Chapter 18: Confrontations

Izuku was on a train taking him to a new semester at U.A.; though normal classes wouldn't start for another twelve days. Instead, this period was to be used for adjusting to the new living arrangements. However, things were entirely different than Midoriya's first day at the school. There was a decent amount of stress involved that time, but it was overshadowed by his excitement and wonder of finally living his dream. Today it felt the exact opposite.

It was Wednesday, August 20th and Tooru had been back from her trip to South Korea for weeks, as she came back at the end of July. Izuku felt it would be easier to tell her of his involvement in saving Katsuki once she got back. But that wasn't the case at all.

On the first day of August, Hagakure invited her boyfriend over to show and tell everything she did on her trip. She said she didn't want to just go over it on the phone. And Midoriya agreed once he got there, she had taken plenty of pictures and videos to show, and it was nice to have her parents there as well as they all talked about what they experienced. Tooru also used this opportunity, to Izuku's surprise, to disclose the idea of the weekly video chats to her family. Her mother was immediately supportive of the plan, while her father found it a bit inconvenient but in the end, was okay with it. All this positive energy just felt so good to see and hear from his girlfriend. Midoriya just couldn't bring himself to bring it down that day. Even when Hagakure took him upstairs to her room to discuss the next semester together, he kept his mouth shut on the subject. She was just so happy and looking forward to the future, while he was being dragged down by the lies and insecurities of the past.

Izuku felt that perhaps he would have to do it over a phone call, as cowardly as that seemed. There were many times during the last days of the summer break that were spent staring at his phone. Midoriya's finger would hover over the call button to his girlfriend, only to slowly back away in defeat time and time again. The stress was even getting in the way of his training. The boy had resumed exercising a few days before Hagakure was back home. It didn't matter if it was running, weight lifting, or even stretches; it was bothering him, and it cut his workout short some days.

The day before his departure to live in the U.A. dorms, Izuku made an ultimatum that he had to tell Tooru before school began on September 1st. After exercising that morning, he spent the rest of the day writing up ways to tell his girlfriend the truth of what happened. Ideas on how to start the conversation, rebuttals to possible arguments or questions she might have, and various ways of saying sorry were all things Midoriya had written down. He figured that today wouldn't work, as they both would be busy setting up their respective rooms. Thursday might be possible, Izuku considered, though that depended if there was any plan from their homeroom teacher to do some preliminary school work before classes began. If so, then he would wait till Sunday, if not, then he would attempt it tomorrow.

Midoriya then got off his train and started his stroll towards school. He didn't have much in his backpack, as most of his luggage had been picked up and sent to U.A. a few days before. Izuku had made another plan the day before he packed up all his stuff, one that involved having his new room be an exact copy of his old one. Sure he would have different furniture, but he wanted to have his All Might and pro hero merchandise arranged as precise as he could. Midoriya took pictures of his bedroom and wrote notes on each piece he owned to make sure of it. He figured that if he just focused on unpacking today and hanging out with his classmates afterward, he could get through the first day without much interaction with Tooru. Izuku felt if he spent too much time with her today, it would unnerve him for what was to come. He knew it sounded pathetic to fear the presence of his girlfriend, but it was just how it was at the moment.

The boy's fear all boiled down to dreading to see Hagakure angry. Even though the times that this occurred was few and far between, he hated each instance of it, since it was his fault each time. Pushing himself to self-mutilation in his fight against Shoto, risking his life by pursuing Stain, his continued forgiveness of Katsuki despite all the years of bullying he endured from him were all such times. But this topped them all, Izuku felt. There was also a lingering dread that he had that if this was not handled correctly, this could end in a break-up. Such a subject had been the reason Midoriya had awoken a few nights in a cold sweat. Nightmares of such a scenario had played out sometimes as he slept. But the worst of it all? Izuku couldn't fault his girlfriend if she did question their relationship once she found out the truth. It was a huge deal, and he still was having the wavering courage to tell her the truth after all this time.

As the view of U.A. came into view, the boy inhaled profoundly and slapped his cheeks with his hands. Just need to get through today, you can do this, he thought.


Midoriya was currently restlessly tossing and turning in his new bed. He couldn't get to sleep. And ironically once again, his plans had fallen apart before he could even implement them. And once more, it was because of something out of Izuku's control. Though like revealing his relationship with his girlfriend friend to the class, if he had just said something earlier, it wouldn't have been forced out.

Either way, it didn't matter now.

Tooru knew.

Their homeroom teacher had gathered everyone in front of their new dorm at the start of the day. He revealed that the time they had before school officially began would be used to train for the provisional hero license exam, which would happen the day before regular classes. But Eraserhead then dropped the bombshell. He knew of the attempted rescue of Bakugo and even said the names of everyone that had gone. Aizawa also stated that after seeing most of his student's reactions, almost everyone else had known about the plan. The teacher was blunt when he said that he would have had everyone in the class expelled save for Katsuki, Kyoka, and Tooru if All Might hadn't been forced retire. For Izuku it was hard to tell how his girlfriend was taking this. As his homeroom teacher asked everyone to follow him so he could give a tour of their dorm, Midoriya tried to approach Hagakure and say something. Instead, she only told him that they would talk about it later in a harsh tone.

The rest of the day, for the most part, seemed quite reasonable. As a means to keep his mind from dwelling too much on what was going to happen, Midoriya spent the rest of the day unpacking. He originally planned to just do a little at a time over the next couple of days so he could hang out with his friends. But Izuku didn't want thoughts about how Tooru would react to finding out this way to linger in his head, so he poured all his energy into setting up his room to completion. It was nighttime by the time he finished.

Izuku then participated in a group activity amongst his classmates, took a shower, and then laid in his bed expecting a call from Tooru, but it never came. At almost midnight he decided to call it quits and just try to sleep, but he wasn't able to. After some time passed of no sleep, Midoriya was wondering what to do now.

The boy didn't have much time to think about it as he soon heard a soft knock at his door. This made him jump as he immediately dreaded who could be at the other side of his door. Izuku got up and hesitated a moment before opening it. He then gave a massive sigh of relief to see it was just Mashirao.

"Hey, Izuku. Hope I didn't startle you," Ojiro stated nervously.

Midoriya gave a soft chuckle before saying, "It's fine. I thought you were Tooru. Is there something important you wanted to talk about? It's past midnight and all."

The tailed teen looked away from his friend and brought a hand to the back of his neck. He then said, "Yeah it is important. Mind if I come in for a minute?"

For Izuku to see Mashirao act so unsettled, it had to be something big. "Sure thing. Come in," he answered as he motioned his guest to step in.

Ojiro sighed moving forward. Once inside, Midoriya closed the door and turned on the lights. He then turned around to see that Mashirao had taken a seat on the chair at his desk. Izuku went over to his bed and sat down before asking, "So what's up Ojiro-kun?"

"I didn't think you and the others would go through with Kirishima-san's plan," the tailed teen stated not looking at his host.

Midoriya's shoulders sagged at hearing this. Of course, this was going to be the subject. He wondered, was Ojiro angry about it as well? Did he feel left out? Izuku waited a few seconds before responding with, "We did. And I'm so sorry for not telling you sooner. I was so focused on how to break it to Tooru these last few weeks, I just forgot about telling you."

