Cubicity

Chapter 9: Hitting the Books

An alarm resonated in a dark room and something stirred. It groaned in protest and turned off the device making the infernal racket. After a long sigh, Izuku got up and leaned against the wall next to his bed. The boy didn't get much sleep last night after what had happened at the end of Tooru's visit yesterday. Midoriya was going to have another date with his invisible friend, alone this time. Sure the concept seemed daunting, and his mind plus heart went into a flutter each time he played out possible scenarios that could happen. But a part of Midoriya felt glad. At first, he considered it was because he would be celebrating his best friend's birthday. Or perhaps it was because Izuku was slowly becoming more assertive in his social life. But in the end, he decided that it was due to Tooru finally being vocal in giving her intentions about the status of their relationship.

But I guess dates do help in telling if two people wanna take their relationship to the next level.

If you are okay with that possibility, I'd be happy to take you up on your offer Izuku.

Tooru's words actually comforted Midoriya. For the longest time, he felt clueless in trying to figure out what her end game was. Was Hagakure giving hints through her actions the whole time? Or was that just her personality of being so friendly? Maybe it was just because he was her first friend at their current school? But when Tooru spoke those words, it told Izuku the stage was now set for what could happen. No more misinterpreting signals. Tooru had spoken that she was open to the idea of becoming a couple, it might not happen just from this next date, but it was a possibility. But the idea of becoming a couple wasn't the main reason of what kept the sleepy boy up most of the night.

As Izuku got up to prepare for school, vague thoughts of the night's dreams popped in and out of his head. Scenes of walking down a beach at dusk, shopping, watching movies together, going out to eat, and other date scenarios. But the source of his displeasure was dreams of physical affection with Tooru beyond just holding hands and hugging. Midoriya's face began to become crimson as he brushed his teeth. The boy wasn't ready for the next step in physical contact in a relationship. Hand holding, at least beyond the eyes of others, Izuku had gotten used to at this point. Hugging, while still a heart-wrenching experience, was still doable. But the possibility of kissing was nightmare inducing, mainly because these dreams were about him being a terrible kisser. Which was probably true, it's not like he could practice for such a thing.

As Midoriya got dressed, the one thought that was giving him some comfort in this dilemma was that they weren't a couple yet. And until they were, if they ever were, he shouldn't be worrying about such things. But mental images of such acts would continue to plague him from time to time no matter what he told himself.

While eating breakfast, Izuku revealed to his mother about his date with Tooru for her birthday. He hadn't the courage to tell her after Hagakure had left the day before. Inko expressed a mix of happiness and nervousness at her son's revelation. The older Midoriya offered any help to her child if he needed it, but Izuku told her that his current priority was the study session tomorrow. He had already told his mom about the trip to Momo's house, but he hadn't mentioned anything about why it was giving him so much stress. With Tooru, Izuku felt he could be open with his mother about anything. But whatever Mashirao was dealing with, and had dealt with before, seemed out of reach to speak about at the moment. Without knowing why Ojiro was so hostile in his opinions on wealthy people, he felt there wasn't much to discuss. But Midoriya was determined to make this work for his tailed friend and the rest of the group's sake.

Getting off the train into the crowded walkways that exited the station was particularly annoying today for Midoirya. The movement was slow as the station was more packed than usual. This was on top of the summer heat bearing down on him.

As the boy slogged through the sea of people, a voice caught his attention, "Midoriya-kun, over here!"

Izuku looked around until he saw Tenya sitting on a nearby bench alone. In one hand he had his phone, and in the other, he was waving to grab his friend's attention. His tall friend had been adding the 'kun' to Midoriya's name like this ever since Tuesday, and the shorter teen had done the same. Midoriya made his way through a group of businessmen and women to approach Ida. As he arrived, Izuku said, "Morning Ida-kun. Why are you sitting here?"

Full of vigor, Tenya proclaimed, "Salutations my trusted companion. As you can see it's pretty much a traffic jam of people today."

Midoriya asked, "Yeah, what gives?"

Looking at his phone and adjusting his glasses, Ida answered with, "Seems like a new villain is causing mayhem further down the rail line."

The shorter teen asked with intrigue, "A new villain?"

"Yeah, early reports are saying the perpetrator has no record. Today must be their debut into villainy," Tenya said while still glancing at his phone.

Trying to connect the dots, Izuku inquired, "So how is that causing such a huge crowd here?"

After putting his phone away the tall teen explained, "Well, I'm going off limited information here, but apparently, his quirk is lightning based. And in his current scuffle with Kamui Woods, he damaged the railway and another station. So trains that were supposed to head that way are instead rerouting here to drop off their passengers. Then you probably have folks trying to head in that direction arriving here not knowing the situation, further adding to the crowd. Plus this is the closest station to our school so most students are coming directly here. It's all just a chaotic mess."

Still confused, Midoriya asked another question, "But still, shouldn't we both be heading to class?"

Letting out a long sigh, Tenya then explained, "Oh, as much as I would love to, classes are canceled for this morning for now. I called the school's office about ten minutes ago and learned of the news."

Pulling out his phone, Izuku noticed an email from U.A. stating exactly what Ida described that was just sent a minute ago. The email entailed a decent number of students and faculty unable to reach the school and for parents to stay alert for updates to the situation.

Midoriya put his phone in his pocket before saying, "Jeez, this is serious."

"Sure is. I hope we can still attend our afternoon classes though," Tenya said with a slightly raised fist.

Izuku held in a chuckle. Only Tenya would still want to go to school on a Friday, despite the possibility of an early weekend, he thought. Sitting down next to his friend, Midoriya then said, "Well, until it clears out here or we get more info from school, I might as well hang out with you Ida-kun."

"Certainly better than trying to get through all of this," Ida said while using his arms and hands to express the vastness of the crowd. He then continued in a slight sorrowful tone, "Especially if they just end up canceling school today."

Izuku then asked, "So you ready for tomorrow?"

With confidence, Tenya stated, "Of course. But are you sure you are? You look exhausted Midoriya-kun."

Perplexed, Midoriya said, "I do?"

Pointing his finger at the shorter teen's face, Ida explained, "You have some serious bags under your eyes."

"I didn't even notice when I was brushing my teeth in the mirror this morning. But yeah, I had trouble sleeping last night," Izuku said with a groan.

Intrigued, the glasses wearing teen inquired, "From what exactly?"

It's complicated, is what Midoriya wanted to say at first. Should he tell Tenya in detail about his plans for Sunday? Izuku had sought advice from his tall friend on the first date, and the date went better than he ever imagined, even if Tooru found out about the plan not long after. Maybe revealing the promised second date could prove resourceful to himself yet again? With some hesitation in his voice, Midoriya explained, "I asked Hagakure-chan yesterday if she would like for just the two of us celebrate her birthday."

With a proud face, Tenya stated, "That's quite gutsy of you to ask. Good for you."

Cupping both his hands on his head, Izuku said, "Yeah, but the kicker is that she h-hinted at the possibility of taking our relationship a step f-further. And then a-asked me to I-I would be o-okay with that if we went t-together."

Midoriya expected his friend to go into a tirade of arm flailing at what he just said but instead, Ida just cupped his chin and stayed silent for a minute. Was he already thinking of a plan? Tenya wasn't considering making it a double date again was he? Even if he did, would Izuku be okay with that? Didn't he promise to go alone with her? As intimidating as the upcoming date seemed, deep down, Izuku knew he needed to go by himself.

Finally speaking up, Ida asked, "Is this what you want?"

"I-I'm not o-opposed to the p-possibility," Izuku responded while poking his two index fingers together.

With a baffled look the tall teen then replied, "So why are you having trouble sleeping? This sounds like a good event for the both of you to experience."

Sinking his head into his shoulders, Izuku responded, "I'm d-dreading the whole 'increased p-physical contact' part of being a c-couple."

This got a good laugh out of Tenya.

A bit irradiated, Midoriya rose his voice slightly and stated, "I'm serious here!"

"Oh I know, sorry. It's just what you said is exactly how I would have worded it," Ida tried to explain between chuckles. After clearing his throat and giving a concerned look to his friend, he asked, "Are you scared that you'll mess it up or something?"

After a long exhale, the shorter teen stated, "Basically."

Putting a hand on his friend's shoulder, Tenya said, "Then consider the possibility that Hagakure-san is also new to such an experience."

This statement got Izuku to acknowledge the probability of it. From what he could tell from his interactions with Tooru, she never had dated anyone else before. Sure she was quite more knowledgeable about the social aspects of dating then he did, but from what Midoriya had been told about her background, she never had a serious relationship with a guy before. After pondering this for a few more moments, he gave a slight nod towards his friend.

"See? You both are at the same level of experience in dating," Tenya explained after patting Izuku's back. He then adjusted his glasses and stated in a serious tone, "And with kissing, it doesn't always have to start at being mouth to mouth."

Midoriya went scarlet at his friend speaking of kissing so openly. But the statement did bring up a mental note from the past, and now he felt like this was a good time to confront Tenya about it. The shorter teen then said, "Hey Ida-kun, remember back to when you helped with my first d-date with Tooru."

Not phased in the slightest, Ida answered, "Yeah. What about it?"

Izuku squinted his eyes before saying, "Something did happen after I texted you about being hugged by Tooru, didn't it?"

With a hue of worry in his voice, Tenya said, "W-What makes you say that?"

