The three reached their surprisingly fancy hotel after Ochako was done teaching Izuku a valuable lesson. At least that's what Ochako had tried to teach. Izuku was still snickering even after his beating.
When Ochako walked up to the terminal to enter her information and get her room key, Izuku whispered under his breath, "You sure you don't need me to lift you up so you can reach the screen?"
"Going to kill you. Going to kill you so freaking hard," Ochako grumbled as she snatched her keycard from the terminal and glared angrily at Izuku.
Izuku just grinned his gremlin grin and put his info into the terminal and got his keycard as well.
"Keep digging, Deku," Ochako grumbled.
"At this point my best chance of seeing daylight is to just keep going until I pop out the other side," Izuku said with a shrug.
Ochako paused, then snorted, quickly covering her mouth and turning away. Izuku cheered, "And that's daylight."
"Darn it, that wasn't even funny!" Ochako complained past her hand as she tried to stop laughing. "That's freaking cheating!"
Izuku flashed a peace sign while Melissa shook her head. It was kinda adorable how down bad these two were for each other.
"Oh, I forgot to mention, the Ferris wheel is another great ride for couples. Since the one we have is the world's largest, you'll get one of the best views of the island and get to spend some private time enjoying it."
Izuku was busy trying to get that added to his notes along with everything else Melissa had told them while Ochako had a new blush on her cheeks as she asked with a squeak. "H-how private?"
Melissa answered with a wag of her eyebrows and a knowing smirk. Which just got Ochako to blush hotter.
"Now, which floor do you two need to go to?" Melissa asked as the doors closed.
"Third," both answered.
Izuku looked up. "Oh, we're on the same floor? That's nice."
Ochako, face now mostly back to normal, nodded. "Yeah, nice and convenient."
Exiting the elevator, they all turned the same way, and started walking down the hall. "Well, at least I won't get lost trying to find your room later," Izuku said with a laugh.
Ochako gave him a coy smirk. "Find my room later? Why'd you need to do that?"
Izuku missed the look on Ochako. "Oh, if we wanted to hang out before bed or for when I… you know. Come to pick you up for our… date tomorrow."
The innocent response made Ochako smile and Melissa chuckle. Though her mood became more and more curious with each door the trio passed. As they got to the end of the hall, Izuku pointed out that it looked like they were going to be next door neighbors.
"Oh, and here's my room," Izuku said, pulling out his key card.
"Mine too," Ochako copied.
However they didn't turn to go to the two last doors at the end of the hall, but took steps toward the same door. Both with their cards out ready to scan them on the lock.
There was a pause as the two sorta just stopped and Melissa had a hand covering her face. Uncle Might… no. Please tell me you didn't.
"314?" Izuku asked mechanically.
"314." Ochako confirmed, just ask mechanically.
Izuku put his key to the lock and it flashed green. Ochako waited a few seconds before trying hers. It also flashed green. They then stiffly pulled out their reservation cards and shared them. Both had the room number 314 printed by their names.
"M-maybe it's like a twin room. L-like two bedrooms o-or something," Izuku stuttered out while trying not to even think about the potential screw up he and Ochako were facing.
Ochako nodded her head stiffly. "Yeah. That's… totally what's going on. All Might wouldn't… actually put us in the same room."
"Ha ha ha ha! Nope. He's All Might. We can always rely on him."
"Ha ha ha ha! Yup! It's not like he totally forgot to tell you about the trip at the last second and had to rush to make sure all the travel arrangements were taken care of."
The forced, nervous, laughter of Izuku and Ochako came to a shuddering stop. And they both looked at the door with a sense of dread.
"He would totally make this kind of mistake, wouldn't he."
"Deku, I'm just glad you're able to recognize that now."
Another pause as the two worked up the courage to open the door. Finally, Ochako grunted and pressed her card against the lock. Her hand was on the door knob when Izuku asked, "Do…. You want me to carry you in?"
Ochako's head whipped around and her cheeks had an extra dusting of pink blush spreading over them. She looked at Izuku, also blushing, though with just a pinch of a coy, smug, gremlin smile. And like a little ray of green sunshine peeking through the fog, the embarrassment of the situation didn't seem so bad. Ochako still made sure to poke an elbow into Izuku's side for even thinking he could get away with a joke like that. But now at least they were a little more relaxed.
Pushing open the door, Izuku and Ochako walked in with Melissa behind them. Though she almost ran smack into them only a few steps in.
"Is that a bathtub in the middle of the room!?" Ochako gasped in shock.
Melissa looked around and winced. "Oooh, this is a honeymoon suite for sure."
The room was spacious and very open, with little to nothing separating the different parts of the suite. An open washroom with twin sinks, with a door for the toilet. The shower was built into the wall. As Ochako had said, right in the center of the room was an open tub. A jacuzzi tub, just big enough to allow two people to soak together. At the other end of the room, was a bed. An unbelievably large bed, but all the same, a single bed. On one of the nightstands was a metal ice bucket with a small bottle of champagne sitting in it, flanked by two glass flutes and a little card.
