Chapter 325 - 64

Chapter 64: Pain of the Heart Body and Soul

"I've totally grown!" Toshi complained while he waved his arms around like a little mad lad, beckoning Aunt Stabby to come so he could show her.

Himiko sighed with a smile as she strolled after him, a ruler in hand. One might be surprised to see her up and about at all. It had been a few months since the families' trip out to the island, and one would expect someone carrying twins after several months—in Himiko's own words—'to be too much of a bloated fucking balloon' to move anywhere.

Except she wasn't.

Himiko strolled through the house looking like she was in the best shape of her life. She had her dancer's body that, if she wasn't careful, would lead to any number of the house's residents pulling her aside so they could get a little handsy.

But how was this possible? Well, she was now the next victim to what is now 'lovingly' referred to as the 'Midoriya Household Jinx.' What the fuck was that? Well, the jinx was simple. No one living under the Midoriya roof could have normal babies.

Clearly this was just an exaggeration and just a way for their friends to tease the strange household. Except it wasn't, as explained by an exasperated Katsuki after the most recent 'incident.'

First there was Eri and her whole yakuza, Shie Hassaikai, bullshit she dealt with before Izuku and Ochako were able to adopt her. When she was ten and they were only a year graduated from U.A. So not normal at all.

Second was Toshi. Their first biological child and son. Normal enough, right? No. Not only was he conceived at damn near the same time the ink was drying on Eri's adoption papers, but after some quick math between the four, they were able to narrow down when Toshi was conceived, and Izuku and Ochako were most definitely on patrol that night.

Then of course there was the craziness that was when he got induced. At a hospital where it was safe and there were doctors and nurses ready to help with the delivery? Nope, in the field during a villain armed robbery spree. Ochako, heavy with child, decided to step in and float one of the getaway cars. While it was driving away with the pedal to the floor.

So, the whole world got to see the great hero Uravity go into labor while heroes on site set up a perimeter and Ochako gave birth in the back of a truck Izuku had pulled off the street, while Tsuyu ended up using the bags of cash as pillows for her head, and Himiko—thanks to being the only person on site with any medical training—helped deliver Toshi into the world.

"You're supposed to get pregnant in the back of trucks, not have babies!" Ochako was reported to have screamed at one point. Cursing the whole situation.

Then there was Juuriko. Doctors had her almost ready to be brought out of her incubation pod. The Midoriyas' second daughter, and an unplanned one. They only found out Ochako was pregnant after a villain's hideout blew up and some medical personnel were pulling shrapnel from her stomach. To make sure both baby and mother could recover, Juuriko was removed and put into an incubator while both of them were healed. By the time that was done, there was no way to reintroduce her into Ochako.

So now the family was waiting for their newest child 'to hatch,' as Toshi kept putting it. Plus, there was now the whole floating issue of if Ochako and Izuku would want more children, with them all being so young and working as heroes. Also, there were now potential risks if Ochako even could have more children. So all in all, more Jinx normality.

Then came Himiko and Tsuyu's turn to experience the Jinx. You'd think they would be safe, but noooo, they were not. A fact Himiko learned at almost the cost to her life.

One absolutely terrifying night, Himiko stumbled into the bathroom, thinking she was about to deal with some of the lovely morning sickness that she used to give Ochako a hard time over while holding the poor woman's hair back. Ochako was the one up that night to give her a hand, carrying some bottle of water to give the pregnant woman to wash out her mouth. When she saw that what Himiko was ejecting from her mouth was bile and blood, she screamed so loud it immediately got the whole house in panic mode.

Tsuyu cratered a wall as she lept down the hall to get to Himiko. Getting the blonde to the hospital was Izuku's job, and that man flew to get her there. It took an emergency surgery to remove the twins and place the little boy and girl into incubation chambers, then, while they were closing her up, doctors pumped anti-toxins into Himiko.

The following morning they found out what happened. One of the twins had developed poison glands due to their Frog Quirk and as a result, had started to poison Himiko from within. One look at the little boy, his Aposematism skin—bright orange that faded to pale blue with dark black splotches over his body, like a dart frog—made it clear he was the culprit. By a miracle, the twin sister seemed immune to the poison her brother was excreting while they shared the womb.

All made recoveries, thanks to the wonders of modern medicine and Quirks, but like Ochako, Himiko and Tsuyu's children now had to finish gestation outside. At the very least, they were all being looked after in the same hospital.

When news reached the class, and everyone heard that everyonewas alright, several ended up sending the poly multiple boxes of condoms. Begging them, for their sanity, to please use some protection so they wouldn't have to worry about the Jinx anymore. 

So that's why Himiko was able to saunter around the house, when she should have been in the later stages of her pregnancy.

Walking into the living room, Himiko smirked as Toshi was already pressed up against the wall, bouncing from one foot to another. "Measure! Measure!"

"Okay, okay. Let's see what we're working with," Himiko said as knelt down and put the ruler on top of Toshi's head. "Oi, no tippy toes now," she chided with a laugh. Toshi puffed out his cheeks, but did as he was told. Holding the ruler in place, Himiko guided Toshi away, and sure enough, the ruler was above the last mark in the wood. By like half a centimeter at most.

"Well, what'do you know." Himiko laughed as Toshi bounced around celebrating.

"Mark it! Mark ot so I can show off to big sister!"

Himiko wagged a finger at Toshi, making small tut tuts. "Now, you know the rules. You only get to make a mark on your birthday."

"Awwww," Toshi pouted.

"Buuut, to celebrate, I'll get you some candy to eat."

"Candy before lunch?! Yay!" His eyes were big and round. "Do I get to try one of those gummy bears you hide in your dr—"

Himiko made quick cutting motions at her neck. "Nah uh uh! Remember, we don't talk about those. Also, those are Aunt Himiko's special adult candies. How about some chocolate instead?" 

"Yay!" Toshi cheered as he raced to the kitchen.

Standing up, Himiko silently debated the use in moving those special candies. Toshi always seemed to find her stuff no matter what. Her gummies. Her knives, which he liked to run around swinging like swords. The collar, which led to everyone debating if they needed to go buy a puppy immediately to explain that away. Fortunately, since he also found the cuffs, they could just say it was hero gear for capturing villains.

With Toshi out of the room, Himiko knew she really should go after him. 'Some' chocolate could become 'a lot' of chocolate very fast. But her eyes drifted to the board Toshi had been standing against. It was a wood beam used in most homes all over the country, one you would find at the end of a hallway or at a wall's corner. Simple wood, but now sanded smooth, stained and with a clear coat to keep it pretty.

Four inscriptions were marked into the wood. One for each of Toshi's four birthdays, showing how much he'd grown year to year. On either side of the beam were more beams. One for Eri, to mark her height starting at her eighth birthday, which she'd also added stickers onto, all of which were clear coated to make sure none of the unicorns peeled off. The other, unmarked but ready for Juuriko. The wall in the living room didn't just have these for the kids. There were ones for the adults too. They all had one. Then there was hers, the one responsible for starting this little family tradition.

Himiko still wasn't sure how he'd pulled it off. In the middle of a fucking villain uprising, jail breakers everywhere turning Japan into a war zone, the four of them, drifting place to place trying to solve it all themselves, tracking villains, fighting villains, dealing with those Knight's of Stain fucks, being bait, staying ahead of the heroes that were either happy to use them as bait or trying to get them back to school and dealing with a family feud that the Berry Springer Show would salivate at.

In the middle of all of that, after one night in her old, abandoned home, Izuku had somehow gotten this damned beam out of the house, and transported it somewhere safe. All because Himiko, in a moment of nostalgia, stood in front of it and asked her lovers if they'd measure her and see how much she'd grown.

Himiko ran her fingers over that brand new line that marked such a turning point for her. Her hand ran down, to the one wobbly line when she, heartbroken that her parents refused, tried to measure herself, just after her Quirk had manifested and she had found that bird. Then there were the marks at the bottom. Ones made by her parents so, so, long ago before everything. The night they first saw them, her name, age and height, written on the wood in black felt tip permanent marker, were scratched and gouged to the point you almost couldn't see them anymore. That was the last time they stayed like that.

Himiko smirked as she knelt down and ran her fingers at the base of the beam. The black ink stood out, perfectly legible against the gold filled and infused cuts and gashes. Wood to polished jeweled metal was smooth and perfect. Repaired and made better than new.

"Aunt Stabby! Aunt Stabby!" Toshi came running back in. In one arm were tucked several bars of chocolate, so he'd very much helped himself given the opportunity. But in his hand, he was waving her phone, which was pinging and chirping like mad. "Your phone."

Standing up, Himiko recognized some of those personal chirps as texts from her classmates.

Chirp

Beep

Ring

The notifications were going crazy, and they weren't stopping. "Whaaaat is going on?" Grabbing her phone, Himiko was about to look before she immediately pointed at a quickly retreating boy. "OI! You get three bars. Put the rest back!"