Mashirao held up a hand as he replied, "It's fine Midoriya-kun. I'd rather you give priority to Hagakure-san than me. I just thought Yaoyorozu-san wouldn't have accepted the idea. The entire operation hinged on her making that tracker for you. I guess I underestimated her and even Ida-kun coming along as well." He then spun the chair around to look at Izuku and asked, "I want to hear everything that happened that night if that's okay."

Izuku exhaled in relief. It sounded like his friend wasn't upset about it, he just wanted the full story. Midoriya felt he owed him that much. Besides, telling Ojiro would be good practice to when he told Hagakure he figured.

Izuku then spent quite some time going over everything that happened. The surprise of Tenya not only showing up but agreeing to go. The trip to the Kamino Ward via train and their acquiring of disguises to remain anonymous. The discovery of the Nomu warehouse and the arrival of All for One which left them all frozen and speechless from fear. His desperate but successful plan to rescue Bakugo during the chaos of All Might's battle with All for One without fighting themselves. Watching the finale of the fight amongst a crowd of civilians after they escaped the area. And finally, bringing Katsuki to the police and regrouping before going their separate ways home.

During the entire explanation, Mashirao stayed silent. Midoriya found something quite odd though. While his guest looked interested in what was being said, occasionally he would nervously dart his eyes around the room. If Ojiro hadn't been in the room just hours before during the group activity, then his behavior wouldn't have seemed so weird. It would make sense he would steal glances of Izuku's room if this was his first time here, but it wasn't. He wondered what was making his tailed friend so uncomfortable?

After he finished, Mashirao finally responded by saying, "Sounds like you all went through hell that night to get Bakugo-san back." Izuku could only nod at the statement. The combination of talking for so long, the lack of sleep from the previous night, and the late hour were starting to make him quite tired. Ojiro then asked another question with, "When did you plan to tell Hagakure-san about all of this?"

Midoriya begrudgingly got up and grabbed a notebook by the nightstand by his bed. He then opened it to a certain page and gave it to Mashirao before answering, "Before we resumed normal classes again. I should have told her earlier though. Originally I was going to tell Tooru after she got back from her family trip. But I kept chickening out like a coward. Yesterday I finally pulled myself together and made a plan, which is written in that notebook."

The tailed teen spent a minute reading the notebook before saying, "This seems a little excessive."

However, before Ojiro could say anything more the notebook suddenly was jerked upward away from his hand was then floated in midair.

It only took Midoriya a second to realize what was going on.

Tooru was here, in his room.

Again naked.

Izuku opened his mouth to yell in a panic, but before any words could escape his lips, Mashirao had already sprung up and placed his right hand over his mouth. With his other hand, the tailed teen held an index finger in front of his face.

"Woah now keep it down. Everyone else is sleeping," the tailed teen stated softly. The silenced teen gave a quick nod to his friend. He continued by saying, "Now I'm going to remove my hand, and you're gonna try and calm down before speaking again, alright?" Izuku gave a slower nod this time as an answer, and Mashirao let him go.

Midoriya immediately crossed his arms as he grabbed his shoulders. He then closed his eyes and started breathing deeply to try and calm his nerves.

Ojiro then asked, "The hell Hagakure-san? You weren't supposed to reveal yourself until after I talked with him for a bit more."

The invisible teen hushed him as she continued to read the notebook.

Mashirao put a hand to his head and sighed in annoyance. A few minutes passed before the tailed teen noticed Izuku's breathing was starting to slow and he put a hand on his shoulder as he asked, "Feeling better?"

Keeping his eyes closed, Midoriya replied, "G-Getting there."

Ojiro leaned in and whispered in his friend's ear, "If it helps, Hagakure-san is wearing her hero suit right now."

The sound of the notebook dropping on Izuku's desk got both boy's attention. Tooru then said slowly, "I got it from here Ojiro-kun. And thanks so much for doing this for me."

Mashirao looked surprised by her statement. He then grunted and made his way towards the door. Before opening it, Ojiro stated, "Don't be too hard on him Hagakure-chan."

After the tailed teen left and the door closed, Izuku looked to where he last heard his girlfriend's voice and stated, "I-I think I'm ready to t-talk now."

A few moments passed then the lights suddenly turned off which startled Izuku. Tooru then stated, "Calm down. We gotta keep the illusion that you're in here alone and are in bed." After a few seconds, Midoriya heard his girlfriend say from behind him, "Well if you're ready to talk, I'm listening." Her voice was coming from his bed. The boy sighed softly before sitting on the floor and leaning his back against his bed. The invisible girl then asked in a puzzled voice, "Why are you sitting down there?"

"Cause it's what I d-deserve," Izuku said after a sniff. He was fighting back the tears the best he could.

Midoriya then felt something grab the back of his shirt. Hagakure then said, "Nope, you are coming up here with me. We got a lot to talk about and you sulking on the ground isn't gonna help."

"Y-Yes, ma'am," Izuku said meekly. He then got up and sat down next to the depression in his bed. After a few moments to work up some courage, he said, "So you r-read my plans to t-tell you. What did you t-think?"

"A poor excuse," Tooru responded bluntly. The words stung Izuku, but he couldn't disagree with her answer. She then said, "I mean I appreciate that you were at least thinking about it. At first, I thought you were just hoping I wouldn't ever find out and just forgotten about the whole thing."

With some confidence, Midoriya quickly replied, "I've been thinking about how I should tell you since you called me while I was on the train towards the Kamino Ward."

"Yeah but it's been over a month since then Izuku, this whole secret has been ridiculous," Hagakure said in a low, annoyed tone.

Izuku sank his head as he stated in a sad voice, "You're not wrong."

Silence followed for some time until Tooru asked, "Do you know the main reason I'm mad at you?"

"Cause what I did was very dangerous and stupid," Midoriya answered. He knew his girlfriend hated it when he did anything that threatened his safety. Which seemed to be quite often now that the boy thought about it.

"No," the invisible girl said with a grunt. She continued with, "Yes it was risky and dumb of you and the others to do but at least you weren't alone. Besides, you all agreed that fighting wasn't the way to go about it and you stuck with that plan."

Izuku then thought a moment before saying, "Was it because I did it for Kacchan?"

A long sigh escaped Hagakure's lips before she replied, "As much as firecracker deserves some retribution for his actions, he didn't deserve to be kidnapped by those villains. No one in our class does. So no, that's not why."

Midoriya brought his hands up to his face as he tried to think of the answer, but eventually, he felt hands on his shoulders. His girlfriend turned him towards her and stated, "Izuku, it's that I feel you don't trust me."

Izuku responded slowly, "Trust?"

Tooru tightened her grip as she replied, "Yes. All Might-sensei revealed both your secrets to me. The one person you look up to more than anyone else in the world told me his most personal secret. And it was yours as well. It's something so important that your mom doesn't even know about it. And yet you couldn't tell me this? Can you see why I feel you don't trust me?"

"Well I didn't wanna overload you with what I did on top of the truth about One for All," Izuku tried to argue.

