March 4th 2418 - Musutafu, Japan
Arriving outside the base of a towering, well-maintained building adorned with vibrant neon signs and holographic displays, the group of three got out of the car responsible for transporting them before it drove off.
Without dawdling in the entrance, the two humans and one robot entered the opulent building straight away.
Inside, Sage took the lead and approached the polished reception desk responsible for managing the venue's numerous private booths.
This building housed a high-class karaoke bar, restaurant, and arcade specifically designed to cater to affluent teenagers and young adults. It was also one of Sage and her friends' favourite gathering spots—and tonight's chosen destination for their celebration.
After obtaining the keycard for their reserved booth, she walked back to Himiko and Hela, the small robot floating down to scan the card with its sensors.
"Thanks, Hela. Do you and Himiko want to go ahead to the booth while I wait down here for the others?"
"Sure thing, we'll see you upstairs." Agreeing quickly, Himiko grasped Hela's manipulator arm and pulled the confused bot along behind her before she could protest.
'Huh, weird... I wonder why Himiko ran away so quickly?'
Turning back to reality, Sage moved across the neat lobby and sat down on the couches to wait.
After a few minutes, the first to arrive was Momo, who, as usual, appeared precisely on time. Rising from the couch, Sage greeted her warmly before they fell into comfortable conversation. Eventually, Momo excused herself to join Himiko and Hela upstairs.
Next came Izuku, who strolled into the lobby looking noticeably more ripped than when she'd last seen him—clearly, All Might's training regimen was working wonders.
Chatting with him briefly, the two caught up on recent changes to the hero rankings and Izuku's latest theories about quirk applications. When the conversation naturally lulled after a few minutes, Izuku said his goodbyes and headed upstairs, leaving Sage alone to nervously await Toru's arrival.
Sitting awkwardly on the couch in the lobby, Sage couldn't help but constantly check both her watch and her phone as the minutes continued to tick by. Finally, twenty minutes after they agreed to meet, Toru showed up.
Running into the lobby slightly out of breath, she glanced around for a bit before spotting Sage, walking over while smoothing out her sky blue dress and catching her breath. The two met roughly in the middle.
"Are you okay, Toru? Why are you so out of breath?"
Concerned by the state of her friend, Sage voiced her worries. Raising her glove-covered hand to signal Sage to wait, Toru took a final deep breath.
"Sorry about the delay, a villain decided to ruin the train tracks and I had to run the rest of the way here. Where is everybody else? Weren't your friends coming?"
Nodding, Sage turned and began walking away while gesturing for Toru to follow her, however she had to quickly slow down so her excitement wouldn't carry her away.
"My friends are already upstairs in our booth. Also, the next time the train breaks down, just text me and I'll send my driver to pick you up."
Awkwardly chuckling at Sage's offer, Toru tried to think of the politest way to turn it down.
"Um... I'm not sure I feel okay with having someone come pick me up just to drive a few blocks. Also, does that mean you're rich if you have your own personal driver?"
Turning, Sage gave her a confused look as they waited for the elevator.
"I thought I already mentioned that? Huh, my bad, I guess. Does that change anything?"
Expression turning concerned, Sage seemed genuinely worried her being rich would negatively affect Toru's opinion of her. Luckily though, Toru just lightly chuckled as she stepped into the elevator. Breathing a sigh of relief, Sage stepped in next to her as the metal box launched them upwards.
Arriving at the top floor, Sage approached the only door on the floor before stopping and turning to Toru.
"Thanks for coming, Toru. I realized you might have been busy, so thanks for making some time to hang out."
Stepping forward with a warm smile, Toru gently ruffled Sage's hair just as she reached for the door handle. Instantly, Sage transformed into a blushing mess from the unexpected contact, and Toru seized the opportunity to slip past her and push the door open fully with a mischievous chuckle.
Hearing the door open, the conversation inside instantly dimmed as they all turned to look. Looking through the doorway at the invisible girl, everyone's gaze landed on the fox girl blushing like a tomato, before, after a bit, their gazes turned one by one to the floating clothes that were likely worn by the invisible girl.
"Hello there, you must be Toru? It's nice to meet you—I'm Himiko."