Melissa walked over and picked up the card. "Compliments of the staff to the newly happy couple."
Melissa looked over at the pair, and saw two shell shocked, blushing teens that were trying to wrap their heads around everything. "Let me… make a quick call to the front office and see exactly what kind of reservation Uncle Might made."
While Melissa got on the phone, Izuku and Ochako wandered around the room. Ochako walked up to the bed, and pressed her hands into it. It might as well have been made of cotton candy with how deep her hands sunk into the comforter and mattress.
Izuku checked the closet, and found their luggage packed away. He was going out of his way not to look at the bed or jacuzzi tub.
"Hello yes, I'm calling on behalf of Might Tower and All Might. He wanted to make sure that the reservations he submitted were all ready? This should be for Midoriya Izuku and guest Uraraka Ochako." Melissa spoke into her phone, smiling as apparently this was enough to get the person on the other end to start looking things up. "Oh, you have reservation notes? That's excellent." Melissa flashed the still stunned pair a thumbs up. "…'Something special for both of them.' 'First romantic getaway together.'" Izuku chirped while Ochako decided to press her face into the cloud comforter to hide her face. "…Wait, could you repeat that? … 'A couple's suite?' Did he ask for a couple's suite or a couple of suites? Okay, and you confirmed it… Got it." And suddenly, it made sense how the mix up occurred. All Might, in a rush to get rooms, flubbed up a simple line. "Is there a problem with the room? Oh, um…" Melissa looked at the two. "Um… they're speechless."
After a few last pleasantries Melissa hung up with a sigh. "Well… now we know."
Ochako, after extracting her face from the bed, scratched her head nervously. "Just outta curiosity… What are the odds of there being any rooms still…" She trailed off when she looked at Melissa. The look on her face and the gentle shake of her head made it clear that this close to the big event, there weren't going to be any rooms open.
Izuku looked over at Ochako. "So… I guess I could just… find a place to sleep outside or—"
Ochako's head snapped around so fast, Melissa wasn't sure if the move was good for the other girl's neck. "Deku. I will bop you if you actually finish that sentence. Look," Ochako took a breath to steady herself, "we're both mature heroes in training and we know we can trust each other. So, given the situation I say we just… roll with it."
Izuku's hands flailed around as he nervously tried to point towards the bed. "B-b-b-b-but. One bed."
"Deku," Ochako stood in front of the bed, and stretched out her arms. "Look at how big this bed is. It's literally like, twice as wide as my height. We'll be fine."
"We will?"
"Yeah. Sure we will. So let's actually take a look around and then go on the tour Melissa said she'd take us on." Ochako beamed happily, trying to help put Izuku's mind at ease. Fortunately she was very good at doing this and Izuku nodded after giving it some thought.
"Okay…" Izuku, getting back on track to his cheerful self, rubbed his hands together as he started looking over their room. "Okay you're right. Let's see what we got. Two questions though right off the top of my head."
"Yeah?"
"What are we gonna do about the champagne?" Izuku pointed at the chilled half-bottle, "I mean we can't just leave it sitting there… and well… you're supposed to drink something like that… after… to celebrate… things." Izuku poked his fingers together as he trailed off.
Ochako picked up the bottle. It had enough for maybe one to two glasses for two people to share. The responsible thing to do would be to return the bottle. They were, after all, underage. At least in Japan. Clearly this was part of the mix up with the reservation. The hotel must think that she and Izuku were older than they were. So yes, the responsible thing to do, was to make sure this was returned and… "Suites like this have mini fridges, right? Let's keep this cold until tomorrow night."
Melissa smirked and pointed to the mini fridge, which the bottle was able to fit inside perfectly. Izuku, while initially shocked that Ochako was keeping the champagne, then realized just what she had said. 'Keep it cold until tomorrow night.'
"Any objections?" Ochako asked.
"Nope!" Izuku answered immediately, making Ochako smirk. The two glanced over at Melissa but she dragged her fingers over her lips, zipping them shut with a wink.
Ochako closed the fridge and then crossed her arms. "And the second thing?"
"Oh um, what about that?" Izuku pointed to the jacuzzi tub, just existing in the center of the large suite.
"Ah," Ochako had to admit that that one was a head scratcher. "Lets… just ignore that for now. No need to make things more complicated than they need to be."
