First off, thank you everyone for giving this story a look and the positive reception. I was nervous as hell in posting it and the feedback has helped a lot. Now then, onto the second chapter, which will largely be focusing on Izuku. Hope you all enjoy!
I do not own anything.
A Big Pink Ball of Sunshine
Chapter 2-Acidic Glow
"Was there ever a time when academics, I don't know, just didn't come naturally to you?"
"Plenty of times, Ashido." He replied in an earnest voice. The girl's eyebrows rose, Izuku laughed. "Contrary to what you think, even I struggle with school work. In fact, I…kind of get off on the struggle from time to time." His confession triggered a short rush of memories that brought a smile to his face. "You know how something leaves you stomped at first, but after getting depressed, you get this urge to overcome it? That's how it is for me when it comes to schoolwork, and Quirk practice."
"Totally! I get that urge, and I sure as hell know how good it feels when you finally succeed!" Mina answered back, her own mind flashing with memories before she delated a little. "That said, I…can't see myself going into doing schoolwork with that kind of drive. Or at least that's how I used to feel until a couple of minutes ago." She lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "Midori, have you ever thought about aiming for the number one spot? Overtaking Bakugo, Iida, and Yaoyorozu and being the big egghead in the class. I'm sure you'd have a shot at it."
A thoughtful expression overcame Izuku's face as he gave the idea some thought. It wasn't the first time that it'd crossed his mind. "That kind of goal…it would be pretty cool to work toward." He admitted looking up to the cloud-dotted sky. "But it's not the end all goal for me. I'm happy where I am in the class ranking, but if one day I end up surpassing any of the three of them-"
"Like Bakugo?" She interjected. "You could definitely surpass him."
Izuku smiled at her. That little knowing smile of his, it was beginning to drive Mina crazy! On one hand, there was something about it she found cute, but on the other hand it almost felt like it was baiting her. Though they'd only really gotten to know each other over the last couple of hours, she'd picked up a few habits of the green-haired boy. For one, when he gave her that smile, she felt like he was going to dodge her question in some manner. A second later and she was proven right, in a sense.
"I'm always trying to surpass Kaa-chan, and he's always trying to surpass me, in just about everything. That's…our relationship, and I'm kind of hoping that never goes away, even if I would like it if we could sit down and talk without, well, you know."
"Him blowing up into a torrent of profanity?" He laughed showing that he wasn't totally blind to the blond boy's less than approachable attitude. Instead, Mina realized what Izuku had was acceptance, but also determination. In his own way, he was trying to befriend their class's hyper aggressive pyrokinetic. Truth be told, she was both impressed and a tad worried. "You two go back, huh?" she inquired feeling that would have been a good place to start things off.
"Yeah, we've known each other since we were kids. I always looked up to Kaa-chan back then." He admitted with a youthful smile on his face.
"Ah, so there was a time Bakugo wasn't as…eh, Bakugo-like as he is now."
"Actually, Kaa-chan was kind of the same back then as he is now." Izuku cheerfully responded.
For the first time, the pink-haired girl stop and seemingly did a double-take. In her mind, an image of Bakugo appeared, that image was then downs-sized; it was surprisingly easy to do-picture him younger and still having the same explosive attitude, albeit probably with a little less swearing. Truth be told, the image was actually a little funny to think about. As she contemplated, she turned to face her classmate and tried to do the same to him. A cheesy grin came to mind as she pictured a younger Izuku Midoriya, complete with his All Might obsession and all. Now that was an image that brought a grin to her face along with some giggles.
"Um, Ashido," called the teenage version of the cute little boy she was picturing in her head. "If I asked you what you were thinking, would you give me an honest answer?"
"Oh, how cute you must have looked dressed up in your All Might cape as a kid." She replied in a sing-song voice.
Izuku's face dropped. "H-H-How'd you know about that?!"
"Hahahaha! Oh man, I'm seriously not surprised!" Mina laughed, nearly doubling over as her intended joke ended up hitting the mark. Now, she fully devoted her mind to thinking about a younger Izuku dressing up as All Might. It wasn't like he was the only kid in the world who'd ever done such a thing, her classmate was just probably the only kid who did so and grew up to have a close personal relationship with the hero. He had a right to be proud of that. "Hey, um, you still have the cape? Ever thought about one day making it a part of your hero costume?"
"W-W-Well…if I ever learned to fly, maybe. Sometimes capes can work, but sometimes they can also be impractical. Though All Might has worn them from time to time, they're not a mainstay part of his outfit, I think I might be the same way." Feeling bold, he stopped and looked at Mina. The girl was a never-ending geyser of curiosity and positivity, something that Izuku found himself growing more attracted to. "Um, Ashido, how do you think I would look with a cape?"
"Like the next Number One Hero." She answered back with her trademark smile. "I can see what you mean about some of them being cool but impractical and clashing with your personal style. Personally, I wouldn't wear them too often…buuut, on special occasions, I could rock one. Kind of sucks that I couldn't use my original super hero name, it would have helped sell the look."
"You know, if you don't mind me asking, where'd you come up with your hero name, Ashido?"
Her face seemed the brighten at the question. Izuku guessed that she'd actually been hoping he would ask it at some point. "See, way, way, way back, there was this awesome sci-fi movie featuring this race of killer aliens with acid for blood. They were so awesome! In the second film of the series, which featured some pretty cool space marines, they introduced a new breed of aliens-the queen! It had this huge sack attached to its butt which produced eggs that produced these parasitic little critters called face huggers that would latch onto a victim's face and pump them full of eggs!"
"W-W-What?! That's gross, and awful!" Izuku shouted, genuinely horrified at the image.
"Oh, and they also had acid for blood!" His face seemed to be catching up to his hair in terms of shades of green, maybe even verging on surpassing it. "Anyways, the queen was three times bigger than the others, and stronger too! It was the scariest but coolest monster that I'd ever seen; that's where I got my inspiration for my hero name from." As one would have expected, the super-powered teen was looking…less than amazed at her story. She expected it; she'd gotten used to it. "Heh, sorry if it kind of killed the mood, Midori."
"I-I-It's fine, I-I mean I asked after all, and I'm happy that now I know." He replied with a smile, one that wasn't in any way fake or forced. Mina found some relief in that. "Truth is, I actually think it's kind of cool how you're taking inspiration from something so scary and trying to turn it into a positive."
"Heheh, well, I guess that's one way to look at it. What about you, Midori? Where'd you come up with your superhero name?"
Rather than answer her, he looked ahead. Mina followed his gaze and her eyes widened as she realized they were at their destination: Gym Gamma. Through the thick walls, they could hear the sounds of their fellow classmates hard at work. Neither of them were surprised that the gym was seeing some activity; with the Culture Festival little more than a week away. Izuku looked between the white stone building and his pink-haired companion. The last time they'd gone into the gym together had been with the rest of their class to face off against the U.A.'s Big Three. Needless to say, it was an experience that none of them would ever forget. A ping of sorrow sounded within the green and black-haired boy as he thought back to that chaotic yet idyllic time that he almost wished he could go back to.
But he couldn't, and he wasn't going to waste time lamenting over a tragedy he couldn't change. Instead, he was going to work to make sure another one like it didn't happen.
"Ashido," he began. "I'll tell you after we finish training, that'll be my treat to you."
Mina's eyes lit up. "Deal! Let's go then!" She grabbed his hand and dragged him along, just as she'd done before when they left the classroom. Thankfully, this time he had all of his things with him, even if his school bag did flap as Mina pulled him toward the door.
Acid was an interesting Quirk, one that possesses a wellspring of potential, a great deal of it destructive. From their time in class together, Izuku had observed that Mina knew how to get the most out of her Quirk, and she was still learning. One thing that was incredibly obvious was that she'd gotten control of it, great control that Izuku couldn't help but admire.
