"You take an awful long time to get ready you know," Ochako pointed out as soon as he stepped out of the changing room, "Honestly, I thought for a bit you'd already left and I missed you."

"Oh, it's the infinity girl." Kirishima noted.

She grinned, "The names Ochako Uraraka, Kirishima-kun and Mineta-kun, right?" she introduced herself and noted.

"She knows my name?" Mineta blinked, excitement flashing in his eyes.

"Well you both kinda stand out hanging around Kano-kun," she shrugged, grin still in place, "You're RedRiot and that Grape guy right?"

'Eh?' Kano blinked, surprised.

"Yeah, that's me," Kirishima flashed her a thumbs up, "So does that mean you're a member of the imperial army too?"

"I mean, I guess?" Ochako shrugged, and met Kano's eyes, "You were telling me about your Wetube account before remember at the entrance exams? I got curious and checked it out and found you during that stream you did at the beach and ended up checking out some of your work out tutorials, thanks for that by the way, I think they gave me a decent bit of help for today."

Her grin turned impish as she looked at Kano, "Should I call you king too?" she asked cheekily.

Kano snorted in amusement, "I mean if you want." he shrugged.

"…Damn King, your game is too powerful." Mineta pouted.

Kano rolled his eyes, "So what were you waiting on us for?" he asked.

Ochako shrugged back, "I was hoping to talk to you about something, but if you're busy it can wait I guess." she replied, glancing at the other two boys beside him.

"Well actually, how about we all head out to a local place and hang out," Mineta grinned at her, his eyes blatantly lingering on her chest, "I'm sure we can-"

He was cut off by Kirishima lifting him by the back of his blazer, while rolling his eyes, "We can pick up where we left off tomorrow King, seems you know Uraraka better than us, so we'll leave you two to it." he said, giving Kano a knowing look.

…He was reading far too much into it. But Kano nodded nonetheless, "Sure, I'll see you both then,"

"Damn you RedRiot, why you always gotta bust my balls!?" Mineta whined as Kirishima carried him off, "You not content with just in King's chat anymore you gotta do it in real life too? You don't have mod powers here bastard!"

Both Kano and Ochako stared after them nonplussed as the small boy kicked and whined in the taller red haired boys grasp, before they disappeared around a corner and out of sight.

"…He might be even worse in person." Ochako shivered a bit, breaking the silence.

Yeah, he'd need to keep an eye on that guy. A follower of his or not, the guy was like a tiny little condensed ball of lust.

"If he bothers you or any of the other girls, just let me know and I'll sort him out." Kano nodded. If nothing else, he was pretty good at intimidating people when needed.

"I'll keep that in mind," Ochako mused, before turning back to him, "So, you doin' okay?" she asked, giving him a concerned look.

He returned it with a confused one, "Yeah….why wouldn't I be?" he asked back.

"Oh, well that's good," Ochako blinked, "You didn't look to happy with Aizawa-sensei earlier. That little kid he was talking about before, that was you wasn't it?"

He froze for a moment, embarrassment beginning to burn on his cheeks, before he sighed and looked up, running a hand through his short but thick green hair, "Ah, so you did figure that out, huh?" he noted, hiding a grimace.

"Mmm, yeah," Ochako nodded, "You told me before right? On the day of the entrance exam that when you unlocked your quirk the first time it almost killed you, and even when you were showing it off to me, with that tiny bit of it, that even it still hurt you…and well with the way Aizawa-sensei singled you out and was looking at you, I kinda figured he was talking about you."

"Yeah…" Kano admitted with a sigh, "Apparently the grouch has been using that story for a while now to give his classes a kick up the ass, because being compared to a four year old and found lacking seems to hurt their egos and make them try harder."

Ochako giggled, "Well without the context of things…I mean, can you imagine training all this time to go to hero school and the first thing your hero teacher tells you, is that he taught a four year old that makes you look pathetic in comparison?" she said, a mock grimace spreading across her face, "That would be embarrassing."

