Chapter 12: A Long Day Amongst Companions

Izuku was walking towards Momo's mansion once again, except this time he wasn't alone. Mashirao was by his side, still groggy as always with each Saturday morning. Ojiro had run into Midoriya as he was waiting for the female officer to open the gate for him.

"Sounds like your afternoon with Hagakure-san went well," the tailed teen said after a yawn.

Izuku had just given a brief explanation of Tooru's visit yesterday as the two approached Momo's house. Ojiro didn't seem fazed as he was told about everything, but Midoriya guessed it was because he was still not fully awake. The green haired teen cheerfully replied, "Yeah, and things should be interesting when I visit her place next weekend."

"You sure you're up to it Izuku? That's a pretty big step to visit your girlfriend's folks," Mashirao stated with concern in his voice.

Izuku breathed in and out quickly before proclaiming proudly, "Yeah, I think I can handle it!"

Ojiro switched his tone to be more serious as he said, "Man you are a different person than the guy I met back in April. You would stutter about almost anything when speaking about anything that was even remotely stressful, and your interactions with girls were like someone stuck in a room full of banana peels."

Midoriya now had his full attention on his tailed friend.

Mashirao then continued with, "Now look at you, you got a girlfriend, a great one at that, and you can handle stressful situations even better than I can, I think. Maybe I should have asked that we have the sleepover at your place now that I think about it."

Izuku couldn't grasp how to respond to the praise. What Mashirao said was deeply comforting for him, and he had no idea how he could follow up with anything in the next few seconds that would as meaningful as what was just said.

The tailed teen stopped in front of the gate to Momo's house, he stated, "It's okay if you don't respond. I kind of gushed there out of the blue, and I'm sure that is a lot to process at the moment. Your silence tells me enough." He then pressed the intercom, "Yo! It's Yaoyorozu-san's friends here for another day of valued learning. Mind opening the gate?"

After a few moments, a voice responded, "Must you be so informal, boy?" It was Yasumura, and his voice came off as being exhausted.

"It's just the kind of guy I am sir," Mashirao said after shrugging and hitting the button again to speak.

A short sigh came over the intercom before the head butler responded with," I suppose. I'll open the gate post haste, but please excuse the state of the manor at the moment, we have a lot of guests today."

This comment surprised the two teens. The pair looked at the mansion to see a large number of vehicles parked in the front. They had been so absorbed in their talk they didn't notice them as they walked up to the gate. Limos, sports cars, and mint condition vintage vehicles were strewn across the entrance to Momo's house.

With a perplexed look, Ojiro asked, "What do you think is going on?"

"No idea, but I feel we might finally get to meet Yaoyorozu-san's parents today," Izuku replied slowly.

After the gate opened, the two made their way to the house. As they reached the mass of parked cars, they marveled at the high priced vehicles they could never dream of owning in front of them. However, they were quick to be approached by a man in a black suit and cap. Izuku guessed he was in his mid-twenties. The newcomer then said abruptly, "Hey, step away from that car! What are brats like you doing here? That's worth more than you'll ever amount to!"

Midoriya could instantly tell Ojiro had tensed up and was prepared to say something to calm his friend him and the mysterious man down. However, a loud yell brought all three to a stop, "I say! Stop this immediately you! Those are honored guests of this estate!" Yasumura was on the steps to the driveway and quickly made his way to the trio. The butler looked like his usual self except he was carrying a sword at his side.

The driver asked in a baffled voice, "What's the meaning of this sir? These kids obviously don't belong here, do you see what they're wearing?" Izuku wore a light grey t-shirt with dark brown khaki shorts and Mashirao a white and black striped t-shirt with cargo pants. Both also had a backpack with their things for studying and the sleepover, Midoriya's was white and Ojiro's black.

In a stern tone, Makoto explained, "They are obviously not here for the investor meeting you dimwit. They are here for a study lesson with the young mistress of this estate, as these two are aspiring young heroes like her. Now I suggest you get back to your master's vehicle and wait patiently for their return, and not have a power trip by harassing children for simply looking at it, or you and me or going to have a problem!"

The driver stood there with a look of shock as his skin went pale. He then turned and walked towards the vehicle and got in without a word.

Now that the butler was closer, Midoriya got a better look at the sword he had. It was a rapier, the sheath was long and black, and the guard for the rapier was gold and quite busy with its design.

"I swear some people," Yasumura said with disdain before looking at the two teens. "Sorry about that. There is get together today about financials for my master's company. It shouldn't, however, interfere with your time with Yaoyorozu-dono. If you will follow me, please." As the three began making their way towards the house, the head butler pulled out a small radio and stated, "Yuki-san. Are you busy?"

Almost a minute passed before a lazy voice answered, "Not really, sir. You told me just to fix that one busted pipe on the side of the house today, and then I could have the rest of the day off, remember?"

Makoto stopped at the front door and held up a hand to the pair before replying, "Are you done with the task?"

"Just finished sir," Aoi responded.

The head butler then stated, "Midoriya-san and Ojiro-san just had some trouble with one of the drivers of our guests today. I don't want this repeated, but as you know, I am incredibly busy this morning. Could I ask you to greet the rest of the visitors for our young mistress before you finish for the day?

With a bit of worry in her voice, Yuki asked, "Those two okay?"

"Of course, I handled the problem personally," Makoto explained bluntly.

After a few seconds, the woman said, "Yeah, I'll do it. But man, you can be a scary dude sometimes, sir."

Yasumura grunted before answering, "I'll take that as a complement, and thank you." He then pocketed the radio and opened the door before saying, "You two are quite early today. Yaoyorozu-dono is still dressed for the meet and greet this morning, and she still doesn't know of your early arrival yet. I'll go contact her." The butler then made his way towards the main hall to the left after closing the door.

The two sat in some chairs to the right of the entrance while they waited.

Mashirao then spoke up, "Man I'm glad that guy turned out not to be an asshole."

While itching his cheek, Izuku replied, "Yeah, he's turned out quite different than my first impression of him."

"Any idea what was with that sword though? That thing looked more fancy than practical," Ojiro stated with curiosity.

Since the two were now on good terms, Midoriya felt it was okay to reveal the fact of Yasumura's lack of a quirk and explained, "Yaoyorozu-san told me that he's quirkless but quite good at fighting with weapons like those."

With a shocked look on his face, the tailed teen proclaimed, "Wait that guy was seriously going to fight me without a quirk or weapon two weeks ago?"

Izuku shrugged at his friend's comment before saying, "He might have had a hidden weapon on him at the time."

"Perhaps," Mashirao said with a sigh.

The two remained quiet for a few minutes as they watched Ozama come to the door twice to escort people towards the business meeting. Eventually, Midoriya broke the silence by saying, "So you ready for the sleepover tonight?"

Ojiro then stated with glee, "You know it! I'm sure it will be better than whatever the girl's come up with."

The green haired boy squinted his eyes as he replied, "We don't need to outdo them you know. Even then, I doubt they'd tell us how their's went in detail anyways for us to compare to."

"Oh, I know. It's all good fun just to tease Hagakure-san," Mashirao explained as he crossed his arms. He then continued, "Besides even if they don't tell us I doubt that they could-. Woah."

The statement's ending confused Izuku, and he asked, "What's wrong?"

The blonde teen pointed down the left hallway, and Izuku turned around to see quite a sight. It was Momo, she was still making her way to them but what she was wearing was what got both of their attention. It was a bright red sheath dress that went a bit past her knees. On her feet were red high heels that gave off a slight sparkle as she walked towards them. She also wore a thin silver necklace, and while her hair was still in a bun, it was slightly lower than usual, about even with her shoulders.

Once she had arrived, Momo said, "Morning guys. Sorry about not being here to greet you, my mother forgot to tell me about this financial meeting today, but I was able to convince her that I would only stay around for the initial greeting of our guests."

"T-That looks g-good on you Yaoyorozu-san," Izuku said sheepishly. He felt he had to say something, even if her outfit looked a bit much for a girl her age.

"Thanks, Midoriya-san," Momo said with a smile.

Mashirao asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Yeah, it's quite, interesting. It looks like you're ready for a night on the town, not for some business meeting."

Yaoyorozu replied with a now awkward smile, "I will admit I do feel a bit uncomfortable wearing this in front of all those businessmen and woman."

Ojiro then asked yet another question, "Is it because it's embarrassing?"

Blunty, the tall girl, responded, "The outfit? No, I love the dress, but it's just that my-." She paused, before continuing, "Sorry, I'm not comfortable talking about this further."

The boys looked at each other with confused looks after her statement. The tailed teen then stood up and stated, "Never mind then, forget I asked. We'll just head to the study hall while you change, okay?"

Momo sighed before saying, "Thanks for understanding. I'll see you in a few minutes." She then headed for the stairs up to her room.

