Izuku had been in the park a lot recently, but it was always for training purposes. It was his main running spot, the park stretching far enough that he could get in a long enough run without having to do too many laps. He thought he might run into Katsumi at least once, seeing as she used to run there all the time, but it seemed she had changed her route recently. It didn't matter that much, she was so much faster than him that if they had crossed paths it wouldn't be for long… unless she purposely slowed down to chat with him. She totally would too, she took every opportunity to slack off, he shouldn't encourage it.

Well, technically that was exactly what he was doing by agreeing to meet up with her like this. But if All Might said to do it, it couldn't be that bad.

'Don't get distracted from what you want to do. If you want to be a hero, that's what you need to be focusing on.'

A couple of hours wouldn't hurt, right? It wasn't a good idea to exhaust himself the day before the festival anyway. Some sun would do him good, one last rest before he told the world, 'I am here!'

"Oh, you here already?"

He had already been surprised by the closeness of the voice from behind him, but when he turned around that shock was only amplified as he came face to face with Katsumi.

Katsumi grinned at him, pulling back, one bracelet-decorated hand on her hip, the other one holding the strap of that fancy red bag that Aizawa-Sensei had berated her for bringing to school the other day.

Izuku had gotten used to seeing Katsumi in her uniform, and before that, she mainly had on her workout clothes around him. He had almost forgotten what Katsumi wore on her days off.

Izuku wasn't all that versed in fashion, he didn't know the white shirt Katsumi was wearing was a babydoll top with black 'guipure' lace accents (Katsumi probably didn't know that either). He had no idea that the main silver necklace dangling alongside an assortment of shorter ones was a Vivienne Westwood carmela cubic zirconia pendant. He could probably notice and guess the black lace choker was to match the lace on her top, but he wouldn't notice that her black micro crew socks were frilly to match.

Despite that though, and despite not seeing her out of her uniform for a while, he did notice that the clothes were slightly different than what she would normally wear. Without the overloading of jewellery and her short denim shorts he would have thought she was wearing clothes from someone elses wardrobe. She looked more, not girly… Izuku didn't know the word. Maybe it was because she was missing her usual bright colours? Either way, like always she looked way too glamorous to be seen anywhere near him.

"You're clothes," Izuku noted after they began to walk, soaking in the sun, "Is this a new style?"

"I decided to try something different! What," she raised her eyebrows, "is it not good?"

"No no!" Izuku shook his head, "You look good!"

"Oh really?" Katsumi smirked, "How good?"

Izuku stuttered out a, "Very!" Seemed like he was out of practice for enduring her teasing.

Giggling, Katsumi ran her fingers through her hair, "By the way- sorry I was a little late. I was just at the hairdresser."

Was she even late? He had only just arrived after all. Was she just saying that as a convenient way to mention going to the hairdressers?

"Did you get your hair cut?" Izuku didn't notice a difference, it was curled, but she did that herself all the time. That wasn't something you'd solely got to the hairdressers for right?

"It looks good," he smiled, she'd get upset if he didn't notice.

Katsumi narrowed her eyes, "No. I didn't. Do you want a second go?"

"Um," Izuku sweated. He had been wrong! Quickly, he searched her hair for some difference. If she didn't get it cut then…

"Oh! You dyed it!"

Katsumi leaned in, her sharp gaze making Izuku squirm for a moment before she pulled away, giggling.

"Hmph, close enough. I got the roots bleached." She grinned, "Gotta look camera ready for tomorrow!"

Izuku laughed, rubbing his neck. Why did she have to get so close?

Tomorrow huh. She was talking about the sports festival. It had crept up quickly, the pressure had been on for weeks, but now it was heavier than ever. He supposed thats why All Might wanted them to go out and relax.

"You feel prepared?" Katsumi asked.

"Um, yes I do," Izuku decided. "At least, I feel as prepared as I can be."

"Mhm, good. You think you're gonna place first then?"

Izuku sweatdropped.

"Haha! No? Not even gonna try?"

