Izuku watched as the girl and her bodyguard disappeared into the distance, unsure of what to do with himself. He knew that the "consultation" wouldn't last too long, but it all seemed to go by so fast. And he thought he would at least be able to offer some useful advice, but all he did was tell her she was already amazing.

Taking out his phone he saw that he still had plenty of time before he had to catch the train home. He had never been to Machi before, and he doubted he would be back often, so he might as well do some exploring while he had time. Right after he texts his mother…

Izuku: Hey Mom, just finished up at the gym. Was certainly an interesting experience. Noticed I still have a decent amount of time before I have to make curfew, is it alright if I do some exploring?

Inko: Of course honey, as long as you are back in this house before seven. BTW, who was that pretty girl in the picture? I hope you behaved yourself.

Izuku decided it would be in his best interest going forward to ignore that message for now, and instead pulled up a map of the area to see what was around him. Mostly he just saw sweet shops and convenience stores, nothing that caught his eye, but just within walking distance, he saw a name that he knows he'd seen before.

Hidden Treasures was an anomaly, lots of rumors surrounded the store. Some claimed it had mystical properties, others claimed it existed in another dimension. Many rumors claimed that the store found you and not the other way around with multiple accounts claiming to have come across it at different addresses. Izuku of course dismissed most of these baseless rumors. A simple Google search showed that the store had always been at the same location and had never moved locations. But that didn't stop the conspiracy theorists from doing their thing.

However, there were some rumors about the place that weren't as easy to verify. One is that the store always had what you needed. Izuku did need to find some things while he was out. Mainly books on web design and maybe get some new hero merch. Shaking his head he muttered to himself, "If I keep getting distracted, I'm never going to redecorate."

Plan in place he started the walk to his new destination. As he walked he tried to ignore the creeping sense of paranoia traveling up his spine. He had been carefully watching the crowd as he moved and no one seemed to be following him, if anything everyone seemed too busy to even notice his existence. But he hadn't seen the other two guards before, so maybe he was missing them now? But why would they be following him when they were guarding Momo? On that thought, why did she even need guards to start with? She did say she took the proper precautions before meeting with him, perhaps she only hired them for the day? But the way the one called Gāto talked to her made it sound like they were familiar with each other. Was she important? Did he just embarrass himself in front of someone he shouldn't have?

Before he could spiral too far into this line of thought, he reached his destination, an older-looking brick building with 'Hidden Treasures' in faded gold paint over the door. The small parking lot had barely visible lines and too many potholes to count, the building itself looked like it hadn't been cleaned in at least a year. Izuku started to turn on the heels of his feet thinking that the building was abandoned, but at the last second, he saw a small dimly lit open sign in the window. He hesitated for a moment, the rest of the block was full of pristine buildings with freshly cleaned windows and paved lots, so seeing this building in such disrepair felt off. Of course, that didn't mean it was supernatural, there were a hundred different explanations for what he was seeing, but it was getting a little hard to ignore all the urban legends surrounding this store.

'Come on Izuku, you're not actually falling for some creepy pastas, are you?' The teen scolded himself. Straightening his posture and steadying his breath he marched through the door and entered the mysterious building. Once inside he was greeted by a maze of shelves, all seeming to be placed randomly, some pushed against others, all nearly overflowing with random items. At first glance he couldn't discern any form of organization at all, it was like asking a toddler to clean his room only to find everything shoved into a closet.

He traveled further, searching for any sign of life, but he couldn't see a single employee or even another customer. His heart started pounding in his chest. Was this a mistake? Was this place really magical? Were all the stories about people vanishing in this place true? Should he run for the door?

His spiral was once again interrupted by the sound of movement up ahead, and with the promise of human contact, Izuku sped walked towards the sound. He passed by tall shelves containing electronics, kitchen utensils, at one point he saw just a pile of furniture in a corner. Eventually, he found the source of the noise, a girl shuffling around clothes on a rack. She was about the same height as him, with purple hair cut into a bob cut, and wearing baggy jeans with a white shirt with a logo he didn't recognize. But the detail that stuck out to Izuku was the earlobes that extended into audio jacks. Having now confirmed he wasn't trapped alone in some nightmare building, he allowed his heart to settle as he rounded a corner into another aisle to browse himself.

Above every shelf was a copy of the same red sign with gold lettering. "All prices negotiable." At least Izuku could confirm one of the rumors about this place. Several accounts of this place had claimed that they were able to walk out with armfuls of merchandise for pennies on the dollar. Some had photographic evidence, but Izuku always assumed they had just stolen what they wanted when the workers weren't looking. Now he just had to confirm another rumor, if this store really had anything you were looking for. Right now, the teen needed books on web design if he wanted to build a place for himself and future clients, and all he had to do was find them.