Hagakure was quick to ask, "Then why wait so long to tell me?"

"Cause I was scared," the boy said in a raised voice. He immediately felt her let go of his arms and place a hand come over his mouth.

With a whisper, Tooru stated, "People are sleeping Izuku, remember?" Izuku nodded before he felt her let go. Hagakure then continued by saying, "You got the short end of the stick for roommates I swear. Purple blob to your right, Denki-san above you, and Sparkles to your right."

Confused, Izuku asked, "What's wrong with Aoyama-san?"

"I don't doubt he is good at keeping secrets if he found out about my visit tonight, I mean he's hard to read even for me, but I just don't want him butting into our troubles. He's weird," Hagakure explained. She then sighed before saying, "But that's not important right now. Why were you scared to tell me? Cause I would be angry at you?"

Midoriya gave a slow nod. He then said while holding back tears, "D-Deep in the back of my m-mind, I thought y-you might be so a-angry that you would b-b-break up with me T-Tooru."

After a few moments, Izuku then felt a hard poke to his forehead which almost made him fall out of his bed. Tooru kept her finger there as she said, "Izuku, why would I break up with you over this?"

After sniffing a few times to calm down, the boy responded with, "Cause I'm willing to throw myself at villains many times my strength over and over again. Yet, I can't even tell my girlfriend the truth after given so many chances of doing so. It's p-pathetic. Who would want a guy like that?"

"Well you make a good point," the invisible girl said in a teasing voice. This got a short grunt in response from Midoriya. Hagakure then said, "But anyways, have you considered that I see you as worth it despite your faults Izuku?"

Izuku then asked, "My f-faults?"

Tooru then explained, "Let's see. You don't think that highly of yourself despite all you've done. You get too emotional or just overthink situations sometimes. I don't want to even begin about your relationship with," she paused before continuing with disgust, "Bakugo."

Midoriya could only close his eyes and take it as she listed his faults. But then he felt an arm draped around his neck as his girlfriend said, "I could say more but let's leave it at that. Now even considering all that, I can deal with it cause I value all the good things there are about you Izuku more. And that doesn't mean we can't change you for the better on some of those. As I've said before you're a whole lot more social than when I first met you."

Midoriya continued to stay silent but opened his eyes and looked to his side at where his girlfriend was sitting.

"Anyways, it pains me to know that you were suffering this much because you couldn't tell me," Hagakure tried to say in a comforting voice. She then switched to a disappointed tone as she said, "Sure I would have been still mad about what you did if you told me earlier, but at least it would have been you who told me, not Aizawa-sensei."

"I'm so s-sorry that you had to learn about it out from someone other than me," Izuku replied in a somber tone.

Tooru sighed before stating, "I was wondering how long it was gonna take you until you said you were sorry. Didn't take you long with Ojiro-kun."

"Sorr-," Midoriya tried to say. But before he could finish, he felt a finger press against his lips.

"Now let's not turn this into a saying sorry spree to try and make up for everything," Hagakure stated before taking her finger away from her boyfriend's face. She then asked, "So, can we at least agree we need to be more open to one another going forward?"

Midoriya said with confidence, "I promise." He then felt the arm around his neck withdraw and felt Tooru get up from off the bed.

"Good now let me tell you about your punishment," the invisible girl stated mischievously.

Izuku face turned to shock as he asked, "P-Punishment?"

Tooru said with a stern voice, "But of course. You aren't walking away from this unscathed." Before her boyfriend had time to consider what her punishment could mean, she answered for him with, "No more intimacy until further notice."

"B-But-," Midoriya tried to say before being interrupted.

The interrupter stated, "No buts, I know you like us being intimate despite your reactions to it. We will be put on hold for a while. Okay?"

Izuku put a hand to his face as he asked, "So no hugs?"

"Nope," his girlfriend replied.

The boy then asked, "And no k-kissing?"

There was a short pause before Hagakure responded, "None."

Izuku noticed that pause from Tooru. Perhaps this was going to be hard for her too, he thought. On his birthday they had their first real kiss with one another. And to take a break from being close to one another would be difficult coming from that. But, at least Hagakure was forgiving him. And to Midoriya, that was the most important thing right now.

"Okay, I understand Tooru," Izuku said with certainty.

Upon hearing this, the invisible girl sighed and said, "I'm grateful you're okay with this. Now I should be going; it's late enough as is."

Midoriya was quick to stand up and ask, "Wait before you go, how did you set this whole thing up?"

Hagakure's voice came from the direction of his window as she explained, "Well if you must know, while I was setting up my room I came up with the plan. First I wanted to make sure no one outside our circle of friends found out about me sneaking into your room tonight. Ida-san and Yaoyorozu-chan might have gone with you during the rescue, but I very much doubt they would be willing to help me do this. And I don't blame them; they are our class leaders. It took a bit of convincing over the phone, but Ojiro-kun eventually agreed to the idea. The other reason I asked him to come was so it was easier to get the story out of you. I figured if I confronted you alone we'd be here all night as you stuttered through your words. It also helped calmed me down. I was still quite furious when I first came in."

Izuku did find it odd she wasn't as mad as he thought she would be. He thought she would at least slap him or something. Midoriya was immensely thankful for this.

"I was surprised how quickly Uraraka-chan was okay with it when I asked her next," the invisible girl then stated.

A startled Izuku then said, "Wait Uraraka-san is in on this too?" It did, however, make sense to him why Ochako was quick to agree with the idea. She was quite vocal that Tooru found out of the rescue before school began again. And he had failed in the regard.

"Well of course. I didn't want Ojiro-kun getting caught on the girl's side of the dormitories so late at night. I would need another girl to accompany me downstairs. And besides that, doors are my main weakness inside buildings when it comes to stealth."

This piqued Midoriya's interest, and he asked, "Doors?"

Hagakure explained with frustration, "Well yeah. Unless they have a window or something I can't see what's on the other side. It's a gamble every time and it was one of my main problems when doing stealth exercises with my trainer. We never did think of a great way to counter that problem of mine. Plus opening a door with no one on the other side would be a dead give away it's me to anyone in this building."

"I never really thought about your quirk, and it's weaknesses like that Tooru," Izuku stated as he took a few steps towards his window.

Tooru responded in a teasing voice, "Luckily both doors in the nurse's office had a window so sneaking in there wasn't an issue."

Hagakure's surprise two visits flashed backed in Midoriya's mind.

A phone then appeared out of nowhere about where he guessed his girlfriend was standing. I guess her hero suit has pockets, Midoriya thought. He couldn't remember seeing them when he first got to see the suit. The boy then asked, "Hey how did you get your hero suit? You didn't sneak back to the main campus to go get it did you?" Their hero suits were required to stay at school and were kept in their locker rooms.

"While I was making my room, Aizawa-sensei showed up at my door. He wanted to show me my updated suit," Tooru explained with glee.

Inching closer to her voice, Izuku asked, "Updates? Like what?"

"Well, first of all, my shoes I requested finally came in. But I'll show you them some other time. Also, I asked for some pockets to be made over the break. It's really minor but it was something I overlooked when I originally designed my suit," Hagakure replied.