"Okay!"

Himiko wasn't sure, but she had a feeling she just got played. Boy just wormed three bars of chocolate out of her. But she could worry about the sugar rush coming later. Apparently there was some sort of crisis happening with all the texts she was getting. DM's and group chats were exploding. "I swear to god, what has everyone so freaked…"

Himiko read.

She put her phone down and rubbed her eyes.

"Spit Fire, cover your ears!"

She read again, juuuust to make sure.

"HE FUCKING PROPOSED?!"

With dawn's first light only just cresting over the horizon and the grass and trees still damp with morning dew, both 1-A and 1-B trudged out of the campsite, following behind their homeroom teachers. Neither seemed overly concerned with their dreary charges. Ochako walked forward with eyes blurry and half closed while behind her, Izuku did his best to make sure she was pointed in the right direction, while also fussing with her hair, trying to pat down the sides as she suffered from some pretty bad bed head.

Behind him, Himiko rested her chin in the nap of his neck while her arms were wrapped around his shoulders, hanging onto him while she shuffled her feet, unable to actually work up the energy to walk. Tsuyu worked to get her blonde hair up into a pair of buns, though given how sleepy she felt, her fingers were clumsy and got tangled up more than a few times.

At the very least, no one had a hangover.

The two classes were brought into a large clearing, a suspiciously far distance away from the main campsite. Mei was already there, with her portable lab already set up, and plenty of odds, ends and dohickeys of varying sizes and questionable legality ready to use. Much to Izuku's terror.

Up on a small platform of raised stone, Aizawa, Midnight and Vlad King watched the group of kids get settled in front of them. It was like looking at a hoard of sleep deprived zombies.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" Aizawa was careful to make sure he raised his voice enough to get as many of the kids to flinch as possible. "Today, we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest."

The kids all straightened up as at last, it was time to get at the heart of why they were all here. The teachers saw that the kids were taking this seriously, even if they were still half asleep.

"I'm sure many of you already know why you're here, but let me spell it out for you. The goal of this training camp is to increase the strength of everyone's Quirks and with that, for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses."

While the first bit was known, that last bit, not so much. Murmurs spread, and some of the students looked at each other as they took that in. Provisional licenses were a serious step, and most knew that it was something they'd be prepping for in their second year. After they'd had chances at another work study.

Vlad King noticed the confused looks and addressed them. "We've chosen to pursue this so you all could be prepared to face the growing hostilities and threats that are becoming more and more the norm." He eyed them all. "The unfortunate truth is that the world seems to be getting more dangerous of late, and we teachers want to make sure you all have every experience at your disposal to help make sure you can handle it."

Aizawa nodded. "That includes being able to use your Quirks without having to worry about breaking any laws. Hence the licenses."

"Did he look over here?" Izuku whispered.

Himiko, head still resting on his shoulder, grumbled out a soft 'probably.'

Itsuka raised her hand. "So this whole trip is to develop our Quirks? But there are forty two of us. And we all have different Quirks, so how are we supposed to know what we're developing and how? Can you be more specific, sensei?"

Vlad King nodded. "You're looking at things wrong. I'm sure you all think that each of your Quirks will require special training techniques to help your progress, but this training will be Quirk development at its most basic. We're not looking to develop specific abilities. It's like Eraser Head said. Strength is the factor we're working on. We're accelerating the growth you would have gotten by just the natural use of your Quirks as you got older."

Midnight cracked her whip. "Think of it like this. When you work out, your muscle fibers are overused and they break and become stronger and thicker. Quirks are the same. If you keep using them, they become stronger, and if you don't, then they waste away." Izuku hummed to himself, recalling that All Might had said the exact same thing to him when they had first met, explaining that was why his Quirk had been in the state it was. "In other words kids, there's just one thing to do! Break through your limits! Plus Ultra style!"

Reiko looked around, no one really able to tell if her droopy eyes were from being tired or just her normal expression. "Regardless of the type of training we're doing, is it safe for us to take this on, with only three teachers here? All of us pushing, given the variety we all have, could be dangerous."

Aizawa pointed off to the side. "The inherent dangers of this intense training is why we came out to the middle of nowhere, and why they're here."

The tired students quickly learned that they were not alone as the Wild WIld Pussycats jumped out to make their appearance.

"That's right! The four of us are one!" A new voice for 1-A, but one that sent a shiver of fear throughout 1-B. Ragdoll smiled brightly as she struck a pose, spinning around with crazed grace.

"Lock on with these sparkling gazes!" Mandalay proclaimed as she joined in. "We've come to lend a paw and help!"

Another new voice joined the cast, though his one was one of terror and menace. "Coming out of nowhere…" Tiger flexed, his huge muscles bulging.

Pixie-Bob youthfully came in to finish the role call. "Stingingly cute and catlike!"

"Wild, Wild Pussycats! The full version!" The four proclaimed as they all took up their group pose.

Himiko, grouchy as ever, turned to leave. "Nope, fuck this. I'm out." She didn't get very far, and multiple members of the squad grabbed her, not letting her escape.

"Based on their track record and wide range of Quirks, these four are the most logical choice to train your Quirks in a short amount of time," Aizawa explained.

"That's right! We're the key to your success!" Ragdoll boasted, still sticking to her action pose while her teammates had already stood up. "With my Search Quirk, I can know all the info about up to a hundred people by just looking at them!" Her large round eyes scanned over the kids. "I can find out their location and weaknesses, too!"

"My Earthflow will let me make the perfect places for each person to train!" Pixie-Bob smirked. "As some of you have already experienced." She either didn't notice the looks 1-A shot at her or didn't care.

Mandalay stepped up. "With my Telepath, I can give advice to multiple people at once. So I'll be observing everyone to make sure you all are getting the most out of this."

All and all, the three members seemed to have Quirks very well suited to help everyone. Then Tiger growled, "And it's my job to assault you through punching and kicking." He popped his knuckles, an amazing feat with those big kitty cat gloves. "All you power-up types, come to me! Tiger's Bootcamp is about to begin!"

Every close quarters combat student felt a chill run down their spines. Those from 1-B were an extra shade of blue.

Before the death bell could toll, Aizawa at least offered some a reprieve. Because while 1-B seemed to be buying in, he could see in the eyes of some of his students, there were some that weren't convinced. Not that much of a surprise, especially given who weren't a hundred percent bought in just yet. Coming out of a few life or death situations would give anyone an ego boost.

"Bakugou," Aizawa called out, while at the same time he tossed a ball over to him. "I want you to throw that."

Izuku peeked over the taller blond's shoulder. "Hey that's…"

"Oh, it's the thing from the fitness test," Eijirou finished.

Aizawa noted, "Your previous record, from right after you started school, was 705.2 meters. I want you to show everyone how much you've improved."

Katsuki tossed up the ball a few times as he walked off, giving himself a little space.

"Oh, we're checking our progress?"

"Makes sense. Since a lot has happened these past three months. I'm sure they want to have us all set a new baseline."

"Maybe he can throw it a kilometer or something now!"

Izuku crossed his arms. "I mean if you want to see improvement." Ochako elbowed him with an eye roll.

However, Aizawa had heard him. "Your unusual Quirk awakening will skew the results. So it needs to be Bakugou."

"Eh?"

The small exchange was drowned out as more of 1-A cheered Katsuki on, while 1-B watched with interest. Or exasperated interest.

"Do it, Bakugou!"

Katsuki smirked, as he started his windup. "Then, here I go." Just like before, right as he threw the ball, he added an explosion to send it rocketing off into the sky. "GO TO HELL!"

Ochako and Himiko deadpanned, "Go to hell. Seriously?"

At the very least, the explosion got everyone woken up and their ears ringing. Except for Kyouka, for whom Momo had quickly put on a pair of noise canceling headphones.

"Thanks, Yao-momo."

Momo smiled brightly.

"709.6 meters," Aizawa echoed off of his phone, showing everyone the digital display. Almost immediately, the whole feel of the scene changed. Katsuki looked absolutely stunned, while many in 1-A were shocked and muttering.

"Huh? That can't be right?"

"It's way less than I thought."

Even 1-B were looking amongst themselves, though Vlad King was glad to see that many were coming to the right conclusion. There had always been this undertone of fear in the class, that while horrible, the villain attacks that 1-A had weathered had put them at a huge advantage in terms of progress. Clearly, that gap wasn't as big as they thought it was.

Aizawa handed the device over to Vlad King. "It's been about three months since you started high school. You all have been through various experiences. So you all have definitely improved." Aizawa glanced at those that went through I-Island. "But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with some increase in stamina. As you can see, your Quirks themselves have not improved that much."

"I guess that's why he didn't want you throwing the ball, Deku," Ochako whispered. "Your 'awakening' would mess up his message."

"This is why, starting today, your focus will be on improving your Quirks." Then he smiled, and sent the fear of god into the large group. "It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die."