His nose wrinkled with every splash against the concrete targets that lay before them. Her speed was nothing short of remarkable as was her aim. Wherever a target went up, a ball of sizzling acid was lobbed and impacted causing it the melt. The acidic girl couldn't stop grinning as she hit one target after another with her acidic balls. She called to the hero in charge of the cement-laced gym for a bigger challenge. Cementoss happily obliged. The firing range in front of the two young heroes became a geyser of targets, constantly rising and falling. It was certainly more of a challenge than the stationary stone monoliths that the acidic girl had previously been firing at before.
"Watch this, Midori!" Both her palms came together, the finger tips facing the targets. Izuku's ears rung as he heard the sizzling formation of acid between his classmate's finger tips. This wasn't going to be like he previous shots, this was going to be bigger. A second later and he was proven right as she opened her palms and out shot several dozen acid balls. His eyes immediately moved from ball to ball to count as many as he could; he ended up with close to twenty, each one powerful enough to leave a fist-sized hole in a steel door. They were certainly strong enough to eat through the hardened cement
In seconds, the shifting cement pillars ceased giving the teenagers a change to absorb the results of the attack.
"Acid Shot, direct from the growing arsenal of Pinky!" Proudly proclaimed the aforenamed girl. "So, what do you think, Midori?"
"That was incredible, Ashido! You've finally developed an area-of-effect type of attack! And it's highly effective too!" Without a hint of warrior, the green-clad young hero ran over to the array of cement pillars, several now smoking as residual acid continued to eat away at them. His eyes held that same familiar analytical light as they moved from pillar to pillar. "Hm, of the thirty targets, you managed to hit almost all of them, albeit some were glancing blows more so than direct hits. Still, that's pretty good since your acid would sting and paralyze targets with pain long enough for you or some else to take them down."
"That's the idea, plus, if a villain comes at me with a big sweeping attack, this'll make the perfect counter."
"Yeah, it will." He responded still examining the acid burns. In a bold move, he caressed the burnt edges; luckily, he had his gloves on, though they too sizzled from the residual acid. That seemed to be another thing that he examined. Though he was quietly aware of Mina watching him, he put more focus on examining each of the burns. "You managed to keep the power in most of them if not all of them. Would you be able to do this again?"
Her face bent in concentration. "Probably, and maybe a third time, after that is when I think I'll start to lose power, and my skin will start to hurt. I'm still working on that part."
Catching her stray glance, Izuku responded, "Yeah, I can sympathize with that-your Quirk putting a strain on your body and having to work past that." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Mina's yellow and black eyes drift to his arms, now covered by his hero costume. "Ashido, um, how fast would you say your acid shots usually go?"
"How fast? Um, I can't give you a number but…maybe almost as fast as a bullet? I mean, my average shots depend on my throwing strength, and I'm pretty good at pitching." She answered. "Midori, do you think there's a way I can improve?"
A serpent of nervousness began to coil within Izuku as he met his classmate's eyes. She was genuine in her statement; any advice he gave she would take. At his instance, he guided her over to one of the benches by the walls. "Well, I'm still trying to get the hang of the Delaware Smash, but the idea is the same. A smaller, more condensed shot for medium and long range attacks. Ashido, I think you can do better than me."
The pink-colored girl blinked. "Huh?"
"Well, for starters, your control over your Quirk is better than mine, but you can generate and control the acid you generate. In other words, you can condense it." Hoping some of her boldness had rubbed off on him, he reached forward and took Mina's hand He shaped her fingers into a gun as he held it out.
Her eyes lit up like neon lights. "Ah, so that's what you mean. Firing my acid shots like bullets. They'll be smaller, but I think you're right in that they'll have more speed, not to mention I'll have a little more precision." Her eyebrow rose as another thought came to her head. "Hey, what about a magnum shot? That could be another super move-Acid Buster!"
"That's actually a pretty good name, but let's focus on getting you past shooting miniaturized bullets first. Your average bullet travels at a speed of over five-hundred meters per second-"
"Okay, Midori, any reason why you know that?" Mina inquired feeling more than a little surprised.
Izuku didn't miss a beat. "Speed comparisons, it's important to know, especially since from time to time, you'll have to be able to dodge gunfire."
"Good point."
"The more you can condense your acid the more powerful it'll be, even having more penetrative power." His gaze shifted from Mina to the dozens of other students testing their abilities against various cement constructs. "In terms of thickness, how much do you think your acid can eat through?"
A thoughtful expression overcame the acidic heroine. "Hmmm…if we're talking about a slap of steel about ten feet thick, I'd say I should be able to melt through at least six or seven feet of it. Again, without really straining my hands." Remembering their earlier conversation, Mina thought back to some of her favorite scenes from her cinema inspiration. Unlike her, the aliens were full resistant to their own acid, a boon Mina sometimes so fervently wished she possessed as well. Her tolerance to her own acid increased with time and training, but sometimes that left her feeling frustrated. She was a hyperactive person by nature, more than a bit of a contrast to the boy she sat beside. Looking back at him, she saw him staring at her hand with that same analytical look on his face. Mina could practically see the gears in his head turning, churning out an image of what she could become capable of. She could have asked him to see what those images were, but she didn't, she didn't want to. The reason was simple-she liked the look on his face.
Only she seemed aware of the silence that had cocooned them, they sat on the bench in their own little world away from everyone else. Mina was reluctant to break it, but an idea began to take root in her head. Coincidentally, its origins once again lay with Izuku.
Suddenly, her finger gun changed into a three-pronged claw causing the green-haired boy to pull back.
Grinning at him, she spoke, "You know, those alien monsters I told you about had some pretty wicked claws. The kind that could cut through steel and flesh. I've been thinking maybe I can try to mimic that too." She half-lied waiting to see his reaction. Another piece of the picture was added to the alien imagery she'd put in his head. His eyes giving Mina reason to laugh before choosing to expand on her words. "Alternatively, I could go with a punch, or a kick." Her fingers clasped around each other in a tight fist while she looked to him with a beaming smile. "A megaton acid-style punch, just like you, Midori."
"W-Well, I've moved onto kicks as you can see." He laughed indicating to his armored legs.
"Don't take this the wrong way but…I'm…kind of glad that you did, I don't want to see you losing your arms." Now that she let it slip, Mina realized there was probably no putting it back in the bottle. Sighing, she looked down at his left hand. "I, um…a few times I was in the infirmary I…heard Recovery Girl talking to you, and about you. Plus, during the Sports Festival I…your match with Todoroki was awesome by the way." She laughed before a slow frown overtook her normally bubbly features. "It's just, I saw how you were practically breaking your fingers over and over again to keep up with him. Truth is, my parents warned me against those kinds of stunts, especially my dad whose Quirk is like mine."
In a flash, Izuku found himself at a crossroad. A part of him wanted to jump on that last bit of information, the one about her father possessing a Quirk similar to her Acid Quirk; if he did though, he knew he'd be running from the issue at hand. There was a temptation to do that, to run, but seeing the surprisingly open concern on Mina's face stirred something within him. It wasn't the first time he'd felt this way, her words of encouragement back in detention had made him feel the same way.
Leaning forward, he looked to his open palms. He didn't have x-ray vision, but he could see through his battle-worn gloves, which he was probably going to replace after the Culture Festival. Izuku had practically memorized every scar on his hand that he'd gained. Some had faded, others would remain permanent. "She didn't mince words in telling me if I didn't stop, I was going to lose my arms. She was definitely right so I've been trying to rely less on punches and more on kicks-that's how I ended up with Shoot Style." To emphasis his point, he swung his legs out a little.
