of anime together until it was time for dinner.
"So, how'd your interview with that Kizuki lady go?" Tokage asked as she took a moment to snuggle up against her boyfriend's shoulder. "Yours took a lot longer than everyone else's."
Midoriya paused for a moment as he tried to find the right words to express what he was thinking. But after a good five seconds, he could only say what was on his mind at the time. "To be perfectly honest...kind of strange."
"Why's that?"
"Well for starters, she asked me if I'd let her agency run my PR after we graduate. She said that it wasn't uncommon for hero students to have deals before they actually got out of school. And that she wanted to get a jump on the competition while she had the chance."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah." The boy nodded. "Then she asked me a few questions about my quirk, followed by a couple about how I liked working under onee-chan. The questions weren't exactly weird, but it kind of felt like she was trying to lead me somewhere."
"Hmm..." Tokage hummed as she tried to piece together what this was all about. Midoriya was right, this was strange. After all, she, Yanagi, and Tetsutesu all got the same cookie-cutter questions from the blue-skinned woman during their mock interviews. "Did she ask you about anything else?"
"Besides a couple of quick questions about my parents that didn't seem all that strange, there was one that kind of weirded me out. She asked me if I read a lot. I told her that I did from time to time and then she recommended me one that her publishing company prints. I think it was called 'Meta Liberation War'."
"I feel like I've heard about that one before." Tokage began racking her brain to figure out where she knew that name from. The 'lizard tail splitter' user was almost certain that she'd heard of that title before. "I can't remember from where though."
"Kizuki-san told me to check it out whenever I had the time."
"If I didn't know any better I'd say that woman was trying to butter you up." Tokage gave the boy a quick laugh. "I mean, she already said that she wanted to recruit you. So maybe she thinks that book might help her case."
"I guess that makes sense." Midoriya conceded.
"I have to give her some credit though. Everyone already knows that you have a spot in Fubuki's agency waiting for you after graduation. And trying to poach an up-and-coming hero student from a top ten hero takes some guts."
"I think I'm starting to see why onee-chan and Tatsumaki make it a point to stay out of the media. It's way too much of a headache."
"Hey, it could be worse." Tokage then shrugged playfully. "You could be Todoroki. I bet that guy has people trying to come after him every time he leaves campus."
"You're right about that…." The 'telekinesis' user nodded in agreement.
The young couple then spent the next few minutes in comfortable silence. The two were perfectly content with staying like that for a while before Yokage got a text from Tetsutetsu telling her to come downstairs as soon as possible. Apparently, Fukidashi had a new trick with his quirk that he was showing everyone in class and they just had to see it with their own eyes. So, not wanting to miss out on all the fun, the green-haired duo got up from bed and made their way downstairs to join their classmates.
While the students of 1-B were entertaining themselves a few of the students from 1-A were enjoying an impromptu class movie night. Only about half of the students were actually present, but that didn't stop the rest of them from having a good time. And tonight was the special showing of one of Kaminari's favorite pre-quirk era movies.
"What's this thing called again?" Jiro asked her secret boyfriend while she inspected the cover.
"Deadpool!" Kaminari beamed. "It's a classic, you guys will love it!"
"It's not incredibly violent is it?" Yaoyorozu inquired.
"Of course not..." He lied effortlessly.
"Huh, you know this guy on the cover kind of reminds me of Tetsutetsu." Kirishima voiced his thoughts.
"Oh yeah..." Hagakure added. "He's got the metal skin and everything."
As the gang was getting comfortable while Kaminari got the television ready, a news story about Endeavor defeating yet another group of villains near Tokyo flashed across the screen. Lately, it seemed like the man was all over the news. But with his newfound status as the country's top dog, the "Flame Hero" and his agency were obviously trying to pick up the pace.
"I still can't believe that Todoroki-kun's father is the number one hero now." Said Uraraka, sitting in her spot between Asui and Satou.
"It's pretty crazy, isn't it? Must be nice having your dad as the most famous person in all of Japan." Kaminari stated.
"Tell me about it." Ashido added. "Fame, money, and a crazy powerful quirk to boot. Todoroki pretty much has it made!"
Just then, none other than Katsuki Bakugou happened to step out of the elevator and make his way toward the kitchen. Although everyone clearly saw him, none of them bothered to acknowledge his presence or speak to him. Mainly because they weren't particularly in the mood to get cursed out for no reason.