Tapping his chin, Midoriya explained, "Uraraka-san asked about my final text not long after that day. She denied anything happened, but I could tell she was hiding something."

Ida grunted before saying, "You've been open to me about your dealings with Hagakure-san, I might as well be the same with Uraraka-chan." As he rubbed his temple, the taller teen stated, "She gave me just a simple kiss on the cheek that day. I freaked out a bit and made myself look like a fool in front of her. I was so embarrassed and asked her not to mention anything back to you. Sorry neither of us answered your text after asking."

Izuku was flabbergasted at the news. He had just expected his pair of friends had hugged each other just as he did with Tooru. Not do something as drastic as kissing, even if just on the cheek. Midoriya then responded, "It's fine, I just found it odd that either of you didn't respond at all."

Resting both of his arms on his knees, Tenya said, "Well since we're being so open to one another at the moment I might as well be upfront with you." Letting out a sigh, Ida continued, "I've been dating Uraraka-chan since that day."

Trying to sound being surprised at the statement, Izuku said, "Oh, is that so?"

"You don't need to hide the fact that you knew," Ida said while squinting eyes.

Midoriya tried to explain, "Well, I only guessed. Uraraka-san had mentioned coming over to your place the Sunday after Stain's capture, and then there was everything that happened this Monday."

With a soft sigh, the taller teen responded, "Yeah, a lot happened that day. Sorry I roped you into my stupid little spat."

"Hey, it wasn't dumb, you just had stuff you needed to work out. And in the end, it worked out better for all of us," Izuku proclaimed.

Nodding the tall teen said, "You're right Midoriya-kun. Sorry to damper our conversation."

With slight confidence, Midoriya then said, "So I guess you and Uraraka-san are a c-couple now."

Shaking his head, Tenya stated, "No. Not yet. We're just trying to get to know each other more before we get to that point."

A puzzled Izuku rebutted, "But you've already been k-kissed by Uraraka-san."

Ida shrugged and explained, "So? It was only once. And it was just on the cheek. I think it was more of a spur of the moment kind of situation for her to do that. Anyways, I want to spend more time with Uraraka-chan before we commit to a higher relationship status."

Midoriya then apologized, "Sorry to be so pushy about this."

"It's fine Midoriya-kun. It's been nice to talk about this to someone. I haven't said anything about Ochako and me to my family. My parents didn't seem to find her arrival to our household as out of the ordinary. They usually are quick to imply such things when I interact with females around my age," Ida finished saying with slight irritation at his last comment.

Izuku asked, "So, do you want to be her boyfriend?"

With a soft smile, Tenya responded, "Of course I do, but I don't want to rush things. I just like how things are between us right now. Maybe after the summer break is over, I might feel inclined to take things further. But for now, I just want to enjoy what we have for a bit longer."

Scratching his head, the shorter teen said, "Man, hearing you say that makes me question if I'd be ready if Tooru confesses next weekend. Maybe I need more time."

"This is no time to second guess your decision Midoriya-kun. You agreed to the possibility; you should keep your word to Hagakure-san," Ida explained.

Nodding Midoriya stated, "You're right. I still can't shake how nervous I am about the whole thing no matter what I think."

Ida leaned back on the bench before saying, "Naturally, but consider that your date is more than a week away. I'm sure your nerves will relax over time. Remember, it hasn't even been a day since you agreed to go on another date with Hagakure-san."

After a long sigh, Izuku said, "I hope so. I need to come up with a game plan once our study session is over tomorrow."

Pointing a thumb at himself, Tenya said, "Well if you ever need advice, you know I'd be more than willing to assist. Though I must be frank, another double date is out of the question."

Again nodding the shorter teen stated, "That I understand. I want, no, I need to do this on my own."

The two teens spent the rest of their time on the bench discussing what Momo could have in store for them tomorrow. The conversation came to an end not long after, as both received an email confirming Tenya's worst fears, school cancellation for the entire day. After Ida pouted for a few moments, he called his mom to come pick him up. Izuku, however, was lucky as his train route home was still open even if it the ride home was quite crowded.

After arriving home to his worried mother, and making sure to reassure her that he was fine, Izuku decided to relax in his room reading some of his older notebooks. It always made him feel good to see how analytical he was even in his younger years. Sure his earliest efforts weren't anywhere near as detailed as they were now, but he could see his child self as being very observant and asking a lot of questions a kid under ten years old would usually never consider. It also reminded Midoriya how far he had come concerning his knowledge of heroics. The older notebooks were mainly just observations and asking questions he couldn't answer at the time. The more recent notebooks, while again containing a lot of observation notes, were more focused on the application of heroic ideals and training. Costume concepts, hero names, and his views of Katsuki's combat styles were the focus of Izuku's current reading. He had to admit his costume ideas were quite terrible back then, more focusing on style than practicality. Also, his hero names were just All Might rip-offs, All Might Jr. being the worst offender. But he was quite young when he wrote this particular notebook, so it didn't bother him that much. However, Midoriya's early notes on Bakugo's battle style would provide a basis for wanting to know more about them in the future. Knowing his fighting tendencies had ensured his victory in their first face-off against Katsuki after becoming a hero. Also, his moves were currently helping Izuku make better use of Full Cowl now that he had the power and speed to apply such tactics.

Before Midoriya could continue recollecting on one of his only good memories of the past, he noticed his phone vibrating on his computer desk. Having no idea who could be texting him, the boy grabbed his phone, only to see it was the group chat.

Lion: So was anyone able to get to school at all today?

Bubbles: Is that you Ojiro-san?

Lion: Yeah, Midoriya-san invited me earlier this week. Just never got around to it though.

Ojiro probably had more pressing matters on his mind to worry about, like the study session, Izuku thought.

Bubbles: Nice to see you here. But to answer your question, I did make it and so did Hagakure-san.

Lion: You two got lucky I guess. I couldn't even get on a train at all.

All Might: I met Ida-kun at a train station, but we decided just to chat until we got the email about the cancellation.

Bubbles: Yeah he texted me about that not long after he left for home.

Midoriya pondered, did Tenya discuss anything in detail about their discussion to Urararka?

Glasses: Indeed I did. Afternoon everyone.

Lion: Yo.

Bubbles: Glad you could join us.

All Might: Hello, again.

Blank: Sup! Sorry, I just noticed my phone getting all these messages.

Lion: Well now that we are all here now, I wanted to ask, are we still good for tomorrow?

Glasses: I have confirmed with Yaoyorozu-san that we are still meeting up tomorrow. The news says the railway will be fully operational by tomorrow morning.

Lion: How were you able to contact her?

Now's not the time for this Mashirao, Izuku thought as he sighed.

Glasses: Well she is the vice president. We sometimes have needed to discuss our duties after school, so I have her number.

Lion: Okay then.

Blank: Since we're on the subject, I guess I should mention I will be going tomorrow for sure.

Glasses: I'm glad you finally said yes.

Bubbles: That's great, I was worried you wouldn't show.

Lion: What convinced you?

Blank: Well Midoriya-kun's logic did of course.

Midoriya rubbed his temple. How long until Tooru starts calling him this during class?

Lion: Figures. He does have his way with words.

Glasses: Excellent. Then I'll see all of you tomorrow.

Bubbles: I can't wait!

All Might: I'm sure it benefits us all by going. Later.

Blank: Toodles!

Lion: Bye.

Midoriya placed his phone back on the desk. Even from the texts, he could feel Ojiro's hesitance to tomorrow. Perhaps the tailed teen was hoping it would be canceled because of what happened today? Izuku truly wanted this to work out, but felt he might need to do a bit more than just hoping for the best. An idea eventually popped into his head, and he grabbed his phone again.

Yawning, Midoriya continued his stroll down an unfamiliar street in a neighborhood the boy was seldom used to. It was a gated community full of expensive estates that Izuku was surprised that he was able to get into so easily. When he first approached the front gates, he was clueless at what to do next. Momo had not mentioned needing to get past a guard to get into her place. A woman in a uniform walked out the security booth by the side of the gate after Midoriya had stood there for some time trying to decide what he should do.

"Young man, what are you doing here?"

Izuku tried to keep it together and said, "Oh, g-good morning o-officer. I-I'm just here to s-study with a f-friend."

"What's your name?"

"I-Izuku. Izuku M-Midoriya ma'am."

The lady pulled out a notepad and shifted through a few pages before coming to a stop to read whatever she had written down. She then said, "Okay, you check out, let me open the gate for you."

Perplexed Midoriya stated, "W-wait what?"

"I was told you and others would be coming by the young lass of the Yaoyorozu estate. And here you are." The woman then pointed down the road and said, "You'll wanna go down three blocks and take a right. It's the second house on the left from there."

Bowing slightly, Izuku then said, "T-thank you, ma'am."

"Head straight there and don't cause any trouble kid."

Giving a salute, Midoriya proclaimed, "Will do o-officer!" This got a slight chuckle from the woman as she walked towards her booth.

As he continued to walk, Izuku hoped Mashirao wouldn't cause a scene at the front gate. Causing a commotion before even taking a step into Momo's house wouldn't help things. But then again, the boy remembered that Ojiro's parents were cops as well. The tailed teen showed pride in his folk's profession before, so Midoriya couldn't see his friend being disrespectful to the officer. Maybe he was worrying about nothing, yet again.