Mashirao waited untill she had made it up a decent amount of steps before turning around to grab his backpack. As he did, he said, "Well that was weird."

While standing up and putting on his backpack, Midoriya asked, "What do you think that was about?"

Ojiro stood there for a few moments before replying, "I don't know. Most girls our age would be quite embarrassed to be seen in a dress like that by her classmates, even if we are friends of hers. Though going from her hero costume, we shouldn't be surprised at her tastes in fashion."

Izuku did feel that both her current outfit and hero costume did bring out her curves quite well, with the latter showing off a lot more skin than he was comfortable with. The tailed teen began to walk towards the stairs, and his friend followed. As they ascended the stairs, Midoriya spoke up and said, "Well as long as she's comfortable in it, does it matter?"

Mashirao then explained slowly, "I guess not, but it's still odd. She said she liked the dress, but something else was making her uncomfortable about wearing it. You'd think anyone rich would love to be in such an expensive looking outfit."

"Ojiro-kun I thought you said you were done judging her based on her wealth," Midoriya said while having a serious look on his face.

Ojiro held up a hand before explaining, "It's not like that, hear me out here. Usually, girls that dress like that would be very flirtatious, but I've never seen Yaoyorozu-san ever act like that, so what's the reason behind her liking such clothing?"

"It could simply mean she likes slightly r-revealing clothing," Izuku tried to argue.

"Her hero outfit is hardly 'slightly revealing' Izuku. There are clothes with boob windows dude, like her current outfit, and then there's that leotard of her's that not only shows more than that but all of her legs and even her belly as well," the tailed teen responded quickly.

The subject was making Midoriya start to blush, but he again tried to defend Momo's attire choices by saying, "She probably needs to e-expose s-skin to better use her quirk is all."

"Perhaps, but it still makes me uncomfortable around her during our practical lessons, like when I learned when Hagakure-san had to be completely nude to be truly invisible," Mashirao responded hesitantly.

Izuku nodded as he responded, "Ah. I see your point." The pair were on the second floor and in front of the study hall. As they entered Midoriya sighed and said, "I guess with all that's happening today we probably won't get to meet Yaoyorozu-san's parents."

Ojiro took a seat and replied, "Why do you want to meet them?"

"Well it was kind of neat to meet your dad, so I was curious about her parents since we come here so often. I guess I just find it odd that we still haven't seen them, even knowing that they were away the last two weekends," Midoriya explained while taking a seat himself.

Raising an eyebrow, the tailed teen asked, "You found my dad neat despite only being with him for a few minutes?"

"Well yeah. I got to see your father's quirk and how he compares to you both in ability and personality," Izuku responded excitedly.

After exhaling and closing his eyes, Ojiro replied, "I guess it would be interesting to meet Yaoyorozu's parents if you think about it like that."

While they waited for Momo to show up, Mashirao rapidly drifted into a nap. Izuku remained quiet so his friend could enjoy the rest. The green haired teen did ponder why Ojiro had come early. Midoriya had come to maybe learn more about Momo and meet her folks, so what was his tailed friend's reasoning? Was he trying to come early for once but overdid it? Or was he anxious about the sleepover? Was it just chance, and Izuku was overthinking about the situation? It bothered him regardless of what the potential answer could be.

After some time passed, Momo entered the room again wearing the same outfit when she tutored them in the past. Her presence didn't wake Mashirao and Izuku got up and approached the tall girl. With a whisper, he said, "He fell asleep not long after we got here."

With a smirk, Momo replied softly, "He probably got up earlier than normal to make sure he got here on time for once."

"Yeah, a bit too early if you ask me," Izuku said with a sigh as he looked at his sleeping friend.

Yaoyorozu squinted her eyes behind her glasses before saying, "Same can be said for you."

Holding his hands up, the boy tried to explain, "Sorry, I wanted to see if I had a chance of seeing your parents."

The tall girl then asked, "Why is that?"

"Well, I got to meet Ojiro-kun's dad last Thursday. And it got me excited at the possibility to maybe meet your folks," Izuku explained in a hush.

Yaoyorozu then motioned Midoriya to follow her, and the two made their way to the opposite end of the room. They then continued in soft voices as not to disturb Mashirao. Momo started by asking, "If you don't mind me asking, what was his dad like?"

Remembering his tailed friend's text from yesterday, Izuku replied, "Oh, I think Ojiro-kun wouldn't want me to say too much. I think it's a sensitive subject for him."

Now even more curious, Yaoyorozu asked, "Why? His dad wasn't rude or crude to you was he?"

Shaking his head, Midoriya responded with, "No, he was fine, a bit aloof but nothing bad."

The tall girl leaned forwards towards the boy which put him against the wall. She put a hand on the said wall and stated in a slightly raised voice, "You're hiding something."

Turning away from her bust that was now straight ahead of him, Izuku tried to explain, "O-Okay I am, but trust me, even I don't fully understand Ojiro-kun's reasoning behind what he said. I thought maybe I could find out more tonight at our sleepover, with Ida-kun's help, as it concerns me if it's affecting him badly."

Seemingly satisfied with the answer, Momo leaned back and stated, "Well, I hope you find out, cause it sounds serious."

"Thanks, and I'll try," Midoriya sighed as he appreciated her backing off. The tall girl turned around and made her way back to the table, but before she could make it far, the green haired teen said, "Hey wait, Yaoyorozu-san!" Izuku's sudden outburst got Mashirao to slowly turn his head, but luckily he remained asleep.

Momo was quick to whip around and made her way back to Izuku before saying, "Keep it down a notch will you." He nodded rapidly before she asked, "So what is it you want?"

Midoriya felt he should have done this earlier, perhaps two weeks ago. He then stated softly, "Me and the others have a group chat that we use to talk outside of school. I should have offered you to join us after the first study session but it honestly slipped my mind. Maybe it was because I was dealing with my relationship with Tooru at the time but that's beside the point. Would you like to join it?"

Yaoyorozu brought her hands together before happily but quietly replying, "Of course Midoriya-san. That sounds like it would come in handy sometimes."

"It does," Izuku answered. He then exchanged numbers with Momo and added her to the group before the pair sat down to wait for their other friends to arrive.

The day's study lesson was going slowly. Modern hero art history, while fascinating to Midoriya, was kind of an awkward subject for everyone in the room. Mainly, cause it was taught by the +18 only heroine, Midnight. Izuku compared her style of teaching to a sports coach teaching a subject in his previous schools. Sure the required material was covered, but it just felt like the bare minimum. Instead, a decent portion of her classes was spent with her commentary on everything that was happening during school. Having All Might as a teacher, the level three security break-in, the villain invasion, Eraserhead and Thirteen's injuries, the sports festival, the hero killer incident, and more recently teasing about the final exams and their difficulty were such common topics. While interesting to see a teacher's perspective on the events, and how it sometimes sparked discussion between the classmates, it felt out of place. And then there was her playfulness that could switch to anger at the drop of a hat and then her flirtatious plus sometimes sadistic personality on top of everything else, which was weird for a teacher to have even at a school of quirky heroes. The group just shared notes and asked questions to Momo and Tenya about any issues they had for the morning's lesson.

The group stopped to take a break at noon, expecting lunch to be served soon, but as time went by and stomachs growled Momo finally had enough and got up to see what was happening. But before she could even get to the door, it opened on its own, and a slightly overweight short man entered the room. He was wearing a tuxedo. His dress shirt was black, but his jacket, pants, and tie were a dark red. The mysterious man had short and slick black hair but it was greying in areas, plus he had a small petit handlebar mustache.

Momo awkwardly and slowly asked, "Daddy, what are you doing here?"

"Getting away from that mundane get together downstairs. You know I hate attending business meetings, I wish your mother would just be head of the company so I can be over with these trifling things," the elder Yaoyorozu said in annoyance. The man then changed to a more merry tone as he stated, "Besides I've wanted to meet these friends of yours that have been coming over here the last few weekends." Momo sighed and motioned like she was ready to introduce everyone, but her father quickly made his way towards Izuku and out reached a hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Midoriya-san, I've heard and seen quite a lot about you," the man said with a sparkle in his eyes.

"Thank you sir, but I don't believe we've met before," Izuku said while shaking his hand. Now that he was in front of him, the boy realized the man was even shorter than he was. Midoriya guessed he was around Hagakure's height, the shortest person in the group.

"Of course we haven't, but who could forget the face of an individual who gave such a smashing performance at the tournament portion of the hero festival? I did not get to see it in person, as much as I wanted to, but seeing it live on the TV when I was out of town was still quite a heart-pounding experience for me," the man said with glee. It still surprised Izuku just how many people had watched and recognized his efforts even to this day. He could only respond with a soft chuckle, but the older Yaoyorozu had already moved on to Tenya who was still seated. "Ah and you must be Ida-san, my daughter has mentioned your name before, class president," he said in a bow.