"I'm pretty sure that the only person in our school with better hero pedigree than him is Midoriya." Sero joked. His comment was enough to strike a nerve within the 'explosion' quirk user. Who could hear the conversation clearly from where he was standing. "I mean come on! Both of his sisters made it into the top ten at some point. And with the way that the teachers and that Hadou girl talk about him, he's supposed to be the second coming of Tornado."
"I still can't believe that he's actually their younger brother, gero." Asui said. "I wonder why he was keeping it a secret."
Although they didn't hear it directly from Midoriya himself, from the way that the other 1-B students were talking they all pretty much confirmed that the greenette from 1-B was indeed the third "Psychic Sibling."
"Who knows?" Uraraka shrugged.
"Maybe they have some kind of family issue?" Ashido gleefully theorized. "I mean, he does have a different last name than Tornado and Blizzard, right? He might be some secret lovechild or something."
-(o)-
"Achoo!" Shoto Todoroki sneezed. The stoic boy with the two-tone hair quickly wiped his nose before going back to reading his book.
-(o)-
"I wish Tokoyami was down here. He's friends with him, maybe he would know?"
"Everyone please, this kind of gossip is incredibly impolite!" The raven-haired class rep finally interjected. "Whatever reason he has for doing so is none of our business."
However, inside her own mind, Yaoyorozu couldn't help but do the exact opposite. Although not nearly as influential as her own family or even the Iidas, the Katsuragi family were pretty well known in what could be considered "high society" in Japan. If Midoriya truly was a "scandal child", then it would make complete sense as to why he didn't want anyone to know about it. But with the obvious amount of fame and notoriety that the young man was getting, there might have been talks about getting in front of the story soon. Especially since he's the top hero candidate of the first years.
"Yeah, Yaomomo's right." Jiro agreed.
As the group of teenagers quickly changed the topic of discussion to whatever was going on within their class these days, a certain ashe blonde's mind was still lingering on what he had just heard.
This whole thing still didn't make any sense to Bakugou. How could shitty Deku possibly be the younger brother of the "Psychic Sisters"? This surely would've been something that came up at some point during any of their interactions in the past. Hell, he was still questioning how the bastard didn't even have a quirk up until recently. How could any of this possibly be true? Something was definitely up here.
As he did the math inside of his head, there was only one reasonable explanation that the 'explosion' could come up with.
'That nerd must've been lying to me all these years.' Was the rationale that Bakugou chose to set his mind on. 'It's the only thing that makes sense. He must've been hiding his quirk so that no one would find out about him.'
Despite being ordered by Hound Dog and Nezu to stay away from Midoriya, Katsuki Bakugou couldn't help his desire to get to the bottom of this. Maybe this would be the clue that he needed in piecing together why that villainous bastard had decided to pose as a hero student. He already knew that confronting the green-haired menace about it directly was out of the question. However, the 'explosion' quirk user was already formulating a plan on how to get the answers that he needed out of the loser who pretending to be a hero.
One way or another, Bakugou was going to expose that shitty traitor for what he really was. And when he does, he'll make sure to rub it in the faces of everyone who dared to side with shitty Deku. Especially that rat of a principal who was clearly under the little nerd's spell.
At the end of the day, Katsuki Bakugou was going to be a hero, and heroes do whatever it takes to take down villains. Even if they had to do it all by themselves.
"So, Curious…how was your little foray into U.A.? Did you find anyone worth our time?" An odd-looking man with a prominently long, pointed nose asked the blue-skinned woman.
"I believe so, but I'm not too sure." The woman replied after taking a sip from her wine glass. "Most of them seem too indoctrinated into modern ideals to be of use. However, I'll admit that a couple of my primary targets were rather interesting."
"Oh? Do tell." A well-dressed man in a black suit by the name of Koku Hanabata leaned forward on the table.
Although this wasn't an official meeting, the leaders of the organization known as the "Meta Liberation Army" often got together to relax and bounce ideas off of each other whenever they had some free time. At the moment, the only members of the top brass present were Kizuki, Hanabata, and Yotsubashi. Chikazoku, also known as "Skpetic", was busy doing business for his company. Which left Curious, Trumpet, and Re-Destro to focus on more personal matters as opposed to official business.
"The Todoroki boy is no good." Kizuki replied to her colleague. "Having him in our pocket would be great, but the kid has the personality of a wet cracker. His quirk is powerful, but trying to make him a young face of our organization would take too much time. He'd need a total re-branding that we're not ready for just yet."