Vlad King then stepped forward. "As 1-A already set their baseline at the start of school, 1-B will do so in a similar way. We'll run through several fitness tests using your Quirks. Then at the end of camp, we'll do them again, so we can judge your growth." His eyes turned hard. "And to see who wasn't taking this time seriously."

Again, more fear of god was spread.

Izuku was a little disappointed that he wasn't able to watch 1-B go through their tests. He only got a chance to watch Itsuka, as she enlarged her hands and laid the ball in one of her giant palms. She then used her other hand to flick the ball and send it shooting off into the sky.

"Midoriya, come with me," Aizawa ordered.

My turn now… oh boy.

Walking behind his teacher, Izuku winced as he got a look at his friends and classmates who had already had their meeting with Aizawa, and were given their own personal training routine.

Tenya was running, and running and running, all to increase his stamina. Katsuki was plunging his hands into boiling water to expand his sweat glands while also firing off explosions into the air repeatedly, to further boost the power and scale of his attacks. "Damn it! DIE!"

The screaming while doing it was not necessary to the training.

Shouto was sitting in a large metal drum filled with water. Around it, pillars of fire and giant glaciers were formed and replaced. Alternating between ice and fire, Shouto was working to make the temperature of the water uniform. This also helped him get used to the frigid cold of his Quirk while at the same time letting him work on his fire in rapid succession, with the goal of controlling his fire's temperature.

Fumikage was stuck in a cave, in darkness, training to keep Dark Shadow under control even in an environment where it was prone to run wild.

Hitoshi and Kouji were side by side, yelling off into the distance. Both working to increase the reach of their Quirks, they were now doing vocal exercises to build up their vocal cords. Kouji had the added benefit of also working on his shyness since he was having to do the training right next to someone, who had jolted hearing him raise his voice. "Holy crap, still not used to that from you."

Himiko attempts to leave had been thwarted when, after Midnight's threat of punishment had failed, the three of them told her she'd be in all their doghouses if she dipped and they were the only ones doing any training.

It had only been a short time since she'd started, but Himiko was already standing in a puddle of gray sludge after several dozen transformations, looking absolutely miserable. Her training was to help extend the time limit she could hold a transformation. So she was given the barest minimum amount of blood, a single drop from a syringe, which was enough to hold the transformation for thirty seconds by her estimate.

She was told to hold it for two minutes.

Hearing 'Midnight' swear was very entertaining. Also shocking since no one had known that it was going to be Midnight's blood she was going to be training with. Even Himiko had paused in her rant after hearing Midnight's voice.

As the form melted away, and Himiko was left gasping and sludgy, Izuku had to be honest, that new sports leotard she'd been given to wear so her sweats didn't get destroyed when she used her Quirk and leave her naked, looked really nice clinging to her body.

He was also sure he wasn't the only one to notice it.

Tsuyu, after that first melting, had paused while climbing the mountain, and Ochako, at first, looked like she was trying to steer the bubble she was in just to get another look.

Speaking of, when Ochako sailed on by this time, floating in a bubble and looking green, Izuku winced. "Oh, poor Mochi-Bun."

"I'd be more concerned with yourself than her," Aizawa said simply. After seeing they had come far enough, he turned to Izuku. "Use that tactile move of yours."

Izuku blinked, but didn't question the request. Once he was sparking up, Aizawa nodded, satisfied. "Good, you can do it instantly now. In the term finals it seemed like there was a delay."

"There was, but I've gotten… several chances to use it since then."

Aizawa turned to where Mei was coming up, her portable station making all kinds of clanking noises as she pushed it along. "You have him bugged, right? What kind of power output is he at?"

"Eh, holding steady at five percent," Mei answered after checking her gizmos.

"Where?! Where do you have me bugged?!" Izuku patted himself down, desperately looking for the tracking device. "Wait, you didn't put something in me right?!"

Before Mei could answer, Aizawa was calling out, "Pixie-Bob, drop the boulder on him!"

"Drop the wha—"

"You might want to catch this," Aizawa advised, like he was telling someone how to tie their shoe.

Suddenly, Izuku was under a shadow, and he reacted just in time to get his hands up and catch the classic mini-sized rock before it flattened him. Knees and elbows bent as Izuku absorbed the impact, grunting and straining to hold up the rock as he started to lower it so it rested on his shoulders.

"Fix your form Midoriya. I want an overhead press," Aizawa ordered. "None of this Atlas stance." Izuku made a strained grunt, at least acknowledging he had heard the request. "All Might told me he had you carry him around all the time when he was training you. This rock isn't that much heavier than he is."

Izuku grit his teeth, really wanting to point out that when he was carrying All Might, the giant had been sitting on his shoulders. He hadn't been lifting him over his head. Second, Izuku really wanted to know what 'isn't that much heavier' meant to his teacher. "Jiminy, mother-loving, toaster strudel!"

Mei gasped. "Midoriya! Watch your profanity."

Izuku had wondered, given his current story of using his Quirk to boost his strength, if he had been destined for Tiger's training. Watching the man use Tetsutetsu and Eijirou as a pair of clubs on the other 'power-up types,' Izuku was pretty sure he'd prefer it over whatever hell he was about to get put through. Because there was a catch coming. Every single drill for 1-A was either made by Aizawa or approved by him. So that meant, mixed in with the strength training was a catch.

Eat more sugar to boost strength, and also get more resilient to the blood sugar crash.

Get shoved into a bubble and sent careening over trees and mountains. Get a higher tolerance for stomach sickness, but also deal with disorientation while weightless.

Get used as a club, to be able to take hits, but also be strong enough to dish out punishment.

Well bring it on, Aizawa-Sensei! I'm ready for anything you can throw at me!

"So All Might told me you can't use your Quirks normally when you're using this new technique." Izuku felt his confidence suddenly and violently stall out. "So while you break through your limits in using your Quirk to boost your physical strength, you're also going to be getting used to using this technique in parallel with your Boric Pyre and your regular Psychokinesis applications."

It was true. While he had developed his ability to use One for All relatively quickly, he hadn't yet got the hang of using it and his other Quirks at the same time. It had been an issue he'd had before when his Boric Pyre manifested.

During a rather contentious day of trying, and failing, at getting a hang of using both, Ochako had come up with an analogy to describe his issues. She had used driving a car as an example of multi-tasking, pointing out that when a person is driving, they are doing multiple things at the same time, and their attention is spread out in multiple ways. Keeping track of their speed. Looking at their mirrors. Gas, break and clutch. Izuku hadn't known what a clutch was, and Ochako and All Might both cringed so hard. But over all, she had helped him see that learning to multitask was just something he had to take one step at a time.

'When you're learning how to drive, you get taken to an empty field or parking lot, Deku.'

In hindsight, Ochako's terrifying skill behind the wheel made her explanation make way more sense.

Izuku also got the feeling he was about to learn how to drive again, but with no brakes.

Suddenly, several of Pixie-Bob's dirt beasts popped out of the ground. Smaller than the previous ones, but still ferocious looking.

Make that going down a mountain road with no brakes.

Aizawa walked in front of Izuku, took a step back, and dragged his foot across the ground, making a line in the dirt. "You can only use your Tactile Psychokinesis on the rock. I'll be reviewing Hatsume's data to make sure you didn't cheat. But while you're holding this up, you need to make sure those golems don't cross the line."

"H-how?" Izuku would have kicked himself if he wasn't getting crushed to death.

Aizawa smirked. "Go plus ultra. You have plenty of abilities to break them before they get too close right?"

Oooh no.

While Izuku now fully realized the hell he was in, Aizawa turned his attention to the other member of this test, who was starting to rub her hands together excitedly at all the new data she was going to get to collect.

"I don't think you should be relaxing." Aizawa's gaze was now squarely on Mei. "I told you yesterday you were part of the camping trip now. Right?"

Mei blinked. "Sooo, you want me to look at Midoriya really hard? You know there are two to four girls that'll try to kill me for doing that?"

Aizawa wasn't impressed. "You came here to offer your support as Midoriya's tech. That is the skill you use to save lives over your Quirk. So that's the skill you'll be improving while you're here. And, we're going to make sure you can apply that skill even while under duress."

Aizawa pointed at the golems. "Those golems aren't going to attack Midoriya if he can't stop them from crossing the line. Their target is this." Aizawa rapped his knuckles on the workstation, and Mei made a very distressed noise in her throat. "You will keep Midoriya's vitals and Quirk levels monitored as you planned, and I expect a full summary report, a full detailed summary report, at the end of the day. But your job is to also help him keep the golems away while he's holding up that rock."

"Oh! Well, I got plenty of babies that can—"

"One item for one golem."

"…Eh?"

"You can only use one of your gadgets once against a single golem." Aizawa looked at some of the items Mei had started to bring out. "And nothing prefabricated. Everything has to be built from scratch. And can only be used on golems that are a foot away from the line." Aizawa had his smile back. "I think I heard Power Loader call this an engineering sprint."

