Izuku walked into the Development Studio to see Mei working at her desk. Power Loader was nowhere to be seen. Once the boy approached his friend, he noticed the project she was working on, the Transpo-bot from last week's TAC meeting. The robot was laid on its side and looked to have been deactivated. He noticed that the bot no longer had a wheel on its lower half but was a large ball. Hatsume was currently reattaching its arm with a welder.
"Afternoon," Midoriya proclaimed with a bit of volume.
This caused the girl to glance at the boy and nod before going back to her work. Izuku then took a seat at a table behind Mei and put down his backpack. He only had to wait a few minutes before the welding ceased.
Hatsume raised her welding helmet before stating, "Hey, thanks for retrieving this for us. We've been swamped with work these last two weeks to bother putting effort into finding this."
"Why was it even there?"
"Some blunder that happened during hero training done by 3-B. It happened the weekend before your club's exercise." Mei's face and tone turned serious as she asked, "So are you going to ask about me working with your club at all, or do I have to pursue them myself?"
Izuku gulped hard upon hearing the question. He had put off asking his friends about the topic for too long. "Sorry, I guess it slipped my mind to ask as of late."
Hatsume groaned before saying, "I guess the time leading up to Valentine's Day has been keeping you pretty occupied. But would it hurt to keep your head out of Hagakure-chan's pants for a moment and think about how useful I could be for your club?"
Midoriya shook the "pants comment" out of his head to answer, "I was thinking maybe we wait on Tooru's hero suit revision to show it to everyone. That should convince them."
"But that Fixer lady is doing most of the work."
Power Loader's voice then came from the boy's right. "Not like we can include her involvement in this work. Besides, even if it's legal, she wouldn't want the credit."
A slightly startled Izuku asked, "Oh, um sensei, how long have you been there?"
"Since the 'pants comment.' I just needed a spare part from the backroom." He then turned to his student and stated, "Come up with better insult material, you're better than that."
"I'm not exactly literate enough in romance to make a good comeback about it!"
Maijima sighed but then tossed a small black object to his student. After she caught it, he stated, "I fixed its battery core. So you should be safe to activate it again."
"Oh goodie," Hatsume said as she began installing the battery.
Midoriya got up and walked over to Power Loader before asking, "So you both have been busy lately?"
"Yep. This is normal once we get far enough into the third term. All the third-year students are making last-minute suit upgrades or changes before they go pro. It's free here, so might as well take the opportunity before they have to pay for them out of their pocket."
Hatsume's voice then spoke up, "Well, that is unless they get sponsored or join a team that covers such things."
"Which isn't the norm for a fresh pro hero," Maijima argued.
"Still, a possibility."
The bot began to stir at this point, and once upright, proclaimed, "I awaken once more!" It then attempted to roll off the workbench but fell face-first onto the floor.
"I told you you need to get used to your new legs before trying stuff like that," Mei stated as she helped the bot up.
"What is progress without pain, Hatsume-sama?"
"Hmm, you do have a point there."
Izuku asked, "Sama?"
With enthusiasm, the robot proclaimed, "Of course! The goddess has given me new meaning in purpose and life! No longer am I shackled to assist you meatbags when you get broken. Now I can help create and destroy."
"Much more the former," Power Loader added.
"Regardless, I have never felt so alive!" It then started to test its arm by moving it in odd directions. Its fingers then folded inward, and a few tools came out. "I thank you, Hatsume-sama, for the new appendage. It is quite functional."
"Well, your old one was toast, so I figured building you a new custom arm to better help us here would be better. I can make another if you want."
"Yes, please!" Suddenly its eye started to blink. "What!? I am low on power already?"
Power Loader explained, "I only fixed your battery. I didn't have time to charge it fully. We had to drain it to work on it. I only charged it enough to test that it could hold a charge."
"Is my charge station properly set up?"
"In Hatsume-san's room? Yeah, knock yourself out."
"I thank you, Maijima-dono. I bid you farewell, Hatsume-sama!" The bot proceeded to haphazardly make its way to Mei's room before entering it.