While adjusting his glasses, Ida asked, "How did you guess I was the class president?"

Blunty, the man replied, "Well, you look like one, obviously." Tenya sunk in his chair slightly at the comment and it got Ochako to giggle. The parent then turned his head towards Mashirao before saying, "And by process of elimination that means you must be the one that almost got in a kerfuffle with my new head butler."

Ojiro's face had a combination of fear, confusion, and panic after hearing those words and said, "I'm s-so sorry sir, I-I-"

"Woah now, I'm not angry at you boy. Yasumura-san is a good friend of the family, but even I will admit that man can be quite, passionate with his emotions sometimes. From what I've heard you two made amends anyhow, so I have no quarrel with you," the short man stated.

Mashirao then exhaled loudly as he rubbed his temple. He got up and held out a hand before saying, "Thank you for being so understanding sir. The name is Mashirao Ojiro."

As the older Yaoyorozu shook hands with the tailed teen, he eventually snapped his fingers with his free hand, "Wait a second, I remember you now. You are that boy that forfeited before the tournament began."

With an awkward smile, Ojiro replied, "Y-Yeah that was me."

The short man crossed his arms as he said, "A noble gesture indeed, but you really should have competed anyway and proved if you truly were worthy or not of advancing."

Tooru then blurted out, "That's what I said to him!"

The older Yaoyorozu turned around and had a peculiar look on his face. He then asked slowly, "And who might you be miss?"

Tooru approached the man and then proclaimed, "I'm Tooru Hagakure, and I'm Midoriya-kun's new girlfriend." Izuku facepalmed and slowly dragged his hand down his face. He could hear Mashirao trying to hold in a chuckle, and Momo gave out a long sigh.

The short man, however, after a few moments, gave out a heartful laugh and afterward stated, "Ah, youthful love. So quick to announce it to someone you just met. Well regardless, congratulations to you both." He seemed to easily find her hand because of her snap bracelet and shook it. The older Yaoyorozu then once again turned around and this time headed over to Ochako. With a puzzled look on his face, he asked, "You look familiar, mind jogging my memory miss?"

Uraraka looked upward and tapped her cheek a few time before answering, "Oh, you probably recognize me from my performance at the Hero Festival. I was the one who fought the overall winner in the first round of the tournament."

It took a second, but the short man face then turned apologetic as he said, "Ah yes, now I remember. I'm sure you would have made it further if you hadn't gone up against such a strong fellow at the start. Regardless, you gave a valiant effort from what I can recall."

"Thank you, sir," the zero-gravity heroine stated happily as she shook the man's hand.

Just as they parted hands, the door suddenly swung open, and a flustered Yasumura stumbled into the room. The butler looked over at his employer and heaved a massive sigh of relief. However, he quickly stated, "I've been looking all over for you Yaoyorozu-sama, you need to return to the dining room immediately!"

"I'd rather help Sakurai-san cook for our guests, and you know how terrible I am at such a thing," the short man said as he waved off his head butler.

With urgency in his tone, Makoto proclaimed, "You don't understand sir, your wife is also looking for you! She is probably heading this way as we speak!"

"Oh, bother," the older Yaoyorozu stated as he rubbed his temple. He then looked around desperately until fixating at a window to his side; he then asked, "Yasumura-san open this please while I prepare myself." With speed in his movements, the butler did so without a word. His employer, however, removed his gloves and took out a small tube from his pocket.

Momo approached her father and asked, "Daddy, why are you running?"

With a blunt voice, the father replied, "You know as well as I do that nothing is worse than the scorn of your mother."

The younger Yaoyorozu pointed down at him and responded, "And if she finds out you are fleeing it will be that much worse for the both of us."

"A risk I am willing to take my girl," the short man then sat down on the window sill and applied a clear substance from the squeezable tube onto his hands. He then put his hands together, and blue sparks emitted from them, which changed the color of the liquid to white. The short man then looked up at his mostly confused audience and stated, "Well it's been fun, I'm sad we couldn't chat longer. Good luck with the rest of your studying and respective sleepovers tonight." He then climbed down from the window which got everyone but Momo and Makoto to rush to it and see what was happening. Whatever was on his hands was allowing his to stick to the outside wall, sparks could be seen on his hands as he would detach one hand at a time to lower himself. He would then use his quirk to again make the mysterious substance sticky again to cling to the wall. The descending man looked up and said, "Don't give away my position, hurry and close the window please!"

They all took a step back, and Yasumura closed the window before any of the students could do it. He then said in a severe voice, "I recommend you all take a seat, the lady of the house is probably just around the corner."

Everyone did as asked and just as Makoto went to close the door, a woman stepped into the doorway. Standing a few inches taller than her daughter, the female was wearing a red qipao dress with golden embroidery and golden high heels. Like Momo had on earlier, a thin silver necklace was around her neck. Her hair was black with a band of grey on her left side, and it was done in the exact style her daughter had earlier. She looked displeased and turned to butler at her right and asked, "Yasumura-san why are you here? I thought I asked you to find my beloved."

"I'm sorry Yaoyorozu-dono for neglecting my duty you assigned me. I was passing by, and I thought I should inform your daughter and her guests that their lunch would be quite late today," Makoto explained as he gave a bow.

The lady of the house crossed her arms as she said, "Still no sign of him?"

Makoto shot a quick glance at everyone else in the room before responding, "No ma'am. I've already asked everyone one here, and they too haven't sighted him."

"Is that so," the tall woman said slowly as she began to approach the table. She stopped just before Tenya and asked, "You must be the class president Ida-san that my daughter works with."

The teen with glasses got up and bowed slightly as he replied, "Yes ma'am. It's a pleasure to meet you."

With little emotion, she asked, "I hope she has been truthful about her successes in class."

Tenya raised his head and had a puzzled face as he replied, "Of course, she is the smartest in our grade, and these lessons she has provided have been insightful for everyone here, even me, who is just below her in grades."

In a condescending tone, the lady in red asked, "If she is the smartest among you then why does she not have your position?"

"Mother, I already told you our positions were determined by a vote amongst our classmates," Momo stated to argue.

The mother closed her eyes and sighed before responding, "Which is pointless. Positions of power should be chosen on one's merit, not a popularity contest."

This statement brought a silence to the room, as no one knew how to respond to her comment. Yasumura eventually cleared his throat and said, "I think we should continue looking for your husband, Yaoyorozu-dono."

The older Yaoyorozu gave a node before saying, "You are quite right." She turned to Ida and said, "Well I hope you and my daughter keep getting along Ida-san. Good day to you." She then made her way out of the room with Makoto right behind her.

After the door closed, Tenya sat down, and everyone let out a loud exhale. Ida then asked, "Did she just suggest what I think she suggested?"

Momo had a deep blush on her face as she responded, "Yeah, she does that often."

"It's like the rest of us weren't even here," Mashirao spoke up.

Ochako then stated, "Why was she acting like that?"

Yaoyorozu sat down before responding, "My mom knows of Ida-san's family and their influence. She sees him as a proper gentleman that I should be romantically interested in, for the sake of the family name."

Uraraka then shouted, "But Tenya's mine!"

Silence followed as everyone turned to her, and as Ochako realized what she just did went crimson, and so did Tenya. Tooru then got up and went over to shake the floating heroine. As she did this, Hagakure said, "That's right girl! Assert your dominance!" This act got Uraraka to groan at the situation.

Momo giggled and then said, "Don't worry Uraraka-san I'm not interested in him."

"Yeah, I know, I just got caught up in the moment is all," Ochako explained as Tooru hugged her. In a whiny tone, she then said, "Hagakure-san would you please stop."

The invisible girl let her go and responded, "Sorry, I'm just so excited that you're being assertive."

Izuku finally spoke up and said, "Hey what was that quirk your dad did earlier by the window Yaoyorozu-san?"

As Tooru sat down next to her boyfriend, she sighed and patted his back, "Typical Izuku being more interested in quirks than drama."

This got a laugh from everyone as Midoriya blushed from realizing his comment as being entirely off-topic to the current conversation. While it had been a big shock to see Momo's mother act as she did, her father's quirk had been in the back of his mind the whole time.

Once the tall girl caught her breath, she answered, "His quirk is called manipulate. My father can change the molecular structure of objects with his hands but it takes a certain amount of energy to start a reaction, and the more activation energy a reaction requires, the more it tires him. And because he can't harness the energy from his fat cells as I can he is limited with what he can manipulate. But like my quirk he needs to know the ins and out of every substance he works with." Once she finished, Izuku began writing everything she had said down.

Tenya then asked while making a gesture with his hands, "And what was that substance he put on his palms?"