"Child abuse!"

"When I do it, it's called training. And I get paid."

As Aizawa walked off, and the golems started to advance, Mei began to scream as she started grabbing her tools to get to work. "I hate your teacher!"

Izuku felt the muscles in his arms strain as he pushed up against the rock, hefting it up a few inches so he could switch his focus for the briefest of moments, to suck in a deep breath and blast the closest advancing rock monster in the face with his fire, before switching back to One for All and catch the rock all over again. "Get in line!"

All Might gave me One for All so I could become his successor. It's been hard work to even get to this point. It was Ochako that helped me finally understand how to use One for All safely. But I can't afford to take it easy. I need to be able to use everything I have. Just keep thinking about the advice Ochako gave you. Gas, break…

Izuku pushed the rock back up into the air, this time focusing his Psychokinesis to slam into one of the approaching golems. "…What's a clutch again?"

Training was grueling and tough. The kids were getting put through the ringer, everything meant to push them and break them, just so Aizawa and Vlad King could build them back up.

Urk! Oh no.

Ochako, after staying inside the bouncy ball for the better part of the morning, could feel that sour taste at the very back of her tongue. Her mouth was starting to water and her dizzy, twisting, stomach just clenched in on itself.

Yup, gonna hurl!

Throwing up was nothing new to Ochako. Granted, until yesterday she'd done an extremely good job of not pushing herself, and her Quirk, to the point of making her vomit. But it wasn't an alarming event like it used to be for her.

What was alarming was that she was in an enclosed bubble. That was rolling around a mountainside. If she threw up in that, things would get nasty in a hurry. There was also the alarming realization that all those extra bowls of food she'd eaten last night may have been a huge mistake. Because the way her insides were tying themselves into knots, this was going to be a chunky geyser.

Fuuuck fuck fuck fuck! Let me out! Le'me out now!

Tapping her fingers together, Ochako grunted as she got her weight back and fell into the bottom of the bubble. An emergency flotation device of some kind, not that it reallymattered. Except that it saved her from hitting the ground with a thud.

Clawing at the transparent plastic, Ochako clawed her way out. She wasn't sure if she was going to get in trouble for getting out early, but it was a small price to pay to not be inside something that would quickly turn into a vomit balloon.

"Oop, looks like a kitten is making an escape," one of the Pussycats called out. The slightly manic laugh that followed was the only clue Ochako got it was Ragdoll. "Oooh wait. We might need some wet floor signs in a second."

Bent over, hands on her knees, Ochako spat and drooled as she suddenly realized that her inner ear was still tumbling down the mountain. Coming to a sudden stop felt worse than being in the damned bubble. "Oh no. Oh please make everything, urk, stop spinning."

After a few seconds, Ochako thought maybe she was going to be fine. Maybe she wasn't about to puke up five plus bowls of rice and—

Bleeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaa!

Wet floor signs weren't what was needed. Levees and sandbags for floods was what they needed. This was full on, 3 AM after a night of bar hopping vomiting. So Ochako didn't really care that she heard some gags and a few laughs around her. Or someone getting smacked into a tree by Tiger for taking a break in the middle of boot camp. What she cared about was trying to not get puke all over her shoes or fall into the puke lake forming at her feet. Neither task easy, because the world was not done shifting under her.

Another heave, another torrent, and this one hurt. Her body was tensing up now, and her head felt like it was going to pop off from the pressure. This sucked. And it was about to get worse. She leaned over more, and her knees buckled. Dizzy, lightheaded, yup, she was going down.

Someone screamed.

Then a lot of people screamed.

"Look out! Boulder!"

"Gah!"

Something big and heavy got tossed into the air, and landed with a crash. At the same time, strong arms and hands got a hold of Ochako, keeping her up, and after making sure she wasn't going to collapse, a gentle hand moved to help Ochako keep her hair back. "I got you Ochako. I got you."

Izuku stayed by her side, his own training regiment literally tossed into the trees, as he helped get Ochako through this mess.

Finally, her system emptied and her balance back to normal, Ochako could comfortably stay bent over, hands on her knees while she spat on the ground trying to work the rancid taste of bile out of her mouth. Izuku was rubbing her back, while keeping a hand on her shoulder, just in case.

"I'm… good. I'm good," Ochako managed to get out.

God that sucked.

Standing up, Ochako took stock. She had made it out of that with luckily minimal splashback. It was her U.A. sweat top that was speckled, so she got that off.

"I got water bottles, and rags."

"Water sounds good," Ochako wheezed out, reaching for one of them even before her sweat shirt was off. She tossed it away and grabbed the offered water. Pausing when she saw the worried look Izuku was giving her, his eyes were darting all over the place, looking for any sign she was not okay. The amount of worry was not exactly normal. "Deku, it's fine. I've thrown up before."

She really didn't need Izuku worrying over her like this. It was sweet, sure, but, Come on, you don't need to baby me Deku. What's gotten into y… Oh.

It hit her like a punch to the gut, that Izuku needed to make sure she was okay. Needed to help her. "Um… Deku. Maybe you could… help me clean myself off?"

Izuku nodded immediately. "Of course!" He was already soaking the rag with one of the bottles. "Come on. A short walk will help you feel better," Izuku said while he dabbed the wetted cloth at her face. If there was a risk of getting into trouble just blowing off his own training to help Ochako, he really didn't give a damn.

Neito sighed watching the pair. "Gee, all this PDA over the gorilla woman's poor tummy ache. You think people would have higher—"

"ACHOO!"

"Gazoontiiiiii—Ooooh my god, heads up!" Pony yelled in a panic, waving her arms and doing anything really to get Neito's attention.

While she managed to grab the attention of everyone, from 1-A and 1-B, the teachers and the Wild Wild Pussycats, Neito was too busy thinking his latest dig was the greatest ever. So he didn't see the wad of slime Tsuyu hurled out until just before it went splat against his face, and stuck to it like a thick loogie you'd play with in the tissue paper as a little kid.

Minoru hissed. "Oooh that is… so gross."

"Did… Tsu actually say 'achoo' before she did that?" Mezou asked.

"Whoops, kero," came the most dull, uninterested, and unapologetic apology said in all of human history.

A few from 1-B chuckled at the predicament. "HMMMMMMPH!" Neito started screaming and running around while others in his class were debating if they wanted to touch him to help him. There was just so much slime.

Neito paused and then started making all new kinds of noises. "HMMMMMMMMMPH ARGGGGGG!"

"Oh… I think some of my stomach toxins got mixed in. Whoops." How that second whoops sounded even less sincere was a wonder for the ages. She didn't even bother to stay to see how Neito felt with the mild agitation to his skin as she led a laughing Ochako but glaring Izuku away to give him a hand helping clean Ochako up.

Himiko watching the three walk off, promptly dropped her transformation, and walked off after them.

"Okay, you need to take some deep breaths," Himiko all but ordered when the four were in a decently private little section of the forest. Not too far, they could still hear their classmates training easily, but far enough they could have a private talk.

Izuku, after wiping down Ochako's mouth and face, and putting a damp cloth over her neck, was kneeling down and using another rag to help clean off Ochako's shoes of any specks. He paused for a moment to give his girlfriend a quick glance. "She seems pretty calm now. I think we're out of the woods… um, the metaphorical woods."

"Wasn't talking about her," Himiko retorted, putting her hands on her hips while she gave Izuku a very pointed look.

Izuku blinked. "Um?"

"You owe Tsu a huge apology for making her stick her neck out like that. Everyone was playing off her stunt as a joke, but Aizawa could easily still bring the hammer down on her," Himiko said with some curtness.

Tsuyu tapped her chin. "I'm pretty sure I'm in the clear. If I wasn't, I'd probably be wrapped up by Aizawa-sensei and getting detention or thrown out of camp. Not being allowed to just walk away like this."

Izuku was on his feet, but his face had a stubborn set. "Hold on. I didn't do anything. Why are you getting on my case?"

Himiko narrowed her good eye. "Seriously? You didn't get a chance to do anything because twice now, someone's stepped in before you did something bone headed."

"I—"

"You sparked, kero," Tsuyu said. Not accusingly or anything. Just simply stating a fact.

Izuku frowned, his stubborn face still set, before he looked over at Tsuyu. "Tsu, I'm sorry you felt you needed to step in like that. But I never aske—" Thump. "Ow!"

Himiko reared back, and kicked Izuku in the shin. Unfortunately, since she wasn't wearing shoes, just that transformation proof leotard, she pretty much hurt her own foot about as much as Izuku's shin. Both were hopping on one leg before they were sitting on the ground, rubbing their boo boos.

"I swear to god, I keep forgetting how hard your body is, god damn it," Himiko grumbled.

"Well, why'd you kick me then?"

"Deku," Ochako sighed. "You were about to say a really dumb thing."