Izuku was totally fine with that. His poor heart was still coming to terms with the idea that he was apparently going to be sleeping in the same bed as Ochako. He didn't need anything else making him heat up and possibly smoke out the whole room. So he just kept looking around. The room was really really nice. The walls were painted white, which matched pretty much all the furniture. There was a small splash of purple here or there to keep the room from being monotone, the tile floors a warm tan, which matched the paints used for the open bath room. The toilet was mercifully in its own little room, with a door for privacy. The sink mirrors were backlit with soft purple LEDs and the shower… Izuku had to pause. Because as he checked out the shower, he found the door separating the shower from the rest of the room was just glass.
Plain see-through glass.
Uh oh. Now don't panic. There must be a curtain or something on the inside. A quick check showed that there wasn't. Okay. Panic time.
"The shower just has glass," Izuku chirped out, some smoke puffing out of his nose.
Ochako, who was going through her luggage, looked up. "Huh?"
Izuku made a point of opening and closing the shower door, even sticking his arm behind the glass, just to show how see-through it was. "It's just glass."
Ochako looked at Izuku, then the shower door, before her face went scarlet. Melissa though, seeing the problem, raced over to the shower and turned a knob on the wall right next to the door. "Hold on, don't panic. See." When she turned the dial, the glass frosted over. "It's opaque smart glass. No worries."
It was true, the glass wasn't clear anymore, but. It wasn't like it was totally opaque. It was hazy. Heavily hazy, but still, only hazy.
"D-Deku. Go stand in the shower," Ochako stuttered out while trying not to make herself float. The single bed and open air jacuzzi right in the middle of the flipp'n room was making that very hard though.
"G-go into the shower?!" Izuku chirped. "W-why?"
Ochako was scratching her neck nervously. "Well… we should probably see just how… well that frosted glass… you know… gives us… privacy."
Another smoking chirp escaped Izuku's lips. "Wait, you mean…"
"Come on, Deku. Let's… see what that glass will let us see. Test out the shower."
Izuku looked down at himself but nodded.
Ochako sighed, as she got herself to calm down. She knew once she and Izuku spent a little time together here that things would be just fine. Until then, she had to stay strong and make sure they didn't squander this… What was the word she was looking for…?
Gift?
No. Silence horny. Not dealing with you.
Okay. Okay… hey? Why is Melissa suddenly all red?
Ochako frowned and saw that Melissa was indeed flushed and covering her eyes with her hands. "Melissa what are…!" Ochako turned and saw the issue. Izuku was in the process of taking off his costume, unzipping the top and pulling it off his shoulders and chest. Exposing his rippling back muscles.
"DEKU?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Ochako screamed, in shock while covering her face and floating up towards the ceiling. All the while totally not peeking.
"H-huh? But you said I should test the glass?"
"JUST STEP INSIDE YOU DUFUS! DON'T TAKE OFF YOUR CLOTHES!"
Izuku blinked and his embarrassed stupor lifted and he suddenly realized what he was doing. Shrinking he quickly wrapped his arms around his body and dove into the shower, pulling the glass door shut behind him. You could make out the vague outline of his body, but you weren't going to see anything besides that. So it was safe. Though that wasn't exactly what Ochako was focused on right now.
As Izuku worked to put his costume back on, Ochako needed some answers. "Deku, why would you just start undressing like that?" Ochako asked as she worked herself back to the ground.
Izuku peeked over the top of the frosted glass door. "Well… I thought you were telling me to."
Ochako tapped her fingers together and fell into the bed. Taking a second to marvel at how soft it was, she then pivoted, "Wait, you make it sound like you just default to 'Do what Ochako says' now that we're kinda sorta together."
"I mean… yeah? Aren't I supposed to?"
YES!
Horny, no.
Horny yes!
"Deku," Ochako sighed. "Just because we're getting together doesn't mean you have to do everything I say."
"It doesn't?" Izuku sounded genuinely surprised by that.
Hey brain, you might want to reel this in before you lose this.
Ochako quickly added, "Just most of what I say!"
Izuku frowned. "What's the difference?"
"The difference is I get an out."
"… That feels like cheating."
"It is." When Izuku seemed to nod in defeat, Ochako felt a little guilty. All things considered, she probably could guilt trip and use other methods to get Izuku to listen to her more. And boy, did that leave a sour taste in her mouth. "Deku… you know I'm joking, right? You seriously don't have to do what I say."
Izuku laughed nervously. "Yeah, I figured. But guilt tripping you made you say it out loud so, it's all good."
…Did Deku just outplay me? I don't know if I should be proud or infuriated. One look at the goofy smiling face made her mind up, Infuriated. Definitely infuriated.
After getting settled in, Melissa had offered to give the two a tour of the I-Expo grounds. Izuku and Ochako were happy to accept. Leading the two out into the grounds, one of the first places Melissa pointed out was the pavilion. Even from a distance the area looked huge. The pavilion was where most of the rides, food stalls and general amusement and recreation was being held.
"How big is it all?" Ochako asked as she stood on her tippy toes to get the best look.
"About as big as California's Disneyland I think," Melissa answered.