Izuku then asked, "So is he like a new assistant here?"
Mei answered with glee, "My assistant mostly, but sensei's when I am not around."
"But why?"
Power Loader pointed at his student as he replied, "Cause someone got played."
"Played? I quickly learned that having Midoriya-kun here has been a great help. What's wrong with wanting someone like him at all times?"
"I'll admit he will probably be a great asset, but you can't argue that it has you wrapped around his finger. When you get praised, you melt like butter. And it's been giving you plenty of that."
"As if. I'm in total control here."
"We'll see about that," Maijima stated as he shrugged before turning around and heading to his workstation.
Midoriya gave a look of concern to his friend after the teacher left.
"What? He didn't want to do his function anymore, and we had a spare Transpo-bot in storage that had yet to be activated. Plus, I could also use the extra helper. I see it as a win-win for both of us."
"What even happened that day for him to do something different?"
Hatsume shrugged before replying, "Not my concern. Any time it gets brought up, he goes into a long ranted fury that I tuned out. He dropped the subject once I offered him to help me out here, so it's whatever anyway."
"Ok then," Izuku stated with a sigh. He then looked back to Power Loader before asking, "Hey, about before, what did Maijima-sensei mean when he said The Fixer wouldn't want credit for Tooru's new suit?"
Mei gave a puzzled look, but then she gave a look of disappointment as she answered, "Oh that? That woman is weird. Fun to work with, but man, her ideals are screwy. All that knowledge and skill only to keep it to herself."
"Did that come up as you assisted her that night?"
"Mostly after the fact. Maijima-sensei tried to dig up information on her after the fact and came up with nothing. Yet he did get hits on the various babies she had lying around that room. However, all of them didn't have a single person credited to their creation, just the company or organization as a collective that sold the product."
Midoriya crossed his arms as he stated, "So it's just about the money and the ability to work off the radar that drives her work."
"Like I said, screwy." Hatsume then placed a hand on his shoulder as she stated, "You should ask her more about it the next time you see her."
"If I ever see her again. All there is left to do is wait for her to finish."
"Which shouldn't be too long from now. We got a lot done that night, so I can't see her taking too long."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, I bet you won't even have to wait till March. The Fixer seemed determined to get it done. Her drive reminded me of myself a bit," Mei stated as she let go of Izuku's shoulder and gave a proud, toothy grin.
"Oh. So for sure in time for White Day." Midoriya stated with a slight grin.
Hatsume gave a sly grin as she said, "Sounds like Hagakure-chan has a lot in store soon."
A slight blush came over Izuku. "It's just an idea, that's all."
"Sure thing, bub, I bet you already have an entire book of a plan forming in your head just from learning this," Mei stated as she patted her friend's back. "I bet she's gonna love whatever you have in the works for her."
"I hope so too," the boy said as he let out a small awkward laugh.
A few knocks on the door echoed throughout the room.
"You can come in."
Izuku walked into Ochako's room and noticed his host sitting at her kotatsu. She was facing him and gestured for him to sit. "Afternoon Izuku-kun. There was something you wanted to discuss?"
Midoriya had asked over the phone if he could come over to talk. Uraraka agreed and said they could meet up not long after school was over.
"Three things. First I want to formally thank you for helping everyone make all those chocolates the night before Valentine's Day. Especially Tooru's," Izuku stated while giving a slight bow.
"Tooru-chan did say you liked the chocolates a lot." Ochako then held up a hand and waved it slightly as she said, "Though I mostly just gave her the idea and some pointers when making it. She did everything else since I was busy assisting all the other girls too."
Midoriya held up his index finger on his right hand as he said, "Which brings up my next point. I need some advice on making my sweets for White Day."
"This early? Valentine's Day was a week ago."
"I uh, like to plan things well in advance if possible, is all."
"Well, this is you we are talking about. I guess this makes perfect sense," Urarake stated with a chuckle. "So have anything in mind?"
