It had now been a full 24 hours since the (mostly) successful ice cream date, and Yui had come to a few conclusions - both good and bad.
The 'good' being that she wasn't just being paranoid, someone had indeed heard her singing at Karaoke Star.
The 'bad' being that she knew who it was, and had no idea how to proceed with that knowledge.
"I think this is quite lovely." Reiko said with her usual soft tone, altered slightly by the sewing pins she had between her lips. Opening her mouth to let the pins float listlessly in front of her, she held up the white cotton dress she had been working on and looked over at Yui, lying back on the bed with a pillow over her face.
Muffled through the pillow, barely audible, Yui lamented, "It's not lovely, this is a disaster."
Reiko tilted her head, the pins bobbing precariously. "The Titanic was a disaster. John Cusack's portrayal of Edgar Allen Poe was a disaster. Are you sure this is as catastrophic as a major death toll, or the 2012 film The Raven?"
Pulling the pillow from her face, Yui's voice had a tinge of annoyance. "I'm pretty sure most people didn't hate that movie as much as you did, Reiko."
"It was a very bad movie." Reiko insisted. "The chemistry with the supporting cast was… frightful. Unlike your-"
"Please. Reiko." Yui gave her friend a dead stare.
"Unlike your chemistry with Midoriya." She finished. "I think you would be doing yourself a disservice for not pursuing this, Yui. …Much like The Raven did Luke Evans a disservice."
"Enough about The Raven, Reiko!" Yui finally had no choice but to raise her voice, throwing the pillow at her. "I understand what you're saying, but it feels like my privacy has been broken. Nobody has ever heard me sing before, and now I don't know how I'm supposed to come back from this!" She sat up and edged closer to the edge of the bed, "What if this was the only reason he's even interested in me?"
Having effortlessly caught the pillow in mid-air with Poltergeist, Reiko gently placed it back down on the bed (fluffing it up a little for good measure). "Are you sure Midoriya knew it was you he heard sing? From the way you described it, I never got that impression."
Yui shook her head, "No, he doesn't know it was me. At least, I don't think so."
"Then either nothing has changed, or you were fated to meet."
"Reiko, you know I don't believe in fate or anything like that."
"You might not, but someone might." Reiko replied cryptically, taking a pair of scissors to the dress she had made, cutting it diagonally and smiling wistfully at the creation.
Yui watched with a curious expression, and asked, "Why do you do that? You're so artistic, you make these beautiful things, but then destroy them."
Reiko paused, looking at the cut dress with an expression of satisfaction. "I don't think of it as destruction, more like transformation. Everything changes, nothing stays the same forever."
"But why ruin something you worked so hard on?" Yui furrowed her brow and sat up straighter, "It was beautiful, why not let it be?"
"Something doesn't have to be permanent to stay beautiful." Reiko explained, her voice soft and reflective. "Sometimes it's about the fleeting nature of a moment, a feeling. When I cut apart a dress it becomes something new, it changes."
She continued, floating and spinning the dress between them. "Even something changed unexpectedly can emerge loved, despite those changes. ...You're the dress, Yui, do you understand?"
"Yes, Reiko, I understood the metaphor." With a sigh, Yui fell back onto the bed. "But, this is one change I don't know I can handle. I've always kept my singing to myself, it's private. Personal."
"Perhaps this is a moment you shouldn't keep to yourself. Sometimes sharing a piece of yourself with others can lead to something wonderful." Reiko moved closer and joined her on the edge of the bed. "Maybe Midoriya hearing you sing was a sign that you're ready to open up a little more. To let someone in."
"But what if he doesn't like what he finds? What if he only cares about my voice?"
"If he cares about you, it wouldn't matter, he'd appreciate every part of you." Reiko smiled gently.
For a moment, Yui remained silent, contemplating her friend's words. Every part of her was telling her Reiko was right, but a fear of vulnerability can be a hard one to shake. She took a deep breath, "But now I have to face him…"
Reiko contemplated her words, "One step at a time." She eventually encouraged. "Start by being honest with yourself, then, when you're ready, be honest with him. Trust he will understand."
Yui nodded slowly, feeling a flicker of hope. "Thanks, Reiko. How did you get so good at these pep talks?"
"Yui, my dear," Reiko took Yui's hand in hers and patted it gently. "I watch a lot of movies."
Later that evening, Yui pulled her headphones off with a contented sigh, feeling the soft padding under her fingertips. Neatly, she wrapped the wire around them, making sure not to pull it too taut, carefully placing them inside her nightstand drawer. She then stood up and began her nightly cool-down stretches, methodically going through the usual motions.
Reaching high above her head, she elongated her spine, then bent forward touching her toes, and finally twisted her torso from side to side, a gentle pull on her muscles. With that handled, she took a deep, calming breath before letting it out slowly. Then immediately collapsed into a foetal position.
"What am I going to doooooooo?" She groaned dramatically, her voice muffled by her legs. Gradually she rocked to the side, hitting the floor with a thump with arms still wrapped around her legs, before sprawling her limbs out and staying that way for a few minutes. With a heavy, resigned sigh, she crawled over to her desk and managed to get herself into a somewhat human seated position, groaning the entire time.
Taking a pen in her hand, she pulled out a blank page of her notebook and wrote two words at the top in neat letters: "Pros." and "Cons." She tapped the pen against the page thoughtfully, then under Pros, she scribbled, "Izuku is very kind." And under Cons, hesitantly wrote, "He might only like me for my singing."
The Con glared up at her as she tapped the pen thoughtfully against her lip. A worry like that felt insurmountable, but deep down, it didn't feel like a likely scenario. She kept writing, adding "He's supportive." "He makes me laugh." "He listens to me." and "He's genuine." The list continued to grow as she thought of more reasons why she valued Izuku.