Stepping forward first, Himiko extended her hand courteously while flashing a sharp-toothed grin at Toru. Slightly put off by the intense look on the other girl's face, Toru quickly recovered and reached out to shake her hand.
The others, seeing this interaction, decided to introduce themselves one by one while Himiko slipped past Toru and herded the completely spaced-out Sage into the room.
Sliding in behind the curved table built into the corner of the room with its panoramic view of the city below, Himiko pulled Sage down beside her before turning and lightly tapping her cheeks.
Startled, Sage snapped back to reality just as everyone else found seats around the table, with Toru sliding into the spot next to Sage. Trying to focus on anything but the adorable girl beside her, Sage steered the conversation toward why they'd all gathered.
"So I forgot to ask earlier—how did you score on the exam, Toru?"
Making some sort of gesture, Sage realized how challenging it must be to convey emotion through clothing movement alone—something Toru seemed incredibly skilled at, as Sage got the distinct impression she was striking a smug pose with hands on her hips.
"I did quite well, actually. I scored seventeenth place overall with 34 points. Though I suppose that's not impressive considering your score..."
Feigning sadness, Toru made an exaggerated show of her emotions before redirecting the conversation.
"So, Izuku? You're the one who made the leaderboard with just rescue points, right? How does that even happen?"
Genuinely curious, everyone's attention turned to their group's sole male member. The sudden focus made him blush and stammer nervously.
"Well—uh—um—I kind of screwed up a bit? I was too slow and couldn't reach any villain bots before they were destroyed, and the civilian bots kept getting snatched away from me, so I wasn't doing great...
I really thought I was going to fail, but as someone who aspires to be a hero, I couldn't let people get hurt. So when the zero-pointer activated and I saw a girl trapped beneath it, my body moved before I could think—and I smashed it to pieces!"
Hearing about the zero-pointer incident that closely resembled her and Toru's own experience, Sage winced slightly—a reaction noticed only by the small robot hovering nearby.
After finishing his story, Izuku looked around expectantly for applause or congratulations, but instead received only giggles from the girls. Completely unaware, his enthusiastic movements had caused the couch to charge him with static electricity, making his hair stand on end like a mad scientist's.
Reaching over, Sage discharged the static with a small zap while chuckling.
"Really? Ganging up on the only guy here? Why do you have to abandon me like this, Sage?"
Calming down, Sage leaned back in her seat while simultaneously reaching for a menu from the table's centre.
"Come on, Izuku, you know it doesn't wo—"
Cutting her off mid-sentence, a cloud of steam engulfed Sage briefly before parting to reveal him now in his male form, wearing an impeccably clean suit. Sighing, Sage finished grabbing the menu before leaning back in his chair.
"You really had to go and jinx it, didn't you, Izuku?"
Chuckling triumphantly, Izuku playfully punched Sage's shoulder before also reaching for a menu.
"That's much better—at least now the numbers are slightly more balanced."
Shaking his head with a smirk, Sage looked down to read his menu, only to pause when he heard a clear sound of confusion from Toru. Glancing up, he noticed the invisible girl had leaned back slightly, which saddened him—though not as intensely as it would have in his female form.
'Interesting. It seems my form affects how I feel about others to a minor degree. I still like Toru, but definitely not to the same extent as in my female form... I don't like this change.'
Keeping his thoughts private, Sage addressed the confused girl instead.
"What's wrong, Toru? I told you about this side effect of my quirk already—I even sent you a picture just in case."
"Wha—what? Wait, I know you told me about this and sent a picture, but I wasn't expecting... this! You grew almost thirty centimetres in an instant!"
Smirking mischievously, Sage's gaze flicked down to his lap for an instant before he looked her back in the eyes. Baffled and confused, Toru stammered over her words while making it incredibly obvious she was blushing.
"Oh, it's such a shame I can't see how cute you look while blushing. Truly, the world is missing out."
Watching Toru continue to sputter and squirm awkwardly, Sage chuckled before returning to his menu, only to realize everyone was now staring at him in silence.
"What?"
Turning away, the group of four began whispering behind their menus while Sage turned back to his own.
'I have no idea what they're talking about over there. I hate my senses in this form.'
After deciding on his order, Sage turned to check with Toru, noticing she was staring into space. However, his scientifically trained mind couldn't resist asking the questions that had been niggling at the back of his mind.
