Chapter 242 - 9

Chapter IX: Discoveries

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Mina couldn't help but gulp. The nineteen students of class 1-A were waiting patiently in their homeroom. They'd finished all of their morning classes a while ago and were now waiting in dread for their heroics period for the day. Normally this would mean All Might, but today was different. Today, their new Teaching Assistant would be introduced to them, and with the way Aizawa-sensei had looked when they were picking their Hero names, they were kind of petrified. Most of them had barely even commented on Izuku's still-missing flame arm.

Would their senpai be super scary? Would they be able to expel them like Aizawa-sensei? Would sensei even bother getting out of his sleeping bag to save them?

Before they could psyche themselves out even more, the door slammed open, making them stiffen up in terror.

And then a beautiful girl with periwinkle hair hopped in, a bright, beaming smile on her face. "Hiiii!" She waved at them excitedly, "Nice to meet you all! I'm Nejire!"

'OH MY GOD! SHE'S ADORABLE!' The class collectively performed a spit-take at the totally disarming introduction.

"Huh? What's with that reaction?" She giggled, "That's really weird, you know!" Her eyes widened, "Wow! Your skin is pink!" She gasped, and in the blink of an eye, she was next to Mina and poking her horns, "That's so cool! Your eyes are super pretty too!"

"Ah~" Mina jumped in surprise, "S-Senpai…" Her cheeks turned a light lilac.

"Oh?" Nejire stopped poking her horns, moving over to Shōji, "Hmm, why are you wearing a mask? You're not sick, are you? Or is it a fashion statement?"

Shōji looked a little bashful, "Well, when I was young-"

But Nejire proved her attention span to be that of a squirrel's, jumping over to Tsuyu, "Wow, you're really cute as well! Are you more of a tree frog or a toad, Asui-chan?" She asked, proving that she had indeed seen all of their profiles, or at least their pictures.

"Kero, thank you senpai. You're really pretty too." Tsu replied, though didn't bother going further since she could tell Nejire was going to bounce away.

Which was correct, "Wow, so you're Midoriya-kun! That fire arm looks really cool! Why do you have an arm made of fire? Is it training?" She poked it, "Ahn~" She let out a surprised little squeak mixed with a moan, "Wow, that feels really good! That's so cool! Your Quirk is really cool! Where's your real arm, though?" She poked it again, a light blush on her face. This was mirrored on Izuku as well as some of his surrounding classmates.

"W-well, I-"

Nejire backed away. Her arms were crossed behind her back, and she floated easily back to the front of the class with a light glimmer of gold around her ankles, "This class has such cool Quirks! I bet you're all really awesome too! I can't wait to get to know you all!"

Momo let out a little giggle, "Us as well, Nejire-senpai!"

"Will you get on with it already, Hadō?" Aizawa sat up, glaring at the girl with his eyes glowing red and his hair floating above his head.

"Aww, don't be such a stick in the mud, sensei." Nejire waved him off without a care, making the class goggle.

"Oh my god!" Kaminari whispered, "She has bigger balls than us guys!"

Kyōka blushed, her jacks wriggling in her embarrassment and stabbing into his neck, "Idiot! Keep stupid thoughts to yourself!"

Aizawa dropped back into his sleeping bag and out of sight, but no amount of whispering could have hidden the exasperated, "Why couldn't you have given me Togata or Amajiki?!"

Nejire pouted, "Jeez, don't be mean, sensei!" Aizawa didn't respond, "Mouuuu~" She continued pouting, making the class fall in love with her, "Anyway, I'd like to see how good you all are!" She turned that frown upside down with a wide smile, "So put on those Gym Uniforms and meet down in Gym Gamma!" And with that, she floated again, and left the room.

"G-Gym Gamma?" Sero stuttered, "Oh hell, she's not going to fight us, is she?"

Izuku and Momo had already stood, "I think that's a bit obvious, Sero-kun." Izuku mumbled as he passed the boy, "Well, let's go. Enjoy your nap, Aizawa-sensei."

…

"You all made it!" Nejire beamed, waving rapidly as they all entered. She was also in the gym uniform, so it was all even in every respect as she wasn't wearing her costume.

Well… 'even…'

'So cute!' The thought flitted across many minds in the gym, "How are we doing this, senpai? One-on-one matches?"

"Ahahaha!" Nejire giggled, "You're so funny, Midoriya-kun! That wouldn't be fair at all and would take way too long!" She beamed at them, arms still crossed behind her back, "It's all of you vs me." And something about that final word had a dark, dangerous intonation that Nejire definitely didn't put there herself.

"Ehhh?!" Mount Katsuki immediately ignited, "You looking down on us?!" he snarled, explosions crackling along his palms.

"Looking down?" Nejire blinked, a clueless look on her face, "But most of you are taller than me?" She tilted her head to the side, befuddled.

Katsuki's eye started to twitch, and he stuck his arm behind him. An explosion ignited, sending him rocketing towards their senpai. A green glow surrounded the rest of the class, preventing the boom from hurting any of them, "For Pete's sake, Kacchan…" Izuku mumbled, enforcing his will on his shield. Clearly the anger management and counseling he'd been forced to start taking by Aizawa hadn't had much of an effect yet. He was still too prone to getting ticked off by imagined slights.

"Thanks, Green." Kyōka muttered to him, an extra glow around her ears protecting her hearing. She had been expecting it and had already regulated her own hearing, but it was the thought that counted.

"Wow, you're pretty eager!" Nejire giggled, bending backward at the knees, and letting Katsuki (and his explosion) sail harmlessly over her. A light glow of her Quirk appeared behind her back, keeping her from falling down entirely. She righted herself and turned in the air, watching as Katsuki skid on the ground and launched himself back towards her, "I hadn't even said go yet!"

"Shut up and fight!" Katsuki roared, jumping high in the air with his right arm crackling above him. He impacted the ground as Nejire floated back, a colossal wall of fire engulfing the blonde along with a blast that sent dust flying everywhere.

"Mou~ You're mean! That's really rude, you know!" Nejire responded as the rest of the class watched and prepared.

Well, almost all of them. A giant wall of ice rushed towards her, making her turn her head and lift her arm. It started glowing gold, and energy started to spin around the limb, intensifying in speed rapidly. A double helix of power shot from her arm, a cheerful, "Nejire Wave!" escaping her. The massive attack which had impressed and terrified a majority of the class was obliterated in an instant. The glacier shattered into a thousand pieces, while Nejire's attack continued plowing towards Todoroki. The heterochromic boy's eyes widened and he braced himself, before a green glow engulfed him and yanked him out of the way of the attack.

"I gotcha!" Izuku muttered, before blinking as Todoroki glared at him.

"I don't need help!" The twin-toned boy growled, standing up and glaring at Nejire.

"…You're welcome." Izuku took a deep breath, while all of the girls glared at the boy.

"That was really cool! The attitude not so much!" Nejire beamed, before whirling around and slapping an AP Shot from Katsuki away.

"Why you-" Katsuki choked as Nejire blurred from sight, appearing right in front of him. That wide, happy smile on her face seemed more mocking to the blonde than anything, but that was just his personality and inferiority complex speaking. He reacted quickly, throwing his right arm out and blasting her.

But she only dodged that as well, "You have really good reflexes!" She praised him from behind. She reached out to poke his back, but Katsuki ignited the sweat on his feet, tearing through his gym shoes and rocketing into the air.

He looked down, trying to spot their opponent, 'This fucking happy bitch is so fast! Is it a speed Quirk? No, it ca-' His eyes bulged, and he whirled around in midair, only to be met by a glowing finger about to touch his nose.

"Boop!" Nejire giggled, poking the explosive blonde.

'You've got to be fucki-' The glow intensified, blasting Katsuki back as if he had been shot out of a cannon. He crashed into one of the concrete pillars, embedding himself into it with a hacking gasp for air. He didn't move, a wide-eyed look of utter shock and disbelief apparent on his face as he gaped at the pretty airhead. He then peeled off the wall and landed in a heap on the floor. He didn't get up.

'Oh…' The class collectively thought, 'We're going to die.'

Nejire floated there, giggling, "Well, blondie got a head start, but aren't the rest of you supposed to be having fun too?" FUN?! "Come on! If you get one good hit, you win, you know~!" She blinked, "Oh, and you probably shouldn't all group up like that. Just saying!" She pointed an arm at them, with her helical bits of energy starting to spin once more.

"Scatter!" Momo yelled, and they all leapt away from each other. A large blast of Nejire's Wave Motion carved itself into the ground, throwing up a cloud of dirt.

Todoroki ran just out of range, before stomping and sending another glacier at her. "Hmm, you're a bit of a one-trick pony, aren't you?" Nejire asked no one in particular, this time flying towards the approaching ice with her arm extended. Wave Motion spiraled around her limb intensely, "Nejire Drill!" The energy exploded, and the ice glowed gold from within as she traveled through it. She burst out in front of Todoroki, who was gaping in utter shock at what she had done to his attack. "You have fire too, don't you? Where's the fire? Aren't you getting really cold? I can see ice on you, you know!" She pestered him, rather than pressing her advantage.