"Alright, those things are pretty cool, and so's your Shoot Style." Giggled the horned girl. "To help it along, you ever thought of learning kick boxing?"
"Kick boxing? I've…thought about it, even looked up some heroes who do specialize in kicks. If I do, I'll still have some work to do since some of the moves I've seen can take a person's head off."
"Oh, you mean you've seen the infamous Hell Brothers? Those renegades from a couple of years back? One of them, what was his name…yeah, Kick Hopper, he specialized in kicks. I think his Quirk gave him some of the strongest kicking power of all the heroes and villains of his time."
"Yeah, his full power kicks had the equivalent of almost ten megatons, and his partner, Punch Hopper had punches that were about the same. He was one of the few villains who could match All Might punch for punch."
"Heheh, you know, it' doesn't surprise me you'd know that, then again, All Might's Battle against the Hell Brothers was one of the highlights of his career." Mina's eyes flickered down to Izuku's outstretched hands. "Looking back, you were trying to copy All Might's fighting style a lot, weren't you? Is it because your Quirks are so similar?"
"Heh, yeah, pretty much." He admitted with a humorous laugh. This was turning into quite the intimate conversation; Izuku hoped it didn't end just yet as he was actually enjoying talking about his struggles to hone his Quirk.
"That's cool and all, but I think it's for the best you develop your own style." Mina spoke.
"You're right, and I've tried to do that, even if I still look to him for inspiration."
"You know, you sound like a kid who inherited his dad's Quirk and is trying to use it in almost the exact same way he did. It's kind of cute." Mina laughed. The embarrassed but cute blush returned to Izuku's face. "So, have you came up with any big show-stealer super moves for your Shoot Style?
"Still working on that those, though I've gotten used to kicks, using punches and throws still kind of comes to me by sheer instinct." His mind immediately jumped to his final battle with Overhaul and how it ended with him essentially punching the crazed gangster into submission. Admittedly, it actually felt good since he could do so thanks to Eri's support, but that he knew that had likely been a one-time thing. For now, at least; as he gained better control of One For All, such feats might become commonplace with him. "I guess I could work on my footwork after the Culture Festival."
Suddenly, Mina's eyes cackled with a mischievous light that bedazzled and worried the dark-haired boy. "So, you wanna improve your footwork, huh? Midori, you should have told me that before."
"U-U-Um, I-I-I'm sorry I didn't know. B-But since you've made the offer, Ashido, would you mind helping me out?" Why did he have a feeling he was getting himself wrapped up in something he was better left avoiding? Why was he not avoiding it, why was he feeling an impulse to run further into whatever crazy situation that Mina was setting him up for? Izuku would have liked to know the answers to those questions, though he had a feeling they were going to come too little too late as the deal had apparently been made between him and his pink-haired classmate.
"Well, sounds like we've got ourselves a date set up, eh, Midori." She giggled fully aware of the reaction that was to come.
Mina wasn't disappointed. "D-D-D-D-Date?!"
"Like a study date, don't worry!" Laughed the horned girl rising to her feet. A study date…yeah, that's what it's going to be. Why did she sound so…disappointed when she said that in her head? With a voice that sounded like it contained a hint of denial? "Hey, come on. Let's go try out some of those ideas that you suggested: Acid Bullet, Acid Buster, Acid Ravager, and-"
"Acid Smash?" he offered with a grin rising to his feet.
Minute by minute, Mina was beginning to enjoy hanging out with Izuku. The thought of turning his company into a regular thing became more appealing to her, and she had a feeling that the feeling was mutual.
The smell of acid mixed with the smoke and carried on for several blocks. Mina had learned to take bizarre solace in the odor and the moments of calm that sometimes followed. It meant that the battle was over, if only for the moment. At the very least it meant that she had a minute to catch her breath; she sorely needed that after the heavy workout she and her partner had just put themselves through. Speaking of which, as she leaned against a building wall, she turned her gaze toward Izuku.
Like her, Izuku had worked up a sweat causing his green and black-colored hair to stick to his face around the forehead. The sweat caused his emerald green eyes to sparkle, they glittering so much Mina felt herself captivated by them when they met one another's gaze. For the past hour or so, her heart had been pounding almost nonstop, only beginning to slow down as their bout of exorcise came to an end.
"Ashido," he called out to her. "How are your hands? They're starting to get sore, aren't they?"
She blinked in surprise. Had she been staring at him for so long she'd forgotten the familiar throbbing in her arms? A flex of her fingers and she realized she had. "Yep, they're sore." She winced. "What about you, Midori? How are your arms and legs?"
"They're okay, but I think we should probably call it a day." He didn't even try t hide the fact that his concern was directed toward her. She didn't look too offended by it. "Come on, I'll go with you to the infirmary."
"Thanks, you know, a walk back should help alleviate some of the soreness."
"Ashido, how badly does overusing your Quirk burn your hands?"
"It varies, though the worst of it leaves me feeling like I'm trying to grab burning coal to the point I can't move my fingers, hell, just doing that hurts." They left the dotted wreckage of the practice field behind them. Though they were leaving, the massive urban-styled training area was still abuzz with the activity, albeit that would gradually die down. It was getting closer to seven, the closing time for all the training areas. "I pushed myself to that point three times before, my arms ended up hurting for like, four days to the point I couldn't move them. The first time was in junior high and it ended up costing me practically a week's worth of school. It totally sucked."
"I can imagine." He really could. Izuku could eerily recall the pain in his arms from overusing One For All and had that agony left him unable to do much of anything. It took both his hands to do something as simple as hold a glass of water, and even that was difficult to do. "Ashido, how did you end up pushing yourself that far? Did something happen?"
A wistful look overcame the girl's face as she looked up to the sky, now beginning to turn varying shades of orange and yellow thanks to the setting sun. "Yeah, there was an attempted robbery at a bank a few blocks from where I lived. I was on my way back home with my mom and little brother. Things went sour and one of them blew up a building causing the whole thing to collapse. There was dust everywhere with dozens of people trapped beneath the rubble. I knew my Quirk could melt through concrete and steel so I-"
"You went to help." Izuku interrupted with a smile, one that made Mina's cheeks turn a shade darker for some reason. "Ashido, that sounds like the kind of thing a hero would have done."
"Heh, that's what a lot of people said, though the paramedics did say that doing so came at a cost. That was the first time I'd ever produced that much acid, and it was a little more than what my hands could take." She'd cried as soon as the rush of the moment had passed. For the first time in Mina's life, her hands had simply hurt that much. Her mother and brother had cried too, the latter hugging her like she was going to disappear on him; in his defense, she had ran off without much of a word, only shouting that she'd be back. Which was true as Mina had came back to her mother and brother, it was just they had to come to her first. "Unfortunately, six people ended up dying, but other than that, there weren't any fatalities, some of which the heroes and rescue workers said I had to thank for that. Knowing that I'd been able to help save lives…"
"It was an incredible feeling, wasn't it?" Offered the green-haired boy with an encouraging smile.
"Definitely! Even though I ended up getting hurt, I was happy that I was able to help people. It was around that time I probably decided that I wanted to become a professional hero!" A humorous laugh fell from her lips as she nervously looked to the side. "That, and if I became a professional hero, I could do that kind of stuff without getting scolded."
Izuku didn't mean to, but he found himself laughing. In seconds, Mina was laughing with him, not needing a word of explanation on his part. She'd paid close enough attention to know that he could sympathize with her story, he'd probably lived it a few times. Though on the outside they may have seemed different, it was a different story on the inside, both Izuku Midoriya and Mina Ashido had a tough time sitting still when there was hero work to be done. Both agreed that would be a great deal easier to do as professional heroes, a choice that had been shared by countless others at U.A.