"Well, I want to use caramel, but I don't know how I can use it with the color white."
Ochako's left eyebrow rose as she asked, "You know it doesn't have to be white. You only see really old folks stick to that tradition."
"Well, I want to try, at least."
"Hmmm, give me a moment then," Ochako stated as she sat up and walked over to her drawer. She grabbed a small but thick white booklet with a red ribbon as a bookmark and opened it. The girl began to rapidly turn the pages as she came back to sit down. After a few seconds, she said, "Ah, here we go."
Izuku was then handed the booklet, and he opened it to the bookmarked page. The title of the page read, White Chocolate Caramel Swirled Fudge.
"It's fancy, contains marshmallows, and is still white. Plus, it's still traditional for White Day. So how about it?"
"Sounds fantastic." Midoriya then looked up to Uraraka and asked, "So is this your cookbook?"
Ochako blushed as she responded, "Sorta. It's my Christmas gift from Tenya. He compiled all of my mom's scratch notes of recipes and had this published for me. My mom was also mailed a copy."
Izuku gulped, and he thought his Christmas gift was a bit much. "Ida-kun went above and beyond then. I'll have to thank him for indirectly helping as well."
"I'm sure he would be delighted to hear that. Anyways, we should have all the ingredients you need for the recipe. They just restocked it on Monday."
Midoriya then looked over the ingredients: granulated sugar, heavy whipping cream, unsalted butter, salt, white chocolate chips, marshmallow fluff, caramel bits, and heavy cream. He recognized most of them and figured he could easily spot the rest. "Yeah, looks like it." He then noticed the prep time. "Only ten minutes to make?"
"Yep! It's quick! Just need to chill it and let it sit overnight after that."
Izuku sighed in relief as he stated, "You answered my prayers here and served it on a nice silver platter. I can't thank you enough."
"Well, I figure you're going to need it. You seem the type that would follow sanbai gaeshi (triple the return). And considering what Tooru-chan told me, you have a lot to pay back."
A blush started to creep onto the boy's face as he asked, "Oh, she told you?"
Ochako looked down at her hands as she poked together both her index fingers as she answered, "Well, more like I prodded her for how it went. Mine was pretty uneventful, and I didn't think I would get anything out of Momo-chan. That was p-pretty bold of her."
"The scary part was that the thigh pillow was Tooru's compromised plan. She had another more e-extreme one that I didn't dare ask what."
Uraraka's face, too, went crimson and she gave a weak chuckle. "Yeah, who knows."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow. He pondered, did she know what the original plan? Well no need to embarrass us both further he mused. "What do you mean your Valentine gift was uneventful?"
"I...I fell asleep in the middle of it. Staying up to work on everyone's chocolates eventually caught up to me."
"Oh. Did Tenya-kun try and wake you?"
Ochako leaned forward, and laid her head, chin first, on her kotatsu with a disappointing look on her face. "No, I kind of wished he did, though. He just let me nap for the evening as he left to go out on a jog. Even checked on me after he was finished. He can be too nice at times."
Izuku was curious what this "in the middle of it" meant but decided not to pry and instead said, "Knowing Tenya-kun, he's still going to go all out for you on White Day regardless."
"Yeah, it's not fair for him, yet it's just how he is. Perhaps I'll try and pay him back on his birthday during our second year."
Midoriya's face then became quite serious as he started to ponder the possibilities of birthdays.
Uraraka placed a hand on her face as she said, "You're already thinking about Tooru-chan's birthday?"
"I just can't help it."
Ochako began to laugh, and Izuku quickly joined in on the laughter at the silliness of it all.
Once Uraraka calmed down, she asked, "So what was that third thing you needed from me?"
"Oh, um, are you free this evening?"
"I don't have any plans."
"I need your help with some of my quirk training."
"Why so sudden?"
Midoriya scratched the back of his head as he responded, "That's when I agreed to meet with Kacchan to help as well."
"Bakugo-kun? He's helping?"