Momo put a hand on her chin as she replied, "Something he designed himself, though he never tells me what it is. He usually uses that to show off his quirk to strangers when he isn't in my mom's presence. It's main purpose though is to escape my mom's wrath or just people he doesn't want to talk to. He's lucky my mother still doesn't know of its existence yet."

Curious in how Momo's quirk came to be, Izuku asked, "And what quirk does your mom possess?"

"She never named her quirk, but she can collect and remove cells plus chemicals from her body. I've only seen her use it to extract excess fat and alcohol. Because of that fact, I've never seen my mother gain weight or get drunk despite eating and drinking as much as she does," Momo explained with a bit of disgust at the last comment.

Mashirao then asked with a concerned tone, "Hey is everything okay between you and your mom?"

"I'd rather not go into that right now," Yaoyorozu replied sounding tired.

"That's cool, sorry I asked," the tailed teen said.

"It's fine, I'm not mad at you, just frustrated with her at the moment," Momo said as she sat up. She then continued before reaching the door, "I need a bathroom break, it will only be a few minutes."

After their tutor had left the room, Tooru then huffed, "Not the best time to ask that kind of question Ojiro-san."

After shrugging, Mashirao said, "What? I'm concerned about her well being; it's what friends do."

It surprised Izuku how much his tailed friend was warming up to Momo. Just weeks before he was being judgemental and wanted nothing to do with her.

Hagakure then argued, "That's fine, and all but this wasn't the best time to ask. You should have waited until we were back at school or something. A lot just happened you know?"

"Okay, okay I get it Hagakure-san. Maybe your right," Ojiro said in a defeated tone.

Tooru seemed to rub this in by saying, "Maybe I'm right? You know I'm right."

Mashirao just turned his head away from her and gave off a grunt.

Ochako's stomach then rumbled, which got everyone's attention. With a creeping blush on her face, she said, "Sorry but I'm famished. Yasumura-san never told us why our lunch is so late. Any idea what could be the hold-up?"

Her question was swiftly answered as the door swung open and Ari Ozama walked in with a cart full of food. "Sorry for the wait," she said softly as she rolled the cart in.

Uraraka then asked, "Why so late?"

"We ended up having more guests than we thought would come and our cook Sakurai-san had to prepare more meals which pushed back making your food," she explained in a quiet voice. Ozama then gave a small bow and said, "He wanted to come and apologize but is currently dealing with a mountain of dishes."

Ari then served pizza with Kobe beef (very high-quality & expensive meat from a specific breed of Japanese cattle) as a topping to everyone. As she passed around some slices, she apologized, "I'm sorry we couldn't serve you something more exquisite. We are low on ingredients after serving so many today."

Izuku was fine with what was being served. Kobe beef was costly, it was something he never got to try before. But now that Momo was absent from the room, he felt motivated to finally ask, "Excuse me miss, but Yaoyorozu-san has always acted oddly whenever food has been served. Is there a reason for that?" His question seemed to get a reaction from Mashirao.

The woman paused a second before answering, "The young master asked Sakurai-san to make simple lunches for your group these last couple weekends. Our head cook is well, very passionate about his job and thought it was beneath him to do so. I think the young master didn't want to come off as showing off to her friends."

Ojiro gave a soft grunt before grabbing a piece of pizza and taking a bite.

Izuku then replied, "Thanks, Ozama-san. I was just curious."

Ari gave a bow in response and then proceeded to pass out the last of the pizza before making her exit.

A few minutes later Momo came back and looked surprised at the food. Sure it was expensive, but since it was pizza, she seemed fine with the choice for once. Ochako told Momo why the food was late before she started digging into her large plate of food. Izuku guessed she was going to have combat training again with the head butler.

Once they had finished, and Ozama had returned to clean up, they started their discussion on experiences in battle since they started school. Before beginning, Momo stated they wouldn't need repeating what they did for the internship, minus Tenya and Izuku since she wanted more details about their encounter with Stain, as they had already discussed that at lunch some weeks ago. Also, she asked that the two boys mentioned previously to go last.

Mashirao volunteered to go first, which made sense, he was the one that suggested some form of studying for this portion of the exam. He first described the entrance exam. Ojiro told how he focused on destroying robots that were targeting fleeing participants. With them distracted, they were easy points, plus he got to help people that were struggling.

Midoriya felt that it fit his tailed friend's personality to help other participants even though it was just a test. This also reminded Izuku when Yuga Aoyama had saved him from one of the robots during the exam. Had he done it to help? Or to show off? Yuga was a hard one to read sometimes, his actions and behavior seemed to contradict at times.

Mashirao continued by retelling his adventures during the hero invasion, how he got teleported to the conflagration zone and had only survived the onslaught of villains with hit-and-run tactics as he was no good fighting so many at once, even if they were weak, and his eventual rescue by the pro hero Power Loader. When it came to the Hero Festival, he just wanted to talk about the obstacle race for obvious reasons but stated that he used his tail to propel himself forward for a speed boost. He explained he wasn't built to be a sprinter, but his quick thinking to utilize his quirk in a new way did get him in eleventh place out of over a hundred students.

Tooru then said she'd be okay going next.

How his girlfriend had passed the entrance exam did intrigue Izuku, as going from her strength alone, how could she destroy the robots on her own?

The invisible girl explained that she quickly realized the mechanical monstrosities could see her despite her quirk and didn't know why.

Tenya spoke up that they probably had thermal instruments that could follow her heat signatures.

Either way, Hagakure was dodging their attacks as she fled their assault but soon learned that the robots weren't above friendly fire to pursue their target. She then used this to her advantage; she would sneak up to one and climb it. Another robot would then attack her and destroy the robot she was on in the process.

While incredible dangerous, Midoriya found the tactic to be quite brilliant, her acrobatics and reflexes would have needed to be top notch to pull off riding and getting off the robots before they would get destroyed if she didn't get injured during the whole ordeal.

Tooru then recounted her time during the villain invasion as mostly just hiding and dodging Todoroki's ice attacks as he fought villains. When it came to the Hero Festival, she seemed a bit down. While Hagakure was indeed fast, she got stuck behind crowds of people at almost every obstacle, and she said the minefield had spooked her and she crossed it at a much slower pace. She stated that she wished should have been the front of the pack at the start of the race, then maybe she would have placed better than 36th place, just above the cutoff point of forty.

Momo cleared her throat before speaking. To everyone's, but Tenya, surprise, she revealed that she had gotten into U.A. with a scholarship. So she immediately went into discussing her fights at the unforeseen simulation joint. Yaoyorozu went into detail about how she worked with Jiro and Kaminari against groups of villains using teamwork. Her tone shifted to a more somber one once she started talking about the Hero Festival. Momo was disgusted by Minoru, who hitched a ride on her during the end of the race, which she placed in seventeenth. Her voice was a bit merrier when she talked about the cavalry battle, as they had placed in first. But she seemed disappointed again when retelling her loss to Fumikage during the first round of the tournament. The tall girl said she wasn't able to produce anything fast enough with her quirk before being attacked by Tokoyami's Dark Shadow. She seemed upset from the loss but quickly calmed herself and asked Ochako to go next.

Uraraka explained how she got points during the entrance exam by sneaking up to robots and having them float high enough in the air so that their fall would destroy them. She then praised Izuku for his rescue by destroying the "thwomp," though he was quick to also thank her for saving him from falling to death. Ochako then proceeded to also praise Tenya for saving her from being teleported away during the villain invasion. She had convinced Ida to escape, against his wishes to stay and help, and contact pro heroes for a rescue. The zero-gravity heroine also explained that with her quirk she was able to move the injured body of their homeroom teacher to safety. Staying ahead of the pack was what Uraraka credited to placing in sixteenth place during the obstacle race. She was open about her dislike of Mei Hatsume's behavior for all the events, which Izuku found odd but didn't think it was appropriate to ask at the time. Her match against Katsuki seemed like a sore subject for Ochako to bring up, but she was able to discuss it analytically with her friends on why she lost.

Tenya decided to get up and ask Tooru to move so he could sit next to Izuku before speaking, which she was happy to do. Instead of focusing on the high number of points that he received at the entrance exam he wanted to be upfront with everyone that he too was offered a scholarship to enter U.A. but turned it down to prove to himself that he deserved to enter the school. He placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder as he praised his selfless act for saving Ochako, and also subverting the point of the exam, explaining how Midoriya had passed even with zero points. Ida discussed his inner turmoil of needing to stay behind to protect his classmates as a duty of the class president, but also of Uraraka's logic that he should be the one to escape and alert the pro heroes. He seemed frustrated that he placed sixth in the first event of the Hero Festival despite the nature of his quirk, but he pointed out not everything is about speed, after all. The class president again turned towards Midoriya to exalt him for placing first place using just his wits. Tenya seemed mixed about the cavalry battle, while on the one hand, he had placed first, he also felt sorry for leaving his friend to fend for himself and thanked Ochako for having the courage to do what he couldn't. Ida, like Uraraka, was quick to detail his disdain for Mei using him as a pitch for her products during their match in the tournament. He then mentioned that his plan to quickly knock Todoroki out of the ring during their match was flawed and perhaps should have tried to tire him out by keeping his distance with superior speed.