They left Ground Beta at the exact right time as the sunset. The evening rays reflected off the countless office buildings panting the heroic training center in a majestic glow. Like the sky slowly but surely changing to darkness, the sounds of action were gradually faded as more students joined Izuku and Mina in calling it a day. In about an hour's time, the massive training field would be complete empty, that's when the cleaning crew would arrive to repair the damages done to the environment and collect the remains of the practice robots that the students had pitted themselves against. Some students considered it a point of pride if they were able to leave nothing behind to be salvaged, the students possessing rather destructive Quirks seemed to make up a number of that group.
Mina supposed she could have considered herself in that category too. Personally though, she didn't particularly fancy the thought of leaving behind such destruction and small parts for the cleaning crew to have to sort through. Not to mention her Acid Quirk tended to more often than not leave electronics somewhat unsalvageable.
"Thanks for letting me train with you, Ashido." He spoke as they headed toward the bus that would take them back to the central square of the school.
"Hey, it was my treat after you landing you detention with me. Kind of funny to think this awesome day wouldn't have happened without that. Speaking of which, sorry I wasn't able to help you with your Delaware Smash after you helped me perfect my moves." She responded with a slight frown. Mina had always known when it came to firepower, her classmate's Quirk blew hers clear out of the water. Really, it was amazing how much power Izuku's possessed. It was practically super strength and speed and durability all rolled up in one neat package! The archetypical superhero buddle…save for maybe one trademark power.
"It's okay, I made a little progress, and besides, I think I know what I have to do." He answered back looking back to his hands. "At the very least I'm not breaking my fingers with every attempt."
The laugh Mina gave was short-lived as she remembered the footage of his battle with Todoroki. Again, it'd been nothing short of incredible, especially since while Izuku was fighting him, he was also trying to get him to accept the Half-Hot side of his Quirk. Mina wasn't sure if she would have attempted such a thing in the middle of a fight, but Izuku had, and it'd worked. But it hadn't been without its costs, fighting Todoroki hadn't been without its costs. The images lingered in her mind as she and Izuku boarded the bus and sat beside each other, him closer to the window with her on the outer seat.
"Did you ever…um, Midori, have you ever regretted what you did against Todoroki? With your fingers I mean?" It was a topic she felt almost nervous to brooch, but Mina couldn't help herself. Adding to her ever-brimming curiosity, Izuku always seemed pretty receptive to her questions, just as she was to his.
The hidden intent of her words didn't go unnoticed by the green-clad student. "No, though I'll admit that it hurt like hell. Personally though…I think I did the right thing, even if it cost me a little too." Yet another humorous smile adorned his face as he thought back to the grilling that he'd gotten in the match's aftermath. He'd most certainly took Recovery Girl's words seriously and planned to follow them…but he couldn't deny the sheer exhilaration that ran through him had been incredible. "Don't worry, if I can help it, I'm going to try to avoid ever pushing my fingers like that again."
"I'm happy to hear that." Mina chirped. As was becoming custom, she grabbed Izuku's right hand. Green eyes rose and a fiery blush rapidly consumed academic boy's face. "Your fingers are way too good to be permanently mangled. I could use them to keep on helping me with my homework!"
"S-S-Sounds like another reason for me to be careful. A-A-And hope that the design department i-is able to come through for me." He added that last part in a hushed whisper. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Mina raise an eyebrow at his words, but she didn't say anything about it.
What she did do was lay her head on his shoulder. How he managed to keep from jumping out of his skin, or out the window, Izuku would never know. He was happy that he didn't do either of those things.
"Yeah, you've got some reasons to be careful, so try to be, and stop being so hard on yourself, Midori. You're great as you are, and you're getting better." She whispered in a soothing voice. It caressed the freckle-faced boy's entire existence. Instead of racing like it normally did under such physical intimacy, it calmed considerably.
Izuku was aware it was a short ride back to the main part of campus. He wished it could have been longer so he could continue to enjoy this intimacy with Mina. His eyes looked to her reflection in the mirror to his left.
"Hey, Midori, my horns don't bother you, are they?" Came her soft voice, sounding somewhat unsure.
Smiling, he shook his head. The reflection couldn't hold a candle to the real thing. "Nope, they're not a problem, Ashido." Why not ask her if you can call her by her name? Why not ask her to…call you by yours? The question made his heart skip a beat. He realized that Mina hadn't asked him about the origin of his superhero name. It'd seemingly slipped her mind. Izuku could have reminded her of that, but he chose not to. He didn't want to disturb this little moment that they were having. It surprised him how much he cherished it to the point he wanted to prolong it.
And maybe…he wanted to repeat it.
It amazed him how much excitement was bouncing within him by the time he got back to his dorm room. "Woah." He whispered as he seemingly staggered in, letting the door close shut behind him. His feet carried him to his bed while his mind remained in a daze, which didn't dissipate until he sat on his bed for several minutes.
As with most great events in his life, the last four hours were on a constant repeat in his head. Amazingly, it fell onto the more mundane side since his life nor anyone else's had been in mortal danger, he'd instead been learning ways about how to keep that mortal danger at bay, and helping someone else do the same. Subconsciously, the green-haired boy smiled as he remembered the time he spent with Mina. The last near four hours with her been great, so great that a part of him could hardly believe they were real. He fell back against his bed; Izuku felt like he was floating across the ocean.
For a certain reason, either the ocean water was pink or the sun was. Whenever he thought of pink, he not got this warm, fuzzy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
"A crush," he murmured in the trusted solitude of his room. "I-I-I've got a crush on Ashido." Voicing the statement solidified it into a fact. After spending an afternoon with the pink-skinned girl, he'd become smitten with her. "Oh man, I…I seriously can't believe this is happening. W-W-What am I going to say to her tomorrow! How am I going to act!" Izuku was an extremely self-aware person, he knew that he wasn't exactly going to win any points for charisma or charm, such things simply weren't in him. Likewise, he knew there wasn't a romance bone in his body, either that or there was and he hadn't discovered it yet.
Wait a minute, that would imply he planned on acting on these feelings! T
"Ahhh man, this is so not I expected this day to go, and just a few days before the Culture Festival too!" Bemoaned the young hero scratching at his head in frustration. Yet another thing that surprised him was how the thought of suppressing them didn't even cross his mind. That's what was surprising to Izuku as he sat upright. There was one way for him to deal with all these raging emotions-the same way he always did.
For as long as he could remember, his work desk had been something of a private sanctuary. Like Mina had said, he was a nerd, someone whose favorite place probably would have been in front of a desk taking notes. She hadn't been entirely wrong, and she thankfully hadn't called him out on it. She'd accepted it, and even complimented him on it; the memory of her smiling face and encouragement brought a smile to Izuku's face. That smile stayed on his face has he searched through his many, many notebooks for the one that he needed.
It shouldn't have came as a surprise to anyone that Izuku kept notes, primarily on superheroes and Quirks of course. Some would have said that he already had that knowledge in his head, and they would have been right. The thing is, it never hurt to take notes, not to mention there may have came a time when someone else needed them. At the heart of it though was that writing that everything he learned and felt was simply in Izuku's nature. For him at least, there was enjoyment to be found in it.
As he and his classmates were all still heroes-in-training, they were all still developing their powers. That made it somewhat complicated when it came to jotting that information down; space had to be made, sometimes lots of it in case they took huge leaps. One such leap had been the case with Todoroki, whose abilities he recognized earlier on as only being half of what they could have been. He'd left a large amount of space in Todoroki's section to fill up what he hoped would be the dual-colored boy's eventual pyrokinetic abilities, and how he mixed them with his cyrokinetic powers.
"Did you ever…um, Midori, have you ever regretted what you did against Todoroki? With your fingers I mean?"