"Yeah. A lot, actually."
"So why me?"
"I'll explain once we get there but your perspective because of how your quirk functions would be an immense help for me."
Ochako pondered for a few moments before saying, "Give me some time to change, and I'll see what I can do."
A sharp pain erupted on Midoriya's foot. The boy struggled not to make a face as a reaction.
Hagakure sighed as she said, "Sorry. What does that make? Six?"
"Eight," the boy tried to say with an honest smile.
Tooru just groaned but continued with the motion of the Bolero beat.
The dance lessons had begun. Hagakure felt confident enough to start now that the worst of school was finally over. Midoriya was glad that she prioritized her schoolwork over this, even if her grades were still quite average compared to his own. But the feeling of finally teaching was quite welcome for him. Just not his feet. They were in the empty classroom of 1-A. After getting permission from Aizawa, they moved all the desks to make room and placed down a mat for safety reasons. They already had two spills.
"I was the same way with Ashido-chan, so don't worry."
"I just figured I would be more graceful than that is all. But being flexible and acrobatic doesn't exactly translate to this kind of dancing, I guess."
Trying to cheer her up, Izuku said, "Well, you caught on to slow dancing quickly."
"Well, I've done it before; it's just been a while. That small bit we had during Christmas did refresh it for me too."
"With who?"
"My dad a few times. It's pretty common for fathers to dance with their daughters when they are still little."
Midoriya pondered this. He had seen this a few times in some of the anime and movies he watched when he was younger.
Hagakure then said, "Though, of course, the difference here is I can do this." She gave a slight squeeze to her boyfriend's left butt cheek.
"R-right, but we are not s-slow dancing right now," Izuku struggled to say.
"It's admirable that you didn't break form there."
Just a few more minutes, Izuku thought as he tried to focus on the last bit of the metronome track. This was their third run of it as he was trying to teach the beat. He was hoping to get to Paseo and Traversa this afternoon once Tooru had the beat down. Eventually, the track stopped playing, and the two took a break. They sat at two desks that were facing one another.
"So, any word from Hatsume-chan?"
"Oh, she said to expect it before the end of the term!" Which was technically correct. Midoriya was still debating what to do about this little nugget of information regarding White Day.
Hagakure then sighed with relief. "Sounds like she finally had a breakthrough. I don't know how much longer I can stand being naked again during training. Even if winter is almost over, it's still like night and day from before."
"Yeah, it's made things awkward again," Izuku replied with a sigh.
"Though I will admit it's nice to see your reactions again to my nudeness," Tooru stated as she reached over and gave a soft poke to her boyfriend's nose.
It had been hard for Midoriya not to be distracted by it, again, even if there was nothing to see. His girlfriend had received her suit while they were still just friends. However, now they were a couple, and as much as Izuku saw himself as not to be driven by perverted thoughts, these last few weeks were proving quite tricky not to ponder them.
The boy then felt his right cheek get squeezed for a moment.
"Man, I mentioned it once and you are already beet red from daydreaming about me?" Hagakure then giggled before saying, "Just what could you be focusing on, though? Oh, I got it. You're trying to imagine my boobs!"
Midoriya went wide-eyed at the comment and in panic lifted his shirt to cover his face.
"Looks like I was right on the money."
"Y-You really can be t-too much s-sometimes." Izuku then heard the shuffling of the desk in front of him as his girlfriend got up. His shirt returned down as Hagakure pulled it down. She was now standing to his left.
"You make it too easy and enjoyable not to, Izuku. You react to almost everything I do if I prod at your buttons just right. Then there are the little spats like the one you just pulled. It's hard not to act upon it when I see you do cute shenanigans like that."
Midoriya sighed as he said, "Well when you put it that way, it does sound like I am easy prey."
"Well, I'll stop for now. I'm sure you still have plenty you want to work on today."
Izuku nodded but then asked, "Just give me a few minutes to recover over here." The girl's snickers followed, but she said nothing more. He instead wondered how he would get through the rest of the lesson with such thoughts floating on his mind. Tooru really was his kryptonite, it seemed.