Midoriya had an urge to grab his notebook and note this update but knew this wasn't the time and simply said, "I can't wait to see the shoes."

"They're neat, but I really should get back to my room. We need plenty of rest tomorrow for whatever Aizawa-sensei has cooked up for us to prepare for the provisional license exam. That and I wanna be at the top of my game when I confront that perverted purple blob after training," the invisible girl stated.

Oh right, that happened, Izuku remembered. After everyone had finished unpacking the girls came over to the guys as they rested in the common room on the first floor. Mina and Ochako proposed the idea of everyone showing off their rooms as a competition. For the most part, Midoriya enjoyed it, but when they were in Hagakure's room, Mineta had tried to sneak a peek into her underwear drawer. He expected his girlfriend to be more angry about it, but besides throwing a few words of disappointment, that was the end of that matter. Izuku wanted to step in, but he still wasn't exactly sure what Tooru was feeling at the time.

"Hey Tooru, why don't I talk to Mineta-san about what happened. He might be more willing to listen to what I have to say," Midoriya tried to argue.

"Oh? You sure? I didn't rip into him earlier cause I didn't want to throw off everyone else's mood, but I think at this point he needs a stern talking to from me and possibly the rest of the girls about his behavior," Hagakure responded.

Izuku crossed his arms as he explained, "I'm one of his few friends here at a school. That's one way I could get him to listen. And besides, he's my roommate."

"Alright fine, but if I don't get an apology from him before our provisional exams, the girls and I will be sure to tell him off ourselves," Tooru said in an annoyed tone.

Izuku gave a thumbs up before saying, "I'll try my hardest Tooru, I promise."

Hagakure's phone moved once more as she said, "Let me text Uraraka-chan that I'm ready. Then guide me downstairs, okay?"

After a few moments, the phone disappeared and Midoriya felt a tug on his shirt. This must be how she followed Ojiro in, he thought. The two then made their way downstairs.

A sleepy Ochako was waiting in the common room for them, as Izuku went slowly to make sure Tooru wouldn't fall forward on to him.

The tired girl stated, "You two make up?"

"Mostly," Midoriya said in an awkward tone.

After yawning, Uraraka stated, "Could have saved everyone a lot of trouble if you had just followed my advice from earlier Midoriya-san."

"You're right and I'm sorry," Izuku replied while sagging his shoulders.

Tooru then asked from behind Ochako, "What advice Uraraka-chan?"

"I'll tell you tomorrow Hagakure-chan, can we please just all go to bed already," the tried girl said in an annoyed voice.


It was late-afternoon on Thursday, and Izuku was waiting for All Might in Gamma Gym. Earlier in the day Eraserhead along with Ectoplasm, Cementoss, and Midnight had introduced a Super Move training regimen to the class. Not only would the training focus on creating a super move based on one's quirks, but it would also continue their quirk enhancement training from the summer school trip and then combine both to upgrading their hero suits to better accommodate their new skills.

However, Midoriya's training had fallen flat. He couldn't think of a super move as he was still just trying to control his quirk. Ectoplasm suggested he only work on refining and extending the duration of his quirk like Tiger had suggested before, but he wanted to do more. Everyone around Izuku seemed to be advancing with new techniques, and yet he was still just trying to grasp the basics of his quirk.

All Might then showed up in the middle of their training, which surprised Midoriya. It was the first time the class would see the skeleton of a man in his true form. Second, he thought his mentor would still require more time to recover from his battle with All for One. And finally, it gave Izuku hope that perhaps his one on one training with the former pro hero might be happening sooner than later. As All Might went around and gave advice to his classmates, he waited in anticipation to talk with him. The hint Midoriya eventually received however left him baffled for the rest of the training session.

You are still trying to imitate me.

Izuku thought, isn't that the whole point? To follow in his footsteps? To be All Might? The new symbol of peace? Why would he need to do something different? His idol was the number one pro hero. What could he change that was for the better?

Before leaving, All Might told his successor to stay after so they could talk in private. It both excited and intimidated Midoriya. Was this the start of the one on one training? Did his teacher already expect an answer to the advice he gave? Regardless, the minutes that passed seemed like an eternity as Izuku waited.

The boy's patience was at his wit's end when suddenly All Might arrived looking exhausted. The former pro hero rubbed his back with his free hand, as the other was still in a cast, as he said, "Sorry my boy, I wanted to get here sooner, but perhaps I still need to have more rest before coming back to work. I pretty much greeted the entire faculty after I left here. Wanna give a good impression despite my new look and all."

Izuku replied, "It's fine sir! I'm just happy we could meet again alone."

"Actually, I'm here too," a voice from between Midoriya and All Might stated.

While Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin, the skeleton of a man said, "Ah, Hagakure-san. Hello there, was there something you wanted to discuss?"

Tooru responded with, "I won't be here long I just wanted to ask a question. If that's okay with you Yagi-sensei?"

"Sure thing," All Might stated with a thumbs up from his free hand. It bothered Midoriya how okay his mentor was with this. He still wasn't used to her popping out of nowhere.

Hagakure then asked dryly, "When you revealed your secret to me during the summer, did you know about Midoriya-kun and the other classmates rescuing Bakugo-san?"

Izuku looked nervously at his mentor, who was giving his student a raised eyebrow. All Might then answered, "I did. I wasn't sure if your boyfriend had told you or not. If he hadn't, I felt that it would have been a lot to take in on top of our secret as well. I'm sorry if that inconvenienced you Hagakure-san."

"I found out about yesterday from Aizawa-sensei when he told the class, and Midoriya-kun told me everything about it last night," Tooru said with a hint of disappointment in her tone.

The former pro hero scratched his head as he stated, "I thought he would have told you sooner." He then gave a quick glare at his successor. Now Midoriya felt even worse about the situation. All Might then continued by saying, "But don't worry I gave him a good talk about how rash a decision it was. I must apologize though; I lied about punching him due to hurting himself so badly during your school trip. It was because of him not knowing when to let us adults do our job."

"It's fine, I'm just glad to hear you agree with me Yagi-sensei," Hagakure stated happily. She then continued with, "That's all I wanted to ask. I'm going to hit the shower now, bye boys."

After she left, All Might said slowly, "Your girlfriend can sure be scary sometimes, huh?"

"Yeah, I know all too well," Midoriya said with a sigh.

The teacher placed a hand on his student's shoulder before stating, "You really should have told her sooner."

"Yeah, I know. I was just a coward about it," Midoriya said while poking his two index fingers together. He then explained how Tooru snuck her into her room and some of what they talked about. Izuku was glad that mentor was willing to listen to him to things that concerned himself outside his hero training. It was an excellent way to vent his stress, he felt. Midoriya was sure not to mention the ban of hugging and kissing, as it would have been embarrassing.

All Might had a hand on his chin as he said, "Aizawa-san gave Hagakure-san her upgraded suit yesterday and not today? Most peculiar." Izuku gave his teacher a puzzled look, but the skeleton of a man shook his head before saying, "Never mind that. Just pointless rambling. Anyways, at least you two made up and are on good terms still. Let's focus on your lesson today." He coughed a bit before saying, "So have you come up with a solution to my advice yet?"