"Of course, I'll try!" He would put everything into the festival, it was one of the single most important events in his UA career!" Izuku sighed, it just wasn't realistic, "There's so many strong candidates…"

"Mhm, like those annoying bastards Todoroki and Bakugou," Katsumi grumbled.

Izuku could understand why she thought Kacchan was annoying, but he wasn't sure what Todoroki did to earn her ire.

Well he couldn't speak for Todoroki, but, "Kacchan's not all bad, even if he's not a nice person-"

"He's an asshole."

"Yes, he is," Izuku sweated, "but he had a lot of really admirable qualities! He's incredibly strong and confident, he's basically my goal post/ Beating him, it's something I have to do."

"You have already," Katsumi said, she was talking about the hero training. "For someone who bullied you… you don't seem to hate him all that much."

"Yeah, well," Izuku thought about it. Yeah, the bullying sucked but… "he's kinda different than he used to be. He used to be way more snarky and cocky… I suppose it's because he's around other strong people instead of 'extras'."

"Honestly," Katsumi stroked her chin, thinking, "I sorta took him for a delinquent, but he's more punctual than me, focuses on lessons more than me, works harder than me in training, takes stuff more seriously… Oh my god."

Katsumi stopped in her tracks. Izuku turned around, giving her a puzzled look.

"Katsumi?"

She stared at him wide-eyed, "I gotta get my act together. That dude cannot do better than me."

"He's serious about being number one," Izuku thought back to that argument they had about his quirk and winced. "I'm surprised you noticed all that though, I mean I know you talk to him sometimes but-" Could you call it talking? They just shouted insults across whatever room they were in.

"Huh?" Katsumi laughed, waving her hand dismissively, "I don't! I don't take any notice of him at all, I barely look at him!"

Izuku blinked, "Uh, right." Katsumi reacted weirdly to things sometimes.

"Anyway!" Katsumi grabbed his wrist forcing a squeak out of him, "Let's go get ice cream! Is there an ice cream truck nearby?"

"Uh! I doubt it!" Izuku managed to get out as Katsumi dragged him along, "There no festival so-" He supposed ice cream trucks were more prominent in America, they didn't really have them around unless it was with other food stalls. "We can go to the convenience store and get something."

"Alright!" Katsumi spun around, releasing Izuku's wrist, "Sound good! Let's take advantage of my dad's bottomless wallet!"

Izuku choked, "You shouldn't say that-!"

/

"Katsumi the ice cream is at the front."

The convenience store was nice and cool, the old man at the register greeting them politely as they came in.

"Yeah- I gotta get something else first," Katsumi said, turning to him as she walked to the back of the store.

"Alright," Izuku nodded before looking down at the ice cream selection in the ice box.

Katsumi didn't take that long, coming back with two packets of pocky and a bottle of…

"Two in one shampoo..?" He was surprised, even Izuku didn't use that, no way Katsumi did.

Katsumi laughed, "For my dad. I obviously don't use this stuff! Do you see how healthy my hair is evenwhilebleached?" She grinned, tossing her hair.

"It is shiny," and neat… Izuku's hair seemed to be stuck in the same position no matter what. Katsumi was so pretty, of course, her hair would be too.

Izuku winced, he needed to stop thinking like that. It wasn't important! The festival was quite literally tomorrow.

"Thank you," Katsumi giggled, lightly punching his arm, "So what ice cream are you getting?"

The sun had gotten pretty hot, the ice cream was definitely a good call. As they stood outside the convenience store to eat them, Katsumi pulled out her camera from her bag and grinned at Izuku.

"Picture time"

"Oh, haha," Izuku was not used to taking photographs. Besides the times his mum made him stand awkwardly for a photo on the first day of school he never really got photos of himself taken.

He was glad she was enjoying the gift he got her, it was a total last-minute find. More luck than anything.

"Make sure to get your ice cream in!"

Izuku did, trying to look natural holding the icecream close to him as he smiled upwards- Katsumi always seemed to take photographs from high angles. Izuku looked at her as she beamed up at her camera, it was nice, she was in a really good mood today it seemed.