"It's pretty embarrassing for me too," Kano shrugged, "I…seriously didn't need him telling everyone I literally cried myself to sleep all the time as a kid just because I was a weakling that couldn't control or withstand my own quirk." he admitted, a frown appearing on his face as he looked away from her, his cheeks reddening for sure.

It galled him to admit such a thing aloud, but she'd already figured it out, so the least he could as a man was face his embarrassment head on. Honestly, he was a pretty talentless guy in the grand scheme of things, he wasn't as smart or intuitive as his brother for instance, and his thought process was far simpler than his own, his name in attacks was clear enough proof of that. Not to mention, most of the stress his mother had been through and resulted in her current situation, was big in part because of him.

The only things he really had going for him, was being strong and being reckless enough to chase whatever he thought he needed to.

"It's not anything to be embarrassed about y'know, you were only four." Ochako pointed out.

Kano shook his head, "Started when I was four maybe," he pointed out with a sigh, "But it was a good few years before I fully got tough enough to withstand my quirk and not cry like a little baby over it."

"That's not really…" Ochako trailed off before she cupped her chin, eyes lighting up, "Oh! This is a macho thing isn't it?"

"Eh…uh…?" Kano wasn't sure how to reply to that. Mostly because, she wasn't really wrong, but at the same time it kind of undermined it.

He had his pride after all.

"Mmm, I don't really get it," Ochako mused shaking her head and laughing, "Well, I only really wanted to check on you and see if you were doing alright."

"Yeah…I'm fine." Kano nodded, that was about all he could really say about it. It was embarrassing to have others know, but he'd deal with it. That was the only thing he could do.

"Well, that's good," she beamed, "So, we should get going then right? You wanna walk together?"

"I would, but I have my bike remember?" he reminded her.

"Oh, right so you do I totally forgot about that!" Ochako clapped her hands, "Man, wish I could afford one of those. It would be so convenient."

"You want a ride? If I remember right that store we met at is on my way," Kano asked, "If you live around there I could drop you off pretty easily."

"Oh, really?" Ochako's eyes lit up, "Then yeah totally! It'll save me using up a spot on my rail card!"

"Wait you live alone?" Kano's voice floated back to her.

Currently for the second time in her life Ochako found herself hanging on the boy from behind as she rode behind him on his motorcycle.

Bessie he'd called it for some reason, and fondly. Though he'd clammed up when she asked why he called it that.

"Yeah, I'm from Kansai," Ochako nodded, "My parents run a construction company out there, and well it's too far to get from there to U.A everyday? So I had to come over here."

"Yeah, that's quite the trek to make every day and would cost quite a bit on train fare that's for sure," Kano's head clad in his helmet bounced up and down as he nodded, "Still living by yourself already huh?" he mused, sounding impressed.

He really shouldn't have been.

"What about you? I know you have Deku-kun your little brother, and I think you mentioned your mom too before?" she changed the subject.

"Deku-kun?" he asked, sounding…surprised? "Why are you calling him that?"

Oh…right. He said the angry blond Bakugou used it to insult him, right? "He told me to call him it after I said it sounded like the Japanese word for 'you can do it', I didn't know it was an insult at first until he told me."

She'd met him and Iida when they were leaving the changing rooms while she was waiting for Kano.

"…Is that so…?" Kano trailed off for a moment, before sighing and shaking his head, "Well, whatever floats his boat I guess. It's just us three really, well we have our dad but we haven't seen him god knows how long, he works overseas."

Ah…awkward. It seemed she wasn't the only one with family issues, even if Kano's was different from monetary wise.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between them then, before Ochako coughed to break it and blurting out the first thing that came to mind.

"So, why'd you wanna become a hero?" she asked. That was a pretty standard question to ask now they were both in the hero course, right?