"No, sir. Could you possibly give me more-," Midoriya tried to ask however stopped once his idol put a hand on his head.

"You'll never learn if I just tell you the answer. The best way to grasp this lesson is for you to think of a solution yourself my boy," All Might explained as he ruffled the boy's hair. He then let go of his student before saying, "Aizawa-san told me you worked with Tiger from the Pussycats during the school trip. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear about the training you went through with him."

Izuku then explained about his odd exercises, sparring and talking with Tiger which involved revealing that the class now knew about his relationship with Tooru, attempting to make 8% Full Cowl more viable, and working on extending his base usage of Full Cowl.

The former pro hero found this good and said that he needed to thank Tiger for helping his student the next chance he ran into him. He then stated, "I want us to continue having meetups like this every couple of days so I can learn of your progress with your Super Move training until it's time for the exam. But today, I wanna assign some homework."

While Midoriya has happy to hear they would be getting together again often to discuss his training, he was more intrigued by the assignment his teacher was about to give him. He then nodded and stated, "Okay sir! What would you have me do?"

All Might then explained, "I want you to head on over to Development Studio and talk with someone from the Support Department. I think it's high time you get an equipment upgrade to handle better the power you'll wield in the future when you're able to handle higher percentages of Full Cowl. You should grab your costume instructions before heading there, you're going to need them."

The boy saluted before cheerfully saying, "Yes, sir!"


Izuku found a particular sight by the time he made it to the Development Studio. The pro hero he recognized as Power Loader was currently sweeping ash and other debris from outside the workshop. Seeing a hero doing such a menial task like cleaning while in costume was an odd sight.

As Midroiya got closer he could hear the excavation hero say, "I swear that girl." He then sighed before continuing with, "Won't even clean up after her explosions unless I ask."

"Um, hello, sir," Izuku said as he arrived.

"If you want work done to your suit, just go inside and talk to Hatsume-san. I'm busy here," Power Loader replied while not turning his back to the student as he continued to sweep.

Midoriya thanked him before turning to go inside the workshop only to see Ida and Uraraka in the doorway. "Oh, hey guys," he then said to the pair.

Tenya asked, "Here to increase the productivity of your suit as well Midoriya-kun?"

"Yeah, I wanna reinforce my costume to reduce stress on my body," Izuku replied. He then continued with, "What about you two? What were you upgrading?"

The tall teen responded with, "I'm trying to reduce the negative effects of my Recipro technique. So I asked for some changes to my radiators."

"I was just tagging along initially but I did get something to help me with motion sickness," Ochako quickly answered. She then took a few steps forward and whispered into Izuku's ear to say, "Just be careful with the girl in there Deku-kun. She's very perverse. Don't let her get too close to you okay?"

"Um, thanks for the warning Uraraka-chan," Midoriya said while scratching the back of her head.

Ida cleared his throat before stating, "She is most difficult to work with. Be on your guard."

They all said their goodbyes and then Izuku made his way inside. The room reminded him of a secret base. Workbenches with various tools littered the room, large machines were here and there, blueprints for suits hung from the wall, a test chamber to test the resilience of costumes, and computer monitors even took up one side of the room. At one workbench sat a girl who was soldering some object. Midoriya couldn't get a good look cause of her welding mask. He approached and waited until she reached a stopping point to inspect her work to ask, "Hello there. Are you Hatsume-san?"

The girl's voice was muffled by her mask but she said, "Can't talk now busy with this baby."

Baby? Wait, Izuku knew of someone that spoke like that. Mei was it? From the Hero Festival. Regardless, he continued by saying, "Um, I'm here to ask about getting my suit upgraded. Power Loader told me you could help."

Hatsume was quick to throw off her mask and bring her face within inches from Midoriya's face. It startled him but she didn't react to it and said, "Well when you put it that way, why not!" The girl studied her guest for a moment before saying, "Hmmm, you look familiar. Ah, we worked together at the Hero Festival right?"

"Yeah, it's been a while," Midoriya responded.

"Good thing those other students from the hero course came by otherwise I'd would have totally forgotten who you ever were. Though, sorry, I really don't remember your name," she said before giving a hearty laugh.

"It's Midoriya. Izuku Midoriya," the boy replied.

Mei pulled up a notebook and pencil from her pockets before stating, "Well Midoriya-san. What can I do for you today? Ya need refinement or total design change?"

"I'm actually not so sure," Izuku said as he sagged his shoulders.

"You came to me without an idea of what you want? Kind of boring Midoriya-san. I wanna get straight into making your new baby," the pink haired girl said with a pout.

Midoriya put up his hands in defense as he stated, "Sorry I didn't mean to bore you. I'm just not sure how extensive an upgrade I'll need is all."

Hatsume sighed before saying, "Okay well Maijima-sensei wants me to handle this personally so I'll hear you out. Just tell me what issue you have with your current suit and we'll go from there." The girl then grabbed some chairs and motioned for her guest to take a seat as she took one as well.

Once he sat down, Izuku said, "Well I wanna reduce the stress in the ligaments of my arms when I utilize my quirk."

"Ah yes, you have a power type quirk. I remember now, very destructive," Mei said as she started to write things down on the notepad.

"Yeah it needs to be able to take a lot more power than it does currently, cause if things continue as is, I might lose function of my arms," Midoriya stated in a somber tone.

"Woah there, don't be so dramatic, I doubt it's that bad," Hatsume said before giving a soft chuckle.

Izuku off his right glove and rolled up his sleeves to show his hand before saying, "I'm quite serious Hatsume-san."

Mei put down her pencil and notepad and took off her gloves. She then quickly approached Izuku and started feeling the scars on his right hand. The whole process made the boy freeze.

"I see, I see. You weren't joking Midoriya-san." The pink haired mechanic then made her way to to the boy's abs and chest with her hands, feeling every crook and cranny of his muscles. Midoriya didn't know whether he should scream in protest or let her do her job. She eventually said, "You are built stronger than you look Midoriya-san."

A loud and irritated voice then echoed throughout the room, "Personal space Hatsume-san!" It was Power Loader. He then proceeded to slam the front door. The pro hero said, "Do you want me to ban you from this workshop? That's not how we treat a fellow student or future customer!"

Mei then took her hands to start feeling Izuku's legs as she said, "Relax. I'm almost done."

Power Loader started to make his way over to his student but she backed off before he got too close. She then said, "No violence sensei," while pointing a finger at him.

The excavation hero grunted before stating, "Explain yourself."

Hatsume sighed in annoyance as she explained, "Midoriya-san said his arms and hands are at risk of becoming useless if he pushed himself too hard. So I was checking the condition of his other muscles and they seem in tip-top shape." She then turned to her shivering guest as she said, "So why not just use your other muscles more often Midoriya-san? You know, even out the stress and all."

The pro hero then argued, "You couldn't have just asked him if he had a toned body besides just his arms?"

Mei replied, "I haven't known Midoriya-san very long but I can tell he is too modest when it comes to his own strength. If I asked I'm sure he would have downplayed how strong he was, so I needed to check myself."

While the two argued, the girl's advice got Izuku out of his funk and made him think. He then spoke up and said, "So, like use my legs Hatsume-san?"