Izuku glowered up at her. "All I was going to say was—"

Himiko grabbed a handful of grass, and tossed it into Izuku's face. "If one of us was in trouble. Would you wait for us to ask for help?"

"U-um…"

"Exactly. 'The essence of being a hero is meddling even when you aren't asked to.' Pretty sure that's All Might's quote, right?" Himiko threw that out. She frowned at the slightly astonished looks. "I do pay attention in class you know."

Izuku pulled his legs up and wrapped his arms around them. "I am sorry you're having to get involved, Tsu." Much more convincing now that some of the stubborn edge was taken off. "He's just… really getting under my skin."

"Hey, I'm just as pissed off at this jackass but we have to be careful about how we go about getting back at the douche." Himiko paused when again, she got more looks. "Stealth expert, remember? You wanna kill someone without alerting their friends, you gotta be patient."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ahem," Himiko coughed into her hand. "Figuratively of course."

Izuku rubbed his chin. "So what you're saying… is that I should hit him when he's asleep and no one is awake to stop me?"

Bonk!

Ochako rapped her knuckles on Izuku's head. "What we're saying is that you need to stop worrying about retaliating against Monoma, period." Izuku gave her a look, which she responded with a soft but very firm rebuke. "As much as I love, and let me repeat, love that you punched Bakugou in the face, you know darn well that that's going to be used against you if you retaliate against that 1-B douche now."

"None of the teachers actually have any proof, you know," Izuku countered.

Himiko groaned. "You know damn well they know what you did. Our teachers are annoying pains in the ass. Not stupid."

"Also, All Might is a teacher. So you can't say the teachers don't know, kero."

Izuku had a befuddled look on his face as he worked to put that together. "Oh… right."

Sighing, Izuku crossed his arms, apparently showing he was going to relent, but not happily. "Fine. I get it. No punching." The three relaxed. "But I'm not going to pretend I'm happy about the way he keeps going on."

"…Bitch, no one is saying you have to put on a dumb smile and pretend you're not bothered by him. You're welcome to tell him to shut the fuck up, or to fuck off. Or take his 1-B inferiority complex and shove it up his ass." Izuku blinked at the crude comments Himiko was throwing his way. "The issue is, you're skipping the talking part and going straight to taking his head off."

"Oh," Izuku chipped out, acting like it was the first time he realized he could just say something to Neito, and not punch. "I guess I haven't actually tried asking him to stop, have I?"

Himiko threw her hands into the air, exasperated. "Oh my god! Progress!"

While Tsuyu gave Himiko some head pats, congratulating her on a job well done, Ochako took the chance to really drive home their point. "Deku. We know you're not okay right now. You're still hurting after everything. We've known, and that's why we're more than happy and willing to step in."

She knelt down and wrapped Izuku up in a hug, which he leaned into. "And the fact that you're only now thinking about trying to talk to solve this problem, should let you know you're not okay, too. Because you know, you can't just… use One for All in retaliation. That's not something you'd ever just do."

It was true. Now that Izuku was actually thinking about the whole situation… If he had been 'sparking up,' as Katsuki, and now Tsuyu, had said when they had stepped in… Then there was the very real threat that if he had punched Neito…

Izuku shuddered when the image of a watermelon popping during a game of suikawari flashed in his mind.

At the very least, everyone was on the same page now. Of course the girls were still sticking with their agreement, and were ready to do what needed to be done to prevent anything from getting a horrible reaction out of Izuku. Ochako herself was wondering if it wouldn't be a good idea to take some initiative and deal with Neito in a way that made his class responsible.

Might be time to have a little talk with their rep.

While everyone was now on the same page, and back on their feet, Tsuyu didn't think ending their conversation on such a serious note was all that good of an idea. No one likes ending conversations on a downer topic. So she decided that it was time for Himiko to fall on the nickname grenade. Or get thrown on it, same thing really. "Midoriya. What kind of nicknames will Himi-chan get once you three are going steady?"

There was the immediate reaction to Tsuyu's assumption that the three were going to get to that point. Himiko might say it like it was a sure thing, but hearing Tsuyu say it hit different. However, any thoughts on the matter were brutally stabbed to death as Himiko realized what Tsuyu had just done. Ochako too, but she was grinning ear to ear and looked ready to eat up all of Himiko's anguish.

Izuku, still blushing at the idea of the steady thing, still didn't miss a beat. Which was alarming/sweet since it meant this was a thing he was thinking about. "Well, I was thinking it could be Sweet Tooth, Hickey Honey, Bitey Beauty, Sexy Stabby, Madam Sucky," Himiko started crying while Ochako and Tsuyu weathered the gooey fluffy horror that was Izuku, "My Little Pomegranate, Juice Box…. Oh, and Bite Mommy."

Himiko, utterly embarrassed and humiliated, and not in the 'fun' way but the 'oh god all this positive love and affection is horrible,' way, shrieked, "WHY AM I MOMMY TOO?!" Her hand whipped out and pointed at Tsuyu, who made an alarmed croak that suddenly she was about to get made a target., "What?! Does she become Frog Mommy?!"

Alarm twisted into distress, as Tsuyu was downright panicking as she looked at Izuku.

"No, that's silly," Izuku rebuffed the accusation that he'd ever use such a silly name.

Tsuyu put a hand over her heart and let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god, kero."

"She'd be Tongue Mommy," Izuku stated with a dead ass straight face.

Ochako looked for a tree to puke behind, while Tsuyu was left comatose to the world. Himiko was close to ripping out her hair as she screamed, "WHY?! WHY THAT?!"

"I mean, with the way you two talked about the things she did to you with her tongue, I figured you'd know why."

Himiko pointed at Izuku accusingly, mouth flapping to chew him out, but no words came out. She then snapped her fingers and swore. "Fuck, that makes sense now."

"HIMI-CHAN?!"

"Hey, you're the one that throat swabbed me and then didn't stop me from bragging about it the day after. This is your fault."

Ochako, done throwing up and trying to get her dignity back—which was really really really hard when it seemed like her boyfriend's whole existence right now was made to fluster her, Himiko and Tsuyu—finally asked the question she wasn't sure she wanted the answer to. "Deku. I love you. I do. But… why, and I ask this with all the love I can, WHY DO YOU KEEP CALLING US MOMMY?!"

Izuku smiled, that bright innocent, heart clenching and stomach fluttering smile. "I mean, I am a mama's boy."

And in one fell swoop, Izuku KO'd the three. Because, there was no way on god's green earth that any of them could hear that, and not have so, fucking, many, naughty thoughts.

Ochako's face went neon and she had to slap her hand to her face, because she was pretty sure her nose was bleeding from how much blood was rushing up there. Tsuyu made a sound that you only hear if you live near a frog filled pond in spring, or on the educational channel when the host of the animal documentary is talking about frog's mating cycles.

And Himiko, all pretenses were gone. All shame evaporated away as she wiped drool from her mouth and licked her lips. She made no secret that she wanted to jump at Izuku right there, and do unspeakable things to his body.

And Izuku just smiled that innocent, thousand watt, knowing smile. He might not be brave enough to flirt and tease like Himiko could. Or able to match Tsuyu's natural talent for bluntness and animal intensity. And trying to out cute Ochako was a doomed enterprise from the start. But, if there was one thing Izuku Midoriya could do, it was to shower these girls in so much love and affection. Because in this, he had no shame. He was more than happy to make a fool of himself to make sure they knew they were loved. To sing their praises and let the world know just how amazing they were.

And if it got them a little flustered, a little hot, a little needy? Well, Izuku found out after spending a few days with Ochako alone on I-Island, that he liked kissing. Like, he liked kissing a lot. Kissing and being kissed.

"So wait, would that make me your Baby's Mommy then?"

Izuku's head snapped to the side, startled by the sudden addition to the group. Then he chuckled nervously as Mei strolled up to them. "O-oh? Um… I guess so?" Izuku scratched his neck with a goofy grin.

Boy I think that one could get me into trouble.

…

You think?

Mei's question was like a bucket of cold water getting thrown on the three as they turned to find her strolling up to them. Though, when you're running that hot, water will only do so much. Though it was enough to get Himiko to grumble about techs cutting in line.

"Just so you know, your absence from the training grounds has been noticed. Fortunately Midnight is buying us a little time. But your Grouchy Greasy teacher let me know the clock's ticking and if you're not careful, you're all going to be taking the extra lessons along with the guys that failed your tests."

Izuku winced. "Oof, yeah, we definitely don't want that." Izuku looked at Ochako. "I mean, if you're feeling better?" Ochako nodded, still not sure she trusted herself to open her mouth. Not that she was afraid of throwing up again, but because she was pretty sure what would come out would be a sentence that included 'take' and 'me.'

"Okay, then let's go before we get in trouble. Thanks for grabbing us, Hatsume."

"We'll be… right behind you, kero."