Izuku had decided to wear clothing that was a bit more spiffy, blue jeans with a grey buttoned-up collard shirt. Sure it wasn't the best to wear during June, but he was willing to sweat a bit on the way home if it meant he looked decent. Midoriya still wasn't one hundred percent sure that Momo was as wealthy as Mashirao said she was as he picked out his attire, but if the tailed teen was right, Izuku felt he should at least appear somewhat nice. And in the end, it seems Ojiro was correct.

Izuku took a right once he reached the third street and strolled on over to the left side. Just one more house to go, he thought. Midoriya hoped this plan would work; it was the only thing he could think up of on such short notice. As Izuku passed the first house, Momo's came into view. It was quite a sight. It was pearly white with a black roof; the front side had four tall pillars near the entrance. Many windows were strewn throughout the three-storied mansion. The front yard had pine trees lined with the driveway towards the main house, and an extravagant garden was in front of the house. Also parked in front of the estate was a stretch limousine, not particularly long but still probably able to seat at least eight people other than the driver.

Midoriya approached the front gate and noticed an intercom. Nervous but still determined, the boy pressed the call button. Not even a minute passed before a sharp voice of a man rang through the speaker, "Boy do you even know what time it is!?"

Izuku pressed the talk button to say, "Y-Yes sir, I-I know I'm early but I n-need to talk to Yaoyorozu-san before the o-others arrive."

With an annoyed tone in his voice, the man said, "What nerve. To speak with the young master in private under my watch would be a-."

Silence followed after the abrupt stop from the mysterious man's rant. The intercom then produced the voice of Momo saying, "Good morning Midoriya-san and sorry about the behavior of our greeter. I'll open the gate for you and meet you at the front door."

The boy made his trip up the driveway admiring the mansion as he got closer. As he neared the front door, he noticed it open slightly and Momo's face pop out. Her hair was let down, which hung down quite far. Once he was in front of the door, Momo asked in a hushed voice, "Um not that I don't appreciate you being here, but you're an hour early Midoriya-san. What was so important for you to want to talk to me alone?"

"I'll tell you in a bit but I don't think right here is the best place," Izuku said while glancing to his right.

The tall girl asked with a confused look, "What's wrong with right now?"

Midoriya pointed at a window to his right. Through the glass, a man was watching Izuku with an intense stare full of anger.

Bluntly Momo stated, "Oh, him." With annoyance, she said in a loud voice, "Yasumura-san I told you to leave us be!"

Yaoyorozu then fully opened the door as she faced towards the gentlemen. Now in full view, Momo's current outfit startled the boy. She was still in her pajamas. Perhaps he did come too early, he thought. It had a white background but had various atomic symbols for the elements in red or black text throughout the clothing. As a side note, Midoriya wondered, did it have all the elements on the periodic table? He realized that staring at her outfit to find this out would have been creepy despite his intentions and instead focused on the man that had just walked up beside Momo. Yasumura was a tall man that Izuku guessed was in his late twenties or early thirties that had short blonde hair with brown eyes. He wore a suit typical of a butler, however, his undershirt and gloves were red instead of the usual white.

Yasumura waved a hand back in forth as he said, "Nonsense. That would go against your parent's instructions to watch over you while they are gone Yaoyorozu-dono." Midoriya immediately recognized his voice as the man that had greeted him over the intercom.

Irradiated Momo responded with, "Watching over me doesn't mean being with me every second of the day."

Pointing at Izuku, the butler said, "But I know nothing of this boy and his intentions, how can you be so sure-."

Putting her hands on Yasumura's shoulders, the young master said, "Look I trust him to behave while around me, he isn't that kind of person Makoto. It's why I was okay inviting him and everyone else here in the first place. So can I please speak to Midoriya-san alone for a few minutes?"

Seemingly touched by what the girl said, Yasumura stated, "I'm unworthy to be called by my first name from you my young master." He exhaled slowly before saying, "I'll take your study materials to the lecture hall while you two," he coughed and gave Midoriya a vile look, "chat."

Yaoyorozu removed her hands from him and said, "Thank you. Could you also please show the others to the room as they arrive?"

With a quick nod, Makoto stated, "Of course milady. I'll tell Ozawa-san to have breakfast brought to the room once I've completed my task."

Momo gave a nod towards the butler and then motioned Izuku to follow her. As they ascended the spiral stairs, he looked around at the large entrance room. It was a spacious area with two balconies for the upper two floors that extended out to give a nice view of the ground floor. An enormous chandelier hung down, almost extending past the second floor. Red decorative rugs against a dark brown wooden floor were on each floor.

As the pair made it to the third floor, Momo said, "I hope you can forgive Yasumura-san's behavior back there. It's not his fault; he got promoted to head butler just last week after our previous one retired. I feel Makoto is just taking his new position a little too seriously at the moment. He's usually a gentleman about most things; I think he's just stressed out that he's in charge since my parents are gone."

Izuku asked, "Where are they exactly?"

"Some science conference in the United States. They didn't have to go, but my mom likes to network with other chemists from different countries, and she doesn't have that many in the west," she said seemingly uninterested in their affairs.

Intrigued, Midoriya said, "So your mother is a chemist. What does your father do for a living?"

With a cheerful voice, Momo explained, "The same profession as my mom, its how they met. They both used to do just high-end research, but now they run a production plant that mainly produces sulfuric acid. But my father is pretty lax about the family business nowadays and lets my mom handle most of the specifics."

Izuku found it odd that her tone changed between discussing her father from her mother. They both had the same job, so perhaps it had to do with their personalities.

Before he could ask any more questions, Momo had stopped in front of a door. She then pointed to herself before saying, "Let me change out of my pajamas, but tell me why you're here so early while I change."

She then opened the door and quickly closed it behind her before Midoriya could get a good view of her room. He only got a glimpse of a huge bookcase before she shut the door. He then began, with a slightly raised voice so she could hear him through the barrier, with, "Well I thought it would be best to tell you this before everyone arrived. I guess I could have asked Ida-san for your phone number to ask you this, but it's a bit personal, and I thought it would be better to tell you in person."

Through the door he could hear Yaoyorozu say, "Sounds serious, is everything alright?"

Sighing, Izuku responded with, "I'm not sure. I don't know the reason why but Ojiro-san seems to have had some bad history with rich folk."

Momo was silent for a few moments before stating, "I did notice a bit of gruff from him when it concerned me, but I just guessed that was just a part of his personality."

Edging closer to the door, Midoriya explained, "No, he's usually a nice guy, I mean he jokes around sometimes and teases Hagakure-san, but he's never been truly harsh to anyone before from what I've seen."

Yaoyorozu then said, "Well, Ojiro-san decided to come here today. Maybe he got over it?"

Leaning on the wall to the left of the door the boy stated, "No, he told me he decided to come more for the group than wanting to be friends with you."

Momo then asked, "Was he being truthful about having to reschedule his Muay Thai training to come here? Or was that a lie?"

"No that's true. But Ojiro-san did use it as an excuse to why he hesitated to say yes to this study session," Izuku said. He felt that he might as well be straightforward with the girl about as much as he could. Midoriya wanted this study session with his friends to work out so badly.

There was a grunt from the girl before she said, "Is that so? Well, thanks for the heads up. I'll try and consider this when interacting with him, but I'm not holding back if he is overly rude to me."

With a sigh, the boy replied, "I understand." Thinking about the reason behind the delay in Mashirao's decision reminded Izuku of Tooru's late acceptance. Since school was canceled Friday, she never got the chance to tell Momo. "Oh and by the way I was able to convince Hagakure-san to come after school on Thursday."

"Yeah, Ida-san told me via text yesterday," the tall girl replied. There was a pause before she spoke again, "Hey I know it's blunt to ask but are you and Hagakure-san a thing?"

Midoriya cursed her smarts in his head. He felt there was no need to hide his relationship with Tooru as Momo would just find out anyway. "S-Sort of, I-I guess. I mean I'm n-not Hagakure-chan's b-boyfriend, but I'm going on a d-date with her by m-myself for her b-birthday. And it's kind of our s-second date actually. Last time I had Ida-kun and Uraraka-san tag along for e-emotional support."

Yaoyorozu abruptly opened the door and then rapidly closed it behind her. What was in her room that she was so quick to shut her door? Perhaps she just was embarrassed to show a boy her room? Regardless, Izuku took note of the girl's outfit. Her current attire reminded him of what a school teacher would wear back in a typical school. The class vice president had oval glasses that were rimless on the bottom. Did this mean she usually wore contacts? Momo wore a buttoned-up mostly white collared shirt that had a light blue frilled design below her neck; oddly it had no sleeves. She also had on a light blue knife pleated skirt held up by a black belt with a golden buckle. Yaoyorozu still had her hair down though, which the boy found odd.

Momo then said, "Wait you had a double date with those two?"

Izuku stated, "Yeah, it was Ida-kun's idea. I had asked him for help, and that was his solution."

Placing a hand on her chin, Momo said, "I knew about those two had been dating for some time, I mean it was evident even before he finally told me two weeks ago, but Ida-san never mentioned doing such a thing with you and Hagakure-san."

The boy was curious and asked, "How did you find out he was dating Uraraka-san?"

The tall girl let out a chuckle as she explained, "Uraraka-san is terrible at keeping a secret. I overheard Ashido-san about three weeks ago in the girl's locker room asking Uraraka-san about her and Ida-san. She became quite flustered and hand-waved it off without giving much of an answer. Watching those two interact afterward just confirmed my suspicions. In the end, I'm glad I found out. Knowing that they were more than just friends was why I asked her to come and help us find Ida-san on Monday."