Izuku shuffled around the next three aisles, each one seemed to have its own purpose, but nothing was what he needed at that moment. He would have loved to take his time and try to figure out the organizational method the owners used, but unfortunately, he was on a time limit. Making his way back to the aisle he saw the girl on, he hid around the corner as he built up his nerve. He never liked asking for directions, too many people in the past thought it would be hilarious to send him to the wrong place, but at the moment he didn't have any other choice. Turning the corner, he saw the girl was a little further down, inspecting a leather jacket. "Excuse me, do you work here?"

Without looking up she says in a bored tone, "Sorry dude, no."

"Right, sorry for bothering you!" He started backing up quickly, nearly tripping over his shoes as he turned around.

"I mean, I don't work here, but I do spend a lot of time here. You looking for anything specific?" She had finally turned to him. Her expression seemed both bored and curious.

"I was hoping to find some books about web design."

"I don't know about web design, but I do know where most of the books are kept. You just gotta… actually, I'll just walk you there. This place has no organization to it."

"Oh no, please. You really don't need to do that."

"It's fine. I was about to move on anyway. Nothing here fits my style." The girl started down the aisle, not looking behind her to see if he was following. After a few minutes of awkward silence, she looked back to ask a question. "Let me guess, you're going to make the next big Hero News site."

Izuku looks at her confused. "Huh?"

"I'm just messing with you, dude. Why do you want books on web design anyway? Aren't there like, a million websites for that?"

"I always learned better with physical copies. I tried to store all my notes for school digitally before, but my grades took a drop. Luckily Mrs. Nīsu let me take some retests that year."

After another moment of awkward silence, she looked back with a raised eyebrow, "Soooo?" All the green-haired teen could do in response was tilt his head in confusion. "What kind of website are you trying to make?"

"Oh! I was hoping to create something that I could work off of and advertise my services. Also need a place to collect and display reviews I receive from people. Hopefully make a few bucks while I'm at it."

"Too cool to get a job like the rest of us?"

Izuku started panicking, thinking that he was sounding obnoxious with his desires. "No not at all! I'm not too good for anything. I was just hoping to get some experience in a career field so that I'll have something to stand on when I get older, I swear!"

The purple-haired girl nearly doubled over laughing at his panic. "Man, it is way too easy to tease you." They end up at a ceiling-high shelf filled with books. "Well, this is your stop. I'll be two aisles down when you're done. Come get me and I'll take you to the register."

"Oh, please don't wait on me. I don't want to take too much of your time."

"Dude, you won't find the register, much less the exit, by yourself. It's not a problem, I needed to see if they have something in stock anyway." And with that she leaves, not waiting for a response from the boy.

Izuku was honestly embarrassed at needing so much help with something as simple as shopping. He was fifteen for crying out loud, almost sixteen. And yet here he was, unable to walk through a store by himself. Did it have a confusing layout, yes. Did he suspect that the building was much bigger on the inside than on the outside, also yes. Did he already forget which direction the exit was, triple yes. But she shouldn't have to rely on the help of strangers to find a book aisle in a store, no matter how strange the place was! Now he was on a time limit not only to catch his train but also not to take too much of this girl's time away from her. "Time to start digging."

The entire section was a mess, at least at first glance. The shelf itself was overflowing, some books precariously balanced in place by the very edge of their covers. There were several piles on the floor, some as tall as Izuku. He did see a librarian's ladder leaning on the shelf, but with the mess he was seeing he doubted he could move it without causing an avalanche of paper.

Upon closer inspection, though, he saw glimpses of organization in the pigsty. Everything seemed to be vaguely thrown together by genre if nothing else. Romance novels, pre-quirk comic reprints, 'tempted but that's not what I'm here for', AC repair for dummies, there seemed to be at least one of everything. Finally, he saw what he was looking for. Five books in total about web design and server maintenance, an aspect Izuku never even considered. "Crap," he muttered to himself, "Am I going to have to buy another computer to host the site on? Will that affect the electric bill?" All questions that will have to be answered later, for now, he had to grab what he could.

After only a couple of minutes, he narrowed his search down to three books, one book on basic coding and making the site functional, one smaller book based around running a business online, and lastly a book on setting up and maintaining a server. Normally he would like to review the contents more before making a purchase like this but he was running out of time.