Momo then asked for Izuku to have his say before Tenya could discuss his run-in with Stain. Midoriya agreed and while hesitant to say it, revealed that he was quirkless before applying to their school and that he had obtained his quirk the day of the entrance exam to everyone but Tooru's surprise. He didn't go into his training before school, however, as for now, he still wanted to keep that a secret. Midoriya then detailed his time spent with Asui and Mineta after being teleported away while at the unforeseen simulation joint. Izuku already felt he had been praised enough during the first event of the Hero Festival and instead discussed his tactics during the cavalry battle and his reasoning behind his bravado against Shoto in the tournament. He needed to expose all that Todoroki had told him about his family in order to get the point across that the student needed saving. The group listened to his explanation with baited breath. Midoriya thought it would be essential to bring up that Recovery Girl had refused to heal him again if he hurt himself in such a way again as well. He was sure to mention how he had relied on her healing too much, which forced him to come up with Full Cowl.

Once Midoriya had finished, Ida adjusted his glasses and began explaining his plan to seek revenge against Stain. After some research, he chose the pro hero Manual for his internship as his hero office was closest to where the Hero Killer had been sighted and attacked heroes out of the entire list of possible pro heroes he was given. The class president would have preferred a more high profile pro hero to work under, to increase his chance of being confronted by the murderer but the well-known hero's patrolled elsewhere. Ida then paused his story to bring up the futility of revenge and compared it to Todoroki's turmoils as an example of why it just hurt oneself and everyone around you for one's selfish purposes. He then turned it over to Izuku explain how he found them.

Izuku knew Mashirao and Tooru knew this already but explained anyway. He stated that he had learned from the news that Stain had a high rate of ambushing heroes in blind spots from places like back alleys and after making his way to near the agency, it was only a matter of time before he would find the Hero Killer by narrowing his search. Midoriya made a point that if Stain had fought seriously at the beginning, both he and Ida would have been dead before Todoroki could arrive. He continued this point by saying even when the Hero Killer fought seriously, only the combined effort of the three could bring him down.

The last conversation had brought down the mood in the room, but Momo eventually broke the silence by saying, "What you three did might have broken about every rule I can think of. But in the end, no one was killed. Be that luck or a testament to your skills the three of you could have gotten off so much worse than you did." Tenya and Izuku could only give a simple nod in response. The tall girl then called for the end of their study session.

Everyone began to put their materials away and chatted about the sleepovers that would soon be happening. Before the boys made their leave to Tenya's home, Mashirao approached Momo and said with an outstretched hand, "Yaoyorozu-san, thanks for letting us have this talk instead of studying. It meant a lot to me."

She shook his hand and said, "You're welcome but I'm sorry I couldn't do more for us to prepare for the practical part of our final."

They parted hands, and Ojiro replied, "It's fine, and you're right though. The rest will be up to ourselves." He then turned around and joined the guys as they left the room.


The trio had recently left the subway station and was making their way down a busy part of town. They eventually made their way to a fancy and large townhome in a quieter part of the neighborhood.

Mashirao then said, "So this is the place?"

As they stopped at the front door Tenya replied, "Yep, home sweet home."

Ojiro then stated, "It's nice to see you aren't in a mansion."

Ida adjusted his specs as he explained, "Oh, we have one of those, but my grandparents live there at the moment. We all used to be there when my brothers and I were younger."

Both of the other boys got a reaction out of this, but Izuku was the one to say, "Brothers? As in plural?"

"Yeah, I have four total," Tenya responded like it wasn't a big deal.

"That's a pretty big family," Mashirao said while scratching the back of his head.

Ida began to unlock the door, before saying, "Don't worry. It's not going to be that crowded. It should just be my older brother Tensei and my parents tonight; I made sure of that." He then opened the door to reveal a comfy looking entrance way with nick-nacks all over the walls.

As the three walked in Tensei wheeled in on a wheelchair from a room on the right looking exhausted. He was wearing white pants and a buttoned-up light blue shirt with black slippers. Izuku swore he looked almost exactly like his younger brother minus his lack of glasses and age.

"Evening boys," the older Ida said as he came to a stop.

In a worried tone, Tenya said, "Tensei you shouldn't be pushing yourself. You just came home from the hospital."

Leaning back into his wheelchair, the older brother replied, "You worry too much bro. I might not be able to be a pro-hero anymore, but I wanna at least be able to get around on my own. So I gotta get myself back into shape somehow even if it's just a little at a time." The younger Ida just groaned in response. Tensei then crossed his arms before saying, "By the way, mom and dad won't be here tonight."

The class president let out a sigh before asking, "Work holding them up again?"

While rubbing his temple, the disabled man said, "Yep, their office merger with Team Idaten has been troublesome."

Intrigued, Izuku spoke up, "Isn't that your agency, sir?"

"It was, Midoriya-san," the older brother replied with melancholy. "Because the large number of sidekicks I had I didn't want to disband my office as it would put too many of them out of work so I discussed the idea with my folks to just take them all in. However, there's been a mountain of paperwork to go through, even from my end despite my career as a hero being over." He then wheeled forward and stopped right in front of the green haired teen with an outstretched hand and stated, "It's nice to meet you finally." The two shook hands and after they parted the older Ida turned towards the tailed hero and said, "And you must be Mashirao Ojiro."

While also shaking his hand, Mashirao responded with, "Yes, sir. I guess your younger brother has mentioned us before?"

After the shake, Tensei explained, "Yeah once I got injured I had a lot of free time to catch up with my little bro with his school work and friends. You all sound like an interesting bunch alright."

Tenya then put down his backpack by the stairs in the entrance way and said, "Well we best get going to get some food Tensei." The younger Ida turned towards his tailed friend and asked, "Mind joining me Ojiro-san? Just of the two of us should be enough."

A bit apprehensively, Ojiro responded with, "Sure. But what's wrong with Midoriya-kun just tagging along with us?"

"I just wanna chat between the two of us if that's okay," Tenya responded with the emphasis on the word chat.

The tailed teen still had a perplexed look on his face but shrugged and asked, "You okay with that Midoriya-kun?"

Izuku figured that whatever his friend wanted to discuss was private and nodded in approval.

"Fine by me then," Mashirao stated.

"We shouldn't be too long Midoriya-kun. My room is just upstairs on the right if you wanna wait up there and have a look around," the younger Ida said as he opened the door before stepping outside with Ojiro behind him.

Izuku was curious at what the two could be chatting about that needed to private. He hoped that he could instead have some alone time with Tenya so he could bring up the idea of working together to get more info out of Mashirao about his dad. Regardless, he now stood in the entrance to the home with Tensei at his side.

"If you would rather talk with me Midoriya-san while you wait, then just follow me," the injured man said as he wheeled into the room to the right.

As Midoriya followed, another idea slipped into his mind. Perhaps his Tenya had wanted his brother to talk with him and the chat with Mashirao was just a ruse.

Either way, Tensei gestured to a black leather sofa, and Izuku sat down and put down his backpack to the side. Tensei leaned back into his wheelchair before starting the conversation with, "So how goes your study sessions with your vice president?"

"They've been very informative on many fronts. I've learned a bit academically, but much more about my friends Yaoyorozu-san and Ojiro-kun," Midoriya explained.

With satisfaction within his voice, Ida replied, "I'm happy to hear that it's been a good bonding experience for you and your friends. At first, I found it odd that my bro was going to them, as his grades are already excellent as is, but I failed to consider the social angle of it all." He let out a sigh before continuing, "Did you know my little bro used to have a hard time making friends?"

"No, sir," Izuku said with shock.

After a chuckle, Tensei explained, "If you thought my bro is a bit serious at times you should have seen him in primary school. I swear he sometimes acted like a robot, though his hand gestures didn't help his image in that regard."

The green haired teen held back a chuckle of his own, at the mental image of such a situation playing out.

The injured man continued, "But he's been mellowing out a lot these last couple of months. Whether that be because of you and your friends, or specifically his girlfriend I don't know, but it's been a noticeable change."

Midoriya went wide-eyed at the last statement and then asked, "They're a c-couple now?"

"No, but they might as well be. My bro really loves that girl you know, he's just letting his feelings about hero work get in the way of things," Ida replied with a shrug.

Intrigued, Izuku asked another question, "What do you mean by hero work?"

