The trio have a discussion in the dark. News of the Festival Approaches, and times are different for the cats. And they meet a new mentor!
Once again, the trio found themselves in Ochako's room, laying in a bed together, entangled limbs wrapped about one another as they found what comfort in the others warmth they could. But unlike every other time…none had fallen asleep yet. Himiko was still fighting the dregs of jealousy within her, and feeling guilty that the others knew. Ochako was still exhausted, so exhausted she wasn't sleepy, contradictory though it may be. And Izuku…well, their worry and fear was bleeding over to Ochako so much she just couldn't take it anymore.
"Izu?" she ventured into the quiet, dark room, feeling Izuku's hand tighten around her waist in response.
"...yeah?"
"Wanna tell me why you're so upset?"
Izuku sighed, their breath ruffling over Ochako's ears. "Because I'm a massive hypocrite," they murmured, making Ochako blink in confusion.
Himiko apparently felt the same, shuffling on Izuku's other side where she had been latched onto Izuku's back making it clear she was awake as well. Her head popped up over Izuku's shoulder, looking down at them. "What do you mean by that?" Himiko asked softly.
Izuku sighed once more, their eyes firmly closed as their ears lay flat on their head. "...Ochako, you were going to let yourself die. And you were going to do it and be happy about it, because we were going to be okay."
Ochako took in a deep breath instinctively, because the second Izuku spoke she felt the surge of emotions from both Izuku and Himiko come across the bond so rapidly it almost hurt. Considering how Himiko immediately slumped over Izuku's shoulders, turning her head away to not look at Ochako…she could figure out Himiko had also been worrying about this.
Ochako swallowed thickly. "H-how does that lead to you being a hypocrite?"
"Because as Mom pointed out, my go-to solution to things is getting hurt for others too. And I realized now that means that what I felt about this is how you two would feel if I did the same…especially because I want to be mad at you and can't because I know I would have done the same in your place," Izuku sighed. They ducked their head, pressing their forehead into Ochako's back as the arms around her waist tightened further, almost painfully squeezing her.
Ochako couldn't take it anymore. She spun about in Izuku's grip, pulling them into her chest and curling around them, one hand entangling itself in their hair and stroking their eyes. "I-I'm sorry," she choked out. As she felt Himiko's distress mixing with Izuku's, she reached out with her free hand and pulled Himiko over Izuku and atop the other two, the slightly smaller teen fitting without issue. Himiko reacted by burying her face into Izuku's shoulder, wrapping her arms tightly around both of them. "I'm really, really sorry. I didn't mean…I didn't mean to scare you like that," Ochako whispered.
"...that's what sucks," Himiko scoffed, her voice thick with her own tears prickling at her eyes. "Cause we both know we'd have done the same, and it sucks."
"What she said," Izuku muttered.
"...I don't know how to fix this," Ochako admitted with a whisper.
"You can't. No one can. You were doing what you could to protect us. I just…I can't lose you. Either of you. Not now, not after I just got you back," Izuku whispered back.
"I'm sorry," Ochako replied weakly. She wished she could say more, reassure Izuku, but they'd know she was lying because…if put in the same place, she would do it again. And so would the other two. None of them could lie to one another and this was one of the times she cursed the bond because she couldn't even lie to make them feel better.
"...if we're saying sorry, I'm sorry too," Himiko said, misery coating her voice.
"For what?" Ochako asked softly.
"...because I'm jealous."
"Himi-" Izuku began, lifting their head up to look at the blonde teenager.
"No!" she cut them off, shaking her head. "I know what you're going to say, but it doesn't change I'm jealous and you guys…you know."
"It's okay to be jealous, Himi. You deserved better. You still deserve better. It doesn't bother me that you're jealous, because you've got every right to be," Ochako said. She could feel Himiko didn't agree with her about it being okay, but Izuku's mental agreement was enough that Himiko wouldn't argue the point any further. Instead, she just buried herself further between the other two, all three now just one big tangled mess.
Silence fell over them all for an interminable amount of time. None of them could bring themselves to speak, yet couldn't relax either. Finally, it was broken by Izuku's loud sigh, them lifting their head enough to meet the gaze of Ochako and Himiko. The sudden feeling of determination within Izuku's chest had them both snapping to attention to know what Izuku was thinking.
Izuku took in a deep, bracing breath. "I-I think…I'm going to go see Hound Dog."
"...you are?" Himiko asked softly.
Izuku nodded slowly. "I've been thinking about it a lot. Sensei, Toshi, Mom, they all pointed it out and…and then 'Chako went and got help and I just…I know the way I think isn't right. I don't know if I'd believe it so easily if it weren't for you two, because I can tell how you feel and I know you can't lie to me. But it's clear that I don't think clearly. So…I want to do something about it."