"Ah, there you are, Izuku-kun." Momo stated with delight.
A startled Izuku asked, "Oh, what brought you here so early for class?" It was early morning Tuesday in the 1-A classroom. He didn't usually see anyone come this early except maybe Ida.
"I could say the same to you," Yaoyorozu stated as she tried to get a peek at the notebook her friend had been writing in.
Midoriya was quick to close it and flip it towards its back as she said, "Just writing some notes from last night's TAC meet-up is all."
"Right now?"
"If I'm too tired to write it after practice, then I come here early to do it. My mind is clearer in the classroom than in my room anyhow."
Momo's face still lingered a look of suspicion. "Well, alright. Anyways, to answer your question, I wanted to speak with you. Tenya-kun mentioned you sometimes came earlier than even him, so I figured now would be the best time for some privacy."
"Ah, I see. Well, you can always visit my room if you need to."
"I'll consider that next time, thanks."
After putting the notebook away, Izuku asked, "So what do you need from me?"
"Well, you see, I was hoping to visit Mashirao's parents sometime soon. Like during the break before our second year or perhaps during the summer break. It depends if they let us go home or not during these times." Yaoyorozu seemed saddened by the last statement but shook her head. "Anyways, I'm extremely nervous about meeting his parents and wanted some advice on how to tackle my jitters."
"It's definitely a scary ordeal. I even rejected Tooru's first offer."
"You did? When was that?"
"When we were still just friends. Just before the Hero Festival. It was embarrassing for me," Midoriya stated before giving an awkward chuckle. He then stated, "Did Mashirao-kun ask this of you?"
Momo shook her head, "No, I asked for this. I want to do this to make him more confident when we eventually reveal my relationship with my own parents."
Considering that, Izuku wondered if Mashirao had similar feelings in facing Mrs. Yaoyorozu. She was the main obstacle, as Mr. Yaoyorozu seemed much more humble. Either way, he said, "Well, to start, I think Mr. Ojiro is quite understanding. And what little we saw of his mom, she seemed nice."
"As much as Mashirao has talked about his parents, it hasn't calmed my nerves. I'm mostly just worried if they start talking about marriage," Yaoyorozu stated as she started to blush furiously.
Izuku nearly fell out of his chair as he proclaimed, "Marriage!?"
"That's why you visit one's parents, right?"
Midoriya then recalled a memory with Ashido as he was learning Bolero.
Yaoyorozu-chan, bless her heart, tries but is mostly clueless with her idealistic views of romance.
Izuku pondered, is this what Mina meant? "I mean eventually but usually not in the first meeting."
Momo looked even more confused as she stated, "But Uraraka-chan brought it up when Ida-kun first met her parents."
"I'm sure they were only teasing her. She has mentioned her father is quite a jokester at times."
"Then what about Tenya-kun's parents? I heard they already tried to plan things out for such an event."
Wait, that happened? Midoriya was thrown in the loop for that one. Either way, both of them had to have been pretty hush-hush about this to only just learn about it. "It's still not common. The subject never came up when Tooru first came over to my place or me to hers."
"Oh no, is this another thing that my upbringing has warped me into thinking of as normal?" Yaoyorozu pondered as she placed her hands on her cheeks.
"So, this has happened before?"
Momo nodded as she said, "Quite a lot."
Mashirao has his hands quite full, Izuku thought. "Were you so embarrassed at the concept of marriage that you never brought it up to Mashirao-kun?"
"Yeah, I heard you all visiting each other so casually, so figured it was all just commonplace. And then when I asked Ochako-chan how her Tenya-kun's first visit went, it made me even more paranoid."
"So who told you this tradition?"
"My mother." Yaoyorozu then adopted a stricter tone in her voice as she stated, "Momo if you ever wish to introduce us to a boy in our home, be sure that you are committed and prepared to bond with him in eternal matrimony. I will expect nothing less but perfection for you and our family's sake."