Click!

Izuku quickly looked back to the camera.

They stayed in the shade eating their ice cream as Katsumi waved the photo, trying to get it to develop quickly. He hoped that he was looking the right way in the photo.

"Hm!" Katsumi smiled, looking at the photograph. She held it up, "Look how cute we look!"

Izuku could see how his eyes were on Katsumi, but it was just unnoticeable enough that he didn't think she would. He let out a little sigh of relief.

Katsumi gave the photo to him.

He couldn't speak for how he looked, he thought he was pretty plain, but yeah, Katsumi was really cute. The sunlight was making her skin glow and eyes sparkle, her gold hair shining in the light.

"...Pretty."

It was strange how different Katsumi could be. Today she had been all smiles and grins, teasing and joking. But she was also pretty erratic and ruthless. He supposed the last two traits were what made her a formidable opponent on the battlefield. After missing out on seeing her fight during the battle training, he paid attention to her during other hero training lessons. Her moves tended to be precise, using strength to land heavy blows. But it was the unpredictable nature that made him worry about ever having to face her. It seemed the longer she fought the more volatile she became.

"You can have it if you want."

Izuku looked up, he had totally spaced out! The sun was only getting hotter and it seemed the heat was getting to Katsumi a bit, her face dusted pink.

"The photo I mean."

"You sure?" He asked, looking at the photo again.

"Yeah," Katsumi nodded, "I still have the one from my birthday, plus I take a bunch with my phone, you don't so it would be nice for you to have a photo of us together."

"I see," he smiled widely at her, "thank you."

"Mhm!" Katsumi scratched her neck, suddenly very interested in the trees in the distance.

"Well," Izuku nodded, putting the photograph into his pocket, he'd have to remember to put it somewhere safe later. "Let's finish our icecreams and then we should start walking back to the park."

"Oh yeah, you're not supposed to eat while walking, I forget sometimes."

Izuku shook his head.

Maybe what she was doing was stupid, she really shouldn't be doing something like this so soon after that argument with her father, but… This was the last day before the festival, she needed to see Tomura.

She had learnt her lesson about doing it while her dad was still awake. So, despite the fact it might make her tired the next morning, the day before the festival, she stayed up till she was sure her dad was asleep, and sneaked out of the house.

Things were clearer to her now. She had a moment of weakness, it wouldn't happen again. She knew what she had to do.

Her foot was in the door, Tomura had warmed up to her. Now, the real plan began. She'd show him just how pointless and futile what he was doing was, she'd turn him away from that man.

"You're regeneration is quicker now."

Seven minutes. Katsumi flipped her hand over, staring at it.

"Way quicker."

Tomura exhaled sharply, a huff, a snort, whatever you wanted to call it, the short, sudden exhale out of one's nose. He did it to prove that he was annoyed by her presence, but it was easy to see through that now.

"You mind if I don't leave yet?" Katsumi asked, adjusting herself on her stool as she watched Tomura play.

"Don't care," he responded, staring at the screen.

Katsumi's lip twitched up.

"Good."

Katsumi couldn't stay long, but she had gotten a bit too invested in Tomura's playthrough of Persona 5 to talk to him about anything really important. It wasn't like she had been there long at all, there was no rush yet.

"You did something to your hair."

"Oh yeah," she brushed her fingers though, "I had it curled, but it's mostly fallen out now…"

"Obviously, I meant colour, it's all blonde."

He'd noticed that? Well, when he last saw her, she did have black hair, didn't she?

"Yeah, the black was getting too obvious so I got my roots done."

Tomura's lip twitched, but he didn't say anything. Katsumi wasn't sure what more to say. It was silent for a while.

"So-"

"I was surprised when you came here looking like that."

He didn't look away from the game.

"Yeah, I do look different right? You think it's a bad thing?"

"...You dyed your hair to look more like your Dad."

Again, he didn't look at her. Katsumi was glad.