It didn't take very long for her to realise that she had stopped writing reasons to tell Izuku about the karaoke, and was now listing the reasons she liked him. That seemed… Significant. She paused, the pen hovering over the page.
Yui bit her lip and forced herself to refocus. To stop herself and get back to the task she had set, she grabbed a book and placed it over one side of the page, so only the cons were visible. Quickly, she wrote the first thing that came to mind. "He doesn't seem very good at keeping secrets."
There had to be more than that, there just had to be. That couldn't be the only thing she could think of. Glancing around the room, seeking distractions to avoid the inevitable decision, her eyes landed on the stack of textbooks piled nearby. "It's too close to exams," she muttered to herself. "I need to be focusing on studying, not… This."
She shifted her gaze to a photograph lodged into the side of her bulletin board, a picture of her and her mother. "Mom's birthday is next month," she said aloud, grasping at another excuse. "I should be preparing for that instead."
Yui sighed and sank into her chair, her eyes catching the date on the calendar. The realisation hit her like the dodgeball from earlier. This week was the anniversary of the training camp attack. The turning point, where everything changed. The week she had felt so powerless, so incapable of helping her friends.
She stared at the date, lost in bad memories. That day had been filled with fear and helplessness, she had felt so small, so useless. The day she could do nothing as everything fell apart.
"Have I really changed all that much?" She whispered, her voice barely audible in the quiet room. Yui stood and walked to the window, looking out at the night sky, and took a deep breath in an attempt to steady her racing thoughts.
She was still quiet, still the reserved girl who preferred the background. But, she had managed to find peace in her quietness. It didn't make her any less. She knew in her heart that she had changed, she had grown, and learned to harness her strengths. She was intelligent, strong willed, and capable.
Not that frightened girl from a year ago.
Returning to the notebook, the cons list looked paltry and insignificant compared to the pros. Maybe… Izuku knowing wouldn't be such a bad thing? She'd come a long way since that week, maybe, just maybe, trusting Izuku with her feelings could help her take an extra step further.
She knew now that she had to decide what was more important:
The fear of being hurt, or the potential for something wonderful.
Izuku was out of bed with a spring in his step, practically dancing down the stairs three at a time. Entering the communal area he took a theatrical inhalation of breath and let it out in an equally over the top fashion.
"It's another glorious day, Kacchan! Feel that spring breeze!" he proclaimed, addressing the boy who was furiously demolishing a bowl of Might Flakes.
"Get the hell away from me." Bakugo deadpanned.
On the couch, Tsuyu turned her head and blinked at Izuku. "You're in a good mood today, ribbit."
Izuku twirled over and seized her hands, clasping them dramatically. "How could I not be, sweet Tsuyu? The sun is shining, the birds are singing, and love is real! It's real!"
"So the date went well?" She croaked.
"Better than well!" Izuku beamed, spinning. "Yui is amazing! We talked for hours, shared ice cream, danced through the city streets, and rode white horses! Okay, maybe not the last two, but it felt like we could have!"
"I'm really happy for you, ribbit."
Just then, there was a knock on the door. Sero, holding a bowl in one hand and a spoon in his mouth, unlocked it and called back over his shoulder once he saw who it was. "Midoriya, your girlfriend is here." He said unenthusiastically, heading back to sit down.
Yui fiddled with the buttons on her cuffs, standing very proper in the doorway as though she needed to be invited inside, like a vampire. "Hello, Izuku." She said very softly.
Instantly, Izuku's radiant confidence crumbled into his default heap of awkward stutters. "Oh, Yui! It's good for you to see me—uh, I mean, for me to see you, for us to see—" He stopped, took a deep breath, and managed a simple, "Hi."
"Hi," Yui replied, smiling shyly.
Bakugo slammed his spoon into his bowl, standing up with his chair screeching against the floor. "Jesus Christ, I'm going to throw up," he declared, storming past the blushing couple and out the door.
As Bakugo stormed away, Yui took the opportunity to tentatively step inside the dorm, bowing politely to the row of curious faces not-so-stealthily peeking over the couch. "Izuku, I need to show you something important. Somewhere… Else." she said, trying to ignore Ashido's sharp gasp from across the room.
Izuku's eyes went a little wider, heating up like a tea kettle as he scratched the back of his head, flustered, "Uh, I um, don't we have classes to get to?"
"No you idiot, skip classes skip classes!" Ochaco hissed under her breath, sending telepathic waves of urgency in Izuku's direction.
"I… Forgot about that." Yui said, her face not showing a look of disappointment, but rather one of realisation, her eyes drifting to the floor before locking back on Izuku's. "I've never forgotten about classes before. We'll talk after classes."
She then, to the delight of their spectators, leaned forwards and gave Izuku a very quick hug, pinning his arms to his side, before awkwardly patting his shoulders down and leaving.
Izuku nodded, still processing the interaction long after Yui had vanished. "After classes, then."
Later, in History of Heroics, Izuku tried his absolute hardest to pay attention to Ectoplasm's lecture on the hero Paper-Trail, the man famous for inventing the standardised documentation used within agencies to this day. But despite that riveting topic, his mind kept drifting back to Yui's invitation. Even though he was holding two pens in each hand, an 'I love learning' pin badge, and had not blinked for at least six minutes, his friends didn't seem to realise he was trying to focus on the class and kept talking to him.
"What do you think she wants to show you?" Ashido very poorly whispered. People in the next town over could have heard her.
"I have no idea," Izuku whispered back with nervous excitement. "She said it's something important."
Kaminari, who had been eavesdropping, cut in, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Maybe she wants to show you her–"
"Hey!" Ashido hissed back, "This is rated T for Teen, got it?!"
Before the conversation could escalate any further, Ectoplasm tapped a ruler loudly on his desk at the front of the classroom. "Midoriya's love life can wait until after class. Focus."