He'd heard Mina's question before, especially in the weeks following the Sports Festival. Pausing to look at his right hand, he vividly remembered the humongous levels of pain he endured in order to keep pace with his classmate. Oh, it had most definitely hurt…but to him, helping open his friend's eyes had made it worth it. Including the scolding he got afterward. Izuku leaned back in his chair remembering how after the Sports Festival, he rarely attempted to use the Delaware Smash afterward except if he had to. Creating Full Cowl had helped, but he was still a ways' away from being able to fire precision bullets like his idol and mentor could. Even during this afternoon of training with Mina, he'd failed to properly concentrate the air into precise shots, unlike her, who'd succeeded.
Izuku's smile brightened as he began to fill in the allotted space for Mina's section. Her Acid Quirk had always been impressive him to, maybe just as much as her physical appearance. To learn she had such a…history behind her love of it and her heroic inspiration made him feel happier. His eyes flickered to his lap top, A movie about aliens with acidic blood…I could have sworn I've heard something about it. Wasn't it on some top ten or top twenty monster movie list from the twenty-first century? H thought to himself. I'll looking it up once I finish here, maybe I'll be able to find something to help her.
Acid was a versatile substance, but also a dangerous one. As Mina herself had told him, there were limits to how much of her own acid she could tolerate. He remembered how her own pink skin had began to darken and even redden. While watching that happen, Izuku had felt a nagging voice in his head telling him to slow down and spot, albeit he knew if he voiced such a thing Mina might take it the wrong way. Besides, it wasn't like she was blind to the risks of her own Quirk.
"Huh, wouldn't that be the pot calling the kettle black." Mused the young successor flexing right hand. The impulse to head out and continue practicing the Delaware Smash and other finger-assorted moves gripped him, but Izuku beat it back. In doing so, his mind drifted to something else that Mina had said, "So, have you came up with any big show-stealer super moves for your Shoot Style?" Placing his pencil on the desk, he spun around and looked at his legs. "Those moves used by the Toku heroes of the past…not Sentai heroes, the other kind…Riders, Kamen Riders, and their moves were…Rider Kicks!" The sparks in his mind caught fire, driving his arms toward his laptop, his fingers pulling up the search pad in a matter of seconds.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, he made a mental note to thank Mina for the inspiration. He could thank her tomorrow on during their date.
Cra-ack!
"H-Huh? C-C-Crap! W-W-Wait, date? It's not a date, it's a study date! Not a romantic date!" Whenever he thought of tomorrow, he felt his heartbeat spike, and that loss of impulse control had just cost him one pencil. Luckily, he had plenty more, but it was the aftermath of the thought that left him feeling winded. "Ah, I really need to focus on other things, I'm sure Mina's not thinking about me that way…at least…" He couldn't bring himself to finish that statement-to say, "I hope not", because it actually hurt. Ironically, he just moved onto thinking even more about the pink-haired girl. "Oh, what the hell, I might as well look it up. Besides, these monsters were pretty cool to her. How scary can they be?"
It was amazing how a general description yielded such immediate results, and how quickly he was able to pick out the one that he wanted.
Five minutes later, Aoyama, Tokoyami, and Iida would nearly hit the ceiling, shocked to their core by the piercing scream of terror coming from Izuku's room. The latter of which would quite literally bust into the green-haired boy's room believing his classmate and friend to be under attack. What they found was a trembling Izuku, having scooted himself all the way to his backwall having broken his chair in the process. He wouldn't stop shaking for another minute.
Izuku contemplated skipping dinner that night, and maybe breakfast in the morning. He wasn't sure he'd be able to hold anything down in his stomach without vomiting it back up. The boy also felt tempted to skip out on sleeping too until he realized he'd probably suffer for it in the morning. Just to be safe though, Izuku slept with the lights on, and probably would for the next couple of days.
"Uh, hey, Midori? You okay? I didn't um, this isn't my fault, is it?" Mina questioned looking to him with concern in her yellow eyes.
It was inevitable. He'd spent the entire morning looking half-dead with shadows under his eyes, practically everyone had asked him if he'd gotten any sleep last night. The answer was yes, Izuku had gotten some sleep…about four bumpy hours' worth. Izuku hoped that would be enough to keep him going until lunch.
Doing his best, he smiled at her. "I-I'm fine, Ashido, last night was just a little…rough on me, that's all." Seeing her inhaling air to speak, Izuku realized he needed to better explain himself. "I-It wasn't anything you did! I just stayed up all night studying, that's all!" Technically speaking, it wasn't a complete lie, he had studied, albeit in an attempt to bury the disgusting imagery of an alien parasite impregnating a human being. The question was if Mina would buy his lie.
Based on the look on her face…not likely. Izuku could feel himself beginning to sweat as nervousness once more seized him by the throat. It was too early in the morning for this, but he'd created this mess and now he had to walk through it. He nearly flinched as she sighed in frustration. "I had a feeling you'd do something that stupid, suppose it was bound to happen one day. Luckily, I've got a few tricks on hand to help you! Follow me!"
This time, he didn't jump when she grabbed her hand, he'd actually been expecting it. He'd readily accepted it, and Izuku was happy to have it. Suddenly, he felt all the exhaustion and lingering fear that had been eating at him melt away.
You know, this seems like a pretty great way to start the day. He thought as he allowed himself to be pulled along by the pink girl for the second day in a row. His heart spiked a little and he went with the slight acceleration, relishing in it. Izuku relished in the scent of shampoo that Mina had, carried by the morning wind. Mina's touch and her scent, the combination of both was able to make him forget about everything else, including the looks some of their classmates were sending them. Izuku was focused almost entirely on the mop of pink hair and page of yellow horns sticking out from the top. He was caught smiling at it when said moss looked back at him.
"Glad to see I'm already brightening up your morning!" she chirped seeing his blissful expression.
"You've helped me get the morning off to a good start." He casually replied back in spite of the blood beginning to rush to his cheeks. "Ashido, really, you don't have to do this for me."
"Hmmh, I think I actually do, and on top of that, I want to." Mina responded with a grin. "Yesterday, I was caught sleeping in class and you bailed me out. I'd be a crappy friend if I didn't keep you from making the same mistake. Buuut," turning to face him, she shot him one of those cheeky but warm smiles that Izuku was growing more and more attached to. "If let's say you ever got yourself into that kind of mess, I'd be there to save you, just like you did for me!"
Izuku couldn't see how much he was smiling, but he felt if he smiled even more, he'd probably break his face, which he was fine with. He was just that darn happy, and he didn't even truly know why. Luckily for him, Mina didn't seem too disturbed by it and just kept dragging him along to the cafeteria. The smell of food immediately blasted his nose and made his stomach rumble in eager anticipation.
He was quiet as Mina sat him down and told him to sit put while she went to order the food. Curiosity swelled within him as to what she had planned. The cafeteria was sparsely packed as students were filing in, joining the early risers. In due time, he'd been joined by the rest of their class, their friends. From time to time, he would have been amongst them, though after last night he found it a quite miracle he hadn't slept in. A yawn warned him that instead of that, he might be running the risk of falling asleep in class; Izuku shivered at the thought of that happening in Eraserhead's class or All Might's class. Both would be bad enough, but Izuku shuddered at the thought of the former. It would also be downright embarrassing after yesterday.
"Hey, Midori!" Mina's voice sounded.
Just her voice seemed to give him a small surge of energy, it certainly roused his stomach since it was more focused on what food she brought back for him. Izuku's nose wrinkled as he opened his sense of smell and tried to identify what she was carrying. He immediately detected the scent of strawberries. "Shokupan toast?" Izuku honestly wasn't' too surprised that such a simple meal was her kind of breakfast, the jam that she went with might have been the mystery factor. In this case, it was strawberry-flavored jam…and something else.