He couldn't see a price tag anywhere, so he assumed that it was the same as the other aisles where all prices were negotiable. He dug through his bag to find his wallet, needing to double-check how much he had on him. "If I remember right I should have about… what is this?" When Izuku found and picked up his wallet it felt heavier than usual, and opening it revealed a wad of fresh and unwrinkled bills along with a handwritten note.

"I know you said you were uncomfortable accepting payment, so consider this an investment. I believe you hold a real talent for this profession and that this talent should be nurtured. If you don't wish to spend this money for personal gain, then please use it to expand your current resources.

I hope to see you again, Momo."

Counting the money he saw she had placed 200 dollars into his wallet. When? How? Why?! He didn't do anything to deserve payment, all he did was ask her some questions and offer a small bit of advice. Hardly anything worth ten dollars let alone 200. Now that he thought about it, he never paid anything at the gym, meaning that she had rented the room entirely on her own. He needed to give this money back, but how? He didn't know where she lived, and they didn't hang out together, he could ask her over Discord but if she was willing to sneak this money to him then she would likely avoid any scenario that would allow him to give it back. But he couldn't just keep the money… could he? He reread the note over and over. It did explicitly say he could use the money to expand his resources, and that was the explicit purpose of these books.

After fighting with himself for several minutes, arguing back and forth on the matter he made a decision. Izuku would use the money only to pay for things needed for this new line of work. He would also apply to UA's general education course, find Momo, and pay her back every penny plus interest.

With a newfound determination, he marched over to the other aisle to find the kind girl to ask for her help once more. He found her by a large shelf longer than the one he just left, covered in vinyls, cassette tapes and players, CDs, and more. Further down he saw saxophones, guitars, violins, and was that a drum set stacked in the corner? On the other side of them was a shelf, equally as long, containing posters, a few shirts with band logos, stickers with the same logos, and much more band merch. It was like a hero merch store got compressed to just one aisle, except music themed.

She must have heard him walking this way as her eyes never left the guitar she was inspecting. "Hey Shirt, find what you needed?" The girl called out to him, taking his attention away from a small group of phone cases, all of them featuring bands that Izuku enjoyed.

It took Izuku a moment to understand why she called him shirt, only having to look down and see he was still wearing his 'shirt' shirt. Perhaps he should get a better sense of style after all. "Sorry, I never introduced myself properly. I'm Izuku Midoriya, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You don't need to apologize so much man, and I'm Kyoka Jirou. Just call me Jirou" After a moment of silence she finally looks at him. "So you just going to answer my question or just leave me hanging?"

"Oh, yes! I found them." He lifted his books up to show them off.

"Cool, just give me a moment alright, still trying to find something."

"Yes, of course. Please take your time, I didn't mean to steal your day." The boy nearly shouted his response.

She raises an eyebrow at him, a little startled at the sudden volume. "You sure are jumpy. You sure you're ok dude?"

Embarrassed, Izuku feels his face start to turn red once again today. "Yeah, I'm just nervous around new people." Satisfied with that answer the girl, Jirou, put down the guitar and switched her focus to a poster featuring a band that Izuku recognized. "Is that Maximum the Hormone?"

"Umm, yeah. You listen to them?"

"I was recommended one of their albums by someone I know. I haven't listened to the rest of their songs but from what I heard they're really good." With a topic he was interested in, Izuku started crawling out of his shell. "I haven't heard anyone put the same kind of energy into their music. At first all the tonal shifts made me disoriented but I ended up loving it."

For the first time since meeting her, Jirou seemed to be giving him her full attention. "Yeah, same here. I love their guitar work, not the best in the world but they know how to make their own sound."

"I love their voices; I've grown used to bands only having one singer unless they do some harmonies so having them switching among themselves was a first for me."

She looks him up and down. "I'm surprised anyone recommended them to you string bean. If you asked me for something to listen to I probably would have handed you a Beatles album and said 'Don't hurt yourself'" She said in what he now recognized was a friendly teasing tone.

For his part, Izuku just chuckled and scratched the back of his head. "You wouldn't be the first to say something like that. And I like them, especially nice to listen to when you need background music while studying, but they don't have the," He paused as he searched for the word he needed, "oomph I look for in music."

She starts to laugh even harder. "Man, talk about not judging a book by its cover. Should I expect to see you in the mosh pit at their next concert?"

"Probably not. I would have to let my mom listen to them, and that would be a whole thing. Better to just plug in the headphones and enjoy them by myself."

She looks at him sympathetically. "Mom thinks metal is satanic or something?"

"No, she's just really protective. If she heard half the things I've been listening to lately she would ask me if I'm ok, if things are alright, do you need to talk to someone, and I get it but sometimes I just want to hear someone scream at the world. That doesn't mean I'm angry."