Izuku whistled, while Ochako just kept staring, awestruck. Several rides reached up over the buildings and scraped the sky. One ride in particular that caught her attention was the ferris wheel, or at least the I-Expo's scientific wonder of a Ferris wheel. Multiple cars were orbiting around a humongous metal ring, instead of being attached to a giant wheel. But as Ochako observed, she noted that the cars were enclosed with big windows. So you could probably see the whole island from them, but also at the top, no one could see you.
Melissa smirked and gave Ochako a discreet thumbs up. "See?"
Oh, Ochako saw. Up there, away from prying eyes. It was the perfect place for a little snogging.
When Ochako glanced at Izuku, and she saw the blush on his face, it was pretty darn clear he was having similar thoughts. And boy oh boy did that make her feel a certain kind of way.
Down girl, you're in public.
"So I wasn't planning on showing you guys around there. Since I figured you'd want to explore it for the first time during your date," Melissa said, smiling at how darn adorable the two were as they nodded their heads. "But there are other parts to the I-Expo to see. A lot of it dealing with Quirk competitions and support items."
Izuku perked up at that. "Quirk competitions?"
Ochako snickered. "Ah, one of Deku's loves. All Might did say people are free to use their Quirks openly here."
"Yup, one of the few places in the whole world that doesn't have restrictions on Quirks. Want to go check those out first?"
Izuku nodded his head very fast, and Ochako shrugged with a smile. "You just opened Pandora's box."
"Eh?" Melissa was sure Ochako was exaggerating.
Ochako had not been exaggerating. Melissa found herself a little flabbergasted at just how much detail Izuku was able to take in and jot down in his notebook, and also just his absurd level of knowledge of the local and visiting heroes that were walking around the I-Expo. Melissa fancied herself a decent source of knowledge in the Quirk and hero field, but all too soon she found herself defeated by Izuku on the matters as she showed them around.
It was honestly very impressive. And the more she saw, the more it made sense why All Might seemed to be interested in him.
"Oh! Oh what's that?" Izuku stopped and pointed at a small attraction. Though unlike the many others around them, this one was abandoned. Propped up with heavy steel beam reinforcements that were bolted to a solid steel plate base which was in turn anchored into the concrete, was a giant mallet. The head was easily the size of one of those wooden barrels used to age whiskey, while the pole arm was just about as long as Izuku was tall and just about as thick as the business end of a baseball bat. The thing just looked like it was forged out of the heart of a dying star. Someone had even gone so far as to etch into the side, 'Mjölnir.'
"That," Melissa explained with a sigh, "is the mallet to a Test of Strength attraction. Unfortunately whoever designed and made that mallet… went waaaaay overboard with it."
"How so?" Izuku asked.
"It's too darn heavy. Even the heroes that showed up with Quirks that enhance their strength haven't been able to swing that thing."
Izuku's eyes went wide at that. "But there are so many heroes here though!"
"Yuuup."
Ochako eyed the mallet with amusement. "Does that include Star and Stripe?"
"Nah. She hasn't given it a go yet. Supposedly she was going to today, but there's been a change of plans. See how there isn't a tower with a bell?" The two nodded, "Almost the second word got to the people running this that All Might was on site, they were contacted by the I-Expo to have this towed to the main tower for the reception party tomorrow."
"Why?" Ochako asked.
"So All Might and Star and Stripe can compete to see who can get the bigger score." Izuku started vibrating at that idea.
Ochako tapped her chin. "They want to give All Might a giant hammer and ask him to hit something as hard as he can… And do it inside a giant skyscraper filled with thousands of people."
Izuku scoffed. "Oh don't be a buzz kill."
"Deku there are times I think I'm the only one with a… what are you doing?" Ochako frowned as Izuku looked around before he strolled forward, right into the closed station area. "Deku?"
"Im'ma lift it."
"Deku no!" Ochako sounded like a parent that wished they had spent money on one of those kid leashes. "You can't."
"Hmmm, I'm picking it up," Izuku said without any worry.
"Deku! Look, there's even a sign saying the thing is closed." Ochako pointed at a cardboard sign, hanging on one of the metal beams by some twine. 'Closed' was hastily scribbled across it in marker.
Izuku looked at the sign and then flipped it around. "I don't see anything."
Ochako threw her hands up in disbelief while Izuku calmly looked the giant mallet over. When Ochako turned to see if she was going to get any help from Melissa, she found the other girl with her phone out, getting ready to record.
"Seriously? Aren't you supposed to be watching us?"
"I mean… I am," Melissa said as she tapped the record button just as green lightning sparked up around Izuku's body.
Ochako buried her face in her hands. "Everyone connected to All Might shares just one brain cell."
Melissa burst out laughing while trying to keep her camera steady. "Ha ha ha! Well, aren't you going to try and stop him?"