Todoroki's teeth ground, "Did sensei put you up to this?!" He asked angrily, reaching for her to turn her into a popsicle.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Nejire asked, grabbing his arm without a care. His ice failed to penetrate the energy surrounding her, "I just thought your Quirk was super cool! Fire and ice are really cool, you know! Why are you only using ice? That's boring, you know."

"I'll never use his fire!" Todoroki did something he had rarely done. He closed his left fist and tried to punch her.

But she proved deceptively powerful for such a waif. She caught his punch with a frown, "His fire? That's really weird, you know." She dragged him forward and forced all of the air in his lungs out with a brutal knee. It was sure to bruise, "There's no one here but us. It's your Quirk, silly." She let go of his left and turned around, throwing him over her shoulder and slamming him into the ground.

She stood straight and blinked again when she was engulfed in glowing green tape. Her arms were tightly wrapped close to her body, "Huh? WEEEEEEE!" She whooped in glee as she started getting dragged across the gym, "Tape? That's really cool! You're like a discount Spider-Man!"

"Ack! So mean, senpai!" Sero slumped, even as he continued dragging her in.

"Oh, did I say something rude? My bad!" She casually ripped through both the tape and Izuku's psychic power and slid to a stop. Her left hand grabbed the tape while her right was rubbing behind her head. Her eyes were closed, and she was sheepishly apologizing, "Sorry!" She yanked on the tape, and Sero screamed as he went flying.

"Dude, that's so not fair! How are you that strong?! You don't look any more muscular than me!" Mina yelled as she skated at Nejire, a light coating of acid around her arms. She flung the globs of diluted acid at their senpai, who dodged. "Oh, and that attack name was all wrong, Senpai! You have to yell 'Giga Drill Breaker' next time!" Mina continued to slide as she tried to sweep Nejire's feet.

The bluenette floated up to avoid her, "Oooh, that's really cute! I like it! Thank you, Mina-chan!" She ducked, landing back on the ground to avoid a laser coming from behind and what looked like a Destructo Disk from above. "Huh? Which one of you did that cool attack?" Something felt off, so she jumped back.

"Woah, you're like, totally awesome, senpai!" Camie faded into view, pouting, "You dodged my kick without even trying."

"Oh, your Quirk is Illusion! I remember!" Nejire exclaimed excitedly, "That was a cool trick with the energy disk!" She totally ignored the complaining praise. "You shouldn't give up the advantage just because the first one missed, though!"

"You're like, totally right, fam." Camie agreed, before she smirked, "Also, gotcha!"

Nejire's eyes widened as she felt an extremely strong set of arms grab onto her. Or rather, two sets. "Wow, you're strong!" She praised Shōji, "And really nice plan! You tricked me good!" And then Shōji's eyes bulged as she started glowing gold, and he started straining to try to keep a hold of her. But it was totally futile. She wrenched his arms open and then threw him at Camie. "You two totally get a win today! Congrats! If you had been Villains I could have lost with a lethal attack!"

The girl let out an 'oof' as Shōji barreled into her, letting out a groan and holding her ribs as he hurried off, "T-that's bullshit, senpai…" She wheezed, holding her ribs. "I repeat Mina's question, how the eff are you so strong, fam?"

Nejire giggled, and flexed, revealing that her tiny frame was actually hiding some muscle, "Ahahaha! You don't become best friends with Togata-kun without some POWERRRR!" She replied cheerfully, "Sides, the stronger I am, the stronger my Quirk gets! When I first got into U.A. I couldn't even fly for more than a couple of minutes. I'd get super exhausted!"

"Oh, is it stamina based?" Izuku appeared in front of her, his tie in 'blunt' mode. He slashed at her, and she blocked with her arm engulfed in Wave Motion. The two started to dance, with him swiping at her, and her smile getting increasingly wide as he dodged her attacks too. The rest of the class watched in a little awe as Izuku revealed how much faster he'd gotten. "Or is it based on your muscle power?"

"A little bit of both!" Nejire chirped cheerfully, "I have so many questions, Midoriya-kun! Is it true that you're a psychic?" She unleashed a blast at him, and beamed as he blocked and dispersed her attack, "Wow! You're really strong!"

"Can you control the spirals?" Izuku asked curiously as he charged forward and kicked her. She surprised him by tanking it without even a wince and then reaching out with a charged finger. Her attack splashed on his new psychic barrier harmlessly. Izuku backed away and reset himself from his failed kick as she lashed out with one of her own: a roundhouse aiming to knock his block off. He ducked under it and punched at her.

"Yes I can!" She said cheerfully, flying back with a rapid motion and then back-handspringing away from him, "It was super hard to do, you know!" She replied cheerfully, "Back when I was really young, my waves were super spread out."

"Do not forget about us!" Tokoyami glared seriously, with Dark Shadow attacking Nejire. "We shall engulf you in the shadows!" The look was marred by the fact that he was hiding in a tent Momo had popped out of her back. (She was much more comfortable removing her shirt for a little while with Mineta gone. She didn't show off her new ability to Create via One For All yet.) Tokoyami hiding in the dark had increased Dark Shadow's power.

Nejire apologized to the sentient Quirk, "Sorry, Dark Shadow." She threw an arm out and her Quirk blasted it, shrinking it down with a groan from the light. The shadow ran away and hid with Tokoyami, "Bad matchup. It happens." She nodded at him apologetically. And then she crossed her arms and braced herself as an enormous gale hit her. She grunted lightly for the first time all day as the wind tried to blow her into the wall and pancake her like she had Katsuki.

"Wahahaha! Now THIS is a hot-blooded battle! Continue teaching us, please and thank you!"

Nejire giggled, "That's some wind, Yoarashi-kun!" The glow around her intensified, and she relaxed as her Quirk started cutting through his winds. She wagged her finger playfully at him, "You'll have to try harder than that if you want to blow me away though!" That same finger glowed to the point it looked like a laser as she moved it into the path of Izuku's tie and blocked his slash, "Mou~ you guys are really too great! I'm actually having to try here! That's so surprising!" She beamed at Izuku, drawing a blush, "Hey, your cheeks are red! You're not forcing yourself too hard, are you?"

Mina let out a laugh, Camie's arm over her shoulder as she helped the groaning girl stand, "She's as clueless as Midori is…"

Camie giggled, before groaning and holding her ribs. Shōji glanced apologetically at her. She murmured back, "She seems like the life of the party, for sure."

Momo frowned a little, "They…do seem like two peas in a pod, don't they? Only she's super extroverted while he's introverted."

"Yup. She's adorable too." Mina answered, with the other two agreeing readily. Nejire seemed like the type that you physically could never hate.

And then Kōda got in on the action. A few birds started dive-bombing Nejire after getting into the gym, and she seemed very reluctant to hurt them, merely dodging their attacks, "Mou~! No fair! I can't hurt these cute little ones!" And then the squirrels started swiping at her as well, and she simply floated up. But then she let out a little squeal, and raced forward. She scooped up a super fluffy white rabbit, "It's so CUUUUUUTE!" She squealed, hugging it gently and cuddling it, the match all but forgotten, "I'll name you Mr. Snuggles, and I'll love you forever!"

Kyōka groaned, "Now I can't attack! I wouldn't want to hurt it either!"

"Oh right, we're sparring!" Nejire seemed to remember. She vanished and appeared in front of Kōda, who jumped and started visibly sweating, "Here Kōda-kun. Take care of Mr. Snuggles for me!" She gently dropped the bunny in the large boy's arms. Kōda could only nod in terror.

And then she nyoomed off towards Izuku again, "Oh right! So, what else can you do! The sword tie is SUPER cool! I love it!" She said, blasting him point blank with her Quirk. Izuku teleported and appeared behind her, thrusting his palm forward and thrusting at her back with a Force Push. She dodged as well, the glow around her increasing in intensity! "Your Quirk could not be cooler, Midoriya-kun! You can teleport too?! What else can you do? I wanna know more!"

"Mine?" Izuku looked just as excited, "Your Quirk is amazing too! You can increase your speed and strength by a bunch from what I can see, and you can even protect yourself like my barriers I think! Your Quirk is super versatile!" He thrust his hand forward again, and she met him with her own hand. Green and Gold mixed and then exploded with a loud bang, sending the two of them flying away from each other. "What are the waves made of? Also, how concentrated can you make them? I saw you drill through Todoroki-kun's ice really easily earlier! Also, how fast can you fly?"

Nejire started blushing brightly as she listened to his motor mouthing, "Huh… is that what that feels like?" She asked the air, before clapping her hands to her ears with a groan of pain.

"Finally!" Kyōka said as she got away from everyone else. She could blast their senpai with her directional speakers. It didn't keep Nejire down for long. Despite the attack bypassing her defenses, she had the wherewithal to find the girl and point her middle and pointer fingers at her. Her aim was a bit shaky, and her face was scrunched up, but she still managed to fire… The golden beam of energy was a straight shot with a helix of energy surrounding it. Kyōka cut off her sound with a wide-eyed look of shock and dove out of the way. "Dude!" She sputtered, "Was that a Special Beam Cannon?! Your Quirk is bullshit!"