"Yeah, I can get that. I'm lucky enough to have musicians for parents, so I don't have to worry about that stuff. If anything they'll rock out with me." She goes back to shopping but still keeps half her attention on Izuku. "So, who are your favorites?"

"That's a tough one. Pretty much all of my favorite bands were recommended to me by someone online, bands like Maximum the Hormone, Green Day, and Halestorm, it's a mixed artist album but I love the Sunset Overdrive album."

With every band he listed Jirou looked more and more focused, as if she was putting the last few pieces of a puzzle together. "Huh, and where do you hang out online to get these bands?"

"Analytica."

She suddenly turns to him wide-eyed. "All Green?"

Izuku nearly has a heart attack at the sudden mention of his username. He freezes in fear that someone has been able to connect the two but then things started to fall into place in his mind. Musician parents, guitar player, seemed to be interested in the same music as him, "Jack?"

"Holy shit it is you! What are you doing in Machi? I had no idea you were from this area."

"I thought you were a guy." He blurted out, unintentionally ignoring her question. "Oh, and I'm not from here. However, I do only live a short train ride away."

All she could offer was a shrug. "Having a dude's name lowers the number of online creeps you gotta deal with."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense." It was something he had never had to deal with himself. "Well, either way, it is nice to finally meet you."

"Same here, though you're not exactly who I thought you would be. You're way more confident online."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to deceive you." He feels something hit his head, looking up to see that Jirou had lightly smacked him with a pack of guitar strings.

"Stop apologizing man, you haven't done anything wrong. It was just an observation." She looked like she was going to say more but her eyes widened and she suddenly shouted, "There you are!" Brushing past Izuku she picked up a button with a logo he didn't recognize. Upon closer inspection, it was the same logo that was on her shirt. A white background with a stylized black spider. "Alright, that's everything I needed. Let's head to the register and get out of here."

As Izuku follows her, he loses all the momentum he had gained during their conversation. He felt himself retreating into his shell and didn't like it. "What's that logo?" He tried to claw his way back out.

"I'm surprised you don't know it, being a hero nerd and all. This is Ghost-Spider's logo. From back in the old days when heroes weren't really official yet. She managed to be both a vigilante and a rock star."

"Wow, I never heard of her." He tried to balance his books in his arm while reaching in his bag trying to get his notebook out to write in. "What was her band called?"

"The Marry Janes. Unfortunately, not a lot of their music survived. Only one confirmed album and some videos here and there, but I'm always hunting for her merch and stuff. I got a pretty good collection back home." She sounded proud, almost like listening to Kacchan talk about a new All Might figure he snagged. "So, who do you owe money to?"

"W-what?"

One of Jirou's ear jacks lifts and points at him. "I don't try to eavesdrop but I got great hearing. And you mutter to yourself."

Confusion snuffed out, the boy let out a deep sigh. "I was out here because someone asked for my help today. Long story short I'm now looking to be a quirk analyst and I was supposed to help this girl, Momo, with her quirk today. I don't know when or even how, but at some point she managed to slip money into my wallet without me noticing."

"And that's a bad thing?"

"I never asked her for payment! I explicitly stated I didn't want her money. If anything I owe her for allowing me to get experience." Izuku almost started shouting. He didn't know it bothered him this much.

Jirou for her part just tsked at him. "Never do free gigs, man. Once you do one, everyone expects you to do it for them."

Ignoring her advice, as he didn't think it applied to his situation, he continued. "Either way, next time I see her I'm giving her money back. Plus interest."

She subtly shakes her head but otherwise doesn't comment on him ignoring her. "So how you going to find her? Doesn't sound like you know her personally."

"I know she's going for the UA hero course, and I know for a fact she'll get in. She's really strong. I'm going to go for the Gen Ed course, find her, and then pay her back."

"Wait you want to go to UA too? Dude that's great, I'm gunning for the hero course there too."

"You never said you wanted to be a hero."

"You never asked. Besides, I enjoyed talking music with someone who wasn't my parents for a change, so I never felt the need to change the topic."

Izuku smiled at the kind girl who had been helping him since he got here. "I hope you get in, I think you can be a great hero."

Now it was Jirou's turn to blush. "Don't say things you don't mean Green, you've never seen me in action." Taking only a second to shake the embarrassment she turns back to Izuku, walking backward through the shop as she talks to him. "We should both be taking the same written exam to get in right? We should totally study together Green! We both know you have the brains to get in."