"Yeah, that should work," Mei responded with a big grin and thumbs up.

"I can't do that I have to focus on-," Midoriya tried to say but then cut himself short. All Might's words came roaring back into his head.

You are still trying to imitate me.

That's it, Izuku thought. All Might's style focused on punches, why couldn't he just focus on kicks? And in theory, weren't his legs stronger than his arms? People walk on with their legs all day, so they are naturally stronger and have more endurance than one's arms. This was the answer. All Might wanted his successor to be different than him. Independent. Someone who made decisions for himself and was his own type of hero. Not just follow his idol blindly. And with this method, he could be just that.

"Never mind that last thought Hatsume-san, you're a genius," the boy exclaimed.

Hatsume beamed as she answered with, "As if there was ever any doubt."

Power Loader then said, "Don't encourage her too much."

Midoriya then reached down into his pocket and grabbed his phone. Before dialing a number he said, "Excuse me a moment. I need to make a call."


Izuku was currently sprawled over one of the couches in the lounge of his new dorm. He had only gotten out of the shower a few minutes ago and was fighting to stay awake, but he wanted to speak with Minoru tonight. It would have to wait till later Midoriya figured, as he wanted to do it in his roommate's place to make it more private. He had a feeling that calling the short student out in front of others would be counterproductive in trying to get an apology.

Izuku was happy about one thing though. He had a new suit design awaiting approval. Midoriya had spent quite some time on the phone speaking with Ida about combat that focused on the legs. With this new knowledge in mind, he worked with both Hatsume and Power Loader to draw up additions to his hero costume. The pro hero said he would need to wait three days for an answer before he could implement the changes, which Midoriya was fine with. It at least gave him a couple of days to try and adjust to his new suit and style before the exam. Izuku's plan for the days leading up to this was to observe and talk with Tenya to better learn leg based combat.

The tuckered out teen's thoughts were cut short when he felt something plop next to him. It was Mashirao, who stated, "Dude you look terrible, did Hagakure-chan rip into you that bad last night?"

Izuku looked around to make sure no one was in range to hear anything, only to see Mezo and Fumikage talking to one another at a dining table. He then answered with, "I mean she was harsh with me but I deserved it, every last bit. But it's more staying up late last night and our training earlier that's got me so tired."

"Oh right, you took returning back to training slowly so not to push yourself. I guess your body is just adjusting to things getting back to normal," Ojio stated as he crossed his arms.

Midoriya sighed as he replied with, "Pretty much. Plus I spent quite some time this afternoon working on some changes to my hero suit."

The tailed teen leaned closer to his friend and then asked, "Oh cool, what do you have cooking up for yourself?"

Izuku waved his left hand with little effort as he stated, "I want it to be a surprise to everyone. It should be ready in a couple of days I hope."

Mashirao gave a slight nudge with his elbow to his exhausted friend before half-jokingly asking, "Even your girlfriend?"

Midoriya then recalled everything that led to his decision with Hatsume's "help", and then what Hagakure would think about it if had to explain it. He then responded with, "Yeah, even her."

"Well, I'm looking forward to it anyways," Ojiro said with a hint of excitement as he leaned back to his side of the couch.

The two then went into a discussion of how they spent the rest of their summer break. Afterward, they spent a few minutes in silence watching Momo and Kyoka at the kitchen making dinner for themselves. Mashirao had an odd look of confusion on his face during this, and Izuku guessed he was still apprehensive about the tall girl's proposal from before the summer break.

Sato then came down from downstairs and took a seat on the couch beside Midoriya and Ojiro.

Mashirao then stated, "Man you look worse than Midoriya-kun, Sato-san."

Rikido looked woozy and was clutching his stomach with one hand. He replied with, "Yeah, I might have over did it today. The idea of making a super move got the best of me I guess. It would be so cool to have one."

"Sounds like you struggled as I did," Izuku said with a groan.

Sato gave a pathetic nod before answering with, "Yeah, I fell flat on my face is more like it."

Ojiro then asked, "What were you trying to do?"

"Well after consuming sugar I have a set strength increase and a time limit to use it if I use my quirk under normal conditions," Rikido explained.

Despite his exhaustion, Izuku sat up and suddenly asked, "Sorry, but do you mind telling me more what those limits are? I've never actually heard you talk about your quirk in detail Sato-san."

The sugar quirk user looked surprised at the additional question but responded with, "Well it's nothing flashy. When I eat ten grams of sugar my strength quintuples for three minutes, and for every ten grams I eat after that, it adds another three minutes."

The tailed teen then pointed to the new arrival and stated, "But it tires you out the more you use it."

"To the point that it makes me sleepy, yeah. I just got back from a nap but I got up cause I didn't want to accidentally just fall asleep completely and throw off my sleeping schedule," Sato explained slowly and as if it took a lot of effort. He then rubbed his eyes and straightened himself up before saying, "But anyways the only thing that came to my head for a super move was to perhaps push myself to use more strength than normal, even if it cost me time to use my quirk. I mean my quirk naturally just makes me stronger when I consume sugar. I've never tried to draw more strength from it, just extend the time I can use it before I get too tired to fight. And I was able to do it but the time drain it had on me was too much and I immediately collapsed after lifting two dumbbells a few times."

"So you weren't kidding when you said you fell on your face," Ojiro said.

Again, Rikido gave a pathetic nod. He then said, "I tried it again multiple times after that but it just became even less efficient."

Izuku put a hand up to his chin as he stated, "Sounds more like a finishing move more than a super move if it drains you so much."

Sato's entire body slouched as he replied, "I know and I feel so lame because of it. I finally get an opportunity to maybe stand out for once with my quirk but I kneel and fall over like nothing."

Midoriya stood up with his fists clenched as he said, "I'm sure if you keep working on it you'll get used to it. You won't know if you don't try Sato-san."

This startled Rikido at first but he then responded with, "Thanks Midroiya-san. I'll keep working at it and see if there's any improvement. Though I'll try and not push myself as hard tomorrow."

"Sounds like a plan," Mashirao stated as he sat up. He then pointed towards the kitchen and said, "Now if you don't mind me I'm gonna grab some grub. Wanna join me you two?"

"I would but my stomach is still feeling awful at the moment," Sato said while clutching his chest.

"I'm not quite hungry yet Ojiro-kun," Midoriya stated.

Ojiro shrugged as he said, "Suit yourselves. Later."

After the tailed teen made his departure, Izuku sat back down and wondered what he could do while he waited. After a few minutes, he saw Tenya arrive and start making dinner for himself. Midoriya then looked back at Sato and an idea started to form in his head. He then got up and sat next to Sato and asked, "Hey Sato-san I wanna pitch you an idea. You can say no and I wouldn't think any less of you if you did, okay?"

Rikido raised an eyebrow before asking, "Go ahead, I guess."

Izuku then explained, "Tomorrow is Ida-kun's birthday. My friends and I don't really have anything planned for it but thinking about what happened yesterday night gave me an idea. Is it too much to ask for you to bake a cake for him?"

The sugar quirk user scratched the back of his head as he said, "Oh right. I won the best room competition yesterday, didn't I? But do you really think my cooking was that good? It's just something I do to go along with the nature of quirk."