Her logic made sense to Midoriya, but then another question was asked, "So why did you ask me to come on Monday?"

"You and Ida-san were always chatting it up between classes. Plus you were there to save him when the Hero Killer attacked him. I felt if anybody could knock him out of his funk it would be you. Well verbally, Uraraka-san was there if things needed to get physical," Momo explained, ending with a chuckle.

Crossing his arms, Izuku said with disappointment in his voice, "I tried cheering him up back when we were in the hospital together after everything that happened. Ida-kun seemed too depressed and shaken to listen to me at the time. He had acknowledged his mistakes and to better himself from it, but I couldn't notice the source of his stress was about our friendship not about what had happened."

The tall girl shrugged and said, "No need to blame yourself. It all worked out at the end, and I got to hang with you guys because of it." She then extended a hand and stated with a smile, "And thanks again for inviting me Midoriya-san."

Izuku gladly shook her hand but said, "I should be thanking you for setting this whole thing up."

"Speaking of which, we should head over to the room I want us to study in, I'm sure my breakfast will be there soon. Do you want anything? Our cook Sakurai-san can make a delicious omelet of any variety you could imagine," Momo said with glee in her voice.

Midoriya held up his hands in protest before saying, "I already ate before I came, but thanks for the offer Yaoyorozu-san."

After giving a quick nod, the tall girl walked past her guest and stated, "Alright then, follow me."

As they walked downstairs, Momo pulled out a hairpin and set her hair as it usually looked when at school. When they arrived on the second floor, Yaoyorozu spun around with a puzzled look on her face as she said, "Wait a minute, Ida-san is well off, so why doesn't Ojiro-san act like that too him? They seem to get along quite well."

Startled by her stop, Izuku tried to explain by saying, "Ojiro-san told me he was okay with Ida-kun because he tried to keep his upbringing a secret."

With a concerned tone, Yaoyorozu said, "I see. Do you feel like I flaunt my style of living Midoriya-san?"

Izuku didn't want to bring up the specifics of how Mashirao had assumed her background. Instead, he stated, "I never considered your lifestyle was anything like this until Ojiro-san brought up the possibility. He seems to think that you do, but I just think he just has a knack for spotting it over you being open about it. I mean I still wasn't entirely convinced until I walked up to your neighborhood today."

Momo turned around and said, "Thanks for being honest."

As the two walked down a hallway on the second floor, Izuku asked, "When did Ida-san tell you about his family?"

The tall girl didn't stop walking and continued down a hallway to the left as she explained, "During our first meeting after being assigned our positions. I had asked Ida-kun some questions to know more about him since we would be working together. He was reluctant to tell me at first, but he eventually told me about his background."

Before Midoriya could respond, a young woman walked out of a room. It had large double doors ahead of them to their right. She wore a suit just like Yasumura though she had a small rose head clipped just above her right breast. The woman's hair was black and moderately long, and her eyes were a dark blue, which was behind her rimless glasses. The female butler bowed once she noticed Momo and stated, "Your breakfast is served Yaoyorozu-san."

"Thank you, Ozama-san," Momo said as she passed the servant. The pair then walked into the spacious room behind the double doors. It was a simple but significant in size, with a rectangular table in the middle, that could easily seat fourteen people, even though it only had a few chairs at the moment. Izuku could see Momo's breakfast next to a pile of books on the table. Other than the whiteboard that hung on the opposite side of the room; it was mostly empty.

As Momo inspected the books that her head butler brought, Izuku asked, "So how many servants do you have?"

Without turning her attention from the books, the tall girl said, "Just four. You already met Makoto, and that women just outside is our newest recruit Ari Ozama. The cook I mentioned earlier is Takahiro Sakurai, good luck getting him to do anything outside the kitchen though. And finally, there's Aoi Yuki. She's probably outside doing some yard work." She then stacked her books neatly and sat down in front of her food. Before digging in, she looked at Midoriya and said, "We still have some time before the others start arriving. Why don't you find a seat and go over your notes a bit while we wait?"

Izuku agreed by nodding and sat opposite of Momo as she began eating her omelet.

Tenya was the first to arrive, about ten minutes early. He didn't seem phased at all from the surroundings and was quick to sit to Izuku's left after greeting Momo. He was wearing light brown khaki pants with a white collared shirt. Ochako and Tooru came not long afterward, right at 9 am. Both spoke of being very surprised and impressed at everything they had seen. The gravity heroine wore a white skirt with a grey t-shirt while the invisible heroine wore blue baggy bike shorts with a teal t-shirt and blue bracelets. Hagakure sat on Midoriya's right and Uraraka to Ida's left.

While they waited for Mashirao to arrive Tenya and Ochako chatted with Momo. Once they had gotten deep into conversing, Tooru tugged on Izuku's sleeve to get his attention. Once he turned to his side, the invisible gal asked in a hushed tone, "Everything going okay with you Izuku?"

With a raised eyebrow the boy said, "Yeah, why are you asking?"

A bit amused, Tooru explained, "Oh I was just expecting you to still be a bit more nervous about everything after what we agreed to do two days ago is all."

"O-Oh that," Midoriya said with a slight blush. He had still been processing his hour with Momo at the moment, so the upcoming date wasn't really in his mind. He then continued, "I-I guess I'm just so e-excited about today to worry about n-next weekend right now."

Tooru placed a hand on his shoulder and said, "Glad to see you are taking things so well. But remember if at any time you don't feel comfortable, just say so."

Izuku gave a nod, and after seeing this, Hagakure stated, "Oh and by the way you don't have to worry about what we are going to do for that day, I've got all that figured out."

Midoriya opened his mouth to tried to argue, but he felt a finger being placed on his top lip which made him stop. She continued, "I just want you to focus on spending time with me on my birthday. Not worrying about the specifics of what we should do. You got enough on your plate coming with me alone as is."

Izuku went quite crimson at her touch but she was quick to remove her finger. The boy replied, "I-If you s-say so."

The two then joined in the conversation with their friend to their left. Mashirao arrived at last about fifteen minutes past the hour and looked quite tired, so it was hard to judge his reaction to Mom's house from his grogginess. He was wearing black cargo pants with a white shirt that had the kanji for battle on its front. The tailed teen took his seat next to Tooru, laying his head down on the table.

Tooru spoke up as he sat down, "You okay Ojiro-san?"

Rubbing his eyes, Mashirao responded, "Yeah just not used to waking up this early on a Saturday is all."

Once everyone else welcomed their late friend, Momo pulled out small slips of paper from her pants pocket and stated, "Before we begin today I wanted to share something with all of you. On Thursday I asked Aizawa-sensei if I could get a list of grades based on nonpractical assignments." This got everyone to give Momo their full attention. She then continued, "He would only give me a list of our rank in the class and told me those below the thirteenth need to focus on improving, or they have no hopes for passing the final." Yaoyorozu then held up the hand with the papers and said, "I wrote your rank on these. You don't have to disclose what rank you have, but I thought it would be best for everyone to have a better understanding of where you stand."

Momo then passed them out to her friends by placing them face down in front of them. Tenya was the first to grab it and flip it over; he made a grin before putting it in his pocket. Izuku was next to reach out and was relieved to see the number four after turning the paper over. He knew his grades were good, but the suspense still got to him a bit. Ochako then grabbed her's and gave a look of being disappointed once she flipped it. Mashirao took his paper and gave a nod of approval at it. Tooru was last and gave a loud groan at the revelation.

Ojiro looked over at the Hagakure and said, "That bad huh?"

In a moan of annoyance she replied, "Yeah, sixteenth is terrible."

Well at least her grades are better than four of our classmates, than just two like she initially guessed, Izuku thought.

"I'm not much better," Uraraka stated as she showed her paper which revealed her rank at thirteenth. "Right at the cutoff."

Mashirao examined his paper again before saying, "Well since we're being so open about this, I'm eighth."

In an irritated tone, Tooru stated, "It's not the same to show your rank if you are that high Ojiro-san." The tailed teen merely shrugged at her comment.

Ida crossed his arms and said, "I think revealing my rank will just put salt in the wound."

Mashirao then said, "Let me guess, number one right?"

Tenya shook his head and said, "I believe that belongs to Yaoyorozu-san." With a slight blush, Momo nodded. Midoriya could tell Ojiro was trying hard to not make a reaction to the revelation.

"It's fine Ida-kun. Just tell us," Uraraka spoke.

Izuku heard a soft peep from his right. He guessed Tooru was ecstatic about Ochako being more open about her and Tenya. Ida became crimson at what Uraraka said but still held up his slip showing the number two towards Mashirao.

Closing his eyes and leaning back in his chair, Ojiro stated, "Figures."

Pointing at Mashirao, Yaoyorozu said in a sharp tone, "Could you not lean in the chair, please? You'll leave a dent in the rug if you do that for too long."

Not looking at her, the tailed teen returned the chair to its former position.

Even this got puzzled looks from Ida and Uraraka, but before either could say anything, Momo spoke up, "Well with our grades out of the way I think we can finally get to studying."

Midoriya sighed internally. Of all things to start a conflict between the two, it would be leaning back in a chair. At least Momo quickly moved on about it, Izuku thought.