Ochako crossed her arms. "I'm going to let him deal with this on his own."
Totally not because I kinda want to see him try. Nope, not at all.
Izuku gripped the handle of the mallet with both hands, and with his body crackling with green bolts of electricity, Izuku pulled and grunted, straining his muscles trying to lift the mallet, but to no avail. He was red in the face from the exertion before he had to let go and gasp for a breath. "Holy cow, that thing is heavy!"
"Told you," Melissa said with a smirk. "Though why are you trying to pick it up with your hands? Shouldn't you use your Quirk? Also… what's with your new glow?"
Izuku looked down at himself and smiled sheepishly. "Oh, this is what happens when I use my Quirk to try and boost my strength. And I figured doing it this way was more fair for the challenge, since it's a test of strength after all. Though I probably could lift it if I use— ACK! Ow ow ow ow!" Izuku was cut off before he could try to use his Psychokinesis to lift the mallet as Ochako stomped up and grabbed him by the ear.
"That's enough of that, mister. Not spending my time dragging you to an E.R. because you wanted to show off." Ochako gave Izuku's ear another tug as she pulled him away from the game.
"Ow! That's my ear, Uraraka! I need that to hear things," Izuku complained, weakly swatting at Ochako's hand.
"Oh? You actually use this to hear? Sure didn't seem like it to me when I was telling you not to try and lift the darn thing."
"Oh, I heard you, I just ignored yooo-oW OW OW OW OW!" Izuku was promptly punished as Ochako gave his ear just a little twist for good measure.
"You know," Melissa stepped in, "if you two wanted to play a game where you can use your Quirks, there's always Villain Attack. It's actually really popular."
Ochako nodded. "Yeah, take us to that. Maybe Deku can use it to drain some of the stupid that's gotten into his system."
"You're just jealous that I'm the only one here that had a hope of lifting the malle— ow ow ow uncle! Uncle!" Ochako finally let Izuku go and glared at him as he nursed his red ear like a poor pitiful puppy. Ochako just crossed her arms, not buying the act at all.
"And I totally could lift that stupid mallet."
"Okay, the rules of the game are simple. In the arena are a number of robots posing as villain targets. You'll have to move up the arena's mountain to destroy each robot as fast as you can. This is a Quirk attraction, but your Quirk must be limited to the arena and only used when your time has started. If you have a Quirk that requires some sort of charge up, you may not start that process before the bell. Licensed support items are allowed as long as they are cleared by our safety inspectors."
The safety instructor looked over the small group that would be lining up for their turn at the game. With it being the I-Expo's early access event, the number of participants had been small. Right now, there was only one determined looking girl and one overly excited boy. "Any questions?"
"Is All Might's record still standing from when he competed at this?" Izuku asked.
The safety inspector laughed. "Ha, you know your history, kid. Technically it is. Three seconds has been the fastest anyone has cleared this game. Been that way for years at this point."
"Technically?" Izuku pondered.
The man pointed a remote at a screen to bring up the current world records and there was All Might's name at the top. But right beside it was another name. "Star and Stripe ran the event yesterday. Tied the record. Crazy thing is both won pretty much the exact same way. Both just threw a punch and obliterated the robots. All Might also obliterated the whole area when he did it, though." Some images played across the screen, showing All Might leaping into the air and throwing a punch downward. The shockwave from the punch flattened the whole arena.
Ochako groaned and even Izuku laughed nervously.
"How Star and Stripe pulled it off without blowing everything up is a mystery." The screen switched to show the American hero calmly strolling up to the starting line. The timer rang and instead of leaping into the air, she pulled her arm back and twisted her body around, winding herself up for one heck of a haymaker. The move sent her cape wiping around her body and face. Then she threw her punch. A devastatingly powerful one for sure, but the shockwave coming from it didn't look like it would cause that much damage. But as it hit, the robots all exploded into fire and smoke.
Izuku and Ochako both titled their heads as they stared at that, neither knowing how in the world Star and Stripe was able to pull that off. The instructor laughed. "Yup. You and everyone else had the exact same reaction. Now," he called his hands, "who's going first?"
"I am," came the twin replies. Immediately Izuku and Ochako glared at each other. You could almost see the sparks crackling between them. They then pulled their fists back and for a split second, the instructor thought they were going to fight for the spot. Which, since they were heroes (in training), was a totally believable outcome.
"Rock, paper scissors!" They screamed and threw their fists at each other. "Go!"
Two rocks. They quickly withdrew their hands. "Rock, paper, scissors! GO!"
Two papers.
"Go!"
Two papers.
"Go!"
Rock and scissors.
Ochako held up her fist in victory. "Good old rock! Never let's me down."
Izuku responded by shoving her towards the arena entrance with his boot.