"What about the others?" Yotusbashi inquired. To be perfectly honest, the man known as "Re-Destro" was hoping to get the new number one hero's son on their side. Having him under their thumb was too good of an opportunity to pass up. But, if making the boy marketable for their cause was going to be an issue then he had no problem with scrapping his ideas for the time being. At worst, he could always try again later when the boy became a pro.
"As much I hate to admit it, Izuku Midoriya is also a lost cause. That boy in particular has drunk too much of the hero society Kool-aid. Trying to convince him to join us might actually put us in danger, especially when you consider who his sister is."
"So he really is the finance minister's bastard?"
"I couldn't get him to confirm it. And believe me, I tried. Every time I brought up the topic of Blizzard or Tornado he would start rambling on about how awesome heroes they were. I was tempted to ask his girlfriend about it, but that would've been too suspicious."
"How disappointing." Hanabata scoffed. The man known as "Trumpet" was particularly interested in finally getting some solid dirt on the minister of finance. Having proof that Gojo Katsuragi had an illegitimate son would've done wonders for him and his party in the upcoming election cycle. But alas, he'll have to put his political aspirations on the back burner for now.
"What about the third one? Bakugou was his name, right?"
Kizuki couldn't help but roll her eyes. "The kid's a complete psychopath. And it didn't take me long to figure that out. The only thing he cares about is being the best at everything. However, out of the three that I tried to probe, he's the one that we'll be able to work with. If we manage to stroke his ego in just the right way then he'll be worth a gold mine once he goes pro in a few years."
"And by that time, we'll be fully ready to make our move." Hanabata added with a smile.
Yotsubashi then stood up from his seat and walked over to his window. The man took a moment to admire his view of the city below him before talking. "I'll admit that your idea to recruit up-and-coming hero students to serve as props for our organization has a lot of merit, Curious. Having someone like that champion our cause in the eyes of the public would do wonders for us. So for now, do what you can to try and recruit this boy onto our side. But make sure to take it slow. Revealing too much to him too soon will put us in a bad position. And I don't want to have to get rid of a potential asset like him if I don't have to. Especially one as young as he is."
"Don't worry, Re-Destro. I'll have him eating out the palm of my hand before the end of the year."
"Good." The man said before returning to his seat. "Now then, I wanted to discuss with you two another matter that's been brought to my attention. One that has me concerned."
"Which is?" Hanabata asked.
"Derelicta." Yotshubashi frowned as dark spots began to encircle his eyes. "That group of quirkless fools are making their move. And if my information is correct, we're in their sights."
A few days later, all of 1-B were gathered together in the common area to take part in their monthly "Class Video Game Tournament".
Under normal circumstances, this would be the kind of event where all the students tried to get the best of each other in some fair and fun competition. At least, that was the original purpose of this whole thing. Nowadays, however, it simply turned into a race to see who could be the first to beat Yanagi in any of the console games that they had available.
The grey-haired teen was currently holding to an impressive -and somewhat concerning- 56-game win streak across the board. And even though she wouldn't say so out loud, she was looking to make it an even sixty by the end of the night. Yanagi probably had more video game experience than anyone else in her class, and there was no way in hell she was about to lose to anyone here.
Roughly thirty minutes into their first round of "Super Smash Bros." Midoriya was put out of the game. Couretsy of Fukidashi.
"Well, looks like I'm out." The 'telekinesis' user said with a quick laugh.
"Hey, at least you lasted longer than I did." Tokage joked. The green-haired girl was the first one to get knocked out of their match.
Without missing a beat, she took the opportunity to get comfortable and leaned on her boyfriend's shoulder while they watched the rest of the match between Yanagi, Fukidashi, Bondo, and Kuroiro play out. Even going so far as to plant a quick kiss on the young man's lips when she thought no one was looking.
"Geez, get a room you two!" Kamakiri called out from across the room.
"Considering how rambunctious Setusna can get, I believe that's the exact opposite of what they should do." Shiozaki interjected.
"Aww what's wrong you guys? Jealous?" Tokage playfully stuck out her tongue at the both of them.
"Not in the slightest."
"Hey, as long as they're not making out in front of us I don't see the big deal." Tetsutetsu shrugged nonchalantly.
That comment seemed to be enough to get a few quick laughs out of everyone who wasn't paying attention to the match going on between the other students. To be honest, quite a few of them were surprised that they were still downstairs with the rest of the class and not running up to either of the greenette's rooms for whatever non-age-appropriate shenanigans.