It was late afternoon by the time Izuku and Yui had exited the school gates, with the boy still none-the-wiser as to where it was they were both headed. He couldn't help noticing how Yui had a slight jittery energy to her movements. She moved with a slight nervousness, all but dragging him towards the nearby shopping district as soon as they were free from school.
"Yui!" Izuku called, struggling to match her brisk pace. "Can't you tell me where we're going first?"
"Uh uh." Yui responded, her steps never faltering. "It'll be easier to explain once we're there."
"Yui, please," Finally, Izuku managed to grasp her shoulder, bringing her to an abrupt stop. Yui turned to face him, her expression unusually intense. "Can we slow down a little? I really want to see what you want to show me, but… I just like hanging out with you, and it's hard to do that when we're both sprinting."
For a moment, Yui looked concerned, before her features relaxed, the nervous excitement making way for a calmer demeanour. She took a breath, and nodded. "You're right, I'm sorry. I got a bit carried away. I'll slow down."
"Thank you," Izuku sighed, grateful to be able to spend time with her without wearing out his shoes. As they walked at a more relaxed pace, he took in their surroundings and realised they were passing through the local park. The afternoon sun filtered through the leaves of an ancient oak tree at the centre, its thick branches casting a cool, inviting shade.
Yui and Izuku moved in tandem, their strides naturally syncing. There was a silence between them, but it felt easy and unforced. Every now and then, Yui would glance at him, and he'd catch her eye, prompting both to laugh nervously.
There was something different today, an air of authenticity that seemed to hang between them. Maybe it was the serene park setting, the memory of their recent date, or something more, but the moment felt more genuine. Yui's hand, which had been hanging loosely by her side, began to lightly tap against the back of Izuku's as they walked. It was a soft, rhythmic motion that seemed almost instinctive. Izuku noticed immediately, and after a few taps and an anxious bite of his lower lip, he shifted his hand slightly, letting her fingers brush against his. Gently, he intertwined his fingers with hers, their hands clasping together with an ease that spoke volumes.
Neither pulled away at any point, despite the lingering worry of sweaty palms. The warmth of their joined hands conveyed what neither could quite articulate in words.
Eventually, they arrived at the local shopping district, where the hum of traffic and the energy of the surroundings seemed to burst their quiet bubble, drawing them back to the world around them.
"Oh, we're back near Nice Ice," Izuku said, noticing their familiar surroundings. "Did you want to go for ice cream again?"
"No, it's somewhere else," Yui replied, inadvertently squeezing his hand as she led him in a different direction, towards a quieter, more secluded part of the district.
As they rounded the final corner, the pieces began to fall into place for Izuku. He finally realised why this area seemed so familiar. "Hey, Yui, remember I mentioned that karaoke place? I think it's actually around here somewhere. What a weird coincidence!" He smiled at her, but his own smile faltered when he saw Yui's face. She was not sharing in his excitement—instead, she looked distraught.
She blinked in confusion a few times, looking towards the building at the end of the street, trying to mouth something, but the words seemed stuck.
"Yui? What's wrong?" Izuku asked, his concern growing. He followed her gaze and, before he could fully understand what was happening, Yui's grip on his hand slipped as she rushed forward in a blind panic.
"No, no, no!" She repeated, her urgency forcing Izuku to quicken his pace to keep up with her.
"Yui! What's going on?! I don't understand!"
Finally, Yui skidded to a halt in front of the Karaoke Star building. The sight was heartbreaking. The windows were boarded up. The door was bolted shut. The once-bright neon sign now flickering weakly, their light extinguished. Yui could only stare at the closed-down venue, barely acknowledging Izuku's presence beside her.
Izuku grimaced at the sight of the closed down bar and rubbed the back of his head, "Oh, jeez, that's a shame. Was this where you wanted to take me? …Yui?"
Beside him, Yui remained silent, her only response the tears that began to pool at the corners of her eyes. Though she tried to hold herself together, her shoulders trembled, and she eventually succumbed to her emotions, burying her face in her hands.
"Yui!? Oh, God! Wh-what happened?!" Izuku panicked, flailing his arms helplessly. This wasn't the sort of scenario he was in ANY way prepared for! What was he supposed to do?! With no other idea in mind, he wrapped his arms around her, and she used the moment to silently cry into his shoulder.
Before Izuku could find the right words of comfort, a young woman who Izuku recognised as one of the staff, approached them.
"If you were planning on coming in, you're outta luck" she said, her voice tinged with annoyance, "The place shut down this morning. Total pain in the ass… Now I have to find a new job just because the owner was caught up in some light fraud… Not my goddamn fault…" She grumbled to herself, clearly frustrated. "Anyway, sorry or whatever."
The explanation did little to soothe Yui, and Izuku struggled to understand why she was so devastated. Surely there were other places they could go? Desperate to address the situation, he blurted out the worst possible thing he could have.
"Yui," he said softly, "it's just a karaoke bar."
The words felt like a misstep as soon as they left his mouth, amplifying the already painful situation. Yui pulled away from him, a look of disgust, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears.
"No, Izuku! It wasn't just a karaoke bar!" she snapped, shoving him away. "This was the only place I could escape to—the only place I could breathe!"
"I don't…" Izuku began, struggling to grasp the gravity of the situation. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"
"I was the singer, Izuku!" Yui shouted through her tears, her voice raw with emotion. "I'm the one you heard! Karaoke Star meant the world to me. Singing was my escape from everything loud and confusing in my life, and now it's GONE!"
Izuku's heart ached at the sight of her pain, the confusion and shock of her statement paling in comparison to his sudden desire to help comfort her - even if he barely knew how. "Yui, I – I can't even… I don't know how to…" He stopped, and tried to gather his thoughts. "Yui… The Karaoke Star's gone, but… You're still here, right? You can still get through this. You can still sing. That's what's important, not where you do it."