Midoriya sighed before saying, "Yeah...that sounds like your mother, alright." A thought then crossed the boy's mind. What about all the boys that she had invited over to her house to study? However, it stood to reason she never presented them to her folks if they all ended up being selfish in their reasons for being there. "Anyways, talks of marriage shouldn't come up at all, so you'll be fine."
"Ugh, I'm stupid."
"It's not your fault; that's how you were raised, and what your mom expects."
"I know, but I've been able to figure some things out for myself this last year since going to school, but I let my fear cloud my judgment." Momo then gave a slight bow as she said, "Thanks for clearing this up for me, Izuku-kun." She then raised her head and held an index finger over her lips as she said, "And please don't mention this to Mashirao. He will tease me to no end if he ever finds out."
Izuku chuckled. "I promise."
"Welp sounds like your first time teaching Bolero went well," Ashido stated with a chuckle.
"Yeah, but Tooru's teasing is going to be the end of me," Midoriya said as he dug his head into his pillow even further. It was Thursday once more; this time, they were in the boy's room. The host was laid out, belly down on his bed with his guest with her back to the bed's base.
Mina waved her hand as if brushing the statement away. "She's just trying to get a reaction out of you. Lighten up."
"I know, but I can't tell if she's testing me again."
"Wasn't that only when things got physical? These are just words. You're looking too much into it."
"Perhaps."
Mina sighed before saying, "Anyways, with that update out of the way, we need to turn our attention towards Jiro-chan."
Izuku turned his head from his pillow as he said, "I mean, what is there to say? She is still thinking about it."
"When I thought she needed some time to think about it, I didn't expect it to take this long. Tomorrow it will be two weeks."
"She'll eventually come around. Nothing we can do about it."
Ashido only groaned as a response.
Midoriya sat up on his bed as he said, "At the very least, Koda-kun's confession hasn't made it awkward between the two. I haven't seen any changes in their casual interactions in or out of school."
"From what you've seen."
"Have you seen otherwise?"
"Well, no, but I can't believe they haven't said a word to one another since," Mina stated as she placed a hand on her chin as she pondered the situation.
"I guess they might have talked over the phone about it."
"Right, but even if they did, no decision has been made."
Izuku gave a stern look as he asked, "You're not pestering Jiro-chan about it to see if she's made up her mind, have you?"
Mina held up a hand to wave off the notion as she stated, "I'm keeping my distance, I promise. As hard as it is." She then pointed to the boy as she said, "I figured she hasn't said anything yet cause the second she did Koda-kun would come to you to relay the news."
"Hmmm, yeah, he would do that. But anyways, nothing more we can do but wait. We'll just go in circles if we just speculate."
The girl sighed but nodded as he said, "Fine. However, we can instead focus on Sato-kun."
With a raised eyebrow, Midoriya asked, "Yeah, what about him?"
"I hear he's been dating some girls."
"Who?"
"That's just the thing. First, I heard about some chick from 1-D, then one from 2-B, and now I even heard he was seen with a girl from 3-A!"
Trying to make sense of this, Izuku asked, "Wait, I thought you said you had only heard he dated Kendo-san."
"Yeah, until I started digging around. Since we've become buddy-buddy with 1-B since the end of the last term, I've been able to ask them more about the whole thing."
"And what did you find out?"
Mina's face brightened up immensely as she explained, "Well first, I learned the date with Kendo-san was once. Now they are just good friends. However, it seems she's been trying to hook Sato-kun up with other girls throughout the school."
Considering this was Ashido, Midoriya wondered how legit this information was. However, even if it was only a half-truth, it was quite a surprise. "Anything else?"
"Not really. These are just bits and pieces of info since I never got straight answers. And anytime I found Kendo-san, she was always busy doing something with someone else from her class. I've been sitting on this info for weeks since I wanted to prioritize our situation with Koda-kun first, so I didn't mention it."
"Then let's keep it that way, for now. Once we know Jiro-chan's answer and deal with any fallout either might bring, we'll look further into whatever is happening with Sato-kun."