Melissa leaned on the railing and cheered when the pretty announcer revved up the admittedly small crowd in the stands. Once the I-Expo was open for all, a lot of people were going to be watching these games since that's when the pro heroes on site would be showing their stuff.
"Our next challenger comes all the way from Japan! A student at the world famous U.A High School! Give it up for Uraraka Ochako!"
"Go Uraraka!"
Ochako crouched down in a sprinter's stance, as she waited for the signal.
"Ready! GO!"
Ochako took off like a bat out of hell, sprinting forward towards the first bot at the base of the mountain. Leaping up, she floated herself and let her own momentum carry her flying forward. As she closed in on the bot she fired a grappling line at it while at the same time firing another from her other arm up into the stone face of the mountain. Twisting in the air, her fingers touched the line and floated the robot, pulling it up with her. The weightless robot was then hurled up towards another one, the two crashing together and reduced to scrap.
Ochako, using her grapple lines, propelled herself up higher and higher. Swinging around, she pulled more of the bots towards her with all her grapple lines, where she either bashed them against the rocks or used them as giant projectiles. Reaching the top, she let herself soar over the remaining bot, and as she turned her Quirk off, plummeted down towards it. The poor bot's head was then caved in as Ochako delivered a kick that would make Miruko proud.
Landing on the mountain's top, Ochako raised her hands over her head in victory. Her smiling triumphant face broadcasted on the games jumbo screens. Down below the announcer called out her time. "Incredible! She finished with a time of eighteen seconds!"
Melissa's eyes sparkled as she watched Ochako descend back down. It had been a very impressive run. She had guessed that those large bracers had some sort of function, and them having grappling hooks was such a retro callback.
"Next up, another U.A. High School student and winner of their sports festival. Give a cheer for Midoriya Izuku!"
Melissa leaned forward, ready to watch Izuku take his turn.
"Ready, GO!"
In a flash of green, the air behind Izuku exploded, sending him catapulted upwards. Izuku's body was yanked upward while at the same time, his Psychokinesis broke off chunks of rocks that were launched at robots as he sailed past. Multiple times, Izuku braced himself on the arena mountainside before he used his Quirk to pull himself upwards. Thanks to his Quirk, he kept to a straight line accent while destroying the robots at range. With one final pull, Izuku was yanked several feet over the top of the mountain, where the last robot was waiting. As he fell, the green glow around his body crackled into bolts of electricity. Pulling his hand back, Izuku swung his arm and punched right through the fragile target, turning it into scrap and smoke.
"Fifteen seconds! What a showing!"
The people in the crowd applauded while Izuku awkwardly received the attention. Melissa noted that his gaze seemed drawn back towards the ground, where Ochako was. She had an annoyed but proud smile on her face, and was clapping along with everyone else.
His Quirk is very versatile. Mobility and attack in a single go, though it looks like he struggles to use it on himself. Otherwise he probably could have flown straight up to the top. He did it in the sports festival, but that was thanks to Uraraka's help. There must be an outside factor that he has to work around… But then there's that other move.
Izuku's punch at the end had piqued her interest. She had seen Izuku use a lot of power while at the sports festival. Even just now, the power it took to rip stone apart to fire at the robots was nothing to scoff at, But that punch. Why did it seem so weak? If he was using his Quirk to boost his strength, then shouldn't it have been…
When Izuku and Ochako rejoined Melissa up in the stands, Ochako was taking her loss well. Ish. She was taking it well-ish.
"ARG! That's so annoying!" Ochako growled while stomping besides Izuku who a few moments ago had looked rather smug. Now he looked smug and cocky.
"There's a reason I won first place after all," He said with a broad smile and wink.
"I wanna rematch!" Ochako complained while lightly bopping Izuku's shoulder.
"Ow! Careful there! I'm delicate!" Izuku whimpered playfully.
Ochako paused briefly. "Wait, really or are you just being a baby?"
"… Can I pick none?"
The bopping continued while Melissa rubbed her chin. "Is being sore an issue?"
While Ochako continued, Izuku shrugged. "Kinda sorta. I have to be careful with how much power I use when boosting my strength. If I'm not, I might accidentally hurt myself… Again."
"Again?" Melissa was looking him over. Noting that he didn't seem to be carrying any kind of old injuries and nothing he was wearing seemed to be made to help him in that case.
"Yeah, one of the first times I ever tried to boost my strength I kinda messed my arms up pretty bad." When Melissa saw Ochako shudder, she got a feeling that 'pretty bad' was an understatement.
"Deku's arm looked like raw hamburger," Ochako filled in with a frown making Melissa hiss. "He's fortunate that U.A. has Recovery Girl. She was able to fix him right up."
Izuku had a lot of trouble looking in Ochako's general direction for a few seconds after she said that. He had to physically stop himself from touching his head. He was fortunate that before anyone could notice his sudden unease, there came a sudden commotion from the arena. The trio turned just in time to see the arena's mountain become encased in glacier ice and the announcer below screaming out a new time. Fourteen seconds.