But Yui shook her head vehemently. her voice dropping to a whisper. "No. No, I can't! This was the only place I've ever been able to sing. I can't do it anywhere else! Not if it means… not if it means other people will hear me." Her voice trailed off, filled with uncertainty and fear.
Determined to reassure her, Izuku said something he thought would be comforting. "But, I heard you."
The words had the opposite effect of what he intended. Yui's eyes flared with anger. "Maybe you shouldn't have!" she shouted, her voice trembling with emotion. Without another word, she turned on her heel and stormed off down the street, wiping her eyes with the back of her sleeve.
Izuku moved to follow her, but the Karaoke Star employee, her eyes still fixed on her phone, gently placed a hand on his arm. "Give her a few hours," she advised, her tone as kind as she could seemingly manage.
Izuku watched helplessly as Yui's figure grew smaller in the distance. His heart ached as he stood there, feeling powerless to help her. "But… Yui," he whispered to the empty street.
Laying on her front, feet kicked up behind her and her wet hair wrapped in a towel, Mina Ashido was living the good life. Breaking Bad 2 was playing on her laptop ("Somehow, Walt returned"), a bottle of birthday cake-flavoured milkshake was within reach, and the knowledge that love was blossoming for the second years had put her in an unbreakable good mood.
"Oh!" she exclaimed with delight when her phone dinged with a new notification. "Dang, the group chat is popping off!"
Excitedly, she opened the chat, only to find a slew of messages that weren't as cheerful as she'd hoped. "Sorry to hear that?" she read aloud, a frown forming on her face. "I hope nothing really bad happened!"
Worry crept in as she scrolled up to find the source of the concern. "'Hope you get through it'… 'bad luck babe'… 'I just saw a dog'—okay, that one's probably not related… Oh, here we go: 'lost my job today, the karaoke place got shut down. Sad face, cowboy emoji, skateboard emoji.'"
Mina's face softened with sympathy. "Aw, that's sad," she murmured, then suddenly her expression turned to shock. "The karaoke place?!"
In a flash, Mina leapt off the bed and made a beeline for her bulletin board, a colourful mosaic of Polaroid images of friends, and assorted school documents. She took a brief moment to appreciate the pictures, then grabbed the edges of the board and flipped the entire thing.
The back revealed a chaotic tangle of red string and push pins connecting a mishmash of covert photographs. At the centre of it all were blown-up copies of Izuku's and Yui's school photos. Mina put a hand on her chin, rubbing it thoughtfully. "There has to be a way to salvage this, or the entire plan is ruined!"
Using a finger, she traced a red string from the centre to a long-distance shot of All Might and Izuku on the training field, positioned next to a printout of Izuku's Dotify playlist, "Songs To Get Emotional To." Her mind drifted back to a few months ago.
"Wow!" Mina had exclaimed loudly, ensuring All Might was within earshot, "that karaoke session yesterday really woke me up! I'm feeling super confident!"
Her finger continued along another string leading to a photo of Yui entering Karaoke Star. Mina remembered the time she discreetly placed a wad of paper in a booth door to stop it from closing all the way.
Of course, the plan hadn't gone off entirely without a hitch. Mina hadn't anticipated Izuku's shyness would prevent him from even opening the door or peeking inside. The whole idea was simple: get them in the same room and let their mutual love of music spark something special. The karaoke party had been a last-ditch effort to salvage Operation Izuyui.
Locking the two of them in a pantry, well, Mina is nothing if not impulsive.
But with Karaoke Star closing?! It felt like her carefully laid plans were unravelling. They were so close to making something happen, and she was helpless to do anything further.
Sighing heavily, Mina drew a large red X over the picture of Karaoke Star. "Come on, Midoriya. You've got this…"
"I do not got this…" moped Izuku, his head repeatedly thumping against the kitchen table, every impact making the cutlery cupboards rattle. Quick on her feet, Ochaco managed to slide a cushion under his head in time to soften the next thud.
"Nobody ever told me relationships were hard," he murmured, his voice partially hidden by the cushion.
Ochaco leaned over and gave his shoulder a reassuring pat, "There there, Deku. Sometimes life just tossed us a curveball! But you know what you've gotta do?!"
"What..?" Izuku asked despondently, lifting his head.
"You've gotta grab the bat by the horns, sock a dinger, and send that ball straight over the third innings! Touchdown!"
Izuku blinked at her. "You don't know a lot about sports, do you, Ochaco?"
"Hey, hey! Stop making this about me!" Ochaco protested, crossing her arms. "Listen, I know I sound like a broken record, but have you tried talking to her again?"
"I can't," Izuku muttered, his head sinking back on to the cushion.
"Don't be so negative, Deku! You can totally do this, I believe in you!" She insisted, shaking him lightly by the shoulders.
"I appreciate the support, but I literally can't!" Izuku said, throwing his hands up in exasperation. "No one knows where Yui is! She must have returned to campus since the alarms didn't go off, but nobody has seen her. Yanagi even checked her room, and she wasn't there!"
"Wait, seriously? She's missing?!" Ochaco's eyes widened as she grabbed Izuku by the face. "What are we standing around here for?! We've gotta go find her! Organise a search party!"
"That's the thing!" Izuku tried to speak through his squashed face, "I've looked everywhere. The gyms, the training field, the library, the model village, cities A through G, even Nezu's secret underground basketball court!"
Knowing there was work to be done, Ochaco resorted to using Zero Gravity on Izuku, lifting him above her head. "We have to hurry! She could be trapped under a pile of rubble, or lost at sea, or being eaten by wolves!"
"Ochaco, please put me down!"
"No!"
Meanwhile, the other students carried on with their lives, more than a little accustomed to these sorts of things. Sato in particular was busy with a new recipe he'd found online: blue cake! It didn't sound scientifically possible, there's no way food could be blue, but he was willing to give it a try. That is, if he could just get the pantry door open.