Midoriya put a hand on the shoulder of his tall classmate as he said, "You got my girlfriend to vote for you, over me. I think that should tell you something about how good you are at baking." Now the reason why Tooru didn't vote for him was probably cause she was angry with him, but Rikido didn't need to know that.

Sato crossed his arms as he said, "Well, I'm not against the idea. But I'd like more to go on. Like what kind of cake would Ida-san like? How big do you want it? Do you want me to just give it to him or we going to surprise him with it?"

Midoriya hadn't thought about all of this yet. As he pondered this, he saw Uraraka and Asui enter the common room together and knew just what to do.


It was early in the night, and Izuku was standing in front of his Minoru's door. He had been replaying what he wanted to discuss with his roommate for the last minute while he stood there. Just minutes ago Midoriya had seen Mineta retire upstairs and figured it was time to confront him about yesterday. After a few deep breaths, he knocked on the door. Almost immediately he heard a scared voice say, "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Izuku was perplexed why Minoru sounded so spooked. Did he figure that this was going to happen? Was he afraid of the consequences? Regardless, Midoriya replied, "It's Midoriya, Mineta-san."

The door then opened and revealed Mineta clutching his chest with a fearful look on his face. He then said, "Dude you scared the shit out of me. All the sudden I heard a gibberish outside my door a minute ago, and I thought I was about to be assaulted by a ghost or something."

Izuku put a palm to his face realizing what he must have done. "Sorry, I must have been mumbling outside your door," he explained apologetically.

Minoru sighed before asking, "Why were mumbling though?"

"I was going over what I wanted to discuss with you in my head, and that sometimes happens when I think too hard I guess," Midoriya said with before making an awkward chuckle.

With a puzzled look on his face, the short teen asked, "You wanna talk? About what?"

Izuku crossed his arms and said with confidence, "Mineta-san, it's about what you did in Hagakure-chan's room yesterday."

It took a second for Mineta to realize what his guest was talking about, but eventually, the gravity of the situation could be shown on his face. He then asked in a low voice, "You're not gonna yell at me, are you?"

"Mineta-san I said I just wanted to talk. Had you done that to anyone else's girlfriend I'm sure there would have been a lot of yelling amongst other things, but I think we can solve this peacefully," Izuku explained.

"Alright, come in then Midoriya-san," Minoru stated in reluctant acceptance.

Before this point, Mineta had the lights off inside his room, and Midoriya was unable to get a good look at the inside. He also remembered last night that this room was one of the few that didn't get displayed. None of the girls wanted to see what was inside after he had creepingly invited them all in. Izuku was both intrigued but also not surprised at the sight he saw. It was somewhat similar to his room if he replaced all his All Might stuff with female pro heroes. Posters, figurines, and hero magazines featuring Midnight, Mt. Lady, Ryukyu, Uwabami, Ms. Joke, the female members of the Pussycats, and other heroines were scattered around his room. There was also a beefy looking computer and there a large bookshelf full of manga to its side. The bookshelf had a rolling ladder, which Midoriya found was cool but practical as well.

Mineta hopped up to his computer chair and then stated, "Alright let's hear what you gotta say."

Midoriya took a few more steps forward until he was in the center of the room and replied, "First I wanna know why you did it."

The short teen gave a dumbfounded look at his guest before saying, "Uh, I like girls. Duh?"

Izuku shook his head and said, "Obviously. But why did you only try and sneak a peek at Hagakure-chan's u-underwear? And please be honest."

Minoru took a few seconds to think before explaining, "Well, I've already felt Jiro-san's wrath once before, so no point in poking that bee's nest again. Ida-san was standing in front of Uraraka-san's dresser the whole time, so I didn't get a chance. I was too busy trying to figure out Ashido-san's choice in style to even attempt to look in her room. Yaoyorozu-san's bed took too much room so we all couldn't go in there anyways. And Asui-san, of course, didn't let us see her room cause she wasn't feeling well."

Midoriya recalled Jiro was the one who caught Mineta peeking on the girls while they were changing out of their hero suits. It made sense that Ida would make sure the short teen wouldn't attempt to do the same thing to his girlfriend since they visited Uraraka's room after Hagakure's. Izuku had to admit, Mina's tacky sense of style for her room was jarring. He also agreed that there wasn't much room to move around at Momo's due to her vast bed.

However, Midoriya knew the real reason Asui didn't want to show her room. She was distraught because of everyone that went to rescue Bakugo. Tsuyu had been vocal at the hospital that they would be no better than villains if they worked outside the law. She felt she was harsh about it, but it was necessary to convince everyone not to go through with it. Yesterday morning, Asui was surprised to learn they did it anyway. She had felt worthless that she couldn't stop them and for the first time, didn't know what to say to her classmates. Tsuyu couldn't bring herself to interact with her classmates acting like it didn't happen. And it broke her heart. Uraraka had brought together everyone that went to rescue Bakugo after the room competition to have Asui explain this away from everyone else. Everyone apologized to her and promised to have things go back to the way they were before, as friends.

Minoru then asked, "Midoriya-san, you there?"

Izuku replied, "Oh sorry, I was lost in thought."

"I was just getting to why I was curious about Hagakure-san, and you were looking off into space," the short teen stated with concern.

Midoriya held up his hands and said, "I'm fine. Go ahead."

Mineta looked down at his hands and then twiddled his thumbs a bit before saying, "Well I mean you're her boyfriend, even you must be curious if she even wears panties or not."

Izuku's face went crimson at this but responded with, "It has come up once before. Why are you so curious about it?"

The short teen then explained with, "It was a few weeks after school started. I was walking to school, and it had been windy that day. Hagakure-san was a decent distance in front of me, and one gust caused her skirt to flutter, and well, I didn't see anything there to my surprise. Which got me to think, does she not wear any? Or was it just that day? I mean I guess it's not that bold of her to do if you consider that she used to just run around in the nude during our training exercises, but it's still pretty crazy."

As cliché as it was, Izuku saw his roommate's experience as a legitimate reason to wonder about such a thing. He then remembered Minoru asking about Tooru's floating panties when his relationship came to light his first night during the school summer trip. The guest then asked with dread, "You haven't told anyone about this have you?"

"I'll admit I was tempted to tell Kaminari-kun, but I wanted to be a hundred percent sure before I told him. I didn't wanna brag and turn out I was wrong," Mineta replied with a shrug. Then with a smirk, he then continued by saying, "But with the way you reacted, it sounds like it's true."

Midoriya groaned before saying, "Only when wearing skirts cause it would mean her underwear would get exposed easily if she wore them. And please don't tell anyone."

"Alright, I'll keep it between you and me then," Minoru stated with annoyance in his tone.

This confrontation wasn't turning out as well as Izuku thought it would. But that wasn't going to stop him; perhaps a different angle might work, he thought. He then asked, "Mineta-san do you know why our class didn't go to your room yesterday?"

It took a minute, but Minoru finally spoke up and said, "Cause I don't have many friends in our class."

Midoriya knew it was harsh, but he wanted to make a point and said, "And can you figure out maybe why you don't have many friends?"