Nejire shook her head, "Mine? Yours is way too cool! My Quirk couldn't do anything!" She said, "That's another win! Please don't blast me again. Owieeee!" She rubbed her throbbing ears futilely. "I've seen quite a bit, so time to end this!" She said, dropping her hands and floating into the air.

"Momo, let's do it!" Izuku said. Momo nodded, despite the smirks directed at the two. "Now!" He threw his hand forward, and it glowed green.

Nejire gasped in shock as she froze, the green surrounding her erasing her own golden glow, "Ah! I can't move!"

Momo bent her knees and dug into One For All, the red lightning surrounding her. The rest of the students performed spit takes in shock as their vice president did something entirely new. Momo launched herself forward, a set of Capture Tape coming out of her arm. She raced towards Nejire, who was struggling to break free.

And then a smile appeared on their senpai's face, "Wow, I can see why the teachers were praising you so much!" The green glow around her shattered, replaced with her own gold. But it was different than before. Now, spiraling energy crackled around her entire body, intensely. Her hair curled itself, forming spirals near the tips and floating of their own accord, "I can't believe you forced me to use Version 2!" She disappeared from sight, and Momo hacked as Nejire elbowed her so hard her forward momentum changed entirely into sideways momentum. She crashed into Inasa, knocking the boy out of the sky. And then she was in front of Izuku, who teleported away and into the air. But before he had even reformed entirely, Nejire's fist was in his gut, folding him in half. His barrier protected him, but not enough. The spiraling energy ripped at his uniform and forced him to fly into the ceiling.

"…"

"Oh crap!" Nejire panicked, the glow shrinking down as she caught the falling Izuku, "Are you okay!? I went too overboard! I'm so sorry!"

Izuku let out a shaky cough, "You pack a PUNCH, senpai…"

"Ah!" Nejire sighed in relief as she cradled him, "You're okay! I'm so glad!" They dropped down to the ground, "We're done, everyone! You can calm down now!" She called out, setting Izuku down. He stood with some difficulty, clutching his gut. A quick flash of fire on his abdomen and he was right as rain again, and he quickly moved over to Camie and healed her too. The girl let out a bit of a lewd-sounding moan of relief as the pain vanished, "Wow! You can heal too!?" Nejire squeed and started floating around the quartet, "That's so cooooool! And your fire is just so pretty!"

Izuku blushed, scratching the back of his head, "Yeah, I c-could always heal myself, but I just learned I could heal others too. It's a lot more tiring." He pressed his flame hand to Momo next. She sighed in relief.

Nejire was clenching her fists in front of her chest and wiggling in excitement, "I have SO many questions! Your Quirks are all just so stinking awesome! I really can't wait to get to know you all better!" And she was most definitely beaming at Izuku as she said this, drawing another blush.

Kaminari groaned to Sero and mumbled quietly, "Like, I know the Prez is awesome an' all, but can he leave some girls for the rest of us schmucks?" Kyōka's jacks immediately found their mark, drawing a yelp.

Everyone else turned to her quizzically, and she only responded with a twitching eyebrow.

Nejire shrugged, "Anyway, I have a good idea of your strengths now, so I'll be providing All Might-sensei and Aizawa-sensei with some ideas for training. We have one month to make you guys the best dang first years in U.A.'s history you know!" She threw her hand up, pointing to the sky, "Plus Ultra!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" The class cheered back, before being dismissed.

Momo smiled, "Well, shall we go to the loc-" Two hands plopped onto her shoulders, and her own face was framed by Mina and Camie's, whose smiles both looked a little scary. They even had maliciously glowing auras and everything! "Eeep!"

"Not so fast, Yaomomo!" Mina said, her voice low.

"Yeah fam, like, you ain't getting out of this that easy!" Camie mirrored her pink sister.

Momo started to sweat, "W-What?"

"What was with that red lightning!?" Mina exploded, waving her arms up and down at her sides.

"Oh?" Nejire quirked her head to the side, "Was that something new?"

"Yes!" Camie cocked her hip, "Like, totally fresh. Ain't ever seen it before! Yaomomo just pulled a whole ass new ability out! So spill, fam!"

"W-well, my Quirk evolved during the USJ." Momo replied, hoping they'd buy it.

Mina and Camie stared at her flatly, "Fam, if that was the case, you'd have done it DURING the fight! And you didn't use it at all during rescue training!"

Momo started to sweat harder. "I-I was trying to keep it a surprise?" Crap! Why was this so hard? She had given plenty of canned responses for her parents' company before and she was excellent at that! She was old hat at this! So why was lying to her friends so difficult? 'Izu, help!' She unintentionally made things worse by glancing at Izuku.

"Ohoho!" Mina gave an ojou-sama laugh, "What's this?"

Izuku then dug a bit deeper, "W-What Momo meant to say was, yes, her Quirk did evolve." He started off badly, "Her lipids go a LOT farther now. Takes less of them, you know?" he picked up steam, "A-And then we did some experiments for my theories on her Quirk, and it turned out they were true! She doesn't convert lipids into matter. She's like one of those Matter Replicators from Sci-fi!"

Nejire looked close to snapping and starting to poke and prod the taller girl. 'First names, huh? She even looked to him for help. Are they dating? Mou, he was really cute and cool too…'

Mina and Camie looked at one another, before turning to stare at Momo and Izuku, "Sus."

"W-What do you mean?" The two stammered in sync. "It's true! That's how my/her Quirk works!"

"Oh, we totally believe Izuku figured something out, but you two suck at lying." Mina said.

Nejire giggled, "Yup, I've known them for a few minutes, and I could tell that." She laughed heartily.

Twin arrows struck Izuku and Momo. It wasn't even like they intended on keeping it secret forever. Momo said she and Izuku needed to build a foundation and that meant others being part of it. The only issue was the timing. It was way too soon to be blowing that secret. And there was a reason All Might hadn't considered Mina as strongly as others despite her being a candidate. She needed to mature a bit more and tone down the gossip.

Still, Momo felt awful. She probably wouldn't last too long before coming clean, especially with lying to friends evidently being a big weakness of hers. Mina and Camie seemed to sense that the two of them were actually getting a bit distressed, because their faces softened. Mina glomped Momo in a hug, "Hey, it's okay if you can't tell us right now. But you will one day, yeah?" She snuggled into Momo's bosom, making Momo flush bright red.

She hugged her friend back, "S-Sorry, Mina-chan." She whispered. She wrapped her arms around the pink girl as well.

Izuku flushed as Camie hugged him as well, "Yeah, it's cool fam. It's not your fault you like, totally suck at lying." She smirked evilly at him.

"C-Camie!" Izuku protested feebly. His face went atomic red as the girl snuggled into the crook of his neck.

Nejire blinked as she looked at the hugging duos, and glanced between them in confusion, 'Did I get that wrong?' She glanced at Izuku, 'Hmmmmm. My senses are tingling.' She then remembered something, "Oh right!" She hopped, drawing their attention, "Midoriya-kun, if you can heal why do you still have the cool flame arm? Is it not strong enough?" She frowned, remembering the videos she'd watched on the class. She hadn't remembered it earlier because she was just SOOOOOO excited to meet and talk with everyone, but Izuku had regrown his leg during the fight with the Nōmu. So why didn't he for his arm?

"Ah…" Izuku rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, "Basically, because I spent so long unable to use my Quirk, my body got used to not having an arm." he frowned, "If I had been able to heal it immediately, there would have been no problem. But because I got so exhausted from fighting it, I basically went into 'safe mode' as soon as it was gone."

Nejire looked crestfallen, "Wait, does that mean it's gone for good? Oh no!"

Momo answered, "Well, we're hopeful he will be able to heal it eventually. We're not sure if it will work, but we think that maybe if he learns anatomy, he may be able to direct the flames instead of leaving them to work autonomously."

"Oh!" Nejire smiled, "Here's hoping that works!" She turned back to Izuku, "I'm rooting for you, Midoriya-kun! But why did you use that attack in the first place? Wasn't it really,really dangerous?"

Izuku gaped for a split second, "Wha- Senpai, I had to! We had no idea when the teachers would be back, and I couldn't let it hurt my friends!"

"But didn't your file say you have some mental powers as well? Like telepathy? That dumb brute looked pretty stupid. Why didn't you just, like, mind crush it or something?" Nejire asked innocently.

Izuku opened his mouth with his finger raised. And then it curled down and his mouth clicked shut. The four girls focused on him, "W-Well I don't know if that's something I can actually do… and I don't think I'm too eager to try. How would I even practice?! If I use it on a Villain and it works I could turn them into a vegetable! That would be awful! I didn't even think to try something like that! It just feels wrong! Villainous!"