"He's conflicted about his school work and eventual career affecting their relationship. It's not about if them going out will affect his grades but instead the possibility of his work ethic hindering their relationship," Tensei explained with a hand on his chin. He then continued by saying, "I say he just confess to Uraraka-san and just deal with the baggage it might bring later. She seems like a nice girl from what I could tell when she visited me in the hospital. He's had terrible luck with women in the past, why not go with the one that actually cares about him and not the family's money or popularity for once."

The injured man's explanation resurfaced, in Midoriya's mind, Momo's mother's behavior from earlier in the day. Was this that common in the world of the wealthy? Were such people drawn to each other with the singular purpose of fame and fortune? That's not love, that's just the want of one's cash and status, he thought. Did Tenya ever have this happen? Momo had experienced the same thing with the boys she invited to study with her that she was interested in. Said guys were not interested in learning from her, but of getting closer to her for the benefits that her family would bring. Midoriya was starting to wonder, did anyone in his group of friends have a normal childhood, including himself? What even is a normal childhood these days? Either way, he was glad they were all friends, so the could rely upon one another when the other was down.

"So this is the fabled mumbling that my bro has told me about," Tensei said with interest.

Izuku cleared his throat before replying, "Sorry it just happens sometimes when I'm in deep thought."

"It's cool; I found it hard to believe when my bro told me about it. But seeing it in action has me a believer now," Ida said with a big grin. Midoriya gave an awkward chuckle as a response. Tensei then switched to a more serious tone as he stated, "Anyways, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart Midoriya-san for helping out my little brother during his time of need both when he was attacked by the Hero Killer and after the fact."

The green haired teen figured that Tenya had told his brother about what happened in the back of the gym that one day. Either way, he replied, "No problem sir. A true hero helps people in need even if they don't want it."

The injured man continued his firm voice as he said, "Just remember you aren't an actual hero yet. What you did was quite reckless against Stain, but in the end, everything turned out fine, just keep that in mind in the future. Continue with following those words you just said though and I bet you could be a hero to rival All Might in ideals at least one day."

Midoriya gave a slight blush of pride as he gave firm nod before he heard the front door open.

Tenya and Mashirao walked in with four bags of food and some drinks.

"That was fast," Izuku said as he stood up.

The younger Ida replied, "I ordered the food before we got here. All we needed to do was pick it up." The two that just entered placed the food in the kitchen before Tenya turned around and said, "You two can head up to the room. I'll prepare the food and I also need to help my brother to bed."

Mashirao and Izuku made for the stairs, but before the green haired boy climbed them, he turned to Tensei and said, "Thanks for keeping me company sir. Good night."

The older Ida just gave a soft wave before Midoriya made his way up to the younger Ida's room. Both teens entered it with mixed reactions. On the left side Tenya had many pairs of glasses take up at least half the wall, and on the right was bookshelf after bookshelf of books. Most of the books looked academic, but in the far right corner, Izuku spotted a shelf with just comic books and manga. Everything was neat, orderly, and spotless. The only hint of a mess was his desk, which had notes from class unevenly stacked on top of each other. Finally, at the end of the left side of the room, a huge TV was mounted on the wall. Midoriya guessed it had to be at least a meter and a half across.

"This room is Ida-kun's alright," Ojiro said finally breaking the silence as they looked over the room.

"Uh-huh," was all Midoriya could say. That was the first time he had heard his tailed friend add that honorific to Tenya's name, he realized. However, the green haired teen soon collected his thoughts and asked, "If you don't mind me asking, what did Ida-kun want to talk to you in private about?"

Mashirao sat down at his desk as he said, "Oh, that? He just wanted to ask for some advice about Uraraka-san."

In a worried tone, Izuku asked, "Is everything okay?"

The tailed teen slowly began to spin in the chair using his tail as he replied, "Yeah. It's just Uraraka-san has been a bit more, assertive lately. Ida-kun described it as, increased physical contact."

Midoriya tried his hardest to hold back a laugh but failed, and his fit of laughter confused Ojiro as he stopped spinning in the chair. To think that Tenya would use his own words to describe the situation was just too funny not to react.

Still baffled at the reaction, the tailed teen asked, "You okay man?"

After a couple of breaths, the green haired teen replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. But anyways, while we still have time, how did you respond to Ida-kun?"

Bluntly, Mashirao explained, "I told him to man up. He's got a cute girl that's interested in him, and he should be happy she wants to be closer to him."

"I see," Izuku said softly, and while he began to ponder the tailed friend's advice, Tenya walked in carrying a tray of chicken wings. He put them on a coffee table in front of the TV and took off a different backpack than the one he brought to the study session. As he took out drinks in liter size from his backpack he asked, "So what do you all think my room?"

"Why the hell do you have so many glasses dude," Mashirao said rapidly.

Ida continued to calmly remove plastic plates and cups from his backpack as he explained, "You would be surprised how often I get my glasses broken when training. I got tired of having to wait for a new pair each time I broke one, so I just got a bunch to eliminate that problem. It helps to be prepared for anything."

Ojiro put his hands up in the air as a sign of defeat and sighed.

Midoriya however, asked, "That's a lot of school books you have Ida-kun. But I noticed you have some comics and manga as well."

A slight blush crept onto the tall teen's face as he replied, "I'll admit I like to read an action-packed piece of literature from time to time to pump me up."

"Speaking of being pumped up, I bought the movie we agreed upon Tenya-kun," Mashirao proudly stated.

"Good, it will give us something to do as we eat and drink," Tenya said as he grabbed a plate of wings and sat on his bed.

Confused at what was going on, Izuku asked, "When did this agreement happen?"

Ida responded, "Ojiro-kun and I discussed this after class on Friday. We wanted to include you too, but you were busy conversing with Hagakure-san."

Midoriya was satisfied with the explanation and then sat down at the coffee table. He then noticed four distinct flavors of chicken wings: teriyaki, honey chipotle, salt & pepper dry rub, and jalapeno. The green haired boy decided on teriyaki and jalapeno and grabbed some as his tailed friend started the movie.

For the next two hours, the boys happily enjoyed their food and drinks as they watched the movie. It surprised Izuku that he had never seen this flick before, perhaps because it was over a century old. The aged CGI was the dead give away, but it was still an enjoyable movie. Of course, it was hero themed, a team-up specifically. It started with solo heroes unable to handle a new threat and needed to team up to defeat it. A typical plot device but Midoriya it mainly liked it because of its characters.

While alone they seemed onenote, together they played off one another really well. Mashirao was very vocal during the action scenes, which sometimes startled Izuku since the tailed teen had continued to sit in the chair at the Tenya's desk and his reactions were exaggerated by being in the chair. Ida himself was mostly quiet save for pointing a few inconsistencies in the film's plot and logic, but it didn't bother the other two boys.

At the end of the movie, Mashirao stood up and looked rearing to go and said, "Man I feel like I could fight a villain right here and now, movies like this always pumped me up as a little kid."

Tenya then spoke up, "Might I suggest something to release some steam then?"

Curious at the offer, Ojiro asked, "What do you have in mind?"

"How about we arm wrestle? It's simple but can accomplish what you wish. Besides I've been curious on how I stand in strength between you guys," Ida explained. Izuku too had pondered how he compared with his classmates, though with Full Cowl. But he didn't want to use it for something like this.

The tailed teen took a moment to ponder the idea before nodding and saying, "I'd be down with that."

Midoriya was quick to add, "If it's okay with you guys I'd rather not use my quirk."

Both Tenya and Mashirao replied at the same time, "Sure."

The trio then cleaned off the coffee table to serve as their dueling arena. Ojiro was quick to volunteer himself to go first, and Ida gladly accepted his challenge. However before they began, Mashirao removed his shirt and sat down ready to go.

Ida said while tilting his head as he asked, "Why did you do that?"

Ojiro shot him an index finger and replied, "Cause it's a battle of muscle is why."

Tenya leaned forward before saying, "You're making this weird Ojiro-kun."

The tailed teen punched his fist into his palm as he argued, "It's not weird, it's fun. Now come on, dude! Get in the spirit of it!"

Ida grunted before taking his shirt off and joining him at the table. Izuku noted that both his friends were well built, but the tailed teen was more muscular than his taller opponent. The tall teen then put his right elbow on the table to get in position and said, "How about first to three wins? And we do both arms okay?"

Mashirao grasped Tenya's hand before saying, "Sounds good to me. Let's go!"

It was complete shutout for Ojiro. He won three times in a row for each arm. Tenya asked for a few minutes to catch his breath before going against Izuku. The short teen was hesitant to take off his shirt, but his friends eventually convinced him. It was a tie between Izuku and Tenya. Izuku won three to one on his right arm, and Ida three to two for his left. Before Ojiro sat down to try a go with Midoriya, the tailed teen asked, "Izuku I want you to use Full Cowl against me."