"Eh…nothing all that grand to be honest," Kano replied as he slowed down the motorcycle to turn a corner, "I felt guilty because of all the stress my mom went through because of me and my brother. And the one thing I really have going for me is being strong, fighting is all my useless quirk is good for, not like yours. So I decided to become a strong and popular hero and get rich so I could spoil her and let her live the best possible life."

Ochako's eyes widened in shock. She wasn't expecting that answer like that all. Her lips curved into a smile, a feeling of kinship warming her stomach.

His reason for being a hero, wasn't all that different from her own after all. She'd been embarrassed about her own reason for becoming a hero…but if someone like Kano was doing it too, someone a shoe in to go really high as a hero with his drive and power

Then, it wasn't bad for her to be doing it as well right?

"What about you?" he asked, looking at her over his shoulder, his eyes meeting hers through the gold visor of his helmet.

"Same as yours actually," she smiled at him, "I told you my family owns a construction company right? But, thing is, we've not been getting many jobs, and my family is flat broke. The only reason I can even be here right now is cuz my dad built the building my apartment is friends with owner, who is letting me rent it for free."

"For as long as I can remember, my folks have looked exhausted yet they do everything they can for me," she continued, "So I'm definitely going to become a great hero and make a lot of money so I can let them take it easy."

Kano slowed the bike down there as she finished and an approving smile appeared on his face, "That's an amazing reason to be a hero," he said, "What's the point of even being a hero after all, if you can't even do something good for the people closest to you? If you can't even do that, there's no point in you being a hero I think."

"Mmm!" Ochako nodded, feeling her cheeks heat up a bit at the smile he was giving her.

He opened his mouth to continued, but before he could a small cute yip sound cut him off.

On instinct, Ochako's head turned to the sound, and noticed Kano had slowed down right in front of a small tight alley junction about three feet wide between two office buildings.

And there sitting in a box in the tiny cramped alley, was a small cute little puppy with its head peaking up over the rim of the box.

"Did somebody abandon a puppy?" she wondered, a scowl appearing on her face at the thought. What kind of evil person would leave such a small, defenceless thing out in an alleyway of all things?

"Maybe," Kano nodded, and flicked off the power on his bike and shifted down the kick stand with his foot in one smooth motion, "One sec, I'll see."

Before she could even do anything herself, Kano was already on the move and left her on the motorcycle and making his way over to the puppy in the alley, though with how tall and broad he was, it was a bit of a tight squeeze for him.

Unbidden, Ochako slipped off the bike and followed after him and peered over his shoulder as he crouched down to get closer to eye level with the small dog, probably to make it feel more secure and less threatened.

That was a thing she'd seen on television once, she was sure. Making yourself seem smaller to animals because it made you appear less threatening.

"Heya little guy," Kano outright cooed to the small puppy, reaching in to gently hold his hand out to it, palm and letting it sniff his hand, "What are you doing out here all alone, huh?"

It was a bit weird to hear Kano lower his voice like that. It wasn't like she knew him all that well, they'd only known each other a short time and she'd seen more of him in his videos than in real life, but at the same time, because of that, she was very much used to him being boldly outspoken, and while not shouting or anything, he spoke with a confidence that made his voice seem booming and carry over others.

'It's cute.' she thought, putting those thoughts out of mind as she peered over his shoulder at the tiny puppy.

She didn't know what kind of dog breed it was, but it was cute and fluffy with orange-brown fur covering most of its body and its lower face and belly having cream fur, with super fluffy curly tail.

"Looks like an Akita I think." Kano apparently read her mind as the small puppy began licking his palm, "And I don't see any collar or anything in the box that could identify an owner, so it's most likely been abandoned."

The scowl returned to her lips, "That's horrible," Ochako near growled, "Who would abandon a little defenceless cute thing like this?"

"Some lazy pathetic bastard I'd say usually," Kano replied without turning around as he reached down with his other hand now that the puppy had apparently taken to him a little bit and began stroking its head, "But Akita's aren't cheap, especially new born puppy's. This little guy could go for a good seven hundred thousand yen easily if being sold by a good breeder."