"That's no good, Midoriya-kun!" Nejire chided him with an unhappy frown on her face, "Heroes have to use EVERY tool in their belt!" She put her fists on her hips, "I get that it seems wrong, and I totally get it being an invasion of privacy. I can understand why you would just not like using it, especially on friends. But if you HAD tried it and it worked, you could maybe have stopped that dumb Nōmu in its tracks! You wouldn't have had to sacrifice your arm, and Momo-chan wouldn't have needed to exhaust herself. Heck, if you just read the Villains minds, you could have maybe picked out their entire plan from the leaders' heads or even just made them all confused with different orders. Heck, maybe you could have commanded the Nōmu to attack the other Villains! You have to use ALL of your Quirk! No Quirk is villainous. If you just ignore it because you're being a dummy, you won't be able to use it when you need it." She stopped, before considering, "Though… Yeah, I can see why something like a Mind Crush would be hard to practice. No room for error."

Izuku simply stared at her, shocked. Momo swallowed, before steeling herself, "Izuku." His eyes snapped to hers at the call, "You will practice your telepathy with me whenever you want. As long as you don't abuse it, I won't ever get mad."

"Yup, Same here!" Mina crossed her arms and stared him down.

"Mood." Camie nodded.

Nejire smiled, "See, you've got such great friends! Now you start using it, and do me too!"

And the atmosphere was totally lost as Mina and Camie did spit-takes, "That's what she said!" The two burst into giggles, along with Nejire who did her best lewd face, which got all of them laughing. Except Izuku and Momo. Their faces just flamed red.

Momo caught his eye as the other three made friends, and gave him a pointed look. He hesitantly reached out mentally, touching her mind. He was almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of affection he could feel radiating from her. 'I-is this okay?'

'Always.' Momo replied warmly, before her face got just a bit hotter. She pictured herself leaning over and pecking his cheek.

Izuku rocked on his heels as he almost spontaneously combusted. She just smiled beatifically at him, and neither noticed the three other girls looking at them with interest. Izuku swallowed heavily, before hesitantly sending Momo an image of him pecking her back. She blushed happily and beamed at him.

"Ohohohoho!" Mina's ojou-sama laugh came back, "Did we just have a secret exchange, hmmm?" She threw her arm around Momo's neck, "What was that about, Yaomomo?" She then whispered in her ear, "Is someone jumping the gun a bit?"

An uncharacteristic smirk rose on Momo's face, "Wouldn't you like to know, Mina dearest." Mina and Camie pouted and needled her as the girls made their way back to the lockers, but Momo's lips were sealed tight, and nothing could remove the happy smile from her face.

-]|[-

Because of their discussion, Nejire, Momo, Mina, and Camie had been the last ones to the locker room. Due to this, they were also the last ones in the room now. And Nejire's curiosity was burning, "So…" She led casually as she slipped her bra back on, "What's up with you girls and Midoriya-kun?"

"Eh? What do you mean, Senpai?" Mina asked, a small smile starting to form.

"I thought he and Yaomomo-chan were dating." Nejire said bluntly before she giggled, "She looked to him for help when she was failing at lying."

"Nejire-senpai!" Momo whined, a cloud over her head. She almost fell over, the sudden arrow striking her such that she stepped on her panties instead of into them.

Nejire giggled along with the other two, before she tapped just under her lip with her index finger, "But then I got confused when Camie-chan got all huggy and Yaomomo-chan didn't get mad." She pulled her skirt up. "So, what gives?"

"I love him." Momo said bluntly, a small smile on her face. She said it as though she were doing nothing more than talking about the weather.

"Pffft!" Mina and Camie sputtered while Nejire also smiled widely. The totally blunt statement surprised the two other girls, since they hadn't expected it from Momo of all people. "Woah, woah, woah!" Mina dropped her bra in shock, "Where did this come from, Yaomomo?!"

"Yeah, fam…" Camie reached down to grab her fallen skirt, "I mean, we all knew we liked him a lot too, Yaomomo, but love?"

Momo slipped her shirt on and started buttoning it up, "Yes." She said, not looking at either of the two as she made herself presentable, "I was already more serious than I let on during our talk, but what happened a few days later cemented it."

"Wow, Yaomomo pulling a fast one!" Mina laughed, "I like it!"

Nejire was bouncing energetically, "I love it! But why didn't you get mad, then?" A lightbulb went off behind her eyes, "Ooooh, is it because you're poly? Or planning on it?"

Mina giggled cheerfully, "I've had a little crush on Midori since, like, the second day of class. He started off super awesome despite how nervous he was, and every day he just kept getting more and more awesome. The USJ was kinda it for me. And I knew that, at the very least, Yaomomo felt the same, and Camie and Setsuna-chan were maybes. He DID save all of us, after all. Plus, I'm bi and actually only dated a few of my middle school besties before, so the idea of fighting my friends over a boy just seemed kinda stupid. I thought being with all my besties would be a lot of fun, so we talked it out and decided to at least give it a try. We're planning to ask him out right before we go to I-Island in two weeks."

"Oooh!" Nejire started to float in her excitement, "Is that the day that is supposed to be super warm?"

"Yup!" Camie finished putting her leggings on, "We're going to go to Dagobah Beach!"

Nejire dropped to the floor, "Dag- Isn't that a landfill? I flew around there two years ago, and it was awful!"

The three girls gave her evil smirks, "Not anymore!" Mina crowed.

Momo sounded so proud as she said her next words, "Izu cleaned ALL of it while training for U.A. Almost completely by himself."

Nejire's jaw dropped, "No way!"

"Like, totally legit, fam." Camie confirmed, "Inasa-kun told us all about it. He helped a little bit, but it was, like, 90% Zuku."

Nejire's jaw clicked shut, "Kay, can, like, totally see why you girls are so into him." She blushed, "That's so AWESOME!"

"Ohohoho, is our senpai interested in a poly relationship too?" Mina asked, half-teasing, half-serious. Nejire was gorgeous, after all, and she was totally into her.

"My aunt is in one! She's married to her two best friends." Nejire replied gleefully, "And since mom was always working, they took care of me when I was really young. So, for me it was always a kinda normal thing. They were always so happy with each other, so I always kinda hoped to have something like that too."

"Well, it certainly wasn't what I had envisioned for my future," Momo tittered, "Or at least none of my romance books ever had a relationship like it. I knew they existed and were legal, but my parents were always just my parents. I always assumed and planned for a relationship like they had." She smiled in sardonic amusement, "But I hadn't exactly planned on getting into a fight for my life in the first week of school either." All four of the younger girls looked uncomfortable, despite putting on strong faces, "At the very least, I do appreciate the female form as well." She blushed a little as her traitorous eyes dipped to Nejire's cleavage. Nejire smiled brightly when she caught it and Momo blushed harder, "I'm not sold on the idea but am willing to give it a chance."

Nejire beamed, "That's so cool! I actually tried it out before, but it didn't work out…" her smile turned into a sad pout.

Camie blinked, "Wow, seriously? Can't say I expected that, fam. Like, what happened?"

Nejire drooped a little, "Well, it was kind of just a bad idea for us. Poly relationships are pretty difficult to pull off to begin with, so if everyone isn't on board, then it's just a bad idea." She sighed in a bit of melancholy. Something that definitely didn't fit her. "We ended up breaking up to not ruin our friendships. A true poly relationship where everyone is with each other is really hard to start because everyone has to be on board. Togata-kun was a bit weirded out by it, but went in with an open mind. There really wasn't an issue from his end. But Yuyu-chan didn't actually want to share no matter how much she said she agreed. She really just wanted to date me, and only gave the poly thing a try because I wanted to give it a try. I don't think she even likes boys! So, she was super clingy with me, and all but ignored Togata-kun whenever we went on dates. I got a little mad at her for that. I would have been fine with it if she'd been upfront about not wanting to do it, but instead, she lied and made herself uncomfortable when she never needed to. That's not how a relationship should be, so I broke it off before it could ruin our friendships. It was just better that way."

"Yikes!" Camie frowned, "That sucks! Totally wouldn't want that."

"Yeah." Mina pouted, "I really hope that doesn't happen with us…"

"One of the reasons we decided to wait for a little bit." Momo murmured.

Camie nodded, "After Nejire-chan-senpai's story, I really think we should like, maybe try going on some dates and see if this is actually something that could work, ya know?"

Nejire squealed, "That is now my new name, and you have to call me it!" She told them, wiggling excitedly. "And honestly, you definitely have to do that. I'm surprised you haven't already. It would be pretty dumb to just jump right in and then figure out it totally doesn't work. Plus, from what it sounds like, Midoriya-kun doesn't even know yet?" She gave them a questioning stare, and grimaced when they hesitantly nodded, "Yeah, no, BAD idea. That's totally not fair to Midoriya-kun."

They looked at each other, having not considered that. "Agreed." Momo said after a few moments.

"Wow, I'm REALLY glad you brought this up, senpai." Mina said, "Thanks!"

"You're welcome!" Nejire beamed, "I suggest you start doing that before you have the big day. At least one date each, and at least one with each other as well. Gotta figure out if that will work out too, right?"

"Yes." Momo agreed, "Even if I do think I appreciate the female form, that could just be bi-curiosity. Maybe I'll find out I don't actually like girls as much as I think I do?" She tilted her head, "You know a lot about this, senpai. Is there anything else we should know?"

Nejire smiled, "Sure! There are different types of polycules, you know?"

Mina frowned, "There are? I don't know much about them. Like I said, I just thought everyone was cute and awesome."