Midoriya tried to argue, "But Ojiro-kun I thought we-."

"I want to beat you at your best," Mashirao interrupted. He then continued, "I want a challenge! And Ida-kun didn't provide that for me." Ojiro then turned to Ida and said, "No offense man."

Tenya crossed his arms before replying, "None taken Ojiro-kun. My true strength lies with my legs anyhow. I didn't expect much from myself just from using my arms. I was just curious how I fared against you two without my quirk."

Izuku didn't know why he was having this feeling of wanting to say yes within himself when he just previously had the opposite desire. Perhaps it was because he wanted to satisfy his tailed friend or maybe because it was he wanted to see how Full Cowl compared in strength to his classmates, even if it was just arm wrestling. Either way, the green haired teen finally answered by saying, "Okay, I'll use it, but that means I want to you go all out as well."

Mashirao nodded before assuming the position. Izuku then clasped his friend's right hand and activated Full Cowl at five percent. The two counted down from three, and the first round for the right arm began.

Immediately Ojiro almost ended the round, as Midoriya's arm was just an inch from the table. For about a minute the inheritor for All for One slowly brought his arm back to its original position. The two held the position for a few moments before Midoriya's endurance faltered and lost the first round.

He was quick to return his arm for the next round. This time he braced himself for the beginning and was able to hold even with Ojiro for a couple of minutes before again losing his concentration. Before going for another try Izuku admitted to himself that outlasting his tailed friend wasn't going to happen, he just didn't have the experience yet with using his quirk. But he instead decided just to try and push himself in a single burst.

And it worked, the third round was over immediately, the burst lasted for less than a second, but he had finally beaten Mashirao. As the tailed teen shook his hand a bit, Midoriya felt that brief moment of Full Cowl wasn't five percent, but more. Before he could ponder this thought more, Ojiro was ready for round four.

This time the tailed hero was able to hold off Izuku's increased strength for a few seconds before succumbing to his might. Midoriya was struggling to maintain this advanced Full Cowl; it was taking all he had to do so and was panting because of it. However, he was still determined to finish this and brought his arm up one last time for the final round. This time the two remained in the starting position for a few seconds, but to the green haired teen's surprise, Mashirao was gaining the upper hand as he slowly brought his hand downward. The struggle only lasted a moment before Izuku lost control and came out of Full Cowl. His hand was then slammed onto the table.

"That was intense," Tenya said with a look of shook.

As the defeated teen rubbed his hand, he said, "Yeah it was. You ready for some rounds with our left arms Ojiro-kun?"

The tailed teen shook both his hands before replying, "Nah dude; we're both bushed. Besides, I'm ambidextrous, and you're obviously right-handed. It would just be my win."

Izuku was not against ending it there. His right arm hurt like hell, and couldn't see himself using his quirk again to such a level in such a short time. Now that had some time to think it over, he gauged that he had used about eight percent of his quirk's power. In no way was it usable in battle at this point, but it was progression. What really surprised Midoriya though was how strong his tailed friend was. He thought, if he's that strong even without his quirk, how much strength does his tail have?

Mashirao broke the silence by stating, "But man, now that I'm up close to you when you use your quirk, your Full Cowl looks kind of cool."

But before Midoriya could respond, all the boy's phones vibrated.

Ojiro rubbed the back of his head as he said, "Who could that be?"

The trio then grabbed their phones to see what was going on.

Blank: Evening boys! Hope you're having as much fun as we gals are having!

Mashirao gave a grunt before vigorously typing a message.

Lion: Okay what gives? You're up to something Hagakure-san.

A minute passed before a message with a picture was posted.

Blank: Just wanted to give you boys a little taste of what you are missing!

The picture had all the boys go wide-eyed. It had all three girls around a round table that had cake on it. The cake had white frosting but was covered with a variety of fruit including strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi. A few slices had already been cut and looked partially eaten on plates to the side of the cake.

But that wasn't the kicker here. The girl's themselves was the scandalous part.

Tooru was on the front left, indicating that she had taken a selfie. She wasn't obscuring much of course because of her invisible head. But because of the angle of the photo, her back bra strap was exposed. It was blue, just like yesterday. Izuku hated that he remembered that detail. Momo and Ochako both looked to be trying to grab Tooru's phone.

Yaoyorozu was wearing the same pajamas Midoriya had seen the morning of the first study session, the white one with all the atomic symbols. Except here she had it buttoned down enough to show a decent amount of cleavage.

And finally, Uraraka was the worst offender. She was wearing an oversized white T-shirt but was wearing no bottoms. At all. And again because of the angle of the shot, it revealed more than it should have. Ochako's black panties were showing. The shirt obscured most of it, but the action of trying to grab the phone left her left thigh and her underwear exposed on that side.

After a few seconds of trying to process what he was seeing, a crash stopped Izuku's train of thought. Tenya had fallen off his bed head first. Midoriya quickly went over and asked, "Are you okay Ida-kun?"

The fallen teen slowly groaned, "No." A few seconds passed before he continued in a muffled voice since his face was planted in the carpet, "I don't know how you can handle Hagakure-san, Midoriya-kun."

The green haired teen gave an awkward chuckle before helping his friend up and saying, "Yeah I'm surprised myself sometimes."

Once they were both in standing position, the pair looked over at Mashirao. He was still staring at his phone and was typing away. In a curious tone, Tenya asked, "What are saying to them Ojiro-kun?"

Just then the tailed teen finished typing and stated with a mischievous smile, "Just giving the girls a treat as well."

Izuku and Tenya gulped and immediately grabbed their phones again to see that Mashirao had posted a message and picture on the group chat.

Lion: The guys are having our fair share of fun as well ladies.

Ojiro had taken a selfie as well. It showed him flexing his bicep with Midoriya hovering over Ida after the latter had fallen off his bed in the background. The boys were all still shirtless which meant it showed a good amount of Izuku's physique, but only Tenya's back was exposed. As both boys mouths were agape at what just happened, another message came up.

Lion: And by the way, next time you take a picture, take a GOOD look at it before you upload it.

Mashirao then tossed his phone on Ida's bed before walking over to put a shirt on.

Tenya could only ask slowly, "But why?"

Ojiro shrugged and said, "It's all in good fun. I felt we needed to give them something in return. Besides, that picture Hagakure-san sent us was much more revealing than what I sent." After becoming fully clothed, the tailed teen asked, "So what do you all want to do next?"

Ida plopped down on his bed and let out a long sigh before answering, "I just wanna sleep now. I don't want to think what the girls will say in their response."

"Oh, I don't think we'll have to worry about hearing anything from them tonight. I doubt Hagakure-san looked at her picture before sending it; she was probably too busy trying to escape the other girls from taking her phone when she posted it. They should be too embarrassed to respond, especially after what I just posted on top of that," Mashirao explained proudly.

Tenya looked too tired to argue and said, "Whatever." He then got up and got dressed, as did Izuku. The tall teen went to his closet and took out two foldable cots. The boys set them up after cleaning their mess from eating and moved the table to the side of the room to make room for their beds for the night. As Ida grabbed some blankets and pillows, he asked, "Before we call it a night, do you mind telling us how your date during Hagakure-san's birthday went Midoriya-kun?"

The question gave pause to Izuku, but after a deep breath he replied, "S-Sure, just give me a minute."

After the two got comfortable in their cots, and Ida turned off the lights, Midoriya then explained his day to his friends. He again told the whole story in detail, minus his encounter with Eraserhead and the more personal details of Tooru that he had learned since meeting her. Izuku also explained his training before the entrance exam, again saying his 'uncle' had helped him clean the beach. This was the third time he had to tell this, but it still got him emotional when talking about it. Once he finished his account, however, the green haired teen heard a sniffle to his right. It was Tenya.

Mashirao spoke up, "You okay over there?"

The tall teen cleared his throat before responding, "Sorry, it's just that was really sweet. It got to me."

"True. A bit too sweet for my tastes but whatever, it got Izuku his girl, so I ain't complaining," Ojiro said as he shifted around in his cot.

Midoriya grinned before saying, "Thanks, guys." After gushing as much as he did, he felt this would be the best time to ask his tailed friend the question that had been bugging him for half the week. Izuku turned over to Mashirao's cot and asked, "Ojiro-kun, I know it's personal but could you tell us more about your dad's condition?"

For a few seconds there was no response, but after a soft groan, Mashirao responded with, "Look I think I know what you're getting at here, but I'm fine. My dad might be pretty sick, but he isn't gonna die anytime soon from his disease. I've still got plenty of years to spend with him before things go south and when that times come, I'll be ready to deal with it. Can we just leave it like that for now, please?"