Izuku looked at them before nodding, walking off with Mei.

After Izuku and Mei were past the trees and out of sight, three pleasantly mortified girls took stock of their situation. Himiko then decided the best thing she could do was open her mouth and use it to say words she thought up herself. With her own brain. So, you know, that worked out. "So, when do we tell Inko that her baby boy calls us mommy too?"

…

"Tsu."

"Kero?"

"Smack her please."

Tsuyu's tongue shot out like a whip, SLAP!

"Ow, what the fuck?!"

Himiko's complaint was ignored while Ochako and Tsuyu just kept watch where Izuku had left.

"Tsu."

"Yes?"

"Did you just spank Toga's ass?"

Himiko had some choice swears as she rubbed her poor cheeks. Tsuyu answered with a blunt, "I know what I'm about, kero."

Midnight eyed Himiko as the girl walked up to her training stage and went to grab one of the little syringes like nothing had happened.

"Anything you want to say?" Midnight asked.

"Nope," Himiko replied back.

Midnight frowned, crossing her arms. "Really? So nothing happened with Midoriya then?"

"Oh, plenty is happening. But we're taking care of it. Don't need teachers sticking their noses into things."

Ragdoll strolled on by. "Hmm, kittens should be focusing on their training. If one of them is troubled, let a cat be the one to help." She made little grabby hands with her paw mitts. "It's why we're here."

Both watched the Pussycat keep strolling by before Midnight pointed at her. "She's right, you know. You all are here to focus on a task."

"And yet Monoma is free to take time to give Izuku a hard time," Himiko countered before she paused. "We're looking after him."

"Midoriya?" Midnight looked over where Izuku and Mei were returning to their training area, laughing off some good-natured ribbing from a few classmates asking for a warning before he tossed a giant boulder in their general direction. "I've been meaning to talk to him—"

"Oh god no. Please let that boy breathe. He doesn't need you old folks coming down on him," Himiko mockingly pleaded.

"He's been through a lot in the past few days… on top of dealing with a lot of horrible situations most of you wouldn't be dealing with until you've graduated."

"He talks to us. We have this under control." Himiko paused, then pointed her thumb over towards where Vlad King was running some of his students through the ringer for their Quirk training. "You wanna help? Go get that guy to get his class in line. Monoma especially."

Himiko blinked, then frowned, when Midnight scratched at her neck. "Sooo… about that…"

"What?"

"The topic of how… 1-B has acted with 1-A has been brought up before… and Vlad King has…" Midnight searched for the best way to put this. "Been very… against taking any steps in putting a muzzle on his students. Rivalries build character. If they have chips on their shoulders, then it's just more coal to fuel their fires. That sort of thing."

"…So he's encouraging their bullshit?"

"…Yes."

"Holy fucking shit, what the fuck?"

Midnight held up a hand. "Just remember who yourhomeroom teacher is before you throw stones."

"He brought up Izuku's mom."

"Once," Midnight pointed out, though clearly not happily, "and Vlad King let me know that after Monoma regained consciousness, he made sure that he knew to drop that. And he hasn't taken a direct shot at Midoriya since. He's poking the class, like he always does." Midnight frowned thoughtfully. "Unless there's something going on you'd like to tell me about, so I can get involved, well… Midoriya is going to have to grow a thick skin."

Himiko said nothing, and just went back to her training. Midnight for her part glanced back to where Izuku was, feeling that despite Himiko's objections, it might be a good idea to figure out where his head was. No one, aside from Ochako, Himiko and Tsuyu had had any meaningful conversations with Izuku since the attack. Even All Might hadn't had an opportunity to really talk with him. So there were a lot of unknowns. And unfortunately it seemed like the three were closing ranks around him.

Which in of itself was setting off alarm bells.

Midnight knew what Ochako was capable of. Her fights in the sports festival gave a pretty good indication she wasn't above throwing hands. Or confronting someone she felt was hurting Izuku. Such as the locker room incident.

Himiko… was, well, Himiko.

Tsuyu was the surprise wild card. Her early feelings had been that now that she was Himiko's girlfriend, she'd become a massive anchor keeping Himiko in line, but clearly was taking her role as the fourth member of… whatever these four had seriously. To the point that their overall attitude was rubbing off on her and not the other way around. Everyone played off the face slime as the two classes exchanging the Quirk equivalent of spitballs, but the fact Tsuyu had acted at all…

Yeah, something is not right here. Not at all.

There was also the other floating unknown. No proof and All Might was extremely tight-lipped about the situation, but the teachers knew Izuku had punched Katsuki. Something had set the boy off, and that was before, when Midnight had a good guess over what was rattling around in his head. Add these new unknowns to the fact that Izuku, under the right conditions, could be set off…

Not good.

"Ha ha… Ha haaaa…" Neito pointed as he lay on the ground, his skin shining thanks to the steel covering it, the tree he had been knocked into by Tiger cracked in half. "Look. One of those… 1-A numbskulls is stuck… you'd never see… one of… in such a sorry state."

Neito pointed towards one of the cliff faces, where Kyouka was folded against the mountainside, exhausted, her jacks still stabbed into the rock, where they had been after several minutes of fruitlessly trying to pull them out.

"Aren't… they still digging Honenuki out of the ground… after what Pixie-Bob did to him?" Mashirao panted on the ground, laid out after a vicious kick to the side by the brutal cat man, the large bruise on his tail showing his attempt to block hadn't exactly worked.

"That… and this… are two… totally different thin— ACK!" Neito grunted as Tiger stepped up and stomped a foot into his chest.

"Oh good. If you have the energy to mock the other class, you must have made a breakthrough in extending your Copy's time limit." Tiger reached down and grabbed a fistfull of the blond's hair and pulled him up. "That means you can go another round as my training bat."

Neito had not made any such breakthrough, and he knew his time limit was about to hit any second. The thought that he was going to get swung around without his classmate's Steel protecting him, was terrifying.

Fortunately—or unfortunately if you were any of the 1-A's in Tiger's boot camp who'd had to listen to Neito for the whole morning—a sudden call gave them a reprieve.

"Five minute water break!" Aizawa called out.

Around the training area, no one was courageous enough, or dumb enough, to point out that it'd take most of them twice that time just to crawl over to the water cooler.

Ochako herself had to take a couple minutes just to get on her feet and let the world come down from a violent spinning to a gentle rocking. Still, with a step that resembled a legendary captain named after a little bird, Ochako made her way towards the blissful relief that was the water cooler. But after a few wobbly steps, Ochako found herself distracted.

Something red crossed by her, just at the corner of her eye. Itsuka was walking against the flow of people, up towards the mountain side. Ochako watched her before she pivoted and with her face hardened, walked after her.

"You look like you could use some help," Itsuka chuckled as she found Kyouka, hands pressed against the mountain side, trying to pull her jacks free.

"It's fine. I got this." The way the long cords connected to her ears tensed and jerked, showing she was definitely trying to get loose. But having absolutely no luck.

"You're not going to get any water if you stay here, you know," Itsuka observed with a lopsided grin. "Unless you wanna push how far you can stretch those lobes out."

Kyouka grunted. "Are you here to help, or just enjoy the show?"

Itsuka leaned over, resting her shoulder on the rock face. "At this point, since you don't want help, to enjoy the show."

Kyouka let her head rest against the rock, muttering how she kinda walked into that one.

"You really should get some water. You're sweating a lot out here," Itsuka advised while pointing to the crowd. "Knowing our teachers, they might toss the rest just to spite us after this break is up."

Kyouka turned to face the smirking redhead. "Yeah, well, you're sweating…" Kyouka fumbled her comeback a little, noticing that Itsuka had her sweat top open, and the white shirt underneath was absolutely drenched. And sticking to her in just the right spots to show off some muscle definition that rivaled what she'd seen on Ochako. Also, that shade of red was…"…you're sweating a lot too."

Itsuka made a face. "Don't I know it." She reached down and grabbed the hem of her shirt, lifting it up enough so she could wring it out. "Feels so gross."

Kyouka was a little too distracted to respond.

"But seriously, I can get you out. Shouldn't be a problem." Itsuka held up a fist, and smirked.

Kyouka blinked at her scuffed up knuckles. "How? You gonna punch the rocks?"

Itsuka enlarged her fist a little, grunting a little at the flex since she was very sore. "How do you think I've been training?" She jerked her bratwurst sized thumb over to a large pile of very big boulders. And a long line of other piles of pulverized stone. "I've been making big rocks into little rocks. All day."

Before Kyouka could say yes or no to the offer, Ochako walked up to the pair. She glanced briefly at Kyouka, who was still trying to get her jacks out of the mountain side—poor girl was stuck bad—and walked right up to Itsuka, who looked like she really wanted to step in, because watching Kyouka flounder was getting painful. "Oi!"

Itsuka paused and blinked. "Um, yes?"