"Come on, you stupid thing," he grumbled, wrestling with the handle.
Izuku and Ochaco exchanged glances. "There's no way…" Izuku began.
"You don't think…" Ochaco continued, before releasing her quirk abruptly and sending Izuku hurtling to the floor.
"Sato, do you need a hand?" asked Izuku, wincing slightly from the drop.
"I wouldn't bother, Midoriya. The door's completely stu-" before he could finish his sentence, Izuku grabbed the door handle and pushed, splintering the wood and completely breaking the lock.
"Wow. Okay, showoff." Sato rolled his eyes.
Izuku strode into the pantry, shut the door behind him, and barricaded it with a box of BeefyBoy brand protein supplements, which he then sat on. With a relaxed smile, he leaned forward and spoke softly, "I had a feeling you'd be here."
There in front of him was Yui Kodai, her eyes red and her hair a mess, sitting on a huge can of soda. With a morose expression, she watched as Izuku entered, managing a faint, "It felt like a good place to come and think… I'm sorry."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Yui," he assured her, his tone full of compassion. "I spoke out of turn, I… wasn't thinking."
"No, " Yui quickly shook her head. "I shouldn't have expected you to know what Karaoke Star meant to me," she responded, her voice breaking slightly.
"Then… can we call a truce?" Izuku gently took Yui's hand in his, his eyes searching hers. "Friends again?"
Yui sniffed and wiped her eyes with her free hand. "Yes. Friends again. But…" she hesitated, looking away.
"But?" Izuku repeated, concerned.
Her mind a torrent of thoughts and emotions, Yui wasn't sure how to proceed. Blinking rapidly, as though trying to clear away the turmoil, she tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.
Why did it have to be Karaoke Star? That place had been her sanctuary, a space where she could express herself without fear, the one place that had kept her grounded after the harrowing training camp attack. Even with him here, extending the olive branch, she couldn't stop replaying Izuku's words in her mind.
"You can still sing."
But how could she sing when just the thought of someone else hearing her made her feel so... vulnerable?
She averted her gaze, focusing on a spot behind him as she spoke, her voice tinged with hesitation. "It's not your fault. I just… I don't know if I'm ready for us to be… more than we are, right now." Gently, she withdrew her hand from his grasp.
Izuku's face dropped. "...Oh. Is it because of what I did? Honestly, Yui, it was a total accident. I knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, and I know that's no excuse, but—"
"Izuku, it's okay." Yui's voice was soft but resolute as she interrupted him. "It's not about what you did. It's about me. I started going to Karaoke Star after the training camp attack. It was my escape, my little piece of normalcy where I could let out everything I was feeling, be unapologetically… Myself, I guess. I didn't realise how much it meant to me until it was taken away. And now, with everything feeling so fragile… it's just hard."
"But I could still help you," Izuku said earnestly. "We can work through things together."
Yui finally met his gaze, her eyes softening. "Maybe we could just take things slow? I need time to process everything. Losing karaoke star, exams, and…us. It's a lot to handle."
Izuku's heart sank at her words, but he nodded with understanding. "I get it. Take all the time you need. Just know I'm here for you, okay? No matter what, I'll be here."
A small grateful smile crossed Yui's lips. "Thank you, Izuku."
For a moment, they sat in silence, the tension slowly dissolving. Eventually, Yui stood up, drawing a deep breath. "I'm going to get some fresh air. Clear my head."
Izuku stood as well, moving the box of protein supplements out of the way. "I'll, um… see you around?"
"Yes, you will. I promise." Yui said, attempting to hide the telltale nervous movement of repeatedly tapping her wrist with her index finger.
As the door swung open, a group of 2A students suddenly became intensely interested in the ceiling, whistling nonchalantly as Yui stepped out. Izuku watched her go, then called out one last time.
"Yui, wait."
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him, "Yes?"
"...What was your favourite song to sing?"
Yui paused, her expression thoughtful. "Stray Italian Greyhound."
"I don't know that one."
"That's okay," Yui said with a small, wistful smile, before turning and stepping out of the dorm.
The 2B dorms were usually a lot more fun than this, but the past week had been – to use modern parlance – a total bummer since Kodai and Midoriya's "amicable separation." The whole class was feeling the tension, and it showed.
"I've never seen her like this before!" Kendo stated, totally ignoring the array of textbooks and worksheets strewn across the floor. Maybe uncharacteristic of her to ignore studying in favour of drama, but none of them were going to be able to think straight with this hanging over them.
Thankfully, no one else seemed too bothered about the lack of studying. Kaibara even shut his notebook with a snap and tossed it aside, eager to dive into the gossip. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Before, Kodai was like, 'Hi, I'm Kodai.' But now she's more like, 'Hi... I'm Kodai...' You know?"
The others nodded and hummed in agreement.
Reiko tried to get a word in, but it was hard to cut through the chatter. "Kodai is just working through some—"
"It's that Midoriya kid, I'm telling you!" Komori jumped up, cutting Reiko off. "Everything was fine until he came along!"
A frown formed on Reiko's face, "I don't believe that's fair. Midoriya and Kodai are simply working through some issues."
"Yeah, right." Komori crossed her arms, her brow furrowing. "We can all see that Kodai hasn't been herself since they broke up."
"Were they even really dating?" Pony chimed in, her curiosity overtaking her studies. "I never saw them, you know... kiss."
Kendo sighed, rolling her eyes. "You don't need to kiss someone to be dating, you know."
"Thank goodness," Shiozaki murmured under her breath.
Kendo shook her head, refocusing. "But seriously, I just hope Kodai doesn't let this mess with her concentration. We've got exams coming up"
Leaning back on the floor with a thoughtful look, Honenuki said, "Maybe that's the problem—she might be stressing out about the exams."