"So I thought we would focus on literature and history today. There's a lot to cover," Momo said as she placed a palm on a stack of books. She then continued, "Next Saturday we will just go over English and the weekend after that will be modern hero art history. Finally, we'll do a review of everything the weekend before the exams. So, any questions?"

A surprise to everyone, Ojiro said, "So nothing about the practical?" Everyone turned to the tailed teen. He was still looking away from the table.

After adjusting her glasses, Momo explained, "I feel that will just have to be done on our own. We don't have any idea what it could be, so I feel we should all just focus on strengthening our quirks. You all know your quirks better than I do, so it's not something I feel I could help you all with."

This got a soft sigh from Mashirao, but the tall teen continued, "However, going over what All Might-sensei taught us during battle training and perhaps sharing what we experienced in detail during the villain invasion, hero festival, and," Momo coughed and threw a quick glare towards Izuku and Ida's direction before continuing, "the incident with the hero killer wouldn't hurt. If you're okay with that Ojiro-san then perhaps I can squeeze it in on the day we go over art history."

Ojiro now had his full attention on Yaoyorozu. With a slight look of embarrassment at Momo's comeback, he said, "I'd appreciate that, thanks."

Momo gave a triumphant smile at Mashirao's reaction and began her lesson with her friends. She then went over each period of Japan and the major works of literature that were written in each. The vice president also noted their importance during that time period and how they set the stage for new genres or innovation in old genres of writing. From Kojiki , the oldest extant written literature in Japan to the the rise of manga, light novels, and cell phone novels, she covered it all.

The group then spent the rest of their time before lunch answering questions about what they had just gone over. Yaoyorozu asked the questions and Ida plus Midoriya were quite close to answering the most correctly but the taller teen edged out on top. Literature turned out to be Ojiro's worst subject and Hagakure's favorite, so they answered the same correctly as Uraraka.

Yasumura and Ozama came in a bit after noon to deliver lunch. After Momo introduced her servants to the group, they were served shrimp and asparagus tempura (deep fried meat and/or vegetables served with dipping sauce and daikon, or white radish). She seemed a bit agitated at the choice of food but ate it regardless, probably because Yasumura was still in the room, Midoriya thought. The man was giving him quite a stare, even Ojiro had noticed. Regardless, Izuku had eaten the dish plenty of times before but never had it tasted so good, and everyone else agreed, even Mashirao. Everyone but the tailed teen was shocked to see how much Momo was eating. She seemed to have at least twice the portion of anyone else. Midoriya couldn't recall her ever eating that much at lunch.

Midoriya eventually spoke, "You've got a lot of food there Yaoyorozu-san. What gives?"

The head butler was at Momo's side and gave a look of irritation, but before he could respond to his question, the tall girl held a hand up and stated, "It's just a part of my quirk Midoriya-san. For me to create anything, I need a lot of fat to break down to make them. I'm doing some sparing with Yasumura-san after our study session, so I'm just stocking up on it."

Intrigued, Izuku then asked, "What's your quirk Yasumura-san?"

The butler didn't even budge at the question but did answer with, "Like I would tell you of such trivial matters."

Mashirao then stood up and barked, "Hey if you got a problem with Midoriya-kun then just say so."

Damn, did I just start something between these two, thought Izuku. And then he realized, did he just say Midoriya-kun?

"Don't use that tone in front of Yaoyorozu-dono, child," Makoto said with disgust in his voice.

With a cocky tone, Ojiro said, "Or what? You gonna kick me out?"

Internally Midoriya facepalmed and thought, yeah I screwed this up.

Cracking his knuckles, Yasumara stated, "It wouldn't be the first time I've had to remove a snot-nosed brat from this household."

Bringing up his tail and clenching a raised fists Mashirao said, "I'd like to see you try."

By now both Ida and Midoriya had got gotten up and were about to intervene before, without warning, a loud static voice came from Momo as she proclaimed, "Now that's enough from both of you!" Everyone looked to see that the creation heroine had made a loudspeaker. She then handed it to Yasumara and said in a much calmer but still blunt voice, "Call Ozama-san to take care of the dishes in a while Makoto, you can leave now."

The head butler gave a mixed face of anger and bewilderment but did as he was told and left without another word.

Momo then pointed at Mashirao and said with animosity, "Were you really about to start a fight at my house?"

Ojiro sat down and looked away from her as he said, "Your butler started it."

Now pointing at herself the tall teen stated, "And I finished it! I'll deal with him later, but there was no need to threaten a member of my family."

Waving off her comment, the tailed teen said, "Family? He's just a servant to you."

Squinting her eyes in ire at what he just said, Momo rebutted, "You know it's terrible to such assume things about people. Makoto is like a big brother to me, so I find threats of violence against him quite deplorable."

Mashirao finally looked back at his friends then Momo, and he had a look of guilt on his face. He scratched the back of his neck and after a few seconds and said, "Sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me back there. I came for help, and it was entirely disrespectful for me to do what I did considering that."

The apology seemed agreeable to Momo as she gave a slow nod but remained silent. Perhaps she was conflicted about to do next, Izuku thought.

Tenya then cleared his throat to get everyone's attention and asked, "Sorry to ask but what was all that about? I feel like I'm missing something here."

Midoriya looked over to see that Ojiro had a look of panic on his face. He pondered that maybe his tailed friend didn't want to reveal his past dealings with wealthy people with everyone right now. Izuku wanted to say something to cover for his friend, but before he could Mashirao spoke up, "Ever since that guy came in here, he's been giving Midoriya-kun the stink eye. And the tone of his responses when he asked a question, I just felt he was mistreating him. And for that guy to be so insulting to my," he paused for a second but then continued, "best friend unprovoked got a rise out of me."

Izuku was not only surprised at Mashirao's last sentence but also that his explanation being believable despite coming up with it on the spot. He then asked, "You see me as your best friend?"

The tailed teen gave an awkward nod.

Tooru swiftly got between Izuku and Mashirao and she brought them into a hug. She then stated, "Oh, you two are so precious together."

This got a chuckle out of everyone else as Midoriya was, of course, embarrassed about being hugged in front of his friends and Ojiro being teased by Tooru for once.

Once the three separated, Momo spoke while adjusting her glasses, "Let's finish eating and get to studying history. We're behind schedule as is." She then exhaled and looked at Mashirao before saying, "And Ojiro-san."

The tailed teen looked up at her and said, "Yeah?"

In a stern voice, Momo stated, "I forgive you. But you will be apologizing to Yasumura-san once this is all over, understand?"

Giving multiple nods Mashirao stated, "Yes ma'am."

Lunch was then hastily finished so the group could start working on history. Momo started off by saying, "World History has always been easy for me since it's usually not that detailed compared to what schools want us to know about the history of Japan." She then held up a stack of papers before continuing, "I know you all have your notes but consider going through mine if you wish. I got everything from Mesopotamia to the Cold War in here, in short, bullet points for each. They have the necessary details, no fluff and are straight to the point. Compare them to your notes and see if you missed anything, and if you have extra stuff, then it's probably not that important for our test at our current level of schooling."

Yaoyorozu then pointed to the large white board in the back of the room before stating, "What I want to focus on is Japanese history, as I believe that will be the major focus for this section of the test." She then drew an extensive and accurate outline of Japan. After finishing she clapped her hands together and proclaimed, "Let's begin."

As periods came and went in Momo's lecture, she would draw the extent of the empires on the whiteboard. From explaining little details of Paleolithic era of Japan to the current prosperity of the Heisei period, no stone was unturned for the next few hours.

Izuku found it helpful that they went over Japanese literature first. Once they got past the Nara period, he could recollect what they went over in the morning to quickly grasp the culture at the various periods that went over. It now made sense why Momo had decided to study these together.

Momo was exhausted by the end of her lecture, as were everyone else's wrists. She finished by giving a few tips on how to study in short bursts to both Tooru and Ochako. It was nearly five in the afternoon, and Momo called it a day for the group. She asked Mashirao and Izuku to stay behind as she showed the others to the door.

As they waited for her return, Ojiro sighed before saying, "Well, that could have gone a lot worse."

Jokingly, Izuku stated, "You were quite close to making this into a practical exercise."

This got a laugh out of Mashirao as he said, "I almost did, didn't I? Though you and Ida-san were ready to stop me before I could throw a punch."

Izuku had just moved on instinct then, but thinking back to that moment he didn't have a plan on how to stop him. He couldn't get in front of him to act as a barrier as the table was in the way. Perhaps he should have grabbed his tail? No, that was his strongest part of his body, it would have been better to grab his shoulder or an arm. That way he wouldn't need to use his quirk to hold back, or would he? Now that he thought about it, the tailed teen was probably stronger than himself without One for All, even without his tail. Midoriya hadn't gauged his strength against his classmates since he acquired Full Cowl. And even with it, would 5% be enough?

"Midoriya-kun you're spacing out again," Mashirao said with a concerned tone.

Startled at the break of his thought process, Izuku responded, "O-Oh sorry."

"It's fine; I'm sure my antics today made you worry a lot," Ojiro replied.

Midoriya recalled everything that happened before the group's arrival, and then said, "Yeah, quite a bit."

Putting a hand on Midoriya's shoulder, the tailed teen said, "Well, you shouldn't worry anymore. I promise to behave myself because I wanna keep coming here. I won't let my past grudges interfere with us studying, no matter what happens in this room."

"Thanks," Izuku said with a sigh of relief.