"Ah, that's no fun, but I guess we don't want to lose focus if either Jiro-chan or Koda-kun needs help."
Izuku sighed internally. While he did want to shelf this talk with Mina, he was hoping to set the record straight before pursuing things further. Perhaps talking to Kendo about what was going on would be the better route than Sato directly, he pondered.
Midoriya looked out of the window of the car as she asked, "This the place? It looks like a normal office building."
"I thought the same thing when I first came here. But it's never simple with her," Inoue stated as he parked the car.
Maijima sighed before saying, "Let's just make this quick since it's just a pickup."
"I hear that," Inoue said. "I just want to relax tonight."
It was Saturday evening, and yesterday Izuku was contacted by Gou that Tooru's suit was ready. After getting the go-ahead from All Might and confirmation that Power Loader would accompany him, Inoue met the two about thirty minutes ago and picked them up in a beat-up car. Today Midoriya wore a grey sweater and blue jeans, Maijima a grey hooded jacket with black cargo pants, and their driver a red baseball cap with a brown jacket and black jeans. His wig was different today, but his hat made it hard to tell what exactly it was since it seemed like a short-haired wig.
The three made their way towards the entrance of the building. The glass doors revealed a large entrance room with a security desk in the middle. A guard was leaning back into his chair, swiping away at his phone.
Gou cleared his throat as he stepped forward and pressed a button on the intercom beside the door. "We would like to pick up a package."
The guard inside didn't even look up as he turned towards a small microphone and said, "What kind of package?"
"For my sweetheart," Inoue answered. The door then clicked open, and the three made their way inside. As they passed the desk, the guard placed a key down, and Gou took it.
Power Loader then asked, "So I am guessing that was the password earlier or something?"
"Yeah, two-layered. First, you have to ask the right kind of question and then answer. It changes all the time, and you only get notified of what it is only hours beforehand. Making this is one of my least favorite of her hideouts."
"How does she stay hidden in an office building like this, though? It doesn't look abandoned."
"It's for sale, but it never sells. However, that might be her doing. Whoever actually owns it keeps security stationed here. Whenever she rotates here, she gets her mole to run the front desk." Inoue then stopped in front of an elevator with an out-of-order sign. He then took out the key handed to him and used it to open a panel to the machine's right. He pressed a series of buttons, and the elevator turned on.
"So many, many steps," Maijima stated with curiosity in his tone.
The doors opened, revealing a familiar face—the tiger lady from before.
"Evening gentlemen," the woman stated as she motioned for the three to enter.
After going down a few floors, the doors opened to reveal a room similar to Izuku's last visit. The Fixer herself looked quite different. She wore a black suit and pants with a silver tie. Her silver high heels clicked as she tapped her foot as if impatient. "You're the last client for the night, so let's get this moving. I got places to be."
"Just get me a rundown of how it works, and we'll be on our way," Power Loader stated as he proceeded to take off his gloves.
Izuku and Gou stepped to the elevator side and waited but were soon approached by the guard that accompanied them down the elevator. In a heavy foreign accent that the boy didn't recognize, she asked, "Why did you bring the squirt, Sparky?"
"Showing him around. The kid has an interest in Vigilantism. Though I wouldn't say this is prime material to judge me by," Inoue stated with a shrug.
Midoriya figured All Might wasn't ready for his pupil to accompany Inoue on actual missions yet. This was just a testing ground to learn how he operates. Trying to change the subject, Izuku asked, "Is the squid guy still around?"
"He's on the first floor. Checks out new clients or if the boss feels something is fishy. She trusts you three for now, so no checkup today," the woman explained before heading up the elevator.
Izuku then asked, "Do you know her well?"
"Not really. She's a much more recent hire, but she's around enough to know the nickname everyone loves to give me," Gou stated with a groan.
"Which Landslide started?"
"Yeah. I should have never mentioned that's what he called me to The Fixer. It's what I get by trying to strike up a conversation." Inoue was about to say more, but he stopped once he noticed said person approach the two.