Nejire nodded, taking the senpai role seriously even in this, "So, the type my aunt is in is focused on her. Her husbands both were best friends, but neither of them are bi. So, they just remained best friends with each other, but are romantically involved with my aunt."

"Ooooh." Mina and Camie listened carefully.

Momo was smiling a little, "That sounds rather like our hypothetical one."

Nejire shook her head, "With Mina-chan interested in you girls as well, it would be different. I'll leave that type for last. Anyway, so that's type one. It can kinda grow larger, but the larger it gets the more unmanageable it gets. Jealousy can start to creep in if the person the polycule is centered on can't give everyone enough attention. Basically, the smaller the number the easier it is to keep the relationship going, up until you just get to a regular mono relationship. It's definitely best to do it between friends, because let's be real… relationships between just two people fail often enough because of normal relationship baggage. Throw five more people in? Yeah, not very likely to work." The three girls nodded resolutely, "The next type is definitely the hardest to pull off. Basically, it's almost like a swinger's relationship. Person A is with person B. Person B is with Person C. Person A is not with Person C, but is with Person D as well, who is the only one with Person E. Etc. Really, not sure if it actually counts as a polycule. Kinda seems more like an excuse to not commit."

"Ew." Camie wrinkled her nose, "Like, fuck that."

"While I wouldn't put it quite so crudely," Momo made a face too, "Indeed."

"C'mon, Momo!" Mina laughed, "You know you want to! Say it! Say it!" Camie laughed and joined in, with Nejire joining in with a delighted laugh.

Momo slowly reddened at the cheering from her friends and finally squeaked, "Okay, okay!" She clapped her hands to her face, before mumbling, "Fuck that!"

"YEAAAAAH!" The three girls cheered explosively as Momo steamed.

Nejire giggled delightedly, "Anyway, like I said, that one is the HARDEST to pull off. It's VERY hard to keep people from becoming jealous. I can't actually think of a successful one that was actually a legit relationship and not people just fooling around and claiming otherwise."

"Yeah no, I'm def out if that starts happening. Total yuck." Camie said, her nose still wrinkled.

"Yeah, that definitely sounds more 'sex cult' than polycule." Mina nodded, frowning just as badly.

Nejire and Momo nodded, "Definitely not." Nejire continued, "And the last, well, relevant one is probably the hardest to set up, but the easiest to keep going. Basically, everyone in the group is romantically involved with everyone else in the relationship. Or at least intimately involved. Also, best to do it between good friends." She sighed sadly, "That was what I had been hoping for with Togata-kun and Yuyu-chan."

"Hmmm…" Camie hummed, glancing at Mina and Momo, "You sounded like Zuku caught your eye earlier. You interested, fam?"

"I certainly wouldn't mind giving it another try! Better than trying a dating app." Nejire giggled, "At least I know you all are awesome and heroic since you're classmates here. You have NO idea how bad my one attempt with a dating app went. Do you think, uhhh, Setsuna-chan? Would she mind?" She asked curiously. "I don't want to step on any toes, obviously."

"Like, only if we don't give her the first date with Zuku." Camie giggled, "She'd def want first crack, since we've all known him longer than her. And you're definitely telling us that story!"

"I'm fine with that." Mina said as Momo nodded, "And that's definitely not a perfect measuring stick. We had one of our classmates get expelled because he was a perverted asswipe."

"Mina!" Momo chided, though she was having trouble keeping from smirking just a tiny bit.

Nejire vehemently shook her head at telling the story. "No way!" The blue fairy said, "It was awful! Ugh! I don't even wanna remember it!" She grumbled. The other girls giggled a little at the reaction, but patted her on the shoulder in commiseration. "And yeah, I saw that in the files. Honestly, surprised Aizawa-sensei kept him as long as he did."

"He really shouldn't have." Mina said, bluntly. "With how much of a hardass sensei appears to be, he really gave that creep more chances than he deserved. During our Battle Trials he ignored an easy takedown on Camie-chan's partner to try to grope her." Nejire grimaced, but her attention was caught by Camie.

"Know all about shitty dates, fam." Camie crossed her arms as she focused on the first statement, "Kinda swore off dating till high school because of it. Dude was super cute but damn if he didn't end up an ass. Boys in my school were just big toddlers and totally needed to grow up."

"It happens. Unfortunately." Nejire was back to smiling, and hooked her arm around Camie's shoulder.

"We should definitely get on the group chat tonight to make plans then. And rules, obviously." Momo turned, "Even with what you told us, I'm surprised you're so eager to jump into this, Senpai." She said, carefully.

Nejire let out a sigh, "To be honest? I've been feeling kinda lonely and burnt out for a while, so I'm kinda eager for some fun! Hero work keeps you busy." Her smile dropped and she stared at them seriously, "It's a dangerous job, and you really don't know if today might be your last. Something you guys experienced way too soon." She frowned momentarily as the younger girls shuddered. Nejire took a deep breath and smiled, "I can already tell you guys are all awesome and I'd love to get to know you better! If I get some cute girlfriends and a boyfriend out of it, all the better! If not? Then at least some new besties, right?" She said cheerfully.

Mina glanced at Momo and Camie. They seemed agreeable, so Mina grinned broadly at their senpai, "Welcome to the Midoricult, senpai!"

Momo facepalmed, "Can you not call it that, Mina?"

Nejire and the other two burst into giggles.

-]|[-

"Found her!" Izuku declared telepathically, opening his eyes. "She's in the factory building just northwest of Momo's position."

"Gotta say, Green, this 'new you' is awesome." Kyōka smirked, "Who lit a fire up your butt and got you using this? Now we can coordinate, and no one can overhear us."

"It was Nejire-senpai." Momo replied, "But this isn't the time, Kyōka-chan. Everyone, converge on the building. Izu, is anyone else in there?"

"Thirteen is holding three hostages, and has weakened the support struts on the catwalks. If we try to come in from the roof, they'll break away and alert her."

"Got it!" Momo was rushing there and had already started creating items to aid them. Kyōka and Izuku landed next to her, and she was enveloped in green as well. The trio landed on the roof and Kyōka immediately plugged in, closing her eyes. Izuku sank deeper into his telepathy with a small grunt of struggle, and all three were able to 'see' what Kyōka's echolocation was mapping. "Your Quirk is so amazing, Izu." Momo declared, "Three 'claymore' substitutes, one for each of the windows. Designed to emit sparks and flashbang when they go off. "

"Can you move them with your jacks, Jirō-chan? My control isn't back to normal yet." Izuku grumbled a bit at that.

"Yup." Kyōka slipped her jacks into the new weapons Momo had made for her: Vibro Blades. Her jacks started pumping into them and the impossibly sharp blades easily pierced the glass of the windows and she cut a circle. Momo had attached a tiny suction cup to the glass and pulled it away, revealing a perfectly circular hole. Kyōka's jacks slipped through, carefully lifting the claymore, and bringing it to the hole, where Momo swiftly disarmed it.

Izuku then used the tool that Momo had created (a fiber optic cable with a camera) to look inside. "Drat!" He cursed, "The hinges are rusted to hell. I don't think even some WD40 from Momo would help keep the noise down." The other two cursed as well.

But then a lightbulb lit up over Kyōka's head. She plugged in again, "Okay, she's kinda close to that back wall. Either Green and I or Yaomomo and I could be a distraction up here, while the other bursts in from the back."

"I'll do it. Izu, can I get a lift?" Momo was immediately engulfed in green and enjoyed her flight to the back of the building, where she quickly popped her top open, and spewed a breaching charge from her chest. She affixed it to the wall, fixed her top, and called out, "Ready!"

Immediately, Izuku and Kyōka broke open the windows, creating a load of noise. "Ha!" Thirteen crowed, "You've fallen for my trap!" She whirled towards them, and blinked in shock when the catwalks were engulfed in green and prevented from falling down, "Curses!" She then pointed a finger at her first hostage: Tokoyami. "Don't move a muscle, or he gets it!" Izuku and Kyōka cursed, putting their hands up. "Good! Drop your weapons and jacks where I can see them!" They did as she said, Izuku's tie falling from his hands, and Kyōka putting her jacks up as well. "Foolish little Heroes." Thirteen laughed 'evilly,' before pointing her finger at them, "It is my vic-"

It was over in seconds. Momo (having been watching carefully through Izuku's eyes) detonated the blast charge as she was again engulfed in lightning. She sped through the hole as Thirteen flinched and was on her in seconds. She quickly popped some cuffs out of her wrist and clapped them on Thirteen's wrist, before she was swiftly threw the teacher down with an "Oof!"

"Target secured!" Momo declared.

Thirteen grumbled, "Okay, new rule, if Midoriya and Yaoyorozu get paired up in class by random lot again, they have to reroll."

…

Nejire was literally rolling on the floor laughing and All Might was sweating a little, "I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Thirteen. You two are overpowered together." He laughed lightheartedly.

Mina cackled along with Camie, "Cinnamon Rolls OP, pls nerf!"

Izuku and Momo were pouting even as they blushed, "But we work really well together." Momo poked her fingertips together.