"Oh, I guess that would be Todoroki," Ochako stated simply.
"… Gosh darn it."
"Never change Deku."
It turned out that Izuku and Ochako weren't the only U.A. students that had been interested in the Villain Attack game. Soon after Shouto's run, Momo, Kyouka, Mina, and then Tenya all had their turn.
Things got a little dicey when Tenya noticed that Izuku and Ochako were apparently walking around the I-Expo unsupervised. Fortunately, Melissa introduced herself and said that she was showing the pair around the island while Uncle Might was visiting with her father. The 'Uncle Might' thing took a second to clear up and soon after that, Ochako pointed out to Tenya that the two of them weren't technically on their date. The two of them just walking around was a completely normal thing they could do. Fortunately for everyone involved, Tenya seemed fine with this and let the topic go.
But while one bullet had been dogged, the next pink round was getting loaded into the firing chamber. Mina eyed Ochako closely. The gossip bloodhound could smell something juicy. Something had already happened today, she was sure of it, and she was going to sniff it out. The trio all agreed between themselves without a word that no one could let Mina or Tenya know about the hotel debacle. So Melissa pointed out she knew a nice cafe nearby that they could all grab a tea at.
On the way, when asked how he had ended up at the I-Expo with early access, Shouto said that his father's agency got two invites but the Flame Hero was unable to attend the event. So Shouto was sent in his stead, along with another senior student intern from the agency who was given her ticket as a reward for her services.
But after they had landed, Burnin had bolted off to go have her fun. He was sure she'd turn up for the reception party tomorrow night at least. He still wondered if it was good for her to have accepted since she was supposedly prepping for her upcoming hero provincial license exam. But considering how strict Shiketsu High School was, maybe she did just need the break.
When they reached the cafe and had a chance to sit down, the group was startled to find themselves being served by Shouji and Ejirou. Shouji had taken the chance to apply for some summer work at the expo, since the island was very open in their hiring for event jobs. Eijirou explained that he had been planning on lounging around until summer camp, much to Mina's annoyance, but ended up getting dragged along with Katsuki when he left for his job.
The mood at the table dropped as Ochako learned that Katsuki was on the island, but in a rare moment of empathy and just being able to read the room, Ejirou quickly added that he wasn't around now.
In a strange and convoluted turn of events, the small restaurant Katsuki had been working at had served one of the assistant chefs for the reception. Apparently the chefs were worried about being short handed since a couple of their cooks were calling in sick. When he ate the sandwich Katsuki had made, since he had been working behind the counter, the chef immediately scalped him from the restaurant and dragged him to the reception kitchen to work the event.
Better yet, Katsuki had been able to get Eijirou and Shouji waiter jobs at the reception as well, which the boys were happy to accept. The event paid really well for a single day, and they would get tickets to go to the I-Expo when it opened to the public.
"I still can't believe Bakugou knows how to cook," Ochako muttered to herself. Feeling unnecessarily annoyed that apparently the explosive boy had enough talent in a kitchen to get picked up by a chef. At the very least, he was going to be too busy doing his job for Ochako to have a chance to run into him. So at least there was that.
After saying goodbye to their friends, Izuku and Ochako continued on their tour of the island with Melissa, who was super excited to show them one of her favorite places, a pavilion completely dedicated to hero support items. Many of them being state-of-the-art or not even released to the hero community yet. The giant building interior was bathed in soft blue light from floating orbs that neither Izuku or Ochako could even guess how they worked.
"SO MANY HERO ITEMS!" Izuku squealed as Melissa hurriedly ran from one display to another. Ochako had to admit, even if she was a little jealous of it, Izuku having someone he could completely go full fanboy with was incredibly cute.
"You know," Melissa started as she took off a helmet that she had stuck on Izuku's head, which apparently displayed over thirty two cameras, nearly overloading the poor boys senses, "that a lot of the support items here are based on my Papa's patents."
Ochako fanned off the overloaded Izuku and looked around the huge room. "Wait, really? Holy cow!"
"Amazing," Izuku worked out while his eyes worked to stop spinning.
Melissa motioned out towards the large room, bringing Izuku and Ochako's attention to all the inventions and support items on display. "Each and every item here helps heroes around the world. My Papa isn't just a hero to All Might. In so many ways, he's a hero to so many more."
Izuku smiled softly. "You really respect your dad, don't you?"
Melissa beamed. "Well, it's like I said. My dream is to become just like my Papa. A hero that helps other heroes."
The three continued on, only stopping when Izuku noticed one of the displays for nanotech rescue items. A common trait was that all the items were able to shrink down into something that could fit in the palm of someone's hand. "Oh Melissa. Is this like that pogo stick you used when we met?"
