A bit of time had passed since Mato had won the Sports Festival. He lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
"I'm hungry," he said. Mato got up from the bed and scratched his head.
"Inko-san!" he shouted, opening the door. "What's for dinner?"
"Your favorite meal, Hideki-kun!" Inko replied.
Mato went downstairs. "Where's Izuku?"
"In his room," Inko replied.
Suddenly, someone knocked at the door.
Inko opened the door and found a very welcome surprise.
"Where's Shirakawa!?" Oro burst inside the room with a jump.
"O-Oro!" Inko exclaimed. "It's an honor to have you here!"
"Oro-san? What are you doing in my house?" Mato asked.
"Don't think I forgot about you, Shirakawa!" Oro wrapped his arm around Mato's shoulder. "Everyone is talking about you. After the Sports Festival, everyone wants you to be their assistant!"
He struck his pose. "But I beat them to the punch! I've personally come to take you with me!"
Oro reached out his hand to Mato. "Join my agency, Shirakawa. I can teach you how to control your Quirk better and get stronger!"
Mato scratched his head. As he was thinking, he heard someone going downstairs frenetically.
"Oro? Where is he?" Izuku quickly went downstairs after hearing Oro's voice. "Oro! I'm your biggest fan!"
"Hey, you're Izuku Midoriya, right?" Oro asked. "Gimme a pen, I'll sign your shirt!"
Mato threw a pen to Oro, who grabbed it on the fly. The Pro Hero quickly signed Izuku's shirt.
"And... done!"
Izuku jumped in the air. "I can't believe the #3 National Hero is in my house!"
"So," Oro came back to Mato. "Whaddya say: you in or you in?"
"Okay, I'm in," Mato said, rolling his eyes.
"Perfect!" Oro gave Mato a piece of paper. "Reach me tomorrow at my house! That's the address!"
"Wait, Oro! Why don't you have some tea?" Inko asked.
"Already taken," said Oro, opening the door. "Keep watching me on the TV!"
Oro jumped high and disappeared from view.
"Hideki, you're so lucky!" Izuku said, shaking Mato's shoulders. "Can you believe it? Oro wants you as his assistant, and he personally came here! He even signed my shirt!"
"Yeah, very cool," said Mato. "But I'm still hungry."
__________
The Next Day - First Day of Internships
Mato walked towards the streets of Musutafu, searching for the address Oro gave him.
"This should be the place..." he reached a small house and knocked at the door twice. Oro opened.
"So you came, Shirakawa!" the hero exclaimed.
"You would have invaded my house again if I didn't," Mato said. "C'mon, let's get started with training."
Mato entered Oro's house. It was small, had white walls, and a small bed on which Oro slept.
"That's... pretty small for a Pro Hero," Mato commented.
"That's enough for me," Oro said. "And I prefer quality over quantity."
"Fair enough," said Mato. "What are you going to teach me here, by the way?"
"You must know I'm specialized in physical combat and mastering your own quirk!"
"So you're going to teach me to control my Quirk?"
"Yeah."
"But I already can control my Quirk."
"And that's where you're wrong!"
Mato's eyes widened.
"During the Sports Festival, I heard you say '20% is the maximum I can use,' and 'it took a lot of hard work to not get overwhelmed by this Quirk.' That's why I'm going to do both!"
"So you're gonna train me so I can use the 100% of my Dark Punch without repercussions?"
"Exactly."
"Let's start then."
Suddenly, Mato's phone rang. He picked it up and read the message 'hey sweetie, what are you doing?'.
"Who is?" Oro asked.
"My girlfriend," said Mato.
"You have a girlfriend?"
"Of course I do. Can't you see I'm a handsome boy?"
"I have a girlfriend too, you know?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. She's a Pro Hero too, but she always works alone. That's why I don't have a working partner."
A moment of silence.
"Anyway, you should answer her message, or she'll be offended."
"Oh yeah, sure..."
Mato typed the reply: 'yo sweetie, I'm currently on my first day of internship, what abt you?'
"Is that a good answer?"
"Yeah," said Oro. "It is."
"Now let's start training," said Mato. "I want to get even stronger."
__________
A few hours later...
Mato lay on the floor, tired.
"This," he said. "Is by far the toughest training I've ever done."
"Sure it was," said Oro, who was leaning on the wall. "And this is just the first day."
"Oh, shit," Mato sighed. "Anyway, I'll be ready for tomorrow."
"You can sleep here if you want."
Mato sat up. "But there's only one bed."
"That's what you think." Oro clapped his hands and created a bed made of light.
"Am I supposed to sleep there?" Mato asked.
"Yeah," Oro replied.
"Fine," Mato dived onto the bed. "Goodnight, Oro-san."
Mato immediately fell asleep.
"He's already asleep..." Oro sighed. "Understandable, he's had a tough day, training with me..."
Oro got up and looked at Mato. "He has the opposite Quirk as mine... he has darkness, I have light..."
He got into his bed. "And why does his face remind me of something?"
Oro shook his head. "That's not important for now. Let's just sleep."
Oro fell asleep.
__________
Second Day of Internship
"C'mon, Shirakawa, wake up!" Oro shook Mato.
"I'm awake, I'm awake..." Mato slowly sat up.
"Today, I'll give you five minutes to hit me with your darkness," Oro explained. "You can use anything!"
"Can I have breakfast before?" Mato asked.
"Yeah, sure you can," Oro quickly reached the kitchen and returned a few minutes later with a cup of milk.
"Seriously? You still have breakfast with milk?" Mato asked.
"Of course," Oro said. Mato drank the milk.
"Now, are you going to attack me or what?"
"Yeah, gimme a minute."
Mato stretched his limbs. "How much time did you say I have?"
"Five minutes!"
"Fine, it'll be enough."
Mato dashed forward, attempting to punch Oro, but the Pro Hero dodged.
(For having a muscular physique, he's fast...)
Mato tried again. And again. And again. But nothing.
"Time's up!" Oro said. "You didn't hit me!"
"Dammit..." Mato snorted.
"However, I have noticed some improvements," Oro tried to console him.
"Really?"
"Yeah, you're faster than yesterday. In just two days, you're improving a lot!"
Mato smiled. "Thanks to you, I guess."
Chapter 23 - End