As Izuku lined up with everyone else on the train station, he felt a new kind of nervousness set in over him. A more giddy kind than he was used to.
Frankly, it reminded him about how he had felt during the beginning of the invasion before the aforementioned villain attack had taken place and derailed the rescue training.
13 had only recently returned to full teaching duty, but they hadn't actually had another big rescue training session yet.
In fact, the only class they had had with her so far since her return had been the first of the "Extra Moderation classes" that Aizawa had promised they would have to take.
At the moment though, classes back at school were the last thing on his mind.
He was far too eager and just plain happy about the upcoming internship to focus on anything else right now.
"Dude, you are way too happy about this."
Mina said with a chuckle.
In contrast to Izuku, who seemed just bursting with energy that was hiding under his more stoic and quiet exterior, Mina seemed a bit more… Laidback than usual.
Like she was nervous or something, but was putting on a face that said she definitely wasn't.
Either way, it was very unlike her usual self.
Izuku however, just smiled at her.
"We're actually gonna train under your mom! Black Cat herself!"
"Yeah… Kinda wondering what she's gonna teach us to be honest. I guess we'll see when we get there."
The train they ended up taking was to Hosu City, where Mina's mom had decided that their internship would take place.
That ended up being the same city Iida was heading to, though Izuku didn't learn that fact, as Iida didn't announce it to anyone, and after they said goodbye to Uraraka and everyone else who would all intern all around the country, Iida boarded the train at a different spot than the two of them, and the only one who noticed him was Venom, who didn't care.
So, for the rest of the trip, it was just them, Izuku being uncharacteristically happy, and brimming with joy, and Mina hiding a nervousness with a laid-back attitude.
---
"Mom says she'll pick us up outside the station. Also, that we're jumping straight into it, so expect a day of heavy training.
Izuku, still looked like he was brimming with nervous, but energetic enthusiasm, like the fact he would be spending the entire day training was a perfectly happy thing.
"You sound like you weren't expecting the outcome."
"Nah, I was, I know WAY too well to think we're not gonna be training our asses off, but… Eh, it doesn't matter. Let's just go find her once we get there and get this whole internship started!"
For a moment, her usual energetic self peeked through, and her smile became her regular one.
Izuku almost questioned her about it but decided to leave it be.
Mina seemed to finally be coming out of her funk, so who was he to risk it coming back by questioning her?
As they stepped out of the train and out the station, it didn't take them long to Find Mina's mom, who was standing by a car that had been armored all over.
"Mom!" Mina ran up and hugged the older woman, who embraced her offspring in a similar, energetic hug.
"Hello Mina." her eyes were looking down at her daughter with a truly warm and motherly expression. Then her eyes went up to take in Izuku, who immediately felt his nervousness reach the skies as her eyes turned way more serious and analytical as they looked Izuku over.
Black cat disentangled herself from Mina's hug and stepped up in front of him to truly look him over, immediately making Izuku feel like he was a performance dog who was under scrutiny from a judge at a show.
"Hello, Izuku. We've met, but I don't think we have ever been properly introduced. I'm Felicia Hardy-Ashido."
Izuku swallowed, but forced himself to speak, his cheeks already turning red, from the scrutiny.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Midoriya Izuku!" He said in an incredibly awkward and stilted manner, forcing himself to not stutter as he spoke.
Black Cat merely cocked her head.
As she stood there, Izuku was also suddenly confronted with another fact, one which he had known of course, but it hadn't really been in his face before now.
Black cat was a very beautiful, and attractive woman.
At 1.80 centimeters tall, Black cat towered over the chronically short Izuku, which just highlighted all her other physical features.
Wearing the same kind of outfit Mina used for heroics(Which he noted in his head was not her current regular costume) only with a set of white fur-trimmed gloves, it was not hard to really take in how Black Cat looked.
Her face was not all that similar to Mina, being a clear example of an American woman, while Mina had completely Japanese features.
Her face was sharper than Mina, who had softer features, her lips were fuller, and her eyes were not the same shape, and were a bit smaller than Mina's. That's not to say she didn't resemble Mina at all though. The way her brows furrowed as she looked at him immediately reminded Izuku of how Mina looked when she was concentrating on something, and the body language she had as she looked him over was extremely similar to Mina's.
Like Mina, the woman was very well built, with strong musculature, though it was easy to see that her muscles were far more pronounced than Mina's, instead looking like Uraraka did. Like Uraraka however, Black Cat's musculature did not detract much from her femininity.
On the contrary, her body was far more… mature than either Uraraka or Mina, with all that came with that. Being dressed as she was, Izuku couldn't help but think that this was probably how Mina would look a decade or two down the line.
He immediately blushed at the thought, turning red as a lobster.
"Tell me Izuku… What exactly did you want to learn from me while you're here?"
Izuku swallowed, some of that giddy energy returning.
"To fight!"
"To fight huh? Not to soar the heavens? To fly through the sky, knowing that it is just you and it, the way the world was meant to be?"
Izuku opened his mouth to answer that yes, he was only here how to learn to fight, but as she described soaring through the sky, Izuku suddenly was struck by memories of the peace that always came with his high jumps through the sky.
The feeling of the wind on your face, and that all was right in the world…
He closed his mouth. Then swallowed before opening it again, ready to speak, but black cat cut him off.
"You know what I'm talking about, right Izuku? That feeling as you soar… It's just you and the air, the way it was all meant to be…"
"Yes. I… I do."
She nodded.
"I saw it in the tournament. The way Mei just shot you down with ease, despite your reflexes. You were completely off in your own little world as you soared."
She suddenly flashed a grin, that for the first time made her look like the animal she took her name from.
"We're gonna have to DO something about that."
Izuku swallowed, the blushing in his cheeks fading quickly.
He did not falter though. This was why he had come here after all. To learn from one of the best.
"Yes!"
In the background, Mina had stood and quietly and nervously observed the two of them during the whole conversation.
She coughed.
"Maybe… We should do this somewhere else, and NOT at the train station?"
Sure enough, all around them, people had stopped to gawk at the three of them.
Black cat just chuckled.
"Learning to talk while dressed in costume in public is part of hero training Mina, I'm pretty sure I've taught you that before. But if you want this conversation more private we can do that too. We kinda have to actually, cause the first thing we're gonna do is see if Izuku can lift a bus over his head."
Wait, what?
...
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