"For real?!" Tsubaraba shouted from his seat at the kitchen table, his eyes widening. "If Kodai is worried, then the rest of us are fucked! She's in the top three in the class!"
"Regardless!" Kendo said, raising her voice to steer the conversation. "I just hate seeing her like this. She's usually so strong. I can't help wondering what went down with Midoriya."
Reiko took a deep breath, her resolve firm. "I can assure you all, Midoriya isn't the villain here. Relationships are complicated, and blaming him won't help Kodai."
Komori huffed, sinking back into her seat, deciding not to push the point any further.
The matter settled, for now, the group tentatively got back into their studies, everyone feeling slightly better for the gossip session. When suddenly, Tokage, who had been sitting rubbing her chin for the past several minutes, decided on a very inopportune time to leap to her feet. She stamped directly on the pile of notes in the middle of the floor.
"Well you can all give up on Kodai, but not me! Nosirree buster brown!" She yelled, pointing a finger and sweeping it across every person in the room. Twice at Tsubaraba, for some reason.
"Set, nobody is giving up on her," Kendo attempted.
"A likely story! If none of you have got the balls for this, I'm getting some outside help! Professional help!" And with that, she burst into a few dozen pieces and flew out an open window.
As the dust settled, Komori broke the silence. "...She didn't mean like... the mob, right?"
Creeeeeak.
Fast asleep until that very moment, Mina's brow furrowed from the unexpected noise. "Hrmm," she grunted in her sleep.
Creeeeeak.
This time, one eye fluttered open, quickly followed by the other. She rubbed them with her arm and murmured, "Is someone there..?"
Right then, lightning flashed in the window behind her, and for a split second illuminated the demonic creature standing in her room. Their wings unfurled and their fangs glimmered with bloodlust.
"AAAH!" Mina screamed, grabbing her lamp and hurling it at the intruder.
"Ow! What the hell?!" the monster exclaimed, shielding itself with its arms. "Are you trying to kill me?!"
"Wait…" Mina squinted through the darkness, "...Tokage?!"
"Yes, obviously!" Tokage snapped as she flicked on the lights, glaring at Mina. "Who did you think it was, Dracula?!"
"Yes! Kinda! How did you even get in here?!"
"Window." Tokage replied matter of factly.
Mina glanced to the side and saw that, yes, the window was open by about two inches. She frowned. "Okay and why are you in here?"
"Why'dya think, Pinky? Operation Izuyui!" Tokage's hand then popped off the wrist, headed straight for the bulletin board and flipped it – revealing the plans hidden beneath.
Mina rubbed her temples, staring confused at her intruder. "How do you even know about all this?!"
"I spied on you." Tokage said, without a hint of remorse. "I'm always spying on people. I've got a quarter of an ear listening in on some third years arguing right now. At least, I think they're arguing…"
"Wait wait wait, a quarter of an ear? How does your quirk even work?"
Setsuna shrugged, "Iunno. Portals?"
"Alright, if you've got a plan I'm listening. But we're doing this for love, okay?" Mina pointed a finger in her face. "No funny business."
"Yeah yeah, of course! Now, here's the plan…" Tokage leaned in and started to whisper in Mina's ear, "whisper whisper joint training, whisper whisper,"
"Tokage," Mina said flatly, "you can't just keep saying whisper."
"Right, sorry. I was saying we get them both captured at joint training so they get caged up and have to talk to each other."
Mina pondered for a moment, and shrugged, "Better than my idea. I was gonna kidnap their parents."
"That was my plan b!"
"No way!"
Early the next morning, Mina and Tokage gathered their potential recruits under the utmost secrecy. No expense was spared for their clandestine meeting, with Tokage even insisting they all be taken there blindfolded. The idea was quickly shot down when she also insisted that she and Mina be blindfolded as well, leading to them repeatedly walking into walls. Unfortunately with all the most secretive areas on campus already in use, they had to settle for a relatively secluded corner of the courtyard.
"Alright, everyone!" Mina began, clapping her hands together as she addressed the group: Iida, Tsu, Uraraka, Reiko, and Shinso (who Mina felt didn't get to be involved in things enough). "We have a mission, and we need your help."
"A mission, you say?" Iida adjusted his glasses. "If this is a matter of school security, should we not inform the principal?"
"No, it's not a school mission," Tokage announced. "It's a LOVE mission!"
The group exchanged puzzled looks.
"Is this about Izuku and Kodai, ribbit?" Tsu asked.
Mina gave a double thumbs up, "Got it in one! We've all seen how they've been acting and it's bumming us the hell out! We've gotta get those two back together, like our lives depend on it."
Nodding resolutely, Ochaco could have jumped out of her seat, she was that ready to help. "Well I'm definitely in! Izuku has been acting super weird this past week, Mineta said he saw him go into the woods and heard screaming." She ended with wide eyes.
"Uh, question." Shinso said, raising his hand politely. "Who's Kodai?"
"Shut up, Shinso!" Tokage responded immediately. "So here's the plan: during joint training today, we're all going to work together to get Kodai and Midoriya captured at the same time. Some time in the box will give them a chance to hash things out. We need to make sure we end up on their teams and face each other, so one of us will have to distract the teachers while someone else tampers with the lineup."
"I'll distract them, ribbit. Tenya will tamper."
"I will have no part in this!" Iida said, clearly annoyed by the very suggestion. "As hero students, it is our sworn duty to—"
"If you help us, I'll give you a kiss, ribbit."
"As I was saying, as hero students, it is our sworn duty to help Midoriya in any way possible. Simply point me in the right direction." He finished with a decisive chop of his hand.
Reiko moved her hair out of her eyes, adding "Yui will not be easy to fool, she can be very perceptive." She said, remembering all her failed attempts at scaring her. "Floating skulls in particular will be unlikely to succeed."