Ochako blinked, before her eyes flew wide open, "S-seven hundred thousand yen!?" she sputtered, "Dogs are that expensive?" she gaped.

And he sure was quick to know the price of one.

"I mean you can get some for free from shelters and such, but otherwise people make businesses out of pets, that's pretty standard and Akita are amazing look dogs with a long life span so they go for quite a bit," Kano shrugged before looking over his shoulder at her with a small smile, "I always wanted a dog growing up, me and Izuku both, but our apartment complex doesn't allow pets and even at that, growing up it was a bad idea for a pet to be around me before I got more control over my quirk."

Oh…

His quirk again, huh? Poor Kano. It always seemed to come back to his quirk with him didn't it?

"I always wanted one too," Ochako admitted, leaning over his shoulder to reach down and gently touch her padded finger tips to the small puppies head and stroke it. Uwah, so fluffy and soft! "But like I said earlier, my family is flat broke, we couldn't afford to look after a dog."

"Sucks for both of us, huh?" Kano mused with a little chuckle.

"I guess," Ochako agreed with a shrug, she tried not to let thoughts like that get into her head. Because as poor as her family was, she was extremely grateful for all they did for her, it wasn't bad to her, just was. And was something she would change in the future for sure! "So…what do we do about this little guy?"

"There's a few things we could do," Kano mused, "We can't be sure this little guy wasn't dognapped and then just abandoned, cuz like I said Akita's are pretty expensive. But at the same time, if we put a notice out for an abandoned one, because they're expensive, anyone could just claim they lost it and with how young it is with no collar, there's no proof of ownership they could really provide. Which leaves just taking him to a shelter."

He shook his head, "I'd take him home with me, but like I said my apartment complex doesn't allow pets."

Ochako clicked her tongue, seeing his point, "…Mine does, but I wouldn't be able to afford taking care of him," she admitted herself. She only had a budget of twenty five thousand yen to get by on a month after all, and if she remembered right, Akita got pretty big, so would be pretty expensive to feed and that wasn't including other things the dog would need like a bed, and chew toys and a leash and poop bags and stuff, "Wait, it's a boy?" Kano's words clicked for her.

"Yeah, he's a cute little boy," Kano laughed lightly, and peered at the small puppy thoughtfully, "What if…you took him, and I pay for everything he needs?"

Eh?

Half an hour later, Ochako found herself sitting on her small couch, with a tiny cute little Akita puppy napping on her lap. He was so cute, she had to resist the urge to pet him again!

But she didn't want to wake him up!

Kano was currently…shopping.

'Why did I accept?' she ran a hand through her hair. It was logical at first she was sure. She loved dogs, she always wanted one, but couldn't afford one. Kano loved dogs apparently as well, and also always wanted one, but couldn't keep one because of where he lived. She had the space, he had the money.

It seemed a perfect match.

But then she remembered something else. Wouldn't that technically make the dog both of theirs? After all, it went without saying that Kano would be coming up to see the cute little fluff ball whenever he could.

Which meant…he would be coming to her apartment, a lot. A boy would be coming into her apartment a lot. Her tiny apartment.

Maybe this wasn't such a good idea?

A knock on her door drew her from her thoughts and her back went ramrod straight, 'No backing out now, huh Ochako?' she mused. At the sound of the knocking on the door, the tiny Akita puppy awoke and let out a little yipping bark, "Calm down, calm down." Ochako soothed the little puppy, stroking her hand over his head.

Standing up off the couch and carrying the puppy in her arms, Ochako made her way to the door and opened it, to find Kano on the other side, arms full with multiple completely full bags.

A lot of bags.

"Hey, I think I've got everything we need," he grinned at her, "Can I come in?" he asked.

Ochako stared at him for a moment, before nodding, "…Sure, come on in." she nodded, stepping aside. Well, no going back now, she should just enjoy it.