Ojiro then let go of his friend and stated, "On another note, Yaoyorozu-san sure is something."

Midoriya gave a confused look towards his friend at this statement.

Mashirao shrugged and replied, "What? I knew she was smart, but I had no idea she was in a whole other league even when compared to you and Ida-san."

Crossing his arms, Izuku replied, "Oh, her wits. Yeah, she's pretty amazing alright."

The two boys then went over Momo's lecture for a few minutes before the girl in question opened the door with her butler behind her. She then asked, "You ready Ojiro-san?"

Giving a rapid sigh as he got up, Mashirao proclaimed, "Yep."

Once the tailed teen walked over and went through the door, Momo turned towards Izuku and stated, "This should just take a minute, I'll be right back."

As he waited, Midoriya began to ponder about his upcoming date. Tooru said she had a plan on what she wanted to do. At the moment the "what" of the plan didn't bother the boy, he just wanted to do something as well. Perhaps he should cook something again? But maybe she already had big plans on where they should eat. Also how long would the date be? Would it cover multiple meals? Should he pay for them in full? Would they actually go shopping this time? Midoriya knew he hadn't the cash to do both. But a possible solution to this came to mind.

Momo then walked into the room and took a seat next to Izuku. She then put a hand to her forehead and stated, "You weren't kidding about Ojiro-san. I still can't believe he almost came to blows with Yasumura-san."

"Yeah, that got tense there for a few moments," Midoriya said as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's a good thing you warned me about Ojiro-san, things might have ended differently had not told me about it," Yaoyorozu sighed.

Izuku gave a nod in response. Coming early did pay off in the end, plus he got to learn a lot about the everything heroine.

The tall girl had a conflicted look on her face but eventually stated, "To answer your question from earlier, Makoto is quirkless."

Midoriya thought, quirkless? Then how would he be able to spar with Momo with her using her quirk? Yasumura did look quite fit, and his muscle tone did show through his uniform, but she often used weapons when fighting. Interested in her response, he stated, "Yasumura-san must be quite skilled to spar you without needing a quirk."

Momo smiled as she said, "Yeah he's quite agile and is unmatched when using weapons. He even taught me to use a bō staff."

Izuku recalled previous battle trainings at school; Momo did regularly make such a weapon. Getting up he then said, "Well I don't want to get in the way of your practice, so I'll make my leave."

Motioning towards the door, Momo stated, "I'll show you the way out then Midoriya-san."

Sunday was mostly spent figuring out what to do for the date for Midoriya. He only had a week until Tooru's birthday. Izuku's birthday was almost precisely a month after hers, and to get more money for next weekend, he asked his mom if he could have some as a present in advance. Inko understood the situation and said she would have been okay giving him cash regardless of his upcoming birthday. But Izuku was adamant that it should replace his present. It was just the two of them, so money was sometimes tight, and the younger Midoriya didn't want his mom to spend more than she had to on him. With enough yen for to pay for both him and Tooru two meals, a gift, and extra to spare for some light shopping, the boy felt he had enough.

But what could he give Tooru as a gift? What would a guy give a girl as a present, at their level of a relationship? The younger Midoriya was almost tempted to ask his mom, as she was a female, for advice but soon realized she would probably be as clueless as he was. Hours of looking up various ideas online didn't help. The natural choice was a dessert, like chocolates, but Izuku felt that was boring and he still wanted to make something himself for her. He was conflicted if he should make something with caramel, like last time, or try something new. A part of him felt caramel would be the obvious choice since he knew she would like it, but another part of him felt because it was her birthday he should be creative and do something different. Regardless, Midoriya couldn't come up with an idea for a gift and instead decided to study for the remainder of the day.

While taking a break from his studying Izuku continued his tradition of looking at the heroic reports from the blog he often visited. He was mostly interested in the debuted villain that had prevented him from having school Friday. Reports were quite vague and even Kumai Wood's testimony was lacking details. It seemed the pro hero was quite uncomfortable during his interview with the press. The reporter seemed to attribute his behavior due to not being able to capture the villain. The comments to the video instead mostly blamed it on his inexperience as a pro hero, as he was still young. Midoriya really didn't care for the drama, but Kamui Wood's behavior did seem odd.

Izuku eventually grew restless over thinking about the date while studying and decided to call it early and just got to bed. But before he could he noticed his phone vibrating and picked it up to see he had received a private text.

Bubbles: You busy?

All Might: Just about to head to bed, need something?

Bubbles: I'll be quick then, I never got to personally thank you for your help on Monday.

Midoriya wanted to reply back but saw she was still typing and waited for the message.

Bubbles: I wanted to tell you yesterday but there was never a moment to talk to you alone.

All Might: There's no need Uraraka-san, I was just as worried about Ida-kun as you were.

Bubbles: I'm more talking about helping me through it. Calming me down on the stairs and that hallway, it really meant a lot to me.

Izuku really didn't know how to respond to the praise. He couldn't type an answer, but Ochako texted yet again.

Bubbles: Is something wrong?

It took a minute but after some pondering Midoriya started typing.

All Might: No, but it's just weird for me.

Bubbles: How so?

All Might: It's kind of ironic to me what happened.

Bubbles: ?

The boy waited some time until he could collect his thoughts and then typed.

All Might: I'm usually the one that's panicking about everything. I mean remember the double date? Talk about needing emotional support.

All Might: But that Monday I was the providing the support, for you, and Ida-kun. And it just came naturally, there really wasn't much hesitation. I just did it, and looking back on it now it felt so out of character for me. At least the me before I came to our school.

All Might: It's got me thinking, maybe I really am changing for the better.

All Might: Socially I mean.

A few minutes passed before Midoriya got a reply.

Bubbles: I think Hagakure-san is to thank for that.

All Might: Really?

Bubbles: Of course! The more I see you two bond the less awkward I've seen you be with everyone. She's having a positive influence on you Deku-kun.

Izuku thought, her now too? Though it made sense. She sounded very thankful for what happened on Monday. Plus the two had been becoming closer friends since the double date, which felt like forever ago by now. Concerning the girl's logic about Tooru, it seemed genuine and her words comforting. It was moments like these that reminded Izuku why Tenya liked Ochako.

All Might: Maybe you're right.

Bubbles: You know it! Anyways, I won't hold you any longer, good night.

All Might: Thanks and see you tomorrow, Uraraka-chan.

Monday was a scorcher. Even the morning walk to school had Izuku working up a sweat. The summer break was fast approaching, and the heat wave was a great reminder of this. The boy was still a few blocks from the school, and his attention turned to someone he saw in the distance in front of him. Picking up his pace, Midoriya eventually caught up to them and proclaimed, "Morning Uraraka-chan, sure is hot this morning."

She turned around and happily said, "Morning Deku-kun. And yeah, with as bad as it is now, the walk home from school is going to be terrible."

Midoriya had noticed Ochako only said his hero name during battle training and when Tooru wasn't present. He believed the floating heroine had seen Tooru's dislike of the name and he was thankful for only saying it when she wasn't around.

"I'm glad Yaoyorozu-san set up these study sessions. Saturday was super informative, and I'm feeling a lot more confident about the finals now," Uraraka cheerfully said.

The two crossed another street before Izuku responded, "I hope Hagakure-chan felt the same, she needed it the most out of anyone else."

With a perplexed look, Ochako asked, "Why not just ask her about it Deku-kun?"

"I guess I could have sent her text about it. I was busy with other things Sunday," Midoriya replied.

Uraraka then raised a finger before saying suggestively, "Oh, I forgot, you have something else on your mind at the moment."

Izuku looked at her with a bewildered face. Sure he had many things going on in his mind at the moment, but what could she be suggesting, he thought.

Ochako then took her finger and poked the boy's shoulder as she said, "Don't play dumb, I know about your upcoming date with Hagakure-san on her birthday."

Midoriya felt heat creep into his cheeks at this statement. A few seconds passed as he tried to think of a way to respond. Eventually, he asked, "She t-told you?"

"No, Tenya did. But you already learned from him I'm dating him anyway," Uraraka stated.

Izuku tried to say, "D-Did Ida-kun also t-tell you about-."

"Yes, he did tell me about the possibility of you two becoming boyfriend and girlfriend," Ochako interrupted. She then said with an overjoyed expression, "And I think you two have always been super cute in your interactions, so I hope the best for the both of you."

Midoriya said awkwardly, "T-Thanks?"

The two remained silent for a few moments before the floating heroine spoke up, "Man, our meeting like this makes me think yesterday's text was a waste if we were just gonna see each other today before school."

Izuku tried to argue, "But neither of us knew we would bump into one another like this."

Ochako huffed, "I guess so."

"And besides, I probably wouldn't have been as upfront with you with what I texted you last night if it was face to face. Talking over the phone removes a lot of stress sometimes for me," the green haired teen explained.

Uraraka gave a small smile and replied, "You did kind of gush there for a bit."

Lowering his head slightly, Izuku stated, "Sorry. I just wanted you to understand how I found my behavior as ironic and not come off as weird."

"It's fine, I got to learn more about you," Ochako said as she patted Izuku's back.

This got a slight blush from Midoriya but as they both crossed another busy street, he asked, "Hey I'm trying to figure out a gift to give to Hagakure-chan. Any ideas?"

Uraraka put a hand to chin and stopped once they were back on the sidewalk as she pondered the question. A minute passed before she replied, "I'm sure Hagakure-san would be just fine if you bought her a tasty dessert."