Himiko pulled herself up enough to nuzzle Izuku's cheek, her ears pressing against the side of their head. "I think that's a good idea."
Ochako grinned, feeling the first inklings of hope within. "Me too."
Himiko let out a sigh, still pressing her head up against Izuku's as she whispered "Maybe I should talk to him too."
"...do you want to go together?" Izuku asked softly.
Himiko nodded. "At least to…get stuff set up, I guess."
"He's really nice," Ochako murmured. She'd only seen him once so far, and it had been more of an introductory thing, but still, she wanted to reassure them.
"...yeah," Izuku breathed, the courage they'd felt bringing it up fading slightly.
"I'll go with you guys?" Ochako offered.
"Please," Himiko whispered. The room fell silent once more, all words that felt like they needed to be said now revealed, and as the time ticked away, the trio slowly fell into slumber, one tiny knot of pain in their chest unraveling.
"Alright class, listen up! We've gone over it once, but it bears repeating…if you need any assistance or need someone to talk to, you can visit Hound Dog. He's got a new assistant as well, so between the two of them they have plenty of time to help. What happened at the USJ was wrong, you deserved better than to be attacked, and it is okay if it bothers you. There is no shame in getting help. Understood?" Aizawa said, making sure to meet each student's eye as he scanned over the room. Everyone nodded silently, although he did notice that Izuku and Himiko looked slightly nervous at his words. He chose to set that aside for now, to move onto the next piece of business.
"Alright. Onto the next topic…the Sports Festival. I know, I know," he said, holding up his hands to forestall the sudden surge of comments, "I know it seems counterintuitive to hold it after the USJ attack, but the Board is insistent, and we're under pressure from the HPSC to hold it. Show the schools strength and all that bullshit. While none of the staff are happy with the decision, the school will have significantly enhanced security, and to be frank, with the number of heroes that will be here, any villain attack would be suicide for the villains. Even those Nomu creatures would not survive. Yes, Ashido?"
Ashido dropped her hand after getting called upon, and squirming slightly as she glanced back at the cat trio, before speaking. "Um…are we all competing? Because uh…I don't think any of us can beat those three, especially not after the new stuff they got at the USJ."
"It…does feel a bit unfair," Kaminari mused, rubbing the back of his neck. He quickly turned around with an apologetic look. "But don't get me wrong, it's okay if you do and win! You guys are awesome and it's not like you chose this whole thing!"
Izuku shrugged, surprisingly unbothered by the comments. "Honestly…you kinda have a point. It does feel like it'd be lopsided, with us having multiple Quirks and stuff. Also, wouldn't that look really weird for all three of us to show up as we are?"
Aizawa sighed. "Well, you asked me before I could bring it up. We spent a good while going over what we should do. The fairness aspect isn't one we overly care about, to be frank…different Quirks are better for different scenarios, and that's just a fact of life. The festival is by its very nature unfair. That said, the multiple Quirks and shared Quirks aspect would cause a lot of uncomfortable questions, and bring attention I doubt you three want right now. So we came up with a better idea."
Aizawa took a moment to sip from his coffee before continuing. "The most important part of the festival is getting internships. The name recognition could help your brand in the future, but you're here for four years and will have three more chances to get the attention you need. For first years, the event is barely watched compared to the later years anyways. So we lined up an internship for the three of you. You'll be going on it as soon as the festival starts."
Ochako blinked in confusion, Izuku mirroring her expression. Himiko tilted her head to the side. "All three of us to the same person?" From where she sat, she saw Ida sit up straight in his desk, his lips quirking into a barely visible grin that he was clearly trying to hide.
Aizawa nodded. "Yes. He's quite familiar with having multiple sidekicks and interns at once, and he was happy to do it once we explained the situation."
"Who-?" Izuku began to ask, but was cut off by Ida's arm being raised.
"May I tell them?!" Ida asked excitedly, causing the entire room to stare at their rather unusually excited classmate. Aizawa let out a snort of laughter, gesturing for him to continue. Ida leapt to his feet and turned around to the trio, chopping his hand dramatically as he spoke. "I was informed last night by my brother that he would be taking on three special interns! I told him all about you!"
"Wait, we're gonna intern with Ingenium?!" Izuku said, jaw dropped.
Ida nodded. "Yes! I do not know how much you know of him, but he is an excellent hero and I believe would be wonderful to intern under! I was hoping to do so myself, but he pointed out last evening I would likely learn more from a different hero. So I am quite happy to concede the spot to you three, as I know you would do excellent!"
Ochako slammed her forehead into her desk, a smile unwillingly crossing her face as Himiko started shimmying in place. Yaoyorozu tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Are…are you alright?"