"Oh? Kinda. I did base my ideas off nanotech, but instead of trying to shrink things down, I focused more on creating something that could make a multitude of items." Melissa pulled out the small red device and activated it. It glowed brightly and unwound like a giant ribbon before taking the shape of a pogo stick.
"Wait, you invented this?" Ochako asked with a gasp.
Melissa laughed. "This is something I've been working on for a while. You program a basic shape or function into the ribbon and it can take that form. It evolved from one of the first projects I ever worked on. Actually, Papa was able to get it patented for me. So I'll be able to sell it to other companies here soon."
"That's so cool!"
"Totally!"
Melissa smiled at the praise. "On the subject. Maybe some time before you both leave, I'd like to show you the original project. I think you'd get a lot of use out of it, Midoriya."
"Oh, I'd love to!"
Ochako smirked and nudged him with her elbow, "Careful Deku. You better not let Hatsume find out you were looking at another girl's babies. She might just kill you."
"Ah ha ha ha… ha… Yeah, that's probably a good idea." The more Izuku thought about the potential fallout, the more he agreed with her.
Beep
Beep
Beep
Melissa's head snapped up in alarm at the sudden beeping coming from her pant pocket. Quickly, she pulled out her phone and stared at it in shock. Izuku noticed that the timer app was going off. "Oh my gosh! It's been that long already?!" Melissa looked around before she quickly pocketed her phone, and gave a fast apologetic bow. "I am so sorry! I completely lost track of time, I was having so much fun hanging out with you two. I completely forgot I had an appointment I needed to attend!"
"Oh no, I hope we aren't going to get you into trouble." Izuku said apologetically.
Melissa shook her head. "No, it shouldn't be a problem. I just have to… go." Melissa frowned. She really had been having a fun time with the two. She wasn't really ready for it to have to come to an end. Her mind was trying to figure some things out before she snapped to a decision. "If… you two don't mind, I might be able to get this… cut down, so I'd only be away for maybe thirty minutes. Maybe an hour. If you'd like to keep looking around the pavilion, I could rush back here and I could keep showing you around?"
Izuku and Ochako had absolutely no issue with that. They too had been enjoying Melissa's company. She was a much better chaperone than they could have hoped for. Ochako waved her off with a smile. "We've only explored a little bit here. We'll look around and you can come find us. Don't worry about it."
"Definitely. We'll see you when you're free."
The three quickly shared contact info and then Melissa dashed off. Izuku scratched his neck with a laugh. "She must have to really get going."
"Again, people connected with All Might need to learn to have multiple brain cells," Ochako said with a good-natured laugh. Izuku turned to look at her, a coy smirk on his face.
"You know, you're included in the group, right?"
Ochaok crossed her arms. "And who do you think has the brain cell most of the time?"
"Toga."
"YOU!" Ochako was about to start pounding Izuku, only to stop when she saw his attention was off of her and he looked shocked about something. "Deku?"
"Oh no!" Izuku exclaimed. "She left her pogo stick." Izuku picked up the item and held it up. "Doesn't she use this to get around? If she doesn't have it, she might end up late."
Ochako quickly pointed in the direction Melissa had run and Izuku, bolts of green sparking off his body, took off in that direction. Fortunately for Izuku, he had noticed the missing item quickly so he should be able to catch up to Melissa in no time.
Hitting a hallway, Izuku glanced around. There wasn't a marked exit anywhere, but as he turned, he swore he spotted someone with long blonde hair hurrying into a side office in the hallway. "Melissa!"
Chasing after them, Izuku quickly opened the door, gasping as it bumped into someone. There was a small clatter and Izuku looked down. On the floor were Melissa's glasses. "Oh no." Izuku put the pogo stick aside and reached down to pick them up. He quickly inspected them and sighed when he saw no obvious damage."I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you. You forgot your pogo stick and I wanted to make sure you had it when you left for your appoint… ment?"
When Izuku stood back up, he was confused. The room was filled with white steam, billowing out and filling the room, making it hard to see anything. Using his hand, he fanned away some of it as he tried to find Melissa in the room. It had looked like a simple office so it wasn't like there was anywhere she could hide.
"Melissa are you… huh?"
Izuku found who he had bumped into. But it wasn't Melissa. The odd thing was, they were wearing Melissa's clothes, but they couldn't be her. The woman, standing where Melissa should have been, was much, much taller and muscular, a genuine giant of a woman. Melissa's clothes were stretched over her bulking frame, looking like they'd tear at any moment.
"Um…"
It took Izuku several seconds before his brain could start to put things together and his eyes went wide. The woman in front of him, even though she was missing the cape, the star spangled costume and the multiple hair tufts… There was no mistaking that it was Star and Stripe in the room with him.
Star and Stripe looked down at Izuku with equally large eyes, a hand over her mouth as she gasped out, "Oh…no."