"Yes, which is why you should practice with others in the class." Nejire finally got her breath back, though she still spasmed a little bit with giggles, "Even if you form an agency together, you'll still have moments when you need to work with others. Even Miruko works with others, no matter how much she grumbles about team-ups. She works with Ryūkyū fairly often."

"What she said." All Might deadpanned, letting out a little laugh, "Good work everyone! Nejire-chan here will be remaining to supervise training. You all may remain for the next couple hours, or go home now, if you wish."

"Yay!" Nejire cheered, and in the blink of an eye, she had Izuku's hand in hers, "Come on Zuzu! I want to spar in the air!"

"WAH!" Izuku was yoinked cartoonishly off his feet, flailing behind Nejire, "N-Nejire-senpai!"

"I said supervise!" All Might yelled at their backs. "Why do I bother?" He asked rhetorically, leaving along with Thirteen.

Mina snorted, "It's a good thing she's so cute, otherwise I'd be a bit jealous." She whispered to Momo.

The heiress's reply was cut off, "Oi, Windbag. Let's fucking go." Katsuki spoke up, glaring at Inasa.

Inasa slowly smirked, "Sure thing, Nitrogremlin."

Katsuki snarled, and the two of them raced off. Immediately, the sounds of loud explosions started making them wince, and the surrounding area to quake.

"Yaoyorozu." Todoroki stepped forward.

Momo's expression went flat, "Try to do something other than glaciers this time, Todoroki-kun." The heiress was still quite upset about the last time they had been forced to spar together. Todoroki's already flat expression went even flatter.

"Looks like everyone's pairing up. Let's go, Camie-chan." Mina declared. The two of them could spar Quirkless. She'd been quite surprised to find another in the class skilled in capoeira.

…

BANG

Momo's cannon fired off, blasting apart the rushing wave of ice.

Todoroki glared, "You've improved." He noted, firing off another wave of ice at her.

Momo sighed, cloaking herself in One For All and leaping into the air, evading the wave, 'Yes, I have. But you haven't.' She didn't say it out loud. She landed on the ice pillar and her boots formed into a snowboard. She slid down the ice as she Created another rocket launcher, leaping up to avoid more ice and firing. The blasts knocked Todoroki around as her snowboard and rocket launcher were absorbed back into her body. A hang glider appeared instead, and she landed softly while Todoroki snarled in anger.

'I just keep falling behind!' He thought to himself. Ever since the USJ incident, that had been the feeling permeating him. He didn't have proof, but he was pretty sure that the teachers were purposefully pitting him against only the strongest students in the class. Something he both appreciated and disdained. Appreciated because he could go all out against most of them, and disdained because what once had been fairly simple victories had turned into slugfests. He didn't feel like he was improving, whereas everyone around him was.

The last time he had faced Yaoyorozu, he had trapped her inside one of his glaciers. Something she would have had no chance to escape from on the first day of class. And yet, she had simply coated herself in that strange lightning and flexed off his ice. Granted, she had broken several bones doing so and lost the match, requiring medical attention from Midoriya, but she had done it, nonetheless.

He didn't believe for a second that her Quirk had simply evolved, or that Midoriya had figured out something about her Quirk she never had. New discoveries and adjustments to someone's Quirk mechanics were never so drastic. It was as though she was using an entirely different Quirk.

And this time she was giving him as good as she got. His smoking and slightly burned clothes were a testament to that. He saw red, and this time the biggest glacier yet sprang out in front of him, aimed directly at her.

"I knew it." Momo let out a sigh as One For All's lightning converged in front of her, forming what looked like a cross between a flamethrower and a flak cannon. She had learned her lesson well from the USJ, and a massive shield made out of transparent aluminum with a coating of aerogel protected her. A massive gout of flame erupted in front of her at several thousands of degrees. It met the approaching ice with a hiss of steam as it bore a hole through the ice. She didn't even feel mild warmth from the inferno before her.

She cut off the spray, seeing a perfectly smooth hole in the ice, and a dumbfounded Todoroki at the other end. She blitzed through the opening, her speed making the flames flicker as she rushed past them. Todoroki tried to ice her again, but it was slower and smaller. She easily leapt over it, smashing her foot into his chest, and knocking him down. She landed and let out a sigh, unhappy despite her victory. "Look at you." She said, not bothering to offer him a hand. She knew he wouldn't take it.

"What was that?" Todoroki got to his feet, frustration burning in his face.

"You have fire and yet you're just letting yourself turn into an icicle." Momo said, and immediately Todoroki got angry, "Mina-chan would never have suggested Frozone for you if she knew beforehand that you had been such a fool during the Incident. Tōru-chan only told us after. I'm surprised Miss Midnight approved it."

"Is there a point to this?" He glared at her.

"How are any of us supposed to feel good about winning when all you do is sit there and insult everyone giving it their all?" She glared back.

"You don't know anything." He spat, turning, and walking away.

"You say you want to be the Number One without using your whole Quirk?" Momo asked his retreating back, "Newsflash Todoroki-kun. You're just as bad as Bakugō-san and his angry yelling and bullying. No one in their right mind would give someone like you a high rank."

"I WILL be the best Hero!" He whirled back, clenching his fists in anger.

"No, Izuku will." She said it so matter-of-factly that Todoroki was momentarily knocked from his anger, "You'll never even break the top ten with your attitude. Inevitably your ice is not going to be enough, and you're going to let someone die to continue throwing your tantrum. You don't want to be a Hero. You just want to prove your father wrong about… whatever your issue is with him. But you never will. You're no different than him." She walked away from him, going back to her friends. "No one needs a Hero who runs off spite."

He stared at her back, dumbfounded.

That… that wasn't true. It couldn't be… right? He DID want to be a Hero, and everything he'd done had been to get away from his father. So why did people compare him to his father, no matter what he did?

The turmoil ate away at him, before he forced through it. No. None of them knew. None of them knew anything. And yet her words had produced that same nagging feelings Aizawa-sensei's ultimatum had… and they weren't going away. Without knowing anything about his situation, she'd cut deeper than anyone else ever had.

-]|[-

Izuku fought to keep from hyperventilating. He was going on a date! A date with a REALLY hot girl! SHE HAD ASKED HIM OUT!

"Calm down, Izuku." Inko told him, though secretly she was only so calm because she'd taken medicine. ONE of them needed to be. "Everything is going to go fine! Deep breaths!" Izuku did as told, taking a long, deep breath, holding it in for a few seconds, before exhaling, "See, that's better, isn't it? Remember, she asked you out, so she already likes you, right? Everything will go fine! Just be yourself!"

"R-Right!" Izuku said, clapping his hands to his cheeks. Honestly, the date request had caught him completely by surprise. He had been hoping that he hadn't been imagining the interest Momo had been showing, but it hadn't been the heiress to ask him out. It had been Setsuna! He was almost disappointed by that, because maybe he'd been totally reading her wrong?

He'd said yes to Setsuna, more out of surprise than anything, even if he probably would have said yes anyway. She was cute, hot, and intelligent as well! She was a lovely young woman! Honestly, he was more confused by what she saw in him. Old habits died hard. And when he said yes, he had almost been expecting Momo to get angry or jealous. She'd been very affectionate with him since the USJ and One For All's transference. But she hadn't been. Her eyes had narrowed a little, but her smile had been genuine. Or at least he thought it had been.

His mom poked him, "What's this? I thought her name was Setsuna? Who is Momo?"

"Uhhh, another of my friends." Izuku said.

"Probably best not to mutter about other girls during a date, I-zu-ku." Inko said sternly, "I didn't raise a playboy either!"

"R-Right!" Izuku panicked at the second statement, "I-I'm not! No way!"

"Good." She pecked him on the forehead, "Go get her, my little Phoenix." Izuku flushed red and ran out of the apartment before teleporting away in a flash of green. She held it in for a few seconds before squealing, "My little boy, finally becoming a man!" She fell onto the couch with a happy exclamation.

…

"H-Hey Setsuna!" Izuku smiled at his date. She looked wonderful, wearing a snuggly fit turtleneck sweater dress that reached down to her thighs, a belt wrapped around her midsection, and a pearl necklace.

"Heya, Zuzu." She and Nejire had unknowingly landed on the same nickname for him, "Hope you like dinosaurs!" She flashed her sharp teeth at him.

"Of course, I do!" Izuku immediately lit up, "Who wouldn't think they were cool?"

Setsuna's smile widened, "Knew it! We're going to the museum! Been there?"

He shook his head, "Not this new one. Went to the rebuilt one in Katsuyama when I was younger though."

"This one is even better!" She was trying to play it cool, but she grabbed his hand in obvious eagerness and pulled him along, "Let's go! I heard they managed to dig up a new rex!" As they walked, Setsuna asked something that had been on her mind since the day of that dreaded dual-class trip, "I hope you don't mind me asking, but how come you were so shy and stuttery during….err… the incident before things got started?"

Izuku missed a step but quickly recovered, "I, err…"

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." She reassured him, hoping she hadn't just stepped on a land mine, "I was just really curious. You totally changed when the battle started, and you've been a lot livelier in general since then."