"When are you and your class going to get a handle on Monoma? Aren't you guys embarrassed by him enough?" Ochako was miffed. Tired, queasy and miffed. She didn't sound angry, but just done.

Itsuka, took a second. Then retorted, "When are you and your class going to get a handle on Bakugou? Aren't you guys embarrassed by him enough?"

"…"

Kyouka had a jack cord wrapped up in her hand and her shoe on the cliff for leverage as she got ready to pull. "If there was ever a time to turn and walk away, now's the time Uraraka. Take the L."

"Right…" Ochako pivoted and quick-marched it away. Cursing that 1-B had some people with brains that could weaponize logic. Also, she was beginning to think she had just made the same mistake she'd made when confronting Himiko in the locker room. At least Itsuka hadn't reacted like Himiko had that day.

I mean, I could definitely take her. But I'd probably get in trouble afterwards.

"You know," Itsuka surprised Ochako as she called after her, "both our classes have their troublemakers. Yours takes shots at us and ours… Monoma takes shots at you guys."

Ochako frowned. "It's not really comparable."

"Being called an extra. Being demeaned because we aren't in 1-A, which everyone seems to think is the class to watch. The fact that Bakugou will look us in the eye and treat us like we don't belong. When we're out here working just like him. It pisses a lot of people off." Itsuka cracked her knuckles, more a nervous twitch than anything. But her tone betrayed her own agitation over the subject.

Ochako could concede the point. Which she did, but, "Bakugou didn't go after Deku's mom just after she was attacked."

Itsuka conceded this time. "True. And I knocked him out because of that crap. My class even took the chewing out Toga had for us on the chin. Because we knew that he overstepped." Itsuka just shrugged. "We handle Monoma our way, reeling him in when we can. But he's gonna do his thing. Which sorry to say, means he's gonna take potshots because that's how he motivates himself. You handle Bakugou your own way, with a waaaay lighter touch than anything our class uses. But I get it, he's…"

Ochako glanced around, and saw Izuku was in the crowd with the others, worshiping the water cooler like a golden bull statue. "An explosive jackass."

Itsuka smirked. "Yeah. That. But the way you handle him, means he's still gonna look down on us. Facts are, we gotta take crap on the chin while trying to deal with our own messes."

Ochako sighed. "Fair enough. Sorry for just storming up to you like that."

Itsuka waved it off with a smile. "If some ass did anything like that to my girlfriend, I'd be having words with their classmates too. Plus, I'm a class rep, so it makes sense."

"Okay… I'm going to get some water before Aizawa-sensei dumps it in front of us or something. See you guys at dinner." She paused. "Um… do you want help with…?"

Kyouka waved her off, while Itsuka used her big hands to point to herself. "Oh I got this, see you at dinner!" Itsuka waved as Ochako left before turning back around. "Okay. I want some water, so let's get you out."

"I got this. I don't need—" Grab. "Eep!"

Kyouka chirped when Itsuka pinched both of her jacks between her finger and thumb just at where they were plugged into the rock. The large digits completely enveloped the lobe cords. Then, pop pop, with no effort at all, Itsuka had Kyouka free.

"There. Free at last," Itsuka said with a happy grin.

Kyouka sighed. She couldn't deny that she had been stuck, doomed to be attached to the side of the mountain, but she still found it a little embarrassing that she had needed help. Kyouka however wasn't going to let her own personal grumbles keep her from thanking Itsuka for lending a helping hand.

It's just, when she opened her mouth to say thanks, it was right when Itsuka was inspecting her jack's pins for any damage. By looking at them, and rubbing them gently to see if those scuff marks were scratches.

Itsuka was happy to see the marks rub away, but she didn't notice the way Kyouka's lobes suddenly went stiff, as a jolt shot right through them and into Kyouka. Her body twitched and since her mouth was open, she had no way to stop the, "A~aaah!"

Kyouka slapped her hands over her mouth as fast as she could, but there was no unhearing that pleasured, songbird moan.

Itsuka immediately stopped rubbing Kyouka's nubs, frozen on the spot. Her rosy cheeks now clashed hard with her orange hair. Both girls were looking at each other now, with the same wide eyes. Itsuka gulped, feeling like she was swallowing a marble while Kyouka made a few squeaks and chirps as she came to terms with the fact she had just done that.

"S-sensiti-ahem. Sensitive? Um." Itsuka was trying to remember how one did words. "Y-your jacks are sensitive?"

"Hmm hm." Kyouka was also trying to recall how one used words and sounds to convey a message. "Th-they're a little bit." Both girls were still standing there, blushing and stuttering, and Itsuka still hadn't let go.

"Jirou? Kendou?"

Both girls jerked their heads towards the new individual who had decided to join them at the most embarrassing moment in their lives. Momo, carrying some water bottles under her arm and a small hammer and chisel in hand, was looking between the two.

Momo suddenly being there was enough to jumpstart the two into acting like proper people again. Itsuka immediately let go of Kyouka's jacks, and for some reason, hid her hands behind her back. Except she forgot to shrink them. Kyouka retracted her jacks, and had them wrapped around herself, the ends tapping each other in a hurried nervous twitch. Both girls looked at Momo, and she looked at them.

At the very least, since Momo wasn't blushing like they were, they could safely assume that Momo hadn't heard what Itsuka had rubbed out of Kyouka. And thank god, because the number of misunderstandings that could come from that were many.

Momo held up the hammer and chisel she had created. "I saw it looked like you were stuck, so I came to help. I also brought you some water. I was sure you were thirsty." She looked over at Itsuka. "But it seems Kendou was able to assist you first."

Itsuka made a sound. It could pass as an acknowledgment and affirmation of the statement.

"Y-Yao-momo! Thank you!" Kyouka rushed for the water, as if she was rushing away from the incident that had just happened. "I could really use some water!"

Momo handed one of the bottles over and as Kyouka began to hurriedly drink. She then handed another to Itsuka as well. "Yes. You both do look like you need to cool off."

Aaand now both were choking.

"O-oh my! Careful, you two," Momo had put the tools down and was by their side quickly. "Oh you both are so red! All this hard training under the sun must have you both overheated and overstimulated!"

Kyouka wanted to die. Well, she might actually be dying with the mouth full of water she'd just breathed in, drowning her, but that's besides the point. Don't say overstimulated!

Momo was quick to act. In a shower of sparkles, she pulled multiple bright colored cooling towels from her arm and used her water to drench them. One quickly went around Itsuka's neck, jolting her out of her stupor just quickly enough to realize Momo, who had her hand on her forehead to check her temperature, had very soft hands.

She did not whimper when Momo pulled her hand away. Mostly because Momo had immediately draped another towel over her head and face.

Kyouka was similarly jolted out of her embarrassed daze when the cold cloth made contact with her skin. Wretched back to reality by the cold, she almost felt her knees give out when she saw Momo standing right in front of her, leaning over as she ran the back of her hands over her forehead, then down her neck. Momo, being so much taller, and the way her hands were resting under Kyouka's jaw, had her lifting her chin up towards Momo, while at the same time, dreamlike instincts had her starting to lift up on her tiptoes.

But before her heels left the ground, Momo draped another cooling towel over her face and snapped Kyouka out of her spell. "Here, keep these on until you're both back to normal. Both of you sit, come on." Momo helped lead both so they were sitting with their backs against the rockside. "I'm going to get you both some more water. You both surely need it being so… so drenched."

Momo hurried back to the cooler, making more bottles to fill, leaving both Itsuka and Kyouka to sit.

"Wow," Itsuka gasped out.

"Yeah," Kyouka confirmed.

"Wow."

"Tell me about it." Kyouka let her head lean back. "Thank god she's the second most naive person in class or… we'd be doomed."

"I mean… no one's naive enough not to know what that sound was if they heard it." Itsuka had to laugh. Because not laughing was too dangerous to think about.

Kyouka snorted while she pressed her face into the cold cloth. "Oh god, I can't believe I did that."

"Sorry."

"Not your fault."

"…" Itsuka swallowed. "Still… sorry I, um… made you feel good?"

Kyouka snorted and laughed. Seemingly agreeing that the best way to move on was to laugh this off. "Hey, at least we don't have to worry about anyone knowing what happened."

Itsuka shuddered under her towel. "Oh god, if Tokage knew… oh, I'd have to leave U.A. then."

"Ha! If Ashido knew, I'd be leaving the country," Kyouka countered, causing both girls to laugh, and feel a lot better.

Halfway between the pair and the water cooler, Momo came to a stop, and after holding it in, let herself shudder most unbecomingly for a young woman of her rank and stature. But she couldn't help it. Thanks to some karaoke, she knew Kyouka had a heavenly voice. Now she knew what was angelic, could be blissfully hellish.

"Congratulations!" Mandalay cheered while striking a pose in front of the remains of the two classes. "You all made it through day one!"

'Made it through' was relative. No one was standing up straight. Many were leaning on others for support and a few had just decided to risk it and were sitting down.