"Uh, no, it's just popular in America, so…"

Tomura's expression soured, it had been pretty neutral up until that point. Katsumi stroked her own hand soothingly.

"Is it worth it?"

"Huh?" Katsumi cocked her head, confused, "Bleaching my hair?" Tomura glanced at her, before turning to face her. Katsumi yelped embarrassingly as he grabbed her arm.

"Trying to fit in… Trying to be a good hero student…" he scowled, looking down.

"This," he said, staring up at her as he drummed his fingers on her skin. "Getting me to hurt you so you can get stronger."

Katsumi pursed her lips. Tomura stopped moving his fingers, instead gripping her arm tight, all but one finger holding her in place.

"All to be ahero?" He almost spat the last word, hatred so palpable Katsumi could feel it against her skin, the hot glare only adding to the sensation.

Something nagged at Katsumi, but she turned her back to it.

The regeneration training, hurting herself to get stronger… Katsumi was so used to it now, it didn't feel like she was even hurting herself. Why he was getting worked up about it escaped her, and she didn't have a satisfying response for him. It wasn't even to be a hero, but, it wasn't time to reveal her real agenda yet.

"I don't have a choice. I like fighting, I like being strong," she shrugged, ignoring his grip on her. "And it's just how the world is set up that the only way I can do that without being looked down upon is hiding behind the idea of a hero."

There was a moment where nothing was said, Tomura just stared at her. The way he sat, leaning over slightly, meant he was looking up at her slightly, still holding a firm grip on her arm as he did so.

It nagged her again.

Finally, Tomura grit his teeth, released her arm and pulled back. He ignored her for the game once again. The spot where he had been gripping her arm tingled.

Did he really hate her being a hero that much? She wasn't even really one. Wasn't the fact she was betraying UA by hanging around him all the time enough to redeem her of the crime of heroism? She certainly didn't view herself as a hero, the fact he did was annoying. More because of how it made him act than the fact Katsumi didn't want to be associated with the concept.

Or maybe, he understood what was going on. Perhaps he saw her for what she was, a coward going along with what others expected of her. Maybe that's why he still held hatred for her, he had stuck his neck out for her to get to live her life free, only for her to allow herself to be controlled by anything and everything around her.

That might be so, but he was in the same boat, he'd see that eventually.

"I mean," Katsumi sighed, resting her elbows on the desk, half-watching Tomura play, "I didn't really get a choice. It was this or nothing, basically. It's my parent's idea of reforming me. I'm just going along with it for now."

"They're making you worse," he replied curtly. "Tainting you with their hypocritical bullshit."

"Yeah," she nodded, "maybe."

There was silence for a while, a short cutscene was playing. There was nothing really to say. Katsumi just watched the screen, only glancing at Tomura once to see his expression. He seemed preoccupied, which annoyed her, she wanted him to pay attention to the story.

She still had to give him that stuff…

"You better find another way to do it then."

"Huh?" Katsumi's attention was drawn from the screen, but Tomura continued to play, not sparing a glance at her.

"I'm not entertaining your pain kink shit anymore," he huffed, "I got better things to destroy."

Pain kink. Katsumi's eye twitched. She chose to ignore it.

Tomura choosing to not destroy something? Especially something that he could explicitly destroy with no repercussions? When had that ever happened? Well, it had, back then.

Katsumi smiled.

"Now my wounds have finally healed," he continued, scratching his chin with a finger, "I can finally get back on track, start getting some good party members and head back into the fight."

Oh great. Of course. She had levelled up her relationship, but now the levels would get harder, more enemies- oh good lord why was she thinking like that?

"Sounds like you'll be busy." Katsumi sighed. She spoke without thinking first, "No time for me then?"

Tomura shook his head, "No you can-" he stopped, words caught on his tongue.

Seemed he didn't think either.

"What? You don't want me coming here anymore?" Katsumi couldn't help a slight twitch of a smile on her lips. Was he gonna say it? "You really gonna let me run loose? Aren't you worried I'll squeal?"