Sighing, Izuku stated, "Well, I already planned to make her that."

Curious, Ochako asked, "Oh, what is it exactly?"

Shaking his head, Midoriya replied, "I still haven't decided."

The two continued their walk to the campus. As they arrived at the school's courtyard, Ochako spoke up once again, "I'm sure she wouldn't mind clothing either."

Izuku knew Ochako was trying to be helpful, but her ideas weren't solving his dilemma. "What do you suggest I get her? I don't know her size, and it would be obvious of my intentions if I asked her and not to mention e-embarrassing."

Bringing her head down slightly, the floating heroine said, "Sorry, I'm trying."

Waving a hand, Midoriya sought to cheer her up and said, "It's okay, I appreciate the suggestions. I still have a couple of days to figure this out."

"Well if want any advice from a girl's perspective don't hesitate to shoot me a text. I'll try to answer the best I can," Ochako stated while holding up her phone.

"Thanks, Uraraka-chan, I'll be sure to remember that," the boy said as the pair walked through the front doors of U.A.

It was Thursday afternoon. Present Mic was finishing his English lesson with class 1A. Despite his ditzy behavior in front of large crowds, the loud-mouthed hero was a surprisingly good teacher. English was confusing for a good number of students, and he was currently going over exceptions to the standard rules in verb tense that was common in the English language.

However, Izuku was instead mulling over what had happened the last few days. Between his increase in studying and his daily exercise routine, he didn't have much time to focus on the details on the date. Midoriya did, however, make up his mind on what to cook for the birthday girl. Wednesday evening, with his mother's help again, he decided on making nutty coconut caramel brownies. It felt more complicated than his last cooking project, but because of having caramel he had a better chance of her liking it. Izuku liked the idea as he could also serve it cold, unlike the donuts he made. Inko lacked coconut though for her son to use, so he decided he was going to buy some after school today.

The bell ringing brought Izuku back to the world outside his head. As he left the classroom, Mashirao came to his side and asked, "You're in a hurry, what gives?"

"Oh, I need to pick up some coconut shavings from the store," Midoriya explained.

Ojiro then asked another question, "Something for your parents?"

Mashirao didn't know it was just him and his mom at home and wasn't ready to disclose that just yet. However, he did decide it wouldn't hurt to tell his tailed friend about his plans for Tooru. Izuku had already told Mashirao about going to her birthday as a date on Tuesday before class anyway. Shaking his head, he replied, "Nah I want to try to cook a treat for Hagakure-chan on Sunday."

"Well I hope everything turns out well for you two, I'm running out of material to tease Hagakure-san with. You being her boyfriend would give me plenty of ammunition," Mashirao said with a sly tone.

Blushing but also annoyed, Izuku replied, "That's an unpleasant thing to say Ojiro-kun."

"Just telling you how it is," the tailed teen said honestly.

The two had exited the school's front doors as they continued talking. However, before they could leave the U.A. courtyard something caught Ojiro's attention and he stopped in his tracks. Wondering what was wrong, Midoriya asked, "Something the matter?"

With a puzzled look Mashirao responded with, "Yeah, my dad is here."

Izuku looked ahead to see a lanky man leaning against a police car. He was wearing typical detective outfit, a tan overcoat with a black suit underneath and matching slacks plus dress shoes. The only thing odd about him was an unusual belt he had around his waist. It was round and wrapped around him about three times. The man had blonde hair and blue eyes; he also was quite thin.

Ojiro's dad began giving a soft wave towards the two, and Mashirao started to walk forward with Izuku right behind him. As the tailed teen got near, he asked, "Why are you here dad?"

The man then wheezed, "Got some materials to give your school's security. Mostly just restocking. Usually, my co-worker, Tsukauchi-san would take care of this, but he came in sick today. So I thought I would do him a favor." He paused to catch his breath before continuing, "I waited here hoping I would run into you so I could have you take it up if you don't mind."

Midoriya remembered that name. It was the detective that All Might trusted. It made him wonder, did Mashirao's dad also know of his mentor's secret?

With confidence in his voice, the younger Ojiro was quick to say, "No problem. Where do you need me to take it?"

The man made some motions with his hands as he explained, "The security office is right before the teacher's offices. Should be on the right before the double doors." He then clicked a button on a keychain he was holding in his left hand, and the back trunk opened. As Mashirao went to the back of the patrol car, his dad fixed his gaze on Izuku and asked, "So you the Midoriya kid my son keeps babbling about?"

"Y-Yes sir," Izuku replied sheepishly.

The father of the tailed teen then edged closer to get a better look at the boy. Before Midoriya could say anything further, the sound of closing trunk got his attention. Mashirao was holding up a big box with just his tail. He then said, "I'll be right back."

After a bit of a cough, the detective replied, "Thanks, and I'll drive you home when you get back, I'm done with work today."

After giving a nod in response, Ojiro made his way back towards the school.

The thin man then spoke up, "I've heard good things about you boy. I saw your performance at U.A.'s hero festival on the TV as well. That was a mighty impressive display against Endeavor's kid."

With more confidence, Izuku responded with, "Thank you Ojiro-san."

The man leaned in and said in a hushed tone, "My son hasn't been causing any trouble, has he? He used to quite the troublemaker at his previous school."

Midoriya wondered if that had to do with Mashirao's hatred of rich people. He couldn't see his friend get in trouble over anything but that. But for the most part, Ojiro did act fine at school, only the incident from Saturday raised any flags.

Izuku decided to play it safe and shook his head, "No, sir."

The older Ojiro scratched his chest as he said, "That's good. From what I hear he has you and some other friends he can rely on. That's an improvement over his last school."

The boy then asked, "What do you mean by that?"

The man tried to explain, "Ah, what was that kid's name? He was my son's only friend back then. I remember Mashirao telling me he was in his current class at U.A."

Izuku thought carefully at who the detective meant, and eventually, a memory from even before the hero festival came into his head. Midoriya remembered he had met the two conversing with each other on a bench one morning. He then spoke up, "You don't mean Koda-san, do you?"

Softly landing his fist down into his other open palm, the detective stated, "Ah, yes that was his name. He was always very quiet. Is he still like that?"

Giving a quick nod, Midoriya simply said, "Very."

Letting out a sigh as he shook his head, the officer replied, "That's a shame, Koda-san was always a nice kid. But he's still young. Hopefully being at U.A. for a while will teach him to be more assertive. He wants to be a hero after all."

Izuku was tempted to ask about Mashirao's past, specifically his troubles at his last school. But his friend could be back any minute, and he just met his father. Asking something so personal about his son at this point wouldn't amount to anything most likely. But something else was catching the boy's attention. The older Ojiro was breathing heavily and looked exhausted. He couldn't be sick as well, could he?

A series of sounds then came within the patrol car. A grunt came from the man as he said, "Who's trying to call me now?"

Izuku took a step back as he saw the detective's belt unravel. It wasn't a belt at all; it was a tail! The slender appendage extended itself into the open window at the driver's seat. It then came out wrapped around a phone and returned to its owner to drop it in his right hand.

The officer glanced at the phone and then said, "This should just take a few minutes, excuse me." He then took a few steps away from the car as he answered his call. The tail then wrapped around his waist just as before.

From what Midoriya could observe. The tail was both similar and different from Mashirao's extra appendage. They both had the same color and the same tuft of hair at the end of the tail. The older Ojiro, however, had a much skinnier tail, around an inch or two thick and was longer. It made sense to Izuku why he wrapped it around himself; it was probably awkward to walk if it was fully extended all the time.

While the boy waited for the man to finish his call, he saw Mashirao come into view. As the younger Ojiro arrived, he asked, "Who is he on the phone with?"

Izuku just shrugged in response.

The tailed teen then asked another question, "He didn't do or say anything embarrassing did he?"

Shaking his head, Midoriya replied, "No, but I saw him use his quirk. He used his tail to grab his phone out of the car."

Giving a quick nod, the tailed teen explained, "Yeah, he often uses it for simple tasks. It doesn't have any strength to it though like my quirk. My dad struggles to carry anything over ten kilograms with it. However, his tail is a lot more flexible than mine could ever be."

Izuku was curious about what quirk Mashirao's mother could have. Quirk inheritance was always varied from person to person. Sometimes a child would only inherit the quirk of one parent, other times they would mix, with varying degrees between each parent's quirks. Other times quirks would mutate with qualities similar to the parents or into something entirely different altogether. Mashirao's was obviously different from his father's, so it was either because of mutation, or he acquired some traits from his mother.

Another thought also came into Midoriya's mind. Should he ask his friend about the man's sickly state?

But before he could ponder this question any further, the older Ojiro returned. He huffed before stating, "I swear some people I work with can't function without me." He then looked at his son and said, "Let's go Mashirao." The man then slowly got into the patrol car.

"See you in class tomorrow, Midoriya-kun," the younger Ojiro said before climbing into the passenger seat.

Before driving off, the officer rolled down his window to say, "Nice chatting with you kid. Later."

Izuku waved at them as they pulled away from the school.

Midoriya awoke Saturday feeling quite uneasy. Tooru's sixteenth birthday was tomorrow. He had made a good batch of the brownies yesterday and finally decided on what do for a gift. Tooru had told him on Friday after class not to worry about paying for food, so Izuku decided to use the money he was going to spend on meals and funnel it all on the present. The idea was while they were shopping around if anything caught the eye of his invisible friend he would pay it in full. Unless it was costly, Midoriya felt it would have been enough to cover it. This way he wouldn't have to worry about picking the right article of clothing and try to figure out her sizes.