"Thanks." Kano's grin widened a bit and he stepped in, setting the bags in his arms down so he could begin unfastening those boots of his to take off.

Ochako closed the door while he did, and then once done they both made their way into her living room.

If it could even be called that. The entire apartment was tiny. Beyond the hallway leading into the singular room in the apartment, which had a storage cupboard where she kept her clothes and such, a door leading to her bathroom and a small kitchenette.

The main single room of the apartment, was both her living room and bedroom. Containing a small couch, a small single bed, a small desk where her her pc sat, and a small table where her tiny thirty inch television sat.

If Kano had any thoughts on her tiny apartment, he didn't say anything about it, instead he got right down to business as he sat the bags down in the main room.

"So I wasn't sure exactly what we needed in full or not, so I just grabbed everything that came to mind," he said as he began unloading the bags and Ochako sat down on the couch with the little puppy, both of them watching him curiously, well for her it was more nonplussed, "I grabbed a collar, though might need to replace it going forward, probably one with a name tag and stuff. An adjustable harness and leash, a nice soft dog bed, some chew toys, not sure what kind he'd like so I grabbed a few. I got a bunch of bowls just in case you wanted to leave washing some for another time after they were used, some cleaning stuff in case he does the toilet in the house and I wasn't sure what kind of food he'd like so I kind of just grabbed a bunch of different puppy food and…."

His mouth practically ran a mile a minute and Ochako honestly found herself near gaping at the massive pile of things he pulled from the bags.

Honestly, he reminded her of his brother. He'd been muttering up a storm to himself earlier during the quirk assessment they went through today at school.

"…How much did you spend?" she couldn't help but ask, staring wide eyed.

"Not that much," Kano shrugged, "I think the total was just over sixty thousand yen? I have the receipt somewhere I think."

Huh.

…That was literally more than twice the budget she had monthly for herself for living expenses like food and toiletries. And he just dropped it casually without batting an eye.

"That's actually quite a lot." Ochako pointed out.

"I can afford it, don't worry about it," Kano waved her off with a smile, "Besides, what good is money if you don't spend it on things that actually matter like this cutie." he said as he leaned forward, basically crouching in front of her, head over her lap and rubbed his nose against the puppies.

Did he even realise how close to her he was?

He laughed joyfully as the little puppy licked his nose, "You're a bold little cutie aren't you? Who's a good boy? You are! Yes you are." he cooed.

Ochako shook her head. For such a big muscular guy, with such a destructive quirk, it sure was odd to seeing him putting on a soft cooing baby voice for a puppy.

You really couldn't judge a book by its cover, huh?

Though him spending that amount so easily, did bring a question to mind she'd been wondering about.

"How much are you actually making from Wetube if you can spend that much casually?" she asked. She'd tried checking up how much people made on it, but places she checked was full of conflicting information.

It had to be a decent amount, because by his own words he didn't come from like a rich family or something, the whole reason he wanted to be a hero was to make money like her for his family to provide them with a good relaxing and enjoyable life.

"A pretty decent amount," Kano shrugged, "My bank account is sitting at just over a hundred and five million yen at the moment and right now with my popularity being up thanks to the entrance exam, I'm making about five million yen a month at the moment."

If Ochako had been drinking anything at that moment, she would spit it out all over his face in shock.

"A…a hundred million yen?!" she gaped, "And five million a month. What the heck? You make that much on Wetube!?"
She figured it was quite a bit, but nothing like that! That was way more than both of her parents income put together!

Actually, she didn't think a lot of actual heroes even made that much! At the very least, the lower ranking ones didn't.

"It varies between people and what kind of videos they make," Kano shrugged and began explaining idly as he pet the puppy, "Hero stuff is one of the most popular type of videos you can make though, so videos about them earn more on average even if they have the same amount of views and stuff as say a video about exploring abandoned places or the like. And I luckily managed to stand out initially because of my quirk, if nothing else it's eye catching. Though it took quite a while before I started making decent money from it, I've been working on that channel for three years now after all."
Even so…that was crazy. And honestly, incredible. It said a lot about him that even before he had made it to U.A he was already making so much money through his own efforts.