Himiko hadn't even bothered to put on sweats or shoes after everything was done. 'I've been expunging sludge from my body all day. I don't want anything on my skin until I have a bath.'

All of Mei's fingers had at least three bandaids on them. Tools, metal and hurried hands are bad news for fingers.

Pixie-Bob smirked at the students as they all made it to the picnic area. She could see some looking lost when they saw there was no food on any of the tables. At least nothing prepared. It was all raw ingredients. "Now, remember what I said yesterday?" A murmur went through the crowd, as she reminded them, "I said 'Today's the only day we'll be doing stuff for you!'"

A pause.

Then a massive groan from everyone as it hit them what they were now expected to do.

Pixie-Bob pointed at them. "Hey, you all should at least make your own food!" She motioned to a stack of boxes on one of the tables. "We at the very least made sure your ingredients were ready for you. Show some appreciation!"

Ragdoll was beside her, smiling brightly while she slapped the table. "You kittens will be making curry tonight! And don't think just because you're all exhausted we'll let you slink on by making sloppy cat food. Make it right, or you don't get any dinner tonight."

Just before there could be a riot, or potential murder with the way Himiko was grouching, Tenya made a noise like he figured something out. "Ah! This makes sense."

"In what world does making us cook make sense?" Hitoshi grumbled.

"Think about it. During a rescue operation, a full stomach can lift a person's spirit. Those taking part in the rescue and those who were rescued. Either way, it may one day fall on us to provide a warm meal to those that need it, even if we ourselves are exhausted." Tenya looked close to tears. "This is why U.A. is the best of the best. They don't waste a single opportunity."

The classes looked from Tenya, towards the teachers. For a few moments none of them did anything, before Aizawa flashed a thumbs up.

"Everyone, let's make the most delicious curry we can!"

At the very least, Tenya's reasoning made sense, and gave the classes more motivation to make the meal a good one.

Soon the two classes were split up, each taking a side of the picnic area as they went to work. 1-B were not exactly happy when it came time to start some cooking fires; 1-A had Shouto and Izuku. Though when Manga stepped up, and "snip-snap-whooshed" one into existence, there was much rejoicing. Heaven forbid someone from their side having to ask for help.

Also, Neito was forbidden from going over and copying any Quirks since there was a pretty decent chance someone might take offense. And then offense him through a table.

It was in the middle of the classes working to make their curry dinner, that Izuku, Ochako and Tsuyu witnessed something amazing. The three were stopped, dead in their tracks, as they openly gawked at the scene before them.

"Ochako."

"Yeah, Deku?"

"You're seeing this too, right?"

"I am."

"Tsuyu?"

"It's real, kero."

"Okay, but… how is this real?"

At one of the cooking stations, Himiko was standing over a large cooking pot, ladle in hand as she stirred the thickening curry mix. To the side were several chopped and diced vegetables, seasonings and some cream. Everything was portioned out and prepped to be added immediately and at specific times while the curry cooked down.

The three were blown away by the, for lack of a better term, wife energy radiating off of Himiko as she showed off skills no one had any idea she had. While she worked, she was humming happily, a gentle smile on her face while she'd add ingredients into the pot, and after a few stirs, would ladle out a little to put in her tasting dish, making the odd comment or two as to what else was needed.

She was also still wearing her leotard, which left her legs, thighs and hips bare. But she had thrown on an apron. Which did nothing to add any modesty to her look and only just made everything more exotic and erotic.

Wife energy was transformed into Sexy Wife Energy. And it wasn't the aroma of the incredible food Himiko was preparing that had the three drooling.

…

It wasn't just the aroma of the incredible food Himiko was preparing that had the three drooling.

"And I thought I was a homebody, kero."

"Where did she get the apron?"

"Probably stole it, kero."

"Hmm."

"Hmm."

Both hummed, neither really caring if Himiko had stolen the apron. Which probably wasn't the right thing for three heroes in training to think, but you weren't going to find a single volunteer that was going to walk up to Himiko and tell her to put it back where she got it.

Himiko knew the three were looking at her. Gawking at her. Ogling her. She made sure she swayed her hips, giving their eyes something fun to follow, before she looked over her shoulder. "I had to take extra home economics classes on top of the kateika stuff at school by my parents. Think they hoped that me being a properly trained wife would make up for my 'shortfalls.'" She smirked. "I'm surprised I remember any of the stuff."

She paused and looked over at Midnight who was with the other teachers and Cats, holding a fire extinguisher at the ready. "I told you. It was nerves that one time!" When she looked back at the three, apparently gawking was now replaced with concerned, deadpanned stares. "It's not my fault I dropped that pan of oil onto the stove when I was trying to make some ebi fry!"

As a whole collective, everyone from students to teachers and heroes, all took a step back away from Himiko's station.

Pixie-Bob then took a moment to glance at her work station. "Hold on… where did you get all these extra ingredients? The tables already had everything you needed."

"Oh, I raided your pantry," Himiko said without missing a beat. "Think of it as stealth practice."

"You—!"

"I'm sneaky. And you're supposed to have someone here that's supposed to know where everyone is at all times." Ragdoll cheered. "So if I steal them right from under your noses, you've all lost the right to these ingredients."

While Pixie-Bob sputtered and Ragdoll laughed, a few of the boys over at 1-B were leaning over and whispering to each other, flanking Neito as something along the lines of 'house trained' floated out. And some snickering.

"Dig in everyone!" was cheered out by everyone before students promptly started scarfing down their meal.

"If I got this at a restaurant, I wouldn't be very happy, but in this situation, it's delicious!"

"Dude come on, we worked hard on this!"

"Why don't we get any of the curry Toga made? Those four are eating like royalty!"

"You really wanna risk it?"

"…pass me another plate already."

"Man Yaoyorozu, I'm surprised you can eat anything after today," Rikidou commented while he looked down at his sparsely filled plate. "I'm afraid to even try eating anything else." He lifted up a spoon with only a modicum of food on it, but only got about half way to his mouth before his stomach twisted and he aborted. "Oh man. I think I'm going to be sick."

Momo spooned a large helping of curry into her mouth, finishing off her third plate. "I'm fortunate that my Quirk breaks down food so fast. That way I have plenty of lipids to create things."

"So wait, you eat a lot to use your Quirk a lot… and if it's fats you use as fuel…" Mina was putting some things together. "Oh my god, you can just eat whatever you want, can't you!"

Momo picked up a fourth plate and, very ladylike, began to eat while only casually acknowledging Mina's outburst or the way the statement was working its way through the whole picnic area. "I do have a unique degree of control over my BMI, yes."

While around her were many amazed oh's and ah's, Momo was calling on all her training in high society to make herself seem calm and collected, though internally, she was smug, drinking in some of the jealous gazes some of the girls and boys around her were giving her.

She didn't subtly look over to see if one of the jealous people was Itsuka. Nope. Not her.

"Well, you might be able to pack it in like an otaku during a fast food binge," Neito laughed, "but try not to pop towards us when all that spicy curry doesn't agree with your aristocratic palette!"

"Bleagh!" Manga mimicked, making a word balloon pop out and splatter on the ground. Getting some high fives, and some disgusted groans from others.

Kyouka was out of her seat, looking ready to charge the group, when Momo just nonchalantly dropped a bombshell that changed everyone's lives. "Oh, I don't have to worry about that. I've never once made myself sick by eating too much food, or eaten anything that would make me vomit."

Dead.

Fucking.

Silence.

Broken only by Katsuki standing up and delivering a resounding and agreed upon, "Bullshit!"

Explosive vulgar comments aside, Momo was unphased. "It's true. Once my Quirk developed as a young child, I no longer had either of those instances happen to me. I'm quite capable of consuming and digesting just about anything that my body and Quirk can break down into lipids. During my initial training to prepare for the recommendation entrance exam, after a long run, I had a penchant for drinking Hellfire-Seltzers, as I felt they were quite refreshing and helped put a spring in my step."

A few heads turned to look at Shouto, who was looking at Momo blankly. "You drank the seltzers my father's company PR team slapped his face on?"

"…Wait, weren't those all recalled because they found out they were just carbonating a bunch of hot sauces they couldn't sell to restaurants anymore because it was making people sick?"

Shouto nodded. "Father wasn't very happy with that one."

Momo nodded sadly. "It was a sad day."

"So you were drinking carbonated hot sauce… after a workout?"

"Yeah, I'm calling bull on this," Denki said with certainty.

Hanta smirked. "I say we test this."

"How, the curry isn't that spicy?"

Hanta turned to the table furthest from them, where Izuku, Ochako Tsuyu and Himiko were enjoying her specially made curry. "Toga, you got anymore of those little chillies you were using to give you guys' curry more kick? The ones Bakugou was ready to throw down for, before Aizawa dragged him back to his own cooking station?"

Katsuki made a very displeased sound, being reminded of that.