"Don't know what that means but loving it anyway!" Mina said. "Shinso, if none of this pans out, your quirk might come in handy. Can we count on you to help if we need to improvise?"
"No."
"Brilliant! Alright team, we have our mission! Let's get to work and make sure Izuku and Kodai get the push they need!"
"Remember, this has to be flawless," Tokage added, a dramatic tinge to her voice. "If we mess this up, not only will we have failed our friends, but we will have also failed America." She finished, holding a hand to her heart.
Shinso put a hand up to his mouth, leaned over to Uraraka, and whispered, "Who is she?"
As part of the second year's final examinations, both classes were scheduled to go head to head in a no-holds barred five on five brawl. A damn sight more involved than their first year exams, which amounted to little more than an obstacle course and rescuing some mannequins from a swimming pool. Despite the relatively straightforward nature of the test, Bakugo and Midoriya still managed to find a reason to knock each other out.
This year, though, the exam promised to be more intense and, in some ways, easier to handle, since the students were supposed to beat seven shades of shit out of each other. As with all joint exercises, the excitement began with all 41 students crammed into a small room off to the side of the training zone where they'd be fighting. Despite the room being designed to hold no more than fifteen people comfortably, Aizawa insisted it would help them get used to cramped situations they might encounter in their heroic careers.
The fact that Aizawa himself never bothered to squeeze into the room led many students to suspect he was pranking them. However, without their homeroom teacher's keen eyes, it was much easier to distract the other teachers
"It's just over there, ribbit, near the fence," Tsuyu pointed towards the horizon while All Might and Vlad King squinted and tried to spot what she was indicating.
"Are you sure it's still there, Young Asui? I didn't think flamingos migrated this far north… or to this country." All Might said, peering intently.
Vlad King rubbed his eyes and looked again. "I don't see it either," he said, beginning to turn away.
Suddenly, Tsuyu yelped, "Oh my gosh!" She pulled Vlad's attention back to the distant fence. "I just saw it again, ribbit! It was huge!"
With the teachers thoroughly distracted, Tsuyu glanced over her shoulder to see Iida quickly swapping two sheets of paper and giving her a thumbs up. She immediately dropped the act. "Guess it flew away," she said nonchalantly, walking back to her seat.
"Alright, you all know the rules, so let's get this over with," Aizawa grumbled, dragging a fold-out chair onto the viewing deck and plopping down into it with a heavy sigh. He closed his eyes, as if hoping to take a quick nap. Every other person there stared at him, looking as if giant question marks might start floating above their heads.
He cracked an eye open, saw the confusion, and sighed again. "Team A versus Team… uh," he mumbled, squinting at his notes.
"Team C? Weird. Anyway, get to it." And with that, closed his eyes again, clearly done with the proceedings.
All Might, seizing the opportunity, leaped forward with his usual enthusiasm. "You heard the man, let's get to it! Plus Ultra!"
"Plus Ultra!" the students echoed, their spirits lifting as they hustled to opposite ends of the arena, ready for action.
On one side of the arena, Team Midoriya struck dramatic battle poses, with green lightning crackling around Izuku as he poised himself for action. On the opposite end, Team Kodai prepared themselves for a mighty battle.
With a deafening sound of a horn, the match began.
Without hesitation, Izuku launched into action, soaring through the air. Blackwhip unfurled and grappled onto the many obstacles, propelling him forward. "I'll handle the front!" he called out. "You guys circle around and flank them!"
"Got it, Midoriya!" Mina responded, flashing a determined grin before turning to her teammates, Iida, Tsu, and Uraraka. She made a circular motion with her finger, signalling Tsu, who gave a quick nod before bouncing away. Coordinating their strategy while their earpieces broadcasted every whisper to the spectators was a tricky challenge, but they were up for it.
On the opposite side of the arena, Yui and Reiko teamed up admirably in order to move at high speed - giant floating nuts and bolts made for great platforms on which to traverse. The plan was to bombard their enemy with projectiles once their target appeared. The coordination was definitely impressive, but it had to be in order for the plan to succeed.
Meanwhile, Tsu stealthily approached from the side, her tongue ready to lash out when the time was right. She spotted her first opportunity when Yui landed on one of the bolts, preparing to leap. Tsu shot her tongue out, making it look like she was trying to ensnare her opponent, but in reality, she was nudging her gently towards the right direction.
Yui spun mid-air, narrowly avoiding Tsu's tongue, and had to quickly recalibrate her landing. At that very moment, Izuku, subtly guided by Tokage's disembodied hands, landed in the same vicinity. As he rolled and skidded to a stop, his eyes met Yui's. There was a brief, electrifying pause as they both seemed momentarily stunned by their proximity.
"...Yui," Izuku started. But before he could say more, a massive bolt, guided by Reiko, came crashing down towards them. From what he could tell in that split second, he had three choices: move out of the way and let the bolt hit Yui; tackle Yui to the floor, thereby letting them both avoid the attack; or take the hit.
In a burst of action, Izuku lunged forward, grabbing Yui and rolling them both out of harm's way. The bolt crashed harmlessly into the ground where they had just been. With the attack avoided, they still ended up slamming into a wall, arms wrapped around each other.
"...Izuku," Yui said, her face inches from his. "...You can let go now."
"Oh, right, sorry, heh," Izuku replied with a nervous chuckle, loosening his grip. But just as he did, another bolt landed with pinpoint accuracy, trapping him in its centre. Seizing the opportunity, Yui touched the bolt, shrinking it just enough to bind Izuku's arms.
She smiled, "I would like us to talk, lat- eeyah!"
Yui's words were abruptly cut off as Tsu's long froggy tongue yanked her into the rafters. Seconds later, Yui descended, wrapped tightly in capture tape.
Part one of the plan had been a success.