He sighed, "It's because I was bullied a lot when I was younger."

Cue spit take, "Wait, what?!" She blurted, "How?! You're so strong and have such a cool Quirk!"

He smiled sardonically, "Yeah, well… that's new." She stared at him in incomprehension, "I was misdiagnosed as Quirkless by some hack of a doctor. I've actually only been using my Quirk since last year near the start of the first semester. And, well…"

"Kids are jackasses?" She hissed, scowling, "We had one Quirkless student in our class as well, and about half of the class treated her like dirt." She smiled viciously, "Wish you had been in my school, Zuzu. Then I would have had two people to get my shapely ass suspended over."

"Suspended?!" He blurted, his eyes wide, "But didn't you get in on recommendation? And Scholastic Recommendation as well!?"

"Yuuuup." She popped her lips with the 'p,' before returning a wide smirk, "They brought it up during the interviews for U.A. of course. 'Even if you are a straight A+ student, why should we consider you if you have 19 suspensions on your record?' Was what principal Nezu asked me."

"NINETEEN?!" He blurted, eyes nearly popping out.

She giggled, "Nezu quickly changed his tune when I told him all nineteen were for getting into fights defending one of my classmates from bullies over something she couldn't control. He rather hates them, doesn't he?"

Izuku smiled, "Yeah, I think I would have liked going to your school too." She beamed at him.

…

"I wonder if these are the real fossils or if they made casts?" Izuku asked, marveling at the triceratops.

"I think they're real. This was a pretty expensive Museum." Setsuna wondered the same, "But I know real fossils can actually be pretty fragile."

They continued walking, having thankfully picked a fairly slow part of the day for their trip, "I wonder what they really looked like?" Izuku asked suddenly.

"What do you mean?" She turned to him curiously.

"Well, remember back before the glowing baby, we thought that they were reptilian? Like lizards?" Izuku started, and her eyes widened in realization.

"Ah, and then some of them were found with quills and what could have been feathers?" Setsuna continued the thought.

"Exactly!" Izuku said, and they came upon the newest exhibit: the T-Rex. "It's so huge!"

"That's what she said." Setsuna joked, striking like a whip. Izuku sputtered in shock, making her laugh, "Too easy, Zuzu." She eyed it, "No way this thing was just a scavenger." She muttered, frowning.

"It was really silly that a hypothesis like that became a theory for a while." He agreed, "I mean… look at it!"

"With those teeth and what they estimated as its bite force? 30,300 kg per square cm? No way this thing wasn't a hunter." She grinned.

Izuku had a thought, "Hey, imagine if they had Quirks!" Setsuna first blanched and then started laughing with him, "Fire Breathing T-rex says, 'screw you!'"

"Oh man, and if it had any organs that let it do that, they wouldn't be preserved, and we'd never know!" She exclaimed. She side-eyed him and her grin widened again, "What do you think? Have something in that psychic bag of tricks to show us for sure?"

Izuku opened his mouth to deny her with some disappointment before it clicked shut and he inclined his head.

Her eyes widened and she started to whisper, "No way, do you?"

"I don't… know." He said slowly, "But psychometry is a psychic power in the comics, and I've recreated a few abilities from them. I wouldn't even know where to start, but… d-do you think I could?"

She almost started to vibrate in excitement, "Only one way to find out!"

"I'd have to touch it, though." Izuku put a damper on her excitement, "And at minimum, it would have to be real."

She swallowed, "I really hope we don't get banned for this." She hugged him and slipped her arm under his jacket and around his waist. He startled and she hissed, "Hug me back and try mind-linking me. Maybe you can try with me touching it."

Izuku sank into her mind and immediately made her aware of his presence. She detached one of her fingers and surreptitiously controlled it into the exhibit. She touched the femur as gently as she could, but after a minute or two, Izuku murmured, "Fake." He could tell immediately once he seemed to focus his power the right way. They both got a flash of the construction process via his power.

"Holy crap, it works!" Setsuna said in amazement, "That would be SO useful solving crimes! You'd be the world's greatest detective!" She then made his concentration drop with a sputter, "Doo doot doot doot doot Inspector Gadget!" She relaxed in his embrace, smiles on both their faces as their laughter died down.

As he wrapped his arm around her, she touched the tail next, "Fake too." This time it was much quicker.

"Drat. Dumb casts. You're totally ruining our plan." She pouted, and then touched the skull. Hopefully that or at least one of the darn teeth was actually a real fossil.

She got her wish.

The king charged forward, its steps shaking the land. It had been at least two moons since it had last had a meal, and it was more than ready for meat. It got unlucky as its loud footsteps spooked the meals. They started running away, faster than it could realistically catch.

It paid them no mind. They would have been mouthfuls at best. Not nearly enough to slake its hunger. It had a bigger prize in mind.

The beast was shorter and squatter than it. It could most certainly not run from the king, and so after a foolish, failed attempt at doing so, it squared up and bellowed a challenge, its rock-hard tail ready to swing. The king knew well that the club was a mighty weapon; one that had felled its brother long ago. The king was older, and wiser. 

The king would not lose. 

The king continued its charge, making a good target of itself. The prey bellowed and swung its tail, but the king stomped short and backed out of the way rapidly. The attack missed, but it would not make the same mistake its brother had. The club came back around, and the king had its moment. The club missed it by a quill and then the king lunged, throwing its body at the prey, and lifting it off its legs with the impact. 

The animal cried out as it rapidly tried to find its footing. The king was patient, backing away and dodging another swipe from the tail. The prey was unbalanced, and the king lifted its leg, stomping down on the appendage with all of its weight. The bony armor protected it, but not enough. The deadly weapon was immobilized, and then the king dipped low, snapping viciously onto the hind leg of the beast. A crack rang out as the enemy's leg broke. It tore its head back, further breaking the limb and making the prey cry out in agony. It let go, confident that it could no longer put its weight on that leg, and that the club would no longer be a danger from the beast's injury.

The King bashed into it and rolled it over, cutting off its desperate cry with its teeth around its soft, squishy neck. Another crack rang out, and the animal went slack with a rattling breath. The king released its prize, and roared out its victory. It was a call every single being around knew to avoid.

Izuku and Setsuna nearly fell to their knees, gasping for breath. His arm slipped around her waist to hold her up as their knees wobbled and they barely stayed upright. Their breaths came in gasps as Setsuna started to desperately giggle, "It-" She swallowed and turned amazed eyes to Izuku, "It sounded way cooler than the movies." There was a note of hysteria in her voice.

"Scavenger." Izuku managed to scoff in between the gasping laughs.

She turned around and threw her arms around his neck, squeezing as tight as she could.

…

The rest of the day had been amazing. The first one had definitely generated the worst post-reaction, because they'd been unprepared for it actually working so well. The two had spent the rest of the day running around the museum in giddy excitement, learning about some of their favorite animals from sources far better than any textbook. They discovered that the T. Rex indeed had some feathers, but only on its head and running down its spine like plumage. They also discovered how heavily muscled it was. They saw a mighty Triceratops that had racked up a scary number of gores against the Kings. And a pack of Raptors that had terrorized the lands. Even the glorious flights across oceans as the Pterosaurs.

But all good things had to come to an end, and closing time marked the end of this adventure. Izuku walked Setsuna home, marveling at her rather upscale house. It certainly wasn't Momo's manor, but he was pretty sure it put even Bakugō's house to shame. "I- I had a great time, Set." She wanted a pet name from him, so he obliged with something simple.

Setsuna grinned toothily, "Boy, you couldn't possibly have set a better mark for a first date." Her grin widened, and she threw her arms around his neck. She was so glad she had decided to at least give this poly thing a try. Her lips found his, and his eyes widened, before snapping shut and hugging her back. Two more semi-loud smooches rang out, before she backed away, smiling even wider as she took in his shocked, bright-red face.

"W-Wow." He mumbled, steaming.

She giggled in delight, "Oh, it was just three, little smooches. Dork." She grinned wickedly, pulling him back in and giving him a proper kiss, pressing up into him. She was quite proud of her technique, and looking at his near-catatonic look when she pulled away gave her a little thrill. At least her gyaru days in middle school had been good for something. "Now that one is a wow." She giggled as he mumbled unintelligibly. "But time to call it a night. I had fun, Zuzu. Definitely want to go again!"

He snapped out of it, "Amazing." He mumbled, before asking her, "D-Does this mean that we're-"

"Ahp ahp ahp!" She placed her fingertip on his lips, shutting him up, "Let's save that question for later, shall we?"

Izuku blinked in shock, "Uhm?"

"Don't worry." She knew he'd probably be in his own head if she just left it at that, "You'll know the answer to that question by the end of next week. Okay?"

Izuku swallowed, "Okay."

She smiled, and pecked him one last time, "Oh, and have fun tomorrow! I know I will!"

"T-Tomorrow?" Izuku blinked, "What's tomorrow?"

She looked like that cat that had caught the canary, "Oh, your date with Mina-chan, of course!"

Izuku dot exe has crashed. Reboot? "Bwuh?!"