"I know this is going to seem a little weird, but trust me, you'll love it! Or at least I hope you do, I've learned this kind of thing isn't for everyone." She declared putting her tray down. In addition to the toast, there was a small stack of pancakes and some…energy bars? Meeting his gaze, Mina grinned as she quickly unwrapped one of the energy bars and placed it in-between two loafs. Right before him, she took a bite out of the utterly bizarre customized sandwich. Mina took glee in his wide-eyed expression as she chewed and swallowed, then offered him a bite. "Go on, give it a try."
Izuku's first impulse was to accept, the logical side of his brain screamed that this probably wasn't a good idea, but he didn't listen. Flashing her a grateful smile, he took hold of the bizarre breakfast sandwich and bit down on it.
Green eyes widened, then came the second bite, then the third and then the fourth. By the time Izuku realized he was three-quarters of the way through the sandwich, it was practically too late.
"Ah! And there goes another one!" Proudly proclaimed the pink-adorned girl. "So, pretty good, right? Where is it on a scale of five to ten?"
"I'd give it an eight!" He responded without missing a beat. His taste buds were singing and he was determined to keep the song going.
His response was enough for Mina, who handed him a second sandwich seeing he was almost done with the first. Internally, she felt quite relief that the loads of toast and strawberry-flavored Plus Ultra Energy Bars wouldn't be going to waste, or she'd have to eat them all herself. If she did, she doubted she'd be able to sit still for the entire morning. Even she had an excess limit to sugar and caffeine and all the other substances that had a person bouncing on their feet.
Izuku was well into his third sandwich before he found it in himself to ask his pink-haired friend about her creation. "Ashido, where'd you come up with this idea? Combining shokupan toast with Ultra Energy bars?"
"My second year of junior high." A wistful expression overcame her face as she dove back two years in time. "Both my parents were in a big hurry to get to work so they didn't have time to make me and my brothers a big breakfast, so they cooked the bare minimum and told us to make the most. There were a few Ultra Energy bars lying around while I was eating some toast and decided to combine them." She chuckled while taking another bite of her customized sandwich. "The first flavors I tried were blueberry jam and peanuts. It tasted weird as hell, but pretty damn good! It also gave me some energy that I needed to get through the day."
"I see." He responded, a familiar analytical look began to overtake his face. To the side, Mina found it cute since it was happening while his lips were smeared in crumbs. "The main ingredients for Ultra Energy bars are grown in labs for the express purpose of giving Quirk users energy boosts. I once did a report on it back in middle school."
"What grade did you get?" Inquired the horned-girl.
A sheepish look suddenly overtook him. "I…got a B+, though that was kind of bias on the fault of the judges. I chose all my Ultra Bars based on ones that All Might had advertised. Maybe I should have shaken it up a little." An embarrassed blush colored his cheeks as Mina burst into comedic laughter.
"That…hahah…is so like you, Izuku!"
"Ashido! Please, do not talk with your mouth full, it's inappropriate, not to mention your food could fall out!" Called a familiar voice that caused both teens to turn their heads.
In a way, Izuku was happy that their classmates had finally arrived, it saved him from bringing up the fact that Mina had just called him by his first name. He knew it hadn't been intentional, a slip of the tongue, almost literally. It wasn't like he was angry, Izuku was in fact the opposite. His heart fluttered a little when he recognized his first name instead of his last name leaving her lips. Only a handful of people called him by his first name, not even his mentor on a daily basis. From the looks of things, Mina herself had failed to notice it, and with the arrival of Iida and the others, it seemed to have completely slipped her mind. Hopefully.
Maybe next time…she'll call me by my name again…and I can…maybe ask her if I could try calling her by her first name. That'll only be fair, right?
Personally, Izuku liked eating and studying outside, at least when the weather afforded him the opportunity to. That mashed with his acidic classmate, who was his opposite in many aspects, yet they'd managed to find common ground.
"Ah, it's not summer, but it's still surprisingly nice out, don't you think, Midori?"
"Yeah, I'm happy we can enjoy this weather while we can. It'll be another couple of months before it comes around again. That is, unless you like eating outside in the winter." Izuku chirped.
"Done that before, not fun, but hey, I could do it." Answered back the pink-skinned girl. "What about you? Have you ever done that? Eaten out in the cold?"
Laughter fell from his lips, "Yeah, my mom and I…and…my dad. His Quirk's great at keeping people warm."
"Huh, I wonder if I could do that, just generate acid on my skin to keep myself warm." Leaning back into her seat, Mina crossed her arms and looked to the cloudy yet sunny sky doing its best to shine above them. It wasn't like summer up until a few weeks ago, there was a slight chill that came with the sunny rays. The latter had a slight edge over the former, but that would start to change over the next several weeks. That meant that they had to enjoy the time that they had. They weren't alone as the outdoor seats were sparsely filled with other students who had the same idea as the.
For the moment, it seemed the two had some privacy, something that Izuku was more than a little grateful for. "Hey, Ashido?" he called catching her attention. "Do you remember the talk about our hero names we had yesterday?"
She cocked her head to the side in thought. "Yester…oh yeah, we did have that talk! I told you about where my inspiration came-" The realization dawned on her as evident in her widening eyes. All Izuku did was smile at her in a cute sheepish way. Mina couldn't help but laugh, "So, heheheh, you, uh, looked up the series, didn't you?" He nodded confirming her suspicions. "Um, sorry about that, Midori. I guess I should have given you a warning or something."
"That would have helped." He responded with his own nervous laugh.
Mina's died down as a nervous look of her own overcame her face. It was just like yesterday when she showed some cracks in her usual optimistic and bubbly persona. "Look, I can take criticism about how weird I am." There was a beat as she looked to the side with a deep frown. "Or how my inspiration sounds more like a villain's."
Suddenly, the freckle-faced teen's face broke out into confusion. "A villain's?" He repeated. Mina met his eye, her frown morphing into an apologetic smile. "Er, I can kind of see how those…things would be better inspiration for a villain than a hero, but Ashido, I think that just makes your decision all the more impressive."
Her eyebrows rose. "How so?"
"You're taking something that most people would perceive as a negative and tried to turn it into a positive. That's something that I take is worthy of admiration." It was a good thing he wasn't eating anything at the moment, otherwise it would have made swallowing even harder. "To take something scary and…well, naturally evil, and try to use that as inspiration for something like positive like being a hero…I find that admirable. It does make me sad your original hero name was rejected, but I think your current one works just fine."
The smile that he'd come to know and even love returned to Mina's face in full bloom.
Alright, alright, enough about me, it's time we talked about you! What about your hero name, Midori? Where'd it come from? Did you grow up around a lot of trees? Did you like carving-"
"It was a nickname, a childhood nickname that I had." He politely cut her off.
"A nickname? Hey, that sounds pretty cool! You took a…" The gears in Mina's head as she remembered a certain detail about her friend's hero name. "Deku…it was a name that Bakugo gave you, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it was." Admitted the green-haired and green-eyed boy. "It…looking back, I was pretty defenseless." It felt like he was wadding into the ocean, if he went out any further, he'd be in open water. Izuku had to stop himself from revealing the source of his defenselessness. He could only hope that the truth wouldn't cross Mina's mind; he'd gotten lucky in that area before.
"Defenseless, you? Wait, so that means your Quirk didn't show up until you were older and he picked on you for it?"
"Well…kind of." He admitted. Behind the sorrow, Izuku let out a sigh of relief. His secret was safe, and he didn't even really have to lie about it!