"Do you know what you want to order, Toru? It'll be my treat. Also, weird question, but does your hair remain invisible when cut off? And if I drew on your hand with a marker, would it show up? Actually, never mind..."
Realizing he was being somewhat insensitive with his queries, he turned away while sliding the menu toward her so she could choose her meal.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, the three humans and one robot were deep in whispered conversation while occasionally glancing at the pair across from them.
"I see what you mean, Himiko—those two are definitely a thing. Are you seeing how they react to each other?" Whispering as quietly as possible, Momo voiced her observations.
"Yep, I see it," the others agreed, nodding conspiratorially.
Izuku leaned in and whispered as well. "Why are we being so secretive about this? What even is 'this'?"
The two girls turned their gazes on the naive boy and sighed simultaneously before looking away, Himiko rolling her eyes dramatically.
Eventually, the girls exhausted their whispered commentary and looked up to order food, only to discover Sage and Toru chatting animatedly while he drew on her arm with various coloured markers, none of which left a visible mark.
Confused, they turned to the most reliable member of their group.
"Hela, what happened while we weren't paying attention?"
Pulsing yellow briefly, Hela floated closer to the humans with what seemed like a frown.
"Sage and Toru were awkward initially, but they quickly overcame it and ordered food. He then mentioned something about testing her quirk, which eventually led to their current activity."
Looking back over, the group watched as Sage began packing up the array of testing instruments before him, hiding them under the table and then making them vanish entirely.
Sighing, the group decided not to worry about it as they ordered their food and slid back around the table to talk to the other two.
A few minutes later, a small knock on the door interrupted them as the staff arrived with their food.
Eating their food in comfortable silence, they eventually moved on to karaoke afterwards. Getting up first, Sage walked over to the slightly raised karaoke booth in the corner and scrolled through the song selection till he found a song he liked, which was a slower, more melodic song.
From then on, each member of their little group continued to take turns singing a song of their choice, with even Hela joining in towards the end. At one point, they began attempting duets, with Sage and Toru effortlessly matching each other's pitch and harmonizing beautifully.
After extensive singing, laughing, and chatting, Sage suggested heading downstairs to the arcade—an idea everyone enthusiastically endorsed.
For the next few hours, they competed on various machines for high scores, steadily accumulating tickets all the while.
By the end of the night, Sage had accrued a whopping fifteen thousand tickets, easily holding more than the next two highest scorers.
Heading over to the booth to redeem his tickets, Sage scanned the glass cabinets from top to bottom, before his gaze was eventually drawn to an adorable fox plushie for twelve thousand tickets.
'I wonder if Toru will like this?'
Deciding it'd make a good gift, he got the plushie before rushing over to the group waiting by the door. Remembering their earlier conversation at the start of the night, Sage spoke.
"The train is probably still out of order. Would you like a lift home, Toru?"
Humming in thought for a few seconds, she responded in a cheery tone.
"Yes please, thanks for offering, Sage."
Smiling back at her, their small moment was interrupted by the group reaching the door. Sighing slightly, Sage said his goodbyes to Momo and Izuku before his driver showed up.
Seeing how large their group was, Himiko decided to sit in the front with the little robot in her lap and leave the back to Sage and Toru.
Inside the car, they quickly pulled away from the arcade while Toru gave the driver her address, which was about twenty minutes from where they were, in the next city over.
Riding in the silent car, Sage nervously glanced over at Toru before taking a deep breath.
"Um, Toru... I got you this earlier. I figured you might like it?"
Offering the small fox-themed plushie to her, the invisible girl reached out and accepted it tenderly. Turning it around a few times, she eventually settled on hugging it against herself as they rode.
"It's so cute! Thank you so much, Sage."
Smiling happily, the car returned to silence as they continued to cross the city, eventually arriving outside Toru's house. Getting out of the car, she stopped at the door before glancing back in.
"Thanks for the lift home, Sage. I'll see you tomorrow at UA."
Waving goodbye to her, the driver pulled away from the curb to take them home. Leaning his head against the cool glass with a smile on his face, Sage was content.
'I wonder how fun tomorrow will be?'
{A/N: I'm reuploading this story because I can't get the powerstones to work, don't worry about me deleting this one though cause I'll continue to update it.}