Not making her do any dirty work, not wanting her to use the quirk forced on her, refusing to destroy her arms any longer… But he destroyed things he hated right?

He wanted her there. It was written clearly on his face, scrunched up as stopped playing and picked at his fingers, not looking at her, trying to think of an excuse.

"No," he decided. "I'm not. You will still be coming here, you gotta learn to use that quirk."

Excuse. He had been so dismissive about the idea before. Against it. Now suddenly he was encouraging it? Haha! Katsumi was glad he wasn't looking at her, she was sure the fae she was making was quite creepy.

This was good, everything was falling into place. The problem of that other quirk was something she had put off, but even that was solving itself. She was getting cut some slack by the universe, or maybe this was all her hard work paying off.

"So," Katsumi probed, relaxing herself, "you'll let me use the bar for that?"

"Yeah, whatever," he said, jaw tight, he'd lost, and he knew it. The only way Katsumi could have beaten him anymore was if he admitted he didn't want her to stop visiting him. His childish scowl as he went back to the game, aggressively hitting the buttons on the keyboard was all the proof she needed that she'd won. He was so funny, it was almost adorable.

Katsumi smiled.

"Yeah well, I wanna see you play more Persona anyways so I was gonna come either way," Katsumi shrugged, taking pleasure in her victory. "Well, after the sports festival, we have internships, so I won't be able to come round for a while…"

"That's with a hero?"

"Sadly." There were no heroes she particularly wanted to intern with, she'd probably just lean into the nepotism and go with her dad's agency.

Tomura didn't respond, sulking again it seemed. Katsumi watched as he walked Joker, the protagonist of the game, into a shop and bought some everyday items that magically gave you HP in the castles.

"Oh!" Katsumi clapped, remembering something. She picked up her bag, "I forgot- I got you something."

Tomura moved his hands away from the keyboard, watching suspiciously as Katsumi rummaged in her bag. After a moment she pulled out two boxes of Pocky.

Tomura's brow furrowed.

"Remember this?" Katsumi grinned, holding either side of her face, "I saw them at the convenience store and thought of when you brought me some!" She wasn't sure he even remembered, but when she said that his mouth opened slightly in recognition. "I wasn't sure if you actually liked them or not but I-"

"I don't." He answered immediately.

What else would she expect from him?

Katsumi laughed, "Well, I'll have them then."

He furrowed his brows, "Both?"

"Yeah," Katsumi liked Pocky, she had been addicted to it as a kid. That's why she bought two instead of just one for him. But seeing as he was being ungrateful, it looked like she was getting two. "Seeing as you don't-"

"Fatass."

Katsumi's mouth fell open as a box was snatched from her, Tomura grinning as he leaned back in his chair, pocky in hand.

"You greasy-" Her insult stopped in its tracks, and not from to glare Tomura gave her, though it was an intimidating glare.

"I forgot" Katsumi smirked at him, "I got you something else."

Tomura's eyes narrowed, placing the pocky on the desk, as far as he could from her, "What?"

She gave him a mysterious grin before reaching back into her bag. It wasn't supposed to be something to piss him off, but it could easily be.

She chucked a bottle of two-in-one shampoo onto his lap.

"The hell?" He picked up the bottle, his mouth dropping open.

Katsumi wasn't done though, she then put a medical-grade bottle of face moisturiser onto the desk.

"Saw them at the store and thought you might benefit!" Katsumi smiled sweetly, "The moisturiser is expensive so be grateful!"

Tomura stared at the cosmetics and seethed. His glare turned to Katsumi who smiled.

"You're a fucking bitch."

"I'm being nice." She was, sort of. She knew when she bought the stuff it would annoy him, but if she was going to be transforming him into a normal person, she might as well try and get him to take care of himself. It wasn't an insult, just, blunt. But he had just insulted her, so…

"Well, I would be being nice," she tapped her chin and giggled, "but seeing as you insulted me first- yeah take it as an insult."