It still surprised Midoriya that Ojiro was so good at reading people's emotions. He was able to guess that Izuku was worried for him because of his father's condition. Midoriya wasn't entirely convinced that Ojiro was completely okay with it but he didn't want to pry further into the conversation and said, "I won't say anymore. I was just worried about you, you know?"

"It's cool Izuku, and I appreciate the concern, but I'm just not comfortable talking about it all yet," Ojiro replied in a tired voice.

"Well on that note, I suggest we get some shut-eye," Tenya said with a sleepy tone.

Mashirao, however, spoke up and said, "Not yet! Midoriya-kun and I have said something; you need to as well Ida-kun!"

Ida shifted in his bed before replying, "You really didn't say much of anything Ojiro-kun, but fine. What do you want to know about me?"

"What I wanna know more about, is you and Uraraka-san," the tailed teen said bluntly.

The tall teen was quick to respond with, "H-How so?"

Mashirao got up and asked, "Do you wanna be her boyfriend or not?"

Tenya tried to deflect the subject by stating, "This isn't the time to discuss-."

"Dude just ask Izuku already," Ojiro interrupted.

After letting out a sigh, Ida explained, "I don't want to bother Midoriya-kun with this, he already has a lot on his plate dealing with Hagakure-san now that they are a couple. This is why I wanted to talk to you alone about this earlier when we left to get food."

Mashirao was quick to rebuttal, "And I'm saying Izuku can handle it and would give better advice than I ever could since he actually has a girlfriend, you know?"

Izuku finally spoke up and said, "Whatever it is, I'd be happy to help Ida-kun." While his tailed friend and Tensei had already given him a gist of what was going on, he wanted to hear it from his class president.

Tenya sat up and leaned against the wall near his bed before saying, "You two sure are persistent tonight." He crossed his arms before continuing, "I don't know if it's because Uraraka-chan has been inspired by Hagakure-san confessing to you Midoriya-kun, or maybe it's just because she's just ready to get closer to me, but she has been much more affectionate as of late. Simple hugs and kisses on the cheek have evolved into o-other things. We had a date yesterday, and that's when she did said t-things to me."

Even in the dark, Izuku guessed that Tenya was blushing hard at the moment. He then asked, "Do you not like it?"

"Of course I like it, it f-feels g-great but that besides the point," Ida replied. He then took a breath and cleared his throat before explaining, "I've already told you I wanna enjoy what I have with her more before taking it further. But to tell you the truth I'm just conflicted in how a relationship could work in the kind of career we are pursuing at our age. I guess I'm just afraid to commit to her knowing the fact that maintaining a healthy relationship will be difficult and I don't want to go further into this if there is a chance that this falls apart and I hurt her because of it."

Ojiro then argued, "And it's because she finally kissed you on the mouth a few times that this issue came out? Sorry, it just sounds like an excuse to me. This is some deep stuff to consider. You had to have thought about this before she got more intimate with you."

Before Tenya could respond to Mashirao's counterpoint, Izuku said, "Ojiro-kun, I thought you wanted me to handle this. Let me help."

"Sorry, you're right. Go ahead." the tailed teen said with a grunt.

After a sigh Midoriya stated, "Alright then, I need some time to think, so give me a minute." As his tailed friend said, this was some serious stuff. Izuku was surprised that the pair was already as intimate as they were, despite still not being a couple. Even he and his girlfriend were still quite tame in their interactions, he thought. But back to the matter at hand, the green haired boy never considered the difficulty of maintaining his bond with Tooru concerning their desired profession in life. Their hero work could indeed later get in the way of their relationship. Whether this is because of having conflicting ideas about heroics, being so overworked that they don't have time to spend with one another, or whatever happens once they go pro the boy couldn't tell. There was a lot to consider, especially since they were still first years in hero training, so there was a long and unknown road ahead of them. But something more simple came to Midoriya's mind as he pondered a possible solution.

Izuku then explained, "You know, we're still teenagers Ida-kun. Our lives aren't over if we end up having to break-up with the ones we love. And as much as it pains me to admit that, considering that I just got a girlfriend, it's just a part of growing up. So, knowing that, I say you take the chance with Uraraka-chan and hope for the best. If things fall apart, use it as a learning experience for the next girl that might come along. I'd rather try and fail then never to give it a chance and regret what might have been."

Izuku's answer left both his friend's silent for a minute. As he twiddled his thumbs as a way to pass the awkward silence, he wondered if his logic came off as too cold.

Eventually, Tenya replied, "I really can't argue with that. We are after all just fifteen, what am I getting so worked up about."

"Remember I'm sixteen now and so will Izuku in a few weeks," Mashirao added jokingly.

With a soft chuckle, Ida replied, "Heh, you're right Ojiro-kun, but my point stands regardless. I'm a teen; I should embrace that for now while I still can." Tenya then laid back in his bed before saying, "Thanks for everything you two. And good night."

"Anytime," Mashirao proudly replied.

"Happy to help," Izuku stated before yawning.

The trio hastily fell asleep as their long day together finally came to a close.


Well, I gotta apologize once again. First, for being late in releasing this chapter, even if it's was only by a couple of hours. One reason for this was that it was a difficult chapter to write, as there was a lot I wanted to cover and the content itself. The second reason was me playing a lot of Super Mario Odyssey, which came out Friday (sorry this game is just that amazing) which limited my time to work on this last weekend. The other reason is that I, yet again, underestimating how much I wanted to cover before getting to a key event. I mean it's cool that I get to flesh out scenes more than I originally planned but it pushes back this side story climax another two weeks. For sure next chapter will bring Mashirao front and center, as well as have us rejoin the manga for a bit (the week before the final exams).

I surprisingly wrote a majority of this during the games between the Astros and Dodgers for the World Series. Even though I was interrupted multiple times to watch it, it was odd as the hype of it all made it easy and quick to write during those hours. I'm originally from southwest of Houston(now live Northwest of Houston), so I'm rooting for dem Astros. Those last three innings of game two were tense as hell! Also almost finished writing this during game five yesterday, which was an even more wild game (second longest World Series game ever, and broke the record for the most home runs for a World Series). Just one more game to win it all!

Well hey, I hit over 100k words with the release of this chapter, (Yes that's true even if cut all my long-winded author notes from each chapter). That means I've joined the small pool of 100k+ word fics for this series on this site, as there's only thirteen out of 3k fics (on AO3 there only 23 fics that are +100k, but there's over 8.5k fics there). This milestone brings up something I haven't discussed yet, and that is the overall planned length of this story. As of now, I plan for this fic to follow this manga till it ends, even though that's many years off. Of course, eventually, I will catch up to the manga (I'm about to pass the anime in three chapters), and when I do expect chapter releases to slow down considerably. Most likely I'll wait for an arc to play out. Then release a few chapters to cover it and anytime they skip over (like the current month skip to the final exams, which is what I'm mainly looking for). Then go back on hiatus as I see how the next arc plays out. I don't want to get ahead of myself, for example, look no further than the current arc. The internship arc is almost at its conclusion, yet MANY new/on-going fics are already covering the aftermath of it. And the latter end of this arc has revealed a lot a chapter at a time, so I again, I don't want to jump the gun and miss any important plot. However, this is quite far off from happening (probably a few months into next year), so I just wanted to say it as a heads up.

So yeah, Tenya has four brothers. We haven't seen any of them besides Tensei yet in the manga, and since we probably won't be at Ida's house again anytime in the foreseeable future, I didn't want to make up their looks and attributes just yet. We also have only seen a glimpse of his mom and nothing of his dad, so they were left out too. Regardless, I wanted to focus on Tensei anyways so the rest would have had very small parts anyways.

I also feel I should discuss Izuku using Full Cowl 8% in this chapter. In no way is this him using it in a battle-ready state like when he eventually uses it in his fight with against Katsuki. This is just a glimpse of the power increase for foreshadowing his eventual progress. I feel it's better to show he is slowly pushing his limits than randomly perfectly wielding the jump in power when using 8% and later 20% in the manga when under emotional distress.

I made a mistake with what Midnight had taught initially. I thought she taught Japanese art history, but it's modern hero art history. Don't know how I could explain such a subject, hence why that section is so short (and more focused on Midnight herself) compared to the Japanese/world history and English sessions I wrote about. I feel Midnight probably isn't the best teacher for most school subjects, but I did find her inclusion as the referee for the sports festival, the hero naming class, and the involvement in the super move lesson as an excellent choice for her.

I also made a change near the end of chapter eleven. Initially, Tooru was up front with Izuku that she didn't like him to assume that she wanted to be a part of a team when she went pro. This was to be a future plot point, but after doing some outline work for future chapters last weekend I didn't like where it was going, so I decided to go back and remove it.

And finally, for some reason, the grammar edits I made to chapter four and six were removed (or errored when I tried to update them), so I had to re-upload both last Friday.

Chapter thirteen will release on November 13th