"Honestly...when you think about it, you two are kinda perfect for each other." Awase said jokingly to the green-haired couple.
"What do you mean?" Midoriya tilted his head in confusion.
"Awase-kun does have a point, shroom." Komori added. "The two of you balance each other out very well."
"Care to explain?" Tokage asked.
Now it was apparently Monoma's turn to add his two cents. "Oh come on, it's pretty obvious, isn't it? Both of you have green hair and green eyes. And each of you has a best friend who has silver hair." The 'copy' quirk used then pointed to both Tetsutetsu and Yanagi.
"I'll even take it a step further than that." Kaibara chuckled. "They each have something in common with the other. Midoriya and Yanagi both have the same quirk. While Tetsutsu and Tokage both have sharp teeth."
"How the hell did we get dragged into this?" The 'poltergeist' user sighed right before kicking Bondo's character off the map. Leaving the 'cemedine' quirk user as her latest victim of the evening.
Shoda then spoke up. "Let's not forget that both Midoriya-kun and Yanagi-chan have introverted personalities while Tokage-chan and Tetsutetsu-kun are pretty extroverted."
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Honenuki felt the need to throw in his input as well. "Let's also not forget that the both of them have heroes in their families. Midnight-sensei is basically Setusna-chan's mom and both of Izuku-kun's older sisters are pros."
This little game continued for another couple of minutes while everyone else seemed to bring up more fun facts about the couple. To be honest, Tokage couldn't really argue with the points that her classmates were making. When you put it down on paper, she and her boyfriend did have this weird kind of synergy thing going on. The 'lizard tail splitter' user hadn't put any thought into this before. However, it did make a lot of sense.
"Oh, let's not forget that both Midoriya and Tokage are-"
"Alright, alright, we get it!" Tokage cut Tsuburaba off before he could finish his statement. "Me and Izuku are like the perfect couple. We don't need everyone reminding us of that."
"I for one think that it's rather adorable how well you and Izuku-kun blend together." Shiozaki said with a genuine smile on her face. "Now if only Setsuna found a way to pick up his good manners."
"Hey! I have wonderful-"
"Okay guys, I think that's enough for now. Anymore and Setsuna might get embarrassed enough to start pulling pranks on all of us." Midoriya finally spoke up.
"Good point." Kendou nodded with a quick laugh.
'That's actually not a bad idea.' Toakge rubbed her chin in thought as she considered her boyfriend's words. The girl hadn't pulled a good prank in a while. And now that she thought about it, maybe it was time for Tokage to liven things up a bit around the class. In her opinion, they more than earned thanks to the last few minutes of conversation.
"Damn!" The voice of Kuroiro brought the girl out of her musings. The black-skinned student was just thrown out of the match by Yanagi. And from the looks of it, Fukidashi was about to join him.
In the end, the night ended with Yanagi retaining her title as the video game master of class 1-B, much to the annoyance of a few of the other students. Despite that, however, everyone still managed to have a good time.
Once it was time to pack it in for the night, Midoriya and Tokage headed up to the 'lizard tail splitter' user's room and wasted no time passing out on the girl's bed. Allowing the comfort of each other's bodies to help them pass over into dreamland. The both of them wearing satisfied smiles on their faces as their nighttime thoughts danced through their minds in preparation for what the next day would bring them.
Author's Notes: So…this chapter kind of just…happened. To be honest with you guys, I was catching up with the last few chapters of the BNHA manga and something just came over me that compelled me to write a chapter. And this is the result. I was debating on whether or not I should post this, but I decided to just say "fuck it" and this was the result.
1. I am not going to pretend that I am back to doing weekly updates for this story. My current work/school schedule will not allow for that (I'm in the process of finishing my second degree), but I can see myself doing maybe monthly updates IF I have the time to do so. However, don't hold your breath.
2. That being said, I do genuinely want to finish this story, especially since there were originally supposed to be roughly 10 chapters left before it was completed. But, I have lost most of my original notes for how the story was supposed to play out. So after I do some thinking, I'll make a new outline for how I want to end Emerald Island.
3. Can you guys believe that BNHA is actually ending?! I think there's only supposed to be 3-4 chapters left before Horikoshi packs it up for good. Man, what a wild ride this series has been.
4. Anyways, thank you guys for taking the time out of your busy lives to read my garbage writing. Let me know what you guys think of this chapter and don't be afraid to leave a review/comment. Have a wonderful day!