"Ahahaha!" Setsuna giggled in delight at his face, "Yup, and mine with Camie-chan. We've got a busy week ahead of us, mister, so go get some rest!" She pecked him one last time as he continued to goggle. "Good night!" She said cheerfully.

Dazed, Izuku returned it before she shut the door, and he stood there for a second, before turning and teleporting away. "Izuku?" Inko jumped up, smiling brightly before taking in his face once the glow from his arrival had died down, "How did it go?"

Izuku slumped into his sofa, "It… it went great?"

"…" Inko stared at him in worry, "Was that a question or an answer?"

"It definitely went great!" Izuku said, shaking himself, "We had a lot of fun! And-" He blushed, "She even kissed me when I walked her home!"

Inko squealed, "Oh, that's wonderful, baby!" She shook her fists in front of her chest in excitement, "Does that mean you're dating now?" She asked eagerly.

"T-That's what I asked…" He said, still looking gobsmacked, "Or at least I tried to. But she stopped me and told me that we both had another date tomorrow."

"T-That's good, isn't it?" Inko asked, smile slipping a bit.

"I… think?" Izuku said, before looking at the TV, before staring at the floor with his chin in one of his hands, "But she said she was going on a date with Camie-chan… and then told me to have fun on my date with Mina-chan!" He finally blurted out in total confusion. "What does that mean?!" His mom didn't say anything for a few seconds, "Mom?"

He turned, and then blanched. Inko had a very un-Inko-like smile on her face, and her eyes were glowing like Izuku's did when Phoenix Force was at max power. She then started to giggle somewhat ominously.

A cold sweat dripped down Izuku's back.

-]|[-

" Y!" Mina crowed, throwing herself out of her desk and punching towards the sky the second after the final bell rang. She hurried over to Izuku, "Are you ready for today, Midori? Did you bring your comfy clothes, like I asked?"

He blushed a bit from how close she got, "Y-yeah, I did!" He hefted his bag, "Y-You still haven't told me what we're doing."

She grinned, "We're going to dance."

"Welp, it was a nice life." Izuku deadpanned, and turned to Inasa. Mina blinked in confusion, "Please tell mom I love her in advance. Cuz Mina-chan's going to kill me for crushing her feet."

Mina burst out laughing, followed by half of the class, "Nope! I have something else in mind! Let's go!" She grabbed his hand, and they tore out of the room, Izuku nearly stumbling and falling on his face from the speed she was moving at.

…

"Uhhh…" Izuku was now wearing shorts and a tee, and he was blushing at Mina wearing sweatpants and a belly-baring sports bra. She had brought him to her home, figuring that he'd be a bit too nervous if she took him straight to a studio instead. "So, what are we going to be doing?"

"This way!" Mina said cheerfully, opening a door and turning on the lights.

"Woah!" Izuku's eyes bulged, "It's like you have a dance studio in your house!" The entire back wall was mirrored, which he guessed was to allow them to see themselves as they moved.

"Yup!" Mina laughed, hands behind her head, "It's my favorite room in the house!" She hopped up and down, "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Check it out!" She started to A Step, before she did a Cheat Gainer and landed on her left hand, the other holding her left shoe; a picture-perfect L-kick. Not that Izuku knew what any of those moves were called. She then allowed herself to dip and started windmilling around before she raised herself onto her hands without skipping a beat and started to hit a perfect airflare. As Izuku stared with wide eyes, she finished off with a 2000 and spun on her palm a few times before dropping her feet and standing upright.

"That was amazing!" Izuku grinned excitedly, "But I hope you don't expect me to do any of that!" He told her, half in amusement and half in dread.

"Why not?" She grinned teasingly, "You already know how to fight and move, dontcha?"

"Not like that!" He laughed back at her.

"Yeah, we'll have to work up to it. But don't you worry. I gotchu, Midori." She grinned, "We'll start you off slower with some basics along with some choreography, though I think you could get things going pretty quick if I know you half as well as I think I do." He blushed at her belief in him, "So!" She walked over to the sound system and synced her phone, "Repeat, aaaand! Random!"

She tossed the phone and ran back to the center of the room, "Oooh, haven't done this one in a while!" She grinned as an English song came on. "Watch me, Midori. I like this one and while it's not easy, it's simpler than a lot of the other choreographies I know! Just watch me the first time and then we'll break it down into parts." She started moving her feet and legs, smiling from his eyes glued on her, "Watch the feet. Right now, I'm just doing whatever I feel like. Feel the beat!" He was indeed bobbing his head a bit to it, "And now it starts!" She said, as her last few steps took her backwards and now she took three steps forward, before turning right, jumping, and landing with one leg a bit forward and finishing the turn left. She rolled her hips and kept tapping her feet, throwing in some leg pivots that made her pants move in kinda/sorta mesmerizing ways. She was even bringing her feet together, dipping slightly, and then rapidly opening and closing her legs without her feet coming apart.

"Woah…" Izuku watched, engrossed as she moved through the roughly 45-second choreography flawlessly.

She grinned as she came to a stop, "So, what do you think?"

"I loved the dance!" He blushed, before chuckling a little, "Song wasn't my favorite."

"Mooooood!" Mina laughed as well, "It's kinda catchy even if you don't want it to be! Ready to give it a go?"

He smirked lightly, "Shouldn't you be teaching me basics first?"

"Meh, you're awesome enough to get it! Don't try to escape, mister!" Mina waggled her finger at him.

"I'm not!" He laughed at her reaction, "But you know… I'm curious. Turn around." She did so and he got behind her to the left, "You girls keep telling me to be better with my powers. I wonder if this will work. May I?"

"Will what?" She asked and nodded to his question, and then gasped as her golden eyes started glowing an emerald green, "They're so pretty, but they totally don't match my skin." She giggled.

"Ooof, this is taking some effort. I wonder if it will work. Can you do the dance again?" He asked, and she obliged, starting with her free dance that wasn't part of the choreography.

And her eyes popped open, "!" She continued dancing, watching as Izuku mimicked her every move and muscle twitch perfectly, "Midori you cheater!" She started to laugh, "See, you can totally do it! You just need to not be cheating!"

"I had to see if my body would actually move like this, you know? I could have sworn I had two left feet!" Izuku was grinning in elation, totally weirded out by his body moving without him directing it but happy he was making her happy. "This is fun!"

The two ran through the choreography, though really it was just Mina. "That was so cool!" She barreled into him once it ended, and he released the mind link. She was trying to hug the stuffing out of him.

"Ack! Mina! Air!" Izuku hugged her back anyway. "Shall we try for real this time?"

"Mhm!" Mina nodded, "Okay, face the mirror and follow me. Right now, you're just going to learn the individual pieces, so we'll break it down into segments. If you have any trouble, we'll go over it until you don't! Don't worry about matching my speed. That's something that takes practice together."

"Sounds good! Let's do it!" Izuku eagerly tried to follow as she led him through the first steps.

…

About five hours later, Izuku felt exhausted in a way that only hard training usually left him. "Oh man…"

Mina looked pretty tired herself, though she was much fresher than him since she knew what she was doing, "You did so well!" She cheered as she glomped him, "I can't believe we've gotten through a full half of it already! I was expecting maybe a quarter at best! Those weren't all easy moves!"

"Do you think the mind link puppeteering had a hand in it?" He hugged her back, blushing. She may not have been as tired as he was, but her skin was definitely moist from all the sweat.

"I don't think so?" She asked more than said. "I mean, you only did it once at the beginning. Maybe you just got some natural talent? You did better than Momo did yesterday!"

He stumbled a bit, "Oh? You had Momo here yesterday?" His interest was piqued, and to be honest he felt a little sus himself now.

Mina grinned, "Yup! She was my date yesterday. She had fun learning a different dance!" Izuku blinked at having his slight suspicion confirmed. Mina leered, "Did you have fun with Set yesterday?" She leaned in.

"…" He squinted a bit, "Yes? We had a lot of fun."

"Good." Mina said decisively, her smirk widening, "And tomorrow you're with Camie-chan and I'm with Nejire-chan-senpai."

"I am?" Izuku blinked, "Uhh… Mina? What's going on?" he asked, feeling a little weird about it.

"All will be explained soon, mwahahahah!" Mina laughed adorably evilly. He sweatdropped, and she stopped and continued to grin excitedly, "So, did you have fun?"

"Of course!" He decided to put it past him for now. Clearly the girls were up to something, and frankly they were confusing him about it. He'd just focus on having fun, like they apparently were. "I had a blast today! Too bad I need to go home now."

"Which makes me SUPER happy, by the by." She hugged him tightly again, "That you like dancing with me, not that you have to go home. That part sucks." She giggled, drawing a laugh from him too. "But before you go…" She trailed off, her hands finding purchase on his hair.

"Mph!" Izuku's eyes widened as she kissed him, going straight for some tongue unlike Set's first kiss yesterday. He closed his eyes and hesitantly kissed back, not really knowing what he was doing. She pressed tighter into him, making him moan a little bit, before she backed away. Both of them were panting lightly, but she gave him a massive smile and buried her face into his neck.

"I could get used to this." She mumbled, smiling as he hugged her tighter.