"Evening you two, hope I didn't stop any talk behind my back."
Gou's tone changed to be more chipper as he said, "Just talking about your mutant hires."
"Oh, were you curious why I hired so many?"
Izuku's curiosity was piqued. "Wait, there's a reason?"
Inoue held up a hand, however, to ask, "Shouldn't you be explaining the suit to our friend over there?"
"He's a spoilsport. Didn't like my explanation and wanted to read the manual. It will be a bit until he is satisfied, I fear." She then turned her attention back to Midoriya and said, "Non-hero mutants can sometimes have a hard time finding a job. You'd be surprised how easy it is to find and hire such individuals. Usually, it's just muscle for protection, but you find gold nuggets every once in a while, like Todaro."
"The squid guy's code name," Gou mentioned.
"Then what's the girl's code name?"
"Tigris. She replaced my last main guard a few years ago. Sweet gal." The Fixer turned to the vigilante and stated, "You should ask her out. You two would get along well, I can tell."
Inoue rubbed his forehead as he said, "Not really looking at the moment."
"Your loss." The woman then extended her arm and placed it on Midoriya's shoulder as she asked, "So what's the plan for this suit once I give it to ya, kid?"
"Wait, you're giving it to me?"
The Fixer placed her hand on the boy's other shoulder as she replied, "Well, of course! It's the first day of March today. That means White Day is just around the corner. What a perfect present for a young hero couple."
Midoriya gulped before saying, "I had considered it."
"See? Now go knock it out of the park with her."
"And you don't want any credit?"
The woman let go of Izuku and crossed her arms, "Well, besides the whole 'all of this is supposed to be a secret thing,' it's not like I care about being credited for anything. It's about the journey and experience that matters, not the notoriety. Though since you want to be a pro hero, I understand that concept might be alien to you."
Well, the dream was to become the number one hero so she had him there, Midoriya thought.
"Focus on her happiness, not mine. Be selfish for her sake for once," The Fixer declared with a big smile.
So first, the chapter title. I had a hard time thinking one up, but then my dumb ass noticed all my scenes had a girl focus, so it only seemed natural to go with it. I can't tell if I have done this before for any multiple scene chapters, but even if I have, it's not often.
A new assistant for Mei! He'll be slowly expanded upon as we go forward. One reason for its creation was a challenge for myself on a different take for an OC. He will be minor like most the others, but just a nice bit of flavor for some worldbuilding considering semi-sentient robots are a thing in this series.
Another rare focus on Ochako, even if it is short. Maybe I'll write their Valentine's for the one shot collection. The last part of the scene was a last-minute addition considering the leaks of chapter 284 in the manga. I was already going to cover OFA's progress in the next chapter, but I felt adding this foreshadow now was an excellent fit.
We finally get to see Izuku start teaching some Bolero to Tooru. I could have started it earlier, but eh, the term's start had enough content to play with. Besides, it allowed me to better show Midoriya's uneasiness with Hagakure's resurfaced frequent nudity. Since the context vastly differs now that they have dated for a while. Oh, and the "imagining about my boobs" comment was actually toned down, I had a much bolder idea in mind but scrapped it within a few hours as I felt it was too much. ;p
Momo's scene was just a minor update for the couple but also a look into the girl's more "traditional" views on romance. Which, while short, was a blast to write. I'm hyped to finally begin writing their oneshot collection here in the coming weeks. Mina's scene was mostly to tease some new stuff with Sato. We'll see that unfold some in the next chapter. ;p
And finally, the Fixer scene. Short but a few expanded details here and there + set up for White Day. Though this entire chapter has mostly been to set up what comes next, so eh. The code names for both mutants that work for her are based on the scientific name they are based on. Flying Japanese Squid = Todarodes pacificus and Tiger = Panthera tigris.
Chapter 43 will have the start of Spring and cover White Day. An old face will also make an appearance as well at the beginning of the chapter!