Izuku called Ochako to confirm what the cash amount he had would be enough to buy anything Tooru might want, outside of jewelry. She always seemed to be in the know about prices due to her penny-pinching nature. Besides the purchase of a ring or necklace felt like coming on too strong for Midoriya. Speaking of clothing, the boy had decided to go once again casual. Since they were going in the morning, he felt that going formal wasn't necessary. He hadn't chosen exactly what to wear, but it did narrow down his choices a bit. Izuku decided he would figure it out once he got home from the study session.

Hagakure had only told him to meet her at the train station by his house at 10 am. She wouldn't say anything else about where they were going. So despite having everything ready to go for tomorrow, because of the lack of knowledge of what the pair were going to do was the reason for Midoriya's dismay. The possibilities of what Tooru could want to do seemed endless.

After a quick breakfast, Izuku made the trip towards Momo's house for the second time. He left a bit later than last Saturday but still planned to be there a few minutes early. Today he wore dark brown khaki shorts with a white t-shirt. He felt he stood out a bit last Saturday from everyone else, minus Tenya and Momo, so he dialed it down to just plain casual.

When the green haired teen spoke into the intercom this time he was greeted by a woman's voice he didn't recognize.

"Morning kid, I'll get the gate for ya," the mysterious woman stated with a hint of excitement.

Midoriya thought that couldn't have been Mrs. Yaoyorozu; she sounded too informal. The boy recalled Momo mentioning one of her female staff working outside during his last visit. Perhaps this was her? He couldn't remember her name though, as it was only mentioned once.

Izuku soon found his answer as he saw a short woman sitting on the front steps of the house. Her hair was quite short and light brown as were her eyes. She wore drab, baggy clothing that had splotches of dirt all over it. The woman stood up and walked down the steps once Midoriya got close. She gave a lazy wave and said, "Sup, kid."

Izuku replied, "Hello, ma'am. Is everything okay? Where's Yasumura-san?"

"Everything is fine. I just asked the boss if I could be in charge of greeting you kids today. I never got to see ya'll last weekend since I was mowing the backyard that day as you arrived. The name is Aoi Yuki, and I'm in charge of maintenance and landscaping here at the Yaoyorozu estate," Yuki explained. She then held out a hand as if to shake.

Midoriya obliged but soon regretted it as her hand was quite sweaty. She didn't seem to notice, or care and continued, "So what's your name kid?"

As the boy wiped his hand on his shorts answered, "Izuku Midroiya ma'am."

"Ah, you're the one boss wanted to speak to," Aoi stated as she pulled out a small radio. She then said in a bit more proper tone, "Yasumura-san, the kid you wanted to talk with is here."

A few seconds passed before a response came from the device, "Thank you Yuki-san. I'll be there post haste."

Curious, Izuku asked, "What did Yasumura-san want to talk with me about?"

"No idea. He just told me to call him down here when you arrived," the female explained.

Aoi then walked back to the steps and took a seat exactly where she sat before. She then pointed towards the door behind her, "You can head in now, just wait for the boss."

Midoriya asked one last question, "Am I first to arrive?"

Yuki shook her head and replied, "Nah." She held up a fist as she said, "First was that invisible chick Hagakure-san, then Ida-san who wore glasses, and the last one was Uraraka-san, the plain one." As she said this, she raised a finger after saying each name. Aoi then continued by asking, "Did I get their names right?"

Izuku gave a nod to her question. The woman then gave a small fist bump at her accomplishment for remembering. Yuki then proclaimed, "With you here now, I just gotta wait for one more kid to show up. Good luck with your lesson Midoriya-san."

"Thanks," the green haired teen stated as he passed Aoi. He then approached and opened the door. After closing it, he turned to see the head butler descending the stairs.

Yasumura stated, "I'll be right there. Just stay put boy." Once he stood in front of Midoriya, he stated, "Let the two of us have a chat as we walk to the lecture hall. Follow me if you please."

Midoriya hesitantly followed as Yasumura strolled towards the stairs.

After clearing his throat, the butler stated, "First I'd like to apologize for my behavior from last Saturday. I obtained my new position as head butler recently, and then my masters leave on a whim for such a long time and it has been quite stressful for me."

Surprised, the boy asked, "Wait they still aren't here?"

With a quick sigh, Makoto explained, "I'm afraid not, despite the science conference being over they decided to see the sights for a while. I believe they are enjoying the beaches of California at the moment. I don't expect them back until later next week."

After seeing Mashirao's father, Izuku was looking forward to seeing Momo's parents as well. But that would have to wait another week it seemed.

As the two started to ascend the stairs, Yasumura continued, "Well with that out of the way, you should know you aren't the first boy for Yaoyorozu-dono to invite to this house to help with school. Let's just say that the previous whelps she did invite always just took advantage of her hospitality."

This seemed out of nowhere, but the idea that Momo had been exploited because of her smarts disgusted Izuku. For her to have such experiences in her past, it must have meant she truly trusted the group when she invited them here to study. Midoriya then asked, "And you thought I would be the same?"

Bluntly Makoto replied, "Yes."

The boy then asked another question, "But why just me though?"

Yasumura explained, "Because out of everyone that came that day, you were the only one she has mentioned before. I mean she's talked about Ida-san before, but that was strictly professional. You, on the other hand, have been a frequent topic the days leading up towards your arrival when I would converse with my young master. Honestly, I thought it was a crush at first. The other devils were boys she fancied you know."

Tripping on the next step on the stairs Izuku studdered, "W-wait w-what!"

Makoto was quick in his movements as he caught the clumsy boy and prevented a nasty fall. While helping the green haired teen up, the butler stated, "Calm down, it is unsightly. Yaoyorozu-dono told me on Saturday of your blooming relationship with the invisible lass, so I've dismissed the thought."

Once Midoriya had regained his balance and thanked the butler, the two continued climbing the stairs.

"But back to the matter at hand. Momo is very precious to me, and I say this not as her servant but as a man. Seeing her in pain from being used like some book that can be read and just thrown away infuriates me. Especially since those dogs thought they had a chance at courting with my young master, the scoundrels," Yasumura said with even more anger than when he was confronted by Mashirao.

Izuku asked yet again another question, "So what convinced you otherwise?"

Makoto responded in length by saying, "My young master gave me quite a talk after you all left. That's where I truly learned what kind of person Izuku Midoriya is. I've never really been in the know about the affairs of heroes, it never really interested me. But even I know of the current number two hero, Endeavor. She showed me a recording of your battle with that son of his, and it truly moved me. You could have won that brawl, but instead, you helped that child even though he never asked for it, which secured your loss, in an environment where being number one is everything. Like a true hero. Knowing that she doesn't like you in a romantic sense, I've surmised that she simply admires your conviction and personality. A potential good friend to put in simpler terms."

Midoriya was flattered from the head butler's words. He also had no idea Yaoyorozu had such thoughts about him. He could only respond with, "That's a lot to take in. But, thanks."

Yasumura rebutted the boy's statement by saying, "There's no need to thank me. I wronged you by assuming such terrible things, and it got that tailed boy to almost come to blows with me because of it. Now I see why he would go to such lengths to defend your honor. And because of that I no longer have any hard feelings about you or that child."

The pair then arrived at the lecture hall.

The head butler cleared his throat before stating, "Now if you will excuse me, I have much work to do around this estate this morning. I hope today's study session operates in favor for you and your friends, Midoriya-san." And with that, the man made his leave.

Izuku entered the lecture hall a bit dazed. What just happened was quite an eye-opener for the boy.

Tooru quickly noticed his presence, and then said with full confidence in front of his everyone, "Morning Izuku! Ready to get this over so our date is that much closer?"

Midoriya sighed, and now there's this, he thought. Tomorrow was going to be one hell of a day.

I underestimated how much I wanted to cover before I got to the date. Also, the dating scene is quite large by itself and decided just to have it take up most of the next chapter. This chapter focus was more about having some more one on one scenes between Izuku and his friends and to flesh out Momo since she just joined. Chapter nine is further contributing to the secondary theme of this fic, but it will still be some time until it all comes together and becomes central to the plot. Next chapter will be entirely about the date (I'll have a summary of how the second study session went, but that's it on that).

This chapter is a first for me; I made some original characters! To me, OC's work best as side characters in an already established series. OC's tend to be pretty mary sue / gary stu -ish when presented as major or main characters. This, of course, is not always true but tends to be a common occurrence in fanfiction. Most of the butlers will only be around for a short while, but I felt their presence would be good practice for me to get used to writing OC's in the future.

As one of my lengthy reviews on fanficition.net has said, and myself as well in an earlier author's notes, there is a decent possibility that Tooru could be the traitor that's been hinted in the manga. I will continue to write the story with the mindset that she isn't. If it turns out to be true, then the story will probably go on hiatus for a bit as I try and restructure the currently posted chapters and change my plans for the future. As annoying as it would be to have to rewrite a bunch of stuff and change my vision for this fic, it would be too interesting of a plot to ignore (unless it crashes and burns in execution in the manga). The hiatus would probably need to be for a while (a few months) to see how that arc would play out before making such big decisions.