"Oh, yeah sure. We can do that." He answers halfheartedly. He knew she was just being polite, only offering to study together as a formality. She likely won't bring it up again after this and he certainly wouldn't push it. Noticing that she hasn't crashed into anything yet in this chaos, even making a turn while remaining backward, Izuku can't help but notice. "You know this place really well."

"Well, it is my uncle's shop. I spend a lot of time hanging out seeing what gets dropped off." She holds up the button, "That's how I knew this bad boy was here."

"He doesn't hold things for you?"

"Nah, aint how he roles. He gives me a heads up if anything interesting goes in stock but he is very much a first come first served kind of dude."

Talk slowed down from there, both of them running out of things to say during the first in-person meeting. This place was still a labyrinth to the green-haired teen, making him especially grateful he found Jirou before he got too lost. At one point he swears they make four left turns in a row! But before too much longer they reach the register, an older scruffy man behind the counter. Barely looking up from the book in his hands he says in a low gruff voice, "Five bucks each."

Izuku stops in his tracks. Was he talking to him? Jirou? Was he on a phone call? "Come on pops, not going to give him the family and friends discount?"

The older man fully looks away from his book studying Izuku, seemingly not impressed with what he sees. "You know this scrawny kid?"

She gives him a jab to the shoulder. "He's a friend of mine. Geeks out over music with me, didn't know he was dropping by today otherwise I would have said something to ya."

"Fine. Three bucks each."

Finally shaken from his trance Izuku tries to backpedal the conversation. "Oh, no, that's really not necessary. Five was already a great deal."

After some more bargaining, if you could count one party repeatedly saying three dollars while a girl laughs at your panic 'bargaining', Izuku paid for his books and turned to Jirou to say his thanks.

"Let me walk you to the door, I was heading out anyway." As he turns to follow he immediately sees the exit. That… that can't be right. They walked for so long, and where was the music section? And the walls, they were so much closer! The maze was gone, replaced by a normal if messy second-hand store. He was too stunned to speak, only able to follow the purple-haired girl out the front door before she stopped and asked him another question. "So where you heading now?"

Returning his focus to her, he tried to keep his mind from frying at what he had just witnessed. "I should probably catch a train home now. I don't want to worry my mom."

Instead of making fun of him as he half expected her to, she instead just insists that he message her the next time he's free to hang out so they can get together again. He doesn't take her seriously, again thinking this was just a formality, but he does smile and nod telling her he will make sure to do that.

Starting his way to the station he feels the excitement of the day finally taking its toll on him. His feet hurt from all the walking, his throat was dry from the lack of water, and the strap of his duffle bag was beginning to eat into his shoulder. Not only that he knew he had a lot of work to do when he got home. With school, building this site, and hopefully getting some work with other clients, he would virtually have no free time to relax for the next year or so.

And yet, he was happy. Happier than he had been in a long time.


Meanwhile, in an encrypted chatroom

Valley Girl: So, we're all in agreement?

Forest Dad: Yes. I'm ashamed to admit it, but we messed up and must make it right.

Life Legs: Heroics aren't always pretty, you two better get used to these things. Comes with the territory.

Backdraft: There is nothing to be ashamed of. We are only human; we are all capable of making mistakes. The least we can do is set an example for the next generation and take responsibility.

Life Legs: Backdraft, how many times do we have to tell you? Change your username!

Backdraft: no.


Authors Note;

In my rwby story I tried to keep real world references out of it, but mha does take place on earth just 100 or so years from now. So I feel a lot less hesitant to add them now. If it distracts you im sorry, maybe pretend they they're really into "classic" music? I mean if Kaminari can instantly get a Hemingway joke certainly its possible right?

Jirou may be slightly out of character in this story. I'm writing her more as her design would suggest, a punk/rocker tomboy, rather than what she ended up being in the show, a shy girl who likes music.

Could not think of a chapter title. Wanted to put music in there somewhere but nothing made sense. I know its not a huge deal and most if not all of you don't even read them, but it bothers me.

I love music, but I wouldn't say im a music nerd. I cant even name half the bands that sing the songs I have on my phone. So sorry in advance if I get things wrong while writing Jiro and Izuku nerding out in the future.

Backdraft has literally no personality. So I think I should make him the old timer of the hero buis who always tries to tell the yungns how its done. But in a kind way.

Here's a fun one, Bakugo gives everyone nick names and doesn't like to clarify beyond that, so if he turned to Kirishima and said "hey, go get half n half and My Chemical Romance" who is MCR, Jiro or Tokoyami?

As always, please leave a comment. They tell me what I did wrong, what I did right, and I just enjoy getting them.