As the metal bars of the Super Fun Time Hero Containment Unit (or: SFTHCU) slid shut with a clang, the pair of students were quiet for a moment, unable to even think about failing their training.
After a few seconds, they both spoke over each other. "Yui I needed to say–Izuku I wanted to-"
They both laughed bashfully, before Izuku said "You go first."
Sitting on the floor with her back up against the bars, Yui tapped a finger on her leg and turned to face him. "I've missed spending time with you."
"I've missed spending time with you too!" Izuku blurted out, unable to prevent himself. "Sorry, go on."
"I was upset before and I don't think I was totally honest with you about why." Yui said. "When the training camp was attacked, I was one of the first people to be knocked out. I didn't even know what happened until I woke up in the hospital."
Izuku nodded wistfully. "I was lucky not to have got caught in the gas."
"It wasn't until later that I really found everything out, but for those first few weeks all I could think was that I had failed everyone. What if I'd been more careful? Noticed the signs and got out of there before the gas hit?" She looked at him with the same soft eyes, though with a hint of sadness. "I kept replaying it in my head over and over, thinking of all the ways I could have done things differently. I felt…"
"Powerless?" Izuku's expression softened, understanding how that felt more than people could possibly know. "Yui, it was never your fault, we were all caught off guard. Those villains were unpredictable, you can't blame yourself for not being able to anticipate their moves."
"It's a hard feeling to shake…" Yui replied, "I felt that way for a really long time, my grades started to slip, I felt like a different person." She smiled, "And then I found Karaoke."
"Yui, when I heard you singing, it was like… It was incredible." Izuku said with a small nervous laugh. "Hah, I've wanted to say that to you since I heard it, I just didn't know it was you I wanted to say it to…"
Yui's cheeks flushed slightly. "Thank you. Karaoke became my escape, a way to express myself and let go of all those feelings. It helped me… Come back."
Izuku leaned against the bars, in thought. "It's amazing, isn't it? How we can manage to find strength in unexpected places." he said. "For me, it was always about analysing heroes. I used to obsess over it, thinking it would make me better. But sometimes, you just need something to make you feel… Human."
"Yes. But also, there's something else I need to tell you."
"What is it?"
"Izuku…" Yui began, before she grabbed both of his hands I squeezed them, her voice rising. "I love singing! I kept telling myself it was just catharsis or that I was laying out my feelings, but there's more to it than that!"
"O-oh!" Izuku spluttered, surprised by the sudden level of emotion Yui was expressing.
"And you know what else?" She continued.
"What?"
"I'm good at it, Izuku. I'm really really good at it and I'm sick of pretending that I'm not." She said, finally leaning back against the bars again.
"Yes!" Izuku laughed, "You are, you really are!"
"I've been hiding that part of myself for so long, afraid that it was just a distraction or something I should be ashamed of. But I don't want to hide it anymore, Izuku."
Izuku nodded fervently. "Yui, if singing makes you happy then you should sing!"
"You don't mean like…right now, do you?" Yui's eyes went a little wider as she frowned.
Suddenly, they both heard a crackle in their ears, as the voice of Aizawa bled through into their earpieces. "I should probably remind the two of you that this is an open channel. We've been hearing every word."
Stunned, the pair of them clamped their mouths shut, hints of a smile at the corners of their lips. The two sat in a comfortable silence, looking away from one another and finding distraction in the area surrounding them. When, quietly, Izuku began to hum something.
"Hm-hm-hm… oh no, not now…" he hummed softly, his voice barely rising above a whisper. Yui turned her head and gave him a sidelong glance.
"...Please not now." she sang back, as quiet as Izuku.
Their eyes met, and an unspoken understanding passed between them. Together, their voices blended harmoniously, "I've just settled into the glass half empty, made myself at home."
Over in the surveillance room, All Might leant over preparing to switch the comms units off, when Recovery Girl smacked him on the hand with her cane. "Young man, if you press that button I'm shoving this where the sun doesn't shine."
Yui looked into Izuku's eyes, "You learned my favourite song."
Izuku, blushing furiously, stammered, "W-well, I've been practising it, singing in the woods near campus—"
Before he could finish, Yui's lips met his in a gentle, decisive kiss. The world around them seemed to blur and melt away, leaving just the two of them. When they finally pulled apart, their faces flushed, they tenderly leaned their foreheads on each other.
Louder, without a care in the world, they both sang. "This stray Italian greyhound, these inconvenient fireworks, this ice-cream covered screaming hyperactive thought,"
In the vicinity, everyone who had been eavesdropping on the open channel stopped in their tracks, enchanted by the impromptu performance. Mina dabbed a tear from her eye, her voice trembling with emotion. "I knew they had it in 'em."
Aizawa sighed heavily and stood up from his seat, looking over at Vlad King. "I'm going to let them out before they give everyone a toothache. Watch my place for me, Vlad. …Vlad?"
Next to him, Vlad King was a mess of tears, his expression intense. "Shota. This is what heroism is really about," he sobbed.
Aizawa rolled his eyes, muttering, "Oh for the love of…" He settled back into his seat, closed his eyes, and let a smile slip onto his face.
The End
Notes: The final part of the saga! This was tons of fun to write, romance isn't really something I ever dip my toe into so it was nice to step outside my comfort zone a little. A rare event for me, the through-line of this story really didn't change much at all from the first draft. One big different was going to be the duet taking place in adjoining rooms at a different karaoke bar, but the logistics of them actually making it there were proving too difficult. I think I like the impromptu training duet more anyway. This was initially going to be two chapters, but all the cut-off points were too angsty and I wanted to end the chapters on more optimistic notes. So it was a bumper issue. By the way, if anyone was wondering: Eri is rescued already in this AU, Tsuyu and Tenya are very happy together, and also Bakugo and Monoma kissed during the song because why not?