"Bleedover," Himiko sighed, a smile flickering across her face as she was nearly vibrating in her seat. Yaoyoruzu still looked confused, so Himiko pointed behind her to the nearly blurred, excited form of Izuku, the green-haired teenager writing so furiously in their notebook it was a miracle it hadn't caught ablaze.
"Oh! So positive emotions also can cause unwilling reactions," Yaoyorozu mused.
Ochako's voice was muffled, her voice full of mirth as she spoke. "Yeah, but it's okay. We like when they are happy. It's just a bit much sometimes."
"Sorry, but…it's Ingenium! He's got 65 sidekicks out of the Idaten agency and is consistently one of the fastest heroes out there! He's so cool! I thought it was already cool we went to class with his brother but getting to intern with him will be even cooler!" Izuku nearly shouted.
"Your enthusiasm is admirable, Midoriya! I will be certain to tell him you are very excited to learn under him!" Ida replied, finally taking his seat as he had brought up the news he'd wanted to.
Aizawa sighed. "Well…yeah. That's about it. Those three will have a slightly longer internship to make up for the rest of you performing in the Sports Festival. That said, I think you should still train with everyone for it. In fact, since you're not competing, you could assist your classmates and not be concerned about revealing any tricks or special moves."
"That'd be fine with us," Ochako replied, finally able to lift her face from her desk. She still was smiling, but honestly, feeling Izuku's happiness fill her chest was…well, it felt good. She had no problem with this being emotional bleedover, because this was actually nice to feel. Something to look forward to maybe.
Two weeks of training had gone by in a flash. The trio's new powers were still a bit unstable, and the backlash was severe. For Himiko, she could get so cold and numb that she couldn't feel her limbs if she used the teleportation too often and too rapidly. Izuku would get painful migraines and once had started bleeding out their nose (after that, Recovery Girl had been very strict about how long they were allowed to use their Telekinesis). And Ochako's time stop could at best be on for five seconds in real world time before she started to put her heart in danger.
Still, if they kept the limitations in mind and combined it with all of their other powers, it was incredible how strong they were. Strangely though, these powers didn't seem to share, at least, not yet. They'd also somehow gone up to 30% each with One For All, which was at the point that they would intentionally lower it to avoid causing damage.
During the two weeks, Himiko and Izuku had both set up an appointment with Hound Dog. They'd only gotten time for one, and it was as Ochako said, more of a meet and introduction. They'd have another one once they returned from internships, but for now, while they hadn't truly addressed the issues…at least they were feeling slightly hopeful (even if the nights still were sometimes too much for them).
And now, they were here. The Sports Festival started tomorrow, and today, they would meet the hero himself. Izuku was practically vibrating out of their uniform, Ochako and Himiko barely able to keep themselves from feeling similarly with how much was crossing over the bond, but the smiles wouldn't leave their faces.
The feeling only grew as a sudden burst of noise in the distance hit their sensitive hearing, eyes immediately tracking a blur of silver, blue, and dust…only for an armored figure they'd only seen in pictures or on television skid to a stop in front of them, sunlight glimmering off his sleek, silvery armor. With a flourish, he removed his helmet, revealing a figure that looked a lot like their classmate, albeit clearly older.
"Well, you three must be the Problem Trio!" He said, a smile wide on his face.
"Did Ida tell you that?" Ochako asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Haha, nope. Good old Shouta did. He wanted to be sure I knew what I was getting into by agreeing to take you on. My brother had nothing but good things to say about you, so don't worry about that. Ah, but I'm mixing this up, I should introduce myself. Tensei Ida, Ingenium is my hero name, but I'm pretty sure you knew that already."
"We know a lot more than I think we should," Himiko muttered, sending a side-eye to Izuku's vibrating figure.
"Right, I was told you're a bit of a hero fan, eh? You must be Midoriya. Which makes you Uraraka, and you…Himiko, right?" Tensei said, pointing at each one of them in turn.
"Yes sir!" Izuku replied.
"No sir, please. That's my dad. Off duty I'm just Ida, but on duty it's Ingenium. For now, I wanted to show off in my costume a bit, but we're gonna do this more incognito. I'll change to my civvies and we'll head on out to the train to my agency. Shouldn't be more than an hour or so, we'll get you settled in, go over some procedures, and get the internship started officially tomorrow! I imagine you'll want to see the Festival, but the schedule won't line up too well for that, sorry to say."
"It's okay, we figured as much," Ochako said.
Tensei nodded. "Great! Well, let me get changed real quick and we'll be on our way! You have your costumes, right?"
"Yep!" Himiko confirmed, Izuku and Ochako a second behind.
"Alright. Let's see what you three have got then."