He tightened his grip on the shampoo, but he didn't destroy it.

"Use it, don't. I don't care." Katsumi shrugged.

"Something wrong with me?"

The words were quite pathetic, vulnerable, and gross, to Katsumi at least. She wouldn't be caught dead asking someone that. But the question with the tone Tomura used? It was more accusation than a plea for comfort.

There were a lot of things wrong with him, but thats not what he was talking about. It wasn't that Tomura was ugly, but his hair was a little too greasy to be passable and of course, he had that skin condition. It was more his general aura that made him… uncomfortable to be around. His foul mood was the problem, but Katsumi found that when you took care of yourself your mood improved. That and going outside, but that wasn't all that easy for the man whose picture had been all over the news as the guy who tried to kill All Might.

It wasn't so bad that she had thought about it herself, the hair at least, she had gotten the moisturiser herself, but the shampoo was because of a conversation she had when she went to the salon.

"Well, you're skin's dry. And your hair is a little too greasy." She gestured to the products she had brought, "But you're friend, me, has brought you solutions, you're welcome."

Tomura threw the shampoo past Katsumi, the bottle landing on his half-tidied bed. Katsmi didn't flinch.

"It's not like I don't fucking wash, do you actually think I don't have that shit already?"

Sure he had shampoo, but he didn't have that shampoo. It was supposed to be super amazing, and it had been pretty pricey, to be honest. Not as much as the moisturiser though. He should just be grateful she spent her allowance on him.

"It's good stuff! Well, for two-in-one. The guy at the salon recommended it for soap-avoidant guys! It'll make your hair nice and soft, I swear."

"A guy at a salon?" Tomura's expression changed, he had already widened his mouth and eyes at the words 'soap avoidant' but had quickly forgotten that at the word 'guy'. His expression was still overtly annoyed, but his narrowed eyes, of course, had widened and his teeth clenched together. "Why the hell is a random guy talking to you about that?"

Katsumi gave him a look, "Not a random dude- the dude bleaching my hair, I've seen him before for other stuff. It came up cause his boyfriend was kinda gross and he was giving me advice on how to teach a guy to groom himself."

"Boyfriend?" Tomura interrupted her, his face scrunching up, "What, is he gay?"

Katsumi blinked, "Yes..? Probably."

Tomura paused, obviously thinking about something.

"That's fine then."

"What?" Katsumi blinked again, not really sure what to say.

"What?" Tomura huffed and turned to his screen again, "Why are you always talking? I just wanna play this dumb game."

"What? But you- huh?" Katsumi stumbled over her words. She sighed, giving up, just leaning her elbow on the desk, and watching the screen.

"There's nothing wrong with you, I just wanted to give you something and I thought it might be nice for you. You've been helping me so I wanted to give back. Besides, you don't seem to like me all that much, so I'm trying to win you over a bit."

She wasn't quite sure why she had said it. Was that what she was even thinking? She didn't know. Sort of, right? She probably shouldn't have said anything, but it just came out.

"...That's dumb."

There was no indication to what part of what she said he was responding to. It could be the idea of winning him over, the idea that he had been helping her, that she should give back to him, that he would even want what she gave him or… the idea he didn't like her.

"After you're done with internships, finish watching that show with me."

Katsumi smiled.

"Sure."

It got to the time for her to leave. She successfully got Tomura to turn the game off, making him swear to not touch it until she could come back (though she wasn't sure how long he'd actually keep to it).

"Enjoy the pocky! And try the shampoo and moisturiser! I'll tell you where to get it if you like it."

"Don't count on that."

"Hehe!"

There was something else she wanted to do before she left though.

She picked up her bag and began to leave. Tomura hadn't moved, sat down on his chair, not noticing Katsumi pull something out of her bag and sneak back towards him.

"Tomura!" She grinned, "Say cheese!"

"Huh?"

Snap

Tomura's eyes widened at the bright white flash.

"You-!"

Katsumi quickly made her way to the door.

"See you later!"

"Sumi-! You bitch!"