Mina crossed her arms as she tried to figure out where the name, Deku, could have came up. Her eyes widened as she looked up at her classmate, remembering his first name, a name that she'd accidentally called him by at breakfast. That'd felt good. "Oh, defenseless and…Izuku, yeah, that sounds kind of like the thing he'd do." Mina was very aware that kids could be cruel, though some mellowed out as they got older, others seemingly got worse. She was very tempted to put her blonde-haired classmate in the latter category, but she didn't and she had Izuku to thank for that. For whatever reason, he held out faith for his old friend. From time to time, she recalled how that faith seemed to be rewarded. Well, I guess that's a rivalry. Two guys aiming to be the number one hero after All Might. "So, you took a childhood nickname meant as an insult and you're trying to turn it into a positive? If you ask me…that's pretty awesome, Midori."
"Thanks, Ashido." Izuku smiled back. He was tempted to say, "Thank you, Mina." but stopped himself as doing that felt like crossing a bridge where there was no coming back from. That was…frightening to him. Besides, we've only just started to get to know each over these last two days! Things are moving way too fast!
He saw her open her mouth to speak, but the words never got the chance to leave her mouth. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up in a way he was all too familiar with. "Ashido, move!" Reaching across the table, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over the table. It was a move that came naturally to him; luckily, Mina didn't seem to mind as she curled herself into his embrace.
The table they were sitting at was blown apart by…well, Izuku couldn't say he was surprised to see a big stone and clay-composed wolf rampaging through campus. This was U.A., such things were all too common on a sunny, rainy, snowy, or just normal day.
As panic rapidly consumed the outdoor food court, Izuku and Mina were more focused on each other than they were the mayhem around them. The latter was lying directly atop the former, staring down at his widen green eyes. It went both ways, literally, as he looked into her yellow eyes, brighten sunflower-colored irises in the middle of obsidian black. They truly were…alien-like, but that in no way made them scary or unappealing; Izuku actually felt himself being drawn to them. He was losing himself in them to the point he didn't even realize that the rampaging wolf was still on a rampage until its howl practically made his ears bleed. His, and Mina's too.
"Shiiit! How can something made out of rock scream so loudly!" Pulling herself of off her classmate, she looked over to the creature that had disrupted their formerly peaceful lunch. It might have been her imagination, but the wolf seemed to be getting bigger, its earthen body growing darker and harder. "Oh great, looks like someone's lost control of their construct again!"
"Ashido, come on!" Having watched the beast's expression grow wilder, Izuku knew an attack was coming. It was telegraphed by the bright red glow at the base of the creature's neck, something he quietly filled away to be useful later.
Both teenagers jumped aside as the earthen bounce pounded on them, crating a small-sized crater.
"Go for the legs!" Shouted the green-haired boy, his body already channeling his Quirk in preparation for his counterattack.
"A couple shots of Acid Snipe, coming right up!" Her voice was cherry, which was exactly what Izuku was expecting. As she'd practiced yesterday, her finger bent into the form of a gun with acid collecting at the extended tip. Three shots sounded, each one releasing a pressurized pop that momentarily shook the air. Each shot blew right through the earthen wolf causing it to howl in agony. It slumped forward, a hole in each arm and one on its left shoulder. Bright yellow eyes turned in Mina's way and glared. She grinned, "Come and get me, wolfy! You're running lunch break."
The beast's speed was greatly reduced thanks to her shots, it was practically dragging itself toward her. At least until the red glow on its back kicked up causing the holes in its body to begin repairing themselves.
"Distract it, I'm going to do something about its regeneration." Commanded the now glowing boy.
"Got it!"
Digging deep into the earth, the beast enlarged its front paws, then leaped at Mina with the intent of crushing her underfoot. Rather than panic, she concentrated more acid into her finger tip, the resulting bullet growing to the size of a baseball. "Acid Magnum!" She shouted. The attack produced a sound exactly like its namesake, a thunderous crack that launched a sizzling ball of acid at the wolf's left paw.
It howled as it crashed back into the ground, its left arm gone all the way up to the shoulder. As it promised vengeance in the form of a feral growl, Izuku moved on the right claw, tearing it off with his superhuman strength, then moved to the red glow on the beast's back. Rearing his arm back, he brought his fist down, crashing it straight into the animal-themed golem's back. His palms clenched around something, which he then pulled out. He jumped back as the wolf-like construct crumbled away into rocks and clay.
"Midori, you okay?" Mina called stepping over the mess of rock that had formerly been a giant killer wolf.
"Yeah, I'm fine, what about you, Ashido?
Snickering, she held up her index finger and blew over it. "A-Okay, and we can give the seal of approval to the Acid Snipe and Acid Magnum!"
Izuku smiled back at her. It felt great when training paid off. Curbing his happiness for his classmate, he looked down at the object that he'd extracted from the stone wolf. It was a gemstone, a ruby to be exact; its glow dimmed in his hand as pieces of it began to break off.
"Crap! Crap! Crap! Craaaap! Are you two okay? You aren't hurt, are you?" Shouted a male voice that caught both freshmen's attention.
They'd gained a small audience of their fellow students. It seemed rather than intervene, they'd instead chosen to watch the two freshmen deal with the situation. Izuku had a feeling it was a way of seeing if they, members of Class 1-A, were worth all the attention they'd been getting.
The boy who'd called out to them had chocolate-colored hair and bright green eyes that were rimmed with panic as he examined the ruined lunch ground. His eyes focused the ruined remains of the earthen construct. He took a step forward, his face giving away shock as he looked between it and the two freshmen students.
"D-D-Did you two seriously stop it? All on your own?" he whispered.
"And in record time too! I say we take that gemstone back for a refund." Another student, a redhead, muttered looking rather annoyed at the pile of rubble.
"Um, was that that thing…created by your Quirk?" Izuku asked. "And did this come from the Development Studio?" he held up his hand containing the gemstone.
"Yeah," replied the brunette taking the cracked stone from Izuku. "My Quirk is Clay Molding, it allows me to create constructs out of clay, the strength varies on the quality of the clay. See, by implanting gemstones in them, I can boost their power. Or at least, that was the theory anyway."
"Guess those eggheads at the development studio lied to us." Sneered the redhead.
"N-No, t-t-they didn't! I think the gemstone worked!" Izuku suddenly spoke up, once again shifting all attention to himself. Though a small sprout of nervousness took root in him, he pushed past its entrapping roots. "Your wolf golem was pretty tough, it's just…"
"It had the unfortunate fate of running into the two of us." Mina declared; Izuku was silently grateful she'd stepped in as she was better with words than him. Her habit of getting physical cropped up as she threw an arm around Izuku, bringing him close thus causing him to blush bright red. "Pinky and Deku of Class 1-A, future professional heroes! Against us, you could have loaded that canine with all the gems in the world and it wouldn't have helped!"
The two older boys stopped and looked between one another. "Class 1-A?" Their focus fell to Izuku. "Wait a second," the male brunette said.
"You're the kid who went head-to-head with Endeavor's son at the Sports Festival! And you're one of the students who was involved with the yakuza raid!" Exclaimed the redhead. "Holy shit, you're both from Class 1-A!"
"When did we become so popular?" The green-haired boy whispered to his pink-haired classmate.
"I'd say you, Bakugo, and Todoroki helped launch our class to stardom at the Sports Festival. Since then, it seems like trouble keeps on finding us, and we keep on making the most out of it, like right-"
"Daichi Hachiyama!" Boomed a female voice that rolled through the outdoor lunch area. Practically everyone flinched as they recognized what the authoritarian voice meant. The now identified male brunette certainly did.
Izuku and Mina could only give the older boy an apologetic look. "Um, sorry to ruin your afternoon, you two. I'll try to make it up to either of you at some point! I promise!"
Together, they watched the pair of boys march up to the thoroughly angered teacher and through the doors. They both knew a detention was going to be an order for the poor boy known as Daichi Hachiyama. Looking back though, they hoped it would be a light sentencing as the damage his clay construct had incurred didn't seem too.