The short teen groaned before saying, "Cause I'm very open about my, perversion."

Izuku took a few steps forward and got on one knee before saying, "Look Mineta-san. I'm not gonna say having an interest in girls is bad, I mean I have them too, but you can't be so upfront about it."

Mineta then argued, "And being a closet pervert is better?"

Midoriya held up his hands in defensive as he replied, "I'm just saying you should reign it in a little. Cause if you continue down this path, no one is gonna respect you whatsoever by the time we graduate."

After shooting him a concerned look, Minoru asked, "Why are you even bothering to talk to me then if I don't deserve it then Midoriya-san?"

Izuku then sat down before explaining, "Well for one; we're going to be working together for quite some time before we graduate. I'd rather we all be friends than shun someone if I had the option. Another reason is that I think when push comes to shove, you're a great hero Mineta-san."

"Okay, now I know you're bullshitting me on that second point," Mineta retorted.

Midoriya barked back, "I'm being sincere Mineta-san!" This seemed to get Minoru's attention, and Izuku continued by saying, "During the villain invasion me and As-I mean Tsuyu-chan would have been in a lot of trouble without your quirk. And I saw your fight against Midnight-sensei during the final exam. That was a good idea using Sero-san's tape to protect yourself from Midnight-sensei's quirk, even if it was risky."

Mineta sulked upon hearing this but then said, "You know, when Midnight-sensei had me cornered the thing that got me motivated to fight was when I was thinking about the brave and cool things you've done Midoriya-san."

Izuku smiled at this and then said, "And you did something brave and cool when you finally started thinking like a hero instead of just about girls for once."

The short teen had a face of defeat as he leaned into his chair. There was silence between the two for a while before Minoru spoke up and said, "Even if I stopped being myself, do you think the girls would eventually forgive me?"

"There's a possibility they wouldn't, considering everything you've already done," Midoriya answered bluntly. Mineta groaned at this and covered his face with his hands. Izuku then continued by saying, "But at least they might be willing to speak and work with you, not in disgust at least. And again I'm not saying you have to stop being you Mineta-san just tone it down a couple notches. It might take months, but I think if you work hard to restrain yourself somewhat your reputation in class would improve drastically."

Minoru continued to look down in the dumps but said, "You think it would get me more friends?"

"Of course! And to start you should probably apologize to Hagakure-chan, I bet she would appreciate that" Izuku stated cheerfully.

The short teen then got off his chair and made his way towards the door. As he passed Midoriya, he said, "I'll think about it." Izuku got up to leave, but before his host closed the door behind him, he heard him say, "Thanks for the advice Midoriya-san. I've got a lot to think about."

Success, thought Izuku as he opened the door to his room. It was a start, but he felt that he had gotten through to his roommate. Midoriya hoped Mineta would say something to Hagakure before school started up again.

Izuku had a lot to be excited about now. Tooru might be getting the apology she asked for, which might have her lift the ban on being intimate earlier. He had a new suit and style that would allow him to better use his quirk without damaging his arms further. And tomorrow he was looking forward to the surprise birthday for Tenya.

After asking Sato to bake a cake for Ida, Midoriya asked Uraraka for help. She was ecstatic about the idea and together with the three thought of a plan for the next day. Ochako then went off with Rikido to tell him what cake to make for Tenya. It was at this point that Izuku noticed Minoru retire upstairs.

Midoriya had only just started back at school, and things were looking up for the future. And he couldn't be happier.


Ugh, so two days late this chapter, sorry about that. The second scene really needed extra time for some major edits, as it was very difficult to write and went through multiple large changes over the last few days. Hope it came off as believable and genuine.

Two milestones were passed this week. Cubicity passed 500 followers and 100 reviews! Thanks so much, everyone!

The latter half of the chapter focused on side characters. It's not only a nice change of pace from the main six, but they are just some fun/interesting students that have little to no some screen time I feel I could expand upon.

First up, Mei! Her intro with Izuku in this arc is different from the manga due to the events/reasons leading up to him seeing her. Also, she will be important going into nineteen and beyond. The other reasons I want to include her (minus plot) is that I just want to explore Mei's dynamic with Izuku in a non-romantic sense a bit but we only got an introduction so far.

Next up, Sato! I mean whoever uses that guy in their story? Me apparently. I got plans for buff cake boy.

Now let's talk Mineta. People hate him. LOTS of people hate him (and chapter 173 isn't helping). I get it, he's a huge open pervert. Many people also think Minoru was a wasted slot for class 1A. And with how many in the class would kill to even get even as much attention he has gotten in the manga (cough Tooru amongst others) I can also see that point. But Mineta is here to stay in canon and he has got some development in the final exam arc. I wanna add to that (cause the manga really hasn't since). Sure I dislike him but I can't relate to the sheer hatred that some people have for the guy. Like character death levels of hate. Yeesh. I'm not trying to say I'm gonna completely redeem Minoru either, he's gonna have to earn it and he's still gonna be himself, somewhat. Izuku's one of the few people that he is on good terms with (minus Denki but that's just further contributing to his problem). I just couldn't see Midoriya just blowing off Mineta for what he did in Hagakure's room. Sure he would call him out on it but I feel he would also give advice as well. It's just the kind of guy Izuku is.

I made some major additions to chapter fifteen and seventeen in early February. For both, I wanted to add some scenes/references from the light novels to this story, and am hyped to add stuff from volume three (although celebrating Ida's birthday was already set up this chapter). The light novels are almost purely slice of life, just like the majority of this fic, so I felt compelled to at least use some of them if possible. Seventeen got some other additions as well, namely the talk between Ojiro and Midoriya before having lunch on his birthday, Uraraka's discussion, and the kiss at the end (I felt it needed more details). I'm usually not into adding too much after a chapter has published as that forces you guys to go back and read old chapters, but the stuff I added meant I didn't need to talk about it later (and could foreshadow stuff earlier). The only other place to fit it would be either this or the next chapter. Eighteen was originally just going to be the first two scenes but that turned out to be a lot shorter than I imagined so I took a part of nineteen and added it here. When looking at my outline for nineteen, I realized it was going to be huge. Covering the entire week of Super Training in one chapter just didn't seem like the best idea in the end.

Night Foilage edited some more chapters. Here are the numbers of edits she did:

4: 66 (10,359 words)

5: 110 (11,093 words)

6: 41 (7,900 words)

Finally, I just want to clarify what's going on with my Tumblr account. In the last chapter, I was kind of vague at what I planned to do with it. I want to correct that. Every week I'll post on Monday and it will have two parts. The first part will be an update on Cubicity itself. Things like how far I am into the chapter, issues/fun things that are cropping up, or about edits that I did or are in process. The second part will have random facts about Cubicity, headcanons of BNHA, discussion of recent chapters of BNHA, or real-life shenanigans involving myself. I started the posts on January 29th, so there have been five posts as of posting this chapter. Post 1-3 cover how/why I came to write Cubicity. Post 4 covers why I use Japanese honorifics in this fic. Post 5 explains my views on the current new arc in the manga. Again my Tumblr account is the same name as mine here.

Well, I'll see ya'll again with another chapter on April 1st (and no I am not fooling you)!