He was pretty amazing.

She had to admire the sheer hard work and dedication it must have taken for him to get to this point. Ochako had to admit, she was a little jealous, and a little self conscious.

He made her feel a little…lazy in comparison to the efforts he made.

But that just mean she just had to try even harder and put more work into things going forward so she could catch up to him!

"Do…you think I could do something like that as well?" Ochako found herself asking as she bit her lip, "I know it's not really feasible for me to make the same as you from it considering how long and how much you've been doing it, but there's still three years of U.A until we become pro's and I can actually make money out of it."

At her question Kano looked up and met her eyes with a raised eyebrow, "…Probably," he said, "I got lucky in it due to my quirk being very eye catching, and while yours is awesome, it doesn't really stand out as much. But, connections help and I could probably grease the wheels for you a bit by letting people know about you in my videos here and there. Plus, you're a cute girl so that'll definitely draw in people as well."

Despite herself, her cheeks warmed up at him calling her cute, before what he said really clicked for her, "…Like Mineta you mean?" she asked, with a grimace.

"Yeah you'll get a lot like him if you do it," Kano laughed, "I can't count the amount of horny comments and crap I got just because of my old girlfriend appearing in some of my videos. And some of them were just pure creepy."

…That sounded horrible. She couldn't and didn't want to imagine what kind of things got said to him about Camie.

Well, Ochako really appreciated how open he was about it, "…Even then it might not be a bad thing to try out anyway." she mused.

Though she didn't really have the equipment, or could afford it even to go about it right now. Maybe if she cut down on her food even more and saved a little more each month she could afford a camera or something in a few months?

"Well, give it some thought, you need a theme and stuff going forward, like mine is my training to be a hero," Kano pointed out, "And once you're ready I can help you out if you want."

"Alright," Ochako nodded, "In the meantime, what do we do about this little guy? I mean, he still needs a name, and won't we need to get him checked out at a vet? And then what about you coming to see him and stuff?"

It was a whole lot to cover.

"As far as the vet goes, we can go now and see if they'll see us if you want, and I can come by and see him every day," Kano pointed out, "I mean I could pop by in the mornings and give you a lift to school and bring you back. And then I can see him then for a little while pretty much every day."

"Every day?" Ochako blinked. Like, every day? A boy would be coming to her house, every single day? She would be riding behind him on a motorcycle to and from school?

But on the other hand, it would save her using up any of her rail card points. Which meant she would save money. At that point, who cared about rumours?

"Doesn't need to be every day if you don't want," Kano shrugged, "Just putting the option out there."

"…I don't really have any problem with it," Ochako admitted, "That just leaves a name then, right?"

"Pretty much," Kano grinned, "Any suggestions?"

Ochako looked down at the fluffy, warm, soft little puppy resting on her lap, "…Mochi?" she offered.

"You really are crazy about Mochi, aren't you?" Kano burst out into laughter, "Should change that Infinity Girl nickname you got today to Mochi Girl."

"I don't wanna hear that from you kebab boy!" Ochako shot back, pouting at him.

And here we are back with chapter 7.

Not really got much to say right now, a lot of this story is very much character interaction heavy and the chapter pretty much covers it all. Besides that, my house is busy as fuck at the moment cuz I've got my cousin over installing a walk in wardrobe and shit for me. We're a few chapters ahead on the Pa-atreon if you wanna read ahead as always.

Anyway, shameless Pa-atreon plug. I've got one, go by the same username on there, easy to find and all that jazz. Support me if you want, it'd be swell, but don't feel pressured lads and ladies, I'll be uploading my stuff outside it regardless and not keeping it all behind a paywall or anything like that.