"Well, that was definitely a memorable lunch, wasn't it?" Mina quipped.
"Yeah, it was. In the end though, I'd say things turned out for the be-our notes, oh no! M-M-Mina, school work!" Screeched the green-haired teen in horror.
Mina felt her heart skip a beat as she followed her friend's gaze. "Shit! Grab what you can! We can't lose our schoolwork after a badass moment like that! Kaminari and Mineta won't let me hear the end of it!"
Their alarm seemingly alerted everyone else to take stock of their things in the aftermath of the commotion. The little mess had eaten up a sizable chunk of the lunch block which added to the urgency, particularly the Class 1-A students. It definitely hammered home Mina's previous remark, it was a memorable lunch, and deep down inside, she hoped it would lead to a memorable afternoon, particularly alongside her green-haired classmate.
A yawn escaped Mina's lips as she closed the door to her dorm room behind her. It was the first hint of exhaustion she felt. This was a common thing for her, once she made it to her room, her body usually instinctively began to unwind. In this case, it'd been another fun day at U.A., the sort that she loved, and maybe a little more.
She felt nothing short of gleeful that she was able to spend practically the entire day with Izuku. Mina liked spending time with him, really liked it for more than just the fact he was able to keep her afloat academically. She'd already told him to his face she considered him something of a nerd, but that wasn't a bad thing, especially since in Mina's opinion, he was more on the cute nerd side. Cute and kind.
Whenever she thought of his freckle-covered face, Mina smiled. He looked cute on a daily basis, with his cuteness factor increasing whenever he got flustered. When he grew serious and supportive, she felt that cute wasn't quite the word to use to describe him…he looked…inspiring, appealing, attractive.
"Geeez, we're just about through the first year yet this is the most that I'm really starting to talk to him and get to know him, and it's only been a day and a half!" She exclaimed. It was a rather vain attempt to disconnect herself from her growing curiosity. Perhaps studying would help keep it from completely overwhelming her; that was something else about her that had changed since she talked to Izuku yesterday. Izuku had done something that professional teachers before him had been attempting to do-get her knuckle down and study. Some had met with success, but none as much as the green-eyed boy.
"Huh? What the…?" Right off the bat she recognized the notebook in her hands not to be hers. Mina knew her notebooks by heart, after all, she decorated them the same way she'd decorated her room-putting her personal touch on them. The one she held in her hands was…differently designed, it had a number of geometric designs on it. Such designs couldn't have came from Mina's hands. Flipping the cover open to the first page, her jaw dropped at the title. "Heroic Aerokinetics and Flight Users?" She flipped pas the first page and was hit with an array of encyclopedia-like walls of texts and illustrates pertaining to Quirks that allowed one to fly. Mina continued to flip through the notebook finding more notes and illustrations.
She didn't read any of the notes, only skim them. Each one gave her a thought as to what kind of notebook this was, and who it could have belonged to. Mina knew of only one person whom would have kept a notebook like this. Well, two or three really, but only one person had handwriting this…eye-catching to her.
Feeling a cold sweat gathering on her face, she put the notebook down and reached for another. The title read, "Gadgetry of Heroes," giving Mina an immediate idea of what the book contained. Her jaw dropped at the vivid detailed descriptions of the various heroic gadgets Izuku had jotted down. Many of them were the equipment of professional heroes, including heroes from the tail end Age of Chaos when Quirks first manifested. Much of the equipment would nowadays be considered antique, especially by her generation. Izuku had jotted them done and written out details of their inner workings, by hand.
"He's got some amazing handwriting…and drawing skills." Mina whispered, safe in the confines of her own room. A tiny voice in her head yelled at her that what she was doing was a violation of privacy, her classmate's privacy! A serious one!
Her mind jumped back a couple hours earlier when they were on their way back from combat practice with the rest of their class. It was the last session they had before beginning preparations for the School Festival. What a time for a mix up like this to happen!
Rising to her feet, Mina looked to the door. Any second, she was expecting a knock to come at it and hear Izuku's voice, politely asking if he had some of his notebooks. A minute passed, and that minute eventually became five in which no knock came. In addition to that, Mina hadn't moved from her desk to the door. If Izuku didn't come to her, she should have gone to him, after all, he could have used these notes!
Inhaling through her nose, Mina put the notebook back in the bag, the same bag that had spilled across the ground hours before alongside Izuku's. They had Kaminari, Mineta, Bakugo, and Kirishima to thank for being in such a hurry and crashing through anything in their way. That's what the promise of a special dinner would do, which even Mina herself felt a temptation to run for. Such a seemingly annoying but innocent act had yielded this strange opportunity.
Reaching back down into her bag, Mina fished out another notebook, one whose title caught her eye.
She knew that Izuku took notes on everything, especially anything hero or Quirk-related. That included notes on his classmates, including her. Those notes were in her hand, a navy-blue notebook labeled "Class 1-A" in black ink on the front cover. Within its pages were his thoughts on his classmates…including her. Mina felt her heart pounding at the possibility of seeing what Izuku really thought of her. It wasn't like she doubted what he said to her face, Izuku wasn't that kind of guy, it was just…she felt like there was always more that he wasn't saying. He was a kind but shy guy who took a little coaxing to truly speak his mind. Well, those thoughts and feelings that normally occupied his mind had likely been put down on paper and now lay in her hands.
"Dammmmit! Come on, Mina, just go give it back to him! You're really about to cross a line here!" She screamed at herself trying to fight the urge within her. It was so damn hard! Falling back onto her bed, she stared up at the ceiling. "I mean, i-it's Izuku, he'll understand…not to mention it's not like it'll hurt if I…lie a little."
She was aware that she was about to head down a slippery slope, but Mina was silently confident in herself. It was just going to be a little peak, and at this book and nothing else! Not even his notes, she could ask him to his face for those! Not to mention doing that would have been more fun as she could have studied with him and had him explain concepts to her.
Mina sighed as she sat upright. "Just one little peek at my section, and that'll be it."
That's all she would do then she'd returned Izuku's books. No damage done to her, him, or their relationship, so there was nothing to worry about, right?
That's chapter two, folks, and really the genesis for this entire story. Originally, this little story focused on the concept you just read-Mina getting a hold of some of Izuku's notes and finding out what he really thinks and how he sees everyone and everything around him. Now, Izuku being Izuku, it's not like she's going to find him secretly having collected dirt on everyone…but Mina does get to see a little more into how his analytical mind works, and his personal thoughts. The latter is the big one as I've always felt Izuku is the type who'll keep a little quiet on his personal thoughts and feelings since he tends to get nervous while trying to be as polite as possible. Personally, I can sympathize with the nervousness part.
Given Izuku's personality, I think it's safe to say that he'd be more than a little freaked out by the Aliens movies, especially any scene involving the Facehuggers. Admittedly, I was pretty grossed out all those years ago when I saw them in the movies for the first time. For the record, my personal favorite movie in the series was Aliens, mostly on account of featuring the colonial marines and actually showing humans putting up a semi-organized resistance against the xenomorphs.
Shokupan means "eating bread" and is every-day bread with soft crush and texture that gives it a bouncy structure. It's normally eaten for breakfast with varying flavors of jam and whatnot. While researching Japanese food, it immediately struck me as the kind of quick breakfast meal Mina would have, then spice it up a little by mixing it up with something else.
Now that we're past that, next chapter should be up in a week or two hopefully. It'll include the fallout from this chapter, which I'm sure you all will be eager to see. Plus, I'll be taking another look at Izuku, who's got something of his own going on while Mina takes a peek through some of his notes. Until then, stay safe, everyone!